Comic Book Resources

The Fifth Color | Reach for the Stars

It was four o'clock in the morning. We had to leave my place in Santa Barbara at 2 a.m. to arrive on time to get into costuming and make-up at a blimp hanger in Tustin, CA. Corporate Headquarters called me in.

And by Corporate Headquarters, I mean Starfleet.

From a notice on Startrek.com to a casting call of what honestly felt like over 9,000 hopefuls and fans (one even flew in that day from the East Coast to wait his turn in line!), I got the callback from some very nice people who would induct me into a lifelong dream.

For others, this was just another day at work. For you non-California types, one can make a semi-honest living as a movie set extra. The professionals were rather amused by the extreme nerd set milling about and there was a rumor running around amongst us that if they found you out to be a Super Fan, they might remove you as a security risk. JJ Abrams wanted this more secret than secret and all of us were under non-disclosure agreements. Talking Trek was difficult at first, but it didn't stop the fans from finding our own. Suiting up in the women's dressing room, I heard one girl complain about how nerdy some of our fellow extras were. "One guy was complaining about the pin on our jackets!" she decried.

"Really, oh my God," I commiserated. "... which one was he again?"

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The Fifth Color | Ultimate Trek

Don't call it a come back, we've been here for years!

Forty-three, to be exact.

And 43 years of anything makes you dated. Culture and technology changes so fast in our modern times that yesterday's science-fiction is today's foam and cardboard. So, a bunch of people with a lot of money and determination decided to take a course of action that some would consider a much needed face-lift and others outright blasphemy. Spider-Man would get a new revamped series for modern readers- wait, sorry. I mean, Star Trek would get an all-new fresh look with young, hip actors and eye-dazzling CGI. But would we get an all new Chapter One or would we see an Ultimate revolution in the franchise?

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Young as when the world was new

Grumpy Old Fan

This space is ordinarily reserved for my views on DC Comics' superhero line, because those books take up the bulk of my comics purchases.  Today, though, we'll be talking about what is probably my first great love.

For this longtime fan, the new Star Trek movie (directed by J.J. Abrams, as if you didn't know) is a revelation. It is a terrifically busy movie, full of running and shouting and frantic working of high-tech controls. Phasers are fired, shields are battered, and great starships endure severe poundings (as do their commanding officers). However, ST '09 is not a mere popcorn film, designed to capitalize on the familiarity of corporately-owned characters. (As if to drive home this point, the movie was playing with trailers for G.I. Joe and the Transformers sequel.) It reintroduces the archetypal crew of the Enterprise convincingly, with winning performances from all involved.

Now, let's be clear: this is not really a review. A review would talk about the film's technical aspects, and I'm not ready to do that just yet. Actually, I'm still in the "remember that? That was awesome!!" phase.

Nevertheless, I do have something to say -- but first:

SPOILERS FOLLOW for Star Trek (2009).

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I'll see your two Kirks and raise you a Shatner

The Village Voice cover, by Ward Sutton

Cartoonist Ward Sutton provides a Star Trek-themed cover for this week's Village Voice and, as the blurb suggest, imagines a scenario in which William Shatner meets the 1960s Kirk and the 2009 Kirk in a comic called The Shatner Menagerie.

Slash Print | Following the digital evolution

Kindle DX

e-Devices | Amazon.com this week announced a larger version of their Kindle device, called the Kindle DX. The e-book reader is two-and-a-half times the size of the current Kindle and will retail for almost $500. The New York Times, Washington Post, and Boston Globe, however, will offer "subsidized on-contract Kindles to customers who can't get at-home delivery when the DX ships this summer."

So, the natural question for comic fans -- is it big enough to show a comics page? Kelson at the Speed Force blog has the same question: "Unless I’ve got my numbers wrong, that makes it larger than the standard manga page, though not quite as big as the standard American comic book page," he said about the 9.7 inch screen. "And it’s only 1/3 of an inch thick, comparable to a typical trade paperback." The BBC has more on the specs.

