Posted by
Mike Paden
- Monday, May 5, 2014
Sand & Snow is a Game of Thrones podcast covering all the weekly happenings in the world of Westeros and beyond! Hyle Snow is a film major who exclusively enjoys Game of Thrones through the HBO television series. Jade Sand is a science major who has also read all of the books in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Together they gather to discuss and review the latest episode while also comparing it with the books, with their own brand of insight and speculation.
Beware! This podcast is dark and full of spoilers! This show covers all the content up to and including the titled episode of Game of Thrones. It also discusses the details of the book series A Song of Ice and Fire up to the current part of the story that the show has reached. However, there will be no spoiling of anything in the future of the TV series or story within the books.
:: Season 4, Episode 4 ::
"Oathkeeper"
For the first time in awhile, even book readers have been stunned! This week we recap the events of Season 4, Episode 4 titled "Oathkeeper." This week: Daenerys finds a giant flag; Jon Snow is tasked with a problem up north; and Craster's daughters give a gift to the gods.
- Follow the
Sand & Snow Podcast -
Posted by
Jonathan Jackson
- Sunday, May 4, 2014
On March 24, 1984, Scream! hit the shelves of newsstands around the world. Proudly displaying a tagline of "not for the nervous," each issue was brimming with frightening art and macabre tales, enough to whet the ghoulish appetites of any young horror enthusiast.
Scream! was a British weekly comic that ran from March 24, 1984 until June 30, 1984 and was published by IPC Magazines. Scream! was supposedly edited by the fictional Ghastly McNasty. Ghastly's face was concealed by a hood, and a regular feature of the comic involved readers sending in drawings of what they believed he looked like.
Scream! comprised weekly serials including
The Dracula File - the lead strip, about Dracula hunting in 1980s England.
Monster – a serial about a deformed man (Uncle Terry) who grew up locked in an attic.
The Thirteenth Floor - Scream!'s most popular strip, concerning Max, a crazed computer, in charge of an elevator in an apartment building - when someone bad or evil steps inside, Max would take them to The Thirteenth Floor as punishment.
It also included short stories, such as
Fiends and Neighbours - a light-hearted comical strip about a family of monsters living next door to an ordinary couple.
A Ghastly Tale - one-off strips introduced by Ghastly himself.
Library of Death - one-off morality tales.
Tales from the Grave - short stories illustrating the depravity of Victorian era London.
As well as the stories being popular, the artwork was even more so. A regular of Scream! was the double-page cover art and the "Monsters of the Deep" 4-page poster that was never completed due to the series' untimely death.
Fifteen issues were published before the title was cancelled. It is rumored that with IPC not being able to print any comics for several weeks due to an industrial printer's strike, they felt the publication had lost momentum (and comic sales in the UK had declined) so they opted to cut their losses and cancel it, leaving the strip stories within unfinished. Another rumor of its demise was that it was banned due to a backlash of complaints from concerned parents over cover art and content, supposedly claiming that it was pushing graphic violence (mainly horror and fantasy) on younger children.
Scream! Did reemerge 8 weeks later as the amalgamated Eagle and Scream!, with the two most popular strips continuing. There were also five Summer Specials released, mostly consisting of reprints of horror-themed stories from IPC's back catalogue. However, these were nowhere near as ghoulish or macabre as their predecessor.
Issues of Scream! can still be bought on Ebay for a reasonable price, and all 15 issues (as well as more information on this publication) can be viewed at the Back from the Depths website.
But remember, it's "Not for the nervous!"
Which comics had you counting down the days til the next issue and rushing to the store each week to buy?
Posted by
Jeff Penner
- Saturday, May 3, 2014
Saturday, May 3rd is Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) at your local comic shops! FCBD is the comic book specialty market’s annual event where participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their shops. The event is held the first Saturday in May and is the perfect opportunity to introduce friends and family to the many worlds of wonder available at local comic book shops. From superheroes to slice-of-life to action/adventure and beyond, FCBD has a comic book for everyone!
FCBD will be celebrated at participating comic book specialty shops across the U.S., Canada, and worldwide! 2014 marks the biggest event yet, with 60 free comics available for new and devoted comics fans to discover while they also explore what other treasures their local comic shop has to offer.
On Saturday May 3rd, anyone who visits a participating comic shop will receive at least one or more of the designated FCBD comics for free. The Free Comic Book Day Committee picked a listing of Gold and Silver sponsors whose comic books include titles that are great for kids and adults. This year’s roster contains 60 free comics such as Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, DC’s The New 52: Futures End, Archie, Spongebob, Teen Titans Go!, The Simpsons, Hello Kitty, Transformers, Sonic, and many more for fans to discover! Complete descriptions of all 60 FCBD titles, along with four-to-six page previews, can be found online at www.freecomicbookday.com/comics.
What more incentive do you need? Well, there's plenty! Check out LeVar Burton of Star Trek: TNG fame urging you to make it so:
Comic shops will also host community events such as costume contests, drawings by guest artists, creator signings, raffles, door prizes, photos with costumed characters, and other community-building activities throughout the day. Every comic shop celebrates FCBD in its own unique way, and fans have an opportunity to see their local comic shop’s personality and thriving community of pop-culture enthusiasts on display.
“Free Comic Book Day gives new and devoted comic book, entertainment, and pop-culture fans the opportunity to get great titles for free, while participating in fun and interactive comic shop events,” said FCBD Spokesperson Jason Blanchard. “Comic shops plan their FCBD activities months in advance to give their community the best FCBD experience in order to bring together like-minded fans who love the same stories, TV shows, and movies, while being able to discover new stories that will entertain and enrich their lives.”
For more FBCD news and updates, go to the FCBD website at www.freecomicbookday.com.
For daily FCBD updates, become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freecomicbook and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/freecomicbook. Find a comic shop near you at www.freecomicbookday.com/StoreLocator and celebrate Free Comic Book Day on Saturday May 3rd, 2014!
Will you be using this day to introduce any new readers to the great world of comics?
Posted by
Unknown
- Friday, May 2, 2014
There has been yet another addition to the cast of the all new Fantastic Four movie in the form of Tim Blake Nelson, who will be playing villain Harvey Elder, also known by his alias "Mole Man," who is described as a bizarre-looking scientist who lives under the earth and absolutely detests humanity.
Nelson has had many roles in various big films over the years, including starring in Marvel's very own 2008 movie adaptation of The Incredible Hulk as Dr. Samuel Sterns, so he's certainly no stranger to playing a comic-book scientist.
However, his role in the reboot will be a rather small one, although The Hollywood Reporter recently noted: "Elder's appearance does set up the character to be the villain in future installments of the franchise."
 |
| How Mole Man appears in the comic books. |
The Fantastic Four reboot is set for release in June 2015.
Do you think Tim Blake Nelson will play the role of "Mole Man" well? Let us know!
Posted by
The Dace Man
- Thursday, May 1, 2014
Hey, hey, hey, Dacetacular Nation! Check out episode 45 of The Dace Man Show with hosts Dace, Gibby, Frank Ward, and Nikki Mills!
Join the Dace Man and crew this week as they break down the following:
::SPORTS NEWS::
- Current NHL playoff results
- Current MLB standings
- Current NBA playoff results
- Plus much, much more!!
::WEIRD NEWS WITH GIBBY::
- Time to get down and weird with Gib and, might I add, Bay
::FRANK'S CORNER::
- What will Frank da Tank have in store this week?
::CELEB NEWS::
- Bob Hoskins passed away
- Celeb birthdays from April 24th to April 30th
- Miley back on her feet
- George Clooney got engaged this week
- Paul Simon caught up in a domestic dispute
Plus the High Five: Top 5 People Who Shouldn't Twerk and The Douche Bag of The Week! All that and more, only on The Dace Man Show!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on Mega Powers Radio.
