Comic Book Resources Articles

Catching up on some of the things I've written for CBR lately.

I think I have to start writing more critical analyses for my personal site, as I'm not really afforded the opportunity by these news articles.

Check these interesting things out, and not just because I'm paid by the hit on the site ;)

Crisis on Infinite Earths Fan-Edit Brings In Even More Classic DC Universes

 

The Avengers Meets Blue Monday in Marvelous MCU Mashup

 

Eternals Star Gemma Chan Shares Photo to Commemorate Filming Wrap

 

Cats, Rambo and Hellboy Lead 2020 Razzies Nominations

 

Record-Setting World's Largest Firework Video Is Absolutely Terrifying - this video is really freaking cool.

 

I Am Not Okay With This Mixes Teen Angst & Super Powers in First Trailer

 

Star Wars Fans Launch Petition for JJ Abrams' 3-Hour Rise of Skywalker Cut

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1717: Droids #1, April 1986

I very much enjoyed the Droids cartoon when it was on TV. I even had a couple of the action figures based on the series. Though more comedic than the original films, the series sated a need for Star Wars in my young soul. Bear in mind that this is post-Jedi, so we really thought that there was no more of the story coming. Droids served as a prequel to A New Hope, and a better one than the prequels we eventually got. With the exception of Rogue One, a true prequel to A New Hope.

Today's comic highlights something about Artoo and 3P0 that has always interested me: they seem to find new people to serve simply by serendipity. I think there might be something to be said about this serendipitous nature throughout the films and ancillary media, and it really reinforces the fan theory that the films are being told by Artoo at some point in the future. Despite being mechanical beings, the two often function quite magically in the series. Artoo always manages to find the right fix just in the nick of time, and 3P0 gets into situations that often lead to unintended, but important, outcomes.

And before I let this one go, I do have to mention the uncomfortable bit about the droids looking for a "Master" to serve. I find the idea more and more uncomfortable as the world slides inexorably rightward.

"The X-Ones were defense robots, programmed to automatically fight against any hostile act!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 880: Droids #6, February 1987

One of my favourite Star Wars comics is called Tag and Bink are Dead, written by Kevin Rubio, and styled after Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. It follows the adventures of two rebel soldiers who pop in and out of the backgrounds of many of the famous scenes in the original Star Wars trilogy. It's very clever, and trades on the ubiquity of knowledge of the events of Star Wars to increase its humour.

I'd kind of hoped that today's comic would be similar in execution, and it is to a certain extent. What keeps this comic from achieving the same level of metatext and commentary as Tag and Bink, though, is that this comic is explicitly linked to a children's cartoon. Droids was relatively successful when it came out, as was it's companion show Ewoks. But they were both definitely designed for younger audiences, and the comics versions are too. Instead of humorous entrances and exits into familiar action, which does happen a little bit, we instead get pretty much a retelling of the first half of Episode 4, interspersed with strange little side adventures (like with a weird race of mole creatures that live under the desert on Tatooine and worship an "acid lizard." Had the comic not been linked to the cartoon, I imagine we might have seen amusing commentary on the actions we've come to know and love, and different perspectives on how the events progress. What is C-3P0's take on the Rebellion, and the frankly haphazard way that Luke, Han, Chewie, and Leia go about their business of overthrowing a dictatorship? Would he even want that to happen?

Were the retelling a bit more self-aware, I'd likely track it down. But it's not, so we get a little taste of what the Droids comic and cartoon were like, how Star Wars (episode 4, that is) might have played out as a children's cartoon, and of Marvel's second (?) attempt to adapt this story. The first one, I think, was more successful.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - The Weekly Graphic Novel: Week 51 - Darth Vader and Son, 2012

Originally, I'd thought that this book and its follow-ups were rather adorable. Seeing Darth Vader as a father while remaining just faithful enough to the character was amusing. Tiny Luke is cute as a button, as is Tiny Leia when she shows up, and both children respond to situations, be they mundane or "Star Wars-y," in the way that such young children do. I'm still slightly shocked that something so whimsical comes from the mind of Jeffrey Brown. My only previous experience of him are his often thoroughly depressing autobiographical comics. Don't get me wrong - they're amazing comics, but they're just not quite as cute as the ones in today's book.

That's what I'd thought originally. Then I gave the book to my wife to read, because I thought she'd find the parental shenanigans of Darth Vader amusing. But when I asked her what she thought of it, she replied that it had made her sad. Because all of those cute things Vader does in the book...he never gets to do with Luke.

And all of a sudden, this book and its sequels, are heart breaking.

But still well worth the read.

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 567: Star Wars Tales #8, June 2001

One of the great things about the Star Wars universe is that, through the tool of the inimitable Darth Vader, we've been given a setting in which the villains are every bit as interesting as the heroes, to the point that we're happy to read stories about them, regardless of the despicable things they do. I suppose the tale of Han Solo sets us up to recognize that perhaps, just perhaps, given the right circumstances, the rogue we're rooting for might actually become a hero.

Though, in some cases, the certainty that they won't makes the story that much better.

There's an excellent story in here about a Twi'lek who, through no fault of her own, goes through a horrendous experience while researching her dissertation. At one point she's chained to Jabba the Hutt and is cleaning slime from his body, and I thought, "Yep, that's kind of what it's like sometimes." It's nice to see Star Wars offering us metaphors not only for the big moments of an individual's development, but also for the stupid things we do to ourselves sometimes.

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 566: Star Wars Tales #5, September 2000

All you really need to know about this comic is that Billy Dee Williams graces its cover, and there's a story inside featuring his post-Return of the Jedi adventures called "Lando's Commandos."

The Star Wars expanded universe is such a rich vein to mine. Considering how well-researched and documented it is, there's still a remarkable amount that is untold or uncreated. There's room for humour and for pathos, for action and for romance, all of which are covered by this comic. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the diversity of the Star Wars Tales series.

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 565: Star Wars Tales #2, December 1999

In the late 90s and early 2000s, Star Wars experienced a renaissance similar to that which it is going through now. Excitement over the prequels was high, waves and waves of toys were crashing on the shores of Toys R Us, and comics content magnified accordingly. This anthology title was the only one I was ever particularly interested in, as it took interesting and little-explored corners of the Star Wars galaxy and highlighted them. Today's tales of a nameless Jedi liberator, of Max Rebo and his band, of Han Solo, and of Darth Vader give us a lovely view of the breadth and depth of the Star Wars setting, not just the geographical and historical vastness of the fictional universe, but the generic vastness that the universe is capable of supporting. Dave Cooper's cartoon-y take on Jabba's house band is proof positive of this genre-hopping. Though grounded in a relatively serious science fiction universe, Max, Sy, and Droopy's adventure proceeds like an Adult Swim cartoon or an underground comix story. Indeed, one of the reasons I started reading and collecting, briefly, this series is that it had work by Kevin Rubio, creator of the amazing TROOPS, and of the incredible Tag and Bink are Dead comics series. These humorous tales, though often patently ridiculous, remind us that a fictional universe is, much like our own universe, capable of supporting every genre, and every type of story within that genre, with which we tell tales. I've never been able to understand why Big Hero 6 was not made an official part of the MCU, given the studio of its origin, but I get the feeling that it's because it was a cartoon, and didn't fit some strange notion of the kinds of stories that the MCU can support. Fictional universes grow through diversity, not uniformity.

Onward.