Dr. Who: Exterminate/Regenerate by John Higgs- Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

John Higgs, known for his quirky deep dives into cultural phenomena like The KLF and William Blake, has turned his analytical eye to a British institution: Doctor Who. As someone with a passing interest in the Doctor (I watched the show on occasion but my best childhood friend had a friend who was the real Whovian, bless him and Rodney's Books and Games), I was intrigued to see what Higgs would uncover.

Higgs, in his signature style, doesn't just rehash the show's history. Instead, he uses Doctor Who as a lens to explore broader themes: science, religion, history, philosophy, and the very nature of storytelling. He begins with a Tom Baker anecdote that beautifully captures the show's enduring power.

What follows is a fascinating journey through the show's evolution, from its shaky beginnings in the 1960s to its modern-day revival. Higgs delves into the surprising origins of the series, highlighting the contributions of key figures like Verity Lambert and the groundbreaking work of Delia Derbyshire on the iconic theme music. But he doesn't stop there as he meticulously examines how each Doctor's era reflected the socio-political landscape of its time:

  • William Hartnell's era establishes the Doctor as a mysterious, almost alien figure. Higgs explores Hartnell's own complex personality and connects the early TARDIS travels to mythical journeys in British folklore.

  • Patrick Troughton's Doctor emerges as a ‘cosmic hobo,’ a trickster figure who reassured audiences during a time of social change. Higgs delves into Troughton's personal life and how it informed his portrayal, and examines the rise of iconic monsters like the Cybermen.

  • With Jon Pertwee, the show shifts to a more action-oriented, ‘Boys' Own Adventure’ style. Higgs discusses Pertwee's background in naval intelligence and the era's reflection of a changing Britain, including the emergence of social issues in the storylines.

  • Tom Baker's long and influential run sees the show embrace a darker, more gothic tone, reflecting the anxieties of the 1970s. Higgs explores Baker's unique personality and the growing influence of fandom, both positive and negative.

  • The Peter Davison era is presented as a deliberate move towards a more grounded and vulnerable Doctor. Higgs analyzes the reasons behind this shift and its impact on the show's popularity.

  • Colin Baker's time in the TARDIS is marked by controversy, both on-screen and behind the scenes. Higgs delves into the behind-the-scenes turmoil, the criticism of the character's treatment of his companion, and the show's near-cancellation.

  • Sylvester McCoy's Doctor sees a return to mystery and manipulation, with a darker undercurrent. Higgs connects this era to broader cultural trends and the show's eventual departure from television in the 1990s.

  • The wilderness years and the Paul McGann TV movie are portrayed as a time of uncertainty and unfulfilled potential. Higgs discusses the film's shortcomings and the continuation of the Doctor's adventures in other media including audiobooks.

  • The 21st-century revival, spearheaded by Christopher Eccleston, is examined as a successful attempt to bring the Doctor to a new generation. Higgs highlights the contributions of Russell T Davies and the show's renewed popularity.

  • David Tennant's era is presented as a peak in the show's modern popularity, with Tennant's charismatic portrayal of the Doctor resonating with a wide audience.

  • Matt Smith and Steven Moffat bring a ‘wibbly wobbly, timey wimey’ complexity to the series, with a focus on intricate storytelling. Higgs discusses the impact of social media on the fandom during this era.

  • Peter Capaldi's incarnation is analyzed for its darker, more intense tone, and the increasing influence of streaming on the show's viewership.

  • The casting of Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor is explored in detail, including the backlash from some fans and the show's attempts to diversify its cast and crew.

  • Finally, Higgs brings us to the present day, with Ncuti Gatwa taking on the role of the Doctor in an increasingly globalized and politically charged landscape.

Tales of Unease - Cult TV Series Review

Tales of Unease is a British anthology series that aired in the 70s. Even though I had never seen it before, I had heard of it whilst researching other cult TV shows to watch. So, finding myself at a loose end one evening I thought I'd give a looksie.

The 6 part series features a collection of eerie and unsettling stories, adapted from horror anthologies. However, what sets Tales of Unease apart from other horror anthologies of the time is its focus on creating a subtle and uncanny atmosphere, rather than relying on shock value or gore. The series weaves tales of menace and black humour, often leaving the viewer with a lingering sense of, well, unease.

Episode 1 - Ride, Ride - At the School of Art dance, an awkward student named Art (Yes, really. "it's short for Arthur," he says as his chat-up line to an unimpressed mysterious young lady (Susan George). She asks him to take her home and, thinking she's a bit too keen and clingy, Art grudgingly relents. He drives her miles away on his motorbike to the Downs towards an old house but she vanishes before he gets there.

This story stars the wonderful Susan George as a bit of an enigma and the tale itself is a pretty basic time loop/ premonition story but it's okay.

Episode 2: Calculated Nightmare - When redundancies are being planned through the use of computers and poorly programmed algorithms by a pair of unscrupulous suits, a man with loyal service to the company takes exception and locks them up within the building at night until they start again. As the heating system kicks in and the men refuse to budge it becomes a game of chicken.

This is a prescient episode as it recognised that automation would lead to a loss of jobs and the corporate world and toadies would be merciless when removing people from their jobs with no regard for the consequences.

Episode 3: The Black Goddess - In the Rhondda Valley in the 30s, 4 miners are stuck after a mineshaft collapse. With air running out and escape unlikely they slowly contemplate their fate. When one of the miners starts to slowly lose his grip on reality (or does he?) it affects everyone.

This was quite a good episode as the mineshaft is a suitably creepy setting for a scary story. It's a slow build as it reaches a crescendo, looking at the old Gods and Goddesses and the blight of Christianity.

Episode 4: It's Too Late Now - When a neglected housewife takes revenge on her abusive writer husband by locking him in his study. She lives her best life for a few days but cannot forgive the fact that they didn't have children or do the things she wanted to do. She struggles with the consequences of her actions but, over time, starts to enjoy her newfound freedom.

This is a good episode looking at the mental health and the resultant consequences of the long time abuse of a woman from her husband. The main actress, Rachel Kempson, is great in the role as a put upon wife and does a pretty much solo performance.

Episode 5: Superstitious Ignorance - A young couple are looking to get on the property ladder and look around an old Edwardian house full of a superstitious woman and her children. Whilst being shown around by the estate agent the woman insists that there are spirits but the man thinks it's a way to put them off buying. But there is a strange smell lingering in the air...

This episode looks at gentrification and the superstitions that pervaded amongst some communities at the time. It's unsettling when the family start doing their Latin prayers but the ending is a bit meh.

Episode 6: Bad Bad Jo Jo - An arrogance and self-centred writer has an interview with a journalist from a fan magazine but it doesn't go as planned. His comic creations come to life and exact revenge.

This episode is pretty camp and overacted in the best possible way but it does build towards a surprising and unsettling ending. The poor dog, who thinks it's real, is overwrought and stressed and this put me off as I felt sorry for the poor fella but Roy Dotrice as the writer is brilliant at delivering his ascerbic put-downs at a machine gun speed.

Episode 7: The Old Banger - When a young couple move into their new home, they dump their old car on the other side of London. However, over the course of sebrsl days it seems to be returning to them...but how?

This is a fun and humorous episode with snappy dialogue between the husband and wife but the ending is downbeat.

Overall, I had a pretty good time watching the series. Some episodes are more effective than others, as is always the case with anthologies, but the series is generally well-written and features strong performances from the whole cast.

For me, the standout episodes were The Black Goddess, which was a great claustrophobic tale about the miners trapped underground, and The Old Banger, the witty story about a car that refuses to be destroyed.

However, in my opinion, the series lacks a consistent identity, lacking the twist endings of Tales of the Unexpected, the taught costumed drama of Dead of Night or the austerity of Ghost Stories for Christmas. As a result, some episodes can feel underwhelming but it is worth a watch to get a variety of stories and get a portal into the past.

LINK- Dead of Night: Cult TV Review

LINK- The Stone Tapes: Cult TV Review

LINK- Tom’s Midnight Garden: Cult TV Review

LINK- Children of the Dogstar: Cult TV Series Review


Decarnation- Videogames As Art

Decarnation is a powerful game looking into the objectification and commodification of the female body. It's not your usual gaming fare then but this indie game follows the very real struggle of Gloria, an exotic dancer turning 30, and is set against a surreal, Lynchian dreamscape after the protagonist suffers 'The Event' (no spoilers). The game evokes a sense of unease and undergoes a deep dive into the character's psychological state to tell a dark tale that belies it's simple pixel art form.

It's a powerful story of the artistic body and the right people have over public figures. When Gloria poses for an artist and her statue is violated by a pervert in a museum, she feels abused and debased. The game reminded me of Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue or the ouvre of Junji Ito, where the main character feels like she is being stalked or slowly losing her mind as she is being manipulated and gaslit.

The narrative keeps you guessing what's real and what's a product of Gloria's fracturing mental state as the dreamlike, nightmarish reinforces this connection. Decarnation is not an easy game to stick with due to its main premise but it is one that will stay with you long after you've finished it. Games like this show that videogames can be a broad church.

Love, Death + Robots- Season 4 Review

Netflix's Love, Death + Robots offers a thrilling dose of sci-fi through visually stunning, standalone animated shorts. While I found season 1 occasionally leaned too heavily into edginess, echoing early UK anime, season 2, though less gratuitous, lacked truly engaging narratives. However, season 3 marked a turning point, delivering consistent and mature storytelling, with standouts like The Very Pulse of the Machine, Bad Travelling, and Jibaro. This progression has left me eagerly anticipating season 4.

Will it continue this upward trend and deliver more of the compelling and imaginative worlds I've come to appreciate? Let's dive into the latest series which is composed of 10 episodes, the longest clocking in at just 17 minutes.

Can’t Stop

The Red Hot Chili Peppers perform a concert at Slane Castle in 2003 in string puppet form but it starts to get a little out of control.

This is a crazy impressive music video as the crowd scenes look amazing. The lighting and sheer number of ‘strings’ on show in this CGI film is impressive. If I’d been involved it would have quickly evolved into a tangled mess. Props to the team for not messing up the props.

Close Encounters of the Mini Kind

When aliens come to Earth, they land in America and are quickly killed, triggering an invasion. Cue loads of visual jokes on anal probes, ray guns and lasers, a destroyed Golden Gate Bridge (of course) and impressive car chases.

This is a follow on from Night of the Mini Dead from season 3 and has a similar isometric styles with a cute take on Simlish. The ending is dark and goes places but does show mankind’s jingoistic hubris.

Spider Rose

A grieving cyborg seeks revenge on those that killed her husband and destroyed her business. When she finds a rare jewel an alien race of traders want what she has so, in exchange for a powerful pet/weapon, she agrees. Will she be able to get the revenge she seeks or will the love of a companion prove a balm to her grief and loneliness? She has a 96 day trial period to find out.

This is hard sci-fi based on a space opera short story by Bruce Sterling. It goes to unexpected places and is one of the standout episodes as we see Spider Rose going through the different stages of grief.

400 Boys

When mysterious kaiju/gods/aliens attack and destroy a city, a surviving crew of gang members decides to team with their enemy to bring the creatures they call Boys down. Will the parley work and help to bring the Teams together to take down the Boys?

The story reminded me of Attack the Block, The Warriors and many of the belt scrolling beat-em eps of the lates 80s and early 90s like Double Dragon, Final Fight and Streets of Rage. The fact that it features the voice talent of John Boyega, who starred in the alien invasion in East London flick Attack the Block is surely not a coincidence but rather a firm wink and nod. The 2D animation is slick and stylised like Samurai Jack or the Gorillaz and the music is bangin’.

