Dwight's flight and Frank Robinson speaks out

Looks like former NY Met & Yankee pitcher Dwight Gooden has once again gotten himself in trouble with the law. Stopped by the police while apparently driving under the influence Gooden took off and has yet (as far as I know at this point) to be located. He may face some actual jail time, both for this incident and for still being on probation for an earlier problem. It’s a shame since Gooden was a one time headed for solid career but sadly, he and former team mate Darryl Strawberry just couldn’t seem to keep their respective acts together.

Meanwhile, Frank Robinson, one of baseballs most respective former players (and current manager of the Washington Nationals) seems to be getting blasted for comments he made about other players. Hell, some sports radio hosts are saying harsher things about Robinson then they did about Rafael Palmeiro. Robinson has stated his opinion that Palmeiro’s statistics should be erased because the Baltimore Orioles player was suspended for a failed drug test.

Just a few overheard comments: “Let the history books decide this!” “If you do that where will it stop…Do you delete the records of those players who used to take uppers while playing? Those weren’t illegal back then!”

It strikes me that some of the broadcasters are over-reacting because Palmeiro and others pulled the wool over their eyes. Also, many of them will make the comment that “the FANS don’t care about all this! They just want to see players hitting home runs and don’t care how they do it!” Hmmm…guess it’s the fan’s fault and the poor players were forced to shoot up or drop various substances to keep ‘us’ happy. They would NEVER have done it unless ‘we’ pushed them into it. “Fans killed sports! You bastards!!”

DAWN OF WAR: yet another book review

DAWN OF WAR by C.S. Goto is another in the Black Library series of book based on the Warhammer 40,000 (WH 4-K) role playing game. It’s also much more what I had initially expected when I began reading the WH-4K series, after reading several of the graphic novels. This book deals with the adventures of a company of Space Marines in conflict with orcs, heretics against the Emperor and aliens. The story has lots of bloodshed and double-crosses by one group against the other throughout.

Brother-Captain Gabriel Angelos leads his fellow Blood Ravens into battle, as he has done so for decades. You have to remember that the Space Marines have been physically augmented and live quite a long time in service to the Emperor. In the WH- 4-K universe the Emperor also has set on his throne for thousands of years, undying yet not truly alive. He is kept alive by a combination of technology and magic. As he has been around for so long, and in complete control of millions of planets and their inhabitants, the Emperor has more than his share of enemies human and otherwise. It is the task of the Space Marines, to act as the front line combatants in these conflicts.

Gabriel is one of the most famous, if not infamous, members of his order (as the Space marines are similar to the Knights Templar in being both military & religious in nature) having actually committed genocide on his home planet when he found them to be tainted by heretical blood. His current mission is to battle what seems at first to be an orc invasion of the planet Tartarus, which unknown to him was once the scene of an inter-dimensional battle thousands of years previously. It now seems that those same combatants have returned and are gearing up for a new fight.

This book also brings in the Eldar, a race which predates human kind and is now dying off. They remind me of the elves in Tolkien, at least as they are portrayed here. While they have their own agenda and have no great liking for mankind they are trying to do the ‘right thing’ at least as they perceive things. Sadly, the good Captain sees things differently, which appears to set up the possibility of a sequel to this book at a later date.

Goto, obviously a pen name, does a nice job with all the characters, human and otherwise. The scenes with the orcs are fun since the really do exist only to fight. “War for war’s sake,” is their motto, or rather WAAAUGH!!!!!! Ya gotta love it!

Getting too close: Baseball & the Fall Season

The Red Sox have to stop doing this to me! My old heart can't take it any more.

Boston is known for blowing it this time of year and can't keep hoping that other teams will somehow beat the Damned Yankees to keep the Sox in first place in the AL East. Randy Johnson kept Tampa Bay scoreless and it was only thank to the Yank bullpen that this wasn't another victory for New York. The Yanks are back at four and a half games back and three + back in the Wild Card race. Still I need Boston to keep winning on the road to ensure a repeat of last year.

I'm always interested in seeing which new shows the networks will launch in the Fall season (still their major push, even though they are more willing to put in new shows in the summer and pull some reruns). If I remember I'm going to make some predictions here on what I feel is doomed from the first broadcast.

