Christmas & New Years - Comics and Graphic Novel Greatness

Greetings and and belated happy holidays to all my fellow travelers in The "Land of Blog." What Christmas and Happy New Years wishes would be complete without something really cool for free? Well my friend and extremely talented comic book guy Jay Piscopo has issued another free Commander X Holiday Special 2011/2012 that you can access free of charge HERE!!!!!

Also there is a new Commander X Action Figure I must have!!!!!! Great Comic and Pulp so check it out one and all. Recommended for all ages.

What about cool reads you ask? Well I'm glad you asked cause here they come:

The Suicide Squad: Trial By Fire by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, Bob Lewis, Karl Kessel, Dave Hunt and more - Now this Graphic Novel reprints the original first run of the Suicide Squad from way back in 1987. This GN collects issues 1-8 of the original comic plus Secret Origins #14. The premise of this great comic is that the U.S. Government has decided to take on dirty jobs out in the world, without political liability, that need to be addressed, that casualties are assured and chances of success are little. So who do you send on these missions? Well people that are damaged goods. That could mean they are criminals who if they survive the mission get reduced sentencing, heroes that have been forgotten and carry lot's of baggage around from from past deeds gone wrong, and those just plain crazy enough to do it. The Suicide Squad are as follows in this GN:

Amanda Waller - Secret Government Overseer of the team .
Rick Flag - Leader, a very troubled, scarred and driven top notch soldier.
Bronze Tiger - Second in Command, a master martial art expert with a checkered past.
Deadshot - A cold blooded, schizophrenic criminal with a death wish. An expert with guns he wears on his wrist.
Captain Boomerang - A member of the Flash Rouges. A criminal to the core who makes no apologises to anyone about his character. Boomerang is a major wild card and will always do what is in his best interest.
Nightshade - A government secret agent with the powers of Darkness Manipulation, can transform into living two-dimensional shadows, and Teleportation using the Land of Nightshades.
Black Orchid - A mysterious woman with the ability of flight, super-strength, and invulnerability to bullets, but her main power is a mastery of disguise.
There are more that I could list, but as you can probably already tell the list of characters is epic and that's cool because so are the stories.

The first story gives the reader background information on "The Suicide Squad." The second, "Baptism of Fire," has the squad taking on a group of super powered terrorist known as the Jihad. Not everyone makes it out alive and we see the personalities of some of the members of the team (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly). The third story, "Mission to Moscow" has the squad taking on a mission with The Penguin in the middle of The Soviet Union were everything goes bad fast. The question the squad faces is how do you escape from deep within The Soviet Union in one piece when everyone is trying to kill you. The last story takes a look into the personal lives of some of the squad members and gives more insight into what makes them tick. This is really a great GN with beautiful storytelling and art that delivers a knockout punch. Highly recommended for those ages 13 and up.

Amulet, Book 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi - Emily and her motley crew have reached Cielis where they believe that all the questions she has about being a Stonekeeper will be revealed. Things get weird and strange as soon as they arrive. They are immediately separated from one another, the Elf Prince and his servant/friend are sent to jail, the few people who seem to populate the city are mean, scared, ill-tempered, or strangely indifferent.Emily is taken away from her mother and brother by her new acquaintance Max to the Academy where no one is allowed access except Stonekeepers. Also add in the mix that The Stonekeeper Guardian Council wants to add a member, but their are many who must compete to be the one. Also for some reason Max is among their numbers. Can Emily trust Max or not for he definitely is keeping secrets? Of course we have new and returning characters to the story:



Emily - The main character and the newest Stonekeeper.
Navin - Her loving and adventurous brother.
Karen - Their Mom.
Misket - A helper robot that appears as a rabbit.
Morrie and Cogsley - Two other robots helping the family with very distinct personalities.
Max -  Friend or Foe?
Lean Redbeard -  a Swashbuckling Fox.
Captain Enzo - (a cat) of The Luna Moth (a flying airship).
Rico - Captain Enzo' brother.
Prince Trellis - The Evil Elf King's Son.
Vigo Light - A mysterious old inventor and retired Stonekeeper who knew Emily and Navin's Grandfather, also an inventor and exiled Stonekeper, Silas.
More that I will let you find out about.

Is this the end of this great series, will there be a fifth, how does it end? Read and Find out. Highly recommended for readers 9 and older!!!!

