Another week over and I hope it finds you well. Below are some nice things. Go and enjoy. 

My post on Rex Velvet, that dastardly duke of Seattle, will probably remain a fixture on the left hand side of this blog as it was an instant smash hit ratings wise. So as a thank you, here's a great drawing from artist Sheldy, of the hilariously vexed villain himself! 

http://sheepy-doodle.tumblr.com/post/24097850253/rex-velvet

In lighter news....Syria! Or rather the incongruity of a celebrity the likes of Chris Brown attaching himself to a tragedy of such a scale in order to position himself as someone who cares. Meanwhile his supporters continue to abuse anyone over Twitter who has occasion to mention....hey, isn't he an abusive git? Jillian C. York's think piece is well worth a read.

Comic book artistic tributes to Memorial Day in the States are often very touching, such as this lovely piece from Dan Hipp. However, at times that heartfelt sentiment, when combined with the irreal consequence-free drama of superhero comic books, can at times feel out of place. 

I am thinking in particular of that infamous moment written by J.M. Stracsynski featuring Doctor Doom shedding a tear for the victims of 9/11. What was obviously intended as a tribute, strayed into the realm of offensive bad taste. Perhaps that was also on the mind of Comics Alliance's J. Caleb Mozzocco when he wrote this very barbed article relating to the idea of 'heroic sacrifice in comics. It's quite a cutting piece, but a welcome cold shock to the false drama churned out by the Big Two.

Mark Waid wrapped up his series Irredeemable this week, as I noted in my 'Comics Cavalcade' feature, but his article on piracy, or to be accurate the benefits of this new method of online information dissemination, is fascinating. The game changer may have arrived.

On the other side of the coin, Warren Ellis in typical grumpy old man fashion bemoans the vicissitudes of internet fame and the tribalism of creator dedicated message forum/blog threads. Amusing as always, but quite the eye-opener.

Designer Jayse Hansen has posted a fantastic collection of design still and initial drawings from the Avengers movie. Folks - this is pure graphic design p0rn. As he notes himself, these conjured visions of Comic Book Tech were present onscreen for 70% of the movie, which helped bring the heightened reality and spectacle of Joss Whedon's take on the Marvel Universe to life. In a touching esture, Hansen pays tribute to his colleagues at Cantina Creative that he worked with on the movie - and in the same spirit, I'd like to say thanks to my mate Ronan back in Dublin for the tip!

Another friend Ryan, and he certainly is a mate as this is the third time he's shown up in the Link-a-Lot round up, produced this great interview with the creators of The Deep from Gestalt Comics. Tom Taylor and James Brouwer are definitely a team to watch.

In other superhero film news, here's the trailer to a new Chinese action thriller Inseperable - with Kevin Spacey of all people donning a cape and costume!

If you listened to this week's podcast 'Bottle Episode' you would have noticed that Lucas and I are quite fond of the work of Dr Ken Jeong. Well here he is as depicted in a very interesting - Community inspired - art exhibition. Lots more great stuff at the link.

E.T. is coming back on Blu-ray! Check out Filmink who got the skinny on the new release.

Here is an affectionate piece from the New Yorker that marries Community to Doctor Who. The added salt in the wound following Dan Harmon's departure from the show was Neil Gaiman's retraction of his offer, as a now bona fide Whovian script writer, to produce an episode for the show. Tragedy. While this does offer an interesting historical perspective on Who, I do question the citing of the wonderful Elizabeth Sladen as the most popular Companion of all. Always thought Billie Piper had that down. Turns out the author never watched the Russell T. Davies years.

Speaking of self-important creators (...oh behave) here's a list of reasons why living with a writer can be a pain in the posterior. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to my wife for the future years of hardship. 

Although things could be worse!

Enjoy the linkage folks!

This week Lucas and I - after a few false starts - review Spanish 101, the second episode of Community. Dan Harmon's show continues to impress both of us, and we note the way in which an impressive amount of ground is covered with these characters already. Also we meet Senor Chang for the first time, played by the scene-stealing 'Dr' Ken Jeong.

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Community is made for NBC by Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment, Dan Harmon Productions, Russo Brothers Films, Universal Television and Sony Pictures Televison. Theme song by The 88.

This week we have superheroes, horror, surrealism and comedy - a fine week's entertainment. 

Irredeemable #37: 'FINAL ISSUE'  declares the cover and yes, it would appear Mark Waid has brought this book about an Ubermensch who goes off the deep end to become a villain finally to a close.

Which is not to imply that this has not been a fun ride - Waid is both a fan of Silver Age tropes, but also a reliable craftsman as a storyteller, so we were in good hands throughout the series. The question as to whether the book's premise was stretched a bit too thin remains, but this issue ends on a beautiful grace note that gives All Star Superman a run for its money. With Qubit standing over the prone body of the Plutonian holding a smoking gun the ending seems a foregone conclusion. Really though the story resolves the question whether the diabolical monster who had turned on the planet he previously protected is capable of redemption. The final pages are surprisingly insightful - I had almost forgotten about the 'evil Superman' angle of the book - with a touching last panel. Kudos Mr Waid - next up Thrillbent and I can't wait to see where he's taking us with that.

Justice League Dark #9: Well it's goodbye to Peter Milligan, and a warm welcome to Jeff Lemire, who has proven himself to be the real star of this relaunch (look the gent has even provided us with a suggested reading list!). Frankenstein is a great book, jam-packed with sly humour and action. Animal Man is possibly the closest DC have come to a proper horror book since their Moore/Gaiman heyday - and it is threatening to surpass its predecessors. 

