Indiegogo GO!: ALICE AND THE INVADERS FROM WONDERLAND Interview with Bret M. Herholz at FORCES OF GEEK

Bret and I met over the weekend at the strangest place, a crafts fair in his hometown of Worcester, MA, just minutes after a fender bender outside, and in a room with local Celtic punk bands playing amidst tables loaded with cupcakes, taxidermy, necklaces and pins. 

Naturally, I gravitated to the comic book artist there and looked at his book, Sherlock Holmes and the Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner and enjoyed his portfolio of drawings. There was a steampunk Batgirl in his signature style as well as Sherlock Holmes vs. the deadly Daleks. 

His new book takes on Alice in Wonderland and puts her Alice where she should be, a strong hero and her adventures after she returns home. Bret’s Indiegogo campaign runs until June 20th. 

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Bret! What’s new in Wonderland?

Bret M. Herholz: Thank you Clay! Quite a lot has happened actually!
The story I’ve written picks up whereAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland left off.

We come to find out that all of Alice’s adventures weren’t all just a dream. The Queen of Hearts found a way to break through to Alice’s reality and her army has taken over the world.  

Alice manages to escape with the help of some of the friends she has made in her adventures down the rabbit hole such as the Mad Hatter, March Hare and White Rabbit. The bulk of the story takes place six years later with a now 16 year old Alice continuing her fight against the Queen of Hearts.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

BRIAN WINKELER CHATS UP KNUCKLEHEADS ON THE COSMIC TREADMILL AT FORCES OF GEEK

We’ve been enjoying Knuckleheads since the beginning.

Writer Brian Winkeler was kind enough to join us to talk about issue #6 available today on ComiXology.

Coupled with Robert Wilson IV on art, this MonkeyBrain title is full of comedy, monsters, cute dogs and impossible breakfast scenarios.

Aliens gave Trevor a fist with special powers, but will he be able to control it for that much longer?

Here is Brian to reveal the buildup to the latest issue.

FOG!: Hey Brian - thanks for joining us for Knuckleheads! Seinfeld voice - “What’s the deal with Crystal Fist?”

Brian Winkeler: The weapon or the “superhero?”

The weapon is kinda sorta maybe like a Green Lantern power ring but Trev (our protagonist) was way hungover when he got it so he’s super fuzzy on it. All he knows for sure at the start is he can use it to cheat on video games and steal Netflix.

He learns more as the series progresses.

Issue one brings the band all together, a ragtag bunch consisting of our ‘hero’ Trevor, his roommateLance, hipster Pizza Guy and hot British chick, Emma. Are more cats going to be added to the main group?

Issue #6 introduces a couple of characters who may or may not be sticking around for volume 2, and #8 introduces a brand new character who has been with us from the beginning. That confusing sentence will make sense as soon as you read #8.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

MARK WAID AND HIS THRILLBENT APP TAKE A RIDE ON THE COSMIC TREADMILL AT FORCES OF GEEK

As comics move from the spinner rack and the shelf to the phone and tablet, and controversial acquisitions have made the premier comics app for the iPad behave differently, companies are looking to deliver these books in new ways.

And Mark Waid has been one of the industry’s most vocal advocates for change and innovation.  And has every right to.

Photograph by Seth Kushner

Waid has done everything in comics. 

Seriously. 

And he’s taken challenges like no other. 

Move to Florida and join a comic start up?  Check.  Co-write a weekly series for a year?  Check.  Write some of the biggest characters ever to great acclaim?  Check.  Become a mentor to new talent in the industry?  Check. Write a creator owned series?  Check.  Be part of a new imprint?  Check.  Work as editor-in-chief for a comic company?  Check.  Sell off your collection to put the money into a new digital comics company, Thrillbent?  Check.  Become a comic retailer?  Check.  

And those are just the broad strokes.   

Mark joins us to talk about his company’s Thrillbent Comic Reader for iPad and an affordable monthly subscription model.

The Thrillbent website was started in 2012 to inspire innovation in the digital comics space, and Mark continues to be forward thinking with his new app and subscription model.

With a ton of great titles, Mark and Thrillbent are taking the comic market to new heights.

FOG!: Thanks for joining us today, Mark, hot off the heels of C2E2. How was the show?

​Mark Waid: Genuinely invigorating.  I have to say, I’ve not enjoyed Chicago comic conventions for a long time, not since my thousandth lame experience at the Rosemont Center, but these guys know what they’re doing. Wide aisles, good attendance, good guest lists…I’m a fan.​

Just last week saw the launch of the Thrillbent iPad app. We’ve been following Thrillbent since the beginning. Was the goal eventually to get here, out of the browser space and onto tablets?
​
It was certainly A goal.

