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I was recurited to write for Gear Live by an old friend of mine. Gear Live was starting a section on comic books and they needed writers. As I searched for things to write about, I began writing about things such as Star Trek that although were not comic books, they did fit in to the genre of geek stuff that we all know and love. After talking things over with Andru Edwards who runs things here at Gear Live, it was decided that I should post my review of the new Star Trek film over at the movie section of Gear Live which is called Film Crunch. You can read my review here.
My review was pretty general and I didn’t go into any details. I decided to write about those details and give my opinion about them here. I also want to go into the current state of the Star Trek universe and what the future may hold. If you’ve read my review or already seen the film, you know that from here on out things will be different in the world of Star Trek. Lets begin….............
Click to continue reading The Future of Star Trek
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Marvel Comics Review: New Mutants #1
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,
Rating: ***
This is Marvel’s 2nd attempt to resurrect the old “New Mutants title which ran for 100 issues from the mid-80s to the early 90s. Like many comic readers, I was a big fan of this series. Although New Mutants had been canceled, it really just transformed into the new series “X-Force” with Cable at the helm along side some of the old characters and some new ones. Sometime later, Marvel published a forgettable three issue mini-series in 1997 that reunited the original members. However, in 2002, Marvel began a new monthly titled which would have some of the old New Mutant characters training new recruits. This title was very good and I collected it, but it was short lived and like it’s predecessor, it transformed into another title called “New X-Men”.
So I was surprised to see a few months back in Previews that Marvel was going to bring back the original New Mutants once again in their own book. I’m not complaining. As I said I loved that book and the characters and it’s nice to see them all back as the plain old New Mutants. So does this book hold up along side the previous series? I say so far yes.
Click to continue reading Marvel Comics Review: New Mutants #1
WEEKEND READING: Star Trek, Howard Chaykin, Buscema, and the Ultraverse!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Lots of great stuff this week on the internets, covering a wide variety of my geeky interests. Here’s a few of them to occupy you ‘til Monday.
STAR TREK CONTINUITY: to celebrate the release of J. J. Abrams new Star Trek movie, let’s revisit some classic Star Trek continuity, courtesy of Steve Ahlquist at Forces of Geek. (Did I mention that’s one of my favorite blogs?) He works his geek-magic on the continuity of the original series, the Gold Key Star Trek comic books, Vulcan poetry from Star Trek fanzines, James Blish’s novelizations and even Star Trek merchandise. Even if you only click the link to see Sky Diving Parachutist Mr. Spock, you have to visit.
HOWARD CHAYKIN: One of Howard Chaykin’s most recent pieces of work didn’t make it in the American edition of Christian Moerk’s debut novel, Darling Jim. At the author’s request – he’s a big fan, especially of Chaykin’s American Flagg! - Howard created an illustration for Moerk’s book. You can see a snippet of the excised art at the link where there’s a link to the much larger full-sized version. Thanks, GalleyCat!
Click to continue reading WEEKEND READING: Star Trek, Howard Chaykin, Buscema, and the Ultraverse!
It’s finally here. I’m talking about neither killer bees nor swine flu, nor Arlen Specter’s vote on anything pro-Democratic. I’m talking about the new Star Trek movie by J. J. Abrams starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and John Cho (Harold Lee is Sulu? Inspired!)
I’m a fan of Star Trek, but I don’t get the vapors over every new ST movie or series, or any glitch in continuity, nor do I love all things Trek. Any time the Star Trek crew beams down to a planet where the background looks like Ape City from Planet of the Apes and all the inhabitants are wearing burlap tunics as they rebel against an evil alien force who’s using them for either meat, factory work, or target practice, I’m out.
I don’t refer to Star Trek as TOS (The Original Series), I don’t care how the animated series fits into continuity, and I don’t care if anyone calls me a Trekker, a Trekkie or “Romulan Praetor.” I know just enough Star Trek trivia to run a category on “Jeopardy,” (“I’ll take ‘The Jeffries Tube’ for $400, Alex.”) but not enough to debate Klingon military history with a guy dressed as a Klingon speaking Klingon.
But I do have some Star Trek cred – thanks to writer-producer Larry Brody, I’ve actually met and chatted with D.C. Fontana at a writer’s conference in L.A.; I edited the launch issues of Malibu Comics’ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comic book and toured the set of the DS9 TV series (with artist Gordon Purcell); I had lunch with Alexander Siddig where we talked about our favorite video games; and I was once interviewed (by Mark Altman) for the official Star Trek magazine.
So I feel I have enough of a background in Star Trek to start a flame war by doing what all the other cool kids are doing: listing their five favorite Star Trek movies. Here are mine:
DC Comics Review: The Flash: Rebirth #2
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: *** 1/2*
This week we have the release of issue two of Geoff John’s Flash mini-series Rebirth. The story picks up where we left off in the first issue with Savitar death at the hands of Barry Allen and all of the other Earth’s speedsters suffering from some sort of shock. Savitar was able to escape the Speed Force through Barry’s body, but as Barry ran and caught him, Savitar turned to dust. Before he died, he made reference to Barry being the beginning and the ending. Why did Savitar incinerate when he touched Barry and why the other speedsters where affected as well is our big mystery.
Ethan Van Sciver once again provides the art work for this series. Van Sciver is quickly becoming one of the best in the business and DC is lucky to have him under contract. I loved his work on the Green Lantern Rebirth series and he hits it out of the ball park here as well.
