Panelology

by Brandon

What do Punisher, Eminem, Free Comic Book Day, Wolverine, Star Trek and DC's Multiversity have in common? Do I really have to tell you they end up being discussed in this week's column? I do actually rant and rave about all of these things. Enter, those who are brave.

Free Comic Book Day Recap
I hope everyone had a good Free Comic Book Day this past Saturday. Mine was so-so. I visited two shops over the course of the day. Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC is where I always visit on FCBD. I think I've missed one year making the pilgrimage north. This year was a fairly disappointing year both in terms of the titles offered and how Heroes had actually set up the store. Of the titles offered, I really enjoyed the Love & Rockets book. It's nice to see L&R jump into the FCBD foray. The rest of the titles offered were pretty bland. Heroes had the titles spread out all over the store on the shelves next to the regular titles. That's good for them to get exposure of the regular books, but bad for fans who had to fight the crowds to get to the free books. Also, their enforcement was lax. I personally saw one guy who was pilfering seven or so copies of each title as he moseyed around the store. It doesn't take the detective skills of Batman to know where those books wound up. Can anyone say "Buy it now?" However, I did pick up the first three volumes of X-Men Essentials for less than $20. That was awesome. Newsarama had a good recap story of the fun had by all at Heroes, if you're interested.

That afternoon, I went to Heroes & Dragons in Columbia, SC. While the only free book they had left was Blackest Night, they had a phenomenal sale going on in their store. I have visited this store in the past when they have had their "sales" going on and wasn't too impressed. I walked in thinking I would walk out with very little. Wrong! Their sale was absolutely fantastic! Nearly everything in the store was on sale, if not at least 50% off. I managed to pick up quite a healthy stack of Justice League Europe issues, more than thirty in all, for around $23. Not bad. Not bad, at all.

Punishing Eminem
Reading about the Punisher/Eminem team-up this past week has depressed me a bit. Sweet Jesus, I thought we had moved past the era where we had to have ridiculous crossovers involving Frank. I guess not. Though Frank has teamed up with lots of folks ranging from Wolverine to Archie, this one most definitely takes the cake for the "WTF" award. I think Punisher would put a bullet between the little prick's eyes just for the principle of the matter irregardless for his misogyny. If you're interested, XXL has the first part and should be on sale for your reading pleasure. Marvel will probably release a collected edition of the story... which means I may buy it.

I know, I know. Damn me to hell for being a Punisher completest. In a bit of positive Punisher news from Robot 6, it appears as if Jason Aaron ad Steve Dillon might be the new creative team on Punisher Max. Cool. I'm down with that so long as it's 100% Eminem free.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine = Meh
Already seen Wolverine? I did last weekend. It was mindless fun at best. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I think there were lots of cool snippets and scenes throughout the film, but I kept feeling like there was something missing. Perhaps it was a cohesive threatening villain? I never really felt any suspense throughout the film because Stryker and Sabertooth were going to live and Deadpool was pretty much a no-show until the final, over-the-top action scene. It was cool to see Gambit, but he could have been used a bit more. In fact, my biggest complaint about the entire film was the usage of too many mutants. It was cool to see them all on the big screen, but if they had just stuck with a couple core characters, it would would have been much more effective. I could have given a shit when Bolt was killed if they had taken the time to build him up. I could have given a shit that Xavier showed up beyond a "hey, that's neat" knee-jerk reaction if they had built that yup a bit more. Instead, we get a Cliff Notes version of each character at best; quantity over quality.

The film probably falls somewhere between X-3 and X-1 for me, with X-2 still being the best. maybe they will choose to move the story further in the next film rather than diddling around in the past. I feel like the above complaints make it seem like I hated the film. It was enjoyable and action packed, what you would expect from a Wolverine film. I think the cast could have been cut by at least half in order to provide a little breathing room rather than providing the obligation to spend a little time with a lot of characters. The general consensus amongst critics and fans is that the filmmakers should have let this one cook a little bit more. Let's hope they get off to a better start with the next film.

Making the Trek
Wolverine can kiss his spot at the top of the box office for good this weekend. Star Trek comes out today. I saw it earlier and it is wonderful. Very seldom does a hyped film live up to its hype, let alone even surpass it. Star Trek does. J.J. Abrams somehow manages to breathe life back into the barely limping franchise with this movie. Hardcore Trek fans will find much to complain about, but as a casual Trek fan, this was just an awesome film watching experience. Each actor must have been carefully vetted by the creative team behind this movie because they all nailed their roles perfectly. The mix of action, sharp banter, and the promise of a new day for Trek fans is overwhelming, but in a good way. I won't spoil anything for you, my fine readers. Just go see the film.

