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.

Magic World Errata And Clarifications

It is probably not a surprise for any of you to discover that I'm a fan of Chaosium and their latest fantasy game, Magic World. The Magic World game is almost as if Chaosium is retro-cloning themselves. The game is the old Elric!/Stormbringer 5e game from them, with all of the Moorcockian references stripped out and a fine fantasy game let in it's wake.

If you're looking for a lightweight BRP game that has everything you need in one book (including compatibility with the Big Gold Book BRP book), this is the game for you.

As a service, I have come across a document of errata and clarifications to share with you. Click here and find it on Google Drive. Three pages, not too bad really.

The Geeky Voices Carry Page

You may, or may not, know that we have a video blog/podcast called Geeky Voices Carry. Well, if you didn't know before, now you do. I have set up a page for the podcast. You will find all of the videos for our live recordings, as well as a link to the Podcast Garden site that hosts the podcast version.

Tonight we record our 10th episode, so if you haven't listened yet you can start now and get all caught up. There is a link to the page at the top of the screen, right under the blog's banner, or you can click here.

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.

Invisibles Friday: Poor People Gonna Rise Up...

So, every Friday now I am going to post about an issue of the Grant Morrison comic The Invisibles. Part of me wants to just pick issues at random and talk about them, but I'll be good and stick to talking about the run in order. I'm going to be honest, despite having loved comics like The Doom Patrol and Sebastian O, I was not a huge fan of this comic at first. The first story arc  just didn't connect with me like some of Morrison's previous work had done.

I read the first story arc and decided that the book wasn't for me.

Then months later I read about the controversy surrounding the book in the comic press (back in the days when we read magazines to find out about what was going on in comics). DC Comics had some dialog changed in the book, in one case a line spoken by the Marquis de Sade was changed so that it would not sound as if children were being "used" in the story, and in another case a reference to Walt Disney was blacked out. What is interesting is the fact that both bits were restored to what Morrison intended in the collected editions.

However, the article that talked about the censoring also talked about the second story arc Arcadia, and the article intrigued me enough to pick the book back up and start reading it again. I didn't stop until the book ended its run.

The Invisibles has received a lot of press and critical thought over the years. I am not sure what this series is going to contribute to that body of work, but we will see. My intention isn't to be scholarly or to compile annotations. I am just going to go through each issue, give my thoughts and impressions and talk about what I saw in that book. Breaking down all of the magical symbolism will probably take a stronger mind than mine.

Beetles and Beatles play an important role in this first issue. Beetles play an important part in the symbolism of birth and rebirth, and that is the running theme of this first story arc (and most of the run of The Invisibles as well). Dane McGowan must be reborn into his role of Jack Frost in order to save the world from Armageddon. This is a theme that Morrison uses often. His JLA run dealt with the Earth's super-heroes running up against the ultimate Armageddon in the form of the sleeping God Weapon Mageddon. This wasn't an unusual theme around the millennium.

John Lennon is the other Beatle toplay a part in the story. Dane see him talking with Stuart Sutcliffe on the banks of a Liverpool river, a moment of soft time when the past and the future were able to touch. Later in the issue Lennon is adapted in Chaos Magick style into a psychedelic Godshead and summoned by King Mob as an augury of the future.

Is Lennon actually being summoned, or it is just a metafictional trick of King Mob's unconscious mind, telling him what he already knows to be true? In a book like The Invisibles the answer can go either way.

For a lot of people, Grant Morrison is a fairly incomprehensible writer. He certainly doesn't write the typical comic book stories, whether he's working on a book like The Invisibles or comics like New X-Men or JLA. He has a certain psychedelic style (of which the above page is fairly representative) and an enthusiasm for the medium that I find contagious. I may not like everything that he does, but when he is on I think he is one of the best writers in comics.

The antagonists introduced in this issue show two of Morrison's influences writ large: Williams S. Burroughs and H.P. Lovecraft. The reason that I use the more generic term of "antagonist," because I am not always convinced that King Mob and his Invisibles cell are always the hero of this story. Even as the "good guys," they do a lot of things that don't set them that far from the antagonists.

Control is bad. Freedom is awesome. It is Michael Moorcock's Law versus Chaos, D&D great, eternal conflict, done up in comic book form. This isn't anything new, really. DC Comics has used a version of Moorcock's Law vs. Chaos for decades in their book. This won't be the only time that Moorcock's influence will show up in this book.