I am actually hoping Buddy shows up on the team here, seeing as his inclusion on Justice League International during Morrison's run was depicted as him being a lone freak among the superhumans. However, Constantine's posse are all weirdos too, so he should fit in just fine. Wisely Lemire here changes the cast but doesn't bother to introduce them, instead throwing them in the deep end as it were - making a frontal assault against the diabolical Felix Faust. Cue blood sacrifice, dagger wielding cultists and spider-folks. This is great fun and Mikel Janin's art is as always gorgeous, adding to a rich overall experience. 

Mind MGMT #1: The difficulty in reviewing this book, with its unique art stylings - presented on graph paper to suggest the sense of a half-remembered dream - is that this book could go one of two ways. This is either a) an imaginative and creative Meisterwerk! or b) a pretentious vanity piece. It's just too early to tell.

The majority of the plot concerns a frustrated novelist named Meru, desperately chasing down material for her next novel. She finds herself drawn to a mysterious event from two years before, an event referred to as 'the Amnesia Flight 815', when an plane's entire crew and passengers spontaneously lose all memories of their past. But while Meru is not short of inspiration, she finds herself unable to follow-up on her previous writing success. There is something Dickian about featuring such everyday creative frustrations in a story that features psychics and supernatural diseases. My impression is that creator Matt Kindt is trying to conjure up a lucid dream on the page. I am curious to see where this goes next.

Night of 1,000 Wolves #1: This was easily the greatest surprise for me out of my comic purchases for the week. For one it feels like a now typical horror premise - characters find themselves besieged in an isolated homestead by bloodthirsty beasts - but for the most part draws on our fears of the natural world. Supernatural elements do eventually enter the proceedings, but for a time there I thought I was reading Night of the Living Dead, except with the zombies swapped out for wolves. And I was loving it. 

 Creators Bobby Curnow and Dave Wachter ratchet up the tension, with the isolated family disturbed by the ranting of Grandfather Tine who claims that there are portents signalling the return of the wolf queen Nagbre and her children to the land - savage wolves. His son-in-law Harrick believes the old man has gone mad, but then the beasts appear in the valley. This is no fairytale, lives are lost and there is no guarantee any member of this small group will survive. This is gripping storytelling and I am very happy to see another original work from IDW, in the spirit of the excellent Kill Shakespeare and Smoke & Mirrors.

The Tick #100: Invincible pops across a dimensional rift to visit the world of Ben Edlund's The Tick - and it's a good thing too, as he's apparently getting a little too serious. We know where that leads - grim 'n' gritty town. So three cheers for the Tick, with his goofy villains, traumatized sidekick Arthur and that memorable catchphrase....'Spoon!' I love the suggestion that just as the Tick has reintroduced a sense of fun into superheroics for Invincible, the latter has brought with him an element of tragedy to his new friend's world - which the big blue lug is completely unprepared for.

There is also a potted history of Edlund's long lasting creation included for this anniversary issue. Always good to see it on the stands. 

Till next time folks, read 'em if you've got them.

In 1991 David Cronenberg accomplished what was largely thought to be an impossible task. He filmed William Burroughs' classic mindtweak novel The Naked Lunch.

Trimming away elements of the story that did not relate to any coherent central narrative, Cronenberg instead focused on the character of Bill Lee (Peter Weller) and his misadventures in the place known as Interzone, filled with conspiratorial types such as the oleaginous Tom Frost (Ian Holm) and the sinister Dr Benway (Roy Scheider). There's also talking typewriters that resemble cockroaches, prodigious drug use and oh yes - the Mugwumps.

In Burroughs' novel there are sustained sex scenes, as well as homosexual rape, mostly not included in Cronenberg's mixture of fiction and biography in this film. However, the director does something else that is quite interesting. He invests the love scene between Weller and Judy Davis with an extraordinary visceral sense of disgust. While the two couple, a typewriter itself becomes excited and joins in, suddenly developing sex organs. It is a bizarre sequence, a heady mixture of eroticism and revulsion.

Two weeks ago a video demonstrating the creation of a 'robot ass' started doing the rounds.

Suddenly I was reminded of Mr Cronenberg's twitching 'naked' typewriters. I am not entirely sure what I have just watched. Somehow it takes the notion of the 'Uncanny Valley' to a whole other place. Say hello to Shiri, developed by The University of Electro-Communications.

Isaac Asimov, where are your three rules of robotics now!

'Do you think I will be able to breathe fire or spit poison?' Temeraire asked. 'I am not sure how I could tell; I tried, but I only blew air.'

'Did you hear us talking?' Laurence asked, startled; the stern windows had been open, and the conversation might well have been audible on deck, but somehow it had not occurred to him that Temeraire might listen.

'Yes,' Temeraire said. 'The part about the battle was very exciting. Have you been in many of them?'

The story begins simply enough. We meet Captain Laurence, a nobly born English naval officer, in command of a vessel named Reliant which has recently succeeded in defeated a French ship during the Napoleonic Wars. The conquered vessel in question holds an extremely valuable cargo, one that cheers Laurence's crew after a hard fought battle against the exhausted yet fiercely determined enemy. The item in question, however, is a precious dragon egg.

For in this world war is conducted on land, sea and air. Dragons are bred for combat by both the British and French and form a key part of Napoleon's strategy for invasion. Having won an egg in such circumstances is a huge coup for Laurence. Except he soon realizes the egg is due to hatch, which will mean a member of his crew will have to give up a life at sea to become the dragon's lifelong companion and handler. To his shock and dismay, the fully cognisant and surprisingly articulate dragon that emerges chooses him. He gives the young dragon the name Temeraire, in honour of a famous sea-vessel and resigns himself to a new career as an aviator, regarded by most with a mixture of fear, pity and suspicion for their relationships with these incredible creatures.

