'DUPPY '78' Writer Casey Seijas Chats Aboard The Cosmic Treadmill at FORCES OF GEEK

This February British publisher Com.X releases a supernatural murder mystery in the midst of the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica, Duppy ‘78.

Ex-Vertigo editor Casey Seijas joins us to talk about Obeahman, reggae music, comics and writing for Com.X.

FOG!: Hi Casey, thanks for joining us today! What exactly is a Duppy Conqueror?

Casey Seijas: In Rastafarian culture, a Duppy is a ghost that can be benevolent, or more often than not, mischievous or even able to inflict bodily harm. A Duppy Conqueror — who’s also called anObeahman — has the ability to control Duppies, so they can defend against them, chase them away or set them upon people.

I come to this era in Jamaica by way of The Clash. Besides the obvious callout to Marley, what’s a good soundtrack for this comic?

Yes! I’ve been waiting for someone to ask me this!

I listened to a ton of old school dancehall, reggae and dub (not that Skrillex nonsense, I’m talking Lee Scratch Perry style here) while researching and writing this.


Here’s the unofficial soundtrack:

Sister Nancy “Bam Bam”

Lee Scratch Perry “Heads of Government”

Smiley Culture “Police Officer”

Bob Marley “Mr. Brown” & “Small Axe”

Ken Boothe “Live Good”

Jimmy Cliff “The Harder They Come”

Alton Ellis “Willow Tree”

Peter Tosh “Stepping Razor”

Ernie Smith “Duppy Gun Man”

Melodians “Rivers of Babylon”

Tron $tyler “Untitled” — this is the song that’s featured in the Duppy ‘78 trailer that went around a few weeks back that my friend made. You can download the full track and more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/tronstyler

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for January 22, 2014

COMICS

Malcolm takes over in this all important, all new, all varsity direction for Savage Dragon #193! … The unreal creative team of Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto are back with the spyfi adventures of Black Widow as she resolves the ‘red in her ledger’ in Black Widow #2! Want some dirt cheap real estate? Try the homes of the recently deceased with Miami’s fuzzed out and drugged out ghost hunting real estate agents, Red Light Properties! Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Daily Dig!

Why You MUST READ VALIANT at 13th DIMENSION

By CLAY N. FERNO

Valiant Comics‘ Must Read Valiant Greatest Hits Volume 1 is out now and the oversized comic is priced at $5.99 to get you into the increasingly popular Valiant Universe for the price of two regular comic books! Superheroes, space travel, top talent and an unflinching editorial eye for quality makes for a rich universe. Are you one of those fans that thinks the X-Men have too many books and The Avengers are cool on the big screen, but Avengers Mansion seems like a Spanx-filled flop house? Come on over to the Valiant side, there’s room for everyone over here and it all makes sense together!

Let us first take a look at the offerings in Greatest Hits Vol. 1. Back in MY day, we called this a 100-Page Giant. We’ll keep it short so you can start working on your Shadowman and Ninjak cosplays by the end of the article.

We start off with Valiant’s Iron-Prince-Out-Of-Water, X-O Manowar #5. The Visigoth from ancient Romania was taken away from the Vine aliens to toil on their farms before escaping and bonding with their most powerful weapon, the X-O Manowar armor. This issue reintroduces Ninjak, kind of like a Ninja Boba Fett. Killer issue!

Quantum and Woody #1 deals with two knucklehead step brothers who step into their late Dad’s  science lab when, of course, a life-altering scientific accident leaves them just as annoying to each other but all the more powerful! Who’s responsible for their Dad’s murder? What’s all this about a goat? For fans of snarky humor but also butt kicking!

[READ MORE at 13th DIMENSION]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for January 15, 2014

COMICS

Black Beetle is the more mysterious than the Shadow, has more gadgets than the Inspector, and his moody Colt City is plagued by murders! Check out our neo-noir hero from best-selling creator Francesco Francavilla in Vol. 2 starting issue Black Beetle: Necrologue #1. Golden Age hero Skyman gets a boost into the air from Dark Horse. Skyman #1 is written by Ultimates writer Joshua Hale Fialkov. The masterful John Byrne’s Triple Helix series comes to an end with Issue #4, further expanding the Byrne-verse of heroes that include Trio and of course Next Men! …Picks from LeaguePodcast.com!

2-BIT COMICS: Harlan Ellison’s “Phoenix Without Ashes” at 13th DIMENSION

In this new segment — 2-Bit Comics — Clay N. Ferno digs deep into back-issue bins and discount trade shelves, refusing to pay more for great comic stories found on discount! First up, Harlan Ellison’s IDW hardcover for “Phoenix Without Ashes.”Sharing his love for great stories found in the quarter bin may prompt you to revisit these books wherever you can find them, in a yellowed longbox or on your tablet!

By CLAY N. FERNO

The Seventies were a great time for science fiction, though the genius of Harlan Ellison’s stories were often mucked with enough to make him take his name off plenty of projects. A TV version of this graphic novel appeared on Canadian and American stations in 1973 under the new name, “The Starlost.” Audiences were told Ellison’s alter-ego Cordwainer Bird created and wrote the show.

As a concept for sci-fi and comics, this merges the best of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Lost,” “Doctor Who” and of course a bit of “Star Trek.” All the action starts out in an Amish town, where our main man Devon is accused of being a heretic, speaking out against the Elders, who have lied to the villagers about the will of the Creator.

Devon is driven to the edge of the mountains by an angry mob after revealing the hoax to his beloved Rachel, to whom his love is forbidden as she has been promised to a man named Garth since birth.

The naturally curious Devon has had questions all his life about where the sky starts and ends, and why the Creator has only given his people 50 square miles of land on which to live.

Devon discovers, by his exile, an escape, in the quite literal form of a hatch that drops him into a most unusual place — the life support system of a very large space ship en route to certain doom into the heart of a nova!

[READ MORE at 13th DIMENSION]

FORCES OF GEEK - BEST OF 2013 (part 4

I’m at the top of the list! Who Knew?

Here’s a teaser…

Clay N Ferno
Twitter • LeaguePodcast.com • DigBoston.com

Best Movies: Man of Steel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, This is The End, White House Down, Red 2
Best TV Shows: Mad Men, Arrow, Dracula, Boardwalk Empire, Walking Dead…

Want to read the rest?

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK!]

EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW: MIKE KADOMIYA OF “LIFE IS POSERS”

Mike Kadomiya, aka Rufio (of War of Words), teams up with our very own Brian Connolly (Nothing Mattress) for a punk rock book release this Thursday at Lorem Ipsum. Rufio joins Earth Prime Time to let us know what we may expect from the event, including the live Q&A from alien expert Chris Pittman! 

DIGBOSTON: Rufio, thanks so much for joining us today! Tell us about your book release at Lorem Ipsum.
Mike Kadomiya: Thanks for having me! The book release party will be this Thursday, January 9th. We are celebrating the release of Life is Posers Volume 2: Aftermath, as well as Brian Connolly’s second book, How Come Nothing Mattress. Admission is FREE and there will be CHEAP BEER! It will be a rare, fun night in Adult Allston (Inman Square).

Life is Posers – MIKE KADOMIYA

DIGBOSTON: Do you expect a bunch of decked out punks there, or can I come as well? Who else is going to be there? Chris Pittman?

The last book release party was a healthy mix of boners, normaloids, punks, punx, hippies, and herberts.

I am anticipating a similar crowd. All with a willingness to laugh at moronic cartoons are welcome! Chris Pittman will be conducting a live interview with Brian and I, followed by an audience Q & A.

DIGBOSTON: When did the online version of Life is Posers start and why?
Life is Posers was born online at the very start of 2011. I believe Nothing Mattress started at almost exactly the same time.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for January 8, 2014

COMICS

Peter David’s X-Factor has mutated into a new #1.NOW! Camine Di Giandomenico is on art, and Polaris is in charge of the team that includes Quicksilver and Gambit! Fox #3 from Dean Haspiel and Mark Waid takes Fox to an adventure time filled with dragons & dungeons! … Aw Yeah, Lil’ Vampi #1 one shot from Dynamite is the cute kid version of Vampirella! Cover by Art Baltazar, interior art by MLP’s Agnes Garbowska! … Picks from LeaguePodcast.com!

Triple Shot With a Digital Chaser: G.I. JOE: #12, SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #7, INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #17 plus KAMI #1

Happy New Year!  We hope you get to make your regularly scheduled trip to the comic store this week and when you do, take into consideration this Triple Shot! 

G.I. Joe gets a new writer that explores the origins of different Cobra Commanders past and present, the new Beetle’s origin starts at a birthday party years ago in The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, and Hulk gets mad when people start invading his space in Indestructible Hulk #17.

Kami is a nice quick chaser over at ComiXology.

