The Rage Before Christmas

By Blair Marnell

Welcome back to another edition of All the Rage.

Hard to believe, but this week’s column is my 75th ATR. It’s also the week before Christmas, so I’ve taken the opportunity to hook up some lucky readers with a couple of kick ass comics, that everyone should be reading.

More on that shortly. But first, your weekly dose of rage.

Dark Knights Ahead

In a ninety minute audio over at Word Balloon, Neal Adams dropped some hints regarding some of his future comic projects, including a “six part series of Batman for DC comics.” Adams also mentioned he was doing “a few little things for Marvel” and hinted at possible collected editions of some of his Continuity Comics series.

This Has A “Brave & The Bold” Factor of Nine Out of Ten

Detroit Rock City

I’ve heard that the artist attached to Steve Englehart’s upcoming JLA Classified arc will be Tom Derenick, who is currently penciling the closing issues of the current JLA series. As Englehart has alluded to before, his story will feature Steel, Vixen, Gypsy, and Vibe during the infamous “Justice League Detroit” era, in a four issue story before picking up in the present day in JSA Classified for a three issue arc teaming Vixen and Gypsy with Wildcat, Green Lantern, Stargirl and Flash. I’m told that Derenick will be providing the art for all seven issues.

This Has A “Mid 80s Madness” Factor of Seven Out of Ten

Christ, He’s A Vampire!

Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash) has a new creator owned one-shot coming out from Image next April. The one-shot is called Loaded Bible and is said to feature Jesus Christ fighting vampires in an apocalyptic future… The interior artwork will be by Nate Bellegrade, Mark Englert and Thompson Knox. Stefano Caselli did the cover art, which can be seen below:



This Has A “Doing The Lord’s Work” Factor of Eight Out of Ten

Not Even Tom Cruise Can Save You This Time

Guess who’s coming back next year? No, not Xenu. And not Tim Robbins… But aliens? Yes, plenty of aliens. Michael Alan Nelson and Chee are doing an ongoing series called War of The Worlds: Second Wave for Boom! Studios in February. The series picks up where all of the previous adaptations left off, as the aliens return to Earth now seemingly immune to the diseases that defeated them before…





This Has A “Survival Horror” Factor of Nine Out of Ten

Weird Tales

Tad Stones, the supervising producer and director of the forthcoming Hellboy DVD animated features, has been keeping a blog to keep fans apprised as the project moves through development. In a recent post he mentioned that he and Mike Mignola are “working out several stories for a potential half hour series which we hope to make somewhere down the road.” Though he hastens to add, “Right now, two movies is plenty to handle.”

But what really caught my eye were some alternate character designs for Hellboy and Liz Sherman by Greg Guler (Gargoyles) and Mike Wieringo respectively.




And of course, this shot of Hellboy… at the beach.



This Has A “Lobster Johnson” Factor of Ten Out of Ten

For We Are Many

Fabien Nury and John Cassaday’s I Am Legion Volume #2 is said to be making its debut at next month’s Angoulême International Comics Festival. A US release is still planned, but details on that are sketchy at the moment…

This Has A “Blood Will Tell” Factor of Nine Out of Ten

Help Me… Help Me…

Keith Arem’s PCP Studios is putting out another book through Image, this time by writer/artist Steven Perkins. The project in question is called Pacify and apparently follows an actor with a gigantic fly’s head as he teams up with a militant baglady to take on his father, a Food Condiment mogul.

Yeah, it… sounds bizarre. But apparently that’s what they’re going for.





This Has A “Waiter, Please Get Your Fly Out of My Soup” Factor of Six Out of Ten

Some Small Details

I’ve received some additional info about the new Small Gods project. Apparently it will be a two issue miniseries, with the first issue out in March. Jason Rand and Juan E. Ferreyra are both onboard, and in a departure from the original series, both issues will be in color.



This Has A “Mindtaking” Factor of Eight Out of Ten

Victory League

Regarding last week’s item on the coming seasons of Justice League on DVD, TV Shows On DVD broke the news that fans had been waiting to hear. Over at Toonzone, Jim Harvey posted the following message:
    Upon reading the news posted at TV Shows on DVD linked above, I contacted some sources to confirm. And? We did it! Beginning with the mid-2006 release of Justice League: Season Two, the series will be presented in the proper widescreen format! And yes, this includes Justice League Unlimited!

    I’d like to thank everyone for helping out with this. We united as one fan-base for one specific cause and we accomplished it! To everyone who wrote a letter, to everyone who made a phone call, to everyone who talked to reps, to everyone who emailed, to all the websites that helped out in spreading the word! Special props to TV Shows on DVD's Gord Lacey who really went to bat here and handled the phone calls, got in touch and convinced right people at WHV. TV Shows on DVD's crew were big supporters and played a key role in this campaign. And thanks to anyone and everyone who helped us get the message out - Thank you!

