Review by C.J. Bunce

Ever since the success of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, everyone has climbed aboard to use the Year One tag to sell copies.  Many times the Year One is not an origin story but a random early story that fails to satisfy readers’ expectations.  A successful twist on the Year One was Andy Diggle and Jock’s Green Arrow: Year One, but there’s also been Teen Titans: Year One, Batgirl: Year One and Huntress: Year One, Nightwing: Year One and Robin: Year One, and even Batman: Two-Face/Scarecrow Year One.  It’s not only DC Comics who has cornered the market on Year One titles.  We reviewed Howard Chaykin’s well done Die Hard: Year One here last year, and if you look around you’ll even find a Judge Dredd Year One and a Punisher: Year One.  This week Matt Wagner, writer of Dynamite Comics’s Green Hornet: Year One , takes on the 1920s-1930s masked crimefighter The Shadow in The Shadow: Year One.  The first issue of Wagner’s Year One creation kicks off the better side of Year One stories.

Wagner and artist Wilfredo Torres begin their Year One with a mysterious force referred to as the “Shadow of Doom” in 1929 Cambodia, where we first meet The Shadow’s alter ego Lamont Cranston.  He is in pursuit of a criminal called the White Tiger and this pursuit returns him to New York City, a city brewing with criminals for The Shadow to bring to justice.

I am fascinated by the current surge in interest in classic characters from the early days of serial dramas, pulp stories and golden age comic books.  Dynamite continues to acquire licenses to these unique characters that less creative types might pass over as dated and inaccessible to a modern audience.  A large part of the success of these characters’ rebirths is owed to artist Alex Ross’s own interest in these characters.  Just look at the characters he has brought new life to as chronicled in his Dynamite Art of Alex Ross book.  Ross’s mini-series project Masks is currently on Issue #4 of #8 (with Issue #4 hitting comic book stores this past Wednesday).  Fans introduced to The Shadow in that series will find Wagner’s Year One Shadow very familiar.  And so far we can’t get enough of the Masks mini-series.

For an introduction issue The Shadow: Year One Issue #1 is surprisingly dense with story and world building.  Guiseppe Masaretti is a delusional crime boss with a girlfriend he is trying to free himself of–Margo Lane–a woman those familiar with The Shadow will know well as his future companion.  And we see Margo and Cranston cross paths, but not for the first time.  So for this Year One story–at least in Issue #1–we’re not seeing the true first year of the character.  Plenty of backstory is referenced here, and the origins of the title character himself may very well be left for later issues.

The artwork looks great–from the early New York City landscape to a speakeasy to the clothing of the lead characters this world is believable and interesting.  More importantly Wagner makes a 1920s-1930s character easily accessible and enticing for modern audiences.  The Shadow: Year One’s first issue is simply a good read and worth recommending.  Keep an eye out for incentive covers by Howard Chaykin, Chris Samnee, Alex Ross and Matt Wagner.  Also, The Shadow monthly series is in its 11th issue, also from Dynamite Comics.

Check it out this week at your local comic book store.

Miss Fury was the one of the first female superheroes, created 42 years ago this month by June Tarpé Mills (1915-1988)–one of the few early female comic book creators.  Written and drawn by Mills, Miss Fury is also the first female superhero created by a woman.  Original Miss Fury works were signed merely Tarpé Mills–to mask the fact that the work was created by a woman.  Mills’ stylish socialite Marla Drake was provided glamorous images by Mills in the pages of Miss Fury, with classy costumes for the character.  Appearing just months after The Cat–which would become the Catwoman over time, Miss Fury also wore a catsuit to fight crime.

June Tarpé Mills–with cat.

Mills’ characters gave similar inspiration to the war effort in World War II as Captain America and Superman.  Mills herself would be an excellent subject of study for comic book historians.

Miss Fury most recently has appeared in the recent Masks series from Dynamite Comics and this Wednesday Dynamite releases a standalone series starring Miss Fury with Miss Fury #1.  Just as the original pages of Miss Fury inspired Allied troops during World War II with planes named after the characters from the series, Dynamite’s new series also brings the Nazi menace back in a story with time-out-of-joint elements that will factor into Miss Fury’s reality.  Miss Fury is being pulled from time period to time period–from 2013 to 1943 and back again–and someone or some thing has changed the course of history.  The artwork provided by Jack Herbert is lavish and stylish in ways original artist Mills may have approved of.  Just check out this image of the sophisticated Marla Drake–the wealthiest woman in Manhattan in 1943 (and high-end thief):

Before you call out the scantily clad imagery as the stuff of modern male creators, Mills often offered the 1940s version of sexy heroines and villains with her characters in the original pages of her Miss Fury:

Writer Rob Williams immerses the reader in the middle of Miss Fury’s first predicament in Issue #1, before providing some needed origin backstory.  He then takes Miss Fury and the reader back and forth across realities, and Miss Fury/Marla Drake may not even realize yet what is happening to her.  Williams keeps true to the character of the 1940s with updates for 2013 audiences and provides enough to keep readers coming back for more next month.

Look for five great variant covers for Issue #1, including Alex Ross covers, and covers by J. Scott Campbell, Paul Renaud, and Will Conrad.  Miss Fury #1 hits comic book stores Wednesday, April 3, 2013.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

First it was Mike Mayhew and Star Trek and Doctor Who.
Then it was Mike Mayhew and Green Arrow.
Then it was Mike Mayhew and The Bionic Man and The Bionic Woman.
Now it’s Mike Mayhew and Star Wars.

Isn’t it great when the stars align and the people creating new entertainment are in sync with your view of the world?  Like taking your all-time favorite genre franchise and mixing it with your current favorite artist?

To quote Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “This is just… neat.”

The comic book licensee to the Star Wars universe, Dark Horse Comics has announced one of the coolest ideas you could put together.  Go back to George Lucas’s original take on Star Wars–before the edits and revisions and treatments and full-blown screenplays. Take that original story and re-imagine the Star Wars universe as if the original vision was Star Wars.  That’s exactly what long-time Lucasfilm executive editor J.W. Rinzler and current The Bionic Man cover artist Mike Mayhew have up their sleeves.  Coming in September 2013 is an eight-issue mini-series, titled The Star Wars, the title of Lucas’s 1974 version of the Star Wars saga.

The images above and below are Mike Mayhew’s first released panel art from The Star Wars.

Dark Horse Comics has a new series in play called Star Wars, which recounts the alternate adventures of Luke, Leia, Han and the gang between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.  It’s a bunch of fun.  The Star Wars will do something different–something that my pals as a kid and I used to chat about in the lunchroom–something niggling at Star Wars trivia buffs for years.  What the heck is The Journal of the Whills?  Will we ever see it?

The Journal of the Whills was once only publicly referenced in Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, that strange interim work by Alan Dean Foster, released after Star Wars but before The Empire Strikes Back.  But after decades went by and Star Wars became the biggest blockbuster franchise ever, Star Wars became something more than a summer blockbuster movie, and folks like Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers revealed Star Wars as a serious target for intellectual study.  Folks like J.W. Rinzler, working at Lucasfilm, dug in and unearthed original writings of Lucas, pages of script on yellow lined notebook paper.  Rinzler, writer of the key fan library fixtures The Making of Star Wars, The Making of The Empire Strikes Back, and The Complete Making of Indiana Jones, discussed these original treatments with George Lucas, who was initially disinclined to do anything else with these archive pieces.

Dark Horse quotes Rinzler’s reaction to the source material in this week’s release: “While researching in the Lucasfilm Archives I’ve found many treasures—-but one which truly astounded me was George’s rough draft for The Star Wars.  His first complete imaginings were hallucinating to read-—mind blowing.”

Lucas’s original hero, as conveyed to original storyboard artist Ralph McQuarrie, looked like Lucas.  And it doesn’t take a genius to see how he came up with Luke as the short form of his own last name.  Lucas’s hero was a reflection of himself, as seen in this early image from McQuarrie, who passed away last year:

Through research in the Lucasfilm archives it was revealed that the original two-page story treatment was called The Journal of the Whills, a 1973 document that apparently was rejected by Universal Studios, with whom Lucas had a two-picture deal for American Graffiti and Star Wars.  Lucas originally wanted to film his version of Flash Gordon but could not secure the rights.  The Journal of the Whills recounted the training of Jedi-Bendu apprentice C.J. Thorpe, a student under the tutelage of a space commando named Mace Windy.  From there, Lucas created a 13-page synopsis that was based on Akira Kurasawa’s film Hidden Fortress.  The draft 1974 screenplay grew from that, keeping plot devices and story elements from the past pieces but expanding the story into a full-blown space opera and space fantasy, inspired by Flash Gordon and an amalgamation of mythic themes from classic storytelling.  Obviously many elements for what would be Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader’s backstory in the Star Wars prequels came from these early ideas.

Rinzler and Mayhew’s The Star Wars will follow Jedi Annikin Starkiller and General Luke Skywalker, a six-foot tall lizard alien named Han Solo, and the evil Sith Knights.  And it’s interesting seeing Mayhew keep the Lucas look in his characterization in the top photo above.

We’ve been raving over Mike Mayhew’s art here at borg.com for months.  Click here to check out our past coverage.  He’s drawn our own favorite properties, from Green Arrow to The Bionic Man, not to mention superhero works everyone loves, like The Avengers and X-Men.  His style conveys superheroes as visibly powerful, visibly heroic.  His detail is on par with the pencil work of Michael Turner and Mauro Cascioli.  His covers rival mega-cover artist Alex Ross.  Just looking at his first images for The Star Wars you can see imagery with the vibe of Ralph McQuarrie, the earliest professional Star Wars artist.  In short, Mike Mayhew is the perfect artist for Dark Horse to select to draw The Star Wars.

And we can’t wait to see more.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Ok, I’ve been holding back.  I landed my hands on the first issue of Dark Horse Comics’ new series Dream Thief a few days ago and WOW–I am convinced it’s the next big thing.  It’s one of those from outta nowhere books that comic book stores better start ordering in droves for its May 2013 release.

We’ll preview Dream Thief here as we get closer to its release.  What’s it about?  Here’s the official promotional blurb from Dark Horse:

Your dreams… His nightmare! After stealing an Aboriginal mask from a museum, John Lincoln realizes that the spirits of the vengeful dead are possessing his body and mind while he sleeps. His old problems have been replaced by bloody hands and the disposal of bodies—and now remembering where he spent last night has never been more important…

The series is written by Jai Nitz with art by Greg Smallwood.  We’ve reviewed works by Jai Nitz here at borg.com before, like the cool Tron: Betrayal, the comic book prequel to Disney’s big screen Tron: Legacy.  He’s also written some great stories in the pages of Dynamite Comics’ Kato series and the awesome DC Comics tale El Diablo with Phil Hester and Ande Parks.  And the creator-owned series Dream Thief is sure to be Smallwood’s break-out book.

Dark Horse has released this great teaser piece featuring the story’s masked hero that really sums it all up:

The series has some awesome cover art, including cover work by Alex Ross (above, top) and borg.com‘s favorite cover artist of 2012, Ryan Sook:

Nitz and Smallwood will be signing and chatting with fans at Planet Comicon this weekend.  But if you just can’t get there, you can print out these new Dream Thief “inaction” figures as your own home version of Con digital swag, courtesy of Dark Horse:

Don’t miss Dream Thief, coming to comic book stores with its first issue in May 2013.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Following the further exploits of Portland detective Nick Burkhart, his partner Hank Griffin, Blutbad werewolf pal Monroe, and girlfriend Juliette, Dynamite Comics has released some teasers and cover art for its new ongoing monthly series Grimm, to be released in May.  The story is written by show writers David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, with final script by Marc Gaffen and Kyle McVey.  Jose Malaga will serve as series artist.  Alex Ross is back again with a cool incentive cover.

The TV series is filmed in Portland, and often you get glimpses of nearby surroundings, but because so much happens with the Wesen of the week in the woods, we think they could show some more of the beautiful and lush area where the series takes place.  Having lived in the Pacific Northwest for several years we have our own list of haunts we think Nick & Co. should visit on future cases in both the TV series and new comic book series.  How about considering these locations, Grimm creators?

The Saturday Market. This weekend fixture is surrounded by classic architecture and brick we think we have spotted before, but how about having Nick run in pursuit through a crowd of shoppers buying homemade soaps and incense, or grab a gyro from a street vendor?

Fleet Week on the Waterfront. It’s about the “port” in Portland, the Willamette Riverfront hosts giant naval vessels each year in a grand show of seapower–a great stage for an episode of Grimm.

Original art cover sketch by Alex Ross.

Columbia River Gorge.  One of the most beautiful places on Earth and we’ve yet to see Nick and Monroe drive down the Gorge to track the scent of some “creature from the Columbia River”.

I-84 waterfalls.  Multnomah Falls is a postcard setting that is almost always featured in TV car ads. It’s a great place for a season finale. And they can check out other film spots at the several waterfalls along the way.

Multnomah Falls Lodge.  By itself, its interior is a great place to film dinner scenes. And they serve a ginormous salad.

Mount St. Helens.  Another great setting for an episode, just up the road from Vancouver, Washington, across the Columbia River, the blast zone from the 1981 eruption is ever-changing and an obvious spot to breed new creatures to be hunted by a Grimm.

Pioneer Place.  In Washington, DC movies like True Lies are often filmed in Georgetown Mall. In Portland the mall with a classic city look is Pioneer Place, located downtown–with an outdoor walking area that is similar to Union Square in San Francisco.

Stuck on I-5 because the drawbridge is up for a passing ship.  It happens every day, you get stuck going north or south. How about a dose of reality to hold someone up in their quest?

OMSI.  The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is full of cool architecture that could be used to set the museum itself as a location for filming or to recreate some fictional location.

Powell’s City of Books.  It’s the Mecca for book readers with blocks of bookstores of every variety, new and used. You can’t have a series located in Portland and not end up at Powell’s at some point.

And here are the preview pages from the first issue of Grimm, which focuses on Nick’s mom Kelly and her efforts to destroy the Coins of Zakynthos, featured in the TV series:

Look for Grimm in comic book stores next month!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Marking the 35th anniversary of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series, Dynamite Comics is bringing the original series back for an ongoing monthly comic book series beginning next week.  The Alex Ross cover art for the first three issues have been released and they look great, with homages to other 1970s science fiction posters.  The cover to Issue #1 is above and here are the covers to Issues 2 and 3:

Here is the release information for Issue #1:

“following a surprise Cylon attack, Adama and the crew of the Galactica
are forced to deploy Dr. Zee’s experimental temporal weapons with
unexpected results that leave Apollo and Starbuck lost in time and space
 in an alternate reality with no Galactica and no way of returning home”

We’re planning to preview Issue #1 here at borg.com before it is released Wednesday, May 15, 2013, so keep checking back.  The series will be written by Dan Abnett with interior art by Cezar Razek.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Grimm fans who attended Free Comic Book Day Saturday and this week’s comic book Wednesday were treated to a double dose of their favorite series with both a free full-length comic story and an action-packed Issue #1.  Now in its second season on NBC, Grimm is in contention for the best fantasy series on television.  And unlike the typical comic book spin-off that is stuck in a story that doesn’t veer far from the TV scripts, the ongoing story of Portland Detective Nick Burkhart in the new comic book series actually continues key plot lines from the TV series, taking characters where it would be costly to take them on the TV series.

The comic book series opener in the FCBD comic, Issue #0, provides an origin story overlaid on what could be a Wesen-of-the-week episode of the TV series.  It also reintroduces Nick’s mom, Kelly, played on-screen by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and her possession of the Coins of Zakynthos, which have a unique history, revealed in the pages of Issue #1.  Side-stepping story obstacles and secrets yet to be revealed to viewers, like whether or not Nick’s girlfriend Juliet will remember Nick after losing her memory from a cursed cat bite, the story takes Nick, police department partner Detective Hank Griffin and Blutbad vegan pal Monroe to Vienna in pursuit of Kelly.  Kelly had left Nick a cryptic voicemail message, sending Nick & Co. on this new adventure far away from the streets of Portland.

Told in alternating first person, the point of view switches between Nick as he demystifies life as not so shiny as a Grimm family heir recounting the history of the seven Royal families, and Kelly as she is being held hostage somewhere in Vienna.

Artist José Malaga re-creates the look and feel of the TV series perfectly, from the animal-influenced prosthetic and CGI Wesen creatures to the streets of Portland and nearby darkened corners.  Covers by Alex Ross and Whilce Portacio re-create the actors and characters nicely, too.  Plot developers and series creators Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt and scripters Marc Gaffen and Kyle McVey show they know their characters, especially with great dialogue, and they deftly handle the established rules of the Grimm universe.

For readers unfamiliar with the TV series, the comic book series gives enough backstory in its first two issues to bring you up to speed quickly.  We learn about Nick’s aunt and the trailer and how our knowledge of historic events is not quite as accurate as we learned from the history books.  Grimm the comic book is as fun as the series and should be considered a must-read for fans who can’t get enough of their weekly dose of the TV series.

Grimm Issue #0, the May 4, 2013, Free Comic Book Day issue, may still be available at comic book stores, and Issue #1 went on sale yesterday.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Before Starbuck was played by a woman he was played by Face on The A-Team.  Before Richard Hatch was Zarek he was Apollo.  And Adama was played by Lorne Greene, not Edward James Olmos.  Vipers were distinctive and cool.  Viper pilots had helmets that were equally cool, with a bit of an Egyptian aura.  These were the days of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series.  Despite the success of the modern remake, the original 1970s series has its own rightful place in the annals of sci-fi TV.

Next week Dynamite Comics is releasing a new comic book series for the TV series’ 25th anniversary, and if Issue #1 is any indication fans of retro TV generally and the original BSG specifically will find a familiar universe here.  And yet the new series has been updated with some new twists.

How about time travel as a weapon?  We saw something similar in the Bruce Willis sci-fi movie Looper, reviewed here at borg.com last month.  It’s a cool idea introduced in issue #1 and likely will be a key element in future stories.

Artist Cezar Razek creates some nice outer space images with detailed baseships and both classic and updated vipers.  The characters evoke the original series cast, especially Dirk Benedict’s Starbuck.  Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning offer up the background of this future world where an epic battle has pitted man against machine.  And man is in search of the legendary planet Earth.  And in Issue #1 Abnett and Lanning set Commander Adama off on a new battle with those machines–the classic chrome Cylon warriors.

Despite the interesting idea of clone humanoids as Cylons in the BSG reboot, it’s really hard not to love the original appearance of Cylons more.

Battlestar Galactica Issue #1 is a fun retro sci-fi read.  Pick up your copy next Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at comic book stores everywhere.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Miss Fury was ahead of her time.  The superhero moniker and nickname of Marla Drake, she was less a femme fatale, cast aside by the males that shared the comic page as with other contemporary tales, instead planted in the center of the action.  She was a true heroine, who, while maintaining her sex appeal and motherly nature (adopting a child during the series run), she was a strategic thinker and always the most cunning person in the room, despite male dominated conventions of the 1940s.  In fact, despite some handsome and well-intentioned male friends and companions, it’s the women of the series that are the most interesting, with oafish and blumbering men left for the supporting roles.

