|
|
Home Comic Books Books
Magazines Games Video Games Misc
Models That Box
Of Chocolates As Forrest Gump so famously said about a box of chocolates
and life itself, you can never be sure what you're going to get. The
same thing can be said about DVDs in the proliferating universe of
theatrical, made for television, straight to DVD and multitude of other
features. There is very bad stuff out there, very good stuff and all manner
of stuff in the middle. Three DVDS recently reviewed point exactly the gulf
between what's available, but this time the difference is not between the
very bad and the very good, but the very good and the weirdly interesting and
a movie that was a failure in its theatrical release and is kind of a hash,
but still is good enough to be worth at least a one-time rental. For the best
first. 'Perfect Creature' is a Kiwi production set in an
alternate Nuova Zelandia (or New Zealand in our universe) starring Dougray
Scott. For a film released in 2007, it didn't make much of a splash and
definitely not the impact it deserves in terms of cinematic excellence. Whether you're a science fiction, fantasy or horror fan,
this is a movie you shouldn't miss because this is one of the most unique
vampire films you're ever likely to see; unique in theme and look. The theme of the film is simple and yet mind-blowing. In
this alternate universe, vampires are not supernatural creatures of the night
but mutations to the human species that appeared in the 16th century and were
proclaimed special creations of God by a benign churchman. Immortal, inhumanly strong and fast, vampires have become
The Brotherhood, an adjunct of the Christian church who serve humanity and in
turn are supplied with their lifegiving blood by a respectful and grateful
church population. As Scott's character, Brother Silus says, in 300 years a
Brother has never harmed a human being - until now. And now Brother Silus' half-brother Brother Edgar has been
driven insane by scientific experiments he was conducting. Driven by his
insanity, Edgar is killing human beings, not only killing them, but infecting
them with a disease that drives them as insane as he is. If he isn't stopped,
the long-subdued natural fear that humans have for even benign vampires will
be unleashed and a war will break out between vampire and human. An unusual plot is matched
by great acting, chemistry between Brother Silus and the human female
detective Lilly, a tense action plot and a unique feel and look. This is one
that should be around for a long time. A film about as different as you can get from this classic
is 'Nightmare Detective' one of the new school of Japanese horror
films that have made that country a new leader in the genre. This 2007
film stars Ryuhei Matsuda as the Nightmare Detective and Hitomi as a female
police detective who becomes involved in the hunt for a killer who can invade
the nightmares of victims and drive them to suicide. Under most definitions, this
would have to be called science fiction, although purists might claim it's
definitely fantasy and there's enough blood, gore, screaming and chills that
it can and does legitimately claim its horror status.' horror fest featuring a monster with long
fingernails coming out of your dreams to get you. The film begins showing you
the Nightmare Detective at work, never explaining how he does what he does,
but showing him in his sleep entering the dreams of an old friend of his
father who lies in a coma in a hospital room waiting to die. Paid by the family to enter the old man's dream to find
out who will inherit his fortune, the Nightmare Detective fails in that
mission and fails to talk the old man to returning to the real world. And
when he wakes up he's regarded as a failure by the family and thrown out of
the hospital room. Deeply scarred by personal
tragedies, and regarding himself as a failure at his career, we next see the
Nightmare Detective vegetating in his room after a failed suicide attempt
when pretty Lieutenant Kirishima and a male colleague come to ask for his
help in a last ditch effort to solve a series of weird suicides. Why are the police investigating suicides? Because in each
case the victim was talking to the same man the night before they killed
themselves, usually by chopping themselves up with sharp objects. Each victim
dies in a nightmare, and someone on the police force has heard about a
psychic who claims to be able to enter other people's dreams. As in a lot of private eye flicks, the Nightmare Detective
is dragged unwillingly into the case, not least by what appears to be a
growing fondness for the beautiful Kirishima, who is intelligent, prickly,
driven and eventually the target of the nightmare killer. She willingly
enters the killer's nightmare to try to catch him, and the Nightmare Detective
as with any hero worth his salt, goes in after her to save her. There's a lot more to the film than this brief summation.