I do think a safe bet is the new Geena Davis show, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, with the actress portrays the vice-President of the U.S. who must take the top spot with the President dies. This is ABC's version of THE WEST WING I guess, since Ms. Davis and other associated with the show are not your big GOP supporters. I like Davis, but not sure if this will have staying power.

Than again, who would have thought that Dennis Hopper would ever be on network prime-time, as a Pentagon general no less? I'll give E-RING a look see, just to see Hopper chewing some scenery.

Just a bit of baseball

The Red Sox got saved by torrential rain last night. Kept their winning streak alive and sent them on the road for a week or more. Since the Sox were losing (or at least in a tough spot) before the initial rain-delay they only slipped a half game in their lead over the Damned Yankees. New York had the bad grace to win last night so they are currently 4 and a half back in the AL East.

Boston, if they maintain their lead and the team remains healthy, have a pretty good chance of repeating last year's trip to the World Series. Fingers & toes crossed on this!

Talking a little baseball

Well, the Red Sox had the night off last night, so it gave the Damned Yankees a chance to pull up a game in the standings. They are still five games back of Boston in the AL East and at least three games back in the Wild Card race. Of course, being the team they are it would not be a surprise to see them inch a bit closer the last month. Many fans and the sports show hosts are conceding the season (except here in the city, naturally)and I'm more than happy to join that side, as you can imagine. Still stranger things have happened (Witness the World Series last season!).

The Mets fans and the team itself had a few scary moments yesterday when right fielder Mike Cameron was taken off the field on a stretcher following head-to-head collision with center fielder Carlos Beltran in the seventh inning. Caught the thing repeatedly on the news last evening, with most of the New York stations leading with it in the opening then showing it again early in the broadcast, followed by another repeat in the sports highlights section of the program. Both Cameron & Beltran could have been more seriously injured so they are lucky indeed. This is why the players generally will wave off one another. Trained professionals, indeed!

Dean Koontz's FRANKENSTEIN

Dean Koontz’s FRANKENSTEIN Book One: Prodigal Son - Prolific horror & suspense author Dean Koontz was originally approached to write the pilot and additional episodes of a mini-series for the USA Network. Martin Scorsese became interested in the concept and came aboard as Executive Producer. Sadly, the network wanted changes made to the show as conceived, causing both Koontz and then Scorsese to walk away from the project.

Koontz has decided to reshape the work into a trilogy, working with several other authors to bring his original concept out in prose form. This first book is co-written with Kevin J. Anderson, himself a science fiction writer (I’ve previously read an X-FILES novel by him, GROUND ZERO which I liked quite a bit.).

In this series neither Victor Frankenstein nor his creation met their doom as Mary Shelly wrote in her novel. It seems that the author took some fictional liberties with the true story as told to her by others. Following his initial murder spree and final battle with his maker the ‘monster’ roamed the world for decades finally finding peace in an Asian monastery. His creator also survived having found ways to extend his own life. Now Frankenstein, over two hundred years old but looking like a man in his forties, has taken up residence in New Orleans. Under the name Victor Helios he has begun producing dozens of beings with whom he plans on recreating the world in his image. Over the past decades Helios/Frankenstein has placed his creations in every institution which might be of value to his plans, or which might stand in his way. He has even created duplicates of some individuals killing the original and replacing them. As his first creation (who calls himself Deucalion, the son of Prometheus in Greek mythology) states Victor is now the monster, while he has become more human.

Anderson does a good job of bringing believability to Koontz’s characters. The only problem I had was that Anderson tries to be a bit too cute sometimes, throwing in cultural references in some inappropriate places. I don’t mind so much the human characters doing this, but you have to wonder why Victor’s creations would use them, since they are essentially ‘born’ educated and programmed by Frankenstein who holds such a distain for the culture of the Old Race as he calls those born of woman.

In the first book, some of the New Race have begun to question their programming and gone against the wishes of their creator. These improperly wired beings have drawn the attention of New Orleans detectives Carson O’Connor and her partner Michael Maddison. Their hunt for a serial killer (actually more than one they discover) and the discovery of Frankenstein’s plans are what drive the first book. The second, co-written by mystery & western writer Ed Gorman, will take up where this leaves off. I don’t know where Koontz will finally bring all this but I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the next few weeks.

Having reread Mary Shelly’s original work a few months ago, I was interested to see what other contemporary writers were doing with the characters. I’ve noted a couple of other books on the shelves also using one version of the monster or another. There’s just something about the idea of the creature which fascinates me and apparently lots of others.

