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Category: Comics & Books


Buck Rogers banner

There’s no rest for the weary, and one of borg.com‘s favorite writer/artists, Howard Chaykin, seems to be proving that, producing new stories and art everywhere you turn.  In 2013 he is working on two new comic book series that take a nostalgic look back to the middle of the 20th century.  Chaykin is serving as series artist on Satellite Sam, and artist and writer bringing Buck Rogers and the 25th Century back to comics.  Where the Buck Rogers monthly will be a straightforward classic take on the character, Satellite Sam will look at a TV serial character like Buck Rogers and the actor behind the role.

Satellite Sam Issue 1 cover

Chaykin and writer Matt Fraction (Hawkeye) take a dark look at the Golden Age of television with Image Comics’ Satellite Sam.  The innocence portrayed in 1950s television is contrasted with real life Hollywood when Carlyle Bishop, star of the TV series Satellite Sam is found dead in the not so glitzy part of town.  His son Michael finds a box of sleazy photos, which opens up a detective story into a life far different from that portrayed on TV.  It sounds a bit like it may reflect the type of short and complex lives of real-life actors George Reeves (The Adventures of Superman) and Bob Crane (Hogan’s Heroes) in a Sunset Boulevard setting.

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The Movement banner

If you’re tired of the same superhero teams that have been around for the better part of a century (and even if you’re not) two new comic books offer new teams to get to know.  Remember Marvel Comics’ New Universe in the 1980s?  Star Brand, Nightmask, PSI-Force, Justice, D.P. 7, Kickers, Inc., Mark Hazzard: Merc, Spitfire and the Troubleshooters–I read them all.  Nightmask and Star Brand even returned this year in the NOW! series event.  But if you’re looking for something different from The Avengers of the Justice League, give these two books a look.

TheMovement1

First, coming in two weeks is the second issue of The Movement from DC Comics.   Gail Simone has crafted a new world within the DC Universe yet apart from the current New 52 activities.  She’s created a new team of street urchin types defending the poor and the downtrodden from bad guys and the corrupt police force that should be protecting everyone.  Artist Freddie Williams II has created a cool looking super force with Mouse, the “prince of rats” who enlists rodents in his crusade against the forces for bad, Virtue, who seems to be the leader of the team and has psychic abilities, Tremor, who can control her environment, such as causing an Earthquake with her touch, Katharsis, who is a character that resembles Huntress, but sports a set of mechanical wings and in Issue #1 was all badass against corrupt cops, and finally Burden, who has super powers but believes he is possessed.

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Allie Brosh Hyperbole and a Half Depression Part Two copyright 2013

If you haven’t seen Paul Giamatti’s incredible performance as comic book writer Harvey Pekar in the 2003 film American Splendor you should add it to your Netflix queue.  The movie follows the Cleveland born and raised Pekar and his rise to fame as underground comic book creator, writing about relationships, holding a job, wrestling health issues, writing about life.  Better yet, track down any of his books.  His book Our Cancer Year, which won both a Harvey Award and American Book Award, was written with his wife Joyce Brabner, recounting his tumultuous yet ultimately successful battle against lymphoma.  It’s an account that takes comic book writing to another place entirely.  His American Splendor series has been praised by many in the field, including other writers like Neil Gaiman. His stories were drawn by a myriad of artists including Cleveland neighbor Robert Crumb.

Harvey wrestled with anxiety during his life and suffered from depression.  He died from an accidental overdose in 2010 shortly after he learned he had a recurrence of cancer–his third fight against the disease.  If you ever are questioned about comic books as a serious medium, you can point to Harvey Pekar and that should stop anyone in their tracks.

Harvey Pekar Joyce Brabner Our Cancer Year

Last week a friend sent me a link to website written by a woman named Allie Brosh who uses comic art to talk about her life and experiences, blogging much like any number of people across the Web.  She’d been offline for a long while and returned with an incredible post last week.  Check out this story in comic art form, titled Depression Part Two.  There is something very compelling and striking about her creative way of storytelling.  If you have ever known someone who suffers from depression, or you yourself think you may suffer from depression, you may find your friend or yourself in Allie’s work.  The Bend, Oregon, based blogger has received thousands of comments already for her post about depression, and if the story itself doesn’t convince you that “you’re not in this alone” then all the commenters who have written about being touched by her story should.

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Declan Shalvey RoboCop cover excerpt

BOOM! Studio announced this week that Steven Grant will be writing an adaptation of Frank Miller’s unproduced original RoboCop 3 screenplay, in an 8-issue mini-series titled RoboCop: Last Stand.  The series will be illustrated by Korkut Oztekin with cover art by Declan Shalvey and is expected to wrap up Miller’s early vision of the future cop.

Boom RoboCop panel from early comic book series

Grant also wrote an adaptation of Frank Miller’s script for Robocop 2 with Avatar Press.  Now holding the RoboCop rights previously held by Dynamite Comics, BOOM! is planning on releasing that earlier series as a deluxe hardcover.  Marvel, Dark Horse, Avatar, and Dynamite have all previously published RoboCop titles, making BOOM! the fifth publisher to take on the classic borg policeman.

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Agent Coulson is back

Agent Coulson lives!

