The Paranormal!, Time Travel!, and the fate of the Universe! Oh My!- A review of "52"

"Going down is easy, right up to when you hit the bottom. Ask any drop of water. The hard part is climbing up again."
- Richard Dragon, 52 Volume 2

In my previous post Meeting Thy Maker- A review of "Death of the New Gods" I discussed my feelings towards the DC Universe and how things operate in an environment where there is more than one universe. It is a place where there is a multiverse and phenomena’s like parallel universes, time travel, and paradoxes are the norm. I will not go into length because if I did so I would have to write in volumes not paragraphs. The DC Universe is mammoth in depth and scale and trying to sort out all of its kinks would require a degree in astrophysics and some knowledge in time travel. I am just a mere amateur and I know there are those with far greater knowledge than me that have tried to explain it all and found themselves lost in a maze of riddles. 

            The problem with writing a review for DC Comic’s series “52” is the fact that it is a four volume series that covers all the things I just mentioned and more! I wrote a previous draft and found that within ten minutes I had a page and half complete for my introduction alone. If I were to continue writing the review I would have easily knocked out at least ten pages and let’s be honest, nobody wants to read a post that is that long. 

            I purchased “52” at the newly deceased World’s Biggest Bookstore. That was my favourite bookstore but now it is just rubble soon to be converted into a stretch of restaurants which I am sure will all be generic and boring (just a hunch). I read “52” during the Queen Victoria Day long weekend in 2010. This turned out to be the best long weekend of my life. I had cottage offers but I passed on them all to stay home and read this newly purchased comic book mini-series. I still remember walking home with the comics in hand including a delicious Subway sub (even the guy who made it complimented on how delicious it looked). I was quite excited to read it and spent the entire weekend doing so. Now outside of that the weekend was great for other reasons but I won’t go into too much detail. I will say this though, I have been trying to recreate that weekend for five years now but as the old saying goes “You can’t go home again.”

 

            “52” didn’t disappoint in the slightest. By the time I completed reading it on Monday afternoon I was blown away. It felt like I was part of the adventure. Like I just left the theatre after watching an exciting, thrilling, touching, heartbreaking, and epic summer blockbuster. All of the characters had rich stories and the art work and writing were first rate. While reading I often like to add music in my head. kind of like adding my own soundtrack and score to the story. I did just that yet again and it really brought everything to life to give it that feel like I was being whisked away on an adventure. 

            The story does not focus on the main heroes of the DC universe but they do have a say and part to play. It mainly focuses on the secondary and minor characters and how their lives shape events in a year where there big guns like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the main players of the Justice League are taking a sabbatical due to events in a previous series called “Infinite Crisis”. The whole concept of “The Crisis” is explained in my previous post Meeting Thy Maker- A Review of "Death of the New Gods". Even the Green Lantern Corps (The Space Cops) are stretched to the limit as the universe is very much on the mend after the massive epic that the “Infinite Crisis” was. So with all the all-stars taking a break the bit players get a chance to shine and certainly do not disappoint. Their adventures play a central role and by the end their exploits have dramatic events on the entire multiverse.

            The main characters are Booster Gold, a pretty boy and former Justice League member who is more concerned with his sponsorship deals and publicity than any altruistic endeavours. He is also accompanied by his sidekick Skeet’s, a flying robotic butler (think Apple’s Siri only far more advanced). There is Ralph Dinby aka the “Elongated Man” who is coping with the loss of his wife. There is Gotham PD detective Rene Montoya whose life is rescued from the gutter by the charmingly mysterious hero known as “The Question”. There is Steel, a friend of Superman who takes up defending the ethical and moral compass of Metropolis against Lex Luthor. The fearsome Black Adam finds that falling in love would lead to his greatest heartbreak and nearly the start of World War III. Adam Strange, Starfire, and Animal Man find themselves stranded on distant planet and while venturing to get back to our galaxy find themselves face to face with an old villain who has pulled a supposed one-eighty and a new villain looking to take over the universe. Dr. Will Magnus creator of the “Metal Men” is kidnapped and forced to work with a conglomerate of evil mad scientists who are working with a dangerous and deranged organization looking to take over Gotham and whatever else they can get their hands on. This is the same organization that The Question is investigating and enlisting Detective Montoya to help stop.

