BRIAN AZZARELLO Celebrates Dark Lord Day With 3 Floyd's ALPHA KING at FORCES OF GEEK

Sure, comics and beer have a long storied history.

I’m willing to bet fermentation and cave paintings have a huge connection. What happens when some beer drinking comic creator legends meet in a bar in Poland and discuss working together someday?

Swords, zombies and swear words erupt from the quill and the brush.

Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets, Dark Knight III: The Master Race, Joker, Luthor) joins us today to talk Alpha King #1 and how he became teamed up with Heavy Metal andLobo artist Simon Bisley.

From legendary brewmaster Nick Floyd (3 Floyds) comes the origin of one of his most popular brews, Alpha King by way of this legendary comics team. This weekend the team signs Alpha King #1 at the annual metal fest and beer celebrationDark Lord Day on April 30, featuring face melting bands Skeleton Witch, EYEHATEGOD and more. 

Munster, Indiana may never be the same.

FOG!: Hey, Brian thanks for talking with us about your book with Simon Bisley, Alpha King #1. I’m sure lots of comic book creation has been fueled by beer, but how do you tap into the story of the Alpha King beer?

BRIAN AZZARELLO: Don’t worry, this is fueled by beer, 3 Floyds beer labels have these characters on them, their beers are names after characters, their flagship beer being Alpha King which I first had 20 years ago. I’ve been a fan of the brewery ever since. They distribute in Indiana, Illinois, some in Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, they don’t have a very large footprint, they really do things their way. 

The beer is fantastic, I love it, when the opportunity arose with this book when Barnaby Struve who is a consultant with them and brewmaster Nick Floyd and he wanted to do a comic based on these characters, they had created this whole mythology behind them.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. APRIL, 27 2016

COMICS

The Not Ready for Prime Time Comic Sex Criminals is back with issue #15. What happens behind the plastic cover is still to be determined by the perverts that pick it up, courtesy of Fraction and Zdarsky. … You know who else is back? The Micronauts #1 from IDW! Acroyear, Space Glider and Biotron are brought to life by Cullen Bunn (Magneto, Venom). … Azarello, Miller and Kubert’s third volume of Dark Knight Returns DKIII hits issue #4 as Gotham deals with Bruce Wayne being dead! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

WE at Forces of Geek! pay tribute 2 Prince. A Shout OUT to MOM! I LOVE U, MUM!

WE at Forces of Geek! pay tribute 2 Prince. A Shout OUT to MOM! I LOVE U, MUM! 

I MISS U 2!
REST IN PRINCE.

http://bit.ly/1U95RQM

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

ANOTHER CASTLE Creative Team Andrew Wheeler & Paulina Ganucheau Jump on The Cosmic Treadmill! at FORCES OF GEEK

Oni Press snuck this one past us like oh so many Koopa shells gliding along on the bricks of life. Another Castle is a limited series that puts the princess in a power position, gives her agency against her captors and ensures that she doesn’t need someone to fight her battles for her.

While the title references a familiar plumbing video game, what is happening in Another Castle is much more than a retreading or adaptation of a video game story. This fun and positive fantasy adventure is as much about solving problems as it is about empowerment. 

The creative team of Andrew Wheeler (ComicsAlliance.com) and Paulina Ganucheau (Zodiac Starforce) took some table time away from commerce at Emerald City Comic Con to tell us what to expect in the coming issues as well as entice some new readers into Another Castle!


FOG!: Another Castle has been a great adventure story so far. We have some video game influence, D&D and scary monsters and bosses! What’s a quick pitch to get people into the book?

Andrew Wheeler: A fan at Emerald City Comicon this past weekend described it as “Lara Croft as a princess”, which is a pretty cool description! I’d call it a damsel-in-distress story where the damsel can save herself, but she’s determined to save everyone else as well.

Paulina Ganucheau: Whoa I love that description! So cool and accurate.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. April 20, 2016

COMICS

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Trek with Star Trek Manifest Destiny #1! Kirk vs. Klingons in this ultimate space battle. … Flash hits #50 before Rebirth so Barry must win the trust of everyone in Central City. … Max Landis and Jonathan Case are the team for Superman: American Alien #6 when Clark brings a bit of Smallville to the big city of Metropolis and what it means to be his friend! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

FOG! Presents: BATMAN V SUPERMAN ROUNDTABLE! - at FORCES OF GEEK

Welcome to our Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Roundtable. 