Flunking out of the Multiversity
I think DC hates bringing in new fans. I really do. I've been on a reeducation journey with DC, picking up books that I enjoyed from my youth and books that I missed out on that are supposedly classic. With such an emphasis on old DC, I must admit that my curiosity about what's going on in the modern DCU is piqued. Well, it is until I read an interview or story like this; Multiversity. What the hell, DC? Do you enjoy confusing people that much? Do you need to mire all of that talent under your publishing house in all of that useless continuity and multiple universe junk? I would have thought the fan backlash from Final Crisis would have taught DC a lesson. Instead, it seems that they are getting trapped in Grant Morrison's endless cycle of ideas. I love many things Grant Morrison has written. he's one of my favorite creators. However, he seems to be throwing a lot of big ideas on the wall with very little thoughtful execution to shore them up with. I think DC needs a Dr. Phil style intervention. I would pay big money to see Dan Didio sitting across from Dr. Phil as he starts into one of his "Dan, what's your problem?" rants. Maybe that very event is occurring in the multiverse right now. Who knows?
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Waited for the Trade: A Batch of Shorties

by Dan

With the craziness of my job the last several weeks (thanks stock markets!), I've been completely MIA from most things Internet. Yet, the comics and trades kept on coming. So, here's some shorty reviews of sixteen trades and graphic novels from nine different publishers. From the excellent Black Summer and Immortal Iron Fist to the complete opposite of excellent Black Diamond and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed plus plenty in between.









Army @ Love Vol. 2: Generation Pwned – More often than not, I love Rick Veitch’s writer/artist work. But after giving up on the critically acclaimed Can’t Get No, I was worried going into Army @ Love. Thankfully, this has been an awesome satire book with plenty of sex, drugs and war. A wonderfully crafted series that ended all too soon (there is a second “season” out now, but I’ve read that it goes in a very different, yet interesting, direction). B+

Authority: Prime – Authority fights StormWatch and it’s all Bendis’ fault. I always knew that guy was up to something! Wait, Bendix, not Bendis. Eh. Much less interesting now. An okay check in with the WildStorm universe, but after the excellent Authority Revolution it’s a clear step down in quality. C+

Black Diamond – For a story about a cross-country, raised superhighway they spend WAY too much time on anything but the cross-country, raised superhighway. Overall, this was really disappointing. The art at the beginning was just not my thing, but when it became more iconic and more graphic designer-y at the end, I really enjoyed it. D-

Black Summer – This was just an awesome Warren Ellis series. Mostly, I saw it to be Ellis' final word on The Authority and what a terrible path they would eventually have taken. Gory and violent with lots of commentary about the U.S. government. Great stuff. A

Classic Battlestar Galactica – I don’t know why, but I still dig the original Battlestar stuff more than the new. Granted, I lost track of the new show after the first season and Dynamite flooding the market with “New” Battlestar books has been too overwhelming to follow. Thankfully, Rick Remender (a fave writer thanks to Dark Horse’s Fear Agent) was let loose on the old characters and creates a fun episode of the classic show. B

Criminal Macabre: My Demon Baby – I was regretting this purchase before I read it, as I couldn't really remember how I felt about the first two collections I read years ago (apparently there's been two more that I missed). That said, I completely dug this four-issue story. Niles has a lot of Ellis in his lead character, Cal McDonald. Lots of dark humor fun and I may have to figure out what the other two books are and grab those. B





Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 2: The 7 Capital Cities of Heaven – I’ve never been an Iron Fist or Heroes for Hire or Kung Fu fan. Ever. And yet, I completely and thoroughly enjoy this title and all its Iron Fist-tastic history. I did get a little confused with who was who, including the reveal at the end that references the annual included earlier in the collection. So, sometimes there is too much history and too many characters to keep straight, but that just makes me want to sit down and read Brubaker and Faction’s entire run once volume three comes out. Great art from Aja too. This is quality comics. A-

Maintenance Vols. 1 & 2 – This Oni series just makes me giggle. Thanks to Customer Appreciation Day (aka Free Comic Book Day) for finding this one. Reading these on the can is fun, but got surreal when our trusty janitors took an adventure into the can. B+

Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors – Turns out I've read a bunch of these shorts featuring the Bullpen Bits characters and, in all honesty, it's just not that funny the second time around. Some of the later stories that riff on Marvel events like Civil War and World War Hulk are amusing, but overall this just doesn't hold up to multiple reads. B-

New York Four – Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly do it again. Although I was frustrated by the fact that there could be a lot more story told and, more than likely, it won't happen. B+

Power Pack: Day One – A fun revamp of the kids' origin story. I've never read the original version, but I'm sure this has been updated to be, ya know, entertaining. Anyone that's been reading this series of mini-series will enjoy this about as much as the others. I'm really looking forward to the Skrulls digest though. B-

Star Trek: The Return of the Worthy – The last reprint Titan did of the old DC version of the original Trek. The main story about The Worthy was a completely predictable, 100% Trek message type of story. Not bad, but nothing new either. C+

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – When I preordered this, I was already dropping the last of the Dark Horse titles, Legacy, from my pull list. I figured this was a last shot at Dark Horse’s current Star Wars universe (although I am checking out the current Clone Wars mini). Even more concerning was the fact that this book was based on the video game of the same name and was serving as a way to fill in some of the back-story. Unfortunately, the book reads like a video game with all the paces and boss challenges included. This is definitely not for anyone but fans of the game, and even then I’m not sure it’s good on any level. D

Too Cool to be Forgotten – Very cool story that gets somewhat sidetracked/rushed at the end in order to wrap up the main ideas about father/son even though 90% of the book was just about the son. I get what Robinson was going for, and he succeeds for that 90%, but I wish the end had been drawn out or built up to better. A-

Wolverine: Death of Wolverine – This collection starts off interesting enough with Jason Aaron and Howard Chaykin’s “Man in the Pit” issue. Wolverine has been captured and put in a pit where he’s shot a few hundred times every 15 minutes to keep him subdued. The rest of the collection is Marc Guggenheim and Chaykin’s Logan Dies story, which rewrites Wolverine’s healing powers as a literal fight with Death every time he’s extremely injured. A bit odd, but, like the first story interesting. Unfortunately Chaykin’s art is incredibly distracting – sketchy and blocky with odd close ups. B-

Wolverine: Get Mystique – Hey, a Wolverine story that actually ties in to current continuity! Wolverine is chasing down Mystique after her betrayal during Messiah CompleX. Cool enough of an idea. Unfortunately, it gets a bit convoluted due to writer Jason Aaron throwing them into the middle of Iraq and Afghanistan for no real reason other than those are topically locations. C
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Waited for the Trade

by Dan

One week. Five trades. Yeah, I'm more than ready for my monthly comics. But in the meantime, I've read trades from Goon to Bone and Mahfood to Wood. It's been an interesting mash up of stuff from the To Read Pile.


Goon Vol. 3 – This series just gets better and better with each volume. After a slightly slow, but still entertaining start, things pick up with the second chapter. A space blob attacks Earth, and after the Goon quickly beats it silly, the alien merges with a Mexican horny toad and the fists and one-liners start flying. This is my favorite single story of The Goon (so far). Check out this trade, which also features Hellboy and a vampire succubus! If you can’t shell out the $12.95, at least get Dark Horse’s The Goon #6 for the Mexican horny toad story. A


Fight for Tomorrow – I read a lot of comics based on the writers. I'll get anything by Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Greg Rucka (non-DC), Sean McKeever, Christos Gage and Scott Morse without knowing anything about the project. A couple of years ago, Brian Wood became one of these writers. In 2002, Wood wrote Fight for Tomorrow, a six-issue mini-series from Vertigo. I picked up the mini on the cheap from a friend (thanks, Kach!) but I prefer Wood’s stuff in trade as it is all incredibly rereadable. The story is about Cedric, who was kidnapped as a boy and trained to fight in illegal MMA-style fights. Once he breaks free of that world, only one thing can bring him back: the love of his life's disappearance. A great Brian Wood read with fantastic, moody art by Denys Cowan. The only negative is the cheap paper quality DC uses for its Vertigo trades. A-


