Cloud 109 - The Fifthteenth Instalment

Well as you can guess, Gina, Cary and Rabby are still stuck in the Dungeon of Death as they try to acquire the credits necessary for true fulfillment in the hallowed cyber world that is Cloud 109. Cary's I.T. friend Matt has supplied them with the necessary cheats to aid them in their perilous quest but how reliable is all this information?

The moment of truth arrives in the form of two jailers ...

As mentioned previously much of this sequence is inspired by one of the best ever computer games, which despite the complete absence of bells and whistles is still a great gaming experience being a really delightful mixture of puzzle solving and genuinely chilling exploration of a vast and many leveled dungeon inhabited by some truly hellish monsters, which you can only hope to defeat by upping your skill levels in combat and spell casting.

And talking of games and more particularly RPG's (Role Playing Games - as in computer games dear reader - no leather and bondage required). Dave Morris over at the Mirabilis blog (Mirabilis is currently being serialized in weekly chunks every Friday - so check it out, if you haven't already) has posted a link to his very own very engaging and addictive "Heart of Ice" which comes free as a downloadable pdf - highly recommended!

And while I'm on the subject of other people's blogs Tim Perkins has some very trenchant observations on the current state of comics in the U.K. over at his very own Wizard's Keep blog, again well worth a visit.

And finally yet another blog that I have fallen head over heels in love with, Mason Moray's Panelogical Pantheon is one of the most entertaining reads I have ever stumbled across. This man whose ongoing battles with gout may well be at least partially attributable to his lovely wife Dorrie's deadly but seductive culinary expertise (she has turned part of the 'Maison' Moray into a "home diner" no less) is a dedicated proselytizer for some of the long forgotten comic characters of yesteryear. Not content with extolling the virtues of second banana superheros , Mason Moray instead and with the aid of some formidable rationalization makes the case for third banana superheros. I along with most students of panelology was long laboring under the illusion that The Spirit was the summation of Will Eisner's undoubted genius, while some may argue that later 'graphic novels' such as "A Contract with God" might be almost a contender, Mason who has literally devoted a lifetime to the cause, is strongly of the opinion that "Yarko The Magician" was Eisner's towering achievement and even sought out the great man in 1969 to discuss the merits of this sadly neglected work.

To end with here's a look at the Snes version of Dungeon Master - the graphics are somewhat different to the most familiar incarnation of the game but you get a sense of the atmosphere and those purple worms are truly unpleasant creatures to deal with and this particular level is stuffed with them.