G.I. JOE #12
WRITER: Paul Allor
ART: Alex Cal, Steve Kurth
Publication Date: December 31, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: IDW Publishing
UPC: 82771400431101211
Buy it HERE

It is no surprise to anyone that I am a fanatical G.I. Joe fan, I literally wear it on my sleeve in the form of an Arashikage tattoo.

Larry Hama’s Marvel run (continuing to date over at IDW) is what got me into comics, and the reboot of the franchise at IDW has impressed and compelled me to write about the multiple IDW series from the get go.

That was because names like Chuck Dixon, Hama, Christos Gage, Mike Costa and Fred Van Lente were carrying on the legacy.


Sure, the main series has had its low points but in general, overall I have been happy.

To my surprise, a guest on my podcast, a relative unknown writer in the scheme of things, Paul Allor was tapped to take over for Fred Van Lente on Season 3 after his departure. Allor cut his teeth in Comics Experience (online classes led by former Joe Editor Andy Schmidt) and quickly got pro work on several TMNT titles.

Allor is picking up on a Gage and Costa concept from G.I. Joe: Cobra in which the Cobra organization has been around for centuries. Like an anonymous Pope, one Commander is replaced by the next, hiding his identity.

This book tells the story of at least two Commanders, not including the present day as C.C. hires a Press Agent to tell the story behind Cobra.

Taking over for one of comics hottest writers, Fred Van Lente can not be easy, and I am delighted to say Paul Allor pulls it off! I can’t wait for the next issue, and more ghosts of Cobra Commanders past!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

TARDIS on The COSMIC TREADMILL – A Look at IDW's 'DOCTOR WHO 2013 SPECIAL #1' - FORCES OF GEEK

After a visit to the town called Christmas in the Time of the Doctor, Who fans are sure to miss Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor.

Just the day before, on Tuesday, December 45th, IDW Publishing marked its regeneration cycle by releasing a 53 page year end special in tribute not only to Matt but to the publisher’s claim to the Time Lord.

Since 2008, IDW was the first US publisher to have the comic rights through the BBC to new stories with the tenth and eleventh doctors, and this book is a sign off for them. Written by longtime Doctor Who television and comics writer Paul Cornell and drawn by Jimmy Braxton (Cornell’s partner on Batman: Knight and Squire).

Rarely does a single issue deem itself worthy of a run on the Cosmic Treadmill, but as the New Year, a new Doctor, and the next 50 years of Doctor Who are all converging on a timey wimey convergence, this one is definitely worth picking up.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for January 1, 2014

COMICS

Ahh, the first comics picks of the new year! Friend of the League Paul Allor takes over on G.I. Joe #12 revealing the secret origin of Cobra and Cobra Commanders of the past! … Another League Friendly, Jamal Igle draws blaxploitation send up Black Dynamite #1 in a new kung-fu mini-series, suckas! … Dynamite and Babylon 5’s J. Michael Straczynski bring back The Twilight Zone in a new #1 unlock this door with the key to imagination by going to your local comic book store! Picks for your mind this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Triple Shot With a Digital Chaser: HARLEY QUINN #1, G.I. JOE: COBRA FILES #9, ILLEGITIMATES #1 plus DIARY OF NIGHT #1

Today, on a very special holiday edition of Triple Shot, we help Harley Quinnmove into her new place, mourn the loss of one of our favorite G.I. Joe titles, introduce the family to The Illegitimates plus read a different kind of vampire diary at ComiXology with Diary of Night #1.



  

HARLEY QUINN #1
WRITTEN BY: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
ART: Chad Hardin
Publication Date: December 18, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: DC Comics
UPC: 76194131887500111
Buy it HERE

Since Death of the Family, the Joker has been missing, presumed dead.  And Harley herself kicked off the New 52 by starring in Suicide Squad.

Last month, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti gave Dr. Quinzel her own book in the form of an anthology introduction, Harley Quinn #0 with too many guest artists to even fit on the cover.

This month, the story takes off as we recommend Conner & Palmiotti’s new Harley Quinn #1 with series artist Chad Hardin. Harley rides a Harley into her new apartment in Coney Island left to her by an Arkham patient. 

The series is off to a great start, and plenty of action and storytelling in this debut issue.

A Danzig lookalike Big Tony helps get her acquainted to the neighborhood just as she finds out she’ll still have some responsibilities in the building as landlord, mostly financial concerns. She applies to become a doctor in residence at a nursing home with some dangerous patients, and on the next page she is pwning a roller derby team tryout!

