Bryant Dillon (330)
Favorite TV Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Transformers franchise has survived and persisted through many things (the '80s . . . obvious rip-offs . . . Michael Bay . . . ), but as we’ve seen with the Star Wars franchise, when the original source material that spawned the various incarnations is so rooted in geeky awesomeness, flashes of brilliance are guaranteed to happen. And, the Dinobots are the very definition of “rooted in geeky awesomeness.” The combination of the “Tyrant Lizards” and the robots who are “more than meets the eye” was a geek “Eureka” moment on par with the creation of something as classically awesome and impactful as the lightsaber. Perhaps Nerdcore rapper MC Chris put it best when he declared in his trademark and dignified fashion that “Dinobots kick a--!” Luckily, this sentiment can also easily be applied to their latest incarnation, IDW’s new comic book series Transformers Prime: Rage of the Dinobots.
Thanksgiving has come and gone (here’s hoping that you had a good one), and Dark Horse Comics served up its fourth issue of Spike: A Dark Place to eager comic book sniffers of the Whedonite variety. While many found the Buffyverse comic feast offered by writer Victor Gischler and the art team of Paul Lee (pencils), Andy Owens (inks), and Cris Peter (colors) completely satisfying, your friendly neighborhood Comic Book Slayer was left wanting more.
SPOILERS BELOW
Sorry for the belated review, comic book sniffers, but like the hyper-sleeping Ellen Ripley, even if it’s 57 years later, I eventually arrive at my destination (hopefully, without any acid-bleeding stowaways)! Husbands #4: Nocte Machinas is the next chapter in the comic genre-jumping saga of Cheeks, Brady, and Haley and pushes the plot to places where no Husbands story has ever gone before! That’s right! “Husbands in space” is finally here, and we’ve been cleared for access to the bridge!
The saga of Billy the Vampire Slayer comes to an end this week with writer Drew Z. Greenberg wrapping up the two-parter that writer Jane Espenson kicked off last month. While both Greenberg and Espenson are extremely talented writers and have been paired up with top-notch artist Karl Moline (Fray, Buffy: Season 8), the conclusion to the tale of Buffy’s first male, and non-super powered, vampire slayer has left many in the fan community debating the necessity of this detour from the main storyline.
SPOILERS BELOW
Gandalf vs. The Balrog. Neo vs. Agent Smith. Ripley (in her Power Loader) vs. The Queen Alien. If you are even a casual geek or the occasional nibbler of the pop culture pudding, then you’re familiar with these famous face-offs. These titans of Geekdom and more can be in the fantastic new release from Titan Books, The Great Showdowns, by Scott Campbell.
Rocketing onto the comic book scene with the force of a Tom Clancy-penned Iron Man, the graphic novel Havoc Brigade (written by Neal Marshall Stevens and featuring the art of Jon Bosco) is an intriguing, surprising, and thrilling story brought to us by independent publisher Studio-407. Telling the tale of nearly indestructible mech-suits and the soldiers trained to pilot them in a futuristic, war-torn Europe, Havoc Brigade never lets up, pushing full throttle all the way on this white-knuckle ride that is sure to satisfy any fan of political thrillers, futuristic military epics, and flying, mechanized warriors beating the @#$% out of each other!
SPOILERS BELOW
As we’ve discussed many times here at Fanboy Comics, it’s not often these days that you find books in the local comic book shop are are both entertaining and appropriate for younger audiences. Most of the well written comic books in the shops feature violence, sexuality, and colorful language that’s sure to earn a raised eyebrow from Mom. Most well written comic books also aren’t focused around a “battle of the bands” either. Well, writer Howard Shapiro and artist Joe Pekar play to the beat of their own drum, defying these comic book stereotypes with their newly released graphic novel, The Stereotypical Freaks, a rockin’ coming-of-age story that tackles teenage friendship, relationships with parents, high school stereotypes, and the kind of real world loss that ushers one into adulthood.
One of the great things happening this year for me and my fellow Scoobies is the birth of an extended Buffyverse in the comic book format. It wasn’t quite different when Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 and Angel & Faith launched the season. We experienced Scoobies have been through the years where we had both Buffy and Angel (and it was glorious!), so we’ve tasted that sweet wine before. But, over the last few months, things have changed. With the current Dark Horse Comics line-up featuring Buffy: Season 9, Angel & Faith, Spike: A Dark Place, and this week’s Willow: Wonderland by writer Jeff Parker and the art team of Brian Ching (penciller), Jason Gorder (inker), and Michelle Madsen (colorist), we finally have an extended (and shared) Buffyverse in sequential art format! It’s a good time to be a Buffy fan, and Dark Horse’s Willow: Wonderland #1 adds another beautiful layer to the world that Whedon built!
SPOILERS BELOW
Brady, Cheeks, and Haley continue their ‘verse-jumping adventure through iconic and geeky genres in Dark Horse Comics’ digital release this week of Husbands #3: A Case of Assumption. At this point, if you’ve been following my previous reviews, you’re probably tired of hearing over and over about how frakkin’ enjoyable this book is, but don’t blame me! It’s completely the fault of writers Jane Espenson and Brad "Cheeks" Bell, who are simply refusing to turn down the awesomeness by even a notch!
Fanboy Comics is putting out a call to every zombie lover, zombie slayer, zombie apocalypse prepper, and even to the walking (and running) dead, themselves. We have another extremely worthy and awesome Kickstarter campaign that deserves your help!
Doc of the Dead is the definitive zombie culture documentary coming from the makers of the fantastic nerd-doc, The People vs. George Lucas. After metaphorically taking on the Grand Poobah of geeks lightsaber-to-lightsaber, why take on zombies for their next doc and why now? Here’s what they had to say: