DIG THIS: LEGEND OF ZELDA: SYMPHONY OF THE GODDESSES

The world’s most popular video game franchise comes to life this weekend at the beautiful Wang Theatre, part of Citi Performing Arts Center.

The four movement symphony showcases the work of Nintendo’s composer Koji Kondo and is the first ever video-game-themed concert tour of its kind.

“It’s all a part of my Hyrule Fantasy.”

Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses, Second Quest

The Zelda Symphony will take you from the Dungeons of Hyrule to the Ocarina of Time, ending on A Link To The Past with a full symphony orchestra, choir, and larger-than-life video accompaniment.

Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses, Second Quest

All new arrangements of the scores are officially approved by franchise producer Eiji Aonuma and Nintendo composer and legendary sound director Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda).

Link Hero of Hyrule cosplayers are of course encouraged to attend—after all, it is Halloween weekend!

This is a truly unique experience will bridge generations of symphony lovers, video game music lovers, and Nintendo Power fanatics this weekend at the Wang.

Follow @ZeldaSymphony #SecondQuest on Twitter!

[Sat 11.2.13. 270 Tremont St., Boston. 8pm/all ages/$38.75-$92.75. @citicenter. citicenter.org]

>>LeaguePodcast Zelda Event Page<<

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 30, 2013

COMICS

Goths, punks, comics fans and fans of sleeping rejoice as Neil Gaiman revisits Sandman after 17 years, with surreal artist J.H. Williams III (Batwoman) in Sandman Overture #1. Revisit our interview with J.H. breaking the news here! … Andy Kubert imagines a future world where Damian Wayne was never killed in Damian Son Of Batman #1. … Ooo. What’s that? A mathematical Adventure Time Spooktacular #1 with Finn and Jake and Ice King and Marceline and Tree Trunks and a mustache! …Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Pass the Daily Dig along! Your friends can sign up here!

Triple Shot With a Digital Chaser: VENOM #42, MARVEL NOW WHAT?! #1, SAMURAI JACK #1 plus STRANGER #1 at FORCES OF GEEK

Two of our favorite Spider-Titles bite the web this week, and somehow Peter Parker isn’t around to brood about it!

Cullen Bunn wraps up his 28 issue run on Venom in Venom #42 the same week Miles Morales’ Ultimate Comics Spider-Man book is cancelled after 2 volumes and 13 years from Bendis’ brain.  Luckily, Marvel pokes fun at itself this week with a new version of What The-?! in the form of Marvel NOW What?! #1.

Jim Zub of Skullkickers writes the return of Cartoon Network’s Samurai Jack #1and over in ComiXology we see the start of a zombie invasion in Stranger #1. 

VENOM #42
WRITER: Cullen Bunn
ART: Jorge Coelho
Publication Date: October 23, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960607565204211
Buy it HERE

There aren’t many series I’ve got in my collection that I’ve grown with since the first issue, have made it past the first year of publication and are subsequently cancelled before reaching a major milestone (50, 75, or 100 issues). 

I started with Venom when it was announced that Rick Remender was on the book, and I was there when Flash Thompson lost his legs in ASM #574. 

I liked Agent Venom as a character, Flash needing redemption and resolution with his home life. The symbiote had a new quality as well, being able to be controlled and molded into a super-soldier suit providing legs and power to the handicapped Flash.

When Bunn took over (first co-writing scripts with Remender), I almost dropped the book because I thought I was buying this to read Rick Remender stories. That wasn’t true, I genuinely liked Venom and Flash, could relate to the problems in his life and the geographical cure he seeks by moving to Philadelphia.

In Philly, his enemies tracked him down, and was as at risk and endangered as ever. 

In the last issue, his new symbiote sidekick is given a name, Mania. This neighbor’s daughter is now not only able to use the powers of Venom but has been cursed with a mark of Mephisto.

There’s plenty of action in this one, with a horde of demons and battle with Crossbones. 

Too bad to see this one go away, but Bunn teases that he’s “not quite done with symbiotes” in the letter column. Hopefully a Venom & Mania team-up book helmed by Mr. Bunn is in the works for Season 2 of Marvel NOW!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

EARTH PRIME TIME: G.I. JOE AMERICA’S ELITE: DISAVOWED VOL.

