TimC

The Telegraph isn't a broadsheet, and there's a lot of red tops that sell better, Mark. Are you sure you don't have it confused with the Times?

The Telegraph is still a broadsheet. It's about the only way you can tell it from the Mail.

The Times is tabloid format, but not generally considered a 'tabloid' in the classic sense. It is shit, though.

Oh, she still is a major draw. She's managed to become A National Treasure^TM, despite not even being of this nation

Well, her mum's Welsh. From the same village as Iain Sinclair, in fact.

Just out of curiosity, who would you say was the 'biggest name' to co-star in the show (i'm not talking cameo's like Cleese in City of Death, unless there was someone bigger than him that has had a walkon like that)?

Brian Cox, Claire Bloom and Timothy Dalton (all in the last xmas episode) are all arguably bigger than Cleese (who has basically been in two quite funny TV series, several decades ago, but is now less of a name than Tom Baker).

Personally, I had absolutely no problem with Corden (or Tate or Kay, or Dodd or Hale & Pace for that matter). Maybe some people are just too obsessed with celebrity status.

Bulletproof Coffin #1

I dug the hell out of this book.

Good to hear - I've been really looking forward to this, as I've fond memories of Kane's work in Deadline way back in the day, but not seen that much from him since. Hines and Kane are doing a signing at my (tiny) local comics shop in a few weeks, which should be fun.

It's like a vicious parody of an early-'90s "mature readers" comic

A rather unfair criticism, given the comic under discussion started in early 1990. At the least, that's an indication that it was a little ahead of the curve.

On my rereading, the earlier issues were less impressive than I recalled (and I did read them in my teens), while the later ones were better. I'd definitely agree that the peak was in the run up to 50, though.

The logical conclusion here would be that you think Preacher is better than Sandman. But that can't be true, since the balance of evidence from your previous posts has always led me to believe that you're not completely fucking mental. Please to be explaining.

Sandman, when it was good, was indeed very very good. However, a lot of it really wasn't all that. For me, it peaked with 'The Doll's House'. While there continued to be some great short stories, things like 'Brief Lives' and 'The Kindly Ones' (and however many issues there were after yer lead character had finally snuffed it) were all a bit interminable.

Preacher's only major drop in quality was that small-town-sheriff interlude, which still wasn't as mimbly as many of Sandman's longer stories. It was, generally speaking, all-round top entertainment.

Also, country music is better than goth.

I've just finished my Milligan 'Shade the Changing Man' marathon. I'd forgotten how good much of it is - in terms of single-writer, 70-ish issue runs, I'd rate in ahead of Sandman and vying with Preacher. Even the final 20 issues, which I recalled as rather pointless, has some cracking stories, and the finale is a lot more satisfying than I remembered. It's very very bad that Vertigo hasn't published the whole thing in trades yet.

But I don't think anyone will need any detailed knowledge of the series to dig this new Hellblazer crossover, anyway. In fact, 'Shade' resolved in such a timey-wimey way that JC's previous meeting with Shade never actually happened. Also, Grenzer never did kill Kathy's parents, so that brief appearance in the Bisley issue wouldn't make any sense, if you were being terribly pedantic about continuity. Which, given the nature of the comic, would be a very silly thing to be.

But, I've just been reminded that Milligan wrote a one-off Shade story for the 2003 'Vertigo X Anniversary Preview', with Mike Allred on art, and I'm rather upset that I don't have this. (I was on a long holiday when it came out. The moral is, never go on holiday.) I don't suppose anyone here would have a copy they'd like to sell or swap or, failing that, could provide a scan or even a synopsis of the story?

[EDIT: Aha! Found one on eBay, fingers crossed...]

We do get the pre-credits cliffhangers, and some of those have been fab. Many do the work of your traditional first episode, only in three or four minutes.

I did like the finale to the mostly iffy 'Ashes to Ashes' (which also served as the final word on the mostly superior, but still over-rated, 'Life on Mars'). Metaphysically pleasing, in a way which sort of justifies all the many shit aspects of the two shows. I'm particularly pleased that it didn't undermine the wonderfully subversive suicidal ending of LoM.

'Four Lions' - very funny indeed. And a very good response from the audience, in Bradford. Probably not for everyone, but I don't suppose anyone here will have too many Mailograph-style problems with it.

Some great location work round Sheffield too - I wonder if it was deliberate that a couple of the main locations are right by the site of the now-demolished twin towers of Tinsley? Also, clever use of some crappier-looking parts of Sheff to stand in for London.

See, that is why I have told people if you want to see some good Batman & Robin, not so bogged down by continuity and with quality writing, then go read Streets of Gotham.

I get your point, but I'm not particularly interested in seeing Batman & Robin as such - I bought it because I wanted to see Morrison and Quitely doing dayglo weirdness. The first few issues delivered on the initial promises, but my interest has been dribbling away ever since.

Quitely is still coming back for the final story, isn't he?

I can't decide if I like Batman & Robin or not.

I don't think it's living up to its initial promise, thanks to a mix of substandard art and some increasingly continuity-heavy plotting from the big GM which means it just doesn't stand up on its own. I had no idea who 'Wilson' was, so the last couple of issues fell rather flat.

I'm rereading Milligan's run of 'Shade the Changing Man', in honour of his impending return in Hellblazer. It holds up pretty damn well - Bachalo's art is still fantastic, as does Milligan's writing. It is a lot wordier than most modern comics (including Milligan's own HB and Greek Street), but there's some cracking writing here. There's a lot of individual lines and scenes that I recall quite vividly from whenever I read it last (probably at least 15 years ago), while major plot points and whole stories have completely slipped my mind.

