Avengers vs. X-Men #12 The final chapter! Who can stop a Cyclops possessed by Dark Phoenix? How will Hope and Scarlet Witch factor in the final battle?
Daredevil: End of Days #1 How does it end for The Man Without Fear? An all-star creative team in a story decades in the making. Reporter Ben Urich tells one last story – the final fate of Matt Murdock.
Doctor Who #1 A brand new series starring the Eleventh Time Lord? Who will be joining the Doctor in the Tardis for his first adventure?
Fatale #8It’s Hell in 1970’s Hollywood as the crime noir/horror series takes a huge turn. Will Josephine’s lost years on the year from the 1950’s to the 70’s be revealed. How will the seemingly immortal mystery woman escape the demonic man that’s been stalking her through the decades?
Uncanny X-Force #32 Claws will rip! Wolverine’s covert team vs. the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as Rick Remender’s Final Execution continues.
Goodbye Amy & Rory. The married companions left Doctor Who in The Angels Take Manhattan. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will be missed. All the previous episodes of this season have been hinting and building to the moment but it was still a bittersweet shock.
This episode was Steven Moffat at the top of his game – twisted, creepy, chilling, moving and uncompromising – we all knew it wasn’t going to be all sewn up with a completely happy ending. Matt Smith and Alex Kingston were perfection. Thank you Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill for giving us Amy and Rory.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #5 courtesy IDW Publishing
Warning: This review contains spoilers!
The unholy alliance of the Borg and Cybermen has shattered. The Federation’s greatest enemies are asking the Enterprise for help?
Can Doctor Who convince Captain Jean-Luc Picard to make the right decision that will save the Federation and entires universes?
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who Assimilation 2 #5 is a break in the action of the crossover but still every bit as enjoyable of previous chapters. You could call this a “show my yours and I’ll show you mine” chapter.
Guinan convinces Captain Picard to reveal his experience with the Borg taking us back to the classic “Best of Both Worlds” episodes giving the Time Lord context of why Picard refuses to aid the Borg. The Doctor presses on trying to convince the Captain of the greater evil.
The Doctor fails. It’s up to Amy Pond and it’s a great moment that you could just picture Karen Gillan saying on television. Soon Captain Picard is saying the classic line “it’s bigger on the inside. How it this possible?”
A trip in the Tardis shows Picard the future of the Federation and leads to a course correction.
I commend the writers for capturing the essences of each character from each franchise. Rory, Deanna Troi and Dr. Crusher share moments that make this crossover work. The Borg and Cybermen are battling each other. This issue was a battle of wills between Captain Picard and Doctor Who. The stage is set for an incredible alien encounter for the Doctor and an epic battle with universes at stake.
Astonishing X-Men #54 Susan Hatchi reveals her mutant connection. The new villainess has already blown up Wolverine and the rest of the team is infected with her nanobombs in their blood. Can former New Mutant Karma escaped Hatchi’s control to save her team.
Batman Incorporated #0You need an international army to fight a global terror network like Leviathan. See how Bruce Wayne recruited his worldwide team of crimefighters in this origin issue.
Happy #1 A hit man’s world of murder, sex and corruption – not your usual Christmas tale. Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson team up for this new Image mini-series of an unjured assassin on the run from the cops, the mob and connected to a killer Santa.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 # 5 Captain Picard is faced with an impossible choice that could save or damn the universe. Only Doctor Who may be able to convince the Captain to team up with his greatest enemies.
Talon #0A new hero in a new series spinning out of the Batman: Court of Owls epic! Calvin Rose is the only man to escape the Court of Owls. Can this former assassin live a normal life and become a hero? The Court is back and they’re after their prize killer.
THIS REVIEW AND OP/ED REVEALS KEY PLOT POINTS FROM THE LATEST DOCTOR WHO EPISODE
SERIOUSLY
HERE IT COMES
courtesy SFX.co.uk and BBC
I loved Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Who wouldn’t? It’s DINOSAURS – ON A SPACESHIP!
A massive ship heading for Earth. A military leader orders the Doctor to investigate and stop it or they will nuke it. The Time Lord assembles Amy, Rory, an English big game hunter named John Riddell and the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. It’s pure coincidence that the Queen is on board but she becomes a key ingredient of the plot later. Rory’s dad Brian is accidentally brought along for the ride.
The motley crew lands on an abandoned spaceship with nothing but cobwebs and dinosaurs roaming wild on board. The team soon learns it’s a Silurian ark taking the reptilian race, their flora and fauna in search of a new world. The Doctor, Rory and his dad encounter the villain (played by a veteran of the Harry Potter films) who killed the sleeping Silurians in order to steal and sell the dinosaurs.