As a scholar of all things G.I. Joe and a bit of a snob when it comes to what is or shouldn’t be considered canon by Joe fandom, I was surprised to see IDW Publishingsolicit a reprint of what many comic fans consider to be the darkest of years, the post-Larry Hama G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero (1982) Devil’s Due era. I’ve dismissed these books in many a longbox and skipped over some great original artwork from convention portfolio bins before asking myself if this book has what it takes to be my America’s elite fighting team. Hasbro itself disallows this run from being canon, but Devil’s Due owned the license from 2001—2008, so there are plenty of Yo Joe! Colas to be downed as the reprints trickle into stores. G.I. Joe Americas Elite Disavowed Vol. 01 hits shelves today.

We heard shortly before New York Comic Con this year that Fred Van Lente will be leaving the regular ongoing G.I. Joe book after issue #11, and that got us thinking about the franchise and who might take over. No rumors have circulated yet, but our vote would be for Nathan Edmondson ofThe Activity and Who is Jake Ellis?. This is all before Marvel announced snatching up Nathan for newPunisher and Black Widow books at Marvel NOW!

The Devil’s Due writer from 2001-2005 starts with company founder Josh Blaylock, and his Real American Hero run became known as an alternate universe named “Disavowed.” In the universe, another terrorist organization known as Red Shadows was introduced as a threat to the Joes and Flint’s compatriot Lady Jaye dies after 43 issues of the new Disavowed continuity.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

REX, ZOMBIE KILLER Takes a Walk on The Cosmic Treadmill AT FORCES OF GEEK

Can’t share in the joy that is the return of The Walking Dead to TV this season with your son or daughter?

Don’t worry, Rex, Zombie Killer has your undead all ages comics needs fulfilled!

Taking cues from We3, Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers as well as Kirkman’s zombie opus, Rob Anderson (Comics Experience) and Dafu Yu (Bluewater, Zenoscope) take zombie hunting to the woods with a small gang of animals that are led by Golden Retriever Rex and Gorilla Kenji.

Issue #1 (of 4) ships next week, October 30 from Big Dog Ink.

Rotters are crowding the landscape, and for the humans, communique with Washington has been cut off! Our heroes Rex and Kenji, the gorilla with a baseball bat are on a mission to find Rex’ human, a vet being held against her will in a fenced in science facility on the edge of a mountain in Nevada. The pets are in California, making the reverse liberation trek, following their noses and instincts!

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 23, 2013

COMICS!

The inimitable team of Brubaker & Epting (Captain America) deliver an all new, extra-sized issue number one of Velvet to Image Comics. The superspy vixen Velvet Templeton is on the case in 1970s Paris! … Joining IDW’s animation resurgence is Jim Zub’s (Skullkickers) Samurai Jack #1. Jack faces demons as he attempts to thwart Aku and string together the Rope of Eons! Rejoice, old school Cartoon Network and Samurai Jack fans! … Issue 2 of The Rocketeer and The Spirit: Pulp Friction soars by today with a bi-plane punch-fest and the Rocketeer’s way of the future swooping in! Plus some romance too, thanks to Mark Waid and Paul Smith! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Pass the Daily Dig along! Your friends can sign up here!

Triple Shot With a Digital Chaser: SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #19, S.H.O.O.T. FIRST #1, BATMAN AND TWO-FACE #24 plus CODE MONKEY SAVE WORLD

Parker gets fired in Superior Spider-Man (surprise, surprise), a team of atheists are charged with facing the occult in S.H.O.O.T. First #1 from Dark Horse, and the New 52 Origin of Two-Face has just begun in the Batman and… series.

Hang out with your boss Skullcrusher on Chiron Beta Prime with Greg Pak and JoCo with Code Monkey Save World, only available on ComiXology.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #19
WRITER: Dan Slott
ART: Ryan Stegman
Publication Date: October 16, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960607912401911
Buy it HERE

Slott really jacks up the action and resolves more than one hanging plotline, referencing his Amazing Spider-Man run and looking forward to2099 in the latest issue of Superior Spider-Man.  Things are looking like they are coming to a head as Octavius finds himself unemployed and Horizon Labs takes to the sea. Spoiler warning for those that want to catch up in trade, as this issue resolved some major beats!

Michael O’Mara, Spider-Man of 2099 is in the present day as a result of Tiberius Stone mucking about in the Marvel timeline — a common theme this year that we’re hoping will continue as past and future versions of heroes mix with the current day.

Horizon Labs is rigged to explode and all future time will diminish if our Superior Spidey fails to solve an equation—an equation only Peter Parker knows how to formulate! Otto fudges it, saves the day but not Horizon, which is imploded and destroyed.

In the end here are the major points: Parker’s fired from Horizon, O’Mara is now stuck in 2013, Horizon is not allowed to re-open and someone very close to Spider-Man is now on the case of a connection between Superior Spidey and Doc Ock. Can the end be near? Where’s Peter? Gone forever?

The amazing and spectacular team of Ryan Stegman and the masterful Doctor Who time bending make this issue a BIG TIME deal. How long are we with Superior? I have a feeling the payoff and the buildup will continue to impress as Slott keeps us guessing and wanting more.

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

Costumes

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART TWO)

We continue our talk with underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) at Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest: Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story fromDrawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21.
Interview part 1 HERE.

DIGBOSTON: You could say she was a loudmouth. She wrote columns in newspapers, she was a socialist. There’s so much to her.
Peter Bagge: She lived a long life, she was in her 30′s when she became very active in politics in general and more specifically in birth control.

Her politics, as is the case with most people, evolved over time.

You know that adage, if you are young and not a liberal, you don’t have a heart, if you are old and you aren’t conservative, you don’t have a brain. That would describe her. It’s not like she did some 180.

Some people would say to me, did you know she voted Republican? Technically yes, that was true, she was more supportive by the 1950s of Republicans, but that was only because the only people that would support birth control were the Republicans. By then, the Democrats, a huge part of their constituency were blue-collar Catholics.

Yet one more irony, the one person in Washington who was the most upfront about legal access to birth control was a senator from Connecticut, Prescott Bush, George W. Bush’s grandfather—who lost re-election for sticking his neck out for birth control.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART ONE)

Underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) joins Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest work, including Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story from Drawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21 at 7pm.

DigBoston: The most obvious question, and the one you are probably getting a lot, is why Margaret Sanger?
Peter Bagge: I wish I had a short snappy answer to that question! For a while now I’ve been doing nonfiction pieces, mainly for a publication called Reason magazine.

Short journalistic comic strips, most recently I’ve been doing short biographical strips. It felt like it was starting to build up to the possibility of doing a book-length one. I ran a bunch of names by this one particular publisher who I thought would be interested, and they were the ones who published it, Drawn and Quarterly.

One of the names I ran past was Margaret Sanger. What was interesting was the other subjects I had in mind were all literary figures for the most part. I was very interested in women writers from the mid 20th century, from between the two wars. The reason I was interested in them, besides liking their work, was that they lived very autonomous, independent lives. Though these women weren’t the least bit masculine, they lived their lives as if they were men.

They didn’t let their gender hinder them from doing anything. And that made me wonder about birth control. I also couldn’t help but notice these women didn’t get pregnant, they weren’t saddled with a bunch of kids.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of birth control did they use, what was available if they were using anything.

Peter Bagge - Self-Portrait / Author Photo (Drawn and Quarterly)

While researching that, I kept getting taken to Margaret Sanger. I kept running across incredible contradictory things that people would say about Sanger.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

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Cosmic Treadmill: CODE MONEY SAVE WORLD NYCC Panel With Greg Pak and Jonathan Coulton

College friends Grek Pak (Action Comics, Planet Hulk, Eternal Warrior) and Internet famous musician Jonathan Coulton held a panel at New York Comic Con to explain to the world that needs saving about the wildly successful Kickstarter comic based on ten of JoCo’s most popular songs, themes and lyrical insanity.

As so many legends go these days, “It all started with a tweet”.

Issue #1 of Code Monkey Save World  (MonkeyBrain Comics) is available on ComiXology on Wednesday, October 16. 

Greg Pak stood at the panel with sculptor and comic book artist Sean Chen, JoCo’s assistant Drew Westphal aka Scarface and Jonathan Coulton to his left. Upcoming covers for the debut four issues of Code Monkey Save World were revealed to an audience of JoCo and Greg Pak fans. The amazingly talented series artist Takeshi Miyazawa (Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane) was not in attendance

 [READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

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FOTOBOM: EARTH PRIME TIME @ NEW YORK COMIC CON 2013 #NYCC

Photos by Stacey B. Rizoli (LeaguePodcast/DigBoston/ForcesOfGeek)

Last week we posted the preview of what to expect at New York Comic Con 2013. What we didn’t expect was that the East Coast convention would reach San Diego Comic Con-sized numbers! Pretty impressive, as the New York show is still very comic-centric. The LeaguePodcast took a photographer, the lovely Stacey Rizoli, to capture the essence of the Con experience for those that couldn’t make it.

