Dark Horse; 80 pages; $10.99; Amazon

I thought the perfect way to end this year's Halloween event would be for me to feature something from my favorite television from the late 1990s - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a supernatural series that I was obsessed with throughout my teenage years. By obsessed, I mean I had posters of Sarah Michelle Gellar taped to my bedroom wall; I owned every Buffy tie-in novel and read them until the pages were practically worn out; and I recorded every episode on my VHS recorder (Remember those?). So I guess you can say that I was a big Buffy fan. By the time the series ended in 2003, I was out of my Buffy phase, though I did purchase the series on DVD (as well as the spinoff series, Angel) several years later.

Arriving in bookstores tomorrow from Dark Horse Comis is the graphic novel (well, a comic book), titled Buffy: The High School Years - Glutton For Punishment. Executive produced by Joss Whedon, the novel is written by Kel McDonald and illustrated by Yishan Li.

As you can guess by the title, the graphic novel is set during Buffy's high school years or more specifically it's set during season one of the series, where Buffy has just moved to Sunnydale and has befriended fellow classmates Willow (aka the nerd) and Xander (aka the geek). 

"Glutton For Punishment" centers on Buffy and Xander taking an extra-curricular cooking class. At first it looks like a quick way to make an A, but things quickly change on the first day of class when the cooking teacher, Ms. Miller, goes missing and is replaced by the very strict Mr. Blake. All the students try to bake the perfect dessert, but Mr. Blake's taste buds seem to be from another planet as nothing will satisfy his hunger.

IDW Publishing; 136 pages; $19.98; Pre-Order

You might know this yet, but there is a new Star Trek film coming out in theaters this July called "Star Trek Beyond." The trailer for the film is supposed to debut at the Star Trek fan event on May 20th!

Arriving in stores on June 28th is the newest comic tie-in Star Trek: Manifest Destiny by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, which is set into between Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond.

The 136-page comic kicks off with a huge Klingon fleet lead by Commander Sho'Tokh invading a planet and they claim it in the name of the Klingon Empire.

A month later the U.S.S. Enterprise receives a strange beacon from a class-M planet, so Captain Kirk sends down an away team to investigate. Of course there is danger on the planet that puts the team in jeopardy. Meanwhile, a Klingon D7 attacks the Enterprise.

Sanjay and Craig: Fight The Future With Flavor!
by Eric Esquivel
Publisher: PAPERCUTZ
Pub. Date: September 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-1629913025
Pages: 52
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Sanjay and Craig debuted on Nickelodeon in 2013 and has become one of it's most popular cartoons. The series centers on a  Sanjay Patel, a 12-year old boy,  and his talking pet snake, Craig.  Nickelodeon is joined forces with the publishing company PAPERCUTZ to create new graphic novels.

Released back in September is the first comic adventure featuring Sanjay and Craig, titled Sanjay and Craig: Fight The Future With Flavor! Written by Eric Esquivel and featuring illustrations from Sam Spina, James Kaminski and Ryan Jampole, the 52 pages graphic novel contains six exciting adventures - "Fight The Future With Flavor," "Hot Wings From Heck," "Lord Of The Pipes," Alien Buttospy," "The Buttermilk King" and "Rated 'R' For Radical". It also features several short segments of"Tufflips Movie Trailers."

I've only seen a few episodes of the Nickelodeon series and while it didn't exactly appeal to me, it did have plenty of silliness that would attract younger viewers. Since I decided to feature more children books on this blog, I went ahead and agreed to review the Sanjay and Craig: Fight The Future With Flavor! graphic novel.

The Evil of Oz
by Ryan Fuller
Illustrator: Sanjana Baijnath
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Pub. Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1493517046
Pages: 108
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900, people of all ages have been fascinated with the Oz world. Though L. Frank Baum only published 14 Oz titles before his death, there have been several other authors that continued to write more installments over the years. Recently, the Oz has been published as comic books and graphic novels.

A few weeks ago, I was sent a copy of the graphic novel The Evil of Oz, which is written by Ryan Fuller with illustrations by Sanjana Baijnath. No, this isn't another sequel written for kids, but instead it's a dark and twisted sequel written for adults.

The Evil of Oz finds young Dorothy Gale coming home to find her uncle and aunt murdered. The police thinks they were killed by a random intruder, but Dorothy knows otherwise. If she hadn't worn the silver slippers when she went out, the murderer could have taken the shoes. She grabs the bloody ax that killed her family and she returns to Oz on a quest for revenge!

Oz isn't the wonderful place that she remembered. As soon as she arrives she encounters zombie munchkins, a heart ripper Tin Man and a bloody thirsty Beast King. Not even Oz himself can prepare Dorothy for the horrors that awaits her.