A BRONY TALE (Review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Ashleigh Ball is a voice over actress and singer for Canadian indie pop band Hey Ocean! who played at my nightclub in Cambridge, MA last year. Another performer to grace the same stage last year was the twenty-one year-old Silva Hound, an Atlanta, GA DJ that spins Brony remixes on a tour with Brony musicians as Musiquestria.

A Brony Tale tells the story of Ashleigh going to her first BronyCon as the voice of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, main characters on the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic animated TV show. 

This is the second documentary about the Brony subculture to cross my desk, and the second to make me visit the show again as we see fandom’s most picked on rise above the negativity outside and embrace community inside. 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

INDIE GO-GO-GO! 'MOROS' With Josh Lucas at FORCES OF GEEK

We continue to support our indie creators trying to use Kickstarter and other platforms like Indiegogo to fund their comics.

A hustlin’ Josh Lucas sent us a tweet about his campaign, and sometimes that’s all it takes to get the ball rolling.

Plus the hard boiled crime super hero scratches a few of our itches.

Josh joins us today to talk about Moros.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

League Podcast and Dig Boston Comic Picks of the Week for July 16, 2014

COMICS

Our pal Ben Templesmith releases Squidder #1 from IDW for all of your tentacle needs! You remember him from 44 Flood Kickstarter, right? … The Supers may be saving our asses from harm but their blood may hold the cure for cancer. An undertaker is convinced to help out his delinquent brother to get superhuman DNA in Black Market #1 from Frank J. Barberie and Victor Santos at Boom! … “Trust me, I’m The Doctor”, Star Trek’s medical all-stars are in ST: Flesh and Stone one shot focussing on Starfleet Medical from McCoy to Crusher and EMH! … Picks this week from the All-New LeaguePodcast.com.

Kickstarter Korner - THE CHRONICLES OF FARO at FORCES OF GEEK

On top of that, he chose many different artists to tell the story, giving the book an anthology feel. We spoke to Faro about the book, the Kickstarter campaign and the secrets of Abraham Lincoln.

FOG!: Thanks for joining us today! Your pitch for Chronicles of Faro describes the book as James Bond meets Quantum Leap. Care to tell our readers what to expect?

Faro Kane: My two greatest influences growing up were James Bond movies that my father insisted I watch along with the obsession with time travel I gained from watching Quantum Leap. On Quantum Leap, the main character was a brilliant scientist who is able to leap into different people scattered throughout time. Each week he altered the lives of random people time and again, surviving death and love and confusion from having his mind meld with the people he’s “leaped” into. 

While Dr. Sam Beckett changed minor history for the better, I always wondered how it would go down if someone altered a MAJOR event in time. While good would evolve, wouldn’t evil play the same game?

So I took the main character of FARO and gave him the persona of Professor Francis Kane, a 40 something instructor at The National Academy of Science (founded in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln) who destroys his career and sells his soul to achieve time travel.

The James Bond part comes in after time travel is achieved, where our older hero finds himself 20 years younger and the pawn of an elite circle of time traveling terrorists (like SPECTRE) I envision FARO as the James Bond, his sidekick MUZIO the MAULER as the Felix Leiter, Johnny Olives as Q and eventually the surviving Abe Lincoln as M.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

League Podcast and DigBoston Comic Picks of the Week for July 8, 2014

COMICS

Poyo! If you aren’t reading Chew, you’ve got an eating disorder! The kick-ass kung-fu warrior chicken Poyo is here in his own #1 from Layman and Guillory! … The Life After #1 from Oni peeks into the after-life and beyond. Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov of Ultimate FF fame. … Rick Remender’s tale of Bucky in the Cold War, Winter Soldier #5 wraps up today, recommended for James Bond and train fight fans! Picks from the all new LeaguePodcast.com Dot Now!

THE IMAGE REVOLUTION (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

‏Twenty years ago, the comic book industry’s top guns took their pen nibs, pouches, flowy capes and big eyes away from the Big Two and started Image Comics. Creator ownership and the comic book industry fundamentally changed that day when McFarlane, Larsen, Liefeld, Silvestri, Lee, Valentino, and Portacio took control of the business of comic books and the rights to their own characters. 

‏Written and directed by Patrick Meany and produced by Seqart in association with Respect! Films, The Image Revolution interviews the guys, plus Sean Howe (Marvel Comics: The Untold Story), Image publisher Eric Stephenson, Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Nick Spencer (Morning Glories) and many more to tell the tale of the early ‘rock star’ days of Image Comics and takes us through today. With the success of The Walking Deadand Image Comics dominating the creator owned market and business model, the impossible dream became real.

We get another great inside the bullpen look from Respect! Films here, highly recommended for fans of these superstar creators but mostly for people of my comic book reading generation. The early ‘90s were an amazing time to be reading the books coming out from Marvel. 

‏The split happened right before our eyes, and like many things no one was sure if it would work.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

THE PRIVATE EYE #1-7 Gets a Turn on The Cosmic Treadmill

Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Y: The Last Man, TV’s Lost) and artist Marcos Martin (Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil) have quietly disrupted the comic book industry with a small crack in the wall.

Beyond the innovative distribution method they have devised with a ‘pay what you want’ donation system at Panel Syndicate site, the story itself is revolutionary. 

‏Within the tablet-friendly landscape format with a DRM-free file formats lies a future tale where nothing is private. The Internet doesn’t exist. The ‘cloud’ has burst and everyone wears a mask. The cops of the future are The Fourth Estate - code word for the press.

You may not know about this sleeper hit, but if you wanted to, you can pay $0 to read it right now.

You’ll quickly find justification for leaving a donation (or not, that’s how they roll). 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

LeaguePodcast and DigBoston Comics Picks of the Week for July 2, 2014

COMICS

“Hooked on a feeling…”, Oh man, Guardians of the Galaxy is gonna be so good! Star Lord (played by Chris Pratt) stars in his own book Legendary Star Lord #1 written by newly minted exclusive Marvel writer Sam Humphries (The Ultimates, Uncanny X-Force). … Continuing the tradition of Zero Issues for these books, Magnus: Robot Fighter #0 hits stands starring Leeja: Human Hunter! … Your move, creep! If you weren’t satisfied with the Robocop Reboot last summer, this is the book for you! Joshua Williamson writes what happens after Murphy and Lewis clean up Old Detroit in Robocop 2014 #1. Picks from the all new LeaguePodcast.com Dot Now!

LeaguePodcast and DigBoston Comics Picks of the Week June 25, 2014

COMICS!

Colt City is having a rash of murders and our pulp hero Black Beetle is the only one that can stop them! The followup series Black Beetle: Necrologue #1 starts today from Francesco Francavilla. Pick up many copies, this will sell out! … IDW combines Ben 10, Samurai Jack, Powerpuff Girls and Dexter’s Laboratory into one Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War #1! The Crossover that should never be (guest starring Ed, Edd and Eddy! … Master Alan Davis writes and draws the green Banner Monster in Savage Hulk #1! … Picks from the All-New LeaguePodcast.com!

POINT OF ORIGIN: THE HOUSE IN THE WALL #1 (REVIEW) - new column at FORCES OF GEEK!

Again, thanks to Stefan for the awesome logo. It is a much better column title than mine (First Burst) plus has Banner turning into the Hulk!

New Column. Same Great Tastes.

POINT OF ORIGIN will review first issues, natch!

The debut issue highlights Tynion’s supernatural strengths and Donovan’s traditional comic art fits the mood perfectly.

Tynion shares writing credit with Noah J Yuenkel and art is by Super Mario Bros. 2 - (the official sequel to SMB!) webcomic artist Eryk Donovan. Eryk explains on his Facebook page that he appreciates the ability to use panel layers as a new storytelling tool as panels change by touch. His artwork is still created the old fashioned way — portrait, pencils, ink and paper. He seems to be enjoying the experiment and for a first-timer I would say his experiments are right on target to maximizing the landscape digital comics format.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

JERSEY BOYS - (movie review) - at FORCES OF GEEK

Produced by Clint Eastwood, Graham King, 

Robert Lorenz

Screenplay by Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice

Based on Jersey Boys by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, 

Michael Lamenda, Vincent Piazza, Christopher Walken

John Lloyd Young stars as Frankie Valli in the Clint Eastwood directed movie Jersey Boys, based on the jukebox musical of the same name.

This retelling of the origin of the Four Seasons flips from being Goodfellas to Bye Bye Birdie, adds a bit of previously unknown dangerous element to the pop groups’ origin, and offers another outlet for Eastwood’s directorial oeuvre. 

The talented cast are triple threats in the classical show-biz way, and the romantic notion of cutting a record and shopping it around to labels is illustrated in the musical as the quartet finally gets a name and a ‘sound’.

