Cosmic Treadmill: LEGO JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. BIZARRO JUSTICE LEAGUE (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

What is this, Bizarro World?” clearly is one of my favorite The Simpsons quotes from Comic Book Guy from the running tape in my brain because something is usually going against my will or better judgement in my surroundings.

To which I might now answer, “NO, this isn’t Bizarro World, its better - LEGO Bizarro world!

Yes, I’ll admit me am hungry for more LEGO movie action since last year’s blockbuster so when I got my hands on this sweet LEGO Justice League vs. Bizarro Justice League set, complete with Batzarro minifig, my hunger was sated … for now!

The Two-Disc set includes the typical DCU talking head making of documentary but also another adventure with our Super Friends at the brick Hall of Justice in DC Comics Super Heroes: Batman: Be-leaguered.

It may be no surprise to anyone that I really enjoyed this one!

Especially with two episodes thrown in and the mini-fig, this is a great deal.

Specifically with the packaging, the Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet copy makes it easy to share but also looks great on my big screen TV (a recent purchase and I always prefer a physical disc for HD media).

Batman is voiced by Troy Baker this go-around (LEGO Batman 3, Arkham franchise as various) but carries on a bit of that swagger and darkness that Will Arnett flavored The LEGO Movie with “More Darkness!”.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

KEL SYMONS Speaks With FOG! About His Comics REYN and THE MERCENARY SEA! - FORCES OF GEEK

Kel Symons is a producer and director and now at the helm of two great Image Comics books! Last year’s acclaimed The Mercenary Sea took at look at The Pacific Theatre in the days before the Big One, and this year’s Reyn (next issue, #2 hits shelves Wednesday, February 18) is a swashbuckling D&D fantasy affair with a hero who’s not going to be easy to root for.



Kel takes a ride on the Cosmic Treadmill to get to the depths of the sea and over yonder valley, sword in hand!


FOG!: So much to cover, Kel! Thanks for joining us! Let’s start with The Mercenary Sea. First of all, your pre-WWII sea adventure book got some great feedback last year. Not many stories take place on a submarine. How did you get to placing this story in an historical context and in a cool undersea boat?

KEL SYMONS: Yeah, I was surprised as anyone that readers seemed to dive right into it (pun sorta intended…). As for how the idea came about, I think mostly I missed my space-friends from Firefly, and also wanted to relive the thrills of my childhood with Raiders of the Lost Ark. The two came together rather seamlessly to form The Mercenary Sea.

A motley crew of adventurers and mercenaries trying to carve out an existence in the wild frontier of the South Seas against a backdrop of war.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DIRK MANNING Chats With FOG! About TALES OF MR. RHEE: "KARMAGEDDON" Kickstarter Campaign at FORCES OF GEEK

We love it when a campaign comes together! With over $10k raised for friend of the FOG!, Dirk Manning’s new Tales of Mr. Rhee Karmageddon.

Our Hero Mr. Rhee has paranormal abilities and in this volume heads out to protect a family of orphans in what becomes quite an interesting road trip. Demons, monsters and Cthulhu all make an appearance in this post-armageddon world.



Here’s Dirk to stretch out that origin story and tell us about the rest of his campaign!

FOG!: Dirk! Thanks so much for taking off your mask and revealing yourself to us for Tales of Mr. Rhee: “Karmageddon” in this Kickstarter Korner!

DIRK MANNING: Thanks for having me here, dude! It’s a pleasure!

You see, normally we get ahead of these campaigns, or get in on the ground floor, or the home stretch. You’ve really done it, man. You reached your goal already! How did you do it, man? Mysticism? The occult?

Honestly? I’m blown away by how quickly things have escalated with the Kickstarter for Tales of Mr. Rhee: “Karmageddon.” We hit our funding goal of $6,666 dollars in under eight hours, and as I type this – six days into the campaign – we’re already only a few hundred dollars away from our THIRD stretch goal! What can I say? Horror comic fans are very passionate and very dedicated!

Well, that, and being a devoted acolyte of The Great Cthulhu doesn’t hurt, either. [laughs]

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. FEBRUARY 11, 2015

COMICS

The League has a great interview up today with Tom Scioli, writer/artist on Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #5 things are really heating up on Cybertron! … Spoiler Warning - we suggest Machete Order if you MUST include the prequels in your Star Wars viewing experience. Today, heavy breathing Daddy Darth Vader gets a new comic set right after the events in IV (A New Hope). … Lots of bad guys this week as Gail Simone’s Secret Six #2 returns to get to the bottom of Catman’s secret!… Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com!

