REVIEWS:
PROMETHEUS
THE MINISTER OF CHANCE
il v E Ten ots! p To ob e Th ovie R ology in s B-M Crim c i om ek Ge s in C g Dru
LAST DAYS
READS v2
Author Adam Nevill Interviewed
BAT vs SPIDER The Dark Knight Rises Reviewed
Avengers Vs X-Men: Act One Summarised www.geeksyndicate.co.uk
Amazing Spider-Man Reviewed
Upcoming Genre Novels AUGUST 2012
GS Issue 003 - Credits
Headlines From The Nuge Room:
Cover Design:
Hammer Comics Teaches the Craft of Comics
Antony Thickitt Designer:
Antony Thickitt
SMEG! It’s the New Red Dwarf Trailer Tudors Star to Play Dracula in New Show
Editors:
Jurassic Park IV Claws its Way onto Screens in 2014
Barry Nugent & Antony Thickitt
Blake’s 7 Reboot on the Way
Contribuors:
Jackie Earle Haley Joins Cast of Robocop Reboot
Antony Thickitt
Man of Steel Teaser Trailer Debuts at Last
Barry Nugent
More Details Emerge from the Northants International Comics Expo 2012
Christophe Montoya Dean Simons Leo Johnson Liz De Jager Luke Halsall Matt Farr Michelle Lacey Phil Ambler Ronald Singh Sharlene Mousfar Yan Williamson Geek Syndicate Comic:
Harold Jennett III
One Man Star Wars/Lord of the Rings Returns to Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Walking Dead #100 is the Best-Selling Comic of the 21st Century The Makers of Spooks and Life on Mars to Bring ‘Utopia’ to Channel 4 Gears of War: Judgement. Gears Prequel Gets A Release Month SDCC 2012 – Neil Gaiman Reveals He Will Be Returning to Sandman Ben Whishaw Confirmed as Q for SkyFall! Mighty Marvel Shakeup: Final Issues and The Dawn of the Marvel NOW! Era in October Seeds the Animated Film on the Way Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote – Coming Soon! Magneto becomes the lead in Assassin’s Creed movie adaptation Sky to Air Elementary in the UK There Can Only Be One Ryan Reynolds Bates Motel Opening (on TV) in 2013
Typesetting:
GS Banner - Copperplate Bold Cover Text - Century Gothic Main Text - Nobile (Oben Font Licence)
Chuck’s Yvonne Strahovski Joins Dexter’s 7th Season TRAILER: Indiana Jones – The Complete Adventures
Contents
Geek Syndicate
Features
Editorial ................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 TECHNOLOGY - As a geek, where should I invest my cash in the very crowded tablet market? ..................... 5 MORE THAN RATINGS: The Unlikely Survival of Low-Rated Shows ......................................................................... 9 AVENGERS vs X-MEN - Marvel’s Mightiest Go To War ............................................................................................... 12 GEEK CRIMINOLOGY - The Drugtaking Heroes: A criminological analysis of comics and culture. ............... 19 GENRE FICTION - Upcoming Titles ................................................................................................................................. 22 BLUFFER’S GUIDE TO GEEKDOM - Batman .................................................................................................................. 32 ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SURVIVAL CONUNDRUM - So It Begins .............................................................................. 35 GEEK SYNDICATE AT SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2012 .................................................................................................... 43 FILMS - Are B-Movies Back In Vogue? .......................................................................................................................... 45 FILMS - The Top Ten Evil B-Movie Robots .................................................................................................................... 47
Reviews
FILM REVIEW - Tomorrow When the War Began ......................................................................................................... 56 BOOK REVIEW - Last Days ................................................................................................................................................ 58 AUDIO REVIEW - The Minister of Chance Episode 3 .................................................................................................. 59 FILM REVIEW - The Dark Knight Rises .......................................................................................................................... 62 COMIC REVIEW - The Underwater Welder ..................................................................................................................... 65 TV REVIEW - Falling Skies Season 2, Episodes 01 - 03 ............................................................................................. 70 COMIC REVIEW - Alice In Sunderland ............................................................................................................................ 72 COMIC REVIEW - Fathom (free issues on iBooks) ...................................................................................................... 78 FILM REVIEW - Prometheus .............................................................................................................................................. 81 BOOK REVIEW - A Jar Of Wasps ...................................................................................................................................... 83 DAY OUT REVIEW - Madame Tussauds: Marvel 4D! ................................................................................................... 84 COMIC REVIEW - Reads Volume 2 ................................................................................................................................... 86 FILM REVIEW - Cleanskin ................................................................................................................................................. 88 BOOK REVIEW - vN ............................................................................................................................................................. 90 FILM REVIEW - The Amazing Spider-Man ..................................................................................................................... 91 COMIC REVIEW - TITAN: One Shot .................................................................................................................................. 93 GAME REVIEW - LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes .................................................................................................... 98 BOOK REVIEW - Turbulence ........................................................................................................................................... 100 COMIC REVIEW - Batman #001-#011: The Court of Owls ......................................................................................... 102
Previews
NOVEL EXCERPT - The Vorrh By Brian Catling ............................................................................................................. 39 FILM PREVIEW - Man Of Steel ....................................................................................................................................... 107 EVENT PREVIEW - Northants International Comic Expo ......................................................................................... 108 EVENT PREVIEW - V&A Exhibition: Hollywood Costume ......................................................................................... 108 COMIC PREVIEW - Batman Issue 13 .............................................................................................................................. 109 TV PREVIEW - Doctor Who Series 7 (Or 33 If You Prefer) ......................................................................................... 110 FILM PREVIEW - Dredd ...................................................................................................................................................... 111 ELEVATOR PITCH - Cancer Town 2 .................................................................................................................................. 112 ELEVATOR PITCH - Lightning Strike Presents #1 ....................................................................................................... 118 ELEVATOR PITCH - The Scarifiers .................................................................................................................................. 122
Interviews
INTERVIEW INTERVIEW INTERVIEW INTERVIEW
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Rob Guillory, Artist: Chew ........................................................................................................................ 15 Giles Kristian, Author of The Bleeding Land ...................................................................................... 30 Author of “The Vorrh”, Brian Catling ..................................................................................................... 37 Horror Author Adam Nevill ...................................................................................................................... 53 3
Geek Syndicate Editorial
So here we are with issue three of the quarterly Geek Syndicate digital magazine and its audio counterpart. To be honest with you I wasn’t sure if we would make it pass issue one but we’re still doing our best to bring you our take on today’s ever changing world of geekdom. It’s been weird sitting here writing this editorial, as the span of issue (Aug -Oct) will include a big anniversary for Geek Syndicate. It was six years ago on the 1st of October that Dave and I put out a two hour podcast experiment that was a rambling mess, fuelled by pizza and whisky and one that I thought was doomed to fail. To this day there are still sections of those first two podcasts that I have no memory of recording. Six years later and although we no longer record Geek Syndicate, its legacy is a GS network of podcasts, a thriving website with over twenty like-
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minded Geeks contributing to it and now a quarterly digital magazine. To say we never expected any of this to happen from Dave’s quite frankly stupid idea to “record the two of us chatting nonsense” is an understatement. I guess I wanted to use this editorial to say thank you... thank you to everyone who kept listening when we were clearly talking rubbish, the guests who agreed to come on the podcast, the listeners who turned up to support our panels, the fantastic UK Comics podcast scene, everyone who has contributed to the website since we started it and the people who have worked their collective guts out to put these digital magazines together. One of the things we wanted to achieve with Geek Syndicate (well besides the whole drink whisky thing) was to create a network of fellow geeks where we could chat, discuss, argue and enjoy the topics we
love in a friendly and, for the most part, positive way. Hopefully we’ve gone some way to achieving that. I’ve made some fantastic friends doing Geek Syndicate and it’s taking me to places and made me do things so far outside of my comfort zone it’s like a different Barry doing them. All that remains is to thank you crazy geeks who have supported us on this crazy adventure for the last six years. This issue is dedicated to all of you crazy, lovely and supportive geeks out there who without your support we never would have got pass that first episode of the podcast.
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TECHNOLOGY - As a geek, where should I invest my cash in the very crowded tablet market? Before I launch into this, I want to stress that I’m on no-one’s payroll: these are my opinions, based on facts and trends you can’t really ignore. The world has changed and the clear divide between traditional tech winners and the rest has become very blurred. The likes of Nokia and Sony are just not dominating names any more: quite frankly, they don’t make products that people want any more. Even the likes of Hewlett-Packard (HP) have pulled out of tablets after dipping their toe in – a few months ago Argos flogged their entire stock of HP TouchPads on the web for £25 each (yes - £25 each!). At a chip and OS (operating system) level, Intel are having to share the limelight with ARM, and the world still awaits Microsoft to release an operating system designed specifically for touch-screen tablets. Tablets have killed off the netbook market (net-books being those awful micro PCs with a 10-inch or smaller screen), so Microsoft is already very late to the party. Looking at just tablets here, the first thing you notice is that all tablets largely look the same. The key technical parameters usually surround the screen size and memory size. The main difference between them is the operating system, and the three main options are: Blackberry OS, Apple OS and Android OS.
Dedicated Reader Devices I’m guessing that primarily you want a tablet in order to read, yes? But read what? Books? Comics? What formats? PDF? CBR? ePub? Well, at the very base level, you have dedicated e-readers. EReaders are limited to between a 5” and 7” screen and today there is a very wide range of good products available if you want the full colour experience (sorry, I’m not going to waste my time with those monochrome e-ink things!). For the example Nook, Binatone and PocketBook all have offerings priced between £50 and £100 and they all let you read published books in epub or pdf formats. They are compact and perfectly formed, with good screens, good memory (or at least expansion slots for adding memory cards), long battery life and they are very portable: thin and lightweight,
fitting into a handbag or coat pocket. If however, you can get over to the US, then the Kindle Fire is head and shoulders above all. Currently priced at $199 (approximately £130), the Kindle Fire gives you such a robust interface you don’t even realise that it’s Android underneath. The device comes with an audio/video player, apps and games, internet access, email and more. The beauty of Amazon and the Kindle or Kindle Apps on other devices is that it supports transferring all the books you have ever purchased across all the devices you own. Although it does class itself as an e-reader, the Kindle-Fire does the blur the line into main-stream tablet land, especially with respect to our first contender, the Blackberry PlayBook.
Blackberry Playbook A week before the Gadget Show Live, RIM (Research in Motion) announced that it was “pulling out of consumer sales, to focus on the corporate market”. What this means in practical terms remains to be seen, but what RIM are effectively saying is: “we can’t compete against Apple and Android in the bigger market space”. In actuality, if you follow the logic, this is the beginning of the end for the Blackberry, much in the same way that companies like NEC, Motorola and No5
Geek Syndicate kia once all ruled the waves of mobile technology in the past. In fact, RIM are expected to post big losses, and lay thousands of workers off – personally I give RIM about 5 years to following Nokia and Motorola in “circling the drain”. All this was grief was not helped by their in ability to make the significant in-road into the tablet market. The Blackberry Playbook is a good piece of kit, available only with Wi-Fi (you can get GPRS by bridging it with your Blackberry phone), with one of the best 7” touch-screens around, memory card expansion slots, dual cameras, and a wealth of apps (including the Kobo e-reader) on the Blackberry AppWorld; what killed the PlayBook was the very high initial price, and the fact that it was well over a year before a native email client was available – this is the one thing BlackBerry were supposed to be good at! They also lack the plethora of book, music and video content and choice that iTunes, Amazon or the Android Marketplace offers. I have one, and it is good – but it was too little, too late for RIM. Ultimately it suits anybody who just needs something to read email / surf the net whilst sitting in Starbucks, with some casual gaming/entertainment. For this reason, I was able to pick one up cheaply (£130 at Carphone Warehouse). In terms of apps, there is nothing I could honestly say, genuinely had geeks in mind when they were written.
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Android OS Devices There are plenty of Android Operating System (OS) machines on the market, so let’s narrow the field for the purposes of this article. First of all, avoid all resistive technology panels under any cost – they are rubbish! Quick 101: resistive technology requires pressure being applied to activate the icon or swipe the screen. Capacitive technology (like the iPad, PlayBook, Kindle Fire use) is measuring changes in “dielectric characteristic”, i.e. the presence of your finger, which is why only the gentlest of touch is required. Having narrowed down to capacitive touch only, there are a variety of very credible contenders: Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, Asus Transformer, ViewSonic and even, Sony. Tablets are available with a range of screen sizes from 7” to 10”. Some like the Asus even bigger. In terms of pure hardware performance, the winner has to be Asus, who have a full range of tablets to suit all budgets, including laptop converting add-on keyboard options. It’s probably also worth mentioning the Samsung Galaxy Tab, as it’s the closest thing to an iPad clone; it’s a sound machine, as Samsung make all their own components: the glass, the processor, the memory (DRAM and storage Flash) – heck, they even supply Apple!
My problem with the Android OS is the available content. Android itself is a stable operating system, although it can you can easily “break” into it (and that’s why many love Android, and hate the restrictions of Apple / iTunes). This brings me to the Android Market Place: first of all, I’ve struggled just setting up accounts to accommodate the tablets I’ve had. Each device requires its own account with the store. Secondly the organisation of the store is poor - it’s s more like TK Maxx than M&S: you can spend ages trying to find what you want, only to find out that either it’s not supported on your physical device or the version of Android your device is running. What Android based tablets absolutely do slay Apple iPads on, is that all they are all memory upgradable. Virtually all use a micro-SD card slot as well as built-in Giga-Byte memory, and which means you are completely able to expand your memory to meet your content requirements (as opposed to Apple devices). If you follow
Geek Syndicate Moore’s Law (Gordon Moore, Intel Corp.) then you accept the hypothesis that memory either doubles in density or halves in cost approximately every two years, meaning that your tablet can grow with you. From a cost point of view, depending on screen size and memory configuration you can get an Android tablet from £99 upwards. Several e-book (epub) and pdf readers are available, as well as many geek-oriented apps including Marvel, Dark Horse and DC Comics readers, IMDB, BBC iPlayer and Kindle Reader.
ple is $540 billion; a month after they released the current iPad (3rd iteration) Apple shares jumped from $500 to $600 PER SHARE – that is the impact of this company. They are the largest global purchaser of semiconductors and their production company, Foxconn, garners fame and infamy in equal measures.
Apple iPad Steve Jobs’ legacy clearly lead the pack by a country mile, making high quality products that people are willing pay a higher price for. Apple also offer tonnes of content online, all available with relative ease. Don’t forget seamless connectivity: iCloud, AppleTV (you can shoot and edit a video on an iPad and beam it on to your 40” telly just using WiFi)– they want you to be dependent on them for your infotainment in and out the home. Be under no illusion: Apple don’t fret about customers, employees, share prices etc – they focus on products. Get that right, and all the rest will fall into place. And they have enough resource and third-party partners to address and capture the corporate market too: Word, PowerPoint and Excel equivalents, Roambi, countless share tracking apps, travel info and much more are available on the App Store. At the time of writing, the market capitalization of Ap-
On to the iPad tablets themselves: they are certainly well made, cut from a single piece of aluminium, using toughened glass and the best capacitive technology available on a 9.7” screen – it is no surprise that just about everyone (including Samsung) has basically cloned their design... it’s iconic. Where iPads fall down is the memory configuration. You only get the memory you pay for – and you pay through the nose to upgrade the memory. If you track the cost of Gigabit NAND memory chips, then you know that Apple make a pretty profitable penny in getting you to upgrade from 16GB to 32GB to 64GB. Because there is no expansion card slot and the top tier is 64GB, that’s all
you can get. At least with Android tablets you could swap out cards with extra films or music on board. That said, Apple’s philosophy is to use the best components available – the sound output, camera resolution and perhaps most evidently, the image quality of the new “retina” screen, all attest to that practice. Apple’s winning hand is iTunes. It simply works. Content is easy to find and buy, and due to its popularity, vendors are just falling over themselves to write content for iPads. Because Apple enforce a rigorous testing procedure, when you buy an app you know it works. That’s not to say that there isn’t plenty of free content available too: check out the iBooks store for plenty of free comics and books, as well as the range of apps like Avengers Origins (interactive books read by Stan Lee), mini-episodes of Misfits, and of course the Geek Syndicate podcast app! I’ve tried to give an even open handed analysis here; Montoya is getting a Galaxy Tab S3 for his birthday in August (shh – don’t tell him!), so no doubt he will give a review on that next issue. I’ve already reviewed all the various iPad versions and geek apps in last month’s magazine. Moving forward, you WILL need a tablet... it’s just a question of which one. The best anecdote I can offer up is this: I work for an electronics firm, and here the non-technical staff love Apple, but the techies love Android – you just need to find yourself... ‘nuff said!
Ronald Singh 7
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Geek Syndicate
MORE THAN RATINGS: The Unlikely Survival of Low-Rated Shows Well, the renewals season has come and gone and many of your favorite shows have been weighed and judged: renewed or consigned to the graveyard of cancelled shows that will only be heard from again when the dedicated take to the internet to reminisce. The fates of these shows are often hard to fathom - sure the ratings are public information but networks don’t like to publicise their decision making rationale and it’s not just ratings that count; demographic, cost of production and yes, vocal fan support, all play a part. Of course any network still has all those hours to fill with programming and there are only so many reality documentaries the public will stand. This year the two series that seemed to garner the most attention were the unlikely survival of Fringe and Community. Both have been struggling badly for ratings and both have dedicated followers determined to keep attention on them to keep them being made. Personally, I’m a big fan of both, so it was lovely to be able to look forward to more next year. But here’s the thing - how do these shows survive, if no-one is watching? Let’s start with Fringe. No, actually let’s start with the great breakout hit of genre television - Lost. It’s become cool to be mean about Lost now that it’s over, and I’ve always felt it’s had an uncomfortable relationship with elements of geek culture due to it being, y’know,
kind of mainstream and popular, and it’s habit of co-opting very geeky concepts without properly exploring them in favour of more episodes about Kate being whiney and pointless. But it was a very successful show that spawned countless attempts to replicate its winning formula, of which Fringe is pretty much the last show standing.
ship having pretty much flatlined since the start of season three. Fox have even gone so far as to admit that the show loses them money to air on an episode-by-episode basis. What is most interesting about this ratings figure is that the great Lost dream of Geekdom, Joss Whedons Firefly, was cancelled by the same network with an average viewership of 4.48 million. So what has changed?
Heavily marketed as mix of Lost and that other great cross-over show The X-Files, Fringe ended its first (and in my view, creatively weakest) series with a pretty respectable 9.2 million viewers in the US and was a shoe-in for renewal. This may be a long way shy of Lost’s season One figures of a staggering 20.7 million (and is actually lower than Lost’s lowest season finale figure!), but certainly nothing to be sniffed at. This is the high-water mark for the series and by the time season four’s finale aired the viewership was down to a mere 3.11 million, with viewer-
Well for one thing the nature of the industry has changed. Subscription cable channels are making inroads into the viewership of the mainstream channels like Fox and NBC, fragmenting further an already fragmented audience. Time-shifting means that “first run” statistics no longer always give a good picture of what is going on and the powerful “Nielson” ratings are struggling to keep up with the times. The cable operators particularly can make more money off fewer viewers, whilst producing quality product less people watched the first season of Game of Thrones on HBO than watched the fourth series of Fringe but no-one is going to accuse it of struggling for viewers, nor making a loss. Why? Because it’s on cable - and the cable business model means that many people will subscribe just to watch Game of Thrones, and many of the same people will then buy it on Blu-Ray and effectively subsidise them making shows people aren’t watching in droves like Treme. 9
Geek Syndicate But Fringe doesn’t have that sort of revenue stream; it relies on the advertising revenue generated by the network, not peoples’ subscriptions. Advertisers’ value loyalty, not just numbers - a show which has a specific audience is valuable because an advertiser can buy time in an ad break having a fair idea what sort of demographic will be watching the show. They buy the slots and the network makes money. It can also make money from DVD sales, as Firefly showed, enough money to take a punt on a film, at least, and finally if the show can produce enough episodes to be sold downstream into syndication, there can be money from that too. Community is in a pretty similar state - a show with a small but vocal fan-base which came in at a pretty appalling 2.5 million viewers at the end of its third season, a figure probably not helped by the network sticking it on hiatus for the early part of the year. Another
show in the shadow a larger show that probably helped it get made, Community pales in comparison to the growing figures that The Big Bang Theory gets (averaging 13 million for its fifth season) and if the network expected anything on that sort of scale they must be crushingly disappointed. But, like Fringe, Community has been renewed. Unlike the one-lasthurrah final season of Fringe, Community could even live to fight another day beyond that. It’s not all good news and rosy futures though. Fringe survives, but is getting a 13-episode half-season in order to wrap everything up it wants to and then make sure the house is clean and tidy for the next occupants. Community’s renewal seems to have come at the price of its creator and showrunner Dan Harmon’s head on a spike, a cost that makes it unclear what the networks vision of a surviving Community actually looks like. I mean,
why squeeze the guy out if the show has no long-term future anyway? But then, why renew it without him, given that he’s most likely one the key reasons it’s prominent enough to be considered for renewal in the first place? This brings us neatly to another factor which I touched on earlier. Television companies do actually need to fill the time on their networks and making new shows can be a risky proposition. Community may only get 3 million viewers but it does get 3 million viewers and it has a concept that works, actors that work well in the roles and, critically at least, it’s a well-liked show that gets put up for awards and has nice things written about it in the press. If you can it, you have to replace it with something; and so many shows, especially comedies, simply don’t work at all, leaving networks floundering to fill schedules with something, anything, that they can put out there. A well regarded show with low viewer numbers is better than some of the train-wreck cautionary tales that float around TV comedy circles. Finally there is another big show which I think keeps some of these flows afloat and for this we go back, again, to Firefly. Whatever the reasoning behind Firefly’s cancellation whether it was politics, cost or whatever, it generated a lot of ill-will towards the network in a key opinion-forming demographic that it still struggles with in some bitter corners today. Genre show fan-bases may be small, but they can be loud, organised and opinion forming. Are you the sort of
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Geek Syndicate network that cherishes the little guy shows? The shows that don’t have a big audience, that may not make money up front, but are worth making? Or are you the sort of cold hearted monster that only cares for money and ratings and advertisers? What about Art? What about Beauty? Let’s not kid ourselves; the answer is clearly the “cold hearted monster” one. But I think a lot of people in the industry at all levels do care about the sorts of shows that they make; they do want to make goods shows and they do want to be seen to supporting shows that are worthwhile. They do want to be seen to react to their audiences because their audience is important to them. And this means that shows with small, dedicated followings can survive, partly because they can still make money over a long enough timeframe, but partly, I believe, because the support that their audiences show for them genuinely makes a difference.
Ratings of Shows Mentioned: Fringe finale figures Season 1: 9.28 million Season 2: 5.68 million Season 3: 3.29 million Season 4: 3.11 million Community finale figures
Once Upon A Time Season 1: 9.66 million Lost Season 1: 20.71 million Season 5: 9.43 million (lowest)
Matt Farr
Season 1: 4.41 million Season 2: 3.32 million Season 3: 2.58 million The Big Bang Theory (averages) Season 1: 8.31 million Season 2: 10.0 million Season 3: 14.14 million Season 4: 13.14 million Season 5: 15.82 million Firefly Season 1: 4.48 million Game of Thrones Season 1: 3.0 million Season 2: 4.2 million
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AVENGERS vs X-MEN - Marvel’s Mightiest Go To War
The Avengers and the X-Men. Two of Marvel Comics’ biggest super teams are now in conflict with each other over the fate of a young mutant girl called Hope. Hope is believed to be the next human host of the Phoenix Force, a powerful firebird entity that has the ability to incinerate entire planets.
AvX: Act One ... To the X-Men, Hope is the physical representation of her name – the last hope for a mutant race on the brink of extinction. For the Avengers, she is a deadly threat: a teenage girl souped up with an unstoppable godlike entity could destroy the planet Earth, and every living thing on it – both human and mutant alike. Avengers vs. X-Men, the twelvepart comic book summer event, nears the end of its first act with issue five this month. Marvel have teased at big changes and upheavals to come, but in the meantime let us review what’s gone down in the first third of the Marvel Comics Event of 2012 and whether the story so far has been as epic as the summer’s Marvel Cinematic Event – Avengers Assemble. So what do you need to know to get into the swing of things and how did this fight kick off? Well, allow the Geeks to put the fight into perspective for you all without giving overwhelm-
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ing spoilers for those of you missing out. The story begins with the space superhero called Nova crashing to Earth with a warning for the Avengers that something is coming. The Avengers are put on alert and figure out the Phoenix Force is coming, and that its next host will be Hope Summers. Hope is called the mutant messiah, the last hope for the future of the mutants and the first new mutant born in the wake of 2005’s House of M event where a mentally unhinged Scarlet Witch uttered three words that collapsed the population of the mutant species from thousands to a couple of hundred: “No More Mutants”. Confronting Cyclops, leader of the X-Men, Captain America tries to convince him of the threat the Earth faces if the Avengers don’t take Hope into protective custody. Cyclops vehemently rejects Captain
America’s request and the war between the two teams kicks off. In the midst of the conflict Hope escapes, and the two teams are in a race against time over who will retrieve her first. Sounds pretty epic doesn’t it? The actual product has been well executed so far. One of the things to note with the Avengers vs. X-Men event is that the story has been constructed by some of Marvel Comics’ leading writers: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and Jonathan Hickman, with individual members of this creative super team handling scripting chores for each issue. Bendis handled #1, Aaron #2, Brubaker took on #3, and Hickman scripted #4. Matt Fraction, the fifth member of the AvX creative team will be scribe for #5, the conclusion of the first act of the saga. Because of the scripting ar-
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rangements, each issue is subtly different from the others. It both plays to the strengths and shows some of the weaknesses that each writer brings to the table. The first issue, written by Brian Michael Bendis, was very dialogue focused in his trademark style of really long word balloons and banter among characters. It is apparent that his near decade-long tenure on the Avengers comics has mellowed him down somewhat when he works on team-books. That said, he still includes the occasional redundant phrase or panel. Overall, his issue was very strong in setting the tone for the event. Jason Aaron’s issue #2 worked as the first fight between the two sides and, compared to Bendis, Aaron used plenty of captions with his trademark wit to build the plot and bring a smile to the reader’s face. However, the wit
also diminished the drama of the story. Ed Brubaker played to his strengths in building more intrigue and personal tension between characters in issue 3; but shied away from dealing with the super groups outright when compared to Bendis and Aaron. Hickman’s issue was very strong as the intrigue, the threat, and the story in the first act builr towards its crescendo.
