Maximum Carnage

Maximum Carnage

Cletus Kasady. One of the Marvel Universe’s most dangerous serial killers. He doesn’t need a reason to kill. He doesn’t want to. He worships chaos. He’d murder anyone and everyone in his way just to for the hell of it. In fact, the only time he’s happy is when people erupt into full-tilt pandemonium. Obviously a very deranged person. Now combine Kasady with an alien symbiote granting superhuman powers to its host. You turn Kasady into Carnage. It’s like giving dynamite to a child who burns anthills with a magnifying glass: you know that he’s going to enjoy killing the ants. Only Carnage won’t stop at the anthill. As long as chaos reigns, he’ll never stop.

Which brings us to Maximum Carnage, 1993’s fourteen comic-book crossover event. It details Carnage’s greatest murder spree yet. It begins with Kasady’s latest escape. Kasady transforms into Carnage and does the usual: whole-scale slaughter of the facility. Just as Carnage is about to leave, he chances upon fellow supervillain Shriek. For some strange reason (remember Carnage is insane; reasons don’t apply to him), Carnage joins forces with her, and along the way, forms an alliance with numerous other Spider-Man villains on his quest to spread murder and mayhem on a helpless New York. It’s only when Spider Man forms his own team of superheroes that Carnage’s destructive quest is foiled.

The genius of Maximum Carnage is that it provides precedent for situations that would follow for years to come. For example, this is the first time Spider Man joins forces with the vigilante Venom (another symbiotically-augmented anti-hero whose symbiotic “partner” spawned the Carnage symbiote). Ordinarily one of Spider Man’s deadliest foes, Venom puts his deep-seated hatred for Spider Man aside for the greater good. Apparently the team-up was so popular that it inspired a series of novels by author Diane Duane, not to mention Venom’s eventual transformation from villain to good guy. I guess people like having a hero with a taste for brains and long, prehensile tongues.

Maximum Carnage also provides a bit of insight into the character of Mary-Jane Watson-Parker, Peter Parker’s wife. Like any policeman’s family knows, there is a constant worry that their loved ones will die in the line of duty. The same could be said for superheroes. In the aforementioned scenario, Mary-Jane is trying desperately to distract herself from the fact that Peter has been Spider-Man for a week straight (something he promised he would not do). The reader sees Mary-Jane’s anger melt into fear, revealing the collateral damage that Spider Man’s presence does on those around him.

Perhaps most interesting is the dynamic between Carnage and his cohorts. The symbiotic serial killer comes to regard his allies as a family, with him and Shriek as the parents. At first this association serves merely as an example of Carnage’s unpredictable nature. But after some time passes, Carnage takes his “family” to the orphanage where Kasady spent an abusive childhood. This, of course, is not an excuse for Carnage’s destructive acts over the years, but it does provide insight into where it started for the world’s most dangerous serial killer.

Comic books need high stakes to be compelling. Maximum Carnage certainly meets those requirements. Not only did it provide a heroic side to the Spider Man villain Venom, but it also spawned a popular video game (the first of many). I guess it proves the old maxim: put a group of heroes together, and the bad guys don’t stand a chance. Enjoy.

The Venom Factor

The Venom Factor

Of all of Spider Man’s villains, Eddie Brock/Venom is the biggest thorn in the webslinger’s side. He knows who Peter Parker is, he cancels out Spidey’s spider-sense (ESP-like sixth sense), and thanks to the alien symbiote he’s bonded to, he can shrug off whatever blows Spider Man throws at him. But in the Venom Factor novel by Diane Duane, Venom is something else: an ally.

It all starts with a mishap with a submarine. On-route with hazardous cargo, the submarine crew finds themselves at a loss when the containment cell is ripped to shreds. This is the state-of-the-art three inches thick steel. And it’s been torn apart like wet tissue. Something dangerous is free in New York. And the worst part: it looks a lot like Venom.

