FOG! Chats With Writer Mairghread Scott and Editor David Hedgecock About ‘First Strike’, A Hasbro Comic Book Event at FORCES OF GEEK

The original G.I. Joe, Joe Coulton, takes his fight to Transformers home world of Cybertron, tying together the Hasbro Comic Universe event of 2017, First Strike!

Today we spoke with writer Mairghread Scott and editor David Hedgecock to talk about Hasbro post-Revolution and how Micronauts, M.A.S.K. and ROM fit into this epic story.

Earth formally joins the Cybertronian Council of Worlds but there can’t be universal peace with Dire Wraiths and Cobra out there for the Joes and Transformers to take on!

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FOG!: For those not caught up in the Hasbro shared universe, where is a good place to start to get caught up on Revolution that can carry you to the events of First Strike?

Mairghread Scott: Well let’s start with what First Strike is. Cybertron and Earth are having their first joint diplomatic event. Explosions, fighting, no one knows what’s going on and before anyone on Earth can figure it out the feed cuts out. All we know is that it looks like Cobra is laying waste to Cybertron and there’s seemingly no way to get there.

But a little thing like interstellar travel isn’t gonna stop Scarlett and her team of G.I. Joes, who gather all the help they can to make it to Cybertron and try to save day. Unfortunately, the Cybertronians they’re trying to defend are often as much of a threat to them as the people they’re fighting.

We’ve got Optimus vs. Destro. Storm Shadow and her ninjas cutting down Decepticons. This is the story where you get to see the world’s most elite soldiers riding and dying with the universe’s most powerful warriors.

So what do you need to read get onboard?

Nothing.

G.I. Joe are the good guys, Cobra are the bad guys and the Transformers are everything in between (literally). But of course, if you want to go back and read our previous issues, they’re totally worth it and available on Comixology now.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

INTERVIEW WITH PAZ LENCHANTIN OF THE PIXIES

DO617: Did you contribute to writing on this new record (Head Carrier) as well as performing on it?

Paz Lenchantin: Head Carrier was a collaborative effort. We had six weeks or so pre-production on the songs. The songs mainly came from a skeleton that Charles (Black Francis) had come up with. Some of the songs didn’t make the cut at RAK Studios in London.

We were inspired there, we had a little apartment, Charles and I, we were adjacent, attached to he studio. We were like a family. We made dinner, we made coffee in the morning, talk about music, listen to music while we weren’t in the studio.

While we were there, some other songs came up. These last minute gems. One of them didn’t make the record. However, this song was very important to me because this song inspired another song that I wrote that DID make the record, which is called, ‘All I Think About Now’.

This song features me singing lead on vocals. The lyrics were written by Black Francis. He asked me what I wanted to sing about. I thought, this is an exciting moment…I’m being asked what I want to sing about…

[READ MORE AT DO617.com]

HOSTAGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH GUY DELISLE at DIGBOSTON

HOSTAGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH GUY DELISLE

In the gripping new graphic novel Hostage (D+Q), award-winning French cartoonist Guy Delisle retells the story of the kidnapping and abduction of Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André, who was held hostage in Chechnya in 1997. Over 400-plus black and blue pages, Delisle uses the unique quirks of the comics medium to tell a harrowing tale of hope and survival. The artist is coming to Harvard Book Store on Monday, May 15, and I had an opportunity to ask him about this amazing new project and the incredible amount of work that went into it …

How did Christophe’s story first come your way?

I read his story first in the newspaper, then I had the chance to meet him because I was visiting a friend at the NGO where he was working. I was very curious to ask him questions but I thought he doesn’t want to talk about that. Being kidnapped is certainly a traumatic experience …  

I started to ask him a few questions and he was really open about it. At the end I thought it was so incredible that it would be nice to do a book about that, and he agreed.

It’s amazing he was able to remember every detail and count the days. He was trying to keep his mind so active but also his mind off of his family and his loved ones.

For him every morning it was important that he was keeping track of time, he didn’t know where he was and there was no reason why he was there. The only certain thing was the time, so he was keeping track.

