Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 41

Book Review: Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Year One

Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Year One by Greg Rucka

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So this is Wonder Woman: Year One, Artist Greg Rucka's take on Wonder Woman's origin story. How does Rucka handle telling this oft-told tale. For the most part, this is a middling effort. The only new ground that Rucka really breaks is on Wonder Woman's sexuality on Paradise Island. Whatever you think of that decision, that's not enough to base a six issue story.

Compare this to the grandeur of George Perez's retelling in the first six post-Crisis issues of Wonder Woman. There's grandeur, style, and an almost cinematic feel to that. This? Ares shows up at the end and is quickly dispatched. The book spends too much time on fish out of water stuff, that we really don't get anything close to the feel of a Year One story.

Still, there are some superheroics, and the art is mostly good, except for some odd expressions on Wonder Woman's face. Overall, this book isn't awful, but it's not worthy of the Year One moniker.



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Book Review: Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay

Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay by Harlan Ellison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This graphic novel is an adaptation of Harland Ellison's original teleplay for the classic Star Trek episode, City on the Edge of Forever.

First of all, the art is gorgeous. It's on the same level as Alex Ross. It does a great job recreating the original Enterprise crew in glorious detail. At the same time, there are some just stunning artistic bits in that you couldn't have done on television.

The story is a very good story. Yet, I think that those who rewrote it for the TV show were mostly right. There were some parts that would have been budgetarily challenging such as the space pirates who'd taken over the Enterprise. In a book or comic, it's easy to show that, but it complicates a TV production. In addition, I don't think Ellison quite had the Kirk-Spock dynamic in this story and the aired version did a better job capturing that.

Again, that's not to say that this one is a bad story. It might even be a better story for a generic captain and an alien first officer but not quite fitting for Kirk and Spock. Still, the story is worth a read, particularly when paired with the compelling artwork.



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Book Review: Justice League of America: Road to Rebirth

Justice League of America: Road to Rebirth by Steve Orlando

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Justice League America: Rebirth book sets up a new Batman led JLA. This book collects one-shot stories for JLA members The Atom (Ryan Choi), Vixen, the Ray, and Frost. The one-shots are okay. They provide the origins and DC rebirth back stories of little-known characters. Most of these just are okay. The highlight of this is the Frost storyline which has her struggling to leave the Suicide Squad even while Amanda Weller tempts her to use her powers to feed hunger just one more time.

The JLA: Rebirth story is all about gathering the team together. In addition to the four who got one-shots, the team also features Black Canary and Lobo, who are somewhat better-known figures.
Batman gives an inspirational speech about the need for heroes and his sense of a coming crisis, which is why he brought the team together. This seems reminiscent of Batman's motive for bringing together his team in Detective comics. Both teams are anchored by strong veteran female heroes (Batwoman in Detective Comics, Blacks Canary here.) Is there a common event they're dealing with or two seperate events? Or is Steve Orlando ripping off Detective Comics?

Also of note, this is the second team Black Canary's part of, the other is the Birds of Prey led by Batgirl.

Overall, this book was okay. It certainly doesn't set my world on fire by any means, but it does me curious to read the first volume to see how this team meshes together.



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Book Review: Spider-Man: The Lizard Sanction

Spider-Man: The Lizard Sanction by Diane Duane

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The Lizard Sanction is an odd production. It's the middle book of a trilogy by Diane Duane which Simon and Schuster decided to turn into an abridged Dramatic audiobook, and might as well be a radio drama.

Having not read the underlying book, I can't comment authoritatively on the plot, but the book's plot doesn't sound bad. You've got Spider-man, Venom, and the Lizard in one story along with a gang of dangerous terrorists and a bold space exploration plan, there's bits of drama around Kirk Connors, and a hint at something around Peter and Mary Jane. The sound design is also decent with some pretty solid effects.

What kills the story are two things. First, this was recorded for CD and in order to get onto one CD, they have compress everything down to 80 minutes and this was a 300 page book. The production is full of exposition and it felt like it needed room to breathe. Even if that problem had been address, the production had another problem. There was so many listless performances. Spider-man didn't sound like Spider-man, the boy who played Kurt Connors' son was completely wooden, and the growling of the Lizard was laughable.

While it had been a long time since the Golden Age of Radio, Simon and Schuster could (and should) have done better with just a little more effort. At Random House, they did audio dramatizations of Louie L'Amour stories and those are brilliant. While Sci-fi can have some different challenges than Westerns, there's no way there should be this much disparity between products between two very large publishers.

This is a curiosity and the main thing it does do is make me curious about the rest of the series and reading the book. The dramatized version, despite some good moments, was very inepty handled.



