Comic Book Friday: Star Trek: Classics — The Next Generation: Beginnings by Mike Carlin

Close to forty years past the premiere of The Next Generation, it’s hard to remember just a gamble The Next Generation was back in 1987. After years of struggling to get a weekly series back on our airwaves, Gene Roddenberry finally had his wish and was returning to television and the day-to-day running of a Trek series.

And while Paramount had little control over whether or not the quality of a new Star Trek would be up to snuff, they could certainly make sure the public was aware of the series. This brings us to this collection of the six-issue DC limited series comic books based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Reading them thirty-plus years later, they stand out as a bit of anachronistic.

It feels like writer Mark Carlin was given an early writer’s bible to the show and based his stories and characterization on that. Data is a bit more emotional than we see in the series (at one point when Geordi is apparently killed, Data is ready to kill the person he considers responsible), Troi’s abilities seem to include predicting the future (to the point that Picard defers to her on the make-up of a landing party) and Picard seems a bit sterner. In many ways, the first couple of issues feel like they were inspired by the same writer’s guide that Diane Carey did for the first Pocket novel, “Ghost Ship.”

The characters feel almost like the ones we will come to know, but there’s something slightly off-kilter about them. Given that TNG is relatively new when the first issues were produced, having the characters stop to reflect on their backstory isn’t necessarily worth taking points off. It’s just one of those things that happen in comic books from time to time. (Well, at least comics of this era.)

The comics do provide an interesting “what if” glimpse into how Tasha Yar could have been developed. Denise Crosby left after the first season due to the feeling her character wasn’t getting any decent scripts or character development. These comics make me wonder if the writing team for the TV series had taken a page from what we see here if Crosby might have stayed around a bit.

There’s also an interest in bringing Q back and stripping him of his powers –something TNG would do in season three with great effect. It’s interesting to see another writer get to there first and what he makes of the situation and its impact on Q.

Alas, these nuggets are the only gems of this otherwise disappointing collection of six issues. Carlin doubles down on the families on the Enterprise aspect of the series by giving us a bickering couple who work together at the ops station when the regular crew is off having adventures. Think the Bickersons but piloting the flag ship of the fleet. Then there is the second issue in which the crew visits a planet just in time for Christmas and pursues the spirit of Christmas — who only Geordi can see with his visor and looks like just Santa Claus. Subtle, this ain’t.

Given how good the DC run of original series tie-in comics could be, it’s a shame that this limited series misses the mark so badly.

And yet, I read the entire collection through to the end. I’m not sure if this says something more about this collection or me. I leave that up to your discretion.

Comic Book Review:Spider-Man: The Spider’s Shadow

After enjoying Spider-Man: Life Story, I was optimistic to see what Chip Zdarsky might do for an encore. The result is the fairly disappointing extended “what if” story The Spider’s Shadow.

What if instead of giving up the symbiotic black costume when Reed Richards warned him about it, Peter Parker kept it and gave himself over to its dark nature?

Well, according to this collection of five issues, Peter Parker would become public enemy number one, slaughtering multiple members of his rogue’s gallery along the way because the Hobgoblin kills Aunt May. There’s always been a bit of a dark undercurrent to the story of Spider-Man, though many writers haven’t really explored that side of things. Zdarsky did that over the course of Peter’s life in Life Story and maybe part of my issue here is that the timeline is simply too compressed to make for a satisfying story like the original collection was. Seeing Peter slowly descend into darkness makes sense and the question of “what if” Spidey had a really bad day and was pushed too far is an intriguing one.

But this could be one of those stories where it goes too dark and possibly too far. I get that Venom is a violent, dark mirror of Spider-Man — a creature that is the bonding of two entities that hate Peter Parker. And the idea the alien costume might feed into some of Peter’s internal self-doubt and loathing is an intriguing one. But honesty, the concept of Peter going dark was better realized in the animated series from the 90’s when the dark suit was brought into the story. I guess I wanted to see Peter do more than just become a violent sociopath who kills or hurts everyone around him before getting a bit of redemption and an obligatory happy ending.

Like a lot of modern comics, this feels like a story that was expanded a bit too much for its running time. Life Story had each issue focus on a decade of Peter’s life. This one just seems to run along from violent point to horrifying cliffhanger.

I wanted to enjoy this a lot more than I did. A bit of a disappointment.

Comic Book Friday: Normandy Gold by Megan Abbot and Alison Gaylin

Megan Abbott and Alison Gaylin team-up for the Hard Case Crime series’ first graphic novel, Normandy Gold.

