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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #11 – Turn Left

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.

Missed a week? Check out the "Doctor Who in Review" archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.

Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #11: "Turn Left" (more…)

We Will Think For You, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • July 21, 2008

Here’s what I don’t like about politicians.

Well, actually, even Bill Gates doesn’t have the bandwidth to list all the things I don’t like about politicians – although I’m sure listing it all would generate some great comments. But here’s what’s at the top of my list.

Politicians who are partisan by definition feel completely comfortable speaking on behalf of the entire American public. Not just those of their political persuasion – which would be presumptuous – but everybody. Which is anti-democratic and pro-demagoguery.

Case in point: The Obama campaign felt compelled to issue a statement regarding cartoonist Barry Blitt’s cover to last week’s New Yorker magazine. The artwork speaks for itself, and is represented herewith. Entitled “The Politics of Fear,” the piece is supposed to be a satire of, well, the politics of fear as applied against the Obama campaign.

But the Obama campaign believes we’re too stupid to get it and feels compelled to pass moral judgment on behalf of us dolts. Their spokesman Bill Burton said “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.” 


Never on to miss an opportunity to stick their right-wing noses in the air, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds rose to the challenge with “We completely agree with the Obama campaign. It’s tasteless and offensive.”
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SDCC ’08: PopCandy Looms Large

  • News
  • July 18, 2008

While keeping a running tally of all the events of note at this year’s Comic-Con International is a job best left to the professionals, I can’t help but draw attention to one event that caught my eye — mainly because of its outstanding promotional art.

Check out the poster for Saturday evening’s PopCandy Meetup, painted by USA Today illustrator Keith Simmons, and based on the original art from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman:

I’ll certainly be there with one or more other members of the ComicMix crew, so if you’re interested in dropping by, here are all of the details. Be sure to RSVP ahead of time, as PopCandy’s Whitney Matheson has promised one-of-a-kind giveaways to everyone who does so.

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Manga Friday: High School!

  • News
  • July 18, 2008

Ah, high school! The greatest time of our lives, right? The time when we all were either on the student council or locked in a life-or-death struggle with the evil student council, when we harnessed powerful robots to save the world, and when the most attractive member of whatever gender we fancied suddenly fell into our laps.

What? High school wasn’t like that for you? You should have been smart enough to go to a manga high school…

kujibiki-unbalance-9708949Kujibiki Unbalance, Vol. 1
Story by Kio Shimoku; Art by Koume Keito
Del Rey Manga, July 2008, $10.95

It would be very unfair of me to pick on Kujibiki Unbalance for being silly, since it’s whole purpose is to be silly: it’s the fictional manga series beloved by the main characters of another manga series, Genshiken. As such, it was designed to be full of clichés and way over the top. But being less than serious doesn’t keep Kujibiki from being a lot of fun.

Chihiro is the nebbishy hero – he’s had bad luck his entire life, and is otherwise the epitome of the plucky but downtrodden shonen shlub. That all changed when he was chosen in a lottery to attend the ultra-prestigious and powerful Rikkyoin High School…and then learned that everything at Rikkyoin is determined by lottery.

He’s quickly chosen as student council president, with his long-time platonic best friend (and source of a whole lot of panty shots) Tokino as his VP. The secretary is a cold, bossy, super-genius named Renko, who’s been at Rikkyoin since kindergarten and is always accompanied her her home-made super-robot slave Kaoruko. And the treasurer – well, that’s what the first story is about: finding the treasurer so that the whole new council can go present themselves to the outgoing council.

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Fae Desmond Saves The World, by Michael Davis

  • News
  • July 18, 2008

galactus-and-fae2-5851719Europe was gone.

England put up a gallant fight but was no match for his power. France did not put up much of a fight. The closest they came to a confrontation was a giant banner that said “Please Don’t Eat Us.” The Middle East was a wasteland. Most of the United States was destroyed but still fighting.

Fighting…Galactus! Galactus the world eater!

July 23, 2008, all the superheroes were dead or dying. Marvel’s best, DC’s finest and the greatest of Dark Horse and Image. All dead. When Galactus first appeared decades ago Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic of the famed Fantastic Four, had figured out a way to stop Galactus from destroying Earth. It was the first time Galactus had ever been stopped.