The photos below will inspire your Halloween costumes and get you thinking about traveling out of town for an outrageous Con experience.

Costumes

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 16, 2013

COMICS

Check out our the first part of our two-part unabridged interview with Dig favorite cartoonist Peter Bagge (HATE) today in the paper and online. Bagge teams up with Drawn & Quarterly for a biographical comic of feminist icon that was once banned in Boston in Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story. … Golden Age hero The Fox returns in a new #1 from Archie’s Red Circle Comics with the award winning team of Dean Haspiel (Bored to Death, American Splendor) and Mark Waid (Thrillbent, Daredevil). … Harada has stolen some nanites from Bloodshot’s body and it’s up to H.A.R.D. Corps to exfiltrate and save him before the remaining nannies eat him alive in Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps #15. Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.

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NYCC - VALIANT COMICS Panel Report

Convention Report by Clay N Ferno

Valiant Comics remains committed to their rabid fans with a series of announcements tied to top industry talent and is expanding on the current Valiant Universe with new titles and crossovers in 2014.

Valiant Comics Director of Marketing Hunter Gorinson introduced an impressive series of panelists including Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Matt Kindt, Clayton Henry, Dinesh Shamdasani, Alejandro Arbona, ChrisCross and more at the Must Read Valiant panel on Saturday.

The panel starts off with the reveal to the pre-con teaser about the return of “The (Original) World’s Worst Supehero Team”.

The lead off announcement is that series creators Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright are returning to Quantum and Woody for a limited series set in the original Valiant Universe. No plans on expanding on the original universe beyond this series, we’re told, this is a special exception to reunite the team.

Starting in issue #5, fan favorite Mara artist Ming Doyle joins James Asmus on the current Quantum and Woodytitle, introducing the goat! 

Costumes

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NYCC - BATMAN PANEL Report at FORCES OF GEE

For those not in attendance or watching the live stream, yesterday’s Batpanel was chock full of Spoilers (see what we did there?), updates, praise for fan enthusiasm and announcements.

John Cunningham (VP Marketing, DC Comics) introduced an all star family of writers including Batman: Eternal showrunner Scott Snyder and the artist Greg Capullo to a room full of eager fans and classic Jokers at the Javitz Center.  Introduced were James Tynion IV, Marc Andreyko, Ann Nocenti, John Layman and Peter Tomasi.

Cunningham started off by thanking all for supporting the books but also for supporting the We Can Be Heroes fundraising campaign, raising more that $2 million last year. He also announced a new video podcast from DC, DC All Access, which will show an insider’s view into the DC offices and announce upcoming projects.

First up, Bat-wise was the introduction of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo to talk about current Zero Year issues and what we can expect in the days to come. The 64 page introduction of the New 52 origin hit shelves earlier this week, and Capullo’s redesigned Batman costume debut is an outstanding reference to Detective Comics #27.

Snyder admits that initially he wanted to keep all aspects of Batman: Year One as the origin story for Batman, but later fretted that with the changes of the New 52, Year One doesn’t exactly fit. Both Scott and Greg have had high anxiety about delivering and changing the right Batman origin and are expressed gratitude for the fan’s enthusiasm for what they have done with the book.

Batman: Zero Year deliberately references all things Batman, including the aforementioned Detective Comics cover, Batman: The Animated Series and beats from Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One.

Issue #25 pages were revealed exclusively at the Con as well as the three part over arching chapters of Year Zero, to be spread in total over 11 issues. The three parts of the story are Secret City, Dark City and Wild City.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

MACHETE KILLS (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

MACHETE KILLS (review)

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Robert Rodriguez, Rick Schwartz, 

Sergei Bespalov, Alexander Rodnyansky, 

Aaron Kaufman, Iliana Nikolic 

Screenplay by Kyle Ward 

Story by Robert Rodriguez, Marcel Rodriguez 

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Starring Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Sofía Vergara, 

Amber Heard, Antonio Banderas, Cuba Gooding, Jr., 

Walton Goggins, William Sadler, Demián Bichir, Mel Gibson, 

Jessica Alba, Lady Gaga, Charlie Sheen

Open Road Films / Rated R

Machete Cortez (Danny Trejo) is back, baby and with a blade to kill for in the most ridiculous movie you can strap on this fall.

