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Star Trek: Countdown #1-4 [Grand Comics Database links: 1, 2, 3, 4 ; Comic Book Database: 1, 1(a), 2, 2(a), 3, 3(a), 4, 4(a)]
(January through April 2009)
IDW Publishing
(Version read: Star Trek: Countdown trade paperback edition (2009) [LibraryThing] [Amazon])
Credits:
Writers: Mike Johnson, Tim Jones
Based On a Story By: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Penciller: David Messina
Inker: David Messina
Series Notes: Numbers 1-4 of a 4-issue limited series. Each issue originally released with both regular (drawn by Messina) and photo variant covers.
Comments: In this limited series from IDW Publishing, we get a prequel story to this year's big Star Trek movie. Focuses heavily on Ambassador Spock and Captain Nero, how they initially agree to work together to try to save Romulus and many other planets from a star about to super nova and how their plan goes awry, ending in them all traveling through a singularity into the past and Nero seeking revenge against Spock.
In many ways, this is a Star Trek: The Next Generation story. Taking place eight years following the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the final ST:TNG movie, we get to see what has become of Captain (now Ambassador) Jean-Luc Picard, Lt. Commander (now Enterprise captain) Data, Geordi La Forge, and Worf (now a general in the Klingon fleet). Data's presence in this story, eight years after his "death" in Nemesis, is briefly addressed.
Not a bad lead in to this summer's movie. In essence a swan song for The Next Generation as well as a prequel for the new movie with its resultant brand new Star Trek timeline (although the original timeline will doubtlessly continue to be featured in various novels and comic books for many years to come).
This story is originated by the writers of the Star Trek movie, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who speak of their admiration for Star Trek: The Next Generation ("This book has had particular meaning for us in that we fell in love with Star Trek through the characters of The Next Generation").
(Note: This also has an entry on my Star Trek Blog.)
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Shelby Foote, The Civil War, A Narrative Volume 1
Shelby Foote, The Civil War, A Narrative: 40th Anniversary Edition: Volume 1: Secession to Fort Henry (1958, 1998)
Shelby Foote
([LibraryThing] [Amazon])
Text first published in 1958 as part of Volume I of The Civil War, A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville by Shelby Foote. A nice, gradually paced, accounting of the years leading up to the Civil War (especially focusing on Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis) and the first year of fighting (the election of President Lincoln in November 1860 through the Union forces taking of Fort Henry--a Confederate held fort on the Tennesse River--in February 1862). In addition to the in-depth looks at the personalities and daily difficulties Lincoln and Davis faced, plus those of the many other notable figures (largely composed of high ranking officers on both sides of the fight), I also enjoyed especially the parts dealing with the political situations back in Washington, D.C., and the Confederate capitals of Mobile, Alabama, and, later, Richmond, Virginia, the attempts made by the Confederacy to elicit official recognition by European powers (which nearly led to war between the North and Britain over of the "Trent affair"), and the engagements which involved the North's much superior naval powers and river "ironclad" gun-boats. Lots of really nice pictures and graphics (maps, engravings, etc.) from the period in this "40th Anniversary Edition" printing from Time-Life Books. Chapter titles: (1) Secession: Davis and Lincoln; (2) Sumter; Early Maneuvers; (3) Statistics North and South; (4) Manassas--Southern Triumph; (5) Anderson, Frémont, McClellon; (6) Scott's Anaconda: The Navy; (7) Diplomacy; The Build-up; (8) The West: Grant, Fort Henry. (Finished reading 5/24/09)
Shelby Foote
([LibraryThing] [Amazon])
Text first published in 1958 as part of Volume I of The Civil War, A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville by Shelby Foote. A nice, gradually paced, accounting of the years leading up to the Civil War (especially focusing on Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis) and the first year of fighting (the election of President Lincoln in November 1860 through the Union forces taking of Fort Henry--a Confederate held fort on the Tennesse River--in February 1862). In addition to the in-depth looks at the personalities and daily difficulties Lincoln and Davis faced, plus those of the many other notable figures (largely composed of high ranking officers on both sides of the fight), I also enjoyed especially the parts dealing with the political situations back in Washington, D.C., and the Confederate capitals of Mobile, Alabama, and, later, Richmond, Virginia, the attempts made by the Confederacy to elicit official recognition by European powers (which nearly led to war between the North and Britain over of the "Trent affair"), and the engagements which involved the North's much superior naval powers and river "ironclad" gun-boats. Lots of really nice pictures and graphics (maps, engravings, etc.) from the period in this "40th Anniversary Edition" printing from Time-Life Books. Chapter titles: (1) Secession: Davis and Lincoln; (2) Sumter; Early Maneuvers; (3) Statistics North and South; (4) Manassas--Southern Triumph; (5) Anderson, Frémont, McClellon; (6) Scott's Anaconda: The Navy; (7) Diplomacy; The Build-up; (8) The West: Grant, Fort Henry. (Finished reading 5/24/09)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Movies round up
Seen the following movies since my last post:
Night at the Museum (2006)
Didn't see this one when it first came out but decided to check the DVD out from the library because I've been finding the current ads for the soon-to-be-released sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian, interesting so I decided to go back and give the original a try. While it had some weak moments, overall, I enjoyed it. A nice, family movie which most members of the family should be able to enjoy, to one extent or another. The best parts, of course, are those where we get to see all of the various museum exhibits coming to life. Also, it is a real kick to see Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs in their roles as the three elder, soon to be retired, night guards.
