Coming in 2013 from Another Sky Press. Noir meets its grim future in a post-apocalyptic Melbourne infested with all manner of hard-boiled dames, grifters and gumshoes. Concocted by a motley crew of writers and comic book artists, ‘The Tobacco-Stained Sky’ is a sordid, unforgettable journey into the perfect storm.

An anthology by Another Sky Press based around the noir/dystopia of Andrez Bergen’s novel ‘Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat’ – with several other unique writers and artists involved, including Josh Stallings, Guy Salvidge, Jay Slaton-Joslin, Andrew Chiu, Marcos Vergara, Michael Grills, Nathan St. John, Harvey Finch, Liam José, Chad Eagleton, Julie Morrigan, Gerard Brennan, Paul Brazill, Gordon Highland, Nigel Bird, Tony Pacitti, Chad Rohrbacher, Chris Rhatigan, Drezz Rodriguez, Devin Wine, Andrez Bergen, and Matheus Lopes.

Learn more about The Tobacco Stained Sky here.

Art: Amanda Conner

Art: Nicola Scott

Fan Favorite Writer, Gail Simone takes on Red Sonja, the She-devil with a Sword at Dynamite.

PRESS RELEASE:

April 9, 2013, Mt. Laurel, NJ – Dynamite’s relaunch of Red Sonja with writer Gail Simone will arrive this coming July will be supported by covers by some of the most distinguished female artists in comics.  Red Sonja #1 contains covers by Nicola Scott, Colleen Doran, Jenny Frison, Stephanie Buscema, Fiona Staples, and Amanda Conner! Fans will definitely want to pick up Gail Simone’s Red Sonja #1 this July!

In Red Sonja #1, Red Sonja gets a fresh new attitude Sonja pays back a blood debt owed to the one man

Art: Stephanie Buscema

who has gained her respect, even if it means leading a doomed army to their certain deaths! You do NOT want to miss this re-introduction the She-devil with a Sword!

“Red Sonja is one of the original female ass-kickers in comics, of COURSE I would want to write her,” says writer Gail Simone.  “Any reader who likes sex, blood, swordplay, sassiness, red hair, adventure, and monsters getting stabbed in the face should get this book.”

Gail Simone got her start in comics writing for Bongo Comics, home of The Simpsons. Following her time there, Simone entered the mainstream comics world with a run on Marvel Comics’ Deadpool, and later, Agent X. Gail is best known for known for runs on DC’s Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl.

Art: Colleen Doran

To celebrate the bold new direction of one of comics’ most iconic female characters, Red Sonja #1 will feature a wide selection of variant covers by some of the leading ladies in the industry, including Nicola Scott, Amanda Conner, FionaStaples, Jenny Frison, Colleen Doran, and Stephanie Buscema.

“I had this idea to ask the top female artists in the industry to do the covers and Dynamite ran with it beyond my dreams, says Simone.  “Not only did all the artists we asked immediately agree, they all confessed their secret love for Sonja.  They adore her! Lots of the artists submitted multiple sketches because they couldn’t stop, and many top names submitted sketches without even being asked, they love Sonja so much, and are dying to see this project.”

Art: Fiona Staples

Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high-fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Robert E. Howard, and adapted for comics by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. She first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23 (Marvel Comics). Red Sonja has become the archetypical example of the fantasy figure of a fierce and stunningly beautiful female barbarian who typically wears armor resembling a bikini or lingerie. For nearly a decade, Sonja has had many successful series with Dynamite Entertainment, and she now appears monthly, as well as in mini-series and one-shots, all published by Dynamite Entertainment.

“LIKE” DYNAMITE’S FACEBOOK PAGE TODAY at http://www.facebook.com/dynamitecomics

Art: Ed Benes

Join the conversation on Dynamite Entertainment’s twitter page at https://x.com/DynamiteComics.
To find a comic shop near you, call  1-888-comicbook or visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/.
For art and more information, please visit: http://ww.dynamite.com/.

About Dynamite Entertainment:
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more!

Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris

Art: Jenny Frison

Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, Purgatori, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt.

In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, and a host of up-and-coming new talent!

Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.

Click images for larger view.

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Spoiler Alert: In the current issue of Savage Dragon, writer/artist Erik Larson murdered a bunch of children. All I have to say about that is… it’s about time!

Larson’s book has been around about as long as Image Comics and presently is in its 188th issue, not counting crossovers, spin-offs and mini-series. That’s quite an accomplishment. It’s also one of the most consistently entertaining comics on the racks, and that’s even more of an accomplishment. He’s also a nice guy, but that’s only marginally important to my thoughts right now.

Back before there was Daredevil, there was Daredevil – in a sense, the world’s second homeless superhero. But instead of being homeless because his planet exploded went blooie, he was homeless because he was squeezed out of his own comic book by a group of know-it-all brats called the Little Wise Guys, a Bowery Boys-style knock-off that was introduced early on and swiftly reduced Daredevil to walk-on status in his own book. How cool were the Little Wise Guys? Well, they were named Curly, Jocko, Peewee, Scarecrow, and Meatball… and Meatball was killed off two issues later. I forget how, but I think it had something to do with marinara sauce.

Daredevil was one of the most visually interesting characters of the Golden Age, and that’s saying a lot. He was created by Jack Binder and immediately revised by writer/artist/editor Jack Cole shortly before Cole created Plastic Man and later enhanced by Charles Biro. I cannot fault publisher Lev Gleason for hiding the guy behind his wacky Greek chorus – we are compelled to assume they were the reason for the title’s continued success. The series lasted 134 issues, getting cancelled when the publisher went out of business. This was in 1956, the same year DC brought back and revamped The Flash. But Daredevil himself did not even appear on the cover of the last 86 issues.

Why they didn’t change the name of the book is beyond me.

Loyal comics fan that I am, I have always resented those little bastards. And, to my amazement and amusement, in the current Savage Dragon story arc Erik brought back Daredevil, his arch-villain The Claw, and the Little Wise Asses… and, rather early on in this month’s story, killed the obnoxious rugrats dead.

There’s a morality in Golden Age superhero comics, one that we’ve kind of lost over the decades. The Golden Rule of the Golden Age is “at the end, justice wins out.”

In this case, justice came from the mighty swift sword (well, computer and drawing board) of Erik Larson.

Thank you, Erik.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases

Art: Steven E. Gordon

Premiering June 15th… A Perilous Romance of the Undying Past.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. shared a sneak peek at the upcoming webstrip comic, The Eternal Savage by New Pulp Writer Martin Powell and New Pulp Artist Steven E. Gordon.

You can subscribe today at http://www.edgarriceburroughs.com/comics/

The strip begins Saturday, June 15th.

Wild Cat Books has announced that THE CAPTAIN FUTURE HANDBOOK – RELATED MATERIAL, the Fourth and Final Volume of the critically-acclaimed Reference work by Chuck Juzek is now available at Amazon for Kindle. This volume had previously only appeared in a small-press Soft and Hardcover editions, but is now available on Kindle for the first time!

This Volume includes: The Captain Future Bibliography, Under Observation (Selected Editorial Columns from the Original Pulp Magazines), and Farewell, Captain Future!, which brings this brilliant Saga to a close… Be sure to collect them all… This is a true masterpiece and finally available on Kindle for the first time at an affordable price!

Learn more here.

Dynamite Entertainment adds a new Captain Action comic book series, Codename: Action to their line of pulp heroes.

PRESS RELEASE:

June 11, 2013, Mt. Laurel, NJ-
Dynamite Entertainment, in conjunction with Captain Action Enterprises, proudly announces the September launch of CODENAME: ACTION, a six-issue comic book event that unites the ultimate super-spy, Captain Action, with classic pulp heroes including Green Hornet, Kato, the Spider, and Black Venus.  Written by Chris Roberson (Masks, Superman) and featuring artwork by Jonathan Lau (Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet), the debut #1 issues will include variant covers by accomplished illustrators Jae Lee, Francesco Francavilla, Jonathan Lau, Johnny Desjardins, and Art Baltazar.

CODENAME: ACTION takes place during the Cold War, as unknown forces scheme to heat up the global conflict.  When key officials on both sides of the Iron Curtain are replaced with doppelgangers, the infiltration threatens to disrupt the precarious state of world affairs… until one young secret agent shapes the world’s masked heroes into a force with singular purpose and unyielding resolve!

