Review: DC Super Heroes Origami by John Montroll

What happens when you combine Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League with the art of origami? You get the most incredible collection of paper-folding projects ever assembled. These 46 models, meticulously designed by internationally renowned origami master John Montroll, are guaranteed to amaze. With clear, step-by-step diagrams and instructions, simple squares of paper transform into Batarangs, S-Shields, Invisible Jets, Green Lanterns, and so much more. Also included in the back of the book are 96 sheets of specially illustrated folding papers to make your DC creations truly come to life.

In the six years I have been writing this blog (yep, just realised that The Book Zone was six years old last week), this is the first craft book that I have reviewed. Considering my main teaching subject is Design Technology, and much of my time is spent delivering GCSE and A-Level Graphics courses that is pretty poor, although when I'm not buried in school work I really do prefer to break away from it all by burying myself in fiction. However, when those fabulous people at Curious Fox asked me if I would be interested in a copy of DC Super Heroes Origami I could not resist.

Now I have next to no experience of origami (it's not in the Edexcel Graphics syllabus!), so I'll start off my focusing on this book's DC super hero 

angle. There are a total of 46 origami projects in the book, split into four collections: Batman; Superman; Wonder Woman; and The Justice League. This gives for a wide variety of projects, many that will be recognised by those with a basic knowledge of the DC universe (Bat-symbol; Robin; Clark Kent's glasses; Wonder Woman's tiara), and some that are a little more obscure (Krypto; Clayface; Jumpa the Kanga; Hawkgirl's made; Green Lantern B'dg). So as far as the DC universe is concerned there is pretty much something for everyone.

And now for the origami. I have discovered that I suck at origami! The book comes with 96 printed sheets, all ready for folding (once you have carefully removed them from the book), and the projects are graded simple (one star) through intermediate (two stars) to complex (three stars). At the front of the book, there are several pages of instructional diagrams that outline the basic (and not-so-basic) folds used in the proceeding projects. It is suggested that newbies practise these before embarking on the DC projects (Pah! Practice is for wimps).

Naturally I decided I was good enough to skip the one star projects and I kicked off my origami career (short-lived) with the two star Bat-symbol. It didn't turn out too badly and for a handful of minutes I felt quite proud of myself.

As they say, pride come before a fall! I then decided I must be good enough to move straight up to a three star project. How wrong I was. Wonder Woman has never looked so bad!

Seriously, talk about epic fail! And yet I have absolutely no idea where I went wrong. I didn't assume that I knew better than the instructions, and I followed them to a tee, but she just does not look like the photo example in the book. I've since gone back and tried a few more one- and two-star projects with a little more success, but I am still trying to build up to trying another three star project.

As an origami layman I would suggest that on balance this book is best suited to those with a little more experience than I possess. It is certainly not for younger children, but patient teens and adults with a good degree of manual dexterity could have a great deal of fun with this book. A work colleague who has far more experience in this field had a flick through and she felt that the papers were certainly suitable, and with a bit more general origami practice I should find even the three-star projects within my capabilities.

Review: The Marvel Encyclopedia & The DC Comics Encyclopedia

Last Monday I promised to write a few posts about some of the great books out there that are great for kids who seen and loved Avengers Assemble. I managed to get a review of the stunning The Avengers - The Ultimate Guide To Earth's Mightiest Heroes! from Dorling Kindersley, before I was buried in final GCSE and A Level coursework marking, moderating and packing up to send off to the exam board. Now that I've finally got room to breathe I wanted to highlight a couple of other gems from Dorling Kindersley that superhero fans will adore: The DC Comics Encyclopedia and The Marvel Encyclopedia.

Both books are encyclopedias that I received last year for my birthday, each one focusing on the respective characters from Marvel and DC and both are simply stunning volumes. In both the characters are listed alphabteically, with major characters like Spiderman and Batman being given several double page spreads, whilst the much lesser known characters are given much briefer entries. Some of the major 'events' through the history of these comics, such as Infinite Crisis and Civil War are also afforded their own spreads, providing the reader with even more background information.

Just as with The Avengers - The Ultimate Guide To Earth's Mightiest Heroes! it is the artwork that immediately grabs your attention with these books, and I couldn't help but rifle through their pages, feasting my eyes on the stunning imagery. After this I was left with a dilemma - to start reading through alphabetically or to jump straight to my favourite characters' entries. I finally decided on starting from the beginning and working though page by page, but this didn't last long and I found myself jumping backwards and forwards, first of all reading about favourites such as Batman and Iron Man, and then jumping to other characters who were referenced in these larger entries.

