The Pull List: 28 August 2013

Last month I reviewed the first issue of a new DC Vertigo comic titled Collider. I was a bit ambivalent about it, but suggested people give it a shot as it had a lot of potential. I shall discuss whether or not the second issues lives up that potential in a moment; first we need to talk about the title.

It completely flummoxes me that, as a subsidiary of mega-corporation Time Warner, nobody at DC Comics thought to do a rigorous trademark search on the title Collider before they launched their new comic. I'm interested to see how this affects sales for this second issue, since people looking for Collider on the shelf aren't going to find it there. DC has been forced to rename their new comic so as not to confuse it with a pre-existing comic of the same name. So now we're looking at issue #2 of FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics, which is definitely a less catchy name.

The issue itself is very well composed and structured, and opens up a lot of mysteries for future issues to explore. The art continues to be highly distinctive with abstract renditions of the lead characters and a great, vivid use of colour. The science fiction ideas in this book are well thought-out and entertaining, and it looks like they'll play background to a long-running storyline based around the characters. All up a big improvement on issue #1 and more than enough justification to go buy issue #3 in September. It's just a pity about the title. (4/5)

DC Vertigo. Written by Simon Oliver. Art by Robbi Rodriguez.

Under the cut: reviews of All-Star Western, Aquaman, Batman Incorporated, Batman/Superman, Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, The Flash, The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires, Journey into Mystery, Justice League, Lazarus, The Massive, Station to Station, Star Wars Legacy, Thor: God of Thunder, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and Young Avengers.

Under the Dome: "Let the Games Begin"

The villainous Maxine reveals her new plans for Chester's Mill to Barbie, starting with an underground 'fight club' at the old cement factory. Big Jim goes looking for leverage against Maxine, and comes face to face with a woman with a shotgun. Joe, Norrie and Angie go looking for the elusive 'fourth hand', the identity of whom comes as a complete surprise.

Actually that last sentence is a total lie. It's not a surprise at all, in fact it's the most obvious character it could possibly be, so obvious in fact that I spent the second half of this episode waiting for the inevitable twist that someone else was actually the fourth hand - but no, it's the one you'd expect and it happens exactly how you'd expect it. Despite my total lack of surprise, the 'mini-dome' arc turned out to be the strongest aspect of this episode, one that - while boasting some decent performances - was pretty much entirely derailed by evil Maxime and her evil Maxine ways.

Enterprise: "First Flight"

While the Enterprise explores a new kind of dark matter nebula, Captain Archer receives the news that his good friend A.G. Robinson (Keith Carradine) has died in a climbing accident. While surveying the nebula in a shuttle with T'Pol, Archer recounts the early days of the NX test program - in which he and Robinson fiercely competed for the chance to become captain of the Enterprise.

If you include the 90 minute pilot as two episodes, then "First Flight" is the 50th episode of Enterprise. I suppose in a sense it's appropriate then to celebrate the milestone with a special episode about the origins of the NX starship program. It fills in the gaps a bit, and shows a little of what it took for the Enterprise to get to where it launched all the way back in "Broken Bow". The problem is, however, that we kind of know what happened. There's nothing that "First Flight" shows us that we couldn't have assumed all by ourselves. This is the core problem with prequels, and of course "First Flight" is a prequel to another prequel. Surely that makes it doubly redundant.

The X Files: "Deep Throat"

The X Files pilot episode did a great job of introducing viewers to FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, as well as the overall thrust of the series: two detectives investigating the paranormal and unexplained across America. This second episode, "Deep Throat", teases in the second critical pillar for the series: a government conspiracy to hide the existence of aliens among us on Earth.

Shortly after being called to investigate the disappearance of a US Air Force pilot, Mulder is met by an anonymous middle-aged man (Jerry Hardin) who warns him from following the lead. When Mulder and Scully arrive in southern Idaho they uncover what seems to be a military program to use UFO technology to build super-powered stealth fighters. Before long there are black helicopters, illegal surveillance, kidnapping, men in black and all manner of archetypal and stereotypical conspiracy elements.

Enterprise: "Regeneration"

I remember that when Enterprise was originally announced by Paramount Pictures I was overcome with a sense of eye-rolling cynicism. I remember having a conversation with a friend - I can't remember who - where we smugly anticipated that despite being a prequel set in the century before James T. Kirk we would see the Borg inexplicably crop up before the first year was out. And I'm happy now to confirm that we were wrong. The Borg didn't turn up in Season 1. They turned up in Season 2.

