Waiqar: A Descent: Legends of the Dark Novel by Robbie MacNiven - Book Review

 

'Enter the extraordinary fantasy world of Descent: Legends in the Dark through the eyes of its most notorious necromancer as he begins his conquest of the realms of Terrinoth.

'Waiqar, Lord of the Mistlands, is a necromancer of supreme power, arrogance, and skill. Driven by his hunger for power, he has the whole of Terrinoth in his sights. But before he can raise his undead armies and march on the Baronies, his hold on the Mistlands must be complete. Waiqar’s court is rife with scheming and deception, from corrupt vampires with plans to usurp him, to an apprentice harboring dark ambition of his own. As his enemies vie for power, Waiqar’s own plans come to fruition. For power is hard won but easily lost, and this great necromancer has more to lose than anyone.'

My only real experience with Descent: Legends of the Dark are the books produced by Aconyte; it's a game that kind of slipped past me, and that I've never really had the chance to play. Each time I read one of the books though, such as Zachareth and The Raiders of Bloodwood, I find myself getting more and more interested in this world and its lore. I loved the deep dive of Zachareth, and the focus on a villainous character, and I thought that it was my favourite of the series, but writer Robbie MacNiven has blow it out of the water with his new villain focused book, Waiquar.

Waiquar begins by introducing readers to Tomaz, a student at Grayhaven (a place that will be familiar to those that read Zachareth). Tomaz has had an interest in necromancy for years, studying the dark magical art in secret for years, and since coming to Grayhaven found himself meeting like-minded students. This small death cult turns on Tomaz, however, and drags him from his bed in the middle of the night. Bound and gagged, Tomaz is taken far from Grayhaven, and is eventually brought to the dark and festering swamps of the Mistlands. It's here that he comes face to face with the undead for the first time, as he's taken by skeletal knights deeper into the territory of the living dead.

Tomaz is our entry character, as he's brought to Zorgas, the main seat of power in that dark and forsaken land. Here he's brought before the greatest necromancer in existence, the ancient and powerful Waiquar, who called upon the hidden servants and worshippers hidden throughout the world of the living to bring him a human student of Grayhaven. Tomaz is a gift to Waiquar's apprentice, Tristayne. He's ordered to keep Tomaz alive, to keep him safe. Now Tomaz finds himself as one of the only living creatures in the Mistlands, and whilst his physical safety seems assured by the will of powerful entities, he now faces a constant nightmare of death and horror around him.

Whilst this is happening, Waiquar is dealing with unrest within his kingdom. Waiting patiently for the perfect time to lead his forces of the dead against the rest of Terrinoth, some of his subjects have begun to speak out against their lord, mistaking his patience as a sign of weakness. When an outside, ancient, force begins to whisper in the ears of several members of the court plots begin to form to challenge Waiquar for power and rule. As open dissent begins to take root Waiquar will have to lead his forces into combat in order to maintain his grip upon his kingdom.

Waiquar is a book about fantasy politics and shady double-dealings. Secret alliances are made, oaths are broken, plots are formed, and full open warfare takes over the Mistlands as people make grabs for power. It's all of these interesting, engaging things, but with the undead. The book features necromancers, skeletal soldiers, vampires, spirits, and ghoulish beasts rather than people. Everything in the Mistlands is a horror of some kind, something from nightmares, yet they're not mindless monstrosities but thinking, calculating characters with more depth than you'd first think. This makes Waiquar one of the most enjoyable and engaging fantasy novels that I've read, as it's all a dark, twisted version of what you come to expect from high court drama fantasy.

Most fantasy stories, when dealing with the undead, fall into the trap of making everything into a monster. There might be a powerful figure or two that has some kind of personality and agency, but for the most part the undead are treated as mindless figures, or monsters. MacNiven goes the opposite route with this, and near every creature in this book has some kind of agency and personality. The skeleton soldiers that make up Waiquar's army aren't just mindless automatons, we get to know his key generals, understand their drives and motivations, and get inside their ancient heads. This shift away from the expected makes the book a lot more interesting, and means that you can never be sure exactly where loyalties lie.

Despite never really leaving the Mistlands, and even then staying mostly within a location or two when there, the book manages to pack an incredible amount of world building into the pages. As said earlier, I'm not a huge fan of the franchise, and my lore knowledge is relegated to a few books, but this book really expanded upon that. Thanks to the massive age of the characters involved the book is able to delve deep into the history, to take readers back to times long passed, as well as exploring what's happening in the world at the present. The book does a wonderful job at slowly giving you more and more information, of slowly expanding your knowledge without giving you huge info-dumps and lore drops that could cause you to become overwhelmed. The information you're given feels natural, it fits with the moments, and it allows you to feel like you have access to all of the key information to get everything you can out of the story.

