C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 62

Far Cry 5 review

    This is easily my favorite of the past few Far Cry games. I eventually warmed to Far Cry 3, I loved Far Cry 4 with some caveats, I hated Far Cry: Primal (to the point I didn't review it), and I've really loved Far Cry 5. I will say, though, this is a game which had the misfortune to be released at a time when everyone is trying to make everything about the Trump election. There's some digs against Trump in the game which are hilarious but they're good-natured South Park-esq...

13 Superhero Novel Recommendations

    Superheroes are a medium that should go hand in hand with books.

    They just don't.

    It's such a visual medium that we innately associate them with comic books, even though they've since gone on to be part of television, movies, and video games. Literature has never really had its superhero success, however. The closest thing it had was the 30s pulp era when comics didn't exist yet but we had people like the Shadow or Doc Savage. The great l...

Black Panther (2018) review

  

    So is the Black Panther any good? *sarcasm* Yes, this movie needs my approval to become a success *sarcasm*. Really, I don't feel like reviewing this movie at all because everyone who is going to have seen it has probably done so already. It's a movie which has surpassed Titanic and the Avengers or will soon enough. It's certainly changed the dynamic of a lot of people's perceptions regarding black-led superhero films (which I respond to with: wait, did just fo...

Darkrise (Rhenwars Saga 4#) by M.L. Spencer review

    DARKRISE is the fourth volume of the Rhenwars Saga (technically third with a prequel). The premise of the books is a ragtag band of misfits were given the task of saving the world from the God of Evil and a natural cataclysm of anti-magic a 1000 years ago--then botched the job horribly. Now the world is divided between the light and darkness with the two sides viewing the other as purely evil with themselves as the good guys in a typical fantasy way. The books play a lot wi...

Death Note (2017) review

    I'm going to admit something: I am both familiar with the manga and anime versions of Death Note as well as not a fan. The premise is certainly fascinating enough but I never really bonded with its central character. Light Yagami jumped off the slippery slope of morality too quickly for me to like him. I also didn't really think L that much as the conflict between them was fascinating but lacked a certain oomph I think which would have propelled the story to greatness. Mind...

Injustice 2 review

    One of the big flaws of DC and Marvel comics is the "illusion of change", which is a term coined by Stan Lee. Basically, recognizing that monthly franchises could easily become unrecognizable, it was important to make sure you put the toys back in the box pretty much as you pulled them out. It's resulted in such good things as Spiderman not becoming a cosmically powered being called Captain Universe forever but also has resulted in such terrible things as One More Day and t...

C.T. Phipps Books coming out in 2018

Hey folks,

I thought I'd share the books which you should expect to see in 2018 from me. These are all things which I think you'll enjoy if you're a fan of my existing work.

THE TOURNAMENT OF SUPERVILLAINY (Supervillainy Saga 5#)

Being a supervillain was all Gary ever wanted to be but the constant beatings, moral ambiguity, and the fact he now has a young daughter to look after have caused him to reconsider his career path. As he debates making a jump to the "other side", Gary finds himself recr...

Caped: The Omega Superhero by Darius Brasher review

    I'm a huge fan of superhero fiction as anyone who checked my Goodreads book lists would be able to tell (or, you know, has read the Supervillainy Saga). That means I'm always looking forward to a new series which is both established as well as good. This is certainly the case with the Omega Superhero, which has four installments at the time of the publication of this review as well as being good.

    The premise is Theodore Conley is a 17-year old living in a...

Broken Nights by Matthew Davenport

    BROKEN NIGHTS by Matthew Davenport is the first foray by one of my favorite Lovecraft fiction authors into the world of superheroes. It has the premise of trying to be a Heroes-esque "grounded" story about a guy who dresses up as a vigilante and fights crime but does it without Bruce Wayne's billions or years of study with Tibetan martial artists. There are actually people who do this in real life, for better or worse, but the Darden Valley Guardian has a lot more luck than...

Blackjack: Villain by Brian Bequer (Blackjack 1#)

    BLACKJACK: VILLAIN by Brian Bequer is a supervillain novel which is in the fashion of SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE, CONFESSIONS OF A D-LIST SUPERVILLAIN, or my own SUPERVILLAINY SAGA. It's the story of a small-time villain who has the potential to be a big-time villain. He's blessed with the skills of an archer, the strength of Thor, and a genius scientific mind. It says something about just how much of an underachiever the guy is that he's still doing penny ante jobs before h...