From revivals of beloved childhood characters to surprising encounters between pop-culture icons, 2011 was definitely a key year for Geek. Here's our picks for the ten best moments in Geek in 2011:

10. Womanthology Raises over $100,000 on Kickstarter

The significance of this story was two-fold: both demonstrating the power of Kickstarter as a crowd-sourced project-funding tool, and highlighting the issue of a lack of female creators in mainstream comics. Womanthology -- a collection of comics by women spearheaded by artist Renae De Liz -- raised over $100K in only 30 days, far in excess of its original goal of $25,000. Such a massive show of support for women in comics, including celebrity funding contributors Kevin Smith, Jim Lee, and Neil Gaiman, demonstrated that yes, people do want to read and support comic projects by women. With the massive IDW-published anthology on its way to becoming a reality, maybe the next step will be more women actually being hired by mainstream comics publishers.

9. Kevin Keller Mini-Series by Archie Comics

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Tags Archie Comics, Batman: Arkham City, best of 2011, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, Kevin Keller, Miles Morales, New 52, Sailor Moon, Star Trek, Star Wars, Thundercats, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Womanthology

In a recent Hollywood Reporter post, the Family Guy/American Dad/Cleveland Show creator talked about some of his current work and let drop that his dream project would be helming a TV reboot of Star Trek.

Here's the actual text from the article that probably came from a question like "What's your dream project," or something along those lines: Read more...

Tags American Dad!, Family Guy, Flintstones, Hollywood Reporter, Seth MacFarlane, Star Trek, TV

Don't call it a comeback. As far as board game publishers with tumultuous histories go, WizKids ranks high on the list, but now they're back in a big way with a few games that will keep them in stores for a long time to come.

After bursting onto the scene with the Mage Knight collectible miniatures system in the early 2000s, WizKids was quickly scooped up by parent company Topps. The romance only lasted 5 years though, and WizKids had their operations suspended in 2008. Then, a year later and with gamers ready to pronounce the company dead, NECA surprised fans by revealing the return of WizKids as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Early on, this newly revived company focused on its core business, HeroClix and ActionClix lines, but also set the stage for re-entry into a booming board game market later in 2011. The first big step was acquiring the Star Trek license and producing two very well received games, Star Trek: Expeditions and Star Trek: Fleet Captains. This gamble paid off perfectly, leveraging the popular Star Trek name to get people playing WizKids games again. In making sure these first games were great, WizKids restored confidence in their brand.

Now that they're back in the spotlight, WizKids is reviving a classic franchise and turning one of their most recent hits into another. First up is a new Mage Knight board game from the mind of designer Vlaada Chvatil which aims to put a new spin on the deckbuilding genre by using it to drive a free-form adventure game. This new game looks to be a high end production judging by a few early pictures and a peek at the lengthy list of components. Click the image below to take a closer look:

The new franchise on tap at WizKids is Quarriors, another spin on deckbuilding that replaces the cards with dice. Lots of dice. The base game alone comes with a whopping 130 custom D6s, and the upcoming Rise of the Demons expansion adds 20 more. This expansion focuses on corruption, where players will purchase dice with negative effects and place them in opponents' bags rather than their own.

To say that Quarriors was the darling of Gen Con is an understatement. It made a huge splash there, and the fact that WizKids is following up with an expansion can only mean that there is a lot more Quarriors to come. They've been very open about their intention to extend the Mage Knight brand into additional areas.

Both of these games will be debuting later this year at the Spiel game fair, the world's largest board gaming convention held in Essen, Germany. There, up to 150,000 eager gamers will be able to see what WizKids has to offer. If the reception is positive, don't expect to see WizKids going away anytime soon.

Related Posts:
WizKids Previews Superman HeroClix Set
Review: Star Trek Expeditions Board Game

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Tags Mage Knight, NECA, Quarriors, Star Trek, WizKids

Note: As a long-time classic Star Trek fan, I might be describing aspects of this issue that are common knowledge for those within the fandom but spoilers for newbies.

The premise of IDW's new ongoing Star Trek series is an intriguing one -- revisiting the classic 1960s episodes, but with the cast of the J.J. Abrams movie. This also makes for some strange feelings of deja-vu, as the young likenesses of actors such as the currently 74-year-old Gary Lockwood rub shoulders with that of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. That said, the new Star Trek comic literally combines the best of the old series and the new movie.

Issue #1 is a "remix" of sorts of the first official Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before," as the Enterprise crosses the very edge of the galaxy and the crew encounters a very strange energy field that apparently grants special telepathic powers. In the original episode Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, filling in for Sulu on the bridge, shares these newfound abilities with new ship Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, but in the comic Dehner withdrew her transfer before ever arriving on the ship. How does the absence of Dehner -- a key character in the original -- alter what happens in the comic as opposed to the TV episode? Well, that's why this is a "remix" rather than a straight-up adaptation. Part of the fun is seeing how this new, altered timeline pans out, making it a version, of sorts, of Marvel's What If? series. Read more...

Tags IDW Publishing, Star Trek

Star Trek fans who like their board games with a little Klingon flair have a quite a treat landing in November. The gaming geeks over at USAopoly are prepping 1,701 sets of Monopoly: Star Trek Klingon Limited Edition and we can preorder the game beginning September 1st.

The rules of the game remain unchanged just like all of the other limited edition Monopoly titles we’ve seen roll out lately. However, game tokens, properties, houses and hotels are going to look a little different than they do on your classic Monopoly board. Read more...

Tags Board Games, Klingon, Monopoly, Star Trek, USAopoly

Mod your own Green Lantern ring and make it glow with this handy article from Instructables:

These sci-fi inspired posters for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s concert series Space Classics evoke Star Trek, Star Wars, and more:

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Tags green lantern, Star Trek, Tetris

I would have never guessed King Abdullah II of Jordan was a Star Trek fan, but that’s apparently the case. In fact, King Abdullah II appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager and likes Star Trek so much he’s going to help make Trekkie dreams come true by tossing some cash at the construction of a Star Trek theme park!

Trekkies will have to travel to Jordan if they want to attend the park, but let’s look on the bright side here -- a Star Trek theme park is really happening and that’s cool enough to get anyone excited. Anyone who likes Star Trek at least. Read more...

Tags CBS, Movies, Red Sea Astrarium, Star Trek, theme parks, TV

Tom Whalen's poster for the Star Trek convention Away Mission: Orlando showcases the many roles of Patrick Stewart:

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Tags George R.R. Martin, Nike Air Max, Star Trek

This awesome Vampirella Vs. Buffy commission is by Jill Thompson (via The Beat):

Have you ever wondered how to make a Darth Vader out of a carrot?

Well, thanks to My Sushi World, now you know!

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Tags Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Calvin and Hobbes, Captain America, Pokemon, Star Trek, Star Wars, Vampirella