The Awesome List: Strength, Courage, and a Fabulous Sunsword

Captain Marvel meets Superman



Dr. Hermes has the story behind this cool picture.

It's HERE!



I've been whining for years about not being able to buy Thundarr the Barbarian on DVD. Ken O reveals that I can finally shut up and pull out my wallet. Which I've just done. Thanks, Ken!

Pass the Comics: Trespasser in Time

This isn't even the weirdest thing that happens in this story. [The Comic Book Catacombs]

Art Show: Strange Visitor from Another Planet

Superman



By Evan Shaner. I occasionally have a hard time remembering what I like about Superman, but this picture brings it all back. I love the determination on his face mixed with the little smile. He's about to save a life or lives, but he's having fun doing it. Not because he's careless about the responsibility, but because he truly enjoys his job. This is so much more meaningful to me than images that show him off in the distance, detached from humanity. [ComicTwart]

Northstar



By Ted Naifeh.

Alpha Flight's Night Out



By Ryan Alexander-Tanner. I love Sasquatch's expression as he's not sure what to do with a depressed Puck. Meanwhile, Mac earns his name. [Drawbridge]

Sasquatch



By Gavin Spence. I've been looking through some old files recently and found this by my pal Gav who's also one of the artists on Cownt Tales.

Joy-Rider Spider



By Caanan Grall.

Discover the Thrill of Space and Time



By Justin White. [Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs: Click the link to find out also what happens to T-Rexes who play with finger traps.]

Western Robot



Artist Unknown. [Brother Cal has found several great robot paintings.]

Concerning Star Wars

Calvin had this Star Wars questionnaire on his blog and it looked like fun, so here goes:



1. Who is your favorite character from the original trilogy?

I waffle between Han and Chewie, but usually decide on Chewie. I admire his loyalty, his strength, and his bravery (made so obvious by his occasional struggle with cowardice), but especially important to 10-year-old me was the way the human characters accepted him in spite of how different he was. In fact, one of the most endearing things about Han is that he’s chosen Chewie as his best friend.

2. How would you rank the original trilogy, in order from favorite to least favorite?

Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi

I used to say Empire was my favorite until I realized how forced the idea is that Vader is Luke’s dad. It’s obviously a mid-course correction. Technically, it’s a better movie than Star Wars, but it’s got nothing on the sense of wonder and excitement of that first movie.

Jedi goes to the bottom because of the Ewoks. They’re the Jar Jar of the original trilogy. Not that I hate them (or Jar Jar, for that matter), but they’re overly silly and cutesy. The jawas, in contrast, are cute, but there's some mystery about them that keeps them from being goofy.



3. What are two of your favorite action scenes from the original trilogy?

Tops is the TIE Fighters chasing the Falcon through the asteroid field in Empire. All that ducking and weaving is still thrilling to watch.

After that, I guess it’s the fight at the Sarlacc pit where you first realize how awesome Luke has become.

4. What do you consider the most emotional scene from the original trilogy?

Han’s going into the carbonite chamber. Especially Chewie’s being willing to sacrifice himself and everyone else to keep Han out of it. His having to restrain himself because Han asks him to watch over Leia is heart-breaking.

5. Do you have any favorite toys or collectibles based off the original trilogy?

The huge Millenium Falcon that fits the action figures and has all the lights and noises. I wanted that so badly as a kid and my parents couldn’t afford it. As soon as they rereleased it – when I was grown and could buy it myself – I went and got one. Childhood dreams: fulfilled.



6. Which character had the most unsatisfying death in the original trilogy?

This isn’t even an opinion. The objective, correct, factual answer is Boba Fett.

7. What’s your favorite ship or vehicle from the original trilogy?

The Falcon. Easily.

8. Who is your favorite character from the prequel trilogy?

Qui-Gon. That’s mostly love for Liam Neeson, but I also appreciate how much of an outsider he was to those stuffy Jedi. His defining moment for me is after the Council refuses to let him train Anakin, but he tells the boy to stay close and observe. It’s obvious to me that he’s still planning to train Anakin unofficially without the Council’s permission.

9. How would you rank the prequel trilogy, in order from favorite to least favorite?

Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith

They’re all deeply flawed, but Phantom Menace feels least so. Even though events are set in motion in a confusing way and Lucas is still obviously making things up as he goes along, it’s got Qui-Gon and Darth Maul and a decent start to Anakin’s story. As the series progressed, it became more and more apparent that Anakin’s seduction to the Dark Side wasn’t going to be convincing, but in Menace that hasn’t become a problem yet.



