Batpulp!

Batman/Doc Savage team-up? I'm there.

Now this is just cool.

Thanks Topless Robot!

It's all coming together

A few weeks ago I posted that the Minions and I have really gotten into Heroclix. Part of the Heroclix experience is explaining the powers and backgrounds of the various characters, which is really cool for me because I'm suddenly, once again the Comic Guru that I was many, many years ago.
"Who is this guy dad?"
"How did she get her powers dad?"
"Hey dad, why doesn't Quicksilver like the Vision? I thought they were both Avengers?".

Sometimes the answers come easy, some times they take a while to explain (such as Pietro's problem with his sister marrying an android).
"She-Hulk is not Hulks wife."
"Wonderman is dead, but not really-and he's no relation to Wonder Woman."
"Yes, Wildcats costume looks a little silly, but he was one of the first guys to teach Batman how to fight, so show some respect."

Interestingly the Minions have quite a bit of Superhero/Villain knowledge, but theirs comes from cartoons, hence it's flawed knowledge. the true lore comes from the comic books and I'm quick to point that out to them. Still its a start, and shows like Batman Brave and the Bold do kick ass.

All of this Comic book reminiscing has led me to revisit my collection. and in doing do has irritated "She who must be obeyed" as she is constantly coming across comic books and comic bags all over the house. This predicament has led me to seek a solution in the 21st century-Digital comics.

Thanks to my handy-dandy Asus notebook and my link to The Crosseyed-Cyclops blog (One of the coolest and most useful blogs out there) I've been able to download many of the comics I already have, for instant (and no-mess) gratification. and it's a helluva lot easier to carry full runs of Master of Kung Fu, The Defenders, and Sgt Rock on a thumb drive than in my man-bag.

Of course I'll concede to all the purists out there that nothing compares to holding the real thing in your hand, but at my age and lifestyle I've become more of a realist, and if there's anything I can do to make my life easier, then thats the road I'm taking.

So all in all things are pretty good in the Fanboy area. I'm playing with my kids, I'm their font of knowledge in all things Marvel/DC, I'm embracing new technology and have found yet another use for my netbook, and I'm reading the old stuff again.
Good times.

My newest obsession- Heroclix!

           I was at my favorite comic book store the other day (Empire Comics) picking up my issues of Warlord, Agents of Atlas, and Red Sonja when I spied a big ass comicbook storage box full of Heroclix.  Now I know what Heroclix are and I’ve even bought a few to use in my roleplaying games or as a geek badge for my computer at work, but I never played the game. I asked Ben how much he wanted for the whole box.  We agreed on a price and Voila I had a collection. Of course they were a collection of mostly “commons” with a few of the rarer ones thrown in, but hey my kids don’t know the difference, all they know is dad came home with a huge box full of super heroes and villains.

My Minions had a few heroclix of their own which they used as soldiers and kept in a Bailey’s Irish Cream gift tin, but they never played an actual game. We proceeded to sort through the figures and learn the rules. It turns out the game is easy to learn, very strategic and way fun to play. So fun in fact that we have been playing steadily since we got them (and yes I’ve bought a couple of booster packs since then). I was very surprised at how informed the minions were on the various Super heroes and Villains. All the stuff I learned about Marvel and DC heroes through the comic books they have learned by watching X-Men,Teen Titans, Spiderman, Brave and the Bold, etc. on Cartoon Network.

Bruce VS. Tony

Holy Frijole!

I am so there!

Ron Jeremy IS the Amazing Spiderman!

Flashback Universe free online comics!

This is a very sweet site with plenty of content. Flashback Universe is specifically geared to bringing back that old Marvel comics feel (back when a buck could get you FOUR great comics). There is a ton of free content including a nice selection of original comics in .cbr format. It’s free but if you want to donate a couple of bucks to show your support you’ll not only be supporting their efforts but you’ll also get access to special “members only” sections.
Check em out, enjoy the great comics and toss a couple of bucks their way via PayPal and support the movement!

The Iron Man Movie Kicks Ass!

In my opinion the Iron Man Movie is the BEST Screen adaption of any of the Marvel Heroes.
Robert Downey Jr. nailed the character of Tony Stark.
Nuff said.

Warlord #7 for 99cents?! I'll take it!

I’ve been pretty good about keeping my resolution of reducing the number of new comics I buy and not buying ANY Marvel titles at all. The thing is, every comic shop around me lately has been having back issue sales with prices cut from 50-75%. Why would I want to spend $3.99 for one comic when I can get several for the same price? Luckily I have two things going for me when it comes to buying back issues.

1) I’m a reader, not a collector. As long as the cover is nice and its all stapled together I’m good with it. Good, very good, fine, extra very fine, mint, diamond double mint- none of that grading crap matters to me. I go for lowest price. A crease on the lower right corner won’t send me into shock.

