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Tue Sep 30, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'Gus and His Gang' by Chris Blain
Love troubles for three outlaws in the Old West
Gus and His Gang
By Chris Blain
First Second, October 2008, $16.95
There must be some reason why the good Western comics – hell, pretty much all of the Western comics – of the past three decades have all come from France, but I don’t know it myself. France never had a West of its own; never had a frontier on its border to expand into. (Rather the opposite, actually – their big neighbor is Germany, which spent several hundred years trying to expand into them.) But there’s a streak of Western comics – about the American West, of course – from France going back through the “Blueberry” stories by Charlier and Moebius up to this book.
Well, whatever the reason, the French like stories about our Old West at least as much as we do, and now here’s another one: Gus and His Gang, a collection of stories originally published between 2004 and 2007 about three outlaws and the women they pursue (and are pursued by). Gus, Clem and Gratt do rob banks and hijack trains – that’s how they make their living – but those things are mostly incidentals in these stories. These guys are much more concerned with getting a leg over – money never seems to be a problem (there’s always another bank to knock over), but sex always is.
Gus is the title character, the guy on the cover, and the ostensible leader of the three-man gang, but he has the worst luck with women of the three. The first story, “Natalie,” sets the tone – a woman from his past (he knew her five years before, in Cincinnati, when he was working in a wild west show) comes back into his life, and he chases around after her – as she leads him on by his exceptionally long nose – but doesn’t get anything out of it.
Continue reading Review: 'Gus and His Gang' by Chris Blain ›
Tue Sep 30, 2008 — by Josh Wigler
Review: 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Episode #204
Cameron has words with 'Alison from Palmdale'
Note: Click here to relive the past episode!
This Week's Operation: "Alison from Palmdale"
Mission Briefing:
Cameron, whose been malfunctioning lately, goes amnesiac in a grocery store while having strange visions of the future. A woman identical to her in the future, named Alison Young, is captured by Terminators and interrogated about the whereabouts of John Connor. Eventually, Alison comes into contact with Cameron, who is trying to infiltrate John's rebel camp. When it becomes clear that Alison won't comply, Cameron breaks her neck.
In the present, Cameron begins to think that her name is Alison from Palmdale, California. She's befriended by a troubled girl named Jody, who takes her to a halfway house. Cameron calls Claire Young, Alison's mother, but she's actually still pregnant. Later, Cameron leaves the halfway house with Jody, where John finds her and tells her what she really is: a killer robot from the frickin' future. Cameron realigns her identity, but still decides to run away with Jody. They break into a home which turns out to be Jody's, and Cameron realizes that Jody was going to leave her behind for the cops to take the blame. John shows up just in time to prevent Cameron from killing Jody. As they're driving home, Cameron lies to John about a necklace she got from Jody, implying that her malfunctioning days are far from over.
Meanwhile, Sarah keeps Casey company at the hospital while doctors check on her pregnancy. Sarah meets Casey's LAPD boyfriend, Trevor. Elsewhere, Agent Ellison accepts Catherine Weaver's offer to join Zeira Corp to find and disassemble Terminators.
Continue reading Review: 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Episode #204 ›
Mon Sep 29, 2008 — by Matt Raub
Review: 'Chuck' Season 2 Premiere
'Chuck' is Back!
With NBC going into the fall season with a fairly light deck, Chuck is the one fan favorite that makes sure to deliver on it's promises (unlike another show involving superpowers). This season of Chuck is said to be bigger and more adventurous than it's first, while bringing in some great cameos along the way.
We left off last season where Chuck was finally coming into his own as a spy-computer, assuming the Bond-style alias Charles Carmichael. The romance between Chuck and Sarah also spiced up, but could never be due to their job. Also, Adam Baldwin's Casey was given instructions that a replacement intercept (the computer that is in Chuck's brain) is being built, and when it is, he has to take Chuck out.
