‘Tetris: The Games People Play’ by Box Brown (graphic novel review) at Forces Of Geek

in , , ,

 

Tetris: The Games People Play
Written and Illustrated by Box Brown
Published by First Second
Release Date: October 11, 2016
EAN 9781626723153
Price: $19.99

The New York Times Bestselling author Box Brown (Andre The Giant: Life and Legend) returns for his second major release through First Second to be released in October of this year. With herds of roaming purple-eyed glow kids tripping on curbs to collect the latest Pokemon lately, we thought this a fitting time to review the origin of Tetris in Tetris: The Games People Play.

Brown illustrates the graphic novel using two color printing (yellow and black) and a simplistic but humorous style that is uniquely his.

The story of Tetris doesn’t include Man from U.N.C.L.E. espionage, but it does have a dramatic element and compelling story that is difficult to put down.

Back in my day, my family, like Brown’s, all fought over the grey screened Game Boys and this addictive Russian video game, shrunken down from the full color version on our ‘big’ TVs.

 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

League Podcast & Do617 Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. July 27, 2016

in , , ,

 

 

 

 

 

COMICS Holy Bat-Rebirth books, Batman! We couldn’t help it, from the Robins to Babs, here are the sidekick picks of the week! First up is Tim Seeley’s Nightwing #1 puts Dick back in the black and blue and gives him a new mentor that might make him un-learn what Bruce put in his head! … Not to be forgotten is Jason Todd in Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 as Jason teams up with Bizarro to take down Gotham’s underground criminal element. … It’s Batgirl Beyond Burnside in a new Batgirl #1 written by Hope Larson and drawn by American Vampire’s Rafael Albuquerque. It’s Batgirl—in Japan! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

The Cloud GN (book review) at Forces Of Geek

in , ,

 

 

Written by K. I. Zachopoulos
Illustrated by Vincenzo Balzano
Published by BOOM! Studios/Archaia
Pub. Date: July 20, 2016
Price: $24.99
UPC:  978160886725752499
Buy It Here

The Cloud is the latest graphic novel release from Archaia, an imprint of BOOM! Studios. This fantasy world is set far in the future as a boy and his trusty flying wolf Cloud travel to discover the secrets of his father and seek after a totem for wishes.

Come along and get lost in this beautifully delightful adventure story with pirates, defiant pachyderms, and talking statues.

This adventure story of a boy and his wolf will transport you to another world that is familiar but forever changed by the actions of our time. In the future of The Cloud we are left with mountain cities in the sky as the earth below is no longer fit from the actions occurring in “The Great Before”.

Each page of this graphic novel is beautifully painted by Vincenzo Balzano (Revenge: The Secret Origin of Emily Thorne) borrowing thoughtful stylistic elements from the likes of Dave McKean (Sandman) and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Fans of The Sandman: The Dream Hunters will most certainly enjoy this story tonally. The pitch and solicit also make sure to mention The NeverEnding Story a bit and for good reason. Cloud and Falkor have much in common. The boys in both stories are adventurers on a quest.

 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

 

 

League Podcast & Do617 Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. July 20, 2016

in , , ,

COMICS

The long awaited Rom The Space Knight returns to comics in IDW’s Rom #1 as Rom faces the Dire Wraiths in ‘Earthfall’ part one. … Betty & Veronica go head to head in the re-up of the Archie-verse written and drawn by Adam Hughes in Betty & Veronica #1. … Gotham’s protectors Batgirl and the Birds of Prey Rebirth reveals to the world Bab’s time as Oracle. What will this mean to Batgirl, Huntress and Black Canary as we know them? Find out in Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #1! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

League Podcast & Do617 Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. July 13, 2016

in , ,

 

 

 

COMICS

Straight outta Townsville, it’s The Powerpuff Girls #1, previewing the new 40-episode series on The Cartoon Network! … One of our favorite writers, Cullen Bunn takes on Conan in Conan the Slayer #1, cover by Lee Bermejo! … Lilly and Eva are realizing the truth about the fallen earth in Satellite Falling #3, a great new space opera from IDW! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously (movie review) at FORCES OF GEEK

in , ,

Produced by Jordan Rennert, Patrick Meaney,GaimanDoc-Main
Julian Darius, Mike Phillips,
Cat Mihos, Morgan Peter Brown
Directed by Patrick Meaney
Starring Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer,
George R.R. Martin, Grant Morrison,
Karen Berger, Shelly Bond, Terry Prachett,
Lenny Henry, Michael Sheen, Patton Oswalt,
Chip Kid, Wil Wheaton, Jill Thompson

The living embodiment of The Sandman and literary genius Neil Gaiman (American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane) is highlighted in this documentary from SeqArt, following Neil on his final book signing world tour.

