Attending A Trans Day of Remembrance Service

 

I've never felt welcome in church. Even when I was growing up and hadn't figured out certain aspects of my identity there was something about it that never felt right; and since becoming a queer trans person engaged in a relationship that involves three people instead of the 'traditional' two I've believed that I'd become the kind of person who would never be welcome in a church. I'd half expect to be so unwanted there that I'd set on fire like some glorious queer vampire.

But over the weekend I saw someone on Twitter share the news that church in Leicester, St. Nicholas Church, would be having a service to mark the Trans Day of Remembrance, and to honour those members of the trans community lost. Not only that, but that they'd be doing things over the weekend, such as allowing people to light candles for those who had died, tie prayer cards up for them, and even make their own trans coloured rosaries. 

I'd spent the majority of the Saturday, the actual Trans Day of Remembrance, making an extensive tweet thread on my account, one where I shared each and every life lost that we knew about. I spent close to twelve hours, even going into the early hours of the morning, listing the names (where they were known), sharing their photos (where we had them), and reading about the awful, frightening ways in which they were killed.

Whilst I'd always marked this day in my own way each year this year it hit hardest. This was the year that we'd had the highest reported deaths on record. And now I knew their stories. I'd read all the names. I'd seen the faces. I'd cried more than once upon learning what happened to them. I wanted to do something a little more. My wife was the one who suggested we attend the church service, even though none of us are religious.

Upon arriving at the church we found a room full of people. Not jam packed, but struggling to fit everyone in with social distancing for sure. We were greeted openly and warmly, were given a programme of service, though not one each as they were having to ration them because they didn't expect so many people to attend the event.

I sat in the very back row, tucked up against the radiator to try and lessen the pain I was in, and I watched the service take place. Whilst I've never been religious I did attend a religious school for a few years, and been to events in church, so recognised a lot of the things that were happening, but it was the things I didn't recognise that astonished me. Because the church were doing things to not only include the trans community, but to centre it. The altar had a trans flag across it. The choir was from the local LGBT Centre, and sand songs about being yourself and love, and the passages they chose from the Bible could easily relate to the trans experience.

It felt so odd to be able to sit in a church and hear people speak about people like myself with love and care. It was something that I never expected to experience. As wonderful as it was, I don't think it would ever encourage me to adopt faith, or at least this kind of faith. Jay Hulme, the young man who gave the sermon, who I learned about the event through, spoke about how he'd collected the names of those who had been lost. He spoke about the hours he spent learning about them, and about the awful things they went through. It was something I understood extremely well. But whist seeing those awful things had filled me with pain, and reinforced the idea in my mind that a god couldn't exist whilst such things happen in the world, he said that it still gave him faith in the love of god. 

I honestly didn't understand this. I don't know how that kind of thing works. I don't think I'm the kind of person who can have religious faith. But I can see how that kind of faith helps others, how it comforted Jay in that moment. And I could see the church supporting him, the community around him putting trans and queer voices first and showing them love. And that gave me a little hope that perhaps things could get better.

One of the things they'd done at St. Nicholas was a candle lighting station. They'd laid out 375 matches, one for each of the lives lost that we know about. Each match had the name of a person, their age, and their location listed. My family and I light a candle for three of them there. We also took three of the matches home with us, to light candles later and remember them, and all those lost. I'm saddened to say that I recognised the names of the three women we light our candles for. As soon as I saw those names I could tell you that two of them were shot to death, and that the third was dismembered. I brought up their photos on my phone, we looked at their faces, and we light candles in their memory.

This year has been one of the bloodiest on record for the losses of trans lives. Of those lost so many were trans women of colour. And so many of them ended in violent ways. More needs to be done to protect the trans community. With transphobia becoming more and more pervasive, with trans rights in more danger now than ever before, trans people and their allies need to keep on fighting; otherwise that list of the lost will continue to grow each year.

Thankfully, there are people who are doing things to help. And whilst the voices of our haters and oppressors might be the loudest they are without a doubt not the most numerous. I have to hope that things will get better, and things like the St. Nicholas Church taking the time to honour and acknowledge our dead helps me to have that hope. Thank you to everyone there who held that service.

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The Hills Have Eyes (1977) – Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Hills Have Eyes is an iconic film. Whether you’ve ever seen it or not, you’re sure to have either heard of it, or will be familiar with the iconic poster featuring star Michael Berryman. It’s one of the few classic horror films that I’d never actually seen, so when I saw that Arrow Video were releasing a new 4K Ultra HD edition of the movie I snapped up the chance to finally see it.

The film follows the Carter family as they travel through the Nevada desert on the way to Los Angeles for a vacation. Upon stopping for gas at a remote gas station the family ask for directions to an old silver mine that they want to check out. Being advised to stick to the main road and forget about the mine, the family ignore the warning and head out into the desert. When an accident forces them off the road and damages the car they’re forced to try going for help on foot.

However, someone is up in the hills around them, watching them through a pair of binoculars. Thus begins a game of cat and mouse, as the twisted family that lives there starts to hunt the Carters down one by one, forcing the suburban family to face their worst fears and embrace their rage and will to survive.

Having heard so many stories about how extreme The Hills Have Eyes was, with having seen it being held up as one of the best horror movies of the 1970s, and a high point in director Wes Craven’s career, I was a little disappointed when I finally watched it. Perhaps it’s being more used to the horror films that have come since, but it didn’t feel like a huge amount of stuff actually happened. A lot of the action of the movie took place around the broken down camper van the Carter family was travelling in, and most of the stuff that happened elsewhere happened in desert locations that didn’t have any distinctive features or visual flair. As such, once the awe at the vastness of the desert had worn off there was very little visual stimulation in the movie.

