From the Mailbag November 20 » DVDs Worth Watching

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From the Mailbag November 20

November 20, 2011

I’m going to have some good watching over the Thanksgiving weekend. The BBC was kind enough to send a review copy of Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series (due out next Tuesday). KC and I had been saving the second half of the season on the TiVo, so now we can discard those and watch straight from disc. The extras — extra scenes, commentaries, and confidential specials — look great. Plus, I’m looking forward to rewatching the Christmas Carol special, now that the season is coming ’round again.

Also out on Tuesday on DVD is an animated series I’ve never seen (but am eager to be introduced to): The Adventures of Tintin: Season One. These 13 episodes tell seven stories, most in two parts. I should know much more about Herge’s creation than I do, so I’m looking forward to catching up via cartoons.

Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series

On my own dime, I took advantage of a superhero DVD sale to pick up The Flash: The Complete Series, which I’ve never seen. I’m told the villains, particularly, are worth watching, especially Mark Hamill as the Trickster and David Cassidy as the Mirror Master. Also, Amanda Pays (Max Headroom) co-stars.

In terms of books, I’m excited to get a chance to check out The Cartoon Guide to Calculus, which is due at the end of the year. The great Larry Gonick is behind this educational comic. While in college, I used to tutor Calculus, so I’m also looking forward to seeing how much I remember!

I’m very curious to see what I think of Within the Flames. It’s a paranormal romance novel, not comics, but by comic writer Marjorie M. Liu (X-23, Black Widow). It’s the 11th in the Dirk & Steele series, but I’m told you don’t need to have read any of the previous. We’ll see if that works for me.

KC’s eager to read TwoMorrows’ latest book, The Stan Lee Universe, labeled as “interviews with and mementos from the man who changed comics and popular culture”. Me, I’m eager to see what he says about it, as well as checking out what qualifies as a rarity from the “Stan Lee Archives”, since some of those are also included in the book. The publisher has provided a free PDF preview if you’d like to check it out before we get a chance to tell you more about it.

Coming over from the UK is Sun Fish Moon Fish, a Sweatdrop Studios fantasy graphic novel by Morag Lewis. It’s a single-volume complete story, and while fantasy isn’t always my thing, the manga-influenced art seems (on a flip-through) able to tell a story, and I have a fondness for the name Morag, so I hope it’s good.

Last but certainly not least, Viz was kind enough to send over a sampling of their latest releases, coming out early December. My favorite of this batch will be I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow Volume 4, since I’ve really come to enjoy this series about a middle-aged business worker who gives it all up to draw manga. Other highlights from this package are Kamisama Kiss Book 6 and a debut, Dawn of the Arcana.

4 Responses

James Schee writes:

November 21, 2011 at 1:03 AM

I want to see that Doctor Who, its the second season since Tennant left right? I couldn’t watch the first season with Smith for the longest time as Tennant was such a favorite but when I finally did I enjoyed it and fell for Amy Pond who (along with her hubby) has been the best companions since Rose. (IMO)

I’m surprised there hasn’t been a bigger Tin Tin push with the movie coming. I sort of remember catching some of the cartoons when I was really young, but don’ recall much.

I really liked the Flash tv series, it was my introduction to that whole mythos. So imagine my surprise when I get into comics and my first issue starred someone named Wally West and he’d just been killed by Vandal Savage. Yet anyway I liked the show a lot, Amanda Pays I had such a crush on (cute women who are also super smart are really sexy) and it had such potential. Too bad it ended so, forgive the pun, fast.:)

Rob writes:

November 21, 2011 at 10:45 AM

I grew up reading Tintin comics, and the movie that’s coming out really rubs me the wrong way. Part of the appeal of the original comics is Herge’s art style, which is clean and precise but very two-dimensional. (There’s almost no shading or depth effects in his art.)

The movie that’s coming out, though, is in a Polar Express-like motion-captured computer-animated pseudo-3D style that’s almost entirely unlike the comics. I understand that tastes have changed since the ’40s, but I’d rather have seen live action or at least an art style that’s closer to the source material.

Mark V writes:

November 21, 2011 at 2:26 PM

This last season of Doctor Who was simply amazing. Amazing! “A Good Man Goes To War”, “The God Complex”, “The Girl Who Waited”, “Rebel Flesh” and “Almost People” did more to advance the character and complexity of the Doctor than any show I have seen in probably the shows entire history. They also showed the doctor to be just as bad ass as the velvet cape karate chopping Pertwee and just as devious as Sylvester McCoy. The last two years have made this my favorite era of Who and has been hands down the funnest show on television.

The two morrows book that I’m waiting for is that “Quality Companion”. I love those characters.

Johanna writes:

November 21, 2011 at 2:36 PM

We’re looking forward to The Quality Companion: Celebrating the Forgotten Publisher of Plastic Man (to give its full, legal name :) ) as well. Me so I can learn more about them!

Glad to hear from all of you that the Flash and Doctor Who viewing should be enjoyable. As for Tintin, I don’t like that “uncanny valley” look, so I wasn’t even considering seeing the movie. Possibly that’s related to why it’s playing overseas but hasn’t opened here yet.