Justice League America #84

Several issues ago, Ice left the League and went back to her homeland in the Nordic mountains. What she arrived to was a power struggle between her father and her brother. Now, Dad is dead and the power mad brother is turning the frozen kingdom into his own little dictatorship.

Answering an urgent call for help, the League comes to help liberate Ice and her people from captivity.

A very good issue. Great art. Last issue, I had to read a book I didn’t have to find out why guy Gardner was a murderer all of a sudden. Well, wouldn’t you know, now Guy is back on everybody’s good graces and nothing is made of what transpired in the issue I don’t have from a series I don’t yet collect.

Thankfully, there is Wikipedia to find the answers I need.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock: A DC Movie Special

The rule about Star Trek movies are that the even numbered films are good and the odd numbered films suck. Well, I think Star Trek III: The Search for Spock got a bad rap based on it’s numbering.

The movie’s got Klingons! For that reason alone, it’s a great movie. And the comic adaptation doesn’t disappoint. Here, the Enterprise crew risk their careers in order to possibly return Spock to life.

There’s some very interesting source material that was omitted from the movie in this issue that clears some stuff up. Apparently, the crew was supposed to bring McCoy, whose possessed with Spock’s “spirit” to Vulcan in order to have his soul preserved in a sacred temple. Kirk didn’t realize this and thought they needed his body back in order to return him to life. That’s why, in the movie, everyone acts like the re-joining process won’t work! Spock’s resurrection is like a million-to-one odds occurrence. Plus, Kirk and the crew risked serious jail time by stealing the Enterprise on a misunderstanding.

These bits of info make a really good film even better! I am so glad I found out about this adaptation while reading up on the IDW edition of Wrath of Khan. Without that little bit of info, I would have been missing out on an essential gem in my Star Trek comics collection.

Worth Consuming.

Star Trek Movie Special #2: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

The Enterprise crew, having restored Mr. Spock to life, must now return to earth to face their fate for their crimes of disobeying orders, stealing a starship, and subsequently destroying said starship. But, before the gavel can be lowered, a strange probe has arrived on earth, threatening all life. It appears that whales are descendants of an alien race and Kirk must attempt to travel back in time in order to bring the now extinct mammels into the future in hopes to saving the world.

This issue has some great back up info not included in the film. We see more of the crew’s struggles to repair their stolen Klingon bird of prey and to create the galaxy’s largest aquarium of all time.

Sadly, much of the out-of-time humor the Enterprise crew experience being stranded in the 1980s is omitted in order to keep all the plot points moving. It's that humor what makes ST:IV a classic amongst Trekkies and casual fans alike and it's missing here!

It’s slightly forgivable, but still lacks a little bit of that old cinematic magic. Still, it’s Worth Consuming if you find yourself wanting to see the film but without a copy to watch on DVD.

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan #3

The IDW Publishing adaptation of Wrath of Khan concludes. It took 30 years to happen, but it was worth the wait.

Now, it’s common knowledge that Spock dies in the end, so it’s not a spoiler. But, they way they make him look in this comic is so gruesome. In the film, Spock’s skin looks bluish and is peeling. Here, every panel, the Vulcan decays ever more, revealing his horrific green blooded muscle tone. It’s actually enough to make me queasy.

Despite that, the book was fantastic and I very much like what IDW has been doing with the Trek franchise as a whole.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan #1

Of all the classic crew Star Trek films, only Wrath of Khan was never made into a comic book adaptation- until now! By far the best film in the series (if you choose Voyage Home, you’re not a real Trekkie), the action and thrilling art of war strategics of the film are perfectly captured.

The art is pretty good. Sometimes Khan looks like a geriatric punk rocker, but the interiors of both the Enterprise and Defiant look like they are photographs from the film.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan #2

In part 2, Khan has stolen the Genesis device while possibly having trapped Kirk into being buried alive. It's a great scene in all of sci-fi films. But this is a comic and sometimes, the power of a dramatic monet doesn't carry over from film to paper very well.

Yet when Kirk goes ballistic and yells “KHANNNNNNNNNN!”, you really can feel the anger and emotion.

Not all of the renderings of the Enterprise crew is this well done. The art of the characters is iffy at times, but the action scenes of the ships engaged in a deadly game of cat and mouse are photo-realistic and quite amazing.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Volume 8: The Sith Hunters

Last season on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it was revealed that Darth Maul survived being cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of Phantom Menace. Now, I’m not really keen on this idea. I think the dead should stay dead, especially in Star Wars. We’ve already had the Emperor returned to life (by form of clone inhibition) in at least 2 Star Wars comic books. So, having Darth Maul pop up again really seems to make the Star Wars universe like a comic book or soap opera, where nobody stays dead.

Also, it takes a really cool scene in an otherwise lame movie and diminishes it’s effect.

So, in this issue, we see what happens to Darth Maul after being sliced in half and we learn a little of both Maul and his brother, Opress’s motivations. Sadly, it does little to win me over either as it seems like Opress is more vengeful and Maul is now an opportunist.

It’s really making me wonder in last season’s return of the dark lord has caused Star Wars: The Clone Wars to jump the shark.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.