This wasn’t helped by a threat that never really felt that threatening. I understand that the hill family was of course threatening, and did some awful things, but there wasn’t much to them beyond odd people living in the hills. They didn’t really have any flair to them. They weren’t as disturbing or as iconic as Leatherface and his family, and other than the distinctiveness of Michael Berryman’s look there’s nothing about the group that I could really describe other than ‘evil desert people’. I said earlier that I hadn’t seen this film before, but I had seen the remake when it first came out, and despite not having seen it in a decade the look and feel of that film is something I can conjure in my mind quite easily, yet I’m struggling to do so with the original just days later.

Whilst the film itself never really went beyond being okay for me, the extras that come with the film are a lot more interesting and entertaining. The disc includes a ‘making of’ documentary that lasts almost an hour, and features key members of the cast and crew, including the late Wes Craven. The story of how the film got made was, for me, more interesting than the film itself, and it was great to see the folks involved in bringing it to life talk about their experiences making the movie.

In the same vein, the trio of audio commentaries offer a similar kind of insight into the film, especially the one by academic Mikel J. Koven, who’s able to offer broader insight about the film beyond simply the making of the movie, and is able to explore the world in which it was made and released, as well as the impact that it had on film and horror. The set also has a couple of interviews, and an alternate end that doesn’t really feature anything different, but simply changes round the order of the final scenes.

Perhaps this set would appeal more to a fan of the film, someone who has a lot of love for the movie. But even as someone who has never seen it before the set was pretty entertaining, even if the film didn’t set my world on fire. For those with an interest in film history and horror, the extras are definitely worth a watch even if you’re not that interested in revisiting the film itself.

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Giallo Essentials (Red Edition) – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Note: We were only supplied with digital versions of the films in the Giallo Essentials set, without any of the extra features.

After spaghetti westerns the Giallo is probably the most famous Italian cinematic export: a genre beloved the world over thanks to its focus on tight mystery stories, twisting and intriguing tales, and violence and gore that are sometimes so over the top that it borders on horrific. Thanks to the extensive catalogue of well liked Giallo movies on offer, Arrow Video are able to bring a lot of these films to new audiences with updated Blu-ray releases, starting with the first in a new series of box sets, Giallo Essentials: Red Edition.

The first of the three films offered in this set is The Possessed (1965), a black and white mystery story from writers/directors Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini. The story follows Bernard (Peter Baldwin), a successful writer who travels to a small lakeside town in the north of Italy for his winter holiday. The last time he’d visited, Bernard had become involved with a local girl named Tilde (Virna Lisi), who worked as a maid at the hotel he stayed at. Upon arriving at the hotel he begins to search for Tilde, but soon discovers that she died by suicide months before. However, when he learns that some in town believe that Tilde was actually murdered, Bernard starts to look into events.

The Possessed is the one film in this set that feels the least like the Giallo films I am used to. It being from the mid 1960s is probably a big part of this. The film is shot in black and white, the story is quite slow and there aren’t really any big action scenes, and thanks to parts of the story where Bernard gets sick and starts to hallucinate you’re not always sure if what you’re seeing is real, a memory, or completely fabricated. Despite all that the film is very engaging, and you soon begin to become as interested in Tilde’s fate as Bernard. Thanks to the setting of a winter in northern Italy the film has a look and feel to it that makes it stand out from the other movies in this set, and it’s a good introduction to Giallo for first time viewers.

The second movie on offer here is The Fifth Cord (1971), also directed by Luigi Bazzoni. Unlike Bazzoni’s previous work on The Possessed, The Fifth Cord is much more of what I’ve come to expect from Giallo films. It’s bright, colourful, filled with vicious kills, and a plot so twisting and complex that it’s easy to get lost in. The story begins with a New Years Eve party that ends in tragedy when a member of a group of friends is attacked on his way home.

The next morning one of the group, Andrea (Franco Nero), learns of the attack from his bosses at the newspaper. Deciding to investigate the incident, Andrea begins to question witnesses to try and find out who hospitalised his friend. When another member of the group is attacked and killed in her home Andrea begins to think that the two cases are linked, and that something more is going on than first believed. As the bodies begin to mount Andrea has to race against time to find the killer.

The story for The Fifth Cord isn’t the easiest to follow, and there are a lot of red herrings and intentionally confusing clues given across the course of the film. Obviously it’s being done in an attempt to keep the viewer from being able to guess the killer’s identity too easily, but there are times where I was struggling to keep up with the large cast of characters and everything that was happening. The film’s climax, however, is pretty well done, and features a rather alarming scene with a child being put in danger before a daring last minute rescue that culminates in a long chase scene and a fight high up in a construction site.

The final film in this first set is The Pyjama Girl Case (1977), written and directed by Flavio Mogherini, that draws inspiration from the real life mystery surrounding the murder of Linda Agostini in Australia in the 1930s. This fictionalised version of the story finds a young woman’s body being found on a Sydney beach, her face ruined beyond recognition, with only a set a silken pyjamas and a cloth sack with a few grains of rice as the only clues.

Whilst the more modern and forward thinking members of the police force try to figure out the woman’s identity, a retired police inspector volunteers to help on the case. This begins one of the central clashes of the movie as the old rubs up against the new. The retired inspector dislikes the modern way of doing things, and the men investigating the case dislike the inspector acting on hunches and making leaps of deduction.

This film also feels a little different from other Giallo movies I’ve seen. Other Giallo films almost revel in moments of violence and spend time lingering on images of sex and female nudity; and whilst this film does these things too, it also does something when it comes times to trying to identify the victim. As with what happened in the real case, the police put the body on public display to try and get people to come forward. The naked, embalmed body of the brutally murdered woman is put on full display in a shopping centre, where the public are allowed to come and stare at her, ogling her naked form and her ruined face from every angle. It’s a pretty grim scene, and one that pushes the absurdity and horrificness of this idea, almost challenging the audience about their enjoyment of the murder and nudity on offer in the film.

The Pyjama Girl Case at times feels like it’s trying to make some kind of point, that the scene in the shopping centre, the conflict between the old and new policing, and a brutal and off-putting sex scene towards the climax of the film (no pun intended), seem to be challenging the normal tropes of the genre. Unfortunately, it never really feels like it’s decided on what point it’s trying to make, and as such the film just comes off as very unsettling.

Alongside the films, this new set comes with a host of special features, including full length commentaries on each movie by critics and film historians, and interviews with cast and crew from the films. These are the kinds of extras that I enjoy, and often give a lot more insight into the films and how they fit into the history and culture of Giallo and cinema. However, as I was only supplied with digital versions of the film I can’t speak to how in-depth or informative these extras are.

Giallo Essentials: Red Edition is an interesting set with three films that all feel very different from each other, giving the viewer insight into how broad and different Giallo can be. With so many other films in the genre on offer I’m certainly interested in seeing how the rest of this series will continue, and what other films we’ll be treated to.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Call of Duty franchise was always a successful series of games, a brand that fans of first-person shooters could rely on for decent game-play and a good time. However, it wasn’t always the huge thing it is now, and it wasn’t until the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Until that point the series was based securely in World War Two, a historical action series that wove its stories and characters into real world events. When they took the gamble to bring the series up to the modern day no one could predict just how successful it was going to be.

Four years after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare the story started there came to an end in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Thanks to the hype around this game it became the largest game launch of all time, selling 6.5 million copies within the first 24 hours of release in just the US and the UK. To say that it was a juggernaut hit is an understatement.

The game put players back into the role of its series protagonists, Captain John ‘Soap’ MacTavish (Kevin McKidd) and Captain John Price (Billy Murray), who have had to go on the run following the events of the last game, where they killed the corrupt US general who was orchestrating a war with Russia. Whilst the heroes of the series do what they can to try and track down a Russian Ultranationalist leader in the hopes of bringing this new world war to an end, the rest of the US is busy repelling Russian invaders from its soil.

Thanks to the global scale of the conflict in this third entry of the series, players get the opportunity to battle across levels in locations such as New York City, London, Paris, Hamburg, Prague, Berlin, and the United Arab Emirates, making this one of the most global games in the entire Call of Duty franchise, with massive destruction and action that was compared to big, cinematic disaster movies.

The comparisons to big budget films was actually pretty fair, as this game went above and beyond what people were expecting. The previous games had featured some cool set pieces, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 outdid many of these. You’d be flying around New York skyscrapers in a helicopter shooting enemies; driving speedboats between huge battleships and the water exploding around you; shooting your way through air-planes as they broke apart; chasing underground trains on a jeep; watching as the Eiffel Tower crashes down in a hail of destruction. And those are just the parts I can remember off the top of my head. The game gives you little breathing room as the player is thrown from one action moment to the next. Add into this a cast of voice actors that included names like Tony Curran, William Flichter, Craig Fairbass, Timothy Olyphant, Bruce Greenwood, and Idris Elba, and the game made you feel like you were the star of an action epic.

This was a sentiment that was shared by a lot of people, as the game quickly garnered high scores and positive praise from critics. The Daily Telegraph reviewed the game, describing it as an “exceptional entry in the series” living up to the hype surrounding it. Similarly, video game focused publications such as IGN and Eurogamer gave positive reviews, with Eurogamer calling it a “ferocious and satisfying game that knows exactly what players expect, and delivers on that promise with bullish confidence“.

Despite these accolades there was one thing that fans and reviewers noticed about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Despite the bombastic nature of the single player campaign, it felt like a lot less time had been given over to it than previous entries in the series. This seemed to coincide with a bigger focus on the game’s multi-player elements. Its multiplayer was given a lot of attention both in the development and in the marketing, and there was a sizeable contingent of fans who jumped straight into the online mode as soon as they had the game; forgoing the single player experience entirely.

This is something that many have come to accept as a big part of the Call of Duty franchise over the years, that less time is given over to the single player campaign than is to the multi-player; and with the introduction of paid loot-boxes in more recent games this has only gotten worse. Sadly, despite how fun and engaging Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was, it really did feel like the beginning of this trend in the series, and the last point where the single player experience was given any sense of care.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was a fun, bombastic finale to this chapter of the franchise, a chapter that boosted the popularity of the series and broke the developers away from their focus on World War Two. Sadly, it was also the beginning of some of the worst aspects of the series.

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Doctor Who: Once, Upon Time - TV Review

 

The third episode of Doctor Who: Flux certainly piles the revelations upon its audience as it begins to answer a lot of the questions raised in the first couple of episodes, yet manages to keep an air of mystery going into the second half of this shorter series.

