Andy's Blog

I avoided DIAL H when I saw it was being written by China Miéville. If I had to fall down on one side or other of the fence, I would probably describe myself as a fan of Dial H For Hero, though I have never read an issue of the original series. It was, by all accounts, a fairly harmless effort with a charmingly dopey gimmick; the kid hero (or, later, heroes) discovered a magical device that they could use to take on the form and abilities of a random superhero. When it was revived in the 80's it became a wish fulfilment fantasy on multiple levels, as not only was it a story about a kid (just like you!) granted fantastic abilities, but all of the costumed identities were culled from ideas submitted by fans. As I say, I've never read any original DH4H. I'm familiar with the concept because in the decades since audience-participation comics became unfashionable the H-dial has reappeared again and again, becoming firmly entrenched as a key mystic artifact of the DC Univ...

This advert is running in Comixology right now: Any sane person would interpret this to mean "Superman Unchained #1 and 200 other comics are all on sale for 99¢." At first glance you might not realise other comics are involved, because that text is de-emphasised. What the advert is trying to very strongly imply, to get you to tap on that box without reading it properly, is that Superman Unchained #1 is only 99 cents. It's not. It's like $5. What the advert is actually saying is that Superman Unlimited #1 is now available to buy , and in unrelated news 200 issues of various Superman comics are only 99¢. To be clear, I don't feel cheated or decieved - I noticed the specific wording and figured something was up before tapping through - but I am disappointed by the clear attempt to deceive. Something that is by now so thoroughly ingrained into advertising culture that I'm sure whoever laid this out didn't give it a second thought. This wasn...

I finished my first playthrough* of Thief: Deadly Shadows over the weekend. I managed to hold this in through the whole game, but now I feel I must speak out. I can hold my peace no longer.

So, by now you'll have heard the news. It's been everywhere. It was discussed on Radio 2 this evening.  But still, I feel the need to note that this post contains spoilers of a most final nature for the immediate future of Doctor Who, and put it behind a cut, even though it's basically only a couple of lines about my personal reaction.