Geek Culture Reviews

Odysseus continues to defy the gods as a familiar face makes her presence known… PSY Comics return with another thrilling chapter in their epic saga of gods and mortals. This second issue in the adventures of Odysseus not only delivers more spectacular battles and terrifying monsters, but also serves as a bridge to the publisher’s other series, Circe. With Circe stepping into Odysseus’s path, the stakes rise dramatically. How will the goddess of change influence his crew? More importantly, how will she infiltrate the thoughts and resolve of Odysseus himself? Like PSY Comics’ other projects, Odysseus: In Defiance of the Gods - Book Two was brought to life through Kickstarter. At the time of writing, the campaign has been fully funded with support from 136 backers—easily surpassing its £1,000 target and raising an impressive £3,489. Credit to Neil “Bhuna” Roach and the team for their success. The story picks up directly where the first issue left off. Having escaped the Lotus Eaters and ...

“Circe! Goddess of Transformation: rejected by her Father Helios for her fascination with mortality. Twisting the knife further into her Sun God Father, she saves Prometheus from eternal torture at the hand of the Furies. And now, though her Mother Hecate shields her on the island of Aeae with Dark Magik, how long can she hide from The Sun God’s glare and thirst for annihilation?” Circe is essentially a story about angry Gods with plenty of issues. If Jeremy Kyle was still relevant he would have a field day picking apart the relationship between Circe and her father the Sun god Helios. Basically it all boils down to Helios renouncing Circe as his daughter due to her choosing to not only save fellow god Prometheus, but also due to her affinity with us mere mortals. So in true “angry gods” fashion he sends the rest of the Greek god family after Circe to show her what she’s missing .Thankfully Circe isn’t on her own as she has Slaine wannabe and Son of Zeus  Herakles on her side. Wha...

Swashbuckling Pirates and nefarious necromancy collide as John A. Short brings the legend of Captain Cinnamon Wylde to the Kickstarter tavern…  ‘Year of our Lord 1727... The golden age of piracy! Captain Cinnamon Wylde is the scourge of the waters around Dead Man's Straits... Raiding slaver vessels and freeing their cargo! Along with her clockwork hand (only losers have hooks) and her homunculus sidekick, Erasmus! But she has a deadly rival in the form of Captain Godiva Dunaway who uses black magic and a crew of zombies to rule the seven seas. Dunaway has plans to take Wylde down using an ancient curse and necromancy! She plans to raise the deadly creature known as the Black Reaper from the waves... a headless horror that cannot be killed because it is already dead.’  As descriptions go, the one for Captain Wilde & The Headless Mariner is a good’en. Promising an old-school action and adventure tale on the high seas with a hint of mysticism, you’ll be forgiven if you read i...

“An epic set of Myths: Monsters, Madness, War, Betrayal, Redemption, Isolation and Forgiveness all with a deeply psychological steer” Madness & Monsters is a 132-page anthology graphic novel that’s been created by Laurence Alison. Alongside a very talented team of artists, colourists, and letterers, Alison takes us on an epic journey across six tales full of monsters, madness, forgiveness, war, and redemption. As of writing the graphic novel is currently seeking funding via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Currently, the campaign sits at 100 % funding with 16 days remaining - so there’s still plenty of time to secure your copy! While I’m now very selective over what I back on Kickstarter, let’s just say that Madness & Monsters impressed me enough to hit that pledge button to add a physical copy to my bookshelf.  Much like my other anthology reviews, I won’t go into too much depth on each strip as I’m doing so will sour the experience. As such this review will almost a...

“What’s that coming over the hill, it’s Falcon #2!” The brainchild of Alan Holloway and Ed Doyle is back for its second issue. That’s right, Falcon , the A3 tabloid-style comic anthology has had a successful funding campaign on Kickstarter which means Holloway and Doyle have yet another successful project on their respective chalkboards.   For those who don’t know, Falcon is inspired by comics such as The Eagle where each story takes place over 1/2 pages. Featuring a smorgasbord of digestible stories created by a vast array of writers and artists, the content of Falcon is just as unique as its page format. Normally when it comes to reviewing an anthology I’d dive into each strip and give a brief overview of its plot, art, and writing. Much like my review for Falcon #1 , I’m going to deliberately ignore this format. With Falcon #2 being a collection of single-page spreads this means that any in-depth review will probably end up spoiling the experience - which is something no on...

