Star Trek: New Visions #20

The crew of the Enterprise individually find themselves alone during a systems malfunction. Now the crew must piece together what has gone wrong while being tested with memories from their past. Can they get to the bottom of this mystery while not being able to trust their very own eyes?

Another John Byrne story that was quite intriguing. The level of detail Byrne has given on recreating all of the decks of the Enterprise is insanely good. But again, when it comes to all-new creatures, there's something off about them.

It's kinda like a Pixar movie. The animals, toys, and creatures created in those type of movies are really cool looking. But the staff at Pixar just can't make a human being look like a human being. Is their some sort of joint limitation of CGI and Photoshop when it comes to humanoids???

I love this series. I really love it when I can find issues for only a dollar a piece. $7.99 is just too much to pay for a monthly comic.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek: New Visions #6

The story of the Federation's first encounter with the Borg can finally be told thanks to John Byrne!

Using Photoshop and an insane amount of photos from the original Star Trek TV series, Byrne tells the stories of Kirk, Spock and the crew you always wanted to see. I love this picto-comic series. Byrne tries so much to make these stories so vintage-like, you feel like you are watching a lost episode from the 1960s.

I've been a fan of John Bryne since his X-Men days and have adored his post-Crisis take on Superman. I'd buy every issue in this series right of the shelf if I could, but the $7.99 price tag has been way too steep for me. Thankfully I found a couple of issues for only a buck at one of my favorite thrift stores.

This was an exciting read. Not all of the Photoshopped images look very realistic. But I appreciate that Byrne doesn't just cut and paste everything either. There's a ton of asteroids in this story and I couldn't find a pair of matching space rocks anywhere.

And that ending was perfectly killer!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Harley Quinn: Harley Loves Joker #2

Upon buying the second issue of this two-part  miniseries, I learned that this story isn't so much a sequel to the 1994 Batman: The Animated Series story Mad Love as a continuation of a 2017 story in the pages of the Harley Quinn Rebirth comic book series.

With that new knowledge, would I have bought issue #1? More than likely yes. Because I love Paul Dini's Harley. But I would have waited to read this until after I had a chance to read those backups first!

I do feel like this story plays off of Mad Love as Harley has a real metaphysical moment here where she's starting to realize that her relationship with the Joker is pretty toxic. I also liked the explanation as to why Harley Quinn changed her costume from crazed jester to insane roller derby enthusiast.

Once again, Bret Blevins art style goes from good to Good Lord! It starts out in this very neat and clean Amanda Conner kinda whimsy. But by the last page, it all looks like a Tex Avery cartoon. It would have been an okay style in which to do Harley Loves Joker. But Blevins just isn't consistent about his art style.

A very good Harley Quinn story. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Plus it doesn't help that the art is all over the place. Kinda annoying.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Harley Quinn: Harley Loves Joker #1

Paul Dini returns to the character he knows best- Harley Quinn! This miniseries is supposed to be a sequel to the classic 1994 story Mad Love. But I really don't know where this book is in any way a sequel.

What I do know is that Harley is in a lot of debt to the Neverland Gang and has less than a week to pay it back. To do this, Harley and her Puddin’, The Joker need to score a major heist. Yet, there's a new player to the Gotham underworld that keeps getting in the way- as well as all the loot!

The story itself is really good. Just as only Nixon should go to China, Harley Quinn should only be written by Dini!

I don't quite know what to think about the artwork. Bret Blevins’ art starts out in this issue very neat and clean. But his drawing quality really deteriorates over the progression of the first chapter. Was Blevins pressed for time with the deadline? Did he get a hand cramp? Was he just bored with the project?

I really don't know. But it really was a distraction. Hopefully issue #2 will be better. More than that, I really hope I see the connection between this story and Mad Love!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Clem Hetherington, Volume 1 (Family Comic Friday)

I think I finally have found out why so many kids are orphans in children’s literature. It’s because if mom and dad was around, there is no way in the world that the parents would let their kids do any of the insane stuff they do in them! That’s the case in today’s edition of Family Comic Friday. The graphic novel we review is Clem Hetherington and the Ironwood Race. It’s the first in a new series by Something’s Amiss at the Zoo’s Jen Breach and Douglas Holgate.

Clem Hetherington, Volume 1: Clem Hetherington and the Ironwood Race
Written by Jen Breach
Art by Douglas Holgate
Published by Graphix

13-year old Clem and her robot brother Digory have run away from the orphanage.
They long for the days of excitement when they used to conduct archaeological
excavations with their parents. On the run, those days seem long gone until an old
friend and partner of Clem’s folks returns with another chance for some adventure.