This season picks right up in the action as Chuck's life is in danger by a new baddie, played by Michael Clarke Duncan. He explains basically the entire premise of the show, which is great for newcomers. Chuck, of course, escapes and the spy trio is now in possession of the piece they need to create the newest intercept. Chuck is told that once the machine is up and running, his duty as a spy supercomputer is over and he's free to live his life. Meanwhile, they shadowy government figures have already told Casey that he is to assassinate Chuck when the machine is built. The episode on a whole held through from start to finish, setting up some great storylines down the road and coming together at the end of the episode like any spy serial really should.
A big step for season two is character expansion. Now that everyone is established, it's time to take them all to new places. Casey goes through a conflict which shows a more softer side, while Sarah and Chuck grow closer together as a couple. Chuck also realizes that it may be time to move on from the Buy More and get a new job, which could mean "goodbye" to Morgan and the Nerds. This season could mean a lot more "whining and screaming" from Chuck and some action that we would expect from a Spy Comedy Series. Some great things to expect this season are cameos from both Michael Clarke Duncan and John Larroquette, A new job (with new skimpy outfit) for Sarah, and even a death (or two) from a major character.
Anyone who isn't caught up on the show should do so by picking up the DVD (available now). The series isn't heavy and overall fun to watch. Between the skimpy outfits, endearing lead, and a badass Adam Baldwin, there's something in it for the whole family. Season 2 premieres tonight on NBC right before Heroes at 8pm ET. RATING 8/10
Mon Sep 29, 2008 — by Josh Wigler
Review: 'Dexter' Episode #301
The Bay Harbor Butcher returns in the third season premiere
The Crime Scene: "Our Father"
From Showtime: "Dexter begins to question his blind loyalty to his father’s memory. In an act of spontaneity, he wonders whether The Code of Harry is a necessity anymore. Dexter’s relationship with Rita intensifies. Angel becomes Sergeant, replacing the deceased Doakes. Dexter goes to desperate measures to cover up his latest murder, while meeting assistant district attorney Miguel Prado, who has history with Lt. LaGuerta. Meanwhile, the team discover the victim of another killer, which could just be bigger than the Bay Harbor Butcher."
Blood Spatter Analysis
The Dark Defender is back, and he's ready to kick ass and take blood samples.
Last season, blood spatter analyst cum vigilante killer Dexter Morgan nearly found himself on the wrong side of a prison cell. Sergeant James Doakes discovered that Dexter was the man behind the grizzly Bay Harbor Butcher slayings. Luckily, Dex was saved by the belle, the highly obsessive Lila, who killed Doakes to prevent Dexter from being discovered. Not so luckily for Lila, Dexter murdered the woman for killing Doakes, but not before pinning the murders on the deceased officer. With that monkey off his back, Dexter was free to resume his vendetta against Miami's criminal underground... and resume he has!
As the third season begins, Dexter reflects upon his highly successful summer. His game has stepped up in every sense of the word. He's back in the killing business, taking out all new bad guys and making up for lost samples with a new blood collection. He's also upped his acting abilitiy, particularly notable when Dexter poses as a junkie to attain recon on his next victim, a murdering drug dealer named Freebo. Dexter's social skills are at an all time high as well, both around the Miami Metro Police Department and at home with his girlfriend, Rita. In fact, Dexter's progress as a killer might be second to his relationship progress with Rita. Let's just say that he's had his hands very, ah, full.
Sun Sep 28, 2008 — by John Tebbel
Reviewing Kyle Baker
This Coward's Way Out
I was taking stock recently, reviewing the silver past and anticipating a golden future when I was struck by the fact that for the past six months I’ve given books by Kyle Baker to friends and relatives on every possible gift giving occasion and then some. This speaks well of Mr. Baker, whose line of books now covers every possible demographic.
