Star Trek: That Which Divides
The Original Series
By Dayton Ward
Pocket Books
Release date: February 28, 2012
Paperback | Kindle

Star Trek: That Which Divides is an example of a great Star Trek story. It takes us to the era of The Original Series with Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and McCoy all in the officer’s lounge playing a poker game in which Spock is cleaning them out. Kirk aboard the Enterprise is en route to the Kondaii system to investigate a spatial rift that is surrounding a planetoid that is a key mining colony and to investigate a Federation vessel that crashed there and look for survivors. The rift opens up every three years allowing trade between the small planetoid and the other inhabited planet in the system. The species in the system are called the Dolysians and they are humanoid. They have low level warp technology which allows them to send ships through the rift [...]

Ever since I was a little kid I have always loved Star Wars. In fact, it was one of the biggest experiences of my childhood having my dad show the movies to me at home when I was about 6 or 7. I automatically fell in love with not only the characters, but this story of good and evil set in space. After the special editions of the original trilogy were released I found out that they were going to release the first of the prequels in two yrs and I was so excited, but when it happened I was a bit disappointed with the first prequel movie — Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace — itself.

Flash forward to present day. It has been 13 years since Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released and now since everything is going 3D, I guess creator George Lucas had to jump on the bandwagon and convert the film to 3D — the 3D reversion was released in theaters this weekend [...]

Warriors of Mars #1
Written by Robert Place Napton
Art by Jack Jadson
Colors by Alex Starling
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Cover by Joe Jusko
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 1, 2012
Price $3.99

One of my favorite independent comic publishers in recent years has been Dynamite Entertainment. They have not disappointed me with any of their titles, so I decided to check out Warriors of Mars #1 to see what it was about.

The story is about a man from Earth named Gullivar Jones who is an officer in the Navy from New York City. Jones, wishing that he didn’t have to live in the corrupt world he lives in, is transported to Mars. When he first arrives he meets local townsman from the city of Seth who then tell him to meet the king. While meeting the king, the city comes under attack in which the king’s daughter falls into a canal of water and Jones rescues her winning favor with the king [...]

Green Hornet Annual #2
Written by Mark Rahner
Art by Ronan Cliquet
Colors by Impacto Studios
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Cover by Phil Hester
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 25, 2012
Cover Price: $4.99

When it comes to comics relaunches can be hit or miss, but a few years ago when Dynamite Entertainment released their new Green Hornet series I started reading it and instantly fell in love with it. Green Hornet Annual #2 is a great annual one-shot story that not only gets readers caught up on what has been going on, but it’s a great jumping-on point for new readers [...]

Snake Eyes #9
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Alex Cal
Colors by J. Brown
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 11, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Ever since I was a kid I have always loved G.I. Joe and when I heard that the comics were coming back, well I just had to start reading them again. It has been a rough time for our band of heroes since they resurfaced back in 2010 and they are just now reeling from the aftermath of the Cobra Civil War. Enter Snake Eyes #9 where we see our beloved heroes in action trying to stop Cobra from controlling a country in Asia known as Nanzhao. We learn that the country is a capital for the drug trade which begs to ask the question “Why is Cobra here?” Two Joe teams are sent in to investigate and take out the threat. I don’t want to go to far into detail, because let’s face it Snake Eyes #9 is just a fun book [...]

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth
Written by Malachai Nicolle [Age 6]
Drawn by Ethan Nicolle [Age 30]
Colors by Dirk Erik Schulz [Age 27]
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date October 5, 2011
Price: $12.99

What started out as a weekly web comic two years ago has quickly become one of the most fun comic book titles in recent memory. Written by a 6-year-old boy, Axe Cop is about a cop who carries an axe and who is called in to save the world from various crazy bad guys. Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth centers around the “Psychic” brothers who are sent out to take over the world by turning everyone into bad guys. Axe Cop and his crew of dinosaurs and other interesting characters not only travel through time, but also space to figure out the mystery behind the two brothers. This is a book that is so crazy and over the top and funny that you can’t help but laugh [...]

Star Wars: Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #2
Written by Mick Harrison
Art by Douglas Wheatley
Colors Dan Jackson
Letters Michael Heisler
Cover by Pablo Correa
Dark Horse Comics
Release Dat: September 7, 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

One of the most original Star Wars comic titles in recent years is Dark Times. For those of you who haven’t read this series, let me lay down the background. The story takes place in the time period between the prequel Star Wars trilogy and the original Star Wars trilogy. The story of this book has Darth Vader trying to track down an assassin who killed a prisoner he was trying to interrogate about the location of former Jedi Knight Dass Jennir. Jennir’s former crew members are trying to find him with the help of another Jedi named Beyghor Sahdett, which leads them to attack an Imperial holding facility to find out where Jennir is, they find out Jennir has left the planet. When we see Jennir he has be stranded on a desert moon with a companion who is a lair and a cheat. But little do they know they are also being tracked by the same assassin who thwarted Vader [...]

