The Seeds of Light Are Sown

Star Trek/Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds tpb
DC/IDW
Creators: Mike Johnson, Angel Hernandez, Mark Roberts, Andworld Design, Chris Cerasi, Sarah Gaydos, Jim Chadwick and Michael McCalister
Release date: September 2017

This book is a sequel to Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War which brings these two franchises together.

Permanently.

You see, it begins with the end of the DC Universe. (Spoilers if you didn't read that first volume.)

The first series takes place an unspecified amount of time after the events depicted in "The Blackest Night" crossover event from DC Comics. Nekron arises once again, and having learned from his past mistakes, the first thing he does this time is take out Kyle "Ion" Rayner, the person able to harness the energies of all the rings of the emotional spectrum at once. With Rayner out of the way, everyone else seems pretty helpless to stop the embodiment of entropy from claiming much of the DCU.

In a last-ditch effort to salvage what he can, the last remaining Guardian of the Universe, Ganthet, takes six power rings — blue, violet, yellow, orange, indigo and red — and uses them to open a rift into a parallel universe. All surviving ring-bearers are also shunted into this parallel reality — Sinestro, Carol Ferris, Larfleeze, Atrocitus, Saint Walker, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Killowog.

The new reality they find themselves in is the 23rd century that contains the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon and Romulan empires and the U.S.S. Enterprise — the contemporary versions from the J.J. Abrams film reboot, if that matters to you. All of the ring bearers are now stuck in this new reality.

Oh, and Nekron is there, too.

But that's the first volume of this tale, which I certainly encourage you to read. There isn't a lot of material in volume two to catch new readers up to speed. But the first volume is worth the time if you have any interest in either franchise.

This second volume picks up some time after the events in the first book, and there have been some changes in the meantime. Scotty is able to help Starfleet reverse engineer the various power rings — up to a point. Starfleet security personal now have white rings as standard issue gear — rings capable of generating personal force fields and firing phaser-like power beams. As for the original ring-slingers? They have some problems to deal with in this new reality. All of their rings were supercharged during Ganthet's shunting them off to their new reality, but even a supercharged ring eventually can run out of juice. Since no power batteries were brought with them from the DCU, none of them have a way to recharge, no matter what color of the spectrum they represent. That's where this story begins.

The various surviving DCU refugees are finding their places in this new reality. Hal and Carol now serve alongside the crew of the Enterprise. Saint Walker, Guy, John and Killowog are also working with Starfleet. Sinestro has become emperor of the Klingon empire. Larfleeze had a short alliance with the Romulans — all of Larfleeze's alliances seem to be short-lived — but in this new series, he is seeking other things to claim as his own. And Atrocitus had a brief alliance with the Gorn, but he abandons them when they prove less than useful helping him find a new way to charge his red ring.

The inclusion of all the other related Lantern characters adds to the drama of both stories, but Sinestro and Hal take center stage in this second volume. Sinestro's use of fear plays nicely against the dynamics of the Klingon empire for a time, but he's not content to simply sit and rule a portion of the universe. Meanwhile, Hal craves the importance of being out in space with the Federation's flagship crew, but he and Kirk — especially the Chris Pine version of Kirk — are so similar that they can't help but like each other any more than they can help butting heads over who's giving the orders.

I confess, the ultimate solution to the power needs of the various Lanterns' rings seems a bit of a stretch to a longtime Trek fan. A previously unknown race is discovered, one that Starfleet might have run across before if they truly existed in this reality. The introduction of another individual familiar to Trek fans also seems like a bit of a stretch here. But having pointed out both of those plot contrivances, this is still a solid, enjoyable read if you're looking for a fun adventure and are willing to simply accept a few twists at face value.

You want to talk dark? Now this is dark!

Dark Knights one-shots
DC Comics
Release dates: October 2017 onward

Short post today, but I had a couple thoughts to share about the Dark Knights: Metal one-shots I've read to date. As of this writing, I have read Dark Knights: Metal No. 3 and the various crossovers and one-shots through Flash No. 33 and The Drowning.

Overall, I'm liking the series and looking forward to how it is all going to play out. Of the various tie-in crossover titles, they've been decent; the more you care about the characters involved, the better they read, but that's usually the case with tie-in titles. I'm sad to say that The Drowning has been the weakest of the one-shots so far. It was the first one I pre-ordered because the title indicated that it would be Aqua-centric. And it was an OK story, just not quite as good as some of the others.