There hasn’t been a film this decisive since perhaps, Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man of Steel, which we discussed in depth HERE.  In this roundtable, we discuss the film, the mythology of the characters and the DC Cinematic Universe.

Participating this time are:

• Vito Delsante, comic book writer/editor

• Erin Maxwell, FOG! columnist/entertainment journalist

• Peter Briggs, screenwriter /upcoming writer/director, Panzer 88

• Elliott Serrano, Chicago’s Top Geek/comic book writer

• Josh Hadley, FOG! contributor/podcaster/critic/archivist 

• Lenny Schwartz, FOG! columnist / playwright/screenwriter

• Josh Latta, cartoonist/rabble rouser

• Atlee Greene, FOG! columnist/wrestling & MMA enthusiast/podcaster

• Clay N Ferno, FOG! columnist/publicist & promoter/podcaster

• Brian Saner Lamken, lapsed comic journalist/writer/artist

• Andre Bennett, former FOG! columnist, filmmaker, RPS enthusiast

• Elizabeth Weitz, FOG! contributor/consulting editor

• Steven Segal, FOG! columnist/former film critic

Hope you enjoy, beware of spoilers and be sure to add your two cents to the comments.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Ash & Hitler Jump on The COSMIC TREADMILL With Ian Edginton and Larry Watts at FORCES OF GEEK

The name ‘Deadite Adolph Hitler’ is thrown around all too often these days. Luckily the folks at Space Goat (a real thing) have decided to clear the air and pit Ash against this very, very bad man.

The creative team behind EVIL DEAD 2: Revenge of Hitler, Ian Edginton and Larry Watts, took time out of their busy schedule to join us to talk this special ONE AND DONE™ (Stories so good…we don’t need 2!) comic!

From the trenches of Berlin to a trench mouth in Texas, here is everything you need to know about our groovy hero taking on a man so evil that he can’t be named, except that he can, and that name is Hitler.


FOG!: So…from reading your comic and watching a couple documentaries, this Hitler was kind of a jerk, right?

Larry Watts: A bit.

Ian Edginton: Actually, the scary thing is, is that he wasn’t. You don’t get to rally a nation behind you by playing the fool. It may seem that way, I mean take Donald Trump—that guy should be wearing clown shoes—but he tells people what they want to hear. He plays on their fears and insecurities. On their need to find easy scapegoats and solutions for larger, more complex issues of politics and policy. 

You look at Donald Trump and you see a toupee wearing braggart and bully. You look at Hitler and you see a shouty little man with a dumb mustache that even Charlie Chaplin had the good sense to take off at the end of the day. But don’t be fooled, they were and are master manipulators.  

Wow, that got serious fast!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. April 13, 2016

COMICS

Alright, 3PO, shut up already about the red arm! If you enjoyed a Blu-ray or Digital copy this weekend of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you know that C-3PO has a red arm. Here is that arm’s story in C-3PO ONE SHOT written by James Robinson and art by Tony Harris (legendary Starman team). … Xena and Gabrielle have returned after 25 years in Xena: Warrior Princess in a brand new #1! … Fate would have it that I was listening to Rumous scrolling through the picks this week for Heartthrob #1 from Oni Press. Second Hand News, baby! …Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette (graphic novel review) at FORCES OF GEEK

DC Comics gave us a sneak peak into Grant Morrison’s Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 hardcover coming out in April of next year. It may be a few months before you can lasso this hefty treat into your hands, so we thought we would give you a sneak peak.

The Earth-One series, for comic fans, delivers what the title implies. This self-contained universe allows creators to take on DC heroes under an umbrella imprint that is easy for mainstream audiences to pick up at the local chain bookstore. I’ve been enjoying these Earth One with stories from writers Geoff Johns, J. Michael Straczynski, Jeff Lemire and art by heavy hitters Shane Davis, Gary Frank and Terry Dodson.

Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 showcases one of our favorite Grant MorrisonBatman, Inc. artists, the versatile and award winning Yanick Paquette. With Morrison’s plan for icons and superheroes laid out in his book Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero (2011), the Scottish writer’s twirling take on his remaining hero of the DC Trinity, Wonder Woman, is highly anticipated.

Wonder Woman has one of the strangest creation stories in all of comics, the history on psychologist William Moulton Marston, his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and live in lover Olive Byrne alone is fascinating. This tryst formulated some if not all of the bondage imagery, ropes and chains often associated with the character.

No bat, no alien rocketship, just good old fashioned bondage and submission bore the child that is the Amazonian princess we know today starting with the character’s inception back in 1941.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. April 6.2016

COMICS

The Fix #1 is about terrible people doing terrible things, from the Superior Foes of Spider-Man team of Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber. I mean it, these guys are awful! It’s Breaking Bad in comics form, but extremely funny. … He can fly anything if you need a pilot! Poe Dameron #1 gives a backstory to Star Wars: The Force Awakens hero from Charles Soule and Phil Noto (Black Widow). …Wonder Woman Earth One graphic novel is Grant Morrison’s take on the character in the popular Earth One mythology with art by Yanick Paquette (Batman: Incorporated). …Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

FOG! Discusses INDOCTRINATION With Matt Battaglia & Michael Moreci at FORCES OF GEEK

Z2 Comics keeps it coming with Indoctrination, an apocalyptic political thriller in the vein of the first season of True Detective mixed with the scary realization that people are coerced into believing what groups are capable of.

Writer Michael Moreci (Roche Limit, Hoax Hunters, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and artist Matt Battaglia (Roche Limit) join us for a spin on the Cosmic Treadmill in advance of the June launch.

The book is already getting major attention from some True Detective fan sites, but as the following interview will reveal, there is more to Indoctrination, as our heroes face a far more sinister force.

Between death cults and sleeper cells, Indoctrination tackles fear, at a time when the world is growing tired of threats from inside and outside forces.

FOG!: What can readers expect from Indoctrination?

Matt Battaglia: Readers can expect a thoughtful thriller in the vein of classic 70s cinema, but wrestling with the potent issues of our times.

Michael Moreci: What Matt said. I think the series reminds me a lot of Hannibal, in that it’s slow, methodical, and the underlying developments are so unsettling that it makes everything else all the more frightening. 

We want to make a book that gets readers at their core with intense, thought-provoking, and chilling horror and crime. It’s very unique in a lot of ways, in a lot of GOOD ways, and there’s never been a better time for it to hit—in regard to the current political climate and the comics climate.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. March 30, 2015

COMICS

Chuck Palahniuk’s sequel to Fight Club, Fight Club 2 wraps up with issue #2 - can anything go wrong with Tyler’s plan? Probably. …Omega Red and the Soviet Super Soldiers show up to give the X-Men of the 90’s some guff! Wicked Massive Awesome Radical times to be had in X-MEN ‘92 #1! … Darth Vader #18 is action packed as Vader lays his resources on the line and a battle is brewing! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

TRIPLE SHOT with a DC CHASER: The Road To REBIRTH – Grayson #18, We Are Robin #12, Teen Titans #18, Secret Six #12 at FORCES OF GEEK

It’s a DC Comics takeover today as we get closer to the Rebirth event and a new Batman on screen. We start off with a new creative team on Grayson before Rebirth, more Gotham sidekick action with We Are Robin and Teen Titans (guest starring Wonder Woman). Over in Secret Six, Strix is faced with dilemmas from the League of Assassins.

Are you ready for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? Be sure to check back Friday morning for the Forces of Geek review when it is posted!

Grayson #18
Writers: Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly
Artist: Roge Antonio
Publisher: DC Comics
Pub. Date: March 23, 2016
UPC:  76194132185101811
PRICE: $3.99
BUY IT HERE


Things are really heating up for Dick and Spyral this issue, but Grayson aka Agent 37 isn’t really at the center of all the action.

With Lanzing and Kelly (Batman and Robin Eternal) jumping on as writers to wrap up this arc, where a lot of threads were just sort of hanging there, we start the issue in the middle of the action at the St. Hadrian’s school for wayward spy girls.

With guest appearances from Bronze Tiger, Grifter and Midnighter, Dick leads a team against Leviathan. 

Helena is seriously injured in the melee, but at the end we have Agent Zero and her sister vying for the top of the stack as someone from their past makes a surprise appearance.

This is most certainly not a jumping on point for readers, perhaps not many people out there are even aware that Dick is a spy now, but no matter. With Rebirth, Nightwing returns and we can turn our back on this now overly complicated spy story. 

I sure wish Seeley wrapped this arc up, though because this issue is a bit confusing, and I have been reading this book since the beginning!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. March 23, 2016

COMICS

The Finches Meredith and David bring Wonder Woman to issue #50 on this Batman v Superman week! Twirl on over to your LCS (Local Comic Shop) on the way to the theatre! LeaguePodcast ally Paul Allor goes What If? with G.I.Joe: Deviations #1 - begging the question What if COBRA ruled the world? … Independence Day #1 is the movie tie-in to the sequel that you didn’t ask for. But we must be ready this time, right? … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE DARKSEID WAR PART 1 (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE DARKSEID WAR PART 1 (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Jason Fabok, Various
Publisher: DC Comics
Pub. Date: March 09, 2016
Price: $24.99
UPC: 978140125977852499

Collecting Justice League #40-44,
DC Sneak Peak: Justice League #1

BUY IT HERE

In this week leading up to the biggest DC movie event ever, the debut ofBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (still a mouthful), we’ve got a hardcover release of volume 7 of Justice League from Geoff Johns with art by Jason Fabok.  

Volume 7: Darkseid War Part 1 pits the New 52 Justice League against a reimagined Fourth World and introduces some new and interesting characters for the modern age.

These are definitely comics more skewed toward the longstanding DC Comics fan than the casual reader, but if someone were to wander off of the streets and grab this hardcover in preparation for the movie (a scenario often prescribed by comics journalists like myself, but rarely do the masses imbibe) they may be entertained but will certainly leave with a lot of questions.

Johns, recently announcing yet another ‘Crisis’ aka Rebirth, lays the groundwork for the theory of the DC multiverse in Darkseid War.  Besides the usual cast on the side of the righteous, we see Darkseid pitted against the powerful Anti-Monitor and a view of how these worlds came to be.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. March 16, 2016

COMICS

Nice guy and superman Huck faces his past enemies in the latest Huck #5 from Mark Millar and Raphael Albuquerque. Bendis and Maleev have taken on Daredevil and deconstructed Moon Knight, now the team gives us a different look at Tony Stark with International Iron Man #1. Is Doom really his friend? How will Mary Jane fit into Stark Industries? Where is Pepper? ,,, Damn, Obadiah! Archer and Armstrong are back at it again with a new #1. This buddy cop comic between what can best be described as a Morman and his 7,000 year old drunk buddy is always a good time in A+A #1. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

FOG! Chats With STEVE LIEBER About His New Series About Awful People, THE FIX! at FORCES OF GEEK

Hands down, one of the funniest comics from the House of Ideas to come out in this new age of Marvel NOW! was the often overlooked but still celebrated-among-thieves Superior Foes of Spider-Man. You know what? I’m not even sure his holy Web-Head even showed up for more than a few panels in the book. That’s some next level genius marketing there.

From the twisted minds of Steve Lieber (Hawkeye, Hawkman, Whiteout) and Nick Spencer (Morning Glories, Captain America, Astonishing Ant-Man) with team mates (accomplices?) Ryan Hill (colors) and Nic J Shaw (lettering and design) comes their latest Image Comics creation: The Fix. 

This creator owned book is already turning heads for it’s colorful language and comedy the toes the line between violence and the absurdity of real life. It turns out The Fix is about awful people. Who knows if these guys turned the mirror on themselves to get inspiration?

Heck, at least they were nice enough to return my emails! Artist and co-creator Steve Lieber joins us today to previewThe Fix, conveniently just in the nick of time for you to ‘convince’ your shop to order it from Diamond. 

We must warn you moms out there, Steve and I get a little blue in the interview. Earmuffs!

FOG!: You guys have gone and done it again. The question is…why? How did The Fix come about?

