The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite written by Gerard Way, art by Gabriel Ba, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot

The first volume of the Umbrella Academy opens with a professional wrestler dropping a flying atomic elbow on a cyclopean space squid from Rigel X-9 and quickly begins to get weird. What kept surprising everyone about this comic wasn’t that musician Gerard Way had some decidedly odd ideas for his story. What surprised everyone was just how damn good the whole thing turned out to be. Seriously, outside of My Chemical Romance’s legions of teen fans, who was expecting the guy to have these levels of creative chops. But he does. And when matched with Brazillian artist Gabriel Ba you get what is easily one of the top comics for 2008.

Time travel, little kids fighting the Eiffel Tower, bad parenting, talking chimps and a family reunion that probably isn’t that much more of a disaster than most peoples. I mean sure most reunions don’t lead to the end of the world, but the crying and fighting is probably pretty typical…

Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar, colors by Audre Jardel, translated by Alexis Siegel

Vampire Loves is centered mostly around the vampire Ferdinand. He’s just broken up with Lani, his plant-spirit girlfriend after he caught her cheating on him with one of his friends. He’s a bit of a depressive type who normally only feeds with one tooth so as to make people think they’ve been bitten by a mosquito. And he really doesn’t have a clue about dating. Vampire Loves follows Ferdinand, Lani and their collection of spirits, robots, humans, mystics and others in their attempt to find love.

Sfar’s work often has a level of sadness to it, even the humor. But its charming and thought-provoking and hopeful. Sfar’s world is one where the occult and the normal converge, mostly showing that people are people and thus mostly confused. Even when they’re dead. Or a tree…

Skin Horse vol. 1 by Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells

The first collection for the Skin Horse webcomic. A comic about the semi-secret Black Ops Social Services department for non-human intelligences. The ones who go in with government assistances for those poor Destroyer Robots, Transgenic Beasts and Stranger Things That Result From Playing God. When the Rampage Ends, Thats Where Project Skin Horse Begins…

Well they try anyway. But with a field team consisting of a talking ex-pat Canadian dog (Sweetheart), a patchwork zombie girl (Unity) and a transvestite psychologist (Dr. Tip Wilkin) its possible things might not go according to plan. But that doesn’t mean they won’t find a way to solve their clients’ problems. Whether they be genetically-modified lions, warring mutant societies in the sub-basements or foul-mouthed cyborg battle copters…

Super Hero Happy Hour written by Dan Taylor, art by Chris Fason

A very simple concept. Neighborhood bar where the city’s super-heroes hang out. This volume collects the original 4-issue mini-series. The art is a bit crude to start, but Fason hits his stride by the second issue (“Ladies’ Night”) putting down simple but effective black & white, cartoon-like art.

Also Psiren and Knightengale are TOTALLY female hero names I wish I’d thought up first…

Sparks: An urban fairy tale by Lawrence Marvit

Jo is a lonely auto mechanic. She lives at home with her drunken cop father and zoned out mother. And one day she builds..well not a robot. More the shell of one. And that night a lightning strike brings him to life. Jo eventually names him Galahad and he becomes her closest friend. Even as she struggles to fit in and make friends with other people. But even an artificial man can love.

Or its the story of a beautiful princess trapped by a wicked king and the brave knight who will do anything to save her.

Or maybe both…

Mini Marvels: rock, paper, scissors by Chris Giarrusso

Chris G’s brilliantly adorable series of Marvel characters as children had previously been found scattered throughout various Marvel titles. But this collection gathers them up in one slim $10 volume. Thrill to Spidey and Venom’s paper delivery adventures. Wolverines quest for his favorite cereal. The Human Torch learning a valuable lesson about courtesy. And of course the most perfect adaptation of the World War Hulk story-arc…

Chris G’s all-ages comic never fails to make me laugh. Plus Elephant Steve. The Marvel universe could use more Elephant Steve.

Yotsuba&! vol. 1 by Kiyohiko Azuma

I’m not normally a big manga reader. But there is something perfectly charming about this series. Its cute and funny and I found myself picking up all five volumes as well as picking them up for my nieces…

The series is about a strange green-haired girl named Yotsuba. She moves to a new town with her adoptive father. In the first volume she befriends her neighbors the Ayases. Especially the Ayase daughters, Fuku, Asagi and Ena. She also goes to the market. And goes cicada catching with Ena and her father’s best friend Jumbo. Yotsuba zooms from one idea to another. Watching the simple joy everything brings her always brings a smile to my face…

Nocturnals: Black Planet by Dan Brereton

Dan Brereton creates a world of gene-crafted humanoid animals, android-hired torpedos, and supernatural pulp heroes. The Nocturnals are led by Doc Horror of the heroic cursed genius and two-fisted guns variety. He fights the evil of the Narn K Corporation and the alien Crim with his crew of undead gunsels, freed hybrids, and pyschics.

Brereton’s signature painted style brings out the best for his post-dusk setting. Lots of shadows and moonlit settings. Brereton crafts an excellent mash-up of scifi, Lovecraftian and gangster tropes into a pulp noir story.

A Distant Soil: The Gathering by Colleen Doran

Within the first dozen pages of Doran’s sci-fi/fantasy/romance epic you get a brother and sister with mysterious powers and the villainous Martin Institute. Then soon after that, you get the aliens. Beautiful, human-looking aliens and weird, hulking ones both. And more psychics. And a cynical but heroic cop. And a gang-banger with a good heart. And more beautiful alien psychics. And Sir Galahad of Avalon. And alien revolutions. And an alien threat to Earth. And a plan to gather heroes to stop it. And a were-panther/alien. And evil dictators who aren’t. And so on…

Colleen Doran manages to somehow blend together all these disparate elements into a cohesive and compelling story in a A Distant Soil. Even the Faerie. Did I mention the Faerie? Yeah, from what could easily be a giant mess, Doran creates a world and tale that lives up to the description of epic.

Laika written and drawn by Nick Abadzis, colors by Hilary Sycamore

Laika follows former political prisoner who was one of prominent engineers in the Russian space program, Yelena a veterinary technician and Laika the dog aboard the second Soviet orbital launch. Having to meet Premiere Khruschev’s deadline of only a month to launch Sputnik II means that some things have to be cut. Like any means for the satellite to return safely to Earth. Abadzis mixes the available facts together to create a sad but touching story.

Poor, brave little dog…

The Savage Dragon by Erik Larsen, letters by Chris Eliopoulos, Colors by Gregory Wright & Steve Oliff

A collection of the original mini-series that introduced Larsen’s signature series. Waaaay back in ’92 when Image started I was a High School junior and a Marvel fan-boy. Especially of the X-books. So when several of the creative teams behind those left Marvel I followed along to see what else they’d do. And I checked out a couple other people. McFarlane on Spawn and Larsen on Savage Dragon. I had a few random issues of various Spider-Man books by both and thought they were nice enough. Seventeen years later and I’m still a fan of Larsen and his fin-headed hero.

I’ve followed through the silly cartoon, the numerous spin-offs, tragedies and triumphs in Larsen’s life, delays and more feuds than you could shake an internet browser at. And the book has remained one of my favorites. From when he starts out as a Chicago cop to the creation of Freak Force to encounters with Gods, with other dimensions, being fired, with being the leader of a government super-team, the destruction of the “original” Image Earth, overthrowing the tyrant leader of “new” Earth, getting married and to becoming a cop again, I’ve kept up…

It’s been seventeen years since that first mini-series and I’ve long since lost interest in the other Image founders and their creations. But I’ll probably be a Fin-Addict for another seventeen.

The Savage Sword of Conan: Vol. 1 written by Roy Thomas, art by various

By Crom! Fifteen tales of the Cimmerian adventurer! Fifteen tales of blood and glory and women and danger! Valeria of the flashing blade! Red Sonja of the fearsome temper! The art of Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Jim Starlin, Walter Simonson and more! Fifteen thrilling tales of Conan, filled with strange beasts, dark magics and conquest!

Who would dare pass up this opportunity? Only a fool!

CROOOOOOOOM!

Jack Staff: Yesterday’s Heroes written and drawn by Paul Grist

The world of Jack Staff is one of super-heroes, vampires, reports, and maverick cops. Named Maveryk. This collection of the first four indy press issues takes Britain’s greatest hero, Jack Staff, from a fight in the 1940s alongside the Freedom Fighters to a series of vampire attacks in the modern day.

This collection presents the first issues of one of the best—and sometimes oddest—super-hero books on the stands. While this edition is now out of print, it is collected as part of Image’s Jack Staff: Everything Used to be Black and White. Still theres something enjoyable about lucking into earlier editions. But whatever collected version or single issues, Jack Staff is one of best and most enjoyable comics out there.

Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka

Astro Boy originally named Tetsuwan Atom or “Mighty Atom” is one of the cornerstones of Japanese manga and anime. Created and written by comics legend Osamu Tezuka, the series ran for EIGHTEEN years. Tezuka’s stories, based around the adventures of the good-hearted robot boy became one of the cultural touchstones of Japan. Here you have the first two volumes collected and translated into English. You get stories of alien invaders, robot/human politics, stage magic and cyborg dogs. Trips to the moon, powerful battles and a robot hero with machine guns in his butt…

These early stories are fun to read and enhanced by the cartoonish but clean drawing style. The characters have exageratted physical characteristics, emotionally overreact and use classic sight-gags. While Tezuka himself was not always happy with his early work it still has a simple elegance to it and the stories are, above all, fun.

The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, art by Les McClaine

The Middleman is the agent of an organization so top secret even he doesn’t know who they are. He’s tasked with protecting the world from those who would conquer it and also dealing with things too strange for normal authorities. Like crime-boss monkeys, rogue groups of los luchadors or giant city-buster robots…

His new partner is artist and temp worker Wendy Watson. Since he burned down her last job stopping a tentacle monster and had her framed for it, she’s been in need of work. So Mad Science Action Hero Sidekick will have to do for now…

Grillo-Marxuach’s series was adapted into a television show for ABC Family which was pretty good the one time I caught it. The book collects all three volumes of the comic as well as bonus comics featuring the Middleman in other eras. One of which features time traveling Soviet bears on motorcycles. And thats just awesome.

Scalped: Indian Country written by Jason Aaron, Art by R.M. Guera, Colors by Lee Loughridge, Letters by Phil Balsman

Jason Aaron is one of comics’ rising stars. He’s infusing new life into old properties at Marvel and, along with co-creator Guera, is doing one of Vertigo’s latest flagship titles with Scalped. The book looks at various characters living on or involved with the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation, focusing heavily on recently returned prodigal son Dashiell “Dash” Bad Horse. After fifteen years away he returns and gets hired on by local crime boss, tribal chief and chief of police Lincoln Red Crow. Red Crow used to be a major part of the activist movement, alongside Dash’s mother Gina Bad Horse. But now he’s a corrupt and violent bastard determined to get his new casino up and running at any cost.

Adding to the mix are other activists former and current (like crazy white boy Diesel), FBI agent Nitz looking to pin a 20 year old murder of two FBI agents on Red Crow, Red Crow’s self-destructive daughter and other crooks, cops and citizens on the Rez. Not that its always possible to tell those last three apart…

Aaron and Guera are telling a hyper-violent cops/noir/gangster/tribal life/spiritual journey mash-up of a story. And with its diverse cast and interlocking story arcs its no wonder its often looked at as the succesor to the recently ended 100 Bullets.