Laurence is surprised to discover how intelligent Temeraire is, his inquisitive nature ensuring that his knowledge grows at an equal pace with his ever expanding body. Together they return to be assigned to aerial combat  in the war against the French, despite the protests of the aviators who see Laurence as an outsider. Temeraire in turn is estranged from his fellow dragons, as he is an unusual breed rarely seen in this part of the world, the lack of information about his nature meaning he has no idea what he is capable of. Instead the two come to depend upon one another, forming a close affectionate bond that helps them in the difficult days ahead.

This is an absolutely delightful book. In effect Novik has transplanted the adventure fiction of the Battle of Britain to this Napoleonic setting. Except with dragons. In turn this allows her to exploit the almost farcical restrictions of gentlemanly behaviour that Laurence abides by. His embarassment at the discovery that there are female aviators is a highlight (as his his reaction to his dragon entering puberty), but on the other hand his habit of addressing Temeraire as 'dear' is very sweet and, well, endearing.

To say more would only spoil the witty and adventurous spirit of this excellent novel. I feel I am late to the party on this one, but if anyone has yet to sample Novik's Napoleonic dragon, do so as soon as possible. Strongly recommended.

Originally published on 'A Book A Day Till I Can Stay.'
 

We have a betrayal state, he realized. When I was a celebrity I was exempt. Now I'm like everyone else: I now have to face what they've always faced. And - what I faced in the old days, faced and then later on repressed from my memory. Because it was too distressing to believe...once I had a choice, and could choose not to believe.

This evening I watched the Philip K. Dick episode of Prophets of Science Fiction, a documentary series for television produced by Ridley Scott who appears in each episode as our guide to the lives of a selection of sf writers, signing off with a pithy line. During the episode there is an interview with David Hanson, the poor chap who lost the robot head of Philip K. Dick. No mention is made of this, but we do get to see the recreated head of Dick. 

I remember when the robot head was lost in 2006. Warren Ellis did an entertaining series of columns mentioning that he had the robotic PKD, re-purposed to resemble the head of Jack Kirby! Here is my dilemma though. Just as Ellis joked that he could reprogram the missing head to become that of an entirely different dead visionary - Hanson was in turn able to rebuild the head. It is a neat tribute to Dick, given his repeated questioning of the uniqueness of human individuality. From his notions of androids, artificial memories and alternate worlds - the recurring idea is that we are not beautiful snowflakes. We can be rebuilt. We are the result of formulae. 

And that is my problem with Dick's writing. I have long ago recognized his formula and it means I am having trouble enjoying his fiction. The recurring tropes of his writing, not only the themes of individuality, but the seesawing relationships with women and the rampant paranoia of authority figures, appears over and over again. The imagination displayed in his novels is breathtaking, but the stuff of his narrative, the building blocks, his techniques, are far too familiar to me - and I have only scratched the surface of his full canon, having only read a third of his published fiction! 

The ideas surrounding Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said are brilliant. A near future society - relative to the time of writing given its 1988 setting - featuring an astonishingly restrictive police state that has near wiped out African American citizens due to a policy of sterilization and retains records on every citizen. As a celebrity Jack  Jason Taverner is not subject to these oppressive laws and, along with his colleague Heather Hart, feels nothing but contempt for these lesser folks. However, an encounter with a spurned lover results in him somehow being transported to another world courtesy of a parasitic lifeform (cf Alan Moore's What To Get The Man Who Has Everything).

This alternate Earth is in effect the same world he 'came from' in almost every aspect, aside from the fact that Taverner is an unknown person. For a former celebrity this is the worst possible fate already - but in a society that obsessively records and stalks its own citizens he is a hunted man. 

We then meet the typical Dickian nymphet Kathy Nelson, a document forger who becomes obsessed with Taverner, until we learn from a police officer that she is mentally ill. Once again, this is a recurring theme of Dick's and perhaps a reflection his own dysfunctional relationships with the women in his life. I resent how the young women drawn to his protagonists inevitably are revealed to be disturbed and pathetic. The inevitable authority figure Felix Buckman who pursues Taverner has a sister Alys, once again mysteriously drawn to the man from another Earth whom she claims to know. The presence of twins or unusually close siblings is also a trope of Dick's, inspired by the death of his own twin Jane. In fact PKD was buried beside his sister in 1982 and his questioning of why she died and he lived informed a lot of his speculation about possible worlds. 

The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick by R. Crumb from Weirdo #17

Philip K. Dick the man is continuously fascinating to me. But his literary output has begun to lose its appeal. I think in part this is because one of the first books I read by the man was informed by the mystical experience which inspired his Exegesis. The book was VALIS, a brilliant dialogue on gnosticism, but also a possible account of a mind shattered by mental illness. It was original and imaginative - and most importantly, the transformative event Dick had undergone had done away with the formula. 

So I guess the question becomes for me that if I want to continue to read Philip K. Dick, maybe I should stick to the post-Exegesis version. It is the man I am interested in, not the same story over and over. 

Apologies for the absence of linkage last week. Thankfully that just means we have an abundance of fine things to share today.

First off if you happened to listen to our most recent podcast on the Hugo Awards I mentioned an article by John Scalzi published on Kataku "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is". This is a fine think piece on the concept of privilege, with a great satirical edge.

It's always good to see another successful Kickstarter campaign conclude, especially when it is the product of two great creators Paul Jenkins and Humberto Ramos - Fairy Town. Looking forward to seeing this one come to fruition.

There were many fine tributes to Dan Harmon, following his abrupt departure from Community. This one was my favourite.

This may be the worst possible timeline, but at least we have three great seasons of television.

