Tampa Bay Comic Con

I went to the Sunday of Tampa Bay Comic Con yesterday and I had a really good time at the convention. I'm working up a more detailed piece about it for Bleeding Cool, but my initial impressions were really good ones. I saw some great cosplayers in some spectacular costumes, I got to meet some great local comic creators and I even was able to see my friend +Norbert Cartagena and his niece (who I now feel guilty that I don't remember her name). I also got to meet artist, writer and designer Jim Steranko and writer Nick Cuti (co-creator of the comic character E-Man with Joe Stanton!).

I had a really good time, and the show opened my eyes to a local community of comics creators that I admit that I didn't know about before now. However, I've got some great comics that I picked up at the convention to rectify that situation, and I got a lot of business cards and email addresses of publishers, writers and artists. I am very excited about this, and I am excited about the things that I will be getting to write about. Expect to start hearing more about all of this both here at the Dorkland! blog and over at Bleeding Cool as well.

I was also finally able to meet with Cullen Bunn face to face. We've talked before on Twitter, and I ran an interview with him here on the blog about being a gamer. He and I talked for a bit about comics and gaming, and how he might be going to Gen Con again this year. We can only hope.

More to come!

Mapping The Multiverse

Maybe it is because I received a copy of the newly revised edition of the Supers! role-playing game in the mail today. Maybe it is because of the fact that Comic Con International: San Diego is going on and I am jealous of all of the comic-related news coming out of there.

I don't make a secret that I am a fan of Grant Morrison's work. I loved his Doom Patrol and Justice League runs more than is probably legal in a number of states. Moreso even than Warren Ellis and his Stormwatch/Authority run, I think that Morrison redefined the super-hero team book during his JLA run. So, today, at Comic Con, on the Multiversity panel (for Morrison's upcoming mini-series redefining the DC Comics Multiverse) they revealed maps of the Multiverse, according to Morrison's story.

What do these maps make me want to do? They make me want to run a super-hero game that runs across worlds and planes of existence. Something that kicks some major ass. On the panel Morrison said:

"It has a concordance of every earth, with who lives there and which superhero teams are there.  There is a big story there too with Kamandi and Batman,” Morrison added.  It will literally define each of the 52 universes explicitly while showing what is going on in each one.  It was inspired by an old issue of Jack Kirby‘s Kamandi where Kirby drew a map of the western hemisphere to show what has been happening in different places. 

 How can this be bad?

Constantine And Flash Pilots Leaked To The Internet

So, this week the pilot episodes for the upcoming The Flash and Constantine series were leaked to the internet. They are easy enough to find, if you are so inclined. This post is going to talk about these pilots, so if you don't want to know anything until they air...click away now.

12th Doctor Comic Coming This October From Titan Comics

Eagle award-winning writer Robbie Morrison (Drowntown, The Authority, 2000AD, Nikolai Dante) and New York Times-bestselling artist Dave Taylor (Batman: Death by Design, 2000AD) dive headfirst into the TARDIS console room and spin the new Doctor off to his most challenging destination yet!

As with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor ranges, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #1 comes with a beautiful regular cover painted by Alice X. Zhang, plus five other variants - including a "100% rebel Time Lord" photo cover and Mariano Laclaustra penned picture of Clara.

With the amazing storyline and fantastic interior art under lock and key at the time of going to press ­keep an eye on doctorwho.tv, titan-comics.com and the official BBC Doctor Who Facebook page for the official announcements!

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor is available to pre-order from comic stores tomorrow and will hit retailers on October 1.  Due to licensing restrictions,  fans in the UK and Ireland can only purchase this comic digitally.

Titan Comics' new Tenth and Eleventh Doctor ranges will hit comic book stores on July 23, and print or digital editions are available to pre-order now - for more information, visit titan-comics.com.

A Dorkland Interview with Max Brooks

Max Brooks, the best selling author of World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide, the comic book series Extinction Parade and the riveting historical graphic novel Harlem Hellfighters, sits down with Dorkland! to give us further insight on what makes undead creatures tick, what inspires his creations and a glimpse of what he is working on for the future.

Dorkland!: Thank you for taking the time for this interview. Before we discuss the new chapter of your Zombie vs. Vampires book, Extinction Parade: War, can you give a little background about your inspiration for writing the Extinction Parade single issue comics? What gave you the idea to put vampires into a world filled with zombies?

Max Brooks: I've written a lot about how countries and individual humans would survive a zombie outbreak, but I wanted to focus specifically on the emotional and psychological survival skills. Beyond the guns and blades and bottled water, there’s the mind and heart and without those you have nothing. Humans have proven themselves to be phenomenal survivalists and I believe that talent was earned clawing our way from the middle of the food chain. Our greatest strengths come from compensating for inherent weaknesses. Our problems have made us amazing problem solvers. But where would be if we had natural strengths; claws and fangs and agility and immortality? How soft and arrogant and unprepared for adversity would we be? That’s the problem with vampires. It’s a precarious place at the top of the food chain. I wanted to explore how vulnerable they are to a major crisis (and hopefully whisper a warning to some humans as well).