An all-star cast includes Charlie Sheen somehow referencing his Dad’s stint on The West Wing as the President.  The ‘Winning’ actor is all Tiger Blood and more in the role with self referential zeal, billed as “Carlos Estevez.”

Trejo steals the romp with a steely glance, and iron constitution. An action comedy like no other, the second film in the Machete franchise might not be worth a special trip to the theatre, but as a matinee or a RedBox rental, you really can’t go wrong. This has just about everything: girls, guts, helicopters, speed boats, explosions, strap-on weapons and a hero that only needs one weapon — his name!

Robert Rodriguez starts off the film with a Barbarella/Moonraker mock commercial preview for what has been announced as the next film in the franchise, Machete Kills Again … In Space. We’re a few years away from that, but after nailing movie two with this earthbound Mexican/American conflict we might be ready for his take on 70s space camp.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Triple Shot With a Digital Chaser: AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #1, TRIPLE HELIX #1, MARA #6 Plus TEMPLATE #1 - FORCES OF GEEK

Let’s pretend that we’re dead with another amazing Halloween issue, this time set in a place as dark as Riverdale with Afterlife with Archie #1, John Byrne expands on his Trio comic book Byrne-verse with a new superhero team in Triple Helix #1 and Brian Wood and Ming Doyle wrap up Mara in issue #6.

Over at ComiXology Submit, Template #1 uses the screen in effective ways to tell a futuristic scifi tale! 

AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #1
WRITER: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
ART: Francesco Francavilla
Publication Date: October 9, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Archie Comics
UPC: 76281606624200131
Buy it HERE

Archie Comics, as a publisher is one of the most surprisingly progressive and forward thinking in the industry.

From the gay marriage of service man Kevin Keller to the diverging timeline tale of Archie The Married Life, the Riverdale kids are mature characters not being put to waste by cheeseburger gags (though, when done right are as charming as when you read these at the barber shop or salon as a kid). 

Zombies have been popular for about 5 minutes or so I guess, so why not make a new ongoing Archie series with a horror bent?

This is more Dark Shadows the movie remake than The Walking Dead, but finally Sabrina and Salem exist in a book where spellbinding seems plausible, the dark corners of the night are gloomy, and the night of the Halloween Dance gives everyone an excuse to be dressed in costumes.

Did we mention that powerhouse Triple Shot favorite Francesco Francavilla was spotted in a cemetery near the burger joint spotting blacks? The artwork here is incredible, and people will be talking about this book all winter!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK!]

EARTH PRIME TIME: NEW YORK COMIC-CON PREVIEW 2013

New York Comic Con, October 10-13, is the biggest East Coast show of the year, and we are headed down there to fill our Adventure Time WeLoveFine oversized Con bag with swag, original art, and business cards to continue to deliver the fine comic book journalism you have come to expect from Earth Prime Time each week. Here’s a preview of some of the weird and wonderful delights the con has promised us from the many media announcements making their way to our inbox this fall.

This is truly a nerd’s holiday weekend! We here at LeaguePodcast make it a tradition of heading to Gotham once a year since our inception there, four years ago at a New York Comic Con afterparty. Hometown friends, miles from home, delighted in the smells of Hell’s Kitchen over beers at an iFanboy party and made an honest swing at weekly comic book podcasting ourselves and now we’re 166 episodes in, with events and our own after parties to attend to!

With a small bottle of Spider-Man hand sanitizer attached to our backpacks, a Mophie Juice Pack on the iPhone, we are getting on the safest and cheapest early bus on Friday to live it all again.

This time, it’s bigger. This time, it will be better. How do we know? The con has grown from 105,000 people in 2011 to 116,000 in 2012. And there’s gonna be a new Walking Dead episode this weekend and a ten year anniversary celebration of the comic with issue #115.

Walking Dead 115 - Charlie Adlard

Hollywood certainly takes a fair amount of floor space in San Diego and New York. Besides everyone’s favorite zombie show, you could catch a screening of the doll of our nightmares, Chucky returning in Curse of Chucky. The 25th Anniversary of Chucky is celebrated at a panel on Friday.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

Cosmic Treadmill: BAD KARMA V. 1 Arrives From Creators Alex Grecian, Jeremy Haun, B. Clay Moore & Seth Peck - FORCES OF GEEK

Bad Karma is a new hardcover anthology comic spanning multiple genres but maintaining a common thread throughout the stories.

Some stories come in comic form, others in prose, and an all star lineup of pinup artists make this Kickstarter creator owned book a varied and engaging read from top comics talent.

The book was conceived and assembled by FOG! favorite creator, B. Clay Moore (JSA Liberty Files, Hawaiian Dick) and nearly double its Kickstarter goal at launch.

The first volume of this anthology series starts off with Alfred Tennyson’s sonnet The Kraken and a collaborative story, The 9th Life of Solomon Kane.

The four main writers for the book, including artist Jeremy Haun (Batman, Darkness) introduce us to this new universe though the eyes of one of our heroes, Solomon Kane. We’re treated to a Western combined with all of the time travel and intrigue of a Doctor Whoepisode and of course a visit from the mystical sea beast. 

The first chapter of the Solomon Kane tale leaves you guessing about important questions, like how can he at once be in feudal Japan and the next moment in the old West or washing ashore. Clearly there is a crack in the time stream and multiple versions of Kane exist. Huan’s storytelling and artistry are a standout for me in this book, a clean line reminiscent of contemporary Joe Eisma’s work.

The next chapter of comics in the book is written by Seth Peck and drawn by Andy MacDonald for his story starring an intriguing force of nature known as Chaos Agent.


The bald man in a blue suit is as much an action hero modeled after Jason Statham as he is a supernatural being, rivaling the mystical powers of someone like Constantine. The Chaos Agent is on our world as a representative of the force of Chaos and this story shows how he does so. This is a cool character, worthy of his own world building if not a series himself!

We move on to Seth Peck’s Hellbent, a supernatural noir tale set around the time of Jack The Ripper.

Starring a crooked cop and some thugs, we see how the bruiser reacts when faced with the dark forces of dormant tentacle monsters roaming the streets of London!

[READ MORE at FORCESOFGEEK.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 9, 2013

COMICS

The indirect result of DC denying an all-ages Kamandi book for kids is the newest graphic novel from Paul Pope, Battling Boy. Join Aurora West and Battling Boy on a fresh monster stomping adventure. … Its a teamup of the century, Charles Soule (27, Swamp Thing) and Tony S. Daniel (Detective Comics, Action Comics) creating the The Man of Steel and Wonder Woman meet-cute in Superman Wonder Woman #1. … Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Walking Dead with issue #115. Rick vs. Negan in ALL OUT WAR! 10 alternate covers interlock, representing 10 years of the hit book just in time for the television return. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Pass the Daily Dig along! Your friends can sign up here!

The Lottery Ticket Comic

The Lottery Ticket Comic The lottery ticket that is guaranteed not to disappoint! The instantaneous, over-night fulfillment of lifelong dreams, the adoration of your friends and family, the ability to do what you love without worrying about the costs — this is every man’s dream.

And we’re not talking about suddenly becoming a movie star, either. Instant rewards are something that all humans are wired to desire, which explains why, according to the PBS, from as far back as 1996, over 60% of Americans have been involved in some form of gambling or another. Most people gamble for financial gain, or the adrenaline rush of seeing those dice roll over and make your day. While some winners have developed winning techniques, like Richard Lustig, who’s published a book detailing his techniques, which ranked #3 in Amazon’s Self-Help category in 2010, some winners, like William Post have experienced nothing but disaster following what they thought would be the greatest day of their lives. Gambling and the lottery continue to attract thousands of people everyday, with some flocking to casinos in Las Vegas for a round of cards, and some choosing to play a game of Uptown Pokies from the comfort of their computers.  While lottery tickets have become a symbol of both hope and despair for people all over the world, one comic book artist has turned it into a whole new form of art.

Peter S. Conrad has been experimenting with different mediums for years, transforming his comics into things never heard of before, like cassette tapes, cigarette packs and Rubik’s Cubes. In the 2011 San Francisco ZineFest, he revealed his latest creation: a comic in the form of a lottery ticket. This ingenious design brings comics to a whole new level. It eliminates a common problem that impatient comic book readers seem to have: skipping right to the end panel and spoiling the ending, while still allowing readers to go through each panel at their own pace. The anticipation of what could happen next, and the joy that comes from scratching off the ticket just add to the whole experience. Conrad’s unique comics have been featured in various newspapers and exhibited in museums all across the United States, and rightly so. After all, it takes an exceptionally talented man to turn something like a lottery ticket into an instrument of entertainment and fun.