Only it’s not, at least according to Spider Man. That’s a twist I didn’t see coming. The creature has the color, the eyes, and the strength that makes Venom so dangerous, and yet Spidey has his suspicions. After all the pain and misery Venom has put the webslinger through over the years, Parker gives his old enemy the benefit of the doubt.

Of course Venom isn’t the sort to lie down when a creature is wreaking havoc in his name, so naturally the anti-hero returns to New York on the hunt. This allows the reader a rare insight into Venom’s mind. His hatred for Spider Man is as keen as ever – both Brock and the symbiote want revenge on the web-slinger’s role in “ruining” their lives – but the book goes deeper than that. It showcases Venom’s rationalization of the futility of prisoner rehabilitation, while at the same time reveals the pride Venom feels as the protector of a homeless community back in his native San Francisco.

But that’s not all. Venom’s chief quality is his strength: he has all of Spider Man’s abilities, he knows Spider Man’s secret identity, but the fact that Venom’s so much stronger is what gives him the edge in every battle. Spider Man’s speed against Venom’s brawn – not something I would put money on.

So when Venom finds the imposter, naturally the reader assumes that the anti-hero’s strength will put the odds in his favor. But no. The imposter kicks Venom’s ass throughout the New York sewers. This isn’t the nigh-invincible Venom the reader has been led to believe. This is a Venom who’s no longer the biggest shark in the ocean. It’s because of this re-evaluation that shows the depth of Venom’s inner hero: Spider Man gets to part ways with all limbs intact. It may not sound like it, but it’s a big improvement on the anti-hero’s part.

Aside from a side-plot involving Spider Man foe the Hobgoblin, this is clearly Venom’s book. But this isn’t the Old Testament Venom. This is a Venom that protects the innocent. This is a Venom that won’t stand by and allow his name to be tainted by a wannabe imposter. If Spider Man, his arch-nemesis, is willing to put aside his prejudices and give his most dangerous enemy the benefit of the doubt, then perhaps Venom isn’t such a lost cause after all. Enjoy reading.

Mary-Jane Watson-Parker

Mary Jane Watson Parker – Spider Man’s Wife

“Face it, tiger. You just hit the jackpot.”

When May Parker first told her nephew Peter of Mary-Jane Watson, he cringed at the mention of her “wonderful personality.” (guy-code for ugly chick). Peter thought his biggest problem was blocking out whatever hyper-active, anti-social stories this unattractive girl had in store. But then he opened the door . . . and with those eight little words, the red-headed, jaw-dropping bombshell changed Peter’s world forever.

For the majority of Spider Man’s career, Mary-Jane (or MJ) has held the prestigious honor of being Peter Parker’s wife. She’s his pillar of strength when the rest of the world goes out of its way to make him miserable. She’s his confidant, his best friend, the person he comes home to. It’s a weight that has crushed many a normal person. Yet time and again MJ has shouldered that burden without a flicker of remorse. If ever there was a woman behind the quintessential great man, MJ is that woman.

But she wasn’t always that way. Throughout her many incarnations, MJ is a savvy, saucy girl who captures the room just by stepping into it. She’s got everyone wrapped around her little finger, and she knows it. You want a night on the town? MJ’s your girl. Anything deeper is out of the question. She’s not the girlfriend type, and she definitely isn’t going to be tied down.

But let’s be clear: MJ’s not a man-stealing bimbo. Her sunny, saucy personality hides a very ugly personal life. Her father’s a verbally abusive alcoholic who often employs screaming matches or physical violence to make his point. MJ has silently suffered her father’s explosive abuse not only as a witness (her mother and sister’s beat-downs) but as a participant as well. Flirting and fun lets her forget her walking disaster of a father waiting at home. It’s only when Gwen Stacy (a dear friend and Peter’s other major love interest) dies that MJ sees the light and moves on from her high-school personality.

