With Season 1 of Knight Rider due to start in about a month, there’s a load of new trailers appearing online.   Here we get a tease about turbo boost:

But, while we don’t get to see a lot, there’s a sense of fun in thisclip that hits the mark for me

I’m aware I’m sounding like a broken record when it comes to Peter Tomasi’s work on GLC, and I’m afraid its that time again

In fairness, its one of a number of titles that I usually find really solid and enjoyable (Green Lantern and Knights of the Old Republic are two that spring to mind), however this title jumps out at me, as before the change in writer, it just wasn’t grabbing me the way I’d hoped it would (at least, until the Sinestro Corps War issues, which were great).

Giving us some calm before the inevitable Blackest Night storm, Peter Tomasi again makes the most of a downtime issue, giving us some character focus before his next big arc. We get to see the opening of Guy’s new bar (which he refers to as the Big W, but since that’s another name for Woolworths over here, I’m going to be thinking of it as the new Warriors ;-)).
Peter Tomasi also takes the opportunity to further expand the mythology of the Corps, as we see Bzzd being buried in the crypts on Oa.  There’s some Blackest Night hints as well, in the form of Green Lantern Saarek who can talk to the dead.   It was nice to see Bzzd’s memorial, and it helped add depth  and impact to his death beyond the issue that it happened in.  A nice touch.

There’s a gruesome twist with the eyeballs on the cover.  As Kyle is off on a moon with Kilowog training rookies (and flirting with Soranik Natu) it starts to rain.  Kilowog’s initial joy at the thought of getting the rookies to run laps in the rain soon turns, as the “rain” is revealed to be eyeballs.   Specifically the eyeballs of Corps members families.   Including one of the rookies Kilowog was training.

Saarek turns up, having been led their by the voices of the dead, and uses his ring to retrieve an image of the killer.

I couldn’t comment on this issue without also mentioning guest artist Luke Ross’s pencils.  I’ve always enjoyed his stuff in the past, so it was nice to see him turning up here, even if it is only as a guest artist.
I really enjoyed his art, so I’m looking forward to more hopefully in the second part of this story.

Now this is more like it.

Its a good week for people picking up Secret Invasion. Admittedly there was about 8 million tie-ins this week, but I avoided most of them (Captain Britain being a must-buy). However, after the last 3 issues picking up increasing complaints about padding, issue 5 pulled out all the stops.

The green-haired woman who’s the Director of SWORD (apparently) manages to free Reed Richards in a great scene. From there everything starts to change, as Reed manages to build a Skrull revealing ray and promptly zaps everyone in the Savage Land, revealing everyone from the ship was a Skrull (including Mockingbird - needless to say, Clint doesn’t take it well). This could also mean that the popular “Luke Cage is a Skrull” rumour has just been debunked.

There’s a real feeling in this issue that the turning point’s just been reached. Infact, if I was going to have only one complaint about the book, its that after being the cliffhanger of last month’s issue, neither Captain America or Thor actually turn up, which kind’ve reinforces the idea that issues 2-4 could’ve really been told in 2 issues rather than 3.

Bendis does a much better job of balancing the feel that this is a big war than in previous issues. We get snippets of the Young Avengers at Nick Fury’s hideout, Captain Marvel at Thunderbolt mountain is finally addressed, and there’s a cracking resolution to Maria Hill’s predicament (if Marvel are smart, they’ll release those T-shirts). Secret Invasion has finally found its footing again, and this was a cracking read.

Meanwhile, on our side of the pond, things are going even better for the Brits. With Captain Britain restored to life by Merlin, he wastes no time in taking the fight to the magical Super Skrull. Meanwhile the rest of MI13 have been captured, and it sadly doesn’t end well for John the Skrull, who eventually antogonises the Skrulls so much that he’s killed (sorry to see him go. I was loving his character).

Paul Cornell does a great job in wrapping up this arc here. With Brian fighting the Super Skrull, Wisdom’s releasing of the evil magic has an unexpected payoff. With all the complaints regarding the padding in Secret Invasion, its refreshing to see a writer tell a big storyarc in only 4 issues.

By the end of the issue, the scene is firmly set for the rest of the series, as the team comes together with a new purpose. And the bit with Excalibur at the end was yet another unexpected twist from Cornell.

With so many of the big name comics being US-focused, this book has done a great job of not just being set in Britain with British characters, but of having a great British feel to it. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Paul Cornell does in the next arc.

