First series of #CBC4C auctions!

We have our first series of auctions to help raise money for the American Cancer Society, and we need your help. Check out the auctions here:

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=yinyangpro

Stay updated on everything for Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer (#CBC4C) on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ComicBookCovers4Cancer

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped to make this possible!

Working on a new campaign

Recently, I had an epiphany. I haven't actually run a large-scale game in quite some time. Over the past few years, I've run a couple of Hunter: The Reckoning games and I'm currently running a Werewolf: The Apocalypse game, but nothing with more than a small handful of players.



I remember a time when I was running games with 5-8 players. I kind of miss that. More to the point, I haven't run any really epic games in many years.



That's got to change!



Last year, I was finally introduced to Pathfinder. I've found that I like it, and I'm going to use it for the system of my next campaign... but with a twist. I'm going to work on adapting a few classic and epic modules from AD&D, 2nd edition and 3.5 to be run with Pathfinder.



In order to accomplish this, I'm going to have to do quite a bit of research and acquisition of books. I sold all of my D&D 3.5 books several years ago and I only have a couple of Pathfinder books. Fortunately, most of what I need I have available in digital format... so I'm not starting from ground zero.



For this and the fact that I'm still working to complete my schooling, I'm going to take (at least) the next year to create this campaign. I plan to give my players a lot of options at the beginning of the game from character creation to actual campaign setting. Not sure what I'm going to title the campaign either, but I'm going to blog about the progress of my research and acquisition under the label of "The Pathfinder Progression".

Star Wars: Dark Empire II

Title:
Star Wars: Dark Empire II

ISBN:
9781593075262

Price:
$19.95

Publisher/Year:
Dark
Horse, 2006

Artist: Cam Kennedy

Writer:
Tom Veitch

Collects:
Star Wars: Dark Empire II #1-6, Star Wars: Empire’s End #1-2

Rating:
1/5

I
loved the Star Wars movies, for all their faults (particularly in episodes
1-3). Still, I have studiously avoided the various novel and graphic excursions
into the post-film era, so I've remained ignorant of the changes that have been
wrought in the lives of Luke, Leia, Han and all the rest.

Dark
Empire II obviously follows hard on the heels of Dark Empire I, but for some
reason Dark Horse sent me only the second book in the series. So much is
confusing for a neophyte like myself that the book is fairly incomprehensible
-- but let's assume that most of the people reading this book had previously
devoured every iota of text printed in the Star Wars line.

OK,
so Emperor Palpatine is back from the dead, his spirit inhabiting a youthful
clone of his dead body -- for a second time, apparently, since Luke seems to
have killed the emperor already in the previous book. Let's accept that the
emperor has the power to imbue countless people and creatures with his
"dark force," giving them Jedi-like abilities without lessening his
own strength at all. And let's pick up the flow as Luke seeks out the few
surviving and potential Jedi’s in an attempt to restore the Old Republic. Oh,
and Boba Fett, the bounty hunter killed badly in Return of the Jedi, has been
resurrected, too, and he's still chasing Han Solo for the late Jabba's reward.

Accepting
the storyline as is, I still had a few problems with this book. First, the art
is terrible. Luke, Han and Leia never look like Luke, Han and Leia. Implied
motion is static. Postures are awkward. And the color palette seems to have
been limited to the extent that numerous pages are almost monochromatic; with
the exception of a few details, everything is greenish on one page, orangeish
on another, and so on.

Second,
the dialogue sounds clumsy and forced. George Lucas could write better dialogue
than this, and if you saw Attack of the Clones, you know that's saying
something.

And,
third, the action zips by so quickly that you might start wondering why they
even bothered. There's not much drama or suspense when a conflict takes only a
page or two to resolve.

In
scouting around, I've seen much better Star Wars comics on the shelves. While
Dark Empire II might make more sense after reading Dark Empire I, I'd still
call this one a book worth skipping.

Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer - UPDATE

To date, we have 25 different artists who have donated or are donating their work to this project. I'm so happy with the response we've received so far, but we could really use your help.



So far, I've primarily been funding this project out of my own wallet. We're going to need your support to keep this running. I have setup a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money to help pay for shipping to artists and acquiring new inventory so we can have a steady stream available for auction. Presently, I only have a handful of books available for artists to work on. The positive side is that we have partnered with my LCS, Tony's Kingdom of Comics, and he has been giving me blank covers at a discount to help support the cause. Without Tony's help, I know this project wouldn't be as successful as it is turning out to be.



October 12th will be the start of the first series of auctions for #CBC4C. I have 5 covers to offer-up right now, and look forward to receiving more finished covers over the next few weeks and months. The auctions will run in the middle of the month. I will post updates primarily on the #CBC4C Facebook page, but will send-out tweets throughout the duration of each auction as well. My Twitter handle is @ZanziberPoV.



