Category Archives: Reviews

Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews

Alt★Hero # 2 – a Review

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Alt★Hero #1 was set in Europe, and concentrated on an EU-sanctioned supergroup. This one is set in the states, focusing on a subversive superteam organized to pursue American interests. Obviously this puts them at odds with the Deep State and gives them a lot tougher “row to hoe” than their European counterparts.

The pivotal character in both issues is an aesthetically appealing, nubile heroine–a shrewd marketing decision, if nothing else.

Arkhaven/Alt Hero is improving rapidly on all fronts. The artwork and composition is better in this issue, and we’ve got a clearer picture of where the story is taking us, now: (a superteam showdown, eventually, I hope. But not too soon…)

Hammer is my favorite character so far, while Ryu no Seishin is my favorite to look at. The writer(s) teased us with just enough of Martel’s backstory to make us want to know more. I’m also curious about this subplot the bureaucrats mention regarding the President and Singapore.

I’m not sure exactly what Rebel’s metahuman abilities are. Invulnerable skin is one. Super-strength, too? I’m guessing Hammer already has that, but it’s hard to tell in comics, because even “normal” human heroes are drawn as if they have superhuman strength. Physique is no indication, because non-powered heroes look just as sculpted as superpowered characters. And regardless of whether a human or superhuman hero throws a punch, the recipient of the punch usually goes flying backwards out of the panel.

So far, we’ve been introduced to SoulSight, who can read other people’s memories; Quantum Kitty, who can phase through solid objects; Ryu, who is kinda’ like the Human Torch, I guess, though her whole body doesn’t turn to flame; Rebel; Hammer; and the dude in the black tee-shirt. No idea what he does, yet. There’s a couple more team members mentioned but not seen. Guess we’ll meet them in forthcoming issues.

It’s really a shame this issue was only 28 pages. It was over too soon. I hope they compile the first 12 issues or so into a graphic novel one day. In any case, I look forward to Alt Hero #3.

BTW, I’ve seen Issue #1 of Avanon now, and will review it soon, hopefully.

Action, Fantasy, Reviews, Satire

Alt★Hero Hits the Virtual Stands

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Arkhaven Comics’ Alt★Hero #1: Crackdown is out. Being a backer, I received an electronic copy before it went live on Amazon.

The haters have generated a few different narratives about Arkhaven. One narrative was intended to convince us that the (record-breaking) crowdfunding revenue to launch Arkhaven had been imbezzled by Vox Day, because it’s all a big scam, and no comic would ever be produced. A more popular knee-jerk proclamation is that the comic is garbage (as judged by people who haven’t read or even seen it.)

As somebody who is disgusted by what’s happened to DC and Marvel, and what they’ve done to the characters they inherited, I’ve been enthusiastic about Alt★Hero since first hearing of it. I make a point to support any artistic endeavor which defies the Thought Police sent from the Leftist Hive Mind. Sometimes I’m burned, as I was with Amerigeddon. Sometimes I’m rewarded, as with Alt Hero.

Arkhaven has some tightening up to do–particularly with the artwork and composition/layout. And I believe it will be tightened up. But even as-is, this series looks like a lot of fun.

In this first story a European supergroup (sponsored by the EU) recruits a new member (given the name Dynamique) to help them purge thought criminals from around the continent. This is basically what Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook have been doing to people…but with progressive extrapolation: enemies of the state aren’t just censored; they’re arrested and imprisoned. And it’s super-powered international thought cops in tights who round them up.

It’s actually a lot like Hank’s story The Greater Good, but without the over-the-top humor. And it’s illustrated.

Alt Hero is a comic I wouldn’t mind letting my son read. Also, Chuck Dixon is writing a series for Arkhaven called Avalon, which I am probably also going to check out. Dixon’s portfolio speaks for itself. I’m pleased he was able to find paying work outside the SJW insanity that is status quo in the comics industry. Based on everything I know so far, I believe any investment in Arkhaven titles will be money well-spent.

Non-Fiction/Documentary, Reviews, Socio-Sexual Studies

More on the Obligatory “Strong Female Character”

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This clip is from a female Youtuber who evidently didn’t get the Grrrrl Power Memo.

While her opinions and tastes in entertainment don’t exactly line up with ours (ahem), she does make some valid points, articulated well.

