Written Reviews – Page 3

Attack Of The Clones… Every Bit As Bad As I Remember It

Twenty years ago, on this very day, the fifth Star Wars film and the second episode of the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones, was released in theatres worldwide. As the second chapter of the prequels, it continued the story of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his young padawan Anakin Skywalker, who are charged with the mission of protecting the young Senator and former Queen Amidala from assassins, all the while trying to uncover the mystery of a clone army created in Kamino. The movie raked in about $650 million in the box office, but the reaction has been decided mixed.

Over the years, I have made no secret about considering Attack Of The Clones to be the absolute worst Star Wars movie ever made. I have held this belief since the day it premiered when I first saw it in theatres with my older brother and a bunch of his buddies, and even with the release of the recent films – which I tend to forget exist, coincidentally enough – it neatly lines that proverbial bottom of the Star Wars bottle. Now, it’s entirely possible that I may have been a bit harsh and maybe a fresh viewing through new eyes and on the eve of its twentieth year of existence, I may have gotten a new appreciation for this often misunderstood film.

So I pulled out the Blu-Ray disc that I had laying around, popped into my Blu-Ray player, resisted the urge to dive into the extras, and I watched Attack Of The Clones for the first time in years. And you know, I had the DVD release, I popped that into my DVD player, I kicked back and watch this film for the first time in years… and you know how some people would revisit something that they hadn’t touched in years because they had a low opinion of it and then they would go “Well, this isn’t as bad I remember it.”

Well, if the title isn’t much of a clue, then I give you my utmost assurance that no such thoughts came to mind after my viewing of Attack Of The Clones. It is, for all intents and purposes, every bit as bad as I remember it.

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COMIC REVIEW – Iron Man 2020 (1994 Marvel One-Shot)

(2025 Update: This review was originally written in 2022, but somehow a typo meant that it was published in 2012. This has long since been corrected.)

The character of Iron Man 2020 first debuted in 1984 in the Machine Man 2020 comic that was in publication at the time and featured another Stark named Arno as Iron Man, but this Iron Man was more of a hired gun than a hero. Anyway, said Iron Man 2020 would get his own prestige one-shot ten years later and for a one-shot, it does a fine enough job to bringing newbies up to speed on this character as he tracks folks who kidnapped the daughter of one of his competitors and all hell breaks loose, I guess.

The actual plot is nothing really special; it’s just an excuse to have some nice action bits and some hints of instilling some heroic attributes to a man who has none, somewhat mirroring the direction of the original Iron Man from years past. I do chuckle at all the future technology of 2020 that the art team attempted to predict. They figured we’d have flying cars by now; instead, we had a pandemic. The Iron Man 2020 suit looks clunky as hell, though.

This was an entertaining enough read, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a vital piece of comic work. Still, someone must have remembered this thing back in 2020, because they brought the character back in an event that same year. Would wonders never cease?

The “Rise” of Skywalker… Oy

So, it’s been a while since we touched on Star Wars, hasn’t it?

Assuming you skip out on any video reviews I might have uploaded along the way, I think I might’ve touched on anything related to the long-running franchise only a handful of times in the past year. And yes, outside of the video games that I’ve gotten along the way, I have not touched much of Star Wars as of late. But since we’re talking about Star Wars today, I’d imagine most people would’ve expected something on the Mandalorian or one of the new upcoming series or maybe there’s a new video game that I’m not playing and choosing to ignore.

Instead, I’m going to talk about The “Rise” Of Skywalker.

Note the quotations around the word “rise” and that one image of Mark Hamill looking stern – the same one used for my piece of The Last Jedi a couple years back – and think about that for a couple seconds before realizing that you have me all figured out. Then question where you’re resigned with that thought and are left to either move on to something or click the break to learn more and perhaps be amazed by what the actual thought process is.

Ready to go?

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COMIC REVIEW – Mega Man #1-4 (Dreamwave)

The short-lived Mega Man comic book from now-defunct publisher Dreamwave is an oddity of sorts. Based on the popular video game series, the comic repurposes Mega Man as a boy robot going to school and keeping his identity as the super fighting robot a secret like a traditional superhero yarn. On occasion, there are superheroics and robot battles, but these seem secondary in comparison to the school life (though things pick up as the series progresses and eventually ends abruptly.)

