A new site has debuted, featuring tales from noted authors written very much in the style of classic drive in and B movies, bringing together all the campy horror, mystery, and suspense that once haunted Drive in screens and late night television… Complete with its own hostess. As she introduces herself on the site…
I’m your hostess, Mistress Evili (pronounced Eh-vah-lee). Get that straight or I’ll introduce you to a specialty meat shoppe where you’ll become a nice chunk of ground round. Or, speaking of organ grinders, maybe you’d like to become one of those cute monkeys with the little hats and little cups?
Welcome to the theater of my mind, where all the little ghosts and ghoulies were sent packing because they weren’t scary enough!
I’ve put together a selection of twisted tales designed to channel your inner sociopath. What? You think those thoughts you have about killing and maiming were yours alone to think? Well, think again, munchkins. I’ve been witness to every dark dream you’ve ever dreamt! I’m here to reward that twisted little demon that you try to safeguard in the back of your mind. These “movies” are here to entice, tantalize, and scandalize the darkness that resides within you.
I’ve assembled cannibals and creatures, butchers and behemoths, evil scientists and dark-hearted wizards. They’re all here for you to enjoy.
You do enjoy the darkness, don’t you? Featured writers currently include Eric Beetner, Kyle Bergersen, Sean Dalton, and J. E. Mooney Get your ticket for the B Movie experience of The Schlock Zone Drive-In at http://schlockzone.blogspot.com!
Almost thirty years after his critically acclaimed Blood & Judgment series, fan-Favorite writer/artist Howard Chaykin returns to The Shadow for a new Dynamite Entertainment mini series, The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow.
Official Press Release:
Dynamite is proud to announce that legendary writer/artist Howard Chaykin will write his first new tale of The Shadow in nearly thirty years. The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow will take place three decades prior to the events of his critically acclaimed Blood & Judgment series. Chaykin will reprise his creative role both as writer and artist for this new venture.
“I’m delighted and grateful to Dynamite for the opportunity to work once again on so legendary a character as The Shadow,” says Chaykin. “My new miniseries, The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow, tells the secret story behind the Shadow’s disappearance in 1949.” While this new series marks his return to Shadow storytelling, he hasn’t strayed far from the character in recent years, contributing gorgeous cover artwork for Dynamite’s variety of Shadow series.
Blood and Judgement
“The Shadow: Blood & Judgment is one of my favorite comic series of all time,” says Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher of Dynamite. “It absolutely blows my mind, still to this day. I can’t even begin to express how much this means to me as the publisher of the series and how much as a fan of Howard’s series. Howard Chaykin’s return to the character is going to be phenomenal. And in a move that will certainly keep his fans on their toes, he’s setting Midnight in Moscow up not as a direct sequel to his earlier work, but years and years beforehand, at an exciting and critical moment in the Shadow’s history. I have such tremendous respect for Howard as a storyteller, a true modern master of the comic book medium.”
Howard Chaykin is a modern legend in the comics industry, with an exceptionally respected body of work spanning four decades. He is perhaps best known for American Flagg!, a series published by First Comics in 1982. Chaykin wrote and illustrated the first twelve issues exclusively, and was praised by critics and readers alike. In 1985, Chaykin wrote and drew The Shadow for DC Comics, the acclaimed run that would later be collected by Dynamite as The Shadow: Blood & Judgment. He is the recipient of Inkpot and Eisner Awards. His extensive library of comics work includes such titles as Star Wars, Black Kiss, American Century, Challengers of the Unknown, Blackhawk, Hawkgirl, Blade, Punisher War Journal, and Satellite Sam. He was also executive script consultant for The Flash television series on CBS, and later worked on action-adventure programs such as Viper, Earth: Final Conflict, and Mutant X.
