Touch of Silver, Star Trek

My daughter was born last week.  So I’ve been a little busy. Things are going to be a lot more sporadic here as my reading time drops and my writing time plummets.  But let’s see how much I can do tonight.

Miscellaneous Comics Box 5 is done!

Box Summary:

Time spent reading: 15 hours, 1 minute

Issues read: 139

Issues cut: 0

Highlights (Good or better): Stray Bullets 1-10, Sin City, Sin City: Dame to Kill For, Sin City: Big Fat Kill, Sin City: That Yellow Bastard, Sin City: Hell and Back.  Frank Miller is the man.

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 21 days, 20 hours, 8 minutes

Issues read: 4309

Issues cut: 572

Touch of Silver 1-5

Hated.  I have zero desire to read about a kid’s broken family life.  It doesn’t entertain me in any way. I bought this because it was critically acclaimed.  Not by me.  

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Hated (Cutting)

At this point, due to box shuffling, I’m jumping from Misc Box 6 over to my Star Trek/Star Wars box.

Star Trek: Countdown 1-4

The lead up to the JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot, telling the original ST universe’s side of the story.  Super fun to see what happened to the TNG crew all these years later.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Star Trek: Q Conflict 1-6

Still as fun as the first time through, which wasn’t that long ago.  The fun does taper off as the series goes on and the writers fail to take full advantage of the crossover story opportunities between characters from the various shows, but it’s still entertaining.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Spencer and Locke, Star Trek: Q Conflict

Finished with Misc box number 3!  Pretty much all GI Joe. If I didn’t have a such a huge chunk of it, I’d probably have cut a ton of the Marvel issues.  

Box Summary:

Time spent reading: 23 hours, 46 minutes

Issues read: 214

Issues cut: 28

Highlights (Good or better): GI Joe: Cobra (The Mike Costa issues), Girls

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 19 days, 21 hours, 15 minutes

Issues read: 3908

Issues cut: 515

Some new comics from the week:

Spencer and Locke 2 3

We get this world’s version of Watterson’s deranged killer monster snow goons and Stupendous Man.  Still interesting enough to keep reading.

Star Trek: Q Conflict 6

Things finish off in a fine enough fashion.  The series never fulfilled the promise shown in the early issues, but it’s entertaining enough.   

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.

Jessica Jones, Excellence, Unstoppable Wasp, Runaways, Star Trek: Q Conflict

New comics!

Star Trek: Q Conflict 4

Plot is so secondary in my enjoyment of this series.  I’m having a blast just reading this thing with the voices of the actors in my head.  Silvia Califano draws great representations of the characters, which really helps to sell the story as a massive tv show crossover.  

Love seeing everyone interacting around a table.

Runaways 21

I’d never thought of Chase as the responsible member of this family, but this issue goes a long way towards convincing me of that fact.  It doesn’t feel like a sudden shift in personality - writer Rainbow Rowell’s been building to it for a while, but always in the background, so that I never really noticed it.  I’d just been so used to early Runaways Chase, the self-absorbed bro that I didn’t like at all.  His conversation with Molly was touching in its honesty. Chase has levelled up, and I’m a huge fan of it.  

Heh.

Also like that Karolina’s in therapy, and it’s depicted as something positive.  Mental health maintenance is important!

Love the joy on the saved kid's face.

Victor’s apparently human now, so we’ll see how that shakes out next issue.

Unstoppable Wasp 8

The usual fun, not much more to add right now.  

Just a bunch of faces by Stacey Lee, but it encapsulates the book so well.

Excellence 1

I bought this after hearing the guys on the iFanboy podcast talk about it as their Pick of the Week.  I’m so glad I was introduced to to this, it’s a really sweet read. (Brandon Thomas writes, Khary Randolph pencils, Emilio Lopez colors.)  This is an excellent example of how to do a first issue. Thomas quickly sets up the world and characters, along with the conflicts that will be taking place.  It’s economical and action-packed, and I’m eager to find out what happens next.

Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter

The next collection of the webcomic by Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis.  Remarkably well written, and as gorgeous as the first trade.  On the other hand, I’ve totally reached my saturation point with the Purple Man.  I’m just so tired of him. Not as much as Jessica is, but still. I understand that the whole point is that Jessica will never be rid of him, but I wish it didn’t mean that the same thing applied to the readers as well.  

Thompson's conversations are as strong as Bendis'

Jones’ interactions with Emma Frost are the highlight of the story.  I would never have imagined the two of them in a team-up, and it’s simply hilarious.

Lots of boob jokes, but Jessica makes them work.

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.