Peter’s appeal is that he is the Everyman of superheroes: he struggles with the mortgage, fights colds, and so on. MJ has a similar role. In most of her mature incarnations, she’s a famous actress who’s fallen on hard times. Once the bread-winner of the house, MJ is reduced to chasing down toothpaste ads and voice-over work to make ends meet. This situation is ever more demoralizing when your husband is secretly a costumed superhero who saves the world on a regular basis.

Most women in this situation would resent their partners. But MJ loves Peter because he sticks to his responsibilities when so many others would turn a blind eye. At the end of the day, her support is what gives Spider Man the strength to make the world a better place.

For every great man, there’s an even greater woman at his side. For Spider Man, we’re talking about Mary-Jane Watson. She’s beautiful – scratch that; there’s no word in the dictionary capable of expressing just how hot MJ is – both inside and out. And even though they’re currently separated (a move to make Peter more appealing to a young, single male demographic), Spider Man fans will always see MJ as the web-slinger’s true strength and humanity. She doesn’t just make Spider Man better. She makes Peter Parker better.

Thanks MJ.

Carnage – Avatar of Chaos

Cletus Kasady is one whacked-out sociopath. He once stuffed five dollar bills into a man’s throat just to see how many bills he could fit before the man suffocated. Then he beheaded a hapless philosopher who theorized life as a soup bowl because “the world would thank him.” For all of that aggressive nature, he is a nondescript man: lanky, rawboned, with a shock of red hair that’s eternally unkempt. He certainly doesn’t look like a slayer of millions. But Kasady’s human form just a disguise for the monster within: the symbiote Carnage, “spawn” to the infamous Spider Man villain Venom.

Carnage’s legacy begins in prison, when he is paired with Eddie Brock after one of the latter’s many fights with Spider Man. Separated from the Venom symbiote, the two merge once more after a rather violent breakout. However, what Brock didn’t know was that the symbiote was capable of reproducing (in fact it gave birth during the rescue). Angry, vengeful and insane, the new symbiote bonds with the nearest host body: Cletus Kasady. Thus Carnage, the superhuman serial killer, was born.

Let’s be clear. Venom, on his worst days, still had some redeeming qualities. The fact that he found a purpose beyond hunting down Spider Man and devour his organs (it seems the symbiotes like that sort of thing) is proof that deep down, beneath all the rage and the dissociative denial of responsibility, Eddie Brock is still a good guy.

Carnage is not a redeemable person. His idea of a good day is poisoning vats of food with a serum that would make his victims as crazy as he is. His idea of a good deed is promising not to kill a man if he gives up his boss and then lopping off his nose to make sure the victim can’t lie (a reference that would make Pinocchio sick). Kasady is an unreasonable agent of chaos. Carnage takes those qualities and brings them to new heights.

The worst part? He’s actually stronger than his “father” Venom. While the latter is capable of a limited degree of shapeshifting, Carnage takes this one step further: he can form axes, knives, and other bladed weaponry from his limbs. In fact he can sustain the formation of several different weapons simultaneously. He has an immunity to the fire and sound sensitivity that plagued Venom. Perfect.

But wait. There’s more. Carnage received an “upgrade” in the Maximum Carnage event when the symbiote bonded with Kasady’s DNA. No matter the pain (and Carnage has taken the brunt of thousands of electrical voltage), the symbiote cannot be killed. It just retreats within Kasady to rest and recuperate. So killing Carnage isn’t really an option. At best he can just be contained. (Did I say perfect sarcastically before? Never mind. I’ll say it again). Perfect. Just perfect.

Cletus Kasady is a murdering sociopath. He’s the kind of person the death penalty was invented for. And even then the needle is too good for him. All he has to do is scratch himself, and he becomes Carnage: a red-and-black monstrosity that will not hesitate to kill everyone in the room. Hell, he probably gets off from it. If there was ever a need for a hero to break his rule against killing, it would be Carnage.

Good luck falling asleep tonight. I know I’ll need it.

Batman Beyond – What If?

Batman Beyond – What If?

Comic books are full of “what if” scenarios. What if Kal-El’s rocket landed in Moscow instead of Kansas? What if Spider-Man became the fifth member of the Fantastic Four? These alternate timelines allow the development of characters in ways that are otherwise impossible to express within the confines of typical environments. The Batman Beyond television series is one of those scenarios.

Twenty years in the future, Bruce Wayne is still Batman. While others have retired the cowl due to old age, Wayne is too obsessed with his mission to stop being the Dark Knight. So, the inevitable happens: Wayne is waylaid by a heart attack in the midst of an abduction. Desperate, Batman pulls a gun on a thug. Horrified at how close he came to breaking his “no guns, no murder” cardinal rule, Wayne shuts down the Batcave. For the next twenty years, Gotham suffers without its protector . . . that is, until Terry McGinnis stumbles into the Batcave, steals the high-tech Batsuit and avenges his father’s demise. Jolted from his depression by Terry’s bravery, Wayne takes Terry under his wing. Thus Batman is re-born.

Terry’s Batman relies more on gadgets than intellect. Unlike Wayne – whose vow to protect Gotham has him sacrificing any chance of a normal relationship – Terry has a life outside the cowl: a girlfriend, a family, the whole nine yards. While this makes Terry a more human Dark Knight, the resulting social distractions keep him from being the physical/mental paragon Wayne was at his peak. As a result, Terry’s Batman often stumbles through challenges that Wayne would have sailed through effortlessly (the first encounter with the Stalker comes to mind). However, Terry does show remarkable progress as a detective over the course of the series.

The symbiosis between Terry and Bruce is one of the most interesting things Batman Beyond brings to the table. Being Batman helps Terry with sticking to the straight and narrow. Bruce, on the other hand, is content with being an auxiliary Batman (though it’d wouldn’t be false to say he’s vicariously living through Terry).

But enough of semantics. The heart of every Batman story is the toys, and Beyond delivers. Boot jets, cloaking devices, fingertip microphones, and others make Terry into a walking Swiss army knife.

However, all the futuristic toys don’t mean a thing without equally futuristic enemies. Terry’s foes include the Shriek (imposing total silence by canceling all sound waves) and the Repeller (able to manipulate gravity to such a degree that nothing can touch).

Comic books and other media are full of “what if” scenarios. What if Bruce Wayne – now an old man – was forced to use a gun to save his life? What if a random teen takes up the Batman mantle? The Batman Beyond series gives us a peek of a high-tech Batman in a high-tech world, and while cut short in it’s prime, it never fails to entertain. Have fun.

Knightfall – The Bat Is Broken

Knightfall – The Bat Is Broken

It’s said that a hero is only as good as the villain he fights. For Batman, that penultimate villain is Bane. For over seventy years, villains like the Joker and Two-Face have tried to defeat Batman. Yet their failures is Bane’s victory: he broke Batman’s spine, triggering a multi-comic storyline that examines and ultimately re-defines the Dark Knight’s purpose. The Knightfall story is the first chapter of that saga.

Knightfall introduces Bane, a man born in the Pena Duro prison. Following a slight imposed on the prison’s corrupt warden, Bane spends most of his adolescence in an underground pit. Every inmate condemned into the pit eventually go insane. Not Bane. Using his hatred and his mind, Bane thrives in the pit. When he emerges from the pit, Bane finds himself a legend to the other inmates, becoming the prison’s de facto ruler.

Jealous, the warden submits Bane to experiments involving the Venom steroid. Bane’s endurance is put to the test, but once again Bane succeeds where previous subjects fail. Augmented by Venom, Bane has the extraordinary strength to match his already formidable intellect. Having achieved the physical and mental perfection he desired, Bane breaks out of prison. His goal? To defeat Batman and control Gotham City.

