Star Trek: Countdown #1-4 (2009)

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.)

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)

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).

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)

TV round up

Ack. It's been nearly two weeks since my last post. Well, I was out of town part of that time (about four days of it).

Well, I certainly have been watching TV during that time. Let's see if I can remember the more significant ones. (Note: Spoilers below.)

Heroes (NBC): "Turn and Face the Strange" (Monday, April 6), and "1961" (Monday, April 13). Can't remember enough about "Turn and Face the Strange" at the moment to make comments about it, aside from recalling that it did feature Matt Parkman going after Danko in revenge for Daphne's death. And more fun stuff with Hiro, Ando, and Matt's baby son. "1961" was interesting, seeing Angela Patrelli as a young girl. I thought the episode was largely well done, especially in the casting of young Angela. (They really need to work on making the flying effects for Nathan and Peter a bit more consistent, though. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are weak, such as when they just jump off camera or land unconvincingly.) Only two more episodes from this season remain to be aired.

Smallville (CW): "Eternal" (Thursday, April 2). Episode that finally moves the Davis Bloome/Doomsday storyline forward. The scenes interwoven with the series pilot are a bit uneven in terms of convincing they are (it would be hard not to be, probably), but it sure was good seeing John Schneider as Jonathan Kent and Annette O'Toole as Martha, again. Overall, I liked this one, just as I have most of the episodes of Smallville this, eighth, season. Four more episodes of this one to go.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox): "Adam Raised a Cain" (Friday, April 3), and "Born to Run" (Friday, April 10). The series really decided to turn things on their head with the final two episodes of the season (and, unfortunately, very likely the series in general; no official word yet on whether the series will be back for a third season but things don't look good, ratings wise). In "Adam", we have a new Terminator show up, a battle between the principal characters and said Terminator to save the life of young Savannah Weaver, and the death of a primary character (Derek Reese). Sarah is later captured by the police while attempting to meet with "Catherine Weaver".

In "Born to Run", among other things happening, Sarah is broken out of jail, and she and John confront "Catherine Weaver", discovering that she is a liquid metal Terminator. But "Weaver" acts as if she is actually attempting to destroy SkyNet, too, and protects Sarah, John, and Ellison from an attack drone that suddenly crashes into the room. Meanwhile, Cameron's chip is taken by "John Henry", who has traveled with it into the future. John and "Weaver" go after them, leaving Sarah and Ellison in the present. John finds himself in a future with a living Derek and Kyle Reese (the latter, John's father), someone who looks like Cameron but is apparently human (whom the audience would recognize as Allison, the human Cameron's form was based upon), and no one knowing who "John Conner" is supposed to be. To be continued (hopefully)...

(I was in Mississippi visiting relatives when "Born to Run" aired. Fortunately I happened to notice that it was on and was able to watch it then because when I got back to Atlanta I discovered that my machine had not recorded it, and that it was mostly pre-empted in the Atlanta area anyway for local tornado warning storm coverage/reports. Needless to say, I would have been quite "irked" to have missed the finale and had to watch it via computer, as I had to earlier with "To the Lighthouse".)

And, finally, American Idol (Fox): Last "TV round up" I posted, I talked about the performance episode on March 31, where the theme was iTunes top 100 downloads. Well, the following night (April 1), Megan Joy got let go. Can't say that I was too disturbed about that. Megan has a nice if rather unusual tone to her voice. I could never completely reconcile it with contemporary songs (not that she sang very many of those in her time on Idol). Her voice was an odd combination of old jazz/"cabaret" plus something else that I could never quite place. At first I thought that I'd be disappointed when she was voted off (which I knew she would be, relatively soon), but I think that she eventually got to where she couldn't take the negative comments from the judges (especially Simon) anymore, to the point where she was putting up a "don't care" attitude by the end, which I started to find rather annoying myself by her final appearance.

The next week (April 7 and 8), the theme was "Songs from the Year The Contestants Were Born". Which makes a good number of us feel old when the oldest contestant (Danny Gokey) sings a song from 1980. The rest of the contestants were born in 1982 (Adam Lambert), 1984 (Lil Rounds), 1985 (Matt Giraud, Kris Allen, Scott McIntyre), 1986 (Anoop Desai), and 1992(!) (Allison Iraheta). Danny sang well, I remember that (he also was the first to sing that night). I really don't remember most of the rest of them at the moment. Anyway, Scott McIntyre was eliminated the following night. Nice guy but it was inevitable that he was be going somewhere around this point. I couldn't see him progressing into, say the top four or five.

