Whether you love the idea or despise it with a passion, the first of the Before Watchmen prequel books launches this Wednesday.

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I know there are haters out there, but in an attempt to counter the arguments against Before Watchmen, allow me to make a few points.

1. Alan Moore made his career off of working on other people’s characters: Swamp Thing, Superman, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen characters, and the Charlton characters (who the Watchmen were based off).

2. The line-up of creators assigned to these books is one of the most impressive creative bodies I’ve ever seen. Especially, with Minutemen, the first book, which is written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke. Cooke does not release that much material, but when he does we get exceptional works like DC New Frontier and the Parker series of graphic novels.

3. Comics are all about re-interpretation. If creators weren’t allowed to work on characters invented by different authors we would never have the great body of Spider-Man, X-Men, Batman, Green Lantern, and so forth, stories we do today. Personally, I’m thrilled to see other, talented writers and artist offer their interpretations of Alan Moore’s creations.

So, I recommend sampling each of the miniseries. I know I will be.

There’s been a ton of alien invasion stories propagating various media over the last couple years, but not too many where they aliens actually win. And there are NONE where the only only surviving resistance against them are two super powered individuals, one a villain and one a hero. This is the premise of Boom Studios! new ongoing series, Extermination. Written by novelist and wackadoo comic writer Simon Spurrier (X-Club, Gutsville), Extermination is going to be a back-to-the-wall action-adventure book with some smartly written dialog and conflict. Plus, the first
issue is only a $1.

Speaking of cheap first issues, popular (and accurate) comic rumors and news website, Bleeding Cool, is launching Bleeding Cool Magazine this week for only $1.49. Filled to the brim with the same scoops, articles, analysis, and factual reporting you’ve come to respect. Unlike most comic news websites, Rich Johnson has inside industry connections, which makes causes most of his scoops to be accurate. If you’ve been missing Wizard Magazine, Bleeding Cool Magazine is a superior replacement.

For all of the Kevin Mellon followers out there (and I know the store has a bunch), his next project releases this Wednesday. As usual with Kevin, it is a unique experience unlike any other book on the shelves. Creator Owned Heroes is a new comic experiment, offering two individual stories bridged by interviews, pictures, sketches, and other extras, all for $3.99. Before Kevin’s story, there is Trigger Girl 6 by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey (All-Star Western, Jonah Hex) and Phil Noto about a genetically engineered, hottie assassin. Filling out the issue is American Muscle, a wasteland, post-apocalyptic actioneer reminiscent of Road Warrior and Mellon’s freshman book, Gearhead. Topping that flambe of awesome off is an interview with Neil Gaiman as well as cosplay photos of Trigger Girl 6. That’s like a pound of comic-y goodness, folks.

 

Close, close in a gaming store not so far away…

STAR WARS CARD SLEEVES!!!!!

Yes, hum the theme song in your head if you must. Fantasy Flight has released an exceptional limited run of specialty Star Wars backed card sleeves. So, play Magic with the man who shot first or catch’em all with Lord Vader or throw them on any other card game that needs some sci-fi spice. But whatever you do, pick them up before an X-Wing comes along and vaporizes them because there will not be any prequels here.

Of course, if space battles and laser swords aren’t your thing, maybe the other limited edition Lord of the Rings sleeves will be. Slip them over your favorite standard sized cards to give them a Samwise Gamgee to their Frodo Baggins. Or grasp the One Ring to rule all other swag-less individuals. Whatever you choose, wield them responsibly.

You want to kick your Warhammer Fantasy RPG game up to level 4? How about level 5? Then let Hero’s Call be Fantasy’s version of the Spinal Tap speaker! Chocked full of new hero and GM options for careers, action cards, talents, spells, and region options, this player’s resource is loaded with must-have ingredients for kicking your game up a couple levels.

Bringing Cthulhu to the deck-building party, Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’Lyeh is both a standalone game and an expansion for last year’s Penny Arcade: The Game, Gamers vs. Evil! So, players can enjoy Eldar God gaming goodness in the base 2-4 player version of the game or combine it with the previous game for excessive nerd overload. Rumble in R’Lyeh specifically adds Gold cards to the gameplay, which must be acquired through the use of Token and Power cards. Totally worth it when they have names like Gunhorse (a horse made of guns, duh!), Sad Zombie, and Gabe’s Gross Mouth.

Bridging books and board games, the Where the Wild Things Are board game from the Tales to Play series, lets families take control of Max’s journey to the land of the Wild Things. Each player controls a different Max miniature game piece on his trek through the becoming king of the Wild Things. Players draw cards and roll dice to decide their success or failure across the illustrated game board. Great gameplay and Wild Thing miniatures for the whole family.

Gamers have been waiting for this next exapnsion since somewhere around the dawn of man. Yes,  has finally arrived. Adding not only a fifth player ability to the game, but a new item dubbed decoration. Players may now trade their resources for this item in an effort to gain further points. Club someone if you have too, fight a t-rex, do whatever you have to for a copy of this valued expansion.

 

This ain’t Kansas anymore, folks.

Image Comics new series, No Place Like Home, is a reworking of the classic Wizard of Oz story, with a bent toward the darker side of life. Dorthy has become Dee for this story, returning home after her parents are killed in a tornado. Where Judy Garland used to have spunk, Dee has punk, and so does the series as writer Angelo Tirotto pens dark elements of a murder mystery into Baum’s classic structure. Trust me, this series may take you somewhere over the rainbow, but it ain’t going to be any singing or dancing where it lands you.

