Upon the announcement of the Before Watchmen event this summer there was a collective ‘Oh good god no!’ from the Alan Moore fanboy-fangirl collective. Reactions have been mixed at best and while some comics fans are looking forward to the event - myself included - others are reacting to the news with open hostility.

With this kind of reaction it will be difficult for all of the creative teams involved in the event to make a positive impact on the more hysterical Watchmen fans, but it is the team producing Silk Spectre that I feel will have the hardest job at pleasing audiences.

After all, arguments surrounding the roles of women in comics still rage, and on the surface Watchmen could be considered to be a story with a rather anti-female stance. Moore wrote strong scenes involving women, including the origin of Laurie Juspeczyk, the second Silk Spectre - from her conception at the whim of The Comedian to replacing her crime-fighting mother with a younger model.

It would be easy to assume that, given some of the bleak subject material surrounding the Spectre family, the untold stories of these heroines could make for equally unsettling reading. It's important to remember that these women were also role models in the comic and beyond, and tough ones at that. The new Silk Spectre series could be a chance to show a new more positive side to the world of women in Watchmen.

For anyone saying it's all covered in the ‘graphic novel’: the issue of Laurie’s conception and some of her relationship with her mother is shown, her relationship to Dr Manhattan and Nite Owl is too, but little other than that. There's not a great deal of how and why Laurie became involved in crime-fighting - although we presume her mother had a lot to do with it - and we know hardly anything about her early years, what it was like for a young Laurie taking on the challenging role of following in her mother's footsteps and continuing the legacy of the Silk Spectre.

In fact, we know a minimum about how Laurie became involved in the Watchmen team, so there is a lot of scope for expansion of her story. It makes sense that, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, writer Darwyn Cooke suggested that this missing period in Laurie’s history is what his story will focus on. “What I realized is that as much as I really like Laurie, she’s really only just Dr Manhattan’s girlfriend and then Nite Owl‘s girlfriend. We never get to see her being self-sufficient and dealing with herself and dealing with her own problems.”

Cooke clearly thought about the character before taking on Silk Spectre. “She’s there for a man. I came up with the idea of looking at the brief period of time when she becomes an adult …the series will take place in the mid-1960s, and track Laurie’s maturation and heroic evolution in the year prior to joining a team of superheroes known as the Crimebusters.”

It was also reported that the series will focus on how Laurie’s mother, the first Silk Spectre, influenced the path of her life.

What's exciting is that Darwyn Cooke is more than qualified to pen this tale. Cooke was the writer and artist on the successful DC: New Frontier, a six-issue limited series from 2003-2004. The series featured DC’s greatest heroes coming together to save the world in a Cold War 1950s, where respect for superheroes is at an ultimate decline. Sound familiar anyone?

Cooke will be working with artist Amanda Connor, whose most notable comic works include Power Girl for DC. Connor has a style that’s crisp and typically comic book, with strong lines and distinct cartoony features; her style is very different to Dave Gibbons’ original artwork in visualisation of Watchmen.

Cooke feels the influence Connor will have on the project is critical. “The only way I could do this is if Amanda drew it. I desperately wanted this to not feel like a guy who is pushing 50 writing a teenage girl.” Wise words indeed.

With this creative team there is a lot of potential to show the second Silk Spectre in a whole new way, a positively female way that will show her as more than just the token woman as it so often felt in the original Watchmen. With Cooke writing and Connor’s input it seems like there would be a good balance between telling the story of Laurie coming of age as her own woman in the ‘60s, but also showing a high-calibre female superhero it in a bold way.

When taking into account all the details we have so far, it seems that Silk Spectre - and the same can be said of some of the other Before Watchmen books - is shaping up to be a very promising run. As a fan of superheroines in general I know I am keen to pick up this book. Perhaps it is time to give Before Watchmen a chance?

Entertainment Weekly

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Super Bowl Sunday probably got a lot of people even more excited about Marvel Studios' and Joss Whedon's upcoming The Avengers. They've got a Hulk, dontchaknow.

Never one to ignore the comic book roots of its movies, the same day the House of Ideas began giving this year's must-see superhero adventure a rolling start with an eight-issue limited series, Marvel's The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week. Try saying that ten times fast.

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso chinwagged about the series, "Now, for the first time. you’ll find out just what happened to some of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the road to Marvel’s The Avengers."

The series will be released on digital comics apps weekly from Valentine's Day. Aww. From #2 each issue will cost 99 cents, or 69 of Her Majesty's coppers. Issue #1 doesn't get off to a chirpy start for Ol' Nick as the World Security Council threatens to disassemble his Avengers Initiative before it's even really started. As you'd expect, Fury doesn't take that well.

Fury's Big Week is written by Eric Pearson and Chris Yost, and pencilled by Luke Ross. The book finally gives us an audience with Sam Jackson's sassy SHIELD Director. Or maybe it's just a Life Model Decoy? Whether it's the real Fury or not we at least get to see Agent Coulson chiming in with his usual straight man routine.

The first ten-page chapter of Marvel's The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week is out now and can be downloaded for free on the Marvel app and ComiXology. Avengers Assemble!

Comics Alliance

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

In fairly sudden news this week, good-girl comics artist Al Rio has died. The artist is survived by his wife Zilda and their three children.

Alvaro Araújo Lourenço do Rio was born in Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil in May 1962. Disney helped start Rio's career. The House of Mouse's animation studio in Rio's homeland also fostered another Al, the title character of the 1994-1995 Aladdin animated series.

Rio worked for Jim Lee's Wildstorm imprint in the 1990s, striking a balance between retro and modern styles in his work on DV8 and Lee and Brandon Choi's Gen 13. Although he had worked on numerous high-profile projects for Marvel and DC, the South American artist had become synonymous with Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales series in recent years.

Rio's death was made public by his agent and collaborator, David Campiti of Glass House Graphics. Tragically, Bleeding Cool and Newsarama have reported that Rio committed suicide. It's very sad to hear that such a talented person ended their life prematurely. "Few could draw as well, adapting to so many styles so effortlessly, as Al Rio," Campiti commented in tribute. 

Much of Rio's work was what's termed as good-girl art. The good-girl style had recently come under fire from the Women in Comics movement, with some of Rio's work held up as examples of sexist portrayals prevalent in the industry.

In 2010, Rio told Newsarama that he approached comics with a storyteller's eye, "I believe that the difficulty and pain they [heroes] have to go through to destroy evil — not their clothes, but the intelligence — is the most appealing factor."

In December last year Golden Age comics legends Jerry Robinson and Joe Simon passed away. Along with writer Dwayne McDuffie - who passed almost a year ago and who was also born in 1962 - Rio's contribution to Modern Age comics will be remembered fondly.

Bleeding Cool, Newsarama and Big Cartoon News

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

That's right, you read correctly. It's plural.

The world was too busy watching the Watchmen yesterday for Marvel's teaser of whatever the Spider-Men will be doing in June to sink in. It's only just got our spider-sense tingling now.

Is this a warning to look out for After Clone Saga this summer? Or are the mismatched logos just a cryptic reminder that, in addition to Peter Parker, there's Scarlet Spider, Venom and the Ultimate Miles Morales Spidey crawling around too?

Spider-Island was big at Marvel in 2011 and its follow-up, Ends of the Earth, is kicking off in Amazing Spider-Man #682 come March. Seeing as you've been on your best behaviour, here's three teaser shots the House of Ideas released over the week of the Sinister Six, some unfortunate looking civilians and yet another new friendly neighbourhood costume change.

This year is the 50th anniversary of Amazing Fantasy #15, and Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man flick is out at the start of July. Expect something big to pop out of the comics cobwebs in 2012.

Newsarama

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

There are very few moments in the history of a medium when everyone, from its staunchest advocates to those with only a passing familiarity, simultaneously respond to a sudden development. 

Yesterday's announcement fom DC Comics' of their Before Watchmen prequel miniseries was one of those rare, egalitarian moments.

In the much beloved Internet tradition of the reaction shot, it was extremely interesting to scroll through the many, many responses to try and glean some insight into perceptions of comics. With the Before Watchmen news, now is a great time to talk about some things that wider society doesn't really understand when it comes to dealing with those lads and lasses who know who Chris Claremont is, and who remember that Iron Man once had retractable rollerskates and a metal nose.

To borrow an appropriately grandstanding phrase from Marvel: Before Watchmen broke the Internet in half.

The announcement parted the sea of ignorance that drowns comics and dumped people on two opposing shores. On one sat the movie-goers and graphic-novel-perusers with their cries of outrage; on the opposite shore were the stunned comics-readers who were kind of oddly stoked about the whole miracle. That's a lot of metaphor to manage, but Dan DiDio and Jim Lee - DC's co-publishers - summed up the comics idiom best on DC's The Source blog.

“Comic books are perhaps the largest and longest running form of collaborative fiction,” said Dan and Jim. “Collaborative storytelling is what keeps these fictional universes current and relevant.”

Now if you're thinking 'Wow - they had to clarify that?' then you must be a comics-reader. The majority of comics-readers wouldn't even see what DC said as something that needed stating. Apologies for going back to the horrendous Moses analogy, but 'thou shalt build on each other's ideas' is one of the industry's commandments. Acknowledging that comics are a longform-storytelling medium that many people contribute to is like sticking a 'do not tumble dry' label on a baby.

Yet there were far more '£&%$ing hell no!' reactions from the general public than you might've expected. Why? What do non-comics-readers care about a 12-issue limited series from 26 years ago written by a beardy English nerd who grew up to build an elaborate fan-fiction world based on the Charlton Comics of his youth, when most non-comics-readers don't even know what Crisis or Secret Wars were? They're the same people who happily await new Doctor Who and Sherlock, so why do they care about Alan Moore's writing credits being compromised?

These questions got me thinking, and I may have found an answer. Watchmen is the bah-weep-grah-nah-weep-nini-bon of comics - its the universal greeting of people who think comics-readers will spontaneously combust unless they constantly hear the phrase 'graphic novel' when referring to a trade paperback collection. To the non-comics-reader, 'comics' are for kids and 'graphic novels' are for serious fans. 

This attitude is hugely pervasive in the UK - in Britain comics are either The Beano or they're dissecting laughable superheroes to compromise the American Dream. It's got kind of boring and it's the reason why, right now, Jonathan Ross is our best comics writer (no offence intended, either). You have to show American sensibilities to appreciate mainstream comics, and we're just far too up our own collective backside to lower ourselves. This precious, literary attitude to comics has helped ruin them more than a smidgen over the last few decades while the Americans bravely trundle on with their crossovers and continuity. They're world-builders and world-sharers - have we lost that?

Admit that you like comics to a layman and the immediate response would be either "Ohmigod, that's so gay!" or "Oh, then you must like Watchmen". It's the '66 World Cup final of the four-colour medium. 

By creating Before Watchmen, DC are unwittingly undermining the lingua franca. How are the hipsters going to show their street cred if they have to form their own opinion about a scene they want to expend as little effort as possible buying into? It's not the first time though, as The Dark Knight Strikes Again was almost as puzzling to many people - the only difference is that Frank Miller will cheerfully return to Batman because Frank Miller is the goddamn Batman.

All the advice I can give to non-comics-readers who make first contact with nerds in the future is this: don't panic. Your new greeting phrase will be "So what did you think of Before Watchmen?" As for comics readers - well, dudes, roll on the New Testament. We've got a little bit of comics back.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

As day breaks over in the US so does DC Comics' long-awaited and long-dreaded official announcement of a Watchmen follow-up scheduled for this summer. Only it's not just one series – feast your eyes on the seven covers that you thought would never happen.

The Before Watchmen project will be overseen by the original series' editor Len Wein, co-creator of not-so-traditional superheroes Wolverine and Swamp Thing. Wein, a seasoned veteran of comics from the Bronze Age, noted that Dave Gibbons was invited to contribute but declined the offer. DC Co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee were open about the company's use of writer Alan Moore and artist Gibbons' characters.

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” stated DiDio and Lee. “Collaborative storytelling is what keeps these fictional universes current and relevant... After 25 years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

The creative teams lined up for Before Watchmen's seven miniseries are a comics reader's dream – not counting the absence of the legendary Moore and Gibbons. On inspection each book seems to have a good fit of talent assigned to it – our call of DC: New Frontier's Darwyn Cooke for The Minutemen was on the ball.

Cooke's partner for Silk Spectre, Amanda Conner, is a great choice too. Babylon 5-creator J. Michael Straczynski will take the lead for the sci-fi weirdness of Dr. Manhattan and Batman-artist Andy Kubert is pencilling Straczynski's Nite Owl with his father Joe Kubert. 100 Bullets' Brian Azzarello will be writing both Rorschach and The Comedian, with art by Lee Bermerjo and J.G. Jones, respectively. Wein will tackle Ozymandias together with Jae Lee, the dark and broody penciller of Marvel's Inhumans and The Dark Tower. 

Each issue will receive a two-page back-up story from Wein and original Watchmen colourist John Higgins, which features the pirate tales of the Crimson Corsair. Anyone familiar with Watchmen outside of the movie will remember that pirates replaced superheroes in the comics of Moore's alternate 1980s.

In a move designed to generate the widest interest possible, DC went public with the news through major media channels including USA Today, LA Times, The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Wired, Comic Book Resources and Associated Press.

It's not too much of stretch to suggest that Before Watchmen is targeted squarely at the non-comics reading general public aware of the 2009 movie, rather than existing comics fans. With the company-wide New 52 relaunch of all DC's comics last September and January's new apple-sticker logo, DC has declared an obvious emphasis on digital comics in their business strategy.

Those of you familiar with Watchmen's fervent fanbase won't be surprised to find out that Cooke turned DC down when he was first approached about the project. “I said no out of hand because I couldn’t think of a story that would measure up to the original ,” commented Cooke. “But what happened is, months after I said no, the story elements all just came into my head one day; it was so exciting to me that, at that exact moment, I started seriously thinking about doing the book ”.

As DC proudly kit out their homepage with Before Watchmen images and a snazzy yellow version of their new logo, what did comics' godfather Alan Moore have to say about the creative gazumping? 

“I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago.”

Ecstatic then, as you'd expect. As we mentioned before Christmas, Moore's Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V for Vendetta dominate DC's biggest selling trade paperback collections. It already looks like today's announcement will make 2012 just as high profile a year for DC as 2011.

What's your reaction? Fan of the movie, the comics or both, we'd like to know.

Links to interviews with the writers and artists of each series are over at DC's The Source blog.

The Source and io9

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

In partnership with the Eagle Awards and Universal Pictures, MCM Expo is launching a competition to produce a five-page dark fantasy comic between 1 and 29 February. Winners will receive a prize new to the Eagle Awards, the MCM Expo Award For New Visionaries, and their story will be printed in the programme for May's MCM weekend.

The competition's theme is inspired by the MCM Expo sponsor, Universal, and its forthcoming film Snow White and the Huntsman. No dwarfs for you. The movie is directed by Brit-newcomer Rupert Sanders and stars The Avengers' antipodean fighting-machine Chris Hemsworth, the psychedelic Twilight franchise's Kristen Stewart and lapsed plumber Bob Hoskins. As for what the limits of dark fantasy are, well, that's anybody's guess. Malevolent gingerbread men or something along those lines.

The judging panel will consist of Titan Publishing senior editor Steve White, Eisner-Award-winning Fables artist Mark Buckingham, and New York Times best-selling writer and IDW Doctor Who supremo Tony Lee. Two winners will be selected: one judged on artistic merit and the other for top-notch writing skillage. Once chosen, the final favourite will be voted on by the Internet-going public.

All entries must be five pages long with a beginning, middle and end that's fully finished, coloured and lettered. Files should be submitted as 300 dpi jpeg or pdf format with page dimensions of 170mm width and 230mm height. They probably won't go for it if you muck about with the Emboss tool too much.

Budding Brothers Grimm should visit www.eagleawards.co.uk for specifics on how to submit an entry. All accepted entrants bag themselves an invite to the Eagle Awards on the Friday night prior to the MCM weekend. Sweet. The two winners will also party at the after-show bash and get industry passes for the whole weekend.

The Eagle Awards began in 1976 and moved to the MCM weekend in 2010. As the comics industry's longest-running gongs, the Eagles are recognised and respected globally. Nominations for the 2012 awards opened this month and the ceremony will take place on 25 May at the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands.

Best get started then, hadn't you? Chop-chop!