JEFF LEMIRE Chats With FOG! About 'DESCENDER' on the Cosmic Treadmill at FORCES OF GEEK

That escalated quickly! Before our tape machine was cold with a hot interview with one of the most in-demand writers in the business Jeff Lemire (All-New Hawkeye, Green Arrow, Sweet Tooth, Trillium, Swamp Thing) about his scorching hot new book with Dustin Nguyen (Lil’ Gotham, Detective Comics), Sony acquired the feature film rights to Descender!


Published by Image Comics, Descender is a new science fiction comic appearing on shelves in March, and Jeff was kind enough to take the time to tell us about TIM-21, working with Dustin and creating a whole new universe.

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Jeff! We’re here to talk about Descender with Dustin Nguyen. What is an overview of the book for our readers out there?

JEFF LEMIRE: Descender is a new monthly science fiction series for Image Comics that I am writing and Dustin Nguyen is drawing and painting.

The high concept is that it centers on a young boy, a robot named TIM-21 in a universe that has outlawed all robots and androids. There is something very special about TIM that everyone seems to want a piece of.

This is TIM’s adventure and quest to discover his own origin and the mystery surrounding his origin in a universe that hates and fears him, slowly building new friendships and companions as he jumps from planet to planet and gets closer to discovering the truth of who he is.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

MARVEL'S AGENT CARTER S1E5 “The Iron Ceiling” (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

From the cold open to a young Dottie in ‘Russia, 1937’ to an appearance from Dum-Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough) and his The Howling Commandos, Marvel’s latest Agent Carter is something Jack Kirby himself would be proud of.


Ramping up the action, our strong leading lady Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is entrusted with her first mission — but will our cover girl have her cover blown by the arrogant (and over-the-top sexist) Agent Jack Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) or Agent Souza (Enver Gjokaj)?

In Russia — spoiler warning — they have a Black Widow training program, and the origin of Dottie’s (Bridget Regan) exploits in the last episode. Does it surprise anyone that the Russians used a clip of Walt Disney’s Snow White promising to ‘keep house for you’ to teach the kids English in this all-girl Russian Fight Club? Here we see a younger version of the immersion seen in Showtime’s The Americans flashback sequence!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

A Stacey/Clay review! XO

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. FEBRUARY 4, 2015

COMICS

Don’t forget Scott McCloud at the Brattle on Thursday celebrating the release of The Sculptor and his return to comics. Read our interview with Scott on DigBoston.com. From the mind of comics master Richard Corben (Heavy Metal) comes Rat God #1. …Yo Joe! The Autobots face both The Decepticons and Cobra in this all-out psychedelic Kirby-esque space battle in Transformers vs. G.I.Joe #5. Hear an awesome interview at LeaguePodcast.com with Tom Scioli! … Picks this week from League Podcast!

INTERVIEW: SCOTT MCCLOUD ON SUPERHERO POWERS, COMMUNICATION, AND RETURNING TO COMICS - EARTH PRIME TIME AT DIGBOSTON

INTERVIEW: SCOTT MCCLOUD ON SUPERHERO POWERS, COMMUNICATION, AND RETURNING TO COMICS

Scott McCloud defined the language of comic book creation and critical thought with his lauded 1993 tome Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. In advance of his appearance at Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square on Thursday, February 5, I got a chance to talk with him about his latest 500 page graphic novel, The Sculptor, and his glorious return to comics.
 
What can readers expect from The Sculptor?
 
For starters, it’s big. It’s just under 500 pages long and it is a story about a young sculptor in New York City who had a taste of early success and is now contemplating his life as a loser when he gets an opportunity from a visitor to have everything he needs to succeed — at least physically — but he has only 200 days to live. It’s a traditional Faustian bargain, [but] this time the supernatural visitor is Death, not The Devil. I’m not too keen on devils and Hell, being an atheist.
 
The real challenge [for the main character] is an internal one because as soon as he has power to mold anything with his bare hands, he runs up against his own artistic limitations and desires, and finds it isn’t so easy. When all the other obstacles drop away, there are still those internal obstacles.
 
Then he crashes headlong into this romance at the eleventh hour, and the question of how to spend one’s days becomes critical for him.
 
It is a race against the clock in a way. He has a superpower and it’s about how he deals with having a finite number of days. He can also be penalized if he makes certain decisions, he then has less days. I was seeing these as very much comic book ideas.
 
