Humanoids, the publisher of some of the world’s most iconic and groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy graphic novels, is launching a new literary imprint in 2018, timed to the company’s 20th anniversary of publishing its acclaimed books in the United States. Best known for seminal genre works including The Incal (Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mœbius) and The Metabarons (Jodorowsky, Gimenez) and internationally renowned creators, including Milo Manara and Jose Ladronn, Humanoids will make a bold break from tradition with its new endeavor. Launching on April 4th, the LIFE DRAWN imprint will publish graphic novels featuring deeply personal and powerful political narratives; these are stories grounded in life on earth, not among the stars.

“Since its inception in the ’70s, Humanoids has published some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy tales ever told—including international best sellers such as The Incal and The Metabarons,” said Humanoids CEO and Publisher, Fabrice Giger. “After so many years of exploring imaginary universes, I felt the urgency for us to also explore . . . real life. Our new imprint LIFE DRAWN will bring our readers down to earth, where humanity is just as captivating as any alien world. With LIFE DRAWN, Humanoids is committed to publishing diverse voices and stories from different points of view, whether it’s powerful political and personal stories from Afghanistan or Vietnam or a biography of Hedy Lamarr.”

LIFE DRAWN’s debut season features titles representing a wide spectrum of art styles, tone, and social and cultural perspectives:

Kabul Disco: How I Managed Not to Be Abducted in Afghanistan by Nicolas Wild

Publication date: April 4, 2018; ISBN: 978-1594658686; 160 Pages; $19.95

LIFE DRAWN debuts with the first volume of a satire-laced travel memoir by cartoonist Nicolas Wild about his experiences in Afghanistan, drawing an adaptation of of the Afghan constitution. Wild provides insights into international politics, a war-ravaged country and the lives of his fellow expatriates. In a dazzling passage, Wild explores the fragile state of American democracy through the story of a woman who was working for the Bush campaign in 2000 and was responsible for vote counting in one of Florida’s three counties, ultimately making the fateful phone call that helped swing the election. Acclaimed cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea) declares that Wild’s “satirical and at times absurdist perspective plunges us into the daily life of a group of expatriates in the heart of Kabul, a city still reeling from the last war. His witty sense of humor makes him an excellent travel companion.” Book Two will be published in September.

Vietnamese Memories: Leaving Saigon by award-winning writer and artist Clément Baloup

Publication date: May 29, 2018; ISBN: 978-1594656583; 164 Pages; $19.95

The first of a three-volume testimonial to the courage and endurance of five different families displaced from their native country by war and colonialism and forced to assimilate in unfamiliar lands, watching their heritage slowly disappear. As Doan Hoang, the award-winning director of Oh, Saigon, says in her introduction of Book One, “History is mostly told by the privileged and powerful, and rarely by those who are most affected. . . . In this sumptuously beautiful and important graphic novel, you will intimately bear witness to what so few in the world have been privy to.”

Luisa: Now and Then by Carole Maurel, Adapted by‎ Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer)

Publication date: June 20, 2018; ISBN: 978-1594656439; 272 Pages; $29.95

A queer transformative tale about self-acceptance and sexuality, written and illustrated by Carole Maurel and adapted by national bestseller Mariko Tamaki, Caldecott Award–winning creator of This One Summer. A disillusioned photographer has a chance encounter with her lost teenage self who has miraculously traveled into the future. Together, both women ultimately discover who they really are, finding the courage to live life by being true to themselves. The book will be published in June, timed to Pride Month.

Madame Cat by Nancy Peña

Publication date: July 4, 2018; ISBN: 978-1594658136; 128 pages; $12.95

Hilarious vignettes presenting the love, laughter and frustrations of a pet who thinks she’s an owner! With narrative mastery, creator Nancy Peña brings us bite-sized sketches that appeal to cat lovers of all ages.

With upcoming releases dedicated to subjects as diverse as the life of Hedy Lamarr and the New York Marathon, Humanoids’ LIFE DRAWN imprint will capture deeply personal stories that run the gamut from political travelogues to coming-of-age and coming-out stories. For more updates on LIFE DRAWN, follow Humanoids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 About the LIFE DRAWN Creators:

Comic book writer Nicolas Wild finds inspiration in the Indo-European world, and has earned critical acclaim with titles such as Kabul Disco and Silent was Zarathustra. He currently resides in Strasbourg, France.

Clément Baloup, acclaimed cartoonist of Vietnamese and French heritage, is exploring their stories and struggles in gripping and moving graphic novels. Clément Baloup has an atypical artistic trajectory through comics, moving from his experience as a comics reader to his artwork as a professional cartoonist.

Carole Maurel worked as a graphist and animator for TV programs, before she published her first graphic novel Les Chroniques Mauves, a collective work about the lesbian community. She has since published several graphic novels, always a characteristic mix of feminine sensibilities and humor.

Mariko Tamaki‘s works include the comics This One Summer (First Second/Groundwood Books), Skim (Groundwood Books), with Jillian Tamaki, Emiko Superstar (DC Comics), with Steve Rolston, and the YA novel (You) Set Me on Fire (Penguin Canada). Her upcoming YA novel, Saving Montgomery Sole (Roaring Brook Press), is about unsolved mysteries, California and frozen yogurt. You can read all about her adventures at marikotamaki.blogspot.com.

Nancy Peña is an author with a very distinctive style, one sure to delight readers. As an artist, her drawings are inspired by engravings, creating whimsically appealing pages. She is an Art Academy teacher in France and has published more than 12 graphic novels.

About Humanoids
HUMANOIDS released its first graphic novels 40 years ago in Paris, France, and has published thousands of titles since, including international bestsellers and iconic series such as The Incal and Barbarella. Based in Hollywood, California, with branches in Paris, London, and Tokyo, Humanoids is currently developing multiple film adaptations of its books.

Fun was found in unexpected places this week.

Steve Trevor proved his tongue is a tactical smackdown weapon in Wonder Woman. Scooby-Doo! Team-Up gives us a throwback to the kinds of tv specials we’d still show to the next crop of sprouts. Mother Panic‘s new series throws me for a loop, but I want more and any book that encourages you to seek past the pages given is really doing their job well.

Have a blast in this week’s pool of comics, be brave little fishies and try out a deeper end.

Batgirl #21
Words – Hope Larson
Pictures – Scott Godlewski, John Rauch, Deron Bennett

A girl who I at first thought was Barbara, gets grabbed by a goo monster during a mid-evening cleansing ritual. Her boyfriend tries to help after her scream, but he gets cold-cocked for it. Cops question him afterwards, he’s the first witness still conscious.

There’s been a rash of these attacks both in Burnside and Gotham, leading to both Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon pursuing the case.

Two reactions equally strong to this issue.

First is almost a Hallmark-ian movie awwwwwwh! It really is a cute father and daughter work together to solve a case kinda issue.

The second though is the stretching of credulity.

He is the police commissioner of a large metropolitan city and he looks right into the face of his daughter with only a light mask to disguise her, and doesn’t know it’s her?

Yes, this artist does tend to draw young female faces the same, but James Gordon is either as daft as his 60’s tv counterpart or (and this is the one I’m betting on) figured it out long ago and is waiting for her to come out to him.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #41
Words – Robert Venditti
Pictures – Brandon Peterson, Tomeu Morey, Dave Sharpe

Zod and Hal fight each other in the sky like two overpowered glowing action figures. It’s 13 pages of this that does nothing but be a big cool fight scene.

The villain’s big twist at the end was “spoiled” by the third panel of the first page.

John’s attitude and point of view seems to have flipped between issues to further the plot, and the Guardians seem to have completely forgotten Kyle and Hal were on that planet in the first place due to a Green Lantern assignment.

There’s no subtlety here.

John mentions much of the Guardian’s decisions were due to the Corps understaffing.

Hal is starting to wonder if murder is on the table to clean up non rehabilitateable threats.

I’m starting to wonder if this will lead to power-mad multi-ring blinging Hal again.

Justice League of America #27
Words – Steve Orlando
Pictures – Hugo Petrus, Hi-Fi, Clayton Cowles

Chronos fights Ray Palmer (and friends) in a part of the Microverse that looks like Eternia (actually a sentient planet called Moz-ga).

Ray’s psychic friend blasts Chronos, but somehow that lets him look in her head and he finds the clue to set this whole story arc in motion.

Back in regular-size ‘verse, construction continues on their base.

An weird aura-ed ancient imprint is found while digging the sub-basement. Lucky enough for Chronos that fossil is also the next step in his elaborate plan to end all heroes – Forever!

I’ve read it multiple times and there is so much I don’t get.

If he stops heroes from happening won’t that change the core of his shtick too?

If it doesn’t, and he remains an incongruity won’t that inspire a hero to face him since heroes and villains create each other?

Looney Tunes #242
Words – Derek Fridolfs, Barry Liebmann
Pictures – Dave Alvarez, Saida Temofonte, Mike DeCarlo, John Costanza, Dave Tanguay, Digital Cham, Jenna Garcia

Three stories in this one, they all feel very true to the cartoons though not all of the same era (Fridolfs’ is classic, Liebmann’s more modern).

The first is a bit with Ralph (the more chatty palette-switch Wile E.) and Sam. Both animals have the job of outwitting each other while on the job, and try their hardest at it but hold no grudges against each other after clocking out. It’s strangely inspiring.

Second is a back and forth gag routine between Daffy and Foghorn over “The play who’s name should not be said”. It’s alright, but it’s there to fill space.

Third is a Sylvester/Tweety/Granny segment right out of the 90’s.

Sylvester’s left alone with the threat of expulsion if the house is further mussed. A package (that’s supposed to contain a dog) is left at the door, but it’s Taz instead.

Destruction ensues.

Mera Queen of Atlantis #2
Words – Dan Abnett
Pictures – Lan Medina, Norm Rapmund, Veronica Gandini, Simon Bowland

With a note Orm’s new family realizes he left last issue.

Mera’s having drowning dreams and wakes to find Orm is waiting to see her.

Reading these two chatting seaside in full battle gear like it’s not a thing does remind you that last issue Orm was wearing normal clothes. Mera is supposed to be convalescing.

Both issues she’s worn nothing but her scale armor even when asleep, does she just not have another set of clothes?

There’s the back and forth of “the good of Atlantis” and social position and lineage roles (if Orm is Mera’s half brother and Arthur’s brother, no never mind I don’t want to know).

This leads to the expected fight.

We’ll continue to wait and see where this miniseries goes.

Mother Panic Gotham A.D. #1
Words – Jody Houser
Pictures – Ibrahim Moustafa, Jordan Boyd, Marissa Louise, John Workman, Paulina Ganucheau

A vagabond in a familiar color scheme sings the almost hundred year old song “After You Get What You Want”.

After Milkman Man, Retconn and the rest Mother Panic (and Rosie the slash-happy messed up kid) were booted into future/alternate universe(?) Gotham. They live in the battered shell of The Pike as they piece together what happened.

In this version of everything The Collective has a stranglehold on the town and the hand in power is Madame Gala’s.

We also get a fun flashback to how “Collective Industries” made this Gotham what it is, as we look into a most brutal pitch session for the Gotham Tourist Bureau. (points for the Batman Beyond-ish red sky)

Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #36
Words – Sholly Fisch
Pictures – Dario Brizuela, Franco Riesco, Saida Temofonte

A familiar sounding telethon is happening live on tv. The host stops in fright at the sight of a monster – but don’t worry someone watching will come to his rescue, actually many someones.

The Scooby gang show up as Angel and Ape get there, just before the Inferior Five and that’s not the end of these guest appearances.

It’s a wonderful friendly spotlight of many obscure comic characters this creative team obviously has a soft spot for. It’s also a well told multi-level fun story and I don’t want to spoil it.

Sometimes as you read an issue, it’s very apparent this a story they really wanted to tell. I may have to judge their other work harsher knowing the quality they can give us when they choose to.

