Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

Breaking this book into unresolved vignettes makes this a less satisfying read than Brown’s previous Zomblog.

By Sam Christopher

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

TW Brown is a good writer. I reviewed another book of his a few months ago, Zomblog, which was an excellent novel written in the form of a diary. That novel began a little before the rising of the dead and continued through to a cliffhanger ending that I really want to see the continuation of someday (hint, TW, hint). I thought the characters in that book were well fleshed out and interesting, although I also thought the story had a bleak outlook on humanity as a whole. An outlook I usually only share completely if I delve too deeply into our political structure, but that’s a story for another time. The point is that Brown knows how to structure a story and keep it moving, along with providing good, believable characterization.

But then we have this book. Dead: The Ugly Beginning is basically a series of vignettes centering on the early days of the zombie rising. It’s not… well, it would be easy to say it’s not as good as Zomblog, but it would be more accurate to say I just liked the other book better. There’s nothing wrong with this book at all, I just liked the one continuous story of the other book better. That’s just a personal preference. This book has good characters and some really interesting situations, I just thought it would have been better if they could have been developed more than the episodic nature of the book allowed. But that’s what we have. I guess my real complaint here is that there is no resolution to any of the “major” vignettes. The smaller, couple page tales are usually resolved in one fashion or another but the longer ones, the ones we go back to, are not. Although at least the guys made it out of their “pilgrimage” to Pittsburgh—Romero’s hometown—alive. Again, this is a personal complaint, having nothing to do with the quality of writing.

I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t like the book. I did. Very much, actually. My complaints have more to do with not getting enough from the book as opposed to not liking what we did get. I just wish we knew what happened with Steven and Thalia and crew after they narrowly escaped the Army camp massacre, Juan. Mackenzie and Margaret (if the two women didn’t eventually shoot him anyway), Kevin and Mike—two of the boys from the Pittsburgh excursion mentioned above—and whether or not they managed to find the three kidnapped women… Have I piqued your interest? I hope so. This is a book that deserves to be read, and I look forward to anything else this author puts out in the future.

Buy This as an eBook from Amazon.com

Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Book Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
Audio Book Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

I Am Legend is a seminal work in the Zombie sub-genre, even though technically it has no zombies in it.  For those unfamiliar with the book, it came out in 1954 as one of Richard Matheson’s earliest works about a post-apocalyptic world overrun with living and undead vampires.  It has had three film adaptations and it has also inspired a host of books, movies, comics, etc. with similar themes such as George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

The book centers around one man, Robert Neville, who survived a plague that has by all appearances wiped out humanity.  This virus has turned all of the living humans into vampires and also caused many of the recently deceased to re-animate as zombie-vampires.  Neville is immune to this virus, apparently because he was bitten by a bat that had the virus though he never succumbed to it.  Now, he spends his days trying to wipe out as many vampires as possible, they are dormant when the sun is up, and his nights fighting back their siege on his fortress.

Even though this was one of Matheson’s earliest works, his writing is well developed and engages the reader.  The book really is a page turner as we follow Neville’s battles with his vampire foes, while also fighting against his own internal demons and the apparent hopelessness of his predicament.  To keep himself from going off the deep end, he decides to research the cause of the plague in an attempt to find a cure and save humanity.  In so doing, Matheson presents a potential scientific explanation to vampirism and suggests that legends of vampires may have been based on actual cases of people infected with this disease that wiped out the human population.

The apocalyptic setting and sense of despair help set the tone of Matheson’s excellent book and have reverberated throughout the sub-genre that I Am Legend has helped inspire, most notably in George Romero’s Dead movies as well as more recent works like 28 Days Later.  Some may quibble that this is more of a vampire novel as opposed to a zombie book, but don’t let that stop you from reading it.  It has plenty of both vampires and zombies and you can easily see where many of the themes of the book carried over to the Zombie genre.  And in any case, this truly ranks as a classic in Science Fiction / Horror literature.

I Am Legend has received three movie treatments.  The first was the low-budget, yet mildly interesting The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price.  The second was the well know 70’s movie Omega Man starring Charleton Heston which diverged significantly from the novel.  The most recent was the big-budget Will Smith vehicle I Am Legend which I have yet to see.

Richard Matheson himself is somewhat of a legend in the Science Fiction and Fantasy field.  In addition to this and several other short stories and novels in the genre, he contributed heavily to the original Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.  He also contributed to other Science Fiction and Fantasy television shows including the original Star Trek and Boris Karloff’s Thriller.  He also wrote the screenplay, based on his own short story, to the television movie Duel which a young director named Steven Spielberg helmed as his first full length movie.

The audio book version is read by narrator Robertson Dean who does an excellent job of bringing the story to life.  It is available at a reasonable price under $20 online at Barnes and Noble vs. the $50+ price you usually see for books in this format.  Amazon.com no longer carries it as they want you to buy it from their affiliate Audible.com.  The audio book service available through eMusic.com also has it available for download.

So if you have never taken the opportunity to read I Am Legend or if it has just been awhile, I highly suggest picking it up.  It’s a relatively quick read (or listen), and whether you are a fan of the Zombie genre or just a Science Fiction and/or Horror fan in general, this book really delivers.

Buy I Am Legend Now from Barnes and Noble

By Sam Christopher

Great Stories from SF/Fantasy History in Comics:

First, there’s the continuing saga of Ender Wiggin, the hero of the seminal novel Ender’s Game, in Marvel’s Orson Scott Card: Ender in Exile #3. Here we see Ender and Valentine still on course for Shakespeare Colony, with all the scheming and plotting surrounding the future governor of that colony. Alessandra listens to her mother and nearly ends her friendship with Ender, while her mother, of course, is also scheming to get hitched to Admiral Morgan. They’re playing both sides of the fence, although Alessandra only peripherally gets that. Then there’s Admiral Morgan himself, with his plot to take power on Shakespeare, usurping it from a kid he thinks can’t possibly be up to the task. He thinks this kid just can’t be devious enough and hard enough to take true power and control of a colony. Boy, is the admiral in for a surprise! Adapted by Aaron Johnston with Pop Mhan handling the artwork, this is another fantastic chapter in the Ender chronicles.

