Star Wars Comics: Dark Force Rising #3-4, X-Wing Rogue Squadron #20-22

My Recent Reads

Dark Force Rising #3

Originally Published July 30, 1997

Based on the novel of the same name by Timothy Zahn

Writer: Mike Baron

Artist: Terry Dodson

In-Story Timeline: 9 ABY

via Wookieepedia

• Luke meets C'Baoth who starts training him in the ways of the Force... the Dark Side of the Force.
• Han and Lando are on New Cov trying to dig up evidence on a spy among Senator Borsk Fey'lya's advisers.  Their efforts are interrupted when Thrawn's forces arrive on the planet.  A couple of new friends help them to escape.
• Thrawn threatens the Noghri who are hiding Leia, Chewie and Threepio.  So far, they haven't caved but Leia's getting nervous.
• Kirk, Spock and McCoy make a cameo in one of the panels.  I never would have seen it without the heads up from Wookieepedia but it's there.  If you're curious, page 18, fourth panel from the top, lower left.

Dark Force Rising #4

August 27, 1997

Based on the novel of the same name by Timothy Zahn

Baron/Dodson

via Wookieepedia

• Mara Jade is back!  But whose side is she on?  
• Thrawn's?  She cuts a deal with him to get information but then he betrays her.  
• Talon Karrde's?  She does seem inclined to protect him.
• Luke's?  Well, that seems unlikely at this stage but when the our favorite Jedi finally catches on that C'Baoth isn't such a great guy, Mara helps him escape.
• Han and Lando meet with Garm Bel Iblis, a former Senator and a General with the Rebellion.  Unfortunately, he refuses to help them.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #20: Requiem for a Rogue, Part 4

June 2, 1997

Michael A. Stackpole and Jan Strnad/Gary Erskine

4 ABY

via Wookieepedia

• The good guys win.
• But not without high cost.  Dllr and Herian sacrifice themselves for the good of the cause.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #21: In the Empire's Service, Part 1

August 6, 1997

Stackpole/John Nadeau

via Wookieepedia

• It turns out the Empire has their own cracker jack pilot, one Baron Fel.  The character is an obvious homage to the Red Baron.
• He is being sent to destroy Rogue Squadron.  And apparently he has a personal beef with Wedge, too, though we don't yet know what it is.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #22: In the Empire's Service, Part 2

September 3, 1997

Stackpole/Nadeau

via Wookieepedia

• We learn more about Baron Fel.  In truth, he seems a decent guy.  He's faithful to his wife.  He's motivated by the idea of protecting the citizens of the empire.  I always appreciate characters like this - a sympathetic face on the enemy.  Lux Bonteri is a good example from Clone Wars.
• He's certainly a more honorable man than his general on Brentaal IV, Soto.  The latter is mostly interested in protecting himself.
• Rogue Squadron and the Imperials, led by Fel, square off over Brentaal.  Several are shot down, but survive.  Janson and Ibtisam are taken prisoner.

Star Trek: Qpid

Episode: "Qpid"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 4, Episode 20

Original Air Date: April 22, 1991

via Memory Alpha

Captain Picard is invited to give a speech at an archaeology symposium to be held aboard the Enterprise.  Surprise, his old flame Vash also shows up for the conference, technically uninvited but welcomed by our Captain.  Further surprise, Q arrives as well in hopes of granting his old pal Jean-Luc a favor.  Picard tries to send him away but we all know how that usually works out.  Q sends all of our friends to Sherwood Forest with Picard as Robin Hood, Vash as Maid Marian, the crew as the Merry Men and himself as Sheriff of Nottingham.  Q's purpose is to show Picard his own vulnerability in the face of love.

Gee thanks, Q...

