Pull List Online: 13 March 2013

Comixology have finally launched an open submission process, allowing aspiring comic book creators to submit their works for inclusion on the Internet's most popular comic book app. This has the potential to be a game-changer for comic books: previously getting readers to find your independent comic has been a gargantuan task, whereas now readers can simply search for your book alongside more popular titles by DC, Marvel and Image.

To support independent digital comics, I've decided I'm going to review some independent books. I'd like to say I'll do it every week alongside the regular Pull List column, but I'm not going to make that promise. I will try to check some out fairly regularly though. All books reviewed on Pull List Online will be available for sale on Comixology, and will not be available from any of the major comic book publishers.

First time around: Relaunch, Robot 13 and Wolves.

Enterprise: "Precious Cargo"

Commander Tucker helps repair the systems of a Retellian cargo freighter, only to be taken captive when he discovers their cargo: a cryogenically frozen alien princess kidnapped for ransom. While Captain Archer attempts to track Tucker's abductors down, Tucker and Princess Kaitaama break free from the Retellians and go on the run for their lives.

This episode took me four attempts to get through. Admittedly I was watching quite late at night each time, and so may have just been a bit tired, but four attempts really does indicate that this episode lacks something. To be honest there's simply nothing here: it's fluff, inoffensive, forgettable and rather dull.

Star Wars animation shake-up

Walt Disney have confirmed via the official Star Wars website that Lucasfilm's range of animated programmes is undergoing a shake-up. In short:

• The Clone Wars is ending, after a hugely successful run of five seasons and over 100 episodes, although new story arcs will be produced via an as-yet unannounced means.
• Detours, the CGI comedy spoof by the creators of Robot Chicken, has been shelved indefinitely.
• A new animated series is in development, set in a period previously unseen on screen.

None of these announcements surprise me, but let's take each of the three points in turn.

Who50: "The Sun Makers"

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, #34: "The Sun Makers", a six-part 1977 serial written by Robert Holmes and directed by Pennant Roberts.

The Doctor, Leela and K9 arrive on the planet Pluto where - much to the Doctor's surprise - the human race lives inside a planet-sized industrial city warmed by a series of artificial suns. Humanity is overtaxed and enslaved by the Gatherer and his master, the mysterious Collector. Naturally it's up to the Doctor and Leela to lead the revolt and overthrow their tyrannical rule.

The popular story goes that former script editor and long-time script writer Robert Holmes wrote this serial in response to an unpleasant experience being audited by Inland Revenue. "The Sun Makers" is a tremendous satire, in which the masses are overtaxed to the point of destitution while a corporatised elite government rules over them in the lap of luxury. It has places named after British taxation forms and a villain styled on Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer.

It's not just a great satire, however: I personally think it's one of the best Doctor Who serials of the 1970s.

Batman: Death by Design (2012)

Chip Kidd is one of the USA's best graphic designers: his layouts and designs for book and comic covers have been consistently outstanding, and he remains one of my favourite artists currently working in that field. He is a self-avowed comic book geek, with a passionate love in particular for Batman. Death by Design is, as far as I'm aware, his first graphic novel. He wrote it, with artwork by Dave Taylor.

The book focuses on Gotham City's iconic train station, an architectural icon paid for by Dr Thomas Wayne and whose son Bruce (aka Batman) is now responsible for its demolition. Competing architects fight to produce the winning design for the station's replacement, while one woman personally lobbies Bruce to keep the original building standing. Enter a string of random industrial accidents, a mysterious masked man warning of disaster and Gotham City's notorious criminal the Joker: Batman is on the case.

The Foundation Trilogy (1973)

I'm not a particularly big fan of Isaac Asimov. I know his work primarily through his short fiction, where he seems to be from a generation of authors for whom the science and speculative aspects of science fiction and speculative fiction were much more interesting to them than characterisation or depth. Either that or tremendously awful jokes.

As a result I've never actually read his famous Foundation novels. To be honest I didn't even really know what they were about beyond the basic premise. What I have now enjoyed, however, is a 1973 BBC radio drama serial based on the Foundation books - and very enjoyable they were too.

This eight-part series adapts Asimov's three novels Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation. It was produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which guarantees the production is backed by a hilarious soundtrack of odds murbles and bleeps, in turns evocative, inexplicable and hilariously ridiculous.

The Pull List: 6 March 2013

Oh Marvel, it's the mid-1990s all over again. I purchased the first part of the latest Marvel Universe "event" pretty much just to review it for this column: I'm not a big fan of Marvel's events, as more often than not they really suck. Siege sucked. Secret Invasion sucked. Civil War really sucked.

So the latest "event" (I put that in quotation marks because they're never really events at all - just a little churn on the surface of the never-ending, never-changing lives of the superheroes) is Age of Ultron, by Brian Michael Bendis, Bryan Hitch plus whatever artists they wind up dropping in because Hitch's art style is incompatible with a regular publishing schedule. I'll review the contents of the book beneath the cut, but right now I wanted to spend a little time talking about the cover.

You can't really tell from the picture of it here, but it's chrome. It's got that weird pseudo-metallic finish over it. You know, like they did all the time back in the 1990s when two-thirds of the comics being sold were picked up by idiot speculators who figured that because Detective Comics #27 is really valuable then surely Spawn #1 would be worth a million dollars if they just held onto it for 20 years. (Hint: you can buy Spawn #1 in near-mint condition online for just over five bucks.) You could buy comic with chrome covers, glow-in-the-dark covers, hologram covers, fifth-ink colours (usually silver or a lurid flourescent green), and die-cut cardboard covers.

The novelty cover is always a cheap sales gag, and tends to put my back up a bit. Surely this is just the start - before we know it one of the "big two" is bound to make an entire themed month out of novelty gatefold covers, and then where will we b- oh, wait.

Under the cut: reviews of (deep breath, this is a big week) Age of Ultron, All-New X-Men, Animal Man, Batwing, Bedlam, Daredevil: End of Days, Detective Comics, Fairy Quest, 47 Ronin, Great Pacific, Green Lantern, Human Bomb, Red She-Hulk, Sex, Stormwatch and Worlds' Finest.

Random Comic: Showcase '95 #7

Showcase was a DC Comics anthology title that ran for about five years or so. Each issue would generally contain three stories or serials, usually featuring characters who didn't necessarily have their own book at the time. The title changed volume every year, so Showcase '93 would run for 12 issues in 1993, Showcase '94 for 12 issues in 1994, and so on.

This is Showcase '95 issue #7, dated August 1995. It features "Exit to Eden, part 1" as the lead story. This is a follow-up to the Superman "Reign of the Supermen" story arc, starring the alien villain Mongul. It is written by Peter Tomasi with pencils by Scott Eaton and inks by Pam Eklund. The two back-up strips are "Hiding Place on Rye, Hold the Mayo" - an Arion the Immortal story by Peter Kupperberg, Mike Huddleston and Mark Propst - and "A Shadow Over Eden" - a New Gods story by Scott Ciencin, Ramon Bernado and Joe Rubenstein.

In principle I love the idea of anthology titles. In practice they shit me to tears.