Brunner's Bar

Graphic Novel Challenge 2016 It's that time of year again. Time to sign up and throw my name in the ring for a new years worth of Comic book reading. I always have a great time do thing this because it is something I am already doing. Anyone who reads my blog knows I am a comic book nerd. I like to have an outlet other than my blog to not only get my reviews out there but to read other ones and maybe find some great books I might have missed out on.  Like the last few years the levels haven't changed. Here they are right from the source.  Levels Modern Age : read and review 12 books during the year (that's only 1 book a month) Bronze Age:  read and review 24 books during the year (Can you handle 2 books a month.) Silver Age : read and review 52 books during the year (Are you up to a book a week!) In 2015 I took the safe bet and pledged to do the Bronze age because I knew I would be able to complete 24 books in the year. The last 2 years I have be

White Night I really liked this installment in the Dresden Files. Someone is killing wizards that are not part of the council but under their protection. Dresden is tasked to get to the bottom of what is going on only to find that the biggest suspect in this string of murders is Harry's half brother Thomas. While Harry is doing what he does best and solve this mystery he has quite a few struggles to get through at the same time.  Harry has taken on the responsibility of training Molly as his apprentice. She used magic and broke on of the laws of the council. Harry has risked his life to save her from sudden death. We also see a much darker side of Harry in this book. The demon that is residing in him is starting to wear on him. His temper is getting short and Harry is relying more and more on help from the demon making him one step closer to completely loosing himself.  I have read through a bunch of reviews about this book and the one thing they mostly have in commo

The Girl on the Train There has been a lot of hype around this book and had it not been for my wife reading this for her book club I might have passed it by. I don't usually read a book because of the hype, I really need to be invested in the plot. The idea of a story along the same lines as Hitchcock's Rear Window peaked my interest. The more I read this book the more similarities I found with Gillian Flynn than with Hitchcock.  This is a dark messed up book. Rachel has lost everything all becuase she is an alcoholic and she takes the train to a job she doesn't have so her roommate doesn't know she was fired. Each day she takes the train she looks longingly at her old house and the neighbors who live a few houses down. One day in a drunken haze she sees something but isn't sure what. Then the woman who lives there, Megan goes missing. Rachel then makes it her mission to figure out what happened.  Here is what makes me say that Paula Hawkinns's bo

Sherlock Homes and the Necronomicon I was fortunate enough to be chosen by Dark Horse comics and Edelweiss to read this for an honest review. I'm going to be honest and it pains me. This book is dry, I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and no one writes a better story then Conan Doyle did but I have enjoyed plenty of Pastiches. I have also enjoyed a few Sherlock graphic novels. This was hard to get through and I ended up skipping around.  I was excited by the title of this book because I am really enjoying Ash vs Evil Dead and that is all about the power of the Necronomicon or book of the dead. I had really high hopes for this book because there are a few characters I'd like to see back form the dead. We do get a resurrection of an old character but I was underwhelmed. I would have expected a much better story throughout this book. I struggled to get through this book and that shouldn't happen with a comic book.  The art work for the cover was really good as

Finders Keepers When you think of Stephen King, most peoples first thought is of the Horror novels he writes. There are a ton of amazing novels that will scare the pants of you like IT, The Shining, and Salem's Lot. These are just a few of my favorites but something I have been pleasantly surprised by is his mystery writing. I really liked Mr Mercedes and when I heard it was part of a trilogy with the same characters I got really excited. It took me awhile to finally get to this book but it was well worth the read.  This book is about a vengeful reader who feels his favorite author sold out and destroyed his very favorite character. Wanting to steal the rumored unpublished work takes a violent turn. Clearing the author's safe, Morris Bellamy hides the notebooks and stolen money he stole only to be arrested for a different crime leaving them behind. Flash forward to 30 years later when these are found by a young man named Pete Saubers. Now I am going to be honest h

