Geek Syndicate issue 1 - Feb 2012 by Geek Syndicate

REVIEWS:

SHERLOCK

THE WEIRD

XIII: EL CASCADOR

LOBSTER JOHNSON

BARBARA GORDON GOTHAM’S BIRD OF PREY

ONLIVE

CLOUD GAMING SUCCESS?

SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE RED CARPET INTERVIEWS

EMPIRE STATE

INTERVIEW & REVIEW www.geeksyndicate.co.uk

MARY & BRYAN TALBOT

TALK ABOUT THEIR JOINT PROJECT

THE MUPPETS

MOVIE - REVIEWED FEBRUARY 2012

GS Issue #001 - Credits

January News Headlines From Geek Syndicate:

Cover Art:

COMIC NEWS: New All-Ages Books from Marvel

Main Image - Art By Seraphyn (Rob Jackson)

Over 100 Digital Marvel Collections on ComiXology

Designer:

Antony Thickitt Editors:

Barry Nugent & Antony Thickitt

New Dark Knight Rises Casting Spoiler Riddick is Back! Russell T Davies to Bring ‘Aliens Vs Wizards’ to CBBC Capcom Officially Announces Resident Evil 6

Contribuors:

Irrational Games Announces 1999 Mode in BioShock® Infinite

Amaechi Oduah

Angry Robot Announces Strange Chemistry Launch Titles

Amy-Jayne Liff

DC Cancels 6 Series and Launches 6 More

Barry Nugent Brogen Hayes

Dr Who Audio Drama Spin Off ‘The Minister of Chance’ Available for Free!

Christophe Montoya

Cardiff Expo 2012 Spotlights Manga and Anime

Dion Winton-Polak

Star Wars: Underworld – ‘It is like The Godfather’

Christi Kassity

New Time Travel Thriller ‘Rewind’ Gets 2 Hour Pilot

Luke Halsall

James Bond Blu-Ray Box Set Announced – ‘Bond 50′

Matt Farr

WikiPad Glasses-Free 3D Gaming Tablet Showcased

Matt Pease

IDW Land at London Super Comic Con

Sharlene Mousfar

Doctor Who’s Mickey Beams Up To Star Trek Sequel

Tom

Star Trek Online becomes F2P

Vichus Smith Red Carpet Photographs:

Jon Racasa Geek Syndicate Comic:

Harold Jennett III Typesetting:

GS Banner - Copperplate Bold Cover Text - Century Gothic Main Text - Nobile (Oben Font Licence)

Contents

Geek Syndicate

Features Voices of the Syndicate - Meet the Team ............................4 2012 - The Year Mainstream Geek Culture Peaks?..............6 OnLive - True Cloud Gaming? ..................................................8 GADGET ZONE - Top Five Gadgets ........................................13 WOMEN IN THE PANELS - Barbara Gordon ........................21 CONVENTION ROUNDUP - February 2012 ...........................30 FROM PAGE TO SCREEN - The Hunger Games ..................32

Reviews

COMIC REVIEW - Knights of the Old Republic: War # 001 .........................................................................................36 GAME REVIEW - Star Marine: Infinite Ammo ...................39 BOOK REVIEW - Empire State By Adam Christopher ......41 COMIC REVIEW - XIII Vol 10: El Cascador ...........................42 COMIC REVIEW - Avatar The Last Airbender: The Promise Pt 1 ....................................................................47 BOOK REVIEW - The Weird ....................................................50 TV REVIEW - Sherlock Series 2 ..............................................51 DVD REVIEW - Largo Winch: The Burma Conspiracy .......55 BOOK REVIEW - Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure ......60 MOVIE REVIEW - The Muppets .............................................61 COMIC REVIEW - Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #001 .........................................................................................63

Previews

MOVIE PREVIEW - John Carter .............................................66 COMIC PREVIEW - Stiffs ........................................................67 MOVIE PREVIEW - Prometheus ............................................68 COMIC PREVIEW - The Pride Issue #002 ...........................69 COMIC PREVIEW - Nosferatu Wars ......................................71 Comic & Graphic Novel - Genre Recomendations ...........72 ELEVATOR PITCH - White Knuckle .......................................73 ELEVATOR PITCH - Halcyon & Tenderfoot .........................80

Interviews

On the Red Carpet with the Cast and Crew of Spartacus Vengeance ...............................................................................11 INTERVIEW - Be Tempted by the Cast of Syfy’s Being Human .........................................................................16 INTERVIEW - Mary and Bryan Talbot ................................24 INTERVIEW: Author of “Empire State”, Adam Christopher ............................................................................33

Editorial

Welcome everyone to the first issue of Geek Syndicate Magazine. Hmm. I wonder if it feels as weird to you reading that sentence as it does to me typing it. If someone had told me five years ago when Dave and I first started the Geek Syndicate podcast that I would end up sitting here with my head in my hands trying to come up with something witty to say for our first editorial I would have told them to stop smoking/drinking or injecting the drug of their choice and come back to the real world. By real world of course I mean a world filled with Bullwhips, Fedoras, Lightsabers, Capes, Tights, a bald Megalomaniac called Lex, Time Lords and Galaxies far, far away. It’s a crazy, fun-filled world and one this magazine hopes to show you the best of. I want to take a moment to thank the GS Team who have been working hard to put this magazine together and I hope they’re as pleased with the final result as I am. So sit back, kick off your shoes and let us drag you kicking and screaming into the world of Geekdom. Who knows you might just love it. if not… well let’s just say there may a Terminator on standby with your name and address programmed into it’s memory. You have been warned.

Barry Nugent

Geek Syndicate

Voices of the Syndicate - Meet the Team

Each month, we ask the Geek Syndicate Team a question and they offer their thoughts. This month, as it’s the first issue, the team let us know a bit about themselves...

Editors In Chief

David Monteith “Trapped here after my family had to flee the evil tyranny of our home planet I have decided to pursue acting as a career until such a time as I am rescued by my loyal subjects.” Favourite TV Show(s): Doctor Who – (I liked it when it wasn’t cool) Barry Nugent “I’m bald so really it’s all about counting the days until I turn evil and take over the world. Mark my words heathen rabble I will rule this land or see it reduced to a pile of ashes so consider yourself warned … too much?” Favourite Author(s): James Barclay, David Gemmell, Joe Abercrombie

Website Managing Editors Sharlene Mousfar “I dread writing these bio things up. However! I shall buck up and do it just for you all – I’m sure you’re thrilled! I love to laugh (often loudly), cook (I won’t poison you I swear!), eat tasty nibbles, geek out over all sorts of TV and pop-culturey goodness with other geeks, write about it and take photographs 4

while traveling all over the place. Exhausting isn’t it?” Favourite Places to Travel: London, Hong Kong, Edinburgh, San Diego, Toronto… next up is Dublin, Barcelona and Tokyo! Christophe Montoya

“International Man of Mystery. Biography not disclosed” Favourite Band(s): Huey Lewis and the News, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts (oh yeah Country music rocks)

Magazine Editor Antony Thickitt “Born on Anglesey, I’m a big old geek, currently living in Nottingham. I’m the Co-Host of The Next Level and Time Lore Addendum podcasts on the Geek Syndicate Network. My main geekery lies in Doctor Who and Star Wars, though I’m also a massive fan of Firefly and James Bond too. When not at work, reading or gaming, I like to dabble with my pencils or with Photoshop.” Favourite Quote: ”Every great decision creates ripples. Like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforseeable ways. The greater the decision, the larger the ripples, the more uncertain the consequences.” – The Seventh Doctor

Amaechi Oduah “I’m a gadget, sport & gaming geek.” Favorite Video Game(s): Half Life 2, Uncharted series, Devil May Cry, Mass Effect series, Gears of War series Amy Liff “I’ve been hanging around the geek world for a few years now, doing a podcast here and there and now writing for Geek Syndicate. I tend to geek-out on anything but comics are my biggest love. I received my first one, Preacher, at 16 from my English teacher and that got me hooked. I am now a teacher and pass on the world of geek to my students through any means necessary. Best Geeky Encounter: At my first convention drinking until the early hours with Geoff Johns. Matt Farr “As if being a married father-of-two wasn’t commitment enough, I’ve decided to fill my leisure time on geeky pursuits like blogging, reviewing and generally being opinionated.” Favourite Lego Set: 10030 “Imperial Star Destroyer”. and yes, I do own one. Dion Winton-Polak “I’m a dad, a husband and an unashamed geek. I love books, movies, games and comics, but when it comes to buying them I’m like a dog chasing cars. I work in a bank to pay the rent, but my real

Geek Syndicate

life is at home. I also run a podcast called Scrolls on the Geek Syndicate Network and blather on endlessly about books – sci-fi, fantasy and horror.” Best Geeky Discovery: Podcasts. There’s a whole universe of entertainment out there on any given subject you could imagine and it seems like it was hidden from me for years. Through it I’ve got my own show, interviewed some amazing people and made some really great friends. Brogen Hayes “A 31 year old film nerd with a BA in Journalism and Visual Media and an M.Phil in Film Theory and History. Brogen has been working as a freelance film journalist for almost 10 years, and has loved every moment of it so far. Brogen’s career highlights include the entire Cannes Film Festival 2011 – sunstroke included – somehow ending up on the beer in Dublin with Kiefer Sutherland and chatting film with Tilda Swinton, Antonio Banderas, John Lasseter and many more…” Favorite Comic Series: Sandman by Neil Gaiman Matt Pease “Northern Geek, Fanatical about wide verities of geek topics, including Books, Comics, Movies, TV and Animation. My biggest geek passion is Comics, I’ve been reading since I was 15 and now have a collection of single issues in the 4000 issue range. I also collect Superhero toys and statues.”

Favorite Comic Company: Marvel! They have the greatest characters and the greatest stories.

Brody Sixx “If I’m not on the PS3, I have my nose deep in some form of media, or drowning myself in coffee, or getting RSI in my fingers from online gaming. Quite often I cosplay around the house, washing the dishes as a Sith Lord, ironing as a medieval peasant and I once dressed up as a zombie and waited for two hours in the dark waiting for my housemate to come home so I could scare him. TOTALLY worked.” Best Geeky Discovery: Physicist Brian Cox Dave Williams “Geek of all flavours… movies, comics, TV, games..etc” Favorite Comic(s)/Graphic Novel(s): Queen & Country, Captain Britain & MI-13, Knights of Pendragon, Witchblade

Mirjana V “I am a newly “out” geek, having made tons of geeky friends in the past couple of years. I attended my first two cons this year (SDCC & NYCC) and plan on attending many more. I am a sports fanatic – ice hockey and football (not the American sort) are my drugs of choice. Also love to travel, and plan on doing a lot more of that in the future.”

Favorite Movie(s): Lord of the Rings (Two Towers is my fave), all the Harry Potter movies, XMen and X2 (thinking of adding First Class to the list), Star Wars (not the prequels) So that’s us ... for the most part. Read on, and we hope you enjoy this first issue of Geek Syndicate Magazine.

Space Gandalf “Browncoat, Actor, Podcaster (TimeLore), Slayer, Vampire (Vegan), Lover, Fighter” Best Geeky Encounter: Meeting Anthony Head at the Puppet theatre in Norwich many years ago (and giving him a ”Grrr. Argghh” finger puppet) Kehaar “International Seagull of Mystery, wargamer, roleplayer and one half of the Dissecting Worlds podcast” Favorite Video Game(s): Computer games are evil 15mm is where it’s at.

Geek Syndicate

2012 - The Year Mainstream Geek Culture Peaks?

Just before Christmas, 2011, the Internet almost melted as a series of trailers for next year’s big movies were released. Within the space of a few days we got previews of The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Prometheus and The Hobbit - all with sweeping shots, bursts of dialogue and stirring soundtracks that was almost enough to get my queueing at my local multiplex right there and then. these aren’t all we have coming: there is Dredd, Men in Black 3, the Spider-Man reboot, John Carter and more, all which can be looked forward to with (admittedly varying degrees of) 6

anticipation. I mean, stuff the London Olympics, right? The summer seems to have become the domain of Great Geek Beasts stalking the multiplexes, luring us in with a strong brand identity that appeals to audiences that will turn out in droves on that increasingly critical first week on release. For a long time seen as the oddballs with the faded Batman t-shirt on, geeks are now a prime demographic to be targeted by Hollywood. They are guaranteed to talk about a movie, even if it is only to criticise it vocally for getting some aspect wrong, or praise it to the heavens if it

gets it (mostly) right. The worry here is that there isn’t really much else. Look at the releases of 2011 and the forthcoming ones for 2012; a raft of attempted franchise openers based on existing properties and a lot of the more original films are being shifted into the Spring and Autumn to make way for the almost weekly release of the next $200-plus million special effects bonanza that has become the Summer. 2013 is already shaping up to be the same with the next Star Trek film, the Superman reboot and more in the offing.

Geek Syndicate Now before you think this is a churlish piece, it isn’t - I enjoy these Big Beasts, even the weaker ones are worth watching for the sheer enjoyment factor most of the time, but it’s starting to feel like a bubble and I worry what will happen when it bursts. Lets take The Avengers - by any estimation this should be awesome, and Marvel have been working towards it for a very long time. The whole project, tying together the other franchises with nods to each other, common casting and a sense of a common world is what superhero movie fans have been dreaming of. With the success of the earlier films I can hope that we won’t spend too much time reintroducing the characters to the screen and just get on with the large-scale plot the concept deserves. But in some ways it feels like an ending, for all we can expect Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and so on and I’m not sure how the wider audience will take that. For all comics themselves have

spent a lot of time redefining the sorts of stories you can tell in the medium, superhero movies still seem very much in the format set out by Richard Donner’s Superman films all those years ago. Right down to the law of diminishing returns hitting in time for the third film (and I really, really hope that rule is smashed by The Dark Knight Rises). Underneath this is the nagging fear that the current model of Blockbusters are heading for extinction anyway. The massive over emphasis of remakes, relaunches and pre-branded franchises is driven by fear in the studios that every year a couple of these hugely expensive undertakings will flop at the box office and a couple of bad years can sink them. We see so many geek friendly films because they have have a better chance of holding up at the box office and because they sell on DVD and because their tech-literate core audience (thats us!) act as a great conduit for free publicity. And whilst you can point to the exceptions like Inception or Sucker Punch which were based

on original ideas, the counter point is that Sucker Punch tanked and many people expected Inception to as well and a risk adverse industry seems keen to learn from the former’s failure, not the latter’s success. This strip mining of recognisable franchises is going to bring us some great films and there has certainly never been a creative “golden age” in which these calculations didn’t apply. Contrary to some doommongers, plenty of original projects get released and they do flourish, they’re just hidden down in the seasonal undergrowth, away from the behemoth dominated Summer months. But this year feels that more weight than ever is put on geek cultural touchstones to carry the big releases and may even set the bar higher than ever. It will only take a couple of high-profile failures, and we may never see its like again, and we should enjoy our time in the spotlight whilst we have it.