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Book Review: The Polar Treasure / Pirate of the Pacific

The Polar Treasure / Pirate of the Pacific by Kenneth Robeson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book brings us two Doc Savage novels from June and July 1933

First up is, "The Polar Treasure" where Doc sets out to find a blind violinist and offer him sight-restoring surgery, but before he can do that, the man is kidnapped by pirates, and Doc and his men find themselves caught between two gangs of pirates battling over a fantastic treasure. The Polar Treasure is a Doc Savage novel at its best: There's plenty of action and daring do. There's some great plot twists, and two sets of villains. It's a lot of fun and very fast paced.

Next is, "Pirate of the Pacific," where Doc Savage takes on an "oriental gang" bent on overthrowing a nation that's supposed to be the Philippines. This book loads up on racial stereotypes and "yellow peril," storytelling, which is not only offensive to modern readers, but also makes for weaker writing. The villain's not interesting, the plot is confusing. Doc Savage is fighting a pirate who has created an elaborate infrastructure to make himself ruler of the island nation. That's not to deny that there are some good action scenes and some superb cunning, but it's weighed by the weak spots of the story.

Overall, I think the "Polar Treasure" is a five-star story and Pirate of the Pacific is a two-star story with a lot of baggage for modern day readers.



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Book Review: Show Presents Metamorpho, Volume 1

Showcase Presents: Metamorpho, Vol. 1 by Bob Haney

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects the entire Silver Age run of Metamorpho, the Element Man: his two tryout issues in Brave and the Bold #57 and #58, his own comic series from Issues 1-17, and Team Ups with the Metal Men (Brave and the Bold #67) and Batman (Brave and the Bold #68) and his guest starring appearing in Justice League #42.

The concept of Metamorpho was good. Rex Mason, adventurer ticks off wealthy scientist Simon Stagg, who is also the father of Rex's lady love Sapphire. As a result of an encounter with the Orb of Ra, he obtains strange powers to change his composition to various elements. He ends up working for Stagg who promises to find a cure, but really wants to keep as the Element Man to keep him away from his daughter (who Rex refuses to marry as long as he's "a freak,") and to keep Metamorpho available to do his bidding.

The set up is great. Metamorpho's powers are impressive and somewhat unique in the sheer variety of them. The supporting team set up is good. Metamorpho has two of his supporting players not really on his side. Stagg is using Metamorpho and the million-year-old Caveman Java (who Rex rescued) wants Rex out of the picture so Java can marry Sapphire. Sapphire, contrary to her shallow party girl rep stands by Rex even as Metamorpho. The art is often quite fun and Metamoprho's power set is very visually appealing. I also liked Metamorpho's dialogue. In my mind, he has the speaking voice Frank Sinatra.

So why didn't the series last longer? Well, to start with, the villains were nothing special. While Java fumed about Rex and pined for Sapphire, he didn't do a whole lot in the adventures one way or another. Most of the time, he wasn't a help to Metamorpho or a hurt...he was just there.

Still, the book was okay until Element Girl came along. She had all the powers of Metamorpho but was female. She was introduced as an experiment with reader letters determing whether she would be brought back. Before she'd come along Rex and Sapphire had decided to get married. However, she interrupted the wedding to ask Rex's help for a mission and then Rex refuses to marry Sapphire while Element Girl's out saying he's unable to choose between them. After all who among us wouldn't struggle whether to choose a beautiful woman who stood beside us while we went into a freakish disfiguring accident...or someone we just meant.

Anyway, after Element Girl stays, she becomes a very consistent Mary Sue character. The books are marked by catty interactions between her and Sapphire that essentially changes Sapphire's characterization from loving sweet kid to spoiled rich harpie. Issue 17 saw the book turn towards a new direction with Metamorpho on the run with Element Girl on their own. The book was cancelled and the cliffhanger was never resolved. Metamorpho had jumped the shark and didn't really live up to his potential.

The extra team ups are fun. The one with the Metal Men finds him having to fight them when they go evil. Their powers are quite similar, so the battle is somewhat interesting, even though Metamorpho's greater range makes him the obvious favorite. The Batman team up has Metamorpho trying to help Batman when he's changed into Bathulk by Joker, Penguin, and Riddler. This one was goofy but the same could be said of most Batman team ups in the 1960s.

The Justice League issue was actually a fairly good story where Metamorpho is named the next member of the Justice League and declines but is attacked by another being who wants to join the league-the Unimaginable. It's a nice high concept story which allows many of the Justice League's finest to show their stuff against an intriguing opponent. This is the only story not written by Bob Haney and the big downside is that Gardener Fox's dialogue for Metamorpho is a bit off. Still, this is a delight.

