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Review: ‘Networked: Carabella on the Run’

Networked: Carabella on the Run

By Gerard Jones & Mark Badger
134 pages, NBM Publishing, $12.99

The issue of privacy in the digital age is an ongoing dialogue as some people feel too much personal information is available to anyone skilled at cyber research while others prefer sharing every aspect of their lives. For several generations, the specter of George Orwell’s Big Brother has loomed large over the evolving technology field, occasionally raising the concern that the government will use this data in ways to which we would object – if we knew.

Privacy Activism is a non-profit company designed to make people aware and give them knowledge and tools to determine how much they want to share or to protect. To educate the younger masses, they created Carabella, a hip, blue-skinned college-aged woman and have used her in several outreach programs. For her third appearance, she has been turned over to master graphic novelists, Gerard Jones and Mark Badger, for Networked: [[[Carabella on the Run]]].

Given the graphic novel’s agenda, one can forgive some of the heavy-handedness of the storytelling and the over used cliché of a government conspiracy to use the personal data to control the population. Carabella is an odd girl as her college friends get to know her. There are too many things that seem unfamiliar to her and she has trouble navigating the basic social conventions.

When she starts receiving texts and e-mails from students interested in getting to know her, she freaks out, wondering how they discovered her contact info. In time, she finally meets engineering student Nick Shumer and falls for him. As she begins to let down her guard, he begins acting oddly, which makes sense since he recovered a bit of her personal technology that he reverse engineers for his own purposes.

The tech, essentially the protomatter of the story, enables him to perfect the most technologically sophisticated walking shoes and he loses sight of things as he is seduced with fame and fortune. In time, though, Carabella realizes what he has done and finally reveals her secrets that propel the story in an entirely different direction, addressing the core privacy issues.

The first half is more engaging as the characters act like real people and the world of college feels right for the theme. The science fiction second half is lots of action and deering-do but also feels more predictable and less compelling. Jones does a nice job with Carabella’s personality while Nick’s character seems to be changing scene by scene.

Badger’s art flows nicely from scene to scene and the work has a fresh feel, although some of his color choices struck me as odd given the role color plays in the second half. Some of the shading to the faces isn’t as successful as one would hope.

There are some strong messages here and plenty of food for thought. Presenting this information embedded within an entertaining graphic novel was a great approach. The agency gets credit for providing chapters online along with a guide for teachers to use, to drill home the messages in the classroom.

With luck, we’ll be seeing Carabella again.

Knock me over with a feather: ‘Star Wars’ in Blu-Ray in 2011

  • News
  • August 20, 2010

Wow. Who could have foreseen that George Lucas, who has skillfully exploited every single new video format to come along in the past 33 years for maximum financial gain, would release Star Wars on Blu-Ray sometime in 2011 with even more clips that we never saw before? And only as a box set for all six, so you can’t cherry pick your favorites?

Impress me, George. Put both editions of the original trilogy on there.

Angel Returns to Dark Horse in Time for New Season

  • News
  • August 20, 2010

Angel has been revealed to be the Big Bad in the latter issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight so it makes perfect sense for the comic book adventures of the vampire with a soul to shift from IDW back to Dark Horse.

The story leaked inadvertently yesterday and now Dark Horse has sent out a formal announcement:

August 19, 2010, MILWAUKIE, OR—Dark Horse Comics is thrilled to announce that Joss Whedon’s Angel will return to the Dark Horse stable in 2011. Dark Horse’s Angel will bring the beloved characters from Whedon’s longest-running shows under one roof, allowing for new and exciting explorations of the Buffyverse featuring favorites from the casts of both series.

“I’ve always regretted letting Angel go in the first place,” Dark Horse senior managing editor Scott Allie said. “So we’re really excited about getting him back, as well as all his supporting cast. It’s necessary for how Joss wants to handle season nine, details of which will start spilling out in the months to come. Right now, we’ve got to wrap up season eight, and IDW still has a good long run of books before season nine starts.”

IDW Publishing confirmed today that it will launch the company’s final Angel story arc in November. This closing six-issue arc will serve as a bridge to Dark Horse Comics, which will pick up the series in late 2011. Under the direction of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel creator Joss Whedon, all parties are working together for as seamless a transition as possible. The companies have been coordinating story lines in both Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight and IDW’s Angel, creating a greater sense of cohesion and cooperation to ensure that this transition is true to both ongoing story lines and to the faithful fans of both series.

Principal Photography Begins on ‘Losers Take All’

  • News
  • August 19, 2010

Losers Take All has begun principal photography under the direction of Alex Steyermark (Prey for Rock & Roll). The small feature film will star Kyle Gallner (A Nightmare On Elm Street), Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13) and Tania Raymonde (Lost).  The picture began production earlier this week in and around Memphis, Tennessee.  The cast also includes Alexia Rasmussen (Listen to Your Heart), Aaron Himelstein (Joan of Arcadia), Billy Kay (Yelling to the Sky), Adam Herschman (Soul Men), and newcomer Peter Brensinger.   

The film is set in the world of mid-1980’s American independent rock music, follows a fictional punk/pop band “The Fingers” as they stumble, stagger and strum their way in what everyone thinks is the opposite direction of success–commercial or otherwise.  But they are in the right place at the right time and the public is eager to embrace the D.I.Y. sounds of the underground, whether those in the underground-“The Fingers” included-like it or not. It’s a raucous love letter to an era when for most bands, life meant touring around the country in a cramped van, sleeping on the floors of strangers, selling your records after each show, and where fans were earned through powerful live shows at small clubs, reviews in ‘zines, and do-it-yourself promotions.  

Top-Forty musician Marshall Crenshaw, who co-penned the Golden Globe and Grammy nominated title track to the hit comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, will work with the actors to put together a band whose sound recalls the Indie/Punk/D.I.Y. days of 1980’s college radio.  This past winter, he and Memphis’ own Scott Bomar produced and recorded original songs for the film at Bomar’s Electrophonic Recording with local Memphis musicians.   

Losers Take All was written by Andrew Pope and Winn Coslick, from a story by Roger Rawlings and Ed Bradin. The film will be produced by Mike S. Ryan (Junebug), Andrew Pope and Winn Coslick. The Executive Producers are Andrew Meyer (The Breakfast Club) and Roger Rawlings. 

Ray Bradbury, We Hardly Know Thee

  • Uncategorized
  • August 19, 2010

It’s very disconcerting when one of your heroes gets old and cranky and weird. Sadly, this happened to me last week, with respect to one
of America’s greatest living authors,Ray Bradbury.

We knew something was up with the author of such important and even vital classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Dandelion Wine back when he called President Clinton a shithead… but, hey, Clinton was President and calling the President a shithead is a great, time-honored tradition. He subsequently wasn’t happy about Michael Moore’s movie Fahrenheit 9/11, thinking
Moore was somehow piggybacking upon the fame of his stunning novel by conflating the imagery of his story of a repressed future with repression of the then-present.

However, oddly, this past week Ray attacked President Obama for his comments about freedom of religion.

No, Bradbury didn’t say that Obama should be anti-Muslim, or, conversely, that Obama should have specifically backed building the Islamic cultural center at the site for a long-abandoned Burlington Coat Factory. Ray said “He (Obama) should be announcing that we should go back to the moon. We
should never have left there. We should go to the moon and prepare a base to fire a rocket off to Mars and then go to Mars and colonize Mars. Then when we do that, we will live forever.”

I’m still trying to find his segue. I don’t get the connection between the two. Should all future houses of worship be built in space? I don’t know, although maybe NASA should consider the concept as a future source of funding.

Attacking Ray is not going to make me any friends, particularly on the occasion of his 90th birthday. I am proud to have known him. I shared a table with Ray for an hour at the San Diego Comic Con a while ago, I was with him at the debut of his play Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and we both indulged in a friendship with the late great Julius Schwartz. I wouldn’t trade a moment of those experiences, nor would I abandon the soul-filling wonderment I received from his writing. I will admit to being more experienced than Bradbury when it comes to being cranky and weird.

