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.

Dark Horse Presents #8
Stories by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, Evan Dorkin, Tony Puryear, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Alan Gordon, Brian Wood, Martin Conaghan, Rich Johnston, M. J. Butler

Back Cover and Spot Illustrations by Geof Darrow
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 1, 2012
Cover Price: $7.99

Dark Horse brings out their best and brightest talent for the 8th installment of their legendary anthology Dark Horse Presents. For anyone new to Dark Horse’s line of titles this anthology is a perfect jumping-on point. Dark Horse Presents #8 collects both new and old titles that accurately showcase the publisher’s diverse line of comics. Not every comic featured in the anthology is a hit, though. However, with stories from Mike Mignola and Brain Wood, Dark Horse Presents #8 is a collection worth picking up.

Each and every week “The Undisputed Champion” MK2Fac3 and “The People’s Champ” Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible… theoretically. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of February 1, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

I’m going to just skip the BS and tell you that a lot of great comics are coming out this week, folks. We’ve got all sorts of great single issues and collected editions that are coming out of the woodwork to get you all twisted into a much more awesome and better-looking version that you were before. I don’t know how that’s possible, but I’m pretty sure that it’s what’s going to happen. Anyway, like I said, there are so many good books this week. We’ve got some awesome stuff coming in Dark Horse Presents, hopefully a good starting point for Animal Man, the second part of Superman’s origin in Action Comics, the newest issue of “The Best Comic In The World” Locke and Key, the second issue in what could be the best new comic of the year in Fatale, another strong candidate for comic of the year with Winter Soldier, and even more in single issues, you guys. That’s not even touching the collected editions, but we’ll get to that later. Some of the comics mentioned above will be chosen, but which ones are as yet undetermined, so read forth young geeklings to find what books that we have picked out for you… within The GoD List.

Kill Audio #1
Written by Claudio Sanchez, Chondra Echert
Art by Sheldon Vella
Issue 1 of 6
COVERS A & C: Sheldon Vella
COVER B: Kristian Donaldson
Price $3.99; Release date: October 7, 2009

By Kathulhu

Meet Kill Audio (KA), an angry dwarf who can’t die. He’s on a mission, a mission to find his purpose in life. Along the way he will meet up with a coke-addicted chicken, a skeleton in a beaver suit, and a talking pillow, and we must not forget Fix, a creature whose job it is to kill KA.

KA is trying to reach the Watchtower so that he can talk to Clockwork, the creator of all sight and sound. He will have to pass through the gates of Hell itself, navigate his way through the middle of a marital spat, and survive a confrontation with a drunken dog toy in order to reach his destination.

When KA finally reaches the Watchtower he learns from Clockwork that his purpose is to maintain the balance between Life and Creativity in the land of Sight and Sound and that when KA was taken from the Void, Music was thrown into absolute chaos.

2 Guns TPB
Written by Steven Grant
Art by Mat Santolouco
Colors by Popart Studios, Amanda Grazini
Letters by Ed Dukeshire, Marshall Dillon, Terri Delgado
Credit Page Art by Rafael Albuquerque
Cover by Kristian Donaldson
BOOM! Studios
Cover price: $14.99; Available now

I have to admit to a bit of a bias on this, as we here from Geeks of Doom (me specifically) are quoted on the back of the collection for 2 Guns, and it’s the first time that’s ever happened to me, so I would give anything a good review, so long as they quoted me on the book because I am a shallow, shallow man. So, my review of the book can be summed up by that quote shining on the back of the book, “…fun and exciting …This is a great crime story that is worth checking out.” See, my job is done right there. But seriously, I would recommend this book to fans of crime or heist stories or those just looking for a story outside of the superhero mainstream.