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‘The Secret’ taking the world by storm

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Move over J. K. Rowling. There’s a new book that’s taking the world by storm, surpassing even the popularity of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final episode of the J.K. Rowling series.

The book is “The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne. Published in November 2006, it has now sold more than 3.75 million copies – outselling the orders for “The Deathly Hallows” on amazon.com.

A DVD documentary on the book was released earlier on the Internet in March 2006. Although it was not shown on theaters, had no marketing campaign, and relied solely on word-of-mouth endorsement, the DVD has sold more than 1.1 million copies.

Byrne’s appearances on TV with Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres, as well as the book’s endorsement by Oprah Winfrey, the most influential woman in America, have moved “The Secret” into the top of the charts.

The basic concept in the book is the Law of Attraction. If you think positively, you become a magnet that pulls everything you want toward you. The Law of Attraction tells you how to attract unlimited wealth, success, awesome relationships and anything else you desire. With the Secret, you can lead a happier, rewarding life.

The book itself is the best living proof of the efficacy of its teachings.

According to Byrne, people need only visualize what they want in order to get it. The book reveals a time-worn but suppressed truth known by such luminaries as Albert Einstein, Ludwig van Beethoven and Abraham Lincoln. And that truth is that we literally are what we think. That we create our own reality, simply by asking.

Believe and know that riches are yours, and feel the feelings of having them now. The more you can feel it, the more power you will add to bring it to you, Byrne says.

The book shows the secrets to everything — the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything we want.

The wonder of it all is that the author’s ideas are not really new. She borrowed ideas from philosophy and science to suggest that thoughts and feelings are real, with their own frequency of vibration. And those thoughts attract things — or people, or circumstances — with which they are synchronized.

But the way Byrne presented the ideas and packaged the book is where the beauty of the book lies.

At the heart of “The Secret” is the certainty that our thoughts are real. They send out magnetic signals that are drawing the universe back to you. When you see yourself living in abundance and feel intensely the thing you desire, without a smidgen of doubt, you will attract it. It always works. It works every time with every person.

Not everyone endorses “The Secret” though. Medical professionals worry that people will now prefer indulging in positive thinking to seeking treatment in clinics or hospitals. Even if what they have is cancer or some other serious disease.

To this, Byrne says “The Secret” is best used in combination with conventional medicine. She mentions the placebo effect as evidence of “The Secret” at work in healing.

Other critics say that the idea of all wishes becoming true is a dangerous childhood fantasy.

Yet, even these critics know that many times wishes really become self-fulfilling.

Religious leaders say the idea that we can tap into the energy force and create our own world preempts divine power. They say the book is just another version of what some TV preachers have taught for decades, namely, if you sustain the right thoughts, words, and feelings, you will receive whatever you want.

But, according to the religious critics, “The Secret” adds this important twist: your thoughts can bring anything into your life because you are actually a god. Byrne proclaims to her readers: “You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet” (p. 164).

Byrne also says: “The earth turns on its orbit for You. The oceans ebb and flow for You. The birds sing for You. The sun rises and it sets for You. The stars come out for You. Every beautiful thing you see, every wondrous thing you experience, is all there for You. Take a look around. None of it can exist, without You. No matter who you thought you were, now you know the Truth of Who You Really Are. You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life. And now you know The Secret” (p. 183).

The religious critics claim these are blasphemous words.

I don’t know what you think. But for me, “blasphemy” could be another word for “conflict of interest.” Anything that challenges and shakes the foundations of a long-established faith will quite expectedly draw vicious denunciations.

One thing is clear though: We all want love, money and health. The road which best points the direction towards those goals will of course draw the biggest attention, even if it is named “Blasphemy Road” by its critics.

Marvel Comics Presents: Wolverine Vol. 4 – Review

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Marvel Comics Presents Wolverine Vol. 4

I mostly picked up this trade paperback out of my undying love for Ghost Rider.  The presence of Wolverine was just an added bonus, really.  This trade collects the Wolverine segments of Marvel Comics Presents #62-71.  Marvel Comics Presents originally contained four stories per issue, so as a result, each Wolverine segment is rather short (a quarter the length of a regular comic, appropriately).  So you’re not really getting ten issues out of the deal, more like four or five at best.

This trade collects two story arcs.  First is the two-issue “Sign of the Beast” arc, where Wolverine is roughing it through the jungles of Madripoor when he happens upon a downed plane containing two friends of his being taken prisoner by followers of Abdul Alhazred.  The entire plot of the arc is that Wolverine is going feral and picking off the goons one-by-one to save his friends.  Through-out the story, the female prisoner (named “Tyger Tiger”…ugh) is fretting about Wolverine giving up his humanity or some such drivel.  A pretty standard (ie: boring and stupid) Wolverine story we’ve all seen done a million times; certainly not the main attraction of this trade.

The eight issue-long “Acts of Vengeance” story arc, featuring a fight and then team-up between Wolverine and Ghost Rider is the real reason anybody is going to pick this book up.  Basically, goons of Ghost Rider’s then-arch nemesis, Deathwatch, have put a bounty of the heads of Danny Ketch’s (Ghost Rider’s alter ego) friend’s karate sensei (yeesh).  After Danny’s pal is injured by one of Deathwatch’s ninja henchmen, Ghost Rider swears vengeance.  Then enter Wolverine, who is tricked into getting involved by one of Deathwatch’s goons and becomes a target of Ghost Rider.  The two brawl and eventually team-up with Yuji, the karate sensei, and Yuji’s son, a crappy superhero named Brass.  They then set out to stop Deathwatch and rescue some hostages.

In all honesty, as much as I like Ghost Rider and Wolverine, this story pretty much blows.  The quarter-length format doesn’t do it any favors, with them having to recap events from the last issue or just repeat them awkwardly, then end every installment with a “dramatic” cliffhanger.  I do like Deathwatch as a villain, though, and wish Marvel would get the lead out and release trades collecting the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider series.  Deathwatch only appears at the very end of this trade and doesn’t do much.  The real mastermind behind the whole thing is some low-level crook in Deathwatch’s organization.  Weak.

Then there’s Brass.  Obviously, his character was so well-received in the early 90’s that he has completely withstood the test of time to this very day.  Or not.

All-in-all, if you’re a Ghost Rider completionist then consider checking this book out.  It’s $13 bucks and packed with Danny Ketch-Ghost Rider action, and you don’t see him any more, these days.  Otherwise, there’s no reason to buy this book.  It’s honestly pretty bad and I bet you can find the individual issues for less that $1.50 a piece.  At least that way you get all the other stories not included in this collection (oh boy, a Poison story!  A spotlight on Volstagg!  Woohoo!).

Ghostbusters: Legion – Review

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Ghostbsuters Legion

In 2004, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original Ghostbusters film, fledgling comic publisher 88MPH Studios released a brand new Ghostbusters comic book miniseries titled “Ghostbusters: Legion”.  The book was to be the beginning of a grand Ghostbusters resurgence.  However, due to incompetence and fraud on the part of 88MPH Studio, the book floundered despite the art and story quality.  However, I’ll get to what killed the Ghostbusters after my review of the book’s actual content.

Ghostbusters: Legion is a sequel to the original Ghostbusters film, ignoring both Ghostbusters II and any of the cartoon shows.  Additionally, the events of the first Ghostbusters film took place in the year 2004, rather than 1984, allowing the title to be more modern.  Aside form the year change, everything happened exactly as it did in the movie.

It’s been several months since the Ghostbusters battled Gozer and detonated the Stay Puft Marshmallowman, the general public thinks of the Ghostbusters mostly as a tourist attraction, a fad or just glorified exterminators.  Despite the existence of ghosts having been proven, nobody really cares.  The Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore, are going on with business as usual, busting New York’s spooks for a hefty price.  However, something even stranger is going on: the ghosts are becoming organized and seemingly more intelligent.  The ghosts are developing strategies to elude the Ghostbusters and are generally behaving more abnormal than usual (such as robbing multiple banks at one time).  This all has something to do with escaped mental patient, Michael Draverhaven, who once worked with the Ghostbusters during their college days (before they became the Ghostbusters).

I’d like to hand it to author Andrew Dabb, he had the Ghostbusters’ personalities down pat.  All the characters acted true to form, the dialogue was as witty as ever; he didn’t miss a beat.  The story was rather interesting; I believe this is the first time you ever got to see the Ghostbusters during their often-talked about college days.  In the movie and throughout the television series, Egon, Ray and Peter would routinely mention their time in college together, but there were never any flashbacks.  Shoehorning Draverhaven in as the “Lost Ghostbuster” was a bit convenient, but he made for a decent villain.  He was a clairvoyant who was injured during an experiment on campus, resulting in his inability to shut the voices of the dead out of his brain, causing him to go nuts.  Of course, he comes back for revenge and all that.  Draverhaven had one good speech during the climax, where he mentions how the ghosts fear the Ghostbusters, and even tell “Ghostbusters stories”.  Rather amusing.  His defeat was the weakest part of the story, though.

