You got your sci-fi in my comic book. You got your comic book in my sci-fi!

I remember on the weekends my parents wanted to get out of the small town we lived in. It was almost the tiniest town in Mississippi. Most times we would head north to Memphis, Tennessee, but just as often we would wind south east to Oxford, Mississippi.

We would park somewhere close to the town square, and go to various shops. We'd always wind up at the used book store. My parents loved to read, and they passed it along to their kids.

I would wander to my favorite section: science-fiction, fantasy. This was long before "Sci-Fi", "syfy", and the other cutesy trademarked names for it. I'd look for anything I hadn't seen before. Often flipping through the same books, wondering if I should pick them up this time. There was never a large selection, compared to "fiction", "mystery", or "romance", but down there on the lower shelves I saw it for the first time: "Green Lantern".

A comic book in the science-fiction section? Don't get me wrong. I love comics. I've been reading them for as long as I can remember, but to me, they were either costumed super-heroes like Batman or Spider-man (my favorites), or war comics which my older brother collected and drew. This was a small digest edition of his "Secret Origin", and I can still picture it on a small shelf under a dusty window.

This was a costumed super-hero with an all powerful glowing ring, flying through space, and battling uncountable foes on the cover of every issue. He didn't protect one city or even just the Earth. He was responsible for an entire sector of space with many planets and solar systems. This was a science-fiction comic book, and I was hooked!!!

Where did you stubble upon your favorite comics for the first time? Leave a comment below.

Dr Who Series 6 review: "Day of the Moon"

The second episode of Series Six, "Day of the Moon," was also written by show-runner Steven Moffat. I felt it wasn't up to his usual standards, but a poor Moffat script is better than most television. The second part of the series premier amps up the creepy factor, and deepens some of the character story arcs.

The story picks up three months later. Amy, Rory, and Dr  River Song have been searching for information about the new race, The Silence, all the while being chased by the FBI, led by agent Canton Delaware. When last we saw him, Agent Delaware was working with the Doctor and his companions. He guns down in the American gun-toting fashion Amy and Rory.  Dr Song chooses to jump from a New York sky-rise rather than get shot .The Doctor has been captured and the FBI is building an impenetrable prison around him at area 51. Once the prison is finished, the Doctor's cunning plan is revealed. Agent Delaware is in on the scam, and inside the perfect prison is the TARDIS set to invisible. Amy and Rory are not dead, but hiding in the body-bags. They all jump into the TARDIS and rescue River as she falls from the building.

©BBC They reveal the information they know about the Silence. You forget them as soon as you take your eyes of them through a form of mass hypnosis. The investigators have been marking ticks on themselves when they see one. The Doctor implants homing and recording beacons into all their palms so they can track each other. The team splits up with Amy and Agent Delaware investigating an orphanage they believe the little girl in the spacesuit is from, and the Doctor, Rory, and River heading to Cape Canaveral.

Things get pretty bleak and dark, when Amy and Delaware go into the run down orphanage in an obvious X-Files homage. Some of the creepiest moments are when Amy looks into a mirror to see markings on her face. Each time the camera cuts there are more marks. She looks up to see a nest of Silence, and immediately forgets them when she looks to the door to run.

In the meantime, Agent Delaware discovers the girl in the spacesuit is being taken care of by the director of the orphanage when it was open. He is able to shoot one of the Silence, and capture it.

The Doctor is taken into custody by the government, again, when he's discovered tampering with the Apollo11 command module. When he's questioned, President Nixon walks in the door with Dr Song and Rory in period costumes. Nixon tells them to release the Doctor and they all retreat to the TARDIS. They travel to the orphanage, but Amy's been taken hostage by the Silence. Her transmitter is found on the floor.

Several days pass, and Rory can hear everything Amy is saying. The Doctor can't find where she is. In a bit of patented Doctor Who brilliance, he does. In the meantime, Agent Delaware questions the captured Silence, and records it mocking his attempts to heal it, "You should kill every one of us on sight".

The Doctor, Rory, and Dr. Song arrive in the Silence control room where Amy has been held captive.  The Doctor is carrying a television set, and turns it on revealing the historic moment when Neil Armstrong is stepping on the moon. One of the best lines is a throwaway in this chaotic scene where the Doctor say, "I'm confident. You better watch out when I'm confident." With the entire world watching the broadcast, the Doctor reveals his plan. He has tapped into the live feed from Apollo 11, and is patching in the video Agent Delaware shot of the Silence ordering everyone to "...shoot them on sight". Across the globe every human turns on the Silence they can now see and attacks them.

©BBC They make their escape with Amy, and leave in the Tardis. Dr Song is returned to Stormcage prison where she realizes her time is nearly at an end in a poignant moment.

I'm still enjoying it even if it feels a bit stretched thin. The two parter was good but repetitive. Many of the same ideas are being used and reused. Dr Song is rescued the same way as in "The Time of Angels," by jumping into space and the TARDIS materializes in her path. Whenever the Doctor gets into trouble with the authorities, he pulls President Nixon out of the TARDIS. These are minor quibbles, however.

I'm looking forward to the next few episodes. Ghostly pirates attack on next week's episode called "Curse of the Black Spot," and the long awaited episode written by Neil Gaiman is the week after.