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Time heals all wounds. It's an adage meant to comfort, one that implies that forgetting bad events is an effective tonic for any affliction you'll encounter. Anyone who stop-dropped-and-rolled their way through comics in the 1990s will still respond with Twilight-like chagrin on mention of Marvel's Clone Saga, an event that provokes a peculiarly simultaneous sensation of ire and fondness that comics readers seem to experience more frequently than other people. Have the years treated one of the industry's most reviled stories kindly?

The Clone Saga engulfed the Spider-Man books from 1994 to 1996 and was a colossal event on the scale of DC's Death of Superman and Batman: Knightfall story arcs before it - exactly what Marvel wanted. It had been twenty years before though, in the mid-1970s heyday of Amazing Spider-Man, that the thread that Peter Parker might not be the real deal began.

Spider-Man in the Seventies

During writer Gerry Conway's run on Amazing Spider-Man Parker's college girlfriend Gwen Stacy was murdered by the Green Goblin, who was secretly the screwloose industrial magnate Norman Osborn. It was a defining character moment for Spider-Man. Soon after, Osborn was thought killed in battle when the Green Goblin's pointy glider impaled him. The deaths of Osborn and the real Stacy remained two of comics' keystones for decades.

The medium rarely keeps its paws off its most famous stories though, and it only took a few years for Gwen to pop up again in a twisted way to torture Peter Parker.

Villainous genetic engineer The Jackal - secretly Peter and Gwen's professor, Miles Warren - was obsessed with Gwen and attempted to clone her. Jackal also meddled with a sample of Peter's DNA, and in Amazing Spider-Man #149 a spider-clone appeared for the first time. The imposter appeared not to survive the issue. After a little soulsearching by Parker, the clone was thrown down a smokestack two issues later and mostly forgotten for twenty years.

That same year, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8 revealed that the Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy clones were not even that. Warren had used two existing people as templates to overwrite: his supposedly murdered lab assistant Anthony Serba and a woman called Joyce Delaney. Things seemed wrapped up, but the confusing origin of the clones was a portent of the event that would hit Marvel.

The clone wars

By the 90s, Spider-Man was squished thin over several ongoing titles: Amazing Spider-Man; Spectacular Spider-Man; Web of Spider-Man; and the then-recent, record-breaking 'adjectiveless' Spider-Man. Marvel was in the same trouble as the rest of the comic book industry and needed a quick win for their most recognised character. Their answer, provided by writer Terry Kavanagh? More Spider-Men to pick up the slack.

The purpose of sending in the clones soon transmuted into a means of revitalising Spider-Man, after a perceived rut for the character following his marriage to Mary-Jane Watson. Marvel's editorial decision was to out the Peter Parker Spidey as a clone and replace him with the original by Amazing Spider-Man's 400th issue in 1995. Thanks to creative differences and industry politics, things turned out quite differently.

Miles Warren, The Jackal and Gwen Stacy's clone had been mentioned only sparsely since the groovy Seventies tales. Obviously the mad professor had been biding his time as the returned clone of Peter Parker was revealed in 1994's Spectacular Spider-Man #216, although there had been months of build up.

The clone began to call himself Ben Reilly - taking his deceased uncle's first name and his aunt's maiden name - and after much to-ing and fro-ing would eventually become Spider-Man for a year from January 1996's Sensational Spider-Man #0 to December's Spider-Man #75. Good sales at a bad time for the company prolonged the muddled storyline and kept it running through three project editors: soon-to-be Legion Lost writer Tom DeFalco, Transformers-legend Bob Budiansky, and current editor-in-chief of DC Comics Bob Harras.

Ben Reilly had stayed away from New York for five years, Littlest Hobo-style, and returned when he discovered Spider-Man's Aunt May had fallen ill. Reilly soon donned a particularly 90s costume as the Scarlet Spider. The shadowy villain Kaine was shown to be the very first attempt by The Jackal to clone Peter Parker, and another deadly clone, Spidercide, popped up.

Contrary to the 1970s conclusion, Miles Warren did create full clones: Ben was told he was the original Peter Parker, evidence hinted that the man living as 'Peter' was a duplicate, and then both were called into question. Spider-Man temporarily went crazy and sided with The Jackal. In the midst of all this, Aunt May kicked the bucket in Amazing Spider-Man #400, Mary Jane fell pregnant and Peter decided to retire and move to Portland, Oregon. Phew!

The powerful characters Judas Traveller and Scrier were introduced to the mix, seemingly out of place in Spidey's New York. Former Marvel assistant-editor Glenn Greenberg subsequently admitted on the excellent Life of Reilly blog that, "no-one - not the writers, not the editors - seemed to know who or what the hell Judas Traveller was".

A solution for the mess that was Spidey's life was struck upon - bring back Norman Osborn and reveal him as responsible. Peter's reinstatement as Spider-Man, Ben's confirmation as the clone on his eventual death and Osborn's shock return brought the out-of-control story to something of an end - at last! The conclusion coincided with Marvel's file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 1996, due to the industry slump and the company's declining stock.

By the Clone Saga's close, the storyline had turned so frustrating for the readers and for Marvel that a parodical one-shot issue called Spider-Man: 101 Ways to End the Clone Saga was published at the start of 1997. The story was set in the Marvel offices where the editors and writers of the Spider-Man titles debated possible conclusions in half-seriousness. 

As a relic of comics history, a look back at Marvel before the movies, and for a surprisingly comprehensive and funny take on the whole debacle, 101 Ways to End the Clone Saga is worth picking up if you can find it cheap. The larger, sprawling saga is in the process of being collected in a revised order in the Complete Clone Saga Epic and Complete Ben Reilly Epic series of trade paperbacks, which stand at seven volumes so far. Makes most modern crossovers and event books seem succinct, doesn't it?

Legacy of the Clone Saga

Instead of returning Spider-Man to his easygoing, simple beginnings the character became more muddled than ever because of the cloning fiasco. The failure to relaunch meant another decade of reboot and retroactive-continuity events around the turn of the century like John Byrne's Chapter One, and Brian Bendis' and popular Spidey artist Mark Bagley's stalwart run on 21st-century-update Ultimate Spider-Man. 

Improvement came only after a controversial run from Babylon 5's creator J. Michael Straczynski, which pushed concepts like totemic arachno-powers, mysterious wallcrawling men, organic webshooters and the rapidly-aged offspring of a union between Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn. Editorial decisions were taken once again to remove elements of Spider-Man's history during the One More Day storyline, in particular Peter Parker's recent public revelation of his secret identity during the Civil War event and his 1987 marriage to Mary Jane.

The bulging list of Spider-Man books was slimmed down into three issues of Amazing Spider-Man a month produced by a rotating team of writers and artists. Readership and critical reception became more appreciative and seems to have settled at a relative high point for Spider-Man. Risks were taken with the character in other Marvel books too, and Spidey has become a prominent addition to the Avengers after years avoiding teams.

The Marvel universe has gotten a lot less insular than it has been for a long time thanks to events like the Clone Saga. Crossovers and inter-book themes in the last ten years such as Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Siege, Heroic Age, Shadowland, Fear Itself and Shattered Heroes have made characters who rarely strayed from one set of books have a greater influence across the company's story output. One such example is Norman Osborn.

Marvel's bad-ass team in Thunderbolts wouldn't have struck like lightning without Warren Ellis' run placing Osborn in charge. The unhinged businessman's rise to global saviour, Director of H.A.M.M.E.R., leadership of the Dark Avengers as Iron Patriot, and downfall during the siege of Asgard is a long way from the dead nutball with weird hair who menaced a teenaged Spidey. Without the Clone Saga's grand finale Norman wouldn't have returned to Marvel's pages, and mainstream comics would be a very different landscape.

Reclaiming Ben Reilly

Dan Slott took the reins on the twice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man in January 2011, and the character webslinged across Marvel's books over last year with the Spider Island event. Spider Island managed to show the affection readers have for elements of the Clone Saga while minimising its predecessor's bad points: strung-out stories with little direction and cohesion that isolated all of one character's books.

Spider Island was Marvel's answer to growing acceptance of a difficult time in their flagship character's publishing history. There had been signs of affection for the elements of the controversial crossover in the often cancelled Spider-Girl series from Tom DeFalco. DeFalco's Spider-Girl had the dead Reilly for an 'Uncle Ben', and she stuck around for 12 years. An Ultimate Clone Saga struck Ultimate Spider-Man in 2006 and a six-issue 2009 miniseries was also supposedly based on the original plan for the Clone Saga.

Also in 2009, over in Amazing Spider-Man #608, writer Marc Guggenheim introduced the character Raptor's grudge against the deceased Ben Reilly. The past just wouldn't go away.

Other characters, good and bad, have taken over the identity of Spider-Man since Ben Reilly's tenure. Venom became Spidey during the Dark Reign event. In 2011 the death of Peter Parker led to international press coverage and a new, younger Spider-Man, Miles Morales, in Ultimate Comics.

Scarlet Spider returns

Despite some reader support for Clone Saga concepts and new faces filling Spidey's boots, Scarlet Spider was put aside. The name was used briefly by unrelated characters in Spider-Girl and Avengers: The Initiative, but Ben Reilly never returned from the dead.

Spider Island helped revive the Clone Saga doppelganger Kaine. As a prototype clone of Peter Parker, Kaine had suffered from cellular degeneration - hey, it's comics! - and struggled with precognition, murderous insanity and jealous rage towards his 'brothers'. In Spectacular Spider-Man #221 Kaine had killed Doctor Octopus. The darker Parker was an oddly compelling villain who showed Spidey's less friendly-neighbourhood side, but lacked the popularity of Ben Reilly.

January's Scarlet Spider #1 launches Kaine into his journey well outside of New York - to Texas. Kaine is now a fully stable clone of the original Spider-Man with a new chance at life, cured of his condition at last because of the events of Spider Island. The book's writer, Chris Yost, is no stranger to clones as he created the female Wolverine, X-23. 

Whether the Marvel universe needs another anti-hero crawling around is down to any affection you might have for Scarlet Spider, as there's already a successful Venom series right now. Kaine isn't the slightly more inventive version of Peter Parker that Ben Reilly was either - at least not just yet. The first issue of Scarlet Spider went on sale last week and was promising. Let's just hope they introduce a better costume quickly, one that doesn't look like an inverted version of Ultimate Spider-Man!

Spider-Man is finally back on form, years after shaking off the confused and much prolonged Bobby Ewing-like bad dream of the Clone Saga. The story was hated, but an important lesson. Its surprising return of arch-nemesis Norman Osborn has affected Marvel in big ways. The friendly neighbourhood superhero has needed some jumpstarts and quite a few steps backwards before he could return to form, but there will always be affection for Scarlet Spider - the clone who could have been Spider-Man if he'd not met a sticky end.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Potentially big spoilers in here...

It's common knowledge by now that the third and final of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies will be set well into the caped crusader's career and feature Bane, the man who broke Bruce Wayne like a Lion Bar in the huge 90s comics crossover, Knightfall. Posters, teasers and trailers all point to an even bigger threat posed by Bane - the fall of Gotham City, a masterplan attempted by R'as al Ghul in Batman Begins, and long before, that led to the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne.

The death of Wayne's love interest from the first two films, Rachel Dawes, has left the catflap open for Batman's longtime comic book dalliance with Selina Kyle to once again transfer to celluloid. With Nolan wrapping up his bat-trilogy, could the costumed couple settle down and sire a litter of Waynes?

A big-name interview over at Newsarama has hinted at a yes.

Former President of DC Comics Paul Levitz went some way to accidentally confirming that Batman and Catwoman's child would return this year. It's now confirmed for May's upcoming addition to the New 52 line up, World's Finest. What do we mean by return?

The series will help reintroduce the concept of the parallel world of Earth-2, the original home to DC's pre-Second World War characters and their descendants. Levitz will substitute the traditional world's finest pairing of Superman and Batman with Clark Kent's Kryptonian cousin Power Girl, also known as Kara Zor-L, and Huntress, Helena Bertenelli.

Levitz surprised readers by admitting to Newsarama that, following last year's Flashpoint and the changes since New 52 began, Bertenelli would revert to her former pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths moniker of Helena Wayne - the daughter of Earth-2's Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. After so many years under a different name it seems highly coincidental this identity is making a comeback.

Revisiting abandoned storylines to tie-in with movie releases isn't something unheard of in comics. Spider-Man's black costume turned up in time for its cinematic premiere in Spider-Man 3, although drastically changed for the big screen. New 52's Action Comics has taken Superman back to his 1930s roots, perhaps in part to prepare audiences for the Nolan-produced Man Of Steel, due in 2013.

Huntress' identity was changed to Bertenelli after 1985's groundbreaking Crisis on Infinite Earths apparently streamlined DC's years of convoluted storylines and character variations. The non-Wayne version of Huntress was a crusading member of a mafia clan out for brutal vengeance who mellowed over the years. She became a popular member of the fan-favourite Birds of Prey series alongside the wheelchair-bound Oracle - the former Batgirl and daughter of Commissioner Gordon.

It isn't too much of a stretch of the imagination to picture Christian Bale's Wayne and Anne Hathaway's Kyle echoing the scenes of young Bruce and his parents from Batman Begins.  The "Why do we fall?" line from Linus Roache's Thomas Wayne would complete the bat-cycle, add an extra meaning to the dodgy title and possibly cause a few tears to be shed by film fanboys and fangirls.

Is the daughter of Batman and Catwoman going to bring a happy ending to The Dark Knight Rises? The inclusion of the original Huntress in World's Finest is far from confirmation, but Levitz's reveal brings the possibility closer.

Newsarama

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Without much ado, here's the new logo for DC Comics. Sister-brand DC Entertainment received the same design overhaul. Find it a-peel-ing?

It's only been seven years since the last new logo was introduced for the company. The decision to change wasn't too popular then but it's been a grower.

Such a clean new image for the familiar two-letter symbol is quite a drastic departure from the stylish swish some readers had only just become used to. The new logo has reportedly been trademarked without colour so expect multiple hues to appear in future.

The arrival of New 52 late last year cemented a line-wide refocus of the DC brand that came shortly after an attempt at expanding the company's comic book movie properties with Green Lantern.

DC has pushed 'day-and-date' digital releases and Barnes & Noble-angering exclusive deals with Amazon. The peeled back lettering certainly evokes an app-friendly style - maybe they should bite the bullet and rebrand completely as Digital Comics?

Bleeding Cool

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

DC Comics' New 52 has been full of mysteries. How did Dick Grayson handle his demotion? How was Barbara Gordon healed? Or where is Zinda Blake? Perhaps the most ubiquitous question to arise from the soft reboot was about the mysterious woman in the purple hood who background camoed Fringe-fashion in all 52 first issues.

First appearing in the final issue of 2011’s summer crossover Flashpoint, the woman in purple seemed to usher in the reshaping of the DC universe. She informed The Flash that, although he’d managed to repair some of what had happened, things were not in the same state as before.

The hooded figure has proceeded to appear widely in issues of the New 52, sometimes shrouded in the shadows and other times closer to the action, but always silently observing.

Rumours and speculation have flown about not only about her identity but also her purpose. One suggestion was a new incarnation of old favourite Harbinger, and perhaps the foreteller of a new kind of universal crisis. Some have gone as far to pinpoint the character as an editorial get-out-clause if New 52 isn't judged a success by the comics publisher.

DC's The Source blog has at last eeked out a clue in the form of a sentence posted by Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras: “Her name is Pandora”. Fitting, really, given that she was part of the events that opened the metaphorical box containing the DcnU. 

What does the mythological-sounding name mean? Unfortunately we still don’t know. DC have previously had a character named Pandora, but with the nature of change in DC at present - where canon has been turned on its head in unpredictable ways - a simple name means little. 

DC's world is now a one where marriages never existed, events are wiped from history and origin stories are turned on their head. It seems just as likely that Pandora may be a completely new character as a dramatic re-envisioning of an old one.

Harras hinted back in October that Pandora would be appearing soon in Justice League. Comics readers will have to keep looking for clues and hope that DC is using this teaser time to formulate a story that will amaze them.

In a hugely competitive year for Marvel and DC characters at least one thing's for sure - she's not a replacement Access.

The Source

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Hell Train is a gleeful romp of a horror novel, one that might not send you to bed a nervous twitching travesty of your former self, but instead a pleased, amused and not exactly sleepy person, destined to wake up slightly late and miss your bus – not that you’ll really mind that much.

Author Christopher Fowler has provided even the most casual fan of Hammer films with a cheeky, knowing love-letter to the studio, including a cover that could grace a cinema foyer. He even uses the framing device as a means to deliver a meta-joke about framing devices. This is playful, funny stuff, but strewn with enough fictional Kensington gore, cleavage and violence to appeal to fans of both camp and horror. The mayhem would far outstrip the budget of a Hammer film, and this is also referenced in the dialogue.