Im up to 30-odd now - all the pre-Vertigo ones, anyway. As I recall, the run from here to issue 50 is probably the best sustained run in the whole 70 issues, while everything after 50 seemed a bit pointless. Be interested to see whether I still feel the same. Certainly some of the issues in the first run that I thought were relatively weak at the time seem stronger now, while stories that wowed me then (like the hippy issues) don't seem quite so impressive now.

I really hope he comes up with a few new concepts at some point soon, because while the three or four ideas he's been recycling since 'Blink'

And 'Blink' was itself largely recycled from a story he'd written for the Doctor Who Annual a few years before. It worked better there.

I think there really was a sizeable quotient of utter ming-mongs who'd managed to convince themselves that we were going to get a full series of episodes like 'Blink'.

Personally, a full series of episodes like 'Blink' would be about the crappest thing imaginable - it is, frankly, hugely over-rated. Problem is, we do seem to be getting quite a few episodes that are awfully like it in various ways - either explicitly (two weeks of those bloody statues coming up? Oh joy) or stylistically (aimed squarely at the kiddies, and not nearly as clever as it thinks it is).

OK, so it's not in Doctor Who proper, and a good thing too. But still...the return of Jo Grant, and Russell T. Davies writing for the Eleventh Doctor. On the telly. Now THAT's the sort of fan-pleasing self-indulgence I can get behind.

I hate to say it, but whatever's been keeping Sarah Jane so well preserved, Jo has been missing out. She looks like she's just escaped from Paradise Towers. Maybe something unfortunate happened while her lovely Welsh husband was taking her up the Amazon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8616413.stm

Page last updated at 23:39 GMT, Monday, 12 April 2010 00:39 UK

Doctor Who regeneration was 'modelled on LSD trips'

Doctor Who's regenerations were modelled on bad LSD trips, internal BBC memos have revealed.

The Doctor's transformations were meant to convey the "hell and dank horror" of the hallucinogenic drug, according to papers published on the BBC Archive.

Regenerations were introduced in 1966 to allow writers to replace the lead actor. New Doctor Matt Smith is the 11th Time Lord.

The papers also reveal the difficulties of bedding in a new Doctor.

In an internal memo dating from 1966, producers outlined how the original Doctor, William Hartnell, would be transformed for his successor Patrick Troughton.

It also tackled the "horrifying experience" of the regeneration.

"The metaphysical change... is a horrifying experience - an experience in which he relives some of the most unendurable moments of his long life, including the galactic war," it said.

"It is as if he has had the LSD drug and instead of experiencing the kicks, he has the hell and dank horror which can be its effect," the memo added.

Discussing his appearance, the document stated: "His hair is wild and his clothes look rather worse for wear (this is a legacy from the metaphysical change which took place in the Tardis)."

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/changingwho/10305.shtml

This would rank some way below 'The Happiness Patrol', which is a bit of a favourite of mine. I'd probably just give it the edge over 'Paradise Towers', though.

I'm still not feeling the new series, I'm afraid. Today's was solid enough, in a very traditional vein, but it just didn't grab me. Wasn't up to 'Gridlock', anyway. Not sure it was even up to 'The Long Game'.

Wonder how much resemblance it bears to that great lost Pat Mills story about the Space Whale?

Who's the painting to Serpico's left?

Jill Monroe, Farrah Fawcett's character in 'Charlie's Angels'.

No, sorry, that's Serpico's right. That'd be Rocky Balboa on his left.

Batman & Robin-This is getting really interesting. It doesn't just reference earlier Morrison stories, but it now references Milligan's Dark Knight & Dark City and an earlier Morrison theme (last seen in The Invisibles, I believe).

What's the Invisibles link? 'Barbatos'/'Barbelith'?

This does seem to be increasingly continuity-heavy. Is anyone reading the other Bat-books who can summarise what's behind those Tim Drake and Justice League references in this issue?

Tim. I like the word you coined, Baftabatory. :)

You read it here first! Actually, I'm amazed that I do seem to have coined it - at least, Google doesn't turn up any other use of it or its obvious variants.

Didn't he do an episode of Doctor Who (where he fucked a paving stone) ?

That one's definitely in the eye of the beholder...

Not a bad choice, though. His turn in 'State of Play' is reminiscent of the young, flash Constantine, and he does good charismatic bastardy in 'The Principles of Lust'.

'An Education'. Smug, shallow and self-important Baftabatory fluff. I suspect it's one of those films that mostly appeals to people who read 'quality tabloids' and don't actually like films.

Also, there's a slight dissonance between the way the film clumsily bangs the point that people in early-60s Britain were terribly racist, especially about Jews, and the fact that the only notable Jewish character in the film is a thieving slum landlord and serial seducer of schoolgirls.

Next up, Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller. A book about how much Henry Miller hates America, or at least 1950s America.

Yeah, that's really the basic idea behind the book.

It's certainly not his best, but interesting enough (and good background if you watch 'Mad Men').

I'm reading Robert Irwin's 'Satan Wants Me' at the mo - a pseudo-memoir of a gullible young chap getting involved in a Crowleyite cult in 1967 London. Very funny. I read his 'An Arabian Nightmare' a few weeks ago, which is also very good in a very different way.