Age Of The Dragons (2011)

Imagine the elevator pitch "Moby Dick, but with a dragon".

Concepts don't come much higher and much more sublimely brilliant than that.

What a shame then that Age Of The Dragons ultimately fails to meet these expectations.

Now I've never actually read Moby Dick, but I know enough to recognise the character names have remained unchanged - Ahab (Danny Glover); Ishmael (Corey Sevier); Starbuck (David Morgan); Stubbs (Vinnie Jones), Flask (Larry Bagby), Queequeg (Kepa Kruse) - and that large chunks of dialogue are either lifted almost verbatim from Herman Melville's classic novel or, at least, are very close.

There are some great fantastical touches, like having Ahab's small crew serving on a land barge that wouldn't have looked out of place in one of Philip Reeve's World of Mortal Engines novels.

Unfortunately, the tense atmosphere of the hunt is undermined by shoehorning in of a stupid romantic subplot with Ahab's adopted daughter Rachel (Sofia Pernas) and the dumb revelation towards the end that Ahab knows exactly where the Great White Dragon nests... turning it not so much into a hunt as just a journey.

In the book, it should be noted, Rachel is the name of the vessel that ultimately rescues Ishmael from the sea - so you can see what they were trying to do here, it just comes across as a bit heavy-handed.

There are other plot holes as well, but there's enough monumental scenery chewing by Glover as the scarred captain, haunted by dreams of his youthful failure to save his sister from the White Dragon, and dramatic, cod-Shakespearean dialogue, to carry the story through these choppy waters.

The CGI effects are quite primitive as well, giving the movie the feeling of a slightly upmarket Asylum production, but the snowy scenery and rumbling landship provide adequate compensation in this department.

Surprisingly, I'd say this hour-and-a-half film needs to have been longer, with more plot development, some better explanations of the various characters' motivations, Rachel should have been cut from the story totally and the White Dragon should have been rather harder to track down.

Besides that, it's great!

Oh, and the movie could have done with a better title than the rather bland and generic Age Of The Dragons.

Although there are no traditional extras on the DVD, it actually includes - unmentioned anywhere on the DVD box - an entire second dragon-themed movie, Dragon Hunter which, if memory serves me right, isn't much cop at all. But still, a nice surprise nonetheless.

Ahab's "ship" The Pequod

Mordenkainen Headlines New Dungeons & Dragons Comic

Main cover art by Esad Ribić

Gary Gygax's wizard Mordenkainen stars in a new ongoing Dungeons & Dragons comic coming from Dark Horse in November.

Powerless in the face of a draconic apocalypse, the story follows:

"... Mad Mage Mordenkainen as he assembles Faerûn’s most legendary heroes, including Volo, Tasha, and more fan-favourite adventurers, for a high-fantasy epic that spans the Forgotten Realms!"

Each issue will also include roleplaying-themed backmatter penned by RPG "personalities" or D&D gaming material.

Issue one will feature an essay by Erika Ishii, voice actor and actual play participant in the YouTube show Dimension 20.

The Dungeons & Dragons series will be written by Eisner-nominated creators Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly (Star Trek: The Last Starship, Captain America, NYX), penciled by Ibraim Roberson (Star Wars, Weapon X, Thor Annual 2023), inked by Arabson Oliveira, coloured by Dan Brown, and lettered by Haley Rose-Lyon.

Issue one variant cover gallery:

You Wait All Day For An Omnibus, Then Three Come Along

As we were talking about Afterlife With Archie the other day, it's worth pointing out that just in time for Halloween this year Oni Press - in collaboration with Archie Comics - is releasing a deluxe hardcover collection of all ten issues of the comic.

R.I.P. Riverdale! Once in a generation, a story so potent, so powerful, so horrifying rises from the grave to redefine the comics medium’s greatest icons.

Enter: The first-ever deluxe collection of Afterlife with Archie — collecting the totality of the groundbreaking, cemetery-shaking comics masterpiece from Harvey Award–winning writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Stephen King's The Stand: American Nightmare) and Eisner Award–winning artist Francesco Francavilla (Batman: The Black Mirror) that first introduced Riverdale’s teenage icons into a merciless world of ritual magic, undead terror, and survival at any cost!

