Seb Patrick Who He Is And How He Came To Be

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

I don't think I need to re-state how excited I was about seeing this one. And it may not be perfect, but it has a damned good try.

... 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.

Comic Heroes issue #2…

Hurrah! This is nice. Finally, my writing-for-magazines career and my writing-about-comics-online hobby collide, as I get to write about comics in an Actual Magazine for the first time. Issue #2 of Comic Heroes, the quarterly comics-related magazine from the SFX stable at Future Publishing is now on the shelves of most WH Smiths (and, presumably, an assortment of other newsagents), and includes a feature by yours truly on licensed comics (i.e. comics based on films, TV shows, games etc.) in which I've interviewed writers Tony Lee and Simon Furman, and shoehorned in obligatory discussion of Doctor Who, Sonic the Hedgehog, Death's Head, and much more, yes?

The mag also features a couple of articles by my good friend and frequent collaborator James Hunt, and lots of other interesting stuff about comics, comics-based movies, and so on. It's a bit of a hefty eight quid, but it is only a quarterly mag, and if you're in any way into comics it's well worth a look. And as someone who first got hooked on PC Gamer back in the early days around 1994, it's an honour and a privilege to finally write something for Future.

More info here, anyway, if you're interested.

Iron Man 2

Really wanted this to be utterly great, but sadly it only made it to "good, with some great bits".

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.

Victory of the Daleks review and other bits

Three weeks in, and I've finally gotten around to getting down some thoughts on the Moffat era of Doctor Who (although not doing so sooner is less through laziness, and more because other people took on Unlimited Rice Pudding!'s reviewing duties for the first two eps). So here's what I had to say about Mark Gatiss' "Victory of the Daleks" - an episode that I seemed to like more than most of the internet did. And as it was my first opportunity to write about the current series, I also used the piece to start to pull together what I'm making of Matt Smith so far:

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.

A few bits and bobs…

Let's have a work update, then, as I've got a few things to link to/post about since getting back from That America...

- 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.

For What Is Chatteris…

I was pleasantly surprised to be invited by Simon of Sweeping the Nation to contribute to his crowdsourced "Noughties by Nature" feature, with different writers from across the web picking a song of the decade to write about. Very nice of him. I'll admit that a number of the artists that immediately jumped to mind had already been nabbed (my first choice would probably have been "I Was Born a Unicorn"), but nevertheless, it's always enjoyable to get a chance to write about Half Man Half Biscuit, so that's what I did.

Wired and WSC

What? Surely not some actual work news to report on my workblog? Yup, that's right. This last week has been a pretty good one for my writing, as it turns out, so hopefully LJ readers will forgive this crossposted bit of indulgence as I plug Stuff What I Now Have In The Shops.

First off, the new issue of the UK edition of Wired (cover right) contains something I did a little while back: a short interview with Rantz Hoseley, the creator of LongBox - a digital comics distribution platform that has been, predictably enough, described as a potential "iTunes of comics" (including, er, in my article). It's a short piece, just half a page (page 67, to be precise), but it's half a page of Wired, and that feels like a pretty big deal.

However, it must be said that although getting in Wired is probably the most high-profile thing I've done (apart from an uncredited "Classic Scene" in Empire once), it doesn't feel like quite so big a deal as the other article I've got out at the moment - in the current issue of When Saturday Comes (left), page 33 is given over to my tediously rambling about football shirt numbers. It may not be the biggest magazine in the world (although, for its scale of production, it does alright - you can nearly always find it in nationwide outlets of WH Smiths) but I've been reading it for as long as I can remember (no, really - my Dad had loads of old copies kicking around that I used to pore over as a kid), and to me it's an important publication that serves an important role, maintaining high standards of insightful and intelligent (as well as far-reaching in scope) football journalism that's rarely matched elsewhere. As such, even though they may not have the stringent pitching and submissions process of a Conde Nast magazine, getting something in there feels like an honour; and I hope it won't be the last time. And just to sate my ego further, the piece was spotlighted in the "In the current issue" section of the mag's weekly email, and is also highlighted with an image on the contents page. Nice.

So yes. Things rolling along quite well at the moment, with a couple of other bits in the pipeline as well. Both mags should be on sale for the next three weeks or so, so feel free to check 'em out.