Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

And yet I'm going to try to string together a review.   Wow.   This is far, far superior to the Robocop 2 that was made, and, yeah, it has to do with it being a little darker, and more violent, and more like the original.   

But mostly it has to do with a lot of the social commentary - the whole programming vs human nature - that is explored more fully, and has a far better resolution.   

I'd like to say it has less to do with Lewis, but... Yeah.   Lewis is fucking hot in this.   Maybe it's the way she's even more kick-ass, and gets a little more heavy action.   Maybe it's the fact that she and Murphy just work in a way that makes me all tingly.  

Maybe it's the fact that she lets Murphy pick her up and kiss her.   

I'm going with a combination of all of those, though.    Full review after the break.

Juliet Faxx from the movie is Doctor Love in this version, and she's an even bigger bitch than before.   However, Murphy also sets her on fire and kills her, so... that was extremely satisfying.   In the movie, Murphy is confronted by his wife, which always makes me want to cry. 

In this version, however, Love treats Murphy to reality therapy.   Ellen, his wife, is already remarried, and very, very pregnant.   She gets to see Murphy, a metallic torso, in great pain, and looking like... well, nothing human.   She pretty much begs for forgiveness because she thought he was dead, while her lawyer says that there won't be complications for her new marriage if he says he accepts that their marriage is null and void.   Because of questions of the legality of his death. 

Ellen leaves.   Murphy cries.   

This is what I want to see happen to Love. 

Again and again and again.    So angry.   I literally had to put the book down and stop reading for a while, before I threw the book across the room.   On the other hand, kudos to Frank Miller.   Very rarely do I hate a character with quite this passion.   Love hit a lot of my buttons - she was deluded into thinking she was right, and into forcing her opinions on others.   She was casually cruel.   I just fucking hated her.   So, so much. 

There was something about this - the art, the characterizations, the action - that really just... did it for me.   This whole book was so fucking hot, and it's hard to put into words exactly why.   Mostly, I think I've been waiting for so long for an actual real hint of Murphy/Lewis, and this gave it to me.  *meeeelts*

Also, I might just be a little jealous of Lewis after this.   (But mostly just happy for her, in a want to make a high pitched sound that only dogs can hear way.)   Yeah, I really, really identify with her.   Maybe that's why it was so nice to really see her take a beating, and come out on top in the end.   Maybe that's why it's so gratifying to see Murphy take control of his own destiny, and turn that hint of a relationship into a real possibility.   (Hurt/comfort is one of my kinks, and this had a whole lot of hurt, and just enough comfort.)  Pretty much... this book?   Hit all my buttons.  

Corporations, media, everything that took a good skewering in the first movie?   They take a good skewering in this book too.   If not for the hotness factor, it would have been a four, four and a half-star review, anyway.   It was compelling, and I found myself eager to find out what would happen, holding my breath as I turned pages. 

Highly recommended. 

Reading challenge: 11/500.