    I wonder if Bruce has any comments…
To which, Bruce Timm responded:
    YOU GUYS ROCK.
In one more bit of DVD related news, TV Shows On DVD also mentioned that Robot Chicken will have a box set released in early 2006.

This Has A “Blood Will Tell” Factor of Ten Out of Ten

The Best There Is At What He Does

An alert reader at Millarworld noticed an Eduardo Risso interview in which Risso mentioned that he is working on a Wolverine project with Brian K. Vaughan. Despite online speculation, Vaughan mentioned that the project in question was not Wolverine’s solo book.

However, another project quickly came to light, leaving Vaughan to comment:
    I tried to squash the rumors so Marvel could have the honor of making the official announcement, but this image is all over the web now, so I guess I can confirm that Seth Fisher (one of my all-time favorite artists) and I will be doing an all-new Runaways story (guest-starring some obscure team of muties), with the above gorgeous cover by our ol' pal Jo Chen.

    It's awesome, it's accessible (though "in continuity"), it's free, and it's hopefully going to turn on tons of new readers (old and young) to a book that a few of us care about a great deal.

    Thanks, Marvel.
Vaughan later clarified that the Runaways/X-Men one-shot would be for Free Comic Book Day, while his Wolverine gig with Risso is a separate project.

This Has An “W, The Last X-man” Factor of Nine Out of Ten

The Giveaway

As alluded to above, we’ve got something special in mind for Christmas. ATR and the gang at the Isotope Lounge are co-sponsoring a Holiday Contest. Ten lucky winners will receive a package containing the following comics:
    Fear Agent #1
    By Rick Remender & Tony Moore.
    Published by Image Comics

    As I’ve said many times before, Remender is one of the breakout creators of 2005. And Moore is best known for his opening stint on The Walking Dead. Together they’ve put together one of the most engaging books in years. It’s Sci-Fi Action with a touch of EC sensibilities. If you’re not reading this already, YOU SHOULD BE!








    Robotika #1
    By Alex Sheikman
    Published by Archaia Studios

    No, it ain’t Samurai Jack, but it does feature a Samurai in the distant future. A really fun book with high production values. Steven Grant (http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=pd&article=2336#section2 ) mentioned that it reminded him of “the old Heavy Metal”, which is an apt comparison. The first issue just came out this month.







    Down #1
    By Warren Ellis & Tony Harris
    Published by Top Cow

    This one was a long time coming, and it was well worth the wait. Hard to go wrong with Ellis and Harris. Way over the top violence, but a damn fun read.






    Black Diamond On Ramp
    By Larry Young & Jon Proctor
    Published by AIT/PlanetLar

    Described by Young as "Die Hard meets Mad Max," this is the preview edition of the full color miniseries, that came out earlier this year.







    Rock N’ Roll One Shot
    By Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba
    Published by Image Comics

    Another fun read. And I love the art on this book. Freaking fantastic... These guys have a great style. Moon also did the art for the Smoke & Guns GN earlier this year.






    Atomeka A1 Big Issue Zero
    Published by Atomeka

    This was the brainchild of Ross Richie, before he departed Atomeka Press to start up Boom! Studios. Richie managed to package together an incredible line up for this one shot: The Bojeffries Saga by Alan Moore & Steve Parkhouse, Kathleen's House by Steve Dillon, Shark- Man by Ronald Shusett & Steve Pugh, Flaming Carrot by Bob Burden & Gary Leach and Survivor by Dave Gibbons & Ted McKeever.

    These are all great books deserving of a wider audience. Since our goal is to get these books into the hands of new readers, we do have to ask that anyone who already has these books to refrain from entering this contest. To everyone else who wants to try something new, send your name, address and a holiday themed photo of yourself to isotopeholidaygiveaway2005@yahoo.com. Yes, the photo is required, and the funnier the better. Winners will be chosen by the Comics Pimp, himself, Mr. James Sime, on December 24th, with pictures and results to be announced here next week in the Christmas edition of ATR.

    Comic readers from around the world are all invited to enter.

    Good luck.

And that’s a wrap. Just so you know, this is my last column of 2005, but John Voulieris will be here next week with a Christmas edition of ATR. Then, in two weeks, I’ll be back to kick off 2006.

In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas! Or a Happy Festivus! Whatever you’re celebrating, enjoy it.

Blair

PS If anyone has any rumors, stories or news to share, please email me at blairm@silverbulletcomicbooks.com. Thanks to everyone who has been sending stuff in. It’s greatly appreciated.