DoctorFinger
11-23-2008, 08:01 AM
I Hate Gallant Girl #1 (of 3)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Image/Shadowline Comics
Plotter: Jim Valentino
Scripter: Kat Cahill
Artist: Seth Damoose
Colorist: Kanila Tripp
Letterer: Jason Hanley
Editor: Kristen Simon
$3.50
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Gallant-Girl-1.jpg
In this day and age of 'grim 'n gritty' at all costs, a book like Gallant Girl is a breath of fresh air. It has all the characterization and snappy dialogue that you'd expect from a great comic, but told with a sweet style and sensibility that really makes it shine.
I Hate Gallant Girl (initially promoted as "I Hate Galaxy Girl", they had to change the name for legal reasons) is fundamentally the story of Renee Tempete. Renee has wanted to win the Fellowship of Freedom's once a decade pageant and be named Gallant Girl ever since she was a little kid. She's got power in spades (control over all 4 elements), but she's not perfect, merely pretty. And only the most beautiful women can be named Gallant Girl, even if they don't really have the chops to be a super hero. In just a few pages Cahill and Damoose manage to make Renee into a tremendously sympathetic and likable character. You immediately feel for Renee; a connection few books make this quickly. Dejected, Renee heads to the airport to fly home, only to see the airport come under giant robot attack. The Fellowship of Freedom shows up only to see Renee take out the robot in a display of power that even frightens veteran hero Mr. Thunder. Renee wakes up in a hospital to the face of The Commander, the venerable leader of all heroes. He has a proposition for Renee: wear a blonde wig and be Gallant Girl's powered stand-in. The Commander is so confident she'll accept he doesn't even stick around to hear her answer, and the 'perfect' Gallant Girl is already taking credit for stopping the robot. But Mr. Thunder saw in Renee what it takes to be a real hero, and offers to take her under his wing, partly to replace the wife and daughter he lost years before.
Just a beautiful and fun book. Damoose's style is cartoony, with a little bit of both Bruce Timm and Darwyn Cooke sprinkled throughout. He makes everyone very expressive while not scrimping on the action, either. The core concept is very basic in some ways - girl grows up wanting to be Miss America, is told she's not 'prefect' enough, but discovers she's better than 'perfect' - but it mixes well with superheroics and is very well done. In a medium which doesn't have enough strong female creators or leads, it's nice to see a book with both.
Bottom Line:
A fun and uplifting story, beautifully told.
CoG Says: "Love It!" (4 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png" border="0" alt="" />
Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Last Generation #1 (of 5)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: IDW Comics
Writer: Andrew Steven Harris
Penciller: Gordon Purcell
Inker: Bob Almond
Colorist: Mario Boon
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Andy Schmidt
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/ST-TNG-TLG-1.jpg
Do Not Close Your Eyes
Ah, the alternate reality tale. Put familiar characters in unfamiliar positions, with a lone character aware that 'something' is wrong with the timeline/continuity. It's one of the hoary old staples of serialized drama, comics and sci-fi in particular. So taking that paradigm and applying it to Star Trek is a bit of a no-brainer.
The prologue to the book is set during what would become the signing of a historic peace accord between the Federation and the Klingons on the planet Khitomer (apparently this is set during the events of Star Trek VI). Instead of Kirk saving a Klingon leader from an assassin's shot, he's a hair too late. Instead of the alliance the Klingons and Federation would develop, the state of war continues. 70 years later Earth is under the heel of the Klingons, and the resistance is led, by and large, by members of the Next Generation Enterprise. Other characters, in particular the Siskos, are name checked, but for the most part the story is about Jean-Luc Picard's crew. Worf is the leader of the Klingons, and apparently has a vendetta against Captain Sulu, who robbed him of an eye while leading the last surviving Starfleet vessel in a series of guerrilla strikes against the occupiers. Picard leads O'Brien, the Crushers, Guynan and others in an Earth-based cell. Guynan knows that something is wrong with the timeline, but not exactly what. That's what Riker and Laforge are sent to determine, by retrieving the android Data, built to determine just that. We then see how the timeline changed, when a single man stands in Kirk's way for just a moment on Khitomer, but it's enough to allow the assassination of the Klingon leader.
While I've been a fan of Star Trek, I've never been all that immersed in the minutiae of the series, and I think that's to my detriment here. You see who it was that delayed Kirk and caused the timeline to change, but I have no idea who he's supposed to be. I recognize the face - he's one of those character actors whom we've all seen in a thousand things, but can never put a name to the face - but have no idea how significant he's supposed to be in Star Trek history. Other than that, it's your standard alternate reality tale. A group of characters who were together in the main reality are together here, even though there's less reason for that particular group to be connected. But if you can get past that, seeing Picard, Riker, et al as freedom fighters warring against the big and scary Klingon empire is pretty fun. Purcell does good work in most spots, and trying to make characters look like real people is not an easy assignment, but something was just off. I don't know if it was the inking or what, but some pages had a very sketchy look to them; a look which didn't flow from page to page with any regularity. Overall it was distracting, but not a gamebreaker.
Bottom Line:
A fun alternate reality tale which probably has a lot more impact if you're more of a Trek Head than I.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png" border="0" alt="" />
Quick Hits
Ambush Bug: Year None #4 - Best. Chalkboard. Ever.
JSA Special: Magog - These are the kind of specials I like. You don't need to buy them to keep up with the regular JSA story, but they fill in a lot of the blank spaces in the story and enhance the whole.
