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Over on the Captain Action Facebook page, Joe Ahearn and Ed Catto, the founders of Captain Action Enterprises and the fine folks behind the action figure line have posted a poll. For the upcoming Lady Action figure, what Marvel Heroine costume sets would you most like to see?
This is your chance to let them know what youâÂÂd like to see next.
Your vote counts.
Learn more about Captain Action at www.CaptainAction.com.
Using the new Doctor Who Limited Edition Gift Set, your noble author will make his way through as much of the modern series as he can before the Christmas episode, The Snowmen.
Mr. Henry Van Staaten owns the Internet. He also has a museum of alien artifacts under Utah, including a Slitheen claw, a Cyberman head, and a…
DALEK by Robert Shearman Directed by Joe Ahearne
“Broken…broken…hair dryer…”
The TARDIS lands in 2012 (!) in Utah, or more precisely, under it. They’re in the personal horde of Henry Van Statten, an impossibly rich American who obtains alien artifacts, reverse engineers their technology, and sells it for profit. The Doctor picked up a distress call from his one living exhibit, a mysterious creature that Van Statten calls a Metaltron. Only when The Doctor sees it does he realize what it truly is – a Dalek, which somehow survived the Time War and fell back in time to Earth, damaged and alone. The Doctor immediately tried to destroy it, but Van Statten, not wanting his most valuable item damaged, stops him. But when Rose tries to reach out to the creature, touching it, the Dalek is able to user her DNA, charged with the energy of time travel, to restore its systems. In seconds it breaks free of his chains, absorbs the power grid of the western United States, and downloads the Internet, searching for information about his people. Finding nothing, it resorts to the primary command of all Daleks: exterminate.
Pretty much as soon as the new show was announced, questions came up as to when the Daleks would appear. The show was shot into the stratosphere once the Daleks appeared, and they’ve been linked inextricably ever since. The Daleks almost didn’t make it to the new series of Doctor Who, and it was all Steve Martin’s fault. When he was to appear in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, he insisted they include a Dalek in a madcap scene full of old movie aliens. He was a big fan of the series, and thought it’d be a nice tip of the hat. Permission was asked, but the estate of Terry Nation, who controls the rights to the characters, was not. This caused offense, so when the BBC asked to bring them back for the new series, the estate originally refused. When Steve Martin heard about it, he wrote a personal letter to the estate explaining the situation, and apologizing personally. This calmed everyone down, and the proper paperwork was signed to allow the characters to appear. But for about a month, Robert Sherman was forced to work on a draft of the script with another alien.
The new Dalek was designed to match the height of Billie Piper, so she could look it in the eye. Similarly, the New Paradigm Daleks were designed to match Karen Gillan’s eyeline. But in a recent interview on the BBC website, Steven Moffat wonders that making them too big was a mistake. “They’re scarier when they’re wee”, he says. The scene of the Dalek at the bottom of the stairs was a clear reference to the classic gag about not being able to climb stairs. But of course, in the original series, Daleks had found a fix for this long since. They had anti-gravity mats in Planet of the Daleks, but the big reveal in Remembrance of the Daleks as the Imperial Dalek slowly floats up the stairs was the scene that had fans laughing and squeeing.
Nicholas Briggs, the voice of the Daleks, got his start working on fan productions and the Big Finish audio dramas. He’s also provided voices for the Cybermen, the Nestene and the Judoon.
Eccleston played the episode as positively bloodthirsty. After several episodes of offering the aliens a chance to leave in peace, he does not hesitate to try to kill it. His rage at the Dalek, and later at Van Statten is a sight to see. Billie Piper has equally good scenes against the Dalek from the other side of the spectrum, trying to help the unstoppable tank who is trying to get the hang of feelings. This could have been a perfect final Dalek adventure, but as you’ll see, they’re far from gone.
There are a lot of parallels between this episode and the first of this season, Asylum of the Daleks. Both this Dalek and the tragic prisoner in Asylum are kept in chains, and both are more than a little conflicted by being a mix of human and Dalek. Both are capable of amazing destruction all on their own, even as far below the surface of their respective planets. The idea of human and Dalek hybrids has been a theme as far back as Evil of the Daleks, where The Doctor introduces a “Human Factor” into a number of Daleks to start a civil war between factions.