DL: In the beginning of Extinction Parade, the vampires find the initial chaos of the zombie outbreak to be entertaining and then advantageous. When some of them realize that their human food supply is on the verge of extinction they spring to action. Why are the vampires so unwilling or unable to predict this catastrophe earlier?

Max Brooks: Vampires have no history of adaptation. Why should they? They are apex predators. Life’s been very good to them. In my world humans have never hunted them, so anonymity is just one more supposed advantage.  To make matters worse (or better, at least in the short term), they have a class of human caretakers who do the grunt work and get their hands dirty with all the little details of life. This existence has made them comfortable and complacent. Unlike humans who are always looking over their shoulder, vampires just assume that they’ll be fine.

DL: Without giving away too much of the story, what can readers look forward to enjoying in Extinction Parade: War? Will we see the further development of the vampire characters that were introduced in the single issues?

Max Brooks: Definitely! Each issue will be a journey of self-discovery for vampires, which is in itself hard for a species that’s been too inward looking. Each issue they will have to make choices about HOW to fight the war against the zombies. Will it be more effective to go down the path of innovation, creating new tactics and weapons completely from scratch? Or will they just copy the humans and try to fight like them? They will also have to confront their limitations, both physical and mental. For a species that has never bothered (and never needed) to challenge themselves, this will come as a particularly cold shock. Lastly, they will discover something the world has never seen before, an entire army of nothing but Vampires.

DL: You have written a survival guide for humans to use in the event of a zombie invasion and also the various ways that people might fight against zombies in your work of fiction World War Z. What advantages do vampires have when battling the living dead?

Max Brooks: NONE. Every supposed advantage will turn out to be a disadvantage. Every physical strength will be paid for with a character weakness. As we will see, they are a painfully vulnerable.

DL: If you had to choose between the existence of zombies or vampires in the real world, which would you pick and why?

Max Brooks: Vampires, definitely. Zombies are a true threat to humanity. They are a potential extinction level event. Vampires are just a bunch of blood sucking parasites. Statistically, you’re more likely to be hit by a car than be killed by one of those well-dressed dear-ticks.

DL: Over the past several years there has been an unending stream of books, movies and comics that prominently feature zombies as well as a treasure trove of vampire-centric media. How would you respond to critics who dismiss the theme of the zombie or the vampire as a fad?

Max Brooks: I don’t dismiss them. Maybe they’re right. I have no idea what’s going to be popular and what’s not. I will say that I've been hearing about the zombie ‘fad’ being over since 2004 so go figure. As far as vampires, well, I will say that we don’t see as many vampire movies as a few years ago, but that’s mainly because the bulk of ‘Twilight’ fans have, by now, lost their virginity.

DL: From the different periods in human civilization that you reference in the "Recorded Attacks" chapter of the Zombie Survival Guide to your compellingly written graphic novel The Harlem Hellfighters about a real, heroic black regiment in World War I, you draw from history as an inspiration for your work. How do you go about researching these different histories?

Max Brooks: I’m always devouring history. I've been fascinated by it as long as I can remember. I’m always watching some new documentary or listening to an audio book on my ipad (dyslexia makes reading a challenge so audiobooks are how I compensate).  There’s always so much more to learn, you can never stop.  Specifically with Harlem Hellfighters, my sources were books, documentaries, and even the actual recordings from their regimental band. It’s one thing to read about early WWI jazz, but to listen to it, to hear that tinny voice and rapid beat is a much deeper education.

DL: In some of the other interviews you have given, you mentioned that you write about what interests you. Which of your  other interests could you see potentially influencing your future projects?

Max Brooks: I don’t like to give too much away. I've got a few things in the pipeline, but, right now, I have to finish The Extinction Parade comic series and the screenplay for the movie version The Harlem Hellfighters. That alone are more than enough work for the next 12 months.

Ordinary By Rob Williams And D'Israeli From Titan Comics

For me, picking up a comic with art by D'Israeli is a no brainer. I've been a fan of his art since Lazarus Churchyard and  Scarlet Traces. If you have no idea what those comics are, you should do yourself a favor and pick them up.

There are two things to think about with Ordinary: 1) this isn't an ordinary super-hero book and 2) this comic isn't anything ordinary.

Michael is a somewhat ordinary guy in Queens. He's a plumber. He's divorced from his wife, who has custody of their kid. He owes a Samoan criminal some money (that part might not be as ordinary). And then something happens...everyone else in the world suddenly gets weird powers or is transformed in some way into something different. It may have been triggered by terrorists, or an airplane accident.

Ordinary is an ongoing from Titan Comics from artist D'Israeli and writer Rob Williams.