June Tarpé Mills was ahead of her time.  Serving as story writer and artist for the popular nearly decade running Miss Fury comic strip, she created the first costumed super-heroine when Superman and Batman were just getting their footholds in the fantasy realm.  Her character drawing is incredible and modern readers might compare her comic art style with modern-day Wonder Woman artist Cliff Chiang, her compositions with Alex Ross, and her glamour with Adam Hughes.  All of these comparisons are accurate and compliment each of these artists.  Mills’ story arcs collected in Tarpé Mills & Miss Fury: Sensational Sundays 1944 – 1949 anthology hardcover from IDW Publishing are intriguing and compelling–so much so that you could overlook the detailed “costuming” of Mills’ men and women.  But what you would miss.  Men were dressed appropriately in snappy suits, her women sport a historical catalog of designs, fabrics, colors, and styles, as well as a variety of 1940s hairdos.  Miss Fury might as well be a sourcebook for clothing historians.

Mills accomplished something many modern comic book readers beg for–less costumed character stories (i.e. Batman stories) and more secret identity doing the detective work out of the costume (i.e. Bruce Wayne stories).  In fact, you will hardly see Marla Drake appear in her catsuit in the pages of Miss Fury.  And it won’t bother you one bit.

Mills’ stories are chock full of content for the medium, with plenty of snappy dialogue, interweaving plot threads, action, suspense, and not too many weekly canned serialized cliffhangers.  Less Alfred Hitchcock noir than say the works of John Huston, Michael Curtiz, Fritz Lang, or Raoul Walsh, Mills’ gangster stories have a surprisingly fresh and modern feel.  Her storytelling isn’t all that linear despite the confines of typical 1940s block panel art storytelling.  If it is soap opera-esque then consider it primetime soap worthy.  And when her characters get mad, they swear, using @*#@ replacements but it conveys the point, with readers left to use their own imagination.

Sure, her adventure stories are similar to other comic strips of the day.  Yet Mills’ stories were likely seen as on the fringe for mainstream audiences.  We meet an ugly mob boss who dresses in women’s clothes to avoid the cops and others on his trail.  Our main character does not appear in the pages of the story for several issues–it’s hard to think anyone could get away with that today.  Yet she was replaced with equally strong and exciting characters.  Full of the dark world of reality, kids, women, and animals are seen being beaten by adults to convey the ruthlessness of the villains.  Miss Fury is seen kidnapped and held in chains, and even replaced by a look-alike who almost completely takes over her identity.  And she included supernatural elements, like a young, handsome man who was actually 200 years old.

Tarpé Mills & Miss Fury: Sensational Sundays 1944 – 1949 reprints approximately the last half of the Miss Fury series, leaving Miss Fury stories going back to 1941 for a future–and much-needed–follow-up anthology, that thankfully will be released this November, as Miss Fury Sensational Sundays: 1941-1944.  A historical introduction by 1960s comic book creator Trina Robbins provides the barest remaining historical references to June Tarpé Mills and her work (Mills dropped the June so readers wouldn’t overlook her work for being created by a woman).  So we will never know why Miss Fury so often appeared in lingerie, stockings, and leopard prints–did editors push her in that direction for sex appeal?  Or did she do it because there was no reason to hide character’s femininity?  We’ll never know the full story of whether Mills realized her place in comicdom as a progressive creator years ahead of her time.  And who was behind all the paper doll cut-outs of Miss Fury characters she created?

As fiction, Tarpé Mills & Miss Fury: Sensational Sundays 1944 – 1949 is a fun read.  As historical reference for comic fans, it should be on everyone’s bookshelf.  Tarpé Mills & Miss Fury: Sensational Sundays 1944 – 1949 is available from comic book stores and online at Amazon.com.  Miss Fury Sensational Sundays: 1941-1944 is available for pre-order at a steep discount now at Amazon.com.  Dynamite Comics has a current monthly reviewed here earlier at borg.com you might also want to check out.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

We kicked off borg.com as a way to catch up on entertainment news, books and movies back on June 10, 2011.  We’ve posted what’s new each day to provide “your daily science fiction, fantasy, and entertainment fix” for two years now and continue to forge ahead as we tick past our 800,000th view by readers today.

We want to say thanks to you for reading.  It’s a lot of fun (and hard work) keeping up on all the great genre entertainment out there, be it on TV, in theaters, in books, or comics.  We also want to thank all the comic book publishers out there that provide us with preview review copies, as well as book publishers and TV and movie studios and collectible companies that allow us to give you first available previews and reviews.  We cover only what we’re interested in and excited about–we figure that if we like it, so might you.

Some of the most fun we’ve had is meeting new people as we keep up on the coolest happenings in the genre realm, some at conventions, some are friends we are grateful to chat with each week of the year.  And lucky for us, borg.com has allowed us to meet some of our own favorite celebrities over the past two years, sci-fi stars like Mark Hamill, Joss Whedon, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Anthony Stewart Head, Scott Bakula, Adam Baldwin, Lindsay Wagner, Saul Rubinek, Zachary Levi, Eddie McClintock, Wil Wheaton, and Mark Sheppard.  Sci-fi and fantasy writers like Peter S. Beagle, Connie Willis, James Blaylock, and Sharon Shinn.  And comic book creators like Frank Cho, Jim Lee, Sergio Aragones, Neal Adams, and Howard Chaykin, and scores of other great comics creators like Mike Mayhew, Mike Norton, Michael Golden and Mikel Janin (and several not named Mike).

We met all these people in the pursuit of good fun and covering what’s new and nostalgic for borg.com.  And we continue to think about other favorites we’d love to meet in our journeys, like Alex Ross, Lee Majors, Dennis O’Neil, Linda Hamilton, Bruce Boxleitner, Alan Alda, Harrison Ford, Famke Janssen, Cary Elwes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kelly MacDonald, Dan Aykroyd, Michael J. Fox, Jim Steranko, Steven Spielberg, Ksenia Solo, and Martin Freeman.  We dream big.  The sky’s the limit.

Serious research requires an eye for detail and immersing yourself in the subject matter.

Thanks to our great reader friends who share story ideas with us, too, from the U.S. and the U.K. and around the globe.  Keep ‘em coming!  We love tracking our readership in hundreds of countries each week, and welcoming new subscribers to our updates as well as those who follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Keep coming back–we’re already 20 days into borg.com: Year Three and forging ahead to our 1,000,000th site visit.

Best wishes,

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Following on the heels of the successful Dark Horse Comics series Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 and 9 and IDW Publishing’s The X-Files Season 10, this week Dynamite Comics announced Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man will be continued where the TV series left off with The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6.

Unlike the current successful monthly series Bionic Man and Bionic Woman, which updated the original TV series for the 21st century, The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6 will make an effort to look back to elements, styles, designs and even sounds that made the original series popular in the 1970s.  Expect familiar special effects, slow motion movements, and kung-fu gripping action.

And it’s just in time for the original borg’s 40th anniversary.

