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Just like sneakerheads who painstakingly collect kicks, photographer Eilon Paz side hobby is collecting vinyl records. Then he had a idea of globetrotting around the world to find vinyl collectors and to tell their story. Dust & Grooves is a coffee-table book that collects 416-pages of full frame photos, over 130 interviews with record collectors, 12 full interviews, and a foreward by RZA.
We caught a glimpse of this cool looking comic strip Carpe DIEm earlier this year with the Titan Comics/Atomeka anthology collection Monster Massacre Vol. 2. Now this collected edition offers 104 pages of action/adventure and off-beat humor. Carpe DIEm is a team of super agents named after each day of the week hoping to save the world from crazy evil villains.
Carpe DIEm is formed by the mysterious Sir 8th Day who is a little eccentric and clumsy and usually decisions are made by his butler Jude. Jude is like Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, Jude was created in a test tube and now is an intelligent talking Koala bear. Sir Sunday is an ex-Triad gangsta and is the old and wise field general for the team. Like all super-agent teams, you gotta have a sniper, and that is teenager Lady Saturday. What team doesn’t have a ninja? Like G.I. Joe, Carpe DIEm has Sir Friday the ninja assassin who rarely speaks. And these guys even have a Doctor Strange like character, that is Sir Thursday, the Shaman sorcerer who combines Eastern and Western magic. Like all super teams, you gotta have a big fat guy, Sir Wednesday, he’s the muscle. And why not, let’s throw-in that loud obnoxious like American, Sir Tuesday.
Comic book creator Dave Elliot creates a new Alice in Wonderland universe and re-imagining of famous literary characters from the 19th century. Like ABC/Disney’s TV show Once Upon A Time, “The Weirding Willows” is where the worlds of Wonderland, Oz, Neverland, Olympus, Mars and Earth collide. This trade collects issues #1-6 of The Weirding Willows with bonus commentary and artwork.
I had a blast reading author Samit Basu’s critically-acclaimed 2012 Turbulence novel awhile back, and it got me hungry for his second serving, the sequel – Resistance. Eleven years have passed, since the flight of BA142 from London to Delhi gave passengers on the plane incredible powers. This was known as the First Wave, the age of the super power humans. It is now 2020 and the world has changed with many super human beings. This Second Wave, humans with no powers serve the ruling super power elites.
Here’s a list of movies you may have seen in the theaters or at home these past 40 years: The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Arachnophobia, Blade Runner, E.T., Cocoon, The Goonies, Short Circuit, The Golden Child, Spaceballs, The Lost Boys, Empire of the Sun, Willow, Batman Returns, Darkman, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Aladdin, Jurassic Park, The Little Mermaid and Star Wars. What do all these movies have in common? The wonderful artwork and iconic movie posters done by artist John Alvin.
What if my favorite action directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez had their take on creating Captain America? This hot and spicy jambalaya soup has everything; the supernatural elements, the PG-13 superhero moments, the real-world geopolitical issues, add some zombies (and Dracula to the mix) and of course some bloody violent action into the mix and you get Dave Elliot’s Blazing Glory in Odyssey Vol. 1: History Lesson.
If you got a friend that loves reading books and have that nostalgic feeling for the 1980s, then check out these cool looking bookmarks. These are Cassette Tape Bookmarks from Connect Design.
As I kid, I remember watching Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston on TV and like Star Wars, Star Trek and Buck Rogers made an sci-fi impression on me. And then I got all excited in 2001, with Tim Burton’s vision of Planet of the Apes and that was hot mess of suck, kind of like X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Now after many years, 20th Century FOX has gotten the re-boot Planet of the Apes franchise in the right direction. To celebrate, Titan Books publishes The Art of the Films: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes & Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
You don’t have to, but if you are the type of person that needs to read every tie-in to the main book and want to read things in order, then make sure you read Greg Keyes prequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm. By the end of “Firestorm”, the “Simian Flu” has spread worldwide causing millions of deaths, civil unrest and economic meltdown around the world, while Caesar leads all the apes to safety into Muir Woods. Based on the screenplay by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, author Alex Irvine pens the novelization Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) was a successful reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise. Capitalizing on the box-office smash, the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will open all across America this weekend. If you’ve seen any of the trailers you know that the San Francisco/Bay Area and the world is in a post-apocalyptic turmoil. How did it get this way? Well, it’s all explained in this official prequel “Firestorm” by author Greg Keyes.
“Firestorm” picks up right after the end of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. During the memorable Golden Gate Bridge battle scene, where SFPD officers are fighting with the apes, Caesar leads his apes to escape into Muir Woods. We find out that their has been a media blackout of the Golden Gate Bridge ape incident. We are introduced to reporter David Flynn and his girlfriend primatogist Clancy. She tells David that she’s been brought-in to find the apes and it’s all hush-hush, but she leaves some computer files for him if anything goes wrong. David Flynn’s ex-girlfriend ER Doctor Talia Kosar finds herself with many patients with high fevers and sneezing up blood the past of couple of days. Her colleagues from another hospital email her about the same situation and Talia alerts the CDC. A mysterious military-style outfit has hired Clancy and hunter Malakai Youmans to find the apes in Muir Woods.
The G+ Virus gives humans superpowers! Writer Monty Nero and artist Mike Dowling deliver an off-beat mature-audience superhero book in “Death Sentence.” In this world, the G+ Virus is like the AIDS virus that has spread across the globe affecting the general population. The G+ Virus is transmitted through unprotected sex, but the virus gives humans superhuman powers. There is a catch though, once you get it, you will ONLY have 6 months to live. Now what will you do with 6 months on the planet? What kind of superhuman power(s) will you get? And what will you do with your superpowers?
The “Underworld” of trench coats and Tommy guns meets the “Otherworld” of magic and the supernatural. This is 1930s Chicago, where the mobsters run the town and Mick Oberon ain’t no ordinary dick, this P.I. got special powers. Instead of a revolver to pump hot lead, he uses a magic wand, really, I’m not joking. His wand of choice is the Luchtaine & Goodfellow Model 1592. Worlds collide in Hot Lead, Cold Iron by author Ari Marmell.
All we get now in the multiplexes and the TV screens are superheroes, zombies and vampires! Hey, Hollywood, about some good old-fashion cowboy flicks? That Johnny Depp “Lone Ranger” fail of a film did not count! How about dropping some John Woo/Tarantino-style old west cowboy stories? I can envision a pair of Colt .45’s blasting in slo-mo during a stage coach robbery scene. Enough with the World War II movies, but I digress. If you want your fill of the old wild west with a mix of weird and the wonderful, try “Dead Man’s Hand” an anthology of short stories collected and edited by John Joseph Adams.
Why do you need to go to Universal Orlando? Do I have to ask why? If you are a true Harry Potter fan then a point of destination is the land of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. The buildings, all the details, it just looks and feels you’re in that world. Amazing. Check out this video walkthrough of Diagon Alley by Inside the Magic!
The sizzling pulp novel “Borderline” by prolific American crime author Lawrence Block sees the printed pages once again after 50 years of being out of print. Four lives intersect on the border towns of El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico.
Marty is a smart professional gambler always looking for a good card game in Juarez. After a couple of years spent in a failed marriage, Meg is looking for some fun and action. The beautiful blonde Lily is looking to make money and get out of the border towns. The insane killer running from the law, Weaver is looking for his next bloody victim. These 4 characters ultimately cross each others’ lives in “Borderline.” The book also includes 3 Lawrence Block short stories: 1) The Burning Fury (1959); 2) A Fire At Night (1958); and 3) Stag Party Girl (1963).
If you read lots of science-fiction books from authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Nova, Orson Scott Card and John Scalzi, there is usually a beautifully painted cover book art of the galaxy, outer space world or spaceship and that artist is John Harris. The Art of John Harris: Beyond The Horizon is a collection of his many works since the 1970s.
The video game media went bonkers when Ubisoft unveiled Watch Dogs at E3 2012. The much anticipated and delayed game is now finally out and does it live up to the hype? I don’t know yet, but will get on my hands on a copy for my Xbox 360 soon. Just a quick note, you can also look for our review of Watch Dogs by our Retrenders video game guru Ramon Angel soon. But for now, I’m reviewing the release of The Art of Watch Dogs published by Titan Books.
In Watch Dogs, the GTA-type game, you play hacker anti-hero Aiden Pearce. Now on the path of revenge he uses Chicago’s Central Operating System (ctOS) to hack into security cameras, lock doors, control traffic lights, locate targets of interest and grab information on his enemies. The city of Chicago is now your playground.
