Eruditorum Press

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Comics Reviews (March 4th, 2015)

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The next episode commentary will go up next week some time, in its own post. Comics reviews follow, from least favorite to favorite of what I bought this week.

Rat Queens #9

Issue #8 of this came out five months ago. This is part four of an ongoing story. There is no recap page whatsoever. I know I’ve ridden this hobby horse before, but this is suicidally dumb, in an “I think I’m dropping this title because I can’t be bothered to figure it out” sort of way. Seriously, I don’t remember a comic from five months ago. I have enough trouble with one month ago half the time. And yet nobody thought “ooh, maybe we should remind readers of the plot instead of throwing them in the deep end.” Yes, I could dig through my unorganized back issue piles looking for issues 6-8. But I could also save $3.50 a month, and that’s what I’ll be doing. This looks like a fine issue, but honestly, I’m done with comics that don’t make the slightest concession to the fact that I read 30+ comics a month on top of all the other media I consume and probably need a refresher when I haven’t seen an issue for five months. You had room for a six page preview of another comic, you could have given me a fucking recap page. Ugh. So, yes, dropping this, and going to commit to being much more aggressive about this. I’m not asking for dumbed down comics, but I am asking for some basic reader friendliness.

Saga #26

A perfectly pleasant issue, although man, again, a cast page would be so nice right about now. Does this work better in trade? This must work better in trade. I think this has turned into the latest equivalent of The Unwritten – a book I pay money for so that in two years when I pirate it because I’ve lost all my back issues and reread it in one night I feel no guilt. In any case, if you’ve enjoyed the twenty-five issues prior to this, you’ll probably like this a lot too.

Avengers #42

Whatever I may think about some of the steps along the way, Hickman is managing a gloriously effective pounding climax here. I’m especially fond of the teases of where Bendis’s X-Men plot is going, although the “massive alien army about to nuke the Earth” plot is fun too. I’m curious how he’s going to pivot to the Steve/Tony confrontation that obviously underlies all of this, and I don’t quite trust him not to just drop all the spinning plates, but right now this book is a countdown to May, and I admit, each step is suitably breathlessly exciting.

Blackcross #1

A superhero horror comic by Warren Ellis that doesn’t sell itself on its own value after one issue, but that is by Warren Ellis, and so gets trusted to pull it together over the next five, because while there are Warren Ellis comics that are not great, there aren’t really any that are bad, or even not good.…

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“Heart and Soul”: Tin Man

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Every so often, the fans get it right.

If you think “Samaritan Snare” is completely indefensible and irredeemable in every other respect, you must at least acknowledge that it was responsible for bringing one good thing into the world: That would be “Tin Man”. Writers Lisa Putnam White, David Bischoff and Dennis Russell Bailey were so famously fumed up over the former episode, ambitiously calling it the single worst piece of Star Trek ever filmed that they decided, as all Trekkers are wont to, that they could write Star Trek better than the professionals and set about sending in a submission to Star Trek: The Next Generation with the express intent of showing them how to write their own show. Bailey, Bischoff and White were no rank amateurs, though: They were a team of published literary science fiction writers who had together penned a Nebula Award nominated short story called “Tin Woodman” in the December, 1976 issue of Amazing Stories that was later adapted into a novel and, as it so happens, this episode.

Ironically enough, as much as the trio were convinced they were better than Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s creative team, they would never have gotten their story onscreen without them. Without Michael Piller’s open submission policy, this script never would have seen the light of day, doomed to live out the rest of eternity with all the other unsolicited spec scripts. One is forced to imagine that particular meeting going down a bit awkwardly, since not only was Piller giving them the opportunity to get their script filmed, he was also shouldering the threesome’s ire for the alleged sins of his predecessor Maurice Hurley. But, if René Echevarria could swallow his pride enough to become a beloved and respected member of the team, so could Bailey, Bischoff and White. And, annoyingly, it turns out they were right: They really could turn out a better story than the creative team, because “Tin Man” is nothing short of an absolute triumph. This is the first production since “The Bonding” where it’s demonstrably clear that Star Trek: The Next Generation is unquestionably firing on all cylinders.

