Review: Star Trek: First Contact by John Vornholt, Terry Pallot, et al.

Perfect-bound comic, 48 pages
Published 1996
Acquired June 2019
Read October 2019

Star Trek: First Contact

Adapted by John Vornholt
Art by Terry Pallot (pages 1-36 & 40-48)
Layouts by Rod Whigham
Pencils by Rod Whigham (pages 37-39)
Inks by Philip Moy
Color Design by Shannon Blanchard

Lettered by Edd Fear

In my review of the Generations adaptation, I said the First Contact adaptation from Marvel (the last-ever adaptation of a Prime Universe Star Trek film) hadn't been collected. I tracked it down to read it and discovered that even though it's a one-shot comic... it has an ISBN for some reason. Which under my personal rules means I can count it as a book. I don't know why, but I'll take it.

If you haven't seen the film or Voyager, it's not even clear this guy is a hologram! What's an "EMH"? (art by Terry Pallot, Rod Whigham, & Philip Moy)

John Vornholt scripts; I didn't know he did any comics work, actually, as I primarily know him as a prolific Star Trek novelist in the 1990s, including the YA novels of all four Next Generation films, meaning this is one of two adaptations of First Contact that he wrote. It's an okay script. The first half captures the film well, but something is off with the pacing, and the second half gets very choppy, with a lot of the movie's great scenes cut down so much they lose their impact. The argument between Picard and Lily where he breaks his ships becomes a calm conversation; the great bit about Moby-Dick literally becomes: "You're like Captain Ahab." "Have you read Moby Dick?" "Actually, no." Zefram Cochrane is a particular victim of the condensation; the values conflict between him and the Enterprise crew doesn't come off at all.

The thing about Cochrane's music also doesn't come off in a medium that can only represent "Ooby Dooby" and "Magic Carpet Ride" with "TWANG-DA-DA-TWANG!" (art by Terry Pallot, Rod Whigham, & Philip Moy)

The art by Terry Pallot, Rod Whigham, and Philip Moy looks nice; it has that nice 1990s pre-computers style that I like, reminding me of people like Mike Collins or Matt Haley. (Which I guess makes sense, because Mike Collins worked on Marvel's 1990s Star Trek comics.) The action is often confusing, though, especially the shipboard fights against the Borg. I'm not sure a reader could follow the Dixon Hill scene if they didn't see the film. But then, who is reading this who didn't see the film? Like most film-to-comics adaptations, I'm discovering, it's serviceable, but adds little to your experience.

Next Week: From the 24th century to the 30th: I revisit Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes!

Faster than a DC Bullet: All-New All-Different DC, Part V: Blue Beetle: Shellshocked

Comic trade paperback, 140 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2006)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2017

Blue Beetle: Shellshocked

Writers: Keith Giffen & John Rogers

Pencillers: Cully Hamner, Cynthia Martin, Duncan Rouleau, Kevin West
Inkers: Cully Hamner, Phil Moy, Duncan Rouleau, Jack Purcell
Colorists: David Self, Guy Major
Letterers: Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau

Many people were mad and/or sad when the Ted Kord Blue Beetle was killed off in "Countdown to Infinite Crisis." But if you ask me, it was all worth it because it gave us the new Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. Jaime is an ordinary Latino high schooler who discovers the Blue Beetle scarab sometime after the death of Ted Kord (as seen in Infinite Crisis itself). The first couple chapters of this volume alternate between Jaime's life leading up to his involvement in the fight against Brother Eye in Infinite Crisis, and his return to Earth a year later, apparently during the timeframe of 52. Giffen, Rogers, and Hamner do great work here. The opening fight between Jaime and Guy Gardner (Guy is drawn to fight the Blue Beetle, but doesn't know why) is dark and intense, while Jaime's interactions with his friends (Paco, who learned six languages just to insult people in on-line FPSs, and Brenda, whose Dad hits her and wants to go to law school) are fun. Jaime wants to make extra money working at his dad's garage, but his dad wants a better life for him.

