Messages

Between 7 and 12.

Jackson 'Butch' Guice drew a lot of covers of reprints, could well be him.

Gary Coleman drew Dredd? What you talkin' bout Rio?

But it's very Sam Keith. I think when you hire a distinctive artist you should get distinctive art. Job done.

Worst artist? It definatley isn't Siku. On form he's very, very good. However his last extended Dredd, the John Smith tale with lots of old aliens brought back with no recognisable features was awful, one of the worst jobs I can remember. The script was alright stuff - distinctly average - but the right artist could have lifted it. Boo Cook, for instance, with the frenetic action and monster mayhem could have produced a fan pleaser.

Blue Beetle, Walking Dead, and the latest issues of Rex Mundi, Fables, and Suicide Squad as they were out of stock.

I can heartily recommend Blue Beetle as an old fashioned Super Hero adventure title that happily trundles along with interesting characters, a consistant feel to the art even when the regular is away and the welcome return of Keith Giffen. Long may it last. What with Shadowpact, and Booster Gold this is the first time in a long time I've been regularly buying superhero books.

Love that exhibition. Got a season ticket and it's been extended a couple of months. Anyone who fancies free entry could do worse than mail me.

Cheers Deever. Much interested.

Umpt, I must have been unclear somewhere if I gave the impression that it was Great in any sense other than scale.

Sorry, this is going to be a long and rambling post with spelling mistakes and all. Bear with me or don't.

Hitler made the Second World War easy to understand.

I remember first hearing the refrain that begins 'Hitler has only got one ball' in Mrs. Boardmans class at primary school, so I must only have been 6 or 7 or so. One aspect strikes me now is that I must have known who he was becuse I didn't need it explaining. I wonder how many kids of that age know that now?

The point is it's easy to learn about the Second World War because it's easy to say that that war was Just, or at least to justify it. Hitlers was evil, Churhill was noble, end of. If age has added shades of grey to my understanding it really hasn't fundamentally changed anything.

The Great War though? Tricky. I remember my earliest learning about the 14-18 war pointing out the carnage, the devestation, the waste of life, as opposed to the genuine heroism of the people who signed up. Even now I would be hard pressed to explain the causes of the war succinctly.

This morning on the bus to work I realised, in that way you do when you've travelled a bus journey thousands of times and can estimate where you are by the time you've spent travelling, that I was about to pass the Civil War grave between Culcheth and Leigh. I looked up and saw the field, with the suns rays pinking the sky and remembere some lines I'd written over a decade ago for a communiy theatre project. It struck me then that I know more about that battle than I do about the entire Great War.

Most of that knowledge comes from talking to Mister Carrigar, an old man who lived down the road from my mum and dad. If he cornered you for a chat there was no getting away. You were there for the duration. You were missing that bus. But I remember him telling me about the death totals of the World Wars and being stnned.

The subject is on my mind because, quite at random, I bought and am reading 'Not Forgotten' by Neil Oliver. It's an annecdotal history of some of the people who didn't make it back. Fifty odd short chapters on a random selection of the countless names on the more than 36,000 war memorials around the country. The style is familiar from Olivers t.v. work on programmes like 'Coast' and whilst it doesn't pretend to be anything approaching complete it's fascinating. It's in the Booksale The Works three for ten pounds offer.

I'm ashamed to say that I don't know if any of my grandfathers' family fought in it. I know more about a stranger with the same name as my brother who recieved a posthumous V.C. I say Stranger to imply someone not related, but the amount I know about my relatives even at that close remove renders them just as strange. I'm going to put that right.

I intend to find out and do something so that this history of my small patch of home isn't forgotten. I've already started, and will see this through.

I wonder, though, on your thoughts on the subject, and would love to hear your anecdotes or memories of family that might have fought, fallen or found a way home. If you want to avoid the board you can mail me using the send-mail. I'll check in at my parents and read them on Monday. Anyone who knows my other mail addy can send me there.

Thanks for reading.

Disappointed not to see Red Seas, but such is life.

I much preferred Coleby on the strip. Critchlow is one of the greats but having established the opening with some of the best Coleby art I've seen to lose him seems a shame.

Dante got off to a belting start - loved his intro on page 4.

Sin Dex is winding strands that have kept me interested for a few years now. Much excitement from me.

F.S. is nice enough, predictable but fun.

Button Man powers along. I like the slow burn, this is Harry first adversary that we've really known about, which gives the innevitable showdown some kick.

Hoka hay! No Smithy? Bad Juju! Red Seas? Good Karma!

It's been a good year for Edgy, with four series taking us through the vast majority of progs. And Stickleback is imminent.

Has a Boo Cook look to me.

The third stip? There was a John Smith/Lee Garbett joint advertised as coming in 2007 back in the Christmas Prog.

Which in terms of priority is how it should be. The books should be being got into mainstream shops as a matter of course.

I've always found FP to be erratic in terms of what they stock as it's usually down to individual clerks ordering. Let them know you want the bloody things.

The latest Prog (or was it Meg?) has Tharg clutching a copy of the next Nikolai Dante collection, and it rather looks like the pirate stuff is being ignored, skipped, swept aside...for good or for bad.

I'm rather surprised and though I really enjoyed the latest stuff the ad in the Meg (or was it the Prog?) doesn't leave much room for mistake, what with the title and the lovely return of the co-creator cover from a few months ago.

Any thoughts, theories, random net based raving?

How could anybody not love Ribos Operation? That's just crazy talk.

I dipped into my savings to buy the 7 disc Doctor Who boxset that was released last month. And do you know what? It's fracking great. Six fun stories with Tom Baker at the top of his game.

When you can look at a series of Who and say that the least effective scripts were by Robert Holmes and Douglas Adams then something is going right somewhere. Lots of imagination and effort in the production and a varied mix of stories and styles.

Particularly good are the extras, ranging from story specific docos, a profile of the producer, location reports, missing scenes, a feature on Hammers influence, 9 commentary tracks, and though there are a couple of random clip compilations and an attempt at Look Around You style silliness that fails on most levels it's still a top collection. Oh, there's an feature on Philip Madoc too.

I've really enjoyed watching it and if modern Who isn't doing it for you, and you want to wallow in nostalgia I can heartily recommend this. I've not enjoyed Who this much in a long time.