Apparently, the carbon nanotubes help with water uptake, and seeds exposed to carbon nanotubes contain more moisture. Actually, it doesn't look like this tech will be leading to giant fruits and vegetables in the near future — for now, here's what the researchers, from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Nanotech Center said:

Here, we demonstrated that the exposure of carbon nanotubes to seeds of valuable crops, such as tomatoes, can increase the germination percentage and support and enhance the growth of seedlings. Furthering these findings could result in significant developments of improved plants for the area of energy, by taking advantage of the enhancement in the biomass of the plants when they are exposed to nanosized materials and fertilizers.

And here's a cool picture:

[ACS Nano via Technology Review]

The sleeper of the title is Holden Carver - dig the dual allusion to Catcher In The Rye and Raymond - a superpowered intelligence agent whose undercover position in a criminal organization filled with supervillains has started to go wrong... and will continue to do so, to increasing degrees and with increasing complications, throughout the course of the book. Within that overarching plot, we're given some insight into the kinds of people who choose to be part of a criminal underworld, a love affair doomed by its very nature, and a moral ambiguity still unusual for superhero comics... In other words, a perfect noir story that just happens to star people who can do fantastic, unusual things.

I admit, I may have already tipped my critical hand by calling Sleeper Season One a "forgotten classic" above, but it doesn't feel like hyperbole; Sleeper - and particularly the first year of the series, which this book collects - offered not only a new take on superhero tradition and cliche, but the story and execution to back that shock of the new up, making this seven-year-old series feel as fresh and contemporary now as it did when it first appeared. Creators Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips both give some of their best work on the series; Brubaker's tense narration, double crosses and cruel streak finding a home years before his Criminal series, and Phillips' art coming across atmospheric but with crystal clear storytelling nonetheless.

Click here to read writer Ed Brubaker talking about the series.

This is, at heart, a book (and a series) that could never end happily, but that's not to say it's a joyless read; the "secret origins" that characters tell each other to pass the time offer grim laughs (especially Miss Misery's), and there's some strange sense of satisfaction to the way in which everything falls apart, and yet goes to plan, at the same time throughout, complete with last minute turnaround that makes the release of the second volume in September seem at least two months too long to wait.

The idea of "superheroes for grown-ups" has been promised many, many times in the twenty-plus years since Frank Miller made Batman old and Alan Moore took the underwear away from his glowing blue radioactive man, but rarely achieved. Sleeper manages it by downplaying the superheroics almost altogether, and instead concentrating on telling a story about people in desperate situations doing whatever they have to to survive... and then finding out that they made matters worse anyway.

Sleeper: Season One is released today by DC Comics/Wildstorm.

[Editor] Scott Dunbier and [Wildstorm VP] Jim Lee really liked the pitch I gave them for [earlier Brubaker series] Point Blank, and so Scott asked me to come up with something else. I told him I had no ideas, but then the minute I hung up the phone, it hit me, so I called him right back and pitched Sleeper to him, and he dug it. We immediately decided Sean Phillips should draw it and asked him, and he said yes. Then I ended up revamping my ideas for Point Blank a bit to turn it into a sequel. Originally, [Carver's handler] Lynch was going to get murdered.

Calling something "ahead of its time" always feels a bit like a polite way of saying "other people had more success ripping it off later," but Sleeper really does seem to have foreseen things like Mark Millar's Wanted and Marvel's Dark Reign. Was the series meant as some statement of where you saw the superhero genre going, or were you simply trying to mix the crime and superhero genres to find a new spin on both?

I was really trying to blend espionage and superhero comics. To take my love of John LeCarre and deep cover kind of stories, and throw them into the world of capes and masks. And to sort of have fun with some of the conventions of the genre, like the origin stories, and things like that. But I don't know that it's anything like what Wanted was, or what Dark Reign is doing. Sleeper was always a very tight contained character-driven book. Not big world-spanning action.

Sleeper feels, to me, like the first place where you really found the voice that you'd use on Marvel work like Captain America and Daredevil. Years later, do you feel like it was a turning point for you?

I don't think I can be the judge of that. I know it was incredibly hard to write, and it really solidified me and Sean as a team, so in that way, maybe. I think the work I was doing on Gotham Central and Catwoman at the same time really helped me figure out how I do whatever it is I do. Although, Bendis still thinks [1999 miniseries for DC's Vertigo imprint] Scene of the Crime is my best book, so who can say?

Now that you're a bigshot at Marvel - killing Captain America, bringing him back, writing the origin of the Marvel superheroes in The Marvels Project - what does Sleeper mean to you? Embarrassing earlier work, nostalgic example of a time when less people were paying attention to you, surprisingly public first date with Sean Phillips...?

