Star Trek, New Comics

Two new comics for the week.  (I opted to stop getting Second Coming, Batman/Superman, and Action Comics.)

Batman: Curse of the White Knight 4

Story of the series: Sean Murphy’s story is good.  His art is better. It continues to blow me away with its awesomeness.  

So much rage and grief on her face.

King Thor 2

An extended fight scene that’s fun enough.  But what really has me excited is the ad for a new Garth Ennis Punisher miniseries…

Star Trek Annual 3

Peter David, perhaps the greatest non-TV Star Trek writer ever (see: Q Squared, Vendetta, New Frontiers, Q-in-Law…), tells the story of Scotty’s first and greatest love.  It’s not quite as romantic as I remember, but it’s still not bad.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Star Trek 50

I don’t know why I have this random issue (also written by Peter David).  If I was collecting David’s Star Trek comic run, I’d have way more of it.  Anyway, this is fine but forgettable.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine (Cutting)

Prodigy, Ironheart, Star Trek: Q Conflict, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Okay, it’s been a really long hiatus.  Been out of town for some emotionally draining stuff.  Back to it with some new comics. I didn’t get the new Five Years by Terry Moore.  Flipping through it in the store, it had zero Francine or Katchoo.  It focused on people from the Moore series that I haven’t read. I may pick up the SiP-centric issues in the future, we’ll see.

Prodigy 6

A satisfying end to a fun miniseries.  Edison, of course, had been wise to the subterfuge from the previous issue for some time, and his fourteen-steps-ahead scheming elegantly solves a couple of seemingly independent problems in one fell swoop.  I’d read more of this if Mark Millar decided to continue these adventures.

Good words to live (or die) by.

Ironheart 7

Nadia and Riri need to team up all the time.  This is a completely delightful issue as they team up with Riri’s friend Xavier to fight off a zombie menace.  (Though it takes a little effort from Xavier to convince the science-but-not-pop-culture-savvy girl geniuses of the true nature of the emergency.)

Eve L. Ewing fills her script with great character interactions, keeping it light and fun the whole way through.  This title is still a winner.

Star Trek: Q Conflict 5

The luster is starting to fade from this miniseries as the Starfleet captains continue to jump through Q’s hoops.  It appears as if they’re as tired of these proceedings as I am, so I’m optimistic that things are going to pick up next month in the final issue.  Cameos abound as both Corbin Bersen and Olivia d’Abo Qs show up, along with the original and Wesley Crusher Travellers.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 6

It’s honestly shocking that this name hasn’t been used on a Spidey title before.  Anyway, I picked this up after some positive reviews. The fact that it merited a second printing as a non-event/non-first issue also lent credence to its quality.  

It lives up to expectations as Spider-Man spends a day with one of his biggest fans, a young cancer patient who wants to be Spidey’s sidekick for a day.  It’s very much in the vein of Superman 39 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man 35.  

Tom Taylor and Juann Cabal throw in some great little touches in the form of some great big splashes.

Such a cool idea.

Particularly like the judges' scores on the landing.

The little interactions are sweet and funny at the same time:

I didn't catch the child drawing backgrounds until now.

Taylor and Cabal do a wonderful job in the final three pages of depicting the harsh truths of terminal illness and why superheroes and stories are so important in providing hope to IRL people, children and adults alike.

A moment of awkwardness that feels real.

Aww.

Pearl, Naomi, War of the Realms, Star Trek: Q Conflict

New comics!

Star Trek: Q Conflict 3

The four starships play Capture the Flag until Trelane spices things up with TOS Doomsday Machine.  It’s fun seeing all four crews working together to take down a big threat, but there isn’t as much inter-show interaction as I would have liked.  Most of all, I enjoy reading this while imaging how it would look with the actors and effects in an actual TV crossover. Would be so cool.

Pearl 8

A long conversation, which involves a flashback several other long conversations, one of which recounts another flashbacked conversation.  Coming back to the original conversation, Bendis throws in a mini-twist that isn’t that surprising. It’s all great reading, which is of enormous relief to me after dropping both of Bendis’ Superman books.  He hasn’t completely lost it.

Naomi 4

This was really a key issue - if fun didn’t happen here, I was going to drop it from my pull list.  (Actually, it hasn’t made it on yet. Still on probation.) Naomi’s dad gives his origin story. It’s pretty standard, the deep cover agent who goes native and abandons his assignment, marrying a local in the process.  The tale ends with his discovery of Naomi as a baby. Bendis tells it well, and I’m probably in for the rest of this first arc. (Is that the White Lantern symbol on the box at the end?)

No...not quite the same.

