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‘Penny Arcade’ Game Prequel Comic Goes Online

Penny Arcade is well known in the webcomic world for its wickedly funny lampooning of the videogame industry. On May 21st, they’re becoming a target themselves by releasing Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One. The Penny Arcade videogame will premiere as a digital download for Xbox 360, PC, Mac and Linux systems.

The adventure role-playing game imagines the Penny Arcade cast in a 1920s Lovecraftian setting where Gabe and Tycho are a crime-solving team at the Startling Developments Detective Agency in the city of New Arcadia.

To help readers understand Gabe and Tycho’s role in this world, Creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik have created a four-page prequel webcomic that explains what the characters were up to just before the game starts.

In all honesty, they had us when they showed a steampunk version of Fruit F***er, the kitchen juicer gone bad.

Rory Root, R.I.P.

This day began like the others all have, here at my computer. I heard the familiar startup sound of my Mac, saw the comforting image of my wallpaper and then opened up my e-mail.

Spam… joke… spam…. annoying forward… reminder on work I need to do… spam…

And then a pile of e-mails in a row –  all on the death of Rory Root.

Rory wasn’t a writer, an artist or editor, yet I am certain he brought more comics into people’s lives than a lot of folks who hold those titles. Rory was a retailer – a comic book guy with a store in Berkley, California. And he was one of the best.

Over the days to come, you will read a lot of things about Rory and the way he loved the industry. Wonderful tribute sites are already taking shape here and here. Still, I welcome the chance to briefly share my little “Rory Story” here on ComicMix.

Although we hadn’t seen much of each other in the past few years, Rory was still my friend. In my comic retailing days, we grew close as part of a network of like-minded store owners that went by a number of organizational titles. No matter what the reason, we had to get together, and it was great. We shared ideas, bitched about all the things we hated and longed for the days when comics would finally get the mainstream attention they deserved. Most of all, though, we argued. Nothing malicious, just the good-natured, free-thinking debate of which Rory was a master. Rory could take a side and beat you down with it, then take your side and beat you down with that one as well, all while holding this enormous urn of coffee that was seemingly never empty. It gave him great joy to be right in these exchanges, and usually he was.

Today, I am re-running so many of those matches in my head and I even remember one (just one) where I think I came out on top.

Then again, I bet Rory had it planned that way.

Here’s hoping that coffee cup is still full and hot, old buddy.

Happy Birthday: Zatanna

Zatanna Zatara learned early on that magic was in her blood—but she had no idea how right she was.

Her father, Giovanni “John” Zatara, was a stage magician whose act concealed his very real magical abilities. Growing up, Zatanna followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming a stage illusionist.

Her own power manifested while searching for him after he went missing, a quest that found her teaming up with several members of the Justice League of America. She wound up helping them on other missions and eventually becoming a member herself.

For a brief period Zatanna’s powers were significantly reduced, but that limitation later vanished. Zatanna inherits her talent from both sides—her mother Sindella is also a member of the Homo Magi, the race of magic-wielding humans that lives among regular mortals.

At one point, Zatanna explored that heritage more fully, setting aside the techniques she had learned from her father—specifically, casting spells by speaking backward—but later reverted to her traditional style.

Currently Zatanna is a member of the Sentinels of Magic and a reserve member of the Justice League.

Steven Moffat To Take Over ‘Doctor Who’

According to our friends at Outpost Gallifrey, Steven Moffat will be succeeding Russell T Davies as the chief writer and executive producer of Doctor Who beginning with next year’s series of specials. Moreover, he will be taking over as showrunner for the 2010 series.

This move was long expected by fans and predicted by the omnipresent rumor mill.

Moffat has written a great many episodes over the past four seasons, including the award-winning “Blink,” the forthcoming “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead,” “Empty Child,” and the crossover special “Time Crash.” He has a great many credits, including the upcoming Tintin movie for Steven Spielberg.

Moffat also wrote the classic 1999 Doctor Who episode “The Curse of Fatal Death,” which starred Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley as The Doctor and Jonathan Pryce as The Master. Some regard this broadcast as out-of-continuity; however, given the nature of the show one can never be certain.

He told the BBC’s publicity department “My entire career has been a secret plan to get this job. I applied before but I got knocked back ’cause the BBC wanted someone else. Also, I was seven.”

ComicMix Radio: The Bat Chase Is On

Secret Invasion move over – last week DC premiered the first issue in the “Batman R.I.P.” story arc and it blew out of stores in just 24 hours. So what’s next?

And better yet, what’s in the comic shops this week? We cover that, plus:

— Battlestar:Galactica movies? It might happen!

— Are you ready for 34 hours of Doctor Who?

— We take a moment to remember comic book retailer Rory Root, who passed away yesterday.

And we are Indiana Jones-spoiler free! Don’t believe us, just press the button!

 

 

  And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-4239960 or RSS!

 

Inside Scoop on ‘Watchmen’ Film: Spoilers Ahoy!

Comic Related has one of the most in depth reports on the upcoming Watchmen movie yet, including some massive spoilers in its latest report.

There’s plenty that I won’t post, but here’s a taste:

To start off, I’ve learned that the supplemental material at the end of the individual issues of the comic series will be included in the film in the form of newsreel-style reports. Whether these will be part of the opening credits – as has been reported elsewhere – or interspersed throughout the film, we will have to wait and see. Perhaps the Mothman scene I reported on months ago will be part of this footage.

The story comes via io9, which also offers a bevy of behind-the-scenes photos from the set. Fair warning: That link repeats lots of the spoilers. So if you’re trying to avoid such things, steer clear.

[UPDATE: ComicRelated.com’s Chuck Moore recently let ComicMix know that, due to popular demand, he’s compiled all of the site’s great behind-the-scenes Watchmen coverage on a single page, providing a great one-stop shopping spot for anyone in search of information about the film. Thanks, Chuck! -RM]

 

Review: ‘Ayre Force’

The past few years have seen all sorts of graphic novels hit the market, but here’s a new one: Wealthy owner of online poker site commissions comic adventure starring souped-up incarnations of himself and his employees in a battle against deranged foes hell-bent on torturing animals.

The wealthy owner in this case is Calvin Ayre, founder of Bodog. And [[[Ayre Force]]] ($19.95) is the book, essentially an opportunity for Ayre to unleash his fantasies in illustrated form.

See muscle-bound Calvin battle his enemies, guns a-blazin’. See Calvin outsmart his foes. See Calvin walk around shirtless, showing off his chiseled features. (Ayre’s real-employees-turned-heroes get similar glamourous treatment.)

There’s a point when the villain confronts Calvin and says, “Look who’s talking, living out your fantasies and delusions of self-importance,” and he seems to be speaking as much to the real Calvin as the fictional one.

It’s a preposterous endeavor on its face, but that’s not to say there are no redeeming qualities. Ayre hired a quality crew to work on this book, including former [[[Batman]]] editor Joseph Phillip Illidge and artist Shawn Martinbrough. Their efforts are solid, if not quite enough to transcend the concept.

One seemingly bizarre inclusion is the involvement of the villains in “bear bile farming,” which sounds like something too absurd even for Doctor Evil. Turns out, it’s an actual practice, and bear bile is used for medicinal purposes (to the bear’s great discomfort). Ayre is putting the book’s profit toward ending that farming, so at least the book has good intentions behind it, even if it reads like a celebration of ego.

Behind the Scenes With ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Game

Sega released a video yesterday with the unwieldy title The Beast Within: The Making of The Incredible Hulk The Official Videogame. In it, staff members from publisher Sega and developer Edge of Reality declare their undying love for the Incredible Hulk. Then Justin Lambros, Vice President of Interactive at Marvel Studios, said he thought they were cute, too.

Sheesh! What’s with the love fest? This is the Incredible Hulk. It’s all about rage and anger. But the video did show some neat renders and development footage if you’re into that kind of thing. See it for yourself after the jump. (more…)

The Squires of Science, by Dennis O’Neil

We were the Squires of Science, my friend Mike and I were. He went to public school and I was a sixth- or seventh grader at St. Louise de Marillac, but that didn’t keep us from palling around together, watching Tom Corbett, Space Cadet on his family’s television set and doing chemistry set experiments in his basement. Actually, I don’t remember doing many experiments – we squires weren’t really much into real science – but Mike, who was good with tools, made us a plaque and, well…we believed in science. Maybe not as much as I believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but still a lot.

I was also reading a lot of science fiction, thanks to the public library, and I guess Mike was, too.

Adolescence disintegrated the Squires of Science. I was off to a Catholic military school – and yes, you may snicker – and Mike went…I don’t know – probably to Beaumont High, which we Catholic kids thought was kind of wicked, in some ill-defined way.

About then, I began to realize, dimly, that science involved mathematics. I had never been really good at arithmetic, which caused me a lot of grief at old St. Louise, and I seemed to be getting worse as I grew older. Then I flunked freshman algebra. Had to go to summer school. It wasn’t exactly a disgrace, but it wasn’t exactly not a disgrace, either.

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Review: ‘The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch’

finch2-6975608Neil Gaiman has been too busy lately to write much for comics unless it’s an event — like 1602 or his curiously pointless Eternals miniseries — but there’s still an audience for his stories in the direct market. So what’s a poor comics publisher to do? Well, if it’s Dark Horse, what you do is get various folks to adapt Gaiman stories into comics and publish them as slim trade-paperback-sized hardcovers. So far, Michael Zulli did Creatures of the Night, John Bolton adapted Harlequin Valentine, and P. Craig Russell tackled Murder Mysteries. And now Zullis is back again for:

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch
By Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, and Todd Klein
Dark Horse Books, May 2008, $13.95

Now, for most writers, “[[[The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch]]]” would be by far their longest title ever, but Gaiman is not most writers. He’s also responsible for “[[[Being An Experiment Upon Strictly Scientific Lines Assisted By Unwins LTD, Wine Merchants (Uckfield)]]]” ” [[[Forbidden Brides Of The Faceless Slaves In The Nameless House Of The Night Of Dread Desire]]],” ” [[[I Cthulhu: Or What’s A Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing In A Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47º 9′ S, Longitude 126º 43′ W)?]]],” and ” [[[Pages From A Journal Found In A Shoebox Left In A Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, And Louisville, Kentucky]]].” So “[[[Miss Finch]]]” may just be one of Gaiman’s more punchy and terse titles.

According to the Neil Gaiman Visual Bibliography — and why should we mistrust it? — “Miss Finch” is one of Gaiman’s more obscure stories, showing up in the program book for the convention Tropicon XVII and a magazine called Tales of the Unanticipated before turning up in one of his collections — though in a different one depending on which side of the Atlantic you live on.

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