Yeah, and this is something I had to come to grips with myself, because I was going around for decades talking about how comics can be more than just superheroes. Then I have an idea that I love but it has that superhero quality to it. This is one of the reasons why when the book starts we see that this wish of his in part grows out of the thing he did as a kid. He made a comic where he had a power sort of like this.
 

You are working with these huge archetypes. How did you go about laying out this whole story over 500 pages, incorporating superhero ideas? Was that all there at the beginning?
 
Part of it was, the idea of Death was there. The conceit of what appears to be an angel at the beginning came to me [during] the actual making of it. There were a few decades before I started in earnest working on the project, then there were the five years that took me to make the thing.
 
Is what prompted so many revisions was wanting to try different things out?
 
It was more that the story was starting to come to focus in my mind. The first revision was about fixing things. With each revision, it became about excavating what was below the crap. Seeing the shape of the story of what it wanted to be and pull that story out. Occasionally I would have a neat little bit, something that works with comics or was interesting, and then I would realize that while it might be nice—it didn’t really belong. It didn’t really have anything to do with what that story was ultimately about. If you can pull it off, if you can have the parts reflect the whole, that’s hopefully a book that feels like it has a breathing heart, [that] breathes when it is on the shelf at night.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

Slamdance 2015: BATKID BEGINS: THE WISH HEARD AROUND THE WORLD (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno
Produced by Liza Meak, Dana Nachman
Written By Dana Nachman, Kurt Kuenne
Directed by Dana Nachman
Featuring Miles Scott, Natalie Scott , Nick Scott,
Teresa Clovicko, Audrey Copper, Katie Cotton,
Ama Daetz, Mike DeJesus, Ej Johnston, Sue Graham Johnston, Mike Jutan


Having just returned from San Francisco, I can safely say that the city is intact, largely thanks to a brave little boy named Miles Scott aka Batkid.

By thwarting The Riddler and The Penguin and saving not only a lady on the trolley tracks but also SF Giants mascot Lou Seal, Miles was given the Key to the City from Mayor Ed Lee on November 15, 2013.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation made Miles’ dream come true and in turn, a city was transformed into a heroic playground for the leukemia survivor.

Batkid saved the day, took over our social media for the afternoon and everyone from fellow Batmen Affleck, Kilmer and Keaton to President Obama thanked him for his service.

Batkid Begins documents the small town of Tulelake, CA family’s battle with cancer and the redeeming qualities of community based action. What was meant to be perhaps 100 volunteers turned into an entire city playing a small background character in a real life Batman Movie starring our Batkid, a five-year-old Miles Scott.

I remember ‘Batkid’ Day.

We’re three hours ahead so here on the East Coast this was prime twitter time for me. It was unavoidable. Even Facebook’s algorithms couldn’t stop that which was the heart of this thing.

It was all over everywhere, and I shared and retweeted as much as I saw from #SFBATKID on Twitter, reading about this amazing story.

Batkid Begins tells the story of Miles and his parents and their struggle since Miles was diagnosed at 18 months. Can cancer just stop it already? I mean that villain goes after a young kid that just wants to play with his toys all day and run around in a cape. Actually, as clarified near the beginning of the movie, 18 months is old enough to qualify for the amazing work of Make-A-Wish, but the parents smartly waited until he was a bit older and he fought his own battles and became more of a person before asking Miles what his wish would be.

Naturally, putting anyone, let alone a kid, through countless draining hours of treatment can take its toll. Steroids, chemo, the whole stinkin’ lot of it is the pits. What comes out of that is a spirit of being a fighter. And that is around the time Miles’ Dad Nick introduced him to Adam West on TV as Batman. Our little Bruce Wayne fell head over heals for the Caped Crusader and demanded his own cape for dress-up.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. JANUARY 28, 2015

COMICS

Image keeps on reaching milestones. This week, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn hits #250, bucking trends to renumber everything! This celebration of all things Spawn includes the return of Al Simmons! …Creature Cops: Special Varmint Unit #1 comes from Rob Anderson featuring cute but dangerous panda-dogs! If we’re lucky, Mud Man #8 & 9 ship this week from Paul Grist. Kick off your boots before you come in here! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com!

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. JANUARY 28, 2015

COMICS

Image keeps on reaching milestones. This week, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn hits #250, bucking trends to renumber everything! This celebration of all things Spawn includes the return of Al Simmons! …Creature Cops: Special Varmint Unit #1 comes from Rob Anderson featuring cute but dangerous panda-dogs! If we’re lucky, Mud Man #8 & 9 ship this week from Paul Grist. Kick off your boots before you come in here! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com!

