Category Archives: comic

A Wish Come True.

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As you may already know, when I found Babylon 5 I also found its creator J. Michael Straczynski.

I did get to meet him almost 10 years ago at Phoenix Comicon, at the 20th anniversary celebration for Babylon 5 (B5), where I attended the “Promise Panel”, where he told, for the first time in public, the background story of Michael O’Hare who played the lead, Commander Sinclair, in the first season, and his struggle with mental illness.

If you don’t know the story, and want to, just go on Youtube and search “straczynski promise panel”. Please be aware that this contains spoilers for the B5 series if you have not seen it.

Having followed him for quite a while, I know a bit about his writing career.

He has worked as a journalist, writing for much else:

  • animated TV, like The Real Ghostbusters long ago
  • Live TV, like Jeremiah and, of course his epic science fiction series Babylon 5. There is a new secret Babylon 5 related project, not known in which format, but it has been made and should  be presented at the San Diego Comicon next year. Then there is the possibility of a reboot series of Babylon 5, not a remake but a re-imagining. This could be very interesting if it is given the green light. Then there is the Neflix series Sense8 that he co-wrote with the Wachowskis
  • Comic books like Superman Earth One, Spiderman, and some originals of his own
  • Film, like the Clint Eastwood directed Changeling, a historical drama
  • Novels, both genre and more general
  • He also wrote an autobiography

I have had the wish to meet Straczynski in Europe after he was involved in Sense8, so I did not have to go to the US to do it.

I, and others, have suggested to invite him to Fedcon in Bonn, but for some reason unknown to me, it did not happen.

Today I saw an announcement from the Danish book fair (Bogforum) that they are going to have Straczynski as a guest at this year’s fair in Copenhagen in November this year. I also saw the announcement by Straczynski himself on his Twitter feed.

Now my wish comes true. Straczynski visiting, not just Europe, but within 20 minutes drive from my home.

I am excited.

Gotham, Seasons 1 – 4 Impressions.

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I have now watched 4 seasons of Gotham, available on Netflix here. I have heard that there is a season 5, but it is not available, at least not now.

Gotham covers the development of Bruce Wayne and other characters from the time of the murder of his parents.

The series is quite fun to watch, the proto-villains are outrageously over-the-top. All are absolutely mad in a very cartoon-ish way. I wonder if a title like “City of Lunatics” should be considered for the series.

The development of Jim Gordon is probably the most well covered aspect of the series, I have considered if the series should have been called the “Jim Gordon” show.

While I have no plans for re-watching this series (there is far too much good stuff out there), I did enjoy watching it.

Rating of seasons 1 – 4: 7/10

Gotham, Season 2.

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I recently finished watching Gotham, season 2, on Netflix

Gotham is, of course, a TV series on Bruce Wayne’s journey from the murder of his parents to becoming Batman.

While this series is not sensational, I do enjoy watching the slow progressions of both Bruce Wayne and Detective Gordon. Also, the back stories of several of the classic Batman adversaries is not too bad.

Season 2 saw Gordon in deep trouble, and the descent into madness of his friend from Forensics, E. Nygma. (Yes I know, the future Riddler).

Talking about madness, the program of the Arkham Asylum is quite mad, as is its head figure Hugo Strange, trying to bring (mad) people back from the dead and creating an army of madmen.

Bruce finds the killer of his parents, but finds that there is a greater conspiracy behind their murder. Despite his initial intention, he is incapable of killing the assassin.

I rate the season 7/10

 

Watched, Read and Listened To: July – October 2019:

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A little less because of travels and other planned activities. This came out a bit late, but I shall endeavour to continue this type of posts, maybe monthly, maybe covering a few months at a time.

Here is the list with quick ratings:

TV:
Finishing The 100, season 4 re-watch 7/10
Finishing season 5 of “The 100”. Good show Final 2 episodes 8/10, all over 7/10
Finishing The Americans, season 6, with a friend8/10
Jeremiah, S1 continue/DVD with a friend
Finishing Scorpion, season 2 7/10
Chernobyl mini series 10/10
Sense8 re-watch, whole series. still 10/10
Krypton Season 2 finished 8/10
Into the Badlands: finished 2nd half of season 3, average 7/10
Scorpion: Season 3: 7/10
Scorpion: Season 4: (it went down hill) 6/10
Scorpion as a whole: Average 7/10
The Flash, season 5 a solid 7/10

Film:
Spiderman: Homecoming 8/10
Gravity with a friend 8/10
I Am Legend, a solid 7/10
The Dark Crystal 7/10

Read:
Becoming Superman – JMS 10/10

Babylon 5: Technomage trilogy – Jeanne Cavelos:
“The Passing of the Technomages”
1) Casting Shadows
2) Summoning Light
3) Invoking Darkness

I like this trilogy a lot
9/10

Graphic novels:
Superman: New Krypton, vols 1 – 4:
Enjoyable, interesting take on Zod’s character
8/10

Yoko Tsuno: vols 2,3 and a few more.
#29 arrived at Fantasticon – “Engle og Falke” (Danish title, Eng.: Angels and Falcons)
7/10

 

The Flash TV Series, Season 5

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Brief review of The Flash, season 5, telling the story of the daughter of Barry Allen and Iris West Allen.

Lots of time travel, and good character moments.

Much good fun and excitement in following the journey of Nora West Allen, also known as the speedster XS (excess), and the quest to stop the unstoppable Cicada with the indestructible (or not) lightning shaped dagger.

I was well entertained and will rate this season a bit over average, 7/10.

 

Straczynski “Twilight Zone” Comic

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In the latest comics bundle from Humble Bundle From Dynamite Entertainment I found “The Twilight Zone, Vol 1” written by JMS.
That was the main reason to purchase the bundle because I do not have that one in any form.
Many other comics are in the bundle, downloadable after purchase from Humble Bundle. The main advantage to me using this bundle is that H.B. releases their files without any DRM “protection”, so it can be transferred to any of my devices capable of reading their formats.

Meta : A look at the “After Hugo2010” activities.

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When I have finished the reading/watching and voting for the Hugo Awards – some time in Early August I have a few things in mind that I would like to do, SciFi wise.

Audio stories :

Catching up on some podcasts – they all have some absolutely marvelous stories (even if not all will be to my liking, there wil be many I like :
– early Escape Pod
– Podcastle
– Starhip Sofa
and other audio drama/audio book podcasts

– Doctor Who (Big Finish) stories – there is a lot, some very good, some ok-ish

Video :

– All of Lost – whenever the last season DVD set is out – it will be an all new one for me long term
– Older Doctor Who , long term project
– Detailed rewatch of Babylon 5 with lots of comment on this blog – will take a lot of time, probably with watching almost every episode twice, so please be patient. Also some comparison to Star Trek DS9 – probably an episode every one or two weeks on average, yes, it will be a long term project
Since I have seen B5 a few times by now, each episode review will probably be a relatively spoiler free post, followed by a review in the context of the whole story – possibly with some extra comments on issues of special interest to me (and hopefully others)
– Rewatch of (more or less) all Star Trek, with blog comments on the episodes I enjoy – another long term project
– Supernatural (first watch) – it comes recommended
– Second seasons of Dollhouse and Fringe
– Chuck – that is a fun one

All this will be a bit at a time, no great marathons, except when I visit a good scifi friend

Dexter – not scifi, but good TV drama, *very dark*

… and much more

Books :

– All of George RR. Martin’s Son of Ice and Fire – well, what is out there, since he will be Guest of Honor at the Eastercon/Olympus2012 in London – I got through the first volume Game of thrones by now
More Dresden Files books – they are fun and I got through the first two for now
– Dan Simmons’ Hyperion series
– Babylon 5 books, including the script books series – partly in conjunction with re-watching the series

– Some graphic novels and comics, especially ones written by J. Michael Straczynski, but others, too

…and much more reading of scifi/fantasy old and new that I cannot yet specify

If this looks like a lot …. well, it is, and I am probably not going to get any of it done fast, but here we go, and I will see how much will be achieved

Lately I have re-entered into building electronics equipment, and this will take some time from the scifi stuff – yes , I am prioritizing, so some scifi stuff will be done

For now, until the end of July, the Hugo awards’ stuff has high priority

Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer

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A movie based on the Marvel comic “Fantastic Four”

I went to see the movie today with some friends. *No Spoilers*

An unknown force (The Silver Surfer) arrives to Earth, threatening to destroy all life on the planet.

In my view, this movie comes out better than the first one. Lots of fun moments as I remember them from the comic, including the teasing and rivalry in the “family”. I loved the cameo appearance of Stan Lee. While I know many of the hardcore fans of the comic will be disappointed with the depiction of Galactus, to me it worked quite well on the big screen.

While the story may not be very subtle (after all it has its origin in a comic book) I found the unfolding fine – not dragging too long, actually the movie is relatively short. Still, one nice aspect, it is about having a choice , even at times you think that you do not.

Very nice special effects in creating the Silver Surfer

I would recommend go seeing it, even if you are a fan of the comics, in my book I would rate it 4/5.

PS. I have heard that the Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Stracynski is working on the script for a Silver Surfer movie, sounds interesting.