“Hang on, I see a blue box coming towards us.”
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy #6
Marvel/Paramount Comics (May, 1997)
“Passages”
WRITER: Chris Cooper
PENCILER: Chris Renaud
INKER: Andy Lanning
COLORIST: Kevin Somers
LETTERER: Jim Novak
EDITOR: Bobbie Chase
Catch more Captain Frugal on his YouTube channel.
I swear, I didn’t plan this week to be full of Superman stuff. It just keeps coming at me. Meanwhile it’s nice to see someone who appears to understand Superman replacing Bendis on the title.
Guess what non-political (for a change) rant Twitter went on this weekend?
What drew my attention originally that when Twitter did their “now trending” post on the topic it swore that Superman fans were defending Man Of Steel against this post. That was wrong. Zack Snyder fans defended Man Of Steel. Superman fans were right along with Variety in this criticism. Of course the Snyderites take any disagreement with his version of the DC universe like they were personally punched in the face by the Supermobile and swore up and down that they were wrong, that Man Of Steel totally had heart and you weren’t really paying attention to the movie. They weren’t paying attention. Read again what it ACTUALLY says.
Zack Snyder’s first swing at a household name property was a Superman movie, and while #ManOfSteel looks gorgeous, is well-cast and filled with eye-popping visuals, it seems to lack any heart associated with the iconic character.
The article it links to (or rather the section devoted to this movie as it goes over Snyder’s filmography in general) goes on to say:
This Superman is dark and brooding, ready to kill and commit massive property damage at a moment’s notice while facing off against Michael Shannon’s scenery chewing General Zod. From crashing buildings to billowing wheat stalks, everything is shot lovingly in a movie meant to look epic from every angle. But with thin characterization and a plodding pace, there isn’t much for fans to hold onto, and very little for casual audiences who want to watch The Man of Steel save the day.
I said literally after coming home from seeing the movie. I keep emphasizing this point: Man Of Steel was a good superhero movie, but a bad Superman movie. There is a difference and that’s what the article states. It’s visually appealing, there are some good moments (I would immediately point to Martha helping young Clark control his superhearing as one of those “heart” moments the Snyderites were going on about), but the heart of who Superman is as a character is missing. That’s what we need to get straight here.
“Great, did Carmen Sandiego steal New York again?”
Free Comic Book Day 2011 (Spider-Man)
Marvel Comics (2011)
“The Way Of The Spider”
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILER: Humberto Ramos
INKERS: Carlos Cuevas & Victor Olazaba
COLORIST: Edgar Delgado
LETTERER: Joe Caramagna
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Ellie Pyle
EDITOR: Stephen Wacker
Catch more WhatCulture Comics on YouTube.
It’s kind of interesting how comics both have a status quo where they won’t evolve and simultaneously won’t keep a status quo in place. I’m not sure how you pull that off but they do…unless they want to get rid of certain characters for shock value or their own personal biases. It happened with Mary Jane and someone suggested to me that DC may be trying to do that with Superman to work over the Seigel and Shuster estates. Comics needs to stop trying to be movies and TV shows and stop acting like a lesser medium. Be comics! Comics are awesome, too.
Thus far we’ve seen what happened to Kirk after whatever it is happened and we’ve seen Scotty, giving us a teaser for what’s coming. Last chapter was Dr. McCoy talking to a kid about space history. While the other two gave us insight into their character we didn’t learn much about the doctor’s character or how he’s responding outside of quitting.
This chapter he’ll show up again but the focus is on Uhura, the only one who ended up in jail. Why? I don’t know. Is it tied to this event we won’t be told about until part two (and if I end up reading this again I’m reading part 2 first…I’ll leave a note for myself) or something that happened after? Look, I’m not saying this isn’t a good storytelling tool, just one that rarely works for me, especially considering how long it’s going to take to get there. We have to finish part one and the “where are they now” parts, and then it will take a good chunk of part 2 before we finally see it. I’m going to spend so much time waiting for the disaster to happen that I’m not going to be able to pick up on anything else…or maybe the fact that I’m reviewing it will allow me to do so, but as a reader I doubt I would. I know I keep harping on it but it’s the biggest negative going into this and they’re going to have to work to convince me otherwise. Lucky for the book it’s so long the opportunity is there.
I suspect I’ll want to use that sword on this comic, but it’s a digital comic so I’d only damage my computer.
Infinite Crisis #1
DC Comics (December, 2005; as posted to comiXology)
WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILER: Phil Jimenez
INKER: Andy Lanning
COLORISTS: Jeremy Cox and Guy Major
LETTERER: Nick J. Napolitano
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jeanine Schaefer
EDITOR: Eddie Berganza
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