The focus of the issues has been on the two sides of the dispute and the different views they held over what to do about Hope and how to deal with the threat of the Phoenix Force. Cyclops is convinced that Hope is the mutant messiah and that the Phoenix can give her the power to save the mutant race from extinction. Captain America and the rest of the Avengers believe the Phoenix is a massive threat to the planet Earth and that Hope is in danger of being overwhelmed by the power of that force. Hope’s role in the first act has grown as she goes from being initially dragged along by events to trying to take control of her own destiny. Hope’s increas-
ing involvement in the story is apparent and is well handled by all parties involved in the scripts. The Avengers are handled like an army and Captain America behaves like the honourable soldier. Cyclops meanwhile comes across as being very conservative and rather unhinged in his intense belief that the Phoenix force is a power for rebirth, rather than death. This stays true to their characters as defined over recent years and despite Cyclops’ blatant desperation, there is possible merit to his argument and it makes you wonder where the story could
go as it progresses. John Romita Jr. is the artist for the first act of the series and he does a fantastic job in conveying the story. True to form, his double page spreads are truly epic and every page goes above and beyond the call of
Marvel Augmented Reality: Behind the Smackdown The Marvel AR app is a new widget that the marketing brains at Marvel released to bring comic book events into the twenty-first century and to perhaps boost the sales of monthly print editions compared to the rise of digital and those waiting for the trade paperback. The idea is simple. After downloading the app onto an Apple iOS or Android mobile device, you use the camera on certain panels that show an AR icon. When the icon is recognised, something will appear on the screen and voila: bonus features. Admittedly this is something that takes a little getting used to, but once you’re in the swing of things (and remember to double-tap to make whatever appears fullscreen), there are some nifty special features that the nice guys at Marvel give the viewer. Based on the first four issues of Avengers vs. X-Men, you get animated recaps of the story so far (from a scan of the cover), images of John Romita Jr.’s pencils prior- through to post-colouring, character biographies and some videos of the creators telling us something about working on that specific issue, including Jason Aaron and Ed Brubaker. A couple impressive ones are experts giving their own mini lectures on how to destroy planets and what would specifically happen to Wolverine’s body if you dropped him out of a plane. Overall there are some delightful features here. Unfortunately they don’t add too much to the enjoyment of the Avengers vs. X-Men story. It’s still early days for this new tool but what has been shown thus far is really promising. If the visual quality can be boosted, a wider range of features implemented, and perhaps a bigger budget added then this could become something really special.
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duty in moving this blockbuster comic event along. Every issue has been a pleasure to behold and has done a great job in maintaining consistency despite the different writers involved in the scripts for each issue. Romita’s art throughout the act make the differences in writing slightly less noticeable. It’s a shame he won’t be staying for the duration of the series but he’s truly set the bar with the first act.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (1980) The original Phoenix story from 1980 was crafted by two legends of the medium: writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne. Watch Jean Grey go to the dark side and have to sacrifice herself to save the universe from the mysterious Phoenix Force. Phoenix: Endsong / Warsong (2005-2007)
Overall Avengers vs. X-Men has been pretty strong thus far. There have been some minor hiccups along the way but it promises to be something truly special and, perhaps, more cohesive and satisfying than last year’s Fear Itself or the underwhelming and hollow Secret Invasion event years before.
Greg Pak (writer), Greg Land (illustrator Endsong) and Tyler Kirkham (illustrator Warsong) bring a new epic that explores the Phoenix Force. Jean Grey is dead and buried. But the Phoenix Force doesn’t know that, and as it comes to Earth in search of its former host, can the X-Men stop it before it wrecks the planet?
Five Steps to AvX
House of M (2005)
Although the Avengers Vs XMen story can be enjoyed on its own merit, completionists and those readers who would like to get some more backstory may want to know where to start. Let the Geek Syndicate give you the five stories (now printed in collected edition format) that pave the way to this Summer’s Avengers vs. X-Men epic.
Scripted by the writer of almost every Avengers book at the moment, Brian Michael Bendis, and drawn by French superstar artist Olivier Coipel. The story that turned the world’s mutants from emerging to endangered species with three simple words: “No more mutants”.
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X-Men: Messiah (2007-2008)
Complex
The first of two major crossovers between several X-Men comic series, brought to fruition by a writers and artists including Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Marc Silvestri, and Chris Bachelo. With less than twohundred mutants left with powers, it is a desperate time for Cyclops and his X-Men as enemies wish to capitalise on the opportunity. Suddenly a mutant is detected. It is a baby girl, the first mutant born since the House of M, and the possible saviour of mutant-kind. The race is on to find her before the X-Men’s enemies get to her first. X-Men: Second Coming (2010) The second crossover on this list, with the talents of Mike Carey, Matt Fraction, David Finch, Terry Dodson, among others. Hope, the child from Messiah Complex, returns from the future fully grown and trained to survive. Is she the mutant saviour or its destroyer? She better watch out: mutants are still a target and the forces of Bastion are conducting a major assault that could finish them off for good.
Dean Simons
Geek Syndicate
INTERVIEW - Rob Guillory, Artist: Chew
started in the comic book industry?
Chew, published by Image Comics is set in a world where the consumption of bird meat is made illegal following a catastrophic outbreak of Bird Flu that killed twenty-three million American citizens. the comic follows the story of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agent Tony Chu. Chu is no ordinary agent however. He’s a Cibopath which means he gains psychic insights from anything he eats! The comic is approaching it’s thirtieth issue now, and Geek Syndicate caught up with series artist, Rob Guillory. GS: I have with me now Rob Guillory, artist of CHEW. RG: Hello. GS: And so, he agreed to answer a few questions for us, and we are very grateful for that. So, let’s go ahead and get started. So, Rob, how did you initially get
RG: Well, just to backtrack, to go way, way back, I’m from Lafayette, Louisiana, where there isn’t really much of a comic scene. I mean, there is a scene kind of popping up now, but initially not a lot going on with the comic scene at all. It wasn’t until my first year of college in 2000 that I really started thinking of comics as a real career. I started going to conventions and that kind of thing and started making contacts, and generating work and kind of honing my craft. It really wasn’t until about 2008, 2009-ish to do comics parttime. And then around that time, I was doing some stuff for Tokyo Pop, which never got published, and that eventually led to CHEW in 2008. So yeah, that’s kind of how it happened. It was basically just an eight or nine year process of being rejected over and over again, and slowly building momentum and it just ended up here. GS: Do you want to elaborate a little bit more on how you involved on CHEW? RG: Yeah, well, like I said, I was doing a project for Tokyo Pop with a guy named Brandon Jerwa. Brandon’s great. We did this thing for the Pilot Program for Tokyo Pop that never got published, and it totally just went south and we ended up breaking ties with Tokyo Pop. Right around the time this went down, if I recall, maybe a month or two after, John Layman, who was a mutual friend with Brandon Jerwa, kind of
popped up and asked Brandon, “Hey, I’m looking for an artist for this crazy bird flu cannibal book. Do you know anyone?” and Brandon referred me based off the strength of what I did with him at Tokyo Pop. We met in July of 2008 at San Diego ComicCon and we started working together about a month later on CHEW. GS: So, how is it working with Layman? How is he? RG: Layman is really, really laid back. One of the benefits of working with someone for as long as we’ve been working together, I mean, we’ve been working together almost four years, is that we’ve developed a shorthand to where I know what he wants and he knows what I like. So, he basically just gives me a script and that’s pretty much it. Like, he shoots me a script, and I just send him the inked pages, and he does the lettering on top of it, and eventually I do the colors at the end. That’s really it. It’s super, super laid back. Usually we chat online at some point during the day. Usually it’s just small talk about LEGOS and Warcraft or something. But, that’s pretty much it. It’s really, really easy to work with John. That’s really why I can’t see working with any other writer in my career because it’s just that easy with him. GS: That’s good to have a relationship like that; working so close together. So, how is it working for Image? Do you feel like you have a little more freedom since it’s an independent publisher? 15
Geek Syndicate RG: Yeah, Image is much like John. They are extremely laid back, almost to a fault. I could see a lot of people getting really aggravated working with them because they are so hands-off. There are no editors at Image Comics at all. Dark Horse has editors; of course the Marvel and DC guys have editors. There are only thirteen or fourteen guys on staff at Image Comics and a whole crapload of comics that they put out. So, it’s extremely laid back. Basically, the only time we ever hear from them is whenever we’re finishing an issue and send it to them and they’re asking us questions about production or we ask them questions about future issues. We’re doing a special thing for the next ComicCon issue that we’re doing. It’s going to be the Secret Agent Poyo oneshot. It looks like we’re going to do a foil cover or something like that. So, basically, we just email them, the Image guys, and say, “Hey, what are the chances of doing chromium cover?” and they’ll look it up and give us the details and we go from there. I think Image likes working with us because we like having fun and experimenting. It’s been great working with them. Again, I can’t picture working with another publisher because I’ve kind of been spoiled at Image. GS: Yeah, because this is really your first venture into comics, isn’t it? RG: I’ve done some things in the indie scene with Ape Entertainment and with Tokyo Pop. I’ve done some stuff with Ran16
dom House in the UK. I’ve done a few things here and there, but Image is kind of the first big thing I’ve ever done and it’s completely different from any of the other experiences. It’s been perfect for me.
which is really weird. But no, we could not have forecast that it would be anywhere near as successful as it’s been. GS: How many Eisners has CHEW won? Three? Two? RG: We’ve been nominated for like four, and won two. GS: Yeah. Pretty good run. RG: And we’ve won two Harveys also. We’ve had a really good run so far. GS: What about the characters in CHEW? Do you ever base any of them on people you know or anything like that?
GS: Since CHEW began, both you and the comic have gotten a lot of exposure and awards. Has this ever surprised you? Did you ever think CHEW wouldn’t be successful? RG: Well, John and I both had the idea that we could gain a cult following because we both really liked it and figured that there’s bound to be a small group of really weird people that probably dig it as much as we do. It just so happened that the group of weird people was bigger than we expected, which was great for us. No, we never could’ve imagined. I mean, I didn’t actually know anything about the Eisners or award or stuff until we started getting nominated for them. It was never really the goal to win an Eisner or anything like that. It just kind of happened,
RG: From very early on, when I first came on, I asked John, “When you think of Tony Chu, who do you think of? Who is he based on?” just to get an idea of visually what he would look like. He would give me actors, like for Tony it was Ken Leung from the show Lost. He was Tony. And Colby, I had a hard time getting a grasp on who Colby was. Because he was such a slob in the script, I kind of pictured him as a Sam from Sam and Twitch, a fat guy. That was not at all what John had in mind. He was like, “Colby is like a good-looking slob.” Naturally, I started thinking of Josh Holloway, from Lost also. The good thing about that was that around the time that Sawyer and Miles, Ken Leung’s character on Lost, actually started becoming buddies on the show, and their dynamic was perfect. So, I started thinking, “What if I based these two characters off these two characters and mimicked that dynamic?” The
Geek Syndicate weird thing is now that we’re working on the TV show, we’ve been in contact with Ken Leung, and there is a chance that he could end up as Tony Chu. Just to answer your question, I think for all characters, whenever we have a major character come up, I actually have a list of my favorite actors, like a dream cast. A “What if?”, like who would I cast in this. For example, in issue 24, there’s a guy who creates weapons out of chocolate. So, I started thinking, who could I base this on? I immediately thought of Eddie Murphy for some reason. Just because I thought it would be a completely different role for him and I really like Eddie Murphy, even though he’s made crappy movies for a while. So, yeah, I totally cast Eddie Murphy as that guy, and it happens all the time. GS: You’ve basically answered this question already, but like you said, there is talk of a CHEW TV show, and who would you cast? You’ve answered a lot of the characters, but what about Savoy? Who would you cast for Savoy? RG: Savoy is tough because he’s such a big guy. I think I would probably go for Brendan Gleeson. No one is going to know who he is, but if you Google him, he’s in everything. Like, he was in Braveheart, he was the dad in 28 Days Later. He’s a great, great actor, and he’s in everything. He’s probably such a great actor that he’s probably too good to do this. If not him, I would probably go for John Goodman. Other than that, we have voiced that we would like Felicia Day as Emilia Mintz. We’ve been in touch with her,
she knows we want her. She’s actually a big fan of the book. Other than that, I don’t know. We’ll see when we get there. GS: The prospect of a TV show is very exciting. RG: Totally. It’s weird because we’re excited, but we’re very realistic in the fact that this could suck. So, we’re kind of proceeding cautiously to make sure that everything falls into the place the right way, which is why it’s moving as slow as it has. This has been in the works since 2010, and we’ve been working on getting it to television. We’ve had a few different scripts since then, but none of them were quite right. The script that we have now is actually pretty damn perfect. So, we’ll see. It could happen sooner than later. GS: I’m definitely looking forward to it. That would be something great to see more comic oriented television. In a lot of the panels, there are a lot of little “Easter Eggs”, like at the butter sculpting completion there is a giant statue of Butters with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Do you come up with most of that, or do you and Layman work on that jointly? RG: Well, in the early issues, it was pretty much all me. I’m a big fan of Watchmen. Like, Alan Moore writes insane scripts, but I don’t know how much of his scripts would be filled with descriptions of signage and things like like that because Dave Gibbons drew a ton of that, there was tons of signs and posters and things that added depth to the world without needing dialogue. Just
little background things that fleshed it out and made rereading that much more fun. So, I’ve kind of applied that to CHEW but in a more ridiculous way. I mean, the world of CHEW is ridiculous humor, so I just thought, what if the background signage and things like that had a sarcastic and ridiculous humor tone, but also fleshed out the world. And that just kind of took off from there. Since then, Layman has actually gotten in on it. Like, the Butters sculpture was his idea. He came back with that one. I ultimately have veto power over them whenever he gives them to me, but if they’re good, I’ll use them. Like the Robert Kirkman posters in Olive’s room in issue 24 were Layman’s idea too. He actually has some really, really good ideas. I would say nowadays that it’s about 90% me, 10% Layman. GS: They’re nice little things to look at, like you said it adds depth, it’s kind of fun. RG: It’s a delicate balance. I don’t want to disrupt the story and take you out of the story. It’s just an extra thing that’s subtly in the background if you’re paying attention. GS: Do you have any advice for aspiring comic artists? RG: Work hard, go to conventions, don’t develop an ego, and don’t pay too much attention to what other people are doing. And not being weird goes a long way. Well, not being weird, but not being an asshole, period, kind of goes a long way. Comics are like any other job in that it’s built on relationships. People hire 17
Geek Syndicate people they know. If you have an opening coming up at your job, the first guy you’re going to go to is someone you know. You’re going to think, “Hey, do I know anybody that could fill this position?” And comic books are pretty much the exact same way. Opportunities go to people that are easy to work with. That’s probably the biggest “secret” to working in comics. Of course, that’s not to say that it’s all about who you know, but it is a big part of it. So, that’s the biggest thing, I think. GS: Alright, so those are pretty much the questions I have. Do you have anything else to add? RG: No, that’s pretty much it. Coming up, we have issue 26 comes out I think next week. Which is going to be the beginning of our sixth story arc, Space Cakes. If you read issue
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25, issue 25 is pretty insane. A lot stuff happens in 25. 26 is kind of the cool down, the breather issue before things get crazy again. I can’t really say too much about this arc. So, basically we have for this arc we have a new protagonist, Tony’s sister who is named Toni. She is going to be your primary for the next few issues. That’s pretty much all I’ll say about it. After that, next month, we have a reprint of issue 27. In case no one knows, we released issue 27 about a year early last year, which confused everyone, including me. We’re going to re-release it in sequence, and then about a month after that in July, we’re going to release a oneshot, our first one-shot, Secret Agent Poyo, who is probably our most popular character. A luchador chicken, who is now cybernetic. It’s pretty insane.
After that, for the rest of the year, we’ll finish with Space Cakes and probably finish with issue 30 and march into the second half of the story. GS: Is CHEW set to end at a certain point? RG: Yeah. Issue 60. Which is why I like if you read issue 25, we give a panel from issue 60, which is the last issue. That’s the plan so far. GS: Thank you again for doing this. RG: No problem, thanks for having me. GS: Yet again, RG Guillory, artist of CHEW very gracious and very kind to talk to us. RG: Cool. No problem.
Leo Johnson
Geek Syndicate
GEEK CRIMINOLOGY - The Drugtaking Heroes: A criminological analysis of comics and culture.
Jock Young’s seminal work The Drugtakers (1971) was pioneering. His work looked at how the media reinforced stereotypes of the drug user, making them a scapegoat for society’s problems. He posited that in turn, the drug users may latch onto some of these stereotypes creating a
self-fulfilling prophecy. Society reacts to the stereotype: not the reality (Young, 1969; Young, 1971, Marsh and Melville, 2011: 7). In the comic book world, both DC and Marvel Comics had ground-breaking books that were socially relevant to the time delving into the drug
Labelling Theory
Deviant
People define each other and their environments.
A socially, created phenomenon. An Individual who is thought to have different norms and value to rest of society. Does not have to break society’s laws. Perception is crucial. Can label self. Something is deviant when society reacts negatively towards it.
Law Abiding Citizen A socially created phenomenon. An individual who is thought to subscribe to society’s norms and values.
question. The two main series which broached the subject were Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man and DC’s Green Lantern/ Green Arrow. Can Young’s work be used to explain this shift in the comic medium? In order to analyse this, it is important to define various perspectives. Anomie
Society’s norms and values are too difficult to obtain and therefore a state of anomie is created.
Deviancy Amplification An increase in anomie leads the deviant to greater deviancy.
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Geek Syndicate Labelling Theory explores how people define each other and their environments. The way a person labels others can lead to the labelling of an individual as a “deviant” from the rest of society. For example, an individual may label another as a “geek” when they see themselves as a “jock” illustrates that they believe they see the world differently due to certain characteristics. A deviant is socially constructed: the only thing deviants have in common is that they have been classified as a deviant (Becker). The deviant is an individual whom the rest of society believes has differing norms and values to society as a whole. The media will use the deviant as a scapegoat for society’s problems (Young, 1971). They do not have to have broken society’s rules for this to be the case; rather they are perceived differently (Sykes and Matza, 1957). An act is only deviant once society has reacted negatively towards it. Rules differ dependant upon gender, ethnicity, class, religion, etc. The lawabiding citizen (again a socially constructed phenomenon) is an individual who attains society’s norms and values. Anomie is a state where society’s law, norms and values are so difficult to achieve by the vast majority of society that they deviate from these norms in order to survive. Young’s (1971) concept of Deviancy Amplification is where an increase in anomie can lead the deviant towards greater deviancy: society classifies 20
the deviant leading to the deviant regressing further into deviancy. Furthermore some rules only occur in certain circumstances consequently deviancy depends upon society’s rules. Comic books themselves were the deviant scapegoat for America’s problems in the nineteen-fifties with the comic book witch hunts instigated by Dr Wertham (Thrasher 1949). This stigma continued as was evidenced by the first issue to mention drugs (The Amazing Spider-Man number 96) not being given the Comic Code stamp of approval. However, although The Amazing Spider-Man may seem to be once more a scapegoat for society’s problems, the answer is more nuanced than this. When looking at the issue in question, the reaction towards drug use is again a stereotypical one: Harry Osborn is low and finds solace in drug abuse. The comic never names the drug of choice but it seems to be something similar to LSD. In Green Lantern/Green Arrow issues 85 and 86, Denny O’Neil illustrates that any kind of drug abuse is the worst problem in society. O’Neil depicts a very conservative way of looking at society, portraying even the use of cannabis as a slippery slope that will ultimately lead to downfall. The drug-using Speedy (Green Arrow’s Ward and Sidekick), follows the stereotypes of coming from a broken home. Oliver (Queen, Green Arrow) begins to worry when he is attacked by an arrow that looks like one of his own. He mentions that he has
not seen his ward for over a month, having neglected him, due to his own relationship woes. Speedy represents the child that falls into drugs due to the broken home. Speedy lost his real parents early in his life. Oliver Queen would later adopt him. This meant that Speedy was without a strong mother figure and who’s only father figure encouraged him to fight crime in a costume, flouting certain of society’s rules which label him a deviant. Speedy was unable ever to be as good as Green Arrow making the norms and values of his society too difficult to attain, thus creating anomie. Speedy’s deviance is amplified, leading to greater deviancy through his drug abuse. Choosing Speedy to be addicted to heroin was an interesting choice because here it continues to illustrate society’s expectations: the deviant is the scapegoat for all of society’s ills, proving Young’s point made in the opening section of this article. Although comics were (and in some circles, still are) seen as a deviant part of society, they still subscribe to the same norms that the general law abiding citizen does. Consequently, their work is an example of the media reinforcing stereotypes instead of fixing the actual problem. The scapegoat is two fold: firstly comics are the scapegoat for society, whilst the comic itself continues to reinforce stereotypes of the drug user: not helping society, but reinforcing its problems. Another stereotype that Young commented upon was
Geek Syndicate the drugtaking couple: “Drugtaking, couples making love while others look on, rule by a heavy mob armed with iron bars, foul language, filth and stench, THAT is the scene inside the hippies” (Young, 1969) When looking at The Amazing Spider-Man, this stereotype could be seen yet again with Harry Osborn. Cannabis is often portrayed as a gateway drug to harder substances. In the Spider-Man story, Harry takes something that looks more like harder drugs than typical depictions of cannabis after his break up with then girlfriend Mary Jane. In this example, could Mary Jane Watson be an analogy for cannabis? Cannabis is often referred to as “Mary Jane”. When Mary Jane Watson broke up with Harry, he needed to find something to get over the pain; he needed to find a new drug. He discovered hard drugs. So, Amazing Spider-Man illustrates
the stereotype of cannabis being a gateway drug as a subtle, almost covert depiction. Thus, Marvel and DC took a bold step to illustrate broader themes that society was dealing with, rebelling against the comic code. By doing this, comics were both deviant as well as maintaining society’s norms. The exploration of drug abuse was a step forward in illustrating what the comic medium could do but at the same time the issues in question reinforce stereotypes. Green Lantern/Green Arrow in particular illustrates the use of the deviancy amplification model through the character of Speedy.
Luke Halsall References Marsh, I and Melville, G (2011), ‘Moral Panics and The British Media-A Look At Some Contemporary ‘Folk Devils’,: Internet Journal of Criminology
Young, J. (1971) ‘The Role of the Police as Amplifiers of Deviance’, in Cohen, S. (ed) Images of Deviance, Harmondsworth: Penguin Young, J. (1969) The People Young, J (1971) The drugtakers: the social meaning of drug use, MacGibbon and Kee: California Sykes, G et al (1957) Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency, Irvington Publishing Thrasher, F. (1949). ‘The Comics and Delinquency: Cause or Scapegoat’, Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec., 1949), pp. 195-205 O’Neil, D, Adams, N (2004) Green Lantern/Green Arrow Volume 2, DC Comics: New York Lee, S et all (2006) Essential Spider-Man Volume 5 TPB, Marvel Comics: New York
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GENRE FICTION - Upcoming Titles
It’s been a great year for genre fiction thus far and the rest of year looks set to exceed the first half of 2012 with diversity, quality and, to quote the Hatter: muchness. I aim here to give you a brief selection of the upcoming titles. I’ll be looking at Young Adult (YA) titles and of course, adult genre titles from a variety of publishers.
Young Adult Releases By Publisher Atom UK (Little Brown) Rift by Andrea Cremer. Published: 7th August 2012 Set five-hundred years ago, in a world ruled by hostile factions of Mages, this novel is the precursor to Andrea Cremer’s hit Nightshade series. Ember, one of the only female warriors in her tribe, has always known that she owed her life to a mysterious order of Knights who saved her life as a baby and called her best friend into service. But when Alistair returns unexpectedly, Ember places her trust in him as her only chance to escape. As warring magical forces close in, Ember is caught in the struggle between dark and light – with her heart on the line. This is a magical fantasy prequel for fans of the compulsive Nightshade series.
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The Diviners by Libba Bray. Published: 18th September 2012 Ohio in the nineteen-twenties: meet Evie O’Neill – young, fabulous, and desperate to get out. When her parents send her to New York City as a punishment for wild behaviour, Evie’s prayers are answered. The big city is full of her own kind: a whole generation of flappers partying as hard as they possibly can. But even as she is caught up in the intoxicating swell of the Roaring Twenties, a shadow is cast over New York as young women are found murdered across the city. Evie has her own secret; one that frightens as much as it excites her. Eerie and evocative, this supernatural thriller captures an era. Award- winning author Libba Bray is the queen of historical YA fiction, with over 1.25 million copies of her Gemma Doyle trilogy sold worldwide. With massive crossover potential, The Diviners is perfect for fans of John Green. Bloomsbury Kids – UK Earthfall by Mark Walden. Published: 7th June 2012 First came the signal, then came the enslavement of the human race. Sam Riley has woken to a nightmare. Alien spaceships
hover above major cities and nearly all humans have become mindless slaves, following a never-ending thrum like zombies. Hiding in the sewers Sam cannot understand why he is immune to the hypnotic signal and, after a near-fatal encounter with an alien drone, why he isn’t dead. It is only when he is rescued by a gang of kids his own age that the true scale of what is happening to the planet becomes clear. Working with this rebel force Sam must find a way to defeat the invasion. Along the way he will realise that nothing is quite as it seems and that there may be a connection must closer to home that started the battle for Earth. Random House Children’s Publishing Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. Published: July 2012 The kingdom of Goredd is populated by humans and by dragons who fold themselves into a human form. Though they live alongside each other, the peace between them is uneasy. But when a member of the royal family is murdered, and the crime appears to have been committed by a dragon the peace and treaty between both worlds is seriously threatened . . . Into this comes Seraphina, a gifted musician who joins the royal court as the assistant to the court composer. She is soon drawn into the murder inves-
tigation and, as she uncovers hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace in Goredd for good, finds herself caught desperately in the middle of the tension. For Seraphina hides a secret the secret behind her musical gift - and if she is found out, her life is in serious danger . . . The Dark Side of the Moon by William Corlett. Published: July 2012 A motiveless kidnapping and a solo flight to the dark side of the moon are juxtaposed in William Corlett’s extraordinary novel. At first the narratives seem unrelated until the reader sees the dramatic parallels in the two situations, which give the book its force and relevance. The story begins with the kidnapping. A boy is taken from his Scottish boarding school but there seems to be no reason behind the kidnapping: no ransom, no threats, just a note saying: WE HAVE GOT YOUR BOY. MAY SOCIETY ROT AND THIS MESS OF A WORLD PERISH. While the police sift through the evidence, a lonely astronaut faces his private terrors during a critical moon flight. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. Published: July 2012 Trained as an assassin by the god of Death, Ismae is sent to the court of Brittany, where she finds herself underprepared -
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not only for the games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart? A dangerous romance full of intrigue, poison and ultimately finding one’s way. Simon & Schuster Kids – UK Unspoken by Sarah ReesBrennan. Published: September 2012
Kami Glass is in love with someone she’s never met - a boy the rest of the world is convinced is imaginary. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she doesn’t complain. She runs the school newspaper and keeps to herself for the most part until disturbing events begin to happen. There has been screaming in the woods and the dark, abandoned manor on the hill overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in ten years. The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all left without warning, have returned. As Kami starts to investigate for the paper, she finds out that the town she has loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets- and a murderer- and the key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy who everyone thought was imaginary may be real…and he may be dangerous. The first in
a new series from the talented Sarah Rees Brennan, author of The Demon’s Lexicon trilogy.
Adult Releases By Publisher Orbit UK (Little Brown) Existence by David Brin. Published: 21st June 2012 A ground-breaking, mind-blowingly ambitious new science fiction novel from David Brin: multiple-award winning author, doctor of astrophysics and consultant to NASA. An alien artefact plucked from Earth’s orbit throws the world into chaos with both warning and a promise. For the prophet who dreams of new world order, survival means putting an end to democracy. For the movie mogul with a talent for spinning facts, the public doesn’t know what’s best for them. And for the reporter determined to discover the truth, the world needs to know what’s at stake. Our continued existence was never a given. This is a vastly epic, all-encompassing title that’s ambitious in scope and magnificent in execution. The trade paperback will have a very limited edition 3D cover.
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Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. Published: 12th July 2012 The year is 1939. Raybould Marsh and other members of British Intelligence have gathered to watch a damaged reel of film in a darkened room. It appears to show German troops walking through walls, bursting into flames and hurling tanks into the air from afar. If the British are to believe their eyes, a twisted Nazi scientist has been endowing German troops with unnatural, unstoppable powers. And Raybould will be forced to resort to dark methods to hold the impending invasion at bay. Ian Tregillis’ Bitter Seeds is a chilling masterpiece – an audacious and extraordinary debut novel that is an alternate supernatural retelling of the events of Word War two, set in a twentieth century like our own but profoundly different. Stray Souls by Kate Griffin. Published: 6th September 2012 “Don’t look back. It wants you to look back.” London’s soul has gone missing. Lost? Kidnapped? Murdered? Nobody knows – but everyone expects Sharon to have all the answers. She doesn’t have a clue where to start – but with the Gate open there are creatures loose that won’t wait for her to catch up before they go hunting. 24
The first in a new series set in the same magical London as Kate Griffin’s Matthew Swift series – think Susanna Clarke meets Neil Gaiman meets Jim Butcher. First published when she was just fourteen years old, Kate Griffin (aka Catherine Webb) is a Carnegie Medal-nominated author of both YA and fantasy novels and has garnered comparisons with Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman.
Wards of Faerie by Terry Brooks. Published: 23rd August 2012
God Save the Queen by Kate Locke. Published: 5th July 2012
This is the beginning of a breath-taking new series from the master of modern fantasy Terry Brooks – the author credited with kick-starting the fantasy boom post-Tolkien. Returning to his core Shannara world, this spellbinding series will astound both seasoned Terry Brooks fans and those discovering his magical world for the first time.
The year is 2012, and the Queen is celebrating a jubilee. But it’s not 60 years on the throne... it’s 175. And it’s not Elizabeth... it’s Victoria. She’s the undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where technology lives side-by-side with magic, where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath) and Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day. A highly original and imaginative novel that is a brilliant mash-up of urban fantasy and alternate history
There was an age when the world was young. It was a time before the coming of humans, a time when magic was the dominant power – and it was named the age of Faerie.
Macmillan / Tor UK Last Days by Adam Nevill. Published: May 2012 The new horror from the rising star of the macabre. Have you ever heard of Sister Katherine and the Temple of the Last Days? Independent filmmaker Kyle Freeman is desperate, fearing that the right project will never come up. But when Maximillian Solomon asks him about The Temple of the Last Days he figures his luck might be about to change. In 1975 the cult led by its infamous leader Sister Katherine met a bloody end in the Ari-
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zona desert. The shoot’s locations take Kyle to the cult’s original bases in London, France and finally the crime scene where the cult met their bloody end. But when he interviews the remaining survivors, who haven’t broken silence in decades, a series of uncanny events and unexplained phenomena plague the shoots. And what exactly is it they are managing to record in any place the Temple once resided? Troubling out-of-body experiences and nocturnal visitations, the sudden demise of their interviewees and the discovery of ghastly artefacts, soon pitch Kyle and his oneman crew, into the unnerving realization that they have become entangled in the cult’s hideous legacy. The Forbidden by F. R. Tallis. Published: June 2012 Superstition... Possession ... Hell on Earth When the young and ambitious Doctor Paul Clément takes a job at a mission hospital on Saint Sébastien he has dreams of finding cures for tropical diseases. What he finds is a place where the black arts are just a way of life. After witnessing the ritualistic murder of a young boy who was allegedly already dead, he is warned never to speak of what he has seen. Back in Paris, Paul’s attentions turn to studying the nervous system and resuscitation using electricity. Paul is told of patients who have apparently
died, been brought back to life and, whilst they lay between life and death, witnessed what they believed to be Heaven itself. Using forbidden knowledge he swore never to use, he attempts to see
what everyone else has seen, but something goes wrong. When Paul returns to the living could it be possible he brings something else back with him, an unspeakable evil so powerful it can never be banished? Is this paranoia, a madness slowly consuming him, or has Doctor Paul Clément witnessed Hell? Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. Published: June 2012 A dystopian steampunk fantasy set against a backdrop of feudal Japan Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father Masaru are sent to capture one for the Shogun, they fear that their lives are over. Everyone knows what happens to those who fail him, no matter how hopeless the task. But the mission proves far less impossible, and far more deadly, than anyone expects – and soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. But trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and Buruu soon discover a friendship that neither of them expected. Meanwhile, the country around them verges on the brink of
collapse. A toxic fuel is slowly choking the land; the omnipotent, machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure; and the Shogun cares about nothing but his own dominion. Yukiko has always been uneasy in the shadow of power; when she learns the awful truth of what the Shogun has done, both to her country and to her own family, she’s determined to do something about it. Returning to the city, Yukiko and Buruu plan to make the Shogun pay for his crimes – but what can one girl and a flightless griffin do against the might of an empire? Transworld Half Sick of Shadows by David Logan. Published May 2012 On the eve of Granny Hazel’s burial in the back garden, a stranger in his time machine – a machine that bears an uncanny resemblance to a Morris Minor – visits five year-old Edward with a strange request. And Edward agrees to be his friend. But Edward is not alone in the world. His twin sister Sophia is about to bring future tragedy upon herself through an all-too-literal misunderstanding of a promise she’s made to their father. So while Sophia stays at home, seemingly condemned to spend the rest of her days in The Manse – a world untouched by modern trappings – Edward is sent to boarding school. There he encounters the kind and the
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not-so-kind, and meets the strangest child. His name is Alf, and Alf is a boy whose very existence would seem to hint at universes of unlimited possibilities...and who might one day help Edward liberate Sophia. With its Gothic backdrop, HalfSick of Shadows is a novel of many parts: at once a comical tragedy, a dark and dazzlingly told tale of childhood wonder and dismay, of familial dysfunction, of poetry, the imagination and theoretical physics. Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan. Published: May 2012 When scientists with warped imaginations accidentally unleash an experimental bioweapon that transforms Britain’s animals into sneezing, bloodthirsty zombies with a penchant for pre-dinner sex with their victims, three misfits become the unlikely hope for salvation. Abattoir worker Terry Borders’ love life is crippled by the stench of death that clings to his skin from his days spent slaughtering cows; teenage vegan Geldof “Scabby” Peters alternates between scratching furiously at his rash and baiting his overbearing New Age mother; and inept journalist Lesley McBrien struggles forlornly in the shadow of her famous war correspondent father and the star journalist at the Glasgow Tribune. When Britain begins a rapid descent into chaos and ministers cynically attempt to 26
blame al-Qaeda, Lesley stumbles upon proof that the government is behind the outbreak. During her bumbling quest to unveil the truth, she crosses paths with Terry and Geldof, and together they set out to escape a quarantined Britain with the evidence and vital data that could unlock a cure for the virus. Standing in the way are rampaging hordes of animals, a ruthless security agent and an army ready to shoot anybody with a case of the sniffles on the off-chance the virus has mutated. Three losers. Overwhelming odds. A single outcome: the world is screwed. The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson. Published: August 2012 GOOD FRIDAY, 1612. Pendle Hill, L a n c a s h i r e . A mysterious gathering of thirteen people is interrupted by local magistrate, Roger Nowell. Is this a witches’ Sabbat? Two notorious Lancashire witches are already in Lancaster Castle waiting trial. Why is the beautiful and wealthy Alice Nutter defending them? And why is she among the group of thirteen on Pendle Hill? Elsewhere, a starved, abused child lurks. And a Jesuit priest and former Gunpowder plotter, recently returned from France, is widely rumoured to be heading for Lancashire. But who will offer him sanctuary? And how quickly can he be caught? This is the reign of James I, a Protestant King with an ob-
session: to rid his realm of twin evils, witchcraft and Catholicism, at any price .. Vampire Circus by Mark Morris. Published: October 2012 “Your children will die. Your community will die. To give me back my life.” The small rural community of Shettle has fallen into a decline. It is rife with crime and its inhabitants plagued by ill-fortune. When the Circus of Nights arrives the people are drawn to it like moths to a flame: it’s as though they are bewitched. Only four men realise that there is something terribly wrong. And as the town is enclosed in a barrier of “sickness” through which no one can enter or leave, they must do their utmost to protect their loved ones, before it’s too late... Hands of the Ripper by Guy Adams. Published: July 2012 He is raising the poker again and Anna bites her lower lip so hard she chokes a little in the blood that runs down her throat... On a cold, wet night recently widowed psychology lecturer John Pritchard visits spiritualist Aida Golding with his son. Although wary something has driven him here. And he is drawn to a troubled young woman who is trying to contact her child. Something about her intrigues him and despite his doubts he continues to attend meetings. One night at an intimate séance in Aida’s house the lights go out
and one of the group is brutally murdered. John has his suspicions but he can’t prove anything. He senses that Aida has some hold over the girl and he offers her a place of refuge in his home. But the past haunts Anna in the most chilling of ways. And all too soon John realises he’s made a terrible mistake… Gollancz Jack Glass by Adam Roberts. Published: July 2012 Golden Age SF meets Golden Age Crime from the author Kim Stanley Robinson thinks should have won the Booker. Jack Glass is the murderer. We know this from the start. Yet as this extraordinary novel tells the story of three murders committed by Glass the reader will be surprised to find out that it was Glass who was the killer and how he did it. And by the end of the book our sympathies for the killer are fully engaged. Riffing on the tropes of crime fiction (the country house murder, the locked room mystery) and imbued with the feel of golden age SF, JACK GLASS is another bravura performance from Roberts. Whatever games he plays with the genre, whatever questions he asks of the reader, Roberts never loses sight of the need to entertain. JACK GLASS has some wonderfully gruesome moments, is built around three gripping HowDunnits and comes with liberal doses of sly humour.
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Black Opera by Mary Gentle. Published: August 2012 An astonishing new historical epic fantasy from the author of ASH. Conrad Scalese is a writer of librettos for operas in a world where music has immense power. In the Church, the sung mass can bring about actual miracles like healing the sick. Opera is musicodrama, the highest form of music combined with human emotion, and the results of the passion it engenders can be nothing short of magical. In this world of miracles, Conrad is an atheist - he sees the same phenomena, but sees no need to attribute them to a Deity... until his first really successful opera gets the opera-house struck by the lightning bolt of God’s disapproval... ... And Conrad comes to the attention of the Prince’s Men, a powerful secret society, who are trying to use the magic of music to their own ends - in this case, an apocalyptic blood sacrifice. Life is about to get interesting for Conrad. Alcatraz by Brandon Sanderson. Published: September 2012 An omnibus of four books by the best selling author of the MISTBORN and WHEEL OF TIME series.
On his thirteenth birthday, Alcatraz-a foster child-gets a bag of sand in the mail which purports to be his “inheritance” sent from his father
and mother. The Librarians, of course, immediately steal the bag of sand from him. This sparks a chain of events which leads Alcatraz to realize that his family is part of a group of freedom fighters who resist the Evil Librarians-the secret cult who actually rule the world. Alcatraz’s grandfather shows up and tows him off to infiltrate the downtown library to steal back the mystical bag of sand. The ensuing story involves talking dinosaurs, sentient romance novels, and a dungeonlike labyrinth hiding beneath the innocent-looking downtown library. The Red Knight by Miles Cameron. Published: September 2012 A violent, fastpaced and compelling debut fantasy novel, in a world where heroes and monsters are not quite as they seem ...
This is a world dominated by The Wild. Man lives in pockets of civilisation claimed from The Wild. Within men’s walls life is civilised, the peace punctuated by tournaments, politicking, courtly love and canny business. Beyond those walls men are prey - vulnerable to the exceptionally powerful and dangerous creatures which populate the land, and even more vulnerable to those creatures schemes. So when one of those creatures breaks out of The Wild and begins preying on people in their homes, it takes a specialist to hunt it down or drive it out . . . 27
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and even then, it’s a long, difficult and extremely dangerous job. The Black Captain and his men are one such group of specialists. They have no idea what they’re about to face . . .
the corpse of the King of Scorby and Gerd is killed, Marius is mistaken for the monarch by one of the dead soldiers and is transported down to the Kingdom of the Dead.
Forget George and the Dragon. Forget Sir Lancelot and tales of Knightly exploits. This is dirty, bloody work. This is violent, visceral action. This is a mercenary knight as you’ve never seen one before.
Just like the living citizens, the dead need a King — after all, the King is God’s representative, and someone needs to remind God where they are.
A Red Country by Joe Abercrombie. Published: September 2012 Violent, bloody and fast paced; this is the new bestseller from Joe Abercrombie. The First Law Trilogy was Joe’s take on the great epic fantasy tales. Then, in BEST SERVED COLD he took on a fantasy version of a classic revenge story, and we have a superb tale of war waged in the frozen north still to come. With this, his next novel, Joe Abercrombie is once again venturing in a new direction, and on a new adventure, with one of the most enduring, powerful and popular characters of the First Law Trilogy. It’s going to be their biggest challenge yet … Angry Robot Books The Corpse of the Rat King by Lee Battersby. Published: September 2012 Marius don Hellespont and his apprentice, Gerd, are professional looters of battlefields. When they stumble upon 28
And so it comes to pass that Marius is banished to the surface with one message: if he wants to recover his life he must find the dead a King. Which he fully intends to do. Just as soon as he stops running away.
One Final Book I can’t even attempt to cover all the UK publishers and I am not going to touch the US publishers because they are even bigger and more diverse than the UK ones and this digital mag can’t go on for forever! I am going to show you one US title I’m exceedingly excited about and I pray some good UK editor decides to pick this up. It sounds brilliant: Thieftaker by DB Jackson. Published July 2012 from Tor Books (USA) Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, August 26, 1765 A warm evening in colonial North America’s leading city. Smoke drifts across the city, and with it the sound of voices raised in anger, of shattering glass and splintering wood. A mob is ri-
oting in the streets, enraged by the newest outrage from Parliament: a Stamp Tax . Houses are destroyed, royal officials are burned in effigy. And on a deserted lane, a young girl is murdered. Ethan Kaille, a thieftaker of some notoriety, and a conjurer of some skill, is hired by the girl’s father to find her killer. Soon he is swept up in a storm of intrigue and magic, politics and treachery. The murder has drawn the notice of the lovely and deadly Sephira Pryce, a rival thieftaker in Boston; of powerful men in the royal government; of leaders of the American rebels, including Samuel Adams; and of a mysterious sorcerer who wields magic the likes of which Ethan has never encountered before. To learn the truth of what happened that fateful night, Ethan must recover a stolen gem and sound the depths of conjurings he barely understands, all while evading Sephira and her henchmen, holding the royals and rebels at bay, and defending himself and those he loves from the shadowy conjurer. No problem. Provided he doesn’t get himself killed in the process.
Liz De Jager
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INTERVIEW - Giles Kristian, Author of The Bleeding Land bly ended with a great melee of flashing foils in which you would sometimes be fencing against two or three opponents. For me there was nothing better. GS: How did you manage to convey the war scenes in such amazing detail? There were times when you could hear and smell and taste the war, it felt like someone who had experienced it first hand had written them. GK: I have always been intrigued by conflict and in some ways been drawn to it.
Giles Kristian is the successful author of the Viking saga Raven. For his next book’s setting, Kristian has chosen the English Civil War, which has not had that many great books written about it. Geek Syndicate recently caught up with Giles to talk about his latest book The Bleeding Land which we reviewed recently on our web site. GS: What inspired you to write about the English Civil war? GK: I felt it was time for a really gritty novel set during the period. I couldn’t see one out there on the shelves and I thought this was strange given how extraordinary and important the Civil War was in the history of this land. I remember at school being captivated by illustrations of the Battle Of Naseby in text books. Some years later I took up fencing and my favourite part of the lesson was the interval, when we would play Roundheads and Cavaliers. This invaria30
I’m quite a physical person, having done karate, kickboxing, Krav Maga, rugby, fencing etc, all of which involve challenging and beating your opponent. Perhaps this physical competitiveness has given me some very small insight into what it must be like to face an enemy in battle. As well as that there is a whole weird spiritual side to me which is too complex to get into, but the short version being that I feel I have inherited memories and experiences from my ancestors. Told you it was weird! GS: With the interlocking themes of loyalty and betrayal, the book gave me a sense of the futility of war – is that something which you feel and wanted to get across? GK: Certainly there is a marked difference in the portrayal of violence between the Raven saga novels and The Bleeding Land. In the Viking books you expect the characters to get involved in some pretty gruesome activities, after all,
they’re Vikings! It’s part of the job description. But with the Rivers family and the other characters in The Bleeding Land it’s different. We think of the seventeenth century as a more civilized time than the Viking Age, so that when the violence does come it is much more shocking. Tom and Mun, Sir Francis and Lady Mary, are a family suddenly thrust into the horrors of war and each of them must commit terrible violence simply to stay alive. The fact that the family splits and they end up fighting on opposite sides just adds to the horror. So in a way the characters in my last novels gloried in violence where as in The Bleeding Land they are utterly appalled by it. GS: I was left at the end of the book with unanswered questions. Will your next book take us back to the Rivers family? GK: Yes the next tale continues directly from where we left off. It is 1643 and I am currently writing a terrifying underground scene during the siege of Lichfield where, for the first time an explosive mine was detonated in an English siege to open a massive breach in the defences. GS: Would you like to see your books on the screen? If so in the form of a tv drama or a film? GK: I think the Raven trilogy would make a brilliant movie and that The Bleeding Land would work wonderfully as a mini series. But what
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do I know? I have, though, very much enjoyed making the book trailers, the one for Odin’s Wolves being in fact an eleven minute short film. I was lucky to be working with a very talented film director, Philip Stevens, and crew who really shared my vision and understood intimately the scene we were trying to recreate. You can watch the film Odin’s Wolves: Prologue in HD here or find all the book trailers on YouTube by searching my name. GS: Will you be going back to the Raven series? GK: I would like to go back to the Raven saga and do hope I get the chance as there is still so much more to the story. I’d also like to do a prequel telling the tale of how Sigurd became a jarl and about his first raids with Balck Floki, Bram the Bear and Svein the Red. GS: What type of genre do you like to read and why? GK: I read historical fiction because it’s the best way I have of “experiencing” the past. Such novels are the closest thing we have to a time machine. But I’ll also read thrillers, some fantasy and things
I struggle to place in a genre, like Stephen King’s incredible sci-fi, fantasy, horror The Dark Tower series.
GS: How long does it take you layout the whole book and the characters? GK: I’m a book per year writer and that’s probably vaguesounding, but the whole process from inception to publication is so involved that I’ve never really kept tabs on how long each part takes. Period research, plot outline, first draft, second draft, submission to editor, editor’s comments, third draft, submission to copy-editor, copy-editor’s comments, fourth draft, submission to proof-reader, proof-reader’s queries etc. Then amongst all this you have cover design conversations, cover copy discussions, editorial issues to sort out etc. This is one of the reasons why I’m so glad to be with a publisher and not self-publishing, despite all this chatter about us writers no longer needing publishers. GS: What is the biggest challenge when writing historical fiction? Predictably, the research is the greatest challenge. With historical fiction it is at least fifty
per cent of the job and likely even more than that that. One day I’m going to write a contemporary novel just to see how long it takes me.
GS: How has the launch for The Bleeding Land gone so far and what has the fan reaction been. GK: There’s no doubt that getting attention for a new hardback is tough. Historical fiction is rarely reviewed in the traditional media where as you’ll see pages given to literary books that don’t sell. But I think online is where we find the most important avenues by which we can introduce our books to potential readers. Good reviewers and bloggers now wield enormous influence and I think that’s great, probably because I have been extremely fortunate in that my books have enjoyed enormous online support. Knowing that The Bleeding Land is so very different from the Raven books, I wondered how my readers would react to it. It’s early days but the response has been wonderful with many readers telling me they think it’s my best yet. No pressure for the next one then!
Christophe Montoya
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BLUFFER’S GUIDE TO GEEKDOM - Batman
Ever wondered what all those geeks in the corner were talking about? Sick of missing out of the sly references and obscure injokes? Never Fear! The Bluffers Guide is here to help. So, how’s about them superheroes, eh? Sorry? I was making conversation. Superheroes. How’s about them? I mean, everyone knows about them, and the costumes and catchphrases and so on. Whats the attraction?
bat-continuity you’re in for any given Batman story can make your eyes go crossed. At the moment we have post52, post-infinite crisis, post blackest night, back from the dead batman, which is not to be confused with... WAIT! Maybe I don’t care that much. Can’t we just stick to the basics?
That’s a big subject. Perhaps something narrower? Which superheroes have you heard of? Batman?
Alright, let’s start with him then. This could get complicated so I hope you’re taking notes. Why is dressing up like a Giant Bat and fighting crime complicated? A bit mental, yes. Complicated ... not so much. You’d be surprised. The history of most of the big superheroes is pretty complicated; it’s in the nature of the medium. Batman’s publisher, DC Comics, has become fond of multi-universe reboots of late and trying to explain which 32
Fair enough. Batman was created by Bob Kane in 1939 and is very much in the style of Golden Age comics - light on superpowers and big on twofisted urban crime fighting. Rich socialite Bruce Wayne by day, he stalks the mean street of Gotham City by night as “The Batman”, driven by the murder of his parents in front of him when he was a young boy. Dark. I like it. A lot of people did. Batman is one of the most enduring superheroes in comics - appearing in live action and animated TV shows, computer games
of widely varying quality, and at least three separate movie franchises. Each has taken their own spin on the same core characters and concepts, ranging from the bright and campy to the more recent “rooted in realism” movie series from Christopher Nolan. But with so much, how do I look cool without spending half my life catching up? Well “looking cool” may be overstating it, and there will always be someone who disagrees with you anyway, because there are so many versions of Batman and everybody’s perfect version is different. The current films are very popular at the moment, and are rooted in the sensibilities of Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One” and Jeph Loeb’s “The Long Halloween”, both of which are worth a read as good introductions to a darker Batman. Loeb also wrote the more traditional “Batman: Hush” an excellent story in its own right that manages to include pretty much every major hero and villain from Batman lore. In that version of the bat-continuity? See! You are getting it! But yes, although for all the messing about Batman’s world does tend to gravitate towards a “core” setup. What varies in the relationship between Batman and Bruce Wayne, for instance, or the various Robins, and so on. “Various Robins”. See, you’ve lost me again.
Right, sorry. The first Robin was Dick Grayson, son of murdered parents and probably the most famous in the wider non-geek world. Eventually he grew out of wearing tight pants to fight crime, left home and called himself Nightwing, and was replaced by Jason Todd, a character so popular with fans that when his fate was put to a public vote in the 1980s, they voted to have him murdered by the Joker. Nice.
On the bright side they brought him back from the dead in the end, because, well, comics. At least once. Even I’m confused by it. Anyway, After Jason we get Tim Drake, another long serving Robin, then in recent years we’ve had Stephanie Brown (who also got killed off and then ret-conned (retroactive continuity) back to life) and Damien Wayne (Bruce’s son - its complicated). Oh and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns has another female Robin, Carrie Kelly, but that’s in the future, or a possible future of a parallel dimension or something or other. Riiiight. You should totally read The Dark Knight Returns though.
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I’ll add it to the list. Any other noteworthy Batman versions I need to know about?
In the wake of the cross-cultural marketing triumph that was Tim Burton’s Batman movie, Warner Brothers (who own DC Comics) commissioned a cartoon series, known under various names but mostly just Batman: The Animated Series. This ran for years and also led into a Superman Animated Series, a Batman of the Future series, and the excellent Justice League series, as well as several TV movies. It also has two outstanding vocal performances in Kevin Conroy’s Batman and Mark Hamill (yes, that Mark Hamill) as the Joker, a striking art-deco inspired visual look and even introduced several characters - most notably fan-favourite Harley Quinn into the mainstream comics continuity.
And the Burton film itself? It’s become a little fashionable to knock it, partly due to resentment of how dreadful that run of films became by the time Batman and Robin limped into cinemas, and partly because they now feel very much of their time and haven’t aged that well in places. Jack Nicholson’s hugely over the top take on the Joker particularly pales in comparison to both Hamill’s portrayal in B:TAS (and the two recent compu-
ter games Arkham Asylum and Arkham City) and Heath Ledger’s creepy, mesmerising turn in The Dark Knight.
Alright then. So anything else before I go and start reading and watching all this stuff? Well we haven’t got to talk about the strong line-up of villains, not the wider supporting cast. For the sake of brevity I’d mention Two-Face as great example of tortured, tragic villainy, and Barbara (Batgirl/Oracle) Gordon as a great example of a character almost casually thrown away by a writer (Alan Moore, in The Killing Joke) only to be picked up and wonderfully developed into one of the great female comicbook characters. Okay, but... And! there is also all the nonBatman books set around Gotham and environs: Barbara Gordon and others in Birds of Prey; the excellent CopShow-a-like Gotham Central; Dick Grayson’s stand-along Nightwing series; Teen Titans and The Outsiders... ...I only really wanted... Not to mention the number of times Batman has been used as a tool for deconstruction of the genre. I already mentioned The Dark Knight Returns, but he turns up thinly disguised in a lot of other works... …do we really need too...? ...and the whole series of big arcs like Knightfall, where he got his back broken, and the period where...
