Shut Yo Mouth - Shaft Comes To Dynamite

Some of you may remember John Shaft from this:

or from this:

but he started out from this:

Screenwriter Ernest Tidyman (who also did the screenplays for The French Connection and High Plains Drifter) created John Shaft in the 1970 novel Shaft because he wanted to create an American James Bond. Why are we talking about Shaft?

Dynamite Comics announced that they've acquired the "comics and prose" rights to Tidyman's creation, including the rights to reprint the original novels and publish new ones. How long until Shaft teams up with the Six Million Dollar Man or The Green Hornet?

From the Dynamite press release:

Ernest Tidyman was quoted on the origins of Shaft: "The idea came out of my awareness of both the social and literary situation in a changing city. There are winners, survivors & losers in the New York scheme of things. It was time for a black winner, whether he was a private detective or an obstetrician."

Curtis Brown literary agent Steve Kasdin, who represents the Tidyman estate said: "The literary craftsmanship that built John Shaft sent him into the world fully formed and moving. You knew who and what he was from Jump Street. So much so that even a less than stellar sequel or two didn't kill his standing. The consensus seemed to be: ‘Oh my Lord, they done put poor Shaft in another bad movie.'  I'm thrilled with Dynamite's vision for Shaft, and look forward to his new adventures."

Summer Game Convention Returns to Milwaukee

Nexus Game Fair Event Registration Begins May 12th, 8:00pm CST

MILWAUKEE, WI – This Sunday is Mother’s Day and Nexus Game Fair is encouraging everyone to spend the day showing their love, respect and appreciation for all mothers. But on Monday, May 12th, Nexus wants you back thinking about summer convention gaming, and to be ready for the start of Event Registration!

Nexus Game Fair has over 400 individual events on their schedule, with a great variety of events spanning across the entire show. From role-playing games to miniatures and collectible card games to board games, there is certain to be something for everyone to enjoy. All events at Nexus are free, once you have registered for a badge, and there will even be tournaments for Magic the Gathering and Netrunner that offer great prizes!

Nexus Game Fair has an impressive list of industry special guests attending, who will be hosting panels and special events throughout the show. The complete list includes:

• Jolly Blackburn (Knights of the Dinner Table)
• Mike Carr (Dawn Patrol)
• Chris Clark (Inner City Games Designs)
• Dave “Zeb” Cook (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition)
• Jeff Easley (Staff Artist, TSR, Inc.)
• Todd Fisher (Revolution & Empire)
• Matt Forbeck (Deadlands)
• Kenneth Hite (Trail of Cthulhu)
• Tim Kask (Dragon Magazine)
• Dave Kenzer (Hackmaster)
• James Lowder (Author, Prince of Lies)
• Matt McElroy (Drive Thru RPG)
• Frank Mentzer (Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set)
• Merle Rasmussen (Top Secret)
• Lester Smith (Dark Conspiracy)
• Monica Valentinelli (Firefly RPG)
• James M. Ward (Gamma World)
• Rob Wieland (Line Developer, Firefly RPG)
• Skip Williams (Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition)

Nexus Game Fair will be hosting a massive board games library, which consists of nearly 1,100 unique titles. The library, free to attendees, is being provided and run by the Milwaukee Company of Gamers (MilCoG), an association of gamers located throughout Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

“We’re excited to bring summer convention gaming back to Milwaukee,” says Event Manager Harold Johnson, the former director of Gen Con in Milwaukee. “It’s been 12 years since Gen Con left the city and Milwaukee is eager to become a summer destination for gamers once again.”

Nexus Game Fair runs Thursday, June 19th, through Sunday, June 22nd. A 4-day badge for the convention is $45, and the convention hotel, the Clarion Hotel & Conference Center, is offering a special rate of $99 per night for show attendees. Only a few rooms remain, so be sure to make your reservation soon!

For more information and to register for the show, please visit http://www.nexusgamefair.com.

The Thundering Skies Saga Press Release

“Thundering Skies Saga” Marks Major Turning Point in “Shaintar – Change the Game” Initiative


Toney, Alabama, US - April 21, 2014 – The Shaintar: Justice and Life globally shared tabletop RPG campaign takes the next big step in the stated effort to “Change the Game” with a new, campaign-wide event called The Thundering Skies Saga.


“When we launched this last year,” says Shaintar creator and Evil Beagle Games publisher, Sean Patrick Fannon, “we set out to change how everyone sees the concept of a truly shared – living, if you will – roleplaying game campaign. We've been working hard for months now to put all the pieces into play, and now we can point at something huge, something transformative, and something that is truly working to show we're succeeding.”


Shaintar, an epic high fantasy setting for the exceedingly popular Savage Worlds rules system, is supported by a core web presence (shaintar.com), where content created by Sean and by all the participants in the Justice and Life experience is shared openly and equally as canonical content. As well, all of the Shaintar campaigns are live in their own section on the award-winning Obsidian Portal campaign management site.


“Thundering Skies represents a next step for this idea, as does the newly-launched shared Calendar of Events on the Shaintar site. Now all the Game Masters, across the globe – and we have people on more than one continent involved here – are implementing the campaign-wide event, with the weather changes and the scenario elements active in every game. As well, we're running official events at three conventions; the first set already happened at ConGlomeration in Louisville, the next one is at ConCoction in Cleveland at the end of May, and the finale happens at AndoCon in Atlanta in June.”


Sean maintains that this is still just the tip of the iceberg. “I have so many incredible volunteers worldwide, and the fans are really driving this. We're not huge, and that's OK. That may come in time, but for now, we have a ton of people all helping to change the way gaming can happen at the table, online, and at conventions around the world as one truly shared experience, where each character's story and each GM's campaign has real and canonical significance to the official, published setting.”


Sean Patrick Fannon is the sole creator-owner of the Shaintar property; he shares the Evil Beagle Games DBA with Carinn Seabolt, and DriveThruRPG is the sole distributor of their products.