When a tragic death befalls Jughead Jones’s closest companion, his grief drives him to the doorstep of Sabrina the Teenage Witch... and into the thrall of a dark magic that will soon turn the whole of Riverdale into a ravenous pack of undead zombies fueled by a desire for human flesh.

Hunted by the reanimated corpses of their friends and loved ones, can Archie, Betty, Veronica, and the rest of America's most beloved teenagers battle back by a legion of the dead... and live long enough to stop the entire world from being consumed by the same unholy hunger?

Pal vs. pal. Classmate vs. classmate. Living vs. dead. They swore to be friends until the end... but they never expected the end to look quite like this.

This definitive hardcover collection of the riveting and relentless milestone that the New York Times calls “gruesome [and] masterly” re-presents the entirety of the Afterlife with Archie saga — including the never-before-collected issues #6–10 — in an oversized format that also features a complete cover gallery and behind-the-scenes materials on the development of Archie Comics’ first all-out horror epic.

The Afterlife With Archie Deluxe Edition is scheduled to rise from the grave on October 27.

But that's not all, young adventurers, we also have a two volume collection of Marvel's original run of high-octane, pulp yarns involving the world's most famous archaeologist: Indiana Jones.

Both hardcover volumes are due to be dug up on September 29.

With Raiders being my all-time favourite movie and my enduring crush on Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) also being no secret, you know this pair of eldritch tomes will be finding a way onto my shelves.

Each volume holds over 500 pages of Indy goodness from the '80s, featuring the work of such legends as John Byrne, Walt Simonson, Dennis O'Neill, Christopher Priest, David Michelinie and more.

At the height of the popularity of Indiana Jones in the 1980s, Marvel Comics - and some of the biggest creators of the era - took on the challenge of bringing the iconic hero from the silver screen to the printed page, and the results were every bit as exhilarating as you’d expect!

Now these action-packed adventures are being collected in a pair of volumes destined to be treasures worthy of Indy himself!

Volume one includes adaptations of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, plus the first half of the Further Adventures of Indiana Jones series that expanded the character’s mythos in blockbuster fashion!

Volume one collects: Marvel Super Special (1977) #18, #30; Further Adventures of Indiana Jones (1983) #1-16

With clouds of war gathering ominously over Europe and a Great Depression gripping the world, one globe-trotting professor’s appetite for adventure and discovery remains unsated! Join Dr. Henry Jones as he scours the farthest corners of the planet in a constant race to keep priceless artifacts out of the wrong hands!

This volume collects the second half of the action-packed Further Adventures of Indiana Jones series alongside the official adaptation of beloved film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - featuring work by some of the biggest talents of the 1980s.

Volume two collects: Further Adventures of Indiana Jones (1983) #17-34, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) #1-4

Hits and Myths of Old-School Epics

"Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is now in theaters and receiving largely ecstatic reviews. Critics have called it "a staggering achievement," and fair enough: the film was built around an enormous IMAX shoot and a real commitment to capturing as much as possible in camera rather than leaning on CGI.

"But call me an old man for saying this: for all its scale, the world it builds can feel too polished, too glossy, more museum piece than lived-in ancient world.

"So I went back to seven old-school productions drawn from ancient myth and the sword-and-sandal tradition. They simply don’t make them like they used to, and most modern attempts are barely watchable."

A wonderful collection of classic tales of Ancient Greece on the silver screen (which includes a couple of my Harryhausen favourites), compiled by the ever-reliable Luminism channel.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Tea Room At Pooh Corner

I've found my people... just leave me here!

I can't believe it's been over three-and-a-half years since we've visited Pooh Corner.

It was supposed to have been a well-earned Spring Break for Rachel, but we'd gotten tangled up in a mess of time-sapping medical appointments.

Eventually, after a morning of medical check-ups for the both of us, and a couple of laps with Alice around the Tonbridge recreation ground, we decided to seize the day and head out to Hartfield, on the edge of the Ashdown Forest, for a Winnie The Pooh adventure.