Dr. Strange: The Oath written by Brian K. Vaughn, art by Marcos Martin, inks & colors by Alvaro Lopez & Javier Rodriguez, letters by Willie Schubert

And welcome to the last good Dr. Strange story. One that opens with Strange being dragged into the clinic of Dr. Linda “Night Nurse” Carter. Strange has been shot and so Wong takes him to the only doctor in the city who specializes in vigilante trauma. From there we learn that Wong has a malignant brain tumor, Dr. Strange located a magical potion that can cure it and the person who shot him was a costumed burglur named Brigand who stole the potion on behalf of a mysterious enemy of the Sorcerer Supreme. And then we get demons, robots and Hitler’s Gun…

Vaughn tells what is probably one of the best Dr. Strange stories in years, an impressive talent given the difficulties most writer’s have in presenting the character (*glares at Bendis*). And Martin has a classical comic book style of art that meshes well. Though honestly, the book is almost worth picking up just for the first two pages and the conversation between rookie hero Arana and Iron Fist in Night Nurse’s waiting room…

Boneyard: Vol. 1 by Richard Moore

A collection of the first four-issues. Michael Paris inherits a plot of land in the town of Raven Hollow. When he gets to town he finds out he got a cemetery. One home to various strange and frightening creatures. And the locals would like his help in getting rid of the monsters. Though Paris finds himself unsure about siding with the townsfolk over the cemetery residents. Especially the vampire Abbigail…

Boneyard is a mostly light-hearted horror comic. I mean except when it isn’t. But Moore is enjoyable if for no other reason, then that he can remember that people come in more than one body type…

The Damned Script and Story by Cullen Bunn, Art and Story by Brian Hurt

The Damned is high concept at its most perfect. Think Miller’s Crossing with demons. And the story is one of those sadly rare times where the creators far and away deliver on the concept. The lead character is Eddie, your regular broken down cynical anti-hero. Except he can’t stay dead. When someone touches his corpse, skin to skin, they take his death and drag him out of hell.

Eddie’s boss needs him again so his corpse is revived from the half-empty field where its lying. The demon crime boss has a problem. Hell’s sent up someone to broker the war between the cities two biggest demon crime families. And that negotiator has gone missing. So Eddie’s been tapped to find him…

The Damned is perfect for fans of noir, crime movies or plain old good story-telling.

Cerebus by Dave Sim

So Cerebus. Lets get one thing out of the way first. Dave Sim. Dave Sim is crazy. Not wacky, not eccentric. Bug-fuck, rat-shit, random animal-random swear CRAZY. This is unarguable to anyone who’s read his non-comics writings. Well its arguable, and lots of people DO, but they’re really, really wrong. Misogynist + Crazy = Dave Sim. Simple fact. Which doesn’t change how really fucking good much of Cerebus is…

What started as a funny animal parody of Conan morphed into a satire on comics and then into just lots of weird philosophy, action, humor, celebrity cameos and more. Three hundred issues of it. Some of it is actually pretty terrible, having too much of the “real-world” Sim in it. Other stuff is just full-on awesome. Volume 1 here is the first 25 issues and its full of parody, barbarians, the greatest use of a fake Groucho Marx ever, violence, artists, weird women, weirder men, the Roach and more…

So there you go. Cerebus. Mostly excellent comic written by a really crazy person…

Hench written by Adam Beechan, art by Manny Bello

Mike Fulton is an ex-jock, sidelined by a knee injury, now just another blue collar guy. Trying to get buy and support a wife and kid. But he misses the excitement of football and the feeling of being part of something bigger. So when Randy Kirkman, another athlete taken out in his prime by an injury, approaches him about an opportunity he listens. And Randy introduces him into the world of professional henching. Hired muscle for costumed crooks and crazies. The new life goes well at first but when his wife threatens to leave him he quits. But then his son gets sick. And the medical bills keep mounting. And so Mike goes back to the only thing that will bring in the money fast enough. But henching costs him his job, gets him a prison record and gets him hurt.

Hench is far from the only piece of super-hero fiction to take a look at the costumed life from the henchman’s perspective. But in Mike Fulton it succeeds in creating a relatable everyman. Just another common guy working a job. Beechan and Bello’s background heroes and villains are interesting as well. I especially like the drunken Russian called the Cosmonaut and the mystic villain Hellbent. Who, ironically, is the best at looking out for his people and having well-thought out plans.

Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo written by Joe R. Lansdale, Drawn by Timothy Truman, Inks by Sam Glanzman, Colors by Sam Parsons and Letters by Todd Klein

Two-Gun Mojo was my introduction to both Jonah Hex and Lansdale. Its possible its even my first real introduction to Truman, before I found Grimjack even. Hex is a scarred Civil War vet turned bounty hunter. And thanks to various animated appearances on Batman: the Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited and Batman: The Brave & The Bold he’s probably DC’s best known Old West character…

In “Two-Gun Mojo” Lansdale mixes together his two favorite genres, Westerns and Horror. Here he uses a two-bit snake-oil salesman and his carnival of freaks that cross paths with Hex. And making them especially dangerous is that one of the freaks is the animated corpse of legendary gunfighter Wild Bill Hickock…

The story is as violent as a Peckinpah movie and darkly humorous. Lansdale and Truman are both recognized master’s in their fields and letterer Klein has more Eisner nominations than I’ve got fingers. Together with Glanzman and Parsons they craft a classic tale of murder, vengeance and dark magics…

Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown

The not true story of the non-eternal war between the heroic Awesomebots and the villainous Fantasticons. After devastating their home world Electronocybercircuitron the two factions band together to explore the stars for a new home with a new source of energy. But a spirited debate leads to violence and the robotic masters of disguise find themselves crashing onto the strange new world called Earth. There, under the leadership of the amazing Big Rig and the fantastical Shootertron, their war continues!

While small in size every page is packed with 150% of your needed doses of humorous parody. Brown delivers a tale sure to delight everyone who has grown up watching giant robots turn into trucks and then back again to beat up ones that turn into jets. Chee choo che choo chee. Incredible change to vehicle mode and roll out!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gates Scripts by Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard, Pencils by Georges Jeanty, Inks Andy Owens, Colors Michelle Madsen, Letters Richard Starkings & Comicraft

The 3rd volume of “Season 8″ and probably the strongest. Collecting issues 11-15, with only the first written by Whedon. Which is a good issue. But Goddard honestly hits a home run with it. Capturing the idiosyncratic voice of the original series while adding his own improvements. This arc has the return of Dracula, a fairly flat character in the one television episode. But here, especially in the weird friendship between him and Xander, he’s a scene stealer. Also you have a giant teen-age girl getting in a fight with a giant robot version of herself. Also Andrew lecturing a group of Slayers about Dracula while wearing George Hamilton’s costume from Love at First Bite. And what else. Oh yeah, lesbianism. This is the arc with Buffy’s fling with fellow slayer Satsu. Which of course made it the greatest comic ever written. I have mathematical formulas proving it.

Not that everything is perfect with the writing. Aside from Dracula and the original cast few of the other characters have much in the way of developed personalties. And Xander Harris shows that he matches Kyle Rayner in being a guy no one should date. Ever. Seriously of all the people he’s EVER been romantically linked to, no matter how brief, two have survived. And one of those went gay…

Criminal: Coward written by Ed Brubaker, art by Sean Phillips

Criminal is probably one of the best books (not just comics, but books) being published. And probably one of the finest examples of noir you can find. No capes, no magic, nothing but cops and crooks and two-time losers and people looking for that last one big score and fools and madmen…

This first collected story arc follows Leo, a master pick pocket who gets recruited to work an armored car heist. One where damn near everything goes wrong and almost everyone involved is lying. Its violent and beautiful and tragic.

I’ve yet to see a bad review of this series and this first volume is a perfect start. The only thing thats really missing from the singles are the back-up essays on the noir genre, highlighting creators and works in print and film.

Proof Book 1: Goatsucker Script and letters by Alexander Grecian, Art & colors by Riley Rossmo, Colors by Tyler Jenkins

Proof is John Prufrock, agent of the Lodge and 200+ year old Sasquatch. The Lodge is in charge of watching cryptids. Keeping them safe from humanity and humanity safe from many of them. Ginger Brown is his new partner. She was FBI until a hostage situation she was negotiating was solved by a giant man made from clay. One no one else says they saw. And on her first day at her new job she and Proof are sent to Minnesota to investigate a chupacabra sighting…

Within the last couple years cryptozoology seems to have got an upswing in popularity again. Proof is one of a couple comics and shows featuring secret groups that employ and investigate “monsters”. And its probably my favorite of the bunch. The comic has a very early season X-Files feel to it. Especially if they’d only done the weird happenings episodes and not the Alien/Conspiracy Mythology ones…

Time, much like music, is described in many forms. Everyone has an opinion on time and how we perceive it. From a simple measurement between then and now, to a scientific theory on relativistic time versus Newtonian time. In M. Ward’s newest album Hold Time he has much to say about time. Nothing that will expand any scientific fields of research, but bits from the past and the future that can spin into a much longer yarn if you will your imagination to take you there.

The song “Never Had Nobody Like You” dwells for a short time on the past, but never so far back as to not see the person who’s standing right in front of him, shows how well this album has been crafted around it’s title. It’s almost novel-like in how there’s a loose narrative flowing throughout. This track features Zooey Deschanel and has some fantastically catchy guitar rifts and drum beats.

“One Hundred Million Years” is a simple love song that spans eons. The mellow sound that flutters from the guitar sets a soothing and lovely tone for the song. Which carries right over into the next track, “Stars of Leo.” Another love song, but this time a bit more heavy on the symbolism and wordplay. It does take a minute to build up to the real catchy rifts, but if you follow the narrative you can understand why.

While sifting through the lines in this album, I came to realize that he’s layered this album with many, many religious references. The first song “For Beginners” mentions Mount Zion and the original sinners, an obvious reference to Adam and Eve. “Jailbird” tells the haunting last moments of a prisoner on death row. And “Epistemology” which tells us how the singer, whether that be M. Ward or someone else, had found religion.

I liked this album, a lot. It showcases a lot of the reasons why I love M. Ward’s music so much. Haunting melodies, rolling guitars that make me dance in my seat, and fun catchy lyrics that I’ll sing along with. However, I can’t get past the fact that a few of the tracks sound vaguely similar to his past work. They have that simple touch of a few notes that make me think back on previous tracks, and then I come back to the tune at hand. It almost takes me out of the moment. But then, I’d be fooling myself if I didn’t think about those crazy power chord guitarist of the ‘80’s. Oh, how they loved to reuse so many chords.

The only criticism I have for this album is that the tracks are short. Much too short for my tastes, but Ward does put a lot of effort into squeezing his mind in each track. Another fifteen or so minutes could have really filled this one out, but then, we can’t all hold onto so much time like Ward does.

Starman Omnibus, vol. 1 Written by James Robinson, Pencils by Tony Harris, Inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, Colors and Letters by various

It seems appropiate to have this collection get focused on today. Because one of the underlying themes of the entire series is fathers. Jack and Ted. The Mist and his two children. The O’Dare clan and the influence their father had on them. Throughout the run of this book the theme shows up…

For those unfamiliar with Robinson’s Starman, its the tale of a second generation hero, Jack Knight. Jack’s father Ted was the first Starman, though there were several others in between Ted’s WWII adventures and Jack taking up the mantle. Will Payton, the alien warrior Mikaal, alien Prince Gavyn. Even Jack’s older brother David. In fact this first volume opens with David’s assassination at the hands of the Mist’s son Kyle. The Mist had been one of Ted’s oldest foes. And in his twillight days he attempts to destroy his rival and all his works. But the attempt to kill Jack pushes him into taking up Starman’s Cosmic Rod…

While everyone else was spending the 90s trying to copy the worst excesses of Image, Starman set a different tone. With its gorgeous and fleshed out Opal City. With its expanded DCU history. And with its way of making bad guys into good guys…

Because just as much as the long term story was about the Starman legacy of the Knight family, it was also about the evolution of golden age villain the Shade into hero. And with these new omnibus editions all that will be seen. In this volume and the five to follow will be every issue and every story. Annuals, one-shots, mini series. Everything. Which explains, other than the fact that the thing is just amazing, why I’m buying this series for a third time…

Street Angel written by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca, drawn by Jim Rugg

Whats this? A Sunday Trade update in the morning???

Thats right! Be shocked and amazed by my get up and go attitude that is all for you and not linked in any way to my desire to spend all of Sunday in a coma so I can put off cleaning my apartment…

Rugg and Maruca’s title character is a martial arts bad-ass and skateboarding wizard. An orphaned girl, raised on the mean streets of the world’s worst ghetto she spends her time scrounging for food, ditching class and delivering savage and sometimes lethal beat downs to arrogant cops, ninjas, conquistidorspirates and/or robots. And maybe she’ll take some time to get recruited to rescue the mayor’s spoiled brat daughter from mad geologist Dr. Pangea. Or help out retired blaxploitation hero Afrodisiac or Irish astronaut CosMick. But mostly she’s just bad-ass awesome and wicked, crazy cool…

No, this is a list about a man who can take hours away from you at a time by just listening to him. A man who is known and unknown by many. Bob Dylan has a catalogue of music that will take you days to sift through, weeks to find the gems that others glance over, and months to appreciate that one verse, that one smidge of pure glee that you might have otherwise missed the first twenty times you listened to it.

For you, the reader and listener, I have taken years going over these songs over and over. Listening to them at work, listening to them on walks, and listening to them when I’m playing games. I’ve combined both the original recorded track and all the live tracks I could. This clocks in at over six hours of music. I’m going to distill as much as I can for you, while still not gloating about how much I love Bob Dylan. (Go ahead, get your sneers in about his raspy-taspy voice now. I’ll wait.)

Ok, ready? These six are those that benefit from being played live, and are better than the original recording.

I’ll start with It Ain’t Me Babe from “Another Side of Bob Dylan.” It’s a simple song, and simply put it doesn’t stand out that much from the rest of the album. In it’s entirety you may wonder why Dylan chose this song to include in his live set lists. I couldn’t tell you exactly, since I wasn’t around in those days, but I can tell you I’m glad he did. There are four live versions of this song. My favorite of them all is from the “Rolling Thunder Revue” which is a deliciously fantastic album. There’s energy, power, and force behind Dylan on this song. He brings it all here, and he’s really performing superbly. Check this one out for some great licks.

My next pick is one of Dylan’s more silly songs. Yes, I’m talking about Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 from “Blonde on Blonde.” The original album recording is already choke full of fun sounds, and then you get into the lyrics and you can tell he’s having a good time. Now, you get into the Live versions of the song and everything just comes off the hinges. From the “MTV Unplugged” album he knocks it out of the park a little further and does a fantastic job of juicing this up with some great sounds. Give it a listen, you’ll be happy you did. (Side note: This was the one Dylan song my boss at Target knew of, and he had little talent for singing. I smiled and nodded, and continued to think of him as an idiot.)

This is not the exact song I’m talking about here, but it is Dylan playing with Elvis Costello, so it’s just as good.

This one you might roll your eyes at because it’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door from the “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” film. I’ve actually watched the film, and can say it’s not all that great. However, this song is one of the few good things to come from that. Now, you might be saying that Guns N’ Roses cover is a good one, and that I shouldn’t bother. Ok, but consider this: Axl Rose is an asshole. I understand I don’t know the man, but c’mon. Who just throws “hey’s” and “whoa’s” around? That dick, that’s who. However, Dylan does a live version of this song on his “MTV Unplugged” album that’s heart-felt and powerful in execution. The added three minutes from the original stand out, but do take a minute to build up and draw you into the song. Also, if you want to hear this song with a flute solo you should check out the “Live At Budokan” recording.

From the “Blood on the Tracks” album comes Shelter From the Storm. This already well written song is bolstered even further up along the reasons of why I love Dylan so much. On the “Hard Rain” album his performance of this song truly goes to create a gorgeous melody and a lilting playfulness you might not expect from him. An album that’s been said to be a ghost train with little steam from the “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour, there’s still plenty of gems here and this song is just one of them.

Tombstone Blues has always been one of those high concept songs to me. With lyrics that, at first glance, blow your mind, and slowly turns toward something more compelling and frightening to find out what Dylan is talking about. From the “MTV Unplugged” album he’s turned the song into a quasi-country jamband tune. It deviates the tune just enough to recast it in a light that any fan of Dylan can appreciate

The song Maggie’s Farm was one I had originally heard from the Bootleg Series Volume 7 in which it was performed live during that infamous period where Dylan started playing electric guitar. I then heard the original recording from the “Bringing It All Back Home” album. I was stunned to hear such a difference between the two and that’s when I started digging further into his live albums. My favorite live track though comes from the “Hard Rain” album. The guitars all roll along the same twangy pattern that’s just fun to listen to, but the great part is the way Dylan executes his vocals for this song. It just pulls you in and makes you want to sing along.

And those are my picks for Dylan’s live tracks. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you’ve got some favorites of your own let me know! Tune in next time when I point out the tracks that should have been left off the set list from his live albums.

- Zak Kaveney

Justice League: A New Beginning written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, Pencils by Kevin Maguire, Inks by Terry Austin (Ch.1) and Al Gordon (Ch. 2-7), Letters by Bob Lappan, Colors by Gene D’Angelo and Daniel Vozzo

“A New Beginning” marks the start of the Giffen/DeMatteis run on Justice League of America aka The Justice League International era aka The Bwahaha League. The last because even during serious and dramatic story-lines it still wouldn’t take things totally seriously. Even the dourest of Detectives or emoest of Martians would crack wise or at least crack a smile. It’s an era that introduced the perfect team-up of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. And of course its the volume of One Punch…

While the original soft trade is now out-of-print thats mostly because DC is slowly releasing the entire run in a series of fairly affordable hard-back editions. An excellent addition to fans of capes and the DCU ones especially. The books should also be appealing to those whose main introduction to the DCU is from the Justice League and JLU cartoons.

Northlanders: Sven the Returned written by Brian Wood, illustrated by Davide Gianfelice, colors Dave McCaig, letters Travis Lanham

Collecting the first arc of Brian Wood’s most recent ongoing series. About, well, Vikings. In this case the story of Sven, a chieftan’s son working as a soldier in Constantinople as one of the Varangian. Sven learns that his father has died and his lands taken over by his uncle. So Sven decides to head back to the home he abandoned for his inheritance. Or at least the parts that clink and are easily portable…

Wood’s story reads like a violent gangster story really. Or maybe a adaption of a never filmed Kurosawa adaptation of a forgotten noir piece. Dark and brooding and full of blood and vengeance. All set in ink by the skilled Gianfelice and McCaig…

Plus its a fat 8-issue tpb that only runs 10 bucks. Thats a damned good deal…

Since Adam didn’t want to run both games, I’ll be taking over D&D after we’re done with the Keep.  I’m very excited!  I haven’t run D&D for years because I grew tired of the massive preparation time that third edition carried with it.  4e fixes that problem  so I was more than happy to put on my cape and step back into the role of DM.

Like any excited gaming group, everyone immediately began discussing exactly what they were going to play.  Since D&D’s creation, the proper balance of classes in a party has always been an important part of the metagame.  The concept of having your niche on the battlefield was one of the cornerstones of the game in those early days.  As editions came and went, the importance of these niches began to fade as rules for multiclassing allowed for characters to account for their own weaknesses instead of relying on a party member to compensate for it.  This seems like a small thing, but it really changed the way the game was played.

Third Edition was the biggest offender when it came to lack of niche protection.  With both multiclassing and prestige classes designed to let your character specialize, generalize, hypnotize, and hypothesize, the idea that a class had well-defined weaknesses to go along with its strengths was out the window.  This is actually one of my big beefs with Third Edition but it really just comes down to a matter of taste.  There are lots of folks out there who love the wide array of options presented and don’t enjoy the more restricted versions of classes that other editions, including Fourth, offer.

In Fourth Edition, the concept of niches comes back as one of the foundations of the game.  Instead of hiding the concept within the rules for the players to eventually figure out, they instead opened the curtains and made it very explicit that classes are grouped into certain battlefield roles.  The four roles in the game are striker, defender, leader, and controller.  Each class specialized in one role and can usually build in such a way to dabble with another.  The roles all complement one another and when a party has each role filled it is fun to watch the gears turn together to become a well-oiled machine.  This is one of the better concepts that the designers yoinked from MMOs (though MMOs yoinked the idea from older edition of D&D).

Playing through the module Adam is running now, we have every role filled with the fifth player being a defender (a party makeup we have found to be very effective).  When we made characters, no one wanted to play the wizard, currently the only controller in the game, so I filled that role. It’s probably the most complained about class in the game, if you pay attention to message boards (and I wouldn’t), because it doesn’t seem as focused as the other classes.  Even the designers admit that the wizard is like that because even they hadn’t really decided all the things a controller should do.

As someone who’s played one for a few sessions, I’m loving it.  So don’t believe the hype, I guess.

It turns out, I’m the only one who was loving it, though.  Nobody wanted to play the wizard in the upcoming game and since that’s the only controller in the game until Players Handbook 2 releases, the party is going to be short a role.  I sounded like a broken record that night as I made sure to emphasize that lacking a controller is going to be a weakness for the crew.  That didn’t change any minds, but at least they’re aware of it.

While I love the  focus on roles, now we see the downside.  With one role missing, the monster-bashing machine is going to be missing an important gear.  This is by no means game-breaking, but it’s going to be interesting to see how the party holds up when they’re not following the strong suggestions of the rules.

Next time I’ll talk a bit about the specialty weapons in 4E.  See you then.

Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds

Brit Posy Simmonds writes and draws a tale of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Well, ok its got an ex-rock star in it. The story actually centers around a writer’s retreat at the farm of Stonefields. The owner’s husband is a fairly successful writer of a detective series. He’s also more than a bit of a philandering prick. The titular character returns to a neighboring house after the death of her mother. Ms. Drewe is a newspaper columnist and would be novelist as well. The young and beautiful women soon has everyone entranced or upset. Especially after several local teens become obsessed with her and her ex-rock star boyfriend…

Simmonds’ art style is very clean and crisp and still detailed. Plus look, right there on the cover. Sex! Hard-core sheep on sheep action!

Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley

The first volume of six, introducing Scott Pilgrim, a good kid if a bit of a doofus. See him date cute teen-ager Knives Chau only to meet the mysterious Ramona Flowers. But even if he decides to go after Ramona, he’d still have to deal with her League of Evil Ex-Boyfriends. Like the magical Matthew Patel. Plus he’s got to cope with Wallace his gay room-mate, playing with his band Sex Bob-omb and that whole being an idiot at times…

But these books have it all! Canadians! Americans! Rock ‘n Roll! Video Game Jokes! Magic! AND MORE! Well not a lot more. BUT SOME MORE!

The New York Four written by Brian Wood, art by Ryan Kelly
Emiko Superstar written by Mariko Tamaki, art by Steve Rolston

As many of you likely already know, DC recently announced they were ending their minx line of books. Lots of armchair analysis as to why. Poor marketing, not producing a consistent product, etc etc. I still have no real idea if the line had much appeal to its target audience, but I know I liked the majority of it. And two of what look to be the last output were Brian Wood’s The New York Four and Emiko Superstar from Mariko Tamaki…

The first follows four female college freshman at a New York school. Wood excells when it comes to writing about people in New York, no matter what the rest of the setting looks like. With the only real criticism of the book being that it is very much the start of a series. The ending is weaker than it could be. Which, now that Wood will have to shop the series around for a new publisher, is kind of annoying…

Tamaki’s book is in some ways a normal teen-age coming of age story. Her lead has to discover her own self-worth, realize who is and isn’t worth listening to and balancing responsibility with staying true to self. But while the basic underlying story isn’t anything new, Tamaki crafts it well, using a background of an indy/underground performance art scene. Emiko Superstar makes a high point for minx to go out on…

While I openly profess to an aversion to house rules, there were a few modifications I wanted to make. I’m listing them here with an explanation as to why I did so.