Star Trek (2009)
Saw this one Friday night. Don't have the time to go into a long review here. I'll just say that I did really enjoy it. But, being a long time "Trekkie"/"Trekker", I will have to see it a second time in theaters to be able to completely absorb it. The first viewing for me of a movie like this is one of seeing just what's going to happen and to mentally put it into context with what has come before it. A second viewing will allow me to get a more all around feeling for the movie as a work in and of itself. I will say that I thought that the casting was good for the most part. I especially liked how young Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Uhura were portrayed, although I have no real complaints with any of the performances. Quinto was good as young Spock but he, due to his higher recognition status for his role as "Sylar" on Heroes, it was a bit hard for me to come to a clear appraisal of his performance here on my first viewing. (There was a time or two when I felt that just a bit too much humor was poking its way through his stoic demeanor. Something about the mischievous look Quinto can sometimes get in his eyes and his almost-but-not-quite smile.) The humorous parts all worked, for the most part, and the special effects were very good. The rather massive changes to the timeline (creating a new, completely separate timeline from everything that's come out prior to this, apparently) are indeed significant, but that's all I'll say about that here, for the time being. Summing things up, this new Star Trek movie succeeded in it's primary goal, in my opinion, that of giving the venerable franchise a shot in the arm and spinning it off into a bold, new direction. While I will always prefer the universe created and developed over the decades from 1966 through 2009 and beyond (via the continuing novels and comics featuring those versions of the characters), and likewise am interested in seeing just where this new version of Trek will lead in the following sequel movies and other possible spin-offs (future TV series?) and tie-ins (novels and comics).
Night at the Museum (2006)
Didn't see this one when it first came out but decided to check the DVD out from the library because I've been finding the current ads for the soon-to-be-released sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian, interesting so I decided to go back and give the original a try. While it had some weak moments, overall, I enjoyed it. A nice, family movie which most members of the family should be able to enjoy, to one extent or another. The best parts, of course, are those where we get to see all of the various museum exhibits coming to life. Also, it is a real kick to see Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs in their roles as the three elder, soon to be retired, night guards.
Star Trek (2009)
Saw this one Friday night. Don't have the time to go into a long review here. I'll just say that I did really enjoy it. But, being a long time "Trekkie"/"Trekker", I will have to see it a second time in theaters to be able to completely absorb it. The first viewing for me of a movie like this is one of seeing just what's going to happen and to mentally put it into context with what has come before it. A second viewing will allow me to get a more all around feeling for the movie as a work in and of itself. I will say that I thought that the casting was good for the most part. I especially liked how young Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Uhura were portrayed, although I have no real complaints with any of the performances. Quinto was good as young Spock but he, due to his higher recognition status for his role as "Sylar" on Heroes, it was a bit hard for me to come to a clear appraisal of his performance here on my first viewing. (There was a time or two when I felt that just a bit too much humor was poking its way through his stoic demeanor. Something about the mischievous look Quinto can sometimes get in his eyes and his almost-but-not-quite smile.) The humorous parts all worked, for the most part, and the special effects were very good. The rather massive changes to the timeline (creating a new, completely separate timeline from everything that's come out prior to this, apparently) are indeed significant, but that's all I'll say about that here, for the time being. Summing things up, this new Star Trek movie succeeded in it's primary goal, in my opinion, that of giving the venerable franchise a shot in the arm and spinning it off into a bold, new direction. While I will always prefer the universe created and developed over the decades from 1966 through 2009 and beyond (via the continuing novels and comics featuring those versions of the characters), and likewise am interested in seeing just where this new version of Trek will lead in the following sequel movies and other possible spin-offs (future TV series?) and tie-ins (novels and comics).
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Total Access: A Journey to the Center of the NFL Universe
I just finished reading the following book last night.
Total Access: A Journey to the Center of the NFL Universe (2007)
Rich Eisen
[LibraryThing] [Amazon])
NFL Network host takes the reader through what a year of covering various NFL events is like, starting with the Super Bowl and culminating in "the eight game package" (eight regular season games shown on NFL network at season's end). I enjoyed this one a lot, thanks to Eisen's oftentimes witty and interesting style. Ironically, I was finishing reading the book right about the time I was also losing my "access" to NFL Network thanks to the situation between them and Comcast Cable. (Finished reading 5/2/09)
Total Access: A Journey to the Center of the NFL Universe (2007)
Rich Eisen
[LibraryThing] [Amazon])
NFL Network host takes the reader through what a year of covering various NFL events is like, starting with the Super Bowl and culminating in "the eight game package" (eight regular season games shown on NFL network at season's end). I enjoyed this one a lot, thanks to Eisen's oftentimes witty and interesting style. Ironically, I was finishing reading the book right about the time I was also losing my "access" to NFL Network thanks to the situation between them and Comcast Cable. (Finished reading 5/2/09)
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