But I’m not really going to be satisfied until we can be in a place where you can access us through iPads, Chromecasts, Rokus, Android phones, everywhere. 

Onward we march.​

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

JC DE LA TORRE’S STAR MAGE: FROM KICKSTARTER TO IDW at 13th DIMENSION

Last week saw the debut of JC De La Torre and Ray Dillon’s Star Mage from IDW. We caught up with JC for a MIGHTY Q&A about his influences, the Kickstarter process and merging a classic war-in-space tale with magic to give us an identifiable teenage hero!

Clay N. Ferno: Thanks for joining us, JC! Care to tell us how you got from Kickstarter to IDW with Star Mage? It seems like the response so far is spectacular!

JC De La Torre: Thanks so much for having me. It was such an interesting process to get to where we are now. The story of Star Mage actually started out as a novella that I was dissatisfied with. It just didn’t feel like it was coming together as I hoped. I happened to be reading an IDW Doctor Who comic and that dim light bulb of mine had a momentary flicker and I realized that Darien’s story belonged in a visual medium — what better place than with comics?

I started doing research and whatnot. I knew I wanted high quality artwork and I can barely manage stick figures — so I needed to hire an artist. I went through several potentials before realizing that if I truly want the best art, I needed to pay for a pro. I found Ray Dillon and he was exactly what I was looking for. I paid for the first issue out of my own pocket but to continue the series we were going to need some help, so we turned to Kickstarter. If our Kickstarter failed, Star Mage would have been DOA. It was thanks to those supporters, my defenders of the realm as I like to call them, we kept the lights on and allowed us to continue to develop the series.

IDW knew of the project thanks to Ray, who had previously done work with them and got some of the artwork of Issue #1 in front of Chris Ryall of IDW. There were a ton of starts and stops in the first year and a half developing Issue #1. There were days where it truly seemed like we’d never finish — but IDW stood by us through and through. When we finished Issue #1 and realized due to his demanding schedule Ray wouldn’t be able to finish the series, they trusted me to find another artist of the same caliber. Franco Cespedes took over and once we got our first three issues in the can, the IDW machine began churning.

Response to Issue #1 has been overwhelming. We’re very close to a sell-out of our initial run and we just had a signing at Heroes’ Haven Comics in Tampa where the line was out the door, the store sold out of their copies and we actually had to dip into our convention stock to be able to support the masses. The reviews have been mostly positive so it appears to really be well liked.

It’s very exciting.

[READ MORE at 13th DIMENSION.COM]

COMIXOLOGY ACQUISITION Q & A WITH TIM GIBSON OF MOTH CITY ON THE COSMIC TREADMILL AT FORCES OF GEEK

Moth City (Thrillbent) is one of our favorite and innovative digital comics, so when we heard of the pending merger between ComiXology and Amazon we had questions!

Who better to ask these to than Moth City’s own Tim Gibson?

We get into the nitty gritty of the pinch, swipes, scans, payments and tablet wars with our favorite Kiwi after the jump!

FOG!: Have you ever read a comic on the Kindle app? Kind of atrocious, right?

Tim Gibson: Hah, I’ve only read one comic on my Kindle, and that was Tumor by Joshua Fialkov and Noel Tuazon many years ago. It was a great comic but I haven’t been back to try another comic on that platform.

What’s your initial reaction? Glee, excitement? Disappointment?

Cautious optimism.
  
Do you think creator percentages for something like the ComiXology Submit program will stay the same? How does this affect creator owned projects?

Amazon has always been open about the royalty rates they offer authors, 35% if you sell your work for less than $1.99 or more than $10, and 70% if you sell between $2.99 and $9.99. I believe our royalty rates via ComiXology are locked behind a T&C wall, but they aren’t bad.

There would probably be more comics on Amazon right now taking advantage of that 70% rate if they didn’t also have a strange ‘Delivery Fee’ that cuts into the author’s proceeds for supplying high resolution art at larger file sizes.

I have no idea if ComiXology’s rates will change, but I would like to see our books integrated into Amazon’s store at either rate.

ComiXology seems to be forward thinking and has good customer service (these days). Do you picture a total absorption of the company?

I hope not, and I doubt it. Everything said to date implies that they will keep being the great company they are. Hopefully Amazon just gives them a new audience, and they give Amazon some comic selling tips!

Do you see the iPad comics Apps: iBooks vs. ComiXology going after each other’s throats? At least the competition is healthy, right?  I’d imagine Amazon stops developing it’s various comics properties and shifts all comic attention to the ComiXology app, yeah?

I’m not sure that any independent creators are using iBooks or Amazon in anywhere near the same capacity as they are using ComiXology. But yes, I would hope that Amazon would follow ComiXology’s lead when it comes to technology and systems for comics. I imagine they’ll continue publishing their own stuff through their imprint Jet City Comics.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

HOW I MADE THE WORLD – THE COSMIC TREADMILL INTERVIEW WITH LIZ PLOURDE & RANDY MICHAELS AT FORCES OF GEEK

How i Made The World is a new independent autobiographical comic book getting a lot of attention already. I spoke with writer Liz Plourde and her artist Randy Michael for some insight into the after-hours art school adventure showcased in Issue #1. With honest storytelling and classic Hernandez Bros. inspired cartooning, FOG! thinks they have a hit on their hands!

Liz and Randy took some time to chat with FOG! about the upcoming release of the first issue.


FOG!: Hi Liz, thanks for joining us today! How did you meet your illustrator Randy Michaels?

Liz Plourde: We’re thrilled you enjoyed the book.

I met Randy when we were working at a local TV station on a nightly news magazine. We realized we had many shared interests; in that frenetic environment, we had a lot of laughs. Before long, I was showing Randy my short stories, and he was sharing his illustrations. I thought they were so cool. 

I was an English major at the time, and because Randy was also an editor—really, he’s a Renaissance man—he started helping me hone my craft. One day, he showed me that he’d adapted one of my short stories into comics form. It was a slice of life tale about a college friend. I wrote more stories about college life, and we began developing the main characters in How i Made the World together. Becoming a collaborative team happened very organically.

Randy - how is it collaborating with Liz on her scripts?

Randy Michaels: I liked Liz’s “voice” from the very beginning. Her writing is smart, but she also writes extremely funny lines that come at you when you least expect them. Liz and I read through her scripts with my sketchbook in hand, and we map out the pacing and major plot points and how they’ll play out on the page. Sometimes, Liz will suggest a particular angle to draw a scene. Or I’ll suggest text changes, such as additional dialogue. We brainstorm together and make it fun. There’s no embarrassment that one of us might come up with a bad idea. 

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

League of Ordinary Gentlemen Podcast Episode #187: A Very Special Leaguepodcast...

This week, on a very special League Podcast, Adam Rivera and MC Frontalot join us to talk about their post-PAX shows, the Star Wars “Machete Order,” appearing in an issue of the Walking Dead, and Frontalot’s awesome new merch, because that’s what feeds the babies!


Illustration by Evan Dorkin

Discussed in this Episode:
Adam Rivera Music



MC Frontalot 


Music:
Intro: “Gray World” - Adam Rivera

Outtro: “First World Problems” - MC Frontalot

 

MIGHTY Q&A: A G.I. JOE #200 EXTRAVAGANZA! - INTERVIEW WITH TIM FINN OF HUB COMICS AT 13TH DIMENSION

Tim Finn is a G.I. Joe expert. He’s also the owner of Hub Comics in Somerville, Mass. He’s also giving away 200 copies of G.I. Joe #200, starting Wednesday, the book’s release date. 

CLAY N. FERNO has the interrogation!

Clay: What was your first Joe comic?

Tim: Issue #90, which I got a few weeks before heading to summer camp. The cover shows two Joes about to get brainwashed, so I couldn’t not buy it, even though I wasn’t into comics. And the “Next Month” blurb shows a ninja fight, but that issue was off the stands by the time I got back home from camp, and it was two years before I tracked it down.  Those brainwashed Joes are fine, by the way. More or less.

What does Yo Joe Cola taste like? I think R.C. Cola, not The Big Two.

Yeah, RC or a supermarket generic. I always liked that the Joes had their own cola to counterbalance the Dreadnoks loving grape soda so much, even though it makes about as much sense as Delta Force having its own line of jeans.

[READ MORE at 13th DIMENSION]

UPDATE: Picked up by ROBOT 6 at CBR!

MUSICAL TWONKS: SOCIAL MEDIA WORKSHOP FOR BANDS, DJS & ARTISTS WITH CLAY FERNALD - DIGBOSTON

Wow! I got interviewed! Thanks, Shannon!

“Is there anything better than a ‘like’ on Instagram? I don’t think so. When your ‘likes’ go from a bunch of people’s usernames to a double-digit number, that’s the highlight of my day,” says Clay Fernald (@ClayNFerno), manager of the Middle East Nightclub in Cambridge and a self-made social media expert for bands, producers, DJs, and fine artists.