Instead of a direct assault, Bane instead frees most of Batman’s rogue gallery in a bid to tax the Dark Knight’s endurance to its lowest ebb. Only then does Bane strike, breaking Batman’s spine as a symbolic victory and a sign of his ascension of Gotham’s criminal kingdom.

With Batman out of commission, Bruce Wayne selects former assassin Jean-Paul Valley over original protégé Dick Grayson to be his successor, citing Grayson’s solo vigilante career as justification. With the Batman mantle secured, Wayne can focus on his rehabilitation with the help of Dr. Kinsolving, a physician whose patients include Jack Drake, the mentally-crippled father of Tim Drake (the current Robin). With her renowned healing abilities, Bruce is making significant strides in his recovery.

Unfortunately, Kinsolving is abducted right before Bruce’s eyes. Traumatized by his uselessness – and convinced that Kinsolving is the only hope for complete recovery – Bruce chases after Kinsolving.

Meanwhile, things are taking an ugly turn in Gotham. Valley proves himself a darker Batman, focusing more on punishing criminals over saving lives. Things come to a head when an encounter with Scarecrow’s fear toxin unlocks Valley’s alternate Azrael persona (derived from intense brainwashing from the extremist St. Dumas cult). Knightfall ends with Bane’s defeat at Valley’s hands. Batman once again rules the night . . . but a Batman who struggles for his sanity.

A hero is only as good as the villain he’s fighting. Bane leveled the playing field by doing the impossible: breaking Batman. Knightfall gives Bruce Wayne a new path: a life without Batman. We can only wait and see how that story unfolds.

Jean-Paul Valley

Jean-Paul Valley

Jean-Paul Valley. Typical nerd. Social outcast. The new Batman.

Confused? Let’s start from the beginning.

When supervillain Bane broke Batman’s spine in 1993, Wayne chose Jean-Paul to carry on the legacy. What he didn’t know was that Jean-Paul had been trained from birth to be Azrael, the assassin for the fanatical, Illuminati-like Order of St. Dumas cult. Had Bruce known, he would have spared himself a lot of pain.

At first Valley seems like the safe choice. His Azrael training has given him the necessary skills. Batman himself said that, “Jean Paul . . . instantly shifted into the state of alert relaxation Batman had observed only in Zen masters . . . poised on the cusp between readiness and action.”

All of that changes when Valley dons the mask. Ordinarily meek, Valley seemed overjoyed at using lethal force on a helpless opponent. It’s only the intervention of Tim Drake (the current Robin) and the timely arrival of the police that the criminal walks out with all limbs intact. Later on, Valley berates Robin for his soft-heartedness, despite the fact that Drake has significantly more experience. It’s as though Valley is a completely different person when the mask is on.

The truth isn’t far off. Much of Valley’s Azrael training involved brainwashing and negative conditioning. As such, Valley’s been trained to believe he’s nothing without Dumas and the System (the collective name for his subconscious assassination skills). An example is the Valley nearly crashes the Batmobile twice. It’s only when Valley prays to Dumas that his subconscious grants him the necessary skills.

It only gets worse. Valley’s darker persona gains more power with each passing night, as exemplified by Valley’s new costume. His subconscious, seeing Batman’s ordinary garb inadequate, completely modifies the costume. Combined with the lethal weaponry suitable for a holy assassin, plus a strong resemblance to the Azrael garb, this new costume marks Valley’s complete domination of his Azrael persona.

The Azrael persona’s effects are also psychological. Seeing Drake’s reluctance with violence as weakness, Valley arms the Batcave with a host of fatal defenses designed to keep interlopers out. Furthermore, finding detective work tedious and unbecoming of an agent of holy vengeance, Valley concocts an alliance with antagonistic policeman Harvey Bullock for the information he needs. Valley is so consumed within this Azrael persona that he lives within the costume. It’s only when Valley is tricked into getting out of his costume that his Valley persona reasserts himself.