            All of the stories are in some way interconnected (which is always a sign of a good story in my books) and without giving too much away Booster Gold and time traveling expert Rip Hunter go on an adventure so vast in the final pages that their story alone could have spawned a ten volume epic. “52” has it all from the beginning to its epic and massive ending. It starts with a bang and certainly ends with one. It is charming, funny, touching, heartbreaking, and leaves with you a big smile on your face and that feeling that despite all the craziness everything will turn out fine. If you are looking for an adventure unlike any other and one that you will never forget then “52” is definitely for you!

Born Again- My experience of reading The Bible

As all Torontonians know we live in a multicultural city, perhaps the most multicultural city on the entire planet. There are people from all sorts of diverse backgrounds living in this city and calling it home and no matter where you are from you can still live and work in Toronto and celebrate your cultural background with ease and freedom. It really is a great thing when you think about it and certainly one of the leading staples of this great city. I grew-up in a Christian raised family and I imagine the vast majority of Torontonians did too. I went to church as a kid but never really thought much of it. It was just something I had to do on Sunday morning. My grandfather took church quite seriously but for the rest of the family as time passed going to church on Sundays just didn’t seem to be all that much of a priority. Once again I think I am in the same boat as many other Torontonians when I say that. As I have gotten older religion has not played a greater part in my life at all. I really don’t think about it from a belief standpoint but as of late I have thought about it from a knowledge standpoint. So, I decided to do something I have never done before. I decided to read the bible, both old and New Testament cover to cover and develop my opinion on Christianity, faith, and organized religion as a whole.

          I own a copy of the bible in fact I own two copies. One I obtained recently. It is in great condition and has a nice blue cover with gold covered writing on it. It is the King James Edition of the Holy Bible. It is a nice and easy to carry handheld size that would fit in any knapsack or purse, certainly an excellent choice for any first time reader of the bible. The second bible I had has been in possession from my early youth. It is a large hardcover bible and on the cover it features Jesus Christ speaking to a group of children. This bible certainly would not qualify as something that I could easily carry about but I was going to choose this bible to read instead, the simple reason being that it was a bible for children and featured pictures in it. Now I can certainly understand why reading this you might begin to chuckle and perhaps consider that I have lost my credibility when I say that I have read the bible only to find out I have read a children’s version with pictures in it but don’t be so quick to judge. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”- John 8:7. I assure you “The Bible for Children” published in 1983 by Octopus Books Limited in London, UK and foreword by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury is one of the most graphic children’s books that any reader will ever come across. The illustrations alone certainly hammer the point across to any reader.

          Now when I told some family and friends I did indeed get some laughs but after returning from a trip to Italy I feel more vindicated. While travelling to the Tuscan region the tour guide informed us that after the fall of the Roman Empire the world entered the dark and middle ages. It was through the birth of the renaissance that culture began to pick-up and during those times one of the chief ways of communicating to people was through art and illustration. The amount of people who could read and write in the world was a very small percentage so art and illustration were relied upon a great deal for getting messages across especially the messages and teachings of the church and Christianity. So as it turns out reading a bible that features pictures is not such a bad idea after all. The text in the book was certainly not that standard bible verse that most would expect and I was relieved by that because I find that style of writing to be awfully difficult to read. Fortunately the children’s copy of the bible was written in a more basic and simplistic form that was easier to understand and flowed much better. It told the entire of story “In the beginning” up until the end of the New Testament featuring the journeys of Paul. I have to admit I was rather excited to get started and just as I hoped I was not disappointed.