As far as memory goes, I recorded him in 2003 and I worked on the final version of the book in 2015, so I was glad to have the previous recording because his memory was fresh. I also had a document from the NGO right after this happened. I worked with the recordings and that document.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON]

5 Questions with CJ RAMONE at DO617

5 QUESTIONS WITH CJ RAMONE

CJ, THANKS FOR JOINING US. WHAT’S NEW WITH YOUR SOUND ON AMERICAN BEAUTY?

SONGWRITING IS A GOOD PIECE SHARPER AS IT’S MY THIRD GO AROUND, SECOND ON FAT WRECK. I WORKED WITH PRODUCER/ENGINEER PAUL MINER THIS TIME SO THE SOUND OF THE RECORD IS BIG! GUITARS A BIT CRUNCHIER AND THE VOCALS MORE UP FRONT WITH A GOOD DOSE OF STEVE SOTO’S BEATLESQUE HARMONIZING. IT ALSO INCLUDES SOME GREAT PERCUSSION BY PETE SOSA AND DAN ROOT’S GUITAR WORK THAT CAN’T BE BEAT. WE’VE EVEN GOT THE BOYS FROM MARIACHI EL BRONX PLAYING TRUMPETS ON A TRACK!

How is it playing with other punk royalty Steve Soto (Adolescents), Dan Root (Adolescents), and Pete Sosa (Street Dogs) and will these guys be joining you on the road?

COULDN’T ASK FOR BETTER. THERE’S A CONFIDENCE YOU FEEL STEPPING ON STAGE WITH VETS LIKE THOSE GUYS. PETE IS THE BABY BOY OF THE GROUP, BUT HAS AS MUCH ROAD TIME AS SOME OF THE OLD TIMERS IN THE BUSINESS.

THE ONE HANG UP IS THOSE BOYS ALL GET BUSY SOMETIMES AND I’VE GOT TO KEEP IT ROLLING. MY SECOND LINE UP IS CHRIS ELLER AND JOSH BLACKWAY FROM THE HUNTINGTONS AND MY GOOD BUDDY NATE SANDER.

How is it working with the fine folks at FAT WRECK CHORDS?

YEAH FAT IS A GOOD HOME FOR ME. NEVER HAVE A PROBLEM GETTING SOMEONE ON THE PHONE AT HEADQUARTERS AND THEY’RE QUICK AT GETTING THINGS DONE. ALSO DOES NOT HURT THAT THEY’VE GOT A BOAT LOAD OF GREAT BANDS WHICH MEANS LEAVING WITH LOTS OF VINYL ANYTIME WE STOP IN ON A WEST COAST RUN!!

Care to tell us about your charitable work with Autism Speaks or any other organization?

I. HAVE SUPPORTED AUTISM SPEAKS FOR A LONG TIME NOW. I DO THE LONG ISLAND WALK WITH TEAM CJ RAMONE EVERY YEAR. MY WIFE DENISE ORGANIZES MOST OF MY INVOLVEMENT AND WE ARE PLANNING A CJ RAMONE BIRTHDAY BASH TO RAISE SOME FUNDS ALSO. AUTISM SPEAKS FUNDS INCREDIBLE AMOUNTS OF RESEARCH AND WITH THE NUMBER OF KIDS BEING DIAGNOSED EVERYDAY, IF THIS WAS A FATAL DISEASE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED AN EPIDEMIC LONG AGO AND THE FEDS WOULD HAVE POURED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO IT. . SO TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE AUTISTIC COMMUNITY, STAY TOUGH!!!

Do you have a favorite ACID EATERS track? It doesn’t have to be one you played on!

MY BACK PAGES. OUR VERSION IS BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL.

[READ MORE at Do617]

5 Questions with THE BESNARD LAKES at DO617

5 QUESTIONS WITH OLGA FROM THE BESNARD LAKES

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT PLAYING IN BOSTON? OUR CHARMING ACCENTS? OUR HOSPITALITY?

I do love the Boston accent! We used to have a roommate from Boston and she has the best lingo and the best laugh. What else can you say, it’s a wicked deadly town you got there. I’m originally from the west coast of Canada, I grew up in British Columbia, and apparently we have awesome accents too, ha.

CARE TO TELL US ABOUT THE NAME OF YOUR LATEST EP, THE BESNARD LAKES ARE THE DIVINE WIND?