Waiquar has everything that I love about fantasy stories, it has complex double dealings and betrayals, court politics, the outbreak of war and huge battles, dangerous monsters, deep history, and complex characters. The book is incredibly clever in that is gives you a lot of key information early on that explains the core story of the book, yet it's done so in so subtle a way that once it's revealed at the end you feel silly for having not realised before. MacNiven makes Waiquar look incredibly smart, not by pulling some obscure info out at the end or giving you a reveal that you could never see coming, but by allowing the audience to not realise that they've already been given everything they need. 

Come the end of the book I was honestly upset that the story was done, I'd come to love the world that MacNiven had created, and wanted to explore it further. There are a couple of characters that I'd come to really enjoy reading, and there's one in particular who goes through quite a big development that the end really feels like the start of the next chapter of their story; a chapter I really want to read. This book is up there with my favourite fantasy novels, it's got the scale and scope of an epic, and it feels like this could be the first entry in an amazing series dedicated to this character and his evil schemes. I really, really hope that we get more of Waiquar and his court, but if not, we've got a fantastic book that I'm going to be reading again and again. 

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Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #1 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

Jonathan Kent has been a figure that seems to have caused a few issues within comic circles over the last few years. There are those that dislike him because he was aged up, others dislike him because he's openly queer an in a relationship with another man, some dislike him because he's called Superman. There are those that call any book he's in a failure before the first issue is already out, saying that DC 'went woke, went broke'. And there are conspiracy theories around him that claim he's not the real Jon Kent, and that this mini-series will get rid of him somewhere into the multiverse and bring the 'real' Jon back. All I know is, I really like him.

I'm happy to see Jon getting another book, and some of the things that this new series is going to be doing to him could be really interesting. The first up is the most obvious, as it's been built up for a while and is on the front cover. Jon is getting the Superman Blue treatment and getting different powers. All absolutely down for this. The Superman Family is getting a big push at the minute, and whilst they make a great unified front I think leaning into their differences, and giving some new powers, is a great way to add some variety and make characters more interesting. Things like Jon's new power, Connor's tactile telekinesis, Power Girls new psychic abilities, and Kong Kenan's ability to use magic.

But, this isn't the only thing that this series is doing; Jon is getting sent on a mission to save Superman. Every Superman. Ultraman, the Earth-3 villainous Superman, is travelling from world to world in the multiverse, killing any version of Superman he can find. Jon is told this by Val Zod, the Superman of Earth-2, who wants to recruit him to help stop Ultraman.

Jon and Ultraman have a lot of history, and whilst most books don't really cover Jon's past and the trauma he would absolutely be going through, the fact that this series looks set to have him facing up against the man who took his childhood with his parents away from him is hugely exciting. This could be one of the more important stories that Jon has been involved in for quite a while. 

The other big thing about this series, and the thing that some people are latching onto to try and claim he's not the real Jon, is that he's going to be visiting the Injustice universe. Some folks think that it's going to turn out that he's this universe version of Jon, rather than our own. Whether or not that's true, it should still be fun to see him interact with yet another evil version of Superman. There are also several other heroes and former heroes in that universe that should make his visit there fairly interesting for him.

This first issue manages to pack a lot into it, it sets up a lot of stuff to come, has some lovely moments with Jon, and stands out as one of the better issue one's we've had in a while.

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Bioshock Infinite – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Bioshock franchise is one that most gamers will have heard about. The original game, released way back in 2007, was the kind of massive hit that only seems to come along once or twice a decade, where the game not only ends up becoming a huge seller, but is labelled as ‘redefining’ the genre it’s a part of.

And in a lot of ways Bioshock did change first person shooters, and there were a number of games that tried to cash in on its success, with studios quickly churning out imitations. Even the creators of Bioshock tried to cash in on the popularity of their game with Bioshock 2, a sequel that perhaps played it a little too similar to the first to really be creative or impress. The creators seemed to realise that they’d need something different if they were going to recapture the magic of that first game, and as such fans got a huge shift in tone and style with Bioshock Infinite.

Where Bioshock took players deep under the ocean to the underwater city of Rapture (and again in the sequel), Bioshock Infinite does the opposite, and takes to the skies. Players take control of grizzled Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt (Troy Baker), who is drowning himself in debt and drink in order to deal with the phantoms of his past. When he’s recruited by a pair of mysterious siblings to travel to the city of Columbia to rescue a girl named Elizabeth (Courtnee Draper), he thinks that he might be able to get a fresh start. However, things become extremely complicated when he arrives in Columbia, a floating city.

Columbia is a place filled with technological wonders, where not only does the city fly, but autonomous machines exist, and people are able to harness the elements at their will. There is, however, a darker underside to the city, as Booker soon learns that racism and bigotry run rampant in Columbia, and the downtrodden are treated as little better than slaves. A public act of defiance by Booker, in which he refuses to abuse an interracial couple, seems to be the spark that Columbia needed, and a full blown civil war begins around Booker as he tries to escape the city with Elizabeth.

