Author Toni Morrison Passes Away

Celebrated author Toni Morrison has passed away, aged 88. Her death was announced by her publisher, and confirmed by her family, saying that she passed away at Montefiore Medical Centre, surrounded by friends and family following complications from pneumonia.

Morrison produced 11 novels across her career, including Song of Solomon, Beloved, and God Help The Child. She became the first black woman in America to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She was heavily praised for her work 'exploring the experience of black women' and 'black identity in America'. She later went on to become a professor of creative writing at Princeton University.

Literary agent Lynn Nesbit, who worked with Morrison during her early career said, 'She had an amazing presence. She was a terrific writer and an amazing stylist who influenced whole generations.'

Barack Obama, who presented her with the Presidential Medal For Freedom in 2012 paid tribute to the author saying, 'Toni Morrison was a national treasure, as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page. Her writing was beautiful, meaningful to our conscience and our moral imagination. What a gift to breathe the same air as her, if only for a while.'


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Gotham Final Season – 5 of Batman’s Best Villains

Originally published on Set The Tape

The television series Gotham finally comes to an end as the fifth season gets a home release on the 29th of July. The series has not just told the origin story of Batman, but featured many of his iconic, and also little known villains. With that in mind, here are five of the caped crusader’s best villains, some you’ll know, and few you might not.

Bane

Thanks to The Dark Knight Rises Bane became a much better known villain to the casual Batman fan, thanks in part to the somewhat unusual performance by Tom Hardy. But to comic book fans Bane was a figure worthy of fear and respect for a long time.

The son of the Santa Priscan revolutionary King Snake, Bane was sent to prison as a young boy to answer for the crimes of his father, who had fled the country. Growing up in prison, surrounded by hardened criminals, Bane went on to train his body and mind to perfection, knowing that intelligence and brutal strength would be needed to survive. Rising to become the ‘king’ of the prison, Bane was selected by the people running the facility to be used as a test subject for the chemical Venom, a drug that had killed every other subject. Barely able to survive the experiment, the Venom eventually granted Bane incredible strength.

Escaping from prison, Bane travelled to Gotham, where he engineered a mass escape from Arkham Asylum, pitting Batman against all of his foes. When Batman reached his physical and mental breaking point, Bane challenged him directly, crippling him in the ensuing fight. Bane clearly established himself as a foe to be reckoned with in the first encounter, one that literally broke Batman.

Ra’s al Ghul

International terrorist. Expert fighter. Immortal. Ra’s al Ghul is one of the more interesting villains in the Batman rogues’ gallery thanks to being more than a costumed villain robbing banks in Gotham.

Born over 600 years ago in the deserts of North Africa, Ra’s was part of a nomadic tribe, but abandoned his people from a young age in order to pursue his interest in science and physiology. Eventually he discovered the Lazarus Pits, a natural phenomena that can raise the dead, or extend the life of the living. Ra’s used these pits to extend his life over several centuries and journeyed the world, becoming a formidable warrior, and leader of an organisation known as the League of Assassins.

Over the years Ra’s came to the conclusion that humanity would need to be culled in order for the world to achieve environmental balance. This leads him to conflict with Batman, who stops many of Ra’s’ plans over the years. Thanks to this Ra’s sees Batman as a worthy foe, and has even tried to have him take over as the head of the League of Assassins many times, and even led to Bruce and Ra’s daughter Talia having a son together, Damian. An important part of the Batman mythos thanks to this familial connection, he continues to be a popular and interesting villain.

Hush

The newest villain on this list, Hush first appeared in 2003 as part of the story-line of the same name, and is really Dr Thomas Elliot, childhood friend of Bruce Wayne. Hating his parents, and obsessed with wealth and independence, as a child Thomas hatched a plan kill them both by cutting the brakes on their car. The ensuing crash did kill his father, but his mother survived thanks to the intervention of Dr Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s father. Thomas came to hate Dr Wayne for saving his mother, and when the Waynes were both killed he was jealous that Bruce inherited their wealth. Thomas harboured this hatred over the years, and when as an adult learned of Bruce’s identity as Batman, crafted himself his own persona to kill his former friend.

