the_pull_list (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} the_pull_list) wrote,@ 2008-01-03 22:37:00 |
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Heroes Volume 1
I didn’t catch onto this series until the Season 1 DVD’s came out in August so I missed it when it aired which meant I also missed the mini-comics that were posted on the web. So when this graphic novel came out, I picked it up the day it came out. Of course, being bogged down with about 30 books a week to review for TPL, a whole mess of schoolwork to get done before classes ended in early December and a lot of work to get done at my job, including report card grades, progress report stuff and grading tests and quizzes, I haven’t had time to open this up and read it. I just finished the Batman Chronicles Vol. 4 and this was the next graphic novel on the list of ones to be reviewed. For those keeping track, I picked up the much awesomer Alex Ross cover. He really nailed all the characters, except for Claire. Weird. It was still a kick-ass cover. Now the idea behind this graphic novel is that it collects the 34 mini-comics that were posted on nbc.com between the episodes to fill in some holes. Some stories are longer than others but I will review them here issue by issue. Also, each issues “cover” features a painting by Tim Sale used in the TV show and the table of contents uses those old ads you remember from the Silver Age books (X-Ray glasses) with the story writer, artists, etc and what page the story is on.
Spoiler Alert
-Foreword- The foreword is done by Masi Oki (Hiro on the television show). He talks about reading manga as a kid and being influenced by it.
-Issue #1- This issue, drawn by Michael Turner, shows Mohinder coming to America after his father’s death and remembering that his father told him. There were no such things as monsters, just people with extraordinary abilities. Mohinder is skeptical, as he was in the early season, and thinks of the monster Kali. Mohinder vows to find the monster that killed his father.
-Issue #2- This is a touching story about Hiro. Hiro just returns from seeing New York explode and vows to stop it. He takes a copy of Superman #1 (yes, the 1938 one), tears it up and makes a crane from the cover. He places it at a Hiroshima memorial. His grandfather gave him the issue as a sign that he survived and that’s how Hiro got his name. Really good story here, and a revealing insight on Hiro the character.
-Issue #3- This issue focuses on Nathan, right after he and Peter flew. The practical side of him tells him that being a superhero is just crazy but there he is, saving a woman from a fire. He flies off, but not before leaving a Vote for Petrelli poster behind.
-Issue #4- This issue deals with Claire right after she ran the car of a rapist into the wall. She ponders what she did as the dude wakes up. She wonders when her life will be normal again.
-Issue #5- DL is questioned by a detective about a bullet found at a robbery/murder from a gun that found in his house. DL somehow escapes from the cuffs and then when he’s imprisoned he found he could phase through solid material, even walls. He escapes jail and he wants his life back.
-Issue #6- The gun from the previous mini-comic is explained here. Nikki is controlled by Jessica and helps some guys steal 2 million dollars. One of the criminals kills in cold blood a security cop and then when they are getting away, the other three convicts say they won’t give Jessica the money. She kills them, and takes their red Cadillac. That’s the dead guys from the episode and this actually explains a lot.
-Issue #7- Matt Parkman just punched the guy who slept with his wife then disobeys orders and takes out a criminal in a high speed chase. Nothing too great here.
-Issue #8- Eden asks Isaac if he remembers the first time he saw the future with his paintings. He was at a gallery of his work with Simone when some woman slaps him over a drawing of her getting hit by a bus. She runs out and Isaac goes after her trying to explain when she’s, get this, hit by a bus. He hates his precognitive powers.
-Issue #9- This is the origin of Eden. She used to have to do all the chores and labor for a woman (her mother?) in a very Cinderella type of thing. She rebelled against her one day and used her empath ability in her voice to get the woman to drop her cigarette in some gasoline, causing a fire, which she died in. Eden left and hitch-hiked away from the house.
-Issue #10- Sylar is at the scene of another one of his murders and Audrey chases after him. A chase ensues and Audrey thinks she has Sylar. She opens fire on Sylar, clad in his distinctive overcoat and hat, but is shocked to find out it was a homeless dude Sylar just gave his clothes to.
-Issue #11- HRG pays a visit to the father of Eden to tell him her daughter has died but the father doesn’t care. HRG roughs him up a bit then tells the Haitian to wipe out his memories but leave the guilt.
-Issue #12- Peter envisions himself as hero while he’s in the coma but the villain he is trying to stop is himself.
-Issue #’s13 through 16- This is actually a very good four parter detailing the origin of Wireless. She is the daughter of an Israeli pilot and granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Her two heroes were killed and she was put in a coma after a terrorist drove the bus she was on over a cliff. She became a soldier and it was there HRG recruited her, telling her he was CIA. Issue 14 deals with her discovering her powers, issue 15 she goes on a mission to uncover a doctor’s deadly bacterial DNA but she gets captured. She gets freed after she says she is CIA and issue 16 deals with her finding out HRG lied. She breaks out anyway and goes out on her own.
-Issue #’s 17 & 18- This is a two-parter focusing on Ted Sprague, the Exploding Man. We see him meet Wireless, get captured by some government agency, then escaping and destroying the place where the isotope was placed into him.
-Issue #19- This is a Micah issue. He is at school and some of his classmates put some pictures of his mother on the computer screens saying she is a killer. Micah confronts them, kicks one in the nuts then runs away to an amusement park where he uses his ability to talk to machines to scare off the bullies.
-Issue #20- This is a creepy one that shows Sylar taking the powers of memorization from Charlie to drive a semi he got after he killed a dude who gave him a ride. The police catch onto him but he manages to escape and goes to Zane to meet (and steal) his melting powers.
-Issue #21- Wireless is trying to find out more about the Company but gets sidetracked in catching a pervert taping an underage girl to broadcast to the internet. She stops it, sends an email to the authorities of the man taping and all the ones watching. You know, Wireless was very underused in Season 1.
-Issue #22- This is a brief tale chronicling how HRG first found Claire after he and Claude went on a mission together to find a superhuman.
-Issue #23- Wireless comes back again and helps out HRG to help save Claire from the company. It ends with HRG being shot by the Haitian as seen in the TV show.
-Issue #’s 24 through 29- The comics are no longer just standalone issues but they keep building upon what has happening the previous issues. #’s 22 and 23 show how Bennet first got Claire, and then what he did to save her and this is the mission he sent Wireless on. She was to find information on two men who fought in Viet Nam together. The two didn’t know each other’s names but were on a vital mission to destroy Au Co. Their codenames were Austin and Dallas. Dallas was fatally wounded but Austin saved him with his powers. Austin and Dallas worked together to find Au Co and they realized that it wasn’t a city or town, but a little girl. Austin kills her against Dallas’ wishes but Austin tells him its war. Austin tells his superiors about Dallas’ power but Dallas denies it and Austin is discharged. Later on Dallas finds Austin and apologizes. They find out each other’s real names. Austin was really Petrelli and Dallas was Linderman. This was a great conclusion showing how the Petrelli and Linderman families first met up. Wireless finds out that Linderman is looking to fix the Petrelli election and she goes off to meet with Linderman. This was the best arc of the book so far.
-Issue #30- Future Hiro ponders why even though Claire was saved, the future is the same? He meets present day Hiro at the end, which resumes in the episode.
-Issue #’s 31 & 32- The not so future Hiro and Peter break out a bunch of super humans from jail, including Niki, who would end up marrying Peter in the future.
-Issue #’s 33 & 34- This final two-parter chronicles the death of Wireless. HRG sends her on a mission to knock out a satellite that the Company uses to track the superhumans. She ends up on a shuttle (using her powers) and attempts to use her powers to stop the satellite. Unfortunately, the satellite infects her with a virus! She goes on the satellite and brings it down herself, sacrificing her life. She appears to be on Micah’s hard drive now and I hope they use her more on the next arc.