Overall, the book is a mixed bag. There's some snappy dialogue and fun art, but ultimately, Metamorpho's silver age series failed due to the creative team not being able to deliver stories worthy of their concept.



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Book Review: Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino Volume 1

Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino Volume 1 by Jim Valentino

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 1-7 of Jim Valentino's run on Guardians of the Galaxy from the 1990s with the original team. The book also collects the four-part Korvac Quest which has the Guardians crossing over with the Fantastic Four, Thor, and Silver Surfer before concluding the story in their own annual.

The book gets a lot right. In general, Valentino makes the characters far more likable than when Steve Englehart was writing them in the 1970s. The first six issues comprise an epic story arc that has the Guardians hunting for Captain America's shield. The climax is interesting based on the nature of the final tests they face and the results, as well as Vance Astro giving an absolutely epic speech.

Issue 7's not that bad either. The art remain good and the story has a clever story telling method even though there's not a ton of substance to it.

The Korvac Quest is probably what makes this book three stars instead of four. It tells the story that Korvac when he apparently died, he sent his energy forward in time and the Guardians travel forward to stop it from reaching Baby Korvac. It's not bad, but it's not great. The Fantastic Four and Thor entries are okay (although with a Thor hammer wielder from the future), the Silver Surfer entry has some good ideas but feels pointless once you reach the end. Despite the title, the only portion of the Korvac Question actually written by Jim Valentino was the Guardians of the Galaxy Annual. While that story's not perfect, they do have to deal with some key dilemmas, and in terms of getting a desired result, it doesn't turn out well. It's a solid story, but taken as a whole, this four parter was disappointing.

Still, the strength of the first six issues do make me curious to check out more Guardians stuff from this author.



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Book Review: Supergirl Vol. 2: Escape from the Phantom Zone

Supergirl Vol. 2: Escape from the Phantom Zone by Steve Orlando

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This trade collects Issues 7-11 of Supergirl as well as material from Batgirl Annual #1.

First up is "World's Finest" (Batgirl Annual) in which Batgirl and Supergirl meet and Supergirl invites Batgirl to help her break into Cadmus and rescue a young woman with mysterious powers. This story is okay, but its hurt by being a bit too overzealous in its attempts to be cool and hip and with a throw away line of Supergirl observing, "I'm a Super Strong illegal alien. There are lots of Americans who will take any excuse to hate people like me," as her explanation for why she wants Batgirl's help. She's not illegal if she's working for a government agency and it has nothing to do with why she wants Batgirl's help. We also get a recurring theme in the DC Universe that we don't ask Batman for help for fear he'll take over and do things "his way," as if he has time to do all that. The story is okay and sets the stage for later events, but there's some dumb stuff in it.

Next up is "Mission: Mind" which finds Supergirl traveling through the mind of Lar-On, a Kryptonian afflicted with werewolve symptoms. To find out what's going on, Supergirl journeys to his mind. It's a very touchy feely sort of psychological story, but it's also really imaginative in its content and art.

"Family of Tomorrow" features a brief battle with a baddie determined to stop Kara for something she hasn't done and then she gets to hang out with Clark and the rest of the Super Family and learn some information he's gathered in other books including his recent reboot. This is a lot of fun. I love how the Super Family guest stars in so many books. They make every book they appear in better. A very nice one shot.

Finally, we have the titular "Escape from the Phantom Zone," and it's okay. Despite the presence of Batgirl, this is nothing special storywise, although there is some impressive art. Throughout much of the story, Batgirl takes the lead as Supergirl doesn't have powers, but in the end, Supergirl gets an opportunity to show the type of hero she is and just like in the first volume, it's epic, brave, and a very different approach than most other heroes would take.

Overall, this book isn't great, but it's lot more good than it is bad. The art is impressive and the character is compelling . I wish we'd seen more of Jeremiah and Eliza in this book as theyw ere so great in the last one, but this book was an enjoyable read with an admirable and noble lead.



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Book Review: Essential Thor, Vol. 4

Essential Thor, Vol. 4 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 167-195 of Thor. The nearly 2 1/2 years include Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's last issues. Kirby left after Issue 179 and was replaced as the artist by Neal Adams for Issues 180 and 181, then John Buscema is the artist for the rest of the book. Lee wrote through Issue 192 and was then replaced by Gerry Conway.