There are a few subplots going on, one for each character (accept Winston, since no writer outside the cartoon has ever been able to figure out what to do with him).  Janine’s and Egon’s is, of course, their budding romance.  Janine tries various means to get Egon to notice her and he remains blissfully ignorant of her affections.  Amusing, but nothing we haven’t seen before (save for perhaps the risqué nature of her attempts to attract him).  Peter is trying to keep a relationship going with Dana Barret, but his natural lack of a serious disposition combined with his hectic work schedule is causing large amounts of strain.  In comes Louis Tully, who has cashed-in on his fame from the Gozer incident and become a millionaire.  He appears to have some sort of stalker obsession with Dana and is trying to worm his way between her and Peter.  A stark difference in characterization from the second movie and the TV series, where he was presented as the wannabe-Ghostbuster.  Then there’s Ray, who is depressed that nobody takes the Ghostbusters as serious scientists and that there’s an escaped mental patient out to kill him (Ray inadvertently caused Draverhaven’s injury).  Ray mood-swings between his happy-go-lucky self and this new emo version.  It’s alright but a bit forgettable.

The artwork can range from ugly to excellent at the drop of a hat.  Steve Kurth’s pencils look good, particularly the weapons, vehicles and environments; they look like they jumped right out of the movie.  He tends to draw people a bit too ugly and deformed for my tastes, particularly Janine.  He doesn’t always draw them that way, though.  The inks and colors provided by Pierre-Andre Dery, Chuck Gibson and “Blond” really outshine Kurth’s pencils, adding some fantastic atmosphere (the ghosts are all luminescent like Christmas lights).

There are a few in-jokes and cameos here and there that you might want to look out for.  Slimer, while unnamed, appears at the climax of the book as one of Draverhaven’s ghostly slaves.  In the second issue, Egon messes his hair up and it forms into the classic “Dairy Queen swirl” from Egon’s Real Ghostbusters design.  In one of the few equipment designs that deviated from the movies, the Containment Unit appears as it did in the cartoon series.  There’s also some other stuff I noticed, but that just might be because I was looking too hard, like Peter wearing an outfit in his Real Ghostbusters colors at the beginning of issue one, or the Phantom from the Real Ghostbusters episode “Sticky Business” appearing when the legion of ghosts lay siege to New York.

Overall, the book itself is a really cool, really spot-on Ghostbusters adventure.  It showed so much promise and it could have been one of the better books released during the whole “80’s revival” fad.  Sadly, the imbeciles running 88MPH Studio couldn’t get their act together and they narrowly finished the miniseries, leaving little hope for the advertised on-going series.

Each issue was delayed several months past cover date.  Though it was advertised as a monthly title, it was released quarterly.  By the time the next issue came out, nobody but the hardcore fans cared anymore.  There was discent amongst the staff, as Sebastian Clavet (head of 88MPH) was having trouble paying his employees.  Eventually, it all ended with a terrible scam where Sebastian took hundreds of pre-orders for the hardcover collection of Legion on Halloween, 2005, then shut his website down and ran away with the cash.  The hardcover was never produced.  Pathetic.

So, how can you read this comic?  Well, a trade paperback collecting the book was released by Titan Books, but only in the UK.  You can order it off Amazon UK, though.  The individual issues, each with a ton of variant covers, can be found on eBay or in back issue bins at your local comic ship.  Being only 4 issues-long, it shouldn’t be too costly a venture.  I’d recommend it to anyone who ever liked Ghostbusters.  A shame the property and creative team hadn’t been hired by a real comic book publisher.  If that had happened, the on-going might have actually happened.  As it stands, a great look at what could have been.

Space Ghost (2005) – Review

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Space Ghost DC

 

When I think of Space Ghost, I draw several comparisons between him and Batman.  It goes beyond the fact that Alex Toth was asked by the execs at Hanna Barbara to design Space Ghost in a manner than emulated the Dark Knight, but in the history of the character.  Space Ghost first appeared in 1966 with an action cartoon series that was, though formulaic, particularly violent and fun along the same lines as Jonny Quest.  He may not have been terribly “dark” or “brooding”, but there was no doubt that he was an action character.  Then the 90’s happened; Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Cartoon Planet and the Brak Show hit the airwaves and Space Ghost was reduced to a self-parody.  As funny and popular as those shows were, the original action-oriented superhero character was lost to popular culture.  This parallels Batman in many ways.  The Caped Crusader originated as a dark action hero, was reduced to cheap comedy and self-parody in the 60’s and was finally returned to his roots in the late 70’s.