The framing device is that of an American screenwriter coming to Britain to write a film for the studio, hoping to halt their fading fortunes, and the bulk of the story is a prose version of his movie idea. We get cameos from real life figures behind the scenes, including Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, and a melancholy end lamenting the decline of a much-loved studio. Here the author has a character question whether or not the Hammer films' appeal will last, or if they're just “Fairy tales starring middle aged men”.

Hell Train is an homage to these films’ enduring quality, and while it is a fun, undemanding read, it is not a book I am likely to return to. It has, however, convinced me to seek out more of the studio's output, which is surely one of its aims.

Fowler is most famous for his Bryant And May series, which you may have found in the crime section, but they belong to the 'Peculiar Crimes Unit', and Fowler is among a group of authors who have mined Victorian literature for characters and scenarios to reference, rework and borrow.

There's even a quote from Kim Newman on the cover, and a bunch of quotes from illustrious contributors to the fantasy and crime genres on first page, where Time Out states that Christopher Fowler would make a good serial killer. I disagree. He would make an entertaining serial killer if he were in a movie, because he certainly knows his inventive, spectacular death scenes. In terms of not getting caught, though, I think he'd be hard pushed not to be noticed by someone, but you can guarantee he'd supply some witty quips for the press when they came for him.

Set in the fictional Eastern European country of Carpathia, Hell Train is the story of Isabella, a beautiful maiden destined to become a housewife and live out her days having seen little of the world outside the industrial town of Chelmsk. Naturally curious, she has seen things she wasn't supposed to, and as the First World War threatens to disrupt her country's neutrality, she finds herself fleeing the town with a handsome rogue, a vicar, and his wife. All three are English. All three are deeply flawed, and not a little arrogant.

Nicholas, the philandering braggart, sweeps Isabella off her feet with promises of London, only to board the midnight train the townsfolk will not speak of, accompanied by a bickering couple, attempting to flee a war zone.

The train is, of course, the titular vehicle, and is, of course, a weapon of Satan against all that is right and good in the world. The explanation for this is as entertaining as it is melodramatic as it is lengthy, but that's not really what the story is about. Exposition is wielded like a big camp weapon, the idea of a train being consecrated to the Devil is obviously ludicrous, but treated with such reverence and bone-crushing glee that you can't help but be simultaneously enthused and appalled.

What we get, essentially, are four separate but interweaving stories, as our four main characters are tested by the train. If they fail, their souls stay aboard the train forever. If they win, the train might not play fair. Every now and then the chapters - brief, cliffhanger laden - cut back to the writer staying at an inn, having a fling with the studio secretary, talking with her about the story, discussing the directions it might go in, and then the story accelerates off in those directions, further than expected. It's a portmanteau, but not as we know it.

The Englishness portrayed here is very much a negative thing. Snobbish, small-minded and ignorant, it is only Nicholas who approaches redemption, but his personality flaws show through right till the end. You end up feeling a similar emotion to that of seeing Richard Hammond after his crash: you're glad he's alright and on his feet again, but that doesn't mean he's suddenly likeable.

More clear cut are the Vicar and his wife, who even when tortured by the forces of the damned remain defiantly English, bickering with each other and exposing huge character flaws even as they are attacked by surprisingly blue blooded monsters with a thirst for human blood. The good ol' horror tropes of amoral behaviour resulting in punishment are very much in place, and the resulting set pieces are actually completely out of the reach of most contemporary film budgets, let alone those of the late 50s.

Once the blood starts flowing, it never really ceases, with the dead souls on the train called to die over and over again in order to strain at the morality of the living souls on board. Twists and turns ensue, diverting the flow of the plot, as heads explode, bosoms heave, and flesh putrefies. That noise you can hear is the long, satisfied scratch of a pen ticking boxes.

While the book is fun and fast-paced, I wouldn't say it was especially scary – more of a short-term thrill, and some of its horror references may go over some readers’ heads. Reading it as a pleasant diversion, however, is definitely recommended, and it will almost certainly lead those of you who aren't already fans to seeking out some of Hammer’s output, be it from its renewed current version or from its past glory days.

I'm fairly confident anyone who does will wish to thank Mr Fowler profusely, assuming he hasn't dowsed them in dog piss and thrown them down a badger sett. It sounds like the sort of thing he might do.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

It's fair to say that Harley Quinn is well-liked. Initially created as a one-shot character to aid The Joker she was then given a regular slot on Batman: The Animated Series. Quinn’s popularity lead to her making the jump into the comics and, more recently, as the leading female villain in the Arkham Asylum game.

Quinn sparked controversy last summer after images of her revamped costume sprung up online. The redesign was meant to compliment Quinn’s move to the team-book Suicide Squad, one of DC’s ‘edge’ books rated T+ to go with the more edgy stories. The new costume was criticised mostly for its highly sexualised style and impracticality - after all, who can do Quinn’s signature acrobatics in a corset and hot pants? Harley’s role as the only female member of the Suicide Squad team was also criticised.

Despite this upheaval, however, Suicide Squad has turned out to be that rare gem of comics. The book manages to keep its individual issues satisfying with a self-contained story about the Squad’s current mission, but also an ongoing plot throughout the series.

The premise of Suicide Squad is that the hardest lifers of Belle Reve, the DC Universe’s highest security prison, attempt to work off their sentence by performing missions for the government. The programme is under the immediate control of the machiavellian Amanda Waller, and the missions are so dangerous they are ‘sheer suicide’.

Suicide Squad’s stakes mean that the roster of the team is rapidly changing, and there is strong sense that anything can happen. Over the first four issues it becomes clear that there is a core element of the team: Batman-villain Deadshot, Harley, Diablo and King Shark. I include King Shark simply because I can’t imagine anyone killing him off, not because he’s contributed greatly to the story so far.

Anyone else may be expendable. The story is violent and more adult as could be expected from a T+ rating, but it has an element of B-movie satire that prevents the book from getting too heavy, despite the material. This kind of black humour is not to everyone’s taste, but if it is something you enjoy, Suicide Squad has it in abundance.

The Squad may have started on shaky ground, and many people had reservations about the character combinations and how Harley would fit into the team. Over time, however, the switching roster, the conflict between members of the team and the book’s extreme plots are making it a very compelling read. A particular favourite moment is Deadshot’s put-down of Captain Boomerang in issue #4 - I won’t spoil it. Harley and Deadshot are the runaway favourite characters - as it was probably destined to be - and the provide much of the humour in the book. Harley’s flirtations with the other characters and Deadshot’s power struggles are both major points of character development.

One of my main reservations about this book was my disbelief that Harley could have done anything bad enough to have ended up in Belle Reve. Harley may have been in The Jokers side-kick, but she has always had a nature that is, somehow, forgivable. Sure, she’s crazy for love, but I can’t help but feel that Arkham is as far up the river as Harley would ever get.

Somehow this incarnation of Harley is a little more ruthless than the animated series version, but she seems to fit well with the vision of Harley portrayed in the closing issues of Gotham City Sirens, showing just how dangerous she can be if she is pushed in the right way. The opening issue of Suicide Squad glimpses a grieving Harley on a bit of a rampage. Distraught after losing Mr. J (and alluding to the opening of Detective Comics to explain why) this shows that she has been pushed further than ever before.

Occasional references in Adam Glass’ writing to elements of Harley Quinn’s unhinged nature and masochistic tendencies - as well as implications of sexual promiscuity outside of her relationship with The Joker - can still read uncomfortably. For the most part, Harley has been written well and brings that kind of silly humour and colloquial dialogue that made her so popular to begin with. What’s even better is that it the book does seem to be improving with each issue. It was quite possible that the new creative team of Glass and artist Federico Dallocchio just needed to find their groove.

Harley’s role is mainly as one of the team. The issue of sexism could easily be forgotten, as she is just as formidable as any of the other characters, but the occasional appearance of her cleavage reminds us of the costume controversy earlier this year. Again, the writers allude to how silly her costume is with a line from her about removing a wedgie - the possibility is that Harley has chosen to wear this outfit herself and is willing to suffer the consequences.

After an unexpected interaction with Deadshot in issue #3 I wondered if the character had perhaps strayed too far from her lackey roots with The Joker. However, there is beautifully understated moment in issue #4 when new team member, Captain Boomerang, informs Harley of the latest news regarding The Joker. It’s a wide-eyed moment that prompts the reader to sentimentality toward Harley’s former incarnation.

The worry and snap judgement of this book a few months ago was that Harley felt like a token female character in a skimpy outfit. While there is an element of this in the plot, the context of the story makes it feel more forgiving: how many female supervillains are there that could hold their own on this squad the way that Harley seems to be managing?

In fact, just how many recognisable female villains are on DC’s character roster anyway? Very few in comparison to the number of men. Chances are that Harley would be the only woman on such a team, and she certainly holds her own, as hinted at during the ending of issue #4.

Suicide Squad has a strong tongue-in-cheek feel and seems to counteract some of the stereotypes and reservations many people had when it was announced. The result is far from perfect, but it is shaping up to be a good comic with a strong female lead - even if she is dressed in a horribly impractical outfit.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Hi everybody. Have a seat and make yourself comfortable, we've got some real issues to talk about today. This is an intervention on behalf of the comics industry and its readership for all fans of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movie trilogy. We think you need some encouragement and we want to support you, and finding out more about comics is just the first step on the road to recovery. 

We're not singly you out - we've been trying to make the Schumacher-Batman-haters realise for years that Frank Miller isn't the be-all and end-all of Bruce Wayne, but it's not easy when you're so set in yourways. Together we're going to confront a few of the reasons why you don't want to give the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man movie a chance.

Let's begin by talking about the character of our mutual friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker.

Educating Peter

'Andrew Garfield looks like a dorky toothbrush'

Garfield exudes original artist and co-creator Steve Ditko's rendition of Peter Parker as a gangly, quiff-haired wallflower. Not to knock Tobey Maguire's performance, but Garfield is by far the better casting choice in terms of appearance. It's science.

'Emo Spider-Man is emo'

Some fans have criticised Garfield, and the tone of the footage and stills released so far, for being emo, too dark and trying to pull a Chris Nolan. Spider-Man has the 'Parker luck': just when things are looking up for him everything starts to go wrong. You'd probably be a little emo too if that was your lot in life.

Spider-Man is an orphan who also lost his father-figure uncle, a second role-model in the form of NYPD Captain George Stacy, and his first love. Peter's parents Richard and Mary Parker were first introduced in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 in 1968. The couple worked for SHIELD - see the Iron Man and Thor movies or almost any Marvel comic - but this wasn't truly revealed until a special flashback #-1 in 1997.

Not the joker we expected

Spidey still cracks jokes in the face of adversity so don't write the character off just yet. Maguire didn't get much humour in the Raimi movies, which was a shame as his voice acting in the Spider-Man games showed off good comic timing. Comic Con footage of Garfield apparently teased that Spidey will bring some laughs, so why so serious? Let's just hope he doesn't want to get nuts or he might get a rise out of the Dark Knight next year.

Spider-Man loves Mary Jane

'Who's Gwen Stacy?'

If we're going to be picky Parker's first love interests were high-school flirt Liz Allan and Daily Bugle secretary Betty Brant. Gwen was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #31 in 1965, 11 issues before Mary Jane's first full appearance. The Night Gwen Stacy Died storyline in Amazing Spider-Man #121-122 is as defining to Peter Parker's character as the murder of his Uncle Ben. Putting Mary Jane in peril at the hands of the Green Goblin on a bridge, letting her live and then introducing Stacy after Peter's dalliances with Mary Jane all added up to spoil the poignancy of the Spider-Man tale.

Such a departure from comics heritage marked Raimi's movies out from beginning to end as bizarre. It's been confirmed that Gwen won't die in Amazing Spider-Man and that Mary Jane isn't in the movie - a change for the better.

Scaling back the villains

'The Lizard is lame'

Spider-Man has one of the best rogues' galleries in comics. The Lizard was an early addition who was introduced in 1963 Amazing Spider-Man #6. Raimi's third film would probably have benefitted rather than faltered from antagonist-overkill by going all out and just using the Sinister Six: replacing the by-then deceased Doctor Octopus with Harry Osborn's Casual-Friday-goblin backed up by Electro, Mysterio, Kraven, Sandman and Vulture. Venom's origins lay in the Eighties Secret Wars crossover and were very difficult to translate to screen.

While The Lizard isn't the best-known lethal foe of Spider-Man, at least we're not getting Stegron the Dinosaur Man.

Directorial disputes

'Sam Raimi built my childhood'

That's great, but Stan Lee and Steve Ditko trump Raimi's trilogy by decades. A lot of excellent comic book creators - Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, John Romita, John Romita Jr., Peter David, Todd McFarlane, Sal Buscema, Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley, to name a few - have added to the webhead's backstory in that time. 

Limiting yourself to three movies of recycled plot is to ignore the magnificent source material. Yes, even the lamentable Clone Saga can be reclaimed if handled right - Dan Slott's Spider Island event this year proved that, and Parker-clone Kaine returns in the promising Scarlet Spider #1 this January.

'Marc Webb is an untested director handling a big-name franchise'

The critically acclaimed (500) Days of Summer was about a young man struggling for the attention of a young woman and eventually finding love elsewhere. Sounds like the Peter Parker-Gwen Stacy-Mary Jane Watson love triangle doesn't it? Few would've imagined in 2004 that the director of Memento would make what many hold to be the defining Batman movies. Even fewer could have thought Raimi would deliver after James Cameron pulled out of his planned Spider-Man movie. Give Webb a chance.

Spider-Man 3

Yeeeeeeeah, speaking of giving director's a chance... Spider-Man 3 was a thoroughly bad movie after two reasonable ones. Rose-tinted spectacles aside, ladies and gentlemen of the furore, and there's no saving it. Badboy Spidey's not even that fun to watch like Batman & Robin's wholesale bastardisation of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl. 

It would be a triumph of bad cinema if Amazing Spider-Man turned out any worse than the garbled story of I-can't-believe-it's-not-Hobgoblin enacting his revenge on Spider-Travolta while Beachboy sulks and - look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's an alien symbiote conviently blowing a crater in Central Park.

Michael Bay might manage to get away with the panspermia-opening in Transformers, but at least he blew shiz up so loudly that you were left more worried your face could melt off before the third act. Wait - there was a third act?

Filling Spidey's reboots

'Oh great, back to square one after only 5 years'

Spider-Man 3 was universally decried, so forget that and go on the far better Spider-Man 2. Batman & Robin was eight years before Batman Begins; Spider-Man 2 was eight years before The Amazing Spider-Man. Are you following all those numbers? It's an arbitrary length of time and doesn't make much difference.

The real issue is the studio putting its backing behind a new movie that doesn't have the creative team approved by the loyal audience the first three movies built up. If you're a fan of anything that's going to be remade though, doesn't the adage of only being as good as the last hit hold true?

Retcon = reboot 

The general public unfamiliar or uninterested in comics might not be aware of the retcon, or retroactive continuity. They should start getting familiar with it, as it's creeping into other media more and more like a Bobby Ewing nightmare. In comics, to revisit something from a different perspective isn't exactly a reboot, and is often done with some affection for the original story being reimagined. Watchmen - the most respected superhero story of all time to both comics veterans and ingenues alike - is just the Charlton Comics superhero line retold by Alan Moore.

"The untold story" 

Last weekend's teaser poster mystified some with its tagline of "The untold story". Look to the comics for an answer. Untold Tales of Spider-Man was a late Nineties series, written by Kurt Busiek with art from Pat Oliffe, that wove new stories into some of Parker's earliest adventures. Marvel Studios' Avi Avad told Entertainment Weekly that this was the purpose of the new film, saying "It’s not a comeback. You have to look at it this way: do you want to know more about Spider-Man? This movie is going to tell stories that you didn’t see in movies 1, 2, and 3."

Where the costume change, webshooters, Curt Connors change into the Lizard and Gwen Stacy fit into Arad's view is unsure, but heck, roll with it. In conversation with Busiek on Twitter recently, Marvel big-wig Tom Brevoort confirmed that the whole run of Untold Tales of Spider-Man would be released in omnibus form. It's now listed as pre-order for March 2012. All the cool kids will be picking up a copy in advance of the movie.

'Amazing Spider-Man is a stupid title'

It's been the name of Spidey's main comic since his second issue in 1963. The Amazing prefix was on his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 too, and Stan Lee's tendency for sensationalism resulted in comics with names like Invincible Iron Man, Mighty Thor, Incredible Hulk, and Uncanny X-Men that have sold for fifty years. Amazing Spider-Man was also briefly touted as the name for Spider-Man 2. Isn't it slightly better than sticking a number on the end? Spider-Man 4 sounds like a wacky round of golf gone wrong.

