STAR TREK: THE OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE ADAPTATION #1

by Alan M Rogers

Okay. I admit it. When the advance copy of IDW’s official movie adaptation of the 2009 STAR TREK movie came in the mail, I got a little bit excited. (Maybe more than a little.) The truth is, I love STAR TREK. Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved STAR TREK. It doesn’t matter which flavor of STAR TREK, either. The ideas behind STAR TREK are what make it great; the moral and ethical obligations of discovery and exploration and the idea that humanity, as a whole, can become much more than what we are and can successfully overcome the less appealing aspects of humanity.

There’s also a sense of adventure and excitement – a childlike sense of wonder at what we’ll see around the next corner. Throw in a strong dose of camaraderie between the people who are out in the cosmos without anyone to bail them out if they get in trouble, and you have an entertainment franchise that has gone strong for almost a half a century.

JJ Abrams breathed new life into STAR TREK with the latest movie just as IDW has given new life to STAR TREK in comics. IDW has already touched on JJ Abrams new STAR TREK continuity with STAR TREK COUNTDOWN (the movie prequel); STAR TREK SPOCK REFLECTIONS and STAR TREK NERO. Now, writers Mike Johnson and Tim Jones have adapted the screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman into comic form.

True to form, the adaptation is just that – an adaptation. However, if this first issue is any indication, this adaption is going to be fantastic. Already, the first issue captures the feel of the opening scenes of the movie while adding depth to some of the character history. Johnson and Jones not only capture the feel of the movie, but the emotional impact of George Kirk’s sacrifice and the turmoil of James Kirk’s birth.

The art team on this book is fantastic, with smooth lines, bold color and fantastic effects. The still-motion feel and the scenes they chose to draw are perfect snapshots for each panel. The result is a total lack of narrative boxes, which only emphasizes the seamless flow of the story.

If you haven’t seen the movie and are nervous about this new incarnation of STAR TREK, then pick up this issues of the adaptation. I guarantee you won’t regret it and I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a sudden urge to watch the movie. If you’ve seen the movie and don’t like comic adaptations, then I recommend that you give this one a try; by the time IDW’s team is finished with it, you’ll want it on your shelf right next to the movie.

If you’re just a Star Trek fan looking for another hit to tide you over until the next movie or re-run or IDW comic, then this is definitely for you; it’s got enough new material to give you a fresh look at the story and stays true to both JJ Abrams and to the Great Bird of the Galaxy (Gene Rodenberry, for the uninitiated!).

And if you’ve never been into STAR TREK or never known where to start with STAR TREK, then this is perfect for you. It’s a single issues of a single comic series that is telling the same story the newest movie has told. If this doesn’t get you wondering and doesn’t get you interested, I don’t know what could.

Live long and prosper!

~alan m rogers (who really is enough of a geek to end a review with that!)

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows #1
by Crystal Alonzo

In Lovecraft, Massachusetts there is a mansion known as Keyhouse, home to the Locke family, the place where Tyson, Kinsey, and Bode’s father grew up. This is a place full of mystery, with doors that lead to places that aren’t in this world, and keys that unlock places that one wouldn’t think could be opened.

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows #1, 32 pgs., published by IDW, and written by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King) is the third installment in the Locke & Key series. The first two story arcs: Locke & Key Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft and Locke & Key Vol. 2: Head Games have been released in trades. Volume 1 is in hardcover and TPB while vol.2 is only available in hardcover.

In Welcome to Lovecraft we were introduced to the Locke children as they were about to experience an event that would change all of their lives and result in their move to their father’s childhood home – The Keyhouse, and we, the readers, begin to learn about the secrets of Keyhouse, what has been living in the well, and what can happen when a key is turned.

In Head Games we learned more about the Locke family, as well as the people and the past goings on in the town of Lovecraft. There is a new face that isn’t so new at Lovecraft Senior High school, making friends with Tyson & Kinsey, and having a strong affect on the faculty.
A familiar and unwelcome visitor arrives and puts the Lockes, who are still reeling from their earlier tragedy, into another traumatic experience. And an unexpected place is opened when another key is turned.

