Cereal, Conan and Coma

New York Comic Con is underway this week, which means there’s been a whole lot of comics news. Here we go…

DC are expanding their reach to new readers by giving away free Justice League comics in various Big G cereal brands in America. There’s also related, free digital tie-ins, which you can read here. Obviously geared towards kids, and showing the classic costumes, rather than the relaunch versions it’s actually a smart initiative. If you’ve ever want to read Batman and Aquaman playing hide and seek read the 4th digital issue.

Fan fave Green Lantern G’nort  is being written out of the New 52 continuity? As Dart Vader would say, “NOOOOO!” Green Lantern will also be the focus of an upcoming Robot Chicken special.

Creators of the excellent Demo series, Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan are working on a new Conan title for Dark Horse for release in February. An unexpected choice, but certainly an intriguing one.

Apparently The Avengers trailer which debuted this week has been downloaded more than 10 million times and here’s The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s commentary for said trailer. Not that I’ve heard as it’s one of those videos that can’t be streamed outside of America. I can only assume it’s funny though.

Writer Jim McCann (Return of the Dapper Men, the upcoming Avengers Solo) is launching a new mini-series at Image about a woman in a coma who must solve the mystery of her own attempted murder. It’s called Mind The Gap and debuts in April.

October 15, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, Comics, New To Comics?, News . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

My Star Wars Thoughts

3 weeks ago we did a Star Wars special for the Extra Sequential podcast. Well, I saw ‘we’ but I was sick, so my usual co-host Mladen was joined by fellow Perth podcaster Luke Milton. They did a great job talking about all things Star Wars-y, but since I already prepped my notes I thought I’d put them up here. They are a bit ramshackle though, and Mr. Milton has some great thoughts on the Star Wars Blu-Ray at his blog. Ok, here we go…

I’ve only seen the original trilogy and most of the extras on Blu-Ray, but the films look awesome. They’re the best looking SW films I’ve ever seen. In fact, they could be the best looking films I’ve ever seen. From the first second you notice how different they look. This is a great visual upgrade and worth the price just for that. When R2-D2 and C-3PO first appear, they look dirty, lived in – real. The extras are OK, but there’s not  a lot of new ones made specifically for this release. In fact, the extras on the DVDs, particularly on the prequel trilogy, are much better. It is very exciting to see the mythical deleted scenes on the original films though, even if they’re not the best quality. Some introductions from George Lucas as to why they were left out would’ve been good, although it’s kind of obvious to anyone who’s seen the films a few times that they would’ve slowed the pace. The three major changes that have received the loudest complaints aren’t actually that bad in the context of the films. Obi-Wan’s weird noise in scaring off the sand people, Vader’s “NOOOO!” cry and the blinking Ewoks are OK. In fact, I think only Wicket now CGI blinks, but it looks fine. Yes, Vader’s cry as he kills the Emperor was unnecessary, as we don’t need his inner turmoil spelled out for us. His original silent reaction was enough, but his first “NOOOO!” in Revenge of the Sith is much more annoying.

HOW I FEEL

Star Wars was the first film I ever saw (on VHS) and one of the first films I saw at the cinema was the Ewoks film Caravan of Courage. The original trilogy are so magical because they comfortably cover so many genres. It’s funny, mainly thanks to Han’s dialogue, ie, “Who’s scruffy looking?”, “We’re all fine here, how are you?” after he blasts the communication panel, and of course there’s healthy elements of adventure, sci fi and fantasy. When Luke swings across the chasm with Princess Leia at his side, and John Williams’ magnificent theme swells – ah, what’s not to love?

A FEW FACTS

The first film debuted in 1977 on 32 screens.

It made over $307 million and held highest grossing film title for next 5 years.

6 films over 18 years, making $4.5 Billion in movie ticket sales, and over $13.5 Billion in merchandising sales.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” and variations thereof has been spoken in every SW film, and even in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Lego SW games have sold over 20 million copies.

WHAT IF?

As I begun compiling my notes and thoughts, I began to wonder, “What if the first film wasn’t a huge success and it was just another forgotten ‘70s film? Where would George Lucas be today?’

