Short review; I like this show and want to see the full series.
More? Good, as I'm working to a word count here.
Paul Cornell is someone that has gone below the radar for a long time. Since the early nineties he worked on things like Holby City, Casualty, Doctor Who novels and a few Marvel comics. He also wrote a two part episode of Doctor Who for it's third series. Based on his own book, Human Nature and Family of Blood were very well regarded and are probably two of the best episodes of the modern Who series.
This work has now paid off as now we have Pulse, an original Paul Cornell TV show pilot.
Set in a teaching hospital, it follows one of the students, Hannah, who is returning to her schooling following the death of her mother. Trying to fit back in she sees something moving in the stomach of one of her patients. Or did she?
Well, yes she did. In the opening sequence we see one of the surgeons operating on the patient and implanting... something.
There we have the crux of the pilot. Secret medical experiments, someone trying to uncover the truth and a bucket full of blood.
Blood? Yes, this is a hospital. People have operations. Which we see. Graphically. Those scared of blood need to know this. There is blood. And scapels.
If you can deal with the blood the main thing to consider is this; does it work?
Yes it does.
It works as a stand alone show rather well, it feels like a Future Shock from 2000AD. The characters are well drawn and the premises is intruiging. Whilst there are no real answers given as it is a pilot, it leaves you wanting more but in a good way. You don't feel annoyed and left hanging like other island based TV shows.
My only problem with it was the overpowering music. There is a sense of foreboding to the show from the very beginning just in the way it's filmed. This is hammered home by the music, a little too much for my taste. It cheapens a few of the scares in the show.
I want to see more, which you will remember from the beginning. It's a great little concept and, so far, is executed well.
More please.
(Pulse airs Thursday 3rd June on BBC3 at 9pm. You can watch it online right now. If you like the pilot, please comment on the BBC3 blog afterwards - all feedback helps)
Phil Doyle is one of the creators of abadeducation.com and co-host of the sonicsring.com podcast. His real job is in insurance which he hopes won't be forever. He also has every issue of the 1990s Midnight Sons crossover and does not feel guilty about it.
Remember that we mentioned Pulse when I interview Paul Cornell the other week?
Here's the teaser trailer:
Click to embiggen and enjoy.
Ben Fardon stole the word embiggen from Ain't It Cool News. He thinks they made it up, so surely it's fair game? And he did yell "YOINK!" as he pinched it.
For every hero, there is a villain who defines him.
Batman
The Joker
Superman
Lex Luthor
In recent months, Action Comics has focused on Nightwing and Flamebird. But as the dust settles from War Of The Supermen, Lex Luthor is moving into the spotlight and seizing back his company and this title.
Orchestrating this change of fortunes is new ongoing writer is Paul Cornell, who takes over with issue #890 due out in June.
We have a lot of love for Paul here at Proud Lion. Back in 2008, the man was kind enough to come and cut the ribbon, declaring our little Cheltenham comic shop officially open on Free Comic Book Day 2008.
Paul is joined by Pete Woods on interior pencils and superstar David Finch on covers.
The solicitation from DC for the next issue, #891, is as follows:
When Lex Luthor finally regained control of LexCorp, he thought he had everything he wanted. But in BLACKEST NIGHT, he briefly became an Orange Lantern and got a taste of true power. Now he'll do anything – anything – to get that power back. Buckle in for a greatest hits tour of the DCU's most wanted as Lex Luthor begins an epic quest for power, all brought to you by new ongoing writer Paul Cornell (Dr. Who, Captain Britain and MI-13) and artist Pete Woods (WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON), with covers by David Finch (BRIGHTEST DAY, Ultimatum)!
Sounds pretty awesome right? That's July, mark it in your calendar folks, you need to pick up this comic. Villain are always awesome, particularly when well written. Both Kurt Busiek and Warren Ellis' takes on Thunderbolts were amazing. Mark Waid's Incorruptible/Irredeemable books are great too.