It even got Michael Piller himself to sit up and take notice. We know as a general rule Piller shied away from scripts that place too much focus on guest stars and guest characters, believing, largely correctly I feel, that stories needed to be about the regulars in some capacity. And while “Tin Man” certainly doesn’t shove the regulars to the sidelines as everyone is actively involved in the plot and has some not-insignificant stake in what’s going on, the actual “story” as it were can only be read to be about Tam Elbrun and his journey. Although Piller obviously had a hand in rewriting and editing “Tin Man” just as he did with pretty much every story he was on staff for, it’s quite telling, and a testament to the quality of the original submission, that he let that go through and didn’t demand a comprehensive reconceptualization of the story’s whole thematic focus the way he did for “The Offspring”.…

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Recursive Book Launch

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It is my pleasure to announce that Recursive Occlusion, also known as the Logopolis book, is now available for sale. You can buy a copy here if you’re so inclined.

If you pre-ordered the book via the old Hartnell Second Edition Kickstarter then assuming you also provided me with updated address information, your book has been ordered and is either on its way to you or to me so that I can sign it and send it to you. If you’re owed a signed copy of Volume V, that will be in the same package. If you haven’t sent me updated address information, check your Kickstarter messages for information.

If you have not pre-ordered the book, things are going to work a little differently this time than some of my other books. For one thing, the print edition is the only edition. I’m not ruling out an ebook edition in the future, but for now there are no active plans. The print edition is also available exclusively via the Createspace store, which is to say, via direct order from the print on demand company I’m using. I’m also not ruling out an eventual general sale via Amazon and the like, but for now, again, there are no active plans.

The book is about 120 pages, and the $15 price was picked in part because I didn’t want to sell it for cheaper than I did to pre-ordering Kickstarter backers nearly two years ago, and in part to highlight the fact that this is very much book-as-art-object.

Basically, this is the sort of book that, under traditional publishing, would be called a “limited edition” or something, although given that it’s print-on-demand that’s kind of the exact wrong phrase for it. Nevertheless, the point of the book is very much to be an interesting and compelling physical object. Both Alison and I, in editing and typesetting the book, and James, in doing the cover design, worked hard to mimic the design of vintage Choose Your Own Adventure books, and, if I may be so bold, the book is a real pleasure to just pick up and play with. (James’s account of designing the cover is up here.)

Content-wise… this is a strange one. It is loosely based on the essay “Recursive Occlusion,” the TARDIS Eruditorum entry on Logopolis that is reprinted in Volume 5 of that series. That essay is structured as an interactive set of branching paths akin to the Choose Your Own Adventure books, and consists of a total of 33 separate nodes. But Recursive Occlusion the book is almost completely rewritten – only two of its 34 notes originate in the old Logopolis entry, and the other 32 are completely new and exclusive to the book. These include two lengthy essays explaining the format of the book and some of the philosophical ideas underlying it, although you’ll have to successfully find them within the book’s narrative.

Recursive Occlusion is my definitive statement on one of the major themes of TARDIS Eruditorum, namely the intersections between occultism (and particularly alchemy) and Doctor Who.…

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A Brief Treatise on the Rules of Thrones 1.04: Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things

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A Brief Treatise on the Rules of Thrones is generously funded by my backers at Patreon.
The choir goes off. The board is laid out thusly:
Direwolves of King’s Landing: Eddard Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark
Stags of King’s Landing: Robert Baratheon, Joffrey Baratheon
Lions of King’s Landing: Jaime Lannister, Cersei Lannister
The Direwolf Catelyn Stark
Dragons of Vaes Dothrak: Daenerys Targaryen, Viserys Targaryen
Bears of Vaes Dothrak: Jorah Mormont
Mockingbird’s of King’s Landing: Petyr Baelish
Direwolves of the Wall: Jon Snow
Direwolves of Winterfell: Robb Stark, Bran Stark
Kraken of Winterfell: Theon Greyjoy
Dogs of King’s Landing: Sandor Clegane
And the Lion of Winterfell, Tyrion Lannister
The episode is in twelve parts. The first runs five minutes and is set in Winterfell; the first shot is of a raven flying through the castle as Bran stands drawing a bow. 
The second runs three minutes and is set on the Wall; the transition is deceptive continuity, with a cut from Theon watching Tyrion ride away to an overhead shot of a man on horseback who turns out not to be Tyrion. 
The third runs seven minutes and is set in Vaes Dothrak; the transition is by family, from Jon Snow to Daenerys Targaryen.
The fourth runs seven minutes long and is in two sections; it is set in King’s Landing. The first section is two minutes long; the transition is by dialogue, from Viserys talking about the Red Keep to Sansa and Septa Mordane walking into it. The other is five minutes long; the transition is by family and dialogue, from Sansa talking about her father to Ned. 
The fifth part runs two minutes and is set on the Wall; the transition is by family, from Arya and Ned Stark to Jon Snow.
The sixth runs six minutes and is set in King’s Landing; the transition is by family, from Jon Snow to Ned Stark. The transition marks the halfway point of the episode. 
The seventh runs three minutes and is set on the Wall; he transition is by hard cut, from Jory walking away from Jaime to people dining in the mess at Castle Black. 
The eighth runs one minute and is set in Vaes Dothrak; the transition is by dialogue, from Thorne talking about sniveling boys to Viserys, and by family, from Jon Snow to Viserys and Daenerys. 
The ninth runs six minutes and is set on the Wall; the transition is by dialogue, from Daenerys saying “hands” to a shot of Sam’s hand scrubbing a table.
The tenth runs one minute and is set in Vaes Dothrak; the transition is by family, from Jon Snow to Daenerys Targaryen.
The eleventh runs six minutes and is set in King’s Landing; the transition is by dialogue, from Daenerys talking about her brother possibly taking back the Seven Kingdoms to a shot of Robert. The scene features the death of Ser Hugh of the Vale, killed by Gregor Clegane in the joust. 
The last runs three minutes and is set in an inn on the Kingsroad in the Riverlands; the transition is by family, from Ned Stark and Cersei Lannister to Catelyn and Tyrion.
…