No-one expected SW to be a success, even Lucas bet 2.5% of film’s profits against Spielberg that his Close Encounters would make more money, so Spielberg still gets proceeds from the first film.

EXPANDED UNIVERSE

This year is 20th anniversary of the Expanded Universe, which really kicked off with Timothy Zahn’s novel, Heir to the Empire. There have been dozens since in the intervening years and I’ve read a few which feature Luke’s family, and Han and Leia’s kids battling the cruel Yuuzhan Vong, which are now featured in the Invasion series of comics by Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson, which are awesome.

Lucasfilm has to authorize everything, but there’s still continuity errors like Chewie in Episode 3, as he shoulda been a baby, not  an adult.

If you like SW, you must read the comics and books of the Expanded Universe. They range form being set 25000 years before Ep. 4 until abt 50 years after, which is the best period.

COMICS

Tag & Bink are Dead in 2001, written by Kevin Rubio (Troops from 1997). The pair caused all the major events in the films via their stupidity. The last one was 2006’s prequel Revenge of the Clone Menace.

Star Wars Infinities – 1 for each of the original films. 4 ish mini done in 2001 and 02. Alternate realities of the film’s events. The first one is written by Chris Warner, with art by Drew Johnson and Al Rio. Opens with the assault upon the Death Star, and Luke’s 2 torpedoes go in the shaft, but malfunction and blow up too early, meaning the Death Star doesn’t blow up and destroys the rebel base on Alderaan. Luke thinks Leia is dead and goes nuts. He goes to Dagobah and continues to wrestle with his anger. 5 years later he learns Leia is alive and has been brainwashed and is now a representative for the Empire. The Emperor wants Vader’s heir to replace Vader as his apprentice, so if he can’t have Vader’s son, he’ll have Vader’s daughter.  Yoda uses Force suggestions against Admiral Tarkin, who uses the Death Star to destroy the Empire fleet. C3PO was reprogrammed for the Empire, but he and Leia are eventually redeemed.

Empire Vol. 2 Darklighter – collects issues 8-12 and 15 of Star Wars: Empire. Written by Paul Chadwick with art by Doug Wheatley. It focuses on Biggs Darklighter (seen in the Ep. 4 deleted scenes), his acceptance into flight school in the Empire, forming a small rebellion, and his sacrifice during the Death Star battle. It’s very Star Wars – familiar characters, vehicles, planets. Luke’s not in it much, but we do see their friendship. We also see a Womp Rat (perhaps for the first time?). Superb, dynamic art. A must have for SW fans.

Dark Empire 1. Been 3 volumes so far. Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy. The TPB collects 6 ish mini. Set 6 years after Return of the Jedi. Luke, Han, Leia, and the usual gang are all in it. Light, almost ‘80s art, kinda like Bill Sienkiewicz. It was OK, but I preferred Darklighter. It was first published in 1991 and 92, and is the first Dark Horse series after they got the SW rights. Palpatine is back as a spirit and lives on in a series of cloned bodies. Han, Leia, and Chewie rescue Lando and Luke who were shot down. All pretty intense and epic.

Invasion. As I mentioned, the thirds series of Invasion (subtitled Revelations) is out now, and Trades of the first 2 series are out. Dark Horse pump out some high quality SW comics and you can find them all right here. Their newest one is called Agent of the Empire-Iron Eclipse. It’s a 5 ish mini-series by John Ostrander and Stephane Roux. It’s set inside the Empire and has a James Bond vibe to it. Sold! The first 40 page ish comes out on December 14 and can be ordered form your LCS (local comic shop) now.

October 9, 2011
Categories: Comics, Movies, New To Comics?, Reviews . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 4 Comments

Mass Effect and Spidey Variants

 

Here’s two upcoming nifty covers.

