The Unwritten: Volume 04 (2011)

Leviathan (2011)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 144

‘He had wondered before, who had imagined his world. Now he had a new question. Who was narrating it?’

In some cases Tom's extensive 'literary geography' is just that, a geographical knowledge, he hasn't read the text to which the location pertains. But now, whether he's read it or not, he's living inside someone else's novel and he'll share the ultimate fate of its characters if he doesn't find a way out before the story reaches its end.

But what choice does he have? To discover his truth he must "walk the map" created by his elusive father, Wilson Taylor, a man who turned his son into a living weapon.

The confidence that author Mike Carey has in his work shines through in Volume 04, particularly in the quiet moments, of which there are many this time; too many, perhaps, for some folks, but they serve a purpose.

About halfway through things get kicked up a gear and our understanding of what and why happenings are the way they are for Tom is expanded.

Infernal Affairs Trilogy (2002-03)

Infernal Affairs (2002)

Dirs. Andrew Lau / Alan Mak

An excellent Hong Kong crime thriller in which a dedicated police officer (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) risks life and limb to go deep undercover in Triad society.

Similarly, a member of the Triad group (Andy Lau) enrols in the HK police service.

Both men eventually become aware of the other's existence, but neither one knows what his counterpart actually looks like.

The nerve-racking race for one mole to expose the other first is often tense as hell, as if walking a knife edge, with a feeling that even during quiet times there may be someone watching, waiting for the mole to slip up and expose himself.

Batman / Judge Dredd (1991-98)

Judgement on Gotham (1991)

Authors: John Wagner / Alan Grant | Artist: Simon Bisley | Page Count: 61

"I'm goin' into an uncontrollable butt frenzy!"

Picking Judgement on Gotham off a shelf in '91 was the most excited I've ever been for a ridiculous comic crossover event. Joe Dredd and Batman! Whoa!

I imagined the personality clash to be like two worlds colliding. Okay, it's not quite that good, but it's still pretty awesome and revisiting it again despite being twenty+ years older gave me a similar kind of joy.

In previous years Batman had faced some twisted minds in his own world, but he'd never encountered anything quite like Judge Death before. When the superfiend D-Jumps from Mega-City One to Gotham it's going to take more than a glimpse of a winged mammal suit to save the city from being Judddgggged.

You'll need to be a fan of both characters to get the most from it. Author's Wagner and Grant had more experience writing for Joe, and it shows. They don't do Batman an injustice, they capture his personality well and don't compromise his integrity, but when weighed out it's mostly Dredd's story. I'm perfectly okay with that, but it's worth mentioning in case you're here solely for Batsy.

The HAMMER Collection: Part 1 of 3 (1965-66)

The HAMMER Collection:
DVD Box Set - Part 1 of 3 (1965-66)

A twenty-one disc DVD box set containing some of the best and worst films that the legendary HAMMER studio made before it succumbed to financial trouble and was forced to put away the costumes and close its doors.

It's a tidy package that takes up very little space on a shelf. It's roughly about the size of a cube made from standard size CD jewel cases. The discs are housed securely in four multi-disc digi tray booklets. I dislike digi trays, usually, but they're better than crappy card wallets, which is what I feared the discs would be presented in.

I'm splitting the collection into three parts with seven films apiece and in chronological order.

That's not the order they're arranged in the box, but it means that the post for each of the three parts will be roughly equal in size (besides this one, which has a slightly longer intro). As for putting them in chronological order - it makes sense to me, more so than the unusual order they're presented in the actual box. Part 2 of the collection is HERE, while Part 3 is HERE.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Dir. Leonard Nimoy

Star Trek II, III and IV are a connected trilogy, with each film telling its own story but equally one part of a longer three-part journey. Among other things, the end section explores the dangers of shortsightedness, while highlighting mankind's follies and the consequences of actions.

During a return voyage to face the music after stealing the Federation's flagship, the close-knit group find themselves in temporal trouble.

Previously they were fighting against time to help their friend. This time they're traversing time itself in order to help the whole of Earth, which is under threat from a powerful probe of unknown origin.

The Voyage Home has its detractors, like all things inevitably have, but I'm a big fan of it.

There's something absurdly entertaining in seeing the ship's crew wander around San Francisco like a retirement home science club on a field trip.