Then there’s the final chapter in the Joe R. and John L. Lansdale-led, Kevin Colden drawn IDW adaptation of Robert Bloch’s fantastic tale Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper #3. Wow! What a great story! And I never have read it before. I guess I was thinking about that one for Dangerous Visions. Hollis and Jenny talk to John about Eustace. Was that cryptic enough? This is another great tale that I really hate to say too much about because you really should read it, especially if you haven’t read the original story. It may be too late now to get the first couple issues but there’s a trade coming, I have no doubt. If you didn’t get this series, get the compilation. Or you could call me and I could read it to you the way Andy used to read bedtime stories to Otis the Drunk: “Fe Fi Fo Fum”, said the giant. “I smell the blood of a Englishman.” Poor Jack—he didn’t know what to do… Sorry, that scene just stuck in my head a day or two ago and won’t leave. Anyway, read this story first chance you get—Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper not Jack and the Bean Stalk. You won’t be disappointed.

Finally, we have the ultimate installment of IDW’s adaptation Bram Stoker’s Death Ship: The Last Voyage of the Demeter #4. This was an excellent story when set to art and comics movement. In this final chap we get to see the captain, as last man aboard the ship, do his best to confound the monster that has beset his crew. The end is touching, and even the captain’s confrontation with the demon is interesting in its own way, with a hint of dreaminess and subtle sadness. There was something profound in this story and this adaptation that punched through the four-color vulgarity that permeates this uniquely American art form. Something… beautiful that is difficult to quantify. Writer Gary Gerani and artist Stuart Sayger have done a magnificent job with this book. If you haven’t been getting it two things: One, I told ya SO! And two, get the TPB!

By Sam Christopher

The Gods of Marvel:

Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente wrap up the story of Vali, the Prince of Mischief, trying for ultimate power in Prince of Power #4. This wasn’t a bad story but Amadeus Cho’s secret plan for stopping Thor from stopping Cho was lame. And I mean extremely lame. “You can’t hurt me with lightning because I’m holding a capacitor”? Come ON! I loved the whole thing with Delphyne talking to Athena and working her way out of the clutches of the Olympus Group, and I, of course, loved the ending, which wasn’t at all unexpected. Well, other than it being the springboard to another storyline starring… well, that would be telling. I also enjoyed Thor’s likening Cho to Loki; I thought that was very good storytelling and also very true in Marvel’s interpretation of Loki and their characterization of Cho himself. Anyway, very good and a lot of fun. Other than the “capacitor” thing. Just lame.

Thor walks through Hell to find the sword that Loki forged in Thor #613. More, Tyr, the doubting God of War, and Hela, the resigned Goddess of the Dead, stage a holding action against the Disir while Thor tries to find the one weapon the Disir fear. Meanwhile, back in Asgard, Kelda pines away for Bill and this leads to her having some less than happy thoughts about the current ruler of the realm. And this leads me to wonder about Heimdall. He’s been keeping an eye on Kelda, knowing her grief, and I’m wondering how he doesn’t know what she’s planning. Of course, it could be that the intrigues and privacies of his fellow gods have long ago caused Heimdall to “tune out” much of what he would normally hear and see so he can concentrate most of his abilities on the performance of his duties at the end of Bifrost. However that turns out to be explained—if writer Kieron Gillen thinks to explain it at all—I am looking forward to the fruition of this particular thread. I don’t even mind if they drag it out a few issues. I think it’ll be worth it. Back to Thor’s quest through Mephisto’s realm: I loved the way he answered the riddle at the beginning, I loved the way he figured out the whole thing with his mother, and I looooooooved the ending of the quest. I had a feeling, though, that would be the way it ended. I also loved what Mephisto said to him, too. And then there was Tyr’s screwing up of his courage in the face of a certain fate that is worse than death. This is just more of the excellence we’ve come to expect from this writer on this book. And Richard Elson’s artwork, while lacking the majesty that characterized the Djurdjevic days on the book, is very well done and brings out more of the human side to the gods.

Bob Layton’s ending to his own Hercules saga comes to us in the pages of Hercules: Twilight of a God #4. As final issues go this one is a doozy. Herc figures out a way to stop the Galactus Black Hole from devouring the entire Andromeda Galaxy, while the grandchildren meet the leader of the terrorists. We also see the Recorder’s new look and Skyppi finally figures out what he wants “deathlock” himself into. There’s so much here, so much that looks so cosmic and so cool, with new characters and old characters in new forms… I loved it. I loved this whole series but this ish especially was just so much fun to read. It reminded me of the earlier Herc series from Layton, and the graphic novel. The end was just perfect, too, for this kind of story. It made me want to see more although we most probably never will. And that’s too bad. Mr. Layton, Ron Lim, I salute you both. If you need encouragement you definitely have my vote for another series, too.

And then there’s Thor For Asgard #1. This out of continuity story seems to take its cue from the Reigning storyline that basically killed the last Thor series, the one before the current one. Here we have Thor on the throne of Asgard and Balder dead, Asgard in the middle of its worst winter in godly memory (so much for global warming) and Odin gone to Midgard to try and find an answer. We also see the gods trying to keep the Jotuns at bay and… well, this was good, and I will check out the next ish, but it’s nowhere near the fun that Thor Mighty Avenger is. This is written by Robert Rodi with decent though unexceptional art by Simone Bianchi.

Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Book Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Audio Book Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Back when I was in Junior High (more commonly known as Middle School these days), there was a period when the Logan’s Run novel became all the rage among the boys. Partly because the movie was due out shortly in the theaters, partly it was a cool science fiction book that you could argue had some “social relevance”, and partly because it had sex in it. Well, what do you expect from boys? I personally became a Logan fanatic, reading the book, watching the movie, reading the sequel novels (Logan’s World and Logan’s Search), buying the comic book, and watching the TV series (Logan was a hot property for a short time before Star Wars). So I still have a soft spot for the original book, and when I heard about the upcoming new movie adaptation, I decided to seek out the 1967 novel as an audio book (it’s available through Audible.com) and give it a listen.

I’d still say it is a pretty cool novel and a fun read, but it has not held up as well over the years. It takes place in the 22nd century after the “Little War” resulted in the ever-increasing population of young people taking control of the world governments and creating a dystopian society in which people are terminated at age twenty one in order to control the global population. The people live in a hedonistic society where they can pretty much do as they please, but those who decide to escape their ultimate fate and become runners are hunted down and terminated by the Deep Sleep agents known as Sandmen. Logan 3 (people have numbers instead of last names) is one of these Sandmen and on his “Last Day” he decides to make himself a legend by hunting down and destroying the underground railroad that helps runners to escape to a place known as Sanctuary where they can live beyond the age of twenty one. He hooks up with a girl named Jessica 6 who is part of this network helping runners and convinces her that he wants to run too. They then begin a flight that takes them to all parts of the world as Logan seeks his place infamy.

I have a particular love of both dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories, so obviously Logan’s Run appeals to me. But this one is more like a pulp-style dystopian story with some adult themes (read: sex) thrown in as well, so don’t look too deeply here for any enlightening grand statements. Written as a reaction to the youth boom of the 60’s (which seems to be going the other way of late), its prediction of young people taking control of society seems like somewhat of a quaint concept nowadays (though if Facebook could link into the world governments, who knows . . . ). In some ways, it treads the same territory as Brave New World, exploring a culture based on instant gratification of personal pleasures in order to keep the population docile. But that is really the window-dressing to what is essentially an adventure novel with a love story of sorts tacked on. I say tacked on because at the end of the book when Logan changes his mind about destroying Sanctuary in part because of his love for Jessica, you feel like the book made that leap without really developing the relationship (which they had for less than twenty four hours). What really makes this book come alive, though, is the world that authors William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson bring to life with its myriad colorful characters and intriguing futuristic extensions of present day concepts (the “New You” shop, heat-seeking handguns, the worldwide network of trams, etc.). The authors also have a masterful grasp of the English language and write at a breathless pace that keeps you turning the pages (or leaving the audio running).

For those who have only experienced Logan’s Run from the 1976 movie starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter, that version differed widely from the original book. The novel did not have the domed cities or Carousel or people living to the age of thirty. In fact, the movie (which Nolan wrote the original script for) shares little more than a distant relationship to its source material. I would recommend the book to all Science Fiction fans even though I would say it falls just short of being a true classic of the genre. Still, it’s great fun as was the follow-up novel Logan’s World (Logan’s Search not so much).

To find an audio book version, I had to do some digging but eventually turned it up at Audible.com. They are the only ones that have it available and actually that’s what convinced me to go ahead and sign up for their service (you can buy it for only $11 without signing up for the service, though). Co-author William F. Nolan narrates the book which at first blush might seem like a great choice, but I have found that authors are not always the best voice talents for their works. And it definitely doesn’t help that Nolan has a bit of a lisp that provides an additional distraction while listening. My advice to authors is to keep writing and let the professionals do the narrating. This audio version also follows the annoying trend of Audible.com books of being all in one big file instead of broken into smaller, more maneuverable chunks. But then it is a quick listen at under two and a half hours (the book was pretty short to begin with), so these are really just nitpicks and it is still an enjoyable book and well worth seeking out for Science Fiction fans.  Consider it a guilty pleasure.

Find out about more sources for Audio Books at this link

By Sam Christopher

Heroes in Groups:

The crew of the USS Enterprise must combat a most insidious computer “virus” in Star Trek: Burden of Knowledge #3. The ship puts into Starbase 17 for resupply and routine maintenance—this after a priceless opening vignette with Spock teaching McCoy how to play 3-D chess. Starbase 17 happens to be run by Andorians. If you watched the Enterprise tv show (which I admit took time to grow on me) you’ll remember that the Andorian’s natural enemy is Vulcans, but that’s not mentioned here for some reason. Instead the writing team of Scott and David Tipton go with the more TOS-friendly Tellarites as the Andorian object of hate (from “Journey to Babel”). Anyway, their maintenance on the computer system leads the Enterprise crew to some unwarranted suppositions, while the naturally suspicious and from-calm-to-irate-in-a-millisecond Tellarites do the rest. Another very good rendition of the crew by the Tipton boys; they just do an excellent job with these characters. One can “hear” Scotty talking to the captain here, just as the aforementioned scene with McCoy and Spock has the perfect pitch for their TOS relationship. Kirk is likewise dead-on here. Federica Manfredi’s artwork is good here, though not exceptional. At least, unlike some of these series, it’s pretty easy to tell which character you’re looking at.