Rose has let time get away from her a bit, but once that’s sorted, she and The Doctor have come back just in time for the…
ALIENS OF LONDON / WORLD WAR THREE
by Russell T Davies
Directed by Keith Boak
“Harriet Jones, MP, Flydale North“
Rose returns home after a brief time away…no, sorry check that; she’s come back a year after she left, relative to the current timeline. So after a great deal of explanation to friends and family as to where she’s been, she ruminates about the things she’s seen on her roof, how nobody else knows about what she knows…until the giant alien spaceship comes careening through the skies over London and into the Thames. Unable to make it past the police blockades in central, they watch the events on the TV.
Inside Number Ten, the Prime Minister is missing, and a minor back-bencher, in a staggering coincidence, is the highest-ranking politician in the city, and is named acting PM. A little TOO coincidental – as soon as he and a couple of civil servants are alone in the PM’s conference room, they begin to laugh with the confidence that a plan has come together. The spaceship, and the alien within, are all a dodge to place these three people in power. They are members of a race called the Slitheen, who are packed into the skins of the now deceased politicos like Wonder Wart-Hog into his Philbert Desanex suit. They plan to panic the planet into releasing nuclear hell, wiping everyone out, and sell off radioactive chunks like a galactic Odd-Lot. The Doctor needs the help of Jackie and Mickey to do the only thing that can be done to eliminate the threat – blow up Number Ten.
This is the first two-parter of the new series, and the end of the first episode is a perfect old-school cliffhanger, with every member of the cast in peril in separate locations. This also gives the impression there’s more than a couple Slitheen suits, as well. Even now, the subtle art of sleight of hand can stretch a dollar.
As he did with the Nestene, The Doctor offers the Slitheen a chance to walk away. We see that happen quite a bit in the new series; like Sun-Tzu said, do everything you can to prevent going to war, but when you have to, go in hard and fast, with intent to win. Odds are The Doctor helped co-write that book.
Once again, the collection of recurring characters grows. Penelope Wilton brings us the spectacular Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, who will move on to great things in a very short period of time. And another member of the Torchwood crew makes an appearance; Toshiko Sato, seen here as the coroner examining (and running from) the little alien. The Slitheen themselves became recurring characters – they’ll return later this season, as well as more than a couple times on The Sarah Jane Adventures. One recurring actor, Lachele Carl, is almost unnoticed, but she’s the only one to appear as a named character on all three Who series. The American newsreader she plays doesn’t even get a name in this adventure, but does eventually – Trinity Wells. She appears every time news about aliens is reported from the US in future episodes throughout the Davies run of the show.
There’s an extra on the DVD that talks about the miniature work used to get the shot of the ship crashing through Big Ben. After the shot was completed with the LEFT wing of the ship tearing through the clock, the CGI team realized it looked better with the RIGHT wing going through. So the miniature shot was flipped, but not corrected – if you look quickly, you’ll see the number on the clock faces are reversed.
Re-watching the Eccletson season, I’m struck as how much more realistic the world feels. The look on everyone’s faces as an alien ship crashed in their midst is that of not horror, but mild inconvenience. Jackie’s reaction to Rose’s prodigal return is honest and angry. The series of shots as a progressively larger number of people fill up Rose and Jackie’s flat, more there to scold Rose than to see the events on the telly are hilarious. And at the same time, he shoehorns in the fact that uncontrollable flatulence is a tell for a Slitheen. The balance of the serious and the silly is expertly done. Moffat’s interpretation of the world is much broader, more tongue in cheek, Not better or worse, just different. Similarly, each of The Doctor’s companions had family, as I’ve mentioned before. Amy didn’t – no parents, just a mysterious aunt who never even appeared on screen. This allowed the trips they took to be less tied to home. When they brought Rory into the narrative in a larger way, he joined the crew, resulting in no substantive reason to pop back to Earth for a while. Only in the first half of the season did we meet Rory’s Dad, and we learned that their visiting times on Earth were few and far between.
If anything, I think the more serious (relatively speaking) take Davies took in his years gave Steven the freedom go go bigger in his run of the show. If they’d started that big, it might not have caught on. It certainly looks like the back half of the new series will take a more serious turn, as the last couple of episode certainly did, but we’ll see how much of a balance Moffat can keep.
WACO, TX – 12/5/12- iVerse Media and Top Cow are offering, for a limited time, free trial programs to help celebrate the recent relaunches of Witchblade, the Darkness and Artifacts. These three popular franchises recently kickstarted fan passions with new storylines. In order to continue to drive excitement, iVerse wants fans to be able to sample each of these series at no risk.
“We’re thrilled to help spread the word on these exciting series,” said iVerse CEO Mike Murphey. “We like what Top Cow is doing and want to do whatever we can to help fans find out what which series they like best.”