Ninjago, Vol. 1
The Challenge of Samukai
Written by Greg Farshtey
Art by Paulo Henrique
Colors by Laurie E. Smith
Papercutz
Release Date: November 8, 2011
Cover Price: $6.99

Ever since I was a kid I loved Legos, in fact to this day I still collect them and build them. When I found out that the Ninjago line from Lego was being made into a graphic novel I had to read it.

Ninjago centers around Sensei Wu and his four ninjas Kai, Cole, Zane and Jay who have been brought together to find the four golden weapons of Ninjago and defeat the evil Samukai and his partner Garmadon. Garmadon makes a bet with Samukai that if he cant defeat the four ninjas and Sensei Wu he has to leave the land of Ninjago forever. Can Samukai keep his throne of evil and can the ninjas save the day and find the weapons? […]

Insurrection V3.6 #1
Written by Blake Masters, Michael Alan Nelson
Art by Michael Penick
Covers by Karl Richardson, Rael Lyra
BOOM! Studios
Release Date: September 7, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

When it comes to comic books I love all kinds, especially science fiction books. I recently sat down and read Insurrection V3.6 #1 from BOOM Studios.

Insurrection V3.6 takes place in the year 3000 and sets the backdrop that our planet has become a utopian society where crime and war is a thing of the past and peace and philosophy reign. Corporations have risen up and have taken their mining operations to other planets to ship the materials back to our planet. But on one world what would be regular mining becomes difficult because of constant conflict. One company called Glomrat uses A.I. units as security for day to day operations and to defend facilities [...]

The Guild: Clara
One-shot
Written By Felicia Day, Kim Evey
Art by Ron Chan
Letters by Nate Piekos
Cover by Howard Chaykin with Jesus Aburto
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 21, 2011
Price: $3.50

One of my favorite web series out on the web is The Guild and when I found out that Dark Horse was coming out with a one-shot comic book about the characters from the show I just knew I had to read it.

The Guild: Clara in particular is about Clara who is the lovable but ignorant member of the group. The story starts with an in-game meeting in the MMORPG that they play, while in the meeting Clara’s husband starts getting angry with her about not cleaning up their bedroom that has all of their moving boxes from 10 months back. He gives her an ultimatum that if she doesn’t clean the room by the end of the weekend, she can’t play the game for a week. Clara, while cleaning the room with her kids, stumbles upon all of her keepsakes and starts telling the stories behind each one. Her husband comes home and is surprised that she has kept all of these keepsakes [...]

Pherone
Written by Viktor Kalvachev, Jim Sink and Patrick Baggatta
Art by Viktor Kalvachev
Image Comics
Release date: September 14, 2011
Hardcover: $24.99
Trade Paperback: $14.99

Pherone is a story about a woman named Eve [no relation to our very own Empress] who was trained as a killer to take on various missions and then at the end forget all about it until the word “pherone” is spoken. This is achieved by using a drug that is injected into the operative’s neck. Eve always has the same cover of being an escort on her missions. When the target is getting ready for a night of passion, Eve is getting ready to torture and kill the person for information requested by her handler, a man named Simon. Not only we do we see Eve’s side of the story, but we see the side of the story from the police detectives who are investigating the deaths of Eve’s victims and who come so close to catching her only to have her slip away [...]

Irredeemable #29
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Eduardo Barreto, Diego Barreto
Covers by Trevor Hairsine, Eduardo Barreto
BOOM! Studios
Release Date: September 7, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

What if a Superman-like hero turned against the world and thought only of himself and started causing mayhem and death and destruction? That is the world Mark Waid creates in his series Irredeemable.

Irredeemable #29 picks up when the Plutonian comes back to Earth after being imprisoned on an alien world and then imprisoned in an insane asylum that is in a star. Plutonian arrives with his new alien allies and starts wreaking havoc once again on the Earth. Plutonian captures the members of the hero Survivor’s team and takes them to the Moon and starts killing them one by one. We also see the President of the United States in a meeting with a representative from Japan who offers the U.S. a deal that will reduce the world’s population by one-third [...]

One of the most original titles that DC Comics has put out in recent years is Secret Six.

The group consists of six mercenaries who were once villains in the Batman universe, including Catman, Deadshot, Ragdoll, Scandal Savage, Bane, and Janette.

The series has been out for 30 issues now but I have just recently gotten into it. In the first trade, Secret Six: Unhinged, the team embarks on a mission to break a meta-human out of Alcatraz and take her back to Gotham city. She has in her possession a card which allows a person who dies to get out of Hell. The story is a wild and wacky and violent road trip from San Francisco to Vegas to the streets of Gotham, and at one point they even ride in an ice cream truck. I don’t want to go further into the story and spoil it, but let’s just say it’s well worth the read [...]

