Fantastic Universes

Article by Adam Ray "Bloody Torchwood," said an old lady in protest, as a blowfish in a sport's car sped past with a black S.U.V. chasing behind it, the name of said agency etched into its side. My mother, who I love and know tolerates the science fiction the creators of this site absolutely love, wanted that car. She can't drive. That, in itself, is the power of Torchwood. Yes you still have  the wild, colourful, reality warping science fiction of Doctor Who , but with real, grounded stories of people that suffer and bleed, swear and sin. The universe grew up a bit with Torchwood , and it did wonderful things since it first aired in 2006. Yep it started that long ago. It ended when Russel T. Davies said it went to an indefinite hiatus, back in 2012. It's been a long time, and ever since the Cardiff rift has been left undefended. At the Heroes and Villains Fan Fest, the actors behind the famous team got back together for the first time in ten year...

Review by Steve J. Ray The 2017/2018 season of DCTV has been absolutely phenomenal. Every show!  Black Lightning ,  Gotham ,  Arrow ,  DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow ,  Supergirl , and – the show that I review –  The Flash . Not only has Season 4 been the strongest yet for this series, but the finale “We Are The Flash” is the icing on an incredibly tasty cake. We’ve had an awesome villain, incredible guest stars, stunning storylines, terrific special effects, thrills, laughter, joy, and pain. This season had it all. Mind Games Seeds were planted foretelling the arrival of Clifford DeVoe long before this season even started, foreshadowing the villain’s ability to plan for every contingency. His vast intellect seemed too much for Team Flash to counter, and the threat he personified has been the greatest of any Flash baddie thus far. The great thing about good fiction, and this series has given us  very  good fiction, is using classic tropes...

Review by Adam Ray It has finally arrived; ladies and gentlemen. Wizards has been teasing us with an expansion of the known lore on various dark creatures that plague the waking moments of adventurers, and here it is. Thanks to the awesome power of my local game store here in London, I was able to get my hands on one before the projected release on the 29th of May. Following the, now established, tradition of the other expansion books off the core three - with Volo guiding us with monsters and the Xanathar giving us (literally) everything - the legendary Wizard Mordenkainen is teaching us about the darkest forces that have ever been printed in the 5th Edition. The tome itself is split into two important parts: detailed histories of important peoples, and stat blocks new to 5th edition. This is what separates it, and Volo's before it, from being a Monster Manual II, like editions gone by. Going into detail about the eternal war between the forces of The Abyss and The Nine ...

“Target: Batman” – Part One Writer:Dan Jurgens Artists: Marco Castiello & Mark Morales Review by Steve J. Ray It’s all change in the latest issue of  Batman Beyond .  We have part one of a brand new storyline, “Target Batman”, and with it an all-new art team. We left   last issue   with Terry coming to grips with his kid brother Matt becoming the new Robin, This instalment, and it seems this entire arc, will deal with the repercussions of this historic event. As always, writer Dan Jurgens grabs readers from the very first page. The story opens with a news team – which includes the alter-ego of a vintage DC Comics anti-hero – reporting on trouble at police HQ, with Commissioner Barbara Gordon under fire. I will never get tired of writing those words; Commissioner BARBARA Gordon… … Awesome. The action strats there, and really doesn’t let up for the rest of the comic. Right On Target The writing this month is...

News report by Steve J. Ray Within hours of receiving the blockbuster news that Batwoman will be appearing on the CW Arrowverse crossover  shows next season, Comic Book Resources have revealed huge news for the final season of Gotham. Season 5 will be the show’s last, but it looks like this particular universe will end with a bang, and not with a whimper. Slated to appear, amongst others, are Cassandra Cain – former Batgirl, now known as Orphan – and The Ventriloquist, alongside his possessed counterpart, Scarface. Final Season Revelations In an interview with CBR,  Gotham  executive producer John Stephens broke this welcome news There are a whole bunch of characters I want to see that I feel the viewers at large aren’t fully aware of, like Scarface or Ventriloquist. There’s a great dark version of that character somewhere out there who I would like to see come out. Some characters we know we want to see are Mother and Orphan. We wan...

News Report by Steve J. Ray We’ve already had a Flash and Supergirl crossover, musical madness, an alien Invasion, and a Crisis on Earth-X. Next year we will finally get an Arrowverse crossover featuring an honest to goodness member of Team Batman. Today CBR reported that Kate Kane, A.K.A. Batwoman, cousin to the Dark Knight himself, will be appearing in the next CW mashup. This isn’t rumor, or speculation, as the news came straight from the Green Arrow himself, Stephen Amell. We’re incredibly excited to announce that we’ll be doing another crossover event this fall on the CW, and we’ll be introducing a new character. For the very first time appearing, we’ll be fighting alongside Batwoman, which is terrific. The crossover is going to make it to air in December. I need to leave right now and start filming it. Raising Kane This is huge news for Batfans worldwide. After teases and mentions of both WayneCorp, and Bruce Wayne himself over the last six years, seeing a...

Review by Steve J. Ray The three words that immediately spring to mind after watching  Think Fast  are: DeVoe is SCARY! This week The Thinker uses his stolen powers to full effect, and the results are terrifying. Without the (somewhat) positive influence of  Marlize , Clifford DeVoe’s true malevolence surfaces, leaving Central City a ticking time-bomb. I Think, Therefore KA-BLAM! The writers have been out-doing themselves on this show all season, and this episode is no exception. We get 45 minutes of action, suspense, love and laughter. The best part is that all of it is organic, and none of it feels forced. The calibre of acting matches the quality of the script in every frame of every scene. Neil Sandilands’ DeVoe is cold, calculating, and vicious. The state of mind he’s in throughout this episode is frightening to the extreme. I will say, though, that the entire cast is firing on all cylinders this week. Highlights include anything by Tom Cavanagh...

Article by Adam Ray Dominaria dropped a few short weeks ago, and many people know how strong the set is. I'm fresh from a Grand Prix where a certain Colourless Planeswalker was in the winning decks of both the Standard and Legacy events. That's powerful magic from one set tearing through and building up new archetypes and expectations. I don't know about you, but I think I need to take a trip to the arena, bash some heads in, and take a load off. To Valor's Reach Magic's newest Draft centric set, Battlebond sees two players face against another two players in Two-Headed Giant goodness. We've seen the new cycle of rare Lands, shown above, to be included in the set. While lacking the basic subtypes, meaning a Fetchland can't nab them, they still look to be very strong in the Commander format, aiming to come out untapped a great deal of the time, and great pickup for ally colour, or shard colour decks. The most ambitious design from the set looks to...