Adventure Time #11
Created by Pendleton Ward
Written by Ryan North, Zack Giallongo
Art by Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb, Zack Giallongo
Colors by Lisa Moore
Letters by Steve Wands
Covers by Chris Houghton, Kevin Wada, Logan Faerber, Paul Pope, JJ Harrison, Rich Kolowski
KaBOOM!
Release date: December 19, 2012
Price: $3.99

Let me be straight with you. I adore Adventure Time on Cartoon Network. This means that I am automatically drawn to anything that carries the name. It also means that I’ll be twice as critical. The best parts of Adventure Time, after the stories, are the insane animation. I was a bit worried how this wonderful series would play out in comics form. There are other TV series, animated and live-action, that have let me down when they crossed mediums. After reading Adventure Time #11 I have to say that my fears were unfounded.

Issue #11 is written by Ryan North and is a new arc in the Kaboom production of the comic series. A perfect jumping on point for new readers, including this reviewer.

Crawling Sky #1
Story by Joe R. Lansdale and Keith Lansdale
Artwork by Brian Denham
Antarctic Press
Release Date: January 13, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

From the bottom of the well comes a dark entity, ravenous for blood and violent beyond hell’s imagination. Crawling Sky is a Western motif story, leading in towards what seems to be a supernatural thriller/horror story. With thick suspense, and some captivating characters, the first issue of the series makes for an interesting read. And the kicker is that it’s all in black-and-white, presented in a classic manner that feels like a breath of fresh air amidst that choking haze of digital gradients that dominate comic art like a Technicolor yawn.

In stereotypical Western iconography, a stranger rides into the sandy Texas town. He is identified only as the Reverend, dressed in all black, white-collar, wide black hat, and clean black goatee beard. His appearance is as cliché as hell, but it looks so badass-as-fuck that you recognize he’s going to kick some ass at some point. Arriving in the shittiest town ever to be seen in a Western called Wood Tick; the Reverend comes across a man in stocks named Norville.

For the past six years, writer/artist Ryan Browne has been hard at work creating one of the most fun, unique, and critically acclaimed web comics out there, God Hates Astronauts. And now it’s finally finished and ready to be delivered right to your door as a fancy 180-page hardcover collection, after a Kickstarter campaign to secure the funding necessary to actually print it.

Not satisfied with just sending his already done files off to the printer, Browne has went back and make some coloring tweaks and BRAND NEW lettering. He also got some fantastic creators to draw 18 two page origin stories for some of the characters in the book. Artists like Tim Seeley, Jenny Frison, Tradd Moore, Christopher Mitten, Zandor Cannon…the list goes on and on.

Continue below to see a Kickstarter video and an image of what the final product looks like.

A pair of posters for highly anticipated upcoming animated movies have found their way to the ‘net.

The first is for Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. prequel, titled Monsters University. The movie tells the story of when James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) first met way back in college and hated each other, and how they eventually came to be best friends. It hits theaters on June 21, 2013.

The second movie is Sony’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the sequel to every food lover’s best dream (and worst nightmare) movie. In it, Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) and others are forced to return to the town of Swallow Falls to deal with the many “sentient food beasts” that have overrun it. The sequel will be released on September 27th.

Continue below now to check out the new posters for Monsters University and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Greg Pak is no stranger to comics, writing a whole swath of them for Marvel, including such modern favorites as Planet Hulk and Incredible Hercules. The much beloved writer has jumped the aisle and is now writing for DC Comics and his first series has been announced. As first announced at USA Today’s website, Pak will be working on the new volume of Batman/Superman along with artist Jae Lee. The series launches in June 2013.

The series will be set in the early days of DC’s New 52 universe, back when Batman didn’t have anyone backing him up, and back when Superman was running around in jeans and a t-shirt. The first story will feature the pair fighting a powerful threat as well as each other. From the sound of things, this will not be the buddy-buddy Batman and Superman relationship that readers may be used to.