Is this the apocalypse? It is hard to tell, but there is a lot happening in this issue. Michael is our eyes and ears into this story, and I like that approach. The fact that we don't know what is going on, why all of this weirdness is happening, gives the story more power. Too often comic stories over explain themselves and take away the mystery and wonder inherent in a lot of genres that are used in them. Writing a review of a new comic is difficult, because you don't want to spoil the story when you want other people to read it, and you want to spread your enthusiasm.

In a few ways, this issue reminded me of the Wildcards series edited by George R.R. Martin. You have the weirdness of super-heroes grounded in a real world, along with a trigger accident that causes the "birth" of super-powered individuals. Fans of that series will probably find this comic to be interesting as well.

Not since Grant Morrison and Richard Case on Doom Patrol have I seen a comic that embraces the strangeness of the super-hero genre and at the same time presents that strangeness in such a matter of fact manner. This book was a page turner, and while I didn't get the explanations that I hoped would come with each new page that didn't disappoint me. What did disappoint me was when I realized that I finished the book and would have to wait a month for the next issue to come.

If you're looking for sophisticated comic story telling devoid of most of the cliches that you will find in those other super-hero books you really need to check out Ordinary. You won't be disappointed. This comic reminds me of the 90s and Vertigo Comics, when you had comic creators who still wanted to use the old super-heroes but tell stories that would appeal to grown-up sensibilities.

You should run out to your comic store (or Comixology, the digital version is available there) and pick this up. You should put it on your pull list and keep getting it, month after month.

Super-Soldiers And Super-Spies For Fate Accelerated.

Many of you probably know that I am a fan of the Agents of SHIELD show on ABC. With the Captain America The Winter Soldier movie coming out tomorrow, I decided that I needed to put up something inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe that was gameable. This mini-setting for the Fate Accelerated rules (although you can just as easily use it with Fate Core) hits the spot that I was looking for. It gives a Gm the starting framework to build a campaign using the Cinematic Universe as an inspiration, while creating your own adventures.

You can download the PDF over here. Let me know what you think either here, over at G+ or on Twitter.

March Book One By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell

While at MegaCon last weekend I inadvertently stumbled upon the Top Shelf Productions booth and found what is one of the most powerful comic book stores that I have encountered in a long time.

March Book One is a biographical comic, based on the life of U.S. Representative John Lewis, and written by his aide Andrew Aydin with art by Nate Powell.

One of the great things about picking up a book for the first time at a comic convention is that you often get to meet the creators. Aydin's enthusiasm for his writing on the book and Lewis' life was infectious and got me to pick up the book. I don't think that a comic creator's direct enthusiasm has influenced me as much since I met David Mack back in the 90s, and he sold me on his Kabuki comic. Of course, these two have little in common outside of an emotional impact.

This first book in a trilogy talks about Lewis' early life as the child of Alabama sharecroppers, up through his college years and early involvement in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Early on, Lewis' empathy is shown, in his treatment of the farm's chickens when he was a child. This sets the stage for what would become his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.

Don't think that is is a dry recital of facts and dates, like some high school history course. Through Aydin's talent as a writer, Lewis and the people in his life are vivid and engaging as you follow them through their fight for equality. Powell's art beautifully compliments the writing and helps to bring the writing to life.

It is amazing how much you think that you know about a subject, until someone who was actually there shows how little that you really know. This book is like that. Not in a "trying to teach a lesson" kind of way, but with the methods that can only come from natural storytellers like Lewis and Aydin. It is obvious from the writing that Aydin has a great deal of respect for Lewis and his accomplishments, and after reading this first book it is a respect that we all have as well.

I don't think that I can speak highly enough of this book. This comic is something that I am going to stick into the faces of friends for years to come, telling them that they need to read this book. In fact the point of this review is that you need to read this book. One of the things that I talked about with Aydin, while he signed my copy of the book, was that comic, and really all forms of geek media from games to movies, need to expand beyond the power fantasies that you often find and explore new territories with emotional maturity. This comic shows how you can do that.

If it isn't obvious yet, you need to pick up this book (and the next two parts when they come out).

Horror Writer Nancy A. Collins Relaunches Horror Classic Vampirella

March 5, 2014, Mt. Laurel, NJ:  Dynamite is proud to announce that Nancy A. Collins, the author of Sunglasses After Dark and Vamps, will revive the iconic horror series Vampirella with a #1 issue in June.  Collins will be joined by talented artist Patrick Berkenkotter (Avengers/Invaders) for the new ongoing series.  Superstar illustrator Terry Dodson will provide the main cover, while a veritable who's who of industry talent will provide variant collectible covers.

"I'm very excited about taking over the reins on Vampirella," says Nancy Collins. "I've really been enjoying myself so far. In celebration of her 45th anniversary, I'm returning the book's focus to its horror roots and giving Vampirella a slightly darker edge.  Dynamite has been wonderful to work with, and have given me a great deal of support.  It's been some time since I last wrote for comics, and it feels great to be back!"

