The Netflixing of Everything

#drwho #bigfinish #scribd

It kind of amazes me that this is slipping in under the radar, none of the big fan sites or outlets for Doctor Who seem to have noticed that a lot of the Big Finish Audio adventure range is now available on Scribd.  They also seem to have most of the novels and all the new comic lines from Titan, making Scribd one stop shopping for everything Doctor Who except the episodes themselves.

To be fair neither Big Finish Productions nor Scribd seem to have rushed to announce their new partnership either, there seems to be almost a deliberate effort to have this happen on the down low.

In other words Doctor Who fans who have dipped into the full cast radio play style Doctor Who adventures featuring actors from the entire 50 years of the BBC series and those who may have never heard of them can now gorge on many hours of them with an $8.99 a month subscription.  Plus Scribd gives you access to thousands of books, audiobooks, magazines and comic books - all the major comic publishers except DC, Image and Dark Horse in fact.

I have drastically reduced the number of comics I buy while drastically increasing the number I read. I'm saving a hell of a lot of money and storage space and enjoying comics more.

Between my Marvel Unlimited and Scribd subscriptions the comics of virtually every comics publisher except DC, Image and Dark Horse are delivered right to my tablet with a combined cost of under $25 a month for the two subscriptions. Since Scribd also has a large Marvel catalogue you could scrimp and just get the Scribd, but I like the weekly dose of Marvel newish stuff in Marvel Unlimited, even though it is six months behind the comic shops. The Scribd subscription also gives me thousands of books, audio books and magazines.

I still love the medium of paper, I still buy comics and books in physical form and probably always will, but now my slightly OCD completist urge can be satisfied much more cheaply with much less use of storage space.

This is the model I respond to.  Whether its music, movies, tv or books the model that intuitively works best with the existing technology is the subscription streaming service.  DRM is still a concern but for price, ease of access and storage space the Netflix model will conquer all others because its how people want to get their media. 

THIS is the best way to combat illegal downloading.  Give people a simple, economical alternative and they will take it.

Brave New World

The DC Universe is rebooting again.

I was a teenager in 1985, probably the perfect time to be a comic book geek as the DC Universe experienced its first major reboot in the groundbreaking maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths.  Over 12 feverishly cosmic issues Writer Marv Wolfman and artists George Perez and Jerry Ordway detonated decades of intensely intricate comic book continuity full of alternate dimension variations of all the main characters.  Whole universes of characters were devoured, crushed or grafted together to make new streamlined versions of older stories.

It was exhilarating.  It felt like being on the ground floor of something big, the original DC universe had lasted pretty much unchanged since the early 60's and here I was getting to read how a whole new universe that would surely last for decades began as it happened.

Twenty-six years later and the DC Universe has been picked at, unspooled, re-written and re-booted literally dozens of times since the original Crisis.  All the multiple universes destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths were brought back.  Most of the major characters killed during the Crisis or in its many aftermaths have been resurrected and now a generation later DC, staffed now with writers who grew up in the 80's, have returned the DC Universe to much the same shape it was before that first cataclysmic re-boot.

Now, in the coming aftermath of the Flash miniseries Flashpoint where Flash nemesis The Reverse Flash is using time travel to alter history, all of the DC titles are re-starting with new number 1's, new continuities and new status quos.

The constant wave of re-boots is starting to wear a little thin to this long time reader, but it's probably going to be thrilling to a lot of geeky teenagers.  I can't begrudge them it, out of nostalgic solidarity if nothing else.

The picture is from the upcoming Justice League #1 art by Jim Lee.  There are some interesting visual changes, Superman has a New S symbol and appears to no longer wear his underoos over his tights, most of the characters sport a similar Star Trek Next Gen uniform collar on their costumes and the way the Flashpoint series is launching Cyborg from the B - List to the A-List seems to be something they're keeping in the new continuity.

I just really hope that Grant Morrison's big fairly recently newish take on Batman isn't one of the pending victims of universal reboot although its rumored that Morrison will be given the Superman rewrite so we'll see.

I'm iffy on the new Hawkman, but with rumours of a possible Hawkman movie I can see why they would want to butch him up:

Calgary Comic And Entertainment Expo - Day Two

A better camera and many more pictures this time. Met some friends (Hi Hugh, Hi Theo, Hi Sam, Hi Courtney) bought more stuff, got some signatures.