Doing whatever a spider can

'That costume!' 

Like Superman Returns before it, Amazing Spider-Man has the difficult task of juggling elements of the Raimi films' look while finding its own style. Makeover time! Spidey's had several costume changes in the comics and sported a truly mangled version of the classic black suit in Spider-Man 3. Amazing Spider-Man's snazzy threads resemble the redesigned costume of Nineties clone of Peter Parker, Ben Reilly. Reilly took over briefly as Spider-Man and wore his webshooters on the outside of his suit - fitting for a return to mechanical versions in the new movie. Just be thankful you're not a fan of The Man of Steel's disappearing under-over-pants.

'Mechanical webshooters are dumb'

They're the original status quo for Spidey and lend Peter Parker credibility as a boffin, someone more than just an average teenaged boy who happens to gain superhuman powers.

The producers have made a bold decision to feature mechanical webshooters of some form and explain something that deepens the character instead of glossing over him with macguffins.

The technology may be just to guide Spider-Man's own ability to generate webs, but let's wait and see the movie first before we judge. Before Raimi's first movie an online petition, No-Organic-Webshooters.com, was started to protest against the then-controversial decision to include webs-au-naturale. Less than a decade later and the opposite applies.

'The teaser trailer made my eyes bleed'

I seem alone in having enjoyed the teaser trailer's first-person rooftop climbing and webslinging sequence. It captured the experience of Spider-Man's abilities far more successfully than the magical, levitating Spidey did in three full-length outings. The teaser hinted at the secretive Parker family history too. 

Come into the parlour

We've covered a lot of things, and hopefully those of you who were introduced to Spider-Man by the Raimi movies will take away something useful. Maybe you'll even decide to give Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man a chance when it's released in July 2012. Remember that with great power comes great responsibility, and there's nothing more powerful than the choices of an informed audience.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

With the critical and financial success of Batman Begins during the summer of 2005, the superhero movie was dragged from the ashes of 1997’s Batman and Robin and 2003’s underrated Hulk. This new concept of creating superhero films with a more realistic and darker tone helped to dispel the common misconceptions that comic books have a tendency to be immature, and pushed Batman to the forefront of the Marvel vs. DC movie battle.

After Christopher Nolan’s confirmation that The Dark Knight Rises will be his last Batman film it would seem that the franchise that revitalised and redefined the character of Batman - and a whole genre - for a new generation is drawing to a close. With this news, it begins to feel like the end of an era.

There can be no denying that the last decade has been good to the Batman franchise. Two commercially successful movies, a wildly popular and acclaimed game-of-the-year in 2009 in Arkham Asylum, and even a well-received stage show in Batman Live. Although the caped crusader has always been an appealing character with a fairly constant presence in the media, comic book sales figures still don’t match up to the success of movie and game adaptations.

One could speculate that the reason for this is that comic books are not the easiest world to jump into, and it takes a brave soul to pick up a comic for the first time and tackle the talk of canon, crisis and crossovers. It also doesn’t help that with the Batgirls, Robins, Batwomen and various villain based spin-offs, choosing the right books to read can be daunting - but hey, we all have to start somewhere!

Throughout the Batman panoply there are some excellent self-contained stories that originate from limited series. These are books that can satiate a comic book craving, and tend to be more accessible to comic novices, as they deal less with long-running mythology and more in presenting an exciting and immediate story that can be told over a shorter timescale.

A good example of this is Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween, a 13-issue limited series that deals with the Gotham mob, a killer who only strikes on holidays and a tentative re-telling of the origin of Two-Face. However, short series often do not offer the same kind of absorption in a universe as reading stories in longer form can.

It would seem that DC have finally caught on to this fact and pushed, as part of their New 52 relaunch, a large collection of books orbiting the Batman character. These comics titles are still part of the overall continuity of the DC universe but start at issue one to get you hooked!

This month sees the release of the New 52 line’s fourth issues. Some books are beginning to wrap up their first runs and hints of bigger plot developments are starting to appear. This also means that collected trade paperbacks of the comics will begin appearing on the shelves in the coming months, so perhaps now is a good time to start thinking about where to start if you would like to dip your toes into the murky waters of Gotham.

One of DC Comics’ flagship titles, Detective Comics is less like a detective story than one may expect given its name. The shocking opening storyline is not for the faint-hearted as a new villain, the deranged surgeon known as the Dollmaker, has set his sights on claiming Batman, Commissioner Gordon and even the Joker as his playthings.

While this type of plotline may not be to everyone’s taste, if the horror-suspense styling of movies like Saw is something you enjoy then Detective Comics first arc will certainly push your buttons. The art is strong, matches the story very well and there is a huge twist at the end of almost every issue!

The second of the bat-books, the eponymous Batman, is very different to Detective Comics. The main plot arc focuses on Gotham’s underground society The Court of Owls, and the story is told at an intelligent pace that builds overall plot while keeping the issues self contained and satisfying to read. Batman has been reminiscent of Loeb’s work, where detection and political motivation of the people without the masks play as big of a role in the plot as the masked villains.

Writer Scott Snyder's story feels like it is a long-term investment with a deeper plot unfolding each issue, but it also maintains a nice crossover with Nightwing on occasion so it doesn’t feel completely isolated from the rest of the Batman family. The art on this book is a little boxy, but this is only noticeable in the scenes where the male leads are together without their masks. In this story, Batman is clever, athletic and importantly a sleuth - as he should be.

Batman and Robin, the third of the core titles, was in the unfortunate position of following on from a very popular run by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly.

The previous run saw former-Robin Dick Grayson taking Bruce Wayne’s son, Damien, as his ward after Bruce’s apparent death. In the new run Bruce has returned to his role as mentor, allowing the father-son dynamic duo to flourish. Of course, the book is not completely focused on this aspect and there have been very well received stories during the run so far. However, it seems that Batman and Robin’s reception has been hindered somewhat by the popularity of the earlier creative team.

The final part of the tetralogy, Batman: The Dark Knight, is a title I know fairly little about. The title began before the New 52 soft reboot but was reset to coincide with the other DC #1s. Overall, reviews have been mixed, with the frequent appearances of classic Batman villains being the real draw for this title. The general feeling seems to be that if you want a Gotham all-star plotline then picking up a copy of Loeb's Hush might be the way to go.

If the four series above are not enough for the bat-mad there are several others featuring the Dark Knight as a guest character.

Batman and Bruce Wayne have featured more prominently than expected in Judd Winick’s new Catwoman ongoing series, initially as a fleeting liaison. Wayne’s role seems to be developing into someone who knows the secret identity of Selina Kyle and may be planning on taking a larger role in her life – or comic book. Could this be pre-emptive fan-service to Catwoman’s role in The Dark Knight Rises next year?

Add to all this additional up-and-coming appearances in Batgirl, potential crossovers with Nightwing, and of course Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s Justice League, and it would seem there is plenty of Batman to go around. Following the most high profile and accessible relaunch in comic book history, what better time has there been to pick up your first Batman book?

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Wednesday saw a new printing of Watchmen's Absolute Edition hardcover arrive at stores in time for Christmas. Over the last week, however, industry insiders have prompted Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston to revisit years-old talk that DC Comics' intend to publish fresh material about one of comics' most untouchable names. To mix metaphors: is the 1986-1987 limited series that helped redefine comics a sandbox that new kids on the block should be allowed to play in?

Johnston kicked off December with an anonymous tip that Watchmen would return as four miniseries, with at least one pencilled by Andy Kubert. Twitter promptly exploded with the power of a million suns and Watchmen 2 reached the top trends in the US and worldwide. The rumours were bolstered a day later by suggestions that writer-artist of the well-received retrospective DC: New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke, would handle the first miniseries. This week saw Johnston link 52 cover-artist JG Jones with art chores on the miniseries, which will supposedly follow that BAMF everybody loves to hate, The Comedian.

Watchmengate isn't new. Some of the best creative talents that DC, Watchmen's current rights-owner, can offer have been mentioned in the same breath as any potential follow-up series: supposed project head Cooke, Thor's J. Michael Straczynski, current Wonder Woman scribe Brian Azzarello and Watchmen colourist John Higgins. Comic Book Resources quizzed Cooke over the speculation but received a non-committal answer. Any official announcement from DC could apparently come as soon as January.

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration

Original artist Dave Gibbons has also been linked with the concept, as you might expect. Writer and warlock Alan Moore, however, doesn't see the need for any continuation of the story by DC. After reportedly being pressed to allow DC to carry on the Watchmen story, Moore left the company and refused to work with them again.

At first glance any return to Watchmen by the publisher would most likely be taken with a pinch of salt. DC clearly has faith in Moore's past work though, regardless of any ill feeling between the parties. In a top 30 list of recommended graphic novels on DC's website, the first, second and third positions are held by Moore's Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V for Vendetta, respectively.

The hirsute writer stated in a candid 2010 Bleeding Cool interview with Adi Tantimedh that he was, "finished with comics and disgusted with the practices of the comic book industry." This raises an extremely relevant point: what are the practices of the comic book industry when dealing with superhero characters, their originators and their contributors? The treatment of artists and writers over the 20th century shows us that, in long-format storytelling over decades, even creators like Jack Kirby and Siegel and Shuster have to fight for their recognition.

Outside of comics, other authors picking up the baton of a fictional character's exploits used to be a rare occurrence.

The James Bond novels - about a character who conforms to the superhero archetype - have been continued after the death of Ian Fleming. Some authors have tried more carefully to be the only people to truly tend to their creations, a good example being J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories. In recent years, books such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies have taken creations by another author and turned them into a metafictional mash-up. Moore has even done this himself, repeatedly, with several volumes of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. Film and TV franchises have been wrestling with geek-creep much longer, at least since Star Trek gave in to fan-demand with its movie series and The Next Generation.

Why should Watchmen be held to a different standard?

Because you demanded it!

Geek-creep is what the Watchmen murmurings boil down to: fans, and people in a position to appeal to fans, mutating something into their own perception of it.

Perhaps it's the attraction of a thoroughly developed universe that fuels this practice in comics and related media, such as television and novel serials. Whatever causes the phenomenon, its tough cookie for Alan Moore. The creative process isn't a one-way system, and comics readers and professionals were just among the first to realise this.

Watchmen started out as a 12 issue comic book series, was collected as a graphic novel and finally detonated in mass consciousness with Zack Snyder's 2009 movie adaptation. Resurrecting Nixon's 1985 in its parent medium might seem in bad taste to some, but it's been done to countless fictional properties with and without their creators' consent for centuries. The works of a much more famous beardy English treasure have been raided ad infinitum - and the Bard of Avon wasn't averse to taking influence from the stories of others either.

Don't take this as an argument in favour of plagairism - simply as an expression of surprise that a fictional world as strongly affecting as Watchmen's hasn't been directly mined already. In terms of inspiring the environment of modern comics the series has certainly had a huge influence, and there's the rub.

The thought of continuing Watchmen sans Moore is a difficult one to entertain, but it's important to remember that Rorscach et al are effectively the Charlton Comics characters acquired by DC in 1983. Moore had intended to retain their names, and DC were the ones with cold feet when it came to permitting the writer to use the properties they'd acquired without first disguising them. The Charlton characters identities were obscured and so Captain Atom became Dr. Manhattan, Blue Beetle morphed into Nite Owl and The Question to Rorschach. 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths melded the Charlton superheroes into the DC universe and there the two sets of characters diverged. What can be learnt from this? That no idea exists in a creative vacuum, to sit untouched unless its orginators allow it to be.

Too popular for its own good

Struggles to recognise comics creators' ownership of their work are what pushed artists and writers to found Image Comics a few years after Watchmen was published. The cross-media hit The Walking Dead might not be on our screens if Image and its studios had never existed. Some of the Image creators have returned to mainstream comics work and even taken their studios with them - witness the absorption of Jim Lee's Wildstorm characters into the DC universe post-Flashpoint. Contributing to shared universes and working on one's own comics don't have to be mutually exclusive, just carefully balanced.

Other creator-owned efforts, like Robert Kirkman's Skybound imprint, have replaced creators who've moved back into the mainstream. A line was clearly drawn in the sand back at the point of Image's founding: an attempt at recognition where it's due.

What those creators - and Moore before them - didn't realise was that it isn't just the publishing giants they have to battle for their credit, but the readers who inject their imagination into a character or series too. The massive amount of tweeting about the speculative Watchmen sequel is solid evidence that any new series is, at worst, hotly anticipated, and would most likely help continue DC's sales success into 2012 following this year's New 52.

With reservations in mind and the greatest of affection for Moore's work, here are four suggestions for spin-offs from what many consider the greatest example of the superhero genre.

Suggested prequels

Minutemen

Moore won an Eisner Award in 2006 for a follow-up miniseries to his America's Best Comics title Top 10. Called Top 10: The Forty-Niners, the series was a look back at the first adventures of one of Top 10's more senior characters and predated Jonathan Ross' retro genre-melting-pot Turf by several years. A Forty-Niners-style look at The Minutemen, focusing on the Watchmen's predecessors before vigilantes were made illegal, would give room for action, character expansion and neatly avoid having to deal with most of the original story's main cast.

Viewed from the perspectives of Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl, and original Silk Spectre Sally Jupiter, Minutemen would probably have the most potential out of all the possible miniseries concepts that are floating around to deliver a story that would add to Watchmen without taking anything away. With the right creative style on board - say Cooke's classic, retro art and modern writing style that saw such good use in DC: New Frontier - it could be a big deal.

Rorscach and Nite Owl Team-up

Readers know that Nite Owl and Rorscach were something of a not-so-dynamic duo before the events of Watchmen. Both characters have de-tech-tive qualities to them, incorporating gadgetry with street-level crime-fighting. Andy Kubert has handled Batman before, in the Batman & Son and Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? storylines. Could Kubert be a suitable fit for a Nite Owl and Rorscach: The Masked Nutjob miniseries with guest appearances from other members of The Watchmen?

The Comedian

Perhaps the most compelling character among The Watchmen, readers barely get to scratch the surface of The Comedian outside of flashbacks. He could be the father of the second Silk Spectre, and judging by Watchmen's Viet Nam segment he might have more children across the world. Speculation is that JG Jones is attached to The Comedian, but it would be exciting to see Dave Gibbons return to write and pencil any miniseries about the charmless chuckler. Gibbons has turned in decent writing for DC with the Green Lantern Corps series and his own The Originals graphic novel.

The Watchmen Strike Again

Although only prequels have been hinted at so far, there is room for a continuation of the original. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre survive the events of Watchmen as a newly happy couple, while Rorscarch's diaries hang over the world at the office of The New Frontiersman newspaper like the sword of Damocles. The Comedian could have a few illegitimate offspring who might be interested in taking up the family business and challenging Silk Spectre; begin the series with the suspicious death of Sally Jupiter and readers have a mystery on their hands that recalls the death of The Comedian sparking the first series.

At Watchmen's close, Dr. Manhattan left for space but presciently announced to the machiavellian Ozymandias that nothing ever ends. Despite being marked for another miniseries, JG Jones' detailed style could lend a Watchmen sequel the necessary Kingdom Come-esque grandeur for a major DC storyline.

Who watches the reruns?

DC has the Watchmen property and it's highly unlikely they won't use it at some point, if not in 2012. Archetypal characters like Sherlock Holmes, Conan The Barbarian and Dracula are examples that stories continuing The Watchmen's adventures will come about decades hence when the writer and artists of the world's grittiest superteam aren't around to express their opinion. The superman exists and, for better or worse, he belongs to us all.

Sources: Bleeding Cool, Comic Book Resources and DC Comics

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

An unidentified bidder's Christmas shopping got off to a superhuman start yesterday with the close of an auction for a preserved Action Comics #1, DC Comics hero Superman's first appearance.

At final sale, the issue reached a price of $2.16 million-£1.4 million. This is the first time a comic book has sold for more than $2 million. Even more remarkably, the issue was stolen in 2000, and not recovered until it was found in a Californian storage shed in April of this year.

The issue was graded for quality by industry experts Comics Guaranty LLC. New York-based ComicConnect, the online house that handled the auction, has a history of high profile sales. ComicConnect CEO Stephen Fishler commented, "Not in my wildest imagination could I have predicted that this legendary, stolen Action Comics #1 would be found, graded at 9.0 and break the record."

Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938 and released through DC's predecessor, National Allied Publications. The character defined superheroes in popular media, and the titanic price makes Action Comics #1 the world's most expensive comic book. When the issue hit newsstands it would have cost 10¢.

