Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Volume 1: High School Is Hell
Created by Joss Whedon
Written by Jordie Bellaire
Art by Dan Mora
Colors by Raul Angula
Letters by Ed Dukeshire
Cover by Matthew Taylor
BOOM! Studios
Release Date: May 22, 2019
Cover Price: $14.99

The words “reimagine,” “reboot,” and any other iteration of starting something anew when it comes to fandom have never particularly appealed to me. In fact, if I’ve read or seen the original, I typically avoid the updated version. However, there are some exceptions.

When it comes to Buffy the Vampire Slayer – my favorite television series – I can’t help but find excitement in anything new related to the franchise. If I’m being completely honest, though, when I’d heard that BOOM! Studios would be reimagining the beloved characters that I grew up with for a modern world, I had some serious reservations. Nonetheless, writer Jordie Bellaire and illustrator Dan Mora set out to slay those worries and doubts, and despite my concerns, I now believe that into this generation, they are the chosen ones.

Break The Bodies, Haunt The Bones
Hardcover | Kindle
By Micah Dean Hicks
Publisher: John Joseph Adams | HMH Books
Release Date: February 5, 2019

The dying factory town of Swine Hill is haunted; ghosts inhabit the majority of the town’s citizens. Some ghosts desire violence; some simply want to be loved. For Jane and her brother Henry, their family has been torn apart by the ghosts that have made homes of their bodies. But for the most part, the ghosts have become commonplace. For many, they’re manageable; nothing more than an annoyance – or in some cases – a welcome addition. However, the sudden emergence of a new breed of creature is what has both the people and ghosts of Swine Hill worried.

“˜Tis the season to be geeky – or to at least buy something geeky for a loved one! Pfeff-Bot and I have put together a gift guide full of special pop-culture goodies to make your shopping experience this holiday season a bit easier. Check out our list below, there’s plenty to choose from!

100 Fathoms Below
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Steven L. Kent and Nicholas Kaufmann
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release Date: October 9, 2018

The men of the United States Navy vessel, the USS Roanoke, are on an important spying mission in Soviet waters. 100 fathoms below, they have no way out of their immediate quarters, even if they desire one. As various crew members begin to exhibit strange and violent tendencies, it soon becomes clear that something sinister is on board with them, and being enclosed and stuck in such close proximity to others has never been so terrifying.

In The Night Wood
Hardcover | Kindle
By Dale Bailey
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: October 9, 2018

With his marriage falling apart due to a series of tragic events, Charles Hayden – a literary scholar – and his wife Erin take a trip to Yorkshire, England to stay at the family estate of the 19th century children’s author, Caedmon Hollow. Hollow’s only book, In The Night Wood, is the subject of Charles’ research and a way to hopefully turn his recent misfortunes around; however, as secrets regarding Hollow’s past begin to reveal themselves, and small-town life threatens to place Charles in a vicious, repetition of the past, the veil between reality and fantasy becomes unclear in the most haunting of ways.

Wow! That was the exact exclamation I used out loud when finishing In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey, and the feeling remains the same 24 hours later while writing this review.