Transformers: The Movie Prequel Graphic Novel

Written by Simon Furman and Chris Ryall, Transformers: Movie Prequel tells the story of what happened before the major motion picture. Because it's a graphic novel, you get to see more of the Transformers' homeworld and the war that brought them to our planet.

Bumblebee is sent as a scout to find the All-Spark before the Decepticons. As they land on earth, they transform to the forms we're familiar with in the movie.

You see the Sector 7 agents trying to steer the Transformers into a trap. They've known about them for many generations.

This graphic novel is a nice way to show the backstory of the film. But I wouldn't say it's "great".

A Long Time Coming by Evan Thomas

Evan Thomas works for the Newsweek magazine and compiled results of some of his reporters into this book about the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama.

A Long Time Coming is the kind of book I sink my teeth into and I finished it within two days.

If you enjoy the behind-the-scenes stories of politicians/celebrities, you will enjoy this book.

I'm a fan of The West Wing television show so this adds to the enjoyment.

Thomas gives us the accounts of what it was like for the Obama, McCain and Clinton campaigns. You get to read about how the people behaved, how they reacted to different things.

No matter what your political leanings, this book exposes some of the more little-known tidbits attributed to presidential campaigns.

5 out of 5 stars.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia of Star Wars) has turned her stage act into a memoir.

Wishful Drinking is full of drama drama drama. Fisher has quite a few problems. (as you can see from the cover) Her parents had the typical Hollywood relationship. Think Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston with Angelina Jolie. Mix in a few other marriages and divorces.

Crazy.

Then she gets caught up with the Star Wars machine, Paul Simon, drugs, electro-shock treatment, turning men gay and has someone die in her bed after a party.

Bottom line - Carrie Fisher is like any other Hollywood has-been, egotistical and believing herself to be funny. When in truth, she's just crude.

Avoid this book.

The Pawn by Steven James

The Pawn took me a while to get into. It was sitting in my office for the longest time, quietly letting me ignore it. Now that I finished it, I'm interested in the further adventures of FBI agent Patrick Bowers.

In this novel, Bowers is investigating a serial killer who goes by the name the Illusionist. With each killing, the Illusionist leaves a white pawn chess piece.

This book reads like an episode of CSI. You won't know who-dun-it until the very end. There weren't any language problems (swearing) that I can remember. Some of the imagery of the killings are pretty gruesome, but nothing like what you see on television. And it leaves us on a nice cliff-hanger.

Seeing as this is called a Patrick Bowers thriller, we can assume there will be more stories from Steven James.

If you like novels where you're trying to solve the crime before the main character, The Pawn should be one you pick up and read at least twice - so you can go back and look for clues you missed.

Essential Spider-Man vol. 6

A very sad day in comic book history. This was a major blow to Peter Parker. When the writers killed this character, fans were stunned. This had never happened before - killing off a female lead!

Included in this volume are:

"Gang War, Shmang War! What I Want to Know is... Who the Heck is Hammerhead?"
"The Last Battle!"
"Suddenly... The Smasher!"
"The Deadly Designs Of The Disruptor!"
"Countdown To Chaos!"
"The Gentleman's Name Is... Hulk!" (part 1)
"The Fight And The Fury!" (part 2)
"The Night Gwen Stacy Died" (part 1)
"The Goblin's Last Stand!" (part 2)
"...Just A Man Called Cage!"
"The Mark Of The Man-Wolf" (part 1)
"Wolfhunt!" (part 2)
"The Kangaroo Bounces Back!"
"The Dark Wings Of Death"
"The Vulture Hangs High!"
"The Punisher Strikes Twice!"
"Betrayed!" (part 1)
"My Uncle... My Enemy?" (part 2)
"The Master Plan Of The Molten Man!"
"The Molten Man Breaks Out!"
"Danger Is A Man Named...Tarantula"
"Shoot-Out In Central Park!" (part 1)
"The Green Goblin Lives Again!"
"The Green Goblin Strikes!"