Crown of Shadows #1, which hit store shelves on November 11th, takes us back into the Keyhouse. Nina Locke: Tyson, Kinsey, and Bode’s mother is dealing with her grief and fear with alcohol. She shares her fears with her oldest son and informs him that she going to have to go out of town and needs him to watch over his younger brother. We can see the pressure and responsibility that oldest child Tyson is bearing, but the focus of this book is on our two antagonists, and a battle for a body and control.They battle in a place that can be reached, with a key, through one of the mansions doors, but it is not a room, and when someone walks through it they are not the same while there. Nina is certain she is hearing things and while roaming the halls of her new home, a victor from the fight in the room that is not a room steps back through the door. Nina finds a key on the floor, a key that somebody else wants very badly, a key that somebody hopes will open a black door. a key that somebody will do anything for.

Joe Hill’s (Fanboyz, Spider-Man Unlimited #8) writing takes us into the town of Lovecraft and the Keyhouse, aplace filled with the supernatural. He lets us share in the Locke family’s lives, and the harsh realities of adjusting to their major changes, as they try to heal from trauma, cope with grief, support one another, and be the new kids in school. He has written characters that feel real, handle what comes at them believably, from the way Kinsey changes her hair and makes a conscious decision on how and what she will feel, the guilt Tyson carries for careless words that can’t be taken back, to showing us what is really (I mean really!) on youngest sibling Bode’s mind. He moves the reader through the story, jumping back in time and to the present, at a pace that keeps the pages turning while still keeping a leisurely, no rush needed feel.

Gabriel Rodriguez’s (Angel #18-20) art is beautiful. He makes a very supernatural event come to life in pictures and colors that express the other-worldliness of the “other” places in Keyhouse, and when in the “real” world of our characters his work gives the reader a visual experience that conveys their feeling and emotions through large eyes, and small expressive touches that give each character personality traits that add to the readers ability to connect with and care for them.

If you enjoy reading horror, suspense, and fantasy comics then I recommend reading the Locke & Key series. It’s probably best to start from the beginning, but starting with Crown of Shadows would still give a fulfilling read.

So check out Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows #1. Just turn the key and come inside….

by Alison King

You like comics.

I can’t blame you. Comics are awesome. There’s all sorts of them out there too, from the capes, to the horror, to the fantasy, to the historical, to the funny… Really, there’s a comic for everyone.

Including your girlfriend.

Yes, her eyes might glaze over during the Lord of the Rings movies. Yes, she might not have any idea what snikt or bamf mean. And maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t even care how cute David Tennet is and has no interest in watching a single episode of Doctor Who. Your sweetheart may not have a single ounce of geek cred, but still there’s at least one comic out there she’s going to like.*

So here it is, Gentlemen: Comics Your Girlfriend Would Like.

The Sure Bet.

Some comics are so good as to be universal. The critics like them. The readers like them. I like them and I would bet your girlfriend would like them.

These include Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man, and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.

Why your lady would like it: There’s a reason why it’s the Sure Bet. There’s something inherently likable about these books. They’re the Casablanca of comics.

What it says about you: Hey, you’re not much of a risk-taker, but you’ve got good taste.

Abort mission if: she hates the tall, dark and British type (Sandman), violence (Y: The Last Man), or the movie (Persepolis).

The Indie Comic.

Girls are more likely to stray from the big two (Marvel and DC) than guys are. Personally, I think it’s because girls have less loyalty to Emma Frost’s corseted good looks and Superman’s perfect forelock. But it is also true that women gravitate to human stories more than superhuman ones.

Check out Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, or Shaun Tan’s The Arrival.

Why your lady would like it: reading an indie graphic novel is like cheating. You get all the fun of reading a comic and none of the social embarrassment of it. You can sit in the middle of Spider House, surrounded by hipsters, drinking your chai and reading Fun Home and know people around you are thinking, If that person were any cooler they’d have to be doing it ironically.

What it says about you: you’re hip, socially aware and I bet you like The Decemberists too.

Abort mission if: she scoffs at The New Yorker (Shortcomings), has daddy issues (Fun Home), hates the winter (Blankets), doesn’t dig on symbolism (The Arrival).

The Romantic Comic.

What better way to say I love you than to say it with comics? Some comics have it right there in the theme. RIGHT THERE! Could they be making it any easier?

