Guardians of the Galaxy–the game–is space fantasy action with comedy notes, available now at Amazon for PS4, PS5, XBox, and more. A new tie-novel is a prequel to the game, and it’s not a book to be overlooked. After more than a decade of reviewing nearly every tie-in novel produced by Marvel and DC, I’m going to say M.K. England’s Guardians of the Galaxy: No Guts, No Glory is a contender for the top spot. You need to get a lot right when you’re crafting a tie-in for familiar characters–one wrong bit of dialogue and you’re sunk. It’s going to be more of a challenge if the team you’re writing about is as diverse and different as the members of the crew of the spaceship Milano. You don’t need to know anything about the game to jump right in, and readers will find the characters and their backstories are 99% consistent with the characters as seen on the big screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And fans of the comics can look forward to 300 pages of humorous banter among these beloved space adventurers.
After a year that saw Sonjaversal, The Invincible Red Sonja, Red Sonja: Black and White, another Red Sonja,and the announcement of Hannah John-Kamen (Star Wars, The Dark Crystal, Marvel, Game of Thrones,Tomb Raider) cast as the next live-action movie Sonja, a new year of Red Sonja begins with the heroine pulled out of time and taken into the mythological realm of Camelot. With her 50th anniversary arriving in 2023, the onslaught of series from Dynamite Entertainment continues in Immortal Red Sonja. The re-imagined stories of Robert E. Howard’s famous “she-devil with a sword” will find Sonja in league with Merlin, and pursued by the Green Knight. If you’re wondering what that gray cut-off sweater is about, it’s actually chainmail in the style of Barry Windsor-Smith’s original 1970s design for Red Sonja.
Our borgBest of 2018 list continues today with the Best in Print. If you missed them, check out our review of the Best Movies of 2018 here, the Kick-Ass Heroines of 2018here, and the Best in Television 2018here.
So let’s get going. Here are our selections for this year’s Best in Print:
Best Read, Best Sci-fi Read – The Synapse Sequenceby Daniel Godfrey (Titan Books). The Synapse Sequence is one of those standout reads that reflects why we all flock to the latest new book in the first place. The detective mystery, the future mind travel tech, the twists, and the successful use of multiple perspectives made this one of the most engaging sci-fi reads since Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. Honorable mention: Solo: A Star Wars Story novelization by Mur Lafferty (Del Rey).
Best Retro Read – Killing Townby Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime). The lost, first Mike Hammer novel released for the 100th anniversary of Mickey Spillane’s birth was gold for noir crime fans. This first Hammer story introduced an origin for a character that had never been released, in fact never finished, but Spillane’s late career partner on his work made a seamless read. This was the event of the year for the genre, and a fun ride for his famous character. Honorable mention: Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner, by Donald E. Westlake.
Best Tie-In Book – Solo: A Star Wars Story–Expanded Editionnovelization by Mur Lafferty (Del Rey). Not since Donald Glut’s novelization of The Empire Strikes Back had we encountered a Star Wars story as engaging as this one. Lafferty took the final film version and Lawrence and Jon Kasdan’s script to weave together something fuller than the film on-screen. Surprises and details moviegoers may have overlooked were revealed, and characters were introduced that didn’t make the final film cut. Better yet, the writing itself was exciting. We read more franchise tie-ins than ever before this year, and many were great reads, but this book had it all. Honorable Mention: Big Damn Heroby James Lovegrove (Titan).
Best Genre Non-fiction – Hitchcock’s Heroinesby Caroline Young (Insight Editions). A compelling look at the director and his relationship with the leading women in his films, this new work on Hitchcock was filled with information diehard fans of Hitchcock will not have seen before. Young incorporated behind-the-scenes images, costume sketches, and a detailed history of the circumstances behind key films of the master of suspense and his work with some of Hollywood’s finest performers.
There’s much more of our selections for 2018’s Best in Print to go…
The ultimate shark sighting? A make-ready skit when Jason Momoa finally gets to host Saturday Night Live?
We have seen some great team-ups that also served as great mash-ups. One of the best came last year when DC Comics took a side trip with Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes characters, especially in the Batman/Elmer Fudd crime-noir, one-shot story “Pway for Me,” by Tom King, Lee Weeks, and Lovern Kindzierski. It was our pick for last year’s best team-up/mash-up. This year DC Comics is back, but this time they paired off again with characters from Hanna-Barbera. Last year for DC Meets Hanna-Barbera, Volume 1, that meant pairing Jonny Quest and Adam Strange, Space Ghost and Green Lantern, Flintstones and Booster Gold, and Suicide Squad and Banana Splits. In comic book stores and coming soon in a compilation edition, DC Meets Hanna-Barbera, Volume 2 features even more great team-up/mash-ups: Who wins when you pair The Flash and Speed Buggy? How serious can cartoon characters get when you’ve teamed Black Lightning and Hong Kong Phooey? Or “Super Sons” Robin and Superboy taking on Dynomutt? But the winner is clear… How could you possibly lose with a team-up of Aquaman and Jabberjaw?