When Richards first heard Galactus’ ship was over Europe before the rampage, he and the Fantastic Four flew the Fantasticar out to confront him. Mr. Fantastic would calmly approach him secure in the knowledge that Galactus would keep his word not to destroy the earth. Reed Richards was so sure of that word that when they had first met he had handed over the only weapon that could destroy Galactus, The Ultimate Nullifier.

He handed it over to… Galactus. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, one of the smartest men in the world… freakin’ idiot.

The Human Torch flew beside the jet vehicle as always making wisecracks the entire way. The entire trip was filled with laughter and in fact the foursome had decided to take a few days in Europe after they saw what Galactus was up to.

“Most likely he just wants me to find him a world to eat that tastes like chicken.” Richards joked.

When they approached Galactus Richards said “Why are you here, old friend?” Galactus standing over 200 feet tall stared down at Richards in the hovering Fantasticar. “I am not your friend,” The booming voice of Galactus responded.

“Why are you upset with me?” Richards said, now starting to worry.

“Look, Richards this is the deal, I’m here to eat your world.”

The Invisible Woman turned to The Thing, “That does not sound like Galactus!” “You’re right, Susie!” The Thing said and then yelled at Galactus. “Hey big man, why are you going back on your word?”

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Review: New ‘Fables’ & ‘Jack of Fables’ Volumes

[[[Fables]]] is one of the big successes of the current version of the Vertigo line, where every book has a Hollywood-style high concept: all males on Earth are killed – except one!; New York’s mayor can talk to machines!; Refugee fairytales live in the modern world! And, in another Hollywood-esque twist, Fables even has a spin-off of its own, like Diff’rent Strokes begat The Facts of Life.

Last month, both the parent and spin-off series had new collections, with titles that implied a connection. So let’s look at the two of those books together:

Fables, Vol. 10: The Good Prince
By Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and others
DC Comics, June 2008, $17.99

Fables, as you might know, is a series in which all of the folkloric and fairy-tale characters that you’ve ever heard of are real, and originally lived in an array of alternate worlds. But “the Adversary” – whose identity was revealed a few volumes ago – led huge goblin armies to conquer nearly all of those worlds, sending a few (but mostly very well-known) Fables to our world, to live in secrecy in an enclave in New York City.

More recently, the cold war with the Adversary is beginning to heat up, with Fabletown’s leadership striking alliances with the “Cloud Kingdoms” (you know, where the beanstalk led?) and with the as-yet-unconquered world of the [[[Arabian Knights]]]. (There’s also an unsubtle parallel between Fabletown and Israel that Willingham is a bit too fond of.) As we hit this tenth volume, we know that the Adversary is building for a major attack three years from now, and the characters of Fables learn that quickly as well.

The last storyline, [[[Sons of Empire]]], served to ratchet up tension, but [[[The Good Prince]]] goes the other way; Flycatcher – Prince Ambrose, the Frog Prince – has finally regained his memory, and is grieving over the loss of his family centuries before. But Red Riding Hood goads him out of his misery, and he rushes off to get fighting lessons from Boy Blue.

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Review: This Week in ‘Trinity’ #7

This issue is titled "A third symbol now…" but a more accurate one would be "OK, so here’s exactly what’s going on."

For six issues, Trinity was a fairly opaque book, with several seemingly disparate storylines and a completely mysterious large threat — the one screaming "Let me out!" in issue one.

What do we know now?

All the "disturbances" from issue two are an unknown form of primal energy. "Creation energies." The heroes quickly put two and two together and check on Krona, that Oan who tried to manipulate the beginning of the universe and accidentally created the multiverse (check out Crisis on Infinite Earths or Infinite Crisis for more on this).

Later in the book, it’s revealed that Krona is in fact the mysterious shouter of "Let me out!" that the trinity has been hearing. And, it’s a bit hard to decipher, but it appears that he’s getting close to escaping from the cosmic egg, if he hasn’t already.

The heroes are gathered to talk about all the goings on. They figure out the rash of museum robberies has all been to obtain wands, swords, pentacles and cups, which happen to be the four suits of the Tarot. Which leads them to Tarot, the girl who was kidnapped last issue by Morgaine Le Fey’s monsters.

