LeaguePodcast and DigBoston Comics Picks of the Week for July 2, 2014

COMICS

“Hooked on a feeling…”, Oh man, Guardians of the Galaxy is gonna be so good! Star Lord (played by Chris Pratt) stars in his own book Legendary Star Lord #1 written by newly minted exclusive Marvel writer Sam Humphries (The Ultimates, Uncanny X-Force). … Continuing the tradition of Zero Issues for these books, Magnus: Robot Fighter #0 hits stands starring Leeja: Human Hunter! … Your move, creep! If you weren’t satisfied with the Robocop Reboot last summer, this is the book for you! Joshua Williamson writes what happens after Murphy and Lewis clean up Old Detroit in Robocop 2014 #1. Picks from the all new LeaguePodcast.com Dot Now!

LeaguePodcast and DigBoston Comics Picks of the Week June 25, 2014

COMICS!

Colt City is having a rash of murders and our pulp hero Black Beetle is the only one that can stop them! The followup series Black Beetle: Necrologue #1 starts today from Francesco Francavilla. Pick up many copies, this will sell out! … IDW combines Ben 10, Samurai Jack, Powerpuff Girls and Dexter’s Laboratory into one Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War #1! The Crossover that should never be (guest starring Ed, Edd and Eddy! … Master Alan Davis writes and draws the green Banner Monster in Savage Hulk #1! … Picks from the All-New LeaguePodcast.com!

POINT OF ORIGIN: THE HOUSE IN THE WALL #1 (REVIEW) - new column at FORCES OF GEEK!

Again, thanks to Stefan for the awesome logo. It is a much better column title than mine (First Burst) plus has Banner turning into the Hulk!

New Column. Same Great Tastes.

POINT OF ORIGIN will review first issues, natch!

The debut issue highlights Tynion’s supernatural strengths and Donovan’s traditional comic art fits the mood perfectly.

Tynion shares writing credit with Noah J Yuenkel and art is by Super Mario Bros. 2 - (the official sequel to SMB!) webcomic artist Eryk Donovan. Eryk explains on his Facebook page that he appreciates the ability to use panel layers as a new storytelling tool as panels change by touch. His artwork is still created the old fashioned way — portrait, pencils, ink and paper. He seems to be enjoying the experiment and for a first-timer I would say his experiments are right on target to maximizing the landscape digital comics format.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

JERSEY BOYS - (movie review) - at FORCES OF GEEK

Produced by Clint Eastwood, Graham King, 

Robert Lorenz

Screenplay by Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice

Based on Jersey Boys by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, 

Michael Lamenda, Vincent Piazza, Christopher Walken

John Lloyd Young stars as Frankie Valli in the Clint Eastwood directed movie Jersey Boys, based on the jukebox musical of the same name.

This retelling of the origin of the Four Seasons flips from being Goodfellas to Bye Bye Birdie, adds a bit of previously unknown dangerous element to the pop groups’ origin, and offers another outlet for Eastwood’s directorial oeuvre. 

The talented cast are triple threats in the classical show-biz way, and the romantic notion of cutting a record and shopping it around to labels is illustrated in the musical as the quartet finally gets a name and a ‘sound’.

Told partially by having each of the members of the Four Seasons break the fourth wall and narrate the story, we start out with Vincent Piazza (Boardwalk Empire) as founding member Tommy DeVito. His criminal activities, black market dealings and revolving door at the state prison make for a very Henry Hill intro to the movie.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

FOTOBOM: WALKER STALKER CON BOSTON 2014 - DIGBOSTON

League Podcast hit up the inaugural The Walking Dead and zombie-themed Walker Stalker Con: Boston and scored chats with Walking Dead cast members Jeff Kober, Nick Gomez and Travis Love, plus Walking Dead: The Game and Wolf Among Us voice actor Melissa Hutchison, plus Comic Book Men Bryan Johnson and Ming Chen! Plus, some weird zombie dude! Check out the episode on the newly redesigned LeaguePodcast.com below. All pictures by Stacey B. Rizoli.

League of Ordinary Gentlemen Podcast #194 – Walker Stalker Con! Full interview episode.

Direct Download / Mp3 Stream (opens in new window).

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

THE COSMIC TREADMILL LOOKS AT 'AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE: BOOK ONE' (REVIEW)

Afterlife with Archie: Book One collects the first five issues of Archie’s first horror comic that oozes blood, terror and Archie family in-jokes that is sure to make you run from Riverdale.

Don’t run too far, because the art is by Francesco Francavilla and is written by screenwriter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Glee, Big Love) who’s understanding of the Archie-verse allows him to turn this town on it’s head.

His most spectacular feat is making transforming Jughead into a monster of Freddy or Jason proportions.

Zombies. Halloween Dance. Teenage romance. ‘Don’t go in there’.

The most unsuspecting comics company took a turn for the morbid with this series.

With the announcement of a Sabrina the Teenage Witch series in the same bloody vein, it looks like the supermarket comic crowd is in for a terrifying surprise.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

LeaguePodcast and DigBoston Comics Picks of the Week for June 17, 2014

COMICS

Bringing the characters of The Bard to Life, Kill Shakespeare: The Mask of Night #1 takes the action onto the water, a great companion piece to the new IDW game of the same name! …The weird wonderful talking drug addled space gun and cyber punk adventure concludes as Butch and Gun defend Repo city in Ballistic #5. … The Phonogram / Young Avengers team of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie are back with a new creator owned project THE WICKED + THE DIVINE telling the tale of Gods reincarnating as teenagers—the ultimate pop-stars! Picks from the new LeaguePodcast.com.

KICKSTARTER KORNER: FROM CAN MAN TO FILE 13; CHILDHOOD COMIC GETS REIMAGINED FOR KICKSTARTER

This edition of Kickstarter Korner kicks the Can with Dan Hosek and also, apparently Keith Koppenhoefer, who jumped in so as not to be silenced any more!

File 13 is a fun retro superhero comic looking for that last boost to make a childhood dream a reality.

Consider your pledges after the jump! 

FOG!: Dan, thanks for taking the time to tell us about File 13! What’s the general scoop?

Dan Hosek: Thanks for having me, Clay. File 13 is a full-color, monthly series about Scott Solson’s high tech, high adventure “hero’s journey” (with a healthy dose of absurdist humor thrown in). The stories draw on equal parts classic superhero storytelling, pop culture references, high drama, science fiction, and historic events that are stranger than fiction.

At its best, it will drop your jaw then make you laugh three pages later. Its also the culmination of a 30 year journey for me and this character.  I created the basis for the book—well, the book now hardly resembles anything like what I created when I was 12, but the basic characters are there.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

EDGE OF TOMORROW (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Erwin Stoff, Tom Lassally, 

Jeffrey Silver, Gregory Jacobs, Jason Hoffs

Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, 

Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth

Based on All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Directed by Doug Liman

Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, 

Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson

Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in this dystopian sci-fi tale directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr.  Mrs. Smith).

With spectacular robot control suits and space age firepower, the heroes take on the Mimics, a spindly looking race of alien monsters that seem to know what is happening next.

When Private Bill Cage (Cruise) has an encounter with one of the slippery beasts, his fate is changed by absorbing some of the Mimic’s power.

Under Rita’s (Blunt) training, Cage and the misfit goons of Master Sergeant Farell’s (Bill Paxton) J Squad go after the enemy with guns blazing.

The catch?

They get to do it over again by resetting Cage’s life.

No review of this movie is going to not reference Groundhog Day. So yeah, it’s kinda like Battlestar Galacticameets Groundhog Day. 

That elevator pitch is no slight to the movie, it may actually hook some of your on the fence pals to head to the theatre for this one.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DEFEND YOURSELF: ALLEN MCRAE OF IMPROVBOSTON’S COMEDY, AMERICA

Starting this Friday and and ending on Independence Day, ImprovBoston is giving us an original sketch comedy revue show with musical guests and even a few songs. Celebrating all the shaving bumps and concealed warts of this nation of ours — Comedy, America— takes ImprovBoston’s holiday themed sketch comedy series from the Old West to Disney and of course American presidents. Comedy writer and director of the show Allen McRae joins us to talk ceremonial turkey.

Who are you and what are you doing?
My name is Allen McRae. I am the head writer and director of Comedy, America — an all new sketch comedy revue being presented every Friday in June and also on the Fourth of July at ImprovBoston in Central Sq., Cambridge.

How long have you been doing stuff at ImprovBoston?
For about six or seven years now. I lived in New York for a little while when I got out of college, doing comedy there. When I moved back to Boston I did comedy at this place called The Tribe. When they closed down, I started doing comedy at ImprovBoston. I took a couple of years off because I was in a band, as you know (The Tin Thistles!).

