Here it is, the final installment of the convention reports I wrote at OzCon International. This one was sent out moments before my husband and I left the hotel.
===
Sunday morning, as usual at any convention, came far too early. Oz fans peeked out of their rooms like chipmunks watching for late owls, then zombied their way to breakfast, car-packing and check-out. The movement in the hotel of Oz fans was considerably slower than previous days, as the programming didn't start on Sunday until 10 a.m., giving everyone an extra hour for the last morning of the con.
At 10 a.m., panelists Eric Gjovaag, Gina Wickwar, Lee Speth and John Bell started an open and energetic discussion of the later L. Frank Baum books, with an emphasis on The Lost Princess of Oz. The audience was engaged and there was a lot of feedback on favorite parts of the books along with magic words and manuscripts. Opinions flew like arrows and every one seemed to hit a pertinent point. Serious discussion about which of Baum's four final books was the best triggered a lot of thoughtful commentary on specific scenes and memories from people of when they first read each book.
After an hour of scintillating conversation, the convention had a short break before the annual business meeting. A number of people left to head home or check out of the hotel. Jay Davis, Lee Speth and Colin Ayres started the business meeting with a discussion of next year's venue, the Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel at Cal Poly in Pomona, California. The convention will be held Aug 10-12, 2018.
Discussion included a request for the return of the treasure hunt, a warning that Pomona will be hot in August, and the comment that Disneyland is fairly near to the location. People also were concerned about how publicity and information will be spread on next year's convention. Publicity was also discussed heavily. As the people who were going on the cruise prepared to depart, Jay showed off the promotional image for next year's convention on his t-shirt.
The folks going on the cruise gathered in the lobby and rafted off together to the event, while those left behind got lunch and gathered in the lobby to discuss a variety of topics, with a lot of planning and thoughts on next year's event.
After a pleasant hour and change, John Fricke started the next program: a retrospective about the history of the radio show the group saw last night. Also on the panel were Travis Ashmore and Jean Paul Archambeault, who directed and performed the radio play. Fricke explained that NBC has all the scripts and even the negotiations with the book publishers in its archives. He was unable to make copies of any of the material, but was able to go back several times and take notes, writing two articles about it for the Baum Bugle. Later, Chris Sterling wanted to perform some of the plays, and got permission to print the scripts from NBC. These same scripts were the ones performed at this year's convention, many years after their first convention debut.
Fricke also talked about where the play was heard - and noted that it was never aired on the west coast. Ashmore talked about the work involved in putting on the show, how he hunted down the actors and auditioned people via phone, "I didn't need to see them, just hear them," he said. Timing and cadence were crucial, and he found people he thought were the best for each character. The most challenging part was finding the "On the Air" lights and vintage microphones, along with the items used to create sound effects by the foley artists.
He said the assistance of David Ian and Sam A. Mowry was vital in getting the sound effects put together, including the loan of a number of materials from Mowry. Eric Shanower also assisted by helping Ashmore make contacts with Portland groups who could help out.
Fricke asked Archambeault about his opinions, being an Oz outsider who was unaware of the radio play or even most of the Oz books before getting involved in this. He'd done some work on radio and doing voices for Anime, so he jumped at the chance to try something new. He had seen the MGM Movie and Return to Oz, and said the event was a bit of a culture shock, but he enjoyed the passion of the attendees and plans on starting to read the Oz books.
Archambeault played Jim the Horse, the Braided Man and the Dragon, and during the play when he switched from Jim to the Braided Man he removed his hat to reveal braided hair with ribbons in it, which got a big response from the audience. He said the idea to do the "costume" that way came early in the process. Ashmore said he wanted the actors to look like they might have come into a studio dressed that way in 1934, while still reflecting their character's nature. If you see a photo of the staff as they were performing, there is a good chance you can identify each of the characters by how they are dressed.
A short break allowed many of the handful of remaining attendees to wander off, leaving a sparsely populated room for the 2 p.m. panel about next year's convention. With maybe a dozen people in the room, Jay Davis started discussing plans for guests/events for next year and potential fundraising to help secure those guests/events. Jay also discussed the places of Oz history that are close to Pomona that Oz fans may want to visit, and whether or not a group bus tour might be a fun way to accomplish the visits.
The classic discussion on whether or not meals should be included in the cost of registration was again brought up. Also discussed was whether or not the banquet should be included as part of the standard cost.
The convention ended as Lee Speth announced he is no longer the Chair, and handed the figurative baton to Jay Davis. Jay told everyone that he hopes to include upcoming convention information on his podcast, if people want to subscribe to the Royal Podcast of Oz.
Reminder: OzCon 2018 will be held Aug 10-12, 2018, at Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel in Pomona, California. The theme is Tin Woodman of Oz, which will be celebrating the centennial of its publication next year.
Some final notes:
* Another group in the hotel over the weekend were the Jehovah's Witnesses, but as they were on the other side of the hotel we hardly ran into them at all.
* The banquet room was just across the main lobby from the OzCon area - but the main lobby was cut off thanks to the construction. People had to detour all the way around the construction to get to the banquet.
* This year's convention was also the 53rd Winkie Convention.
* The heavy construction that plagued the group with noise on Friday was not happening on Saturday and Sunday - although workers were still laying carpet in some areas.
* After listening to the radio play, some people were wondering exactly how to make Jell-O flakes.
* These newsletters have been posted online at ye ol' editor's blog under the tag OzCon2017, so you can direct other people to them if you want folks to read them.
Quote of the Day:
"Here there be Skeezers" - during a discussion of maps of Oz
The reviews are in (responses to these reports):
"Have a great time!!!" -Diana
"Thank you for these summaries - the next best thing to being actually able to attend!" - Gili
"that was a fun read, Laura! thanks!" -Glenn
"Pomona! That's great news. I will be there with my family." - Lorin
"Making plans for Pomona convention." - Micki
Showing posts with label Wizard of Oz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wizard of Oz. Show all posts
Monday, July 03, 2017
OzCon International - Day 3
Sunday, July 02, 2017
OzCon International - Day 2
Once again, my newsletter report on Winkie Con 53/OzCon International 2017
===
Saturday at OzCon featured a cloudy morning by the Portland airport. Fans stumbled down from their rooms to get breakfast at the hotel restaurant or find another nearby place to break their fasts. Bleary-eyed fans greeted each other, including a few people who enjoyed too much of Ozma's Enchantment last night.
About 9 a.m. the dealers room opened, as did the silent auction in the main room, the Emerald City room. The quizzes started in the Winkie room, overseen by Quizzard Eric Gjovaag. As is the tradition, last year's winners created and presented the quiz this year along with providing the prizes. There were four levels of quizzes: a quiz on just the movie, the novice quiz, the standard quiz and the master's quiz.
After the quizzes were done, Oz Show and Tell was held in the Winkie Room. Another tradition, the show and tell allows people to bring their favorite Oz treasures to show off to other fans. As that started, Eric Shanower started a presentation on Nomes and the Nome King in the Emerald City room. Show and Tell finished quickly, and the majority of the fans joined Shanower's presentation.
Meanwhile, in the lobby, the children's programming started with a couple of young men making slime and using it to create strange and fantastic shapes. They were joined by a few adults who cannot resist such things. There were also coloring books, beads and other activities available - but the slime was the number one most popular thing.
The dealers room was also hosting a couple of signings, with Robin Hess kicking off the fun with a Friday signing of his books and Gina Wickwar signing at 10 a.m. As is usual at this convention, groups of people congregated in other areas to chat about Oz and other topics.
At 11 a.m. two panels competed for people's attention. Eric Gjovaag hosted a fantasy casting of the Wicked movie in the Winkie room, and the Emerald City room had Jay Davis interviewing Doug Aberle about filming and discovering Oz. Ye ol' newsletter editor got a moment to tell Aberle about the nightmares she had after seeing the Mysterious Stranger segment of The Adventures of Mark Twain - at which he laughed and said he was known for supplying nightmare fuel.
Lunch was a scattered affair, with people coming and going as programming ended at noon but the break was only a half hour before the auction started with the ever amazing Bill Thompson and Susan Hall at 12:30. The auction finished shortly after 3 p.m. One participant noted that even when she didn't bid on an item, she usually learned something thanks to Thompson's descriptions. Bidding was vigorous, with some items going for unexpected prices.
A half hour later Eric Gjovaag started a presentation on upcoming Oz television and movie projects, followed in the same room by a presentation on The Rundelstone of Oz by David Maxine.
At 2:30 a line formed in the dealers room to get autographs from Inanna McGraw, while people were encouraged to prepare and register for the costume contest.
Inpromptu discussion groups continued to pop up in the St. Helens lobby, and two young locals, Alysia and Linden, began to play Oz songs on violin to the joy of those in the area. A discussion group with Doug Aberle that ye ol' newsletter editor was involved in ranged from Betty MacDonald's autobiographical books to medical school to the Raveled trailer to the Aroma of Tacoma and beyond, proving that Oz and Oz Fandom is far more than the sum of its parts.
At some point, ye ol' newsletter editor was plied with chocolate, making her very happy.
Many strange Ozian creatures started to filter through the crowds into the lobby, including Polychrome, a Big Lavender Bear, Cayke the Cookie Cook, General Jinjur, a couple of Frogmen, Button Bright and a member of the Lollipop Guild.
