Nightwing Vol. 1: Bludhaven Series Review

What a blessing given to us by DC Comics! I am so happy that DC has decided to reprint every Nightwing volume pre New 52. It’s like a dream come true for me! Nightwing has been my #1 favorite superhero for as long as I can remember. Regardless this has to be one of the best if not the best comic book series I have ever read. Nightwing: Blüdhaven is two graphic novels in one. It includes a solo Dick Grayson mini-series from 1995 and the first eight issues of Nightwing from 1996-1997.

Dick Grayson we all know as the original Robin and decide to go out on his own. He finds his own path as Nightwing and even gets his new costume.. I love how with this miniseries we get to see how Dick became the Nightwing we know and love today.

Dennis O'Neil is a tremendous writer as well. The dialogue was very much alive and you can tell that he had a firm grasp on who Dick Grayson really is as a person. He also takes you on this tremendous action packed thrill ride which discovers the truth behind the murder of Dick's parents.  

Dick then travels to a foreign country to find out about his parent's past. He gets somewhat involved in a struggle between a corrupt but jailed prime minister and an even more corrupt dictator-king. The situation does not go well, and it's even sad. But I liked it - the story really shows Dick's character, and his past, his parents - there are even flashbacks to his parents teaching him how to fly on the trapeze and his mother calling him Robin.

The issues after the first four you read are issues #1-8 of Chuck Dixon's legendary run of Nightwing's solo series. Dixon really takes Nightwing to a whole new level here. Nightwing is on his own in Bludhaven trying to solve a mystery that ties to Gotham of course, but it still manages to make Nightwing independent and truly his own hero in his own right.

Dick returns home, and heads to Blüdhaven . Dick discovers he has a problem - he doesn't "really" exist. He has no birth certificate, no prove of employment, no previous bill paying history, no job history, no credit. Even getting his electrical service turned on in his cheap apartment will cost him $1000.00. Still, he does find a cheap apartment, and even gets a job at a nearby cop's bar so he can pick-up news and gossip. And at night, he goes out on his second job - as Nightwing.

We get to see Nightwing mentor the new Robin Tim Drake in one episode and we get to see Dick really showcase his experience and we get to see Drakes lack thereof experience. Some of the best panels throughout the book show multiple Nightwings, each in a slightly different position, illustrating Dick's remarkable acrobatic and gymnast skills, and I really like how it shows the fluidity of Nightwing's movements. And at the end, Dick meets up with Batman, who actually tells him he thinks he's doing a good job - something Dick desperately needs to hear.

Nightwing investigates the killings in Gotham, and a mob war in Blüdhaven. I also liked the second series, which is part of the new Nightwing series. He has a less definitive end because it's part of an on-going story, but I plan on getting the next volume.

I would give this book 5 stars great story and great illustrations it keeps you wanting more and more.

Michael Connelly The Black Echo Book Review

The Black Echo is the first book from the Harry Bosch series written by Michael Connelly. The book follows Hollywood homicide detective Harry Bosch threw a murder mystery after the body of a Vietnam War veteran is discovered in a storm tunnel. Bosch recognizes the guy as an old war buddy who had worked with him in the tunnel system during the war.

While on the trail of the killer Bosch discovers his friend’s death is linked to a series of bank robberies involving Vietnam tunnel rats as they’re called.  Bosch finally gets a lead from a witness but when the witness turns up dead Bosch realizes there must be a leak in the FBI and must find out how deep this goes in the bureau. Bosch himself is under investigation from internal affairs for being too close to his last case.

When Bosch finally gets a lead at half way house for war veterans he is able to ID the two other men involved in the bank robberies but what he does not realize is there just pawns in the grand scheme of things.

After a long night of stake out with Bosch’s FBI liaison the two internal affair agents make a mistake that causes a bloody shoot out killing several people. Bosch using his skills from the war chases the men down threw a tunnel system and finally finds out who is behind this entire robbery and homicide case.

Michael Connelly does a great job in this book of describing Hollywood and the surrounding area you are really able to get a feel for the surroundings. Everything is well explained I am not an expert in police lingo but the author does a great job of explaining everything so you do not get lost in the conversation or acronyms.

The book does a great job of keeping the plot and story moving sometimes in mystery books it can be tough to really keep the pace of the book going this book really does not have any low points it always keeps your attention with some plot twist or back story needed to further explain the story.

The book is a little dated published in 1992 not the authors fault as technology has progressed the references to payphones, typewriters and maps in any book is always a fun time especially seeing how technology has changed the way we live.

Overall a great cop book with a great murder mystery I would give the book four stars out of five. 

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The Black Echo

Jessica Jones The Pulse The Complete Collection Review

I started reading the Jessica Jones series in preparation for the new Netflix series set to debut this year called AKA Jessica Jones. The Pulse the complete collection covers Marvel comics The Pulse number 1-9 then 11-14 and The New Avengers Annual 1.

Jessica Jones is the breakout star of Brian Michael Bendis' hit series Alias. She is an ex-super hero-turned-private investigator and is starting a new chapter in her life working for the Daily Bugle's new super hero section, The Pulse!