Really, I could have scanned almost any page of Jaime/Brenda/Paco dialogue.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #1 (art by Cully Hamner)

Much like Ms. Marvel a decade later, this is the perfect archetypal teen superhero comic: humor, good characters, fun dialogue, a little bit of angst but not too much. Jaime feels like a real person with real friends; take this exchange between a villain and Jaime's friends while Jaime fights a tree monster:

Gotta love an over-educated villain.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #4 (art by Cully Hamner)

I laughed a lot throughout this book, which is the mark of (one of) the kind of superhero comic I look for. Giffen & Rogers recreate the classic formulas while also providing new variations: I like that Jaime's armor speaks to him in an alien language, and that there are aspects of it he doesn't entirely understand. I like the sense of a superheroic universe this story builds up, instead of being an ordinary universe with superheroes grafted on: La Dama, the local crimelord, doesn't just kidnap people, but specifically magic users, and the gang Jaime's friend Paco falls into is entirely made up of people with powers-- but they need the powerless Paco because sometimes they need someone who won't attract attention. There's a real sense of a world that's a lot like our own (I like that the story takes place in El Paso and not a fake city, and that almost all the characters are Latino), but not like ours in some logical ways. There's also some good twists on the usual formula-- Paco's gang has some redeeming value, the Blue Beetle comes to an understanding with La Dama, and I especially like that Jaime's family and friends know what he is right from the off. There's no lying to your loved ones stuff here.

That didn't take long for them to figure out.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #3 (art by Cynthia Martin & Phil Moy)

This is a winning mixture for a superhero comic, and I hope to see it continue from strength to strength.

Next Week: Another new old hero-- the All New Atom debuts in My Life in Miniature!

Review: Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes by Chris Roberson

Comic hardcover, n. pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2011-12)
Acquired August 2012
Read February 2013

Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes

Writer: Chris Roberson

Pencils: Jeffrey Moy

Inks: Philip Moy

Colors: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

Letters: Chris Mowry, Shawn Lee, Robbie Robbins

While IDW's later Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who storyline is definitely the crossover I've always known I wanted, Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes is the crossover I never knew I wanted. The concept might initially seem a little goofy, but I love Star Trek, and I love the Legion, and much for the same reason. Both series provide teams of colorful characters in strange settings accomplishing awesome things through virtue of teamwork. What's not to like? And why not cross over?

Chris Roberson's script sure plays up the parallels between the Federation and the United Planets, between the Enterprise crew and the Legion, to good effect. Not too much time is wasted on the initial, mandatory confrontation, but even that is well-played and interesting: what would Spock do if faced with Braniac 5? The answer is, of course, awesome. Both groups end up working together, though, to figure out why both their universes have been replaced with this aberrant one, and the interaction is helped by the fact that Roberson knows all the characters on both teams; there's even a great Chekov joke. Roberson sure does have fun with the mashup: we get an Orion with the Emerald Eye, Klingons fighting Khunds. And I never thought I'd see the day where Superboy showed up in a Star Trek comics, even if just in a flashback! If the comic falls down anywhere, it's the end: something complicated seems to have been built up, but it resolved in a far too cursory fashion just before the story's end, which is a bit of a bummer. Roberson had done such good character work up to that point, that I was disappointed that it didn't really factor into the conclusion.

I really liked the art of Jeffrey and Philip Moy. The Legion was all on-character, but so too was the Enterprise crew: it was definitely them, without seeming traced or stiff. Get these guys on a regular Star Trek comic, stat! They also drew some great two-page spreads, especially the histories of the Legion and the Federation. I felt damn near inspired reading those sequences.

One other quibble: I am pretty sure the gap after The Great Darkness Saga where this story supposedly takes place in Legion continuity just doesn't exist. This certainly oughtn't take place after "The Day after Darkseid," but there's no point where it could fit in before that.