Book Of The Month: Station Zero

Prior to picking up Station Zero, by Philip Reeve, I read his short story The Ghost Wood, where his obvious love for his setting dripped from every word.

While that was an atmospheric supernatural tale, it was very much grounded in the reality of English woodlands and the "great outdoors".

But he manages to channel that clear love for his setting into his most fantastical writing as well, even though it leaves our notions of 21st Century reality way, way in the past.

The Railhead trilogy, of which Station Zero is the conclusion, is a love story between a young man and his android companion, set against the Game Of Thrones-level machinations of feuding imperial families fighting to control the rail network that links distant stars via mysterious "stargates" (called K-Gates).

In this distant future, where Old Earth is almost just a legend, sentient trains replace the stereotypical starships of pulp science-fiction.

Reeve's star-spanning epic begun in 2015's Railhead and continued in 2017's Black Light Express, and much of my commentary for those great books carries over to this one.

Anyone who has read Reeve's other work - particularly his Mortal Engines novels - knows he does world-building like nobody else, rich in detail, atmosphere, invention, and passion.

He also does big ideas and themes, with an issue often addressed throughout this series being 'identity' and what makes a person a person.

If you enjoyed the previous two books in this trilogy you'll love the dramatic conclusion served up in Station Zero, and if you haven't read any of these books you owe it to yourself to take Railhead for a spin.

The chances are, if you're a long-time reader of HeroPress, then you'll soon be buying a ticket for the full journey.

By Crom, I Earned This!

Behold! The Mighty Conan The Barbarian (Omnibus, Volume One)

It's sometimes quite incredible the lengths we geeks go to to justify getting our latest expensive hobby fix.

But I'm sure I earned the enormous volume one of Marvel's recently released 776-page, hardback, Conan The Barbarian Omnibus, which includes almost 30 issues of the character's original run from the early 1970s, along with more than 100 pages of supporting material, artwork, essays etc

Last week, Rachel and I had to go to Guy's Hospital, in London, for the annual CT scan of my aneurysm (just to check that the surgeon's repair work is still holding together).

The scan itself is simple, and takes between five and 10 minutes. I just lie on a 'bench' and am run through a hi-tech doughnut that creates a scan of innards.

However, for the scan to be of any use I have to have contrast dye injected into my bloodstream, through a cannula.

And, unfortunately for all those concerned, my notoriously tiny and evasive veins weren't playing ball.

It took over an hour to get the needle in - with four different people trying.

They were going for places on my arms that no one has tried before - and at one point it felt as though one of the the poor women was drilling into my bone (and remember, this is without any aesthetic, because why would you, and I'm a total wimp).

Eventually, a member of the "intravenous team" was called in, minutes before he clocked off for the day, and he got the cannula in the back on my hand, near the wrist.

Bruise on my wrist where the cannula needle went in (the red dot is the point if entry)

It was in, secure, but, boy, did it hurt like a bugger.

And normally, when medical professionals stick needles in my veins, there might be a spot or tiny trickle of blood once it's removed.

But this one was a gusher. Luckily it was swaddled securely under plenty of cotton wool and a bandage, but it had really struck oil (well... blood!)

And I've carried the resulting bruise for a week.

So, yeah, I may not be a small child going to the dentist, but I think I earned myself a "brave solider" present.

And check out the gorgeousness of it...

Drool over the magnificent Barry Windsor-Smith artwork

I'm pretty certain this is my favourite fantasy world map

WEEKLY WORLD NEWS: Everyone Loves An Animal Story, Right?

Cute animal stories are great, right? Everybody loves them, right?

They're what keep social media moving...

But what about a bat with a human face!!?!!

Or sundry killer critters heading to America?

Or amorous werewolves and orangutans?

Not so cute now... am I right?

This week's selection of - broadly speaking - animal-related Weekly World News stories should inspire gamesmasters with a multitude of ways to turn fauna against her player-characters and keep them on their toes.

Whether you're looking for a single encounter or a whole adventure, there's plenty of meat here to sink your teeth into.

