New Enterprise!

I knew it wouldn't take long, but here is the first still of the new U.S.S. Enterprise from the Star Trek Teaser (Currently playing with the movie Cloverfield).

First, here's the image:



From what I can see, things look pretty consistent with what I expected. The ship has the 'azteking' noticeable in the movie Enterprises, and the warp engines look very big and impressive. It's hard to tell, but I think the ship's registry is bigger than before. The U.S.S. Enterprise part looks great but the NCC-1701 looks to be placed very near the edge of the saucer section, rather than in the middle. But then again, it could simply be the head-on angle the photo was taken from. We'll see more soon hopefully. And speaking of the registry, it looks like they are using the same font as the movie ships. It certainly doesn't look like the blocky Impact-type font they used in the original show.

Back to the engines... The nacelle caps are missing, allowing the rotating structure beneath to be seen. Hopefully the caps will be simple domes on the end of the nacelles without the spike in the middle (that always irritated me). The 'fins' on the ends of the nacelles look to be intercoolers (also established fact). It's hard to comment without seeing more, but what I have seen looks good! At least I won't be going into the movie hating the redesign of the ship.

One other thing... It appears from these pictures that this Enterprise is being constructed on Earth, rather than in space. This would be a deviation from established fact, but I think I can live with that change, as long as the explanation makes sense.

Boy, I can't wait to see the Full Monty!

Aquaman / Star Trek News!

First, courtesy of The Aquaman Shrine:


Gallopping guppies! A new Aquaman book for 2008? Whooooo-Hooooo!!

and then in an interview with comic book writer Geoff Johns at CBR, the subject of books he would like to work on came up and...

“I would love to do Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, all those guys together. A real classic JLA lineup book would be sweet. I love Aquaman. I really, really love Aquaman. I’d love to work on Aquaman. I’ll just leave it at that.”

and then in Part 2...

“There are still tons of characters to write… Aquaman is a big one. I have very specific ideas for him. Very specific. Justice League of America, Batman, and more Flash. And Firestorm.”

And just how awesome would a Geoff Johns Aquaman comic be??? I think I peed a little at the thought... After all, this is the guy who wrote Green Lantern Rebirth, The Sinestro Corps War, and the Justice Society! Aquaman would finally be getting the respect he deserves, I'm sure. Sort of like when DC re-launched the JLA under Grant Morrison. He also did some very cool things with Aquaman. He wasn't a fish out of water in those stories!

And then I ran across this item...

I hope they show the completed Enterprise in the trailer... I'll be very disappointed if they don't.

2008 might be a good year for both Star Trek and Aquaman! Is there some sort of stellar convergence going on?

Teen Titans Year One

I've always liked the fact that Aquaman was a founding member of the Justice League. It also made me happy to learn that Aqualad did the same thing, only with the Teen Titans! It was Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad who teamed together against Mr. Twister in Brave and the Bold #54. The next appearance by the Teen Titans took place in Brave and the Bold #60, and included Wonder Girl as part of the team. Speedy (Green Arrow's sidekick) was added to the team when the Teen Titans got their own book.

I have to say this right from the top. Why does Karl Kerschl make Aqualad (Garth) look like an inhuman cross between fish and man? I mean, it's been established in the DC Universe that Atlanteans (of which Garth is one) look like normal land dwellers (us) except they can breath underwater. We've only seen Garth for two pages so far and he looks like he does on the cover. Aquaman made an appearance and he doesn't look like Aqualad... What's going on??

And I must say that kudos go to the writer for remembering the Aquaduo met because Aqualad was afraid of fish. I just hope it's not something that is going to make the character look weaker. I'm very sensitive to underwater heroes being perceived as the literal fish-out-of-water. My hero is the most under-rated hero in the DC Universe. Everybody jokes about Aquaman's powers and his marine telepathy is the focus of a lot of it. Maybe it's just me, but if you can tell a pod of Blue Whales what to do, your powers aren't something to joke about. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. So far, Garth looks ugly, but isn't being portrayed as a joke character.

If only Aqualad looked normal...

First Appearance Aquaman and Atom

These were recently added to my collection. Even though I'm not a fan of Arthur Joseph Curry as Aquaman, I had to get his action figure. Even when the Aquaman I knew and loved was written out of his book in favor of Arthur Joseph, I bought Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis. I support Aquaman in all his versions, but enjoy some versions more than others. Part of the same wave was a figure of Ryan Choi as The Atom. I'm a big fan of the current All New Atom book, so I knuckled under and decided to pick up his action figure as well.

They look pretty good on top of the bookshelf (although I'm starting to run out of shelf space)...

JLU Aquaman Paperweight

Here is the Justice League Unlimited version of the harpoon-for-a-hand Aquaman. The animated series was called Justice League (retitled Justice League Unlimited in Season 3), and featured this version of Aquaman. The show lasted five seasons and it also featured appearances from almost every hero in the DC Universe!

In the DC Universe, Aquaman is one of the big seven... Meaning he was one of the founders of the Justice League. The founders also include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and The Martian Manhunter, in addition to Aquaman. When the Justice League series first started, people were upset Hawkgirl got a regular spot as part of the big seven in place of Aquaman, but at least he appeared in a number of episodes. The show was well-crafted and a fine successor to the Batman and Superman animated series that came before.

This is the only collectible I have (so far) of the harpoon-for-a-hand Aquaman. Recently added to my collection for a very reasonable price, as the harpoon was broken. I read online that all the Aquaman paperweights had the same damage, which occurred during transport. I was able to repair it and save myself some coin!

Happy New Year!!

January for me has meant for the longest time that I get to display a new Star Trek calendar on my wall or desk. Typically, I use a page-a-day Star Trek calendar on my desk at home, and display the Ships of the Line calendar at my cubicle at work. Because the Calendar Club stores didn't order any Star Trek page-a-day calendars, they've been impossible to find. I even checked major bookstores who tend to carry that kind of product during the holidays, but had no luck. I think my best hope of getting one is through Darren, who's leaving for a week in Palm Springs in a couple of days. While I wish I could go somewhere warm, getting that calendar is a great consolation prize. :-)

Best wishes for 2008!