That is too say, Neil will, at the end of the documentary have signed over 75,000 books and need to ice his had after every session. An artist with such class and graciousness is rare for wanting face time with all of his fans, just one last time. No one can accuse Neil of being a ‘Ringo’ about his signing tour. He wants to get back to writing. At some point he decided he wanted the final tour to happen, so he, like one of his Endless characters, planted the seed in his fan’s dreams and let this pan out one last time.

With some great interviews with celebrity fans Wil Wheaton, George R.R. Martin, Jonathan Ross, Lenny Henry, Grant Morrison, the late Terry Pratchett and so many more, this insightful documentary about Neil’s writing and life will be surely devoured by his devout followers and comics fans that recognize how works like Sandman truly changed the conversation and cultural landscape.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

League Podcast & Do617 Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. July 7, 2016

in , , ,

 

COMICS

Captain Jack Harkness will get you by tonight in Torchwood #1 written by actor John Barrowman (Torchwood/Arrow). This new Titan series is sure to make you question which side you are on, as long as that side is Jack’s sexual side! This is a canonical continuation of the Torchwood saga! …Yabba Dabba Do! Pick up The Flintstones #1, the latest in the bizarre retellings of Hanna Barbera cartoons that paint our favorite Stone Age Family in a semi-realistic light. Trust us, Issue #1 will rock you! … Not to be confused with anyone else’s Avengers, Batman ‘66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel in a new #1. Campy sixties spy crossovers that never happened for real are happening in the comics pages and we couldn’t be happier! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

League Podcast & Do617 Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. June 29, 2016

in , , ,

 

COMICS

That was fast, Steve Rogers Captain America #2 retcons the retcon, here’s to hoping he still punched Hilter in the face!… Batman and Robin are about to take on a war with The Master Race and Superman shows up! DKIII: Master Race #5 is out today. Bobbi and Hawkeye go for an under the sea adventure in Mockingbird #4! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

 

Triple Shot With a Digital Chaser: ‘Action Man #1’, ‘She-Wolf #2’, ‘James Bond’ #7 & ‘Adventures of Supergirl’ #11

in , ,

This return of Triple Shot brings us a little known action hero from the UK getting his due with IDW’s Action Man #1, a teenage girl wolf’s out in She-Wolf #1 from Image and the Duke of Dapper James Bond starts in on a new adventure “Eidolon” written by Warren Ellis issue #007!.

Are you missing out on Supergirl lately? Don’t fret because Sterling Gates has been keeping Kara and the Danvers girls busy in our Digital Chaser for Adventures of Supergirl #11.

 

actionmanAction Man #1

Writer: John Barber
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Pub. Date: June 22, 2016
UPC: 82771401090900121
BUY IT HERE

John Barber (Transformers) starts us out in media res with our hero Action Man infiltrating Doctor X’s headquarters.

Don’t know who Action Man is? Picture G.I. Joe but for Anglophiles.

I’m not talking the little guys, we’re talking Original 1960’s Kung-Fu Grip that might ask for a spot of tea.

Paolo Villanelli (Snake Eyes) is on art and if you crave a modern G.I.Joe title (one that is noticeably missing from the current IDW line), Action Manmight be what you are looking for!

Action Man is a highly trained soldier in martial arts, weapons and even the culinary arts according to this incarnation. He’s Duke, Snake-Eyes and Roadblock all rolled into one!

That is, of course until a Wrath of Khan moment changes the fate of Action Man!

This is a fun start to the series that I look forward to continuing, a mashup of James Bond, The Kingsmen: Secret Service, G.I. Joe and Torchwood, Action Man has what it takes to keep me interested!

And to be honest, the Train Fight certainly jumped my ratings from a low 4 to a high 5, targeting for my own locomotive combat preference.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK.COM]

League Podcast & Do617 Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. June 22, 2016

in , , ,

 

COMICS

Part G.I.Joe, part James Bond, Action Man #1 hits shelves today! The Action Man relaunch from IDW is highly anticipated on both sides of the pond! … Archie is barred from Lodge Manor so how will Veronica get to hang with Archie Andrews? Mark Waid’s Archie #9 out today. … Back Off! Bitch Planet is back today with issue #8 from Kelly Sue DeConnick — follow the prison planet action as Kam gets reunited with her sister! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

 

FOG! Chats With ‘The Revisionist’ Writer Frank J. Barbiere - at FORCES OF GEEK

in , , ,

 

 

Frank Barbiere (Five Ghosts, Avengers World) joins us today to talk about his latest time travel crime book  The Revisionist from new publisher Aftershock. The ongoing title stars time traveling assassin tasked with repairing a cracked timeline!

