Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-up Adventure
By Matthew Reinhart and Lucasfilm
Orchard Books/Hachette
Release Date: October 16, 2012

It’s a rare delight to find a product that can bring out the 8-year-old in even the most jaded adult. Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-up Adventure is a sure bet to send your mind spinning with child-like wonder. You’ll begin your journey of discovery in this book with a sense of amusement that quickly transitions into an immersive curiosity. Pop-ups lead to further pop-ups which occasionally cover even more pop-ups. This book is wonderfully engineered to keep you excavating eac page for more treasures.

The book serves as a high-level encyclopedia of the pre-Episode 4 Star Wars universe. The text is obviously not the draw here, but what’s included is informative and relevant. Each pop includes a brief history and background on the character, ship, or monster in question. The level of detail is impressive for a pop-up book that could just as easily say nothing and still sell incredibly well.

Homecoming #3
Written by David Wohl
Art by Emilio Laiso
Colors by Brett Smith
Letters by Josh Reed
Created by Michael Turner, David Wohl, Brad Foxhoven, and Scott Lobdell
Aspen Comics
Release Date: January 23, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

A meteorite has crashed in the Mojave Desert. Local radio DJ Tom “The Talking Tornado” Vinson tracks the meteorite and meets a mysterious death. The Feds “” the whole alphabet soup of agencies “” investigate the site and the deaths of Vinson and two local deputies. Their question as they look at this “meteor crash” site is not just what killed the three men, but where did it go?

In previous issues of Homecoming, we were introduced to Celeste Lee, a high school girl who inexplicably showed up at her old house after she went missing ten years earlier. Only now she has strange, alien powers and a bad case of amnesia. The house’s new occupant, Hunter, took in Celeste and enrolled her in high school with him. Now, Celeste’s mother, Carla, shows up and the two try to piece together their experience 10 years ago.

The Hollows #2
Written by Chris Ryall
Art by Sam Keith
Letters by Robbie Robbins
Created by Sam Keith & Chris Ryall
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 9, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Sometime in the future, the Earth has become a radioactive wasteland filled with soul-sucking zombies known as Hollows. In response, a privileged set of humans developed supertrees that can house entire cities in the clean, relative safety. The remaining humans? Well, they’re just shit out of luck and out on their own against the Hollows.

Craig Mayerik, a pony-tailed inventor, created a set of wings and crashed them while touring the radioactive ground scouring for supplies. He was rescued from certain death by a group of poor survivors. In the refuge, Craig befriends Lani and learned of the group’s meager existence. He realized that swooping down from the safety of his supertree and scavenging for supplies is practically the same as stealing supplies from the hands of desperate, surviving humans on the ground.

Repossessed #1
Written by JM Ringuet
Art by JM Ringuet
Image Comics
Release Date: January 9, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

When there’s something strange in the neighborhood, who you gonna call? Dee Agency!

In Repossessed #1, the repossession crew at Dee Agency: Joe, Clay, and Martha make a living by investigation possessions. For a healthy profit, of course. If a demon is found to inhabit some unfortunate body, they use a deadly combination of ancient talismans, trinkets, incantations, and modern firepower to exterminate the demon.

The crew takes on an easy money job to investigate a girl who left Yale Law School to become a Vegas singer. Mr. Chesterfield, is worried that his daughter is possessed because she left Yale Law School to become a Vegas Singer. The Dee Agency crew thinks this job is easy money and a free trip to Vegas. But, it’s a trap!

Think Tank Military Dossier
Written by Matt Hawkins
Art by Rahsan Ekedal
Letters by Troy Peteri
Covers by Rahsan Ekedal and Brian Reber
Created by Matt Hawkins and Rahsan Ekedal
Top Cow Productions, Inc.
Release Date: January 9, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Think Tank Military Dossier plays like a behind-the-scenes episode of your favorite TV show. Obviously it’s not as good as the main story in Think Tank, but that’s not the goal. It’s just a little something extra to pique your interest for the next round of episodes.

The comic begins with a short scene of David Loren and his buddy Manish Pavi riffing on Twilight and monsters. This sets the stage for David to poke through DARPA’s personnel files, which has interesting tidbits on David, Manish, Mirra Sway, General Clarkson, Colonel Harrison, and Steven Sejic. These personnel files do include some spoilers from Think Tank #4 “” especially about the true mission of a certain character that David isn’t supposed to know about. This begs the question: is Military Dossier canon? Yeah, I’m looking way too deep into a fun, little, sidebar comic.