Planet Markus » Reviews

Rocket and Bounce | Web Comics Review

Mark Rosario — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 07:43:29 +0000

For anyone wanting to take a break from all the gloom and doom that seems to be too prevalent in most comics these days, Rocket and Bounce can surely be a treat!

Rocket is a flying boy wearing what looks to be like an Ultraman helmet while Bounce is a girl who, uhm, bounces and has some sort of a Speedball effect going on. The webcomic follows the adventure of these sensational super siblings who seem to enjoy arguing with each other as much as they love chasing villains. So there’s spandex – check. Action – check. Humor – big check!

No dark plots and complicated characters, finishing to read Rocket and Bounce gives you a good feeling – similar to how it felt as a kid after watching your favorite Saturday morning cartoon!

The main bummer here, though, is that the series is currently on a hiatus – but not to worry! Creator Gene Kelly promises us he’ll be “back on track” with more pages within the year.

I personally couldn’t wait!

It’s always nice to read titles that bring the fun back to comicbook-reading.

The Flash #1 Comics Review

Mark Rosario — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:48:05 +0000

Meet Flash. A superhero frequently referred to as “the fastest man alive.”

Meet Barry Allen. Flash’ alter-ego and a police forensic officer who is, quite ironically, considered as the slowest in their department.

Now meet me – not much of a Flash fan but quickly changed my tunes after reading Flash #1 by writer Geoff Johns and artist Francis Manapul.

Story-wise, I’m not sure if I still need to say “Geoff Johns rocks!” since there has never been any doubt about that. I guess I’ll just point out how I noticed a little Clark-Lois-dynamics between Barry and Iris. And that’s a good thing! Its always a delight to see the human side of superheroes and Johns does great in exploring that area. I love the exchange of SMS messages and the well-set timing of the flashback. The story’s really entertaining enough to keep me glued on my seat, eagerly anticipating the next issue.

As for the artwork, well that’s perhaps the best part! Pinoy-Canadian artist Francis Manapul has this effective way of blending some sense of realism with cartoony elements and that’s simply mind-blowing. I just love staring at the pages! On top of that, he also has lotsa crazy speedlines and compelling lightning effects going on, as anyone could rightly expect from a Flash comicbook. The guy is too good its next to impossible not to become his fan.

Go grab Flash #1 now. I’m sure you won’t regret it.

Urbandub – First Decade | Online Concert Review

Mark Rosario — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:54:23 +0000

This week, I finally got to watch the Urbandub online concert – the first of its kind here in the Philippines. Aptly titled First Decade, this is indeed a celebration for the band’s 10th year anniversary.

Anyway, here’s what I think about the gig – and some screen shots too:

Quite appropriately, their first song was taken from their debut album. After not hearing it for some time, “Come” sounded fresh to my ears again – perhaps most especially because of the synth noises provided by IQ of Switch (which was awesome). As usual, the band is in top performance but I kinda sensed there’s something wrong with vocalist/guitarist Gabby Alipe’s voice. He just couldn’t do the chorus’ falsetto parts (the troubles of steady-gigging, no?). To his credit though, he gives it his all and does his best with what he has. Fortunately, bassist Lalay Lim’s “La-la-la-la-la” backing vocals for “Gravity” saves the day, melts my soul and sends me to outer space. Hahahah! I just love her voice.

“Guillotine” was also awesome. I really like how the band grooves and dances with their instruments (with the exception for drummer Janjan Mendoza, of course) when playing this song. Its always fun to watch. They’ve really come up with a unique sound for this song and its obvious they enjoy playing it live.

“A New Tattoo” was quite a surprise as Gabby loses the guitar (plus the band) and he’s just left on the stage with a microphone and the Manila String Machine backing him up. Its a cool rendition of the song. I’m hoping they’d release a recorded version for this one. And hey, Gabs! Do something about that posture and lose that beer belly hahaha! Kidding, of course.

“First of Summer” remains to be the crowd favorite. After all, this is the song that put the band on the map, so to speak. Guitarist John Dinopol always flies as high as he can each time they play this song and you can count on him to do that again.

