Dalek Empire 1.2: The Human Factor

‘The Human Factor’

By Nicholas Briggs
Released August 2001

The Daleks are half-way to conquering the galaxy, and they have Susan Mendes to thank for it. Recruiting her help as a spokesperson demanding better conditions, food and rest in exchange for hard work, she has earned the name ‘Angel of Mercy.’ At her side is the beleaguered fallen knight of Velysha named Kalendorf.

While Mendes is preaching her message of hard work for better conditions, Kalendorf is laying the seeds of a psychic message for the slaves to await a signal. Traveling the ring of Dalek-occupied planets, he and Suz are attempting a risky operation of subterfuge, a long game that gambles the safety of the free planets in exchange for a coordinated strike against the Dalek Empire.

But all is not going well. Kalendorf and Suz see things very differently. While Suz feels that she is actually doing good, Kal reminds her that she is a collaborator with the deadliest creatures who ever lived. Dalek Empire is an ensemble cast, but much of the weight lays on the should of Gareth Thomas (of Blake’s 7 fame) as Kalendorf and the amazing Sarah Mowat as Susan Mendes. Their interactions are electrifying and very reminiscent of Blake’s 7 in many ways. These people are not out to make friends, they are fighting the war of survival.

Following her path is a love-sick Alby Brook and a former newscaster Gordon Pellan using a broken down craft to trace the Daleks movements and monitor their transmissions for mention of Susan Mendes. After crashing on the oceanic planet of Guria where rebel forces are moving toward a victory, Pellan’s will snaps. Adrift on the rocks of an alien world, he watches his ship sink to the murky depths and feels his fingers go numb. All this for some girl?? Alby reluctantly explains that he’s an agent of Space Security, a post that he reluctantly took up to remove a stain on his personal record.

After a life of hard knocks, he had little choice. But when the Daleks attacked, Suz stayed behind while Alby ran off to save his hide. She showed him such kindness and bravery and… he wants her back. Pellan thinks that it might have more to do with Mendes’ connections to the Rhinesberg Corporation and a top secret Project Infinity, but Alby dismisses it without a thought.

Alby and Pellan are discovered by a patrol of Daleks on trans-solar discs

Playing Alby Brook is Mark McDonnell who forms the other half of the Dalek Empire story. Much of his drama is spent pining after Suz which can get grating so I commend him for keeping the story going and making it come alive. A tortured and lost soul, he has hinged his whole life on one woman whom he barely knows. She has become the ‘Angel of Mercy’ to the slaves of the Dalek Empire and the personal savior of lowly Alby Brook. In reality, she’s neither. One can hear the inner turmoil in Suz’ head as she is both obeyed and berated by the Daleks in equal part. They put her on a pedestal and make her feel like scum all at once. Somewhere in between is the real Susan Mendes.

When they are rounded up by Daleks traveling on trans-solar discs, they are surprised that death is not forthcoming. Instead, Alby is shown to Suz via a video communication link for a brief period of time, just enough to confirm that they each have a chance at a reunion. Suz and Kalendorf had been hovering over Guria watching the Daleks appear to face defeat before rousing to a crushing victory that apparently destroys the city structure where the rebel forces had collected.

The Daleks had been watching Susan Mendes very carefully. She gave the slaves of every planet on the brink of misery a sliver hope and that hope would make them more efficient workers. If hope existed, there was something precious that could be lost and that could be used to control the workers. In much the same way they watched how Suz and Kalendorf interacted. Whereas at first they seemed close they had become spikey toward each other. A born freedom fighter, Kalendorf resented collaboration with the Daleks and rubbed the celebrity status that Suz enjoyed in her face. He was no longer important to Suz… whereas Alby Brooks was.

Suz and Alby clearly loved each other, and that love could be used against them. The Daleks had tracked Alby’s progress as he chased her across the galaxy with little more than a slim hope that she may be alive. That could be dangled over her.

Susan Mendez had given the Human Factor to the Dalek cause, the most formidable weapon of all.

The gripping conclusion reveals that Alby and Pellan had indeed escaped, at the cost of Alby’s legs, now replaced with robotic ones. Before he can get over the shock, their stolen Dalek ship is intercepted by a rebel cruiser and boarded. As Alby and Pellan insist that they are not working with the Daleks, the soldiers open fire…. a sterling cliffhanger!