It’s hard to decide which I dislike least between Clones and Sith. They both have crappy plots and character development highlighted by some very cool action scenes. Sith tries to move ahead of Clones by reminding me of the original trilogy at the end, but loses by making Padme suck so very, very badly as well as proving conclusively that Anakin’s descent into evil was totally unnatural.

10. What are two of your favorite action scenes from the prequel trilogy?

My favorite is easily the arena pit before the Jedi show up: Padme, Anakin, and Obi-Wan versus giant monsters. The Jedi's arrival is cool and all, but the battle gets too busy from there for me to enjoy properly.

Second has to be Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul. I love watching Ray Park move.

11. What do you consider the most emotional scene from the prequel trilogy?

Obi-Wan’s disbelief at how far wrong things have gone in his relationship with Anakin. Ewan McGregor’s delivery of “You were the chosen one!” gets me every time. I hate that Anakin’s turning to the Dark Side is so weak, but once he gets there, the fallout between him and Obi-Wan is real.



12. Do you have any favorite toys or collectibles based off the prequel trilogy?

Nah. I was wise to Lucas’ game by then. We’ve got some Happy Meal knick-knacks, but nothing I especially like.

13. Which character had the most unsatisfying death in the prequel trilogy?

It’s tempting to say Darth Maul, but really it’s the fact that he died that’s disappointing, not how it happened. Mace Windu is another lame death, but my for-real pick is easily Padme, who died of...sadness.

14. What’s your favorite ship or vehicle from the prequel trilogy?

Padme’s shiny Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. I just wish we could've seen Rogue fly out of it once, carrying Wolverine into battle against Magneto and his acolytes.

15. If you could get a personalized Star Wars themed license plate for your car, what would it say?

Ew. I would never do that. But if I had to get one, I’d settle for SLAVE-1. [Calvin's SLAVE-3 idea is far more clever than mine. Wish I'd thought of that.]



16. Do you have a favorite Star Wars based video game?

I’m not much of a video gamer, so the last time I played a Star Wars video game was probably on an Atari system. I sort of remember trying to get my pixilated Luke Skywalker to jump past bomb-throwing jawas in order to get inside their sandcrawler. It wasn’t that fun.

Slightly more entertaining was the old arcade game that simulated an X-Wing as you tried to blow up the Death Star.

17. Have you read any of the Star Wars books (expanded universe), and if so, what are your favorites?

I used to be really into this until they started coming out with them faster than I could read them. I have a special fondness for Brian Daley’s Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Stars’ End, Han Solo’s Revenge, and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy. I also deeply appreciate AC Crispin’s Han Solo Trilogy (The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn) for not only filling in more details of Han’s early life (how he became an outlaw, how he met Chewie, etc.), but for also including Daley’s books and even the weird, but entertaining Lando Calrissian Adventures by L Neil Smith as part of its backstory.

I also remember enjoying Timothy Zahn’s trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. Kevin J Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, and Champions of the Force) had its moments too, but by then I was starting to see diminishing returns on this whole Expanded Universe concept.



18. Are you a fan of the “Clone Wars” cartoon series?

I am, but not of their habit of starting a new season before the previous season’s been released on DVD. For that reason, we’re watching them on DVD only, but we really enjoyed Season One and I understand that Season Two is even better. As far as I’m concerned, Clone Wars rescued Star Wars from total lameness.

19. What (or who) do you hope to see in upcoming Star Wars TV series?

Totally new characters, during the time between the trilogies, preferably focusing on rogues and scoundrels. With occasional appearances and cameos by younger versions of familiar characters like Han and Chewie or Boba Fett.

20. If you were stranded on a desert island with one Star Wars character, who would you want it to be and why?

Chewie. Once I learned to understand Wookiee he’d be cool company and his engineering genius would come in very handy for survival and eventual escape. Artoo would also be an excellent choice for similar reasons.

Destructor

Let's ease back into this, shall we?

Just one link today and that's to Sean T Collins and Matt Wiegle's Destructor, a new webcomic about a (presumably) killer robot. The first story, "Destructor Comes to Croc-Town," has our hardware hero encountering some reptilian rapscallions to violent results. Collins and Wiegle are just getting started, but as you can tell from the sample above, it looks great and has a terrifically fun feel to it. I'm looking forward to a lot more of this.

GYAAAH!