Fernald was thrust into the social media world in 2005 when he earned the title of “The Most Popular Man in Boston” and wound up the cover of the Boston Phoenix. While the story of how he got there is really more of a funny coincidence – “I broke up with a girlfriend and I was on MySpace at the time, so to get back at her I expanded my network and got popular through ‘revenge friending’”  – the connections he made were real and only continued to grow as he furthered his career in publicity and branding.

On Friday, March 21st, Fernald will be teaching an intensive workshop on the importance and utilization of social media for those in the music industry – he’s adamant about how vital the Internet is for artists of all types, especially now. “The way that we used to do shows when I was a punk rock kid was going up and posting fliers everywhere,” he explains. “Today, you have no choice. [Social media] needs to be part of making music and putting it out there. Like making t-shirts, like picking a band name…out of all the things that are important to a band, having a Twitter account should be just another part of the process.”

Young or old, established or new and local, Fernald insists that his workshop is for any one wielding a guitar. Or pan flute. As anyone who has ever listened to music knows, the relationship between an artist and his/her/their fans is one that is highly personal, unique, and often passionate. And Fernald believes that social media will only continue to improve these relationships – it’s a tool that’s truly vital for artists of any type trying to get exposure and find their audience.

“There’s nothing in the world like a retweet,” Fernald says. “There’s nothing in the world like a favorite. And that’s the message I’m trying to convey in this workshop – that social media can facilitate real person relationships. You might not sell a person a t-shirt or a CD, but if they’re at your show and you talk to them, then that’s the most valuable relationship in the world.”

[MMMMAVEN. 614 Massachusetts Ave #203. Cambridge. 7-9 PM/ $50. MMMMAVEN.COM.]

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM] 

HELLBOY WEEK: MIKE MIGNOLA, PART 2 — MEETING YOUR HEROES - AT 13TH DIMENSION

Continued…

With Dark Horse declaring March 22 Hellboy Day, we decided to bring you HELLBOY WEEK. Today is Part 2 of Clay N. Ferno’s interview with the masterful Mike Mignola.

If you missed Part 1, shame on you. To make amends, it’s right here.

Unlettered cover to Hellboy in Hell #6: The Death Card, due out in May.

By CLAY N. FERNO

Just curious now, what is it like for you when you meet a Will Eisner? You’re a giant yourself, and you are rubbing shoulders with your heroes. Are you sort of intimidated to meet other artists like that? Or are you all pals? How does it feel for you?

I’m trying to think of guys like that that are still around. It is very strange to me now, that people I’ve known for a very long time have achieved a sort of legend status. I knew them when they weren’t that. It is very cool. And the 16- and 17-year-old version of me — if that kid I was could have ever imagined that I’d be eating lunch with Richard Corbin!

Richard was probably the guy that I worked with in the past few years that I grew up in awe of his stuff. He is one of those guys that never in a million years would I have thought I’d have any contact with that guy, let alone work with him, or go to his house to eat lunch with him. That is possibly the biggest leap for me, as far as being a fan to the intimacy of working with the guy. I can’t think of another case like that.

The weirdness or another one of those, is Bernie Wrightson. I’ve had lunch with Bernie Wrightson, I’ve hung out with Bernie Wrightson. As a kid, I wanted desperately to be Bernie Wrightson! So, even though we haven’t really worked together, the fact that he even knows who I am is pretty amazing. I have been very fortunate to interact with some of my heroes.

Wrightson’s handiwork.

I even met Frazetta once, and he said something very nice. He was one of those guys I didn’t want to meet because I was so in awe of him, he was such a huge influence on me. (But) I heard some not terrific stories about Frank as a guy. Someone had introduced us, Hellboy had just came out, I showed him a copy and he made a nice comment. I just thought, “Holy shit! I just met Frazetta. I’m not gonna push it, or make it a longer conversation.”

But it was very nice and it is a wonderful memory. I have been very fortunate to have met a lot of these guys.

And then you have your peers, who are all absolutely amazing.

And it is weird when your peers are guys like Art Adams, and I knew him as a kid. To me, while I think if him as a phenomenal artist, to me, he will always be the guy who broke into the business around the same time I did. It is very cool to sit back and watch, your contemporaries are guys that are legendary and people are in awe of.

One of my best friends from art school was the co-director of the last Pixar movie, “Brave.” It is wild when you grew up with these guys who grew up to do these things.

Adams print at his website.

As a fan, it makes you feel good that there is a) reverence and b) respect for one another. I know there can be rivalries but besides that, it seems very nice.

It is always nice when there aren’t rivalries. I am very fortunate that my group of close friends, and not a lot of us went into the comics field, but a lot of us went into such different places and we achieved success in completely different ways. I was never going to be Art Adams, we weren’t going up for the same jobs. Steve Purcell (Pixar) went in a completely different direction.

[READ MORE AT 13th DIMENSION]

HELLBOY WEEK: MIKE MIGNOLA TALKS LITERARY AND PULP INFLUENCES - AT 13TH DIMENSION

The first Hellboy collection.

Dark Horse has dubbed this Saturday, March 22 as Hellboy Day. If you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware of who Mike Mignola is and how considerable his impact on the comics industry has been. But it’s still an eye-opener to read his official bio:

MIKE MIGNOLA’s fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age; reading “Dracula” at age 12 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore, from which he has never recovered. Starting in 1982 as a bad inker for Marvel Comics, he swiftly evolved into a not-so-bad artist. By the late 1980s, he had begun to develop his own unique graphic style, with mainstream projects like DC’s Cosmic Odyssey and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. In 1994, he published the first Hellboy series through Dark Horse. As of this writing there are 12 Hellboy graphic novels (with more on the way), several spinoff titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien, and Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder), prose books, animated films, and two live-action films starring Ron Perlman. Along the way he worked on Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992), was a production designer for Disney’s “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (2001), and was the visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on “Blade II” (2002), “Hellboy” (2004), and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (2008). Mike’s books have earned numerous awards and are published in a great many countries. Mike lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and cat.

In this first installment, Mignola and our Clay N. Ferno jump right in and talk about the literary and pulp influences behind everyone’s favorite demon — such as Conan and Solomon Kane.

By CLAY N. FERNO

Clay N. Ferno: Tell us what sort of literary influences come up in Hellboy.

Mike Mignola: It’s funny, I was doing an interview the other day and trying to pin down the roots of the Hellboy stuff — not comic book roots as much as they are pulp magazine roots.

I was listening to the 8 billionth comment about H.P. Lovecraft and I said “Yeah, that stuff is in there, but I think that the bigger, fundamental structure of the Hellboy stuff came from pulp magazine guys like Robert E. Howard and Manly Wade Wellman. Specifically the idea of this kind of character who kind of wanders around and runs into stuff. Also, the short story format, which, at least in most mainstream comics is not the most common way for doing stories, but after the first miniseries, I went quite a bit to doing short stories, and not just short stories, but short stories that don’t take place in a chronological order.

We saw this with Robert E. Howard doing Conan and Solomon Kane and these kind of characters that kind of wander all over the world and they’ll run a story on a character who is old, and then about when he is young, and it is for other people to cobble them all together into some kind of coherent order. I think that was very much informing the way I did Hellboy.

[READ MORE AT 13th DIMENSION] 

MIGHTY Q&A: 13 COINS AT 13TH DIMENSION

The screenwriters of stealth video game Hitman: Absolution (Square Enix), Martin Brennan and Michael B. Jackson, team up with Simon Bisley (Biz) to tell a dark, supernatural story in a stand-alone app available on Android devices Friday 2/28. You are already able to buy the comic on iOS. Here’s all about 13 Coins on 13th Dimension! 

By CLAY N. FERNO

Clay N. Ferno: Thanks for joining us! Tell me, we’ve been hearing about this graphic novel for some time, why are we getting this delivered in an app?

Martin Brennan: The decision to release 13 Coins as a stand-alone app came after a meeting with former Namco president, Barry O’Neill.  We had one issue of 13 Coins almost completed, and Barry expressed interest in bringing it out through his new venture Corinthian — making it Corinthian’s first comic series. Given Barry’s past experience and his enthusiasm for 13 Coins we knew we had to go with him. Corinthian worked with tech company inlifesize, and animation genius Greg Maguire on bringing the digital comic to life. Greg is a legend, having previously worked on “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban,” “Happy Feet,” “Avatar,” “Terminator,” etc. — the list goes on.

Issue 2

Clearly, there is more to the 13 Coins app than just the comic. We get a soundtrack, in-app purchase bonus material and 3-D parallax covers. Did you want to develop further than what the popular ComiXology app can provide?  

Michael B Jackson: ComiXology is great at what they do — deliver comics in a digital format. We want our app to deepen the entertainment experience. Music, 3D motion, freebies (like wallpaper) and a few more surprises are planned for the app as exclusives.