Fun stuff to watch Harley start over in the New 52, and also to explore her therapeutic side as she rekindles her practice.

But also this is fun because she hits people with a big wooden mallet.

Excited to see where this goes!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

2013 YEAR IN REVIEW: TOP 10 EARTH PRIME TIME INTERVIEWS

Taking a look at last year’s list proves that there are no shortage of favorites here, in fact there were some great columns like my Man of Steel review I didn’t get to include. One thing is for sure, it really was an honor to speak with and hang out with some of my childhood heroes for DigBoston’s Earth Prime Time this year.

1. EARTH PRIME TIME: BABYLON CONFIDENTIAL WITH CLAUDIA CHRISTIAN (PARTS 1and 2)
Babylon 5 Actress Claudia Christian talks JMS, getting Clean and Sober and her tales in Hollywood as a young actress.

2. EARTH PRIME TIME: G.I. JOE #1 WITH FRED VAN LENTE Fred Van Lente talks his run onG.I. Joe – the most important comic book being published today!

3. EARTH PRIME TIME: BOSTON COMIC CON WITH NICK KANIEFF (PARTS 1 and 2)
A major terrorist attack stuns and locks down the City of Boston. Nick and Boston Comic Con proved everything will be OK with a change in date and venue combined with an outpouring of supportfrom creators and fans from across the country.

4. EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PARTS 1 and 2)
Peter Bagge of Hate takes on the biography of one of history’s greatest controversial feminists. And I got to grab a burger with the guy.

Robin Hood – Outlaw of 21st Century – Variant by Clay N. Ferno and colors by Stacey B. Rizoli

5. EARTH PRIME TIME: ROBIN HOOD: OUTLAW OF THE 21ST CENTURY WITH MATT DURSIN 
The bandleader of LeaguePodcast, Matt Dursin launches a Kickstarter and gets it funded. ThinkSherlock (BBC) for Robin Hood. His concept predates Sherlock, so “Patent Pending!” Thanks to him!

6. EARTH PRIME TIME: PRIMATES INTERVIEW WITH MARIS WICKS & JIM OTTAVIANI 
Maris Wicks and Jim Ottoviani educate, preen and eat bananas in the jungle with this great First Second book.

7. EARTH PRIME TIME: MOTH CITY INTERVIEW WITH TIM GIBSON 
New Zealander Tim Gibson creates a tablet ready comic that is “genre spanning… an instinctual approach to digital-native comics”.

8. EARTH PRIME TIME: MARA INTERVIEW WITH MING DOYLE 
Mara was one of the most praised mini-series of the year from Image Comics. Local comic superstar Ming Doyle gave us a preview of this strong female sports super hero.

9. EARTH PRIME TIME: MIRIAM KATIN ON ‘LETTING IT GO’ AT BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH 3.19.13 
Miriam was so sweet at Brookline Booksmith, I thought I’d cry. Thanks Miriam! This is a story about New York and visiting the home country as well as relationships with your family. A great book or gift for family this year.

10. EARTH PRIME TIME: NATHAN EDMONDSON OF THE ACTIVITY AND WHERE IS JAKE ELLIS?
Two great spy-fi books covered in this interview from Nathan Edmondson, writer of the upcomingPunisher and Black Widow series for Marvel.

Have a Happy New Year, everyone! Thanks again for checking in with us at EPT!

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

Dan Goldman Discusses 'RED LIGHT PROPERTIES' on The Cosmic Treadmill at FORCES OF GEE

Last week it was announced that IDW Publishing would be printing Dan Goldman’s cult web-comic Red Light Properties.

The weird Floridian paranormal real estate agents will be unleashed in a remastered print edition in January.

Forces of Geek’s Clay N. Ferno put on his fanny pack and asked Dan some questions about the upcoming release and early digital native comics storytelling!

FOG!: Thanks for joining us to talk Red Light Properties, Dan!

Dan Goldman: Well, thank you for having me over, Clay! I promise not to spill my Slurpee on this nice rug. 

IDW is publishing Red Light Properties in January, but the series was started digitally. What’s new about the ‘remastered’ version we’ll see in print? Were the revisions all yours?

Aside from the 20+ pages the world has never seen before, I’ve recolored and re-lettered literally the entire book as well as redrawn many panels, swapped out early 3D modeling work for updated models, clarified some initially sloppy storytelling and tweaked a good deal of the dialogue. Lettering is normally my final pass at my own scripts, so this was, as they say, another chance to get it right.