Why does the Kick-Butt Womyn Warrior Narrative always have to involve making men look weak, cowardly, corrupt, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum? For a reason similar to why Marxist faggots have used “critical theory” over the generations to poison minds against America.

Marxists can’t point to any credible success stories of nations that prospered by adhering to their economic doctrines, so they instead have to ceaselessly badmouth the system that made America the most free and prosperous country in history–steering societal lemmings away from ever asking the questions that would make their entire Narrative collapse.

White knights can’t sell their Amazon Superninja Fetish Narrative without comparing their cookie-cutter RWT (Rambo With Tits) character to a man. That comparison always entails making the male character look pathetic.

Life does imitate art in some ways. People indoctrinated by the Fetish Narrative over the decades think it’s a dandy idea to put women in the combat arms, and in elite units. But they suddenly balk at The Narrative when you suggest that women be held to the same standards as men in the military. Just as they would balk if somebody seriously considered matching women against men in full-contact sports (where the predictable and embarrassing results couldn’t be covered up by legions of white knight bureaucrats in uniform).

Non-Fiction/Documentary, Politics/Current Events, Reviews

What’s Happening at Amazon?

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PJ Media reports on a purge of reviews that seems to be calculated to hurt the livelihood of non-leftist authors.

“I asked several independent authors about the review losses when it occurred,” Del Arroz told PJM. “My left-wing author contacts said they didn’t lose any reviews, but the right-wing authors who are members of a group called the Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance all lost an incredible amount of reviews,” continued Del Arroz. “One author said he lost seventy-seven on his books, which is devastating. I believe the CLFA was targeted by an extreme alt-left troll mob running an email harassment campaign to Amazon who were enabled by a rogue Amazon employee.”

It’s nearly impossible to sell books these days without customer reviews. It’s a symbol of “social proof.”

Too herd-mentality, personally, but it’s a concern for me as an author because it has a striking effect on a book’s discoverability…whether I like it or not.

This could be a sign that Amazon is following Goolag, FascistBorg, et al, by getting into the Thought Police gig. Some speculate that it’s just a rogue SJW employee selectively enforcing rules.

Espionage, Historical, Military, Reviews

The Exception – a Review

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Coincident with the German blitzkrieg into France, Heinrich Himmler assigns a special detail to “protect” Wilhelm Hohenzollern, the former Kaiser of the Second Reich, who is exiled in Holland.

The assignment is passed down to young Captain Brandt, a veteran of the Poland Campaign who was wounded winning the Iron Cross, but also got on the wrong side of the SS after witnessing an atrocity. Still recovering from shrapnel wounds to his stomach, he nonetheless doesn’t want this cushy rear-echelon job. But orders are orders, so off he goes.

Brandt is quickly caught in a tug of war between the Kaiser’s military attache; the Gestapo; Wermacht Intelligence (trying to track down a British spy in the area), and a young, nubile war widow who is down for cheap, meaningless sex.

It’s a pleasant surprise how good this movie is. While it certainly has its faults, it’s not always easy to guess what will happen next.

Adventure, Fantasy, Historical, Reviews

Marco Polo – a Review

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Even the most fanatic revisionist white knights couldn’t ruin a story set in the Mongol Empire during the conquest of south China, right?

Ahem.

I wish I could say I’m surprised by what they’ve done with the subject matter.

First off is the main character, Marco Polo. His motivations are sketchy at best, beyond some vague desire for a father figure. In the first season he’s habitually stupid…but not as stupid as the series writers assume their audience is.

The sad fact is, that assumption may prove correct.

There’s all the formulaic theater, white-knight feminist tropes, and contrived plot devices you can find in any other TV show, and the Trojan beach head of perversity we can expect from a Weinstein Company-backed tale of palace intrigue.

(But to be honest, it’s doubtful Harvey Weinstein is any worse than the other producers in Hollywood. In fact, he’s probably mild compared to some of them.)

But the sterling character of the morally pure saints headquartered in Homowood, Commiefornia never rests until it has delivered a hypocritical moral message. And so their favorite perversion (pedophilia) is represented not accurately (like, say, in the character of an entertainer or leftist politician), but in the form of a Christian Mongol.

Nothing special here.

 

Action, Adventure, Historical, Reviews

Birth of the Dragon – a Review

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This film was inspired by the fabled showdown between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man.

I was only vaguely familiar with the story; and only as told from the perspective of Lee and his legions of devoted fans. But there is controversy surrounding not only the outcome of the fight; but why it took place.