We’d been tossing around the idea of revisiting the “Besnard Lakes Are the…” title, and Jace came up with the Divine Wind. It’s apparently the english translation of Kamikaze, which he’d been reading about and thought it was a cool idea. It’s got a kind of poetic darkness to it, which is right up our alley.

[Read more at do617.com]

5 Questions with CAPTAIN SENSIBLE of The Damned at Do617

5 QUESTIONS WITH CAPTAIN SENSIBLE OF THE DAMNED

Did you know that the venue you are playing PARADISE ROCK CLUB is also celebrating 40 years?

No, good luck to them… if them walls could speak what stories they’d tell. Whereas with us the carnage over the years is well known. I can only guess at the money it cost us to replace wrecked equipment and pay fines. Of course, we had no idea it was us paying it all… managers don’t tell you that stuff. Until you ask them why you’re still stoney broke - despite playing all those shows.

Do you have any memories of past Boston shows you’d like to share?

The Rat Club.. we had some fun there over the years. Not so much the first time though, when between songs the audience chatted among themselves, accompanied by the sound of cutlery on plates. We dragged a table up onstage and ordered pizza… if you can’t beat em join em!

The band has of course taken some time off over the years, but continues to roll on and tour. What keeps you all coming back?

While there’s discerning music fans out there who want to see us, and we’re fit enough to do it we’ll keep going. Those old frauds the Stones are still out there, can’t let those old swines outlive us.

When our guitarist and leader Brian James quit the band in ‘78 we were considered to be washed up… especially with no history of songwriting between the remaining 3 members. But I wasn’t going back to cleaning toilets if I could possibly help it so started composing like anyone’s business, and with the help of our chum Lemmy on bass we did some gigs that procured a new record deal, and a new musical adventure began - that went thru garage, psych and goth phases… with us eventually becoming the evangelists for live music you see now. We live for that manic hour and a half onstage when there’s an element of danger and chaos… and anything could happen.

The music business has changed but the support from your vast swath of punk, goth and rock fans continues to stay the same. Not many you started out with are still doing it. How was it working with Pledge Music to fund your latest album, offering your fans something that they want?

Things are very different now… but we caught the tail end of a golden period for bands. When a label would book a live in studio for a few weeks and trust you to deliver something they can sell. They often ended up with drastically different records to that they were expecting… and you simply can’t imagine that ever happening today. We used to enjoy seeing the slightly shocked record company faces when we played our new finished albums the first time.

Our mates the Buzzcocks told us about this Pledge Music thing which I’d no idea about - but when told it allowed us to make the album that WE wanted to make… without a record label bloke watching over your shoulder I was there. So we can pretty much do what we like - which in the 80s would’ve meant getting comprehensively sloshed and wrecking the studio - probably getting thrown out of a few along the way for those sort of capers. Not this time though, being considerably older… and hopefully wiser.

Pinch, Stu and a Monty are such great players… they’re going to get a chance to flex their muscles musically. This is a band that can break out of a song structure and really jam it up.

Each album we’ve made sounds different from the last one - and this one will continue that trend. It’s fun to experiment, to be creative… take a few risks. The only shame is not releasing before the world tour, but to have boshed out a half finished album would be wrong. I have Sgt Pepper and Pet Sounds in my vinyl collection, played em to death over the years, and unlikely as it sounds always aspire to achieve those elevated standards.

Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) THE DAMNED song to play live?

Fave - Neat Neat Neat for the jamming scope the riff allows… we never play it the same twice.

Cheers - CS

FOG! Chats With J.T. Krul, Writer of ‘Sand+Bone’ - at Forces of Geek

Comics writer J.T. Krul is best known for his work recently on Green Arrow and Teen Titans, but cut his chops at Aspen with Fathom and Soulfire. His latest book, Sand + Bone, from Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s Adaptive Books, J.T. and artist Andrea Mutti tackle PTSD and an unexplained supernatural phenomenon.

Sean Hitcher has just returned from war. He didn’t die in Iraq, but part of him wishes that he did. He’s home now, back in the small Midwestern town he grew up in. But he is haunted by nightmarish visions of killing and carnage that seem to be the result of severe PTSD. But are they? Is there something he’s missing. …

As mysterious acts of violence spread throughout the town, Sean begins to wonder if there’s more going on than he originally thought. What terror did he experience on the battlefield, and what horrifying secret did he bring back with him?