I've always been really proud of it. It's strange, because I've been in a lot of meetings in Hollywood the past few years, and every single person I meet there has read Sleeper, which was easily my worst-selling title ever. So I figure the entire run just got sold in Hollywood or something. But it's always gratified me that this little book I didn't think anyone but me would like found so many fans who wanted to make it into movies and TV shows. If they ever get around to that, of course, it'll be very nice. I'm getting tired of waiting here.

It's an odd week for new comic releases, with less new projects coming out than recent weeks, but the few that are coming out are all well worth your attention. Who, for example, could turn up the chance to relive their childhood with Power Pack Classic collecting the first issues of Marvel's 1980s pre-teen superteam? Or, for that matter, Batman: The Black Casebook, a collection of some of the out-there 1950s stories referenced by Grant Morrison during Batman RIP? Only those who hate fun, that's who.

If superhero single issues are your thing, Marvel's releasing a new mini-series about Spider-Man's newest bad guy, Dark Reign: Mister Negative, as well as the first (of two) issues of Ultimate Spider-Man: Requiem, hopefully answering the question of whether or not Peter is dead (My money's pretty firmly on "No," but you never can tell with Brian Bendis...). There's also X-Men Origins: Gambit, for those who've fallen for Remy LeBeau following his appearance in the Wolverine movie. Plus the X-Infernus collection for those who fell for the New Mutants back in the 1980s like I did (I can't resist...!).

DC also has the first issue of Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen's Batman: Streets of Gotham for people who still need convincing that Dick Grayson really is Batman these days.

Single issue of the week, though, is easily Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #0, introducing the second series of one of the most bizarre superhero franchises around, complete with Alex Ross art, for just a dollar.

For those with more money to spare, however, there's a trilogy of books vying for your attention: Brian Fies' Whatever Happened To The World Of Tomorrow uses futurism and comic books to explore a character's relationship with his father to stunning effect, while James Stokoe's Wonton Soup Vol. 2 goes entirely in the other direction, making pop art out of space truckers and cookery.

If neither of those catch your eye, the first year of Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips' superhero spy book Sleeper gets reissued tomorrow, and if you missed it the first time around, it's definitely time to fix that.

All of this week's new releases - including the already-released-in-some-stores Captain America #600 - are listed on this week's Diamond Distribution Shipping List, which is just the thing to check before heading to your local comic store to find your four color fantasies. Just remember that three of those four colors are red, white and blue. The potentially undead Steve Rogers would want it that way.

10. Spaceballs

The Particulars:

Mel Brooks's Star Wars parody is from his later, weaker period, and it lacks some of the wit and inspiration that made Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein classics. Neither Bill Pullman's Han Solo character nor Daphne Zuniga's Princess Leia are particularly memorable, placing most of the comedic responsibilities on the rest of the cast.

Luckily, the supporting players are more than up to the challenge. Brooks roped in two SCTV powerhouses, John Candy and Rick Moranis, to play the Chewbacca and Darth Vader roles, and these two are crucial to the film's success. Candy's Barf is about as lovable as any half-man/half-dog (he's his own best friend) possibly could be, providing Spaceballs with the bare minimum of emotional investment needed for it to be more than a string of hit-or-miss comedic setpieces.

Still, it's the villains, including Moranis's Dark Helmet, Brooks's President Skroob, and George Wyner's Colonel Sandurz, who consistently steal the show. Moranis is particularly inspired as the least likely person to play the galaxy's greatest villain, and the fact that he plays the part as though it's any other Rick Moranis role gets funnier with each passing scene. The film's constant willingness to break the fourth wall doesn't necessarily make for the most satisfying narrative, but it does provide some fantastic gags, as we'll see below.

Spaceballs is far from perfect, but it established many of the conventions that would dominate future space opera parodies, and it represents a comedy legend's one great attempt to take on the science fiction genre. For that alone, it earns a place on our list.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

If you're looking for an even sillier parody of Star Wars, look no further than Hardware Wars. If you're looking for something of the unintentionally hilarious variety, I'd recommend Starcrash, the highly unauthorized Italian remake of Star Wars that may or may not star Christopher Plummer and David Hasselhoff. (It totally does.)

9. Mystery Men

The Particulars:

The film flopped on its initial release, providing yet more evidence that, as a general rule, big budget comedies just don't do very well at the box office. For all its pyrotechnics, Mystery Men is really just an alternative comedy with surprising insight into the superhero genre. If I'm being honest, Mystery Men probably does a better job deconstructing superhero conventions than the Watchmen movie does.

It helps that almost everyone is perfectly cast. It's hard to imagine anyone better suited than William H. Macy for the straightforward family man the Shoveler, Hank Azaria for the wannabe British fop the Blue Raja, Greg Kinnear for the narcissistic sellout Captain Amazing, Ben Stiller for the irritable asshole Mr. Furious, or Geoffrey Rush for the ludicrously over-the-top supervillain Casanova Frankenstein. The only real misstep is Paul Reubens as the Spleen, but I suppose that's because he's just a little too convincingly creepy.

