Book Review: New Super-Man and the Justice League of China by G. L. Yang et al.

New Super-Man and the Justice League of China written by Gene Luen Yang, penciled by Brent Peeples, and inked by Matt Santorelli

This book is actually issues 20 to 24 of Gene Luen Yang's New Super-Man comic, where a Man of Steel copy is made in China via technology. He eventually forms a team of what's been called "metahumans" in the DC comics line. At first I thought this was an alternate reality story, like Red Son where Kal-el's Kryptonian space ship crashes in the Soviet Union rather than in Kansas. This story apparently exists in the regular DC Universe, meaning there's the Justice League in America with the original heroes who for some reason don't interact with these Chinese counterparts. So in addition to missing the first nineteen issues of the series, I was also confused about these people and their relationship to the original characters. It's a bit of a mess. The story here has the heroes liberating a metahuman from North Korea who is the Asian equivalent of Aquaman (though he doesn't know who Aquaman is thanks to the political regime in North Korea). The book contains some interesting riffs on the personal dynamics of the Justice League and has plenty of fun dialogue that Yang is so good at. The overall story just isn't interesting.

Slightly recommended, if the concept sounds interesting to you. Otherwise, avoid!

Book Review: Saint Paul by Pope Benedict XVI

Saint Paul by Pope Benedict XVI

Following the tradition of his predecessor Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict gave ongoing series of general audiences in Rome on Wednesdays. This book collects twenty lectures on the life and theology of the Apostle Paul. Paul's original name was Saul and his first appearance in the Christian story was that he zealously persecuted the nascent church. Then he was struck down (and even struck blind) on the road to Damascus by Christ Himself. This moment was Paul's conversion. He sought out the Christian community. His blindness was cured when he received Baptism and changed his name to Paul. He then became a zealous evangelist for the church, traveling far and wide through the Roman Empire.

Benedict gives a fine historical overview of both Paul's life and the context in which he lived. The Pax Romana allowed free and unmolested travel from Spain to Egypt as well as a common language and culture from which the early church could grow. Benedict describes Paul's missionary journeys and his martyrdom in Rome under Nero's persecution.

Even better is Benedict's theological overview of Paul's teaching. He discusses Paul's relationship with the other apostles as a follower of Christ and a teacher of others. He describes Paul's Christology, showing how it moves from the sacredness of the place (the Temple in Jerusalem) to the sacredness of the people (the Christians who are the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit). The Spirit of God no longer dwells just in the Holy of Holies but in all Christians through baptism and the other sacraments--especially the Eucharist. In a mysterious way, God the Son shares His life, His very physical life, through the sacrament He instituted at the Last Supper. Paul follows this insight to its natural conclusions. We are all called to participate in Christ's death and resurrection. We must not only have faith but also work toward the expansion and fulfillment of that faith. We need to grow personally and help others to grow. Benedict highlights many key insights and details from Paul's teachings.

This book reads quickly. It's twenty chapters long but each chapter is only four to seven pages long. The overview of Paul's life and theology is great and well worth reading.

Highly recommended.

World War II Memorial, Washington DC

The World War II Memorial is a more recent (2004) addition to Washington's impressive array of memorials. It's located by the Washington Monument in the heart of the Mall. Fifty-six granite pillars surround a square with a fountain in the middle.

Approaching the memorial 

Getting inside was tricky for us since we took the one turn that led to the back of the memorial. Entrances are by the Washington Monument and the north and south sides of the square.

The square with a view of the Washington Monument

The fountain

The square is flanked by two triumphal arches, one labeled "Atlantic" the other "Pacific." Those were the main theaters of war for the United States.

Atlantic arch

Pacific arch

Sculpture inside the arches

Medallion in the floors of the arches

On the Pacific arch

The fifty-six pillars represent the forty-eight states in 1945, the Alaska Territory, the Territory of Hawaii, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

My birth state

My home state (and me!)

Grandpa's home state

I found an inconspicuous engraving of the famous Kilroy Was Here graffiti that became identified with World War II soldiers in the 1940s. They left both the saying and the drawing (not always together) all over Europe.

Off in a corner

The memorial is very beautiful and a relaxing spot to hang out. It holds a special place in my heart since I was part of a swing dance group that did demonstrations and performances on the weekend when the memorial was dedicated.

One last view

The Sequel Was Better? Star Trek I and II

The Sequel Was Better? is a series of reviews looking at famous movies with sequels that are considered, rightly or wrongly, to be better than the original movies. Typically, sequels are a step down in quality, acting, and/or production value. But not always. See other reviews here.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) directed by Robert Wise

A massive energy cloud travels through Klingon space. Three Klingon battle cruisers confront the cloud, only to be completely obliterated by an energy torpedo. On the planet Vulcan, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) undergoes a ritual that will remove all emotion from his life. Just as he is about to finish, he feels a strange seemingly mystic call from space. Meanwhile, a Federation outpost (with the first English-speaking characters in the film) spies on the Klingon encounter with the cloud. They plot the course of the cloud and it's heading directly to Earth! At Starfleet Command on Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) pulls some strings to get reassigned from his desk job to the captain's chair aboard the Enterprise. The Enterprise has just undergone an overhaul and is the only starship that can intercept the cloud, which is two days away. The current captain, Decker (Stephen Collins), is mad at the demotion and takes on the job of science officer reluctantly.

The crew tries to go to warp speed to get to the cloud but the engines aren't quite ready for the strain and they generate a worm hole that almost destroys the ship. Decker's quick thinking (and familiarity with the refitted Enterprise) saves the day, though he has to go against Kirk's orders. Kirk is at first upset but realizes Decker was right and that he (Kirk) needs the additional input. A Federation craft approaches the Enterprise. Once it's docked, Spock comes aboard and helps fix the engines. He also takes the science officer job, which Decker happily relinquishes since he knows how brilliant Spock is. Spock tells Kirk and McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) that he's heard something from the cloud. His motivation may be his own curiosity rather than the safety of Earth, which could be a problem. Kirk takes him back anyway.

They proceed to the cloud which they can enter once Spock figures out how to communicate with the intelligence occupying it. The center of the cloud has some large ship. As they approach, the cloud sends an energy probe to the bridge that first scan the equipment. Then it scans some crew members and obliterates the helmsman Ilia (Persis Khambatta). Decker is very concerned because he had a past with her on her homeworld, Delta.

It's not long before Ilia is back, or a projection of Ilia generated by the alien and using Ilia's memories. The new Ilia says the alien intelligence is called V'Ger. Ilia is back on the ship to gather information about the Enterprise and the "carbon forms" that infest it. She refers to Kirk as "Kirk-Unit." Her impersonal style occasionally slips and the crew realize they need to tap into the emotional and personal memories of Ilia to save themselves. Decker is all too willing to help Ilia (and the ship) recover her personality.

Meanwhile, Spock sneaks off the ship to find out more about the alien intelligence that has been communicating with him. He discovers a lot of information--there's some sort of robotic life form gathering information about the whole universe. On the ship, Ilia reveals that V'Ger is returning to its maker on Earth, though she does not identify the maker. Spock comes back and they convince V'Ger, through Ilia, to let them onto the ship at the center of the cloud.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Decker, and Ilia travel to V'Ger's location and discover it is an old Earth Voyager probe given sentience on a far distant robotic world. Since Voyager was programed to gather information and return that information to Earth, it's merely following its programing. Some of the probe's wiring is broken so it's not functioning properly, i.e. not recognizing humans as its creator. By this point, the crew realizes Ilia is gone for good. Decker volunteers to fix the wiring and become one with the probe (reuniting creator and created). He and Ilia embrace as they are absorbed by an electrical storm. The Enterprise crew heads back to Earth, musing about the new life form they have discovered and possibly created. Cue end credits.

This story is pretty average Star Trek fare. The crew encounters an unknown alien and struggles to understand it enough to counter the jeopardy it is causing. Unfortunately the movie is hampered by the very slow pace and lack of character development. Many shots of the Enterprise and of traveling through the wormhole and the cloud go on and on, lingering on the details and often cutting back to looks of amazement on Kirk's and other crew members faces. The movie could easily have been forty minutes shorter. Also, though the story hints at possible developments with Spock (who may be unhealthily obsessed with the alien intelligence) and Kirk (who clearly wants to go back to his glory days of space exploration), nothing really changes for anyone aside from Decker.

The visual effects range from good to bad. The ships look good even forty years later. A lot of the travel through space is less impressive, as are the ubiquitous lightening effects (the cloud's attacks on ships, a computer panel that fries Chekov, the energy probe that scans the bridge, etc.). The trips through the wormhole and the cloud take longer than they should and look a little dated by today's standards. Kirk and Scotty ride in a shuttle around the Enterprise and the view of them through the window looks bad.

Jerry Goldsmith's score for the movie is great and has been reused by and reformulated for the other films and is almost verbatim copied in the opening credits of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) directed by Nicholas Meyer

The movie opens with a new captain helming the Enterprise--a Vulcan woman named Saavik. They receive a distress signal from a civilian ship, the Kobayashi Maru, in the Neutral Zone between Federation and Klingon space. Going to help the ship violates a treaty but that ship is on the verge of dying. She decides to rescue the ship. Three Klingon ships show up and make short work of the Enterprise, crippling it and killing most of the bridge crew, including Spock, McCoy, and Uhura. As Saavik orders the rest of the crew to abandon ship, the main screen splits and James Kirk walks in. The whole thing was a training simulation. The "dead" crew pop up and head off to other duties. Kirk chats with Spock about the training mission they are about to go on and Kirk's birthday. Spock gives Kirk an antique copy of A Tale of Two Cities.

Back at Kirk's apartment, McCoy shows up with two presents. One is Romulan Ale, which is illegal. McCoy says it's only for "medicinal purposes." The other gift is a pair of reading glasses since Kirk is allergic to the medicine that corrects aging eyeballs. McCoy tells Kirk to get a starship command back because he's going to turn into an old man if he doesn't. Kirk struggles with what to do and is reluctant to make a change.

Meanwhile, Chekov is on the USS Reliant, a ship that is surveying lifeless planets for use in the Genesis Project. They think they've found a winner in Ceta Alpha Six, a wasteland of a planet that appears to have no life. But the scanners pick up something, so he and his commanding officer Terrell (Paul Winfield) beam down. They discover some ship wreckage and soon discover the crew. It's the SS Botany Bay, a ship that was forced down on Ceta Alpha Five with Khan Singh (Ricardo Montalban), a genetically-engineered human who almost took over the Enterprise with his group of seventy or so other genetically-enhanced people from the 1990s. This all happened in the TV episode Space Seed, so this movie is a sequel to the first movie and to a TV episode! Khan tells Chekov and Terrell that Ceta Alpha Six blew up six months after Kirk marooned them, shifting the orbit of Ceta Alpha Five and turning it into a wasteland. Khan uses some nasty creatures to render Chekov and Terrell compliant and then finds out why they were there and how he can find Kirk (to get revenge, of course). Khan has Chekov call the scientific outpost orbiting Regula One to inform them that the Reliant is coming to take all their Genesis materials.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise starts its training cruise with Spock as captain and Kirk as an observer. Kirk receives a call from Doctor Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), the lead scientist on the Genesis Project and one of Kirk's old flames. She asks why they are taking Genesis away from her. Kirk gets the idea that there's trouble but the transmission is quickly jammed. After reporting it to Starfleet, the top brass order the Enterprise (the only starship in range of Regula One) to investigate. Spock relinquishes command, deferring to Kirk's experience.

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy watch a promotional video for the Genesis Project. The project is a scientific endeavor to create life from lifeless matter. A first experiment was made in a lab; a second was scheduled for underground. The video promises a third stage where a device would be set off on a dead planet or moon that would be turned into a habitable planet. McCoy is shocked that such a thing would be created because it could obviously be used on a live planet to wipe out the local inhabitants and create a new matrix of life. The scientists at Regula One were clearly aware of that possibility which is why they protested the project being taken by Starfleet.

As the Enterprise approaches Regula One, the USS Reliant shows up. In a tense confrontation, Khan's ship cripples the Enterprise and only through a trick can Kirk turn the fight into a draw (he hacks into the Reliant's command console and drops their shields!). Khan withdraws and the Enterprise goes to the orbiting science station. Kirk beams over with McCoy and Saavik. They don't find any of the Genesis materials or live crew (some of the crew members were clearly tortured). They do find Chekov and Terrell, who seem to have recovered. The crew keeps exploring the station, getting to the transporter room. The transporter is still on and set with coordinates deep within Regula, a planet that is a giant space rock. After communicating with the Enterprise, which doesn't have enough power to beam them back, Kirk tells them to make what repairs they can and head to a starbase to get help. Kirk and crew decide to beam down to where ever the coordinates are.

They beam into a tunnel where they are attacked by Doctor David Marcus, Carol's son. And also Kirk's son! David thinks they are Khan's group trying to steal Genesis. Kirk sets him straight but then Terrell and Chekov admit they are still controlled by Khan, who has been listening in. Khan orders Terrell to kill Kirk but Terrell resists, shooting himself rather than Kirk. Chekov screams and falls to the ground, where the nasty creature comes back out of his ear and Kirk phasers it. Khan beams away the Genesis materials and tells Kirk he will be left marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet, buried alive. Kirk gives his famous "KHAAAAANNNNN!" shout, which is clearly delightful to Khan.