The Suspension of Rafael Palmeiro

The suspension of Rafael Palmeiro and his admission (half-hearted and after the fact) that he used steroids brings this controversy back to the surface. Major League Baseball had hoped that they had heard the last of this, with the ending of the Congressional hearings (much ado about nothing).

It also brings Baltimore back into the limelight, but not in the way they would have liked. They have fallen from their early lead in the Eastern division and will probably not even make a wild card berth. The sports-talk shows are all hitting on Raffy, questioning whether Baltimore should go ahead with the celebration of his 3,000 hits and if the once sure thing Hall of Famer will sit out the rest of what may be his last season.

It's a shame, but as with many other sports figures he might have been better off keeping his mouth shut. Being Mr. Self-righteous on Capital Hill wasn't a thing he thought would come back to haunt him, obviously.

On a lighter note, the Boston Red Sox continue to be in the lead of the American League Eastern division and the Damned Yankees lost again last night.

There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Some Warhammer 40,000 & a bit of Judge Dredd, for good measure

I have to admit that when I first decided to read some of the WARHAMMER 40,000 (WH-4K) novels I didn’t really know what to expect. Previously, I’d only read a couple of the trade paperback collections of stories from the WARHAMMER MONTHLY magazine. I guess that I expected all the novels to have a similar sensibility. Stories filled with hard-boiled Space Marines dedicated to killing orcs and bashing each other, in their off-hours, all in the name of the Emperor. To my surprise each of the first three novels I’ve ready had very different takes on the WH-4K universe.

Each book in the Black Library series opens with a page giving you an overview of the WH-4K world. The page is the same in each book, so you can skip it after the first time you’ve read it, although it does remind you of just what it is that drives the individuals, besides their own survival. Overall, it is a dark and gloomy place with little room for the leisure time activities we take for granted. These folks, by and large, are just trying to get by day to day. While as with any space opera, you’ll get various types of worlds (frozen wastelands, deserts and planets covered in dense rain-forest, etc,) for the most part the major cities resemble the Los Angeles of BLADE RUNNER with the citizens strictly fixed in by class and social rank. Pity the poor ‘hive-dwellers’ (as the poorest of the urban citizens are called) who live in the lower most sections of the metropolis.

The first WH-4K novel I read was Ravenor by Dan Abnett, (which I reviewed in greater detail earlier) turned out to be more a thriller of the Tom Clancy “Covert-One’ variety than I had expected. Inquisitor Ravenor leads a team of Imperial agents in trying to track down criminals smuggling in an alien narcotic. Abnett is one of Black Library’s most popular writers and he’s also becoming known for his stint writing comics here in the U.S. for DC. Ravenor is a psychic of enormous power, but his physical body was almost destroyed in an earlier book. He is now encased in a featureless metal shell, only able to experience ‘physical’ sensations when he takes over the body of another person. The book is a good introduction to the WH world and the philosophy/religion which governs it.

The Traitor’s Hand by Sandy Mitchell, on the other hand is much more light-hearted in tone. Commissar Ciaphas Cain is featured in a series of books, which supposedly contain his memoirs of his years with the Imperial Guard; the book is ‘edited’ by an Inquisitor and one time paramour of Cain’s. Cain is not what he appears to be on the surface, but rather is a survivor who has gotten to be where he is by a series of unfortunate accidents. Cain reminds me of “Harry Flashman” the title character in a series of books by George MacDonald Fraser. {Harry was the school bully in Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) by Thomas Hughes. The adult Harry was just as much a rascal, if not as cruel, in Fraser’s books.) While not a coward by any means, Cain would much rather ‘lead from the rear’ of the action but often finds himself pushed to the forward position in the conflicts, much to his great frustration. With his weakness for games of chance & liquid refreshment, the Commissar would have found himself right at home with Hawkeye and Trapper. In this particular book, Cain finds himself caught on a planet about to be invaded by the forces of Chaos (an alien/other-dimensional force which crops up in all the WH books to some degree or other).

Mitchell Scanlon’s Fifteen Hours could almost be called the “All Quiet on the Western Front” of the Black Library series. Scanlon tells us the story of a young man, raised on a farming planet, who finds himself conscripted into the Imperial Guard. We witness his time in basic training and his first assignment with his comrades. To say that this is anti-war is an understatement. If Scanlon placed his young hero in the trenches of WWI or in Iraq today, the day-to-day suffering and problems with military hierarchy would be pretty much the same. Brilliant!