FOG!: Thanks for joining us today, Frank! The Revisionist #1 is out now, from Aftershock. How did you get involved in the launch of a new publisher?

Frank Barbiere: I had met Mike Marts a few times socially, and was always interested in working with him. Mike has edited many of my favorite books, including long runs on X-Men and Batman.

stunWhen Aftershock was starting to get the ball rolling, Mike reached out to see if I had any creator owned properties I was interested in pursuing.

I’m a creator who loves to have my own books as well as work for hire, so I quickly responded with a few ideas I had kicking around and we settled on The Revisionist.

Are you happy and excited to work with them? The roster from day one certainly caught my eye!

It’s been a wonderful experience. Aftershock has built a really strong publisher where they let their talent have creative freedom and work with the people they want—I was able to handpick my creative team (co-creator and artist Garry Brown and colorist Lauren Affe), as I knew they’d deliver a book we were all proud of.

Everyone involved is extremely passionate about having beautiful, quality books and I think it shows in their library. It’s an honor to be amongst some of the best creators in comics, as well as some of the best new talent.

 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. June 15, 2016

in , ,

COMICS

Finally - Solo Solo! Han Solo #1 gives an inside look at your favorite Nerf Herder. For the first time ever, is Star Wars: Han Solo #1 (of 5). …The ticket to vote for this November isn’t one of the two candidates on the news all the time. We have another sneaky option, Vote Loki #1. … Fred Van Lente’s newest comic series is Weird Detective #1 from Dark Horse. Detective Sebastian Greene is the monster cop vs The Old Ones. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

 

League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. June 8, 2016

in , ,

 

COMICS

Sherlock with Cumberbatch is probably the greatest show ever, and what could be better than Japanese Manga versions of Sherlock written by Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss. Available in the States and the UK for the first time ever! … The greatest pilot in the galaxy (and his pal BB-8) Poe Dameron hits with #3 this week. If you want to make an omelette, you may need to break a few highly revered holy eggs! … It is Kirk v The Klingons in Star Trek Manifest Destiny #4 of 4. 50 years of Trek? So Wow! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

 

League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. June 1, 2016

in , , ,

 

 

COMICS

After last week’s Geoff Johns 80-page Giant, the big blue DC logo of doom continues with Batman: Rebirth #1 by new writer Tom King and Scott Snyder as Batman faces Calendar Man! … The fun continues in Superman: Rebirth #1 by Peter Tomasi putting the underpants back where they belong, on the outside as Clark Kent returns to his own book. I know, it’s confusing. … Over in Marvel, Moon Knight continues in issue #3 as Mark makes his way to the subway tunnels below Egypt, or the institution that holds him. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

 

League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. May 25, 2016

in , ,

COMICS

The Pink Panther is back! Can you hear the theme song as Pink confounds The Inspector? Pink Panther #1 is in stores today! …The Rocketeer at War #4 by Marc Guggenheim and Dave Bullock concludes the story of Project Bedlam! … Squadron Supreme’s Nighthawk protects Chicago in a new Nighthawk #1. I’ll bite! He’s like Birdman from the movie Batman was in. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

 

 

Review: A Look Back at DARWYN COOKE's BEFORE WATCHMEN at FORCES OF GEEK - COSMIC TREADMILL

in , , , ,

 

Before Watchmen was released in 2012 to the grousing of original co-creator Alan Moore and a blessing from the original series artist Dave Gibbons.

Fans at the time seemed to be evenly split on the matter as well, but greeted the new Watchmen books with the skepticism of a new Star Wars movie. I’d be interested in seeing a Venn diagram of original Watchmen fans and their reactions to both the limited prequel and also Zach Snyder’s 2009 film adaptation.

In short, one would be hard pressed to find a more controversial DC property writ large. One of the men responsible for revisiting the Minutemen was Darwyn Cooke. His untimely passing last week spurred this review, but truth be told we’ve been thinking about these books for a long time.

Darwyn provided both the story and his unique Golden to Silver Age pulp magazine style illustration to Hollis Mason’s story in Before Watchmen: Minutemen (6 issues) and also teamed up with Amanda Conner, co-writing her book,  Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre (4 issues).

If you were on the fence about these books, now is a great time to honor Darwyn’s memory and rediscover this amazing work you may have overlooked.

Back in the 90’s when Swingers was all the rage (yeah, I went there), I would scour my school’s magazine library for gas station advertisements, winking lightbulbs and all sorts of retro design to (literally) cut and paste to make new art.

I was always extremely jealous of that cool style, drawn with a pen, perhaps a wash of a single color and dashes of Tex Avery’s cartoon “The House of Tomorrow”. Nothing appealed to me more than that aesthetic, as I sat listening to the chairman of the board on wax, smoking cigarettes in my fedora, pretending to be an Artist!