The Message If you have read my blog before you have probably noticed I mention the Web site Nerdist often. I really enjoy the Podcasts that Chris Hardwick does with different celebrities. Before each podcast he has a community cork board that allows people to advertise their different endeavors and this podcast was mentioned It sounded pretty interesting and was even better to listen too.  Here is the description from the web site: The Message is a new Podcast following the weekly reports and interviews from Nicky Tomalin, who is covering the decoding of a message from outer space received 70 years ago. Over the course of 8 episodes we get an insider ear on how a top team of cryptologists attempt to decipher, decode, and understand the alien message. Each week she'll bring you the latest chapter, so it's important to listen in starting with episode 1. The message is a co-production with Panoply and GE Podcast Theater, unlocking the secrets of healing with sound t

M & M Mariam Books I realize this post is a little late considering the voting has been going on for almost a month now, but I am proud to have been nominated for Best Comic Book blog. I have no idea who nominated my blog but I am really excited to have been noticed enough to be nominated.  In the category for Best Comic Book blog it is myself and my friend Angie from Angela's Anxious Life . She has a great blog and is really tough competition. She deserves to win but I would love to as well. All I can say is if you like my blog please vote for me but if you haven't checked out Angie's then I highly recommend hers too. She also reviews book and video games.  Thank you to all who have read my blog and to all who vote for me. I do appreciate the support. I do this because I think it is fun for me, but it is nice to know that someone out there actually enjoys what I post.

Aeronaut's Windlass I really wanted to like this book. I tried and even re-read the beginning of this book three times because I was so lost with the point of what was going on with all of the characters that are introduced very quickly. I love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and from what I have read about his he seems like a really cool guy. I also like the fact he is form Missouri. I am not a fan of Sci-Fi and Fantasy books but I tried the Dresden Files and love the series so I was really looking forward to this book coming out. This book is kind of a cross between Firefly and Game of Thrones. I like both shows but I wouldn't want to read the, As a matter of face I tried to read Game of Thrones and couldn't stand it but that is a different review. I couldn't get into this book and I found that I was reading just to rad the book and not really retaining the information. By the end of the book I wasn't really invested in the story. It pains me to say the

Test of Wills I'm just going to say it. I miss Geoff Johns. The Green Lantern story has kind of petered out in the last few volumes. Nothing against Robert Venditti but I have been underwhelmed. The last book dealt with the end of the universe because the light energy that the rings us is finite and when the energy runs out the universe is destroyed to be reborn. This story could have been amazing but I couldn't get through it fast enough so I could move on to something else.  This book deals with the aftermath of refilling the reservoir and now having to figure out how to police the universe without ending it in the long run. The Corps is rebuilding on Mogo the new headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps. and a race of shape changing beings are trying to destroy the corps (shocker) and find a way to be the most powerful creatures whom ever lived. We get to meet a few new characters in this book that look like they could be some regulars in this series in the future.

Endgame I finally got this book from the library and after all of the wait I found out I had already read this book. If you have read  The Joker: Endgame  then I will save you the time and tell you to skip it. If you haven't read The Joker: Endgame then I would suggest skipping that book and just reading this one.  This story is the end all be all of Batman Joker fights. The Joker has decided he is finally ready to kill Batman. What better way to kill someone than to have the people closest to the, do it for you. The Joker has beefed up his Joker gas now instead of just killing his victims it makes them want to kill Batman more than anything in the world. It even effects the man in blue, Superman. Thankfully Batman has planned for the day the Justice League goes bonkers but it made for a great story. Watching Batman fights his best friends. All of them are super powered heroes that Batman needs to stop but he doesn't want to kill them. This book is a great story

Your're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) I love Felicia Day, she is really funny and seems so down to earth. I love her story about how she went from a socially awkward child to a socially awkward internet gaming queen/celebrity. I am not one for non-fiction or memoirs but occasionally I find one that peaks my interest. My very first memoir I read was Bruce Campbell's and I loved it. The I read Jackie Chan's and hadn't picked on up for over a decade. Chris Harwick's book, The Nerdist Way  is less memoir and more self help. That is the first and only self help book I think I will ever read. It was amazing because Chris Hardwick is funny and just an awesome guy but this review is about Felicia Day's book.  When I saw this pop up as suggested reading because I had read Jenny Lawson's two books I jumped at the chance to get this. I got the audio book because these types of books are usually read by the author and that makes the audio so much bette