Last week (April 14 and 15), the theme was "Songs from the Cinema". This blog entry is getting longish so suffice it so say that I thought most of the candiates sang okay, with few really standing out to me. This was probably at least partially due to most of them singing the same sort of movie love ballads, which gave the entire episodes a sort of "sameness". Matt Giraud got the lowest number of votes but the judges finally used their one-time "Judges' Save" to keep him around until next week. However, that means that two will be eliminated next week, and next week (according to Simon as the show was finishing up) will be "Disco Week". Wonderful. :)

Watchmen #10-12 (1987) and Watchmen movie (2009)

Watchmen #10-12 [Grand Comics Database links: 10, 11, 12; Comic Book Database: 10, 11, 12]
(July 1987, August 1987, October 1987)
DC Comics
(Version read: Watchmen trade paperback edition (1987) [LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Credits:
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: Dave Gibbons
Inker: Dave Gibbons

Series Notes: Numbers 10-12 of a 12 issue limited series. Each issue has a primary story (#10: "Two Riders Were Approaching...", #11: "Look on My Works, Ye Mighty...", ) and secondary back up text features (#10: an assortment of various memos to and from Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) to others in his company; #11: "After the Masquerade: Superstyle and the art of humanoid watching", a supposed interview article with Veidt); with the exception of issue #12, which has only one story ("A Stronger Loving World") and no back-up text feature.

Comments: (Note: I go into spoilers, here.) Issue number ten focuses entirely on Nite Owl and Rorschach's investigation into the true identity of the "mask killer, and on Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) in his facility in Antarctica (plus, running in the background, the continuation of the grisly Tales of the Black Freighter horror/pirate comic book story). By two-thirds through the issue, Nite Owl and Rorschach realize that their trail leads to Ozymandias and the travel to Antarctica to confront him. Issue eleven gives us that confrontation (and the conclusion of the Tales of the Black Freighter comic book story). Nite Owl and Rorschach are unable to defeat Ozymandias, who is more than happy to explain his plan to destroy most of New York City (making it look like an attempted alien invasion in the process) in order to engineer peace talks between the United States and the Soviet Union. A plan which, as he explains, he'd already initiated thirty-five minutes before Nite Owl and Rorschach had even arrived. Cue big white explosions in NYC. Issue twelve brings Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre 2 back into things as they return to Earth to find NYC destroyed. Dr. Manhattan quickly surmises what has happened and the two of them join Nite Owl and Rorschach in confronting Ozymandias. At first, they do battle with Ozymandias. But, soon, Dr. Manhattan realizes that Ozymandias is correct and that, as horrific as his methods were, Ozymandias had indeed engineered a peace between the world's nuclear superpowers, who had reached near critical zero and were seconds away from launching nuclear bombs at each other. Nite Owl (Dan) and Silk Spectre (Laurie) reluctantly agree to keep the secret of what exactly has happened. Rorschach, however, is unable to compromise in his convictions and leaves to tell the world what Ozymandias has done. Dr. Manhattan cannot allow him to do this so he kills Rorschach out in the Antarctic snow. Dr. Manhattan then leaves Earth seemingly for good, and Dan and Laurie begin a new life together under new identities.

After reading the entire series, I can appreciate the intricate world Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created here. Watchmen is much more than just a homage or knock-off of the Charlton superheroes which Moore had originally wanted to feature in this story. Moore's created a generational look at superheroes, something that other comics titles had touched upon in the past but rarely to this extent. He patterned the history of this world in some ways on how comic book heroes developed in the real world (a grouping of normal, human, characters in the 1940s who decide to put on costumes and fight crime for various reasons, indicative of the "Golden Age" of comics; the coming of Dr. Manhattan in the 1960s indicative of the more science fiction based superheroes of the "Silver Age" of comics). Furthermore, he placed these costumed heroes in a world darker than any seen before. This is violent world where heroes die and the threat of nuclear armageddon is ever present. Every character has some flaw or sense of inner conflict, some deeper than others. But, for the most part, Moore has crafted interesting characters to focus on throughout this twelve issue epic.

I have to say, however, that I think I enjoyed the middle chapters the best, the ones where we found out each of the primary characters' back stories, and their relationships with each other in the present. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Dan (Nite Owl 2) and Laurie (Silk Spectre 2), and Dan and Rorschach. By the last couple of issues, some elements of the conclusion had already become obvious (although Moore and Gibbons still manage to makes those events compelling to experience). (I will admit that the eleventh issue, in the scenes detailing Ozymandias' background and goals, does get a bit bogged down with excessive exposition. Fortunately, this rectifies itself when Dan and Rorschach arrive to confront him.)

Overall, I am pleased with Watchmen and can see why it made the impact that it did upon the comics industry. What I cannot experience, however, is what it must have felt like to read this back in 1986-87 which such a "dark" depiction of the world of superheroes would have been seen as something new and innovative. By the 1990s and 2000s, however, such stories are pretty much the norm.