Carol and Kirk have a parental discussion about David. They were clearly going to live two different lives when she got pregnant. Carol didn't want David galavanting about in space with Kirk so she raised him on her own. Kirk is shocked into a malaise and really does feel old with a madman from fifteen years ago trying to kill him and a son whom he has just met for the first time and who has no interest in him. Carol takes pity on Kirk and leads him further down the tunnel to the area where they conducted their experiment and created an expansive biological garden.

Kirk and Saavik discuss the Kobayashi Maru test. Kirk says it's a no-win scenario that tests character rather than ability. And yet Kirk was able to beat the test and save the ship. When pressed for how he did it, Kirk admitted that he reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible to save the Kobayashi Maru. Then he calls the Enterprise which is ready to beam them up. Kirk and Spock had a coded conversation, so the Enterprise never went to the starbase and it is mostly ready to confront the Reliant again.

In order to even up the odds, the Enterprise flies into a nebula where the gas will render shields inoperable as well as forcing weapons into manual aiming. At first, Khan's crew doesn't want to go in but Kirk taunts Khan. Another tense battle sequence happens with Kirk crippling the Reliant. Khan decides to activate the Genesis device which will blow up in four minutes. The Enterprise still doesn't have the warp drive on line, so they won't be able to escape in time. Spock heads to Engineering where he goes into a radiation-filled chamber to repair the warp drive--just in time to escape the device's explosion!

When Kirk calls down to Engineering to congratulate Scotty on a job well done, he realizes Spock is missing. McCoy tells Kirk to hurry down. Once there, Kirk and Spock talk through the radiation shielding. Spock has a dramatic death scene where he says that he's found a solution to the no-win scenario. They have a touching funeral for Spock and send his body to the newly-formed planet created by the Genesis device.

David comes to Kirk's quarters to console him for the loss and reconnect with him as a father. Kirk goes to the bridge where he muses on the possibility of new life on the Genesis planet and maybe a new life for Spock. McCoy asks Kirk how he feels. Kirk replies with a winsome smile, "I feel young." Cue end credits.


So is the sequel better? Let's look at some points of comparison.

• SCRIPT--While both movies start off from ideas reminiscent of the television show, the sequel manages to go somewhere the show hadn't before. The crew is clearly getting older and the story deals with that issue head-on. Kirk has a mid-life crisis and is forced out of his malaise thanks to both his friends and his enemy. He actually has a character arc that comes to a very satisfying conclusion. Khan is a much better villain than V'Ger thanks to a smart script that gives him motivation while acknowledging that he's crazy. The second movie uses literary references (primarily A Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick) effectively to underscore thematic elements of searching for purpose and obsessing over revenge. Advantage Wrath of Khan
• ACTING--Star Trek has never been known for its great acting. William Shatner has a reputation for overacting which can be seen in both movies, though he is vastly better in the second film. Wrath of Khan is probably his best performance as Kirk. Ricardo Montalban chews up the scenery with his performance but it works pretty well with his character's madness. The other actors also do better in the second film thanks to the stronger script that gives them more to do than mugging for the camera after yet another "amazing" journey through visual-effects-laden space. Advantage Wrath of Khan
• ADVANCES THE STORY/MYTHOLOGY--Even though the crew has "ongoing missions" they really never have had an ongoing story arc. Mythological development only happen by necessity. Sure the Klingons look a lot rougher and tougher in the first film than they did in the TV show, but they have just a cameo at the beginning. The first movie is basically an extended episode of the original series. Wrath of Khan is a sequel to one specific episode and borrows themes from that episode and from the first movie. Rather than being a rehash of old ideas, the film makers build up a better story with action and character dramatics--a definite improvement. Advantage Wrath of Khan
• SPECIAL EFFECTS--This category may be the closest for the two movies. Other than the cheesy lightening effects and the long, drawn-out space sequences, the first film holds up as well as its sequel holds up. They both used miniatures for the spacecraft so the effects don't look like dated CGI. Slight advantage Wrath of Khan.
• VISUAL STYLE--Well, let me just say the Starfleet uniforms in the first film were horrible...HORRIBLE! They looked like pajamas with a weird belt that seemed like it should do something techy, like have their communicator or phaser or some gadget. The uniforms in the sequel actually look like actual military uniforms. On the other hand, Khan's crew of genetically-altered supermen look like their costumes were leftovers from a Mad Max movie. They look like an impoverished biker gang. I can understand they were roughing it on Ceti Alpha Five for fifteen years, but surely they could have updated their wardrobe when they took over the Reliant. The 1970s hair in the first movie gave way to even bigger early 1980s hair in the sequel (even though both films were set in the twenty-third century). Which hair style is more palatable is up to the viewer. Advantage Wrath of Khan

FINAL THOUGHTS

This particular set of films is the paradigmatic example of a sequel being better than its predecessor. Star Trek: The Motion Picture almost tanked the franchise. In order to justify a sequel, film studio Paramount gave the makers one-quarter of the budget and relegated Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek's creator) to a "creative consultant" role. Leonard Nimoy was only convinced to play Spock again because they guaranteed him that Spock would have a great death scene. Sequel director Nicholas Meyer injected a lot of creativity and new ideas into the movie and delivered what is arguably the best Star Trek movie ever made. Indeed, Wrath of Khan is a good movie all on its own, apart from the Star Trek milieu. It's well worth watching or revisiting if you haven't seen it for a long time.

Book Review: Spider-Men by B. M. Bendis and S. Pichelli

Spider-Men written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrations by Sara Pichelli

Classic Spider-man villain Mysterio develops an interdimensional portal to dump his nemesis into another universe. His plan works well. He gets Peter Parker from the regular Marvel universe into the Ultimate universe. The Ultimate universe's Peter Parker has died and Miles Morales has risen as the new Spider-Man. Peter and Miles run into each other quickly, though Peter still thinks he's under some hypnotic trick by Mysterio. They have a fun initial fight and ongoing dialog. Miles takes Peter to S.H.I.E.L.D. where Nick Fury buys the alternate universe interpretation of the situation. Can they get Peter back to his own dimension?

The story is clearly the inspiration for Into the Spider-Verse and is a lot fun. The script is witty. Mysterio is a bit of a minor character but is used really well, as is Nick Fury. Usually, crossover stories like this don't work and feel like a cash-in. This one hits all the right notes.

Highly recommended.

Constitution Gardens, Washington

Constitution Gardens is located on a small island in the Constitution Gardens Pond on the Mall in the District of Columbia. The area was originally used for temporary office buildings. Those building were vacated and demolished in the early 1970s. A new park was planned and dedicated in May 1976 as part of the bicentennial celebration of the American War for Independence.

The first stone on the bridge to the island

By 1984, a memorial was set up in honor of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. I think it is funny that the gardens are named after the Constitution of the United States but the memorial is related to the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution was ratified over ten years later than the Declaration.

Dedication, also on the bridge

A small plaza has stones with copies of the signatures on the Declaration, along with the location and profession of each signer.

Stones with names

I took a picture of John Witherspoon, a signer from the state where I was born. He was a clergyman, which goes to show you that separation of church and state wasn't so separate back in the day.

John Witherspoon of New Jersey

Charles Carroll is a signer from my home state and the only Catholic to sign the Declaration.

Charles Carroll of Maryland

The island has a beautiful view of the Washington Monument.

Washington Monument reflected in the pond

We try to look at the camera and the sun at the same time!

We did catch someone trying to go for a swim in the pond. We had to warn him that the water is very shallow. And cold, which was the more persuasive argument!

Diver

People impressed by the diver

Cute Kid Pix November 2019

Here's some more photos that didn't make it into their own post...

My son's Cub Scout pack had a fun pack meeting where they put together care packages from the troops serving abroad. Part of the package is a photo of the boys saying thank you!

I had a side shot of the boys in formation

At school, the kindergarten class celebrated Thanksgiving by making stone soup. All the kids brought in contributions. We were asked to bring in grapes, which naturally did not go in the soup. In addition to the soup and grapes, they were served popcorn and applesauce they made that morning in class. Adult volunteers came in the morning to cut up the apples and the veggies for the soup. I came with my wife in the afternoon to celebrate.

Our son enjoying his meal

Proud parents

We bought a new car, a Toyota Highlander hybrid. We are looking forward to the better gas mileage (and smaller environmental impact) and the fun of having our first Bluetooth-enabled car.

Posing at the dealership with my brother and sister

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. My daughter made another fabulously-decorated pumpkin pie!

Garden pumpkin pie

We often play Telephone Pictionary Players sit in a circle and each has a piece of paper and a pencil. First, players write a sentence at the top of the page and pass it to the left. The next player reads the sentence, folds the paper back so the sentence isn't visible, and then draws a picture of the sentence. Then the paper passes left again and the new player looks at the picture. That player folds back the picture and writes a sentence. And so on until the paper goes all the way around. The game yields some hilarious results:

Click to enlarge