Promo art

I’m lucky enough to be reading this on a Retina tablet. Biz’s art is on a whole new level than what we might be used to from the newsprint days.

MB: Simon is one of those rare artists who captures and expresses emotion exceptionally well in his work. Simon’s drawings touch people. He’s able to see the pain, anger, frustration or joy in a character at that moment in the story and show it to you in his art.

MJ: Exactly, we took the art of one of the best comic artists in the world and enhanced it with technology, and are presenting it on devices that are truly extraordinary. It’s as close as you can come to bringing a character to life right off the page.

[READ MORE AT 13th DIMENSION]

WILL EISNER WEEK - MIKE MIGNOLA INTERVIEW - MIGNOLA ON EISNER: “A SHINING EXAMPLE OF WHERE YOU CAN GO” - AT 13TH DIMENSION

WILL EISNER WEEK: Clay N. Ferno spoke recently with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola on a number of topics (more on that soon). But it’s Eisner’s birthday today so Clay made a point of asking one of comics’ modern masters about one of the all-time greats:

Clay N. Ferno: Do you have a favorite Will Eisner story?

Mike Mignola: You know, I’ve never thought about it. I love Will’s stuff — it would probably be one of The Spirit comics … it all kind of blurs together for me. I know there is a period of The Spirit stuff I like more than other Spirit stuff, but it is hard—I couldn’t specify a story. I have a general love for Will Eisner, but not a specific story in mind. …

Certainly, as an artist that transformed as a guy doing The Spirit to other work like “A Contract With God” and these kind of things, he’s just one of those artists that is a shining example of where you can go if you don’t stand still and retread the same material. “The Building” — about the transformation of a city — it is just genius stuff.

Will is a guy I always thought was extremely intimidating. I spent a little bit of time with him but I was always afraid to say anything. Because even in his later years, he was someone who was more knowledgeable about what was going on in comics than I was.

Here I was, a guy five or ten years into my career, and Will was more current about what was going on in Europe, the future of where comics would go. Here I was trying not to embarrass myself by saying something stupid. He was a very sweet guy.

I guess you would include Eisner in the group of guys that you would be shocked if people came up to your table and the person didn’t know them. Or you’d want to enlighten them, I suppose.

Sadly, I guess I wouldn’t be shocked. It would be sad. He is one of the guys like Kirby, or Wally Wood that you assume everybody knows them. One of the inspired things about Will was that when he died, he had work at the printers. He was working right up to the end.

One of the last things he did was The Spirit and The Escapist. It is just so good. To be that good, right up to the end. Already, I can tell with my stuff that’s not gonna happen. But yeah, Will is just one of those huge inspiration guys.

[READ MORE AT 13th DIMENSION.COM]

COSMIC TREADMILL: RYAN K. LINDSAY TALKS HEADSPACE FROM MONKEYBRAIN! - AT FORCES OF GEEK

I’m fortunate enough to have made some friends online that live on the other side of the planet!

Aussie Writer Ryan K. Linsday (My Little Pony, Fatherhood, Ghost Town) burns the rubber of off his Converse in this edition of the Cosmic Treadmill to talk about Headspace from Monkeybrain, which was released today.

The book features an imaginative world full of bartending dogs, fear monsters and other creeps. But that’s not all, in this Take on Me twist, the other half of the story exists in the real world.

To call this Inception meets They Live will either delight or offend Ryan. Find out after the jump!

FOG!: Thanks for joining us today, Ryan! Care to tell us the quick elevator pitch for Headspace?

Ryan K. Lindsay: A strange town full of unfulfilled people suddenly discover they are actually in the mind of a killer and they had forgotten the real world and their old lives. Cue the sheriff, Shane, hustling to get back to his old life but finding that a killer’s brain throws up more roadblocks than you want it to.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

KICKSTARTER KORNER CHATS WITH MARK MCKENNA ABOUT COMBAT JACKS! AT FORCES OF GEEK

Legendary Big Two Inker and Inkwell Awards Hall of Famer Mark McKenna joins Kickstarter Korner to tell us about his latest campaign to unleash issue #2 of Combat Jacks! 

An alien prison planet Maia lives on the other side of our sun, occupied by killer pumpkins! We don’t see how a pumpkin planet can be more sincere than this one! Space Marines are sent to investigate AWOL prisoners and pesky pumpkins in Combat Jacks!

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Mark. Combat Jacks originated as a dinner table conversation. Why Jack-O-Lanterns?