I worked with editor Joan Hilty as the book came into its final shape, and having her eagle eyes were invaluable as I’ve been deep into RLP for years now, but ultimately all the revisions made were my decisions to make.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Francesco Francavilla's 'THE BLACK BEETLE' Takes a Walk on The Cosmic Treadmill AT FORCES OF GEEK

Can a review come out in December and not be a gift suggestion?

Probably not! We do the cool down lap on the Cosmic Treadmill this year with our favorite short run series of the year, Francesco Francavilla’s breakout pulp hit Black Beetle Volume 1:No Way Out from Dark Horse Comics.

Francavilla’s composition, colors, and ink brush line work complement his own script—drawing influences from noir film to The Shadow and Batman.

Our hero looks cool, has steampunk weapons and is 100% creator owned and original. The hardcover version serves as a great gift, even for yourself as a sort of ‘reward’ for how generous you have been this season!


The book starts out with the long out of print One Shot - Black Beetle: Night Shift. I read this volume first in issues as No Way Out #1-4, kicking myself for missing a hard copy of the one-shot and issue #1 when I heard the buzz. The precursor to the main series hits hard with Nazis seeking a lizard amulet, a strong female doctor in a museum and hiding in a sarcophagus. It was clear to me that this was the beginning of a larger world with exciting consequences as we enter Colt City — the home base of the mysterious Black Beetle.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

BOOK REVIEW: IPAD: THE MISSING MANUAL, 6TH EDITION

Just in time for gifting purposes, O’Reilly Media delivers this new edition of the popular iPad:The Missing Manual. The timing’s ideal for non-holiday reasons too, as it’s only been a matter of months since the last major iOS 7 upgrade and release of new iPad models. As usual, this guide is an entirely useful companion, in paperback or even better via Kindle or iBooks. For those looking for a short version, the answer is yes–it’s worth buying for a loved one. Or yourself.

Turn your mom into a tablet ninja.

For the first time ever, I’m gently tapping through this review on the sleek glass surface of a new 64gb iPad Air with a rocket-fast A7 chip. An exclusive iPhone user for years, The Missing Manual has been essential reading in my getting intimate with this new tablet or, as I like to call it, my “comic book delivery device.”

As it were, 2013 also saw the release of the long-awaited Retina iPad Mini, which one can assume is inspiring innumerable consumers to choose an Apple tablet for the first time. In those cases, problems they might encounter include: Having little experience with iOS; Trying to replace their computer with an iPad (don’t do it!); not being tech savvy at all. The latter is a phrase I loathe, but what else better describes the “Facebook won’t let me do this or that” worrywarts who are always asking for us, the resident nerds, to help them post in their knitting groups?

Enter The Missing Manual.

Since 2000, the O’Reilly imprint has conquered the difficult task of communicating computing basics and essentials, and they’ve done it better than the For Dummies series (much respect to the helpers there, but it’s nice to not be insulted right in the title).

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for December 18, 2013

COMICS


Happy Holidays, Mr. J! Treat Yo’ Self to the namesake of Kevin Smith’s daughter, Harley Quinn #1 from Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Connor and Chad Hardin! You might get fishnet burn as she takes on the Roller Derby! … Remender returns to wacky sci-fi pulp space adventures in Black Science #2 from Image. … We absolutely have to honor and mention the last issue of Locke and Key (Alpha #2) comes out today. Joe Hill (Stephen King’s Son! & Gabriel Rodriguez) redefined mystery, supernatural and horror comics with this long run. Sad to see it go! … Mistletoe this week from LeaguePodcast!

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Triple Shot With a Digital Chaser: UNITY #2, G.I. JOE #11, BRAIN BOY #0 plus CODE MONKEY SAVE WORLD #2 at FORCES OF GEEK

Christmas comes a little early this year with some amazing comics this week!

In fact, paring this list down to four was hard for the first time in a while.

The Valiant Universe crossover continues in Unity #2, our friend Fred Van Lente takes two spots with his last G.I. Joe #11 and an early adventure in Brain Boy #0.

On ComiXology, Code Monkey get pants and more in his origin, Code Monkey Save World #2. 

UNITY #2
WRITER: Matt Kindt
ARTIST: Doug Braithwaite
Publication Date: December 11, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Valiant Comics
UPC: 85899200312300211
Buy it HERE

The struggle against X-O Manowar continues this week in the Valiant crossover Unity #2.