One of the best descriptions I’ve heard about Bioshock Infinite (and I can’t for the life of me remember who said it), is that the first game felt like you’d missed the party because you turn up in Rapture after the fall of the city, but in this game you are the party. This time round players see the violence erupt on the city streets, they get to help the rebels fight back against the fascist government, and they see this once amazing place fall into ruin and disrepair. And thanks to the way the game is set up, it’s an incredibly fun time too.

One of the best new additions to this entry in the series is the Sky-Line system. These rails run across Columbia, connecting different locations, levels, and even floating segments. Thanks to a weapon that you get early in the game (by shoving a fascist cop’s face into whirling blades!) you’re able to ride these rails. Players are no longer hampered in combat, stuck behind cover, trying to make their way through tight corridors and small rooms. If there’s a Sky-Line nearby simply grab hold and fly around the battlefield. You can move from area to area, or even attack enemies whilst zipping past them.

The game also introduced a new element in the form of Elizabeth. As well as being a hugely important part of the story, Elizabeth got to accompany the player across parts of the game as an AI controlled companion. I’m sure that there are some people already groaning at that, remembering some of the worse examples of this in gaming, but Elizabeth wasn’t just a damsel in distress, nor was she another combatant. Thanks to powers that let her tear holes into time and space, Elizabeth is able to help out in combat by tossing Booker weapons, ammo, and health kits. It might not sound like much, but these moments can make a big difference in terms of combat, and there will be a number of times where Elizabeth’s help can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

The bold new direction for Bioshock seemed to work, and fans and critics praised the third game for ditching Rapture and trying something new. Ask any fans of Bioshock which of the series is the best and you’ll probably find a pretty decent split between this and the first game (sorry Bioshock 2), and that’s the beauty of this third instalment. It’s very clearly a Bioshock game, with all of the things that you come to expect from the series, but it also offers some very different things. If you want fast paced combat that you can tackle multiple ways, then it’s the one for you. If you want spookier, more horror based stuff, then the first one is the way to go. If you’re looking for a more character focused adventure with a more complex story, Bioshock Infinite ticks those boxes. It added options for players, for those who might want something a bit different in tone and style.

Bioshock Infinite sold incredibly well upon release, landing in the top ten on Steam on release week, and selling more than 878,000 physical copies in the first month. According to the studio, it would go on to sell 6 million copies in it’s first year, and 11 million by the end of its second. It was the third highest selling game of 2013, only losing out to mammoth hits Grand Theft Auto V, and The Last of Us. It would also go on to win several awards for its music, art, and visual design.

Despite being a huge hit, having created several new gameplay systems, and reinventing the series in a new direction, there has still been no follow-up to the game (other than an additional DLC). With the popularity of the series as a whole, it’s surprising that Bioshock Infinite was the last we’ve seen of the series. And whilst it’s not impossible that another entry may surface one day, if this is the final part of the series it’s a hell of a high note to end on.

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The Flash #796 - Comic Review

 

The One Minute War comes to a conclusion in this issue of The Flash as the Flash Family come together for one last battle; and they get some reinforcements from an unexpected place.

The last issue of The Flash ended with a pretty startling revelation, as Wally, who was thought to be dead, found himself waking up in a strange location with Gold Beetle, and all of the heroes who died during Heroes in Crisis. Now, I don't think that it's going to be particularly controversial to say that Heroes in Crisis was a bad book. Not only was the mystery at the heart of it pretty convoluted and weird, but the fact that it did terrible things to Wally West means most people hated it. It wasn't just a character assassination, they came to the funeral and kicked the tombstone over and pissed on the mourners. It was awful. Some comics have been trying to do their best to repair the damage it did since then, but the fact remained that several heroes were dead because of him. Well, not anymore. And for that alone this issue gets a five star review.

It turns out that when he met Gold Beetle whilst jumping through the timeline Wally told her to 'save everyone', and she took that to heart, and went and grabbed everyone killed at Sanctuary and pulled them out of the timeline, replacing their bodies with fakes. So yeah, Wally West isn't a killer anymore. And now he gets to smash back into reality with a team of characters thought dead and gone to help Team Flash against the Fraction. They might only get a minute of super speed in which to help out, but they absolutely help.

Whilst the fight against the Fraction rages the rest of the Flash Family start to put their plan into motion to try to send the Fraction back in time to just before they arrived. But what difference would that make? Well, it turns out that their leader is a natural speedster, and after being beaten and put into one of the battery units it means that when time reverses he seems to have simply vanished; making the Fraction rethink attacking Earth-0, and getting them to run away.

I'm sure that there are some who will view this as an easy out, who'll roll their eyes and go 'of course they're using time travel again', but I like this solution. It feels very Flash, yet it's done carefully, smartly, and in a way that doesn't break the universe. And the entire family are there to do it. Getting so see all of the speedsters working together, all of the generations of Flash saving the world as a team is everything I could want as a Flash fan.

With the reversal of time it means that Iris doesn't die, Central City is trashed, and no one other than the speedsters know what happened. It also means that Barry and Iris can also finally get engaged again. The issue ends on a hopeful note, with Wally and his friends and family gathering for a party, Barry and Iris getting their happy ending, Max and Bart heading off into the Speedforce for adventure, and Gold Beetle putting the lost heroes back into the timeline. This is one of those stories that not only managed to save everyone who died during this story, but some extra ones too. 