Blood and Judgement
The Shadow began its existence in 1930 as a narrative voice on the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. The audience thrilled to the serialized adventures of this mysterious figure, whose mythos expanded to include Occidental mysticism, hypnotic powers over weak criminal minds, and twin .45 caliber handguns. With a keen intellect and relentless drive, The Shadow hunted criminals without mercy in an era when gumshoe detectives and bootlegging mobsters was a thrilling yet fearsome reality. The character’s popularity has endured for over 80 years, bolstered by appearances in radio serials, novels, comic books, films, and more. In recent years, Dynamite published a groundbreaking and well-received Shadow series launched by comic writer Garth Ennis (Preacher), with further tales crafted by Victor Gischler and Chris Roberson. Lamont Cranston’s grim alter-ego has also appeared in such related series as The Shadow: Year One, Masks, and The Shadow / Green Hornet: Dark Nights.
Blood and Judgement
About Dynamite Entertainment: Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, Purgatori, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.
Milestone was the idea of Denys Cowan. Denys, Dwayne McDuffie, Derek Dingle, Christopher Priest and I sat in a room (a few rooms actually, sometimes at someone’s home, sometimes at a dive restaurant a lot of times in a dive diner) and we sat and planed for weeks creating the original universe of Milestone main characters Icon, Rocket, Static, Hardware and Blood Syndicate.
Priest left right before we signed our publishing & distribution deal with DC. For a very long time Priest was the Pete Best of Milestone. Pete Best’s claim to fame is that he was the original Beatles drummer before Ringo. Pete left to get a real job. That’s pretty much it. His music career amounts to little but a trivia question.
Christopher Priest, on the other hand…
That mofo did just fine without Milestone. He’s writing movies, novels and just about anything he else he wants to write. However, for a very long time Priest was our trivia question. Few people knew he had anything to do with the Dakota Universe.
Now, few people think the original Milestone partners were just four, most fans and all the industry know that Priest was there at the start.
Most people are aware that Derek Dingle was there from the start of Milestone, few people know and even fewer believe Derek Dingle was a major co-creator on the original universe of Milestone main characters.
Translation, Derek came up with many ideas that made it into the Milestone Bible his contribution was just as valued as anyone sitting at the creative table.
I remember how much Derek Dingle had to do with creating Static’s powers and costume. I remember that very clearly because I wrote the Static Bible (meaning I created his family, backstory, supporting characters, etc.) I ran many an idea passed Mr. Dingle for as long as I could.
It’s easy to understand how Derek was casted in non-creator role by the fans. As Milestone went from idea to business plan to universe bible to joint venture with DC Comics, Derek’s visibility as a creator became less and less.
We were all equal partners but we all had separate roles in the company. Derek’s role was President of Milestone. You wouldn’t call the President of Milestone at 4 in the morning to run possible names of Static’s dog sidekick pass him.
Well you wouldn’t… but you know me…
Oh, you didn’t know that Static had a dog sidekick? Well he did for about 35 seconds until the genius that thought it was a good idea was laughed out of the room.
Who’s bad Idea was it?
I’ll never tell, unless at SDCC I’m asked during the Q&A session of the Milestone panel, Friday July 19th Room 5AB (Shameless Plug!) 11:30-12:30!
Ask me then and I’ll spill like a drunken gossip columnist on TMZ.
Look, all of the Milestone partners had horrible ideas at one time or the other. Sometime a bad idea becomes a terrible idea when the person who’s idea it was starts to defend the idea. Trust me, that’s never pretty.
There were plenty of heated exchanges at Milestone but I’d have to say the one person who always kept his cool was Derek. In fact, the only time I ever saw Derek lose his cool was not over anything creative or corporate.
It was over a Kitty.
Kitty was her name and she was (is) one beautiful woman or as we say in the hood, she’s Super Fine. How fine is she? Stevie Wonder could see how fine Kitty is.
One day I was having lunch with Kitty so I had her meet me at Milestone. That was the only time I saw Derek a bit rattled. When I introduced Kitty I swear it took him a full hour before he could say ‘hi’ Kitty is that fine.
OK, it wasn’t an hour his hesitation was maybe 2-4 seconds and wasn’t really noticed by anyone but me, but a 2-4 second delay from Mr. Cool-As-Ice Dingle is rare and you know me, give me an inch…
So, to recap, Derek Dingle was just as involved, I’ll say it again, Derek Dingle was just as involved as anyone in the creation of the core Milestone Universe. Since the day Milestone began there has been reams of wrong information, misinformation and outright bullshit about our company. Believe it or not that continues to this day.
It’s Milestone’s 20th Anniversary and our fans, which I sincerely believe are the greatest and most loyal fans in the history of comics; deserve to celebrate with the truth.
I hope to see many of you in San Diego. As a guest this year I’ll have a space in Artists Alley thanks to the kind people at SDCC!
If you come by and I’m not there someone should be there to tell you when I’d be back. As much as I’d like to hang out there all day, I’ll be a weeeee bit busy expanding my media empire… and scoping out Asian girl cos players.
Come on by! I’ll be more than happy talk to you about my ComicMix columns and upcoming novels. Yeah, I’ll be talking about writing in Artists Alley.
That Michael Davis, what a rebel!
If you miss me at the booth you can catch me here:
The Black Panel Room 5AB 10-11:30 am Friday July 19th
The Milestone 20th Anniversary Panel 11:30-12:30 am Friday July 19th
*The Milestone 20th Anniversary Party Friday 9pm July 19th
*You need an invite for the party I’ll have a few on me during the Milestone Panel and if you mention ComicMix and hit me up before they are gone I’ll hook you up.
Lastly, Derek I’m keeping you to your promise. This is your moment my friend, enjoy it! No work! Have fun!
Piccadilly Publishing has added Gordon Davis’ The Sergeant to their ebook reprint catalog.
PRESS RELEASE:
I’m delighted to announce that we have acquired the ebook rights to one of the great series of the 1980s — THE SERGEANT by Gordon Davis. Beginning in October we’ll be issuing all nine books in the series, this time under the author’s real name, and all featuring covers painted by Tony Masero!
About Piccadilly Publishing: Piccadilly Publishing is the brainchild of longtime Western fans and Amazon Kindle Number One bestselling Western writers Mike Stotter and David Whitehead (a.k.a. Ben Bridges). The company intends to bring back into ‘e-print’ some of the most popular and best-loved Western and action-adventure series fiction of the last forty years.
Series fiction (the most popular genre was always the Western, but it also encompassed war stories, tales of pillaging Vikings, life in the Roman arena and action-adventure set in the far-flung future) was at its most popular throughout the 1970s and 80s and is still fondly remembered and avidly collected by die-hard fans even today. Some books are now so hard to come by that it’s not unusual for them to change hands for astronomical amounts.
“We got to know a number of the authors when we were teenagers,” remembers Mike. “Although they mostly wrote Westerns, they often joked that they had never been further west than Piccadilly, in London’s West End.”
Thus Piccadilly Publishing was born. One of its aims is to bring back titles for new and old readers alike. Great care is taken over the production of each title, and each one has a specially-commissioned cover from Westworld Designs that recreates the feel of the originals, at the same time giving them a fresh and more modern look.
At the moment all Piccadilly Publishing titles are available for download from Amazon’s platforms in the UK, US, Spain, France, Germany and Italy, with more titles are set to follow on a regular basis. There are also plans to expand their availability on other electronic platforms.
“We’re adding authors and series to our catalogue almost every day,” reports Whitehead. “Over the coming years I think we’ll surprise and delight our fellow fans with what we have to offer.”
The Shadow Fan returns for Episode 40! This week, Barry Reese responds to listener feedback, talks about The Shadow Now series that’s coming from Dynamite and offers up a trio of reviews: The Black Falcon (1934), The Salamanders (1936) and The Shadow # 15 (Dynamite, 2013).
If you love pulp’s greatest crimefighter, then this is the podcast for you!
Ladies and gentlemen, I have met the Deadpool game, and it is mine.
Mine, mine, mine! And if you try to take it away from me, it will be fighty time.
In other words. I like it. I like it a lot.
(Mild spoilers ahead.)
When I heard that High Moon Studios was going to be putting out a Deadpool game, I got very excited. I mean, heck, I bought the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance because you can play Deadpool, so no shock there. Then I started seeing the trailers, and I was alternately excited and slightly worried – excited because it looked like High Moon had really done their research, and worried because it’s possible to do the research and still get the tone wrong; in particular, by emphasizing the cruder parts of the character at the expense of the (crazy, off-kilter, a little insane) cleverness. It happens in the comics sometimes, depending on who’s writing the character, and it’s pretty off-putting when you’re used to the cleverer Deadpool. The promos had a lot of bits that seemed to indicate that the focus was going to skew towards gross-out or lame sex jokes instead of witty Deadpoolian banter, and that would have disappointed me to no end. But I shouldn’t have fretted.
Sure, there are some really crude bits in this (M-rated) game – in the very first level, where you get to explore Deadpool’s apartment, you have the option to make Deadpool sit right down and, as the proper British would say it, “use the loo.” But the way it plays out makes it less gross and more hilarious, and completely in character with a Deadpool who knows he’s in a video game. Likewise for most of the other jokes in that vein; it’s all about the context and delivery, and the designers (and Nolan North as the voice of Deadpool) nail it here. That’s not to say that some of the humor isn’t a bit juvenile; or that I couldn’t do without a few of the more misogynistic or sex-related references (did there really need to be blow-up dolls in the game? Really?). Some of those references stem from more recent iterations of Deadpool, which is one reason I’m a much bigger fan of the slightly subtler Deadpool humor of the Joe Kelly, Fabian Nicieza, and Gail Simone eras. But overall, the humor works – and after all, Deadpool is, when all is said and done, kind of terrible a lot of the time. He’s funny as hell to read about or watch, but he’s not exactly a guy you want to invite over to hang out.
Happily, there are also a lot of jokes in the game that have nothing to do with bathrooms (or women’s anatomy), and that actually made me laugh out loud. For instance, when the little scene from the game’s promo pics that made me laugh, with Deadpool riding in a little kiddie ride that looks like a rocket, finally shows up, it is even better than in the promos. And there are numerous bits like that. There was actually only one schtick that really hit a completely wrong note for me – in which Deadpool stops to admire a dead female enemy who’s been impaled on a pole. That made me cringe.
But other than that, playing this game as a Deadpool fan (or even if not, I’d wager) is pure joy. Deadpool is a character who’s well-suited to the over-the-top craziness of a video game – he’s all about violence and fun, and he comes with his own pre-written fourth wall-breakage that can be incorporated in some pretty awesome ways in a video game. For instance, at one point in the game, Deadpool opens a door and sees a pathetically unfinished, half designed, green-gridded hallway. So what does he do? Well of course he closes the door and calls up High Moon to threaten them if they don’t get that hallway finished immediately. The door opens again and, voila! it’s fixed.
There’s a ton of stuff like that in the game, and the best part is, the game never breaks character. For example, when Deadpool dies, he pops up on the load screen with an apropos quip about the situation (My favorite being the “Oh, hey babe! What are you doing he – Wait, I’m what?” reference to his relationship with Marvel’s Death). Everything is written in a Deadpoolian style, and even though it features what could be a “serious” storyline (the plot is something about Mr. Sinister trying to be evil as usual, and Cable trying to get Deadpool to help stop him and save everyone), this is overlaid by Deadpool’s personal storyline – which is that Mr. Sinister killed Deadpool’s contract hit, so now Deadpool isn’t going to get paid. And Deadpool? He mad. Which means that yep, he’s damn sure going to go through the whole story and give Mr. Sinister what-for, and, oh, yes, inadvertently end up helping everybody at the same time and maybe saving the world and stuff; which is just what Deadpool often does. The result is a video game that does actually have some pretty good substance to it – but is, on top of all of that, just plain fun to play.
The Deadpool game is also pretty awesome to watch and listen to. Deadpool himself looks great, the cutscenes are frequent and fun, and the entire story is rife with references to the Deadpool canon from the moment we arrive in Deadpool’s run-down apartment. From an actual “history of Deadpool” program you can watch on Deadpool’s TV (complete with art from the comics and a great “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”-style narrator) to what happens when you decide to cook in Deadpool’s kitchen, it’s all Deadpool, all the time; although there are also some great cameos by characters like Cable, Domino, and Wolverine. You see alternate Deadpool uniforms; glimpse the face behind the mask; and then the writers even lampshade the way Cable disappeared at the end of Cable & Deadpool by giving him an analogous and obviously lame and nonsensical excuse as to why he can’t stick around and help Deadpool with the mission he’s just given him in-game. It’s the little stuff like that which makes this game fried gold for any Deadpool fan.
The settings are also pretty interesting. I was particularly impressed with Genosha, which is actually depressing as hell if you look at the details they’ve put into the already creepy ruins (a merry-go-round upended by a Sentinel head; several random skulls; scrawlings of “Why?? Why??” and “Rot in Pieces” on the prison walls). It’s a level design that would fit right in with, say, Arkham Asylum. And yet in the midst of all this, we get Deadpool spinning the completely random “Wheel of Insanity”…and landing on “Cow.” At which point, yes, an actual cow flies mooooing through the air, amidst a general “magnetic apocalypse” he’s already dialed up – and meanwhile, Deadpool is platform-jumping up to a rather disturbing but funny scene with Mr. Sinister’s clone. It’s the perfect blend of darkness and light, which is what drew me to Joe Kelly’s Deadpool and made me love reading about him in the first place.
I also love that this is a video game that rewards a player for doing nothing. Because of course. For instance, if you turn on the game but don’t start playing right away, the sleeping Deadpool will eventually teleport from chair to couch, changing uniforms. There are also prompts that you can follow at various points in the game; say, to make something that’s driving poor Wade crazy stop – and if you don’t follow the prompt (maybe because you, I don’t know, think it’s funny to listen to Deadpool cry for awhile) he might, just maybe, shoot himself in the head. Which sounds pretty awful, but in context it’s hilarious. Deadpool’s voice work, done by veteran Deadpool voice actor Nolan North and featuring all three of Deadpool’s voices (his real one and the two in his head, which show up as yellow and white boxes just like in the comics), is also hilarious and awesome. North has great comic timing, and delivers even the craziest lines with panache.
I’ve seen a couple of reviews of the game that note that the gameplay can get monotonous; but I’d disagree. Sure, this might not be a game that always requires finesse – although there are a number of combos you can perform, you can also succeed pretty well some of the time just by mashing buttons; and yes, the basic mobs of bad guys can be killed by the same attacks throughout – but the game switches it up with more powerful enemies and bosses, some of which have different tricks up their sleeves, and most of which do require more skill. And as Deadpool you have access to a pretty fun arsenal, which includes katanas, sais, giant hammers, several types of guns, and a number of mines and grenades. And, oh yes, beartraps. Because bear traps. You can also teleport, which is a great dodge when fighting, and is super awesome when you, say, miss a platform and are falling to your death; because the game allows you to simply teleport back to your last jumping-off point.
Just as important as any of the above, though, is that the constant kill-kill-kill of a lot of action games is broken up regularly by hilarious cut-scenes, random dream sequences, and challenges that require different skills from players (platform and wall jumping, rooms with shifted perspective, a crazy turret sequence involving a Sentinel’s boot…). I love a challenging fight, but a game that can also make me laugh right afterwards is way better. And clearly, from what I’ve been talking about for most of this review, a game that is immersive and enjoyable is just as important to me as a game that challenges me as a gamer.
In conclusion, I love this game. It’s like being in a Deadpool candy store full of Deadpool candy; except that this store is definitely not for kids. So if you’re a Deadpool or Marvel fan, or just looking for an engaging game, and you can handle a little bit of crass humor – then I’d say go for it. Get this game. Because if you don’t, Deadpool will get you. With bear traps.
