Star Trek: Vulcan
Hidden Universe Travel Guide Book 1
Paperback
By Dayton Ward
Art by Livio Ramondelli and Peter Markowski
Publisher: Insight Editions
Release date: July 19, 2016

Of all the planets in the Star Trek universe, Vulcan is perhaps the most intriguing to fans of the franchise, thanks to its distinction as being the home world of Mr. Spock. Therefore, it makes sense that for the launch of their Hidden Universe travel guide book series, Insight Editions selected Vulcan as its first destination with Hidden Universe: Star Trek: A Travel Guide to Vulcan!

Modeled after color travel guides books by the likes of Fodor’s and National Geographic, in A Travel Guide to Vulcan!, Dayton Ward provides readers with all the pertinent information needed to properly traverse the planet and interact with locals, as well as where to eat, sleep, shop, sightsee, and much more.

Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 2 #6
Written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
Art by Brian Albert Thies and Rachelle Rosenberg
Covers by Livio Ramondelli
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: August 28, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

After closing the introductory story arc of the new Legacy series, we now find Ania Solo heading into the next chapter of her destiny. The orientation of the first chapter out of the way, our main characters now begin to take their places in the ever changing backdrop of the Star Wars galaxy.

Fresh from her confrontation with Darth Wredd, Ania Solo is now known by Empress Fel as both having a common ancestor in the form of Han Solo and Princess Leia. She is summoned to Coruscant to meet with the Empress, and is in transit on board the Imperial Star Destroyer Animus. AG-37 and Sauk, meanwhile, are given an opportunity they cannot pass up.

Transformers Robots in Disguise
Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Colored by Priscilla Tramontand
Lettered by Shawn Lee
Edited by Carlos Guzman
Covers by Andrew Griffith, Casey W. Coller and Livio Ramondelli
IDW Publishing
Release Date: August 7, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Proving to be a great run, Transformers: Robots In Disguise #20 is an amazing continuation of this series. It starts out with somewhat of a recap, and brings us through Starscream’s first day as the leader of Iacon. Trying to do his best in the aftermath of the battle the night before, many obstacles are definitely testing the new leader. Top of the list is dealing with the blackout. This is made more difficult with the added hassle of a pesky conniving Z’Verian Mole-Rat. But it’s also made more difficult by some disturbing revelations about Scoop.

The artwork of Transformers: Robots In Disguise continues to impress me, fitting not only the story but also the spirit of the characters. The detail of the wear and tear on the machines helps bring grittiness to the comic.

Transformers: Monstrosity #1
Written by Chris Metzen & Flint Dille
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long
Edited by John Barber
IDW Publishing
Release Date: June 19, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Transformers: Monstrosity #1 is the first issue in the definitive origin of the Transformers. And I mean that in every way possible. You can’t go back much further than this in the history of Cybertron.

Writers Chris Metzen and Flint Dille dive DEEP into the past of the Autobots and the Decepticons. Going back to when Optimus Prime was just a security guard and him and Megatron where fighting side by side. Not only do we get an origin story for the two most popular Transformers, we see a lot of familiar faces in VERY different roles, An intelligent Grimlock? Yes, please! What I was impressed by in this first issue is that even though the characters are far removed from what they’ll eventually become, they’re all still the same characters that we know and love. Starscream is still a lying, manipulative bad guy. Prime is a leader at heart. And Bumblebee is still too courageous for his own good. Metzen and Dille have set things up in a way, that, even though we know what’s going to happen, we have no idea HOW they’re going to get there. Plenty of fun surprises in this issue.

Infestation: Dungeons & Dragons #1
Written by Paul Crilley
Art by Valerio Schiti
Colors by Scarletgothica
Letters by Chris Mowry
Covers by menton3, Livio Ramondelli, Valerio Schiti, Scarletgothica
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 15, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

My knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons comes exclusively from the 1980’s Saturday morning cartoon. I knew going in that Infestation: Dungeons & Dragons #1 wouldn’t be starring any of those characters, but I was curious anyway. What I found was about as different as you could get.

Writer Paul Crilley introduces the world of Dungeons & Dragons in a single paragraph printed inside the front cover, which pretty much set the tone for the rest of the book.