Matt Farr

Geek Syndicate OnLive - True Cloud Gaming?

Four months after its UK launch OnLive still seems a relatively “underground” service. Not many people I speak to know much about it, except it must have pumped some big money into advertising on YouTube. OnLive is a cloud computer gaming company that streams games to “any” of your internet enabled devices, using either a small application or their custom console that can be plugged directly into a television set. The OnLive application itself is a small program that currently runs on Apple Mac, Windows, Android Operating Systems. On Mac and Windows it requires very little space (approximately 7.5 MB) and a decent internet connection, which OnLive believes to be 5Mbps, so it is the perfect for netbooks as well as high spec gaming rigs. OnLive currently hosts a large range of games from the latest action games Assassins Creed Revelations to casual puzzle games such as Puzzle 8

Quest. The catalogue of games is impressive and includes some classics such as Deus Ex however new releases generally appear later than on other systems. For example Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (released in September 2011 in the United States and October 2011 in the UK is available only as a preorder for UK OnLivers in midJanuary 2012.

save game is stored on the OnLive servers and you are free to pick up where you left off.

The Cost of Cloud Gaming

The Play Pack is a subscription which provides you with over 100 games to play when you want and as much as you want. The games tend to be older titles such as Arkham Asylum and Borderlands, however pack offers a wide range of games and more titles get added regularly.

There are several different pricing structures on OnLive. First of all there is the simple full access, which is generally sold at the retail price of a PC game and allows unlimited access to the title purchased. Then there are 3 day and 5 day passes, the price of which vary from game to game, but are generally around £4 and £6 respectively. As their name suggests, these allow access to the game for a certain number of days. Many games also offer a free trial available which usually lasts about half an hour.

OnLive also offers a subscription service to their “Play Pack”. Subscribers get a discount to game purchases of around 30% on every game on offer. Of course, since OnLive is effectively a closed market system - there can be no shopping around for the best deal!

The current cost is around £7 a month which is good value for me as I play a few of the games nearly every week so I feel like I get my money’s worth. However if you just want to play one or two of the Play Pack games you’ll be better just buying them outright.

OnLive In Action I use OnLive on both Mac and Windows based computers and also on their console system, which I got free for pre-ordering Saints Row The Third when the system was first launched. OnLive Pricing © 2012, OnLive Ltd.

If you opt for the trial or daylimited passes, but opt to pay more at a future date (either another pass or purchasing the game outright), then there is no need to start over - your

As mentioned above, your saved games are stored on the OnLive servers which means you can literally stop playing on one device and start where you left off on another, which for me is a huge advantage. I enjoy being able to do this as

Geek Syndicate it means I can play on my Mac at home and then continue my game in my lunch break at work without having to mess about with USB sticks and files. The internet connection at my workplace is generally between 2.5 and 5 Mbps (less than OnLive’s suggested connection speed), however this seems to provide no problem to the system which generally runs quite well, the only issue is the occasionally lag and rare disconnection when my speeds drop below 2 Mbps. The quality of the graphics depends greatly on the game itself; you can’t expect an older game like Deus Ex to have the same level of quality as Arkham City. However, the graphics are as good as you would get on a modestly high spec computer so you don’t have to spend out on expensive graphics cards or processors. Another factor that affects the graphics quality is your internet connection. As your connection slows you will notice the graphics become less crisp. As I briefly mentioned, there is a console available which is currently priced at £70, which is cheap for a console no matter how you look at it.

The console is tiny - about the size of a compact camera and has 5 ports; power, Ethernet, HDMI and 2 USB ports.

It comes with one wireless controller and all the cables you need to get set up. However, the supplied controller can only be used with the console, not on other systems. The company does sell a “universal controller” (around £40) which needs to be plugged into the console with the supplied USB dongle. This controller can be used on other devices via the same dongle. Another downside to the console itself is that it comes without a wireless receiver which means your choices are limited to either direct Ethernet connection to your network or access through a wireless bridge set up using a laptop or desktop computer. The console is great if your router is near your TV, however, if not you’d be better off saving your money and investing in a cable that will connect your laptop or desktop to the TV. Playing games through your computer, you can use a selection of controllers (listed on their website), however I tend to opt for the mouse and keyboard. I think a good idea would be for OnLive to release a patch that would allow the console control to work via USB with the computer program that runs the games. Another cool feature of the system is the arena which allows you to watch other people play games in real time. I like to use this to view the gameplay of games that I want to try and sometimes to see how other people are doing on a game that I find tricky. There is a small social networking side to the arena as you can cheer or jeer people depend-

ing on how they are doing or voice chat to them to help them if they are stuck.

Final Thoughts I do worry about what would happen if the company goes bust. If Sony or Microsoft went bust (unlikely, I know!) you would still have your console and all your games to play, even if you couldn’t play online. With OnLive everything is online so if they go out of business (and they are much smaller than the big 3) you lose everything: your games, your saves and in a sense your money. It’s a risk that you choose to take. Another concern I have is for those with download limits on their broadband. Streaming games will take a toll on your allowance if you do have download limits. I would strongly suggest looking in to the technical details further as I would hate for anyone to be stung with a massive bill. Overall I like the OnLive system. It’s easy to set up and is great if you want to use more than one device to play games on. However OnLive have been promising an iPad and iPhone app since its release and I feel that until they deliver the system isn’t going to gain in popularity. www.onlive.co.uk

Amy-Jayne Liff

Geek Syndicate

On the Red Carpet with the Cast and Crew of Spartacus Vengeance Spartacus Vengeance returns to Starz Friday, January 27 with its third season. It picks up where the first season left off and takes little time to hit the ground running. Armed with a brand new Spartacus, actor Liam McIntyre, this season gears up to be the best yet.

“What they’ve found in Liam is somebody with an absolute truth. It’s a different truth, but it’s still the truth, as a person. And it’s wonderful to work with him because every day he brings an open book that we all get to participate with.”

pare that to a standard feature film camera that has a frame rate of 24 frames per second and you can see why Spartacus Vengeance has such incredible slow motion details, especially when you pair that up with an unbeatable special effects team.

Last week was the Hollywood premiere of Spartacus Vengeance, and Geek Syndicate was lucky enough to grab a spot on the red carpet to talk to the cast. This new season promises to live up to the expectations of the fans and the entire cast sang nothing but praises for their new Spartacus.

McIntyre himself is a very humbled man, and has taken the role of Spartacus very seriously, even transforming his lean body into one worthy of Spartacus’ leather Speedo.

As for what we can expect with specific characters this season?

“[Liam] just keeps getting better and better. And I think he did an absolutely fantastic job,” said Dan Feuerriegel, plays Agron.

who

Manu Bennett, who returns as Crixus added:

“It was months of intense training... That kind of intense exercising is horrible,” McIntyre says with a cringe. Before the role McIntyre said he was just video game nerd (with a body to match). When I spoke to him on the red carpet I asked him what he geeked out on most; he had no hesitation: video games, big time (When I asked his favorite he said “That’s impossible. Halflife 2 maybe. Maybe.”). The new season will have no shortage of blood, violence, death, sex and all of the things that make the show such a hit. One thing it will not have? An incestual story line that had originally been written into the season. The reason for the cut was to avoid comparison to, or more accurately accusations of copying, the HBO hit Game Of Thrones which has such a story line. I believe what adds to the uniqueness of Spartacus Vengeance is the high tech gear used to film. The Phantom Flex camera they use offers a frame rate up to an incredible 2564 frames per second. Com-

“I think Ashur’s going to cause a lot of problem this season, even more problems than I thought he would actually end up doing -- physically and mentally. He really stirs the pot this season,” says Nick Tarabay about his character. He continues, “it’s a different level of interaction; whether it’s with Crixus, whether it’s with Spartacus, even his relationship with Glaber and his relationship with Lucretia -- all of these relationships, it’s in a different level this season.”

Geek Syndicate What about Agron? Feuerriegel discusses his character and answers the question: Will we see any back story with him? “A little bit here and there, not too much about back story, but you’ll definitely get a lot more of his, like his desires and his personality. And also just like what the guys were talking about is just his desire to be heard, not so much lead.” He continues: “But he definitely has a lot of opinions and he kind of develops into Spartie’s right hand man. And he’s definitely got Spartie’s ear. But just whether or not he gets heard or not is the big thing. You definitely do learn a lot more about Agron in this upcoming season.” As for the rest of the characters, you will just have to wait and see. I heard talk that when we find Lucretia, she’s not quite how we left her at the end of the first season. She appears to have lost everything, including but not limited to, her marbles. Writer/Executive Producer Steven DeKnight promises an epic season, and says that it’s a writers rule that they are allowed to bend the truth but never break it, so there are some surprises in store even for the die hard history buffs and Spartacus fans alike. You can catch Spartacus Vengeance, Fridays at 22:00 on Starz.

Christi Kassity Photographs: Jon Racasa 12

Geek Syndicate

GADGET ZONE - Top Five Gadgets OK. So I’m a huge gadget fanboy and if I’m not playing around with one I’m reading websites or magazines, listening to podcasts or watching Television shows about the latest gadgets and consumer electronics products. But what are my top five gadgets that I own and can’t do without? Here they are, together with the reasons for their importance to me.

5. BT Infinity 40MB Internet Connection

4. iPhone 4S

This is by far the best phone I’ve ever owned. As with many others, my iPhone has become: a personal assistant, gaming console, media player, camera, e-book reader ... you name it that bad boy covers it. If there’s one thing I don’t leave home without (apart from the clothes on my back) it’s my iPhone.

3. Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 OK this is slightly cheating as it’s not a gadget, but since I switched from Sky’s 16MB broadband service (which I never ever got better than 4 MB download speeds) to BT’s fibre broadband service 4 months ago, I now get over 30 MB download speeds. Thanks to this, my favourite gadgets got even better. Downloading, surfing the net and streaming video is now a joy. I can even stream HD content effortlessly. Online gaming is a breeze and with Netflix now available in the UK I can seriously consider subscribing to a HD film streaming service.

As an avid gamer and co-host of The Next Level gaming podcast, this is pretty much a given. I love both these consoles equally and not just for their gaming ability. Both have a great game library. Xbox Live’s online gaming function is simply brilliant. They also have some fantastic media services like iPlayer, 4oD, Netflix, Lovefilm and more. Five years since it was released and the PS3 is still one of the best Blu-ray players on the market.

2. iPad 2

Whoever said that the iPad is just a big iPhone is nuts. I mean is a 50” HD TV just a bigger version of a 19” HD TV? Man I love this thing. It’s changed the way I take in all sorts of media. The screen is fantastic - great for watch films and TV shows as well as web surfing and gaming. The device is also superb for reading magazines, newspapers and books on too. As for the variety of apps...Apple’s strap line “We’ve got an App for that” couldn’t be truer . If you commute on a train, bus or fly frequently you need one of these....but even at home I’m using my iPad more than my laptop these days.

1. SkyHD

As a huge television and sports fan I pack in many hours of viewing a week and boy has SkyHD made that an easier 13

Geek Syndicate and better experience than it used to be. I hardly watch TV shows at their broadcast time, so Sky+ and season record is my best friend. Watching sports, films and TV shows in High Definition, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is amazing.

I also love the little touches....I was out once and forgot to set Sky+ to record the game so what did I do.....used the Sky+ Record app to remotely record it. Money!

Next time Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll let you know my Top Five most anticipated new gadgets coming 2012.

Amaechi Oduah

Geek Syndicate

INTERVIEW - Be Tempted by the Cast of Syfy’s Being Human

After we left Aidan, Sally and Josh in last season’s finale of Being Human, the three roommates are continuing to struggle with their double lives and discovering that temptation truly is a beast. Aidan struggles with backtracking into his old lifestyle as the Vampire Queen tempts him with freedom in exchange for agreeing to train her disgraced daughter, Suren (Dollhouse’s Dichen Lachman). Meanwhile, Sally grows more powerful with dangerous spectral skills that threaten to send her down a dark and destructive path. Lastly, Josh remains unaware of having scratched Nora (Kristen Hager) and both anxiously await the rapidly approaching full moon. The explosive revelation drives Josh to try and find a cure for his condition. We spoke with Sam Witwer, Sam Huntington and Meaghan Rath before the Season Two premiere; they’re such a fun bunch to chat with. They go from challenges filming season two to whether or not they’ve seen the BBC version of the show. Without further ado, check out the interview! 16

GS: Hi guys, thanks so much for doing the call today. I wanted to ask you guys just I know if you could just talk a little bit about what it’s been like to film season two and maybe touch upon some of the bigger things people see happening with, like you guys to go back to the set for season two and how it’s different to play these characters in the second season. Sam H: Sure, we loved the show so much, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that and so we were all really, really excited to get back. And you know the funny thing is I personally expected it to feel a lot like just one giant bout of déjà vu and to be honest, like it really just felt as though we never had the hiatus. It just felt because it was all the same crew and a lot of the same cast it just felt like we had maybe a two day break and then we just rolled into season two, it was bizarre. But at the same time it was great because I felt like we were able to really just pick up right where we left off which was a really cool spot. So yeah, anyway, like that. Sam W: Yeah, I guess I didn’t expect it to be - I mean okay there’s me and Sammy and Meaghan and we bonded I think all the way back during our first audition together. But I guess you know you go away, we were so exhausted after the first season, I for months afterwards even the thought of doing season two would make me sleepy. And by - when we got back I guess I hadn’t expected to be as happy to see everyone as I was. The crew and all the directors and everyone

and that kind of carried for me that carried me through the season. I wasn’t as exhausted this year, there was something about having a successful season one behind us and knowing the characters and having that momentum that was really positive this year. Meaghan R: Yeah, and I think it was just script wise it was a lot easier to just fall back into it this year because there was no establishing who our characters were and what our circumstances were, we just jumped right into it. And that’s reflective of the first episode, we just get right into the story immediately which was really great. Sam W: Absolutely, and in the first season there was so much heavy lifting on everyone’s part to establish these characters and to try make this all work and now we had a - some - what do you guys think, I think we had a little bit of competence going on this time. Meaghan R: Yeah. Sam H: So much more, there was so much uncertainty in season one, it’s like imagine like any television show, your season one is you’re kind of biting your fingernails the whole time just saying to yourself God I hope people like this and I hope people watch this. Sam W: Right and you’re second guessing yourself. GS: What about a story line, you know what’s coming up, how sea-