After reading three of the WH-4K books in a row I decided to take a break from the series. Still it’s not a total departure from the dystopian future genre, since it’s a prose adaptation of a Judge Dredd story from 2000 A.D.

Swine Fever by Andrew Cartmel doesn’t star the well-known Judge, but rather Psi-Judge Zandonella. As her title implies, Zandonella has a special gift which she utilizes on behalf of her fellow judges. Not to give too much away, but Zandonella's gift allows her to 'jump' into the body of the last individual who was beside someone who has died. She does this by touching the deceased. If you’re not familiar with the Judge or his world, just imagine an entire police force of Dirty Harry types armed with explosive ammo and riding jet-propelled motorcycles. (Since I’m one of the few folks who rather enjoyed the Sylvester Stallone film, my judgment {pardon the expression} is probably questionable anyway.) As the good Judge is known to say, “I am the Law!”

In this particular story, there’s a growing underground market in pork and the Judges mean to put a stop to it. To complicate matters (and things in Judge Dredd stories are never simple) it turns out that the pigs being ‘farmed’ are mutations and a bit smarter than your average swine. Imagine Arnold Ziffle, only smarter. Cartmel, with whom I’m not familiar, does a nice job of making you care for Zandonella and her fellow judges, while going about the typical dark humor and ultra-violence for which the Dredd series is known.

Red Sox blow out Yankees!

While the defeat of the Damn Yankees last night (17-1) was sweet, it would have been better for the standing had the Sox also won the previous evening as well. Today's game should be a nailbiter, since it will either give a boost to Boston or bring New York within striking distance of taking 1st place in the AL East.

David Wells certain earned his paycheck last night, but I do have problems with players (whether they are on a team I like or not) being able to play despite a suspension. What's the point of being kept out of a set number of games if you can pick & choose when/if the thing starts to begin with. Just my two cents, as usual.

A few comments about the All-Star Game

I'm a day late & a dollar short on this, as the saying goes. Still I wanted to mention a few things while they were still fairly fresh in my mind.

Not a classic All-Star game certainly, but one that neither side should feel badly about. Nothing to go into the record books with, but there wasn't either a blow out by either side, nor a pitchers duel. Of course, with nobody being able to throw more than a few inning that's not something likely to happen anyway.

I'm really not too thrilled with the camera aimed up at the pitcher nor at home plate. It's just a weird angle and I don't see what it is supposed to show other than that Fox has this type of thing available. There's a certain 'up the skirt' feel to the whole thing, if you know what I mean. Also, do we really need the talking baseball to explain a pitch to us. How about a couple of the MLB pitching coaches demonstrating them instead?

I admit that Donna and I were both reading during the game, but I don't remember any of the commercials standing out in my memory. Perhaps I missed something since I turned the game on as it started and not for any of the pre-game/anthem singing. Who did they drag out to lip-sync this time, anyway?

The Red Sox are still in first place by 2 and a half games, but they will have to play the Damn Yankees for a series starting tonight. Fingers crossed on this one. I'll settle for a split in favor of Boston.

Regarding the NHL strike, I'm happy for Donna's nephew, Nicholas, since he's a big hockey fan. In fact, Donna would rather watch a hockey game than football, so I don't know if that means we'll be tuning in the Rangers or not.

CBGextra.com: Something new on line

I’ve quickly become a fan of the new monthly Comics Buyer’s Guide, since my subscription kicked in. It’s great subway reading, between books, and is also good to have on the coffee table when commercial breaks come along. As I’ve mentioned before, I began subscribing to Alan Light’s The Buyer’s Guide back in the mid-‘70s and continued well into the Krause publishing era. Even when my sub expired it was possible to pick up occasion issues at many of the comic shops I frequented. (Thanks to Elayne Riggs, my ex, I now have most of the monthly CBGs I missed. There’s plenty of fine reading ahead!)

While I really don’t care much about the monthly price guide or the tracking of eBay auctions, the overall format and loads of other material is quite good. Along with the usual reviews and promotional articles on the latest titles, you’ll get columns by Tony Isabella, Peter David, Heidi MacDonald and now Beau Smith, plus others. Naturally, you won’t agree with everything they have to say, or with all the reviewers, but it certainly will keep you informed on what’s current and popular in the comics’ field.

The one thing I found surprising was that while there was a website for Krause, there really wasn’t much available relating to CBG itself. That’s been corrected now and you can get some of the articles and material generally found in the print version over on the new CBGxtra.com page. There are even some forums available for those who’d like to comment on the latest issues and communicate with some of the Krause editors.

Comments on the Comics Buyer's Guide

Finally catching up on the latest issue of CBG to hit the mailbox. I put is aside so I could finish THE DA VINCI CODE, which I couldn't put down (I'll have a quick review and comments in a day or two.).

As I've said before I'm not reading many comics at this point, but still have a love of the medium which keeps me interested enough. CBG allows me to keep an eye on the new trends and the reviews let me know what is going on in the books I used to read. My prior posts have made it clear that I'd probably have no interest in the latest 'events' coming from the Big Two (DC & Marvel, for those of you who really dont' follow this stuff).

When I began to ease my way out of fandom, 'slabbing' (or sealing comics in plastic holders) and Comics Guaranty, LLC (CGC, the pioneer in this sort of thing) were just beginning to make a mark in the industry. The idea of 'third party' grading of collectables has taken hold and is possibly a good thing, at least for the older and rarer material. At about $25 a pop to get a book sealed in a tamper-proof container, you better not be trying to preserve the latest issue of Ball-Crusher Funnies. You may be a fan of the Mighty Thumb Twister, but don't expect to retire on that resale!

It is probably no coincidence that the idea of CGC and eBay auctions came about around the same time. By that I mean, I don't know if CGC would have had such an impact prior to the ability of fans to immediately put their books out there. The old fashion print ads and snail-mail auctions would take months, plus non-fans probably would not have been picking up the zines which promoted such sales. Now a mouse click will allow you to bid on just about anything.

That's my rant for today. Have a Happy & safe Fourth of July!

RAVENOR: a Warhammer 40,000 novel (a review)

Ravenor by Dan Abnett (Games Workshop/Black Library) – This is a novel in the Warhammer 40,000 series, which utilizes concepts and characters from the various games, comics and other novels in that series. I’ve only just become familiar with this world, not being a gamer or a reader of much SF in recent years. If I get some of this wrong I apologize.

Having enjoyed a couple of graphic novel collections, comprised of stories from the WARHAMMER magazine, I was tempted to check out this novel when I happened upon it on the shelves here at the library. As I’ve said I haven’t read much, if any, SF for years except for a couple of STAR TREK novels but I used to read it regularly. Of course, the world of WARHAMMER is far more dystopian than most of the stuff I tended to read. This is more along the lines of the type of universe you’d find in ALIENS or STARSHIP TROOPERS than that in which the Federation sent out their gleaming starships. The Klingons would probably feel right at home, though.

The world of Warhammer is ruled by the God-Emperor, a man/being who has sat upon his throne for millennia, neither alive nor dead, but holding sway over thousands of planets and billions of souls. His legions offer up bloody tribute in his name as they battle other races and the forces of Chaos to hold together his empire.

Ravenor, the title character, was first introduced in an earlier series of books. He is a psychic of incredible power, crippled and encased in a metallic ‘chair’, but still having the loyalty of the men and women who serve him in his role as Inquisitor for the empire. His current mission is to discover the source of a new ‘drug’ called flec and to stop its import into the imperial worlds. He discovers that there is corruption even in the highest reaches of government and the source of the drug is only the beginning of a greater problem for political stability.

There’s not a lot of joy and merriment in the world of Warhammer, but there is loyalty and friendship. It is the relationships between the various members of Ravenor’s team which make us care what happens. To be honest, you’d have a hard time feeling much but distaste for the unseen Emperor who cares only for his own survival and you sure won’t find much to sympathize with in his opposition who are just as, if not more, ruthless in what they plan for mankind’s future.

Certainly not light fantasy or the black & white space opera of George Lucas, still Dan Abnett makes you care about his characters, even those you don’t particularly like at first. A rough group of bastards they may be, but by their own rules they standby their friends, which in the end is what matters.

True Crime, the Ripper and me

What is there about such grime and ghastly things which simply fascinate me? I wasn't one of those kids who pulled the wings off of flies or other things, in fact, I even recall crying once because I accidentally crushed a robin's egg which I discovered fallen from a nest. Also, there is the fact that in 'real life' I'm pretty squeamish about the slightest cut or appearance of blood.