Most of the first dozen issues felt very much like reruns of previous Thor stories. They were things that had happened before with similar monsters and plot lines. I'd noticed the same sort of slump Lee went through on both Amazing Spiderman and Fantastic Four after so many years writing those. One exception to this that wasn't all that great is when Odin sends Thor on a quest for Galactus. Galactus calmly provides his origin story over multiple issues and then Thor leaves without ever fighting him because Odin had wanted...something.

The highlight of these issues is Kirby's art. Even in Black and White, it just leaps off the page, with epic action and amazing splash pages. It's very fun to read.

The first really great arc is Issues 179-181 which has Loki effectively swapping appearances with Thor. It's a fun that puts Thor in a very challenging position.

Issues 182 and 183 are Thor in Latveria v. Doctor Doom. This is a decent story, although it's a bit cynical for a Stan Lee story from the early 1970s.

Issues 184-188 has another fight to prevent Ragnorak. This time Odin goes off to fight an entity known as Infinity and Thor follows later. Except for Loki's half hearted invasion in Odin's absence, this is a good story with a solid twist.

Issue 189 and 190 has Hela, the godess of death, coming after Thor because she's upset about the whole "Ragnorak" is cancelled thing. The story has some interesting points, though a bit of a coup out ending.

At the end of Issue 190, Loki becomes ruler of Asgard because he found the Odin ring because Odin left it laying around (because that's exactly what you do with a talisman that makes you ruler of Asgard.) This story runs through Issue 194 and into Gerry Conway taking over. The story is interesting. Both Lee and Conway manage to make Loki more malevolent and intimidating than in the other times he'd taken over Asgard. The threats and risk for Thor remained high. For Conway's first issue, he brings in the Silver Surfer as guest star.

The Loki plot ends at Issue 194, so I'm really mystified whiy the book continued on because Issue 195 starts another multi-part plot involving Mangog.

Overall, while this isn't as good as some of the previous volumes, this book has some great art work, and the latter stories had some very exciting and inventive stories. Worth a read for Thor fans. Verily.



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Meet the Eighth Doctor You Never Knew With Big Finish's 99P Sale

Imagine there was a Doctor Who Doctor whose adventures were epic, but most people had never seen this Doctor at his best. Imagine you had a chance to experience his adventures? That is the case.

Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor appeared on television in the 1996 TV movie that was supposed to be a set up a revived TV series that didn't happen. He next appeared on film as the Doctor in Night of the Doctor in 2013 when he regenerated into the War Doctor.

For most casual fans, that's all there is to the Eighth Doctor. But in spin-off media, the Eighth Doctor had a very long life. He was the protagonist of Doctor Who Magazine's comic strip for 9 years and was the first Doctor whose adventures appeared in color. He also starred in seventy-three novels.

There's a problem with adventures in comics and books when it comes to evaluating a Doctor. The actor who plays the Doctor never appears. He never has to read the lines, establish rapport with another actor, and his adventures are dubious in terms of continuity.

Thankfully, Paul McGann's Doctor appeared in a series of audio dramas for Big Finish in which we got to see what his Doctor would be like. Some of these adventures are great. One was actually once voted by fans of Doctor Who magazine as the best Doctor Who story ever.

Oh, and the best part, they are canon. In, "Night of the Doctor," the Doctor mentions Charley Pollard, C'rizz, Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew, and Molly O'Sullivan as he's regenerating. They were companions from the Doctor's Big Finish adventures.

Big Finish got the license for Doctor Who Audio Dramas in 1999 and had the fifth-seventh Doctors signed to reprise their roles and tell stories of untold adventures. In 2001, Big Finish got Paul McGann to come aboard. This was a huge coup for Big Finish because he was the most recent Doctor to appear on television. Thus episodes with the current Doctor were being produced by Big Finish.

Many fans designate the four blocks of Paul McGann releases from 2001-2005 as Seasons 27-30 of Doctor Who. In addition, McGann also starred in the 40th Anniversary specail for Doctor Who.

Big Finish is having a sale through the December 22nd where the first 50 Doctor Who releases are available for 99p or 99 Cents (for those in the U.S.) each. These include the first two seasons of the Eighth Doctor Audio adventures (ten releases). These ten releases each contain four 25-30 minute episodes just as the classic TV series did. Here are my recommendations:

Must-listen:

1) Storm Warning (Release 16): This is McGann's premiere episode and it introduces his first audio companion Charlotte "Charley" Pollard (India Fisher.) It's about the crash of the airship R-101 and what alien activity was really going on behind it. It has a few rough moments getting established, but by the middle of the first episode, McGann is in his element as the Doctor. The story has a bit of a touch of the X-Files, but still has a good Doctor Who feel. This sets up much of the story arc of the first two season of Paul McGann.