J.T. took some time to discuss Sand + Bone, PTSD and working with Adaptive Books.

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FOG!: Thanks for joining us to discuss Sand + Bone! First off, we can’t ignore the art on this book. How did you hook up with Andrea Mutti?

J.T. Krul: That was actually thanks to Jimmy and Justin. They’ve been working with Adaptive to develop their graphic novels, and as we started putting the project together, they recommended Andrea. His style works great with the tone and vibe of the story we are telling. It’s dark and brooding, with a lot of the mystery and the drama hidden in the shadows. And, Vladimir Popov really complements Andrea’s art perfectly, adding a sense of texture and grit in his colors.

[READ MORE AT FORCE OF GEEK]

Ryan Ferrier Talks All Things ‘D4VE’ at FORCES OF GEEK

In December, we previewed D4VEocracy #1 from Ryan Ferrier and Valentin Roman.

In D4VE’s first 100 days, we decided to knock on Ryan’s door to figure out what exactly is going on in the post-human robot society without a real president. We had to go all the way to Canada to get the answers and the election results we deserve.

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FOG!: Pretty crazy election cycle, amiright? What can D4VE bring to the Presidency that, let’s just say, the current US President does not have?

Ryan Ferrier: Crazy to say the least. I am Canadian, so I maybe shouldn’t comment. Okay, fine, y’all are fucked. I mean, you’ll fight and resist and it’ll be okay, but it’s gnarly and I’m sorry. What does D4VE have that the current one doesn’t? Easy, its empathy. Makes you wonder who the real robot is.

Over the last two volumes D4VE’s shown just how emotionally connected he is to his family, his planet, and his role in society. His intent to lead the last living population seems pretty fitting.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

5 Questions with PRIESTS (DC) at Do617

WE ASKED THEM ABOUT TRUMP, DC PROTEST CONCERTS, AND THE PERRENIAL QUESTION OF THE STOOGES VS. THE MC5!

Priests are: Daniele Daniele, Drums. Katie Alice Greer, Vocals. G.L. Jaguar, Guitar.

Taylor Mulitz, Bass.

HOW WAS YOUR NO THANKS! SHOW AT BLACK CAT D.C. ON INAUGURATION DAY?

T: It was great! And necessary on a horrific night, so a little bittersweet.

WHAT IS CASA RUBY & ONE DC?

T: Casa Ruby is an LGBTQ shelter in Washington, DC.

K: Homelessness is a problem in every major US city but people don’t consider how unsafe many shelters are for queer people. There is a necessity for shelter from the elements but also places where you will be respected, and cis and straight people might take that for granted sometimes.

G: ONE DC is a grassroots organization organizing around fighting displacement and supporting people who live in these communities in our area who are being displaced, their organizing principles enable people affected to speak for themselves.

[READ MORE AT DO617]

5 Questions with Lord Bendover of The Upper Crust at Do617

 

YOU MUST GET THIS QUESTION A LOT, BUT HAS ANY BAND MEMBER CURED THEIR ILLS BY LEECHING?

All the gentlemen of the Upper Crust are regularly bled as a kind of preventive maintenance, usually employing leeches; but in fact they often just bleed spontaneously as a result of hemophilia occasioned by good breeding, exacerbated by their natural clumsiness.

[READ MORE AT DO617.com]

5 MORE QUESTIONS WITH GUSTER AT PARADISE ROCK CLUB - DO617

5 or so More Questions with Ryan Miller of Guster​ at Do617​. We headed to a VIP celebration of both Paradise Rock Club​ and Guster last night. Our interviewer really needs a tripod and a microphone but his arm remained (mostly) steady to hear Ryan talk about coffee, Boston and the music industry! Thanks, Ryan for coming correct!

FOG! Chats With ‘Stumptown’ Artist Justin Greenwood at FORCES OF GEEK

Stumptown is your favorite Rockford Files private detective story in comics form that you may or may not be reading!

Greg Rucka puts leading tough gal Dexedrine Parios in danger every issue but she can get to the bottom of the jig when that jig is certainly up, or in this instance, the bottom of a very dank coffee cup. Volume 4 of Stumptown, The Case of The Cup of Joe, comes out in January but is available for pre-order today (Diamond code: SEP161833)

Artist Justin Greenwood joins us to talk about the mystery comic set in Stumptown aka Portland, Oregon, cat-shit coffee and ‘silent’ issues of comic books!

