Only 14 weeks to the launch of the new Ambush Bug mini... so am I jumping the gun with this countdown? I don't know about you, but we've waited so long for the Bug to return already, 14 weeks isn't that long. The Nothing Special was in what, 1992? And it's not as if the Bug hasn't tried to ride the wave of various fads to get here...The EC Revival
Remember when Vertigo was actually an imprint with more than one or two successful series? Remember when we were so starved for mature readers content, we gladly shelled out money for mature content from the 50s? We didn't want no code no more. Oh we were bad alright.Turtle Rip-Offs
AB got in a little too late to cash in on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Radioactive Hamster / Nunchuck Wielding Chipmunk comics mania. Or too early to be the next Mouse Guard.The Conan Craze
Dark Horse got the rights and even reprinted Roy Thomas' old Marvel books, but though Ambush Bug put himself through rigorous training, he never hit Conan's level. Or even Kull's. Not even Claw the Unconquered's. Or Groo's.Going Image
No, that's right out. Don't be ridiculous.So What's Hot Now?
Ah yes, Sinestro War. Maybe, just maybe, AB can be successful with a tight epic mini-event? Is there an EVIL Ambush Bug out there? Cuz he really needs one. What's the opposite of Ambush Bug? Full Frontal Primate? Exposed Elephant? All I can come up with is pretty rude.But on July 23rd, we'll know, my friends. We'll know.
Here's what real bloggers had to say about the SBG: "I tell you, between the Kids in the Hall, Homercat, and Siskoid, Canada more than redeems itself for inflicting Bryan Adams upon us." - Gordon, Blog This, Pal!"Going above and beyond the call of duty to catalogue every episode of Star Trek daily, even (whisper it) Voyager." - Madeley, The Fractal Hall Journal"F.O.A.M. member." - Rob!, The Aquaman Shrine"Siskoid brings us this panel of some sonuvabitch shooting a rocket launcher at a perfectly good plesiosaur." - Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat"Utterly nerdalicious..." - Bully, Comics Oughta Be Fun!"Siskoid sees crack babies becoming enemies (of their own families)." - Bahlactus, Always Bet on Bahlactus
500. TuvixFORMULA: The Enemy Within x-1 + FacetsWHY WE LIKE IT: Tuvix may just be a better character than Tuvok and Neelix.WHY WE DON'T: His execution.REVIEW: First, let's get the premise out of the way. Transporter accidents are all patently absurd propositions. Kirk split into good and evil halves? Sisko reconfigured into a holodeck character? Barclay fighting giant leeches in the transporter beam? It's all crazy (and Tuvix is crazier than most). Let's just accept it and move on. Once we do so, what we have is the introduction of an interesting character and a sometimes thoughtful exploration of identity. Unfortunately, as the giant reset button looms, things start to go downhill.Like the Odo-Curzon mash-up in Facets, Tuvok and Neelix are naturally opposite characters. Combining the robot and the clown creates a better-rounded character, more useful and personable than either of his former parts. Not necessarily pretty to look at, but engaging enough that you start to care for him within about 20 minutes. Kes' awkwardness is well written, and Tuvix gets some good scenes in both the role of security officer and head chef.So it's all the more terrible when he's asked to kill himself in order to bring back Tuvok and Neelix, disturbing even. I'm not against being disturbed by the captain's decisions, but if you're trying to make Janeway likeable (and they were), this isn't the way (despite her pained look at the end). Tuvix begs for his life, the Doctor refuses to "do harm" and the audience knows this is wrong. Tuvix sees it as an execution, and faces the barrel of the hypospray bravely, and that's exactly how it is, because that's how it's played. The crew is so used to the reset button by now, they let it happen. The fact hat there is no epilogue is almost criminal here. We don't know what Tuvok or Neelix think of the decision or what memories they retained from Tuvix. It's just never mentioned again. RESET!This is all very harmful to the character of Janeway, and if she lost fan support, I believe this is the most damning of all evidence against her leadership. It's really too bad, because Kate Mulgrew gets what I would pick as her Emmy Moment in this episode. She gets one stand-out scene where she reflects on her loss of Mark. Effective and touching. So let me be clear: I like Janeway (and Mulgrew in the role), I just can't get behind Janeway's decisions. I'm calling bullshit on the writing.LESSON: No matter what, respect the contracts you signed with your actors.REWATCHABILITY - Medium: I don't know how to make this a High because obviously Tuvix has to die at the end. It's good drama, but Janeway's final solution will make you scream at the television.