The episode begins by introducing a new character, Bel, played by Thaddea Graham, who is surviving in the ruins of a universe wrecked by the Flux. We see that whilst he Flux has created destruction on a scale we've never seen before it's not erased reality itself, which seemed to be the implications early on in the series, but left few alive and much of the universe in ruins. We keep going back to Bel over the course of the episode as she makes her way from planet to planet, trying to find a way back home, dodging some of the bigger Doctor Who enemies along the way.

These breaks from the main story are great, they show us what's happening in the universe, how bad things have gotten because of the Flux, and why it's important that the Doctor saves everything. It feels like the final days of reality, and that those who remain are fighting to be crowned rulers of the dust before it all goes away. This also means that we get an appearance from the Daleks, as well as a couple of scenes with the Cybermen. If these prove to be the only moments with these iconic villains this series I'm absolutely fine with that. They got to make an appearance, their inclusion showed the impact of the story as a whole, and their scenes were good. This is how you get certain monsters into the series without it feeling too bogged down.

Outside of Bel's story the main focus of the episode turns to the Doctor and her companions. We pick up where the last episode left off, with Swarm about to pour the full power and fury of the time-stream through the mouri and into Yaz and Vinder. In order to save her friends and buy them more time the Doctor throws herself and Dan into the time-stream too, allowing her the opportunity to try and fix things.

This begins a series of scenes that were really interesting. Things essentially become dreamlike from here on out, as the four good guys get thrown through their own timelines, pasts, present, and futures, to hide from the villains. But because time is broken things don't run quite right. Scenes can change suddenly mid sentence as they find themselves in new places, people from their memories have been replaced with other people they know, and they're able to try and challenge and change what was said and done. Rather than being simple flashbacks, they play out like nightmarish dream sequences; though ones that matter as we learn a surprising amount from them.

Yaz is probably the one least served in these scenes, possibly due to the fact that we've already gotten to know her so well over previous series. Instead of getting insight into her we get to see her being slowly pursued by a Weeping Angel that has invaded the time-stream. These make for some fun, and tense moments, and help build towards the final moments of the episode. 

Dan, in contrast, gets a little bit more character development, as we learn more about his relationship with Di; getting to see him chatting with her and the growing romance between the two. This really helps to reinforce that the two of them were close, as we only got them in one scene together at the start of the first episode, which helps us to understand his reaction to learning she's a prisoner at the end of the episode. We also get some insight into things to come as Dan finds himself in the Williamson tunnels with Joseph Williamson shooting a laser gun at some unseen foe. With these moments all being from people's timelines this is pretty much telling us that this scene is something we're going to get in a future instalment.

The character who gets the most work out of the three companions is Vinder, someone who began as a pretty blank slate, but who feels very well rounded and fascinating by the end of this episode. We get flashbacks of him on his home world, as a reckless but heroic pilot who gets the opportunity to go and work alongside The Grand Serpent, played wonderfully by Craig Parkinson. Whilst at first this seems to be a respectable promotion it very quickly becomes apparent that The Grans Serpent is a ruthless and evil man, one who genuinely oozes threat in every scene he's in. Having been witness to corruption and a plot to murder innocents Vinder chooses to do the right and honourable thing to report The Grand Serpent's actions. This is what led him to be in that remote space station at the start of the series.

Thanks to these insights into Vinder he's quickly grown to become one of the more intriguing cast members, and once his connection to Bel is revealed it becomes pretty clear that despite how things might seem at the end of the episode this surely won't be the last time we see either of them. I doubt that so much time and attention would be given to building either character up this much if they're never to return.

The biggest revelations of the episode, however, come with the Doctor, and her jaunts through her timeline. We find her, along with her three friends, preparing to assault the Temple of Atrapos, presumably to take the fight back to Swarm and Azure. However, the fact that her friends are all dressed like Division operatives, and armed with Time Lord weaponry gives away that this isn't what we first think; and we soon learn that the Doctor is living through the first assault on the temple in one of her forgotten lives. And it's an absolute joy when we discover which one it is. That's right, she's back.

The Doctor sees her reflection in the mirror and realises that the version of her in this memory is non-other than the Fugitive/Ruth Doctor. I was genuinely over the moon to see Jo Martin back, even if it was for some very brief scenes. However, this begins to fill in a lot of the details for stuff that we need to know. We discover more about what that version of the Doctor was doing, see her connection with Karvanista, Swarm, and Azure, and we learn more about the very nature of this conflict and what the villains are trying to do.

And that's what this episode is really all about, giving the audience a lot of answers. This is probably one of the most lore heavy episodes in a long while, and easily the most lore heavy one this series. And I kind of love that. I like that the first episode was non-stop things happening that didn't give you a chance to think, that the next episode slowed down the pace and told a good stand-alone feeling episode that still moved the plot forward, before jumping into a big revelatory episode that addressed a lot of the plot. It seems like the next episode will be taking a similar approach to the second, slowing down the main plot a bit to focus on some bad guys, allowing the stuff we've learned here to sink in a bit before moving towards the conclusion; and I'm down with that approach.

Obviously, there are still a lot of questions that need answering, there's a lot of stuff that we still don't understand, and this episode did throw more mysteries into the mix; but it's clear now that this entire story is going to be attempting something big, something that is tied to the history of this universe, and the Doctor, and that's hugely exciting. 

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Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Monster of Temple Peak #3 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

One of the things that’s been really enjoyable about Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Monster of Temple Peak has been the way that the story has been unfolding. Cavan Scott has been giving readers small glimpses of the bigger story at play, both in the present and the flashback scenes, to that you feel like you’re getting a good grip on what’s happening, whilst leaving enough of a mystery that you know there’s more going on. This is even more the case in the third issue as we get some pretty big reveals that just lead to even more questions.

The main bulk of the issue continues to follow former Jedi padawan Ty Yorrick, as she and her new Segredo companion Derwen make their trek further up the mountain searching for the Gretalax. Along the way they get into a spot of trouble with the treacherous mountain path, and this actually reveals some interesting things about Ty: the fact that even when using the Force would be easier for her she chooses not to do so. With the reason for her split from the Jedi still being a secret to readers, this gives us some insight into that, and even suggests that perhaps it’s not just a case of her having an ideological split from the religion, but perhaps there’s something deeper going on that makes her less willing to use her abilities.

As with the previous issues, this one takes us back in time to show us a little about Ty’s past, and what I’m assuming are the events that led to her leaving the Jedi order. The flashback in this issue is the most intriguing one so far, but does end on something of a cliffhanger moment. Whilst I like this from the point of view that it’s got me excited for the next issue I am a little upset that I’m going to have to wait to find out what this all means, as Ty’s backstory is easily one of the most engaging parts of the narrative.

This issue also sees Ty finally coming face to face with the Gretalax, the monster that she’s been hired to track down and kill. I won’t say what happens, but the fact that there are still issues of the book to go should indicate that there’s more going on than a simple monster hunt, and that the story definitely gets more intriguing than I was expecting at this point in the story.

As with previous issues, the art on this issue of Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Monster of Temple Peak is provided by Rachael Stott, Vita Efremova, and Nicola Righi, who come together to craft one of the best looking books that is on offer in the Star Wars Adventures line right now. The line work is gorgeous, with the characters, creatures, and environments avoiding feeling cartoonish and having a great sense of reality to them, whilst the colours are on top form throughout. With the book taking place through a number of environments, all of which have their own lighting and colour changes there’s a good variety on display here, and some really visually dynamic moments.

Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Monster of Temple Peak has been one of the books I most look forward to reading every month, and with the developments that happen this issue and the things it seems to be hinting at and setting up it seems like the team behind the book are going all out to deliver a great experience for their audience.

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Star Wars The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Vol 1 by Shima Shinya & Justina Ireland - Book Review

 

'It's the era of the High Repubic and expansion across the stars is at its height. As trusted guardians of peace, the renowned Jedi protect the Republic and shine their light on those exploring the darkest reaches of the galaxy.

'In the aftermath of the Hyperspace Disaster, young Jedi knight Lily Tora-Asi is assigned to help displaced civilians relocate to Banchii, a newly inhabited planet in the Inugg system far in the outer rim. Banchii is the site of a new Jedi temple led by Master Arkoff, Lily's Wookiee mentor, who imagines the temple a place of peace for new inhabitants and for those who are travelling beyond. While balancing the arrival of incoming settlers with the strange mysteries of this remote outpost, Lily wonders if she's doing enough to bring peace to the galaxy. But when hidden dangers begin to emerge, the young Jedi will face her greatest challenge yet...'

This isn't the first time that a Star Wars story has gotten the manga treatment. There have been a number of stories that have been adapted over the years, but this is the first time that a new story has debuted as a manga, with a whole new story and new characters being introduced. Instead of taking a story readers are familiar with and simply giving it a new visual style we're treated to a story that feels very much made to be a manga, rather than just a new twist to something that already exists. As such, the story, its structure and the way things play out have an energy that feels unique and special.

The story follows Lily Tora-Asi, a young Jedi knight who is assisting a group of refugee's displaced after the Great Hyperspace Disaster. Travelling with them on a small ship, she and her former master, the Wookiee Arkoff, are bringing them to make a new life for themselves on the beautiful and untouched world of Banchii.

Lily is being haunted by nightmares about the Disaster, but is looking forward to returning to Banchii and the peace that will bring her, even if it does mean that she'll once again have to begin training her padawan, Keerin, as well as the two younglings Nima and Viv'nia. Whilst Lily isn't the most comfortable around children, she understands that it's important to pass her wisdom onto the next generation of Jedi, as well as learning to become a better Jedi from teaching them.

Shortly after settling back into daily life at the temple, training the young Jedi, Lily's routine is disrupted when they discover destruction deep within the forest, as well as one of the farmers having been turned into wood. They've barely got time to process this before the settlement comes under attack from the monstrous Drengir. Now Lily and the others will have to fight to protect their new home.

I really enjoyed this story, it feels like a great introduction to a new batch of heroes, ones who feel very different to some of the others in the High Republic series. These aren't big important Jedi like Avar Kriss, or Stellan Gios who are making huge, far reaching decisions in the fate of the galaxy. They're not travelling around space learning to become Jedi from Master Yoda like in the High Republic Adventures comics. These are just regular Jedi. They're the kind of Jedi who do the small jobs, who help people and live a relatively quiet life. As such, when things started to go wrong on Banchii it felt really bad, because this didn't seem like a group of big heroes left to face it, but folk who like a quiet and simple existence.

