It’s time for the annual singing of the nine announcements of Pulp Fiction Black Friday. Feel free to hum along if you don’t know the words:

On the first announcement of Black Friday, my true store set the tone: Discounts and specials don’t combine; they work alone.

On the second announcement of Black Friday, my true store helped build my brain: A selection of half-priced board games.

On the third announcement of Black Friday, my true store dropped some names: Half-price on Flames of War and Spartan Games.

On the fourth announcement of Black Friday, my true store made some noise: Half off on t-shirts and plush toys.

On the fifth announcement of Black Friday, my true store helped my picks: Half-off on all Superhero HeroClix (Marvel/DC).

On the sixth announcement of Black Friday, my true store said to me: Comic back issues buy-one-get-one-free.

On the seventh announcement of Black Friday, my true store changed its tack: A large selection of half-price comic hard backs.

On the eigth announcement of Black Friday, my true store’s rhymes got lame: Other specials too specific to name.

On the ninth announcement of Black Friday, my true store offered: buy-one-full-price-get-one-half-price most of the rest of the store*

*Half-price applies to the lower priced item. This offer does not include current comic issues and some other items.

 

Hrrrmmmm.

When the gutters fill with the dirty, filthy dross of bad comic writing, you’ll look up and you’ll see Before Watchmen Rorschach. And you’ll say, “yes”.
That’s right, saving the best for (almost) last, the Rorschach miniseries begins this week. Written by gritty crime writer Brian Azzarello (Wonder Woman, 100 Bullets) and drawn by extreme realist Lee Bermejo (Joker), this is the beginning of four grimy, dark, well-written issues. And if you want to really get in the insane spirit of the ink blotted vigilante, pick up one of the Rorschach t-shirts, also coming in this Wednesday.

AND if you haven’t been reading any of the Before Watchmen books,

your are missing out on some of the best comics on the shelves right now. But you won’t have to miss out for much longer, because Pulp has restocked copies of both the first and second issues of each series.

Speaking of things that are black and white, the newest edition to the Batman Black & White line of statues comes out this week, too. If you’re not familiar, these statues are based off famous comic artist’s renditions of the caped crusader, struck in monochromatic tones, and placed on Bat-symbol bases. Using Darwyn Cooke’s version of the Dark Knight, this month’s statue brims with 50′s nostalgia.

Never let it be said that writers are done experimenting with the comics medium. The Red Diary is a graphic novel shipping this Wednesday with a unique twist. In fact, twist is exactly the right word for it, as readers are given the original story, as well as a variant story, simply by flipping the book. Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen have written two versions of the same story, about art forgery during WWII, and presented both of them here, each by way of a minimalist painterly art style. For those with heightened Indy taste buds, this is a graphic experience to sink your teeth into.

 

Brian Wood may not be a household name, as far as comic writers are concerned, but he should be. Having stuck primarily to non-superhero fair for the last eight years or so, Wood has built up a reputation for strong, varied Indy comic stories, most notably with his series of DC Vertigo, DMZ. Well, now that Wood has finished that epic maxi-series, he’s moved on to Marvel and, more importantly for this post, Dark Horse. The Massive is his first series published by the company, set in a world on life support, slowly slipping into environmental waste, the book follows the crew of a battleship searching for one of its sunken brothers. Wood writes post-apocalypse stories better than most, having years of experience on DMZ, Supermarket, and others, so The Massive is guaranteed to be a riveting read.

Making the meat of this Comic Highlights sandwhich are two pretty statue-esque figures.

One of which is actually a statue. And it’s the statue that can kick all other statues’ butts.

Because it’s Batman. By Jim Lee. In his New 52 costume. In black and white.

Which all adds up to it looking really, really, really awesome.

Take a look.

The, let’s say, roast beef of this nerd sandwich happens to be the other major remaining comic movie character of the summer, Spider-Man.

Preceding the new Amazing Spider-Man film, this action figure presents Peter in his freshly redesigned costume from the upcoming reboot.

And an air conditioner. To keep him cool, I’m assuming.