From the pages of The77 and Pandora comes PENNY PENTAGRAM ISSUE 1 - a 32 page US format comic in full colour! Fresh from the pages of The77 and Pandora anthologies, the mythological ass kicking teen, Penny Pentagram stars in her own comic. Written by David Thomas with art by Andrew Richmond , Penny has come a long way since their first appearance back in The77 Issue #1 . Since then Penny has had strips featured across The77’s sister publication Pandora , and appeared in both the publishers anthologies. The younger Penny has also seen their adventures within the publishers new all-ages anthology, LOLZ .  Heading to Kickstarter the folks over at 77 Publishing  are seeking crowdfunding to make this standalone Penny Pentagram  story a reality. And with a very achievable target of £1,977, the team are already at £1,052 with 27 days to go (correct figures at time of writing). “Penny's feeling the pinch and working in a chicken shop to make ends meet until they one day take a...

A poignant tale of self discovery in amongst a galaxy unlike our own… When I first started to read Emily & Laurence Alison and David Hitchcock ’s sci-fi tale Out There , I was reminded of Dan Abnett ’s phenomenal sci-fi tale “ The Out ”. Both sci-fi operas feature a strong female lead character who’s taken well and truly out of her comfort zone and thrust into a galaxy that’s packed full of weird and wonderful beings. While “ The Out ” soon took its story down the familiar route of galactic war, Out There takes us on a grand journey that’s full of adventure, mischief, and most importantly heart. The narrative of Out There follows human being Lucy and her grandad, Len. Growing up on Earth life hasn’t been easy for Lucy. Pandemics, global climate change, and government corruption have made Lucy’s world quite a scary place. With a need for control, what’s left of humanity is governed by a group dubbed “the Palindrome” (two architects, a robotics expert, an aerospace engineer, an ...

A digital frontier that could be our saviour, or downfall…  Brought to life by a wealth of writers and artists, Punkdroid is an anthology that looks into our own reliance on technology, social networks, and automation of our every day lives. It asks to what extent are we just unknowing slaves in an ever more digital environment, and will our reliance on machines ultimately be humanities downfall?  Editor note: due to the nature of this anthology this review is intentionally going to skip over quite a lot of plot points. To deep dive into every strip within Punkdroid will really sour the experience. While there are some minor spoilers ahead, these shouldn’t detract from your own reading experience if you chose to add Punkdroid to your library.  Across the thirteen collected tales within this anthology there’s quite a degree of themes at play. From hard hitting stories such as The Urge which delves into humanities darkest urges, to the more philosophical aspects such as t...

The team over at Sentinel celebrate another milestone with their 15th issue, but does Wolfriders fit in with the pack? Fifteen issues in and Alan Holloway shows no signs of slowing down as he brings another done-in-one tale to Sentinels growing  library. This time the veteran writer has been joined by relative newcomer, Jack Parsons whose artistic talent has given a manger-esque feel to this fantasy adventure. With the full narrative needing to fit into just 64 pages (not including covers and introduction), how does ‘Wolfriders’ fare? We’ll come with me as I find out.  Moving away from the sci-fi comedy that made up Sentinel Issue 14, Holloway turns his steely towards the world of Elves and Goblins. Our central character in this story is Anna, a young Elf who finds herself thrown into a world of mysticism as an age old prophecy threatens to come true. With the help of two elvish wolfriders, Anna will soon have to face her sheltered upbringing, whilst questioning her role in th...

You all remember the Eagle right? When Alan Holloway and Ed Doyle initially announced they were planning Falcon I was a bit sceptical. While the A3 tabloid style comic book was a hit back in the mediums golden era, would it be a design that holds up in 2024? While the likes of Sentinel and The77 reign supreme in capturing the very essence of what made up the youth reading of their respective communities, can Falcon recreate the excitement that came with reading The Eagle back in day? And more importantly, was my initial scepticism proved to be wrong? While I’m far too young to remember the initial outings of The Eagle, working in a charity shop I’ve experienced gawping through the publications first three annuals (no they didn’t come home with me). Even with some of the writing being a little stuffy in places I could easily see why the publication was quite a hit back in the day. It even surprised me that my Dad used to read The Eagle too! (Apparently he was a big Dan Dare fan! Wh...