Heavily influenced by the old Dalek Chronicles comic strips by David Whitaker and Terry Nation, Briggs’ Dalek Empire reads like some weird forgotten action comic lost in the annals of time. But Briggs has added these wonderful folds of sophistication to his scripts that are masterful. His characters move through the narrative with strength of purpose and the danger of the Daleks hangs over the proceedings like some dreadful murder of crows.

The Daleks are due to return in a massive story in which the Doctor faces every iteration of the creatures ever made in ‘The Ruins of Skaro,’ yet I wager most fan of the BB Wales Doctor Who series have lost interest in the metal monstrosities at this point. I can’t really blame them. In each appearance they have lost more credibility and have less and less impact. Personally I’m fine with the new model Daleks (isn’t that a prog rock band?) but most everyone else thinks they’re laughable. Rose felt bad for them, Tennant waltzed around them (and helped them), Smith threatened them with a cookie. They’re a joke, surely.

(I mustn’t be one-sided about bad Dalek stories as the classic series had its share. Compared to Doomsday, The Chase is absurd and Death to the Daleks seems to be a better idea for a home video game than a TV program… but the new program just treats the Daleks as an after-thought. They lose out to Rose and a recovery truck in Parting of the Ways, are less important than a pig-mutant’s love for a showgirl in Daleks Take Manhattan, and Victory of the Daleks hinged on an android imagining he had experienced love. In their most recent appearances, they are relegated to one of many aliens out to get the Doctor, shoulder to shoulder with Judoon… I ask you, is that fair?)

So what makes the Daleks so cool? Why keep bringing them back?

Nicholas Briggs and company know just what makes them so scary. It’s not the rayguns that make the Daleks so effective, but the calculating evil inhuman minds hiding behind an impassive baleful electronic eye. Throughout the Dalek Empire series, the Daleks are shown as devious creatures that are almost inscrutable by the human resistance. Every loss in battle makes the resistance fight back harder but what is most terrifying of all is victory against the Daleks.. because surely there is some pre-meditation in a tactical loss. These Daleks are so terrifying that they strike fear into humanity just by existing. Even their silence is haunting.

In many ways, Briggs is using the idea of a Dalek as written by David Whitaker in Power of the Daleks and Evil of  the Daleks, two major works that cemented the horrifying and alien menace of the creatures from Skaro. They seem to emerge from the darkest pits of a nightmare, an endless army of unstoppable mechanized death.

If you are a stranger to the Dalek Empire series, you must seek them out. A polished production with a stellar cast and telling a gripping drama that operates on the large space operetic scale and on the smaller human end of the spectrum, it is unsurpassed in the annals of Doctor Who audios (except perhaps for the Cyberman series).

Told in four separate sags, this is part two of the four-part Dalek Empire I series, followed by The Dalek War (4 parts), Dalek Empire III (6 parts) and Dalek Empire: The Fearless (4 parts).

Dalek Empire 1.2: The Human Factor can be purchased at your local retailer (such as Mike’s Comics) or directly from Big Finish in CD or streaming media format.

Superhero tie-ins and Red Skull Cherry 7-Up

I’d like to know what the first product released that bore a superhero image was. A ring? A glass? A belt buckle? No matter what it was, I cannot imagine that it was weirder than Green Lantern GloBalls or Marvel Comics toilet paper.

I have seen some of these things in person but there are so many more. Every time I think I have seen the oddest thing to tie into a comic book character, I see a new addition the annals of the awkward such as Red Skull Cherry 7-Up… mein gott. What were they thinking?

(Note: click on any of the images below to see more weirdness)

Marvel Comics Toilet Paper??

One of a million weird Topps Comic Book Trading Cards

Comic Book Pumps??

Be careful operating on the Hulk!

Who said cooking wasn't HEROIC?

Thor is moved by a creamsicle

Hulk Syrup is just one of the green Goliath's products. Click on the image for much more!

Marvel Comics Cookie Cutters

Smell like an Avenger!

Do you want to eat Green Lantern's GloBalls?

For a taste that takes you back to the days of WWII!

