Tom Strong And The Planet Of Peril #1
Written by Peter Hogan
Pencils by Chris Sprouse
Inks by Karl Story
Color by Jordie Bellaire
Letters by Todd Klein
Cover by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story
Vertigo Comics
Release Date: July 31, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

Initially, I was astounded that this character was being produced by Vertigo Comics, renowned for it’s darker and more edgy comics. I was curious if the title character was going to be drastically changed from the earlier incarnations. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that most everything in Tom Strong And The Planet Of Peril #1 was the same as it was before. I was even more excited to see that this series picked up shortly after the last one ended.

I’ve not read everything Tom Strong has been in but I’m quite familiar with the hero. I’ve always felt he was akin to one of my favorite pulp heroes, Doc Savage. Much like the Man of Bronze, Tom has a certain aura about him that immediately commands respect and compliance. Both possess genius level intellects and are formidable physical specimens, as well. But unlike Savage, Tom Strong is a bit more than the perfect human, he’s a lot closer to a superhuman. First and foremost, he’s over a hundred years old and barely looks middle-aged. Other abilities include strength beyond that of a mortal and a constitution that rivals that of a demigod.All in all, he’s the epitome of a pulp action hero, even though he was created in 1999.

Rocketeer Adventures, Vol. 2
Written by Marc Guggenheim, Peter David, Stan Sakai, Tom Taylor, Paul Dini, Walter Simonson, Dave Lapham, Kyle Baker, Matt Wagner, Louise Simonson, David Mandel, John Byrne

Art by Sandy Plunkett, Bill Sienkiewicz, Stan Sakai, Colin Wilson, Bill Morrison, John Paul Leon, Chris Sprouse, Kyle Baker. Eric Canete, Walter Simonson, J. Bone, John Byrne
Inks by Karl Story, Bob Wiacek

Colors by Sandy Plunkett, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Stewart, Serban Cristescu, Jordie Bellaire, Eric Canete, Cassandra Poulson, J. Bone

Letters by Robbie Robbins, Bill Sienkiewicz, Stan Sakai, Colin Wilson, Chris Mowry, Shawn Lee. Kyle Baker, John Workman, Neil Uyetake

Cover by Darwyn Cooke
Design by Randall Dahlk
Edited by Scott Dunbier
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 2013
Hardcover | Kindle

Somewhere, Dave Stevens is reading his copy of The Rocketeer Volume 2 and smiling, as you will be when you pick this book up. To say it brings honor and respect to the late Steven’s work would be an understatement. This is comic storytelling at its finest.

Rocketeer Adventures, Vol. 2 #3
Written by Dave Lapham, Kyle Baker & Matt Wagner
Art by Chris Sprouse, Kyle Baker, Eric Canete & Eric Powell
Inks by Karl Story
Colors by Jordie Bellaire, Eric Canete, Cassandra Poulson & David Stewart
Letters by Shawn Lee & Kyle Baker
Covers by Darwyn Cooke & Dave Stevens
The Rocketeer Created by Dave Stevens
Design by Chris Mowry
IDW Publishing
Release Date: May 30, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Rocketeer Adventures reminds me why I love comics. And why I’ll always love the traditional comic medium. No, I’m not one of those who hates digital. I have MORE than plenty of digital comics on my computer and 100% of the books that I review are sent to me via computer. But there’s something about holding a comic book in your hands. You get totally lost in the story and in the book itself. Cheers to IDW for putting together another fantastic issue of this series.

The first story in Rocketeer Adventures, Vol. 2 #3 is written by David Lapham with art by Chris Sprouse. It’s a great truth or dare type of story that really speaks to ANYONE reading it. The underlying message in the book is universal and applies to the audience. We can all find a piece of ourselves in this fantastic short story. It reads light, with no heavy moral issue, but when you get to the end, there’s a great “ah-ha” moment that will make you want to read it again. This is, by far, my favorite story in the issue.

Put on your capes and cowls, everybody! There’s pine needles on the living room floor, snow on the ground, and a scent of cinnamon in the air. Your dogs and cats are tearing apart wrapping paper, your family’s in town and you can’t stop drinking sparkling cider for some reason. That could only mean one thing, folks, it’s the nondescript religious holiday season! And that means that it’s time to go into credit card debt so that you can show those closest to you that you care, you know? And to make it a little bit easier on you guys, we here at Geeks of Doom have been shoveling our driveways so that we can deliver to you this, The Holiday Geek Gift Guide – Batman Edition! The best bat-gifts possible for the geeks on you gift-giving list!

As you can see, I’ve changed up the intro a smidge, and that’s simply because today we celebrate the holiday in the best way possible, with The Batman. Yes, The Batman. And while it may not make much sense to you that we’re doing this, you fail to realize that Batman makes everything better. In fact, the presence of Batman-centric holiday gift guide on this site makes not only this site better, but also it makes the world better. And isn’t that truly what the holidays are about? Making things better or something like that? Sure, why not! Anyway, it’s been a pretty big year for The Dark Knight, and that will certainly be evidenced by the majority of this list. We’ll also be making it a little easier on you by narrowing this list down by separate topics such as comics (and comic-inspired items), statues, Batman: Year One, and Arkham City. Sure there will be some overlap, but that’s all right because we’re talking about Batman! So let’s start of with the merriest of merries, comic books!

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciler: Chris Sprouse
Inker: Karl Story
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Price: $3.99
DC Comics
Release date: May 12, 2010

I suppose I should talk about this issue, since it is about to show how Bruce Wayne returns to our time following the events at the end of Final Crisis, but honestly, it’s hard for me to get that excited about it. This is a fine issue, but I think I was expecting the story to get off to a stronger start, and this wasn’t what I was expecting.

As the cover shows, most of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 is Batman as a caveman fighting other cavemen at the dawn of man. Bruce Wayne joins up with a bunch of cavemen and then fights a bunch of evil cavemen lead by the immortal caveman himself, Vandal Savage, gaining a caveman Robin (who somehow finds a domino mask in the bush apparently) before getting sent further into the future.