Starship Troopers news

Funny, just as I finished reading the latest story arc, Markosia decided to announce a new story arc. From CBR:

• AAM/Markosia, announce "Triple Threat", the biggest event ever in the Starship Troopers ongoing series.
• Three stories, linked over two parts by writer Cy Dethan, with guest writers Tony Lee (Doctor Who) and Christian Beranek (Willow Creek), and guest artists Neil Edwards, Scott James and Jim Boswell. It's the Vandals versus the Tigers in a race to save the federation against the Civilian Militia -- but who are the Reaper Cell and what is their connection to SICON?
• I had a blast helping define a new element in the ST universe: the psychics! Expect some mental carnage, for sure.
• Starship Troopers: Triple Threat runs in issues 9 and 10. The first part will be out in July, with the conclusion following in August.

As I said while reviewing Bad Blood, I'm looking forward to this new story. I just hope that 2 issues is long enough to really develop the story, and that the art will be better then in Bad Blood.

Starship Troopers #5-8 - Bad Blood

This story arc does not continue the adventures of the Tanner Tigers. Instead it introduce a new MI squad "the Vandals" and a new alien enemy. The story is good. The alien enemy is actually another technological advanced race who hate the bugs as much as the humans does. But instead of joining forces they fight each other. The arc ends with the aliens withrawing after a change of leadership leaving the humans to deal with the bugs.

The art isn't good. The drawings themsleves are beautiful but hard to dechiper what's going on. Esp. due to the nonchrom coloring. Everything is either grey tinted or green tinted.

I enjoyed the story and looking forward to the next installment esp. since it has Tony Lee, who wrote all the other story arcs, as guest writer. I do hope that the art and coloring will be better.

April 08 - 4th shipment + bargains

April 4th shipment had 6 new additions to my collection. Looking for bargains during Passover holiday brought up another 2 additions:

The picture of Dorian Gray #5

Star Trek TNG: Intelligence Gathering #4 - Matters of the mind

Star Trek DS9 - The Maquis

Star Trek: New Frontier #2 - Turnaround p.2

Star Wars: Dark Times #10 - Parallels p.5

Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic #27 - Vector p.3

Star Wars: Legacy #22 - The Warth of the Dragon

Starship Troopers

Dynamite for July

In July Dynamite will have 3 new items for me:

• Battlestar Galactica: Origins #9
• Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero #12
• Zorro #6

This almost ends the July solicitations. Looking forward to see what new series if any, will be announced in August solicitaions :)

Star Trek: Year Four - The Enterprise Experiment #1

Another very promising 1st issue. I'm very happy that IDW decided to go for several issues 0er story instead of the too short 1 story per issue that was the rule in pervious series. The art is great too. Bright with good likenesses.

Writer Jim Butvher talking about Dresden Files comics

From Newsarama:

• Butcher started off by discussing why this mini is a prequel to the book series. He says he always drops references to other cases in the other Dresden books and that he always intends to go back to do short stories based on them. He says this story was actually inspired by a line in the pilot to the Dresden Files TV series referencing a past case at the zoo.“Oh, that mess in the zoo, that sounds so vague … it leaves so much room.” So when he was asked to write an out-of-continuity story to introduce Dresden to comic book readers, Butcher said “I called it ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and threw in some Upton Sinclair quotes …and thus justified my college education. To myself anyway.”
• Butcher says the adaptation of his Storm Front is next on Dresden’s comic book agenda, but he’s not doing it. He did say that the Dabel Brothers may sucker him into doing a four-issue mini series set just after that storyline.

I enjoyed so much the 1st issue of Welcome to the Jungle and am so looking forward to the rest and to whatever Dabel Brothers will publish next.

Update: Dresden Files: Stormfront will be a 12-18 issue maxi series.

Star Trek comics news

John Byrne has announced he is working on a number of new Star Trek projects for IDW. He has four new TOS era projects in the works, three of which have already been approved by CBS.The first will be a sequel to his Alien Spotlight on the Romulans (which itself was a prequel to Balance of Terror and The Enterprise Incident). This project will begin with a two-parter, with more to follow. One of the other projects is apparently a TOS prequel, set earlier than Captain April's captaincy.

