I’ll post excerpts and links for reviews from my written works here.
Yeah, okay. It’ll probably only be the good ones. But still.
STAR TREK ALIEN SPOTLIGHT: THE BORG
IDW Publishing
Written by Andrew Steven Harris
From ComiXology:
Extremely well written… excellent… intriguing… this deserved a mini- series.
From Star Trek Magazine:
Alien Spotlight: Borg proves the best of the series so far… stunning action and characterization.
From The Good Stuff:
Everything falls into place very well… Andrew Steven Harris most definitely knows his Trek lore and he puts it to good use here.
From Comics Bulletin:
Four Stars. This issue of Star Trek Alien Spotight has a far better plot and pacing than many of the Star Trek movies, and were we living in a just world, it would be the basis for the next one… A must-read for any Star Trek fan.
From Wizard Magazine:
The best of the bunch includes the Borg spotlight story, which finds the artificial life forms attempting to assimilate the universe in an ambitious time-travel scheme.
From Eye On Comics:
I have to admit that I enjoyed this comic book much more than I ever thought I would… There is a real story to be found here, and it’s immersed in Trek continuity. This comic book felt more like a part of the Trek universe than any other I’ve thumbed through before… there’s a more epic tone at play that would have merited several issues, or even an original graphic novel.
From Guide To The Trek Collective:
By far the strongest issue in the entire Alien Spotlight miniseries, and quite possible the best from IDW Star Trek to date, the Borg issues delivers on every level… I hope to see a lot more from both the writer Andrew Steven Harris (time permitting from his Trek editorial role). A truly exceptional issue. If you buy one Star Trek comic this year, make it this one.
From TrekWeb:
I just want to say up front, this is like no other Trek comic I’ve read/seen before. Never bought a Trek comic? Think comics are for the kiddies? You could not be so wrong. This is what you show/get the uninitiated. Everything works…EVERYTHING! Assimilate yourself or someone today!
The story: Holy crud, where to begin!? It’s the most complex story I’ve read from IDW. My expectations were low for a Borg centered story since I’m still suffering from Borg overload on Voyager, but—Wow!— Andrew Steven Harris turns in the best IDW Trek story yet. You get Borg, bad as you remember them being. You get a returning character, who I love, but has drawn ire from other Trek fans (page 8). You get a welcome, logical return of an alien race barely touched upon (page 17). You get a story device that I absolutely love, especially when it’s done well. And you get the hero one-on-one with the antagonist in a do-or-die climax that was more thrilling than most Trek episodes. Page 16: Those are characters’ reactions flawlessly nailed cold and hard, true to form! Complex, logical, thrilling, and satisfying beyond belief. I bow down to Harris for this tale. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please ask for a pay raise based on this book, Mr. Harris.
The final line: Perfect. Wonderful. “The best Trek comic from IDW—ever!” Did you read that in the appropriate Simpsons voice? Christmas has come early for 2008: IDW made this comic. Get one before they’re all gone. This is a Star Trek comic that EVERY fan must have. You’ll be glad you did. Overall grade: A+
From Broken Frontier:
Holy sufferin’ Shaitan—as I lay this comic down measuredly, into my lap; as my eyes darted absent-mindedly about, witless, punch-drunk, completely suspicious that reality wasn’t, in fact, what I’d just witnessed it to be (it couldn’t be; I mean…it just couldn’t ), I thought to myself: It was. I read the issue again, just to be sure, and sure enough, it gave a repeat performance, which is to say…well…damn it, words fail. It was…really, really smart. That shouldn’t be such an implausible virtue, but it is. The story was supernaturally aware of the intricacies involved in each of its long-established characters, and was paced at a rare tempo, a rhythm that allowed for jaw-dropping, epic-as-epic-gets events to take place inside a comparably miniscule space without once, not for a single panel, reading as though anything beyond a clash of character philosophies…
Andrew Steven Harris is the man behind the brilliance, an editor for IDW’s Star Trek line, and like Roy Thomas back in the Marvel heyday of Conan, Harris not only knows his Trek, but he understands it as well, through-and-through, penning a tale as philosophically complex as any an Isaac Asimov Foundation novel…
It’s intricate, and nuanced, and blasts through ideas and activity as though they were simply obstacles in the way of the comic itself. It’s as if Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison teamed up to write a Star Trek yarn only both having learned, somewhere down the line, how to write a story of honest-to-god sincerity. The wildness of Ellis and Morrison are here, as are their inordinate perception of plot and purpose, though Harris one-ups nearly every comic scribe alive by never missing a beat of authentic humanity, not for a single sequential. There’s no empty posturing here, no unexplored avenues in favor of unnecessary conflict or misunderstandings or whatever the melodramatic cliché. This is a story that feels real. And it’s extraordinarily clever to boot…
What else can I say but…I’m flabbergasted by the skill in which this one-shot was crafted. This is a hallmark in comics, all comics, every comic; it’ll be criminally overlooked, especially as I fear that most reviewers, like me, although liable to praise the book for being a stunning surprise, will find themselves too busy being stunned to do more than muse quietly on how the book managed such pleasant impact. I don’t know if there’ll be a better single issue from any other comic book this year, even if we are only in January. There certainly wasn’t one last year.
TRANSFORMERS: DECEPTICONS
IDW Publishing
Lead Writer: Andrew Steven Harris
Transformers fans are notoriously demanding, a real testament to the devotion that they have to these characters, so I thought I’d include some fan reviews for the Decepticons book that I wrote to kick off the year-long maxi-event All Hail Megatron we were preparing as the new centerpiece for for the Transformers line of titles. This was an especially challenging series to develop, not just because of the scope of the event and the expectations of TF readers, but because the lead baton was being passed to writer Shane McCarthy from Simon Furman, who are in two wildly different times zones (London and Australia, with IDW in San Diego); and because, with such a radical departure in direction for the franchise, Hasbro was taking an understandably comprehensive role in the approvals of the components of the series.
When I handed off the editorial reins to my pal Denton Tipton after things were up and running and the first issue was wrapping, I told him, “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.” But he took the ball and ran with it, and I think he’s done a stellar job.
From the About Heroes blog: Many goodies for TF fans… After reading the interviews with the writer and artist and reading the first 8 pages from issue one, I’m sold. This issue is a wonderful look into the making of the upcoming TF mini series and has some wonderful profiles and artwork for all the main Decepticons … a great look at how a future TF comic book is created.
And a video review from YouTube fan critic KalelPrime (David), one of the best known TF fans, who has interviewed the likes of Simon Furman and reviewed just about every Transformers comic published by IDW–and then some. Says David: “I am very hooked… they’ve done a really good job of putting this together… I highly recommend picking it up.”
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