Star Trek Movies Books

21 & 22 The Cross-Time Caper continues, as the team jumps into a world where the American Revolution failed and the English Empire is still strong, as is Prussia. Caps alternate is a Native American who is called Crusader X, and is the leader of the X-men who are officially a part of the British Intelligence agencies. They participate in stopping an attempt by the Shadow King and Iron Man to assasinate a large meeting of ambassadors. A good, tight story, able to stand alone in the two issues, with excellent artwork, even though Davis is again absent from the book. Perhaps my favorite episode of the Cross-Time Caper.

21 & 22 The Cross-Time Caper continues, as the team jumps into a world where the American Revolution failed and the English Empire is still strong, as is Prussia. Cap's alternate is a Native American who is called Crusader X, and is the leader of the X-men who are officially a part of the British Intelligence agencies. They participate in stopping an attempt by the Shadow King and Iron Man to assasinate a large meeting of ambassadors. A good, tight story, with excellent artwork, even though Davis is again absent from the book. Perhaps my favorite episode of the Cross-Time Caper.

INFERNO! Issues 6 & 7 are tied into the major X-men event called Inferno. The members of the team are drawn into the event when Rachel flies to New York in response to a mental cry for help from the baby, Nathan Summers. Some are trasformed or captured by the demonic magics controling New York, while those left fight to free them and to simply stay alive. The excellent art by Davis, and the full and complete storytelling by Claremont continue. As always in Claremont's storytelling there are hints for the future. Excellent Issues.

INFERNO! Issues 6 & 7 are tied into the major X-men event called Inferno. The members of the team are drawn into the event when Rachel flies to New York in response to a mental cry for help from the baby, Nathan Summers. Some are trasformed or captured by the demonic magics controling New York, while those left fight to free them and to simply stay alive. The excellent art by Davis, and the full and complete storytelling by Claremont continue. As always in Claremont's storytelling there are hints for the future. Excellent Issues.

While issue 8 seemed a little like filler, 9 &10 jump right back into the strong storylines, and do so with a vengance. The opening panels, revealing the presence of Nazified alternates of Excalibur, set the stage for a conflict lasting through the end of issue 11, and leading directly into the Cross-Time Caper. Widget and his dimension switching abilities is strongly featured, as is W.H.O. (Wierd Happenings Organization), and Sat-yr9 as Courtney Ross, but the alternate Excalibur team know as Lightning Force really steals the show. They are remarkable in concept and the artwork to bring that out is excellent. Issue 10 again has a guest artist, and loses a little bit, but not much, artistically.

In this beautifully crafted trade paperback, Pocket Books and Michael Jan Friedman have combined two of his best stories to date; "Reunion" and "The Valiant." Both stories are grounded in Michael Jan Friedman's Stargazer series, but when they were originally released, they were released as Star Trek The Next Generation stories as the publisher had not yet decided upon a "spin off" of sorts.

As an added bonus to this magnificent edition, Michael Jan Friedman has written a wonderful introduction and at the end of the book there is a particularly interesting interview with him done by Kevin Dilmore.

As I've seen and read on various Star Trek websites, some have complained about the cover art for this "Signature Edition." This is something that I do not agree with; the cover art is perfect as this novel and these stories are here to give us the fans, the stories from Captain Picard's past, during his time as the Captain of the USS Stargazer. The title is tremendously intriguing and well chosen as well, "Pantheon," as is defined by Webster's College Dictionary and most applicable here is, "the realm of the heroes or idols of any group,"

It is also quite appropriate that Michael Jan Friedman and these two stories have been the first release of a "Signature Edition" trade paperback when taking into account that "Reunion" was the first Star Trek The Next Generation hardback as well.

I really like the way in which they constructed this novel as well. As opposed to just slapping the two novels in, back to back, the author and editor have "somewhat" intertwined the two stories, between the prologue and epilogue.

The premise:

Reunion -

Here is where the authors brilliance stands out as he not only created a murder/mystery story in the Star Trek genre but he did it while at the same time, created a crew for the USS Stargazer, which is the ship commanded by Captain Jen Luc Picard for twenty two years, long before there were any considerations of another ship by another name. Capitalizing on the very little information provided by the STNG episode "The Battle," he expounded upon that tidbit of information and came up with a first-rate supporting cast for Captain Picard in his formative years as a Starfleet Captain.

Not only does he do an astonishing job of creating the crew for the Stargazer, he superbly brings together a plot involving the present day USS Enterprise and her characters and the characters from the Stargazer. Overall, this is an exceptional story that "shouldn't" be missed by Star Trek fiction readers.

The Valiant -

In the beginning of this exceptional story, we're taken some three hundred years into Starfleet history to when the SS Valiant is thrown beyond the galactic barrier and is trying to make her way back home through the galactic barrier. The SS Valiant is first mentioned in The Original Series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Unfortunately for Captain Tarasco, who captain's the SS Valiant; their failed attempt to cross the barrier results in several casualties and in particular one crewman begins to exhibit "godlike" powers and loses all compassion for human life, thinking of his fellow humans more as bugs than his equals. This leaves Captain Tarasco with few options.

USS Stargazer

The Stargazer, captained by Captain Ruhalter with Commander Jean Luc Picard as second officer is summoned to Starbase 209. Upon arrival, they receive their mission briefing which encompasses two "descendants" of the SS Valiant who claim that they're ancestors, some three hundred years ago were the crew of the Valiant and they "did" survive to form a colony on the other side of the barrier. These two descendants bring with them warnings of an invasion into Federation territory by a species that lives on the other side of the galactic barrier known and the Nuyyad.

With plenty of skepticism to spare, the Captain and crew of the USS Stargazer head out for the galactic barrier with one of the descendants on board and a Kelvan advisor aboard to determine the truth in this warning and hopefully deal with it accordingly.

What follows is an exceptional story detailing the events surrounding how Commander Jean Luc Picard became Captain Picard, in command of the USS Stargazer. Along with this, one of the better aspects of the story is that it sets up the events in "Reunion" with reference to his Chief Medical Officer Carter Greyhorse.

I highly recommend this Signature Series edition and reprint of two of author Michael Jan Friedman's better stories. This trade paperback will make an excellent addition to your Star Trek library and at its minimal price won't set you back too far. {ssintrepid}

I am not much of a writer, but i do consider myself a reader and a collector. I was browsing through some comics at my local comic book shop and i stumbled upon "Scarface - Devil In Disguise #1" I usually purchase comics as an investment for my kids, as my father did for me. I have many different comic books that were the first edition and many of them are now valuable. When i picked up this comic book, i first noticed the exceptional art work. Artwork is not a big factor to a valuable collection, but a story is. I never heard of Joshua Jabcuga until now. I read the comic book (i always was a fan of Scarface) and always wanted to see a prequel to the movie. The story is amazing... As i finished the first book, i could not wait for the second one. Since this comic book was passed to many of my friends i was forced to purchase another one to keep for my collections. Now i am hearing there is a special edition coming out with all the editions in one. Again, i never believe the reviews i read, but i think this is the one you should pay attention to. He will be a big hit one day. One recommendation, maybe put some signed comic books for sale as well.

Find my review of the Star Trek Postcard Box and the same applies here. I love the Trek stationary! Thank you for making them available.

I must first say that I have "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" on hardcover in perfect condition! The book, like its predecessors, Star Treks II and III is like an ongoing trilogy up to this point that follows the events starting with "Star Trek II." The story is very entertaining, humorous, and yet scientifically intriguing on whale biology, and ecology. I especially liked the action, and the literal, down-to-earth atmosphere of the novel. I also recommend readers to purchase the sequel to this book/movie, "Star Trek: Probe" which explains the origins of the mysterious probes that came searching for (and to make contact with) humpback whales. "Probe" also explain forecasting events of Earth's ecology due to the environmental damage the probe in "Star Trek IV" inflicted. Seems similar to the issues of today's global warming and El Nino and La Nina trends.

This book is one of the better for a Star Trek's fan. In their chapters are many sketches and original pieces of the series. The designs of Matt Jefferies for the sets, (Part1), the design of the original Enterprise, (- born almost like a Warbird?-, Parts 2,3 & 4), the shuttlecraft and the weapons (Parts 5 & 6). Brillant the Part 7 with The Lost Set and the original scale model of it, (great ! ). The following chapters show the wardrobe by William Ware Theiss in sketches and tests, the make-ups of Fred Phillips (the ears of Spock, the green skin and deformity of Vina, klingons, romulans, etc.), and the accessories created by Wah Ming Chang, (did you know that he received a payment of U$S 520.00 for the design of the original phaser ?). This book shows the courage and innocence of those first pioneers that created the most famous adventure of the Universe, Star Trek.