It's the February half-term and the appropriately-Norse Storm Erik continues to drench Glasgow. I came down on Thursday afternoon, hoping to see some mates and because it's my nephew's thirteenth birthday. But the buzz I used to get here has waned since I worked for GCC and East Ren in 2017. The city centre is thronging with rough sleepers and pockmarked with dilapidated buildings. It's shameful.
Right now, I'm sitting in Giffnock Library, just as I would have done two years ago, when I rented that insalubrious flat in Burnfield Gardens and had that temporary job in Baurrheid.
I still haven't finished watching Jessica Jones and I've just started Tom Baker's Scratchman so they'll be the subjects of future posts.
As we plummet toward No Deal Brexit, which amazingly some Britons think means "staying as we were"(!), last week I was listening to the suitably apocalyptic Night of the Triffids from Big Finish. This is the 2014 audio version of the 2001 sequel to John Wyndham's 1961 novel and it's a very Old School adventure story. The voyage of Bill Masen's son David to the USA, with its racial segregation and power-crazed dictator, is, I imagine, rather Bulldog Drummond. The reversals, betrayals and ambulatory plant perils are quite entertaining but Nicola Bryant plays all the female roles and uses her Peri Brown voice, so that took me out of the story.
The early-Sixties pastiche flavour of Triffids is very suited to BF's rather staid, heritage mindset. When they try to evoke the more diverse, twenty-first century characters of Russell T. Davies, there's a worldliness and frankness with which they don't seem as comfortable.
The Lives of Captain Jack features four adventures of the bisexual, immortal con man and former Time Agent. I haven't tried BF's Torchwood series since I heard two audio plays featuring Jack Harkness on BBC radio in Lossiemouth, about seven years ago.There's something oddly hollow and perfunctory about this set. The usual audio extra interviews are missing and I have to say it felt less engaging than other spin-offs like Jenny or Lady Christina, despite the performance of the flamboyant John Barrowman.
The first play picks up the story of Earth's reconstruction after the Dalek onslaught in 2005's The Parting of the Ways. The conspiracy that has superseded the Daleks is extremely predictable and reminiscent of the plot of Grant Morrison's Dare.
The second play is the most camp, teaming up Jack and Jackie Tyler as the Powell Estate becomes a twilight zone. The last play explores some of Jack's Time Agent exploits in his shady past and reveals the name he was given in the Boeshane peninsula ( Javic Piotr Thane, actually). I preferred One Enchanted Evening , which picks up the story of Jack's encounter with Alonso Frame, which the Tenth Doctor engineered in his sentimental farewell tour.
Russell Tovey's nervous but likeable hero Alonso and his doomed romance with Jack seemed the most convincing relationship in this set. I'm not convinced yet that I'd listen to more of the Captain's audio adventures with his Cardiff team.
Russell Tovey also starred as the modern incarnation of the Ray in the Legends of Tomorrow crossover, Crisis on Earth-X. That 70s JLA Wein-Dillin saga first introduced me to Lou Fine's glowing gladiator and the heroes of Quality Comics. The Ray continues his exploits in an animated feature which is something of a prequel to the Arrowverse event.
The Ray of Earth-X bequeaths his powers to his Earth-One doppleganger, a closeted gay man who lives with his parents. Oliver Queen and Barry Allen help Ray travel to the Nazi-dominated alternate Earth and he decides to stay on as a member of the Freedom Fighters, with a hint of a romance with Native American hero Black Condor.
The Korean-American New 52 Ray seems to have been written out of continuity.
This Ray is visually similar to the version who appeared in the Nineties but is more like the recent member of Justice League of America as written by Steve Orlando. It's pretty ground-breaking for DC to have a young gay man star in his own animated feature, but like the New 52 Alan Scott, Ray isn't a very high-profile character. Still, like the Arrowverse Batwoman. who made her debut in the Worlds Collide tv event, it's a step forward.
Legends is being broadcast on Pick TV at the moment. As something of a fan of JLA Detroit, it's pleasing to see how Vixen and Steel have become regulars and Nick Zano's Nate Heywood has become the POV character. His Citizen Steel is very much the creation of Geoff Johns rather than Gerry Conway but it's been exciting to see versions of Hourman, Dr. Mid-Nite and Infinity Inc's Obsidian in this season.
Pick is also showing the Inhumans from next week. so it may well be time, at last, for me to blog about Marvel's Royals and Black Bolt tpbs from 2018. Meanwhile, my reading pile (when I get back to Elgin tomorrow) includes a bundle of True Believer reprints of Conan the Barbarian and the FF from Forbidden Planet plus Bendis's new titles Naomi and Young Justice for my classroom.
Coming soon: a malfeasance of Masters, Marvel Knights or alternate alliterative attractions
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