Better than any other superhero movie I've seen, Mystery Men captures what it means to have a city full of costumed heroes and villains, a concept it exploits to hilarious effect. The superhero tryouts really hit upon the absurdity of D-list superheroes, the discussions of whether Captain Amazing is really Lance Hunt (which is impossible, because Lance Hunt wears glasses and Captain Amazing doesn't) make it difficult to ever take the Clark Kent concept seriously ever again, and the climactic fight sequence manages to brilliantly use every last one of the heroes' lame powers. Plus, Michael Bay cameos as a douche bag henchman. Sounds about right.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

The Specials, starring the always awesome Thomas Haden Church and Paget Brewster, came out around the same time as Mystery Men and is its low-budget equivalent. It may lack the action of Mystery Men, but that just allows the film more time to develop its oddball cast of characters. The recent Sky High is actually a pretty decent movie, grafting a lot of good jokes onto what could have been a lame kid's movie (supporting turns from the likes of Kurt Russell, Lynda Carter, and Bruce Campbell certainly help). And of course there's always The Incredibles, which isn't exactly a comedy but is always worth watching.

8. Army of Darkness/Shaun of the Dead

The Particulars:

I'm probably stretching things a bit to consider these films science fiction. (I'll count Army of Darkness because there's time travel and a Day the Earth Stood Still reference, and Shaun of the Dead makes it, because the zombies might have been caused by a meteorite, which is sort of like science.) As such, I'll just combine these two brilliant horror comedies into one entry and say that, together, they just about add up to one science fiction comedy. And why not?

The debate as to whether Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness is the better film will likely rage on into eternity, but I think it's fairly clear where I stand. Casting aside the last shreds of seriousness seen in Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness is nonstop badass quips and undead slapstick. That's a winning combination right there, and Bruce Campbell has never been better than he is here.

Meanwhile, nobody puts more time and effort into their comedies these days than Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz might be the most intricately constructed comedy I've ever seen). Shaun of the Dead is no exception, taking the relatively mundane idea of a zombie comedy and adding onto it a dense web of callbacks and subtle visual gags that demand repeat viewings. It's also just a funny, eminently quotable movie, with Nick Frost's Ed getting all the best lines. Although I still don't see the point of owning a car in London.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

For more Bruce Campbell goodness, look no further than Evil Dead 2. If you must look slightly further, then check out Bubba Ho-Tep, where Campbell plays an aging Elvis Presley in a nursing home who teams up with a black JFK to fight a mummy. It's as awesome as it sounds. Fans of Shaun of the Dead should definitely give Wright and Pegg's series Spaced a try. It's not science fiction, but it's one of the most proudly geeky series ever made.

7. Groundhog Day

The Particulars:

It's easy to forget how committed this film is to its time loop premise. Bill Murray is funny enough that I'd gladly watch a film about him as an asshole weatherman even if he wasn't trapped reliving the same day for an unspecified span of time. (Director Harold Ramis once said it was thousands of years, but the official word now seems to favor about ten years.) The fact that the film keeps coming up with new takes on its premise is what elevates it to the heights of science fiction comedy.

Murray's repeated attempts to woo Andie MacDowell, each day slightly modifying his behavior so that he can give her exactly what she wants, is one of the best examples of what makes Groundhog Day so good. On the one hand, it's simply a funny idea, as the callbacks and repetition mount and build up comic momentum. But the film also wonders about what it really means to live a life without consequences, as by his hundredth attempt Murray isn't even bothering to hide his preparations for his next attempt, fully aware no one will remember his sleaziness.

The film is also refreshingly willing to tackle darker territory. Murray's attempt to save a homeless man are positively heartbreaking, and there's real pathos in a nurse's observation that this is simply his time. His ultimate despair and repeated attempts to kill himself are funny in the bleakest, grimmest way possible, but they're part of the reason the film's eventual happy ending feels so richly deserved.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

There's at least one other Bill Murray/Harold Ramis science fiction collaboration I can think of that's worth watching, but I can't quite remember the name. Maybe it'll occur to me later in the list.

6. Tremors

The Particulars:

Of all the homages to fifties monster movies, Tremors was one of the first and it's still the best. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward make a wonderfully stupid, profane pair as they try to evade the massive earthworms that have come to devour their desert town. The other twelve residents of Perfection, Nevada, are just as fun to watch, with the survivalist couple and their well-armored rec room a particular highlight.

The film reverently captures the charm of old monster movies without resorting to cheap parody for laughs. Instead, the humor comes from exploring how actual people might react to being attacked by fifty-foot earthworms, and the results are pretty damn hilarious. The gloriously terrible special effects are also part of the appeal of Tremors - if, as is sadly inevitable, they ever remake Tremors, I can only hope the Graboids don't make the leap to CGI. Some things really ought to be sacred.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

Slither is a much more recent homage to this kind of movie, and it has the added advantage of starring Nathan Fillion. For more cult eighties movies, there's always The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension, which is sort of paying homage to every film ever made.

