Marvel Unlimited: Marvel Comics Presents #73-78

Weapon X is essentially an origin story: Canadian government scientists are turning Logan into Wolverine, a mindless killing machine, or at least trying to.  He already had his super-healing ability and his taste for violence when they picked him up.  In the lab, they've added the adamantium to his bones and the retractable claws.  Now the question is whether or not they can control him.  It's a Frankenstein story at its heart, though with a far less articulate monster.  

Logan/Wolverine, you see, doesn't actually talk much through this transformation ordeal.  Mostly, we see him lying inert, wires attached, his creator/controllers talking about him.  There are occasional, extremely violent outbursts but for the most part, his role is a passive one.

So far.  

As the readers, we know that after all of this, Wolverine won't be easily controlled by anyone.  It's just a matter of seeing how the early history plays out.

I'm not sure how I feel to this point.  Wolverine is still my favorite Marvel character, though I doubt this story would have been one to hook me.  It's not over yet.  I will reserve ultimate judgment.

My Recent Reads

Marvel Comics Presents #73

Originally released February 5, 1991

Story: "Weapon X: Chapter One"

Writer and Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith

via Amazon

Marvel Comics Presents #74

February 19, 1991

"Weapon X: Chapter Two"

Windsor-Smith

via Marvel Database

Marvel Comics Presents #75

March 5, 1991

"Weapon X: Chapter Three"

Windsor-Smith

via Amazon

Marvel Comics Presents #76

March 19, 1991

"Weapon X: Chapter Four"

Windsor-Smith

via Marvel Database

Marvel Comics Presents #77

April 2, 1991

"Weapon X: Chapter Five"

Windsor-Smith

via Marvel Database

Marvel Comics Presents #78

April 16, 1991

"Weapon X: Chapter Six"

Windsor-Smith

via Marvel Database

Star Trek: New Ground

Episode: "New Ground"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 5, Episode 10

Original Air Date: December 30, 1991

via Memory Alpha

Alexander Rozhenko, Worf's son, comes to live aboard the Enterprise.  Worf's parents have run out of steam trying to raise him on Earth.  Predictably, our favorite security officer does not take easily to the demands of fatherhood.  Meanwhile, a warp-propulsion experiment goes awry and an entire planet is at risk, our heroes along with it.

Sure, Wesley Crusher is annoying but the fan consensus is strong: Alexander is worse.  Kid does nothing but whine and sulk.  It's too bad because the Worf part of the story is genuinely interesting.  Such is the way with pretty much all Alexander episodes: dad compelling, son annoying.

The best part of this installment is the return of Georgia Brown as Worf's mother, Helena.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Georgia Brown was born Lilian Claire Klot in London, October 21, 1933.  She began her career as a nightclub singer and named herself after her two favorite songs: "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Georgia on My Mind."  When a recording career failed to pan out, she found her way into musical theatre.  Her breakthrough was the role of Nancy in Oliver!, a part she originated in both London and New York.  For the latter, she received a Tony nomination.  

Over the next three decades, she found ample screen and stage work on both sides of the Atlantic.  Highlights included two highly acclaimed BBC mini-series, The Roads to Freedom and Shoulder to Shoulder.  On Cheers, she played Madame Lazora, Carla's spiritual advisor, a role for which she got an Emmy nomination.  

Sadly, Brown passed away just a few months after the airing of "New Ground."

Bitters of the Month: 'Elemakule Tiki

Bittermens bitters are produced by the Sazerac Company, headquartered in Metairie, Louisiana.  Their 'Elemakule Tiki bitters, while clearly invoking Polynesia with its name, aims for a broader category of "island" drinks, claiming influence from the Caribbean as well.  The two primary flavorings are cinnamon (an Asian native) and allspice (West Indies).  The scent that hit me first was cola which, of course, also features cinnamon prominently.  I got anise in the taste as well.

This one will require some experimenting (aw, shucks!).  The cola idea sends me in one direction, the anise another, the geographical allusions another still.  The Bittermens site offers recipe suggestions, though they all include ingredients I don't have - often other Sazerac products, naturally.  

Stay tuned.

Marvel Unlimited: Infinity Gauntlet #5-6; Marvel Comics Presents #72

I finished Infinity Gauntlet - can't say I was impressed.  There's just way too much: too many characters; all action all the time; no subtlety, ever.  As far as I can tell, it was a chance to bring as many heroes together into one story and drum up the one villain capable of giving them a decent fight.  The artwork, I will grant, is impressive.

And yes, I feel basically the same way about the movie.