The Other Large Thing

When a cat desired world domination it soliloquies a lot and is overly dramatic like a poor man’s Batman. However, when the owners buy a robot boy he mothers the cat and puts him in his place like a cheerful Rosie Jetson. However, the cat soon manipulates him and turns him into his minion to do his bidding.. with tragic results.

This was an excellent episode as it was very firmly tongue in cheek and captured the ornery personality of cats well. The animation is top notch and the humans are presented as terrible and deserving of their horrible fate.

Golgotha

This is a live action short, the first I believe for LD+R, in which a priest (a wonderfully anxious Rhys Darby) is asked for a meeting with the aliens, the Lupo. They are sea-dwellers from 50 light years away who want to talk to Father Maguire about the resurrection of Blackfin, a sole dolphin, when a pod washed ashore a few days ago. They believe her to be the messiah and listen to her tell of the genocide of the sea creatures by those who walk the land. The Lupo are not pleased and so begins the endtimes.

This is a bonkers episode about the origins of faith and how wars can easily begin over misconceptions and overzealousness. I loved it as it was funny and profound yet deeply tragic too.

The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur

On a space station orbital ring near Jupiter, an epic gladiatorial battle plays out to entertain royals and dignitaries. Releasing dinosaur hybrids, the warriors battle to reach the end and be the last one standing. The flamboyant aristocrats watch the lowly gladiators fight for survival as the numbers slowly whittle down but one warrior is ready to take the system down.

This is a beautiful looking episode and the set-up reminds me of The Hunger Games with the chariot racing scene from Ben-Hur. Not that it means much to me but the compere in this episode is Mr. Beast as he does a pretty good job of being a smug muppet so there’s that.

How Zeke Got Religion

The American bomber crew of the Liberty Belle is on a mission over France; its target is a church. When they deliver their payload, destroying the church and the Nazi pseudo-religious rituals they encounter a force that the Third Reich have released- The Fallen. As it tears apart the plane and crew, Zeke, the athiest, fights back.

I loved the animation style in this episode as it reminded me of the French bande anime style. The design of The Fallen also reminds me of Bayonetta as that had some gnarly creature designs with cherubic faces melded to winged monstrosities. The final battle went all Akira Tetsuo baby mutant limbs mode and was suitably dramatic. This episode is definitely one of the highlights of the series.

Smart Appliance, Stupid Owners

Various appliances give their opinions about their owners and do not hold anything back.

This is a hilarious short 7 minute animation presented in a stopmotion claymation style and reminds me of Aardman’s Creature Comforts. Kevin Hart is hilarious as an ionizer who has to work overtime for his lentil eating owner, he is not happy. Ronny Chieng as the unimpressed toothbrush and Brett Goldstein as the smart toilet on Taco Tuesday are brilliant.

For He Can Creep

In an asylum in 1757 London, a poet tries to write the one true celestial poem sent from God. His cat protects him from imps who would plague him but one night Satan tries to tempt the cat without success. When he tries to do away with the cat the poet agrees to help Satan write a poem but he is a pernickety. The cat seeks counsel from fellow cats and they fight back against the rising evil.

This is a well done episode with the dulcet tones of Jim Broadbent as the poor poet. The idea that cats can see beyond the material world is an interesting concept and their link to God and angels is a good premise for this story.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this season of LD+R as I felt that there was a wide variety of stories and animation styles and the impressive voice cast really brought the whole thing together. The seasons do seem to be going from strength to strength and I hope it will help push Secret Level, the other show executive produced by Tim Miller, to be better the next time round.

LINK- Love, Death + Robots- Season 1 Review

LINK- Love, Death + Robots- Season 2 Review

LINK- Love, Death + Robots- Season 3 Review

LINK- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad- Cult Movie Review

LINK- How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Mike Schur- Book Review

LINK- The Good Place and Philosophy- Book Review

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

Critical Hits: Writers on Gaming and the Alternate Worlds They Inhabit - Book Review ( and some thoughts)

I was intrigued by the premise of Critical Hits because, unlike the typical gaming publications, this collection was showcasing writers who, while not professional game critics, possess a genuine love for the medium. These 18 essays, born from personal experience, promised to offer a welcome departure from the 'gaming bubble,' and reveal the powerful influence of individual games on a diverse range of lives. I've long held the belief that videogames are unique in media as you don't just consume them as passive observers but you act within them and that sense of agency is key. The effect this can have on individuals can be profound and that's what I found within these 18 essays.

Elissa Washuta- I Struggled a Long Time with Surviving

Elissa recounts her time playing The Last of Us during the first lockdown in America whilst suffering from an illness that was not Covid. She discusses the apprehension and fear of the changing real-world with the events mirrored in Naughty Dog's videogame world after a cordycep virus spreads, making zombie like creatures.

Elissa discusses her diagnosis of an autoimmune disease and recounts her road to recovery via the timeline of The Last of Us, going through the various chapters within the game to process her feelings.

I felt this was a very powerful and personal chapter that discusses the resilience of the human condition. Videogames can offer us a way to process our own emotions by proxy and, for Elissa, this seems to be the case.

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - This Kind of Animal

Nana discusses how Disco Elysium made him consider the choices we have during the course of our life and the reflections we have as we approach death. Entropy means we are dying from the moment we are born.

Nana has a beautiful way with words and the '... our (dead) bodies are not us. They are an echo of an echo' really struck me about the legacy and memories we leave behind. We all try to avoid thinking about death but Nana argues that Disco Elysium makes us embrace our choices and looks deep within our inferiority to show our true self.

Max Delsohn- Thinking Like a Knight

Max discusses the body dysphoria they suffered and how Undertale represented a wonderful lesbian love story for two of its characters. They talk about how Hollow Knight offered them a way to focus and redouble their efforts to conquer the challenge.

Max is very honest about their mental health struggles and discusses the importance of being seen in media. The Outsider (which they describes as a feeling of 'Outside-ness') is often excluding but they state that there are ways to feel a part of something bigger and, for Max, Hollow Knight does that by its carefully crafted lore.

I liked the self-reflection of Max in this essay but it didn't chime with me as the outsider and Hollow Knight connection wasn't clearly explained but for others this might be just the ticket.

Keith S. Wilson- Mule Milk

The essay starts in an unusual way with the author contemplating the genealogy of mules and whether they occur naturally in the wild. He then looks at nature and wonders about what is classified as nature. It seems a bit random but then he reveals that he is a 'mulatto' and it all suddenly comes together what is considered natural and unnatural. He discusses his love for Final Fantasy VI and Terra, the half-human, half esper being who is seen as a commidity in this colonial realm. For an 11 year old Keith, it blew his mind that a videogame was talking about slavery and the commodification of peoples, colonialism and the fight for equality.

I really liked this essay as I love Final Fantasy VI for precisely this reason; the critique of the military industrial complex and the social hierarchy of races to justify bigoted world views is one I could relate to post Operation Desert Storm and the dehumanisation of certain Middle Eastern people.

Octavia Bright - Staying With the Trouble

The essay looks back at the author's childhood spent trying to crack the 5 question test to allow her to enter an illicit adult game. She fails but later finds out from Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow author Gabrielle Zavin that the game she sought was Leisure Suit Larry. Bright plays the game and sees a sad story about a man on the verge of suicide as he can't get 'laid'. She reflects on sociatal expectations of men and how the media landscape in the 80s and 90s was very incel-ly, it was all about getting laid. She then pivots to Stray, a videogame where you play as a cat in a dystopian world and discusses the power of staying curious.

Bright captures the mood of playing something you know you are not supposed to, wishing you could grow up quicker to explore the adult world before realising that adulting is a trap. Back in the day, there was a version of Samantha Fox's Strip Poker for the ZX Spectrum but I never knew of it until years later reading Retro Gamer. For my brother and I, the most illicit game we played was Barbarian on our green monochrome Amstrad CPC 464 where you could chop off the heads of your enemies with the signature roundhouse sword move. Pre-Mortal Kombat this was as violent as videogames got for me. Bright touched upon the feeling of wonder we all felt when realising that there were digital worlds, which we could interact with, possible within this screen. Her sense of wonder at Stray is infectious and even though I finished the game to completion and didn't really enjoy it as much as she obviously did, I enjoyed her message of hope and wonder when all seems grimy and seedy.

Charlie Jane Anders- Narnia Made of Pixels

This is a bit of a quirky essay as Anders looks at videogame portal stories, where a character enters a videogame world. Using this premise she covers quite a few titles including TRON, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Free Guy. They discuss how often the story is about IP and brand recognition and how the 'badguy' is the nefarious corporations.

Obviously, this book was written in 2023 so pre- The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Minecraft, but I'd like to hear her take on the isekai genre as they both cover people entering new digital worlds.

Jamil Jan Kochai- Cathartic Warfare

The author discusses the social and collegiate atmosphere of playing Call of Duty with his friends and then his discomfort then the enemy began to look more and more like him, an Afghan American immigrant. He mentions how the various atrocities like the torture of Dilawar, the Uruzgan wedding bombing and the Shinwar Massacre left a bitter taste in his mouth ans recontentualised the game series for him, showing jingoistic American Imperialism tones. The author Frantz Fanon's book Black Skin, White Mask is mentioned and the principle of collective catharsis, where a focus of aggression is aimed at a 'common enemy' is the norm usually from the colonising to the colonised.

I enjoyed reading this essay as I got it, but I've not really played many 'realistic' GPS games as it seems too realistic to me. It's the reason the only games I do play in the genre are more fantastical like Doom or part of a wider genre like Metroid or Bioshock.

Ander Monson - The Cocoon

Ander discusses how Alien vs. Predator blew his mind as a youth. The Atari Jaguar was much unloved yet this game (as well as Jeff Minter's Tempest 2000) were the breakouts that have stood the test of time. Ander then discusses his time with other games within the Alien and Predator world.

I enjoyed this essay as it captures the idea that the right game at the right game can be transformational. It doesn't have to be the best but if it drops and hits you in the feels then it matters.

Marinaomi - Video Game Boss

This is a comic strip about how the author fell in and out of the videogame industry, working her way from tester to localiser. She discusses the misogyny she experienced and how she moves away to the comic scene. 

The issues raised in this comic are apparently still prevalent within the industry from the creators I follow but there is more awareness now so that's something. 

Vanessa Villarreal- In the Shadow of the Wolf

This is quite a powerful essay about the racial purity often projected onto Vikings and Scandinavians in videogames, films and TV shows. Villarreal discusses how this theory, linked to eugenics, seems to have thrived and grown stronger in recent times even though it is based on untruths. 

She discusses how Dragon Age: Inquisition and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla both consolidate the myth of racial purity although that is not their intention as Ragnarok is a racial purity war. It's an intriguing essay but I've played neither game so cannot comment about the content or context. 

Tony Tulathimutte- Clash Rules Everything Around Me 

The author discusses the addictive and demanding nature of Clash of Clans, a monkey on their back they cannot get rid of. The time sink and cash demands to make the game flow quicker are an indictment of late state capitalism and, when there are people sploodging lots of dollaridoos, other is no way you can compete on the same level. 

Even though he acknowledges that the game is a waste of time, many still find it intoxicating enough to have a sunk cost fallacy and cognitive dissonance mentality. 

Eleanor Henderson - The Great Indoorsman

This essay is about how Eleanor, a mother of two children, who is trying to raise well-rounded boys. She shows how she is trying unsuccessfully to balance her children playing videogames with outdoor pursuits. She discusses her live of gaming and the great outdoors whilst her children are into videogames and indoor pursuits like stop motion, Lego etc. 