"Regeneration" is a sequel to Star Trek: First Contact that's incorporated into the prequel to Star Trek to in itself act as a prequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation's epic two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds". No, no: bear with me, it's honestly not as confusing as it sounds. So in the 24th century the United Federation of Planets is attacked by a cybernetic civilization called the Borg who, while defeated, launch a second attack some years later that results in them travelling back in time to the 21st century where they are defeated by the time-travelling crew of the USS Enterprise, but some of the Borg from that attack are frozen in the Arctic when their section of the Borg ship explodes, and a century later they are defrosted by Starfleet scientists and subsequently take over their spaceship and attempt to flee back to their homeworld, except the Enterprise (a different Enterprise with a different crew) destroys their ship but not before they send a long-distance subspace message advising of Earth's existence that takes 200 years to arrive and leads the Borg Collective of the 24th century to attack the United Federation of Planets.

Who50 #10: "The Massacre of St Bartholemew's Eve"

Who50 counts down to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who by reviewing my favourite episodes and serials over the history of the programme, counting down from #50 to #1. Today, #10: "The Massacre of St Bartholemew's Eve", a four-part 1966 serial written by John Lucarotti and Donald Tosh and directed by Paddy Russell.

The historical adventure was a popular aspect of Doctor Who's early years, comprising roughly a third of William Hartnell's tenure as the Doctor. By the fourth season the production team elected to abandon the format and, asides from a two-episode dalliance with the format in 1982, the historical has never returned. It's a shame, because these historical stories are strong vehicles for character and drama. They can't hide behind rubber-suit monsters or alien planets. They rise or fall based on the plot and the characters within it.

"The Massacre of St Bartholemew's Eve" (or, to use its more common but apocryphal title, "The Massacre") is a stunning example on the sorts of drama Doctor Who can create in a historical setting. It's criminally obscure, even among Who fans, because the entire serial has been lost from the BBC archives. We can listen to it, however, via audio recordings - and those recordings reveal a shockingly mature and confrontational work. To my mind it's the most adult Doctor Who story of all time, and also one of its all-time best.

The Pull List: 21 August 2013

With its 23rd issue this week, Legion of Super-Heroes has concluded its current run. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth by old-school DC fans when its cancellation was announced, although I'm not entire sure why. This was the seventh volume of Legion. Volume 6 lasted for 18 issues, and Volume 5 for 31. Then of course there's Adventure Comics (14 issues), Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes (21 issues) and Legion (38 issues). Basically in the 13 years of the 21st century, DC Comics has relaunched Legion of Super-Heroes six times. For those without a calculator handy, that's a new Legion comic every 2.2 years. That in mind, I'm pretty certain we'll see a new version of the team sooner rather than later. The fans can quit their bitching.

So how was this final issue anyhow? To be honest, a bit of a mess. It's pretty much all epilogue - in fact the second half seems actively made up of individually titled epilogues. Kevin Maguire provides the art, but the job feels a bit rushed to be honest. Perhaps his heart wasn't in it.

Paul Levitz writes a reasonable script here, but it's certainly nothing exceptional. I think a lot of its potential strength is wasted by the reader's knowledge that there's going to be a new Legion along eventually. It's a heartfelt farewell issue for a comic that, to be honest, never really earned it. (3/5)

DC Comics. Written by Paul Levitz. Art by Kevin Maguire. Under the cut: reviews of Batman and Nightwing, Batwoman, Daredevil, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Justice League Dark, Revival, Wonder Woman, X-Men and X-Men Legacy.

Under the Dome: "The Fourth Hand"

Joe, Norrie and Julia go looking for the mysterious egg - only it has vanished from its original location in the woods. After a resident of Chester's Mill is accidentally shot, Big Jim orders a buyback of the town's guns. Angie has a seizure, while the 'pink stars are falling' mantra turns out to have deep significance for Junior. Linda and Barbie follow a trail from a home invasion by a junkie to the late Reverend Coggins' drugs operation to Big Jim's propane store - and Barbie and Big Jim turn out to have a connection neither had anticipated.

You might guess from the above synopsis that a lot happened in "The Fourth Hand". This was a very busy episode, with a lot of plot development and some excellent work drawing the series' disparate elements into one strong direction. It also featured quite possibly the most irritating plot thread introduced to the series so far, one that irritated me so much that it damn-near derailed the whole enterprise.