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FOG!: The Case of the Cup of Joe was one of the funniest crime comics and of a lighter tone than the previous volumes. Was it fun to play with Portland’s barista and coffee culture obsession?

Justin Greenwood: Yeah, we had a lot of fun with it! I remember Greg telling us about the idea for building a case around some very valuable, sought-after coffee beans and you couldn’t help but chuckle at the premise.

 [READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

FOG! Chats With DC Comics’ Team Arrow, Benjamin Percy, Juan Ferreyra & Nate Piekos at FORCES OF GEEK

With CW’s Arrow going into it’s fifth season and 100 episodes (how did that happen?) spawning a superhero revolution on TV with the Arrowverse, a new spike has been given to the Emerald Archer’s popularity.

DC’s Comics recent Rebirth initiative made comic stores great again and writer Benjamin Percy was able to give Ollie back his goatee and reunites castaway with Black Canary along with selling a ton of Green Arrow Rebirth #1s.

We talked pre-Rebirth and post-Rebirth with Ben and Rebirth #1 cover artist and co-writer Juan Ferreyra at the DC Comics booth at New York Comic Con last week as Mr. Queen and Black Canary face the Island Of Scars.

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FOG!: Hey guys, it’s an honor to talk with you, I’m a big Green Arrow fan, and I’ve been reading what you’ve been doing since before Rebirth. My first question is, did you feel like Rebirth was a good opportunity to revisit some things, or did you feel like you weren’t done telling part of your (New 52) story?

Ben Percy: When I jumped into the New 52, and first pitched Green Arrow, I wanted to write Black Canary into it, I was told, “You can’t do that”. I said, “He’s gotta have a goatee,” and I couldn’t do that.

I was also trying to do the novelist thing, which is playing the long game, which you should never do in comics! Because, I could have been kicked out after a few issues. But early on, I was keeping Ollie away from his costume, away from his bow and arrow in an effort to really get to know him as a person. It felt kid of schizophrenic prior to that in the New 52.

I really wanted to build up the character, and I had in my mind a Rebirth revitalization of the character, anyway. I was going to move towards that moment when he truly became Green Arrow. It just got sped up a bit for me.

I did have another storyline involving The Outsiders that I was working towards. There were a lot of hints in there, about that, but its fine. We got rid of that, we just jumped right into the new era.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

FFOG! Chats With Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire About ‘A.D.: After Death’ at Forces of Geek

A superstar creative team of this caliber only comes together rarely to create a book that can change how comics are consumed and touch us with such personal stories. 

Scott Snyder (Batman, Wytches, American Vampire, Swamp Thing) writes A.D.: After Death for Image Comics with artist Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Essex County, Descender, Animal Man) contributing illustrations for this mostly prose comic book story.

These modern masters of comic storytelling joined Forces of Geek to talk about November’s upcoming first oversized volume in three parts of A.D.: After Death. The book proposes what it might be like if someone cures death itself.

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FOG!: Thanks for joining us guys!, We’re here to talk about After Death. I gotta say, this is really different and unexpected, two huge talents coming together. How did this come about?

Jeff Lemire: Scott and I have been friends and colleagues for quite a while, and mainly working on superhero stuff together for a bit (Animal Man/Swamp Thing). We’re developed quite a friendship and this started when Scott mentioned the initial idea of the story to me a couple of years ago.

At that time it was just going to be a straight forward, 20-page comic, a sci-fi, high-octane bombastic story, as a fun side project. We just wanted a chance to work together. We sat down and started to work on it, and the scope of the project started growing and changing and evolving. It became a much bigger project, what it is now.

Scott, this is your story, correct? Is Jeff writing too?

Scott Snyder: I’m writing it, but everything in it, I’ve run by Jeff. He has been an incredible help, sound-boarding stuff, brainstorming it, troubleshooting. He definitely deserves a credit toward the creation of the story as well. Having someone who is such a terrific writer, I feel like I have only a quarter of the work! He’s a terrific artist, he’s drawing it, and he helps me with the story.

