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| 1684059704
| 9781684059706
| 1684059704
| 3.73
| 133
| unknown
| May 30, 2023
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liked it
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“Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writers: Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson. Artist: Angel Hernandez. Color art by J.D. Mettle
“Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writers: Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson. Artist: Angel Hernandez. Color art by J.D. Mettler. Reprints: Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer #1-3 (August 2022 to November 2022). Read: 08/16/23 to 08/18/23. Opinion: Okay/average. Story takes place (and came out between) seasons two and three of the Paramount+ “Star Trek: Picard” series which this is obviously a tie-in to. Story is basically supposed to be about Seven of Nine, carrying her from where we see her at the end of season two to her being back in Starfleet already at the start of season three. Here, she still has her doubts about joining Starfleet and sticks with being a Fenris Ranger despite Picard’s attempts to lead her likewise. But then a mission to check up on a planet that Picard once visited decades earlier while Captain of *his* U.S.S. Stargazer (traveling there aboard the new version we saw in season two of the show) unexpectedly brings him and Seven back together again in a life or death situation, one that Picard is at least partially responsible for due to his actions the last time he was there (and involving Romulans). I thought it was an okay enough little story but pretty forgettable in the end. I don’t know if I would have thought differently if I read it back when it first came out, in between the two tv seasons, or not. I think I still would have felt it was a mostly irrelevant “filler” story. Everything was “okay” but not exceptional, including the art by Hernandez. (I felt his depictions of Seven were very inconsistent, though.) And my main “gripe” with this series is, why did they name this story “Stargazer”? Yes, the two versions of the Starfleet ship and their crews both appear, but not nearly enough to make the story about them. Again, while a fun little side adventure for Jean-Luc Picard, this is clearly a Seven of Nine story. I ended up giving it three out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 16, 2023
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Aug 17, 2023
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Aug 16, 2023
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Paperback
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| 1789098556
| 9781789098556
| 1789098556
| 4.23
| 26
| unknown
| Oct 11, 2022
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really liked it
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I finished reading Joe Fordham's "Star Trek: First Contact: The Making of the Classic Film" (2022) a few days ago. A very entertaining behind the scen
I finished reading Joe Fordham's "Star Trek: First Contact: The Making of the Classic Film" (2022) a few days ago. A very entertaining behind the scenes look at what is (I think) pretty much universally regarded as the best of the four Star Trek films based on the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" tv series cast. (Although, I have to say that referring to it as "the classic film" doesn’t feel quite right to me because, even though this book was intended to be released in 2021 in time for "First Contact's" twenty-fifty anniversary, it still doesn't seem that "First Contact" (1996) is quite old enough yet to be called a "classic film". Then, again, it could just be that it makes *me* feel very OLD to see it put that way.) The book is divided into chapters based on the development and major elements of the movie: the development of the script, the design of the new Enterprise-E, the casting of the major new characters, designing the Montana of 2061 locations as well as redesigning the Borg for the big screen, etc. Much of the information will already be familiar to the diehard Star Trek fans who read lots of behind the scenes Star Trek books, magazines, websites, etc., but there are still many interesting quotes from the actors, writers, producers, and director Jonathan Frakes to make it still worth while reading for them, and the book is written in such as way as not to overwhelm the casual Star Trek fan. My one slight complaint is that while there are loads of pictures in this book from the film and also of behind the scenes development art--indeed, there are pictures on pretty much every page--a lot of the pictures from the actual film (and even some of the promotional stills) have a blurry look to them, as if taken from film screenshots or stills that have been enlarged. The reaction is often one of, "that's a great picture, I just wish it was in better focus". And since the pictures often dominate each two page spread, it can overtime detract a bit from what one is reading. Still, even with that small complaint, I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it for fans of the Star Trek movies, "Next Generation", and "Star Trek: First Contact" in particular. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. (Copy read was checked out from the Tampa/Hillsborough County Public Library which added it to their collection upon my request.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 17, 2023
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Apr 27, 2023
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Apr 17, 2023
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Hardcover
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| 1506711367
| 9781506711362
| 1506711367
| 3.99
| 88
| Mar 29, 2022
| Mar 29, 2022
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liked it
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“The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2022). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael
“The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2022). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael Atiyeh, lettering by Richard Starkings and ComiCraft’s Jimmy Betancourt. Dark Horse Books (a.k.a., Dark Horse Comics), third and last (so far) trade paperback collection of comics they released based on the Seth McFarlane sci-fi television series, “The Orville” (which ran on Fox for two seasons, 2017 to 2019, and a third season exclusively streaming on Hulu, June to August 2022). Dark Horse released their “Orville” comics as mini-series, one or two per year in 2019, 2020, and 2021. They released some of these mini-series with somewhat confusingand contradictory titles, some with both an overall “The Orville” series title (numbered issues #1-4) but at the same time also titled as “The Orville: [First two-issue story title] Part 1 of 2” and “Part 2 of 2”, followed by “The Orville: [Second two-issue story title] Part 1 of 2” (as seen in the two Orville trade paperbacks that came out prior to this one, "The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings" (which contains two separate two-issue stories, "New Beginnings" and "The Word of Avis") and "The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day" (which contains the stories "Launch Day" and "Heroes). This third Orville trade paperback, “The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (2022), reprints “The Orville: Digressions” #1-2 (May 2021-June 2021) and “The Orville: Artifacts” #1-2 (October 2021-November 2021). "Digressions" is by far the more interesting of the two stories in this collected edition as it follows upon the events of the season two Orville episode, "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow", in which a younger version of Commander Kelly Grayson (played by Adrianne Palicki) is accidentally brought through time to the show's present day and learns all of the things that has happened to her in the intervening years before the crew finally figures out a way to send her back to her proper time. As seen at the end of that episode, however, the "mind wipe" that was supposed to make her forget everything she has learned prior to being sent back fails and she remembers everything. "Digressions" continues this story by showing how different decisions she makes in her life based on that knowledge have far reaching consequences, ones that ultimately threaten the survival of the Union and all of those on Earth when the inevitable Kaylon invasion occurs. This is a very well done two-issue story which, unfortunately, ends abruptly at the end of the second part with a note saying, "Continued in 'The Road Not Taken'..." (which isn't the second story in this collected edition but instead is where the story picks up on the television series). "Digressions" is basically a "filling in the gaps" bridging story between those two episodes, something which I didn't realize when I first started reading it (and therefore couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed when I realized it wasn't a complete story in and of itself). The second story in this collection, "Artifacts", is a decent enough (if at the same time very forgettable) story of an old academy professor of Captain Mercer's convinces Mercer to take his ship into a dangerous region of space obscured from the rest of the galaxy by a unique four-star phenomenon, inside of which may be hidden an ancient legendary fleet of warships from a now extinct species. The professor has ulterior motives, however, that only perennial goof-off Orville helmsman, Gordon Malloy, seems to be suspicious of. I ended up giving this Orville collected edition (as I did the previous two) three out of five stars on GoodReads. (For those who might be interested, Dark Horse has also released a more expensive “The Orville: Library Edition” hardcover collection that is an omnibus of all three of the trade paperbacks (containing all of the Dark Horse “Orville” stories in one volume.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 12, 2023
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Mar 12, 2023
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Mar 12, 2023
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Paperback
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| B08QJQX172
| 4.06
| 805
| Aug 17, 2021
| Aug 17, 2021
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really liked it
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I finished reading last night the “Star Trek: Picard” novel, “Rogue Elements” (2021), by John Jackson Miller. It is the third tie-in novel to that par