I think that for me, a big part of the appeal of this book (once it really had my attention) was the fact that it took a lot of the things that I was interested in: Moorcock, Lovecraft, Burroughs; and wrote about them in a new context. Throughout the run we will see visits from the Divine Marquis, Borges and P.K. Dick on the evolving story as well.

One thing that I will likely get to in one of these posts was the Grant Morrison Versus Warner Brothers story that happened, as Morrison claimed that the movie The Matrix took some of the concepts of The Invisibles without crediting him for them. As we will see, the theme of initiation (so important to occult thinking) will be important to this first story arc, and as initiation is a fairly universal literary/mystic theme it is not unusual that stories that deal with the theme will have some points of commonality.

Corridors are an important theme as well, as they are symbolic of journeys and traveling. This is something that will pop up more than once as we go through these comics.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty. How did this comic hold up? I almost wish that I hadn't read these comics in a long while, so that I could come at them with a fresher perspective. That said, I do still think that they hold up fairly well. Grant Morrison's The Invisibles is part of a British cultural "invasion," not all that different from the invasion lead by The Beatles in the 60s. Morrison's work represents a comic/literary aspect, falling in step with musicians like Blur and Oasis, of a movement that took the popular culture of the past and synthesized it into something that was representative of the (then) current times. A lot of the fears and insecurities that The Invisibles comments upon are still plaguing the world as well.

With The Invisibles, Morrison gives us a millennial view of Britian in comic book form, not dis-similar to what Jamie Delano gave us in the 80s with Hellblazer, the first John Constantine solo comic. Both of these comics are an attempt to look into the psyche of the nation of their respective times. In a way, it builds upon the British comics culture started by magazines like 2000AD and creators like Pat Mills.

As we will see, more even than mainstream books like JLA or even Aztek, The Invisibles will show us the heights and depths of Morrison's powers as a creator. Some of his greatest storytelling is going to happen in these pages, and we are going to go along for the ride.

Why should you read The Invisibles if you haven't already? Well, if you like any of the authors that I have listed as being influential on this comic then you might like this comic as well. If you are looking for a comic that makes you think, is more than just a passive form of storytelling, and that deals with more than just comic book super-heroes, you should check out The Invisibles. Sometimes horror, sometimes fantasy and sometimes science fiction, this comic is most likely the story that Morrison was meant to tell in comics. So, even if you have only read his work on Batman, or Action Comics, check out a couple of the early issues of this on Comixology or pick up the first trade from your local comic store (or your preferred internet seller) and give it a try. There's a lot in here for gamers to find as well. If you're looking for something new for your modern horror or adventure campaigns, you could do much worse than to tap into the energies of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles.

Next week we will be back with a look at the second issue.

Now, since music was an important influence on Morrison's writing I am going to close with an unrelated music video. I think that it ties in well enough with the story of Dane that I named this post after a quote from it.

We're talking about a revolution...

A Dorkland! Interview -- Mutant Chronicles 3rd Ed. with Chris Birch

Despite running a wildly popular Kickstarter, Chris Birch of Modiphius Entertainment still managed to find some time to answer some of the questions we here at Dorkland! had about Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition and its Kickstarter.

 

Dorkland!: Have you learned anything new from the Mutant Chronicles Kickstarter and what might that be?

Chris Birch: Good question - well I would say that there are so many massive Mutant Chronicles fans who've just been waiting for the return of this awesome game. I keep being surprised every day as more and more join in the Kickstarter - it's like people are coming home!

DL: You've run a very successful Kickstarter before and are currently running another very successful one -- what do you feel is your reason for such success?

CB: I think it's about the huge amount of ground work we do before we get to the Kickstarter - building up the fan base, talking to them, finding out what people really want, not just what we think they want then using that to steer our cool ideas. We already knew what we were going to do with the story, but learning what products people wanted to see first, and what aspects of the Mutant Chronicles universe were more important was a huge help in shaping the releases. We had been playtesting with over 400 groups over 6 months so once you get to those kinds of numbers you can have a great start to the Kickstarter. But then it's about keeping up the hard work. You don't just sit back; you are constantly talking to people, responding, giving feedback, creating new graphics, art and sculpts to show off to keep the excitement level high. So many people think they can stick their new idea on Kickstarter with no backup, no research, and no effort day by day - and that's why not every project succeeds. We're often up till 3am working on the Kickstarter, but also the day to day business of Modiphius and it's really hard work - which is why not everyone is willing to do it. I will say though it's such rewarding work - as you see the response of your efforts almost immediately and get to talk to people who are as passionate as us. 

