Book Review: 'The City on the Edge of Forever' by Harlan Ellison

How do you create a new cut of a near 50 year old episode of Star Trek? In comic form of course.

I do not know the reason why the original author did not get the episode that he had written, nor have I seen the episode as I'm slowly working my way through Season 1 of The Original Series at the moment. So I guess that I am an unusual audience in that I am a Star Trek fan, who has been working his way backwards in the chronology and so I come across this new version of an old story before watching it myself.

And what a story! It is a brilliant read, with plenty of great Spock and Kirk moments and a very mature story for the series. It tackles some big issues without being cheesy or flippant. And the artwork is divine and very accurate. I guess the illustrator had the episode to choose stills from, but even then the likenesses in 95% of the cells are uncanny.







It's a pretty fantastic comic and a great way to while away a lazy Saturday afternoon. Maybe I'll be surprised by the differences when I finally get around to watching the episode.

Book Review: "Feynman" by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick

I have been slow to discover the delights of Feynman, but I recognise a similar thinker, albeit a much, much brighter man. I love his famous BBC interview that was towards the end of his life and I did greatly enjoy his autobiographical sections in "Six Easy Pieces".

A graphic novel adaptation of Feynam's life works very well. While it does not present any new material, it takes the best snippets from all different sources and makes his life come alive with wonderful and simple illustration. Another great advantage to this medium is that the authors presented sections of Feynman lecturing and explaining physics problems. This works wonderfully and could only be bettered by watching a video of these lectures. (You can find some of his filmed lectures on Youtube).

So this was a wonderful read for a rainy Sunday afternoon. It really did capture his voice and his philosophies if I could use that term.

Book Review: "Pedro and Me" by Judd Winnick

I know this looks like the cover to an after school special, and it is actually like an after school special. But don't judge me.

I first came across Judd's work with the hilarious "Barry Ween" series which I do adore (I should write reviews for them). But I did not enjoy his collection of "Frumpy the Clown", which was unfunny newspaper type strips. So I picked this up a few years ago with no idea what it was about.

Turns out it's an autobiographical comic on the author's relationship with his friend Pedro, who was an AIDS advocate in the 90's. They met by becoming roommates in a MTV reality show. There are no surprises here and it ticks all the boxes for being a heartfelt story with a message.

But what really spoke to me reading it this time through  is the message of acceptance of differences and the need to be exposed to diversity. In the final stages of the audition process for the show Judd was asked by the producers if he was comfortable to share a room with someone who is HIV positive. Being a liberal kind of guy he didn't even think before saying yes, but then later admits that he did have some prejudice based purely on ignorance of how the disease is transmitted and how would that impact on him sharing a room with Pedro. Of course everything turns out fine, but it took a little bit of time (not as much as what you may think) to get used to living with someone like this. I think it goes to show that no matter how liberal we may be in our views, until we are close to someone who is different we are probably just full of idealistic words. Here it was someone with HIV, but in our lives we need to expose ourselves to all kinds of different people.

We have gained a multitude of sources for HIV education and this may be a great source to give to people who do not read novels or for teenagers. But I think the main strength is the message of equality and exposing yourself to different people. No, not in a trench-coat-wearing way.

Book Review: Doctor Who: Series 3 Volume 1: The Hypothetical Gentleman

Thank you to Netgalley and IDW Publishing for an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. 

It is easy to write and produce bad and mediocre Doctor Who and there is an awful lot of it out there. I am a very devoted fan and I can admit that readily. But not in this case. 

Collected in this volume are two 11th Doctor story lines originally published as monthly comics in the IDW Doctor Who range. The first story, "The Hypothetical Gentleman"  sees the Doctor trying to visit the Crystal Palace in London for the Great Exhibition. The Doctor, Amy and Rory encounter a strange machine that is on display and get caught up in an adventure that is more than what it seems.

The second story, "The Doctor and the Nurse", is a comedy where Amy, frustrated that the Doctor and Rory seem to bicker with each other a bit too often, orders the two to spend some quality "guy time" together in a Victorian pub. However the Doctor and Rory have other ideas.

I did go into this read with low expectations. I have rarely encountered good Who comics beyond certain good runs in Doctor Who Magazine, and the recent "Prisoners of Time" releases ,which now that I look at the details are also IDW produced. And as you can tell from the score, I was pleasantly surprised. The quality of both stories were high, the artwork was great and the main thing was that it felt like Doctor Who, especially the latter half of Season 6 Who.

"The Hypothetical Gentleman" felt like a Mark Gatiss historical through and through with an intriguing premise and some good one liners. The mannerisms and speech of Matt Smith's Doctor were captured brilliantly, all backed up by spot on yet stylistic artwork.

"The Doctor and the Nurse" is written purely as a comedy. Dangerous, but it works. The sequence of The Doctor and Rory getting deeper and deeper into trouble is hilarious, yet it does not feel contrived or forced. It does parallel comedy sequences from the TV episodes, but here we a given one whole story dedicated to a laugh.

I'd recommend this collection to any Doctor Who fan, especially one who has never picked up a tie-in comic or book before. The style and quality of both stories closely mirror that of the TV series and it would be a great introduction to the world of non-television Doctor Who.