Darwyn’s illustration was all of the corny stuff and more, a Mad Men explosion of a simpler time when you could forge a driver’s license with penmanship, rattle scotch around in your tumbler and men tried their darnedest to be honorable. How this man was touched with such incredible skill to make things look ‘older’ we may never know. Except, in the industry he was known as a hard worker, perfecting his craft and always drawing until it was right.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

 


League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. May 18, 2016

in , ,

 

 

COMICS

Max Landis wraps up his stellar run on Superman: American Alien #7with an amazing artist, Jock! Aliens! Motorcycles! Explosions! … Jonny Quest and Hadji are back in Future Quest #1 by the amazing team of Jeff Parker and Doc Shaner on art! Hanna-Barbera’s greatest heroes are back! … Sabrina #5 is the witch book you horror fans have been waiting for as Sabrina takes on Madam Satan and other covens reveal themselves! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

FOG! Chats With The SATELLITE FALLING Creative Team of Steve Horton & Stephen Thompson at FORCES OF GEEK

in , ,

When Satellite Falling fell like Sputnik into our hands the other day, we passed it around the office like the hot ore potato that it is. Books can still break out of the mold while nodding to the familiar and continue to impress. Space bounty hunters, space stations, holographic imaging disguises and more fill up this first issue of Satellite Falling from IDW. 

Writer Steve Horton (Amala’s Blade) and artist Stephen Thompson (Future’s End, Batman Beyond) join us on the Cosmic Treadmill this week to tell us about his sci-fi tale of Lilly and her life in the past, present and future.

Pick up the first issue today!

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, guys! First of all, gorgeous book! How long has this been in development? Do you guys work together often?

Steve Horton: It’s been in development about a year! Facebook Memories notified me the other day about the first pitch pages that I showed everyone last summer. We actually put the pitch pages together fairly quickly, but the pitch process was very lengthy. Since the book ended up getting green-lighted, we’ve been working on it ever since. This is our first book together, but hopefully not our last.

Stephen Thompson: This is our first time working together. We produced the first five pages or so as a pitch at some point last year, so it’s been quite a while.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. May 11, 2016

in , ,

 

COMICS

Marty! McFly and Doc travel to 1931 in Back To The Future Citizen Brown #1! …Wrapping up the second Volume of Jupiter’s Circle, Mark Millar’s prequel to the superhero story of the century is issue #6. See what happens to the team and where it can lead them! …Something New Tales From Makeshift Bride is the latest from Lucy Knisley (Relish) and First Second Books. Find out how to prepare for a wedding if you are a little different and creative like Lucy! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

TRIPLE SHOT - FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2016 ROUND-UP at FORCES OF GEEK

in , ,

 


Captain America and Civil War II! Rom The Space Knight Returns! The Tick multiplies! Supergirl has test anxiety in DC Superhero Girls!

We cleaned up at Free Comic Book Day this year and here are the books that caught our eye, if you are lucky, maybe your store will have some left over when you pop in there on Wednesday!

We’re plowing through the stack, but these are the books that we were most excited about in this roundup report edition of Triple Shot!
Alright, we crammed more than three books into our Triple Shot but isn’t that always the case? Who cares about numbering anyway? Not the big comic book companies, that’s for sure!

Hopefully you were able to make it to your store this weekend for the free fare. Many places had cosplayers, free candy and creator signings to make the event (their largest retail date of the year) even more special. From 8-months-old to eighty-days-sober, the fifteen year tradition continues to bring comics and regular people through the doors of your local comic book store. 

This year’s associated film for Free Comic Book Day was Captain America: Civil War, so it makes sense to tackle the two big Marvel offerings for our special nerd holiday!


CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 FCBD 2016 EDITION

Cap is back, baby! He’s celebrating 75 years this year, so that makes it special that Steve Rogers is returning to the Captain America cowl and pirate boots (in my mind only).

The current Marvel Universe will have two Caps running around, Sam Wilson and Steve donning separate shields. The costume revealed for Steve in FCBD is very cool, and his shield is like Joe Simon’s original concept, the ‘badge’ shield design.

Why the change? Who knows…but this is a different and cool design and I’m fine with that.

S. H. I. E. L. D.  is facing charges in a Senate committee hearing. Agent Sharon Carter is doing her level best to defend the actions of the team before Steve steps in and sets the Senate straight! More to be revealed in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 written by Nick Spencer. 

Welcome back, AGAIN, Cap!

Backup Spidey story sets up the next big move for Slott and team. Is anyone ever truly dead? Ask Cap! He’s been there before!

{READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK.COM]