The last couple of days have been nuts for a variety of reasons, some good, some involving a sick boy. Hopefully I'll be able to resume something like a normal schedule tomorrow.

Thanks for understanding.

Quote of the Week: What to buy for someone who doesn't like comics

Image bootlegged from Game Server Hosting.

io9 posts its gift guide for people not into comics, which seems to me a decent gift guide and not necessarily one good for people not into comics (for whom I suggest getting something not a comic).
--Tom Spurgeon

Kill All Monsters! Pages 9-11

It's Friday and you know what that means. Catch up with our robot-driving heroes as they try to catch a break and actually kill some monsters.

Pass the Comics: To Venus from the Moon

First Men in the Moon



Gold Key Comics! has the comics adaptation of the '60s Ray Harryhausen version of the HG Wells classic.

Mysta of the Moon and the Damp Light



Speaking of the Moon, we need to catch up with Sleestak's presentation of Mysta's adventures. In Part 12, Mysta's still trying to suppress the pursuit of knowledge that can be used for evil purposes. Up to now, I've been giving Mysta the benefit of the doubt concerning her ruthlessness in protecting forbidden areas of exploration, but this story makes me wonder. Rather than stop someone's splitting the atom - something that leads to a consequence I'm very familiar with as a child of the Cold War - this time Mysta's preventing a scientists' exploration of something called Damp Light.

Using a fictional science in the story instead of an actual one has a weird effect. My curiosity gets the better of me and I suddenly want to know more about what Damp Light does. In other words, I'm on the rogue scientist's side on this one. Or would be if he weren't so obviously evil. That he's also a murderer who's raised an equally vile daughter makes the story more exciting, but it's also sort of a moral cop out. It lets Mysta stay the good guy when in other circumstances, she might not be.

No one ever explains why Damp Light is forbidden. It has a nasty effect on a particular kind of insect egg, but my first thought was that that's more the eggs' fault than the light's. Sleestak has a much cooler explanation that also makes more sense of Mysta's objections to Damp Light. He suspects that it mutates insects into giant monsters and postulates that "someone somewhere has a use for giant rampaging bugs...probably the military-industrial complex or a group poised to take over human space."

Sleestak also makes a couple of other fascinating observations in relation to Mysta's sidekick Bron. One I'll leave for my commentary of Part 13, but the other is that - even though Mysta learned he's not the real Bron in Part 11 - "she still refers to her assistant as Bron and not by his true name." Sleestak offers that she maintains the deception in order to protect her positive image in the public eye. I'm not so sure, because she also calls him Bron in private. There's something else going on here, though I'm still trying to figure out what it is. More on this in a minute.

We also learn in this story that Mysta can use her Thought Image form to take control of another person.I don't recall her doing that before, which makes me wonder if it's a recently developed use of her ability or something she's always been able to do, but we just haven't seen yet.

After the break: More Mysta and Adventures on Venus!

Art Show: Stinking Paws

Re-Imagined Raiders



By Ed Binkley. [Illustrateurs]

Planet of the Apes




By Zee Risek. [Art Jumble]

The Hunt



By Jeremy Vanhoozer.

O'Ryann's Odyssey




By Jim Steranko. [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

The Valkyrie from the Void



By Steve Epting.

Vanguard



By Dave Stevens. [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

The Awesome List: Game of Dungeons & Dragons

Game of Thrones photos



I couldn't make it through George RR Martin's Game of Thrones, but that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to HBO's TV series. /Film has a ton of pictures from the show and I fully expect it to join the list of filmed adaptations that are better than their books. [Boy, that's a lot of links for two sentences.]

Valid questions about IDW's Dungeons & Dragons comic



Comic shop manager Mike Sterling quizzes an employee about the new Dungeons & Dragon comic:

Mike: “I understand this new Dungeons & Dragons comic is actually supposed to be pretty good.”
Employee Aaron: “Yeah, it really was.”
M: “So are there any gelatinous cubes?”
EA: “Sorry, Mike, but no.”
M: “How ’bout displacer beasts? At least one?”
EA: “Not one.”
M: “Okay, fine…mind flayers?”
EA: “No.”
M: “Beholders. There has to be a Beholder in this comic.”
EA: “There sure isn’t.”
M: “This is a Dungeons & Dragons comic, right?”

Sterling's only getting started with the questions in that snippet. He hasn't even gotten yet to alignments, saving throws, and thieves doing quadruple damage using sneak backstab attacks. The interrogation continues at Sterling's blog and convinces me that if anyone was born to write a D&D comic, it's him.