-The Bottom Line- This was a great collection of stories here that only enhance to the show’s mystique and understanding the show even more. The stories were generally well-written and short, so you can get through them very quickly. There is a cute interview at the end where Jeph interviews writers Aron Eli Coleite and Joe Pokaski. The foreword by Masi is pretty cool, too. Overall, it is a great pick up for Heroes fans that want to delve deeper into the show. Recommended
I didn’t catch onto this series until the Season 1 DVD’s came out in August so I missed it when it aired which meant I also missed the mini-comics that were posted on the web. So when this graphic novel came out, I picked it up the day it came out. Of course, being bogged down with about 30 books a week to review for TPL, a whole mess of schoolwork to get done before classes ended in early December and a lot of work to get done at my job, including report card grades, progress report stuff and grading tests and quizzes, I haven’t had time to open this up and read it. I just finished the Batman Chronicles Vol. 4 and this was the next graphic novel on the list of ones to be reviewed. For those keeping track, I picked up the much awesomer Alex Ross cover. He really nailed all the characters, except for Claire. Weird. It was still a kick-ass cover. Now the idea behind this graphic novel is that it collects the 34 mini-comics that were posted on nbc.com between the episodes to fill in some holes. Some stories are longer than others but I will review them here issue by issue. Also, each issues “cover” features a painting by Tim Sale used in the TV show and the table of contents uses those old ads you remember from the Silver Age books (X-Ray glasses) with the story writer, artists, etc and what page the story is on.
Spoiler Alert
-Foreword- The foreword is done by Masi Oki (Hiro on the television show). He talks about reading manga as a kid and being influenced by it.
-Issue #1- This issue, drawn by Michael Turner, shows Mohinder coming to America after his father’s death and remembering that his father told him. There were no such things as monsters, just people with extraordinary abilities. Mohinder is skeptical, as he was in the early season, and thinks of the monster Kali. Mohinder vows to find the monster that killed his father.
-Issue #2- This is a touching story about Hiro. Hiro just returns from seeing New York explode and vows to stop it. He takes a copy of Superman #1 (yes, the 1938 one), tears it up and makes a crane from the cover. He places it at a Hiroshima memorial. His grandfather gave him the issue as a sign that he survived and that’s how Hiro got his name. Really good story here, and a revealing insight on Hiro the character.
-Issue #3- This issue focuses on Nathan, right after he and Peter flew. The practical side of him tells him that being a superhero is just crazy but there he is, saving a woman from a fire. He flies off, but not before leaving a Vote for Petrelli poster behind.
-Issue #4- This issue deals with Claire right after she ran the car of a rapist into the wall. She ponders what she did as the dude wakes up. She wonders when her life will be normal again.
-Issue #5- DL is questioned by a detective about a bullet found at a robbery/murder from a gun that found in his house. DL somehow escapes from the cuffs and then when he’s imprisoned he found he could phase through solid material, even walls. He escapes jail and he wants his life back.
-Issue #6- The gun from the previous mini-comic is explained here. Nikki is controlled by Jessica and helps some guys steal 2 million dollars. One of the criminals kills in cold blood a security cop and then when they are getting away, the other three convicts say they won’t give Jessica the money. She kills them, and takes their red Cadillac. That’s the dead guys from the episode and this actually explains a lot.
-Issue #7- Matt Parkman just punched the guy who slept with his wife then disobeys orders and takes out a criminal in a high speed chase. Nothing too great here.
-Issue #8- Eden asks Isaac if he remembers the first time he saw the future with his paintings. He was at a gallery of his work with Simone when some woman slaps him over a drawing of her getting hit by a bus. She runs out and Isaac goes after her trying to explain when she’s, get this, hit by a bus. He hates his precognitive powers.
-Issue #9- This is the origin of Eden. She used to have to do all the chores and labor for a woman (her mother?) in a very Cinderella type of thing. She rebelled against her one day and used her empath ability in her voice to get the woman to drop her cigarette in some gasoline, causing a fire, which she died in. Eden left and hitch-hiked away from the house.
-Issue #10- Sylar is at the scene of another one of his murders and Audrey chases after him. A chase ensues and Audrey thinks she has Sylar. She opens fire on Sylar, clad in his distinctive overcoat and hat, but is shocked to find out it was a homeless dude Sylar just gave his clothes to.
-Issue #11- HRG pays a visit to the father of Eden to tell him her daughter has died but the father doesn’t care. HRG roughs him up a bit then tells the Haitian to wipe out his memories but leave the guilt.