What she realises is that the videogames they play are teaching them a lot about the world as well as other life skills so she's pretty chill about it. The story of her son working with her to finally complete Super Mario Bros. from the NES is sweet as was her hunt for a PS5 during lockdown. 

Nat Steele - I Was a Teenage Transgender Supersoldier

This was an insightful essay as the author discusses how they related to Halo's Master Chief, a cybernetically modified super soldier. As a trans person unaware of their complex emotions and feelings, Nat discusses how important the game was in raising awareness about their own complexities. 

Alexander Chee - Ninjas and Foxes

The author looks at Asian representation in videogames and remembers his time with Ninja Gaiden Black and Jade Empire. He feels Ninja Gaiden was more a Western cosplay of ninjas, even though the game was made by a Japanese studio whilst Jade Empire was more authentically Asian representative, even though it was made in the West. The author was looking for authenticity and affirmation as the Asian representations were often stereotypes in gaming, something they felt that didn't represent them well

This is a heartfelt essay about queer identity and how gamed can distract us from our true selves. 

Stephen Sexton - No Traces

The writer discusses the 'magical circle' attitude to play, how it is out of time and place and is formative. The game that bonded him to his best friends S? Metal Gear Solid! He discusses how videogames are a visual culture and they can imprint themselves onto some youth, almost creating an outer-body experience, which Peter Bude called the 'Circuit of Specularity.'

I liked this essay a lot as I can relate to this. One of my most treasured memories is of playing Resident Evil 7 in VR with my friends, taking life or levels when we became too scared. Sexton's take rang true for me and I'm guessing will for many others. 

Larissa Pham - Status Effect

Larissa discusses losing months at a time to depression. She shares how Genshin Impact was a wonderful game for her as she played it with friends and it was her comfort during Covid and the after times. 

This is a refreshingly honest tale on how gaming can help when life is getting to be too much. I liked it and hope the author is doing well. 

J. Robert Lennon - Ruined Ground

The author discusses how Fallout 76 was the antidote they needed whilst Covid and their anxiety about their susceptibility to illness kept them worried about the pandemic. Their avatar online could adapt their body and cope with the hostilities of the world whilst their terrestrial body was much less able to do so. 

Lennon talks about the anxieties of the real world pandemic and how the online game offered solace and freedom, with its virtual world free from plague (for a while at least until it was patched in as a quest) and allowing people to meet and interact online. 

Hanif Abdurraqib - We're More Ghosts Than People 

The author is a Muslim and discusses the concept of Heaven and Hell through the aspect of Red Dead Redemption 2's honour system. He discusses playing a paragon playthrough of Arthur to ensure he had a high honour grade to ensure he had a good ending but, as the old saying goes, you can't always save the ones you love, and Arthur dies horribly. 

Out of all the essays, this in the one that hit the hardest. I am a Muslim and I have been researching, analysing and reading a lot about the faith I was born into and the idea that you may not be able to save those you love is a hard concept for me to accept. This essay just hit at the right time and dang, Abdurraqib just gets it y'know. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book as it gave a diverse range of authors a chance to talk about the games and matters that most appealed to them. The styles were varied so, even if they were not for you, like a good anthology series, another would be waiting just around the corner. 

Ah! My Goddess OVA - Cult Manga Series Review

There are certain anime series that are like a warm, comforting blanket which never lose their appeal. For me, it's Haibane Renmei but I know everyone has their own comfort go to. Ah! My Goddess is one of those comforting manga series that was everywhere in the 90s whilst I growing up. I mean, it wasn't in the public zeitgeist but was in many of the comic shops and superstore like HMV Picadilly or Virgin Megastore Tottenham Court Road. I never got around to watching it as the VHS tapes were £12.99 for each 30 minute OVA but I did read a lot of it in my monthly Super Manga Blast, which features xx pages monthly.

As I continued my journey to catch up on manga and anime series I had missed in my youth, this one came up so I thought I'd dive right in and give it a looksie.

The story is very simple, when student Keichi accidently calls the goddess helpline whilst trying to order takeout, he meets Belldandy, a beautiful Norse goddess. She insists on helping him and hilarity ensues as she gets used to the ways of us mere mortals. Over 5 episodes, we get the start of the magical girlfriend/ harem genre conventions that would prove popular within the medium.

Moonlight and Cherryblossoms
Keiichi rings the wrong number and dials the goddess helpline. Belldandy appears and offers Keiichi and wish and, being skeptical, he wishes for her to be with him forever. The wish is granted but Keiichi is kicked out of his men's only dorm. They find a new home in an old temple and just as they are settled his younger sister Megumi visits.
It's a very sweet introductory episode and you get the lay of the land pretty quickly that this is going to be an ensemble cast piece. Keiichi is sweet and Belldandy says, "It's not the size of the body, it's the size of the heart."

Midsummer Night's Dream
Keiichi considers taking Belldandy to the beach but things get a little complex when Urd, the Cupid of Love and Belldandy's big sister, starts to give Keiichi some poor advice on how to make his move.
Urd is a hilarious agent of chaos, being a bit naughty and impish. She gives Keiichi a love potion but he sees someone else first and declares his love, breaking Belldandy's heart. In the end it all works out and Urd joins the household.

Burning Hearts on the Road
Whilst fixing up a motorbike for an interschool motor club drag racing competition, Keiichi is visited by Belldandy's younger sister Skuld. She doesn't like the fact that her elder sister and Urd are on Earth with Keiichi and resents him. She tries to fix the race against him but starts to see that he has a true heart and starts to come around.
This is a cute episode with lots of team spirit and unity conveyed. Even though Skuld is understandably upset at losing her two sisters, she starts to see that Keiichi's intentions are pure.

Evergreen Holy Night
Belldandy is given a recall notice from her father, the ultimate power, and she only had three days left with Keiichi's before she returns. Whenever the two are close together, the world around them breaks and shatters but will it be enough to keep the two apart.
This episode is melodramatic in the best way as Belldandy and Keiichi are heartbroken that they will be separated. The impact on their friendship group is felt too as they belong together like peanuts and chewing gum.

For the Love of Goddess
As the deadline draws closer, Keiichi and Belldandy try to come to terms with their forced separation. Skuld and Urd scheme for a way to hack the system to allow the lovers to stay together but it's not guaranteed.
This is a wonderful ending with a flashback to Keiichi's childhood that brings the whole piece together. It's a fist pumping ending to a wonderful series that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Watching this anime is like stepping back into a simpler, more innocent time. This anime is sweet but to saccharine at all. The OVA offers a refreshingly pure dose of romance with Keiichi's earnestness and Belldandy's gentle grace being central to the series as they grow together. This is a classy series which doesn't go down the ecchi (pervy) harem aspects many other series did at the time.

One of the reasons I like the anime of this era is that the art is gorgeous; the character designs are beautifully rendered, and the gentle, pastel infused aesthetic perfectly complements the series' lighthearted tone.

At only 5 episodes, this OVA series is brief and can be watched in one evening, clocking in at around 2 1/2 hours. This is a blessing and a curse as it feels like there is more to see of this world but with the manga, the Ah! My Goddess TV series and other iterations it's no biggie to keep on exploring this universe.

Overall, Ah! My Goddess OVA is a timeless classic that deserves a place in any anime fan's collection. Whether your a long-time devotee or a newcomer (like me) the series will charm you with its gentle humour, heartwarming romance and enduring appeal. Sometimes the simplest stories are the best and boy meets girl/ Goddess is a a pretty universal love story.

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates - Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Message is not merely a book; it's a potent and unflinching examination of history, power, and the narratives that shape our understanding of the world. This collection of essays, drawn from his work at The Atlantic, pierces through the comfortable illusions we often cling to, demanding a confrontation with uncomfortable truths.

Coates begins by grounding us in his own formative experiences, recounting the impact of a seemingly random tragedy on a celebrated athlete told in Sports Illustrated. This early encounter with the inherent unfairness of life becomes a recurring motif, a lens through which he views the larger injustices he dissects.

In On Pharaohs, Coates delves into the insidious construction of racial hierarchies. He exposes the hypocrisy of figures like Teddy Roosevelt, who championed a "civilizing" mission while conveniently ignoring the rich history and achievements of African civilizations. The concept of ‘Niggerology,’ the creation of a racial hierarchy to justify colonial ambitions, is laid bare. Furthermore, Coates offers a startling observation about the internal hierarchies within Black communities, where perceived prestige and proximity to whiteness can lead to a "mixed-race" categorization even within Black parentage. This nuanced point highlights the pervasive influence of white societal valuations.

Bearing the Flaming Cross shifts focus to the limitations of traditional education. Coates reflects on his own undiagnosed ADHD and critiques a system that prioritizes rote memorization over genuine understanding and application of knowledge. He champions the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance and the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire, both emphasizing the power of education as a tool for liberation and social change. The rise of right-wing outrage against discussions of race and history, particularly in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, is presented as a deliberate attempt to suppress challenging narratives and maintain a sanitized version of the past. Coates powerfully argues that without honest confrontation with our history, progress remains elusive.

The longest and perhaps most impactful section, The Gigantic Dream, embarks on a global exploration of historical denial and the narratives that underpin power structures. Coates' visit to the Holocaust Museum prompts a stark comparison with the often-erased history of the genocide of First Nations people in America, echoing the hypocrisy seen in To Kill A Mockingbird.

His analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is particularly compelling and courageous. He draws parallels between the treatment of Palestinians and the Jim Crow South, highlighting the two-tiered system that privileges Jewish Israelis while denying basic rights and freedoms to Palestinians. Through conversations with former IDF soldiers, Coates exposes the systematic strategies employed to dehumanize Palestinians and facilitate land grabs. The memorialization of mass murderers of Palestinians, funded by the state, raises troubling questions about the sincerity of official condemnations of violence.

Coates then invokes Edward Said's powerful assertion that every empire justifies its actions by claiming exceptionalism. He connects this to Theodore Herzl's own civilizational hierarchy, which positioned Arabs as inferior. This historical context illuminates the ongoing disregard for international laws, such as the Geneva Conventions, designed to prevent such injustices. The Zionist dream, Coates argues, has often been predicated on the displacement of Palestinians, with archaeological claims used to retroactively justify these actions, often fueled by settler organizations with vested interests. The historical alliance between apartheid South Africa and Israel further underscores the systematic nature of oppression.

Coates' fearless writing shines through as he critiques the hypocrisy of the Museum of Tolerance being built on a destroyed Muslim graveyard, suggesting that the Holocaust narrative is sometimes weaponized to deflect from other injustices. His raw honesty resonates deeply, particularly for those who feel "gaslit" by dominant narratives surrounding ongoing conflicts.

Coates turns his attention to the selective outrage displayed by those in power, both political and celebrity. The fervent support for Ukraine stands in stark contrast to the silence or muted response regarding the plight of Palestinians, exposing a stark inconsistency in the application of Western values. The silence of many in Hollywood and the compromised stance of some musicians further underscore this unsettling reality.

Coates astutely points out that Jews are not a monolith and should not be held collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. However, he argues that it is imperative for individuals, regardless of background, to speak out against genocide and ethnic cleansing, especially when such acts are committed in the name of their faith. The normalization of live-streamed war crimes, witnessed daily, is a chilling indictment of our desensitization to suffering. The failure to enact meaningful change after the 2008 financial crisis, the self-serving actions of politicians during the pandemic, and the protection of serial abusers all paint a picture of a status quo resistant to genuine accountability.

Coates also touches upon the power of grassroots movements, such as the BDS boycott, which authorities often fear and attempt to counter by fostering division. While wary of grand conspiracy theories, he acknowledges a concerted effort by those in power to embolden nationalism and silence dissenting voices, often ironically under the guise of defending free speech.

Ultimately, Coates echoes Moominmamma’s poignant reminder that "talking is all we have" and that our shared humanity outweighs our petty differences. Said warned about the self-serving narratives of empires and the complicity of intellectuals who rationalize injustice and The Message serves as a powerful antidote to such narratives, urging us to trust the evidence of our own eyes and to resist the comforting lies that perpetuate suffering. It is a vital read for anyone seeking a deeper, more honest understanding of the complexities and contradictions in our world.

LINK- The Anxious Generation: Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’

LINK- Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties- Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK- Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World- Book Review (and Personal Reflections)

Petshop of Horrors - Cult Manga Review

I love myself an anthology series as there is always a new surprise around each corner. So when I heard on a manga and anime Facebook group I'm on that there was a horror tetralogy (or quadrilogy in Alien boxset parlance) I was all in as that stuff's my jam.

Petshop of Horrors is a 1999 OVA series that presents tales about an unusual pet shop that deals in rare and exotic creatures within Chinatown. Count D, the enigmatic petshop store owner, has many animals which are precious and unusual but there is usually a monkey's paw price to be paid for these unchecked human desires - each episode serves as a cautionary tale.

Daughters
When a wealthy couple lose their daughter through excessive drug use, they buy a 'rabbit' from the Count which looks exactly likes their daughter. They are given rules to follow but inevitably don't and there are consequences.

This episode is quite powerful as it looks at how spoiling a child will lead to its ruin later down the line. 'Just this once' is a poor excuse that moves the Overton Window ever so slightly each time.

Delicious
When a man, stricken in grief after losing his wife on their wedding night, comes to the pet shop he is given a mermaid. The mermaid looks like his wife and even bears the same wedding ring but has amnesia. Could it really be her?

This episode is chilling as it looks at love, obsession and the consequences of not remaining true to your heart.

Despair
When a young actor, who has not had an success over the past few years, is found dead with a rare lizard nearby, Count D is in the glare of the police inspector. However, as the Count retells the story of what happened what we have is a tale of sadness and, yes, despair.

This is a powerful tale of finding fame at a young age and trying to live in the glare of that success. It can be isolating to have so many fans but not to really feel a connection.

Dual
Whilst a hot young American senator vies for the top spot, his best friend and put-upon secretary supports his anguished wife. After a tragic accident, the two swap places with the help of a Kirin, a wish granting entity, and the ascent to Presidency is clear.

This was a bit of a clever twisty turn episode as it showed the stoic being true of heart and his dreams finally being fulfilled by the end. This was a very clever episode indeed!

I thoroughly enjoyed the series as the episodes all had a different theme about the frailties of the human condition. This consistent thematic thread creates a sense of foreboding that permeates the entire OVA, reinforcing the idea that every desire comes with a price. The vibes were intense and profound with this show and it reminded me mostly of the Vampire Princess Miyu OVA in that each episode was self contained and contemplative.

My favourite of the 4 episodes was Despair as Robin kept his side of the deal, doing everything he was supposed to do. He didn’t break the contract until his hand was forced because he knew he was a product of showbusiness and Medusa was the only one who truly understood him. For Medusa, she finally found happiness with someone who sincerely loved her knew that they could never to be separated. It's a Romeo and Julie situation and oh so tragic.

The character of Count D emerges as a compelling and enigmatic figure, however the limited runtime hinders extensive character development so what we are left with is a cypher without depth - like the crypt keeper without the personality or depth.  I would have liked to have seen a more in-depth exploration of the character and their motivations without needing a breakdown as that would destroy the mystery. I don't need the midochlorian explanation for kiddie Darth Vader to know that he's a badass but some thread would have been nice.

Overall, the Pet Shop of Horrors OVA is a worthwhile experience for aficionados of dark fantasy and mystery. Its stylish presentation and atmospheric storytelling create a lasting impression, despite its short length. Sure the soundtracking choices are more bizarre than those in videogame Deadly Premonition but where it matters, the series comes through and is a powerful study of the human condition.

LINK- The Anxious Generation: Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

LINK- Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties- Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK- Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World- Book Review (and Personal Reflections)

The Raw Shark Texts - Book Review

I am a huge reader but recently I’ve been craving something a bit different, something that messes with the very fabric of storytelling, the kind that make you work for the narrative. Think House of Leaves, but with a fresh, intriguing twist. That's what led me to Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts, and boy was it a journey.

The story is quite difficult to describe in a nutshell but I’ll try: Eric Sanderson wakes up with amnesia, only to be contacted by someone claiming to be his past self (or a past self, things get weirdly murky). This other Eric warns him about a ‘Ludovician,’ a Great White Shark made of pure language that hunts memories, traveling through time and space. Yep, you read that right.

What starts as a strange thriller, with Eric desperately trying to outrun this conceptual predator, morphs into a bizarre road movie. Scout, a mysterious young woman, enters and helps guide him to fight back using ‘un-space,’ the power of words, and knowledge gleaned from a slightly unhinged professor and an ancient secret society. And just when you think you've got a handle on things, the book throws you another curveball, evolving into a strange homage to Jaws and Moby Dick.

Author Steven Hall has crafted something truly unique here. You're constantly questioning the reality of what's happening, wondering if Eric is a reliable narrator through this linguistic labyrinth. The book's ergodic design is a real commitment, demanding active participation from the reader. The roughly 40 pages dedicated to a Ludovician attack is not just reading but it's an experience. You have to see it to believe it.

Now, I won't lie, the narrative does get a little sluggish in places and there were moments where I had to push through, but the central premise is so gosh darned intriguing that I always felt compelled to keep going. It's got this mature, slightly unsettling Dr Who vibe mixed with the textual playfulness of Danielewski's House of Leaves, all stirred up with a dash of Simigo’s videogamesque storytelling.

I'd recommend The Raw Shark Texts with a caveat: it's definitely not for everyone. If you like your narratives neat and tidy, stay clear, but if you're up for a mind-bending adventure that challenges your perception of storytelling and isn't afraid to get weird, then dive in.

The Humanoid- Cult Manga Review

So, I was just letting YouTube do its thing, throwing up random anime for me to check out when I came across The Humanoid. Now, I'd never even heard of it, so naturally, my curiosity was piqued. What I found was... well, let's just say it was an experience.

This 45-minute OVA from 1986 feels like a direct product of that wild and experimental energy that was buzzing through the Japanese anime scene during the bubble economy. You know, that time when creators were throwing all sorts of crazy ideas at the wall to see what would stick. The Humanoid, bless its heart, definitely feels like one of those experiments.

There's a certain retro charm to the whole thing, I'll give it that. But if you're going in expecting something that captures the slick, futuristic vibe of Hajime Sorayama – the legendary artist who's worked with everyone from Janet Jackson to The Weeknd – you might be a tad disappointed. While the animation is decent enough, it lacks that distinct, almost hyper-realistic, metallic sheen that's Sorayama's signature.

The story itself throws a lot at you in a short amount of time. We're in the future, chasing after the ‘ultimate weapon’ that some power-hungry General desperately wants. Sounds straightforward enough, right? But then it tries to weave in this sci-fi action with a touch of romance, and honestly, it feels like it's trying to cram too much into its runtime. The pacing feels all over the place, with sudden shifts in tone that left me scratching my head and struggling to really connect with the characters or what drove them.

And then there's the coffee. Oh. My. Gosh! The coffee. I swear, it was mentioned at least five times throughout this short film, and on at least three occasions, we got treated to these surprisingly detailed little monologues about its power, its aroma, its depth... Look, I love a good cup of coffee as much as the next person, but the sheer, almost obsessive focus on it in the middle of a futuristic sci-fi action flick was just… bizarre. It became this weird, recurring motif that felt completely out of left field.

So, The Humanoid is a strange beast but honestly, I think it's worth a watch, especially if you're an anime history buff. It's a fascinating little artifact that really showcases the experimental spirit of those 80s OVAs. It's a reminder that not every creative swing results in a home run, but they all contribute to the evolution of the medium. Just don't go in expecting a polished masterpiece. The Humanoid is more of an entertaining curiosity, a wonderfully weird slice of anime history that will likely leave you saying ‘Boy, that really was something, huh?’

LINK- The Anxious Generation: Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

LINK- Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties- Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK- Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World- Book Review (and Personal Reflections)

Gods: A Human History of Religion by Reza Aslan- Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

During the most blessed month of Ramadan, I decided I needed some spiritual nourishment. The world is crazy at the moment and the noise can get to be a bit too much so I thought I'd retreat back into contemplation, meditation and self-reflection. I consume a lot of media, as many of you know from this blog where I publish something every 3 days, but I thought I'd take a break. I already had a lot of articles prepared beforehand to keep the website chugging along so I could use the month for working on myself.

Living in a part of South Devon where I am definitely in the minority here, I feel like the standard bearer for Muslims. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a model Muslim but I do my best to represent my religion and beliefs in the best possible light. This is my personal jihad, my struggle, which I hope to improve and get better each day. I am respectful of my cultural heritage but also mindful of the environment and society I am in. I am interested in all people's, faiths and beliefs and thought I'd use this Ramadan to catch up on the theological side and still my monkey mind.

God: A Human History of Religion by Reza Aslan is the first book I thought I'd read. I didn't know anything about the author or book but when I had read Mike Schur's How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question a couple of years ago, this book came up on the Amazon recommended list so I bought it but it has sat untouched in my pile of shame. Finally, two years after purchase, I decided to read it and these are my personal reflections alongside a review.

Introduction

Aslan starts by saying how he grew up in a tepid version of Islam, pivoted to zealous Christianity in his teen years and then did a complete 180 back to a more radical version of Islam. He says, 'Faith is a choice: anyone who says otherwise is trying to convert you,' and states that humanity has seemed to humanise God by making him in our image, flaws and all. This book is not a look at whether if there is a god or which is the 'right' god, there's no way to know that until after death, but Aslan is looking at the creation of God in man-made society, ‘We fashioned our religions and cultures, our societies and governments, according to our own human urges, all the while convincing ourselves that those urges are God's.' As a student of Anthropology at Uni, this is mana for my soul as an archaeological and evidence based look at God sounded very fascinating indeed.

Adam and Eve in Eden

Aslan examines how the idea of God evolved as a concept over time when he looks back at the Homo Sapiens moving out of Africa in waves and settling down into small tribes over 100,000 years ago. He then discusses the burials of people with objects, believing this shows that our ancestors believe in the concept of the soul and that the world contained forces we could not see. Animism gave power to the idea that we are part of the whole and was shown in cave art and the figure of Lord of the Beasts, an ancient figure which may be the first depiction of God.

The Lord of Beasts

Aslan looks at how the Lord of Beasts figure spread across continents and was adapted into different forms including the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda, the Hindu deity Shiva, the Babylonian hero Enkidu, Greek mythology through Pan, Yahweh in the Bible and even more modern Celtic myths.

He discusses if this flourishing of religion was distinct to Homo Sapiens or if it started even earlier with the Neanderthals or its precursor. He raises this difficulty as he does not want to conflate burial practices with religion, especially as material goods do not always convey spiritual concepts and beliefs, but there were certain objects and patterns within many of the sites.