Thanks to his high intelligence Hush has managed to challenge Batman in a number of encounters, often pulling the strings from behind the scenes as he pits other villains against the hero. Despite preferring to run things from behind the scenes, Hush is also in peak physical condition, and has been able to challenge Batman in one to one combat more than once.

Hush has clashed with his former childhood friend a number of times over the years, and has used his knowledge of his true identity to try and wreck Bruce’s personal life, even going so far as altering his own appearance to that of Bruce Wayne’s, allowing him to disrupt his personal and business affairs. Hush has also appeared in the most recent DC Animated movie, Batman: Hush, which was released on 19 July 2019.

Dr Hurt

Dr Simon Hurt is one of the more mysterious members of Batman’s rogues’ gallery, and very little is still known about him. Originally appearing in Batman #156 in the 1960s, he was brought back into prominence during Grant Morrison’s run on Batman, where he was the main antagonist.

During the course of Morrison’s run Dr Hurt challenged both Batman’s body and mind, pushing the hero closer to breaking point than any other villain has. During this time there are numerous theories put forward as to his true identity, including being Bruce Wayne’s ancestor, Bruce’s father, a demon called Barbatos, an agent of Darkseid, Darkseid himself, or even possibly the devil – a theory that even the Joker believes.

Despite these hints, his true origin remains unknown, even to Batman himself. What is known about him, however, is that he has proven to be one of Batman’s most dangerous and deadly villains to date.

The Joker

There was no way that he wouldn’t appear on the list of Batman’s best villains was there? Created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson all the way back in 1940, The Joker is easily Batman’s most iconic villain, and possibly one of the most iconic bad guys in comics history. Despite having been around since Batman #1, and having existed for more than 70 years, he is a character still shrouded in mystery.

The character has a number of origin stories, some more well known than others, yet has been given no official backstory or real identity. One of the more common origin stories for the character is that he was a criminal who fell into a vat of chemicals that transformed him physically into the Joker, sometimes a gangster, sometimes the Red Hood, and sometimes just low a level thug in the wrong place at the wrong time. Another origin made him The Pale Man, a mysterious entity that has lived for hundreds of years, haunting Gotham from the background. One has suggested that there are even multiple Jokers in existence.

Whatever his origin, he has been one of the most successful villains that Batman has come up against, having crippled Barbara Gordon, killed Jason Todd, and wounded Batman on multiple occassions. He will always be Batman’s most iconic villain, and is sure to face the hero in multiple incarnations for decades to come.


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Ohio Lawmaker Blames Mass Shooting on LGBTQ+ Community

Republican State Representative for Ohio, Candice Keller, has caused anger amongst her constituents, and the wider community, by blaming recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on the LGBTQ+ community.

In a post to her personal Facebook account she blamed the two incidents, which resulted in the deaths of 29 people, on 'the breakdown of the traditional American family'. The full post, which has since been removed reads as follows;

'After every mass shooting, the liberals star the blame game. Why not place the blame where it belongs?

'The breakdown of the traditional American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and drag queen advocates); fatherlessness, a subject no one discusses or believes is relevant; the ignoring of violent video games; the relaxing of laws against criminals (open borders); the acceptance of recreational marijuana; failed school policies (hello, parents who defend misbehaving students): disrespect to law enforcement (thank you, Obama); hatred to our veterans (thank you, professional athletes who hate our flag and National Anthem); the Dem Congress, many members whom are openly anti-Semetic; the culture, which totally ignores the importance of God and the church (until they elect a President); state officials, who have no interest whatsoever in learning about our Constitution and the Second Amendment; and snowflakes, who can't accept a duly-elected President.

'Did I forget anybody? The list is long. And the fury will continue.'

The post, which is incredibly badly written, is a typical check list of blame targets for Republicans. The gays, immigrants, bad parents, protesters, Democrats, people who believe in gun control. It's a right wing nuts wet dream of blame. What Ms. Keller fails to acknowledge, however, is that almost all US mass shootings, and these two attacks in particular, are committed by white, cisgender, heterosexual males with conservative, often racist, views. The kind of people she likes.