But dark story lines seem to be all the buzz these days, how dark is too dark, is dark good or bad, etc. I'm not here to say that just because something is dark it's automatically either good or bad. Depends on the story, and whether or not it works for me as a reader. Let me tell you, this series earns the label "dark," to be sure.

The Red Death and The Devastator were the two most strong. Want to know just how dark these books are? I read a number of them in one sitting. I came away entertained and satisfied that I had gotten my money's worth. But after reading about six of these Dark Knights titles one after another in one evening, I came away feeling a little depressed. That's how dark these books are. And I have not yet received my copy of The Batman Who Laughs, which I fully expect to be the darkest yet.

That's my two-cents' worth.

Checking in once again with our Belgian friend

The Adventures of Tintin No. 10: The Shooting Star
Casterman/Little, Brown and Co.
Creator: Herge
Release date: 1946

Obviously, I was still doing some reading during the time when this blog was on hiatus. I had previously discussed the first four Tintin adventures, and during the time we were apart, I have read the next five, bringing me to this 10th volume.

I'm not going to go back and do full reviews of the titles I didn't blog about, but here are some brief thoughts on them. The Blue Lotus, No. 5 in the series, brought Tintin back to Asia to thwart opium smugglers. If memory serves, I believe this tale was a bit of a direct continuation from No. 4, Cigars of the Pharaoh, and I didn't care for it as much. It seemed to move very slowly.

The Broken Ear, No. 6, was a little better but also seemed a bit ponderous. The usually very bright Tintin seemed a little slow to put the pieces of this South American mystery together. The Black Island, No. 7, however, moved at a much more brisk pace and was a much more light-hearted tale in places, one of the hallmarks of Tintin adventures I most enjoy. Despite its faster story pacing, it still takes two-thirds of the story before the titular Black Island on a Scottish loch comes into the story.

Next up was King Ottokar's Sceptre, adventure No. 8. This story is set in a fictional European country and very clearly shows parallels to the real world, being written as it was immediately prior to the outbreak of World War II.

The Adventures of Tintin No. 9, The Crab with the Golden Claws, is actually the first Tintin book I ever read. It was in the school library where I attended junior high, and I checked it out and read it several times during junior high and high school. This is the tale that first introduces Captain Haddock into the Tintin cast of characters along with his unique brand of liquor-laced comic relief. Haddock makes a fun ally/foil to the much more straight-laced Tintin. And this book is very much responsible for my love of the series.

All of which catches us up to The Shooting Star, No. 10 in the series of 24 adventures. A massive meteorite barely misses colliding with the Earth, causing a number of catastrophes and allowing Professor Decimus Phostle to discover a previously unknown mineral within the meteorite's composition. Tintin and Haddock help lead an expedition into the Arctic Ocean to recover a piece of the massive meteorite to verify Phostle's discovery, which makes for an entertaining read, especially when our heroes find they are in a race for the prize with another ship also trying to claim the meteorite.

Speaking of Saturday-morning cartoons

Future Quest 1-12
DC Comics
Creators: Jeff Parker, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Ron Randall, Steve Lieber, Ariel Olivetti, Veronica Gandini, Dave Lanphear, Marie Javins and Brittany Holzherr
Release date: 2016-17

People of a certain age hear the name Hanna-Barbera, and they are taken back to when they were children, sitting in front of the television on a Saturday morning, eagerly absorbing all these two creators had to offer. The same happens at the mention of Filmation Studios and Sid and Marty Krofft. But William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were the most prolific.

I've met a lot of DC Comics' recent reboots of the old Hanna-Barbera properties as modern comic books with some trepidation. My only exposure to "The Flintstones" reboot was that property's pairing with Booster Gold for a recent forgettable annual one-shot. The Space Ghost-Green Lantern pairing in another one-shot annual was much better, while the Suicide Squad-Banana Splits team-up annual one-shot had some funny moments, but that was about it. And I haven't tried the Scooby Apocalypse ongoing title for fear it will permanently ruin my love of the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" show.

The stand-out exception to all of that is Future Quest, mixing and combining all of the Hanna-Barbera space, sci-fi and adventure characters into one massive story. That one I was also nervous about, but I simply had to try it. "The Herculoids" and "Jonny Quest" were some of my favorite shows as a kid. I also enjoyed "Space Ghost." I confess I didn't know much about the more cartoony "Impossibles" or "Frankenstein Jr.," although I was aware of those shows. And I had never seen an episode of "The Mighty Mightor" or "Birdman."

