Between the skill of the artwork and the story craft, The Iron King #1 is a very good start to what will hopefully continue to be a great series based on the books by Julie Kagawa.

'UFO Hunters,' a companion book to the highly popular History Channel series, gets one star for an entirely valid concept but very poor execution.

'Doctor Sleep' is unmistakably a “kickass” story and so much more. Stephen King clearly loves much of humanity with all the passion of Walt Whitman and points to paths of love and forgiveness with a quiet profundity.

Although the story will need to add some more complexity if it is to carry future issues, the humor in 'It Came!' is first-rate and the artwork, done in a sort of cleaned-up 'Dick Tracy'-esque style, is very good.

In short, James Lovegrove's 'Sherlock Holmes: The Stuff of Nightmares' is everything a Sherlock Holmes fangirl like me could ask for.

'The Cuckoo's Calling' is an intriguing story unfolded with Rowling’s expert timing and sense of natural pace. This is Rowling at her best.

'Antigoddess' takes us through an exciting tale of present-day alliances and rivalries among the gods with a thrilling conclusion and promise of more to come. In addition to a fun read for the teen set, Kendare Blake also provides a deeper, more adult layer of interest.

If you can overlook the biased portrayal of Hemingway, 'Z' is well worth reading for a glimpse into the many agonies and ecstasies of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

To put it simply, 'Anne of Green Gables' was a joy to read. The artwork is beautifully colored and the simple but detailed line drawings have a nostalgic flair that just fits the story perfectly.

What keeps 'The Shining Girls' from being just another popular paperback novel on the rack at the airport is the addition of a dash of Stephen King-esque supernatural, and I truly enjoyed the idea of this sci-fi augmentation to what was a decently written thriller.

In what is turning out to be a highly successful collaboration between Stephen Baxter and the author of the popular Discworld series, Terry Pratchett, 'The Long War' is an absorbing story that insightfully explores the political, sociological, and theological implications of the Long Earth.

The net effect of 'Insane Jane' is a rather sharp poke in the eye to the more formulaic superhero exploits and origin stories. Overall, there was quite a lot of ingenuity and talent here, but it fell a bit flat for me.

While the plot sounds as though it could be a Nicholas Sparks novel, let me firmly dissuade you of that notion. Cain writes about base, primal emotions and most of the characters in 'The Cocktail Waitress' are only one step up the social ladder from those in a Charles Bukowski novel.

What makes the story a lot of fun is a campy, sarcastic sense of humor in the dialogue, and the central part of the comic is drawn with a classic, nostalgic flair that perfectly correlates with the retro nature of the main character. 'The Secret Lives of Julie Newmar' made me wonder why I ever stopped reading comics.

The premise of 'Manuscript Found in Accra' is interesting and the overall message promoting less divisive, non-proselytizing, humanistic philosophy is certainly worthwhile. But this book does not possess the appealing storyline and characters of Coelho’s previous work, 'The Alchemist,' and without them lacks a cohesive thread.