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“The Duke”: Allegiance, Captain’s Holiday

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Pictured: Not Captain Picard.

With the show’s newfound brief to focus on character interiority, we’ve seen the creative team work hard to come up with a specific conception of who exactly these characters are. Now, it’s more than possible to argue that our main cast already had characterization, it was just characterization that was different then what this team eventually decided on and made canon (indeed, I think that’s precisely what happened), but regardless, the fact is the third season has had a series of episodes dedicated to nailing down a new set of personality traits for the Enterprise crew: We had “Evolution” for Wesley, “Booby Trap” for Geordi, “The Enemy” and “Sins of the Father” for Worf, “The High Ground” for Doctor Crusher, “The Ensigns of Command”, “The Defector” and “The Offspring” for Data, “The Vengeance Factor” and, uh, “A Matter of Perspective” for Commander Riker and, um, “The Price” for Deanna Troi.

Yeah, that doesn’t look so hot all laid out on paper now, does it?

The thing about this is that while this season in general and these episodes in particular get credit for “fleshing out” previously vague characters, I happen to think all that happened is that people like Ron Moore and Ira Behr got to completely reconceptualize the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and they just happened to get lucky that theirs were the interpretations that wound up taking. Either way, perhaps surprisingly, the one character this team has had a particularly hard time nailing down has been Captain Picard. He’s been written particularly changeably this season, and upsettingly so as there seems to have been a trend to depict him as very tight-laced, stringent, stodgy and reactionary (I’m thinking particularly of “The High Ground” and “The Offspring” here, though he has had good moments in stories like “The Defector” and “The Hunted”).

To me, this is writing him horribly out of character. The Captain Picard I know, the one derived from the best moments of the first two seasons, is a boldly progressive and highly principled explorer infatuated with travel and the universe. He’s a romantic at heart, yet someone who is also in possession of a fierce moral code and still a bit socially awkward in places. Even so, Captain Picard should be the first person to stand up against the banal evil of the Federation and to remind humanity that its place is amongst the stars. He embodies all of the ideals the Federation lies to itself by claiming as its own. The Picard of “The High Ground” and “The Offspring” cannot possibly be the same person who stood firm against Federation neo-imperialism in “Too Short a Season” and “Conspiracy”, who made regular trips to the Holodeck to play games with his friends and who went to the hilt for Data in “The Measure of a Man”. He’s not even the same person who chatted with the crew about ships in bottles in “Booby Trap”, directed Henry V or took up painting.…

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Saturday Waffling (February 28th, 2015)

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Hey, so, first off, check out Ian McDuffie’s Patreon for his webcomic FEELS. And, for that matter, his webcomic FEELS. Really nice, sweetly funny and dryly sad comics about people having emotions about one another.

In other news, barring an absolutely massive swath of votes in the final twenty-four hours, the next bonus post as voted on by Patreon backers will be on Russell T Davies’s produce triptych Cucumber/Banana/Tofu. That’ll be in just about two weeks, once the whole thing airs.

But man, if you’re not watching it, check it out. It’s really, really good. Episode 6 of Cucumber is titanically, breathtakingly good, although for the most part I think Banana has really been the best show.

So, given how good episode six of Cucumber was, let’s have an open thread on it. I’ll talk about it in detail in two weeks time, but for now I’ll just say… holy shit that was amazing.