BIOWARE AND DARK HORSE UNVEIL SPECIAL EDITION COMIC BOOK AT NEW YORK COMIC CON

 

BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts, and Dark Horse Comics announced today a special edition of Mass Effect: Invasion #1, the first installment in a series of comic books detailing the events following Commander Shepard’s epic journey in the critically acclaimed Action Role Playing Game, Mass Effect™ 2. The special edition of Mass Effect: Invasion #1 features brand new cover art designed by the Mass Effect team and signed exclusively by Mass Effect Lead Writer, Mac Walters. The special edition will be available in a limited run only at New York Comic Con, New York City’s premiere comic book convention, from October 13th – 16th.

 

The Mass Effect: Invasion series features a unique story by Mass Effect lead writer Mac Walters, an original script by John Jackson Miller, best known for his work on Star Wars: Knight Errant, and artist Omar Francia known for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. Mass Effect: Invasion focuses on a story arc featuring a key figure in the Mass Effect universe, Aria T’Loak. The self-appointed queen of Omega, a seedy space station catering to the galaxy’s underworld, T’Loak must defend her territory from a terrifying new threat unleashed by a pro-human organization called Cerberus. Mass Effect: Invasion will launch its first issue this October.

 

Mass Effect: Invasion #1 will be available at comic book retailers starting October 19, 2011.

 

To learn more about Mass Effect, please visit http://masseffect.com, follow the development team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/masseffect or “Like” the game’s Facebook page at http://facebook.com/masseffect.


Humberto Ramos Covers AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #1!

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at  fan favorite Spider-Man Artist, Humberto Ramos’, lush variant cover to Avenging Spider-Man #1! The blockbuster creative team of Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira bring fans one of the biggest launches of 2011! Not only does this new ongoing series mark the return of Joe Maduriera to comics, but also an entirely new chapter for the wall-crawler as he teams up with the biggest names of the Marvel Universe. This November, no fan can miss the Avenging Spider-Man #1 Ramos Variant!

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #1 RAMOS VARIANT (SEP110538)

Written by ZEB WELLS

Art by JOE MADUREIRA

Variant Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS

FOC – 10/17/11, ON SALE – 11/9/11

October 5, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, Comics . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Free The Thing Prequel Comic

Here’s the lowdown from Dark Horse about their free digital comic, set in the time of Vikings, and tying in to The Thing remake film.

THE THING RETURNS TO DARK HORSE COMICS

WITH A FREE DIGITAL COMIC THAT SERVES AS A PREQUELTO THE NEW THRILLER IN THEATERS OCTOBER 14!

Dark Horse Comics is pleased to announce that it has created an exclusive digital comic to serve as a prequel to the thriller “The Thing,” in theaters October 14. Starting today, the comic will be released in three parts on September 21, September 28 and October 5 and is available FREE online at www.digital.darkhorse.com and via the free Dark Horse Comics mobile app (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id415378623). The Thing: The Northman Nightmare tells the origin story of pioneering Norsemen who discover a shape-shifting creature that is hiding in a desolate village with few human survivors.

In December 1991, Dark Horse Comics first published The Thing From Another World #1. In the style of Aliens, Predator and Terminator, Dark Horse Comics picked up where John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film left off. Now, 20 years later, Dark Horse shares a much earlier story about this creature from beneath the ice.

Taking us into frigid Greenland, the comic introduces us to a group of Norsemen who find themselves caught in a game of survival when they discover a terrifying creature. The shape-shifting monster has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. And it hides somewhere in a desolate village with few human survivors, among them a strange group of women…

Said editor Scott Allie: “This property consistently generates much excitement from fans, which made it easy to round up an incredible team for this prequel comic. This is a sincere horror story by guys who know how to knock it out of the park.”

The Thing: The Northman Nightmare is written by Steve Niles (Criminal Macabre), with art by Patric Reynolds (Serenity), colors by Dave Stewart (Hellboy) and a cover by Menton3 (Silent Hill). The Thing: The Northman Nightmare comes to readers as a prequel to Universal Pictures’ upcoming prelude to John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film of the same name.

“Steve Niles and Dark Horse have done it again, truly an amazing book,” said Menton3. “I am extremely proud to be a small part of it.”

The first eight-page installment of The Thing: The Northman Nightmare can be downloaded digitally from the Dark Horse Digital Comics App or at www.digital.darkhorse.com today FOR FREE!