Jessica's first assignment is to uncover the identity of a former Bugle reporter's super-powered murderer. We find out that Normal Osborn is involved and we get to see Spiderman hard at work trying to help Jessica with finding the killer. We find out in the first few pages of the series that Jessica is pregnant with Luke’s baby and that carries threw the entire series using the pregnancy as time line marker to show gaps in time this was a good idea by the author.

One thing I did notice is that with Jessica Jones a lot of her stories center around other characters in the Marvel Universe they seem to use her series as a way to tie in different groups like SHEILD and the Fantastic Four. They used Jessica Jones to tie in Wolverine into the Avengers along with Luke Cage and Daredevil.

Yes she is the main character but she has many big name Marvel character star powers in her series. This is just an observation Jessica Jones can handle her own being a former SHEILD agent. We only get to see her use her powers a few times in the entire series.

Nick Fury's Secret War spills over into the streets and it hits Jessica and Luke Cage right where they live and destroys there home. Luke is injured and taken to a secret location where only Fury knows. Jessica is on the hunt for him for quite a while this is where the bulk of the series focus is spent.

While Jessica is looking for Luke we see her take matters into her own hands when she battles Hydra with the help of shield. Then we see her get some help from Wolverine and Spiderman where she fines Luke.

There are some low points in the book after she finds Luke he joins the Avengers and then things pick up again with the birth of Jessica and Luke's baby and that entire ordeal thank goodness Dr. Strange is available to help Jessica with the delivery.

Luke asks Jessica to marry him and of course no wedding can go smooth in a super hero’s life the Black Widow shows up with some extra added super powers that make for some struggles for the Avengers to overcome. But in the end Luke and Jessica get married.

Overall this was a great series I greatly enjoyed. I know the Jessica Jones series was put on the shelf for a while and was brought back in this series The Pulse. This was a good series good story line unfortunately though the series was shelved again in 2006. I would give this 4 out 5 stars. The main reason being the story ends here cause series was shelved they could have done more with it cause of Jessica Jones great tie in with a lot of other super heroes.

I look forward to the Netflix series set to release sometime in 2015.

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Jessica Jones: The Pulse - The Complete Collection

License to Pawn By Rick Harrison Book Review

License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver By Rick Harrison of the popular TV Show on the history channel Pawn Stars was a great book. When I first picked this book up I was afraid that this was going to be an almost 300 page infomercial for the show Pawn Stars boy was I wrong but in a good way.

As well all know from watching the show Rick Harrison loves his history he describes himself in the show as a “Uber History Nerd” and in License to Pawn Rick Harrison gives you his history. He talks a little bit about his life growing and some health issues he has as a kid. Harrison gives an in depth history of his father and his military background. Harrison even goes in depth about his other family members.

Harrison then dives into starting the pawn shop business and how they got started just buying and selling gold and silver to then opening a coin shop then to acquiring a pawn broker license and then struggles to open up a larger store.

Harrison then writes about life before then the show and how the pawn shop business works. Talking about how people use the pawn shop for credit and how people use it to get money to gamble in vegus. Harrison goes into depth telling stories about the kind of customers he services and how the business stay profitable.

Harrison then writes about his real relationship with his father, his son and Chum. He speaks about how sometimes there real feeling for each other does not come out on TV. Harrison writes about working very hard to get a reality TV show and how the original channel that was going to pick it up was HBO but the deal fell through at the end.

Harrison talks about the late nights and long days of recording the show and how they have been forced to close the shop while filming. They then goes on to explain that as much as the show has helped him and his family in the financial area he misses talking to his regular customers at times.

Harrison did admit to family issues between his other son and Corey do the popularity of the show. Harrison goes on to say how the pawn shop is ran mostly by his workers rather than him and Corey cause they are too busy with the show and appearances.

Overall I give this book 5 stars because Rick Harrison wrote this book as a business man not as a television personality. I learned a lot about the pawn business from this book. I would say this book is more of a business manual for a pawn shop owner or someone looking to own or buy a pawn shop. Even though Rick Harrison is main star on Pawn Stars he puts the focus on the Pawn Shop not himself.

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License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver

Michael Connelly The Reversal Book Review

The Reversal is the third installment of Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) series and is the first time we see Mickey Haller team up with Harry Bosch from New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly’s flagship Bosch series.

Defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller must team up not only Bosch but his ex-wife a full time district attorney to convict Jessup a second time.

Together, Bosch and Haller set off on the case LAPD Detective Bosch must find a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years. In the meantime Haller must deal with Jessup being out on bail and trying to put together a case on evidence 24 years old.

During the road to building a case Haller must deal with a sly and crafty defense attorney that loves the media and using the media to his advantage. All this while Harry Bosch must stay on Jessup’s tail using surveillance and his detective skills.

This is my favorite book out of Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller series having both Haller and Bosch working together on a case pulls you into the book. The other thing that really draws you in is having Haller a veteran defense attorney being the prosecutor gives you insight to how he thinks and his pure skill set for the law.

I would give this book 5 stars it’s a great book I would rate this as best book Michael Connelly has written.