Keith R.A. DeCandido has announced which alien he will be putting in the spotlight in his issue for the second series of IDW's Alien Spotlight: The Klingons, in a story titled "Four Thousand Throats.

Other species in the series will be the Tholians, Ferengi and Betazoids, with a couple that will be surprises along the way.

Boom! Studios for July

After nothing new for 2 months, Boom! studios will have a new item for me in July (hopefully):

• The Godfather Chrinicals #3

After no menton of The Godfather comics anywhere, no issue #1 although April is almost over, and even no mention in their panel this weekend, I was starting to think that Boom! are not going to publish this comic. If issue#3's solicitaions was moved to July maybe it means that issue#1 will be out next month.

Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle #1

WOW !!! This is one great issue !!! 1st of all it's 33 pages long which is great. This issue is only 1st part of the story and I can't wait for the rest. The story is great. A magical being took control of the Zoo's animals, kill people and lay the blame on the animals. The art is great and precise as I love it.

Dabel Brothers in July

In July Dabel Brothers wil have 1 new item:

• Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle #4

News about possible X-Files comics

With the new X-Files movie, it was only a question of time till someone will grab the X-Files comics liscense. From Newsarama:

• During this evening’s X-Files movie panel at New York Comic Con, creator Chris Carter let slip a piece of comic-book news: DC/Wildstorm has acquired the license to the popular sci-fi/conspiracy franchise.
  IGN.com reports that Wildstorm had planned to make the official announcement tomorrow, presumably during the 6 p.m. “Wildstorm: Revelations Revealed” panel.

I've got some very old issues of X-Files comics and am looking forward for new ones. Hopefully by tomorrow there will be more about this news in the “Wildstorm: Revelations Revealed” panel report.

Stargate SG-1 con special 2003

Another way too short but cute and true SG-1 story. Brata'c typically looking down at O'neill while Teal'c defends his friend and commanding officer. Of course Teal'c was proven right :)

The art ain't as good as the Aris Boch art esp. in the likenesses department.

Stargate SG-1: Aris Boch

A way too short but very cute and true SG-1 story. The Art is great and the liknesses are good. When Boch scratched Jack's hand I was sure that he is notg oing to give them his own DAM sample but Jack's. Very sneaky.

April 08 - 3rd shipment

April's 3rd shipment has 5 new additions to my ever growing collection including new Star Trek and The Dresden Files series:

Doctor Who #3

The Iliad #5

Star Trek: Year Four - The Enterprise Experiment #1

Starship Troopers #8 - Bad Blood p.4

Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle #1

Marvel in July

During July Marvel Illustrated line will have 3 new items for me:

• Moby Dick #6
• The Iliad #8
• The 3 musketeers #2

Angel: Earthly Possessions

Another good Angel story. Already read several Dark Horse & IDW Angel books. Aside from the new After the Fall series, this is the 1st Angel book with monsters. What can I do? I don't like monsters and believe that evil can be visualised in other ways.

Loved the story although somewhere around the middle I figured out that the ex-priest is the one infesting the celebs with demons. The story ends with the ex-priest resuming his deeds in London and I wonder whether there was a sequell to that.

There is 1 big hole story wise. Chapter 1 ends with Doyle going to talk to the "wrong guys" as he puts it to gather info for Angel. Chapter 2 starts with the fact that Doyle died with no explanation to how, when and why. This story is set during the TV show's season 1. Since I started watching Angel from season 3, I can only guess that it's explained on the show.

The art is very good and bright even during the night. The monsters are not that noticeable like in the new IDW series.

Star Trek: New Frontier #1 - Turnaround p.1

As usual I just had to read the 1st issue of this new Star Trek series. Part of me is very happy cos it's one hell of an issue and chapter 1 of what looks like one hell of story. The other part is displeased cos now it will have wait for several months till the all Turnaround issues will be released. The art is great too. The characters looks like what I imagined them to be.