Still I've enjoyed reading about murder and mayhem, both real and fictional, since at least my junior high school days. That was about when my mother & father began to allow me to read those issues of True Detective, etc. that my Mom loved. The National Enquirer, which my mother also picked up each week, back in the early 1960s was much different from the entertainment industry gossip sheet it is today, being much closer in appearance to the Weekly World News and glorifying in the retelling of the most horrible crimes from police departments around the world. Back then we subscribed to two daily newspapers (the Norwich Bulletin, a local paper and the New York Daily News) and had a third (the Boston Herald) delivered on Sunday. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that the papers at the time seemed to revel in the then current crimes of the Boston Strangler.

Anyway, since then I've loved reading about this type of thing. I don't know when I first learned of Jack the Ripper, but I'm sure during the period when the Strangler was making his mark in the Boston area more than a few articles I read mentioned the earlier killer of women.

If you have any interest in Jack you might want to check out www.casebook.org . They have loads of material covering the crimes and people involved in the investigation. There are as many theories as there are suspects and this site will cover most of them. You can even spend time putting in dates and finding what happened in "Ripper History" on any particular day.

As I mentioned a few months ago in my review of DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, it seems amazing that America's own first serial killer (H.H. Holmes) never became the household word as his British contemporary. Probably Holmes wasn't flashy enough and did his business in private. Had the two ever met in some serial killer's afterlife I'm sure the conversation would have been pretty interesting. I think Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman could do something with that premise.

Talking a little baseball

Sadly, when the Damned Yankees were in a slump the Sox weren't doing a heck of a lot better. While still ahead of their New York rivals in the AL Eastern division, there are only three games seperating them at this point.

It would have been nice of Boston to put a bit more distance between them this early in the season, as the Sox are notorious for fading come Fall. Last year being the exception, of course.

It still seems that the Chicago White Sox will be the AL champs, unless they do a serious tailspin. Both Boston and New York may be competing for the 'wild card' spot unless one of the other starts playing better.

The poor Mets find themselves in the celler once more, even after the millions of dollars spent & deals made. Surprisingly it's the newest team in baseball, the Washington Nationals who are leading the NL Eastern division at this point. No rookie year curse for the former Expos.

The 4400

If you are going through summer withdrawal from LOST you might want to check out THE 4400 over on USA Network. A tad more sci-fi then the ABC show, but each has enough mystery and suspense to keep you guessing.

Also, both shows have wonderful ensemble casts without 'superstars' trying to catch the spotlight each and every week. While there are primary characters in both programs they seem willing to step back and let other cast members have their time.

Where LOST deals with the survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island, which doesn't seem to appear on any charts, the 4400 are survivors of a different type. Each of them was abducted by a mysterious force, which we initially assume was extraterrestrial but learn in the last episode of the first season were elements from our own future trying to prevent (we believe at this point) some terrible event. It also seems that many, if not all, of the returnees have been granted some power (mental, physical, or both) which will allow them to bring about the necessary changes.

Donna and I recommend both shows.

Jason Todd!! What the...!!!

So I get home last night and find the latest issue of CBG (#1607) in the mail. I glance at the painting of Batman and see that that is going to be the focus of this issue. Not a big surprise considering the release of the new film later this month. What does catch my eye though is a mention of Jason Todd, the second Robin, who I had supposed had been killed (sort of off panel) by the Joker. Now this, like the death of Barry Allen, had major repercussions in the DCU so it figured that this was a permanent situation.

Is Jason now back, as it appears, or should I read the article to see if I'm jumping to conclusions? If he is it sure will send ripples through the Batman Family titles, if not the entire DCU. Of course, since I'm not currently reading any DC books I suppose I shouldn't even care but those old fanboy habits die hard. (Kind of like sidekicks, huh?)

BATMAN Comic freebie in New York Post

Yesterday, the New York Post (at least in newstand editions) had copies BATMAN #608. This had a new cover listing it as a "Special Edition" and "New York Post Exclusive." You'll probably spot this coming up on eBay pretty soon, I'm sure.