Its already been touched upon in the comments section, but having read the full article on Newsarama here I’m really excited about this story.

So after the current Brainiac arc (which has been excellent.  Another good sign for this upcoming story), Superman will rescue the city of Kandor from Brainiac, and its population moves to Earth.   You just know that’s not going to end well.

The teaser image introduces things in a really dramatic way.  Suddenly Earth is going to find itself with 100,000 new inhabitants, all with the powers of Superman.   However, the real kicker is that some of those inhabitants are members of Zod’s army, who were in Kandor when it was taken.  You can bet they’re not going to be well pleased when they find out what happened to the General.

There’s also the relationship between Superman and Supergirl.  She’s going to be pretty happy to be around her own people once again, and you get bet Superman’s going to feel more isolated than he ever has, as his human upbringing will invariably bring him into conflict with the other Kryptonians.

There’s plenty to be excited about in the preview image alone with new Kryptonian versions of Nightwing, Flamebird and Superwoman.

Granted, this means that the Superman titles are going to become one long crossover again (such as during the 90s) but I like Geoff Johns response that they’re going to make people want to buy all the issues, rather than forcing them.  Certainly this story looks like it could do the job.

Spoilers ahead for the new Stargate movie, which aired on Sky One last night.

The latest TV movie from the Stargate SG-1 team finds our heroes once again up to alternate timeline hijinx. SG-1 head to the Tokra homeworld for the extraction ceremony of Baal. As the last surviving System Lord (well, until someone comes up with a killer idea for another TV movie with a System Lord in it anyway ;-)) its a bit of a big deal, however Baal claims that he is merely another clone, and the original Baal is still out there.

Flashback to 1939. The Stargate is being transported to America on a ship captained by Ben Browder buried under some latex (I was hoping that the fact this was Ben Browder wasn’t going to be a plot twist, fortunately its revealed shortly afterwards that its Mitchell’s Grandfather). Sure enough, the gate is activated, and out steps Baal, who sends his Jaffa to kill the crew and plants a bomb on the ship. Fortunately Mitchell’s Grandfather is quick on the uptake, survives the attack and manages to chuck the bomb overboard. However, the damage is done as the timeline shifts around SG-1, and they sprint for the gate and dial Earth.

Finding themselves on an alternate Earth where the gate was never discovered after being lost at sea, Daniel, Mitchell and Carter find themselves relocated under new identities, and barred from having anything to do with the Stargate project. While the US Government takes their information to launch a new Stargate program, they refuse to allow them to alter the timeline. In a brilliant scene, Landry tears into them for their arrogance in assuming that their timeline is better than the current one, forcing the trio to realise that they may be trapped.

Of course, Baal eventually turns up with his fleet and our heroes are quickly called in to help save the day.

I really enjoyed this. Its chock full of Go’auld cameos and the dilemma is really interesting as we see Daniel, Carter and Mitchell forced to face the possibility of living out their days in anonymity.

However, if I was to have a problem with the story, its that it really felt like it should’ve been a two-part miniseries. There’s a lot of story to be had, and the resolution ended up feeling slightly rushed. After an interesting setup, it would’ve been interesting to have more focus on the new lives SG-1 had to live with. Also, while Landry’s speech was brilliantly done, you never feel like we’re given enough of a reason not to want the old timeline back. Granted, we know that the proper timeline has advantages for other races out in the galaxy (the Jaffa being free for example), but on Earth, aside from the reference to Jack’s son being alive, there’s no real reasons for our heroes to care about this timeline. It would’ve been more effective if there’d been a real sense of loss to SG-1 saving the day.

Of course, it also suffers from that old time travel problem, in that about 5 minutes in, you know a reset button is going to be hit by the end of it. Its become too much of a Sci-Fi cliche these days, and Stargate has become particularly fond of time travel in its later years, with this story getting a lot of comparisons to the likes of the Moebius 2-parter.

None-the-less, this is a great story, and a good, fun movie. And mention must go to the effects. Stargate’s benefited a lot from top notch CGI for years, but it really shines in this movie.

I picked up Assassin’s Creed the other day when I was in Zaavi killing time before my train.

I caught a gameplay trailer for it a while back and was intrigued, so its been sitting on my wishlist.

In the game you play the part of Desmond, a bartender who’s been kidnapped by a shadowy organisation and strapped into a scientific doodad which accesses his race memories. Told that his race memories contain a secret they’re after, he must relive the memories of his ancestor Altaïr, an Assassin during the third crusade until he unlocks that specific memory.

For me, the real fun of the game comes when you get into one of the main cities as Altaïr. The game takes the form of a sandbox, with you free to explore the city as you see fit. There’s a real free-running feel to the game, as you can scramble up walls and across rooftops to escape the marketplace crowds.

The developers have done a great job of building a real bustling atmosphere to the cities. The streets are largely cramped, and throughout them you can be pestered for money, hide amongst clerics, or help save innocent citizens being shaken down by the local guards. There’s a real feeling of immersion here.

I’m not the far into the game yet, but so far the main drag tends to be the scenes with Desmond. While there’s a good air of mystery as to what’s actually going on, I much prefer getting into the action as Altaïr and exploring a city. I’ve played through the first assassination in the city of Damascus so far, and it just felt like I was just getting a feel for the gameplay when suddenly I’d killed my target, and was being dragged back out again.

But despite this, I’m really enjoying this game so far. Definitely one worth checking out.

Since getting my iPod Touch, I’ve been enjoying using the calendar application to try and be a bit more organised (I’m great at double and triple-booking myself).

However, the issue I’ve been having problems with is regarding syncing. While I like the iPod’s calendar, it’ll only sync with Outlook. And I don’t have MS Office.

I ended up downloading the 60 day trial of MS Office to see what it was like, and I’ve been investigating the various different licenses and purchasing options etc. What surprised me, is that I actually really like the new Outlook. I like the “To-do” pane beside your email with upcoming calendar events, and I like silly little touches, like the pictures in your contacts being displayed in the email you’re reading.

However, it also costs a lot of money, and up until this, I’d been using Thunderbird and Open Office happily.

So I decided to look into Calendaring in Thunderbird. I installed the Lightning plug in, and was very impressed. The To-do panel I liked so much from Outlook was present and correct, and it all seemed pretty polished and nice (apparently its going to be built in as of Thunderbird 3 I was reading).

Last night, I decided to check out my other options, so imported my details from Outlook (I must be getting close to the end of the 60 days I think) into a Google calendar. And it was also pretty painless to get this Google calendar syncing with Thunderbird (via another easily installed plugin).

I’m planning on getting a Blackberry at the end of my current mobile contract, for my home email etc, and it turns out that Google also provide a Sync application for Blackberries.

While I do like the new Outlook, I just can’t justify the expense for an email client, when Thunderbird and Lightning do the same job for nothing. And while I also really like the iPod Touch’s calendar, the fact that its currently locked to only syncing with Outlook is a huge issue for me as a home Windows user.

At the moment I’m really happy with Thunderbird and Lightning alongside a Google calendar, and with the Blackberry syncing as an option, I can really see it as the way forward for me. By keeping the calendar online, it means I can easily access it on my laptop as well, when I’m gaming on my main PC, or view it from my Linux installation with a minimum of fuss.

The moral of the story? I suppose that prohibitive costs and locking things down scores another victory for free software. My hope is that Apple opens up the calendaring options in a future update to allow it to sync with a Google calendar (or directly with Thunderbird), or that Google provides a sync application similar to the Blackberry one (if that’s possible). Outlook I can leave or take, but it would be really nice to keep using my iPod calendar. However, as things stand, I just don’t think its going to happen.

I guess the other moral of this fairly pointless tale, is that people should try out the lightning plugin for Thunderbird. Its ace

This interview with Ethan Van Sciver drops a few tantalising tid-bits about the upcoming Flash Rebirth and Blackest Night.

For me, the most interesting thing was something I’ve been expecting.  He confirms he’s designing a new costume for Wally West.  I figured it had to happen.  With Green Lantern, all the GLs had their own variations on the uniform, whereas Wally’s outfit has always been kept very similar to Barry’s.  I was assuming that if Wally was going to stay an active hero (really, he’s been the Flash for so long, it’d have caused real problems if he wasn’t still a part of the book) then he’d need a new look to differentiate him from Barry, so its nice to see that confirmed.  I just hope its not a rejig of his Kid Flash outfit.  I know it was popular, but I’ve never been a big fan of it.  Besides, it’d scream “Kid Flash”, and I think its safe to say Wally’s past that.  I hope its something completely new.