I was not disappointed by this 12-issue maxiseries.

The story wasn't perfect. My favorites, the Herculoids, weren't as central to the plot as I might have liked, and half the team was sidelined early on. But this is a massive amount of characters to service, so I can understand that decision. Dr. Zin, a frequent foe of the Quest team, seems to very quickly join forces with the heroes and act a little out of character while doing so, to my mind. And the story has a few slow points along the way, making me think it could have been a tad bit tighter.

But overall, this was a phenomenal story bringing a huge cast of diverse characters together with very little tweaking to make the plot work. Most of the characters with which I was already familiar seemed to be spot-on in this series. The ones I wasn't familiar with before, I now want to know more about.

Whoever had the initial idea for this series: kudos to you and this fantastic team of creators who brought it all to life! Whether or not you are a fan of these characters from television, give this series a try if you enjoy sci-fi adventure. You will not be disappointed.

Anticipation is making me wait ... for years!

Superman No. 299
DC Comics
Creators: Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Curt Swan, Bob Oksner and Julius Schwartz
Cover date: May 1976

Who knew? Multi-part stories are nothing new! (Actually I did, but I didn't realize they were quite so prevalent this far back.)

While he isn't one of my top three favorite characters, I've always had a fondness for Superman.

Even before I'd read many comics, he was one of the "Super Friends" on television every Saturday morning during almost all of my cartoon-watching years (OK, so I still watch a lot of cartoons, but they are no longer confined to Saturday mornings and the odd 30-minute weekday program after school.). I came along too late for the "Superman/Aquaman" show that preceded it, but the "Super Friends" in one iteration or another were as regular on Saturday mornings as "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" during those days. And the Man of Steel was one of only five regular heroes on most episodes of the "Super Friends." Superman was even my very first Mego action figure as a kid. So, I was definitely aware of him as a child.

Making the Kryptonian even more a central figure in my young mind were monthly (or so) trips to the barbershop. The barbershop my mom most often took me to when I was a child had two large baskets of magazines — mostly sports or hunting mags — placed on either end of a row of chairs where people would sit and wait their turn in the cutting chair. Scattered among the other magazines, there were almost always two or three coverless comic books. Sometimes you'd dig through those magazines and find a comic you'd read on a previous visit, which was usually fun to re-read because back then they were all great reads, even if you'd already read them before. Once in a while, you'd come across one that hadn't been there the last time. But always, every single issue, featured Superman, sometimes Superboy or sometimes alongside the Legion of Super-Heroes. Once or twice maybe alongside Batman. But Superman was always in those barbershop comics.

I developed a fondness for late 1960s and 1970s Superman comics that way. That led me to recently indulge when I came across an online auction selling several early Bronze age Superman comics, some of which I've finally had time to begin reading.

If you had asked me before this purchase, I'd have told you with almost certainty that one hallmark of Superman books from the time was that they were almost always self-contained stories. Done in one. Very few "to be continued"s to be found. That assumption is based on the many Superman books I read at that barbershop. After reading about a dozen of the books I recently purchased, however, I've found that is not the case. At least not with this batch.

Superman No. 254 sets up a situation where the Man of Steel must transfer his powers and abilities into the body of a crippled boy, only summoning each power back to himself one at a time as he needs them. An immediate problem gets resolved in this fashion, but at the end of the story, all of Superman's powers still reside in the boy's body. Did the writers just forget to resolve that plot point? No, they call attention to it at the end of the story with a note saying that plot point will be resolved in a future issue. Not the next issue, but an unnamed future issue at an unspecified time. That would drive fans crazy these days.

So what's all that got to do with Superman No. 299, the comic pictured above? That comic is part of a really long story arc, as you'll soon see.