Keller has victim blamed. She has turned around to the communities that are the targets of these kind of attacks and said that it's their fault that mass killings happen. She, like these attackers, clearly wants an America where the only people allowed to exist are conservative Republicans, white heterosexual Christians who follow Trump without question and worship the flag.

The Butler County Democratic Party Chairman Brian Hester responded to her post saying, 'She loves to fan the flames and play the role of victim here, not the nine people who were killed. She is fundamentally unfit for office. She is an embarrassment to her party, to conservatives, to Butler County and to the state legislator.'

He also went on to add, 'To blame these shootings on some of the very people who have been targeted is offensive to those victims as well as the nine people who were murdered in Dayton this morning and to their grieving friends and family members. I think we should focus on the ease this killer had to the tools at his disposal for his murderous rampage more than what video games he played as a kid. It is disgraceful that this is what passes for Republican rhetoric now.'

A Dayton Daily News reporter approached her for a comment, reading her statement back to her. She said that it sounded like part of her post, but she could not be sure if it was altered.

Candice Keller is running for the Ohio Senate in Butler County in 2020. She is currently under investigation for violating ethics rules by sponsoring a bill that would directly benefit an anti-abortion health centre she she owns in Ohio. She has also appeared on a white power advocate radio show in 2017, has compared Planned Parenthood to the Nazi party, and has called the survivors of the Parkland school shooting 'Dorito-eating video gamers'.


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Star Trek: Picard Prequel Novel and Comics Announced

Star Trek: Picard, the upcoming 2020 Star Trek series set to continue to story of fan favourite character Jean-Luc Picard will be receiving a number of prequel stories over the next year to set up the new story.

Announced at Star Trek Las Vegas, CBS Consumer Products revealed that Star Trek: Picard - Countdown will be a three issue mini-series comic produced by IDW Publishing in November 2019. Set to be written by Mike Johnson and Kirsten Beyer, two supervising producers on the series, the story will focus on a mission that 'changes Jean-Luc Picard's life', possibly the mysterious rescue mission that was alluded to in the first trailer for the series.

Following the comic release the publisher Simon & Schuster will release the novel The Last Best Hope in February 2020. The book is reported to lead directly into the events of the series, and will feature several characters that will appear. The book will be written by Una McCormack, who has previously written a number of Star Trek novels.

Veronica Hart, CBS EVP of Global Franchise Management, said, 'From the moment we announced this series, we've seen a groundswell of support from our fan base who are thrilled to have Jean-Luc Picard back on our screens. Having this brand new original backstory play out through both comic book and novel formats will set the stage for the new series in an exciting way while showcasing the work of our talented partners at Simon & Schuster and IDW.'


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The Lion King - Film Review

I, like many people around my age, have a soft spot in my heart for The Lion King. It was one of the animated movies that I grew up with, and remember the fuss made about it before it came out, and how excited people were for it. Then, when I finally watched it I, like a lot of people, was so deeply affected by the death of Mufasa that the film stuck with me throughout my childhood.

When news came that the film was to be remade in the slew of live action Disney films I was a little nervous. Of the films that I'd seen I found that they were very hit or miss, and I either really enjoyed them or didn't like them at all. However, seeing that Jon Favreau was involved following the success of The Jungle Book, and that James Earl Jones would be returning to reprise his role I was on board.
 Having now seen the film I will say that I found it...okay.

Whilst there is nothing in this new version of the film that I absolutely hated there were several times during the movie that I found myself thinking that the animated feature did it better. For the most part these were the musical numbers. I appreciate that it's hard to make animals look photo realistic and have them singing and dancing around the way they can in an animated movie, but most of the song sequences in this new version felt like they were lacking some of their punch. Though 'I Just Can't Wait To Be King' was still a lot of fun.

The main thing that really impressed about this new version was that they had altered the script in a few ways to give more of an explanation or to reveal more about the world. For example, when Zazu talks to Mufasa about how he used to act as a cub. One of these changes that was incredibly welcome was the fact that Shenzi, who was simply part of a comedy trio in the original, was given the spotlight as the leader of the hyena's, and had a much clearer character. She went from comedic relief to something of a lieutenant to Scar, and her showdown with Nala in the finale was very satisfying.