Geek Syndicate son two felt different and just like the stories you’re getting to tell? Sam W: It’s extremely different, it’s very, very different. It’s - if season one was about putting these people who are at risk into a safe environment, well season two is all about what is that risk about? And I think it’s inevitable with these people and their adversities, you know specific risks that they have in terms of you know vampire, werewolf and ghost, what do those conditions mean. And basically what it means is these people are in trouble and we’re going to see a lot of that trouble this year. We’re going to see why they need so badly to have a sanctuary because things get a little bit darker this year. I was wondering, it seems like your characters this season are sort of tempted by the darker parts of their natures. And are put in situations where that comes out. I was wondering how you maintain sort of their humanity when playing the dark parts and what kind of challenges there are in doing that. Sam W: Well Sam - Meg go for it. Meaghan R: I was going to say I mean it’s - I think for me it’s important to keep in mind that these are real people and not to get sucked into the supernatural element of the whole thing. What makes the show different is that we’re playing into the supernatural stereotypes, we are trying to play these as regular people. So for me it’s a lot about just keeping in mind what I would

do in this kind of situation and what’s great about the show is that it’s really acting, what would you do if you were put in this situation. And so I think that’s where the humanity comes from, just being a good person and being with these challenges that sort of question your morality and your values. Sam W: Yeah I think Meaghan is absolutely right with that. For example in television we’ve kind of seen everything including vampires, werewolves and ghosts and we’ve seen people get killed and all kinds of crazy stuff. What we’re trying to do as three actors is we’re trying to bring as much humanity into those events as possible. For example if someone dies, we’re going to show you - hopefully we’re going to tell a story where you realize that that is an awful sacrifice or that something has happened that is really, really terrible.

the show I can say I think the characters are almost seeing these horrible things happen for the first time, so they’re almost like the audience. You know they’re viewing these things and so hopefully that’s what the audience can kind of grasp on to and also it helps as an actor it helps in form what you do. Because you’re like okay well what if this person was killed, what would the ramifications, what emotionally what would that mean to me and how would that affect me and how would that affect every aspect of my life. And so it’s cool. It sets the show aside, we don’t just roll over these issues, we actually tackle them. Well is there anything maybe that was really challenging this year, specifically that you could talk about or is that all?

It’s all about the character’s reactions and I mean these three characters are the eyes through which the audience watches the show. So we’re really trying to keep our reactions to all this giant supernatural stuff very grounded. And in terms of the dark stuff that comes up, I mean the messed up thing is that at first you’ll see our characters react with horror and shame and all this awful stuff. And then as time goes on you might see them kind of get used to it and that hopefully will be a very sad thing to watch.

Sam H: Well yeah, for me I think we all have very, very I mean like that’s what’s cool about the job to be honest is you’re challenged every day you go to set. You’re always challenged by this wonderful material, this material that makes you really, really think. And you know it forces you to just basically become a better actor. I had several moments this year where I got to places emotionally that I’d never gotten to before on a set. And so I’m - you asked if there are moments that we’re excited about, yeah, those are some of the moments, that are emotional and big and it’s crazy, it’s what’s so cool about the show.

Sam H: Yeah, I think you just kind of hit the nail on the head. I mean a lot of times on

Meaghan R: I’m sorry, for me there was every single day I felt like I was being pushed 17

Geek Syndicate by the writers and the creators just for what they had planned for me. I have the feeling so often where I came to set and I’m looking at the scenes and I’m like - how - I don’t know how I’m going to do this, when I read the script. I don’t know what I’m going to do and I think that is where you really grow as an actor, when you’re scared. And there was definitely a lot of that this season. Sam W: Yeah, the real challenge I think this year was, we’ve lived with these characters for a season now and so it’s like okay, what can we show - what new sides of this character can we show? I talked about how last year we had the tremendous luxury of going in and not really doing a pilot, just going in and knowing that we had 13 episodes. So we could be leisurely about when we were going to show certain sides of the character. When you do a pilot you’re trying to sell the pilot, sell the character, sell this, sell that. So you’re trying to show them as much as you can. But because we didn’t do that I felt that we all felt just sort of patient. Like okay, well I’m not going to show you anything in the first episode, how about that? GS: Being Human was originally a British show, Being Human UK so I was wondering if any of you have watched it and do you feel this coming season is a chance to break away from the original because I do know that the first season very closely matched the first season of Being Human UK.

Sam W: Well this season sorry, Meaghan you want to go? Meaghan R:

No, go ahead.

Sam W: We as actors we didn’t watch the British series when we were shooting our first season because we wanted to do our own thing. We wanted to make sure that ours was its own animal. And then afterward we watched it. We watched everything. I love their show and I truly dig on it and I got Sammy and Meaghan started by buying them the box sets for season one and they watched it since then, watched more of it since then. And you know we’re all into it, but the writers, our writers hate it. No just kidding. Our writers, no our writers for the same reason that we avoided watching season one, they’ve avoided watching season two because they want season two to be its own animal. So any there is a little bit of cross over here and there in terms of things happening sometimes in similar ways. But it’s really coincidental considering our writers didn’t even know. So it’s interesting, whenever something would happen that was similar I’d read it in the script and kind of laugh. Because they have no idea, but you know it’s for the most part extremely different. GS: Okay so do you think then this difference will stop the ongoing comparisons between the two shows because right now there’s currently a lot of online talk about which version is better?

Sam W: No, it won’t stop it. Meaghan R: I don’t think it will stop, no, because it is the - founded on the same situations, they’re both the same show. But I mean that’s okay with me, I don’t mind that because I also like Sam was saying I’m a huge fan of the British one. And I’m very positive in the second season that it does differ in a huge way. And you know and I’m - we’re the same family but different kind of - we’re different cultures and I don’t know, I’m happy to be associated with them and I’m excited for the day that we actually meet. Sam H: Yeah me too, I really want to meet them. I think also we’d probably be singing a different tune if it was more negative. To be honest I think they’ve been so kind to us, you know primarily.The people who are fans of the BBC series or were first fans of the BBC series have really embraced our show and I think if they were really hating on it we’d be ready for them to be like uh guys, you know what we are our own thing. And like listen, we embrace that, the fact that this season we are like Sam said like there’s some small cross overs but for the most part we are - and they are unintentional. We are our own beast. And - but yeah, I think we’d be a lot more eager to have the comparisons cease if they were negative comparisons. Right? Sam W: No, absolutely. I think that people have their preferences and it isn’t - for example if someone says hey I like the British version better, I’m not

going to sit there and go whoa you’re wrong. I’ll be like no, I see why, it’s different, there are different things. Personally when I watched the two shows, when I was watching you know just going through theirs and watching our season one versus their season one. And I was kind of torn because I’d see stuff and I’d go oh they really nailed that moment in a way that we didn’t’. They - yeah, that’s better.

Geek Syndicate

Head over to the Geek Syndicate Website for the full interview.

Sharlene Mousfar

Oh I like this better about theirs, and then I’d see other stuff and go oh but you know what, I like ours better on this, or we had a better take on this, and so I personally I mean considering I’m so close to it I could never say which is objectively better. And frankly I don’t know that most people could objectively say that, I think it’s more of a taste thing. Sam H: I think one of the reasons is because you watch them at the exact same time on two different televisions. Sam W: Very strange, it was like stereo but I found a way to actually lock one of my eyes on one television and one of my eyes on the other. Sam H: Is that why you look like some kind of platypus this year, it’s bizarre. Sam W: I look the guy from Young Frankenstein, I look like Igor. Sam H:

That’s exactly right.

Sam W: But - and that’s also why I was vomiting that day because it really had... Sam H: A really negative effect physically. 19

Geek Syndicate

WOMEN IN THE PANELS - Barbara Gordon

Yvonne Craig - Batgirl, 1966

place discrimination based on gender. At the same time, women were campaigning on issues such as pay and educational opportunities. Barbara showed the comic book world the modern woman and the readers responded well on the whole. Some readers did write to DC requesting the previous version of “Bat-girl” (Betty Kane) rather than this new incarnation, however, DC wrote an open letter back explaining that “the days of helpless female superheroes were gone”.

The Original Barbara

The New (and Younger) Barbara

In 1966 to help revive Detective Comics and promote the third season of the Batman TV series, Barbara Gordon was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino under the watchful eye of DC Comics Editor Julius Schwartz. She first appeared in Detective Comics issue 359 where she made a big impact by helping foil a plan by Killer Moth to kidnap Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile in the television series, Barbara was brought to life by the beautiful Yvonne Craig. Dr. Barbara Gordon Ph. D. and her heroic alter-ego, Batgirl, was almost instantly popular to both television and comic audiences. The daughter of Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, Barbara was portrayed as an intelligent, daring woman with her own career. How couldn’t she be? The sixties saw the second wave of feminism with the United States government bringing in legislation to combat work-

Kara Zor-El – the Supergirl of the time. This friendship was brought to a tragic and unfortunate end with Supergirl’s death in Crisis of Infinite Earths in 1985. Indeed, such was their friendship, that it was Barbara who delivered the eulogy of “her friend and confident”, in Issue 7 of that universe defining maxi-series. Though this friendship was effectively lost as Kara no longer existed in the DC Universe at this point, the reboot that Crisis of Infinite Earths caused paved the way for caused the foundations of the Barbara we see today.

Barbara came out of Crisis of Infinite Earths with a new backstory, she was now Jim Gordon’s niece adopted by him when her parents died. This Barbara had grown up with Batman around her and she had pushed herself to finish school earlier than her peers. This kept her smart but now made her a closer age to the young Robin, Dick Grayson, which would lead to a romance between the two. Detective Comics #359, Jan 1966

During the sixties and seventies, Barbara continued to work alongside Batman and Robin as well as making appearances in other DC titles, including an issue where she goes on a blind date with Superman! (Superman #238, October 1973). During her appearances in the Superman family of comics a strong friendship formed between Barbara and

In 1988, Barbara hung up her cowl in Batgirl Special #1 and soon after she was shot and paralysed in The Killing Joke by Alan Moore. This caused huge controversy with readers and creators both outraged at how this tale depicted her as just a tool used by the Joker to send Jim Gordon insane. Many people saw this as a devolution of Barbara from being a strong, independent woman into a homemaker who was just 21

Geek Syndicate concerned with the mess her dad was making. Later Alan Moore would go on to admit that he regretted the way she was used. Two creators who were also disgusted with Barbara’s treatment were the husband and wife team Kim Yale and John Ostrander. They decided to revive the character and not allow her to be a victim of her disability. In 1989 she appeared in Suicide Squad #23, merely as a computer message announcing the presence of “Oracle” into the superhero community. It wasn’t until issue 38 of that that Oracle was revealed to be Barbara Gordon.

Suicide Squad #38, Feb 1990

Oracle was an information powerhouse providing intelligence to superheroes across the DC universe. She was now Batman’s intellectual equal and he would come to rely on her over the years rather than using his own resources on many occasions. 22

In 1996 Chuck Dixon wrote a one shot comic, Black Canary/ Oracle: Birds of Prey. Off the back of the popularity of this one shot came several mini-series which finally led to the Birds of Prey ongoing series, which ran for over 10 years. The premise of Birds of Prey was simple: an all-female superhero team led by Oracle. Birds of Prey gave Barbara storylines that allowed her to be integral to the plot without needing to be out in a cape. One of my favourite issues from the Chuck Dixon run was issue #25 where Barbara shares her geeky side with Scientist Ted Kord, better known in the superhero community as Blue Beetle. Gail Simone took over the writing Birds of Prey from issue 56 and in my opinion it was here where we saw Barbara develop further. In this run Barbara faces not only other hackers such as The Calculator but also Superman’s nemesis, the intelligence gathering alien construct known as Brainiac. It’s during Simone’s run that we also see Barbara and the Birds of Prey leaving Gotham for Metropolis – finally Barbara is freed from the shadow of The Batman. During the late twothousands we saw the Birds of Prey team change regularly, however Barbara remained the one constant, sending her team to fight all over the world. During Batman R.I.P and Battle for the Cowl Barbara summoned the disbanded Birds of Prey back to Gotham to help Robin and Nightwing get a grip on the crime in Gotham. This showed the comic book

world that she was still integral to the Batman family. Most recently, Barbara Gordon has caused controversy again. In 2011, DC Comics’ new “52” rebooted comic line saw Barbara coming out of the wheelchair and becoming Batgirl once more. Many people, including myself, regarded this as an insult to the strong character she had become. However, writer Gail Simone in this most recent Batgirl series has dealt with the issue carefully, not writing out the tragedy of The Killing Joke but instead making Barbara a recent “miraculous recovery” with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In my opinion a very smart move as this condition is not covered enough in any media.

Batgirl #1. Sep 2010

Geek Syndicate The impact of Barbara For me personally, Barbara made a massive impact. When I was in a very dark place I discovered a woman who was paralysed and still managed to kick ass. By reading her story it gave me strength to start again and when talking to people they tell me the same. In the 1960s Barbara was a strong feminist role model without needing to preach about equal rights. She showed the world that women could hold a Ph. D., run for congress and fight crime. In my eyes, although she wasn’t always truly portrayed as Batman’s equal she clearly was, even back then. Although there have been endless arguments about whether it was right to paralyse her for so long in a universe that saw Batman have his back broken and healed and saw many characters recover from being ... well ... Dead (Superman and Green Arrow are just two examples), Barbara, through her

personal life and her Oracle alter-ego has shown that disability doesn’t stop the hero inside people. What makes Barbara great is that even with the most recent reboot she is a character that has had a strong storyline and an even stronger character to go with it. She’s not afraid to outsmart Batman or tell Superman that she’s not afraid of him. By leading other women in her own superhero team she shows that even in a spandex universe where women get cut up and put in refrigerators there is a place for strong independent women working with each other instead of catfighting over a man. I know I am not alone in my love for Barbara Gordon, many creators for DC Comics talk about their love for her. This can be seen clearly with Yale and Ostrander’s introduction of Oracle and in Simone’s careful handling of the recent reboot. No matter what happens to Barbara next, no one can deny the amazing im-

pact that the Commissioner’s daughter has had in the DC Universe.

Recommended Reading • Showcase Presents: Batgirl, Vol. 1 – Various writers and artists • Batgirl: The Greatest Stories Ever Told – Various writers and artists • Batgirl: Year One – Scott Beatty and Chuck Dixon • The Killing Joke – Alan Moore and Brian Bolland • Suicide Squad (1987 series) issues 23-65 • The Hunt for Oracle – Chuck Dixon, Greg Land and Jackson Guice • Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds - Gail Simone and Ed Benes. • Oracle: Birds of Prey. Off the back of the popularity of this one shot came several mini-series. (Images © DC Comics)

Amy-Jayne Liff

Geek Syndicate

INTERVIEW - Mary and Bryan Talbot

2nd February, 2012 sees the release of Mary Talbot’s first Graphic novel, Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes.

Mary is the writer of this moving tale of parallel lives. Who better for her to turn to for the artwork but her husband Bryan (Alice in Sunderland, Grandville). Geek Syndicate took the opportunity to interview Mary and Bryan about putting together the book. GS: When and why did you decide to do this moving piece of work? MARY: Bryan suggested it initially, with a simple question: ‘Why not write a graphic novel script about your relationship with your father, the Joycean scholar?’ I’ve had academic work in print for years, but early retirement has opened up my horizons to other kinds 24

of writing. The idea of producing a graphic novel script really appealed to me. I wasn’t too sure about autobiography, though, doubting that anyone would want to know my life story! So I starting looking into ways of making it interesting, or so I thought. I was vaguely aware that James Joyce had a daughter, so I went into that as a possible angle. That’s how it started. Bryan was keen on producing something different too, I think. He’d had an idea for a collaborative project lined up with the narrative poet, Dorothy Porter, who he’d met at a Literary Festival in Brisbane. Sadly, she died before anything came out of it. GS: This was a very emotional read, how was it to write it? MARY: I did masses of research into Lucia’s life and was very moved by what happened to her. The final section about her was painful to write. In fact, I found I was starting to well up with tears every time I read through that part. I took it as a good sign, as far as the book was concerned; if it affected me so much, then surely it would do something for readers. Writing about my own past was a different matter. Obviously it’s familiar to me and the most recent event recounted (my mother’s death) was well over twenty years ago. I wasn’t dredging up suppressed memories or anything of that sort. GS: As a very personal journey how much did you want to include and how far did you want to go?

MARY: I was considering just focusing on Lucia at one point and for a long time I saw my own story solely as a means to explicate hers. Once I started to work on the two interweaving plotlines, however, I could see how it would work as a single story. Then I was completely comfortable with it. I did ponder the birth scene quite a lot before adding it, though. GS: If every reader could take one thing with them from reading this what would you hope it be? MARY: Parents, your children’s memories of you are important to them! Well, something like that. More generally, I’m hoping readers will reflect on gender politics and, I suppose, make comparisons between their own experiences, mine and Lucia’s. GS: What do you see as the book’s greatest strength? MARY: For me it’s the artwork. GS: The visual style is fantastic so how do you decide what style to use? BRYAN: Thank you! To both of you! I knew that Mary’s, Lucia’s and the present day sequences had to be distinct from each other to avoid reader confusion. The drawing styles for each are basically similar but the rendering and colouring sets them apart. I chose the clear line style, with quite simple faces, as the simpler the face, the easier it is for readers to relate to the character.

Geek Syndicate GS: What did you find hardest about illustrating the story? BRYAN: Giving the different eras their own atmosphere. Evoking the 1950s, 60s and 70s for Mary’s sequences and the 1920s and 30s for Lucia’s took a lot of research, though I’d say it was time-consuming, rather than hard. GS: As a team what is the secret to your partnership when creating something like this? BRYAN: In most writer/artist collaborations, the artist simply receives a script and then illustrates it. With Dotter, the collaboration was intense and on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, with Mary making artwork suggestions and myself suggesting improvements in dialogue and text.

GS: How do you think the comics industry has changed over the last 10 years? BRYAN: Sales of monthlies and weeklies have declined and the newspaper strip seems to be on its last legs but the market for graphic novels has gone from strength to strength. It’s been very gradual, but they are slowly being widely accepted as a valid art form. GS: What is your next project that you are going to publish? MARY: My next project is a historical graphic novel, largely set in Edwardian England. It will probably run to about 150 pages – and it’s a corker. That’s all I’m going to say for now! BRYAN: I’m around halfway through Grandville Bête

Noire and as I have two further Grandville books lined up, I’ll not be drawing Mary’s next one, though I’ll probably do some work on the panel breakdowns. We’re currently trying to find a suitable artist. GS: What advice would you give to people wanting to break into the industry? BRYAN: Divine endurance. Obstinate persistence pays off. Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes is published February 2nd 2012 by Jonathan Cape and retails at £14.99 www.bryan-talbot.com www.randomhouse.co.uk/ browse/graphic-novels/

Christophe Montoya

Also Available By Bryan Talbot:

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Geek Syndicate

CONVENTION ROUNDUP - February 2012

For those of you looking at attending an event in February here is all you need to know. We have selected a few of the key places to go to and recharge your geek batteries.

SFX Weekender 3

Probably the biggest event in February is the third SFX Weekender which has just grown from strength to strength over the last two years of being based at Camber Sands. This year, the SFX Weekender is being held on the 3rd – 5th February at Prestatyn Sands in North Wales and at the time of writing there are still some day passes available to buy. Among the many guests attending are Alex Kingston, Hattie Hayridge, Norman Lovett, Sylvester McCoy , Sophie Aldred, Eve Myles, Brian Blessed, Craig Charles, Robert Rankin and many more. Judging from previous years, this is by far my favourite event of the year.

SF Ball 18

An elder statesman of the UK convention circuit is SF Ball in Bournemouth. This year on the 10th – 12th February, the event will bring stars of Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis. This event really seems to have got it right by creating 30

an intimate relaxed atmosphere where you can mingle with the stars. This yearincludes Kate Vernon, Michael Hogan and Torri Higginson.

London Super Comic Con

Throne Con

This convention debuts this year and it’s aimed straight at Game of Thrones and fantasy fans. Throne Con launches in Birmingham on the 10th – 12th February. In addition to George R. R. Martin’s excellent novels, the convention covers Merlin and Spartacus. Their guests include two of the Thrones cast Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage.

Chevron 7.8 Fans of Stargate rejoice as Massive Events carry on their fine tradition of holding a convention for Stargate and all its spin offs. Step through the wormhole for Chevron 7.8 in London on the 24th – 26th February and meet Amanda Tapping and other stars from Stargate and Sanctuary.

Our final pick of February’s conventions is a brand new one which is aiming to be the biggest comic convention in the UK. The London Super Comic Convention which is being held on the 25th – 26th February in London has collected a very impressive list of attendees but the biggest feat they have accomplished is that their guest o honour is none other than STAN LEE. This surely must be the event for comic fans and I for one will be looking forward to a once in a lifetime opportunity to listen and maybe even meet Stan the Man… Don’t forget this does not cover all the conventions for February but just a taste of what is out there. For full details go to Geek Syndicate website and look at our Convention Calendar 2012.

Christophe Montoya

Geek Syndicate

FROM PAGE TO SCREEN - The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is set in the not-too-distant future when the USA has collapsed, weakened by natural disasters, and a new country, Panem, has formed. Panem is divided into twelve districts and the Capitol. The Capitol controls everything and each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part en-tertainment, part intimidations of the dominated districts, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem as the twenty-four participants are forced to eliminate their competitors.

doesn’t seem to be sexualised for Hollywood at all. Even her opening ceremony dress looks classy not sleazy (and from the description it would be easy to make that leap). Caesar Flickerman, the overly polished in-terviewer looks just as flamboyant as I imagined, though I was thinking more Laur-ence Llewelyn Bowen than David Dickinson!

When Katniss’ young sister, Prim, is selected as the twelfth district’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place and begins her fight for survival. As a fan of the book I can’t wait for this film and have been allowed access to some stills which I plan to compare to how I imagined it from the book. When I read the book I imagined Katniss, the lead female as looking like Kate Ramsey from Neighbours. I have no clue why but that was the character that came to my mind visually. So when I finally got to see the trailer and stills from the film I was ab-solutely pleased with the look of Jennifer Lawrence who I’ve only ever seen as a blonde. Based on the still, the casting and costumes look great. Katniss actually looks like an average sixteen year old and 32

Two surprises were Peeta Mellark and Haymitch Abernathy. Peeta Mellark is the male representative from district twelve and even though he is described as having a “stocky build” I didn’t imagine him this muscular.

I have a feeling that the producers are going for a more twilight feel for the male actors. Which is fine; as long they

don’t just use Peeta and the other male leads as romantic interests without any character devel-opment. Knowing how Hollywood loves to cut plot elements that are crucial for subse-quent films (Harry Potter films come to mind) this is a real concern of mine. Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta’s mentor and a previous winner of the Hunger Games is described in the book as a “paunchy, mid-dle-aged man” so my shock at seeing a Thor look-a-like was a pleasant one!

The teal dressed woman next to him is clearly Effie Trinket, District Twelve’s mentor, who is as outrageously dressed as I imagined. From the trailer and the stills, I’m impressed. So far it seems very accurate to the feel of the book. The book is a phenomenal read and really gets you to empathise with Katniss, written as it is in the first person. I have a feeling this emotion will be lost on screen, which might make this film somewhat of a damp squib. I am still excited about its released. however I am still hesitant as I’ve seen what can happen to good books when Hollywood gets their hands on them.

Amy-Jayne Liff

Geek Syndicate

INTERVIEW: Author of “Empire State”, Adam Christopher

The excellent new book by Adam Christopher is out now from Angry Robot and we were lucky enough to join him at the book launch at Forbidden Planet in London last week. The stunning superhero-noir fantasy thriller set in the other New York. It was the last great science hero fight, but the energy blast ripped a hole in reality, and birthed the Empire State – a young, twisted parallel prohibition-era New York. When the rift starts to close, both worlds are threatened, and both must fight for the right to exist. Adam Christopher’s stunning debut novel heralds the arrival of an amazing new talent – check out our exclusive interview with him behind the cut!

GS: First of all I have to ask you, where did the inspiration come from for Empire State?

GS: What is the process you use for building the characters? Where do you start from?

AC: I was on a flight from Manchester to San Francisco, which is a long haul flight and I had taken with me some Raymond Chandler and when you are on that kind of flight things get a little bit crazy. It’s long, boring and you don’t get enough sleep and you get a bit dehydrated. I remember going to sleep and thinking, wouldn’t it be amazing if Raymond Chandler had written Science Fiction, with robots that would just be the coolest thing ever. And that was the idea, to write a Science Fiction detective story inspired by the classic pulp? Detectives of the 1930’s. Also I love superheroes and superhero comics and the 1930’s and especially New York – that was the birthplace of modern superhero comics. So I put the two together and came up with Empire State.

AC: I think I tend to start with a name. Rad Bradley the Detective he actually came to me way before I had the idea for the book or the setting or anything. I actually mistyped the name the search in Amazon looking for Ray Bradbury. I typed Rad Bradbury. And nothing came up. I thought Rad Bradbury was such a cool name. He is a tough Detective with a hat and a trench coat. I changed it to Bradley otherwise it would just be a little bit distracting.

GS: In terms of your original idea, how far did the actual book change from starting it to the finished product? AC: It probably changed quite a bit. I tend to outline quite heavily but as I write, the characters take on lives of their own and they start doing things which is not expected. As I wrote the first draft it got stranger and stranger and things were happening that I hadn’t really planned on. So I think it stays true to the original idea but I was happy to let it go and evolve as it went.

Throughout the book I wanted that pulpy, movie feel so you have names like Sam Saturn and Kane Fortuna, kind of slightly strange names that have that alliteration. I think from the beginning because it was going to be a Science Fiction Detective story I had to have the Detective or Private Eye. I was going to say glamorous, but his showy friend Kane Fortuna. Captain Carson and Bryon came from another pulp idea. Some friends of mine challenged me to write a pulp story called Captain Carson and the Case of the Robot Zombie. I didn’t do it but that was the start of it. Captain Carson was kind of alliteration. I think that’s the same for everything I write. The characters and plot don’t necessarily evolve at the same time. I can have ideas for both and they come together. 33

Geek Syndicate GS: Your writing has a style that I find easy to visualise and bring in to life the world of Empire State, but what do you find hardest about writing a novel? AC: I think because I am a big fan of comics I do think I can write visually because I can kind of see it, especially with Empire State because it is quite comic like. I find all of it hard. I think so long as the characters work and the characters come to life they kind of do their own thing and they behave in ways they should behave then when that happens it is really cool and writing is really easy and the whole thing flows but really all of it is hard. GS: Would you want to see the book made into a film and do you have anyone in mind for the key characters? AC: YES! That’s another thing with characters, I do actually when I am writing I do cast people as I write but Kane Fortuna was based on a ballroom dancer because he had this look that I needed. I saw this image he had the hair and the kind of wide eyes. Captain Carson was based on an actor who died years and years ago. The other thing is what ever I imagine in my own mind is completely different to what anyone else imagines including anyone who would make a movie or a tv series. I am a kind of writer. I am not precious about people changing things so I would leave that to people who know about doing that. People have said they could see it as an HBO tv mini series.

GS: Absolutely when you look at things like Broadwalk Empire and things like that you think they can do that with perfection. Getting the whole Manhattan/Empire State yes you can really see it. AC: Its funny because after I had written Empire State, long after I had written it, I discovered Fringe. There is an episode of Fringe that is set in the 40’s with Brown Betty and basically that is the cast, that’s the look, that’s everything. It’s got the fedora hat it’s got the private detective, its got the glamorous woman its got everything. It’s got airships as well! GS: There seems to be a lot of in jokes and references to comics, and you have mentioned a few times that you a big comics fan. How far did you want to go with the comic influence in the book? It’s fairly subtle when you are reading it and I have read a few reviews and other people noticed things that I didn’t notice with some of the names with Kane and things like that. AC: I didn’t have like a checklist of things I thought would be cool and geeky and jokey to put in. Kane Fortuna and Bob Kane you know Batman. I mean there are other things in there as well but it all just kind of came naturally from the idea I think. There aren’t just comic references, there are other references – references to books, to films and real life people as well. GS: How long did it take you to write the novel? Did you just sit down and write it or were you working at the time?

AC: I wrote it from 2009 – 2010 so it took me about a year. But that is like 3 months for a draft and then I left it and then had proof readers read it and then another draft. I did it around a day job so mornings and evenings and weekends, getting up at 5 in the morning and do a couple of hours but that’s the whole thing you’ve just got to. GS: Do you have anywhere in particular that you like to write or doesn’t it matter? AC: It doesn’t really matter. I work at home anyway so usually just in my office. You can’t wait for the right moment or the right mood. You can’t wait for the muse to arrive or you won’t get anywhere. You get into a routine. GS: The World Builder (Go here) idea that offers readers to carry on inventing their own part of Empire State sounds really cool . What are your hopes for what is going to happen and what is going to come out of that? AC: l think you are right. It is really cool and I can’t wait to see what people come up with. I have already seen a few bits and pieces from people who have been commissioned to do stuff. There is a photographer in New York doing stills from a recently discovered 1946 Film Noir production of Empire State which has been lost in time. Its amazing that there are other people out there that are creating stuff based on something that I wrote its amazing. The thing about world builder is that you can do anything – with photography it can be short stories, there is a table top

Geek Syndicate role playing game being made and a puppet show. Someone is doing a radio play – not of Empire State but of something that is in the background in one of the scenes of Empire State. The fact that people can just do anything at all and completely let their imagination go. GS: When did you start writing? AC: I have kind of always written. I have got loads of exercise books from school of stories and writing and then I stopped when I went to University and lost interest and then it was really when I rediscovered comics when I was in my early twenties I sort of took it seriously. It’s funny because I moved to the UK in 2006 and at the same time my first novel submission got rejected but that was actually really good because it was kind of like ok I need to work harder and take it more seriously. That was almost the kick I needed to actually do it properly. GS: What is your favourite genre to read and why? AC: I tend to read lot of things – Science Fiction, I am a big Stephen King fan. Things I have read recently like Night Circus and I am reading a book called The Professionals which is crime. I tend to mix prose novels with comics or graphic novels in equal numbers. In terms of my favourite writers, I would count comic writers and prose writers on the same level.

GS: Absolutely I agree. Sometimes you have a hard time saying to people that comic writers are just as good as prose writers. Sometimes people can’t seem to get past that. Although these days it seems to be a bit better as graphic novels seem to be coming more in vogue and accepted. AC: And you have a lot of novelists are moving into comics. People like Greg Rucker he is one of my favourite writers. He is a really good crime writer and he has written superhero comics and crime comics and he has written crime novels. I tend to follow people – I’m not a strictly fantasy or strictly space opera just whatever takes my fancy. GS: Am I right in thinking you are more DC over the other comics? Why the DC then? I have to ask this because of the DC versus Marvel

I don’t particularly enjoy the stories I could just watch him all day.

GS: He seems to hark back to some of the original first three doctors he’s a bit of a mixture of them. AC: I think he is like a young version of William Hartnell. If William Hartnell’s doctor was 30 that’s what he would be like. GS: I agree. He comes across like that. He is like a cranky old man but he is coming across. AC: Yes I think he really nails it. Thank you Adam Christopher and best of luck with Empire State

AC: I discovered comics through 2000 AD and then from 2000 AD I went to Marvel and Marvel didn’t quite do it. GS: I noticed on the back of the book it says you are a huge fan of 60’s Who How do you compare that to modern Who? AC: I used to love the new Series – Christopher Eccleston. I really rated that series but then I kind of lost interest. Old Who and new Who are just completely separate things. I mean obviously it’s a continuous series but just the style and the approach. I’m just not the right audience for it any more, although I love Matt Smith. In fact Matt Smith is one of my favourite doctors, even if

Empire State is out now, published by Angry Robot.

Christophe Montoya

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COMIC REVIEW - Knights of the Old Republic: War # 001 The Review: This is the first issue in a five issue mini-series set during the peak of the Old Republic’s rule of the Star Wars galaxy. Specifically, this story is set about 3,963 years before the events of Episode IV: A New Hope). The main star is in this tale is Zayne Carrick, an ex-Jedi Padawan. Zayne has joined a militia group on his home planet and is now fighting in the war against the Mandalorians.

Writer: John Jackson Miller Penciller: Andrea Mutti Inker: Gigi Baldassini Colorist: Michael Atiyeh Cover Artist: Benjamin Carré Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

The Blurb: If you’ve ever heard of the Knights of the Old Republic video games and comics but didn’t know where to start-this is it! The Republic and the Mandalorians are at war! Jedi are joining the fight, despite the non-interference stance of the Council. One Jedi, however, has found himself on the front lines against his wishes-the peace-loving Zayne Carrick has been drafted! • The return of one of the most popular eras in Star Wars video games and comics! • The perfect entry point into the Star Wars galaxy! 36

If you are fan of the Star Wars comics, you may remember Zayne Carrick as the main character in the Knights of the Old Republic series that wrapped up recently. This series takes place soon after the events in that series. The issue is billed by Dark Horse as a great jumping on point for the Star Wars universe which is only partly true. You can read this issue without ever having read another Star Wars comic or book, all the information you need to follow the plot is there. However since there are no familiar characters from the films or even the games set in and around this time period, you might find it hard to get emotionally invested in the story. Because of this, the twist at the end of the issue has no weight to it and falls flat. There just isn’t enough here to make you want to follow Zayne into the next issue. On the other hand, if you have read the fifty issues of Knights of the Old Republic then perhaps you will already have connected with the character and that will be enough

to push you through the remainder of the mini-series. The art is similar to every other Star Wars comic out there at the moment. It’s not the greatest but it is far from the worst art on display in the current market. The action scenes are vibrant and full of movement and the character moments are well presented with expressive faces and good pacing. Average art and average story lead to a very average Star Wars comic. Yes this is a jumping on point in a sense but there are much better jumping on points out there in Dark Horse’s Star Wars back catalogue. If you are a fan of the Old Republic time frame then you’ll likely enjoy this issue. Matt Pease Rating:

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GAME REVIEW - Star Marine: Infinite Ammo

Publisher: Glitchsoft

The Blurb: Star Marine: Infinite Ammo is the definitive Run n’ Gun experience! You play as Arc, a battle hardened drifter who is captured by an alien race in the depths of space. Arc’s capturers plan to enslave him and put his strength to work. But, Arc has other plans. He is a trained and elite Star Marine and in a fury of bullets he is going to take them all

The Review I love my iPhone, and it has probably become my primary gaming device, having such a wide selection of games in my pocket is great. Many iOS games are quick, easy to play time-killers and others require a lot of time and effort to master, Star Marine is definitely one of the latter. After getting the game setup done you’re launched into the Prelude level. We learn, by way of a cool comic panel cutscene, that Arc took a shortcut (from where? to where?) through a hostile planetary system and was forced land due to a spaceship malfunction. Don’t you just hate those? Upon landing he’s greeted by some mean looking robots, taken to their ship and held

captive. So, the story’s solid. Convenient, but solid. There is nothing new but this setup does its job in creating a ‘believable’ situation that you have to run n’ gun you’re way out of. All it comes down too really is that if you want a deep story from a video game, then iOS games probably aren’t the best place to look, and least of all side-scrollers, these are all about the gameplay and graphical design. Arc’s handcuffs explode and you’re immediately faced with some running and some gunning. It’s here we learn the controls, which are probably the best side-scrolling touch controls out there. I think they work especially well because instead of having a tiny virtual button to mash, you have a virtual analogue stick to twizzle around in order to shoot stuff. This control setup (my favourite of all the iOS control schemes) is by far my favourite thing about the game. The graphics are great too, a real throwback to retro Mega

Drive games. Although the first few levels are a bit same-y, the settings definitely follow genre conventions. From grey space stations to sandy planets; Star Marine takes you across the universe. The character designs are good and

you can definitely spot some of the developers’ influences from other video games. The main robot enemies look like something out of Halo, Arc himself looks like he’s wearing N7 armor and I even thought I saw a Venonat at one point in the grassy level (where else?!). The weapons look awesome too and once fully kitted-out, they do tons of damage. Despite traveling to all these different locations and meeting various evil-looking bad guys, Glitchsoft do a great job of bringing consistency and solidarity to the gameplay. Another fantastic aspect of Star Marine is the audio, which makes a great accompaniment to the gameplay. Everything from the epic soundtrack during the title screen to the ‘pew pew’ of the assault rifle, it’s all there as expected from a neoretro game. However, nothing is perfect. And you’ll find the imperfections very early on in the game. You get chucked in right at the deep end with loads of enemies, which sounds fun, but I found those first few levels incredibly hard. I was stuck for a couple of days on the first three missions, having to start over and try different upgrades at different points in the game (little tip: upgrade the assault rifle and Arc’s health straight away, that will help immensely). I think the main reason for this is that there are no degrees of difficulty; there’s just the one, which seems impossible to start with. The enemies seem to do as much damage to you 39

Geek Syndicate as you do to them. This isn’t necessarily the best thing with this style of gameplay, making Arc feel a lot less badass and kind of like he deserved to be captured. New weapons and some of the upgrades will cost you plenty of ‘gems’ (the in-game currency), which are very hard to come by at the beginning. There is the option to pay real money for the gems which leads me to believe Glitchsoft’s business plan relies on us buying those via in-app

purchases. I could go into a huge debate about whether paying more for the game and having no in-app purchases vs. a cheaper game and buying extras. I know developers need to make money, or we wouldn’t have games to play.

I guess it comes down to personal choice. What would you rather do? Having said all that, once you get into the rhythm of the game, and I recommend that you do, it’s great fun and the upgrades and new weapons are a brilliant incentive to keep playing.

Tom Rating:

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BOOK REVIEW - Empire State By Adam Christopher The Review: The debut novel by Britishbased New Zealander Adam Christopher arrives with a noir super powered punch. The fiftieth novel to be published by Angry Robot has shown exactly why they were excited to sign him up back in March last year.

Aurhor: Adam Christopher Publisher: Angry Robot Publishing

The Blurb: The stunning superhero-noir fantasy thriller set in the other New York. It was the last great science hero fight, but the energy blast ripped a hole in reality, and birthed the Empire State – a young, twisted parallel prohibition-era New York. When the rift starts to close, both worlds are threatened, and both must fight for the right to exist. Adam Christopher’s stunning debut novel heralds the arrival of an amazing new talent.

Empire State is a story of superheroes in a city divided in two. Detective Rad Bradbury picks up the trail of a murderer, only to discover that the world he has always known is in a pocket universe, recently brought into existence by an explosion of phenomenal power. With a superhero on his tail he crosses into a city that bears a remarkable resemblance to his own – a city called New York. There he uncovers a deadly threat to the Empire State, and finds that the futures of both realities are at stake. We are immediately drawn into the world of Empire State following Private Detective Rad Bradbury in his quest to find a murderer. The noir setting of thirties New York is a welcome break from other scifi novels and although there have been countless books set in this era this somehow manages to feel fresh. The main reason for this is that here we encounter robots, superheroes, alternate universes’ and one hell of a mystery.

The story unfolds steadily giving clues along the way that lead to a busy but satisfying finale that will keep you guessing right up to the last page. What Christopher has done is not create but rather solidified the foundations for a sub-genre of sci-fi with this book and you hope that this is not the last time we visit the Empire State as it seems a far too interesting place to visit just once. The characters are well drawn with the required flaws in place and although some are give enough back-story others are left purposely blank which is fine in this instance as we prefer to concentrate on the mystery at hand. The style of Christopher’s writing is a visual one that allows you to easily imagine Empire State and it’s citizens. In fact you could easily see this as a graphic novel in the future. Overall this is an excellent first novel for Angry Robot and Adam Christopher and shows that there are some publishers out there willing to take a chance on original concepts and ideas that expand and compliment the genre. Also a big shout out to the cover for a totally cool and retro design.

Christophe Montoya

Rating:

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COMIC REVIEW - XIII Vol 10: El Cascador The Review:

Writer: Jean Van Hamme Artist: William Vance Publisher: Cinebook

The Blurb: Captured and imprisoned in the Roca Negra fortress, XIII is being tortured by the sinister Colonel Peralta. But, for all his pain and suffering, he’s also in the same building as Maria, the woman who may be his wife. And they have plenty of dedicated, resourceful friends outside… as well as at least one traitor. Still unsure of his past, Jason McLane will have no choice but to become the man known as “El Cascador” to clean up Costa Verde once and for all.

Here we are again back in the Franco-Belgian comic scene courtesy of Cinebook, and what a corker I’ve got for you his time! The set up will be familiar to anyone who’s read, seen or heard of The Bourne Identity, which the unfailingly accurate Wikipedia cites as the direct inspiration for this incredible comic series. A man is washed ashore suffering from acute memory loss. As he tries to unravel the secrets of his past he faces danger, finds he has extraordinary skills and knowledge and, in the process, discovers he is embroiled in conspiracies of the highest level. Played by all sides for all kinds of reasons, he just wants to get to the truth about his past. How he does so is just the beginning of his epic story. I first came across this amnesiac mercenary about ten years ago when I picked up a Playstation 2 game called XIII. It was a first person shooter but it had a real style all of its own, using a comic-based graphic design and cel-shading technology, it had oodles of storytelling tricks and a plotline to die for. I never fully completed it (and have long since passed it on) but the opening scenes always stayed with me. I was excited to discover that the story was an adaptation of a comic book series and thrilled to be sent a volume for review. The fact that it is written by the spectacularly talented Jean Van Hamme puts the icing on the cake. However, the fact that this is Volume ten gave me pause for thought.

Jean Van Hamme does a bang up job in bringing us up to speed from page one though. The whole saga is a long complicated story, and should ideally be read in order, but it was great to discover that everything I really need to know for the tale of ‘El Cascador’ is contained in this one volume. Sure there are mentions made of past events and one or two assumptions that have to be made about character relationships, but the quality of the writing makes that a pleasure, not a chore. The whole point of this kind of tale is unravelling the truth after all... The artist here is William Vance and he does a fabulous job throughout. His opening page has all the detail and realism of Philippe Francq’s work in Largo Winch, but with the added beauty of a painted skyscape against which the evil corporate empire stamps its mark. SPOILERS AHEAD! Once the big bad business boys have set up where McLane (a.k.a. XIII) is, we are plunged straight over to the hellish island prison of Roca Negra for a bit of hero-torture. Rain drenches the first twenty pages, dirtying up the action to cinematic effect. I have never seen the environment characterised to better effect, and the ensuing rescue mission beats the hell out of most POW movies. Once they’ve escaped, XIII and fellow prisoner Maria (a woman who may or may not be his wife) run the gauntlet through crocodile infested

Geek Syndicate swamps to meet up with the Costa Verdean resistance. It’s all going on here! ‘El Cascador,’ the figurehead of revolution, is needed to restore justice to this tropical nation and whether he likes it or not XIII is being cast in that part. With betrayal and dirty politics muddying the waters he’ll be lucky to survive, let alone escape the country to pursue his own agenda. The character work is solid in the hands of both writer and artist. The difficulty with this kind of story is the swift turnaround of guest characters, each needing to be given a sense of personality without

a vast explanatory backstory. For the most part they do a grand job (crazy priest guy being a particular stand out for me) but when half the people are keeping secrets from the other half and the main character doesn’t know who he is, it can be pretty trickly to portray fully-rounded people. The twists and turns keep the old grey matter humming along as the story shifts gear from POW to revolution to courtroom saga, and the personal revelations at the end will have a solid impact on readers who have been tangled up in the journey since Volume 1. I could go on for-

ever about plot intricacies and cinematic set pieces but I don’t want to waste any more of your time. You need to buy these books and read them as soon as humanly possible. I am certainly eager to return to the beginning and catch up to date. I strongly suggest you all join me - that is if you’re not one of those people stamping their feet and shouting at me for being so slow to the party. Rating:

Dion Winton-Polak

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COMIC REVIEW - Avatar The Last Airbender: The Promise Pt 1 in the family can enjoy. Secondly, it has all you could ever want in a TV series, whether it’s romance, conflict or comedy. Finally, it’s a story that can be told in any medium (or nearly any medium). I still haven’t seen the live action film for myself.

Writer: Gene Luen Yang Art And Cover: Gurihiru Letterer: Michael Heisler Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

The Blurb: “The wait is over! Ever since the conclusion of Avatar: The Last Airbender, its millions of fans have been hungry for more–and it’s finally here! This series of digests rejoins Aang and friends for exciting new adventures, beginning with a faceoff against the Fire Nation that threatens to throw the world into another war, testing all of Aang’s powers and ingenuity!” • The continuation of Airbender and the link to its upcoming sequel, Legend of Korra! You know what’s great about Avatar the Last Airbender, besides the name Smellerbee? First off, Avatar the Last Airbender is a show that everyone

So what happens when Avatar: the Last Airbender goes from Nickelodeon cartoon to comic book series? You get a book that you wish would be animated immediately! Gene Luen Yang is not a name familiar to fans of the Avatar cartoon, but readers may know his most popular work, American Born Chinese. This was a fantastic, fun story and Yang does not slouch when it comes to telling the further journeys of Avatar Aang. With Gene Yang is the art team of Gurihiru (Thor and the Warriors Four, World War Hulks), and Michael Heisler (DV8, Global Frequency) as the letterer. Whoever gathered these four should be given a massive pat on the back, because this graphic novel is as close as you can get to watching the actual TV show. The Promise Part 1 takes off right after the events of the TV show ended. The Avatar has defeated the Fire Lord, and Zuko has taken his father’s place. All is not right in the world, though. Since the Avatar has fulfilled his destiny, Zuko now has the responsibility to help bring the nations together - so much easier said than done. Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph (my favorite!) are all showing

signs of maturity, of what they might become in adulthood. OK, except for Sokka; he is still very silly and gets the “oogies” from his sister and Aang kissing. A nice sign of the maturity of the characters comes when Zuko tells Aang that if he starts to show signs of following in his cruel fathers footsteps, Aang must make a harsh decision. This is the promise alluded to in the title and it seems like it is a harsher weight to put on Aang’s shoulders than when he had to defeat Lord Ozai. This is why I love Avatar: The Last Airbender so much. It’s at a level of maturity where you can enjoy the silly, fun adventures of Aang and his friends, then the more mature themes, like love, respect, politics and armed conflict come in, and that is when you learn that this show is extraordinary, not something to forget. I feel much the same way about Avatar: The Last Airbender The Promise Part 1. If you are like me, you often wonder if a licensed spin-off can carry on the work of the original, and with respect. In this case, there is no need to fear. In fact, it’s time to rejoice! Avatar The Last AirbenderThe Promise, Pt. 1 arrives in comic shops on January 25th and in book stores on February 7th. Rating:

Vichus Smith

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BOOK REVIEW - The Weird

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The first thing you notice about this book is the sheer size of it. It’s a huge book but one that you cannot wait to just jump in and start reading. The Editors Ann and Jeff Vandermeer have collected weird tales by over a hundred authors from over a hundred years. While some are well known, there are others you might not have heard of. This is truly a labour of love by the Vandermeers and I hope this inspires others to publish other works that are like this a mesmerizing read. Editors: Ann and Jeff Vandermeer Publisher: Corvus Books

The Blurb: From Lovecraft to Borges to Gaiman, a century of intrepid literary experimentation has created a corpus of dark and strange stories that transcend all known genre boundaries. Together these stories form The Weird and amongst its practitioners number some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature. Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities; you won’t find any elves or wizards here... but you will find the boldest and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled. The Weird features an all star cast of authors, from classics to international bestsellers to Booker prize winners.

The Web comic is published on Ann and Jeff Vandermeer’s Blog, Weird Fiction Review and can be summarised as: “Reading the Weird” is an ongoing exploration of The Weird: A Compendium of Strange & Dark Stories conducted by Leah Thomas. The webcomic follows the journey of Mary and Ed through ever stranger landscapes and encounters, seemingly influenced by the stories in the anthology.”

The contributing authors come from all over the world with some of best weird tales carefully selected and placed together in this dark and wonderful collection. The authors include H.P. Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, China Mieville, Clive Barker and a whole host of others.

The book includes a ForeWeird by Michael Moorcock and a AfterWeird by China Mieville which adds another level of class to this book. So take a deep breath and find a dark room and then start to read, if you survive then congratulations on surviving The Weird.

Some of these stories will keep you up at night and some will leave you looking behind you when you walk. This truly is a great collection of stories for any fan of the genre but also any fan of excellent writing.

Rating:

Christophe Montoya

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All the stories are in chronological publishing order starting with Alfred Kubin’s excellent The Other Side (1908) and ending 106 stories later with K.J. Bishop’s Saving the Gleeful Horse (2010). It would be hard to select a favourite as they are all there for various reasons. In fact reading The Weird is such an emotional ride that Leah Thomas has is producing a twelve part web comic to visualise it. 51

Geek Syndicate TV REVIEW - Sherlock Series 2

attention of viewers around the world and we have been crying out for more.

Episode 1 – A Scandal in Belgravia Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr Watson (Martin Freeman) are sent by Sherlock’s brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) to investigate a potential case of blackmail that threatens to topple the monarchy. The duo find links between the case and the CIA, the British government and a beautiful but dangerous woman named Irene Adler (Lara Pulver) who is as ruthless and brilliant as Sherlock himself. Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr Watson (Martin Freeman) are sent by Sherlock’s brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) to investigate a potential case of blackmail that threatens to topple the monarchy. The duo find links between the case and the CIA, the British government and a beautiful but dangerous woman named Irene Adler (Lara Pulver) who is as ruthless and brilliant as Sherlock himself. We have been waiting patiently for new episodes of Sherlock for over a year. I say patiently, but some of us have missed the show far too much. The first season grabbed the 52

Series one left us on a cruel cliff hanger. Sherlock was facing down his mysterious adversary Moriarty (Andrew Scott), with laser-targetting pointers lighting the detective up. This cliff hanger left audiences screaming at their TV screens in frustration, and almost everyone had an idea of how the scene was going to play out. It’s a pretty safe bet that noone saw an intervention from the Bee Gees coming! As this episode begins, the Mexican standoff quickly comes to an end, leaving Sherlock and Watson free to get involved with a new mystery.

Lara Pulver turns up the sexual tension in her role as “The Woman”, aka Irene Adler, a noted dominatrix who is in possession of delicate information about one of the royal family. Adler takes Sherlock on from the moment she meets

him; she arrives to their meeting naked, and the flirtation between the two continues. This notion of love or attraction seems an alien concept to Sherlock to begin with, but he soon falls foul of the cunning woman’s charms, and we see a new side to the inscrutable consulting detective. Although Sherlock and Adler appear to be on opposite sides, it becomes clear that the detective has a respect for The Woman. She plays the game almost as well as he does. While the mystery is intriguing, what is more interesting is the interaction between Sherlock and Adler. When the episode finally comes galloping to an end, the audience is left wondering whether Sherlock was ever really duped, or whether he was playing the game on all levels. Sherlock was criticised in the past for lacking a protagonist with compassion, but Sherlock’s involvement with Adler shows us another side to the character and succeeds in cracking the cold veneer built up around Sherlock. Also, he apologises to someone who his brusque nature offended. Progress indeed. The new episode of Sherlock has done something we were afraid it may not be able to; topped the episodes that have gone before. The writing is absolutely top notch and, as usual, has the audience solving the mystery along with Sherlock and Watson. The interactions between the characters are both funny and touching, and Sherlock himself has not lost any of the stubbornness and

Geek Syndicate eccentric charm that made us love him in the first place. The quirky visual touches are still there; text messages are displayed on screen and a mystery is solved through Sherlock and Adler’s collective imagination. There is also the addition of slow motion, which may or may not be a concession to Guy Ritchie’s version of the character. Whatever the case, it is used well – and only once – which gives the scene the right kind of action and leg work. This is the episode of Sherlock that the audience – and the character – deserves. While the first series’ cliff hanger comes to a soft end, the story that follows ramps up the tension and mystery and wraps this new version of the character in his creator’s words. No mean feat. Sherlock continues to surprise and captivate in this excellent follow up to a greatly surprising first season.

Last episode, Sherlock examined the idea of the title character being able to give and receive love. This week, we learn even more about the enigmatic consulting detective, and the cracks made in his cool veneer by Irene Adler grow a little bit wider. Sherlock is thrown into turmoil for one all too brief scene and we see a little deeper into the man himself. The Hound of the Baskervilles slightly renamed by writer Gatiss – is arguably the most famous story in the Sherlock Holmes canon, but it is also one that does not have Sherlock at the centre of it, and this could be why this episode is slightly less brilliant than the season premiere. Before you get all up in arms, I didn’t say it was bad, just slightly less brilliant.

Episode 2 – The Hounds of Baskerville Sherlock and Watson are drawn out of London by an intriguing mystery. A young man, Henry Knight, turns up at Baker Street begging Sherlock to solve the mystery of his dead father, and the monster that stalks him in the wilds of Dartmoor. Sherlock and Watson are drawn out of London by an intriguing mystery. A young man, Henry Knight, turns up at Baker Street begging Sherlock to solve the mystery of his dead father, and the monster that stalks him in the wilds of Dartmoor.

Once Sherlock and Watson get outside London, Sherlock seems to be thrown by the fact that he is no longer in a big city that he knows intimately. He allows Watson to take control of the situation – to a point – and even goes so far as to drive a car. It seems strange to see Sherlock behind the wheel of a car; he is the type of impulsive character who does not always operate in the real world, and the

fact that he is allowed to operate heavy machinery is weird. Sherlock steps back and allows Watson to do some investigating on his own and to pull rank at the Ministry of Defence station that they investigate. This may be a logical step in the relationship between Watson and Sherlock – Watson even makes some clever deductions when the doorbell is rung – but when it comes down to it, Sherlock is still the one who solves the mystery. We get a deeper glimpse into the character of Sherlock this week. When he sees something that he could not possibly have seen, but cannot doubt the reliability of his eyes, Sherlock is entirely thrown, shaken and afraid. This is the first time that the detective has seen the mystery he is solving as anything other than a game, and it serves to allow the audience to understand him a little more and for him to open up and finally tell Watson that he considers him a friend. As with episode one, we have another huge development with the character whohas always been something of a one-man wolf pack in the past. Speaking of wolves, Being Human’s Russell Tovey turns up this week as the man who is being terrorised by the hound on the moor. Tovey is on fine form as Henry Knight, but this may not have been the best role for him. This is nothing to do with his performance – he is great as always – but the fact that he has just finished up on Being Human, a show in which he played a werewolf, and now he is turning up again in an episode of a BBC drama that 53

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is reigned over my a massive hound. Dogs are a subspecies of the wolf, you know. At first, it is hard for the audience to shake the notion that this is a secret episode of Being Human, which is a shame for Tovey. Is it possible to be typecast as an actor who has strong ties to the wolf? Is that a bad thing?

If this wasn’t an episode of Sherlock – which has proven, time and again that it is a cut above the average TV show – this would be an excellent episode, but when the memory of last week’s episode A Scandal in Belgravia is so fresh, it is hard not to be disappointed. It is just not a very Sherlock-y episode. The lead character takes a back seat – as he does in the original story – and only has one incredible deductive scene. There are issues with including too much of Sherlock’s method, but this week we see too little of it. London has almost become a character of itself in the show, so when that is removed, along with the leading man, the episode suffers. Also, there is 54

barely a trace of Moriarty and Mrs Hudson to be seen; both are characters that keep Sherlock in his place, but this week, it is fear that dominates. Mark Gatiss has done a great job in adapting the story, the best he could – and he knows horror – and there would surely have been a fan outcry if the story had not been told, but this is a weaker episode than we are used to. Not to focus on the negative though; the dialogue is still top rate, and Sherlock uses some quick little tricks to get answers, and the best of the people around him. There is also a great scene where Sherlock uses his ‘mind palace’ to connect the dots of the case, and an oppressive air of suspense hangs over the episode, which keeps the audience guessing. It is clear that the show is ramping up to another fantastic finale – Sherlock’s fear of Moriarty is finally revealed this week – so we can look forward to that, but in a bittersweet irony, the episode we are looking forward to most, will be the last for a while.

Episode 3 – The Reichenbach Fall James Moriarty (Andrew Scott) pulls off the crime of the century; he breaks into The Tower of London, The Bank of England and Pentonville Prison at the same time. Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John (Martin Freeman) knew that Moriarty would not stay hidden for long, but they did not expect him to return with such a bang. Now it is up to Sherlock to

solve Moriarty’s ‘Final Problem’ while holding on to his reputation, sanity and his life. Can Sherlock outwit his nemesis before it’s too late? If series one of Sherlock was about building the mystery of the title character and his world, then series two has been about tearing it down. Episode one saw Sherlock’s cool façade crack when confronted with a woman he admired, episode two saw his sanity and his rationale come in to question and now Moriarty returns with the biggest challenge that Sherlock has faced, one that stands to destroy everything that Sherlock holds dear. After the slightly weaker second episode, Sherlock returns to our screens with what is possibly the best episode we have seen so far. Steve Thompson – who penned the episode of Doctor Who; The Curse of the Black Spot – has created a tangled web of mystery and intrigue. Almost every character we have encountered so far – from Mycroft to Lestrade and everyone in between – is drawn in somehow, and Moriarty sits at the centre, as Sherlock notes; like a spider. Moriarty pulls the strings and watches everyone dance. Steve Thompson has taken Conan Doyle’s story, The Final Problem and brought it into the modern day. While the elements of the story remain the same – Sherlock and Moriarty finally face off, and Watson is distracted by a hoax report of an ailing woman – most of the story is used as inspiration, rather than told verbatim. The story takes place in Lon-

Geek Syndicate don; Sherlock has reached the height of his fame after the recovery of a Turner painting, aptly titled The Reichenbach Falls, and Moriarty returns with the intent of bringing him down and solving “The Final Problem”. The games that Moriarty plays are designed to make Sherlock – and his adoring public – doubt the evidence of his own mind, but after his breakthrough in The Hounds of Baskerville, Sherlock may not be as easily fooled as Moriarty hopes. Benedict Cumberbatch is on fine form in the title role. His performance is suffused with a melancholy that suggests the character is aware of the fate that awaits him. This foreshadowing leads to Moriarty being able to finally confront Sherlock but we always knew that while Moriarty may be one step ahead of Sherlock, it is hard to pull the wool over his eyes. While Sherlock’s trademark smart statements are fully evident at the start of the episode, as time goes on, he appears to be worn down by the gravity of the situation he is facing. His final phone call to John is heartbreaking in its sincerity and frustrating in its simplicity, but also serves to remind us that Sherlock is merely playing the role that Moriarty expects of him. Martin Freeman is absolutely heartbreaking as John Watson, the man who has lost his tenuous hold on the new life he found after he returned from Afghanistan. His grudging admission of the reason he returned to therapy after an 18month break throws a shadow

over the episode, and gives the audience something to hope for… and against. Martin Freeman allows John Watson to be lost without his friend, and his devastation matches the audiences’ as we fear we may lose the best character we have seen on screen in years. As always, John is a sounding board for Sherlock, but for the first time Sherlock begins to push his friend and confidant away, confusing and hurting John, which means that his eventual heartbreak is only greater – he thought he would be able to win Sherlock back, but loses his chance.

The star of the show, however, has to be Andrew Scott as Moriarty. Not only does he get to become the criminal mastermind we always knew he was, he gets to dress up in the Crown Jewels and deliver some absolutely first class lines, including; “Every fairy tale needs a good, old fashioned villain” and “Suddenly, I’m Mr. Sex”. Scott throws out these lines with such aplomb that he steers clear of comedy and becomes egotistical and deliciously malicious. Moriarty is a chameleon, and has taken on the power of disguise that Sherlock uses in the original books, albeit for a different reason. Holmes disguises himself to evade capture, whereas Moriarty blends in with the intent of furthering Sherlock’s

disgrace and potential insanity. And he does it with style… This episode is a return to form for Sherlock. We see the consulting detective at his best – solving the mystery of two kidnapped children – while he struggles with his demons and, ultimately, his mortality. The consulting criminal is at the peak of his powers and he plays mind games with Sherlock in the hopes of toppling him from his throne. London returns as the backdrop to the episode, and also as a character of itself. The text on screen is still there, as well as a great sequence with a map in Sherlock’s imagination. The editing, dialogue and an unusual use of music add to the pace, and while there is a lot going on, the problem is finally and fatally solved. This is the episode of Sherlock we have been waiting for and it is outstanding. There are thrills, spills and plenty of mystery. It is possible that Gatiss and Moffat could put an end to the series here, but with 9 million viewers tuning in to A Scandal in Belgravia, it hardly seems likely. While we are not left with as painful a cliff hanger as at the end of the last season, the end of the episode is sure to leave audiences screaming in frustration. We look forward to welcoming Sherlock back to our screens; after all, there is one final mystery he has not solved… That of his own death. Rating:

Brogen Hayes

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DVD REVIEW - Largo Winch: The Burma Conspiracy tarian efforts. Largo is warned that the venture will upset the balance of things and bring the wrath of his enemies down upon him. Anyone who’s seen the first film or read the comics knows that Largo isn’t one to take threats lying down and proceeds with the sale quoting that “A man without enemies is no man at all”.

Writers: Julien Rappeneau & Jérôme Salle

Director: Jérôme Salle Starriing: Tomer Sisley

The Blurb: Largo Winch, the newly appointed CEO of the W Group, is accused of crimes against humanity on the very day he announces his intention to sell his corporation and use the proceeds to create a humanitarian foundation.

The Review: What do you do when you inherit a multi-billion dollar company from your estranged father? You sell it of course! Well you do if your name is Largo Winch anyway. The sequel to Largo Winch: Deadly Revenge, based on the bestselling European comic, sees our sassy CEO of the W group planing to sell off the company and donate the proceeds of the sale to humani56

True to form his enemies move against him, both in the boardroom and out of it, leaving our young billionaire on the run from a corrupt Burmese general, a band of ruthless mercenaries and a shady businessman intent on owning the W group at any cost. Oh and there’s Sharon Stone (yep that Sharon Stone) as a

dogged prosecutor who is all set to bring Largo up on war crime charges on an act she claims was bought and paid for by Largo late father Nerio. If you’ve watched the first Largo Winch film then The Burma Conspiracy holds no real surprises. There seemed to be less action this time around although when it does come, it’s worth the wait. There’s one hell of a car chase in the opening of the film and a spectacular skydiving fight at the climax of film, not to mention some brutal fist fights in between.

Tomas Sisley, playing Largo for the second time has cemented himself in my mind as Largo and I would be hard pushed to see anyone else in the role if they did a third film. Sisley did a lot of his own stunts in the film it adds even more to the character as Largo is never one to shy away from the action in the comics. Although Tomei doesn’t really resemble Largo as drawn in the comics he has style, swagger and kick ass moves when required that I’ve come to expect from Van Hamme’s character. The DVD I was sent did

not come with any extras, except the trailer, but some production videos, particularly on the task of adapting the film from the comics would have been a welcome addition. One of the great things about the comic series is the mix of back room business dealings and action, with each given equal billing and this template is carried into the film. I think the film deals with the business side of things a little more simply than the comics but it still works well for the most part. There’s a lot to like about the Burma Conspiracy but most of this comes from the films’ lead Tomas Sisley as Winch. Sharon Stone trying to sass it

Geek Syndicate up as a UN prosecutor charged with bringing Largo to justice for war crimes feels a little like stunt casting and she just seems out of place. The bad guys are pretty two dimensional and not much substance to any of them, save the chief mastermind The plot is ok with a couple of nice twists but seems to wrap everything up a little too neatly for me and when the mastermind behind Largo’s latest

woes is reveals it doesn’t really come as much of a shock. Overall, this sequel is a weaker effort than the first film which had better story, action and characters. There was something fresh about the first Largo Winch film compared to a lot of other action films where as the sequel felt much more like them, which is a shame.

Largo Winch: The Burma Conspiracy may not set the world alight and be pretty forgettable once you’ve seen it but it’s an entertaining thriller with some fantastic action sequences which make it an enjoyable watch. Largo Winch: The Burma Conspiracy is out now,   Rating:

Barry Nugent

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COMIC REVIEW - Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #002 Eclipse.” At an elegant embassy soirée in the Corporate Sector, Cross locks his sights on the Stark family. Before the evening is over, more than one player will be out of the game–and Cross will be wanted for murder!

The Review:

Writer: John Ostrander Penciller: Stéphane Roux Inker: Julien Hugonnard-Bert Colorist: Wes Dzioba Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

The Blurb: Undercover as a diplomatic attaché, Imperial agent Jahan Cross continues his investigation into the stolen droid technology and the mysterious project known as “Iron

Last issue was a great introduction to all the characters and themes of what is shaping up to be one of my favourite Star Wars comic series so far and issue 2 does nothing to change my opinion. This issue plays out exactly as “James Bond in the Star Wars Universe” should. It has the party scene where Jahan Cross gets to showcase his smooth talking; it has a hot sex scene with a sexy Nautalan and then there’s an awesome fight/chase scene. The writing is excellent, Agents reads much more like a Sean Connery James Bond comic with a Star Wars filter thrown over it, and that is absolutely fine by me. Star Wars comics have a tendency to be

the same story over and over again with slight differences whereas this series offers a completely new and fresh approach to Star Wars and it’s a welcome change of pace. The art by Stéphane Roux is stunning, particularly the women he draws. A lot of this issue is set at a party so there isn’t much action, however these scenes are full of detail and characters that they are in no way as boring as they could have been. The few action scenes that we do get are quick, fluid and beautifully drawn. This issue presents a great story, supplemented by excellent art and James Bond themes which make this a must read series for all Star Wars fans. This a great part of what is shaping up to be a great series.

Matt Pease Rating:

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Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #002 Page 01

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Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #002 Page 02

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COMIC REVIEW - Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #002

Writers: Michael Gosden, David White and Ricky Miller Artists: Ricky Miller, Steven Horry and Tim Bird Cover: Rebecca Strickson Publisher: Avery Hill

The Blurb: Reads, from Avery Hill Publishing, is a collection of work by some of the UK’s best new comics creators. 48 pages of sequential joy from Tim Bird, Michael Gosden, Steve Horry, Ricky Miller and David White, with a wrap around cover by Rebecca Strickson

The Review: Reads by Avery Hill Publishing is a collection of four quite different stories. The included tales range from magic to death by a spear to struggling with the human condition in the twenty first century and finally to indie music. This anthology is a breath of fresh air in the indie comic scene providing us with something that is top quality and quirky at the same time. 60

The cover, which portrays the various characters within the anthology is nicely drawn by Rebecca Strickson and really made me want to open up the book to see what was inside. The first story (Revenge of the Dinosaurs by Steven Horry and Ricky Miller) is an interesting, well-told tale. All the basics are there from the beats to page breakdowns. Page three’s interplay with structure to page four’s symmetry are clever tools which are used effectively. It was a smart move by the editor to put this story first as it intrigues the reader and will make you want to read on. The breaks in the story are clever. They are stark and different, feeling almost Warholesque. The second break in particular works very well. However the first feels slightly unwelcome.

If Revenge of the Dinosaurs had finished half way through the story it would have made me want to read the next publication. This break makes the reader feel that we are moving on to a new story. When we realise that we are getting part two, although you are happy you are also slightly disappointed that something new and interesting has not appeared, making this break feel somewhat pointless. A better structure would have been to have one of these breaks at the beginning of the story and another at the end (where the second one is). Bad Times Ahead by Michael Gosden and David White continues to show that structure can be flirted with. The opening page is cleverly shown as a document in a file. Even more intriguing are little touches by the creative team such as the fact that the name of the story is on the sides of the other documents in the file. The story like its predecessor breaks down well and keeps the momentum going. Suburban Dreamer by Tim Bird has a flavour of Kieron Gillen’s Phonogram. The writer/ artist uses a clever technique to show time and place changing. In the middle panel on the page we see a girl in one place. In the bottom panel on the page we see her legs (attached to herself in middle panel) in a different place. This is very effective, dragging the reader along for the journey. Writer/artist Ricky Miller works on multiple stories in this collection and should be credited

with bringing out some amazing moments. His panels are sharp and crisp. His ability to change his style is impressive and shows that he is an intriguing talent. His own story, Metroland, has a style that is reminiscent of Alan Moore’s classic From Hell but it tells a very different tale. It maintains the nine panel gird that Moore has become

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synonymous with. Further his drawing style has a flavour of Eddie Campbell. Miller’s pencils subtly develop through the script. They start off as quite scratchy yet by the end of part one his lines are becoming more bold and predominant. His style continues to develop with a beautiful panel reminiscent of the work by Lowry. This book managed to make

me want to read on, want to see what was going to happen next. Not many anthologies have this ability but this one managed to do it. I rarely enjoy an anthology as much as I enjoyed this one.

Rating:

Luke Halsall

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BOOK REVIEW - Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure er with a rich, bloody past and a way of inviting danger. You`d struggle to find someone with a soul as dark and troubled as his. But then a missing child, murdered and horribly mutilated, is discovered in an alley. And then another. With a mind as sharp as a blade and an old but powerful friend in the city, he`s the only man with a hope of finding the killer. If the killer doesn`t find him first. Author: Daniel Polansky Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

The Blurb: Welcome to Low Town. Here, the criminal is king. The streets are filled with the screeching of fish hags, the cries of swindled merchants, the inviting murmurs of working girls. Here, people can disappear, and the lacklustre efforts of the guard ensure they are never found. Warden is an ex-soldier who has seen the worst men have to offer; now a narcotics deal-

The Review: I’ll say off the bat that I really enjoyed this book. It had an engaging protagonist (despite his ugly features and uglier job) a fine sense of gutter level life and, most importantly, it was Different. If you think you’ve grown tired of fantasy novels, this is the kind of book that will make you think again. The shackles of High Fantasy have been thrown off by many authors in the last decade, seeking a stronger sense of believability to the characters and worlds they create.