During the Age of Enlightenment, many anthropologists sought to find the evolutionary purpose of religion but no-one really nailed it until Emile Durkheim. He posited that whether spirits, God(s) or the soul exists or not does not matter, it is the collective consciousness of people brought together in their belief that creates something profound and cohesive. Aslan discounts this as he says the close knot families and blood ties were more binding than ceremonies, especially with the smaller familial groups that would have existed in the past.

We then get a dive into the psychoanalytic world with Jung and Freud and their explanation about religion offering a moral compass, except when it doesn't as the Greatest Judge of All (God) is angry, moody and often violent.

Aslan ends the chapter stating that most scholars now think that religion is not an evolutionary adaptation but a byproduct of some other preexisting evolutionary adaptation.

The Face in the Tree

Cognitive Theorists have a term for when humans think there is human agency and a human cause behind any unexplained event: Hypersensitive Agency Detection Device (HADD). It is a neurological impulse which is a survival technique to help us look out for predators and to be wary of a hostile world but it may also be a clue to the true evolutionary origin of the religious impulse.

Combined with Theory of Mind, where we project  non-human things with human characteristics, e.g. The way children will anthropomorphise stuffed toys into living characters, animals etc and we can see that there is a combination of factor that lends itself to creating God in OUR image.

Aslan posits that our ancestors created totems from nature as they believe that as humans have souls so must other loving things within nature. Within this, aspects of nature they found anomalous, for example a tree with knots that looked like a face, would be bestowed with powers and supernatural ability like the ability to talk. Thus the creation of rites and rituals linked to special places, especially sacred groves and woods throughout history, literature and pop culture.

This all sounds intriguing until you get to the question: where did the concept of the soul come from? In order for the rest of this theory to work the origins of the concept of the souls must be explored.

Spears Into Plows

Aslan looks at Gobekli Tepi and how the ruins there might provide us with some insight about our ancestors. He discounts the Atlantean and Alien theories of Erich Von Daniken and Graham Hancock and goes the route of religious community.

He discusses how we homonids gave up over 2 1/2 million years of hunting skills to turn our hand to farming about 12,000 years ago- we turned from foragers to farmers in the Neolithic Revolution. The popular theory for this is that as communities settled in one consistent area it had a huge impact on religious beliefs as the gods of the sky became immolated deities whose bodies made up the rivers, mountains, valleys etc. Mother Earth, the power of life within her womb, was the analogy for the life giving fertility of the soil and we see a rise in female deities across much of the world. However, Aslan considers the thoughts of many other scholars who look at Gobekli Tepi and wonder if religious sites, which often require a lot of labour and effort, were the reasons why communities settled in one place. Maybe they wanted to be near to God(s) and that's why communities undertook intense labour and hardship to be near this. He says that the fossil record shows that the change from a protein heavy to crop based diet heavily affected our physiology and we grew smaller by over 2 inches over the proceeding generations.

Whatever the theory, there is no consensus on what caused the Neolithic Revolution but there was a shift from primitive animism to organised religion within this period.

Lofty Persons
The tale of Sumerian figure Atrahasis is the oldest known written flood myth and may be the ur-flood myth from which all other that spread across the world with many variations including Noah/Nuh.
Ancestor worship (Manism) is also considered as there is evidence of the skulls of family members being placed around the family home in Jericho.
In Mesopotamia, a pantheon of gods with personality traits and powers was created and the ziggurat temples were their Earthly homes for when they came to visit from their celestial abode. An idol was placed at the apex and washed, clothed, fed and treated like it had the spirit of the god within. This is not the first case of idol worship but it would be the most prevelent and widespread as paleolithic figures of a plump woman with a distended belly were scattered around Europe and Asia.
Aslan then looks at how the use of hieroglyphics built upon the Mesopotamian pantheon and created its own version of the gods with their own personalities and traits, adding their animism heritage by often giving the gods animal features.
Aslan argues that the myth making of these gods resulted in Hinduism and later, the clearly flawed Greek gods who seemed very human-like in their follies and foibles. The constant psychodrama of this family and their sheer humanness made many to look for something greater, rather than a family a monad, the one true force, "One god, like mortals neither in form nor in thought," wrote Xenophanes. And lo, around 5000 BCE the Indo-Europeans spread the spiritual landscape from which the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) would arise with the concept one true god.

The High God
Pharaoh Akhenaten was husband to Nefertiti and during his life from 1356 BCE to 1336 BCE was the world's first recorded monotheist, turning away from the Egyptian gods to Aten, the Sun God. This change was highly controversial but was followed through by use of force against all polytheistic temples across the Egyptian Kingdom. After his death, he was seen as heretical and efforts were made to erase him from history, including his son changing his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun and his monuments and works being destroyed and defiled.
Then, around 1100 BCE, Zarathustra created Zaroastrianism, the unified deification of abstract concepts like Truth, Virtue etc into Ahura Mazda. It was highly ritualistic and Zarathustra became the first known Prophet to receive revelations from God, which he wrote down. The religion was not successful but was revived a few hundred or so years later ('in Pog Form' to quote Simpson-ish) by Cyrus the Great who spread it. The form was more dualistic and the concept of Heaven and Hell were added with your deeds during your life deciding your fate.
Aslan then considers why through the whole of human history, monotheism struggled to take hold until the past 3000 years and he thinks it may be due to the fact that monotheism is exclusivist; it considers all other faiths to be wrong except itself and, as such, other faiths must be ignored or crushed. Additionally, the concept that one single god could encompass all the facets of humanity like light/ dark, mother/ father, good/bad seemed quite difficult to reconcile and so the pantheon provided a much clearer version of these concepts. Henotheism allowed there to be a hierarchy of gods with an all-powerful god ruling over lower gods. As in Heaven, so on Earth and thus the politicomorphism of beauracratic order and hierarchies of Earth were applied to the Gods. This became the favoured form of religion across the world for centuries.

What is God?
This chapter looks at the rise of Yahweh and Israel. Tribes were linked to their gods and so, when empires fought it was thought to be based on the strength of their respective god(s) in a battle of monolatry.
Aslan, looks at the various innacuracies and inconsistencies within the Torah, including the story of Moses, the flood myth and even Adam and Eve. He cites various historians who say that the Torah was an amalgamation of four sources, the Yahwist, Elohist, Priestly and Deuteronomist. Aslan states that he believes the Elohist and Yahwist material was combined but that the traditions believed in different gods so the mashup wasn't smooth- thus the inconsistencies yet also similarities between the Canaanites and Israelites. El and Yahweh merged to become God, a singular deity that smooshed the two separate deities together, combining beautifully like peanuts and chewing gum (together at last) with the creation of Israel in 1050 BCE. Yahweh was not the only god, as there were other gods at the time, but he was considered the greatest god so it was not really monotheism or monolatry, he was more like a patron God of the Israelites.
When the Israelites were defeated by the Babylonians, they couldn't conceive that their god wasn't the greatest and so this led to a deeper consideration of their scripture and a hardened belief in monotheism. The defeat of the tribe meant their god was not all powerful and rather than face oblivion they recontextualised what had been there before and formed a solitary singular god with no form who made humans in his image, sharing many of their emotions and qualities, both good and bad.

God is Three
The deification of humans has been around for a long time, ever since the time of the Mesopotamian ruler Sargon the Great around 2350 BCE. The concept was easy as the King/ ruler was considered to have been a representative of God here on Earth. However, Jesus's deification was different as he was considered the sole human manifestation of the one and only God in the universe. This led to a quandary, was there one god or, if Jesus was who he said he was, were there two? This ditheism led to a philosophical conundrum as the old god of the books was vengeful and angry whilst Jesus's message was one of peace, love and forgiveness. What gives? Were Yahweh and Jesus enemies? Marcion, a rich philosopher thought so and argued this point, even creating a new text but it was ignored. However, his ideas spread much to the chagrin of the Romans who saw interest in their old gods falling. Emperor Diocletian wanted to rid the empire of Christians and the Great Persecution saw many of them killed. When Constantine took control in 312 CE, he stopped the bloodshed against Christians and had the slogan, 'One God, One Emperor.'
However, the nature of Christ was in dispute so the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE sought to clarify the situation. Tertullian came up with the idea of the trinity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit based on the Greek philosophical idea that God was a 'substance'.
Matters were in a state of confusion until Augustine of Hippo clarified the theological position in the 5th century CE, and thus it has remained with a few tweaks along the way.

God is All

This chapter charts the rise of Islam, which saw off the Zoroastrians belief in dualism and Christianity's trinity to become the superpower with its belief that God was One. Aslan says that Allah was already known to the Arabs before Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) as he rose through the Arab pantheon ranks to be the divine animating spirit who had no form, thus no idols but, like Zeus and other religious pantheons, he did have daughters and sons. This was polytheism and the idols of the gods were the intermingling of Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Zaroastrian and other religious beliefs. However, the Prophet's message was that Allah was the divine force and all the others false idols; an anathema to the bustling, cosmopolitan centre of trade that was Mecca. Islam is aligned with Judaism in many ways including the singularity of Yahweh/ Allah, dietary practices and idea that He has no form so we were not created in his image. However, this tawhid is contradictory as if you are supposed to take the quran literally then how to account for the quran's mention of Allah's face, hands and his very human-like Beautiful Names? This has been the centre of theological debate for many centuries and Sufiism arose as a part of this contradiction.

I liked the broad overview of Sufiism and I know of it, and the poet Rumi (which is one my daughter's middle names) but not much else except the whirling dervishes and trances.

Conclusion

Aslan ends the book by discussing his research and personal journey to get to the realisation that he believes in Pantheism, meaning 'God is all, All is God'; God is in Everything so why stress about rituals, rites and practices as God knows your true soul. 'You are God' ends Aslan.

I loved reading this book as I learnt so much. As an Anthropology graduate, I loved the historical timeline about the evolution of human religiousity but on a personal and spiritual level, I've always been on a quest to know the divine. I've wondered is God the animating for that connects all living things, nature deified, an abstract force that permeates the universe, a personalised deity who acts and looks like a human or is God an actual physical being beyond our current scientific ken? In times of division and uncertainty, the notion of finding inner peace and guidance by looking inward resonates deeply. The concept of personal responsibility and a worldview that encourages universal connection, cultivates self-reflection and positive qualities like compassion and empathy.

So many questions and the answers are not forthcoming so Aslan's assertion that God is within us so we should look within and move forward with light in our hearts in just what I need. In this day and age where people are more stratified and seemingly divided, a message of unity and respect is one we all need to hear and spread. Peace.

Sol Bianca 2 - Cult Manga Review

For 35 years, Sol Bianca lingered on my watchlist. Released in 1990, during the golden age of OVAs and distributed by AD Vision, a key player in bringing anime to the West, it remained an elusive gem until recently. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I experienced the original OVA and found it a surprisingly solid sci-fi adventure.

The original Sol Bianca presented a straightforward narrative with a charmingly quirky crew. Each female character, from the tech genius to the stoic leader, was distinct, and refreshingly, the absence of excessive fanservice allowed their personalities and skills to shine. While the hour-long runtime limited deep character development, their archetypes were immediately clear, making for an entertaining retro anime experience. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but its unique blend of action, humor, and space adventure remianed appealing even after all these years.

Naturally, I wondered if Sol Bianca 2 would build upon this foundation. I never got to see the OVA here in England as I don't think it was ever released. so, having discovered the sequel uploaded in its dubbed format on YouTube I though I'd give it a watch.