Our first stop was Pooh Corner in Hartfield's High Street, where we managed to snag a parking spot right outside the front door (there's no car park there, so it's pot luck finding on-street parking).

Formerly the village sweet shop (and Christopher Robin's getaway from the pressure of being a young celebrity and the constant press intrusion in his life), the building has now been converted into an incredible tea room and Pooh'seum (a well-stocked museum chronicling the creation of the Pooh stories and everything that spun out of that).

Alice was a massive hit in the tea room, with the staff, owner, and other visitors. I can't remember a time when she's had so much attention from strangers. It was adorable to see both grown-ups and children lavishing affection on here.

Everything in the tea room is Winnie The Pooh-themed, from the plates and tea pots to the table numbers.

The food was incredible... and got the Knight Family seal of approval. We probably ate too much. But, so what? We were on holiday!

EVERYTHING was Pooh-themed!!!

After filling our tummies, Pooh-style, we hopped back in the car and drove into the forest (aka The Hundred Acre Wood), found a car park and then set off into the trees, following the signs to "Bridge".

Our goal was to see the legendary Pooh Sticks Bridge, probably one of the most iconic locations in children's literature.

It was quite a downhill hike and Rachel was concerned I might not be able to make it back up the hill afterwards, but I was driven both by the spirit of 'carpe diem' and a deep-seated desire to visit this iconic bridge for the first time in many, many decades.

There were plenty of people on the path, heading in both directions, and we were expecting the bridge to be rammed when got there.

But by some miracle once we arrived it was just us for about five or 10 minutes, so we had a chance to take pictures and explore.

The only real error we made was not bringing any 'Pooh sticks' as the area around the bridge was, unsurprisingly, barren of fallen twigs.

But to be honest that didn't matter. It was just magical to be walking in the footsteps of Christopher Robin, Winnie The Pooh, Roo, Kanga, Eeyore, Rabbit etc

As expected the journey back up the steep hill was harder and slower, but there are wooden seats along the way making for suitable rest stops and as long as we stayed in the shade (not always possible) it wasn't too hot.

From the company, the food, the adoration of Alice to walking in The Hundred Acre Wood and standing on Pooh Sticks Bridge, this was one of the best days out we'd had in ages, which is why I'm surprised we haven't gone back.

Sure the walking was hard at times, but I never felt as though I would pass out or be taken ill as is often the case on such escapades.

 Instead, I came home tired and content, fired up for future adventures.

Bring your own Pooh Sticks, as none will be found within the environs of the bridge

On the return journey we spotted the entrance to Owl's house up in a tree

EPISODE SEVEN: 'Relaxing Cruise' Ends In Cretaceous Chaos

SS Endeavour

After escaping the sinking of Atlantis, Onyx's seaplane - The Wave Hopper - needed serious repairs and so we headed for Bermuda for a rendezvous with our old friend, The Governor (who we'd previously rescued from Nazis and dinosaurs... it's a long story).

We also sought some much needed rest-and-recuperation at The Explorers Club, although they had other ideas.

Oynx decided to stay in Bermuda to oversee the repairs [as Mark, her player, is currently unable to join us for our monthly games] and so, after some socialising with the muckety-mucks of the British colony, we took a supposedly easy job from our sponsors at The Club.

Our task - which was described to us as "taking a relaxing cruise" - was simply to sail to Mexico to collect some Mayan artifacts from the Yucatan Peninsula and then transport them back to New York.

We'd been booked passage on an old tramp steamer, the SS Endeavour, under the auspices of one Captain Redgrave, a most amenable fellow.

Captain Redgrave

Unfortunately - and yet not wholly unexpectedly - not long after we set sail a mysterious swell started buffeting the ship, rising to a violent storm that tossed the Endeavour about so much that eventually all the crew and passengers were knocked unconscious... leaving the ship to drift.

When we all awoke the next day, it was about noon, the sun was directly overhead and everything seemed to have calmed down.

Conversing with Redgrave, though, we soon discovered that the ship's compass wasn't working, and when Buck (my explorer) checked his own that wasn't working either. We even went to the effort of making a third, basic, compass... but to no avail.