The always excellent Colin Smith sizes up Batman Incorporated #1. Is the return of this series a case of the Emperor's New Clothes?

Here's my mate Kat enjoying a bout of zombie slaughter. While you're there why not check out the Indie Chicks website.

David Chen, epic /Film contributor and Tobolowsky Podcaster, has an interesting take on the pushing back of G.I. Joe Retaliation to 2013.

Finally a politician we can believe in!

George Lucas wanted to expand Skywalker Ranch. His neighbours objected and prevented the project from going forward. So now he is selling the land to be turned into public housing, in the midst of wealthy Marin County. Nice work George.  

The Mary Sue has a great story about a recent Avengers press conference where...well have a look for yourselves. I will say I am growing a greater degree of respect for Scarlett Johansson.

I discovered this great site Bill Murray Stories the other day ....and then this video came out. Great stuff.

Geek of Oz has a nice piece on new site launch Curicon. The site started to mark Geek Pride Day, which I hope you all celebrated in the traditional manner - 

Till next time folks.

This week my friend Carol, of (The SF and F Book Chat fame) and I decided to have a chat about the Hugo Award nominees in the Short Fiction category. Each of the nominated short sf yarns are listed below for your attention. 

Between us we picked our favourite of the selection each, as well as our ....least favourite (let's not be mean here).

 Movement, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2011)
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2011)
The Homecoming, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s, April/May 2011)

The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

The Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue, John Scalzi (Tor.com)

Drop either Carol (@irishhatgirl) and myself (@emmetoc_) a line to let us know which story you enjoyed the most. 

Best of luck to all the Hugo nominees.  

There is a red pot. A red pot I bought... How to decide the provenance of a red pot? This is a matter for later in this list. The matter of the red pot is to be returned to later. - (The Red Pot by Susan Bennett)

On my former blog A Book A Day Till I Can Stay I had the pleasure of reviewing Etchings #9, a literature and culture journal with many pleasant surprises from Ilura Press. So this piece feels like visiting an old friend. Each issue surrounds a theme, with this tenth volume of poetry, short fiction, essays and reviews taking its cue from 'The Feminine'.

It is a fascinating starting point for discussion. What represents the feminine in today's culture? I saw a line on a friend's Facebook page today that made me laugh "I'll be a post-feminist in the post-patriarchy". I was raised to believe women had achieved full equality, but just this year alone we have seen legislation proposed in the States to re-investigate the right to contraception - with typically explosive results. It's incredible to me that we still need to debate not only what rights a woman is entitled to, but even how to define a woman.

Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán's contributions to this collection include the poem Cycle Undone which hit me like a punch to the gut - "They are right when they say/ all women bleed". The poem is dedicated to 'transsexual and transgender women of colour', and is a powerful indictment of the marginalisation of these women, dismissed as less than people by certain sections of society. A laundry list of indignities and suffering is presented in free verse, acting as a definition of individuals refused that basic right - to define themselves as they are. "We have no way to return/ what they have given us/ has no value. We seek and search/ for what was ours. We take what we are/ given and surprised with the results."

I also enjoyed Libby Hart's Síle na gig as it raised a smile for its cheeky riffing on my homeland's culture. It is astonishing to reflect on how the traces of Celtic civilization point to an earthy and vibrant culture, one that has been restrained in Ireland for centuries, although it would appear the tide has finally turned. The feature interview with Kate Holden is entertaining and serves as a great introduction to this wonderful writer's incredible life story. Evidencing quite the wry sense of humour, one of the lines from the author quoted by Janelle Moran had me in stitches on the train into work: "I'm really lucky that I get enough work as a freelancer and as a columnist and public speaker that I can keep myself busy, and that's a good thing, because all I had was bookselling and prostitution and I don't think I'm up for either of those anymore!" 

Silk Chen's memoir All That Glitters impressed me with its honest appraisal of how traditional values of one's culture can sometimes creep up when one least expects it. This memoir describes how as a first generation Australian woman engaged to a Croatian man, Chen discovers a sudden compulsion to acknowledge her Chinese background and the importance of gems in the matter of courtship. The author takes us on what starts as a personal journey and then becomes a history of the role of women in China and how that compares to present-day multicultural Australia. 

My pick of the collection though is Susan Bennett's The Red Pot. This short story is structured like a legal contract, the cold objectivity an attempt to suppress the emotion inspired by a divorce. However, throughout the narrator seems compelled to make little asides, spoiling the illusion of an impartial division of goods, with the associated memories creeping back in. The line describing an abandoned bathroom "His and hers his and hers her and his no our" - is heartbreaking. Dorothy Simmons' For the Tomatoes is an exacting and intimate story about a woman trying to balance her job, family and marriage, with her own creative impulses. Its everyday details and simmering frustrations, not to mentioned the well-captured exhaustion of the protagonist, marks out Simmons as someone to watch. A love scene with her husband is tellingly summed up in one line "His hands know their way," suggesting an habitual act of sexual congress, almost automaton-like. 

Inga Walton's Behind Beauty's Mask: Works by Deborah Klein is accompanied by a beautiful selection of prints by the artist. I was particularly fond of Klein's work Mirror, Mirror. She is an artist I am now curious to learn more about, investing items such as 'antique combs and hairpins' with a degree of feminine agency that borders on Cronenbergian! My thanks to Walton for the primer.

This is an excellent journal and well worth a look for the host of treasures within. Above I have only listed a small selection of personal highlights, but in its 191 pages there is certainly something for all discerning tastes. Strongly recommended. 

Let's talk a look at Sam Mendes' entry into the Bond franchise.