Barry Allen has returned to the DC universe as the Flash, but his secret identity has also resurfaced in the world. To the world, Barry Allen died. We discover that when Barry returned, Wonder Woman was able to use government connections to create a back story where Barry faked his death went into the witness protection program. I think that’s a cool idea; simple and believable. We also get a retelling of Barry’s origin here in this issue and how Barry was obsessed with proving his father’s innocence for the murder of his mother. His father unfortunately died in prison. Geoff also shows us some flashbacks prior to Barry becoming the Flash with his first meeting of his future wife Iris West. We also see how he first started using the bow-tie. I don’t know much about Barry’s history so whether this is all new or a retelling is unknown to me. One of these days I’ll go back and look at the reprints.
The real story however is what’s happening to Barry.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: The Flash: Rebirth #2
This week’s episode was entitled, “Follow the Leader”. A very appropriate title as the episode deals with some of the characters on the show who have at one point tried to be a leader or who became the leader of the island inhabitants. In this episode we have several stories being told. In 1977, Jack must decide what needs to be done now that Daniel Faraday is dead. How can he complete the plan Daniel had to detonate the hydrogen bomb on the island in order to change history and prevent the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. In 2007, John Locke has resumed command of the Others. The island is talking to him and he seems to be in complete control and calling the shots on what needs to be done.
This episode really got my blood pumping. The last few weeks of episodes have been really good, but I almost feel that they were just pieces being put into place to tell the bigger story. The bigger story really begins here as we lead up into next week’s season finale. Will Jack detonate the hydrogen bomb? What about Sawyer and Juliet? Miles, Hugo, and Jin? What about John Locke? Who is he going to kill?!?!
Spoilers….................................................................................
Click to continue reading LOST Review 5/6/09
WEBCOMICS WEDNESDAY: Eric Feurstein on Batman, Gary Panter & Guitar Hero!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews,
Ah, the joys of Stumble! It’s like channel surfing yet I can do it with the click of a mouse and unlike channel surfing, I can always find something worthwhile. One of the things I Stumbled Upon was a strip called Batman’s 24-Hours that made me laugh out loud. I followed a few links and it lead to the creator, Eric Feurstein, which lead to a brief chat.
TOM: How did you get started as a cartoonist?
ERIC: All I wanted to do as a kid was draw. My first comics were basically ripped-off Far Side cartoons. I got a little older and started ripping off Garfield. In middle school, my brother and I made a MAD magazine clone called Abnormal that we wrote and drew. We sold it in the school store (after getting it approved by the principal!) and it was pretty awesome. We made a few issues and I don’t think I drew another comic until college.
TOM: Your thesis adviser at the School of Visual Arts was Gary Panter. What was that like and what advice did he give?
ERIC: He’s an awesome guy. It was many years ago that I had him but he was really supportive and honest.
TOM: How did Batman’s 24 hours originate?
Click to continue reading WEBCOMICS WEDNESDAY: Eric Feurstein on Batman, Gary Panter & Guitar Hero!
There are two places where I can spend hours, literally lost in a literary world: one is a library book sale. The other is a bookstore that sells remaindered books. I’m never happier than when I stumble across a remaindered bookstore that’s temporarily moved into some vacant retail store for a few months and slapped together a wild mash-up of books in nearly alphabetical order in almost the correct sections. Finding a copy of William Saroyan’s The Human Comedy in the Humor section always makes me laugh.
But there’s one organization that does it up right. The Green Valley Book Fair is huge, it only happens a few times a year for two weeks at a time, and you will not walk away empty-handed. It’s impossible. The place is clean, brightly-lit, extremely well-organized, and well-staffed with helpful, courteous people who know their books. Plus, the prices can’t be beat.
If you’re down around the Mt. Crawford, VA area (near Harrisonburg), you might consider stopping by for a few hours of browsing. They have over 500,000 remaindered books displayed over 25,000 square feet, at prices usually in the $2.50-$10 range.
Click to continue reading PITSTOP: Green Valley Book Fair, Mt. Crawford, VA
Reminder: Enter our LG Scarlet HDTV giveaway
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment,
Just wanted to give you guys a heads up, as our LG HDTV giveaway ends this week! In case you missed it, we are giving away a 52-inch LG Scarlet Series HDTV, in conjunction with ExpoTV.
Interested in entering? It’s easy - check out the contest rules, and submit your entry (you can enter as many times as you like.) The giveaway ends on May 8th at 11:59 PM EDT. Good luck!
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| Enter HDTV Giveaway
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review
Posted by David Torres Categories: Movies, Reviews, Marvel Comics,
Rating: ***
I love Wolverine. Wolverine is my second favorite character in comics - Batman is my first. I’m such a big fan that I named my son James Logan. When I first heard that they were going to do an X-Men movie back in 2000, I was worried because I felt who the hell could they get to play Wolverine? Well, as luck would have it, Bryan Singer cast Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in one of the best casting of an actor in a comic book movie. Not since Christopher Reeve stepped into the shoes of Superman did comic fans look up at the movie screen and feel as if they were watching their favorite character come to life.
The first X-men movie was pretty good, but not great in my opinion. X-2 was amazing and is one of the best comic book movies ever made. X-3 was slammed by both critics and fans, but I liked it. It wasn’t the best movie ever, but by no means the worse. That’s kind of what we have here in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. A movie that is good and fun to watch, but not a great film.
I’m not really sure why this isn’t a great film. I think I would have to see it again and really deconstruct what works here and what doesn’t. If there was one thing that I can put my finger and say that really didn’t work was the Blob. When we first see the Blob as played by Kevin Durand of “LOST”, he is just a big guy with super strength. When Wolverine meets up with him again later in the film, he is big and fat and he and Wolverine fight it out in a boxing ring. The scene is more comical and although it furthers the plot as the Blob informs Wolverine of where he can find Sabertooth and William Stryker, I would not have had them box and I probably wouldn’t have had him be big and fat. I just don’t think with the current make-up and computer technology, they can do that character justice with out making him look silly. That didn’t work for me, but what did work here?
Click to continue reading X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review
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