... with a pretty strong exception. The Song of Ice and Fire author has always been a Marvel nerd, and recently told MTV Geek that he would love to write Doctor Strange comics -- but it can't be rebooted or retconned.

I would have to have my lawyers to meet with Marvel's lawyers and work out an absolutely iron-clad contract that would say whatever I did in the story would continue to be canon forever, and would never be retconned, rebooted or reimagined out of the universe when some later writer decided to mess around with it. Because I hate that, I hate — I've always hated reboots and retcons and the fact that a writer comes in and undoes what a previous writer did and, y'know, brings dead characters back to life, kills new characters that weren't intended to die. That's the one thing I don't like about comics. That drives me crazy.

So what do you think? Is it worth it?

Here's the first pic from "Blackwater," the penultimate episode of this season of Game of Thrones. The ep is notable for several reasons, including featuring one of the most important battles in the series and being the only season 2 episode written by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.

Without spoiling anything about the battle itself, producer David Benioff promised that "flaming arrows at night look gorgeous."

"Blackwater" airs May 27.

[blastr.]

Good news for Song of Ice and Fire fans who are hoping against hope that George R.R. Martin will finish The Winds of Winter within the next few years: GRRM read yet another excerpt from the forthcoming book in a recent interview, proving that he's actually been writing and not just watching football.

Skip to around 30 minutes in for the reading, which (it should go without saying) may contain spoilers.

[toplessrobot]

Previously: Martin released his first Winds excerpt as a Christmas present to fans last year.

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin stopped by CTV's Canada AM this morning to talk about the final two books of his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, revealing that even when he finishes the seventh novel, he won't be ready to stop writing about Westeros altogether.

"It will be very hard to say goodbye to these characters, (but) I don't know if I will necessarily say goodbye to the world," Martin said. "Even when I finish this story, I think there will be other stories to tell set in the world of Westeros."

He says he's currently 200 pages into book six, The Winds of Winter, and hopes to finish within two or three years.

Martin, who took six years to write A Dance With Dragons, has said before that he's now learned to be wary about giving timelines.

And with most of Winds and all of A Dream of Spring to write before the series concludes, the HBO adaptation of Martin's books could actually catch up with him.

"There's always the fear . . . will I fumble the ball at the end, will I make a mistake?" Martin said.

As for the show, Martin says "there is no feeling quite like" seeing his characters come alive, even if they're never going to be exactly the way he imagines them.

Game of Thrones returns April 1st.

[ctv]