Pride: The Inspiring True Story Behind The Hit Film by Tim Tate with LGSM

When it was released back in 2014, Matthew Warchus’s film Pride, was something a surprise for me as it managed to balance the kind of working class British story seen in The Full Monty with some genuine historical intrigue and, most notably, an enormous amounts of heart and depth. From my first watch it instantly...

Doomsday Clock by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank and Brad Anderson

Well that was a slog... I can’t think of any other way to start this review of Doomsday Clock, the DC Comics universe and Watchmen mash-up from Geoff Johns, Gary Frank and Brad Anderson (originally published between 2017 and 2019) than that as it has taken me several false starts and a worrying amount of...

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

It’s been more than 70 years since Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and a cast of ‘beat’ misfits first set out on their first great adventures across the USA as chronicled, in a fashion, in On The Road. In that time I’m sure countless words have been written about their curiously modern yet ancient and spiritual...

V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

After recently rereading Watchmen I had the urge to go back to another seminal work of Alan Moore’s from the same era, his collaboration with artist David Lloyd, V For Vendetta. While the image of lead ‘hero’ V’s mask has become world famous thanks to the Anonymous hacking group it remains a striking image here...

Don’t You Leave Me Here: My Life by Wilko Johnson

I have in the past written about Looking Back At Me, a photo book come autobiography released as Wilko Johnson was embarking on a farewell tour as he prepared to succumb to the effects of apparently inoperable cancer. Here I am though, seven years later, and I have just finished reading a more complete autobiography...

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

In the past I’ve written here about Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie adaptation of Watchmen but, after watching the ‘ultimate cut’ of that recently I thought it was a good opportunity go back to the source, the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (and John Higgins) comic from the mid-1980s, once again. Not wanting to judge a...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – The Ultimate Collection: Volume 1 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

For anyone of a similar age to me it's fairly likely that at some point in your childhood you encountered at least some of the many action figure based cartoon TV series that had their heyday in the mid-80s to the mid-90s; from He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe to Thundercats and Transformers. One...

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry

The idea of Stephen Fry, man of the world and, on screen at least, great educator of esoteric information via the likes of QI, retelling the Greek myths for a modern world is, on paper, a perfect combination and so I was excited to read just that in Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold. While I...

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

Anyone who's been into a comic shop or looked at the 'graphic novel' section of a regular bookshop can't fail to have noticed, standing out somewhat from the usual comic book fare, Art Spiegelman's Maus with it stylised 'cat-swastika' and pair of impoverished looking mice on the cover. As a regular reader of comics Maus...

Greetings From Bury Park: Race, Religion, Rock ‘n’ Roll by Sarfraz Manzoor

When I first saw the film Blinded By The Light, about a young British Asian man and his fandom for Bruce Springsteen, I thought it was a nice and entertaining story with a positive message. As the credits rolled though I spotted that it was based on a book, and that turned out to be...