Apropos of Nothing (Sir)...

Think for a moment about a knight.
Maybe you think Sir Lancelot, gallant, handsome and brave. Or maybe you like the Black Night from Monty Python, mad as a box of frogs.

Or maybe you'll think of someone amoral, egotistical, self-aggrandising and motivated solely by self-interest. And if you do, you may not be thinking Edmund Blackadder, you may be thinking Sir Apropos, knight of Nothing. Yes, his name is Apropos. Born to a bar-wench raped by a knight, through a series of unusual events becoming a knight without a lord.
He is the whipping boy of the gods.
The cosmic laughing stock.
Lame of leg, but quick of wits.
Carrying a bastard sword across his back.
And the hero of this charming tale from IDW Publishing.

Written by creator Peter David, Sir Apropos of Nothing takes a cynical, yet humourous voyage through the cultural landscape, riffing things as widly varied as King's the Black Tower, the Wizard of Oz, Vlad Tepes, Chicken Little, Harry Potter, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy...

The story opens with Apropos riding a horse with no name across the desert, in hot pursuit of "the black bastard", who in turn is seeking a dark tower. Whisked into the sky by a whirlwind, he ends up scared on the head and accepted as the saviour of a gypsy band. The gypsies were being attacked by the warriors of the Purple Wizard, who in turn serves Flad the Inhaler, a weak and ineffectual ruler.

I loved the story. The wry humour, the in-jokes to other novels, TV shows, songs and other features of the pop cultural landscape, the story held together wonderfully despite the seeming randomness of the encounters.

If you enjoy David's work, or just a fun romp I thoroughly suggest tracking down the trade paperback of this as soon as it's released. Or if you're really keen (and I do think it's worth while, as it's something that benefits more from being read in individual installments rather then an omnibus) the monthies from your local comic store.

Story: A+.
Art: A.
Overall: A.

What makes for good Doctor Who?

Okay, I admit it: I'm a geek.
Literally a card carrying geek.
And my poison of choice is Doctor Who.

But why Who rather then Star Trek or Star Wars or Stargate?
Because there's a wonderfully eccentric something about Who.
Something impossible.
Something marvellous.
Something well and truly barmy.

Maybe it's the juxtaposition of the mundane and the extraordinary.
Maybe it's the morality of the hero, who, as the elder statesman of Who, the writer Terrance Dicks (fondly nicknamed "Uncle Terrance" by the fans, many of whom like me learnt to read on stories (not just Who) written by him) put it is "never cowardly, never cruel. A peaceful man in a violent universe".
Maybe it's the fact that it makes you think, even when it's just running up and down corridors.
Maybe it's because the ideas were always bigger then the wooden sets and (slightly less, or slightly more, depending on your point of view) wooden acting.

It is, as I said, in the writing where the series sparkles (or fizzles).
That's where my favourite scenes occur, where the writing gives you a shiver down the spine, where they take your breathe away.

Such as this, from the story that effectively came at the end of the BBC Books series, the Gallifrey Chronicles:

"The Doctor was the finest dream of hundreds of human beings, refined as they tapped away at their typewriters. For generations, they'd made him a hero to countless millions in over a hundred countries. Then, just once, he hadn't come back. His enemies had kept him away. But despite their best efforts he hadn't been forgotten. There were those who remembered him when they walked past a dummy in a shop window or sat on a beach looking out to sea, and every time they ground pepper. Some of those who remembered him had typewriters of their own. And, after far too long, a new generation of children were about to hear that music for the first time, and they would learn their sofa wasn't just for sitting on."

This IMO sums up the magic of Doctor Who.
More reflections, and the odd review, will come later.

In Darkest Knight

As the title suggests, it is a Batman pastiche (although it's also very Zorro). The character of Star Saber is a Japanese exclusive character, a skilled swordsman (so a sort of Samurai or Knight, an honourable warrior, a reliable commander that sort of thing), he becomes the new Supreme Commander of the Autobots.

I rather like the idea that such a skilled warrior is hiding behind the fascade of the foppish "Star".
It is, after all, a staple of many stories, so why not Transformers?

In addition to the butler being visually reminiscent of Alfred Pennyworth and the final shot (another staple of such series), there was another one scripted - that is a bust of William Shakespeare (ie from the Adam West Batman series), but the artist thought it was a bit too much so suggested (and I agreed) that we not use it.