Told partially by having each of the members of the Four Seasons break the fourth wall and narrate the story, we start out with Vincent Piazza (Boardwalk Empire) as founding member Tommy DeVito. His criminal activities, black market dealings and revolving door at the state prison make for a very Henry Hill intro to the movie.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

FOTOBOM: WALKER STALKER CON BOSTON 2014 - DIGBOSTON

League Podcast hit up the inaugural The Walking Dead and zombie-themed Walker Stalker Con: Boston and scored chats with Walking Dead cast members Jeff Kober, Nick Gomez and Travis Love, plus Walking Dead: The Game and Wolf Among Us voice actor Melissa Hutchison, plus Comic Book Men Bryan Johnson and Ming Chen! Plus, some weird zombie dude! Check out the episode on the newly redesigned LeaguePodcast.com below. All pictures by Stacey B. Rizoli.

League of Ordinary Gentlemen Podcast #194 – Walker Stalker Con! Full interview episode.

Direct Download / Mp3 Stream (opens in new window).

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

THE COSMIC TREADMILL LOOKS AT 'AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE: BOOK ONE' (REVIEW)

Afterlife with Archie: Book One collects the first five issues of Archie’s first horror comic that oozes blood, terror and Archie family in-jokes that is sure to make you run from Riverdale.

Don’t run too far, because the art is by Francesco Francavilla and is written by screenwriter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Glee, Big Love) who’s understanding of the Archie-verse allows him to turn this town on it’s head.

His most spectacular feat is making transforming Jughead into a monster of Freddy or Jason proportions.

Zombies. Halloween Dance. Teenage romance. ‘Don’t go in there’.

The most unsuspecting comics company took a turn for the morbid with this series.

With the announcement of a Sabrina the Teenage Witch series in the same bloody vein, it looks like the supermarket comic crowd is in for a terrifying surprise.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

LeaguePodcast and DigBoston Comics Picks of the Week for June 17, 2014

COMICS

Bringing the characters of The Bard to Life, Kill Shakespeare: The Mask of Night #1 takes the action onto the water, a great companion piece to the new IDW game of the same name! …The weird wonderful talking drug addled space gun and cyber punk adventure concludes as Butch and Gun defend Repo city in Ballistic #5. … The Phonogram / Young Avengers team of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie are back with a new creator owned project THE WICKED + THE DIVINE telling the tale of Gods reincarnating as teenagers—the ultimate pop-stars! Picks from the new LeaguePodcast.com.

KICKSTARTER KORNER: FROM CAN MAN TO FILE 13; CHILDHOOD COMIC GETS REIMAGINED FOR KICKSTARTER

This edition of Kickstarter Korner kicks the Can with Dan Hosek and also, apparently Keith Koppenhoefer, who jumped in so as not to be silenced any more!

File 13 is a fun retro superhero comic looking for that last boost to make a childhood dream a reality.

Consider your pledges after the jump! 

FOG!: Dan, thanks for taking the time to tell us about File 13! What’s the general scoop?

Dan Hosek: Thanks for having me, Clay. File 13 is a full-color, monthly series about Scott Solson’s high tech, high adventure “hero’s journey” (with a healthy dose of absurdist humor thrown in). The stories draw on equal parts classic superhero storytelling, pop culture references, high drama, science fiction, and historic events that are stranger than fiction.

At its best, it will drop your jaw then make you laugh three pages later. Its also the culmination of a 30 year journey for me and this character.  I created the basis for the book—well, the book now hardly resembles anything like what I created when I was 12, but the basic characters are there.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

EDGE OF TOMORROW (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Erwin Stoff, Tom Lassally, 

Jeffrey Silver, Gregory Jacobs, Jason Hoffs

Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, 

Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth

Based on All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Directed by Doug Liman

Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, 

Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson

Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in this dystopian sci-fi tale directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr.  Mrs. Smith).

With spectacular robot control suits and space age firepower, the heroes take on the Mimics, a spindly looking race of alien monsters that seem to know what is happening next.

When Private Bill Cage (Cruise) has an encounter with one of the slippery beasts, his fate is changed by absorbing some of the Mimic’s power.

Under Rita’s (Blunt) training, Cage and the misfit goons of Master Sergeant Farell’s (Bill Paxton) J Squad go after the enemy with guns blazing.

The catch?

They get to do it over again by resetting Cage’s life.

No review of this movie is going to not reference Groundhog Day. So yeah, it’s kinda like Battlestar Galacticameets Groundhog Day. 