Things go boom. Daniel Craig looks like a thug for hire in a tux (but then that's part of his charm). Javier Bardem's backlit appearance is reminiscent of that unforgettable climactic scene from Battle Royale with Kiriyama (Masanobu Andô). There's even a brief shot of Bond and M in what appears to be the Scottish Highlands. If a stag shows up, I hope 007 shoots it.

Look I'm that fifth person who actually liked Quantum of Solace. It was trying to do something more with Bond as a character and I appreciated the effort, if not the execution. Casino Royale, conversely, I actually found overrated - for one it drags painfully in the latter half of the movie. Still Craig impresses as the dead-eyed British spy, so I will be seeing this when it hits the cinemas. 

Did it have to be Mendes though? He is the element I am most concerned about with Skyfall (is it a mission codename? A place? A trigger word? Who knows?). Will he squeeze what little fun there is to be had with Bond out completely, sticking to his typical dour sense of human drama? Man you see one Mendes picture, you pretty much start hitting the anti-depressants - mainly because the acclaim is nauseating. 

Someone drive up to David Cronenberg's house with a dump-truck full of money. If we want an intelligent dissection of the spy genre, he's your only man!

Apologies folks for the belated Comics Cavalcade. Sometimes the time gets away from us. Plus I have a few pieces on comics in the pipeline. For one this hullabaloo about Marvel and DC officially endorsing homosexual characters in their fictional universes. A nice gesture for many gay comic fans (and right-thinking people generally!) but I can't help but feel it smacks of marketing. As a contrast have a look at this trailer for Silver Stiletto an Australian film about a transvestite vigilante. Puts the ridiculous hesitancy of these comics publishers to shame and I wonder if superheroes will find their real home in cinemas - the Avengers box office certainly points in that direction.

I also want to do a piece on Hickman/Pitarra's Manhattan Projects, after Kieron Gillen's plaintive cry on Twitter the other day.

BPRD Hell On Earth Devil's Engine: I am really growing to love the work of Tyler Crook. Each of his BPRD books has been a treat. His vision of an almost-apocalypsed world is convincing for its normality, interrupted by immense scenes of disaster, such as the climactic quake in this issue. Arcudi and Mignola's story has agent Andrew Devon on what appears to be a fool's errand tracking down a woman who may be a psychic - or may just be a crank. Once again the balance between supernatural horror and drama is maintained. These miniseries have been great fun to date, so I am on board for the latest trip into Hell.

Dancer #1: Now this is how it's done. For a first issue Dancer introduces just enough mystery and character beats to intrigue, with the promise of a solid story to follow. Nathan Edmondson's script builds the tension following an elaborate assassination on the opening pages, immediately introducing a happy couple afterwards that the reader is left to assume is the next target. Alan and Anna seem like a normal pair of lovers. She's a ballerina practicing for her last performance in Milan. He may have a bit of gray in his hair, but he dotes on his young partner, sitting in the dark watching as she performs. Then a quiet evening on the town is interrupted by a sudden pursuit and Anna discovers she knows very little about the man in her life. Reminiscent of George Clooney's arthouse flick The American directed by Anton Corbjin (which I loved), the last page of this book flips our understanding of the story completely. An excellent start.

Danger Club #1(2nd ed.): "Apollo is a bastard. And with the heroes gone, he's now the most powerful bastard on the planet." Following a Secret Wars type event that leaves the Earth undefended with the failure of its heroes to return from space, a power-mad sidekick named Apollo takes control of the remaining young superhumans. Only Kid Vigilante, Fearless, The Magician and mecha-operating Yoshimi (nice reference) are standing in his way. With a climactic battle in a sports stadium for the hearts and minds of the assembled young heroes left behind, this story felt a little similar to America's Got Powers. While I prefer Ross and Hitch's book, this story has a fantastic pace, quite a few nice touches and by starting in media res we are sucked in to the action straight away. A great new superhero book from Image.

DC Universe Presents #9: Ok let's make this quick. In Daddys Little Girl DC readers get their first glimpse of Vandal Savage in the present-day, much changed from the boisterous barbarian in Paul Cornell's Demon Knights. James Robinson's script also introduces us to what may be this revamped DC line's version of Scandal Savage, here named Kassidy. They may well be entirely different characters, but once again we have Vandal attempting to sway his daughter to a life he approves of. In Gail Simone's Secret Six: Six Degrees of Separation Scandal's lesbian lifestyle did not meet with the approval of her father, who desired an heir. Robinson has Kassidy be an F.B.I. agent who visits Savage in a high security prison to investigate a series of copycat murders that might.....wait a minute. A parody of Silence of the Lambs would have been fine, but the script also has a number of tiresome cracks about Sigmund Freud and a terribly  unconvincing conclusion. Not to mention the implied attraction between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling is here queasily mapped on to a manipulative father looking to convince his daughter to follow in his footsteps. Very disappointing, feeling a bit like salt in the wound given the continuing failure of Secret Six to appear in this new DC universe.  

Mondo #2: Buy this. It's demented, but I love it. 

'B'Gok!'

Giant murderous chickens, a loser transformed into a muscle-bound hulk and a philosophical egg. Ted McKeever's a mad genius (and Dana Moreshead's covers are delightful). 

I don't want to spoil this experience for anyone - buy it and enjoy.

Reset #2 of 4: Peter Bagge's latest slice of tar-black comedy takes that age-old fantasy of traveling back in time to correct the mistakes of your past and slaps it silly. Guy Krause is a failed celebrity who has been offered just this chance - but crippled by insecurity and self-loathing he is unable to even get beyond the first moment of this return to his past without questioning it. Said return is achieved by an incredibly detailed VR simulation. Having held up the experiment for an entire issue already, Guy allows himself to be strapped down removing any ability to halt the procedure. In effect he confesses that he has no control over himself. Although that doesn't stop him trying to get his end away in his simulation. Great fun.

