Shiplist for October 31st, 2012

We’ve got a new shiplist up, just in time for Halloween! Take a look through the link!

Shipping List for September 26, 2012

Convention season is over, and we’ve finally got a new shiplist up! Take a look through the link:

Shipping List for August 30th, 2012

We’ve got a new shiplist live, take a look through the link! Also, in exciting news, keep your eyes on the shoppeCAST, we’ll be on iTunes soon!

Shipping List for August 15, 2012

My God, it’s been a while, sorry folks! Well, the new shiplist is up, you can take a look through the link:

Shipping List for July 25th, 2012

New shiplist is up, take a look through the link:

Shipping List for July 11th, 2012

We’ve got a new ship list up for you guys, and this time it’s working! Check it out through the link:

The End is Here: A Look at Brian Wood’s The Massive #1

Title: The Massive #1

Author: Brian Wood

Artist: Kristian Donaldson

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Rating: 18+

Release date: June 13, 2012

Verdict: Great Read!

Brian Wood is a writer that caught my attention in the very early 2000’s with his creator owned work from various companies such as Ait/Planetlar, Oni Press, IDW, and Image. Books like Supermarket, Pounded, The Couriers, DEMO, and Locals are some of my favorite “indy” stuff ever. His company work (mostly for DC until recently) like Wildstorm’s DV8: Gods & Monsters, and his Vertigo books DMZ and Northlanders, have been some of the best stuff produced this decade by either imprint. After all of this, it was shocking when DC failed to renew their overall deal with Brian, and recently, for the first time in about 7 years, he’s available to produce work for other outlets.

He is currently working for Marvel writing both Ultimate X-Men and X-Men, both of which are good, but not his real forte. The work that he is doing over at Dark Horse is the stuff that has me really excited. We’ve discussed his new ongoing Conan: The Barbarian series in this column before. But his other new ongoing series, (creator owned I might add) The Massive, co-created with his Supermarket collaborator, Kristian Donaldson, is the real next step in his career. The series had a soft launch in the pages of Dark Horse’s anthology series DHP (Dark Horse Presents) from issues #8-10, and this past week, the series started in earnest with the release of the first full issue, The Massive #1.

The Dark Horse Presents story starts out in 1995 with our main star, Callum Israel, and operative of a PMC (Private Military Contractor) called Blackbell, responding to a situation aboard an offshore oil rig situated in the North Sea. The rig was being held hostage by a group of ‘terrorists’ who were threatening to send the rig to the bottom of the ocean if the company that owned didn’t stop drilling in biologically sensitive areas of the ocean. From there a massive one-in-a-lifetime tidal wave proceeds to pretty much wipe out everyone onboard except Callum. This is the only part of the opening three-part arc that I was able to get my hands on, but that was enough. The art was gorgeous, and as an unashamed Wood fan, I was in for the long haul. And for as gorgeous and compelling as that short four page story was, issue #1 was a full grade above.

The first issue opens with the question: “What does it mean to be an environmentalist after the world’s already ended?”. What this question is referring to is the apparent state of the world after a full year of seemingly natural disasters. Earthquakes below the ocean surface; once in a century type storms occurring all over the world in quick succession; tidal wave after tidal wave; underwater landslides; the Antarctic ice shelf breaking into a thousand pieces, each the size of Manhattan; global weather patterns completely changing thus altering crop harvests, winds, tides, etc.; huge schools of fish and whales washing up on shore due to ocean conditions. All in all, the end of the world as we know it. No economy was safe and untold millions or even billions dead.

This is world in which these characters live. Scavenging for fuel and food. Looking for safe ports to resupply. Fighting off pirates and making unlikely allies. The world has changed and Brian Wood is going to do his best to show us how it would be. From the guy who produced an acclaimed series about a second American Civil War and it’s aftermath, comes a series that has the potential to be even better and grander in scale.

This first issue impressed me to no end. I can’t wait for more! Hopefully Mr. Wood continues to bring us fresh story telling like this for years on end. 100 issues should do it, I’d think? How about you? Interested in seeing what happens after the world ends? Come along and we’ll find out together. Sound off in our handy comments section below…

Shipping List for Jun 6th, 2012

We’ve got a new shiplist for you kids, check it out!

The Barbarous Pirate: A Look at Conan the Barbarian #4

Title: Conan – The Barbarian #4

Author: Brian Wood

Artist: James Harren

Publisher: Dark Horse

Rating: 14+

Release date: May 16, 2012

Verdict: 10/10!!

Three months ago, Dark Horse started publishing new work by Brian Wood, whom has been a DC exclusive writer for more than half a decade. Not only is his new creator-owned series, The Massive, being published by them, but the extremely talented Mr. Wood is also the head creative force behind a new monthly Conan series. The book, titled simply, Conan: The Barbarian, has Mr. Wood aiming to re-tell stories from Conan’s creator, Robert E. Howard. The first arc was a retelling of “Queen of the Black Coast”, a novelette from 1934, and it was tremendous. Becky Cloonan, artist behind previous Brian Wood-books like Channel Zero, Demo I & II, and Northlanders, handled the art, and she blew me out of the water. She is listed as the regular artist on Conan, but with issue #4, she has taken a small break. Enter James Harren and my main reason for writing this little review. I love Becky Cloonan’s artwork, but this guy, whom I had never heard of until I saw this issue on the stands, may be one of my new favorite artists. I think the two-page spread on pages 7 & 8 are what initially did it for me.

This issue finds our hero Conan with his Queen, Belit, and her/his crew and ship; the pirates of the Tigress, right where we left them at the end of issue 3. From this we can glean that the series will not be a collection of “mini-series”-type one shot stories. This is the continuing epic of how Conan came to be the warrior king we know him to become. This is the story of how he would attempt to deceive the rulers of the port city of Messantia in Argos. Hence the title, “The Argos Deception”. Say what you will about Brian Wood, but his titles are concise and to the point.

As mentioned before, the artwork is fantastic. Nothing would please me more than having this James Harren dude tackle all the issues that Becky Cloonan can’t get to. We can only be so lucky. Oh, and I’m sure the amazing colours by Dave Stewart don’t hurt my love of this artwork either .

So, even though this book is about Conan as a young man, and we know that he won’t actually die anytime soon, I find myself still wondering. The stress I feel by the unknown still grips me with each page. That’s how good these issues have been. Even though we technically know his future, Brian Wood can make us forget what we know, and thus still get caught up in our hero’s struggle all the same.

I’ll be sticking with this book for foreseeable future. What about you? What did you think of the first arc? How about James Harren’s art in this issue? Are you as excited as me for more? Let us know. Sound off in our handy comments section below.

Shipping list for May 23rd, 2012

We’re back from Ottawa Comiccon, have a shiplist!