I finished reading last night the “Star Trek: Picard” novel, “Rogue Elements” (2021), by John Jackson Miller. It is the third tie-in novel to that particular series. Like with the previous two (“The Last Best Hope” and “The Dark Veil”), “Rogue Elements” is another prequel novel taking place entirely prior to the events of the first season of “Picard”. This one focuses on the character of Cristóbal Rios right as he is acquiring his cargo freighter, La Sirena. He is immediately in debt to the previous owner, though, and has to pay them off. Those owners just happen to be Iotians, from the same planet that Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise discovered a century earlier that had patterned their entire civilization on a book about the Prohibition era mobs of Earth’s history. Which makes this more of a Star Trek the original series sequel in many ways than a Picard prequel (although we do get scenes of Rios communicating with Raffi, another “Picard” character, and Jackson does indeed fit bits of Jean-Luc Picard into the novel as well, even though Rios and Picard don’t actually meet until in the streaming tv series). But then there are also TNG elements (a particularly nasty nemesis from a very memorable episode of TNG is a major character here), and there are also call backs to “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”. I’m not going to go into any more detail than that here so as not to give away everything. I will say that I enjoyed this novel a lot. Aside from the very ending being a tad bit contrived (where Miller brings all of the various plot threads together and reveals what’s really been going on), this is a real fun read. Miller weaves the TOS and TNG callbacks in expertly and, more importantly, manages to make Rios a much more interesting character than we saw most of the time on the actual “Star Trek: Picard” series. Enough so that I’d actually like to see another Captain Rios novel by Miller (although that’s very unlikely at this point). I gave “Rogue Elements” four out of five stars on GoodReads. My next two Star Trek novels that I plan on reading are also by Miller. His “Star Trek: Discovery” novel, “The Enterprise War” (2019), which shows up what Captain Pike and the Enterprise were doing during the Federation-Klingon war in “Discovery” season one, and the first “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” novel, “The High Country”, which just came out this year. So, I’m on a bit of a John Jackson Miller marathon here. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 19, 2023
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Jul 27, 2023
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Feb 19, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 1779512686
| 9781779512680
| 1779512686
| 3.60
| 1,742
| Aug 30, 2022
| Aug 30, 2022
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liked it
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Last night, I finished reading "Batman '89" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Sam Hamm (writer), Joe Quiñones (artist), Leonardo Ito (colorist), Clay
Last night, I finished reading "Batman '89" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Sam Hamm (writer), Joe Quiñones (artist), Leonardo Ito (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer). Reprints material originally released in single issue comic books format as "Batman '89" #1-6 (October 2021-September 2022). (Was originally announced to be a DC "Digital First" release starting in July 2021 and to run for twelve digital comic book chapters in that format prior to appearing in print, but the smaller digital release chapters apparently didn't end up happening.) This hardcover collected edition has a cover by Joe Quiñones, and also original issues cover art by Joe Quiñones, Jerry Ordway and Steve Oliff, Taurin Clarke, Mitch Gerads, Lee Weeks, Babs Tarr, Adam Hughes and Julian Totino Tedesco. Also includes a nine page "Batman '89 Sketchbook" by Joe Quiñones. Buoyed by the success of recent newly released original comic book series based on the 1966-1968 Adam West "Batman" television series (under the title "Batman '66") and 1975-1979 Lynda Carter television series ("Wonder Woman '77"), DC Comics took things to the next logical step and ventured in 2021 into telling original adventures of their two greatest motion picture renditions of their Superman and Batman characters, namely the Christopher Reeve "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and Michael Keaton "Batman" (1989) versions. Prior to this, DC's only comic books featuring the Reeve and Keaton versions of their characters were single issue movie adaptations of "Superman III" (1983) and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)—there were no comic book or novel adaptations of "Superman: The Movie" (1978) or "Superman II" (1980) due to the deal made between Warner Bros. and original movie story writer, Mario Puzo—and single issue comic book adaptations of "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992) (and also the two subsequent Batman sequels that didn't star Michael Keaton, "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997). (These single issue comic book adaptations all came out in the same years as their respective movies.) "Batman '89", this new story by Hamm, Quiñones, et al., clearly takes place after the events of "Batman Returns" (as not only is Selina Kyle--the Michelle Pfeiffer version of the character--a major character in this story but they also make reference to events that occurred in "Batman Returns"). However, this must take place in a universe or timeline where events then led directly into this story rather than into the following two Joel Schumacher directed Batman films, "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin", as will become clear in my plot summary. Before that, however, I should mention that Sam Hamm, who wrote this, is the same Sam Hamm who co-wrote the screenplay for the Tim Burton directed "Batman" 1989 film. (Or, rather, wrote the initial draft chosen to be filmed. The script then received rewrites by Warren Skaaren and other writers.) So, unlike the "Superman '78" comic book, "Batman '89" does actually have a creator who has direct ties to the actual film. (Hamm also received a story credit on "Batman Returns" for two early script drafts he wrote but director Burton then replaced Hamm with script writer, Daniel Waters, and little of Hamm's story contributions remained in the final film.) Hamm's "Batman '89" story focusses on one of the plot points he had included in his early unused "Batman Returns" scripts, that of Harvey Dent's (played by Billy Dee Williams in the first movie) descent into the villain, Two-Face. Here, he is still Gotham's district attorney, and he is leading a campaign to capture and prosecute the Batman as an out-of-control vigilante, and for removing Jim Gordon as Police Commissioner (despite Dent at the same time being in a romantic relationship with Jim Gordon's daughter, police sergeant Barbara Gordon). Dent is friends with Bruce Wayne, who Dent (of course) does not know is Batman. At the start of the story, Wayne (as Batman), makes a serious mistake, leading to the death of an innocent teenager (the police accidentally shooting the teen while firing at him). This leads to additional anti Batman sentiments. Another masked vigilante protecting the poorer denizens of Gotham, this one a black teenager named Drake Winston, at first is antagonistic towards the Batman. (He wears a version of the Robin costume although the only reference to anyone calling him that is two kids in the background discussing what Batman had called him. One says he heard Batman call him "Robin", like in Robin Hood. The other says, "Naw, dumbass! He said the dude was robbin' the store." "Oh... that makes sense." And, at the end, Bruce asks him what he should call Drake and Drake replies, "Well... You're a bat guy, I'm a bird guy... So, I'm think'... The Avenging Eagle." Bruce: "'The Avenging Eagle'..." Drake: "It's not final. I'm still deciding...") Dent, (again, of course), has an accident that freakishly disfigures the left side of his face, this time in an automobile repair garage fire (that I've already forgotten just who set on fire, just that there were a lot of bombs going off all over Gotham) that Dent runs into to try to same Winston, who Dent believes is still inside. There are also scenes prior to this showing Dent already fixated with tossing a coin (although it's a trick coin with two "heads" sides). I'm not going to try to summarize the story past this point except to say that Selina Kyle is also present in the story as both Kyle and as Catwoman, that Barbara Gordon is most of the time being pulled in various directions (her love for Harvey Dent, for her father, and her duty as a police sergeant). There are some nice moments in this story, like showing how Bruce ends up with a giant penny in the Batcave (as in the comics), and his scenes with Winston at the mansion and in the cave. The Harvey Dent stuff isn't as interesting (despite my always having been at least a bit curious as to how things would have gone with they'd stuck with Billy Dee Williams as Dent in the movies instead of re-casting the part in "Batman Forever" with Tommy Lee Jones). For one thing, we've seen the origin of Two-Face story told so many times by this point both in the comics and also in the various animated television series and films ("Batman Forever" and "The Dark Knight") that it's very hard to bring much of anything new that that story. And the seeds here to Dent's dual personality both prior to the accident and also after it are just not particularly convincing. (There is an interesting moment, however, during a hallucination sequence where Dent believes it is many years later and he is governor and Barbara Gordon is the new Gotham police commissioner. She explains to him that he was right, that "Bruce Wayne flipped" and admitted to being the money man behind "a small army of mercenaries" playing as Batman. She shows him four photographs of men in the Batman costume without their masks and they are clearly meant to resemble fellow Batman film actors Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck.) So, the story comes across as pretty average due to this and also due to Hamm trying to fit too much into it (Two-Face, Catwoman, the introductions of both Barbara Gordon and Drake Winston/Robin). The art is what I would call "good overall but not great". Quiñones art here is more of a traditional movie adaptation style in the sense that it's drawn pretty much like he would draw any comic (I'd imagine) just with the faces just generally (sometimes vaguely) resembling the actors (unlike the "Superman '78" art by Wilfredo Torres which looks so much like the Superman movies that he had to have been making extensive use of photo references for the facial likenesses and even for characters posing like when showing Superman in flight). I generally like both styles. Torres's "Superman '78" comes across as more visually exciting to me, though, than Quiñones's does. For one thing, Hamm's plotting is much "denser" here than Robert Venditti's "Superman '78's", as Quiñones' pages are crammed full of lots of little panels (many of them six or seven panels to a page). So, there's a lot more going on per page here than in "Superman '78", but there are also fewer exciting moments, visually speaking. And, I hate to say it, but Quiñones' art is done no favors by how dark the artwork comes across in this story, the fault I suppose I have to put upon color artist Leonardo Ito. Now, I get that he was probably going for a tone reminiscent of the 1989 "Batman" film. However, his colors are *so* dark here in the many exterior night scenes and while taking place in the Batcave as to make much of Quiñones line art nearly impossible to make out. It's possible that this is some sort of production issue and not that of Ito's coloring (there are also a couple panels showing computer screens that are so small that it is impossible to read what's on the screen; I suspect this is a hold-over from when they thought this was going to be a "Digital First" release, where one would be viewing the story panel-by-panel enlarged to the size of one's phone or computer screen). There is a lot of potential here and I suppose that "Batman '89" is probably a must read for die hard fans of the 1989 Tim Burton "Batman" movie. (Comic book direct market sales charts were still