Zenescope, the publishers of Grimm Fairy Tales and its spin-offs (as well as the Charmed comic) announced recently that it will be starting its first large-scale crossover, The Dream Eater Saga, this April.  While the company has hinted at the shared universe of its titles before, it’s rare that the titles have actually crossed over.  I picked up the recent Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths and Legends #1 and really enjoyed it.  While I’m not super happy that the title will be involved in a crossover in a couple of months, I think most of Zenescope’s books are written in such a way as to be new reader friendly, so I’m definitely going to give this crossover a shot.

With a Prelude issue (due out on May – preorder from your comic shop now!) that’s only $1.99, this crossover may be the perfect way to jump into the Zenescope universe.

The massive twelve part event will cross over into several Zenescope series including Wonderland, Grimm Fairy Tales, Grimm Myths & Legends, The Piper, Inferno, Neverland, Sinbad and Salem’s Daughter.  The Dream Eater will be penned by Zenescope writer Raven Gregory (The Waking, Return to Wonderland) with story contribution by Grimm Fairy Tales creators Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco. “This is really a dream come true to be writing such a massive event like this,” said Gregory. “Crossovers come and go but we’re playing this one for keeps and not everyone is making it out alive.”

The story will deal with the various heroes and villains of Zenescope’s ever-growing Grimm Universe as they must choose to either run from or join forces and face off against an all powerful and extremely terrifying entity known simply as the Dream Eater. ”This event has been so much fun to create,” said Zenescope Editor-in-Chief Ralph Tedesco. “Crossovers are something most fans are skeptical about but we feel we approached this the right way and have created such an awesome and shocking character in the Dream Eater. He’s definitely going to steal the show.”

The prelude issue of the series will be available for pre-order in the upcoming February issue of PREVIEWS at a low price of only $1.99 and will feature 22 pages of content. The Dream Eater Saga begins April 2011.

Written on February 9th, 2011 , Comics, Independent Tags:

From what I can tell of writer Donald Westlake, he seems to have been an interesting guy.  He wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark, and created the hard-boiled character Parker, a no-holds-barred kind of crook who always has a plan and always gets the better of his enemies.   He’s licensed out a couple of his books (the most recent adaptation being the Mel Gibson movie Payback), but never allowed those adaptations to actually use the name “Parker.”

Darwyn Cooke has begun the process of adapting some of Westlake’s novels, beginning with The Hunter in 2009 (the book on with Payback was based) and continuing in 2010′s The Outfit, which I wasn’t able to pick up until recently.  The Hunter was by far my favorite OGN of 2009 … did The Outfit follow suit? Read the rest of this entry »

Written on February 7th, 2011 , Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline, Independent

While everyone is focused on the big death in this week’s Fantastic Four #587, I think we’re far enough away from last week’s other BIG death to talk about it.

I’m going to save spoilers until after the jump, but I’ll start by saying that I’ve made no secret that I haven’t been terribly behind IDW’s run on G.I. Joe.  Mostly this was because of a lackluster initial story arc on the main G.I. Joe book, but also (and perhaps moreso) because I loved the Devil’s Due run on the books.  In those, we saw major characters die, characters age and grow and change, and it respected the continuity that came before, while forging forward.  IDW’s continuity (save for the new Larry Hama continuation of his Marvel book) has been a complete reboot of the franchise, which is something I was a little bummed about. 

Still, the reboot came with a new set of rules and ideas.  There have been a good number of positive reviews for the Mike Costa/Christos Gage G.I. Joe: Cobra series, which has taken a darker storytelling route, featuring Chuckles deep undercover in Cobra, and some shocking storytelling turns…but none as shocking as what happened in last week’s G.I. Joe: Cobra #12… Read the rest of this entry »

Written on January 26th, 2011 , Comics, Independent

It’s too bad my fellow Funnybooks co-host Tim doesn’t like horror, because 2011 has already proven itself to be a pretty good year for fans of the macabre when it comes to our weekly floppies.  Three comics have come out in recent weeks that have all been pretty solid horror entries, and that’s certainly not the easiest thing to do.

Horror in comics typically doesn’t work.  It’s hard to build tension, or get the shock that typically comes from horror movies.  Every once in a while, a horror anthology gets released, but the tales are usually stifled by poor art, bad writing, or cliched storytelling.

Still, in recent weeks, I’ve seen some good horror comics come our way, and I wanted to take a moment to recognize them for our horror fans out there! Read the rest of this entry »

Written on January 24th, 2011 , Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline, Image, Independent

We talk about a ton of books on FUNNYBOOKS, but not every book we read makes the weekly podcast, especially when only one of us has read it.  Still, there’s a bunch of good stuff (and horrible stuff) out there that you’re curious about, and that we’d love to tell you about.  Welcome to From the Cutting Room Floor, where we can tell you about the books that got excised from the program, and whether you should spend your hard earned money on them.  After the jump, short reviews of…

  • Batman and Robin #17 (DC Comics)
  • Detective Comics #871 (DC Comics)
  • Hollow Point/Damaged Radical Premiere (Radical Comics)
  • Chew, Vol. 3: Just Desserts (Image Comics)

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on November 29th, 2010 , Columns, DC, Funnybooks Offline, Image, Independent

We talk about a ton of books on FUNNYBOOKS, but not every book we read makes the weekly podcast, especially when only one of us has read it.  Still, there’s a bunch of good stuff (and horrible stuff) out there that you’re curious about, and that we’d love to tell you about.  Welcome to From the Cutting Room Floor, where we can tell you about the books that got excised from the program, and whether you should spend your hard earned money on them.  After the jump, short reviews of…

  • Assassin’s Creed: The Fall #1 (DC COMICS)
  • Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 (DC COMICS)
  • Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1 (MARVEL)
  • Amazing Spider-Man #648 (MARVEL)
  • Dungeons and Dragons #1 (IDW)

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on November 15th, 2010 , Comics, DC, Funnybooks Offline, Independent, Marvel Tags:

In our mind-blowing 69th episode….