My issues with this series is numerous, but probably the biggest one being that this never truly felt like a Mega Man series, but rather a series of a boy robot and his adventures in school who took the form of Mega Man and associated side characters because they couldn’t be bothered to create their own heroes… despite the fact that they had no problem creating their own robot masters and steel devil villains for Mega Man to fight.

The art isn’t too bad; if anything, it keeps the character designs largely consistent with official sources and they didn’t detract too far off the beaten path in that regard when it came to creating some of the original humans for this series. The overall style maintains the anime feel you’d associate with Mega Man, but can be a bit messy at times.

In the final issue, a crossover was teased between the classic series and the Mega Man X series, further teasing an X series that never materialized due to Dreamwave shutting its doors. Mega Man would see new life in a long-running comic series from Archie Comics, which did a better job of staying true to the source material than this series ever did. Mega Man’s stint at Dreamwave was short and sweet, but nothing about warranted return trips any time soon.

COMIC REVIEW – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink (2017)

Boom! Studios’ first off-shoot Power Rangers miniseries was surprisingly not focused on TOMMY, but rather on Kimberly, fresh off not being a Ranger anymore. For you see, this takes place after Kim left the team to be a gymnast at the Pan Globals… but things are amiss. People have gone missing in the French village that her dear old mother lives in and she had find out what it is… so how does Kimberly take on the enormous task for solving the mystery of the missing Frenchmen?

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COMIC REVIEW – Superman: The Earth Stealers (1988)

Superman: The Earth Stealers – a One-shot released smack in the infancy of John Byrne’s reboot run of the Man Of Steel – is an oddity of sorts.

It involves an absurd plot where aliens steal the Earth and Superman has to get it back and a resolution that feels right at home in Silver Age lore, but somewhat out of place in the post-Crisis world, where Superman is depicted as less almighty than he had been in the past. The Earth Stealers runs contrary to that, since it showcases Superman at his absolute super-est. The fact that the book is illustrated in part by Curt Swan – he who has drawn many Silver Age Superman – adds credence to the old-school vibe.

I am, by no means, giving this book a low grade as a result because The Earth Stealers is a fun ride. A largely self-contained story that has some cool Superman bits that would’ve been perfectly at home with a bygone era of the Man of Steel’s history, yet maintains the more grounded characterizations and interplay of the then-current time. It’s a clash that shouldn’t work, but it does because John Byrne knew his Superman and knew what should and shouldn’t work with its take on the character. And the artwork by Curt Swan and Jerry Ordway is top-notch stuff.

All in all, I found The Earth Stealers to be a quick, fun read that maintains the standard of the Byrne-era Superman while infusing just enough Silver Age antics to keep the whole thing from being silly. A good book worth checking out.

COMIC REVIEW – Power Rangers: Soul Of The Dragon (Boom Studios, 2018)

(2023 Update: For some reason, I kept refering to the title as Sins Of The Dragon rather than Soul Of The Dragon. This has since been corrected.)

So anyone who has followed this blog have noted my somewhat “stern” criticism of Kyle Higgins’ obsession with JDF to the degree that his entire run has been all about him. I could say it’s all about “Tommy” and such, but let’s be honest. It’s all about that JDF wankfest. On a similar note, those same people who followed this blog will also have noted that I don’t particularly care for JDF as a personality. Countless posts can be found to further corroborate this point.

With this in mind, I came into Soul Of The Dragon – the first one-shot graphic novel in Boom’s Power Rangers line – with a bit of trepidation, but to my surprise and utter delight, what I got was actually a pretty decent, somewhat low-key story about an aged Dr. Oliver, past his prime, searching for clues as to the whereabouts of his missing son. There are familiar cameos, there are flashbacks and references to past events, there’s some twists and turns that seem somewhat obvious if you’ve been following the main series for a while, but it makes sense within the context of the story.

The whole thing is basically a last hurrah for the Tommy Oliver character before he passes the torch, so to speak. And while it isn’t the Old Man Logan approach that some folks would have wanted, it is nonetheless a satisfying final chapter for the franchise’s most popular character… Finster.

The artwork is interesting, with an attempt to give these characters as close to a resemblance to the actors who portrayed them as possible. In this regard, it’s a mixed bag; sometimes, they nail it and other times, not so much. As a whole, the art tends to be a bit rough, sometimes feeling as though it was drawn on a sketchbook quickly and color was splashed on later before it went straight to print. You see this often with the characters, though the scenery isn’t too bad either.