coming out at the time the first issues of "Batman '89" and "Superman '78" were coming out and, according to what I saw there, "Batman '89" #1 was ordered by comics shops and online comics retailers by around one hundred thousand copies more than they did "Superman '78" #1. Both first issues had many variant covers, so I have to presume it was just the general "Batman is cooler than Superman" mentality driving this, plus the fact that the Christopher Reeve Superman movies are cultural touchstones for comic book readers roughly my age (I turn 51 in three weeks; I was six years old when "Superman: The Movie" came out in 1978 and eight when "Superman II" in 1980) while the Michael Keaton "Batman" serves the same for a slightly younger generation just turning forty and I have to assume there are probably more forty-year-olds still buying monthly comic books than there are fifty-plus-year-olds. (I was seventeen years old when the 1989 "Batman" movie came out, so part way through high school. To me, the Michael Keaton "Batman" was a really cool new film but I never really thought of Keaton as *the* Batman actor of my generation as I had earlier with Christopher Reeve and Superman). I gave "Batman '89" three out of five stars on GoodReads. I really hope that we get to see more of these "Batman '89" and "Superman '78" comics as both have potential for even better stories going forwards (and both have their own built-in audiences, the fans of the films). However, based on the previous similar tie-ins DC has done ("Batman '66", "Wonder Woman '77", and the CW "Arrowverse" tie-in series), they all seem to have pretty short runs. I believe "Batman '66" ran for the longest and most issues, including quite a few crossover mini-series with other tv characters like the Green Hornet, Steed and Mrs. Peel (the 1960s tv "Avengers"), the "Man from U.N.C.L.E.", and Lynda Carter's "Wonder Woman '77". ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 15, 2023
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Jan 21, 2023
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Jan 15, 2023
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Hardcover
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| 1779512651
| 9781779512659
| 1779512651
| 3.99
| 613
| Jul 19, 2022
| Jul 19, 2022
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really liked it
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A few days ago, I finished reading "Superman '78" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Robert Venditti (writer), Wilfredo Torres (artist), Jordie Bellai
A few days ago, I finished reading "Superman '78" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Robert Venditti (writer), Wilfredo Torres (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer). Reprints material originally released in single issue comic books format as "Superman '78" #1-6 (October 2021-March 2022. (Was originally announced to be a DC "Digital First" release starting in July 2021 and to run for twelve digital comic book chapters in that format prior to appearing in print, but the smaller digital release chapters apparently didn't end up happening.) This hardcover collected edition has a cover by Wilfredo Torres and Jordie Bellaire, and also original issues cover art by Wilfredo Torres and Jordie Bellaire, Ben Oliver, Amy Reeder, Brad Walker and Nathan Fairbairn, Francis Manapul, Mikel Janin, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair, Lee Weeks, Chris Samnee and Giovanna Niro, Jamal Campbell, and Rafa Sandoval and Alejandro Sanchez. Also includes a seven page "Superman '78 Sketchbook" by Wilfredo Torres, and a one-page tribute page to "Superman: The Movie" director, Richard Donner (1930-2021). Buoyed by the success of recent newly released original comic book series based on the 1966-1968 Adam West "Batman" television series (under the title "Batman '66") and 1975-1979 Lynda Carter television series ("Wonder Woman '77"), DC Comics took things to the next logical step and ventured in 2021 into telling original adventures of their two greatest motion picture renditions of their Superman and Batman characters, namely the Christopher Reeve "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and Michael Keaton "Batman" (1989) versions. Prior to this, DC's only comic books featuring the Reeve and Keaton versions of their characters were single issue movie adaptations of "Superman III" (1983) and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)—there were no comic book or novel adaptations of "Superman: The Movie" (1978) or "Superman II" (1980) due to the deal made between Warner Bros. and original movie story writer, Mario Puzo—and single issue comic book adaptations of "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992) (and also the two subsequent Batman sequels that didn't star Michael Keaton, "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997). (These single issue comic book adaptations all came out in the same years as their respective movies.) "Superman '78", this new story by Venditti, Torres, et al., clearly takes place after the events of "Superman: The Movie" and "Superman II" (but appears, just as the 2006 film, "Superman Returns", to disavow the events of "Superman III" and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace", although it's possible that those events still took place prior to this story and are simply not referred to; there is a character in a few panels in street crowd scenes who very much resembles that of Richard Pryor's Gus Gorman character from "Superman III"). (Warning: Plot spoilers!) This story deals with the coming to Earth of Brainiac, a super advanced alien cybernetic being who travels the universe in his spaceship scooping up sample cities from planets on the brink of disaster, miniaturizing them, and storing them away in "bottles" aboard his ship. Brainiac believes that by doing so, he is preserving cultures about to go extinct (while at the same time imprisoning the inhabitants of those miniaturized cities). One of his probe robots arrives on Earth first and comes into conflict with Superman, who easily defeats the robot but not before it can send a signal back to its master that there is a "Kryptonian infestation" on Earth needing to be removed. When Brainiac then arrives, Superman at first resists him. However, when Brainiac threatens to "excise" all of Metropolis, Superman surrenders and allows himself to be taken by Brainiac. Aboard Brainiac's ship, Superman is miniaturized and put in one of the bottled cities where he discovers something he thought could not be possible, and entire Kryptonian city "saved" by Brainiac just before Krypton exploded. And-- again, spoilers!!! -- his birth parents are among them. He resigns himself to his new life in this bottled city of Kandor, his powers gone due to the artificial red sun radiation inside the bottle and with seemingly no way to escape. That is, until Lois Lane makes a surprising and uneasy temporary alliance with none other than Lex Luthor ("the greatest criminal mind of our time", "the greatest criminal terror of our era", "the...") (Lois: "Enough with the self-styled nicknames!") to rescue Superman. That's all I'll say about the plot. However, as a person who was six years old when the first Christopher Reeve move came out in 1978, and eight years old for "Superman II" in 1980 (which I recall as being one of the very first non animated movies I ever saw in a theater), *this* is a pure joy to read. Is the story all that original. No. We've had loads of Superman vs. Brainiac stories in the mainstream DC comics continuity. *This*, however, is like stepping back into a childhood memory, those cherished first two Superman movies of Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Marlon Brando, etc. Torres art style isn't "photo realistic", per se, but does a great job of capturing the spirit of the original actors (and at times does do amazingly accurate depictions of Kidder, Hackman, McClure, and Reeve). My one slight criticism of Torres' art is that at times his action sequences are a bit hard to follow exactly what is happening. He'll have Superman standing there fighting Brainiac or Brainiac's robots with energy blasts surrounding him but it not being exactly clear just where the blasts are coming from (Superman or the robots) and where they are going (and if the robots are converging on Superman or falling backwards). However, another thing Torres does very well is in how he depicts this Christopher Reeve inspired Superman in flight (generally a straighter flying position, as if "diving" through the air, as in the movies--as Reeve had to be positioned most of the time while in a flying harness in front of a blue screen--rather than how Superman is generally depicted as flying in the comics), and also in the use of his other powers (x-ray vision, heat vision, super cold "freeze" breath, etc.). To younger readers (ones who were not brought up on the Christopher Reeve movies), this will read as just another of the many, many Superman stories they might come across, each giving them a different seeming version of the character. To someone like me who considers Christopher Reeve "my Superman" (no offense to 1950s television Superman, George Reeves, who I also watched as a child), this "Superman '78" is magical. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. (P.S.: Another really cool thing about this story and its the use of Brainiac as the villain is that it has been said that if there had been a fifth Christopher Reeve movie that it might have featured Brainiac, and many fans have wished ever since that we could have seen this. So, we finally now have a version of what that might have been like.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 08, 2023
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Jan 15, 2023
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Jan 08, 2023
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Hardcover
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| B0BHTT41SM
| 3.70
| 82
| unknown
| Nov 08, 2022
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liked it