Speaking of a quiet and simple existence, I really liked Master Arkoff, the Wookiee teacher who spends his days watering his garden and imparting knowledge upon the younger members of the temple. I've got a soft spot for Wookiees, and Wookiee Jedi are definitely thing I want to see more of. But even then I like how different he is to ones we've had before. Gungi from Star Wars The Clone Wars was impatient, and struggled with the Jedi teachings; Burryaga in the High Republic is older, but is still very much learning to be a Jedi, and is at times worried and overly sensitive. Arkoff, in comparison to both, is full of calm confidence. He's grown into the role of being a Jedi, he's found an inner peace and strength that shows what a Wookiee can accomplish once their training is complete; and he's an absolute delight to read.

Whilst the book has connections with the wider High Republic series this is very much a story that feels like it can exist on its own, a book that someone who's not read anything else in the series would be able to pick up and enjoy. Other than a brief appearance by Stellan Gios, every character in the book is new, Banchii is a place we haven't seen before, and the Drengir are given enough of an explanation to not feel confusing to new readers. Because of this, the book feels like its going to be the most accessible of any of the other titles; which I suppose is a big part of the aim here, to attract people who may not pick up a comic or a novel set within the High Republic. 

I've seen some people complaining that Star Wars was making manga, that it was trying to draw in fans of the medium into a story that isn't suited for manga, and whilst I'm sure a big part of the aim of this book is to draw in new fans I don't think its a bad thing in any way. Star Wars has always had strong connections to Japanese culture, especially their entertainment. George Lucas was heavily inspired by samurai stories, and other creators in the Star Wars universe over the years have been as well. The franchise is so obviously inspired by Japanese entertainment that it feel strange that its only really been in recent years that we've gotten manga, as well as anime in the form of Star Wars Visions.

The art on the book, provided by Mizuki Sakakibara is wonderful, and everything looks so great. The characters are all distinctive and immediately jump out of the page, they manage to make Banchii look like a beautiful and peaceful world, and the action scenes are wonderfully drawn and look dynamic. Everything here looks perfect. I loved how the Jedi temple looked, and think that it's one of the best ones I've seen, and Miziki's take on the Drengir is so different from the rest, yet so obviously still the Drengir, that they add a fresh take on the creatures.

Star Wars The High Republic: The Edge of Balance has some brilliant new characters, ones that I very quickly became attached to and want to see more of; Arkoff and Viv'nia need to be in my life more! The story unfolds at an enjoyable pace, and the characters use their inteligence and their spiritual connection with the force to help them win the day. Plus, the extra story at the end is so incredibly cute and fun, I want more of that in the future. I was deeply impressed with this first volume, and can't wait to see what happens in future ones.

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Witches Unleashed: A Marvel Untold Novel by Carrie Harris - Book Review

 

'Three extraordinary supernatural heroes join forces with Ghost Rider to capture Lucifer himself and return him to Hell, in this staggering Super Hero adventure from Marvel: Untold

'Johnny Blaze, aka the Ghost Rider, has accidentally released Lucifer from Hell, and that’s a serious problem. While hunting the 666 fragments of Lucifer’s soul now loose on Earth, Johnny enlists the aid of witches Jennifer Kale, Satana Hellstrom and Topaz to track down a sliver of the demon which is possessing the body of Jennifer’s cousin, Magda. Lucifer is looking for the Tome of Zhered-Na, aiming to release the demon within its pages and unleash hell upon the world. But the witches are the Tome’s protectors, and they aren’t going down without a fight. Now the witches must work together, trust the Ghost Rider, and put their personal demons aside to stop the King of Hell in his tracks.'

Before picking up Witches Unleashed the only character that stars in this book that I'd heard of before was Ghost Rider. I'd read several books with him in it before, and watched the wonderfully terrible Nic Cage movies, and was excited to see more of him in the Marvel Untold range, but I'd never heard of the witches before. Thanks to Carrie Harris providing a wonderful breakdown of who the three of them were and how they'd come to work together in a twitter thread I was hooked on learning more about them. A Charlies Angels of supernatural, magic powered women? That's something I definitely need in my life.

Whilst I haven't had the chance to track down their comic book team-up yet, and I will because I need more of these characters, Carrie Harris manages to make this book completely accessible to people like myself who've not had that prior experience. I'd say you could come to this book with no idea who any of them, even Ghost Rider, are and still find an engaging and enjoyable story here.

The book begins some time after Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider, has escaped from Hell. You'd think that escaping from Hell would be a good thing, and that Johnny would be trying to enjoy his time back on Earth, but sadly in escaping Hell Johnny allowed Lucifer to break out too. To make matters worse, Johnny isn't only dealing with one Lucifer, as upon escaping Hell his soul split into 666 fragments, each of which has inhabited its own host. We find Johnny towards the end of his mission to track down and eliminate all of the parts of Lucifer's soul.

Unfortunately, each time a fragment of Lucifer is destroyed the rest get stronger, and now Johnny has discovered that one of these remaining fragments is in the body of a mystic; and a member of the Kale family. The Kale's are guardians of the Tome of Zhered-Na, a powerful spell book that also contains the demonic entity, the Hellphyr. Fortunately, only a Kale can unleash the demon from the book, meaning that only Lucifer's new host will be a problem. 

It's also fortunate for Johnny that there's a Kale guarding the book, his cousin Jennifer. And Jennifer isn't alone either. Having been brought together by Doctor Strange years before, Jennifer has her own coven with the half demon succubus Satana Hellstrom, and the powerful empath Topaz. When Johnny comes into their lives to warn them that Lucifer is on his way the three witches will have to put their new life together at risk and decide how far they're willing to go to protect what they have.