Fans can use the codes below to get the issue for free:
Artifacts #14-22 Bundle = TCARB12
Darkness Bundle #101-107 = TCDRB12
Witchblade Bundle #151-161 = TCWRB12
Fans can just go to the “more” section in the ComicsPlus app, click on “redeem” and enter in these codes. But fans are encouraged to hurry, as this offer expires on March 5, 2013.
PRESS RELEASE:
Airship 27 Productions, and Dynamic Ram Audio are very, very happy to announce the release of the fourth Brother Bones audio pulp adventure as read by Mark Kalita with production by Sound Engineer Chris Barnes.
Following the successful previous three tales from Airship 27 Productionsâ book BROTHER BONES â THE UNDEAD AVENGER, his fourth entry is titled âÂÂSee Spot Kill,â and has a gruesome zombie dog prowling the streets of Port Noir.
âÂÂVoice actor Mark Kalita totally puts his Master Storyteller hat on this time,â Airship 27 Managing Editor Ron Fortier praised. âÂÂThis is one of those tales that lends itself to a dark rainy night with folks gathered around the family radio to share the chills.âÂÂ
âÂÂDynamic Ram AudioâÂÂs Sound Engineer, Chris Barnes, loaded the forty minute recording with lots more sound effects this time around,â added Fortier. These elements add so much creepiness to the entire listening experience, I know our fans are going to love this.âÂÂ
Airship 27 Production is selling each of the original stories individually for $2 each as mp3 downloads from their website. After all seven have been produced and released individually, the entire book audio package will go on sale for $9.99, a $4 savings.
Art Director Rob Davis has provided cover images from the illustrations he drew for each story. SEE SPOT KILL is an audio pulp written by Ron Fortier and read by Mark Kalita is now on sale and is the perfect âÂÂtreatâ for this Halloween season.
A brand new edition of the book is available on Create Space, Amazon, Indy Planet and Kindle.
BROTHER BONES â Audio Tales #4 The Scales of Terror is now available for download here.
Airship 27 Productions â Pulp Fiction For A New Generation!
Other Brother Bones adventures still available from Airship 27 and Dynamic Ram Audio:
THE BONE BROTHERS
SHIELD AND CLAW
SCALES OF TERROR
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| New softcover cover by Darwyn Cooke |
Softcover that is.
IDW’s adaptation of Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke is now available in softcover.
The Hunter, the first book in the Parker series, is the story of a man who hits New York head-on like a shotgun blast to the chest. Betrayed by the woman he loved and double-crossed by his partner in crime, Parker makes his way cross-country with only one thought burning in his mind-to coldly exact his revenge and reclaim what was taken from him!
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| HC art by Darwyn Cooke |
Richard Stark (AKA Donald Westlake) was a master writer of crime fiction and Parker is arguably his greatest Creation-having been featured in more than a dozen novels and several well-regarded films (including Point Blank with Lee Marvin and Payback with Mel Gibson), and an upcoming one starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez that will be released this fall.
Master storyteller Darwyn Cooke has won nearly every award available to comics creators. His DC: The New Frontier was turned into an Emmy-nominated animated feature. The Hunter is the first in a series of Parker graphic novels that Cooke is adapting, the first two earning the comics Auteur more Eisner and Harvey awards for his already crowded mantle.
Parker: The Hunter is now available in 6×9 softcover.
160 pages
Full Color
Retail price: $17.99
Read a free preview of IDW’s Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke here.
Using the new Doctor Who Limited Edition Gift Set, your noble author will make his way through as much of the modern series as he can before the Christmas episode, The Snowmen. This is not a mere shadow play.
THE UNQUIET DEAD By Mark Gatiss Directed by Euros Lyn“In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?”
Having shown her the future, The Doctor plans to show Rose the past. Aiming for 1860 Naples, they land in 1869 Cardiff. Now, as a rule, the TARDIS doesn’t land where there’s nothing going on, and this was no exception. At a local funeral home, the dead are rising again, and at an increasing rate. This evening, an old woman rises and continues on with her planned events of the day, which included a trip to the theater to see Chares Dickens live. This causes some consternation at the theater, which draws the attention of The Doctor.
Apparently it’s been happening from some time. But they’re not ghosts, but aliens, known as the Gelth, a gaseous lifeform who inhabit the bodies of the dead as temporary accommodations. Falling through a rift in spacetime, conveniently located in the basement of the funeral home, their request is simple – let them use the bodies of the recent dead so they can survive. But like so many times before, the aliens beg for an inch, and they want to take over. A simple chambermaid is the key to both their arrival, and their stopping.