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Read today: "The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special" (November 2022) by various creators (see below), published by DC Comics. The actual 1992 " Read today: "The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special" (November 2022) by various creators (see below), published by DC Comics. The actual 1992 "Death of Superman" story remains a pivotal moment in comics publishing regardless of one's personal feelings as to the quality of the story itself. Due to various factors that I don't really feel like going into here, the mainstream news media latched onto the news that DC was "killing off" Superman and next thing you know oodles of non comic book reading people were pouring into comic book shops buying up copies of "Superman" #75 (cover dated January 1993, released on November 19, 1992) because, not being regular comic book readers, many of them believed that Superman would stay dead and not be brought back (which he was less than a year later) and that it would one day be worth lots of money (which was pretty much impossible because DC printed reportedly over six million copies to keep up with the demand). The "Death of Superman" was also a creative key point in DC publishing history as it was at a high point to many Superman readers, all four of the monthly Superman comic book titles ("Superman", "Adventures of Superman", "Superman: The Man of Steel", and "Action Comics"; later including a quarterly "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" title, as well) continuing one into the other every week as if all one big single weekly Superman title. Some didn't care for this approach as each title's creative team was very much restricted from telling their own individual stories under this approach, but at the same time many did really like these "triangle number years" (referring to the small triangle numbers put on the covers to indicate the suggested reading order) because it resulted in, as a I already mentioned, a new continuing Superman story each and every week. "The Death of Superman" also resulted in two even better (in my opinion) follow up story arcs, "Funeral for a Friend" (a.k.a., "World Without a Superman" for later reprints), which detailed the DC superheroes and general world reactions to the loss of Superman, and "Reign of the Supermen", which introduced four new Superman stand-ins (including John Henry Irons "Steel", who is in this special, and a new "Superboy" clone who would much later play a key role in one of the biggest DC events of the mid 2000s, "Infinite Crisis" (2005-2006), and, for better or for worse would start of chain of subsequent "big character events" (or "stunts", if you prefer) trying to repeat the Death of Superman's commercial success, such as the "breaking" of the Batman ("Knightfall" (1993-1994)) and the fall and replacement of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern ("Emerald Twilight" (1994)). Okay, enough preamble. As I said at the top, this is the "Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special". It has a #1 on the cover and in the inside indicia (small print publishing information section) but it is almost certainly a one-shot (no further issues planned). It's only date inside or out is copyright 2022. It's official release date was November 8, 2022, which, if it had a cover date matching the other DC comic books released that week would have been January 2023 (just as with the original Death of Superman "Superman" #75 issue). As is the custom these days, it was released with a "main cover" illustration (by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding) and many "variant cover" editions by other artists (ones by Jim Lee, Ivan Reis and Danny Miki, Dan Mora, Francesco Mattina, and Rafael Sarmento; I choose to buy the Rafael Sarmento variant cover). This special is essentially the comic book equivalent of a short story collection, as it is not one long single story but is instead one 41 page lead story ("The Life of Superman") followed by three other shorter stories ("Above and Beyond", "Standing Ground", and "Time", all ten pages long), interspersed with single page pin-ups by various artists (Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey, Lee Weeks, Walter Simonson and Laura Martin, Fabio Moon, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jamal Campbell, Carmine Di Giandomenico, and Cully Hamner). "The Life of Superman" is by Dan Jurgens (story and pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Brad Anderson (colors), and John Workman (lettering) (the same creative team as was on the "Superman" montly title at the time the Death of Superman story happened). It, like the special itself, takes place in the now current DC continuity on the anniversary of Superman's death while fighting Doomsday. The story focuses on Superman and Lois Lane's son, Jon*--a character that I'm not at all familiar with as I haven't read a new in-continuity Superman comic book in probably ten years or more; but, then again, I haven't read hardly *any* new comic books in that time frame, not out of disinterest, just out of me taking a ten year hiatus away from the hobby while other things were going on my life--discovering for the first time in school the story of how his father "died" years ago, and the arrival of a very Doomsday looking "monster" suddenly showing up in Metropolis on this anniversary day, one that Superman immediately has to confront. (* It amuses me that an indexer at the Grand Comics Database website has added this note for this story: "Story is set in the past when Jon Kent is still a boy attending school, but several years after the "death" of Superman during the first encounter with Doomsday". That I obviously have missed quite a bit because this story doesn't even take place in the current DC "present" but in the "past" because Jon is only a boy here. I obviously am waaay behind what's going on these days.) I like the plot here and also very much the art. Dan Jurgens was always one of my favorite Superman artists of the post John Byrne run era. My only hesitation in really liking this story a lot is Jurgens dialogue. It is excessively wordy and exposition-driven for much of the story (especially the parts where Lois is explaining to Jon what Doomsday was and what happened when his father had to fight Doomsday the first time). I understand that Jurgens was trying to frame this story as a remembrance of that now 30 year old story and to also explain it to today's younger readers who were not old enough to have read the original release (or any of the many reprint editions DC has released over the decades since then), but it come across as very clunky. And a lot of his little bits of character dialogue with the characters talking to each other seems rather dated, too. I don't know if he was emulating his writing style back then or if that's just how he still writes dialogue, but this story would have benefited from a separate dialogue writer, I believe. Still, it was a good story overall (if very conveniently wrapped up in the end, the key piece to defeating the monster being an item Lois discovers in... well, I don't want to spoil it.) "Above and Beyond" is by Jerry Ordway (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Doug Hazlewood (inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the creative time back from the 1990s "Adventures of Superman" monthly title). This ten-page story is entirely on Superman's Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, in real time at the same time as Superman is fighting Doomsday the first time, at home in Smallville fretting over what they are watching on the television about what's happening in Metropolis. They decide they must break away from the coverage for awhile because it is too stressful for them and begin to reminisce about some of the other dangerous circumstances their son had been in up to that point and how he repeatedly was willing to sacrifice himself for the well being of others. A nice little story. Again, overly expositional (as is the entire point of the story, so hard to avoid here) that at times comes across as unnatural/forced. And Grummett, another favorite Superman artist of mine from the 1990s, is just okay here (some of his Superman figure work doesn't look quite as good as it did back then, although I don't know if that is him or his inker, Hazlewood; their Ma and Pa Kent are fine). In the end, the least memorable story in this special (but, again, not a bad story by any means). "Standing Guard" is by Roger Stern (writer), Butch Guice (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Guice was usually inked by Denis Rodier). This is my favorite story in this special. It follows the character of the Guardian (the 1990s clone of Jim Harper who was a product--and security head at--the secret Cadmus Project. I'm not even going to try to explain all of that here.) He is shown meeting up with Superman at least twice on that fateful day during Superman's cross country battle with Doomsday, who was relentlessly marching towards to Metropolis, wrecking death and destruction along the way. In the second scene, Guardian himself briefly sees the power of Doomsday which briefly knocks both him and Superman out. When he catches up with the battle again in Metropolis, it's too late. It's all over and both are dead. Everything is top notch in this short story, the plotting, the dialogue, and especially the art by Guice. This is perhaps the first artist to successfully depict well the extent of the injuries the normally "invulnerable" Superman was taking from Doomsday. His Superman looks genuinely beat up in the scenes he shares with Guardian. Truthfully, it is this story along with the Jurgens-Breeding lead in that I would recommend fans to buy this special for. Lastly, "Time" is by Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Bogdanove was usually inked by Dennis Janke and some other inkers). This is another "in between scenes" (like with the Ma and Pa Kent story) of what John Henry Irons (later dubbed Steel) was doing that day, fitting in between scenes depicted in the "Superman: Man of Steel" story introducing him back then. As depicted in the previous story, John Henry Irons had been saved (or so I seem to recall) by Superman some how and on the day Doomsday arrived Irons was buried in his collapsed building during the battle. He dug himself out and immediately went to try to help Superman. This new story picks up with him trying to get to the battle but repeatedly having to help others also impacted by the catastrophe along the way. Like with Guardian, he arrives too late to help Superman. A nice character piece on Steel (and it's nice to see Jon Bogdanove's art again after all these years), but like the Ma and Pa Kent story is in the end not very memorable. Overall, this is a decent collection of stories, so I gave it an overall three out of five stars on GoodReads. I would recommend it to anyone who is old enough to have read the original 1992 "Death of Superman" story and enjoyed it (or, at the very least, didn't hate it), and who, like me, were regular Superman readers throughout that time period as it does bring back some nice, nostalgic memories of looking forward to each week's new issue of whichever Superman title was coming out that week. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 05, 2023
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Jan 05, 2023
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Jan 05, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 1419761676
| 9781419761676
| 1419761676
| 3.79
| 1,801
| Aug 02, 2022
| Sep 06, 2022
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it was amazing
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"Fantastic Four: Full Circle" by Alex Ross (writer and artist), Alex Ross with Josh Johnson (colorists), Ariana Maher (letterer) (Abrams ComicArts in
"Fantastic Four: Full Circle" by Alex Ross (writer and artist), Alex Ross with Josh Johnson (colorists), Ariana Maher (letterer) (Abrams ComicArts in conjunction with Marvel Comics, 2022) Original graphic novel. Thoughts: Awesome. One of the best comics I've read all year. Alex Ross is famous for his usual "Norman Rockwell-esque" photo-realistic painting style that he's been using since 1994 ("Marvels" four-issue mini-series). This, however, is Ross's first major experiment with an entirely different art style, one more of a traditional line-art style (with clear nod to that of classic Jack Kirby Fantastic Four) combined with fantastic (pun intended) pop art style coloring. The story is adequate (a call back to a classic FF Stan Lee and Jack Kirby issue from the 1960s) but Ross has the four main characters down perfect in terms of their mannerisms, dialogue, and visual depictions. This is so far only available in hardcover from Abrams ComicArts (under license from Marvel Comics). Highly recommended. I gave this five out of five stars on GoodReads.
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 31, 2022
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Dec 31, 2022
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Dec 31, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 1524114170
| 9781524114176
| 1524114170
| 2.53
| 17
| unknown
| Apr 05, 2022
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it was ok
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"Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" by Cameron DeOrdio (writer), Soo Lee (artist), Addison Duke (colorist), Crank! and Tom Napolitano (letterers),
"Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" by Cameron DeOrdio (writer), Soo Lee (artist), Addison Duke (colorist), Crank! and Tom Napolitano (letterers), Cat Staggs (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2021; originally released in single issue format as "Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" #1-4 (2019-2019 (couldn't find the original months). Thoughts: I have to say that I was disappointed with the execution of this one. Supposedly taking place in 1983 (after the ends of both the "Bionic Woman" and "Charlie's Angels" tv series), what could have been a very interesting story (especially as depicted on the *covers* of the individual issues, which depicted very close likenesses of Lindsay Wagner and the three "Charlie's Angel" actresses, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, and Tanya Roberts) is sabotaged by both not bad but a poorly matched artist to this type of material (Soo Lee's art here is what I would call very "manga-esque", although I admit that I am not very knowledgeable about manga and some might disagree with that assessment; regardless, I found that Lee drew the three "Charlie's Angel's" ladies pretty much identical to each other with only their hair color as distinguishing characteristics). The other big fault I found here was that Jaime for the first part of the story acts very out of character, and that the Oscar Goldman shown here is *clearly* not the same character as portrayed by Richard Anderson on the tv series. He is drawn differently, he is shown sparring with Jaime in hand-to-hand fight training several times (something I could never see Anderson's Oscar doing), and (spoilers) is written in such a way to give me the same feeling I did at the end of the first "Mission Impossible" movie with Tom Cruise in regards to the use of the Jim Phelps character there (that's all I'll say about that for fear of going too much away). Again, I think Soo's art is nice in a general sort of way but not a very good match for a licensed tie-in comic book like this one. Oh, yeah, and not only do the three "Charlie's Angels" characters look alike here we also get pretty much zero character time with any of them except for a bit with Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith's character). We don't get any back story of them aside from a bit of the opening narration from the tv show ("Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy...") And, of course, the requisite "Hello Charlie" meetings with Bosley and Charlie (over the desk loudspeaker) at the office. I gave this two out of five stars on GoodReads.
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1524112623
| 9781524112622
| 1524112623
| 2.96
| 26
| unknown
| Apr 07, 2020
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liked it
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"The Six Million Dollar Man: In Japan" by Christopher Hastings (writer), David Hahn (artist), Roshan Kurichiyanil (colorist), Arian Maher (letterer),
"The Six Million Dollar Man: In Japan" by Christopher Hastings (writer), David Hahn (artist), Roshan Kurichiyanil (colorist), Arian Maher (letterer), Michael Walsh (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2020; originally released in single issue format as "The Six Million Dollar Man" #1-5 (March 2019 to July 2019). Thoughts: Okay, this is probably one of the more polarizing Dynamite Six Million Dollar Man mini-series because it's clearly an attempt at a completely separate "reboot" version of the character (the mini-series when it initially came out in the monthly single issue format was simply titled "The Six Million Dollar Man"; they added the "In Japan" for the trade paperback), one more cartoony in the art style and humorous in the way the character is depicted. He's a bit Steve Austin and a bit Inspector Gadget. (He *clearly* has much more of his body replaced by cybernetic parts than just the one arm, one eye, and two legs that the tv Steve Austin did.) Since the writer and artist made it quite clear what sort of story this was going to be right from the outset, though, I was able to enjoy it for what it was, a fun different take on the character (as if for a possible spin-off cartoon series). I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 28, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 28, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1684052769
| 9781684052769
| 1684052769
| 3.32
| 25
| Aug 21, 2018
| Aug 21, 2018
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really liked it
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"G.I. Joe A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man" by Ryan Ferrier (writer), S.L. Gallant (artist (penciller)), Brian Shearer (inker), Jam
"G.I. Joe A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man" by Ryan Ferrier (writer), S.L. Gallant (artist (penciller)), Brian Shearer (inker), James Brown (colorists), Robbie Robbins (letterer), John Cassiday (collection cover artist) (IDW Publishing in conjunction with Dynamite Entertainment (G.I. Joe comic book license owner being Hasbro, IDW the publisher then licensed by Hasbro to publisher G.I. Joe comic books), 2018; originally released in single issue format as "G.I. Joe A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" #1-4 (February 2018 to May 2018). Thoughts: I haven't read a G.I. Joe comic book in probably twenty years. However, I found that I really enjoyed this mini-series as primarily a G.I. Joe story/adventure guest-starring Steve Austin (a Steve Austin brainwashed to be a tool of Cobra!). That being the set-up, it works well. There is lots of action and the G.I. Joe characters are handled well, from what I can tell. This is *not* a particularly authentic-to-his-own-source-material Steve Austin, but in this case that's okay as right from the start thanks to the art style and the story it's clear that this is a "G.I. Joe universe version" of Steve Austin. I gave this four out of five stars on GoodReads.
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 26, 2022
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Dec 28, 2022
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Dec 26, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1524103721
| 9781524103729
| 1524103721
| 3.64
| 141
| Oct 18, 2017
| Oct 31, 2017
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really liked it
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"Wonder Woman '77 Meets The Bionic Woman" by Andy Mangels (writer), Judit Tondora (artist), Michael Bartolo, Stuart Chaifetz, Roland Pilcz (colorists)
"Wonder Woman '77 Meets The Bionic Woman" by Andy Mangels (writer), Judit Tondora (artist), Michael Bartolo, Stuart Chaifetz, Roland Pilcz (colorists), Tom Orzechowski, Lois Buhalis, Katherine S. Renta (letterer), Cat Staggs (original primary covers artist), Alex Ross (variant original cover and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment in conjunction with DC Comics, 2017; originally released in single issue format as "Wonder Woman '77 Meets The Bionic Woman" #1-6 (December 2016 to September 2017). Thoughts: Without a doubt, the best of the seven Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman comics trade paperbacks I read this week. Andy Mangels is a recognized Wonder Woman expert and also is really good with the Bionic Woman characters and does a great job of tying this story into what has already happened on both the 1970s "Wonder Woman" and "Bionic Woman" television series. Lots of familiar characters from both shows (Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman's mother and fellow Amazons, Drusilla/Wonder Girl, Oscar Goldman, Rudy Wells, Max the bionic dog, the Fembots and their creator, several enemy robot makers from earlier "Wonder Woman" episodes, etc.). If anything, there may be a bit *too* much in the way of cramming in as many robots related villains from the previous two tv series as Mangels does (I even started to lose track of who some of them were) but it's okay because it's still just such a fun overall experience, this series. The artist is the best (Judit Tondora) is the best of all of the Dynamites mini-series in terms of getting actor resemblances (the drawings looking like the actual actors). And Mangels knows exactly what fans would want to see: Diana doing her "magic spin" to change to Wonder Woman, Diana in her blue scuba diving outfit, Diana and Jaime in the invisible jet, Paradise Island and the Amazons, flashbacks to Jaime's origin with Steve Austin (and addressing how both characters have important relationships with men named Steve!), Diana vs. fembots, Diana being outmaneuvered at a critical moment to prevent her usual way of escaping injury from gun fire, etc. I've heard one peson describe this as primarily a Wonder Woman story guest-starring Jaime Sommers (rather than an equal "team-up"), which is probably a valid observation. But it's still a lot of fun. I gave this four out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 26, 2022
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Dec 24, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1524102768
| 9781524102760
| 1524102768
| 3.56
| 25
| unknown
| Apr 18, 2017
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liked it
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"The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" by Van Jensen (writer), Ron Salas (artist), Mike Atiyeh and Caitlin McCarthy (colorists), Taylor Esposito (l
"The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" by Van Jensen (writer), Ron Salas (artist), Mike Atiyeh and Caitlin McCarthy (colorists), Taylor Esposito (letterer), Ron Salas (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2016; originally released in single issue format as "The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" #1-5 (July 2016 to November 2016). Thoughts: Completely ignores story in "Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" (released prior to this one). I bit of a darker, more "adult" story dealing with an enemy trying to convince Steve Austin that Oscar Goldman and the OSI have secret plans to create an army of bionic soldiers, causing Steve to go rogue. Also, Steve starts hearing an unknown "voice in his head" spurring him on to normally uncharacteristic actions. Barney Hiller appears here (again, completely ignoring what happened to him in "Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six". The art is good for the story being told but, again, is a bit too "out there" for a "Six Million Dollar Man" story. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 20, 2022
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 20, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1606908650
| 9781606908655
| 1606908650
| 3.85
| 20
| Apr 06, 2016
| Apr 19, 2016
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liked it
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"The Bionic Woman: Season Four" by Brandon Jerwa (writer), David T. Cabrera (artist), Sandra Molina (colorist), Joshua Cozine (letterer), Sean Chen (o
"The Bionic Woman: Season Four" by Brandon Jerwa (writer), David T. Cabrera (artist), Sandra Molina (colorist), Joshua Cozine (letterer), Sean Chen (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2016; originally released in single issue format as "The Bionic Woman: Season Four" #1-4 (September 2014 to December 2014). Thoughts: This "Bionic Woman: Season Four" is completely separate/unrelated to the previously released "Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" (which is pretty much how all of Dynamite's Six Mill and Bionic Woman minis are, completely separate and self-contained). This mini-series has decent art (much better covers, though) and a likewise interesting story as Jaime is drawn into a mystery involving a hidden and unknown city with a mysterious cult like leader that turns out to (spoilers) be made up entirely of robots. When Jaime tries to escape, she realizes they are much further away from sunny southern California than she first realized. Again, an okay story but the repeated use of robots or other cyborgs (as in both "Six Mill: Season Six" and "Six Mill: Fall of Man" as well as here in this one) makes these first three Dynamite series a bit too "way out there" to be taken seriously as supposed continuations of the two for-the-most-part action/adventure-with-occasional-touches-of-sci-fi 1970s television series. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 20, 2022
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Dec 18, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1606906070
| 9781606906071
| 1606906070
| 3.91
| 47
| Jan 06, 2015
| Jan 06, 2015
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liked it
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"The Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" by James Kuhoric (writer), Juan Antonio Ramirez and David T. Cabrera (artists), Fran Gamboa (colorist), Joshu
"The Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" by James Kuhoric (writer), Juan Antonio Ramirez and David T. Cabrera (artists), Fran Gamboa (colorist), Joshua Cozine (letterer), Alex Ross (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2014; originally released in single issue format as "The Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" #1-6 (March 2014 to September 2014). Thoughts: This mini-series is cool on so many levels yet at the same time left me a bit disappointed. It's a good story and has decent art, and has *loads* of cool call backs to the 1970s television series. It brings back a lot of the familiar characters (Jaime Sommers, Barney Hiller the "Seven Million Dollar Man") and even introduces the characters of Oliver Spencer (Steve's government boss in the very first "Six Million Dollar Man" pilot movie played by Darren McGavin, replaced without any explanation by Richard Anderson's Oscar Goldman when it went to series) and "Maskatron" (the robot villain toy only existing prior to this as a Kenner action figure). It is an interesting story but has *too* much going on in it (Maskatron, Barney Hiller, Oliver Spencer, aliens infiltrating a NASA installation, etc.) The story literally switches from being primarily about Maskatron to the aliens story partway through (and the aliens seem way too out there for a series supposedly picking up from where the "Six Million Dollar Man" televison series left off. Also, Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers often speak and act out of character here (as they do in several other of the Dynamite series below), and Jaime especially is drawn in a very "young, generic pretty blonde woman" fashion (delivering karate kicks and hanging all over Steve Austin when they first meet up again after over a year apart, which does reflect how the two characters could no longer team up the last year of their respective tv series because "Bionic Woman" moved to a rival television network from "Six Mill". Most disappointing (not the fault of the author necessarily but he had to have known it would be a possibility) is that this mini-series set up *three* teasers "epilogues" for significant stories he wished to follow in subsequent mini-series (one involving a newly built Venus "Death Probe"), only to have Dynamite choose for their subsequent Six Million Dollar Man minis to have nothing to do with this one (see below). Still, it was a good/interesting overall package even with these criticisms (and the Alex Ross painted covers are wonderful, spot on renditions, as usual for Ross, of Lee Majors, Lindsay Wagner, Richard Anderson, etc. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 17, 2022
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 17, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1506711359
| 9781506711355
| 1506711359
| 4.01
| 136
| unknown
| Apr 06, 2021
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liked it
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“The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2021). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael
“The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2021). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael Atiyeh, lettering by Richard Starkings and ComiCraft’s Jimmy Betancourt. Dark Horse Books (a.k.a., Dark Horse Comics), has so far published three four-issue comic book mini-series (or two four-issue and two two-issue, depending on how you look at it) based on the Seth McFarlane sci-fi television series, “The Orville” (which ran on Fox for two seasons, 2017 to 2019, and a third season exclusively streaming on Hulu, June to August 2022). Dark Horse released these “Orville” comics basically as four-issue mini-series, one per year (in 2019, 2020, and 2021), but in turn split each of those four-issue mini-series into two separate two-issue stories, and branded the comics both as “The Orville” issues #1-4, and also as “The Orville: [First story title] Part 1 of 2” and “Part 2 of 2”, followed by “The Orville: [Second story title] Part 1 of 2”, etc. Dark Horse then released three trade paperback reprint collections, one for each four issues. The first such collection was “The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings” (2020), reprinting the 2019-2020 first four-issue mini-series, also titled “The Orville: New Beginnings” #1-2 and “The Orville: The Word of Avis” #1-2. I read and reviewed that collection in June 2022. Next comes this one, “The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day” (2021), reprinting the 2020 second four-issue mini-series, also titled “The Orville: Launch Day” #1-2 and “The Orville: Heroes” #1-2. Both of these stories share a common element (besides taking place between seasons two and three of the television series), and that’s that both start off with a scene showing one or more of the characters on a prior mission years ago (twenty years ago in “Launch Day” and five years ago in “Heroes”). “Launch Day”, which I like best of the two stories here, features the crew investigating a planet that broke away from the Planetary Union twenty years ago that suddenly is showing signs of some mysterious powerful new weapon about to be launched. Captain Ed Mercer doesn’t necessarily believe that it is indeed a weapon and leads a team to seek out the truth. However, the Krill has also detected the powerful energy signature and sent eight warships across into Union space to attack the planet and destroy their “weapon”. Bortus is left in charge of the Orville with orders to stall the Krill from attacking while Mercer and company are away from the ship investigating (leading to some cool Bortus squaring off against the Krill moments). “Heroes” starts with security officer, Talla, in a mission to a peaceful, low tech world five years ago. She is there investigating if the Union should make contact with this civilization (who physically resemble her own Xelayan species but without her species’ increased strength and resilience) to mine a valuable mineral names Dysonium. Talla has been