1. Healing: There is no magical healing in the Third World. Skills like Healing and edges like Nerves of Steel are essential to a dedicated warrior. But the amount of time necessary to heal wounds is often longer than the amount of down time adventurers have. For that reason, the target to soak damage is simply a success and not a success and a raise. This allows the players to soak more of their wounds and leave battle with none or one wound rather than two or three.

2. Skills: While Savage Worlds consolidates skills into their fundamental roots (i.e., stealth), I found myself inconsistently incorrectly using the Investigate skill. When searching a house, I have the players use Investigate even though the rules say to use Notice. After consideration, I decided to continue down that path, separating these much like the separation of Spot and Search in 3rd Edition. Searching a house is investigating a house, thus the Investigation skill is used. Certainly Notice still applies in a lot of other situations.

3. Bennies: The party averages three xp per session. I base the adventures on this expected rate of advancement. I also think bennies should be used to help the players do awesome things. For these reasons, I do not allow remaining bennies to be used to gain additional xp.

4. Hero Points: A benny may be spent before a roll to add a +2 to the roll. A benny may be spent after a roll to add a +1 to the roll.

5. Twist of Fate: Spend two bennies (not from the same character) to get a clue from the GM. It may be pointing out something the party missed or even something the party got but didn’t pursue. The effects of this are wholly at the GMs discretion. This ability is generally only available if the party is honestly stuck.

6. Bravery: A character receives a +1 bonus (cumulative) to Guts checks for each rank above Novice. (Seasoned characters receive +1, Veteran +2, and so on.)

6. Racial Skills: The only playable race is human, but among the humans there are 13 different nationalities. I added two Bonus Racial Skills based on the nationality chosen at character creation. These focused on skills that are so common in those nations that anyone raised there would have a d4 in the skill by simple exposure. I wanted these skills to reinforce the national identity of the characters. Sure they’re all human, but they are still very different. If you were creating a character raised in the wastelands of Aman, you could assign 15 skill points as normal, but would begin with a d4 in Repair and a d4 in Survival in addition (so 17 skill points total).

7. Racial Edges: For the same reasons, I also added one Racial Edge. This was also distributed based on nationality and in some circumstances ignored prerequsities. Certain nations were better defined by edges than by skills. If you were creating a Skivndian character, you would get the Brawny edge for free. (This is in addition to the bonus edge the character already receives for being human, as per the standard Savage Worlds rules.)

Number 7 is the only one I consider a mistake. Racial bonuses were meant to help establish national identity for the players at character creation. This wasn’t really the case. The characters were new are still evolving as our sessions continue. What I’ve found is that the racial bonuses have helped establish that identity as we continue, instances where the party has not focused on a particular skill but the racial affinity allows a character the knowledge needed. The edges have not been effective in this or any other manner. They are simply bonus edges. And while the Brinish character’s bonus Charismatic edge may not be game breaking, I did not want to give extra abilities just for the sake of giving them.

Nat Turner by Kyle Baker

On August 21st, 1831 Nat Turner led a slave revolution in Southhampton County, Virginia. He and his followers executed fifty-five people, many of them children before being stopped. Turner himself was captured, tried, and executed. He was hung, beheaded, and skinned.

I’ve been meaning to review this book for months now, but kept putting it off. I’m not the right person to judge Turner or his actions. I can just say that the book makes me uncomfortable. Which is good. Kyle Baker tells a mostly dialogue-less story that challenges the reader. It doesn’t try to hide anything. And while it’s far from being a “fun” book, it is an important one. Like Spiegleman’s Maus, Nat Turner pushes the field of comics.

The War at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks

Faith Erin Hicks has been doing comics for over a decade now. At first online with the superb Demonology 101 and of late in regular print. She started with a light book about zombies and then moved on to something harder, teenage girls…

The War at Ellsmere has the normal tropes for a high school story. The new student. The evil clique. The clueless parents of the evil clique leader. And of course the administrators and teachers who seem unable or unwilling to notice how the evil clique scams them to the detriment of other students. Which actually really bugs me. I’ve got to find a work of fiction (book, movie, other) where the adults supposedly in charge just shut down the plots of cruel kids. 1st season Boston Public maybe? ANYWAY, back on topic…

There isn’t much thats truly NEW here, but Erin Hicks is a gifted writer and so you invest in the characters. You care about the New Girl and her friend, Shy Girl. You hate Evil Girl and her Helpers of Evil. An excellent book all around and I remain hopeful that F.E.H’s online works will be collected for print one day as well…

Knights of the Dinner Table Bundle of Trouble Vol. 1 by Jolly Blackburn

Ah KoDT. THE gamer’s gamer comic. For years now it’s embraced, mocked, and encouraged us in our mad, expensive hobby. Not just role-playing games but board games. And video games. And card games. All games. There are few others that tread the same ground (Kovalic’s Dork Tower or Kurtz’s PvP). But none truly capture the madness of the hard-core gamer so well…

The Bundles of Trouble are three-issue (later ones jump up to four issues) collections of the comic (really more comic/gaming magazine) Knights of the Dinner Table. Just the KoDT strips, with the normal articles, secondary comics and reviews removed. Which (though they only get put out as back-stock of single issues dries up) makes them a good way for people who don’t WANT those extra bits clogging up the comics…

And Volume One introduces the core cast of the Knights. B.A. and the Untouchable Trio +1. And the basic set-up of Gamemaster vs. Player in an endless cycle of one-upmanship. This first volume also gives game store owner and old-school gamer Weird Pete, former Knight Johnny Kizinski, and game company owner and designer Gary Jackson. But its mostly the Knights. Gamemaster B.A. Felton, often harried and stunned by his players actions. Bob, working out his frustrations and lack of “real” life at the game table. Dave, the reckless fool. Brian, the damn near autistic number cruncher and rules lawyer. And Sara, the girl. The one who wants social interaction and to move the story along. Except of course when she doesn’t. It is a rare gamer indeed who doesn’t look at the Knight’s table and recognize someone they’ve gamed with. Or a few of them. Or all of them. Or even looks at their weekend game and thought, “Damn, this is us.”

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things and Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics by Ted Naifeh

Courtney Crumrin is a young lass of the vaguely gothic and too smart for the world variety. Her parents, after years of living well beyond their means, have jumped at the chance to move in with her elderly great-uncle Aloysius at his mansion in the suburbs. Where dark things lurk in the woods and spoiled rich kids lurk everywhere else. And great-uncle Aloysius is very much more than the creepy old man in the creepy house (though he is that). Especially with his library full of strange books…

In the first volume Courtney deals with bullies, meets a goblin, gets a baby-sitting job, tries out a spell to make herself popular and then has to cope with being an outsider. In the second volume Courtney learns of the Coven of Mystics, the secret society of people like her. Witches and warlocks. And learns that people are still people and most of them are bastards, whether they’re “normal” or not…

Naifeh crafts darkly amusing stories here. Sort of Harry Potter meets The Adamms Family. The original comics more than the tv show. A welcome addition to the library of any fan of fairy tales, modern fantasy or just well done YA fiction. Perfect for that young relative with the drawer full of plastic bats or simply someone with the heart of a child. Probably in a jar somewhere…

G0dland: Hello, Cosmic! by Joe Casey & Tom Scioli, Design by Richard Starkings, Colors by Bill Crabtree

Adam Archer is the lone survivor of a mission to land on Mars. And while using the last of his oxygen to explore he stumbles into a strange alien building. There he’s bombarded with strange energies by mysterious energies, transforming him and allowing him to return to Earth. Once home he becomes, with the help of his sisters Neela, Stella and Angie, Earth’s premiere protector and investigator of the dangerous and unknown. Facing alien visitors, the drug-addled obsessive Basil Cronus, the twisted Discordia and the heroic Crashman…

G0dland is Kirby inspired super-heroics cranked up to eleven. Alien gods, bizarre villains and vibrant crackling colors. If ever there were a true succesor to the King’s 4th World work it would be Casey and Scioli…

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the tubes
Not a poster was posting, not even the noobs;

Subscriptions were made on iTunes with care,
In hopes that Uncle Jimbone soon would be there;

The listeners were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of beer nipples danced in their heads;
And Adam on stripper pole, Luke in wide stance
Had just settled down for a long bromance
When up on the intarwebs arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the laptop I flew like a flash,
Opened Firefox and went to the PodgeCast.
The glow of the screen on my angry eyebrows
Made me look happy, lord knows how
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a bottle of moonshine and a hoedown right here,
With a lively ol’ jig and a skip in his walk,
Uncle Jimbone arrived and began to talk.
More rapid than eagles the forum posters came,
He clambered and clattered and called them by name
“Now Havick! now Dunphy! now Mr. Keith Curtis!
On Becca! on Gaerma! on Tim White!” he blurted.
“To the top of the nets! To the Outhouse Wall!
Now Podge away! Podge away! Podge away all!”
Quicker than flamers trolling the forums,
The listeners gathered and began to swarm;
So off to a wing night the fans they flew,
With beer and weck and barbecue too.

And then, with a clacking, I heard through the haze
Dice shucking and rolling as Uncle Jimbone plays.
Burning Wheel in my hand, I knew it would be,
The Uncle would sit in on this week’s KTNG.
Dressed in overalls, from his feet to his skull,
Recording with Jimbone would never be dull;
A bottle of whiskey he had flung on his back,
So much to drink that we never would lack.
Velociraptor, David, and Table Saw too,
But Matt Cushman got lost when he went to the loo!
Luke wooed and he hollered and he talked with a lisp;
He smiled and said, “I’ve been Pocalapalypsed!”
With his bottle of hobowine, a modern McGyver,
He drank like a host of Accidental Survivors;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a jolly eyeballologist,
And I laughed at his impression by the Brilliant Gameologists;
With Walker and Meg and Dave along too
Adam still couldn’t segue, there’s nothing to do;
Uncle Jimbone spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the aggregators then turned with a jerk,
There were only so many of our jokes he could stand,
And after an hour it was too much to demand;

He sprang to the chat room and gave the listeners a wink,
Then he logged off and timed out and disappeared in a blink.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he shot out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

Musical solo by Jennifer J. Notch.

Dead West by Rick Spears and Rob G

And in the spirit of the holidays, zombie western!

Yeah, Spears and Rob G are the creative talent behind the too long delayed Pirates of Coney Island as well as Teenagers From Mars. This short tale opens with the massacre of an Indian village, leaving a single survivor. One who turns to bad medicine to unleash a zombie plague. For one small town the dead shall rise to feast upon the living. And later a nameless bounty hunter chases a fat man into the town, each fighting thru the undead to end up in different clusters of survivors…

A perfect book for fans of zombies or Deadlands or Spaghetti westerns…

Zak Kaveney made my day by giving some in-depth analysis on one of my favorite bands.  Check out his thoughts below and see if you agree or not.

They Might Be Giants | My Top Ten Tracks

by Zak Kaveney

I was on my way home, trudging through the snow and trying not to slip on the ice in my horribly soled shoes when I started listing my favorite albums by They Might Be Giants. I was doing this because a friend had recently asked me for my top picks of the bands grand catalogue since he had never given them much of a listen. So, I named for him my favorite album, along with their two latest releases: John Henry, The Spine, and The Else.

Now, for those who want the quickest and easiest route to find themselves knee deep in a 2-disc collection of some of the finest TMBG songs can go and purchase Dial-A-Song. This set collects twenty years of TMBG and serves as a good starting point of creating a life-long fan. However, for my purposes (and because I enjoy songs that just aren’t always played on local radio stations) I’m going to delve into the vault a little deeper. There may be a few that aren’t as obscure, but they deserve just as much attention. So, let’s get to it.

Number Ten goes to Narrow Your Eyes from their fourth album Apollo 18. This entire album is full of great treasures that could fool a dark hearted man into tapping his foot because of all the upbeat rhythms the John’s throw behind the lyrics. This song stands out to me because it’s such a light-hearted love song that you might just not find the little strands of it until you narrow your eyes.

Number Nine might seem like an odd pick, but stay with me, we’re only just getting started. I’ve picked Hovering Sombrero for a few reasons. It’s a mellow song on an album that is already filled with an unruly amount of varying genres. It’s got soothing guitar rifts that flow from your speakers and through your heart, and maybe even able to touch some dark grey space in your head. But, most importantly, it should speak to a lot of people. With lines like ‘and the old familiar things are mostly all gone/but the old sombrero just keeps hovering on’ people should find that indeed, they’re never just a hat.

Number Eight is found on the self titled album from this dynamic duo. She’s An Angel is, if you’ll excuse the wordplay, an angelic song that I would hope Phil Collins never tries to sing. However, if you can find a live version of this song you’ll be much better off. Specifically, the Severe Tire Damage album has a wonderful version of this song with a fantastic horn section. How else can you describe love when you find the one and you can’t help but chase after the angel?

Number Seven gives us the metaphor of people as water and the land acting as their ship. This one, of course, is for Women and Men from the third album Flood. This song is a melodic affair to all the women and men that help make our planet 100% water based.

Side Note: Maybe you remember the promotion that was done for Flood? John and John sitting in a coffee shop as they pitch to the audience the album with snippets of a few songs thrown in. Either way, this one’s choke full of the Johns’ great sense of silly, outlandish lyrics, and will fill the eccentric’s ears with delight. Where else would you find a record with its own theme song? Exactly. And you can find the always delightful staples, Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and Particle Man, on it as well.

Number Six is on one of my favorite albums John Henry. That’s right; No One Knows My Plan is a fun, bouncy song, that I imagine Lex Luthor hearing in his mind as he bides his time in his prison cell, cooking up his plans to eliminate Superman. Really, what else can I say about this one?

Number Five will find you tapping your foot, clapping your hands, and smiling all before you realize that this song is actually much less about the happy, and much more about the sadness. I’m talking about Mr. Me from the second album Lincoln. If there’s one thing TMBG is capable of, it’s taking the most upbeat rhythm and throwing the saddest lyrics against them. The alliteration here could be the fault of your smile, but I think if you whistle along it’s your own fault.

Number Four is a simple melody. A melody about Your Own Worst Enemy. From their sixth album Factory Showroom, this song brings you the trouble of a bottle, work, and in the end becoming your own worst memory. There’s not much to the song, clocking in at 1:45, but it hits the liver like a double shot of whiskey.

Number Three showcases a lovely horn section; one might even call it bitchin’. From the bands tenth album The Spine, Museum of Idiots is a fun, fun song. I will be so bold as to say it’s about the love of two wax figures in their museum. But the song builds up through the horns so well, that by the last verse you’ve fallen in love with these two idiots who love each other. Even if they’re burning, even if the one is chopping the other into pieces, and even if they’ve forgotten one another. They’ll still say ‘I love you.’

Number Two is a bit of a guilty pick because it features my name. And of course, as I read the lyrics I find I am mistaken. It’s actually ‘sack’ not ‘Zak.’ Oh well! Withered Hope from the twelfth album The Else is a fantastic song that reminds me of I Palindrome I in the loosest sense. It’s more of a cyclical song that finds one character loving another character, loving another character, loving another character, loving another character that loves the first character. I think I got that right. But no matter! It’s a great song and you should give it a listen!

Number One! I’m choosing a song from the EP The Spine Surfs Alone for a few reasons. The song Now Is Strange is many things to me. It reminds me, after 20+ years of being a band that they can still do what they’ve always done. And that’s make a compelling song out of the strangest lyrics. Secondly, the song is just so haunting that whenever you listen to it you expect someone with a pumpkin to show up, kids dressed up in costumes, and fog. With lines like ‘Have you seen that naughty boy/Who steals each blade of grass/And replaces it with wires and batteries’ you cannot help but wonder just who this boy is and why he’d do such a heinous thing.

Alternately my number one would be Absolutely Bill’s Mood from their first album only because I want to hear it live. And I know they will never play this one live because it’s far too obscure and far too old for them to get any use out of it. There’s always cover bands, right?

That’s my far too wordy list. Whether you agree or disagree is one thing, whether you know the songs or not is another. Altogether though, you should do yourself a favor, find them, and listen to them if you’re at all interested in They Might Be Giants.

The ‘Nam written by Doug Murray, Pencils & colors by Michael Golden, Inks by Armando Gil, Letters by Phil Felix

Published in the mid-80s The ‘Nam was built around an unused cover for G.I. Joe. The Marvel Edito-in-Chief handed it to editor Larry Hama and told him to create a book around it. Hama agreed but only if he could get it done right. And so in the midst of all its super-hero books, Marvel put out one of the more realistic war comics. And one based on the Vietnam conflict at that. Hama tapped two-tour Vietnam vet and freelance writer Murray to handle the writing chores, and Golden–who draws people with a slightly cartoonish exaggeration but excels at realistic weapon details–as artist.

The book ended up doing surprisingly well, getting mainstream critical support, winning awards and drawing praise from veterans’ groups. And despite being a Comics Code approved book, it stays remarkably true to its source material…

Hama and the creative team expected that The ‘Nam would be lucky to last a dozen issues, but it ran for over eighty. It survived changes in writer and artist and even attempts to tie it into regular Marvel continuity (the last several issues had guest appearances by the Punisher). This trade collects the first four issues, introducing PFC Marks, the 23rd Mechanized infantry, and Sgt. Polkow’s squad.

Plot: The Punisher has to kill 74% of the bad people in New York. This is no small task, so Frank Castle (a.k.a. The Punisher, played perfectly by Ray Stevenson) has to get creative and use every part of his body, every gun, every sharp weapon, and every random object near him to shoot, stab, decapitate, dismember, explode, and burn away the criminals.

Review: HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE PROPHCIES ARE TRUE!!!!!!!! If you could take Mountain Dew, a slaughterhouse, the latest issue of Guns & Ammo, a rollercoaster, electric guitars, and the raw power of a flux capacitor, chemically bind them into a film reel, soak that reel in testosterone from the semen of Zeus, cook that soaked reel under the launch of a space shuttle, and finally have it hand delivered by the Dark Lord Sauron himself, you would have THIS FUCKING MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, now that I’ve calmed down a bit, a few thoughts:

If you’re reading this review, you probably haven’t seen this movie yet. I say this because based on opening weekend box office results, almost no one went to see the greatest action movie ever to grace theaters. So shame on you. Support the hard-R action films! Don’t let them release PG-13 Die Hards & Max Paynes anymore!

Second, you’ve also probably read many terribly negative reviews of the film. Ignore them all. They are either ridiculously unfair or simply ignorant to what this movie is supposed to accomplish. The acting is fine. The story is fine. They get the job done to deliver what’s the point here – action intense enough to make Chuck Norris weep. (Oh, for the record, the soundtrack ROCKS ALL SHIT!!!!!)

The action is BRUTAL. I’ve never seen a movie like this, and you’ll be talking about your favorite kills long after the credits roll. I’m talking stuff that will make movie history here. I want to write a paragraph for every spectacular death Frank Castle is responsible for, but I just can’t spoil a single one!

The best part about the movie is how well it delivered to fans of the Marvel “MAX” comic series, which is generally agreed to be the best representation of the character yet. It’s dark, gritty, and more explicit than anything you’ve ever seen of read. The comic gets into much more detail than the movie of course, but still is a great taste of what it’s all about.

Enjoying this movie comes down to this – how much you enjoy action, violence, gore, some dark laughs, and above all else, a total blast at the movies.

Punisher: War Zone gets 10 out of 10 of the coolest onscreen kills ever.

Empowered: Vol. 4 by Adam Warren

What can I say about Empowered that I haven’t said before. Twice. Probably not much new. So lets just repeat some points.

1. Empowered is sexy
2. Empowered is fun
3. Empowered is sweet
4. Empowered is awesome.

Volume 4 picks up almost immediately after the ninja battle in Volume 3. Well almost. First Warren includes the color story originally published in Dark Horse Presents On MySpace (really thats the title the trade collection from the publisher is called). Where Emp practices her Hummer Fu. No. Not that kind you filthy pervert. The quasi-military vehicle kind. But AFTER that the new volume jumps right into it where the last left off. And you get super-hospitals, Caged Demonwolf lesbian fantasies (I knew there was a reason I liked the Demonwolf), the debut of the Goddamned Maidman (seriously he’s Batman if Bruce decided to cos-play as American Maid and STILL fight crime), a REALLY creepy sequence with Wiley Pete (*shudder*), Emp getting tied up as part of Make-a-Wish (its really weirdly sweet) and a super-hero Awards show. For which Emp has been nominated. Mostly as a cruel joke by her peers. But through it all Emp struggles and triumphs. As do Thugboy and Ninjette. And hell, the book even adds more depth to Sistah Spooky…

Its always nice to be reminded that there are GOOD things being done in the field of super-hero comics…

What Should Have Been the Plot: Near carbon copy of the first two Transporter films – this involves a really cool, disciplined dude named Frank Martin (Jason Statham) who has to take something to a certain place. Things aren’t as easy as expected, so aforementioned dude has to kick dozens of people in the face and jump cars over shit.

Actual Plot: Apparently it’s a movie about an evil food conspiracy because it seemed to me that a majority of the running time was Frank Martin discussing salads with the girl he had to transport. Now seriously, the previous Transporter films may have stretched reality a bit at times, but it was all part of the fun. Transporter 3 was totally unrealistic because Frank Martin would never eat a sissy salad. If he wants an appetizer before he eats dinner, he has a bowl of motor oil.

If things couldn’t get any worse, there was actually a scene, not kidding here, of Frank snuggling with the girl on a hillside at sunset, talking about something that I’d guess was in a Hallmark card. B-O-R-I-N-G. That’s when I knew all hope was lost. The few potentially fun action scenes were a visual mess, for the most part, due to poor editing & camera work. (See my Quantum of Solace review.) So there really was very little to enjoy about the film.

I’d also like to mention that any advances actresses like Angelina Jolie, Milla Jovovich, or Carrie-Anne Moss have made for female action stars have now been set back due to the stupid girl with an accent who should not have been part of Transporter 3.

Review: Not enough action. None of the action was properly filmed or edited. Too much froofy conversation. Not worthy of a Transporter sequel.

Transporter 3 gets 3 out of 10 Jason Statham ab muscles.