This week's sale isn't the first time the Man of Steel's debut has exchanged hands for a lot of money. Another copy of Action Comics #1 - thought to be among around 100 that remain, and one of the few in well-preserved condition - was the previous record holder and sold for $1.5 million last year via ComicConnect.

The copy of the issue sold yesterday has set the record for world's most expensive comic twice before: selling for $86,000 at Sotheby's in 1992 and $150,000 in 1997. Neither the previous owner nor the buyer have been made public, but there is speculation that the comic was put up for sale by actor, geek demi-god and possible immortal vampire Nicolas Cage. Cage's graded Action Comics #1 was stolen in 2000 along with a high-graded copy of Batman's first issue, Detective Comics #27.

Cage is a well-known comics fan. Born Nicolas Coppola, Cage's pseudonym is partly inspired by Marvel superhero Luke Cage, and he named his son Kal-El after Superman's Kryptonian identity. The actor was considered for the role of Superman in a Tim Burton-directed, Kevin Smith-scripted movie that never got off the ground, but later played Big Daddy in 2010's Kick Ass.

Pannapictagraphists, or comics collectors, were spurred on in September this year when DC's New 52 launch reintroduced its entire comics universe with #1 issues, including the first new Action Comics #1 since 1938. First printings of the #1 issues saw eBay speculation. One variant of flagship title Justice League #1 was listed by Pyramid Comics of New Jersey with a starting bid of $1,199.99 - around £763.

As well as introducing Superman, Action Comics #1 was also the first appearance of other DC characters. Among the eleven stories in the issue was Zatara, the father of magician Zatanna - a cosplay-favourite currently starring with Hellblazer's John Constantine in Justice League Dark, and famous for her role in DC's controversial 2004 event Identity Crisis.

Links: Associated Press, BBC and Hollywood Reporter

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

In a move that will help to validate comics as a legitimate art form, a fund-raising campaign has begun to open a museum dedicated to the comic book creativity and personal history of Jack Kirby in New York City.

The founders and directors of the online non-profit archive and educational effort known as the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center issued a press release two weeks ago to announce that exhibition space will be sought for the museum's constantly growing collection of art, documents and memorabilia.

If Stan Lee is the George Lucas of comic books, then Jack Kirby is the medium's Spielberg. Born Jacob Kurtzberg in 1917, the artist was honoured by his family and fans in 2005 with the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center website. Currently operated from Hoboken, New Jersey, the museum's new home is intended to be housed in Kirby's childhood stomping grounds of New York's Lower East Side.

Kirby earnt his title of The King with decades of excelsior work for Marvel and DC Comics. Universally beloved, he is often recognised even outside of the comics industry as possibly the world's most influential comic book artist, to rival talents such as Osamu Tezuka and Hergé.

Kirby brought readers dynamic and powerfully-drawn tales of futuristic warriors (O.M.A.C. and Kamandi), interstellar deities (Eternals and The New Gods), sympathetic monsters (The Incredible Hulk and Devil Dinosaur) and the bold people who would walk among them (Fantastic Four and Challengers of the Unknown).

The campaign's aim is $30,000 to fund an initial goal of a temporary museum, open for three months. Donators through the Kirby Museum site will receive free postcards and stickers, and donations above $20 will receive free entry to the museum.

Project announcer and publisher of the Jack Kirby Collector magazine, John Morrow, said, "Having such a space in one of New York City's most vibrant neighborhoods will allow us to showcase educational programs, lectures, exhibits and more to pay tribute to one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century. We are already reaching out to art collectors and educators in anticipation of opening."

Comics are all about collecting and several comic book museums already operate, including New York's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, Brussels' Belgian Comic Strip Center, London's Cartoon Museum and the National Army Museum's current exhibit on the Art of DC Thomson's Commando. This September, China announced the giant Comics and Animation Museum in Hangzhou, which will take the form of eight interlocking speech bubbles. The Digital Comics Museum is an online repository of free downloads that are now in the public domain.

Kirby's legacy has been in the news recently with both positive and negative connotations. Movies based on characters Kirby was involved in the creation of such as Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor have hit cinemas worldwide over the last few years and Joss Whedon's big-screen version of The Avengers is highly anticipated for May 2012.

Dynamite Entertainment also launched the Kirby: Genesis limited series by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross and Jackson Herbert in 2011 to celebrate the lesser-known works of The King. Genesis has been followed by Captain Victory and Silver Star ongoings this October and November and a Dragonsbane limited series due in January.

In July this year, however, Kirby's estate lost a lawsuit against Marvel Comics and its cinematic partners over the rights to many of the characters the artist was involved in creating for the publisher. Kirby's creative contributions were judged as work-for-hire, but his family intends to appeal.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

It’s a time of change for comic books. The last few months have seen a lot of hype around the new DC Universe, and a push to increase diversity and appeal to a wider market of readers. With controversy also being caused by the medium’s uneven gender portrayals, it has become more important than ever to examine the role of women in mainstream superhero comics.

Comics have always had difficulty maintaining not only a female readership but also female characters. While romance comics aimed at teens thrived decades ago, and currently millions of manga books are sold to an audience of enthusiastic otaku women and girls, the Big Two publishers of superhero comics have struggled to consistently provide appealing comics that attract female readers, or feature superheroines.

Although superheroines exist in the worlds of both DC and Marvel, they don’t have a history of being treated well. Scantily-clad, big-breasted and generally a bit useless, ladies in lycra have received criticism from female readers for many years. This ire has extended into additional aspects of the Marvel and DC output – after all, what exactly was Black Widow’s role in Iron Man 2 except to look good in that catsuit?

Possibly the most notorious criticism of the treatment of women in comics was from the website Women In Refrigerators. Begun in the late-90s by writer Gail Simone, this site was set up as a response to the treatment of females in comics at the time. It gained its unusual name for the infamous scene when then-Green-Lantern Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend was dismembered by the male Major Force and found stuffed in a refrigerator. The site suggested that women in comics should not be abused, depowered or reduced to plot devices.

DC and Marvel have both had campaigns to promote comics to women, but there have been bumps in the road. An attempt to desexualise Wonder Woman by having her don trousers was removed during the run-up to DC’s soft-reboot, due to a supposed lack of favour for her new look.

Marvel Comics tried to showcase some of its female talent with Women Of Marvel in 2010, which included special limited-series runs featuring some of its female characters such as the Black Cat, and all-female creative teams on Girl Comics. Such attempts have proven mostly unsuccessful at drawing in readers or preventing critical accusations.

In general, the ill-treatment of women is still commonplace in both mainstream universes. Even The Marvel Super Hero Squad Show has a consistent, blatant depiction of Ms Marvel as a ditsy blonde who is relegated from missions and frequently treated with disdain by her male counterparts. The changes to Harley Quinn’s costume by DC provides a potent example of reducing women to a sexual fantasy: initially dressed in a head-to-toe spandex coverall, fitting for her gymnastics background, then relegated to a naughty nurse – insulting given her medical degree – and finally to a corset and hotpants as the only female member of the Suicide Squad.

Harley is not the only character whose reboot-y has received negative appraisals because of her looks. Starfire of Red Hood And The Outlaws was the centre of a storm of controversy due to her busty depiction in a tiny bikini in that series’ first issue.

The implied and sometimes explicit promiscuity of both Starfire and Catwoman in the new DC universe has prompted many people to ask just what the roles of these characters are in comics. What kind of role models and relatable stories are they providing for readers?

Two things are required to achieve true equality in comics featuring superheroines: a good plotline that doesn’t resort to storytelling centred on the character’s gender, and female characters who have consistent core values and dress and act with themselves in mind rather than a male readership.

With this in mind, it seems appropriate to give examples of comics that deliver on both of these aspects. Yes, they do exist! Both are from the DC Universe – sorry Marvel – and feature traditionally good and bad characters.

Representing the villains is Gotham City Sirens (2009-2011) and fighting for the side of good are the Birds Of Prey (in particular the 2010-2011 run). These books have women as the central cast with an additional supporting roster of both men and women, and are primarily focused on the Bat-corner of the DC Universe.

Gotham City Sirens has had many writers, but for me they saved the best until last with Peter Calloway’s final arc featuring Harley Quinn’s insane attempt to break the Joker out of Arkham Asylum. The story itself is clever and compelling; it wonderfully mixes Quinn’s devotion to Joker with her skill and genius, as she outwits the guards and even her best friend, Poison Ivy. The book strongly centres around the characters’ relationships with each other, but somehow manages to show the villainesses in a compelling, and sometimes shocking manner that kept me excitedly reading the full run.

Contrastingly, Birds Of Prey followed Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress and Lady Blackhawk: a team of heroines who tackle the problems that Batman can’t deal with. A recommended run is the opening arc of the final pre-DCnU volume that features White Canary, in which the Birds use all their abilities to track down and unmask a new enemy who threatens to expose them to the world. The women in this series are capable of amazing feats and have a complementary mix of intelligence, strength and cunning, making them a great team to read.

I would like to stress that Birds Of Prey is a book that both my fiancé and I enjoy, and its former author Gail Simone is one of the few writers whose work really seems to appeal across the sexes. Simone is now writing the well-received and decidedly masculine Firestorm: The Nuclear Men as part of DC’s New 52.

Unfortunately, neither Gotham City Sirens nor Birds Of Prey went untouched by DC’s company-wide revamp. The former has been completely dissolved. Harley Quinn is now the token female in Suicide Squad, while Poison Ivy is, eventually, moving to the new Birds Of Prey – a book that had a lukewarm start but may have some promise – and Catwoman returns to her own series.

The first issue of Selina Kyle’s latest adventures has proven to be a talking point due to her highly sexualised character and a graphic, anonymous tryst with the Dark Knight in the closing pages. It seems many readers have a love/hate relationship with Judd Winick’s new Catwoman; on the one hand it’s fair that a woman should be able to exercise her sexual rights, but on the other it felt like a relationship that has existed in the comics for many years had been tainted by casual treatment.

I feel that Catwoman #1 was written and drawn to elicit a strong response from readers before a complete plan for the book is revealed. Loved it, hated it or, as I did, set it down still undecided, a lot of people will be picking up the second issue.

For me, there are only two of the New 52 that seem to push women to the forefront while featuring genuinely exciting writing and art: Gail Simone’s Batgirl, and JH Williams III’s Batwoman. However, neither of these books is without their own points of debate.

Batgirl features the reinstated Barbara Gordon, having miraculously recovered her ability to walk, and removes her status as one of the few prominent disabled superheroes in comics. This choice by DC undermines Babs’ good work as information-genius Oracle. That said, the first issues are very well done, covering Gordon’s return to the cowl and the emotional damage she must work through as a consequence, and the quality of the book is deservedly reflected in the sales figures and critical praise.

Batwoman, although less overtly popular, is not only a visually beautiful book but also shows a lot of promise in its well-written opening issues. The title character’s lesbian alter ego, Kate Kane, does earn DC some extra diversity points too, despite the apparent loss of her on-again off-again tie in with The Question.

While in some ways the DC revamp is promising, many female characters have been controversial at best. I feel it is important to remember that, in comics, canon is made to be broken; anything that doesn’t – or does – work will eventually be changed. Hopefully, some of the things that are lost for the moment can be brought back.

It will be interesting to see how Marvel responds to New 52. DC have been one step ahead of Marvel for female-oriented books, with Ms Marvel, Black Cat and Black Widow having disappeared from comic store racks. Perhaps Marvel can learn from DC’s experience and start putting things right for their ladies.

For now, it seems that integrating the female voice into superhero comics is still as challenging as ever, but there are signs of positive change. Some very good comics featuring women are garnering public and critical success. More crucially than ever, change needs to be driven by the readers to keep women heard in mainstream comics.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

We all love comics, right? They're high-low-culture cinematic visions that you'd never see at a multiplex, avant garde tales of human experience on multiple levels, or whatever the hell else they want to be. There's a comic for everyone, and with over a hundred years’ worth to pick from, it's hardly surprising. You might think you don't like comics, but you do – you just don't know which ones yet.

“Who makes comics?” is a simple enough question, but with many variable answers. In general, though, people will answer with the names of writers, and writers of Marvel or DC publications. They are better known among casual readers and fans alike. I can guarantee you the number of people who picked up Nemesis in the shops and declared, “Oh cool, it's the guy who did the art in Civil War” is in single figures. Steve McNiven is listed as the co-creator of Nemesis, in the same way that Bryan Hitch is for The Ultimates.

Hitch also co-created The Authority, and it's impossible to separate Warren Ellis' decompressed gargantuan sci-fi wonderthon from Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary and Laura DePuy's awesome (an overused word, here applicable) depictions of alternative realities, dimension ships the size of cities, and God. These are some of the highest profile cases, but still, the artist's role seems diminished in the creative process. McNiven's lines were, while far from his best, probably the virtue of Nemesis, but he's not the reason that people pick up Clint.

Superheroes, comics' main representative in popular culture, are just the most visible part of the fractal. Jonathan Cape Publishers, along with Fantagraphics and Self Made Hero, are putting out a lot of interesting, non-superhero work at the moment, where the art and the story are the work of one person. While sales are on the increase in general, new writers will still find their work shifting fewer units than a sub-par Batman comic. Then again, as Stewart Lee has shown with his stand-up, a small and loyal following will give you all the time, money and acclaim you need to keep going. 

It's a smaller section of fans who would buy something purely for the artwork. The very nature of these one-person, literary graphic novels is different enough from mainstream comics to make the artwork alone a reason to buy. The ideal, obviously, is a perfect marriage of storytelling disciplines where the story is king. I feel, though, that the credit given for the final story is skewed in favour of writers.

The process starts with the writer. Their script can range from page long descriptions of single frames, detailing the domestic arrangements of foreground insects, or simply stating, “Dredd is on a bike, looking mint”. Without them, though, there is no story, and so nothing to draw. As they've elected to use the comic as their medium, no matter how much detail they provide they, are giving someone else the task of storytelling that would otherwise be fulfilled by descriptive prose.

One of the main areas of snobbery surrounding comics as a whole is that, because it has pictures instead of words, it is somehow a lesser form than prose. This is essentially saying that the Mona Lisa would work better as a paragraph detailing the pose of a smug woman with no eyebrows. I don't consider this hyperbole. Comic book art is still art. Drawings are another way of telling a story, and require a different talent from prose writing, not a lesser one. Is the prose of Stephanie Meyer better than the artwork of Jack Kirby automatically, because of its form?

In cinema, the writer is considered important, but really it's the director and the cast that people generally look out for. In comics, the artist is in control of nearly every comparable cinematic discipline other than writing the structure and dialogue that the tale hangs on. So says Bryan Talbot, anyway.

Straddling both sides of comic books, having drawn for DC and 2000 AD, as well as working on his own creations since 1978, Talbot is best known for his The Adventures Of Luther Arkwright, Alice In Sunderland, and more recently, Grandville and its follow up, Grandville Mon Amour. He kindly agreed to answer some of my questions.

Are artists not held in the same esteem as writers?

That depends upon the writers and artists concerned – and the country they’re in. Writers such as Grant Morrison and Alan Moore may be regarded more highly than their artists in the American superhero genre, but in France, for example, artists like Moebius and Schuiten are valued far more than their writers.

As they come in at the end of the process, do inkers get the credit they deserve?

Probably not, though in superhero comics, most of them are simply doing perfunctory commercial work with no personal involvement. They’re just part of a production line.

As the workload is so much greater for the artist, has your experience of payment been equal or skewed towards the writer or the artist? Not naming figures, but when you were starting out did you find things skewed in favour of the writer? Is this similar on publications with a larger readership?

I think the payment system is usually pretty fair. After all, many artists don’t have a clue as to how to create an original story. Though writers can make far more money simply because the writing takes a lot less time. It takes me around a week to write a Grandville script and about a year to draw it. Then again, I’ll have been thinking of the script and making notes for months beforehand, while working on other things. I also rework and polish the script while drawing it.

What do you see the role of the artist as in terms of storytelling?

The artists obviously have to do all the visual storytelling. They are the equivalent of the actors, cameraman, costume designer, lighting technician, and so forth in a film. In the “Marvel style” of writing, they even have to break the story up into individual panels and, sometimes, pages. To a large extent they control the pacing and atmosphere, not to mention the surface quality.

Obviously, each writer is different, but generally does interpreting a script involve a lot of additional detail that isn't mentioned?

Of course.

As you've been drawing from your own scripts for a while now, do you ever find yourself adding in things while making the artwork that you hadn't thought of while writing?

