Tagged: Star Trek

Superhero Novelizations for 2008

Superhero Novelizations for 2008

  • News
  • January 7, 2008

With the summer super-hero blockbusters come the inevitable novelizations. It used to be almost every movie from every genre would receive the prose treatment but with time, that has been winnowed dramatically.  These days it appears just the genre films get the attention and not even all those receive a book. 

The blockbuster, tent pole films for 2008 will be receiving not only novelizations but tie-in and spin-off books galore.  One, Speed Racer, does not have a novelization but a ton of related books for the younger audiences.

Here’s a look at the 2008 novelization list, in order of film release, with some rather familiar names attached:

   

Iron Man by Peter David

Speed Racer, none scheduled

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by James Rollins

Incredible Hulk by Peter David

Wanted, none scheduled

Get Smart, none scheduled

Hellboy II: The Golden Army by Robert Greenberger

The Dark Knight by Dennis O’Neil

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, unknown

The X-Files 2, none scheduled

Punisher: War Zone, none scheduled

Star Trek, unknown

A ‘Star Trek’ Fiction Primer

A ‘Star Trek’ Fiction Primer

  • News
  • January 1, 2008

Hitting shelves around the country is Star Trek: A Singular Destiny by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the first novel in the Star Trek universe after the status quo was shaken up in the just-complete Star Trek: Destiny trilogy by David Mack.  When we spoke with Mack a few months ago, he said, “All I’m willing to share at this point is that characters who are dead before the trilogy starts stay dead; characters killed during the trilogy will stay dead afterward; there is no reset button at the end of the story; worlds we’ve heard of before will be destroyed; a species will cease to exist.”

For many intrigued by this, the prose works can seem daunting since they carry the storylines forward from the last season of Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and The Next Generation feature films.  DeCandido provided ComicMix with a reading list for those interested in seeing what’s been happening:

Pre-Nemesis

There was a nine-book series that set the groundwork for Nemesis as well as many of the post-Nemesis books. None of them are critical. All nine provide some nice background, particularly on Christine Vale, the security chief on the Enterprise-E who goes on to become Riker’s first officer on Titan, and the final five books set up Riker’s captaincy and engagement to Troi (both established in Nemesis), as well as the political situation we see going forward. It’s also, in essence, Data’s final arc, which runs through all nine.

These books take place from late 2378 to late 2379 (the film took place in late 2379).

A Time to be Born by John Vornholt
A Time to Die by John Vornholt
A Time to Sow by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
A Time to Harvest by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
A Time to Love by Robert Greenberger
A Time to Hate by Robert Greenberger
A Time to Kill by David Mack
A Time to Heal by David Mack
A Time for War, a Time for Peace by Keith R.A. DeCandido

(more…)

Happy 40th birthday, tribbles!

Happy 40th birthday, tribbles!

  • News
  • December 29, 2007

On this day in 1967 — well, actually, on Stardate 4523.3, but you get the idea — Cyrano Jones sold Lt. Uhuru an adorable little fur ball of the species polygeminus grex that quickly began to multiply like a rabbit on steroids. The creatures found their way into every nook and cranny of Deep Space Station K-7 and the visiting Enterprise, endangering the crew and their mission in the premiere of "The Trouble With Tribbles."

Of course, the concept was revisited in 1996’s Deep Space Nine episode, "Trials and Tribble-lations". Here’s a brief comparison between the two episodes:

And remember, when you’re up to your ass in tribbles, your initial assignment was to poison the grain.

A Tribble is expected to have a cameo in the upcoming Star Trek prequel movie.

Hot Who Links and Much More!

Hot Who Links and Much More!

  • News
  • December 23, 2007

OK, so we get a little sappy this time of year. Just bear with us and accept ComicMix Radio’s gift of some cool web links. And in the spirit of giving, a few of these haven’t even made it to the podcast yet!

• In two days, a lot of us should be treated to the first new Doctor Who adventure in months when the BBC airs this year’s Christmas special (and the Internet Fairies drop it somewhere online). In the meantime, did you know there is an online adventure calendar poster here. If this doesn’t put you in the mood for more Who, nothing will. 
 
• As we told you on Saturday, Shadowline is creating a contest geared toward writers to create a super-heroine for the 21st Century. The character will be 100% creator-owned as all Image and Shadowline books are (trademark and copyright to be shared by writer and artist). The winning entry will be featured in their own self-titled three issue mini-series to be drawn by Franchesco!, artist for She-Dragon and Green Lantern Corps Quarterly. Contest will be divided into three parts and for Round One: Contestants e-mail a BRIEF one paragraph story synopsis by January 31, 2008 to: superheroinecontest@gmail.com. Stories/concept must be original with original characters. No pre-existing characters may be used unless owned by contestant. 
 

(more…)

Jon Sable Freelance continuity

Jon Sable Freelance continuity

  • News
  • December 7, 2007

Promoting a question from the comments on the latest installment of Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden, Lee Houston Jr. writes:

Okay… as usual great Mike Grell story and art, but it leaves me scratching my head because sadly I do not remember when this first appeared. When and how do Ashes of Eden and his guest appearance in Shaman’s Tears fit into the overall Jon Sable continuity?

That’s because Ashes of Eden is appearing here first, on ComicMix. It’s all new. Tell your friends. (Tell them it’s new GrimJack and Munden’s Bar stories, too.)