“CODENAME: ACTION is a showcase of the things I love about jet-age superspies and Cold War-era superheroics,” says the World Fantasy Award-nominated author, Chris Roberson.  “In part, it functions as an origin story for Captain Action, reintroducing him to a modern audience while at the same time setting him firmly in the period in which the character first appeared.  Captain Action was a product of the time that gave us the James Bond films, and TV shows like Man From UNCLE and The Prisoner, and CODENAME: ACTION is very much an attempt to put the character in that kind of context.

Roberson, hot off of his stint as writer for the bestselling Masks series, knows how best to balance a handful of fan-favorite and highly independent characters.  “The main focus of the attention is on the spy and espionage characters like Operator 5, Black Venus, and Operative 1001 (the man who will become Captain Action).  Along the way, our heroes will encounter various masked heroes and vigilantes, like American Crusader, Green Hornet, and Kato.  It’s been an organic process, as I find the best places to fill in supporting or ‘guest star’ roles.”

Jonathan Lau, whose spirited artwork graced the pages of Dynamite titles Green Hornet and Black Terror, looks forward to drawing so many spies and superheroes with great enthusiasm.  “I’m excited!  Captain Action is sort of like Nick Fury, and there’s a dynamism in laying out the Green Hornet/Kato duo, especially when it comes to Kato making big motions to convey

action.  The American Crusader is another character I enjoy drawing again (after his appearance in Black Terror), since he’s the muscle of this series, and it’s always fun to draw super-powered beings doing super stuff.”

In a joint statement, Ed Catto and Joe Ahearn of licensor Captain Action Enterprises gave a shining endorsement:  “We’re big comic, spy and pulp fans, so it’s a thrill to see all those characters in one adventure together.  And we’re also big Chris Roberson fans from his work on iZombie and Monkeybrain Comics.  Captain Action is a spy, and impersonating others (especially superheroes) is an important part of what’s he all about… so to start the Captain’s adventures with heroes like the Green Hornet and Kato makes all the sense in the world.  We’re also honored that the baton was passed to Captain Action as he’s center stage in this mini-series.  Like a young quarterback given the opportunity to play in the big game, it’s both daunting and terribly exciting!”

LIKE” DYNAMITE’S FACEBOOK PAGE TODAY! http://www.facebook.com/dynamitecomics
Join the conversation on Dynamite Entertainment’s twitter page at https://x.com/DynamiteComics
To find a comic shop near you, call  1-888-comicbook or visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/
For art and more information, please visit: http://www.dynamite.com/.

About Dynamite Entertainment:
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more!

Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, Purgatori, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt.

In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, and a host of up-and-coming new talent!

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Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.

About Captain Action Enterprises
As Retropreneurs, Captain Action Enterprises, LLC specializes in taking old properties and rejuvenating them for a new generation. Captain Action appears in an on-going action figure line, lithographs, statues, T-shirts, hoodies, model kits, pulp novels, drink ware, and ID cases. Currently, CAE is collaborating with G7 in order to develop a Captain Action animated series. Additional properties include the Zeroids and Savage Beauty. For additional information, please contact Ed Catto at edcatto@CaptainAction.com.

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I never really noticed or paid attention to ReelzChannel, now just Reelz, an odd collection of off-network fare, cross-promoting what else is on cable and original programming. So, when Ring of Fire crossed my desk, I knew nothing about it. A miniseries that aired in the spring, it features a familiar cast headlined by Michael Vartan (Alias), Terry O’Quinn (Lost), and Lauren Lee Smith (The L Word). It’s a low budget disaster movie that traces how deep drilling for oil accidentally taps molten lava, triggering a chain reaction that brings the world close to an Extinction Level Event.

The small town is filled with the usual cookie-cutter assortment of characters with conflicts aplenty such as the oil rig worker who lost his son due to his brother’s carelessness and guess who’s out of jail in time to use his knowledge of the old mines? Or that the CEO behind the drilling is at odds with his daughter, whose son is trapped on a school bus when things go boom. It’s a finely stuffed recipe for disaster and it’s all competently assembled by writer Michael Vickerman. What’s missing is a shred of unique dialogue or interesting characterization. Under Paul Shapiro’s flat direction, the actors are surprisingly flat with the notable exception of Sanctuary’s Agam Darshi, who infuses her Audrey, a geologist, with some semblance of life.