This feels like a celebration of The Flash, of the family, of their abilities to save the world. It's not that often that The Flash is really given a big showcase like this, even in his own book, and it not only feels well earned, but it feels like a fantastic end to this run. There are still a few more issues to go before the creative team changes, but this really does feel like the crescendo; with everything else to come after being a nice wrap-up. The next team are going to have a tough act to follow, as this has been one of the most enjoyable and entertaining eras for The Flash. Hopefully we'll continue to get more amazing stories; and if this story has shown one thing, it's that with this many amazing members of the family it's well past time that we got more than one Flash title.

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Budgie by Joseph Coelho - Book Review

 

'A lost little budgie brings together a young neighbour and his seemingly grumpy older neighbour in this touching Little Gem from award-winner and Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho. Mr Buxton is always having a go at Miles and his friends for climbing the trees outside their tower block. Miles thinks he’s just a grumpy old man but when he finds a lost little budgie, Miles also discovers that he and Mr Buxton have more in common than he could ever have imagined.'

Budgie is the latest Little Gems release from children's book publisher Barrington Stoke, one that focuses on the love that people have for animals, and how that can bring us together.

The story centres on Miles, a young boy who's out playing with his friend one day, but gets chased off from climbing a tree by Mr Buxton, an elderly man who lives nearby. Miles runs home, and watches out of his window as Mr Buxton wanders around the park, waving a big black bag in the air. 

The next day Miles heads outside to play and spots something unusual, a bright green and yellow budgie. The small bird seems to be having a tough time flying around, so Miles is able to pick up the bird and bring him home. His mother agrees to let him keep the bird, who Miles calls Pippin. Miles and Pippin bond over the rest of the day, with the small bird flying around the apartment, and playing on Miles hand and shoulder. 

The following morning, however, Pippin doesn't seem to be very well, and whilst Miles' mum is trying to get in touch with a vet Pippin falls down in his cage, dead. Miles and his younger sister are sad at the loss of their new bird, and spend the rest of the day saying goodbye to him, drawing pictures of him, and writing letters about how he made them feel. They bury Pippin in the park. Later that day the family are visited by Mr Buxton, who reveals that Pippin was his bird, and he and Miles begin to share stories about the tiny animal, and their shared loss brings them together.

I wanted to make it pretty clear in my review of Budgie that the story kills the bird, I wasn't aware of that before reading it, and actually found the twist to be not only surprising, but a little upsetting too. I have budgies, so perhaps that's why it ended up effecting me more than I thought, but the sudden twist in this story of a boy making friends with a tiny bird for it to then die was jarring to say the least. As such, any parent interested in the book should probably be aware of that before going into it, so as best to avoid ending up with an upset child, or a difficult talk about death.

That being said, the book is very bittersweet, and whilst Pippin (real name Lemon) dies his passing does end up bringing people together. We get a chance to get to know Mr Buxton, and see him as more than the scary older man that Miles had decided he was. There's a surprising depth that happens in the latter half of the book, and it's lovely to see where things go. I especially liked the fact that Mr Buxton had a husband, and that he and Mr Buxton had Lemon together as their first pet. The book doesn't make a big deal about one of the characters being gay, and treats his relationship as completely normal; which is absolutely the kind of lessons children should be learning.

The book if filled with wonderful, full colour illustrations by David Barrow, who really helps to bring the story to life. The art is simple, yet conveys a lot, and manages to pack in all of the important details. It has a way of translating the emotions of the scenes well, and I adored how much it brought Lemon to life on the page. I suspect that a number of younger readers might come away wanting a bird of their own after reading this book.

Budgie was a surprisingly touching and emotional read, one that I think shows not only how quickly people can come to care for animals, but how even through losing them the love that they bring into our lives can bring people together. 

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Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #2 - Comic Review

 

One of the things about Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent that's a bit of a double edged sword is that this series is moving at a fast pace. This means that issues like this one manage to pack a lot of stuff into it, but it also means that we don't really get the chance to explore much with the characters beyond a scene or two. 

The issue begins with Jon, Val, and Red Tornado preparing to leave Earth-0 to go challenge Ultra-Man. With the fate of the entire multiverse on the line they're having to take anything they can with them that will allow them to finish the fight quickly, and so Jon breaks the Phantom Zone Generator out of the armoury. During this, Lois and Jay have a nice moment as they watch the heroes preparing where they get to connect as civilians (yes, Jay has powers, but he's not on the level of Superman).

Jay asks Lois how she deals with having the person that she loves going off into battle, knowing that she can't do anything to help them, or to effect the outcome. She gives a wonderfully fun response whereby she admits that she obsessively buries herself in her work; something that she admits isn't healthy, but then perhaps this is how you get to be one of the best reporters in the world. It's nice to get this small focus on the partners, the people who are left behind when the heroes go off to do their thing. It's a conversation that you don't see in super hero comics much, and it feels incredibly human, mirroring the kinds of emotions that families of firefighters, or rescue workers must go through all the time, never knowing if the people they love are going to come home.