Speaking of Spider-Man and his various representations, Marvel is dropping the epic hammer that is Spider-Men this week. Haven’t hear of it? Well, here’s the details. In current Marvel continuity there exists two different Spider-Men, one in the regular universe (Peter Parker) and one in the Ultimate universe (Miles Morales). These two universes have never crossed over since the inception of the Ultimate universe in the early 2000′s. But that finally changes with this Wednesday’s Spider-Men. Written by Brian Michael Bendis (the only guy to ever write the Ultimate version of Spider-Man) and drawn by his recent (and excellent) collaborator on the series, Sara Pichelli, this is event is sure to be a landmark series and major event for both universes.

 

Can you believe The Avengers comes out next Friday?

Seems like I’ve been waiting for that movie come out my whole life, but no matter how close it gets it still feels too far away. Luckily, Wizkids a new set of Avengers Heroclix to tide me and everyone else over. Just like they have done with Green Lantern, Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek, The Avengers set is out in a base starter set (containing six of the core team) and individual booster boxes. All of these figures can be simply collected or you can play them as a miniature battle game. The starter set even comes with maps and rules to complete the gaming experience. With sixteen figures to collect overall, you better start now to assemble all The Avengers.

Following last week’s Fantasy Flight Lord of the Rings and Star Wars card sleeves, this week’s new set of sleeves depict another popular Sci-Fi/Fantasy franchise: Game of Thrones. Both sleeve types come with fifty sleeves, one displaying John Snow, the other Melisandre.

Or if you’re not into George R.R. Martin‘s fantasy series, there are new sleeves depicting Cthulhu, DungeonQuest imagery, and artwork from the popular co-op board game, Red November. All of these sleeves are standard sized, designed to fit most common CCGs, LCGs, and basic card game cards.

Popular game designer Reiner Knizia has created a slew of fantastic board games, such as Lost Cities, but his newest game is the Black Sheep of the bunch. A great, easy to learn card-based game intended for the whole family, Black Sheep has players collecting sets of animal cards, trying for better combinations than their opponents, and corralling them in their pens. Ah, but the black sheep is ready at every turn to ruin your hand. In line with family games like Zoolerreto, Black Sheep is a perfect edition for game night.

 

If you were to ask any self-respecting nerd what the Doctor and a Dalek have in common, they would likely laugh in your face. And then say something about how bow ties are cool.

But they would be wrong to laugh, because the Doctor and the Daleks do actually share a similarity. They can both light up a dark situation! One with his trusty sonic screwdriver and one with his, uh, butt. Yes, folks, Doctor Who flashlights. The first being a replica of the 11th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, which emits a glowing green light from its tip, and, the second, a Dalek miniature, which shines a ray off light out of its…well, butt really is the best word for it. One can save the universe while the other will destroy it, but they’re both equally timey wimey awesome.

Many consider Ultimatum by Jeph Loeb to be the worst storyline to ever occur in the Ultimate Marvel universe. Sadly, I believe this has kept many readers from checking out his follow up to that series Ultimate X. Constructed as a tight five issue miniseries, this run by Loeb is among the best stories ever told in Ultimate cannon. Focusing on a different mutant with each issue, Loeb works overtime to shape and convey these characters (some new, some old) to the reader. And does with emotional results. A large part of that success, however, is due to Art Adams insane artwork. Adams drew 616 X-Men back in the day with the best of them and his detailed, emotive pencils have only gotten better. Even if you’ve never read a single issue of the Ultimate X-Men series, the Ultimate X: Origins tpb will compel you to read more.

Before he become THE Neil Gaiman thanks to his cult classic Sandman run, the Neil Gaiman wrote a four issue miniseries for Vertigo comics entitled Black Orchid. Now collected in a beautiful oversized hardcover edition, Black Orchid chronicles the revenge tale of a woman who’s reborn as a half-human, half-plant creature. The etherial artwork of Dave McKean spreads across the pages of this collection, a watercolor on steroids. With such a limited library of titles to explore, any fan of Neil Gaiman owes it to themselves to hunt down this new volume in an effort to complete their collection.

Boba Fett is dead.

So begins the new Dark Horse series, Blood Ties. This new four issue series details the fallout from the death of the galaxy’s greatest, most infamous bounty hunter. A son of a Jango Fett clone, Connor Freeman, gets drawn into the hunt for Fett’s killer, finding more action, adventure, and intrigue than he’s ever experienced before. Rich painted interiors coupled with this interesting story will make this a Star Wars miniseries for the ages.

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