Since I haven't picked up a copy of a Batman title for about a year now I can't say much about the continuity. I assume that DC is trying to promote the new BATMAN BEGINS film with this, but wonder if it is the right choice. It has nothing to do with that film and is in fact the first issue of a multi-part story arc. Wouldn't a stand-alone book have been a better choice for this? DC does have books which retell his origin and it would seem to me that might have been a better choice. This issue features Killer Croc and Catwoman, plus another 'surprise villain' on the last page. None of these appear in the new film, as far as I know and they certainly don't look like the characters as they appear in the various animated Batman shows. Doesn't it just confuse things.

Jeph Loeb does a good job setting things up and actually allowing Batman to save a child. He also sets up the beginnings of a plot featuring several Batman villains, who appear to be manipulated by the 'surprise villain.' I guess endangering children is okay for this character in current DCU continuity, but what do I know.

The art by Jim Lee and S. Williams (who also provide the cover) is good, but some panels are a bit confusing and not helped by the murky coloring of Alex Sinclair. Try to follow the Batman's fight with Killer Croc and his dispatching of several non-powered bad guys. I've been reading comics for over forty years and had to stop to decipher what was going on.

The ads in the book generally are tie-ins to the new movie and related products, with a subscription card for interested folks. I wonder how successful that will be?

MADAGASCAR: a brief review

We had seen trailers for this film for a month or so and felt that it was something we'd enjoy.
While Donna isn't a big fan of cartoons in general she does like computer animated films (i.e. TOY STORY, SHREK, etc.) and some of the Disney studio's more classical material.
Since we had some time to ourselves last week, since Kristina works during the day, we caught an early matinee in the same theatre where we had seen STAR WARS a few nights before.

The basic plot deals with Marty the Zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) deciding that he'd like a change from the everyday existence in the Central Park Zoo. His friend Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) is more than happy with being "King of New York", but finds himself pushed into a rescue mission with Gloria the Hippo (Jadda Pickett Smith) and a very reluctant Melman, a giraffe suffering from hypochondria, (wonderfully performed by former FRIEND, David Schwimmer). When the four are captured, along with a group of more adventurous penguins, they are all shipped off to a wild animal preserve in Africa. When the penguins attempt to hijack the ship the four friends find themselves overboard, only to come ashore on a "deserted desert isle." We all know that things will go even further down hill.

The film is surprisingly funny and has enough 'in jokes' and references that parents will have just as much fun as the kids. This will probably be Dreamworks best received animated film and easily stands up against the Disney/Pixar stuff. After the rather lack luster box-office of ROBOTS & SHARK TALE I'm sure it was time for another hit. This actually knocked the latest Lucas film out of first place this past weekend, so they must be doing something right!

We also caught trailers for the upcoming new WALLACE & GROMIT film and CHICKEN LITTLE, the later looks like something Donna would enjoy.

STAR WAR: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

I'm in total agreement with the majority on the latest (and possibly last) installment in the SW series. George Lucas & Co. pulled out all the stops and finally hit the nail on the head, after two rather dismal failures that had even the most devote fans a bit disappointed. It's also apparent pretty early on why this entry got a more mature rating than the others. Of the last three films in this trilogy REVENGE OF THE SITH is the only one that I would gladly watch again.

Sadly, Hayden Christopher doesn't really convey the inner turmoil that Anakin must be feeling as things appear to fall apart around him. He seems merely petulant, especially when Padme announces that she is with child. Guess he'll have to put off college for a couple of semesters. Fortunately, the other characters (including those created solely in CGI) are better actors and are able to carry the story.

Given Lucas' occasional ham-fisted dialogue it is sometimes surprising that the audience can feel much of anything, unless they are bringing their own memories of past films. Face it, anyone familiar with the three original films already knows what will transpire for the most part. There are some secondary characters who don't make it, but we already know the fates of the Skywalker family, Yoda and Obi-wan.

Now, Kristina (a total SW fan, if ever there was one) feels that Lucas spent too much time in the search for General Grievous and not nearly enough on Anakin moving to the 'dark side.' I enjoyed Obi-wan's adventure and personally would love to see Ewan McGregor's Kenobi in a solo adventure. There is enough time before and after this film in which Obi-wan's story could be expanded. Don't know that McGregor would be interested in a television series, but I've read that Lucas might be interested in allowing further SW adventures on the small screen.

I'm sure that anyone interested in seeing the movie already has, but I don't want to throw in any spoilers. Needless to say the battle between Anakin and Obi-wan is amazing, as well as far more brutal than I had imagined. Whew!

Two thumbs and a light saber way up!