This book isn't like a lot of the other books in the Marvel Untold range, it's focused less on super heroics, and more on the people in the story. Even the magic and the supernatural is kind of just set dressing, there to help the story progress and for the action to take place. What's at the real heart of this tale is the characters.

The story begins by introducing us to Johnny, a man who has been the Ghost Rider for so long that it's kind of become routine for him. He's no longer battling against the idea that he's sharing his body with the spirit of vengeance, and he's even begun to form a decent working relationship with Zarathos, the demonic entity inside of him. However, it's the more recent traumas that Johnny has had to live through that still haunt him, namely the deaths of his wife and children. As such, Johnny begins the book a pretty closed off man, and it's only through his coming to work with the witches that we see that there's more to him, and that he's actually quite desperately lonely and in the need of connection.

This kind of connection is something that the witches already have, thanks to having formed their own little family after being brought together as a team several years before. Over the years they've not only come to like each other, but love each other like sisters, and have developed some strong bonds. The three of them come from vastly different backgrounds, their magics are different, and their personalities sometimes clash, but by being together they all help each other. They know how to pick each other up when they're down. They know when another in the group is about to lose their temper and needs to be challenged or given a shoulder to cry on. They know how each other works, and because of their connections and the life they've made together they've all never been happier.

Obviously, this is disrupted when Johnny arrives on the scene, not just because he's telling them that Lucifer is on his way to town to wreck their shit, but because it changes their dynamic. Their comfortable life is thrown out of balance, and they're having to face long buried fears and anxieties that they've been trying to avoid processing. This brings about some of the more important conflicts in the book, not the fight with Lucifer, but having to confront the issues that threaten to break their family apart.

Thankfully, the characters in Witches Unleashed aren't afraid to open up to each other, to talk and to help each other; and this even translates across to Johnny too. Just by being around these three women his life is made a lot better, and you get the sense that he's made very real connections that will exist long after this story has come to an end. There are some genuinely touching moments across the course of the book, particularly one where Johnny opens up about the loss of his children that were really quite moving.

For those that have come to this super hero story for some action, there's plenty here that will keep you entertained too. Whether it's the opening chapters where Johnny is hunting down a Lucifer shard that is running amok with a tank, or the final confrontation with the King of Hell in a Halloween themed circus, there's plenty of action packed moments throughout the book. Carrie Harris shows that she's not just great at writing interesting interpersonal moments, but can craft exciting and engaging action sequences as Ghost Rider and the witches take on some powerful foes across the book.

Witches Unleashed: A Marvel Untold Novel is a lot of fun, it introduced me to some characters I knew nothing about, and gave a lot more depth to one I had only a passing familiarity with. I really enjoyed this focus on the dark, more mystical side of the Marvel universe, and hope that we get to see more of this kind of content in the future.

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Horror is Good For Kids!

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I’m sure that there will be some of you who read the title and will immediately jump to saying that I’m wrong, that ‘of course horror isn’t good for kids, they’re just children after all’. You’ll make a snap decision that sitting four-year-olds down for a viewing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Human Centipede is not just wrong, but immoral; and I’d have to agree with you on that one, because that’s not what I’m going to advocate here.

Yes, I myself grew up having seen some horror films that I was way too young for, having snuck the odd video off my uncle’s shelf to watch surreptitiously, or having crept into the back of the room whilst they has a film on that I was not allowed to see. Whilst I can’t remember it myself, my mother is quick to remind me that when I was three I wouldn’t go near windows at night for several months because I was convinced Freddy Monster was going to get me because I’d snuck in to watch A Nightmare On Elm Street. But despite that I don’t think these experiences did me too much harm.

If anything, discovering horror at such a young age really pushed my love for stories, and I found myself ever seeking out more thrills and scares. Having been born in the late ’80s there were plenty of children’s films that whilst not designed to be horror had some pretty dark elements that made them damn scary in places. Things like Labyrinth and Return To Oz are still films that freak me out a little to this day. And yes, whilst I might have seen the odd thing a little too early (thank you Tim Curry’s Pennywise for my lifelong fear of clowns) for the most part I think horror did me a lot of good.

Being a kid is scary. I think as adults we can sometimes forget that because we look back at our childhood wistfully, longing to go back to a time where we didn’t have to worry about bills, and jobs, and looming global threats, because as children we were unaware of all that and were taken care of by our parents. But being a child isn’t all fun and games, even if that’s how our memories paint it. It’s hard being a child.

Everything is big and out of proportion to you, leaving you to feel tiny and isolated in a world not designed for you. Parents tell you what to do, where to go, what to wear, and can suddenly change the rules on you just ‘because I say so’, leaving you to feel like you have little to no agency. It’s a world where everything you think you know can suddenly shift, where the happy routine you’ve got can be thrown out of whack by forces more powerful than you that you can’t fight against without fear of reprisal. That sounds a lot like a horror scenario to me.

A lot of the stories that you’ll be exposed to as a kid won’t reflect these themes and feelings, as most stories written for children have happy endings where things are wrapped up with a neat bow, and the most drama tends to be things like a missing toy or having to go visit grandma. But horror shows kids that their feelings of helplessness, of being powerless in the face of stronger forces, of sometimes being alone with no one to turn to happen to other too. And in most cases, shows kids that there can be happy resolutions to these situations.

There’s a lot of horror designed for children, any of us reading this who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s will remember books like Goosebumps and Point Horror, and I’m sure even if you’ve never read one there’ll be a cover or two that stick out in your memories. Books like these were great introductions to horror for kids. They followed the normal conventions of the genre, showing characters living a good, normal life before something terrible happens, forcing them to have to confront their fears in order to reach what is normally a happy conclusion that gives them some sense of a happy ending.

The horror of these stories wouldn’t be anywhere as extreme as that in media designed for adults, but would draw upon some of the fears that children would experience. Moving into a new house, spending time away from your family, having to go into a spooky cellar, finding creepy looking objects. They took the things that kids were scared of and showed them that even if their worst fears were realised and something horrific happened it didn’t mean that you couldn’t get a happy ending.

Children’s television is also a good place for horror, and some of the best loved children’s shows from the past are either horror shows, or shows with a very dark edge to them. Things like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? often make lists of some of the best kids shows, whilst less obviously frightening things like The Demon Headmaster and Round The Twist still get mentioned when talking about things that frightened us as kids. Sadly, it seems like a lot of children’s shows have toned down the more frightening elements over the years, as many of the lists of scary kids shows tend to feature things from the ’90s over modern shows.

Does this mean that parents have become more protective of their children and are more worried about exposing them to horror at a young age? Possibly. I’m not a parent, and few of my friends are, so I can’t speak to that with any great authority. But as an outsider looking in I do sometimes feel that parents are more aware of what their kids are watching now, are more worried about them seeing things that might be ‘too old’ for them.

To that I’d have to say, don’t be afraid of letting your kids see things that might frighten them or scare them a bit. I’m not saying you have to sit them down and expose them to the most extreme ends of the genre, but showing them media that acknowledges their fears and concerns in a good way, that shows them that fear isn’t something to be ashamed of, but something that we all feel, could be a very healthy way to show them that they aren’t alone in the universe, that they don’t need to be overwhelmed by fear.

Who knows, they could even discover a genre they love, one that inspires to them to seek out more and even one day create themselves. Horror is good. It’s good for everyone, but it’s especially good for kids.

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Shepherd – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

With the way things have been the last couple of years, I’m sure that a lot of us would see an advertisement looking for a shepherd to take a job as the sole inhabitant of a remote island and seriously consider taking it. The idea of getting away from other people during a pandemic, and losing access to social media and all the highlights of social issues and injustices sounds pretty nice all things considered. Sadly for Eric Black (Tom Hughes) he’s trying to escape something altogether worse.

The film begins with Eric having recently buried his wife, Rachel, although  not really, as there was no body in the coffin; just a collection of personal objects placed there by Eric and the other mourners. Left to try and figure out what might have happened to Rachel, we get small clues as to the tragedy Eric is living through. We also get hints that he may not just be figuratively haunted by these events when a drawer in his home opens by itself with the sound of a baby crying, and a small infant arm emerges from withing. Finding a baby scan picture inside the drawer it seems like Eric may have lost more than his wife. Deciding to get away from these ghosts he takes a remote shepherding job in the paper, leading him to a small island off the coast of Britain.

With only his dog for company Eric finds his new home to be a brutal, yet beautiful place. An old lighthouse that no longer works dominates the beach, it’s fog bell letting off a loud ring throughout the day and night. The cottage that’s to be his home is the only other structure on the island, and standing against the elements, looking close to falling down. The rest of the island is rolling hills, foggy fields, and hundreds of sheep. It could be the ideal place to get away from all your worries; except that strange things soon start happening to Eric on the island.

Strange noises fill the house at night; someone or something begins to move around the few possessions he’s brought with him; the sheep start acting strange; and a ghostly cloaked figure appears in the dark and the fog. The events that Eric experiences feels like a haunting in the most classic sense of the word. Strange little things happen, things that could easily be explained away yet come across as frightening. A lot of the time when the more overt things happen, such as the wraith-like figure that seems to stalk Eric, they happen in his dreams, and as such the audience can be forgiven for questioning if what we’re seeing is real, or is these are perhaps the delusions of a mind broken through grief.

As the film progresses we start to learn more about Eric and his marriage to Rachel, and that there might be more to her mysterious death than we’re first led to believe. This begins to raise the question as to whether it might be her ghost that has followed him to the island, or if perhaps he’s somehow being punished for terrible things he may have done.

One of the key ways in which Shepherd tells its story is through its visuals. As Eric is often the only person on screen for the majority of the film, the environments of the movie have to do some of the work too, essentially becoming characters in their own right. Thanks to choosing to film in some remote locations across Scotland and Wales, with the Isle of Mull being one of the chief filming locations, the film takes on a wonderfully brutal beauty. The desolate landscapes are frightening and lonely places to be, yet look stunning in their presentation here. Director Russell Owen, who also wrote the film, seems to know perfectly how to take these beautiful locations and make them feel eerily sinister, and shoots some truly chilling scenes where the island itself feels like a malevolent entity.

With other ghostly horror films seemingly unable to play things subtle for their complete run time, Shepherd definitely feels like something a little different. It feels like an older way of crafting a ghost tale, one where you’re not relying on the jumps and loud noises to frighten the audience, and you allow them to think for themselves. You should definitely check it out for this reason, and for its strong performance from lead actor Tom Hughes, and some absolutely stunning visuals.

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