With the right amount of seriousness (mainly from Aquaman) and the right amount of nostalgic humor (mainly from fun-loving land shark Jabberjaw), Dan Abnett strikes throwback gold with a story full of seaside quips and Jaws references, pulling ideas even from the classic favorite Superfriends show. The result is one of the best Aquaman stories we’ve read. And Abnett completely tapped into the pulse of the classic Jabberjaw cartoon, tying in his band of friends The Neptunes. Artists Paul Pelletier, Andrew Hennessy, and Rain Beredo created a unique, incredible look, something out of Syfy’s Haven town and Luc Besson’s future world in Valerian and Laureline. THIS is the ongoing series that needs to continue, although, understandably the pairing is a big stretch even for comic books and animated series, bridging time and space to get these two worlds together. But it works. From the setting, a seaside tourist town called Amnesty Bay (playing on the Jaws town of Amity), to the return of the world’s best drumming shark, to the sound of fingers on a chalkboard, to those Rodney Dangerfield meets Curly Howard catch-phrases, to the final entanglement with shark hunters, this one has it all.
DC has already featured Hanna-Barbera together in ongoing comic book series from the favorite characters of 1970s Saturday morning cartoons in the series Future Quest, Scooby Apocalypse, The Flintstones, Wacky Raceland, Dastardly and Muttley, The Ruff and Reddy Show, The Jetsons, and Exit, Stage Left!: the Snagglepuss Chronicles. A great writer should be able to find unlimited potential for Jabberjaw and his friends. Check out these preview pages from the publisher for the story “A Bigger Beat”–
Would Aliens–that epic sci-fi war movie sequel to the groundbreaking sci-fi horror tale Alien–have been half as great without the performance of Bill Paxton as Colonial Marine Private Hudson? Tens of thousands of fans came out to celebrate Paxton and his performance in the film when news spread of his passing this February. Always willing to recite a line from one of his movies for fans, you have to think he would have loved a read like Aliens: Bug Hunt, a new anthology from Titan Books. Aliens: Bug Hunt hones in on the gritty band of spacefaring soldiers as 19 authors share 15 new short stories of the Alien universe.
The new release, just after the Aliens 30th anniversary and nicely timed to this month’s theatrical release of Alien: Covenant, provides stories before and after Aliens, some sci-fi, some horror, action and drama, or a mix of each. One story tells the tale of Corporal Hicks before the events in Aliens, and a personal mission to locate the cause of his wife’s death. Another story details an operation of the Marines in an encounter with a hostile alien menace unrelated to the Xenomorphs. One story provides insight into the synthetic Bishop and how he came to be the determined and decisive crew member we met in the series.
The anthology was edited by Jonathan Maberry with new works by Maberry and a “usual suspects” list of tie-in book writers and more. Dan Abnett, Rachel Caine, Larry Correia, Keith R.A. DeCandido, David Farland, Matt Forbeck, Ray Garton, Christopher Golden, Heather Graham, Brian Keene, Paul Kuppenberg, Tim Lebbon, Marina J. Lostetter, James A. Moore, Yvonne Navarro, Weston Ochse, Mike Resnick, and Scott Sigler contributed stories.
A new seventeen-part sci-fi/horror series begins next month from Dark Horse Comics. Predator: Life and Death is a four-part series that begins a cycle that spans the worlds of Predator, Aliens, Aliens v. Predator, and Prometheus–similar to Dark Horse’s popular Fire and Storm cycle. Writer Dan Abnett will interconnect four stories, and we have a preview below of the first issue for borg.com readers.
Colonial Marines on the planet Tartarus battle extraterrestrial hunters over the possession of a mysterious spaceship. Weyland-Yutani is after the ship, and the marine captain wants to protect the crew. But neither is likely to get their way when a band of Predators attacks.
Artist Brian Thies and colorist Rain Beredo have created a look that mixes Michael Golden’s The ‘Nam series with classic Sgt. Rock. Issue #1 of Predator: Life and Death is a great looking war comic. Check out a preview after the break:
It’s Comic Shop Wednesday! Haven’t been to your comic book shop lately? We have six hi-res previews for borg.com readers courtesy of BOOM! Studios of what you’ll find in stores today–so you can see what you’re missing.
Look for Venus from writer Rick Loverd and artist Huang Danlan. Pauline and the rest of the survivors from the Mayflower take stock of the base on Venus, but there’s a saboteur in their midst who’s sowing tension in the ranks.