And, while I'm at it, let's go ahead and talk about Watchmen the movie (2009). I saw it this evening. I was amazed at how much of the original twelve issue comic book series they were able to squeeze into a 162 minute movie. Yes, they made some changes. But for the most part, they remained extremely faithful to the comic, to the point of framing many of the scenes exactly as they'd been framed in the comics. And the casting in this movie is brilliant in regards to the actors resembling their comic book counterparts (especially the man who plays Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl 2). My only real negative I have about this is that it really almost is too much to put into one movie. By the last thirty minutes or so, I have to admit it, I was starting to get mentally tired. And I had the benefit of having just read the comic book series. I have to wonder just how much of the movie was lost upon those who had not read the comics?

But I am glad that I took the time to finally take the Watchmen trade paperback off of my shelf to read it after all these years of hearing about it, and to go see the movie it inspired. I'm thinking that I will most likely be buying the DVD at some point to add to my collection. (Note: The movie, like the comic, is decidedly not for children. They both feature pretty explicit violence, language, and some nudity/sexual situations. The movie is rated R because of it. So, this one is for the grown-ups, not the kiddies!)

An overview of what else was coming out from DC at the same time as Watchmen (part two)

(Second part of overview of what else was coming out from DC Comics at the same time that they were releasing the Watchmen twelve issue limited series. Taken from something I wrote up today for one of the internet groups I'm on. Thanks, again, to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.)


December 1986 (cover date: "March 1987"): Watchmen #7; also, Legends #5, "Batman: Year One" Part 2 (Batman #405), Star Trek was wrapping up its storyline and setting things up for where the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock film would begin, Star Trek: Movie Special #2 (adapting said film), Who's Who in Star Trek #1 (this whole time the regular Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe was also coming out), All-Star Squadron had its final issue (#67) following several months of flashback origin stories of individual characters, DC's Captain Atom began (#1; only bought the first issue of this, I think), Detective Comics had it's big 50th anniversary special where Batman met Sherlock Holmes (#572); also, http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releasedate.php?year=1986&month=12

January 1987 (cover date: "April 1987"): Watchmen #8; also, last issue of Legends mini-series (#6), "Batman: Year One" Part 3 (Batman #406), final issue of original Justice League of America series (#261) following a four issue story arc tying into Legends and dismantling the then current "Detroit League" team, second of two-issue Who's Who in Star Trek, much maligned Shazam!: The New Beginning four issue mini-series begins (#1), new The Spectre series begins (#1); also, http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releasedate.php?year=1987&month=1

February 1987 (cover date: "May 1987"): Watchmen #9; also, "Batman: Year One" Part 4 (Batman #407), new Giffen-DeMatteis Justice League title begins (#1), new Suicide Squad series begins (#1); also, http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releasedate.php?year=1987&month=2

March 1987 (cover date: "June 1987"): Watchmen skips a month; notable DC issues that month: new Flash series begins starring former Kid Flash Wally West (#1), revised post-Crisis origin of Jason Todd/Robin 2 begins in Batman (#408), successor to All-Star Squadron title The Young All-Stars begins (#1), "Batman: Year Two" four-parter begins in Detective Comics #575 (Alan Davis draws the first part but then some new guy named Todd McFarlane takes over the following issue); also, http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releasedate.php?year=1987&month=3

April 1987 (cover date: "July 1987"): Watchmen #10; also, "Batman: Year Two" part 2 (Detective Comics #576), Dr. Fate got his own series (#1); also, http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releasedate.php?year=1987&month=4

May 1987 (cover date: "August 1987"): WATCHMEN #11; also, "Batman: Year Two" part 3 (Detective Comics #577), "pocket universe" Superboy story in Legion of Super-Heroes #37, Superman #8, and Action Comics #591, The Shadow got his own DC series (don't think I bought this one, though), post-Crisis Titano in Superman Annual #1, Mike Grell's three issue Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters begins (#1), John Byrne also does a really nice origin of Doom Patrol story in Secret Origins Annual #1 (in addition to his usual Superman and Action Comics duties); also, http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releasedate.php?year=1987&month=5

June 1987 (cover date: "September 1987"): Watchmen skips another month before the final issue; notable DC issues that month: "Batman: Year Two" part 4 (Detective Comics #578), Perez's Wonder Woman interacts with the other DC super-heroes for the first time (aside from in the Legends mini-series) in Wonder Woman #8, "pocket universe" Superboy story concludes in Legion of Super-Heroes #38, a really nice (if largely forgotten) non-DC Universe twelve issue series titled Silverblade by Dennis O'Neil and Gene Colan begins (#1), the Joker guest-stars ("guest-villains"?) in Superman #9 (one of the more memorable issues of Byrne's run, IMO), Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #2; also, http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releasedate.php?year=1987&month=6 (actually, Mike's puts Watchmen #12 at the end of this month, so I guess I'll stop there)

So, it should be obvious that a LOT was going on at DC at that time. [...] *I* was majorly into it. I was picking up at the very least half of all of those DC titles you see on those Mike's "Time Machine" pages (maybe more like two thirds of them)! And that doesn't even count all of the stuff from Marvel I was picking up then, too!