Green Lantern #65
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Doug Mahnke
Cover by Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert
DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: April 20, 2011

One of the biggest events in DC Comics has come with the brand new War of the Green Lanterns story which is pitting Green Lanterns against each other. Part five of this epic event lands in Green Lantern #65 in which we see Guy, John, Kyle, and Hal without their rings and donning new rings to try and bring down the renegade guardian Krona who has taken over Oa and returned Parallax to the giant battery and made the rest of the guardians hosts for the other Lantern entities he has stolen.

This issue shows Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner flying a “suped” up shuttle from a Lantern safehouse to OA in order to find Kyle and John who are being tracked by the “infected” corps. This issue feels like a great buddy cop movie but set in space. The end of the book shows Kyle, Hal, John and Guy wearing other Corps rings to stop Krona [...]

New York Comic-Con is one of the biggest conventions in the United States and the biggest on the east coast, and this year Con attendees will be treated to an extra day, as the Con expands to four days this October.

For 2011, the event will be running Thursday to Sunday, with the first day serving as a preview night, much like the Wednesday night at San Diego Comic-Con. This will accommodate more attendees, as well as more programming for artists, retailers, and exhibitors, as the Con opens to the public for the first time for three full days. This also means more hours for the Cultyard and New York Anime Festival, which was a major draw for cosplayers at the convention center in 2010.

This is a big move considering how young NYCC is, but it shows the growth of the convention since its inception in 2006. The 2011 NYCC will be held from Thursday October 13, 2011 through Sunday, October 16, 2011 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City [...]

The brilliant minds over at College Humor have done it again, this time with a Star Wars-themed music video parody of the song “Empire State of Mind” by the artist Jay-Z.

Watch the video here below for “Galactic Empire State of Mind.”

This video starts with the 20th Century Fox fanfare, then launches right into a rapping Darth Vader, as scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy play in the background.

During the chorus there is an audio track of Vader breathing while we see Leia playing Max Reebo’s piano and her earphones are her famous swirl bun hair. This video not only jokes about the original trilogy, but it also pays tribute to it as well. One of the best jokes in this music video are the breakdancing Stormtroopers and Ewoks along with Rebel pilots. It also features the singing “Leia” character wearing the famous “slave” outfit from Return of the Jedi [...]

Ultimate Spider-Man fans rejoice, your dream team is back. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley are reuniting for an 8-issue story arc for the groundbreaking 150th issue. The team worked on the series for almost 10 years when they went there separate ways. Bagley went to work on various DC projects while Bendis has worked on major Marvel events and on the Avengers titles.

Not only will the story be in Ultimate Spider-Man but it will crossover into Ultimate Avengers VS New Ultimates. Marvel has not revealed many details about the story and how Spidey will be laid to rest, but it will be a major blow to the Ultimate Universe and all of its characters. One of the major players in the story will be Mysterio, who has been shaking things up with killing the Kingpin [...]

Superboy #2
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Pier Gallo
Cover by Phil Noto
DC Comics
Price $2.99
Release date: December 8, 2010

The brand new Superboy series continues with this second issue. It picks up right where issue one left off with Superboy and his buddy Simon and Krypto are captured by Poison Ivy in which she offers a team up with Superboy to help her get her powers back. They have to fight their way through an outbreak of trees and vines and flowers that have taken over Smallville. They must find the source of what’s going on in a farmhouse in which a farmer is hooked up to what looks like a bomb about to go off. Can Superboy resist the temptation of Ivy or will he fall under her spell? [...]

Back To The Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy
Blu-ray Edition
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Elisabeth Shue
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 26, 2010

Every decade there is a movie or a series of movies that just blow us away. One set of films in the 80s did just that and became the greatest time travel trilogy ever. We are talking about Back To The Future directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg.

I am a huge fan of this trilogy. While Part II is not the best of the bunch, my favorite movie would have to be the first one. It’s my favorite because of how original the concept is. What would it be like to travel back in time and run into your parents when they are just teenagers? I think it would be fun to see my dad owning people in football like he did when he was younger. I would also like to see what it was like for my mom to be raised by my grandma. This first film opens up the thoughts of what would you do if you did run into your parents? What would you say? I love all the jokes in this film and how real these characters are. But, my favorite character in the entire trilogy is the time-travel machine, the DeLorean, because it truly does take on a life of its own.

For those of you not familiar with the trilogy, here’s a rundown of what each film is about [...]

Batman: The Long Halloween
Trade Paperback
Written by Jeph Loeb
Art by Tim Sale
Cover by Tim Sale
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $19.99

Recently I have been reading a lot of older comics and graphic novels and one that has stood out the most lately is Batman: The Long Halloween. If you haven’t read this trade, written by Jeph Loeb with art by by Tim Sale, it is absolutely amazing!

The story deals with a serial killer named Holiday who is picking off major members of the Falcone crime family in Gotham City. The reason why the killer is named Holiday is the fact that he only strikes on major holidays. He starts his spree on Halloween and goes on for about a year murdering over a dozen people. It’s up to Batman to find out who Holiday really is and why he’s killing all these people.

There are so many twists and turns with the plot of this story that it will keep you on your toes until the very last panel. […]