More on the upcoming Doctor Who: The Forgotten comics

According to the Forbidden Planet's blog IDW's Chris Ryall send them the following short synopsis of the upcoming Doctor Who: The Forgotten comics:

• Stranded in a strange Museum that’s dedicated to him; and with no TARDIS in sight, The Doctor and Martha must make sense of their surroundings, hindered by one small fact - The Doctor has lost his memories of every one of his previous incarnations! With items relevant to each Doctor in their possession, The Doctor must try to use them to regain his memories before it’s too late, starting with his earliest incarnation’s memories, involving Susan, Barbara and Ian.

Writer Rob Williams talks about the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods comics

From Newsarama:

• Indiana Jones and the Tomb of Gods, an all-new Indiana Jones story.
• We've got Indiana Jones onboard, for sure.. his name's in the title, after all. Also Lots of Marcus Brody, who's an absolute delight in The Last Crusade thanks to a wonderful performance by the late Denholm Elliott. Marcus is just too good not to have along for the ride, and also he's going to be something of an even keel in keeping Indy on the right track when his eyes light up a little too wide when he gets the 'treasure' in his sights. Which is something that Indy is definitely guilty of. The rest of our cast for this story are all new characters. One thing we've talked about a lot on this series is the need to create strong new 'expanded universe' characters for Indy to interact with - so that we can then place them in real danger. After all, they might not make it out alive. And we want to give Indy his own Doctor Doom or the Joker - a deadly recurring adversary.
• The Tomb in question contains something that could not only be disastrous for the world, but which could also damn Indy's soul if he lets it. Indy has based his entire life on knowledge, but this threatens to prove that everything he's ever believed up to this point is wrong, and that he could potentially be the one to write a new history.
• Tomb Of The Gods takes place in 1936, so after Temple Of Doom and before Raiders. Artist Steve Scott said to me the other day that he's treating this like it's a lost Indy movie, and I think that's the approach you have to have.This can't be just another adventure. It's got to feel like an important moment in Indiana Jones' life, something that affects the decisions he'll later make in Raiders. Would the Indy of Temple lower the bazooka and let Belloq and the Nazis have the Ark at the end of Raiders? Probably not. He's younger and more hot-headed in Temple. Tomb Of The Gods is an important part of his evolution. He experiences something in our finale that helps to make him the man he is when we meet him in the jungle at the opening of Raiders.

Oh yea !!! This sounds great.

Star Trek TNG: Intelligence Gathering #3 - Chasing shadows

Great issue !!! Issues #1 & 2 were each a sperate story, so naturally I was expecting issue #3 to be the same. But it isn't a seperate story, but a 1st part of a bigger one. Issue #1 was about the Rumulans trying and failing to kidnap Data. In issue #2 Worf had to diplomatically solve a contracting dispute on some planet. In the issue La Forge and O'brien find mysterious gadgets in 2 starships, the Enterprise and the Jackson that were meant to simulate core breach in both ships. Both ships were just out of maintanance stops at the same starbase. The issue end with the Enterprise's crew wondering why those gadgets were planted during the maintanace and they were meant to lead the starships to somewhere. I'm so looking forward to issue #4. The art is also very good. All the characters are recognisebe and the starbase drawing is just magnificent.

Angel: After the Fall #1-5

To start with, I have 2 complaints:
1. The 1st story arc was supposed to end in issue #5, but it didn't. Issue #5 ended in the middle of the fight between Angel and the hellish monsters, with a caption stating that it will be continued on issue #9 after the 3 issues "First Night".
2. Too many monsters. The story starts with "L.A. goes to hell" when Angel and co. stood up to Wlofram & Hart in the ally at the end of TV season 5. The artists too the easy way out in visualising "all hell broke loose" as L.A. being ran down by hellish monsters. A more elegant and sofisticated way would have been to draw the hellish minions as for example mafia bosses and goons.

Other then that, when you look beyond the monsters, the story is good. Angel is human again, Wesley is a ghost representing Wolfram & Hart, and Gunn was turned into a vampire. But when Angel challange the hellish monsters to a fight over the worlds future, the gang close ranks. Will they win ??? Guess I'll have to wait to issue #9 for an answer. Of course there are also Spike, Ilirya and Connor.