Mark Gatiss (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Second only to Moffat (who will be joining us in a day or two), Mark Gatiss is the writer who is the closest to being genetically bred to write Doctor Who. Writing for many fan productions and acting in a couple as well, he brought decades of love for the series to the table, and his story is both a great Victorian adventure as well as a solid and emotional Doctor Who script. It’s peppered with tips of the hat as well, from the Dickensian name of the mortician, Sneed, and the door knocker that takes on a ghostly visage as the Gelth pass through it. And not to mention the idea that after seeing a series of ghosts on Christmas Eve, he’s inspired to change his life. One of the extra’s on the disc is a video blog of Gatiss talking about the process of writing the script, from the first meeting on. It’s interesting to hear about early ideas for the story, not to mention how seriously he’s taking the idea of bringing back a show he loves so much. A big moment includes a gang of four including Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell, and Steven Moffat, before and after the first readthrough. The level of suppressed glee among the four is priceless.
Simon Callow, the prominent stage and screen actor, is possibly more associated with Charles Dickens than any living performer. Appearing as the writer in several different works and media, he hesitated at playing the character in Doctor Who, fearing it’s be a simple cameo or camp parody. Only after reading Gatiss’ script did he agree, realizing he’d done a stellar job of getting Dickens’ character right.
This is also the second episode in a row where Rose talks to the service class folks, as equals. She has a nice conversation with a plumber in Platform One, and with Gwyneth here. In both cases, she gets them to open up a bit about themselves, and both seem quite appreciative to get a chance to just chat. Interesting that things don’t change much in five billion years – people don’t notice the help.
Once again we see that this is a very different Doctor from before. While everyone sees the idea of “spirits” taking over corpses as anything from shocking to blasphemous, The Doctor sees as perfectly reasonable, an extreme form of recycling. His practicality is…well, alien. Of course, the emotional response when he hears that once again, this is a race almost destroyed by the Time War, named for the first time here, colored that choice. And once again, he makes the wrong choice, and as a result, people die. That takes some getting used to.
Three episodes in, and we’re already starting to see the beginnings of the spinoff series, Torchwood. Eve Myles plays Gwyneth, the maid and assistant to the funeral home. Centuries later, her descendent (well, not HER descendant, clearly) Gwen Cooper will become a policewoman and become involved with the mysterious organization. Russell T Davies referred to Myles as Wales greatest hidden treasure, and begorrah, he’s not far wrong. This episode also introduces the rift under Cardiff, a source of extradimensional energy that will return as a plot point for both series, a fuel source for the TARDIS and a source of McGuffins for Torchwood.
In last Monday’s New York Times Media Watch columns, they ran a list of the ten films released this year that had the highest box office ion their opening weekends. What’s amazing to me is that the top five (Marvel’s The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Hunger Games, Amazing Spider-Man and Twilight: Breaking Dawn: Part 2) can all be classified in the fantasy genre, or, as I like to call it, nerd stuff.
Of the next five (Skyfall, Brave, Ted, Madagascar 3 and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax), three are aimed primarily at children, and one is a James Bond film, which has its own separate but overlapping geek audience. Only Ted could be considered a movie aimed at what was once the wide, mainstream audience, and even then, because it is an R-rated comedy, that limits the wideness.
When did our beloved nerd culture become so dominant? I was certainly the only girl in my high school (which was all girls) who read superhero comics, and if anyone else read science fiction or fantasy, they were in the closet about it.
Even in the 1980s, when Frank Miller and Alan Moore and Art Spiegelman were publishing work that attracted mainstream media attention, there wasn’t much spillover to the medium of graphic storytelling.
When I first went to work for DC, the most common reaction I encountered when people learned what I did was, “Do they still publish those?”
For that matter, even today, the success of the movies listed above doesn’t do much for comics. There’s a history of tie-in films boosting the sale of books (for example, Gone With the Wind), but that doesn’t always overlap to your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, or comic book store.
Still, I don’t think fans like us can claim to be outsiders anymore. We might not be the cool kids, but we aren’t unwanted loners, either. What are today’s nerds about?
Is it Steampunk? Is it libertarian politics? Are there still obscure rock bands to follow, or has everything been American Idol’d to a bland pap. What distinguishes the kids getting beat up and/or ostracized today?
Besides being queer, I mean.
SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman and This Week’s New DC
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