Freelancers #1
Written by Ian Brill & Matt Gagnon
Art by Joshua Covey & Felipe Smith
Colors by Justin Stewart, Vladimir Popov & Zack Sterling
Letters by Pat Brosseau
Covers by Ibraim Roberson, Felipe Smith, Khary Randolf & Ron Riley, Fan Yang, Phil Noto, Stephane Roux, Reilly Brown & Felipe Sobreiro
Boom! Studios
Release Date: November 7, 2012
Cover Price: $1.00

Freelancers #1 is a lot of fun. It’s not going to change your life or win an Eisner, but you will definitely have a good time with this comic. You’ve got the perfect formula-hot girls, guns, cars, kung-fu, and dogs. What more could any red-blooded American male want?

Ian Brill takes parts of existing pop culture icons and combines them into an action packed comic, that’s a TON of fun to read. Part Charlie’s Angels, part Codename: Knockout, this comic is action from start to finish. You’ve got the two main characters that work for an agent that may or may not be 100% on their side. Brill sets up a good mystery that leaves you wondering if their agent is trying to get them jobs or trying to get them killed. I can’t emphasise enough how much pure fun this book is! It’s a great spy/bounty hunter tale that never takes itself seriously at all. It knows what it is, and never tries to be anything different. Really good for a first issue.

Dracula World Order
Written by Ian Brill
Art by Tonci Zonjic, Rahsan Ekedal, Declan Shalvey, Gabriel Hardman
Colors by Stephen Downer, Jordie Bellaire
Letters by Josh Krach
Cover by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire
Ian Brill (Independent)
Release Date: June 22, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

As a huge vampire geek I notice the undead and bloodthirsty seem to fall into three main categories within pop culture. There is the vamp with lots of deep feelings who sweats being us hard enough to eternally attend high school, or to get a soul so they can date humans, the hyper-sexualized type who makes us feel less dirty since we are merely humans under their superior thrall and therefore cannot be held accountable for our own actions, or the last and rarest variety: the monster in the night who believes the living are a delicious snack food or a means to an end. Dracula World Order strongly subscribes to the latter school of thought and while it expresses lofty ideas about the current state of political/economic affairs, manages to be a bloody good bit of gory fun as well.

Today sees the release of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #1, the beginning of a new on-going series from BOOM! Studios which has Barker back writing for the franchise he created! You can check out our review of this exciting first issue, and if you’re interested in checking it out, then we have a treat for you.

BOOM! has provided us with the 8-page digital Prelude to Hellraiser #1, “At the Tolling of a Bell,” which we invite you to download for FREE right now! This is an all new, original story — NOT part of any other issues — which was written by Clive Barker with Christopher Monfette, with art by Leonardo Manco. This prelude issue is ONLY available now digitally and will not be sold as a single-issue in print form. It will be in print for the first time only as part of the first trade volume of the series, so don’t wait, grab it right here right now for FREE!

Click the link to download the PDF: Prelude to Hellraiser #1 PDF [Note, clicking on the link does NOT begin the download; you’ll be brought to a new page where you can select the PDF to download.]

If you want a peek at Prelude to Hellraiser #1, click the thumbnail at right here below to see a 1-page preview from the issue.

Since their revival of Darkwing Duck was such a huge success, BOOM! Studios announced that they will be bringing back another beloved kids show when they launch Chip “˜n Dale Rescue Rangers in December. The ongoing series features the two chipmunk adventurers and all their friends and if the Darkwing Duck series is any indication, this series should be a lot of fun.

For those too young to remember, Chip “˜n Dale Rescue Rangers launched in 1989 and follows the adventures of the titular rodents; Australian Mouse Monterey Jack; pilot, inventor, and love interest Gadget; and Zipper the housefly. They travel around the world, solving cases, and you know, get into shenanigans. During its run, it was the most popular of Disney afternoon shows, and it still has legions of fans who can sing that theme song all these years later.

If you’re like me, you have fond memories of running home from school, flying into the house, and landing on your favorite spot in front of the TV to watch the Disney Afternoon. What a wonderful block of programming that was in the early 1990s.

At the time I was a huge superhero fan and the show that stuck out to me from the moment it debuted was Darkwing Duck. I loved everything about the show as a kid and still keep the theme song on my iPod at all times, just in case I need a pick-me-up.

Imagine my delight when BOOM! Studios announced yesterday that they’re bringing us all back to those weekday afternoons spent in front of the TV. The only difference is that this time we will be enjoying the Masked Mallard’s adventures in comic form.

Writer Ian Brill (Zombie Tales) and artist James Silvani (Muppet King Arthur) will be bringing us a four issue mini-series this June titled Darkwing Duck: The Duck Night Returns. We’ll see the return of Darkwing Duck, Lanchpad McQuack, Gosalyn Mallard, and the fiercest of Darkwing’s rogue gallery.