Both of these books were published a few years ago, so naturally, being encyclopedias of comic characters that are still being written about, they are already somewhat out of date. However, this also means that you can currently purchase them for about £10 less than their £30 price tag and they are well worth every penny. Both are updated editions of books that had been first published some years earlier, and given the current massive popularity of DC and Marvel I would not be surprised to see these given another update some time in the future.

As I mentioned earlier, I think superhero fans of all ages, boys and girls, will love these books and spend hours and hours poring through them. We have both books in the school library and they are almost as popular as our copies of  Ripley's Believe It Or Not and The Guinness Book of Records.

Get Any Good Books For Christmas?

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, and were showered with wonderful book presents. I would love to hear waht you got.

This year we are visiting friends in Canada and so I have not been able to open many of my presents - before we left just seemed too soon! Christmas has therefore so far been much more of a time for giving this year, and I have spoiled my godson and his brothers rotten with books - my hand luggage for the flight was a small case filled with books. I gave Max, my godson, the first six CHERUB books my Robert Muchamore, as well as the first TimeRiders book, Justin Thyme by Panama Oxridge, and Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. Frank, his ten year old brother who is more into fantasy stories, was the recipient of the first five books in Michael Scott's Secrets of Nicholas Flamel series and The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. Spike is the next one down and he is only seven, and only just getting into reading, so I gave him a selection of some of the best books for his age group that have been released in the UK over the past year or so.

Me? Like I said, I have not had the chance to open many presents yet, but I was allowed to open two before we came away. The first was recommended to me by Mark de Jager over at My Favourite Books, and is The Walking Dead Compendium Vol 1. I love the TV show and Mark said I HAD to read the graphic novel, and so this shot straight to the top of my Christmas wish list. 1000+ pages of glorious black and white zombie saga.

The other pesent I opened turned out to be a book that I thought I would never own (as it is rather expensive), but I put it on my wish list and nearly fell over when my wife gave it to me. It is called 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking and is published by Taschen. This one had to be opened before we came away as it was far too big to bring with us - it is huge (that's me holding it in the photo below)! It measures 11.4 inches wide by 15.6 inches high, and is filled with more than 700 pages, printed on thick high quality stock. I on;y had a short amount of time to flick through it before we came away but it is stunningly beautiful - my only dilemma is that it is so heavy that I'm not sure on the best way to read it :-) I have included some images from its contents below, courtesy of the Taschen website.

Using Comics To Get Your Son Reading

At the end of August I went to watch Batman Live at London's O2 Arena. Although the show was quite obviously aimed at the younger end of the market both my wife and I loved it, and I got the feeling that most of the rest of the audience did as well. The character costumes based on Jim Lee's character designs looked amazing on the big stage, and I only wish I could have been a little nearer to see them in close-up. However, a very small part of my enjoyment was marred by an observation I had made relating to the merchandise that was on sale pretty much everywhere you looked both inside and outside the Arena. Programmes were being shifted by the truckload at £15 a copy, with pretty much every child there trying to badger their accompanying adult into buying them a copy. A quick glance through showed that these programmes, attractive though they were, were very image heavy and light on the text, and this got me thinking. If I had been one of those parents I would have told my child that I would not buy them a programme but would instead, on our return home, buy them a batman graphic novel or one of the DC New 52 comics. 


From this one thought my mind started making more connections. 2011 has been a year that has seen a string of super-hero films in the cinemas, and I imagine that the likes of Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America and X-Men: First Class have had audiences chock-full of younger viewers who could be classified as reluctant readers. At school we have tried to capitalise on the appeal and success of these films by making sure we are well stocked with a variety of DC and Marvel books, thanks in no small part to our local Education Library Service, and so I thought I would share some of these titles with you. That way, if your son says reading is boring but loved one of these super-hero films you could surprise him with a related graphic novel that might just be the catalyst that has him wanting more.


Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli


Not as 'glossy' as some Batman stories this is a gritty and hard-hitting look at the origins of Batman and his mission to rid Gotham City of its plague of crime. We are introduced to a Bruce Wayne before he dons his disguise for the first time, as well as a Lieutenant Jim Gordon, newly assigned to Gotham City and quickly discovering that corruption is rife amongst the ranks of its police force. Both men have what appears to be an impossible task ahead of them and it isn't long before their paths begin to cross. Classic Batman villains are not present in this story, and it is all the better for this, although the ending leaves us with Gordon pondering on reports of somebody threatening to poison the Gotham reservoir with the words "Calls himself the Joker". Batman: Year One is probably going to have more appeal to slightly older teens as its dark storyline may be a little much for the under 13s.


Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee


Fans of the Dark Knight are sometimes divided over this story, but it remains one of my all-time favourites and I know a number of boys at school who have read it share my love of it. The first thing that grabs the reader on first opening this book are the truly stunning images created by Jim Lee to accompany Jeph Loeb's story; many of the classic villains are present including Riddler, Joker, Harley Quinn and Catwoman and in my opinion they have never been so beautifully drawn as they are by Jim Lee in this book (although I hasten to add that my experience is still rather limited and should any Batman fan wish to point me to even better images then I will gladly go there).


Green Lantern: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns ans Ivan Reis


My experience of Green Lantern stories is rather limited and this may be why I quite enjoyed the film earlier this year where long-time fans of the character found it more than a little disappointing. Green Lantern: Secret Origin is, however, a great trade paperback collection for those seeking an introduction to Hal Jordan and the retelling of his becoming a Green Lantern. Another popular title since we introduced it to the school libary.


Ultimate X-Men by Mark Millar 


Started back in 2001 Mark Millar's Ultimate X-Men is the perfect entry point to the Marvel mutant universe for young readers. I have said before that as someone who has not grown up buying a lot of Marvel comics I have sometimes found it difficult to 'break in' to the Marvel universe. In this series author Mark Millar, more than ably assisted by a host of incredibly talented artists, completely reimagines the X-Men story, starting from their beginnings as a band of mutants fighting for good. Familiar characters like Professor Charles Xavier, Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine are all present, and the stories are all exciting and guaranteed to have boys turning pages excitedly to find out what happens next, and then going back though the books to gaze longingly at the stunning artwork. There are now four volumes, titled "Ultimate X-Men: Ultimate Collection", each with more than 300 pages, and I highly recommend them.


Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley


If your son is more of a spider-man fan then why not try the Ultimate Spider-Man series instead? In a similar way to Ultimate X-Men, these volumes (of which there are more than twenty) go right back to the origins of how Peter Parker becomes the webslinging super-hero and well-loved characters like Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Green Goblin and Doc Octopus are all present.

~~~

This list is far from being exhaustive and I know that there will be some DC and Marvel fans reading this who will shout "What about....?" As I have said many a time on The Book Zone, this is an area that I am still slowly learning about for myself and I am therefore more than happy to hear from readers about any entry-level recommendations they might have. This also explains the absence of Superman from this list, although having enjoyed the recent DC New 52 #1 issue of Action Comics then this is something that may change in the future.

#edit: Following my tweeting of this post one of my Twitter followers mentioned the DC and Marvel comic apps that are available, and that are a great way of engaging boys with reading, possibly without them even realising it. I will endeavour to find out more about these and create a post of this subject in the future.

Review: Justice League #1 (DC Comics New 52)

Written by GEOFF JOHNS; Art and cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS.

Comics superstars Geoff Johns and Jim Lee make history! In a universe where super heroes are strange and new, Batman has discovered a dark evil that requires him to unite the World Greatest Heroes!

I mentioned back at the end of July that I was really excited about the DC Comics New 52. I was excited from a personal viewpoint, as my knowledge of the DC Universe is fairly limited, never having been a buyer of comics as a child, teenager or adult. This knowledge has increased slowly over the past year or so as I have started to buy (and loan from our local library) more and more trade paperback collections of some of the classic DC stories. I also mentioned that I was excited for all the young readers who will now be given the chance to enter the DC Universe for the first time, and be able to grow up with the new stories. As far as encouraging boys to read the 'relaunch' of so many comics featuring big-name characters is a great event.

Unfortunately there isn't a comic shop anywhere near me, so I have set up a standing order at the brilliant Gosh Comics in London. Yes, this means that I will have to go and collect them from the store, but I tend to go into London once a month anyway, and how cool is it that every time I go there will be a new pile of comics waiting for me. Anyway, in my excitement I can already feel myself beginning to waffle, so straight to the poont: I was in London on Thursday, the day after Justice League #1 was released, and as soon as I arrived in London I made my way as quickly as possible to the fab brand new Gosh store in Soho, picked up my comic, headed on up to Golden Square where I sat on a bench and started reading Justice League #1.

I really did not know what to expect. Would I end up being disappointed after these months of impatient waiting? Various sources online had made me aware that the new JL would include Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Green Lantern, and others, but surely even a writer as great as Geoff Johns would struggle to fit all of these characters into one issue? And of course he doesn't. Without giving too much away we meet Batman, Green Lantern and Superman, and although I was a tiny bit disappointed not to have seen Wonderwoman yet, I loved it. Of course, it is a comic and so once you take all the ads out we only have 24ish pages of story, but every single page is stunning. This is Jim Lee at his very best and images are full of incredible detail and the non-stop action of the story is portrayed in such a dynamic way that it almost feels as if it is leaping off the page. Boys will devour this kind of story-telling, and if you are beginning to despair that you will never get your son to read then go out and buy him this comic now!

The story opens with these words: "There was a time when the world didn't call them its greatest super-heroes. There was a time when the world didn't know what a super-hero was". Yes, this really is back to the very beginning for the Justice League. They know each other exist. They have heard various news stories about each other's exploits. But they have never before met. At one point, in discussion with Batman, the Green Lantern says of "that guy in Metropolis": "They say he's an alien". And so in this issue we have the very first meeting between Batman and the Green Lantern, and if you can imagine two tough guys meeting each other for the first time, and the way they might size each other up, then you have a pretty good picture of how this encounter goes. Geoff Johns keeps the words to a minimum, but the short bursts of dialogue between these two heroes tells us everything we need to know at this moment in time. And then, with mysterious bad guy dispatched, it is off to Metropolis for their first encounter with Superman. I will leave you to guess how that goes.

I have no idea how the long term fan-boys have reacted to this comic as I have avoided reading any reviews for fear of tainting my enjoyment of it. However, as someone using this as an entry to the DC Universe I thought it was brilliant, and I know that there will be many, many readers out there, young and old, who will share this opinion. I know that comics are relatively pricey for their meagre 24 pages of story but I hope that there are many parents out there who will buy a copy of this, or any one of the other DC Comics New 52, for their son and by doing so spark off a lifelong love of comics, and with it a lifelong love of reading. Yes.... comics do count!!!

The DC New 52 (and why I am so excited about it).

Are you as excited as I am about the DC New 52? If you're not sure what I am talking about then where have you been for the past two months? On 31st May DC announced that starting in September 2011 they would be relaunching a huge number of their titles, taking the numbering of these comics back to #1. This means that titles such as Justice League of America, Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and many, many more will, over the course of September, all have brand new stories. Technically not a complete reboot, as DC very soon added that much of what has gone on before in the DC Universe will still stand, but what they hope is that they will bring these fantastic characters to a whole new generation of readers, without these readers having to worry about having missed out on key plot details. 

On the day this was all announced I mentioned this to several groups of boys at school, and their reaction was one of the main reasons why I am so excited about the DC New 52 (the other reason is far more selfish). They were so excited about it, with one sixth former pretty much demanding more information about titles, cost, etc. and since then emails have been flying around between me and them, and amongst themselves, as they decide who is going to buy which titles, and how (we do not have a comic store in our area). Standing orders have been placed with the likes of Forbidden Planet and GOSH, and here's me still trying to decide which titles I am going to buy for myself. These emails have even continued into the school holidays, as news and images came out of the San Diego Comic-Con almost on an hourly basis. 