The new cast were also great, and were able to take roles that for a lot of people had become iconic with their original actors and make them their own. The biggest example of this is Scar. Whilst I do appreciate the fact that in the original the scheming villain who wanted to kill the character voiced by a black man and take his land was a white, British man, I don't think that the original filmmakers were trying to make any kind of commentary on how awful white people have been to African nations or citizens across history. Having Chiwetel Ejiofor in the role felt much better. The cast of The Lion King should be black, and the main lion characters especially. He brought a sense of coldness and gravitas to the role that Jeremy Irons just didn't. Irons' Scar was a caricature villain, whereas Ejiofor's felt like a real person.

This is where the new film works well, in these small little changes that elevate certain areas over the original. The increased number of black actors in the cast is an improvement. The additions to the script are an improvement. The action in the finale is an improvement. Yet despite this, there was just something about the film that failed to make it spark for me as amazing. Perhaps it's because I felt myself comparing it to the original a lot of the time that I didn't judge it as it's own separate entity.

I think that this is one of the flaws in the new Disney films. When they're too similar to the original audiences have a tendency to compare the two closely, to sit there thinking that the shots are almost identical, or the songs are the same but one version is sung better than the other. Maybe making the films more obviously different, as the upcoming Mulan appears to be will make the movies stand on their own better.

Despite these small criticisms I really enjoyed The Lion King, and look forward to seeing it again. Though sadly I will not get to experience the best part of the film again, the moment when a woman in the row behind me yelled in fear and disgust during the trailer for Cats.

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Gotham Final Season – 5 Batman Origin Stories To Check Out

Originally published on Set The Tape

The final season of the Batman origin series Gotham finally gets a home release on 29th July 2019, bringing this sprawling, and at times epic, tale to a close. But now that it’s over what are fans left to do? What if people want more of the tales of the world’s greatest detective in his early days? Well, here are 5 great Batman origin stories that you should make the time to check out.

Batman: Year One

Written by Frank Miller, and with art by David Mazzucchelli, Batman: Year One is cited by many fans to be the ultimate telling of the hero’s origins. Originally published in 1987 by DC, the story sees a young Bruce Wayne return home to Gotham after spending the better part of a decade and a half travelling the world, training. He finds his city an even worse den of crime and villainy than when he first left, and is determined to do something about it. At the same time, James Gordon transfers to the Gotham police force, and is faced with the corruption throughout the institution.

The story sees the two of them having to find ways of fighting the corruption that haunts the city, and discovering an ally in each other. It also marked huge changes for the DC universe, as other writers brought future stories into line with the events of Batman: Year One in order to make it a more cohesive part of the universe.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

The animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was a continuation of the popular Batman Animated Series, and is considered by a lot of people to be one of the best Batman films every made, animated or otherwise. Telling the story of a mysterious new killer arriving in Gotham, the Phantasm, who targets gangsters and crime lords, the story also tells the origins of Bruce Wayne as Batman.

This was something that hadn’t been done in the animated series, and rather than focusing on the murder of Bruce’s parents, chose to approach it when Bruce was older, having been training already to become Batman and on the cusp of his crime-fighting career. We see a Bruce who is desperate to not be a vigilante, who wants to instead break his promise and find love. It was a much more personal and emotional origin story that had never been told before, and one that pleased many fans.

Zero Year

When the New 52 changed the DC Universe in 2011 things became uncertain for a lot of characters, and many people found themselves asking which stories still counted, and which ones were no longer considered canon. In an attempt to update the Batman origin story, and answer some of these questions, writer Scott Snyder created the year long event Zero Year.

Featuring the first encounters between Batman and characters such as The Riddler, Penguin, the Red Hood Gang, and Jim Gordon to name but a few, the event took some direction from Batman: Year One, but told a much bigger and more epic story than the smaller, more intimate tale from the 80s. The story established a new origin for the latest incarnation of Batman, and parts of the story were even incorporated into the final season of Gotham.