That elevator pitch is no slight to the movie, it may actually hook some of your on the fence pals to head to the theatre for this one.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DEFEND YOURSELF: ALLEN MCRAE OF IMPROVBOSTON’S COMEDY, AMERICA

Starting this Friday and and ending on Independence Day, ImprovBoston is giving us an original sketch comedy revue show with musical guests and even a few songs. Celebrating all the shaving bumps and concealed warts of this nation of ours — Comedy, America— takes ImprovBoston’s holiday themed sketch comedy series from the Old West to Disney and of course American presidents. Comedy writer and director of the show Allen McRae joins us to talk ceremonial turkey.

Who are you and what are you doing?
My name is Allen McRae. I am the head writer and director of Comedy, America — an all new sketch comedy revue being presented every Friday in June and also on the Fourth of July at ImprovBoston in Central Sq., Cambridge.

How long have you been doing stuff at ImprovBoston?
For about six or seven years now. I lived in New York for a little while when I got out of college, doing comedy there. When I moved back to Boston I did comedy at this place called The Tribe. When they closed down, I started doing comedy at ImprovBoston. I took a couple of years off because I was in a band, as you know (The Tin Thistles!).

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

Indiegogo GO!: ALICE AND THE INVADERS FROM WONDERLAND Interview with Bret M. Herholz at FORCES OF GEEK

Bret and I met over the weekend at the strangest place, a crafts fair in his hometown of Worcester, MA, just minutes after a fender bender outside, and in a room with local Celtic punk bands playing amidst tables loaded with cupcakes, taxidermy, necklaces and pins. 

Naturally, I gravitated to the comic book artist there and looked at his book, Sherlock Holmes and the Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner and enjoyed his portfolio of drawings. There was a steampunk Batgirl in his signature style as well as Sherlock Holmes vs. the deadly Daleks. 

His new book takes on Alice in Wonderland and puts her Alice where she should be, a strong hero and her adventures after she returns home. Bret’s Indiegogo campaign runs until June 20th. 

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Bret! What’s new in Wonderland?

Bret M. Herholz: Thank you Clay! Quite a lot has happened actually!
The story I’ve written picks up whereAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland left off.

We come to find out that all of Alice’s adventures weren’t all just a dream. The Queen of Hearts found a way to break through to Alice’s reality and her army has taken over the world.  

Alice manages to escape with the help of some of the friends she has made in her adventures down the rabbit hole such as the Mad Hatter, March Hare and White Rabbit. The bulk of the story takes place six years later with a now 16 year old Alice continuing her fight against the Queen of Hearts.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for June 3, 2014

COMICS

Archie comics are Undead! When Sabrina resurrects Hot Dog with a spooky spell, she kicks off a zombie outbreak! Amazing art by Francesco Francavilla on this Walking Dead meets Riverdale trade paperback, Afterlife with Archie Vol. 1. …Trekkies rejoice, Harlan Ellison’s Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever #1 gets the originally intended version of the teleplay from IDW in comic form. …Master Kazuo Koike returns with an all new version of New Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1, continuing the classic samurai title. Picks this week from League Podcast.com.

BRIAN WINKELER CHATS UP KNUCKLEHEADS ON THE COSMIC TREADMILL AT FORCES OF GEEK

We’ve been enjoying Knuckleheads since the beginning.

Writer Brian Winkeler was kind enough to join us to talk about issue #6 available today on ComiXology.

Coupled with Robert Wilson IV on art, this MonkeyBrain title is full of comedy, monsters, cute dogs and impossible breakfast scenarios.

Aliens gave Trevor a fist with special powers, but will he be able to control it for that much longer?

Here is Brian to reveal the buildup to the latest issue.

FOG!: Hey Brian - thanks for joining us for Knuckleheads! Seinfeld voice - “What’s the deal with Crystal Fist?”

Brian Winkeler: The weapon or the “superhero?”

The weapon is kinda sorta maybe like a Green Lantern power ring but Trev (our protagonist) was way hungover when he got it so he’s super fuzzy on it. All he knows for sure at the start is he can use it to cheat on video games and steal Netflix.

He learns more as the series progresses.

Issue one brings the band all together, a ragtag bunch consisting of our ‘hero’ Trevor, his roommateLance, hipster Pizza Guy and hot British chick, Emma. Are more cats going to be added to the main group?

Issue #6 introduces a couple of characters who may or may not be sticking around for volume 2, and #8 introduces a brand new character who has been with us from the beginning. That confusing sentence will make sense as soon as you read #8.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]