Like all characters in comic books, dead doesn’t really mean dead.  And we couldn’t be happier that Marvel Studios is bringing back Agent Phil Coulson, who, played by Clarke Gregg, was the unlikely lynchpin of every one of the recent interconnected movies based on Marvel Comics’ characters.

In the marathon opening night for The Avengers, Agent Coulson served as our guide, speaking directly to viewers as he introduced Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man 2, and Captain America: The First Avenger.  In The Avengers, we saw what was unquestionably the most emotional scene of the franchise as Coulson was killed by Loki.  Or so we thought.

Check out the preview for the ABC Network’s new TV series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

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BSG01CovIncenRossBW

Before Starbuck was played by a woman he was played by Face on The A-Team.  Before Richard Hatch was Zarek he was Apollo.  And Adama was played by Lorne Greene, not Edward James Olmos.  Vipers were distinctive and cool.  Viper pilots had helmets that were equally cool, with a bit of an Egyptian aura.  These were the days of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series.  Despite the success of the modern remake, the original 1970s series has its own rightful place in the annals of sci-fi TV.

Next week Dynamite Comics is releasing a new comic book series for the TV series’ 25th anniversary, and if Issue #1 is any indication fans of retro TV generally and the original BSG specifically will find a familiar universe here.  And yet the new series has been updated with some new twists.

How about time travel as a weapon?  We saw something similar in the Bruce Willis sci-fi movie Looper, reviewed here at borg.com last month.  It’s a cool idea introduced in issue #1 and likely will be a key element in future stories.

Dynamite BSG Issue 1 cartoon cover

Artist Cezar Razek creates some nice outer space images with detailed baseships and both classic and updated vipers.  The characters evoke the original series cast, especially Dirk Benedict’s Starbuck.  Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning offer up the background of this future world where an epic battle has pitted man against machine.  And man is in search of the legendary planet Earth.  And in Issue #1 Abnett and Lanning set Commander Adama off on a new battle with those machines–the classic chrome Cylon warriors.

Despite the interesting idea of clone humanoids as Cylons in the BSG reboot, it’s really hard not to love the original appearance of Cylons more.

Battlestar Galactica Issue #1 is a fun retro sci-fi read.  Pick up your copy next Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at comic book stores everywhere.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Grimm 1 Alex Ross cover

Grimm fans who attended Free Comic Book Day Saturday and this week’s comic book Wednesday were treated to a double dose of their favorite series with both a free full-length comic story and an action-packed Issue #1.  Now in its second season on NBC, Grimm is in contention for the best fantasy series on television.  And unlike the typical comic book spin-off that is stuck in a story that doesn’t veer far from the TV scripts, the ongoing story of Portland Detective Nick Burkhart in the new comic book series actually continues key plot lines from the TV series, taking characters where it would be costly to take them on the TV series.

Grimm issue 0

The comic book series opener in the FCBD comic, Issue #0, provides an origin story overlaid on what could be a Wesen-of-the-week episode of the TV series.  It also reintroduces Nick’s mom, Kelly, played on-screen by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and her possession of the Coins of Zakynthos, which have a unique history, revealed in the pages of Issue #1.  Side-stepping story obstacles and secrets yet to be revealed to viewers, like whether or not Nick’s girlfriend Juliet will remember Nick after losing her memory from a cursed cat bite, the story takes Nick, police department partner Detective Hank Griffin and Blutbad vegan pal Monroe to Vienna in pursuit of Kelly.  Kelly had left Nick a cryptic voicemail message, sending Nick & Co. on this new adventure far away from the streets of Portland.

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Enders Game movie poster

If you’ve ever read Orson Scott Card’s classic Ender’s Game (and if you haven’t, go do that immediately), you couldn’t help picturing it on the big screen.  Card’s vision of a futuristic military academy is cinematic–in a way it’s taken over twenty years (and movie adaptations like the Lord of the Rings films to pave the way) for special effects technology to do it justice.  But there’s more to Ender’s Game than its dazzling sci-fi trappings, and after the rash of recent YA novels-turned-films, focused more on pleasing fans of the original books than in making fully realized, standalone stories, it’s hard not to worry about director Gavin Hood’s upcoming adaptation.

Still, the first trailer, just released, gives us hope:

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BSG 1 2013 Ross cover

Marking the 35th anniversary of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series, Dynamite Comics is bringing the original series back for an ongoing monthly comic book series beginning next week.  The Alex Ross cover art for the first three issues have been released and they look great, with homages to other 1970s science fiction posters.  The cover to Issue #1 is above and here are the covers to Issues 2 and 3:

BSG Issue 2 cover Ross  BSG issue 3

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Busy FCBD 2013

Yesterday was another successful Free Comic Book Day and Galactic Star Wars Day with plenty of “may the fourth be with you” greetings being exchanged in comic book stores everywhere.  It was another successful showing at Elite Comics in Overland Park, Kansas with hundreds of attendees.  Supplies of all free books were well-stocked so everyone was able to get what they were after.  And of course, free cake.

This year you could also get this great Galactic Star Wars Day/Free Comic Book Day 2013 patch to pin on your favorite wookiee:

FCBD 2013 Patch

The biggest change this year seemed to be the record number of free comic books actually directed at kids.

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