Review Date: 04/16/2010
Good King Leonardo
has decreed that its science fiction theme week again Here
In Bongo Congo, so let's review the following two science
fiction-themed comic books, followed by a traditional Marvel
comic that to me has always had somewhat of a science
fiction feel to it, all topped-off with a science fiction
robot trivia contest announcement:
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Electric
Ant #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
David Mack: Writer
Pascal Alixe: Art
Christopher Sotomayor: Art |
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Marvel Comics has
published this past week issue #1 of the new five-issue
mini-series Electric Ant, which is a graphic re-telling
of the science fiction short story of the same title, written
in 1969 by science fiction author Philip K. Dick.
Dick's classic novel "Do Android's Dream Of Electric Sheep?"
was the basis for the 1982 movie "Bladerunner," which
itself is currently undergoing a 24-issue comic book
re-telling by BOOM! Studios. Electric Ant is scripted
by David Mack with art by Pascal Alixe and Christopher
Sotomayer.
The main character of the story is Garson Poole, a citizen
of a future Earth society who wakes-up after a flying
car accident to be informed by the hospital staff that
in treating him they've discovered that he's an "electric
ant," slang for electricant or artificial human being.
The mystery deepens throughout the tale as Garson seeks
to find-out who created him and why his true identity
has been hidden from him. He also discovers that
he can open his chest and manipulate a computerized
punchtape, which alters his reality whenever he makes
new holes in the program tape, thus leading to questions
regarding the nature of the story's reality itself.
Issue #1 gives us the introductory segment of Phillip
K. Dick's classic tale. The first half of the
issue details Garson Poole awakening and learning of
his hidden identity. A more dense narrative is
presented in the second half of the issue, as Garson
goes to a robotics expert to repair his damaged hand
and learns the mechanics of his body structure.
The issue ends on a dramatic bridge to next month's
issue #2 with Garson receiving an unexpected visit from
his girlfriend just as he's opened-up his chest for
a full inspection of what literally makes him tick.
This is a very well-presented comic book interpretation
of one of Dick's most famous short stories. Two
of Dick's most common story themes are exploring the
questions of what it means to be human and what is the
true nature of reality. This story combines the
two in some heavy philosophical ways that could pose
a complex problem in representing the story in a comic
book format. So far with issue #1, the creative
team is pulling it off by presenting this often-heavy
storyline in a clear, well-paced and entertaining manner.
While the artistic style is a bit primitive and clunky
at times, artists Alixe and Sotomayer redeem themselves
with an amazing full-panel final page of the issue,
in which Garson Poole dramatically opens-up his chest
to reveal the mechanics of his true self just as his
girlfriend shows-up at his front door.
So a definite thumbs-up recommendation to check-out
this intriguing and enjoyable five-issue mini-series
based on a well-known science fiction classic short
story. And as a reminder from my previous
positive review, also pick-up the ongoing 24-issue BOOM!
Studios word-for-word graphic retelling of Dick's "Electric
Sheep?" novel. All ten issues published so far
are available on the new issues shelves at That's Entertainment.
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Starstruck
#8
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Elaine Lee: Writer
Michael William Kaluta: Artist
Lee Moyer: Colors |
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IDW Publishing
has just released issue #8 in a planned 13-issue comic
book series entitled Starstruck. The comic
is written by Elaine Lee with art by veteran artist Michael
Kaluta and colors by Lee Moyer. Starstruck is a
comic book expansion of an off-Broadway play written by
Elaine Lee. Many of the characters were formulated
in an early 1980's comic strip that ran in Heavy Metal
magazine. The Starstruck comic book universe further
evolved in an earlier title published by Marvel's Epic
comic line. It appears from some promo material
that the new title is a mix of new and reprint material with
recoloring by Lee Moyer.
Starstruck is an space opera-themed comic, in which
a fleet of "Galactic Girl Guides," modeled on our real
world Girl Scouts/Girl Guides organizations, tootle-around
the universe in small rocket fighters and have adventures.
Issue #8 presents two such adventures, starring Galactic
Girl Guide Brucilla and her friends/colleagues.
