Children of Paranoia
Hardcover | Kindle
By Trevor Shane
Dutton
Release Date: September 8, 2011

There are two main rules that come with fighting in this war:

Rule #1: No killing of innocent bystanders.
Rule #2: No killing of anyone under the age of 18.

If any of these are broken, then this war will turn on you and you will be the target.

In Children of Paranoia, Joseph has been an assassin in a war that he doesn’t completely understand. Killing people is all he’s known to do and he’s the best at it. While Joseph prepares for a particularly dangerous job, he meets a college student named Maria and falls in love with her. Now, Joseph must fight to escape a war that he’s worked all his life to combat while he protects the one that he loves.

Supernatural: One Year Gone
Paperback | Kindle
By Rebecca Dessertine
Titan Books
Release date: May 24, 2011

In Supernatural: One Year Gone, Dean believes Sam is in Hell after the tragic events from the Season Five finale of the Supernatural television series. He fulfills his promise to his younger brother Sam to live a normal life with Lisa and Ben. However, Dean deviates from that promise. Dean takes a family vacation to the town of Salem where he searches for the Necronomicon, a book that may contain the spell to raise Lucifer and Sam from Hell. Unknowingly to Dean, Sam is back on Earth and has his own agenda at hand: to hunt the witches of Salem.

I’ve been a fan of Supernatural for the last five seasons although there are six seasons of the show. I was so pleased with how Season 5 ended that I refused to watch Season 6. When the opportunity to read Supernatural: One Year Gone came up, I figured it was a good chance to read it since I had yet to see season 6. The book bridges the gap between seasons 5 and 6 and it tells of an unseen adventure that happens between the seasons of the show.

Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America
By Jeff Ryan
Hardcover | Kindle
Portfolio/Penguin
Release date: August 4, 2011

In Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America, author Jeff Ryan gives an insightful and thorough look at the history of the Nintendo corporation through their many successes and failures. The book chronicles three important generations of Nintendo: The Joystick, The D-Pad, and Motion.

I’ve been a Nintendo fan for all of my life. I’ve owned almost every version of the Nintendo gaming console, except for the Nintendo 64 and the GameCube. The images of Mario and his brother Luigi have always been a staple of my gaming history. Born in the early 80s, I’ve had a fondness for the plumber brothers and the many adventures that they have taken.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Trade Paperback
Season Eight, Volume 8: Last Gleaming
Written by Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, Scott Allie
Art by Georges Jeanty, Karl Moline
Dark Horse Comics
Release date: June 1, 2011

The end is near! In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Vol. 8: Last Gleaming, Buffy, her army of vampire slayers, and the original Scooby gang face the biggest challenge of their lives. With an onslaught of demons coming to destroy the world, Buffy and her team must defeat the demonic threat while also facing the biggest betrayal in Buffy’s history as a vampire slayer.

I’ve been a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer throughout its entire 7-season television run. When creator Joss Whedon decided to continue the series in the comic book medium, I was really excited. I read most of the season 8 run, but felt that it was stretched out a bit too long. When Whedon said that Season 8 was ending with Issue #40, I wanted to see how it was going to end. I’m glad that I caught up with Season 8, because this volume is a nice wrap up that leaves a huge plot to be fleshed out in the upcoming Season 9 series.

Baltimore, Vol. 1: The Plague Ships
Hardcover
Written by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden
Art by Ben Stenbeck
Dark Horse Comics
Release date: June 8, 2011

In Baltimore, Vol. 1: The Plague Ships, the end of World War I brings about a plague that overruns Europe with the existence of vampires. Lord Henry Baltimore, a former soldier, dedicates his life to making these monsters extinct and searches for the one monster that ruined his life.

I have to admit that I’ve never read a comic by Mike Mignola. I’ve only seen the Hellboy films and I enjoyed both of them. When I got a chance to read Baltimore: The Plague Ships, I was hesitant. The story seemed like it could be good or bad. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the book. I really liked the character of Lord Henry Baltimore. He not only has physical scars from war, but emotional scars from these vampires killing his fellow soldiers and his family.