Messages

DreddCon = me on best behaviour*

J-Bo-1

*J-Bo-1 accepts no responsibility for changes to the advertised programme ;)

Ah, that kinda stuff *always* happens ;)

J-Booze-free-this-week-I-think-1

Yeah, but to be fair, Jared, what you're not seeing here is all the posts from subscribers who *did* get their progs on time and have done so for however long...

J-Bo-1

Structurally, WATCHMEN is a far more interesting book. In terms of pure reader enjoyment, though, I'd probably go for V ? which, I think, has much greater emotional content, too.

J-Bo-but-I-wouldn't-want-to-*have*-to-choose-1

In the latest (filming?) draft, Constantine is a US cop who lives above an LA bowling alley and investigates the occult with the help of his sceptical female partner.

Sooo... not a million miles away from Seasons 1-2 of ANGEL, basically.

J-Bo-1

HEWLIGAN'S is due on sale from Friday November 14th, as far as I'm aware. Please note that HEWLIGAN'S is a Rebellion hardback, and they don't follow the same format as the Titan books (black dustjacket etc.).

The cover's up on the website (reprint section) if you want to get an idea of *how* different it is!

J-Bo-1

"Chopper" + "Smiley face" + office Xmas parties + photocopiers = recipe for disaster!

J-Bo-1

Bwa-ha-ha!

That'd be DURHAM RED: THE VERMIN STARS, available from Friday 14th November...

J-Bo-1

DR's always been vain and self-important to some extent, that I can see. But then as an outcast - even from the mutant community of her birth, thanks to her specific mutation - it's not entirely surprising that she'd emphasise self-reliance.

The consequences of Red's rather arrogant nature are pretty bloody clearly delineated in THE VERMIN STARS.

Durham did enjoy a romance with Johnny Alpha, but - well - that ended, obviously.

Although they're not mentioned post-SCARLET CANTOS, I think it's pretty safe to assume that the Stront Dogs are long gone into history, so I wouldn't expect any DR stories set in that context to read like SD stories at all.

J-Bo-1

Yes, there's more to TSC than my very limited summary.

The Offspring seems to have telepathically contacted Red at the start of THE VERMIN STARS.

More than that's just speculation on my part, but I'd be amazed if Durham's 1,000 year sleep and the O's 1,000 year imprisonment are entirely unrelated...

J-Bo-1

...As a number of people have seemed confused about this:-

DURHAM RED was once a member of the Search/Destroy agency, a.k.a. the "Strontium Dogs". Following the events of 'Hunters', Red voluntarily went into a cryogenic stasis, and ended up sleeping for a period of around 1,000 years.

During that time, the war between humans and mutants has intensified to a galactic scale. The humans have the upper hand in terms of weight of numbers, and work on a religious basis; they're known as "Iconoclasts". The reason for this is, partly, that Durham Red has become a legendary figure during her millennium of sleep, known to the mutants as "Saint Scarlet". It is believed that she will return to lead the mutants to victory.

At the start of "The Scarlet Cantos", Durham Red is reanimated by the mutant Judas Harrow (pointing out that she'd only meant to sleep for a couple of years!), and discovers most of the above backstory. Also during THE SCARLET CANTOS, Red attacks and bites Matthias Godolkin, an iconoclast super-soldier, and he believes himself to be under her power.

Red, Godolkin, and Harrow then make their way to the VERMIN STARS, where Red ? who is understandably unhappy about having been used as an icon of human-hating mutant power for umpteen years ? announces her plan: somewhere in the Vermin Stars is a force that can kill all the mutant and human combatants (whom she has lured there), which should ? hopefully ? end the still-raging human/mutant war. It is around this time that Red and Godolkin make love, to Harrow's disgust.

Unfortunately for Red, the mysterious force is "The Offspring" - the most powerful mutant ever to have existed, and one which has remained imprisoned for 1,000 years. When she releases it, the Offspring launches a viral attack on the assembled humans which will render them all sterile ? thereby ending the human race for all time. Powerless to stop it, Red is gravely wounded in a final showdown with human leader Pierceheart (whom she kills) and eventually sinks into madness. Godolkin appears to have been killed by Pierceheart's bodyguards.

