Winsome Wasp's Wardrobe #16

art by Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger (from Avengers #69 1969)

Aviator #3: "In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night..."

Returning to the open window of his apartment after tackling Feuerkraft, Rob stumbled into the bathroom to see to his wounds. His side ached enormously and vicious pain shot down his torso whenever he turned but, after a careful examination, he appeared otherwise intact.

After showering, dressing his wounds and then fixing himself up with a quick sandwich and a beer, he sat down on his couch and turned on the TV. He watched the end of an episode of American Hero - the latest reality/talent show - before the nightly news bulletin. There was a piece about kids going missing across Knight City and then Rob smiled as coverage of the police raid on the warehouse was shown, recorded just a short while ago. Feuerkraft was being hauled out, his wrists fixed in thick restraints and bundled into the back of a large armoured police van.

The news then flicked to something about a breakout at Dunwich Asylum, when there was a knock at the door to his apartment. Putting down the remains of his beer, Rob sauntered over to answer it.

"Yeah, who is it?" he asked lazily, opening the door a fraction.

"Rob? Hi it's, erm, me. I tried to call earlier so I don't know whether you got my message...?" A woman's voice called furtively from the corridor beyond his door. The attractive- though somewhat gothy and dishevelled-looking - owner of the voice kept looking around and behind her anxiously and, for a moment, Rob didn't recognise her.

"Who...?" he wondered aloud until he looked up into her eyes. Briefly, they glimmered a deep flaming red before turning to a sparkling emerald green. How could he forget those eyes?

"Kath? Is that you?" he breathed, his eyes opening wide.

He looked her over again, realising now that she appeared scared and distracted. He closed his open mouth and blinked a few times.

"My god, it is you!" he exclaimed.

The woman outside the door winced slightly and nodded. "Yes, of course it's me. Can I come in Rob?"

"Sure, sure" he quickly replied and, closing the door slightly, he removed the security chain and let the woman inside.

"Thanks, Rob", Kath, said, a little relief breaking across her features as she stepped through the open doorway. She quickly scanned the living area beyond before turning back to Rob.

"Sorry to just drop in on you like this it's just, well, I had nowhere else to go".

"Hey, that's okay", Rob replied, closing the door. "It's good to see you again. Really good. I mean, I haven't seen you since... well, for about 7 years now. How are you?"

She smiled and shrugged but didn't answer. Instead she looked across at the almost empty bottle of beer and asked, "Is there anything to drink in this place?"

"Sure", Rob replied, trying to smooth down his hair. "Do you want a coffee, water, a coke, a...".

"I was thinking of a beer". She pointed towards Rob's bottle and turned to look at him, winking. Smiling, she lowered herself onto the couch, tucked her legs underneath her, and gazed towards the TV.

"Hmmm... okay, yeah".

Still a little shocked, Rob walked over to the kitchen area and opened the fridge. Kathleen Pendergast was back in his apartment. Well, a different apartment now, but still - it was her. He never thought he'd see her again but here she was, looking as gorgeous and wonderful as she did back when they were both at university.

He'd been in his final year when he'd met Kath, a freshman just starting her time at Miskatonic University. She had been so full of energy and vitality on that day, laughing and smiling, that Rob had immediately become smitten with her. And she was beautiful, in a sort of gothic way, with her black hair and dark clothes and make-up. Somehow, he'd managed to overcome his usual reticence in asking out a girl and soon they'd been an item. It was, Rob reflected, one of the brightest times of his life.

They'd been together around 18 months when Kath suddenly changed. She'd sort of disappeared for a few days, probably out travelling or doing some sort of charity work, but when she returned she was different - quiet, sullen, pale. Soon after they'd had an argument and, well, that had been the last he'd seen of her. By that time, he was working at Knight City Pharmaceuticals and when he got back one night he'd found that she'd packed up her things and left.

That had been one of the blackest nights in his life.

Grabbing a cool bottle of beer, Rob closed the fridge and turned to look at his ex-girlfriend sat on the couch. She hardly looked any different than she had that day she had left him. Why was she back? What had she been doing? Did he really care?

Rob walked back into the living area and handed Kath the bottle, noticing that she'd switched off the TV. Kath smiled her thanks and then took a long gulp.

"That's better" she sighed, her eyes momentarily closing in pleasure. She patted the seat of the couch next to her.

Rob sat down, picked up his own bottle and took a sip.

"I'll glad you're back Kath but, erm, what brings you back to Knight City?" He asked the question cautiously, unsure of where to start the conversion and not wanting to upset the woman beside him nor give her any reason to leave.

"Oh, I've actually been back for a while now. But the last place I was in... wasn't right. So wrong". She shuddered and hung her head at this, her dark hair falling over her face. To Rob, she seemed scared.

"And now, me and some friends of mine are out and about", she continued after a moment. "I don't really know anyone else in this city, so I came here. I hope you don't mind, Rob?"

She tilted her head up to look at Rob, her eyes almost hidden by her hair. The red gleam was back in her eyes. Strangely it reminded Rob a little of Feuerkraft's fiery blasts.

"No, of course I don't mind", he stammered. "You said something about some friends?"

"Oh, they're off doing their own things. They won't disturb us". She took another mouthful of beer, her tongue gently licking the lip of the bottle as she finished, and sighed in delight.

"Rob, can I ask a favour? I need somewhere to stay, somewhere... quiet. Can I stay here for a few nights? Please?"

Rob almost choked on the last of his beer but managed to recover. Kath was back and she wanted to stay. With him. Here. Together.

He smiled and nodded eagerly.

Monster Monday

by LeightonNoyes

Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot

I thought the sonic screwdriver didn't work against bolts? Hmmm....

So, the first of the "filler" episodes in the sixth series of Doctor Who aired yesterday and although it wasn't terrible (I don't think any episode of New Who has been rubbish) it wasn't very good either. It didn't help that - as Heropress pointed out - it was just a rehash of The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances story (though not as good by a long way).

The problem with the Moff's plan to have a fascinating and complicated series long mystery, one that even stretches back to the beginning of Series 5, is that he hasn't written every episode. Some of them will be written by others and, although they may be competent, they feel a little jarring because they don't advance the series plot. Russell T Davies' didn't really do this sort of things - his "Bad Wolf" and Harold Saxon running themes were merely hints pointing towards the final episode(s) - and so different individual stories written by others (though often rewritten by Davies which helped give them some consistency) weren't a problem.

Of course, individual episodes not written by the head writer can sometimes produce some wonderful results. Take Blink for example. But the Curse of the Black spot wasn't one of those.

Whereas last week there seemed to be too much crammed into 45 minutes for my liking, here there seemed to be too little. A Siren who "attacks" a pirate ship and apparently "kills" anyone who has injured themselves turns out to be a holographic doctor from an alien, alternate-dimension spaceship which has somehow 'fused' with the pirate ship. There wasn't enough to fill a whole episode so let's throw in the captain's son and a long drawn-out sequence where one of the companions appears to die, shall we? And, y'know, I thought travelling from one parallel dimension to another wasn't generally possible...?

The idea that the 'siren' appeared from reflections seemed somewhat inconsistant as well. Was it only when a reflection of an injured person occurred that the siren appeared? If so, how did the Doctor and Amy (neither of whom had any injuries at that point) summon the siren to go and save a drowning Rory? It all seemed a bit vague.

Oh and why were all the others strapped onto beds in the 'sickbay' when the siren brought them to the alien ship whereas the Doctor, Amy and the Captain were just left unattended in a corridor somewhere? And why did the Doctor run out of the TARDIS when it started dematerialising? Why not stay in it to see where it went?

I could go on. There were a number of niggling things that didn't really work.

And throwing in a few bits linking to the main mysteries of this series - the Doctor looking at a TARDIS monitor of Amy's quantum pregnancy *again* and the strange woman with an eyepatch at a little window - didn't really raise this above just okay. In fact, all it probably did was remind people how much better the last two episodes were.

Next week though, it's Neil Gaiman's episode which hopefully means we'll get something a little better. The trailer certainly looked interesting!

Fishy Friday

Fathom

Strength: 4

Toughness: 6

Special Powers: 7

Status: 2

Looking a little like She-Hulk, Fathom was a member of the Elementals - a group of four heroes each with (as you might guess) power over one of the elements. Created by Bill Willingham, Fathom could convert her body into water, shoot jets of liquid from her arms as well as all the usual aquatic powers.

Winsome Wasp's Wardrobe #15

art by Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger (from Avengers #68 1969)

Things are quiet 'round these parts...

For the forseeable future, I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of tumbleweed 'round these 'ere parts and not so many posts. I've just started a secondment up in Glasgow for at least 3 months (probably 6) and, due to travelling and stuff, won't have as much time to waste spend on this blog. :(

Doctor Who: Day of the Moon

WTF?

Well, the ending of last Saturday's exciting episode of Doctor Who - Day of the Moon - was a bit of a shock and pretty much added yet another question into the mix. Is the girl a Time Lord? Or, perhaps, she was the one in the spaceman suit who shot the Future Doctor, stole his regeneration energy and is now using it. Maybe...?

Can't say I was keen on the old 3 months later start. It seemed a bit of a cheat after last weeks cliffhanger ending and meant things were a bit messy at the beginning of this episode. Amy shot the girl but it seems they did check on her, or ask her who she was or take her with them. And the Doctor didn't investigate the tunnels or the Silence. Instead they just seemed to run. But surely as soon as they looked away from the Silence they would have forgot about them?

And why was Canton pretending to hunt down the Doctor and his companions? It wasn't because the Silence made him do it. Nor was it because they were interested in the Doctor - he's been on Earth a lot of times before and they've not bothered. It just seemed to be because the whole subterfuge thing would be cool.

The forgetting the Silence thing came and went as well. Sometimes as soon as they looked away they'd forget everything whereas later, in the TARDIS, they were talking about them (but this time just couldn't remember what they looked like). A bit inconsistent.

Anyway, after a shaky start, things improved. It was a very action-packed, fascinating episode and the time just flew by. But I felt it tried to pack too much into 45 minutes. This storyline could've been used for a 13 episode series in some shows.

Then there was that wonderful ending (after the Doctor had turned everyone who watches the moon landing into a murderer!) with the girl that came as a bit of a wonderful shock. Slightly ruined by the bit beforehand where the Doctor said that maybe they'd go on a few adventures for a while. Why isn't he investigating Amy's quantum pregnancy? Or the Silence and where they got that makeshift TARDIS? Or find the girl? No, instead let's suspend the series story line for 4 episodes of "filler" - thoroughly entertaining and wonderful episode (no doubt) - but filler nonetheless. Ah well.

So a good episode but not perfect. And there's still lots of questions left to be answered (i hope they'll be answered). Roll on Saturday and y'aaaahhh - pirates!