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By Sean McQuaid

Before skipping to this issue’s main event, some short & sweet reviews of some recent Image Comics offerings. . .

Angela (3-issue mini-series by Neil Gaiman and Greg Capullo)

You’ve drooled over her in Spawn, now thrill to her in her own series! Talented and industrious though he may be, Todd McFarlane is still no great writer (though as I’ve noted before he is much improved since his not-so-amazing Spider-Man run). Not surprisingly, then, some of the best issues of Spawn are those guest-written by old pros like Neil Gaiman, who created the Angela charac- ter.

Angela, Spawn’s curvaceous but cold- hearted nemesis, isa celestial being (‘‘angel’’) whose realm (‘‘Heaven’’) is at war with the forces of ‘‘Hell’’ (of which Spawn is an un- willing pawn). As such, Angela (an accom- plished and bloodthirsty huntress specializing in exotic and deadly prey) declares open sea- son on Spawn and skirmishes unsuccessfully with him.

This mini-series picks up from there when some of Angela’s celestial brethren frame her for treason and she is forced to seek

As an amateur Egyptology enthusiast and confirmed sci-fi fan, I was the ideal target audience for StarGate (at last, I fit neatly into ademographic). Kurt Russel and James Spader star as a self-destructive soldier and an oddball Egyptologist who lead a military exploration team through the StarGate-- an ancient Egyp- tian artifact which is actually a doorway to an alien world.

On reaching the aforementioned alien world, they discover the equivalent of an an- cient Egyptian society living as slaves to the beings we now regard as the figures of ancient Egyptian myth-- Horus, Anubis and all them other animal-headed fellas, led by Ra, the supposed sun god (played by Crying Game gender-bender Jaye Davidson). Turns out Ra is actually this parasitic alien who possessed a human host body in ancient Egypt and pro- ceeded to set himself and his accomplices up as gods using alien technology until the Earth- based faction ofhis empire rebelled and sealed the Stargate. Russel and Spader find them- selves the reluctant instigators of a new rebel- lion against Ra, and the fun begins.

Is it worth renting? Well, the answer is aresounding ‘‘I guessso.’’ The idea ofancient Egyptian society-- the mysterious bedrock of civilization-- having been founded by aliens is

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Spawn’s aid in clearing her name.

I’ve enjoyed the first two issues thus far-- Gaiman weaves a broad backdrop of cosmic political intrigue while throwing in some action (a messy dragon-slaying and

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catching even if she weren’t virtually naked. Allin all, Angela is one of the more palatable “‘bad girls’’ so prevalent in current comic books, and one of the few female comics protagonists a reader can take seriously these

hordes ofangry angels). There’s lots of touches of humour and flashes of poignancy, with some memorable characters- - most notably Angela herself. Her bloodlust is disturbing (she’s spent 90% of the series thus far lightly sprinkled with dragon guts), but Gaiman doesn’t judge Ax: the character-- she’s like a force of nature, and there’s something strangely endearing about her rugged indi- vidualism, tenacious fighting spirit, cynical , wit and peculiar sense © = wl

of honour. Visually speaking, her elaborate- yet-skimpy costuming is cheesecake material, but its finely detailed flair would make it eye-

Cas a!

quite intriguing, and there’s all sorts of neat touches (like the raison d’etre of the pyramids and these ultra-cool morphing masks that Ra’s henchfolk wear), but it somehow falls just short of grabbing you and making you go ‘‘wow’’. The visuals are very impressive and the basic concepts fascinating, but the film just doesn’t try hard enough to draw you in. :Per- haps the biggest weakness is the story’s lack- lustre villain, Ra. He’s creepy as all-get-out (kudos to Davidson), decidedly lethal and (we’re told) immensely powerful, but he never lives up to his potential. His number-one lackey has anail-biting, knock-down-drag-out brawl with Russel, but Ra himself seems stuck in an impotent imperial sulk whenever the camera decides to check in on him whilst the other characters are busy toppling his empire. Come the final showdown, you’re wondering how this pseudo-Egyptian slacker ever con- quered the world in the first place.

Regardless, StarGate is worth a look; good special effects and solid performances from the leads make it a thoroughly watchable (if not particularly memorable) movie.

-- Sean McQuaid Special thanks to CITY CIMENA tor being

such gosh-darn nice folks, and allowing us

to have a movie pass.

PRES

days. Throw in some .q Stylish art by Greg a9 Capullo, and you have a

4 series worth reading. Groo (ongoing series by & Sergio Aragones with *@ Ya Mark Evanier)

One of the con- sistently best comic “¥ books on the stands to- | day by virtue of its wit, warmth and relatively ‘4 innocent merriment.

} Light-hearted but so- i’ § phisticated and some- times thought-provok- ing, Groo is an oasis of humour in a medium : dominated by violent

edi Y hyperbole, gratuitous sex and all-around sensory andemotional over- load. None of that sound and fury here: Groo the Wanderer (barbarian warrior) and his dog

StarGate: The belated movie review(or, the early video review) Campus Comedy withthe Ar rogant Wo

By C.A. Schneider The Thursday night before the break, my colleagues and I headed for the Barn at 8:30 pm. Since the doors were to have opened at 8 pm, we naturally assumed that there would be no problems getting the non-drinkers with us upstairs to the Dry section where they’d be comfortable. We were wrong. As it ended up, we arrived just to be informed that the Music Society were not finished with their pizza and beer event. We were told that we could wait in the lounge if we so desired, if not we could mill around the not-so-spacious entry to the Barn. Of course, as the numbers increased, this became increasingly uncomfortable.

When we were finally allowed upstairs (1 hour after the signs had said the doors opened) we anxiously tried to get decent seats. The music students whohad attended the pizza and beer thing had all the really good, really comfortable seats. So we sat halfway between the wet and the dry, on the stairs. Admittedly, we have decided that these are the best seats in the house as far as vision goes, however the more crowded they get, the less comfortable they are.

We stopped our whining as soon as the Arrogant Worms took the stage. These three

Rufferto just entertain us without pre we’re either drooling adolescents or nihilists. Long may they continue to d Gen 13 trade paperback (Lee, Choi, Ca and friends) The X-Press has already cover immensely popular. Gen 13 mini-seri printed in this trade paperback, so |’ touch on the content briefly: it’s the si five teen-agers with the potential for s man powers, and the plot revolves a secret governmental agency’s attempts tain the kids and exploittheir abilities. 1 Image trappings abound-- big high-tech ons; nubile, scantily clad super-babes; tous bloodshed; dauntingly convoluted ground story; and so on. There’s also a less guest appearance by Pitt which ¢ things even further. On the plus si characters are likable and reasonably | able, and unlike most Image books this had an actual PLOT with an ending and 1thing, plus character development and sense of fun. The cover to the trade pap is pretty boring, but some interesting book pages are included in addition mini-series material. If that’s not enof y’all, an ongoing Gen 13 series is oni

guys, all of whom have at least one uti degree, are ariot. Their music, of whi a huge fan, ranges from adept social cd tary tomindless fun. The Worms playé favourites: "Carrot Juice is Murder", Pain", "Rippy the Gator" (complete actions), and "William Shakespeare’! Cat," as well as several new pieces.

The Arrogant Worms played and introduced all the campus “comics we all admired for their courage (ho" people do you know who would try to? in front of a large group of drunks ex fellow drunk?). Some of the com extremely funny and one of thet! Scantlebury, never wanted to leave " (he was having too much fun and s0 audience). The comedy varied fro! cliches to original humour. Thank’ was little mention of OJ Simpson.

Overall, the evening was a SU“ we all had a lot of fun, but not as mu the lucky student who won the $800 !! Ice draw. We couldn’t stay to find! actually won the comedy competitio” of early classes and papers due the ™ But we wish to congratulate all those" in the contest for a job well done.