The Demon Hell is Earth #5
Words – Andrew Constant
Pictures – Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Chris Sotomayor, Tom Napolitano

The big pompous narcissistic orange usurper rallies his troops with stupid easily remembered slogans and Lucifer is so embarrassed to even be in the room to witness it.

It’s amazing to see how the pieces are falling in place for the last issue.

Belial changes Lucifer’s form into to a giant winged wolf to use and humiliate him and sends him out to fight our “heroes”.

Even from the asides Luci says mid-battle it’s obvious he’s still in full control of his faculties and even having fun.

Belial you idiot, if your throat is ripped out next issue I only hope it’s because something more dramatic happened.

The Hellblazer #20
Words – Tim Seeley
Pictures – Davide Fabbri, Christian Dalla Vecchia, Carrie Strachan, Sal Cipriano

Burke is having so much fun being young and not in hell, Adam has to remind him clothes are recommended for being outside.

The topside Day brothers plan a scheme to both punish a gang that’s been disrespecting their turf, and get their third brother a buff young body all in one fell swoop.

John seeks help from below to free Margaret from her current shanghaied body state, fortunately he chooses wisely and pulls an old flame who teases but drops some pearls of warning.

John’s not the only one looking to stop the Day brothers, and if he doesn’t stop this third party from getting to them, Margaret might not have a body to slip back into.

The Silencer #3
Words – Dan Abnett
Pictures – John Romita Jr., Sandra Hope, Dean White, Arif Prianto

What do you do in a room packed with dangerous dudes with guns?

Blind ’em all and let them shave down the numbers.

Don’t worry though, all the goons are robots so when/if this ever gets animated they can go as extreme as this sequence calls for, because it only ramps up from there.

This is an entire superstore dedicated to your munitions wet dreams.

After she gets out of the room Remedy (who did not get hit in the crossfire surprisingly) calls his boss Quietus, a metal man(?) with an impressive metal goatee.

He calls for even more extreme measures to be deployed.

And we learn the definition of exfil, learning is fun!

Trinity #20
Words – James Robinson
Pictures – Jack Herbert, Tyler Kirkham, Gabe Eltaeb, Josh Reed

Back, sometime before the story maybe (it’s not clear) Steve Trevor was attempting to break into the Papua New Guinea base of Deimos.

Deimos personally captures and mocks him, but really other than coming alone can you fault the guy for following a lead on a threat to the planet?

Though I do have to give it to Deimos for commitment to character.

He’s still wearing every piece of that ridiculous red outfit, and if he was a generic magic female villain it would be designed the same with no one giving him any guff (except taller high-heels, they really like drawing those).

Wondy, Bats and Supes are looking for clues to Steve’s whereabouts. The fights that ensue are entertaining but dumb.

It’s not laid out for the reader really to connect the clues so just know they figure it out and get there.

Wonder Woman # 43
Words – James Robinson
Pictures – Marco Santucci, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Saida Temofonte

Speaking of Steve, I’m so glad we have him in this issue since he’s the only one that speaks any frigging sense.

Jason is testing out his new powers on Steve’s equipment and acts like a toddler with warhead capabilities. “Oooh I realized mid-battle I could smash multiple things so I destroyed all your drones…” etcetera etcetera.

Steve asks the questions and brings up the points obvious to the reader and Jason just gets pouty and snarky. That is until Steve drops he knows how to tactically take down the Justice League.

Can we vote Steve for MVP?

On the other story thread Wondy is interrogating the Furies using thoughtful measured methods (fighting is happening) as Darkseid moves up his plan and Grail does nothing but stand and pose.

Next issue promises a big fight.

Jeepers! Your favorite mystery solving teenagers are back in an all-new, live-action feature length movie!  Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release Daphne & Velma on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD on May 22, 2018. The film stars Sarah Jeffery (Disney’s “Descendants: Wicked World”) and Sarah Gilman (ABC’s “Last Man Standing”), and is produced by Ashley Tisdale and Jennifer Tisdale’s Blondie Girl Productions. Daphne & Velma will carry a suggested retail price of $19.98 for the DVD and $24.98 for the Blu-ray.

State of the art robots and high-tech gadgets are common sights at Ridge Valley High, an innovative center of learning for some of the brightest minds in the country, including new transfer student, the bright & optimistic Daphne Blake (Sarah Jeffery) who is excited to finally go to school with her online bestie, the whip-smart & analytical Velma Dinkley (Sarah Gilman). But not everything is as innocent as it seems as mysterious disappearances begin to plague the top-performing students on campus. Once cheery and full of life, kids now appear in a “zombiefied” state – lifeless and shells of themselves. Can Daphne and Velma learn to work together and save the students or will they become the next victims? Get ready for thrills and laughs as we follow the first adventures of Mystery Inc.’s fierce female duo.

Daphne and Velma, the smart and resourceful women of Scooby-Doo fame, come to life in this all-new mystery,” said Mary Ellen Thomas, WBHE, Vice President, TV Marketing, Family & Animation. “Young girls will be delighted to discover how these clever heroines come together for their very first mystery demonstrating that no mystery is too big for these “meddling” girls to solve!”

“Daphne & Velma” is produced by Blue Ribbon Content and Blondie Girl Productions with Production Services provided by Lifeboat Productions Inc. Ashley Tisdale (Young & Hungry), Jennifer Tisdale (Her Universe Fashion Show), Amy Kim (Confess, Chosen), Jaime Burke (Cassandra French’s Finishing School, Quantum Break) and Suzi Yoonessi (Olive and Mochha: First Kiss) serve as producers, with Yoonessi also directing from a script written by Kyle Mack & Caitlin Meares.

BONUS FEATURES

• Daphne & Velma: A New Ambition
• An Updated Classic Mystery
• Iconic Styles of Daphne & Velma Reimagined
• Gag Reel

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

Two big releases help finish off the month! Let’s get started!

Doomsday Clock #4
Written by Geoff Johns
Illustrated by Gary Frank
Published by DC Comics

It’s going to be awhile before this series finishes up. They have switched this title to a bi-monthly schedule. I don’t mind as long as the quality of it is high. And it has been.

This issue is no different!

It’s hard to talk about this title and everything that happens in it without ruining it.

Suffice to say, it’s not just the Watchmen in a new story. It’s the entire DC universe. Johns writes the best story of his career. I just hope he knows how to end it.

The art by Frank is tops. I love what he is doing here. He knows this is special and he pours his heart into it.

Pick this up. It’s another good issue.

RATING: A

Dark Knights: Metal #6
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Greg Capullo and Various

This final issue of Metal ends on more of a whimper for me than a bang. I think Scott Snyder is an excellent writer but this comic got away from him. He just went too large. Hey, it happens.

The final confrontation between the Dark Knights and the DC Universe happens here. It’s bonkers. Since there is no rhyme or reason, tons of forgotten characters are thrown in! It leads to a conclusion that may make you roll your eyes.

Oh, and Plastic Man finally does something.

Capullo gamely draws Snyder’s script. That’s the best part. It just gets confusing sometimes because the thing is packed. Pick it up so you can say you read it and hope the next thing these two work on together is better.

RATING: B-

The Flash #43
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Carmine di Giandomenico

Flash Wars is on its way!!

With every issue, Joshua Williamson writes an incredible tale that is just great. This is another superb book in his run! I’m loving it for sure!

It’s time for Barry to confront Gorilla Grodd! The Flash Family is on their way to have a good talk with Barry about how he is acting!

But can Barry defeat Grodd and also get his powers back?

Find out here!

The story is great as stated before. The art is as sharp as can be. You need to read this. Pick this up. Or you will regret it. Seriously. You will.

RATING: A-

Suicide Squad #38
Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by Jose Luis

Well, we are onto another new storyline for this title.

But sadly, it just feels like the same old same old here. It’s not as awful as some previous arcs, but it is a bit difficult to get through.

“Tear Down The Wall” starts here! This time, the future of the Suicide Squad may be at stake. The Wall program seems to be catching on.

Now, an epic battle happens and since you don’t care about anyone, it’s rather boring.

The art is rather basic here too. This could be so much better. The whole book seems to be running on fumes. Maybe it’ll turn around. This is just boring.

RATING: C

The Ruff and Reddy Show #6
Written by Howard Chaykin
llustrated by Mac Rey

This has been a delightful series!

And it’s written by Howard Chaykin of all people!

Seriously, Chaykin does a stellar job here and he makes one of the more interesting books of the year. I liked it.

This book was very funny.

Ruff and Reddy have hit financial success . But it’s turns their lives into a living hell. It’s ruins their lives in fact!

Read it and laugh at the result of their actions.

Mac Rey is an awesome talent. His art here is great and works well to Chaykin’s story.

It was a great limited series that you should read if you haven’t!

RATING: B+

Imaginary Friends #5
Written by Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Stephen Molnar

I wish this book was a tad stronger. It actually had a decent enough concept that got lost in muck.

Seeley doesn’t do too much for me as a writer so that adds to it for sure.

Polly is trying to save Melba’s life! This will also let her live as well. The cult of murderous children will not let them go.

All of this and we learn how Fraidy Cat came to be. This feels like it should be more fun. It’s not.

The art is the best part here. Molnar will find another book hopefully after this and excel.

This series was not very good and I was bored. Next!

RATING: C-

Detective Comics #977
Written by James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Javier Fernandez

I’ve almost given up on this title. Thankfully, we are getting a new writer in the next few issues. Tynion’s has his day but it’s time to move on.

This issue just feels a bit like filler.

This is part two of the “Batman: Eternal” storyline.

Batwoman has a reunion with her father. Then, she is offered leadership of the Colony. She might take it too.

But if she does, she has to deal with Batman. What a choice.

The story drags. The art isn’t bad though, and Fernandez does a capable job. The cover of this book is also very good. Still, there are better stories to be told. Let’s hope the next writer accomplishes that.

RATING: C

Batman Beyond #18
Written by Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Phil Hester

The addition of Phil Hester as artist on this title is a strange one but one I am truly enjoying. He adds such a different element to the book that it’s quite enjoyable.

The story isn’t too bad either!

This issue is part five of “The Long Payback!”

Payback and Batman are about to face off! Payback wants his revenge! Batman has help arrive! But Payback may end up killing them all.

The story by Jurgens is fueled with excitement!

He and Hester really make a dynamic team. This book seems to be getting better and better.

Pick it up. It’s a good story with some excellent art.

RATING: B+

Gotham City Garage #12
Written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelley
llustrated by Brian Ching

Well, all good things must come to an end.

Such is the case of this fine title. It was an excellent take on the DC Universe that I just loved.

In this issue, we focus on Lex Luthor.

He recovers from all of his setbacks in the series and sets forth. And the issue is thrilling right up to the very end. I credit the writers for making a compelling last issue here.

The art by Ching though is great too. It’s good to see them going out on a high note.

Pick this up. It will be missed.

RATING: B+

Teen Titans #18
Written by Benjamin Percy
Illustrated by Alisson Borges

This book is another one that has been running on fumes.

Benjamin Percy is a capable writer, but it is just boring. This is the weaker of the Titans titles.

Robin is on a murder investigation!

It leads to Beast Boy’s new employer, Nevrland.

So this leaves Beast Boy to try to defend Nevrland. It leads him down a path he wasn’t expecting.

The whole thing is just predictable. The art isn’t half bad.

Still, this could be better. And maybe it will be! I hope so. There’s a lot of potential here that isn’t being mined.

Hopefully the upcoming reboot will steer it in a new direction.

RATING: C

Raven: Daughter of Darkness #3
Written by Marv Wolfman
Illustrated by Pop Mhan

It’s great to see Marv Wolfman still writing comics. Not only that, he’s writing comic books that are compelling. His work on Raven has been exceptional. This continues on that trend.

Raven fights against Baron Winters in this issue. She struggles against his powers.

Finally, she falls victim to him. She then finds herself in 1906 San Francisco in the middle of the great earthquake. What’s a girl to do?