Archie Comics has tapped an A-List line up of talent to celebrate the launch of their new Red Circle Comics series, The Fox. Award-winning creators Mark Waid and Dean Haspiel craft the story inside the book, which also includes variant covers by Darwyn Cooke and Fiona Staples.
THE FOX #1
NEW RED CIRCLE SERIES!
From the world of the New Crusaders, comes the FANTASTIC debut of the high-flying FOX! Emmy Award winning writer/artist Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma, HBO’s Bored to Death) and Eisner Award winning writer Mark Waid (Daredevil, Thrillbent) bring the legendary, pulp-style hero The Fox to life in “Freak Magnet, Part One: The True Face of MyFace”! When photojournalist Paul Patton, Jr. donned a super hero costume,
Cover: Fiona Staples
he thought it would be a quick way to make some news—now the strange and unusual just can’t help but be drawn to the freak-magnetism of the fabulous fighting FOX! While working on a puff-piece at the Red Circle Gazette, an evil truth about social media mogul Lucy Fur is discovered, bringing Paul face-to-face with a criminal kingpin! Get in on the ground floor with the hottest new fall series featuring art and story from the biggest names in comics today! Get freaky!
Plot/Script: Dean Haspiel, Mark Waid
Art: Dean Haspiel, Allen Passalaqua, John Workman
Cover: Dean Haspiel
FREAK MAGNET Variant: Dean Haspiel
Running with the Foxes Variant Cover: Darwyn Cooke
High-Flying Variant Cover: Fiona Staples
Cover: Dean Haspiel
Shipping Date: 10/16
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops:
32-page, full color comic
$2.99 US.
All Pulp’s Ron Fortier returns with another Pulp Fiction Review. This time out Ron takes a look at FUZZY NATION by John Scalzi.
FUZZY NATION By John Scalzi A Tor Book 301 pages
In 1962 the late H. Beam Piper’s well loved science fiction novel, “Little Fuzzy” was published. This reviewer was a sophomore in high school and has fond memories of discovering that book via the recommendation of a fellow student who was also an avid reader of science fiction. For those of you unaware of the book’s premise, humans have traveled to the starts and giant corporations mine alien worlds for their resources. On one such planet, prospector Jack Halloway discovers a race of furry little creatures and befriends them. When evidence indicates that the “fuzzies” might actually be sentient beings it establishes the plot’s primary conflict. By interplanetary law, if a planet has aboriginal sentient life, then it is off limits to all who would attempt to harvest its natural resources to include the mining outfit on Zarathustra, lush alien setting for the book.
Part science fiction adventure and courtroom melodrama, “Little Fuzzy” ends when Halloway and his friends win their case convincing an Interplanetary Judge to declare the “fuzzies” sentient beings and thus the unquestionable owners of the planet. The book was hugely successful at the time of its release and Piper went on to write sequels, several actually published after his death in 1964. Beside these, other authors were hired to write new Fuzzy novels; these included William Tuning and John Smith. The late Ardath Mayhar wrote “Golden Dream,” a novel telling the self-same story only from the perspective of the Fuzzies themselves. In her book she even invented the fuzzies’ language; parts of which were used by Wolfgang Diehr who wrote two new Fuzzy novels.
We relate all this because my own connection with the series is a personal one on several levels. After reading several of the sequels, we wrote the publishers suggesting how the original Piper book do extremely well if done as a childrens’ book. In 1983 such a volume was produced; “The Adventures of Little Fuzzy” written by Benson Parker and beautifully illustrated by Michael Whelan. The aforementioned Ardath Mayhar was our writing mentor at the time of her involvement with the license and we recall how happy she was with her efforts. As most fans of the Star Wars movies know, it was the “fuzzies” that inspired George Lucas’ Ewoks and one of the TV network channels produced a made-for-TV movie loosely based on Piper’s though as I recall, no credit to that fact was ever stated.