Occasionally. I’m a bastard when it comes to writing for myself. I’m always putting things in that I know will look great but that I’ll find hard or very time-consuming to draw.

Having performed both roles, would you say that people respond more to the writing than to the art?

I’d say that they respond to the story, which is a combination of the two.

Bryan Talbot, thank you very much.

So, potentially, am I getting worried about something which is not really a problem? Are artists writing Anglo-American superhero comics getting fairly represented? Let the healthy, well-informed Internet debate ensue!

Thanks to James Robertson, webmaster at Bryan Talbot’s fansite, for his assistance in arranging this interview.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

It’s inevitable that there’s only going to be a small proportion of you that, ultimately, are directly interested in the tips that Jason Arnopp outlines in his e-book, How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else. After all, interviewing posh and famous people isn’t part and parcel of most of our lives. But that’s not to say that Arnopp’s work isn’t worthwhile and quite fascinating nonetheless.

He comes to the book with some pedigree, having conducted interviews with a broad range of people, across a broad range of publications. Many know him for his Doctor Who work, but Arnopp has tackled many subjects, and he laces his book with lots of useful anecdotes as a consequence.

His aim is suitably straightforward: to work out what makes a good interview, and to give tips on how to be a better interviewer. And he packs his virtual pages with lots and lots of often quite golden advice. He covers lots of the basics, such as never try and make friends with the person you’re interviewing, and he also goes over some of the more obvious pitfalls. But it’s in the details where Arnopp gets across lots of things you may not have appreciated. And even if you’ve no intention of interviewing anyone famous ever in your life, the book still offers an interesting insight.

Where it falters a little is perhaps being a little unrealistic at times as to how many interviews are conducted. Arnopp has extremely wise advice about trying to make sure that you have the room to yourself, with no agent in attendance, or avoiding round table interviews at all costs. But the problem is that, unless you’re working for a publication of the size of some of Arnopp’s occasional employers, you’re rarely in a position to pick and choose. The advice of the book would seem to be to reject interviews that are conducted in such circumstances, but the sad fact is that they tend to be the norm, rather than the exception. And often, that leaves you without any interview at all.

However, in Arnopp’s defence, what he’s not setting out here is an absolute agenda for making interviews and interviewers better. Rather, he’s presenting, concisely, a wealth of useful information, and it’s up to you which, if any, you use. Certainly some of his tips for handling cold, uninterested interviewees are extremely welcome.

How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else is a really useful piece of work, that Arnopp has self-published at an economical price. It’s golden for journalism students, potential interviewers and also simply for those interested in pulling back the curtain a little on how the process works.

And at £5.90, this is a flat out bargain, comfortably worth three times the price.

You can buy How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else here.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Around this time last year, BBC Books released The Coming Of The Terraphiles, an Eleventh Doctor novel written by Michael Moorcock. The book was aimed at older science-fiction readers, and its story proceeded in continuity with the author’s own oeuvre of science fiction novels. It also cost ten pounds more than any of the titles in the regular range of Eleventh Doctor novels.

The Silent Stars Go By is slightly cheaper, for those concerned by list price, but I don't think the point of this fledgling special range is for fans to quibble about whether or not it’s worth waiting until the sales. It's a Christmas gift of a book, essentially. 

It's a handy stocking filler for your young Doctor Who fan, or a Secret Santa gift for the Whovian in your workplace, but nobody's going to quibble about value for money too much. It's handy that author Dan Abnett has the nous to deliver an enjoyable tale with the Eleventh Doctor, but I struggle to see that there's much in here that he couldn't have done in the more regular range. 

The Doctor, Amy and Rory are planning on a quiet Christmas, in contemporary Leadworth, with no unnecessary running around and screaming. As per usual, the TARDIS doesn't take them where they want to go, instead landing them on the planet Hereafter in the midst of its own winter festival. 

In Narnian fashion, the current winter is lasting an awfully long time, and each successive winter is worse than the one before. The Morphan colonists subsist on what they can produce themselves as they wait for terraforming procedures to make their planet as hospitable as Earth used to be. However, their livestock is being killed, and several of their number have been taken, by forces unknown. 

Paranoia reigns with the arrival of the unexpected visitors, and the Doctor has his work cut out for him when he realises that his old adversaries, the Ice Warriors, are behind the climate changes on the planet. Hereafter is the most Earth-like planet they can find, and they aim to make it their own, irrespective of the danger to the Morphans. 

There's a decent groundswell of support for the Ice Warriors to come back in the revived series of Doctor Who. Russell T Davies once said in an interview that he would have liked to bring the reptilians back, and they earned a mention in the 2009 special, The Waters Of Mars. They're green men from Mars, but in the true tradition of Who, their history is nothing so simple. 

In the course of their four appearances in the series' history, they've worked both against the Doctor and, by the time of the Peladon stories, as a force for the peace-keeping Galactic Federation. They have a complex code of honour that makes them more negotiable than the other big hitters in the show's rogues gallery, like the Daleks, the Cybermen or the Sontarans. 

Still, until an on-screen return actually happens, we have Abnett's version, and he writes them very well. His descriptions are unmistakably Ice Warriors, and yet to a reader who has never seen them in black-and-white Patrick Troughton adventures, or tangling with Jon Pertwee on Peladon, they come to life, right off the page. Abnett's prose makes them fearsome and real – it's an astute update of a classic Doctor Who creature. 

Even their weaponry is updated, with vivid descriptions of how the air warps and bulges with its sonic blast. It's a nice touch when even a near miss is powerful enough to give Rory a nosebleed. Inevitably, the three main characters have to be split up in some way or another, but the most effective passage of the book finds Rory running for his life from a rampaging Ice Warrior. It's very well written, and the action is as pulse-pounding as words on the page can be. 

It's unfortunate then, that the story itself runs out of steam after a few early encounters with the green giants. Once they start having discussions with people, their threat feels somewhat diminished. Additionally, the Ice Warriors don't seem enough to sustain the narrative for upwards of 300 pages, and we eventually see an even bigger threat to the Morphans and Hereafter coming in, quite late in the day. 

The Morphans themselves are retro-futuristic creations – a relatively primitive human society existing on an alien planet. They're intergalactic villagers, substituting God for the mysterious Guide (“Guide help us”) and deeply distrusting strangers. 

This allows for one of Abnett's numerous twists on what we know about the series, which are always clever and inventive. In this instance, we see the Doctor try to infiltrate the Morphans using the psychic paper, and find out what happens when an illiterate person is shown writing on it. Long story short, it winds up with the Doctor and Amy temporarily banged up. 

The Doctor is pretty well-characterised, and Abnett captures the fast rhythm of his eleventh incarnation's speech, but I've always found some of the most important aspects of Matt Smith's portrayal to be physical, which don’t translate quite as well. This leaves some of his scenes with the Ice Warriors feeling like they could have taken place with another Doctor instead. 

The chapter titles in The Silent Stars Go By, and of course, the title of the book itself, all come from Christmas carols and hymns, but the overall feeling I got from the book was that it wasn't hugely festive. Doctor Who on Christmas Day is usually a big blockbuster, and while it might only be my personal preference, that's when I like Voyage Of The Damned much more than The End Of Time Part One. 

The early promise of The Silent Stars Go By is in its similarity to some of the themes addressed in Steven Moffat's episode from last year, A Christmas Carol, with a group of colonists, celebrating with optimism in the bleak midwinter. The winter festival stuff is pretty much disposable, giving way to a romping Ice Warrior confrontation thereafter. 

The increased page length really stretches the limits of the story, and honestly, I wouldn't say it was worth the inflated list price as a personal purchase. On the other hand, it's packaged in such a way that it's meant for the Christmas market, and there's enough to recommend it as a gift for someone else. 

If you receive this book, wrapped up in shiny paper on Christmas morning, I would say that it's worth a read on the merit of the story's strong characterisations, Abnett's literacy in all things Doctor Who, and his smart revival of the Ice Warriors as a credible menace. Perhaps there's a perfect Christmas special to be had, where the Ice Warriors are front and centre once more. In the meantime, this is close enough, and at least it's sort of festive.

The Silent Stars Go By is out now and available from the Den Of Geek store.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

“Possibly the finest writer in the country today,” announces the back cover of this anthology of extraordinary weirdness. Well, it’s certainly fair to say Mr Lines has the finest collection of characters.

Take the man who discovers that Twitter can be used in ritual magic. Or the puppet master whose final show is a little too realistic. The Chinese market stall owner who makes people’s problems – and, indeed, the people – disappear. And the club for serial killers which isn’t averse to showing its own members how it’s done.

These all feature in CJ Lines’ Cold Mirrors, a collection of short stories about people and situations that veer from the macabre, to the bizarre, through to the outrageous and then back to the really macabre – so much so that you may find yourself having to re-read a couple of endings just to make sure you understood it right the first time.

Although some of what happens is completely within the realms of fantasy, it’s written with such realism that you will find yourself believing every word. Maybe trending topics actually do alter the fabric of the universe. Who’s to say that someone wasn’t killed this morning by his own newspaper? Are you sure that monkeys are completely innocent creatures?

There is a wide range of material and ideas here, parts of which work better than others. The shorter stories, some only five or six pages, are fine examples of the twist in a fiction world becoming increasingly short of real surprises.

The lengthier ones are a chance for Lines to show off a writing style, which refuses to comply with the thinking that horror novels shouldn’t have sentences longer than seven words. Initially, I found this something of a distraction, but I began to realise that his skill isn’t in the immediate shock, but in the slow, agonising, insidious build-up. The most disturbing thing is the totally deadpan, completely uneventful way in which the most horrifying events are put on the page. “Oh, by the way, this is happening. And it’s awful. And I’m going to make it seem completely normal.”

As with any anthology, there are bound to be a couple of lesser stories. There’s nothing terrible here, but one or two tales are more baffling than enjoyable, and sometimes you wish that things would get moving just a little bit faster. These are, however, minor criticisms of a collection that doesn’t really deserve any.

Surprising, amusing and absolutely repulsive in equal measure, this is the first book in a while which has (rather unwantedly, in places) stayed with me well beyond the back cover. Let’s hope that Mr Lines continues along his own path, and keeps his bloody and integrity-free corner of the market to himself.

Cold Mirrors is out now and available from the Den Of Geek Store.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Let's face it, The Inbetweeners is puerile, cringe worthy, painful and very, very funny. It's the type of comedy that the UK excels at: embarrassingly brutal in its over-the-top antics, it takes a swipe at our own sensibilities and shows a British ability to laugh at practically anything. It's a reminder that teenage boys are childish, oversexed and full of adolescent angst, as well as stories of their conquests and silliness.

So having swept fans away with the antics of Will, Simon, Neil and Jay, series creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris give us a last hurrah in the form of the Rudge Park Yearbook, a publication that was, William McKenzie states in his rather self-congratulatory introduction, hastily put together, not in the right order and may include things that shouldn't have been included.

One of McKenzie’s last acts at Rudge Park, it seems, was to create the first Rudge Park Yearbook with pretentious, pseudo-intellectual plans to leave a lasting memorial of his influence on his school. He may make a fool of himself, but he continues to be endearingly naïve as we read his UCAS form, speeches, profile and many other highbrow contributions. With his best friend, Simon, and two other friends, Neil and Jay, also offering their own articles of dubious quality, ranging from extracts from Simon’s diary to Jay’s guide to the fairer sex, we get to revisit memories of classic moments from the series.

This isn’t to say, by any stretch, that the book is a rehash of ideas from the TV series. Instead, it's a set of original materials that, for fans of the series, will mean something or spark a memory of what went on in the three seasons. Other characters get a look-in, with everyone from Will's mother (in a letter to his former school) to Alistair Scott offering super thanks to those who attended his fashion show. Talking of the fashion show, Carli's behind the scenes write up is followed by Simon's diary on the worst day of his life.

The book is as cringe worthy as the series in places, especially Mr Kennedy’s various clubs (Massage Club, Art Club and Greco-Roman Wrestling Club), and his submissions to the photo page. There are also such treats as Neil’s film reviews – Sex And The City 2 should be called “Some grannies who never shut up who occasionally have boring sex in the city” and The Last Airbender is the funniest film he's ever seen – and his coursework on reproduction, entitled, “Do you put the balls in.” The other characters don’t miss out either, with Simon’s appalling poetry and love of Carli coming over quite regularly, Jay’s business and A to Z of Sex offering an insight into the greatest teller of tall tales.

The Yearbook is the kind of volume you probably won't read cover-to-cover in a traditional style. It's more a coffee table book, or the kind of book that you'll pick up and flick to a random page, read, laugh, maybe flick to another page, and repeat the whole process. Some of the humour is stretched somewhat, but it doesn't stop being funny.

The only place it really falls short is its lack of photos. As daft as it sounds, it would have been nice to see more images of the various characters alongside Neil’s rather random drawings, which are just as bizarre as you would expect.

If you're a fan of this series, you're going to love the book. You'll hear each character’s distinctive voice in these pages, whether it be Will or Donovan’s contributions, or sex advice from Jay and Simon. Although presented as a yearbook, it is, as Mr Gilbert acknowledges, really a mess of articles scooped up from a tearfully overworked McKenzie's desk and dumped at the printers.

It’s a set of rather embarrassing and occasionally incoherent articles, laced with the humour you’d expect from the TV show. For fans of the series, it’s easily worth four stars, though inevitably, you may not rate it so highly if you've no idea what The Inbetweeners is.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

I had just 24 hours to read James Corden’s new autobiography, May I Have Your Attention, Please?, before I was due to interview him. It’s a book that gets off to a bit of a bumpy start before it finds its feet, and it’s punctuated with a number of apologies to assorted people.

But, I thought it was a really, really engaging read. I wasn’t sure what to expect from an autobiography of a 32-year-old, but his in-depth look back at his theatre work, a very, very funny account of a rugby match, a fascinating insight into working with Mike Leigh, and the incredible story of The History Boys are among the many, many highlights.

It’s something of a treat, with Corden dissecting his work, discussing his critics, and showing off the many facets of his character, warts and all.

The current newspaper serialisation of the book does it no favours, with the headlines being around Corden’s time in the company of Lily Allen. There just happens to be a lot more to it than that.

Which made the following interview a really interesting one to do. Here’s what Mr Corden has to say...

It’s probably best to tell you from the start that I’ve got a bone to pick with you.

Go on.

It about page 308 of your book. I like the fact that you start each chapter with recommended film and music to enjoy it with, but I’ve got to take umbrage with the chapter where you say “Best film to watch alongside:”, and you write, “Back To The Future (not the third one)”. So what’s wrong with the third one?

I just don’t think it’s as good as the first two. The truth is, that I’ve only seen the third one once, whereas I’ve seen one and two a lot. So, do you know what, I’ll bow down to your superior knowledge, given that you’ve seen it more!

I think I only remember how I felt when I went to see it at the cinema. And that was I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first two. It’s the cowboy one, isn’t it?

Yeah. It’s brilliant.

Is it?

Yeah.

Is it really? Because now I feel bad! I should go back and watch it.

There are loads of homages to classic films and westerns in it, and there are mirrors of shots from the first two films, too.

Really?

It depends how nerdy you want to get about it all. I think it’s massively underrated.

I think I didn’t really appreciate it as much as I should have done. I’m definitely going to rewatch it now!

Moving onto your book, then. I think the thing for me that really came across was where you talked in-depth about your work in theatre, which seems to be a side of your work that not too many people fully appreciate. You certainly come across as happiest, professionally, when doing either theatre or writing in the book. Would you say that’s a fair reflection?

Yeah. I think they’re the two times where you’re allowed to be the most creative, I think. In the theatre, you get to rehearse for five, six, sometimes seven weeks. And then opening in a show, like the play I’m doing now, it’s wonderfully rewarding. As is writing.

The truth is that the thing I enjoy the most is writing something, and then being in it. Because you really get to be there at every stage of that thing’s life. There’s nothing quite like writing a line months ago, and then you’re on a set somewhere that looks exactly as you described it, and someone delivers the line in a better way than you ever imagined it could be. That would happen on our show [Gavin And Stacey] quite lot. We had such a good cast, and they would lift it 50 per cent sometimes. I’m absolutely at my happiest there.

There’s one picture that you paint in the book, of you getting to the theatre early, before a show, and sitting on the stage looking out into the empty auditorium. It struck me, reading that, that it’s theatre you’re most in awe of?

I still do it now.

You’re taking your play [One Man, Two Guvnors] around the country at the moment, before moving it to London?

We started at the National, and we start a week after that on the tour, and then we come back and go to the West End.

Is that strange in any way? Because at the point you’re writing the book, your son had just been born, and it’s quite interesting that the first project you do afterwards is straight back into theatre. And it’s like you’re regrounding yourself?