If you’ve seen Bruce Lee biopics before this, you’ve seen Lee’s victory over Man depicted. In Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, the showdown occurred because the Old Guard of Kung Fu demanded Lee endure trial-by-combat, for the crime of teaching their ancient secrets to non-Chinese.

Pretty heroic narrative. The stuff of legends.

This film, however, tells the story from an entirely different perspective:

Wong Jack Man was not sent to San Francisco to spy on Bruce Lee, to punish or kill him. Although he was reluctant to share Kung Fu with non-Chinese, it wasn’t his motive for coming to the USA. Rather, he came to work as a dishwasher as a form of pennance, while ostracized from his Shaulin monastery for badly injuring a Tai-Chi master during a demonstration that was not supposed to be full-contact. Washing dishes will put his pride in check and help him restore internal balance.

Bruce Lee fans probably hate this movie, because (although he has some likable qualities, including his fighting skills) he’s an egomaniacal bully blinded by his own ambition. He delights in publicly humiliating others, and it is he who tries to goad Wong Jack Man into a fight. The prideful, childish side of alpha male behavior is portrayed accurately in this regard. Nobody knows for sure how the real life events played out, because there are few witnesses, and those witnesses tell contradictory versions of the story. However, this version does have the ring of truth to it. Certainly it’s not 100% accurate; but it strikes me as more plausible than the more popular Bruce Lee hero myth.

The acting is good–especially Xu Xia as Wong Jack Man. Philip Wan-Lung Ng has a physique much like Bruce Lee, and has mastered Lee’s poses, gestures, and movement. This was displayed best when fighting or sparring, when he would dance around his opponent (in western boxing this is called “the bicycle”–Bruce Lee’s bicycle was distinct and rather flamboyant).

What eventually persuades Man to fight Lee is a sub-plot concerning an American Kung Fu student trying to rescue a Chinese babe (Jingjing Qu) from indentured Servitude to a Chinatown mob boss. Perhaps the premise is too fairy-tale, but the part of Steve “Mac” McKee (Billy Magnuson) was written and performed adequately. I appreciate that they didn’t make this fictional character the stereotype “arrogant racist American who had to be taught a lesson before he could believe in equality” yada yada yada. He’s a very likable character, with his own ego in check (if not his emotions); a teachable student who respects both Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man.

We know that in real life, after the fight with Man, Lee abandoned traditional Wing Chun and went on to develop Jeet Kun Do. In the film we see a more extensive turning point for Lee–that he has actually learned some humility by the end. Not to sound like the message in a fortune cookie, but this film version of Lee is closer to bringing his inner self “into balance” before the final credits.

The older I get, the harder it is to sit through the old Hong Kong martial arts flicks, pioneered by Bruce Lee. The Hollywood-produced Enter the Dragon is watchable, but still a little on the cheesy schlock side of B-movie-dom. The production values of this movie are miles higher than those old exploitation quickies. Mainstream critics (pompous SJWs who get paid to spout off their opinions) have panned this film, but I assure you it’s both written better and more exciting than any Star Wars flick made within the last couple decades.

 

Crime, Historical, Reviews

Gangster Land – a Review

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It would be difficult to count all the movies that have been set during the prohibition era. Yet for some reason, it seems like all of them are set at the end–usually around the Stock Market crash. It’s nice to see one that kicks off in the early days.

The story bears only superficial resemblance to history. But still, it’s nice to see a period piece that depicts the rise of Al Capone and Bugs Moran.

The protagonist (played by some actor who looks familiar) is a straight arrow, but when his father is murdered by a rival gang, he hires on as a trigger man for Capone.

One little tidbit I didn’t expect was a brief monologue from Capone about how John D. Rockafeller was the driving force behind getting the Volstead Act passed. Hadn’t heard that one before.

Aside from what I’ve mentioned, there’s nothing remarkable about this movie. Back in the day, it would have been called a “B picture.

Reviews, TEOTWAWKI

War For the Planet of the Apes – a Review

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First of all, the title is a bit deceptive. There is a war brewing between apes and men–like it was in the last movie or two, but this one doesn’t depict a war.

There is a cheesy firefight scene at the end, and an ambush of sorts at the very beginning, and that’s about the extent of the combat. The bulk of the film is a psychological profile of Caesar. Woody Harrelson (doing his best Colonel Kurtz) murder’s his wife and son, so Caesar is tempted to adopt tactics and methods that are just as ee-veel as those used by the bad guys (humans).