Buys
Grant Morrison - The Early Years by Timothy Callahan. When I heard about Teenagers from the Future, essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes from the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization, which has a number of articles by bloggers I read all the time, I looked Sequart up. Teenagers wasn't available, but this treatise on Grant Morrison's early work (from Zenith to Doom Patrol) sounded right up my alley."Accomplishments"
DVD flippage... I started a small Mamet-o-thon recently and so started with Edmond, starring William H. Macey and based on Mamet's play. A powerful, if difficult to watch, story about a man (Macey) sent on the road to perdition. He is racist and violent, but Macey's humanity still makes you want to like him. As shocking and original as it was 20+ years ago on stage, I dare say. The film's innovations are mostly to open up the locations, but also plays with Tarot symbols to good effect, turning this into a fevered dream. Two commentary tracks and a few interviews complete the package. The first features the director and the producer and is full of good stories about the play and the film. Mamet's commentary however is just terrible: He seems to be watching it for the first time and has very little to say.
I followed this up with House of Games, Mamet's directorial debut, starring the wonderful Joe Mantegna and Mamet's first wife, Lindsay Crouse. It's the story of a psychologist who gets interested in the world of con men and gets taken for a ride herself. An 80s film noir thriller that is actually very fresh and difficult to get ahead of. Crouse is a major distraction, in my opinion. I can see the reasoning behind a female character who is "plain" to the point of being "mannish", but she exudes a kind of anti-charisma and has a robotic delivery I find off-putting. Still, good flick, and this time Mamet's commentary (accompanied by con expert Ricky Jay) is highly entertaining. His rants on psychology and therapy are worth the price of admission alone! Criterion also offers some interesting interviews and a booklet with a couple of essays. I don't like the latter much as a DVD extra, but it's certainly better than reading essays on screen.
Getting away from Mamet for a bit, I went to Korea for Chan-wook Park's Oldboy. Based on a manga I've never heard of, it's the story of a man who gets mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years, then released and given 5 days to find out why. Its comic book roots are visible in the clever editing and camera work I've come to expect from Asian cinema, but it's the story more than the style that really gripped me. Oldboy features some very shocking images and plot twists, and I never quite knew where it was going. I'm as impressed with it visually as anything. Whether showing something pretty or ugly, the screen drips with lusciousness. The commentary track in Korean features both the director and director of photography, and there's a nice, humorous banter between the two. I liked it, but was disappointed that they never discussed the manga.Role-played on our regular night, and this week it was a space opera to end all space operas, with mysterious aliens, precursor-type technology and hyperspace being destroyed forever, stranding the characters in the outer reaches. Best bits: My computer voices. It got enough traction that we're thinking of doing a GURPS Space mini-series with a similar set-up (small ship, very alien aliens, and yes, computer voice humor).
Cards? The Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG grew by 29 cards this week, finishing work on Love and Monsters, and just doing "pick-ups" after that. There are even cards based on Attack of the Graske.Someone Else's Post of the Week
The Absorbascon is a frequent winner of this category, but if you want to be ready for Final Crisis, I've got to send you there again. For Final Crisis, Morrison is resurrecting an old nobody from the Silver Age as principal villain, and Scipio has done the research. Check out the Story of the Human Flame. (Part 2)Runner up was Scip again in any case. I liked him calling bullshit on the Guardians of the Universe.