War of the Realms 2

Having read so many events and tie-in issues over the past year for the project, I’ve learned my lesson and have resisted buying any of the side stories for this crossover.  (It’s helped that none of them have sounded very interesting so far.) The main title is maintaining the quality that I want to see, with great art and tons of action. Jane Foster appears to be in remission, and her hair growing back totally reminds me of Natalie Portman post-V for Vendetta hair shaving.  

So q.

There’s a bit of clunkiness at the end where the heroes delineate the various tasks that they’re splitting up to handle.  I hope they’re covered in this comic and not any of the spinoffs.

Love the pith.

Star Trek, Unstoppable Wasp, Naomi

More new comics!

Naomi 2

So...the second issue ends exactly the same as the first.  

In between, we get Naomi’s adoptive parents acting as creepily as one would expect in a mystery about her origin.  It’s all about the set up and execution, and I’m still in during all this slow burn. But it had better get good soon, or this’ll meet the same fate as Action Comics.  (I finally cut it from my pull list this week.)  

Unstoppable Wasp 5

Nadia fights her friends as she struggles to deal with her first bipolar episode.  It’s a little after-school special, but I respect the effort by Jeremy Whitley to accurately portray the condition.  It’s also nice that Nadia’s in a caring environment, surrounded by loving friends who will support and help her as she learns to live with it.  And extra props to the extended Q&A with a psychology expert in the Agents of G.I.R.L. column.

Star Trek: The Q Conflict 1-2

I almost never buy Star Trek comics, but I couldn’t resist this one.  It’s pure fan service, and this fan is buying: Q brings the TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager crews together, then fantasy drafts them into four teams for a competition for the fate of the blah blah blah.  (Quark is the last pick, right after Harry Kim.) The plot doesn’t matter, of course - This one’s all about the interaction between the different crew members. It’s wonderful, and I’m looking forward to four more issues of this.  

You’re crazy if you don’t think I’m totally going to analyze the draft.

Assumptions: The grid is showing each team’s pick order from left to right.  The pick order goes Picard, Janeway, Sisko, Kirk. (We know Kirk and Sisko’s placement because of Quark and Kim.)  It’s not a snake draft, since that would mean Kirk’s team has the first pick of the second round, and there’s no way McCoy goes before Spock.  Which also means Picard’s team has the first pick over Janeway, since Riker would never go before Spock either.

Given that, the pick order with my thoughts:

1. Picard - Unfair to judge the captain pick order, they were chosen before the start of the draft.
2. Janeway
3. Sisko
4. Kirk
5. Spock - An excellent second pick.  Data would have been the other acceptable one.
6. Riker - Any pick that isn’t Data from this point forward is inexcusable.
7. Chakotay - Are you kidding me?  Chakotay doesn’t belong in the first half of this draft.
8. McCoy - The only non-XO in the second round
9. Crusher - Waaat?? Not even the best doctor left on the board.  Though with only three CMO’s in the draft, I can see Picard not wanting to be the only team left without one.
10. Kira - A wasted pick, Janeway doesn’t need a second first officer.  Especially w/ Data still available.  
11. Data - Steal of the draft, at least five slots too low.  
12. Worf - Solid pick, the physically strongest competitor remaining.
13. Seven - Strong science pick.  Paired with Spock, the intelligence on this team is skyrocketing.
14. Scotty - First chief engineer taken, and probably the best.  
15. Sulu - Odd to take a helmsman so early.  It’s like taking a kicker way before everyone else.
16. Dax - Intentionally putting the couples on the same teams?
17. Odo - Another questionable pick.  What does he bring?
18. Paris - Why are all the pilots being taken?  You already have Riker, who can fill that role.
19. Bashir - Nice, getting your doctor so late.
20. Tuvok - The Dax pick is looking bad now, Kirk’s team is without a doctor now.
21. Geordi - Geordi or O’Brien: feels like a coin flip.  Might as well go with the synergy w/ the captain.
22. Chekov - Even with Scotty, I’d have taken another engineer here.
23. Troi - How did she get taken before the last round?
24. O’Brien - Best pick left on the board.
25. Uhura - I’d have gone w/ Torres here.
26. Torres - Sure.
27. Kim - Yep.
28. Quark - Okay.

Of course, I have to draft this myself now, given the same starting captains.

Picard	Janeway	Sisko	Kirk
Data	Spock	Riker	Scotty
Seven	Worf	O’Brien	Tuvok
Geordi	Torres	Dax	Bashir
Crusher	McCoy	Sulu	Chekov
Paris	Kira	Kim	Chakotay
Uhura	Odo	Troi	Quark

This was way too fun for its own good.