Now I always find “Evidence” to be mesmerizing. It surely amazes me how this band can rock it out real hard one minute and then easily slide into a more relaxing number such as this one.

The show then ends with “Stars and The Sun.” I’m guessing this will be their next single.

All in all, Urbandub First Decade was a fine viewing experience for me. They’re really a great live act, technical and performance wise, and its a treat that the sound system is really awesome. You can clearly hear every instrument.

Urbandub First Decade offers you three options when viewing this online gig, by the way. There’s the Standard, the HD and the MultiCam (where you get to choose from four different camera angles). Problem is my slow PC wasn’t cooperating quite well with the MultiCam feature so I settled for the other versions instead. Its still worth it, mind you.

Go to Pelicola.tv for more details about how you can also watch the gig. And yeah! Thanks to Rockerfem.com for my free Concert Passkey

Digmaang Salinlahi Book 1 Review

Mark Rosario — Mon, 17 May 2010 06:42:31 +0000

Written by Jon Zamar and illustrated by a bunch of awesome artists, Digmaang Salinlahi (Unang Aklat) compiles three comicbook issues of a fantasy-adventure story that takes you to a wild ride that has lots of unexpected twists and turns.

Better be ready and strap yourself in for some action because if you don’t, you might easily get lost along the way. Yes, most new readers might find it challenging to merely familiarize what seems to be hundreds of names and places such as Kahimanawari, Kahilwayon, Lantaka, Indara, Idaranggian, and Manaraia, to mention a few. Fortunately, Digmaang Salinlahi stays true to the graphic novel tradition of including bonus features like maps and character profiles. These features effectively guide readers along the journey to make sure they don’t go astray as the tale progresses.

That in mind, you can bet this is definitely not a comic you can quickly read and finish during a lunch break. Each chapter just requires your time. Books like this can best be appreciated after more than one reading anyway.

Personally, I admire the mind of Jon Zamar for coming up with an epic plot (think of it as a manga-inspired version of the Lord of the Rings with a Filipino flavor – or something to that extent). It’s really not a popular route to take, especially in the indie Pinoy comics scene, but he went for it anyway. I’d say he pulled it off quite well and I’m hooked enough to stick around for the next issues.

One worry I have about the book though is that the serious tone and old Tagalog terms might get in the way of readability for some. Of course, Digmaang Salinlahi has lots of awesome character designs, interesting clashes of ideologies and cool turtle shells used as warrior shoulder pads but I’m still thinking adding a little humor wouldn’t hurt and might indeed make it more catchy.

Art-wise, I’d say I’m all blown away. I heard its Keso who’s more of a fan-favorite and that’s easy to see why. He’s really, really good when it comes to details and dynamic paneling. It’s Jhomar Soriano, though, who makes me an instant fan. He has this distinct style of preferring clean, simple lines over complicated hatchings and shadings. I find that very eye-pleasing. and I’m surely eager to check out more books from this guy.

Lastly, let me commend Jon Zamar once more and this time, for the book’s production value. Kudos for taking the title to the printing press and not settling for photocopiers! I’m aware this is not an easy feat for indie creators to achieve (because it can be very expensive) that’s why I’m appreciative for the effort. The tones are sweet, man! They surely take the artworks to the next level.

Go pick up a copy of Digmaang Salinlahi (Unang Aklat) at your favorite comicbook stores now or visit their official blog if you’d want to read online instead.

Iron Man 2 Movie Review

Mark Rosario — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:46:08 +0000

Just finished watching Iron Man 2 with my friends days ago. Naturally, I tried to avoid each and every review I saw online so as to prevent that from me enjoying the movie totally. I don’t like spoilers (who does?) since I believe it takes away something from the entire experience.

So far, I’ve been successful at avoiding reviews and spoilers but while watching Iron Man 2, I felt like there were too few surprises for me to expect anyway. I think Marvel showed too much previews! Several scenes became too easy to predict because of it. For example, I realized the suitcase scene would’ve been more awesome if it was my first time to see that while watching. Please don’t feed us too much next time, Marvel, I beg you!