Which brings us to “Fuzzy Nation,” John Scalzi’s rebooting (his own words) of this science fiction classic released in 2011. Having experienced many television and movie “remakes” we have to admit to being really curious to see how such a thing would work with fiction. How much does the new writer keep from the original and how much does he or she change? All valid questions that filled my thoughts as we started reading page one. What is obvious from the start is that Scalzi understands the essence of Piper’s plot, the tale he wanted to tell and yet he strips it down to suit his own style of writing; one we admire greatly. Scalzi is one of those science fiction writers who, though knowledgeable about the science he is extrapolating, he never uses hard facts to get in the way of his story spinning. Our protagonist is still Jack Halloway, the lone independent ore prospector, though now he’s younger and a whole lot less altruistic. In fact he’s a lawyer who was disbarred back on Earth. This not only adds a new element but of makes Halloway a logical champion when we get to the book’s courtroom scenes. All the original “fuzzies” are back, pretty much as we remembered them as is the giant mega corporation gutting the planet Zarathustra. Whereas the old supporting cast is gone and Scalzi has replaced them with his own creations, both good guys and villains.
Scalzi’s easy-to-read prose is one of his greatest assets as a writer. Most of his books are intimate and he has an unerring way of pulling the reader into his tale; a result of truly craftsman-like pacing. There are very few slow moments in “Fuzzy Nation” and we were unable to put the book down once we had reached the half-way point. “Fuzzy Nation” is a wonderful book and worthy “rebooting” of a beloved sci-fi classic. Not to overly repeat ourselves, H. Beam Piper’s cautionary tale of environmental mismanagement is at its core a David vs Goliath fable and there have never been any cuter Davids than “the fuzzies.” Scalzi embellishes that fable for our times in a truly exciting and fun new interpretation. This is one of those rare books we want to give to all my friends, you among them. Go out and read it. Now.
Everyone’s packing for ComicCon – and so are we, but we wanted to take time to get you our regular Preview of the things at the show you might miss. There is something for everyone here – even if you aren’t coming to San Diego. Then we are back again in a few drays with more news from the ComicCon floor plus our talk with Vera Farmiga and there cast of the new film, THE CONJURING opening this weekend. For instant updsates from the floor of the biggest event of the year, be sure to stay locked on The Point Radio!
This summer, we are updating once a week – every Friday – but you don’t have to miss any pop culture news. THE POINT covers it 24/7! Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
In addition to the new Red Sonja comic book launch with superstar writer Gail Simone, Dynamite Entertainment has announced a new series, Legends of Red Sonja with an all-star cast of female writers.
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
Following on the immense success of the newly launched Red Sonja ongoing series by Gail Simone, Dynamite proudly announces the upcoming Legends of Red Sonja prestige miniseries, an extravaganza celebrating the iconic fantasy heroine’s long and storied career. Legends of Red Sonja is a collaborative effort uniting Simone with a star-studded and prestigious creative team including Marjorie M. Liu, Mercedes Lackey, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Rhianna Pratchett, Leah Moore, Tamora Pierce, Blair Butler, Nancy Collins, Meljean Brook, Nicola Scott, Devin Grayson and more to be announced. Frank Thorne, one of the key artists responsible for defining the character’s distinct look, will be among the artists to contribute cover artwork, as will Jay Anacleto.
Art: Frank Thorne
“When it was first decided that I would be taking part in the relaunch of Red Sonja, we had what I thought was a very fun idea, which was to have all the covers and variant covers be drawn by top female artists,” says Gail Simone, an industry legend with celebrated runs on Birds of Prey, Secret Six, and Batgirl. “The idea just took off, as some of my artistic heroes, people like Colleen Doran, Amanda Conner, and Nicola Scott all contributed these gorgeous, eye-popping pieces of art for the book. It made everyone tremendously happy and gave us a wonderful extra kick for our relaunch of this classic character. So when Dynamite told me that the 40th anniversary of Red Sonja was coming up, I thought, ‘I wonder if we could do the same thing, but with all my favorite female writers?’ I can’t tell you how exciting this is for me, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for years.”