As for continuity — let’s see if I have this straight:

Since everybody asks, Marv Wolfman’s Sable series, while exceptional in many regards, is not part of Mike Grell’s continuity. Think of it as existing on Earth Sable2, if you must. Perhaps we can get Marv to write a story combining the two earths — no, because then someone else will come along and mess it up in 2017.

Besides, Marv’s Munden’s Bar story comes first.

Glenn Hauman is associate editor of Jon Sable Freelance: Bloodtrail, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden (which he also colors), and of the IDW Sable reprints. He’s also production director of ComicMix, has had the thankless job of putting up with editor Mike Gold for about a decade (hey, thank you, Glenn!) and spends his spare time writing Star Trek stories and roaming the streets of eastern New Jersey.

Heroes – Volume Two, a bitchy review by Mike Gold

Heroes – Volume Two, a bitchy review by Mike Gold

  • News
  • December 4, 2007

Warning! Spoiler Alert! If you’ve got the past half-dozen episodes of Heroes TiVoed, you just might want to skip this review. On the other hand, if you’ve got the past half-dozen episodes of Heroes TiVoed, I just might be able to add six hours to your life.

 

Once upon a time, some clever Hollywood people hired some talented comics people to help create a teevee show about a bunch of human with abilities far beyond those of mankind. It was a pretty good show – maybe it could have benefited from the loss of any three characters – and it was successful. The Peacock gods smiled upon the program, and thus it was renewed.

And it turned into a meandering piece of crap.

“Heroes – Volume Two” consisted of the first, and because of the writer’s strike maybe only, 11 episodes of its second season. Having a story arc that was a half season long was a good idea. It was their only good idea.

They introduced a number of new characters, and most of them seemed to have been killed off. They played the “good guy is really the bad guy is really the good guy” bit like Ginger Baker played the drums on “Toad.” By the tenth episode, you couldn’t tell who was being naughty and who was being nice – except for Sylar, the show’s only consistent villain. And the actor, Zachary Quinto, went straight from Heroes to Spock The Next Generation, which makes him a de facto good guy for ever and ever.

(more…)

Happy 87th birthday, Ricardo Montalban!

Happy 87th birthday, Ricardo Montalban!

  • News
  • November 25, 2007

Khaaaaaaaaan!

(What, you thought we were going to go with a Mr. Roarke reference? Get real.)

Happy birthday to the man, the myth, the Montalban. And yes, those really were his muscles in Star Trek II.

ComicMix on the con circuit

ComicMix on the con circuit

  • News
  • November 16, 2007

This weekend, you’ll be able to see a number of ComicMix folks at the National convention in New York City. No idea where we’ll be exactly, but you should be able to recognize us by the old-school ComicMix shirts (or as I like to think of it, the Earth-2 version of our logo). Stop by and say hello, particularly if you’ve got any good stories.

Meanwhile, I’ll be down at PhilCon in Philadelphia, appearing on a number of panels (the favorite so far looks to be "Ninja, Pirate, Mad Scientist, Robot!") and hyping my new book, Star Trek Corps of Engineers: Creative Couplings. I just received a copy of it from Simon & Schuster, which means it should be available for sale any day now, and it makes a lovely Christmas present for that Star Trek fan in your life. (Buy heavily. Daddy needs a new passenger side mirror for his car.)

And contrary to popular belief, it’s not true that the reason I’m going to PhilCon instead of the National is because Hayden Pantierre took out a restraining order against me. Get your scurrilous Internet rumors right, people. Kristen Bell did.

Then next week, a large number of us will be heading to Mid-Ohio Con, where we’ll be making some announcements about some upcoming projects. Watch this space…

Happy 34th Birthday, Seth MacFarlane!

Happy 34th Birthday, Seth MacFarlane!

  • News
  • October 26, 2007

Today we celebrate the birthday of a man who has given us so much cause for hilarity, Seth MacFarlane, the man-child responsible for the shocking and hilarious television series, Family Guy.  In addition to being the show’s chief creator and writer, his malleable timbre is behind many of the show’s characters, including Peter Griffin, Brian, Baby Stewie, Tom Tucker the Anchorman, Glenn Quagmire and a host of supporting characters.  Although Family Guy was cancelled in 2000 and then again in 2002, it is the first show to be resurrected based on DVD sales.  And let’s not forget to acknowledge the thousands of us who watched reruns on "Adult Swim."  All those nights of bong hits and brownie binges were well worth the effort.

Thank you, teenagers and stoners nationwide, for your commitment to topical and nerd-material-citation humor.  No one can deliver a Star Trek reference like MacFarlane can. Or for that matter, a Commencement Day speech at Harvard:

Kiwi kast as Dr. McCoy

Kiwi kast as Dr. McCoy

  • News
  • October 19, 2007

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed the last of the major castings for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek prequel, scheduled to begin filming next month.

The role of James Tiberius Kirk will be played by Chris Pine (left), and the plum part of Leonard McCoy goes to New Zealand actor Chris Urban (right), known to genre film fans as Eomer in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Other cast members include John Cho as Sulu, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, and of course Zachary Quinto from Heroes as Mr. Spock.  Eric Bana will also appear as the movie’s antagonist, Nero.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks