Nerd Culture Podcast

Welcome to the thirty-fourth instalment of Who Review, my ongoing quest to review all available episodes of TV’s longest running SF series, Doctor Who. This week, season 9 opens with the triumphant return of the Daleks in Day of the Daleks.

EPISODES

Day of the Daleks

BROADCAST DATES

1 January – 22 January 1972

THE DOCTOR

Jon Pertwee

THE COMPANIONS

Jo Grant

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Bursting from the minds of Stjepan Šejić and Ron Marz comes the fantasy adventure tale Ravine.

The original story was created by Šejić almost 11 years ago. He now not only illustrates the title, but also co-writes it with his friend, and industry veteran, Ron Marz.

The pair have worked together on titles like Witchblade, Angelus & Artifacts for some years now and the ease at which they collaborate is obvious.

Ravine deals with the story of Nebezial Asheri, driven mad by grief at the deaths of his wife and daughters, and his quest to bring them back to life. To do this he risks unleashing the same level of magic that almost split the world in two and left a massive ravine in the land like a scar. He faces multitudes of people attempting to stop him, with the story focusing on a small group of uneasy allies.

Arranged as a series of graphic novels, Ravine is reminiscent of the European style of publishing comics, and is a bold move in the Western market. However, I believe it is a stroke of genius. The concept of ‘waiting for trade’ is firmly entrenched in the minds of modern comics buyers and having to read Ravine in the bite sized format of monthly issues just wouldn’t have conveyed the same sense of ‘epicness’ and grandeur that the graphic novel sized installment would. And this book is huge – 120+ pages of story combined with DVD style extras like a glossary, cast of characters, pinups, and a prose story equal great value for money. Of course now that I’ve read vol #1 I’m left with the same urgent need to know what happens next that I would have gotten from single issues, but you can’t have everything!

It has been compared to A Song of Fire and Ice in other reviews, (it’s back cover even mentions A Game of Thrones), but I think that is a disservice. Not every epic fantasy rides the coattails of Tolkien or Martin and that is definitely not the case here. Šejić and Marz have crafted a tale of love, betrayal, intrigue and adventure that rises above typical fantasy trappings and sets a new standard.

That is partly due to Marz’s skill with words helping bring Šejić’s original ideas to life, his skill at describing the situation means he almost doesn’t even need the art, but that would be a travesty because the real star here is Šejić’s art. Forgive my use of a parlance of our times here but O.M.G! This guy is amazingly talented. Every panel feels alive and the imagery is amazing. I confess I’m not really much of a Top Cow reader, barring an occasional nostalgic dip into the world of Cyberforce, but upon finishing this book I immediately logged onto my favourite online comic shop and ordered every Ron Marz/Stjepan Šejić trade they had! I’m kicking myself that I didn’t know about Stjepan beforehand, but now that I do I’ll be watching his career very closely.

And of course, part of that will be by collecting Ravine. This is an excellent book and its creators should be very proud of their efforts.

Rating: 5 Lukes

This week for Comics Newbie, I am reviewing the first issue of Snapshot by Image Comics.

Since I have started reading comics I have found that Image is a great publisher for a new reader.   Jumping into DC and Marvel was a daunting task as it was tough to find a jumping on point whereas Image regularly release a new series to jump into.

Snapshot #1 is written by Andy Diggle with art by Jock (very mysterious one word name).

The story in a snapshot (pun intended) is as follows:

– Jake Dobson finds a phone in a park
– Jake discovers that the phone has one contact and a picture of a dead body
– The phone rings…

I will not reveal any more of the story as I do not want to spoil anything.

Although the idea of finding a device with a picture of a dead body is not a new one I was intrigued about where the story is heading.  I must admit though that I did not feel much sympathy for Jake as he comes off as a jerk.

I have heard that some comic readers are turned off by comics in black and white. Snapshot is a black and white comic and I believe the decision for that  is a good one so please do not let that deter you from reading. As a result, the artwork as a whole for this issue was fantastic.  A highlight of mine was a panel around the middle of the issue which showed how at a certain moment in time Jake was alone.  Great work by Jock.

I cannot wait for Issue #2 to come out in March and I highly recommend getting down to your local comic shop and picking this up.

Overall I give Snapshot #1  3.5 Lukes

For my next review I will give my impressions on the first two issues of the Brian Wood’s Star Wars series by Dark Horse Comics.

I would love to hear your feedback.  Please comment below or you can contact me via Twitter @bennykane1983.  If you have suggestions on other titles that I should read would love to hear from you.

Benny

Hi All!

During episode #44 I asked the crew their opinions on the recent Orson Scott Card controversy. Unfortunately I had to cut it for length but thought that some of you may find it interesting and decided to post it here.

Here’s what we had to say on the subject:

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Duration: 12 mins

Episode #44 features:

Dust Jacket: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr

Round Table:  Steampunk

We also reveal the winner of our Totally Irreverent T-Shirt!Competition! – John Hamilton, a winrar is you!

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