Last year I was charmed by Doug Johnstone’s first contact novel, The Space Between Us. I hadn’t expected that we’d be treated to a sequel but I was thrilled when I learned about the return of Lennox, Sandy, Heather, and the rest of the cast from the first book. For his follow up Johnstone returns to northern Scotland where he further examines the depths to which humanity might dive to prove that it is King of the Hill.   What Is The Collapsing Wave? The Collapsing Wave is a direct sequel to The Space Between Us and definitely shouldn’t be read without readin ..read more

Hot on the heels of last year’s excellent Super Mario RPG remake, Nintendo has seen fit to bless us with another new take on a Mario roleplaying classic. Next month, the beloved GameCube title Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will make its way onto the Nintendo Switch complete with HD visuals, an updated soundtrack, and even a few quality-of-life enhancements. Last week I was invited to a special online press event where Nintendo’s Treehouse team walked me through the ins and outs of Thousand-Year Door‘s peculiar storybook world. All in all, it was a fantastic return trip to a title that I ..read more

You probably learned in school that Lewis and Clark were commissioned by the President to explore the Louisiana Purchase. What you didn’t know is that their secret mission was to hunt down monsters! What Is Corps of Discovery? Corps of Discovery is a cooperative deduction game for 1 to 4 players, ages 14 and up, and takes about 45 to 75 minutes to play. It’s currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, with a pledge level of $53CAD (about $39USD) for a copy of the retail edition of the game. There are additional tiers for the deluxe edition (with wooden components), and the four expansions may b ..read more

Batman: Dark Age #2 cover, via DC Comics. Batman: Dark Age #2 – Mark Russell, Writer; Michael Allred, Artist; Laura Allred, Colorist Ray – 9.5/10 Ray: The first issue of this fascinating series introduced us to a completely different version of Batman—one who didn’t see his parents murdered, and grew up a callow, arrogant young man who mistreated Alfred and took on his Batman training with arrogance. That led him into a run-in with the one honest cop in Gotham, Jim Gordon, and landed him in prison—where the shady figures running Wayne Enterprises saw the perfect opportunity to have him killed ..read more

The Flash #8 cover, via DC Comics. The Flash #8 – Simon Spurrier, Writer; Ramon Perez, Vasco Georgiev, Artists; Sofie Dodgson, Matt Herms, Colorists Ray – 8.5/10 Ray: Wally is off-screen for this issue, ostensibly off with the Titans, but the truth is… more complicated. That lets Si Spurrier shift the focus, and the result is one of the most straightforward issues of the series and one of the best. Barry has gathered the many speedsters out there to prevent the countless dimensional incursions bringing creatures from time, space, and beyond. This includes rookie speedster Circuit Breaker, who ..read more

The Penguin #9 cover, via DC Comics. The Penguin #9 – Tom King, Writer; Rafael De Latorre, Artist; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist Ray – 9.5/10 Ray: Penguin is back in Gotham—but he’s not getting the city back without a fight, as the Cobblepot twins have set out to make sure their father doesn’t get his foothold back in the city. Penguin’s daughter has seemingly unleashed a campaign of random bombings across the city, targeting businesses and charities—including the day care center founded in Martha Wayne’s name. This unleashes Batman in search of the truth—and he thinks his old enemy is the culprit ..read more

Harley Quinn #39 cover, via DC Comics. Harley Quinn #39 – Tini Howard, Writer; Natacha Bustos, Artist; Nick Filardi, Colorist; Erica Henderson, Backup Writer/Artist Ray – 9/10 Ray: Harley has been up to some crazy adventures so far in this series, including taking on the entire multiverse, so it’s good that Howard is dialing things back and taking her back to her roots—as Gotham’s most chaotic criminal. We saw last issue that Harley is struggling to find her place now that she’s back on Earth, and she thinks crime might be exactly what she needs. But she’s going to do it her way this time, sta ..read more

Power Girl #8 cover, via DC Comics. Power Girl #8 – Leah Williams, Writer; Eduardo Pansica, Penciller; Julio Ferreira, Inker; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist Ray – 9/10 Ray: After two arcs taking place on the fringes of Metropolis, it’s time for Power Girl to be thrown into the deep end of the coming event—House of Brainiac. As the issue begins, it’s a relaxed time as Paige and Omen are practicing ice skating and talking about Paige’s crush on wild-card scientist Axel. This is a really funny scene, especially the bit involving the “psychic jerk jar” in Paige and Lilith’s apartment for when Lilith ..read more

Batman: the Brave and the Bold #12 cover, via DC Comics. Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 – Karl Kerschl, Rob Levin, Delilah S. Dawson, Zipporah Smith, Herik Hanna, Writers; Karl Kerschl, Mike Norton, Serg Acuna, Karl Mostert, Charlie Adlard, Artists; Msassyk, John Kalisz, Matt Herms, Mike Spicer, Colorists Ray – 9.5/10 Ray: Two stories continue this month, along with a trio of new stories. Wounded. Via DC Comics. Karl Kerschl wraps up “Batman: Mother’s Day” this issue, as Maps Mizoguchi gets her biggest mission as Robin yet—taking on a Vampirized Bruce Wayne, who is pursuing his love intere ..read more

Expand your ecosystems with even more options and a powerful new action. What Is Earth: Abundance? Earth: Abundance is an expansion to Earth and requires the base game to play. Earth: Abundance is for 1 to 6 players, ages 14 and up, and takes about 45 to 90 minutes to play. It’s currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. As with the base game, I think the game has enough complexity that 14 and up seems like a good range, but a younger kid with some solid game experience and strong math skills may still be able to enjoy it. Earth: Abundance was designed by Maxime Tardif and published by In ..read more