As the debut "Our Lady of Shadows" story arc begins, supernatural heroine Vampirella is sent by the Vatican to investigate the kidnapping of a little girl by the Cult of Chaos... only to become the centerpiece of a ritual invoking Lady Umbra, the sister-bride of Chaos.  Of the fateful repercussions, Collins says, "Vampirella's life is turned completely upside down, and she finds herself having to team up with the strangest bedfellow imaginable in order to battle both a demonic threat and an elite Vatican hit-squad."

Nancy A. Collins has spent the last twenty years writing novels, short stories, and comic books for fans of the supernatural, paranormal, and fantastical.  Her prose works include Sunglasses After Dark, featuring punk vampire slayer Sonja Blue, the YA series Vamps, a collection of Weird Western tales called Dead Man's Hand, and a collection of Southern Gothic stories entitled Knuckles & Tales.  Her comic book work includes Swamp Thing, Jason vs. Leatherface, Machina Jones, and Predator: Hell Come A'Walkin.

Artist Patrick Berkenkotter is a staple of Dynamite Entertainment, having contributed artwork to such titles as Red Sonja, Dark Shadows/Vampirella, Project: Superpowers, and two Dynamite/Marvel crossovers, Avengers/Invaders and The Torch.  "I cannot sing Vampirella artist Patrick Berkenkotter's praises loudly of often enough," says Collins.  "His pencils are spectacular, and he's able to make her sexy, menacing, and bad-ass all at the same time.  I think the fans are going to be pleased with his work when they pick up Vampirella #1, and I hope they take me to heart as well."

"My first exposure to Nancy's writing was in the pages of Swamp Thing, and I've always remembered her run.  When Gail (Simone) suggested Nancy to write one of the anniversary stories in Legends of Red Sonja, it was a great reminder of how good of a writer Nancy is.  As we were prepping for Vampirella's relaunch, and were discussing potential writers, Joe (Rybandt, Sr. Editor) commented that since we all liked Nancy's Red Sonja story, why not approach her.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Patrick illustrating Nancy's story, and Terry Dodson coming on board as the main cover artist really compliment the series as we go in to Vampirella's 45th Anniversary.  I'm confident that fans are going to love Nancy's take on Vampirella, and be in it for the long haul.  It's that damn good."  States Dynamite CEO/Publisher Nick Barrucci.

Dynamite will celebrate the new Vampirella series with a variety of cover options, including a Main cover by Terry Dodson (X-Men, Wonder Woman), Retailer Incentive covers by Jenny Frison, Sergio Fernandez Davila, Jack Jadson, Mimi Yoon, Ken Haeser, and a Subscription cover by Stephanie Buscema dedicated to those hardcore fans who place preorders with their local comic retailers.  Sergio Fernandez Davila (Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure) has also created a Retailer Exclusive Variant image that can be tailored to promote individual comic shops.

Vampirella #1 will be solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors' April Previews catalog, the premiere source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market, and slated for release in June 2014.  Comic book fans are encouraged to reserve copies of Vampirella with their local comic book retailers.  Vampirella will also be available for individual customer purchase through digital platforms courtesy of Comixology, iVerse, and Dark Horse Digital.

"LIKE" DYNAMITE'S FACEBOOK PAGE TODAY!
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Join the conversation on Dynamite Entertainment's twitter page at http://twitter.com/DynamiteComics.

To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/.

For art and more information, please visit: http://ww.dynamite.com/

Alien Legion Returns Again!

In a galaxy savaged by strife, torn by civil war, boiling with spilt blood, Alien Legion is a cosmic military force doing its damnedest to keep the peace by being always ready for war.

At the tip of the Legion's multi-species spear is Force Nomad – the worst of the worst fashioned on the white-hot forge of battle into the best of the best. Now the squad's grizzled veterans are on what should be a boring milk run; shepherding refugees fleeing a civil war ripping apart their system. Could be a good chance to to toughen the newbies of Nomad into soldiers... until straight-up peacekeeping descends into full-scale war!

This brand-new series brings together the creative giants behind the legendary original Alien Legion stories: Chuck Dixon (Punisher War Journal, Savage Sword of Conan, Batman and the Outsiders) and Carl Potts (The Punisher, The Incredible Hulk) with fantastic art by Larry Stroman! (Wolverine, The Punisher).

A must-have for any fan of the original run, this is also the perfect point for new fans to hit Alien Legion's hot LZ! Get to it, ya damn bospors!

ALIEN LEGION: UNCIVIL WAR #1 hits stores on June 25.

Elric and Void Lead New Wave Of European Graphic Novels From Titan Comics

Following the phenomenal runaway success of Snowpiercer, Titan Comics continues in its bold mission of presenting the highest quality European graphic novels to a brand-new audience!

Titan Comics is thrilled to announce that Elric: The Ruby Throne & Void will be published in deluxe hardcover editions this September!

Elric: The Ruby Throne is the first in a series of graphic adaptations of legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock’s signature creation Elric. Written by Julien Blondel and beautifully illustrated by Robin Recht, Didier Poli & Jean Bastide, this new comic adaptation of the Elric of Melniboné novels has been produced with the full and enthusiastic endorsement of Moorcock himself, who provides an exclusive introduction to this edition!

“The best graphic adaptation of the story,” writes Moorcock, “has to be the current one by Julien Blondel and his team. This is perhaps the first graphic version of Elric fully to capture the sense of utter decadence I tried to convey in the books.”

Gripping science-fiction thriller Void is illustrated by superstar artist Sean Phillips (Fatale, Criminal, Sleeper) and written by Herik Hanna (Bad Ass). Concerning the sole survivor of an interstellar prison ship, this tense and atmospheric graphic novel is Phillips’ first venture into science fiction!

“We’re very excited to be launching a range of European graphic novels, spear-headed by Mike Moorcock’s Elric and Sean & Herik’s Void,” said Nick Landau, Titan publisher.

From late 2014, Titan Comics will follow Elric: The Ruby Throne and VOID with a host of new projects including best-selling medieval thriller The Third Testament: The Chronicles of Legion, which is the prequel to Fabien Nury & John Cassaday’s I Am Legion, and The Rage; a shocking horror about zombie children.

Void will hit comic and book stores from September 2, 2014.

Elric: The Ruby Throne will hit comic and book stores from September 16, 2014.

Void and Elric: The Ruby Throne will also be available to read on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com

To keep up-to-date with news from Titan Comics, visit www.titan-comics.com , join us on Facebook or follow @comicstitan on Twitter.

Sneak Peak At The New Doctor Who Comics From Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: THE TENTH DOCTOR #1
Regular cover by Alice X. Zhang

THE TENTH DOCTOR IS BACK, IN AN ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES! NEW COMPANION! NEW HORIZONS! UNFORGETTABLE NEW FOES! ALLONS-Y!

Eisner Award-winning writer Nick Abadzis (Laika) and fan-favorite artist Elena Casagrande (Angel, Suicide Risk, Doctor Who, Star Trek) take control of the TARDIS for their first five-issue arc with the Tenth Doctor! And don't miss the second arc, by fellow series architect Robbie Morrison (Drowntown, Nikolai Dante, The Authority)!

On-sale July 23, 2014


DOCTOR WHO: THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR #1
Regular cover by Alice X. Zhang

THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR RETURNS IN AN ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES, WITH A TIME-TWISTING LEAP INTO THE UNKNOWN! GERONIMO!

Series architects Al Ewing (Loki: Agent of Asgard, Mighty Avengers, Trifecta) and Rob Williams (Revolutionary War, Ordinary, Miss Fury, The Royals: Masters of War, Trifecta) kick off a whirlwind adventure through eternity for the Eleventh Doctor, with artist Simon Fraser (Nikolai Dante, Grindhouse, Doctor Who)!

On-sale July 23, 2014

A Dorkland! Interview -- Bulletproof Blues Second Edition with Brandon Blackmoor

Despite being in one of the busiest points of a Kickstarter -- the final stretch -- we here at Dorkland managed to get an interview with Brandon Blackmoor about Bulletproof Blues and its Kickstarter.

Dorkland!: How has the Kickstarter experience been for you so far? Is there anything that you have learned since launching the campaign that you wish you knew prior?

Brandon Blackmoor: I should have looked at the ratio of PDF vs. print backers of other RPG projects. I underestimated how many backers would elect for a print reward level, and the net revenue from print reward levels is (for us) about 50 cents on the dollar vs 85 cents on the dollar for PDF reward levels. As a result, I needed to adjust the price points of our stretch goals about mid-way through the first week.

DL: Why set your Kickstarter campaign in a more incremental fashion? Why the sample character artwork first?

BB: Originally, all of the art came first and all of the supplemental written material came after. This was based on the assumption that people would prefer to improve the core book before wanting add-ons. After the first week, I polled the backers (approx 60 at that time) to see how they would prefer the stretch goals were structured. This indicated that they were much more interested in the supplemental material than I thought, so we re-arranged the stretch goals accordingly (at that time, none of the stretch goals had been met).

DL: One of the features of the Kickstarter (and Bulletproof Blues, in general) is a creative commons license -- why have it?

BB: Because one of the primary purposes of Bulletproof Blues is to provide an open game system that anyone can use to build their own game. In my opinion, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike is superior to the OGL for this purpose.

DL: What sets Bulletproof Blues apart from other supers RPGs?

BB: Task resolution is simple, combat is fast, powers are flexible and diverse, and the available range of power levels is deliberately broad. It follows a middle path between the complexity of games like Mutants and Masterminds and the simplicity of games like Bash (which are both fine games).

DL: What does the Kalos Universe have to offer people who are not familiar with it, but are familiar with DC or Marvel? Or people who are not very familiar with any supers setting?

BB: Kalos Universe is our own superhero setting. It allows the players to have a relatively minimal pre-made setting without the baggage that comes with DC or Marvel. That being said, most of the tropes you would want in DC or Marvel are there, or could easily be added. For that matter, if you want to play a DC or Marvel game with Bulletproof Blues, feel free.

DL: On the Kickstarter page Bulletproof Blues is described as a 'setting-dark' superhero RPG -- what exactly is meant by that?

BB: It's really only “dark” in comparison most mainstream superhero games. The authorities don't turn a blind eye to posthuman activities, and relatively few posthumans put on spandex and try to save or rule the world. Most posthumans have the same goals everyone else does: money, power, and fame. Of the themes of the setting is that most people are not “heroes” or “villains”. There is a great deal of grey in the world (but we assume that the PCs will be a lighter shade of grey than most of their antagonists). Also, posthumans are dangerous: even a relatively low-powered posthuman could kill a normal person pretty easily. That's a bit different from most superhero games.

DL: What are some of the bigger changes to the rules of Bulletproof Blues with this second edition?

BB: The rules really aren't changing. We are adding a few small additions (such as “Skill Mastery”, an advantage which confers a +3 task bonus to task rolls when not in combat). For the most part, the changes are cosmetic: new art, new layout, larger format, new character sheet design. We are also replacing the How To Play and How to GM sections with a “GM Resources” section that will provide some additional setting material and (hopefully) some good advice on running Bulletproof Blues, specifically.

DL: How compatible will content created for the first edition of the rules be with the second edition?

BB: Completely.

DL: Supers settings can get crazy (in a good way) -- what is a moment of Bulletproof Blues gaming that you have experienced and felt really exemplified the game?

BB: One of my favorites was when a character snuck into a mental hospital to examine the personal effects of a dangerous sociopath who had died under mysterious circumstances. You probably had to be there.

DL: Lastly, what was the most interesting Bulletproof Blues character you have seen, created or played?

BB: Probably the strangest was Frogger, who was played the nine-year-old son of a friend of mine. Frogger was a swamp monster who'd been living in the bayous near New Orleans since the 1800s.

We here at Dorkland! would like to thank Brandon for his time and wish him the best with the Kickstarter, which has long since met its funding goal and is nearly past its third stretch goal! If you would like more information on Bulletproof Blues Second Edition be sure to check out its Kickstarter page and Kalos Comics' website.

Gary Reed Talks About The Return of Caliber Comics

Since I've been talking about DeadWorld (and I have a feeling that I am going to eventually be moving into talking about other Caliber books as I go through my comic long boxes), I should include a link to Gary Reed's blog talking about their "return." It is an interesting article and I think it really gets to the core of what Caliber Comics was as a company that published creator owned comics, and what that means in a contemporary comic market where comic publishers have been relegated to the role of creating and maintaining IP for the purposes of making movies and TV shows.

Go over, read Gary's blog and see what you think. Hopefully you'll want to support the company, too.

Gary Reed: The Return of Caliber: "Last week, I announced that Caliber Comics was returning.  The idea of the announcement wasn't to issue some proclamation of big..."

DeadWorld Monday: Mississipi Queen

The third issue of DeadWorld is called Mississippi Queen, after the song from Mountain. I'm going to assume that you haven't haven't heard it before.

In the beginning of the issue the characters are listening to the song on the bus (I'm assuming on a tape player, since there aren't radio stations anymore and now CDs will never be invented).

This issue picks up almost immediately after the last, with the characters on the run after getting out of Slaughter, and filling up the bus with gas again.

I think that we get more hints that there is more to what is going on in DeadWorld than just zombies. Like the scene from last issue (with the character who I said would be important), the cover hints at magical creatures who aren't zombies. These impish creatures are definitely something weird and different.

The reason that this issue is entitled Mississippi Queen has to do with the characters finding a riverboat. It makes sense to hide out on a boat, right? Zombies can't swim after all. Right? Obviously nothing will go wrong with this plan.

One of the things that happens, once the characters get onto the boat, is that we get reminded that despite everything that is happening, these are just kids. We get one of the rare glimpses into seeing them be kids, rather than zombie killers.

The respite is a short one because King Zombie has found them again. I need to look a bit more closely at the first two issue now, because I'm not sure if he has been called anything other than "the motorcycle riding geek" by the characters. We know his name, as readers, but that might have just been because he was answering the letter column. Silly, I know, but still fun.

Zombies don't have to be able to swim.

When Dan encounters King Zombie, this might be where the characters first discover that he can talk, as well. These talking zombies are also able to exert control over the less intelligent zombies as well, calling the zombies to them and forcing them to act. The shore is swarming with zombies as King Zombie forces the boat back to the shore, surprising the characters with an attack of zombies that they have to fight off.