2) The Chimes of Midnight (Release 29): This is the release that was once voted the Best Doctor Who story ever. The Doctor and Charley arrive in a cupboard where no one can see or hear them and a murder occurs. This is a classic story that keeps you keeps guessing throughout as to what's going on. There's some dark humor, but it leads up to a powerful and beautiful conclusion that highlights the worth of every human being.

3) Season of Fear (Release 30):

The Doctor runs into a being who knows him and promises to kill him when he finally gets Charley to Singapore as he's promised. The Doctor and Charley then go on a complicated journey through time to stop him. This is one of those solid and well done timey-wimey tales. It manages to have some good character development and good drama along with the comedy. Also, the Eighth Doctor says, "Geronimo!" eight years before the Eleventh does, and also says before jumping into the vortex.

4) Neverland (Release 33):

The Doctor created a paradox when he rescued Charley from the R101, and she forces him to stop running from it and face it. The entire universe and all of time is threatened. Charley has some of the best companion moments ever in this story. The conclusion to the story arc and reveal of the anti-time threat to time is superbly well-done. In addition, Lalla Ward reprises her role as Romana, this time as President of Gallifrey.

Good but not great:

Sword of Orion (Release 18) features the Eighth Doctor battling the Cybermen. It's a well-done but standard Cybermen story. The Stones of Venice (Release 19) has the Doctor and Charley visiting future Venice just before its destruction. The story some creative imagery and unique characters. I enjoyed it fine, but some people really really like it. It's definitely worth checking out.

Mediocre:

Invaders From Mars (28) was a story about Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast. It wasn't a bad story. It had some funny moments, but didn't quite feel true to the era.

Embrace the Darkness (31) finds the Doctor and Charley arriving on a space station. This never quite gets going or clearly defines its threat, but there are some interesting moments.

Time of the Daleks (32): A bog standard Dalek story with a timey-wimey element. However, this release features Daleks quoting Shakespeare which makes it totally worth listening to.

All three of these stories occur within the Season 2 arc about anti-time. As such, there are Easter eggs for the whole arc which can also add to the benefit of listening to them.

A Big Beautiful Mess:

Zagreus (Release 50) answers the cliffhanger at the end of Neverland while being the 50th Doctor Who release for Big Finish. It illustrates the benefits and pitfalls of having a company run by fans produce Doctor Who. The CD has many moments that will fill fans with delight, many cool and interesting moments. It brings back all the Doctors and Companions willing to cooperate with Big Finish. All the Doctors play themselves in a scene with Paul McGann. Most of the actors who played Companions played other characters. Elizabeth Sladen appeared in her only Doctor Who appearance for Big Finish. There was a cameo from the Third Doctor from a fan-released production, though its very hard to hear.

It was also over-indulgent with deep dives into Gallifreyan history and an overall length of nearly four hours.

It was more good than bad, but I recommend listening to this one after everything else.

Avoid Unless You're a Brigadier Completist:

Minuet in Hell (Release 20): This is bad, really bad. It contains the worst American accents ever in Big Finish. There are plenty of Bad Southern accents, but they throw in some bad Chicago accents. It has the worst acting from Paul McGann having lost his memory (a recurring theme for this Doctor.) At the heart of the story is the idea that a region of Texas has seceded under apparent Christian leadership to form a new state called Malebolgia. The Christian Senator is secretly running a satanic cult based on the historic Hellfire Club. People in the South might have known given that the name of their new Christian state is the name of Eighth circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno.

What does help it is that Nicholas Courtney reprises his role as the Brigadier. This adds the Eighth Doctor to the list of Doctors he's offi met. Also, the fourth episode isn't as horrible as the rest. While this story is referenced in Seasons of, it's safe to skip over. It's a non-sensical mess that's a low point for Big Finish.

Bonus Recommendation:

In addition to the fifty original main range stories, Big Finish is putting 49 other items on sale. Among them is the Destiny of the Doctor series. This was a series of audiobooks produced in 2013 in cooperation between Big Finish and the now-defunct company AudioGo. These approximately hour-long adventures were read by actors who'd played Companions.

The Eighth Doctor's story is "Enemy Aliens," read by India Fisher. It finds the Doctor and Charley Pollard in England. . They separated with Charley going on an adventure that resembled the 39 steps. It's a clever and fun story. While the entire Destiny of the Doctor set is worth listening to, this one can be enjoyed on its own merit. I recommend it even if you

These are my recommendations. You can go to Big Finish and choose your favorites here.