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The Reversal (A Lincoln Lawyer Novel)

Interview Jessie From Grawlix Podcast

I am working on getting a podcast going talking about books and comic but until then here are some old shows from my old website that I did talking about comics with some friends of mine.

Today in this podcast we are joined by Jessie from Grawlix Podcast. We talk X-Factor comics and Spawn. We discuss X-Men women characters and ever changing X-Men team. We talk about X-Men Gambit joining X-Factor and being in Marvel Comic movies. We talk about Spawn HBO Series not being available on HBOGO and the Spawn Movie. We talk about image comics and the Angela series. Jessie talks about the action figure boom in the 90’s.  We talk about Marvel Comic spin offs Wolverine and Gambit series. We get into a deep discussion Marvel Comic Gambit character and being a professional thief. We speak about Marvel Comic Gambit clothing and attire and merchandise sales. X-Men Gambit famous lines on cartoon series. Randi joins us again as a caller.

Chris Hardwick The Nerdist Way Book Review

I generally don’t read self-help books, but I picked this up because I am a fan of Chris Hardwick but I like the Talking Dead Show and I have listened to his podcast a few times. Chris Hardwick, who some may recognize as being one of the hosts of MTV’s Singled Out way back in the 90s and most recently Talking Dead Every week on AMC.

Chris Hardwick spent much of his 20s partying, drinking, and generally ruining his life. He ended up regaining his life after he quit drinking in 2003 and started trying to improve his life. Now he has multiple projects on the go, including a successful podcast, a new podcast network, and several TV gigs.

The secrets to Hardwick’s success aren’t anything new. Basically, he was able to harness his innate nature his nerdiness, so to speak and use it to his advantage. And that’s what this book is about. He talks about nerds having the highest level of focus and how to channel it to their advantage.

The book provides useful information on how to analyze your current habits and how to improve on them so you can live to your full potential. Chris Hardwick uses visualization tricks to help overcome the times when your brain can’t stop thinking about something and reclaiming a few hours of your life every week. Also the personal character sheet is fun art projects.

Chris Hardwick book takes you through his ups and downs and came out the other side wanting to share how he grew as a person. He gives you tips and tricks based on his life how to improve yours. For a self-help book I would give it 5 stars.

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The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life)

iWoz by Steve Wozniak Book Review

iWoz is a life story written by Steve Wozniak by well himself. We all have heard the stories of Apple but I think this book really gives you an insight into Steve Wozniak the person. I never knew so much about Steve Wozniak the person until I read this book. I knew his Apple stories but never his personal life.

Steve Wozniak really takes a deep look into his education talking about math his science projects and his college years and of course his college pranks. Steve Wozniak talks about his deep love of electronics and love of engineering. Steve talks about both his parents and how influential they were in his upbringing and education.

I loved his stories about creating a dial a joke number and using his blue box to call long distance numbers to listen to jokes. I really enjoyed his section about answering machines and picking easy phone numbers for jokes.

Steve Wozniak talks about his time at Hewlett Packard and creating calculators there and his love of working at HP and how great it was and all the fun things he did there and loved. He talks about how he left HP and moved on to Apple.

Steve Wozniak dives into his relationships with his wives and the love of his children. He talks about child hood development and his love of teaching and education.

Steve Wozniak writes about his journey of life after Apple and his work on the first universal remote.

I loved this book I would definably make this required reading for anyone with love of apple products. If you have an iPhone, iMac or iPad this will give you respect for the man who founded the first Apple products the Apple 1 and Apple 2. I give this book 5 Stars.

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iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon

Art Bell The Art of Talk Book Review

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I have only discovered Art Bell within the last year or so, unfortunately (wish I had started listening earlier). But I felt compelled to learn more about this fascinating guy. Art Bell is a hall of fame radio broadcaster and former nightly host of Coast to Coast AM. Art Bell would then retire and move to weekends then start another show on SiriusXM called Dark Matter after being off the air for years. Art Bell is now retired again and is looking into podcasting a new show.

The book is a bit dated since being published in 1998 but the book gives you insight into Art Bell’s entire life history. I remember listening the night on the radio where he was taking calls from fans for book name suggestions. When reading the book you have to remember it was published in the pinnacle of his broadcasting career.

Nonetheless, it is interesting to get to know the man behind the voice that I was so accustomed to hearing night after night. Besides his childhood, education, domestic life, and career, Art discusses how he used to get callers and guests to talk on the air, and even relates his feelings toward what he heard and was broadcasting. He discusses his transition from Ham Radio into talk radio and how he spent time in the military which started his career and interest in the radio business.

The book is written in a conversational style that made me imagine I was chatting with Art in his studio during commercial breaks. If you are familiar with Art Bell’s voice, his on-air personality & the general aura presented on his radio show, this book flows in a familiar way.

I found almost every chapter captivating which if you’re a fan of Art Bell you know no one captivates an audience better and keeps them engaged. The chapter on his world travels and vacations I could have done without but again being a fan you understand that his world travels made him the man he is today. Overall I think this was a great book with a very different writing style I would give this book 5 star rating.

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The Art of Talk