I don't like Q and I don't like Vash so this episode was never going to be a favorite for me.  For the record, cast and crew all loved it.  A few interesting points of note:

• Patrick Stewart and Jennifer Hetrick (Vash) were engaged to be married at the time.  They started dating after his first divorce in 1990.  It didn't work out.
• Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) and Marina Sirtis (Troi) were the only two in the principal cast with actual fencing experience yet in the climactic fight scene, they were the only ones without swords - reduced to hitting people over the heads with pots instead.
• In one scene, Marian trips over her own dress.  It wasn't intentional but the directors kept it, figuring it was in character for Vash, likely uncomfortable in period costume.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Clive Revill played the role of Sir Guy of Gisbourne who kidnaps Marian/Vash and demands that she marry him.  Revill was born April 13, 1930 in Wellington, New Zealand.  He originally trained to be an accountant before his acting career took off.

He went to London at age 20, then New York at 22.  He was the original Fagan in the Broadway production of Oliver!, garnering a Tony nomination.  Film credits include A Fine Madness and two Billy Wilder films: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and Avanti!  Numerous television guest appearances encompass a broad range, including Columbo, Newhart and Babylon 5.

Best of all for this scifi-loving blogger, his was the original voice of Emperor Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back.  Ian McDiarmid's voice is used in later DVD edits, though Revill is still credited.

On the Coffee Table: Miriam Katin

Title: Letting It Go

Writer and Artist: Miriam Katin

via Amazon

Letting It Go is an autobiographical graphic novel, the author's second.  Miriam and her husband live in New York.  Their adult son Ilan has decided to settle in Berlin, much to Miriam's dismay.  She is a Holocaust survivor and therefore has understandable anxieties regarding Germany and Germans.  Over the course of the book, she and her husband visit Berlin twice and we get a ringside seat as she reconciles the new, repentant Germany with the horrors of the past.

Obviously, the story gets heavy at times but not actually as much as one might expect.  It's hopeful by the end.  Katin's artwork is lovely, colored crayon her chosen medium, allowing a certain softness in the images.  Very human.

I'm definitely interested in her previous book, We Are on Our Own, the story of her mother's and her experiences during World War II.

Bitters of the Month: Spiced Cherry

Woodford Reserve, based in Kentucky, produces a Spiced Cherry Bitters.  It's definitely spicy, similar to the Aztec Chocolate we tried a while back.  In fact, I wonder if the two might work well in combination.  

We tried the Spiced Cherry in a Manhattan.  I was disappointed.  Apart from a tingle on the lips, the spice didn't come through very well.  It was less orangey than Angostura - not necessarily a bad thing but a noticeable difference.

On the Coffee Table: James S. Hirsch

Title: Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend

Author: James S. Hirsch

Authorized by Willie Mays

via Amazon

Okay, so let's get one point out of the way right off the bat. Willie Mays is the greatest baseball player who ever lived.  Some have been better hitters: Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds (Mays's godson) certainly.  Perhaps some have been better baserunners.  Rickey Henderson and Lou Brock have the best arguments there.  Some may have been better center f...  Nope, I can't even complete the sentence in good faith.  That one's easy.  There has never been a better center fielder.  His 12 Gold Gloves are tied for most all-time for an outfielder with Roberto Clemente and the only reason Mays didn't win more is that the award wasn't introduced until 1957, six years into his career.  Whether there's ever been a better fielder at any position is a more reasonable question.  Maybe Brooks Robinson at third base.  Maybe one should argue that the best fielding catcher ever is the best fielder ever because it's by far the most difficult position so maybe Ivan Rodriguez.  But probably not.

The complete package?  Willie Mays.  Every time.  The term 5-tool player (hit for average, hit for power, run, catch, throw) was essentially invented to describe him.

The numbers tell part of the story.  The traditional stats...