If anyone got off easy, it was probably me! (Laughs)

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

FOG! Chats with EarthQuaker Devices’ Matt Horak About ‘OctoSkull’ - at FORCES OF GEEK

Rock and Roll. Comics. Rock and Comics, our “old alma mater,” as Chuck Berry once said!

Matt Horak (The Covenant, Thundarr The Barbarian Fan Comic) joins us to talk about the fusing of guitar pedals and the comic stories that back them up.

Earthquake Devices have commissioned Matt to drum up some interesting stories to market their effects pedals, and gives us a peek at the first story, OctoSkull.

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FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Matt. I’m not a guitarist but thought this was an interesting project. Please tell me first about your guitar pedal company.

Matt Horak: EarthQuaker Devices began when our illustrious founder, Jamie Stillman, attempted to fix one of his broken pedals. This led to him building some of his own pedals and selling them online. Flash forward 10 years and EQD has a line of 30+ pedals and 30+ employees.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

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

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.

When 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]

FOG! Chats With Christopher Duddy, Director of “It’s So Easy and Other Lies” - at FORCES OF GEEK

Director Christopher Duddy joins us today to talk about everyone’s favorite Gunner, Duff McKagan. It’s So Easy and Other Lies is the documentary version of Duff’s book that goes back to the Seattle pre-grunge days through Guns N’ Roses and carries you up to Loaded and Velvet Revolver. The bassist performs with a live band as he reads from his best selling book intertwined with interviews from friends Nikki Sixx, Slash, Matt Sorum, Mike McCready and many others.

Animated transitions and visualizations of some of the stories give the world an uncensored look at addiction, recovery, touring and being trying to survive being a musician in the best rock and roll band in the world.

Duddy is know for his many visual effects credits but sits in the director’s chair for It’s So Easy and Other Lies. He starts by letting us know how this movie came to be.

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Chris! How did this come about?

Christopher Duddy: I only knew Duff’s story from Guns N’ Roses forward, I didn’t know the back history until I read his book, and that caught my attention. It was really interesting, his whole story, not just the GNR story.

I met Duff when we were both walking our kids to school. We became friends, we’re both big football fans, Duff would come over my house and watch football. A few years later he asked if I would read his book.

We talked about the book after I read it, and I said to Duff, “Your story is one of those that is really inspirational, and as a filmmaker, to get an opportunity to tell a story that inspires people is a gift”.

I approached him to make a documentary about it and his initial reaction was “No”. He didn’t want to be too self indulgent, he had already written the book about himself. I was just persistent because his story is one that needed to be shared on film, not just on pages.

Finally, he warmed up to it. When the book became a NYT Best Seller and came out in paperback, he started doing a press junket for the paperback release. He finally called me for that, “Hey if we are going to do this thing, maybe you should come with me on this press tour”.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

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

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]

FOG! Chats With MAD TIGER: THE PEELANDER-Z Documentary Filmmakers Jonathan Yi & Michael Haertlein at FORCES OF GEEK

I first saw the ‘comic book action punk band’ Peelander-Z (from the Planet Peelander) back in 2006. I’ve seen some colors come and go, different people dress up as bowling pins and cosplayers sliding into themselves at human bowling.

I’ve seen 200 people with varying degrees of musical skill join the band with instruments from a suitcase (and even the bands’ gear) playing a cacophony of noise that can only be described as a beautiful mess. Broken English punk chants ‘Mad Tiger’, ‘Medium Rare’ and my favorite ‘So Many Mike’ are on cue cards for the audience to sing along to, while squid and other Kaiju monsters make their way through the crowd. For the introverted nerd or geek, there was finally a punk band that could being you out of your shell. 

The band feeds on this kind of happiness as well.

Lead by Peelander Yellow and his partner Peelander Red, a Peelander-Z show is like being in a Japanese comic book with action lines and full page spreads. The show is, by Yellow’s definition, “10% music and 90% theatre”. (Though you will be hard pressed not to be singing these songs to yourself days after a Peelander invasion).

Filmmakers Jonathan Yi and Michael Haertlein explore the relationship between the colorful band members in Mad Tiger, debuting in New York on May 6th. What started as a music documentary became the story of a relationship between two friends who are as close as family can ever be, and how Peelander-Z can navigate change.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

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.

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