Don’t say it with flowers. Say it with Mi-Kyung Yun’s Bride of the Water God, the Hernandez brothers’ Love and Rockets, G. Willow Wilson’s Air, or the Marvel Illustrated version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Why your lady would like it: I know this is going to come as a shock, but chicks dig romance. Even the most hard-hearted, cynical of us will melt with the proper combination of wit, brooding eyes, and that perfect song.

What it says about you: you may not go see New Moon with her, but you’re still her great, big snuggle-wuggle boo-boo.

Abort mission if: dating a younger man wierds her out (Bride of the Water God), she hates the Clash, the Pogues or the Ramones (Love and Rockets), gags at Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Air), or has never liked any of the Pride and Prejudice movies including the eight hour one that she made you sit through put out by the BBC(Pride and Prejudice obviously).

The Capes Comic.

Now, we’re not talking Comixology 101 here, but even if your special gal has never shown any interest in the superheroes, there’s still the chance she’ll like some. It just depends on the comic. Try her out with Joss Whedon’s Buffy: Season Eight, Paul Dini’s Batman: Harley and Ivy, Peter David’s X-Factor, or Fred Chao’s Johnny Hiro.

Why your lady would like it: these comics have kick-butt women, humor, and love. Also, because, let’s face it: women want the same things from comics that men want; we want them to be good.

What it says about you: you want to share interests with her… your interests.

Abort mission if: she couldn’t stand the tv show (Buffy: Season 8), she (somehow, impossibly!) doesn’t like Harley Quinn (Batman: Harley and Ivy), eschews soap operas (X-Factor), or… honestly, I can’t think of any reason someone wouldn’t like Johnny Hiro. It’s fantastic.

Well, there you are! A guide on how to get the love of your life into your favorite local comic book store with you. Happy hunting.

*Girlfriends must be literate to apply.

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This weekend, both Dragon’s Lair Austin and Dragon’s Lair San Antonio got the chance to run pre-release demos of the Warhammer Fantasy RPG 3rd Edition! The Dragon’s Lair San Antonio Events Coordinator, Karl Rodriguez, wrote a review of the game!

First, the players all loved the game. Two people had played Descent, which has some similar mechanics such as shared initiative and action cards. The players though, had so much fun they are ready for more.

The Good:

• Dice: The dice pools were very cool. The game does not use traditional role-playing game dice. Some of the shapes are familiar, but numbers are replaced with symbols. A combination of certain symbols denote success (axes), which are countered by failures/challenges (crossed swords). There are also other effects that can occur when you obtain eagle symbols (called boons) that are countered by skulls (called banes). Chaos stars and Sigmar’s Comet denote a very bad thing or a very good thing, respectively. The players or the GM generate dice pools based on a combination of skills and attributes with added dice for fortune, expertise, misfortune, and whether the character acts recklessly or cautious. We did get a lot of results that did not have any effect with multiple banes or boons that did not seem to matter. However, I can see house rule for certain results easily implemented to give extra dice or effects somewhere.
  
• Cards: Actions, Talents: The box had enough cards to support three players and a GM. In the first demo we had four players so we shared some of the basic action cards. This did not seem to be a problem, and seemingly, at least for basic actions, one could expand the amount of players for the game. After a brief explanation of how the cards were set up, people got them pretty easily. The nice thing about the cards is that they explain the effects of the actions/talents without having to dive into the book for a list of these things.
   
• Cards: Effects: The wounds system was easy to track and contain provisions for critical wounds, which convey the gritty feel that previous players, role-playing characters in the Old World have grown to love. There were also rules and cards associated with sanity and spell miscasting. Previously, these were tables, and it seems that they have been created into card decks.

  The Demonstration Scenario, “A Day Late and a Shilling Short” had two combat encounters and one social encounter.

• Combat: Combat is abstract, and does not need maps. We all liked the abstract feel of the combat, and the lack of a ‘whiff’ factor seen with WHFRP and Dark Heresy with new characters. The dice pools allowed characters to be more competent from the outset.
  Social: The social mechanic was very cool. Non-fighting characters can potentially shine here.
• Appearance
  
  
  
  • Quality:Beautiful box and bits. FFG puts out a well-printed product.
  
  
  • Bits: There are a lot of bits used for tracking and creating the set ups. In the demos they did not seem to be a problem at all.
  
  

The Bad:

• There is a lack of an Index in any of the books. Four books come with the set: A Basic Rule Book, A GM’s Book, A Magic book, A Divine book.
• The section on Monsters/Adversaries were not well explained, and one has to jump between books to determine how they act.
• Advancement looked complicated, but this was a problem in the previous incarnation as well.
• While I like the bits, I can see that some people might consider them ‘fiddly’ and there is the potential with so many parts, that these parts could be come lost.

In summary, the game seemed to maintain the grim and funny atmosphere of Warhammer Fantasy RPG, but with a new and dynamic dice mechanic, and a more tactile, immersive feel.

Both Dragon’s Lair Austin and Dragon’s Lair San Antonio are taking pre-orders for this game!

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(Or How Alison Justifies Her Weekly Pull List)

A lot of big releases coming out this week like Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Sized #1 and the wildly popular Detective Comics (issue #857), but not that much in the indies which makes this a light week for me. Still here’s a few that I’m excited about:

Beautiful Creatures #1 (of 2)

Red5

New Red5 mini series? Sold. After all, these are the guys who bring us comics like Neozoic and Atomic Robo. This newest offering starts with a man who jumps off of the Eiffel Tower… while he’s on fire. Which sure beats any “dark and stormy night” intro I’ve heard of. Beautiful Creatures is the story of four college ladies in England, except that they may be more magic than human and this means the things that go bump in the night are no doubt going to be bumping up against them pretty soon.

Madame Xanadu #15

Vertigo (Mature)

This is the last issue of the “Exodus Noir” story arch with guest artist and comics legend Michael Wm. Kaluta. It’s told two interconnected stories, the first amongst the 1930s New York elite and in a small Spanish town in the late 1400s during the Inquisition, in which Madame X turns her naturally meddlesome nature to fixing both her and other’s mistakes. Series writer Matt Wagner continues to put out stellar stories and I’m looking forward to the return on Eisner-nominated artist Amy Reeder Hadley in issue #16.

Underground #1 (of 4)

 Image

Artist Steve Lieber (Whiteout) and writer Jeff Parker (Agents of Atlas, Exiles) bring us this new spelunking action/thriller about Park Ranger Wesley Fischer caving in the mountains of Kentucky. I imagine it as a mix between the two horror movies Descent and The Hills Have Eyes, which means I’m definitely willing to try out this new mini series.

And since it’s a light week, I’m including some comics from last week too that you might have missed:

Beasts of Burden #1 (of 4)

Dark Horse

Equally charming and creepy, this miniseries is about a group of neighborhood dogs and cats who are actually more of a neighborhood occult task force, trying to bring down demons and dark magics that attack their otherwise quiet, sleepy town. Written by Evan Dorkin with art by the fabulous Jill Thompson, so come in and pick up last week’s issue.

Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #5 (of 5)

Red5

Why aren’t you reading this series yet? Unless you are one of the many people who have already figured out how awesome it is (if so, good taste, my friend… good taste), you should come in and pick up this third installment of this kick-butt, Tesla-created, Nazi-fightin’ superhero Atomic Robo. The third trade paperback will be coming out this December, in case you’re waiting for it.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Quirk

The newest from the publishers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! It’s time to read the classics the way Jane Austen really meant them to be read. Will Elinor Dashwood find her true love? Or will he really be one of the Deep Ones? Will the romantic Marianne discover the truth of her dashing suitor’s engagement? Or even the fact that he’s a man-eating squid, bringing the very oceans to their knees? I’m simply quivering to find out!

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Greg Webster

Recently, Image has been heavily promoting their anthology-style books. Outlaw Territory is the newest of these books, and it takes on the Western ideals that make me love movies like “The Good The Bad and The Ugly” and the remake of “3:10 To Yuma”. The variety in this collection is astounding, even with the “Old West” theme. All of the stories could have easily been printed as slightly longer one shots, but the pure variety and the simplicity of each premise really allows the artist/writer teams on each story to take their best shot at showing their perspectives. With quality art throughout and writing good enough to make me cry into my hat, you would be a fool to pass up on this trail pardner.