Please Like us on Facebook as this is the best way to communicate. Spread the word. Share and tweet this post. We're looking to help end the threat of cancer, but we can't do it without your help.



If you would like to learn more about the #CBC4C project or have any questions, please check-out the dedicated #CBC4C page I have on my blog: http://www.zanziber.com/p/comic-book-covers-4-cancer.html or you can email me at zanziber AT gmail DOT com.

Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Series

Last month, the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series turned 30-years old. That means I was 8-years old when I started watching it... and it left an impact. This cartoon helped inspire me to take-up roleplaying. At the time, D&D had a label of "Ages 10+" on it, so I had some time to wait before I could actually play it. (Yes, I thought this was mandatory.)



After reading so many of the articles that were posted when the cartoon hit 30, I was thinking about a special book that came with the DVD boxed set. I'm talking about the Animated Series Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition.

I remember wanting my character to have items like the Energy Bow and the Cloak of Invisibility. This book has all the characters stated-out including their magic items. There are even stats for Uni, Venger and Shadow Demon. This sole book made purchasing the DVD set worth while.



This is also when I began to adore the mother of the chromatic dragons - Tiamat.

This cartoon series also inspired me to run a D&D game where the players were actually their characters in the D&D world... including all their knowledge of the game system. It worked well for as long as it ran. I think, some day, I'd like to revisit that idea and run a longer campaign. Something to consider for the future.

Classic G.I. Joe Vol. 13

Title:
Classic G.I. Joe Vol. 13

ISBN: 9781613770825

Price:
$24.99

Publisher/Year:
IDW, 2011

Artist: Andrew Wildman, Rurik Tyler

Writer:
Larry Hama

Collects:
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #124-134

Rating:
2/5



There are equal parts goodness and stupidity sprinkled throughout the issues in this book. Some ideas, like Firefly being a ninja, are totally stupid. Others, like the assault on Cobra Island, are great fun. There are no hard and fast rules on where the goodness and suckiness occur.

Issue 125 was a split issue not unlike what John Byrne did back in Fantastic Four #277 in 1985, where he used two existing subplots and assigned them a top and bottom arrangement throughout the issue. Issue 124 was split in three parts across each page in much the same way. Larry Hama is a good writer when he is allowed to cut loose and have fun like he did in those two issues.

There are some ideas in these issues that really, really suck, such as the G.I. Joe Eco-Warriors and Cesspool and his sludge weapons. There are some good ideas, too, like shifting the focus on the series to Snake Eyes again. Snake Eyes was the first G.I. Joe doll that I got back in 1982 at age 9 (I'm talking pre-swivel arm battle grip Snake Eyes, folks), and was always my favorite. The only problem with him is that he cannot speak so you need someone such as the now-good guy Storm Shadow to relay what he is thinking or meaning to say to others. It gets tiresome quickly.

There are some fun action sequences, but much of this book was marred by the Image influence in the artwork department. Image was a big deal at that time, and every artist was scrambling to incorporate that razzle dazzle into their style. I blame the Image artists for the speculation boom that nearly destroyed the entire industry.


So yeah, the series is going down the tubes by this point, having long since lost its focus and is weaving and bobbing about. I am well into Volume 14 as I am writing this, and it is apparent that the train has gone off of the rails. Will things get back on track by the time that the original series end in Volume 15? Time will tell. 

RCCC 2013 - Goodies and extras

Over the past couple of years, I've been collecting various prints that I find at conventions from a variety of different artists. This year, I went very light in my print buying. I also didn't buy as many trades as I would have liked to, but due to my schedule, I only ended up going to 1 dealer to pick-up what I did buy.



Jamie Tyndall- I have a fondness in my heart for G.I. Joe and Star Wars, since I grew-up with both of these influences. I have to admit that I really like the faux magazine covers. There were so many other prints I would like to have of his work, but these were my choices from RCCC:

I Like Comics- The past 3 con's that I have seen these guys at, they always have their trades discounted. This time, they were 70% off. I couldn't resist getting some additions to my collection. The more they feed my addiction from trades, the more I will continue to write reviews here.

Bob the Artist- I liked what I saw at his booth. Unfortunately, what I picked-up is going to be Christmas gifts for some friends, so I'm not posting what I bought. Check out his website to look at what he has to offer. Nice guy. I'll keep an eye out for him at future con's.



Charlie Donkin- Last year, I bought a great looking Twilight print from him as a gift for a friend. This year, I decided to treat myself to one of his many fine pieces. Such a great artist. (Apologies for the blurriness of the picture.)

Brandon Seifert-  I saw Brandon's booth at Stumptown this year, but I didn't get a chance to stop by. I made sure that I dropped by to pick-up the trades for Witch Doctor. I'm looking forward to reading these. I've heard good things.

That's it for this year. Now to get ready for next year. Wizard World Portland is coming at the end of January.