Plus, Lex Luthor? That guy's incredible. Throughout every iteration of Superman, Lex is the definitive Superman villain in my opinion. Gene Hackman. John Shea. Michael Rosenbaum. Kevin Spacey. All memorable portrayals of the character.
With the recent anniversary of Proud Lion opening and the exciting news that Paul was going to be writing Action Comics, he was kind enough to take some time to catch up with me.
Prowling the Savannah: Busy times as always for yourself.
Having written several titles for Marvel (including Wisdom, Captain Britain & MI-13, Fantastic Four True Story, Black Widow Deadly Origin, Indomitable Iron Man and contributing to the new Age Of Heroes miniseries) you're now penning a title for the Distinguished Competition.
As summer begins, you take over on Action Comics - congratulations! Can you tell us a little about the story? It focuses on Lex Luthor doesn't it?
Paul Cornell: It's Lex going on an epic quest for power that will result in him encountering a series of the most interesting and powerful villains in the DC Universe.
Rather like 'Hush' was, apart from everything else, a showcase for the villains of Batman, this is comparing and contrasting Lex to his opposite numbers in other books, other genres.
I find him fascinating, and with many sides to him. I hope that we never cease to remember that he's not a good man, but there are certainly admirable and entertaining things about him. I'm really enjoying it. Pete Woods' art is a joy.
In recent months, Action Comics has focused on Nightwing and Flamebird. From a retail point of view, it's been sad to see sales of such a prestigious title flagging, especially when it's only a few years after Richard Donner and Geoff Johns' incredible run.
Will your first issue mark a good jump on point for new (or lapsed) readers?
My first issue is #890, and new readers can most definitely start here. You don't need to know anything about the Superman mythos or the previous run.
Moving away from the world of comics, you also have a new TV pilot coming up called Pulse. I'm personally really looking forward to this.
Can you tell us a little about it? Who would you say it appeals to? I've heard the pilot compared to Ultraviolet, would you say that's the tone the production team and yourself have aimed for?
I'm happy with that comparison, because Ultraviolet was a great show.
Pulse is a medical horror drama about what would happen if a group of people decided to advance medicine by putting ethics aside. It's 'you're going to hospital, what's the worst that could happen?'
It's a conspiracy thriller about young doctors having to work out who they can trust. It's really bloodthirsty: there's an operation scene where we covered our young cast in the stuff.
It's brilliantly directed by James Hawes. It's got Claire Foy, Stephen Campbell Moore, Gregg Chillin and Ben Miles, to name but a handful.
We're hoping that online audience reaction to the pilot will be strong enough so that we can go to series. It's an SF show, in that we're dealing with frightening medical tech, not the supernatural.
What else do you have on the horizon? New novels? Convention appearances? Maybe a new script for a certain time traveller in a blue box?
I've just sold a novel to Tor UK, an urban fantasy, that'll be out next year. I'm going to San Diego for the first time this year. And I've been nominated for two Hugo awards, one for Captain Britain, one for prose, and I'm looking forward to Worldcon in Melbourne.
Massive thanks to Paul for taking the time to talk to us.
To keep up-to-date, check out Paul Cornell's blog. I'll keep you updated here too. As soon as there's a trailer on Youtube, I'll slap it up on Prowling The Savannah.
Action Comics #890 is out in the UK on July 1st and will be followed by #891 on July 29th.
Ben Fardon is the owner, proprietor, manager and filing clerk for Proud Lion. Bascially, Ben is Proud Lion is Ben. He often uses the personal pronoun 'we', in an attempt to not feel like a man alone. In that context 'we' refers to Ben, the bricks and mortar, the stock and the branding that comprises Proud Lion. It also makes him sound kind of crazy. 'We' are OK with that.
Ben has been reading comics since he was five years old and his Dad bought him a Transformers comic at the local newsagent. In the same comic were reprints of Iron Man in the red and silver armour. To this day, Tony Stark is his favourite superhero.
He likes eating, swimming and science fiction Tv series. He recently became addicted to The West Wing.