Next, get ready to laugh with Justice League: Generation Lost #8. Okay, they’ve disguised themselves as Rocket Reds and broken into Checkmate in order to access their computers to find Max Lord. They’ve been caught and are literally under the guns of the world’s most powerful and far-reaching secret organization. What to do? Well, obviously, you get your only true Rocket Red to talk your way out of this mess. “I am leader of Red Rebel Battalion. Ve lie down for Checkmate no more. You, who make claim of international body, but do not recognize Communist ideals!” Black King’s answer: “China’s got an office on the second floor, so I don’t know what you’re—.” RR rejoinder: “Oh, I believe THAT when I am to see that!” Hysterical. Unfortunately, off-the-wall weirdness and nonsense can only take one so far. But our team does escape, after which the White King arrives and writer Judd Winick shows us he understands all too clearly how our government really works. Anyway, the upshot of all this is that the team gains some newfound respect for Rocket Red and then there’s the end of the ish… which you’ll have to read if you want to know what happened. Artist Aaron Lopresti does his usual fine work as penciller. This series has thus far been a great surprise. I originally started it just because of its tie-in with Brightest Day, one that I didn’t think would last very long frankly. It is getting more and more interesting, however, as it goes on and I find myself looking more and more forward to it.

And, since one good JL story deserves another, we move here to the last chap in “The Dark Things” storyline that has encompassed the last few issues of JLA and JSA in Justice League of America #48. Pretty good. Moving on… just kidding. This is a very satisfying ending for this tale from James Robinson and Mark Bagley. It’s a cool story in that, while it is almost all battle scenes, there’s still room for some characterization and exposition, most notably Mr. Terrific providing the explanation for why magic affects Kryptonians the way it does. Don’t know if it’s right or not, but the machine he had the “Kara Twins” build to counteract the Starheart’s effect on PG (and, presumably, Supergirl, too, although it never happened here) seemed to work. I like the way Robinson finds the time to give a little characterization to virtually everyone in the story, plus the fact that it does tie in with Brightest Day in the story of Jade and Obsidian (the latter of which we never saw at the end of the story and now I’m wondering if he’s all right). And, of course, it affirms something I’ve been thinking for awhile and that is that Alan Scott is the most powerful being in the DCU, rivaled I would guess only by The Spectre. All told, excellent story and interesting epilogue that portends another good story for the future.

We see some more of the early days of the Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure Comics #517. Saturn Girl is feeling kind of left out in this tale, as she sees Rokk and Garth being much more comfortable both with the trio’s newfound celebrity and their roles as heroes. Several things happen here to bring her to an understanding of what’s really going on with them all, not the least of which is the fruition of an attraction, and maybe not the one longtime Legion readers know about. The second story here is the one about the Atom and I frankly have a hard time getting into it. I don’t hate it but… well, as I said in another review I really miss Superboy and the Legion being in Adventure.

And then there’s the finding of the twins in Legion of Super-Heroes #4. Earth-Man’s rejection of the Green Lanterns leads to Sodam Yat and Dyogene arguing before Dyogene goes off to do what I thought he was going to do in the first place. The Titanians, meanwhile, are being welcomed—sort of—on Dream Girl’s homeworld of Naltor. Of course, it’s hard to be very welcoming of someone who starts off by saying they hope they don’t doom your world the way they did their own. Not a statement that inspires confidence. The Lightning Twins and Imra find Garth and Imra’s twins on the planet Avalon, where they have to battle a minion of Darkseid for the lads’ freedom. All of this and Sun Boy whining that the Legion needs an election for new leader while simultaneously whining that he’s not up for it. Oh, and speaking of Earth-Man, he reunites with some old friends here—and does something they don’t expect. Interesting threads galore from writer Paul Levitz, with the help of several thousand artists it seems.

Next, we go from many threads to the collapse of all timelines into one. This is the story of Nathaniel Richards in Fantastic Four #582. All Nates have been collapsed into one timeline and given the Highlander Imperative by Immortus. Also in this ish, an adult Valeria from the future has tea with Susan Storm-Richards and tries to explain to her why Franklin and Val have to try to restart the Universe at the end of time. Of course, we can’t know what actually happened… or will happen… even though we see some of it. I’ll go out on a limb and say the Marvel Universe will still be around for awhile. Cool story but it feels like they’re just marking time before the start of the greatly anticipated “Three” storyline. Which starts next ish.

And speaking of time travel and teams and Immortus (sort of), we get to see time-spanning two ways in Avengers #4. First, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Noh-Varr go into the future Kang spoke of and find some familiar faces in (nearly) unfamiliar spaces. Meanwhile, back in the present, Spidey, Thor, Hawkeye, and Spiderwoman meet Killraven, who brings some tripod “friends” along. Not that the tripods are any real threat—just a little exercise for the God of Thunder. Unfortunately, just as Thor is finishing with the ‘pods and getting ready to rejoin the crew he spies a much greater threat to the Earth. Skipping ahead again, we find that the single most familiar face we didn’t expect to see—unless, of course, “we” looked at this issue’s cover—is doing something that sounds unconscionable. I say “sounds” because apparently John Romita Jr. ran out of ink here and they had to run a black panel over writer Brian Michael Bendis’ having “our” Tony Stark scream.

And Avengers Prime #2 doesn’t have time travel but Cap and Shellhead have to be thinking they’re trapped in a world of the past. Separated in the Nine Worlds, Steve, Tony and Thor do what they think they need to to reunite with their friends. Thor finds himself confronted with the Enchantress and her minions, while Steve meets an apparent nice lady among the roughnecks of, I think, Alfheim (that’s what it looks like, anyway), and Tony seems to have forgotten that the Royal Family is never universally loved, even in a land where they literally are gods, especially among the trolls. Of course, when the menace Enchantress speaks of finally shows up you’ll probably, as I did, say the name as you turn that page; it’s really the only thing that makes sense given the evidence we’re shown. An excellent story thus far by Brian Michael Bendis with the usual ho-hum greatness of Alan Davis’ artwork.