Thankfully, I can say that it delivers a high-octane action experience, focusing on escalating set pieces. The plot centers on the crew's heist of an energy-enhancing Pasha doodat, a device of immense power. However, their plan is disrupted by a rival faction, leading to intense conflicts as multiple parties vie for the same prize. The stakes rise when some of the motley crew are kidnapped, and the Sol Bianca faces a physical cyber worm outbreak, a technological virus corrupting its systems. The remaining members pull a Scottie to fix the ship and rescue their colleagues but meet a mysterious figure, intimately familiar with the Sol Bianca crew, who seeks the Pasha for his own evil machinations. Unfortunately, this intriguing cliffhanger plotline remains unresolved due to the series' abrupt end. We never got closure...

Despite the unresolved plot and increasing unnecessary fanservice, Sol Bianca 2 excels as a fast paced space opera with kinetic action sequences within its brief 45-minute runtime. The OVA showcases fluid animation and dynamic fight scenes, highlighting the stylish ship designs and intense firefights while the story builds on the established world and starts to add some backstory to Feb and April's past. 

Ultimately, Sol Bianca 2 stands as a visually impressive but unfinished OVA. While its narrative potential was never fully realized, it remains a worthwhile watch for fans of space opera action and those who appreciate well-animated fight scenes, even amidst a somewhat fragmented and unrealised story.

Phantom Quest Corp. - Cult Manga Review

Phantom Quest Corp. is a 4-part OAV series which was originally released in the mid-90s. It centers on a quirky, ragtag group of exorcists, pyrokinetics, and spirit mediums dedicated to solving the world’s ghostly woes. I watched it upon release and remember it to be a delightful blend of spooky, supernatural shenanigans and laugh-out-loud comedy. However, revisiting it for the first time in 30 years, would it still hold up or suffer from the usual cringe elements that mar much of the 90s output in today’s light?

The first thing to note is that the animation, a product of its time but still impressive even now, possesses the distinctive charm of Madhouse, the studio behind Wicked City and Ninja Scroll and key animator Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The character designs are expressive, especially that of the lead character, the fiery and fiercely independent Ayaka Kisaragi. She is a powerful psychic with a penchant for collateral property damage, sake, and karaoke, Ayaka leads a team that's equally eccentric and endearing, elevating Phantom Quest Corp. beyond your average monster-of-the-week narrative. The four tales include:

  • Kiss of Fire: The Corp tackles a vampire stalking the women of Tokyo, uncovering an unconventional relationship and an ancient evil.

  • End of World: Ayaka, suspicious after surviving a car accident linked to a strange electrical outage, investigates mysterious scars on the deceased taxi driver within a hospital.

  • Love Me Tender: The Corp looks into problems at an Ancient Saharan Exhibition, where a ghost may be connected to a CEO's harassment of the lead archeologist.

  • Lover Come Back to Me: When a Buddhist cult threatens to steal the Corp's business, Ayaka investigates the group and discovers a hidden agenda.

Watching the show again after so long, I had a great time. Each episode of the series presents a self-contained ghost story but it's the unique way these cases are handled that truly makes the series shine; the sharp banter, teamwork and individual quirks of the characters make them feel like real, albeit slightly unhinged, people. You genuinely root for them as they face angry spirits, mischievous yokai, and often crazy scenarios. Perhaps the most enduring appeal of Phantom Quest Corp. lies in its refusal to take itself too seriously. While the stakes can be Scooby Doo spooky, a healthy dose of humor is always present to ensure you know it’s just for laffs. Also, I was thankful that the series does not have any fan service, until the last shot of the whole series that is…oh dear, so close!

If you're looking for a fun, spooky, and thoroughly entertaining anime that has flown somewhat under the radar, I wholeheartedly recommend Phantom Quest Corp. It's a delightful blend of supernatural thrills and comedic spills that will leave you wanting more ghostly adventures with this unforgettable team.

The Joy of Comics and Passing the Torch

I am a huge comic nerd and have built a sizable collection over my 35 years in the hobby. I started collecting when I was 7 years old from my local comic shop with their cheap packet collections but moved onto graphic novels when I got my first jobs as a newspaper delivery boy and market stall dog’s body.

The collection expanded as I earned more from my weekend job at Peacocks and my weekday evening youth working. Then, a decade ago, a new chapter began – fatherhood. The instinct to share this beloved hobby with my daughter was immediate and profound.

To my delight, she embraced the world of sequential art with open arms. By the time she was eight, she had journeyed through the imaginative landscapes of Lumberjanes, the whimsical charm of Hilda, the intriguing mysteries of Gotham Academy, and the relatable stories of Raina Telgemeier, alongside countless other gems from the Scholastic Grafix series. She became, quite simply, a well-read young individual. Yet, as her guide through these literary landscapes, I couldn't shake the feeling of being the ultimate arbiter of her taste, a contrast to my own early, unguided explorations within the hallowed walls of Rodney's Books and Games, the iconic Forbidden Planet, the always-intriguing Orbital Comics, and of course, the legendary Gosh! Comics (and that other wonderful spot just down from Foyles).

This past week, I went to London with my family and stepped into Gosh! with my daughters. Witnessing their unbridled enthusiasm amidst the towering shelves was a profoundly magical experience. Letting go of that gatekeeper role, allowing them the freedom to wander and discover, felt both liberating and a little poignant. In light of the sometimes toxic fandom, this expression of wonder was uplifting.

Seeing them connect with my wife over the shared humor of Pusheen, their faces lit up by the vibrant covers, was a new kind of joy. That was one of the graphic novels they bought and then my eldest daughter, after some choice paralysis, finally selected The New Girl by Cassandra Calin. I did not know it but saw that it had one of the Gosh Best of 2024! stickers on. Reading the blurb it sounded quite promising so I said if she wanted it she could have it. For myself, but also for her really, I chose Ghost Book by Remi Lai as it looked pretty interesting and had that same kinda tween cartoon feel. My daughter read the blurb and said I should get it. All agreed I gave my daughters the money and they paid, proud of their purchases.

Now, the anticipation lies in the shared act of reading, the conversations that will unfold, the different perspectives that will emerge. My eldest has truly developed her own discerning eye, and I genuinely look forward to her insights. More than just sharing a hobby, it's about witnessing the blossoming of their individual identities, their unique choices shaping the people they are becoming. And in that, there's a deep and quiet satisfaction that transcends the simple pleasure of collecting comics.

Serial Experiments Lain - Cult Manga Review

"No matter where you are, everyone is always connected."

That line, whispered by Lain in the hauntingly prescient anime Serial Experiments Lain, has stuck with me for decades. Back in the late 90s, when I first encountered this strange anime on bootleg DVD purchased from my go-to Goodmayes guy I got to know from eBay, the internet was a relatively new frontier, a weird and exciting wilderness. Now, the 'Wired' is less a frontier and more like the very air we breathe, making Lain's words ring with an almost unsettling familiarity.

Lain’s ephemeral self makes quite an appearance on the Wired.

But, let's head back to the start. Lain, a seemingly ordinary schoolgirl, is drawn into the Wired after the suicide of a classmate, Chisa. She receives a message from Chisa from the great beyond saying she has found God online. Lain wants to know if it is real or a trick of some kind and so, she is propelled into a bewildering exploration of virtual identity, online communities, and the increasingly blurred lines between the real and digital realms.

Revisiting this cult classic after about twenty years, what struck me most wasn't just its cyberpunk aesthetic or its exploration of virtual identity. It was how acutely the series captured the paradox of our hyper-connected age: profound social pressure existing alongside deep-seated isolation. Lain foresaw this strange duality, highlighting how technology, while promising to bridge distances, can ironically amplify our sense of being alone. The relentless barrage of information, the carefully curated online personas, the constant pressure to be connected – it can all lead to a profound sense of alienation. Serial Experiments Lain was diving headfirst into the rabbit hole way back in 1998 with its unsettling foreshadowing of our current internet landscape, where conspiracy narratives thrive with alarming ease. We've all been tempted to follow those winding threads online, even if just for a little while, and Lain was already mapping that territory.

The series also fearlessly grapples with the darker undercurrents of our digital existence: suicide and mental health. Chisa's tragic fate and Lain's subsequent investigation reflect a growing awareness of the mental health challenges facing young people in an increasingly digital world. The addictive pull of screens and the potential for disassociation, themes that felt somewhat abstract in the 90s (with the notable exception of Fight Club), are now painfully real. We're witnessing a generation navigating the psychological toll of constant connectivity, a phenomenon Jonathan Haidt explores in his recent and much-discussed book, The Anxious Generation. Lain was sounding the alarm long before the data backed it up.

Lain tries to connect with the Wired but finds it all too overwhelming.

Underpinning the entire series is a subtle yet potent critique of late-stage capitalism. The commodification of identity, the relentless drive for connection as a product, the erosion of genuine human interaction – it all speaks to the isolating and alienating forces shaping our society. Released in Japan in 1998 against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, a major earthquake, a horrific terrorist attack, and the approaching end of the millennium, Lain tapped into a deep-seated cultural anxiety. It masterfully blended horror and creepiness with the burgeoning internet, pulsating club music, and mind-bending science fiction. Building on the cultural impact of The X Files, episode 9 of Lain goes full on conspiracy theory on the origins of the 'Wired' with Roswell, The Manhatten Project, the sensory deprivation experiments of John C. Lilly, E.C.C.O. and (not the) dolphins and hypertext. In 1998, these unconnected points were connected in Lain in a grand maniacal scheme. It was the right story at the right time, a prescient work that foreshadowed so much of our current digital reality where people see the Deep State and a sinister cabal everywhere.

Special mention must be made of Yoshitoshi ABe's distinctive character designs. They would later grace the ethereal beauty of Haibane Renmei, but this first work perfectly complement the series' complex themes. His style melds seamlessly with the avant-garde, cyberpunk digital backgrounds, where dominant purples and blues amplify the pervasive melancholic atmosphere. The sensory experience is profound – a tapestry woven from the hum of powerlines and the rhythmic clacking of keyboards, punctuated by the vibrant energy of the club scenes at Cyberia and the indie-rock pulse of Boa's opening theme. Even Lain herself is visually presented in three distinct styles, a clever way to illustrate her fracturing sense of self as she navigates the Wired and perhaps even transcends into something akin to a digital deity. Ah, the Japanese and their enduring fascination with Christian iconography in their storytelling!

I love the final episode and have remembered the sentiment of, "If it isn't remembered, it didn't happen," after all this time as it's a thought that continues to echo in our digital age. It's a chilling precursor to our "pics or it didn't happen" mentality and the very real challenges of erasing our digital past, as poignantly explored in Jon Ronson's ‘So You've Been Publicly Shamed.’

Serial Experiments Lain isn't just a piece of nostalgia; it's a vital, unsettling mirror reflecting our present and perhaps even our future. The writer of the series, Chiaki Konaka seems to have stared too deeply into the abyss and seems to be aligned to many conspiracy theories and theorists now - such a shame for someone who looked so deeply at radicalisation and cult brainwashing strategies, only to succumb to them himself, or at the very least, get his information from the same main source.

As we continue to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of the Wired, Serial Experiments Lain remains a haunting and incredibly relevant reminder of the profound questions lurking beneath the surface of our seemingly connected world. It's a call to question, to reflect, and to remember that even in the digital age, our humanity remains our most precious connection. Lain has earned its cult status for a reason. It's not just a cyberpunk anime; it's a philosophical exploration of the human condition in the face of rapid technological advancement. This is a series that demands multiple viewings, each time peeling back another layer of its unsettling truths about our digital existence. It is very much a series about the Present Day, Present Time.