In order of appearance, the entrants were:
- Rylan Andrews as a Lollipop Guild Member
- Karyl Carlson as Dorothy with critters
- Dee Masters as the Frogman
- Lea Thorin as Polychrome
- Caitlin Masters as General Jinjur
- Katrina Marier as Mrs. Sew-and-Sew
- Lynn Beltz's hand as Ugu the dove
- Karyl Carlson as Dorothy with the Magic Belt
- Susan Hall as the Big Lavender Bear
- David Hall as the Frogman
- Gina Wickwar as the Peach Pit
- Marilyn Carlson as Cayke the Cookie Cook
- Eric Gjovaag as the Wizard
- Brian Russell as Button Bright
- Susan Johnson as Corporal Waddle
- Lacey Carlson as Glinda
- Alysia Gaylord as Scraps
- Linden Hosack as Ozma
- Movie Quiz: Kevin Thomas - Prize: Judy Garland photos
- Novice Quiz: Dee Masters - Prize: Wicked Witch Mug
- Standard Quiz: Gina Wickwar - Prize: Oz Coloring Book
- Master's Quiz: Susan Hall
The adult costume was a tie, with both Lea Thorin and Caitlin Masters sharing the top prize.
A special Theme Prize for a costume that most embodied the convention theme of searching for the Lost Princess was awarded to David Hall.
The Winkie Award was given to John Fricke, who has made a big impact on Oz fandom and even turned Oz into a career. The Winkie Award is presented annually to a person who has contributed to Oz fandom and to the Winkie Convention (OzCon International). It is voted on each year by the attendees of the previous convention. Fricke gave a brief thank you speech, noting he's been involved in Oz since he was the age of Rylan (who is five).
Chairman Lee Speth finished the announcements by thanking the convention's special guests, Doug Aberle, Inanna McGraw, Peter McGraw, and John Fricke. He also thanked the many fans and volunteers who assisted in putting on the convention. Speth then turned the podium over to John Fricke again for a more somber moment.
Fricke gave a memorium speech for Robin Merle Olderman, a longtime convention attendee. He said that last year, Robin was at the convention but only was able to come down for the Saturday night program because she felt so ill, but was still determined to attend to give out awards. Fricke told the crowd how Robin was a big fan of the books - so much so that when she was taken to see the MGM Movie she protested that Dorothy was too old and had the wrong color hair, then when Dorothy got to Oz she had to be removed from the theater because she complained too loudly that the wrong witch showed up. Fricke told the crowd how she got into Oz fandom and first started attending conventions. He ended the speech by saying that while Robin is no longer at this con, she is in Oz, where we all want to go.
Next up was the Wizard of Oz radio show from 1934, re-created live on the stage by a number of talented actors. The show is indescribable to folks who didn't attend... I'll just say the actors dressed as if they were in 1934 and the crew had an "On The Air" light and vintage inspired microphones. The crew also read all the commercials for Jell-O that were scattered throughout the program. I wish I could tell you just how great they were, but I don't believe I have the words. It truly felt like we were sitting in a studio listening to the people actually working on the program on air. It was truly excellent.
Intermission music was supplied by Alysia and Linden on violins, who delighted the milling crowds with various songs, including a healthy selection of Oz works. Fricke referred to them as the Merry Munchkin Musical Maids.
The radio production was highly appreciated by the audience. The first act took place in the Vegetable Kingdom of the Mangaboos. The second act featured the Pyramid Mountain, the Land of the Gargoyles, the Den of the Dragonettes and the Land Where Wishes Come True. Jim the horse had a lovely habit of mixing up his words, which had to have been difficult to keep up. Amusingly, the characters kept allowing Jim to use the magic belt, and he kept messing up the words - and thus the magic spells. I also adored the adverts for The Little Wizard Stories, that children could get by sending the package front from one box of Jell-O. And I almost want to try "Jell-O flakes" thanks to the ads.
The cast featured John Fricke as the Announcer, Allie Mgrublian as Dorothy/Mushroom, Ben Caldwell as Scarecrow/Gargoyle, Evan Wollam as Cowardly Lion/Gwig, Jean Paul Archambeault as Jim the Horse, Braided Man/Dragon, Travis Ashmore as Tin Woodman/Capt. String Bean, Doug Mitchell as The Wizard of Oz and Laura McCulloch as Pig/Lead Ensemble. The play was directed by Travis Ashmore, music director was K.J. McElrath, David Ian was the sound effect director, Sean Carlson was the sound tech. Costumes were provided by Karyl Carlson and Pamela Miller. The script was adapted by Chris Sterling and John Fricke. The program was designed by Eric Gjovaag with Rob Roy MacVeigh illustrations.
Travis Ashmore, who directed the program and also was responsible for Thursday night's screening of the MGM Movie, was given a gift by the cast. They somehow found a copy of the Jell-O Little Wizard Stories send away book and presented it to him at the end of the play.
The after party was announced as the last item before the crowd broke into separate islands of chatting people. Ye ol' newsletter editor again made an appearance at the party, which had a bit of chocolate to keep her happy. The crowd of more than 30 people was, alas, a bit too much, so the editor retired without spending too much time chatting and eating. However, the party was only starting when I left, and the cups of Ozma's Enchantment were flowing freely, indicating plenty of people would be lost princesses overnight.
Reminder: OzCon 2018 will be held Aug 10-12, 2018, at Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel in Pomona, California. Start planning now for a fun-filled weekend with fellow Oz fans!
Quotes of the day:
"I'm gonna show mama my slime!" - one of the younger fans walking away from the children's activity area with his father.
"Don't give it to your parents, keep it! It must be very valuable if she wants it so badly!" - David Maxine channeling the good witch after giving Rylan his $50 prize for the costume contest.
Saturday, July 01, 2017
Oz Con International
I'm at Oz Con International (Winkie Con) in Portland, and here's some fun moments from the first couple of days... in the form of the newsletter that I send out daily during the convention.
Winkie Newsletter OzCon 2017 - Day 0 Report
Oz fans gathered at Cinema21 in Portland last night to watch the classic MGM movie and enjoy commentary and a trivia contest hosted by John Fricke, the preeminent Judy Garland and MGM Wizard of Oz historian.
Fricke asked if anyone had never seen the movie, and a couple of hands went up. Then he asked how many people had never seen the movie in a theater, and many hands went up. He said we were about to enjoy the movie as it was originally intended and gave some hints at what to look for - including the length of Dorothy's hair in the Scarecrow introduction scenes and the horse of a different color attempting to eat itself.
The movie itself was glorious on the large screen, with details rarely noticed suddenly apparent. The loving work that went into the production was obvious with the screen so much larger than life. While some fans sang along and even quoted the movie, others watched and laughed at the Lion's antics.
As the movie ended and the lights came up, a number of people left the theater. However, quite a few stayed for the trivia session. Everyone had been given tickets as they entered the theater, and as numbers were drawn, members of the audience were invited to answer questions posed by Fricke and sometimes other members of the audience.
Among the prizes were an original doll of the Scarecrow by Karyl Carlson, 2005 DVD Wizard of Oz collection, a Wizard of Oz Monopoly game, the Munchkin Oz game, a three-day pass for OzCon, a $25 gift certificate for the dealers room at OzCon, John Fricke's 70th anniversary book, and Eric Shanower/Skottie Young's comic book adaptation.
Two young fans came dressed for the occasion, one as a member of the Lollipop Guild and one as Dorothy. The gentleman dressed as a guild member won the monopoly game while Dorothy was given the comic book hardcover by another winner (and she got the book signed by Eric Shanower, who was in attendance).
Both before and after the movie, John Fricke and Eric Shanower were available for autographs and questions, and had good crowds.
Now it's Friday morning and the convention is setting up... look for the next update tonight if ye ol' newsletter editor is awake enough to write it.
Winkie Newsletter OzCon 2017 - Day 1 Report
Follow or contribute to discussion of OzCon 2017 on Twitter with the hashtag #OzCon17 or #OzConInternational.
Registration was open bright and early at OzCon 2017, with people trickling down through the construction-filled hotel to the convention's lobby. The convention was located in the St. Helens wing of the hotel like last year, but thanks to a remodel currently in progress, the main lobby was blocked off and people had to weave past the restaurant, main desk and gift shop to get to the area.
Ye ol' newsletter editor settled down at a table to write the day 0 report while various people ran around setting up the audio/visual equipment in the two presentation rooms and the dealers set up in Baum's Bazaar. At 10 a.m., the first panel kicked off, featuring Eric Gjovaag, Lynn Beltz and Jay Davis talking about the Emerald City television show and other versions of Oz.
At 11 a.m., Jay presented a number of animated Oz shorts by Ted Eshbaugh and the Oz cartoons continued after lunch with a presentation by Colin Ayres and Sam Milazzo on Cinar's version of Oz.
A lunch buffet was ready at the restaurant for con-goers, who congregated in the lobby to chat and catch up with each other. Although the construction was, at times, a little loud, it didn't affect the presentations and rarely did more than slightly annoy the people in the lobby. During lunch, a large group of attendees got into an involved discussion of the history of Oz fandom and how it is changing.
Just before lunch a news crew arrived from KGW8 Portland to interview Peter Hanff, John Fricke, Eric Shanower and young fan Rylan (who was dressed as the Cowardly Lion and gave a mighty roar to the cameras on live television). The video are available at http://www.kgw.com.
Ashley of KGW interviews Peter Hanff and Colin Ayres:
Ashley of KGW interviews Rylan the Cowardly Lion and Eric Shanower (be sure to watch until the end to see Eric roar):
At 1 p.m. a panel moderated by Jay Davis talked about Oz Conventions and how to get the most out of them. It was basically Oz Conventions 101, and attendees reported it to be useful and interesting.
