Protocol: Orphans #1 (of 4)
Written by Michael Alan Nelson
Art by Mariano Navarro
Colors by Gabriel Cassata
Cover by Stephane Roux
Boom! Studios
Release Date: November 13, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

In Protocol: Orphans, from writer Michael Alan Nelson (Supergirl) and new coming artist Mariano Navarro, a team of orphans, now young adults who have been raised by a covert organization since they were children, put their lifelong training to the test as they are put out in the field for the first time to find and stop a ticking time bomb. Lead by their supervisor Dad, who coaches them via radio relay while threatening to be “disappointed” in them should they fail their mission, and the more ominous Grandparents, the orphans have their work cut out for them.

As their first mission progresses, each of the six orphans utilize their specialized skill sets to get their assignments and tasks completed and work toward stopping the bomb. But when their location is discovered in the midst of deactivating the bomb, it is believed that one of the team members must have triggered an alarm. Now, all six team members must rally together or else let an entire stadium filled with spectators be blown to smithereens!

Freelancers #1
Written by Ian Brill & Matt Gagnon
Art by Joshua Covey & Felipe Smith
Colors by Justin Stewart, Vladimir Popov & Zack Sterling
Letters by Pat Brosseau
Covers by Ibraim Roberson, Felipe Smith, Khary Randolf & Ron Riley, Fan Yang, Phil Noto, Stephane Roux, Reilly Brown & Felipe Sobreiro
Boom! Studios
Release Date: November 7, 2012
Cover Price: $1.00

Freelancers #1 is a lot of fun. It’s not going to change your life or win an Eisner, but you will definitely have a good time with this comic. You’ve got the perfect formula-hot girls, guns, cars, kung-fu, and dogs. What more could any red-blooded American male want?

Ian Brill takes parts of existing pop culture icons and combines them into an action packed comic, that’s a TON of fun to read. Part Charlie’s Angels, part Codename: Knockout, this comic is action from start to finish. You’ve got the two main characters that work for an agent that may or may not be 100% on their side. Brill sets up a good mystery that leaves you wondering if their agent is trying to get them jobs or trying to get them killed. I can’t emphasise enough how much pure fun this book is! It’s a great spy/bounty hunter tale that never takes itself seriously at all. It knows what it is, and never tries to be anything different. Really good for a first issue.

Dark Horse Comics has provided Geeks of Doom with an exclusive first look at four amazing covers that are set to be released in the month of December, and one coming in February.

In these comics is House of Fun (one-shot) a comic that I’ve been looking forward to for some time now, from Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dwyer. Collected in this one-shot are several entries from the House of Fun run in Dark Horse Presents including new Milk and Cheese comics and some of the most hilarious comic strips that have ever been printed. Also listed below are the comics for Michael Avon Oeming‘s The Victories #5, John Ostrander‘s Star Wars mini-series Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets #3 (of 5), the final issue of Tom Morello‘s Orchid, and the cover to the new Trigun Omnibus, which is set for February.

Each one of these covers is great, and based on what I’ve previously read and the creators attached, these are all great picks for December, so make sure to get your pre-order sheets ready, because you won’t want to miss any of these comics.

Star Wars: Jedi, Volume 1 – The Dark Side
Story by Scott Allie
Art by Mahmud Asrar
Colors by Paul Mounts
Cover Art by Stéphane Roux
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 22, 2012
Cover Price: $18.99

2011 saw the resurrection or rebirth of a Star Wars comic series called Jedi. Initially envisioned as chronicles of specific individual Jedi Knights during the events of The Clone Wars, the new incarnation of the series instead delves a little deeper and further back into the history of the order, and concentrates on Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in the days he was a young trainer of apprentices and well before the time of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Subtitled The Dark Side, the new series shadows the final mission of Jinn’s padawan Xanatos and his subsequent fall to the Dark Side of the Force. Xanatos, as a character, had previously been explored as an antagonist in the Jedi Apprentice young adult book series; but this trade paperback delves into an era when he was still a boy.

Intractable and brooding, Xanatos as a 13-year-old padawan evokes the same feel as the Anakin Skywalker of Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. It is almost as if the Jedi surrounding him cannot sense the menace and darkness beginning to envelop him; but in the words of Jedi Grand Master Yoda, “hard to see, the dark side is.”

Star Wars: Agent Of The Empire – Iron Eclipse #4 and #5
Written by John Ostrander
Pencils by Stéphane Roux and Stéphane Créty
Inks by Julien Hugonnard-Bert
Colors by Wez Dzioba
Cover Art by Stéphane Roux
Dark Horse Comics
Issue #4 Release Date: March 14, 2012
Issue #5 Release Date: April 11, 2012
Issue #4 Cover Price: $3.50
Issue #5 Cover Price: $3.50

The conclusion to Agent of the Empire has arrived, and delivers superbly. With some minor appearances from a couple of familiar characters, and the main protagonist Jahan Cross fulfilling his role as a version of 007 in that galaxy far, far away, Agent Of The Empire – Iron Eclipse is a tale worth Star Wars fans spending some attention on.

In the long chronicle of the Expanded Star Wars Universe, a majority of the stories have often been about the “heroes” we’ve known fighting some “new threat” or “new villains.” In Agent of the Empire, we have a fine example of what the contemporary creative talents driving the EU works are trying to achieve – mixing up known loved genres with the Star Wars galaxy as a backdrop.