After a considerable time passed, we all realised that the sun hadn't moved, meaning navigation was going to be a major issue. [NB. This is a phenomenon, I believe, we first encountered when we travelled through a portal to an alien world in our July, 2021, game].

Further consultations with Redgrave led to a decision to head nominally west (or where we thought west was), with Buck stationed at the prow using his binoculars to sight land.

There was definitely something - small - on the horizon, but it was blurred by a heat haze.

But, at least, it gave us something to head for.

What no one expected was the sudden arrival of a vicious and hungry plesiosaur!

[NB. This was not our first plesiosaur. Earlier in the campaign, Tessie, Lake Tahoe's lake monster, turned out to be one. We met her in our April 2021 game, when we were in an apocalyptic, 1950s story arc].

It's big rubbery neck and terrifying teeth were tearing crew members apart, even while Dick (Kevin's crackshot ex-G-man) was riddling it with bullets... and I was not. Freya (Clare's photojournalist) was getting some excellent pictures but when a couple of seamen went overboard, she led the rescue efforts.

Buck ran back to his cabin to retrieve his hunting rifle, as Freya threw a line to the surviving sailor in the drink, Bob, and - assisted by a couple of other crewmen - pulled him up onto the deck and away from the dinosaur's wrath.

I think Bob has taken quite a shine to Freya. Let's see how that develops.

By the time Buck returned, Dead-Eye Dick had managed to put a bullet in the beast's brain, causing the dinosaur's corpse to slide back into the water.

The Endeavour had taken a lot of damage, but Redgrave was determined to get it to the island ahead of us that had now come into view.

He powered the engines as best he could, but things were not looking - or sounding - good.

To add to our troubles, a couple of smaller plesiosaurs had scented blood in the water and were swimming towards our sinking ship.

When the engines finally gave up the ghost, Redgrave ordered everyone to abandon ship in the two lifeboats.

Bob and another sailor, Smudge, joined us in one, while the Captain and the remaining crew took the other.

Bob and Smudge rowed for their lives as Dick and I tried to provide covering fire for the Captain's boat as the plesiosaurs targeted it.

The second lifeboat was lost with all hands

Sadly there was little we could do and that lifeboat - and all aboard - were lost to the monsters, but their sacrifice allowed us time to make it to the tropical island.

And what a beautiful island it was. White beaches, palm trees, and noisy wildlife in the tree tops.

Buck spotted a trail through the jungle - and then a line of smoke rising in the distance. We were not alone. 

But for all this death and carnage, Buck was buzzing with excitement as he was putting the clues together. Had his lifetime obsession with finding the "Hollow Earth" finally come true? The compasses, the dinosaurs, the static sun, the Bermuda Triangle.

However, as he led the group down the trail, his sixth sense alerted him to some danger... sadly, too late, to avoid the two pair of [Jurassic Park-style] velociraptors that targeted the weakest links in our party: the two battered seamen.

[NB. We first met velociraptors on a mysterious island in our April 2022 game when the plane we were travelling in was forced to land after a tussle with German agents]

We made short work of these escapees from the Cretaceous Era, but Smudge was a goner. Bob, however, earned the nickname 'Lucky Bob' after he fended one off in unarmed combat and escaped without injury.

The trail led to an ancient wall, behind which we could hear the familiar tones of orders being barked in German.

Peering through a crack, we saw Nazi troopers, a submarine (sporting a peculiar dish on its conning tower) in a lagoon, ancient ruins, native huts, and enslaved local "ape-people" being forced to dig for "something".

"We never seem to get a break, do we?"

- Marion Ravenwood, Raiders of The Lost Ark

TO BE CONTINUED...

CAST:

• Buck Hannigan - Me
• Freya Larson - Clare
• Dick Tate - Kevin
• Onyx Jones - NPC

DIRECTOR:

• Pete

Buck & Dick (top) and Onyx & Freya (bottom)

If you want to keep abreast of the action in our current season of Pete's Weird Science campaign (currently using the OUTGUNNED ADVENTURES system from Two Little Mice)
then visit this page to find links to all our previous episodes.

PRIME HAS THE POWER!!!

The excellent Masters of The Universe movie drops on Prime Video tomorrow.