The Cinar presentation in the main room (The Emerald City Room) ran a little late, but after it finished, Karyl Carlson led a discussion on costuming while the smaller conference room (The Winkie Room) held a discussion by Lee Speth, Lynn Beltz and Rick Wiegand on Ozma of Oz. Live coverage of the panel was provided on Twitter by J.L. Bell at https://twitter.com/jlbellwriter
At 3 p.m. the Emerald City room featured a presentation by Peter Hanff, Lynn Beltz and John Fricke on the 60th birthday of the International Wizard of Oz Club. Meanwhile, in the Winkie room, Eric Gjovaag led people in a rousing edition of the British game show "Just a Minute" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Minute) adapted to an Ozian audience. Both events ran a little late due to some set up issues.
Erica Olivera won "Just a Minute" against Colin Ayres, Rick Wiegand, and David Maxine.
A little after 4 p.m., the programs let out and everyone gathered in the lobby and dealers room for meetings and greetings. People slowly drifted away to dinner, with the main program scheduled to resume at 7 p.m. The bar created a new drink for this year, called the "Emerald City", and some fans were seen trying it out as the dinner hour progressed.
At seven, the Oz fans gathered in The Emerald City room for the evening programs. The festivities started with Peter Hanff giving an overview of the history of Oz books leading up to The Lost Princess of Oz along with a slideshow of images from the first edition of the book. He then summarized the book for the crowd, while showing slides of images from the book.
After a short break, Colin Ayres was next up with a presentation on Oz animation, starting with a 1933 short by Ted Eshbaugh and covering a number of other pieces in mostly chronological order, including Tales of the Wizard of Oz. Yes, a significant portion of the audience sang along to the theme song. Ayres included everything from full length films to a short by the American Heart Association featuring the Tin Man. The featured works included traditional animation, stop-motion and CGI. He also included Ozzy moments in other animated works, including the Superfriend's "Planet of Oz". Colin ended his presentation with a promotion of OzCon 2018, which will be celebrating the Tin Woodman of Oz. The convention will be in Pomona, California, which is fairly close to Los Angeles, Aug 10-12, 2018.
As the clock ticked past 9:15 p.m., another break allowed people to move around and get water. The final presenter of the night was Doug Aberle, who did Claymation work on Return to Oz and was there to tell the crowd how to make our own nomes. Aberle, sporting a brown Hawaiian shirt and a well-trimmed beard, started his presentation with a film about how he killed the Nome King. Aberle explains in the film that he was never on the set, but instead was working in Portland on the claymation parts of the film. The film also included an interview with Will Vinton worked into the narrative.
Aberle was the animator on the famous Mysterious Stranger segment of The Adventures of Mark Twain at Will Vinton studios, making the people the Stranger creates and doing "a really cool destruction sequence". He then started to work on the Nome King for Return to Oz with Will Vinton's team. The film told us which animators worked on which segments. The Nome King goes through three phases of claymation evolution before becoming a live actor in a costume for a short time. Aberle got the assignment to kill off the Nome King and explained why he had to do it four times. He also visited the Deadly Desert, which is just south of Tillamok, Oregon.
After the film, Aberle took questions from the audience. He was asked how many takes are usual, and Aberle said most of his shots are first take. Having to do four takes of killing the Nome King was very unusual. He also answered questions about the type of clay they used and how long the entire process took. He said he worked at Will Vinton Studios for 18 years total, and worked on a lot of different projects. He also talked a little about his current work, including a space adventure starring sock puppets. Convention Chair Lee had a hard time getting people to stop asking questions, but finally told the group that Doug will be available for more questions on Saturday. Aberle's son said the video seen by the attendees will be put on the AberleFilms YouTube channel after a few more tweaks.
The location of the after-party was announced by David Maxine, who asked the crowd to give them a head start for set-up. The attendees wandered off into the halls - though a good number found their way to the party, where David and Eric Shanower were serving "Ozma's Enchantment", a peachy drink that will turn you into a lost princess. Ye ol' newsletter editor noted the lack of chocolate and left almost immediately.
More Media Coverage:
Auntie Em! There's no place like OzCon
5 Things To Do and See In Portland Today, Thursday, June 29
Quotes of the con so far:
"It's an Oz con, there's always a technical glitch" - Colin Ayres, right after a video he was showing crashed.
"ROOOAAAARRRRR!" - Eric Shanower
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Links
About cats and how they went from a "necessary household appendage" to cuddly companion animals.
Woohoo! N. K. Jemisin's Patreon worked and she'll be writing full time.
While I'd love to get these to put in our driveway, I bet it wouldn't take long for people to catch on that they are fake.
Here's a cartoon for my hubby. Humid days, indeed.
I signed up for the 30-day free trial of Comixology Unlimited, and I'm not impressed. I've always thought the search functions on Comixology are awful, and trying to find all books of a certain series that are offered in the unlimited service is annoying. In addition, it appears that most of the "free" stuff is first issues, not the most current content (in short, very limited). And it doesn't include any DC or Marvel books. So I'll probably drop it in a couple of weeks, before I end up being charged. It's just not worth it to me if there's nothing current. Add in the fact that some creators were never notified their books would be offered on the service, and it's even less appealing.
A comic about being a "nerdy, Mexican, gay, Mormon child of the ’80s and ’90s".
Not all school shootings are modern. Take a moment to remember the 1927 Bath School Massacre.
I love Lego Bricks, but I'd never be able to build a pop-up Lego Castle:
Sunday, May 22, 2016
A Sunday Review
TV this week:
- Gotham: "A Legion of Horribles" - This is really winding up for a massive season finale. One question - is that Clayface or False Face? It seems like it could be either. Ok, good stuff. The return of Fish, which we were expecting. Lucius Fox being intelligent. Selina's street smarts working in her favor. Nygma's sheer joy at being bad. I also like Ethel, Hugo's assistant. The Court of Owls? Is that who the big bad is? I'm impressed by the number of cliffhangers this episode seems to have, and it will be very interesting to see what happens in the season finale next Monday.
- The Flash: "Invincible" - Poor Barry didn't get it. The Speed Force wasn't just helping him handle his past grief, it was trying to prepare him for a big loss to come. I love how the team comes together in this episode to try to help Barry tone down his feelings of superiority. I also enjoyed how Cisco is finally coming into his powers. The fact that he was able to protect himself with his abilities was interesting. But that final bit of the show, where everyone is gathered and the truth came out to at least one confused young man... that was impressive. The finale of Zoom was painful, but the Speed Force practically told Barry it was going to happen - he just wasn't listening.
- Arrow: "Lost in the Flood" - While there are some repercussions on the news about the nuke, I'm thinking there would be a heckuva lot more outrage, fear and panic. Then again, we're only seeing one angle. For all the viewers know, the rest of the world could be running around screaming. The remainder of the episode was so-so. Felicity's parents are amusing, but not my favorite parts of the show. Seeing Curtis again was good. But mostly I just want this plotline to finish.
- Legends of Tomorrow: "Legendary" - Well, that was quite a finale. I didn't actually expect them to finish off Savage. I'm more than a little confused about how they did it, and what it did to the timeline, but I gather it was all happening in a paradox anyway. So my own personal pet theory (MOPPeT) is gung gur gvzryvar jnfa'g npghnyyl nssrpgrq ol gur qrnguf bs gur cnfg Fnintrf, fvapr gurl jrer vafvqr gur cnenqbk (urapr jnvgvat sbe gur tybjvat ovgf gb tybj). Gur bayl Fnintr jub "qvrq" jnf gur "pheerag" bar, jub unq nyernql zheqrerq Evc'f snzvyl. The cliffhanger was fun enough... I like me a bit of JSA. The next season ought to be good.
- Apr 20th
- Aquaman #51 - After capturing Dead Water, its human form is kept in a near-waterless containment. Turns out the human form has a name and a life, and is completely unaware of what he's been doing, remembering only his last employer... The Scavenger. The art on this is fantastic, with just the right mix of scenes to drive the action home. There's much less humor in this issue, but when Aquaman is basically torturing a guy to keep him from turning into a monster and killing everyone, it kind of gets everyone down a bit, I think. Mera had a good role to play, but that stupid outfit is not winning me over. Seriously, she's her own woman. She hardly needs to dress like Aquaman to earn respect. Beyond that nitpick, I quite enjoyed this issue and I'm reallly looking forward to the next one. I'm liking the team of Abnett and Cifuentes, and hope they stick with the book for awhile.
- Titans Hunt #7 - The threat is so great that destroying the potential pawns is the only way to stop it? What about knocking them all unconscious until you can get a handle on the problem and stop it, rather than slaughtering people? Oh well, you don't expect an organization called Diablo to be friendly. The pair of Diablo agents with big letters on their chests made me think of Team Rocket from Pokemon. Silly. They weren't quite as silly in action, but terribly hokey and stilted. There wasn't really enough of Aqualad in this issue for me. While the lead trio is nice, I just want a bit more from them than walking up a staircase. Again, the issue seemed to be padded out a bit more than needed. I think this entire mini-series could have been done in half the length.
- Teen Titans Go #15 - The first story, with the scaredy-pants, was mildly amusing except for the major plot hole (he put them on over his tights, so taking them off shouldn't have "pants" him). The second tale featured a little bit of Aqualad, although I see Raven and Starfire no longer have little hearts whenever they look at him, and Raven seemed to even be ug-ing at him. Amusing issue, but only just ok.
- Astro City #34 - There must be a lot of ex-supervillains in the Astro City universe, and the big bad definitely takes advantage of that. Carl is a good person at his heart, and this issue was kind of an "aw shucks" finish to a somewhat scary tale. He helped his friends and stopped a villain, but also showed how human he was while he was at it. A great little story.