Lois also gives Jay a piece of advice, get Jon to promise that he'll come home, because Superman never breaks his promise. This moment, and the tender goodbye that Jon and Jay have following it, was one of the best moments in the book. For me, watching Jon doing things like fighting villains, or saving civilians isn't the stuff that makes him worthy of being a Superman, it's the small moments of kindness, of him following in his fathers example and being the kindest person he can be. Sadly, this could be the last time we get to see that for a while, as the team are heading out into the multiverse after Ultra-Man.

The trio land on an unidentified world (though if you've looked at the cover or any of the solicitations for the series you'll have a strong idea of which one it is) and are soon attacked by Ultra-Man. Val and Red Tornado get taken off the field pretty quickly as Ultra-Man sends them to the Phantom Zone; leaving Jon to face him alone. This leads to Jon finally unlocking the power that's been building inside him for a while now, and he transforms into Superman Blue. I know Superman Blue is a very, very divisive thing, and that not many people liked it; and that's understandable. Superman should always really be Superman. However, as Action Comics is showcasing we've got a lot of people with the same powers as Superman, so having one use something a bit different isn't a bad idea. Plus, if it's the other person named Superman it helps to make them different from each other too. So I'm not against this change for Jon.

Jon and Ultra-Man fight, and Jon's new power helps him to deliver a beating to the villain; but it's not enough to beat him. As Jon is lying, out of energy and trying to survive, Ultra-Man gets his neck snapped. By Superman. Bet you can guess which one. The Injustice Superman turns to talk to Jon, and pauses, and tells him with tears in his eyes 'you have your mothers eyes'.

So, Jon is in trouble now. Val and Tornado are trapped in the Phantom Zone, the projector looks like it's broken, Tornado is his way home, and now he's got a fascist Superman to deal with. I'm not sure what Taylor is planning with this series; though I'm not one of the people who believe that this is going to reveal that Jon is the Jon from the Injustice universe and the 'real' Jon is still out there somewhere and is still a kid. I really hope that that's not what they're going to do with it. But, if they use this opportunity to challenge him with a version of his father that he'd hate, with a version of Damian who killed his friend and mentor, with a world that needs a Superman that inspires hope, that could lead to some interesting things.

The artwork on the issue, by Clayton Henry, and Jordie Bellaire, is really nice throughout. I like the way that Jon is drawn in this book, he isn't just a copy of Clark, he's visibly younger, slimmer, and feels like he's full of energy. The book is able to convey emotions really well too, and there are moments where you see Jon experiencing love, and ones where he rages. It feels like Jon hasn't been pushed like this for a long while, and the art really sells that idea.

Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent is shaping up to be an interesting book, but this is still mostly set-up (albeit good set-up). The book can go a lot of different places from here; and I'm very interested to see what happens next.

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Classic Doctor Who Monsters That Need To Return

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Doctor Who is a franchise that’s got a lot of monsters. Yes, there are the big ones like Daleks and Cybermen who are almost guaranteed to keep coming back, but there are a lot that haven’t been seen for many decades now. With Russell T. Davies returning to helm the new era of Doctor Who once again, and with his history of bringing classic monsters back to screens, here are a few villains we’d love to see get a revamp and return to fight the Doctor once again.

The Rutans

Chances are that viewers of Doctor Who will be familiar with the war-like race, the Sontarans. But they might not be as familiar with their most hated enemy, the Rutans. A species locked in a millennia long war with one of the most formidable warrior races to ever exist must be something quite impressive, so it might come as something of a surprise that these creatures are just glowing green jellyfish.

Having been mentioned in multiple Classic Who stories, they were only ever seen in one, the Fourth Doctor serial ‘The Horror of Fang Rock.’ This story saw a single Rutan arrive on Earth looking to assess whether or not the planet could be used as a strategic stronghold in their war.

Despite being alone, the Rutan proved to be a formidable creature, using electrical discharges from its body against their opponents. Able to survive in almost any environment, including the vacuum of space, the Rutans are incredibly adaptable and could be used in a variety of stories. With technology having progressed a great deal, perhaps now is the best time to bring these monsters back to life once again in a believable way, whether as their own threat, or as part of a bigger story featuring the Sontarans.

Axons/Axos

The Axons featured in one of the early Third Doctor stories, ‘The Claws of Axos,’ and appeared as gold skinned aliens who come to Earth searching for a way to refuel their ship, offering humans a rare element in return. It was later revealed that the gold aliens, their ship, and the element they were offering were all part of the same entity. The golden Axons could transform into the tentacled monstrosities, Axos, in order to fight their foes. Interestingly, this was also the first story where the Doctor and the Master would work together.

