Mike Carey talks about Unwritten and things to come

Mike Carey and Peter Gross' Vertigo series, The Unwritten, has swooped up numerous award nominations and has found itself on the New York Times Best Sellers list twice already. It is a tale of intrigue, fantasy, father-son relationships, and finding your purpose in life. Tom Taylor has been on quite an adventure in the past year and a half and with the revelations of issue #16, it's really only begun. Blog@ spoke to the author of the series, acclaimed writer Mike Carey about the ambitious undertaking he took with the most recent issue and what's in store for Tom, Savoy and Lizzie. Caution, there are spoilers for those of you not caught up.

(My fantasy) Avengers Assemble! Fourth reveal!

"Gamma is a girl's best friend"

- Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk

Talk about brains and brawn in the right package. Not many people have been a part of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, SHIELD, Fantastic Force, Heroes for Hire, AND Lady Liberators. Oh, on top of that, a lawyer with a degree from UCLA.

Given her powers from a blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, Jennifer came to appreciate the confidence and assertiveness that had come with being She-Hulk. For a long time, she felt more comfortable in her form as She-Hulk than in her "normal" form as Jennifer. She eventually became comfortable in both forms, and realized that she has much to offer the world in both her forms and went off to become a hero in her own name.

I know I have Thor on the team, but you need more than one muscle-bound hero and She-Hulk fits that bill. She doesn't have the cosmic powers or the magic that Genis-Vell and Thor possess, but what she lacks in those fields, she more than makes up in wit, intelligence, and charisma.

(My fantasy) Avengers Assemble! Third reveal

"I'm strictly a bow and arrow type."

-Hawkeye

Ladies and gentlemen, my third reveal: Clint Barton, the original Hawkeye. While not an original member, he is considered one of the essential Avengers by many. He started out his comic career as a villain until he reformed and had Iron Man back his sponsor and was elected to the team. I'm a big fan of this character and while he's taken a few detours from his purple and blue moniker (Ronin), he'll be back when the Avengers reform in Marvel's Heroic Age.

He's a skilled marksman, tactician, and personality up the wazoo. He's a great team member and asset to whoever's flag he's bearing.



Welcome aboard, Clint.

(My fantasy) Avengers Assemble! First Reveal

Avengers, Assemble!

The first member of my fantasy Avengers roster is...



The Mighty Thor.

I couldn't think of a more marvelous power house that comes from the House of Ideas. There's might, magic, and majesty. Sure the JLA has Superman (just not lately), and to think you have a god on your side probably boosts your ego a bit. I would imagine so, anyways. Thor's book now is simply fantasy as it's best and I also couldn't think of a better leader of my team than the Odinson. He's been seen in numerous versions of the Avengers team, also serving as a founding member.

It's easy to see why I would choose the God of Thunder here.



(Art provided by George Marston of If This Be Sketchblog fame, and Heir to the Realm of Majesty)

The Unwritten makes the NYT Best Seller's list

As of this week, Vertigo’s acclaimed series The Unwritten is number 8 on the Paperback Graphic Books Best-Sellers’ list. Now, you might not think that’s a big deal, but considering the list only has two freshman titles, I think this is an amazing feat since I’m shocked people aren’t picking up this incredible story. If you are unfamiliar with the title, it focuses around a young man by the name of Tommy Taylor, who may or may not be, the fictional boy wizard character of his missing father’s novels. However, Harry Potter, this ain’t.

Blog@ spoke with co-creator and writer of the series, Mike Carey about this announcement and what it means to him. “We’d heard this was coming last week, but we weren’t allowed to leak it! It’s fantastic that the book is getting such a great reception. It’s popping up in all kinds of lists of the best of 2009, Publishers’ Weekly gave it a really positive review, and now we turn up in the New York Times charts. The whole Unwritten team is very proud, and at the same time it puts us on our mettle. You really don’t want to blow it with so many people watching.”

Even though I have all the issues thus far in the series, I made sure to get a copy of the trade just so I could lend it out to readers who haven’t discovered this book yet.

The Unwritten Vol.1: “Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity” collects issues 1-5 and is available for $9.99.

Shining Force: A week later...

I have to admit, I've been shirking playing my SF. I'm in Chapter 3, in the Laser Eye battle right now. I just promoted a slew of people including Zylo and Gong (who I never used as a kid). I was thinking of using Amon and Balbaroy, but they are too difficult to level up right now. I forgot how slow they are when you first get them. My team consists of Tao, Mae, Arthur, Gong, Zylo, Hans, Diane, Khris, Anri, Gort, Luke, and of course the main character. Now I know it seems funny to have Khris, but she's a really good healer and Lowe doesn't know Aura, plus Gong can also fight back. I will eventually replace Diane later and keep Hans. Range is the key for the later battles.

I like having at least two warriors/tanks/whatever you call a strong person now in your team and Gort really fills out nicely. His defense is super from the start and only gets better when you get him promoted. The toughest battle so far is anything dealing with the undead because they have such HIGH defense. I'm so use to playing other tactics games for years now, I haven't gotten use to using items like herbs and such. Though I have two healers and they seem to get the job done. I just need to make sure Khris actually gets XP during fights instead of getting one-hitter-quitters from damn pegasus knights.