Devices such as magic and monsters are used far more to flavour their worlds than to be the point of them. There is still very much a sense of experimentation of course, pushing the boundaries to see how far they can go. What Polansky brings to the party with Low Town is a world that blends the character beats and sensibility of pulp detective fiction with the trappings of magic. The detective in question here is The Warden, and in the grand old tradition of the genre he is a Romantic masquerading as a Cynic. Battered by a long life of conflict, broken by bad decisions and worse company, he has become the lowest form of life – a drug dealer. Low town is his domain and he defends his patch fiercely. There is a great sense of routine here: a life lived, with webs of connections, pasts poured over, regrets drowned with drink and (briefly) obliterated with chemicals. It’s a world brooding on the past, perfect for the author’s noirish aspirations. The status quo is shaken when he stumbles across the body of a child on his daily rounds. It’s the start of a pattern of disappearances that shakes 61

Geek Syndicate his community to the bones and – against his better judgement – Warden finds himself drawing on old skills and contacts to head an informal and increasingly dangerous investigation. Along the way he stirs up trouble through the underworld, the secret police and upwards through the sordid ranks of society to the cream and the scum above. He will stop at nothing to uncover the truth and protect his people – racking up enemies and burning bridges like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve always enjoyed detective stories in any medium and paradoxically the less I understand the plot the happier I am – secure in the knowledge that the writer will wrap everything up satisfactorily and the detective (being a smart man) will navigate the way at

least three good steps ahead of me. Now, I don’t know if I got ‘lucky’ or if it is an indication of a weakness in Polansky’s plotting, but I regret to say that I homed in on the villain from the moment they were introduced. Worse, I found that my belief in their guilt was unshaken – frustratingly – for the whole of the rest of the book. Damn it. I want to feel clever, but part of the joy of this kind of story is to be made suddenly to feel stupid too. Nevertheless, I found it a very readable book: well paced, full of character, action and events. The past was well documented in some particularly vivid flashback scenes (delving into The Warden’s boyhood and WWI-esque wartime experiences) that informed both his character and the

plot rather neatly. If asked, I would generally say that I don’t like first-person narration. It feels wrong. The voice can become preachy or drone on a bit, and just who are they talking to anyway? Well it works in detective fiction, and The Straight Razor Cure is no exception. Warden’s voice is disarming, as his tendency to undermine his intentions with noble actions. He”s his own worst enemy. Classic stuff. In terms of freshness and readibility I wanted to give it a 4/5, but if a dumb hack like me can unravel the grand plot waaay ahead of the detective I fear it slides to a ... ... ... Rating:

Dion Winton-Polak

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MOVIE REVIEW - The Muppets The Blurb:

Writers: Jason Segel & Nicholas Stolle Director: James Bobin 62

The world’s biggest Muppet fan, Walter, discovers a wicked plan to destroy the Muppet Theatre. Underneath the Muppets’ old stomping ground is a recently discovered oil field. To save the theatre, they need to raise $10 million. Walter, along with Gary and Mary, help Kermit to reunite the Muppets who are scattered around the world. Miss Piggy is the Plus-Size fashion editor for Vogue in Paris, Fozzie is in Reno with his tribute band “The Moopets”, Gonzo runs a plumbing empire and Animal is in therapy for anger management in a clinic in Santa Barbara. Together, the Mup-

pets plan The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever.

The Review: The Muppets are back in their brand new movie but it has been a few years since they were on screen in 2005 where they did not receive the warm response they were hoping for. Has the magic gone for good? or is time to play the music, time to light the lights, time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight? We are introduced to two brothers - Gary and Walter but these are not normal brothers. Gary is human but Walter is a Muppet. Through an early

Geek Syndicate montage we see how they both came to be huge Muppet fans with Walter becoming their number one fan. The film gets going when Gary invites Walter along to Los Angeles where he is celebrating his tenth anniversary with his girlfriend Mary. While visiting the nearly derelict Muppets Studios they stumble upon a plot to flatten the studio and dig for oil. Tracking down Kermit the Frog they hatch a plan to get the whole gang back and put on a special Muppet Show Telethon to raise the $10 million to save the studio. What follows is a fun montage of getting the band back together, think Blues Brothers and we get some cool music numbers until we are ready to start rehearsals for the telethon. Will they save their studio? Will they put the show on? Will Kermit and Miss Piggy finally find happiness? You just have to wait and see.

the bad guy is Chris Cooper who is just evil enough that you can enjoy booing and hissing him. The studio executive who gives Kermit a chance is Rashida Jones. Filling in as the traditional Muppet Show celebrity host is non other than Jack Black. As with any Muppet movie there is a whole host of cameos and all deliver. The movie is directed by James Bobin, in what is perhaps his biggest film to date. A few things impress me with Bobin, not only is he British which is a bold statement to be given one of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iconic franchises properties but he was instrumental in creating Ali G, Borat and Bruno so his humour is aimed normally at a more adult audience but here he did an amazing job of creating the perfect family friendly humour level. The film would not work without the brilliant story and script Nicholas Stoller and cast member Jason Segal. As previously mentioned Segal is a huge Muppet fan and it shows as this was by far the cleverest one of the bunch and it is possibly even the equal of The Muppets Christmas Carol in quality. The jokes are excellent with so many laugh-out-loud moments you cannot help but be swept up in the magic of this film.

The real stars of the film are, of course, the Muppets who all look great and it reminds you why you fell in love with them when you were younger and why you tuned into the show every week to see what would happen this time. My only gripe (and it is a small one) is that the story of Animal is a good idea but wasted here.

This is a perfect comeback for the great Muppets and it should be essential viewing for everyone who needs a laugh in their life. Welcome back Kermit and Co. You have been sorely missed.

Christophe Montoya GS Rating:

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The main cast consists of Jason Segal who also wrote the film (and is a self confessed Muppets nut) as Gary the loving human brother who will do anything for his little brother Walter. Amy Adams brings a sweet innocent vibe to Mary while channelling some of her Enchanted sweetness. Playing 63

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COMIC REVIEW - Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #001 in a five issue mini-series. I’ve been a huge fan of Lobster since I first saw him in the Hellboy story Conqueror Worm which prompted me to read all his other tales. Since then I’ve been closely following Dark Horse releases looking for the thirties pulp vigilante next appearance.

Writers: Mike Mignola & John Arcudi Artist: Tonci Zonjic Colorist: Dave Stewart Cover: Dave Johnson Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

The Blurb: When a tribe of phantom Indians start scalping policemen, Hellboy’s crime-fighting hero Lobster Johnson and his allies arrive to take on these foes and their gangster cronies!

The Review: The Burning Hand herald’s the welcome return of the man with the claw, Lobster Johnston, to the Dark Horse stable

In this first issue, we see little of Lobster himself and more of a female reporter looking into the mystery of ‘Indian ghosts’ roaming the streets of New York and culminating in the gruesome murder of a policeman. As the investigation continues, we are given hints of a deeper conspiracy. On its edges an even darker menace lurks. This was a great kick off to the series. Lobster’s introduction is fantastic but brief. In fact my only problem with this first issue is the fact that for a story called Lobster Johnston the main character doesn’t get much of a look in. However this is the first of a five issue tale so there’s plenty of time for Lobster to get his claw on with the bad guys. The art is moody, atmospheric and succeeds in depicting a sleazy view of prohibition New York. There were some similarities in art styles be-

tween this and Tommy Lee Edwards’ work on Turf. On a side note one of the bad guys has a scary resemblance to actor Peter Lorre (think the Maltese Falcon and a whole host of other black and white films) and I’ll be interested to know if this was intentional or not, There are a couple of characters out in the Caribbean who feel a little disjointed from the tale as presented but you just know that they are going to play a big part in the story as it rolls on. The issue is slower-paced than I was expecting with so much emphasis on the investigation, but that was no bad thing. However the final panel leaves you the impression that the action is really going to kick in for issue two. Burning Hand gets off to a great start and for a pulp fiend like me it was ticking all the boxes in terms of style and content. The lobster is back and I can’t wait to see him dispensing more justice next issue.

Rating:

Barry Nugent

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Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #001 Page 01

Geek Syndicate

Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #001 Page 02

Geek Syndicate

MOVIE PREVIEW - John Carter Geek Syndicate were lucky enough to get a special invite to a sneak peek at John Carter staring Taylor Kitsch and have to agree that this is one film worth waiting for. The event was kicked off by the producer telling us about the history of Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian Adventures of John Carter. He then discussed the cast and the director Andrew Stanton whose background has up till now been in animation at Pixar. To be more precise he has been involved in all three Toy Storyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and has directed Finding Nemo and Wall e. It was while completing Wall e that he started to search for his next project and he looked to his past and his childhood which is where his love of John Carter started. The screening involved a few clips from the film which showcased various aspects of the story. The first was set during Carterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time on Earth

before he arrives on Mars and shows us that there is more humour than first believed in the script. The other clips range from a first encounter to a prison break to a final stand and lastly a gladiatorial fight against the white apes. All o f these showed great promise for what could be a blockbuster with a heart and soul. At the end we were treated to the full trailer but in 3D which was a great idea as I was truly impressed by the 3D on display. I have seen quite a few 3D films some of which were filmed in the format and some that were converted post production all of which none have really grabbed me apart from animated films. John Carter, however looks like it could be a winner in 3D and I was suitably impressed.

ment of a animation director stepping into real life filming and had nothing but praise for Stanton. There was talk about the location filming in Utah which I have to agree was an inspired choice as it looks vast and alien like on screen. Various other questions were asked including the change of title by dropping Mars but overall you can tell this is a movie that a lot of people have faith in and from what I saw they have good reason to. Initially I had reservations about this film but now I have hope that this could be the sleeper hit of the year.

Christophe Montoya

Finally we had a Q&A with the visual effects supervisor and animation supervisor and John Carter himself Taylor Kitsch They all discussed the appoint-

Geek Syndicate COMIC PREVIEW - Stiffs

Stiffs is a bi-monthly five-issue mini series published by Dead Star Publishing and set for release in February 2012. It is written by some time stand up comedian Drew Davies, PJ Montgomery and Joe Glass (The Pride) with art by amazing up and comer Gavin Mitchell and colours by Adam Cadwell (The Everyday, Blood Blokes) and Kris Carter (Lou Scannon). Set in the dead end South Wales Valleys town of Cwm Mawr, Stiffs follows the adventures of Don Daniels and his talking monkey life mate Kenny McMonkey (donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ask!) as they discover that zombies and other monstrous beings stalk the Valley at night. Raised on a constant diet of rubbish horror films, heavy metal music and boredom, they do what any sane person would: become a pair of bad-ass, head-caving zombie hunters! Soon though, hunting the undead becomes a lot more than they bargained for when they uncover a threat far greater than any zombie. So they enlist a group of their friends to become a group of marginally competant monster hunters, sworn to keep the Valleys safe until they either die trying or get bored of it. Magic, women, guts, gore, and a chain-smoking, foul-mouthed monkey come together to make the craziest, funniest, most kick-ass action comic series of the year in Stiffs! 68

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MOVIE PREVIEW - Prometheus

A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. Director: Ridley Scott Writers: Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof Stars: Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Patrick Wilson 69

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COMIC PREVIEW - The Pride Issue #002

The Pride is a bi-monthly superhero adventure with a twist: the heroes are all LGBTQ! Written by Joe Glass, with art by the amazing up-and-comer Gavin Mitchell (Stiffs) and colours by Kris Carter (Lou Scannon). The series also features short back-up origin stories each issue from an array of great artists including Ryan Cody, Cory Smith, Marc Ellerby and many more! Coming from Deadstar Publishing. Do you feel like no one is representing you? That your voice isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t considered worth a damn, and your rights being ignored or trampled on? Things will get better, but someone has to make them better! And Fabman and The Pride think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the job for them! As Fabman gathers his team, a nefarious, shadowy plot may be getting ready to destroy them before they even begin. Can they make their voices heard? Can they make a change at all? And more importantly, are they ready to save the world, or die trying? In issue 2, the team comes together and starts training, but can Wolf rein in a group with such diverse and loud voices and opinions? And when danger strikes so close to home, will the team be able to save the day? Issue 2 of The Pride is coming soon, with issue one already available at all great comic stores!

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COMIC PREVIEW - Nosferatu Wars

When Steve Niles (Criminal Macabre, 30 Days of Night) premiered artwork from his upcoming collaboration with artist Menton3 (Monocyte, Proof: Endangered, Crawl to Me) via his Twitter feed, speculation and anticipation spread like wildfire across the Internet. Dark Horse is proud to announce that this new vampiric tale will premiere in Dark Horse Presents! The Black Plague was a time of death and misery . . . except for the undead. For vampires, the Black Death was a welcome relief from being hunted and a time of incredible growth for the undead. On the night of their wedding, two vampire lovers are torn apart and separated for five hundred years, setting off a sequence of events that will bring the modern world to its knees! “I haven’t been this excited about working on something in a long time. Menton3 is the perfect artist and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be doing this at Dark Horse,” Niles said. “This year I’m making a big push to become 100 percent creator owned. Nosferatu Wars will be a big part of that, I hope.”Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith redefined the vampire genre with the groundbreaking comic series 30 Days of Night in 2002.

Geek Syndicate ELEVATOR PITCH

What’s an Elevator Pitch? Imagine you have a comic that you’ve put a lot of work, life and soul into. You love it.You know others would to. You get into an elevator, maybe in a hotel at a convention. At the same time, in walks a wellknown editor. The doors close and you are alone. This is your chance - but you only have a short time to get your work noticed ... That’s the concept of Elevator Pitches. Provide us with a single sentence summarising your comic and another explaining why we should pick it up. Follow this up with a five page preview and the pitch is done - let the work sell itself. If you would like to submit a comic for this section, email: thegeeks@geeksyndicate.co.uk.

White Knuckle Elevator Pitch Writer: Cy Dethan Artist: Valia Kapadai Letterer: Nic Wilkinson Publisher: Markosia

What is White Knuckle? “White Knuckle is a complex and intense psychological thriller, distorting the ever-popular “retired gunslinger” motif into a rain-slick urban fantasy of murderous men and the needs that drive them.” Why should we pick this up? “Valia Kapadai turns her haunting style and nightmarish sensibilities loose on the story of a tormented former serial strangler who accidentally saves the life of his last victim’s grandson.”

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Halcyon & Tenderfoot Elevator Pitch Writer: Daniel Clifford Artist: Lee Robinson Publisher: Art Heroes Website: ArtHeroes.co.uk

What is Halcyon & Tenderfoot? “The 10-year-old sidekick and son of the world’s greatest superhero tries to live up to the public’s expectations and make a name for himself.” Why should we pick this up? “This is like the comic book version of a Pixar film; a fun adventure story with superheroes, robots and monsters - but with character depth that will keep more mature readers engaged when the fight scenes and explosions are over.”

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See you next Issue!