LINK- The Anxious Generation: Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

LINK- Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties- Book Review (and Some Thoughts)

LINK- Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World- Book Review (and Personal Reflections)

The Comic Book Pile-Ons and Other Such Nonsense

Ever feel like some fandom spaces are less about celebrating what you love and more about… well, grumbling? You’re not alone. There’s a definite undercurrent in some communities that feels less like joyful appreciation and more like a reactionary incubator full of really bad faith hot-takes. These spaces often have a nostalgia for the apparent ‘golden age’ of yore and a suspicion towards the present, and conspiratorial thinking about the ‘bad guys’ ruining the memory of this cherished IP. This has been a common trend in much of the media landscape, from 2014’s Gamergate, to the weird reactions of the new He-man and She-Ra series (which were both pretty good IMHO) to the social media pile-on when comic guy, Glenn O'Leary, said in a short form video that he thought the American comic industry was dying. What followed was a vicious social media attack as many people criticised him, including comic writers and creatives, on X (née Twitter).

It got me thinking about the comic scene and how I've seen in change since I got into the world about 35 years ago. I fell in love with comics during the late 80s. My best friend at the time showed me his small comic collection and I remember listening to Jean Michel Jarre and reading them. The art, stories and dynamism shown on the page blew me away and I was hooked. I knew many of the characters through TV shows, cartoons and pop culture but this was my first experience of the actual comics.

This shop was the centre of the world in terms of my interests for many years.

I remember vividly going to bed excited to visit our local comic book store, Rodney's Books and Games. The makeup of the shop was strange but cool; at the top was owner Rodney who sold second hand books and in the basement was Ian, the mid-30 pony tailed guy who sold the comics and manga. I'd been visiting this place for quite a while as I was really into the Fighting Fantasy books by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson and they sold second hand copies for a very reasonable price a couple of quid. I'd never really ventured downstairs as that was where the men and older teenagers hung out.

There was a connecting space as at the top were rows of comic book boxes with grab bags, £1 a piece, which contained about 4 to 5 comics. The corners were snipped off but it was a cheap way to read loads of comics really easily. Sure, you'd never get a story arc but back then it was a great way to be introduced to a wealth of comics and creative teams. For the shop it was a great way to get rid of back issues and for the customers it was a great way to get a great diet of comics and develop your tastes. It was an excellent idea and worked well I thought.

I loved visiting every Saturday morning with my best mate and spending our pocket money. However, the mid-90’s were when I stopped collecting comics, this was when the comics boom started. I had only a little amount of pocket money and the possibility of getting a girlfriend, socialising with friends by going to the cinema or Pizza Hut buffet whilst collecting all the variants and crossovers made it all too hard for me to keep up with everything.

Also, factor in the price rise in comics (from about 80p to about £1.50 to some being over £2) and I was out of the game. Speculators made it hard to collect the comics I wanted and when I could get it, the comic seller had usually jacked up the price. The biggest example I have is I was a huge Iron Man fan, I'd followed it since reading a mates issue of 270, which I bought and still have. I'd buy monthly issues for months but the Death of Tony Stark was the next issue (#284) and I couldn't find it for love nor reasonable money. The comic guy had backed and boarded it onto the wall for an extortionate price before I'd even been able to buy it.

I also collected Flair Cards and loved them for their stunning artwork, interesting facts and good quality card and foil effects but then that became a speculative bubble too. I knew this was happening when my group of equally geeky friends suddenly saw many more of our student peers collecting the cards in the playground, it became a phenomenon.

After my young cool uncle lent me Akira and Devilman, I got into manga and that was my thing for the next decade or so. I built an impressive collection including Alita, Kare Kano, Death Note and more but the sheer amount of trash meant I fell out of love with that too.

When I got my first proper paid weekend job in Peacocks, as well as saving some, I'd buy CDs, DVDs but also graphic novels. My friend was a Hellblazer fan and I loved it. I found that with graphic novels you'd usually get a whole story arc and the prices wouldn't be speculated on. That's when I discovered the Vertigo line and collected The Sandman, Preacher and also the entire Hellblazer run.

I've amassed a sizable collection of over 700 and have continued collecting, getting only the stuff I want to read. I don't follow trends or hype cycles but follow the creatives or characters I want. Comic shop staff would also recommended me stuff bespoke to my tastes and were rarely wrong.

When Marvel went through a resurgence I picked up many graphic novels, jumping on the Marvel Now imprint. Marvel Now, which ran from 2012 to 2015, offered a gentle step up for people getting into the scene without the 40, 50 or more years of accretion; they were just solid comics done well with characters who we all knew from the pop culture zeitgeist or from our youth. It reinvigorated many of the characters and brought many new readers into the scene. A lot of that was I doubtably from the success of the films but also the runs were amazing with some fresh ideas and super creative teams. Some of my favourites included Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel and She Hulk. I visited Gosh, Orbital and Forbidden Planet in London monthly and the comic shops would be buzzing with diverse faces. It was a huge difference from when I would visit these places in the late 90s and 00s and see a pretty homogenous group.

But my overwhelming feeling is that the comic scene is tough now. Marvel and DC keep doing constant reboots with new creative teams and the consistency and quality has reduced. I saw it with the New 52- I loved Constantine but when they wrapped that up into this new homogenous thing it lost me and many other fans. Vertigo was an amazing brand and to collapse that was nuts in my opinion. To lose a run that was in the hundreds returned to a 'new' #1 was heartbreaking as every relaunch only encouraged diminished returns. Fool me once... etc.

Ms Marvel was an important character for me as she represented my world and culture in a way mainstream comics had not shown before. I've collected all her comics but felt her death was lame... It didn't have payoff and felt like a gimmick. Having said that, her death was beautifully done with Kamala’s real culture and Islam represented well and accurately. The characters recite the Al-Falaq or The Daybreak, the 113th chapter of the Qur’an something I never would have dreamt of in my youth.

I only get a few single issues a year and usually they are for the big events like the death of Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) or the first appearance of Spider Boy, and even then I don't stress about variants, foils etc... life's too short.

My feeling is that Glenn and many comic book shop owners are correct and I think their passion comes from a place of love and knowledge not hate. The points made are pretty valid but, for me, the big issues here are value for money, space (and lack of it) and overchoice. The cost of living has affected many and so cutback are inevitable.

Covid exacerbated the decline of comic shops so that expert bespoke knowledge was lost. Luckily, I have a comic shop near me and he's a swell guys who I chat to about the scene but he has a limited inventory. I do miss the London hubbub where there'd be late night creator meetups, signings, game sessions, special releases etc. I would be able to meet my tribe and the sense of community was palpable.

I've also realised that much of the fanbase has aged out. Many don't want to lug crates of comics as it's a chore, especially when you are constantly moving places when renting. The marquee names, the Jim Lee's, Alan Moore's, Chris Claremont's, John Byrne's, Grant Morrison's and Neal Adams' of the world have either passed left the industry or moved on to Hollywood or other pastures so the big name draws are gone too. I love the Indie scene and have a healthy amount but the big two are the draw for the regular punter. A high tide raises all ships...

When you throw in the saturation of television and movies you realise that there is a massive problem: if you aren't a Disney + subscriber you miss a lot of the content and possibly continuity. I'm a Disney+ subscriber but I've not watched a lot of the Marvel movies or series as there's simply too much. Streaming has killed patience and people don't want to wait 6 months to finish a 6 part story arc (if they're lucky), especially if it's not a consistent cohesive team you can get behind.

My daughter is into the comic scene and she loves it but I've curated her intake through my knowledge and homespun expertise. She loves The Lumberjanes, Hilda, the work of Raina Telgemeier, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and Rabbit vs. Monkey, as well as The Beano but she is missing the comic book staff expertise and bespoke recommends and I feel sad for her. I feel lucky to have been around when the scene was booming, finding my people and having that sense of community, but I do feel it will pick up again. All it takes is a period of reflection and, like when the derth of lacklustre manga threatened the whole industry in the early to mid 00s, a hard reset.

I know it will happen but when and at what cost we will see. Meanwhile, I'll keep buying the comics by the creatives that interest me and avoid the more toxic online discourse.

LINK- Comics in the Classroom

LINK- What Comics Have Taught Me

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack

LINK- Thomas Was Alone Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

The Last Voyage of the Demeter - Film Review

I have very fond memories of watching the 1922 Nosferatu many years ago whilst attending university. I've mentioned elsewhere here that my Anthropology course allowed me plenty of free time to  watch films and Nosferatu was one I picked up quite early on. I loved the Murnau classic as it was beautifully shot with stunning cinematography from F. A. Warner and Gunther Krampf. The standout for me was Count Orlok stalking the poor crew of the Demeter, it stayed with me as the synth score on the DVD I had was suitably moody. Little did I know that years later there would be a whole 2 hour film about this scene, which made up a single chapter of the original Dracula novel.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is more of a slow burn creature feature, dragging you down into the damp, creaking hull of a doomed ship which is selected to take a large cargo of boxes to England from Transylvania. Mr Clemens (ably played by Corey Hawkins), the protagonist and audience surrogate of this story, is a highly educated black man and wants to know the world better, so joins the crew.

"The more I see of it, the less any of it makes sense," he says over the crew's first meal, not foreshadowing the events to come at all.

Captain Eliot replies, "The world cares little for sense... Perhaps it is not meant to be understood but rather experienced and accepted."

As they carry their cursed cargo towards Whitby, the crew grow suspicious of the deaths, turning on the woman, newbie and then each other as the storms and lack of food hits.

Director Andre Øvredal crafts a genuinely unsettling atmosphere, making the dark passageways of the ship into a claustrophobic nightmare echoing the silent terror of early vampire cinema. Make no mistake, this is a creature feature that delivers some brutal thrills as Dracula picks off the crew one by one when his food source, an unconscious woman kept in a trunk of dirt, is discovered and given a blood transfusion to save her life. The foreshadowing with the disappearance of rats in board and a genuinely unsettling jump-scare pretty early on sets the mood pretty much from the off.

However, while the tension is thick enough to chew on and the set impressively oppressive, the narrative can feel like it's treading water at times. There are occasionally clunky lines and bits of inelegant exposition but you can forgive that when the dark vibes are this good. It's a shame the film wasn't streamlined and trimmed as I think there is a lean horror film in here but the poor pacing and overwrought dialogue kills the potential it had.

We all know how this voyage concludes but if you're craving a pretty novel take on the Dracula story, then this is worth your time. This is no Bela Lugosi `Blah Blah Blah' meme stereotype but a more feral and wild thing.

Overall, I appreciated my time with The Voyage of the Demeter more then loved it. At over 100 years old, it certainly makes you appreciate the stark power of its cinematic ancestor and that is the mark of a true masterpiece.

For the Love of Shunji Iwai

Okay, confession time. Back in my formative Uni years, my cinematic heart belonged to the French arthouse scene. A thoughtful gaze into the unknown by Irene Jacobs in Three Colours Red was my happy place but when I tentatively dipped my toes into the waters of South East Asian arthouse cinema, I wasn't quite feeling the same pull. I'd journeyed through the powerful landscapes of Kurosawa and loved it, but the more contemporary offerings from many of these nations just weren't clicking…then came Picnic.

This quirky little film about psychiatric unit inmates taking a wall-adjacent day trip was… okay. It wasn't setting my world on fire but then, about halfway through, an instrumental track washed over a particularly striking piece of cinematography then… something shifted. That yearning piano and synth melody, Remedios' Walk on the Clouds, became the soundtrack to my wistful moments. Suddenly, I got it.

That track sent me down a rabbit hole, and before I knew it, I'd devoured Shunji Iwai's entire filmography. What struck me most about his work is this incredible sincerity, particularly in his portrayal of youth. Forget the overly articulate teens of American dramas or the constant witty banter. Iwai's characters feel real. Their emotions are raw, sometimes messy, and utterly believable. He trusts his audience, allowing scenes to breathe, letting the evocative music carry the emotional weight without needing a deluge of dialogue or clunky exposition. It’s like he understands the unspoken language of feelings.