DL: Mutant Chronicles was created in the 1990's and the old editions show it. Will you be doing any updates to the setting to bring it more in-line with modern technological sensibilities? If so, how? Or, if not, why?

CB: The setting was actually very diesel punk although they called it techno-fantasy. The techno-fantasy is still there but we're defining the tech levels before and after the outbreak of the Dark Symmetry - what do the ships look like before the computer systems fail, and what do they end up looking like. We've drawn together all the disparate stories and timelines in to one, worked out the backstory, filled in some of the odd gaps and answered questions left hanging so people are going to discover all of this through the books. The big thing about the setting is it sits nicely in the diesel punk genre that's appeared which is where it's a 1940's/50's era of technology, everything's bigger and chunkier than it needs to be, engines are massive, vehicles huge, shoulder pads bigger! This all works with the 90's era of design they had at the time, and as we develop the looks of the worlds, buildings, ships and more it will all fit nicely with what has gone before as we'll be reusing the classic Paul Bonner art alongside new artists and the point was to bring the rest of the universe to life, not reinvent it for the sake of it. 

DL: The rules will be undergoing a change, what are some of the changes? Will it still utilize the roll-under method?

CB: Yes it's still a d20 roll under, we're making a big announcement about the rules on Monday the 17th of February, so people will know a lot more about the direction we're taking then and we hope to have a revised beta available about a week later (or before the end of the Kickstarter at least) for people to test out. It's being designed to be a really cinematic system though, allowing to you do all the crazy stunts you always imagined you should be able to do in Mutant Chronicles, without the GM suffering under a weight of stats and modifiers etc. 

DL: One of my favorite parts of the older Mutant Chronicles game was the background cycle during character creation -- what is going to happen to it in the 3rd edition?

CB: Yes, the Lifepath character generation was one of my favourite parts too, and we intend to expand on this, bringing a lot more flavoured events in to the process. It will really help you shape a very cool RPG character, but we'll also have a points buy system for those who have a specific concept they want.  

DL: Why combine the Algeroth and Ilian Guide books into the Dark Soul book?

CB: Well, actually what I should say is that the core book will contain a lot more info on all of the Dark Legion Apostles and then the Dark Soul book will expand on this for each of them as well as covering Pluto, Nero, the Dark Legion's history and much more. The idea was to bring together Ilian's and Algeroth's material in from the two books and enhance it with the rest of the Apostles. We also wanted to show how different they each are - so there will be more defined strategies and the creatures properly broken down, so each apostle has different types of heretic and creatures. The creatures and heretics are all described by how they try to attack - what their tactics are. 

DL: Will all of the original Guide books be given the 3rd edition treatment, even if their stretch goals are not met? What exactly is going to be done with the Guide books? Will they differ from the previous edition?

CB: Yes, we're bringing back all the original guides, though the Freelancer supplement is now included in a specific more detailed guide of Luna for example, and yes we'll be publishing all the books regardless of whether they get unlocked through the Kickstarter. They will be re-written, fleshed out with new material, expanded to be major geographic sourcebooks so, for example, Capitol is also the guide to Mars. There will be a lot more insight in to the organisation, gear and resources, character options etc. 

DL: What is some of the new, expanded content going to be? Are we going to get new Guide books?

CB: There's a lot more storyline to include, the histories and relationships of the Corporations, more cool gear, ships, more guide books detailing things like Mutations (which is will be a growing theme through the storyline - don't worry, no talking rabbits!) rules for spaceship combat, running your own corporation or shipping company - a great kick off for adventures, loads of new content on the Dark Legion

DL: Three campaigns are planned for 3rd edition -- will these relate to the Venusian Apocalypse adventures in any way? Will anything be done with the Venusian Aplocalypse books? If not, how easy or hard might it be to convert them to the 3rd edition?