The Avengers – 1978-style

For those of you not following the DP Tumblr feed (what’s wrong with you???), here’s this amazing video showing what a 1978-era Avengers movie might have looked like.

Lou Ferrigno as Hulk, Eric Kramer shows up as Thor from The Incredible Hulk Returns and Reb Brown is Captain America. Iron Man only really appears from footage nicked from a pilot called Exo-Man… but Paul Lynde as Loki is an inspired choice. His fiendish army KISS led by the Destroyer himself is just too perfect.

Of course Hawkeye is… Hawkeye.

The addition of Peter Wyngarde as Tony Stark is… a kiss on my cheek.

(Thanks to Tom Briggs for this one.)

Doctor Who Lost Stories: The Elite

‘The Elite’

Based on a script by Barbara  Clegg adapted by John Dorney, directed by Ken Bentley
Story 3.01
Released 31 October 2011
His former hero Omega destroyed, the Doctor decides to take Nyssa and Tegan to Florana for a much-needed respite. Instead the TARDIS lands inside of a domed city populated by blank-faced inhabitants and dominated by a massive cathedral-like structure. Soon, the Doctor realizes that he has placed himself and his companions in the middle of a holy war. The youth are trained by computer ti become brilliant tacticians and fight for the glory of the Elite and the mysterious High Priest whom no one has ever seen.

The Lost Stories releases by Big Finish adapt scripts or treatments that never made it to production while the program was on the air. The first of a trilogy of Fifth Doctor stories, The Elite is an enjoyable and exciting tale that not only fits into the classic series feel from the cast to the synth-flute music but also offers up some startling surprises along the way.

Barbara Clegg is likely a familiar name to hardcore fans of Doctor Who as she penned the classic Fifth Doctor adventure ‘Enlightenment,’ a story so popular that it got a special edition release re-edited and ‘enhanced’ by new CGi sequences. Clegg apparently drafted this story as well, an adventure about a fascistic society where the young are trained for a holy war. The initial idea was that the soldiers would be very young, possibly twelve, which was changed for the Big Finish to under 40. It’s unclear to me how much of Clegg’s draft was rewritten or changed, but John Dorney confesses on the behind-the-scenes portions that he is an admirer of 1980′s Who and did his best to match the period.

I have listened to a few of Dorney’s stories and he is an incredibly skilled author as well as being a splendid actor! In each instance I was impressed by his scripts and the brilliant power of his dialog. However, this story is a real treat for me for several reasons. Not only does it feature the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa specifically set directly after Arc of Infinity, but it also uses a classic monster in a completely inspired fashion. I won’t say much about the monster as it gives far too much away (and not talking about it makes this review frankly difficult), but it does exactly what writers should do in these instances and uses it sparingly and for good reason.

Davison is in prime form in this story and has some sparklingly witty lines. When he is shown a training room full of emaciated youngsters, he offers them a bar of chocolate. When their teacher arrives and is furious, he laughs, ‘You’re not going to have me shot over a bar of chocolate?’ and is then a bit shocked when he is ordered to be killed. When his execution is narrowly avoided, he notes that this seems to happen to him all the time, and still, ‘people talk about death by chocolate, but really…’

His youthful exuberance is ever present throughout The Elite, despite the fact that this is a much older Peter Davison than we saw on telly back in the day.

The Doctor’s companions Tegan and Nyssa are also used very well. Reunited with Tegan, the Doctor admits that he is not jumping for joy to have the brassy Aussie back on board. Nyssa tries to reassure the Doctor that he’ll be fine so long as he doesn’t make any mistakes. Later, the Doctor describes Tegan as a ‘force of nature’ which had me in stitches.

The chemistry between all three lead actors is perfect, but Dorney uses this strength by separating them. As the Doctor becomes embroiled in local politics, first threatened with death and then treated ‘like a shuttle cock’ as he is whisked from one compound to another throughout the domed city, his companions are rounded up as subversives and have their own paths to follow.

Possessing an above-average intelligence Nyssa becomes a member of the Elite just as Tegan finds herself rejected due to her lower IQ and joins up with the resistance, a motley band of youngsters kicked out of the perfect society. Each of these threads weave together as one would expect as the rejects, the military and the church fight over the future of the perfect society as a doomsday device ticks away.