- Back to the Future #7 - Marty is sure into the adventure, but it's really not good news for Doc. Things get more and more mysterious as the issue plods along... the reveal of Doc's "car" was a little extended. The final bit, a contest between Needles and Marty, is just dumb. As I've said before, I prefer the stories set before the movie that fill in the background of the characters. This story hasn't really gripped me.
- Dirk Gently: A Spoon Too Short #3 - From the hairstyle, it's got to be Dirk as a child, right? Beyond that, I'm not sure what to say about this. It defies any logical description, and laughs at attempts to explain the plot. You almost have to read it to get it. I'm not a huge fan of this character, but this isn't a bad series so far.
- Huck #6 - I really enjoyed this book. It's a fairly simple tale of people who didn't deserve the pain they suffered. I particularly like how smart Huck and his mother actually are, and how humble they decide to be about it. Huck's desire to help people makes him a hero to look up to, and his mother's ability... well, that's something terrible and wonderful, especially when combined with Huck. The final page was nicely brutal and a good contrast to Huck's forgiving nature. A lovely series, well worth reading. Get the collection, folks, if you missed the individual issues.
- Legends of Oz Tik-Tok And Kalidah #1 - Old West Oz is a fun universe and this is an intriguing addition. I'm curious about why Tik-Tok would be hanging out with a Kalidah in the first place. The design of Tik-Tok is unique as far as I can tell, with an owlish look I wasn't expecting. The fighting style is pretty neat, and it amuses me that he suffers from the same weakness every version of Tik-Tok has... hence he must have a traveling companion of some sort. The Kalidah is obviously an equal based on certain events. Beyond the team-up itself, we have the plot, which involves a treasure. I wonder exactly how that's going to play out? A decent start. Let's see where it goes from here.
- Doctor Who 4th #2 - Ooh, now it feels like a fourth Doctor adventure, with some bumbling in and pretending to be stupid only to prove he's very smart. Fun so far, but what's on the other side of that gateway? I am very curious if it's something we've seen before, something entirely new, or something from myth (as the cyclops suggest) made real. With a decent cliffhanger, this one promises more fun before it's over. The art is a tiny bit uneven, possibly it's just the coloring. It can be hard to distinguish Carstairs before her incident with the gateway versus after... and just what happened to her. There's obvious clues, but I'm hoping the answer isn't completely obvious once we see it.
- Doctor Who 11th #2.8 - Too many characters crowding the TARDIS, and both River and the Doctor seem... out of character. I really need to know what happened to The Squire and what she really is. Absalom was a nice kick in this one, with his calm talk after beating up a bunch of fellow thugs. But the Doctor is extra manipulative and extra cruel in this. I don't know... I kind of what the story to hurry up and finish. It seems wrong, and I'd like to see a new story to replace it.
Well, what do you know? A Butcher book I enjoyed. Perhaps I just need to come at his series from the beginning in the future.
Anyway, this is the story of... well, it's complicated because there are four or five main characters and the book never really settles on which one is the main story, so the reader can take it from many different angles. My biggest complaint is probably that no one character was given quite enough time to develop beyond a set of stereotypes into something more, although a couple of characters nearly made the jump.
The book itself rumbles along at a decent pace, and the world-building is excellent. I'm curious to know more about the Spires and how they were built (and why) and what the surface actually is. I enjoyed the airships and the concept, expressed by one character, of living her entire life within a confined space to the degree that merely seeing the sky gave her vertigo.
My favorite character would have to be the minor noble, Bridget, who goes to serve in the military as a duty. She probably came closest to breaking out of the stereotype set for her: large, strong girl who is a reluctant warrior at best. The way she deals with both Folly and her goofy talking cat, Rowl, made her the most interesting of the bunch.
Folly is another promising character, with a pure psychological quirk that makes her far more interesting than the rest of the cast. However, the book definitely left me wanting in regard to her and her abilities. That's not a flaw, necessarily, in an ongoing series.
The elephant in the room is the cat in the story. There will be a lot of people who really don't like Rowl and the other cats, but I thought they were handled well for the most part. There was slightly more of them that I really wanted to read, but since those bits almost always propelled the story forward, I won't complain. And, as a person owned by a cat, I can vouch for some of the behavior, although as far as I know my cat hasn't evolved enough to talk.
Overall, this was a fun romp, a good little tale. It's not going to be considered high art, and it didn't make me rethink the fantasy genre. It's certainly a good story, but I read it because it's on the Hugo finalist list. And as good as it is, I don't think it really belongs on that list.
Heading back to the start of the issue, the editorial apologizes again for a long delay in the issue. There's also a note that the crossword in the previous issue was missing a clue, for which the answer was "pyre". But the rest of the crossword answers are not given. Argh!
The first article in this issue is by John Michell and calls Darwinism a myth. Reading it, I can't help but wonder at the definition of Darwinism he's using. It almost seems to me that he's set up a strawman version of Darwin's theory and is whacking joyfully away at it, not paying attention to the real theory behind it. But I'm not sure. I have a sense that I'm missing something. Perhaps it is because some 35 years on we have a better grasp of the flaws of the theory while still being willing to accept the overall theme of it. I don't know. It just seems a little over-the-top and attacking the wrong target to me.
The article on the Runamo Runes is about believing something to be true so deeply that you lose all sense of perspective. In short, there is a vein of rock that wanders along a forest in Sweden and has a lot of cracks in it that resemble runes. The resemblance is enough that a whole lot of people really believed them to have been carved, and one Icelandic professor "translated" them in 1834, after working out that they were in code. Other scientists figured out what the cracks really were, although the professor defended his work until his death. They are now widely considered a natural feature, cracks in the rock, and not something someone carved. This article was republished, revised and expanded, in Fortean Times 177, the 30th Anniversary Special.
Another feature in this issue is a bunch of reports of fortean events from a correspondent in Malaysia. As often happens, the reports are eerily similar to reports from every other country, often with local twists, but equally as often with details that match UFO/strange animal/falling thing reports from around the world and across time. Strange things happen. They always have, and they always will.
I've finally found something in Fortean Times that I really don't want to read in the America Mystica column. It's nearly incomprehensible. It's like reading the worst conspiracy theorist possible trying to link things that have nothing to do with one another through a variety of silly and often contradictory ideas. I got through the first column a couple of issues ago and read one of his very poor reviews... but at this point I don't want to read any more.
Getting back to the fun stuff, On The Trail by Loren Coleman has some advice for Fortean travelers on how to find the best places to visit to find the wierd and wonderful. In the internet age, it's much easier to find the kind of information he talks about, but back in 1981 it wasn't as easy to find such specialized data. I would guess this piece was well received by the audience. I'd love to see a nice online version for my neck of the woods curated by someone like Coleman, actually.
While I'm not really warmed up to Doc Sheils yet, I loved the opening lines of this issue's "Words from the Wizard".
If Nessie happens to be an organic, flesh and blood plesiosaur, then she is no more interesting than a coelacanth: and if Bigfoot is, simply, a type of North American anthropoid ape, he is really no more interesting than a gorilla. No less interesting, certainly, but, equally certainly, no more.He goes on to say that he finds impossible animals, like Owlman, "...a winged thing with an owl's face, a man's body and feet like a crab's claws..." to be far more interesting because it is impossible. Then he goes into a discussion of how he invokes the impossible through shamanistic rituals, and he loses me. Oh well.
Notes from the Trashkashic Records is about television. And there's something deeply odd and satisfying about reading an article that discusses television from 1981... about the time I really started getting interested in what shows were on. As an aside, I discovered quickly that I really didn't care for most shows, but I loved the theme songs to some of them and would watch them only to hear it. There were a few shows my parents wouldn't let me watch, but they'd tolerate (with rolled eyes) me watching the theme songs. The rest of the show? Bah. Anyway, back to the column, author Bob Tarte argues that television was changing the collective value of the culture by expanding what was allowed to be shown on television.
As viewers become bored with TV-reality, it enlarges slightly to accommodate more startling images. Yet these are surprising solely in the context of the medium; 'I didn't think they could show that on TV!' is the classic viewer response to something new.Throughout the piece he namechecks a number of shows, from Ozzie and Harriet, Three's Company, I Love Lucy to Fantasy Island and Cosmos. Honestly, reading this column was a kick in the pants and a lovely walk back through time, as well.
Steve Moore has another report of strange doings from the Eastern side of the world, and there's a goofy report of a pecan tree in Alabama that was whining. There's also some updates on people who tried to solve teh energy crisis with perpetual motion machines. There's a neat page of Antiquities, which reports on a bunch of statues, some wrecked ships and some lost cities. I love these kind of reports. There's also a good set of reports in "Heavens Above" about who discovered Neptune and Jupiter and that Pluto is a double-planet. Another report looks at recent falls of strange things, including frogs and stones. There are more reports of out-of-place big cats, as well.
Phenomenomix is another two-pager in this issue, The Borders of Buffoonery Part 2, in which our bopped-on-the-head hero learns more things that man was not meant to know and gets bopped on the head more times. That's the only comic in this issue, but there is a picture of a twisted chimney under the title "Curiosa".
The letters were the usual mix, with one about winged cats and a bit on an article in the previous issue that I found incomprehensible being a spoof. Huh. The reviews make me want to visit a used bookshop with a list. All around fun issue with a lot to think about. I really enjoyed this one, despite the disturbing theme of the cover article.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
A Sunday Review
- Mar 2nd
- Green Lantern #50 - Ah, the jumble that is the DC Universe now... allowing us to have multiple Hal Jordans, as if one wasn't too much!
- Batman Beyond #10 - Yay the Justice League is back! Including Aquagirl. Boo, they aren't themselves.
- Batman '66 Meets the Man From UNCLE #4 - Fun little story, with all the Bat-villains out having fun in another country. And, of course, Batman has a great disguise.
