Set Phasers For Fun: Dave's Spoiler-Free Mini Review of Star Trek

After a stumbling start with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (see Rachelle’s review here), the summer 2009 movie season got kicked off properly last night with the first shows of J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek makeover, featuring young, angsty versions of the original cast—Kirk, Spock, etc.—in a universe that is not quite the same as the one we all know but is still somehow canon. How, exactly, requires me to discuss plot points that I don’t want to get into (spoilers and all), but it’s not important anyway. What is important is that the new Star Trek is a hell of a good time, and exactly what this series needed.

Without giving too much away, a Romulan bad guy named Nero has traveled back in time, to back before the original series, to mess with history in various diabolical ways. Along the way, he encounters the USS Enterprise and its crew of fledgling recruits, who have to get over their various differences to stop him from blowing up lots of planets and messing up the spacetime continuum. More than he already has, I mean—his interference has already altered the timeline, meaning that the future as we know it is not set anymore (a handy trick of the filmmakers, one that sidesteps Wolverine’s lack of suspense in knowing that the character survives for at least three more movies). The wonky pseudoscience that has always accompanied the Star Trek brand name and its recurring time travel plotlines allows for an almost literal cosmic reset button, which will hopefully keep the die-hard fans content, while also making way for director J.J. Abrams’ sexy, flashy new vision of the Star Trek universe—while, finally, not in any way contradicting What Has Gone Before.  

The cast is pretty much uniformly great—Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, as Kirk and Spock, respectively, inhabit their characters without resorting to imitations, the supporting characters all get to have cool moments where we see why they’re all destined for greatness, and the space battles and fight scenes are all exciting to watch. There are a lot of fun nods to the original series, but not obnoxiously so. There are some moments of fairly goofy humour, but that’s not so out of place either—never let it be said that Star Trek, in any of its incarnations, is above a lame gag or three. And seriously, when’s the last time we had a good space adventure flick? One that didn’t take place in some depressing dystopia, but in a future where all (or most, anyway) races have come together to get stuff done? By the end of this movie, I was pretty much begging for a sequel, but that’s probably still about three years away. Not soon enough! Great job, everyone involved.
 

Two "Girl" Comics and a Buffy: My Lady-est Week Ever

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade #6

Grant Morrison does an excellent fill in on the final issue. No. But seriously, this issue had some time traveling, multi-universal craziness worthy of Final Crisis. In a nutshell, Mr. Mxyzptlk makes everyone trip out, and Supergirl saves the day. I really loved this series, and I feel like other creators of all-ages comics should use this as their template: it was fun, had wide appeal and used familiar tropes but also had its own thing going on. And it came out regularly, so kids (and adults) didn't lose interest. (I'm looking at you Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam. Great book, but c'mon! You're not Optic Nerve!)

Power Girl #1

I feel pretty invested in Power Girl as a character. I guess 'cause she's often been such a joke, or she's been the iconic image of why comics are just for dudes. So I totally love the way Palmiotti and Conner make her not suck. I love how she can be funny and brave and cute and relate-able! That said, I found this issue a little lackluster, and just not as emotionally engaging as I was expecting. It was the first issue though, so I'll quit my complaining until a few more come out. I did love the way Power Girl looked, especially her boots! Those round buckles! I loved when that dude called her "Pee Gee." And I was really into her grumpy cat.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25

The Buffy comic was losing me for a bit there, as the stories seemed a little forced and not totally fresh. But this issue pulled me back in. It was nice to wrap up the Dawn storyline that's been naggingly unresolved since the first issue of the series. I felt like the conclusion was honest, and even told us that Dawn is a bit a like her big sister, and maybe sleeps with people for the wrong reasons. There was some nice Xander and Buffy dialogue and Buffy even mentioned watching Veronica Mars! (A little late to name-drop this sadly canceled show, but still cool. Although, if this season eight comic takes place the year after Buffy the show ended [and the show was always on the same time-line as real life], then Veronica Mars wouldn't have even been on yet when the events in this issue took place!!! How did Buffy get those DVDs? Did Superboy punch a hole in the world?)

Anyway. How 'bout that Jo Chen cover? Perverted! 

Thor: Love and Rocks

I have been reading a lot of Thor comics lately, particularly the very first stories from Journey Into Mystery. Honestly, I'm surprised that the character caught on so quickly. I think we can thank Jack Kirby's art.

Not that I'm not loving these comics. I love that it's essentially just the story of a dude who really wants to marry this girl, but his dad won't let him. Thor relentlessly asks his dad if he can marry her, but because his dad happens to be Odin, the ruler of Asgard and a bit of a dick, the answer is always 'no.'

May a Thunder God live in a common law relationship with a mortal?

I think Journey Into Mystery #107 is a pretty good representation of the early era of Thor comics. Last we left our hero, his alter-ego Dr Don Blake was forced to appear to betray Thor in order to protect his secret identity. Naturally, this did not impress the love of his life, nurse Jane Foster.

Just to complicate things further, Blake has to keep up the act as Thor and pretend to be furious with the cowardly doctor. And he has to take out his anger on poor Jane, I guess.

Dr Blake has a private door.

This is where things get adorable. I stared at these two panels for a very long time. I just love them:

Jane has piqued Thor's interest.

And as soon as he's out of Jane's sight, Thor starts to celebrate. It's very cute.

Thor's big musical number.

Man those people look terrified.

But it's not all flying backwards and picking bouquets of flowers for the God of Thunder. Even as this is happening, a sinister figure is flying into town:

I wouldn't have let this guy walk by me.

That taxi is driving very quickly.

How did he get away from the airport without anyone stopping him?! He's obviously guilty!

It's a long cab ride to town. Fortunately for the readers, our new villain uses the time to mull over his origin story. I'm not going to show the whole thing, but basically an experiment gone wrong gives him the ability to turn things into stone by touching them

Science!

Was he making Kool-Ade?

Anyway, this dude is stone cold (get it?) and he is in town to fight and destroy Thor because he wants his hammer. And who doesn't, really? To get Thor's attention, he turns his cab driver into stone.

I'm not sure how he deduced that hammer = immortality.

The police find the cab driver first, but it's a good thing that Thor shows up because this case has clearly stumped them:

Those police officers are very strong.

Ok geniuses. First of all, you are police officers in the Marvel version of New York City, so you have definitely seen people turned to stone or crazier before. Also...you can't dress a stone statue...with stone clothes.

Thankfully, Thor takes charge and insists on bringing the statue to Dr Blake's office for examination. And Nurse Foster proves to be more clever than the NYPD.

"Shut up, Jane! Stop asking reasonable questions!"

"Saaaaay...maybe this stone guy has something to do with those other stone guys at the airport today!"

Because everyone is so slow to crack this case, it gives our villain a lot of time to change into his costume and reveal his name to us.

Hot!

Keep in mind that he is completely alone in that room.

The costume isn't great. And his powers are...inconsistent.

No.

Alright, I can understand being able to climb a building using his powerful stone fingers, I guess, but being able to leap across rooftops?! That doesn't make any sense.

He catches up with Dr Blake, who he doesn't know is secretly Thor, of course. He chooses an overly complicated (but charming) way of demonstrating his powers for the doctor.

Don Blake would like to see where this is going.

It took Blake awhile to put two and two together.

Woah! Watch out, Doc! He's not messing around! That next stone paper airplane might have your name on it!

Also, really? You didn't figure out until that moment that this guy is the one responsible for all the human statues? He's the God of Thunder, not the God of Figuring Things Out.

You can probably guess what's coming: a giant battle between Thor and the Grey Gargoyle that ends with Thor being turned into a statue. Fortunately this works out ok for Thor because the statue gets knocked over. And, of course, when his hammer strikes the ground, it changes him back into Don Blake. And if you know anything about science, then you know that this will also reverse the statue effect.

The most dramatic change in all adventuredom!

That was explained very well, Doctor. Thank-you.

Now the LAME physician, as the narrator likes to call him, has a cunning plan. He makes a phone call to a certain alcoholic robot friend and before he knows it his crazy plan is ready to roll! Literally!

Don Blake changed into his adventure suit!

Ooooo! A motorcycle! Who's lame now?!

This plan is complicated, but basically he is zipping around New York on a motorcycle mounted with a camera that is projecting a hologram of Thor. This causes the Grey Gargoyle to chase the hologram, which ends with Don Blake driving the motorcycle, and himself, into the Hudson River. Due to some poor judgement, Grey Gargoyle follows close behind:

I can't really imagine that this Gargoyle guy would be very fast.

Ooooo...guess who can't swim when he's stone?

Because the stone effect won't wear off for at least half an hour, Grey Gargoyle is pretty screwed. Well played, Don Blake.

In the end, the cab driver turns back to normal and rudely points out Dr Blake's disability.

"He makes up for his lameness with spunk!"

Wouldn't you like to know, Jane. Wouldn't you like to know.

Free Comic Book Day 2009 Post-Mortem

 

Free Comic Book Day 2009 has come and gone, and once again, the event was a raging success. At Strange Adventures (more specifically, at St. David’s Church Hall around the corner—the event outgrew the store some years back), we gave away in the neighbourhood of 20,000 comics. Actually, we ran out shortly after 1 PM, which is definitely the earliest that’s ever happened. Cal and a small army of volunteers gave away the freebies, while Rachelle, Tiina, and myselft ran the store, and we were swamped as well—it seems that when people are given a bunch of free comics, they usually supplement them with comics and graphic novels that they have to pay for. This is a good arrangement for everybody. Anyway, here are some random observations about this year’s FCBD, in no particular order:

1. FCBD usually happens the day after a major comic book movie is released, and it’s usually the hot topic of discussion. This is a lot more fun when the movie is, say, Iron Man. When it’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, there is a lot of shrugging and saying things like “I dunno, it was better than X-Men 3”. That right there, my friends, is faint praise indeed.

2.    People are a lot more receptive to trying new comics out on FCBD, and not just the free ones. For instance, we sold a ton of random comics off the kids’ rack, lots of copies of recent buzz books (like Vertigo’s creepy new Unknown Soldier series, and tons of Green Lantern related stuff), and a whole lotta trade paperbacks and hardcovers. One guy even bought all four Absolute Sandman collections, after admitting that he’d never read any of it! That is a dude with no fear of commitment.

3.    Funniest/Most Ridiculous Quote of the Day, delivered by some random gothy-looking kid: “Frank Miller’s comics are okay, but I prefer his movies.” Say what now?

4.    When little kids show up in super-hero costumes for FCBD, it is not only adorable as all get out, but it makes all the hard work involved totally worthwhile.

5.    When I have a few drinks in me, as I did at the FCBD after-party at the Seahorse (thanks again, Cal!), do not, I repeat, do NOT get me talking about how cool the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents are. If you do, you’d better get comfortable—you’re gonna be there awhile, trying to decipher my slurry ramblings.

Until next year…
 

Wednesday Interview (Wolverine Week Edition): Steve McNiven

Wolverine Week continues here at Living Between Wednesdays, and our Wednesday Interview segment finds us chatting with Steve McNiven, currently hard at work on the Old Man Logan arc in the pages of Wolverine. The Halifax, Nova Scotia based artist first found fame drawing Meridian for CrossGen Comics, the company that launched the careers of other future Marvel superstars like Jimmy Cheung, Steve Epting, and Greg Land. Snapped up by Marvel, McNiven kicked off a new title, Marvel Knights 4, with writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, followed up by the Ultimate Secret miniseries with Warren Ellis and a run on New Avengers with Brian Michael Bendis. In 2006, Steve and writer Mark Millar turned the Marvel Universe’s greatest heroes against each other in the Civil War miniseries, a landmark event that included the public unmasking of Spider-Man and led to the death of Captain America. Steve followed this up by collaborating with writer Dan Slott on the inaugural Brand New Day arc of Amazing Spider-Man, (which relaunched the title as a thrice-monthly series), and now he and Millar are collaborating again on Old Man Logan. This dark, frightening, storyline, set years into a possible future, sees a broken-down Logan who has vowed never to pop his claws again on a journey across a nightmarish America that has been conquered by the worst of the supervillains. Logan and his companion, a sightless Hawkeye, travel the country in the old Spider-Mobile, eluding the Mole Man’s Moloids, an all-new new Kingpin of Crime, and, oh yeah, a Dino-Venom.

Holy $#!% is right! Steve was able to tear himself away from the drawing table long enough to answer a few of our questions about his influences, his collaborators, and what it’s like to draw a world where the bad guys have won.

1. You’ve worked with fan fave Mark Millar twice now, on Civil War and the current Old Man Logan arc on Wolverine. What is it about this particular collaboration that works so well for you? Do you guys have plans for a third project together in the future?

I was talking to my Wolverine editor John Barber about this just the other day. I think Mark writes just the kind of script that makes it fun and challenging for me to draw. He tends to be a very visual writer and has a great flow from panel to panel so I don't find myself having to 'fix' anything to make the story work, and that means that I can concentrate on the fun stuff. But it's more than that, something I couldn't adequately define, a sensibility perhaps that we both share that allows us to work well together. I dunno, but I'm glad it's there because I have so much fun working on his stuff, maybe more than I should as I tend to savor the pages a bit too much and  get way behind on the schedule. He's also a real pro, and I've never had to wait for script from Mark, ever, and I count my blessings as it happens to so many other artist's that I've talked to. All in all I'm a pretty lucky guy.

2. Between the present-day crossover action of Civil War, the dark future Marvel Universe we’re currently seeing in Old Man Logan, and your runs on Marvel Knights 4 and Amazing Spider-Man, you’ve gotten to draw pretty much the entire Marvel Universe. Are there any other characters, or genres, even, that you’ve been dying to get your hands on?

 Yeah, I have drawn a bunch of the Marvel characters, but most not in any real depth, so there still are many characters out there to have some fun with. Really though I don't tend to chase characters. I chase the writers . A great writer can make almost any character compelling enough for me to want to work on. A terrible writer can ruin your enthusiasm , sap your strength and it shows on the page. But if I were to just look at the Marvel characters that I'd like to draw more of then I'd probably could have some fun with the X-Men, maybe the Hulk and definitely Spidey again because he's such a huge challenge to capture artistically and I don't think I've really got a good feel for him yet. Genre wise I'd love to do some Sci fi and Fantasy based stuff as I'm an avid book reader. If you haven't read anything by Alastair Reynolds, or Matthew Stover, do yourself a favor and go check them out.

3. Old Man Logan takes place in a dystopian future where the supervillains have conquered America and killed most of the good guys—pretty grim stuff. Additionally, it’s probably one of the most violent comics to come out of mainstream Marvel in quite a while. Do you ever find it tough to have to make some of the images in this series come to life?

Sometimes, yeah, it can be a bit challenging, but it's always a good thing to push yourself artistically, going places that may be uncomfortable or unsettling. Sometimes it can be a bit of a struggle but it's worth it if the final work helps to convey the story. You know, It's still a head scratcher as to why North Americans find graphic violence so palatable but overt sexuality is still off the menu so to speak. The grim and gritty is a hell of a lot of fun fun to draw for me. Post apocalyptic stuff has always held an appeal for me, from Blade Runner to Cormac McCarthy's The Road, there is a great chance in there to show some exciting visuals.

4. Who are some of the comic book artists who inspired you to start drawing in the first place, and which current artists are you following these days?

Well, all the artists  that I worked with down in Florida during the CrossGen years really set me along the path and I still count myself lucky to get that face to face training ( even if the place was insane). From there it was a wide variety of artists, from  Charest to Hitch, Moebius to Otomo and more and more than I have the time to list. And of course there is an even wider field of art out there, not wrapped up in the commercial needs of comics that is always a huge inspiration. It's always interesting to see art that is divorced from commerce content wise, because it's so full of experiment and accident, and those things are essential to artistic growth.

5. Old Man Logan is wrapping up over the next few months. Can you tell us anything about what you’re doing next, or have you even thought that far ahead yet?

 Mark Millar and I are kicking around a few things, but it's too early to really get into any specifics, sorry. I am looking forward to pushing my art around in different ways and I am starting to make a more conscious effort to play around with different looks lest folks ( and myself!)  start to get bored of the same old thing from me.
 

The Long Awaited Wolverine/Larry Flynt Crossover!

In honour of Wolverine Week here at Living Between Wednesdays, counting down to the ol’ Canucklehead’s first solo film adventure (if you can call a movie crammed with so many mutants a solo adventure, that is), I’m going to discuss the first Wolverine comic I ever read. Actually, it was also the first X-Men comic I ever read—Uncanny X-Men #129, to be precise. A key component in the now-legendary Dark Phoenix saga, this issue not only introduced yours truly to Wolverine, AKA Logan, AKA The Best There Is At What He Does But What He Does Isn’t Very Nice, it also marked the first appearances (not just to me, but ever) of Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde. Furthermore, it was also my first taste of the unstoppable art team of John Byrne and Terry Austin—because of my multiple re-readings of this issue, Byrne became the first comic artist whose style I could recognize, even if I couldn’t pronounce his damn name properly for several more years.

This issue’s use of Wolverine is also especially significant because it pretty quickly gave me an idea of what the character was all about. Short, nasty, and adamantium-clawed, yes, but a trip to the local Malt Shoppe with Kitty Pryde was particularly insightful—check out what Logan is perusing at the magazine counter. Sports Illustrated? Nope. Mad Magazine? Guess again. Atlantic Monthly? Close, but no cigar.

Hustler? Wow, that guy likes the hard stuff. Have a look at Peter’s shocked expression—“By the White Wolf”, indeed. A few panels later, Logan has moved on to Penthouse, but the elderly shopkeep is losing his patience.

Oh man, Logan is absolutely ready to disembowel a citizen because he’s too cheap to pay for a porno mag! A citizen who says “liberry”, even! Thankfully, the armor-clad Knights of Hellfire crash the party, so we never get to see how this would have played out. One thing is certain, though…don’t ever come between Wolverine and his pornography. ‘Cause he will mess you up. This is a lesson I learned at the tender age of seven thanks to this issue, and it hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

I also learned that when he's off duty, Wolverine likes to dress like a tiny cowboy.