About “The Thing” film: Antarctica: an extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost known as Thule Station. There, a crew of international scientists has unearthed a remarkable discovery. But elation quickly turns to terrifying paranoia in the thriller “The Thing,” as the group of researchers encounters something inhuman that has the ability to turn itself into an exact replica of any living being.

“The Thing” serves as a prelude to John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film of the same name. Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, the thriller is produced by Strike Entertainment’s Marc Abraham and Eric Newman (“Dawn of the Dead”). www.thethingmovie.net


September 22, 2011
Categories: Comics, New To Comics?, News . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Guest Buffy Blogs

Over at the Dark Horse Blog they’ve just started a series of guest posts from Buffy sites to celebrate next month’s release of Buffy Season 9 #1. Read the first post from Buffyfest here.

Starting today we will be featuring Guest Blog posts by fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer here on our site. We are really excited about Buffy Season 9 comics arriving on Comic Shop shelves Sept. 14th and wanted to reach out to fans and get their thoughts about Season 9 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer in general. Whedon fans are legion and probably some of the most generous and passionate we’ve ever encountered. We’re excited to share their enthusiasm for Buffy here on our Blog.
On a related note, artist Rebekah Isaacs will be doing a few signings at some New Hampshire comic shops for Angel & Faith #1 next week. Details here.

 

August 29, 2011
Categories: Comics, New To Comics? . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Some Recent Recommended Reads

Star Wars Invasion: Revelations #2. The latest issue of the third arc in Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson’s Invasion series packs a whollop. Most surprises in comics these days are to do with which superhero is now (temporarily) dead, but I gotta say Taylor pulls two linked shocks in the latter half of this issue that come from nowhere. Of course, I may very well have missed some well placed clues in previous issues, amongst the multitude of comics I read each week, but this was a pleasant surprise, and with this arc only just beginning, the stakes and expectations are now high.

To create another intriguing family in the huge Star Wars mythos is no easy feat, but Taylor has done it with the Galfridians. Of course, Wilson’s art is as fluid and crisp as ever, and this pic makes me admire him even more.

More violent and intense than previous issues, there’s also a heap of Stormtroopers, AT-AT Walkers, a Star Destroyer, and some foolhardy choices by arrogant Empire officers. Yes, this issue does have it all.

Check out a great preview here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. Another much loved property finds a home at IDW and joins their Star Trek, Transformers, Doctor Who, etc line-up. Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman provides the story and layouts, while Tom Waltz and Dan Duncan handle the script and art respectively. Closer to the original early ’80s comic rather than the cartoon, purists will be pleased with the foursome wearing red bandanas, and April O’Neill showing up as a lab assistant, rather than being a reporter.

It starts with a fight against mad cat Old Hob, who, as Splinter’s narration suggests, is a common foe. The three Turtles take on the eyepatched feline and his goons and win, before Old Hob jumps over a fence, making a quick mention of Raphael’s absence. A flashback to 18 months previous shows O’Neill working alongside Chet Allen (who annoyingly “um’s a lot) at Stock Gen Research. The four turtles are kept in a glass cage and a rat roams free in the lab. We then meet their boss Baxter Stockman who is talking to an unseen General Krang, who is eager to get the results he wants from his experimentation on the animals, including the super soldier mutagen. There is a war waiting, after all.

Cutting to the present, we see a hoodie wearing Raphael looking for food in an alley dumpster, and not being impressed at a “Cowabunga” shirt he finds. He then happens upon a father beating his son. His son called Casey.  Filled with nice nods to previous Turtles continuity, and leaving a few intriguing questions hanging, this is a very welcome return for the shelltacular heroes.

IDW are also releasing the TMNT Ultimate Collection which collects the first 7 issues, plus the Raphael one-shot from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It’s over 300 black and white pages and is out on October 1.

The Bionic Man #1. I suppose six million dollars doesn’t buy as much cybernetics as it did in the ’70s, so this comic based on The Six Million Dollar Man TV series (which ran from 1974-78) gets a new name and other updates in keeping with the times. Based on an unproduced Kevin Smith screenplay, like his Green Hornet comics are, this also reunites the filmmaker with his Hornet team of publisher Dynamite, co-writer Phil Hester and artist Jonathan Lau. I liked Smith’s Hornet comics better than the eventual film so had high hopes for this debut and it met them. I also remember watching reruns of the Lee Majors-led TV show, with that awesome intro, which, by the way, taught me how to raise one eyebrow as a kid as I imitated Mr Majors.

Colonel Steve Austin is a test pilot, and Smith wisely sets him apart from comics’ other test pilot Hal Jordan, by making him a confident, well rounded man about to retire early, who’s engaged to schoolteacher Jamie. Jaime, as you may recall is the name of  the TV spinoff, Bionic Woman, who married Austin.

Testing the experimental stealth bomber Daedalus Five for combat readiness, things obviously don’t go as planned. Parallel to Austin’s tale is a robbery of a lab, in which a swordsman steals a sub-fusion chip and prototype robotic arm. Expect these two plots to collide next issue. This is a great re-entry (pun intended) to this well remembered franchise and the team has done a marvellous job of updating the story to today’s audience. Well paced, with tantalising hooks hinting at future tragedies and a kinetic visual style, this is another entertaining win for Dynamite.

See a preview of this ish right here.

Teen Titans #100. A fitting, and fond farewell to the Teen Titans before next month’s relaunch is this extra-sized issue. I’m only a casual reader of the Titans, but it’s always good to see Nicola Scott  drawing them, or any superheroes really, and J.T Krul has written many of their recent adventures, and will scribe Green Arrow, and Captain Atom in the relaunch. It opens with the evil Superboy Prime battling the teen heroes near the Golden Gate Bridge. Armed with clones of Superboy in his past costumes, and a bunch of villains unfamiliar to me, the battle involves a host of Titans.

Robin goes nuts with a kryptonite dagger and the team gang up on Superboy Prime in a cool page filled with “T” shaped panels. Weirdly they do discuss not killing Prime after doing so to his clones, but I guess clones aren’t real. There’s also some simple, but well written emotional moments between Superboy and Ravager, and Beast Boy and Raven. Finishing with an 8 page gallery from various artists such as Rob Liefeld and Karl Kerschl showing the various iterations of the team over the decades, it’s a nice close before the new series by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth begins in September.

August 28, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, Comics, Reviews . Tags: , , , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Hellboy: The Fury #3 Preview

This week is a huge one for Hellboy. Creator Mike Mignola and publisher Dark Horse have been quietly spreading the word that this is going to be one of those, “things will never be the same” stories that we read so much about. However, this time, it actually means something.

He’s already lost his eye, and now he’ll lose a lot more. Below is a snazzy preview of this week’s finale, along with an official description.

The word is out that today’s release of The Fury #3 will rock the comics world to its very core! With word leaking out over the last week that big changes are in store for Dark Horse’s most recognizable character, this third issue has sold out before even arriving on shelves.

In response, Dark Horse has rushed through reprints of all three issues of this critically acclaimed story arc. These reprints are available for reorder now, with an on-sale date of August 17, just one week after Hellboy: The Fury #3 goes on sale.

Hellboy: The Fury marks the dramatic conclusion to the epic story line by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo that began in Darkness Calls back in 2007. This final three-issue story pits Hellboy against the Queen of Blood one on one, leaving behind a war-torn battlefield strewn with the bodies of monsters and knights. In this dramatic conclusion, the fate of the world, and of Hellboy himself, lies with the Ogdru Jahad, his greatest foe, culminating in one final battle for the ages.

August 11, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, News . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Dark Horse August Variants

Here’s a look at some of Dark Horse’s variant covers for August. Here’s all of them.

 

August 7, 2011
Categories: Comic Art . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Extra Sequential #50

60 mins. Join us as we celebrate our first milestone episode and talk about heaps of Comic-Con news, and a few recent reviews. We also answer some fanmail and talk about bad Robin Williams’ films, MacGyver, Klingons, Jarvis Cocker, and invisible pants.

