IDW Publishing, CBS Consumer Products and DC Entertainment announced today that they will boldly go where no one has gone before…in brightest day, in blackest night. Two iconic franchises will meet this summer in a legendary crossover event with the release of a six-part comic book miniseries, STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN: THE SPECTRUM WAR. Both Star Trek and Green Lantern are known for their strong cast of interstellar characters and when they come together for the first time this July, fans new and old are sure to experience a galaxy-sized thrill.

When you hear the word “Captain”, what do you picture in your head? A sailor? A pirate? Maybe an airline pilot? All perfectly valid choices. But there are many types of captains, not all of them involved with ships. Well, OK, most of them are, but not always.

Unfortunately, I already own almost all the comics in the bundle in physical copies. But if you don’t, I highly recommend picking it up if only for the two movie prequel stories, Countdown and Countdown To Darkness, which flesh out the backstory to the films. I may pick this up anyway, because The Hero Initiative is an awesome cause, and 66 comics at name your own prices is always a deal, doubly so if they are all Star Trek.

Death is unavoidable. But this past week a totally unexpected tragedy occurred with the untimely passing of Robin Williams. I don’t think there was a person alive who had anything but good things to say about him. Robin Williams was just the latest, but will not be the last. This last year also saw the departure of some other heavy hitters. Jim “Ultimate Warrior” Helwig giving what was ultimately his own eulogy on Monday Night Raw was extremely emotional. We will never get an true Ghostbusters 3 without Harold Ramis.

Being 33, I’m of the age that many of the people I looked up to as a child will soon be shuffling off the mortal coil. It’s inevitable. While, as Dr. McCoy says we all have to “turn death into a fighting chance for life”, that still won’t stop me from being devastated when we finally lose those celebrities below.

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll know the reason content has been lite of late is because over the Fourth of July holiday, I hit up massive sales at Frankenstein Comics and Fat Jack’s. I bought so many comics, I had to build new underbed storage for them, and I’m still busy bagging and boarding them, only up through the E’s. But while I was at Frankensteins, they had a box of crazy old magazines, all marked down to a quarter. These are the magazines I saw in that box of old garbage that I just had to own.

As a nerd, we’re pretty much hard wired to love green skinned women. Be they alien, reptilian, cyborg, robot, amphibian, gaseous, energy, or some form of “other”, green skinned girls abound in the worlds of science fiction.

The newest wave in The Simpsons Top 25 Greatest Guest Stars figurines allows you to combine your love of The Simpsons with WWE, Magic (non-The Gathering type),or Star Trek. If your current Bret Hart or Spock figures aren’t cartoony enough, or you really wanted to make a Penn and Teller or Stephen King diorama, these just might be for you. I can remember almost all the other appearances in the line, but I had no idea the “Excellence of Execution” was ever on The Simpsons. Or that he parlayed that appearance into voice acting on the Canadian cartoon Jacob Two-Two, based on the popular children’s book series. You learn something new every day! Wave Three should just be hitting shelves now, and with any luck you can still find Waves 1 and 2.

Who hasn’t dreamed of flying through the stars? If you’re here reading this, probably you! Space is too majestic to not want to explore. It is the final frontier after all! There are plenty of games, movies, shows, and books that help us feel like we’re there. While they may not always be accurate, space exploration is the dream! This is my tribute to my favorite space fairing ships.