Author: Philip J. Riley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781593934828
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (MGM,1927) starring Lon Chaney, is considered a Lost Film. It is still on the top of the AFI and other world wide film organizations "Most Wanted" lists as it was when the first edition of this book was published in 1985. This edition is 254 pages and the original printing was 178 pages. Chaney added 3 new faces to his "Thousand Faces" - Inspector Burke of Scotland Yard, Professor Burke of India, and America's first film vampire, The Man in the Beaver Hat. In fact it was directed by Tod Browning, who directed "Dracula" 4 years later, which was also to star Chaney as the Count, but his premature death in 1930 prevented it. This new edition also contains a foreword by Forrest J Ackerman and an introduction by the film's Art Director A.Arnold (Buddy) Gillespie; short interviews with David S. Horsley, ASC and by Carroll Borland, who played Luna, the vampire girl in the 1935 remake entitled. "Mark of the Vampire. Also the script is presented in it's original form. Many new photographs of vintage posters from around the world and a reformatted reconstruction of the film by the use of photographs, art work and Silent Film Titles. Included is the complete 1928 Photoplay novel by Marie Coolidge-Rask, long out of print and usually around $500 when you can find a copy. Reproduced on the back cover is the fantastic portrait of Chaney as the vampire by Special Effects and Academy Award winning makeup artist - Rick Baker, Monster Maker.
London After Midnight - a Reconstruction
Author: Philip J. Riley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781593934828
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (MGM,1927) starring Lon Chaney, is considered a Lost Film. It is still on the top of the AFI and other world wide film organizations "Most Wanted" lists as it was when the first edition of this book was published in 1985. This edition is 254 pages and the original printing was 178 pages. Chaney added 3 new faces to his "Thousand Faces" - Inspector Burke of Scotland Yard, Professor Burke of India, and America's first film vampire, The Man in the Beaver Hat. In fact it was directed by Tod Browning, who directed "Dracula" 4 years later, which was also to star Chaney as the Count, but his premature death in 1930 prevented it. This new edition also contains a foreword by Forrest J Ackerman and an introduction by the film's Art Director A.Arnold (Buddy) Gillespie; short interviews with David S. Horsley, ASC and by Carroll Borland, who played Luna, the vampire girl in the 1935 remake entitled. "Mark of the Vampire. Also the script is presented in it's original form. Many new photographs of vintage posters from around the world and a reformatted reconstruction of the film by the use of photographs, art work and Silent Film Titles. Included is the complete 1928 Photoplay novel by Marie Coolidge-Rask, long out of print and usually around $500 when you can find a copy. Reproduced on the back cover is the fantastic portrait of Chaney as the vampire by Special Effects and Academy Award winning makeup artist - Rick Baker, Monster Maker.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781593934828
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (MGM,1927) starring Lon Chaney, is considered a Lost Film. It is still on the top of the AFI and other world wide film organizations "Most Wanted" lists as it was when the first edition of this book was published in 1985. This edition is 254 pages and the original printing was 178 pages. Chaney added 3 new faces to his "Thousand Faces" - Inspector Burke of Scotland Yard, Professor Burke of India, and America's first film vampire, The Man in the Beaver Hat. In fact it was directed by Tod Browning, who directed "Dracula" 4 years later, which was also to star Chaney as the Count, but his premature death in 1930 prevented it. This new edition also contains a foreword by Forrest J Ackerman and an introduction by the film's Art Director A.Arnold (Buddy) Gillespie; short interviews with David S. Horsley, ASC and by Carroll Borland, who played Luna, the vampire girl in the 1935 remake entitled. "Mark of the Vampire. Also the script is presented in it's original form. Many new photographs of vintage posters from around the world and a reformatted reconstruction of the film by the use of photographs, art work and Silent Film Titles. Included is the complete 1928 Photoplay novel by Marie Coolidge-Rask, long out of print and usually around $500 when you can find a copy. Reproduced on the back cover is the fantastic portrait of Chaney as the vampire by Special Effects and Academy Award winning makeup artist - Rick Baker, Monster Maker.
London After Midnight
Author: Thomas Mann
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781593939922
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
Author Thomas Mann offers a fascinating reconstruction based on his transcription of a rediscovered 11,000-word fictionization first published in Boy's Cinema (1928) that may resolve the conflicts between previous versions.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781593939922
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
Author Thomas Mann offers a fascinating reconstruction based on his transcription of a rediscovered 11,000-word fictionization first published in Boy's Cinema (1928) that may resolve the conflicts between previous versions.
American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929
Author: John T. Soister
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786487909
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 831
Book Description
During the Silent Era, when most films dealt with dramatic or comedic takes on the "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" theme, other motion pictures dared to tackle such topics as rejuvenation, revivication, mesmerism, the supernatural and the grotesque. A Daughter of the Gods (1916), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Magician (1926) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) were among the unusual and startling films containing story elements that went far beyond the realm of "highly unlikely." Using surviving documentation and their combined expertise, the authors catalog and discuss these departures from the norm in this encyclopedic guide to American horror, science fiction and fantasy in the years from 1913 through 1929.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786487909
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 831
Book Description
During the Silent Era, when most films dealt with dramatic or comedic takes on the "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" theme, other motion pictures dared to tackle such topics as rejuvenation, revivication, mesmerism, the supernatural and the grotesque. A Daughter of the Gods (1916), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Magician (1926) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) were among the unusual and startling films containing story elements that went far beyond the realm of "highly unlikely." Using surviving documentation and their combined expertise, the authors catalog and discuss these departures from the norm in this encyclopedic guide to American horror, science fiction and fantasy in the years from 1913 through 1929.
Ancient Images
Author: Ramsey Campbell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1787587657
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 184
Book Description
"Campbell has mastered the art of generating a sense of sustained unease." The Washington Post. A new masterpiece from the master of suspense. Tower of Fear is a lost horror film starring Karloff and Lugosi. A film historian who locates a copy dies while fleeing something that terrified him. His friend Sandy Allan vows to prove he found the film. She learns how haunted the production was and the survivors of it still are. It contains a secret about Redfield, a titled family that owns a favourite British food, Staff o’ Life. The Redfield land has uncanny guardians, and one follows Sandy home. To maintain its fertility Redfield demands a sacrifice, and a band of new age travellers is about to set up camp there… FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1787587657
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 184
Book Description
"Campbell has mastered the art of generating a sense of sustained unease." The Washington Post. A new masterpiece from the master of suspense. Tower of Fear is a lost horror film starring Karloff and Lugosi. A film historian who locates a copy dies while fleeing something that terrified him. His friend Sandy Allan vows to prove he found the film. She learns how haunted the production was and the survivors of it still are. It contains a secret about Redfield, a titled family that owns a favourite British food, Staff o’ Life. The Redfield land has uncanny guardians, and one follows Sandy home. To maintain its fertility Redfield demands a sacrifice, and a band of new age travellers is about to set up camp there… FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress.
Rivers of London
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN: 9781473222243
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.
Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN: 9781473222243
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.
It Ends at Midnight
Author: Harriet Tyce
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1728263867
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 319
Book Description
"Gripping." —Alex Michaelides, New York Times bestselling author "Blisteringly brilliant." —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author Three friends. Two bodies. A party to die for... From international bestselling author Harriet Tyce comes a chilling psychological thriller set in one of Edinburgh's poshest neighborhoods, where a lavish New Year's Eve party ends in a gruesome double murder. Sylvie understands the crime she and Tess committed decades ago was wrong, and that's why she has buried the secret deep in her past—no one needs to know about the person Sylvie once was, especially since it would mean the end of her relationship and ruin her breakout legal career. But when Tess is diagnosed with cancer, she decides the time is right to make amends for past wrongs and organizes an extravagant New Year's Eve party as a backdrop for her dramatic confessions. As midnight approaches and the countdown begins, it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution. They want revenge. They want someone at this party to die. With a deliciously twisty plot and a heart-stopping finale, It Ends at Midnight is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Gillian Flynn, serving as an unnerving yet propulsive examination of exactly what we might be willing to say—and even believe—to justify our worst mistakes.
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1728263867
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 319
Book Description
"Gripping." —Alex Michaelides, New York Times bestselling author "Blisteringly brilliant." —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author Three friends. Two bodies. A party to die for... From international bestselling author Harriet Tyce comes a chilling psychological thriller set in one of Edinburgh's poshest neighborhoods, where a lavish New Year's Eve party ends in a gruesome double murder. Sylvie understands the crime she and Tess committed decades ago was wrong, and that's why she has buried the secret deep in her past—no one needs to know about the person Sylvie once was, especially since it would mean the end of her relationship and ruin her breakout legal career. But when Tess is diagnosed with cancer, she decides the time is right to make amends for past wrongs and organizes an extravagant New Year's Eve party as a backdrop for her dramatic confessions. As midnight approaches and the countdown begins, it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution. They want revenge. They want someone at this party to die. With a deliciously twisty plot and a heart-stopping finale, It Ends at Midnight is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Gillian Flynn, serving as an unnerving yet propulsive examination of exactly what we might be willing to say—and even believe—to justify our worst mistakes.
