NEW TRAILER TIME!

1 - READY, PLAYER ONE

Now this is the big one for me, as it sometimes seems the world is split into people who have read Ernest Cline's phenomenal pop culture novel and people who need to read it. Set in the not too distant future, Ready, Player One paints a pciture of a pretty shitty society where the only real escape is the Oasis, a free virtual reality immersive experience. Our young hero, Wade, even goes to school there. There's a full review of the book elsewhere on this blog if you are interested.

What we have to accept is that this is a teaser trailer, and as such it is designed to make us go "wow". Well, I certainly went "wow", and maybe "gosh" as well, although I drew the line at "golly". The ball that we see is a perfect recreation of a key book scene, as are the "stacks" where Wade lives in the real world.  The race sequence, although not in the book, seems like it may replace sections where old videogames are played, which would be very dull on the big screen. At the end we get a crystal key, one of the objects of the hunt. In my eyes, this looks awesome, and as Cline is co scripting I'm not worried about the plot going too far off track. this may be the film Spielberg was born to direct, and it can't come soon enough.


2 - THOR- RAGNAROK

Okay, this new trailer fills in a few plot points, and gives us more of The Hulk. Thor is still a bit too surfer dude for my liking, but Chris Hemsworth won't let us down. Loki is back, and fighting for good, but if he doesn't double cross Thor at some point I'll be disappointed. It seems Asgard has been invaded by the Goddess of Death, and Thor and his merry chums have to save it. Hulk was turned into a gladiator somehow, and many a Marvel fan has squeed when they first saw his armour, a direct copy from the awesome Planet Hulk series. It all looks very exciting with the tongue in cheek humour that made the last Thor movie such an improvement on the first. Perhaps the most interesting development is the fact that Hulk can now speak proper sentences, so it seems that Banner is more comfortable with his mean green alter ego, and the two are sharing more than a physical space.

It all looks wonderfully colourful and action filled, like a big budget Flash Gordon, a fact accentuated by the shiny logo Marvel have gone for. Adding the Hulk seems to be the genius move that could elevate this into the most fun Marvel movie since Guardians... verily, it looketh fab.

3-JUSTICE LEAGUE

Now this one's got many DC fans peeing in their pants, and that's because it's full of great stuff that actually hints that Wonder Woman may not have been a one off. It's no accident that the trailer leads with the recent blockbuster star, and she immediately takes control of the screen. We get introduced to new guys Aquaman (who is now a total badass), Cyborg (it's metal, dude) and the Flash. It's quite blatant that poor old Flash is the main comedy element of the film, though Alfred gets a cracking line in the trailer. Marvel have consistently balanced action and humour better in their movies, and I don't hold high hopes for this being the DC movie to change the status quo. That said, it certainly looks like it could be a bloody good movie, and here's hoping that DC's heroes finally get the film they deserve.


4 - THE ORVILLE (TV)

After super beings and VR worlds, it's nice to have something that looks like it's solid, unadulterated Sci Fi silliness. The Orville is Fox's rival to the new Star Trek (yawn), taking more of a Galaxy Quest approach to space exploration. Headlined by Sewth Mcfarlane, the trailers released have been smart, funny and on the nose, genre wise. Whether it can stretch to a full season and stillbe funny remains to be seen, but McFarlane's pedigree is undenliable so here's hoping.

SURVIVAL GEEKS - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW (Gordon Rennie/Emma Beeby/Neil Googe)

I've got a bit of a Marmite relationship with long time 2000AD scribe Gordon Rennie. Whilst he impressed with the likes of Cursed Earth Koburn and Absalom, I was left cold my most of his other work, or initially interested and soon bored. In this instance, though, he pairs up with Emma Beeby, a relative newcomer to the comic, for a mad dash through fandom that will have you grinning from page one.

Starting off as a tentative three parter (part of the horrendously named "Thrill3r" series) the first story introduces us to Sam, a girl who unwisely shags a geek lad on a drunken night out (poor thing). Unfortunately, when she tries to leave his house in the morning she finds it is a dimension hopping dwelling and she's sort of stuck with Simon and his nerdy flatmates as they try to find a dimension full of zombies (because that would be AWESOME), or even one where Firefly wan't cancelled. It's not quite Quantum Leap, as these guys don't want to go home - they're having to much fun.

What follows is 100 pages of nerd heaven, as the geeky script is bolstered by some wonderful art by Neil Googe, who shoehorns in as much as he can so that rescanning many panels is a joy of discovery. His style is remeniscent of Jamie Hewlett and Phillip Bond, in that it's cartoony but vibrant and detailed with it, with a penchant for geeky in jokes that is only matched by that of the writers.

As we follow the geeks through a steampunk dimension (we are made painfully aware that steampunk sort of, well, sucks), they even pick up a new housemate - a baby Cthulhu called Howard (the name being yet another geeky reference). They even meet up alternate dimension versions of themselves, also dimension hopping in their house, the twist being that the sexes are reversed. The girly led universe even has - gasp! - a FEMALE DOCTOR WHO! Come on guys, sometimes you can push this shit too far, ya know.

In all seriousness, I had forgotten how absolutely chucklesome Survival Geeks was. Well rounded characters, excellent art and laughs aplenty, it nails the tricky task of making a successful sci fi humour strip. If you haven't read it this is the perfect time to allow your inner nerd out to play.

