It should come as no surprise at this point, but Bioware and Dark Horse have announced an upcoming digital comic based on the hit title, Dragon Age: Origins. Titled Dragon Age: Those Who Speak, the three part series will focus on the characters of Alistair, Verric and Isabella, as they investigate the death of Alistair’s father. As a bit of a spoiler for anyone who has yet to play the game, Alistair is apparently crowned King at the end of the game, with the comic taking place during his reign. The first issue of the digital comic will be available on August 22nd.
Just a friendly reminder, yesterday saw the release of Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1. Dark Horse’s latest Star Wars series focuses on the era of the first Jedi, before the force was divided between light and dark. During this time, Jedi exist as an order of warrior monks who strive to maintain peace and balance. The initial arc surrounds the coming of a stranger said to bring an end to the balance by heralding a new era of conquest and exploration. Read more…
With Christmas around the corner, and no new titles on the horizon, you’re probably wondering what to get your favorite Valve fan. Since you can’t just hand them a new hat for Team Fortress2, try this fantastic collection of comics inspired by Valve’s most recent hits instead. Published by Dark Horse, and featuring the work of veteran comic artist and writer, Michael Avon Oeming, Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and other Steam Powered Stories Vol. 1 boasts over 200 pages of fully-illustrated stories with titles like Team Fortress 2, Left-4-Dead, and Portal – the perfect gift for all those Valve-addicts out there. Seeing as the first-edition hardcover just hit shelves in November, you probably won’t have to worry about them already owning a copy. It retails for just $25 via ThinkGeek, so if you need it in time for the holidays, don’t delay. Just promise me you won’t try to stuff it in a stocking.
The special one-night-onlyNorth American screening of the upcoming live-action adaptation of Gantz is happening on January 20th. Given the special circumstances surrounding the limit release, only select theaters will be showing the film. I remember how annoyed I was when I missed out on a screening of Princess Mononoke simply because I couldn’t find a theater in time, but this time Fathom Events will be looking out for us all. They’re providing a list of all the theaters that’ll be participating in the world premiere event. Better yet, you can search by zip code to find the closest theater nearby and even purchase advance tickets — not that I’d worry about it being sold out before you get there, but you never know. To see the list of participating locations, click here.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 17, 2010 in Comic Books
Dark Horse is reprinting The Goon Volume 4: Virtue and the Grim Consequences Thereof which would normally be a non-event for yours truly. However they’ve gone the extra stretch and had Eric Powell do a new cover (shown above) which just looks brilliant. What makes Powell so unique is that he’s able to combine pull off a combination of an pulp magazine cover that you might have seen back in the day with just the right touch of cartoonishness.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 22, 2010 in Comic Books
So many of the post-apocalyptic films from Mad Max to Escape from New York all owe a little something to Mighty Samson which was a comic book series published by Gold Key Comics back in 1964. The team of Otto Binder (writing) and Frank Thorne (illustration) created their vision of N’Yark which was one corner of planet Earth devastated by a nuclear war. The series lasted until 1982 and the faded into obscurity so I’m glad to see that starting in June Dark Horse will be releasing Mighty Samson Archives Volume 1. The first volume features the first seven comics from the series — here are some covers and interior pages from that era to give you a taste the mutants that roam the former streets of the big apple: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 16, 2010 in Comic Books
Thanks to the goodness of Goon there is no wrong that Eric Powell can do in my mind — which is why I’m looking ahead to Buzzard which is a comic book miniseries that goes on sale on June 9th. Shown above is a cover by Powell and below is an alternative cover by Richard Corben: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 14, 2010 in Comic Books
I came across Groo: Hogs of Horder #4 and it then hit me: I’m guilty of having spent my entire life looking at the amazing artwork of Sergio Aragonés and I’ve selfishly have always assumed that I’d be seeing more. It’s high time for us fans to stop taking Sergio for granted (he’s 72 years old!) and starting to treat him like the comic book god that he is. I grew up with Aragonés in the pages of mad magazine, but sadly those issues were so packed with high quality work that Sergio got lost in the crowd. However as of 2002 he’s drawn more than 12,000 gag cartoons for Mad and that deserves some real respect. And then we have his creation Groo the Wanderer which has been running since the 80s — to me this running series ranks up there with Asterix and Tin Tin, and what’s wonderful about is that it has both an American and Spanish point of view. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 8, 2010 in Comic Books
Jerry Robinson is best known as the comic book artist who helped to put Batman on the map along with Bob Kane — and credit for creating the Joker belongs to him. However sadly his other work is overlooked and that’s why I’m glad that Dark Horse is doing a proper reprint of Jet Scott. This wonderful science fiction themed newspaper strip debuted on September 28, 1953 in The New York Herald-Tribune. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 3, 2010 in Comic Books
Thanks to the CB Radio craze of the 70s I have to admit that I had a cultural snottiness when it comes to any form of entertainment featuring truckers: So I have to admit that I was blown away by the sheer charm of the comic book Mesmo Delivery by Rafael Grampá and Marcus Penna. What I like about the look of this book is that the inking style has quite a bit of grit and texture, yet the character designs and poses almost have a charming if not slightly cute feeling to them. The result is that each page has the sort of warmth that you would see in folk art except that the draftsmanship is both exquisite and exhilarating to look at: Read more…