- Scooby-Doo Team-Up #15 - The Flash this time... and a visit to Gorilla City. I like the "talking gorilla"\"talking dog" moment. Very cute.
- DC Comics Bombshells #10 - No Mera, but lots of battling. This is a darn good book, and it just keeps getting more fun with all the twists and turns.
- Doctor Who 11th #2.6 - Well, if you are going to go there, you clearly need River Song to do the driving... This is getting kind of exciting.
- Steam League #2 - Still extremely disjointed, and the rivalry between Dorothy and Alice is amusing but I'm not sure it was quite set up right. I'll stick with it, but it's a bit of a confusing book.
- Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #6 - Not much to say about this one. More of the same, really. I suppose I'd write more if I hadn't already read it the first time it was published, but I'm just rereading.
Meanwhile, across the pond, the next issue of Fortean Times came out with almost no mention of Mt St Helens, and the one mention I see, on page 26, got the date wrong. The eruption happened on Sunday, 18 May, not the 20th... although the phrasing is unclear enough it could be just sloppy writing.
I love the cover to this issue. The artist is Gilbert Shelton, a well-known underground comix artist. As a person might guess from the cover, much of the issue focuses on cats. Mostly big cats showing up where they aren't expected. There's an article on The Panthers of Southern Australia, and Loren Coleman's "On the Trail" column is about African lions, complete with manes, showing up in the United States. Out of Place is also about... well, out of place big cats. Even Phenomenomix gets into the act, with the main character turning into a cat trying to get into a phantom tin of cat food. Naturally, there's a lot of fun bits in these pages. People seem to like spotting giant cats, and for some reason they are kind of fun to read about, too.
The first main article is actually about the "Mississauga Blob", a strange plasticky thing that hit someone's picnic table in their backyard about the time Skylab was falling. There's some information about the incident and what happened when the witnesses attempted to report it. All told, a strange story, and nearly impossible to figure out what really might have happened.
The second part of the Gateways to Mystery article is in this issue, and features a collection of events by date in one relatively small area of Michigan, just to illustrate what a gateway area might look like. Some of the sightings are fun reads and some are just odd. There's no conclusion reached, just a general theory with some ideas on how to possibly record features of the area near the events to maybe get an idea of what's really happening. Fun, but I'm not sure where it's all headed yet.
Paul Sieveking presents the readers with a horrible selection from a 1749 book called Aristotle's Book of Problems that has absolutely rubbish advice for a variety of problems and total BS answers to somewhat childish questions. I'm just going to say if I had a time travel device, I'd be tempted to go back and smack whoever wrote the thing upside the head just for the Basilisk answer alone.
The letters start out with a really good "It Happened to Me" type of story, about being approached by someone at a cemetery who saw his own name on a gravestone, only to go back later and fail to find the gravestone. It reads just like an urban legend, though the writer claims it was a personal experience. There's also letters about tulpas, booms, films committing suicide and a giant kangaroo in Lancashire.
Comix starts with a very silly Telly Kinex, in which Telly hears about a mind-improving fish spread and tests its power by purchasing and consuming 15 family-size pots of the stuff, with predictable results. Ug. I've already mentioned Phenomenomix, but Facts You Might Forget is about ... um ... knitting patterns received via a knitting needle through the head? I don't want to think about it too hard.
This issue has some photos of winged cats... the poor critters have fur-covered growths on their backs, usually just in front of their hindquarters. There have been lots of reports of them, so the wings apparently don't hurt them much, since they survive to be found and photographed. The photos are part of a selection of clippings by George Ives that were being collected into a book.
A new column in this issue is by the problematic writer, but it's fine because I read it and it makes almost no sense anyway. It reads like a stereotype of a conspiracy theorist, with each paragraph almost making some sort of sense, but as a whole it really doesn't come together at all unless you cross your eyes and hit yourself over the head with a frying pan a few times. Again, everything from that writer gets a bucket of salt to go with it.
The reviews are fun, although I can't see much I'd want to track down. There's a book called "Guardians of the Universe" by Ronald Story that apparently addresses the Ancient Astronaut theories of von Daniken, a book I was exposed to early on because there was a copy in my parents' house and I read anything I could get my hands on. Even then I thought it was pretty silly, so this book sounds like a fun takedown of it. There's also a review of the print copy of the House of Lords UFO Debate, which happened in January 1979 and apparently caused a stir in Fortean circles. Another one it would be fun to look at some time. I was also amused to see a book called "The Manna Machine", which is apparently the genesis of the article of the same name by Ted Harrison in FT326. Connections...
Some of the other features have collections of strange tales, stories about sorcerers in China, swarms of varieties of critters, a round-up of odd news from India, reports of human sacrifice, talking elephants and monster hunts. Lots of neat bits and pieces, densely packed into a fairly small magazine. Definitely something I enjoy reading, the magazine that makes me laugh and think.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
A Sunday Review
TV this week:
- Supergirl: "Falling" - And after a flash of red, all that Supergirl has worked to build falls down around her. The best moments of the episode were when Supergirl threatens Cat (very effectively) and when she apologizes. Both intense moments that say a lot about the women involved.
- Supergirl: "Manhunter" - And finally we learn about the death of a major character that happened well before the series started. It's told nicely through flashbacks, which also explain why superheroes lie about themselves. It's a nice reminder of the major problem with alter-egos... they are lies.
- The Flash: "Trajectory" - This episode is a bit disjointed, like it's trying to link various pieces but isn't sure how to do it properly. The result is a bit of a mish-mash... not bad, but it really needed another edit or two before it was filmed.
- Gotham: "This Ball of Mud and Meanness" - Bruce confronts his parents' killer... this is definitely it's own universe. Nygma gets paranoid while Cobblepot goes sane. All very disturbing.
- Gotham: "Mad Grey Dawn" - That was not what I was expecting from this show at all. Yeah, Gordon is no longer the man he once was, but I wasn't expecting ... well, this! As for Cobblepot... I detect danger in the air for the Penguin. And why do I think Nygma is headed for a major fall? Then there's "sleeping beauty"... this show is crazy.
- Feb 17th
- Sinestro #20 - The king is dead, long live the king? I'm really not sure what to think of this one, since I'm relatively sure we didn't see what really happened. Since Soranik is my favorite, I'll just try to enjoy it.
- Titans Hunt #5 - And the plot thickens even more, as a variety of characters are showing up and remembering that everyone has forgotten the Teen Titans... which actually explains a lot about this universe being so messed up. I loved the moment Dick calls Garth 'Aqualad'. Ha.
- Teen Titans Go #14 - Beast Boy's quote: "If this game doesn't get better in another twenty levels, I'm out." is so much the gamer philosophy I nearly laughed milk out of my nose when I read it. Both stories were cute in this issue. I particularly liked the various Starfires that appeared in the opening tale. Fun stuff without a lot of substance.
- Twilight Zone 1959 - A nice little anthology with three stories, the first one just odd, the second one almost successfully creepy, and the last one an ode to comic book fans of the 1950s. None of them rise to sheer excellence, but they are all very good and the book is a fun read.
- Astro City #32 - Into a trap he goes. Obviously, from the first pages, that's what's going to happen. But who and why is a good question. Totally intrigued, as usual. Great set-up.
- Huck #4 - And I wondered that Huck's brother didn't seem to have any abilities. Still a very good book, and I'm now extremely curious to see what happens next.
- Usagi Yojimbo #152 - Usagi is awesome... but I do wonder what happened to him and the other person who vanished during the flood. Perhaps that question will be answered in the next issue? I also see that Usagi has learned of an injustice from the bandits, so I wonder if that little problem will be dealt with as well. I enjoyed this issue a lot. Simple plot, but lots to think about.
- Doctor Who 8th #4 - A nice little done-in-one that's part of the ongoing plotline. I would think the Doctor might figure out a way to get solve the problem a bit better. Still, at least it's solved.
- Steam League #1 - A bit of a mess of a book, with characters from lots of different stories jumbled together into ... well, I'm still not sure what they are jumbled into. What I know is that Oz characters show up, so we got it. It's got some decent artwork and a strange plot, but it's promising enough.
This issue is a bit slimmer than the previous one, and the editorial explained that the magazine had cash-flow problems while it tried to appeal to a larger market with the previous two issues. As a result, this issue is slimmer and has less color on the cover, but it's still up to the same standards readers were used to. From the opening article, I'd say that is accurate.
The second feature is about "Gateways to Mystery," or window areas - places on earth where odd things happen repeatedly. Author David Fideler makes the case that these areas tend to be clustered around fault lines. While the article itself isn't too bad, it's got a bunch of supporting artwork, some of which isn't actually mentioned in the article and thus goes unexplained. At least there's a good set of footnotes.
The third and final feature is an absolutely hoot of a look at the Delayed Death Touch, referred to in the article as the DDT. This apparently mythical martial arts move kills a person with a touch, but the death occurs some days/weeks/years after the touch. The article itself digresses frequently, but is consistently entertaining and manages to cover a lot of ground on its subject. A fun little piece.
Enigma Variations, the column about UFOs, focuses on hostile alien encounters. On the Trail talks about maned big cats in North America, including a sighting in Tacoma I'd never heard of... although, since I was only four at the time of the sightings, I doubt I'd remember it from local news. The Steve Moore column has two follow-ups, including an update on the condition of the hairy boy from the previous issue. The other follow-up appears to be about the terracotta army, which was reported on in issue #29.
