COMIC BOOK JONES

Well the holidays are behind us and a bright shiny new 2010 promises to have many high points for fans of speculative fiction! (that’s everything from Comic books to Pulps to Genre film and TV!)

Here is my top 10 most anticipated for 2010 (YOUR mileage may vary though)!

1) 24 - Season Eight- when we last saw him, Jack Bauer lay on his death bed, ravaged by a weaponized biological prion variant. (whatever THAT is). However deathbeds are a minor inconvenience to Jack, who makes Wolverine, Superman and Captain America look like WIMPS! Yes Jack is back and so is CTU, but this time in the ever lovin’ Big Apple! Season eight will take place right here in New York where a reconstituted CTU is just about to go back on line. Returning from season 7 is the ravishing Annie Wershing as Renee Walker, late of the FBI but now working for CTU. Jack is about to enter retirement to spend time with his daughter Kim (the also ravishing Elisha Cuthbert) and his granddaughter. But you KNOW jack’s familial bliss won’t last TOO long! There are bad guys to bring down and sources to be tortured! New cast members include Fredie Prinze Jr. as the new director of Field Ops (a YOUNG Jack) and Katee Sackoff (YAY Starbuck!!!). And of course it just wouldn’t be 24 without (the SUPER Ravishing) Mary Lyn Rajskub as Chloe O’Brian! The series hits with a two night four episode premiere on January 17th and 18th! JACK IS BACK!

2) Siege – SEVEN YEARS IN THE MAKING! This is the culmination of plot lines going all the way back to Avengers Dissembled and I am eagerly awaiting Norman Osborn getting his just desserts! My personal hope is that Gwen Stacy comes back from the dead and throws him off a bridge but that is probably a long shot. Siege will play out for most of the first half of 2010 and will cover most of the main Marvel titles. Stop by CBJ and pick up the give away “Origins Of Siege” for a checklist. Something tells me you won’t want to miss ANY issues!

3) Iron Man 2 – War Machine! Whiplash! (The RIDICULOUSLY Ravishing) Gweneth Paltrow and of course the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Nuff Said!

4) V, Dollhouse, Fringe, and Smallville - All three shows return from hiatus and there should be fireworks aplenty . For those of you who have not caught V, it is the reboot of the 1980’s classic and has the potential of being the next Battlestar Galactica!

5) Speaking of Battlestar, you are going to want to catch the new series Caprica, set some 50 years before the events depicted in BSG. It tells the story of how the Cylons came to be. If the pilot is any indication, Caprica will be HUGE for sci-fi fans. Caprica is slated to premiere new episodes on SyFy on January 22nd.

6) New York Comic Con – Slated for the weekend of October 8th at the Javits Center. If you go to ONE show this year, Comic Con is the one you have to attend. They cover everything from the newest movies and TV Shows, video games, toys, figures and of course MILES of comics. There are literally hundreds of artists, actors, writers and creators on hand for all three days. I strongly suggest VIP tickets so you have a place to store your swag and take a load off! Also make sure to hit the Comic Con website (www.newyorkcomiccon.com/) because there are always pre-show events. The site will also be posting events and celebs as they become known.

7) The Yanks repeat as World Champs! (I had to stick that in for me and Tiger!!)

8) Mass Effect 2 – If you were lucky enough to play the original Sci-Fi Action RPG you know why this is a MUST GET title. If the sequel is half as good as the original it will be one great game! It is scheduled to be released on January 26th for windows and the Xbox 360.

9) Star Trek online – After YEARS of development the MMORPG is being released for the PC on February 2nd! What Trekker can resist THIS one? Not ME! As this is a PC ONLY game your system requirements are as follows:

Minimum requirements:OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 3800+Memory: 1GB RAMVideo: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 / ATI Radeon X1800 / Intel HD GraphicsSound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound cardDirectX: Version 9.0c or higherHDD: 8GB free disk spaceNetwork: Broadband requiredDisc: 6x DVD-ROM

Recommended hardwareOS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)CPU: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 5600+Memory: 2GB RAM or betterVideo: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3850+Sound: DirectXcCompatible soundcardDirectX: Version 9.0c or higherHDD: 8GB free disk spaceNetwork: Broadband requiredDisc: 6x DVD-ROM

Be there or be….Ferengi…well you can actually BE Ferengi but who would want to be?

10) Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths – This is the latest in the long line of outstanding DC Animated features. This time around the JLA face off against their evil counterparts on a parallel Earth. The plot is loosely based on JLA # 29-30 from 1964 in which Earth II was introduced into the DCU. I expect crisis to measure up to the usual high standards of the DC Animated fare so it should be a hoot!

Well that is my top ten for 2010. How about all you true believers? Let’s hear about what YOU are waiting eagerly for in the year to come! Perhaps it is a return of “An Evening With Socko Jones”?!!!...HEY! That needs to go on my list TOO…so that is my top ELEVEN!!!

That’s 30!

Mitch