Batman... officially hardcore.

This isn't because of the whole "sod you Darkseid, I'm going to shoot your arse, and it's your fault I'm using a gun" stuff from Final Crisis.
Or the years of being the smartest man around.
Or kicking all colours of hell while in the Justice Leage (AND, incidentally, the only one of the "core seven" who wasn't (1) an alien, (2) an immortal warrior princess (3) King of Atlantis (4) Having a magic ring or (5) super-speed. He was pure, 100% human.
Or scaring the crap out of an invading army, who have previously beat the hell out of every super powered being on earth with the phrase "I know your secret" in fiery letters (despite the fact that this IMO *is* the most crowning moment of awesome ever).

Rather it's Batman, after having his head messed with for months by a secret organisation. Drugged. His personality torn to shreds. His meaning of life destroyed.
All by someone called "Doctor Hurt".

Who is Doctor Hurt?
He's the bleeding devil. The. Devil. As in "God's number #1 enemy".

And what does Batman do?
Basically tells him where to jam it, and then blows up the helicopter they were in.
The Joker's only comment is to say "Told you so".

Doctor Who: The Forgotten (a review)

I must say... it was brilliant.
The art top notch, and (as you may have noticed that I've a great respect for the quality writing) the writing is equally excellent.

The basic premise (barring any wonderful roller-coaster twists (often a staple of Doctor Who) of which there are a couple) is that the Doctor is trapped in a museum dedicated to him and his past. The great part of that is that the artefacts are from all the 45 years of Doctor Who, not just the more obvious New Series.
Which makes for some amazingly geeky moments when you the reader spots something from a favourite story or something well and truly obscure from the past that simply makes you smile.

The story, and I said earlier, is enchanting.
Not only do we get the tenth Doctor, but also vignette adventures for the other nine Doctors, including "my Doctor", the seventh. I admit to being incredibly happy to seeing him on the page, even knowing that there'd be a seventh Doctor story since the outset of the story.

The "Hello, I'm the Doctor" moment where he raised his hat in salute took my breathe away, beautifully artistically, and just plain right.

I'm a geek I know. But as I said in a previous blog, it was one of those "shivers up the spine" moments. There he is, my Doctor on the page. Took me back to my childhood reading Doctor Who Magazine's comic and racing home to see him on the TV.

The artists (of which, due to unforeseen circumstances there are three) are excellent.
Pia Guerre handles the body of the artistic duties and knocks the ball out of the park with each likeness and item in the museum.
Kelly Yates brings a wonderful life and energy to the characters.
Stefano Martino gives us a glimpse into "unseen adventures" with his unique drawings of the artefacts.

As you'd expect - and as Tony Lee (the writer) himself never shied from saying - there are tonnes of twists, and clues dropped throughout the story lead the reader to making one assumption after the next. I for one, despite thinking I had hit the nail on the head was still surprised by the final revelations.

Everything holds together remarkably well on the re-read (which is always telling in these sort of things). Lee nails the individual "voices" of the Doctors, and gives each of them an adventure that both harkens back to the era they hale from, and yet are appropriately "new series".

Art: A.
Writing: A+
Overall: A+
If you're a fan of Doctor Who I really suggest tracking down the trade of this.
I doubt you'll regret it.

"As a last resort... kick to restart!"

There's (or rather was) an ad here in Oz, commonly referred to as "the bugger ad" - it's for a car if I recall correctly, but that's not important - the basic premise is that crap happens to everyone and all they have to say is "bugger".
This stuck in my head as a wonderfully clever framing device.
Also, it's funny.

So, when it came to "I want to write a Beast Wars Mosaic" and "I want to do humour this time" the logical choice was a variation of the above.
Genius borrows and talent steals, or so I've heard ;-)

It's a three moment slice of Rhinox's life, the "masks" he wears; warrior, engineer, poet.
The one who holds the line against the enemy.
The one who fixes the unfixable.

He reflects upon all the trials of his life, and in a quiet moment... smelling the flowers... he thinks "yeah, it's all worth it".

I think that sums up the character of Rhinox IMO, and in the opinions of others fans as well, which is wonderful.


Again, the artwork is what sells this story, and it's not a surprise that the artist's gotten some official work from IDW. He deserves it.

Star Trek: Unity (fan-fic) a review...

Wow.
Such a simple premise, "what if Trek crossed-over with Star Wars"?
Well this is what happens here, a wormhole is opened by a certain single-lettered entity between the Delta Quadrant (and Voyager) and the Galactic Empire.

Met by Grand Admiral Thrawn, a course is set, first pitting the Empire against the Borg and then the New (new) Alliance, of Romulans, Cardassians, the Rebels and later rogue Starfleeters.
And the Borg? Get their pants handed to them. Thrawn is that good.

It's a series of awesome moments, frankly, and well worth reading.
Spoilers, naturally, highlight exactly how awesome it is.

- Thrawn's Imperial Star Destroyer against a Borg Cube. Borg debris in under a minute.
- Picard's "diabolical plan" involving promoting Seven of Nine above Data, to make Data want to become a captain in his own right.
- Data meeting Vader. And becoming his Apprentice.
- Vader meeting the Federation Council, and Force Gripping the Klingon Ambassador to death.
- Leia using the Force to scare the Jem'Hadar and the Founders witless.
- Q offering Picard the choice to stop all the death and chaos in the Federation with a literal click of his fingers... and Picard telling him where to jam it.
- Seven of Nine - becoming a true queen, not a drone but a mother....
- The fact it's all a game between a horde of powerful "big names" like Death (from Discworld), Q, the Ascended Ben Sisko, Zaphod Breeblebrox.... and the Doctor. Who wins? Yes he does :-D
- Garak versus Bosssk.
- Janeway going insane, and a Sith.

And the crowning moment of awesome? For me... it's Picard mouthing off at the Emperor, who despite the privations he knows the Empire capable of, the power of the Emperor, the hopelessness of the situation... stands by his beliefs and says "the colours will never be struck" - we will never surrender, the last words of the captain of the original Enterprise, in the age of sail.