Well, the 2005 DC Comics Space Ghost miniseries takes the character and returns him to his original characterization as an outer space wraith of justice.

Writer Joe Kelly is charged with the task of giving Space Ghost an origin.  A real origin.  The miniseries is more a set-up tale, almost done as a prequel to the original television series.  Thaddeus Bach is a member of the Commandment (space police, essentially), he has a lovely (and pregnant) wife and has excelled at law enforcement so ferociously he has been selected to join the elite force known as the Wrath.  Thaddeus trains with the Wrath under the command of Temple, a rugged and no-nonsense soldier-type.  Shortly after joining, Thaddeus learns the terrible truth about the Wrath, which leads to his betrayal.  Thaddeus’ family is killed and he is left for dead on a “Ghost Planet”.  There he meets the last of the planet’s race, a sorrowful but brilliant engineer once known as the Blood Mechanic, who inadvertently aided in the death of his race.  Thaddeus uses the engineer’s weapons and technology to craft himself a new guise and heads out for revenge against Temple.  However, things become ever more complicated when a race of planet-conquering “bugs”, lead by the vile Zorak, get in the way.

Space Ghost’s origin isn’t just dark, it’s really dark.  Some have complained, considering it out of character even in regards to Space Ghost’s original characterization.  Personally, I liked it.  Space Ghost is treated almost literally as a phantom.  Thaddeus Bach “died” and all that remains of the man he once was is a “ghost”.  Also, does the name “Thaddeus” sound familiar to you?  It should.  In Space Ghost Coast to Coast it was revealed that Space Ghost’s real name was “Thaddeus ‘Thad’ Ghostal”.  A nice little Easter Egg tossed in by Kelly.

The story covers Space Ghost’s origin in extreme detail.  We learn how he became the man he is, how he arrived on Ghost Planet, where he got his weapons and gadgets, how he came to adopt Jan and Jayce, how he was saddled with the name “Space Ghost” and even his first encounter with Zorak.  All the pieces fit together marvelously.  There are a few kind of “eh?” bits, like Space Ghost’s ability to see the specter of his dead wife and son, but not much to complain about.

The characterization of Zorak came under more scrutiny than Space Ghost did, interestingly enough.  Zorak is presented as the leader of a horde of space-faring insects called the “bugs”.  He is a “hive mind”, so to speak.  Whenever his body dies, his consciousness awakens in another bug, making it so that Zorak cannot ever be killed.  In the old cartoons he was presented as just another petty criminal, leaving him rather thin on characterization.  Not everyone liked this approach, but honestly, it added some much needed depth to Space Ghost’s arch foe.  I also liked to redesign; it stays very true to Zorak’s cartoon appearance just done in a manner that looks much less “cartoony”.  His head is a little oddly shaped, though.

The interior art provided by Ariel Olivetti is rather stunning, having this detailed “painted” look.  There are a few cut-corners which are noticeable, mostly in regards to backgrounds and environments.  Olivetti uses photographs of forests and wastelands rather than draws them.  Most of the time it blends well, though there are a few pages where it just doesn’t mesh.  The cover art by Alex Ross (a self-professed fan of classic Hanna Barbara action cartoons) is beyond gorgeous.  Space Ghost has never looked cooler or more badass; his art gives the title an “epic” feel before you even turn the page.

Only six issues-long (though a sequel has been promised), the Space Ghost miniseries is currently available in an affordable trade paperback.  I recommend it to any and all fans of Space Ghost or just sci-fi superheroics in general.

The New Mutants: Classic vol. 1

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New Mutants TPB

One of my favorite eras in X-Men history happens to be the original New Mutants.  They’re the third generation of the X-Men, with the first being the Silver Age Stan Lee line-up and the second being the Giant Size X-Men line-up.  When the New Mutants came along they managed to bring a great deal of change along with them.  For the first time ever, Xavier’s School for Gifted youngsters actually began to feel like a school.  It always bugged me that Xavier had this humongous, sprawling complex yet only six students.  Then, when Claremont came on board, all the X-Men were full grown adults.  It still didn’t feel like a school.  The New Mutants really helped to fill up the empty, cavernous mansion and started a trend that would eventually lead into books like Generation X and the current state of the mansion in X-comics today.