In this ongoing reboot of the franchise, the film makers evidently intend to erase generations of history. The apes haven’t even taken over the planet yet, and they’ve already introduced both Cornelius and Nova.

The cinematography was the best aspect of the  film. Otherwise, meh.

Adventure, Reviews, SHTF, TEOTWAWKI

“Another Excellent Novel”

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There are downsides to having a bestseller. It gives your book more exposure, which is certainly a net gain; but it also draws plenty of wild cards.

As in all businesses, customers are probably about 75% more determined to make their opinions known when they have a complaint than when they find a product satisfactory. In the book biz, you also have some jealous, petty and vindictive authors prowling Amazon to size up the competition who, I guess, assume they can elevate their own work by trying to make other author’s work look bad. And then there’s controversial books like False Flag, which are gonna trigger sheeple and SJWs, even when they are warned up front that a particular book will not be their cup of tea.

Case in point: shortly after the post about Roy Moore went live on this blog, somebody posted the first-ever one-star review for Hell and Gone, admitting within the “review” that they hadn’t read the book. Up until then, my debut novel had never drawn less than four stars from any Amazon reviewer. I smell a motive for this drive-by, but who knows.

So the vigilant haters have managed to drag False Flag‘s cumulative review score down to 4.2 stars, but comments like the following tend to improve morale:

Another excellent novel by Henry Brown

First of all let me state that this is the third novel by Henry Brown I have read featuring “Rocco’s Retreads” a group of different special warfare operators who are mostly retired from different branches of the active duty military.


It’s a direct follow up to Tier Zero– the novel where Native American lawman and ex spec ops warrior Tommy Scarred Wolf and some of his friends and family set out to rescue a group of females from the nearby Rez who had been kidnapped in a foreign country.

This time around, Tommy and some of the Retreads have been targeted by a sleazebag Statist DHS spook and his underhanded operators- including several who are basically Manchurian Candidate Brainwashees.
Tommy is now the Sheriff in the town where the nearby Rez is located and his friends are scattered to the Southwest. Rocco, Leon and Carlos are now operating a shooting range and firearms sales and supply shop; Mac has gotten involved with a sleazy race-card baiter in Federal Law Enforcement and Josh has retired to the life of a modern Mountain Man.


Essentially Josh and some of the others find out that Rocco’s Retreads have been flagged as Domestic Terrorists by the dirtbags from DHS and worse- the same scumbags are planning on a False Flag attack on a peace rally in Amarillo Texas following the senseless beating of an African American motorist.


Talk about being ripped from the headlines.


As the NeoFascists in Federal Government see it, by attacking the rally and pinning the rap on “Right Wing Militia extremists” it will give them the justification among the McSheeple to go after the Internet and gun owners.


Tommy, Josh and the majority of their friends and family decide to try and stop the False Flag attack.
When they call in a phony bomb threat and the “proper authorities” refuse to evacuate the facility…well, it’s time for Tommy’s pals in the Native American Militia to step forward and stop the slaughter of innocent people and try and save the country from the insidious forces within the corridors of power who see Freedom as a threat to their own lustful power grabs.


The book is sobering at times and downright funny at others. The descriptions of some of the peripheral characters (looters and so forth) reminded me of some of the more razor-sharp satirical Destroyer Novels written by the late great Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy as both rednecks and looters get scalded by Brown’s pen.


I would love to see these books made into movies someday. However they are so politically incorrect that its’ mostly a pipe dream at this point.
If you enjoyed the Destroyer novels or the old Phoenix Force and Able Team books the Retreads series is right up your alley.

If you’re willing to take just a few minutes to make a small-but-significant impact in the culture war, and you’ve read one or more of my books, why not drop a couple lines into a review and counter some of this sabotage? Amazon isn’t yet as bad as Twitter, Facebook, or Wikipedia, but they’ve proven to me they are sympathetic to these SJW trolls. They took down a review I posted (it’s long-winded; sorry) even though it was obvious I read the book, and I hadn’t violated any of their published guidelines; but they won’t take leftist hit pieces down, even when it’s obvious the troll hasn’t read the book. There’s not much I can do about that. By posting an honest review, however, you could dilute this well-poisoning.