Reality Check
Project Type: Short Film (Sci-Fi)
Funding Goal: $10,000
End Date: August 23, 2013

Chris Buchal is an independent film maker taking on the insurance industry. Sure, ok, pretty cool. Only, he’s not making an intrepid, expose documentary; he’s making a sci-fi-heavy, time traveling short … way more awesome, right?

The world of Reality Check gives insurance claim adjusters the ability to travel back in time and investigate claims as they happened. The short focuses on Elion (Cora Benesh) as she’s investigating her final claim, which will grant her an opportunity to time travel into her own past. Her path leads her down a bad trip where she’ll confront violence, love, relationships, and deceit.

Buchal, who cites Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, and David Fincher as major influences, when asked about what he wanted to bring to the time travel sub-genre, he responded: “I like that time-travel in 12 Monkeys has a loop. Looper has a loop with a twist at the end. Primer has… options. Then Looper has characters I like, and 12 Monkeys‘ plot actually makes sense. What makes Primer cool is…well… we don’t actually really know…or do we?

“So for this piece, I’d like to do a loopitdy loop within a loop, add a strong female lead, have moral decisions, and cover corporate accountability. Corporations, while made of large groups of people, are in the end composed of individuals. This is a story about an individual, and how corruption begins on a personal level.”

Off Grid #1
Written by Plaid Klaus
Illustrated by Plaid Klaus
Colored by Plaid Klaus
Lettered by Plaid Klaus
Cover by Plaid Klaus
Mind Comics
Release Date: July 3, 2013
Cover Price: $2.49 (Digital), $3.99 (Print)

Off-Grid can be easily summed summed up as the Prepper fantasy book. Writer-Artist Plaid Klause pitches the book on his website thusly:

“The story revolves around a civil war that breaks out after the nation’s grid system is shut down for three weeks and the government mandates all civilians report to the major city “habitation zones” It explores the underground fight between the modern day high tech war machine and a small group of ex-military and anonymous hackers who call themselves “The Resistance” The novel [sic] also explores emerging technologies such as nano-bots and technology that is implantable into the human body.”

Which is maybe a bit vague: two issues in the focus of the book has focused on Half dozen Resistance characters and two hippies fighting Big Brother. Or running from Big Brother, it’s still not quite clear.

Everyone who reads superhero books will tell you that they’re ripe for analysis and any one of those folks will tell you that Marvel Comics Daredevil has, for decades, been one of the richest titles and characters to breakdown – even though he isn’t always on our radar [sorry].

In the newest Sequart collection of essays, The Devil is in the Details: Examining Matt Murdock and Daredevil dives into The Man Without Fears’ love life, family, and relationship with fellow Marvel heroes. Along with pieces on many of the title’s seminal runs and the love-it-or-hate-it Ben Affleck film, it’s a book any fan of the series or character or comic will want to read.

The book is available at Sequart website and in paperback and for the Kindle at Amazon.

Ryan K. Lindsayis the man responsible for this book you never knew you needed. Lindsay chatted with us about editing the book, the joys of scrutinizing his favorite titles, and his love for the character himself.

Mumbai Confidential
Book One: Good Cop, Bad Cop
Written by Saurav Mohapatra
Illustrated by Vivek Shinde
Additional Art by Sid Kotian, Saumin Patel, Vinay Brahmania and Devaki Neogi
Design by Howling Monkey Studio
Edited by Rebecca Taylor
Production Manager Scott Newman
Introduction by Ron Marz
Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: May 8, 2013
Cover Price: $24.95

Mumbai Confidential begins at its climactic finale. Tough-as-nails Heroic-cop whose Fallen-from-grace, Arjun Kadam stares down the barrel of a gun. Flashback to when this case began a few weeks before when this case began. Flashback again to five years before that to when Kadams Fall began. Set in Mumbai, Indias most populated metropolis with a notorious criminal underworld, this is story that tattoos its hardboiled tropes on its sleeve.

Illustrator Vivek Shindes art lovingly evokes grim and ultra-serious pulp fiction. Every page, every panel looks like it should be on the cover of a trashy paperback found on a rickety wire rack 50 or 60 years ago. The color is so washed out that all you can see is the grit and grime on the page. Fans of David Fincher: this book is for you.

Thacher E. Cleveland is a busy man. On top of a civilian life, he’s a contributing writer and columnist for PanelsOnPages.com, co-host of the Super-Fly Comics and Games PodCast, and is the writer of the surprise cult hit novella “Winston & Churchill Case” series. Available at Smashwords and Amazon, it’s a must-read for fans of supernatural and/or detective fiction.

With a new installment of the series just out, Thacher chatted with Geeks Of Doom via e-mail about “Winston & Churchill,” genre writing, the e-book market, and moving into comics writing.

Geeks Of Doom: I’d like to start with a sand bag of a question – The “Winston & Churchill” series? As an Irish-American why would I want to read about some British dude?

Thacher E. Cleveland: Very tricky, but the Irish American in you will be glad to know that the series isn’t about a British Prime Minister or any Brit at all, but two private investigators, Lexie Winston and Henry Churchill in Manhattan who specialize in occult investigations: demons, vampires and the like. So if you like supernatural adventure stories that don’t involve a cheesy romance then this is for you, despite my cheap attempt at a catchy title.