Yeah, although I got offered the play a long time before I knew I was going to have a baby. I think it was over a year before we started it that I agreed to do it. Just because of schedules, and things like that.

The thing is, some people said it was a strange choice to go and do this play, and it never really crossed my mind not to. What you want, or what I want, is a varied and full career, that’s all. It’s about nothing more than that. I’m overjoyed, and blown away by how the play I’m doing at the moment is being received. What this has taught me is that I don’t want to really go more than two years, if I can, without doing a play, because you lose those muscles sometimes. It’s such a wonderful place to be.

It’s muscles as well, perhaps, that people don’t expect you to have, or that they’ve forgotten that you had. You talk in the book about when three projects got terrible reviews within a month of each other: your sketch show, your first time hosting the Brits, and Lesbian Vampire Killers. Do you still pay a price for that, do you think?

I think I do, and I don’t really know why. I’m unsure as to why that is. But people only ever ask me, and they don’t ask the people who write those things, you know?

I think I’ve been very honest about how I feel about those projects. But I’m not the first person to have been in a film that was very good, and underperformed. And I’m not the first person to have made a sketch show on BBC Three, and it got reviewed badly. And I’m certainly not the first person to have hosted the Brits and not go down very well.

But I am unsure... that was in 2009, and I think that the work I’ve done since then has been good. I think that the third series of Gavin And Stacey was good, which was written after that. So, I don’t know. I wonder if it’ll ever go. If someone’s not really liking you, you’re probably not doing anything, is the truth.

Do you get to a point where it’s c’est la vie, especially when you’re on something like Twitter, which puts you as close the people who dislike you as like you as it’s realistically possible to be in the modern world? I love the bit in the book where The History Boys director Nicholas Hytner accurately predicts individual critical reaction to it. I just wonder if that helps?

The thing that I take is that far greater people than me, who you would consider to be absolute national treasures, have endured far worse criticism than I will ever go through.

Someone like Gary Barlow is a prime example. Someone who is a national treasure, who you’d say is loved by everyone, and the criticism that I’ve ever had doesn’t even touch the tip of the iceberg of the things that have been said about him. Or David Beckham.

Or, you know, I was lucky enough to go to dinner once with Tom Jones. And I was asking him about Elvis Presley. I asked him for stories, and he said, the funniest thing is, before Elvis died, all he was getting was negative press. People were just out to get him, and now, no one remembers those things.

When Woody Allen dies, no one will talk about Match Point. They’ll talk about Manhattan.

You can’t think about it. And, I would love to know quite why people would think it was okay to behave in such a manner when they go to work. But that’s not for me to think about. All I can do is try and do my best.

There’s one piece of criticism that you got in the book, when you talk about working with Mike Leigh. And I don’t think anyone’s really written about working with Mike Leigh as explicitly as you do here. The bit where he confronts you with a very, very honest assessment of the show Fat Friends, I thought was really stark. How do you feel when with Mike Leigh, who you clearly idolise, your introduction to him is him saying that he really doesn’t like the show that you’re in?

That’s fine. Because that’s a very different thing. Criticism of a show is very different to criticism of a person and their abilities. And that’s a line which I think people confuse.

Of course, anybody’s free to criticise a show and not like it. We all like and don’t like things, and it would be boring if we all liked the same thing. What Mike didn’t do was dismiss anyone involved in that show as not being talented. It’s just not a show that he liked. Also, if Mike had liked that show, it would have been doing something wrong, because it was a prime time show on ITV, and I don’t think Mike Leigh is a target audience for it.

That’s the fine line. I’ve been lucky enough in the past year or so to have had some wonderful reviews, in this play, for example. But I am just a person in it. I am just a cog in a wheel. It can only be as good as the script in your hands and the people you are working with. So this play, being a success, isn’t down to me. In the same way that Lesbian Vampire Killers underperforming or being reviewed badly isn’t down to me, either.

Michael Owen said a great thing once. He said, you’re either the greatest footballer in the world, or you’re shit. And the truth is neither of those things is true. And that’s the same for me. None of those things are true, the good and the bad. I try to take them with a bag of salt.

I loved reading about the process you want through on Mike Leigh’s All Or Nothing, which you describe as quite lonely in the book, which I thought was interesting in itself, given that you were in the middle of so much that you wanted to do at the time.

Where did that loneliness come from, and if you hadn’t learned so much about character creation from Mike Leigh, where do you think that would have left Gavin And Stacey?

I think if I hadn’t have done any of things... in some ways, I feel like all the things that I did before Gavin And Stacey were all leading to that point. Working with Shane [Meadows, TwentyFourSeven] was as beneficial. There’s something incredibly inspiring when you’re eighteen years old and you’re watching a film director who’s twenty four. You go wow, he’s just doing it. He’s not waiting around, he’s just doing it.

The same with Mike, when you realise that character and story are all that really matters. Good characters, and a good story, and that’s it. So, yeah, it was all of that. And then working with Alan [Bennett] and Nick [Hytner], I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with so many people. I do feel like they’ve sort of shaped, and some of the work that I’ve done.

The parts of the book where you talk about the stage and film productions of The History Boys are terrific, I think. It really captures a snapshot of a stage and a time, that just by nature of the roles you were playing you just can’t ever go back to.

Exactly.

And how seamlessly the film came about. I remember reading Nigel Hawthorne’s book, where he talks about having to go and play a part in Demolition Man he didn’t like to help get The Madness Of King George film made [the previous Alan Bennett/Nicholas Hytner collaboration]. Those parts about The History Boys feel like a real freeze frame of your life.

Absolutely. And the greatest thing about making that film for us is that often you do a play, and it’s on, and if you do well, it sells, and if it’s sold out, perhaps 30,000 people will see it. And that’s it, and when it’s done it’s done. All you’ve got is your memories of it, and perhaps a programme.

Whereas the greatest thing about us shooting that film is that forever now we have this thing, with a box, and a cover. And we can pull it out and I think it’ll be really interesting in our 50s and 60s to watch it, and go oh my God, that’s what we did. That text, those lines, those words. It was a magical thing to be involved in.

The first question I was originally going to ask you, and this was before I’d picked the book up, is that I think 32 is a very young age to write an autobiography [he's 33 now], and I didn’t understand why you’d tackle it now. And then I read the book. It makes sense, that you appear to have lived through two or three lifetimes in 32 years, had to put up with a forcefield of criticism thrown in your direction, and a forcefield of praise. It’s some cocktail.

But it got me thinking. You say in the press release that you should never have been this guy. You’re not the cool, good-looking boy at school. And it struck me that the first 30-odd years, you’ve been pushing against what people don’t think you can do. But now, you’re proven you can. So what changes? What do you push to do next?

I think you’re probably right. I’ve never really thought of it like that, as pushing against stuff. I’ve never really seen it in such a black and white way.

The trick is to try and keep challenging myself, really. I’m writing a new series for BBC Two, which is a comedy thriller called The Wrong Mans. It’s so up Den Of Geek’s street, you have no idea. It couldn’t be further away from the world of Gavin And Stacey, and the trick is to keep trying to do those things. I’d love to just carry on, really.

The truth is that for all that stuff you mentioned there, the good and the bad, I’m incredibly grateful for it. For all of it, I truly am. Because a lot of that stuff that’s mentioned in the book, I did bring a lot of that on myself. I wasn’t really behaving in a manner...

I got asked yesterday if I thought I’d been misrepresented badly. And all I could say was I think I was representing myself quite badly at the time, both personally and professionally.

Right now, sat here, I’ve never really been happier, both personally and professionally. And the trick is to push the boundaries of what you can do, safe in the knowledge that you will make mistakes. You can’t make anything without making mistakes, nobody can. That’s it really. All you can do is try and do your best.

You know when you’ve done your best, and you know when you haven’t. You know when you’ve worked your hardest, and you know when you could have tried a bit harder. And that’s all you can do, really. Keep going, and keep trying to help yourself.

Do you think you give some of your detractors a pass in the book? I did wonder that while reading it. You’re no fool. You know that some people are going to like what you do, and some that won’t. But there’s a lot of the time when you talk about the criticism in there that it almost feels your way of coping with it to say they were right.

Well, no. I think they were right about the work. I could write a book about how I felt at the time. But I, unlike a lot of those people, don’t want to sit down and write a book about things I don’t like. I can’t see how it can benefit anyone, and I can’t see how it’d benefit me. And I’m at an absolute loss to see how it could benefit them.

Obviously, they take some form or solace or enjoyment from it, and that’s completely up to them. But the last thing I want to do is sit down and write things about people that aren’t very nice. I couldn’t think of a worse way to live my life.

When I say I think they’re right, I mean I think they’re right about those particular projects. They weren’t good enough, they weren’t. On no level were they good enough. But that doesn’t mean that someone’s not very good, it just means they did something that wasn’t.

We all seem to forgive Matt Damon when he’s in You, Me & Dupree. Or George Clooney in Batman & Robin. Or Robert De Niro when he’s in Rocky & Bullwinkle. And if these heroes of mine, these legends, are making mistakes, then who’s mad enough to think I won’t make one?

You speak for yourself where forgiving De Niro for Rocky & Bullwinkle is concerned.

[Laughs] Well, I’m looking forward to seeing Killer Elite!
I think Jason Statham is really underrated. And I’m a huge Clive Owen fan, and stick De Niro in the mix, and a kick ass yellow, black and white poster, and I’m in!

You ever see Clive Owen in Chancer?

Yes! Yes! One of the greatest television series ever!

It’s interesting you mention Steve Martin in the book, too. He talked, in his autobiography, about if people weren’t laughing at his jokes, he got through it by assuming that they were the ones in the wrong for not laughing.

[Laughs] I love Steve Martin. 

Me too. I’m the person who managed to sit through Cheaper By The Dozen 2 and still find at least one thing to laugh at.

Completely. Steve Martin is a prime example... he’s never sat down and gone I’m going to try and make a bad film. Well, perhaps other than Bringing Down The House. But I’m with you. I’ll defend him. The truth is, if you’ve made The Three Amigos, who the hell are we to say anything negative about Steve Martin?

He made The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains and All Of Me within a few years of each other. An amazing run.

Yeah. John Hughes is another example. If you look up the 80s, and what he did in ten years. And then he made two films that didn’t work, and people killed him. They killed him so much that he said, right, I’m not going to do this any more. And he just moved out and built a ski slope in his garden. You kind of what to go, who am I? You can say that you didn’t like that film, I didn’t enjoy it John Hughes. But you are still one of the greatest film makers ever. If they’ll go after John Hughes...!

He’s unbelievable. And then he dies, and he’s a hero again. It’s just so said. Just because you do something that’s not great, it doesn’t mean that you’re bad.

For me, one of my all-time heroes is Ronnie Barker. And I remember when Not The Nine O’Clock News did a massive piss take of The Two Ronnies. That’s just how it goes. Comedy should evolve like that, it absolutely should. It needs to keep breaking new ground, and new people should come through. But Ronnie Barker? If he’d only ever done Porridge, he’d still be better than almost anyone else. Porridge, Open All Hours, The Two Ronnies... that’s a huge hit rate.

And with that, we ran out of time! James Corden, thank you very much.

May I Have Your Attention Please? is available now, published by Random House.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

The Dandy is a British institution, part of the great Dundee comics powerhouse that is DC Thomson, who also publish The Beano, The Broons and Commando.

The Dandy is something most people are aware of, if not familiar with. Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat and Bananaman are all characters who have graced the comic's pages throughout the years. If you grew up in Britain, you probably received a Dandy or Beano annual for Christmas. It's one of those things that seems like it has simply always been there.

However, the latest circulation figures show that, in the first half of 2011, The Dandy lost almost half its readership. In October 2010, it was rebranded (losing the word Xtreme from its title), and incorporated celebrity spoofs alongside new strips. The comic now resembles a strange parody of Heat at times, with a regular Harry Hill strip and pop culture references amidst such characters as My Own Genie, Mr Meacher The Uncool Teacher and Desperate Dan.

In a recent issue, nine out of thirty two pages featured comics based on real celebrities, including the front and back cover. It is this approach that has angered a portion of its readership (although, if social media sites are anything to go by, this portion mainly consists of a few dozen adults who aren't very good at the whole 'change' thing).

Not knowing any children, I don't know whether they either like or get some of the references, but certainly most of the celebrity strips are, as the cover promises, mickey-takes. It seems like a minor annoyance, when the rest of the comic is exactly what you'd expect of it. As an adult, I've only ever read The Dandy for research into Den Of Geek articles, and I’m not a long-term reader.

Comics are having a hard time in general, and circulation figures show a slight increase in magazine sales but a decrease in comics. Heavyweights such as The Simpsons and Doctor Who Magazine have lost sales despite no obvious decrease in quality. Clint has hardly set the world on fire, but that might be because it isn't as good as the alternatives. 2000 AD is still maintaining a high level of quality, but times are tough.

The Dandy deliberately moved away from a magazine format to include more strips. Crucially for some people, established stars have moved away from the covers, but the really important question regarding The Dandy is this: is it any good?

The answer, as far as I'm concerned, is a resounding yes.

It now has strips that appeal to children and adults. There's a gleeful, all-pervading sense of silliness that makes such CBBC shows as Sorry I've Got No Head and The Legend Of Dick And Dom appealing to a wide audience. Even if a youngling doesn't know who Mr T is, they're going to understand an angry man shouting advice at them, and they're definitely going to understand The Bogies (featuring Justin Sneezer) even if they have, mercifully, been spared the knowledge of the celebrity it references.

Does anyone remember the experience of finding The Sarah Jane Adventures infinitely more mature than early Torchwood? That something happy in its own skin, capable of being enjoyed by everyone, but aimed largely at children, could easily surpass something aimed at us dark and cynical adult types? That's how reading The Dandy feels  when compared with some adult-comic strips. It was purely enjoyable, in no way patronising, and considerably funnier than I expected. The artwork is varied, idiosyncratic and therefore less daunting for children, particularly aspiring young artists who want to develop their own style – these artists clearly have, so why not them?

This begs the question: Why are the comic's average sales figures falling?

It’s a tricky question, because while the new direction has divided opinion, there are plenty of people out there who love it. Compared with Dandy Xtreme (and how effortlessly patronising does that sound for a kids' comic title?), it is a more traditional comic, with no free gifts or feature articles. There are adverts, jokes pages and competitions, but otherwise it’s just comic strips. This seems, intuitively, like a good idea, but perhaps it is one of idealism over pragmatism.

Egmont Publishing produce Toxic Magazine for a similar audience, but as well as comic strips, it features reviews of film, music and sport. Its sales figures went up very slightly, but with an average circulation of around 40,000, it sells almost six times as many copies as The Dandy (albeit with a fortnightly rather than weekly release rate).

Let’s be honest, there are many examples of something great being cancelled due to a lack of popularity. Firefly, Doctor Who, Arrested Development, Attention Scum – the list goes on. (Here's a Den of Geek list of shows cancelled before their time.)

The obvious worry is that The Dandy might go the way of Beezer or Topper, until DC Thomson end up publishing just one children's comic under The Beano banner, incorporating the most popular comics from its other titles. This has happened before, with its leading titles assimilating the more popular strips from other comics with dwindling sales.

You may not be a parent, or have children who would read The Dandy, but I would definitely recommend trying it anyway. It’s worth having a look at, for not only is it gloriously daft, but you'd also be helping a worthwhile cause. Then, if you like it enough, a subscription is an offensively reasonable £15 for fifteen issues.

Why, that could be somebody’s birthday present. (Sorry, not sure what happened there. I'm not on commission for this, incidentally, but I do have a birthday coming up.)

It just seems a massive shame that a group of talented people – and it’s not as though comic creators in the UK are huge earners to begin with – are having their ability and livelihoods called into question, mostly by adults who the comic is not aimed at. Buying one issue, just to see if you like it, isn't a huge hassle.

The alternative is that, one day, there won't be as many comics around for children, and so there won't be as many places that aspiring writers and illustrators can go to earn a living. There'll just be the Internet, which is not an easy place to stand out in, while Clint, Disney & Me, and Bob The Builder will be all that's left in newsagents.

And none of those has a strip where the sun is covered in jam on the whim of an infant British Prime Minister. The Dandy does. Just sayin'.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Along with Star Wars, Ridley Scott’s Alien is possibly the most influential science fiction movie of the past 50 years. Scott’s other classic genre entry, Blade Runner, may have informed the look of legion videogames and films, but Alien sparked a lucrative film franchise, numerous low-budget clones, as well as spin-off comics, videogames and merchandise.