          The stories are basically summed up as opposed to going into any sort of advanced detail and that is fine by me. That was really the whole purpose of me reading the bible in the first place. I simply wanted to know what it was all about and the main points. To be perfectly honest I was not all that interested in the small details. I have been criticized my entire life for not being detail oriented but that is fine because I have always been a big picture kind of guy anyway. This book certainly delivered in that regard as the pictures were big and so was the font so reading it was often an enjoyable breeze. I really enjoyed the stories and I know this may sound silly but it was like reading Game of Thrones only it featured God and his son Jesus Christ. There were a few things I had noticed especially with the Old Testament stories. Before reading the bible I had read a book on Greek Mythology and the Gods and Goddess of Olympia. As I read the Old Testament section I began to notice that many of the stories were basically direct rip offs of the Greek Mythology stories which pre-date the bible. Stories like the Tower of Babel and Noah’s Ark were eerily similar to stories about the Greeks. I also noticed the main theme of the Old Testament was basically about obedience and loyalty to God. Above all else listen to exactly what God says and do exactly as he says without question. Failure to do so can end up being fatal. Just ask Lot’s wife as she decides to turn around and look back at Sodom and Gomorrah against God’s orders and is turned into a pillar of salt. A bit harsh but the message was clear, old-testament God was one tough taskmaster who was not be trifled with. As I continued to read I clearly noticed that it did not matter the level of illogical behaviour or even cruelty as long as God said it then it had to be done and it was the right decision to make. 

          Fortunately the New Testament which certainly featured its fair share of the harsh biblical times was considerably sunnier and up beat than the previous. While God was the star of the show in the Old Testament his son Jesus Christ was the main attraction in the New Testament or as I like to call it “The Bible Part Two”. People still lived in great fear of upsetting God and not following through on his requests and orders laid out by Moses on those tablets back on Mount Sinai (I am talking about the ten commandments if you didn’t know already) but fortunately the people had an option in case they messed up and wanted forgiveness instead of God’s wrath. That option was God’s son Jesus Christ. The message was clear from Jesus. If you made a mistake fine, apologize and repent. Be genuinely sorry for the mistake you have made, make amends and God will forgive you and welcome you in the kingdom of Heaven. It is very difficult to have any hate or even dislike for Jesus. He truly was a stand-up genuine human being that was selfless and only desired to help others and spread the good word of his father, God. Unfortunately not everyone was convinced that Jesus was the genuine article and truly the son of God. There were conspirators and we all know how that story ends. 

          I was not expecting to be enlightened or suddenly become more religious after reading the bible and I didn’t. I just wanted to read it to gain its knowledge and see what all the fuss was about. It was a very an enjoyable read and definitely one of my favourite books. I would recommend it to anyone who is simply just curious. If you are of a more religious nature then I feel this version of the bible would work for you as well. It is not heavy handed and hard to read like the more traditional copies of the bible. This one is fun and yes great pictures. Reading the bible was one my list of things to do in life and I can now cross that off. Would I consider reading other religious books to understand their point of view on how the world works? Yes, I most certainly would. I do drift more to evolution, science, mathematics, and just plain old facts. I am very much a pragmatist by nature but I have no problem expanding my knowledge base on all matters of the world and universe. Knowledge is the greatest power there is and I certainly obtained a great deal of it by reading the bible.

The Ultimate Weapon in the Galaxy- Aboard the dreaded Death Star

Haynes publishing manual books got their start making owner’s technical manuals for automobiles but why stop there? They expanded into all sorts of things including the vast array of science fiction related materials.  The world of science fiction offered an incredible catalogue of choices for Haynes to create their manual books. This also included one of the biggest and most intimidating creations in science fiction history. I am of course talking about the dreaded Death Star!

In Star Wars Episode: IV A New Hope the mighty Death Star was just declared to be fully-operational and officially the most terrifying weapon in the galaxy. It was the size of a small moon. A gargantuan space station controlled by the Empire that boasted a massive super laser cannon capable of destroying an entire planet! It was a fate that the citizens of Alderaan know all too well as it was the first inhabited target to feel its feared wrath. Now destroying a planet is no easy feat. A giant asteroid slammed into our fair planet killing the dinosaurs and wiping out nearly all life but planet Earth was still able to survive and rebuild. Annihilating an entire planet right off the galaxy map, now that takes some massive fire power and energy of truly biblical proportions. Needless to say having a weapon like that in one’s arsenal is enough to put fear any creature’s heart.

The idea of the Death Star was in the mind Emperor Palpatine and his chief right hand man Governor Tarkin for quite some time. The concept dates back to the Clone Wars but due to that messy war, Palpatine having to wipe out the entire Jedi Order, consolidating his power and establishing his massive galaxy wide military, and of course the massive undertaking of building such a space station/weapon there were naturally some delays in getting her complete. In the meantime there were predecessors that Palpatine had going that helped lead to the ultimate creation of the Death Star. The original concept for the Death Star came from the spherical design of the Trade Federations battleships. The spheres were able to detach from a large semi closed disc and dock in atmospheres. The “Eye of Palpatine” was space station that was designed to look like a floating asteroid for camouflage. The Torpedo Sphere was basically a giant weapon with multiple armaments designed to rip through planetary defenses, and after the eventual destruction of the first Death Star at the Battle of Yavin the “Tarkin” was created. It was basically another super laser only not as powerful. “Tarkin” was never fully operational and the rebels sabotaged it by infiltrating the vessel and reversing it wiring causing it to fire on itself. 

The Death Star had it all. A giant super laser, living quarters for hundreds of thousands of personnel, countless hangar bays for docking ships. You name it and she probably had it. She had her own small army on site that could be deployed at a moment’s notice to carry out the empires bidding. It was basically inconceivable that she could be destroyed but she was due to a design flaw. All the energy required to keep her going had to have heat exhausts placed throughout her structure otherwise she would overheat and pretty much fail. Small thermal exhaust ports were placed all over the vessel to allow her to “breathe”. It was this flaw that the rebels took advantage of and Luke Skywalker used to fire two photon torpedoes into, which went right into the Death Stars belly and blew her into a million pieces. So what did Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader and the empire do in response? They chose to build a second Death Star that was nearly twice as big. Unfortunately that massive beast was never fully completed and the rebels succeeded in destroying her as well. In my opinion it was a truly humiliating defeat for the empire. Palpatine boasted that it was all part of his plan to lure to rebels in close because his ultimate goal was to have Luke Skywalker kill his own father Darth Vader and become his new apprentice. But honestly that “plan” of his turned out to be a dud. Palpatine was murdered by Darth Vader, his second death star destroyed, and an entire company of his best troops were defeated by a small band of ill-equipped rebels and teddy bears. 

The Death Star certainly brings fear into the minds of many but at the same time she has been defeated twice now. So yes, she can pack a wallop but I imagine most must think that she can still be beat. She is an audacious and an ambitious beast to create and maintain but that might be her ultimate problem. She is too damn big to maintain! I can’t even begin to imagine the cost to upkeep such a thing let alone build her in the first place. I also can’t imagine that Palpatines Generals, Admirals, and finance experts were 100% on board either, in fact, they weren’t! But in those days nobody dared challenge Palpatines decision making. In another post where I focus on the entire Star Wars universe I will explain how I feel about the entire empire as a whole and how Palpatine reign really was significant but arrogant and sloppy which lead to its downfall. The Death Star was certainly an intimidating heavy handed approach to authority but so heavy that even the empire itself could barely hold her weight for too long. Once she went down (twice) it was a real symbol that the empire could no longer hold its weight and gave the rebels all the confidence they needed. 

Read my previous post, also about a Haynes Technical Manual!

The Fastest Hunk of Junk in the Galaxy- Aboard the Millennium Falcon 

The Fastest Hunk of Junk in the Galaxy- Aboard the Millennium Falcon

In the world of science fiction and non-fiction there is no space ship that is more famous than the USS Enterprise from the Star Trek series (read my post- To Boldly Go!: A guided tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise). She is hard to beat. She has a long history of adventure and exploration with a crew to match that is equally interesting and charming. I think it is fair to say that Captain Kirk and Captain Picard are probably two of the most famous captains to have ever existed in the world of fiction. The USS Enterprise began as US Naval vessel then an aircraft carrier, space shuttle and eventually the galaxy spanning spaceship that we all know and love. The ship has changed and been upgraded but the name has never changed. That is where things differ between the USS Enterprise and probably the second most famous spaceship to have taken flight in the cosmos. The Millennium Falcon from Star Wars captained by Han Solo and his first mate the wookie, Chewbacca. For the Millennium Falcon the name has changed a few times over its existence and the ship itself, well she has pretty much been the same only with heavy and I stress heavy modifications over her illustrious and more often notorious life span. She is without a doubt the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy and Captain Solo wouldn’t have her any other way. 

The Millennium Falcon or known by its official designation, YT-1300 Corellian Freighter YT492727ZED is an old cargo spaceship that was quite popular with transport pilots and criminals who dealt in smuggling contraband (Captain Han Solo being the most famous of those criminals). The ships popularity grew from the fact that the YT-1300 had many different configuration options to allow for more cargo space, larger engines, different cockpit sightlines, and various other attachments and parts. Regardless of what you needed to ship a YT-1300 had you covered plus it boasted at the time a top of the line hyper drive to allow light speed travel among the many hyperspace lanes in the galaxy. It also had at the time a top level droid computer brain and quality laser cannons for basic space defense. 

By the time the YT-1300 reached the hands of Han Solo she already had a long and adventurous life dating back to the days of the clone wars. Her first most famous owner was the charming gambler and well-known socialite Lando Calrissian. At that point the YT-1300 YT492727ZED was already named the Millennium Falcon and holonet galaxy records have been unable to confirm just when exactly she took her famous name. Lando won her in card game and lost her in the same way to Han Solo. Interestingly enough, although Calrissian was a capable pilot when he obtained the falcon he asked Han Solo, an already well known pilot in his own right from his brief military history as a TIE fighter pilot to teach the ins and outs of flying her. When Solo saw the chance to win her in a card game he took complete advantage and the rest was history. 

Han Solo and Chewbacca began a lucrative partnership piloting across the galaxy smuggling goods of all kinds and evading imperial authorities whenever possible. Most of the work they did was for the powerful gangster Jabba the Hutt who wasted no time putting a bounty on Solo’s head when he intentionally dropped a cargo load to avoid arrest from the empire during an inspection. Despite all the money that Solo and Chewbacca would make most of it was spent rather quickly and a large chunk of it was spent on the falcon which required near constant maintenance. Despite it all the falcon proved her worth numerous times. She twice played a pivotal role in the destruction in not one but two Death Stars! She deftly and skillfully avoided capture by an entire imperial armada and countless times bailed out Captain Solo, Chewbacca, their cargo and/or passengers from all sorts perils including enormous space worms which Solo might have accidently flown into.

Under Solo’s ownership I found all of his modifications to the ship to be quite interesting. He and Chewbacca outfitted the falcon with just about every illegal add-on that credits could buy. What was once a basic transport ship had turned into a unique military grade spaceship with powerful engines and hyper drive, Illegal sensors and deflectors shields and powerful imperial grade laser cannons. There wasn’t a thing about her that followed the rule of law yet despite all of the upgrades Solo wisely left the exterior of the ship to look beaten, tattered, and worn. Just about everyone who saw her assumed she was an old hunk of junk and that is just the way Solo and Chewbacca liked it. She didn’t attract attention but by the time you were done duelling with her in a chase or battle you would not soon forget the formidable reputation of the Millennium Falcon.  Truly, the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.