Follow on Facebook: Mega Powers Radio | Fanboys Anonymous | The Dace Man Show | I Got Game Play | Geek Speak | Rose Colored Reviews | Sports Talk Weekly | Addicted to Anime
Posted by
Orion Petitclerc
Not only does this May mark the 30th Anniversary since the creation of Marvel's symbiotes, but it also marks another special, albeit bittersweet occasion. Ten years ago the first superhero MMORPG, City of Heroes, went live with an innovative character creation system and a bold direction. It rivaled its closest (and, surprisingly, younger) competition, World of Warcraft, and paved the way for both Champions Online and DC Universe Online, both of which still survive to this day.
The game's player community boomed with each new update as the worlds of Paragon City, the Rogue Isles (featured in City of Villains), and Praetoria (an in-between dimension in City of Heroes: Going Rogue) evolved and expanded. It even introduced the very first in-game player-created content system, Mission Architect, to the world of MMO games, which allowed players to create their very own missions and story arcs with premade or custom enemy and ally factions to publish and play with their friends and community.
Unfortunately, the golden age of City of Heroes came to an abrupt and sad end in 2012 when the game's publisher, NCsoft, shut down its servers permanently with little to no explanation as to why. Millions of players—myself included, a veteran since at least 2005—were suddenly displaced from their favorite superhero MMO. Many attempted to fill the void with its aforementioned descendants, but nothing can truly replace Paragon City and its heroes and villains. The City of Heroes player community, however, remained steadfast and took refuge on social websites such as the popular Titan Network.
The game's legacy lives on in its community and in two equally special efforts to relive the golden days. Missing Worlds Media's City of Titans and Plan Z Studios' Heroes and Villains are two player-run video game development projects currently in the preproduction stages of creating City of Heroes' spiritual successors. Once a joint operation under the Plan Z banner, a group of displaced players with little to no experience in developing video games banded together shortly after City of Heroes' demise with a dream of recreating our lost world. Plan Z suffered from a schism of ideas early on, creating the splinter team, Missing Worlds Media, and both have progressed with their projects since.
Last year, Missing Worlds Media was the first of the two studios to both organize a Kickstarter campaign for its project and successfully complete the campaign by accruing a whopping 211% of its initial goal of $320k. The outstanding amount of funds was then used to buy the necessary tools to put some serious elbow grease into the game they promised their backers—even receiving a generous upgrade to an Unreal Engine 4 license from Epic Games itself. Missing Worlds Media reports that it will complete its preproduction phase soon and has revealed a few screenshots and videos of its work with Unreal 4.
On the other side of the map, Plan Z has silently carried on with the production of Heroes and Villains, although it has yet to employ crowd funding as its sister studio has. Nevertheless, it proceeds to astound by regularly updating its community following with development progress on the game's integral systems and even wowed us with rendered screenshots of the character creator screen, zone concept art, and several in-game renderings of the Hanging Gardens of the Antiverse—which bear a striking and fond resemblance to the Shadow Shard of City of Heroes—in celebration of the belated game's tenth anniversary.
Although both projects are at different stages of production, City of Heroes will surely have two amazing, spectacular, astonishing spiritual successors not too far down the road, from which the glory days can once again be revisited in a new and exciting light. Missing Worlds Media and Plan Z aren't planning to fill City of Heroes' big shoes; they only boast two games that will take their inspiration far beyond what City of Heroes could have been and farther than what any other superhero MMO will ever reach.
Were you one of the many displaced heroes, villains, or rogues from the City of Heroes shutdown? Have you been following and supporting City of Titans and Heroes and Villains? How will you celebrate this bittersweet tenth anniversary? Share your memories and experiences in the comments section below.
"We can be heroes
Just for one day…" –David Bowie
