The Commander will once again be spending the holidays alone this year, and has decided to look at the role of families in his favourite genres: Why do comic book characters band together to form surrogate families? And why does science fiction portray families as both the protector and as the greatest threat? British comic book artist Neil Gaiman talks about his book Violent Cases, and comic book artists Bill Sienkiewicz and Matt Wagner discuss the representation of families in their work. From the science fiction side of the fence, Rick talks with writers Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Lewis Shiner and husband-and-wife team Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski.