Summary: When the Federation learns that the Hobus star is going supernova Admiral Picard leads the relief effort. 
Plot: I'm a big Star Trek fan but aside from the original Gold Key series I've found the comics to be a little more miss than hit but one of my favorites was Countdown which came out just before the 2009 reboot so I was excited to see a similar book being put out for the new Picard series; and it doesn't disappoint. Set after the 1998 film Insurrection and just before the events of the original Countdown series(which if you can believe it came out ten years ago!) the book sets out to tell the story of how the Federation first learned about the Hobus star going supernova and their trouble the had getting the Romulan Empire to accept aid from the Federation. I really liked seeing where the characters were, especially Geordie as the head of the Utopia Planitia ship yards and of course Picard as Admiral, and the way the Romulans interacted with Picard was fantastic. 
Art: I really enjoyed that Hernandez definitely went of his way to capture the different actor's likenesses but stayed away from tracing them, making them instantly recognizable but without looking lifeless. I was initially a little thrown off by the new Star Fleet uniforms as I felt the look from the latter films and DS9 was perfect, but once that wore off I actually got to like it. Sure, it's a little busy but if you're going to update the look this wasn't a bad design:


Grade:8/10

Summary: Bruce Wainwright comes to the end of his rope and finds a new way to move forward. 
Plot: It's been a long time coming but the wait was well worth it to get the ending to this story as we got to see Busiek's meditation on what makes Batman tick come full circle. This book could have been an easy cash in, just giving us a slightly realistic Batman and aping the beats of Superman: Secret Identity but instead Busiek really went all in to give us a story that was a truly unique look at the mythology of Batman. I loved that at it's core here is a story about a boy trying to impose fairness on the world and how that drive would destroy you; it seems like a gross over simplification to say that's what Batman is really about...but a child's impotent rage writ large really does describe Batman well when you think about it and that emotionally focused narrative is really what made this book so great.
Art: I loved the mix of real life, grounded art and the deep horror elements that Leon brought to the page. That duality, the ability to make it look believable while at the same time pack in the horror really goes to the root of Batman; he's a normal guy who does impossible things. I think my only complaint goes again to a poor depiction of a local landmark: the Franklin Park Zoo. Previously I knocked the narrative for including a Bat exhibit where none existed but here the zoo is once again important and they got the entrance wrong which just baffles me as both zoo entrances as so beautifully Gothic as to make their absence seem almost criminal: