Verily, Round 2 cometh to Mix March Madness! Face front!
To our left… proving they won’t make friends again…
PvP!
And to our right… the most lopsided victor from Round 1…
Erfworld versus Seattle… which one is more believable? Vote now!
[poll id=”44″]
Polling closes at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 19!
Click here to see all the webcomics and their standing in the tournament!
It’s Mix March Madness, Round 2! Where sixty-four webcomics come in, but only one comes out on top! And starting today, we bring you the battle that had to happen! The battle that you have clamored for!
To our left… a cop with an axe…
To our right… a ninja with a medical degree…
Dr. McNinja!Once they were on a team together, but now they must fight! Could it possibly get more awesome? Is there enough awesome sauce in the world for this battle? Yes, if only you vote now!
[poll id=”43″]
Polling closes at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 19!
Click here to see all the webcomics and their standing in the tournament!
Round 2 is upon us… yes, it’s Mix March Madness, where sixty-four webcomics come in, but only one comes out! Let’s meet the comics that made it to the second round… ready to duke it out, as only webcomics can!
To my left… Allie Brosh and the depraved storytelling of…
And to my right… Dave Kellett and his boy billionaire…
Will Penny Arcade punch those sinful sinners into oblivion? Or will the long standing stalwart of webcomics be toppled? Only one way to find out… Vote now!
[poll id=”42″]
Polling closes at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 19!
Click here to see all the webcomics and their standing in the tournament!
[[
Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]] is just a fun television series that pays homage not only to the joyful comic books of the 1960s but crams in both story and characterization with a verve that is all too often missing from animated fare. Out this week is Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season One Part Two featuring episodes 14-26, which ran on the Cartoon Network between March and October 2009.
Clearly, the highlight of the two-disc collection is “[[[Mayhem of the Music Meister]]]!” with Neil Patrick Harris as the singing villain. The music is fun and bouncy and the story fresh. It was so well-regarded by the producers that they rushed out an eight-track CD soundtrack within a week of the episode’s debut.
The show is a romp through the DC Universe with most of the characters recognizable although they have been given some modern-day reimagining so Aquaman is a pompous doofus and Green Arrow is out to one-up his counterpart. My complaints about the show which I aired when the first set was released remain. Batman has too many gimmicks that fit the needs of the script and his cape converts to a jet-pack (I’d sooner have the dreaded Whirly-Bat). These are really quibbles as the show entertains with amazing consistency.
It’s Round 2 of Mix March Madness, where 64 webcomics come in, but only one comes out! Let’s meet the comics that made it to the second round… ready to duke it out, as only webcomics can! And we have a battle of a cute monster against a cute kid who battles monsters!
To my left… Dani Jones presents…
And to my right… Katie Cook brings us…
Who will win, the monster fighter or the monster? The battle is in your hands! Vote now!
[poll id=”41″]
Polling closes at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 19!
Click here to see all the webcomics and their standing in the tournament!
Round 2 of Mix March Madness! Where 64 webcomics come in, but only one comes out! Let’s meet the comics that made it to the second round… ready to duke it out, as only webcomics can!
To my left… running for over eight years, Tim Buckley steals your soul in the small print if you dare read…
But he’s a newcomer compared to the fighter at my right… Colleen Doran and her award winning story, over three decades in the making…
Will Ctrl+Alt+Del interrupt A Distant Soil? Who gets the blue screen of death? Vote now!
[poll id=”40″]
Polling closes at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 19!
Click here to see all the webcomics and their standing in the tournament!
Last year a new pulp voice burst on the scene from the most unlikely of sources: Asimov’s science-fiction magazine. The story was called “Helping Them Take The Old Man Down”, the author one William B Preston. Given the tale’s locale, it was no surprise that this modern pulp gem slipped past a lot of pulp fans’ radar.
Well, Preston has written a prequel to that first Old Man tale. It’s called “Clockworks” and resides in the current issue of Asimov’s on newsstands everywhere, the April/May 2011 issue to be precise. And it’s precision that best characterizes Preston’s second instalment of his Old Man saga.