Now let me write this entry and play the part of the spoiler! Hahah!.. First off, I think Scarlett Johansson surprised me the most. She makes a compelling Black Widow. I’ll admit I initially had hesitations and thought she looked too cutie-cutie for a super spy role but she did prove me wrong. She’s really more than just a pretty face – she’s got the moves and she gets the job done! Those few minutes of stunts were really a show stopper!

As for Don Cheadle donning the War Machine armor (a little pun intended there), I think he did well. I almost didn’t miss Terence Howard. If there’s one thing he lacked, I’d say its the super hero physique. He looked a little too frail for a superhero, don’t you think?

Mickey Rourke as an actor sure fits the role as Whiplash. As a character, he was convincingly creepy. The end was disappointing for me though. I’ve always been afraid he’d be a lame villain ever since I saw his first pictures as Whiplash and my suspicions were confirmed.

Although he had his own Whiplash armor (which looked nothing like the supposed hint from a recent Iron Man Vs. Whiplash comicbook), he was too easily defeated and that didn’t sit well with me. Think about it. Videogame big bosses are supposed to be the hardest to beat but Iron man and War Machine took him down almost effortlessly. It looked like Tony and Rhodey had a harder time with the drones. Whiplash seemed deadlier during the racetrack scene even when he was armor-less at the time and was only wearing his infamous orange pants.

Now I don’t know if I still need to say anything about Robert Downey Jr. He IS Iron Man. Fact is, Its almost always impossible for me to separate him and the Tony Stark persona. He’s so natural and doesn’t seem like acting at all. Watch any Downey interview and compare that to his on-screen role and there’s almost no difference. He’s really that impressive!

Jon Favreau’s role as Happy Hogan is also worth-mentioning. I loved it when he “slipped” plus his “I got him” line.

And oh! Captain America’s shield makes a brief appearance once more in the movie. I think I died laughing with what Tony used it for. Man, the upcoming Avengers film will really be hilarious with Tony around.

Now I patiently hung around for the after-credits and – woohoo! – it was totally worth the wait! That New Mexico scene was totally thrilling and seeing Mjolnir gave me geeky goosebumps I couldn’t refrain myself from clapping out of sheer fanboy excitement!

Catch Iron Man 2 now if you still haven’t done that. You wouldn’t want to miss the fun. Still I won’t say that this one is better than the first Iron Man film.

Insomnoir | Prelude to Manila Man: Defender of Whatever

Mark Rosario — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:19:48 +0000

Fresh from last Saturday’s Summer Komikon is this indie comicbook from RH Quilantang called Insomnoir. Prelude to Manila Man: Defender of Whatever.

Quite a catchy title there, if you ask me. And here we read a tale about Apog, a blind guy who, like New York City, never sleeps and about John Leysi, Apog’s apprentice who is Manila Man himself.

Insomnoir starts out with Apog walking down a typically dark Manila alleyway which eventually leads him to a save-the-damsel-in-distress situation. Of course, that’s the part where action takes place and it all happens in an unexpected way.

From there, writer/artist RH Quilantang effectively shifts the mood from gloomy to hilarious, giving this title its own unique flavor. Insomnoir, in other words, is a noir story with a twist.

Storywise, the captions are undeniably witty. Artwise, I’d say it RH really spent quality time drawing each panel for this book. Nothing looks rushed. The shadings and hatchings are plainly eye-catching (page 7-panel 1, for example) plus the perspectives are very impressive.

And oh, I just realized that the last sentence rhymed. I think I’m starting to sound like Apog now! Hahaha!

Kudos to RH for a good prelude. I’m all excited for the actual Manila Man comicbook.

Breaking Into Comics The Marvel Way #1

Mark Rosario — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:28:20 +0000

I can’t blame you if you make the mistake of thinking that this is a how-to manual. Believe me – it’s not – though the title sounds like it.

Actually, Breaking Into Comics The Marvel Way #1 (of 2) is an anthology showcasing artworks of various artists Marvel editor CB Cebulski discovered after “travelling the globe”.