Bradbury also said we have too many cell phones and too many Internets (sic), and we have to get rid of them. He’s also opposed to electronic books. Sorry, Ray. It’s the 21st Century. Back after World War II there were a whole lot of authors who stigmatized the “cheap” paperback novels that were starting to proliferate. You know, the ones that brought science fiction
writers to a mass audience. You know, writers like Ray Bradbury.

He might not like the term science fiction – I don’t either – but Ray Bradbury was a damned important visionary. Turning your back on the future is one thing, but turning your back on the present is just sad.

Complete ‘Batman Beyond’ Box Set Details Announced

  • News
  • August 18, 2010

We’ve known this was coming for several weeks now, but Warner Home Video has finally announced the details for this product which should be appearing on most of your letters to Santa Claus.Here’s the press release:

BURBANK, CA (August 18, 2010) – Warner Bros. Animation’s breakthrough series Batman Beyond comes to DVD for the first time in its entirety.  Featuring DC Comics’ iconic hero, Batman, Batman Beyond: The Complete Series presents nearly 20 hours of animated action spread over 52 episodes, as well as all-new bonus featurettes and a 24-page, 8”x 12” collectible booklet. Batman Beyond: The Complete Series will be distributed by Warner Home Video on November 23, 2010 as a nine-disc limited edition DVD set for $99.98 (SRP).

Batman Beyond: The Complete Series centers on Terry McGinnis, an ordinary teenager … until his father is mysteriously murdered. Suspecting foul play at his father’s company, Wayne/Powers Corporation, Terry meets Bruce Wayne and learns of a secret identity hidden for decades. Now too old to don the cape and cowl as Batman, Wayne refuses to help – so Terry does what any brash young kid would do: steal the Bat-suit and take matters into his own hands! Vowing to avenge his father’s death, Terry dons the high-tech suit tricked out with jetpacks, a supersensitive microphone and even camouflage capabilities in search of his father’s assassin. It’s 52 action-packed episodes following the adventures of the partnership between an ex-crimefighter and his apprentice, starring Will Friedle (Boy Meets World) as Terry McGinnis and, reprising his seminal role, Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) as Bruce Wayne.

Casting throughout the series’ 52 episodes featured award winners from feature films, primetime television and the Broadway stage – from Paul Winfield, Stockard Channing and Seth Green to William H. Macy, Wayne Brady and Teri Garr – not to mention George Lazenby (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons), Jodi Benson (The Little Mermaid), George Takei (Star Trek) and Henry Rollins (the front man for the rock band, Black Flag). (more…)

Ray Bradbury will be turning 90 on Sunday…

  • News
  • August 18, 2010

…which, I suppose, is why some people made a video saluting him.

(DEAR GOD NO NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

What’s amazing is that I know a bunch of women who have expressed similar sentiments about the man’s writing. Now if only other comic book writers got the same treatment…

Star Wars’ Yoda is now a GPS Celebrity

  • News
  • August 18, 2010

Just in case your Darth Vader antenna topper, storm trooper air freshener, lightsaber gearshift, and Leia hairbun volume and tone knobs are lonely in your 1989 Plymouth Laser.. you can now download Yoda’s voice onto your Tom Tom GPS. As reported by ABC News, the company that helps you find your way around those terrestrial streets you have to use, now allows you to download the gentle rasp of that backwards talking sock puppet Jedi Master into your GPS Device. Far better than your ‘Burt Reynolds’ voice-prompts, the Yoda voice pack will turn your Tom Tom into that inner voice you wish you heard every time you get lost trying to find that new Italian place uptown.

Barking nearly-understandable prompts like “After 700 hundred yards hmm, keep to the right then take a sharp left. Control, control, if a Jedi you wish to be.”, the Yoda voice pack will no doubt help you find that inner peace, when that jerk in the Cutlass Supreme cuts you off before you attempt to merge onto the highway.

