#andy mangels

[elfquest]

As Pride Month closes we’re thrilled to announce the “Queer Eye on ElfQuest” panel at San Diego Comic-Con International!

Hosted by Prism Comics, we’ll be exploring LGBTQ+ aspects and themes in ElfQuest and Wendy’s Masque of the Red Death Musical Thriller.

[the-gershomite]

Star Wars: Boba Fett -Twin Engines of Destruction- November 2011

written by Andy Mangels

pencils by John Nadeau

inks by Jordi Ensign

lettering by Michael Taylor

colors by Cary Porter

cover by John Nadeau

[comicmgc]

[booksiamreadingatm]

[startrek-readerslog]

Kobayashi Maru by Michael A Martin and Andy Mangels

I love the Kobayashi Maru as a concept in the Star Trek universe. I am interested to see how that idea is fleshed out in the novel. Just a general disclaimer, I read this novel over a few months and picked it up on and off so I feel like my thoughts are more scattered than they usually are.

The Summary

This story is again like the last one is told in multiple POVs. You have Trip's on Romulus, Archer and T'Pol's on the Enterprise, occasionally you have the Romulan POV, the crew aboard the Kobayashi Maru, and the members of the Coalition of planets. Trip's job is to discover some new and secret Romulan technology that will let them reach warp 7. He tries to accomplish this by pretending to be the student of the scientist who is working on the project who is a little addled. Of course lots of things go wrong, and Trip ends up under the scrutiny of Valdore, the Romulan head honcho. While this is going on ships and world allied to the Coalition keep getting attacked by "friendlies". That seems really fishy to Archer and he urges the Coalition that all is not what it seems. He is right, the Romulans have a remote piloting technology that they are using.

As Trip gets into deeper and deeper shit, T'Pol's spidey senses go off and she and Reed go on a rescue mission to try and make sure Trip is safe. Once rescued he heads back into Romulan space despite the danger. Trip gets caught up with the Vulcan/Romulan operative Sopek who knows T'Pol, and is convinced he is actually working for Romulus. Sopek and Trip end up going out to meet up with the Kobayashi Maru, but it is clear that the ship was only a distraction to get the Enterprise into remote control range. Trip manages to tip off Archer and crash the Romulan ship he is on into an asteroid. The novel ends with a declaration of war.

My Thoughts

I think this novel had less emotional oomph than the last one. I missed those emotional scenes between T'Pol and Trip. It felt much more plot focused than character focus. I think these two writers still have a fairly flowery writing style for my taste. Also who the fuck thought it was a good idea to send Trip in there with like 0 spy skills. The man is lovely, but a horrible spy. He had nowhere near enough intel for it to be a successful mission and like 0 ability to improvise. We did get some fun back story on T'Pol and her previous life as a Vulcan intelligence operative though which I did enjoy.

I think ultimately not a lot about this novel stands out sadly. That may be because I read it over such a long period of time, or it may be that it took me so long to read because it never captured my attention fully.

I give this one a 5/10. The next one is about the war that they just started: The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing. This one is just by Martin so let's see how he reads solo!

[ufonaut]

But if you look at the super-hero as a metaphor for homosexuality... if you were to pursue that line of thinking, you would find many other similarities. A lot of the structure and the concept of the super-hero is similar and can be used as a metaphor for gay men, gay women, and the gay experience.

Highlights from Out of the Closet and into the Comics - Gays in Comics: The Creations and the Creators Part I by gay activist Andy Mangels from Amazing Heroes #143, 15th June 1988.

[nevinslibrary]

Make It So Friday

So, Sulu and an Ambassador named Aiden Burgess are trying to have a diplomatic meeting with the Tholians. While also making sure that these not always trustworthy Tholians aren't trying to pull a fast one over Starfleet and the Federation.

Of course, that’s not all though, a surprise from Earth's past pops up too, making everything entirely more complicated.

It was a fun read. The surprise aliens were really cool, as was their story scattered throughout the novel. All in all another awesome Sulu led book. Still bummed that the character never got a series, either in book form or TV form though.

The Sundered by Andy Mangels

[jadecrusades]

Illustration by Olivier Vatine. “Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters.” November, 1995.

And here we have it: The first chronological image of Mara Jade’s leather jumpsuit from “Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters,” published in 1995 and written by Andy Mangels. Olivier Vatine’s preliminary art of Mara Jade, Joruus C’Boath, Talon Karrde, and Grand Admiral Thrawn were used to tease the soon-to-be-released “Heir to the Empire” comics.