...oh I give up.
Matt Farr 33
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ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SURVIVAL CONUNDRUM So It Begins! Last issue, we discussed to some extent how the Zombie Apocalypse may affect our way of life, by way of an introduction to the topic of realistically dealing with the possibility of living with the undead as neighbours. In this series of articles I hope to examine how we might be informed, prepare and not only survive but also thrive in a world in which the focus of our priorities for life has shifted fundamentally. The aim is to look at this rationally, and from the point of view of the every-day citizen.
This Time ... In this article we will discuss what type of Zombie event we might face and how we, as normal citizens, might be informed of a potential threat to our safety by the authorities. We have established that the dead rising is inevitable and imminent, so what form will this “Outbreak” take and how will we learn of it and be informed of its progression and what we are to do?
Becoming Aware of the Problem The way we are informed of any kind of event depends on its severity. If the problem is localised and only involves a few individuals then maybe it will go unnoticed or only get reported on at a regional level. If however the affected area has a high violent crime rate,
even then an isolated Zombie attack may go unreported. For our purposes we need to make some informed assumptions. We have to establish some ground rules for the threat we are going to face. So I will approach this event as an epidemic outbreak that starts on a relatively low level then spreads and accelerates to the point of near human extinction. I will not be discussing the science of the infection, nor with its origin. However, several manifestations and the action needed to deal with the presented permutations will be discussed.
So how will it begin? My guess is pretty mundanely! To begin with information will be low key and likely confused with other types of civil occurrences. Look for increased reports in the local and regional media of violent crimes, assaults, domestic attacks and murders as well as reports of missing persons. There may be reports of isolated biological hazards. These will most probably be quite local, mainly reported in the local paper and radio stations. These stories will not be picked up by the national media unless a sensational angle can be worked. For instance, the recently reported attack in America involving a “Drug Crazed” addict consuming an-
other man’s face that made international news as a “Zombie Style” attack.
Trust What You Are Told? The next stage will be the circulation of reports of an infectious disease. We can expect the same kind of reports as those we saw recently for Swine Flu and Avian Flu. The media coverage will be stepped up with coverage on radio and televison becoming the primary sources of information. It is your decision how much of this edited, censored and caressed information you trust. Our media will only present what they are told to and only in a way that that will entertain and increase audiences, don’t be mesmerised by flashy graphics depicting the top ten infected areas (for example!). Make your own mind up and strive to find accurate information that can aid the decisions you make to save yourself and those close to you. Your survival strategy should be based on facts and facts alone. For example the recent “Occupy” demonstrations were given little British media coverage for fear of adding fuel to the fire. However, near comprehensive cover of the demonstrations and the motives for the movement was given by the news channel Russia 24. Come the Outbreak, you will need to equip yourself with the facts and make sure they 35
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are full and correct as you can possibly get hold of.
The Government Get Involved As the threat escalates, our Government will become involved. There will be television broadcasts and radio bulletins giving the most general of advice: “Stay in your homes, ensure you have food and water for a seventy-two hour period, don’t travel unless necessary, avoid calling the emergency services except in the event of a dire emergency”. Hospitals will become swamped not just by the sick or bitten but by the paranoid and panicking masses. Don’t go to a hospital unless there is no other option - they will not be a safe haven. Next you will be told by the Government bulletins to: “Lock your doors and windows. Do not answer the door to anyone except the authorities. Keep power use and communications to a minimum or the mobile networks will be given over to emergency use only. International travel will be stopped and borders closed”. There may be a state of Marshal Law declared. In this case, there will be curfews and travel restrictions imposed by law. There will be an increased military presence in most towns and regular patrols to maintain order. During this period there will be increased civil panic and unrest; looting and assaults on 36
home owners that are more prepared or have assets that are perceived to be more desirable as the situation becomes more desperate. The authorities will respond but their grip on order will begin to slip as the attacks increase and disorder increases until the rule of law no longer applies and our protectionist government can no longer project the illusion of control. They will then declare a state of National Disaster. We will then be on our own, my friends! Our Government and the authorities will be no better prepared and equally ill-equipped to deal with a Zombie attack as we will be as individuals (unless you live in Bristol, England – see the end of this article). The information and advice we receive will be woefully lacking in useful content and confusing at best. Expect to be bombarded with talking heads that are fuelled by ego, research funding offers and the potential to publish a book. The information they offer will be patchy and the thinking will not have had the time to be extended to valid conclusion.
The Nature of the Beast The very idea of a Zombie infestation is, by definition, almost impossible to control and resolve by its sheer scale and the few variables that make the Zombie both vulnerable yet imposing as an opponent. There are still bunkers left over from the much anticipated nuclear attacks of the nineteen-seventies and nineteen-eighties so some of our leaders will be safe. When and
if they re-emerge, they should be able to see the benefit of the sage advice offered during the primary stages of the event but what will remain for them to lead?
Coming Up ... In the next article we will discuss what we can each do to prepare for what might happen. You won’t need a bunker in the garden but by being aware of your needs you could increase your chances of survival and that of those you care most about. If you doubt any of what you have just read please search the internet for: “Bristol City Council Zombie Attack Plan” It is real!
Yan Williamson
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INTERVIEW - Author of “The Vorrh”, Brian Catling there. A passion for subjective fiction rather than objective fact. But never complacent. Its work that makes the wheel turn. Like Peter Blegvad said “the imagination is a muscle it increases with exercise” Also a desire to help others reflect and evolve their own unique invention.
A Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, Brian Catling is an accomplished artist and poet himself. Later this year, the first book in his fantasy trilogy, The Vorrh, will be published by Honest Publishing. The Geek Syndicate Team caught up with the accomplished professor to find out about the book, and the writing process in general. GS: Brian, firstly, on behalf of our readers, thank you for taking the time out to chat with us here at Geek Syndicate about your forthcoming fantasy novel The Vorrh. BC: My pleasure GS: So Brian, you’ve got quite an eclectic career as a poet, sculptor, and performance artist as well as being Professor of Fine Art at The Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art, University of Oxford. What is it that led you to have such a creative output in life? BC: Imagination. I never made any kind of decision about this. It was in me from birth. It is a total belief in the power and application of imagination. An obsession with inventing the world rather than responding to what is accepted as being
GS: Now, you’ve had several books of poetry published, but what was it that made you decide to write a full-length fantasy novel? BC: I had the opening passage of The Vorrh in my head for twenty years. (A man makes a bow from his dead wife; stripping the bones and muscles of her limbs to construct it. A scene of carnage and blood that reeks of murder, but it is not. She has instructed him in how to do it and why). For years I wrote the first three pages. Then chucked them. Seven years ago I decided it was time to do or die, so I started in earnest. I had just finished making the Monument to Execution in the Tower of London and was on my way to do a sculpture/performance art residency in Australia for three month. A perfect Catling act of perversity, to do something opposite to the way I was supposed to be facing. Once the writing got started there was no stopping it. I never considered that I was writing fantasy. I believed that I was writing a surrealist epic, a literary contradiction in terms. Somewhere around the fiftieth page I realised that I had not come up for air and was
still feverishly going. The Vorrh Trilogy finished at a massive 1,500 pages. Because it seemed to be writing itself, I decided to sent it out in installments to six brave volunteers to make sure that I was not writing rubbish or : “..All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work at no play...” One thing they all told me was that they were surprised they were reading a “page turner”. For a poet involved in distilling enigma and a maker of constructed atmospheric installations, it was a hell of a surprise to me too. GS: Please could you give us a brief overview of The Vorrh and tell us whom you feel it will appeal to most. BC: The Vorrh is the name of an imaginary forest invented by the great surrealist writer Raymond Roussell in his masterpiece Impressions Of Africa. But he never talks about or describes the forest. It is mearly a backdrop to a series of tableau events. I have taken Roussell hostage to be a character in The Vorrh book one. The story is set between 1870 and 1939 and unfolds in Africa, Whitechapel and the California. Central to the story is the destiny of a human Cyclops called Ishmael, who was in secret, raised by a family of Bakelite androids called the KIN in a German colonial city called Essenwald at the rim of the Vorrh. The ancient forest con37
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tains many mysteries including remnants of Eden and the lost and forsaken angels that were placed there to protect the tree of knowledge. Failed and forgotten by God they have occulted themselves and turned inwards. They are called the Erstwhile and some have been accidentally excavated into escape and awakened in Europe, where they stumble their way into an impersonation of “normal” life.
I wanted the trilogy to be a deep and violent mixture of soured anthropologies, impossible surgeries, breathtaking landscapes, virulent ghosts and the sad and poignant little motors of human desire. Caught in that sticky web are a number of real biographies including Edweard Muybridge; photographer, inventor and murderer. Eugene Marais; poet, natural scientist and drug addict and Leo Frobenius, the disgraced father of ethnography. The unlikely hero of the unfolding saga is a seventy-two yearold retired Jewish academic, forced into hunting the displaced Erstwhile through the vicious tantrums of East London gangs, Kosher music hall and The hospitals of Bedlam and Spike Island, confronting and mistaking the dead invisible hungers of ghosts, madmen and politics. But it is the women of the Vorrh that hold the firm ground and guide the narrative sanity. It is impossible for me to know or guess who my readers will be. The Vorrh came into existence without any notion of targeting. It did not even know 38
who I was before it started dictating? GS: Now we’ve been fortunate enough to read an excerpt from The Vorrh on your publisher’s site www.honestpublishing.com. You clearly have a love of language, which comes out strongly, and there’s a very visual style to your writing. Is this influenced by writers who you admire, and if so who, or does it come from elsewhere? BC: It’s a weird and wonderful cast list. the usual suspects being: Poe, Becket, Kipling, Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Tim Powers, J.K.Huysmans ,Ian Watson, Iain M.Banks , M.R.James, Charles Olson, Roussell, Lautréamont, Marquez, Borges, Machen, Cormac McCarthy, Mishima and hundreds of horror, Sci-fi and bizarre foreign films. GS: Uou managed to get a foreword from the legendary Alan Moore who describes The Vorrh as “one of the most original and stunning works of fantasy that it has ever been my privilege to read.” For a debut novel it does not get much better than that in terms of promotion. Can you tell us how you managed to get Alan involved? BC: I did not manage it. Alan generously insisted. Iain Sinclair had been encouraging me for years to write a novel. When the Vorrh was done, he, Alan, Michael Moorcock and I did a reading in Bishopgate Institute. It was after that, that Alan asked to read the first volume. I had done nothing about showing it to publishers or promoting it in any way. I was already working
on the next set of books and did not want to slow the momentum. Sometime later the smart Guys of Honest Publishing ran an inspired blog interview with Alan, in which he raved about the Vorrh. That’s when the phone started ringing. I greatly liked and respected the energy and vision of Honest Publishing and they made an attractive proposal to produce it. Alan had pledged total support for this and agreed to write his luminous and hugely complimentary preface for the book. He also said when he finishes his monumental million-worded Jerusalem, he will read The Vorrh Two. I hope to God he likes it. GS: With work completed on The Vorrh, do you have any further plans to write in the fantasy genre or are there other projects out there which you are going to focus on? BC: Since finishing the Vorrh Trilogy I have written another seven books. I am unsure how they fit in any genre. Perhaps fantasy is the only thing I can write? I have never considered that until now. There are also some rumblings in the area of the back burner for The Vorrh Four. But I am trying not to listen to them now and devoting my energy to preparing The Vorrh books one, two and three for publication. Coming to prose narrative so late in life is a very exciting thing. The emergence of my fictional characters walking abroad in the public domain is a fascinating and sometimes overwhelming idea. I have the glee of a kid about it, which balances up a dread of time running out. There are so many more things to write and make.
GS: Brian, it’s been great chatting with you and we wish you every success with The Vorrh when it is released later in 2012.
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book follows this interview and a longer version is available online at Honest Publishing’s The Vorrh page.
For more information about Professor Brian Catling and his work, visit his homepage at: www.briancatling.com
The Vorrh will be published by Honest Publishing later this year. An excerpt of the
Phil Ambler
NOVEL EXCERPT - The Vorrh By Brian Catling ‘The eyes have fallen into disuse in their method of stringing them. Nor is the notch frontally in the middle ends of the bow.’ Leo Frobenius, The Bow, Atlantis, The Voice of Africa. Vol. 1 The bow I carry with me into the wilderness, I made of Este. She died just before dawn, ten days before. She had seen her death while working in her garden, saw the places between plants where she no longer stood, an uncapping of momentum in the afternoon sun. She prepared me for what had to be done, walking back into our simple house and removing her straw hat, returning it to its shadow and nail on the north wall. She was born a seer and some part of her seeing lived in the expectancy of her departure, a breeze before a wave, before a storm. Seers die in a threefold lapse, from the outside in. The details and confinement of each infolding had to be carefully marked and heard without panic or emotion on my part, for I then took on a different role. We said goodbye during the days leading to her night. Then all of my feelings were put away; there were more important rituals to perform. All this I knew. From our first agreement to be together it had been described, it had been unfolded. Our love and companionship grew in the confines and the constantly-open door of its demand, and secretly I rehearsed my distance and practiced the deceit of loneliness. Standing before our solid wooden table with her blood drying stiff on my skin, her body lay divided and stripped into the materials and language. As my back and hands ached from the labour of splitting her apart, I could still hear her words. The calm instruction of my task repeated over and over again, embedded with a singsong insistence to erase my forgetfulness and its fence of doubt. The entire room was covered in blood, yet no insect would trespass this space, no fly would drink her, no ant would forage her marrow. We were sealed against the world during those days, my task determined, basic and kind. She had explained all this to me while I served her breakfast on a rare rainy morning. The black bread and yellow butter had seemed to stare from its plate with mocking intensity, the fruit pulsing and warping into obscene ducts and ventricles, vivid in innocence at every direct glance. I perched on the edge of the bed, listening to her simple words glide and agree with the rain, while my fear ignited them into petrol wires of ferocious anger which were stuffed into my oxygenless, hidden core. I shaved long flat strips from the bones of her legs. Plaiting sinew and tendon, I stretched muscle into interwoven pages and bound them with flax that she cut from the garden. I made the bow of these, setting the fibres and grains of her tissue in opposition, the raw arc congealing, twist39
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ing and shrinking into its proportion of purpose. I removed her unused womb and placed her dismembered hands inside it, sealing the misshapen ball which sometimes moved a little in its settling. I shaved her head and removed her tongue and eyes, and folded them inside her heart. My tasks finished, I placed the nameless objects on the wooden draining board of the sink. They sat in mute splendour, glowing in their strangeness, untouched by any criminal light. What remained on the table and floor was simply waste. I left it for the wild dogs when I left this place with all its doors and windows open. For three days I lived with the inventions of her and the unused scraps, the air scented by her presence, the musk-deep smell of her oil and movement. The pile of her thick, unwashed hair seemed to breathe and swell against the bars of sunlight that turned the room towards evening. These known parts of her stroked away the anxious perfumes, the harsh metallic iron of her blood and the deeper saturated smoulders of her unlocked interior. On the third day I buried her heart, womb and head in the garden in a small circular pit which she had dug with her very hands a week before. I buried the compass of her and covered it with a heavy stone. I obeyed with perfection, tearless and quiet, picking up the arrow that she had made and walking back into the house for the last time. The bow quickened astonishingly, twisting and righting itself as the days and the nights pulled and manipulated its contours. There was a likeness to Este’s changing during her dying, although that transition had nothing in common with all the deaths I had witnessed and participated in before. With Este, an outward longing marked all, like sugar absorbing moisture and salt releasing it. Every hour of the three days rearranged her with fearsome and compelling difference. Every physical memory of her body, from childhood onwards, floated to the surface of her beautiful frame. Every gesture that had evolved into her grace found its origin and almost joyfully puppeted its awkwardness through her. Every thought found its way through her bones and exhaled waves of shadow from a deep ocean floor, rising into sunlight and dispersing, meeting the decay that was closing in. I could not leave her. I sat or laid next to her, fascinated and horrified, aroused and entranced as the procession gently disgorged. Her eyes waxed and waned memory, pale transparency to flinted fire. She was dimly aware of me, but able to instruct and explain the exactitude of the process. She did this to dispel my anxiety and pain, also to confront the ecstasy of her control. In the evening of the third day, the memory in my dreams began to show itself. It refined our time together, the constancy of her presence. Since leaving her village, we had never been apart, except for those strange weeks when she had asked me to stay inside while she dwelt in the garden day and night. When she returned, she was thin and strained. The bow is turning black now, becoming the darkest shadow in the room. Everything is very still. I sit holding the two wrapped arrows in my hands. Out of their turnings comes hunger and sleep, forgotten reflections of my own irredeemable humanity. From the cupboards and the garden I juggle anticipant food, flooding my senses with taste and smell. Citrus and bacon rise in the room, sage and tomatoes, green onions and dried fish unfold. Separation has been hewn by the essential, and a long, dreamless sleep waits to sanction it. My hands tremble holding the bow and the morning door, the arrows between my teeth. The exact moment has come, and I wrench into dazzling light, the ancient wood sucked inwards and falling from its twisted hinges. Overwhelmed, the house gives up, showing its previously unseen squalor as an act of submission. Heat, buffeted by a bright wind, wakes me to this world and seals the shrivelling house to a hollow. I untie the dark dry leaves from the arrows while holding the bow cradled to my chest. They are white. An infinite, unfocused white without any trace of hue or shadow. They absorb the day into their chalky depth and I grow sick looking at them. I lift the bow, which I must have strung in my sleep, and knock one arrow into its contrast. The other is wrapped away and saved to be the last. 40
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I will make many in between. This was the moment of departure, her last instruction. I draw the bow back with all my strength, feeling the single gesture brace every muscle of my body, feeling the tension lock in as the grace of the string touches my lips. Pulling that great curve silences the world and even the wind stops, holding its breath against my energy and the release. And for the first and last time the bow is silent, except for small, creaking sighs which echo my taut bones. I raise the bow skywards, perpendicular to the track that runs over the low foothills in an almost vertical scar from our home. It lets itself go, vanishing into the sky with a sound that sensually echoes through me and every other particle of substance and ghost, in or out of sight. I know I will never see that arrow again. It is not to be my guide; I will have to make that one differently.
That first white arrow is still travelling the spirals of air, sensing a defined blood on its ice-cold tip. For a moment I am with it, high above these porous lands, edging the sea, its waves crashing endlessly below. Above the shabby villages and brutal tribes, leaning towards the wilderness and the dark forest which cloaks its meaning. The pain calls me back, still standing before the track, dazed in the garden. The inside of my arm is raw from where the bow string lashed it, removing a layer of skin with the ease of a razor, indifferent and intentional. Stepping forward, I pick up my sack and quiver, steady my looping stance against the bow and walk forward into the wilderness. The land had become depopulated. Too much effort was needed to keep the patched fields active enough to grow clinging tomatoes and dusty, dwarfish melons; it was a country of the old, tending their patches of earth out of habitual purpose, the last days of the clock ticking through daily ritual, the weights almost unwound from their creaking spool. There were no young people to reset it, no one who wanted to wind the well each day and sprinkle the ravenous earth into function. The young had left for the cities and for slave labour abroad. They were underground, digging fossils for other people’s heat. They were in venomous sheds weaving chemical cancer. They were automata in chains of industry which did not need identity, language or families. All their saved money was endlessly counted as escape. Some went back to the fields to help the old and infirm raise the dented bucket and spade, others attempted to return as princes, buying expensive and bland new homes in the crumbling villages of their origin. This would fail, and their children and the land would turn on them and intensify the shuddering fatigue. The scuffed tracks of their efforts were erased under my feet, walking through the few occupied remnants of community. It would take me three days to clear these places, another three or four to cross the low mountains and be further out at the rim of the wilderness. We had lived in this place for eleven years, healing the gashes and fractures of our past, using the sun and dust to staunch the jagged memories. This peninsular of abandonment had given much, and a part of me ached to plan a return, even though I knew it would never be possible. The heat of the day became saturated with weight. The brightness became sullen and pregnant with change. Clouds thickened and coagulated with inner darkness; water was being born, heavy and unstable. This was the breath of the sickly wind called Burascio by the natives of the land. A wind that sucked rather than blew, its hot, inverted breath giving movement but not relief. It toyed with expectation by animating suffocation, tantalising the arid earth with its scent of rain, whilst beneath the reservoirs, caves and cisterns strained their emptiness towards its skies. This was the reason we lived here. Este said the isolation was part of the treatment, but the mend41
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ing and evolution of the body and spirit could only take place above a honeycomb of hollows. The skies and the sea would be heard in those places. Their vastness and motions would be echoed down beneath the taut earth, swilling and booming the darkness into quiet against their unseen mineral walls. She spoke of their unity of voice, from the humblest well to the vastest cathedral cave, how they are like pipes of different sizes in a mighty organ. An organ constructed to shudder in fugues and fanfares of listening, not playing; where a cacophony of silence was only counterpoised by insistent drips of water. She knew it was their action that influenced the minute physical and the immense mental and spiritual spaces inside human beings. I thought of this now as I walked across the lid of their meaning, of her unfolding these wonders to my baffled ears. I thought of her voice, very close, very clear and I stared in shock at the truth of holding her bones and flesh in my sweating hand. During the night, lightning could be seen far out at sea. Above the horizon, soundless dendrites of storm flickered, marbling the curve of the earth on its way towards here and the waiting dawn. I took shelter in a dug-out shepherds’ cave at the edge of one of the poorest villages. The terraced fields here were worn down, losing their boundaries in limping disrepair, survival and oblivion quarrelling among the falling stones and parched plants. In this domain of lizards, flies and cacti, the human signatures were being erased. My shelter felt like it had not been used for years, the stitched-together sacking that made its rudimentary door falling apart in my hand as I tried to unhook it. This crouching space had been scratched out from the soft yellow stone, just big enough for a small man or boy and a few goats. There were still remnants of occupation: a low bed or table blocking the far end; a few tools bearing the labour scars of generations; A car wheel, its tyre worn smooth; dry, sand-encrusted empty bottles and a few exhausted shotgun cartridges. Hanging on a nail was a fragment of rusted armour, an articulated breastplate of diminutive size. Whether this was a genuine artefact dug up from some unknown battle, or part of a carnival costume from one of the gaudy pageants that once marked the saint’s passage through the year, it was impossible to say. The hot land and the salt wind had etched and cooked it into another time, a time that never stained memory, because it was too ancient to have yet been conceived. The cave’s bare interior seemed at once empty and brimming with occupation. I curled into the sanctity of this most human shelf and tasted the joy of its simplicity with the edge of my sudden tiredness. The thunder entered my sleep. It slid between the laminations of dreams with the grace of a panther, its first sound being no more than a whisper or a vibration. Each mile it ran it gained volume and power, each mile it flew it trained my unconscious to not respond, each growing resonance being only fractionally louder than the last. The hours were eaten in its stealthy approach, my nightmares absorbing the shocks until it was directly overhead and its massive percussion shook the ground with light. A huge whiteness, battering the pale morning with a fury that refused all kinship.
The Vorrh, by Brian Catling will be published later this year by Honest Publishing. A longer version of this excerpt can be found at the publisher’s homepage. This Excerpt is used with permission. 42
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GEEK SYNDICATE AT SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2012
San Diego International Comic Con is infamous. Not only amongst comic and other Geek Genre fans, but also the public at large. This year, Geek Syndicate reporter and website editor, Sharlene Mousfar attended the event on our behalf. Presented here are some of the photos she took at the various panels, displays and just wandering around the event. For more of Geek Syndicate’s coverage of the biggest Con of the season, visit our website!
