Next month will mark the release of the remastered 10-disc DVD (and HD-DVD) set of the original Star Trek series, and the Trek publicity machine has been busy.  We’ve seen an asteroid named for George Takei, both Takei and Nichelle Nichols appearing on Heroes (which also houses the proto-Spock), and the world will even witness William Shatner’s upcoming receipt of the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award in Paris in December.

But for some Trekkers, that just isn’t enough.  They need their own version of the Buffy musical phenomenon.  And the powers that be are more than happy to oblige, at $12.50 a pop.

On November 13, the two-part remastered version of "The Menagerie," made using footage from the original ST pilot "The Cage," will be shown in select theatres throughout North America.  The event  will include an "in-theatre exclusive greeting from creator Gene Roddenberry’s son, Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry" and of course the evening wouldn’t be complete without the mandatory making-of-behind-the-scenes self-congratulations.  Bear in mind, the "event content," as it’s called, will be shown in its original (TV) format, 4×3.

Some of us are just looking forward (or backward, as the case may be) once more to a female Number One.

One of the major criticisms of comics like The Legion of Super-Heroes is that the series is so old, and has so many characters, that the continuity is too convoluted and complex for new readers. It would seem to be an unlikely candidate for television, a medium not necessarily known for depth nor consistency.

This past Saturday, the first new episode of the season explored the origins of Timber Wolf. I’m old enough to remember when Timber Wolf was introduced, in the late 1960s. In fact, I still think of him as a “new” character, one of the edgier Legionnaires with a mysterious, tortured past.

The animated Timber Wolf also has a tortured past. Like the original, he is Brin Londo received his powers from his father. On this episode, written by comics veteran J. M. DeMatteis, Brin is charged with the murder of his father. The Legion convicts him of the crime, and he flees to clear his name.

Unlike the original, this Timber Wolf is angry and violent, not shy and timid. He fights first and may ask questions later, or may run off and hit something else. In this, he is not unlike the other Legionaires. The others will often burst into a room and start attacking whatever seems to be abnormal. Of course, since this is children’s network programming, they rarely actually hit anyone, but instead use their powers, aiming rays of energy, cold or heat in a way that is not easily imitated by anyone without a squirtgun.

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The life of a spy is a cramped, paranoid, fear-ridden thing, not one of derring-do and adventure. Matt Kindt knows that well. His second graphic novel Super Spy is set during World War II, in England, France, Spain, and other places, and features a large cast drawn from all the nations of the European theater. Some of the spies use fancy gadgets and many of them have a mystique about them, but they’re all mortal, all prone to making mistakes, all caught up in something much larger and more deadly than themselves.

The production design of Super Spy might lead the reader to expect one kind of story – the front cover shows a woman, crouching, with circles explaining bits of spy paraphernalia and events in her career. The back similarly depicts a man. Both are obviously cramped, forced into an uncomfortable position, with their hands at the edges of the cover – perhaps the walls are closing in on them? It’s a strong visual metaphor both for the life of spying – constrained, constricted, having ones life shoved into a box – and for the hardships of WW II itself. So far, so accurate. But the cover also hints that this will be a story primarily about these two people. We don’t know their names on the cover, but the tags on “his” picture refer to “her,” and to their shared experiences.

Super Spy is not the story of two people; there are at least six major characters, of whom these two are only the ones we meet first. These two are not even necessarily the most important characters. And, given the dangers of spying in wartime, it’s wise not to get too attached to any character in this book. Kindt knows that spycraft is a very dangerous profession, and he shows us all of those dangers.

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Archie Comics president and co-publisher Richard H. Goldwater died from cancer, according to a press release from Archie Comics. He was 71.

Richard shared top duties at Archie with chairman and co-publisher Michael Silberkleit. He was the son of John Goldwater, Michael is the son of Louis Silberkleit. Together, John and Louis partnered with Maurice Coyne to form the pulp magazine publishing company that evolved into the golden age’s MLJ Comics, birthplace to Archie Andrews 65 years ago. Together, Michael and Richard steered the company for the past several decades, keeping Archie a household name while adding Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina The Teen-Aged Witch to the short list of American comic book icons.

While other major comics companies were sold to big conglomerates, Goldwater and Silberkleit kept Archie Comic Publications family owned, establishing values that were well reflected in their publishing output.

(Pictured left-to-right: Archie managing editor Victor Gorelick and co-publishers Michael Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater. Copyright Vanity Fair, All Rights Reserved.)