Prisoner of Azkaban This was the first of the Harry Potter books I read. I had seen the first two movies and figured I would just pick up where they left off.This book is my favorite of all of the books in the series which made me so angry when the movie came out. There were so many great scenes in the book that had explanations for a lot of big parts of the story left out so they could show the boys eating candy that made them make animal noises. Yes, I'm still bitter after all of these years.  Harry is in his third year at Hogwarts and things are getting creepy this year. A vicious Killer has escaped from the highest security Wizard prison and might be after Harry to finish what is left unfinished. With a killer on the loose the guards of Azkaban called Dementors are out searching. These creatures are ghastly figures with bony fingers and cloaked in tattered cloth blacker than death itself. These creatures feed off the happiness as well as sorrow of those they trap.  H

Proven Guilty I have no idea what to say about this book. I have been a little off the last week or two so I kind of glanced through this book and I am having a hard time remembering all the great things about this book so I'm sorry if this review is a little shorter than normal. What I can tell you is there are some parts in this that where blow my mind awesome. I will try to avoid taking about these so I don't spoil anything but they made this book really worth the read.  I love this series and look forward to each book in the series. This book has Harry a full Warden of the White Council doing what he can to protect Chicago as well as the world during the war with the Vampires. Harry has been asked by the council to look into some black magic that has been happening in the city. some movie monsters have come off the silver screen and are attacking people so Harry has to figure out what is going on before more people get hurt.  I will be the first to admit that

Lights Out I'm just going to say it. I miss Geoff Johns. I read recently that he is returning to Aquaman because the series is heading in a direction the fans are not happy with. I'm not saying that Green Lantern is heading in a bad direction but the story line is just meh. This could have been such an epic story and I just feel like I was reading it to get through it and see what comes next.  This book is a collection of several series to make one story and I hate that Green Lantern splits its story among several series. Why can't each series have its own story line? I know, this way it sells more comic books. Unless you read these collections or all of the different series you only get parts of the story or their are giant plot holes. In story the creature known as Relic is trying to extinguish all of the lantern corps before they use all the light and empty the reserve. When the reserve is empty then the universe will die and a new one will be born. It sounds

Life and Death I have loved this series since the very first episode on AMC. It took a few seasons before I got into the comics that started the whole thing and now I wait on the edge of my nerves fro each new book. Since I continue to get these through my library the wait list is really long which makes the waiting even worse. I have enjoyed every book for the most part but there are some that are amazing and others that you get through just to get tot he next big part of the story. This is one of those books you just get through to find out what happens next.  For those of you reading this post that haven't read the books up to this point and want to, stop reading now. If you don't care what happens or to read these book but still want to know my thoughts feel free to read on. There could be some spoilers ahead just FYI. At this point 24 books into the series and 144 monthly issues into the story it is pretty impossible to talk about a book and not have something b

Down Town I love these graphic novels. It is so much fun to read a new story by Jim Butcher in the Dresden series without having to wait for the next book. I'm still behind a bit in the series so currently I don't have to wait for the next one, but when I see these on Netgalley for review I always jump at the chance to review it. Thank you Netgalley and Dynamite Comics. I'm going to try not to spoil anything because my wife reads the Dresden books too and this spoiled a few things for me. Since she also reads my blog I don't want to spoil anything for her. So Harry is a Warden of the White Council of Wizards and has taken on an apprentice. Something is killing people leaving little bits of goo behind and Harry has to figure out what is going on and stop it before more people die.  I love these graphic novels. The art is pretty good and I love seeing my favorite characters out side of my mind. The artist in these books really nailed how I picture the chara

Furiously Happy I had never heard of Jenny Lawson also known as The Blogess  until her first Book Let's Pretend This Never Happened won best comedy book in the Goodreads Choice award in 2012. I figured if it had that many people vote it the best I should give it a read. That book was hilarious and I was snorting out loud I laughed so hard through the whole book. I kind of expected the same thing with this one. Jenny Lawson is so funny and there are some great stories that had me laughing my head off but this book has a much more serious tone to it. Jenny Lawson suffers from severe depression, anxiety, and ADD. She is the first one to poke fun at herself about this but she also had some very sad things that she deals with one a daily basis. I'm going to be honest with you all and say that I suffer from anxiety.  have been medicated for a little over two years now and I'm doing pretty good. I'm going to try to either scale back my medicine or get off it if I ca