Social media | Ypulse, a teen marketing blog, wonders if teens would follow Twitter feeds for characters from young adult novels. Apparently teens haven't embraced Twitter (which surprises me ... I figured they'd been using it and dropped it when all the old people showed up, kind of like Facebook), and the post wonders if they'd start using it if, say, the sparkling vampires from Twilight had their own feeds.

"Protagonists, antagonists and supporting characters (the latter might be especially intriguing) would continue to gain depth and dimension in the intermittent period between books and meanwhile, readers would feel more connected to the world that the author created," writes Meredith, who blogs for the site. "Or, as connected to them as they choose to be depending on whether they simply read the tweets or actually respond to them and engage in dialogue." She also notes that characters from Mad Men showed up on Twitter last year, which everyone assumed was a marketing ploy for the show, but turned out to be more along the lines of fan fiction.

BOOM! Studios recently launched a Twitter feed for one of their fictional characters, the talking teddy bear who thinks he's James Bond, Mister Stuffins. Is it a marketing ploy, an extension of the story, or maybe both? And would comic fans follow the Twitter feed for, say, Batman, Luke Cage or Scott Pilgrim, if their tweets were written by Grant Morrison, Brian Michael Bendis or Bryan Lee O'Malley, respectively?

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Paul Pope draws butt-kicking, panther-fighting young Spock

From "When Worlds Collide" Star Trek comic, illustrated by Paul Pope

The only thing better than a teen-aged Spock taking down an alien panther with an old-fashioned Vulcan nerve pinch is having the whole thing illustrated by Paul Pope.

The May issue of Wired magazine is guest-edited J.J. Abrams and, unsurprisingly, contains a healthy dose of Star Trek-related content -- including a six-page Spock comic called "When Worlds Collide," penned by screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and drawn by Pope.

According to TrekMovie.com, the comic features an aged Spock remembering the years his youth, from his panther-fighting days to his early time aboard the Enterprise.

TrekMovie and io9.com both have excerpts from the comic.

(Thanks, Tom)

Send Us Your Shelf Porn!

Welcome to Send Us Your Shelf Porn, where you, the reader, sends us your shelf porn. Our special guest this week is our very own Tom Bondurant, who took time out of his busy schedule to snap some photos of his own extensive collection. Regular readers of this site know Tom and his insightful columns well enough that I shouldn't have to go into a lengthy introduction but merely say "Take it away Tom!"

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Ellison 'bare-fangs-of-Adamantium' about Star Trek lawsuit

from City on the Edge of Forever

With what is probably the greatest press release I've ever read, Harlan Ellison, who wrote the Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever," announces he is suing Paramount "for failing to account to, or pay, Mr. Ellison for the merchandising, publishing, or any other exploitations, of the famous teleplay, from inception to date. The suit also names the Writers Guild of America and alleges the WGA failed to act on Ellison’s behalf after numerous requests."

For those of you who can't instantly recall the plot of a Star Trek episode based on the name alone, "City on the Edge of Forever" was the one that featured Kirk and Spock going back in time to the Great Depression and guest starred Joan Collins as a war protestor and Kirk's lover. Spock wore a hat to hide his ears.

Per the release, Ellison and his attorney have set their phasers to "burn" because they say Ellison is entitled to 25 percent of revenues from "the licensing of publication rights." They say Paramount hasn't paid him anything for a series of books that spun out of that episode or for one of those talking Hallmark ornaments that used lines from his script.

Ellison says, "“And please make sure to remember, at the moment some Studio mouthpiece calls me a mooch, and says I’m only pursuing this legal retribution to get into their ‘deep pockets,’ tell’m Ellison snarled back, ‘F- - - -in’-A damn skippy!’ I’m no hypocrite. It ain’t about the ‘principle,’ friend, its about the MONEY! Pay Me! Am I doing this for other writers, for Mom (still dead), and apple pie? Hell no! I’m doing it for the 35-year-long disrespect and the money!"

How much would it cost to have Ellison write all press releases?

Via TV Squad