Merry X-Mas from [IGH]!

Everyone at [insertgeekhere] wishes all who celebrate 

a very Merry X-Mas!!  

(Get it? X-Mas!)

If you don't observe Christmas, we wish you a wonderful day and happy end of 2013!

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Review: The Steamworld Chronicles #1

By Reboot

Today I'm reviewing the successfully Kickstarter funded comic The Steamworld Chronicles #1. The Steamworld Chronicles was created and written by Steven Hoveke & Mike Scigliano with pencils by Ben Risbeck, inks by Mark McKena, colors by Kote Carvajal and letters by John J. Hill.

I actually got to meet Steven Hoveke and Mike Scigliano at Grasshopper Comics on Long Island some weeks ago when they were signing for the book; which is when I picked it up. I got the Walter Simonson variant cover which is great, but I probably didn't need to tell you that. When I picked up this comic, they described it as being like Indian Jones in a steampunk setting. Since there really is no better way to sum this book up quickly, I'm going to go with that. Now, to elaborate.

This is the first part in a miniseries titled "The Constantine Quest." Basically, a train gets hijacked for a particular piece of cargo, things don't go according to plan, which leads to our hero, Q, being introduced to help find the missing cargo. As Q digs deeper, he runs into faces both new and familiar and slowly beings to see how important the missing cargo really is.

The story is solid and paced pretty well. The only real complaint would be that it is fairly predictable at first. However, this is supposed to be serving as an introduction to a new world which makes it difficult to go too far beyond just setting up the story. They have plenty of time to add twists and turns along the way.

The art is also solid, but they don't take too many risks. This is both good and bad. On the one hand, the art is very clear, fluid, and the panels combined with the lettering guide you seamlessly through the story; making for a quick and easy read. Let me be clear, this is incredibly important and even some of the top tier professional comics fail at this sometimes. It highlights how skilled this team is. The downside is that the art could be pushing the envelope further and be more visually outstanding. None of the pages really popped at me as being exceptionally stunning or visually intriguing. I think for this story though, that sacrificing that for clear and fluid storytelling works.

Overall, The Steamworld Chronicles #1 is a solid story, and if you're into steampunk and like comics this is a no brainer. If you aren't by Grasshopper Comics on Long Island, you should check out their website to pick up a copy, physical or digital, of the first issue with the promise of more to come!


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Review: Schaffer The Darkord: Sick Passenger

By Reboot

Today I'm switching things up and reviewing an album; Sick Passenger by Schaffer The Darklord. Schaffer is a nerdcore rapper who put his first album, Meet Your Maker, out back in 2004. Sick Passenger marks his fourth full studio album which is his first in four years. In those four years he has performed many shows including multiple Nerdapaloozas as well as touring with MC Chris.

This is Schaffer's first full concept album complete with short skits every few songs or so. This is an idea I absolutely love, with Velvet Rope by Janet Jackson still being one of my favorites that uses that format. Basically, Schaffer is speaking with his therapist (or is he!?!?) about the many short comings he feels he's had over the years and what to do to overcome them to grow as a person. The skits on this album are quite entertaining back and forths and are hard to skip while listening even if you originally intended to just go to your favorite songs. That's the marking of a great concept album.

Happy Thanksgiving for [IGH]!

Everyone at [insertgeekhere] wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving! 

For those who don't observe Thanksgiving, today Americans celebrate everything they are thankful for. We just want to say how thankful we are for you, our readers.

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Happy Chanukah from [IGH]

Everyone at [insertgeekhere] wishes all who celebrate a very Happy Hanukkah!!!

If you don't observe Hanukkah, we still encourage you to check out all those chocolate coins you see in the store and wish you a happy end to 2013!

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Review: Almost Human

We had the opportunity to catch an early pilot screening of Fox's new cop drama, Almost Human.  Produced by J.J. Abram's Bad Robot, it is starring Karl Urban and Michael Ealy as futuristic buddy cops and premieres tonight.  

Reboot and Wilderowens share their non-spoilery reviews after the break.

Review: Prime-8's #1

By Reboot

Today, I'm reviewing all digital publisher Monkey Brain Comics new series, Prime-8's #1.  This series is brought to you by Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley, the co-writers and co-creators of this series that premiered with their successful Kickstarter project that I also reviewed, Mini-Comics Included.  This full length series now has art by Kyle Latino and Jordan Gibson.

Before I go into my review, I have to briefly discuss my love of monkeys doing people things.  I have fond memories of being over my great uncle's house watching old VHS recordings of the Planet of the Apes' movies in the late 80's and early 90's.  Additionally, I spent many an hour watching Lancelot Link with my dad growing up.  If you don't know what Lancelot Link is, go internet it.  In short, monkeys make great people, and after having read Prime-8's, I can also say monkeys make great comics.

State of Syn is Here!

While at New York Comic Con, I had the opportunity to see the first two episodes of State of Syn, a new web series starring Jewel Staite and David Hewlett.  A few of you expressed great interest in the show just because of my enthusiasm.  And let me tell ya, this was one of my favorite panels of NYCC because it was so freaking awesome.

First Glimpse of Justice League: War

Now that we are fully entrenched in the DC New 52, it's about time the animated films caught up!  Warner Bros. announced JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR, based on the Origin storyline that started out the new universe.  As per Warner Bros. press release:

When the powerful Darkseid and his massive, relentless forces 

invade Earth, a group of previously unaligned super heroes 

– misunderstood and, in some cases, hunted by the 

authorities – discover the only way to fend off the attack will

 be to work together as a cohesive unit. Batman, Superman, 

Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Shazam and, in 

his origin story, Cyborg combine their respective talents in an

 all-out battle to save the planet. Based on the 2012 graphic 

novel, “Justice League: Origin,” by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee, 

JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR provides a glance into the world 

before the Justice League was created, and offers the initial 

animated incarnation of DC Entertainment’s “The New 52.”  

This sounds great!  The film will be released on February 4, 2013 on BluRay, DVD and Digital Download.  If you can't wait, watch the trailer below.

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It's Time for All Hallow's Read!!

With Halloween right around the corner, everything is coming up scary. Most people turn to TV and movies to reach their fear quota. However, Neil Gaiman is encouraging all of us to read more with his All Hallow's Read. That's right put down the remote and pick up a comic or book. Here are some suggestions to frighten up your Halloween week.

NYCC '13: Interview about The Fifth Beatle

While at New York Comic Con, I had the distinct honor of sitting down with writer Vivek J. Tiwary and artist Andrew C. Robinson to talk about their upcoming graphic novel, The Fifth Beatle.  The Fifth Beatle recounts the life of Beatles manager Brian Epstein, showing not just his successes with The Beatles but his struggles with his life in England, where homosexuality was illegal at the time. I was lucky enough to have read the book before meeting with them (it comes out on Nov. 19th), so I was already bubbling over with questions.

Tiwary has been actually working on The Fifth Beatle for over 6 years but his education of Epstein's life started over 21 years ago. He was particularly inspired by Epstein's life because of everything he had to overcome, i.e. being gay and Jewish in the 1960's was particularly hard.  Robinson was also excited to see an end to the project, since he has been painting it for over four years. They both almost seem like they don't believe their work has been accomplished. As Tiwary put it, most Beatles projects don't see fruition so this is a huge deal.

NYCC '13: The Wonders of Artist Alley

By Reboot

Borrowed from panelsonpages.com

I was fortunate enough to spend all four days over at NYCC this year, and the vast majority of it I spent in Artist Alley. Having talked to many convention goers and people in and around the comic book industry, I often hear that Artist Alley is the heart of any comic convention. Not the Verizon booth or the GEICO booth, but Artist Alley (shocking, I know). That's not to say that those sort of things shouldn't be welcome as they do bring in a lot of money for the convention as far as paying for exhibitor space, but you get what I mean.

It's time for our NYCC Con In A Bag Giveaway!!!

That's right!  The piles have been sorted and bags have been packed up!  It's time for our annual NYCC Con In A Bag Giveaway!!!

For all you new readers, the Con In A Bag is no ordinary giveaway.  This is what your giveaway bag would look like if you had actually attended the show, complete with the back pain after you carry it.  So, you get all the stuff everyone wants, like the autographs, exclusive items, t-shirts, toys and of course, comics.  But you also have the random stuff handed to you like flyers, buttons and weird little things that howl at you.  Yep, your bag will randomly howl at you on occasion.  The only thing we don't include are the long lines and back pain.

So, for this time around, we had enough awesome, amazing stuff plus weird random stuff to create TWO great bags for TWO lucky readers!  Check out the awesome stuff that will be in one of the two bags.

Look at all the prezzies!  Some of this stuff could be all yours!
Except the chair.  That stays here.

A big thank you to our sponsors ComicMix, Dark Horse Comics, and Mega Bloks.  We love these companies so very much and you should check out the awesome they produce!

So get moving and enter now!!  This contest ends when Halloween does, so get moving now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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NYCC '13: State of Syn Screening

By Friday night, I was exhausted and wandering around the convention center while it was shutting down around me. There were still some panels going on that I knew I wanted to check out. I walked into the closest one, which happened to be for the upcoming series State of Syn.