I’d say the artists were all good but I was most impressed with Damion Hendricks who did the Spider-Man story. His detailed work and fantastic perspectives stands out among the others and I think this guy deserves to get a regular Marvel gig one of these days.

Here’s a few panels to show you what I mean.

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

Mark Rosario — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:50:48 +0000

After 5 years of waiting, Gorillaz finally announces a new album. Plastic Beach, their third studio effort, is set to hit the market by 09 March 2010.

Cant wait for it?.. That’s not a problem at all. Head over to NPR.org now and listen to the whole album for free.

Yep, you read that right, the whole album! Not just a few tracks or a few-second snippets but all the 16 tracks of Plastic Beach. Go click the link now. The album’s available there for just a week so don’t delay, my friend. Just don’t forget to come back here and tell me your thoughts about it, ‘kay?… Okay.

As for me, I noticed Gorillaz relied more on their hiphop and electronic influences than their alternative roots for this album. So more synthesizers and rhymes than guitars for the band this time around. Expect to hear tons of guest artists throughout Plastic Beach too (Snoop Dogg and the likes).

This is a cool Gorillaz album and could provide some good background music for me as I do my work. I’d have to admit that “On Melancholy Hill” stands out pretty well among the other tracks though. But don’t let the sad title deceive you. This one’s a really bouncy song. It takes me back to the 80’s for some reason. Haha!

And before I forget, carrier single “Stylo” features Bruce Willis on the video, yes. So go ahead and check out Plastic Beach now. You know you want to. Who doesn’t love the Gorillaz anyway?

Blackest Night

Mark Rosario — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:49:07 +0000

I’ve been following DC’s Blackest Night lately. Wait. Let me paraphrase that. I’ve been following and enjoying DC’s Blackest Night lately. Really! Very much enjoying it, I should say.

If there’s someone who should be surprised about this, it should absolutely be me. First, I’m more of a Marvel boy than a DC dude. Second, I’ve never been a Green Lantern fan since being a kid (I always believed “Lantern” was too lame a name for a superhero). Lastly, I can’t shake up the thought the concept of zombies and multi-colored heroes (Power Rangers anyone?) wasn’t too interesting a combination for me.

Yet Blackest Night grabbed me by the neck and never let go – from the time I first started reading it. I’m officially hooked. I can’t wait for the last two issues!

Geoff Johns is a genius indeed. Yes, I know I use that word a lot but hey! What do you call a guy who made a seemingly-awkward concept work? You can bet I’m a Green Lantern fan now. Plus more willing to check out other titles from DC Comics.

Here’s some of my many favorite scenes, most of which made me say “whoa” out loud, led me gasping for air or simply made me crack a smile!

Die, you bad Bat Signal!

Coolest Flash line. Ever!

Now this is the part where we say “It’s Morphin’ time” right?

Something unexpected – its just too awesome!

Blackest Night is written Geoff Johns and illustrated by Ivan Reis (pencils) and Osclair Albert (inks).

Goodbye Rubbit Comics Review

Mark Rosario — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:40:51 +0000

Stories with cute cartoony characters are just for kids, right?… And they can’t teach you life lessons, right?…

Wrong! If you’ve read Goodbye Rubbit by RH Quilantang, you know there are those kinds of stories out there that aren’t exclusively kiddie stuff.

As the cover tells us, this comic book is also subtitled as “A Simple Story About Moving On” and that, along with the actual title, pretty much gives you a hint what this comicbook is all about.

For me, the beauty of the story is that what you get from it depends on what you bring when you start reading. The tree stump is something symbolic and could mean many things. On top of that, you will surely see yourself and relate with the story’s main character, which is Rubbit himself.

I really loved the line that said “I love walking… because I know I’m going somewhere”. That simply hits home and sums up the whole point for me.

Of course, I wouldn’t want to end up spoiling more for you about this so just in case you haven’t read this yet, you better look for it during comic conventions. Suffice it to say that storywise and artwise, Goodbye Rubbit is a very unique book. Any reader, young and old, can enjoy it much. It takes a few minutes to read but the message can stay with you for a long time.