A sneak peek at original interior art for the new The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6.

Season 6 will feature writer James Kuhoric (Army of Darkness) and art by Juan Antonio Ramirez, along with covers by legendary painter and borg.com fave artist Alex Ross.

Alien invaders will factor into Steve Austin’s work with NASA in the new Dynamite Comics series.

The initial focus is inspired by one of the bestselling action figure lines of all time.  The series will pit Steve Austin and Oscar Goldman against a rogue faction of the OSI… the infamous action figure Maskatron debuts as a villain for the first time within story continuity.

Original “turnaround” images of Steve Austin for the new Dynamite series.

Alex Ross not only provides the covers for Season 6, he also made the suggestion to develop a long-lost piece of SMDM action figure history into the new season.  “The Maskatron toy was my favorite toy growing up,” says Ross.  “I played with it to death, turning it into different characters from The Six Million Dollar Man, as well as other comic book characters that I could turn it into.  I’m thrilled to help bring it to life in a full storyline.”

Original “turnaround” images of Oscar Goldman for the new Dynamite series.

The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 6 is slated for release beginning in February 2014.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

If you like action-centric stories then in 2013 you couldn’t get much better than Dynamite Publishing’s Bionic Man series.  Beginning first as co-writer with Phil Hester then continuing the series as solo writer, Aaron Gillespie quickly made Steve Austin his own, bringing forward the best of the 1970s TV series and updating Austin, O.S.I. chief Oscar Goldman, and Bionic Woman Jaime Sommers for a new generation of fans.

The Six Million Dollar Man, and Austin’s experiences as the world’s first real-life cyborg, is a great franchise for today, and Gillespie has taken advantage of modern technologies in his Issues #12 through this month’s Issue #26.  The Bionic Man has encountered everything from good uses for bluetooths to unexpected side-effects of cyber-hacking, and the introduction of hacker Floyd was one of Gillespie’s great updates to the franchise.  He knows his characters and story, enough to play with the characters in a light-hearted way, while keeping with the spirit of the original source material.

Some of the best additions to Austin’s story include Floyd hacking into his brain computer and appearing as a pink My Little Pony inspired avatar that keeps perplexing the cyborg spy.  It’s a great (and hilarious) device to allow the characters to give jabs at each other, and it provides a relaxed moment for Jaime Sommers’ lost memories of her relationship with Steve to slowly begin to return.

Gillespie didn’t flinch away from multiple uses of the Maskatron–a character not from the TV series itself but popular toys released at the time of the series.  In fact in this series it is a Maskatron villain that is behind Jaime’s accident that brings her to become the Bionic Woman in the first place.  It is clear this writer wrote these retro-inspired plots for the same reason fans of the original would want to read them–because they are simply cool ideas worth exploring.

To top it off, no Bionic Man fan would be disappointed with the return of Bigfoot, first made popular in the TV series as played by the late Andre the Giant.  Gillespie really fleshed out the Bigfoot story this year in a multi-issue arc.  The monthly comic was also chock full of modern intrigue, from a third world dictator, to a rogue O.S.I. official, to a nuclear bomb threat and a terrorist defeated by Austin and Sommers at the White House grounds.

Artists Ed Tadeo and Ray Villegas provided action-packed scenes with plenty of bionics and borg circuitry, and managed to create a look with the wardrobe for Austin and Sommers that was reminiscent of their 1970s incarnations.

And if that weren’t enough, after some earlier cool covers by Alex Ross, some of this year’s most striking covers in any series were provided by Mike Mayhew, defining the tough guy look for the series in Mayhew’s unique clean and eye-popping drawing style.

What’s next for the Bionic Man series?  Issue #26 featured a final panel with the word “End”–we haven’t seen solicitations for Issue #27, so it may be that the new The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6 comic book series will replace the current series beginning March 12, 2014.  If so, Gillespie has set the bar for Bionic Man storytelling and the new writer will be challenged to create some equally compelling plots.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

We tried on for size almost every new book that was released from comic book publishers like Dynamite Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Archaia/BOOM!, and Image.  We tried to sample the best of all that Marvel and DC Comics had to offer, too, and although we didn’t have enough time to review everything we did try to put out there for your consideration those titles we thought our readers might like to check out, especially those with a sci-fi, fantasy, or retro bent.  Our pull list included issues from Afterlife with Archie to Django Unchained, from Liberator to Larfleeze, and from Velvet to The X-Files.  This past month we have reviewed the year-long run of the best of these titles, as we narrowed our selections to 21 of the very best entries in genre entertainment outside of TV and movies, which we revealed here yesterday.  So here are the rest of our picks for the Best of 2013.

Best Borg Appearance, Kane Starkiller, The Star Wars.  Borgs showed up everywhere this year, from the lead characters on Almost Human, to Doctor Who, to countless comic book series including Justice League and RoboCop.  Our favorite appearance came from the young mind of George Lucas as he created the original script that would later be edited into the original Star Wars trilogy.  And through Dark Horse Comics’ The Star Wars monthly comic book event we learned one of his best ideas was merged into other roles and one of his best characters entirely cut.   That character was Jedi Kane Starkiller who revealed to all his cyborg chest implants that kept him alive, later to heroically offer his own technology to save his friends.

Best Comic Book Series –  Miss Fury, Dynamite Comics.  A uniquely crafted tale, a compelling and seductive superhero, great action panel after panel, sourced in a long-shelved classic character of the Golden Age of comics.  Rob Williams and Jack Herbert’s Miss Fury is a carefully rendered update that rings true to the edgy spirit of the world’s first female superhero.  Beautiful panels set up an ever-changing time and place and pull readers along for the ride.  And stuck-out-of-time Marla Drake and her alter ego Miss Fury could not have looked better, whether carving out her place in the 1940s or as she was teleported into the future.  It’s a series no one should miss.

Best Comic Book Writing – Matt Fraction, Hawkeye.  Last year revealed one of the best comic book series we ever read, focusing on that “other” superhero archer, the second tier Marvel Comics superhero Hawkeye.  Matt Fraction gave us the most interesting set-up and look into the daily life of a superhero who isn’t Captain America or Iron Man.  This year he kept up the momentum in his Hawkeye monthly series, providing stories that challenged readers, each issue taking a different peek into Clint Barton, another costumed superhero called Hawkeye, and their trusty dog.

Best Comic Book Art – Mike Mayhew, Rain Beredo – The Star Wars.  We still don’t know how an artist can create so much world building in a single year.  And how do you re-imagine something as iconic as the original Star Wars design and give us something  to rave about?  Mayhew’s pencils in the limited series The Star Wars are pretty much second to none (and Beredo’s color choice is superb as well) and we can’t wait to see how they wind up their adaptation of George Lucas’s original script for the beloved Star Wars universe.

Breakout Comic Book Writer of the Year — Aaron Gillespie, Bionic Man.  Gillespie quietly rebuilt the Bionic Man franchise this year as he took over the reboot of Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man, launched by Kevin Smith and Phil Hester.  In doing so he offered up an interesting update to the 1970s original borg hero, and brought along plenty of humor and retro fun.  We think Gillespie is the writer to watch in the coming years.

Breakout Artist of the Year - Greg Smallwood, Dream Thief.  It blew us away that a new comic book artist could bring along so much original style in his first major published comic book series.  Smallwood’s layouts on the Dark Horse Comics limited series Dream Thief and his cool and gritty anti-hero left us eagerly awaiting what he has up his sleeves next.

Best Single Comic Book Issue — Hawkeye, Issue #11, Marvel Comics. Although Afterlife with Archie, Issue #1 also blew us away with its creepy twist on the classic characters, the best single issue of any comic book series we reviewed was Hawkeye, Issue #11 written by Matt Fraction with art by David Aja.  Check out our review here of this great issue told entirely from the perspective of Clint Barton’s sleuthing dog Lucky.  Pure awesomeness.

Best Comic Book Marketing Event — Lenticular Villain One-shot Month, DC Comics.  We can’t get enough of all things retro and what is better than lenticular images?  How about taking 52 monthly titles and devoting them to a litany of villainy and giving each a 3D lenticular cover?  A genius of an idea, DC Comics’ villains vandalized the regular monthly series for one month this year and the result was loads of fun.  And we can’t stop listening to the return of that high-pitched sound from our youths as those books scrape against each other.

Best Comic Book Cover Artist — Alex Ross.  Last year we were able to pull out the best covers for 2012.  This year we found ourselves arguing over the best Alex Ross cover of the year.  As just a sample, Ross created noteworthy cover art for Star Wars #1-4, Battlestar Galactica #1-3, Grimm #1, Dream Thief #1, Miss Fury #1, Django Unchained #6, Fantastic Four #1, Masks #1-8, The Owl #3, The Shadow #4 and 13, The Shadow: Year One #1-6, and Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #10.  Plus Astro City, Doc Savage, Pacific Rim, Peter Cannon, and Lords of Mars covers!  The man must never sleep!  He produced so much, each of which could be a year’s best, that we’ll have to run down his best of 2013 on a later day.

Best Comics Collected Edition: Mouse Guard: The Black Axe, Archaia.  Putting aside Archaia’s unique book format for the world of Mouse Guard, David Petersen’s unique one-two-punch of storytelling and artistry in his world of mighty mice continues to entertain readers with the gripping and personal trials of these heroes on their latest epic quest.  Petersen may have offered up his best work yet this year in Mouse Guard: The Black Axe, a harrowing and bittersweet account of the last of a breed.

Best Use of Comic Book Medium — Liberator, Black Mask Studios.  Matt Miner’s Liberator mini-series took a hard-nosed look at animal rights this year through its vigilante heroes, expanding the knowledge of readers lucky enough to get their hands on the series.

Best Comeback – Mike Grell, Howard Chaykin.  It’s not like these guys really went anywhere but we just wanted to say how fun it is after all these years to walk into a comic book shop and to be able to buy new books drawn by Grell and Chaykin.  With Grell on the Arrow series and Chaykin with projects like Satellite Sam, fans of classic styles can get their fix and new readers can get introduced to work from the old pros.

Best Non-Fiction Genre Work — The Hobbit Chronicles, Weta Workshop.  Reviewed here at borg.com earlier this year here, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Chronicles: Art and Design provides an unprecedented look at last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, through lavish photos of art design, sets, costumes, and props, by the folks at Weta.  With coffee table books released and re-released in 2013 including Star Wars Frames, Firefly: A Celebration, Princess Bride: A Celebration, and Bazooka Joe, it was a great year for books about movies, TV, and other genre properties.

Best Reviewed Book - Johnny Alucard, Kim Newman.  Although Stephen King’s new book Joyland was also a great read, Kim Newman’s new Anno Dracula series novel Johnny Alucard, in his parallel universe of vampires living amongst us, was deep in world building and complex relationships with fictional and non-fictional characters throughout, as Newman’s anti-hero Johnny rises to power.

Best Retro Reviewed Book – Nothing Lasts Forever, Roderick Thorp.  Just like we enjoyed Martin Caidin’s original novel Cyborg that inspired The Six Million Dollar Man TV series, Thorp’s original work, Nothing Lasts Forever, which was turned into the movie Die Hard, was a great window the hard-working cop who saves the day.  Fans of the Die Hard series left wanting after the new movie this year need only check out this book for some great fun.

Best Auction and Catalog of the Year — The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Auction, Julien’s.  This December the first and maybe last auction of screen-used props and costumes from a private collection hit the auction block.  The Trilogy/Middle Earth catalog itself was a feast for the eyes of fantasy fans–a sourcebook in its own right for close-up photos of these rare pieces.  The auction results included the sale of one of Gimli’s axes for $180,000.

Best Album – Smash Mouth, Magic.  Plenty of good music hit the airways this year, including Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, the Skyfall soundtrack, and the extended Night Visions album from Imagine Dragons.  But our favorite was the long-awaited release of the next Smash Mouth album, Magic.  Including remixes of several of the songs, it added another great party album to the band’s catalog of great tunes.  Check out our review here.

Best Song/Best Video – Space Oddity, Cmdr. Chris Hadfield.  Sure, there were great songs on the airwaves this year, including Adele’s Skyfall, and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, but was anything cooler than astronaut Chris Hadfield recording and filming his own cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity in outer space?  We don’t think so.  Twenty million viewers on YouTube would agree.

Best New Tech –  3D Printing.  It was the year everything could get printed, from human organs to bones to edible pizzas.  It’s the next big thing.  3D printing took off and tricorders are on their way in 2014.  The future is now.

Best Toy Line — Honey Trap Army, Gentle Giant.  At several hundred dollars per figure, these toys were not for everyone, but if they’d only produce a mass market version we think everyone would get a set.  A direct-to-toy series that was not based on any existing property, the sculpts for Gentle Giant’s incredible femme fatale fighting team, the Honey Trap Army, were simply beautiful.  Check them out here to see what we mean.

Best Action Figure — 12-inch Retro Rocket Firing Boba Fett.  Gentle Giant’s line of 12-inch action figures based on the Kenner line of 3.75 inch figures from the 1970s and 1980s was nothing short of brilliant.  No toy series was more nostalgic to fans who grew up with the original trilogy, so when they issued a rocket-firing Boba Fett based on the unreleased prototypes, the result was toy gold.  Check it out here.