I had written it down because it had David Hewlett from Stargate Atlantis on the panel. I also knew that one friend was moderating and another friend was in the audience. When I finally made it inside, I had already missed the introduction. However, I got inside just in time for the premiere screening of the first two episodes.

NYCC '13: Day Four Recap

The last day of con is always so bittersweet. I'm sad that it's almost over but at the same time, I can't wait to go to sleep and I definitely won't miss the crowds. Sunday at NYCC is also fun/aggravating because it's Kids Day! I like seeing all the adorable cosplaying kids but it's harder to walk since there are tiny obstacles running around. It's also the grossest day of the con since some people fail to observe basic needs. But still, Sunday has some perks, including great deals to be had from dealers that want to carry home as little merch as possible.  Sadly, my partner in crime, Wysefyre, was unable to come today so I was bummed that she missed out on the last day merch.

NYCC '13: Early Screening of NBC's Dracula

I attended the first public screening of NBC's Dracula last night at New York Comic Con. To be honest, I hadn't heard much about the show except for a couple teaser clips and posters so I wasn't really sure what to expect. The only tidbit I knew was that Cole Haddon was a creator of the show and I had loved his graphic novel, The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde.   FYI, he kept his promise.  There are no sparkly vampires.

This post is SPOILER-FILLED so if you are allergic to spoilers,

go read another tasty article on [insertgeekhere].

NYCC '13 Day Three Recap

NYCC is one of my favorite times of the year, but I am not a fan of Saturdays. All the coolest stuff happens on Saturday because that's when all the working people can come. It makes sense, but it also makes for a very crowded con. So, instead of walking the floor like I had been doing the past few days, I decided to make Saturday my panels day.

My day started with the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary panel, which was filled with writers, podcasters, and comic book artists discussing all things Who. It was a great panel, but it wouldn't be a Doctor Who panel without a Doctor. The 6th Doctor himself, Colin Baker crashed the panel, along with Big Finish Productions chairman and co-executive, Jason Haight-Ellery, and the man you never want to hear say, "EXTERMINATE," Nicholas Briggs.

Next, I ran to the J. Michael Straczynski panel, only to remember a couple minutes later that I needed to be on the other side of the Javits, trying to get into the Once Upon a Time panel. I left Mr. Straczynski in the middle of an interesting conversation with a fan about radioactive residue in Canada to hurry over to the Empire Stage. I went into the Marvel Video Games, got the scoop on what's coming up, got to geek out over the new stuff coming to Marvel Avengers Alliance and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, then settled in for the Once Upon a Time panel.

The Once Upon a Time Panel wasn't the most exciting panel I went to that day, but it was extremely informative and a good time was had by all. We got to see the first act of this week's episodes of Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time: Wonderland, and we were treated to a surprise guest - Jennifer Morrison.

NYCC '13: Chat with Georges Jeanty about the Whedonverse

At New York Comic Con, I got a chance to chat briefly with Whedonverse artist Georges Jeanty. And I mean briefly chat. It was exactly 4 min 50 seconds. I timed it. He did confirm some details for me about the upcoming Serenity comics. I also quickly questioned him about any upcoming involvement with Buffy.

Ok, I bulleted all the details for a quick read. Just remember, 

This post is SPOILER-FILLED so if you are allergic to spoilers, go read another tasty article on [insertgeekhere].

NYCC '13: Day Two Recap

Day Two of New York Comic Con always feels like a real con day because it's a totally full convention center. The crowds are double the volume and double the headache.

I opted to skip the people troughs this morning and arrived just before 11. First stop was checking out the latest offering from Mega Bloks. Their new Call of Duty items look fantastic! Then I went on a freebie hunt for a bit, snagging a lot including special collector's item for our bags! I also ran the gauntlet of autographs at Dark Horse comics. I got to chat briefly with Mike Norton and Dennis Hopeless (The Answer!), Bryan J. L. Glass (Furious), Donny Cates (Buzzkill and Hunter Quaid), and Eliot Rahal (Hunter Quaid).

My favorite was sitting down to interview Vivek J. Tiwary and Andrew C. Robinson about their upcoming book The Fifth Beatle. These two guys are great and having read it, I know they have created something amazing.

NYCC '13: Necessary Evil: Super Villains of DC Comics

On the first day of NYCC, I attended the World Premiere of Necessary Evil: Super Villains of DC Comics. This documentary really looks at the role of the super villain in the telling of a DC story.  You can check out the trailer from SDCC this year.

Ultimately, this documentary looks at the value of the villain in a story. The theory that the villain is more important to the story because without the villain, the hero wouldn't exist. Villains represent the protagonist while heroes represent the antagonist. They also discussed the psychological impact of villains.