Madeley tagged me a few days ago with a meme going around which asks "What creators who are usually associated with a certain company (or, indeed, medium) would you like to see writing someone else’s title?"I'm half tempted to send a bad DC writer over to Marvel like SallyP did with Winick, but I think I can consolidate my shared universe better by importing rather than exporting. The two guys most impressing me at Marvel right now are Fraction and Brubaker, so these guys need to get on some DC books pronto. Most in need? Hm...If we're going for artwork though, I'd love to see John Romita Jr. doing DC characters. His work on Thorion (for Amalgam) leaves no doubt that he would be great on a new New Gods book (should we expect a Fifth World series after Final Crisis?), but I'd but him on almost anything and expect great things.Blue Beetle's now in need of a new creative team (I say this before #26 comes out obviously), and it seems like a great match: Fraction - Brubaker - Romita Jr. on Blue Beetle. Here's to the next 25 issues.If only...
499. The ThawFORMULA: The Neutral Zone + Cost of Living + Hard TimeWHY WE LIKE IT: The very end (no, that's not a dig).WHY WE DON'T: Oh surrealism, we don't care about you very much.REVIEW: What if the Matrix was run by Michael McKean instead of Hugo Weaving? That's what Voyager finds out when they blatantly break the Prime Directive by trying to resuscitate people who have plugged themselves into an artificial environment while their biosphere recovers from a disaster. No mention is made of the big P.D. despite the fact that Janeway is usually a stickler for it (or for at least saying she is). No, here it's not an issue somehow, and the crew seems overly concerned with reviving this culture (how only three survivors can do that is not our problem).McKean brings a lot of energy to the screen as the embodiment of Fear, and his festival, though reminiscent of those in Cost of Living and Fascination, is colorful and has some original character designs. The Earth-centric stuff is no doubt due to Harry and B'Elanna's presence in the Matrix, and seems to show Harry's deep fear of France (mimes, the guillotine). So there's plenty of stuff happening on screen, and as far as surreal landscapes go, this one isn't half bad. I wouldn't say the gags are necessarily funny, but they keep your attention. And I have to commend the director's flourishes: the way the Doctor's appearance is a nice surprise, and the very end, sad and creepy as the lights go out.Plot aside, this is an episode to help us understand Harry Kim better. We've got a scene with a clarinet that shows he's ready to forget Libby, for example. I don't believe for a moment he fears getting old (this is not proper psychology for such a young man), but the make-up looks good. Much better is Harry as a Starfleet baby. Now THAT'S funny. The rest is the usual courage and conviction you'd expect from any character on the series.It's also Janeway's show as she tries to psychobabble her way out of a tight spot. That's one of the things wrong with The Thaw. Treating the Clown as Fear is fine, but they don't apply actual psychology to the problem. They use idioms. Fear is there to be conquered, for example. I've learned to trust Fear. Yes, nice expressions, but they're plays on words that this manifestation of actual Fear falls for. It's clever and all, but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny and it bugged me. Especially since the episode had a real danger and raised the stakes properly. At least the ending is a clever twist (if a bit of a technological deus ex machina).LESSON: Fear is the mindkiller.REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Some nice elements, fair tension and clever direction, and of course, a good guest-star. Motivation is lacking for the crew to get into this dangerous situation though, and that's a problem the self-motivating (no Starfleet orders) Voyager crew has to be careful about.