There are several stand out moments that make it so easy to imagine on screen and others that reminded me that it was all but impossible (an all-terrain vehicle smashing through a glass-fronted building and a vast laser-battle in the streets). Even so, that is what these Lost Stories are, a hint at what could have been and a reinvention of Doctor Who as an audio experience.

A terrific start to an all too short line of adventures, the Elite is heartily recommended… and don’t reveal the secret to anyone who has yet to listen as it would ruin a superb reveal (that I kind of called a mile away due to the voice work). A story steeped in 1980′s-style violence and arguments over the future and who has a right to claim it, this is a rather chilling tale of warfare as it depicts a holy war as one which never truly ends.

Doctor Who Lost Stories The Elite can be ordered directly from Big Finish and from local retailers such as Mike’s Comics.

Doctor Who SDCC 2012 action figure excl revealed!

For the long time that I have been a Whovian, I have yearned for a toy line as superb as what Character Options has produced.

Starting with the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Doctors, a Zygon, Voc Robots, a Sea Devil and Li H’sen Chang with the killer ventriloquy figurine Mr. Sin… it was the stuff of dreams. The magic has not stopped as nearly every variation of Dalek, Cyberman and the Master has been realized in miniature form.

But those are just the standard action figures (which are very very hard to come by in the US despite advertising on BBC America during Doctor Who) which are only available from specialty shops such as Mike’s Comics. Each year at the San Diego Comic Con, several new exclusive action figure is debuted from Character Options. These figures are usually made in limited quantities and often appeal only to die-hard fans.

There is always plenty of speculation about what obscure character or monster will be released (see last year’s and how far off I was),so I figured in addition to revealing this year’s excluisve, I’d touch on some of the previous Doctor who action figures.

In 2009:

The First Doctor William Hartnell and a Dalek Invasion of Earth model action figure The Second Doctor Patrick Troughton and a Tomb of the Cyberman action figure The Sixth Doctor Colin Baker in his blue costume from Real Time

In 2010:

The Fifth Doctor Peter Davison in the Fourth Doctor’s costume from Logopois

Peter Davison -Logopolis action figure

The Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and The Master (actually Kamelion as the Master)

In 2011:

Leela with Crossbow from The Face of Evil River Song With Pandorica Chair

2012

Katy Manning at a pub with two old friends (still sporting those massive rings!)

(image of Katy Manning with Jo Grant prototypes via Merchandise.DoctorWho)

This year will apparently see two versions of Third Doctor companion Jo Grant, played by Katy Manning. A charmingly daffy and bubbly personality, Manning played the part for three years alongside Jon and even returned to co-star with the late Lis Sladen in the Sarah Jane Adventures.

The two versions will be a blue fur-coat wearing Jo from The Three Doctors and another short-skirted variant from The Claws of Axos (reference pics below).

Jo Grant in 'The Three Doctors'

Jo Grant in 'The Claws of Axos'

There is still a Yeti floating around (an image of the prototype was leaked last year) that could also appear this Summer in San Diego, so keep your eyes peeled. I’m hoping for a Jamie McCrimmon action figure or the Brigadier bundled in with any of these!

Character Options Yeti Prototype

Is Batman Gay? Grant Morrison says ‘Yes’

A rare Bob Kane Batman collage

DC Comics writer Grant Morrison’s words are making the rounds in the news in various places that Batman is gay.

“Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay.”

What’s obviously happening here is a modern interpretation of a late 1930′s creation. There’s an uncomfortable feeling that some adults have when viewing Batman running around with a little kid and they jump to the conclusion that not only is Batman gay, but he’s a pedophile as well. Not only is that incorrect, it’s an insult to the character, Bob Kane and the gay community come to think of it.

In a radio interview, Bob Kane gleefully spoke of how initial ideas for Batman came from his own experience as a young gang member. He would put on a mask and run around in the junkyard. He especially liked climbing up high and looking down at the others, planning his next moves like a certain caped crusader.

Robin not only softened the grim detective image of Batman but in effect he WAS Bob Kane as a young boy, living out the non-stop adventure fantasy. There was no real threat from the villains, just swashbuckling adventure.