We get another interlude in this issue as well, and this time the "crazy" character who might have been hallucinating those fantastic creatures is given a name. We're still not sure if what he sees are hallucinations or reality, but the continuation of the combined with this issues cover hints that these may not be hallucinations.

Once again I am amazed at what Vince Locke is able to convey with his art. Yes, it is very cartoony in places (particularly this part where he is trying to cast doubt on the reality of the scene), but his art is just as instrumental in creating the new reality of the DeadWorld as is the writing.

Something is growing with these interludes. Were the zombies somehow intentional? It appears that this Deake (and people he knew) is somehow behind the zombie influx...but this seems to be saying that he might have been manipulated by outside forces into doing whatever happened that brought the dead back.

We still have a lot to find out.

The issue ends with zombies swarming onto the riverboat, the characters trapped. Dan is unconscious, perhaps incapacitated, and the characters face overwhelming odds while down their best fighter. What is going to happen next?

Let's see what happens next Monday.

Deadworld Monday: It's A Slaughter

In issue two of DeadWorld we get a lot of violence and combat. It really isn't that much different from the violence and combat in the first issue, but much of this issue hits us with the fact that this is a story about survival. Not just this issue, but the DeadWorld comic in general.

The schoolbus runs out of gas after the "gang" flees the onslaught of zombies from the last issue. They have a plan, sort of, to get somewhere out West where there are fewer people and hopefully fewer zombies. Mike, the erstwhile leader of the group, goes into the closest town for gasoline and maybe a spare vehicle.

The characters not only need a plan, they need to be able to get along better with each other. This isn't because of worry over someone's feelings...this is a matter of survival. Keep in mind that, as far as the characters know, the group of them are the only survivors of this zombie invasion. They haven't seen any other living people yet. This is why Mike takes Dan with him into town. He knows that, as the leader, he has to find a way to get everyone cooperating and working together. If they can't trust each other, they are not going to survive.

The closest town? Slaughter, Louisiana, and (of course there are zombies).

There is also an interlude, a very psychedelic interlude where we are introduced to a character who is running through the woods and seeing things that may (or may not) be there. This is going to be an important character to the story, but I'm not going to give that away here. Not just yet. There is also a page that shows why Vince Locke is a great artist, even at this early stage in his career. If you really need a reason to pick up this issue of DeadWorld, this page will probably be that reason. This page also hints that there is something more to all of this than zombies. We will get to that as well.

The man from the interlude may (or may not) be being chased by these creatures. You aren't going to find monsters this weird in even the weirdest of the weird fantasy RPGs. This page is a bestiary all on its own.

However, this interlude is going to be very important to the overall story of DeadWorld. Just not yet.

After the interlude we go back to Mike and Dan in the town. Like any plan, theirs starts off working well...and then zombies. There are a lot of zombies in this town, more probably than could be accounted for by the dead rising. It is almost starting to look as if a lot of people have been transformed into zombies as well. Is this a plague of some sort?

The violence is cartoony at times in these early issues, but that's intentional. It seems to me that it is trying to make the situation of zombies being all over more "real" by notching up the violence to suit the surreality of the situation. I could also be talking out of my ass.

The boys make it out, and head back to the bus with a new truck and a bunch of gasoline. That mission is accomplished without any harm to Mike and Dan. Back at the bus we have the relationships developing more as the kid tells Chris that John (who has been unconscious since the last zombie attack) loves her.

Once again we get the blend of zombies, violence and relationships that will be a hallmark of the DeadWorld comics. There is going to be interesting development to our characters as they explore their new world and the people (living and non-living in it. Honestly, I think that is one of my favorite things about this comic, is that there is a story that is unfolding. It isn't an accidental either, as we'll see in these posts there is a plan to this book. We also haven't seen the last of the intelligent zombies either. They are very important to this story.

Next week we will see what happens next, in issue three.

If you like this post, click on the link at the beginning of it and buy the issue in electronic form from from DriveThruComics. It is an affiliate link, so it will help out the blog and you're making a purchase from the creators...so that helps them out as well. It's only .99 cents, and for that you get the incredible Vince Locke page earlier in this post. That alone is worth almost a dollar.

More SuperFAE: Big Bang Comics

A favorite comic of mine for a long time was Big Bang Comics. A part of the independent comics boom of the 80s and 90s, Big Bang Comics grew out of Gary Carlson's Megaton comic. Carlson and partner Chris Ecker, were part of the Detroit scene that also brought us Caliber Comics and Kevin Siembieda of Palladium Games. While there were original characters like The Sphinx or Doctor Weird, many of the Big Bang Comics characters were homages to Golden and Silver Age comics characters like Batman or Superman. True, characters like Ultiman and Knight Watchman did have enough twists to them to make them into unique characters, it was easy to differentiate them from their inspirations.