Find out here!

The art by Mhan is perfect. This whole book is pretty darn good. Pick this up. It’s good old fashioned fun for sure!

RATING: B+

Motherlands #3
Written by Simon Spurrier
Illustrated by Rachael Stott

Vertigo Comics isn’t what it used to be.

Still, this title isn’t half bad. Simon Spurrier is a decent enough writer. This story about a dysfunctional mother and daughter had some good things about it for sure.

Tabitha and Selena have to learn to set aside their differences in this issue.

They have bounty hunters after them! They have mafia people from a angry multiverse after them! Life isn’t too fun at the moment!

The story has an undeniable charm. The art isn’t half bad either.

I’m interested to see where it goes from here.

RATING: B

The Terrifics #2
Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Ivan Reis

Man, Jeff Lemire can do no wrong it seems.

This book is, for lack of a better work, terrific. Lemire takes some second tier DC characters and spins them into gold. The writing and characterizations are great and vivid.

Tom Strong has disappeared and The Terrifics are on the hunt for him.

They find his emergency beacon. But what does it mean?

Before they can deal with that, they have to escape the dark multiverse they are presently in. That, and escape a giant monster that they are standing on!

The art by Reis is superb. He is really one of the industry’s best. Pick this up. It’s a new series that seems like it’s going to have legs. Just like anything Lemire touches these days.

RATING: A-

Mystik U #3
Written by Alisa Kwitney
Illustrated by Michael Norton

This extra sized comic comes out this week with Alisa Kwitney writing it.

This has to do with a campus full of mystik and magic people in the DC universe.

It’s finals week!

The finals though, may in fact kill everyone. Zatanna and her pals have to fight against some of the craziest evil spirits out there!

It’s all very fun and involving.

The art is the weak part for me. I have never been a big fan of Norton. He’s okay at best. With a better artist this would have been an “A”.

Still, it’s a decent book which I would recommend.

RATING: B+

Produced by Steven Spielberg, Donald De Line,
Dan Farah, Kristie Macosko Krieger
Screenplay by Zak Penn, Ernest Cline
Based on Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke,
Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe,
T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance

Ready Player One, the best selling novel by nerd-savant and über fan boy extraordinaire Ernest Cline has been adapted by Cline himself along with screenwriter Zak Penn, into a visual smorgasbord of pop culture insanity. Completing this trifecta of nergasm is wunderkind director Steven Spielberg.

Only problem is that instead of 1980’s amazing blockbuster “can-do-no-wrong“ Steven Spielberg, they have 2018, Academy Award winning, “I forgot how to have fun and take no chances” Steven Spielberg.

The elder statesmen, Steven Spielberg who once had to go back and rewatch the original Raiders trilogy when he made Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull because he forgot how to make movies “this kind of movies” (i.e. fun movies).

That Spielberg. Post Schindler’s List Spielberg. Not pre-Jurassic Park Steven.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, Ready Player One takes place in the year 2045 and the world has gone to sh*t. Everything is terrible; the economy, the quality of living, the world in general is a trash heap.

The only oasis is the OASIS.

The brain child of an eccentric, recluse, genius named James Halliday played by Mark Rylance. The OASIS is a fully immersive virtual reality world where anything and everything you could possibly want can happen. The ultimate escape and the ultimate trap. The OASIS becomes the place where everyone goes to escape. Upon his death Halliday bequeaths a gift to the people in the form of a game. A game with an incredible prize called an “easter egg”.

The winner of this great and ultimate challenge will become the sole owner and controller of the OASIS with riches beyond anyone’s imagination. Like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory but on meth amphetamines and Jolt Cola.

Naturally, there is a huge evil corporation called IOI or Innovative Online Industries, led by the former Halliday intern and now ultimate end boss, Nolan Sorrento, brilliantly portrayed by Ben Mendelsohn. They are hell bent on winning the contest with the aid of their legion of minions called “Sixers” so they can monetize the open source and free OASIS and take the one thing the people have to escape the hardships of life.

Wade Watts (Ty Sheridan) who’s alter ego in the OASIS is named Parzival and his rogue band of “Gunters” fight the big corporation and hope to win each challenge to win the prizes that lead to the next clue. The first being the Copper Key, then the Jade Key, and finally the Crystal Key. To win each, everyone must solve riddles and challenges based on Halliday’s life and obsession with all things 1980’s pop culture.

Sounds amazing right?

There is enough 80’s pop culture to fill a hundred space cruisers. The book is so chock full of every type of pop culture reference from the MTV generation that literally every page had me going “OMG YES! I LOVED THAT SO MUCH!”

References to Dungeons & Dragons to WarGames. From Joust and Pac-Man to Rush’s album “2112”. It is all there. There was so much to choose from I knew it would be nearly impossible to represent it all in the film. So my hope was they would take the quintessential elements and knock it out of the park.

Unfortunately, for me, it was a very long foul ball instead of a grand slam.

Ready Player One is all flash and “Oh look that thing I love!” rendered at 4K with none of the heart of the novel. It views like a terrible cliff notes oral report by someone who saw the movie based on the book and not actually read the book. I know, because I did that in the 6th grade with “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and I’m gonna tell you something… It ain’t Blade Runner.

I knew going in that there was no way that Cline and Penn were ever going to fully adapt the novel that I devoured in a couple of days into a movie that I was going to fully appreciate. I had hoped. I could dream. I thought at least they will keep all the good stuff and cut away the fat.

Unfortunately, when you cut away the fat, any good chef worth his salt will tell you, you cut away the flavor. By abridging the plot and truncating the timeline there is no time given to care for the actual real people. All the time is spent on the flashy avatars, or the virtual reality world simulation of each of the characters. Sure those are the cool stuff to look at but all style and no substance is like drinking a glass of corn syrup with a shot of food coloring.

This is the one time that it would actually make sense to expand a single book into a possible trilogy or better yet a series. Unlike the travesty of The Hobbit, which doesn’t have enough for three films within its pages, Ready Player One is so dense with a plethora of sub plots and side adventures that they could have easily made the first movie the challenge and puzzle of getting the Copper Key, the second the Jade Key and the final film the Crystal Key and big final battle.

Unfortunately this abbreviated mess is what we got and are going have to live with this old fashion “book and record set” highlights live-action retelling version of one of my favorite novels of the past 20 years.

It sucks because the cast is great, and most of the visuals are spectacular. A lot of the singularly 80’s references in the book are augmented with 90’s and 2000’s references to try to hook the audience of today. Sure it expands the audience but I feel it loses a lot of the charm that makes it such an iconic book to begin with. I’ll admit, I loved thinking “Holy crap IRON GIANT!” and “OH MY GOD, Tetsuo’s motorcycle from AKIRA!” except I was left with little else.

By diminishing the story of the real people in the movie by denying me their story, I wound up not really caring if they lived or died and that shouldn’t happen. They nearly removed all of the main crux of the story for me which was: Sure the OASIS is cool and all but what is really important are the friends we make in real life and the things that we miss out on in our daily lives by being immersed in virtual space and the web is the true tragedy of life and the thing we will regret when we reach the end of our very short lives.

The message was there, but buried deep and tacked on at the end. Either that or it was there all along and I am finally too old to sift through all the shininess and brilliant light show to see it. Either way, the film while not bad and is a great “blockbuster” popcorn film left me with the desire to unplug and read a good book.

It is amazing to me that a movie about a book that so cherishes and exalts pop culture and nerdom can be so bogged down by it. The true disappointment, for me, is that I can see the potential for a truly spectacular film like Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Star Wars, or even the aforementioned Jurassic Park in there and yet it so misses wide of the very large mark it is as impressive as it is frustrating that they were unable to achieve the high score in the end.

Netflix is packing this April with a full library of mid-2000s favorites and score of original content that will have you binging until next summer. There are almost 40 new series, movies and specials to choose from. Enough to keep you busy until Walgreen stop selling Easter eggs and start selling Christmas stocks.

So, about a month.

Also this month, the Robinson family returns to airwaves (or data streams) with as the reboot of Lost in Space lands at the streaming service. This high-priced series continues the Netflix tradition of big-budget, big-name series that the service loves to gamble on.

Want more?

The original Netflix series based on Oscar-nominee Boss Baby is also available this month. So there’s that.

Oscar. Nominee. Boss. Baby.

I’ll never get used to that. Now I’m sad.

If you wish to save your kids from living a life of mediocrity based on shitty cartoons, you will be given the ability to save them with The Iron Giant, the new Spy Kids series and Bill Nye: Science Guy.

Also in April, you’ll have your choice of vampire movies to choose from, ranging from late ‘80s emo bike vamp from The Lost Boys to hula-hooping bikini wearing pop stars from The Queen of the Damned.

Other horror pics new to Netflix this month include Cabin Fever and it’s sequel, Spring Fever.

APRIL  1

• A Sort of Family
• Along Came Polly
• Bad Boys
• Battlefield Earth
• Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure
• Big Time
• Body of Lies
• Cabin Fever
• Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
• Cats & Dogs
• Cold Mountain
• Dare to Be Wild
• Deep Blue Sea
• The Duchess
• The Family Man
• Fish People
• The Flintstones
• The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
• Friday Night Lights
• The Iron Giant
• Jackass 2.5
• The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale (Streaming New On Sunday)  (Netflix Original Series): “Trending news, pop culture, social media, original sketches and more come together in host Joel McHale’s new weekly comedy commentary show.”
• Life Is Beautiful
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• The Lost Boys
• Mortal Kombat
• Nancy Drew
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
• The Queen of the Damned
• Scarface
• Seven
• Sin City
• Speed Racer
• The Spy Next Door
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
• Wakfu  (Season 3, Netflix Original Series): “Yugo, a 12-year-old Eliatrope with special powers, sets out on a mission to find his true family and uncover the mysteries of Wakfu.”

APRIL  2

• La Piloto: Season 1

APRIL  3

• Fary Is the New Black  (Netflix Original Special): “Armed with sly wit, a fresh outlook and plenty of style, French comedy star Fary veers from dating to stereotypes and beyond in this exclusive special.”

APRIL  5

• Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall
• Despicable Me 3

APRIL  6

• 6 Balloons  (Netflix Original Film): “Over the course of one night, a woman drives her heroin addict brother across LA in search of a detox center, with his two-year-old daughter in tow.”
• Amateur  (Netflix Original Film): “After he’s recruited to an elite prep school, a 14-year-old basketball phenom is confronted by corruption and greed in amateur sports.”
• Fastest Car (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series): “The drivers of exotic supercars put their street cred on the line against deceptively fast sleeper cars built and modified by true gearheads.”

• Money Heist: Part 2 (Netflix Original): “Eight thieves take hostages and lock themselves in the Royal Mint of Spain as a criminal mastermind manipulates the police to carry out his”
• My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman: JAY-Z  (Netflix Original Series)
• Orbiter 9  (Netflix Original Film)
• Ram Dass, Going Home  (Netflix Original Series): “From his home on Maui, pioneering researcher, author and spiritual teacher Ram Dass reflects on love, life and death as his own days draw to a close.”
• Sun Dogs
• The 4th Company  (Netflix Original Film): “In a violent prison in 1970s Mexico, a young image lands a spot on a football team that doubles as an enforcer squad for a corrupt administration.”
• The Boss Baby: Back in Business (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series): “With a little help from his brother and accomplice, Tim, Boss Baby tries to balance family life with his job at Baby Corp headquarters.”

• Todo lo que sería de Lucas Lauriente  (Netflix Original Series)
• Troy: Fall of a City (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series)

APRIL  7

• 24 Hours to Live

APRIL  9

• AMO (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series)

APRIL  10

• Greg Davies: You Magnificent Beast  (Netflix Original Series): “Greg is back with his first stand up show in four years, and biggest ever tour.” – Official site

APRIL  12

• Pickpockets  (Netflix Original Film)

APRIL  13

• Chef’s Table: Pastry  (Netflix Original Series): “Feast on the bold ideas, wild success stories and visionary dishes of six culinary masters from around the world as the Emmy-nominated series returns.”