Invincible #55 - Woot! Allen the Alien!
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Image/Shadowline Comics
Plotter: Jim Valentino
Scripter: Kat Cahill
Artist: Seth Damoose
Colorist: Kanila Tripp
Letterer: Jason Hanley
Editor: Kristen Simon
$3.50
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Gallant-Girl-1.jpg
In this day and age of 'grim 'n gritty' at all costs, a book like Gallant Girl is a breath of fresh air. It has all the characterization and snappy dialogue that you'd expect from a great comic, but told with a sweet style and sensibility that really makes it shine.
I Hate Gallant Girl (initially promoted as "I Hate Galaxy Girl", they had to change the name for legal reasons) is fundamentally the story of Renee Tempete. Renee has wanted to win the Fellowship of Freedom's once a decade pageant and be named Gallant Girl ever since she was a little kid. She's got power in spades (control over all 4 elements), but she's not perfect, merely pretty. And only the most beautiful women can be named Gallant Girl, even if they don't really have the chops to be a super hero. In just a few pages Cahill and Damoose manage to make Renee into a tremendously sympathetic and likable character. You immediately feel for Renee; a connection few books make this quickly. Dejected, Renee heads to the airport to fly home, only to see the airport come under giant robot attack. The Fellowship of Freedom shows up only to see Renee take out the robot in a display of power that even frightens veteran hero Mr. Thunder. Renee wakes up in a hospital to the face of The Commander, the venerable leader of all heroes. He has a proposition for Renee: wear a blonde wig and be Gallant Girl's powered stand-in. The Commander is so confident she'll accept he doesn't even stick around to hear her answer, and the 'perfect' Gallant Girl is already taking credit for stopping the robot. But Mr. Thunder saw in Renee what it takes to be a real hero, and offers to take her under his wing, partly to replace the wife and daughter he lost years before.
Just a beautiful and fun book. Damoose's style is cartoony, with a little bit of both Bruce Timm and Darwyn Cooke sprinkled throughout. He makes everyone very expressive while not scrimping on the action, either. The core concept is very basic in some ways - girl grows up wanting to be Miss America, is told she's not 'prefect' enough, but discovers she's better than 'perfect' - but it mixes well with superheroics and is very well done. In a medium which doesn't have enough strong female creators or leads, it's nice to see a book with both.
Bottom Line:
A fun and uplifting story, beautifully told.
CoG Says: "Love It!" (4 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png" border="0" alt="" />
Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Last Generation #1 (of 5)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: IDW Comics
Writer: Andrew Steven Harris
Penciller: Gordon Purcell
Inker: Bob Almond
Colorist: Mario Boon
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Andy Schmidt
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/ST-TNG-TLG-1.jpg
Do Not Close Your Eyes
Ah, the alternate reality tale. Put familiar characters in unfamiliar positions, with a lone character aware that 'something' is wrong with the timeline/continuity. It's one of the hoary old staples of serialized drama, comics and sci-fi in particular. So taking that paradigm and applying it to Star Trek is a bit of a no-brainer.
The prologue to the book is set during what would become the signing of a historic peace accord between the Federation and the Klingons on the planet Khitomer (apparently this is set during the events of Star Trek VI). Instead of Kirk saving a Klingon leader from an assassin's shot, he's a hair too late. Instead of the alliance the Klingons and Federation would develop, the state of war continues. 70 years later Earth is under the heel of the Klingons, and the resistance is led, by and large, by members of the Next Generation Enterprise. Other characters, in particular the Siskos, are name checked, but for the most part the story is about Jean-Luc Picard's crew. Worf is the leader of the Klingons, and apparently has a vendetta against Captain Sulu, who robbed him of an eye while leading the last surviving Starfleet vessel in a series of guerrilla strikes against the occupiers. Picard leads O'Brien, the Crushers, Guynan and others in an Earth-based cell. Guynan knows that something is wrong with the timeline, but not exactly what. That's what Riker and Laforge are sent to determine, by retrieving the android Data, built to determine just that. We then see how the timeline changed, when a single man stands in Kirk's way for just a moment on Khitomer, but it's enough to allow the assassination of the Klingon leader.
While I've been a fan of Star Trek, I've never been all that immersed in the minutiae of the series, and I think that's to my detriment here. You see who it was that delayed Kirk and caused the timeline to change, but I have no idea who he's supposed to be. I recognize the face - he's one of those character actors whom we've all seen in a thousand things, but can never put a name to the face - but have no idea how significant he's supposed to be in Star Trek history. Other than that, it's your standard alternate reality tale. A group of characters who were together in the main reality are together here, even though there's less reason for that particular group to be connected. But if you can get past that, seeing Picard, Riker, et al as freedom fighters warring against the big and scary Klingon empire is pretty fun. Purcell does good work in most spots, and trying to make characters look like real people is not an easy assignment, but something was just off. I don't know if it was the inking or what, but some pages had a very sketchy look to them; a look which didn't flow from page to page with any regularity. Overall it was distracting, but not a gamebreaker.
Bottom Line:
A fun alternate reality tale which probably has a lot more impact if you're more of a Trek Head than I.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png" border="0" alt="" />
Quick Hits
Ambush Bug: Year None #4 - Best. Chalkboard. Ever.
JSA Special: Magog - These are the kind of specials I like. You don't need to buy them to keep up with the regular JSA story, but they fill in a lot of the blank spaces in the story and enhance the whole.
Invincible #55 - Woot! Allen the Alien!