2) I’m a Gamer first a Comic Fanboy second. I collect titles like Arak, John Carter, Kull, Turok, Weird western tales, and such. I mostly look for titles that I can apply to gaming. I like my four color heroes as well, but even they aren’t the ones most folks fight over. I go for Moon knight, Wildcat, Black Panther, The Phantom, etc. The great thing about my comic taste is that not too many other Fanboys share my passions. One of my favorite stores had their annual 75% blowout sale on back issues last Saturday. That morning the store was packed like a sardine can , so I left and returned an hour before closing time, and I was still able to pick up several runs of Conan, Kull, Turok, Doc Savage, Sgt. Rock, Warlord, John Carter, Ruse, and the Defenders.



I mostly buy titles from the 70’s, most comic folk call that era the “Bronze Age” but for me it’s Golden- much of what I’m about hobby-wise stems from the titles of that era – Conan, Shang-Chi, Cain and Abel, Travis Morgan, Dracula, Hogun the Grim, Nighthawk, Cap and the Falcon - and of course Mad, Crazy and Plop.

Pulp Thursday

Turok son of stone DVD
The classic Dell comic character who had a brief resurgence at the end of the 20th century is headed to DVD. The trailer looks cool. With all the dinosaurs chomping people in half , it’s probably safe to say this one ain’t for the kiddies.





Dark Kingdom
Image comics came out with the Death Dealer comic a few months ago. Now we have Dark Kingdom set to hit the shelves in April. So far, it looks like Image is gonna do the whole Molly Hatchet catalogue.




Red Nails
There may never be a Red Nails animated DVD, but by the Gods there will be a complete audio version available for download!






Italian pulp
The Acrobatic flea gave me the heads up on this one.
I have no idea what this site is saying, but I had a great time checking it out.
Here is the skinny on it:
La Domenica del Corriere (”Sunday Courier”) was Sunday insert for Corriere della Sera, an Italian newspaper that ran for 90 years, from 1899 to 1989. For most of that time the section featured a full-page illustration on its cover each week.
These were often dramatic gouache or watercolor illustrations, almost in a pulp-illustration vein, but they presumably illustrated actual news stories (think of all of the notable and dramatic events that occurred during that period of time).
There is a site devoted to them at www.illustrated-history.org/, containing an archive of the illustrations and a bit of the history.
There is a search function on the home page that allows you to search by region (Per luoghi), by artist (Per autore) or event (Ricerca avanzata), with attendant drop-down menus.
It appears that there is a concentration on two artists in particular, Walter Molino (above left) and Achillies Beltrame (above right), whose work is sought after by collectors. Searching for these two may be a good place to start. Once you are on a page with a featured illustration, clicking on that image provides a pop-up with a wonderfully large reproduction of the painting. (I’ve included a full-size crop from a small section of each illustration above.) You can also informally browse from an illustration page to other pages by incrementing or decrementing the database number at the end of the URL in your browser’s address field.
Some of the illustrations are less interesting than others and there is some repetition of subject as they looked for sensational topics to illustrate (lots of train wrecks and other disasters), but some of these images are just wonderful and make the trouble of searching and browsing worth your while.
This is intended to be more of an illustrated history than an appreciation of the artists, but it serves as both. You can take a fascinating stroll through the early to mid 20th Century and view some wonderful pulp-style illustrations in the process.
I also found a blog on a site devoted to the paper, Blog del Club Domenica del Corriere, also in Italian, that features the illustrations, but doesn’t dwell on them exclusively.




Gold Monkey
Now I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up…It’s just a rumor…But, “Tales of the Gold Monkey” could finally be headed for DVD!

And that is your Pulp Thursday Report!

Make mine Marvel! Uh...on second thought, don't.

First they kill Captain America. Now they are having Spiderman sell his marriage to Mephisto to save Aunt May’s life? WTF is that about? Aunt May is like 300 years old. In what universe does this make sense? Spiderman’s code has been “with great power comes great responsibility”. Where is the responsibility in making a deal with the devil for your own selfish reasons? Whose Spiderman is that? I just don’t get it. Why is Marvel doing this? Shock value? To sell more comics?
Does the editor have a need to feel famous and edgy? “Yeah, I’m the guy that spun the Marvel universe on its ear. First I killed Captain America and then I ruined Spiderman’s whole world.”
Maybe the guy has issues and by doing shit like this it makes him feel all powerful. This just furthers my resolve to stop buying new comics from Marvel.
Enough of that crap, let’s jump in the "Wayback Machine" and check out some girls in tights.

Thank goodness for gift cards

My family tries, I have to give them that.
My mom knows I play D&D, but she knows nothing of D&D so I can always count on some type of pewter dragon holding a crystal ball or a porcelain wizard figure.

