The plot of course, is standard action film, big, bad villain fare. Loki steals the Tesseract in order to subjugate earth and get back at his brother, Thor. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) assembles The Avengers with the aid of Black Widow, some willingly, and some grudgingly, to protect earth from a major threat.

Luckily, The Avengers was scripted and directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly), who is known for his character, and geek loving takes on science fiction. There are disagreements about the ethics of The Avengers as a fighting force, there are debates about the use of super powers, there are suicidal thoughts on the part of The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo in a stand out performance) who dreads the change each time, for the loss of his precious humanity. There is Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) being his usual cynical, caustic self, there is Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who are both pretty attractive eye candy, doing their fallen Gods thing, and Captain America (Chris Evans) doing his best to come to grips with the fact the world isn’t the way it used to be, and valour is no longer everything.

There were pop corn fight scenes aplenty for the action film buffs, but there were also quieter character moments, and serious attempts to deal with the psychological element of being a super hero peppered throughout. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) was treated with the same respect as the super heroes with powers, and got to hold her own based on her own personal attributes. There was a very cool scene with a caged Loki approximately halfway through the movie that I loved (also nice shot from behind, Joss. I say this as a relatively straight female) , and I liked that her role wasn’t all about the usual faux girl power feminism so rife in Hollywood films.

It is not the best movie I have ever seen, and it is nowhere near as thought provoking as say, the recent Hunger Games film, but the script was full of humour and pathos, the visuals were good, and the fight scenes were exactly what you’d expect from a film of this nature. If you want a geektastic, source material respectful, and character driven action movie, The Avengers is for you.

The Avengers: 8/10 inky stars

I wasn’t going to review this comic series straight away as I have never read a single edition of Gaiman’s prominent Sandman comics, of which Death! is a spin off, nor have I read much Pratchett Death Disc World, about which much comparison could probably be made, but I used a Gaiman quote in class today for a word exercise and my tutor had no idea of who he was!?! End of my first world, fantasy loving universe to hear the words, “Huh? Who exactly IS Neil Gaiman?”

So I decided to take it to the blogosphere and get talking about Neil Gaiman because I am a big fan and I think he is a very clued in guy when it comes to both social media and fandom. A couple of weeks back, a good friend of mine lent me the comics Death: The High Cost of Living, telling me it was amazing.

With the qualification of never having read any other Gaiman comic before, I have to say I agree.

From Gaiman’s website:

From the pages of Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN comes the young, pale, perky, and genuinely likable Death. One day in every century, Death walks the Earth to better understand those to whom she will be the final visitor. Today is that day. As a young mortal girl named Didi, Death befriends a teenager and helps a 250-year old homeless woman find her missing heart. What follows is a sincere musing on love, life and (of course) death.

– copyright Harper Collins Publishers

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Comics/Death%3A+The+High+Cost+Of+Living/

This comic was a quick, easy read, but it is definitely for mature readers. Bear that in mind and it does say this on the front cover. There are alot of weighty issues within the three volumes including depression and suicide, poverty, disfunctional families, the nature of friendship, the nature of success and what is considered creative in modern day society, crime, violence and life in the lower strata of society. I found that these issues were dealt with in a provocactive and thoughtful way that really made these comics a great read.

My friend described the series as “A story where nothing much happens, and yet everything happens.” It’s philosophical and hard hitting. It’s critical and humanist. It’s life affirming and brave and a little bit wild…

And it’s absolutely Neil Gaiman. What else do you expect from the current master fantasist himself?