Battlestar Galactica - Razor (DVD)

Being a battlestar Galactica fan since I was on diapers, watching it on my mom´s lap back when it first aired in 1978, this series always fascinated me. When "Empire Strikes Back" opened up on teathers, i even thought it was all in the same universe. Later on i saw the episodes on the reruns and i always thought it fun, serious, with the solemn Stu Phillips soundtrack, in fact the pride of my Galactica collection is this somewhat rare soundtrack CD which i treasure. Always loved the detailed models of motherships, the little fighter ships (the Vipers), the Cylons, and the Erich Von Däniken implications that the Gods were astronauts, heh, i even visited some temples in Colombia to check out the work of the space Gods personally. :)

When Galactica resurfaced by the hands of Star Trek´s Deep Space Nine´s writer Ron Moore, I was suspicious, then hopeful, then jubilant! It couldn´t be cooler, in all ways, with all the handicams, the amazing battles, hyperspace jumps and drama. Hah, this is an adult, realistic Galactica. (Even with the inexcusable identical Earth-like gadgets like pens and microphones, after all, this is supposed to be an ALIEN human culture).

I was satisfied enough to own the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries and the small Battlestar Pegasus miniature, and was so overloaded with work, and chasing animes that i got distracted and didn´t follow recent developments in the second and third season. Then, in BSG foruns, i learned about this mid-season special, entitled Battlestar Galactica: RAZOR. "Ah, Novelty" I thought, and soon i grabbed my copy, certain that i would be watching this decade´s "The Best of Both Worlds", the famous Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that raised the bar (and the stakes) in sci fi drama on TV.

I was right, and that doesn´t makes me happy.

SPOILER´S AHEAD.

This episode tells (mostly) the story of the Pegasus (Galactica´s sister ship) before they met, and traced parallels between their ship and the Galactica (just like that LOST episode, in which they have shown the story of other survivors in the other side of the island, and how they dealt with the same problems).


In short: In the Galactica, under the Command of ADAMA, they were somewhat good and civilized, and treated the war refugees with the utmost respect and care.In the Pegasus, under the Command of a battle twisted Admiral Cain, they scavenged the war refugees ship, sacrificed them in order to keep fighting the war, and that makes them "Razors", sharp warriors willing to do anything to win a war. Of course, the episode was loaded with post 11-9 references, but the way it was depicted, and the passionate "the end justified the means" speech, even if it was condemned, it seems wasn´t condemned enough, or if it was, it was a little too late, or in too ambiguous ways. "Hey, the Cylons are much worse". Right.

OF course this was to just to show how good Adama´s group is, compared to them...of course this is great writing...of course it touches real life events...but my stomach just can´t keep up with it, just by thinking how many Admiral Cains are out there, not only in the armies, but in companies, in everyday life. By the end of it I was utterly depressed, and suddenly the Battlestar Pegasus model over my printer just looked a little TOO dark.

Malaak - Angel of Peace (graphic novel)

The US has Captain America, Canada has Wolverine and the Alpha Flight (according to John Byrne). England has Dr.Who, Mexico has the Chapulin Colorado, Argentina has Patoruzu, Belgium has Tintin. France has Asterix, and now, who is Lebanon´s Super Hero?

Answering that question in living colours is the task the lebanese illustrator, graphic designer and writer Joumana Medlej took for herself, and the result is a ravishing fresh graphic novel entitled "Malaak, Angel of Peace" which i´m holding on my hands, in its gigantic size and glorious 36 adventurous pages .

As it is a superhero comic, naturally, it follows some traditional superhero conventions, the origin story, the supernatural powers, the secret identity, so...what´s so special about this one?

Unlike some bizarre recent condescendent attempts at middle eastern superheroes published by clueless westerns and drawn by even clueless illustrators (hahaha some of them are brazilians like me) this is the real, intelligent, classy, proud, luxurious and original thing.

The story is set in today´s Beiruth (ok, in a parallel universe Beiruth), with its well known troubled past, suggests that interfering interdimentional demons, named Jinn, where the war perpretators, so, in response to that, the spirits living in a cedar forest provide an answer in the form of a young girl, who have to grow up, come to terms with her special powers and fight them off.

The art comes easy on the eyes, and the feeling is tangible. This is not rushed or for the rushed. If it sometimes remind you of an educative children´s book, it´s because the author experience on children´s book. It also might remind you of european comic albuns, with no need of "in your face" angry faces with billions of face lines and billions of teeth. It also reminds you that not all comics need to be set in New York, and that Lebanon is not that badly photographed place you see on that annoying warmongering channel with all the awful moving/scrolling "irreadable" news banners.

Some world travelling fictional characters occasionally suffer in the hand of bad writers who obviously have zero knowledge about the "exotic" culture they´re supposedly talking about.
Being brazilian myself, I often cringe when a lame movie or tv show or book or comic book talks some countries with total disregard of the real local culture, cripes, the examples are just too many I won´t bother you with it.

So, this is a rare opportunity to drink pearls of higher sensibility straight from the source.

Indulge yourself:

http://www.malaakonline.com