“Clockworks” is a wonderfully detailed, rich literary work that is sure to please pulp fans of any age. The tale, set in the early 1960s, is told from the perspective of a super-criminal who is recovering from a brain operation performed by the Old Man in his Arctic retreat. Sound familiar? That’s the idea. Preston’s Old Man is really a thinly veiled Doc Savage under a new name and one of the pleasures of reading the tale is enjoying how the author makes no mistake as to who he’s writing about without mentioning any names.
The tale gives us a captivating insight into the mind of the criminal whose brain has been altered by the good doctor while touching on the moral implications of such operations. Fractured memories of an evil past and deep-rooted guilt over past crimes plague the reformed Dr. Blacklight as he struggles to find out who he is in the wake of the Old Man’s skilled work on parts of his brain. Watching Blacklight wrestle with his past deeds is a satisfying reading experience, but pulp is about action and Preston provides a wonderful race against time element to the tale. You see, Blacklight was in the process of setting up a terrible weapon when he was captured. The Old Man and his associates need him to reveal the weapon’s location before it goes off. Will Blacklight remember what his master plan was in time? Will the Old Man and crew get there before it’s too late?
Yup, this is pulp, friends. Only in the hands of a capable wordsmith like Preston, it has taken on a literary quality rarely seen in the genre. “Clockworks” is a beautifully written tale. The characters have dimension and depth. Even the Old Man, while remaining a fascinating enigma, reveals his thoughts and feeling obliquely. The Ham/Monk-like quarrelling between two of the Old Man’s team is spot on and pulp fans will find much here that is familiar. However, it’s the approach that is new and fresh and makes this tale a stand out. Look for it to receive considerable consideration at next year’s Pulp Ark Awards.
We’re in the midst of a pulp revolution unlike any fans have seen and the genre is growing by leaps and bounds. So many talented writers, artists, editors and publishers are boldly carrying pulp into the 21st Century. William Preston is one of the shining stars of this renaissance and his Old Man saga is destined to be a classic. Well, most of us missed The Shadow’s arrival on the scene, ditto for good Doctor Clark Savage, The Spider, Secret Agent X and the vast army of greats from yesteryear. But we are privileged to enjoy the Old Man tales fresh, as they appear on newsstands and bookstores. Preston has indicated that there are further adventures in the works and this reader can’t wait to see what’s in store for the Old Man.
I give “Clockworks” my highest recommendation. It’s a tale not to be missed. Bravo.
Though a film adaptation hasn’t come to be (and based on the scripts kicking around, that’s a good thing) last September brought word that Neil Gaiman’s comic book series The Sandman might head to television in the form of a series from Warner Bros. and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. But at a PaleyFest red carpet event, Kripke had some disappointing news, telling The Live Feed:
“Unfortunately, for a lot of varying reasons, Sandman is not in the works, at least for this season.” He elaborated that the potential adaptation “just didn’t quite happen this season through nobody’s fault, and hopefully we can do it again in the future.”
DC and Warner Bros. would love to see it happen, as doing it right could easily kick off a franchise of films or a long running TV series. The holdup, to me, seems to be just pulling all the players together at the right time.
Or if Neil’s old statement is still true…
“I’m growing vats of people like you all around the world. Eventually we’ll put a bunch of you in a room with knives, and whoever emerges alive will be the winner and can make the Sandman movie.”
…they may just be waiting for a big enough auditorium.
—
Bill Cunningham
Pulp 2.0 Press
323.662.2508
2908 Allesandro St. Los Angeles, CA 90039
www.pulp2ohpress.com
Twitter: @madpulpbastard
PULP ARK ROOM DEADLINE NEARS! AND MORE GUEST TABLES!
Round 2 is upon us! That’s right, fight fans… It’s Mix March Madness! Where 64 webcomics come in, but only 1 comes out! Let’s meet the comics that made it to the second round… ready to duke it out, as only webcomics can!
To our left… fresh from throwing off virtual shackles…
And to our right… Evil Atom, Miss Match, Captain Heroic and the cunning corporation known as…
Will the dueling ground favor analogs or adversaries? Only one way to find out… Vote now!
[poll id=”39″]
Polling closes at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 19!
Click here to see all the webcomics and their standing in the tournament!
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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