• Come Sunday  (Netflix Original Film): “Based on true events, globally-renowned pastor Carlton Pearson risks everything when he questions church doctrine and is branded a modern-day heretic.”
• I Am Not An Easy Man (Netflix Original Film): “A shameless chauvinist gets a taste of his own medicine when he wakes up in a world dominated by women and locks horns with a powerful female author.”
• Lost in Space (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series): After crash-landing on an alien planet, the Robinson family fights against all odds to survive and escape. But they’re surrounded by hidden dangers.

• The Magic School Bus Rides Again (Season 2, Netflix Original Series): “Ms. Frizzle’s kid sister Fiona takes the wheel at Walkerville Elementary, leading the class on wild adventures packed with science-fueled fun.”

APRIL  15

• Lakeview Terrace
• Seven Pounds

APRIL  17

• The Chalet  (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series): “Friends gathered at aremote chalet in the French Alps for a summer getaway are caught in a deadly trap as a dark secret from the past comes to light.”
• The Honeymoon Stand Up Special: Collection  (Netflix Original Series)

APRIL  18

• Friend Request
• Pelé

APRIL  19

• Charité (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series)
• Chasing the Dragon

APRIL  20

• Aggretsuko (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series): “Toiling endlessly in her thankless job, Retsuko the Red Panda copes with her pent up rage by singing death metal karaoke after work.”
• Dope (Season 2, Netflix Original Series): “Filmed from the perspectives of dealers, users and the police, this vivid series offers a bracing look at the war on drugs”

• Dude  (Netflix Original Film): “Four best girlfriends negotiate loss and major life changes during the last two weeks of high school in this coming-of-age comedy.”
• Kodachrome  (Netflix Original Film): “A dying photographer and his estranged record company executive son reunite for a road trip to the last photo lab still developing Kodachrome film.”
• Mercury 13  (Netflix Original Special): “This documentary profiles women who were tested in 1961 for spaceflight, but had their dreams dashed when only men were chosen to become astronauts”
• Spy Kids: Mission Critical  (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series): “What if grown-up spies can’t do the job? It’s up to junior spies Juni and Carmen Cortez to defeat S.W.A.M.P. in an animated series based on the films.”

APRIL  21

• The Letdown (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series)

APRIL  24

• Call the Midwife (Series 6, Christmas Special 2017)
• Kevin James: Never Don’t Give Up  (Netflix Original Series)

APRIL  25

• Bill Nye: Science Guy
• Psychokinesis  (Netflix Original Film): “Suddenly possessed with supernatural powers, a father sets out to help his estranged daughter, who’s at risk of losing everything she’s lived for.”

APRIL  27

• 3% (Season 2, Netflix Original Series): “In a future where the elite inhabit an island paradise far from the crowded slums, you get one chance to join the 3% saved from squalor.”
• Bobby Kennedy for President  (Netflix Original Series)
• Candy Jar  (Netflix Original Film)
• Holy Goalie
• The Man Who Knew Infinity
• The New Legends of Monkey  (Season 1,  Netflix Original Series)
• The Week Of  (Netflix Original Film): “Starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, this comedy centers on the week leading up to the wedding of their characters’ kids.”

Also in April:

• Jane the Virgin: Season 4
• Seth Rogen’s Hilarity for Charity

Written and illustrated by Brüno
Based on 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
by Jules Verne
Published by IDW Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1684050314
Released 1/30/18 /$19.99

European comics art is often very, very different from US comics art.  Among the first books I ever read about comic books were Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium and The Penguin Book of Comics, both of which touched more than a little on European comics.

So, from early on I found myself appreciative of the likes of Uderzo, Jodorowsky, Crepax, Forest, and Herge. The Warren mags of the ‘70s introduced me to Spanish artists and DC introduced me to Filipino artists. In the 1980s, 2000AD introduced me to the great British artists.

My point in mentioning all that is that I’ve long since felt an affinity for European comics artists and therefore I’m pretty impressed with Brüno.

Looking him up, I see that he’s been around for a couple of decades already. In fact, the book at hand, Nemo, seems to have originally come out in Europe in 1998. If, like, me, you hadn’t seen it before now, though, you’re in for a treat.

Just in case you’re wondering, this is, in fact, Jules Verne’s CAPTAIN Nemo rather than Winsor McCay’s LITTLE Nemo (no relation, presumably).

Almost more a character study than a flat-out adaptation of the classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the book is characterized by its masterful storytelling, wonderfully stylized illustrations, and creative use of thick, sludgy color. The English translation is very well done but one can fairly easily follow the basic story just by the expressions of the characters.

Nemo—also a character in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and not really a nice man in either version—is a misanthrope who privately delights at his own selfish denial of the human race, even as his pride in his beloved submarine, Nautilus, keeps showing him as human in spite of himself.

The story deals with three men who inadvertently end up onboard the underwater miracle machine Captain Nemo has invented, their struggles to either come to grips with their fate or to escape, and the adventures they enjoy as a part of it all.

If you’re a strict Marvel/DC fan, the art here will likely be a turnoff. If not, open your mind, let the water pour in, and enjoy Brüno. If this was what he was doing 20 years ago, I definitely have to seek out what he’s been up to lately!

Booksteve Recommends!

I wonder how Ready Player One will work as a movie.

To become viable, the movie likely has to jettison a lot of how Ernest Cline’s book works and is structured. Maybe, in Steven Spielberg’s hands, it can be a more complete experience as an examination of fandom and geek culture.

Namely, how much of today’s geek culture has been filtered through the idea of socially maladjusted, straight white guys who grew up on the toyetic 1980s and grim-and-gritty ’90s.

In other words, sorta me but not really me. The not-white part really gets in the way.

As geek culture now is dominatingly popular and the internet allows many more people their own platforms, many geeks outside that mainstream – not white, not male, not straight – are pushing for space against the gatekeeper attitudes those guys often maintain.

That’s been a lot of this here column, after all.

We’re seeing more media tackle these same questions. The latest cycle of Star Wars films are centered on this thematically and within the text, for example. Shows such as Steven Universe and Jessica Jones, or comics such as Hulk, Batwoman and Ms. Marvel are working in this space – trying to tell new stories, or old stories that are transformed by a different point of view and that POV’s concerns.

Or take Black Panther, our current cinematic world-beater. (At least until Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters at the end of April.)

Ryan Coogler’s superhero drama poses the black-as-hell question of what we do with the power we have. Nakia proposes the expansion of Wakanda as an idea, embracing the world through sharing its principles and technology. Killmonger, however, wants Wakanda the literal nation to expand as empire, spreading war and conquest.

Those approaches – inclusion versus empire – can be applied to fandom and geek culture, too. In this 21^st century, the “Nerdator” episode of Freakazoid has come to pass. The geeks are inheriting the earth, from social media rewiring our discourse to superhero movies rewriting the book on studio blockbusters.

But if this is all about nerd revenge tours, then we get a Facebook that sells us out to manipulators of elections. We have an Uber that pushes through self-driving cars without governmental oversight that then kills a pedestrian.

We get Airbnb with racists screening and rejecting non-white customers, or a Twitter that remains largely toothless in helping women fight harassment. We get pick-up artists and men’s rights guys and Reddit forums in which tons of stunted dudes never have to grow beyond whatever they liked at age 20.

We get Adam Levine, guys. Adam. Levine.

And, in Ready Player One, we get James Halliday, creator of VR simulator OASIS built on all his favorite pop culture obsessions and leaves an Easter egg inside his MMORPG world that would win its finder Halliday’s entire fortune. Like Willy Wonka, or something.

How will the movie handle the questions of a static, pedantic fandom that forces you to recite its arcane lore, rather than just enjoy it as entertainment and not care? Think of your favorite comic book character, or band, or movie genre, and how much time you have spent absorbing facts, stats, names, numbers and more?

At its most benign, lore helps fans invest more deeply into a well-done and powerfully regarded fiction. Keeping up with the lore, especially as many folks grow up and don’t have as much time to pursue these hobbies, can become a minor annoyance and hassle, but a welcome one. This week, I spoke at a community college for a career event, and spent a conversation with a guy about how to use Wiki pages and YouTube to catch up on characters and events when you can’t hang with a series or buy all the crossover issues.

Yet we’ve also seen people use lore as a gatekeeping device to separate casual fans and interested looky-loos from “real fans.” We’ve seen lore used to harass and mistreat people that these “real fans” want kept out, and all too often, like many other arenas, those divisions most often have to do with gender, race, sexuality, etc. If you’re quizzing somebody on their knowledge of Rocket Raccoon when you see them in a T-shirt with him on it, you’re doing fandom terribly wrong.

Can the movie tackle the idea of fandom as an endurance game that fuels you with “gifts” and “rewards” beyond plain entertainment? That if you complete the set, there’s a present at the end?

This idea has bled into all sorts of entertainment, especially prestige TV and this age of binge-watching. How many times do you hear someone say about a series, “Hang in there, the show gets better later on?”

What if I don’t want to sit through a few middling hours of The Chi to get to an episode with a focused plot and stronger characters? Why should I have to give up 4-6 hours to get there? That’s a lot of time. At least with a so-so movie, it’s two hours and I’m done.

The Chi creator Lena Waithe in Ready Player One

(For the record: The Chi did get better as it went, but was tough staying interested because of its pacing and lack of character work early. All that, despite me rooting for creator Lena Waithe’s success and being invested in good TV with black actors and creators. But c’mon, it could have been better the whole time!)

What if the payoff never lives up to the promise, such as the first season of HBO’s Westworld? I just spent 12-plus hours, for what? We all figured out nice-guy William was the Man in Black, like, a million years ago. Why do I really want to go back after my time was halfway wasted?

There’s already too much TV, and not enough time. These days, I often want better than so-so. I want better than pretty good, if you’re gonna throw this much material at me. This was easier when there were four broadcast networks, and cable did next to no original series, before streaming.

Why should I have to tell people to skip the first season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow to get to the good stuff?

Why couldn’t the show have given me better stuff from jump? It was laundry-day TV until the second season figured out the show should be just bonkers.

Can Ready Player One the movie rattle off its cavalcade of references without bogging us down in empty Easter eggs that clumsily move the plot, or don’t at all? Why the hell am I seeing mini-trailers for the Justice League in the middle of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?

At the very least, Ready Player One the movie better point out how sophomorically awful it is to call these Easter egg hunters “gunters.” Just, ick. (If you don’t know the sick combination of misogyny and fat-shaming that nickname conjures, Urban Dictionary can fix that.)

But when the show is good from the get-go, and stays there, or improves?

That’s the dragon we chase, isn’t it?

That’s when The Good Place gives you cameo performers made to measure, such as Jason Mantzoukas, Maribeth Monroe and Maya Rudolph. It’s when, in the second season finale, Eleanor is wasted at a bar called Sting’s Desert Rose, Michael pops up as the bartender, and Ted Danson gives us Sam Malone from Cheers one more time.

It’s when Yoda appears in The Last Jedi, and you realize he’s a puppet again.

Mmm. That’s the good stuff.

Guess I’ll watch one more episode. Maybe I will see Ready Player One, even if it doesn’t tackle these questions of fandom and geek culture.

After all, the movie is selling itself on one of geekdom’s most time-honored hooks:

I gotta see how it goes.

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

It’s Friday! So let’s talk about some books that you might not have thought of!

Moonstruck Vol. 1: Magic To Brew
Written by Grace Ellis
Illustrated by Shae Beagle
Published by Image Comics

There is something to be said for an all ages comics that can keep your interest. There aren’t many of them in the market. So when one comes along, you can’t help but recognize it. Such is the case with this book here.

This book focuses on a werewolf barista Julie meeting her new friend Selena. They go to a magic show. Then things get out of hand as the magician casts a spell on their friend Chet!

