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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

We at Illusion are huge fans of the character Booster Gold, which may be one of the reasons I enjoyed “52″ so much.  That said, run out and buy a copy of this book right now!  If you haven’t been reading the series so far, Booster was approached by Rip Hunter following the events of “52″ and told that he would be responsible for saving the future from someone who was going back in time and erasing future heroes.  For this reason, Booster, though a fairly competent hero, must keep up the public impression that he is a failure. 

This series mixes a perfect cocktail of humor with great story telling, not to mention that writers Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz have even made Rip Hunter a pretty compelling hero.  The art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund is superb.  There’s a fantastic subplotinvolving Dan Carter, Booster’s ancestor who filled in for him while he was “dead,” and in this issue we find out the identity of the new Supernova and the identity of the person using time-travel to keep the Justice League from being formed.  All this and the ending promises a story that may or may not have a far-reaching effect throughout the DCU, if not a direct impact upon the approaching “Final Crisis.”  If nothing else, “Booster Gold” manages to tie in to all of the other things going on in the DCU without requiring you to read twenty other books along with it just to keep up.  This is one book definitely worth the cover price.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

“Star Wars Legacy” is one of my favorite books on the shelf at the moment.  The series picks up 100 years after the “Legacy of the Force” novels, imagining a future galaxy far, far away ruled by an enlightened emperor with his own band of Jedi soldiers and an autonomous Jedi Order.  The hero, Cade Skywalker, is the last of the Skywalker family, raised as a Jedi until the Sith stage a coup against the emperor while simultaneously attacking the Jedi temple on Ossus, where Cade’s father is killed.  As of this issue, Cade, who has reluctantly warmed to the idea of re-embracing his Jedi heritage is in the clutches of Darth Krayt, the current lord of the Sith, who is training the Jedi in hopes that Cade will use his unique healing abilities to cure the Dark Lord of a Yuuzhan Vong infection.

While “Star Wars” expanded universe series tend to seem pretty involved to the outside reader, John Ostrander and Jan Duursema have spun a tale which is relatively accessible to the outside observer.  With the exception of the Thrawn trilogy, I had read none of the expanded universe titles before “Legacy” came out.  This particular issue involves a little more story development than action, but that story includes revealing more history of the Sith, development of Sith philosophy, and the continuing hero’s journey of Cade Skywalker.  If you’re a fan of the Star Wars universe, this is a comic worth looking into.  If you don’t want to jump on mid-story, a new arc begins with issue #20, but you’re missing out on some great storytelling if you wait.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

As much as I love “Fables,” its spin-off, “Jack of Fables,” consistently impresses and amuses me.  Since Jack the Giant-killer ditched the rest of those feebs back in Fabletown, he’s lost two fortunes, been kidnapped by and escaped the villainous Revise, and survived having a sword rammed through his torso.  In between the frequently engaging and hilarious arcs, Jack occasionally interrupts the action to tell us about his remarkable past.  We’ve seen how he became a giant-killer and Jack Frost, but this week’s Halloween-themed issue tells us how Jack became Jack O’Lantern.  Like all of Jack’s origin stories, this one highlights how Jack’s wit is both a liability and an asset.  The plot involves the sale Jack’s soul to not one, not two, but five versions of the Devil.  This issue is a great stand-alone, but the end leads into what promises to be yet another entertaining arc from Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, and Andrew Robinson.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