5. Ghostbusters

The Particulars:

Oh yeah, this is the Murray/Ramis film I was thinking of. The special effects in Ghostbusters haven't necessarily stood the test of time, but the movie's enduring themes of "Who you gonna call?" and not being afraid of no ghosts have kept it relevant well into the 21st century.

Day Aykroyd has always struck me in interviews as being far more interested in the paranormal than any normal person should be. (It's possible his claims that he sincerely believes we will soon be visited by ghosts are all part of an elaborate joke, but if so, that is some serious commitment to a bit.) Either way, his and Harold Ramis's complete belief in the seriousness of the ghostly threat lends the film some much-needed authenticity. The rest of the cast, including Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and Ernie Hudson, all get their moments to bring the funny, and nobody wastes their opportunity.

Still, this is pretty much completely Bill Murray's movie. Legend once had it that he didn't even read the script, instead electing to ad-lib all of his lines. That's since been denied by pretty much everyone involved, but his hilariously natural, seemingly off-the-cuff readings make it easy to see why the rumor took hold in the first place. Besides, he really made me rethink the wisdom of strapping an unlicensed particle accelerator to my back, and that's really just a public service.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

Whatever you may have heard, Ghostbusters II is a pretty decent film and worth checking out, if only for Cheech Marin's random cameo (his one line is still stuck in my head years after I first saw the movie). The eighties was something of a golden age of science fiction comedies, and there are no shortage of other movies to check out, including Weird Science, Short Circuit, and Earth Girls Are Easy.

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

The Particulars:

It's the rare science fiction franchise that has the guts to make one of its big-budget movies into a fish-out-of-water comedy, but that's exactly what Star Trek does here. I'm not sure anyone would have guessed the series would have concluded the loose trilogy begun in Wrath of Khan with a lighthearted time travel story about saving humpback whales in eighties San Francisco, and I really doubt anyone would have guessed such a movie would end up being one of the best Star Trek movies.

It helps that the entire cast has so completely grown into their roles. William Shatner is legitimately good as Captain Kirk here, and he displays a newfound willingness to not take himself seriously that would serve him well in pretty much all of his future roles. Leonard Nimoy, who also directed the film, is appropriately spacey as the recently resurrected Spock (though that also might have something to do with all the LDS he took during the sixties). The always brilliant DeForrest Kelley adds another dimension to their adventures in the past as McCoy angrily surveys the state of 20th century medicine.

Then there's Uhura and Chekov's attempt to find the nuclear vessels in Alameda, which takes the form of an amusingly unrehearsed scene where they ask real passersby in San Francisco where the ships are. Speaking of nuclear vessels, it's quite possible that, without this film, Chekov's inability to pronounced his v's would never have taken on such legendary status. And there are few things quite as enjoyable as watching Scotty wrangle with a primitive Apple computer.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

The two Star Trek fans in Free Enterprise are way too insufferable for their own good, but the film is worthwhile if only because William Shatner takes his capacity for self-parody to its logical conclusion. In this case, that conclusion is a rap interpretation of Julius Caesar where he plays all the parts.

3. Sleeper

The Particulars:

Woody Allen only once turned his attention to the science fiction genre, but it was more than enough to show he knew what he was doing. Supposedly a "wildly distorted" adaptation of When the Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Wells, Allen's story hits upon pretty much every science fiction trope that doesn't involve space. From cryogenics to dystopias to changing sexual mores to slapstick robots - it's all here, and it's all hysterical.

The decision to freeze his character in 1973 and awaken him in the 22nd century was undoubtedly part of the movie's success, as it would have been impossible to believe such a staid, repressive future society could ever create an oddball like Allen's trademark character. Besides, Allen's unique status allows him to return to similar territory he tackled in Bananas, as he becomes the world's unlikeliest revolutionary.

Although Allen's turn as a robotic butler and the orgasmatron are justly famous, perhaps the film's best running gag is Allen's willingness to wildly fabricate 20th century history. He calmly agrees with a historian that sportscaster Howard Cosell was used to punish political prisoners, he tells Diane Keaton that giving guns to criminals was considered a public service, and he claims that Bela Lugosi was the mayor of New York. I wish I could get cryogenically frozen, if only so that I could get the chance to make up historical "facts" half as good as those.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

Mike Judge's Idiocracy tackles a lot of the same material, although the dystopian elements of Sleeper are replaced with a more straightforward brand of dumbassery.