For the very young or people who just don’t like to think about a nemesis more personal than hunger or gravity, there is his autobiographical work of family theft known as The Bakers. As a comic or a collection these gag panels, comical strips and full-length comic novellas start small and suck you in to a quite often very complicated gag, a combination of motives and subplots only a very accomplished technician such as Mr. Baker can execute. They are wonders of timing and staging that show how valuable he must have been during his sojourn in the Hollywood cartoon business, and how his talent for real-life details would have driven the kidvid fantasists to make his work there living heck. Everything in The Bakers universe can be imitated by a real family and has probably bedeviled your real family in its time.
In the book-shaped The Bakers: Babies and Kittens (Image Comics), the second book of it’s kind (after The Bakers: Do These Toys Belong Somewhere) Mr. Baker confounds the people who have spent their lives in a futile flight from cute. Like R. Crumb, his command of the medium and knowledge of what the eye likes (before the consciousness can muck things up) seduces his audience into taking a ride it thinks it has been on before, and a kiddy ride at that. But the plastic elephant takes a wrong turn and you’re soon in a fix that Ricky Ricardo and Harold Lloyd would shudder to consider. He then spares us the usual sitcom sermon and leaves the world of The Bakers as delightfully unbalanced and full of comic inevitability as it was in the beginning.
Comics is a near perfect medium today, unencumbered by commercials, your neighbor’s cell phone, the sponsor’s amoral code of standards, the way the electronic media is really after your time. No, you’re in the driver’s seat, Mr. Comic Reader (or should I say “Mrs.”?). It’s your choice: Read it one panel at a time, sit down and read the whole thing at once. Laugh. Read that panel over again (you don’t have to wait till summer or even to download it). Put it down on the coffee table and read it again later, or recommend it to your roommate.
Thu Sep 25, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down' by David Heatley
Autobiographical comics pushed to the limit
My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down
By David Heatley
Pantheon, September 2008, $24.95
Right at this moment, I know more of the minor details of David Heatley’s life than I do of my own. This is because I don’t typically spend my time obsessing about the minutiae of my past, while I have just spent several hours reading Heatley’s comics – in which he obsessively chronicles every tiny detail of his life (as organized into thematic categories) that he can possibly remember.
My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down collects many (all?) of Heatley’s previously published short strips, and organizes them into something like a memoir in comics form – but a memoir tightly focused and monomanically detailed in its chosen areas. It’s divided into five sections – Sex, Race, Mom, Dad, and Kin – and everything else in the world (including religion, which seems to be very important to Heatley) gets left out or included only at odd, disjointed moments.
Each section, except the last, starts off with a batch of dream comics. These are about as compelling as anyone else’s dreams ever can be, particularly since Heatley has a deliberately crude and flat style. He does generally draw his dream comics with larger panels and more varied transitions than his longer pieces, which gives them some more visual interest. But, still, they’re someone else’s dreams, filled with intensely personal imagery and characters that we don’t recognize (because we haven’t yet met them in the autobiographical stories). So they’re opaque at best, incomprehensible at worst.
Continue reading Review: 'My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down' by David Heatley ›
Thu Sep 25, 2008 — by Matt Raub
Review: Knight Rider Premiere
Now With 100% Less Hasselhoff!
In an attempt to make up for NBC’s flop of a reboot last year with Bionic Woman comes the new and improved Knight Rider which is like the original series, but with a revamped KITT, a younger cast, a brand new back-story, and fantastic special effects, this show has the potential be a win for NBC’s fall lineup. Many will be going into this “pilot” with some hesitation after February’s TV movie (which was technically the pilot), due to the fact that the show lacked in story structure, was full of WB-level acting, and gave work to David Hasselhoff. Happily, this episode fixed many of those issues and made the hour mildly entertaining.
