Comics this week

Realm of Kings- Straight after the ‘War of Kings’, the next space opera from the minds of Marvel cosmic gurus Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning is ‘Realm of Kings’. The ‘War of Kings’ series was disappointing and I hope this new series would do better. As a one-shot prologue to the main series, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning seem to be going back to the story of Annihilation. At the end of the Inhuman/Kree war, a Fault was created in time and space, and no one knows what’s on the other side of the Fault. To find out Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy and…Project Pegasus (?) sent Quasar in to check. On the other side of the fault is another universe who intends to invade Marvel universe. I’m not a fan of Lovecraftian horror, but the mixture of horror and space worked surprising well here. I thought it’s kind of cute to use Cthulu-like monsters as space beings that are devouring space. However I think the biggest reason why the whole thing work is the art of Leonardo Manco. A fan of his since his run on HellStorm & Druid, his work is perfect for horror, even cosmic horror. If horror is the direction Dan & Andy want to go on Realm of Kings, then Leonardo Manco will be perfect for the whole series.

Irredeemable #8- Mark Waid finally revealed all this issue. The final nail in Plutonian’s psyche was the disillusionment of his sidekick that his mentor was responsible for the deaths of thousands. The revelation made Plutonian think enough is enough and went rouge on the rest of the world. After 8 issues, it’s good to clear the mystery of how he turned bad and now the heroes are actually making some headway on how to stop him. Now instead of looking at his past, we can concentrate on the future as the world is open for Plutonian to tear apart.

A Higher Yuan

Like the presidents before him, when U.S President Barack Obama met China's President Hu Jintao this week, he asked that China stop controlling the price of its currency and allows the yuan to float on the open market.

To the surprise of no one, the Chinese ignored the calls. I can understand why because the reasons are simple; by fixing the value of its currency against the dollar, the Chinese ensure low prices for Chinese-made exports, and for an export economy like theirs, that is important. What I don’t understand is why America is the only one shouting about the yuan.

Personally, I feel that other countries should join America in protesting the level of the yuan. Yes, it’s a little bit like the pot calling the kettle black but when you considered the position of China in the world’s economy and the fact that China holds more than $800 billion of U.S. government debt, there is no question that the yuan is ridiculously undervalued.

I feel it strange that other export countries in the region do not question why the yuan is so low. The level of the yuan directly affects the exports of countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and our own Singapore. I mean even the Chinese no longer argued that their currency should be higher than it is now, so I fail to see why other countries shouldn’t put China to task on the yuan.

It’s in the interest of everyone expect the Chinese that the yuan goes higher, and if you look at it in a purely economic viewpoint, it should be higher! The Americans are right and frankly other countries should join America in calling for a higher yuan before another currency crisis hit all of us.

A Bow

When you meet a king, you bow. I thought that was not only common sense but common courtesy as well. So when I saw pictures of U.S President Barack Obama bowing to the Emperor of Japan, it seems pretty normal to me.

However I’m not an American so there’s nothing I’m missing because I read that Americans are unhappy that Obama is bowing to the emperor. Some reports even said that critics are “incensed” about the bow as US leaders should stand tall when representing America overseas. I don’t get it because I remember various leaders even U.S presidents bowing to kings and queens before (Queen Elizabeth of England comes to mind) with no problems whatsoever. Has Obama become so hated over in his home country that even a simple bow can cause him problems?

What’s even stranger is that most people in Asia considered Obama’s trip to Asia a success! Strange that people in his home country do not think so; and it’s all because of common courtesy.

Better Than Nothing

For years, there’re warnings about man overfishing the oceans. For years, the world had ignored the problem. Finally there’s hope as the European Union (EU) is going to cut bluefin tuna catches by 40% in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean regions.

This international agreement is a breakthrough but unfortunately it may also be a case of too little, too late. Environmentalists warned that the bluefin tuna is on its way to extinction and want a total ban in the fishing of bluefin tuna. The agreement by the EU was a compromise solution as a total ban would make thousands of people jobless. However environmentalists warned that the cut may not be enough as the population of bluefin tuna is already at very low levels. Time even did an article on it a few months ago.

I’m afraid that the environmentalists will just have to make do with what they got. When caught between jobs/money and saving a fish from extinction, I’m pretty sure jobs and money will win every single time. 40% is better than nothing.

Engineering Disasters

Discovery Channel has a show called “Engineering Disasters”. The show showcased man-made structures which either collapsed or did more harm than good.

Coming soon to that show is China's massive Three Gorges dam! Even before construction started, there had been warnings about environmental impact of the massive project as well as how the dam would destroy the legendary Three Gorges and displaced more than 1 million people. The Chinese government ignored all warnings and now the problems are coming hard and fast.

The environmental impact of the dam had caused landslides as the raised water level had eroded the soil near the dam, and prompted a “postponement” on plans to raise the water level to full capacity.

I had never been a fan of the Three Gorges project. I always believed it to be a vanity project as I never bought the stated aims of the Chinese. The 2 aims of the dam were to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze River and to provide energy to fuel the country's economic boom. The Chinese people had been lining along the Yangtze for thousands of years and China did not need the amount of power a $23 billion, 660-km long dam would provide.

Now you have geological risks like landslides, serious soil erosion and seismic instability; and a changing eco-system which result in less water coming from the upper reaches of the Yangtze and drought in the lower reaches of the Yangtze. Producers of “Engineering Disasters”, please take note.

Powerboat vs Fishermen

Last year a futuristic powerboat called "Earthrace", managed to go around the world in just under 61 days. It was a new world record.

The super-fast, space-age vessel is going to go from world record holder to… harassing Japan whalers? As unbelievable as it sound, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. It seems that “Earthrace” will be used to pursue Japanese shipping boats and stop them spearing whales during their annual hunt in waters off Antarctica.

Now I’m all for saving the environment but to use a multi-million dollar powerboat against fishermen? So on one side, you have fishermen trying to make a living; on the other, you have a multi-million dollar powerboat. Uh…wonder how that’ll look on TV?

Comics this week

Batman/Doc Savage Special #1- One of the strangest things to come out of the great 52 weekly series was the lack of stories about the 52 worlds. I mean if DC was going to return the multi-verse back to the DC fold, you would expect DC to have some stories lined up about the various 52 worlds right? Better late than never I guess as Brian Azzarello's First Wave series is going to see print in 2010. As a kickstart, Batman/Doc Savage Special was the right vehicle to introduce readers to the new world. I enjoy how they manage to get Batman into a world without superpowers. In most instances, Batman would be nothing but a way to put readerships; however in this case it worked beautifully. I enjoyed the way Azzarello tweaked the Doc Savage character into the superman of this world. No superpowers but he is the perfect man thus making Doc the Superman to Bruce Wayne’s Batman. It was a cute move. The story itself was nothing much but Azzarello did a good job introducing the world…which is what the issue is mainly for. I must say I was very surprised at how enjoyable this one-shot was; a good intro issue for the First Wave that will leave you asking for more.

S.W.O.R.D. #1- S.W.O.R.D. is an agency that defend Earth from threats from outer space. The idea was great and it clearly deserved a series of its own. Agent Abigail Brand has always been an underused character. I mean she’s a half-alien, half-human ice queen with a heart of gold. What’s there not to like about that? What I don’t like is the introduction of Beast into S.W.O.R.D. I never bought the relationship between the two and I feel the series would have been better if we had less Beast and more of the other supporting characters like Henry Gyrich and Lockheed. Good start to a series with potential.