Photos: Sharlene Mousfar Words: Antony Thickitt
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FILMS - Are B-Movies Back In Vogue? Ah, B-Movies, B-movies, bmovies… where to start!? The thing about B-movies is that there are so many different types to classify and when you think about it, you can give the “B-Movie” label to so many films as long as you are prepared give it the right frame of reference. This frame of reference extends beyond the amount that it cost to make the movie. For example: 1. The film with the big budget that still looked cheap, was badly acted and had a poor script: e.g. The Black Hole, Saturn 3 2. The film that had literally no budget, but was so original that it still made good: e.g. Death Race 2000, Donnie Darko 3. The film that was an unashamedly a rip-off of another property and was made on the cheap, but you loved it anyway e.g. Battle Beyond the Stars, Beastmaster In order to approach this article, I thought I’d be clever and succinctly define the term “B-Movie”. No such luck, I’m afraid: “a B-Movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film” said one trite definition. That definition may have been accurate several decades ago. B-movies started life as films intended for distribution as the less-marketed, “back-end
of the horse” half of a double feature. Think in terms of the “B-side” of a music single, if you will. In the same way that sometimes, a musical B-side wasn’t just a cheap, secondrate jingle thrown on the underbelly of a hit single, but was actually a damn good, finely crafted song, a B-movie could occasionally come up trumps in a market-place filled with star-studded, high-budget, Computer Generated Imagery (CGI)-driven noise-fests. Contrast The Blair Witch Project, with say, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Both films were released in 1999, the latter cost $115 million and took in over $500 million. The former cost a mere $60,000, and famously took $250 million! Lest we all forget, B-Movies have been the place where many a rising star was discovered, usually exploited and where many fading stars still go in their twilight to end their careers. Today, the term “B-Movie” has evolved in its meaning, in much the same way that the whole film industry has become more complex & multifaceted. These days, the term has almost contradictory definitions: 1. A movie that has “minimal artistic creativity” (you know the type!), 2. An original, off-beat, thought-provoking film, usually unshackled from the trappings of a big studio. The film will therefore have no creative constraints or oversight, no big-name stars with unrea-
sonable salary demands to pander to, and no expectations from share-holders or stake-holders for productplacement or fast-food tieins in order to guarantee that all-important “returnon-investment”. Investor money in the arts is arguably easier to be had these days and by the same token, the cost of equipment, CGI and travel to international locations have all reduced. In addition. There is now a large pool of available “wannabe” actors & actresses prepared to be exploited for fame. Quite simply, the term is now used to loosely describe many midto-high budget, mainstream movies with lowest-commondenominator content, usually drawn from the traditionally associated genres: sci-fi, horror, martial arts, crime etc. Always on the look-out for that elusive sleeper hit, the distribution companies, now with Blu-Ray, low cost DVD and of course the internet, are all much more likely to take a ‘punt’ on giving a B-Movie higher profile media exposure. Either way, most B-Movies have represented a particular genre of their time. Born as the cheaply produced black andwhite Westerns, churned out in their droves after the Depression & during the second World War to give the masses a well needed distraction and relief, they morphed into the low-budget science-fiction and horror films that became more popular in the late nineteen-fourties. These were typically garnered with incredible 45
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eight plus word titles like:
“[Revenge/Invasion/Attack] of the [ Monster / Creature / Alien] from the [Black / Lost…] [World / Jungle / Planet]”. You get the general idea! To maximise any costs associated with sets, make-up, equipment rental and so on, early B-Movies were often part of a series in which the same star(s) repeatedly played the same character(s) in endless sequels. Think the multitude of Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein films starring Messrs Chaney Jnr, Lugosi and Karloff. So, the term “B-Movie” became synonymous with low budgets and inferior quality of acting, scripts, special effects and sets. Then the nineteen-fifties came and with it – television! Television was a heart-stopping jolt to the B-Movie makers and it all but killed off the “two-feature” night-out at the cinema, which later ended completely in the nineteen-seventies. Later, the nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies, along with the Sexual Revolution, LSD and race riots came B-Movies of almost soft-porn eroticism, “blaxploitaton” films, Asian martial arts movies, the Hammer horror films and so on. Every genre was turning out B-Movies but having to try harder, as costs were steadily increasing and cinema audiences were drifting away to their love affair with television. That said it, even then it was easy to pick out the little gems of innovation, such as Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. 46
As we moved from the late seventies into the nineteeneighties, however, two big factors breathed new life into the B-Movie. Firstly, the commercial success of original films like Jaws, Star Wars and Dressed to Kill spawned a plethora of copy-cats films. Later, the advent of the VHS cassette player gave the studios a new channel to reach the masses. This spawned the entrance of the “video nasty” which singlehandedly delivered the type of government-funded marketing-hype that B-Movies couldn’t hope to achieve in a month of Sundays. A film being banned by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) was the best promotion you could get and guaranteed plenty of sales of brown-paper bag “under the counter” sales transactions. Amongst this mass of trash offerings, there were still plenty of diamonds to be found. Diamonds like Piranha, Battle Beyond the Stars, and John Carpenter’s Halloween. All through the eighties and into the nineties, B studios churned out shelf-load upon shelf-load of schlock horror films, whether they were set in a sorority house, on a campsite, or on an alien planet. In the mid-nineties, recession hit again and so too did a decline in the appeal of the traditional video B-Movie. Maybe the viewers were getting tired of the same staple diet of knives, blood and guts or perhaps it was that we were suddenly being treated to seminal B-movies that had bigger budgets, bigger stories and rising stars, but which still remained independent of the big studios.
Films like Total Recall and Dick Tracy evolved the meaning of the term “B-Movie”. All this tied in nicely with the arrival of multiplex cinemas, whose owners wanted ten screens with films that filled every seat, for a quality cinema experience. In the past few years, we have seen a return to form of the B-Movie. This is typified by the many remakes of B-Movie classics, and their multiple sequels, such as The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha, as well as their clones. Such films are typified by the Wrong Turn series, or Eli Roth’s Hostel movies. That’s not to say that there isn’t any high profile trash in there too: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, or The Thing prequel as well as pretty much anything you see after midnight on the SyFy channel. It is the multiple channels on cable and satellite that have found a home for the likes of Ogre or the MegaShark vs … movies. The past few years have turned out some original lower budget genre classics like Shaun of the Dead, The Descent and the Ginger Snaps movies. This resurgence has not just taken root in the horror genre. Science Fiction too, has produced the likes of the very brilliant District 9, The Mist, Moon and apocalyptic tales such as 28 Days Later, and Doomsday. Unfortunately, we’ve also had to stomach the onslaught of I Am Number 4, UltraViolet, The Spirit and anything that Shyamalan has made since Unbreakable. Arguably, the twenty-first century revolution within B-
Movie making has been the use of camcorder-view or “mockumentary” style of filming. Examples of films using this style range from the very brilliant Chronicle and Cloverfield,
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to the very bland and crass Fourth Kind, Paranormal Activity and Diary of The Dead. This trend shows no sign of abating, as it’s so cheap to produce a film in this style. In short, as
we enter the second decade of the new millennium, B-Movies are very much alive and thriving again.
Ronald Singh
FILMS - The Top Ten Evil B-Movie Robots It would just be too easy to come up with the Top 10 Evil Robots of all time, probably headed up by Transformers’ Megatron or the Terminator(s) and equally easy to point to ten separate guys in a very-bad metal suit from trash B-movies. To celebrate the release of ‘The 25th Reich’, what we’ve assembled here is a list of ten legendary robots from films that may not have intended to be B-Movies, but nevertheless, either they or their robots certainly came out that way. You know what? It’s not necessarily a bad thing! 1) Chip Hazard - Small Soldiers (1998)
cult classic. 2) ABC Warrior - Judge Dredd (1995)
King of Siam, as he absolutely carries off the unstoppable android in Michael Crichton’s “robot theme park gone wrong” classic. 4) ED-209 – RoboCop (1987)
Possibly the best thing about this mixed-received film, was the inclusion of a 2000 AD comics fan-favourite: an A.B.C. Warrior. The warrior was the right-hand ‘droid to Dredd’s nemesis in the film, his brother Rico. 3) The Gunslinger – Westworld (1973)
RoboCop was so iconic that every other character in the film is soon forgotten – except for one: his predecessor, ED209, the dysfunctional “future of law enforcement” robot! 5) Enforcer Bots - THX-1138 (1971)
Voiced superbly by Tommy Lee Jones, Chip lead the cast of The Dirty Dozen in articulating toy soldier figurines endowed with military combat microprocessor form, Chip and his grunts wreaked havoc in this
Fortunately Yul Brynner was as famous for playing cowboys, as he was for playing the 47
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The brutal android police that patrol George Lucas’ subterranean future dystopia cracking skulls to keep order. 6) Box – Logan’s Run (1976)
Chrome-plated Stormtrooper rip-offs with Knight Rider’s sensors for eyes, credit where it’s due, the Cylon Centurions did exactly what it said on their tins! 8) Spider-Bots (1984)
Voiced by the silky tones of Roscoe Lee Browne, Box was Logan & Jessica’s first encounter upon escaping the domed city and it was more than ready to serve them up as frozen food for Captain Bird’s Eye!
–
Runaway
Farrah Fawcett & Kirk Douglas were an item. As if a Douglas could marry someone that young! 10) Maximilian – The Black Hole (1979)
Gene Simmons’ horrible little creepy-crawlers that just did not stop until they killed you! Bit like Kiss really… 9) Hector – Saturn 3 (1980)
7) Cylon Centurions – BattleStar Galactica (1978)
Clearly Edward Scissorhands wasn’t the only one with a father who never got ‘round to finishing their son’s hands; Maximilian Schell’s Max Junior was bestowed rotating knives for digits… and not much else.
Ronald Singh
Harvey Keitel takes a space holiday and lets his eight-foot tall bouncer robot apply all the strong-arm tactics in this turkey that had you believe that
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The Pulptress Created by: Tommy Hancock Stories by: Tommy Hancock, Ron Fortier, Terry Alexander, Erwin K. Roberts, and Andrea Judy Also featuring Dillon created by: Derrick Ferguson Also featuring Brother Bones created by: Ron Fortier Also Featuring The Voice created by: Erwin K. Roberts Edited by: David White Cover art by: Mitch Foust Format and Logo Design by: Sean E. Ali Ebook Formatting by: Russ Anderson She appears, an enigma, a guardian angel in a mask and fedora, her past shrouded in mystery. Where did she come from? What secrets in her past drove her to become a crusader for justice? Who is The Pulptress? The Pulptress, the masked woman of mystery, makes her debut on the New Pulp scene in a collection of stories sure to thrill and amaze you. Leading off with an introduction by The Pulptress’ creator, Tommy Hancock, this collection features stories by Terry Alexander, Ron Fortier, Erwin K. Roberts, Andrea Judy, and Tommy Hancock! With a fantastic cover by Mitch Foust and beautiful design work by Sean Ali, this collection is a must have! It’s time You met The First Lady of New Pulp! The Pulptress! From Pro Se Productions! 49
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THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY VOLUME 2: DIE GLOCKE From Reese Unlimited, an imprint of Pro Se Productions Created and written by: Barry Reese Cover and interior Art by: George Sellas Logo and Design and Format by: Sean E. Ali Ebook Formatting: by Russ Anderson From Reese Unlimited, an imprint of Pro Se Productions, and Pro Se’s Sovereign City Project comes the second volume of one of New Pulp’s most popular and newest heroes- THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY VOLUME TWO: DIE GLOCKE! by Veteran New Pulp Author Barry Reese! Lazarus Gray and his aides in Assistance Unlimited return for what may prove to be their greatest challenge... What is the secret of Die Glocke? Will Lazarus Gray and his teammates discover the answer in time to stop a power hungry madman and his undead soldiers? The Adventures of Lazarus Gray returns with an epic adventure where the fate of the world is at stake. Is even Lazarus Gray up to a task that could take him to the very gates of Hell itself? Also, Assistance Unlimited takes a case that will bring them face to face with Terror and the making of a Hero! Included in this volume is an updated timeline of Reese’s works and an interview with the author himself! Featuring cover and interiors by George Sellas and one interior piece by Anthony Castrillo and logo, format, and design work by Sean Ali, DIE GLOCKE-THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY VOLUME TWO: DIE GLOCKE is a must have for any fan of Action, Adventure, and New Pulp! From Reese Unlimited and Pro Se Productions- Puttin’ The Monthly Back Into Pulp! 51
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INTERVIEW - Horror Author Adam Nevill
AN: My pleasure, Phil. Thank you for having me. GS: So Adam, you’ve been an author for a while now having been published as both an erotica and horror writer. For those that don’t know you, how would you describe your approach to/style of writing?
Recently, the shortlist for the British Fantasy Awards 2012 was announced. Amongst the nominees were horror author Adam Nevill. Nevill was born in Birmingham, England in 1969 and still lives there. He is the author of the supernatural horror novels Banquet for the Damned, Apartment 16, The Ritual, and Last Days. Geek Syndicate was fortunate enough to secure an exclusive interview with Adam, sending Scrolls co-host and Geek Syndicate reporter, Phil Ambler off to ask the questions. Read on for the full interview and to find out details from Adam’s next novel. GS: Adam, thanks for sparing us the time for an interview. We know you’re incredibly busy, what with your recent nomination for the British Fantasy Awards 2012 and the launch of your latest book Last Days, so we appreciate the chance to hear from you.
AN: Old school, in terms of the actual writing. I read a huge amount for years before I began writing seriously in my mid-twenties, and went to university twice for the sole reason of studying fiction in order to become a writer. Writing is as much about reading, and about thinking through your ideas, as it is about actually physically writing. In fact, I sublimated just about everything after leaving school to the whole idea of writing. Looking back now, being that driven seems a bit mad. And my God, did I make life difficult for myself at times, particularly when working security night and day in order to get the time and headspace to write, effectively full time. I also wrote full time one year in the nineties and survived on the three thousand pounds that I’d saved the year before. But I’ve always had a purpose to each and every day, even if I was very poor and underemployed in a conventional sense, and that is priceless. I’ve only met one or two other writers who went through the same process. Bizarrely we all shared the same love of the same books about becoming writers, and it took us all for-
ever to get published. Maybe it was self-fulfilling and we should have played the markets, but I don’t think so. A long apprenticeship is what I recommend. As regards horror fiction, I endeavour to transport the reader, to write well without over-writing, and to not write silly books. Whether I achieve this or not, I rewrite my novels endlessly until I can’t find anything else to change. Apartment 16 had seventeen drafts. I don’t consider my books to be pulp fiction at all, but I want to be a good storyteller with the potential of reaching a wide readership. I guess, above all else, I want my horror fiction to matter. GS: Who would you say has been the biggest influence on your writing; either authors you’ve read or people you’ve met in your life (or both!)? AN: There are literally too many authors to mention, and I’m influenced by all kinds of writers all of the time. M R James, Machen, Blackwood, De la Mare, Lovecraft, Blatty, King, Ellroy made me write horror. Through James Joyce and Colin Wilson’s books, more than those of any other writers, enabled me to identify that if I didn’t become a writer I would be profoundly unhappy. I probably already knew this, but needed the fact articulated by greater minds than my own.
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Getting on for twenty years ago, my good friend Hugh, helped persuade me to change direction in the life I had and to enter a new one that would enable me to dedicate myself to writing. My tutors on the Masters in Creative Writing I took in the nineties, really improved my actual writing and assisted me in removing the enthusiastic incoherence my work suffered from. Ramsey Campbell and Peter Crowther brought me into print as a horror writer, and my agent John Jarrold secured an opportunity for me to write at the next level with the editor Julie Crisp at Pan Mac. They each played a huge role in getting me here.
So, it was a combination of key mentors, tutors, literary influences, supportive friends, other writers, books I had read, over decades that contributed to me becoming a writer. Many many variables. I distrust single, pithy, decisive mantras and pearls of advice about becoming a writer. It’s never simple. Nothing is simple about writing. You can make so much happen through self-discipline and hard work, but you still need other people and situations at key moments to bring you to readers. GS: What was the first story you had published and what was it about? AN: Mothers Milk, in Gathering the Bones. It is a surreal anthropomorphic tale of a lodger’s entrapment by domesticity and the manipulative family he boarded with. 54
GS: What did you spend the royalty cheque on! AN: I saved it. GS: We read The Ritual here at Geek Syndicate and have to say that we loved it. Such a great piece of writing which dripped darkness throughout. We read on your website that it was inspired in part by a hiking trip with a friend years ago. Without incriminating yourself, are all your stories based on some degree of personal experience? AN: Thanks, Phil. My books always receive wildly mixed reactions, that nothing could have prepared me for – yours was a good one. In terms of biographical material, I always liked what Martin Amis said, that his books come from him but aren’t necessarily about him. I’d say my own experience is made strange in my imagination and then comes out in my writing. GS: The Ritual almost feels like two stories in one with a natural split in the middle. Avoiding spoilers, did you always intend for it to go that way or did it evolve as you wrote it? AN: By the time I reached the end of the first outdoors section, I had imagined what would happen in the second section to support the ideas I still wanted to write about in the novel. And although I had outlines and copious notes, what I ended up with was never prescribed. It’s one of the wonderful and worrying things about writing a novel. You don’t end with what you intended to write, you end with what you have actually written. Or needed to write.
I’m really pleased readers enjoyed the tension and atmosphere and suspense and enigma of the first half, but had I continued with that part of the story any longer in that environment, most of those qualities would have been lost. The first section of the book could not take another page. There are even scenes I cut out of the first half because it was too long and seeping tension away. What I still wanted to say about defenselessness before sociopathic intent, as well as exploring other matters, needed the second half in that dreadful house. On every level I’m really pleased with the novel and finished it feeling the book was complete. That’s rare. What I am trying to achieve in a book isn’t ever going to be what every reader wants or expects. Reactions to the second half have proven that. But I think it’s the most imaginative and interesting part of the novel – it certainly was to write. I guess at the risk of oversimplifying my intentions, the novel is about men of my generation. The first half is concerned with who we are now and how removed we are from history. The second half is about how we would cope when thrust back into history against our will. Because by various means, history is constantly trying to overwhelm us with variations of all the same mistakes and ghastly things we look back upon with a somewhat contemptuous perspective now. A hindsight maintained by very fragile means that could be swept
away in a heartbeat. GS: We were delighted to hear that The Ritual has been shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards. When did you find out about that and how did you react when you found out, especially when you saw some of the heavyweights you’re up against? AN: A Facebook post alerted me to the shortlist. And I was flattered and delighted to have my book voted that far by peers. I’m also pleased The Ritual is under consideration by the first juried panel. No award system is perfect, but that one now feels fairer and more valid, at least as regards the shortlists. GS: So, your horror novels Banquet for the Damned, Apartment16 and The Ritual have been very well received so it is with some excitement that we heard that your latest book Last Days is now out. Can you give our readers a sense of what Last Days is about and how it came into being? AN: Thanks for the anticipation. As a story, Last Days is about two guerrilla film makers who make a documentary about the enduring paranormal rumours about a hippy death cult that destroyed itself in 1975. Their investigation takes them through four countries and deep into occult history. But it’s very much a novel of our times – Last Days is a story about the rise of the sociopathic intelligence, its pathological self-interest disguised as religious fundamentalism and leadership and “the talent”. It’s about a portion of humanity’s tireless search for perfect victims. And it’s need to control, undermine, domi-
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nate those it comes into contact with, while destroying any opposition to its vulpine greed and monomania.
GS: Now that Last Days is out, are you sitting back and relaxing or are you beavering away on your next project? AN: Bizarrely, as each novel is published I enter the last two months of writing the next one. And that is the hardest, but most satisfying and consuming period of time for me on a novel. Right now I have a new book published in May, and I deliver the next book the following month. So I have no time to kick-back. While waiting for my editor’s response on the delivered book, that usually comes in early August, I take July to write short stories I have promised to collections, develop new outlines for novels, and begin research for the book that will follow the one I will have just delivered. Not to mention publicity requirements for the book that has just been published. So it is a seven-day operation right now, and in this particular period there are always three books jostling for attention at the same time. But as it has taken me so long to get here, the alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. GS: To change tack, this is probably the typical horror writer’s question, but what scares the bejesus out of you? AN: A great many things. I could go on all day about my fears. But am also genuinely afraid of disclosing them in case someone wanted to use them against me. I’m a haunted and paranoid crea-
ture. In my novels I explore a lot of my own fears, but the force I try and underwrite every story with, is probably the brief, half-understanding that one is close to something so vast and indifferent to us, a full revelation of it would be unbearable. I stood on a mountain top in Snowdonia last week and looked up at the moon, with 890 metres of thin air below me, and within the wonder and awe I felt, was a terror of being an insignificant speck on a planet, that itself was a speck within infinity. It reduced me to a child again for a few moments. If I can capture some of that in a book and transmit it to a reader, I’m doing well.
GS: Who are you reading at the moment that you would recommend our readers pick up (other than your own work of course!)? AN: I’m on a real Patricia Highsmith kick. She was a master of claustrophobic tension and apprehension, of perceived and actual victimisation. Read Strangers on a Train to see what I mean. I’ve also not long finished The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock, which is just sublime. GS: Finally, is there an exclusive, never heard before piece of Adam Nevill related news or gossip that you can give us? AN: There is another film option imminent on another of my horror novels. My next novel is in its fourth draft, and is called … House of Small Shadows. I have also developed a way of resolving seemingly irresolvable problems in plot. But am keeping it to myself. 55
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GS: Adam, it’s been great hearing from you and we wish you luck with the nomination and sales of your new book. You’re one of our writers to watch out for with some fantastic pieces of work behind you already. Looking forward to reading Last Days.
AN: Thank you for the kind words, Phil, and for nailing me to the virtual walls of the Geek Syndicate!
Last Days is out now and will be available from all good bookshops and online. In the meantime you can find out more about Adam at http:// www.adamlgnevill.com/.
Phil Ambler
FILM REVIEW - Tomorrow When the War Began friends, these eight extraordinary teenagers must learn to escape, survive and fight back against a hostile military force.
The Review: I have to admit, I really hated this film, and I feel completely vindicated in feeling so…
Writers: Stuart Beattie based on the novel by James Marsden Director: Stuart Beattie Starring: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood and Lincoln Lewis
The Blurb:
The story concerns what I consider to be a group of the usual cliché characters based in some “back-water” town Australia: the jock, the princess, the maverick, the brain (in this case, the token ethnic, thrown in for good measure), etc. They decide to take a camping trip for a few days out into “the Bush” to… well, do the things that youngsters do! But not quite – the first thing you spot
From the writer of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and one of the producers of the Matrix trilogy comes a story of action, drama and heroism. Tomorrow, When The War Began follows the journey of eight high school friends in a remote country town whose lives are suddenly and violently upended by a war that no one saw coming. Cut off from their families and their 56
here is that this is a bunch of “young adults”, including one clearly juvenile delinquent with a criminal record and yet there’s a distinct lack of alcohol in there packs!
One night whilst they are camping, they spot an entire squadron of planes flying overhead. Not one of them thinks this is unusual, or tries to contact the outside world for an update. In any event, after their time is done on their trip, and not presuming anything is amiss, they decide to return back to their home town. The town is now completely deserted: cars left in the streets, half eaten meals left on tables and so on. Passing the collective brain-cell around one another, they deduce that something is awry, and that maybe the squadron of planes had something to do with it. Having concluded this, they decide to head to their respective homesteads. Now, having arrived at the homestead(s) after only a long weekend away, there is not a soldier to be seen anywhere en-route– no patrols, no stations, no foot soldiers – nothing! All the families of the characters have disappeared and just to emphasise the gravity of the situation, there is this banal scene regarding the seriousness of a dead dog they find! Clearly the makers of this film have never seen a BBC or CNN news-report from Iraq or Afghanistan: an “occupation” by any other name,
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means heavy military presence on the streets: guns, soldiers, tanks – the whole nine yards. But here, we don’t see a single soldier until we get back to the town centre, and find all the inhabitants (including the families of our protagonists) held hostage a la “concentration camp”. At this point, we also see a local trying to stand his ground, summarily executed on the spot, by the captors who now turn out to be clearly South-East Asian. If like me you grew up in the nineteen-eighties, you’ll remember that laughable newscast where Caspar Weinberger, the then US Secretary of Defence, advised all rightthinking Americans (on public Television) to watch “Red Dawn” in preparation for the very real threat of a Soviet invasion of the USA. This film is up there with that attitude – xenophobic baloney depicting an imaginary invasion of
mainstream modern Australia by some neighbouring nation who has the resource to launch a full scale invasion & occupation of “God’s own earth”.
invading forces where hired by the Native Aborigines, as payback for two-hundred years of systematic subjugation & extermination.
Suddenly our band of mismatched farmers kids start to mount a resistance offensive, in much the same way that Patrick Swayze and company did in ‘Red Dawn’ – totally unconvincingly. Using a couple of captured weapons and construction trucks for armoured vehicles, they mount the sort of fight-back that the Taliban would be proud of. At the same time, the story is peppered with lowest common denominator, visual anecdotes about the brutality of the invading forces – right down to the casual shooting of babies.
Bottom line: apart from being badly made and very poorly acted, I found this film a real insult to my intelligence and, more importantly, an insult to my values.
The film does try to temper its anti-foreign tones by the inclusion of the Lee character, but even when we get to a potential kissing scene between him and the lead protagonist Ellie, the director needed a get-out clause before it all got too uncomfortable. I’ve come to the conclusion that the only thing that could have saved this movie would have been a twist ending whereby we find out that the
See it? This is entirely up to you… but let me suggest this: half way through the film, imagine it’s set in South Africa in the nineteen-eighties and not 2011 Australia and then see if you feel the same way as you did at the beginning. Ronald Singh Rating:
GGGGG DVD Extras Not Reviewed.
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Geek Syndicate BOOK REVIEW - Last Days
plague his shoots. Frightening out-of-body experiences and nocturnal visitations follow, along with the discovery of ghastly artefacts. Until Kyle realises, too late, that they’ve become entangled in the cult’s hideous legacy.
The Review:
Author: Adam Nevill Publisher: Pan Macmillan
The Blurb: The new horror from this rising star of the macabre Indie filmmaker Kyle Freeman is a man at the end of his tether. He faces bankruptcy and obscurity, until he lands a commission to make an unusual documentary. The Temple of the Last Days was a notorious cult, which reached its bloody endgame in the Arizona desert in 1975. Ever since, the group’s rumoured mystical secrets and paranormal experiences have lain concealed behind a history of murder, sexual deviancy and imprisonment. Kyle and his one-man crew film the cult’s original bases in London and France – finally visiting the desert crime scene where the cult self-destructed in a night of ritualistic violence. But when Kyle interviews survivors, uncanny events 58
Here at Geek Syndicate we love a bit of well written horror so we were excited to get our eager little hands on a copy of the latest novel by rising star of the horror scene, Adam Nevill. Adam’s previous books have included The Ritual, Apartment 16 and Banquet for the Damned. Published by Pan MacMillan, Last Days is his fourth horror novel and throws us headlong into the world of cultists, guerrilla filmmaking and things that do more than just go bump in the night.
to help him. Following Max’s meticulously prepared filming schedule and with money no object, they are whisked between London, France and the American desert on the hunt for the story which will put them firmly on the filmmaking map. Except things go awry, things go awry in a very big way, as supernatural forces begin to take notice of Kyle and people around him start dying. As you would expect from Nevill, the writing is very good with strong characters and generally well paced plot development. Last Days has the feel of a more traditional horror story brought into the modern day with the reveals coming slowly throughout without allowing the story to drag too much, even at 500 plus pages.
Initially set in present day London, Last Days tells the tale of the rise and demise of the Temple of the Last Days cult founded by the infamous Sister Katherine in the nineteensixties. Guerrilla filmmaker Kyle Freeman is engaged by philanthropist Maximillian Solomon to film the untold story of the cult through interviews with ex-members and others whose lives had been touched by the actions of Sister Katherine.
Last Days focuses on two obsessive egos; Sister Katherine’s desire for power and Kyle’s bloody mindedness at revealing the truth behind the cult and finishing his film at any cost. Although told anecdotally, with Katherine you get a real sense of the madness of a female Charles Manson capable of driving her followers to unspeakable acts of self-degradation. This is one manipulative woman you wouldn’t want to cross.
Tempted by the £100,000 on offer and promises of total editorial control, Kyle is hooked and it doesn’t take him long to persuade his elite production team of sound man Dan and editing genius Fingermouse
Kyle’s descent into his own personal hell gives the story its edge as he fights against the interference and manipulations of the purportedly philanthropic Max. His obsession with controlling the film
makes him oblivious to the danger of the situation he and his crew are being put into until it is too late to back out. And that’s when things start to get really dark. For me, Last Days is let down slightly by the ending as we are drawn into a final confrontation. Everything is pretty bleak at this point and I found myself feeling quite drained thus losing some of the engagement. Although the end works
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fine, it felt like an injection of pace was needed to give it the ending which the rest of the book deserved.
er strong offering from Nevill which will leave you reading nervously into the small hours of the night.