To insinuate that Batman dresses up as a fetish is a modern interpretation built on a pre-occupation of the reader or critic with deviant behavior (I find that most people who assume that Batman and Robin are gay do not actually read the comics and have no real interest in them). While this may intriguing to a modern audience, it was threatening to psychologist Fredric Wertham who used the argument against Batman comics, saying that they were perverting the minds of children. “Batman stories are psychologically homosexual.”

Wertham’s and Morrison’s words seem all too similar and I’d like to believe that’s a misinterpretation on my part.

Morrison is a very intelligent guy and mild-mannered in person. He has also written several forward-thinking comics such as the Invisibles, We3 and Doom Patrol. His assertion that Batman is patently gay is likely an attempt to drum up some press rather than a statement driven by his own opinion.

The need to mask his identity, something that many comic book superheroes on the page and in film have done away with, seems to stick with Batman. He avoids helping anyone or using his abilities when he can clearly help others simply because he must maintain his secret life. But that’s more of an indicator of deep psychological trauma than a secret sexual identity. If Batman were gay, he’d just accept it. He knows what he is.

If you want to look for proof that Batman is gay, just take a glance at Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and follow-up Batman and Robin. Both films feature Batman and Robin separated by about a decade at best. Dick Grayson loses his parents and instead of moving on, starts living with Bruce Wayne, the creepy bachelor who lives far away from the city (never mind that he is also hunted by the alluring psychologist Nicole Kidman… because it jars with the Bruce/Dick relationship that dominates the rest of the film… maybe he’s bi-sexual and not ready to settle?).

Their rippling costumes festooned with rock-hard abs and nipples that stand to attention… it’s just too easy to point out that this is a fetishistic sexual fantasy of two young fit men. It also fits the rave party fantasy that Morrison’s argument eludes to.

But Schumacher’s Batman has little to nothing to do with the actual comic book.

Robin in the comics was a child with nowhere to go after his parents were killed, so Bruce took him on as his ward. The father/son relationship gets fuzzy as Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and the other Robins have aged while Bruce remains in his mid-30′s. The current Robin is the nine year-old child of Bruce Wayne, possibly to help remove any thought of a sexual relationship from the minds of readers.

In line with the wild and swashbuckling fantasy of Bib Kane’s Batman, the theme of the man that got away is played out in several superhero comics. In Batman, he shies away from the embrace of many ladies, but is caught by a few as well such as Batwoman.

To a modern reader the endless scenarios in which Superman, Batman and Captain America actively avoid women are hilarious, especially in the case of Superman escaping Lois Lane’s advances. In the case of Captain America, it often seems as if Steve Rogers is trying to keep Bucky from experiencing a woman’s company. So great is this that it’s laughable, but again built on a comment juvenile male conceit that girls are ‘icky’ rather than an intention of the creators to present gay superheroes. Simon and Kirby were NOT that ahead of their time.

And just as others have pointed to the goofy 1940′s comics for proof that Batman is gay, let me just do the same as Robin supports my argument on the printed page.

Which Avenger are you?

Next week, the Avengers premieres in the US. That means that each of you have under a week to get your home-made costume ready for the midnight showing. There are so many members to choose from and despite the length of this post below, this is only a portion of the total list.

Keep in mind the complexity of the costume and the fact that you’ll be sitting in a hot cinema wearing that cardboard armor/thong/inflated orange uniform, etc for over two hours… so dress to move.

The iconic line-up used (mostly) in the Joss Whedon film made its debut in the 5th issue when Captain America was defrosted into a world he never made. In the same issue, the Hulk left the team and it was a long time before he was seen in the Avengers again.

Captain America
Thor
Iron Man
Wasp
Giant Man
(Hulk)

The most unusual line-up of the Avengers saw the loss of the heavy hitters Thor and Iron Man as well as the departure of the intellectual genius of Hank Pym. Filling that void was what became known as ‘Cap’s Kooky Quartet.’

Hawekeye
Scarlet Witch
Quicvksilver

The 1970′s Avengers saw the departure of Captain America and Iron Man and the inclusion of the Vision and Black Knight. Cap nominated Black Panther as a worthy replacement and he certainly fit the bill.

Goliath
The Vision
Black Knight
Black Panther

The 1980′s saw the Avengers team receive a number of new members, some returning heroes while others were new and surprising such as the X-Man known as the Beast.

