Official press release below from IDW about their new 32 page Dr. Who one-shot and its cool inspiration.
In this special one-shot, Dr. Who, The Whispering Gallery, superstar artist Ben Templesmith tackles his first full Dr. Who project, alongside comic book writers Leah Moore & John Reppion. In The Whispering Gallery, the TARDIS lands in a maze-like gallery filled with thousands of talking pictures, and the Doctor and Martha discover they’ve come across a planet where showing emotion has been outlawed. The inhabitants have good reason for their supression, but it wouldn’t be like the Doctor to leave them in fear of truly living. Married writing team Leah Moore and John Reppion have been fans of “Doctor Who” for nearly as long as they can remember, and pitched IDW Publishing on their story idea for the classic British sci-fi hero after Leah had a dream about a two-page spread one night. Leah Moore said the couple had a hard time initially thinking up an original storyline. “Everything we could think up had already been done, or was not the right kind of story. We went off to bed one night after brainstorming fruitlessly for hours, and I went to sleep worrying that we’d not be able to think of anything and miss out on writing it altogether.” After the dream, Leah says she woke up knowing clearing what they would do for Dr. Who, and got the story turned around very quickly after that. Moore and Reppion became involved in the project after being approached by artist Ben Templesmith, an admirer of their work. “Ben actually approached Leah via the modern miracle of Twitter and asked her if we’d be interested in pitching for a Dr Who one-shot with him as the artist,” explained Reppion. “Naturally, we were thrilled and said yes immediately. Ben is a fantastic artist and we both really admire his work, so it’s great to be able to work with him on such a brilliant little project. Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery hits stands February 29 from IDW Publishing.
Now this sounds like an interesting way to breath new life into Wolverine. That guy has more series every month than you can poke an adamantium prong at, but a new venture coming in April looks set to present him in an intriguing manner. Official press release below.
Top Cow is making a name for themselves these days as a publisher of in-your-face comics. With The Darkness, Impaler, Wanted and now this series, they showcase brutal stories in which characters are thrust into gloriously bloody worlds. Like the best genre films of the 80s, these concepts revel in over the top violence, which make you wince and laugh in equal doses. In a fashion similar to the previously mentioned titles, Berserker knows how to wrap such blood letting in an engrossing story. That’s the key to books like this. Devoid of a great premise, they simply become mindless gore fests. Berserker is a head above (pun intended) such exploitation and delivers the goods in a brief package.
Jeremy Haun’s pencils with Dave McCaig’s colours really sell this tale. Sure there’s heaps of blood, but it’s not over the top. It all appears real and gives a horror edge to this military adventure. It’s filled with darkness and texture in the Afghanistan scenes and real emotion throughout its pages. By now, you’re guessing that this isn’t one for young eyes and you’d be right. Apart from the violence there’s also profanity one every page of this brisk tale.
I’ve read a few comic compilations as of late. They’re a great idea. DC’s Vertigo Trades (such as First Cut) which present first issues of ongoing series probably kicked off this mini-trend. Then last year they produced a few extra-sized Countdown Specials reprinting classic tales of the New Gods and Kamandi, amongst others.
I get the feeling that I’m at the start of something special. It’s easy to picture this as a future TV series or film. Like Buffy, but with an ambition equal to her comics rather than the TV series, Hexed is smart and entertaining.
This is a great intro to comics for those that have fallen for Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes, either from their recent appearance on TV’s Smallville or their great animated series that ran for two seasons.
The fine folks at the always informative Sci Fi Pulse, have a great interview with author Robert Weiner at their site. Weiner has written a book entitled Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications, which is available now from McFarland Publishing.
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