Overall the supernatural elements are convincing and you are drawn into the story to the extent that you’re biting your nails on one hand whilst turning the pages with the other. The horror, whilst terrifying, is not overly grotesque and is just about on the right side of dark to be universally popular. So what we are left with is anoth-
For more information about Asam Nevill, visit his website at: http://www.adamlgnevill. com/.
Phil Ambler Rating:
GGGGG
AUDIO REVIEW - The Minister of Chance Episode 3 The Review: When you finish listening to any episode of the Minster of Chance, Paul Darrow, who plays the sinister Lord Rathen, reminds us that the audio drama is financed entirely through crowd funding. With the release of the long awaited third episode of this Science Fiction Fantasy those who have funded the show will no doubt be asking themselves if they got their money’s worth.
The Blurb: The Horseman cometh… The Minister and Kitty arrive in the strange and murderous marshes of Paludin Fields in search of the Sage of The Waves. Meanwhile, in Sezuan, Durian’s devious plans come to fruition. In the forests of Tanto, Professor Cantha sees the full extent of the Sezians’ assault on Science.
If strong voice acting, from a wealth of UK acting talent, matched with epic music and special effects in an exciting sci-fi adventure with heavy fantasy elements is what they were after - then it was definitely money well spent. The passage of time in the production between episodes two and three has not dulled the voice actors enthusiasm for the script or their roles. In many cases, it has pushed them to deliver stronger performances. All the cast sound like they are relishing their roles there is absolutely no
“phoning it in” with this series and listening to the dialogue you can see why this enthusiasm is present. The script is fast paced with a mix of action, intrigue, clashing ideologies and political machinations all punctuated with clever banter. There’s a lot going on in this episode (I would recommend listening to the first episode again beforehand), more than the previous two episodes but the scene breaks (courtesy of musical interludes) handle the transitions well. There is a confidence in the use of the music in that it is use sparingly but knows when to be an ethereal light piece or a bombastic and epic overture. These pieces along with some top-notch sound effects helps to set the stage for the worlds you will visit in this audio drama. It was hard by the end, not to wish there was more incidental music because it was that good. In the climactic scenes, which close out the episode, the musical score really hits its stride and doesn’t let up. 59
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At times the music and some of the special effects did overpower the dialogue making it difficult to hear what was going on but that was only in a few parts. As the series is audience-funded, one of the things I might suggest is the creators release a download of some of the musical tracks that people could buy and the resulting money could go towards the production. I, for one, would put my hand in my virtual pay pal pocket for a copy. Once again it’s difficult to point out any one performance that stood out for me as the voice acting was all of such a high standard that it feels cheap to do so. Even the actors who only deliver a few lines do so with such conviction that you crave more from them (the pimp at the beginning of the episode: I’m looking at you).
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Julian Wadham (The Minister) and Kitty (Lauren Crace) have a prickly relationship at best and through them we get some of the best one-liners and comedic moments. However the bond between them is growing and it’s nice to see. Tasmin Greig who I last saw in the brilliant TV show Extras joins the cast as the “Sage of the Waves” and she doesn’t disappoint in the role. I hope we see more of her. Sylvester McCoy is at his scene chewing best as the conniving Witch Prime and he needs to be when he’s in scenes with Paul Darrow (Durian) and Paul McGann (Lord Rathen). All three actors are working hard this episode to earn my award of “Best Bastard in Minster of Chance”. The three characters they play all have their own agendas and each of them are trying to achieve them an a different way. The whole political backbiting is this episode was also a nice way to do a bit more world building while still advancing
the plot. Jenny Agutter (Professor Cantha) gets the most interesting character development in this episode and I’ll be interested to see where that leads in episode four. Episode two of the Minster of Chance built on its predecessor and was the stronger for it. It’s safe to say that episode three, Paludin Fields, continues this growth. It is a sumptuous assault on the ears, with brilliant voice acting, an epic musical score and thrilling special effects. If you’ve not had the chance to visit the world of the Minster of Chance then I strongly recommend you do so. Find out more about the Minister of Chance audio series at their website. Episode three is out now and it and the previous episodes can be downloaded from this location.
Barry Nugent Rating:
GGGGG
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FILM REVIEW - The Dark Knight Rises The Review: Please be aware that this review contains plot spoilers. The final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is here, but has it lived up to the reputation of its predecessors? Have the new villains worked well together? Has Nolan successfully revamped the franchise? Let’s take a look.
Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer Director: Christopher Nolan Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman & Tom Hardy
The Blurb: It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night,
turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of
his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane. 62
As one of the most anticipated films of the year, The Dark Knight Rises was always going to have a considerable task ahead of it. Back in 2008 when The Dark Knight hit cinema screens, there was talk of Nolan potentially making a final film and completing the first ever Batman trilogy by a solo director. Nolan cleverly stated that he would not return to the franchise unless he felt there was a genuinely compelling story to be told. That time has come. But first, some background. As a fan of Tim Burton’s Batman films as well as the comics, I was hesitant when Nolan initially took the helm. There were attempts by Joel Schumacher to re-boot Batman in the mid nineties and while commercially these were successful, critically they left much to be desired. However, Nolan soon dispelled the fears of many, proving himself worthy of bringing a new and improved Batman into the twenty-first century. The Dark Knight Rises has brought that journey to a spectacularly well-engineered end. It is also one of the rare
times that a trilogy can claim to have a memorable and equally entertaining final installment, which is itself an impressive feat. Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Gotham is in a rare state of peace. We see a new side to Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), who feels guilty after failing to reveal Harvey Dent’s crimes. Gordon has written a speech detailing the truth, but decides that the citizens are not ready to hear it, as he believes there is trouble coming to Gotham.
That trouble is Bane (Tom Hardy), who gets hold of Gordon’s admission of guilt and begins to wreak havoc on the city. Gordon is injured whilst escaping from Bane’s lair and ends up in hospital. Here he meets patrol officer John Blake (Joseph-Gordon Levitt). Gordon’s decision to promote Blake to detective is a smart move within the plot, as it gives the young, talented
Blake a chance to deal with the situation in Gotham from a new perspective. Gordon is aging and has become worldweary in his defense of the city. Oldman is as riveting as ever here, returning to the role with all the vigour and dignity that is expected of him. Blake is almost a reincarnation of Gordon in his younger days, when he was enthused and physically well. By getting Blake to report back to him at the hospital, Gordon retains his authority until he is physically well enough to help stop Bane’s destruction of Gotham. We see Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) hermit-like existence has found a new plateau as he crumbles inside Wayne Manor, a prisoner of the alter ego he created for himself. Physically weak and psychologically tormented, this is Bruce Wayne at his most vulnerable. Although the character has always possessed quite the fractured psyche, it’s taken to a whole new level here. The film encapsulates his journey through a physical and emotional hell, providing further depth to an already multi-faceted man.
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Bale continues his consistent performances as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. In relaying the frayed mental state of both characters, Bale exceeds himself particularly in moments of extreme mental duress. Towards the end of the film, his voice becomes slightly comical under the guise of strain. Overall, this is an excellent performance and one that ignites the screen.
The arrival of Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a jewel thief and Bane are enough of an incentive to bring Batman out of retirement. Bane is one of the more terrifying villains of the Batman canon. Physically imposing, a florid speaker and intellectually superior than many of his predecessors, Bane is faithfully incarnated by Tom Hardy. There is a particularly impressive scene derived from the comics, namely Knightfall, where Bane breaks Batman’s back. In the film, this is recreated rigorously along with the psychological impacts on Bruce. Perhaps what is most troubling about Bane is that he
seems to be the one character that Batman can’t defeat. In terms of a challenge, our hero meets his match on every level and it is uncomfortable viewing to watch Batman being crumpled by so dangerous an adversary; both physically and mentally. Hardy is very impressive, although much of his character’s merit is owed to the mask and his voice. Hathaway’s Selina Kyle is a revelation. Admittedly, the casting choice was not one that I met with much enthusiasm, but I stand corrected. This Kyle has many reasons to be bad and she’s very, very good at being bad. A jewel thief who gets involved with the wrong crowd, Kyle has depth and heart. Hathaway portrays a Catwoman oozing with panache and quick wits. A tough character, hers is an excellent and enjoyable performance. Scenes to watch out for include Bane’s entry into the football stadium. Nolan has an eye for detail that is showcased well here. A young boy sings the national anthem before a football game and Bane approaches from beneath the stalls, ready to detonate a bomb whilst the audience sings along oblivious. The effects are well executed and are not over-used; a trademark of Nolan’s economic direction. The aforementioned scenes in the prison pit are exemplary of Nolan’s skill as a director of suspense. The tension that builds each time Bruce tries to escape adds to the overall tone of the film. Watching the character being physically pushed to his limits is uncomfortable and a
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new experience for Batman viewers.
Another interesting sequence is the show trial presided over by Jonathan Crane. The set is wonderfully surrealist in this section of the film; Crane appears to be perched high above everyone else on a makeshift desk where he holds court. The dialogue in this scene is some of the most quick-witted in the entire film. When Crane gives Jim Gordon the choice of death or exile, Gordon chooses death to which Crane delivers the brilliant riposte of
The flashbacks provide an emotional reminder of how Alfred has always striven to do right by his master. Michael Caine plays the role brilliantly and emotively, never overacting. Similarly, the flashback to Jim Gordon placing a coat over the shoulders of a young Bruce Wayne conveys the early bond between the two characters.
“death it is then…by exile” Redolent of similar set pieces in Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton’s early work combined, this sequence works very well at conveying how far gone reality is from the minds of criminals in Gotham. Flashbacks to the previous two films are interspersed at key moments and are effective at reminding the viewer of the relationship history between certain characters. In particular, this is true of Bruce and Alfred. One of the most moving moments of the film is the parting of these two, a result of the mental deterioration Bruce has suffered.
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The reveal that Blake’s first name is actually Robin is a clever technique that works well for the film. Blake has consistently tried to befriend Bruce and figures out fairly quickly that he is Batman, just like the sidekick, Robin. Blake’s attempts to help Batman wherever possible and trying to persuade the caped
crusader to return and carry out justice are all nicely tied together by this scene. Overall, The Dark Knight Rises is a fitting end to the trilogy and a finely executed piece of film. There have been criticisms that the middle portion of the film is flabby and needed to be cut. I would disagree. For a film that runs at almost 3 hours long, it felt as though everything had a purpose and no material was wasted. The only criticism I had was the rather quick return that Bruce makes to Gotham after being trapped in Bane’s prison. It felt slightly glossed over that there was no explanation given as to how he found his way back, especially without Alfred’s help and having been crippled for months. Despite this, the plot feels solid and consistent. It certainly didn’t feel like three hours as the action is fast-paced and engaging. Nolan’s Batman has risen for the last time and it doesn’t disappoint.
Michelle Lacey Rating:
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COMIC REVIEW - The Underwater Welder The Review:
This is a story about a soon-tobe father, his wife, and their unborn child. It explores the relationships between fathers and sons, the relationship between life and death, and the mind of a man. We follow his journey from hesitant father and something of a troubled man through to him eventually embracing both his future and his past.
Writer / Artist: Jeff Lemire Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
The Blurb: WARNING: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE. As an underwater welder on an oilrig off the coast of Nova Scotia, Jack Joseph is used to the immense pressures of deep-sea work. Nothing, however, could prepare him for the pressures of impending fatherhood. As Jack dives deeper and deeper, he seems to pull further and further away from his young wife and their unborn son. Then one night, deep in the icy solitude of the ocean floor, something unexplainable happens. Jack has a mysterious and supernatural encounter that will change the course of his life forever. Equal parts blue-collar character study and mind-bending mystery, The Underwater Welder is a graphic novel about fathers and sons, birth and death, memory and reality, and the treasures we all bury deep below the surface.
At first, I was a little underwhelmed by the graphic novel. Sure, it has a great story and great characters, but that’s something that’s expected from Jeff Lemire. The more I thought about it and the more I re-read it, the more I fell in love with it and was impressed by it. The way everything is brought full-circle and all connects is absolutely fantastic. It’s a wonderful, magical book. When it hits you, it hits you, and you realize just how great what you just read really is.
says in the introduction, you will care about these characters. They become people that you genuinely have feelings for. You become engrossed in their lives and struggles. Written at a time where Lemire himself was soon going to be a father, you can see some of his own struggles written into the character of Jack. Jack and his wife aren’t just characters in a comic; they become more like the couple that lives down the street that you see at the grocery store every week. They come out of the page and take a life of their own. The magic that Lemire worked with the story is astounding. The tightness of the plotting, the scripting, the pacing, the sheer impact of it all; everything is right. The story is written so well, that you read and read and become disappointed when it’s all over because you want to stay in his world just a bit longer. Lemire just pulls you into his story so completely.
As usual, Jeff Lemire pulls both art and writing duties. His trademark style fits this story so well. The messy but clean style that Lemire has fits this story perfectly. The art conveys the characters and their actions quite clearly, and it even adds a little something extra to the more “supernatural” scenes in the graphic novel as well. I’ve always thought his characters’ eyes were a little far apart, but that doesn’t subtract from the overall impact from the art in any way.
Overall, even though the full effect of the graphic novel didn’t hit me at first, I still enjoyed it. Once it all hit me, I enjoyed it much, much more. Either way, Lemire has crafted a new classic; something that rightfully takes its place alongside Sweet Tooth, Essex County, and his other works. When it comes out in August, definitely pick it up, people. You will not regret it.
His characters are written so well. Like Damon Lindelof
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Leo Johnson Rating:
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TV REVIEW - Falling Skies Season 2, Episodes 01 - 03
I reviewed Falling Skies season one last year on the Geek Syndicate web site, and broadly enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a show without failings. This was a show with a lot of ideas on what tone it wanted to set – sometimes dark, postapocalyptic fare, sometimes a warmer recognition of humanity in the face of adversity – and it often struggled to marry these together. The big job, from my perspective, for the season break, was to bring these two halves of the show together.
Episode One: Worlds Apart
“Worlds Apart” has the issue of the Season One finale to deal with. With Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) off with the invading aliens, the main focus was always going to be getting the cast back together and the show moving forward again. It has to be said that they do this with some elegance. 70
Firstly, Tom’s time with the aliens is dealt with in flashback, as he lay injured and being tended to by the resistance. At the same time the resistance are packing up to go on the move away from the base that acted as both a shelter and a dramatic dead weight in the previous series.
to having him back, are well handled and well-balanced.
The flashback structure allows the nature of Tom’s injury to be a major plot point for the episode and to space out a lot of the talking throughout the episode. Falling Skies has always been fond of debate club style dialogue and whilst I don’t mind that, it’s an improvement to see it broken up with a bit of tense action from the resistance, and the reintroduction of the wider cast. This latter point is also something that needed work last season and again it’s nice to see a bit more of the supporting cast as more than sounding boards for Tom’s historical analogies – something the show even pokes fun at!
Episode Two: We Shall Gather at the River
In many ways this episode is a classic season opener – an episode that spends most of its energies re-establishing the setup of the series and setting out markers for what is to come, and it looks pretty interesting. But then Falling Skies has never struggled with conceptually interesting ideas, and more critically this episode manages to weld its two halves together pretty smoothly, which bodes well for the future. Its final resolution – the nature of Toms injury, his recovery from it, and the reactions to the resistance
So, on the basis of this first episode, things look good for Falling Skies. Whilst certainly not a great show, it looks to be a good one, and enjoyable one, and I’m looking forward to where this run takes us.
The season continues with an episode that, in the US, aired as part of a two-part season opener, and it’s not hard to see why. With Episode One functioning largely as re-introduction to the characters and initial resolution of the series One cliffhanger, it falls to Episode Two to start to move the season forward. And moving forward is what it’s all about this week, as the Twond Mass take to the roads away from the skitters latest push on their positions. One of the most immediately obvious changes of focus this season is the militarisation of the show; the civilian/military tensions and the like seem to have been disposed of, and this is now more fully a resistance show, playing to its strengths, I think, so overall a good move. With a clear objective for the show – cross a broken bridge to get away – it also lets the
characters show what they can do and how they interact on a more regular basis. Tom’s kids dynamic is increasingly interesting, especially with the presence of rescued Ben, struggling with the trauma of abduction and harnessing, mixed in with the more normal trauma of being a middle child with a somewhat overachieving elder brother. It’s nice to see how Pope has fit himself in, and nice to see he retains his role as snarky Sawyer-from-Lost rip off that he always has been. The story also gives a nice (if that’s the word) bit of Body Horror with the “bug” that’s been planted on Tom; a really well implemented, wrenching bit of TV that serves both to make the viewer uncomfortable, but to establish the idea that Tom may no longer be trustworthy, even in his own eyes. It feels like the establishment of a storyline that will run for a bit, and hope that it is. By the end of the episode, Falling Skies feels like a show a lot more comfortable in its own skin; a show that at the very least knows where its balance should be and is working very hard to get there. Long may it continue.
Episode Three: Compass
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The series seems to be settling into a new rhythm, one of constant forward motion. Nothing seems allowed to settle, as if the one the first seasons big criticisms, that it stood still and talked a bit too much, has really been taken to heart. This well finds the Twond Mass at the airfield mentioned last week, making preparations to move into the mountains and start their guerilla campaign against the Skitters from there. Of course, nothing quite goes to plan. There are really three main stories in this episodes, all of them sort of linking through but never really meshing into a coherent thematic or storytelling whole, but all tied into what feels like longer season arcs. The first is the simplest – a plane turns up at the airbase with new orders from a newly founded “Continental Congress”; head for Charleston where some semblance of government and order and resistance has been restored. Weaver gets to fret over it a bit, it’s too big a plot point to ignore but highlights that Weaver is a much better character this season – more a commander as he should be, without being a slightly pointless hard-ass for Tom to rub up against. Not much else to say on this plotline really, but it will be interesting to see where it goes. More interesting is what they seem to be doing with Pope. Last episode he seemed to be a Sawyer (from Lost) knockoff, but this week he’s in fullon psycho mode, and all the more interesting for it. The show needs some sort of intra-human tension, and Pope
is a good place to get it; someone just interested in killing Skitters, not fighting a war with the compromises that involves, and it makes a certain amount of both narrative, and character sense, to drive him out of the group as a full-on renegade. Another one for future episodes, I think. The final arc is the real emotional meat of the episode. I’ve started to worry that the lack of up-lifting homilies from the writers of Falling Skies is starting to make me worry we are going to get an episode full of them, but we got one this week, at the end, over the grave of one of the shows recurring characters, and its effective, not twee. The death itself is brutal and grim, from a fight that didn’t have to be started, and for no real gain. The show spends a lot of time dealing with its ramifications, and whilst it does help to heal some of the rifts between Toms family, it’s at a terrible cost. Ben’s returning from Harnessing remains a big thing so far this season, and the recurring Skitter characters evident interest in him is all the more intriguing. So there is a lot more sense of things moving in this episode, three stories for the price of one. I’m still waiting for the episode of homilies though! Falling Skies airs on the FX channel in the UK on Tuesdays, 9pm.
Matt Farr
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COMIC REVIEW - Alice In Sunderland From Bryan Talbot, the acclaimed creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and The Tale of One Bad Rat, comes Alice in Sunderland, a graphic novel unlike any before. Funny and poignant, thoughtprovoking and entertaining, traditional and experimental, whimsical and polemical, Alice in Sunderland is a heady cocktail of fact and fiction, a sumptuous and multi-layered journey that will leave you wondering about the magic that’s waiting to be unlocked in the place where you live.
Writer: Bryan Talbot Artist: Bryan Talbot Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
The Blurb: Sunderland! Thirteen hundred years ago it was the greatest center of learning in the whole of Christendom and the very cradle of English consciousness. In the time of Lewis Carroll it was the greatest shipbuilding port in the world. To this city that gave the world the electric light bulb, the stars and stripes, the millennium, the Liberty Ships and the greatest British dragon legend came Carroll in the years preceding his most famous book, Alice in Wonderland, and here are buried the roots of his surreal masterpiece. Enter the famous Edwardian palace of varieties, The Sunderland Empire, for a unique experience: an entertaining and epic meditation on myth, history and storytelling then decide for yourself-does Sunderland really exist? 72
The Review: I’ve heard British comics legend Bryan Talbot speak at a couple of conventions, and I’m struck by how thoughtful he is about the comic as a distinct art form, something with its own unique strengths and weaknesses and that’s quite refreshing in an age when “cinematic” seems to be big buzzword for mainstream comics. Originally an artist before moving on to both writing and illustrating, Talbot has worked on an astonishing range of material, but most notably he’s written quite a few big, stand-alone, non-serialised pieces, such as 1994s A Tale of One Bad Rat, and the more recent Grandeville series (about to expand to a third book), but for me his magnum opus is Alice In Sunderland. It may sound like an odd choice for a long-form work: part stream of consciousness, part biography of Lewis Car-
roll, part history of the North East, but what is striking about it is how much it makes use of the format in ways that make me think you couldn’t tell this story, or present this information, in any other way. But I’m getting ahead of myself, and should start with the actual content. Alice In Sunderland combines three main strands. Firstly, it is a history of the North-East in general and of Sunderland in particular - from the earliest records (and indeed before!) through folklore, myth, legend and hard fact. I grew up in the North East, although further south on Teesside and a lot of the folklore is familiar from my childhood, but seeing it put into a historical context is fascinating, not least because it is fabulously illustrated - the art style shifting around depending on the nature of the story. The second strand is the history of Lewis Carroll and of Alice in Wonderland. Carroll, it transpires, had connections up in the North and spent time up here and Talbot ties his life into the local landscape, and shows those influences moving into his work, as well just giving a useful, and somewhat myth-busting, history one of the nineteenth century’s most enduring fantasists. There is great care taken not only to put Carroll in the North-Eastern landscape, but also the landscape of his personal relationships and the reputation building done around his life and work after his death.
Geek Syndicate Finally, there is a long-running subtext about the comics medium as a storytelling form - or at least that unique combination of words and pictures that we label as “comics” today. This form of illustrated story-telling ties in with medieval illuminated manuscripts, the political cartoons of Hogarth (which includes a fantastic analysis of a couple of his works) and the war adventure tales of my own youth. Here especially we see Talbots ability to mimic other styles really stand out, with his own (equally distinctive) art forming the framing narratives but cut away stories are drawn in whatever style is appropriate to the format he is talking about. All three strands weave together in what at first feels like a slightly random stream of consciousness but you soon realise that this is a finely crafted structure. In fact, the amount of work that must have gone into Alice In Sunderland starts to feel slightly intimidating - I’ve read it twice and I’m sure that there is stuff I’ve missed in the backgrounds and occasionally dense (well, dense for a comic) text. The whole thing is inviting you to “feel the quality” - right down to the hardback presentation and physical production quality; never something to underestimate when you’re presenting such quality content. What you have in the complete package, is a story that I just cannot imagine being told any other way. This is a story not just about folklore, history, and art, but about how
they merge and diverge and feed off each other, and the melding of words and pictures in the comic format is the perfect way to do it. Television would flash by too quickly and you wouldn’t be able to take it all in. Pure prose-based text would rely too heavily on longwinded description and be desperately short of the visual texture that gives this so much clout. There is only one format to present this in and it’s the format it is presented in.
these demonstrations of the form are all the more important in an age when comics sometimes feel inward looking, not accessible to outsiders, which is all the more reason that Alice In Sunderland should be applauded for the great achievement that it is. Matt Farr Rating:
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So essentially what I’m saying is that Alice In Sunderland fulfils the two main criteria for novels-in-graphic-form. Firstly it’s inherently a single, complete work that is unburdened by having to be serialised and takes advantage of that to feel like a unified, extended work. Secondly it’s not just textwith-pictures, but something that needs to be projected as both words and pictures, with equal emphasis on both to make the whole work. On top of that, it’s genuinely fascinating - a wealth of information from the trivial up to the perspective shaking. Now I’m not going to claim that Alice is Sunderland is the “Best Graphic Novel Ever”, or that it reinvents or redefines the form, because I don’t think that it does. What it is, however, is a great example of the form - a clear demonstration of the novel-in-graphic-form that can only be presented in that form, and something you could give to someone who’d shy away from a volume full of say, Anthropomorphic Steampunk Badgers, even though it’s from the same writer. And 73
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COMIC REVIEW - Fathom (free issues on iBooks) 1998 and is still going strong a dozen years later with three subsequent volumes and a number of popular mini-series!.
The Review: Available on the Apple iTunes store now, the Fathom series of comics by the late, great Michael Turner, the comic genius who helped give us WitchBlade, and who died so tragically from cancer aged only thirty-six.
Writer: Various Artist: Various Publisher: Aspen Comics
The Blurb: Created By Michael Turner Aspen Matthews grew up tied to the water. It is in her blood. Adopted by Captain Matthews on the Paradise ocean liner, she flirted with Olympic Gold as a swimmer before becoming an experienced diver with several degrees in Marine Biology. With one fateful experience below the water’s surface, she became the only true link between the world above and the world below. However, the link was broken, and war between the Humans and the underwater race of the Blue threatens all of humanity—with only Aspen Matthews powerful enough to stop it! Michael Turner’s Fathom debuted as the best-selling comic book of
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Fathom’s premise is that an underwater Atlantis style civilization exists beneath the waves, undiscovered by humans until such time as our technology allows us to go deeper. As with all meetings between civilizations, we descend into a secret war. The stories centre around the young girl Aspen – her origins as a foster child found alone at sea and her affinity with the ocean: is she human – or something more? Various first issues are all available free on iBooks: Fathom – We first meet adult Aspen, as she graduates from marine college and gets her dream job aboard an undersea expedition, just as the underwater dwellers (the Blue) attack a sea-bed research base. Fathom Beginnings - we see the origin of Aspen, found alone at sea by the ship captain who later adopts her
Dawn of War – Blue prisoners are taken to a secret military base in the mountains, where they are tortured & interrogated by a cold, brutal commander; meanwhile their underwater brethren mount a daring rescue mission Dawn of War Beginnings – all out guerilla war between the Blue and humans Fathom Vol. 2 – This time it is humans held prisoner at the bottom of the sea by the Blue, as the military on the surface plans a full-on assault I cannot stress enough how much I love the artwork of Fathom – it’s beautiful. Turner certainly had some complex visions of his underwater world, and they are articulated beautifully in the pages of Fathom. The storylines and story arc are great, and complicated nature of the Blue society and its rich mix of ethnic segregations are well defined – why would we suppose that any race of beings under the sea would be any less diverse than ourselves? I was moved to research Turner, and his passing in 2008 is certainly something to be mourned… there’s great talent in these pages… I strongly suggest you investigate them…
Ronald Singh Rating:
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FILM REVIEW - Prometheus
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each time adding geek layer upon layer to my personality. When I knew that Prometheus was coming, and that it was a stand-alone film set in the Alien universe, rather than a straight-forward prequel, I was quietly confident that this would be a well-written and visually well-executed movie, and would deliver to my expectations.
