Pete's blog

Welcome to the recently rebooted Comics Creepshow! Now on every Wednesday - which for all you non fanboys is New Comic Book day - I will give you a rundown of three or four of the biggest horror comic releases just hitting the stands. From time to time I'll also be talking about some trade news, and whatever titles I happen to be reading. This week is the perfect week to change format, since quite a few high quality books are coming out. Let’s get to it:

GROOM LAKE : (Issue One) Written by Chris Ryall ; Art By Ben Temple smith ; Published by IDW Publishing

I can only count on one hand how many times I had anxiety, while watching a television show, reading a book/comic or watching a film, and I am quite the fantasy media whore. When it came to the end of the "Lord of The Rings" or the "Matrix" Trilogies, I would turn to whoever was watching the final installments with me, and say "I really don't want to see the rest of this." I had grown so attached to the characters, that I would become a nervous wreck, anticipating their possible deaths. 'Battlestar' has reached that point, but in this case, the anxiety might be too much to bear.

Last night, I went on Twitter while 'Heroes' was on, because I was bored out of my gord (P.S. my Twitter name is AnchorPete and I need more followers). Anyway, while on Twitter, I found a link to a live discussion taking place on the Ifanboy website, where a dozen or so members were commenting on every thing that went down on 'Heroes'. Reading the discussion, I had to do a double take. They were actually loving 'Heroes'!

What the hell?

This week's episode, "Islanded in a Sea of Stars" was actually hurt by the prior week's coming attractions. The highlight of the episode, which was also the most shocking moment, happened right before the beginning credits rolled. By the time 56 crew members were sucked through a breach in the hull, into the cold vacuum of space, last week's preview made the entire disaster old news. It never fails though, seeing a human or Cylon floating dead in space is quite the disturbing image.

Smack dab, right in the middle of the episode "Exposed" was a quick "Watchmen" preview, showcasing Rorschach. For the people at NBC, this served two purposes:

1) Force people who are interested in seeing "Watchmen" into sitting through an episode of 'Heroes'.

2) Get 'Heroes' fans interested in seeing "Watchmen".

Unfortunately, if viewers shared the same mindset I had last night, the plan the NBC execs had backfired, and there was a third result:

3) Seeing bits of "Watchmen" showed just what an inferior program 'Heroes' is.

On one of his recent podcasts, Ron Moore compared the story of "Battlestar Galactica" to a wide tapestry, and said that these last episodes serve as a tightening of the strings, to pull the whole thing together.

If you have watched this show since the mini-series I am sure you are feeling quite rewarded for your investment. Even though Moore has admitted that certain major plot twists were produced as the show progressed (a perfect example of this would be the reveal that Ellen Tigh was the final Cylon) it is clear that story has been moving towards a grand destination.

Let me see if you have heard of this pattern before:

One of the super powered characters has a plan to get back at the group that is currently hunting them. They attack the hunters, but end up getting captured. Either Nathan Petrelli or H.R.G. persuades the hunters to go easy on the captured hero and then the hero escapes.

Sound familiar?

Only four more episodes to go after this one.

Who has the sniffles?

I certainly do, after seeing what an excellent job Michael Hogan was able to do this episode. To me, way before this final five idea took center stage, Tigh was one of the most intriguing characters on the show. He certainly wasn't the most likable, but in my opinion, the episodes of the second season that dealt with him taking over for a comatose Adama were some of the show's best. They proved both to fans and critics how realistic these characters can actually be.

Finally, the first 'Heroes' episode, since I started reviewing the show, that hasn't given me much to complain about. Each of the four stories that took place in this episode were well acted, well written, and for the first time in a while, didn't seem forced.

The Great Cylon Mythos has finally been revealed, and all within twenty minutes of dialogue, spoken by a character who had a bullet lodged in his brain.

It was quite a ballsy move by the BSG producers to have such a complex backstory explained using just dialogue, and zero flashbacks. Personally, I did not feel taken out of the drama, but I wished for a graph to draw out a time line, explaining exactly what happened throughout the history of the Cylons and when.