Star Trek: Countdown #2 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN No. 2, February 2009

It would be interesting to know just how much thought Roberto Orci put into this mini-series’ storyline, considering that the “Mexican-American film and television screenwriter” apparently scribed this “official prequel” simply to appease the ever-badgering Anthony Pascale, editor of "TrekMovie.com". For whilst this particular twenty-two page long instalment contains a modicum of excitement in its inclusion of a single-panel starship battle and equally swift karate chop on board the Narada, it’s tremendously wordy narrative genuinely seems to go out of its way to re-jig the cataclysmic conclusion of the 2002 film “Star Trek: Nemesis” and hardly seems to encompass the sort of fiery pace one would expect for a plot which is based upon a planet-destroying cosmic threat…

Indeed, the comic’s declaration that the Soong-type android B-4 is the current Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise alone was probably enough to cause consternation amongst the majority of this title’s 11,357 readers, and not even the later assertion that somehow Data’s neural nets were successfully imprinted upon his predecessor’s “existing programming” can entirely overshadow the sense that the Lieutenant Commander’s noble sacrifice during the destruction of the Scimitar has been horribly disrespected. Little wonder therefore that the filmmaker would later go on and state that he was in no position to declare whether the "Countdown" comic series was canonical or not.

However, this edition’s biggest problem is that its basic premise makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If Romulus is about to be destroyed by an “impending supernova”, why would Nero, Spock or Data waste precious time plodding across the galaxy in order to speak directly to the Vulcan Science Council? Why don’t they simply contact the agency of the Vulcan High Command via a communication channel? Surely, even if their plan to thwart the exploding Hobus Star necessitated a trip to drill for Decalithium, they could still discuss the Federation Ambassador’s plan with his home planet, and have plenty of time remaining with which to help evacuate the Star Empire’s populace? 

Disappointingly, David Messina’s lack-lustre pencilling only sadly adds to this magazine’s aura of oppressive lethargy. Whether the Italian is sketching Nero furtively searching the Enterprise’s data banks for knowledge about James Tiberius Kirk, the Imperial Science Council realising that the “senile [half] Vulcan was right”, or Ambassador Jean Luc Picard discussing the possibility of converting Decalithium into Red Matter, all the figures appear disconcertingly wooden, emotionless and two-dimensional.

Story: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, and Writers: Mike Johnson & Tim Jones

Uber: Invasion #11 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 11, January 2018

It’s hard to think of a more depressing narrative which disconcertingly deals with a stunning victory over a one-time seemingly insurmountable evil, than that penned by Kieron Gillen for Issue Eleven of “Uber: Invasion”. Indeed, Stephanie’s “good news” message to Battleship Colossus that the German’s invasion force of America has surrendered to the Allies is probably the last thing young Eamonn O'Connor wants to hear, considering the horrific physical mutilation this comic book’s demoralising conclusion has cost him.

Equally as dispiriting though is the fate bestowed upon the Afro-American super-soldiers Vernon and Freddie by the United States Military, who, perhaps because of their evident prejudicial unease concerning the duo’s racial background, coupled with the pair’s previously recorded unwillingness to blindly follow orders, have ensured that the brothers have squandered most of their active service deployed on the West Coast, sat within an army hangar hoping “that Yamato would engage Portland itself, and walk into the trap.”

This ‘waste’ of U.S.S. Bravo and U.S.S. Bluestone at a time when civilian war-time casualties are increasingly insurmountable as a result of Nazi halo attacks would be perturbing enough on its own. Yet the Kerrang! Award-winner really drives the U.S. Cruisers mishandling home by proclaiming that the Japanese Uber they were supposedly ‘targeting’ actually departed for Asia in a submarine sometime before both “the final German encounter near Oak Ridge” and their friend’s life-changing injuries. To make matters even worse, the British writer even takes the time to reinforce the Generals’ concerns regarding the two men’s professional discipline by having Daniel Gete pencil them arrogantly challenging an M.P. when he catches the couple gambling within their barracks; “Yeah, we shouldn’t. Yet here we are.”