Comix include "Telly Kinex", who is harassed this time by a joker who glues a rock to his hand and bets Telly £25 he can't roll the rock across the joker's shoulders to his other hand. Bad things happen. The next comic, "Facts You Might Forget" is about a guy who sneezes icons. Phenomenomix is a two-pager that concerns a rash of oddness and its final result.
Moving into the "Notes" section, we start with some strange encounters... UFO-themed, of course. Interesting little stories, but not much beyond that. Heavens Above has cutting-edge space news, some of which I knew about and some I didn't. Antiquities looks at ancient footprints, Atlantis discovered again, and a variety of neat little bits and pieces. The cartoon in this section shows two guys in robes walking past Stonehenge saying, "It's a disgrace. It should have been let ages ago." Ha. Standing stones as nuisance properties.
Ghosts has some fairly standard haunted house tales, and synchronicities is about people with intensely suitable names. Ball lightning is the subject of the next section, and there's some decent little tales there. Finally, in Trends, there is a piece on small people both real and not, and another piece on fakery, doubles, and sadly similar events. There's also a photo with a couple standing on a beach at La Jolla, and a child in the background playing. There's an implication that something is unusual about the photo, as there's a close-up of the child. But it looks like a trick of perspective to me.
The reviews are pretty good. I'm terribly amused by a comment on computers in the first one, but it was early days yet for computers in regular life, so I'm not surprised. One of the reviews is written by a problematic writer who I looked up after seeing a review of his work in the previous issue... I'll just say everything I read by that person will get an extra bucket of salt, so I'm not really sure what to make of his review. One book gets two reviews, and is panned completely in one and dismissed lightly in the other. The sole review of a paperback book warns readers to not eat while reading it, as it's about incorruptible corpses of saints. Um. Good advice.
The letters were fun, with the opening one being a response to a review in the previous issue. There's also a story about mysterious ball lightning, a report of a book being a known hoax in response to something printed in issue #29, and some thoughts on the fish fall article in issue #30 with a kind response from the article's writer. All told, it's another excellent issue of my favorite magazine, and makes me wish I could get my hands on all the earlier issues even more. *sigh*
Sunday, February 21, 2016
A Sunday Review
- Jan 13th
- Green Lantern Corps: The Edge of Oblivion #1 - It's lanterns at the end of the universe. Fun fun fun.
- Earth 2 Society #8 - Welcome to the new world, same as the old one? Problems crop up when people get together. It's human nature. This book depresses me.
- Batman '66 Meets the Man From UNCLE #2 - Nicely plotted, although I still am a bit clueless about half the crossover. The suspicions are lovely and so perfect for these characters. Loving it!
- Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 - Oooh, the plot thickens quite nicely as a time limit is put on the good guys. I'm really enjoying this crossover. Of course, now I want pizza...
- Back to the Future #4 - Two fun little tales, one of Doc and Marty's past and one showing how Doc got his car converted so it could fly. Cute stories with some nice nods to continuity.
- Doctor Who 8th #3 - Very creepy. Reflections always lead to strange thoughts, and this story is definitely a strange one.
- Rebels #10 - A brutal done-in-one about a conscript in the British army and how he ended up in the colonies.
- Huck #3 - You can't help but like Huck, he's a kind man who wants to help. I love what he did for the guys who talked with him outside the hotel. But the cliffhanger is a little worrisome. What's going to happen to him?
- Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #4 - And the story moves along with the bee attack. I thought that was after she met the Wizard, but then this isn't exactly the same tale.
- Spongebob Comics #52 - Wow, that was typically Spongebob.
The second main article is about mermaids, and it's a pretty good overview of the history of their perception in culture. It's not comprehensive, but it's a nice overview. The last main article is about food in alien encounters, from UFOs to bigfoot to fairies to manna from heaven. I hadn't heard of many of the incidents, but they were... tasty.
Strangedays started with a lost Nazi hoard, and continues to Bangkok ghosts and Mormon history. There's a piece on French robberies supposedly pulled off by gassing the folks in the home unconscious. Medical bag is gross beyond words, and a further section on cannibals is equally gross. The Fortean follow-ups were good, as usual.
Science is about the initial scientific studies of the EmDrive, which are showing more promise than expected for a closed system. In short, an EmDrive is "a sealed cavity in the shape of a truncated cone filled with resonant microwaves shuttling back and forth." It shouldn't be able to produce thrust, but tests are showing it is... so is there something to it, or are the experiments flawed?
I liked the golden tales in Archaeology. Classical corner is about ancient magic, while Ghostwatch is about haunted buildings not wanting to be renovated and falling down instead. Alien Zoo talks about how Egyptian jackals are actually wolves, which means Anubis is wolf-headed, not jackal-headed. Mythconceptions tackles the fact that bloody steaks actually don't have blood in them... it's myoglobin mixed with water.
Blasts from the Past had a good piece on "night doctors" who supposedly killed people, mostly black people, on the streets at night for medical students to dissect. Strange Statesmen looks at a Scottish politician who believed the Scots were the descendants of Atlanteans... no reference to Aquaman, though. I'm curious about the books discussed in the Fortean Library feature, but I don't know if I'll ever get them.
The Forum has an article about ... well, cannibalism. I guess this issue is just determined to gross me out. The second forum article is about studies done on twin telepathy, and the hope that scientists will get over their skepticism long enough to actually study the phenomena properly, since the studies done so far have been limited. The final forum article is about Spartacus, and is a little short. There's a great piece in there, but it fails to explore the topic deeply enough.
The Reviews feature two perfect 10 scores, very unusual. The first is for the new Michael Moorcock book, "The Whispering Swarm" and the second is for a 1961 movie, "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" which recently had a DVD release. The rest of the reviews were solid, as well. The letters are also good, including a comprehensive rebuttal of the Yew article in issue #330, mostly pertaining to determining the ages of yew trees. All-in-all, a solid issue of the magazine. Despite the cannabalism.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
A Sunday Review
The Wiz Live - Is it ironic or something that I waited quite some time and watched this one on DVR? Ahem. It was fun, and interesting, and loads better than the movie. Since I've never seen a proper stage production of The Wiz, I don't really have anything except the movie to compare it to. As a result, I can just say it was good, but not fantastic.
As a version of The Wizard of Oz, I didn't like all the changes, but found some to be excellent. There are a few songs I really love from the movie, but nobody can sing "You Can't Win" like Michael Jackson. And "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News" was amazing in the movie and just passable in this version. But otherwise, I think I liked this version's songs, mostly.
The acting wasn't too bad, except for the guy playing the guardian at the gate. Ug. Aunt Em was probably the best of the lot... she looked comfortable, while everyone else seemed a tiny bit stressed... although the Lion wasn't too bad.
I admit that I've probably seen far too many versions of The Wizard of Oz to judge even this fairly, but when it comes right down to it, I liked it.
The Room Two by Fireproof Games - I went ahead and purchased this one because I enjoyed the first one so much. At $2, it wasn't a hard choice. This edition is MUCH darker and spookier than the original game, including two "rooms" that made me more than a little squeamish. There's also much more of the occult in this one, although it is along the same lines as the first game: fake occult there for flavor and Lovecraftian horror. This one didn't feel quite as tight as the first one... I kept thinking there must be more puzzles to solve in each chapter and found myself disappointed when I moved on. Again, I played it twice, both times without the hints. I got hopelessly stuck only twice. Overall, I liked it about as much as the first one, which means I really liked it.
But I'm not sure I like it quite enough to buy the third one for a couple of reasons: 1) The third installment is $5 in the iOS app store, 2) I've seen a good amount of the game thanks to Adi, so it won't be quite as much mystery, 3) I have a first-gen iPad Mini, and the game apparently doesn't run well on it. To be totally honest with myself, number 3 is the killer. If I thought my tablet could handle it, I'd already have bought it. But the uncertainty mixed with the other two reasons is just enough to keep me away. Barely. I've hovered over the "buy" button more than once since I finished the second installment (I definitely don't like it enough to buy a new iPad mini to play it).
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold - I purchased the eArc edition almost as soon as it was available, but savored it as long as possible. This is the 17th book in the Vorkosigan saga, according to Amazon. It takes place three years after the end of Cryoburn, and this is very much a romance and a story about people working out how their relationships ought to work. There is almost no antics or major adventures... this is all characters working themselves out. As such, I suspect there are a lot of people who will find it disappointing. I didn't. It was like a particularly excellent review of the entire series at times, mixed in with a bit of plot. If you haven't read many/most of the rest of the series, this one will make utterly no sense to you, I think. But for fans of the series, it's a lovely bookend.
Saving the Sammi by Frank Tuttle - A novella featuring Mage Meralda and Mug of Tirlin, characters seen in All the Paths of Shadow and All the Turns of Light. In this entirely-too-short story, Meralda must rescue a family lost in an airship using new magic she's not yet perfected. The story is nice and solid, Mug is still one of the most unique characters ever introduced in fantasy fiction and the "technology" is also lovely. A good little story.
- Nov 4th
- Harley Quinn & Power Girl #5 - Harley channeling the Joker is frightening. And that moustache! All-in-all, this is just a really strange book.
- Green Lantern #46 - Does this mean this plotline is over and we can move on to something more interesting?
- Scooby-Doo Team-Up #13 - So... did it happen or not? And if it did, will there be any long-term effects on Scooby? There are some nice twists in this one. Lots of fun, and only natural to team-up the Scooby gang with DC's various ghost heroes.
- Doctor Strange #2 - This is really very creepy. And continues to be strange.
- This Damned Band #4 - This book gets more and more ridiculous. After the cliffhanger from the previous issue, we get armed men threatening the band while more scary events are still happening.
- Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #2 - I know there are some new bits in this issue, but overall I'm recognizing the story a little better. I still want to dig out Eric's copies of the original series to grep the two, but it's been long enough it's interesting.
- UFOlogy #6 - Such a strange book, but I think I understand the gist of it. I need to pull all the issues out and reread.
- Doctor Who 8th #1 - This issue almost makes me want to listen to all the Big Finish stories. That said, fun little done-in-one with a nice set-up for further mysteries. Fun stuff.
- Doctor Who 11th #2.2 - Absalom Daak is always a fun appearance, but you add in this Squire character and Alice, who really is awesome, and you have something of a riot. The story is still a little opaque, but I'm sure it'll clear up.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
A Sunday Review
Ok, let's start with something different. Some time ago I quit all Facebook games cold turkey. When I won my iPad mini, I started playing Doctor Who: Legacy, because I'd heard so much good stuff about it. Since then, DWL has been the only game I play. My gamer itch has been satisfied, when I needed it, by watching The Adipose on Twitch. For example, I'd never play Fallout, despite how much it resembles Wasteland... but Adi's played it and I've been along for the ride.
Another game Adi has been playing recently is The Room 3. I thought it was fascinating, and checked out the earlier versions. To my pleasant surprise, The Room, the first one, is available free on iOS. So I downloaded it and tried it.
The Room by Fireproof Games - It's basically a puzzle box game. You are greeted by a safe and invited to open it by solving puzzles. And there are a lot of puzzles. To add to the atmosphere, there's a Victorian/Lovecraftian sense of horror in the music and background noises. The puzzles aren't hard, but can be challenging in unexpected ways. You have to listen, watch and touch everything you can see to come up with the solution. Sometimes you have to think *ahem* outside the box. There are hints available. The first time through, I used them. Then I played it again without the hints. It was surprisingly replayable, because there are so many puzzles to go through you can't remember the solution to all of them. A very satisfying game... although you are definitely left wanting more by the end.
I noticed one of the reviews in the Apple store complained about the occult nature of the game... I can say that there's not much, if any, in this game. There are symbols, but I didn't see more than a passing reference to actual occult symbols anywhere. Those were only used to lend the Lovecraft feel to the story. There are tarot cards at the end of the game, but again, mostly for atmosphere. This is a horror tale, to be sure, and there is an ongoing sense of "things man was not meant to know" in the letters you uncover... but actual occult? Not in this game. Maybe the sequels have more, but what I saw in Adi's playthrough shows more along the lines of Cthulu than actual real-world stupidity. However, if you are leery of anything even appearing to be occult, then you might find this game uncomfortable.
The Room was published in 2012 and is available for a variety of platforms, including Apple, Android and Amazon. As of this writing it is free on iOS, but not on other platforms. Playthrough time is 2-4 hours, depending on how good you are at puzzles and if you use the hints.
Eric and I have recently seen two movies that I haven't reviewed. Most recently, we saw this weekend's big movie:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Non-spoilers... I liked the new characters and loved the appearance of the original series characters. I have some trouble believing it's been this long, but oh, it felt so good. The plot itself was... how to put this delicately? Um, a little derivative. But also classic with enough twists to work. The balance between drama and humor was lovely, back at the right level. There were so many good little bits of humor mixed in that it worked overall. The big thing, the one that will have many hardcore fans upset, is that this story does not fit at all in the "extended universe" (although it wouldn't surprise me if someone no-prizes it into place). As I'm only mildly invested in the extended universe, it didn't bother me at all, but some fans I'm sure are upset and disappointed due to the canon being broken.
Ok, let's look at some spoilery moments. Gur qrngu... bu, gur qrngu jnf qenzngvp naq cnvashy. Bapr ur jnyxrq bhg bagb gung oevqtr gurer yvgrenyyl jnf ab bgure jnl sbe vg gb raq. V xarj, gunaxf gb nyy gur fcbvyref va gur genvyref, gung gur znfxrq gjvg jnfa'g tbvat gb fhqqrayl ghea tbbq. Naq V pbhyqa'g frr uvz yrggvat Una rfpncr. Fb gung jnf gung. V fnj vg pbzvat naq qvqa'g cerqvpg vg ng nyy. Arkg hc: gur svefg nccrnenapr bs gur Zvyyraavhz Snypba jnf bar bs gubfr terng zbzragf bs uhzbe. Erl naq Svaa unq gur orfg punggre qhevat gung pbairefngvba, ohg jura gurl ghea gb gur "tneontr" naq vg'f bhe byq sevraq, lrnu... purref naq ynhtugre. Nabgure gryyvat zbzrag jnf jura Erl gbhpurq gur yvtugfnore. V guvax gung zrnaf fur'f Yhxr'f qnhtugre... gung'f ubj V "ernq" gur synfuonpxf. Bgure sbyxf zvtug unir bgure bcvavbaf. Ohg sbe gur erfg bs gur svyz V xrcg guvaxvat bs ure nf Una'f avrpr, be znfxrq gjvg'f pbhfva. Gung znqr gur rcvp fnore svtug n onggyr orgjrra pbhfvaf. Fbzr guvatf gung jrer qhzo: jul vf gurer n znc gb jurer Yhxr jnf tbvat? V zrna, frevbhfyl. Naq ubj qvq by' jungfvfsnpr va gur bcravat fprar trg uvf unaqf ba vg? Sbe gung znggre, jul vf vg vzcbegnag sbe znfxrq gjvg naq rzcrebe Tbyyhz gb svaq Yhxr? Ur'f bar thl naq ur'f orra zvffvat n ybat gvzr. Jul abg whfg trg ba jvgu yvirf? Nyfb, gur yvtug fvqr qbrfa'g grzcg, fb znfxrq gjvg vfa'g orvat frqhprq ol gur yvtug... ur'f n crefba jub fgvyy unf n pbafpvrapr naq vf gelvat gb xvyy vg. Nf sbe orvat qrevingvir... jr'ir tbg gur oenir eroryf tbvat hc ntnvafg gur rivy rzcver naq gurve qrngu fgne. Fbeg bs. Gurer jrer n ybg bs zbzragf gung jrer qverpg pnyyonpxf gb gur bevtvany frevrf, vapyhqvat gur jnl Yrvn ernpgrq ng Una'f qrngu orvat gur fnzr nf Bov-Jna'f ernpgvat gb gur qrfgehpgvba bs Nyqrenna. Gung svany fprar, jvgu Erl snpvat Yhxr, jnf nznmvat. Gurer jrer n ybg bs zbzragf yvxr gung guebhtubhg gur zbivr.
In the end, I enjoyed the movie a lot, but still see it has a few flaws. But I'm dying to see the next one.
The other movie we saw thanks to the library happening to have a copy:
Inside Out - A really cute animated movie with a basic enough plot but a nicely unique way of looking at inner turmoil. I loved the voice acting and found it to be a solid little movie that says a lot about how people think and feel. It was a great movie all through, and I enjoyed it a lot... but the absolute funniest moment for me was the looks at other people in the end - particularly the look at the cat. I'm still giggling about the cat every time I think about it. A nice little solid movie for everyone to enjoy.
TV this week:
- Supergirl: "Human For a Day" - So much good stuff in this one. Xnen trgf gb qrny jvgu orvat uhzna naq zber vzcbegnagyl, orvat uheg, sbe gur svefg gvzr. Jvaa trg wrnybhf. Png trgf n pbzcyvzrag. Znkjryy vf n wrex, ohg n tbbq-urnegrq wrex nccneragyl. Naq jr svanyyl yrnea jung Unax npghnyyl vf qhr gb n ybiryl fvrtr frdhrapr ng gur QRB. Guvf rcvfbqr vf nabgure erzvaqre gung guvf vf ABG gur znva QP Havirefr nf frra va gur pbzvpf. A fun little episode.
- Supergirl: "Hostile Takeover" - The season finale, juvpu fhecevfvatyl raqf ba n pyvssunatre. Xnen'f srryvatf sbe ure Nhag Nfgen ner gur ubbx guvf fgbel unatf ba, naq vg'f n cerggl tbbq ubbx. Ohg gur ovt fhecevfr sbe zr jnf Png svanyyl znxvat gur shyy pbaarpgvba naq pbasebagvat Xnen. Lrnu, Png vfa'g fghcvq naq vg jbhyq unir orra ernyyl onq gb pbagvahr npgvat yvxr fur jnf. Gur bayl dhrfgvba abj vf jung qverpgvba Png jvyy gnxr jvgu gung xabjyrqtr? This has been a fun show and I'm looking forward to the next season.
- Arrow: "Brotherhood" - Naq gur cnfg pngpurf hc. Ng yrnfg, bar cnfg. Naq vg'f abg n cyrnfnag rkcrevrapr sbe Qvttyr, bar bs gur orggre punenpgref ba gur fubj. Enl'f qrcerffvba vf fnq va fhpu na bcgvzvfgvp punenpgre, ohg vg'f avpr gb frr uvz jbexvat ba n ceboyrz. Naq Gurn unf n cbffvoyr fbyhgvba gb ure ceboyrz. Bayl, ubj vf fur tbvat gb trg Qneux gb pbbcrengr? Another good episode on lots of levels.
- Arrow: "Legends of Yesterday" - Gur snpg gung rirelbar qvrf va n tehrfbzr synfu bs sver naq qrngu va guvf rcvfbqr qvqa'g qrgenpg sebz ubj tbbq vg jnf va gur raq. Lrf, gvzr geniry, gung qnatrebhf gbl, vf hfrq... ohg jr xarj sebz gur ortvaavat gung vg jnf pbzvat. Naq gung zrnaf jr xarj nalguvat ng nyy pbhyq unccra va gur bcravat npg. Naq obl, nalguvat ng nyy fher unccrarq. Gur pybfvat unys jnf avpryl qbar, jvgu Oneel gnxvat gur guernqf bs gebhoyr sebz gur svefg gvzr guebhtu naq svkvat ybgf bs gurz. I enjoyed this one.