The story from the original movie is that terrorists go after and “kill” scientist Charles Graiman (Bruce Davison) who helped work on the supercar Knight Industries Three-Thousand, or K.I.T.T. (see what they did there?), which drives away to find Graiman’s next of kin; his daughter Sarah (Deanna Russo). They meet up and Sarah decides to go to her old flame for help, a renegade army ranger named Michael Traceur (Jason Bruening) who is in his own heap of trouble with a whole “the-government-erased-my-brain-not-unlike-in-The Bourne Identity” plot of his own going on. By the end of the movie, Michael decides to become an agent for the newly reformed Foundation (an updated version of the original show’s F.L.A.G.) and drive KITT permanently.
This first episode takes off right in the middle of the action, as main characters Michael and Sarah are on a James Bond-style mission when Sarah gets kidnapped and Michael and KITT go after her, when they learn that these mystery men were actually after Michael and what he “knows”. This triggers the running theme of the episode, as everybody is trying to obtain clearance levels that they don’t have. Lots of shtupping going on for one episode, as there is presumed sexual tension between Sarah and Michael, and also between some other nondescript characters back in what can only be described as the KITTcave.
The KITT effects are easily the coolest part of the show so far. With essentially a Transformer voiced by Val Kilmer, it’s a pretty good answer to the “futuristic” car we got in 1982. There are some great uses of modern special effects where the car can turn into a pick-up truck—and back again—without crushing the passengers inside! Granted, this makes the show basically a weekly 40-minute commercial for Ford, but it is still pretty cool for any fan of the original series who wanted more than a bunch of cool Dukes of Hazzard jumps and William Daniels.
The bad points: there are some very cheeky moments back at the “base” with the wacky super nerds (a stereotype NBC seems to love) throughout the show, which comes across as incongruous for the show’s dynamic. Three-quarters of the show consisted of shadowy government types, as the overall story of the first episode was the death of Michael Traceur and the birth of Michael Knight, which was originally helmed by Michael’s father, Hasselhoff.
The biggest weakness for the show by a stretch is certainly the amount of different elements that the show tries to cram into 40 minutes. With that said, there is still plenty of action to keep you entertained, but add that in with the government mystery storyline, Michael finding out who erased his memory and why, the “Sam & Diane” storyline between Sarah and Michael, the plucky sidekicks, a unnecessarily dominant Sydney Poiter (the daughter, not Mr. Tibbs) and the dry wit of Val Kilmer as KITT, it becomes too much to keep track of. Each element on it’s own would make for great B-story to go along with the weekly spy thriller of the show, but cramming all of this in at once only proves to be confusing and hard to keep straight. The show certainly has potential to make it farther than last year’s Bionic Woman, but may have trouble keeping it up for more than a season unless they can find some solid structure, drop a few secondary storylines, or at least bring Will Arnett back as K.I.T.T. RATING: 7/10
Wed Sep 24, 2008 — by Chuck Rozakis
Webcomics You Should Be Reading: 'Something*Positive'
Randy Milholland is a very, very angry man. He distills that anger into the purest form of hate known to man, which he uses as ink. And with that ink, he effects a marvelous transformation of rage into humor, he creates Something*Positive.
Of course, as many an astute reader has noticed, “Your comic isn’t positive at all! It’s mean!”
S*P is based in Milholland’s real life, and follows the adventures of Davan MacIntire (obviously modeled on Milholland) and his friends as they find and lose love, perform irreverent musicals, play inventive role-playing games, deal with family troubles, and cause amusing property damage and extreme bodily harm to those who incite them.
Milholland also has a number of other comic projects. Those that are still updating appear on the main S*P homepage, and include: Super Stupor, a gag-a-strip comic about super-heroes and villains who are a bit more genre-savvy than usual; Something*Positive 1937-1938, which chronicles the life of Davan’s namesake, a friend of the character’s grandfather; Midnight Macabre, which follows stand-up comic Gaspar Baugh as he tries to revitalize a late-night horror TV show in 1981; and Rhymes With Witch, a collection of unconnected gags that have randomly emerged from Milholland’s brain. He has a discontinued project called New Gold Dreams, based on a roleplaying campaign introduced in S*P; and filler strips titled Life With Rippy, featuring Milholland and his “muse”, a talking straight-razor.
Notable moments:
The introduction of Choo-Choo Bear, the malleable kitty
Davan is the universe’s buttmonkey, in what become Kim’s most well-known running gag.
A second disturbing cat, Twitchy-Hug, is introduced and eventually removed.
A crossover with Queen of Wands . The main character of Queen of Wands eventually joined the cast of Something*Positive permanently.
Aubrey’s business venture, the sex-line for Geeks, Nerdrotica.
Fred and Faye MacIntire’s perfect day
Drama: Medium. The world of Something*Positive sucks, and though the characters virtually always bounce back and pass the suffering on to others, actual pathos has been known to rear its ugly head.
Humor: Excellent, though dark and often offensive. Milholland makes no bones about slaughtering sacred cows, turning humor out of sensitive subjects. Viewer discretion is advised, but if you can handle most stand-up comedy (particularly George Carlin), you’ll appreciate this.
Continuity: High. Very few of the comics stand alone, and stories tend to weave around to different characters as exciting eents happen in their lives. This is one where it’s important to start from the first strip [link: http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp12192001.shtml] and do an archive trawl in order.
Art: A cartoon-ish line-art style that has improved as the comic has evolved. How detailed the background art is varies from strip to strip, ranging from detailed depictions of Davan’s childhood home to flat one-color backdrops.
Archive: Almost seven years, about 2000 page-sized comics.
Updates: Irregularly, usually 3-7 comics per week. The main Something*Positive strip tends to be a bit more reliable than the others. For most of the archives, Milholland maintained (or retroactively added) a five- or seven-day-per-week schedule.
Risk/Reward: The story is very slice-of-life, and like life, doesn’t have a real beginning or ending. Milholland has commented that he has an ongoing plan for all of his comics and when they’re due to end, but schedule slips have called that into question. The best approach is probably just to enjoy it while you’ve got it.
Wed Sep 24, 2008 — by Alan Kistler
'Secret Invasion' So Far: The Tie-Ins
How is the the Marvel Universe dealing with another crossover?
If you read Part 1 of my report on "Secret Invasion so far", you know I have found a lot of faults with the main series of this Marvel crossover and the tie-ins written by Brian Michael Bendis.
Now, any major crossover these days has tie-ins with other titles. It's a good marketing idea because it gets readers to check out characters and books they may not have already been reading. And it helps give the story an epic feel when you can show how its effects are felt in various other parts of the Marvel Universe and how other folks are forced to get dragged into it.
A lot of times, these tie-ins are unnecessary and fairly forgettable unless you were already a fan of those books. Imagine my surprise when I found that a lot of these tie-ins were actually enjoyable and greatly enhanced the crossover for me. Frankly, I think some of these tie-ins could have replaced a few issues of the main series.
Let's go into a bit more detail, shall we?
Wed Sep 24, 2008 — by Josh Wigler
Review: 'Fringe' Episode #103
Tuning into 'The Ghost Network'
Note: Click here for last week's mystery!
Autopsy Report: "The Ghost Network"
A man named Roy is having visions of terrible accidents and attacks before they happen, including the mystery of Flight 627. When he has these "feelings," he needs to draw the visions in order to get them out of his system. His latest premonition involves a man gas-bombing a bus that suspends all the passengers in an amber-like substance. Olivia Dunham and the Bishops investigate and learn that someone was trying to obtain an item from one of the passengers, secretly an undercover FBI agent. Olivia meets with the agent's handler, who seems distraught over the agent's death and goes to see her body.
The Bishops, meanwhile, meet with Roy. Walter discovers that Roy is tapping into something called the Ghost Network, a theory he and Massive Dynamic founder William Bell devised that there were certain wavelengths that information could be transferred on. Roy was a test subject of theirs, and was injected with a metal compound that turned him into a receiver of this top secret intelligence network. His premonitions occur because he intercepts the transmissions agents use on the Ghost Network.