One hefty brick of 90′s X-Men sweetness, the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus comes fully stocked with all the alternate reality sheenanigans you could want. If you’re not familiar with the now cult classic story, the basic premise is that Charles Xavier’s murder leads to a screwed up alternate future where the X-Men are on the run from Apocalypse in a world he controls. Wolverine’s missing a hand, Cyclops is working for the bad guy, and Magneto’s macking on Rogue! Of the alternate reality X-Men stories, Age of Apocalypse ranks right up there with Days of Future Past, so if you’re a fan, pick the whole series up in one fell swoop.

Wish you had superpowers?

So did Simon Pooni and that wish came true. One of Mark Millar’s (Kick-Ass) numerous Marvel Icon imprint books, Superior is about a young wheelchair-bound boy who is granted the ability to become a Superman-like hero named Superior. However, this wish may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Drawn by superstar artist Leinil Yu (Secret Invasion), this book wreaks of the same dark humor and violence Millar’s other Icon series (Nemesis, Kick-Ass 2) emanate. And there’s a killer twist.  Pick up the Superior Hardcover collection and find out.

Finally, you like drawings of zombies that look really cool? You like Claudio Sanchez? You like Declan Shalvey’s artwork? Good, because the New York Comic Con variant cover for Key of Z #1 is coming! And it looks brutal.

Also, if you haven’t gotten a chance to read the best zombie book since Walking Dead, you should pick up all four issues, currently available at Pulp Fiction.

 

City folk don’t know how ta tussle with vampires, no sir.  Y’all best come on down to Blood Country, learn yo’self how ta stake’em and bake’em.

That right there is the idea behind the newest expansion for the popular deck building game, Nighfall.  Nightfall: Blood Country contains 168 blood-soaked cards (note: cards are not actually drenched in blood; the aforementioned statement was for effect only) that introduce new vampires, werewolves, hunters, ghouls, and special powers for all your scratching and staking needs.  Plus, the quaint little box they come in has a set of tidy, decorated dividers that allow the game’s owner to separate all of their cards into one, easy-to-transfer box.  Y’all come bite now, ya hear?

Serious question time:  how long have you wanted to play dwarfs as a primary force in Battlelore?  Part two of that question:  how long have you wanted to play dwarfs that can ride on bears, in general?  Whether the amount is a day to twelve years, the newest Battlelore expansion set allows players to do both.  Bearded Brave is a Dwarven Army Pack that contains 40 dwarf figures that can be used in conjunction with units from the core to give players the ability of running a Dwarven army.  Now to the part about the bears.  Not only to these figures add the new Mighty Bolt Throwing units, but also the Dwarven Bear Riders.  Dwarfs.  On bears.  All over it.

You wouldn’t walk out of a riveting movie during the final act, would you?  Okay, maybe if there’s a fire.  Or an obnoxious jerk on their cell phone.  Or an obnoxious fire on their cell phone.  Whatever the case, Thunderstone:  Heart of Doom has no fires or cellphones (or, at least, no real ones anyway), but is most definitely the final act of the Thunderstone saga.  Capitalizing on the roleplaying allusions present in the game, this expansion is the culmination of the “campaign” that has been building since the beginning of the game series.  As such, Heart of Doom expands on the base game with new hero, village, and monster cards to aid players in working through the final, unique scenario to defeat the ultimate evil known only as Doom.

MERCS goes nuclear today!  Literally.  That level of atomic insanity is due to the new Keizai Waza faction.  These advance play style figurines come equipped with a tiny nuclear device embedded in their armor, which makes them a difficult faction to master.  If you haven’t picked up on it yet, the Keizai Waza are not made for players just getting into MERCS.  Not only does it take some careful timing and coordination to activate the nuke, but you also have to have your accuracy down to a careful degree once you do activate it.  If you’ve been looking to add a new level of challenge to your MERCS experience, level up and try the Keizai Waza.

So, the monkey has a knife, the room is filled with hornets, and you’re being covered in chocolate syrup while your buddy loads a bazooka next to you.  Most would consider this scenario a Fiasco, which is exactly why these are the kind of insane combinations that arise in the newest RPG from Jason Morningstar.  From personal experience, I can safely say this is a brilliant recipe for a good time!  Fiasco is constructed in such a way that whatever your players’ level of experience, they will be able to devour this game and end with a happy belly.  Basically, everyone involved picks a particular “world” to play in (these can include 30′s New York, the old west, gangsta London, etc.), assigns a name to their character, then picks random-ish elements that tie characters together and give them goals.  The rest of the game progresses as a movie, with players trading off “scenes” until they reach the climax.  I dare you to play through a game of Fiasco and not collapse to the ground in a fit of laughter.

Continuing with the RPG-centric falling action of this post, lets move on to Part-Time Gods.  A new setting from designer Eloy Lasanta, Part-Time Gods creates a mystical world of fantasy and adventure for the philosophical D&D player.  Player’s search for various relics and artifacts on their mystical quest to balance their soul.  Sounds deep, right?  That’s ’cause it is.  Each character begins as a normal being who is granted the abilities of a god.  As the adage goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Or maybe it doesn’t, that is the choice you have to make.  Which way will you go?

Halloween’s on the horizon so the creepy, crawly campaign settings are coming out of the Lovecraftian woodwork.  This particular Cthulhuian booklet is called Realms of Crawling Chaos.  A campaign supplement for Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion, this booklet introduces new races, from Lovecraft’s sordid universe, such as white apes, sea blood, and subhumans, along with new spells, monsters, artifacts (plus a system for designing artifacts), and rules for psionics.  Now you know what you’re doing for Halloween (unless you want to play in our Call of Cthulhu game).

And now to round out this riveting romp, here’s a little segment we’ll be calling Restock Roundup!

These include:

-Arcana Revised card game

-Lord of the Rings LCG Adventure Packs (ALL OF THEM!!!!)

-Rare Earth Magnets

-Family Business

-Quarriors! (sweet, sweet Quarriors!)

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