An Absence Of Barney...

Going out into the garden, usually with Alice, these days I can't help but be sad when I see Barney's empty hutch.

But, at least, in these sub-zero temperatures with heavy snowfall predicted for this evening, I know he's in a better place.

HE'S NOT DEAD!!!

Since Christmas, he has been staying with Rachel's parents, safe and protected from the elements in their conservatory.

He comes with us every year that we go and stay with them for the holidays, but this year it was agreed he could stay until we sorted our whole 'house moving' situation.

Are You Talking About Me? Barney is very comfortable in his holiday home.

The idea being to reduce the trauma on the bunny, by not upsetting him with too much moving about.

It's also time that he get a new hutch anyway. It's stood us in good stead for over five years, but has been patched up and repaired a number of times because of the battering it takes from the elements day in, day out.

However, once we get him the new palace he deserves, we don't want to have to set it up here only to to dismantle it and move it again in a couple of months.

The house we have our eye on to move to has a lovely, big, flat garden, where Barney can have a large hutch, with a run attached, allowing him to come and go as he pleases (if he so pleases).

But at the moment, he is being treated like royalty by Rachel's mum. He's well-fed, warm, and out of the wind, rain and snow.

Marvel Team-Up Returns...

After a science demonstration at Empire State University goes awry, Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man find themselves tangled up in the same chaotic adventure. So is it destiny? Or disaster?!

Another classic Marvel title is returning to comic book stores this April, with the relaunch of Marvel Team-Up.

The first arc, penned by Eve Ewing with art by Joey Vazquez, has Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man teaming up for an epic adventure.

The main cover art (above) is by Stefano Caselli, while variant covers (below) are supplied by Paco Medina and Todd Nauck.

Traditionally this title has usually seen Spider-Man joining forces with another hero for a one-off yarn.

Weird Wednesday...

Finland's First Superhero, Rendel, Finally Gets Official UK DVD Release...

Rendel, Finland's first full-length superhero movie, is finally getting an official UK DVD release on February 25.

It can be pre-ordered from Amazon here.

If you're in the UK, but hot for a Blu-Ray release I'm afraid you'll still have to rely on import copies, although these are easily found on Amazon as well for a reasonable price.

My initial announcement of this movie back in 2014 is the fourth most read article ever to appear on HeroPress (after a trio of hugely popular Geek Pin-Ups) and my review of Rendel can be found here.

Jason Aaron Talks About Buying A Sword & Bringing Conan Back To Marvel...

Conan The Barbarian #1, 2nd Printing, cover by Mahmud Asrar    

Musical Monday: Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd)

Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive was written in 1966, and appears on their first album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

This performance is from Pop 68 in Rome, Italy on May 6, 1968.

Musical Monday: Ave Maria (Tina Guo + Stu Hamm)

Musical Monday: Strip Polka (Abney Park)

Meet TV's Doom Patrol...

While we wait for the Titans' spin-off, Doom Patrol, to begin airing on the DC Universe streaming service on February 15 (and the rest of us await its arrival - months later - on Netflix) here are some more character posters for the show's protagonists.

I swiped the posters below off the wall of Calvin's Cave Of Cool, and have to continually remind myself that when the Doom Patrol made their live-action debut in Titans they were much more convincing that these static shots suggest.

The ongoing show has changed some actors and also added a couple of characters to the line-up, but I'm still not sure why DC feels the need to shoehorn Cyborg into everything.

For me, he was always the least interesting Teen Titans character, during the comic book run where he debuted, but he was a Titan.

Why isn't he on that show, rather than, rather randomly, popping up here?

Monsters Are People Too...

Top Ten Iconic Marvel Comics...

Viewing Habits: To Binge Or Not To Binge, That Is The Question...

With the advent of Netflix, Amazon Streaming, box sets on Sky et al, the default setting for viewing television series seems to be "the binge" these days, watching episode after episode, back-to-back, until you pass out.

