That first book was inspired by this one, which I haven’t yet read, but realized I’d heard of and know someone who has a copy and has yet to read it. A borrower I shall be, it would seem. Anyway, the main purpose of her book tour is to get readers to make a memory with someone they know and soon. We all tend to get busy-busy and otherwise occupied with life and too often, overlook making real connections with those we know (or should know better). For all the “social” aspects of modern internet use, you really aren’t making a human connection if you live out your entire existence online. Continue reading →
Ha. Oddball legal issues with one of its former employees a few years back aside, Archie Comics is clearly having a great time cooking up all sorts of alternate universes for its characters to mess around in. The latest and possibly greatest thing coming down the pike is this collaboration with Dark Horse Comics, Archie vs. Predator. Yeah, it’s on the way to a comic shop near you soon (as in April 15 at a comic shop near you). Here’s the rundown on what to expect in this four issue mini-series:
HE’S IN RIVERDALE WITH A FEW DAYS TO KILL!
Archie vs. Predator #1 (of 4)
Alex de Campi (W), Fernando Ruiz (P/Cover), Rich Koslowski (I), Jason Millet (C), Eric Powell (Variant cover), and Francesco Francavilla (Variant cover)
On sale April 15
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries
America’s favorite teen meets the galaxy’s fiercest hunter! Archie and friends hit Costa Rica for Spring Break, where party games and beach games are soon replaced by the Most Dangerous Game! What mysterious attraction does the gang hold for the trophy-collecting Predator, and will the kids even realize they’re in danger before it claims them all?
The wildest Archie crossover ever (and that’s saying something)!
From Alex de Campi (Grindhouse, My Little Pony)
Variant covers by Eric Powell (The Goon) and Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife with Archie)!
If you want more laughs than you can shake a stick with a head on, check out the variant covers and other fun (and feel free to pre-order the book if you’re rolling off your chair laughing) here.
If you already own the complete 23-volume set (which I believe is out of print), you probably don’t need Astro Boy Omnibus 1 at all. If on the other hand you’re new to the manga scene or have never read the late, great Osamu Tezuka’s seminal work, Dark Horse Comics is making sure to get your full attention with this 700-page volume. For $19.99, you’re getting quite a deal that won’t take up a lot of physical space. Yeah, some of us still read and buy real books, folks.
Anyway, September isn’t all that far away when you think about it (yeah, time flies, doesn’t it?), so make sure to keep an eye peeled for this one.
Wow, that’s a lot of books for $15 or so, depending on your charitable self deciding how much more you want to pay. The latest Humble Book Bundle deal offers up a bunch of titles from Subterranean Press. Well, “bunch may be too small a word. Check out all you get for that tiny bit of money:
Yeah, that’s spring and summer reads all coming your way (just spring if you’re a quick reader, or spring to fall/next winter if you’re inordinately busy and can only read one or two books per month). And if you’re into gaming or want more stuff to buy to help out assorted charities, make sure to pop into the Humble Store to see what’s on sale this week. There are a bunch of bundle deals and single game deals up that are guaranteed to shake a few extra dollars loose from your wallet.
File this under “It’s about time!” and “Thanks again, IDW Publishing!” as Alex Toth’s excellent Bravo For Adventure finally gets a solid-looking complete edition absolutely worth a buy. Toth’s work as a cartoonist and character designer is legendary, but his illustrated stories are for a number of fans, some of the most visually outstanding and memorable.
Headed to a comic shop or online book retailer in July, this 100-page 9.5″ x 13″ hardcover contains the original 48-page story from 1975 along with two other stories featuring Toth’s handsomely heroic creation Jesse Bravo, a slew of never before seen sketches and even color samples from the Bravo tale that was to originally be published back in 1975. The man was and is called “The Genius” by his loyal fans for good reason. Whether looking at a single panel or entire story he worked on, there’s a sense or realism and stylization blended together with a phenomenal use of black and white and a solid sense of storytelling. Anyway, keep an eye peeled for this one when the summer sun is strong, as it’s a great read from one of the best classic comic illustrators ever.
The next time you feel like a little bedtime story, don’t grab a book from the bedside table. Instead, go download NLB Project’s offbeat Return of Red (Riding) Hood and settle in for the short haul that turns into a longer one sooner than you think. This Russian developed game takes the simple tale of Little Red Riding Hood and makes it into a choose your own adventure experience that ends up going all over the place and then some. It’s also a bit of a meta exercise as the whole thing starts out as one character reading the old story to a little girl as a bedtime story, but at certain points, you get to choose different options that alter the next page of the story.
Part of the humor here is from the developer’s sense of humor and part is from the mangled English translation that makes for some grin-worthy reading. Early on, “Pastries” becomes “Pasties” (and yes, I know all about pasty as a pastry, but this is just a spelling error in the game) and you’ll see a few other grammar issues pop up. That said, even with the bumps and grinds in the translation, the stories play out in some pretty amusing manners. The choices you make turn the really short and familiar story on its ear a few times and with 45 endings to discover, you may be up slightly longer than you thought. Is this for kids? That depends. If you and your kids share the same sense of slightly twisted humor and you don’t mind some bizarre twists to the old story, it’s all good. Just give it a read on your own and decide for best results.
That said, it takes perhaps three minutes or less to get to an ending (more if you’re a slower reader), so expect to get to a bunch of that 45 the first time you pick this up. It’s currently FREE and NLB is also trying to get the game onto Steam Greenlight (go vote for it if you’ve a Steam account!). Some dopes on the Greenlight page are actually complaining about the artwork in the game, but NLB can ignore those fools who don’t grasp stylization or realize that you shouldn’t ever tell any artist HOW to make a storybook look. That, and the CG characters and backgrounds remind me of Access Games’ quirky Deadly Premonition, one of those games that uses its “dated” art style to excellent effect.
Finally, if you like what you see and read, it seems that the game engine is also free to use to cook up your own tales. I can see some writer types I know possibly making use of this at some point. Hey, anything to get more people perusing your work, right? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to my “book”. Also, I want some pasties now, as reading about them has made me quite hungry…
So, here’s how MY Saturday night went. I’m sitting in the living room watching “The Price of Fear” marathon on This TV (which seems to be an offshoot of WPIX here in NYC that shows better movies, albeit edited for network standards) and during a commercial break in The Pit and the Pendulum (I know, I know – but I can’t pass up those Vincent Price/Roger Corman films anywhere they’re aired), I heard some loud music booming outside from someone going deaf in his or her car.
A few seconds later I end up nearly falling off the couch laughing because the song playing with its bumpy bass hanging out the window is none other than Tone Loc’s ode to lousy overpriced wine, Funky Cold Medina. Bwah and ha. Suddenly, my Saturday night got a great deal more interesting…
Well, there’s a face only a mother could love, huh? Dark Horse Comics is going to be publishing Richard Corben‘s latest work, RAT GOD in February. Here’s a sneak peek of the first five pages plus the cover to issue #2 of this three issue limited series. Corben’s ink work has grown a lot more uniquely stylized over time, but still works excellently in conveying his storytelling skill. The story is Lovecraft inspired with a Native American twist and from the teaser below, seems on par with some of Corben’s older work for assorted Warren magazines back in the 70’s.
A little synopsis for you if you’re now curiouser:
There’s something in the woods… Eisner Award Hall of Famer Richard Corben is set to deliver an original backwoods tale of terror inspired by H. P. Lovecraft.
Terrible things stalk the forests outside Arkham in this chilling series from comics master Richard Corben! An arrogant city slicker on a quest to uncover the background of a young woman from the backwoods finds horrors beyond imagining, combining Lovecraftian mutations with Native American legends.
And since you’ve been good, take a peek at the cover to issue 3 (if you dare!). Now that you’re hooked in, each issue will be available at your nearest comic emporium for $3.99. Issue one should be in stores February 4, 2015 with March and April ship dates for the remaining issues.
This may, IDW Publishing will be rolling out another Jack Kirby Artist’s Edition, this time featuring his classic post-apocalytic Last Boy on Earth, Kamandi. The 160-page book will measure 12 x 17 inches and feature issues 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9, along with additional covers and other bonus material. Fans of the King’s artwork will get to see it published in actual size from color scans that show every detail and correction. A close look at that cover shows a great example of composite art, with a photostat of the titular hero placed on top of that Statue of Liberty background. That’s how it was done in the pre-computer art age, kids! Anyway, pricing on this book is TBA, but if previous Artist’s Editions are any indication, expect to pay somewhere between $125 and $150 for this one.
I should have done this post sooner, but I was busy catching up on a lot of reading. Ha and ha. Anyway, books galore came this way (most of them digital) and I still have a huge backlog of stuff to read into 2015 thanks to the crunch of reads of too many types. In case you’re stumped for a last minute gift idea or just want to know what I read when I’m not writing or reading about stuff to write about (it’s a damn vicious cycle, friends), here are a few titles you might want to sample in this somewhat hastily prepared guide… Continue reading →
Hey, if you invite me to an event and I just so happen to like what you do, I tend to show up. Which was a good thing for me as I found a nice new book shop to poke my head and feet into and got to meet the world famous maybe should be in some sorta documentary about her long walk author Andra Watkins who talked about her new book Not Without My Father: One Woman’s 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace, which you should go out and buy and READ. Well, after you read her other novel, To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 