The success of Alien is entirely due to Scott, the artists who collaborated with him, and their refusal to give in to the film’s B-movie underpinnings. The framework of Alien is straight out of 50s genre fare such as It! The Terror From Beyond Space – Dan O’Bannon’s original script was called Starbeast, which is a fair indication of the sort of creature-of-the-week picture it could have been.

Instead, Scott’s attention to detail, and the extraordinary art and production design came together to create a far more resonant, disturbing and downright unforgettable movie than anyone could have reasonably anticipated.

In spite of Alien’s lasting importance in the canon of big-screen sci-fi, relatively little has been written about it, at least in printed form. A quick browse of Amazon will reveal an entire library of books about Star Wars lore, and the making of the 1977 original and its sequels.

A definitive document about the making of Alien, however, is less easy to find – there's Giger’s Alien, which details the Swiss artist’s vital part making in the movie, and The Book Of Alien, a much earlier account that is now out of print.

It’s taken more than 30 years to arrive, but a book dedicated to the making of Alien has finally been published. By Empire writer Ian Nathan, Alien Vault: The Definitive Story Behind The Film is the most complete document an Alien fan could hope for.

First, there’s the luxurious construction of the thing: housed in a sturdy slipcase, Alien Vault is an inch-thick casket of nightmarish treasures. Its pages are lavishly illustrated with stills and behind-the-scenes photos, all beautifully reproduced. But the biggest surprise comes housed in five semi-translucent wallets, bound in among the book’s 175 leaves. Within each wallet you’ll find reproductions of Scott’s extraordinarily detailed storyboard illustrations (fondly dubbed Ridleygrams), blue prints of the Nostromo, Giger artwork, poster art, and most charming of all, a Weylan-Yutani sticker.

And when the initial joy of stumbling across all these artefacts begins to fade, there’s still the story of Alien’s production to read through. Ian Nathan’s thorough account of the film’s evolution, from when it was little more than a nightmare in writer Dan O’Bannon’s mind, via the script’s progress from its early possible fate as a swiftly-made Roger Corman flick, to its final resting place in the hands of Fox and Ridley Scott, is fascinating stuff.

True Alien fans will have no doubt collated much of the film’s history from various director’s commentaries and magazine articles over the years, but Nathan’s gathered it all together exceptionally well, and written a potentially dry chronology of its production process with infectious enthusiasm.

Nathan’s also managed to score some great reviews with seemingly everyone majorly involved in Alien’s birth; Ridley Scott provides a wry commentary of its progress, explaining how, with his artistic flair and powers of persuasion, he managed to pry vital added funds from Fox executives. Giger describes how his unforgettably hideous creature was built out of rubber and condoms. Sigourney Weaver and co-stars describe the film’s labyrinthine set, difficult working conditions, and Scott’s relentless perfectionism.

Alien Vault makes one thing abundantly clear: the film’s path to the big screen wasn’t a straight one, and at any turn, could have wound up as a vastly different beast from the one that wound up in cinemas. But somehow, the right combination of actors, writers and filmmakers all came together at just the right time, during the right movie making climate, to create one of sci-fi cinema’s unholy masterpieces.

That Alien is still talked and written about in awe and reverence, and movies are still being made within the universe it established, is proof of its brilliance. Alien was a film that functioned as an exceptionally scary sci-fi movie, but also as a carefully-wrought piece of art and design.

And now, at long last, there’s a fitting document of its conception, and it’s one that any Alien fan should be proud to place on their shelf.

Alien Vault: The Definitive Story Behind The Film is out now and available from the Den Of Geek Store.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Frank Skinner is busy. He’s got several television projects on the go, a radio show, a regular column for The Times, and plans for new stand-up work.

His latest book is a collection of those aforementioned columns, along with the start of his unfinished novel, and, er, an obituary for Margaret Thatcher. And he spared us some time to talk about it all…

You described stand up, when you started your last tour, as “going back to the source”. With the range of things you’re tackling now, is that need to do that still there, or does what you’d class as ‘the source’ alter a little?

We’ve already planned stand-up stuff that I’m doing in January, so at least I know at the end of it that there’s going to be some live stuff. I did a thing a couple of years ago called The Credit Crunch Cabaret, and we’re bringing that back. At least, as we go to press, there’s not strictly a credit crunch. So it’s going to be called Frank Skinner And Friends. So it’s going to be new stuff, and with guests.

Is that more of a treat for yourself, because the necessity to do this presumably isn’t there in the way that it once was?

I don’t know. Because it’s a constant source of guilt to me that I’m not constantly doing stand-up. So I need to do it. Also, I still don’t think I’m as good as I could be. I’d like to find out before I die how good I could be. In my head, I have a vision of my doing a stand-up gig that’s out of this world.

Where would that be, do you think? Do you have it mapped out?

No, there’s a lot of dry ice and stuff! So it’s a spiritual, other-worldly gig, and I’m absolutely blowing them away. The only problem is that I can’t hear what I’m saying! Otherwise I could just transcribe it and go on tour tomorrow. But in the book, I said that every stand-up tour feels like a warm-up gig for the next one.

Whenever you’ve talked about the stand-up gigs that you’ve done that have gone the best, they also seem to be the warm-up ones. That’s certainly the impression you give.

Presumably that’s the bit where you click into the groove of doing it, and it all comes together for you?

Well, I think that the most exciting stage of any tour is getting the tour together. Because when new material works, there is no other feeling like that. It’s just brilliant. And for the first half of the tour, you’re still often finding the extra stuff in that material. You’re exploring it every night. But after you’ve done about 35 gigs of a tour, you’ve often covered every area of that material, and then it’s a case of repeating it. It’s still great to get the laughs, and there’s still improvisation going on. But it’s not as exciting as that initial finding your way.

Do you find that just with comedy, though? Do you get a similar buzz from the other things that you’ve done, perhaps something like clicking into an episode of Question Time?

No. You get it if you’re doing a comedy show on telly, but those things that I’ve done, Question Time, This Week and Panorama, all that stuff, I think it was a bit of me saying I can do that if I need to. But there’s not such a thrilling return for that kind of work. My view now is that I need to stick to comedy, I think I’ve got that through my system.

Reading through the columns you’ve collected in Dispatches From The Sofa, though, you were doing election night coverage way back in 1997. When you came back to doing stand-up, it was described in some places as the second coming of Frank Skinner. But actually, the serious stuff is more deep rooted than that?

Yeah. I don’t think I necessarily see it as serious stuff. I suppose when I started out I didn’t know the kind of comic I wanted to be at all. So in a way, the audience wrote my act. I went in and did stuff that I would have done in the pub, and some of it they liked, and some of it they didn’t. And I kept what they laughed at. So I was very much a product of the time, really.

I think, as I’ve gone on, I’ve got a sense that there are some laughs I want, and some laughs I don’t want. So I think I’ve sort of arrived at, not quite finely tuned, a comedy manifesto.

Does that come from writing more and more? Penning a weekly column, writing books, forcing yourself to structure and choose what you put down on a piece of paper?

I think it starts a bit deeper than that. Because the stand-up that I’ve done has always been very autobiographical and personal, so has the work I’ve done. The columns are all in the first person, and although they’re sometimes ostensibly about news stories, they often hark back to at least my own opinions, and often my experiences. I think you just change as you get older, and so comedy changes, the writing changes, and everything else changes.

There’s an argument that this collection is a third autobiography. You talk at one point about how the comedy revolution of the past 10 to 20 years is a duality, forcing people to present more and more of themselves to the audience. Is that a good thing, do you think?

I was talking about that mainstream thing where people were squeaky clean on stage, and off-stage they were dark and threatening? I think that’s sort of the kind of comedy that’s been around for the last 20 years, what began as alternative comedy, and is known now as comedy, I think that was always more confessional. And more honest, as well. I think we should be very proud of that.

It really cleaned up comedy in all sorts of ways. It made it more of what Wordsworth would call a man speaking to men. And also, it got rid of a lot of the obvious shit that was around. Really, it was like a new sheriff came to town when alternative comedy arrived. I think there’s been a lot of plusses from that, and one of them is that duality.

Going on to your television work, you talk about how at one stage you had three series happening in any one year. And it strikes me you’re roughly heading back there. You’ve got Opinionated, Room 101, and the newly-announced pilot of Class Dismissed. Would you say you fell out of love with television, and are you back in love with it, if so?

I don’t think I’m in love with television. I think I’m in love with stand-up, and I’m in love with radio. And then, television is my employer. I don’t know why that is, but there’s something about television that’s never quite as enjoyable as it ought to be. Maybe it’s just a bit more pressure, more witnesses.

Was Unplanned about as pure as it got for you on television, then?

Yeah, it was, exactly. I wouldn’t want to do a chat show again, I can’t really watch them any more. But Unplanned was a joyous thing to do. To just be there. I met this French woman who spoke to me at length about Unplanned in a very French way, that it was an avant garde thing to do on television. No one in Britain would say that!

I miss that. It was such a joy to do, I can’t tell you.

It was genuinely risky, but very funny. Would you consider going back to it, or has it passed for you now? I know that you did it on stage.

People say would you do Fantasy Football again, and would you do chat again, and all that. And I wouldn’t, and they’ve all gone. I don’t want it to be like those old Star Trek movies, when they’ve all got wigs on, and corsets.

Unplanned I would definitely do again. It was pure pleasure, really, with someone who I love. So it was shoulder to shoulder with a real mate, we didn’t know where it was going to go. We’d make each other laugh, we’d make ourselves laugh, it was great. I think it’s kind of being largely forgotten, but I don’t have any problem with that. I think it’s the way of stuff.

I think that’s partly the point of it, though?

Exactly, yeah. It’s like disposable contact lenses!

You drop quite a few movie references in the book. I got a real sense from it that your ideal night in is just sat on the sofa watching 50 sci-fi movies?

That’s pretty close, yeah. If I could only sit with one movie, it would be Forbidden Planet.

You also talk about your Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai phase.

Yeah, that was an experiment!

You spent a period of your life trying to live by the samurai code after watching the film? How long did you do that for?

I’m always looking for a regime that’s going to change my life and make me a better person. And I saw that film, it completely blew me away. It was one of those films where I didn’t really read anything, and no one was talking about it. It was like a weird episode of The Outer Limits, where I’d seen this film that no one else had seen in the world. It was life-changing. So I got the samurai code, which is what the guy lives by in the movie.

I tried some of those things. So, every decision to be made in the space of seven breaths, for example. I tried that. I did it a few times. There’s also a thing where it talks about the sparrowhawk. It says that when a sparrowhawk goes into a crowd of birds, it decides which bird it’s going to go for. And even if another bird flies close to it, a bigger bird or whatever, it doesn’t change its course. It remains focused on that. I still use that, certainly in work and stuff like that. That was the bird I started out at, I’m not going to let anything else get in my way.

And there’s a brilliant one about if you walk down a street and it starts to rain heavily, just get wet. Don’t start scampering from doorway to doorway, because you’ll get wet anyway. You’ll also get disturbed and shaken, though, so just take it, say I’m going to get wet, I’m going to absorb it, and that’s that. I’ll continue as I am. I think that’s good. If things are going wrong, just get wet. Don’t start scampering about trying to get out of the way.

What I think is interesting about Ghost Dog is that it’s a film that was sold in a way that disguises what it is, and I think that’s why lots of people didn’t talk about it. It isn’t the box cover. Have you found any other movies that have crept up on you that way?

I always think, every time I go to the cinema, I think there’s a possibility that I’m going to see something that might completely change my life. I’m one of those people, if I leave the cinema after a film, for about a couple of hours, I can hear myself talking as one of the characters in the film. Or I walk like them. Something about the darkened room. I don’t get it so much if I watch a DVD.

When I was 17, I saw Lenny, and they did a thing at the BFI, where you had to choose your epiphany movie. So I chose it, and I got interviewed beforehand about why this film had change my life.

And the Lenny Bruce thing, it wasn’t about my comedy, it was about a guy who was honest about himself, and that ran into my whole life. It was before I was a comic that I discovered it. Just those routines that he does.

When I sat down, and people started watching it in the cinema, it was absolutely traumatic. You know when you’ve got a film that you love, and you show it to people, and they don’t like it? It’s nightmarish. I thought people were going to start walking out and stuff, and they’re trampling over my life!

But thankfully, people came up to me after and said oh, that was great.

I find that worst with films that you expect at some point to make them laugh. Because I find myself turning around, and checking that they’re laughing.

Yeah.

I know Lenny isn’t a massively funny film per se, but there’s lots of things going on with it.

Lenny Bruce, in a way, wasn’t that funny. He was brilliant.

The other week, I went to see Captain America. I don’t know why it is that comic books tend to be aimed at bright, imaginative people who are looking for the big ideas, yet Comic book movies seem to be aimed at imbeciles. It’s not always true, but that is a general trend.

When Stan Lee stands at the pearly gates, his automatic ticket from his comic book work is going to be held back while he explains the films.

Did you see X-Men: First Class? That’s got more to it.

No, I didn’t see it.

I think you might get more out of that.

I really liked the Watchmen movie. And I really liked Kick-Ass, too.

When a comic book movie does something well, and I do sort of agree with your point, they tend to be very clever at finding something to say. I think that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are good examples of that. But you find it elsewhere, too. X-Men and Thor, for instance.

I agree with Captain America, though. I thought it set up something interesting, and then pissed it away.

What’s the Bruce Willis one, when he sort of accidentally discovered he’s got superpowers? He’s survived that major crash. Unbreakable.

That was interesting. That was back when M Night Shyamalan was making interesting films, too.

The two Batman movies, as you said, are obvious examples. They did exist. I just don’t agree with this thing that people who like sci-fi and comic books are people who, well, smell. I’ve been to a load of sci-fi talks with authors and such like, there have been a load in the British Library recently. The Q&As are far and away the best that I’ve heard, and I got to a lot of writer talks. A sci-fi Q&A has always got the best questions, and the most knowledgeable audiences there.

And at that point, sadly, our time was up. Frank Skinner, thank you very much!

Dispatches from the Sofa: The Collected Wisdom of Frank Skinner is published by Century in hardback priced £12.99.

A new series of Frank Skinner’s Opinionated returns to BBC Two this autumn

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

BBC Books has released a set of three paperbacks that are effectively (as the label on the front of each states) a prequel to the Starz/BBC Miracle Day series.

Sarah Pinborough returns for her third contribution to the Torchwood books, having had her talents showcased in the Consequences anthology with the emotionally charged and, quite frankly, brilliant short story Kaleidoscope, and Into The Silence, her first full length novel.

Focusing primarily on the returning DCI Tom Cutler and Andy Davidson, and featuring another appearance by the brilliant Suzie Costello, we see the two officers investigating a series of deaths involving a little blood and a few exploding eyeballs, interspersed with a smattering of bloody suicides.

With the Hub destroyed in Children Of Earth, a military sector known only as the Department have been investigating the wreckage, salvaging the alien technology and cataloguing it for later use. The wreckage yields the body of Suzie Costello, revived by a piece of technology that she had about her person as yet another insurance policy, which allows her to go on another killing spree.

Flashbacks take us back to the heyday of Torchwood, with Tosh and Owen making a reappearance. We learn more about Suzie pre-Everything Changes and her loathing of those around her, the reasons for which are obvious, given that she was shot in the head and later resurrected. The darkness within Suzie drives her to commit murder after murder, and unveil the impact of Torchwood upon the people of Cardiff.

With Cutler and Davidson joining forces with Commander Jackson of the Department, they fight to prevent the shadows consuming Cardiff and stop Suzie once and, possibly, for all.

Being a prequel to Miracle Day, you might expect more references to upcoming events in the series. I did expect the book to end slightly differently, and much more scarily than it did – if you've seen Miracle Day, think back to the crushed car after you've read this, and you'll see what I mean. There's a reference to Colasanto and an appearance by Captain Jack, though he doesn't play a big part, which gives plenty of room for other characters to be developed and not overshadowed by the larger-than-life time agent.

If there's one thing that can be said for Long Time Dead, it's that Pinborough has scored a hat trick, with yet another story full of characters you really begin to care about, especially with the dilemmas that each one faces. She imbues all her characters with such life that you can't help but turn the page and, where a lesser writer would make the exposition seem dull and forced, she manages to keep the necessary backgrounds or motives of each character as gripping as if they were written for television.

Long Time Dead is yet another strong contribution to the Torchwood books, offering a character-driven tale with just enough death, horror and science fiction to keep fans of the darker side of the fantasy happy.

Torchwood: Long Time Dead is out now and available from the Den Of Geek Store.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.