Dead Beat I'm going to be so bummed when I catch up in this series. I love this series and this book was great. Unlike most of the other books there is really only one plot line here. The Queen of the Black court of Vampires has threatened to harm the people Harry cares about unless he finds her the book of one of the most powerful Necromancers. Harry not only has to find this and give it to her but also get this done before Halloween night when it is easier to raise the dead.  I will admit that this book is a little slower getting started but the characters in this book are the best part. Slight spoiler if you haven't been reading these but I really like that Harry has a half brother. Thomas is a great addition to the story and I like the relationship that is budding between these brothers. I have really missed the character Michael so this is a good change of pace. We also get to see a lot more out of my favorite hermit medical examiner Butters. By the end of this

Sole Survivor I have to say that I am not a huge Dean Koontz fan. My wife was with his earlier work but there came a point when his books just got really weird and our interest faded. I have some of his books that I really liked, Tick Tock and Life Expectancy to name a few. This was another book that kept popping up in my hunt for horro books for the R.I.P. challenge . I figured I would give it a try. Let's just say I was expecting a horror novel and this isn't. The book is all about a man who is suffering after the loss of his wife and two daughters in a plane crash. Wanting to die he goes to visit the graves one last time. When he arrives he finds a strange woman taking pictures of the headstones and FBI types following him. This opens the book up to what could have been a really interesting suspense thriller. Sadly about half way through the book my interest tanked. I couldn't keep focused and my mind kept wandering. I was mechanically reading just to get thro

This year was a great Halloween. We had rain for most of the day but the temperature was perfect and the rain stopped before it was time to Trick-or-Treat. This was the first year I went to my company's Trunk-or-Treat event and we all had a great time. The kids got to show off their costumes and get some practice for latter that night. Once the sun went down we took the kiddos out to hit as many houses as their little legs could handle. My 2 year old Daughter was the cutest little Mini Mouse thanks to my wife's amazing skills with a sewing machine. She even made the little ears that looked better than what you buy in the store. I'm just not ok with sharing photos of my kids otherwise I would show you all how amazing her costume was. You will just have to take my word for it. My wife is talented.  My son, well he will be 6 next weekend and he took after my own heart. We watched the old 90's Flash TV show and now the new one. Once a week I will wake him up and

Evil Dead 2 Happy Halloween and welcome to the last movie review of the week. Hope everyone has had fun so far and those that celebrate Halloween have a great night.This is my favorite horror movie of all time.It is super cheesy and you can see the strings for the things that fly but I love this. if you watch in some of the scenes you can actually see that the ceiling of the cabin is missing but the story is good and the one liners are even better. "Groovy!"  So here is the story behind the movie. A normal guy decides to take his girl friend to a secluded cabin to well, spend some alone time together. when he gets there he finds this book bound in human flesh and inked in blood next to a recording. Who wouldn't be curious to see what was on the recording. The voice on the tape begins to read the translations and it wakes the evil  and it takes his girl friend. our main character is named Ash and he is played by the king of bad horror Bruce Campbell. The rest of th

Dead Silence I'm going to be painfully honest with you my readers. I have a fear of two this that can keep me up at night. Clowns, and Ventriloquist Dummies. They are terrifyingly creepy and this movie always gets to me. I was never around ventriloquist dummies but when I was younger my grandma had this room that was where I stayed when I spent the night that had all my mom's old dolls. They were on shelves over the bed and they all looked down on me with those cold dead eyes. I had to sleep with the covers over my head. That might have lead to my irrational fear of ventriloquist dummies. This movie is made by the geniuses who made the Saw franchise. The story behind this is all about a woman named Mary Shaw who had no children only dolls. That's part of the nursery rhyme they talk about in the movie by the way. She was very popular putting on shows for the town at her own theater. One day a little boy heckled her making her dummy very angry. After that the boy disa

