What You Wanted For Christmas Vs What You Got

Christmas is one of my favourite times of year, with all the food, family and fun its hard not to enjoy the festive season. But despite what the Whos from Whoville tell you one of the best parts of Christmas is the presents and anybody who says otherwise is a liar. While of course its always the thought that counts when it comes to presents sometimes for nerds it can be a bit of a struggle to get what you ask for from family members that just don't get it.

What you asked for:

Punisher comics

You've been watching Dare Devil and its reminded you that The Punisher is pretty cool and it sounds like something you'd really like to get into and bring a little violent diversity into your reading library.

What you got:

Classic The Phantom

You're not really sure how Grandma messed this one up but rather than the violent and frightening Punisher you get a man running around in purple spandex through the jungle. Maybe Grandma read this when she was young but it's best to just say thank you and read it anyway.

What you asked for:

DC Animated movies

Despite DC's inability to make a decent live action movie they are absolutely killing it with their animated stuff with Batman Assault on Arkham (a.k.a. The good Suicide Squad movie) and Batman Under the Red Hood being some of their finest work.

What you got:

Suicide Squad the extended cut

You need to forgive this one because your aunty probably thought that the animated stuff was for kids so she got you that "fun colourful looking movie with the Joker in it". We all saw it and it was fine but even the extended cut with an extra 11 minutes of footage doesn't come anywhere close to how good the animated ones are.


What you asked for:

The Avengers

Everybody loves the Avengers, we all saw it at the cinema, we all loved it and it introduced so many people to the Marvel Cinematic universe and by extension the comics.

What you got:

The Avengers

Your younger brother is a jerk and you know he did this on purpose, his birthday is coming up so start plotting your revenge.

What you asked for:

A Squirrel Girl Doll/action figure

You started reading the new series this year and there is nothing like the cherry optimism of Squirrel Girl to brighten your Christmas day.

What you got:

A squirrel doll

..... Thanks Mum..... it's great....

What you asked for:

Comics, movies, toys and all things nerdy:

Everybody has their preferences whether its Marvel, DC, Dr. Who, animation or video games, you like what you like and that's okay.

What you got:

The love and support of your family and friends

Think less of what you wanted and more about the effort and thought that everybody put into getting you gifts, it is very hard to buy the correct thing when you don't really understand what you are looking for. My brother loves sport and I know if he asked for something for Christmas that I would either need him to show it to me or I would probably get the wrong thing. So Just remember they tried, they love you and are trying hard to support your hobby.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas full of love and joy.

Afterlife With Archie Volume 1

Afterlife With Archie Volume 1

Afterlife With Archie is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, art by Francesco Francavilla, letters by Jack Morelli and published by Archie Comics. When I think of Archie Comics the first thing that comes to mind isn't usually Zombies, black magic, death, incest, sex and violence but that is exactly what Afterlife with Archie delivers in a spectacularly gory fashion.

The comic begins with Jughead desperately racing his beloved dog, Hot Dog, to Sabrina after Hot Dog was hit by a car. Jughead hopes to use Sabrina's magic to heal Hot Dog but it is too late as he has already died from his injuries. Sabrina, moved by Jughead's grief, uses forbidden magic from the necronomicon to bring Hot Dog back to life. Hot Dog does come back to life but not as the same lovable dog he was before, biting Jughead when he tries to greet him. Like all good zombie stories this bite ends with much more than a simple tetanus injection. The consequences of the Jughead's zombie dog bite becomes shockingly apparent at the big school dance the next evening.

The art of Afterlife With Archie is incredibly different from anything you'd expect from an Archie comic, be it classic Archie or the recently rebooted Archie. Afterlife is reminiscent of a Noir Film with a lot of emphasis on shadows, angled panels toned with blue, red or yellows. Afterlife manages to be extremely violent without showing much violence leaving the most gruesome details to the readers imagination.

The thing that makes Afterlife so different from any other Archie comic (besides the zombies) are the characters. while the characters personalities are mostly intact, Archie being the brave hero, Veronica the spoilt rich girl, Betty the sweet girl next door and Jason and Cheryl still trying to make trouble for the gang, a lot about the characters have been made much darker. Some of these changes include Betty and Veronica, usually good friends in the Archie comics, are now bitter enemies, it heavily implies that twins Jason and Cheryl have an incestuous relationship, friends Ginger and Nancy are hiding a secret homosexual relationship with each other with a few love triangles thrown in for good measure.

What is it with weird twins?

Archie comics have done strange crossovers such as Archie vs Predator, Archie meets the Punisher Archie vs Sharknado but usually keeps its happy go lucky tone, Afterlife throws that sugary sweet tone completely out the window from the first page setting it completely aside from any other Archie comic. Afterlife with Archie will be a hit with anyone who is a fan of post apocalyptic stories or zombie stories but may lose more traditional Archie fans due to its dark tone and reworking of the characters.

I give Afterlife with Archie 4 out of 5 Zombie Jugheads

Find out more about Afterlife with Archie here.