Part one sets everything in motion and of course, those in control ignore the warnings from those who really know what’s going on under the ground. Then, when things go bad, they scramble to contain the damage until the entire world is threatened because a ring of volcanoes are all about to go kablooey. The catastrophe catches the town, the corporation and everyone but the federal government short.

In part two, we learn there’s a remote chance a sonic device can trigger a fault before the big eruption in just 24 hours. Surprisingly, the government can access the bomb and retrofit a test module for use on Venus in that narrow window so Vartan’s Dr. Michael Cooper can pilot it deep with and trigger the device. (In retrospect, this is more plausible than Spock going into a volcano to neutralize it using the cold generated by a cold fusion bomb.) The US Government is remarkably competent here so that’s something different for a change.

Still, Vickerman slows things down enough so Vartan and Smith can flirt and stare deeply into one another’s eyes, which feels out of left field. Similarly, he massages his temples to deal with the growing aneurysm that requires surgery, a plot point that comes up repeatedly but is never paid off making one wonder why it’s here at all.

There’s plenty of sermonizing and speech making and people running around but it’s passionless despite the pacing, which Shapiro handles nicely.

The miniseries is being released un Gaiam Vivendi’s Doomsday Series umbrella and is presented as it aired rather than be edited into a seamless home video experience. There are no extras to speak of, just a preview of their next entry Eve of Destruction (which I bet is a better song than movie).

New Pulp Author Joel Jenkins has shared the new that his latest weird book is now available on Amazon.

About Weird Worlds:
From an ancient temple in the icy Martian mountains to a forbidden road haunted by the ghost of an Indian brave, this collection of tales will take you on a thrilling journey.  Meet vampire hunters, a rock musician who takes on the heavyweight champion of the world, the reluctant warrior of the mystical land of Saffronyia, giant Nazi robots, and the Mormon gunfighter Porter Rockwell … as well as a few hungry apes and one very lovely assassin.

Weird Worlds is available at Amazon in both paper and Kindle formats.

Lean more here.

From the moment the Black Avengers was announced I’ve been asked over and over again what I think.

I think a few things…

I think anytime there is a serious attempt to bring not just African American but any minority characters to the forefront is a good thing. I pitched a project a year ago and was told a black super team would never sell in Hollywood, so what’s the point in even doing the comic book?

I think I’d better not tell you what I wrote and then discarded about the person who said that. Give that a thought – me thinking I’d better not say something.

I think (well, I know) I really like Axel Alonzo and what he’s doing with Marvel. Let’s face it, a young black child who see a Marvel logo on a black superhero book is going to lose his or her little mind.

After the Black Avengers, can the Malcolm X-Men be far behind?

I think it almost makes up for Mark Millar’s black character, Tyrone Cash. A black scientist who, when he gains superpowers decides to give up the whole scientist thing and become a drug-dealing thug.

Yeah, I was pretty rough on Mark last week and again this week but that’s nothing compared to what I have in store at my annual standing room only Black Panel at the San Diego Comic Con.

I think what’s sure to be a hot topic on the web especially among black creators is rather or not just black creators should be the teams on the project.

No. I don’t think just black creators should do the Black Avengers.

However, if Mark Millar writes a story arc and Tyrone Cash shows up that would be the quickest way to destroy what looks like a noble undertaking on Marvel’s part. The smart play would be to have Mark write a story arc and deal with that horrible black scientist who gains superpowers and becomes a thug drug dealer.

No, I’m not kidding.

Yes, there are black thug drug dealers in the world (there is one due at my house in an hour… heh) but a scientist who gain superpowers and becomes a fucking drug dealing thug?

That kind of characterization would kill all the good Marvel’s doing with this project.

Lastly, Marvel said they wanted to do something like Dwayne McDuffie would do. Would do? Dwayne, Denys Cowan, Derek Dingle and myself did do it. In fact, the San Diego Comic Con is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of us doing it.

Yo, Marvel, you better recognize.

Wednesday: Mike Gold

Thursday: Dennis O’Neil