With the original story involving these creatures featuring a need for energy, the draining of Earth’s resources, and issues around global hunger, it feels like many of these elements were ahead of their time in a lot of ways. These are all problems that still exist today, and are an even greater threat.

It wouldn’t be hard to create a story where these creatures are using the chaos of the environmental crisis and the looming end of humanity’s ability to live on Earth for their advantage. With their past connections to UNIT too, it would be another great excuse to get some UNIT characters back on screen too, whether they be from the new or Classic era.

Primords

The Primords are an interesting creature as, not only were they only featured the once on screen in the story ‘Inferno,’ but they were barely a threat to the Earth we know due in part to most of their original story taking place on an alternate version of Earth.

Created by a green ooze that was discovered deep underground whilst an operation was made to drill to the Earth’s core, the Primords were people who are changed into monstrous, wolf-like entities. Able to infect and transform others with a simple touch, they plagued the Third Doctor and his allies as the alternate Earth edged closer to destruction.

Over the years since, the Primords have been expanded upon in prose and comics, linking them to The Great Vampires, hugely powerful entities from another dimension who warred with the Time Lords. The green ooze was later made to be part of the monsters taint upon the universe, able to infect other life. Bringing back the Primords would allow the Doctor Who team to explore some of these ideas that have only barely been touched on screen, with most of the lore being expanded upon in other forms. It would allow them to bring a lot of the lesser known history to new audiences. Alternatively, much of that could be ignored, and they could simply create another scary monster story featuring the Primords. Either way, they’d make a great foe for the new era.

Haemovores

Another creature that used to be human and nods to classic monsters, the Haemovores are an evolution of humanity from the distant future where human beings have transformed into monstrous, vampire-like creatures.

Originally featuring in the Seventh Doctor story ‘The Curse of Fenric,’ the Haemovores were transported back in time by the titular Fenric, a formless entity known as a Great Old One (a Lovecrafitan monstrosity older than the universe itself), and were in part the origin of vampire myths on Earth.

Much like the Primords, the Haemovores are a great way for the series to tap into classic horror monsters with a sci-fi twist, and in a way that allows the story to expand the Doctor Who universe. The Haemovores would make a truly terrifying monster for the Doctor to fight on their own, but if tied in with immensely powerful god-like entities older than the universe itself it absolutely adds to the threat they bring. With fans speculating that Neil Patrick Harris is going to be playing The Celestial Toymaker in the 60th anniversary special (another god-like creature older than the universe), if they end up being right, it wouldn’t be hard to bring Fenric and his vampire monsters back to the show too.

Vervoids

The Vervoids were created by humanity in the far future as a race of humanoid plant slaves. The Vervoids would eventually evolve and rebel against their human creators, and even attempted to destroy all animal life in order to secure their freedom.

Doctor Who is no stranger to exploring complex motivations in its monsters, nor does it shy away from putting the horrors of slavery in its narratives. Davies has already done this once before with the Ood. As such, it might be an interesting territory to revisit, though using the Vervoid this time.

Having only appeared the once in the Sixth Doctor adventure ‘Terror of the Vervoids’, the story ended with the Doctor destroying them, but leaving a batch of seeds to grow new Vervoids that have their aggressive tenancies removed. It would be interesting to see how this played out, whether humanity would leave them alone to live in peace or not. The Vervoids could return as a downtrodden slave race desperate for freedom that the Doctor would have to save, or as a species that was forced to relearn their aggressive instincts in order to survive. It would also be interesting to see them return just to see how their design would be handled, as even though they had a great design, their original look featured a head that was quite phallic to say the least.

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Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #2 - Comic Review

 

The first issue of Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods didn't really feature much of the super hero Shazam, with his alter-ego Billy Batson getting to appear in about two panels of the entire book. Thankfully, the second issue starts to bring the Shazam characters more into the central narrative as both Billy and Mary get some stuff to do this month.

The last issue saw the ancient gods of the world declaring war against humanity, using fear and intimidation in order to frighten them into worshipping the gods once again. Under the direction of Hera, who has murdered Zeus, the gods plan seems to be working. Wonder Woman went to challenge them, and was turned into a god herself. 

This issue picks up back on Earth, where Billy is left trying to figure out what's going on as everyone else in town is under the magical effects of the gods, and monsters seem to be running amok. Turning into Shazam, Billy fights a number of giants that are attacking his school, getting some help when Mary arrives. Leaving Mary to battle the monsters alone, he heads off to figure out what's causing all of the chaos, where he gets a mysterious message to head to Washington D.C. to find his guide to Mount Olympus by an ethereal glowing figure.

Arriving in D.C., Billy meets the mysterious hooded figure that was knocking around last issue (confirmed to be a man in the last issue of Wonder Woman), before coming across Wonder Girl (who all of a sudden doesn't like the name Wonder Girl for some reason). The two of them head to Mount Olympus and try to confront Hera. However, the Wizard Shazam interferes, and strips Billy of his powers. Now Billy is left as an old, wizened version of Shazam, and the Wizard is young and buff.