There’s also some tantalising hints about Blackest Night, with Ethan confirming that he’s redesigning a bunch of DCU characters as Black Lanterns.  With so many heroes returning from the grave recently, I wonder who’s turning up as a Black Lantern, and he confirms that there’s going to be least one major shock member.

Unsurprisingly, Ethan’s also designing the various new Corps.  With his stellar work designing Sinestro Corps members, I’m expecting him to produce some really great new characters.

Rann-Thanagar Holy War isn’t even an “event” mini-series. So how come its managed to spawn a tie-in one-shot?

Well, according to an interview with writer Jim Starlin, DC had decided that Hawkman as a character is broken and needed fixed. Now, I’m not a big Hawkman fan. He’s not a character I’m bothered about, but I’ve enjoyed his use in the Rann-Thanagar stuff as someone with ties to Thanagar who can see the bigger picture.

I know the basics of his origin as well. I know how Zero Hour had completely muddled his character and left him a confused mess until Geoff Johns sorted it all out in the JSA series, explaining that he’s the reincarnation of an Egyptian Pharaoh, with the memories of Katar Hol, a Thanagarian and the Silver Age Hawkman, due to the properties of the Nth metal used in Thanagarian technology (at least, I think that’s right). My perception of the character had been that Geoff Johns had pretty much managed to make the character usable again, so the announcement that he was again needing “fixed” struck me as odd.

Curiousity got the better of me. I’m not a big fan of tie-ins to non-event series. If I’m picking up an 8 issue mini, I expect to pick up 8 issues. But still, it was a quiet week, and I’ve enjoyed what Starlin’s been doing with Mystery in Space, and Rann-Thanagar Holy War.

Thank God I’m not a Hawkman fan. As I said above, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that this special has accomplished the exact opposite of “fixing” the character. All the Egyptian stuff was fake? The Nameless is calling him Katar Hol? Going by the reference to the multiverse, I can’t help but presume that this current Hawkman is going to be revealed as Katar Hol, with the Golden Age Carter Hall being worked back in as a separate character. However I can’t help but wonder that if they are planning on separating the two, then perhaps doing it the other way round would’ve made more sense. Leave this Carter Hall as the reincarnated Pharaoh, and bring back in Katar Hol through another route.

Needless to say, going from some of the online reaction I’ve read, Hawkman fans are up in arms. For myself, I enjoyed the story on its own merits, but even I could see that it was going to damage the character rather than help him.

The only hope I can take out of the story for Hawkman fans is that the Nameless is a guy with skulls for knee-pads. A sure-fire sign of evilness. Maybe its going to be revealed as him messing with Hawkman to try and take him out of the fight?

This week brings us the latest installment of Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis.

The cover image of Supergirl is beautiful, and I’m still enjoying this story immensely. There’s a lot of things going on, and once again we find a DC Universe that has been stripped of its top tier heroes. Superman is refusing to leave Lois’ bedside after the explosion at the Daily Planet, Batman is missing, Hal Jordan is hauled off in chains by the Alpha Lanterns, and Wally’s MIA chasing after Barry, having failed to stop the bullet from killing Orion.

This leads us to a great scene, where Alan Scott realises they need to get prepared, as they don’t have the New Gods to help them out against Darkseid this time. The superhero draft was really well done, despite some obvious art fluffs (Donna and Huntress are in their old outfits - although in Donna’s case that’s a good thing - not too fond of the red stars on her current suit, and Huntress has had a new costume for a couple of years now, so that was a bit of a glaring mistake, but a minor one).

I enjoyed the build up as we slowly discover that this is “The Day Evil Won” leading up to Libra showing his true colours, forcing The Human Flame into his new helmet to become a slave to the Anti-Life Equation, and we see Oracle’s panic as she realises something bad has just been emailed to everyone in the world simultaneously.

And of course, there’s the Flashes. The scene with Jay telling Iris that he’s seen Barry alive was really well done, and I liked Iris’ refusal to believe that Barry had been dead (although Barry himself later confirms that he was dead - anything else would’ve been a continuity nightmare I suspect - although you could easily say the other appearances happened differently on New Earth). Then you’ve got Wally chasing Barry into the future (by about a month - which ties into the realtime gap in the series) only to find out that Darkseid has already one, as they confront the new Female Furies.

There’s still a lot of the story that we’re waiting to see how it ties together, but this issue really gave the feeling that it was just the end of the beginning of the story. With Earth now fallen, the story should really gather pace for the final 4 issues.