Walter jerryrigs a way for Roy's visions to be translated in spoken word rather than through illustration. In doing so, Roy picks up a signal suggesting that the dead FBI agent's secret item has been found and is being exchanged at Boston's South Station. Olivia figures out that the woman's FBI handler must have removed the item from her dead corpse. She intercepts the handler, who is then shot by the other man in the exchange before throwing himself into the path of a moving train. With the culprit dead, Olivia obtains the sought after item and hands it over.
Meanwhile, Agent Phillip Boyles secretly meets with Massive Dynamic representative Nina Sharp. Phillip is irritated that Nina is trying to steal Olivia away from his agency. He nonetheless hands her an item, presumably the same item that Olivia recovered. Nina later takes the item to a scientist. The scientist is performing experiments on a very interesting test subject: a sedentary Agent John Scott, Olivia's supposedly deceased ex-lover.
Tue Sep 23, 2008 — by Josh Wigler
Review: 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Episode #203
The Connor Clan gets caught in 'The Mousetrap'
Note: Click here to relive the past episode!
This Week's Operation: "The Mousetrap"
Mission Briefing:
Charley Dixon and his wife Michelle are fleeing town from the big bad Terminator, when Cromartie himself shows up and abducts Michelle. Charley enlists the help of Sarah and Derek Reese, who track Michelle to an abandoned shack in the desert. She's strung up to a series of explosives, that turn out to be fake. Cromartie was trying to lure Sarah out in the open so she'd contact John, and then he could trace his location. His mission successful, Cromartie blows up the shack and drives off in pursuit of John. Michelle is severely injured in the blast and needs a hospital, but Cromartie has sabotaged Sarah's car. They hijack a van and race against time to save both John and Michelle.
Meanwhile, John goes to buy a computer with Cameron, but ditches her to hang out with his new friend Riley. Cameron stalks them from a distance, but Riley and John catch on and run off. John gets a phone call from Cromartie posing as his mother. Using Sarah's voice, he tells John to meet at a nearby pier. John shows up and sees that it's not his mom at all, unless she'd undergone extensive work in the past couple hours. John pulls some Mission: Impossible moves to evade Cromartie, and the two eventually wind up in the ocean. Luckily for John, Terminators don't move so well in the water, and Cromartie sinks to the bottom. John and Cameron later reunite with Derek and Sarah, and John notices blood in the hijacked van. It's revealed that Michelle died from her wounds, and Charley is not happy at all.
Elsewhere, former FBI agent James Ellison is contacted by mysterious CEO Catherine Weaver, who is secretly a T-1000. She tells him that her company has been trying to reverse engineer Terminator technology from parts they've found in recent years, but their attempts haven't been successful. She wants answers, but more importantly, she wants Ellison to help her find another Terminator.
Continue reading Review: 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Episode #203 ›
Tue Sep 23, 2008 — by Matt Raub
Review: 'Heroes' Season 3 Premiere
Can they win back the fans after last year?
Those of you who left Heroes after the debauchery that was season two may want to make a return to the show for this season, because if the first two episodes were any indicator, this season is going to be exactly what comic book and TV fans alike have been waiting for.
Where we left off
The virus from the second season was contained by the heroes. Adam (the immortal man) was taken away by Hiro, while Nathan, Peter, and Matt decided that it’s time to tell the world exactly who they are. Right before Nathan’s big “outing”, he was shot by a mysterious man and presumed dead. Sylar escaped the clutches of Elle and the company, only to realize that his powers were coming back. Nikki went on a quest to save her cousin Monica from evil drug dealers when she was trapped in a building when it exploded. Finally reaching Suresh, Maya, the girl with the power to kill people when she cries, begs him to help her get rid of her powers. All this while Noah (HRG) is captured and put into custody by the Company, and Claire is safe in Texas, for now.
