Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison

These are the comics that make Star Wars such a valuable property, the SWU is so deep and diverse that in a hundred years if people still care they can still be writing stories within the scope of Episode 1 through the New Republic and if the writers stay original so will the stories and ever-growing character pool.

Focusing mainly on characters we have never even heard of before Dark Horse may have release the best Star Wars comic in nearly a decade since the end of Star Wars Tales.

Amid the timeline of the first Death Star’s construction a terrorist student uprising at the Imperial Academy takes control of Coruscant with the intention of luring General Tarkin to the facility and destroy the Empire’s prize weapon before it is complete.

Thinking that Vader and the Emperor have died during the initial attack and release of toxic gas throughout the palace the rebels bide their time for the arrival of the seemingly third and final piece to bring down the blossoming Empire.

Lieutenant Tohm, the sole loyal cadet of the class assists the escape of a dying Emperor, Vader and  Moff Trachta who travel to the secretive Jedi Prison previously know only to the High Jedi Council where they care to the aid of their leader and devise a plan to take back their home base before similar thinking worlds rush to the aid of the surprise army.

Deciding to free the prisoners Vader pits them against

Falling Skies: Battle of Fitchburg [Comic Review]

Before we talk comics, lets talk Falling Skies,one of two really great t.v. dramas out there today that can not miss from week to week.  Steven Spielberg’s alien invasion epic runs a summer season so while the majority of t.v. is in re-runs Falling Skies is giving 1-hour a week of viewing pleasure to wind down on a Saturday morning (actually airs on Sunday evenings) with eggs and toast to forget a long week of work.  Thank you DVR.

Why am I wasting so much time writing about a t.v. show when this review is clearly a comic?  Because if you do not watch the show this comic is of little interest to you.  In fact, it would be down right confusing with all the history and backstory in season one of the series to even understand this as a stand-alone tale.  So if you have not yet seen Falling Skies, stop right here, go buy or stream the first season of episodes and then resume from this point forward.

The Battle of Fitchburg is the period of time from where season one leaves off with Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) going with the newly introduced “Overlord alien”

BEST of 2010: Comic Book

This year was a very turbulent year for comics.  DC continues to disappoint me, they seem to have for the last decade been in a giant multi-title story arc.  I am not an opponent of multi crossover epics, in fact I sort of enjoyed a few of them but here is my issue with the issues; forcing me to read titles I could careless about is not helping DC’s sales from my perspective.  Because instead of buying a few dozen Batman and Superman titles throughout a calendar year I have just stopped reading them and moved over to new stories that are containing themselves.  Now I am not talking about a “to be continued” that brings a Batman story into JSA for an issue or two, I will happily read an issue or two of a comic I won’t normally read.  I have issue with these epic after epic: 52, Darkest Night, Brightest Night and so on and so on that require you to read every title to be able to follow along.  No thanks.

On the flip side there have been numerous great titles. The re-launch of Peter Parker has been great, and these different Spidey-titles all depict Parker at various stages of maturity and age.  Good for the guy like me how does not care for married Peter in the “Amazing” line.

I would have possibly picked Ultimate Comics: Spiderman as my top, I really enjoy the clumsy and naieve Parker in his high school years.  His learning to be “SUPER” is a great story and actually has him weighing the possibility of misusing his gifts.  The original Ultimate line was awesome and I was sad to see it go, and with the return last year I have been nothing but pleased with its continuation.

But my favorite of the year was hands down: The Green Hornet Strikes!

The whole relaunch of the Hornet titles at Dynamite have been great.  The main Kevin Smith-line has been solid and the launch of the title transitioned from one generation of GH to the son taking over the cloak of crime fighter.  But the Launch of Brett Matthews character has been refreshing.

Matthews decided to throw out tradition and history and created a Green Hornet of the future so to speak.  The issues reveal slow bits of info towards GH’s identity and the way about how he became the newest hero of Chicago.  The mix of familiarity and mystery keeps the comic new and vibrant but also giving you that sense of old friend.

All four titles could qualify for best of the year, but if I am cornered into one title it is Green Hornet Strikes! for its new taste on old.