The Fog John Carpenter is an amazing director. He has produced some amazing horror movies that became instant classics. One of his lesser known horror movies was The Fog. In today's world this isn't half as terrifying as it once was due to enhancements in special effects, CGI, and film quality. This review will revolve around the remake which was done in 2005. Not many people like remakes because it tends to not do the original justice, but I like them. I like to see how a new director with new tech can give these old movies a new twist. In some cases they are amazing, and in other cases they are terrible flops. This remake follows pretty close to the original but adds more to the story behind the fog which I liked.  Since this movie stays pretty close to the original it isn't very scary but it does do very well at giving you the creepy factor throughout. The thing that makes the Fog so scary is the fear of the unknown. What is lurking in the thick fog and what d

Shaun of the Dead Spoofs or Parodies are not always a good thing. Most of the time o enjoy them no matter how horrible they are. The combination of Simon Peg, Nick Frost, and Zombies is perfect for one of, if not the best parody movies ever. These guys can make pretty much any type of movie they want and I'd watch it. In this zombie apocalypse movie we follow Shaun (Simon Pegg) through his mediocre boring day. He is completely oblivious to the Zombies turning around there. Since Shaun is so oblivious there are a lot of clever zombie attacks in the background that if you are only focused on Shaun you will miss them too.  Once they realize what is going on they become fearless zombie killers as long as they are only zombies in there way of them getting to their favorite Pub the Winchester. This one pub is where Shaun and his buddy spend all of there lives so of course it is where they head to. Hilarity and gore flow throughout this movies.  This is one of my favorite h

Dawn of the Dead George Romero father of the Zombie Horror film paved the way for some great remakes. I love this movie and I've got to say this movie is terrifying because the zombies run full speed. I know that sounds really dumb to be terrified of but in most zombie shows and movies they shamble and move slowly. A character's biggest problem is to be caught in a group of zombies where their attention is focused on something else and be attacked from behind. In this movies the zombies are vicious and fast. It was great.  This movie is all about the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. The out break begins slowly and over night has spread like wild fire in California. We follow a group of people who have locked themselves in a mall trying to survive. It has been a really long time since I saw this movie that is was a surprise to see that not only was this directed by Zack Snyder, but it had my favorite Dumphy from Modern Family Ty Burrell. The special effects are rea

Amityville Horror I love this movie. This is another remake that goes deeper into the backstory than the original and I really like that. This movie opens up with the slaughter of s family giving some clues as to what is going on. Voices tell Ronald to kill and the time 3:15 Am seems to have some significance. After some brief news clips explaining the events we just saw we meet the Lutz family. A sweet family looking for more space. They find the deal of a lifetime on this house and move in. Everything is all sunshine and roses at first. Once things start to happen the only people who see what is going on are George and the little girl. The evil in the house starts to play with George's mind.  One of the most terrifying things happens in the bathroom. I can't tell you how terrifying it would be to be attacked by a ghost while using the bathroom in the middle of the night. That part always creeps me out. There are some intense scenes in this movie that when I saw t

Welcome to my 3rd Annual Halloween Week. I love this holiday, it is one of my favorite holidays and having kids makes it even better. My kiddos are not yet old enough to scare the living daylights out of on Halloween but I still have something to look forward to when they get older. I have had a lot of fun writing these the last few years that I am doing it again. The first year I reviewed remakes of all of my favorite horror movies, and last year I reviewed the originals.  This year I just chose a few random favorites to review. I am going to review The Amittyville Horror (2005), The Fog (2005), Dead Silence, Dawn of the Dead (2004), Shawn of the Dead, and Evil Dead 2. I love these movies. A lot of people didn't care for the remakes of The Fog and Amittyville but I did. You will get to read all about them for Haloween week. I had to finish out the week and end on Halloween with Evil Dead two because Ash Vs the Evil Dead Season 1 begins on STARZ. I don't have STARZ so