At the start of THE EMPTY SUNS, it is apparent that the Offspring still lives and is killing wantonly. Godolkin and an assorted crew of humans ? of whom very few remain ? have come to the decision that as Red began this conflict, she is logically the only one who can end it. Therefore they return to the Offspring's lair and try to reclaim Red, who by this point is in a feral state of madness and grief. Also, it seems she's had a son by Godolkin ? one who appears to share her vampiric mutation. At the Offspring's lair, there are other mutants, who are apparently trying to guard Red ? one tries to pass him/herself off as Red, but then falls victim to the Strontium Bitch herself.

So ? everyone clear now? ;)

J-Bo-1

Yep, the Eidolon is one of the High's team from STORMWATCH: CHANGE OR DIE (incidentally by far the best of the Stormwatch books, and possibly Ellis' best-ever superhero writing).

J-Bo-1

...As a number of people have seemed confused about this:-

DURHAM RED was once a member of the Search/Destroy agency, a.k.a. the "Strontium Dogs". Following the events of 'Hunters', Red voluntarily went into a cryogenic stasis, and ended up sleeping for a period of around 1,000 years.

During that time, the war between humans and mutants has intensified to a galactic scale. The humans have the upper hand in terms of weight of numbers, and work on a religious basis; they're known as "Iconoclasts". The reason for this is, partly, that Durham Red has become a legendary figure during her millennium of sleep, known to the mutants as "Saint Scarlet". It is believed that she will return to lead the mutants to victory.

At the start of "The Scarlet Cantos", Durham Red is reanimated by the mutant Judas Harrow (pointing out that she'd only meant to sleep for a couple of years!), and discovers most of the above backstory. Also during THE SCARLET CANTOS, Red attacks and bites Matthias Godolkin, an iconoclast super-soldier, and he believes himself to be under her power.

Red, Godolkin, and Harrow then make their way to the VERMIN STARS, where Red ? who is understandably unhappy about having been used as an icon of human-hating mutant power for umpteen years ? announces her plan: somewhere in the Vermin Stars is a force that can kill all the mutant and human combatants (whom she has lured there), which should ? hopefully ? end the still-raging human/mutant war. It is around this time that Red and Godolkin make love, to Harrow's disgust.

Unfortunately for Red, the mysterious force is "The Offspring" - the most powerful mutant ever to have existed, and one which has remained imprisoned for 1,000 years. When she releases it, the Offspring launches a viral attack on the assembled humans which will render them all sterile ? thereby ending the human race for all time. Powerless to stop it, Red is gravely wounded in a final showdown with human leader Pierceheart (whom she kills) and eventually sinks into madness. Godolkin appears to have been killed by Pierceheart's bodyguards.

At the start of THE EMPTY SUNS, it is apparent that the Offspring still lives and is killing wantonly. Godolkin and an assorted crew of humans ? of whom very few remain ? have come to the decision that as Red began this conflict, she is logically the only one who can end it. Therefore they return to the Offspring's lair and try to reclaim Red, who by this point is in a feral state of madness and grief. Also, it seems she's had a son by Godolkin ? one who appears to share her vampiric mutation. At the Offspring's lair, there are other mutants, who are apparently trying to guard Red ? one tries to pass him/herself off as Red, but then falls victim to the Strontium Bitch herself.

So ? everyone clear now? ;)

J-Bo-1

Raven's "origin story" episode is pretty spooky stuff, though! I hope they play up the whole thing with her dad (who, in the original NEW TEEN TITANS comics, was a bloody nasty demon called Trigon)...

J-Bo-1

FWIW, I don't "get" Takeshi Miike's stuff either; ICHI left me cold, I couldn't be arsed with more than 10 minutes of VISITOR Q, and AUDITION - well, just eurgh, really.

So I watched the infinitely cooler HEROIC TRIO and PROJECT A instead. Yay Wonder Woman! Yay Jackie!

J-Bo-and-watching-Peking-Opera-Blues-tonight*-1

*After new eps of Angel and 24, mind.