You can read my review here.

Corman In Conversation

Roger Corman, King of the Bs, reminisces about his start in movie making. In this original archival piece from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, Corman takes the audience through his humble beginnings (he studied engineering!), and how he broke into the 'movie making' business. This featurette originally came out on the Blu-Ray release of Monster from the Ocean Floor.

Ahead of my birthday in 2013 Paul got tickets for the two of us to attend a talk at the British Film Institute: Roger Corman In Conversation.

The legendary B-movie director/producer was interviewed by renowned film critic Kim Newman in front of a packed audience of fans - and Paul had snagged us tickets just three rows back from the stage.

For an 87-year-old Corman was spritely and full of anecdotes, well-spoken and erudite, interesting and engaging - with nary a bad word to say about anybody.

It was an hour-and-three-quarter presentation, broken up with a few of trailers and clips from Corman's early movies, rounded off with the last quarter of an hour (or so) being open to questions from the floor.

As it was a flagship event in the BFI's Gothic season, the conversation between Newman and Corman concentrated largely on his Poe films (Lovecraft even got a mention, but Corman was adamant that he was a Poe fan ahead of HPL), but touched on his later works, his involvement with the American counter-culture movement and the output of some of his more famous protégés (such as Jack Nicholson and James Cameron).

As often happens after listening to such a fascinating character, I came away with a mental check list of Corman pictures I needed to add to my "viewing wish list" while ones that were already of the list got a bump up now I knew some of the behind-the-scenes stories about their making.

Massive thanks to the crew at Film Masters for making the interview featurette available for all.

The Draugr Has Arrived!

You didn't think I'd get all excited about the novelisation of the great horror movie, Draug, without wanting to pick up my own copy?

Well, here it is in all its glory. 

I can't wait to see how writer/director Klas Persson has brought his terrifying and atmospheric tale to the written page as Draugr: A Viking Folk-Horror Saga.

As happens, this 350-page paperback has leapt into second place on my "to be read" list, meaning once I've finished the brain-scrambling, cosmic horrors of Jean Ray's Cruise of Shadows then I'll be picking up Draugr and plunging into the dark creepy, Swedish forests of a thousand years ago.

For those wondering about the change in spelling: as far as I can figure it, Draugr is Old Norse whereas Draug is more modern, but both words mean 'stinking, superhumanly strong, vengeful, reanimated corpses'.

Anyway, I've got one final tale to go in the Cruise of Shadows anthology, The Mainz Psalter, the yarn covered on the Strange Studies of Strange Stories podcast several weeks ago that lured me in to the writings of Jean Ray.

As long as my sanity holds up, I hope to finish it this weekend. 

As well as the rulebook for Dragonbane, I also have some comics and magazines that 'need' reading, but I'm so delighted with this current spell of actually reading novels and anthologies that I want to keep it up. It feels like so long since I've had such a burst of reading.

And that makes me feel very positive (for a change).

TBR: My immediate "to be read" selection

Five Minutes of People Reading The Necronomicon

This compilation was released as part of the promotion for Evil Dead Burn, thus the segment from the current movie gets the most screen time.

I like the fact that not all of the spells read out are the same, suggesting multiple ways of raising the deadites, which really intrigues the gamer in me, always seeing the potential for bringing the Necronomicon into my own roleplaying games... no matter what the genre or setting.

And I can't help wondering what old HP Lovecraft would make of this cinematic use of the legendary, fictional tome from his tales of cosmic horror? 

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Philately Will Get You Everywhere

Back in early 2021, when I was indulging in research for whatever my fantasy roleplaying game idea of the moment was, I found myself drawn back to the wonderful workings of the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett.

While I'm sure many of you are already aware of the official Discworld Emporium, a recent email from there caught my eye, promoting a new set of Discworld stamps from the The Ankh-Morpork Post Office (AMPO).

The souvenir set, for the Year of The Beleaguered Badger, was only only a fiver, with very reasonable shipping fees, and I immediately thought these would be a great addition to my 'cabinet of curiosities' (but, most definitely, not the start of a 'fantasy philately' hobby).

Upon ordering, the stamps arrived incredibly swiftly, but the fun started even before I opened the envelope.

