Chapter By Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
Part 3: Talin chapter 4
All spaceways lead to Talin. It’s time to check in on Kirk’s trip. Part 2 of this book was all Kirk telling the story of what happened on Talin IV and why he and his command staff were mistreated by Starfleet, but the first few chapters of this book focused on other characters, including Sulu and Chekov last time. Now it’s finally time to see what Kirk himself is up to and how he’s getting to the planet. Apparently they all have the same idea but they’re not working together, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. One of the interesting parts about Star Trek III: The Search For Spock was seeing them work together to swipe the Enterprise and here they’re working independent of each other.
If you forgot, Kirk took the worst of it, being called a “worldkiller” so Starfleet could sweep things under the rug. It’s nearly impossible for him to find work at a time when the franchise still believed in money. (Because we all know Gene didn’t accept a penny for doing Star Trek: The Next Generation and neither did the writers.) He found a friendly person (or just someone disenchanted with Starfleet) to help him get back to the planet, but now that his tale is told what happens to him next? I have a feeling part 3 should have led with this chapter but it’s here now so let’s see how it’s going.
Why Justice League: The New Frontier Is Best Justice League Movie
Even though it would be way late I was going to keep my promise to do the Godzilla Vs. Kong review. While this week fought against me I was ready to do it. Then this stuff came up on Twitter.
I don’t know what sparks these fits out of Twitter but it looks like the defenders of the Snyderverse is at it again. Note that fans of the Snyderverse are not fans of the actual DC universe. They like Zack Snyder and his take on things, which is fine but trying to convince DC fans that man who says “if you don’t think superheroes wouldn’t kill are living in a fantasy world” and doesn’t realize the DC universe IS a fantasy world you have taken up a sucker’s cause. Something does not become “good” simply because you enjoy it. I can think of plenty of movies that from a quality perspective are considered not only good but the best the movie format has ever made that I have no interest in, and the reverse is also true. I’m not going to tell you The Pumaman is the height of superhero movies but I still enjoy it. I won’t tell you Black Panther is terrible (partly because it’s still on my Finally Watch list) but I will say that it isn’t the first all-black cast superhero movie because I own a copy of The Meteor Man and believe it to be underrated.
Snyder’s take on the heroes I grew up with, and the movies attached to it, do contain the things I love about those character, the worlds they inhabit, or the tone of those tales, and I came from the Bronze Age of comics that are a transition between the Silver Age and whatever the hell you’d call the 90s comics. I grew up with Superfriends and numerous incarnations of Superman. I read comics from multiple periods. Call me a “nobody” if you want but I know Superman, Batman, and the other members of the Justice League Of America than Snyder or his champions on Twitter ever will, and I have seen proper adaptations so I know it can be done.
If you want to see a real Justice League movie, and don’t have some anti-animation bias, what you should champion as a Justice League movie is Justice League: The New Frontier, an adaptation of a comic miniseries whose writer, Darwyn Cooke, was co-writer and producer on. The only other Justice League movies were set in the DCAU and are part of a series but while also a re-imagining, The New Frontier isn’t deconstruction and is made by people who at least understand why the DC multiverse and the iconic heroes that come from it became popular enough that the snobs wanted a live-action production. Snyder may understand Watchmen but that’s pretty much a rejection of the DC universe, much like Snyder’s line.
While the following video by Owen Likes Comics is focused on the comic, the story and art style are the same as in the movie. THIS is how a proper Justice League adaptation should be done.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on November 5, 2021 in Animation Spotlight, DC Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged animated movie, commentary, Darwyn Cooke, Justice League, Justice League: The New Frontier, Owen Likes Comics, Zack Snyder.
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