Superman No. 296 begins by explaining that it was going to tell a tale of Superman that couldn't be contained in a single issue. It then gives a brief two-panel recap of how baby Kal-El came to Earth and was found by the Kents. The rest of the page is devoted to scenes of a second craft from the stars landing on Earth at the same time, but far from Smallville, Kansas. This craft dislodges a far more deadly occupant. The next page gives a glimpse of Superman's early career as Superboy and the second alien watching the young Kryptonian until he receives orders to go to Metropolis and wait for the boy to grow into Superman. The following pages of that issue reveal that this second alien has been sent to destroy Earth, using Superman to do it. The alien, named Xviar, sets his plan in motion by sabotaging the Man of Steel's powers — making it so that when he is dressed in his familiar red-and-blue costume, Superman is mighty as ever, but when dressed in his Clark Kent clothes, Superman is human, losing all of his Kryptonian abilities.

Superman, not knowing Xviar's plan, believes that the change is brought about by the stress of his having lived a double life for so long. He decides he must choose between being Superman full time and saying goodbye to his Clark Kent identity, or the opposite, forsaking his powers forever to live only as a human. Superman No. 297, which I do not own and have never read, apparently details the next week as Clark tries living only as a normal human. Flashbacks in the next issue show he is saddened by — but begins to accept — the tragedies he can no longer do anything about. Instead, he begins to actively pursue Lois Lane and stand up to the constant harassment of bullies like Morgan Edge and Steve Lombard. Then in Superman No. 298 — which I do have and read — Superman goes back into action full time, forgetting about Clark Kent for a week. The Man of Steel is able to prevent a great many disasters and crimes, but never taking off the costume means never having any downtime, something which begins to take a toll.

All of that culminates in Superman No. 299, which interrupts Superman's difficult decision by introducing nine of the Man of Steel's most infamous rogue's gallery members, brings about the final part of Xviar's plan to use Superman to destroy Earth and brings the plot to a satisfying conclusion. Why satisfying? Superman uses his brains just as much, if not moreso, than his brawn to defeat Luthor, Brainiac, the Prankster, Toyman, Parasite, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Terra-Man, Amalak and the Kryptonite Man. Plus, when Superman tumbles to Xviar's plan and manages to thwart it, it is only because of his strong sense of what is right and his sense of honor. I like that the entire plot revolves around Superman being so good that he has to do the right thing, even if it's difficult for him personally, and that is exactly what leads him to figure Xviar's plan out.

Who knew I was going to come across a four-part epic in what I expected to be a collection of fun, standalone stories? And this really is a pretty complete tale in these four issues. But that's really not the end of the story. It is never explained in these four issues what race or planet Xviar belongs to or why they wanted to use Superman to destroy Earth, a plan set in motion before baby Kal-El even arrived on Earth. A teaser at the end of Superman No. 299 again promises that story at another time in a future issue.

And the beginnings of the story stretch back further than Superman No. 296, too. More than three years earlier, in Superman No. 258, the book's main feature has Superman facing a hulking bruiser named the Galactic Golem for the second time. In a backup "Private Life of Clark Kent" story, Clark decides to play amateur detective. He has a neighbor about whom the Man of Steel and his other fellow tenants at 344 Clinton Avenue know nothing. The man keeps to himself, is rarely seen outside his apartment and just presents a bit of a mystery. The only thing anyone knows about him is the name on his mailbox, Mr. Xavier. I don't know if the mysterious Mr. Xavier had appeared before Superman No. 258 or if he ever appeared again between then and No. 296, but the name and the appearance lead me to believe he has to be the same character. Now that's a long wait for a plot thread to pay off!

The long wait is finally over

Welcome back, Slacker! 

That refers to me, not you, dear reader. Why would I insult you? I don't even know if you're still hanging around after all this time without a new post. But I've missed writing this blog, and I'm going to take a stab at keeping up with it once again. 

So what do we have to entice you to come back? Just a short post this time, and one that doesn't even center on a comic. Nope, I'm going to brag a bit about the latest figure I've added to my collection, the King Shark build-a-figure included in one of the latest DC Multiverse lines from Mattel. 

I really like the look of this figure, based just as much on his appearances in Season 3 of The CW's "Flash" television program as it is on the character's comic appearances. His bulk makes him look imposing next to the other regular six-inch figures I have, and he's a nice addition to my shelf of villains, which was already quite Aqua-centric due to the multiple Ocean Master and Black Manta figures. 

Besides, what's not to love about the character when he was even a quasi-good guy during the Sword of Atlantis Aquaman run? Why, if Arthur has trouble taking this big guy down alone (perish the thought), maybe the Hulk would be more King Shark's size? 

Come back next Tuesday, and I'll tell you about the surprise I got recently reading some old Superman comics. I promise I'll try to make it worth your time.