 

Thor: Visionaries Walter Simonson by Walter Simonson, additional inks Terry Austin & Bob Wiacek, letters by John Workman Jr, colors by George Roussos & Christie Scheele

The “Visionaries” series is meant to showcase those whose work exemplified a series. And few people left a greater mark on book than the Simonson did during his run on The Mighty Thor. This book collects issues #337-348 of his legendary run. It has the introduction of Beta Ray Bill, the fight with Fafnir, Malekith the Dark Elf and the opening of the invasion by Surtur and his armies. Which is annoyingly where the book ends. On a massive cliffhanger. Happily I see there are four more volumes of Simonson Thor. Sadly, I see volumes two and three are out of print and have tripled in price on the teritary markets. Annoying…

But given my volume one is a fairly new printing, hopefully that means Marvel will reprint the rest. I mean its not like Marvel would instead put out “Visionaries” books collecting the “legendary” Daredevil run of Kevin Smith or the X-Men run of Joe Madureira. Seriously, I bought damn near every X-book in the 90s and I couldn’t even guess which ones Madureira wrote…

But Simonson + Thor = Gods’-be-damned awesome. I mean it has Sif and a talking space battleship teaming up to kick the crap out of space-demons. Balder tries to be a pacifist. Loki gets his head cut off (he gets better). Comics where everything is larger than life and twice as colorful…

Warhammer 40,000 is a worldwide phenomenon. It’s probably the only miniature game that has been played in what has to be nearly every country in the world. It has entire stores, conventions, books, resin art, video games, and just about everything else short of a movie devoted to celebrating the grim future of humanity (in which there is only war and stuff). 40K is easily Games Workshop’s strongest brand and that makes it the strongest brand in the miniature gaming world.

Unfortunately, in the two decades that the game has been around, it has gained a number of less-than-positive reputations. It’s expensive to get into. It’s expensive to keep up with. Tournaments require you to also take up the hobby of painting. The large fanbase contains a lot of people who are not fun to play competitive games against. The list goes on. I know I don’t play because of the sheer expense of it. That and I’ve been burned by Games Workshop in the past and really don’t want to give them my money anymore.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan.

I think the reason that Warhammer 40K will always have a place in the cockles of my heart is because I picked up Rogue Trader, the original version of the 40K rules, on a whim five years ago. Now, I’m a man of varied tastes that hates the “it is better because it is older” nostalgia-orgy that seems to be the hallmark of we who grew up in the 1980’s. When it comes to games, older generally means slow rules with only a modicum of balance and a focus that is far more on the numbers that it is on the fun. Battletech, I’m looking at you.

Rogue Trader is not surprising in this regard. The rules are a bit clunky and resolution of various phases has steps that could be easily removed. Balance is questionable, but excusable as the game expected the players to have an impartial GM to judge the game. The rules actually work well, but it’s definitely got more unneeded fiddly bits that the more recent versions of the rules have since streamlined. Even if you didn’t know what game you were looking at, if you’re at all familiar with games you could easily say, “Yup, this game came from the 80’s.”

But what Rogue Trader lacks in elegance it more than makes up for in imagination. Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of those few, magical books that you flip through and immediately feel justified that you play with tiny little army men on a map full of felt terrain or spend your hours drawing out dungeon maps on graph paper. The book oozes ideas, excitement, and passion. There’s not a paragraph or illustration in the book that doesn’t pull you further into the setting and make you want to explore it. It’s a catalogue of geek love.

And for those wondering, the setting is magnificent. The modern-day incarnation of the 40K setting is far more strict and less malleable. This allows for very strong themes in the current minis games, but excludes a lot of the gonzo-chaotic nature of the original presentation. In Rogue Trader, the Eldar are nothing but alien pirate elves, the Imperium is fanatical but not nearly as stifling, Genestealers and Tyrannids are separate races, and you’ll see just why Catachan is a famous death world when you look at the stats of the indigenous life. It is 40K with a more ‘anything goes’ attitude.

And, happily, the rules back that up. Gone are army lists. Instead you get all the rules on how to build your own troops, robots, and vehicles. Think you’re choosing weapons? Nope, the charts will determine what your force gets. Need ideas for a campaign? There are pages of plots and subplots for you to use. Don’t want random? Fine, just pick. It’s freeform, it’s loose, and it fuels the imagination…three things that the current 40K rules lack since they’re used in such competitive play.

The book also teases here and there about how the Warhammer Fantasy world is just another world in the Imperium. It’s obvious the designers had a great deal of fun making this.

Rogue Trader has become a go-to book for me when I need to be reminded why I spend so much of my time pretending. It reminds you that it’s all good fun as long as you’re blowing something up and I think that’s a lesson we can all take home.

Plot: Taking place literally minutes after the events of Casino Royale (best 007 movie ever), Quantum of Solace leads James Bond (Daniel Craig) on a path of revenge against those who wronged him and those he cared about. Along the way, Bond discovers a secret organization that is bigger and deeper than he’d ever imagined. This is terrible for him, but great for the audience, as it opens up endless lines of cannon fodder henchmen for 007 to lay the smack down on.

Review: I’ll start with the title. Many people were a little confused by what ‘Quantum of Solace’ exactly means, so let’s break it down for the ignorant masses, shall we? ‘Quantum’ is an ancient Latin word used by the Gecko-Romans to describe the utilization of cars, boats, motorcycles, and planes. ‘Solace’ is a word that loosely translates from its original French or Mexican as “to fracture the skulls of those who dare even look at you the wrong way.” So, based on title analysis, the film is about James Bond using fast things with motors to kill a whole bunch of evil people wearing suits. Beyond that, if the vehicles don’t finish the job, he always uses the personal touch of a gun or a fist. Rock on. Doesn’t get much better then that, especially considering there were actually scenes near the end of Casino Royale where Bond played kissyface on the beach with some girl and talked about relationships. This sequel could have been called ‘Autumn Breaths of Cedar Passion’ or some such crap. We must count our blessings.

You’ll see my score at the bottom only gets a 7 though, as I have to be an honest critic. As much as I enjoyed the movie, two things stood out from making this the greatest motion picture of our time. The first problem is that the movie broke an important action movie rule – each successive action sequence should be bigger than the previous one, yielding a massive, shit-your-pants, epic ending – hopefully ending up in space, regardless of the validity of such a situation. The ending of the movie rocked, but did not match the intensity of the first half hour, making you feel a little let down. The second problem is the editing of the action sequences. There are way too many quick edits and overuse of the shaky cam. You have these incredible sequences that you can’t fully appreciate because you’re not allowed to see all of it. (This is a problem I’ve been seeing in many recent action films.) Despite that, there are some seriously awesome stunts and plenty of excitement! As a sidenote, I’ve never been the ‘cultured’ type, but if ballet was described as people fighting on ropes in construction zones, I’d buy a fucking ballet season pass. 

My minor gripes don’t make it a bad movie though. It’s a more concise film in terms of story, but logically expands on past events and forces 007 to think about the consequences of some of his actions. Above all else, it’s great follow up to Casino Royale and paves the way for plenty of future Bond fun.

Quantum of Solace gets 7 out of 10 GoldenEye cartridges for the Nintendo 64.

Flames of War is not a new game. The 2nd edition rulebook released in 2006; however, New Zealand-based Battlefront Miniatures’ World War II, 15mm-miniatures game is gaining wider exposure in the United States due to the company’s recent partnership with Alliance Game Distributors. The game places players in the role of company commander and allows them to direct battles at the tactical level. While the game does have its negatives they are far outweighed by the positives.

Aspects of the game that excel are the combination of realism and playability, background detail, and the excellent support provided by Battlefront Miniatures. In an attempt to capture historical accuracy, other historical games I have played utilize extensive rule sets that stomp out any fun, giving the game the feel of an algebra final. Flames of War avoids this by using a level of abstraction that allows the game to flow quickly without losing much realism. The action is dynamic while stressing such battlefield realities as tactical movement and cover. For example, your “to hit” number is not based on the experience of the soldiers doing the shooting but the experience of the soldiers being shot at. This represents the unit’s ability to effectively use cover. Elite soldiers make the most of every nook and cranny while greenhorns stand upright as the artillery starts to fall.

The game’s solid mechanics are essential but expected. What is unexpected is the fascinating history provided in the various Intelligence Briefings. The game divides the war into three periods: Early War (1939-1941), Mid-War (1942-1943) and Late War (1944-1945). All the rules needed are provided in the 256 page core rulebook, but supplemental information is included in the Intelligence Briefings. Bloody Omaha, for example, gives force charts for the US 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions that took part in the D-Day landings. It also includes charts for the German 352 and 716 Infanteriedivisions and Kampfgruppe Meyer that opposed them. It discusses how the battles were planned and unfolded as well as tells the stories of men like Brigadier General Norman Cota, Lieutenant-Colonel R.G. Pine-Coffin and Lieutenant Turner Turnbull. Men you’ve probably never heard of (I hadn’t) but probably should have. These books provide an entertaining and educational retelling of key battles during the war.

While the game has many good points it also has some bad ones as well: cost and relative complexity. This is not a cheap game to get into. The main rulebook costs $50 dollars as does an American rifle company box set. Add to that the various Intelligence Briefings and support platoons and the numbers start climbing. However, with the 15mm scale you do get a lot of figures for your money. That $50 rifle company box set includes 122 infantry figures. Taking this into account, it is not any more expensive then other big miniature games out there but.

While the game has excellent playability, it is still complex. It requires some reading and figuring out as you go along. Happily, one of the most confusing parts, the old force composition charts are being phased out for much more user-friendly versions (one of the improvements in Fortress Europe). You will spend the first few games frequently referencing the rulebook. While they are written simply, there are a lot of them. After a few games you should only need to consult the rulebook occasionally.

While very few games are perfect, Flames of War offers an excellent system with great historical background by a company that provides good support. If you have a passion for World War II, miniature games, or the modern battlefield, this is a game that you should check out. More information can be found at www.flamesofwar.com (the “Bootcamp” section is a good place to start) or you can PM me (@Jim Brown) on the forums. To borrow a phrase, fast, furious combat awaits those willing to pick up the dice.

(Host’s Note: Bob “Roberto Suave” Kaczmarczyk is the PodgeCast’s official Movie and TV reviewer. For those of you who haven’t experienced a Roberto Suave review, you’re in for an exciting ride. Those that have seen his reviews before know to look for the Roberto Suave Seal of Approval before going to see this week’s best movie ever. So with the first of many, the PodgeCast proudly presents Robert Suave’s Best Ever.)

Death Race Review

Studios: Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, United Artists Films

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson, Natalie Martinez

Plot: It’s the future, the economy tanked, and the overcrowded prisons are privately owned. The ultimate pay-per-view twisted metal sporting event is “Death Race,” which consists of inmates fighting for their freedom in cool cars tricked out with bad-ass weapons, magically filled with busty babes. (The cars are filled with the babes, not the weapons. If they ever make a sequel that includes hooter hotties being shot out of cannons that are mounted on cars, I’ll personally cash in my 401k to finance the stunts of the film.) Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is a man falsely imprisoned for murdering his family, and it’s up to him to win his freedom and set right what is wrong in the world of Death Race.

Review: In short, this movie is the greatest single item in the history of the universe. I say “item” because it’s not simply the best movie ever. It surpasses every magnificent creation that humans or God or Michael Bay has ever made or done. Mozart’s “Smells Like Symphony No. 5?” Death Race is better. Moses splitting the Louisiana Purchase? Death Race smokes that. Bad Boys 2? Death Race is Bad Boys 3.

I mean seriously, did you see how many fucking cars flipped in the movie?!?!?? Cars flipped more times than instances I didn’t go to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

Oh, most importantly, for you physics nuts out there – Death Race has officially changed the SI unit of force. A Newton (N) has been replaced with the Statham (STATHAM). Once you see what Jason Statham does with his fists in this flick, you’ll understand.

Alas, even the greatest single item in the history of the universe still can’t be perfect – my only little gripe is that some portions of the races had too many quick edits and overuse of the shaky cam. It’s a shame they put so much effort into the car stunts, only to prevent us from seeing them in their full beauty.