And I'm all in favour of this, but there's still something special about watching a show when it's broadcast and knowing you'll have to wait a week to find out what happens next.

It's probably something to do with delayed gratification, or simply the knowledge that you'll have something to watch next week that you know you're going to enjoy.

This is how I choose to consume the brilliant, cerebral, comedy The Good Place.

I know I can watch all three seasons to date on Netflix, but I choose to watch it on E4, where we get a double-bill of episodes every Thursday evening.

And they're still on season one!

So I know, even if they continue airing the show after season one reaches its finale next week, I'll still have new episodes to watch every week.

And that makes me happy.

It's nice to have certain uplifting shows, like this and The Undateables, to look forward to, knowing they'll move me, maybe challenge me, but ultimately put a smile on my face.

This also goes for my teatime Pointless fixture as well as my current daily catch-up with the reruns of How I Met Your Mother.

I know I could 'meet the mother' - all nine seasons - on Netflix, but I choose to watch the two, sequential, episodes that drop every afternoon (again on E4), because I bit of uplifting order and routine can be a useful mental anchor to a slovenly stay-at-home like me.

However, the downside of all this, for a spoilerphobe like myself, is having to dodge random references to upcoming twists and turns in the plot of The Good Place that get scattered across websites and social media.

I was doing soooooo well, right up until the latest Fatman Beyond podcast, when co-host Marc Bernardin casually revealed the shock ending of the first season to Kevin Smith, when he was trying to convince Kevin to check out the show.

So, how do you consume your weekly diet of television shows? Is it all about the binge or do you mix-and-match?

Eradicator (A Superman Fan Film)

Superman has returned from the grave, but something is different. Is this the true man of steel, or something else? Something much more dangerous?

Lifted straight from the pages of Action Comics, this is a direct interpretation of the Reign of Superman's Eradicator.

#RPG Release The Hounds! Bloat Games' Cryptid Manual Shreds First Stretch Goal...

With just under a fortnight still to run, Bloat Games' Kickstarter for its Dark Places & Demogorgons' Cryptid Manual has hit its first stretch goal.

This means all backers will now receive a PDF of a full animal bestiary for the game, written by Josh Palmer, co-writer of the Cryptid Manual.

Project Coordinator Eric Bloat explains that:

"This will include animals like guard dogs, snakes, sharks, lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Remember, in DP&D you’re playing as regular teenagers, so a pack of wild coyotes or a charging bull is still a very dangerous adversary.

But wait…. there’s more!

Already included in The Cryptid Manual are templates that can easily be applied to any regular animal, transforming it into something more supernatural.

For example: You take a dog and apply the templates of Radioactive and Zombie, now your players are fighting a Radiated-Zombie-Rottweiler! Yikes.

Or what about a Vampire-werebear?

The possibilities are almost endless!"

To learn more about the fundraiser to finance production of Dark Places & Demogorgons' answer to the Monster Manual check out the campaign's Kickstarter page to learn more about the book, upcoming stretch goals, investor incentives etc

Given that Dark Places & Demogorgons is set in the 1980s, and features young monster hunters and investigators of the weird in the style of Stranger Things and its ilk, gamesmasters seeking inspiration might also want to check out horror movie website Bloody Disgusting's It Came From The '80s feature.

It's a helpful reminder of what the period's horror movie scene looked like, which, in turn, can act as a great launchpad for adventure hooks.

We've Got One! Celebrate Ghostbusters' 35th Anniversary With Four One-Shots...

Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Ghostbusters

Marking the 35th anniversary of Ghostbusters, IDW is releasing a series of weekly one-shot comics in April, each featuring a different iteration of the Ghostbusters franchise.

These are the original “Prime” team from the classic film, the Real Ghostbusters of '80s cartoon fame, the all-female team that “Answered the Call” in 2016, and the next generation of Extreme Ghostbusters.

Check out the cover art here, then step through this interdimensional cross-rip to the IDW site to learn more about the individual titles.

Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Answer The Call Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Real Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Extreme Ghostbusters

Streaming Superheroes: Once Upon A Deadpool (2018)

As it doesn't look as though Once Upon A Deadpool is getting a Blu-Ray release over here anytime soon, I bought myself the digital release instead - via good ol' Amazon Streaming.

I guess I can see why there wouldn't be a massive demand for the expensive production of a physical copy of a PG-13 re-edit of Deadpool 2, but I would say there's enough new material here to make it worth seeing at least once.

However, owning a copy is probably going to be reserved for completists (like yours truly) whose personal library has to have every live-action superhero outing they can lay their hands on.

While trimming the gore factor, relabelling a bag of cocaine as 'sugar', and editing out the hard swears (I was still surprised by how much cussing and humorous 'adult content' remained in the film though), Once Upon A Deadpool remains the story of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) seeking meaning in the death of his beloved Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) through saving - both physically and spiritually - the angry young mutant Russel aka Firefist (Julian Dennison).

There's a lovely little homage to the late Stan Lee that's been discretely slipped in, but the new material primarily revolves around the framing device of Deadpool kidnapping Fred Savage to restage his classic early appearance as the kid in The Princess Bride, with Wade reading him a censored version of the story of Deadpool 2.

This allows for a hilarious extra level of meta commentary on the proceedings, covering such topics as the apparent "fridging" of Vanessa, inconsistencies in Wade's powers of regeneration, the relationship of the Fox Marvel movies to the Marvel Cinematic Universe etc

What I found interesting, having reached the end after multiple mid- and post-credits scenes (some old, some new), is that I realised I didn't actually miss the f-bombs.

Perhaps the makers of Titans should be forced to watch this to try and curb their infantile attempts to inject 'big-and-clever' swearing into what is already a great show.

X-O Manowar Gets A Relaunch!

Valiant Comics has just announced that its flagship title, X-O Manowar, is relaunching in the Autumn after Matt Kindt's magnificent run wraps up in April with issue #26.

While I understand creators not wanting to stay on a title forever, I'm strongly opposed to the current trend in the superhero comic book industry to keep "relaunching" titles when the creative teams change.

Whatever happened to simply 'passing on the baton', 'handing over the torch'...?

Why can't comic runs just... run... and run?

No names have yet been attached to the project, which presumably is going to mean yet another X-O Manowar #1.

#DCTV Meet The Next Lex Luthor...

This is our first official glimpse of Jon Cryer's take on the iconic Superman villain Lex Luthor, due to make his Supergirl debut later this season.

His arrival has been foreshadowed almost from the first episode of the show, but he will actually be appearing in the March 17 episode (in the States, at least) entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou?

According to the DC website, in this story:

"Lex Luthor reaches out from prison to enlist Lena (Katie McGrath) into one of his plans and will stop at nothing to get her on board, even if that means leveraging the life of one of her friends."

It's going to be interesting to see what direction the showrunners take the character in, which source material will they choose to draw on for his personality?

I Suspect This Will Be Quite Divisive, But, Hey, If You Don't Like It, Don't Watch it!

In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, The Boys centres on a group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys,” who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than their blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.

The Boys is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes – who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as Gods – abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good.

It’s the powerless against the super powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about “The Seven,” and Vought – the multi-billion dollar conglomerate that manages these superheroes.

Coming Summer 2019.

What's Your Rob Liefeld Superhero Name?

This has been doing the rounds of late and I thought it too humorous not to share (for those who haven't seen it already).

Rob Liefeld has a certain notoriety among comic book fans for creating a special kind of over-the-top and on-the-nose violent superheroes (anti-heroes?) and this name generator does a good job of emulating his unsubtle style.

My character name would be Overclaw, Rachel (using her maiden name) is Blastshot, and the Tuesday Knights work out as: Icestrike for Simon, Shattersteel for Pete, Cableshade for Erica, Gunshard for Kevin, and Blackblaze for Clare.

Slightly disappointed though that you can't get 'Deadpool' as a name... but I suppose it's already in use.