That's it folks - till next week read 'em if you got 'em.

My mate Lucas Stiverson and I put our heads together and recorded a new show together - Bottle Episode, a podcast on Community. For our first effort we start with the very first episode Pilot of this instant cult-classic. Not only do we get down to the in-jokes of the show, but we take the opportunity to celebrate the work of Dan Harmon.

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In the coming weeks we will be discussing each episode of the show's three seasons in sequence. Have a listen and let us know what you think.

Enjoy!

Community is a program from NBC, theme song by The 88.

Folks have you read American Dark Age from Megabrain Comics? You really must. It's a story about a young woman stranded in a post-apocalypse world where technology has spontaneously failed on a global scale. Katherine Brody is our sword-bearing heroine fighting to survive in these desperate times, and presumably later coming across the mysterious conspiracy that lies behind Armageddon.

For their first issue creators Jean David Michel and Jacqueline Taylor took the time to let us get to know Katherine, her family, as well as introduce some classic rocking out scenes.

Hot chicks with swords and rock'n'roll? It's like a Frazetta wet-dream come true!

But wait, what do we have here?

Last week news broke about a new show from J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke called Revolution. It will tell the story of a family struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic America where once again all technology has blacked out.

Ok on first impressions I would also call this a double-Capras Corner contender, what with the host of browns and dull colours reminiscent of Joss Whedon's Firefly. As it happens Jean Michel himself has already commented on this apparent coincidence of inspiration. Maybe primitivism is the new zombies this year and Revolution has just happened to develop on a parallel track to American Dark Age.

Regardless, my hope is that fans of Abrams' show will look for something similar and discover American Dark Age. Michel and Taylor are doing some great work here, so keep an eye on their site for updates on future issues.

So I have a mate called Dave. When we first met back in 1998, he struck me as someone just in love with life. Oh and pies. More on that later. 

I credit Dave with introducing me to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly and that cinematic masterpiece....Bubble Boy.

A few years ago Dave moved to Canada. Then I came out here to Oz. We kept in touch and hopefully we'll meet up someday in the future and have a chat over coffee and pie like in the old days. 

Dave went to the Calgary Comic Con last month and met Stan Lee. Awesome in and of itself. Then got the man to autograph a picture of Spider-Man, which he sent to me. 

Dave Coughlan is an awesome dude. 

I mentioned pies above. See Dave does like his pies. If you're in Canada, and have a hankering yourself, have a look at my friend's pie business Dave's Originals. 

Cheers mate. 

Last month during the Melbourne Comedy Festival I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing comedian Rob Lloyd on his show Who, Me. The show itself is very funny, taking the opportunity to delve into Doctor Who arcana that fans will recognize, but also managing to remain accessible to newcomers. 

After all, part of Doctor Who's appeal is that it is this ever-changing thing that people can leave and return to, or even discover for the first time, at any point during its decades' long run. It's part of the central appeal of the show that it has spanned generations of viewers, which is something Lloyd touches on. 

Who, Me is also an intimate discussion of what this cult show about a madman in a box means to Lloyd himself. Whether it is just an empty fantasy that has occupied too much of his life, or in fact a story with genuine power that has the capacity to move us emotionally, even change who we are as people in a positive way, lies at the heart of this one-man performance. To that end Lloyd puts the Timelord and all the assorted aspects of his televisual reign - the obscure storylines, the decades of history, not to mention the definite risk of disdain through association from other nerd tribes never mind 'normal people' during that terrible time that was the 90's - and tries to weigh up the evidence. 

If you get a chance to catch Who, Me I would strongly recommend it. Hilariously funny and quite incisive, with even the odd tear-jerk moment (a bit like the show that inspired it so), Lloyd proves himself to be a fantastic entertainer. Also the interpretative dance just has to be seen to be believed - especially for the 'Colin Baker' moment, I loved that.

During the interview Lloyd discusses his show, the upcoming 50th anniversary of Who and his ambitions for a run of Who, Me in the UK to mark the occasion. Now that would be something to see.

Oh and the mention I make to Uganda is a reference to this story here. Rob Lloyd can also be seen featured in the new show Live On Bowen coming June 8.

So the axe has fallen. Dan Harmon will not be returning to the curtailed fourth season of Community as showrunner. Once the news was broken, following Vulture.com's report that Harmon had not negotiated a fourth season, plus the news that Adult Swim had taken on his animated series pilot Rick and Morty, that sense of the inevitable was confirmed. What were we thinking? That a show with as individual and niche-oriented point of view could survive in television?

We have been here before. The West Wing lost Aaron Sorkin and never properly recovered. Graham Linehan threw in the towel with Black Books following his difficulties with star Dylan Moran - similar story there I guess (%&^ you Chevy!).

Even when the parting of a creator from their show is not acrimonious, the change is very clear. Joss Whedon passed the reigns for Buffy the Vampire Slayer over to Marti Noxon so he could concentrate on Firefly. The result was one of the dourest and most depressing seasons of the show yet (sans the musical episode, of course). Larry Charles walked away from the pressures of Seinfeld, only to return for an acid-tonged final episode that proved while he understood the formula behind the show's best episodes, the majority of its audience just wanted something akin to Friends (which was the entire point of Friends). And of course there's almost been as many different interpretations of Doctor Who as there have been Doctors thanks to the changing of the guard at the BBC, with Steven Moffat's vision notably distinct from his predecessor Russell T. Davies.