Mark McKenna: It was around Halloween and something clicked in my mind that Jack O’ Lanterns are meant to be scary, yet there weren’t really any amazing Jack monsters in movies or books that I could think of, with a few exceptions, so along with my son, it became dinner table banter and went on from there.

Most people know you as an inker for the big two and Inkwell Awards Hall of Famer. Is Combat Jacks your first foray into writing?

I have also created and written my kids books, Banana Tail and Friends.  But other then those books, this is my first writing for this genre.

Jason Baroody’s pencils are great too, how did you hook up with him and the rest if your art team including our friend John Hunt?

Jason came to me by way of our, at the time, mutual art rep, Bob Shaw. I had met Jason at a few shows, but really didn’t know his work. When we got to talking and he was gung ho to take a shot at it, I believe I flattered him by offering it to him and he told me, in fact, that if he didn’t need to make a living, he’d have worked for free on it just to have the chance to work with me.. so, in essence, flattery gets you everywhere.

I cant recall where I met John Hunt, but I do know he was hungry and multi-talented and you can never have enough guys that have a wealth of digital and artistic knowledge.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

BLASTOSAURUS Walks On THE COSMIC TREADMILL: An Interview With Richard Fairgray at FORCES OF GEEK

A dinosaur detective living in the present day fighting raptors in a time-spanning adventure?  Sign me up!

ComiXology Submit brings us Blastosaurus, from New Zealand’s talented Richard Fairgray and Terry Jones.

Writer Richard Fairgray was kind enough to take this colorful noir dino for a workout on the Cosmic Treadmill and tell us about his favorite toys and turtles!


FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Richard! What’s the elevator pitch for Blastosaurus?

Richard Fairgray: In short, he’s a crime fighting dinosaur, it’s just that in the real world that isn’t super helpful. He fights raptors, robots, travels through time but at the heart of it all he’s a curmudgeonly old man who wishes he wasn’t dinosaur shaped.

I love how you’ve tapped into the aspect of childhood play and storytelling with the book. Does that imagination stay with all people or just creative types as they get older?

I think it’s just a different way of looking at the world. All kids have that default of asking ‘why’ to anything and everything they discover and I think as we get older we stop needing to know, we become happy to just accept ‘because’ as an answer.

I was also very aware that in the early issues of Blastosaurus there’d be a lot of exposition to set up the story and, more importantly, the rules of this universe.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

MIGHTY Q&A: STEVE ORLANDO GOES FOR A DEEP DIVE WITH IMAGE’S UNDERTOW AT 13TH DIMENSION

Steve Orlando and Artyom Trakhanov’s Undertow takes a new look at the Atlanteans — and Steve invites us below for a taste of the salty brine before the launch this Wednesday, Feb. 19.

By CLAY N. FERNO

Clay N. Ferno: How long have you been working on this concept?

Steve Orlando: Undertow has been coming together in one way or another for almost four years. From early development as an underwater police procedural, it grew into something more, something less rooted in Dick Wolf story structures and more launched out of Jules Verne adventure. Artyom and I bounced around two years ago with some short stories, and when I told him what I was thinking about for a longer story, he was instantly sold on my strange fish people.

This is a very different world in which the Atlanteans are exploring the world on land as explorers. It does not look like surface humans are using tools yet. And the Atlanteans are as advanced as space explorers. Did I catch that right?

The feral humans actually can use tools, but that’s about as sophisticated as they get. Atlantis, though, is far more advanced. It’s almost like the spark that jumpstarted our evolution maybe sparked somewhere else. Being under water, there’re some things they just don’t have that we have, and some things they have that we wouldn’t think of. It’s maybe not taking place during human development, but maybe in place of it. The humans have developed in a different way. They kept evolving and specializing physically, with different coats and furs for different climates, but they never quite developed higher consciousness.

[READ MORE at 13thDIMENSION.COM]

Matt Hawkins Takes THINK TANK for a Ride on the COSMIC TREADMILL - FORCES OF GEEK

Last week, we took a look at Think Tank Season #1. In celebration of today’s release ofThink Tank #12, we caught up with Top Cow President/COO Matt Hawkins about the latest issue, time management, and of course the genetic viruses in his science thriller.

Plus, Matt talks Minotaur Press and what we can expect from Top Cow on Free Comic Book Day!

FOG!: Hi Matt - thanks for joining us today to talk about the end of Think Tank Season 1. Care to tell is what to expect in Think Tank #12?