Take Love Letter, for example. The winter cinematography is simply stunning, painting a landscape of both beauty and melancholy. And that ending? Seriously, could a scene be any sweeter? It's a moment of pure, understated joy that just melts your heart.

Then you have Swallowtail Butterfly. This film is on another level – a legitimate epic, but told with that distinct Iwai touch. It's ambitious, unique, and completely captivating. He weaves together disparate storylines and characters into this sprawling tapestry that somehow feels both grand and deeply personal.

Iwai's films also subtly highlight social issues, not with a heavy hand, but woven into the fabric of the narrative. It adds another layer of depth to his work, making you think beyond the immediate story.

After falling in love with Iwai’s work, I ventured forth and tried out other creatives whose works I hadn’t truly appreciated - through this I found the works of Wong Kar Wai, Zhang Yimou, Park Chan-Wook and Takeshi Kitano.

So, if you're like me, a lover of thoughtful cinema perhaps hesitant about venturing out of your comfort zone, take a chance on Shunji Iwai. You might just find yourself unexpectedly captivated by his honest storytelling, his stunning visuals, and those unforgettable musical moments that linger long after the credits roll. You might even find your own ‘Picnic’ moment that opens up a whole new world of cinematic beauty.

Video Girl Ai- Cult Manga Review

For years, I'd heard whispers of Video Girl Ai. Reviews in Manga Mania and Anime FX painted tantalizing glimpses of a unique romantic drama with a sci-fi edge. I'd never actually experienced it myself so, seeking to right that wrong, I settled down over the course of an evening and watched all six episodes, each lasting only around 30 minutes, to explore a captivating love square story.

The main protagonist Yota loves Moemi but she loves his best friend Takashi. After an earnest admission of her love for the friend, a depressed Yota rents a Video Girl VHS tape (a kinda video girlfriend tape) but a faulty tape player causes the Video Girl to break through to the real world with some glitches including brashness and bawdiness. With a limited time left before she is erased, Video Girl Ai aims to get Yota and Moemi together, but when she starts to develop human emotions what you get is a whole lotta teen drama.

I thought that this was an interesting premise and the setup was pretty quick. In fact, within the first 3 minutes of the series you see the Ai break through and introduce herself. Over the proceeding episodes, you see the run up to the VHS rental as well as the consequences of Ai's constant interference and burgeoning affections for Yota.

The whole series gives off a cheesy 80s Brat Pack vibe but I loved it as, at its heart, it's a story about developing and becoming more than you were. It's a poignant tale looking at the human condition, what is love and how our emotional attachments are affected by our concept of it. In other words, it's the universal tale of unrequited love and heartbreak.

There are moments of existential dread and the Hedgehog’s Dilemma.

The music is great throughout and forms an integral part of the series, as you often get high school montage scenes set to pop songs that give it that quintessential The OC/ Dawson's Creek vibe of people living their lives soundtracked to cool tunes. The art is beautiful and the way it would change for more sepia or watercolour tone interlude was heartwarming and effective.

This series predates Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloids virtual popstar fandom that would come after but it hits a lots of the concerns that have been raised about falling in love with virtual avatars.

However, I believe that this story is not one about meeting your ideal partner but rather a self-examination of a person trying to grow, become better and persevere with life's difficulties despite all the challenges. It's actually Schopenhauer's old Hedgehog's Dilemma way before Evangelion would bring it to the public consciousness 4 years later.

Overall, I really loved Video Girl Ai, and whilst it does have some pervy ecchi moments, it's not too egregious and doesn't detract from the bigger themes and story it is trying to tell. This is a big of a forgotten gem and I'm glad I've uncovered it for myself.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack

LINK- Thomas Was Alone Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

Secret Level- Series Review

Secret Level is an Amazon backed anthology series of videogame world inspired short stories that mixes cutting-edge animation styles with quick fire storylines. Each episode is stand-alone and is set within a different game universe and so, like all anthology shows, some will chime with you more than others depending upon your investment in the series or taste in genre and animation style. I was intrigued by the concept of this series as I am a gamer and have been for a long time so aa animated series, similar in scope to Love, Death and Robots, which gives creatives a chance to use known worlds to create a short narrative experience, intrigued me. The fact that Tim Miller, who executive produced LDR, was leading this had me hopeful. However, I was very aware that while the first LDR series looked phenomenal, pretty much half of the episodes were poor Alien derivatives and I was worried that this would be the fate of Secret Level. Well, I’m sad to say that after watching the series it does suffer the same fate as more than half the episodes are focused on one theme - gritty sci-fi shorts with a focus on gun porn, resurrection and the repetitive lifecycle of the protagonists. What are the episodes like individually though?

Well, uniformly the series is beautifully animated with the color and kinetic energy effectively translating the familiar aesthetics of each game world into the dynamic animated format. With the animation being handed to Blur though, there is a house style that only occasionally is given a chance to branch out. This is a visual feast though, make no mistake, and it is further amplified by the inclusion of celebrity voice talent, adding a layer of star power that, while not always consistently impactful, provides an interesting draw. The standout vocal performance is of a smug character portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in episode 3, a real highlight. The episodes are interesting when looked at individually:

Dungeons and Dragons: The Queen's Cradle

When a party of four meets a cursed man, they take him with them to the dragon Oriel's lair to be cured. However, things do not go according to plan as they are attacked by the Cult of the Dragon.

This is a great episode to kick things off as the animation is spectacular and the story, whilst straightforward, is effective and leaves you wanting more.

Sifu: It Takes a Life

When a young man seeks revenge for the death of his father, he will lose many lives before getting to his goal.

The animation in this episode is brilliantly fluid, bringing the bustling rainy Hong Kong side streets to life in a painterly style. The fight scenes in this are spectacular; a cross between that visceral corridor fight scene in Oldboy and the more recent balletic fluidity of the John Wick series.

New World: The Once and Future King

An arrogant king arrives with a huge naval fleet to conquer another kingdom but, after a storm, washes up ashore all alone except for a single loyal servant. He still tries to take on the King of the land but is constantly defeated and realises that no-one ever dies in this land. Can he take over? Does it even matter

This is a really funny episode and I think this is because Arnold Schwarzenegger nails the character. He adds a lot of swagger and self-confidence to the king who is used to always winning, not because he is any good but because his subjects enabled him for fear of reprisals. The ending is quite beautiful though as it shows the opportunity time provides for self-reflection and growth.

Unreal Tournament: Xan

A group of mining robots turn against their corporate overlords and are punished to face off in an arena. What happens next is mayhem and chaos as everyone struggles to survive.

This episode is brilliant as it captures the vibe and kinetic energy of Unreal. The story is simple but the frantic shootouts are well choregraphed and so, they draw you in.

Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear

Set in the dark and nihilistic future, a squad of 5 marines look for their target on a hostile planet and proceed to hunt him down, bringing the pain on anyone who stands in their way.

I know of Warhammer but I have never played the board or videogames. However, I feel that this episode was a great primer as it's not heavy on lore but is just full of cool fights and set-pieces. I love the nod to Django with the squad dragging a coffin-like object behind them on a chain.

PACMAN: Circle

When an alien wakes up he has amnesia but a flying golden ball named Puck tells him he has to 'Eat or be eaten'. And so our protagonist goes on a journey to feed himself.

This is a weird take on the old Pacman game. The story is accurate to 'lore' but did it really have to be so grim dark? It seems so strange a direction to have gone down but different strokes, eh?

Crossfire: Good Conflict

As a storm hits the coast of America, two mercenary teams fight it out to retrieve a package. Who will win and who are the good guys?

This is an okay short film about the geopolitics of war; no-one thinks they're the bad guys but surely there is one side that is more responsible than the other. Right? I think it's supposed to show that people are just following orders but, irrespective of command, just following orders does not cut it- not when we are seeing real heinous acts happening in the real world. There must be a reckoning for decisions made and followed.

Armored Core: Asset Management

When a mech pilot is given an assignment he is wary as it is an unknown target. When the voice in his head, calling herself a result of obsolete augmentation surgery, warns him that he is pushing himself too far he disagrees and pushes himself to the limit.

Keanu Reeves leads this film and does a great job as a maverick pilot who is addicted to the highs of piloting. It's a quick action filled episode and the world created suitably grimy yet with awe inspiring vistas.

The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep

When Amos, an orphan on garbage duty, sees a poster for a job he works hard to earn his right to go there and work for the company off-world where his old friend (and crush) left to work for. With his upbeat personality and honest character Amos succeeds and finds her, only to discover she is a chief scientist with designs on being the head of the company, even if it hurts people in its testing process.

I really loved this episode as it had a lot of levity amongst the darker episodes in this series. The message of unwavering brand loyalty in the face of incredible corporate malfeasance is very much front and centre but is done in a humorous and thought-provoking way.

Mega Man: Start

When their base is attacked by Dr Wiley's minions, Dr. Light and Rock discover their true strength and fight back.

This is a very short but cool origin story for Megaman, down to the cool pose with billowing hair on top of a building.

Exodus: Odyssey

When an engineer pursues his runaway daughter he goes through hell and high water to get her back, fighting an alien force and overwhelming odds. However, with time dilation he ages slower than his daughter - can he get her back before she ages too much?

This is quite a powerful episode on how far a parent is willing to go to rescue their flesh and blood. It ends on a note of hope and optimism and by gosh could we use some of that sweet, sweet optimism right now.

Spelunky: Tally

When two explorers keep dying as they try to escape from their subterranean world, they discuss the human cost to their rogue-like powers. Even if you always come back, are you the same person?

This is a good short piece about the meaning of life and why each turn is special, but this subject t has been covered before in New World and Sifu so seems repetitive. The art is stylised in a painterly, blockyish way and I quite liked it.

Concord: Tale of the Implacable

When a free gunner (I'm guessing this is a space swashbuckling type of job) captain is caught, her crew attempt to get her out. It goes South quick and they have to make contingencies on the fly.

This is quite a cool, lighthearted episode with a less accomplished Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly vibe. Watching this episode is a little bittersweet as the game was pulled within several days of release, potentially being the most expensive media flop of all time at a cost of $1/2 billion. Wowzers! The story had potential but, in a crowded market where people are time poor, it didn't stand out enough to build a fanbase.

Honour of Kings: The Way of All Things

When an AI controlled city goes power crazy, a young orphan teen challenges it to a game of Weiqi- a battle with winner takes all. He chooses Go and so, a duel for the soul of city is contested.

This is a gorgeous looking episode that looks at freewill, determinism and self-discovery. I quite liked it but it was not a standout.

Playtime: Fulfillment

A bored courier is sent to deliver a special package and her life is turned upside down by others who want it. The package allows her to manipulate the world around her but a military organisation want it for their own nefarious means.

This is a weird episode with a Colossi, Dad Kratos, Sackboy, Journey dude and others from the PlayStation stable out in force. It's a nice Leo Pointing Meme moment but as an episode, pretty inconsequential fanservice.

Overall, Secret Level is a solid anthology series and this season shows that the format in this style does have some legs. I look forward to seeing the maturity and flowering of ideas as creatives get more confident with the format. Love, Death and Robots honed its craft over a few seasons and I'm sure, given the chance, Secret Level will too. The standout episodes for me were the ones based on New World, The Outer Worlds and Sifu but there will be something here for everyone to enjoy. Roll on season 2!