Check it out above, and marvel at the dedication to verisimilitude: it even came with AMPO stamps on the envelope, and 'in universe' franking.

Inside, the receipt for the purchase of my stamps was also a miniature work of art, from The Thieves' Guild:

As a child in the '70s, I was never really into 'stamp collecting', although I do remember owning an album with a random selection from around the globe stuck in.

However, I have to admit that adding the whole magical Discworld angle to the hobby does make it feel rather more appealing, more 'on brand' for me.

Of course, the more I dug into the stamp section of the Emporium's website, the more dangerous (to my wallet, and possibly my sanity) I realised this rabbit hole was becoming.

Anyway, here's a better look at the selection of stamps that I got from the website, as I'm too nervous to open my own packet, for fear of losing or damaging one, or all, of them:

PROJECT 60: Back In The Saddle

My three new mini packs for Dead Man's Hand

Inspired by my whinging about not getting anywhere with  the skirmish wargame side of PROJECT 60, I felt I should invest in some new miniatures for Dead Man's Hand.

This coincided with Great Escape Games announcing a couple of new packs of townsfolk (ladies and children), and me bingeing the entirety of the excellent, new iteration of Little House on The Prairie (on Netflix).

So, I ordered that pair of new packs and a pack of Chinese labourers (I'm pretty sure that with all the other Chinese figures I own, I could populate an impressive Chinatown for my unbuilt Wild West town). 

As ever with Great Escape Games these all arrived safe and sound the day after I'd placed my order. 

My painter, Matt, currently has some fantasy figures of mine he's working on at the moment, but the next shipment will be a return to my Western theme, to spur me on with this scheme.

To give you a better idea of what I've just picked up for my game, here are Great Escape Games' beautifully painted versions of these figures from their website:

PROJECT 60: Off The Rails!!!

Photo by Pixabay

Some of you may recall in the past I've talked about my PROJECT 60, an ambitious desire to get both a skirmish wargame and a roleplaying campaign all set up and ready to run by the time I turn 60 towards the end of this year.

You might also have noticed that I haven't actually mentioned it since February - when Nick and I went to our local wargames show and I picked up some suitable 3D printed buildings.

I'd like to blame the hot weather and my general ill-health, but honestly it's my fickle nature and life-long inability to stay focused on any one particular aspect my hobbies for long.

PROJECT 60 was, therefore, rather ambitious - but that was the point.

On the skirmish wargame side, I'm still sticking firmly to my plans to build a tabletop Wild West town for games of Dead Man's Hand.

I just haven't sent off any Western figures for painting this year and have actually done nothing concrete towards assembling and painting the buildings, which was always a goal for this Summer.

Everything has simply remained in a clutter in the gamesroom.

I really need to get sorting that before things go missing as I move books, Blu Rays, and bits & bobs around looking for other things.

And this isn't to say my wargaming thoughts haven't gone round the houses from Bronze Age Greece to Fantasy Medieval and 17th/18th Century pirates and highwaymen!

They've just circled back (for the moment) to the American West.

On the roleplaying game front, my initial passion for Twilight Sword has rather dampened (even before the printed materials show up), and been replaced by flickering flames of interest in Dragonbane.

I haven't found the time to read the rules properly yet, so my confidence still swings all over the place and my mind darts off in other directions every now and then (even, most recently, considering a Wild West roleplaying campaign... but with a twist).

However, as well as 40-year history in Sweden, Dragonbane (aka Drakar och Demoner) has a solid core of fans who really, really love the system, which gives me a lot of encouragement. 

I have actually noticed some mechanical similarities between Twilight Sword and Dragonbane, which has led to my brain classifying Twilight Sword as modern Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons whereas Dragonbane is modern Advanced Dungeons & Dragons!

Of course, I'm essentially starting from scratch with Dragonbane, and you know how slow I am at reading and absorbing things... especially new things.

So, I'm still hoping to get these games back on track for PROJECT 60, but I know my birthday isn't that far away and I have way fewer years ahead of me than behind.

Even if I can one or both of these games up and running, just how long will these "forever campaigns" actually last now?