2. Galaxy Quest

The Particulars:

Galaxy Quest is a rare trifecta: it's a great science fiction comedy, it's a brilliant comedy about science fiction, and it actually works as a pretty decent science fiction film in its own right. The film never loses sight of its parody of Star Trek's most cliched tropes or its affectionate skewering of the various neuroses of the has-been actors, and it's a tribute to Galaxy Quest's comic dexterity that it perfectly balances both threads. It's also about a million times better than any film starring Tim Allen should be.

Admittedly, some of that is down to his supporting cast. Alan Rickman long ago passed the point where he was even capable of turning in a bad performance, and here he actually has good material to work with as a seriously tortured British thespian who absolutely despises his catchphrase. The movie's deconstruction of science fiction wouldn't have seemed quite so definitive if Sigourney Weaver hadn't been involved, and she shows even more comedic chops here than she did in Ghostbusters. Tony Shalhoub and Sam Rockwell get tremendous comic mileage out of the latter's existential angst over whether he's the doomed extra or the plucky comic relief, maybe the film's best bit of sustained meta-comedy.

Even so, one shouldn't dismiss Tim Allen's contribution just because the rest of his filmography is so full of, well, total crap (the Toy Story movies excepted, of course). More than any other recent actor, Allen captures all that was so distinctive about William Shatner: the hamminess, the bravado, the willingness to turn in terrible performances in terrible films.

It's an open question whether a better actor could have so fully inhabited the Captain Kirk role; in fact, I might go so far as to say he was perfect for the role. Considering the stories that Allen "purposefully" tried to replicate Shatner's legendary dickishness and prima donna tendencies on set, I'd say he knew that too. Whatever works, I guess.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

There's plenty of other Star Trek parodies out there, but I don't think any will ever top the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." Or, for that matter, any episode with Zapp Brannigan, who Matt Groening has described as 40% Kirk, 60% Shatner.

1. Back to the Future

The Particulars:

Quite simply, there's never been a more complete science fiction comedy. It's legitimately interested in the mechanics of time travel, placing a time paradox at the heart of the film's central conflict. The film never backs away from the admittedly creepy comedic potential of a mother unwittingly falling in love with her time traveling son, and the film's exploration of Marty McFly's culture shock and unwitting anachronisms hilariously climaxes in rocking out just a little too hard at his parents' dance. Back to the Future also respects the rest of the science fiction genre, as can be seen in Marty's brilliant disguise as Darth Vader, extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan.

Michael J. Fox plays the kind of likable, active protagonist I still don't understand why we no longer see in comedies. Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown might just be the definitive mad scientist in modern film, and it's hard to imagine a more perfect bully than Thomas F. Wilson's Biff. Lea Thompson is cute and hilarious as Marty's mom, and Crispin Glover dials down his total insanity to steal the film as George McFly.

I'd keep going, but I think I need to go rewatch Back to the Future now. Sadly, there's very little of the film on YouTube, so the trailer will have to do.

The Visual Evidence:

Also worth checking out:

Why, Back to the Future Part II and Part III, of course. The first sequel might be the best pure science fiction of the bunch (though it's not as funny as the original), while the third is basically a payoff for all the running gags set up in the first two movies by doing them all over again in the old West. Which is, to be honest, kind of brilliant.

The Orgasmatron Booth
Maybe I should be more surprised that Woody Allen would come up with one of the most well known pieces of SF sextech in Sleeper, his one and only SF movie to date, but all I can think is that anything that demonstrates how easily people can be replaced by machinery is right up his 1970s comedy neuroses alley. Sure, science may have tried to create the real thing, but the fact remains: Is there a closet that I can walk into and experience multiple climaxes without the presence of another human being and risking repetitive strain injury? No. And that's the true tragedy here.

The Excessive Machine
Unlike the Orgasmatron, Barbarella's Excessive Machine is made for evil purposes, apparently (Unless you think that "Executioner" is some kind of porny euphemism), but you can't deny that with a little reworking, this organ-based organ-replacement could bring happiness to a great many people everywhere, while being more aesthetically-pleasing to look at than any of the inventions seen so far on popular internet destination Fucking Machines (Dear everyone: That link is very NSFW. Do not blame me when you click on it in your place of employment and get in trouble. The clue as to why may be in the name of the site).

Sex Rays Of Various Types
Whether it's Flesh Gordon's Sex Ray or Orgazmo's Orgazmorator, there's no denying that there's something primal about the idea of making that penis/gun substitution a little more literal than usual. The best variation of this idea belongs to 2000AD's satirical Big Dave strip from the 1990s, wherein Saddam Hussein unveiled his plan to defeat the West once and for all by using his Love Gun - built by aliens, of course - to turn opposing armies gay, and therefore - proving the reasoning behind the US military's ban on homosexuals - useless as soldiers.

Freaky Virtual Reality Sex
http://io9.com/5054503/the-dos-and-donts-of-cybersex
Lawnmower Man's face-melty sex scene may look somewhat cheesy now - and make you go "Hey, it's Frank off Lost! But young!" - but let's face it; Second Life really doesn't compare to the virtual reality insect fetish sex that this movie promised us. Science fiction loves to suggest that VR will open up all new worlds of sexual exploration (Even Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had Quark's holodeck suites, which you knew were dens of perversity and characters fantasizing about Dax and Kira getting it on with them), but the reality has proven to be somewhat lacking.

Sexbots In General
I know, I know. Sexbots; they're the android dream for all of us, whether they're Cherry 2000, Battlestar Galactica's Six or any of a large number of other possibilities, there's something amazingly alluring to many people about the idea of a lifelike play partner that only does what you tell it to do (or maybe not). But when I don't care how realistic they think robots are getting, that whole dead-eyed look just doesn't do it for me just yet. Give me a call when they've reached Tricia Helfer level - or maybe Sky-Doll.

If You Loved The Denseness Of Watchmen:
From Hell
To my mind, this is Alan Moore's masterpiece (and one we've already recommended - 500+ pages that look behind (and beyond) the legend of Jack the Ripper to offer a dissertation on murder, majesty and London, ably (and atmospherically) illustrated by Eddie Campbell. As full and as deep as Watchmen at its best, but with more subtlety and patience, From Hell offers a rich experience that may not offer as many people in costumes, but may be all the more rewarding for that. [Amazon]

If You Loved The Way The Book Played With The Comic Medium:
Or Else
On the face of it, Kevin Huizenga's work is almost the very opposite of Watchmen; in many cases autobiographical and entirely devoid of superheroes or apocalyptic scenarios. But Huizenga shares a fascination - and desire to experiment - with the language of comics that goes beyond what Moore and Gibbons did in Watchmen, moving into abstract images and wordlessness that takes the medium in directions that Dr. Manhattan would be proud of. The best example - and the place to start - would be Or Else #2, "Gloriana," where a sunset turns into something altogether more unusual and magical.

If You Loved The Adult Approach To Superheroes:
Sleeper
Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips' story of a superpowered secret agent who goes undercover in a criminal organization only to get in way over his head - emotionally and strategically - offers up both the nods to comics' past (Especially in the twisted secret origins that pepper the series) and the "real people who just happen to have superpowers" aspects of Watchmen, but take the latter much further; the characters here aren't the iconic archetypes and stereotypes of Moore and Gibbons' book, but much more genuine, believable, and recognizable as us. Brubaker and Philips' Incognito, which just launched a couple of months ago, is in a similar vein and well worth checking out as well. [Amazon]

If You Loved Dr. Manhattan's Cosmic Perspective:
The Invisibles
Much longer, chaotic and disorganized than Watchmen, Grant Morrison's long-running story of the 1990s The Invisibles crosses time, dimensions and questions the very nature of reality on a regular basis. Ripped off by The Matrix, The Invisibles is a much more individual work (although stealing from multiple sources itself, shamelessly) that wants to change the way you look at the world, if you let it. [Amazon]

If You Loved The Near-Future Setting Of Watchmen:
100%
I've recommended Paul Pope's work here enough to make it clear that I'm a massive fanboy, but that doesn't change the fact that 100% is the ideal follow-on if you liked the small details that made Watchmen's world so similar-but-different to our own. Focusing on the characters allows him to sneak in all manner of alternate-world SFisms without you noticing until it's too late, but this is a beautiful and necessary book that, come to think of it, should be made into a movie of its own. Just keep Zack Snyder away from it. [Amazon]

If You Loved The Cold War World-building of Watchmen:
American Flagg
Howard Chaykin's American Flagg - a 1980s contemporary of Watchmen - takes the Cold War paranoia of Moore and Gibbons in a whole new, satirical, direction and to the world of 2031, where America's government has moved to Mars, turned corporate and taken on a particularly Russian approach to some subjects, allowing former television star and new "Plexus Ranger" Reuben Flagg to try and keep the peace in a future Chicago. Sharing a similar dark humor to Watchmen, it's as much a product of its time, but well worth checking out. [Amazon]

If You Want Cold War World-Building In A Near-Future Setting Complete With An Adult Approach To Superheroes, But Without That High-Brow Shit:
The Dark Knight Returns
Okay, there's really no avoiding this one although, chances are, if you've read Watchmen, you've also read this; Dark Knight, created around the same time as Watchmen, and the book that made Frank Miller into the superstar megalomaniac that he is today, still stands as a singular achievement and the book that Batman stories are still measured against today. And why not? Whether it's the satire of Reagan's appearances, the cynical re-view on Superman or the dystopia of Gotham taken to the Nth degree, there's a lot to admire about this book even twenty years (and countless rip-offs) later. [Amazon]

If You Want To See Where It All Started:
Miracleman
Moore's first series of note - now, sadly, out of print and lost in a legal mess over rights issues - wasn't just the start of his career, but also the the first major deconstructionist superhero work in mainstream American comics. Taking a cloned version of Captain Marvel and pushing him into a more realistic world without entirely undoing everything that came before, Moore rehearsed many of the ideas in Watchmen here, but in a less formal, more human way. One day, this series will hopefully return to bookstores and everyone will see the connections; for now, spend your time in back issue bins and on eBay looking for the original issues or collected editions.

