The only Doctor who gives me good news
An edition about ideology and fiction, and discovering obviousnesses.
HELLO AND WELCOME TO A NEW EDITION OF MY NEWSLETTER!
December is here! It seems I’m going to have a pretty busy end of the year/beginning of the year with a couple of series I’m working on, so I used a little break I had today for writing a new edition of the newsletter and commenting on a couple of things.
SOME LINKS
I had a funny conversation with my buddy Mike Oeming about the release of our Dark Horse graphic novel PROJECT MONARCH and spoke about the creation of the book but also about how we work, social media and life and more. You can see the video in Mike’s channel here:
Neotext released DODGE A BULLET, an action-packed novel written by Jayson Rothwell (Polar movie's writer) and published in digital format by NeoText I have illustrated.
https://neotextcorp.com/fiction/dodge-a-bullet/
Other of my recent releases are INFINITY AFTERMATH, a graphic novel written by me with art by Pedro Andreo and set on the Infinity wargame, and also with Dark Horse the ELIXIR graphic novel with Frank Barbiere and Ricky Mammone.
And in digital and paying what you want:
PARANOIA KILLER: VIRYA and the PARANOIA KILLER COMPILATION
I continue updating my bigcartel store with new drawings and signed (and some of them sketched) books:
https://victorsantos.bigcartel.com
And I’m uploading some WIP videos of these drawing to my social media, but you can also find these videos in youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXCZRP1ep4JshEG4hPyo-og
ACTION!
My good friend Tito W. James from comicon website is another devoted of action movies like me, and wrote an interesting article about the new wave of action movies that includes titles from USA, Japan or Korea. I really agree with his thoughts. Recently I saw Michael Bay’s Ambulance and even though it’s a dumb entertainment, it feels like an old film belonging to another era (ironically I read a good amount of critics supporting it fervently because it’s a good tool for opposing our current bland superhero stuff and getting some clicks).
Anyway, check the article and note Tito’s recommendations.
ABOUT FICTION AND IDEOLOGY
I’m a fan of Doctor Who. I’m not a Star Wars or Star Trek fan, but if you love something enough, you can understand why fans can be loyal to a series for a long time. It’s not simply because the show or the movies you like are good: You want to spend time there. You enjoy spending time there. It gives you peace in a world of chaos. A little relief at the end of a shitty day, a home to come back. So you don’t care if that last spin-off series was a mess or if that change in the mythology of the character sounds a little weird. You’ll come back.
So this is the Doctor to me, like Star Wars, Harry Potter or Marvel, or your favorite sports team can be for anyone.
I’m really enjoying the latest specials with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, the return of showrunner Rusell T. Davies and especially, the wonderful composer Murray Gold (for me, Gold is so important for the Doctor like Ennio Morricone for the Sergio Leone movies). I didn’t like the first and second season of the former doctor (basically due to the companions because I found Jodie Whitaker a wonderful doctor) but I think the latest season (Chibnall’s third season) was pretty good. And I can’t wait to see Ncuti Gatwa’s approach to the character.
What really surprises me is how some people reacted so angrily about the presence of disabled or non-binary characters in these latest special episodes. Really? You discovered NOW that Doctor Who is a progresist-inclusive show? The longest show in the History of TV which was progresist since its very beginning? The show with a Victorian interspecies lesbian marriage? The show where Jack Harness is one of the most popular characters? Maybe it’s the same people who recently discovered that X-men main theme was discrimination (damn, ALL the 60s-70s Marvel comics addressed discrimination).
Another question I always think about is: OK, you are not into this political vibe but… You can enjoy the show anyway. It’s a brilliant, funny and crazy SciFi spectacle. Everyone is invited to the party (that’s the Doctor’s leitmotif) but don’t attend a Heavy Metal party and try to play your techno mixtape.
I’m also a fan of the spy genre and have watched in streaming shows like Homeland, The Shooter or Jack Ryan. And these two latest are (to me) basically right-wing fantasies with a naive vision of agencies like the CIA (and therefore the USA) like a selfless fatherly protector of the free world. But I can find values of them which are not necessarily ideological, like a terrific and entertaining pacing, or good action scenes. I think Homeland is a more complex and realistic show (with the usual Hollywood licenses) but I consider Jack Ryan to be a fantasy epic story set in the “real” world instead of a Lord of the Rings realm, like John Wick can be. It’s a world where a CIA analyst can get into the democratically elected president’s office of another country and slap him in the face (Jack Ryan second season) and not provoke an international incident. So real like a Shaw Brothers kung-fu film can be with respect to a real brawl. Like porn to a real sexual relationship. And it doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun.
Another of my favorite genres is the Vigilante films. I love Charles Bronson’s Death Wish movies, or films like Mrs 45 of The Exterminator. Do I agree with these products of the Reagan era? I’m personally against the death penalty, I don’t need to say more. I enjoy them like cathartic fantasies and if someone needs to have them like role models well, this is their problem (or our problem in the future if they have access to weapons).
And at the end you always have other surprising and revolutionary choice: Don’t see that show/movie you dislike. I have friends who can’t stand the show if it implies an ideological subtext too different to their affinities. It's OK. The entertainment offer has never been so wide. But remember, the world actually doesn't need to know about this transcendental decision, especially the people who are still watching and enjoying that show.
And that’s all! See you soon in the next edition of my newsletter! (but I’m not sure if that edition will arrive after or before Holidays).
Meanwhile, take care.
Victor
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