It's moody, captures the spirit of modern industrial Japan and actually does
make sense from a plot standpoint, which is a lot more than can be said for
most horror flicks. Oh, there's going to be a sequel, which I will catch. And it's subtitled. But be a man! Or a woman! Put up with
a little reading to enjoy an unusual amalgam of science
fiction/fantasy/horror/police procedural mystery. Finally at the bottom of the heap is 'The Premonition'
starring America's former sweetheart, Sandra Bullock. This is a very
confusing, full-of-holes, horror/fantasy? flick that you can summarize in one
complex sentence: Troubled housewife learns her distant hubbie has been
killed in a terrible accident one day; the next he's alive and the accident
never happened. Wha???? Put not quite so baldly, this time-travel flick of a sort
deals with a woman whose mind apparently keeps shuttling back and forth from
a time before her husband is killed to a time after he's killed, and she
never knows when she wakes up in the morning if he's dead or alive. Eventually, the movie does start to make some sort of
sense. You realize that things do happen in sequence. The movie starts off
with Bullock's husband, Julian McMahon of TV's 'Nip-Tuck' fame, alive and
getting ready to go on a business trip where he intends to have a fling with
a luscious blonde co-worker. It ends days later after he's killed in an
accident and Bullock has come under suspicion because of her weird behavior
before the accident occurred. Almost every review pasted this film and the only kind
words were spared for Bullock, who somehow managed to make viewers care what
happened to her character even though they couldn't figure out what was going
on. Those were valid criticisms, and this is a seriously
flawed movie in many ways. But if you look at it as a science fiction or
fantasy film examining the possibility of the mind jumping back and forth in
time, which has been the subject for a lot of treatments, it does have its
merits. The film does present viewers with a mystery and then
offers an answer as they realize that Bullock in effect has a chance to see
the future in which her husband dies. She has the time to realize he is about
to commit the adultery that will put the final nail in the coffin of
their marriage. And she is given the power that few people ever have to make
a choice as to whether she lets him die, or fights to save him and her
marriage because of the love they once shared and the two children he
obviously still loves and who love him. Like I said, the filmmakers screwed up the ending, but if
everything had to end perfectly to be worthwhile, there would never be love
affairs or marriages because a lot of those end up screwed up as well. This is a weak movie, but if you're a Bullock or time
travel or fantasy fan, it's probably worth a Blockbuster rental. Titans #1 There are some guilty pleasures of our youth that we have a hard time putting away. For some it might be the Cranberries, others the early Van Damme or original Rambo movies. In adult hind sight, you realize the shortcomings of what you loved at an earlier age. But the love remains. For a lot of you out there, it might well be the old Teen Titans; that merry mlange of angst,
hormones, generational rebellion and some really good and bad villains. There
was Wonder Girl and Robin, the heart of the series, and Beast Boy who was the
comic relief and Cavalry at the same time, and who could forget Starfire, the
closest comics ever came to have an R female super heroine in a PG series. They came and they went, but to show that you can never keep some good ideas down, theyre back again as the more adult-termed Titans, mostly grown up and no longer having to prove to the adult superheroes that theyre not kids. But Starfire is still the sexiest super heroine around and bad guys including the baddest of them all are still trying to kill them. Thats Ravens demonic dad, Trigon, and the ending of the book that says The End of the Beginning is a good clue that all kinds of deliciously bad stuff is just around the corner. Cant wait. MegaCon 2008 Depending on your interests, the 2008 Megacon is as close as you can come to Mardi Gras in Florida in March, or heaven for comics, DVD, toy, new movies, fan groups like Star Wars and Star Trek, poster and other collectible passions. After several years in which news reports indicated interest by fans and industry representatives had at least stalled if not declined, the 2008 Orlando Megacon at least appeared to be going gangbusters. The 2008 show once again featured a wide array of guest actors, writers and artists waiting to talk and sign mementoes for long lines of fans, ranging from Joe Quesada, Marvel Editor-in-Chief to NBC Heroes star Adrian Pasdar. While most of the major comics companies such as DC, Marvel and Image were not in evidence, there were a wide variety of smaller and independent press publishers, as well as a long line of well-known and not-so-well known artists selling their work and single pieces of art. And there were those costumes. Oh those costumes. If you grab a dime for
every Japanese schoolgirl traipsing the Megacon halls, youd be a rich man,
not to mention the contingents of white garbed Star Wars troops, Klingons,
rock-abbed Spartans and darkly garbed Persian Immortal warriors. There were
wizards and ogres and Batman villains, oh Gods Demon Gods Demon by Wayne Barlow, (TOR Books, 352 pgs., $24.95) is one of those books that whether youre religious or not, will be hard to get out of your mind when you finish it. It doesnt really qualify as Christian fantasy, a growing sub-genre. But you cant get more Christian in theme and tone. Even though the story is set in Hell! Thats right, this is a story that takes place in Hell and involves a war by a Demon Prince named Sargatanas against the ruling Lord of Hell, Beelzebub. But this isnt a war for power, but instead a battle to make Hell believe it or not a more decent place thats run like a prison for condemned human souls whove earned their punishment, not a playground for sadist demons who enjoy their work too much. Sargatanas is one of those rebellious angels who fought for Lucifer in the Uprising Against God but has regretted it ever since. In his inhuman heart, he remembers the glories of Heaven and the love of God and believes that even now God watches over the rebellious angels he cast down. But can he impress God with his remorse by a war in Hell and will God have mercy on the least deserving of mercy. This is a good book, whether youre religious or not. Thor #5 J. Michael Straczynski, writer; Olivier Coiple, penciler, Mark Morales, inker; Laura Martin and Paul Mounts, colorist; Chris Eliopoulos, letterer; and Warren Simons, editor. Ive reviewed this new series before, but it seems to get better with each
issue. As More interesting, we learn that his fellow Gods and Goddesses, not to mention monsters, from the Norse mythology are alive as well, as spirits inhabiting the bodies of humans. Thor has already revived a few companions including his old pals, the Warriors Three. This issue finds him discovering a prison containing the bodies that house the spirits of his fellow Gods, and then he comes face to face with the last creature hed ever expect to encounter anywhere in the universe: The Destroyer, the invincible warrior created by Odin who lives when animated by a human spirit. Who or what has re-animated the Destroyer, and why is it out to destroy the human bodies that house the Norse Gods, when it was created by Odin to be their great defender? These and other questions are answered, sort of, while more questions arise. And Thor discovers that his evil brother Loki, the cause of so much mischief in the past, has survived, too; sort of. Youll have to read it yourself, but its one of the strangest twists Ive seen in a long time. Youre left more confused at the end of the story than the beginning, but thats a GOOD thing sometimes. Im planning to stay with this series to see where it goes. Booster Gold #6 Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, writers; Dan Jurgens, pencil art; Norm Rapmund, finished art; Hi-Fi, colors; Randy Gentile, letters; Michael Siglain, editor. This is the best entry yet in an interesting new series about a minor and somewhat embarrassing former wanna-be hero named Booster Gold who has been transformed from comic relief to the greatest hero the world will never know as the title advertises. The idea behind the series is that time traveler Booster Gold who tried to pose as a hero using future technology and died before being resurrected through some time-traveling sleight of hand is now working the time lanes preventing bad guys from going back and killing off heroes before they were born or when theyre young and vulnerable. But Booster has always been ticked off by the murder of good friend, Ted Kord, the one-time Blue Beetle, by Maxwell Lord in the last major DC crisis. Kord wound up being ignominiously shot in the head and cold bloodedly murdered. It wasnt the way youd like to see any heroic type meet his end. Now, some former and future Blue Beetles have come to Booster and asked his help to save Ted Kord from being killed. Kords mentor time master Rip Hunter tries to talk him out of it on the grounds that Kords murder is fixed in the past and any attempt to change history is somehow going to cause disaster. But Booster cant resist the chance to go back and try to save his friend. Does he manage to do it? Can you change the past and get away with it without screwing up the present and future? This series gets better as it goes along. Im looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Thor # 4 J. Michael Straczynski, Writer; Olivier Coupel, Penciler; Mark Morales, Inker; Laura Martin, Colorist; Chris Eliopoulos, Letterer; Warren Simons; Editor, Marvel Comics. Change can be painful and unwelcome. Particularly as you grow older, you tend to resist change because it naturally usually involves loss; death and the end of things is the natural order. This applies even in the comic book universe. The heroes we grew up with in the 50s and 60s and 70s one by one falter, lose their popularity, their creative spark, just simply grow tired. Until the day a new character takes the mantle or the character or title is simply allowed to die. One of the more painful losses was the decision by Marvel to let the character of Thor and the entire Asgardian universe die off a few years ago. Although Thor was never one of the top Marvel heroes in terms of general popularity, no FF or Spiderman, his stories were among the most inspiring in the comics industry. There was no parallel in terms of mythology crossing over into general entertainment in any other comics