Big Bang Comics ran for a while as a mini-series done in conjunction with Caliber Comics (where I first encountered the comic by finding it in a bagged set in a K-Mart), and then as a full color series published through Image Comics. The character of Knight Watchman first appeared in Carlson's Berzerker, a post apocalyptic comic published by Caliber Comics that (to me) bridged the universes of the Megaton comic with that of Big Bang Comics.

Today I needed to do something a little uplifting today, so I decided to revisit my SuperFAE rules hack for the Fate Accelerated and talk about some of the characters from Big Bang Comics, and how I would address them under these rules. The SuperFAE stuff is still a work in progress, so this post may contradict or add to what I had previously posted. In all cases, stick to the most current rules implementations, as they supersede previous writings.

In case you missed my first SuperFAE past, you can read it here.

Because of its freeform nature, SuperFAE fits well with the freeform nature of the comics. Not familiar with Big Bang Comics? Click here for more information about them.

Knight Watchman is Reid Randall, a fashion designer and wealthy owner of the family clothing business. Yes, that's right the "Batman" of the Big Bang Comics Universe is a fashion designer. While Reid was still in college, training to compete in the Olympics, mobsters attempted a hostile takeover of the family clothing business, killing his older brother Ted (who currently ran the family business) and Ted's wife with a car bomb.

Using his athletic prowess, and garment making skills, he fashioned himself a simple costume to hide his identity, allowing him to track down the gangsters who killed his brother. After finding and defeating the gangsters, he dressed them up in women's clothing and left them to be found by the police. Sadly, this did not become his M.O. for apprehending criminals after he decided to become a costumed hero.

Realizing that there were others in need of help, oppressed by crime, in his hometown of Midway City, Reid took the identity of Knight Watchman and became the Twilight Paladin of Midway City.

These would be the aspects that I would use for Knight Watchman in a game:

High Concept: Twilight Paladin of Midway City
Origin: Using His Training For The Good Of Those Around Him
Trouble: Must Keep His True Identity A Secret!

For his other aspects, being that Knight Watchman is a fairly black and white character, in terms of morality, I would probably use Must Do The Right Thing! and Square-Jawed Hero. Those give him a certain Silver Age charm, without hamstringing the character at the same time.

For Knight Watchman's approaches I would do this:

Fighting +3
Agility +4
Strength +0
Endurance +1
Reason +3
Intuition +2
Psyche +1

While Knight Watchman is a fighter, he is also a thinking super-hero. Some may think that the +0 for the Strength approach isn't going to be enough, but rather than thinking of it as Mediocre (like the +0 ranking in Fate) I prefer to think of it as being human normal. A good way around this would be to give the character a stunt that would let them give damage with their Agility, instead of their strength:

Because I am a trained Olympic athlete, I can use my Agility to attack and damage people when I spend a Fate Point.

Ultiman is the Ultimate Human Being, and as former astronaut Christopher Kelly is the stand in for Superman in the Big Bang Comics universe. When Kelly was an astronaut on one of the Gemini space missions, his rocket was struck by a mysterious meteor. The radioactive rock bathed Kelly in its strange rays, making him faster, stronger, invulnerable to most harm, and able to fly. The radioactive energies supercharged his cells, turning him into a superhuman power battery.

Later in his career, this would turn on Kelly, as his energies dwindled and he looked for ways to reclaim his glories as America's foremost super-hero.

Concept: America's Super-Hero
Origin: Changed By A Radioactive Meteor Into The Ultimate Human Being
Trouble: Living Battery Of Supercharged Power

The nice thing about the trouble is that it can be Invoked or Compelled to represent Kelly's powers when they start to ebb, as well as when they are at peak capacity. This was, after all, how we first saw Ultiman, later in his life, when he appeared in Megaton Comics.

Fighting +3
Agility +2
Strength +4
Endurance +3
Reason +0
Intuition +1
Psyche +1

While super-powerful physically, Kelly is mostly unchanged mentally by the radiation that gave him his superpowers. When his powers are at his peak, I would give the following Power Stunt:

Because I am supercharged with energies, I can have a +2 to one of my approaches, when I spend a Fate Point.

The nice thing about the Fate Point economy is that it can be used to represent things like a super-hero whose powers ebb and flow. Without a Fate Point, Ultiman is just his "normal" self. While all of this is good for representing a Silver Age version of the character, if you want a modern version of the character just fill out his aspects with Must Find More Energy! or Hungry For That Recharge to simulate the fact that the radioactive energies in Kelly's cells is dwindling. Powerful electrical charges, or other intense energy discharges can also power up Kelly, for situations when Ultiman needs to be even more ultimate.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for the Big Bang Comics universe, but it gives you two characters that can be used as examples for creating your own SuperFAE characters. I know that there's interest in more posts about the SuperFAE rules, and this is trying to fulfill that. If you also want to see me talk more about the Big Bang Comics characters, let me know and I can do that too.