Yoda joins Darth Vader, C-3PO, and Han Solo in the GPS voice game. While Tom Tom assured us that “Users really want the Yoda voice”… we can’t help but ask where Ben Kenobi is in all of this. Frankly, we don’t trust Darth not to choke us if we miss a turn. C-3PO is a language droid, not a map droid. And Han Solo? He’s more likely to tell us to “punch it!” if we’re gonna be late… and that’s not safe driving. We trust Yoda will keep us on the Light Side… we’re just not sure we’ll understand what we means when he says “Fear is the path to your destination. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. And suffering is 300 yards to the left, then stay on your right.”

TomTom was even nice enough to provide video of the recording session:

Star Wars Celebration V: Speed Dating

  • News
  • August 18, 2010

sw-love-3485417As deftly reported by ABC News, fans in attendance at the Star Wars Celebration V convention had an opportunity to boldly go where they probably haven’t gone before… on a date*.

This year’s Celebration gave way to the Star Wars Speed Dating Service! 34 Jedi Knights and 34 Slave Leias sat opposite each other in a room. 3 space-minutes were added to a clock, and ding… off the date goes. While not allowing the initial sharing of personal information (where you live, how to contact you, and what inter-gender species you represent on the message boards) is barred… with the common ground of 3 amazing and 3 amazingly horrendous movies and a huge universe to discuss, there’s plenty to discuss. Then after a blazing 180 seconds, fire the ion cannons… time to move to the next lad or lass and commence socialization once more! But be mindful… Darth Vader is in attendance too, to ensure you don’t get all dark-sidey with each other.

After the musical chairs ends, those droid and droidettes you found most appealing are given your preferred method of contact (you know, e-mail, cell phone, or mind-force-talking). Then it’s just a matter of whether you’d like to actually talk after that. And if things move faster than the Millennium Falcon ran the Kessel Run… well, come back to Celebration VI, and head on down to the Imperial Chapel, and make things legal before the galactic empire! Makes us wonder… do you step on the glass and say “May the Force Be With You”?

We here at ComicMix hope those kids at the Celebration had a good time… and made themselves a love connection. Lest we forget that when nerds don’t get proper affection, they get intoxicated and molest D-list celebrity models… Face it, we geeks are a minority, and the only way we’ll ever defeat the jocks and cheerleaders is to out-number them with our nerdling daemon spawn. Here’s to love!

* Yes, we know we just mixed Star Wars and Star Trek references… like you don’t love both… And yes, we know some of you have dated, are of decent build and character, and it shouldn’t be insinuated otherwise. But hey, it was funny. 

dvd-72dpi1-6905065

Review: ‘Wolverine and the X-Men: Final Crisis’

dvd-72dpi1-6905065[[[Wolverine]]] and [[[the X-Men]]], the fourth animated interpretation of the Marvel mutants, was the most radical and also the most short-lived. Lasting a mere 26 episodes, the Nicktoons series apparently wasn’t popular enough with ratings and merchandise to merit financing a second season. Marvel Animation clearly thought they had a hit on their hands and images from the developing second season were released. Additionally, the final scene was a teaser for the second season. But, alas, this was not to be.

Lionsgate, today, is releasing the sixth and final volume of the show, probably three volumes too many, but at least they are affordably priced (and at Comic-Con International, a complete series set was announced).  The single-disc contains just the final three episodes, which aired under the name “Foresight” but is being released under the more commercial [[[Final Crisis]]]. Having previously reviewed the last two volumes, Fate of the Future and Revelation, I was curious to see how they wrapped things up.

All the threads and main players throughout the season turn up and have their moment as the conflicting timelines and threads are woven together into a massive climax. We have Magneto and the inhabitants of Genosha readying for an all-out assault while he has manipulated players so he thinks he controls both sides of the conflict between man and mutant. What he has not counted on was the Hellfire Club and their plans to unleash and control the Phoenix force.

In fact, the role of the Phoenix in this interpretation is the most
radical departure from the comics as is the Hellfire Club’s reason for
existing. As a result, one of the more visually impressive moments of
this series occurs. And as with the comic books, the action never
overwhelms all the emotions at play, especially the romantic triangle
between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Emma Frost.

(more…)

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