Aside from that, I loved the flick, so go see it ASAFP. It’s the ultimate way to end the awesome summer movie season!

Death Race gets 9 out of 10 STATHAMS.

Roberto Suave

It’s going to be long, strong, and ready to get friction on.  Errrr…I mean there are a bunch of pictures.  Leap in after the cut.  Note…I set up pic descriptions for mouse over.  They’re not working.  If you’re really interested in what the pic is, check properties for the description.  I know, I’m lazy but I’m tired.

Let me begin by saying that you’ll hear me speak of the Brilliant Gameologists a lot.  That’s because they’re awesome.  Since none of my fellow hosts could attend, they adopted me as one of their own and showed me the Gen Con ropes.  You should go over there and subscribe right now.  While we have different styles, I can tell you that we share an almost identical attitude about podcasting. So go start downloading while you read this.

So Dave and I left on Thursday morning at about 8am.  Dave had gotten sick on the way up to my house and we had to stop frequently on the way up.  Fortunately, a little rest got him back into fighting shape by the time we arrived.  Unfortunately, it also meant I missed my first panel, which ended up being no big deal.

Got to Gen Con, got my press pass, and took a quick gander at the expo hall.  Wow, was it huge! I understand that it’s actually smaller than it has been in the past, but it seemed gigantic to me.  I ended up spending way too much on some of the new Cygnar models from Privateer Press and also snagged copy of Hunter: The Vigil.  Tried to find and meet Luke Crane and John Wick, but they weren’t at their booths. This would become the theme for the con.  I never met any of the designers I wanted to meet at their booths.  Just bad timing, I guess.

Meg from Brilliant Gemologists calls me up and invites me to their penthouse to meet and talk a bit before our next panel.  I meet Meg, Josh, and Zeke and they feed me beer from The Ram.  We then headed down to run the “Salon On Gameology.”  I had no idea how well attended it would be since I’d already heard that most of the stuff on the ‘official’ podcasting tract wasn’t terribly well populated.  This one ended up being standing room only with somewhere around 30 folks attending.  It was a good discussion about why we game and bits of gaming theory…y’know the stuff I usually make fun of.  Turns out, that’s why they brought me on.  I was the opposing view and had a grand old time.  I also got to meet the guys from the Accidental Survivors podcast.

After the panel, I went with the Accidental Surivor folks to The Ram to pick up some growlers for the coming penthouse party.  Upon returning, the party kicked off and we hung out on the veranda talking about podcasting, gaming, and just general BS.  You’ll hear some fun audio clips from this at some point. Both Ender_Melchior and Grungydan from the forums joined us along with a whole bunch of Brilliant Gameologist fans.  It was a great way to kick things off.

The next day, I remembered to bring my camera instead of just my phone.  I overslept and missed the Pinnacle panel, but made it over for my second (and last panel) with the BG folks.  It was a discussion on the 7 words you don’t say in gaming and was, again, a lot of fun and well attended.  Afterwards,  I met up with Grungydan and Christian and had lunch at J. Gumbo’s.  Wish we had something like that around here. Afterwards, we met up with Dave and Ed and spend the afternoon exploring the expo hall and exploring the con. Some of the guys I was rooming with were invovled with the Warmachine tournament so we checked in on them every now and again.  I also picked up my invite to the White Wolf party.

I got to demo both Battlestations and Paparazzi. While I liked the concept of Battlestations, I just couldn’t justify the price.  Paparazzi, on the other hand, was hilarious and I eagerly await its release.  Then we watched some live-action Heroclix, which was hilarous. The costumes looked really good, although Spidey and Mr. Fantastic’s man-bulges were so well outlined they became more talked about than Ms. Marvel’s nearly bare rear.  Consensus was that Mr. Fantastic wasn’t that fantastic.

Speaking of superheroes, I literally ran into Defuser from that superhero reality show.  I said “Hi” but moved along as I wasn’t entirely sure who he was until much later.

During all this I managed to do some bits of recording, but very little.  We’ll get those posted sometime in the near future.

After a long day on the floor, we decided to actually play some games.  We found some space and threw down with Warmachine.  It had been a while since I played.  I forgot how much I missed it.

As that wound down, I was off to spend the evening with one of my best friends and his wife.  They live in Indy so it was great to be able to see them.  We cracked open a few bottles of my wine and caught up.  Good times.

Saturday I finally got the meet Chris Hussey (Oboe Cope) who quickly abandoned us for shopping, and then had lunch with Grungrydan, Dave, and Chad.  We wandered a bit and ended up in the board game room playing Carcassone.  It was fun.  I tied Grungydan for the win on what was the first game for both of us.  The group split up and we checked on the Hardcore Warmachine tourney to find our friends doing alright (they ended up getting knocked out, but had a good time).  We spent late afternoon just chilling and relaxing.  I eventually got a call from Josh from BG and I went to dinner with the three of them just prior to the Podcaster’s Meet and Greet.

The Podcaster Meet and Greet was in a tiny room, packed to the gills.  The guys from Wandering Geek brought some excellent root beer that they distributed.  Besides finally putting a face to the name of a lot of podcasters, I got to meet a bunch of fans and said hello to Robin D. Laws and Paul Tevis.  It was awesome finally meeting Daniel Perez after hanging out with him online for 2 years or so.

I can’t tell you how awesome it was to meet the folks who have been listening to me for the past year or so.  Some folks all around the con recognized my voice (Is that Luke?) while most of them instead recognized me when I laughed (That’s Luke!).  One person, recognized me by sight as I left my hotel room.  Note, I wasn’t wearing anything identifying.  After he swore he wasn’t a stalker, we walked for a bit and chatted.  Really nice guy.   The point is that it’s good to be appreciated and I thank everyone who was so giving of their praise.  It really made the convention for me.

There was supposed to be a “Game with Podcasters” thing afterwards, but we lost just about everyone in the huge boardgame hall.  The few we did find, Meg and Zeke invited up for another penthouse party.   At this point, I had to make a choice…penthouse party or White Wolf party.  The old man in me won out, as I knew I had to wake up early and drive the next morning and if I went to the White Wolf party it would be a hellacious day.  So I gave my invite to Grungydan, grabbed some of my wine, and went up to the penthouse for a laid-back party filled that was much more my speed anyway.

As that party wound down, I said goodbye to my new friends, and took my leave.  I reflected on the con on the long trip down the elevator.  I had a great time, spent too much money, and only came out with a handful of regrets.  One regret was that I would have liked to play in the new Living Forgotten Realms, just for fun, and never signed up.  The other was that I never got to meet Luke Crane, who I’m obviously a big fan of.

So I pull out the phone to call my wife when I hit the lobby.  As I’m waiting for the phone to ring, I hear a voice that sounds really familiar.  I take a gander and see two guys talking right on my route.  Hmmm…one of them certainly does fit the description.  They see me looking quizically at them and the one that seems familiar addresses me:

“Hey, man. What’s up.”

“Sorry to interupt, but you sound really familiar…are you…”

“I’m Luke.”

“Crane?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, man, I’m Luke Meyer!  I intervi…”

“DOCTOR!?”

“Yup, that’s me.”

So, as the capstone to my con, I got to meet Luke.  He was hanging out with Vincent Bakers, whom I also dig, and we chat it up a bit.   Talk about a way to end a convention.

I can promise you that while Luke looks angry, he was very nice.  That was just a pose… I think.    Note the symetry with the picture on my shirt.

So that wrapped up my Gen Con.  If I can swing it, I’m going to go back.   It was a blast.    Enjoy some other random shots of the con below.

No imaginary exercise has ever been more vivid for me than the brief time I played that character. It planted the seed, and no matter how long it was until the next time I played, I was destined to be a gamer. As gaming has become a more defined industry and companies produce more rules sources with more complex designs, it can be difficult to separate those rules that create an immersive world for adult players from those elements necessary to introduce young children to the game. Below are suggestions on how to present role playing in a fashion accessible to children ages 5-10. (Note that you know these child gamers better than I do and should scale these age ranges as appropriate.)

Young Children (ages 5-7)
Role playing is a safe and valuable exercise for young children to explore social interaction. At this age, plots and NPCs should be straightforward. Good guys are good. Bad guys are bad. Present to them challenges and ask them what they want to do to overcome those challenges. The goal for both the player and the DM should be for the player to win. If the player is making a mistake, explain to them the likely results of their decision and compare it with other decisions available to them and what results those might lead to. Combat is a staple of these types of games. The monster is evil and needs to be slain. If you succeed, you are rewarded. Dice are unnecessary for either social or combat encounters. Present the child with a challenge and ask them how they want to overcome it. Once they make a decision, adjudicate what happens. Wounds, fatigue, and the like can all be described in more abstract terms, “the orc is limping,” “the orc looks weak,” “the orc is almost dead,” etc. Reward them with treasure and levels. Counting is an exercise they understand from school, so advancing in a manner they understand is rewarding. It’s helpful to equate the worth of those levels. Explaining that they can fight stronger monsters or survive more grievous wounds because of this advancement helps.

Gamers at this age have an incredibly vivid imagination. It does not take a lot to paint them a robust picture of the world they are adventuring in, but offering a little can accomplish a lot. Work in archetypes: dungeons are cold and damp, etc. They’ll fill in the rest. Be mindful also of not overdoing it. The more gory elements—skulls, blood, sacrifices, etc.—can have a more potent effect than they might on an adult and are more likely to linger. Children in this age range don’t always separate fantasy from reality as well as older kids and adults. Most importantly, find what is fun for them and pursue it (keep in mind their attention spans). It won’t be hard to tell.

Children (ages 8-10)
I have shared many a table with children in this age range that are capable of handling a full rules system, but I’ve found it’s rare that they need that system to enjoy themselves. Left to their own devices, they’ll normally take the most basic elements of the game they understand the best and abandon all the rest. This type of game can be much like that for Young Children but you can introduce a higher level of complexity. Succeeding in a mission may earn them a continuing enemy or lead to another consequence that they have to overcome. While it’s still great for the player to win, they are at an age where failure doesn’t require quitting. They can learn from their mistakes or try again. They may even be able to understand that a challenge is too much for them (although since few adults are capable of this, there’s no reason to expect this of children ).

One way to add complexity is to add a d20 to the mix. Now, when the player tells you what they want to do to overcome your challenges, have them roll a die and add their level and see if they succeed. Easy challenges have a target number of 10, moderate challenges 15, hard challenges 20, and so on. Adjust as circumstances warrant.

You can also make treasure a more defined element of the game. Rather than wielding a magic sword, perhaps that sword helps them hit better. They get to add +2 to their die roles. It may not be a +2 bane, holy, vorpal longsword, but watch the pride your player has in his magic sword and tell me it’s not the same. Don’t feel constrained by the rules you’re used to playing with. Little trinkets and major relics all have something in common, they’re unique and they belong to the player.

So without limiting the influx of gold or magic items into a party, how can a DM create circumstances in which death is something to be avoided at all costs rather than something to merely be momentarily disappointed in when it happens? How does he do this without pushing the pendulum too far the other way so that spells such as raise dead are worthless and death means that it’s time to make a new character.

Below is a chart for physical complications that may affect a body once the spirit is magically returned. These effects are unnamed penalties and thus cumulative for each death and resurrection. Regeneration, wish or miracle spells cast with a successful DC 25 caster level check can successfully reverse the penalty.

Roll d%
01-50 Revived with no ill effect
51-60 -2 Dexterity
61-70 -2 Intelligence
71-80 -2 Constitution
81-90 -2 Constitution and -2 Dexterity
91-99 -2 Constitution, -2 Dexsterity, and -2 Intelligence
100 Permanent Death

Follow the link to the article.

High Quality Characters

A Savage roleplaying tool inspired by FATE 3.0

by: Luke Meyer

Creating a deep, multi-faceted character is the goal of just about any gamer. While Savage Worlds provides the tools to make well-rounded character, the broad strokes the system is painted in (which is arguably one of its best features) sometimes leaves a little to be desired on the character sheet. Qualities are a new addition to the ruleset that help to bring the important details of the character into the spotlight without unbalancing the system.

Qualities are heavily inspired by Spirit of the Century by Evil Hat Productions. Spirit of the Century is an excellent game in its own right and can be considered a spiritual sibling of Savage Worlds. I highly recommend the game to anyone as it is one of the best and most well-designed games to come out in the last few years.

1. What are Qualities?

Qualities are descriptors that tell the world what is important about your character and important to your character. They can be just about anything you can imagine from relationships and beliefs to quotes, reputations, and simple statements describing your character.

Sample Qualities- Strong Like Bear, Sworn Enemy of Duke Welston, Well-Traveled, “I’m getting to old for this *#@!,” Protector of the Golden Flame, “Inconceivable!”

2. What do Qualities Do?

Qualities tell the world what’s important about your character. It also tells the GM exactly what you’d like to see show up in the game. If you have a Quality of “Protect my daughter, Maddie” then you’re telling the GM that you want your daughter to be a feature in the game. Similarly, if you tie any organizations into your Qualities you better believe that they’re going to show up in the game…for good or for ill.

Qualities also provide the player a bonus to rolls which are tied into that Quality. This is called tapping the Quality. A character with the Quality of “I Never Miss” may tap that quality for a bonus on his attack roll with a ranged weapon. Someone with the Quality of “Fearsome Presence” can tap that to get a bonus to Intimidation rolls or any social rolls where such a description could affect things.

Lastly, Qualities provide a way to get bennies. The GM can provoke a Quality in order to challenge that player to perform certain actions or limit choices that fall under the description of that Quality. This is done in order to introduce complication to the story that come directly from what the character holds dear. Characters are rewarded with bennies for making their own lives a little tougher and a lot more interesting.

Why should you include Qualities into your game? The main reason is that it allows players to put the things they define their character with in the spotlight. Sure, Edges and Hindrances give a lot of variability, but with Qualities a player is limited only by his imagination. How many times have you played a game where someone has put in their background that they’re well-traveled (or something like it) but has no Edge or anything else that reflects it on his character sheet? In the standard rules (and with most roleplaying games) it’s just a background detail…something he might ask the GM to give him a bonus for once in a while. With Qualities, the player can put that part of his character in the fore-front. He’s Well-Traveled and can get bonuses on all sorts of rolls that would relate to his travels, if he’s willing to spend a benny.

Qualities allow the background and roleplaying aspects of characters to have a more concrete impact on the game without breaking the balance of Edges and Hindrances.

3. Tapping a Quality

In order to tap a Quality, first the player and the GM must agree that the Quality in question applies to the situation. There may be some negotiation involved in this. Next, the player spends a benny to tap the Quality. The player then rolls an additional d6 with his regular dice and adds it to the roll. This die may ace as normal.

Example – Barrett has a Quality called “No one touches Silvanna.” Silvanna is another PC who is a mage that has had a long-standing relationship with Barrett. When the orc berserker wound Silvanna, Barrett spends a benny and taps his Quality to gain an addition d6 to attack the orc. He then chooses to spend another benny and tap the same Quality for an addition d6 on the damage roll. Seriously, no one should mess with Silvanna.

Example – Joe is playing Lars a pilot of a transport in Steve’s sci-fi game. Joe’s character has the Quality “I am a leaf on the wind” which Joe has defined as a state of mind that allows his character to ignore distraction and keep level-headed in even the worst situations to pilot the ship through. Sure enough, the ship gets caught between two enemy fleets and must maneuver through sheer hell to get to safety. Battered and beaten, the ship must evade one last exploding vessel to get to safety. With flak, explosions, and carnage all around him, Lars spends a benny to tap “I am a leaf on the wind” and get an additional d6 to make that piloting roll.

An additional die is a pretty large bonus and for those that don’t want Qualities to have that much power you can tone them down by having them supply a flat +2 bonus to the roll. You can even knock that down to a +1 if you’re feeling stingy.

A Quality may be tapped either before or after the roll is made. A Quality may only be tapped once for each roll, but if multiple Qualities are applicable then you can spend additional bennies to tap additional Qualities.

4. Provoking a Quality

Provoking is not meant to punish players, but to actually put their Qualities in the spotlight and put them in interesting situations. It also adds a mechanical aspect to certain Hindrances that are usually solely in the purview of roleplaying (and often forgotten about, in my experience).

For instance, how many times have you seen a GM introduce a situation which was mysterious that no
player would send his character to investigate because it was too dangerous? Even a character with the Curious Hindrance might not delve into the mystery because his player knows it’s trouble.

With Qualities, the GM can provoke a player with Curious to go investigate. When provoking, the GM offers a benny to the character with the Quality in question. The player may then choose to take the benny and give into his Quality or spend a benny to ignore his Quality.

Example One – Cole Treller has just discovered the abandoned lab or the evil genius, Dr. Strobe. As he and his companions explore the place he comes across a strange panel that seem completely alien. Cole has the Curious Hindrance and thus has linked that to the Quality “What’s that?” The GM provokes “What’s that?” by offering Cole a benny to begin fiddling around with the alien device. Not looking to press his luck, Cole begrudgingly spends a benny to ignore his Quality.

Example Two – Lucky Lou is a character with the Quality “High Roller, Baby.” He’s been tapping that Quality all session in order to win big on the tables down at the strip. He’s also been using it on Persuasion rolls to get into back room games and have the casinos roll out the red carpet. He’s earned a fat pile of cash but he’s just gotten word that the contact he and his crew were sent here to find has agreed to a meeting in twenty minutes. The contact is known to be skittish and he knows he has to be there to back up his crew. As he makes his way through to his car, Fat Carl and the boys from last night’s game approach him and let him know that they want a chance to earn back their money. The Gm offers Lou a benny as he provokes “High Roller, Baby.” The player knows that if he accepts the benny he’s not going to make the meeting, but he’s low on bennies from tapping the Quality so much.

Lou accepts the benny and prepares to make a few more gambling rolls while his friends walk into danger across town.

Provoking Qualities gives the players the fuel to later tap Qualities.

5. Other Uses of Qualities

There are other ways that Qualities provide bennies to the players. If the GM uses a relationship or organization from a player’s Qualities, he’s obliged to give that player a benny for introducing something so inspiring to the game. Also, for those times when the GM needs to use a character with a certain Knowledge skills as a mouthpiece for critical game info (which we all know happens), that player should be awarded a benny.

Also, a player may spend a benny to edit the details of the story.

Example – Josh is playing Rhupert, a mage, that is a member of the Magus Academy. As his affiliation is important he even has the Quality “Ascendant in the Magus Academy.” Rhupert just took a long voyage and has arrived in a foreign port. His travels have uncovered a conspiracy and he needs to contact the Magus Academy as soon as possible. He asks the GM if the Academy has a presence in the city. The GM tells him no as the local religion believes all mages to be evil. Josh offers to spend a benny to have the Academy have some sort of presence in the city. The GM considers it and agrees that there is a small underground group of Academy mages in the city working to both stay alive and undermine the church. Of course, finding such outlaws will be an adventure in itself…

Having the players take an active role in world creation isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it usually ends up creating far more interesting adventures if the GM knows how to spin it.

6. Creating Qualities

Qualities are really only limited by the player’s imagination. Anything that can be thought of as important to a character can be turned into a Quality. The key to creating good Qualities, though, lies in honing them into a double-edged sword. Since you generate bennies by having Qualities provoked, it’s in the player’s best interest to make sure that each Quality is designed that it can be provoked easily. That’s not to say you can’t create a Quality that would be difficult to provoke, but while those types of Qualities provide bonuses, they’re not going to net you any bennies.

Example – Cale has the Quality “Bookworm” which he taps frequently when doing research. His player has described the Quality as being born from all the hours Cale has spent isolated in the library. As Cale hasn’t had great social exposure, the GM takes great pleasure in provoking Cale into awkward social situations where his bookwormish ways tend to make a poor impression.

Another key to Qualities is giving them an interesting name. You could have the Quality of “Strong” (which is one of those Qualities that isn’t terribly provokable), but it’s much more interesting to give it a bit of flair. Perhaps you Russian woodsman is “Strong Like Bear” or your brawny dwarven miner has “Strength Borne of Granite.” Your ex-cultist researcher could have a Quality of “Ex-Cultist,” but isn’t “Hunted by The Crimson Hand” more interesting?

It is up to the player to define what his Qualities can be tapped and provoked for. The GM has final approval though, as some Qualities may be far too broad or uselessly narrow.

A character gets 5 Qualities. While he may never have more than this, Qualities can change during play as long as the GM agrees. There are two methods to picking Qualities.

Pick and Choose – The easiest of the methods. Pick 5 Qualities that are important to your character and go play. Simple and quick.

The Lifepath Method-
This is the more interesting of the methods. Divide the character’s Qualities over the course of his lifetime. His first Quality might be from his childhood and reflect his place of origin or upbringing. The second Quality could cover his pre-adventuring career. The third Quality relates to the character’s first adventure. The fourth and fifth Qualities should be tied to the adventures of other characters. This instantly creates a backstory to the party and gets around the whole “Your characters all know each other” issue that many games begin with. Think of you third Quality as a novel, movie, or comic starring your character. Your fourth and fifth Qualities are from guest-starring in the other player’s novels or movies.

You can also adapt the lifepath to focus on a major event. In Deadlands, the paths may look like this:

Quality 1 – Childhood and Upbringing

Quality 2 – The Civil War

Quality 3 – After the Recknoning

Quality 4 – Starring Role

Quality 5 – Guest Starring role

7. Linking Hindrances and Edges

There is really only one hard and fast rule when creating Qualities. Any Hindrance your character takes that doesn’t have a direct mechanical effect (ex: Vow, Curious, Overconfident) must be linked to a Quality. This gives the ‘free’ Hindrances some mechanical beef so they actually have an in-game effect. You can still name your Quality as you like, but the description must be tied into the Hindrace in some way.

Example – Seth is playing a space pilot named San Holo. He’s taken the Overconfident Hindrance and must somehow tie it into the Quality. He deices to create a Quality called “Never tell me the odds!” which he’ll tap to get bonuses in situations where he’s completely outnumbered or in executing plans that have minimal chances of success. The GM can provoke that Quality in situations where San’s overconfidence can cause complications. Any GM that can’t think of situations like that to put the character into isn’t worth his salt!

It can be useful to tie Edges into Qualities too, though it doesn’t have to be done. Trademark Weapon just screams for a Quality that applies to the weapon.

Example – Aragorn has the Trademark Weapon Edge that applies to his sword, Narsil. He also takes a Quality called “Narsil, the blade reforged.” Aragorn can tap that Quality to give bonuses to hit and damage rolls and also any Persuastion or Intimidation rolls regarding those who know what Narsil is.

8. Famous Examples

Let’s take a look at some famous characters and see what Qualities they may have had.

Inigo Montoya – Spaniard, Lousy Drunk, “You killed my father, prepare to die!”, Master Fencer, “Fezzik is my only friend”

Spider-Man (focusing on just the first movie) – Science Nerd, “Thanks, Aunt May,” With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, Unrequited Love – Mary-Jane, The Worst Luck

Harry Potter – A Mother’s Love, The Boy Who Lived, Quidditch Prodigy, Friends Until The End (Ron and Hermione), Gryffindor!