Now the pair have to try to stop the magician’s plans.

But are they up to the task?

Grace Ellis does a wonderful job writing the book Lumberjanes and does the same here. The artwork by newcomer Shae Beagle is pretty darn good as well. Pick this up. It’s a book you can read with your kids!

RATING: B+

Come Into Me # 1
Written by Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler 
Illustrated by Piotr Kowalski
Published by Black Mask Studios

Black Mask continues their reign for putting out comic books nobody else has the guts to do. This excellent book has a strong story right from the get go and doesn’t let up. I was enthralled from the very first page.

An entrepreneur who has a god complex creates some weird technology.

What does it do?

It allows two people to share one body. But there is a gruesome price to pay.

This book is a combination of a Cronenberg film and a Lynch film all rolled into one!

The art by Kowalski is just awesome. He’s one of the best draftsman out there. It’s a shame he isn’t more popular.

This is a great debut. Pick it up. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

RATING: A-

Analog #1
Written by Gerry Duggan
Illustrated by David O’Sullivan
Published by Image Comics

I wanted to like this book. I sat with Gerry Duggan at New York Comic Con and talked about this book. He is clearly passionate about it.

Sadly, I found it very trite and borderline boring.

Duggan is a fine writer but it was a hard time to get through.

This book takes place five years in the future. The internet has been completely destroyed! Enter an armed courier named Jack McGinnis. Jack is a heck of a guy with a secret!

And that secret may be related to the cyber attack that changed the world!

The art didn’t add much to the story. I expected more and wanted more. Maybe it’ll pick up. Right now, I could barely get through it.

RATING: C-

Lucy Dreaming #1
Written by Max Bemis
Illustrated by Michael Dialynas
Published by BOOM! Studios

I love the comic book writing of Max Bemis.

From Moon Knight to Centipede, he’s really kicking butt overall. This book is another feather in his cap and I enjoyed it immensely.

This book is about living in your dreams.

Lucy, our heroine, is the hero of all her favorite stories in those dreams. Through it all, she learns more about the real world and herself. The story starts off strong and give us some well developed characters.

The art by Michael Dialynas is great. He did good work on the TMNT and he does even better here.

Pick this up. It’s truly quite excellent.

RATING: A-

Redlands Vol. 1: Sisters By Blood
Written by Jordie Bellaire
Illustrated by Vanessa R. Del Rey
Published by Image Comics

This is one hell of a strange book. Bellaire writes this book and it’s gruesome. I liked it very much but it got confusing at times and a tad difficult to follow. Still, if you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with some tense scenes and great artwork.

There are witches in the town of Redlands, Florida.

The police can’t maintain the chaos they are causing. And these witches are terrible. They want to own the town and take away everything. What’s going to happen?

The artwork is the star here. Del Rey does killer work and it’s awesome. I will read this book as it’s quite interesting, even if I can’t always follow. Give it a shot. It’s weird but good.

RATING: B+

The True Death Of Billy The Kid 
Written and Illustrated by Rick Geary
Published by NBM Graphic Novels

Rick Geary is one hell of a creator that you may not have heard of! He’s been writing and Illustrating great books for a number of years. This book is one of his best. It’s well written, well drawn, and the whole thing is incredibly fluid.

This book is a biography of William H. Bonney’s(aka Billy the Kid’s) life. It shows his charm. It also shows his ruthlessness. Geary makes the story something you need to read as well as something you can’t take your eyes off of.

I do wish there was a few more pages to develop Billy. There are a few elements of his life missing. It’s a minor complaint though. This book is an accomplishment.

Geary crowdfunded this book and he did a wonderful job. The art is great and he’s clearly passionate about that subject matter. Pick this up. It’s an excellent surprise for spring.

RATING: A-

Breathless #1
Written by Pat Shand
Renzo Rodriguez
Published by Black Mask Studios

This is kind of a wild book. But what do you expect?

It’s a Black Mask Studios book.

It has a cool concept and some nifty characters. Give it a shot. It’s quirky as hell for sure!

Scout Turner is a scientist who discovers the cure for asthma in the venom in a new breed of monster.

She then finds herself on the run! Monsters are chasing her! A big pharmaceutical company wants her dead!

What’s going to happen?

The story is strong as hell. The art is decent as well. Black Mask makes some of the more interesting books on the market.

Pick this up. You’ll want to read the whole thing!

RATING: A-

Puerto Rico Strong
Written and Illustrated by Various
Published by Lion Forge Comics

This is an incredible anthology.

Lion Forge has collected a bevy of talent for this book. This is a comic that was done for supporting Puerto Rico disaster relief and recovery.

And it’s a hell of an admirable pursuit.

It’s hard to review a book like this. It’s for such a good cause that I can’t dislike any part of it.

So instead, I will tell you my favorite stories in it: one is Breaking Bread by Tara Martinez and Rod Espinosa and the other is I Dream of Home by Greg Anderson-Elyssa and Dennis Calero.

But they are all great. There is a ton of talent in this book.

Pick it up to read some amazing comics and to support a great cause as well!

RATING: A

The Beautiful Death TPB
Written and Illustrated by Mathieu Bablet
Published by Titan Comics

I read this book in it’s original form and I read it again for this review. It’s one of the most beautiful books I have seen from anyone in a long, long time. It’s gorgeous In fact.

The story is great too….right up until the end when Bablet throws it all away for a quick finish.

Insect-like aliens come from the stars to take over the earth.

And guess what?

Humanity loses!

So now we follow a group of kids as they try to survive the end of the world. And it’s surprisingly deep and even surprising.

Bablet can write as well as draw. It would have been a classic.

Then we get to the end and it all goes downhill quick. It becomes confusing as hell and and is completely inane. Still, it’s a great book until then. Give it a look. The art, again, is amazing.

RATING: B

Black Hammer: Age of Doom #1
Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Dean Ormston
Published by Dark Horse Comics

I’m so happy that this series is back. This is one of the best team of characters to debut over the last few years.

Jeff Lemire has created such vivid personalities in this book that you can’t take your eyes off of them. It’s a story that is hard to resist.

This book picks up directly where the series left off.

Lucy Weber has become the new Black Hammer!

And she knows how everyone ended up on the farm!

But before she can tell anyone, she vanishes! Now, she finds herself in a crazy new world! And there may in fact be no escape.

The story is a blast. The art by Ormston is utterly spectacular.

You can’t go wrong giving this series a shot. Lemire is an incredible talent and this is just excellent. A must read.

RATING: A

4DX is the world’s first and leading 4D technology-based movie experience that brings moving seats and environmental effects like wind, rain and scent to movie theatres around the world.There are currently 10 cinemas in the U.S. (and more than 400 worldwide) featuring 4DX, including locations in Southern California, New York, Seattle, Orlando, Chicago metro area, and D.C.

Movie-goers and cinegeeks can now see the science fiction action adventure Ready Player One, based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, which has become a worldwide phenomenon and has now been adapted to the screen by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

To celebrate Ready Player One’s arrival in 4DX, we’re giving away an amazing prize pack which is the greatest thing this side of the Oasis!

Included within the winner will find 4DX vouchers, 5 FUNKO toys, 1 Hat, 2 Shirts, 1 Backpack, and 1 Book!

To enter, send an email with the subject header “RPO4DX” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following question:

In the book, Wade Watts uses the pseudonym “Bryce Lynch”.  What is this a reference to?

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on April 15th, 2018.

William Mackler is about to go on the road trip of a lifetime. After winning a contest—and nearly dying in the process—he becomes the proud owner of Autonomous, a driverless car that knows where you want to go before you do. #Worthit! To sweeten the deal he gets to pick three friends to go with him on a cross-country trip. For William, a reckless adrenaline junkie, this is the perfect last hurrah before he and his friends go their separate ways after graduation. But Autonomous is more than just a car without a steering wheel. It’s capable of downloading all of the passengers’ digital history—from the good, to the bad, to the humiliating. The information is customized into an itinerary that will expose a few well-kept secrets, but it will also force William to face some inner demons of his own. Think you know Autonomous? The real question is, how much does Autonomous know about you?

This funny, tense, action-packed thriller combines topical social-media-privacy stakes with jaw-dropping high-tech action for a road trip saga like no other.

Not only do we have an exclusive excerpt of the first chapter, but also, we’re giving away three copies to Forces of Geek readers!

MARVELOCITY by Alex Ross will be published on October 2, 2018 by Pantheon Books, thirteen years after the release of his Eisner Award-winning, nationally best-selling Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. MARVELOCITY is a retrospective celebration of Marvel Comics, the other half of the comics galaxy that is currently ruling the world with Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, the Avengers, the X-Men, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Fantastic Four.

Ross brings the heroes of the Marvel universe into dynamic life as never before. With an introduction by J.J. Abrams, MARVELOCITY includes more than 50 previously unpublished sketches, working models, and other preparatory art, and a 14-panel portfolio gallery of Marvel’s most beloved characters. MARVELOCITY also contains a new 10-page story by Ross that pits Spider-Man against the Sinister Six and ends with a stunning twist. The first printing is 75,000 copies.

In the last decade, Marvel has created the most successful franchise in cinematic history by deftly telling compelling stories about characters that audiences love. Currently, Ross works exclusively for Marvel, though he has also worked for DC Comics. He has an enormous fan base that continues to grow. He works exclusively in pencil, ink, and paint on paper, completely by hand, with no computer enhancement. MARVELOCITY chronicles this creative process.

“Alex is a legend,” says Ta-Nehisi Coates. “Even if you don’t consider yourself a comics-head, you should check out his work to see what the best of the form has to offer.”

Ross was born in 1970 in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in Lubbock, Texas. He studied painting at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and after graduation, he worked at the Leo Burnett advertising agency as an in-house artist. His first published comics work appeared shortly after that, and he soon went out on his own. He has won every comics industry accolade many times over, including ten Will Eisner Awards. He lives with his family in Chicago.

MARVELOCITY: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross
arrives in bookstores on October 2, 2018!

Kino Lorber is proud to announce that it has acquired all English language rights to the acclaimed 1988 PBS series JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL MOYERS and will for the first time make it available digitally. It is now available on all major digital services including iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo, and on Kino Lorber’s own Alive Mind Cinema website (alivemindcinema.com) and www.PowerOfMyth.net.

This is the first time that digital clearances have been obtained for this high demand landmark series, and it will be available throughout North America and the international English-speaking world. A home media edition of the series, with expanded special features, is planned for release later this year.

In the words of Bill Moyers: “There was no one quite like Joseph Campbell, a master storyteller for the ages who knew and brought to life the vast sweep of our panoramic past.” Mr. Moyers went on to say, “I am delighted that our series on the universal and abiding myths of all time is now being made available for the Digital Age. THE POWER OF MYTH, one of the most popular series ever seen on PBS, is now destined to find a new and equally appreciative audience in cyberspace. Enjoy these myths to live by; they are as meaningful as ever.”

Originally broadcast on PBS in 1988, less than a year after Joseph Campbell’s passing, THE POWER OF MYTH is a six-part, six-hour program featuring a conversation between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers, as they discuss the importance of myths and storytelling, and the impact that they have on our lives. Each segment focuses on a different aspect of the mythologies, characters, and themes central to world cultures and religions.

The individual episodes include “The Hero’s Adventure,” “The Message of the Myth,” “The First Storytellers,” “Sacrifice and Bliss,” “Love and the Goddess,” and “Masks of Eternity”. The conversations between Campbell and Moyers reveal how these ideas have come to shape our own thinking and beliefs over time through shared cultural experiences. Kino Lorber is proud to make this thought-provoking and inspiring series available to a new generation of audiences on digital platforms for the first time.

Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television
Edited by Paul Corupe and Kier-La Janisse
Published by Spectacular Optical
Featuring Stephen Thrower, Michael Gingold,
Lee Gambin, Florent Christol, Amanda Reyes,
Zach Clark, Eric Zaldivar, Kier-La Janisse,
Derek Johnston, Leslie Hatton, Kim Newman,
Owen Williams, Caelum Vatnsdal, Ralph Elawani, Alexandra West, David Canfield, Andrea Subissati, Federico Caddeo, Zack Carlson, Andrew Nette,
David Bertrand, Paul Corupe

Kier-La Janisse’s House of Psychotic Women is one of the best books which examine the horror genre I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of them. Women is an extremely insightful and intelligent look at the genre through a bracingly autobiographical lens.

When I heard about Yuletide Terror, a collection of pieces by various writers on Christmas-themed horror, I was excited. When I saw that Janisse co-edited the book and was one of the contributors, I knew it was a must-read.

The first chapter is full of many reliably sharp and thoughtful observations by Stephen Thrower on what is often considered the best film of the subgenre, Black Christmas (1974). Especially interesting is his assertion that director Bob Clark and screenwriter Roy Clark develop “the idea of coldness with clever stylistic decisions…from sound mix and mise en scene to the traits and attitudes of the lead characters”.

No book on the subject would be complete without discussing the notorious Silent Night, Deadly Night. Michael Gingold offers a compelling history of the film’s production as well as the controversy and mass protests from parents and hand-wringers over the film’s TV commercials and print ads, which depicted Santa Claus as a murderer. Gingold also covers the film’s four sequels, one of which – cult director Monte Hellman’s Silent Night, Deadly Night: Better Watch Out! – is also discussed in Caelum Vatnsdal’s interesting take on experimental filmmakers’ tackling of Yuletide Terror.

We’re also treated to an interview with actress Gilmer McCormick, who portrayed Sister Margaret in the original Silent Night, Deadly Night. She shares her memories of working on the film and recalls her reaction to the protests. It’s fascinating to note her other claim to fame – as part of the cast of Godspell, from its off-Broadway run through the film adaptation – was likewise protested by righteous moral groups!

Florent Christol’s intriguingly titled chapter, “’Christmas Evil’ and the Cultural Myth of the Foolkiller”, situates the endearingly oddball film within the subgenre influenced by the “foolkiller” story; films such as DePalma’s Carrie, Massacre at Central High, and Willard belong in the same category, Christol argues, citing Poe’s short story, “Hop-Frog”, as an early example of this type of tale.

Amanda Reyes interviews Lewis Jackson, the writer/director of Christma Evil, who talks about, among other topics, his casting of Brandon Maggart, his subsequent friendship with outspoken Christma Evil supporter John Waters, and the genesis of that mind-boggling final shot.

One of the pleasures of books like Yuletide Terror is a writer offering an incisive analysis of a work that may cause the reader to reassess a negative opinion about it. Such is the case with Andrea Subissati’s examination of the 2008 film, The Children. I was underwhelmed when I saw the film a decade ago, but Subissati makes a strong case for The Children as a solid entry in both the Yuletide Terror and Killer Children subgenres. Of particular interest is a discussion of the “Santa Lie” parents tell their children as potentially being psychologically toxic.

Another pleasure of collections like these is being introduced to works the reader either just hasn’t seen or read or with which he/she was completely unfamiliar. As a lifelong horror nut, I’m a bit embarrassed to say there are a fair amount of films covered here I have yet to see (3615: Code Pere Noel, Cash on Demand, The Ghost Story For Christmas series) and a few I’ve actually never heard of (Petit Pow! Pow!, Noel, Robin Readbreast).

There are other terrific chapters on the Krampus legend and its depiction in films, the darker aspects of the Nativity story as presented in horror films, the Santa/Satan connection, and a solid overview of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in film.

There are 25 chapters in all, as well as a collection of cool artwork/posters and a seemingly thorough “Compendium” of Christmas horror films.

This deserves (perhaps demands) to be on the shelf of any self-respecting horror enthusiast, as well as open-minded readers with a strong interest in or love of all things Christmas. Very highly recommended.

Comic books create a reality where anything one can fit into a blank page can exist.

This week so many flavors of weird are on display. Between Sasquatch Detective holding onto it’s slapstick while playing it straight, Nihilist kid terrorists in Green Arrow, the wonderfully over the top villain of Curse of Brimstone.

Have fun and remember to come up for air.

Cyborg #21
Words – Marv Wolfman
Pictures – Tom Derenick, Scott Kolins

We embark on a new arc here.

A month ago a mech-suited warrior fails his scary samurai sensei, but it’s the samurai’s assistant made of darkness with glowing glasses-eyes who spooks me more.

A large, person-piloted flying robot is pursued by smaller red robot-piloted robots (the point of that?).

Cyborg arrives to help, and only finds the little red mechs attacking the large abandoned mech suit.

Cyborg fights them off and brings the tech home to investigate further.  An action that I’m sure won’t bring chaos to his doorstep as both sides try to recapture the robot suit.

Plus, not the only time this week you’ll see Cyborg’s robot guts hanging out. He needs to find safer hobbies.

Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #4
Words – Mark Russell
Pictures – Mike Feehan, Sean Parsons

A less ambitious book would place this at the fifth of six chapters.

Action ramps up, traps are set (and sprung) hearts are broken as well as faces. The deepening of the opposition’s backstory probably wouldn’t have happened until the story’s last five pages if we were in the hands of a hack.

But ambition is a strength neither this team nor their main character lacks.

Ms. Allen visits a school and has a hard time selling propaganda to children who insist on asking inconvenient questions. The abject nihilism of the people she works with instills no comfort either.

In the meantime play preparation muddles along, but both sides of Snagglepuss’ personal life insist on him letting them in more.

Huckleberry Hound is uncompromisingly in love with his horse cop. So much happiness here is soap-bubble delicate, and yet to keep their own some feel they must attack others.

Darn this book makes me sad but in the best way.

Sasquatch Detective
Words – Brandee Stilwell
Pictures – Gus Vazquez

Sasquatch Detective makes me wonder. This third installment changes up their genre from goofy gag to more subdued dramedy.

With a couple odd (visual joke?) goofy art choices the visual style has become richer and more consistent. It still feels like it wants to be animated more than be a comic book, but at least they’re making an attempt at a continuing storyline.

Green Arrow #39
Words – Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelley
Pictures – Marcio Takara

Oliver needs something good and simple to do to clear his head after the trial (and family face-downs).

How about humanitarian work?

Everyone loves not starving!

He goes into a country that was torn apart by Deathstroke six months ago and never recovered.

His company’s been trying to get resources to the victims but shipments keep getting hijacked by warlords and the like.

But as soon as they get there, the helicopter’s blown up (leaving Ollie alone) and the locals take the food, supplies and such to the terrorist holding their kids.

Is this an enemy neither Oliver or Green Arrow can defeat?

Green Lanterns #44
Words – Tim Seeley
Pictures – Ronan Cliquet

Jess speaks to her counselor/confidant Grace about the night of the hunting trip.

The hole in her memory angers her but she’s accepted it.

Called to duty, Jess is alerted that Singularity Jain’s reappeared.

They corner her on a sentient robot world where a sad-sack ex-weapon with PTSD is fighting to keep custody of his daughter.

Jain offers him the standard deal, but Jess and Simon burst in before he accepts. Jain (in custody) lays the “we have so much in common” line on Jess.

A comparison of inner darkness and history (mostly to catch up the reader) leads to Jess supposedly rejecting her outright, but this is part one of this new wild arc.

Harley Quinn #41
Words – Frank Tieri
Pictures – Inaki Miranda, Moritat

A funny, but unnecessary fight starts out the book; Mad Hatter’s having all the book’s secondaries fight each other and I just question… how?

Has he upgraded to a wifi brain washing hat that needs no transceivers on his subjects?

To answer last issue’s question, Croc is helping Harley take back (her friends and) Coney Island.

In fact this is the big awesome fight issue with a flavor for every type (fistfight? kaiju battle? snappy dialogue? all here).

The good guys win and friendship brings us all back together (maybe even gaining an ally from the other side), there’s so much happy end here it gives us a good breather before whatever hits us next.

Justice League #42
Words – Priest
Pictures – Pete Woods

We continue our story of many parts, now with flashbacks!

Wonder Woman admonishes herself for not blocking the shrapnel that bounced off Superman, slicing her throat.

Superman cauterizes(?) the wound (can he move each eye beam independently? Otherwise it’s darn lucky the wounds were exactly eye-distance apart)

The strangest event of this issue is when Slade Wilson introduces himself to Cyborg.

It’s too difficult at this point to keep up with what’s currently cannon and what’s not, but Deathstroke was introduced on the cover of New Teen Titans #2 (38 year old spoiler) so… comics are weird.

Nightwing #42
Words – Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelley
Pictures – Jorge Corona

A one-shot fable for us now.

Thoughtful and almost sweet, feels like we’re back to pre-New 52 Damian emotional development.

Nightwing drops what he was doing (recuperating) to save Robin from a Tokyo gang that thought it would be an awesome idea to sacrifice the lad for power.

Dick objects to this on many levels and goes “Kill Bill” through their ranks with an almost storybook sensibility.

Too bad the ones who could use this lesson the most are left broken and bleeding (it’s not the best way to take in information).

Thank you creative team, it was a lovely palate cleanser after the heaviness of the last arc (and maybe an aperitif for the next?)

The Curse of Brimstone #1
Storytellers – Philip Tan, Justin Jordan

“By the prickling of my thumbs”- is not a phrase used in this new series, but it might as well be.

Great atmosphere in this book, you can feel the crumbling hopelessness of this dying town and the people held within it. The few characters we meet bounce off each other to reveal why you’re gonna care about them.

It’s no spoiler to say a devil’s deal will happen here.

Who’s going to get hurt and what will be destroyed? Who might use this disaster to their advantage?

It’s not a new story idea, but I already care about Joe, Annie and sweet Mrs. Gearheart. That the art is so wonderfully Sam Kieth/Vertigo-esque is just icing on this little paincake.

The Jetsons #6
Words – Jimmy Palmiotti
Pictures – Pier Bristo

I know of people who read the last pages of a book before the rest, to gauge if it’s worth it.

Even if you’d read issues one through five and tried that on this latest issue, you’ll be as lost as a distracted kid at the mall.

Jane wakes up from a flashback/bad dream. Everyone is sad about George/the planet’s upcoming destruction.

Meanwhile George and Rosie talk to the alien that saved their lives last issue.

It also comes from a culture that wears skin tight clothes on it’s humanoid body (why change the running theme now?) and it fills them in on ALL the hanging plot elements.

The adventure closes leaving the story open for further adventures…

This writer is capable of good work, can we not and say we did?

Guest post by John E. Price / Insignia and images courtesy of CBS Studios, Inc.

For more than a half-century, the “arrowhead” or “delta” has been synonymous with Star Trek.

As much as the Enterprise itself, the arrowhead is the visual cue that provides context and sets the stage for the audience.

And yet, despite its popularity, the arrowhead is currently surrounded by controversy.  The revelation of a memo between Robert Justman and William Ware Theiss turned fans’ understanding upside down and stripped the arrowhead of its Enterprise connection, in favor of its status as a general Starfleet symbol.  This is problematic on multiple levels and unnecessarily complicates the meaning of the most ubiquitous symbol in all of Star Trek history.

From the original Trek pilot, “The Cage” with Jeffrey Hunter and Leonard Nimoy

During the original series (1966-1969), it was understood that the arrowhead was a distinct signifier of the Enterprise and its crew. By the time of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it had become a symbol for Starfleet as a whole, a tradition carried on by all subsequent iterations of the franchise.  However, due to its inclusion in the Kelvin and Discovery prequels, there has been a need to justify its inclusion and change its meaning as that of “starship officer” or just Starfleet.

John Cooley’s article in StarTrek.com is the best example of this.  By referencing an internal memo between William Ware Theiss and Robert Justman, Cooley proposes that fandom has been wrong for nearly 50 years, and the arrowhead was always meant to stand for more than just the Enterprise.  Understandably, this has caused some pushback.  To come to any sort of resolution, we must consider the insignia itself, the role of Starfleet as understood in-universe, and the nuances of visual storytelling.