Batman Begins

The Nolan films are some of the best loved Batman films around, but thanks to the spectacular performances in The Dark Knight, and the somewhat disappointing ending in The Dark Knight Rises people seem to forget about Batman Begins, a film that is not only the best live action Batman origin but the best of the trilogy.

Whilst other films have featured Batman at the beginning of his career, or had flashbacks to the death of his parents, no film spent as much time showing Bruce travelling the world and learning his skills. We got to watch him developing the Bat Suit and the gadgets he would need to help stop the villains. Tying the films main villain into his past, in the form of Ra’s al Ghul, was also a great move as it meant that this exploration of his past was integral to the story, and made it more important than just background detail.

Batman Begins was a grounded and well told origin story that melded the real world and the comics well. It had some great performances (Bale’s best in the role), and had twists and secrets that shocked the audience.

Batman: Earth One

The Earth One books produced by DC Comics are a series of What-If stories, set in a world where the pantheon of DC heroes don’t exist, and reflects a more real world approach. One of the most popular of these series is the Batman: Earth One line. Thanks to the already grounded nature of Batman, his Earth One books were some of the most successful in the series.

The Earth One book tells a very familiar origin story, yet takes the time to make some more connections between Bruce and his future enemies and allies. In this story Bruce’s parents aren’t the victims of a random mugging, but targetted by Oswald Cobblepot because of his father’s bid to be mayor. Bruce grows up with a rivalry with Harvey Dent, the future Two-Face. And Alfred Pennyworth was the head of security at Wayne Manor before being made Bruce’s guardian, leading Alfred to be in a position to train the young crime-fighter.

The book, much like Batman: Year One, also told an origin for James Gordon as he transfers to Gotham Police, and sees him team up with their star detective, Harvey Bullock. The events of the book not only shape Bruce and Gordon, but also shows how Bullock goes from the grinning wonder cop to jaded alcoholic fans know due to the horrors he encounters.

An brilliant retelling of the Batman origin, one that adds layers of mystery and conspiracy that weren’t originally there to begin with, fans of Gotham will see a number of familiar elements in this book.


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The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom - Book Review

'Banished for centuries, as punishment for trying to measure time, the inventor of the world's first clock is finally granted his freedom, along with a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two people the true meaning of time.

'He returns to our world and embarks on a journey with two unlikely partners: a teenage girl who is about to give up on life and a wealthy, ageing businessman who wants to live for ever. To save himself, he must save them both.'

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom tells the story of Dor, a man who became obsessed with measuring time. Beginning with simply counting in his head, before moving on to measuring the path of the sun and creating devices that would let him know when the sun would rise, Dor became the first human in existence to try and quantify time itself.

When his wife dies tragically Dor wants more time with her, desperate to be with the woman he loves, and tries to race up the tower of Babylon to challenge the gods themselves. Instead of finding a pantheon of gods to challenge he is cast into a dark cave, where he's confronted by a mysterious old man who punishes him for his measuring of time by making him live forever in that cave, listening to the pleas of every person who wants more time; becoming Father Time. Living for thousands of years, Dor is finally freed from his cave by God and sent out to help two people understand the value of time.

Sarah Lemon is a teenage girl living with her single mother, whose love for a boy is rejected, causing her to feel alone and humiliated, pushing her to taking her own life. Victor Delamonte is an ageing millionaire businessman with terminal cancer, who is prepared to go to any lengths it takes to keep on living. Dor must seek out both of them, and help them realise that they are wrong about their courses of action.

The Time Keeper is a strange book, with a narrative that jumps between the three main characters at a quick pace, giving a handful of pages over to each before the next chapter begins. As such, it feels like a very short book. Whilst at first I found this to be something of an annoyance, and I didn't feel like I was being given a chance to get to know any of them. This was something that frustrated me until I found myself being drawn into the journeys more than the characters themselves.

This was something that made more sense to me as the story progressed and I realised that the characters of Sarah and Victor weren't really important, it was their journeys that were. This isn't just a story about people learning to overcome their demons and their fears, but about accepting time. It's a story that warns about the dangers of being so desperate for something that you let it consume your life. Victor is willing to hurt the woman he loves, to shut her out of his plans and betray her trust just for a few more years in his already long life because he believes he deserves longer. Sarah is willing to throw away her future, to hurt her family because she can't see an existence without the boy she has a crush on because she can't imagine ever loving anyone else that way.