The point is this. The best showrunners are storytellers. The pragmatic ones have their eye on syndication rights, yes, but ultimately they are there to tell a story. Community with its emphasis on meta-humour and confounding the clichés of sitcom humour, was a show that tried - and for the most part succeeded - to describe how people now interact in this strange new way. We compare events in our own real lives to fictional scenerios from our favourite tv programs, movies, comics and games. People spend hours on internet message boards and Twitter debating the evening's viewing. This was Harmon's notion for the show and explains why the character of Abed, who would have been the butt of the joke in any other show, is here the character who is at the heart of the 'community'. 

Which is why Chevy Chase's complaint of "It’s just a f*cking mediocre sitcom!" is so cutting. This probably reflects the studio-logic that saw no reason not to remove Harmon as showrunner. In fact, as he explained on his tumblr account, he was not even contacted to say he had been fired!  

Why’d Sony want me gone?  I can’t answer that because I’ve been in as much contact with them as you have.  They literally haven’t called me since the season four pickup, so their reasons for replacing me are clearly none of my business.  Community is their property, I only own ten percent of it, and I kind of don’t want to hear what their complaints are because I’m sure it would hurt my feelings even more now that I’d be listening for free.

Do we want ciphers or do we want storytellers? Do we want shows that speak to us, or 'situation comedies'. To me that's the crux of this debacle. Tomorrow morning I'll be getting up at some ungodly hour to record a podcast with Lucas Stiverson. We had already planned to do a show together reviewing each episode of Community in sequence, but now I am afraid that the whole project is going to take on a funereal air instead of celebrating this program that made us laugh so much.

We had three seasons.

I am perplexed and bewildered at the news that there's going to be a sequel to Ironclad. I am surprised because while I enjoyed the film, it did not seem to make much of a splash with audiences.

It was nasty, brutish and very gory - but quite enjoyable for all that.

A note on the 2011 film. James Purefoy played a repentent templar knight who learns that the powerhungry King John (Paul Giamatti - in fine Large Ham form here) humiliated after the signing of the Magna Carta has assembled an army to retake the country. Acompanied by a select group of allies Purefoy's Marshal chooses a single strategic point of Rochester Castle to draw the marauding Danish mercenaries employed by John. Brian Cox plays Baron Albany, who was present at the signing of the Magna Carta and is responsible for recruiting the defensive force that will help prevent Rochester Castle from being overrun - a gang of sellswords, criminals and thugs. 

And oh the bloodshed that follows. Giamatti shrieks and sneers like a gibbering madman and really brings the film to life - whenever the camera is not drenched in grue that is. Purefoy puts those sword-lessons from his abortive casting in V For Vendetta to good use - not to mention the underrated Solomon Kane. A veritable host of British actors pop up in this film, including Purefoy's co-stars from Kane Jason Flemyng and Mackenzie Crook. There's also Derek Jacobi (The Master!) and Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister!)  on hand to lend the proceedings a bit of gravitas.

I have a slight problem with the announcement of Jonathan English's sequel. Most of the characters played by these actors will, uh, let's just say not be appearing in this purported film. From the Variety story above it would also appear the film-makers have decided to repeat the original's formula of a siege picture.

Which begs the question, why do it at all? If Ironclad has managed to pull in the dvd sales - and fair play to it so, because while it has the feel of a boy's own adventure in parts it is also quite a grim slog - surely that limited success could be used to launch a different project that takes folks by surprise? Directors like Wes Anderson or Michael Bay have a certain formula that they stick to quite rigidly, but each in their own way introduce little variations that keep people interested, while the films themselves retain a similar tone. Ironclad had a siege. That's not really a tone or feel worth  repeating.

Of course Purefoy might return, so I'll probably watch it. Although I would prefer a sequel to Solomon Kane - make it happen people!

"Jamie got out his pill bottle. "As needed." He uncapped it and took another, finished off his Coke. He was always dry-mouthed these days. 

"What'd they do with crazy people in your time?"

"Imprison them, or drive them from town to town. Families locked them in cellars, attics, sent them away."

"Guess things haven't changed much."

"You know what I think of your century's so-called progress."

Oh my. Dark Shadows is taking a serious drubbing isn't it? I must confess I never saw the original show, but I was aware of it after it got compared to Buffy The Vampire Slayer frequently on a message board I used to visit in the late 90s. Still it was enough to pique my interest in this cult soap opera that just happened to featured supernatural aspects. 

So imagine my surprise when I found myself reading Hawkes Harbor and recognizing some of the basic plot points from Dark Shadows - a vampire returns to his wealthy family estate after centuries entombed and has to deal with the difficulties of culture shock.

Where Hinton's book differs though is that the majority of the story's first half is concerned with the former life of Jamie, an orphan who escaped to a life on the sea accompanied by his wily friend, the Irishman Kell. It is made clear to us that the narrator is these early events is much changed from his unruly and passionate younger self. Jamie is the vassal of a vampire named Grenville Hawkes. The use of foreshadowing and the hints dropped about our young protagonist's eventual fate is quite interesting. It gives a sense of value to the transformation of Jamie from delinquent to thrall.

The relationship between Jamie and the vampire is also an interesting feature of the novel, beginning as a purely master/slave dynamic typical to this subgenre of literature and then evolving into a grudging sense of mutual respect. This is a neat continuation of Hinton's theme of male bonding from her children's fiction, The Outsiders in particular. Jamie could easily be a mate of Ponnyboy and Darry who somehow strayed into the wrong book. Of course this being a work of adult fiction Hinton is able to try her hand at more mature content, at one point introducing a cruise-ship sex comedy to lighten the mood.