The first story is entitled "I've Got My Finger On It
Now," and stars Brucilla crash-landing her tiny ship
as just about all of her fighter squadron is annihilated
around her. Story number two is entitled "Forty
Meters And A Ship!" I read a few pages of it and
gave up very quickly, for reasons detailed in the next
paragraph.
This comic title is a pretty decent idea for a girl-themed
science fiction adventure comic that fails very badly,
for a few basic reasons. First, there's absolutely
no plot structure here. Elaine Lee just presents
characters and has them tootle-around in space or argue
with each other, with absolutely no storyline.
There's a lot of annoying singing that might be a reflection
of the concept's off-Broadway play roots, combined with
details fleshing-out the space culture of these folks.
The reader learns all types of new space opera slang
words made-up for this universe, but is given nothing
to read but page-after-page of presenting the style
of how these girls speak, argue and sing little ditties
as they tootle-around in their glamour rockets.
This plotless posing wore on me to the point that
for the first time in a very long time, I just couldn't
bring myself to slog through the second story in this
dud.
So if you're looking for a kid-based space adventure
comic for younger comic book readers, stay away from
this plotless failure and instead check-out Ender's
Game or one of many other space opera-themed comics
available on That's Entertainment's new issues shelves.
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Avengers:
The Origin #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Joe Casey: Writer
Phil Noto: Art |
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Marvel
Comics has just published issue #1 in a five-issue mini-series
entitled Avengers: The Origin, which offers us a new
version of the classic origin tale of the Avengers.
The series is scripted by Joe Casey with art by Phil
Noto. This is a reinterpretation of the original
formation of the group; while the Avengers origin
tale was initially published deep in the Silver Age
back in the early 1960's, this tale reinterprets the
story by placing the team's origin as occuring in
present-day 2010. As such, the issue fits this
week's science fiction column theme by offering
an alternate-reality version of the well-known historic
Avengers origin events.
Issue #1 features Thor's evil half-brother Loki banished
to Hades but manipulating events back on Earth from
afar. Without providing spoiler details, Loki
manipulates communications amongst several individual Marvel
superheroes to try and get Thor and other heroes via
misunderstanding into common conflict against The
Hulk, who is wandering through the American Southwest
desert. By issue's end, Thor, Iron Man, The Wasp
and Ant-Man have been manipulated into a confrontation
with the Hulk's sidekick Rick Jones and his computer-nerd
friends, which most likely will lead to The Hulk getting
involved in this messy situation in the next issue.
While the story synopsis detailed above might sound
somewhat dry and routine, in the hands of this creative
team its actually a very interesting storyline.
The creative team also takes the unique and entertaining approach
of blending today's modern-day American society with
interesting retro elements of the Silver Age Marvel
universe. Its clear from the start of this issue
that while the year is 2010, the era of these Marvel
heroes is just emerging a la the 1960's Marvel origin
years. The little retro touches, such as Iron
Man's primitive early-style body armor and the fact
that the Avengers don't exist yet, make for a fresh
and satisfying perspective on this very well-known and
almost vintage hero team-up.
An enthusiastic thumbs-up is also deserved for Phil
Noto's artwork. I've enjoyed his unique and high
quality style in several previous DC Comics mini-series
and was glad to see that his artistic vision translates
very effectively into the Marvel universe. So
a positive review recommendation to include this new
mini-series in your reading stack as a worthy addition
to the various interpretations of key events in Marvel
universe history.
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New
Contest Announcement!!!
Since this is a science fiction-themed
review week, Good King Leonardo has decreed that we challenge
you with a contest that tests your science fiction trivia
knowledge and skills. Our contest theme for this week
is science fiction robots. Everyone is familiar with
the more popular sci-fi movie robots, such as R2-D2 and C3P0
from Star Wars. So here's a challenging trivia
question for you: What popular science fiction cult classic
movie featured among the main characters three brother
robots named Huey, Dewey and Louie? E-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
with your answer. First prize is a $10.00 gift certificate
to That's Entertainment. In case of multiple correct
entries, the winner will be selected by a random roll of the
dice.
That's
all for now, so have a great comic book reading week and see
you again next week Here In Bongo Congo!
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