Wonder Man
Ms. Marvel
Yellow Jacket
Black Widow
The Falcon
The Beast

In the 1990′s, the Avengers had many weird and unexpected additions, as the above image shows.

Mister Fantastic
Invisible Woman
Gilgamesh
Sersi (not shown) 

In the past seven years or so, the Avengers has spread out to encompass several monthly books and many many new team members.

Daredevil
Spider-Man
Wolverine
Moon Knight
Valkyrie
Spider-Woman
Hercules
Nova
War Machine
Luke Cage
Dr. Strange
Captain Marvel (Protector)
The Thing
Iron Fist 
Mockingbird 

And there’s more!!

Machine Man
Living Lightning
Swordsman
Mantis
The Human Torch (original)
Tigra
Hellcat
Moondragon
She-Hulk
Namor
Dr. Druid
U.S. Agent
Darkhawk
Jack of Hearts
Captain Britain
Ares
Storm

So I ask you, dear reader and comic book enthusiast, which Avenger are you?

Avengers post-credit spoiler

Apparently video footage of the Avengers movie (opening on May 4th in the US) has been circulating on the web, especially the post-credit sequence which reveals the path that the franchise may take. It also fits with other rumored projects that Marvel wants to pursue. Having not seen the movie or the video, I cannot vouch for the authenticity… so keep that in mind should you read further.

Click here if you want to spoil the secret.

Special thanks to Kurt Belcher for the find!

Quick reviews: Avengers Vs. X-Men, Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men #10

Story by Kieron Gillen, Art by Carlos Pacheco
I have said on many occasions that the X-Men monthly books have been in trouble for years. Thankfully that ‘soul searching’ period seems to be over if Gillen and Pacheco’s Uncanny X-Men is any indication. Scott’s Extinction team has united with the Avengers to round up loose ends from a SWORD prison break. When Hope is in danger, however, Scott orders his people out of a fight with Fing Fang Foom (leaving Captain America’s Avengers hanging).

Against the mega-powerful Unit (a left over from Gillen’s under-rated and sadly canceled SWORD series), Scott is completely unprepared. What’s more, he orders Ilyana to teleport Hope to safety and charges in without any intel from Agent Brand (head of SWORD). The result is catastrophic as Unit uses his immense power to turn the X-Men against themselves, ordering Magneto to launch Colossus into orbit, Storm to lose control of her weather manipulation abilities, Cyclops to shut his eyes and Emma Frost and Namor to make out… awkward.

Only when Danger arrives do things calm down, but Unit still seems to be in control. He and Hope both insist that he only wanted to talk, but now he is a prisoner once more, and he kindly asks that they contain him more securely. Brand asks a favor from Cyclops to hold Unit in the X-Men’s prison under Utopia in exchange for her silence on his running a death squad called X-Force. Unit is shown to hardly be a prisoner at all and not only does he have control over Danger but he also has an influence over Hope… and dangles information of the natrure of the Phoenix over her.

This issue was just awesome. The action was great always nice to see Pacheco in action) and the complexities of the team well utilized. Several entries in the letters column pointed out how the current team is so well formed and I must agree. Having a Cyttorak-powered Colossus, his sister Ilyana, Magneto and Namor all on the team makes them a power to be reckoned with (finally). Captain America points this out and it is clear that Scott’s tactics have improved greatly over the years, but Cap is saddened that it appears the X-Men’s loyalty is to their own first, the planet second… which of course will lead to some problems.

As the X-Men grows in popularity, possibly back to its former hey day sales figures, it is interesting to see the tonal shift into a superheroic team. This was attempted in Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run, but in my opinion that was far too much of a neck-breaking change. With the aid of Schism and years of Scott’s formation of the team into an army, it works much better.

Alongside Jason Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-Men, this is a great time for mutant books.

Avengers Vs. X-Men #2

Story by Jason Aaron, Art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna

The alien energy of destruction and rebirth, the Phoenix Force, is headed toward the Earth. Reformed and redirected, the Avengers are determined to intercept the arrival of the Phoenix but unfortunately, the X-Men see this as potentially a game-changer, granting them an equal footing in the super-powered realm. Captain America wants to respect Cyclops’ mutant compound on the sovereign nation of Utopia, but for the mutants who have been mistreated for so long, it doesn’t seem possible.

As Wolverine points out, Scott is too close to this as the Phoenix Force had bonded with his sometime departed wife Jean Grey. He also thinks of the current host, the young mutant Hope, as the mutant messiah. So… tempers are high and the explosions are big when Cap arrives to take Hope into custody and Cyclops receives this as a declaration of war.

Honestly, I’m at a loss for words on this one. A stunning action-filled blockbuster as the two teams go head to head and pull out all the stops. There are so many BIG moments, but for me the two images below speak the loudest.

Magneto utilizes a variation on the 'fastball special'

This series boasted to be the best thing in superhero comics since unstable molecules and it really does deliver.

Wolverine goes in for the mercy kill... and is stopped cold

In just the second issue, several beats are met as Wolverine not only makes his decision as to what side he is on, but also decides to kill Hope before she becomes bonded to the Phoenix force… but is far too late. It certainly shows that this series is the result of several top notch creators putting their heads together.

If this were a film, it would be worth the price of admission… however t it would be a roughly $52 attendance ticket and so far we’ve only gotten $12 worth, so we have a long way to go.

Is Doctor Who really all about the companion?

In a recent interview posted at Den of Geek, Steven Moffat stated that “The story of Doctor Who is always the story of the companion, it’s always their story. It was Rose Tyler’s story, it’s Amy Pond’s story – the story of the time they knew the Doctor and how that began; how it developed and how it ended.”

(he said lots of other things of interest, so be sure to read the article)

But this struck a cord on me. Was this actually true? I decided to look back randomly at a few ‘eras’ of Doctor Who to see how this holds up.

The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara meet Marco Polo

One can see that the initial lineup was an ensemble cast where Ian, Barbara and Susan (to an extent) all had an equally important role. Ian and Barbara are probably the strongest characters to ever be featured in Doctor Who, but I doubt anyone would claim that stories were focused on them during their time on the show.

The constant is of course the Doctor.

This was more the case after Susan, Barbara and Ian all departed, a series of assistants flew in and out of the TARDIS, especially in regards to Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Dodo and Polly. They were all important, but one can hardly say that even the strongest companion of this era was the focus or that the program was presented through his/her eyes.

Tom Baker saddled with two more companions (Adric is somewhere off-screen)

In the 80′s, Romana, K-9, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough, Kamelion and Peri all traveled with the Doctor through the 4th and 5th incarnations. Was the program ‘about the companion’ in that case? One can argue that as Tegan was present through a regeneration and had such a strong relationship (albeit an argumentative one) with the Fifth Doctor that she had some focus but was Timeflight, King’s Demons or Terminus all about Tegan?

The only place that this argument fits (to my mind) is in the case of the Seventh Doctor and Ace, but even so it was the relationship and collaboration between the Doctor and his companion that was the focus here. It wasn’t simply Ace’s journey and how the Doctor had changed her, but how they changed each other.

In many ways, the final series of classic Doctor Who holds many influences on the Russell T Davies version that followed in 2005, but in many others it is more mature and fully fleshed out. In the 1988-89 stories, Ace is slowly developed through her experiences and the viewer either comes to accept that or not. In the 2005-06 series Rose is the focus from day one (even the premier episode is named after her!). Rose became so important to Doctor Who that not only was a large portion of screen time and plot given to her in a two-parter about the Daleks fighting Cybermen, but she continued to haunt the program for two solid years afterwards.

Rumor has it that when the program was pitched to Sci-Fi in America (no SyFy), they not only thought that it was a spoof of the classic but agreed to run it as Rose and the Doctor as she was clearly the star, not Chris Eccleston.

In last year’s set of stories, the focus was most definitely on Amy and River Song even while the plot revolved around the Doctor’s death. It’s clear that Moffat, like Davies, has more interest in the companions than the Doctor himself. For some bizarre reason, Moffat even states that the alternative is the Doctor traveling alone!

And... the Doctor is killed off on his own show

Surely there’s some room for common ground. Series 5 is a good example as Amy is introduced as a strong companion and plays an important role, but alongside the Doctor rather than at his expense.

Opinions?