The Dark Shadows comparison set in when Grenville reunites with his descendents, posing as a long-lost English relative. Their initial scorn towards him actually enrages Jamie, as he recognizes it as familiar snobbery. This serves to bond the two even further, as the human thrall has rebelled his whole life against the authority figures who mistreated him as a poor orphan. This savage, yet honourable vampire, appears to have something in common with him.

This is a very curious book, just about managing to mix and max genres as it progresses, but certainly worth a look.

These are the faces that could have landed on the blockbuster posters, the names that could have torn a thousand ticket stubs in an hour. Sadly events either conspired against these actors, or they chose a different career trajectory. And perhaps, on reflection, it was for the best. Words cannot express how grateful I am Tom Cruise did not land Iron Man, for example. 

This is of course just a sample, but it was the first casting misdirection listed here, Emily Blunt's almost landing of the Black Widow for Avengers, that inspired the piece. Some of the actors below are among my favourites and I wonder what paths their careers would have taken if things had been just a little different.

Emily Blunt as Black Widow. 

This one came as a bit of a surprise to me, as Marvel Studios have been so ....gleeful over the casting of Johansson, whose continued popularity baffles me (I was not a fan of Lost in Translation). I wonder then what Blunt would have been like in the role and what caused her to be in the frame in the first place. Granted Blunt's star has risen higher in recent years, although I still rate My Summer of Love as one of her best.  It occurs to me though, with her clipped English accent and onscreen froideur, maybe Blunt was in the running so a parallel could be drawn with Anna Chapman? Ah well, we shall never know now. God bless Joss though. He took that vacant, dreary expression on Johansson's face and made her compelling, if for a short while.

Christopher Walken as Han Solo. 

This has to be one of the great 'what might have beens' of Star Wars, possibly topping even the originally scripted death of Lando in Return of the Jedi, as well as David Lynch's invitation to direct the final picture. Before Walken became the voice everyone wants to imitate, a delirious vortex of self-parody and good humour ("COWBELL!"), he was a young actor with a certain something. It's interesting to imagine how his take on Han would have differed from the avuncular charm of Ford's. Perhaps he would have played the role with an extra degree of edge or menace? The chap is supposed to be a smuggler after all, he could have done with a degree of darkness. 

Oh and Han shot first.

Dougray Scott as Wolverine

Oh Dougray. You poor chap. It's sad to note that when I googled the fellow's name a disturbing number of results were about this very same casting mishap. Famously Scott passed up the chance to star as Wolverine in order to be the villain in Mission Impossible II and star in possibly one of the longest and most pointless climactic fight scenes ever. Seriously put it on some day. It makes the rigours of Russian cinema seem like an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. It is a curious coincidence that the film happens to feature Australian actors such as Richard Roxburgh (watch Rake, it's amazing) and is set in Sydney. Scott's replacement was of course Aussie Hugh Jackman, now synonymous with the role of the mutant Wolverine, the part which launched him into Hollywood. Sorry Dougray. 

United was great though and you and David Tennant were fantastic in it. 10/10. 

Macaulay Culkin as Bart Simpson

This is a weird one, because I cannot corroborate it right now, but I remember loose talk of Culkin starring in a live-action version of the cartoon way back in the early 90s. Of course Matt Groening was smart to hold on until he felt the time was right, insisting on the final movie being an animated feature. Unfortunately South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut beat him to the punch and apart from the memorable Spider-Pig earworm, the eventual film had little to offer.Whether Culkin could have brought Bart to life is academic. At the time he was the child star. His name was probably attached to every role out there. So how he wound up making Getting Even With Dad I have no idea.

Younger Pierce Brosnan as James Bond

A pox on you Remington Steele, a pox on you!  The show that famously locked Brosnan into a contract so that he could not take on Bond as a younger man, leaving it to Timothy Dalton who ironically had already turned it down twice, one occasion expressly because he felt he was too young. Brosnan of course later lent his Navan tones to the archetypal British agent. So that's nice.

John Belushi as Peter Venkman

This one is a sad inclusion on this list. Belushi still can leave me gasping with laughter with but a wiggle of his eyebrows. Ackroyd famously wrote a script for Ghostbusters the size of a phonebook, with scenes featuring giant monsters and weird sex - some of which got watered down for the first film and some other elements drifting along into the less successful sequel. But Venkman was going to be his second collaboration with Belushi after The Blues Brothers. Instead tragically Belushi died of a drug overdose and the role was left to Bill Murray, who has proven to be an irascible obstacle in the making of a second sequel. For which I am grateful. Ghostbusters is a classic film and I can always return to it, but I wonder what Belushi would have done with girls floating over beds, slime monsters and of course, the Stay Pufft Marshmallow Man scene.

Emily Browning as Bella Swan

This is an odd one as according to this interview Browning's association with Twilight comes down to the author playing fantasy football with the casting and naming her on a blog. Coming off another project Browning passed on the part and instead we got Ms 'Bites Her Lip A Lot'. Now look I wouldn't have been queuing up to see the film either way, but one of my favourite films is A Series of Unfortunate Events, which she was wonderful in. While more roles have come to her, including showy turns in Sucker Punch and Sleeping Beauty, I can't help but speculate as to whether the expectations landed on her by Meyer altered the trajectory of her career. Zack Snyder's would-be feminist fantasy was a lurid mess. Sleeping Beauty far too impressed with itself, screenwriter Julia Leigh confusing pretension with profundity. I want to see Browning thrive in the industry - please someone, cast her in a film that allows her to come alive.

Maybe there's another Earth where these folks got their names in light a little earlier or in roles that redefined their careers. Where perhaps Armie Hammer's performance as Batman  in George Miller's Justice League movie was celebrated as the definitive take on the character. It's nice to wonder sometimes.