Of course all these quibbles are just a side-show compared to the main event between U.S.S. Colossus and his Third Reich rival, Siegmund. In fact, in many ways this entire publication's run has been geared towards the two fully-activated battleships cataclysmically confronting one another ever since Gillen first scripted the youngster surviving Miyoko Yoshiuki’s attack upon Okinawa, during the title’s first series. Disappointingly however, the pair appear to have been destined never to properly fight, with Razor receiving his gratuitous injuries as a result of specifically saving his defecting opponent’s life, rather than having them inflicted upon him during the heat of battle.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 11 by Daniel Gete

Star Trek: Boldly Go #10 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 10, July 2017

Group editor Sarah Gaydos was being extraordinarily optimistic in this comic’s “Open Channels” afterword when she suggested Issue Ten of “Star Trek: Boldy Go” featured a “soon-to-be classic story”. In fact, despite Mike Johnson’s twenty-page long script supposedly focusing heavily upon the return of Scotty “to the Yorktown base to check in on construction of the new Enterprise”, it instead disappointingly spends the vast majority of its time following “the comic debut of a beloved alien first seen in the film Star Trek Beyond” known as Kevin the Teenaxi…

Admittedly, the diminutively-sized aggressively paranoid alien provided Simon Pegg’s movie script with precisely the “sort of light-hearted episode” which the English screenwriter apparently wanted as an opening sequence, and the tiny creature’s inadvertent beaming aboard the USS Enterprise, followed by his subsequent attendance at Kirk’s birthday celebration, provided the flick with a modicum of digitally-rendered humour; "still no pants". But such a miniscule character was arguably always going to struggle single-handedly to entertain this title’s 7,804 readers, especially when the central plot revolves around the blue-shirted extra-terrestrial treacherously stealing a starship’s “central control stalk” in order to demonstrate his loyalty to Steve, the “Grand Audarch of the Teenaxi People.”

Indeed, as “bottle stories” go, Johnson’s narrative concentrates far too much upon its jokes, such as the Teenaxi Delegation foolishly believing that without its Captain’s chair a Constitution-class vessel is unpowered, and nowhere near enough on the tale’s straightforward logic. For example, why does Commodore Paris and Scotty immediately forgive Kevin and later actually still offer him a place at Starfleet Academy, when this entire comic has been about the alien abusing their trust in order to infiltrate the Yorktown’s security and criminally steal from the Federation? 

Sadly, Tony Shasteen’s artwork for this inadequate adventure also proves somewhat substandard. The Art Institute of Atlanta graduate can clearly pencil some excellent-looking likenesses of actors Christopher Pine, Simon Pegg and Zoe Saldana, as well as the complexities of a partially-progressed starship. But as this book predominantly features Teenaxi, the illustrator is in the main ‘forced’ to simply sketch a seemingly endless carousel of similarly-shaped aliens, and their rather inedible meal-time “delicacies.”

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 10 by George Caltsoudas

The Amazing Spider-Man [1963] #166 - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 166, March 1977

Billed as a Christmas “Holiday Holocaust”, and depicting Spidey “caught in the middle” of a battle between the Lizard and Stegron, Len Wein’s narrative for “War Of The Reptile Men” must have royally pleased the vast majority of this title’s audience back when it was first published in the Mid-Seventies. Certainly, considering the comic encompasses the creation of “the brand-new Spider-Slayer", Harry Osborn’s engagement to Liz Allen, New York’s finest fighting off living dinosaurs, as well Doctor Connors’ desperate efforts to save his son, the eighteen-page periodical crowbars an awful lot inside its colourfully composed John Romita (Senior) cover.

Fortunately though, so vastly widespread a storyline is still easily accessible courtesy of “a reasonable summation of last issue’s doings” by the book’s editor and plenty of ‘cheery’ exposition from “the ghost of Christmas past” as he web-swings his way through this celebratory tale bringing comfort to a distraught Martha Connors, politely stands up Mary Jane Watson, and takes down Curtis’ cold-blooded alter-ego with a mouthful of “lizardism” cure. Indeed, the wall-crawler even has time to tackle a heavily-fanged Tyrannosaurus Rex before it and the other “Kings of the Earth” are reduced back to their skeletal state as a result of Billy’s father managing to “reverse the effects of Stegron’s retro-generator…”

Perhaps the Shazam Award-winner’s most successful plot-point however, is the fact that for once, the harshness of the festive weather is crucial to the adventure’s somewhat cheerless conclusion. For whilst the majority of similarly-themed seasonal tales ordinarily appear to just thoughtlessly bolt the cultural celebration on as an afterthought, the wintry snow becomes so heavy and turns “ssso cold” towards the end of Wein’s script that it actually causes the reptilian Dinosaur Man to completely lose his superhuman strength, and eventually simply slide to his death deep beneath a frozen lake when his footing finally fails him; “If only I had ssstayed hidden… until the ssspring… I could have been… massster… of… the… world…” 

