Thing the first: Captain America!

I saw it! It was great! And I wrote about it for Film4, thusly:

It’s true that it doesn’t aspire to be anything particularly weighty or original – but at what it sets out to do, it rarely puts a foot wrong. Director Joe Johnston, in full-on Rocketeer mode, crafts a charming and entertaining period action romp that may never exactly hit an unpredictable beat, but is no less enjoyable for it.

Miles better than Green Lantern, not quite as good as X-Men: First Class, but about on a level with Thor. Splendid.

(Less splendid : Rotten Tomatoes posting the review, but not attributing it to me – just to “Film4″ generally – thus meaning it’s missing from my scorecard. Booo!)

Thing the second: New podcast!

My regular collaborator/partner in crime/argument board James Hunt and I have launched a new comics podcast, via our website Alternate Cover. It’s called The Graphic Novel Book Club, and it does exactly what it sounds like – each month, we solicit comments from our readers/listeners on a different graphic novel or trade paperback collection, setting discussion topic questions but also looking for any opinions/insights/etc. that people might have – then we throw them into the mix with our own thoughts and sit there chatting about it all for three-quarters of an hour. The first episode is now live on Podomatic and iTunes, and we’ve already posted discussion topics for the second, which we’ll be recording in a couple of weeks. Have a listen! Some people say it’s listenable and entertaining even if you don’t know the comics we’re talking about. I couldn’t possibly comment.

(And yes, it does have a slightly tautological name. “The Graphic Novel Club” might have been better, but then it wouldn’t have been as clear that we were specifically using a book group/book club format. It would have just sounded like a club.)

Thing the third: When Saturday Comes #295!

I’ve written at unnecessarily gushing length in the past about how much of an honour it is to write for When Saturday Comes, so I won’t retread all that ground again. But! This month is quite special, because for years now I’ve read their annual season preview supplement – in which one writer for each club in the league answers questions about their opinions on the previous season and expectations for the coming one – and thought about what I’d say if I were doing the section on Liverpool. So it’s quite exciting that this year, those answers are actually in the real supplement. I actually did a little double-take when I got the email asking if I’d do it. No, really.

What’s more, in the issue itself, an article I did a little while back about the history and merits (or lack thereof) of the away goals rule has made it to print. It’s not quite as exciting a piece as I was hoping when I started it – I was hoping to go into more extensive details about the circumstances of the rule’s creation/introduction, but discovered surprisingly little readily-available information despite doing some extensive library-based research and everything – but it’s still a relatively fun skim over the rule’s history and musing on whether or not it’s still a valid method of settling draws nowadays. Er, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Anyway, the issue’s out in shops on Wednesday – I’d post a picture of the cover, but WSC haven’t put it on their website yet. But it’s issue #295, it costs £3.50, and it’s got Stewart Downing, Phil Jones and Jordan Henderson on the front. So, you know. Buy it, if you like.

What follows is an uninspired superhero origin story that trots out all the predictable story beats of the genre without ever adding anything new or inspired. All the good promise of both the concept and some excellent effects sequences is lost in a script that is determined to plod its hero from A (reckless responsibility-phobe) to B (world-saving hero) without ever developing or exploring his personality along the way.

So that’s a big fat “no”, then. The rest’s over at Film4.

And also, although it was a few weeks ago, I’m quite pleased with my main contribution to the Doctor Who review canon this year (we’ll ignore my sloppy, far-too-short and unfocused review of “Day of the Moon”) – I’ve been waiting a long, long time for Neil Gaiman to write an episode of the show, so there’s a good reason why my write-up of “The Doctor’s Wife” is somewhat long and rambling. But I think I hit upon a nice theme with it, and that it’s a good piece all in all, so… yeah.

Firstly! There’s another issue of the fine and august publication When Saturday Comes out with something by me in it. Just a little something, mind – a sidebar piece for the regular “Screen Test” feature, in which old football-related VHSes are dusted off and written about. What did I review? Well, you’ll have to buy the magazine to find out, innit. But it’s something I used to own about twenty years ago, then recently remembered about, and thought “Hey, I should buy that off eBay and then write about it for WSC, shouldn’t I?” So I did. The cover looks uncannily like that picture on the left, and you can find out more about what’s in the issue here.

Secondly, last week I went to see the first of this year’s barrage of superhero movies, Thor, and then reviewed it for Film 4. And here that is. I didn’t make a single joke about how the lead character’s name sounds like someone with a lisp saying “sore”. I think that shows remarkable restraint and maturity.

… That the film gets away with foregoing any sort of traditional three-act structure is a testament to the assured, exhilarating style that’s long-since become Wright’s trademark. Despite cramming in six fights that would each serve as a commendable climax to many films in their own right, the viewer is swept along on a frantic rush of adrenaline throughout. Pausing for thought would betray that in most cases, the battles come along without anything like the build-up offered by the books – but in the moment, each is an inspired musical-style set-piece with its own inventive and unexpected resolution.

Full review up now at Film4.com. Meanwhile, James and I will be talking about the film – and the final book – in much lengthier, fanboyish and spoiler-filled detail over at Comics Daily at some point this week.

It’s all well and good giving Rhodes’ “War Machine” outfit its proper technical name from the comics at one point, or throwing in a less-than-subtle nod to Captain America, but when it’s at the expense of giving proper development to Tony and Pepper’s relationship, or adequately addressing the legitimate grievance Ivan Vanko (who, curiously, doesn’t seem to be named as Whiplash onscreen at any point) has with the Starks, the overall sense of coherency can’t help but suffer.