This is a perfect episode for new Whovians and to have Rory’s dad as the ‘everyman’ baffled then marveling at outrageous weirdness that is Doctor Who. This story shows that at the center of the most twisted sci-fi tale is heart. Brian learns to appreciate the nursing skills of Rory and a nice father/son bonding while under siege moment and to appreciate the love of a triceratops. At the end I loved how Brian just wanted a quiet “above the Earth moment” before going home. Once we rejoin Amy and Rory we see how the once travel-shy Brian is a changed man. These scenes capture the spirit of watching Doctor Who and why we love it.
Op/Ed:
To borrow and twist a phrase from Obi-Wan, “these are not the aliens I was looking for.”
My first instinct was the Zygons were behind this flying ark of dinosaurs. The Zygons appeared way back in 1975 in the Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen era. Terror of the Zygons terrified me as a little kid. The Loch Ness Monster was actually a living weapon of the Zygons who were trying to conquer and colonize Earth. Nessie aka Skarasen may have not looked scary but those suction cup covered orange Zygons freaked me out as a kid. It was like an octobus, crab and lizard had been fused into a nightmarish new hybrid – Dr. Moreau seafood?
I loved the twist with the Silurians but I thought sure the Zygons were going to be behind a Jurassic attack on the planet. Maybe Steven Moffat will resurrect those nasty aliens who once plotted and schemed at the bottom of Loch Ness!
Here’s a fan made trailer for the classic episode on YouTube. Watch for the Zygon after Sarah Jane Smith!
An all-star lineup of creators will pay tribute to the Eleventh Doctor in an all-new Doctor Who Annual 2012 from IDW Publishing out this week. This oversize issues includes three stories.
While Matt Smith will say goodbye to Amy and Rory on the television series, writer Tony Lee is leaving the Doctor Who franchise with this Annual. The writer has helmed series, one-shots, miniseries and even the current crossover between the Time Lord and the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
“It’s an escape story,” Lee tells Comic Book Resources of his final story, “The Doctor willingly enters 1962 Alcatraz to rescue a friend after he learns of his death in a riot. It’s ‘Escape From Alcatraz‘ with timey-wimey fun and shimmer-suited aliens thrown in. And a familiar face or two. I wanted to do something ‘big’ in my 11 pages, rather than have people just sitting at a table talking to each other. I like the running, jumping, climbing trees school of Doctor Who.”
The all-star creative team includes legendary comics writer Len Wein, Dr. Who novelist Richard Dinnick, artists Matthew Dow Smith and Mitch Gerads.
Andy Diggle and Mark Buckingham will be the creative team on a new series spinning out of the annual which includes a prelude of their upcoming story.
Cybermen and Borg attacking Federation planets. Doctor Who, Amy and Rory on board the U.S.S. Enterprise. IDW’s out of this world sci-fi crossover takes some surprising twists in this week’s new chapter.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #4 courtesy IDW Publishing
The writers have been playing with the Doctor’s memories. How did he recognize Worf as a Klingon when he’s never met a Klingon? Last issue the Doctor flashed back to his encounter with Kirk and Spock back in a previous life (the fourth Doctor – Tom Baker.)
In this week’s Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #4 the Time Lord meets the mysterious Guinan. Tipton, Tipton and Lee capture both characters perfectly. This IS how the Doctor and Guinan would act if they met. Both characters can sense the flow of time and when things are abnormal.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #4 courtesy IDW Publishing
Something is definitely not right in the galaxy. The Cybermen/Borg alliance is not what it appears. The conflict takes a wicked turn giving the Federation an unlikely ally. The stage is set for a Captain Picard and Doctor Who showdown.
I’m really enjoying this series. The writers have nailed how these characters would really interact. The Doctor, Amy and Rory’s first time through a Starfleet transporter is classic. This issue delivers on character moments, action and humor. The friendly alliance between the Captain and the Doctor may be taking a twist in coming issues. I’m engaged.
AvX Vs. #5 One of Marvel’s most iconic power couples is shattered. See the extended battle that led to the breakup of Storm and the Black Panther. Plus, Hawkeye takes aim at Angel. Two huge fights from the Avengers vs. X-Men mega series in this “all fights” series.
Captain Marvel #3 Carol is trapped in World War II with a team of female pilots under siege. Is this time twisting part of a NASA experiment gone wrong?
Justice League #12 Superman and Wonder Woman in love! Have you seen the super kiss? There’s more to romance in this action packed issue as the heroes are tested while fighting their new foe.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #4 courtesy IDW Publishing
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who Assimilation2 #3 The Borg and Cybermen are attacking the Federation. Why an alliance of the Time Lord and Captain Picard may be more dangerous than the CyberBorg. What will Guinan reveal to the Doctor?
Winter Soldier #9 Marvel’s hottest superspies and lovers turned against each other. Black Widow’s tragic past has taken hold of her. Can Bucky save her?