Also, if you missed it, the commentary track Jack Graham and I did for the second episode of The Rescue went up on Wednesday. These have gotten super low download numbers according to my stats tracker. Like, apparently only eleven people downloaded episode two, down from sixty-eight on episode one. Will at least do The Mind Robber, though will probably take a week off before that, and maybe a new series track to see if that does a bit better, but I’m officially flagging that project as in serious danger of cancellation. In case my stats tracking is wrong, though, if you downloaded episode two, please say so in comments.

Finally, there’ll be a post on Tuesday this week. The title will be Recursive Book Launch.

Currently working on: A Brief Treatise on the Rules of Thrones 1.09: Baelor…

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Devoted to Joy (The Last War in Albion Part 85: Garry Leach’s Marvelman)

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This is the thirteenth of fifteen parts of The Last War in Albion Chapter Nine, focusing on Alan Moore’s work on V for Vendetta for Warrior (in effect, Books One and Two of the DC Comics collection). An omnibus of all fifteen parts can be purchased at Smashwords. If you purchased serialization via the Kickstarter, check your Kickstarter messages for a free download code.

The stories discussed in this chapter are currently available in a collected edition, along with the eventual completion of the story. UK-based readers can buy it here.

Previously in The Last War in Albion: Following the cessation of Captain Marvel stories on the part of Fawcett Comics, L. Miller & Son, a British company that had been publishing reprints of Fawcett’s material, created a transparent knockoff of Captain Marvel called Marvelman. In 1981, Moore pitched a revival of the character for Warrior, with the idea that Mickey Moran, Marvelman’s human alter-ego, had forgotten his magic word, and indeed that he was Marvelman, until one day he was taken hostage by terrorists.

“He was mad. He devoured Nietzsche’s writings, enamored of the idea of the superman being devoted to joy, and bringing joy by dint of his existence.” -Warren Ellis, Stormwatch
Figure 649: The iconic panel of Marvelman’s
return as reworked by Alan Davies. (Written
by Alan Moore, art by Alan Davies after Garry
Leach, from “The Yesterday Gambit” in Warrior
#4, 1982)
Moran, held hostage, sees the word “ATOMIC” reflected in a door, and reads it backwards, out loud, suddenly transforming into Marvelman. The terrorist next to him simply drops dead, burnt to death in the force of Marvelman’s transformation. Seven feet tall and blue, he trivially cleans up the terrorists and flies away, joyful at being a superhero again. Moore then goes on to outline some future plots, starting with one in which Kid Marvelman turns out also to have survived, but in his superhero form, which he remained in, growing rich and powerful with his secret abilities and becoming, in Moore’s words, “a nasty amoral son-of-a-bitch.” He also suggests an arc in which Gargunza’s employers take an interest in the newly returned Marvelman after he visits the grave of Dicky Dawson, Young Marvelman, followed by one in which Marvelman confronts Gargunza himself. “This should take us well into the stage where we’re selling the film rights and printing up the T-Shirts and similar,” Moore quips, although this would more or less have been true save for a series of creative conflicts and poor investments. “I’ll worry about what comes next when I get that far.” Moore then suggests Dave Gibbons or Steve Dillon as artists – both had in fact already been sounded out but were uninterested – and notes that he could rework the idea with a Marvelman pastiche, perhaps called Miracle Man, if the rights prove unavailable. This pitch sufficiently impressed Skinn that he asked Moore to write a first installment on spec that, if Skinn liked it, would land him the job.
…

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“…the most offending soul alive”: Sins of the Father

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What “The Enemy” was for the Romulans, “Sins of the Father” is for the Klingons.

This episode is frequently held up as an important turning point for the series and rightly so, as it defines a lot about what Star Trek: The Next Generation (and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine too, for that matter) is going to look like going forward. But “Sins of the Father” is also the kind of episode that’s exceedingly difficult for me to write about as it’s been extensively analysed and historicized by just about every major publication to cover the franchise. This is the kind of episode I hate because it leaves me with perishingly little new erudition to add to the glut of discourse that already exists. Yes, yes, this episode sets in stone pretty much everything we think of when we think of Worf and the Klingons, yes it’s a strong character piece and yes it’s a major step in the development of more explicit serialization in episodic Star Trek. Yes, the award-winning set design and matte paintings are all gobsmackingly good. And yes, it sets up “Redemption”, about which I have a lot to say, but I’ll save for the fifth season. That’s all true to be sure, but it’s also blindingly and bluntly obvious to the point I don’t even think it’s really worth taking the time to talk about.