Available fro Sept 11th at the 2000AD Shop

DREDD/ANDERSON "THE DEEP END" - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

There was a little film a few years back, simply titled 'Dredd'. An updating of a poorly received Stallone effort, it concerned a future cop who shot a lot of people, including that mad bird from Game Of Thrones. Well, something like that, anyway. Of course, I am taking the piss, as 'Dredd' was a very decent attempt to bring 2000AD legend Judge Dredd to the screen, and this volume of stories carries on the legend, set in the same era as the film, with the same two lead characters, albeit in separate stories.

First up we get 'Dust', a Dredd story by Arthur Wyatt with very nice art from the ever reliable Ben Willsher. It's nice to see the movie uniforms in comic form, and it has the benefit of not having to know anything more than what you learned in the film and so doesn't bog down newbies with 40 years (gulp) of continuity. Basically it seems some sort of sand monster is murdering specifically targeted scumbags, and Dredd and co have to stop it. Standard day in Mega City One then. It moves at a nice pace, keeping enough surprises back so as not to blow it's load too early. In the end, it;'s fifty pages well worth reading.

Anderson finishes off the collection with two stories. There's the 20 page 'The Deep End' plus ten pager 'Judgement Call'. Both are by Alec Worley, with art from Paul Davidson, and Davidson's art has a more gritty feel than Willsher's, bringing a grubbier realism to the Meg. To be fair, I adore both styles, and it's good to have two effective but different artists in the one volume. Storywise, 'The Deep End' is a pretty basic tale, with nods to the events in the film when Anderson was captured by the gang. It asks more questions than it answers, though, and ultimately is fun but feels unfinished. Hopefully the seeds of the story will bear fruit in another tale. 'Judgement Call' nails it, however. In ten pages it shows us the seedy hole Mega city has become, the desperation of the populace, and the thoughts and feelings of Anderson that haven't been hit this well since Alan Grant in his heyday with the character. After reading it I wanted to read more, to see what happened to the character next, to see where she would go. Yeah... I liked it.

There's a pretty solid 100 pages here for fans of the characters both old and new. When I went into it I expected the main story to be the highlight, but came out at the end linking the shortest story best. If you have friends who have enjoyed the film but not bothered with the comics this is a perfect present, or if not just buy it for yourself - it's the law!

Available Now At The 2000AD Shop

THE COMPLETE SKIZZ - COMIC REVIEW

Flippi-neck! I remember this Skizz fella, as he appeard way back in the mists of time (1983 in Earth years) in a comic called 2000AD. You might have noticed I like 2000AD, and strips like Skizz are one of the reasons I have read it for over 40 years now.

At the time, comics were never shy of lovingly homaging (ripping off) whatever Hollywood was doing that looked like it might be popular. The idea for Skizz came from E.T, which was set to be a massive film when it was released, and Alan Moore (last seen grumbling behind a beard) was tasked with doing a story about an alien stranded on Earth. Moore has stated he never even saw E.T, and as a result he produced a story with more depth, nuance, heart and politics than Spielberg would have ever had the balls to do.

Although an early work, it's clear from Skizz that Moore was a bit good at this comics lark. It helped that artist Jim Baikie was a perfect fit, complimenting Morre's kitchen sink script with clear yet very down to Earth visuals. The story tells of Interpreter Zshkzz... Zskitss... (bollocks to it) SKIZZ, who crashes on the blue planet and wants to go home. He is fopund and befriended by schoolgirl Roxy, who enlists her friends (older working class blokes) to get Skizz home before the evil scientists can dissect him. It's a basic premise that's brought to vivid life by injecting real characters and situations, making it as much a commentary on Thatcher's Britain (Down with Thatch - right kids?) as it is a science fiction romp. It certainly had an impact on my 14 year old brain, I can tell you, and still rouses the emotions all these years later.

Although Moore never returned to the character, Jim Baikie decided to carry on the story nine years later on his own, scripting as well as providing (now colour) art. To be honest he was on a hiding to nothing trying to follow what was already a bona fide classic, but to my surprise he does a pretty good job. He delivered two sequels, and they delve much deeper into the culture of the Tau Cetans, revealing them to be no less bonkers than us on Earth. In one, they want to snuff out Earth, so we are reunited (even if Skizz isn't, physically anyway) with Roxy and her friends as they try to find a way to use Skizz's technology to save the planet. All the while, Skizz himself tries to escape his enforced quarrantine, where he has been exiled due to his un Tau Cetan antics whilst on Earth. the second sequel is weaker, leaving behind the original Earth cast and concentrating on Tau Cetan political machinations, but it is still a good read and gets comic mileage from two Tau Cetan time travelling assassins despatched to Earth.

Overall, The Complete Skizz is a great read, from the near perfect original to the flawed but still very enjoyable follow ups. Unsurprisingly, Alan Moore doesn't rate it that highly, but Alan Moore is a miserable old sod, so it's not that much of a surprise. regardless of this, I hope that Jim Baikie feels proud of his own contribution, because he deserves to be. Yet another quality reprint worthy of splashing your galactic groats on.

Available HERE from 2000AD Online