CREATURE COPS Creator Rob Anderson Takes a Walk on the Cosmic Treadmill at FORCES OF GEEK

Back in July, IDW Publishing and online comic book college Comics Experience penned a deal to publish creator owned books.

The first of these is Creature Cops: Special Varmint Unit by Rob Anderson.



Rob joins us today to talk about the hybrid critters in the book and the cops that wrangle with them!

FOG!: Rob, thanks for joining us! Tell us about Comics Experience & IDW’s publishing collaboration, Creature Cops! Are you the first book?

Rob Anderson: Creature Cops is, indeed, the first book coming out of the recently announced publishing alliance between IDW and Comics Experience. I’m pretty excited to be first out of the gate.

Creature Cops: Special Varmint Unit is about animal control officers in a near-future world similar to our own, where gene-spliced animals are commonplace.

It’s an ensemble-style police drama, where the animal cops just happen to be dealing with panda dogs, gator-snakes…and griffins!

Comics Experience is an educational company and runs an online community for comic book creators called the Creators Workshop.

I developed Creature Cops in CE courses and the Workshop, and all the creator-owned books IDW/CE will be published are coming out of that “talent incubator” (as CE founder Andy Schmidt likes to call it).

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Cosmic Treadmill: FOG! Chats With the SECRET IDENTITIES Creative Team of Joines, Faerber and Kyriazis - FORCES OF GEEK

Imagine a land where a ragtag group of heroes with miss-matched powers are thrown together to avenge and seek justice.

That’s right, that world exists and it’s called Canada!

Let’s back up a few steps here.

Image Comics delivers Secret Identities #1 in February, and we’ve assembled our own globe trotting squad — the talented creative team for one of those awkward roundtable conferences with our masks still on!



Writers Brian Joines (Imagine Agents) and Jay Faerber (Copperhead, Graveyard Shift, Gemini) are joined by artist Ilias Kyriazis to give us the skinny on your favorite new superhero team that is almost ready to implode!

FOG!: Thank you guys for joining us to talk Secret Identities #1! I’m a sucker for a good team book — what sets this one apart?

Jay Faerber: A couple things. For one thing, this is a creator-owned book where literally ANYTHING can happen. We don’t have to put the characters back the way we found them. We don’t have to make sure so-and-so is back in costume in time for his big movie.

If you like super-hero books but are tired of the repetition at Marvel and DC, this is the book for you.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

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Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. JANUARY 14, 2015

COMICS

Today we tip a hat to one of our own! Matt Dursin’s Robin Hood: Outlaw of the 21st Century was kickstarted into creation in September 2013! This Sherlock’d version of Robin and his merry band scour the town of Sherwood for medical supplies to steal, and give them to those in need. Now FINALLY available on ComiXology! … Star Wars #1 from Marvel is from Jason Aaron and John Cassaday! ‘Nuff Said! … One of Matt’s heroes is Terry Moore - Rachel Rising Vol. 5 hits shelves today, getting us to the bottom of who is Rachel’s killer! Picks this week from LeaguePodcast, natch!

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. JANUARY 7, 2015

COMICS

Marvel released the Paul Rudd Ant-Man trailer during it’s Agent Carter series last night. Here’s the new series Ant-Man #1 from one of our favorite writers Nick Spencer! … Lady Killer #1 from Dark Horse puts a 60’s housewife into the fray as a killer for hire! … Mortal Kombat X returns to game systems as well as the comic book rack with a new #1 published by DC Comics, collecting the Digital series. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com!

FOG! Chats With ERIK LARSEN About SAVAGE DRAGON #200! at FORCES OF GEEK

A heavy book hit the shelves this week! Savage Dragon #200 is weighing in as a ‘100-Page Super Spectacular’ and also carries with it the legacy of Erik Larsen’s career, where he has stayed with Dragon and now Malcolm as the titular character.

From the Image Revolution to the age of digital comics, you can rarely find a more ingrained creator or publisher in the industry.

He is able to playfully tip his hat to the Silver Age and Jack Kirby while moving his own book and stories into the future. 

The Image Comics CFO took the time to talk his milestone issue with us—and for that we are grateful and wish him and Dragon many more milestones in the future! 



FOG!: Erik - thank you so much for taking the time! When we saw #200 was hitting shelves, our fins went straight up! Thank you for so many awesome issues! What does this milestone mean to you? 

Erik Larsen: Every issue is a milestone, really. Each one is another number reached and another issue under my belt. The big ones, 50, 100, 150 and 200 are just that much sweeter because I pull out all the stops and involve a number of others to join in the celebration but I don’t think of any issue as ordinary, really. 