They also have a third symbol appearing on Wonder Woman’s scar. The three are ancient Egyptian symbols: Strength, the high priestess and the world. Three symbols tied to our three heroes.

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The Weekly Haul: Comics Reviews for July 17, 2008

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

A couple disappointments and a near no-show from DC aside, this was a pretty good week in comics, especially outside of the mainstream superheroes.

Still, this week more than anything is just a little whisper, as all eyes are on San Diego for next week’s Comic-Con. All the same, books came out, so on to the reviews…

Book of the Week: Mice Templar #5 — This series started out as a fairly typical fantasy story, albeit told with mice and featuring a violent edge.

Last issue, it started becoming clear that writer Bryan J.L. Glass was veering away from the expected route of the young protagonist realizing his great destiny and triumphing over evil.

This issue, any and all signs of the archetypal fantasy narrative have been thrown clear out the door. Paradigms change in a big way for Karic, and to write anything about it would be to spoil the fun.

Mike Oeming is once again top-notch on art, and really the only question left is how many times the creative team can keep raising the bar.

Runners Up:

Captain America #40 and Ghost Rider #25 — Marvel had two superhero winners this week, with very different very good issues. Ghost Rider starts out slow, continuing the retrospective storyline of Johnny Blaze in jail. Zadkiel’s manipulations continue, and things build to a hellacious conclusion, highlighted by Blaze literally using the Bible as a weapon. Only Jason Aaron could make that work.

Cap sees the big fight between Bucky and the new impostor (the old Nomad), but the real bout to watch is that between Sharon and the Red Skull’s daughter. Ed Brubaker uses his skil with pacing to tell both stories at once, using each to heighten the drama of the other. And the ending? An out-and-out punch in the stomach moment.

Omega the Unknown #10 — The weirdest Marvel series in a good, long while finally ends, with Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple taking a bow with a nearless wordless denouement that comes straight out of David Lynch’s oddball mind. It’s a fitting conclusion to the series, which was enigmatic for the whole trip.

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Heath Ledger, The Joker and the ‘Dark Knight’ Audio

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

Back in January, after the untimely death of actor Heath Ledger, we posted audio from an interview we had conducted with Ledger as part of a special edition of ComicMix Radio. In the interview, Ledger discussed his reasons for taking the role of The Joker in the Batman Begins sequel, as well as his thoughts on how best to prepare for the role. With the release ofThe Dark Knight fast approaching and Ledger’s passing certainly looming large over the project, we thought the interview might be worth another listen for ComicMix fans.

With that in mind, we present (or re-present, in this case) the ComicMix Radio interview with Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.

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For more on The Dark Knight, make sure you don’t miss our special Dark Knight-themed edition of ComicMix Six, featuring The Joker’s Greatest Victories,  as well as our recent list of Must-Read Batman Stories to get you caught up with the Dark Knight.

Experiencing Grief, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

Muriel Kubert, Joe Kubert’s wife, died last week. You may have seen the story here at ComicMix . I went to the services. When I saw Joe, I asked him how he was doing (the same lame question most of us ask of those who have lost someone vital to them). He shrugged and said, “You know.” Then he looked me in the eye and repeated, “You know.”

I do. Kimberly Ann Yale, my own wife, died over eleven years ago, something that I’ve talked about more than once in this column. It strikes me that we don’t really talk about the grieving process much. It’s been studied and Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross charted its stages, noting them as shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing and acceptance. That’s certainly useful in an intellectual way but I don’t know as it really prepares you for the emotional impact.

We don’t like to talk about grief. I didn’t, before Kim died. It’s death. It’s scary. If Death hears us talking about it, maybe it’ll come over to hear what we’re saying. That doesn’t make sense but that is sometimes how it feels. Emotion has its own logic. If we don’t talk about it, maybe Death will go away. Knock on some other door.

Grief is something that should be talked about. The only person with whom to really discuss it is someone who has been through it. Not someone who is going through it at the time; they’re trying to make sense of everything and it won’t make sense. It has to be someone who has come out the other side.

So let’s talk.

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