company. Sword and Sorcery has never, with the possible exception of Conan, been a popular theme in comics. Thor was that and more. After too long an absence, the good news is that Thor is back. Alone, with the whole pantheon of fellow Gods and Goddesses absent, but at least hes back. And in issue four of his new series hes finally reunited with the Warriors Three, his old friends and comrades: Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg. Thors earthly incarnation, Dr. Don Blake, is doing meaningful work in the war-torn fields of Africa when he meets three brave mercenary soldiers, whom he realizes hold the essence of his three old friends. He resurrects them and they return to Asgard where we learn what the main thrust of the new Thor series will be for some time to come. When the Asgardian universe vanished, Gods and monsters disappeared but their spirits live on in human bodies. The trick is going to be resurrecting the Gods before their human bodies die, without arousing old enemies and terrible monsters. This is not the old Thor, not exactly, but it holds the promise of bringing back one of the valued linchpins of the Marvel Universe. I intend to follow it. Booster Gold # 1 Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, Writer; Dan Jurgens, Layout; Norm Rapmund, Finishes; Hi-Fi, Colors; Jared K. Fletcher, Letters; Michael Siglain, Editor, DC Comics. I reviewed the first issue of this new series which aims to re-make and renovate one of the cheesiest and most underused DC heroes of all time, the cheesy, egotistical, vaguely shady Booster Gold. After a long career of second-banana-ing in other comics as well as his own title, Booster hit rock bottom in the recent 52 maxi-series with a (somewhat) heroic death. At that point he could have been forgotten, but fortunately somebody with brains and a touch of creativity realized that DC has never made good use of the time-traveling superhero theme, and Booster would be a natural for the role. So they resurrected him (no big problem in comics), hooked him up with Time Traveling Master Rick Hunter, and gave him an overriding career challenge: protect the DC timestream and its heroes from villains attempting to attack heroes before theyre born. To make the characters cheesiness and egotism easier to take, they also made it mandatory that he make everyone else (villains, heroes and the general public) believe hes still a nitwit, light weight wanna-be superhero worth only derision. In issue 3 hes still trying to protect the Big Cheese, Superman himself, from a plot to destroy the Kryptonian by changing time so he wont be raised by the saintly Ma and Pa Kent but instead by the villainous Luther family. To do that he has to travel to the Old West, engage in a drinking contest with itchy-trigger fingered Jonah Hex, and fight off the mysterious Supernova whos heading the attack on Superman. Of course he does it, but the real treat is watching Booster and Jonah Hex get drunk together. And, of course, Booster manages to somehow rear-end the old Flash and Kid Flash in the time stream with Rip Hunters time-bubble, but thats a story for the next issue. Buy this one, it has real promise. Postsingular Rudy Rucker is a mathematician and writer. A lot of people would characterize him as a science fiction writer, but hes not the kind of writer people think about when you say science fiction writer. He deals with big ideas and aliens and time travel and space travel. But he doesnt write about any of those things the way other sf writers do. Take Postsingularity, which deals with one of the biggest ideas currently around in science and/or science fiction. Its the idea of a Singularity, or point at which everything changes and the world and people living in it will be so different that there is literally no way we can imagine or write about it. Because Rudy has a weird mind set to start with, maybe something to do with being a mathematician, his conception of what life will be like after everything changes is both mind-blowing, and funny at the same time. Just for starters, nants (the microscopically small machines that are the basis of the current theme of nanotechnology) created by a mad genius eat the entire world and create another virtual (make-believe, real only in the mind) world to take its place. Thats in the first chapter! And things get stranger. There are cuttlefish farmers and religious sects (dont ask), telepathy and teleportation and inter-dimensional travel, religious bigots and conniving politicians and the Big Pig (again, youll have to read the book), plus star-crossed lovers, genius kids, cheating husbands, drug-addicts, and- Read the book. Its fun and mind-stretching as the best science fiction is. And it will give you hope that even after everything changes, some things about human beings will remain the same. Super-Villain Team-Up, Modoks 11, 2 of 5 Its a commonly acknowledged fact that as much as little boys and girls play act and pretend to be the good guy and good girl Superheroes and Super heroines, its the bad guys that have always grabbed the attention of older fans; As in the movies, actors always want to play the juicy villain roles, those guys that go around trying to rob banks, assassinate presidents, blow up the world or conquer the universe and arent particularly squeamish about how they do it. Comics titles featuring super