I kind of wish something like this still existed. Every Wednesday evening, the phone lines would jam as people called in, outraged, over whatever it is that they got pissed about in this week’s comics, only to hear a spiel about how great Brightest Day is going to be.

Eternity Weeps, 1997, Jim Mortimore
A nice attempt at a Bond-esque thriller set in the Doctor Who universe, and you can see how this might have been a dry run for the the series of Benny adventures that Virgin started up after their license to do Who stories ended. It’s all right, but the mountain of bodies at the end, many of them the direct fault of the Doctor or his companions, plus a fairly unpleasant end for Liz Shaw, leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

This is a classic example of the tendency of Golden Age gag strips to spoil the entire joke in the name of the strip.

So, Green Arrow, a supposedly heroic character, commits an act of premeditated murder. And he’s sent to Belle Reve, right?
No?
Oan Sciencell? Takron-Galtos? Phantom Zone?
Well, he’s at least kicked out of the Justice League, right?
Not even that, huh?
So the DC universe is a place where even the good guys can get away with cold-blooded murder in the name of “edginess?”

Or an embarrassingly adolescent approach to “mature” story-telling.
Whichever.

Bad Therapy, 1996, Matthew Jones
A good Doctor story, and a fairly compelling sci-fi story as well. You’ve got stand-in for the Krays, swinging 50s London, and a fairly good examination of relationships and psychology in fantasy metaphors. On top of all that, Peri gets an improved send-off, and it manages to not be fan-wanky.

On another note, Doctor Who is back on the air in four weeks…and we only have four more books to go. Did that timing work out well or what?

Brandon Dawley is raising money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization that helps kids with cancer.
You can donate to the effort here, as well as find out how to get your own Brandon Dawley sketch.

Soon, you will be able to own your own little plastic Jake Gyllenhaal.

Truly, these are the greatest days.

This is the cover of a professionally published comic book.

No joke, I just find it useful sometimes to remind people of what I mean when I say “we get the comics industry we deserve.”

It feels like it’s too easy to make fun of yet more “Coheed and Cambria” comics…
Still, I’d rather see “Tarkus” comics on the shelf.

Dynamite is releasing a new edition of Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss, curiously not soliciting it in the Adult supplement. It’s not exactly “gay,” but it’s certainly GLBT, which is all I can say without spoiling a plot point. It’s…certainly Chaykin at his Chaykinest.
I liked it.

Yen Press is releasing a Twilight graphic novel, in a manhwa art style.

Because apparently what the property needed was more wispiness.

Nah, too easy.

This is a plush Nazi.

Oh, Japan…

Gayest Thing in Previews this month has to be this three-piece set of Warriors Three busts.

Oh, please, like those aren’t the biggest queens in Asgard. A bear, a twink and a leather daddy. They’re practically archetypal.

The adventures of Horatio Caine when he was a boy!
Coming soon!

So Vile A Sin, 1997, Ben Aaronovitch and Kate Orman
Frankly, this book is more interesting for it’s complicated publishing history than its content. Ben Aaronovitch lost the book in a computer crash, so the deadline was missed, Orman was brought in to finish it based on what was available, and it eventually came out after Virgin had lost the rights to publish Doctor Who novels, hence the lack of a logo.
The story itself has one good thing about it, a very memorable and thematically appropriate death for a companion. Too bad that moment comes at the end of the terrible “Psi Powers” story-line and a lot of really horrible, even by New Adventures line standards, mush about alternate time-lines, evil clones of the Doctor and ancient Gallifreyean weapons.