The Unwritten: Volume 11 (2015)

Apocalypse (2016)

Authors: Mike Carey / Bill Willingham | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 174

"You walk the path, and at the end the blessing comes."

After 71 issues The Unwritten came to an end; the numbering of the individual monthlies doesn't reflect that figure, but that's how many were published in total. Vol 11: Apocalypse collects the last of them.*

Even though I’ve been posting about the series for eleven months now, I read the volumes themselves in quick succession. It's been a while since I actually finished it all, so I may have forgotten a few things. For example, I don't know if everyone who mattered and/or had a direct influence on events got a worthy resolution, but I know the ones that I personally cared about did.

The ending isn't as monumental as I was hoping for, but it's extremely satisfying and in-keeping with the overall concept, exiting with a thoughtful and lingering aspect.

Acting on information provided by Madame Rausch in Vol 10, Tom and his friends search for what they believe will permanently end Pullman's plans.

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)

Dir. Makoto Shinkai / Yoshio Suzuki (asst)

Within their colourful world of fairy-tale blue and pink skies Shinkai's trio of yearning hopefuls exist to transmit thoughts and stir emotional responses in the viewer. On the ground, in a country divided, the threat of war looms, making the moments spent in each other's company even more precious.

Far in the distance stands a mystifying tower that seems as high as the heavens. More than just an unknown structure, it's a symbol upon which the characters pin their dreams. The shared desire to reach it, to lessen a physical distance in their own lives, is ultimately what brings them together.

The kind of wisdom that comes from knowing you were on the precipice of something beautiful but acutely aware that it could never be known fully until it passed is Shinkai's stock-in-trade.

Senn (2013)

Senn (2013)

Dir. Josh Feldman

Writer/Dir. Josh Feldman's first and only (at time of writing) directorial work is a low budget, socially-aware science fiction set on a world that's part industrial workhouse and part slum.

Senn (Zach Eulberg) is a small cog in a much larger, exploitative, corporate machine. He's so small that he doesn't even know what shape the machine is, but he's able to recognises his own insignificance within it. However, unlike his co-workers, Senn has a way out - even if he isn't yet fully aware of that fact himself.

There's some slow-mo padding that's at worst functional but mostly serves a dual-purpose that's powerful when it hits its mark, stirring heart and head in the process. Most of the cast are still learning their trade, but special mention must go to Lauren Taylor and Wylie Herman.

Scream! Presents The Thirteenth Floor: Home Sweet Home (2019)

Scream! Presents The Thirteenth Floor:

Home Sweet Home (2019)

Author: Guy Adams | Illustrators: John Stokes / Vince Locke / Henrik Sahlström / Jimmy Broxton / Tom Paterson / Kelley Jones / Frazer Irving / Andreas Butzbach | Page Count 48

++ I was dormant too long. Rusty. Dusty. Musty. But not now. Now I'm better than I ever was. Sharp, shining, like a knife blade! ++

There's no Misty strips included this time, but in order to get the most from the Scream! only special you'll need to have read both of the previous Hallowe'en specials (2017 and 2018) because Home Sweet Home continues The Thirteenth Floor story begun in the relaunch.

There's three individual tales but they're all The Thirteenth Floor. The first of them is the one that the collection is named for, Home Sweet Home, and is both the longest (38 pages) and the one that continues from last year. It really benefits from the extra page length, enabling writer Guy Adams to devote multiple pages to some proper characterisation of people other than Max.

The Bible: Miniseries (2013)

The Bible: Miniseries (2013)

Dirs. Crispin Reece (Eps 01, 02, 05, 06) / Tony Mitchell (Eps 03, 04, 10) / Christopher Spencer (Eps 07, 08, 09)  | 10 episodes, approx 45 mins each.

A ten-episode miniseries based on The Bible. A disclaimer at the beginning of each one states that 'it endeavours to stay true to the spirit of the book.' That's another way of saying that the series makers haven't always remained faithful to the accepted scriptures.

Personally, and without trying to offend anyone, I don't have a problem with things being that way because I perceive the work as a TV show that's taking dramatic licence with a text that itself took dramatic licence with historic events; the precedent for deviation was already set. If, on the other hand, you're deeply religious and take every word as it's written in The Bible as a literal truth, then you may have issues with both the series and my personal appreciation of it.

Rawhead Rex (1986)

Rawhead Rex (1986)

Dir. George Pavlou

Choosing to remove an ancient phallic standing stone that's on your land might be viewed as a good decision in some parts of the world, but in rural Ireland it might just be a powerful seal that was put in place to keep a savagely pissed-off and murderous part of the island's pagan past trapped beneath it. And if it's freed, not even the Christian God will be able to stop its thundering rampage.

Rawhead Rex is generally regarded as being pretty awful by many folks, but I don't feel it's as bad as all that. In fact, I would argue that it does a few things well. The elevated camera angles and tense music by Colin Towns are often excellent, and if not for the stupid rubber face and joke shop eyes then the creature would be a terrifying creation.

Unfortunately, the end result excised or downplayed most of the original story's subtext, keeping just the aggression, for the most part.

Star Trek: Countdown (2009)

Star Trek: Countdown (2009)

Authors: Mike Johnson / Tim Jones | Illustrator: David Messina | Page Count: 98

"It's worse than we thought."

A prequel comic to the 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise. I consider such tie-ins to be mostly easy milk from the cash-cow, but ST:C is mostly water.

Set post-Nemesis (2002) it attempts to link The Next Generation cast with events from the film, acting as yet another passing of the torch, but it's ham-fisted. In most cases cameos from TNG's crew exist for no reason other than to have cameos from TNG crew.

Their actions and dialogue aren't properly tailored to fit how their TV show counterparts would act or speak in the same situation; change the facial likeness and it'd be difficult to guess who it's meant to be. Speaking of which, the artwork is generally good, with characters looking like the actors they represent, and both light and shadow are handled well by the colourist(s).