I received a super-secret coded message from my contact at the ‘Awesome’ department over at Top Shelf today. So, I busted out my Super Spy Decoder ring and went to work translating the mysterious missive. It turns out that we here at GoD headquarters have been charged to select three unique individuals from amongst our armada of loyal readers for a Super Spy special mission, and in just a few days from now a ‘Package’ will be arriving at Geeks of Doom headquarters.

Contained therein will be three (3) copies of Super Spy, Vol 2: The Lost Dossiers, three (3) original pieces of artwork from Matt Kindt (I suspect this artwork will contain coded instructions regarding your mission), and three (3) bottles of Super Spy ‘Cyanide’ capsules (for use should your mission fail… so, do not fail).

Should you feel that you are up to the challenge click through the jump below and enter your info into the ‘spy’ application below.

Three (3) ‘Mission Applicants’ will receive:

• One (1) copy of Super Spy, Vol. 2: The Lost Dossiers
• One (1) Original piece of art by Matt Kindt
• One (1) Bottle of mint flavored Super Spy ‘cyanide’ capsules

TO ENTER: There’s just two simple steps:

(1) Make sure you’re subscribed to the Geeks of Doom email digest. If you’re not then click here and sign up. (If you’re already a subscriber, then go right to the next step.)

(2) Fill out the entry form here below and submit. (Form is here after the jump.)

Good luck, applicant!

Swallow Me Whole
Written and Drawn by Nate Powell
Top Shelf Productions
Release Date: October 29, 2008

I tried to write a nice little intro paragraph for Swallow Me Whole, but rather than write something flowery and overtly descriptive, I decided to just cut right to the chase. Swallow Me Whole is one graphic novel that you should pick up above all other comic books out there.

Written by Nate Powell , Swallow Me Whole tells the tale of two step-siblings, Ruth and Perry, and how each of them deals with growing up in the suburbs and with their similar mental diseases. Ruth thinks that the dead insects she collects are alive and Perry thinks the wizard on the top of his pen is talking to him and compelling him to draw. Relying on each other to keep one another sane, Ruth and Perry do the best they can to keep each other’s demons in check and hope that there is light at the end of this rather dark tunnel.

In conjunction with this weekend’s feature film release of Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, the fine folks over at Top Shelf have provided us with a few copies of the original graphic novel as well as the recently released sequel, The Surrogates, Vol. 2: Flesh and Bone, to give away to our lucky readers.

Three (3) winners will receive:

• One (1) copy of The Surrogates, Vol. 1
• One (1) copy of The Surrogates, Vol. 2: Flesh & Bone

What do you have to do to get a chance to win? Glad you asked ’cause it’s really easy. Just make sure you’re a subscriber to our email digest, and then go ahead and fill out the handy dandy form below. Done.

Good luck!

TO ENTER: There’s just two simple steps: (1) Make sure you’re subscribed to the Geeks of Doom email digest. If you’re not then click here and sign up. (If you’re already a subscriber, then go right to the next step.) (2) Fill out the entry form here below and submit. (Form is here after the jump.)

The Surrogates
The Surrogates: Vol 1
The Surrogates: Vol 2: Flesh & Bone
The Surrogates Operator’s Manual: Vol 1 & 2 (Hardcover)
Written by Robert Venditti
Art by Brett Weldele
Top Shelf Productions
Available Now

The Surrogates caught me by surprise when it came out a few years ago. Here was a book with a unique premise, which appealed to the Sci-Fi fan in me, as well as the crime drama/mystery fan. The story was fairly unique to me: In the future most people will not leave their houses at all, they do all their business and interactions through the use of realistic looking robots called Surrogates. These surrogates have changed all aspects of society: cops don’t have to worry about being killed in the line of duty; gender roles are easily switched by using a surrogate opposite of the users actual gender; and body image is no longer a problem, since your surrogate can be as good looking as you want it to be. All of this changes when someone begins to go around destroying other people’s surrogates. What follows is an examination of how we interact with each other in an online world, the role of religion verses technology, and really just a well crafted mystery.

The original Surrogates mini-series, by Robert Venditti is an interesting piece of work. It’s one of the most thought provoking series that I have read over the last few years. The world we live in today is one where people can go years without actually meeting people they interact with every day. You can keep up with complete strangers via any number of message boards, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, or a million other social networks. You can raid a dungeon in World of Warcraft with someone who could be half a world away, or they could be your next door neighbor, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The Surrogates takes the concept of this isolation that many people live their lives in today, and asks what would happen if no one had to leave their house if they didn’t want to. The best thing it does though, is take this interesting concept, and wraps it up in an also interesting murder mystery.