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

Indiegogo GO!: ALICE AND THE INVADERS FROM WONDERLAND Interview with Bret M. Herholz at FORCES OF GEEK

Bret and I met over the weekend at the strangest place, a crafts fair in his hometown of Worcester, MA, just minutes after a fender bender outside, and in a room with local Celtic punk bands playing amidst tables loaded with cupcakes, taxidermy, necklaces and pins. 

Naturally, I gravitated to the comic book artist there and looked at his book, Sherlock Holmes and the Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner and enjoyed his portfolio of drawings. There was a steampunk Batgirl in his signature style as well as Sherlock Holmes vs. the deadly Daleks. 

His new book takes on Alice in Wonderland and puts her Alice where she should be, a strong hero and her adventures after she returns home. Bret’s Indiegogo campaign runs until June 20th. 

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Bret! What’s new in Wonderland?

Bret M. Herholz: Thank you Clay! Quite a lot has happened actually!
The story I’ve written picks up whereAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland left off.

We come to find out that all of Alice’s adventures weren’t all just a dream. The Queen of Hearts found a way to break through to Alice’s reality and her army has taken over the world.  

Alice manages to escape with the help of some of the friends she has made in her adventures down the rabbit hole such as the Mad Hatter, March Hare and White Rabbit. The bulk of the story takes place six years later with a now 16 year old Alice continuing her fight against the Queen of Hearts.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for June 3, 2014

COMICS

Archie comics are Undead! When Sabrina resurrects Hot Dog with a spooky spell, she kicks off a zombie outbreak! Amazing art by Francesco Francavilla on this Walking Dead meets Riverdale trade paperback, Afterlife with Archie Vol. 1. …Trekkies rejoice, Harlan Ellison’s Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever #1 gets the originally intended version of the teleplay from IDW in comic form. …Master Kazuo Koike returns with an all new version of New Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1, continuing the classic samurai title. Picks this week from League Podcast.com.

BRIAN WINKELER CHATS UP KNUCKLEHEADS ON THE COSMIC TREADMILL AT FORCES OF GEEK

We’ve been enjoying Knuckleheads since the beginning.

Writer Brian Winkeler was kind enough to join us to talk about issue #6 available today on ComiXology.

Coupled with Robert Wilson IV on art, this MonkeyBrain title is full of comedy, monsters, cute dogs and impossible breakfast scenarios.

Aliens gave Trevor a fist with special powers, but will he be able to control it for that much longer?

Here is Brian to reveal the buildup to the latest issue.

FOG!: Hey Brian - thanks for joining us for Knuckleheads! Seinfeld voice - “What’s the deal with Crystal Fist?”

Brian Winkeler: The weapon or the “superhero?”

The weapon is kinda sorta maybe like a Green Lantern power ring but Trev (our protagonist) was way hungover when he got it so he’s super fuzzy on it. All he knows for sure at the start is he can use it to cheat on video games and steal Netflix.

He learns more as the series progresses.

Issue one brings the band all together, a ragtag bunch consisting of our ‘hero’ Trevor, his roommateLance, hipster Pizza Guy and hot British chick, Emma. Are more cats going to be added to the main group?

Issue #6 introduces a couple of characters who may or may not be sticking around for volume 2, and #8 introduces a brand new character who has been with us from the beginning. That confusing sentence will make sense as soon as you read #8.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for May 28, 2014

COMICS!

Got a hankering for the weird, a craving for the afterlife? Two of our favorite books combine this week for Chew/Revival #1. He’s from a place where he can tell who was murdered by eating it, she’s not quite dead yet. A Win-Win! … Acronyms ain’t dead in comics as C.O.W.L. #1 forms Chicago Organized Workers League - of superheroes from Nightwing’s Kyle Higgins. … Only a master like Warren Ellis can write a comic about invading trees in Trees #1, we like what we see so far! Image Comics picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (REVIEW) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, 

Simon Kinberg, Hutch Parker

Screenplay by Simon Kinberg

Story by Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, 

Jane Goldman

Based on Days of Future Past by 

Chris Claremont and John Byrne

Directed by Bryan Singer

Starring Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, 

Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, 

Ellen Page. Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, 

Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, 

Evan Peters, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, 

Josh Helman, Lucas Till, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart

Director Bryan Singer is back for an epic cross-time caper with X-Men: Days of Future Past. The latest Marvel Comics summer blockbuster merges the casts of the previous X-Men films and offers a glimpse at a not-so pleasant future.

Drawing inspiration from the comic book storyline of the same name, mutants in the future are forced to wear inhibitor collars or fear being eliminated by robotic Sentinels.

There are differences in the stories, however.

The movie doesn’t take direct cues from the famous storyline, rather it deftly adapts plot points from each of the other X-Men movies (Including Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 X-Men: First Class) to weave in and out of possible timelines. Are you a fan of Doctor Who and The Wolverine?

Singer delivers with this all-star cast and intelligent storytelling.

The movie opens on the future, as Bishop (Omar Sy), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Kitty (Ellen Page) and Ice Man (Shawn Ashmore) fight off Sentinels. Our new brand of Sentinels are unlike any you have seen in the comics, more T-1000 than robot, with the ability to change form to fight the mutant enemy.

Before long, we’re treated to a meet up in China where surviving X-Men meet up with the old guard of X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Professor X and Magneto. Actors Barry, Jackman, Stewart and McKellen are of course all reprising their signature X-Men roles. 

Divergent from the comic storyline, Kitty has a new skill whereby she is able to send someone’s consciousness back into the past (reserved in the comics for Rachel Summers). In order to escape their current fate, someone must go back in time to stop the Sentinels from being invented. Wolverine takes Kitty’s place this time because of his healing factor and the fact that he doesn’t look all that different! 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

COMICS IN FOCUS: CHRIS CLAREMONT’S X-MEN (REVIEW) AT FORCES OF GEEK

“To me, it’s all one story. Because life is a single story” 

— Chris Claremont

To prepare for the cross-time caper that is Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, we were treated to a preview of Comics in Focus: Chris Claremont’s X-Men. The documentary produced by Patrick Meaney forRespect! Films and the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization includes  interviews with Chris Claremont, and other instrumental professionals involved in the Claremont Era of X-Men including Len Wein, Louise Simonson, Ann Nocenti and Jim Shooter. 

After Stan and Jack’s X-Men run, Roy Thomas and Neal Adams attempted to revive the book before it devolved into reprints and remained a essentially a third tier book.  May 1975’s Giant Size X-Men #1 was the shot in the arm the series needed to continue to prosper.

Written by Len Wein and drawn by Dave Cockrum, the success of the book prompted a renewal of sorts with former Marvel intern Chris Claremont starting writing chores on the book in August of 1975.

The new international team of mutants would have their life stories told by Claremont, Cockrum, John Byrne and Terry Austin for years to come. 

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for May 21, 2014

COMICS

Rise of the Magi #1 is a story of Asa, who controls the gates between our world and his where magic rules the land. Written by Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri - this “Harry Potter meets The Usual Suspects” is sure to be a hit! … The Flash trailer has everyone running around like crazy and with the drug the help of a drug in MPH #1 from Mark Millar, teens in Detroit are using it to collect loot! … Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman invades Invincible in issue #111. Things are getting DARK in Mark Grayson’s world thanks to Robot! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

CHEF (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Jon Favreau, Karen Gilchrist, Sergei Bespalov

Written and Directed by Jon Favreau

Starring Jon Favreau, Sofía Vergara, John Leguizamo, 

Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale, 

Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey, Jr.

Triple threat Jon Favreau (Swingers, Iron Man) writes, directs and stars in this delightful family friendly comedy about a chef that redefines himself through his cooking, and his relationship to his son after being torn apart by a popular food blogger.

Guest starring half of the cast of Iron Man 2 (Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey, Jr.), plus other on-screen heavyweights John Leguizamo,Dustin Hoffman and Oliver Platt, Chef is a story about how people touch other people’s hearts with their food.

When food blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) descends on Chef Carl Casper’s (Jon Favreau) restaurant, he’s expecting to be wowed like he was in Miami years ago when he saw the young chef in his element.

Now the years have gone by, Carl’s still a great chef with innovative ideas but is held back by ‘playing the hits’ at Riva’s (Hoffman) restaurant.

The food isn’t all that’s changed.  Carl has a young son Percy (young talent Emjay Anthony) with his ex-wife Inez, the gorgeous Sofía Vergara. Carl keeps Percy at arms-length as he struggles to keep his kitchen together and his pride, working for Riva at the expense of his creativity.