It has been proven that boys can be encouraged to read for enjoyment through graphic novels and comics. When I was at school it was frowned upon to admit that you loved comics, these days it is embraced by many modern-thinking teachers and librarians (though sadly not all), and this DC relaunch will I believe have quite an impact on young male readers around the world. Yes, I know that sounds like a rather exaggerated statement, but don't underestimate the popularity of some of these fantastic characters, Batman being the most obvious thanks partly to the recent Christopher Nolan films. Of course, this will also be a little pricey, and sadly the school library budget does not run to buying comics, but I am can pretty much guarantee that when some of these stories are eventually released in graphic novel format we will somehow make sure we get them for the kids to read.

At this moment in time I am just finalising my own personal list of titles that I am going to give a try, although I am not sure I can afford to keep on buying all of them. The list I am still trying to shorten a little is below and I would be interested in what your thoughts are, and whether there are any I really should be buying:

Justice League #1 (drawn by Jim Lee - how exciting!).

Batman #1

Detective Comics #1

Batman: the Dark Knight #1

Batgirl #1

Batwoman #1

Nightwing #1

Green Lantern #1

Wonder Woman #1

The Flash #1

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1

Suicide Squad #1

Justice League Dark #1

PS Jim Lee - if you ever read this and fancy writing a short piece about DC comics for The Book Zone then please get in touch (hey.... you can't blame me for trying!).

Review: DC Comics - The 75th Anniversary Poster Book

Featuring a collection of the most memorable DC comic covers from their history, this collects an amazing variety and wealth of comic art in one book. From the first appearance of Superman – much copied, and the most expensive comic ever sold at auction – in Action Comics # 1, 1938, to Batman’s first swooping appearance in Detective Comics, and further ‘tights and capes’ character introductions, to the relative innocence of Falling In Love, the creepy House of Mystery, Mr District Attourney, up to 100 Bullets, Ronin, and the Vertigo titles, this covers the evolution of artwork, characters, development of themes, introduction of ‘social comment', the taboo-breaking Swamp-Thing and Abby falling in love, and much more, for 500 comic covers.

Wow! As books go this has to be the most stunning looking book I have received since I started this blog, and at 36cm by 28 cm it is certainly the biggest. Whether you are a DC fan, a Marvel fan, or just a fan of comics in general then this is a book that you could spend many hours looking through, admiring the quality of the various comic covers within.

I came quite late to US comics. As I mentioned back in March when I had a graphic novel themed month on the blog, I grew up reading The Beano, then moved on to Marvel's Star Wars Weekly and then the re-launched Eagle. Comics from the DC and Marvel stables were only read whilst waiting to have my hair cut at the barber and the occasional Spiderman or Batman annual received as Christmas presents. I was always aware of the rivalry between the two companies, and also enjoyed the various cartoons and TV series such as Wonder Woman, Batman and Spiderman (which as they were made in the 1970s were all very high camp). I honestly couldn't tell you who my favourite superhero was back then, although I do remember that I always favoured Batman over Superman.

And then....... in 1989 Tim Burton released his movie version of Batman and not long after I discovered Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, and then many years later the incredibly awesome Hush (still my favourite Batman story to date) and from that moment on I knew exactly who my favourite 'superhero' was. However, this did not bring with it a sudden conversion to DC devotion and even today I do not takes sides in the seemingly neverending DC vs Marcel debate, but I do tend to read a lot more of DC's output than that of Marvel, either in comic or graphic novel form. I think my main concern is that when I pick up a Marvel publication I always feel that I am jumping into the middle of a story, and that I am disadvantaged by not having been buying the comics for years; a little like discovering Lost on TV part of the way into season two I guess.

Since this defining Batman moment I have definitely read far more publications from DC than from Marvel. I love the Hellblazer series and the cynical John Constantine, and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman stories have become a firm favourite since I discovered them. Add Watchmen to the list and Marvel doesn't really get a look in. I know this may cause no small amount of upset for all the Marvel devotees out there, but c'est la vie. I may as well also upset DC fabs whilst I am at it though, just to retain impartiality - I am still not a Superman fan at all.

This book contains the covers of all of these and many, many more. There are covers of the first issues of The Sandman, Hellblazer, Watchmen and V for Vendetta. There is the cover of Swamp Thing #34 (showing Swamp Thing embracing Abigail Arcane), The Dark Knight #1, and the very different Batman: Year 100 #1 cover. With 100 larged sized poster pages there are far too many to mention them all individually and so far I have just focused on some of my favourite stories, but with 75 years of output there are obviously far more. The images are arranged in chronological order, so start with the likes of the now legendary Action Comics #1 and then progress through the decades, including less well known publications such as The House of Mystery, Strange Adventures and Weird Western Tales. On a personal note, as a teacher of graphic design it is also fascinating to see how the styles have changed over the years as fashions changed or new and innovative artists joined the DC role of honour.

If you were so inclined you could also remove each of these poster sized pages as they all have perforations to aid this, but I just couldn't bring myself to do such a thing to this stunning book. It would also rob me of the brief commentary on the rear of each of these 'posters', where comic expert Robert Schnakenberg discusses the historical importance of the cover in question or the story it packaged. Many of these brief commentaries are also accompanied by anecdotal comments from the artists themselves, as well as smaller images of related comic covers.

This book will have huge appeal to fans of comics old and young, and I know it will go down well in the school library (despite all my efforts the boys seem to prefer looking at pictures during their break times). Even die hard Marvel fans may find this an attractive addition to their collection, if only for its stunning portrayal of the art form, rather than the characters that are depicted within it. My huge thanks go to the publisher, Quirk Books, who very generously sent me a copy for review - I almost feel like buying a second copy so I can frame some of the posters. The book is due to be released on 18th August.