A love-letter to 70’s thrillers, this six-issue miniseries reads just like you’d expect — hard hitting, hard drinking, and completely over the top. In short, it’s a blast…if you’re in the right frame of mind for it.

When her stripper sister goes missing, Normandy Gold heads to D.C. to find out what really happened. What she finds is a vortex of lies, deceit, and underhand dealings that extend the highest levels of power.

A fun, entertaining ride that reminds me of just what it is about the Hard Case Crime series I enjoy so much.

Review: Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 13

Collecting a dozen or so issues of the original run of The Amazing Spider-Man, this may represent the most memorable stories of the Gerry Conway era. Starting off with the epic two-part story that “changed comics forever,” “The Night Gwen Stacey Died” set a new tone for the Peter Parker and his secret identity. It’s one of the few comic book deaths (outside of Uncle Ben) that has really stuck, though Marvel has certainly tried to mess with this by having clones of Gwen come back and then later revelations that Gwen and Norman Osborne were hooking up while she was off in London.

The two part story that features the end of Gwen and the original Green Goblin has been retold and given homage in multiple re-tellings of the Spider-Man story. But few are better than what Conway does in these two issues. Knowing the ending allows you to sit back and really examine how Conway and the creative team on ASM toyed with readers of the day, building up and foreshadowing the two major deaths to come.

As if that monumental two-part saga weren’t enough, we also get the introduction of the Punisher to the Marvel-verse and the Jackal to the Spider-verse. And both of these introductions occur in the same issue. The sad part is that said issue isn’t necessarily much to write home about. The Punisher is an interesting force to be reckoned with, but in his debut, he’s pretty much a one-note character. The backstory that we associate with the character comes later.

Review: Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War

When the best thing you can say about a comic book cross-over event is — well, at least the art was nice, you know something isn’t quite working. Or maybe that this particular cross-over event isn’t your cup of tea.

Collecting the six-issue run of Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War, this limited run series is not two great tastes that taste great together. In one reality, the Green Lantern corp has just been wiped out by some evil force. Rings of various colors hop over to the JJ Trek verse and assign themselves to familiar faces in the final frontier.

Adventure ensues. Along the way, there’s a massive battle between all the various colors of the spectrum and the planet Vulcan comes back from the dead, complete with zombie Vulcans.

And yet for all of this, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d arrived late for the party and missed some important details that reduced my enjoyment of this crossover event. It could be that my familiarity with Green Lantern is limited to what I’ve seen in the DC cartoons and the big screen version of the character with Ryan Reynolds. I hope that those who are more versed in Lantern lore will get more of seeing why various rings chose certain characters that I missed here. And I suppose if I recognized any of the Green Lantern pantheon of foes beyond Sinestro, I might have felt a bit more drive and drama to the battle to save the universes.

Instead, what I felt for much of this collection (beyond the first issue) was confused and uninterested. The third issue does little more than tread water as we set up things for the return of zombie Vulcan and Scotty inventing his own power ring.

In all honesty, I can’t necessarily recommend this one to a casual fan. It feels like we’ve got a shoehorning of the JJ-verse Star Trek characters into a Green Lantern event mini-series. And it’s one that left me as cold as General Chang’s bones in space at the end of this story.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a digital ARC of this comic book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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Comic Book Friday: The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks

Sure she can leap tall buildings in a single bound and defeat deadly ninjas, but what about things like accidentally shrinking your cape in the wash or leaving your mask on and accidentally revealing your secret identity by the tanlines it leaves? Or how about trying to find the money for rent or sitting in the shadow of your big brother, Kevin, who also has superpowers?

These are just some of the dilemmas facing Katie aka Superhero Girl.

This collection of comics following her adventures is a pure delight. Faith Erin Hicks strips are clever, skillfully rendered and, best of all, funny. As Superhero Girl struggles with the quest to find love all while trying to defeat space aliens, ninjas and her self-appointed nemesis, Hicks tells an entertaining story but also offers up some sneaky commentary — both on the nature of comic book superheroes and social commentary.

In the end, it’s a funny collection that left me wanting to spend more time in this world. Luckily, I’ve found that there are more strips featuring Katie and her adventures on-line.

Comic Book Friday: Avengers: Age of Ultron

In anticipation of the upcoming Avengers sequel, I decided to delve a bit into the comic book history of Ultron and his battles with the Avengers.

So when I saw my local library had a collected edition called “The Age of Ultron” I figured it might be a good starting point to get ready for the upcoming film.

