Today’s Comic> Tron: Betrayal #1

"Oh, wait, this comic isn't in Disney Digital 3-D."

Tron: Betrayal #1 of 2

Marvel for Disney Books (November 2010)

(Both issues will be collected as a graphic novel for Disney Books. I wish I had known this when I ordered both formats. I’ll have to talk with my LCS about that.)

Since the events of the last movie, Kevin Flynn has created his own grid specifically for games, but it may have become something more. New programs are creating themselves, and the system is still a bit buggy. Flynn brings Tron from the Encom grid to help with his new project, and created a new version of Clu to help maintain it. However, Clu may have ideas of his own, and now Flynn has a new distraction from the grid besides running Encom…he’s about to become a father.

What they got right: Well, it’s Tron so that’s a start. The comic is supposed to set up events of the upcoming sequel movie. It does a decent job of reintroducing the cast, explaining Lori’s absence from the movie (actress Cindy Morgan won’t be returning for the new movie) while showing us what Flynn has been up to between movies. The art is mostly good.

What they got wrong: I say mostly because frankly Tron looks more like Flynn than Alan, although Alan and at least one background guy look too much like Flynn. They may not have the license to use the actual actors, but you’d think they at least do something more than change the hairstyle to tell them apart.

Other notations: There is still no evidence one way or the other as to how Tron 2.0, the game that was the original sequel to Tron, fits into continuity. I haven’t finished the game (mostly because I royally suck at it), but I would think that if Alan had a son, it was with Lori who I assumed had died between the movie and video game events.

Also, another reviewer I know said that he wondered why the new cycles resembled the new movie rather than the old one. I thought about that looking at the design, and while I agree something a bit more “retro” would have been a good idea, this is a different grid, created especially with elements of the old grid (such as light cycles and the disks) but changed by Flynn to be uniquely his. Therefore, the change makes sense to me.

Recommendation: Had I known a graphic novel version was coming, I may have actually waited for that. I think the story was designed with that format in mind. I’ll know for sure when I see the actual GN, but it’s a good story that I can easily recommend.

Up Next> “Best Scene of the Week” in Sunday’s Weekly Wrap-Up, with the conclusion to the “Marvel War” arc.