Rolling into Batman: The Brave and the Bold #20, we find Big Barda breaking into the Batcave so that Bats will help her find Mr. Miracle. This is a fun story, filled with the team-up derring-do we’re used to seeing in this title. There are New Gods and Apokaliptian villains, heroes tied to missiles and all manner of Indiana Jones-type rescues and… well… just child-like FUN. But there’s also a subtext in this ish, one that finds The Caped Crusader questioning the nature of personal relationships in the super-hero business. He openly speculates that even Scott and Barda’s relationship is a hindrance to their mission. By the end, though he decides that their love is actually a plus but then wonders if he could ever find someone like Barda, someone who would do anything for him and vice versa. It’s actually a rather poignant occurrence in this “kids comic”. Oh, and then there’s a second story where The Dark Knight and Martian Manhunter fight the White Martian General H’Ronmeer again. I guess this was tossed in for those who might fear the first story was bringing about a DC version of Spidey Intellectual Stories.

And, finally, the Soul Eater takes a beating in Angel #36. Of course, not before she reveals something about Spike that no one wanted to hear. Seems he is again soulless, although to hear him tell it he’s just a little off his game. This entire installment is all about the crew getting rid of the Soul Eater. They try everything, even slitting Illyria’s throat – hey, it happens—before Angel finally does what needs to be done. Then we have the second story, where Eddie Hope is getting ready for Gunn’s death when… but that would be telling. More and more good stuff from Bill Willingham and Bill Williams, with Elena Casagrande and Brian Denham, respectively, handling the artwork.

By Sam Christopher

World’s Finest Week:

In the final issue of the series, Superman: Secret Origin #6, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank relate the story of Supes’ first battle with General Sam Lane and Metallo. I liked John Byrnes’ take on that personally, but this was all right. The general here also tells Lois that Superman is an alien, something that no one had thought of. I guess that makes sense for the DCU, where they’d had all manner of “mystery men” going back to the ‘40s and they weren’t all aliens. In fact, as far as the public knew probably none of them were. It’s just not something that would come up often. Now if Supes were to show up here, with all those powers the very first thing most people would think—after it was proved his powers weren’t some elaborate hoax—is that he’s an alien. Anyway, this was overall a very good series, as one would suspect from Johns and Frank. There’s also a cool little frame in this ish where Superman looks pretty much exactly like Chris Reeve. Nice.

Then we get to the Lex Luthor tale in Action Comics #892. Lex has hired Deathstroke to protect him as the whole Luthor team heads for Antarctica in search of more evidence of the Black Ring. They find a sphere of dark energy, one that causes an emotional response of haywire in anyone within proximity. Story’s all right, and at least we get to see Lex’s battle armor. Well, that and we get to see yet another mind controlling villain who will probably figure heavily into this story. There’s also a Superboy backup in which the Teen of Steel (does anyone really call him that anymore?) and the Teen Titans battle… Smallville itself? I don’t know what is really going on here but it does lead directly into the new Superboy #1 coming in November. I liked what they did with the character in Adventure Comics. I still don’t understand why that series of Superboy ended. But then I miss the old Tales of Suspense and Adventure Comics and Tales to Astonish. Marvel and DC both used to have titles that featured various heroes rather than giving those heroes their own books. Marvel did it because of their distribution deal with National Publications at the time, and DC had it going on to give characters who might not make it on their own a shot. I think Superboy can carry a title if done right but I still miss him in Adventure.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2 continues its official “The Search for Batman!” emblazoned across the cover. Rip Hunter’s “discovery” of Claw led, of course, to a brief battle with the latter. Luckily for Rip, this brief battle had no attachment with any reality-based programming, or the unarmed Rip Hunter would have been gutted and slaughtered by the swordsman Claw. I don’t know which incarnation of Claw we’re getting here, either. The character seems to change with each appearance. Booster Gold, Green Lantern and Superman, meanwhile, try and figure out how to find Hunter while helping anyone who needs it while also not doing anything to contaminate the timeline. This last imperative is one that only Booster seems to have. This leads to a great scene where BG once again has top pretend to be the clown he no longer is, allowing Hal to look upon him with disdain in order to protect BG’s cover as guardian of the timeline. Oh well, at least Bruce Wayne knows the truth.

Detective Comics #868 continues the story of the Impostor Joker and the Jokerz. The Jokerz are ordered to rob all the banks and just throw the money to the street, proving once again that most people don’t really understand the story of Robin Hood– although in this day and age at least I J’s definition is closer than it used to be (and far too close for comfort, but that’s another story). Meanwhile, the Guardian Bats are also on the street, killing Jokerz—who are mostly just kids on a drug bender—left and right in an effort to “help”. Bats and Commissioner Gordon are caught in the middle of all of this. During the ish, Dick decides he needs to feel the effects of I J’s Joker Venom concoction. This leads to him and Alfred having a little tiff, which is kind of funny, really. It looks like the head Guardian Bat is Jason Todd to me, but there have been so many villains of Batman who are able to duplicate Bats’ abilities there’s really no telling.

A little more background on Bruce Wayne comes our way in Batman #702. In this installment we see Bruce preparing for his showdown with Darkseid. I don’t really think much of his “figuring out” that Darkseid will retaliate against Batman by sending him back in time with his Omega Beams. I really have to say that I think this is totally lame. I don’t care how brilliant “The World’s Greatest Detective” is supposed to be, NO ONE could figure on something like that. The only other thing I would say here is that Bats should have shot Darkseid with a flintlock; he tells everyone his “essence of bullet” can be fired from any gun. I just think it would have been cooler coming from an old, non-lethal looking weapon rather than the futuristic gun he shot the New God with. Well, I’d say that and that I’m not that sanguine about the notion that Bruce’s parents were shot with this bullet. I’ve always thought Bats works far better as a non-cosmic hero and this notion makes him more cosmic than he needs to be. For me anyway.