If You Want A More Optimistic Period Piece About Superheroes:
DC: The New Frontier
In many ways, the polar opposite of Watchmen (The cynicism and despair of that book being replaced with a boldness, optimism and strong belief in the inherent goodness of its characters), New Frontier is no less an achievement. Darwyn Cooke's beautiful take on the origins of DC's Silver Age characters (focusing mostly on Green Lantern, but taking in so many more along the way) is, in its own ways, as much a love letter to comics and superheroes as Watchmen is, but simply one that chooses to focus on the happier side of things. And, with Cooke's amazing artwork (presented in a three-panel format for the entire book, in much the same way that Watchmen adheres to a nine-panel format throughout), I have to commit potential heresy and admit that New Frontier looks much, much better than Watchmen. [Amazon]

We've already told you that Incognito - the new series from writer Ed Brubaker (forever to be known as "The Man Who Killed Captain America") and his Sleeper partner Sean Philips - was the one essential comic to be released last week, but in case you didn't want to take our word for it, Brubaker offered up the skinny on the series on Newsarama.com over the weekend.

Calling the series "Apocalyptic Pulp Noir," the genre-bending series will offer "some real weird and alien stuff going on right next to these dark shadowed scenes of despair and sex" throughout its run, according to the writer:

I'd been thinking about how comics grew out of the pulps, in many ways. That many of our superheroes, if not all, have their roots in pulp characters - Doc Savage, the Spider, the Shadow - these harder-edged characters inspired Batman and Superman and a lot of others. And at the same time, I was thinking it was funny that noir in many ways grew out of the pulps, too - since Hammett and Chandler came out of Black Mask - but that no one had ever written a noir story in the worlds of Doc Savage or the Shadow.

And it just clicked — had no one ever done a noir pulp hero story? Taking two pulp staples and slamming them together? Was that possible?

The resulting story - about Zack Andersen, a former supervillain who is chafing at his new life in the supervillain version of the witness protection program - isn't necessarily what you might expect, even if you're familiar with the two creators' earlier series Sleeper (currently in the process of being adapted into a movie by producer Sam Raimi):

As you know, Sleeper is about a spy forced to live among the enemy for so long that he loses sight of which side he's on, lost in the shades of grey of his world, losing his moral compass. So I was thinking, what about someone having to go the opposite path? What would that story be? And I thought, it'd have to be about a bad guy, a real villain, who's somehow put into a position where they start doing decent things, accidentally saving people... stuff like that, and then you'd see what happened next — how that changed them, and what it would do to whatever life they're living.

Not that everything will be laughter and candy, as our anti-hero turns towards the light, of course:

The bad guys are definitely a lot of fun to write, but I think it's just figuring out what character you're going to write, and getting in their head to tell the story that drives me. And there are really messed-up things in bad guys heads.

The first issue of Incognito is in stores now.

Ed Brubaker: 7 Things to Know About 'Incognito' [Newsarama]

We've labeled all the futuristic features of this home, and color-coded it so you can see which gadgets don't exist (red), sort of exist (yellow), and are in your kitchen right now (green). Below, you can see which movies each device came from, and a bar graph that measures how many greens the movie got vs. reds. We also included domestic vehicles like cars in our "home of the future."

The documentary New Horizons turned out to be most accurate — at least when it came to domestic improvements that are possible with modern technology. This reel commissioned by General Motors focused on realistic advances in the automotive industry, looking only 20 years ahead. After all, why overreach? Googie’s had yet to be built in its landmark style, and human spaceflight was but stardust in scientists’ eyes.

In all the flicks, two of the most accurately-predicted items were large screen TVs and videoconferencing. Wireless technology, implied often by The Jetsons, is now ubiquitous. Less popular devices available today include the Master Cook (in the form of kitchen computers), fins on cars, and thumbprint entry.

Though the Scene Screen doesn't exist as such, it gets a yellow because it could be created by the do-it-yourself crowd. Just set up a projector display for your window. And you can create a Garden Center by winching a hydroponics rig above your dining room table.

In the red zone are a lot of technologies we wish we had — or maybe not. You’ll have to wait for the three seashells, walk-in Orgasmatron, and gigantic fruit (though we’re already genetically modifying produce) — but anti-grav space boots probably aren’t on the way anytime soon.

Of course, what would a piece on everyday life in the future be without mention of the notorious flying car? The roadable aircraft in development today leave us with hope… as well as something to be desired. Even the promising Moller Skycar falls short, lacking the ability to be driven as an automobile.