Oh the pains of being a deer...girl...thing.

Reasons why Sega rocked: Shining Force

If I could pin-point a game that defined my childhood, this would be it. Shining Force was released in 1993 for the Sega Genesis and while simple to today's standards, this opened the flood gates to the style of games I would play to this day. The story is a bit cliche, with an ancient evil being woken and summoning its dark forces and you, a young ward to a great knight, assemble a team together to thwart these forces. You are the Shining Force, though it is never revealed why your team is called the Shining Force. Though it's just assumed you are the shining light to Dark Dragon's shadow.

There's knights (who are actually centaur, so that works out just fine), monks, elves, dwarves, mages, archers, a werewolf, a dragon, some sort of jellyfish,and how could you forget the hamster with a helmet? There's a ninja and a Samurai, but that's not until later in the game and they're secret characters. It's quite the motley crew. I remember at one point my mother just buying this game because we had already spent so much money renting it from our local Blockbuster.

My brother and I must have easily put a year of time just playing and replaying this game over and over. There was a re-release for the GBA in 2004. I played it, but it was so different, it just didn't seem right, though the actual translation of the game was clearer, ie, it basically told us that Kain and Max were brothers instead of it being hinted at. I just got the emulator for the original (I just started. I'm on the second battle heading BACK to Guardiana and I just got Gong from his hut), and once I beat this sucker for the trillionth time, I'm probably going to move on to talk about the sequel, appropriately titled: Shining Force II.

Yet ANOTHER Charles Holbert Zatanna and other news

In the words of Freddie Quimby: "I'm gonna enjoy this!"

In other news, I'm back in some serious employment. After several months of nothing, comes along a management job. I'm so out of shape, I'm winded by 1 PM. It's ridiculous.

I have done a few blog@s, mainly covering the controversy here. My inbox filled up quicker than it has in quite sometime, but I have to give Troy props for having my back in the situation.

Hero Initiative Going to Dragon*con

For reals.

See?

What's this? NEW additions?!?

Chris helped set this one up. It's done by Scotty Shoemaker. I touched it up a bit because I wasn't a fan on how he did the gloves, but all in all, I'm happy with it.

Mini-Mega Con was fun and a nice distraction from the stress of late. D*C is next week. Here's hoping I make it.

new paintings a TON of blog@

This is a Daredevil I tried working on. I'm not happy with the color transition on the right side. I started it too strong. I'll probably try something again later on it.


It started out more complex, but I simplified it a bit. I was going to draw fishnets...but after just working my way past the heel, I decided against it.

So today, David was swamped at work and I handled a plethora of articles:

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Interview with Holly G!

Here you go.

I'm feeling a bit sick today. Outlaw sent me some new books. I'll be sure to look those over.

Why we love the vamps and zombs/ThunderCats concept art!

here and here

enjoy.

Girls with Slingshots

Did a blog@ piece today.

Serious talent going on there. Funny and smart with tons of heart.

See how that rhymed? Check it out for yourself.

DC Panel coverage @ San Diego

http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/07/25/robinsons-justice-league-of-america-starts-taking-shape/

I messed up the html originally, but that was fixed. Kinda bummed since I forgot we changed the format. Love my 'Rama team.

Something I forgot to share

http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/07/16/resin-a-ruckus-model-maker-sued-by-dc/

Something I sent in a while ago. This is, obviously, before I was put on the blog@ staff.

From Blog@ today: EW on Great Comic Book Movies

Entertainment Weekly posted this list of “21 Super Comic Book Movies”. Now, it’s not a top 21 list or anything like that, it’s more in the lines of recommendations. It’s a pretty superb list, too. Of course the usual Hollywood blockbusters are there: Iron Man, Dark Knight, X-Men 2, Spider-Man…but the list also includes movies that are sometimes overlooked as great comic adaptations. Such as Ghost World (which actually received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay), American Splendor, Akira, Oldboy, etc. While superb, this list isn’t perfect. It includes Superman II, but not the first movie? Also, The Rocketeer is omitted and it is such a GREAT adaptation, it’s a shame it doesn’t get greater recognition. It also includes two movies from Alan Moore stories: V for Vendetta and From Hell, which are considered by most comic book fans as two of the worst. Now, I know there is no feasible way any studio or writer could have adapted Moore’s 500-page From Hell into a 2 and a half movie or what have you (it actually ran a little over 2 hours), but was there any real need to modernize V? V was never intended as an action, espionage type of movie. So both the plot and the audience suffered for such a mishandling of the characters.

In addition to the list of recommendations, EW also posted a WORST adaptations list. Now of course, this list is full of the no-brainers. Judge Dredd, Superman IV, Batman and Robin, Steel, Catwoman. You know? The movies that made you felt dirty by association. This list pretty much nails it, too, except for two movies. The 2004 Punisher with Tom Jane and Daredevil. I don’t really get the displeasure with DD from the comic book community. Especially when one sees the director’s cut that was released. Sad thing is, that DD is tagged right along with Elektra on the “worst of” list. Also on the list are movies I didn’t even know were made, such as a Brenda Starr movie, and Sheena.

Reading both the lists, what movies do you think were omitted from them?