By Sam Christopher

Chicks in Charge:

The Spectacular Spidergirl #4 brings an ending to the Gang War storyline in this mini from Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. It also brings an ending to several characters, not only the obvious ones. And I mean a true, most likely final ending. Even though she doesn’t die here, I see no way that April can come back as anything like a viable character on the side of right after this. I know why she did what she did—and I have to say that I find it hard to argue with it here—but there’s just no way May can ignore it, especially given what April did to Mary Jane. We can only hope that American Dream and Darkdevil recover completely here. One thing about this series is that with it being set outside the established Marvel Universe anything can happen to anyone really. Of course, they try and keep the tone lighter but bad things still happen to good people. And to bad people. I enjoyed this series, I don’t know how much that’s worth, though, because I love this character and this world they’ve put her in. I just hope we can look forward to seeing her adventures for many years… to… come… What’s this?

Yes, then they almost immediately hit us with Spidergirl: The End, a one-shot designed to… well, I guess tell us a cool Spidergirl story. It doesn’t really end anything. I mean, it shows us the end, shows us the far future, where Spidergirl is gone and there’s something strange going on with the people there. You get that much after just a couple pages, the rest you have to get through the tale. And it is a very good story. Not very original but still fun to read and a neat twist on things. Now, even though I still can’t see Mayhem just picking up and carrying on as a hero if she comes back I can at least see Spidergirl and the rest trusting her. I wonder, though, if our heroes will somehow learn what the whole thing was about. Just like I wonder if Wes is supposed to be Mayday’s Mary Jane. Ah, well, a thousand questions, a thousand questions… with any luck, DeFalco and Frenz will get to work answering them with this character and her wonderful supporting cast very shortly.

Now we’ll shift gears a little and go from the girl in the costume who fights a killing machine to the girl in the costume who fights the… killing… machine. Well, I never said any of this was original, folks. Power Girl #15 has PG doing battle with a machine that uses a human mind for its matrix and then evolves to the point where it can destroy an entire city bare-handed. She FINALLY gets what I was thinking the whole time, although she doesn’t do what I would have done with the info. Karen contacts a guy at her office, one who very nearly went to jail before coming to work for her, and asks him to hack into government computers and find out anything he can about C. R. A. S. H. He, after telling her that if her company survives its current financial crisis he will quit, tells her that the thing has a four hour expiration and that it’s not alive in any way. I would have taken the thing and threw it in the Sun immediately. She decides to try and keep it busy for awhile. All this before another villain who should be very well known to Karen but isn’t (and that hint should tell you who it is) shows up and changes everything.

And speaking of throwing people into the Sun, Supergirl does something along those lines in order to take care of her “alter ego” in Supergirl #55. Seems that Bizarro #1 sent his “cousin” Bizarro Supergirl away from Bizarro World so she could escape from something they call the Godship. In this ish, Kara fights with her imperfect double until given a hand by Doctor Light. Of course, then writer Sterling Gates has to turn everything completely on its head for an ending that sees us set up for at least the next issue and maybe for a few installments. And even though it seemed to come from out of the blue I have to admit that I think I know what’s going on. I could be wrong, though, and I don’t mind at all waiting for a month to find out. Also, while I have no real problem with most of Jamal Igle’s artwork here I have to say I hate the way he drew Perry White. I don’t know why—like I said I like his art on this title mostly—but there was just something about his depiction of Perry that I really hated. I guess we all have our ways of looking at things.

“What do you call a Brythunian who marries a pig?” “A social climber.” He’ll be here all week, folks. That was a line from Dynamite’s excellent Classic Red Sonja Re-Mastered #3. This fun story from Savage Sword of Conan #23 was originally written by Roy “The Boy” Thomas back in the great Silver Age of Marvel in the ‘70s. It was also adapted from a novel—something I didn’t know—by David C. Smith and Richard Tierney. I really thought it was influenced by Rush’s “The Necromancer” from their Caress of Steel album, and maybe there is some of that in there. Also, we have some pretty cool vintage Esteban Maroto artwork to look at here. Back in the time when this story was originally being read by readers looking for a little more adult fantasy than could be afforded by any book that had the Comics Code stamp on its cover, Marvel’s black-and-white magazines were a treasure trove of great stories that you just couldn’t find anywhere else. The writers and artists here were usually left to their own devices as to what they wanted to write. As long as what they wrote sold they were left alone for the most part. I think it’s really cool that Dynamite is doing this for these Red Sonja stories, I’m just wondering if Dark Horse might not be prevailed upon to do something like this for Conan.

And the next one’s about a girl we never see in the book, although they do talk about her a lot. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Riley is all about Riley having been asked by Buffy to join the team and help her save… I think everyone who reads the book knows and if you don’t read the book what the hell is wrong with you?!? Anyway, the cool thing here is that this is written by Buffy tv series scribe Jane Espenson. It’s not the first comics thing she’s done or anything, not even the first Buffy thing she’s done in comics by a long shot. It’s just cool. That is all. And it’s also cool that this story is so good. It is essentially a story of Riley and his wife discussing a decision he needs to make. Only thing that would have been cooler is if he had had to shoot a witch or something to prove himself to Twilight. Or if Andrew had been there, too. Everything goes better with Andrew.

J. Michael Straczynski’s run on the Amazon Princess continues with Wonder Woman #602. Here we have Diana meeting some of her people hiding out in a temple to Aphrodite. Diana actually speaks to one of the gods—could be Aphrodite—and denounces them angrily for not coming down in person to help against the men outside waiting to slaughter the Amazons as they try and escape. I don’t know. It’s early yet so I want to give Joe the benefit of any doubt I have here. I mean, this is only the second part—third if you count the prequel from WW #600—so there’s a lot of stuff we haven’t seen yet. I just can’t help but think back to Gail Simone’s run and how much more interesting it always seemed than this. And that was without any of the mystery that all of this tale seems shrouded in. I don’t hate it. Maybe it is just because it’s so early and the mystery is still a long way from fruition. We’ll see.

