Why Am I Just Now Learning About Humble Bundle?

It is an immutable fact that I will inevitably be reminded of how out-of-touch I am, especially when it comes to the internet culture and discovering really cool websites. I blame my age.

Today's reminder came in the form of a tweet from IDW Publishing that showed up on my Twitter newsfeed.

W/ over 120 issues for $15, you don't want to miss out on the Humble Transformers Bundle! Ends 8/6 @ 11:00AM PT http://t.co/MmNJJ6QGFz
— IDW Publishing (@IDWPublishing) August 4, 2014

Intrigued, I followed the link to HumbleBundle.com where I was immediately bombarded by the awesome!

Image Source:
Humble Bundle Facebook Page

As it turns out, many of my friends already use Humble Bundle to get game bundles on the cheap, and they made sure to point out how behind the times I am. Apparently, I've been living under a rock. In fact, Time recently listed Humble Bundle on their "50 Best Websites of 2014," calling it "a good place to go if you need some geeky entertainment on the cheap."

Formed in 2010 as Humble Indie Bundle and headquartered in San Francisco, Humble Bundle offers "digital creations" such as video games, eBooks, and digital graphic novels on a purchaser-determines-the-price model [1]. You can read more about them on their Wikipedia page, but I think their motto pretty much explains it all: "Pay what you want, DRM Free, Cross-platform, Helps charity."

It was the charity aspect of Humble's offerings that really got me to try them out, however. As it turns out, Humble Bundle often partners with publishers to release charity-driven bundles [2]. In this case, IDW Publishing is offering over 120 comic books (in collected format) of their popular Transformers comics for a minimum payment of $15. My only regret is that I'm learning about this deal the day before it ends. So I was not able to spread the word sooner and more often.

If you're interested in getting your hands on some Transformers Trade Paperbacks on the cheap while helping out charity at the same time, you better hurry. Apparently, this sale began two weeks ago and is scheduled to end tomorrow, Wednesday, August 6th, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. For this bundle, Hasbro Children's Fund will receive whatever portion of sales has been designated by purchasers to charity. If you missed it, fear not! There are other bundles currently available with more certainly on the way.

Titan Comics Gives Us Our Doctor Who Fix in Two New Comic Series [Review]

Well, we're officially less than a month away from a brand new season of Doctor Who and a brand new Doctor. Like many of you, binge-watching previous seasons has become a tradition for me, a way of welcoming the Doctor back into my life. But if you're looking for ways to add variety to your tradition, may I suggest picking up a copy of Titan Comics's two new comic books series, both of which hit the shelves yesterday, just in time to drive fans and comic collectors bonkers in the lead-up to Comic Con this weekend. Can you imagine the lines at San Diego of fanboys and fangirls, all vying to get their hands on the limited runs of convention exclusive covers? Already much of the retail copies of each title has sold out of their first printings—and not just copies of the incentive and chase variant covers, but of the regular runs as well. Personally, I like the regular Alice X. Zhang painted covers best.

You can check out some of the different covers available here. 
UK Diamond Exclusive Covers [Image Source: david-tennant.com]

There were plenty of speculations about the fate of the Doctor Who comics after the BBC did not renew IDW's license at the end of 2013. When it was announced that Titan Comics had been awarded the license, rumors began to circulate that this move was only one in a series of maneuvers "to bring the US and UK publishing rights under one roof," but those were quickly denied [1][2].

Regardless the motivation behind the change in publishers, both Titan titles are definitely bigger on the inside (See what I did there?).  I thought that the writers of both books captures the spirit of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors well, not just in how David Tennant and Math Smith portrayed their respective characters on the show, but also the atmosphere of their respective television runs. The artists of each book play significant roles in translating each Doctor to paper and in rendering these stories in ways that are very appropriate to their respective Doctors. When it comes to story, Titan does not disappoint. Both books are set during periods in which the Doctor travels alone and introduce new companions to share the Doctor's adventures. Although spin-off media like comics are rarely considered canon, if Titan keeps their continuity as tight and as in line with the TV show and other spin-off media as IDW did during their tenure, we can expect these books to fit nicely within the series as extra-episodical adventures just as the IDW titles have.

Specific review on each title, after the jump. [WARNING: Spoilers possible.]

IDW's Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time Gives Whovians Their Fantasy Team-up [Review]

Every true Whovian dreams to one day watch a Doctor Who episode in which all the actors who played the various incarnations of the titular characters reprise their roles for that one epic team-up adventure. However, for various reasons, that most likely will never happen. Not for the foreseeable future, anyways. The 50th Anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor," which will air this Saturday, is the series' most promising and, possibly, last opportunity to do so—at least for a while. Unfortunately, show-runner Steven Moffat indicated in interviews that the fandom will just have to settle for the tenth and eleventh Doctors played by David Tennant and Matt Smith, respectively. Doctors Ten and Eleven will team up with the recently revealed "War Doctor," a previously unknown incarnation played by John Hurt. Three Doctors are enough, I suppose.

Then, again: Moffat's penchant for lying and misdirection to protect the magic of the show from leaks and spoilers until their scheduled air times might also indicate that this door is not competely closed. I submit as evidence,  the series seven season finale, "The Name of The Doctor," which used clever camera angles and computer-generated movie magic to splice old Doctor Who footage into the episode to bring all the previous Doctors back, even the late William Hartnell (1st Doctor), Patrick Troughton (2nd), and Jon Pertwee (3rd).

Prisoner of Time's
12 Covers Merged
[Image Source:
comicsblend.com]

I suppose until then, we Whovians will just have to settle for spin-off media like novels, audio-plays, and graphic novels as stop-gaps. In which case: may I recommend IDW Publishing's Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time graphic novel mini-series?

IDW, one of todays leading comic book publishers, specializes in licensed property. They also hold the license for popular titles like Star Trek, Transformers, and G.I.Joe. Unfortunately, their relationship with the BBC and their license to publish Doctor Who will end with the 50th Anniversary of the show. Fortunately, they refuse to leave without a big bang.

Prisoners of Time, a 12-issue limited series comic book, is IDW's year-long contribution to the 50th Anniversary. From January through November 2013, each issue of the first 11 were dedicated to one of the eleven Doctors and followed each of the Doctors in sequence on an adventure. As each issue closed, a shadowy figure kidnapped that Doctor's traveling companion(s), linking each story together and leading into today's release of issue 12 in which the Doctor team-up with all himselves to save his friends.

Written by siblings Scott and David Tipton, the story asks the reader to examine the Batman-ification of the Doctor and the effects, both good and bad, that he leaves in his wake. We see this same question in the current TV series in such episodes as "Vampires in Venice" and "A Good Man Goes to War." Yet, by end of issue 12, we are still left with that strange feeling that, just as in life, everything remains gray and blurry despite all the arguments for the Doctor's goodness, despite the fact that those arguments won.

IDW has given fans well-written, canon-worthy between-the-episodes adventures for a while now. In fact, they have gone out of their way to carefully integrate on-screen story elements to each of their stories as well as to avoid contradicting Doctor Who Proper. Prisoners of Time is no exception. I love how they blended elements from both the show's classic run and the revived modern series. IDW went a step further and included Frobisher, the Sixth's and Seventh's shapeshifting companion from Panini Comics' Doctor Who Magazine comic strip adventures from the Eighties. (Frobisher likes to use the form of a talking penguin as his "normal" appearance, by the way. What's cooler than that?)