I don’t want to be accused of just being a supporter of the big two, so this time I went slightly off the beaten path and chose Red 5 Comics’ “Neozoic” as our Comics Pick of the (last) Week.  “Neozoic” starts with the premise that something knocked that famous asteroid off-course 65 million years ago, so it only collided with Earth’s moon instead of Mexico.  Mammals (including humans) were allowed to evolve alongside dinosaurs which brings us to the “Neozoic” present, a world that has post-apocalyptic outposts and that fun fantasy element of hot chicks with big swords.  The first issue introduces little by way of plot, but there are plenty of seeds which make me curious about what’s in store, not to mention that there’s plenty of humans vs dinosaurs as well as humans vs big mutant wolves action.  It caught my eye, so time will tell if Paul Ens’ plots will keep my attention like J. Korim and Jesse Lam’s exciting art did.  I’m saying it now (and deleting this post later if it turns out I’m wrong), but “Neozoic” is a book to watch right now, kids.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Tales of the Teen Titans #55 is our pick for the week.  What’s that?  I’m over twenty years late on this one?  Yeah, you got me.  I was entertaining a guest from out of town all last week, so I didn’t get a chance to go to the comic shop.  I will catch up and remedy this error this week, however I felt the need to make some kind of consolation.  I’ve been on a Teen Titans kick and started reading the classic Marv Wolfman/George Perez run, back when Teen Titans and X-Men were neck and neck every month for top sales.  Titans fans were still reeling from the “Judas Contract” storyline, which is currently being adapted into a feature animated film, where Terra betrays the team to Deathstroke, the Terminator.  Slade Wilson had gone on trial for kidnapping in the wake of the storyline and actually managed to get off, which prompts Changeling to swear vengeance upon the Terminator.

This issue opens promising a titanic battle between the two, and the story delivers, but in a totally unexpected way.  During the fight, Gar realizes he doesn’t have what it takes to kill the Terminator, so the two go and have a cup of coffee and discuss their feelings about Terra.  Not only do Changeling and Terminator reconcile, but Gar has to come to understand that Terra was a legitimate psychopath, and Terminator actually admits to having ”made love” to her.  While the comics had overtly implied that Terminator and Terra had a sexual relationship, Wolfman goes ahead and spells it out in print so no one can say otherwise.  Titans was one of the boldest books of its time, starting with the storyline that introduced Terra (or earlier if you want to argue it), and continuing into the second “New Teen Titans” direct market series which really led the way in changing the format (and cost) of your average comic.  I think the current series does a decent job of honoring that history, but in many ways the Teen Titans of 1985 are more mature than the Teen Titans of today.  Anyway, if you feel like reliving some memories (and reading some really dated jokes made by Changeling), check out Tales of the Teen Titans #55.  It’s only $1.99 on ebay.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Justice League is one of those books I can’t enjoy enough.  Dwayne McDuffie is a writer who wrote, in my opinion, some of the best episodes of “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited,” and Ed Benis’ pencils just keep getting better.  That said, there is no greater moment in DC Comics than whenever Superman gets mad and loses control.  The Injustice League has taken down the whole JLA with the exception of Black Lightning and Superman, and the two of them cause quite a stir all by themselves.  The next issue is billed as featuring a straight-up battle between the two leagues, so expect big things and catch up on the current “Injustice League” story-arc if you haven’t already. 

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

I was torn with the comics pick this week, but I’ve settled on New Avengers #35.  Normally the story would frustrate me, since this issue diverges from last month’s climactic ending (a horde of symbiote-infected humans trashing New York) to tell us about The Hood’s plans for dominating the super-villain underworld.  At first it reads like the birth of Marvel’s Legion of Doom, but then The Hood (whose first appearance in the eponymous Marvel Max series by Brian K Vaughan is sure to spike in value) demonstrates exactly how his turn as “Kingpin” is going to be different.  Let’s just say if continuity means anything at Marvel, you won’t be seeing Tigra up to much for a while.  This story also fills in the background of previous issues and shows us exactly what the group of villains had planned for that Deathlok they obtained.  I’m looking forward to what other surprises Brian Michael Bendis and Linil Francis Yu have in store for this series.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

All of these Countdown spinoffs have been hard on my comic budget this month, but I had to showcase this particular one because the story is so great!  “Countdown Presents: The Search For Ray Palmer, Crime Society” takes a moment away from the ongoing Countdown story to tell us the origin of Earth 3’s Jokester.  Much like the Pre-Crisis Earth 3, this one features heroes as villains and villains as heroes, and Jason Todd comes face to face with this universe’s Joker, or Jokester, as he calls himself.  Sean McKeever delivers a superb script with excellent pencils by Jamal Igle detailing an origin story that takes a little from Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke,” yet still manages to deviate enough to stand on its own merit.  They make an attempt to explain Joker’s daughter’s origin, but that’s one piece of DC trivia I don’t lose any sleep over.  I don’t want to give away too much except to say that you don’t have to read it to appreciate all of Countdown, but it’s definitely worth the extra scratch, if you’ve got it.

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