TRON: Betrayal
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I am probably more excited about TRON: Legacy than I should be. I am trying to not set myself up for disappointment, but I did decide to stop watching previews and clips from it. Or even interviews with the director. I’ve also resisted listening to more of Daft Punk’s tracks from the movie (although I do enjoy looking at them in their TRON gear).

TRON: Betrayal (Disney Press, 2010), written by Jai Nitz (with plot by Starlight Entertainment) fills in the gaps between the original TRON and TRON: Legacy. I don’t think it’s at all necessary to read it to enjoy the movie, but it’s a fun read nonetheless.

A quick prologue with art by Jeff Matsuda recaps the events of the original TRON before we catch back up with the now-very-busy Kevin Flynn in the main story with art by Andie Tong. He’s trying to balance his work and home life — his girlfriend is expecting a baby — while popping in and out of the grid. To help himself out, he creates a computer clone of himself that he calls CLU.

Nitz’s pacing is tight and his dialogue suits the characters well, but if you’ve paid any attention to plot summaries for TRON: Legacy, none of this will be particularly new to you. And, in fact, the book seems to go out of its way to not give anything way. Yes, we get a little back story about what Flynn has been up to and why he disappeared and meet Sam as a baby, but that’s really it. I don’t mind this, particularly, since I actually don’t want to know too much, but anyone expecting more substance or clues from this would be disappointed.

Tong’s art is stylish and he has an impressive ability to make Kevin Flynn actually look like the ’80s Jeff Bridges. His action scenes are kinetic and he definitely has a cinematic sense of scale. I found it to be a little slick for my own personal tastes, but it suits the story.

Colorist Pete Pantazis also contributes significantly with cold greens and blues in the computer world and sun-drenched yellows and browns in the California scenes. The contrast is striking.

There isn’t too much to TRON: Betrayal but it did add to my excitement for the movie. And in that way, it did the job it was meant to do.

Review copy provided by publisher.

New Bone is always awesome. Annoying sexist contests are not (thanks, Electronic Arts for not wanting my money. I don’t have a lot of it so it’s always nice when someone tells me “Yeah, don’t spend it with us”).

I am pro TRON Legacy (I am, of course, pro-Moebius, pro-Syd Mead and very much pro-Daft Punk).

I know Comic-Con hasn’t been completely about comics for a while now, but really, why was Glee there? That’s not even a genre show.

Nothing else really excited me, but like I said, I really didn’t follow any of the news all that closely. Give it a couple of days to sink in and maybe I’ll realize all the awesome things that happened.