We love writer Dan Abnett and artist I.N.J. Culbard’s Wild’s End: The Enemy Within. The group of anthropomorphic townspeople is scattered in the woods of Lower Crowchurch as an alien threat returns.
In The Spire from writer Simon Spurrier and artist Jeff Stokely, Meera is held by the Zoarim at their camp as part of the Pax proceedings. But she’s not alone.
In the ongoing sequel to John Carpenter’s Escape from New York by writer Christopher Sebela and artist Maxim Simic, Snake Plisskin prepares to defend his property from the government. At any cost.
BOOM! Box, the BOOM! Studios imprint for kids titles, has two great issues out today from Peanuts and Munchkin.
The last day of the year is finally here, and with that the last of our reviews of the best content of 2014.
We’ve previewed comic books each month thanks to publishers like Dynamite Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, BOOM! Studios, and Image. We sample the best of all that Marvel and DC Comics has to offer, too, and although we don’t have enough time to review everything we review those titles we think our readers might like to check out, especially those with a sci-fi, fantasy, or retro angle. And we read plenty of books–sci-fi and fantasy, pulp and spy novels, movie and TV tie-ins, even Westerns and steampunk, as well as non-fiction books about movies, TV, and other genre topics. This past month we have looked again at these titles, as we narrowed our selections to what we think are the very best. So here are our picks for Best in Print for 2014.
Best Comic Book Series — Black Widow, Marvel Comics. We were wondering early on what would take the place of Fraction and Hollingsworth’s Hawkeye series for the most satisfying superhero fix. It didn’t take long to see this other Marvel series looking at another superhero in a similarly personal–but very different–way. It was a standout in a great year of comics. Phil Noto’s art and colors were incredible and Nathan Edmondson’s story didn’t let up once. Full of action, espionage, and intrigue. A great series to catch-up on in a trade edition. See our reviews of the series here and here.
Best Comic Book Mini-Series — Afterlife with Archie, Archie Comics. Who would have guessed someone could make Archie and friends so accessible to any demographic in the 2010s? And whose brilliant idea was doing it via a horror genre story of zombies taking over Riverdale? Smart writing by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and spooky atmospheric illustrations by Francesco Francavilla made for a sumptuous series like no other. Not technically a mini-series, it feels like one because of its staggered release. See our earlier raves about the series here.
Best Comic Book Writing – Dan Abnett, Wild’s End, BOOM! Studios. Abnett’s Wild’s End really caught us by surprise. An incredible fantasy read that is truly unique from BOOM! Studios. Anthropomorphic characters with incredible archaic dialogue that’s witty and smart. A crazy mash-up of War of the Worlds, Christopher Robin’s neighborhood, and the dark edge and high stakes of Revival. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of this series. Check out our earlier review here.
If you’re wondering what some of the best comic book series are from 2014, you need look no further than your local comic book store right now. Three of the top ten series of the year have new issues released today. With Afterlife with Archie, Issue #7, a new story arc begins, featuring the classic Riverdale gang in the aftermath of an encounter with zombies. Image Comics’ Copperhead, Issue #4, continues its standout story of newly-arrived sheriff Clara Bronson and her son in a sci-fi Western town of aliens and mischief. And from BOOM! Studios, Wild’s End, Issue #4, continues what could be described as what would happen if neighbors of Winnie the Pooh and the gang have a War of the Worlds encounter, and if that story was directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Afterlife with Archie is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with that fantastic artwork we’ve come to expect from Francesco Francavilla. Copperhead is from the minds of writer Jay Faerber and artists Scott Godlewski and Ron Riley. And Wild’s End is written deftly by Dan Abnett, with artwork by I.N.J. Culbard.
Check out previews for the new issues of each series, after the break:
Wild’s End, a new comic book series from BOOM! Studios, is quite strange and enchanting—it reads like a Masterpiece Theater version of Winnie the Pooh. Complete with talking animals, it’s also very British and old worldy. At the same time this is no ordinary town at its core, more like the town of Haven of the Syfy Channel TV series based on the Steven King story “The Colorado Kid.” And its inhabitants are as idiosyncratic as those troubled people of Haven.
But Wild’s End is more than that. Think Alice’s Wonderland of odd fellows versus an attack like you’d find in H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, as a downed ship is about to wreak havoc on a peaceful Hobbiton-like community.
Mr. Clive Slipaway, a stout two-legged, walking-talking Great Dane, is new to the town of Lower Crowchurch. He’s clearly trying to find a quiet place to retire after years of military service or some kind of similar tough life experiences. He’s a bit like John Wayne’s Quirt Evans from Angel and the Badman—a tough customer who wants to mind his own business until circumstances require him to take action to protect the lives of local innocents.