Art: Jay Anacleto
The structure of the Legends of Red Sonja prestige series will be, in Simone’s words, “a braided story, with individual, unique stories written by titans of comics, prose, and the gaming world. These are all powerful voices whose work I adore. Dynamite asked me to make a list of the women I’d love to see included, and again, I was astounded at the eager responses! We have giants of the fantasy and horror prose world; Tamora Pierce, Nancy Collins, and Meljean Brook. We have some of the hottest comics talents; Marjorie M. Liu, Mercedes Lackey, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Leah Moore, Devin Grayson and (in her first published story as a writer) Nicola Scott. And we have brilliant writers from games and television; Rhianna Pratchett and Blair Butler. Getting to hand-pick this crew of fierce women was an absolute joy, and the fun of it is, we’re all fans of Red Sonja, and of each other. Throwing ideas back and forth and shaping the stories has been some of the most fun I’ve ever had in comics. I can’t wait for people to read these takes on Red Sonja…some are funny, some are scary, some are very different versions of Sonja than we are familiar with!”
Art: Frank Thorne
Many of Gail Simone’s hand-picked contributors have shared their excitement about the project:
Rhianna Pratchett (Heavenly Sword, Mirror’s Edge): “I treasured my Red Sonja poster when I was kid. So to get the opportunity to write a story for the character, and to do it in the company of such extraordinary, talented women, is a dream come true. My younger self is definitely high-fiving my older self.”
Leah Moore (Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery, Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon): “It’s not everyday that Gail Simone asks me to write Red Sonja. To be honest, I’m glad, because when it happened, I had to be peeled off the ceiling. Writing Red Sonja has been a personal ambition of mine for a long time. She is about the most fun a writer can have. She’s a loner, a grouch, a badass, and is apparently impervious to cold. I am almost too excited about this project to actually write the thing, which is counter-productive, really.”
Art: Frank Thorne
Tamora Pierce (The Song of the Lioness, Mastiff): “This is the coolest project ever: new stories crafted by some of the best writers and artists out there, about a woman warrior created by one of my literary idols, Robert E. Howard, spearheaded by my comics goddess, Gail Simone. I’m honored to be a part of this, and can’t wait to see the whole thing. It will be a ground-breaking, multilayered view of a character who has been brawling through comics for decades!”
Blair Butler (Heart, host of MSN’s Nerdcore): “I’m honored and exceedingly intimidated to be included in this group of talented creators. Gail Simone is amazing — and her take on Red Sonja is something I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced way back at Emerald City Comic-Con. So when she asked me to contribute, I agreed immediately, even though I’m totally nervous about it.”
Art: Jay Anacleto
Nancy Collins (Swamp Thing, VAMPS): “I am thrilled to have been chosen by Gail Simone to participate in Legends of Red Sonja. I remember how excited I was when I plucked Conan the Barbarian #23 off the spinner rack as a kid, all those years ago, and finally saw a female hero capable of dishing it out with the best of them. I am honored to have been given this chance to add to Red Sonja’s mythos.”
Meljean Brook (Iron Seas, Demon Angel): “I’m absolutely thrilled to be writing a story for the she-devil, Red Sonja. I first encountered Red Sonja in the movie with Nielsen and Schwarzenegger when I was about eight years old — and I know that movie isn’t without its problems, but it’s almost impossible to describe how incredible it was to watch a film in which the heroine was just as strong and as tough as the muscle-bound hero. I loved that she was arrogant, skilled, and never wimped out or waited for rescue, and I immediately went out in search of similar stories about her. Red Sonja was a revelation to eight-year-old me, and I can trace many of the heroines I write today back to those roots.”
“Wow. Gail and the editorial team at Dynamite have put together an incredible team of creators – a prestigious and impressive list – on a series that celebrates one of the strongest female characters in comics. I can say, that they have done an incredible job together, and I thank them.” States Dynamite CEO and Publisher Nick Barrucci.