staying with a family with a young girl named Aki. She recommends to her captain that the Union not pursue relations there, that any attempts to mine would negatively impact the native population. The story then jumps to the present (five years later) and the Orville (with Talla) is now investigating the presence of a Quantum Drive ship there. They discover that another alien species, a non Union affiliated one named the Nazh, has since arrived and enslaved the natives, using them to mine the Dysonium. Due to the precarious position the Union is in at the moment with several hostile forces threatening war (the events at the end of season two of the tv series), the crew is ordered not to interfere and to move on. Talla isn’t willing to abandon Aki, her parents, and the rest of her people to the Nazh. Both stories are enjoyable enough although “Heroes” is a bit predictable. Right from the start of that story we see that there is a female Zorro like storybook character who it’s pretty obvious Talla will dress up as at some point in the story. Goodman continues to write these characters well (as he should since he was a co-producer on the television series along with Seth McFarlane), and David Cabeza again captures the actors’ likenesses perfectly. Yes, there is a bit of a “Photoshop” like feel at times, the likenesses are so spot on. But the appeal of “The Orville” is often about the interactions of the lead characters combined with standard “Star Trek: The Next Generation” type plot set-ups (usually with a twist at the end) and Cabeza’s art works perfectly for these types of stories. Since I liked “Launch Day” a bit more than I did “Heroes”, I ended up giving the combined trade paperback collection a three out of five stars on GoodReads. The third (and perhaps final) trade paperback is “The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (March 2022), reprinting the 2021 four-issue mini-series also titled “The Orville: Digressions” #1-2 and “The Orville: Artifacts” #1-2. I will be reading and reviewing that third trade paperback collection once my local public library can get a copy. There is also a more expensive “The Orville: Library Edition” hardcover collection just recently released (I believe) that is an omnibus of all three of the trade paperbacks. (So, containing all of the Dark Horse “Orville” stories in one volume.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 06, 2022
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Nov 09, 2022
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Nov 06, 2022
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Paperback
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| 9781613472828
| 4.28
| 119
| Jun 2021
| Jun 2021
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it was amazing
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None
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Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 02, 2024
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Jul 14, 2024
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Oct 24, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 1368092632
| B09Z76NZRH
| 4.27
| 962
| Jul 19, 2022
| Jul 19, 2022
|
liked it
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**spoiler alert** “The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil” (2022) by Seth McFarlane (creator, show runner, and star of “The Orville” television series) i
**spoiler alert** “The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil” (2022) by Seth McFarlane (creator, show runner, and star of “The Orville” television series) is a novella McFarlane wrote based on an unused script or story idea from the third (and possibly final) season of the television series. Plot spoilers… I had a hard time deciding how I felt about this novella and how to end up rating it. This is because it is very much like two separate yet interlinked stories, and while interesting both had something pulling it back from being really good. The first half of the novella takes place from 1914 to sometime in World War II (1939-1945) and follows a young German named Otto who is dropped off as an infant at a posh New York City hotel by a mysterious couple. The baby is given to a German couple staying in the hotel who then returns to Germany. Otto, as he grows up, becomes enamored with the rising Nazi party, much to the concern of his Jewish adopted father and mother, and eventually rises to a position of some authority himself, given command over one of the Jewish concentration camps. Over the course of his life, Otto chooses the Nazi ideology over all else, including his own parents. Which is a very compelling story, yet the entire time I kept wondering at what point this would become an *Orville* story? Well, that happens at the midway point, when two new figures enter the story, Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson, supposedly representatives of the American Red Cross there to inspect the camp. Otto tries to make it look like the camp is a positive and nourishing environment for those Jews living there (covering up the atrocities actually taking place there). Things go wrong, however, and in the middle of a tense scene, Mercer ends the simulation. At which point, the reader discovers that, no, this isn’t a time travel story, this is a virtual simulator (in Star Trek, it would be a holodeck) story. The twist here is that Otto’s parents had been enjoying the simulator, in the 1914 New York City simulation, along with baby Otto when their facility was attacked by Krill soldiers. Giving themselves up, Otto’s parents turned Otto over to the characters in the simulation hoping that the Krill will look no further and just take the two of them, which they did. Otto then was raised from infancy to adulthood within the continuing to operate simulator which continued to simulate Germany of the early to mid twentieth century. At this point the novella becomes an “Orville” story, and focuses on Dr. Claire Finn trying to counsel the traumatized Otto to make him understand the truth, that his life up to this point (including his wife and child) aren’t real, and to try to get through Otto’s entrenched Nazi beliefs in regards to race, that those racist beliefs are wrong and anachronistic now in 2422, the year “The Orville” takes place in. Meanwhile, Captain Ed Mercer and his superiors have to decide what will ultimately become of Otto (a 20th Century Nazi officer living in normal, everyday 2422 society?), and if a man can be held accountable for evil actions he carried out while on a simulator (while not realizing that he is in one but instead believes everything he is doing is real). It is an interesting twist on the usual holodeck/simulator gone awry storyline. And as with a lot of “The Orville” stories does present a bit of a moral dilemma. However, my problems with this as a novella (making it “okay” rather than “really good” or “great”) is that once it becomes an “Orville” story it really doesn’t do a very good job in that transition. This is the very first “Orville” prose tie-in. McFarlane does try to give quick character background moments to all of the major characters, but there really isn’t much room for more than cursory descriptions. Suddenly the story is now about Dr. Finn, a character we are just “meeting” halfway through the novella, trying to help Otto. And, also, suddenly we are jumping from Otto to Claire to Ed Mercer, and back, when for the entire first half of the novella our focus was entirely on Otto. It just makes for a disjointed reading experience, and it also does not feature most of the Orville characters as much as one would hope (although there is a nice little moment at the very end where it jumps even further into the future). I think this would have made for a very interesting episode of the tv show, where sudden switches from one setting to another with little necessary transition can happen easier than in prose, and where it is not necessary to spend time introducing the usual cast of characters when they show up for the first time halfway through the episode. I know it sounds like I didn’t like this. I actually did. I think I was just hoping as I was reading the first half of “Sympathy for the Devil” that there was some big time travel reason for spending so much reading time on Otto in Germany, and that when I realized it was a simulator story instead then it made the rest of the story a bit predictable (while at the same time not the best showcase for the regular “Orville” characters aside from Dr. Finn). As an “Orville” fan, I still am glad that I bought this novella and read it. I ended up giving it three out of five stars on GoodReads, although I probably would have given it a three and a half if half-stars were allowed. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 08, 2022
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Oct 02, 2022
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Sep 08, 2022
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Kindle Edition
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| B09NNZYQQY
| 3.97
| 638
| Feb 22, 2022
| Feb 22, 2022
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really liked it
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Just got done listening to “Star Trek: Picard: No Man’s Land” (2022) full cast audio drama, written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, and performed b
Just got done listening to “Star Trek: Picard: No Man’s Land” (2022) full cast audio drama, written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, and performed by Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan (“Raffi” and “Seven” actresses) and a number of other actors. Its run time is 1 hour 39 minutes. It is available on Amazon, Audible, and OverDrive (which your local public library might give you access to check it out from, as I did). This is the equivalent of a short story though it is not an audio adaptation of a print release, this was written and produced specifically for the full cast audio drama format (there is no print version). The story takes place between seasons one and two of “Star Trek: Picard”, the streaming television series that ran on CBS All Access for season one and Paramount+ for seasons two and (in 2023) season three. The focus is entirely on Raffi Musiker and Seven of Nine, picking up on the very brief moment at the end of the “Picard” season one finale episode that indicated that they might be starting a relationship with each other and where the characters later are picked up with at the start of season two. The story here is good if a bit predictable, especially the sub-plot about an old professor who has lost his wife many years ago and is still expecting to return to her eventually, and why he is so important to a Romulan warlord. Seven, in her role as one of the Fenris Rangers, is called upon to try to save the population and cultural artifacts secreted on the planet the professor is also on before the Romulan warlord can get there, and Raffi goes along with her to assist (and also because the two of them are still trying to determine what the extent of their relationship will actually be). The main draw here is having Hurd and Ryan here to reprise their characters. I love full cast audio dramas (more so than single reader/narrator audiobooks) but I don’t tend to listen to them very much these days as I’m usually listening to podcasts while driving in the car or working out. I need to eventually get back to listening to more of them again. I gave “Star Trek: Picard: No Man’s Land” four out of five stars on GoodReads. (Oh, and for those not aware, author Kirsten Beyer is not only the author of numerous Star Trek tie-in novels, including many of the post tv series “Star Trek: Voyager” ones, she is also co-creator and executive producer on the “Star Trek: Picard” tv series and a staff writer on “Star Trek: Discovery”. Mike Johnson is the writer of oodles of Star Trek comic book series, everything from classic Star Trek to the J.J. Abrams “Kelvin Timeline” version and the current “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard”, all for comics publisher, IDW.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 03, 2022
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Sep 05, 2022
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Sep 03, 2022
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Audible Audio
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| 140121942X
| 9781401219420
| 140121942X
| 3.82
| 1,570
| 1982
| Dec 16, 2008
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really liked it
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I finished reading "Camelot 3000: The Deluxe Edition" (2008) by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland. Originally released in individual comic book issues fro I finished reading "Camelot 3000: The Deluxe Edition" (2008) by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland. Originally released in individual comic book issues from DC Comics as "Camelot 3000" #1-12 (December 1982-April 1985). Writer: Mike W. Barr. Penciller: Brian Bolland. Inkers: Bruce Patterson, Terry Austin, and Dick Giordano. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letterer: John Costanza. "Continuing Legends Chronicled by Sir Thomas Mallory." "Camelot 3000" was a big deal when it came out. It was DC's first "maxi-series" (a year-long--well, it was intended to run for only one year--twelve-issue long limited run series three times as long as DC's four-issue "mini-series" up to that point). It was also DC's first series distributed exclusively to the "direct market", not available on newsstands and in drug stores, etc. Instead, it was sold only in comic book stores. DC had done a few single issue direct market only releases prior to this (the first being an all reprints "Superboy Spectacular" one-shot giveaway in 1980) but this was the first DC monthly series testing the idea of releasing to the direct market exclusively. (Marvel Comics got their first, though, with monthly direct market only titles like "Dazzler" and "Ka-Zar the Savage" in 1981.) Releasing "Camelot 3000" direct market only also allowed it to be released without the Comics Code and to allow the material to push the boundaries of what would probably not be allowable in a standard newsstand title. (The beautiful villainess of the story, who I will talk about in a bit, is basically naked throughout the series aside from a cape and a tiny backless two-piece bikini.) This was also the first regularly monthly work by British artist, Brian Bolland, on an American comic book title. Bolland got his start in the U.K. comics scene and worked in that area for most of the 1970s—including being an early regular artist on the “Judge Dredd” series and drawing the first three "Judge Death" stories in 1979-1980. Discovered by DC in 1979, Bolland did a few covers and fill-in stories for various DC titles in 1980-1981. Bolland's art in "Camelot 3000" is beautiful and really established in the U.S. as a popular artist. Unfortunately, he also proved to not be a fast enough artist to keep up with a monthly schedule and as a result "Camelot 3000" suffered from several delays over the course of its twelve issue run (and is largely remembered for these delays as much as for how good a series it was): there were three-month delays between issues five and six, eight and nine, and nine and ten, four months between ten and eleven, and an incredible nine-month delay between issues eleven and twelve. Reading the entire story now in a collected edition like the 2008 "Deluxe Edition" hardcover (like I did) or in the 1988 or 2013 trade paperback editions (or digitally via comiXology/Amazon or the DC Infinite digital comics service), none of that really matters, of course. But at the time it was originally coming out in the 1980s it was a major issue to comics retailers, the late shipping issues. And it was a sign of things to come as late shipping issues would become quite frequent in the "hot artist" dominated late 1980s and 1990s. However, back to "Camelot 3000". According to Barr, he had the basic story idea (which he was calling "Pendragon") in college. The basic gist is that according to the legend of King Arthur, he didn't actually die but instead "slumbers" until one day that he would return, when his beloved England is in its most desperate hour (or some such). Well, Barr's twist is that "Camelot 3000" is basically a sequel to the Arthur legend as in Barr's tale Arthur does indeed awaken (is discovered and his tomb opened) in the year 3000, right as the entire Earth is being invaded by vicious lizard like aliens. Reuniting with Merlin (who is basically eternal) and awakening the memories of Queen Guinevere, Launcelot, and his other knights of the round table who have all been reincarnated in the bodies present day men and women (one of the knights, Sir Tristan, reincarnated in the body of a woman, much to his consternation). Behind the alien invasion is Arthur's half-sister, sorceress Morgan le Fey. Arthur must lead his queen and knights against the forces of Morgan le Fey, her trickery and magicks as well as the alien troops subjugating this wildly futuristic world that Arthur now finds himself in. Regardless, Arthur is still a charismatic leader, able to create hope to a population that had seen all as lost just prior to his sudden return. I'm not going to go into any other plot specifics here, but just say that it's still holds up today as a fun science fiction/fantasy tale. And Bolland's art is still what really sets this series apart. There are, of course, some moments where the age of the material creeps in. Bits of dialogue, character motivations, and even caricature like political figures based on real life 1980s politicians as is typical of many comics that came out in the era of Ronald Reagan and the last decade of the U.S.-Soviet Union "cold war". (Oh, and yes, one of the political figures seen in the story is the Soviet Union premier, Barr of course having no idea in 1982 that the Soviet Union would crumble and be no more as of 1991.) A recurring plot element is that of Tristan hating his new life in a woman's body and trying to find whatever magical method possible to become a man again (first seeking out Merlin, who rejects his plea, and then even considering betraying Arthur to le Fey when the sorceress approaches her promising to do as Tristan wishes). This plot point was pretty ground breaking at the time in the early 1980s when it first came out, an early story dealing with what is now recognized as "gender identity". However, I'm sure that Barr would write Tristan a bit differently today than he did back then if he was writing the tale today, both in some of Tristan's thoughts and statements when decrying his situation and also perhaps in not doing it in every single issue. When "Camelot 3000" was being written and coming out, the notion that comics would start to be collected in trade paperbacks and hardback books to be sold in book stores after the original release of the single issues was not something Barr could have foreseen yet. As a result, Tristan's constant emoting does become a bit repetitive and tiresome after a bit. Regardless, "Camelot 3000" is a wonderful series that I missed the first time it came out (at age ten I'd just started buying comic books and was all into superheroes and tv/movie tie-in titles like Star Trek, "V", Star Wars, and Indiana Jones). Despite hearing how good it was, it took me thirty years to get around to reading it finally. I recommend others who enjoy comics (especially fantasy or just plain adventure stories) to give it a try in one of the various print or digital versions available. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. Addendum: Something else I forgot to mention is that I believe this was the first series DC ever published on the heavier and brighter “Baxter” paper (which made the colors a lot brighter than on the traditional newsprint). This was why the cover price was $1.00 (and starting with issue #7, $1.25) while most standard length DC and Marvel comics were $0.60. DC would expand on their deluxe Baxter paper titles in the following years with brand new “Legion of Super-Heroes”, “New Teen Titans”, and “The Outsiders” titles on the higher quality paper. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 23, 2022
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Sep 05, 2022
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Aug 23, 2022
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Hardcover
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 3.73
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liked it
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Aug 17, 2023
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Aug 16, 2023
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| 4.23
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really liked it
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Apr 27, 2023
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Apr 17, 2023
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| 3.99
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liked it
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Mar 12, 2023
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Mar 12, 2023
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| 4.06
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really liked it
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Jul 27, 2023
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Feb 19, 2023
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|||||
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| 3.60
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liked it
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Jan 21, 2023
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Jan 15, 2023
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|||||
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| 3.99
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really liked it
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Jan 15, 2023
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Jan 08, 2023
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|||||
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| 3.70
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liked it
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Jan 05, 2023
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Jan 05, 2023
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|||||
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| 3.79
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it was amazing
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Dec 31, 2022
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Dec 31, 2022
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|||||
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| 2.53
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it was ok
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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|||||
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| 2.96
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liked it
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 28, 2022
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| 3.32
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really liked it
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Dec 28, 2022
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Dec 26, 2022
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|||||
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| 3.64
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really liked it
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Dec 26, 2022
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Dec 24, 2022
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| 3.56
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liked it
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 20, 2022
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|||||
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| 3.85
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liked it
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Dec 20, 2022
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Dec 18, 2022
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|||||
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| 3.91
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liked it
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 17, 2022
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|||||
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| 4.01
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liked it
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Nov 09, 2022
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Nov 06, 2022
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| 4.28
|
it was amazing
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Jul 14, 2024
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Oct 24, 2022
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|||||
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| 4.27
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liked it
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Oct 02, 2022
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Sep 08, 2022
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|||||
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| 3.97
|
really liked it
|
Sep 05, 2022
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Sep 03, 2022
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|||||
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| 3.82
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really liked it
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Sep 05, 2022
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Aug 23, 2022
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