Star Trek news

On his blog IDW's Chris Ryall confirmed that John Byrne will be doing at least 3 new Star Trek books for IDW and a fourth is awaiting Paramount approval.
More Star Trek comics !!! I'm doing the happy dance :)

April 08 - 2nd shipment

April's 2nd shipment is very disappointing. Only 1 addition to my collection:

Doctor Who Classics #5 - Doctor Who and the Star Beast p.2

Battlestar Galctica: Origins #1-4 - Baltar

In the classic BGS TV series, Baltar was a grouchy old man. In the new TV series he is young.
Baltar's story can be summed up as how one arrogant man who thinks that he is better and smarter then everyone else, and refuse to listen to others, can bring about Hunmanities end. This sound too real because it reminds me of Iran's mad president whose name I can't spell and of our own leaders.
All in all, I liked the story and the art. Looking forward to Adama's story arc.

Doctor Who: The Forgotten release date

According to this pic from Chris Ryall's blog, the 1st issue of Doctor Who: The Forgotten, Tony Lee's mini series will be released during August 2008. Crossing fingers cos I loved Tony's work on Starship Troopers.

Dark Horse upcoming releases for July

Dark Horse's July solicitaions are not out yet, but their upcoming releases for July are already posted on their site and include 4 new items for me:

• Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods #2
• Star Wars: Knights of the old republic #31
• Star Wars: Legacy #26
• Star Wars: Rebellion #15

Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero #0-6

Battlestar Galactica's 1st story arc is just great. It tells the adventures of the Galactica when Commander Adama 1st took coomand of her, long before the series started. The motif of crew as a one big family with loyality to each other and their commander is exemplified when Adama himself leads the rescue of Starbuck and Helo. The art is good and not too dark. I'm looking forward to the next story arc which will begin in issue #7.

IDW for July

Today is only April 5th and IDW's July solicitations are already out and have 8 new items for me, including the new Spike series and a re-print of CSI: Secret Identity but no new Doctor Who:

• Angel: After the Fall #10
• CSI: Secret Identity
• Doctor Who Classics #8
• Spike: After the Fall #1
• Star Trek: Assignment Earth #3
• Star Trek: Mirror Images #2
• Star Trek: New Frontier #5
• Star Trek Year 4: The Enterprise Experiment #4

More Battlestar Galactica news

From Newsarama:

• According to Dynamite editor Joseph Rybandt, following the 4-part “Adama” origins arc in Battlestar Galactica: Origins, there will be a Helo/Kara three-parter by TV series staff writer Seamus Kevin Fahey and co-writer Marcus Clay Carmouche. “Part of Origins… Issues #9 [through] #11,” Rybandt told Newsarama.
• There is also a “Final Five Cylons” comic project being developed by Fahey and BSG writer’s assistant David Reed for Dynamite.

Co-writers Joshua Ortega and Eric Nylund talk about the upcoming BSG: The Cylon War

About a year ago there was talk about Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon War, a limited series by co-writers Joshua Ortega and Eric Nylund that is set to “reveal the historic events of the first Cylon War, as well as the happenings during the 40-year truce that followed.” Now, a year later, Newsarama interviewed the writers:

• The series is only 4 issues long :( They crammed an entire war into four issues, the rise and fall of an two civilizations, and the near destruction of the human race.
• The focus is on the colonies and how they survive the (first) Cylon War. We very briefly touch on Cylon space, but most for now it will have to remain a mystery.
• You’ll see the evolution of the Centurion series throughout the Cylon War series.
• We show a little of the “second” Cylon war, but the focus in the comic series is why and how the human-created robotic forces were weaponized, how and why they turned on humanity… and how the heck humanity survived!
• Readers will be able to find out more about life in Caprica and Sagittaron pre- and during the War.
• There will be two legendary characters introduced—one human, one Cylon. Ben Tanner is the major human character we introduce in the book, and he goes through a pretty amazing character arc through the series. We’ll keep the Cylon a mystery for now, but we can say that he has some very strong ties to Ben.