Writers: Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron
The Blurb: Ridley Scott, director of ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner,’ returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
The Review: Actually, this review is not just about Prometheus, but also the imaginative genius that is Ridley Scott. Scott gave us Alien, but more importantly, he gave me Blade Runner – I saw that film seven times in the cinema,
So having seen it twice in as many weeks let me start by saying that technically, Prometheus is brilliant: the effects, the sets, the technology, costumes, landscapes etc are flawless. The eponymously named ship is brilliant: well imagined and well constructed. This is just as well as all this hard work has to compensate for a very flawed story and under-utilised cast…
The film initially starts off in true X-Files / Close Encounter of the Third Kind fashion with the stitching together of various ancient wall drawings from all around the world all depicting the same galactic co-ordinates, and being interpreted as an invitation to go and meet what could possibly be, our makers. We are also treated to a view of a very large humanoid alien on a beautifully landscaped planet (not unlike our own), who then inexplicably takes a sip of “black oil” and dies an agonising death.
Having been awaken after a few years in space, on this “one of a kind” mission (set only a 100 years or so from now), we are asked to believe that the entire crew has never met each other until the moment they are awoken and that this unique mission is privately funded by an individual who must be the richest man on earth (this would cost trillions of dollars to implement) who, as it happens, is dying (in fact we see a holographic message indicating he’s probably already dead). We also find out that none of the team has ever had a psyche evaluation, as it is evident that one or two of them are clearly very unhinged! And there is an android, fully equipped with a “bitchy” mode… Arriving at the planet identified by the cave drawings back on earth, which in itself is barren and lifeless, they discover an underground base. Within this base, they find remains of several large humanoids (like the one seen at the beginning of the film), who turn out to be the same as the “space jockey” we all know & love from the first Alien film. This discovery reveals two very important things: a) that the humanoids on this planet all died horribly in some inexplicable way, and that b) following an analysis of their DNA, we human beings are clearly descended from them – they are indeed our makers. 81
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Exploring the underground base further, they find many containers of the black oil and in accidentally spilling some on the ground, we see it starting to mutate tiny worms in the earth… SPOILER ALERT! So, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the rest (but it helps!) - so in a nutshell:
• The increasingly effeminate android uses the black oil to infect one of the crew, and we get a ‘full-on’ effect of what mutation occurs • At the same time the oil has really started to mutate the earth worms • Mutated worms and mutated crew member means lots of dead crew members, dispatched very quickly & unceremoniously. • We also find out that the now camp android has found an alien humanoid alive & well in suspended animation and is going to wake him because… (*Big Spoiler*) the richest man on earth has actually been on Prometheus all the time! Yes, the plan all along was for this dying “Donald Trump” to meet his maker, and to ask for more life (Hmm… that sounds a bit like Roy Batty!) • However, when the alien humanoid is awakened from stasis, it starts killing everyone in sight, too. • We now discover that the underground base is in fact, a spaceship (just like the one we see the “space jock82
ey” in Alien), and that this ship is loaded with containers of the black oil (which it transpires is a chemical weapon), on a course to destroy the earth!
• Actually, this ship is one of many ships buried on this desolate planet, all of which we suspect are aimed at earth, or possibly other planets. END SPOILERS I won’t give you any more spoilers, save that the heroine, (a pretty good Noomi Rapace), saves the day to fly off with a very badly beaten android (that sounds familiar too). Like I said, the film is littered with plot-holes, inconsistencies and impossibilities, which I’m sure weren’t apparent when the story book was originally sketched out, but all of which you can’t ignore.
The actors are all largely, woefully under-utilised. Poor Mr. Fassbender ends up playing the android as an androgynous butler; Logan Marshall-Green is a second rate Tom Hardy with a very thin character, and Charlize Theron might as well have sent an understudy as her character is a non-entity. Quite why they felt the need to age Guy Pearce with prosthetics to play the dying trillionaire, rather than just getting an older actor, is beyond me. The only character of any worth is Noomi Rapace, and
she is played exactly as a new Ripley, in true Scott form: an unassuming archeologist who is called to perform some incredible feats (including giving herself a do-it-yourself Caesarian abortion and then stapling her stomach back up – no, you really have to see that scene!) And at the very end of the film, we are given a first glimpse of a proper Alien bursting forward fully grown from the body of a humanoid – all very inconsistent with what we know, and to be honest, a very underwhelming special effect. I’m presuming at this point, that the studio has green-lit this to be part of a trilogy. I’m not sure that Ridley Scott should be allowed anywhere near it, and he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to do a Blade Runner sequel. In my mind, I’ve got a pretty good idea where they will take this story arc: film two will have Noomi going to the humanoids’ home planet, where no doubt, there will probably be human beings used as slaves (otherwise she’s going to be the only real actor in the film!); the third film will possibly be her foiling a last attempt by the humanoids to destroy the earth – in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised that we find out at the end of film 3, that it is in fact her dead body sitting in the “space jockey” that we see in the ship in Alien… Remember – you read it here first!
Ronald Singh Rating:
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BOOK REVIEW - A Jar Of Wasps
the world. In the end, he manages two out of three. Which for a beginner, isn’t bad.
The Review: Ok, this has to be a first for us here at Geek Syndicate, a novel about the adventures of a geologist, you know, the rock guys. People for whom the movement of tectonic plates over millennia can cause a rush of blood to the head.
Author: Luis Villazon Publisher: Anarchy Books
The Blurb: Graham Trevennan has just been dumped by his girlfriend. That’s not the problem. He’s wanted by the police for a murder he didn’t commit. That’s not the problem, either. But around the world, dormant volcanoes are suddenly erupting and impossibly complex crystal meteorites are falling out of the sky in a way that probably isn’t coincidental. Now, the CIA, the army and at least one terrifyingly beautiful treasure hunter all seem to think that shooting Graham will somehow help them get hold of these priceless, extraterrestrial crystals. That is a problem. Graham’s mission is to avoid getting killed, figure out whose side he is on and save
So, how do you make that world into an action packed, page-turner of a novel which will have you speculating all the way to the end? Well read on and I’ll tell you. Described as a geo-thriller, A Jar of Wasps opens in the house of Graham, your average geologist about town, as he receives a package containing a mysterious rock. Within five minutes we are left with a dead body, a police raid and the menace of two secret agents (though whose side they are on is another matter) who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Actually the story opens on the top of an exploding volcano but we’ll come to that in a bit... Graham is whisked off into a world of international intrigue as he tries to find out where the mystery rock came from and why hundreds more are crashing to earth from space. Dragged along by the sexy but dangerous Seraphina, Graham is on a mission to save the planet and we’re not talking recycling tin cans here.
All that he needs to do is stay alive long enough to do it as he is chased by trained killers. Villazon is a debut author with a unique tale to tell. Released as an e-book, A Jar of Wasps is a fun read with a cheeky style of writing throughout and some great one-liners. Think a young Douglas Adams for humour and you’re probably not too far off track. The pacing is good as you are whisked across the globe as well as back and forth through the story’s timeline (each chapter opens with “fast forward 2 hours 20 minutes” or “rewind 7 minutes 31 seconds”). This technique keeps the action flowing and allows key plot points to be revealed over time. Having said that, I found myself lost at points as we changed not only time and location but point of view which meant I had to reread sections as I worked out which character was talking to the reader at a given moment. The characters, whilst clichéd (but that was part of the fun), are well developed and we have a great mixture of kick ass special agents, nerdy rock guys and a love interest or two along the way. I found myself rooting for Graham throughout, hoping that our everyday hero would eventually save the day despite everything kicking off around him. It was a shame then that while the development of some excellent characters was great, that a number of plot-threads were just left to fizzle out come the end of the book. We finish where we started. Atop an exploding volcano (told you 83
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we’d get back to that) with a climax that left me feeling deflated. It’s a very clever ending, as a concept, but there was a good fifty pages of untold story (what happened to character x, how did the relationship with character y work
out) which I wanted to see. I’d invested in these people and I wanted a pay off that just didn’t come.
rest of the book and I just felt frustrated.
Overall, a fun read with some great characters but the ending just didn’t live up to the
Rating:
Phil Ambler
G G GG G
DAY OUT REVIEW - Madame Tussauds: Marvel 4D! day?
The Blurb: Some of Marvel’s best loved Super Heroes have been brought to life in three floors of multisensory fun featuring a mix of interactive themed areas, startlingly realistic wax figures and the amazing Marvel Super Heroes 4D film experience. The climax of the experience is a 360º animated 4D cinema attraction, complete with high impact special effects from water and wind to tremors, making you ‘feel’ like part of the action! The story unites a crack team of Super Heroes including Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Iron Man in a battle against one of Marvel’s most villainous baddies in an action packed adventure set in London! Source: Official Site
The Review: In Old Smokey for the day? Fancy a slightly different geek 84
Madame Tussauds of Baker Street, London clearly need no introduction – its notoriety is elementary, my dears (sorry, I couldn’t resist!). Whilst it had been some 10 years since my last visit, the updated collection of statues retained all the charm and attraction of my past memories. But this specific trip was to take my family to see the new Marvel collection, unveiled in May to coincide with the release of Marvel’s Avengers Assemble movie. This really is a fine collection of well loved characters. Not only are The Avengers present, but Spider-Man, Wolverine and many other Marvel characters have their own waxworks. You can take your photos with all the characters, wear Iron Man’s armour, flex your own set of Wolverine claws, and even hang upside-down from the ceiling, Spider-Man style. But without doubt, the big favourite was being held in the grip of a fist from a giant-size Hulk. The experience is rounded off with a 360 degree animated 4D cinema attraction, complete with high impact special effects from water and wind to tremors, making you “feel” like part of the action.
This takes place in what was the old London Planetarium. Outside of that, there’s plenty of other geek attractions in Madame Tussauds including The Chamber of Horrors, a Shrek themed area, Hitchcock area, Tinkerbell area (I have a 3 year old daughter – we weren’t allowed to miss it!) and many others, topped off with the ‘Spirit of London’ ride. Tickets aren’t the cheapest, it is London after all, but if you book online, tickets can be as low as £22.50, and if you go in the evening (after 5.00 PM), it can drop right down to £15. You can also use Merlin passes if you have them, or collect enough Avios points using Shell petrol, Lloyds TSB credit cards and Tesco vouchers (which is what we did!). Book tickets at the official Madame Tussauds website.
Ronald Singh Rating:
GGGGG Pictures on the following page!
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COMIC REVIEW - Reads Volume 2 The House, Claire Stewart’s beautiful and mysterious Cloudriders and Paul Rainey’s devastating Wednesdays.
The Review: When I reviewed Avery hill Publishing’s Reads last year I was astonished by the quality offered in this anthology. Now the hard bit has arrived: trying to recapture the magic from volume 1 with volume 2.
Contributors: Tim Bird, Laura Coxeter, Sam Ely, Emma Hammond, Steven Horry, Paul Rainey, Claire J. C. Stewart, Rebecca Strickson, Sujo Tanaka, Edward Ward and Lawrence Williams Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing
The Blurb: The wait is finally over – Issue 2 of Reads is here! 44 pages of comics anthology goodness, worth the price of admission for the fantastic cover by Liz Jordan alone This time round we kick off with the next instalment of Metroland, Ricky Miller’s labyrinthine tale of multidimensional rock n roll. The legendary Tim Bird gives us another slice of London life in The Knowledge and the plot thickens in Dave and Goz’s Bad Times Ahead. Plus a trio of talent make their Reads debuts: Marjory Wallace with her charming childhood story
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Once again, the cover art is striking; a homage to The Beatles, this cover will capture the reader’s interest straight away. One of the things that I liked so much about the first anthology was its uniqueness. Having released a tried and tested product, the Reads team managed to make volume two feel innovative. Hilary Harper, a character from the first anthology introducing the book, which works on three fronts: it is a cool way to introduce the character, a clever way to market the first anthology and is an innovative device to show the contents of this second volume. I loved how the character broke the fourth wall complaining that there was not enough room for his strip this time around. It is always important to have a strong opener and ending story to an anthology. Last time, Ricky Miller decided to finish Reads with his own work, Metroland. It was a good choice. Metroland was one of the strongest stories in a book that had quality running all the way through it. This time it’s the first story in the book. I
felt it was a nice touch to have Metroland as the first story, and it proved to be a strong opener that felt like it carried straight on from the last anthology. Wednesdays by P.B. Rainey is a quirky finish to the book. It feels different in a good way just like the rest of this anthology. Yet it doesn’t seem to have the same bang that Metroland had. The inventiveness continues in the stories. Metroland uses clever panel structures help the story to move to a nice pace. Yet hats off must go to the ingenious structure by Michael Gosden and David White in Bad Times Ahead. The first page will blow you away with its quirky style. This continues through the entire story. These techniques and devices make the book stand out from the crowd. It is what made me so excited to read this latest issue. Reads is an indie comic at its best: a crop of highly talented creators showing what they can do. Many stories finish with a “To Be Continued” and I can happily say that I cannot wait to find out what will happen in them. Metroland has grown from its first stellar outing. Miller’s art once again stands out, with its Lowry feel - the scratchy pencil lines adding depth to the story. His use of cultural references adds an extra element to the story. Bad Times Ahead was unique and intriguing: I left feeling upset that when I turned the page there was not more of the story. Tim Bird’s style is similar
to that of Daniel Clowes. Yet I believe that Bird’s writing is far superior to the American illustrated in The Knowledge. The Knowledge follows a taxi driver who wants to show off how much he knows. Bird’s writing has a feel of Scott Synder as he develops the taxi driver. The House by Majory Wallace is a nice, bittersweet story. The contrast from white to
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black works well. It is perfect to show what an anthology story should be like. The silent Cloudriders by Claire J C Stewart has stunning art work
One of the great things about the first Reads was its innovative style. Thankfully this continues again. Volume two is an incredibly strong follow up with some clever touches and brilliant stories. Highlights have to be Metroland
and in particular Bad Times Ahead. Anthologies usually are things that have the good and the bad but here we have the exceptional, including stories that I cannot wait to see what happens next in. Luke Halsall
GGGGG
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Geek Syndicate FILM REVIEW - Cleanskin
ing impact and intensity to the film. The story is full of unexpected twists and turns. Just when you think that you knew what is happening, something changes. This is a really good way to keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through the film.
Writer: Hadi Hajaig Director: Hadi Hajaig Starring: Sean Bean, Abhin Galeya and Charlotte Rampling
The Blurb: Cleanskin: Ewan (Sean Bean) is a Secret Service Agent faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a suicide bomber Ash (Abhin Galeya) and his terrorist cell, whilst Ash wrestles with his conscience and reflects on his journey to terrorism.
The Review: Cleanskin is a terrorist thriller, written directed and produced by Hadi Hajaig. The story moves at a lightning pace, never letting you go. The direction is stunning. The action scenes are very stylish, lending the film a pulp noir thriller feel. The death scenes look the part, often looking more like what you would expect in a typical comic book than a film. Further many of the angles are beautifully shot add88
It is nice to see the villain Ash getting some time on the screen, explaining his back story. Many films would not go into as much depth with the villain, saving this level of characterisation for the hero only. Hadi should definitely be praiseed for this. Further although Ash is the stereotypical villain, there are more shades of grey than anything else. He is clearly in the wrong but Ewan does many things wrong too and it shows reality: there are rarely good people and bad people, most people (especially ones who are in these kind of circumstances) are somewhere in the middle.
Unfortunately by developing Ash to such an extent, Bean’s character remains fundamentally flawed. We learn little about him and he remains one-dimensional: a noir detective or a more savage version of James Bond. Overall, Cleanskin is a good solid, action thriller. It is impressive what Hajaig has managed to do on such a small budget. He has proven that he is a good writer, with only some of the dialogue feeling slightly corny, and an even more impressive director. Its one key problem is also one of its strengths: the brilliant characterisation of the antagonist led to a deflated anti-hero with little depth. If you enjoy your thrillers then this is definitely worth checking out.
Luke Halsall Rating:
GGGGG
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Geek Syndicate BOOK REVIEW - vN
The Review: Isaac Asimov wrote the three laws of robotics in a short story called “Runaround” and later introduced a master law over the first three. Many writers automatically include the first three laws in their tales of androids, after all who would create artificial humans who are stronger, faster and smarter than their creators, without curbing them somehow? Most authors never consider that the laws of evolution have been shown to work with everything they’ve been applied to. Author: Madeline Ashby Publisher: Angry Robot Books
The Blurb: Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine, a self-replicating humanoid robot. For the past five years, she has been grown slowly as part of a mixed organic/synthetic family. She knows very little about her android mother’s past, so when her grandmother arrives and attacks her mother, little Amy wastes no time: she eats her alive. Now she carries her malfunctioning granny as a partition on her memory drive, and she’s learning impossible things about her clade’s history – like the fact that the failsafe that stops all robots from harming humans has failed… Which means that everyone wants a piece of her, some to use her as a weapon, others to destroy her. 90
In vN, Madeline Ashby does address some of the issues that might come about if we ever do build our own reproducing androids that are bound by similar laws. What sort of foodstuffs would these creatures consume? How would they reproduce? Would they be created male and female and would they need to have sex? What sort of programming could be included in them? And perhaps most importantly, what would they be used for? Most might be given the dangerous, repetitive, boring jobs that we wouldn’t want to do, cleaning sewers, replanting forests, fishing, farming, mining deep in the earth, even monitoring the insides of nuclear fission plants. But not all uses would be so noble and serving. Pedophiles might have their own robotic children, removing the threat to flesh ones. Violent men could have artificial partners, who
normally couldn’t be seriously damaged by them; even if they were, they wouldn’t be real and so could be repaired or replaced easier than flesh and blood ones. Women could have pliant sexual partners and men could have willing ones. Androids could essentially be slaves, unless partnered by humans with the empathy needed to recognise them as feeling and knowing individuals. Because of the failsafe included in their flesh, no one robot would ever be able to refuse a human. Doctors would of course have to be human, as an android would be unable to cut a living human. But nurses, stuck with the drudgery of caring for the sick and dying, however altruistic and necessary could be replaced, if the controls preventing these creatures from always doing what they are told by any human were weakened slightly. And what happens if evolution then takes control? Amy Peterson is the child of a mixed organic/synthetic family. Normally androids grow to full size in a few years, but Amy has been kept small, by starving her of the nutrients she would need to reach her full size. The choice to keep her small was mostly her mother’s, who wanted her to have a more human upbringing, although her father is beginning to be suspected of having the wrong tendencies. Amy is always hungry, and when her malfunctioning grandmother appears and starts killing humans, Amy does the only
thing she can think of, she eats granny. Now she has granny in her memory, trying to take her over, and she learns that the failsafe that stops robots from harming humans has failed in some, and that she carries the trait. Can Amy escape from those who want to destroy her
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as well as those who want to use her?
This is an excellent book, carefully thought out, in a world that could be our future with only a few technological breakthroughs. The plot is believable and gripping, with a
surprising ending. It was impossible to put down.
Christophe Montoya Rating:
GGGGG
FILM REVIEW - The Amazing Spider-Man appearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.
The Review: Writer: James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent & Steve Kloves Director: Marc Webb Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone & Rhys Ifans
The Blurb: The Amazing Spider-Man” is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ dis-
Director Marc Webb has assembled an impressive cast including Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans and Denis Leary for a mature and darker reboot of the SpiderMan tale which promised to give us “the untold story”. Did he deliver on his promise and was a reboot needed so soon after Spider-Man 3? Let’s find out. There are huge expectations for this film, not only because it’s a reboot so soon after the previous incarnation, but also because the film’s release comes in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy number fifteen – August 1962. So let’s talk about the casting. To start with: Peter Parker himself. British born Andrew Garfield won a BAFTA for his
role in The Social Network, so we all know he has acting chops. He has gone on record saying how important Spider-Man was to him during his childhood. The actor certainly fits the bill as Peter Parker up until he gets his powers … but more on that later. As Spider-Man he fits the suit well and has the quips ready for the bad guys but there is still something missing.
Emma Stone was cast as Gwen Stacy - Parker’s love interest before a certain red-head came along. I do not think I have ever seen a bad Emma Stone movie. She is young and courageous and enjoys her work. She is suited to this role one-hundred percent and is in fact the brightest part of this rather dark and, at times boring, film. Gwen’s father Captain Stacy of the NYPD is played by fast talking Denis Leary who displays some great moments of humour and humility all the while trying to 91
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take down the masked vigilante, Spider-Man.
Rhys Ifans displays enough gravitas to make us believe how conflicted he is when he starts to change from Doctor Curt Connors into the Lizard. There is even a father-son moment with Peter that just about comes off.
Rounding out the main cast are Martin Sheen and Sally Field playing Uncle Ben and Aunt May respectively. Sheen is good as Uncle Ben and seems comfortable in the role but I wished he had more to do in the film, while Sally Field just seems miscast as Aunt May. I did not connect with her throughout the course of the film and at times felt she was not needed for the story. This of course is at odds with the fact that the cornerstone of who Peter Parker is comes from his relationship with his Aunt. This lack of connection to Aunt May also impacted on how I felt about Peter as well. One big difference with this film from its predecessors is that the majority of the stunt work in the film is achieved with practical effects, working along the Dark Knight route. The team behind the stunts are the Armstrong brothers Vic and Andy. Recently I spoke to Vic Armstrong and he was really pleased with the work they had done on the film and 92
I can see why, as it does lend a certain grittiness to the movie. At times, CGI effects are used, but only when required. As a result, we get some great set pieces. The film would be nowhere without the help of James Horner’s musical score, which is rich and dark, with some standout moments during the final act. Horner has always been able to produce sweeping scores and here he uses that technique while SpiderMan is swinging through the city, taking the audience along for the ride. We were told to expect the “untold story of Spider-Man” and a “darker and grittier” version of the Marvel hero. This is certainly what Director Marc Webb has gone for. The untold story is a fun new twist but hardly a revelation the film holds back much of the key information about this backstory. I hope these will be addressed in the sequel as teased in the post credits scene (yes there is one). This time round Spidey is back to making his webshooters. In the film, he bases his design on Oscorp technology which had me screaming (metaphorically) “er … hello!!” If Oscorp has designed the webbing then how come no one at Oscorp takes the design in the same direction that our hero does? It seems sloppy and lazy and I wish that Peter had invented it himself from scratch. Also when Peter gets his powers he shows off in the school gym by displaying most of his powers in front of hundreds of students to embarrass the school bully. Where did that come
from? The Peter I know and love would never do that. The villain of the piece is the Lizard, which is a good choice for this new adaptation as it helps to distance it from the previous films, but at times, the CGI of the Lizard is poor and when he talks it looks awful. Some of the fight scenes, however, are seamless including one with the king of cameos Stan Lee. Talking of seamless it would be unfair of me not to talk about the suit. It actually looks pretty cool and falls in line with the darker vision of this film. The Amazing Spider-Man is darker and is clearly based more on the Ultimate comics line as opposed to the original version of Spider-Man. Is this what we need right now? Do we want a darker SpiderMan? For me the answer is no. I loved the lighter tone of the previous series, which fell in line with all those children out there who want a light and fun Spider-Man to fit in more with The Avengers, which was family viewing. I get the impression this film wants to try to aim for a more mature audience, at which it succeeds,but at what cost? The film feels rushed in places and has no real heart. Yes, the relationship between Peter and Gwen is a blossoming one but is still rushed and the fact that Uncle Ben never utters the immortal line that shapes Peter as Spider-Man is just wrong.
Christophe Montoya Rating:
G G G GG
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COMIC REVIEW - TITAN: One Shot
Capes. This gives the superhero concept another edge that other books do not have. It is an interesting take.
Writer: Glen Ludlow Artist: Gary Seaward Publisher: Orbital Velocity Comics
The Blurb: On a remote island in the corner of Great Britain, enhanced super-humans who fought for King and Country during the final days of World War Two live out their lives in peace. But when a private military force want the island back, aided by Titan, the new generation of super-powered crime-fighter, everything goes to hell. When Titan is framed for murder, he is forced to choose between what is right, and what is easy, with a lot more than just his legacy on the line...
The Review: Titan by Glen Ludlow and Gary Seaward follows the eponymous superhero, who is helping society de-power the powered after the Second World War. Think District 9 meets
From page one we are made to believe that one of the characters has a shameful past. The book uses ingenious touches to reveal the character’s backstory, interweaving Titan into real life occurrences andgiving the reader top secret documents on matters we should not know about are just two of these. What is particularly nice is the way that the creative team have thought to explain how superpowers could have come about. Not just by explaining the experiment but what body part it may have changed and how society dealt with them. The change in colour is slightly jarring. We go from the first couple of pages being in full colour to black and white and then finally back into colour nearer the end of the comic. I got the impression this was to show the old film reel that would have likely been in black and white at the time as well as the fact that this is all in the past. It is a cool idea but unfortunately it takes a couple of pages for the reader to realise this. If the creators had put a panel in colour to start with on the new page showing them playing around with the camera and then moving into black and white this would be much more effective. Yes the first panel shows Titan talking to the camera, making sure it’s on etc but this is in black and white and as this is a new page after what can
only be described as a Watchmen like page (a page of prose that links into the story), it doesn’t completely connect with the reader. It is a daring and cool idea once the reader understands but it would help for the reader to get it straight away. The Watchmen like pages are something I have always been a big fan of. It helps to totally immerse the reader into the universe and this is one of Titan’s biggest strengths. When it comes to a first time comic this is crucial in order to get the reader back for more. The creative team have done that: with an interesting story and clever techniques. The book moves at a nice snappy pace. For the most part the words are married well with the pictures. The art is nice and pops off the page. Yes some are jarring but the quirkiness of this book makes it stand out. Overall this is a story that I am very keen to see where it goes next and therefore they have done their job. Ludlow and Seaward have produced a very professional looking book, with a clever concept taking bold steps to illustrate their storytelling. Definitely worth checking out. I will be sticking around to see what happens next!