What’s changed
Between the backlash that the show received online from the fans, and the untimely writers’ strike, this show went through quite a few last minute changes, cutting the season in half with only 11 episodes. Originally, the plan was to have Sylar off the series for a while, while actor Zachary Quinto worked on J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, but due to the episode cut, they were able to work around his schedule, and have Sylar back in full swing for this season. Many other things were changed due to the negative response the show runners got from the fans. One big change for this season was a lack of superfluous characters. The “Spanish wonder twins” — Maya and her dead brother -- were a big problem for the online community, and Maya’s role will take a whole new — and far less whiney — turn this season. Also, Nikki’s cousin Monica, who had the ability to mimic any action she saw on TV (much like any 11 year old boy) will be completely gone this year, and whether she's even mentioned in dialogue or not is still unknown (ie. "Boy, things have been quiet here ever since Monica left to fight crime in Ireland"). Along with those changes came new character arcs, which may or may not fall in line with the consistency of the show. For instance; the “my two dads” storyline in which Suresh and Parkman took care of the child Molly, will be abolished. In fact, Suresh goes through a whole new metamorphosis this season, both physically and emotionally.
Finally, the biggest change in the show, and the best element of the two-part premiere; the pacing and revelation of the plot. A major problem with the series in the past was that it took six episodes for anything noteworthy to actually happen. In the first two hours, we get more questions answered and action-packed moments than you could ask for. Of course there will still be bigger questions to be revealed at a later episode, but you can thank the formula of modern hour-dramas for that.
Mon Sep 22, 2008 — by Matt Raub
Review: Spaceballs: The Animated Series
Avoid at all costs!
There was once a time when Mel Brooks was considered a pioneer of comedy, a trendsetter in satire, even a spoof master, but if the debut of G4’s Spaceballs: The Animated Series, that time has long passed. This was a perfect example of how NOT to reinvent a franchise. It was bound to happen with films being made of Broadway shows and Broadway shows being made of his films that Mel Brooks (who is not only attached as Executive Producer, but also reprises his roles as Scrube and Yogurt) would try to reinvent the Spaceballs film with a poorly produced animated series, but whether it was a lack of his own creativity, or the network’s inane intention to hit a demographic, this show was terrible.
The series is supposed to follow the events of the film, provided that the ending never happened, and Lonestar and his band of heroes gets in wacky misadventures every week to foil the plans of Dark Helmet and President Scrube. There are various minor pop culture and Star Wars references, but it’s hard enough to get through the “jokes” as it is.
It’s unknown what legal issues went on during the production, but this show was originally slated to be released sometime in 2007, and then, without mention, disappeared until recently. The series has the feel of a flash-made web series, and is even edited for release on the G4 network. This only hurts the show more because instead of getting the vulgar visual humor, we get cut-and-paste images and voices that were changed in postproduction for the G4 demographic of boys under the age of 17.
The show could actually work, if they didn’t trade in the impeccable timing and vaudevillian dialogue of the movie with boob jokes and outdated Star Wars Episodes 1-3 references. The voicework falls in line with the poor production, as Brooks comes back to voice his characters President Scrube and Yogurt, while Daphne Zuniga comes back for Princess Vespa. The show, as a whole, is just awful and probably won’t last very long. If one day they decide to drop the censor bars and release the series on DVD or the web, it may be worth a watch, but until then; it should probably be avoided. RATING: 0/10
Mon Sep 22, 2008 — by Alan Kistler
'Secret Invasion' So Far: The Main Story
Focusing on all things Bendis
So we’re more than half-way through Secret Invasion, the event that’s supposed to be the biggest thing to rock the Marvel Universe since Civil War, where the question was “whose side are you on?” Secret Invasion’s question is “who do you trust?”, which is almost the same question as Civil War’s but not as grammatically correct ( it's "whom", people!) and concerns the revelation that several Skrulls (shape-shifting aliens who’ve had their asses kicked many times) have secretly been living among us for a while. This story is the brain-child of Brian Michael Bendis, who has been praised for his series Powers and his run on Ultimate Spider-Man and who has been writing New Avengers and Mighty Avengers since both titles were created.