Clem and Digory are recruited to drive their father’s custom-made roadster in a
competition called the Ironwood Race. Racer’s run in series of heats in hopes of
uncovering 4 missing artifacts. The team who find the most treasure while running
the fastest wins! Other than that, there are no rules in the Ironwood Race. It’s the
ultimate fight to the finish!

Clem Hetherington is a cross between Indiana Jones and Mad Max. There’s secret
passageways and enigmatic maps, futuristic technology, fierce mutants and no holds
barred racing! Being from Australia, the birthplace of apocalyptic adventure stories
this seems like a perfect project for the team of Breach and Holgate.

Some scenes of action and adventure may be a little too intense for very young
readers. Also, there is some violent scenes both implied and not that prevent this
book from being an all-ages read. Recommended for readers in grades 3-7, I wonder
if grade 3 might still be a bit too young to read this book.

The story itself was quite original. I’ve never seen an event just like the Ironwood
Race as I never really thought to put race car driving with archaeology. Yet, this is a
logical pairing as TV and movies are filled with treasure hunters racing to beat their
rivals in order to discover a hidden temple or forgotten tomb.

I really look forward to further adventures of Clem and her brother, Digory. They were
an interesting duo and they really engaged the imagination. I hope they are preparing
for another race because if they are, I’ll be watching from the front row!

An extremely inventive read that may be too intense at times for readers in grades 3
and under.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars,

Top 10: Beyond the Farthest Precinct

Neopolis- that super-city refuge for superheroes, villains and those with special powers and abilities. 

Precinct 10- home of the finest police force in all of Neopolis. 

Top 10 is back in this new series from Di Filippo and Jerry Ordway (Superman.) Taking the reigns from the legendary Alan Moore (Watchmen) and the superb Gene Ha (Batman: Fortunate Son) is no small feat. But this duo gets the job done in a mighty way. 

Neopolis is besieged with a terrifying vision of a grim reaper like entity. As the Top 10 investigate, the mystery deepens with a new drug for robots is hitting the streets and Precinct 10 undergoes a change in leadership. The team had better act fast to tie all the loose threads together as the mass hysteria behind these terrible visions is spreading fast!

This story may not have been 100% as good as the Alan Moore run. But it was quite entertaining and it was great catching back up with so many unforgettable characters. 

This is a book that you may want to re-read at least once. Almost every panel is filled with Easter Eggs, cameos, and inside jokes. Ordway crafted it so that you would find something new with every read. He is a master!

A really fun read with an intriguing array of plot twists and multiple story lines. This would make a great Netflix series! 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Deadpool 2

The Merc with a Mouth returned to theaters this week and he took zero prisoners. Literally nothing was off topic in the latest R-rated film to feature the mutants of the Marvel Universe. Racism, sexuality, politics, DC Comics, and Rob Liefield were all roasted by Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. 

Most of the cast from the original film were back for the sequel including Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Karan Soni as cab driver Dopinder, and Brianna Hildebrand as the X-Man Negasonic Teenage Warhead. But there were some new members as well added to the mix as well. Josh Brolin, who seems to be having the Spring movie season of his life, played time traveler Cable and honestly, I liked his Cable way better than Thanos. 

But the new character who stole the film was Zazie Beetz, who portrayed the very lucky mutant Domino. She was smart, funny, and well, very lucky. She might have dethroned Jennifer Garner's Elektra as my on-screen superhero crush. I hope she'll be back for the likely sequel, which is rumored to be called X-Force.

This film is definitely not for kids. There's more violence, gore and maiming in the sequel. Not as much sex as in the first Deadpool, but just about as much nudity. The big thing that was amped up in this sequel were the F-bombs, while rival some Tarantino films. 

There's really not much more that I can review about this film without giving away some major spoilers and I try very hard not to ruin them. I will say that there are two extra scenes during the credits and despite the fact that he did film a cameo, I didn't see Stan Lee anywhere in this movie. No- I did not leave to go to the bathroom or snack bar. Either they cut his scene or he was in the background of a very busy action sequence and if you blink, you miss him.

In my opinion, of the 3 Marvel films already released this year, Deadpool 2 was my favorite. It was insane, action-packed, and while it had some very poignant SJW moments added in that normally make a lot of fans angry, I didn't feel like I was being preached at. And yet, I feel that the way I look at some things on social media have changed for the better thanks to this film.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.