The Last of Us: American Dreams
Trade Paperback
Written by Faith Erin Hicks and Neil Druckmann
Artwork by Faith Erin Hicks
Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover by Julian Totino Tedesco
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: November 12, 2013
Cover Price: $16.99

So, The Last of Us: American Dreams, is based on a recent hit video game. This has been happening a lot lately. Like, a lot a lot.
It’s also co-written by Neil Druckmann, who is the writer for the aforementioned video game: The Last of Us. He is the creative director for the game and has written for a few other big budget video games. Now, the story lines of video games have come a long way since Doom, or even Quake. In 1998, when Half-Life was released, it was hailed as a landmark in storytelling in an FPS. Since then, the quality of the story has become more central to the quality of game. You know this, I know this, anyone that is even remotely into gaming knows this, and I don’t need to make this a recent history recap. Still, this smacks of a commercial cash-in, and one that serves only to sell a new action figure, or some such, and eke out a few more dollars from the beleaguered masses. Hooray.

But it isn’t. Not really, anyways. Faith Erin Hicks (Friends With Boys), has been gaining popularity for a bit now, and while I wouldn’t say this is the culmination of that, she isn’t Alan Dean Foster, or a similar warm body contracted for a product tie-in. What she and Drukmann have managed to create is a teenage-rebellion story enmeshed in the post-apocalyptic world of a zombie-infection outbreak.

Doctor Who Omnibus, Vol. 2
Written by Tony Lee, Jonathan L. Davis, Matthew Dow Smith, Al Davison, Matt Sturges
Illustrated by Al Davison, Matthew Dow Smith, Blair Shedd, Kelly Yates, Brian Shearer
Colored by Lovern Kindzierski, Charlie Kirchoff, Phil Elliot, Al Davison, Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by Chris Mowry, Robbie Robbins, Neil Uyetake, Al Davison, Shawn Lee
Cover by Tony Lee Edwards
IDW Publishing
Release Date: October 23, 2013
Cover Price: $29.99

Doctor Who Omnibus, Vol. 2 is a massive collection featuring the tenth Doctor, as portrayed by David Tennant. It collects issues #1-16, as well as the 2010 annual comic, and an eleventh doctor story, “A Fairytale Life.”

Now, I’m a pretty big Doctor Who fan, and the tenth doctor is my favorite, but this collection largely fails to capture that Whovian magic I was looking for. I would have expected to have larger, more explosive stories in a comic because the special effects budget has no limits, but I found the majority of the stories were contained to a handful of “sets” and sometimes felt claustrophobic.

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.

Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 2 #4
Showdown with a Sith!
Script by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
Art by Gabriel Hardman and Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover by Dave Wilkins
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 26, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

Picking up the outstanding groundwork established in the original Legacy series, and creating some new outstanding work of their own, the creative team of Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman continue delivering the goods with the new Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 2, focusing on a descendant of Han and Leia, named Ania Solo.

Unlike Cade Skywalker from the first series, Ania has no formal Jedi training, and is more in the vein of a Han Solo smuggling underworld type of character. Following the gargantuan galactic war with the One Sith led by the formidable Darth Krayt, the galaxy is now run by a new Triumvirate, a conglomeration of multiple governments working together to form a prosperous and peaceful time to come.

Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 2 #3
Script by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
Art by Gabriel Hardman
Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover by Dave Wilkins
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 22, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

While the creative team behind the original Star Wars Legacy concentrate on Dawn Of The Jedi, a new team is carrying the torch for a new Legacy series, focusing on a descendant of Han Solo and Princess Leia named Ania Solo. The new art style with a solid new plot make for captivating reading, and it can be said that the legacy of Legacy is in safe hands.

Set not long after the events of the first series that focused on Cade Skywalker, the collapsed Sith Empire of Darth Krayt is shattered. Rumors of Sith remnants are scattered across the galaxy, though in the place of the dictatorial Empire, former leaders of the Galactic Alliance, the Fel Empire, and Jedi have joined together to form a new government: the Galactic Triumvirate.