Delightfully, all of this action is vibrantly brought to animated life by the pencil of Ross Andru, who provides both the Lizard and Stegron with plenty of pathos despite the combatants’ numerous scales and murderous intentions. In fact, in some ways the duo’s confrontation down “in an abandoned storage vault beneath Central Park” is the highlight of the comic, with Andruskevitch’s sketching the pair kicking, tail-whipping and throttling one another half to death, whilst simultaneously providing the book’s readers with plenty of appealing rhetoric.

Writer/Editor: Len Wein, Illustrator: Ross Andru, and Inker: Mike Eposito

Star Trek: Countdown #1 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN No. 1, January 2009

Publicised as “the official prequel to the upcoming [2009 “Star Trek”] motion picture”, this opening instalment to a four-issue mini-series rather slowly, almost painfully, lays the foundation for “The Next Generation” characters to “pass the baton” back to the ‘original crew’ of the starship Enterprise by ponderously focusing upon Romulan mining captain Nero’s first encounter with the Federation Ambassador Spock. Indeed, if J. J. Abrams had incorporated any of this twenty-two page periodical’s plodding plot into his silver screen production it’s arguable as to whether the reboot would have grossed anywhere near the $385.7 million sales it achieved worldwide…

For starters Mike Johnson and Tim Jones’ tale does little but leap from lengthy conversational piece to dialogue-heavy discussion, as it depicts the Star Empire’s tolerance of immigrants, its senate’s prolonged diplomatic debates and the blessed home life of a man who would go on to ultimately destroy the Kelvin timeline planet of Vulcan; “Your point of order is noted in the record. These proceedings are now closed.” The writing partnership even goes so far as to regrettably squander a dozen or so panels simply describing how the Narada’s commander is so infatuated with his pregnant wife, that he swiftly falls to his knees in emotional shock when Spock simply invites him to “open your mind”…

Admittedly, Nero’s irrational, pain stricken motivation within the Star Trek film franchise’s eleventh movie, is central to Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s blockbuster screenplay, and, it’s clear from this comic’s storyline that its authors had been “allowed to read parts of the script and watch parts of the film to understand” the central villain better. But no-where does the ‘flick’ suggest that the late 24th century captain was actually a traitor to Romulus, and sided with the elderly Starfleet officer against his own government. Nor did it imply that the miner actually took his vessel into combat against three Reman battleships whilst drilling for “the rare isotope Decalithium” in the Kimben System..?

Disconcertingly, David Messina’s simplistic-looking artwork for Issue One of “Star Trek: Countdown” probably didn’t assist this book’s 14,585 readers navigating its mind-numbing narrative in January 2009 either, as despite the Italian’s evident potential to pencil a building or spacefaring vessel, his figures are horribly one-dimensional. In fact, even when the erstwhile graphic designer attempts to replicate ‘cinematic shots’, such as a close-up of a resolute Reman soldier or sympathetically-faced Spock, there’s little in the way of physical depth on show in the individuals’ sketching.

Story: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, and Writers: Mike Johnson & Tim Jones

Avengers [2016] #5.1 - Marvel Comics

AVENGERS No. 5.1, May 2017

Desperately hidden within the twenty-pages of “Death Be Not Proud!” is a somewhat fun Silver Age tale which certainly had the potential to encourage this mini-series’ remaining 21,614 readers to buy Issue Seventeen of “Avengers” in order to continue its adventure. Sadly however, Tom Brevoort’s decision to allow Mark Waid to completely undermine Cap’s Kooky Quartet by having the super-team’s original line-up actually save the day, as well as utilise the artistic talents of Mark Bagley, Sean Uzaakse and Ro Stein alongside regular Barry Kitson, arguably must have destroyed any faith the audience had that this adventure was supposedly a faithful recreation of the days when original creators Stan Lee and Jack “King” Kirby were at the helm.

Indeed, this comic’s “most nonsensical, non-costumed super-hero staff in comicdom” do such a good job of making Captain America, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver appear utterly impotent, that it’s a wonder the book sold as well as it did, and those bibliophiles who weren’t “emotionally enraptured by the contents within these palatial pages” should hardly have been stripped of their Merry Marvel Marching Society button as this publication’s opening editorial suggests. Certainly it's difficult not to embarrassingly grimace as Giant-Man effortlessly swats Cressida aside just moments after the Southeast Asian super-villain has so easily ‘killed’ the Sentinel of Liberty, the Golden Archer, and two of the Earth’s most formidable mutants single-handedly; “Pick on someone your own size -- or bigger!” 

To make matters worse, a revitalised Steve Rogers subsequently spells out his team’s total defeat even clearer, by admitting to Avenger X that she “almost had us” if not for “Giant-Man’s Bio-Lab skills” and his ‘uncanny’ scientific ability to rejuvenate the foursome using their “dying sparks of energy”. In fact, Hank Pym proves himself to be so formidable a chemist that he even manages to immunize the “also-rans” against their opponent’s “powers from here on in”, thereby permitting them to battle Cressida without requiring any additional support or fear of being soundly thrashed a second time…

Unfortunately, the illustrations for this notoriously undermining narrative are equally as sporadic as its storyline’s sensibilities, and was hardly likely to help this comic become “a tale destined to become a magnificent milestone in the Marvel Age of Comics” as its creative team would seemingly have wished. Admittedly, Barry Kitson’s opening pages are pencilled pleasantly enough, such as his recreation of the original grim-faced Giant-Man, but once the British artist is repeatedly replaced by his ‘helpers’ matters take a decidedly disconcerting turn for the worse, with Hawkeye’s initial capture of Avenger X at his mock-funeral appearing particularly poorly-sketched.

Writer: Mark Waid, and Pencilers: Barry Kitson with Mark Bagley, Sean Izaakse & Drew Hennessy

The Amazing Spider-Man [1963] #165 - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 165, February 1977

Considering that Len Wein’s basic premise for this seventeen page periodical concerns a one-time assistant S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist’s desperate attempt to herald in “a new age… when dinosssaursss will once more rule the Earth”, an awful lot of character development and sub-plot progression takes place within “Stegron Stalks The City!” In fact, in many ways Issue One Hundred And Sixty-Five of “Amazing Spider-Man” is an excellent example of just how complicated Peter Parker’s printed life had become by the Late Seventies, with the title’s editor having to incorporate no less than three continuity notes within his book’s text in order to explain Web-head’s previous adventures with Nick Fury (“Marvel Team-Up” #13), the Tarantula and Kraven the Hunter (“Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man” #1 & #2), and Stegron (“Marvel Team-Up” #20).

Fortunately though, none of this exposition is necessarily needed in order to enjoy a first-class romp as Doctor Vincent Stegron wreaks havoc inside “a fully-equipped laboratory… hidden in a run-down apartment building,” abducts Curtis Connors’ son Billy just when the boy has bought his dad a Christmas present, and finally uses an electro-magnetic field with which to reanimate a quartet of “noble [dinosaur] ssskeletonsss…” Why, the Shazam Award-winner even manages to crowbar in an intriguing one-pager featuring John Jonah Jameson conspiring with Marla Madison in order to use his hatred of the wall-crawler to finally defeat Spider-Man; “Now that’s the cheeriest thing I’ve heard all day!”

However, undoubtedly this publication’s strongest asset is the Daily Bugle photographer’s altercation with the man who has formerly “ingested the Connors Formula with… Stegosaurus DNA”, and their subsequent smart-talking fist-fight on the steps of the Museum of Natural History. Wonderfully choreographed by Ross Andru, this scintillating scene first sees Peter Parker rushing to secretively cast off his ‘everyday clothing’ and then subsequently stand ‘open-mouthed’ as a few hundred tonnes of walking bone lumbers towards him in the shape of a Brontosaurus, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Banter has always been a hallmark of a ‘classic’ Spider-Man showdown, and the vibrant jibes issued between the two combatants as they trade punches, is only overshadowed by the tremendous sound effects pencilled into each panel as Web-head kicks, wallops and hurls the “Dinosaur Man” all over the place. Indeed, Andruskevitch’s storyboarding is so frantically-paced and marvellously detailed, that this conflict shows precisely why “frequent collaborator” Gerry Conway once commented that the artist “could place a character anywhere he wanted. He had a terrific sense of spatial relations; he could track a battle easily across rooftops, from panel to panel.”

Writer/Editor: Len Wein, Illustrator: Ross Andru, and Embellisher: Mike Eposito