Well, I moved. I was sad to go, there is no place quite like New Jersey. But what I will miss most are the people (not the inhabitants of the state in general…definitely not those people); my parents, my sisters, and my dog, and the great group of friends I’ve made and known since I moved to NJ early in high school. I have a lot of people there that I love, and being a plane ride away is gonna be rough.

Before I left, the people I love swagged me out. My parents got me a VERY cool Star Wars t-shirt and my Mom made some delicious Star Wars cupcakes to boot!

Here’s a closeup of the action going on on the shirt:

I went from having one Star Wars shirt to ~five in like a year!

It’s a very cool torso cover featuring a sugar skull like stormtrooper helmet. I’m not sure where the illustrations come from, some of them might be Al “greatest Star Wars comics artist of all time” Williamson (in particular Luke in X-Wing gear at the top right corner) but I can’t be sure. Perhaps it’s Eduardo Barreto’s art from Dark Horse’s adaptation of A New Hope from the 90s? Don’t own that so I can’t really tell. I will do more research to find the answer to this very important mystery…it led me to reading about the career of Eduardo Barreto!

Looking at this shirt made me think about just how many Star Wars t-shirts have been created since the release of the first movie. Think about how many companies (licensed and unlicensed) and retailers have peddled countless designs and infinite variations on a common theme! Designs like the classic STAR WARS logo, reproductions of the various posters, images of characters/ships and very inventive designs such as this. The propagation of Star Wars’ iconography is truly unprecedented in history.

Which brings us to the next bit o’ swag; this beautiful poster my friend Mike got us at a theater showing Star Wars VII. My girlfriend and I call Mike “The Poster Child” because he always brings us awesome art for our walls. Mike, the poster is beautiful will be gracing the walls of our new apartment when we get one, thank you so much (Mike also runs The Wandering Podcast, owns sweet Star Wars t-shirts)!

It’s rare when you’re as obsessed with this stuff as I am that something comes out of left field and surprises you, and for that I have to thank my friend Max for getting me the DC original graphic novel Star Trek: Debt of Honor. I had never heard of this book and when I first tore off the wrapping paper thought it was a collection of DC’s Trek issues, but nope, full on original tale penned by Chris “X-Men” Claremont and drawn by Adam Hughes.

This is an Old Man Kirk story set just after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; and features an appearance by Catherine Hicks’s character from that movie (Whale Scientist Dr. Gillian Taylor). It also has almost EVERY other character from the Kirk Epoch, like John Colicos’s Kor, Saavik (drawn here as kind of a blend between Kristie Alley and Robin Curtis) and with appearances by Enterprise crewmen like Riley, Kyle, uh, the guy who hated Romulans from “Balance of Terror,” the guy who went away with Clint Howard at the end of “The Carbombite Maneuver” (he wasn’t liquored up on tranya and anally probed to death like I thought) and Kirk’s godchild from “Court Martial,” now a Starfleet officer herself.

The plot concerns a mysterious species that has attacked disabled Federation, Klingon, and Romulan vessels in the wake of galactic disasters, entering Kirk’s life while he’s a young officer serving aboard the USS Farragut (following the devastation of that ship by the Cloud Creature from “Obsession”). The insectoid invaders continue to prey on disabled ships after the incidents involving the Doomsday Machine (from…..”The Doomsday Machine”) and V’Ger (Star Trek: The Motion Picture), but no one believes Kirk or his Klingon and Romulan counterparts about their existence. This leads Kirk, Kor, and a Romulan captain to form a pact to fight the aliens the next time they make an appearance, which happens to be after the incursion of the Whalesong Probe in Star Trek IV.

This reminder of all the omnipotent clouds/giant spacecraft that have made beelines for Earth makes you wonder how the planet didn’t get destroyed in like…1966 or something.

The book was extremely enjoyable and I will have to post a more detailed review soon. I also just finished The Entropy Effect (another recently acquired bit of Star Trek Star Swag) so I will have to tell you how I feel about that bit of questionably canon Trek material as well.

Swag is great, but having people who love you is better. I love you all and will miss you,  and I promise that I will be back to visit often. It’s not as if we live across a galaxy from each other, after all! Or even a single planet, which was actually true for two years (and even then I got my ass back to NJ to visit)! I’ll see you guys in the Friends D&D skype group!

Live long and prosper, and may The Force be with you. ❤