In some ways it still kind of feels like the story is still in set-up mode, putting pieces in place by making Diana a god, and stripping Billy of his powers. Which is odd as we're technically halfway through the event. I say technically because the Wonder Woman title is taking place within this story and is filling some of the gaps in, so we've got a bit more than the four issues for this particular title in which to deal with everything. 

The team on this book are good at writing Diana, and I enjoy the way that Hera is written as just openly evil and unapologetically cruel, but this issue has me unsure about some of the other characters. As mentioned earlier, I'm not sure why Yara is suddenly against her super hero name; I'm pretty sure that I've read ever appearance she's had since she was introduced, and unless I forgot something, this hasn't come up before. Her suddenly being against the title Wonder Girl feels kind of odd. 

At the same time, Billy acts a bit weird at times too, when he leaves Mary to deal with the giants in order to find out what's going on he doesn't go off as Shazam, but ends up running around the streets as Billy. I don't know why he'd do this, as surely he's faster and safer as Shazam. It kind of ended up looking like Billy just wanted to run away from the situation. He was also incredibly chatty when on the buss with the hooded man, basically just giving up all of his mission and is rundown of the situation, telling a complete stranger loads of important info. Billy doesn't really seem to have a very consistent way of being written because a lot of different writers have been handling the character for the last few years; but this does feel like an odd way of depicting him.

The art on the book looks really good, and there are several action scenes and cool moments scattered throughout that look really cool. We get both Shazams fighting mythological monsters, Yara taking down hydras and giant beasts, and her and Billy storming the doors of Mount Olympus. It's a visually fun and engaging book, with a few moments that will make you smile at just how awesome they are.

Overall, this was a pretty decent issue, though one that wasn't perfect. The event opened very strong, but now seems to be losing steam a little. Hopefully this is just a blip, and things will pick up a bit now that Shazam has been put into a new situation to get out of, similar to Diana. This could be a very good event with some long reaching repercussions, but right now it's kind of up in the air as to how that's going to go.

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Fear Before the Fall: Horror Films in the Late Soviet Union by Alexander Herbert – Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Alienation, generational tensions, rampant nationalism and the pervasiveness of atomic danger are all topics that haunted late Soviet citizens, and those fears are reflected in the films meant to represent their horror genre. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, production of horror movies from independent filmmakers and Hollywood skyrocketed. It was a time of intense Cold War conflict and a resurgence of conservative ideals. It's not difficult to imagine that the ascent of horror occurred in conjunction with an increasingly scary and alienated world, and horror reflected those freights in the form of nuclear holocausts, toxic waste pollution, alien clown invaders and undead houseguests. Everyone was at risk - teenagers especially - because their present and future remained most uncertain. If we can agree that such feelings underpinned American viewers in the age of Reagan and neo-liberalism, then what about late socialism? How did film makers depict Soviet society's fears?'

The horror genre is a popular one, that has always been around in some form or another. Whether it be scary stories around a fire at night, the written word, cinema, or interactive media, the genre has continued to evolve with humanity over the centuries and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, despite some campaigns to get rid of it lest it ‘harm’ society. One medium that has done exceptionally well with horror is film, with one of the very first films ever made, a fifty second shot of a train arriving at a station, L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat, reportedly causing fear and panic in the audience perhaps unintentionally making it the very first horror film.

Over the years the medium has evolved and expanded, with early works such as Thomas Edison’s 1910 production of Frankenstein, and the 1922 Nosferatu being some of the best known early examples of overt horror in film. As the medium grew, horror films grew with it, and would go on to reflect social issues and societal fears of the time.

The 1950s saw an influx of science based horror films as a result of the fears in society from nuclear science, with films such as Godzilla, The Blob, and The Fly warning of the dangers of science. As time moved on and the Cold War set in, horror began to cover fear of ‘the other’ and of assimilation, with films like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, and Night of the Living Dead. Eventually we’d move on to fear of the killers amongst us as the slasher genre came into popularity with Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Black Christmas. Even later still, in more modern times we’ve come to fear the unexplained and unknown, with paranormal horror taking the spotlight in titles like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Conjuring.

But the vast majority of these examples, and similar ones that I’m sure you could come up with, all concern what would be called ‘western’ horror films, focusing on the output from the US and the UK most of all. For the most part these are the films that the average cinema-goer will be aware of, with those who would call themselves cinephiles probably also being able to run of a list of Japanese and Korean horror films that had a boom in the 90s onwards. But even those who consider themselves connoisseurs of the genre might be hard pressed to name many, if any, Soviet horror films. Thanks in large part to the division between East and West during the height of the Cold War, much of Soviet cinema has been a secret for those outside of the former Soviet influence. But now author Alexander Herbert is is here to help you discover some of these very well hidden films.

