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Iris Wildthyme
and the Celestial
Omnibus
MAY 2009
You pretty much
know what you’re getting with a book like this. Silliness. Lots of
silliness, probably a fair bit of camp nonsense and plenty of nudge-nudges
and wink-winks. Within these eleven stories you will find not only the
eponymous Iris Wildthyme and her good friend Panda, but also Noel Coward,
MIAOW, the villainous cats of the Pussyworld, and even Barbara the
sentient vending machine from the Doctor Who novel Sick Building. It’s a
verit-able reunion of Paul Magrs’s numerous creations.
First
impressions of the book are very positive, due to June Hudson’s gorgeous
cover art-work; a thing of beauty that sets the tone for the contents
perfectly. After a brief introduction by Iris herself, Katy Manning –
sounding as if there’s not too much difference between her and her
character – the reader is assailed by the ridiculous. The best stories are
those that balance the archly knowing nods and daft situations with darker
elements; in the best insta-nces, this combination of opposites can produce
something genuinely affecting. Only Living Girls, by Stephen Cole, perhaps
manages this the best; the story of two young girls, the sole survivors of
a worldwide apocalypse, who use the opportunity to delve in the lives of the stars of their favourite fantasy television show, it’s an
absorbing look at how people can let their obsessions affect their lives.
Just as good are
Paul Magrs and Stuart Douglas’s respective stories. Just as you’d expect from Iris’s creator and the collection editors, both authors nail Iris and
Panda’s characters perfectly, creating two easily enjoyable romps. Magrs’
Dreadful Flap sees Jenny, the oft-mentioned past companion to Iris,
finally make an appearance working for shifty organisa-tion MIAOW. Under
the command of Mr Alucard (and we all know who he is), this tale is a
sustained parody of Torchwood and UNIT, with a rift – sorry, a Dreadful
Flap – causing all manner of havoc in time. Amid hints that perhaps UNIT’s
portrayal in Doctor Who has been altered by the coming of Torchwood, and
not for the better, the story serves as a sequel-of-sorts to both Mad
Dogs and Englishmen and Sick Building. It feels like everything s
coming together. Douglas’s Future Legend is continually daft, sustaining
an atmosphere of silliness throughout to great effect. Told in the first
person by Panda, whose mannerisms are perfectly portrayed here, it’s a
delightful bit of fun concerning cybernetic kittens in a desperate bid for
survival. What other series would give you that?
Also impressive
are Sovereign by Mags L Halliday, a creepy tale of coming-of-age versus
ageing, set against the little known Cornish legend of the Owlman; and the
excellent Battle-ship Anathema a marvellous parody on
today’s favourite sci-fi series, Battlestar Galactica. When Iris
looks up old friends on the battleship, she finds that their adventures
these days aren’t the carefree fun of yesteryear, but an altogether
harsher fight for survival. Phil Purser-Hallard manages to take a good
look at how a beloved series has been altered to suit our more cynical
age, brings in some reflection on the unavoidable stupidity of religious
war, while at the same time making Panda an adorable celebrity.
Iris Wildthyme
y Senor Cientocinco contra los Monstruos del Fiesta is the snappy title
of Cody Schell’s piece. Introducing Senor 105, one of those masked
wrestlers from Mexico who leave me frankly baffled, it manages to be a
surprisingly tender romance for Ms Wild-thyme. In the midst of an
apocalyptic demonically-cursed party. With Mexican bingo. Jon Dennis
gives us the pleasantly grim “Why? Because we like you”, a somewhat
predictable but very enjoyable Disneyland/Westworld pastiche, while
the spookiness stakes are given another boost in The Scarlet Shadow, a
creepy tale of time warping and living artwork in old Russia. Featuring
Marlene Dietrich, assorted cackling gypsies and a literal cat burglar, it
draws us further into the Whoniverse with the inclusion of the ancient
Russian legend of the wizard Koschei, and we all know who he is…
well, actually, it’s not him, but that’s as much
as surprise to
Iris as to anyone.
A few stories
here, although enjoyable, made less of an impact with me. The opening
tale,
A Gamble with Wildthyme, by the generally excellent Steve Lyons seems more of a set-up
for a story than a story itself; similarly, The Unhappy Medium by Mark
Wright and Cavan Scott has a fun premise but could do with more
exploration, while Steven Wickham’s And Not a Drop to Drink… is brief by
nature, being more of an extended joke than a story.
As I said, you
know what you’re going to get with a book like this. The proliferation of
refer-ences to the ‘Magrs-verse’ give the whole book the feeling of a
celebration, and a damned enjoyable one at that; but here’s hoping that
the next volume, The Panda Book of Horror,
will explore some new
possibilities for Iris and her chums.
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