Moon Over Soho
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
ISBN: 1625676069
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 371
Book Description
‘Moon Over Soho cements [the Rivers of London] series as my favorite urban fantasy series. The humor, the world-building, the action, the magic, the mystery, the procedural—all are top-notch.’ — Ranting Dragon My name is Peter Grant, and I’m a Police Constable in that mighty army for justice known as the Metropolitan Police (a.k.a. the Filth). I’m also an apprentice wizard, the first in fifty years. When your dad is an almost famous jazz trumpeter, you know the classics. And that’s why, when Dr Walid called me down to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognized the tune it was playing as the jazz classic ‘Body and Soul.’ Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint on his corpse as if it were a wax cylinder recording. The former owner of the body, Cyrus Wilkinson, was a part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant who had dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig. He wasn’t the first, but no one was going to let me exhume corpses just to see if they were playing my tune. So it was back to old-fashioned police legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene, with the lovely Simone – Cyrus’s ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens portrait – as my guide. And it didn’t take me long to realise there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives. Reviews for Moon Over Soho Mr. Aaronovitch is, in short, writing the best contemporary occult detective series on the shelf today, and that’s by a substantial margin.’ — Pornokitsch ‘Moon Over Soho is a gripping continuation of River of London’s well executed blend of police-procedural and fantasy with a good splash of horror thrown in. This is urban fantasy done with a loving attention to detail and enlivened by an ever present wit making this series a must-read for anyone who likes their fantasy with a strong edge of realism.’ — SF Book Reviews
Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
ISBN: 1625676069
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 371
Book Description
‘Moon Over Soho cements [the Rivers of London] series as my favorite urban fantasy series. The humor, the world-building, the action, the magic, the mystery, the procedural—all are top-notch.’ — Ranting Dragon My name is Peter Grant, and I’m a Police Constable in that mighty army for justice known as the Metropolitan Police (a.k.a. the Filth). I’m also an apprentice wizard, the first in fifty years. When your dad is an almost famous jazz trumpeter, you know the classics. And that’s why, when Dr Walid called me down to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognized the tune it was playing as the jazz classic ‘Body and Soul.’ Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint on his corpse as if it were a wax cylinder recording. The former owner of the body, Cyrus Wilkinson, was a part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant who had dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig. He wasn’t the first, but no one was going to let me exhume corpses just to see if they were playing my tune. So it was back to old-fashioned police legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene, with the lovely Simone – Cyrus’s ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens portrait – as my guide. And it didn’t take me long to realise there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives. Reviews for Moon Over Soho Mr. Aaronovitch is, in short, writing the best contemporary occult detective series on the shelf today, and that’s by a substantial margin.’ — Pornokitsch ‘Moon Over Soho is a gripping continuation of River of London’s well executed blend of police-procedural and fantasy with a good splash of horror thrown in. This is urban fantasy done with a loving attention to detail and enlivened by an ever present wit making this series a must-read for anyone who likes their fantasy with a strong edge of realism.’ — SF Book Reviews
London Fields
Author: Martin Amis
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307743977
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 552
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A blackly comic late 20th-century murder mystery set against the looming end of the millennium, in which a woman tries to orchestrate her own extinction—from "one of the most gifted novelists of his generation" (TIME). “Lyrical and obscene, colloquial and rhapsodic." —The New York Times First published in 1989, London Fields is set ten years into a dark future, against a backdrop of environmental and social decay and the looming threat of global cataclysm. As the dreaded Y2K approaches, Nicola Six, a “black hole” of sex and self-loathing, has chosen her thirty-fifth birthday, November 5, 1999, as the date of her own murder. Whom to manipulate into killing her is the question; her choice wavers between violent lowlife Keith Talent, who is obsessed with winning a darts tournament, and a dimly romantic banker named Guy Clinch. When Samson Young—a writer suffering from a long bout of writer’s block—stumbles upon these three, he believes he has found a story that will write itself. A highly unusual mystery with an unexpected twist at the end, London Fields is also a corrosively funny narrative of pyrotechnic complexity and scalding moral vision.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307743977
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 552
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A blackly comic late 20th-century murder mystery set against the looming end of the millennium, in which a woman tries to orchestrate her own extinction—from "one of the most gifted novelists of his generation" (TIME). “Lyrical and obscene, colloquial and rhapsodic." —The New York Times First published in 1989, London Fields is set ten years into a dark future, against a backdrop of environmental and social decay and the looming threat of global cataclysm. As the dreaded Y2K approaches, Nicola Six, a “black hole” of sex and self-loathing, has chosen her thirty-fifth birthday, November 5, 1999, as the date of her own murder. Whom to manipulate into killing her is the question; her choice wavers between violent lowlife Keith Talent, who is obsessed with winning a darts tournament, and a dimly romantic banker named Guy Clinch. When Samson Young—a writer suffering from a long bout of writer’s block—stumbles upon these three, he believes he has found a story that will write itself. A highly unusual mystery with an unexpected twist at the end, London Fields is also a corrosively funny narrative of pyrotechnic complexity and scalding moral vision.