But then what is there left to say about an episode like “Sins of the Father”? I could be my usual grouchy self and dispel some myths about the backstage stuff: This episode is frequently touted as being the moment where real characterization, serialization and world building was introduced to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Which would be true except for the minor fact it does none of those things. Maybe it’s just me and my judgment is clouded by over 25 years of familiarity with this show, but I haven’t had a hard time piecing down who people like Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Geordi or Data (or, much as I hate him, Wesley) are so far. The only characters who did seem to lack a bit of detail were Doctor Crusher (who got better) and Tasha Yar (who isn’t around anymore to complain and thus doesn’t matter anyway). So then the argument goes this is the first time a so-called “second tier” character like Worf got a large-scale story arc all to themselves, which would be a fine argument if you chose to conveniently ignore “Heart of Glory” and “The Emissary”. Yes, those particular story threads weren’t ever fully developed on after those episodes, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have been had the creative teams that worked on them stuck around for longer than one season apiece.

Then there’s the argument that “Sins of the Father” was the first episode to introduce serialized, arc-based storytelling to Star Trek and that this was manifestly a Good Idea.…

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More Audio News

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Phil Sandifer and I have started to record commentaries for Doctor Who episodes.  So far we’ve only done ‘The Rescue’, but the plan is to do some more.  We’re both quite happy with the ones we’ve done, and I think they’re a lot of fun. 

‘The Rescue’ Episode 1 can be downloaded or heard here.

‘The Rescue’ Episode 2 can be downloaded or heard here.

I’m so pleased with the result that I may use the ‘natter while watching’ format for future Shabcasts.

Shabcast 1 was a roaring success, by the way… at least in terms of numbers of listens/downloads.  Many thanks to Phil (again), and the Pex Lives boys (again) and to all the people who listened or downloaded.  If you did so because you’re a reader of mine rather than a regular Pex Lives listener, then

a) thanks, and

b) you should listen to Pex Lives, because it’s great.

The next Shabcast is being planned as we speak, and looks set to be just as good as the first one.  Look for it some time next month.…

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Comics Reviews (February 25, 2015)

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First off, the second part of the commentary track for The Rescue. Next up will be The Mind Robber, although whether that starts the first or second week of March is still unclear – trying to schedule it with Jack. Watch this space. Part one is still available here. 

Also, Logopolis book update, I just ordered my proof copy, so expect an announcement early next week. Tentatively, let’s say it’ll be out on Tuesday the 3rd. Details will be up here, but broadly, the plan is a limited release exclusively through this site and my print on demand publisher, at least for the first few months, with a possible broad release/ebook version to follow. 
Finally, comics.
Chew #46

This just left me totally cold for some reason. Whatever is meant to be interesting about this latest plot arc doesn’t really present itself yet, with the death of Poyo yet to actually have any interesting consequences, and the vague sense of “well, I’ve bought forty-six issues, I may as well follow it til the end” back in force here. 
New Avengers #30

The sense that Jonathan Hickman is just Grant Morrison without a sense of humor is strong in this book. Can’t say I’m wild about destroying the entire Captain Britain mythology casually and without a “Last Days of the Captain Britain Corps” mini or anything. Actually, I can’t say I’m wild about anything here. It feels like Hickman doesn’t trust his own ideas enough to carry a story, and is just going all out in explaining his wild multiversal philosophy. Comparisons to Multiversity do Hickman no favors, and I don’t even like Multiversity that much.
Amazing Spider-Man #15

I can’t honestly say I care much about the status quo coming out of Spider-Verse, not least because the status quo coming out of any Marvel event right now is a bit of an odd thing what with time running out and everything ending. Much of this served as a resolution of the Superior Spider-Man plot, which I skipped, so that didn’t really work for me either. I’d say I’m really considering dropping this, but my position on Marvel right now is that it’s kind of silly to make any major changes to my pulls given that I’ll be redoing them all in the wake of Secret Wars anyway. 
Thor Annual #1

A triptych of small tales, all on the sweet/funny end of the scale. Harmless, and no bad tales, but a classically inessential annual at $4.99.
All-New X-Men #38
I read this and the preceding installment of Black Vortex this week, having accidentally left Star-Lord on the shelf last week. The pace of the start of the crossover has thoroughly dissipated, and we’re now left in decompressed wheel-spinning of the sort that blights crossovers reliably. The “evil versions” of characters are as dull as I feared, and I’m not a fan of Sorrentino’s art, which is, for me, a textbook case of exchanging clarity of storytelling for prettiness. But at least Bendis is at home with decompressed middle chapters, they being essentially his default form, so this rolls along pleasantly.
…

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