Full review over at Film4.

Despite the flaws, it’s still worth seeing if you’re a fan of (a) the first film, (b) Marvel Comics or (c) Scarlett Johansson in her bra. And make sure you stay until the end of the credits for the easter egg teaser scene that we DIDN’T BLOODY GET AT THE PREVIEW SCREENING.

The man is a miracle, frankly. It’s far too early to start talking about his place in the pantheon, especially with his distinct character still in the process of being established, but he just gets it. He is the Doctor – it’s telling that he seems to echo so many of his predecessors at different times, but it’s as if he’s studied them all, and adheres to Moffat’s notion that “there aren’t eleven Doctors – there’s one Doctor with eleven faces” resolutely, in a way that Tennant (who had echoes of one or two, particularly (of course) Davison, but generally felt specifically Tennantish) never really did. He’s got a brilliantly nuanced awkwardness to his poise that makes him feel like the old man in a young and unfamiliar skin. He’s got the comedy fingers. He’s got the mixture of genuine authority and perpetual-verge-of-getting-called-out bluff that the Doctor should carry into any environment. He’s absolutely at home in the role, and to have been so from his first moments onscreen is an astounding feat. My only hope for him is that he can keep it up.

Quite good, then.

I’ve also been pounding out a few bits and bobs in Comics Daily’s new non-review format recently – a quick think-piece on DC’s current problem of having two characters with identical names, powers and costumes running around entitled How Do You Solve A Problem Like Wally West? ended up getting picked up and discussed by a couple of forums, which means it’s probably the most-read thing I’ve written since I was last in a magazine. And we’ve been having a bit of fun this week by taking advantage of the volcano-induced lack of new US comics to do something we’ve called “Ash vs Britain” week – so I’ve reviewed the latest 2000AD (featuring two strips by Friend of Some Of You LiveJournal Lot Al Ewing), and recommended a few excellent back issues.

Oh, and hey, did I ever link to my Kick-Ass review? A bit late now, I suppose, since the film’s been out here a few weeks, but it’s good to have the link up for posterity. As hinted at a while back, I really rather liked it (and a second viewing did nothing to change this) :

Against the odds, this is going to take some beating as the most purely entertaining action film of 2010 – and the best superhero flick since The Dark Knight. Your move, Iron Man.

I should be writing on this thing a bit more, anyway. And not just linking to stuff, either, but actually using it to post halfway worthwhile original content. I’ve a few ideas kicking around, so expect something soon. Bet you can’t wait.

Speaking of writing for websites, meanwhile, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it on here, but it’s worth noting that at the start of the month we finally did the decent thing and closed down Noise to Signal. Time pressures (not to mention losing some writers) were simply the main factor in our not feeling able to keep up with it as much as we used to – and we felt that only having sporadic updates, particularly given how wide the site’s remit for subject matter was, meant it simply couldn’t establish and hold enough of a niche. We’re leaving the site’s archives open indefinitely, though, and our last article was of course a self-indulgent trip through our “best” bits. I was also sad to see, recently, that one of the main sites that inspired NTS’ creation, Off the Telly, is also closing (for the second time). One of the things that made me proudest of NTS was the fact that Graham Kibble-White was enough of a fan to include us in the “favourite blogs” sidebar, and the site (similarly staying up as an archive) is home to some of the best writing about telly on the internet (I suppose not that hard an achievement, given that there’s so little on the subject of true quality out there, but that shouldn’t be held against it).

In other news, I imagine there will be a fair few people reading this who probably have an interest in writing some Doctor Who one day… and so just in case any of those people haven’t seen Big Finish’s current new writers opportunity… well, there’s a link to it just there. I’m not sure they’re aware just how much bad fanfic they’re going to be leaving themselves open to, but… fair play to them. I’ll be interested to see what comes out of it.

Oh, and I’ve been thinking up slightly lame but (I think) amusingly nerdy t-shirt ideas recently, so I’ve decided to hell with it and started up a shop on Spreadshirt for them. The way I see it, even if everyone thinks they’re absolutely rubbish and no-one buys any, at least it doesn’t cost me anything (nor will it make me much, either, the percentage earned from each shirt sold is pretty low, but I’m not really bothered about that). But if you might be interested in shirts that slyly reference comic books and Ghostbusters and Weezer and font nerdery and Choose Your Own Adventure books and the like, then you might want to have a look.

And that’s all the weather!

- First off, a new piece for Channel 4 Film / Film4 (er, whichever it’s called, now) to tie in to the upcoming release of Avatar – a rundown of the previous films of James Cameron.

- Secondly, turn to page 56 of the current issue of UK Wired and you’ll see a daft little sidebar thing on the mortality rate of Bond girls, collated by yours truly. Strangely, it seems to be drawing a bit of attention, including people saying that the Daniel Craig entry was WRONG. Well, it isn’t, so there. There’s a specific criterion for which characters are included (otherwise you could debate various characters’ eligibility until the cows come home), which should be fairly obvious from looking at it. Nice that something so throwaway should inspire debate, though (also nice to see a couple of letters in the last WSC making reference to my squad numbers article, too).

- And, I rarely link to Comics Daily articles on here (since the site updates every day anyway), but we’ve just kicked off our end-of-decade musings, and here’s what I had to say about what I reckon is the best comic of the 2000s. Of course, for anyone who knows me (or reads the site), it’s hardly a massive surprise.