Steve Lieber: A collaboration this great doesn’t come around every day. Nick writes characters that I love to draw! Our tastes in what’s funny on the comics page dovetail beautifully. So after we finished Superior Foes, we were eager to work with each other again. Nick had three ideas for our next project. One of them grew into The Fix.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes – JUSTICE LEAGUE: COSMIC CLASH (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Super-genius super-computer and compulsive Collector of Worlds aka Brainiac 1.1 has his sights set on our Earth but the Justice League is there to stop him!LEGO Justice League - Cosmic Clashis the fifth film in the LEGO DC Comics Super Heroesdirect-to-video series.

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg and Hal Jordan Green Lantern protect the Earth from being shrunken to Kandor size but not without some help and a bit of timey-wimey adventures.

Digging into the lore of DC Comics Silver Age and recent history, this Lego movie is one for Superman and Batman fans of any age.

The movie opens at the Hall of Justice where everyone except Batman is playing a trust game of hide and seek.

Batman (Troy Baker) refuses to play because he’s sort of a wet blanket and refused to think of his Justice League co-workers as anything other than associates.

Younger teammates The Flash (James Arnold Taylor) and Cyborg (Khary Payton) take the opposite view and embrace friendship!

Led by Blue Boy Scout Superman (Nolan North) and the ultra confident Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin) and Green Lantern (Josh Keaton), the League takes to the sky when the Klaxon alarm warns of a threat to Earth!

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Dig Boston and League Podcast Comics Picks of the Week for Wed. March 9, 2016

COMICS

It has been nearly a year since we lost Boston’s Vulcan son Leonard Nimoy to the great expanse. IDW celebrates Spock in Star Trek #55 - Legacy of Spock part 1 of 4. … Nathan Edmondson’s Red Wolf #4 from Marvel puts a Native American chief from the old west town of Timely into modern day Santa Rosa as desert travelers emerge from the shadows. … Jupiter’s Circle Vol. 2 #4 introduces a new villain! From mastermind Mark Millar (Kingsmen: Secret Service, Kick-Ass). Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

ZOOTOPIA (movie review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Produced by Clark Spencer

Story by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, 

Jared Bush, Phil Johnston, Jennifer Lee, 

Joshie Trinidad, Jim Reardon

Screenplay by Jared Bush, Phil Johnston

Directed by Byron Howard,

 Rich Moore, Jared Bush

Starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman,

Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Tommy Chong,

Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate, Shakira

Disney’s Zootopia is the latest from the main mouse studio to anthropomorphize animals and have them burrow into our hearts.  Jason Bateman stars as fantastic fox Nicholas P. “Nick” Wilde opposite the real star of Zootopia, Ginnifer Goodwin as Zootopia Police Department’s first bunny rabbit officer Judy Hopps.

In a world where predator and prey have put aside their differences and mostly live in peace side by side in the city of Zootopia, some mammals have gone missing and Judy sets out to get to the bottom of the mystery in fear of losing her job.

The resolution and detail of the best animation technology and talent in the world is on display here with Zootopia, as the Disney machine keeps on rolling. 

Zootopia is a funny movie but not without drama, as the city of Zootopia is revealed to us as a whole new world where animals dominate!

Cleverly, the movie sets us up with young bunny Judy in a school play that reflects the rules of the new society we are introduced to in Zootopia. If only more fantasy movies gave a wink and five minutes of exposition at the top we’d all leave the theatre a little less rattled!

Sure, that’s for the kids who will no doubt be watching this over and over on iPads in the backseats on road trips, but for an adult, the explanation serves to rationalize our own obsession with scooping up Zootopia toys from the aisles of Target. We adults will be able to say, “I love THE MESSAGE Zootopia has to teach kids, that we can all GET ALONG”, in the same breath as we snatch the last plush Judy Hopps off the shelf—leaving a snot-nosed kid in a carriage crying because we took his favorite new toy.

Moving on, Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) is mocked by her parents and her 237 rabbit siblings that she wants to become a police officer. These jobs are typically occupied by bigger, stronger species. Through pure will and determination she trains her way through Police Academy (in a Full Metal Jacket montage) and earns her stripes to move away from her parent’s carrot farm in Bunnyburrow to the big city to be assigned to Zootopia Police Department.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]