The Further Adventures of One Page Filler Man – I’m a big Jim Mahfood fan. Granted, I didn’t “get” the Generation X Underground Special that came out 10 years ago. But when I stumbled across his various works at Oni a couple years later, I developed a great appreciation for his art and writing. One Page Filler Man is possibly his most surreal work to date. OPFM and his ice cream-loving kid sidekick have various successful hero adventures (like fighting zombie ninjas and searching for the mysterious Agent B, aka 80s pop sensation Billy Ocean) while OPFM babbles nonsense and recites the dictionary both forward and back. A strange yet entertaining read. B


Star Trek: The Key Collection Vol. 4 – I never really expected to like these early 70s Star Trek stories when I got the first trade, but the simplicity in the art and dialogue allows the plot to take center stage. And while the plots are somewhat repetitive (and Prime Directive busting) – find new planet, fix their problems – they are all enjoyable. The best story in this volume was the final chapter, due to a great Planet of the Apes-style twist. While a little expensive (around $23 a trade), Checker Book Publishing has done a good job of bringing these fun, old stories to today's Trek fans. B-


Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails – Well, it is fun reading the phrase "Big Johnson Bone" every other page, but other than that, the story was generic and predictable. The tall tales BJB told were a bit overbearing. But Jeff Smith's art is awesome and he draws the cutest baby bear ever - a combination of an actual bear cub and a teddy bear. The back up story about a pig was almost unreadable. The characters weren't likeable and the attempts at humor weren’t funny in the least. C+ Read more!

Star Trek: Insurrection

by Bill

It’d been closing on 10 years since I’d last seen Star Trek: Insurrection. My recollection was vague, although I was pretty certain I’d not really enjoyed the film. I’m really more an original cast devotee, never really connecting with the ST:TNG cast or series. Of all the incarnations, only the middle and latter years of Deep Space Nine did anything to really interest me. So, in an effort to put the new Verizon FIOS 80 gb DVR through its paces, I set the TiVo to record the film.

Insurrection was the ninth film in the series, directed by Jonathan Frakes with story by regular ST contributors Rick Berman and Michael Piller. Insurrection is a simple, straight-forward story: “When the crew of the Enterprise learns of the Federation plot against inhabitants of a unique planet, Capt. Picard begins an open rebellion in an effort to defend the Ba’ku’s people and the principles in which the Federation was founded.” (from Amazon)

It is this simplicity which diminishes the film. Right from the first credit the production seemed less than Big Budget Film, and scene after scene reinforced that the film was not an Event. The Star Trek characters are icons. Stories of icons demand conflict and scope far larger than routine or simple.

Insurrection worked best when it is challenging the fundamental ideals of the characters rather than the humanistic aspects, but there were far too few of these scenes. As examples, Picard debating Admiral Dougherty about forced relocation and importance of the Prime Directive is captivating; Picard, Data and Worf singing from HMS Pinafore ridiculous. Equally as ridiculous is the inclusion of Klingon acne, Crusher and Troi commenting about their boobs firming, Picard’s dalliance with a Ba’ku woman, Riker and Troi’s playful antics and Riker’s smirkish glances, these and several other snippets reduce the film from what it should be.

(As something of an aside, during two of the extended Enterprise bridge scenes, Frakes seemed to give attention to Stephanie Niznik’s character (including a few near-flirtish glances between Riker and Perim). That I’d notice this in the midst of the film more than suggests the story is not fully engaging me. Nevertheless, I wonder if there was anything more to the story. The intrigue...)

Star Trek as a genre is at its best when it takes the icons and spins their sensibility on its head. Khan’s seeking revenge on Kirk in the midst of Kirk’s despair on aging; Deep Space Nine’s isolation and guerilla warfare in the midst of the Federation ideals; Cochrane’s true character in contradiction to his canonization by the 23^rd Century’s Federation – these represent true characterization conflicts far better than Data’s tin-man journey or the Riker-Troi love affair.

Insurrection embraces the human-aspect of the icons at the detriment of the fantastic. Picard has a line early in the film “Remember when we were explorers?” Had Insurrection embraced this question, to challenge the definition of explorer or push the characters outside their comfort zone, Insurrection might have been a remarkable film. Unfortunately, at nearly ever opportunity to explore something more, the film lurched back to the familiar and the routine.

Insurrection does offer a few interesting and entertaining moments, but the setup for these scenes is nonexistent. Had more care and feeding of these scenes been attempted and less attention on the simple moments, Insurrection might have succeeded as Event. It’s not a disaster, at 103 minutes not disrespectful of the viewer’s time, but it never embraces the Event of Star Trek or what the characters represent.

Rating: C (commonplace)

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