CB: We plan to convert the Venusian Apocalypse for 3rd Edition and bring it up to date with more artwork, maps and, allegedly, there was an Episode 4. So, I have a feeling that will be really exciting as you'll be able to find out where the storyline was planned to go. There will be a major campaign book (which also reveals some of the secrets) set during the first Dark Legion War starting days after the Pluto landings, leading right up to the final climatic assault on the citadel. The second major campaign book focuses on the 2nd Dark Legion War and is more epic in scale and power. Whilst the third campaign is set during the Dark Eden period (which is still part of the 2nd Dark Legion War) and has a big focus on Earth. 

DL: Lastly, there are a lot of very interesting facets to the Mutant Chronicles universe -- what are your favorite parts of it? What are the aspects that really get you excited about this game and setting?

CB: I think it was the techno-fantasy but with the grounding in the civilisations we know - it's kind of near future, recognisable designs and styling, but the techno-fantasy element lets us do anything. The universe is full of extremes, massive guns, bigger shoulder pads, insane battles and stories. It's the final stand of humanity and I love stories that deal with the epic heroism possible in such extremes.

We here at Dorkland! would like to thank Chris Birch for his time and wish him the best with the ongoing Kickstarter. If you would like to know more about giant shoulder pads, Dark Symmetry, and corporate life, be sure to check out the Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition Kickstarter page or Modiphius Entertainment's website.

Deadworld Monday: The Original Walking Dead Comic

Today I start my series of commentary and criticism on the DeadWorld comic. I am going to be focusing mostly on the original run of the series, published originally through Arrow Comics and eventually finding its home with Caliber Comics. If you want to read along, you can pick up this issue of DeadWorld through DriveThruComics for only 99 cents in electronic form. Yes, that is an affiliate link, I hope that you will support both the original creators and the blog.

Warning, there are spoilers.

As a disclosure, I really wasn't a fan of DeadWorld at the time that it came out. I was a late comer to the comic. A few years ago, when I was part of another RPG publisher, I approached Caliber publisher Gary Reed about the rights to Baker Street for role-playing, unfortunately they weren't available but as we talked about his other properties we came to DeadWorld. We talked and made a deal to bring DeadWorld to role-playing, but (as with many things in this business) it did not work out. Caliber Comics published some incredibly rich world, and hopefully one day they will end up in a role-playing game from someone.

The short version of this story is that, while researching the book for the writing of the RPG, I came to be a big fan of DeadWorld. While I am going to be talking about the classic run, the book is still out today through IDW and you can probably still find the Image Comics edition trades in comic stores.

What made DeadWorld so cool, right out of the gate? Two words:Vince Locke. The cover from the first issue of the comic almost lets you know what what you are getting in for with this comic. Zombies, of course.

The story starts in Louisiana. We don't know why, and this is mostly because the main characters don't know either, but the dead have risen and the world is in chaos. Fans of the original Night of the Living Dead will recognize this set up. In fact, this first issue has George Romero's finger prints all over it. The characters are fighting for survival. The geography is very limited. Characters get hurt. However, it manages to keep above being a pastiche and rapidly becomes its own thing.

Right off the bat you start to get an idea of who the characters are, and some of their social relationships. While some of these people were friends before the zombies came, some of them were also thrown together out of a need for survival.

In this page we have the introductions of Dan, Donna, Mickey, Joey (Spud), and Dan. In just a few panels Stuart Kerr, the writer, gives each character a personality and starts to set up the interpersonal dynamics of their relationships. We know that the dead rising didn't just happen, but it is still recent enough that no one really knows yet what to do about things.

One of the things that fascinated me about this, coming to DeadWorld after the fact, was the fact that this is a world where the internet did not yet exist and where the media was not as ubiquitous as it is nowadays. This actually adds a layer of authenticity to the comic for me, and helps support why people don't really know what happened. There were no embedded reporters going down to the zombie onslaught on live television, or streaming internet video. This makes DeadWorld almost an alternate past of what the world could have turned into, if zombies had destroyed civilization 30-some years ago.

And then, of course, zombies attack:

For many, this is going to be the meat of the comic. The thing is that it isn't. To be honest, particularly in hindsight, a horde of attacking zombies isn't any big deal. The really important part of the story, the thing that was scary and intriguing for me, came a few pages before the zombie attack.