Riva’s hostess Molly (Johansson) and Carl spend time smoking behind the bar, as kitchen workers do, and hint at a flirty romance that you spend the whole movie wondering what will happen between the two. Chef parlays this into him simply making her a pesto instead of taking it further at one key scene in the movie before movie takes a shot at a redemption story.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

GODZILLA (REVIEW) - AT FORCES OF GEEK!

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, 

Mary Parent, Brian Rogers

Screenplay by Max Borenstein

Story by David Callaham

Based on Godzilla by Toho

Directed by Gareth Edwards

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, 

Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, 

Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston

“Oh no, they say he’s got to go go go Godzilla!”

— Blue Öyster Cult

With fans screaming in anticipation for the kaiju as equally as for the return of Bryan Cranston since the end of Breaking Bad, 2014’s Godzilla delivers all of that and more.

Is it time to relegate the 1998 film to the archives and stop complaining about it like oh so much Burton’s Planet of the Apes?

The answer is yes!

Let Pacific Rim be your ersatz prequel for this summer giant monster movie that digs deep into the Toho Co. archives for meaning behind Godzilla’s motivations and where he ranks on the good monster vs. bad monster scale.

Is he better thank Neutral Good? You will need to get out and see Godzilla vs. M.U.T.O. to judge for yourself!

Bryan Cranston stars as Joe Brody, an American scientist living in Japan with his wife and young son Ford (CJ Adams). When testing seismic readings, he discovers an anomaly and heads to the nuclear power plant where he works with his wife, Sandra (Juliette Binoche).

An accident befalls the plant, with tragic loss of life, and then the scene jumps to ten years later.

Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has joined the Navy as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialist and has just returned to his wife Ellie (Elizabeth Olsen) and son Sam. A call from Japanese police confirm that his dad Joe has been arrested for trespassing.

On a recon mission, we discover that Joe’s suspicions about a resurgence of the same readings from that fateful day have occurred. It is not too long after we discover that our new monster, the first to appear in the film, M.U.T.O. (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) is feeding off of the radiation on in the plant to gain power. Many policemen in hardhats scurry as M.U.T.O. rips through high tension wires meant to contain the creature! And we’re off!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

MARK WAID AND HIS THRILLBENT APP TAKE A RIDE ON THE COSMIC TREADMILL AT FORCES OF GEEK

As comics move from the spinner rack and the shelf to the phone and tablet, and controversial acquisitions have made the premier comics app for the iPad behave differently, companies are looking to deliver these books in new ways.

And Mark Waid has been one of the industry’s most vocal advocates for change and innovation.  And has every right to.

Photograph by Seth Kushner

Waid has done everything in comics. 

Seriously. 

And he’s taken challenges like no other. 

Move to Florida and join a comic start up?  Check.  Co-write a weekly series for a year?  Check.  Write some of the biggest characters ever to great acclaim?  Check.  Become a mentor to new talent in the industry?  Check. Write a creator owned series?  Check.  Be part of a new imprint?  Check.  Work as editor-in-chief for a comic company?  Check.  Sell off your collection to put the money into a new digital comics company, Thrillbent?  Check.  Become a comic retailer?  Check.  

And those are just the broad strokes.   

Mark joins us to talk about his company’s Thrillbent Comic Reader for iPad and an affordable monthly subscription model.

The Thrillbent website was started in 2012 to inspire innovation in the digital comics space, and Mark continues to be forward thinking with his new app and subscription model.

With a ton of great titles, Mark and Thrillbent are taking the comic market to new heights.

FOG!: Thanks for joining us today, Mark, hot off the heels of C2E2. How was the show?

​Mark Waid: Genuinely invigorating.  I have to say, I’ve not enjoyed Chicago comic conventions for a long time, not since my thousandth lame experience at the Rosemont Center, but these guys know what they’re doing. Wide aisles, good attendance, good guest lists…I’m a fan.​

Just last week saw the launch of the Thrillbent iPad app. We’ve been following Thrillbent since the beginning. Was the goal eventually to get here, out of the browser space and onto tablets?
​
It was certainly A goal.

But I’m not really going to be satisfied until we can be in a place where you can access us through iPads, Chromecasts, Rokus, Android phones, everywhere. 

Onward we march.​

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]