-Issue #12- Peter envisions himself as hero while he’s in the coma but the villain he is trying to stop is himself.
-Issue #’s13 through 16- This is actually a very good four parter detailing the origin of Wireless. She is the daughter of an Israeli pilot and granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Her two heroes were killed and she was put in a coma after a terrorist drove the bus she was on over a cliff. She became a soldier and it was there HRG recruited her, telling her he was CIA. Issue 14 deals with her discovering her powers, issue 15 she goes on a mission to uncover a doctor’s deadly bacterial DNA but she gets captured. She gets freed after she says she is CIA and issue 16 deals with her finding out HRG lied. She breaks out anyway and goes out on her own.
-Issue #’s 17 & 18- This is a two-parter focusing on Ted Sprague, the Exploding Man. We see him meet Wireless, get captured by some government agency, then escaping and destroying the place where the isotope was placed into him.
-Issue #19- This is a Micah issue. He is at school and some of his classmates put some pictures of his mother on the computer screens saying she is a killer. Micah confronts them, kicks one in the nuts then runs away to an amusement park where he uses his ability to talk to machines to scare off the bullies.
-Issue #20- This is a creepy one that shows Sylar taking the powers of memorization from Charlie to drive a semi he got after he killed a dude who gave him a ride. The police catch onto him but he manages to escape and goes to Zane to meet (and steal) his melting powers.
-Issue #21- Wireless is trying to find out more about the Company but gets sidetracked in catching a pervert taping an underage girl to broadcast to the internet. She stops it, sends an email to the authorities of the man taping and all the ones watching. You know, Wireless was very underused in Season 1.
-Issue #22- This is a brief tale chronicling how HRG first found Claire after he and Claude went on a mission together to find a superhuman.
-Issue #23- Wireless comes back again and helps out HRG to help save Claire from the company. It ends with HRG being shot by the Haitian as seen in the TV show.
-Issue #’s 24 through 29- The comics are no longer just standalone issues but they keep building upon what has happening the previous issues. #’s 22 and 23 show how Bennet first got Claire, and then what he did to save her and this is the mission he sent Wireless on. She was to find information on two men who fought in Viet Nam together. The two didn’t know each other’s names but were on a vital mission to destroy Au Co. Their codenames were Austin and Dallas. Dallas was fatally wounded but Austin saved him with his powers. Austin and Dallas worked together to find Au Co and they realized that it wasn’t a city or town, but a little girl. Austin kills her against Dallas’ wishes but Austin tells him its war. Austin tells his superiors about Dallas’ power but Dallas denies it and Austin is discharged. Later on Dallas finds Austin and apologizes. They find out each other’s real names. Austin was really Petrelli and Dallas was Linderman. This was a great conclusion showing how the Petrelli and Linderman families first met up. Wireless finds out that Linderman is looking to fix the Petrelli election and she goes off to meet with Linderman. This was the best arc of the book so far.
-Issue #30- Future Hiro ponders why even though Claire was saved, the future is the same? He meets present day Hiro at the end, which resumes in the episode.
-Issue #’s 31 & 32- The not so future Hiro and Peter break out a bunch of super humans from jail, including Niki, who would end up marrying Peter in the future.
-Issue #’s 33 & 34- This final two-parter chronicles the death of Wireless. HRG sends her on a mission to knock out a satellite that the Company uses to track the superhumans. She ends up on a shuttle (using her powers) and attempts to use her powers to stop the satellite. Unfortunately, the satellite infects her with a virus! She goes on the satellite and brings it down herself, sacrificing her life. She appears to be on Micah’s hard drive now and I hope they use her more on the next arc.
-The Bottom Line- This was a great collection of stories here that only enhance to the show’s mystique and understanding the show even more. The stories were generally well-written and short, so you can get through them very quickly. There is a cute interview at the end where Jeph interviews writers Aron Eli Coleite and Joe Pokaski. The foreword by Masi is pretty cool, too. Overall, it is a great pick up for Heroes fans that want to delve deeper into the show. Recommended
