Bad Company.

Magdalena.

Was in the Oxfam Shop in Ann St when I saw this in a browser. Theres an odd sensation that goes with seeing your work in a second hand scenario. Like finding one of your children in an orphanage oe something. Anyway I pointed it out to my brother. "Look, a signed copy", i directed his gaze to the sticker on the cover. "Ugh, cheeky bastard, who would do that?" he frowned. "Er...I did." I explained. You can pick your enemies but not your family.

Orbiter.

I can barely believe this amazing graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran is two decades old and counting. It felt pretty damn modern twenty years ago and sadly feels even more so. I say sadly given the subject matter the graphic novel addresses. A world where the human race has dropped out of love with the notion of mankind traveling through space, a world where people no longer look to the skies, where poverty of the spirit, of the imagination actually leads to poverty of an even more real world kind. We may all well be standing in the gutter but we no longer raise our eyes to the heavens. And something equally melancholy struck me as I thought about the world that Warren envisioned and Colleen Doran brought to dreary life. A comparison to the state of the comics industry as it is today rather than the space programme, where so many amazing new developments have taken place, from the work of Chinese scientists, the Indian Space Programme, the stirling efforts of a disparate British set of communities and the singular efforts of Elon Musk. Its all happening, while all the while the attention of the huge mainstream have to a degree fallen out of love with the comics scene. Or at best their attention has been distracted by a rise of intrest in other art forms and medias.It is not that long ago that the comics industry was in robust and spunky form. With a successful and big selling mainstream for the larger companies to a vibrant indie culture. There was the crossover to cinema with the rise in popularity of big budget movies based on superhero comics, there were creators who became "celebrities" in their own right, yet so much has changed in such a short time. Sales just are not what they were,some one suggested to me recently that the current comics scene is merely existing in the crumbling ruins of its own past,complete with statues of former giants with their heads knocked off. (I thought of Lancaster Merrin in the Iraqicy desert, with the wind picking up and the snarling of feral dogs, as the statue of the demon Pazuzu reminds him of a final confrontation to come.. I think he was thinkking more of statues in a neat and tidy museum display.Well hey, I was brought up a Catholic, I lean towards catastrophe.) This bleak vision, in tune with modernity, seemed a bit overcooked to me as just as in Orbiter, I believe it is possible to revive the ailing industry, we just have to remind the wider world of the possibilities the medium has to offer, to enrich the imagination, and thereby the lives, of millions of people. For instance, that brilliant mind of Warren Ellis is so capable of imaginative leaps that could kickstart a stalled genre, be it science fiction, horror, psuedo history and superheroes.You can read the introduction of Orbiter, to understand what inspired and drove him to tell this tale.Its an intellectual and emotional heartstopper. Orbiter,eh. Bravo Warren and Colleen. Your story continues to have legs.

The Company One Keeps.

Doctor Who 73 Yards.

The novelization of this season's most experimental and intriging stories is sitting on the table before me as I ponder its usefulness as a source of explanations for the more baffling moments in the episode. I think Russell T Davis has leaned as far in that direction as he wished to take, or give, the reader. I think what we saw, what we think we understand the story to be about, is as much as he ever intended to share with the viewer. Scott Handcock, who adapted his script for the episode, was not handed some secret blueprint to this Whoish head scratcher. It was a wise decision as to do so would have been to serve that story poorly, very much a case of taking the Who out of Who, so to speak. Not so much tmey-whimey as wavy Davy.Ruby is put front and center in the story of a life not lived, possibly caused by The Doctor disrupting a magical matrix held together by strings and possibility (String theory anyone?)Following this things proceed in a melacholy chain of events, stealing any chance the friends and family loving Ruby has of ever finding such contentment. Instead she plods hopelessly through a world that rejects her at every turn, inexplicitly closing the doors of earned intimacy and companionship. And yet in this story Russell finds a way to shape her life to purpose, building her character up in such a way that only she is capable of thwarting the will of a dangerous and twisted individual hellbent on seeing mushroom clouds bloom. Its a sad tale and a brave move to present this story midway through a season that is still only introducing Ruby herself and the current iteration of our beloved Doctor. Will the series ever be so bold again? Only Russell knows. And hes not telling.

Doctor Who Rogue.

Kate Heron and Briony Redman adapt their own script for the television episode Rogue.You know the episode, its the one with the kiss. The lovely big kiss between The Doctor and Rogue. Which had a few people clutching their pearls. Well you know what they say; Pearly dew drops drop...or something like that. Actually thats just some lyrics from a Cocteau Twins song from back in the day. And waht a jolly nice job they do of that adaption. There is a welcome lightness of touch at play here, which may have come from them not feeling it necessary to improve on material which some one else created. It was their baby, it was their kiss too. There, when all is said and done is the moment most people will remember this story for, when our lonely alien finds a brief moment of happiness with a fellow traveler. The story where The Doctor kissed the other leading man of this episode. Or rather, the story where The Doctor is kissed by Rogue. Its Rogue who really goes for it but The Doctor really returns to sender, so to speak. Its not the first time we have seen someone fall under The Doctor's spell and iniated a physical gesture to best demonstrate the affections. He is a bit passive and reactive to these things, is our dear old pal. The lonely can be like that. They are screaming inside for affection but lock themselves off from the possibilty of getting what they want. Kate and Briony do not make too much off this.Which means their script should age well. Never feeling like a clumsy artifect from a point scoring age. Off all the eras and locations it is so strange to think of The Doctor finding love. Georgian Englad being an era of great extremes. There was a lot of beauty but so much brutality and injustice as the people of that era were groping against all the odds to find some reason and decency, where a human being might be sold to another. The foundations for the social mores of the era being built atop much human misery. Historically it were ever so. I like to believe The Doctor forgives us our cruelties, knowing that in time we will do better. Otherwise how could he justify dancing beneath the chandiliers and having a merry old time when we know that just outside the walls of this guilded cage human misery and cruelty abounds. Er, maybe I am overthinking the limitations of a one hour television story. Sometimes a knees up is just a knees up. And oh boy,this was a knees up all right.Well, apart from a few of the guests being murdered.Ruby looked like an angel. As did ncutti. This Tardis team were well walloped with the handsome stick. Although, both were upstaged in these sticks by the uncannilly handsome Jonathan Groff who plays Rogue.I am used to seeing him in much more serious fare and I do believe I saw a twinkle in his eye as he performed in this story. As though he could not quite believe he was being given a chance to play with someone else's toys. Indira Varma brought a touch of class to her character The Duchess. As the leader of these cosplaying bird like aliens. Despite the complexity of her alien make up she plays it with a knowing humour, by turns murderously petty and greedy for experience. She shrugs and twitches to transform and wears it well. The episode is grafted in beatifully crafted detail. A very endearing story with some equally endearing character moments. Talk about loving the alien.

Sapphire and Steel.

Just rewatched the final series of Sapphire And Steel and oh my giddy aunt what a weird and uncanny turn it was. I had forgot just how strange this wonderful series could be.Set in a very drab yet ordinary transport cafe and garage. our heroes, including a very impressive turn by David Collings as Silver, find themselves facing off against a group of entities called The Transient Beings. In this story there are the by now usual creeping eeriness dogging their steps building to an unnerving and seemingly inescapable trap. I do not know if this was intended as a cliffhanger to the series or if the creators wanted to shock us by having a shocking ending intended for the two main characters. Since it was never resolved I can only imagine they are still there,stuck, with a birds eye view of eternity.