Finally a chance to sit and read

The Lone Ranger/Green Hornet No. 1

Dynamite Entertainment

Michael Uslan, writer

Giovanni Timpano, artist

Pete Pantazis, colorist

Hey, Kiddie Cops, long time, no see! Work is still keeping me hopping at a crazy pace; so much so, in fact, that this is the first comic I have had time to read in nearly six weeks. Now maybe that had something to do with it, but I very much enjoyed this comic. So much so that I wanted to share.

I’ve liked most of what Dynamite has done since obtaining the rights to Lone Ranger comics, and while I have avoided most of the more modern takes on Green Hornet, I also very much enjoy the character and his ties to the Lone Ranger. So I decided to give this six-issue mini a try. And if this first issue is any indication, this series is off to a great start.

This tale is set in 1936-38 with an aged John Reid (the Lone Ranger) still around to help shape the beginnings of his grand-nephew, Britt Reid’s origins as the Green Hornet. Michael Uslan uses the setting and time period to tie real-world events and figures into the narrative to very great effect. Further, he uses some pass Green Hornet stories, particularly GreenHornet Year One by Matt Wagner and Aaron Campell to flesh out some of the early career of the Green Hornet. I absolutely love it when creators take something done before and build on it rather than going the everything-you-know-is-wrong route to erase and re-write history. It doesn’t hurt when the tale the current creator is building on is one I have read and enjoyed.

This is still only the first issue of a six-issue series, and I don’t want to spoil the story twists and historical tidbits by revealing them here (half the fun is discovering them in the story as they come up), but this was a nice story to return to my hobby with, and I recommend it highly!

Thank You, Sirs, May I Have Another

Hype

PaperFilms and Adaptive Comics
Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, writers
Javier Pina, artist
Alessia Nocera, colorist

 I don’t like everything I’ve read by writing partners Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti — at least not everything they write with someone else’s characters. But I have read a few of their original creations — titles like Time Bomb, for instance — that I did enjoy quite a bit. So their names draw my attention when I’m placing my monthly comics order or shopping around for occasional extras.

Several months ago, I came across a Kickstarter promo ad for another original creation of theirs, Hype. Apparently, the duo has released several projects via Kickstarter in the past. Anyway, the promo caught my eye, and their names piqued my interest. I found a support level I agreed with and funded the project. And a few short months later, I had not only Hype but a couple other standalone original graphic novels by the pair to look forward to.

I confess I haven’t yet had a chance to read the other titles I received with Hype — Abbadon and Denver — I’m not even quite sure what they are about. But I have read Hype. And I loved it! The promo art had me expecting a pretty straight-forward superhero title with a little time twist: the main hero, Hype, can only experience life for 45 minutes a day. The rest of the time he’s asleep, recharging. But the actual story is so much more.

The pacing of the story, for example, seemed a bit jarring at first. Transitions were almost nonexistent. The story is told in brief glimpses of the various players. Each snippet of story gives you information about the central characters and advances the plot, but it is clear there is more going on that we readers aren’t privy to. By the third such break, I came to realize that this was a neat bit of writing that allows the reader to experience things in much the way Hype does. It’s a way for us to connect with the character beyond the norm. And it works very well.

I will also reveal that the story in this OGN has a bit of an open ending. There is very much the promise of more action to come, and I hope this creative team can reunite to produce future volumes of Hype’s story, either through another Kickstarter or their own PaperFilms or by being picked up by another publisher. But sometimes, such a story can seem incomplete. Readers are left feeling like they only got half a story for their money, just the set-up and no payoff. That isn’t the case with Hype. This is a complete story, beginning to end, and feels like a satisfying read despite being only 52 pages long. Yet it is also very clear that there is more story to tell with these characters, more questions to be answered, more adventure to be had.

As usual, I'm more of a story person and tend to focus mostly on that aspect of books. But the art is always an important component of the comics medium. Great art can enhance a good story, while art that is not to a specific reader's taste can ruin an otherwise good tale. Javier Pina's art is crisp and clean, not gritty like the covers on the other downloads I scored at the same time as Hype. Pina's art, along with Alessia Nocera's bright vibrant colors, add to the superhero feel of this story despite its departure from the usual story conventions of the genre. They help make this story feel familiar while the writing direction takes readers in an unexpected direction. And the union of all these efforts is something truly worth a look.