- Arrow: "Dark Waters" - Bu, sbe gung gb unir orra gur raq bs Qneux! Ohg lbh xabj gur ivyynva nyjnlf svaqf n jnl gb rfpncr, rira jvgu gjb neebjf va uvz naq n obzo tbvat bss arkg gb uvf urnq. Guvf rcvfbqr ernyyl uvg zr uneq, cnegvphyneyl gur thafuvc qebar ng gur ornpu. Gur fubpx bs frrvat xvqf, vapyhqvat n irel phgr "zvav-Sryvpvgl" nggnpxrq fb ivbyragyl npghnyyl znqr zr jnag gb fgbc jngpuvat sbe n ovg. Sbe fbzr ernfba, gung fprar jnf nyzbfg bire gur rqtr sbe zr. Gur cbvfba tnf jnf nyfb nyzbfg gbb zhpu. In fact, there were a lot of bits and pieces in this that really shocked me. A difficult episode to watch.
- The Flash: "Gorilla Warfare" - Cbbe Tebqq. Guvf irefvba qvqa'g qrfreir uvf sngr naq qrsvavgryl qvqa'g qrfreir gb or fghpx hc nybar va gur jngpugbjre jbaqrevat jung gb qb jvgu uvzfrys. V'z unccl gurl tbg uvz gb Rnegu-2 Tbevyyn Pvgl, ohg V'z n yvggyr jbeevrq ng jung ur jvyy qb gurer. Fgvyy, guvf vfa'g gur znva QPH... znlor vg'yy ghea bhg bx? Decent little episode with the potential to come back and bite the heroes in the future.
- The Flash: "Legends of Today" - Gur fcrrq sbezhyn... na nznmvat pnyyonpx gb gur Tbyqra Ntr, rira vs vg'f abg fbzrguvat fnvq (juvpu arire znqr n yvpx bs frafr) naq vafgrnq vf n frehz. Wnl vf fgvyy orvat n wrex. Gura jr'ir tbg Grnz Neebj naq Grnz Synfu gelvat gb cebgrpg Pvfpb'f tvey sebz Inaqny Fnintr. Awesome on just so many levels. A fun episode.
- The Flash: "Running to Stand Still" - Znex Unzvyy nf Fnagn Pynhf vf bar bs gur sernxvrfg guvatf V'ir frra guvf lrne. Naq vg'f orra n sernxl lrne. Guvf jnf n qrprag rcvfbqr jvgu onq thlf pbzovavat gb xvyy Gur Synfu. Gura gurer'f n pbhcyr bs tbbq fhocybgf nf jryy... Jnyyl Jrfg orvat gur bar gung xvaq bs pyvss-unatf. Ohg Uneel'f nterrzrag jvgu Mbbz vf gur fpnel bar. Vs guvf Uneevfba Jryyf vf n tbbq thl, ur'f tbg gb or senagvpnyyl guvaxvat bs jnlf gb znxr Oneel tbbq rabhtu gb erfphr uvf qnhtugre. Vg'f abg tbvat gb or rnfl. Lots to think about with this one.
- Oct 7th
- Batman Beyond #5 - Freaky story. Seems to me the fight against Brother Eye would be over quickly in Gotham, so I'm not sure how much time Batman has to put whatever plan he's got into action.
- Green Lantern #45 - Um, yay Hal? Really, there just isn't much to say about this.
- Doctor Strange #1 - It certainly lives up to the "strange" in the title. The one thing for sure I can say about this book is that it really doesn't make being a magic user appealing at all.
- This Damned Band #3 - Set in a French mansion/recording studio, this issue has the band confronting some of their demons. Sort of. Maybe? Well, probably not, because things just get worse. I love the comments from the camera crew.
- CBLDF Liberty Annual 2015 - If you are easily offended, this is not something you want to try to read. I'm no longer easily offended, but there were some pieces in here that I felt went over the line from "making a point" to "tasteless for the heck of it." Which I guess is also a point to make. I did like it overall: the key to proper censorship is for the reader to say, "Oh, I don't like this," and skip to the next item rather than attempt to shut up the original creator/publisher. And I'm capable of jumping to the next item when I'm offended.
- Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #1 - I don't know if this is the same as the original series' first issue, but it certainly is very familiar. I enjoyed this the first time around, I hope to enjoy it this time, too. I think there's an extra supplemental tale in here, as well.
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz: Reign of the Witch Queen #5 - There are moments I really like this book (although the clothing design for the women is often a major turn-off) and there are moments I just go, "huh?" I admit, the huh moments are more common than the enjoyable moments. But there's a good moment in this one for me, as Dorothy embraces the bad and something good happens.
- Oct 14th
- Justice League of America #4 - A single panel of Aquaman, four lines between him and Mera. Blah. The story itself isn't too bad, with the mystery of what Rao actually is coming to a head. But I need more Aquaman to be happy.
- Justice League United #14 - Caught in an eddy of time, they are stuck in a moment or two. Lots of great characters showing up, but the plot is a bit overwhelmed by it all! I think once it ends I'll try to sort out what happened.
- Earth 2 Society #5 - Jay is overwhelmed by being what he is, and quits? That's a choice for a superhero? Apparently not, as he gets dragged back into it. The identity of the villain was slightly unexpected, but I guess I buy it, considering the nature of the character in this universe.
- DC Comics Bombshells #3 - Yay! More Mera! Ahem. This one has three distinct chapters, starting with the Bat, moving to the terror in Germany, then going to Wonder Woman and Mera meeting the war on land. I love this version of Mera, teasing Wonder Woman and protecting her dolphin friends. Great stuff.
- Spider-Man 2099 #1 - A very strange first issue with a new status quo. It seems a little nasty that he's using his abilities to win a game show. I'm sure this won't turn out well.
- Star Trek/Green Lantern #4 - I was just sort of nodding along, slightly amused by this book, until the final page. I'm glad I'm familiar enough with the "new" Star Trek universe to know what that cliffhanger actually means.
- Spongebob Comics #49 - This had a few odd bits even for this comic. As the Halloween issue, it was focused on the scary... as scary as Spongebob gets, which isn't very. Still, fun enough. I am amused and unsurprised by the fate of the various delivery boys. Ha.
- Rebels #7 - A nice standalone issue featuring a woman who followed her husband into the Revolutionary War and what became of her later in life. The statement by the soldier as he left, that they couldn't make an exception, was definitely a comment on how women who fought were treated.
- Oct 21st
- Justice League #45 - I'm hoping this crossover ends soon, because I'm finding it completely boring. I'm glad Aquaman isn't involved in this snooze-fest.
- Green Lantern: The Lost Army #5 - More of Lanterns in space. Prison break, new weapons... ongoing war. What next?
- Titans Hunt #1 - So, are they remembering the original universe or something else? That's clearly Garth, so what's his deal in this universe?
- Teen Titans Go #12 - Starfire wants to date, and Robin is jealous. Then anti-Titans run into Titans and there are some issues. A silly book, but cute.
- Astro City #28 - The origin story of Wolfspider along with a more modern tale related to his past makes for excellent reading. As usual, one of the best of the super-hero books out there.
- Tales of Honor: Bred to Kill #3 - Pretty good! More twists in the story and more developments. And we catch up to the opening, as well, so by the end we are moving into unexplored territory. Great stuff. This series is so much better than the first attempt it's not even funny. This is what happens when you allow your writers to actually write comics instead of illustrated text.
- Usagi Yojimbo #149 - A very nice done-in-one story that had an utterly predictable ending. I found the premise all too believable... rich jerk spends too much on a worthless item. I thought Usagi's solution was perfect, if a tiny bit deceptive.
- Back to the Future #1 - How did Marty meet Doc in the first place? The first story in this issue tells the tale, which is just as backwards as you might expect. The second story goes back to Doc's youth as a professor, and is cringe-worthy.
- Doctor Who 9th #4 - Time agents? Much like Captain Jack is supposed to be? Interesting how they force the Doctor to do their work. What are they really up to? And what's up with Rose? What has she learned?
- Doctor Who 10th Year Two #2 - This is a story that really needs some sound to bring out the best. I would love to hear this one as an audio drama. The solution was simple, but cool.
- Doctor Who 11th Year Two #1 - Wow, this is a mess of a plot. Oh, it makes sense in context, but there's so much happening and so many strange bits... and that cliffhanger. Not a character I was expecting to see in this particular version, although I admit I'm kind of pleased to see him. There's a lot here to digest, and I'm guessing the next issue isn't going to be any easier.
- Doctor Who 12th #13 - Hyperions invading Earth, and doing an all-too-good job of it. We get a nice origin story for the creatures, including the fact that they were originally a force for good. The next question is what the Doctor is going to do about it... his initial attempt seems a little misguided.
- Oct 28th
- Aquaman #45 - I still haven't quite figured out what is going on, but now it apparently involves other worlds. I liked this one better than the last couple of issues, but the art still looks wrong to me.
- Batman '66 #28 - Scarecrow and Killer Croc. A fun issue with classic villains reimagined for the 1966 universe. Very nice.
- Sinestro #16 - Oooh, Sinestro goes on a quest and visits Evil Shazam. I find Soranik's "crush" on Black Adam to be quite cute. I guess she does like bad boys.
- Spider-Man 2099 #2 - Back in the saddle again after a terrorist attack. I'm not sure I like that he decided to quit in the first place, but I know I don't like how he's been brought back.
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