“Fossils are evidence of prehistoric life written in stone.” Dr. David C. Evans
Dinosaurs and extinct animals have always captured my imagination as a child. I’ve played with dinosaur toys, pretended to be a dinosaur, drew dinosaurs and read lots of dinosaur books. Plus I’ve spent many hours watching dinosaur specials on National Geographic and Animal Planet. The kid in me always wondered how an artist can draw extinct animals so realistically and prehistoric landscapes? This is where Paleontology comes in, the merging of art and science to paint an ancient environment. “The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi” collects the top works of Paleoartisan Julius Csotonyi.
I enjoy reading Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins crime/pulp fiction books. Just like Dirty Harry, shoot first and ask questions later, that’s the Mike Hammer way.
In “King of the Weeds,” Mike Hammer and long-time partner Velda Sterling look to ride off into the sunset with marriage and retirement, but an decades old murder case looks stir things up with his old buddies Captain Pat Chambers and Army pal Marcus Dooley.
The iconic Japanese monster Godzilla created by the Toho Company is back with a vengeance (let’s forget that Roland Emmerich directed Godzilla film in 1998!). The new flick by Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures looks to bring back the classsic Godzilla with an all-star cast starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen and Juliette Binoche. Titan Books sent me the “official” novelization of Godzilla a few weeks back and I’m now able to have time to read the book by author Greg Cox.
Over the years reading comics, you begin to find writers you like to read from, and one of them for me is Greg Rucka. I really enjoyed his Oni Press comics Whiteout and Queen & Country and Greg’s various Batman runs over at DC Comics. Our Ramen host Eddie Ballar interviews Greg Rucka at Big Wow! ComicFest.
Bram Stroker Award winner Kim Newman is known for his witty vampire series Anno Dracula has another book you might want to take a look at. Kim Newman ponders one of life’s questions in “Life’s Lottery”: Is our human life “predetermined or can we really choose our own path in life?” If your were a kid growing in the 1980s, you might remember those Find Your Fate: Transformers and G.I. Joe books that I made my mom buy for me. Those kiddie books had you making the decisions, like if you think Optimus Prime should do this go to page 6, or if you think Optimus Prime should do that go to page 25. Now instead of playing a Hasbro toy character, you play a real-world fictional character and help him make decisions that will alter his life from the ordinary or to the extra-ordinary.
In “Life’s Lottery” you are born into the world as Keith Oliver Marion, a British Caucasian male, and you’ve luck out, you come from a middle-class background. You are stuck in the middle with an older sister Laraine and younger brother James. As I approached page 20 where I would make the first life’s decision for Keith as a 6-year-old boy in school, I really had to reflect how I would come to these decisions and choices for Keith. Do I make the same choices as I did as a kid in my own personal life growing up, which was the kid that got picked on and then bullied others? Do I then make choices from my Christian-American cultural upbringing? Do I just make the common sense decisions as the adult I am now? Do you I use rationalization or just go with it? How about I make the decisions like George Costanza in that episode of Seinfeld where he picked the opposite of everything he would do? Man, this book had me using my brainwaves.
When the James Cameron’s ALIENS flick hit the theaters in 1986, it blew me away and it made go back to take a look at the first ALIEN (1979) film by director Ridley Scott. Now, if you don’t have the DVD or Blu-ray handy, or cannot find it streaming somewhere, then how about you go old-school and check out the official novelization of ALEIN with author Alan Dean Foster based on the screenplay by Dan O’Bannon.
Titan Books collects various art pieces done by artist Ian Miller in this book, The Art of Ian Miller. You might be asking who is Ian Miller? Well, if you ever find yourself in the fantasy section at the bookstore, most of those Ray Bradbury and HP Lovecraft book covers of wizards, monsters, castles and alien worlds were illustrated by Ian Miller.
Director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan, The Fountain) is known for making movie controversy and he does it again with his 2014 movie film Noah taken from the Bible. Titan Books releases two novels based on the movie, the official novelization by Mark Morris and a YA (Young Adult) book titled Noah: Ila’s Story by Susan Korman based on the screenplay by Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel.
The world has turned more dark and sinister, and Noah has a vision from the Creator that a great flood will come to wipe out the world. He must build an ark to save his family and all the animals. In the mist of all this, warlord leader Tubal-cain who killed Noah’s father Lamech comes back years later to try to take over Noah’s Ark with his army of soldiers. The official novel by Mark Morris follows Noah’s journey like the PG-13 movie.
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