Fear Before the Fall: Horror Films in the Late Soviet Union does pretty much what the title suggests it will, and delves into the films of the late Soviet Union. However, this is more than just a film guide, as Herbert also tries to take a look into the cultural significance of the film, how it came about, what it’s trying to say, and how it fit into the ever changing landscape of the Soviet Union. Herbert states early on that this book, despite the academic sounding title, is not ‘an academic monograph’, instead stating that this book was made, and designed to be read, for fun. And it does become apparent as you make your way through the book that despite the author’s clearly well researched and well presented knowledge on the subject you yourself don’t need to be an expert on either cinema, or the Soviet Union, in order to take something away from this. Instead, you can settle in for an enjoyable read that will introduce you to some new films.

The films covered by the book include Viy, one of the earliest films made under the rule of the Soviet Union, that sees a young priest being tormented by spirits from hell as he watches over the body of a young woman in his church. Viy very much feels like the beginning of Soviet horror, and Herbert outlines well how it draws upon older folk tales, whilst also drawing in more modern concerns and issues in a way that marries the past and present, bringing the traditions of the past into the new way of life that the Soviet people were living through. The book also covers films such as Gothic horror tale Savage Hunt of King Stakh, futurist horror The Veldt, and vampire film Sem’ia Vurdalaka.

Each chapter, which covers a film, is split into several sections/ The first introduces the film itself, the second deals with the narrative, another the context, and a final one deals with the creation of the film and the impact it had. Each chapter ranges in size, but is roughly around ten or so pages each, giving you enough time to really delve into each of the films and get a good sense of it before moving onto the next. The book includes pictures from the films, though as they’re presented in black and white, and there are few high quality stills from some of the films, it can sometimes be a bit difficult to fully understand or appreciate what is being shown.

As someone who enjoys the horror genre, and has an interest in film history and how film interacts with society, this was a really interesting read. It was great to see how cinema worked in a setting where I’d not really thought about it before. Us in the ‘west’ have heard all kinds of stories about what life was like within the Soviet Union; usually stories that paint it as an awful place thanks to residual anti-Soviet propaganda and hate, so we’ve probably either never thought about their film industry, or assumed that it was all government-made pro-communist propaganda. To actually see a well researched and well presented breakdown of what it was like was not only incredibly interesting, but hugely informative. Plus, you come away from the experience with a few new films to add to you watch list. Fear Before The Fall might be something of a niche read, but it’s one that will appeal to a lot of readers if given the chance.

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Harley Quinn #27 - Comic Review

 

Originally published on Patreon

Stephanie Phillips' time as the writer of Harley Quinn comes to an end in the final issue of the 'Who Killed Harley Quinn' story line, a story that has brought yet another 'Who Laughs' character into existence. But how does the end to this pretty enjoyable arc go? Kind of just average sadly.

The build up of this story has been okay, and it's been getting better as it's gone on. The introduction of an evil Harley travelling the multiverse out to kill all the versions of herself isn't a bad idea; and the introduction of all of the different Harley variants into the story has been quite enjoyable too. And with the Harley Who Laughs having Poison Ivy tied up as her prisoner it looks like things are about to become fraught for our anti-heroine. 

So it's such a shame that this final issue feels incredibly rushed. I don't know if Phillips knew that her run was going to end here, or if it was brought to a close earlier than expected, but a lot of this issue's pacing feels like someone rushing to get everything resolved before the unexpected deadline. And in order to get everything resolved Harley starts to break the fourth wall.

There are a lot of people out there who say that Harley is the DC Deapool, that she's the same because she's wacky, she wears red and black, and because she does similar stuff to him. One thing that really sets her apart from DP, and kind of makes that comparison not really make sense, is that she doesn't know she's in a comic, she doesn't start messing with the story and going against comic conventions. She's weird and makes jokes, yes, but she still plays by the rules of the universe. Except here she starts to break them.

In order to travel to a different universe to save the Ivy Who Laughs for the Harley Who Laughs to get a happy ending with she freezes everything happening on the page, and goes and steals a dimension portal device from the evil Harley whilst explaining her plan to the reader. Later on she tells the reader that they've thrown in an action scene so that we don't get bored, and then a few pages later tells the readers we have to stay outside the fortress they're attacking because they can't do any more action scenes for brevity sake.

I honestly kind of hated this. This is some rule breaking and universe bending stuff that the series hasn't done before, that Harley doesn't usually do, and breaks the flow of the story and makes everything feel kind of cheap. It seems like the only reason Harley is breaking the universe here is so that the story can rush to its conclusion. If she's always been able to control the flow of the narrative why hasn't she before? Why didn't she stop the evil Harley from shooting her? Why hasn't she done anything to alter the story until the very end? Harley Quinn isn't Deadpool, and I don't like that this issue turned her into him.

Because of this, I kind of checked out early. This was the end of this story, and this creators run, but by the final pages it was already long over for me. I'd stopped caring because the book had told me to, it'd told me that the story doesn't matter because there are no stakes, because Harley has god powers now, and because after five issues of set-up the end was just nothing. I've enjoyed Phillips' run on the book, but this final issue made me question what the point was, and if it was worth it, as the book and the writer just didn't seem to care by then.

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