Soul Of The Dragon is probably Kyle Higgins’ best work. It’s a simple but effectively decent story, a good read, and gives Tommy a good last hurrah that lacks the ballyhoo people would’ve liked and was better for it. A highly recommended read if you want a quick PR comic to read, and that’s the highest praise I’ve levied towards the Boom run thus far.

COMIC REVIEW – Power Rangers: Aftershock (2017)

Aftershock is a weird little thing. It was basically Boom Studios’ attempt at tying into the recently released Power Rangers reboot movie, but rather than go for a movie adaptation that would’ve expanded on some ideas or presented some new ones, they opted for a pseudo-sequel thing that served as a follow-up to the film… and it’s not very good.

Here’s the deal. You have a movie tied to a license you have, you want to make a tie-in book, but you can’t do anything that introduces new lore because that’s what sequels are for and anything you add to the lore will more than likely be jettisoned because anything on screen takes precedence over the written word that only some hobbyists will bother to read. In fairness to Ryan Parrott – a guy who has since become the defacto Power Rangers comic book writer – he tried to put out the most compelling story he could for this one shot and perhaps plant the seeds for further adventures that could be explored in comic book form.

The problem is that the story is largely uninteresting. Reanimated putties, convicts merging with Goldar dust, and “what’s the deal with that lady” aren’t exactly compelling plot points. The Rangers dealing with some of their personal stuff might seem like basic character development, but it feels like spinning the wheels in place; doing just enough to give the impression of growth, but not enough that it feels like proper growth.

At the very least, the art is pretty solid; some muted colors aside, the characters do resemble their movie counterparts just fine (right down to the same clothes, coincidentally enough) and the overall tone of the world is fairly recreated. It’s just too bad that the glue that keeps Aftershock from falling apart – the plot – is fairly weak; so much so that the included sampler of the first issue of Boom’s MMPR comic comes across as a stronger story by comparison.

COMIC REVIEW – Star Trek: Countdown To Darkness (2012-2013)

Much like the previous film, Star Trek Into Darkness – the overall twelfth Trek film and the second in the Kelvin Timeline trilogy of films – got its own prequel comic book series in the form of Countdown To Darkness… and in hindsight, this one hasn’t aged all that well.

Don’t get me wrong; as a story in a vacuum, it’s a fairly traditional Trek story involving a trip to a new planet, the discovering of a reimagined classic character, the depiction of Klingons in this new universe, and an otherwise, fairly entertaining romp. There are some minor inconsistencies in terms of canon – the mention of a previous Starship Enterprise before the one featured in the movie, for example… which I don’t believe ever made it to Kelvin canon – but as a standalone adventure, it’s a perfectly adequate Trek comic book.

As a tie-in comic, there are a couple plotpoints that tie in to the movie in question, but these are mostly related to comments made in passing in the film. Unlike the first Countdown miniseries or even the Nero miniseries that came afterwards, there’s no real reason to dive into this one expecting anything that would further your enjoyment of what has since become a somewhat divisive motion picture.

David Messina’s artwork is still pretty much a highlight to these comics and pretty much drive the series onwards. But he’s provided artwork for many superior Trek minis. Not quite his best work, but still pretty good.

Countdown to Darkness is fairly basic Trek fare and an underwhelming tie-in comic.

COMIC REVIEW – Star Trek: Nero (2010)

The other Trek 09 prequel comic miniseries focuses on Nero and what he’s been up to in between the prologue and the rest of the movie many years later. Beginning shortly after George Kirk sacrificed his ship and his life to save the fleeing crew, Nero and his ship are soon ambushed and captured by Klingons, who somewhat resemble the Klingons we’re familiar with when they don’t have their helmets on.

A lot of the Klingon stuff is based on deleted scenes from the movie and Nero’s band eventually make their escape, but there is an additional element that comes into play that gives Nero the answer to where and when to find Spock. I won’t spoil it here, but it is a nod to another Star Trek movie that I thought made quite a bit of scene in the larger picture and was a nice fit here.

David Messina returns to art duties here and he hasn’t missed a beat. The same kind of colors and character portrayals are pretty spot-on in his own stylized way and his interpretation of the Klingon ships as well as the battle at the end of the series is pretty good,.

Nero isn’t quite as good or as essential as Countdown, but it’s still a pretty good read and fills in the gap nicely between point A and point B.