First, it’s important to understand the on-screen evidence.  During the original series, we see a wide variety of chest insignia.  Other than the Enterprise’s arrowhead, we see distinct patterns for the Antares, starbase officers, cadets, Starfleet command officers, Commodore Decker on the Constellation, and the Exeter crew.  It should be noted that I agree with Cooley on everything not-Starship related.  It makes perfect sense that the Antares had a “merchant marine” insignia, that cadets have a smaller version of the Starfleet command sunflower, and that Starbase personnel have different insignia than Starship personnel.  No debate there.

Constellation captain; Exeter captain insignias

As for those Starship personnel, though, Cooley takes the on-screen evidence and interprets the exact opposite of what the audience has interpreted for five decades. The audience saw the Enterprise arrowhead, the Constellation pretzel, and the Exeter rectangle.  According to the memo between Justman and Theiss, the Exeter was a mistake: “I have checked the occurrences out with Mr. Roddenberry, who has reassured me that all Starship personnel wear the Starship emblem that we have established for our Enterprise crew members to wear.”

Note the capitalization of Starship.  We’ll come back to that.

Timing is the key, here.  The Exeter was featured in “The Omega Glory,” airing in March, 1968.  There was not another instance when a starship’s crew was featured through the rest of the series, which ended in 1969.  So, in effect, this was a memo without consequence.  The (dead) crew of the Defiant was featured in “The Tholian Web,” in November 1968, but the original audience never saw a full uniform to confirm either way.  In fact, the only true point of contention was during “Court Martial,” airing in February, 1967.  In it, background personnel and extras clearly wore the familiar arrowhead.  This forced the audience to make a mental choice: which was the mistake?  Now, was it more plausible to the audience that the Constellation and Exeter were mistakes, or that background characters in a single Season One episode were wearing extra’s uniforms because the show’s budget was infamously shoe-stringed?

First season uniforms and insignias.

More practically, why would the production team go out of their way to make new insignia for Decker and Ron Tracey if they could and should have just been using the same uniforms?  As far as the viewing audience knew in the 1960s, every instance of not-Enterprise personnel featured on screen was accompanied by a different chest insignia.  Well, the fans clearly chose a side: the “Court Martial” extras were the outliers.  And out of this, fanon was born.

Fanon, or “fan canon”, evolved from the post-TOS community, bound by conventions and fanzines.  This fan community invented a series of facts that became internally canonized over the decades.  One of the most prominent of these beliefs was that each Starship had its own assignment patch.  After all, there were “only twelve like [the Enterprise] in the fleet,” why wouldn’t they each have their own patch?

The arrowhead was not the symbol of Starfleet or the Federation, it was uniquely attached to the Enterprise.  Its later adoption by the whole of Starfleet was an honor, a recognition of the extraordinary accomplishments of Kirk and his crew.  In the novelization of The Motion Picture, Gene Roddenberry himself gave justification for this exceptionalism: the Enterprise was the only Starship to complete its five-year mission successfully.

Truly a feat worthy of fleet-wide praise.

This brings us back to the capitalization of Starship.  During the original series, there are only a dozen or so Starship class ships.  This doesn’t mean there were only a dozen ships flying around, but rather that as a classification only those dozen were “Starships.”  Think of “Starship” like you would “Battleship” or “Cruise Ship” – it denotes a specific class of vessel.

Starships are the top of the line, the most powerful, the most advanced ships in outer space.  By Roddenberry’s own confession, calling them a “heavy cruiser” was a euphemism for the true power these ships held.  This was long before the accepted use of Constitution Class or the massive space battles of Deep Space Nine, wherein starships were mass-produced and expendable.  Instead of a reflection of the navy of a superpower, Kirk’s Starfleet was a Napoleonic NASA – individualized ships manned by highly specialized crews, sailing about space in search of adventure.  Pride in your ship was paramount, and what better way to show that pride than through individualized symbols?

Enterprise retroactively confirmed this trajectory: Jonathan Archer’s Enterprise wasn’t mass-produced, it was unique ship, staffed with a crew trained for its specific operations.  Erika Hernandez’s NX-02 was of the same class but upgraded from Archer’s NX-01.  It’s most useful to think of these as warp-capable versions of space shuttles, individual ships at the cutting edge of scientific technology.  And like in NASA, each ship, each program, and each capsule had its own assignment patch.

Today’s astronauts wear American flags, they wear their qualification wings, they wear their rank, but they also wear their assignment patch(es), be it Freedom 7 or STS-135 or Project Orion.

Moreover, every unit in the US armed forces has its own insignia, from Army regiment to Air Force wing to, yes, individual warships.  Cooley’s notion that each ship having its own patch is somehow odd is divorced from the current state of military traditions where ships in the US Navy have their own patch.  When Cooley says: “The insignia worn on Starfleet uniforms is the equivalent of the badges worn by U.S. Service members — to show how they serve, not where they serve” he’s getting it backwards.  Cooley is confusing the assignment patch with a qualification badge because of its physical location on the person.

But location is also critical to the correct interpretation: Kirk isn’t wearing “starship qualification” on his breast, he’s wearing “Command Division, Enterprise” on his breast.  The symbolism is as important as the literal interpretation – it’s a source of pride, an uncluttered and clear message to all who see it.  “Kirk, Enterprise.” Not “Kirk, Starfleet.”

Most importantly though, Star Trek is, by definition, an exercise in visual storytelling.  Visual storytelling is about conveying information without verbal exposition.  The audience doesn’t need to know why sciences wear blue and security wears red, simply that they do, and neither wears gold, like the Captain.  In the case of the assignment patches, the arrowhead absolutely must equate to the Enterprise because if it doesn’t, the producers are intentionally confusing the audience.  The Antares, Starbase, and command personnel aren’t wearing different insignia because Theiss wanted to come up with an elaborate matrix of patches and logos.

They’re wearing different insignia because the audience needs to know these characters are not a part of the Enterprise crew. By Cooley’s interpretation, Matt Decker needed to be wearing an arrowhead.  To explain this invented inconsistency, Cooley claims the pretzel means someone with the rank of flag officer in field command.  There is absolutely no canon justification for this interpretation other than the word “Commodore,” which in itself isn’t necessarily a rank but a job title.

Cooley ignores the much easier answer that the pretzel was a visual cue to the audience that Decker was an outsider.  The image of Decker and his pretzel sitting in Kirk’s chair surrounded by bridge officers wearing the arrowhead was a way of telling the audience information: Decker did not belong there.  The same with Ron Tracey and Charlie Evans: they’re outsiders.  When Charlie Evans donned the arrowhead it was a visual reinforcement for the audience that the Enterprise crew was attempting to assimilate him.  But note that it was not the normal uniform, it was the wrap-around with the arrowhead pointing sideways.  This is all visual storytelling, reinforcing for the audience that Charlie isn’t successfully being acculturated, he’s still different.  In the later series, they do similar things by having admirals and cadets wear different uniforms, even while the arrowhead had become standard.

Michael Okuda understands visual storytelling better than I could ever dream, which is exactly why he retroactively canonized the Defiant’s  stylized “D” assignment patch for the remastered “The Tholian Web” and Enterprise’s “In a Mirror, Darkly.”  Outsiders, be they friend or foe, need to be recognized as outsiders, and the easiest way to do that is through different costumes and accessories.  The audience needs to be able to see a man in a gold shirt and understand that’s Ron Tracey, a character similar but different, Starfleet but still an antagonist.

Of course, the only reason this debate is happening is because of the prequels.  The Kelvin timeline used the arrowhead indiscriminately and assigned it to the Franklin as well as Starfleet in general.  Discovery similarly relies on the arrowhead as a visual signifier for all of Starfleet.  Interestingly, both examples are further proof of the visual storytelling mechanisms that led to the creation of different assignment patches in the first place: the producers are reinforcing for the audience they are watching Star Trek.

As prequels, those iterations are forced to lean on familiar elements to establish their storytelling context.  For a modern audience, growing up in the shadow of fifty years of Star Trek and the dominance of the arrowhead as a general symbol, it is likely easier to just use the arrowhead and appeal to the audience than create new assignment insignia and have to explain the reason for the change.  Somewhat notably, however, it could easily be argued that Discovery had in fact created their own unique ship insignia, but the show used the split arrowhead across various parts of Starfleet, negating a potentially creative solution.] Regardless of current Star Trek, the fact remains that the production staff of the original series intentionally gave different ships different assignment patches.  Why? Because they understood visual storytelling and that the Enterprise was unique.  When they were told to stop and make everyone wear the arrowhead, it was an irrelevant point because the need never arose again.  It’s very possible that the 1968 memo was treated as gospel by the production staff.  And it’s very possible Theiss made a mistake by giving Decker and Tracey different designs.  However, once the audience took a hold of the series and birthed a community, the authority of the producers was gone.

Sure, Star Trek legally belonged to them, but the culture belonged to the fans.  And from that fan culture, ideas evolved and truths were forged. The debate over the arrowhead, despite being unnecessary and wrong, is unproductive.  Simply telling a community their beliefs are mistaken won’t undo decades of reinforced orthodoxy.  Falling back on a memo that had zero influence on the series won’t change the accepted truth that each Starship had its own assignment patch.  Ironically, Cooley’s own examples prove this interpretation: the Exeter’s rectangle is not the exception, it is the rule; the Constellation’s pretzel is not a Commodore’s rank, it’s the ship’s unique patch.

Frustratingly, the Defiant’s “D,” retroactively made canon, has already settled this debate.

The canonized Defiant insignia

Arguing over what is plainly evident is pointless, and inverting the meaning of on-screen visuals comes dangerously close to regressive revisionism.  It may be legally or aesthetically necessary for the current stewards of Star Trek to use the arrowhead in their prequels and reboots, but the truth is that all is as it was before.

John E. Price is an instructor in American studies and communications and a lifelong Trekkie. In his free time he enjoys golf, cigars, scotch, and Bruce Willis. For more of his nerd ramblings, follow him on Twitter @thejohnprice

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

It’s April! We have a great bunch of books here this week!

Batman #44
Written by Tom King
Illustrated by Mikel Janin and Joelle Jones

The wedding of the year is going to happen!

Batman and Catwoman are going to get married!

Hooray!

Tom King has been taking us to new places with this title. And man, has it been fun.

This issue focuses on the pair preparing for said wedding. Selina picks out her dress. Bruce starts making arrangements for their future together. It’s all very human and relatable. King makes it so enjoyable you find yourself getting caught up in it all.

The art is very good here as well. There is a bunch of adventure in this issue but it’s in a new context. Kudos to King and gang for keeping it so lively!

RATING: A-

Batman: White Knight #7
Written and Illustrated by Sean Murphy
Published by DC Comics

The penultimate issue of this series hits this week.

Man, has this been an adventure or what?

Sean Murphy both writes and illustrates a hell of a tale and it’s one issue away from being a classic.

This issue features Jack Napier going toe to toe with the Joker!

What the hell is going on? Can these two get along?

Meanwhile, Batman gets a peace offering from Batgirl.

It may be just in time, too. Gotham City needs to be saved.

The art is just fantastic. Murphy has made the move to being a solo creator and it’s a good one. This book is something else. A must read.

RATING: A

Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands #6
Written by Tony Isabella
Illustrated by Clayton Henry

This has been a hell of a great mini series.

Having Tony Isabella back writing the character he created is just excellent. It’s been compelling throughout and I just loved it.

This is it! The ultimate showdown with everybody happens here!

It’s a grand fight in this issue and you will love it! And there are twists and turns for sure.

The last page features a twist that I was actually genuinely surprised about.

The art by Henry is great. His cover is fantastic. The interior art is fantastic. I couldn’t ask for more.

Give this series a read. It’s damn good.

RATING: B+

Bombshells United #15
Written by Marguerite Bennett
Illustrated by Aneke

Marguerite Bennett is one of the most underrated writers in the business. She writes compelling stories with great characterizations. This is another great book she has written.

This issue shows the Bombshells divided!

They have split the team and every one is hurting.

The Batgirls track down a perpetrator in Gotham City. This leads them to a deadly place where a radio signal hurts all who hear it!

The art by Aneke is very good. All in all it’s a nice bit of work. Pick it up and add it to your reading list!

RATING: B

Deathstroke #30
Written by Christopher Priest
Illustrated by Carlo Pagulayan

Man, this book keeps getting better and better.

This issue is just plain awesome. It’s part one of a story that has Batman versus Deathstroke.

Priest kicks the book into high gear and man, is it something.

Batman gets a mysterious package. In that package is evidence that he is not Damian Wayne’s father.

In fact, it reveals that Slade Wilson is Damian’s daddy! So this leads to a fight between Batman and Deathstroke which may be the craziest custody battle of all time!

The art is tops here. Pagulayan just has this book down. Pick this up. This series within a series may end up being an all time classic!

RATING: A

Injustice 2 #23
Written by Tom Taylor
Illustrated by Bruce Redondo

This book is just nuts. But I love it.

Tom Taylor writes one heck of a wacky tale that you never are quite sure where it’s going to go. His take on DC heroes is just amazing through and through.

Batman and his team have to fight that crazy guy Amazo!

And it’s one heck of a battle in this issue. The Atom figures out something nuts about Amazo!

All this, and there are some big happenings going on in Gorilla City.

The story is fast and fun! The art is great as well! I really enjoy this book. Make sure to pick it up!

RATING: B+

Superman #44
Written by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason
Illustrated by Patrick Gleason

This is the end of the Tomasi/Gleason run and we are ending on a high note.

This story embodies everything that is great about them. Man, I wish it went on forever. I’ll take what I can get though.

Villains from the far reaches of space are coming to destroy everything!

The only thing that can stop this intergalactic threat is Superman and son!

Can they do it? Or is everything going to turn “Bizarro-like?” Find out here!

The story is really great. The art by Gleason is tops.

I don’t know what the team will be doing from here. I just know that I can’t wait for it.

RATING: A-

Astro City #51
Written by Kurt Busiek
Illustrated by Brent Anderson

This book is firing on all cylinders, much like it did when it debuted in the 90’s.

It’s been out for over twenty years now and doesn’t feel stale. That’s a testament to the strong writing of Kurt Busiek. He makes a book that truly soars.

This is another chapter of Busiek looking at the “survivors” of Astro City.

It shows a woman coping with a loss who joins a support group. Michael Tenicek runs this group.

But can he be trusted?

Or will the team be torn apart?

The story will move you. The art is something great too. Busiek and Anderson are one hell of a team. Pick this up and give it a read!

RATING: B+

Shade The Changing Woman #2
Written by Cecil Castellucci
Illustrated by Marley Zarcone

This book is my favorite of the Young Animal line.

Castellucci writes one hell of a book that borderlines on poetry. Each story is fantastic and sits with you. That is an incredible accomplishment by itself.

Shade had a body of her own finally!

That means she has to form a life of her own as well!

But that may be harder than it looks as all of her friends have moved on. Can Shade do it?

The art by Zarcone is wonderful. You can’t help but fall in love with it. Pick this up. It’s damn good.

RATING: A-

Guest post by Brian Lynch

I have been drawing comic strips and comic books and writing movies since I was very little. My parents and grandparents and sister always encouraged me. They read them, they liked them, they told me to do more. Same with my teachers and classmates for the most part. Some teachers thought maybe I should pay more attention in class, or spend more time on my homework instead of drawing, but for the most part they supported my storytelling.

I remember in seventh grade, when I started a new school, things…changed.

I went to a new school. I didn’t have as many friends in my classes, and there was a flood of new kids in my life. Some were great, some were horrendous. There was a group of guys who were just plain mean. They were bullies. Never hurting me physically, but really getting my head with their words. And worse yet, they were funny, so I KINDA wanted them to like me. A jock didn’t like me, no I get that, we don’t have much in common. But my new tormentors were similar to me, they joked like I did, the only reason we weren’t friends is that they didn’t want to be. These guys picked apart everything about me. My looks, my clothes, my entire way of being.

Thinking back, they were all probably as insecure as I was and they were just happy to be not be on the lowest rung of the social ladder. They smelled weakness and they pounced.

I dreaded going to school, I dreaded to discover what they were going to find wrong with me that day.

I’d still draw, I’d still write stories, it was my escape, and in elementary school it was what I was known for. But now, in this new school, there were artists better than me. Which was actually pretty great, I sought them out and wanted to collaborate with them.

But then, one of the bullies looked at something I had been drawing. Studied it. And he said to me, very friendly, almost concerned, something that I will always remember, word for word:

“Why do you do this? You’re not good at it. Don’t waste your time, just stop. Find something you’re good at.”

I remember looking at him and saying “Do you really think I should?”

And again, he wasn’t saying it angrily or jokingly, he said “Yeah, it’s just bad.”

I didn’t stop creating. I never did. Didn’t consider it for even a moment. Kids could make fun of my face, and my hair, and my clothes, and my weight. That all stung and believe me, it made me break down quite a few times right before or after school. But I didn’t stop drawing. And I never stopped telling stories. And I could say it was because I wasn’t writing or drawing them for THOSE KIDS, I was doing it for me, but that’s kinda wrong, every story I tell I want someone to like.

The reason I never stopped writing and drawing is because my parents, my sister, my grandparents, from my first drawing, told me it was good and encouraged me to do more. That made all the difference in the world.

If the kid in your life is interested in something: writing, sports, cartoons, plumbing, video games, whatever, support it. You can buy them books on the subject or look up more information with them on the internet, but above and beyond all that, participate. Look at what they’re doing. Acknowledge the work they put in. Say “I like what you did. You are good at it.” It makes all the difference in the world.

So yeah, I never stopped telling stories. And I do what I do today, I make a living, because my family told me what I did was good. They still do. When one of my movies comes out they’re there opening weekend (though they’ve already seen it at the premiere) and when a book comes out they’re at the store the day it comes out (though I try to get them a copy as soon as I get them).

And one of those bullies?

We’re Facebook friends now and his kid is really into MINIONS.

Brian Lynch is the screenwriter of the films Hop, Puss in Boots, Minions, and The Secret Life of Pets. He has co-written the comic book series Angel: After the Fall with Joss Whedon, as well as the comic book series Spike, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Microseries, Monster Motors: The Curse of Minivan Helsing and Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Return. His first book, Toy Academy, is available now. Follow him on Twitter @BrianLynch

Produced by Michael Bay,
Andrew Form, Brad Fuller
Screenplay by Bryan Woods,
Scott Beck, John Krasinski
Story by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck
Directed by John Krasinski
Starring Emily Blunt, John Krasinski,
Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe

A Quiet Place has more in common with the Sci-Fi B-films of the 1950’s then it does the thriller/slasher films of today.

We are dropped into the middle of the story a few short months after the incident has happened.

A family is scavenging a deserted town, looking for supplies. The viewer is given hints of an alien invasion or appearance of monsters through details in the surroundings, but the characters never discuss it.

In fact, they rarely discuss anything verbily. The creatures are attracted to sound so the family communicate almost exclusively through sign language.

Director/actor John Krasinski and writers Bryan Wood and Scott Beck have found a way to make a nearly silent movie in an age where nearly everything that surrounds us makes noise.

As expected, while foraging one of the children makes a mistake, and we get a brief glance at how terrible the monsters are.

John Krasinski and real wife, Emily Blunt, give a great tag team performance as the parents fighting to keep their family, not just surviving, but actually living in a very dangerous world. Young actors Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds are the perfect mix of kids being kids, reacting to situations the way a child would, without falling into the the typical kid stereotype that makes you want to have the children eaten by the beast.

A portion of the credit can be attributed to Krasinski as director. There is very little dialog throughout the film, subtitle or spoken. It is the performances of the cast that sell the story.

Krasinski and the writers use suspense as their main ingredient. They aren’t going for huge plot twists or jump scares. They show you what to be afraid of and then leave you to think about it for 5-10 mins before bringing the element into full play. By the time the element is engaged, you have already been edged for a while, making your reaction larger than it would have been.

The camera work, style of editing, and general cinematography lets you know that producer Michael Bay is involved in the project. The framing of the long shots has that polished feel that most of his projects demand. The isolated farm that the family defends looks more like a Pinterest-worthy getaway, than a monster infested homestead. The contrast of the beautiful setting makes the presence of the monsters all the more unsettling.

To enjoy this film, if you have a scientific/logic part of your brain, you need to shut it down. Suspend your disbelief and roll with the premise. Just because the film is filled with some artful shots and cinematography, don’t be fooled into thinking this is an indie horror film. It is a straight up monster movie, with solid acting, and a fresh approach to telling the story. Either it will be the end of the world, or a stroke of luck will save the day.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter, but watching how the family gets to the end point is what makes A Quiet Place a good film.

Produced by Wang Changtian,
Liang Xuan, Zhang Chun
Written by Xuan Liang
Directed by Xuan Liang,
Chun Zhang
Starring Guanlin Ji, Shangqing Su,
Timmy Xu, Shulan Pan, Yuanyuan Zhang

Chinese Mythology, Taoism, traditional Chinese storytelling and modern animation are all brought together in a magical mythical story called Big Fish & Begonia.

The brainchild and passion project of film director and writer, Xuan Liang and co-written by Chun Zhang, this 12-year in the making labor of love is a spectacle unto itself.

Mixing traditional hand drawn animation along with stunning computer animation the world they have created is as wondrous as it is colorful.

Based on Chinese legends and notable classic stories, Big Fish & Begonia tells a mystical tale of a young girl, Chun.

She lives in a spiritual world that is intertwined and linked to ours. She is one of hundreds of powerful beings. These beings control the tides and the seasons.

As a right of passage, young adults in the land must travel to our world in the form of red dolphins to observe the elements they hold sway over and control to better understand all they command and how it affects the beings of our world.

When they turn sixteen, they are transformed and are sent to observe only, never to interact.

Chun wants more. She is enthralled with our world and explores and investigates everything she can. She unfortunately falls in love with a boy and through a series of terrible circumstances she is saved by the boy but at terrible consequences. Her love and gratitude causes her to sacrifice everything she is and loves to right her wrong. In the process, Chun discovers more about herself as well as learns that the power needed to correct that which she fouled will come at a dear price.

The visuals of Big Fish & Begonia are stunning. The animation style is a a mix of Studio Ghibli and Fantasia, but with a flair all its own. Elegant and fluid, the story of Chun and her mission are so well developed and realized that I was hooked from the onset. I loved all the creatures and the backgrounds. They were whimsical and frightening. One minute I am laughing at fat clumsy rodents and next I am awestruck by creepy one-eyed boatmen. While comparisons to Miyazaki will be hard to overcome, as the film progressed on I found myself letting the movie define its own identity.

This film began as a 7-minute Flash animated short back in 2004. It has taken the filmmakers a dozen years to bring their even larger vision to glorious life. Released in China and Asia in 2016 it is now one considered one of the foremost animated features to come out of China’s animation industry.

It reminds me of the 1997 award winning animated adaptation of Tsui Hark’s live-action kung fu fantasy, A Chinese Ghost Story, and that is wonderful as I consider that to be one of my favorite animated films of all time. Big Fish & Begonia is a true artistic achievement, like some of the great fantasy animated films out there already, I can see this taking its well deserved place alongside films such as the aforementioned Fantasia, Princess Mononoke, and The Iron Giant.

This film is getting a limited release, but I hope that you are able to see it whether in the theaters or via streaming. Big Fish & Begonia is marvelous and deserves all the accolades it receives.  See this on the largest screen possible to fully appreciate the spectacular visuals.