That's right. These zombies are organized, and their leaders cannot only talk...but they cane think as well. These panels gives us our first look at King Zombie, an important character who will come up in future issues (and posts). And not only can they talk and think...they can ride motorcycles.

How metal is that?

Of course, the motorcycle-riding zombies scare the hell out of the characters, who have never seen or heard of such things. This is also, for me, what sets DeadWorld apart from other zombie comics out there. They weren't afraid to do things that you wouldn't expect. Over the course of these posts we will see more of these intelligent zombies, their plans and their actions.

Kerr and Locke hit the ground running with this first issue of DeadWorld. We already have an idea of what the world is like (the characters are forced to scavenge and forage for food and materials, zombies are pretty prevalent in the world, society's infrastructure has collapsed) and then they pull the rug out from under the readers and the characters by showing that there might be an intelligent force behind all of this, guiding things.

So, this is our first DeadWorld Monday post. I may periodically supplement these with gaming related posts as well, but mostly I am going to talk about the comic, what makes it cool and why I think you should find it for yourself. Go back up to the top of the post and click on the link and buy your own copy of the comic.

Dorkland Interview With British Comics Force Pat Mills

Pat Mills is a force in British comics, and one who may not be as recognized as a name in the States despite the fact that he created or co-created such important and seminal characters as Judge Dredd, Nemesis The Warlock, Slaine and Marshall Law. He is also responsible for starting the British comic magazine 2000AD, which is still publishing today. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Mills because of the upcoming reissue of his Accident Man comics from Titan Comics. Here is how it went...

Dorkland: Thank you for taking the time for this interview. Before we get to talking about the reprint of your Accident Man comics, can we set a little of your biography for those who may not know about it? You started out developing magazines and comics for D.C. Thomson and IPC, but for many one of your greatest, and lasting, creations was the 2000AD magazine. How did this come about, and what made you want to create a predominantly science-fiction magazine?

Pat Mills: I'd successfully produced Battle and Action so now IPC wanted another comic for the boys market. Science fiction was about to go big with Star Wars so an SF comic was the logical choice. 2000AD  was very successful when it came out. The film Star Wars followed a few months later and - surprisingly - our sales went down a little. Possibly because some readers went over to Marvel's version of the film.  For me, personally, I could probably adapt to a Western, Crime, or Horror comic. Basic drama and storytelling remains fundamentally the same.

DL: While with 2000AD you’ve created what are probably some of the most enduring characters of modern British comics in Judge Dredd, Nemesis The Warlock, The ABC Warriors and Slaine. Which of these characters are still your favorite, and what makes them still of interest to you as a writer?

PM: That's tough.  Probably Slaine because I'm in the throes of a new Slaine saga with Simon Davis which I'm really enjoying.  It's called A Simple Killing and is set in Britain and is part of a new story arc The Brutania Chronicles.  It holds my interest because there are still things i want to say about Slaine. The relationship with his father, for example, which was never explored in earlier stories. I also enjoy the sense of a character having real longevity and making the later stories every bit as strong as the early ones.

DL: You have created two of my favorite comic characters in Nemesis the Warlock and Marshall Law. Like most of your characters, neither of them are stereotypical comic characters. What qualities does a “Pat Mills” protagonist have to have, and what drives you to create these sorts of characters?

PM: Nemesis was the product of artist Kevin O'Neill and my Catholic  backgrounds. There's so much inspiration there. Torquemada is the embodiment of every racist and religious fanatic I've ever met or heard about.  Marshal Law originated because I have a huge admiration for genuine heroes who are usually ignored in fiction. I have little respect for super heroes who - in mainstream at least - are rarely heroes in the true meaning of the word. Usually they're pillars of the establishment armed with the magical equivalent of America's high tech weaponry which it uses to subdue the Third World. They ain't heroes. So Marshal Law's views and my own are rather close.  Thus  my heroes have to reflect my own experiences or views;  invariably they're under-dogs, often working class. It may be a catharsis for me to write them, but I think I also have a muse who drives me.   Who she/he/it is unknown but it's a powerful motivation and when I write traditional stories they invariably fail because my muse doesn't like them or motivate me.

DL: While Judge Dredd or Marshall Law are characters defined almost by moral absolutes, characters like Mike Fallon in Accident Man or Nemesis or Slaine are much more morally ambiguous. What is it that appeals to you, as a writer, about characters like that?