LISTEN TO IT BELOW, DOWNLOAD IT HERE OR ON ITUNES

 

6:54 NEWS

IDW’s Popeye comic

Vertigo’s House of Mystery is ending

Trailers for next year’s Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man

Marvel’s Season One newbie friendly OGNs

Tom Morello, Guillermo del Toro and P.C Cast working with Dark Horse

The dissolution of Superman’s marriage to Lois Lane

DC’s comic based on the game, Uncharted

Star Trek and Legion of Super-Heroes cross-over

Spider-Man and X-Men titles go digital

25:33 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING

Osama Tezuka’s little known Apollo’s Song

Conan: Island of No Return

Taiyo Matsumoto’s Gogo Monster

DC Retro-Active – Wonder Woman – The ’70s. 2 tales starring a powerless, judo loving WW.

Big Baby, another weird comic from Charles Burns

Harlan Ellison’s collection of reviews, Watching

X-Men: Schism #1 by Jason Aaron and Carlos Pacheco

July 24, 2011
Categories: Comics, Movies, New To Comics?, News, Podcast, Reviews . Tags: , , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

A Dark Horse Weekend

Avoiding this week’s Flashpoint offerings from DC Comics, I had a look at the shelf in my LCS this week and picked up a few interesting goodies from Dark Horse and am I glad I did.

The Goon #34. It’s been a while since I’ve read this delicious series and this is a great place to return to his madcap adventures, with the ugly anti-hero now going bi-monthly.

Things kick off with The Goon and his pal Franky strolling on a summer’s day before being beset, or rather, sparkled upon, by a group of pouty metrosexuals. These vamps just wanna play baseball, but The Goon mocks their manliness and a battle begins, with a great page of prose describing its “ferocity and magnitude,” before The Goon breaks the fourth wall and lets the reader know that he isn’t going to bash the cats of Twilight for the rest of the issue. It’s an unexpected and welcome approach. Deciding that the real root of the vampire popularity sweeping the world is tween girls, The Goon reluctantly goes to a home for orphans, but his timing is bad as a young, blonde with a blank stare has just been dropped off there, and she doesn’t play nice. In other words, she turns into a monstrosity and attacks the other poor kids. They manage to trap her under the floorboards while Dog (a werewolf child with a wooden leg) sits on a bucket to keep her there.

There are some genuinely LOL moments here, including the aforementioned bucket sitter, and the kids method of getting The Goon to visit their house and lay the smackdown on their new monster tenant (it involves lots of beer). No other comic you read will contain lines such as, “Ah! The sound alone is making my testes smaller!” That’s a guarantee.

There’s 2 letters pages in which creator Powell replies to fans including soldiers, a professional fighter and a former prisoner. The humour is outrageous and the art is beautiful., despite being filled with ugly characters.

Go here for a preview.

Conan #1. Adding to the multitude of mini-series Dark Horse produced over the last few years about the sword winging barbarian is this new short, sharp 2 ish mini. Written by Ron Marz (Witchblade) with gorgeous art by Bart Sears, like the issue above, this is a great story for those new to the character. Marz is one of those writers who doesn’t get the credit he deserves and is able to create interesting tales in any genre. His name and Sears on the cover made me pick this up. Sears just doesn’t do enough comics work these days, so I’m always sure to pick up whenever he gives us a new treasure.

Titled Island of no Return, this story begins with Conan doing his best rooftop dash while clutching an array of jewels and weapons. He’s just been caught sleeping with a judge’s wife and the angry man has sent a few soldiers to bring back his head. Saved by two sisters, Brenna and Venya, from the eyes of the swarming soldiers, Conan agrees to help them on a quest to snatch some treasure from a haunted and long abandoned island. All 3 thieves get to know each other a little better on their treacherous journey across raging seas and sheer cliffs and upon arriving at the rundown palace Conan discovers that it may indeed be haunted.

Marz does a great job of giving the tale some genuine ancient flavour with Conan’s proud nature and dialogue that sounds like it’s from the ages. There isn’t a lot of action here, apart from the great chase/battle in the opening pages, but there is a sense that the 2 sisters are up to something wicked. Mark Roberts’ colours make Sears already exquisitely fluid pencils pop withe even more dynamism, adding to the already adventurous feel.

Go here for a preview.

Creepy #6. I’m a sucker for a good anthology, and usually avoid horror as my comic genre of choice, but I’ve bought every one of these issues of the relaunched series as they generally offer tasty bite size morsels of..creepiness by some great legends of the biz, plus exciting new talent.

This 48 pager, black and white issue features 5 stories. The opener, called Mine is from Joe R. Lansdale and Nathan Fox and follows a cowboy who finds a corpse and steals his footwear and timepiece. The corpse wakes up and chases him into town, while the cowboy gets to the bottom of who the corpse is. Fox’s slightly sketchy style works splendidly with Lansdale’s well paced script.

Even Kramer form Seinfeld hates clowns, as does anyone who’s seen Stephen King’s It film, I’m sure. The next 10 page story is not for you if you suffer from coulrophobia as Christopher Taylor and Jason Shawn Alexander present a clown who believes he’s kind of like DC Comics’ The Spectre, and doles out God’s justice by protecting kids from demons hiding in humans. Not a lothappens, but the clown’s narration works well, as do Alexander’s violent brush strokes.

Alice Henderson and Kevin Ferrara ‘s 1880 set tale fuses two different genres, which could work with more pages, but doesn’t really with this largely silent train crash scenario.

The 3 page Loathsome Lore from Dan Braun, Craig Haffner and Gary Brown is a look at a few of they key, evil women behind Adolf Hitler, proving that real life is usually scarier than fantasty.

Fair Exchange is the final, 8 page story, from Archie Goodwin and Neal Adams. It’s a classic detailing Dr Ralph’s Courtney who is paid a fortune to give the ailing entrepreneur Mr Mannix a second chance at life by transferring his brain to a young, virile body. The twist is a good one, as after the success of the experiment, he awakens, kills the doctor and ventures outside. However, he doesn’t realise that his new body is a vampire and he burns to death in the sunlight.

The one panel Uncle Creepy introductions aren’t needed for each tale, but do serve to honour the history of the series.

Go here for a preview.

Dark Horse Presents relaunched series returned for its 2nd issue this week – an 80 pager no less. I’ve had a quick look and Paul Chadwick’s Concrete in the desert tale is great, as is a silent 8 page Batman parody called The Wraith from Jason Alexander featuring a bully Dark Knight-esque kid.

July 3, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, New To Comics?, Reviews . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Dark Horse’s June Variant Covers

There’s some pretty nifty variant covers for Dark Horse’s June offerings. Below are some for Hellboy: The Fury #1, Dark Horse Presents #2 and Rage #1. See the rest here.

 

June 6, 2011
Categories: Comic Art . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Last Week’s Winners

Flashpoint #1. This new series from DC Comics is more than just the initial 5 issue mini-series that retains the name. There are 20 tie-in mini-series and one-shots. Phew. DC know that this is an important tale to tell though, and have enlisted writer Geoff Johns and artist Andy Kubert. It’s so important in fact, that on August 31, only a few days after the 4th issue of Flashpoint, the 5th and final Flashpoint ish will be published, and it will be the only DC comic released that week. Wow. I don’t think that’s ever been done before.

This is the kind of superhero comic that makes me happy to be  a reader of superhero comics. However, as is often the case in this genre, it’s also complex and will mean nothing to DC Comics newbies. Geoff Johns has guided the DC Universe for the last few years, specifically in Green Lantern’s books, and occasionally on the just finished Smallville, and his love of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash is as evident as his love of Hal Jordan. I grew up reading Wally West, so he’s my scarlet speedster. Barry, to me, is an uninteresting lab technician with an outdated costume, who didn’t need to be resurrected. Really, even though his name may appear in the title, this series relies on more than him, thankfully. Basically, Barry wakes up at his office and discovers he’s now in a new world. His mother is alive, Cyborg is a prominet player, the powers of Captain Marvel have been divvied up between a bunch of kids, and as the last page reveals, Thomas Wayne is a more low-tech Batman, as it was his wife, and son Bruce who were murdered that fateful night in Crime Alley. With a war brewing between two angry royals – Wonder Woman and Aquaman, this is a good issue that reveals all the pieces of this intriguing alternate universe.