I'm reading now the 1st story arc of BSG: Season Zero and enjoying very much the adventrues of the Galactica before the Cylons destoryed the colonies. So another pre TV series story looks like something I'll enjoy very much.

Painkiller Jane news

The Terminator 2 / Painkeller Jane crossover is over and the question is what's next for Painkiller Jane ??? According to Dynamite forums:

• Official word from Joe is that plans are being finalized for PKJ to return this summer.

I do hope that they mean 2008 summer and not 2009 summer ...

April's 1st shipment

April's 1st shipment had 4 new additions to my collection:

Angel: After the Fall #6

Highlander: Way of the Sword #4

Moby Dick #2

Zorro #2

Star Trek comics reprints from IDW

Amazon has listings for two new Star Trek comics collections, printed by IDW! It would seem that IDW have got themselves the rights to reprint old Star Trek comics from Marvel and DC. They are doing so in a series called Star Trek Archives, with the first two volumes Best of Peter David, and Best of the Borg, due out in November as well. No word from IDW yet.

Even at the price of $20 it's still less expensive then the Titan collections that priced at about £15 = $30 per collection. I hope that it will be distributed through Diamond like other IDW books so I'll be able to order them from CNV.

Battlestar Galactica: Pegasus

In accordance with my resolution to catch up with my BSG comics reading, I've already read the Pegasus oneshot, and wasn't impressed.

The new BSG is being aired only on the satalite channels here and I've got cables and not sattalie at home, so I'm probably missing something, because I don't get what this oneshot was all about. There is nothing special about a story in which the cylons ambush the colonials and wipe them out. This is what the BSG universe is based on. I also can't decide whether the whole story really happened or it was a dream sequence. The art though, is very impressive.

Next I'm going to read Season Zero #1-6. Maybe it will make things more clear. BTW, although I'm not watching the new BSG series, I had no problem re what's going on with the other NBSG comics that I read so far.

Writer Robert Nepton talks about Battlestar Galactica:origins and more

On Newsarama writer Robert Nopton talks about Battlestar Galactica: Origins #5-8 which will contain the Adama story arc:

• I absolutely tried to make each issue work as an episode. I also tried to mimic the way the series defies expectations -- for example, the ending of Adama Part 1 would make you think Adama Part 2 would go a certain direction, but in Adama Part 2 I actually open up 2 years in the future and then reveal some of things you might expect via looking back. It's sort of like "Unfinished Business" and hopefully I pulled it off. I also have a thread that runs from Adama Part 1 to 4, something to do with Adama's past, which I hope is evocative of the way the series has certain arcs and themes play out.
• My take on Adama is he is a complex, layered, decent, and ultimately imperfect. That’s the key to this show dramatically, no one is perfect, even Adama – he is a hero, but a hero with chinks in his armor – he’s made questionable decisions and he’s made heroic decisions. And like a lot of great leaders and people, he’s terribly ambitious and sometimes his ambition is born out of good will for others and sometimes it’s born out of ego gratification – sometimes they intertwine. He led the Exodus away from New Caprica for his people and for himself. He’s not perfect and that’s what intrigues me so much about him.
• I’ve worked closely with Brandon so our continuity would work perfectly between Season Zero and my Adama arc. He’s a cool guy -- really dedicated to being on point with the canon as I am. I even end my Adama story in Origins #8 with Adama and Tigh heading off toward the Galactica, which picks up hours later in Season Zero #0, so they flow right into each other, something that was great fun for us to weave together. We split up certain things about Adama’s later life – some I handle, some he’s addressing in Zero. Similarly, I asked Joshua Ortega and Eric Nylund to have a cameo reference from the upcoming Cylon War, so fans will read something in Origins and later the name will return in Cylon War in a big way and they’ll be like “Oh, that guy.” So that’s cool for us, and I hope the fans appreciate the effort to make the Dynamite Battlestar comics tie in together in that way.
• My story will begin with Billy “Husker” Adama, a young pilot. The events of my first issue actually reveal some things about Adama that have never been revealed before, things they let me create for his back-story, which I never thought I’d get to do, but it got approved, and that was a really happy day for me, because as I said, I felt I was getting to tell my story but also add to the legend, so that was great. When the Razor Young Adama webisodes were announced, I was a bit nervous because I had pretty much locked in all my issues but after I saw them, I felt like it was all meant to be because my Origins #5 begins before the webisodes and then jumps forward to a scene that literally picks up after the webisodes end, so I really only had to tweak one scene and the webisodes fit in perfectly. At first I must admit, I was shocked that the Razor webisodes revealed that Adama had seen so little action, I figured him for seeing a lot of action in the first Cylon War, but he really didn’t see that much, so again, my expectations of the character were altered, but then I realized how it fit what I was trying to do with him so much better, so again, it just seemed to work perfectly for the story I wanted to tell. Origins #5 and #6 focus on the Cylon Wars and their immediate aftermath post-Armistice, and don’t think just because there was an armistice that the first Cylon War stopped on a dime – it didn’t, and that’s what Origins #5 and especially Origins #6 get into. You will see action on the Galactica and Atlantia. I had elected not to cover Adama’s time on Columbia but as fate would have it, Brandon was going to cover that in Zero, so again, he and I were on the same page without even trying. You’ll learn things about Adama in Origins #7 as well, which moves the story forward to his days as a freighter worker, about his meeting with Tigh and their friendship and about how and when he met Carolanne, his wife, and how their relationship is intertwined with his overwhelming desire to return to the fleet. In many ways, Origins #7 is my favorite, with an older Adama feeling like an outsider to a military that once embraced him, and it’s about his ambition, verging on obsession, to get back what he had lost – to be a Colonial officer again. It was something I wouldn’t have written with any real perspective when I was younger, but now, I’ve lived enough to relate to those types of feelings – that burning desire to reclaim something, even if it’s a misguided desire, so that was really interesting territory and again, I think it deepens our understanding about Adama. Origins #8 takes a bit further and we learn about the Valkyrie and there’s some more surprises and as I said, it leads right into Season Zero and the first mini-series, so you really get a sense of Adama’s entire journey. I hope people are left with a feeling like they know Adama better than they did before.
• Jaycie McGavin, the young pilot Billy Adama is involved with in the Razor webisodes does make a return in Origins #5, that was part of the one scene I changed, so pleased to say you’ll learn more about her. Carolanne is a huge part of Origins #7 and look for Lee and Zak figuring into Origins #7 and #8. I intentionally didn’t deal with Starbuck much, and really didn’t want to for this story, and fortunately once again Brandon was covering that turf in Zero.
• There is a major new character that appears in Origins #5 and #6 that I was allowed to create and plays a big role in the new Battlestar mythos. When fans read it they’ll be like “how can this be” but I promise by the end of Origins #6 it all gets explained and it all works with the canon of the show. I’ll leave you with that tease and say no more.

In addition to mentioning "Cylon War" which is either a seperate series or and other Origins story arc, Nepton also mention a new classic BSG oneshot he is working on:

• am pleased to say I’ll be working with Dynamite again on Battlestar. I’m writing a very cool Classic Battlestar one-shot, which delves into the motivations of the original Baltar, played by the late-great John Colicos. One of the unsolved mysteries of the classic series is why Baltar is a Judas to his people – and why the Cylons embraced him and continued to embrace him, so this one-shot will answer those questions and maybe ask some new questions that have never been asked before. And this story takes place right after the last episode of classic, “Hand of God” so it’s going to be new territory.

I'm very much behind in reading the BSG comics, so it's time to read Seazon Zero's 1st story arc, the Pegasus oneshot and the Baltar arc from Origins.

Doctor Who #2

Since issue #1 of the new Doctor Who comics contained a whole story, naturally I thought that the same goes for issue #2. But no, issue #2 is part of a bigger story arc that will continue in issue #3.

Anyhow, I loved issue #2. The art is great and much better then issue #1. No idea what that Bast cat creature is planning but from the cover of issue #3 it looks like it involves those cat creature sisters that were in one of season's 2 eppisodes.