Knowing that all comic book characters must receive periodic evolutions in order to satisfy an equally evolving audience, the Batman staff made Valley’s character into a question: do the fans want a darker Batman? The answer? No. Jean Paul is a pretender. Bruce Wayne is the one true Batman. Not even a broken spine can stop him. He’ll be a long time correcting Valley’s atrocities, but he’ll persevere. He’s Batman. He always does.

Knightfall – Comic Vs Novel

Knightfall – Comic Vs Novel

1993 was a big year for Batman. The previous year had Superman battle to the death with the new villain Doomsday. Not to be outdone, artist Dennis O’Neal and other Batman staff concocted an equally ground-breaking villain for the Dark Knight: Bane. Like Doomsday before him, Bane changed Batman’s world by breaking the Dark Knight’s back. The events of the following comics (Bruce’s rehabilitation, the exploits of his successor Jean Paul Valley, and Bruce’s return as Batman) were adapted into two novelizations: one written exclusively to younger fans, and one crafted for more mature fans. This article will explain the differences between them.

A major deviation between the two is Dick Grayson, the first Robin. Both the comics and the children’s version heavily rely on Grayson. As Valley grows more violent, Tim Drake (the third Robin) goes to Grayson for moral support. When finally Grayson tracks Bruce down, he chides Bruce for choosing Valley over him for the Batman cowl. Bruce admits that he deliberately chose Valley because he didn’t want Grayson to be burdened with the responsibility that comes with being Batman.

The adult novelization doesn’t have Grayson at all. He’s mentioned once, when Alfred explains the history of the Robins to Tim. Tim does make a good point: the presence of a young partner kept Batman from descending to darker and more violent means to deal with criminals. Batman needed a Robin to keep him sane.

Another deviation is the manner of Bruce’s return as Batman. Both versions have Bruce psychologically traumatized, becoming incapable to use violence. Both versions feature the master assassin Lady Shiva to retrain Bruce. But in the comics, Bruce is challenged by three martial artists. Afterwards he gains Shiva’s approval by fooling her into thinking he killed the last challenger, and he is allowed to leave.

The adult novelization has more psychological consequences. After a month of training, Bruce finally defeats Shiva. But he gains more than his battle ability. “In that instant [beating Shiva], he’d regained his capacity of violence, and something more, something he’d never known was his: the pleasure of dominating another human being . . . as he watched Shiva fall, it had erupted into the purest joy he could imagine.” (O’Neil 305) For a man whose creed is to avoid killing, the exhilaration of victory is not only an addiction he cannot afford, but the catalyst of re-evaluating his entire life. The comic-book Bruce Wayne got off scot-free, but the adult Bruce Wayne has some serious demons to deal with.

Bane was a game-changer to the Batman world. But the fallout from Bane’s act depends on which version one is reading. The child-novelization has everything wrapped up in a nice bow. But if you want a serious Batman story, pick up the adult novelization of Knightfall. It pays tribute to Batman’s redemption without coddling the reader. Have fun.

Superman – For The Man Who Has Everything

Superman: For The Man Who Has Everything

No life is complete. People want what they cannot have. The grass is always going to be greener on the other side of the fence. It’s true for ordinary people. But what might a being like Superman dream of? What might be lacking for the world’s most powerful champion to miss and regret? What life did Superman put aside for his crusade against evil? This is the question that the 1985 comic strip “For The Man That Has Everything,” answers.

The prologue: a normal man returning home from work. All he wants is to tuck the kids into bed, maybe share a private moment with his wife, take a hot shower and get some sleep for tomorrow’s shift. Instead he walks into his very own birthday party. Only this man isn’t normal. He’s Superman.

What’s going on?

February 29^th, 1985: Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman travel to the Fortress Of Solitude for Superman’s birthday, only to find him under the thrall of a strange alien plant. Before they can even speculate on what happened, the supervillain Mongul steps in and reveals his master plan. The alien plant is a Black Mercy, a telepathic symbiont that bonds with a host and fabricates a false reality according to the host’s fondest wish. The mundane family man is what Superman would have been had Krypton didn’t explode. In this illusion, there’s no superpowers, no people to save or monsters to battle. For an outcast on an alien planet, Superman just wants to be normal.

