moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (08/01/85)
ELEMENTALS #4 [B]:
While the artwork has deteriorated badly on this comic, the story
elements get better and better. The idea of Saker as Lazarus, with a
twisted view of events (unless Willingham is taking on a new religious
doctrine :-) ), and having lived this long, is really brilliant, and
an idea for a villain that strikes me as totally original. I mean,
what if Lazarus didn't WANT to be revitalized by Jesus? Also, Becky &
Ratman's relationship is something interesting -- a bit of the hostage
mentality, n'est pas? Sadly, this comic will probably not be around
for another issue, according to popular rumor. Willingham's art here
does not bode well for his takeover on American Flagg.
STAR TREK ANNUAL #1 [C+]:
While I have mentioned elsewhere that the Walter Koenig issue of Star
Trek was very bad indeed (Koenig has been working at a career as a
writer for the last decade in precisely the way his chum Harlan Ellison
has; however, Ellison is such a phenomenal ficition writer that he can
get away with that kind of behaviour -- Koenig shows here the he
definately is not). David Ross's art is good, but even better, it
captures the nostalgia of those early episodes (and pilots) well. This
is supposed to be the first mission of the Enterprise, and while I'd
like to see a few people more learned in Trek lore than I examine it
for inconsitencies, it strikes me as, overall, an excellent piece of
Trek writing. In those earlier episodes (the pilots, "Where No Man Has
Gone Before", "The Corbomite Maneuver", etc.) Kirk is a little less
mellow, a bit less polished and more easily angered, which is how I
remember those early shows. He inserts the characters very well, in
particular McCoy and Gary Mitchell, Kirk's first at the time of "Where
No Man Has Gone Before"); unfortunately, his removal of Number One is
done too quickly to be effective (why not just have her transferred to
her own command somewhere?). Spock and Pike's relationship is nicely
carried through, and Scotty's opening appraisal of Kirk is very witty.
Basically, Barr seems to have once again come through in the continuity
department, which is something few Trek writers, comics or books, can
claim.
"Threats are illogical, and payment is often expensive"
A man who has no business being
anyone's role model ---> Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsri}!uw-beaver \
{allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA