Three words: Oh Hell Yeah. This 12 x 17 Artist’s Edition is a MUST for anyone into John Buscema’s art at its best (at least in my opinion). This collection isn’t the COMPLETE run of his on The Silver Surfer, just issues 5, 6 and 8 for your perusal. Nevertheless, this scanned and printed actual-size from the original art limited edition should sell out quickly at comic shops and online retailers that carry it. Sure, these over-sized collections are expensive, but this one’s WELL worth the price, folks. Buy two if you can and make sure one has my name on it when you’re wrapping up that gift!
Yeah, I want IN, dammit. Some of Steve Ditko’s horror work used to scare the crap out of me as a kid, so getting the chance to see a bunch of it (along with other genre quickies) in one collection is a great thing for me. And YOU, if you’re also a fan of the man’s work. No, I’m NOT scared of it now, but it’s that brushwork I want to ogle until my eyeballs pop out.
Thanks to Yoe! Books and IDW Publishing, you can grab your own copy of Ditko’s Shorts soon online or from your favorite comics emporium. Buy a second copy and surprise someone with it why don’tcha? Yeah, it’s a SHORT post, too. Ha!
While I still despise facebook with a passion (yeah, yeah, I have an account there, but it’s more for work purposes that anything else), sometimes something unsolicited pops up on my page that’s actually worth a second look. Benoît Prézeau and the game he’s working on, Realms, Swords & Magic both got my attention because the man is either really talented or a mad genius or both. He’s making a text-driven role-playing game that plays out like a choose your own adventure book, but with what’s looking like a great deal more depth. All of this is still VERY early, but the opening text from the game’s web site got my brain percolating:
Realms, Swords & Magic is a text and illustrations based CRPG for Windows with a story spanning an entire lifetime and gameplay more focused on character interactions, than combat.
Yeah, that sounds pretty cool, folks. Go poke around Prézeau’s site and see what he’s up to, won’t you? He’s planning to do some sort of crowdfunding, and I say he SHOULD be supported, as a good story is better than some damn potato salad any day of the week, grrrr!
If you’ve never been exposed to the entertaining wonder that is Classic Arts Showcase, it’s time to upgrade your television viewing experience. I could bore you with a retelling of the history of this fully funded highbrow clip show that runs seemingly endlessly in eight hour blocks on cable networks across the country (and is now online for even more people to check out), but that’s what the link to the official site is for. Actually, CAS is rarely “boring” unless you COMPLETELY hate the arts and don’t want to see some of the most unique and completely RANDOM performances from stage, screen and even TV, many of which are unavailable elsewhere.
In case you’re THAT lazy, here’s what the CAS site says about their programming:
Expect the Unexpected
There is no program guide for CAS, because the beauty of CAS is that you’ll never know what to expect. One moment you might be watching a rare film of George Gershwin performing one of his own compositions on the piano, and less than five minutes later you might see Beverly Sills in a great moment from a classic opera. Each weekly eight-hour show is downlinked by hundreds of channels across the country at different times, with different schedules. The element of surprise — not knowing exactly what’s coming up next — is part of what CAS is all about. The goal is to generate excitement and build a new audience for the wide range of performances presented through the arts.
And I can VERY safely say that the randomness indeed makes CAS so much fun to watch. Yesterday I happened to flip by the channel here with about 45 minutes of free time floating about and caught a long clip from a Hitchcock film, a bit of Swan Lake, an aria or two, a clip from the film Aria, a fun bit of an old TV show that had a waltz turning into a sort of sock hop and back again, and part of a Nat King Cole TV performance before I had to head out the door. How cool is that? Sometimes you’ll see old animation, sometimes a musical performance or super-arty film segment, an brief interview with a long dead genius and more. This fragmented presentation recalls MTV in its early days when it played stuff seemingly at will, although if you watch CAS long enough, you’ll see there’s a method to the non-madness.
Anyway, if you’re bored this summer thanks to the TV dry spell, give Classic Arts Showcase a look-see and if you find yourself strangely addicted to it, well… my work here is done.
I’d leafed through the first volume of Concrete Park a while back and liked the art, so I made a mental note to point you folks in the direction of the new issues when they arrive at your favorite comic emporium, so here you go. Writer/artist Tony Puryear and Erika Alexander are back on the case in this sci-fi action series. Check out the preview pages below the jump and mark your calendars for September 3, 2014 when volume two goes on sale!
Hokay, I haven’t read a complete issue of Vampirellain years, but I can very safely say that this Sideshow Collectibles Premium Format Figure Vampirella is quite possibly the best sculpted version of the character I’ve ever seen. It’s not the “cutest” one out there (Sideshow’s Tooned Up Vampi takes that particular crown), but fans who want a more realistic figure to stick on a shelf or in a collector’s cabinet need look no further.
Amusingly enough, this sculpt also reveals how awesomely impossible that Drakulon one piece non-swimsuit is (without the strategic application of body tape and carefully choreographed movement, I can’t see any real life lady strutting around in this without something popping out for all the world to see). But I’d bet you’re not dropping $399.99 on this just to wonder about physics and pneumatic movement and such. Anyway, this over-sized monster-piece isn’t out until May 2015, but Sideshow will gladly take that money you’re throwing at the screen and send you one of these once they’re ready to ship.
This one’s going to be on display at San Diego Comic-Con and until August 5, Sideshow is still running a giveaway on their site where you can snag a Harley Quinn Premium Format Figure with a rocket-fast entry. I saw this one at a comic shop here and it’s pretty awesome. And huge. I guess it’s a good thing I have no room for these big figures and I’m saving my money for that working time machine that pops up on eBay every so often or I’d have a room full of Premium Format Figures and a sleepy security guard to watch over them…
Okay, I’d been ignoring Focus Features’ upcoming animated film The Boxtrolls for a little while (because the name did nothing for me other than make me think of a generic new kid-friendly IP) until someone pointed out to me that it’s based on the Alan Snow book Here There Be Monsters!, is stop motion animated from Laika, the folks who made Coraline and ParaNorman. I decided to look up a few trailers and yes, I’m glad I did. Despite the light electrocution, ugly but cute monsters and a bit of weird hand-licking going on, this seems to be not as dark as the two aforementioned films. Of course, I tend to like my modern animation creative and slightly darker in tone, but this isn’t turning me off at all and you can’t beat the craft that goes into making films like this.
This one hits theaters September 26, 2014 in standard and Real 3D formats and given the current state of the box office this year, I’m actually wondering if we’ll see a holiday home video release just to make up for slow ticket sales. Eh, we’ll see what happens, I suppose. It’s almost always guaranteed that a film like this isn’t going to destroy anything coming out around the same time in terms of tickets sold…
As soon as I saw images and movies of No Man’s Sky, I had to add Hello Games to the top of my rather long favorite developers list. This small team of talented folk aren’t strangers to game development, having knocked out a few fun games in the Joe Danger series for iOS mobile devices, PC, PSN and Xbox Live Arcade. No Man’s Sky is a massive departure from those fun and outrageous side-scrolling stunt titles, an open space action/simulation game that’s harder to describe until you see it in motion. And even then, there’s so much innovation going on here that it’s astounding to hear how the game came about and where it’s going. Check out the video above and marvel at how Hello’s Sean Murray describes how his dream cam is coming to reality (and a PlayStation 4 near you in 2015).
Okay, I’d not heard of indie developer State of Play Games or their games until someone sent me a link to their site a while back and I was charmed by the look of Lume, a puzzle/adventure game (currently on sale on the Steam store) with sets made out of paper and cardboard with hand animated characters filmed against and around those lovely locations. While the game was short and some reviewers knocked it for this, the outstanding visual style and fact that everything was handmade made this one quite special. That and the game’s ending seemed to point to a potential follow up at some point.
Well, that follow up is coming and it’s called Lumino City. As you can see above and below, it’s a work in progress and looks gorgeous. The developers promise “a wondrous sprawling puzzle adventure game” and it looks as if they’re going to exceed expectations on a few fronts. Hopefully, those critics and players that beat up on Lume for its brevity will see the craft here and really appreciate all the work that is going into this new adventure. I know I’m eager to give it a go when it’s ready for some play time. It would also be cool to see this on consoles at some point, but I guess that’s up to the developer’s time and if someone gets them a few dev kits…
Hello Games, you just made E3 much better. No Man’s Sky, initially set for a PS4 and PC release, looks absolutely phenomenal and what’s even more amazing is the small developer (less than ten people made this!) almost lost their baby entirely to flooded offices last year. As you can see below, the game is looking as if that flood never, ever occurred:
Given that the last game I played with seamless transitions from first-person gameplay to piloting a spaceship was the interesting but still questionable Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, this game is a complete revelation as to what an indie team with bigger goals can accomplish. No Man’s Sky truly looks like concept art come to life and if anyone else is getting a serious Ralph McQuarrie vibe (to me, THE late master of sci-fi film concept art thanks to his work on the original Star Wars films) , I’d bet they’re on the right track as to one of the dev team’s influences… Continue reading →
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 