Back in December, I did a Patreon Spotlight for Ben Bishop‘s (The Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness, Nathan the Caveman) post apocalyptic graphic novel, The Aggregate. Bishop invites us to imagine “if all the Power Rangers were evil, and they wanted to use their Megazord to wipe out most of the people on Earth, and Mad Max was a girl, AND he fell in love with the Red Ranger”¦” Doesn’t this sound amazing?

Recently, the artist and author decided to utilize Kickstarter as the platform to make this book happen. One of the first “choose your own adventure” style graphic novels – or as Bishop calls it, “Split Decision Comics” – the Kickstarter opened up yesterday morning, and has already exceeded its $10,000 goal! But with 28 days left in the campaign, there are still plenty of opportunities to support this endeavor — including pushing the project up to its second goal of $20,000, allowing Bishop to offer the book in full color.

The Massive #2
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Kristian Donaldson
Colors by Dave Stewart
Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Covers by J. P. Leon, Rafael Grampa
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: July 11, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

I’m a total sucker for post-apocalypse stories. I can’t get enough bleak survival tales about zombies, ebola, comets, asteroids, super volcanoes, global warming, or any other feasible catastrophe. So, I was immediately drawn to The Massive when I learned about its premise. The story takes place in the near future. All those nasty things that climate scientists have been warning us about hit the world with one giant haymaker: insane weather patterns, floods, droughts, off the scale earthquakes, tsunamis, ocean stagnation, geomagnetic storms “” the works. Just based on my expertise acquired from a fervent Science Channel addiction, such a disaster super-combo could conceivably surpass the largest extinction event of all time, The Great Dying of 250 million years ago, which wiped 90% of all life from the face of the planet. Or not.

The Guild, Volume 2
Written by Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Sean Becker, Kim Evey, Sandeep Parikh
Pencils by Darick Robertson, Kristian Donaldson, Ron Chan, Becky Cloonan, Tim Seeley
Inks by Ron Chan, Becky Cloonan
Colors by Dave Stewart
Covers by Georges Jeanty
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 27, 2012
Cover Price: $14.99

The Guild: Volume 2 collects the one-shot comic released for each member of the Knights of Good: Vork, Tink, Bladezz, Clara, and Zaboo. Each comic delves into the characters’ lives away from The Game and sheds a little more light on their personalities and motivations. These stories are not exactly earth-shattering revelations, but they’re brief, fun, focused explorations into the characters that fans love. Watching at least the first season of The Guild web series is a prerequisite to reading this collection. However, if you have not yet read the first volume of The Guild, fear not, this volume completely stands on its own.

Fans of The Guild undoubtedly have their favorite Knights of Good characters. Mine is the leader of the Knights of Good, Vork. He’s obsessively cheap and orderly. He’s also incredibly literal; my favorite scene in this chapter is the very beginning where he reveals why he plays the game the way he does. In this comic, we discover that Vork takes care of his retiree grandfather. While Vork follows rules to the letter, his loose cannon grandfather aligns somewhere around Chaotic Good””possibly Evil. In this play on opposites, Vork must reconcile his differences with his grandfather and learn to compromise with his inferiors””er, guildmates.

The Massive #1
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Kristian Donaldson
Color by Dave Stewart
Cover by Brian Wood, Kristian Donaldson
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 13, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

Brian Wood is no stranger to catastrophe. Well, more accurately his writing is no stranger to catastrophe. Collapse, whether it is political, social, financial, or personal, typically accompanies his work. His latest project, The Massive, has been long awaited and is now finally here. This time, Wood takes an entire planet on the verge of destruction and looks at it on a miniature scale. Instead of focusing on the endless outcomes that global breakdown could have on societies, Wood follows a small group of environmentalists searching for answers. The Massive #1 is Wood at his best. He is taking something infinitely beyond most people’s comprehension and giving it a name. The Massive #1 is not a flawless comic for what it is, but it is perfect for what it will be.

In honor of Earth Day 2012, Dark Horse Comics is offering a FREE digital copy of Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson‘s The Massive one-shot.

Collecting parts 1-3 from Dark Horse Presents, The Massive tells a story of three people whose lives were changed as a result of the environment. These three made it their goal to each become environmentalists on a mission to save the planet after the world has already ended. And Dark Horse is giving you the opportunity to read the comic that acts as a prelude to the upcoming series in a paperless, eco-friendly way for absolutely no cost.