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The clouds may have rolled in today, but there's no disguising it: Spring has dragged herself up out of the ground after the long, hard winter. With results which are not entirely welcome; I just found myself sharing the living room with the second biggest wasp I have ever met - needless to say, I had the last laugh. Also departing recently, although not under a copy of TV Go Home, were the 18 Carat Love Affair, who like the NRF deemed Guided Missile a suitable final venue - and I don't blame them. The bill also offered Rebekah Delgado (good, but I don't think this was the best environment for songs like these, and suspect I'd enjoy them more at home or on earphones), Zombina & the Skeletones (initially fun, but very samey) and Jamie Clarke's Perfect (I had been listening to the Pogues on my walk down and I still remember almost nothing about this former member's project). But the night belonged to 18 Carat. If not quite a perfect show (real drums! Boo!) it was still a damn fine one, with one last airing for all the favourite tales of capsized nights, imprisonment and whatever the Hell 'Truman Capote' is about. And it ended, as ever, with 'Five Rounds Rapid' - the lyrics now expanded to include 'New mouth, new rules'. Fitting.
(Though I must confess, this week's episode did not convince me. At best it was set-up, 'Long Game'-style, but otherwise it was just full of plot holes. Why set up the Smilers and then basically forget about them? What did all the other countries do and why didn't the UK do that? How come Amy got to do the Doctorvision bit and realise something he clearly should have? There were some nice bits in there, and Matt Smith was excellent - even when delivering lines that made no sense like the 'new name' bit - but it's a shame to realise that even Moffat can't be Moffat all the time)
I'd always been reluctant to read the comics of Brian Wood, simply because years ago his bit of the internet and my bit of the internet had a Fite, and being in the wrong he obviously came across as a bit of a cock. But, I've long forgiven Cameron Stewart for a related incident around the same time, and I was hearing enough good things about Brian Wood from enough people I respect that I thought, maybe it's time to give the guy a chance. So of the library-available material, I homed in on Demo, a collection of 12 stories about young people whose lives are not made any easier by their unusual powers. It seemed to get the best reviews from the most simpatico reviewers, plus - Becky Cloonan art.
And initially, it seemed to be OK, but nothing special. Short stories about growing up in dead end towns where superpowers are used to amplify the alienated situation of youth, make the metaphorical into the concrete. The usual comparison is the X-Men if they were created now, but to me it read more like Buffy without Buffy - think of something like the invisible girl episode but told entirely from her perspective, not as part of someone else's plot. The first one that really grabbed me was the story of a girl who others always see as they want to see her. As happens to us all, of course, but for this poor soul it physically changes her. And then she finally meets one person who sees her as she is...and suddenly she's the one besotted.
But there was still something not quite right, and only with the next story - about a lonley boy and his dog - did I realise what.
For whatever reason, America has never got 2000AD. I think this is the single simple reason Brits write all the best comics. We know about Thrill-Power. We know that you can tell a great short story with a twist ending in six pages, not 26. Even the best stories in Demo would have worked considerably better as Future Shocks.
(Though I must confess, this week's episode did not convince me. At best it was set-up, 'Long Game'-style, but otherwise it was just full of plot holes. Why set up the Smilers and then basically forget about them? What did all the other countries do and why didn't the UK do that? How come Amy got to do the Doctorvision bit and realise something he clearly should have? There were some nice bits in there, and Matt Smith was excellent - even when delivering lines that made no sense like the 'new name' bit - but it's a shame to realise that even Moffat can't be Moffat all the time)
I'd always been reluctant to read the comics of Brian Wood, simply because years ago his bit of the internet and my bit of the internet had a Fite, and being in the wrong he obviously came across as a bit of a cock. But, I've long forgiven Cameron Stewart for a related incident around the same time, and I was hearing enough good things about Brian Wood from enough people I respect that I thought, maybe it's time to give the guy a chance. So of the library-available material, I homed in on Demo, a collection of 12 stories about young people whose lives are not made any easier by their unusual powers. It seemed to get the best reviews from the most simpatico reviewers, plus - Becky Cloonan art.
And initially, it seemed to be OK, but nothing special. Short stories about growing up in dead end towns where superpowers are used to amplify the alienated situation of youth, make the metaphorical into the concrete. The usual comparison is the X-Men if they were created now, but to me it read more like Buffy without Buffy - think of something like the invisible girl episode but told entirely from her perspective, not as part of someone else's plot. The first one that really grabbed me was the story of a girl who others always see as they want to see her. As happens to us all, of course, but for this poor soul it physically changes her. And then she finally meets one person who sees her as she is...and suddenly she's the one besotted.
But there was still something not quite right, and only with the next story - about a lonley boy and his dog - did I realise what.
For whatever reason, America has never got 2000AD. I think this is the single simple reason Brits write all the best comics. We know about Thrill-Power. We know that you can tell a great short story with a twist ending in six pages, not 26. Even the best stories in Demo would have worked considerably better as Future Shocks.