ACTION COMICS #579, DC Comics, May 1986
Not a crossover per se, but still finishing Company Crossover Week with this: Superman kind of met the world of Asterix in Action Comics #579 by Cheval Noir translator Jean-Marc Lofficier. He's also paid homage to Tintin, but with disastrous results (unless a postapocalyptic Hergé is your idea of good), but "Prisoners of Time" is a much tamer attempt at revisionism. Still, is it any good? With Keith Giffen and Bob Oksner on art, it's at least got style.The story occurs during the last few issues of Action before the post-Crisis reboot, another in a series of what looks like inventory material for the power-bloated, slightly ridiculous, Superman. Many stories in this era were all premise and no insight, and there wasn't a single menace Superman couldn't handle with two hands tied behind his back. Everything hinged on his powers getting out of control or his being "not himself". This comic takes that second option.It all starts with Jimmy Olsen visiting a museum with his girlfriend Lucy Lane, when a couple of thugs try to steal the Arverne Shield, the very same surrendered to Caesar by the Gaul chief Vercingetorix when everything but one tiny village fell to the Roman Empire. French-speaking readers will already know the story, as we were all raised on Asterix comics and cartoons. Anyway, as per Action Comics' standards at the time, don't look for too much logic even in this early scene: Jimmy uses his signal watch to call Superman, thinking "I hope they don't spot me pressing my signal-watch!" Well, Jimmy, even if they do, are they really gonna care that a hostage just looked at his watch? And then one of the mooks bent on stealing the priceless shield slams it upside Jimmy's head and destroys it like so much pottery (no wonder Gaul fell). You might've seen it on America's Stupidest Criminals.Meanwhile, back in 253 AD (only in comics would a phrase like that make any sense)... waitamminit, doesn't Asterix take place in 50 BC? Yes, but see, here's Lofficier's "what happened next": Panoramix the druid (here, "Picturix") not only makes the magic potion that gives the villagers super-strength and thus keeps the Romans at bay, but he also cast a spell that put the region in a time bubble, free from the ravages of time. So it's been the same old stand-off for 300 years, with the 4 surrounding Roman camps also frozen in time.So a soothsayer from Lutecia's looking for the village and comes upon those archaic Romans. His plan to get his hands on the magic potion is to grab a super-strong person from the future using the Arvergne Shield's location in time. So that's how Superman and Jimmy Olsen get whisked to Gaul. The soothsayer gives Superman a whiff of something that makes him a slave and he is dubbed Superix. (Tell me, if you have the power to control men's' minds and grab people from the future, why do you need the recipe to a super-strength potion so badly?)Jimmy will instead be found and adopted by the Gaul village, and they dress him up in Asterix's clothes:
If you've ever seen Asterix, you should wonder how the thing fits tall Jimmy here, but as with everything else in the comic, I don't think you're supposed to ask questions. They probably couldn't use Asterix as he's too distinctive, but it's a shame to pay homage to his book without having him in it. Obelix (called "Columnix") IS here though, but they never show his face. Oh, like the body, small white dog, menhirs, and origin story of him falling into the potion when he was a baby aren't dead giveaways. I do kind of like Giffen's Obelix though.
If you're familiar with the source material, all the old shticks are there: puns in every name (Mikimus probably being the best), the old "how do I know this potion isn't poison?" dilemma trick, the big banquet at the end, and cowardly Romans. For example, here's something that's been done before: After saying they were attacked by a "slew" of enemies, they negotiate it down...
So there's nothing new here, but if you haven't read Asterix before, do track it down. This is a fun enough wink at Uderzo & Goscinny's landmark series, but there's really no substitute for the real thing. And I've read the English translations. They took particular care in crafting all-new puns and jokes of the same quality as the French version, so you don't have to learn another language if you don't want to. As Superman himself says at the end of this (frankly daft) issue when Jimmy feels like writing their story: "It's already been done."
Remember when Vertigo was actually an imprint with more than one or two successful series? Remember when we were so starved for mature readers content, we gladly shelled out money for mature content from the 50s? We didn't want no code no more. Oh we were bad alright.
AB got in a little too late to cash in on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Radioactive Hamster / Nunchuck Wielding Chipmunk comics mania. Or too early to be the next Mouse Guard.
Dark Horse got the rights and even reprinted Roy Thomas' old Marvel books, but though Ambush Bug put himself through rigorous training, he never hit Conan's level. Or even Kull's. Not even Claw the Unconquered's. Or Groo's.
No, that's right out. Don't be ridiculous.
Ah yes, Sinestro War. Maybe, just maybe, AB can be successful with a tight epic mini-event? Is there an EVIL Ambush Bug out there? Cuz he really needs one. What's the opposite of Ambush Bug? Full Frontal Primate? Exposed Elephant? All I can come up with is pretty rude.