Luke Halsall Rating:
G G G GG 93
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GAME REVIEW - LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes
Developer: TT Games Publisher: WB Games
The Review: Lego Batman is back and this time he’s bringing a few friends along. I’ve always loved the LEGO games but I’ve found that over the years my interest in picking up the latest one has waned. When LEGO Batman 2 was announced I mumbled “not another one” and promptly decided to ignore any future news on the game. Even when someone told me that this time around the trademark funny cut scenes would now contain actual voices, my interest was not raised beyond “I might give the demo a go”, which in mind was really: “I will never download the demo much less give it a go”. I then stumbled across the first cut-scene on youtube and found myself laughing out loud watching a LEGO 98
Lex Luthor, voiced by Clancy Brown, the man who has epitomized Luthor in the world of DC animation for years now. My interest was now piqued. I got hold of the game and started to play. I played. And then played some more. I found that the other games I had on the go at the time (sorry Max Payne 3 and Ghost Recon: Future Solider) were collecting dust on my shelf, as I was so desperate to reach the end of my adventures with the LEGO brick crusader and his chums. My conclusion upon finishing the game is that LEGO Batman 2 is best LEGO game I’ve played. One of the things that surprised me is, for a LEGO game, just how damn pretty the graphics were. I haven’t played some of the more recent offerings but this was definitely a step up from what I’ve seen in the past. In one level Batman and Robin must escape from a burning factory and the flames, the explosions all look fantastic.
Gameplay wise if you’ve played a LEGO game before you know what you’re getting but it is still slick, easy to pick up and play, with fun being the overriding theme throughout the gaming experience. As the subtitle “DC Super Heroes” suggests, the members of the Justice League and more are also in the game. However, in a
brave move from the developers you don’t get your hands on the majority of the characters (Superman, Wonder woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Cyborg) until you near the climax of the game. This choice feels right because when these characters do come into the game it’s because the threat level has become so high that neither Batman nor Batman partnered with Superman can handle the danger alone. It is impossible to review this game with spending some time with everyone’s favourite Boy Scout – Superman. Every single game which has tried to capture the experience of being the man of steel, needs to bow before the might of LEGO Batman 2, as it gives us a last son of Krypton that we can be proud to play as. Here, Superman is his invulnerable self but the game makes clever use of his weakness to kryptonite to stop him from becoming the go to character. A great mix of puzzle solving also means that sticking with any one character won’t get you too far and certainly won’t get you all of the game’s hidden rewards and extras. As you play you will find yourself often switching between heroes to get the job done. As much as I loved played as Batman, my favourite moment of the game (and from what I’ve read many share this view) came when you get control of Superman in Gotham City and take to the sky. Not only is Superman’s flight perfect (right down to Reeve’s trademark arm roll when turning) but
also when the John Williams’ Superman theme kicks in and plays in it’s entirely I defy any Superman fan not to have a smile on their face. The story is great and is made all the better by the addition of voices to the LEGO characters. The voice actors do a solid job, with the scenes between Batman and Superman being the most funny. The game developers manage to stay faithful to the core of Batman’s character while poking fun at him at the same time. For me, having the characters speak was one of the best parts of the game. I’m now wishing the developers could go back and redub some of the other LEGO games in this way.
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In the end it’s not just about fancy cut scenes, after all this is a computer game and in this regard the team at Travellers Tale Games have nothing to worry about. Like the previous LEGO games the fun doesn’t stop once you complete the game. Only a small percentage of what you can discover is accomplished upon completion. Unlike previous games you have a sandbox, in the form of Gotham City to play in and what a wonderful sand-
box it is. There are still villains to be fought and secrets to be discovered. Trust me this is a game that will keep you busy for a while and also one that will be good to just drop in solo or with a mate and have the occasional blast on.
Put simply LEGO Batman 2 is the best entry in the LEGO game franchise.
Barry Nugent Rating:
GGGGG
99
Geek Syndicate BOOK REVIEW - Turbulence
Aman wants to ensure that their new powers aren’t wasted on costumed crime-fighting, celebrity endorsements, or reality television. He wants to heal the planet but with each step he takes, he finds helping some means harming others. Will it all end, as 80 years of superhero fiction suggest, in a meaningless, explosive slugfest?
Author: Samit Basu Publisher: Titan Books
The Blurb: Aman Sen is smart, young, ambitious and going nowhere. He thinks this is because he doesn’t have the right connections—but then he gets off a plane from London to Delhi and discovers that he has turned into a communications demigod. Indeed, everyone on Aman’s flight now has extraordinary abilities corresponding to their innermost desires. Vir, an Indian Air Force pilot, can now fly. Uzma, a British- Pakistani aspiring Bollywood actress, now possesses infinite charisma. And then there’s Jai, an indestructible one-man army with a good old-fashioned goal — to rule the world! 100
Turbulence features the 21stcentury Indian subcontinent in all its insane glory—F-16s, Bollywood, radical religious parties, nuclear plants, cricket, terrorists, luxury resorts, crazy TV shows — but it is essentially about two very human questions. How would you feel if you actually got what you wanted? And what would you do if you could really change the world?
The Review: The book starts off with a great tease, hinting at things to come. Not knowing much about India it was great to get an insight into it’s crazy, fun culture which includes Bollywood and cricket. One by one we are introduced to the key characters and their powers, which are not quite evident at first. These are ordinary people who get these powers and it is impressive how the writer has shown the different paths each takes in their various journey. Soon the characters’ paths converge and a sinister conspiracy is revealed that will
shape India as a “super” power in more ways than one. The good guys join forces as they attempt to figure out how to best make use of their powers, including how they could solve world poverty. The novel’s action takes place in both India and London and there are lots of recognisable locations that add a realistic element to the story. Most of the characters are well constructed which helps the reader relate to them. Some of the shadier characters are one dimensional but are still fun to read. The action is fast and full of iconic fight scenes that feel as if they’ve jumped straight out of a comic book. The humour and cultural references are fun and spot on with winks and nods to Marvel and DC comics. Author Samit Basu has also found some new twists on familiar super powers and created uses for them that make a lot of sense in the real world. The ending is climatic but also feels like a bit of a cheat with some of the action taking place off screen but that does not detract from the fact that Turbulence is a lot fun and well worth a read for comic books fans.
Christophe Montoya Rating:
GGGGG
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COMIC REVIEW - Batman #001-#011: The Court of Owls
Writers: Scott Snyder Art: Greg Capullo Publisher: DC Comics
All everyone has been talking about since The New 52 arrived last September has been the rise of Scott Snyder. I was a fan of Snyder’s preNew 52 writing with his exceptional work on Detective Comics in the story arc The Black Mirror, as well as his Iron Man Noir. The man had something that few other writers seem to have and Batman was the character he was born to write. He instinctively had Dick Grayson’s voice as if it was actually him speaking and the few glimpses of his writing of The Joker in his final few issues of Detective were a joy to behold.
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What’s Gone Before
The Cover Story
With the move back to Bruce Wayne being the only Batman and Snyder also moving to Batman from Detective it was always going to be interesting to see how he managed with the true franchise player. It is a delight to write that anyone reading this who has never read Snyder should believe the hype. The man has produced two of the best Batman stories ever written and Court of Owls is in my top five if not higher.
Before we look at the actual content, the covers by the brilliant Greg Capullo (the artist on the book who does a fantastic job creating Gotham) tell us a lot about every issue of the story. Issue One illustrates Batman being accosted by many Arkham inmates. This is a foretelling for what is going to happen in this story arc. Batman will face madness head-on. He will be sent down the rabbit hole, continually trying to battle for his sanity through the courage of his convictions. Batman will be rocked by what happens to him in this arc. Everything will be thrown at him but he will stand tall?
Before we discuss the Court I think it is important to look at what came before. DC and Snyder made it clear that the new Batman could be picked up by anyone but it is obvious that Snyder started to architect his run before it started with his brilliant mini series, The Gates of Gotham. This series took place before the New 52 and therefore still had Dick Grayson as the Batman. It delved into the history of Gotham like no other writer had before and added depth to the city as a whole. This would become a recurring theme in The Court of Owls. Gotham was a monster as real as The Joker or any of the other villains it has spawned. It could corrupt most people no matter what they tried to do. What is more, this continued on the theme that Bruce, in particular, but also the rest of the Bat family are the only people in Gotham that are incorruptible, a theme that is so crucial to the Batman character: he is a legend, a myth that we should look up to.
Further, the cover shows Batman outnumbered: another big theme of the story. Through the majority of this series The Dark Knight will be outnumbered with little left but his natural abilities. This theme will be continued in the covers for Issues Seven and Eight. Issue Seven illustrates Batman fighting his own personal demons. They are clearly gathering around the damaged Batman who is trying everything he can to hold onto his sanity. Issue Eight is even more intriguing as the talons are swarming Wayne Manor. We see Bruce stripped down to his core: no suit, he is just a man. The bat is a legend and the suit makes him a nightmare. But the Owls are Batman’s nightmare, showing the world that he is nothing but a man.
Issues Two and Three show Batman in battle. At this stage it looks like the odds are pretty even as the battles are one on one. Batman is either shown as an aggressor or at least still standing. The Owls are clearly a threat here but they look like one that Batman can handle. Issues Four and Nine work as beautiful symmetry. In Issue Four we see a talon watching Batman with the city dripping in blood, clearly showing that the city belongs to the Owls. Whereas by the time we get to Issue Nine, the tide has started to turn. We get a close up of Batman staring down the talons. Wayne Manor is dripping in blood inside his mask and therefore it shows that it does not matter how much anyone tries to take Wayne Manor from Bruce it is his fortress. It is his place, the heart and soul of Batman’s operations and he would never let it go down without at least a fight. Issues Five and Six show Batman on the brink of falling. He is surviving the onslaught but only barely. In Issue Five it is the attack of the Talons that are truly shown whereas Six shows him on the brink of insanity. Issues Ten and Eleven are really the first time we see Batman looking the beacon of strength we are all used to seeing. He is standing upright, yet even on the cover of Issue Ten the Owls are looming behind him. It is as if there is something they still know about Bruce, something that means they still have control over Batman, whereas Issue Eleven illustrates Batman finally ris-
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ing from the ashes. An image that clearly shows Batman reclaiming his city and his soul: he is reclaiming that he is the monster that the criminals fear.
Content Matters The first three issues do a great job of building the story around us, developing certain aspects of the Owls. At first it does feel like a slow burner as Snyder executes his knowledge of Gotham history perfectly, adding intricacies to the city that had never been there before but feel like they should have been. This is one of Snyder’s many strengths: the ability to make something feel new and innovative whilst at the same time being comfortable and instantly recognisable. Further, Capullo’s art complements Snyder’s writing very well. The first page of the first issue builds this feeling that Gotham is Batman’s city. At the top of the first panel tattered rags give the look of Batman’s cape. In the second panel the building is shown in pitch blackness and has the shape of Batman’s cowl. The added darkness to this panel apart from the two windows that gleam out illustrate the eye sockets, showing that we as readers, like Batman, are meant to assume that this is Batman’s city. In the final panel we can see a winged animal that looks like a bat flying around. He throws in enough clues in the first few issues and some intriguing cliff hangers to make you want to desperately come back for more. One of the first cliff hangers is par-
ticularly of interest as it would seem that this is all tied up very early on. Yet Snyder cunningly throws us a red herring as the cliff hanger remains in the background until it is finally explained later. One of the best things about this arc is reading back through the story and seeing how everything is interconnected. Snyder has clearly taken his time thinking up the right dialogue for every scene as it feels that every interaction counts, affecting another action later on in the series in some form or another. For example, in Issue One, Bruce says in a speech that if you look at the city and the buildings all you will see are your own fears. How prophetic of the character when you are aware of what is coming in the later issues of the arc.
After the developing groundwork of the first issue, the second starts with a bang. The first five pages or so are stunningly crafted with some fantastic plotting. A scene where Batman is grabbing for a crook works so well as it slowly builds up until it finally happens. Snyder and Capullo cleverly never show us Batman smashing the window and instead allow the reader’s imagination to fill in the gaps. Further the scene where Gordon and Batman are doing the autopsy has a beautiful set of panels where there is symmetry between Gordon and Batman. It is almost as if we are seeing that Batman and Gordon both believe in the same ideals but fight in very different ways: Gordon is legitimate
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and analyses crimes at the police station whereas Batman is illegitimate and does his work from the Batcave. The colours used to illustrate Lincoln March and Bruce Wayne in this issue tells us even more about the thought that went into this story that the reader will only be able to see once they have read the entire story. From one perspective, Lincoln wearing white and Bruce wearing black can symbolise the White Knight, Dark Knight analogy used in Nolan’s movie The Dark Knight to describe Harvey Dent. Lincoln is the legitimate future of Gotham whereas Bruce is its dark present. The panels near the end of the issue are portrayed in a manner that really makes you feel like you are falling also. It is something that this book does so well: it makes you feel what Batman is feeling. Issue Three is where I think we really start to see the creative team play with the medium’s conventions and it all works so well. This issue is all about making the reader feel that the Owls are everywhere and the way that certain panels have been presented does this brilliantly. It gives the impression that often someone is listening in on the conversations of Bruce and Alfred for example. Capullo uses the talon’s eyes to show other buildings of interest. Once you have read the entire arc you will also notice that the Owls are watching in more ways than one, constantly keeping an eye on Batman. Further they continue to show
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the contrast between Bruce and Lincoln. Bruce is still wearing dark colours and seems to remain in the shadows or has the light beaming around him to illustrate his own darkness, whereas Lincoln has lighter colours around him. By the time you get to the fourth issue, you will be completely hooked. The groundwork has been laid and the end of Issue Three has you ready for more. This issue continues where the last left off: with a bang, throwing you straight into the action. Snyder’s dialogue continues to build on the notion that the owls are everywhere and that the city Batman thought was his is anything but the truth. Maybe my favourite pages of this issue are the flashbacks where old note pages, Gotham maps and the like are used as backdrops to what is happening. The colours used add a mood that feels like we have journeyed back in time. They add a style to them, a certain noir flavour that is perfect for Batman. Issue Five is simply phenomenal. It is up there with The Amazing Spider-man issue 33 as one of the best issues I have ever read, if not the best ever issue. The issue completely revolves around Batman losing his mind as the Owls have poisoned him. Snyder and Capullo’s story would have been brilliant on its own but the techniques they use to show his fall to madness are just exceptional. The pages actually turn so that we as readers have to turn the book in
order to read what is happening. This continues every couple of pages as it focuses in on Batman. This technique really makes the reader feel like they are going quite mad also. The jagged panels help to build this feeling of uneasiness. Further the use of colour really works well here. They have Batman skulking in the shadows as everything on the page is covered in darkness. Then suddenly the next page is glimmeringly bright, with as much white on the page as possible. The issue plays out like a good quality horror film as Batman falls further and further to the Owls. It truly takes the reader on Batman’s journey like no comic has really done before. Issue Six continues using the shock changes of colour. What is most clever about this issue is that Snyder and Capullo manage to make us feel like Batman is in true jeopardy. We know that this cannot be the end and yet we cannot see a way that he can get out of the fix he is in. It reminds you of how you felt as a child at the end of a good cliffhanger, desperate to know how the hero will fight back. This is the freshness that this team has brought to this book. There is a beautiful symmetry with Batman’s early years and his escape from The Court. Breaking through into a cave and falling down the hole is just like the initial thought of the character in Batman’s head. Issue Seven continues this theme. We see a flashback of Bruce Wayne seeing the bat
and deciding to become The Dark Knight. This first page has so much relevance as it refers to when you die. We know that Batman is the true man and Bruce Wayne is the mask. Here we see that this was the last time that Bruce Wayne lived before Batman took his place as the dominant characteristic in that man. As in Issue Three, where we saw the Court watching everything, it is brilliant watching the other talons waking up. Some of the camera angles used really build a sense of dread for what is about to come. Further we actually see Batman afraid in this issue. It is a new sensation for the reader as it is for Batman. We are not used to the character being afraid as we know that he is the one that puts the fear into his enemies. We can see that the Owls have broken the Bat but he is not done for yet. There is still a glimmer of that detective which is what Batman is even if you break him down. The revelations in this issue are shocking and if written by someone else it might not have worked. Yet Snyder makes them work so well. Issues Eight and Nine follow the Owls’ invasion of Wayne Manor. The first few pages of Issue Eight are shrouded in darkness. What I really like about this is Bruce’s reaction when the light suddenly appears. He is shocked and wants it off straight away showing that he is not just a creature of the night but how much his experiences with the Owls in the last two issues have affected him.
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Again the creative team use symmetry in a thrilling way. When the Owls first attack Wayne Manor, we see Bruce getting ready to stand and defend his base whereas Alfred goes to the cave to help him. We see the two running to their positions with Alfred on the left hand side and Bruce on the right. It flows nicely. What works so well in this issue is that we see that the Owls may think they know Gotham better: but they don’t know Wayne Manor. Some classic Batcave props such as the giant sized penny and the dinosaur are used. Issue Nine plays on the history of Batman, in particular the history of the Waynes. It adds depth and makes the issue even more exciting as the events unfold.
These are the first issues to have a backup story just like Snyder’s earlier work, The Black Mirror had. It plays right into the main story and feels essential reading. Rafael Albuquerque takes over on the art for these and does a fantastic job, whereas James Tynion IV helps Snyder out with the writing duties. The first part builds on the Night of the Owls but it is the second slice of this four piece pie that I really feel we start to get moving in an interesting direction. We delve into Alfred’s father’s life: something I don’t think has ever really been done before in Batman. Again like everything else that Snyder does with his history, he adds a freshness and intrigue to the Bat mythology whilst still feeling comfortable.
Issue Ten was introduced as a game changer and it certainly is that. It is a fantastically scripted and plotted issue with the pace being perfect. At the start of the issue, we see that Batman is back to his old ways with his ability to put the fear of god into his enemies. It is an issue that is full of surprises. We think one thing, are taken down many different routes until we finally know what is happening. It is a fantastic merry go round. When the big spoiler comes a-knocking it might take you a wee bit of time to get adjusted to what had been offered to you. What works so well is that Snyder has you right in his palm. He wants you to feel unsure just like he wanted to fear you were going insane in Issue Five of this arc. After you have time to let it resonate you realise just how clever it is and how much it connects with everything. It is wonderful watching something that had been built up so well come together in such a satisfying way. Issue Eleven is the perfect end to a brilliant saga. Everything is tied up nicely. You feel like you have just read something that might never be repeated. And yet with the knowledge that this creative team is about to get their hands on The Joker I am sure that even better things are just around the corner. Something that I really like about this run is that Dick Grayson has clearly grown since his time as Batman and Bruce now seems to listen to him as an advisor rather than treating him as a sidekick.
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DC said that his time as Batman would matter in the New 52 and it clearly does. Often Dick is there to talk to Bruce and even sometimes seems to know Gotham better than his mentor does. In early depictions this would not have really happened.
Final Thoughts The Court of Owls is a joy to read: a fantastic story that looks stunning and masterfully plays with the conventions of the medium. Batman has been
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lucky of late. Grant Morrison’s run that is soon coming to an end has been a complex rollercoaster with some fantastic stories along the way. R.I.P. is up there for me as one of the all time great Batman stories. Now we have the privilege of having Scott Snyder on the book, a book he seems almost born to write. His style is very different to Morrison’s but that is its beauty and why the character is so iconic. Snyder’s run is already up there with the greats. Batman in the eighties was known for being
a game changer with The Dark Knight Returns, I honestly believe that The Court of Owls will be remembered in the same way. Personally I think it is far superior to DKR and I hold it up there with comic folklore like many do with Watchmen. Only time will tell but Snyder’s second big Bat story has been a resounding success, critically and commercially.
Luke Halsall Rating:
GGGGG
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FILM PREVIEW - Man Of Steel
Synopsis: A child sent to Earth from a dying planet is adopted by a couple in rural Kansas. Posing as a journalist, he uses his extraordinary powers to protect his new home from an insidious evil. Release (UK): 14 June 2013 Director: Zack Snyder Writers: David S Goyer, Christopher Nolan Stars: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon & Kevin Costner Trailer: Man Of Steel Geek Syndicate Says: “Although I was one of the few people who enjoyed Superman Returns I am eager to see what the super friends style team up of Synder, Goyer, Nolan and Zimmer can bring us. Also if you can find it (and it won’t be great quality) watch the trailer/footage from SDCC as it’s far superior to the teaser trailer, apart from the Russell Crowe voice over in one of the teasers which is fantastic.” 107
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EVENT PREVIEW - Northants International Comic Expo
Synopsis: On the weekend of September 22nd – 23rd, Wicksteed Leisure Park will play host to Northants International Comics Expo 2012. N.I.C.E is the UK’s newest, most unique and family friendly comics expo. Headlining guest of honour for the inaugural event is one of the most acclaimed comic creators of all time, Alan Moore. Other gues include Charlie Adlard, Simon Bisley, Doug Braithwaite, Ian Churchill, Alan Davis, Steve Dillon, Marko Djurdjevic, Glenn Fabry, Melinda Gebbie, R.M. Guera, Adi Granov, David Hine, Shaky Kane, Dave Kendall, Clint Langley, Ben Oliver, Kate Brown, Emma Vieceli, Esad Ribic, Greg Staples, John Watson. Date: 22-23 September 2012 Website: Northants International Comic Expo Geek Syndicate Says: “A great line up of guests combined with some a innovative ideas (panel entry gained with a donation old graphic novels, free entry to the dealers, cos play and art gallery) has all the makings of a solid start for this new con on the block.”
EVENT PREVIEW - V&A Exhibition: Hollywood Costume
Synopsis: Hollywood Costume opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum in October and will be the perfect exhibition for sci-fi and film fans. Sponsored by Harry Winston The exhibition will gather together over one hundred of the most iconic costumes designed for unforgettable cinema characters over a century of film-making. On show will be the original costumes worn by the likes of Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Darth Vader, Tobey Maguire in Spiderman, Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns and many other iconic film costumes (Star Wars, Dracula, Dark Knight Rises and Harry Potter). As well as this there will be design sketches, photographs, scripts, photographs and film footage from some of Hollywood’s greatest films to date. Date: 20 October 2012 - 27 January 2013 Website: Hollywood Costume Exhibition Geek Syndicate Says: “I’ve already planned an Ocean’s 11 style plan in which I steal the Indiana Jones costume as worn by Mr Ford himself. A great collection of film costumes and more all in one place - the perfect outing for a film buff I reckon.”
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COMIC PREVIEW - Batman Issue 13
Synopsis: “A year ago, Joker decided, I’m going to walk away from Gotham, I’m going to plan my revenge, and I’m going to come back in a year and bring it all back. So this is what he’s been planning to do for a long time. And all of those things are set in motion.” - Scott Synder Published: 10 October 2012 Writer: Scott Synder Artist: Greg Capullo Geek Syndicate Says: “The Batman Court of the Owls storyline is one of my fave reads of the year. Scott Synder has really tapped into what makes Batman such a great character to read. Although I think the Joker is an overused character I’m keen to see Synder if can breathe new life into Batman’s arch nemesis.”
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TV PREVIEW - Doctor Who Series 7 (Or 33 If You Prefer)
Synopsis: The continuing adventures of The Doctor, an alien time traveler - a Time Lord - from Gallifrey. Together with his companions they travel through time and space in the TARDIS, battling evil where they find it. Release (UK): Autumn 2012 Directors: Metzstein, Nick Hurran & Douglas Mackinnon Writers: Steven Moffat, Chris Chibnall &Toby Whithouse Stars: Matt Smith, Karen Gillian & Arthur Darvill Geek Syndicate Says: “It’s time for the good doctor to make another house call. Last series saw The Doctor promising to be more in the shadows, more covert so how Moffat make good on that promise? Once again we have guest stars galore and more action taking place in America. This series also marks the departure of companions Amy and Rory so get those tissues ready.”
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FILM PREVIEW - Dredd
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Synopsis: In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. Release (UK): 07 September 2012 Director: Pete Travis Writers: Alex Garland Stars: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey Trailer: Dredd Geek Syndicate Says: “Any reservations about another film studio bringing Dredd to the big screen disappeared once Urban had been cast in the title role. The trailer that is now dong the rounds hasn’t changed our minds in the slightest. It looks like, come September, we are going to see on hell of a Dredd film.” 111
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.
Cancertown 2: Blasphemous Tumours Writer: Cy Dethan Artist: Graeme Howard Colourist: Peter Mason Letterer: Nic Wilkinson Publisher: Markosia
What is White Knuckle? “Sequel to 2009’s “where-the-f***-did-that-come-from?” indie hit, Cancertown: An Inconvenient Tooth, this second volume finds a dangerously ill Vince Morley tumbling between warring worlds as the barriers between his two realities cave in around him.” Why should we pick this up? “With nightmarish intensity in both visuals and storytelling, this second volume of Cancertown hurls the reader head-first through the looking glass. The foundations are shaking, the old powers are falling and all the scores must settle before the dust ever will. We can no longer protect you: Cancertown 2 is coming...” Pre-Order Cancertown 2 at: http://theraggedman.blogspot.co.uk/p/special-offers-and-pre-orders.html
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Lightning Strike Presents #1 Writers: Various Artists: Various Publisher: Self Published.
What is Lightning Strike Presents? “LSP is a self published anthology, containing ten different short stories, all full colour. The 72 page book contains many different genres, from Steampunk, to Fantasy, Sci-Fi to Horror.” Why should we pick this up? “It will certainly contain something for everyone, and has many contributions from well know names from both Irish and British smallpress.” Lightning Strike Presents - Available at: It is available from Dublin City Comics, Forbidden Planet Dublin and Sub City Dublin. It can be ordered through the website http://lightningstrikecomics. com/ . It will also be available digitally very soon, so please check the website for a release date.
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Geek Syndicate The Scarifiers Writer: Simon Barnard Artist: Simon Gurr Publisher: Cosmic Hobo
What is The Scarifiers? “The Ghostbusters... in tweed. Adapted from the BBC Radio 4 Extra series, The Scarifyers is a rip-roaring tale of comedic supernatural intrigue set in 1930s Britain, distilling the likes of Dick Barton, The Devil Rides Out and Quatermass into a cracking new adventure.” Why should we pick this up? Forbidden Planet International Blog: “Executed with style, expertly written, full of great characters, sparkling dialogue, and some quite magnificent artwork... I loved it.” Comics Bulletin: “A very British mix of class satire, supernatural drama, secret societies and clever dialogue, combined with some nicely creative art.” Comic Bits Online: “The UKs “edgier” counterparts of Blake & Mortimer... oozes Britishness and I can only recommend this highly.” Shiny Shelf: “A Wheatley-esque period horror adventure story with a pleasingly light, humorous touch... Seek it out.” Mass Movement Magazine: “One of the strongest opening chapters that it’s been my pleasure to read in more than three decades of comic devotion.” Available at: Buy it from Forbidden Planet International, Orbital Comics, Gosh Comics, Mega City Comics, Travelling Man or www.cosmichobo.com.
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See you next Issue!