PM: They're all reflecting  truth. Accident Man kills people and makes it look like accidents. When you look at events over the last twenty years or more it's clear he's out there and kept busy. There was a time when heroes had to be moral in comics, but we've finally caught up with the rest of the media and have ambiguous characters, which reflect moral dilemmas in our own lives. That can be very absorbing to write and read. We need the comic equivalents of Breaking Bad.

DL: Humor is often a part of your stories, from biting satire to broader farces. How important of a tool is humor to you, as a writer?

PM: It's essential in comics. if it's all "straight",  it's probably a little tedious or worthy and readers will turn off. Even in Breaking Bad there's dark humour and so we need the same in comics. Satire tends to be my speciality. I think because the world is not the way it's presented to us and satire is a way of showing this. I grew up on humorous novels and satire - reading everything I could find that was satirical and that's doubtless reflected in my work. Books like Erewhon, Animal Farm, Gulliver's Travels and writers like Stephen Leacock spring to mind.

DL: One of my readers sent this question to me, to ask you: “With Judge Dredd having been made into a movie (twice!) are there any other of your characters that you would like to see adapted to movies or television?”

PM: Slaine, ABC Warriors and Accident Man would seem to be the most likely bets.  And we're looking at optioning Accident Man just now. So if we can wade through the small print in the contract we've been sent, that could happen. It also has the huge advantage of being low budget! It's been optioned before and I'm actually surprised it's never happened.

Charley's War: there is a lot of media interest  at this time because of the Great War anniversary. Hope I can say something more about that very soon.

Marshal Law we made it up to the Warner Brothers boardroom - just a few weeks before Watchmen came out. So that didn't fly - for reasons of timing and possibly the director and screenwriter assigned to the project. It's hard to gauge for certain. But we hope he's due another round.

American Reaper was commissioned by a film company and is a particularly cinematic story But often that's not enough.

Currently, my money is on Accident Man making it into the screen.

DL: If you could go back and give advice to the Pat Mills of the 70s or the 80s, what would that be?

I don't think I would do anything that different because of the pressures at the time.  But I wish I'd developed Misty - rather than just coming up with the concept - because I firmly believe there would be a strong  girls comic and adult female comic market now as a result. Stronger - or rather more popular culture - than it is now.

That's a big regret. But producing three comics was hard work and I really couldn't face another at the time.

DL: Let’s talk about Accident Man. Titan Comics is reprinting these stories in a large collected edition, and the preview of it that I have seen looks great. I was actually lucky enough to have seen some of this story in its original incarnation in your magazine Toxic! A friend brought a near complete run of the magazine back from a trip to the UK. What inspired the creation of this character?

PM: My writing partner Tony Skinner told me these guys really existed and elaborated enough to wet my appetite. Not only that, he had the technical knowledge to figure out how these "accidents" would be committed.  Rather like the way Agatha Christie weaved a whodunnit, Tony loved dreaming up ingenious accidents. We had so much fun writing him.  I wanted someone who was a reflection of the vapid, consumerist times we lived in and continue to live in.   A champion for capitalism, a shallow but very likeable guy.  And a piss-take, of course.

DL: Re-reading the preview of the collected edition, I was struck by just how timeless these stories are. What about Accident Man would appeal to the comic reader of today?

PM: Very little has changed. So we're hoping to put an Accident Man 2014 story on line soon. His hair is shaven now and he's ditched the Armani suits, but otherwise it's business as usual.  At the time we wrote him, I called him GQ Man and i was looking through GQ the other day, at the hairdressers, and the magazine hasn't changed. So Mike Fallon is still GQ Man!

DL: What is next for Pat Mills?

PM: I'm working on a Charley's War style series - Brothers in Arms - with artist David Hitchcock. Because there are so many aspects of World War One that haven't been explored in drama. For instance, government issue of cocaine tablets, a love of ragtime - early jazz - the rock and roll of its day, and widespread trading with the enemy.

DL: Thank you very much, for taking the time to do this interview. As a long time fan, it has been an honor to get the chance to talk with you.

PM: Cheers. Great talking with you, too.  Excellent questions.

Have a look at a preview of the re-issue of Mill's Accident Man comic, coming soon from Titan Comics.