The Wrath of the First Lantern This book is a crossover book that includes several different Green lantern titles. This book has Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Red Lanterns, and Green Lantern: New Guardians. I have had an issue with the individual books because there are so many plot holes. It was driving me nuts and I even took a little break from the Green Lantern series for awhile. Reading this book was great.  This book is the comprehensive First Lantern story. All of the plot holes are filled in and the book flows seamlessly. Even with this story being written by different writers it just works. The first lantern is the one person who took the ring formed by creation itself. He used the ring for his own gain to change and reshape reality itself. The Guardians of the Universe trapped him and threw away the key. Since the Guardians are focused on destroying the Green Lantern Corps that they don't see the attempt to free the First Lantern coming. Once he has escap

Revenge of Black Hand It has taken me forever to get this book read. This was one of the books I requested but didn't get approved to read this through Netgalley. I got the next two volumes so I kind of skipped this and moved on. I was such and idiot because this is one of the best Green Lantern books I have read.  Hal Jordan is still being used as Sinestro's puppet. He has a ring that Sinestro created and divided his power so Hal could help him prevent the Guardians of the Universe from destroying the Green Lantern Corps. While trying to figure out what to do next Sinestro and Hal are kidnapped by the Indigo tribe whose power is compassion. They are also able to simulate the other ring powers and use them. While with the Indigo Tribe they run into Black Hand. He has been brought back to life and converted to a compassionate member of the tribe.  There is a lot of pieces of the overall story that are revealed in this book and I spent most of it with goosebumps. T

The Cleaner Years ago this book was offered as a giveaway on Goodreads and I was intrigued by the summary so I entered. Clearly I didn't win it or else I would have reviewed this long long ago. This is a mystery detective story but with a very interesting twist. Our main character who is a self proclaimed detective, is also a serial killer. Now where have a I read this one before? That's right, this sounds a lot like Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, only Dexter is actually a forensic blood spatter technician.  Joe is just a serial killer who is really pissed off that someone is pinning a murder Joe didn't commit on him. Oddly enough Joe feels like he has to get Justice for the girl he didn't kill so he takes it upon himself to find who this copycat killer is. This killer is absolutely bonkers. His priorities are all screwed up but you kind of expect that from a killer. He is a clever killer and changes up his routine so it makes him harder to pin down. He does make a

Sea of Storms I have loved this series since The New 52 started and Geoff Johns made Aquaman a likable character for the first time in DC history.  I am always a little nervous when a new writer takes over for one of my favorites because it is usually never as good. Geoff Johns I think laid a decent ground work for the character that this book was still good but I felt not as strong as previous volumes.  There is so much that is going on in this book I don't know where to begin or what I can say that wont spoil some aspect of this book. I will, as always, do my best to not spoil anything but it is going to be tough and a shorter review. The book opens with the discovery of something very old and very large waking up very angry. This calls into question Arthur's right to rule Atlantis among some of the people but they already hate him anyway so this is a very small plot point. We then move on to a gate which is believed to open the gate between Atlantis and the surfac

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer This is another book that I found searching various horror book lists. I really liked the cover and thought it sounded interesting so I gave it a shot. For those of you who don't know what a Necromancer is I took the liberty of looking up the exact definition. Necromancer: a person who practices Necromancy; a Wizard or Magician. To further explain what I felt wasn't really explained all that well in the book; Necromancy is the conjuration of the spirits of the dead for the purposes of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events.  There, now that we have gotten the lesson portion of this review out of the way here is what this book is all about. Johannes Cabal wants to learn all he can about being a Necromancer so he strikes up a deal and walks into Hell to study and learn. One of the things I really got a kick out of in this book is that the fist torment of hell is none other than paper work. In order for Johannes

The Box Thanks to the R.I.P. challenge and a little web search I have found another book I might have missed otherwise. I was able to get an audio version of this book and I learned one thing. I do not like short story collections in audio. Nothing against this book at all but there were times that the transition between stories wasn't enough of a pause that I thought the story I was just listening to was still going and then I got lost and had to go back. Short story collections on audio are just not good for me. I love them but I think I will stick with the Kindle or paper versions.  Ok, on to the book itself. This was a fun collection. There were some stories that I really liked and others that just fell flat for me. There is always one or two stories in a collection that don't work for everyone. I have only found a few collections that have had every story be a winner. With this book there were a few stories that really stuck with me and it was the ones that had