villains getting together have been around for decades, and the latest Ive seen featuring the freakish, big-headed Modok and 11 or so second rate or second tier villains hes enlisted in another outlandish scheme is one of the better ones. We get to see seedy little villains like Armadillo (?), the old-time Spiderman villain the Chameleon, the Living Laser, Mentallo, Puma, Rocket Racer and The Spot from the other side of the law as they scheme and backbite and try to make their way through life just like everybody else. Of course, these guys being villains, there are constant double and triple crosses and scheming by his henchmen against Modok, against each other and by Modok against everybody else. Its great. The issue ends with the discovery that everything within Modoks band is not exactly as he had planned and the scene is set for future fireworks. This is another mini-series I can tell Im going to enjoy. Booster Gold # 1 Johns and Jeff Katz, Writer; Dan Jurgens, Layout; Norm Rapmund, Finishes; Hi-Fi, Colors; Mike Norton, Penciller; Rob Leigh, Letters; Michael Siglain, Editor, DC Comics. Booster Gold has always been one of those DC characters with tons of potential, but he never seems to have realized it. Hes been around for a long time and hes never been anything more than an egotistical, money and publicity-grubbing anti-hero contrast to more classic heroes, whos basically just a gimmick character. The gimmick is that hes a hero who hasnt gotten his powers by mutation or atomic accident or working hard to make himself the best he can be, but simply by hopping into a time machine from 500 years in the future and bringing back machinery to wow the primitive natives (us). He seemed to have died in the recent 52 series, in what probably was his best moment in his entire comics career, but now DC has brought him back with a new personality, a new heroic role and a new sidekick, Time Traveler Rip Hunter. Turns out he did die but became a real live hero. Now Hunter has pressed him into service as a time-hopping secret agent of sorts, equipped with super-duper new futuristic weapons and knowledge to keep shadowy villains from time-traveling themselves to destroy the better known DC Superheroes. The catch is, and this is what looks like it might just finally make Booster a fan favorite, to save the DC universe, his friends and fellow heroes, he has to make everyone believe he’s still the same blowhard, cowardly fake that he was in the past. For someone whose primary goal has always been to become a real live hero and hear the cheering of the masses, this is the hardest sacrifice you could ever be asked to make. Booster has finally got some personality, some pain that makes his character seem more realistic, and is showing some moral courage of a kind thats always been lacking in this title. I know Im going to look forward to following the series. The Territory There are a lot of very good and well-mined fantasy themes. Theres sword and sorcery, the quest, epic fantasy with kingdoms at war, dark fantasy with its vampires and monsters of various sorts, historical fantasy set in different lands, and now there are the increasingly popular urban fantasy novels which place elves and trolls into gritty modern cityscapes. Not to mention the soft-pornish women battling and bedding vampires and werewolves sub-genre. There are fantasies that mix private eyes and magic and romance and magic and young adult novels and magic and history and magic and science fiction and magic. One of the few locales that hasnt ever received much attention is the Old West. That lack of attention may begin to be remedied by a new novel from well known fantasy novelist Emma Bull. The Territory, TOR Books, $24.95, 318 pages, is the first treatment Ive ever seen of the Gunfight at the OK Corral between the Earps and Clantons from the standpoint of fantasy. And it is a no pun intended fantastic novel. Tombstone as a center of magic energy generated by the silver beneath its ground; Wyatt Earp as a powerful sorcerer, Doc Holiday as a man with magic hes not aware he possesses? Believe it or not, Emma Bull makes this work. The excitement and mythic power of the gunfight remains, but retelling it as a story of battling magic gives it a completely new and compelling allure. The All New Atom #12Gail Simone, Writer; Mike Norton, Penciller; Dan Green, Inker; Alex Bleyrert, Colorist; Travis Lanham, Letterer; Mike Carlin, Editor,; DC Comics. With the exception of DCs wholesale translation of Golden Age heroes like Green Lantern into a whole new crop of successful Silver Age successors, one of toughest tricks to ever pull off in comics is to introduce a NEW: Whatever. Fill in the blank. Its usually easier just to create a whole new character. In addition to the Flash, one of the more successful newcomers as has been the new Atom, a young college kid attempting to fill the tiny but huge shoes of DC stalwart Ray Palmer. The latest issue has an appealing shaggy dog feel, as has the entire run so far, actually. Take a Atom-like serial killer with a knife whos got a grudge against the new Atom, an apparently never-ending floating card game in the new heros home (shadows of the Steve McQueen bounty hunter flick), a bunch of bunch of fifth rate (to be charitable) Atom Rogues trying to make life rough for the kid, and youve got a fun issue. What puts it over