“She who must be obeyed” doesn’t game, but she’s well versed in all the peripheral accoutrements that are “must haves” for gamers - DVD sets of Sci-Fi shows, nice books on ancient civilizations, action figures of favorite licensed characters, etc. so she’s able to fill my stocking with cool stuff even though she doesn’t know the difference between GURPS and D20.

Fortunately, a recent development has taken hold during the holidays that is proving to be the best thing since pre-painted for gamers; the gift card.

Thanks to the gift card and the internet, it’s now possible for us to get those gifts we dream of, but knew Uncle Fred and Aunt Inez would never have the savvy to get for us.

This year amongst my colognes, sweaters, DVD’s, Pewter Wizards and stuffed dragons I got a healthy number of gift cards. The last couple of nights have been spent merrily shopping the internet and making my own holiday wishes come true.
Here’s what the Evil DM got in his virtual stocking…


First off of course gamebooks.

GURPS. I own dozens of RPG's and hundreds of Modules, splatbooks and accessories. But at the end of the day there are only a handful of tried and true favorites AD&D is #1, and right behind it is GURPS.





Solomon Kane is a "no brainer" How could I call myself a REH fan and S&S gamer and not have this volume?

I haven't played any Hero system games in years. But I still buy their products. Their pulp line of games is one of the best for source material, no matter what system you use. Valdorian Age is a Sword & Sorcery campaign book for Fantasy Hero- need I say more?

Why I waste 3.99 a pop on comics these days is beyond me. Especially when they do stupid shit like kill Captain America? I would get more satisfaction by going bronze and collecting all the great titles from my youth. That's one of my new years resolutions: stop buying new comics and get back to the good stuff- I just picked up the entire run of Marvel Presents featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy for less that the price of four current titles. It makes no more sense for me to keep buying the new stuff when there is so much good old stuff at lower prices.

And while on the subject of comics my next fanboy project is to recreate three of my favorite teams from yesteryear the Defenders, Champions, and Bronze age Avengers. Here is my starter kit:

So once again, thank goodness for gift cards. They made the Evil DM's Holidays just a bit brighter!

Free comic book software and a top 20 ranking!

I ran across the Comic Collector Live site the other day. it has a great comic organizing program that I've been using to make some sense out of all of my boxes and boxes of comics. I'm finding out that I have whole runs of comics I haven’t even read yet. the free organizer allows you to sort the books by title, publisher, story arc, etc. and when you’re done entering them you can see what gaps you have and print up a report of your missing issues, so you can go buy MORE comics. They also have a community forum and a place to buy and sell comics. I haven’t really looked around there yet (I'm still entering my collection in the database).

Yax, over at Dungeon Mastering has ranked The Lair of the Evil DM number 15 of his top 50 favorite gaming sites. I'm in the top 20, that’s pretty cool. Thanks man.

Free Games!! All week!!

Over at RPGNow they are having a special Pre-thanksgiving offer.
Here is the ad:

RPGNow and over 60 of our publishing partners are offering the dozens of FREE titles listed below for our very own ThanksGiveAway holiday, Monday, November 12 through Friday, November 16. Check the site after 10 AM EST each day to find exciting new gifts from us to you, and please email, Blog and post to your gaming friends to let them know ThanksGiveAway week is here!

Of course I went there and checked it out. There are some real hidden gems, not to mention some guys who just want you to take a look at what they have to offer- It’s a great way to have a look at some stuff you may not have considered before and ALL FOR FREE! RPG's, supplements, tools, music, adventures.

So get over there, download some freebies, and if you happen to like what you see then support the publisher and buy some games!

Pulp Thursday

The second pod cast of Dial P for Pulp is out and ready for download. It looks like David is tightening up the broadcast and improving it with each step. It’s a first rate resource for Pulps. If David stays on the course he’s set I can see this being the definitive pod cast of the genre.





“Superpowers” is an upcoming release from Dynamite entertainment. The project is due out a bit later this year. The storyline follows the adventures of several WWII and Post WWII heroes of the pulps and comics.
“They have all have been drawn, designed and/or re-imagined by Alex Ross, including Fighting Yank, Green Lama, The Death Defying ‘Devil, the Black Terror, Masquerade, The Flame, Mister Face, Samson, The Scarab, The Owl, the Claw, Pyroman, the Arrow, the American Spirit, the Crusaders, the F-Troop and more.”
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11188

Check out these new looks for some classic heroes:




































Jungle Girl is another new dynamite release. Set in the modern 21st century rather than the classic 20th century (1930’s-1950’s) setting of most jungle tales, Jungle girl is the story of Jana and her adventures in a “Lost world” of Prehistoric creatures and barbaric splendor. The story starts out with Jana witnessing the crash landing of a private plane carrying a documentary film crew. Jana hurries to rescue them and we begin the trek to safety. I’ve read issues 0-2, the art is nice but the story is sparse. I’ll give it a couple of issues more but if it doesn’t pick up I may pass on further issues.




And that's your "Pulp Thursday" report.