This plot has been done before to lesser degrees. In the early 90s, the Fantastic Four discovered that the Human Torch's wife had been impersonated by a Skrull since before they were even engaged. And a couple of years later, the X-Men found out that Wolverine had been replaced by a Skrull who then died because he didn't know he didn't have Wolvie's powers too (idiot).
But there are three major elements that mark this particular invasion story as different from what we've seen in comic books a million times over. The first element is that what's left of the Skrull Empire has now taken up religion. Their holy texts tell them that Earth is theirs by right and they have become quite creepy by habitually saying “He loves you” to everyone they attack. Secondly, they've learned how to infiltrate us in such a way that they are now beyond the detection of super-powers, magic and technology - very scary in this post-9/11 world. Finally, the Skrulls have finally figured out how to produce super-powers on a large scale. Where once the Super-Skrull and Power Skrull were unique, now there are thousands of Skrull warriors who have the combined powers of many different villains and heroes.
But how's the execution? Well, in a nutshell, the main series started off very strong and has recently picked up steam again full force. Even when it was slow, it had some great scenes. But these are over-shadowed occasionally by pages of wasted space and repetitive recaps. And out of the eleven tie-in issues Bendis has written so far, eight of them can be ignored or have a smidge of substance that's surrounded by filler pages.
But if you are one of those unfortunate souls who bought all the New Avengers and Mighty Avengers tie-ins and then realized you'd wasted over twenty bucks, don't worry! Just do what I and my good friend Lisa McMullan did. With a little creativity, you can take those pages and make yourself a very smart looking jacket! Now you're not a sucker, you are actually quite fashionable!
Don't believe me? Just look at this photographic evidence, nay-sayer! All you need is scissors, tape and maybe an hour of free time.
And when people ask you "How did you think to make such a snazy and debonair sport coat?", you can simply say "I got the idea from those crazy guys at ComicMix and Alan 'the Sizzler' Kistler. He's one nutty guy, that Sizzler."
Not a bad series, but I definitely have some criticisms. Hmmm? What's that? You want more detail about what my problems are with the main series and the Bendis-written tie-ins? Not a problem, folks. That's what I get paid for.
By the way, folks, if it pleases you, feel free to check out my old list of the Six Worst Moments in Skrull History!
Mon Sep 22, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'Journey, Vol. 1' by William Messner-Loebs
Historical adventure on the old western frontier, in another blast from the '80s
Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine MacAlistaire, Volume 1
By William Messner-Loebs
IDW, July 2008, $19.99
Historical fiction is the odd duck of literature; it inevitably ages twice – once just because it’s set in a past milieu that even the original audience will be unfamiliar with, and a second time because it was really written for that original audience…and their society and expectations and ideas will age and become unfamiliar as well. Today’s historical fiction shows us the past through a lens of today, but yesterday’s historical fiction has a double lens – the historical era it was set in, and the one it was written in.
Journey is set nearly two hundred years ago, on the old Northwestern frontier of Michigan, soon after the election of 1808. And these stories were created twenty-five years ago, in black-and-white comic books, as part of a burst of creativity and possibility in the comics industry, originally driven by a wide array of idiosyncratic creators each telling their own particular stories but eventually buried (within another three years) by piles of cheap knock-offs of “hot” ideas. (Some things never change.)
Messner-Loebs’s hero is a legendary trapper and outdoorsman, Joshua “Wolverine” MacAlistaire – and 1983 is about the last time any comics character could be named “Wolverine” completely independently – who doesn’t dislike people, though he does prefer his own company.
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