the top is the final panel wherein a mysterious figure who has been telling the new Atom that Ray Palmer is in trouble and needs help turns out to be: Chronos? The hour-glass villain who is far and away the best or at least the oldest of the previous Atoms foes turning up to help Ray Palmer? This is one final panel that definitely is going to have me picking up the next issue. Fritz Leibers Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Howard Chaykin, Adaption and Script; Mike Mignola, pencils; Al Williamson, inks; Sherlyn Van Valkenburgh, colors; Michael Heisler, editor, Dark Horse Books, $19.95. If youre a fan of Fritz Leiber, Howard Chaykin, Mike Mignola or Al Williamson, and who in the field of comics and fantasy isnt a fan of one of those, this is the best $20 youll spend this year. This graphic novel consists of a 216 page collection of Fritz Leibers Fafyrd And The Gray Mouser, short stories illustrated and previously printed by the Marvel Epic Line a generation ago telling the tales of the sword and sorcery team of the rogues Fafhrd, a huge Northern sword wielder (think Conan only smarter and more manic/depressive), and the Gray Mouser, a short, deadly, foppish dandy who was as good a thief and swordsman as his hulking friend. Together the unlikely friends ranged through the legendary city of Lankhmar, home of a thousand forgotten gods, monsters and assorted crazies and low lifes, as well as other strange realms; falling in love with various ladies, having their hearts broken, battling monsters and sorcerers, doing the bidding of friendly sorcerers, rescuing each other from one scrape or another, and in general having a fabulous time. If you loved Leibers stories, there is a definite thrill to see them in pictures on paper. Until somebody is kind enough to give them the kind of treatment that Tolkiens Hobbits got in their film trilogy, collections like this are the best we can hope for. But, its far better than nothing and to this reviewer, well worth $20 Justice League of America #6 Brad Melzer, writer; Ed Benes, penciller;
Sandra Hope, inker; Rob Leigh, letterer, Alex Sinclair, colorist; Eddie
Barganza, editor. This is the next to
last in a multi-issue story arc by new scripter and best-selling novelist
Brad Melzer that takes a close look at an old, and definitely, minor DC
character, the Red Tornado. This storyline brings in another,
incredibly older character, namely Solomon Grundy in a more nattily dressed
incarnation, and that old nemesis of the Justice League, Amazo the robot that
can employ all the powers of the Justice League and more. Its a little
confusing, but the gist of the story is that Grundy and Amazo are up to more
villainy, involving taking the Tornado out of his inhuman shell and putting
him into a human body. Of course, it cant last, and well have
to wait until next issue to find out the final fate of the Tornado and
whether he can retain the love of the human wife and daughter hes acquired
along the way. The problem is, its always hard to take
robotic characters (think the Vision
over at Marvel) and make them into fan favorites. There is something,
somehow, offsetting about robot heroes. Unfortunately, I think the Tornado
will remain a minor DC character even after this update. But, the storyline does offer some
attractions for readers. In this
issue there are two great fight sequences; one in which the Justice League
freed from compunctions about doing harm to the robot Amazo, get down and
dirty and downright nasty in their tactics, and there is a great battle
between the ALMOST unstoppable Grundy and the Tornado, who for once pulls out
all the stops in using his tornado powers. For sheer action, this one is hard
to beat. The God Tools
There may be a lot of books out there in the now thriving Christian fantasy genre that derive their mythic power from the Christian Bible and Christian beliefs, but Im not aware of them and I doubt theres anything out there this good. By which I mean, this is Christian fantasy that works as exciting, mind-blowing fantasy for the general reader, believer or not. Ive previously noted that these books, starting with The Fish of Souls are in some cases downright weird, but in fantasy fiction, thats a GOOD thing. A fish created by God in the Garden of Eden with the power to bestow immortality, but degraded into a ravenous man-eating monster when touched by water, thats a fantastic concept, pun intended. If you have a chance to buy Fish, Groundswell or The God Tools, grab them. These are fat, plot and action-filled stories with great, believable, Indiana Jones-modernized intrepid heroes, dastardly villains, terrifying (if weird) monsters, intriguingly re-written Biblical history, last minute save-the-world plots, and best of all, everything occurs within driving distance! Thats right, the entire novel is set in Northeast Florida; Green Cove Springs, Clay County, Jacksonville settings like Mandarin and Arlington. This is a good series and Im looking forward to more books from Williams. Mystery In Space With Captain Comet #2 Jim Starlin, writer; Shane Davis, penciller; Matt Batt Banning, inkers; Jeromy Cox, colorist; Phil Balsman, letterer; Bob Schreck, editor. One of the fondest memories I have of my early comic book reading and this will shock you but I didnt grow up in the Dark Ages were DCs Mystery In Space titles. The science fiction titles included Space Ranger and Space Cabby and later Adam Strange. That was a long time ago, but proving you cant keep a good hero or title down, DC has brought back Mystery In Space, this time starring Captain Comet. It also seems like a long time since weve seen Jim Starlin, one of the more vibrant and iconoclastic artist/writer talents, and it seems like a good meshing of artist and series to see him back in the science fiction comics arena once more. The series kicked off with a bang in the first issue as the aging Captain Comet was murdered but his soul or essence wound up meeting up with the energy being called The Weird in some nether-realm. Comet is brought back to life with a new, young body and an intriguing mystery as he tries to find out how and why he was murdered and who is still intent on killing him and any of the friends like Star Hawkins that he meets. Theres an interesting backup feature as The Weird tries to his navigate his clueless, energy being self through the intrigues of a huge interstellar space station full of futuristic skullduggery. All in all, this is a welcome return of an old DC icon and I hope both series flourish for a while. Fantastic Four #540 - Civil War J. Michael Straczynski, writer; Mike McKone, penciller; Andy Lanning and Cam Smith, inkers; Paul Mounts, colorist; VCs Rus Wooton, letterer; Tom Brevoort, editor. Although the Fantastic Four is genuinely comic book royalty (its hard to think of a more respected, popular and influential comic from any company except Superman and Spider-Man), its been years since Ive followed the title, and I dont think Im alone among long time comics fans. The title is a little like a long, long running TV show (think ER for example) that most people remember fondly but just dont get around to watching much anymore. Which is why I was surprised that the Civil War issue #540 had as much impact on me as it did. In the Civil War storyline, some heroes are going along with government plans to register and regulate superheroes, and others are refusing and either passively or violently resisting government efforts to enforce the new law. In the FF, Johnny Storm was beaten by an angry mob and nearly died, Reed Richards has become the big gun/big brain behind government forces fighting other superheroes, Sue Storm has pretty much gone over to the rebel side and Ben Grimm, unable to fight against former friends, but unwilling to battle the government, is bailing out and moving to France to avoid the coming struggle. #540 shows Sue and Reed finally coming to a parting of the ways and unlike former soap opera crises between the two, this one looks serious. Both believe the other is grievously wrong, and the conflict may bring the two to the unthinkable fighting each other one day. Ben has left the group before, but never like this. And theres a great closing scene between Reed and Peter Parker
that Peter Parker, yeah in which Reed talks about a beloved
Uncle who fought the U.S. government over its anti-communist policies 50
years before, and had his life ruined for his political beliefs. You know that he sees the current struggle
through the prism of his Uncles experience, and youre left pitying a man
who believes hes doing whats right, but knows it may cost him his wife, his
best friend and maybe his own life in the long run. This is good stuff, about as good as comic books get. Marvel
has hit a home run with this story line and I cant wait to see how it
all turns out. X-Men - The Last Stand This is rumored to be the last of a three-part X-Men movie trilogy, with any future films probably focusing on individual X-Men. If thats the case, this is a good way to wrap up the group pix and set the stage for future individual films. As anybody whos glanced at a newspaper recently or hit the Internet knows, this film is about the discovery of a cure for the mutant gene and the civil war between those mutants who want that cure and those who consider it an effort to wipe out all mutants. Without going into too much detail, its safe to note that BIG changes occur in the mutant community, with some of the biggest names in comics lore probably never to be seen again on the silver screen. But, as the ending hints, things can change. And some of the most popular big name and not-so-big name mutants survive and almost certainly will do their thing on screen again in the future. Overall, this was a good entry in the series. Black Brillion One of the science fiction masters of the last century was the famed Jack Vance, known for his dry wit and cerebral humor and especially for a series of stories about life on earth millions of years from now known collectively as The Dying Earth stories. Fans of that genre have had a long
wait for a new master, but it looks like Matthew Hughes with his novels of
the Archonate set in the same type of end-of-history era has come
along to feed the demand. His third novel in this series, BLACK BRILLION,
TOR Books, $23.95, 272 pgs., combines the same type of dry wit, fanciful
speculations, and science fiction mixed lightly with fantasy and detective
mystery that made Vance a fan favorite. Readers will enjoy this account of
how nave young Archonate agent Baro Harkless (read that as a
cop or FBI agent) is forced to make an alliance with the con-man criminal Luff
Imbry to catch an even greater criminal and possibly Save The World.