Toyo Harada’s first wave of infiltrators, a team of Harbingers was largely unsuccessful, and Ninjak got himself captured by the Visigoth and is now trapped in the Vine ship in Romania.

Does none of that make sense to you?

Don’t worry, with only two issues in, you can start from the beginning and get a sense of story.

Valiant, by design, is making their second wave of comics great jumping on points for new readers, and are attracting more with consistent five-star reviews for this Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT) written crossover limited series.

In issue #2, Livewire, Eternal Warrior and Harada infiltrate the ship and tap into the virtual controls, in attempt to rescue Ninjak and save the planet from Aric’s invasion. 

The virtual reality fight scenes drawn by Doug Braithwaite ramp the action up to eleven, making for a true page turner.

I’m telling you, drop event comics from the big two and hop on Unity. Valiant is doing it right.

Explosive action with real consequences to characters you’ve just met makes for the best kind of comics.

Not sure quite yet? Wait for the reasonably priced trade in a few months.

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

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MIGHTY Q&A: DARICK ROBERTSON AT 13TH DIMENSION

Artist Darick Robertson of Transmetropolitan, The Boys, and Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker joins the punk rock Occupy Comics crew at Black Mask Studios for his talking-gun tale in Ballistic. This week also sees the deluxe hardcover release of Happy! from Image Comics, a hard-boiled Christmas story about an imaginary horse friend, written by Grant Morrison. Darick joins us today for the Mighty Q&A.

By CLAY N. FERNO

Clay N. Ferno: Hi Darick! We’re just though with reading Ballistic #3 from you and Adam Egypt Mortimer. As bonus fodder there are some script notes in the back about odd science and weird history. Are you at home working in this hyper-future? Butch and Spider might be related somehow, right?

Darick Robertson: Well, world building is something I’m familiar with, but Spider and Butch wouldn’t really exist together. Transmetropolitan is a future where the world we live in now just kept expanding and expanding, and we built upon and into what exists to maintain an ever-growing population and city life. Butch inhabits a world where it’s utopia by technology. The West as we know it is a crumbled, environmentally destroyed memory and the entire truly surviving civilization is inhabiting a continent born of bio-formed trash and manipulated DNA that rests upon terraformed rock, twice the size of Texas. Where Spider Jerusalem’s Government was ridiculous, it was still a government. Repo City State is run by a cabal of glorified gangsters.

[READ MORE AT 13th DIMENSION]

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EARTH PRIME TIME: NECESSARY EVIL: SUPER-VILLAINS OF DC COMICS

DC Comics released Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics, a sleeper study of the anatomy of a villain, on DVD/Blu-Ray and Digital Video in October. Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics features everyone from Andrea Romano and Neal Adams to Zack Snyder and Len Wein as the ensemble cast of interviews and video clips going deep into the minds of Luthor, Riddler, Bane, and Reverse Flash. If you still have a comics fan on your holiday gift list this is a great pick. Dracula Christopher Lee narrates.
 

The New 52 was taken over by the baddies in September in a company-wide event called Villain’s Month, coinciding with the limited series Forever Evil storyline written by DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. The comics, with special lenticular (plastic, 3D) varied in quality and interrupted the flow of the monthly titles, but as an experiment was not all bad. Joker took over Batman #23.1, written by Andy Kubert and drawn by Andy Clarke.

Count Vertigo – Green Arrow 23.1 – Cover by: Andrea Sorrentino

Pointing the spotlight on the villains, in what seem to be increasingly darker themes in our entertainment these days (see our Man of Steel review) makes sense.

Besides, aren’t we all rooting for the bad guy in the movies? I mean, how cool was Bane?

This four-color exploration into what makes a villain want to subvert our favorite heroes gets into the armchair psychology of the thing with interviews from new and classic Batman writers, top DC executives, and even Zack Snyder—director of this year’s aforementioned Zod movie!

Some extreme fans like myself like to hear ’70s Batman artist Neal Adams go on about Ra’s al Ghul and get the latest from the mouths and twitter feeds of Aquaman’s Geoff Johns and current Batman writer Scott Snyder. For the more casual fan this video takes a look at scoundrels of all kinds, and at points clinical psychology researcher Andrea Letamendi, PhD. offers her expert opinions as to how singular events (like being dropped into a vat at ACE Chemical) can or would affect someone’s development.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

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