Month: May 2002

A suggestion from Dave Phelps:

“Might be fodder for that NotePAD thing on your website…

“Are you going to be doing anything special for the coming
cancellation/restart of Captain Marvel (like a major direction change ala
Supergirl)? Or is it pretty much going to be “business as usual” story wise
with maybe a little more “jumping on”ish material in the new #1?

“I’ll be buying either way, but I was a little curious.”

I don’t know if I’d say the series will undergo a “major change in direction,” because that implies that everything that’s gone before gets thrown out. I resist taking such measures, because to me that makes the “seams” show too much. If you jerk a character around too much, it becomes obvious that we’re dealing with–well–a jerked around character, and that destroys the willing suspension of disbelief. What I’m doing with the new #1 is embarking on a storyline that is a logical extension of what’s gone before, but also is ideally shocking and startling in its conception and execution.

I wanted the story to focus more on Captain Marvel without losing the influence of Rick Jones. So what I opted to do was have the story told largely through first person narration from Rick’s POV, but have it be almost entirely about Marv. And what it charts, quite simply, is Captain Marvel’s abrupt and horrifying descent into total madness.

To a certain degree, I was inspired by–of all things–a Jim Shooter Marvel/DC crossover story from many years ago, in which Superman came face to face with Doc Doom, and Doom says, “Nothing happens on this planet that you and I do not allow to happen.” And Superman doesn’t dispute the claim. And I thought, What if we jacked up that concept to a cosmic level. Have Captain Marvel come to the realization that he can’t be everywhere…and the cosmic awareness of that literally becomes too much for him. Peter Parker to the Nth degree, knowing with great power comes great responsibility, but in this case not unwilling to use the power but instead physically unable to do so, and incapable of dealing with his limitations. What happens then?

In Captain Marvel #1, on sale in September, you’ll see. In the meantime, the current storyline is laying groundwork for important developments later on. In the current issue, hitting the stands today, I literally went for the old style Marvel “shock follows shock” idea of storytelling. The issue starts off with a simple, goofy, fan-oriented gag and some light banter, just so people get to think that it’s business as usual…and then around page six or seven, I knock the wheels off the expectations wagon and just go from there.

At the base of all the hoopla and chest thumping which has gone on in recent weeks (be sure to check out the David 3:16 link elsewhere on this web page) is a comic book that the current issue of Comics International calls a “masterpiece still undiscovered by the masses.” So go discover already.

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In deference to our foreign fans visiting the website, I won’t go into any sort of spoiler detail about the season wrap-up of “Angel” (although I *will* mention, because it’s non-specific, that a cliffhanger of that type is somewhat unprecedented in the show’s history. Until now, the series had always abided by the “Buffy” formula of ending clean. This one ends nasty and ragged. But then, that’s more like life when you get down to it.

What I’ve found interesting is the initial very negative fan reactions I’ve been seeing. I thought it was a pretty good episode, actually, in that it was a logical progression from all that’s gone before. That’s been both the strength and weakness of this season. All that has occurred has gone in a very logical, reasonable manner. Unfortunately, because of that, it’s also been remarkably predictable. The only beat of the Conner storyline I missed was my belief that the time-hopping demon Sahjahn *was* Conner. Other than that, it was pretty much obvious.

TV series always tread a fine line between giving viewers what they want (which invariably then palls on them and they move off) and giving them what they don’t want (which can enrage them but also keep them). “Angel” has tried to embrace the latter while showing a derth of imagination and therefore stumbling into the former. Not its most successful season…and that comes from someone who actually *liked* the three episodes in the other dimension last year.

“Buffy” likewise has been beat-by-beat for anyone who ever read the “Dark Phoenix” stories. In fact, that was signaled from the very first episode. Remember when Willow stood there in the center of the graveyard and telepathically guided all the Scoobies in their slaying? It was remarked back then that they’d turned her into Jean Gray. If they follow Claremont’s original model for the storyline (as opposed to the Shooter-mandated “She must die” ending) then eventually we’ll have Dark Willow going completely nova only to be captured, restrained, and (perhaps voluntarily) undergoing a sort of psychic surgery that will remove her abilities completely forever. We’ll see.

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Been off line a few days while I attended Leprecon out in Phoenix, AZ. It’s the first straight-up SF convention I’ve attended in a reaaaal long time. One of the things I’m endeavoring to do is get people to realize that I do things other than comics and Star Trek novels, and I figured that getting out to a regional SF convention would be a way of spreading the word.

I don’t know that I succeeded all that much. The convention had about 500 people, and folks were very nice. In that respect, I had a good time. But a Jeopardy-style trivia competition on Friday had five questions about me, out of which the assembled group of thirty could only answer one. And my big GOH speech drew an audience of about a dozen, which put a sort of “Don’t know who he is and don’t really care” pall upon it. More frustrating for the committee folk was that fliers put out at comic stores prompted lots of comics fans to say, “Oooo! Peter David! I’ll be there!” and then exactly none of them showed up. So although the convention itself was a lot of fun and I’d recommend it to folks who want a nice, relaxed SF con, from a career profile POV it didn’t pan out.

One of the high points was a midnight demonstration of latex body painting upon a gorgeous, blonde and pretty much naked model. The hotel room in which the demo was being done was packed. Big surprise. There were large plastic sheets taped up on the walls, and fans inquired as to the reason for the walls being covered in that manner. I opined that they were allowing for the possibility that–for many of the fanboys in the room–it was the first time they’d actually seen a naked woman and there was concern their heads might explode and splatter the walls. You know, kind of like “Scanners.”

I’m not sure if my pictures of the event came out. I’ll let you know. But if they did, some of you may want to put some plastic covering over your computer. You know who you are.

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In Which The TARDIS comes to Pooh Corner and Doctor Pooh finds a job…

Continue Reading “The TARDIS at Pooh Corner – Chapter 5” →

In Which the TARDIS is explored and Piglet defeats The Terror of the Woozles…

Continue Reading “The TARDIS at Pooh Corner – Chapter 4” →

I decided to pass on the notion of a midnight show of “Attack of the Clones,” having fallen asleep the last time I tried that. So this time around I opted for a nice, safe 10 AM show. Ariel was in tow, gleefully playing hooky from school as were, indeed, most of the people in the audience.

I’ll be doing a more detailed review of the film in “But I Digress.” Highlights: Yoda; Samuel L. Jackson getting Jedieval on people’s áššëš; most of the visuals; minimal Jar-Jar; John Williams score; the nice shadow bit on Tatooine where Anakin’s profile bears a resemblance to Vader’s, bringing to life the poster from Episode 1. Lowlights: Just about everything else. Script, direction, most of the acting, and most painfully, Anakin. As Luke proved when bìŧçhìņg about wanting to go into town for power converters, a little Jedi whining goes a long way. Obi-Wan’s holding him back? Obi-Wan should be gagging him. He’s going to bring balance to the Force? He couldn’t bring balance to my car radio. Christ, is he annoying.

Most telling to me was Ariel’s incisive, albeit unintentional, deconstruction of the film into its component marketing parts. A menacing sequence on a robot-manufacturing conveyor belt prompted Ariel to remark, “This would make a good ride.” When Amidala was chained to a giant post awaiting death in an arena, Ariel chirpped in recognition, “I have the toy of this!” It says something about the Star Wars universe when a ten year old is able to recognize it as the license-generating bonanza it has become, rather than the combination of movie serials and myth that it once was.

Bottom line: It’s better than its predecessor, which makes it both watchable and a relief. But “Empire” was better than its predecessor, and that was no mean feat. In this case, “Phantom Menace” lowered the bar so significantly that it wasn’t all that much of a chore. Hëll, reducing Jar Jar’s screen time from fifty minutes to five was more than enough to do it.

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