Here's some photo moments from the day:









This was as close as I got to Leonard Nimoy. $60 for a signature and I was a few bucks short by the time I got there.

















On the other hand Aaron Douglas was $30 and I always liked Chief Tyrol. I'm a big pro-union guy so I liked his Shop Steward sequences on Battlestar Galactica.























"And that sir, is how we deal with big blue alien fuzzies in Her Majesty's Galactic Empire, by cracky!"






















A fateful encounter.





















She's a creature of the night.























The Star Trek mini-skirt makes a comeback in a big way. Practical, yet gratuitously sexy. I want to live in this future. Particularly if it includes cheesy carnival fun-houses too.

















Red Sonja, a hot Steampunk babe and a teenage anime fan whose life is having an awesomeness peak.
























Everybody get's one.






















All your miniatures are belong to Cthulhu.






UPDATE: Thanks for dropping by BEAT readers, feel free to check the rest of the site out. Lots of comics and reviews, music and art.

Calgary Comic And Entertainment Expo - Day One

Oh my God do my feet hurt.

End of Day One, I'm home now watching the new Doctor Who, and staring out the window in awe at the sudden onset polar snow-storm that appeared out of nowhere and is now in the process of burying Calgary under mountains of soggy wet snow.

I met Eric Powell, the creator of The Goon, George Freeman artist of my favorite patriotic hero Captain Canuck and attended a talk by Bruce Timm the creator of the Timm-verse DC animated universe that started with the great 90's animated Batman series.

He was limited about what new direct to DVD animated superhero movies he could announce yet. However in response to a question about animating some of the books from the Vertigo line of DC comics he said the ones that had the kind of public profile to make Warner's agree to take a chance on them like the Sandman series already had their rights tied up. The one possible exception was the Swamp Thing and there was a real possibility of doing something with him. He didn't say if it would lean more to the original Wein and Wrightson version or the Alan Moore reboot.

Lot of people there in a lot of very cool costumes, and like most conventions I spent most of my time in the huckster's hall. Bought lots of toys and comics and probably will again tomorrow.

But tomorrow is signature hunting day, which means many hours in lineups. Oh my feet.

Calgary Convention may be last chance to meet Leonard Nimoy

“We started making Star Trek pilots around 1964, I think,” Nimoy says in an interview from his Los Angeles home. “I’ve been involved with Star Trek for 44, 45 years. It’s been a wonderful ride for me and it’s been great for my family. We got to do some interesting work outside of Star Trek because of Star Trek and I’m very satisfied.”

In fact, Nimoy suspects he is probably done with acting altogether. This year may also be the last that he makes the rounds to various fan conventions. Which means his appearance this weekend at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo could be one of the last times for devotees to get up close and personal.

If you didn't have reason enough to come to it folks.

Getting my nerd on

Next weekend April 24th and 25th the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo is on and the Dweller will be there and blogging it.

Why should you care about a convention in a Canadian city many of you have never heard of? Well let's look at the lineup of guests:

We've got Malcolm McDowell, Tony Todd, Billy Dee Williams, Brent Spiner, Bruce Timm, Tamoh Penikett, Chris Claremont, Matt Wagner, Eric Powell, Len Wein, Lloyd Kaufman and Mr Spock himself Leonard Nimoy. Plus many other notables from the worlds of comics, TV SF and movies. I imagine some people of the teenage female persuasion are only going because a few of the beefcake homonculi from the Twilight movies will be there.

Factor in an enthusiastic crowd (A much larger venue was selected after the huge swarms last year.), row after row of huckster tables selling shiny nerd-bait and workshops, panels and a costume contest and you're talking about my idea of a hell of a good time.

Comment if you are going and let me know what you are looking forward to the most.

Festival of Fear

It's almost enough to get me to Toronto.

Almost.

The Rue Morgue Festival Of Fear National Horror Expo 2009.

Featuring Roger Corman, Bruce Campbell, Udo Kier, Barbara Steele, Tom Savini, Linda Hamilton, Max Brooks, Lloyd Kaufman and the Suicide Girls and music by Psychocharger.

This Convention sounds like the inside of my own head.

If you're going to be in Toronto this summer, first, my sympathies. Second, You really should go to this. It'll probably be air-conditioned for one thing.

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 222 Bremner Blvd South Building.

August 28 - 30.