Check out this video for the GN:




Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

Well until next time fellow comic and Graphic Novel Fans, have a great 2012!!!!!

Library Ninja Bill

Sea Ghost, Comics and Graphic Novels, Oh Yea!!!!

Ahoy all me Maties in "The Sea o Blog," ti's I Lieutenant Y (also known as Ninja Librarian Bill) here to talk about some great Graphic Novels and Comics for all ages. All ages does not mean just for the kiddies, but for all - children, teens and adults who love great stories and art. Check it out:

The Sea Ghost: The Sea Ghost in The Machine by Jay Piscopo - This is a comic that is a shoot-off from the most awesome "The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli" Graphic Novel Series. Hey, do you know about them? Well then it's time you did!!!! Check out these reviews I did not that long ago, in a galaxy not that far away:

The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli: The Mystery of Me, The Mystery of the Sargasso Sea; Plus Much More!!!!! by Jay Piscopo - The first story "The Mystery of Me" introduces us to the main character of the graphic novel Capt'n Eli. This is Capt'n Eli's origin story and introduces many characters and asks many questions that you will be intrigued to learn about in the future. In this story he joins the Seaserchers and also meets for the first time the mysterious Commander X (a descendant of Captain Nemo himself).

The second story in the book,"The Mystery of the Sargasso Sea," is an adventure tale that involves the mysterious Sargasso Sea that has been a floating burial ground for ships throughout history and the even more curious Bermuda Triangle where both ships and other seafaring vessels, planes even, have mysteriously disappeared never to be found again. This story involves time travel,Christopher Columbus, some of the very interesting history (or would that be future????) of Commander X, and lots of battling with the Hydrons. This is such a cool story!!!!!!

The last story in the book, "The Return of Baron Hydro," take us back to the days of World War II. The Big 3 (Commander X, Sea Raider, and the Human Sun) take on the villainous Baron Hydro and his evil Hydrons. This story is action packed and just a whole lot of fun!!!!!!!!

 

The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli: The Mystery of the Sargasso Sea (Volume 2) by Joe Piscopo -  Man with this volume the Capt'n Eli Graphic Novel Series hits another gear and really takes off!!!!! As it was left off in the previous volume, Capt'n Eli is still with Commander X aboard his super high tech submarine "Sub Zero." They reach the underwater city of Aquaria only to find it under attack by a race of underwater denizens known as the Outcast. It seems Aquaria and it's people are now ruled by Commander X's former World War II partner, known then as The Sea Raider. We also find out that Commander X is Aquaria's sworn Lord Protector and it is his duty to protect them from all threats and enemies. Let's see what else happens in this story, we learn the history of Aquaria and its relationship to Atlantis, we learn the secret origin of the ruler of the Aquarians known by many names such as - Rex Noble, The Sea Raider and The Sea Ghost among others, Lord Hydro is back with all his evilness and Hydrons and much. much more!!!!!!!!!! I promise you if you pick up this Graphic Novel you will be unable to put it down until you have finished reading it and then you will still be wanting more.

Oh yea almost forgot, The review of The Sea Ghost Comic (I just get so jazzed up about this ultra cool GN series and it's offshoots!) Well the Sea Ghost is minding his own business when he discovers this strange device on the ocean floor. Next thing he knows he has been transported through time and space onto a world where two fractions, The Phlan - an Ocean dwelling race and The Simas - a land dwelling race, are in a constant circle of hate and war. The Sea Ghost tries to bring peace to these waring races, but is at a loss until he discovers an interesting fact. Both races seem to fight this endless war in the name of a god they both share. How does The Sea Ghost use this information and what is the ultimate outcome. Well, you will have to read the comic to find out. Check out this link to get more information on this wonderful comic http://captneli.blogspot.com/2010/11/sea-ghost-1-has-arrived.html.

One other piece of information I would like to share is that my buds Jay (Creator, Writer and Illustrator) and Tami (Just a very cool person) sent me a bunch of copies of the comic and other goodies to share. I have not given them all away yet, so if you write a review in our comments section on something you have read and enjoyed, I will send you the comic along with some other cool swag!!!! Come on!!!! What are you waiting for??????

That's all I have time for now me Hearties!!!! Until next time,

Stand By For Adventure!!!!!!

Lieutenant Y and Library Ninja Bill!!!!!!

Torpedoman by Jay Piscopo