Eventually, Superman breaks free of the Mercy’s influence in time to save his friends from Mongul, but at the cost of giving up his “perfect” world. Now we see a new Man Of Steel: angry. Vengeful. Hurting. A hate so intense that lashing out is the only way of appeasing it. To have one’s fondest desire, the desire so secret that no one else knows, given form and then taken away? To have a taste of one’s ideal existence, however briefly, only to be forced into giving that up in the name of moral responsibility and duty? I’d be pissed. Superman certainly is. This is the closest he comes to killing someone. Fortunately, Mongul falls victim to the Mercy’s sway, and life – such as it is for superheroes – returns to normal.

No life is complete. People want what they cannot have. The grass’s always going to be greener on the other side of the fence. It’s true for ordinary people, and it’s true for Superman. It’s rather clever: How do you hurt someone impervious to physical pain? Hurt him emotionally. Expose his deepest secret. Make his fondest wish come true and then watch him throw it all away. It reminds people that underneath the superpowers and colorful costume, Superman is just like us. He yearns for a dream that’s forever beyond his reach. Even now, three decades after publication, I’m impressed. Trust me, that’s saying something.

Best Destiny – A Look into James T. Kirk

Best Destiny

Growing up is hard. It requires a long, hard look at oneself. It means seeing what you are, where you’re going, and what kind of person you want to be. Most people think they’re fine. Then they wake up one day and realize that the world has passed them by. Everyone goes through this journey. For James T. Kirk, that journey is detailed in the Best Destiny novel.

Best Destiny spends much of its time in flashbacks. At sixteen Kirk is a disobedient, arrogant punk. It’s him against the world, and the world always plays dirty. Why shouldn’t he? Desperate to turn things around, his father George takes Kirk on a harmless space mission.

Except the trip is far from harmless. Their ship’s attacked by pirates, and Kirk’s captured.

Enter Roy Moss. He’s the genius son of pirate captain Rex Moss. He compares himself to artists like Michelangelo and Christopher Columbus. His pride and joy? The shields protecting the ship from lethal radiation (shields that only he can operate). As for being stuck with coworkers who can’t find their way out of a paper bag, it’s a temporary situation. One day, and one day soon, things will change. When that happens, every stupid pirate will beg for his mercy.

Then he meets James Kirk. Nothing is the same again.

Kirk sees Roy Moss as the criminal he’ll become if he doesn’t change. Furthermore, Kirk uses what character Robert April later refers as “the dirt in his soul.” Kirk emerges victorious because he knows how the bad guys think and uses it against them. Reading about Kirk’s first use of his dark side to outsmart Roy is watching a legend take form.

As for Roy, he’s not as smart as he thinks. He could have sold his shield technology for millions and become the first pioneer of space travel. But going on the straight and narrow didn’t even occur to him. For one who considers himself a genius, there’s a lot of holes in his plans.

Jump to present day. Kirk, having lost the spark of exploration, is embracing retirement when Roy Moss returns with his grand prize: his long-distance teleporter. But Moss hasn’t changed. He prates on his victory in figuring out a technology that other, more intelligent beings abandoned. Because he’s Roy Moss, he thinks that everything will work out.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Both the teleporter and its planet is destroyed because of his short-sightedness. The last forty-five years of his life, just down the drain. All because he couldn’t believe the teleporter’s creators were smarter than him. Kirk, on the other hand, finds his purpose again, and decides to go on.

Growing up is hard. It requires a good long look at one’s shortcomings and turning them into strengths. For James T. Kirk, that wake-up call came in the form of Roy Moss. Best Destiny provides an incredible look in one of television’s most enduring icons, and is a valuable addition to any bookshelf. Have fun.