Four-hundred or so pages and more issues than I can count later, I can only hope that Joss Whedon isn’t using this as inspiration from the upcoming film.*

*Based on the trailers I don’t think this is an issue, but you never know.

Comprising a ten issue mini-series and various one-offs featuring various parties battling against an army of Ultrons, this convoluted story drops readers in once the destruction has happened and the Earth is in the hands of our robotic Ultron overlords. As a last ditch solution, the team sends Wolverine and Sue Storm back in time to take out Hank Pym and prevent him from invented Ultron in the first place.

Comic Book Friday: The X-Files: Year Zero & Wizzywig

The X-Files: Year Zero

Between Kumail Nanjiani’s The X-Files Files and news that Fox is getting ready to re-open The X-Files, my interest in one of my favorite shows has been renewed. I’ve read a couple of the season ten installments of this new comic series and felt they were hit or miss. So I approached this collection of the five-issue series focusing on the establishment of the famous X-Files with an open mind.

As Mulder and Scully look into a case in the current time-line, we’re given flashes back to the beginnings of the case and the two FBI agents assigned to investigate it. It’s a fairly entertaining, well told little story that checks a lot of boxes for continuity fan and is full of Easter eggs for long-time obsessive fans of the show. But if you’re not a huge fan or dropped out around the time Mulder left the show, you’ll still be able to jump into this one and enjoy what’s going on here (unlike some of the stories from year 10 that require you to be more than passingly familiar with the mythology from the later seasons of the show).

Of the recent X-Files comics, I have to admit this is my favorite of the bunch, simply because it’s a stand alone story. I’m not sure I’d necessarily pick up a whole series of stories set in the early days of the X-Files but I’d be interested enough to read one or two more stories featuring these new characters.

Comic Book Friday: Black Widow, Volume I: The Finely Woven Threat

In the wake of The Avengers, it seems like every character included on screen is being given his or her chance to star in their own series. That includes Natasha Romananov or as you might know her better Black Widow.

This collection of the first six issues of the new series is an interesting take on a character that I didn’t know much about beyond what we’ve seen in the Marvel movie universe. Haunted by her past, Natasha puts her services out for hire between saving the world with SHIELD. But instead of profiting by the missions, she quietly gives the fees she earns to the families of her victims. She also refuses to allow herself to grow close to anyone around here, even to the point that she struggles to adopt an adorable kitten who clearly has taken a shine to her.

As a member of the Marvel-verse without any powers (well, besides the ability to kick gluttous-maximus and take names), Black Widow’s story presented here is a surprisingly human and grounded one. While it’s fun to see her take on various threats and to see missions go awry, the more intriguing parts are the moments of self-reflection by Black Widow. These six issues of the comic book series have a loose arc (it’s more defined in the last couple of installments), allowing you to enjoy the character work without having to worry you’re missing a story-altering detail in issue one that will be of vital importance to the saga in issue six.

I’m intrigued enough by this that I will be on the lookout for the next collection of issues.

Comic Book Friday: Strong Female Protagonist, Volume I & The Flash: Move Forward

Strong Female Protagonist 

One of the best aspects of NetGalley is that I get to try things that are a bit outside of my wheelhouse or that I wasn’t previously aware of until I skimmed the latest offerings. It led me to discover the sublime Sex Criminals, Volume I last year and now I’ve come across another gem with Strong Female Protagonist.

This web-comic takes ingredients from some of the main-stream comic publishing events (Marvel’s Civil War springs to mind) and the sensibility of Buffy and other Whedon-verse shows to offer us the story of Alex Green. Once known as Mega Girl and part of an elite fighting force of superheroes, Alex publicly unmasked and is trying to live a normal life. As a freshman in college, Alex struggles with the remnants of her fame, including a professor who holds an obvious grudge against her (and when it’s revealed why, it’s one of the most heartbreaking and moving moments in a story filled with them) and the fact that she can’t stop at fast food place to enjoy a burger and fries without being recognized.

As a deconstruction of super hero stories, Strong Female Protagonist works extremely well. But more than that, the story is a compelling, fascinating character examination of not only Alex but also others affected by the realization that they have super powers. It’s a world where these powers have consequences, both negative and positive. One haunting aspect is a former super villain who has come up with an interesting way to use her powers to atone for her sins. There’s also the fourth chapter of the book that fills in details of Alex growing up and her relationship with his family and the family’s favorite pet. The fourth chapter alone is worth the price of admission for this book, but I’d say it’s far more affecting having spent the first three chapters getting to know Alex and her world.