So that’s our list.  Don’t forget to check out the first part of our Best of the Best list for 2013 here.

And have a happy new year!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Review by C.J. Bunce

If you’re a connoisseur of classic superheroes, you’d be remiss not to grab the trade edition of Dynamite Comics’ Masks series for your bookshelf.  Inspired by a 1938 story by Norvell Page called The Spider vs. The Empire State, it’s an examination of pre-World War II Law vs. Justice, as nine classic pulp superheroes unite to fight a fascist political party blossoming in New York, bent on taking over the country.

Writer Chris Roberson looks at justice through the eyes of each of these classic superheroes, each having a different take on the evolving political climate, and how to deal with the story’s bad guys.  Where the original source material was a story featuring The Spider, here the heroes take a backseat to The Shadow, whose perfectly shadowy dialogue manages to allow him to steal the scene in each of the story’s eight chapters.  The book starts with a bang–a chapter we previewed here at borg.com in its original printing as Masks, Issue #1, back in November 2012.  Alex Ross provided the interior art for the first chapter, and as much as we’d hope for a full book featuring Ross’s art, artists Dennis Calero provides an excellent look at the 1930s with a very pulp novel feel.

The antagonist of the book adds yet a tenth pulp hero to the book.  The results of his villainy actually propel the story from the first scene via an army of masked black-suited police officer enforcers doing the bidding of the antagonist’s crime world minions as they infiltrate New York via the Justice Party.  Much substance is here in this story, although the many characters and giving them all their due tend to convolute the story in places.  A district attorney who refuses to enforce the new laws is blinded and takes on the persona of The Black Bat, who befriends a Latin artist inspired by the legend of Zorro, a man who is imprisoned on his arrival from the West Coast.  Marla Drake witnesses oppressed citizens on the streets and ducks into a back room to don her Miss Fury persona, to bump into the Green Lama beginning his own one-man battle against the masked police.

The Green Hornet and Kato begin the story in a way that parallels some other classic looks at social strata in comic books.  They begin to unravel the distinction between the Law–here oppressive laws that restrict freedoms and result in the citizenry hauled off on trains to work camps–and Justice–knowing when to protest and refuse to comply with laws that fail society.  Along the way The Spider and The Black Terror join in, and even Zorro makes an appearance and The Shadow’s classic companion Margo Lane.

Only Dynamite Comics could create the playing field for all these characters to come together because of their many licensing arrangements.  Each of these characters has or had its own series or mini-series with Dynamite, and the monthlies are among the best in comic book publishing.  The result of combining the characters here is an action-filled battle that rivals Alan Moore’s fiction-character packed The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The trade edition also includes a stunning 70 pages of bonus content, which is reason for fans of the monthly limited comic book series to also check out this collected edition.  The content includes a script from the series and full-page spreads of alternate covers of each issue, as well as reprinting the one-of-a-kind incentive sketch covers created by series artists.  It also includes sketches and plenty of Alex Ross character development material.

Get your copy of the Masks trade edition at your local comic book store or Amazon.com.

The new Dynamite Comics series that is intended to take over where season five of The Six Million Dollar Man TV series left off hits comic book stores next Wednesday.  We’ve previewed the book and are eager to see how the story develops over the coming year.  Written by James Kuhoric with art by Juan Antonio Ramirez, The Six Million Dollar Man Season Six wastes no time before featuring Maskatron–a great retro idea–in its first story arc with Issue #1.

The best feature of Issue #1 is undeniably the cover by Alex Ross, which is just beautiful.  Ramirez’s interior pages feature well done composition and backgrounds, outer space imagery and technology.  His character faces, however, could be improved with more detail so readers can follow who’s who.  Since this is supposed to be a continuation of the series featuring Lee Majors, it’d be great to see Lee Majors come through in the visuals.  It’s only Issue #1 so we’ll wait to see what future issues have in store for us.

One oddity about the new series is the fact that this series is not related to the great throwback reboot series The Bionic Man, written by Kevin Smith with Phil Hester and then Aaron Gillespie’s exciting and fun run on the book throughout last year.  Other than the catchy Season Six label, I’m still not sure why The Bionic Man story isn’t still moving forward, too.  Kuhoric’s story in Issue #1 is a jumping on point, an introduction of characters and the new story arc, so we don’t have a lot to go on quite yet.  We don’t really get a sense of where Season Five left off, so those who haven’t re-watched the DVD or have poor memories will need to steer back to the boxed set for a refresher.

Gillespie’s story arc included Andre the Giant’s Bigfoot from the original series, the kind of fun and classic feature that Season Six is to have more of, according to early buzz for the series.  Maskatron–a removable faced large-sized action figure that wasn’t a character in the TV series–is a great start for a story focus for this new series.  What else will Kuhoric come up with for future issues?  We’re anxious to find out.

Grab The Six Million Dollar Man Season Six, Issue #1, at comic book stores everywhere March 12, 2014.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Season Two of The Six Million Dollar Man is in full gear.  Issue #2 of Dynamite Comics’ newest monthly series is in comic book stores tomorrow.  Oscar Goldman must tell Steve Austin that O.S.I.’s bionics division is closing its doors.  What will this mean for Steve and Jamie?

An alien organism has made it to Earth’s surface.

Who is the new face-changing Steve Austin doppelganger?  The menace Maskatron is back from the toy shelves of the 1970s to the ongoing story of Colonel Steve Austin.

Issue #2 includes a classic cover design by Alex Ross, with ongoing story by Jim Kuhoric and interior art by Juan Antonio Ramirez.

After the break, check out a preview for The Six Million Dollar Man Season Six, Issue #2, courtesy of Dynamite Comics:

Our favorite borg is back.  Get your copy tomorrow at comic book stores everywhere.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

We thought we’d share some of the best exclusives and other offerings scheduled to be available at San Diego Comic-Con International this weekend for those of you who just can’t decide what to spend your money on.  There’s too much to be able to see everything at the big Con, so we’ve listed booth numbers so you can make sure you don’t miss out on those toys, posters, and comic books that you simply must have.

But first, how about some early SDCC reveals, like this image of Roy Harper’s new Arsenal costume from CW’s Arrow:

and this great new SDCC 2014 exclusive poster for the final installment of The Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies:

And what’s better than news of a new comic book series tie-in from IDW Publishing for Orphan Black?

