Big Trouble in Little China: Volume 4 (2016)

I Hate the '80s! (2016)

Author: Fred Van Lente |  Illustrator: Joe Eisma |  Page Count: 112

"Stop me if you've heard this one before, but I wouldn't mind just getting my truck and getting out of here..."

I don't know how much input creator John Carpenter actually had to the comic book continuation of his film, but his name is absent from the credits of I Hate the '80s!, so perhaps his involvement ended with Volume 3? Time will tell. What's certain is that regulars Eric Powell (author) and Brian Churilla (illustrator) are both gone.

That means it's a new creative team at the helm for Volume 4. I was hopeful that they could rescue it from its Volume 3 slump, return it to the standard set by the first book, and, by Jove, they almost did! BTiLC is good again. Thank you, Mssrs Van Lente and Eisma.

The new setting is kind of crazy, but, in my view, it's a good kind of crazy and, more importantly, it once more recaptures the feeling of fun that the movie had.

The Raven (1845)

The Raven (1845)

Author: Edgar Allan Poe  |  Page Count: N/A (108 line poem)

'Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—
"Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more."'

Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven is public domain, so you can pick it up directly (see below*) without ever reading my subjective ramblings. But I'm going to write them, anyhow, to satisfy my own impulses.

The poem is a remarkable work that deserves a similar kind of praise as that enjoyed by the likes of Wordsworth and Coleridge. I really do believe that; I feel that Poe was as important to his field as either of those two giants were to theirs.

Shakespeare Stories + More Shakespeare Stories (2014)

Shakespeare Stories (2014)

Author: Andrew Matthews | Illustrator: Tony Ross | Page Count: 256

"Come to me, Powers of Darkness! Fill me with cruelty, so I may teach my husband how to be ruthless!"

A convenient collection of four of Andrew Matthews' retold Shakespeare works gathered together into one B-format sized volume. As far as I know there were sixteen plays similarity retold, available singly or in an attractive slipcase format; if so, then this first volume of '4 Books in One' is a generous quarter of the total number. The plays included in the collection are:

●  Macbeth
●  Romeo and Juliet
●  Twelfth Night
●  Anthony and Cleopatra

In each case, they're in a form that a younger audience will more easily understand and be able to engage with.

The Prisoner (1967–68)

The Prisoner (1967–68)

17 episodes, approx 50 mins each.

In the opening credits of The Prisoner we witness a man driving to what we will soon presume to be his place of work. It's a building somewhere in London. The man enters through the OUT door, storms purposefully into an office and slams on a desk an envelope upon which hand-written text can be seen. He then leaves the building via the same route, drives home and hurriedly packs a suitcase.

Sometime thereafter the unnamed man reawakens in a furnished house in a populated village and the series begins proper.

The credits are the viewer's back-story, and everything that follows is the man's here and now. We come to know him as Number 6.

If asked to compile a list of perfect castings in TV history, alongside the likes of Mr. T as B.A. Baracus (The A-Team), Brent Spiner as Data (Star Trek TNG), Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar (Babylon 5), and Ian McShane as Al Swearengen (Deadwood) my list would definitely have Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner's Number 6.

The Sandman: Volume IX (1996)

The Kindly Ones (1996)

Author: Neil Gaiman | Illustrators: Kevin Nowlan / Marc Hempel / Glyn Dillon / Charles Vess / Dean Ornston / Teddy Kristiansen / Richard Case | Page Count: 352

"It was then that Delirium noticed that she had absent-mindedly turned into a hundred and eleven perfect, tiny multicoloured fish. Each fish sang a different song."

Volume IX of X in the Sandman saga is the largest volume of the series, containing one thirteen-part story and a short fourteenth piece that acts as a prologue.

All good things must come to an end, and the The Kindly Ones is it. There's a Volume X, but Vol IX is arguably the real end of the series, and it doesn't disappoint.

It gathers together threads from all previous volumes and weaves them into a blanket of deep synchronicity; my advice would be to not even think about reading it unless you've read Volumes I, II, IV, V and VII. Up until now Morpheus was the thing that most of the characters had in common, but that begins to change.

Spider (2002)

Spider (2002)

Dir. David Cronenberg

An often overlooked film from the Canadian director that absolutely deserves more attention than it currently receives, for a number of reasons but mostly because of Ralph Fiennes' powerful performance as the titular Spider character.

Spider's (often incomprehensible) dialogue characterises him, as you'd expect, but perhaps an even more important avenue into his state of mind are his mannerisms, clothes, and even his stained fingers, all of which are an exquisite commentary on what's beneath the surface.

The Becket-esque halfway house in which the secretive Spider is placed has a nearby factory that looms in an almost Ballardian way. The two different literary styles work visually as one thanks to Cronenberg's ability to make them feel as if they truly deserve each other.

Scream! and Misty - Halloween Special (2018)

Scream! and Misty - Halloween Special (2018)

Authors: Guy Adams / Rich McAuliffe / Alec Worley / Kek-W / Lizzie Boyle / Smuzz / Jordi Badia Romero | Artists: Frazer Itving / John Stokes / Steve Mannion / DaNi / Simon Coleby / Yishan Li / Smuzz / Jordi Badia Romero | Page Count: 52

"And thus sow the air with angels, subtle spirits bound to whisper spite in the ears of drowsing lords, waking men from apathy."

The Scream! and Misty pairing returns for a second Hallowe'en outing, once more resurrecting some old comic strips from their grave. There's seven stories included, but not all are from yesteryear.

It opens with The Thirteenth Floor, one of Scream!'s most popular strips. It continues the story of Max and Sam Bowers' partnership. The pairing theme continues with the strip's artists: John Stokes provides the B+W sections, while Frazer Irving takes over with full colour for the scenes set upon the titular floor itself.

There's not a lot of input from Max (not counting his creations), and the short page count doesn't help with characterisation of the other characters.

It feels like half a story, which is a criticism that can be applied to the majority of the book.