The Man who Never was

Batman Vampire by Doug Moench My rating: 4 of 5 stars *** Content warning: Mature themes, graphic violence, nudity. *** When your favorite comic character dresses like a bat, works during the dark hours, stays in the shadows and instills the ever-living fear of death onto criminal scum, it's only a while before you begin to draw parallels between them and another of pop culture's iconic characters, who share many of the traits, but inhabit moreover of a neutral evil compared to the Lawful Good (maybe Lawful Neutral) of your favorite muse. So many jokes are being made about Count Batman, or the Bat Vampire, it would not be a surprise if there are stories featuring both of them facing off; or him being an actual f***ing Vampire. What surprised me was that it took me this long to come across the story. I had previously encountered a similar character in the DC animated movie 'Justice League: Gods and Monsters' but seeing as how that char...

Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky My rating: 5 of 5 stars Detailed review pending. View all my reviews A whole lot of things are crammed in Dmitry Glukhovsky’s post apocalyptic, claustrophobic, introspective, yet engrossing underground tunnel opera. From the very first chapter, the author had me hooked, with the detailed dives into the history and lore of how exactly, the remnants of humanity came to live in such existential squalor. How the populace had devolved into tribalistic colonies centered around the metro stations, where only a thin veneer of law and order held sway, just enough that humans don’t devolve into utter barbarity and cannibalism; well, mostly. How, lack of basic necessities we today take for granted, such as clean running water, medicines, and lights, are slowly but surely pushing them ever closer to the edge of annihilation. How, a simple errant spark, a mutated strain, some contaminated water is all that would t...

The Gospel According to Artyom by Dmitry Glukhovsky My rating: 5 of 5 stars Note: This really should've been a review that comes after writing about the main story. But there is much for me to ponder over in regard to Metro 2033 , which requires a detailed discourse. So, here goes. // Spoilers for the main story // This short excerpt, more of an epilogue, is a companion piece to the main story of Metro 2033, added during a later edition, to provide more context as to the mental state of our protagonist Artyom. Following the destruction of the Botanical Gardens, and the Dark Ones' nest that was located in it, the whole metro rose in celebration, at the elimination of a dangerous threat to their existence. Artyom, who played an instrumental role in bringing about this victory, was hailed as a hero. Little do they know that their hero is a broken man, plagued with remorse and guilt. For only he knew, in the literal last minutes before their dem...

I Am Legend by Steve Niles My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews I Am Legend  by Richard Matheson was one of my earliest forays into Sci-fi. The book, the 1964 & 1971 adaptations as well. (Not the 2008 will smith version which was forgettable). I suppose every dude has, at one point or another, pondered the hypothetical scenario when the world has ended, and they have to survive the fall of civilization much the Ron Swanson way. By building a bunker fortress, stacked with food and other necessities, armed to the teeth, ready to face the unknown from outside, Robinson Crusoe style. That, and which animal they think they can take in a fight. The original 1954 version doesn't hold up when it comes to the origins of the vampiric pandemic, or the science surrounding their hemophilic traits. But the reason it has continued to endure in popular imagination, is not because of the surface level premise, which is shared by most works about the zombie apocalypse. Rather, it's t...