Along the way Harkless will learn that even villains like Imbry
can have their good points, and hell learn a lot more than he wanted to know
about how the world really works. This is a good entry in a good series. If
you like this type of science fiction/fantasy, pick it up. 52 - Week Two This is the second issue of a
year-long series looking at what happened to the DC Universe during
the year between the end of Infinite Crisis and the kick-off of DC
series that pick up a year later. Its an intriguing premise and an
interesting group of heroes and villains whose story will be told over the
next year. Youve got Booster Gold, the Elongated Man, Doc Magnus of the
Metal Men, The Question, T.O. Morrow and others. Youve got the question of who is
leaving messages on the grave of the Elongated Mans murdered wife,
why Boosters Gold memory and records from the future of what is
supposed to happen and suddenly going awry, who is kidnapping mad scientists,
etc. There are plenty of mysteries and
plenty of time and pages to delve into them fully. A lot of people hate
extended stories; you have to get each one to keep track of the story,
theres the expense, all the criticisms. Im one of those who love such
series. I also like television miniseries which give a story room to breath.
This is one series I honestly am looking forward to reading every issue of. The Battle for Bludhaven #1 This is another spinoff of DCs Infinite Crisis, dealing with the aftermath of supervillain Chemos attack on the city of Bludhaven which utterly devastated the city. Now its under martial law, cordoned off by troops and superheroes who keep everyone - including regular superheroes out. Inside some fairly strange and sinister things are going on - perhaps with government involvement. Because of the rumors that Chemos attack has created new mutated heroes or villains within Bludhaven, the Society of Super Villains keeps sending in teams to loot the place, and government superteams enforcing the cordon try to take them out. As this issue opens, another firefight has broken out which leads to the introduction of DCs latest superteam - and one of its oldest. I wont say anything else, except that this team brings back memories of one of the best DC series from a long time ago and is guaranteed to keep me coming back for more. Marvel Zombies #5 Ill admit it: this is the ultimate guilty pleasure. The entire Marvel Zombies five-issue miniseries is utterly deficient in any redeeming social values. The fact that I bought the first issue and kept buying them until the end of the series probably says something very disturbing about me, as well as any of you who liked this series. The short version is that on an alternate earth an interstellar virus or hunger infected all of the planets superheroes and super villains, turning them into Super flesh eating Zombies who proceeded to literally eat alive all the other humans on the planet. The series followed their efforts to keep finding meat on a depleted planet, leading them to eat each other, villains, and the Silver Sufer when he shows up and finally to take on the ultimate Big Meal - Galactus himself. Are the Marvel Zombies ironically enough able to eat the Planet Eater - and if they do, what do they feed on then? I have to confess, I enjoyed this series. Heaven help me! Underground Craig Spector is a well-known author and screenwriter with a growing reputation in the horror field, who tells a story of supernatural as well as historical horror in his most recent, Underground, TOR Books, $23.95, 254 pgs. Underground mixes elements of The Big Chill, the nations original sin of slavery and Black Magic from Africa by way of the Caribbean in a story of an ill-fated party by a group of college friends one night in the vacant Southern gothic Custis Manor. They run afoul of a terrible spirit created by an African witchdoctor and a monstrous white slave trader in the ante-bellum South. Their lives are shattered and altered in various ways over the next 20 years until they return to battle the spirit that attacked them and which is still swallowing lives in the modern South. This is a good, fast moving novel that mixes supernatural horror and social concerns. |
|
|
|
|