The self-driving, self-repairing, foam spewing car technology of Demolition Man is also unavailable to today’s motorist. When compared to the domestic conveniences afforded to us now, this film’s gorgeously grandiose vision of modern LA was the least in tune view of the future reviewed (we’ve got at least a couple of decades before 2032 to fix that, but we’d better get cracking).

Personally, I’ll be happy with a simple populuxe revival.

Sleeper, created by Ed Brubaker - the man who killed Captain America and replaced him with a cyborg assassin - and Marvel Zombies' Sean Philips in 2003, centers around Holden Carver, a secret agent whose run-in with an alien artifact leaves him with superpowers including invulnerability... which, according to the government, makes him a perfect candidate to go undercover in a secret society of supervillains because, well, what could they really do to him if he got caught?

The movie version - rumored for years, despite complicated rights issues - is being helped by Cruise's "loose attachment" to the project, according to the Hollywood Reporter:

Together with Sam Raimi, he is setting up "Sleeper" at Warner Bros. Cruise is loosely attached to star in the adaptation of the DC Comics/Wildstorm comic that Raimi would produce with his Star Road Entertainment partner Josh Donen... Raimi and Donen have long been fans of the book, and the project could have found homes at Sony and Regency if [the rights] issues hadn't been so complex. "Sleeper" is a spin-off book from Wildstorm flagship title "WildC.A.T.s" and features characters from another spin-off book, "Gen 13." Both books had been set up at different places around town and some of those deals were made before DC bought the imprint in 1999.

No writer is attached to the project yet.

Tom Cruise wakes up 'Sleeper' [Hollywood Reporter]

Just like last week, we're judging the new Torchwood episodes based on criteria such as raunchiness and drama. Except this week, the drama was actual drama and not just "you left us" poutyness.

The naughtiness: This week, it was confined to just innuendo, most of it really stupid. Like rat-boy suggesting that everybody have sex since the world was about to end. (Although Ianto's disgusted reaction was priceless.) Oh, and when they're just about to torture a terrorism suspect using their possibly deadly mind probe, Jack tells her it'll hurt. She retorts: "Your bedside manner is rubbish." Gwen replies: "You should see his manners in bed. They're atrocious. Apparently. So I've heard."

But this is the best bit. Torchwood has taken the woman into custody after she apparently killed two burglars with her alien implants. And it gets Ianto all horny when Jack imprisons her without a lawyer or phone call and threatens her husband's life:

How gay was it? Not very. At one point, Captain Jack invites a random police guy to come back to his house for bed-hockey, but it turns out he's only kidding. Is Jack getting too domestic, now that he's like 10,000 years old? Oh, and Ianto is adorable as always. He gets a great line, when the suspect comes to Torchwood's headquarters and is leaning in rather close to one of their giant gadgets: "We don't sniff the subetheric resonator."

Who gets laid? Nobody. This episode uses graphic violence (and an implied baby carriage being run over by rush-hour traffic) as a substitute for sex. It's just like every other show on TV suddenly.

The drama: The stuff about the alien who believes she's just a normal human is actually quite moving, thanks to a real actor being on the show for once. To be fair, Gwen also has some lovely scenes opposite the unknowing alien infiltrator. And the scene where the woman goes to say goodbye to her husband — and then accidentally kills him with her alien arm-blade — is actually heart-breaking. And then she dies, and Gwen is upset for literally ten seconds before she's back to flirting with Jack.

Was there a plot? Yes, and it was cheesy as a Welsh flan. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Once we get away from the woman-who-doesn't-know-she's-an-alien stuff, it all goes rapidly downhill. There are a bunch of other infiltrators, and they all get activated and cause mayhem in Cardiff. (Half the city must be in ruins by now.) Somehow they all instantly revert to alien saboteurs, even though the main woman is able to hang on to her humanity for hours and hours. And then there's a convenient cache of nuclear weapons just outside Cardiff. And a whole "real invasion is yet to arrive" moment, which is super silly.

Will the kid-friendly edited version make sense to anybody? Probably not. Without the blood-spattering bits, it'll just be a lot of running around.

Famous names: Woody Allen's fifth feature film as director.

Crunchy goodness: 3

Sights you'll never unsee: It's the comic centerpiece of the movie and featured on the posters and boxes, but there's something about Woody as the robotic butler that's troubling and unpleasant.

Design breakthrough: Woody's first film to be scored with jazz and blues music; though subsequent films would use pre-existing recordings largely culled from his own library, for Sleeper he composed the bouncy ragtime score himself, and played the clarinet.

Most painfully dated moment: A tie: the Howard Cosell references (he's unknown in the 21st century, let alone the 22nd), and Diane Keaton's hairstyle, which is somehow more of its time than her entire wardrobe in Annie Hall.

Filmsite Review