Doctor Who NSA #54: The Blood Cell Review

Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Goss is one of three new novels to be released featuring the Twelfth Doctor. I received this eARC through Blogging for Books via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. I am a life long Doctor Who fan and this marked the first time I've actually read a Doctor Who novel. Having seen every episode of the tv series featuring Peter Capaldi so far, it was quite easy to picture him in the role. The author did a splendid job of writing the character of the Doctor, as well as Clara.

The entire book focuses on the first person point of view of "The Governor," in charge of an asteroid prison in which the Doctor is Prisoner 428. I liked the idea of a first person pov story of a character that wasn't the Doctor, it really gave us a passable mystery. 

My only issue with this book was the solving of most of the who/what/whys towards the middle of the book, with one last mystery that kind of felt wonky. By time we reach that part of the book, I was just anxious for it to end. Overall, not a bad book though.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Order the Book on Amazon.com

Six #1 Review

Dynamite's Official Description:

Don’t miss this exciting chapter in Battlestar Galactica lore as the early origins of Number Six are explored. In developing the next generation of Cylons, getting the models to look human was the easy part. But acting human is another story. Witness the evolution of Number Six as she learns live, to love, and to hate.

I had the chance to read this issue last week and it was an entertaining read. We are getting an origin story for one of the more interesting characters in RDM's BSG with Six. J.T. Krul's writing in this issue was pretty decent, introducing two versions of Six in two vastly different settings prior to the Cylon War, dealing with her integration into human society. Krul manages to write a story that has an aura of mystery to it that feels a lot like the show used to. I really enjoyed the art of this issue. Igor Kima (Illustrations) & Alex Guimarães (Colors) do a fantastic job with the realistic look of the story. Jenny Frison's cover has to be one of my favorite covers of a comic book ever:

STORY BREAKDOWN:
-We begin on the planet Troy, as we meet Rebeka, a miner. The background characters are full of complaints about how the job sucks, and other issues as Rebeka thinks to herself about the comfort of metal and the stars. She loves the view of the stars and hates going to mine because it feels like it'll be a long time before she can see the stars again.
-We next meet "Eve," who has amnesia and is stuck in a psychiatric ward on planet Leonis. According to doctors, she doesn't remember anything from before they found her, but has an excellent memory of everything that happened after that. The new doctor at the ward attempts to talk to her by discussing her interest in puzzles. She says she likes puzzles because everything you need to see the final image is right in front of you, you just need to piece it together. Quite an interesting way to view this miniseries as well.
-We are back on Troy, as an accident happens and several miners are killed and the rest are closed off from escape with little air in their suits remaining. While this is happening, Eve is shown freaking out in the ward before being subdued. We shift back to Rebeka and one of the miners (Hank) is killing the other miners. Rebeka and Artie act before he can attack them and they kill him. Rebeka runs out of oxygen and is next scene resurrecting with the other human Cylon models around her.

RATING: 7/10

New Battlestar Galactica #0 Review

Alright, today I begin a project which I've been planning for a few months. I'm going to be reviewing the Battlestar Galactica comics for the website Galactica.com. I intended to start with the Marvel Comics run and move forward up until present day, but I am missing an issue or two from that run, so I decided to start on Dynamite Entertainment's run.

The intention is to eventually build a website archive, or just have a page archive on Galactica.com itself, but that will be coming later. The reviews will be archived here in the meantime.

So, today, we begin with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #0! Please be aware, spoilers are ahead if you haven't read the series and plan to. I plan to keep all spoilers within the ISSUE RECAP section, or at least I plan to try.

ISSUE RECAP: The setting of this story takes place in the middle of a ship graveyard from a 60 year old battle between Caprica and Sagittarius, known as the Third Colonial Conflict. There is a fire on an old medivac ship in the wreckage, which Apollo spots. Galactica receives a distress call from that same ship, with claims they are under attack by Cylons. Not trusting the distress call, Commander Adama decides to send Starbuck and a Marine squad to the ship. They quickly discover that the ship is indeed under attack, but by older generation Cylons.

The Galactica crew has passengers of the Medivac ship identify themselves, and Billy quickly discovers that the people aboard the ship have previously died. Commander Adama orders Starbuck and the Marines to evacuate the ship, believing it to be a Cylon trap. As Starbuck receives the order, she discovers Zak Adama, the Commander's dead son.

REVIEW: I originally read the first few issues as they came out, but I don't remember much about them at all. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing at this point, but we'll discover which it is as time goes on. Back when BSG was on, I consumed EVERYTHING that was available in regards to the show for a short time period (before money became an issue for me).

When #0 was released, it had 2 different covers and had a cover price of a quarter. I ended up buying both covers. Reading the issue now, it feels very average. It's not an overly terrible issue, but the issue suffers the same problem most new titles do, it lacks a direction and is confused. I knew going into reading the series that it takes place entirely between two episodes of the tv series (207: "Home, Part 2" & 211: "Resurrection Ship, Part 1") and that kinda ties things down for me with how amazing things can be and NOT referenced in the tv show. But, given the non-canon status of most tie-in's, I shouldn't be surprised.

Some of the artwork just bugged me and the writing was kind of choppy towards the beginning when setting up the entire story. References to various points to the show were brought up, but I feel as though I should watch the show up to the point these take place to fully appreciate the references. Other than that, the characterization of Adama and Starbuck were pretty spot on, including internal dialogue being what I'd expect of the characters.
The artwork bugged me a little bit, especially emotions that are conveyed. Roslin, in one scene, is smiling during a serious situation. Some of the characters didn't look like you'd expect them  to either. I'm not sure I can place blame on the artist for the last bit as Dynamite has previously been forced to change covers because particular characters looked too much like the actors portraying them and they were forced to change it.

RATING: 5/10