ARON HEAD IS MISSING!

While we try to figure out if he’s still at the Asian massage parlor, or if Jason Voorhees is systematically taking out Funnybooks hosts, Paul, Tim and Wayne try to muscle up enough gusto to talk about this week’s mediocre comic book selection.  Along the way, we talk about Smallville, Marvel’s new “Point One” Initiative, paying too much for crappy comic books, and the one thing that Tim, Paul and Wayne can all agree on – the one monthly book that’s been consistently good all year.  Also, the Taco Bell sandwich lady and sneaky ways to get people to buy Aspen Comics The Scourge #1.

This week’s new comics that are discussed:

DC COMICS NEW RELEASE SPOTLIGHT

  • Batman and Robin #16
  • Red Hood: Lost Days #6
  • Superboy #1

MARVEL NEW RELEASE SPOTLIGHT

  • Avengers Academy #6

INDY SPOTLIGHT

  • Invincible #75 (w/ some words about Amazing Spider-Man #647)
  • Serentiy: Shephard’s Tale
  • Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #1 (due out this coming Wednesday)

Prepare yourself for Paul, Tim, and Wayne to throw down some mutha’ effin’ wisdom on ya!  Bam!

Written on November 8th, 2010 , Columns, Comics, DC, Funny Books with Aron & Paulie, Independent, Marvel

To view any of these covers, click the previews below!

Zenescope has been hinting at this for a while, and it looks like we’re about to get an new ongoing GRIMM FAIRY TALES series!

Zenescope Entertainment has announced plans for a brand new series spinning out of the events of their landmark issue GRIMM FAIRY TALES #50.  The new series, GRIMM FAIRY TALES MYTHS & LEGENDS is the first Grimm spin-off series to receive ongoing status.   The new series is created by Grimm writers Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco with the first story arc “Red Riding Hood” to be written by Zenescope’s Raven Gregory (Wonderland trilogy, The Waking, The Gift), illustrated by David Miller and including cover art by the top artists in the industry like J. Scott Campbell, Eric Basaldua and Mike DeBalfo  “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be apart of this.  Not only do we get to go back and revisit some of the series most popular characters like Red Riding Hood but we get to explain the reasons behind why these characters were chosen by Sela in the first place,” says writer Raven Gregory. 

“This series will allow us to now expand on past fairy tales we’ve already written in the original Grimm series and now turn them into four and five issue story arcs .   It’s going to be dark and twisted on a whole new level.”  said Zenescope Editor-in-Chief Ralph Tedesco. 

For those unfamiliar with the comic, Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales reinvents the mythology of the old classic tales with a modern updated horror twist. 

Zenescope Entertainment was founded in 2005 by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco and has since become one of the top independent comic book and graphic novel publishers in the world.

Written on October 25th, 2010 , Comics, Independent Tags:

Pinocchio is one angry little puppet.  His father has been killed, then turned into a vampire, and he’s lost everything…except the lies that turn his nose into a vampire killing stake!  This week, we talk to the creators of Pinocchio Vampire Slayer and its upcoming sequel, The Great Puppet Theater.

Dusty Higgins is the creator and artist behind Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer. He is an award winning illustrator and graphic artist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Van Jensen, the writer behind the graphic novels, segued from comic journalism to write the exploits of our favorite vampire killing puppet!

Find out why Pinocchio is so angry, how he hooks up with other vampire slaying puppets, and more in this awesome new interview!  And don’t forget to pick up Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater on October 27th!

Fresh from his trip to Taos, Aron describes the sad state of geekdom there in northern New Mexico and Tim reveals his limited knowledge of U.S. geography.  Meanwhile, both Wayne and Paul share the horror of being pull-list-raped by their comic shop guy.

The horror.

  • AVENGERS ASSEMBLE:
    • New Avengers #5
    • Avengers Academy #5
  • X-MEN UPDATE:
    • Uncanny X-Force #1
    • Wolverine #2
  • SHADOWLAND UPDATE:
    • Shadowland #4
  • THOR UPDATE:
    • Thor #616
    • Ultimate Comics Thor #1
  • MARVEL NEW RELEASE SPOTLIGHT:
    • Thanos Imperative #5
    • Taskmaster #2
    • Incredible Hulks #614
  • Mark Millar’s Superior #1
  • BRIGHTEST DAY UPDATE:
    • Justice League: Generation Lost #11
    • Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #3
  • RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE UPDATE:
    • Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5
    • Bruce Wayne: The Road Home – Batman and Robin, Red Robin, Batgirl, and The Outsiders
  • DC COMICS NEW RELEASE SPOTLIGHT:
    • Goddamn Mother Fucking Superman #703
    • Superman: Last Family of Krypton #3 featuing Lana-El’s ass
  • INDY SPOTLIGHT:
    • Alan Moore’s Neonmicon #2
    • Lady Mechanika #0
    • The Last Phantom #2

Knight of Reignsborough, our sandbox superhero RPG actual play started last week and continues this Friday. Check it out!

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Written on October 17th, 2010 , Comics, DC, Funny Books with Aron & Paulie, Independent, Marvel, Podcasts Tags: , , ,

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