It’s great to finally see Andy Kubert on art, after he and his brother Adam came to DC ages ago and haven’t done heaps since. With Sandra Hope on inks, it has a realistic sheen, much like the quality she bought to Rags Morales’ pencils on the classic Identity Crisis. I’m a sucker for these kinds of  “what if” tales and although Marvel has been churning them out lately, DC hasn’t. This is a welcome return to such stories, with some cool new characters and reinventions of old ones.

Hellboy: Being Human. Written by Mike Mignola with moody art by Richard Corben, this one-shot is set in the year 2000 and focuses on mostly silent, but philosophical, Roger the Homunculus. I’ve never read Hellboy regularly, but enjoyed both films. Largely set in a rundown house in Carolina, Hellboy takes Roger out on his first assignment in the field. After believing it to be an easy case, the pair soon encounter some black magic, a freaky family of skeletons sitting at the dinner table and a vengeful woman. After some fisticuffs, involving a powerful fiery hand that causes Hellboy to be immovable, Roger must become the hero and discover his humanity. It’s all written with great subtlety rather than deep musings and the subdued colour palette and Corben’s attractively fluid line work make for an enjoyable done-in-one adventure.

Oh, and the Baltimore tale in the Free Comic Book Day offering, also from Mignola, with Christopher Golden and Ben Steinbeck, is awesome too. It follows Lord Henry Baltimore in WW1 vampire infested Europe. Baltimore: The Plague Ships is out in June and collects last year’s 5 issue mini-series.

Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors from Image Comics. Bad timing means this may be missed by those fed up with the villain as lead character tales, following films Megamind and Despicable Me. This has grander ambitions, and thankfully never resorts to cuteness though. With a well crafted intro revealing the origins of the school, an adored teacher who reads from William Blake, lots of simple (but with nods to classic characters) costume designs and some good dialogue, this series premiere by Mark Andrew Smith and Armand Villavert was a nice surprise, especially the ending which reveals that these kids are actually training for fake battles with heroes. It’s a great twist, as the final few pages show two “enemies” discussing where and how to fight (“You know – my equipment malfunctions or whatever.”) like wrestlers rehearsing for the big show. The students seem to be unaware of this, as they react with puzzlement to a former baddie/ current school groundskeeper who mentions that he didn’t die, but his character was retired.

It has a simple, yet very colourful visual style and even some funny moments, with the mishmash of costumed villainy and typical school cliques, bullies, daydreams and crushes.

May 16, 2011
Categories: Comics, Reviews . Tags: , , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Dark Horse FCBD 2011 Comics

Dark Horse are giving away digital copies of their Free Comic Book day offerings from the weekend. Yay!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY COMICS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FOR LIMITED TIME!

 If you missed out on picking up your Free Comic Book Day comics at your local comic-book store, you can get them from Dark Horse Digital for a limited time!

Downloads will be available starting Wednesday, May 11, and run through the end of the month!

Just hop on any computer or Mac iOS device (iPod, iPad, iPhone), go to Digital.DarkHorse.com, or the iTunes app store and download the free Dark Horse Comics bookshelf app!

Both Criminal Macabre/Baltimore and Avatar: The Last Airbender/Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be available for free download!

Make sure you check out these awesome titles from Dark Horse and support Free Comic Book Day! Ten years in the running!

May 10, 2011
Categories: Comics, New To Comics?, News . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Rebranding Dark Horse

The Dark Horse blog has a nifty post from art director Lia Ribacchi giving us a peek behind the scenes of the rebranding of Dark Horse, specifically using images of Darth Vader, Conan and Liara from the Mass Effect games and comics. See more of the process at the link above.

May 8, 2011
Categories: Art . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

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