Now on to the exclusives:

From the Weta Workshop (Booth #3613) you can get this Smaug scales T-shirt inspired by The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies:

and a pre-release copy of the new book The Art of Film Magic, signed edition:

From Alex Ross Art (Booth #2419) pick up original comic book art or limited prints, or this great 10-print edition portfolio of some of Alex Ross’s Marvel Comics work:

BOOM! Studios (Booth #2229) will be selling several exclusive cover variant comic books, including RoboCop #1:

Planet of the Apes: Contagion #1:

Big Trouble in Little China #1 (great Adam Hughes cover!):

or Issue #1 of the popular and critically acclaimed Bee and Puppycat:

Entertainment Earth (Booth #2343) has too many exclusives to list, but check out these great color edition figures from the regularly black and white The Twilight Zone retro figure line:

For all those Adventure Time fans, Entertainment Earth has this lunchbox set:

Mondo, the poster company, is now producing toys and their first toys will be revealed at Mondo’s booth (Booth # 835), including this Iron Giant figure:

and this wacky Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle:

Titan Comics (Booth #5537) has exclusive Doctor Who #1 comic variant covers for The 10th Doctor and The 11th Doctor:

Top Shelf (Booth #1721), is selling copies of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 3 signed by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill:

Star Trek novelist Kevin Dilmore is promoting the new Hallmark Star Trek ornaments among other new items at the Hallmark booth (Booth #2913):

At the Peavey booth #2401 you can register for this Peavey Limited Edition 2014 Comic-Con Eastman/Laird Rockmaster Glow-in-the-Dark TMNT Guitar:

From NECA (Booth #3145), you can buy an exclusive 3-figure jaeger pack from Pacific Rim:

From Disney (Booth #3635) the Big Hero 6 first release action figure “Baymax” from the November 2014 release:

Quantum Mechanix (Booth #3245) three-poster set of Ant Lucia’s DC Bombshell prints:

The new annual Overstreet Price Guide is out today, and sold at the show each year:

Gentle Giant (Booth #3513) has several exclusives, including this great droid statue:

This AWESOME Rocket Raccoon statue from Guardians of the Galaxy:

and this large-sized series retro AT-AT driver from The Empire Strikes Back:

ThinkGeek (Booth #3849 has this cool Star Wars droid car adapter:

and an inflatable sword from Bee and Puppycat:

Finally, pick up the new comic book from the Vikings series from The History Channel:

The comic book will be available in limited numbers at the “On the Set” display from the series at 450 2nd Avenue across from the convention center.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

It hasn’t been released yet, and it is already the #1 best selling comic of 2015.  Forecasted with advance sale numbers at more than one million copies already, Marvel Comics is re-entering the world of Star Wars comics like it’s 1977 all over again.  Written by our friend Jason Aaron with artwork by John Cassaday and colorist Laura Martin, the story continues the adventures of Luke Skywalker after the end of the original Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope. 

Marvel Comics is pulling out all the stops with the variety of cover variants readers can choose from.  Most comic book stores will get one of a half dozen basic covers, but those who dig around on the Web will find plenty more available.  More than 30 basic full-color covers will be released in January 2015, plus black and white versions and sketch variants of many of those covers.  And that’s not all, several collectible comic book websites will be releasing signature editions signed by everyone up to Stan Lee, and sketch covers by several artists including Dynamite Comics’ Chris Caniano.  And you can get a logo-only cover to take to your next Con and commission an artist of your choice to sketch you a character.

Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Mike Mayhew, Frank Cho, David Petersen, Jenny Frison, Stephanie Han, Amanda Connor, Alex Maleev… everyone but Dave Dorman seems to have been pulled into this project.  Click on each image to see the artist and whether the book is only available at a special store.  A few variant images have not yet been released.

So check out even more great covers to Marvel’s Star Wars, Issue #1, after the break:

Look for Star Wars, Issue #1 in comic book stores everywhere next month!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

The sequel to one of the most successful independent comic book mini-series is coming soon from Dynamite Comics.  Masks 2 continues the retro mash-up of classic characters began in the original Masks series scripted by Chris Roberson with interior art by Alex Ross.  This time around writer Cullen Bunn and artist Eman Cassalos will be taking the adventures further with The Shadow, Green Hornet and Kato, Black Bat, Zorro, Miss Fury, and many others.

The Dynamite licensed characters from the comic book Golden Age will star in a story that will shift these superheroes through parallel worlds, with characters even meeting themselves in different timelines.

Several artists will provide variant covers for the mini-series’ first issue, including Sean Chen, Butch Guice, Robert Hack, Gabriel Hardman, Jae Lee, and Colton Worley.

Check out this preview of some of the interior art for Masks 2, Issue #1:

Look for Masks 2, Issue #1, at comic book stores in April 2015.  And get caught up on the original series with the graphic novel Masks, available here at Amazon.com.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Who knows what secrets lurk in the hearts of men?

Lamont Cranston–The Shadow.

Dynamite Comics delved into its recent series that have incorporated the popular pulp character The Shadow and compiled select images into a hardcover edition to be published later this year.   The Dynamite Art of The Shadow will feature 320 images from the past four years from Dynamite works featuring the character.  Dynamite is also releasing the trade paperback edition of one if its titles featuring The Shadow tomorrow, The Shadow: The Last Illusion.  We have previews of both for you below, after the break.

Key artists you’ll find in The Dynamite Art of The Shadow include Alex Ross (his cover is pictured above), and pictured below, the works of Francesco Francavilla, Howard Chaykin, Alex Ross, Matt Wagner, Darwyn Cooke, and John Cassaday, among dozens of other artists.

A foreword will be provided by noted Batman movies producer Michael Uslan.  “If you go with the radio version, he was invisible and had the power to cloud men’s minds,” said Uslan in his foreword.  “If you prefer the pulp version, he mastered the art of stealth in the shadows.  Either way, what a challenge to artists to attempt to bring this character to life in a visual medium like comic books!  But without a Shadow of a doubt, the deed was done and the coup was pulled off by generation after generation of artists from the 1930’s to today, building a legend of contemporary mythology in the process and making The Shadow one of the most widely known characters in pop culture history. With a line-up of interior Shadow stories by top, cutting-edge graphic storytellers, Dynamite was able to hit home run after home run with its choice of cover artists, ranging from the top painters to top traditional comic book artists to top cartoonists.”

The Shadow: The Last Illusion features a story by Cullen Bunn with art by Giovanni Timpano.  Here is a preview of tomorrow’s release, The Shadow: The Last Illusion:

Pre-order your copy of The Dynamite Art of The Shadow here at Amazon.com.  It has a release date of August 31, 2016.  Get your copy of The Shadow: The Last Illusion at your local comic book shop or here at Amazon.com.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com