“This stuff stinks worse than a dead dog’s butt!” Thus says Harley Quinn in Gotham City Sirens #15. Poison Ivy has been seduced by an alien plant lifeform whose mission is to make Earth safe for the colonization of his race. And to do that, of course, they need all the humans on the planet dead. All but maybe Ivy. Maybe. The other girls try and talk their friend out of her part in this and… well, let’s just say it’s a good thing they are friends, because I see no way Selina or Harley could go ten seconds in true head-to-head pitched battle with Ivy. It’s all okay, though; everything works out for the best and they don’t even have to burn Gotham to the ground. They do that just for fun. Just kidding. I don’t know if the creative team of Tony Bedard and Andres Guinaldo will continue on this book but we readers could do a lot worse.

Alan Dean Foster’s adept Adaptation of the 2009 Film hits Mass Market Paperback finally

By Carl Lawrence

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 Stars

This is a broad overview of Alan Dean Foster’s Novel Adaptation of last year’s Star Trek movie in which the focus will be how well the book matches up to the film, or deviates from it, and also takes into account statements related to plot points made by screenwriter Roberto Orci just after the release of the film to theaters last year. (Orci and co-writer Alex Kurtzman wrote the screenplay for the 2009 film and share writing credit for the novel adaptation as well.)
There are a few noteworthy discrepancies that quickly caught my attention while reading this book that I shall cite.

To help illustrate my initial point, I would ask that you first read the following excerpt from the Foster novelization . . .

The fence was not particularly high, but it was strongly charged. The invisible energy beams that hummed through the traditional metal latticework and rose higher than his head could not be interdicted without setting off multiple alarms. Vertically aimed beams meant that a would-be intruder could not simply soar over it. Kirk made no attempt to do so. Instead, he pulled up just outside the perimeter. Within, wrapped in a web of metal and composite scaffolding, a starship was under construction.

Its presence was no secret. Starfleet had chosen central Iowa as the site of this particular construction yard not only because of its proximity to Mississippi shipping and the industrial-commercial hubs of the Midwest but because if something blew, few people outside the yard itself would be at risk. There was ample room to work, plenty of territory for subsidiary firms and support industries to set up shop, and the ground was flat and tectonically stable.
(Pages 55, trade paperback edition)

I felt it necessary to provide that excerpt so you the reader can more fully appreciate the significance of what isn’t there. More specifically, Roberto Orci stated shortly after the release of the movie that the Enterprise was being built in Iowa for the purpose of honoring George Kirk, Jim Kirk’s father. Yet nowhere in the novel adaptation does this supposed fact appear.

Likewise, it would have also been easy to mention that what occurs on Vulcan is happening during the spring season, hence, a blue sky rather than the red sky longtime fans would have naturally expected instead. If either of those points were addressed in the book, it would have been easier to take what Orci has had to say more seriously even if some viewers of the film felt inclined to disagree on either front anyway. (What is also bothersome about the appearance of Vulcan is how easily CGI could have been utilized to change the sky from blue to red in the movie if the producers were interested in being consistent with how the planet was depicted in prior stories centered around the original cast of characters.) This lack of supporting evidence in the novel leads one to question the veracity of Orci’s statements all the more concerning such matters.

Beyond that, Foster’s novel differs from the movie mostly in small ways. Instead of it opening with the Kelvin and her crew seeing the Narada emerging from the singularity, it starts with Spock’s birth, which is short and runs only a few pages, but that change was not an unreasonable decision on the part of the author. There are also some minor modifications in terms of character dialogue, such as where Kirk and McCoy meet on the transport ship. In the film, McCoy remarks that he ended up there as a result of a recent divorce, with his wife having pretty much left him with only his bones, and his being fortunate that he still had those once she was done with him. (That’s very different from the way in which he had acquired the nickname “Bones” in the original series by the way, where it was a term of affection apparently assigned to him by Kirk as a reference to his old country Southern American roots). In the novel in contrast, McCoy refers only to his “skeleton” rather than his bones upon meeting young Kirk on the transport ship out of Iowa. (I wonder if Alan Dean Foster did that intentionally, having rejected the manner by which the nickname had been assigned to McCoy in the film by its writers.)

The novel deviates a bit more so from the movie a little past the halfway point in the book, where Foster devotes significantly more time to character dialogue in various places, particularly with respect to the timeline issue and its implication for this new cast of characters compared to the original players. The problem is however that despite all that extra effort, one is still left wondering whether the original timeline has actually been overwritten by the events of this story, or whether it remains intact. This novel is well written and an easy read however, and Foster is due credit for at least injecting the possibility that a multiverse scenario is at issue in contrast to the film, which hints at it only very indirectly at best, and if anything leaves the viewer more so with the impression that the original timeline is being rewritten instead (viewers who turned to the Internet and found solace with Roberto Orci’s talking out of both sides of his mouth on the matter notwithstanding).

The book also does a notably better job of delving into and explaining Nero’s motivation than the film does by comparison. The reader is left with a clearer, more concise insight into his thinking concerning his genocidal planet-destroying reign of terror.