The Time Keeper is a story about obsession and it's dangers, about how sometimes the heart can blind the brain and make a person believe that there is only one course of action open to them, even if it's an incredibly dangerous and destructive one.

Whilst it may have a slow beginning The Time Keeper has depths that come as something as a surprise and prove to be more moving than I was expecting. This was my first experience with a Mitch Albom book, and I wasn't disappointed.

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Marvel Action: Black Panther #2 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Wakanda faces natural disaster in the second issue of Marvel Action: Black Panther as the nation’s weather spirals out of control, and the people face a deadly disease.

Marvel Action: Black Panther feels very different from the other books in the series. Where books such as Avengers or Spider-Man have a very recognisable setting and feature costumed heroes fighting against villains, this book stands out because despite prominently featuring a major hero, it doesn’t feel like a superhero book.

Over the course of the issue Black Panther rescues people from a fire, which is something that we see quite often from costumed heroes, but following that he kind of moves onto the back foot as he tries to find a way to save his people from things that are outside of his control. Readers really get a sense from this issue that T’Challa is a very reactive hero, one who uses his enhanced strength and dexterity to solve problems, yet here he is facing one where throwing punches aren’t the solution.

It’s because of this that his sister Shuri really gets the spotlight. People who watched the Black Panther movie will know that Shuri is a character who is much smarter than her brother, and this issue highlights that. Whilst T’Challa is running around Wakanda saving people, Shuri is working on several problems at once, communicating with her brother, organising medical assistance, trying to find out what’s going on, and all the while trying to dodge calls from her mother.

The second issue doesn’t move the plot forward in any great ways, and we don’t learn a whole lot new; for example it was pretty obvious who the villain was before Queen Ramonda figured it out. Shuri and T’Challa try to find a way to stop the spread of the malaria that is ravaging the population, but keep getting prevented from doing so, first by a giant sand storm, then alligators, then hippos; it felt a lot like writer Kyle Baker knew where he wanted his characters to be for issue three, and that meant slowing down T’Challa and Shuri so that they don’t get there too soon. However, the almost constant streams of things getting in their way felt a little comical, and silly by the end.

There’s nothing hugely wrong with the issue, but it felt a little lacking. The story doesn’t move forward in any big ways, most of the characters are dull and lacking any agency, and the plot seems to be treading water. Despite this, the artwork by Juan Samu is beautiful, and he makes all of the characters look beautiful, with some amazing design work on the costumes and the buildings in Wakanda. Hopefully the third issue will improve in a number of ways.


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Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Innsmouth Mutations by Lois H. Gresh – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The final part of the Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu trilogy sees the titular detective leave London and travel across the Atlantic to face the Order of Dagon on their home turf, the town of Innsmouth.

Where the first two volumes felt like a Sherlock Holmes story that featured aspects of the Cthulhu mythos, being principally set in London and featuring characters from Doyle’s original work, Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Innsmouth Mutations is more grounded in the world of Lovecraft. It features locations from his work, such as Innsmouth and Arkham, and has a much bigger focus on the Order of Dagon.

This sudden change in tone is quite surprising and even a little jarring. It made it so that this final volume felt a little out of place with the others. However, whilst this change threw me a little, it didn’t detract from the overall quality of the read at all.

Holmes, Watson, and Watson’s family, travel to the ruined town of Innsmouth at the behest of both the British and American governments, who are desperate for him to do something about the strange creatures appearing off Devil’s Reef, and the giant creature called Cthulhu. Yes, Cthulhu itself appears in this book, and even opens the story as it rises up from its watery depths with a host of otherworldly beings.

The inclusion of Cthulhu, though a long time coming, is still something that is a little surprising. This may be because after everything else that Holmes and Watson have already experienced, encountering a giant elder god just doesn’t phase them much. Cthulhu is treated with almost a casual air that struck me as slightly strange. Yes, the heroes have encountered dozens of monstrous creatures by this point, and their journey through Devil’s Reef is a particularly shocking and horrific moment for them, but I still expected something of a little disbelief at a being such as Cthulhu.

The change in the heroes, having gone from disbelieving that monsters can exist, to accepting them as being real but from a place and time that their science doesn’t yet understand, shows the growth that the two of them have made over the course of the trilogy, and sets these versions of Holmes and Watson aside from the originals. Seeing Holmes willing to not only accept that a giant sea monster is real, but devising a way to banish it back to its own dimension is a little strange, but by this point in the series has been well earned.

What serves to be the biggest surprise in the story, however, is that Holmes and Watson do pretty much nothing in this book. Yes, they end up getting involved in a small mystery with the family that they’re staying with, and shed some light on the history of Innsmouth for the reader, but they do little to nothing to stop the creatures. This honour falls to Professor James Moriarty.

Having travelled to Innsmouth in order to further his greedy schemes, Moriarty finds himself in a situation well out of his control, and it’s a shock turn to see a character like Moriarty, who is usually so in control and so confident, reduced to living in the dirt, trying desperately to survive. This speaks volumes to the arrogance of the character, that he’d never expected to be so bested even by forces from another world.

Whilst the book is well written and the story is filled with twists and turns that will keep you guessing, the sudden change in tone, the fact that Cthulhu is treated as almost an everyday thing, and the very little that Holmes and Watson do to save the day make this a conclusion that felt a little flat in comparison to the second part. A good story, though not what I was expecting as the conclusion.

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Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Neural Psychoses by Lois H. Gresh – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

In my review for the first book in the Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu series, The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions, I spoke about issues with the pacing of the story, that it at times felt a little too slow and overly long. Well, this is a criticism that I cannot place on Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Neural Psychoses.

The book opens with Holmes and Watson enjoying a ship ride along the Thames, investigating reports that some of the strange creatures they encountered in the climax of the previous book have escaped into the river. With little to no warning the ship is attacked by one of these creatures, but one that has now turned into a giant, tentacled monster that rips the ship apart and kills dozens of people. This is within the first twenty pages! Lois H. Gresh has really hit the ground running in this second volume, and is delivering so much of what I had hoped to have read in the first book.

Instead of a slowly unfolding mystery that hints at the existence of other worlds and monsters, Holmes and Watson are actively searching for a way to combat these monsters. Added into this a mysterious illness that is spreading throughout London, one that has even infected Watson, and the stakes for this book seem so much higher than the first volume.

The book has a much better pace than the first part, and despite having to introduce several new characters and story elements it never feels as bogged down as the first book. It’s only about 50 pages shorter, but due to the improved pacing I was able to read it in about half the time, and enjoyed it a whole lot more.

Another addition to the story that really helps to change things up and makes it a lot more entertaining is the introduction of Sherlock Holmes’ iconic foe, Professor James Moriarty. Instead of acting as a villain to Holmes, however, we get to see Moriarty having his own adventure, though one that ties into the main story. Obsessed with accumulating wealth and power, he tries to gain control of the tram machine that produces gold that was a central part of the first book, whilst also playing a part in the new addiction that is sweeping the capital, as well as trying to kidnap two of the central figures in the Cult of Dagon.

Moriarty takes a very active part in this volume, and his chapters are some of the best in the whole book. We get to see the other side of the seedy underworld of London that Holmes and Watson occasionally visit, getting to know the inner workings of the criminal gangs.

A lot more happens in this book, thanks in part to it not having to establish so much of the characters and the world, but due to this being a middle part there are a number of plot threads left hanging come the final pages. Some of these, such as what will happen to Maria Fitzgerald and Amelia Scarcliffe, are more nebulous, with Gresh able to take them in any direction she wants for the final volume. There are others, however, that make it very clear the direction the last book will be taking, and its final revelation sets up a very exciting prospect.

Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Neural Psychoses is a big improvement on what was already a good first entry in the series; one that moves with a much better pace, and with a sense of excitement. The returning characters continue to entertain, whilst new characters, both original and from the Sherlock Holmes universe, fit in perfectly and add more to this shared universe. A brilliant second act to the story, it sets up some incredibly exciting things to come in the final part of the trilogy.

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