Back to Wolverine, though actually Logan features in Infinity Gauntlet because everyone does.  Back to his personal story.  The Weapon X arc, a feature within in the Marvel Comics Presents series, tells the tale of Wolverine's history with Canada's clandestine government program for turning humans - and mutants - into weapons.  It feels good to come back to an earthier story focused on one character I enjoy a great deal.

My Recent Reads

Infinity Gauntlet #5

Originally released September 17, 1991

Writer: Jim Starlin

Artist: Ron Lim

via Amazon

Infinity Gauntlet #6

October 15, 1991

Starlin/Lim

Marvel Comics Presents #72

January 24, 1991

Story: "Weapon X: Prologue"

Barry Windsor-Smith

Squid Flicks: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Title: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Original Release: December 6, 1991

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Just a month and a half after the death of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, the franchise's sixth motion picture was released.  It was the last film to include the entire principal cast of the original series.  After the unmitigated disaster of film #5, The Final Frontier, and with the continuing success of The Next Generation, the old guard needed a win.  

Meanwhile, the broader world was facing seismic change.  The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.  The Cold War was over.  The geo-political landscape upon which Star Trek was built was no more.  Future stories would reflect newly prominent realities.  But first, one more tale to acknowledge the transition.

The Klingon Empire is in decline.  The destruction of the moon Praxis has brought matters to a crisis point.  War with the Federation is no longer sustainable so peace is sought.  The Enterprise runs to greet their new friends but a conspiracy is afoot.  Not everyone is so keen on peace.

The Undiscovered Country is solid Trek.  The regulars are at the top of their game and the supporting cast - including Kim Catrell, Christopher Plummer, Mark Lenard, Brock Peters, Michael Dorn and Christian Slater - is probably the strongest we've seen in a Star Trek movie so far.  It doesn't have the obvious broader appeal of #4, The Voyage Home, but it's not as goofy either.  

There is a knock against this movie and it's not easily dismissed.  The mistrust of the Klingons by many, including our dear Captain Kirk, is seen by some as having uncomfortable racist overtones.  Going all the way back to the first Klingon episode, "Errand of Mercy," the antagonism towards them has always been petty.  Even the Romulans always seem to engender grudging respect in the end.  But a lot of the rhetoric in The Undiscovered Country is downright hateful.  Chekov's "Guess who's coming to dinner" line - a reference to the 1967 Sidney Poitier film about two families confronting the prospect of interracial marriage - was supposed to be Uhura's but Nichelle Nichols refused to say it.

Are such attitudes realistic in light of real world parallels?  Of course.  But Trek is supposed to be better than reality when it comes to confronting the other.  As it turns out, even our heroes have their limits.

The script is riddled with Shakespeare quotes, including the title itself which derives from Hamlet.  Plummer's character Chang, in particular, is quite fond of The Bard.  But the movie's most intriguing literary allusion comes in a Spock line: "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."  This is, of course, a famous Sherlock Holmes quip.  The speculation: is Spock claiming kinship with Holmes himself or with his author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?  For what it's worth, my money's on Doyle, though the idea of two fictional characters being related to each other is certainly fun to ponder.

The moment of truth, my rankings of the six original cast Star Trek films:

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
2. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
3. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
6. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

I'm not offering an especially adventurous perspective here.  In fact, my rankings match the Rotten Tomatoes aggregates exactly.  I'll be interested to see how subsequent movies measure up.

Squid Mixes: Bloody Mary

I have written of my love for Bloody Marys several times in a variety of posts, most notably:

Long Island Iced Tea Party

Squid Mixes: Tequila Maria

Squid Mixes: Virgin Mary

However, I have never devoted an entire post to the drink itself.  It's time to set that right.

I used the recipe in The New York Bartender's Guide, though I omitted the horseradish and black pepper.  That still left vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and salt.  It was not as hot as the Tequila Maria and I must concede that it may have been the horseradish I missed.  Mind you, I would not be opposed to adding more Tabasco to make up the difference.

My wife and I both preferred the tequila to vodka, though identical recipes (apart from the booze), side-by-side would be a more meaningful comparison.  I daresay I'm up for that experiment some day.

A colleague recently alerted me to a Bloody Mary tasting flight served at The Friendly Toast, a local restaurant.  I might have to check that out soon!

Marvel Unlimited: Infinity Gauntlet #4

Yeah, it was a busy week - not a lot of time to read.  The Infinity Gauntlet issues are long, too: 40+ pages each whereas most comics are in the low-to-mid 20s.  My gripe with the story is the same as it was last week:  too many characters, too much going on. 

My Recent Reads

Infinity Gauntlet #4

Originally released August 20, 1991

Writer: Jim Starlin

Artists: George Pérez and Ron Lim

via Amazon