One final thought about the films’ writers. It had been reported prior to the release of the movie that Alex Kurtzman was more of an original series and cast fan, whereas his colleague, Orci, had a preference for Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Graphic Novel Comic series prequel to the 2009 film, titled Star Trek: Countdown, appears to indicate that both men are actually TNG fans first and foremost, however. Being an original cast and series fan myself it’s nice to know that one of them had a preference for classic Trek over what followed much later on, but neither of them felt inclined to review episodes of the original series before sitting down to write the script for their first Star Trek movie. I consider that rather unfortunate. They claimed to have read a number of the novels however, none of which are considered canon, and the one book it appears they made no attempt to get their hands on apparently was The Making of Star Trek, which was co-authored by Gene Roddenberry in the late 1960s. Were they in any way required to do that kind of background research? Obviously not, although it would have been welcome, and the kind of movie they produced in the end had an obvious bearing on the form and shape the novel adaptation would take on as well, ultimately. The film fared well with critics and audiences alike nonetheless, however, but it was a very different kind of Star Trek compared to the original. More modern, yes, but the dynamic between the characters, and indeed the characters themselves have taken on a new and different tone in this post-Roddenberry age. Your father’s Star Trek it ain’t, as the early promotional ads boasted prior to the film’s release. For better or for worse, this is now where we are and where things stand.

Bemoaning about what might have been versus what is aside, though, Foster’s book is an enjoyable read, well worth the time if you’re a devoted Trekker, and particularly if you would like more insight than the film itself provides. It’s the same story, following very much the same path, so it’s easy to relive the events of the movie in its pages while reading it, and while it offers relatively little in the way of new or additional material, it leaves the reader with a better and fuller understanding of the film overall, nonetheless by filling in some of the more noticeable gaps.

I read the first edition that was published as a trade Paperback last year to coincide with the release of the movie, which was a New York Times Bestseller. A new edition in Mass Market Pocket Paperback is set for release at the end of this month.

Related:
Movie Review: Star Trek
Comic Book Review: Star Trek: Countdown

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Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Coming out in 1984 at a time when big budget, sfx-laden films were becoming more common at the Box Office, this film left a lot of people walking out of the theaters with their heads spinning and saying wtf! The movie starts out with Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) performing a surgical procedure after which he is rushed away to test out a new jet-propelled car which he has equipped with an oscillation overthruster and which he drives through a mountain and into another dimension. When he emerges on the other side, he finds a strange alien organism attached to the pod; proof that he travelled to the 8th Dimension. The mentally unstable Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) sees a report of Buckaroo’s successful experiment on the news which prompts him to escape from the institution where he is imprisoned so that he can steal the overthruster. Lizardo had previously done similar experiments through which he was possessed by Lord John Whorfin, an evil Red Lectroid from the 8th Dimension. The escaped Lizardo/Whorfin heads to Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in Grovers Mill, New Jersey (yes, the link to Orson Wells’ radio broadcast is intentional) where fellow Red Lectroids John Yaya, John Smallberries, and John Bigbooté (yes, the recurring Johns are intentional) head up a group of renegades planning to return to the 8th Dimension and conquer Planet 10 once they acquire the overthruster. Meanwhile, a Black Lectroid spaceship commanded by the female John Emdall (yes, another John and this time a woman) orbits the Earth monitoring the situation. Emdall sends a message to Buckaroo and demands that he stop John Whorfin otherwise she will trick the United States and Russia into launching nuclear strikes on one another. With no other choice, Buckaroo calls into action his rock band/super adventurers the Hong Kong Cavaliers along with his civilian backup the Blue Blaze Irregulars and jumps into the crisis with guns blaring.

If that synopsis left your head spinning, then know that I really only scraped the surface of the experience that is Buckaroo Banzai. This movie delivered a cross-genre satire that poked fun at its comic book/science fiction origins while also relishing in the excesses of both and finishing off with plenty of wit and hip posturing. Eschewing the more broad Airplane-style spoofs and maneuvering past the low-brow humor of Spaceballs, the movie walked that fine line between comedy and drama with plenty of winks to the well-versed sci fi fans sitting in the audience. It starts out by setting a breathless pace as it throws the viewer into the middle of the action and it never takes a break to let the audience catch up. And that’s part of its charm, even if it likely put off many viewers on its first go around. This gets the viewers immediately involved in the action, even if they do not necessarily understand everything passing by on the screen as it proceeds at light speed. The movie takes several passes to fully get your arms around it and each new viewing turns up yet another nugget that the screenwriters stashed away somewhere for the tenacious, curious fan to unveil later.

Buckaroo Banzai also managed to deliver a spirit of fun, adventure, and whim that the Hollywood machine had already started to squash in favor of cookie-cutter Blockbusters. Like a breath of fresh air, it departed from the more structured, formulaic cinematic output and verged on the anarchic. But it never got too brainy or geeky, either. It was not the type of movie that only the nerdiest of sci fi fans could get into, just anyone who appreciates a good amount of wit and angular story-telling. It also had a sense of hipness about it with its attractive, ultra-cool cast (was Buckaroo perhaps the first cool geek?) and its stylized look (that distinguished itself just enough from the fashion of the 80’s to create a timeless chic). In many ways, Buckaroo Banzai was a superhero movie with its action-star, renaissance man hero, and it also included some throwback references to earlier adventure serials as well as 50’s sci fi. And Peter Weller along with his supporting cast made this look cool and effortless. And that cast includes a who’s who of names that have since established themselves in movies and television such as John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, and Clancy Brown.

Buckaroo Banzai was not a low-budget film with production costs coming in at $12 million. But it did veer to the lower side compared to other genre films that came out the same year like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($28 million budget) and Ghostbusters ($30 million budget) and it had a slightly lower price tag than 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ($16 million budget). But I count Buckaroo Banzai as an Anti-Blockbuster because of the way it thumbed its nose at Hollywood and delivered a completely unique film that defies easy categorization and that marketers found nearly impossible to promote (and thus they just chose not to). This resulted in a disastrous Box Office run (making back less than one fourth of its budget) when it was first released. The movie quickly caught on in the home video market, though, and has since become a cult hit. Unfortunately, the promised sequel (teased just prior to the ending credits as Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League) never surfaced because of the poor Box Office reception of this film. But the original creators did eventually carry on the story of Buckaroo in comics through several excellent mini-series put out by Blue Water Productions.

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