Matt Hawkins: The 12th issue is the finale of the first long story arc that kicked off with issue 1. All of the lingering threads are sort of resolved. David faces death his mortality and realizes that there’s not really much he can do to stop the geopolitical forces in motion. The looming confrontation between China and the US kicks off and the collusive nature of it is frightening in its repercussions. That and the virus is out!

David is in a lot of trouble in this issue. In fact, the latest arc, Outbreak, is very dangerous for a lot of the characters. Are targeted genetic viruses possible or even probable in the near future?

They’re viable now. The completion of the Human Genome Project opened up a pandora’s box of possibilities both good and bad.

Had you expected to go this far with the series? This was initially a shorter run, am I correct?

Yes was originally planned as a 4 issue mini series. Reaction to it was stronger than I expected so we kept it going. A book about a research scientist trying to fight the system isn’t your typical comic book, so I wasn’t sure we’d find an audience.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

CAITY LOTZ on the Stunning Developments on ‘Arrow’ Tonight! (BIG SPOILERS!) - at 13th Dimension

OK, have you watched ARROW tonight? Holeeeeeee … As promised, here’s CAITY LOTZ with her take on everything that happened!

Yesterday, Lotz spoke to our Clay N. Ferno (I spoke to Stephen Amell last week) about her thoughts ahead of tonight’s “Heir to the Demon.” Now, here’s her take on the aftermath … and Sara’s big smooch with Ollie!

Uh, oh Olicity ‘shippers … Team Sara is in the lead!

Caity Lotz as Canary — Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW

Clay N. Ferno: This season, fans have been debating who Ollie should be with: Sara, Laurel or Felicity. Now we see Sara and Ollie in a passionate embrace. What effect will that have on all of these relationships going into the second half of the season. How will Felicity and Laurel take this?

Caity Lotz: There’s some fun stuff planned with Felicity’s character. I think it is a bit of a transition for Felicity to have Sara being in Ollie’s life and Ollie having “this girl.” It changes the dynamic between Oliver and Sara because they finally have someone that really understands what they’ve been through together. But there is still a lot of external things that make that difficult.

With Laurel, it is a little messed up — you can only imagine how difficult that would be to see that happen. And I understand how she would be not so happy about it.

At the same time, for Oliver and Sara, they have been denied so much happiness in their life and have given up so much for everyone else. They’ve never really been able to have love. I think for them to get this kind of chance, both characters really do deserve it. Even with all the drama it might bring.

[READ MORE at 13th DIMENSION]

EARTH PRIME TIME: LIZ PRINCE ‘ALONE FOREVER’ SIGNING AT BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH

Somerville comic artist Liz Prince celebrates the release of her first feature length graphic novel Alone Forever (Top Shelf Productions) at Brookline Booksmith on Tuesday, February 11. She tells us about the book, OkCupid dates, Valentine heart captions, and fleeting and awkward MBTA romances.

DIGBOSTON: Hey Liz! Thanks for joining us today. Wow, Alone Forever is actually a thing now. Congrats! How excited were to to open your advance copies?
Liz Prince: It was really exciting. The books came while I was visiting my mom in New Mexico, but my boyfriend sent me a photo of a pile of boxes that arrived, so I made him open it and send me photos of the book. Kind of funny that I saw my book for the first time over the phone, but it was awesome to get off the plane and come home and have 3 boxes full of Alone Forever: The Singles Collection waiting for me.

Now I can’t wait to show the world my comics about sadness and cats.

DIGBOSTON: I love the idea of a Singles Collection for your webcomic. Is there any new heartbreak in the book or are these all on your site?
There are about 20 pages of new material, including a comic essay on all of the OkCupid dates I’d been on, that’s embarrassing enough to make you want to get pick up the book for sure.
There are also some comics from other anthologies and zines in the book that never made it online, but definitely fit into the Alone Forever oeuvre. Plus, it’s way easier to read my books on the toilet in paper form. If that isn’t the ultimate endorsement, I don’t know what is.

DIGBOSTON: From Boom to Top Shelf, to making art for one of the most popular break-in related pop punk bands, Masked Intruder, you’ve gotten some great attention lately! How are you coping with the fame?
Easy: I agreed to write and draw a 250+ page graphic novel in under a year, so I really don’t leave the house much. I’m almost done with that project, which is a graphic memoir (buzzword alert) about my childhood called Tomboy; it will be out in the fall (like how I slipped that in there?). There is also more Masked Intruder stuff going on, that band got huge and I couldn’t be happier for them. I’ve always wanted to be a band’s Chris Shary, so I’m trying to take the Masked Intruder thing in that direction.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]