Midnight Riot
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 034552425X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
“Midnight Riot is what would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz. It is a hilarious, keenly imagined caper.”—Diana Gabaldon Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic. “Filled with detail and imagination . . . Aaronovitch is a name to watch.”—Peter F. Hamilton “Fresh, original, and a wonderful read . . . I loved it.”—Charlaine Harris
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 034552425X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
“Midnight Riot is what would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz. It is a hilarious, keenly imagined caper.”—Diana Gabaldon Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic. “Filled with detail and imagination . . . Aaronovitch is a name to watch.”—Peter F. Hamilton “Fresh, original, and a wonderful read . . . I loved it.”—Charlaine Harris
The Midnight Hour
Author: Benjamin Read
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 1338569112
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Book Description
For fans of portal fantasies like Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, Colin Meloy's Wildwood, and The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, and unlike so many other fantasies that introduce readers to a world of enchantment and wonder, The Midnight Hour is one filled with beasts and monsters for readers looking to shine their flashlights under the covers. When strange late-night letters start arriving at home, Emily's parents set off to investigate. But when her parents disappear completely and Emily is left home alone to face the weird strangers that begin to appear at her door, she takes all of the clues at her disposal and makes for the place where the letters came from -- the mysterious Night Post. What she'll discover is the secret world of the Midnight Hour -- a Victorian London frozen in time, full of magic and monsters. Kept safe by an age-old agreement, the Night Folk have been exiled to a parallel world that can only be accessed by a selected few, including the mail carriers of the infamous Night Post that operate between the two worlds. Emily's parents are key players in keeping the Night Folk safe, but when the division of the two worlds is threatened, Emily must search for her parents while navigating this dark and unknown version of London. Armed only with a packed lunch, her very sleepy pocket hedgehog, and her infamously big argumentative mouth, she must escape bloodthirsty creatures of the night, figure out her own family secrets, and maybe just save the world. This is a frightening and enchanting story, a world built out of creatures from our worst fears who become relatable, fully formed characters unlike any we've seen as these strangers of parallel worlds band together to save the day.
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 1338569112
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Book Description
For fans of portal fantasies like Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, Colin Meloy's Wildwood, and The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, and unlike so many other fantasies that introduce readers to a world of enchantment and wonder, The Midnight Hour is one filled with beasts and monsters for readers looking to shine their flashlights under the covers. When strange late-night letters start arriving at home, Emily's parents set off to investigate. But when her parents disappear completely and Emily is left home alone to face the weird strangers that begin to appear at her door, she takes all of the clues at her disposal and makes for the place where the letters came from -- the mysterious Night Post. What she'll discover is the secret world of the Midnight Hour -- a Victorian London frozen in time, full of magic and monsters. Kept safe by an age-old agreement, the Night Folk have been exiled to a parallel world that can only be accessed by a selected few, including the mail carriers of the infamous Night Post that operate between the two worlds. Emily's parents are key players in keeping the Night Folk safe, but when the division of the two worlds is threatened, Emily must search for her parents while navigating this dark and unknown version of London. Armed only with a packed lunch, her very sleepy pocket hedgehog, and her infamously big argumentative mouth, she must escape bloodthirsty creatures of the night, figure out her own family secrets, and maybe just save the world. This is a frightening and enchanting story, a world built out of creatures from our worst fears who become relatable, fully formed characters unlike any we've seen as these strangers of parallel worlds band together to save the day.