• 3,005 games played (8th all-time)
• 10,924 at bats (14th)
• 3,293 hits (12th)
• 660 home runs (6th)
• .301 lifetime batting average
• 2,068 runs scored (7th)
• 1,909 RBI (runs batted in) (12th)
• 338 stolen bases
• .384 on-base percentage
• .557 slugging percentage
• 2,989 games played at center field (CF) (1st)
• 7,024 putouts at CF (1st)
• 188 assists at CF (7th)

Then there's Wins Above Replacement (WAR), the most universally accepted sabermetric measure of a player's overall value to a team.  Willie Mays's career WAR is 156.1 which puts him at #5 on the all-time list behind Ruth and Bonds plus pitchers Walter Johnson and Cy Young.  No matter how you slice it, that's elite company.  But how you slice it matters.  Ruth, Johnson and Young all played in the age of segregation and therefore it cannot be said they were always playing against the best available competition.  That's not their fault but it deserves an asterisk.  Meanwhile, Bonds's late-career statistics were almost certainly inflated due to steroid use.  One also must consider the fact that Mays played nearly his entire career in home stadiums - the Polo Grounds and Candlestick Park - that were unfriendly to right-handed hitters with gap power.  His career totals might have been a lot higher in a more hitter-friendly stadium.

But like I said, the numbers are only part of the story.  Willie Mays was the most exciting player in baseball for 20 years.  Even his elite contemporaries - Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial - were in awe of him.  He hit the Majors in 1951 just as television brought top flight baseball into people's homes for the first time.  At the plate, on the bases and especially in the field, he was practically guaranteed to do something memorable a couple times per game.  He was just as big a draw on the road as he was at home.  He was the face of baseball's western migration.  He was the biggest star on what became baseball's most integrated team, the San Francisco Giants.  He was the best.  Period.

Hirsch's book covers all of that and more.  Indeed, he makes the "best ever" argument better than I have.  It's worth noting that it's an authorized biography so one could hardly expect an even-handed expose.  That said, Mays, who just turned 90 this year, has stayed pretty well clear of serious scandal all along - not easy for such a public figure.

Baseball books always leave me wanting to learn more.  In particular, I want to know more about the Negro Leagues.  Mays was playing for the Birmingham Black Barons when the big league scouts first got wind of him in the late 1940s.  I have read about pre-integration baseball before but learning about Willie Mays has renewed my curiosity.  Names new to me that have reignited my interest include Ray Dandridge and Piper Davis.

If you're looking for a more colorful, even-handed read, I would suggest Leigh Montville's Ted Williams instead.  But if you want to read a loving ode to an American hero who is thoroughly deserving of the adulation, you could hardly do better than Willie Mays.

A few treats for the road:

• Jon Stewart's interview of Mays during the promotional tour for Hirsch's book.
• The Catch
• Career Highlights

Star Wars Comics: X-Wing Rogue Squadron #15-19, Dark Force Rising #1-2

My Recent Reads

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #15: The Warrior Princess, Part 3

Originally Released January 1, 1997

Writers: Michael A. Stackpole and Scott Tolson

Artist: John Nadeau

In-Story Timeline: 4 ABY

via Wookieepedia

• Princess Plourr and Count Rial bond but then are attacked by resistance soldiers.
• The rest of Rogue Squadron is captured by Stormtroopers.
• Well, all except for Wedge and Tycho who find Plourr and Rial just after the latter two have kicked the snot out of the soldiers who attacked them.
• Plourr reveals she knows Harran is not her real brother... because she killed her real brother.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #16: The Warrior Princess, Part 4

February 1, 1997

Stackpole and Tolson/Nadeau

via Wookieepedia

• Plourr tells the story of her brother, the one driven by cruelty who became enamored of Darth Vader and the ways of the Sith.  She killed him in self-defense.  He wanted to turn her over to the nobles  when they rebelled so he could watch them kill her.  By killing him, she managed to get away.
• Tavira, the imposter Harran's Imperialist lover, holds several members of Rogue Squadron captive and reveals her sinister plans to them.  As you do.  She plans to kill them so she figures there's no harm in spilling her guts.
• The good guys win and Harran is revealed as a fraud.
• Plourr decides to say and help set her world in order.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #17: Requiem for a Rogue, Part 1

March 1, 1997

Stackpole and Jan Strnad/Gary Erskine

via Wookieepedia

• Rogue Squadron has been sent to find a lost Bothan cruise ship.
• They find the ship on Malrev IV, a presumably uncivilized war.  Once there, they're unexpectedly attacked by TIE Fighters.
• Wedge is shot down and feared lost.
• Then the planet's native attack them on the ground.  Presumed primitives, they wield Imperial weapons.
• Wedge has been captured by a Devaronian, as yet unidentified.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #18: Requiem for a Rogue, Part 2

April 1, 1997

Stackpole and Strnad/Erskine

via Wookieepedia

• The Devaronian reveals to Wedge that he was once an Imperial officer, left behind when the Empire abandoned the planet.  He has learned to bend the natives to his own will.
• Our heroes find the temple where Wedge is being held and attack it.
• Meanwhile, Wedge escapes to rejoin them.
• Girov Dza'tey, the leader of the Bothans is not what he seems.  His sympathies lie with the Empire.  
• They found the temple because Dllr has been drawn to it by mysterious music.  Now, breaking away from the group, he enters the temple, only to be taken prisoner by the Devaronian, himself.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #19: Requiem for a Rogue, Part 3

May 1, 1997

Stackpole and Strnad/Erskine

via Wookieepedia

• The Devaronian is finally named: Cartariun.
• The Rogues win an air battle against TIE-Fighters piloted by Cartariun's minions.
• At last, Dllr sees through the music which drew him to the temple and is able to rebel against Cartariun's control.  
• Then he digs into the Dark Side in order to fight Cartariun.
• But on the last page, Girov turns up and shoots Dllr in the back.

Dark Force Rising #1

May 1, 1997

Based on the novel of the same name by Timothy Zahn

Mike Baron/Terry Dodson

9 ABY

via Wookieepedia

• The Thrawn Trilogy continues.  Dark Force Rising is book #2.
• Talon Karrde, Mara Jade and their band are now on the run with Admiral Thrawn in pursuit.
• Leia, accompanied by Chewie and Threepio, heads to the Noghri homeland to try to convert them to the Rebel cause.

Dark Force Rising #2

June 25, 1997

Based on the novel of the same name by Timothy Zahn

Baron/Dodson

via Wookieepedia

• Luke (with Artoo) heads off to meet C'baoth on Jormak, not knowing yet that the older Jedi is in kahoots with Thrawn.
• Han and Lando are headed to New Cov to find evidence of a spy network.
• Leia, Chewie and Threepio arrive on the Noghri homeworld of Honoghr.  Thrawn is there, too, and suspects their presence.  So far, though, their hosts have managed to keep them hidden.

Star Trek: The Nth Degree

Episode: "The Nth Degree"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 4, Episode 19

Original Air Date: April 1, 1991

via Memory Beta

It's a Barclay episode!

Our heroes encounter a mysterious probe while trying to repair an Argus Array telescope.  An energy surge from the probe grants the perpetually nervous Lieutenant Barclay super-human intelligence and the confidence to match.  The abrupt change inspires both amazement and concern in his crewmates.  Worry mounts as Barclay merges his brain with the ship's computer.

The story is based on Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, a novel that blew me away when I read it as a teenager.  Sadly, it is no longer typically assigned reading in American high schools.  "The Nth Degree" is a strong episode - Barclay vehicles typically are.  Dwight Schultz brings considerable range to the part.  The story's resolution is delightfully Trek.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Jim Norton plays the role of Albert Einstein.  Barclay engages the great scientist in an all-night theoretical physics binge on the holodeck.  Norton was born January 4, 1938 in Dublin.  

Once again, the actor's greatest accomplishments have come on the stage.  He has a long-standing professional relationship with Irish playwright/director Conor McPherson, originating roles in six of his plays.  He won both a Tony and an Olivier for his supporting role in The Seafarer in 2008.

Evidently, he has played clergymen a lot.  I frequently wonder if there's an Irish actor who hasn't as they are the typical go-to casting choice for Catholic priests in British television and film.  His biggest television role was Bishop Brennan, a recurring character on the sitcom Father Ted.