In my mind they’re all a big deal. 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. December 24, 2014

COMICS

The penultimate issue of She-Hulk is here at #11. Order in the court at Jennifer takes on former Master of Evil Titania! … Come on, grab your friends for Adventure Time #35 — the last from the creative team of Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb. The fun will never end (or will it)! … Robin turned Nightwing is now super spy Grayson in Spyral. Somehow he gets Grayson Annual #1 with only five issues under his utility belt? How does it work? Who knows, but the issue reveals the Secret Origin of The New 52’s Helena Bertinelli — so that’s something! Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com!

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. December 10, 2014

 

COMICS

Dragon is broken out of prison putting Malcolm in the Middle of some hot action! Celebrate all that is right with comics these days for Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon #200! The only Image founder to stay as the main creator for his book since 1992! Fins UP! Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel) gives us Bitch Planet #1 for a sci-fi prison planet type affair for the feminist in everyone. Finally! … Harley Quinn Holiday Special #1 pits our mallet bearing clown against department store Santas, Natch! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com!

DIGBOSTON AND LEAGUE PODCAST COMIC BOOK PICKS OF THE WEEK WED. NOVEMBER 26, 2014

COMICS

Lego my Allen! These Lego variant covers are sweet, and so is the new Flash TV show and current arc in the comics by Robert Venditti (X-O Manowar, Green Lantern) and artist Brett Booth. Flash #36 hits shelves this week. … Pesky Joes invade Cybertron in this nutso Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #4 issue from Tom Scioli and John Barber. Yo, Cosmic Joe! … Our old tentacle loving pal Ben Templesmith has a new DC book, Gotham by Midnight #1 with Ray Fawkes (Constantine). Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Get Your Tickets to Big Hero 6 Now on Fandango.

Cosmic Treadmill - Reviewing NIGHTWING V. 5: SETTING SON with a Side Order of GRAYSON at FORCES OF GEEK

I’m a Bat-family loyalist, reading weekly Bat-titles, even when they fall off the rails a bit (Detective Comics) or even reach into my pockets weekly for some drawn out something or other (Batman Eternal).

I’m also a Batgirl fan and am giving the new ‘’Burnside’ creative team a shot.

One book I personally passed on the New 52 shelves was Nightwing.

Perhaps I didn’t like his new costume — but was it really that offensive to my sensibilities?

At any rate, I visited Kyle Higgin’s Nightwing Vol. 1 eventually, snaking a deal on the trade.  Not bad…but then another break.

With a ‘Villain’s month’, Forever Evil and Zero Year, the New 52 has an inherent problem with it’s regularly programmed books this year.

How does one randomly pick up Nightwing Vol. 5: Setting Son without wanting to pack up and move far away from The New 52 like Grayson himself?

I attempted to do this, and like an acrobat there were highs and lows from this book. 

Thankfully, more tricks were landed than fell into the net.

NIGHTWING VOL. 5: SETTING SON
Writers: Kyle Higgins, Tim Seeley, Tom King
Art: Various
Publisher: DC Comics
Price $16.99
UPC:      978140125011951699
Release Date: 12/10/14
Pre-Order HERE 
Digital: readdcentertainment.com


Nightwing Vol. 5: Setting Son collects the final issues of Nightwing #25-30 plus Nightwing Annual #1.

My main criticism as a volume overall are the aforementioned inconsistencies and obvious problems with injecting crossover events into a planned out story arc.

In my opinion, most of the Zero Year stories could have been contained to the main Batman book but this Nightwing story fits in to continuity well.

I’m reminded of Batman: Year Three in which the Robin story is told revealing secrets of the circus and The Flying Graysons. 

In this flashback, the superstar teenager defies his parents and ditching his parents to catch a movie in Gotham solo. Our proto-Robin saves the day and there is even a costume origin — tidbits I devour when flashback stories are told. Will Conrad nails the art, Higgins tells a great story.

It should be stated that while this might appear to be collected edition — and it is, this is more a collection of single issues, much like nearly every volume of The New 52 Superman (see the wildly erratic Vol. 4 Psi-War for example). Other top selling titles maintain a great level of integrity —even if artists change for an issue or two — like Batman, The Flash and Batman/Superman. 

Next up — Batgirl in Nightwing Annual #1. The on-again/off-again relationship tension is addressed as the two team up to take on a Scooby mystery of Hollywood proportions. The cute Robin/Batgirl selfie flashback is the backbone to the Dick/Babs vignette.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Get Your Tickets to Big Hero 6 Now on Fandango.