The New Mutants: Classic vol. 1 collects the earliest appearances of the New Mutants team: Marvel Graphic Novel #4, the New Mutants #1-3, Uncanny X-Men #167 and the New Mutants #4-7 in that order.  The New Mutants comic is possibly my favorite of Chris Claremont’s work as it isn’t quite as painfully cheesy as some of his more “classic” X-Men stories.  He still writes with his patented Claremont “treat the audience like they’re completely new to everything” approach, but he doesn’t lay it on quite as thick as he did with his early X-Men stuff.  The one thing that really stuck out to me about the New Mutants, and one of the reasons I continue to adore it, is the sense of humor.  There are plenty of serious moments and dangerous challenges, but the characters, being so young, just have this humorous attitude about them.

Some of the characters introduced in these stories would prove to withstand the test of times, while others would regretfully vanish into the comic book ether.  Karma, the original leader of the New Mutants, gets a healthy chunk of story devoted to her.  She was the only New Mutant to have appearances in the Marvel Universe prior to Marvel Graphic Novel #4, showing up in Marvel Team-Up.  Karma has the ability to possess people simply by looking at them and can control their body and mutant abilities as if they were her own.  Keeping with Claremont’s love of ethnic X-Men, most of the New Mutants are non-American.  Karma is Vietnamese, though she has an inexplicable French accent.  There’s Pshyce, a Cheyenne Indian with the ability to conjure up the deepest fears or fantasies of the people around her and turn them into three-dimensional images.  Her power isn’t the best, though Claremont manages to work some good stories around it.  Sunspot is from South America and can harness solar energy to morph his body into a powerhouse.  Cannonball is the Midwestern hick of the group, though he has a heart of gold.  He can channel powerful bursts of energy through his legs to propel himself at intense speeds like a cannonball.  You might recognize Cannonball and Sunspot best for their roles in the original X-Force comic from the 90’s,  which was a direct continuation of the New Mutants comic.  And, last but not least, is my favorite New Mutant of the bunch: Wolfsbane.  She’s a naïve Scottish girl who can transform herself into a wolf or a wolf/girl-hybrid.  I always liked her the most because she was so cute and innocent and a source of much humor.  Unfortunately, they eventually turned her into Havoc’s psychotic stalker in X-Factor, which was a character transition I was never very fond of.

The story arcs collected in this volume tie-in directly with the stories happening in the Uncanny X-Men comic.  Thankfully, you don’t really need to read those issues, save for Uncanny X-Men #167, which is included in this trade.  The New Mutants, despite being rather wet behind the ears, take on some pretty heavy duty challenges so early on in their career.  Their first battle is against a rogue member of the Hellfire Club (Pierce, the cyborg), returning villains from the X-Men comic.  They also take on Henry Gyrick’s Sentinels in one of the better issues.  However, possibly the best arc included in this trade is their fight against the alien monstrosities known as the Brood.  This is where the New Mutants comic directly ties-in with the X-Men book, as while the New Mutants were being formed, the X-Men were out on the Sleazeworld battling the Brood for the first time.  A Brood Queen festering within Professor X makes some serious trouble for the New Mutants and really shows off their team-work and individual strengths. 

Not all the stories are winners, though.  In one of the weakest issues of the lot, the New Mutants track down a kid who has been leaving lewd phone messages to one of their teachers.  It’s pretty stupid and all turns into a trite public service announcement about child abuse.  Another arc features the terrifically obscure Marvel hero group called “Team America”.  Yeah, I had to look them up, too.  They get quite a bit of time devoted to them and their struggle with lame-o villains Viper and the Silver Samurai.  The final issue features the Hellfire Club once again, but this time with a Mr. T-wannabe kidnapping Sunspot’s mother.  Not really a good note to end on.

Save for a few weak issues, this is really one of the better trades to come out featuring classic X-Men stories.  I’d highly recommend it to any X-Men fans.  Regretfully, since this is the early portion of the New Mutants, more recognizable characters like Cypher, Warlock and Psylock don’t make any appearances.  Illyana is present as a background character, though she has yet to become a member (Magick, as she’ll eventually be called).  Still, those stories will hopefully be collected in future volumes.  As it stands, this is a fine collection of issues and a great piece of X-Men history.