My Digital Comics Transition

I started a new column over at The Sidekickcast about my transition to digital comics after the closing of Icons.  I probably won't link on here every time I write a new blog on there so you should just follow the Sidekickcast because they're awesome.

Check out my intro to the column.

Xavier watches Star Wars for the first time

This weekend Xavier, Liz and I attended a Star Wars themed birthday party for one of our friends.  Today Xavier was wearing a LEGO Star Wars T-shirt that Liz got cheap at a consignment store.  I figured it was about time he watched Star Wars IV.  Not being a big fan of Star Wars I've been watching Star Trek with him.  Its kind of a thing we do when Liz is gone and we have pizza for dinner.  We watch an episode or two of The Original Series and eat pizza on the couch.

Anyway, I decided to Tweet some of the stuff Xavier was saying.  Many of my friends on Twitter enjoyed it so I figured I'd post them here for others to see.  Enjoy!

Watching Star Wars IV with Xavier. "Does it have doggies?" "No." "Kitties?" "No." "Then what it have?" "... Robots!" "Robots?!" "Yeah."
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Storm troopers appear. "Bad robots."
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

"What do you think of that guy? [Darth Vader]" "He's a bad guy."
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Life pod holding the droids headed for the planet. "They're going to get lost."
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

About Vader "He has scary eyes." *makes glasses with fingers*
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Droids walking though the desert, he keeps saying "What are they up to?" Avoiding the bad scriptwriting?
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

The little guys that capture R2 are bad guys because they have "little scary eyes." And now you know.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

I can't type fast enough. This is awesome. Show your 3 year old Star Wars.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

"Is he a good guy [Luke]?" "Yeah." "How do you know?" "Well... he's not a bad guy." LOGIC!!!
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

He's actually following the basics pretty well. he's sucked right into it.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

I should point out this is the CGI version. He loved the storm troopers riding "dinosaurs". :-P
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Obi Wan gives Luke the lightsaber. "Xavier, what is that?" "A light fixture." Fortunately not.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Death Star comes on screen. "Xavier, what's that?" "I don't know." "Is it a moon?" "No." Hehehe
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

I'll be damned. Xavier said the cantina band was playing saxophones. Way to go dude!
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Xavier is insisting I only eat one piece of popcorn at a time. I'm not on a diet.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

At first Xavier thought Jabba was a Gronkel (How to Train your Dragon) but then he realised Jabba didn't have wings, so he's a dinosaur.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

A "Gronckle" if you're not familiar with it. Its his favorite from How to Train Your Dragon. He has Gronckle PJs.

Jabba and Han are friends because they talked and walked a lot. Can't fault him for that logic.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

^^^ Extra scene in the CGI version. I know, I'm a bastard for showing him this version. Don't flame me about it. I don't care.

The walls are closing in the garbage crusher. "We have to stop that!" "How?" "There's only 1 thing to do! We have to drive fast!" "???"
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

"What's that gonna do?" "It will stop the closing." "I don't think that's going to do anything." "It has to stop!"
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

After it stops closing. "They're okay! I like this movie."
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

That must be it! Sometimes toddler logic still eludes me. :-)"@badmalifauxer: @doktorandy Gotta get there!"
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Obi Wan vs Vader: "They have 2 [lightsabers)]! They're fighting like monsters!
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

"They're acting like gophers!" I had him repeat the gopher thing 3 times. I don't know.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Storm Troopers fall down the pit after Obi Wan dies. "They went down. He tipped over."
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Sees Chewie for the 50th time: "Actually, he's like a lion!" #FAVORITE.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

This is the most fun I've had watching Star Wars in my entire life. That honestly doesn't say much, but I'm having a lot of fun.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Death Star blows up. "Xavier, what happened?" *shrugs shoulders* "I don't know." Yeah, its questionable engineering.
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

Credits start, Xavier waves his hands "All done!" "Did you like it?" "Yeah. Can I watch 1 more?" 2 hours past your bedtime? No. :-P
— Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) November 22, 2012

During the climactic final battle, this is what he was doing:
I think that was about my reaction as a kid, too.

Review of IDW’s Judge Dredd #1

I blogged again over at the Sidekickcast.  This time it's my review of Judge Dredd #1 from IDW.

Check it out.

Creating Yourself

My buddy Thomas turned me on to the Vlogbrothers. I very much enjoyed their latest video.


I agree with basically everything in this video but I especially agree with the idea that our friends are "the commodity by which we should all be judged."  Lets face it, if you have nothing but vapid spiteful friends or no friends at all, then what does that say about you as a person?

Nothing good.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath graphic novel post-Kickstarter

A beautifully illustrated collection of Lovecraft's oft neglected, less terrifying works.

I've been reading along and listening to some old episodes of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast and got to "The Strange High House in the Mist."  I enjoyed the story and in the episode they mentioned a webcomic adaptation of the work could be found online; here specifically. Poking around the website I discovered that since the episode was recorded the artist had had a very successful Kickstarter to get this and other Lovecraft "Dreamlands" stories collected!

I delayed as long as I could (about a week) before I ordered myself a copy.  I missed the Kickstarter, but you can get copies (which the Kickstarter paid for) through artist Jason Thompson's website.

Normally I wouldn't blog about this, but when I received my copy of "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Katath & Other Stories" I was pleasantly surprised.  Inside the padded packing envelope the book was wrapped in oversized copies of the original art!

This is hella cool!

Ignore the messy cat food bowl, it is irrelevant to the conversation.

I very carefully removed the wrapping paper.  I couldn't bring myself to just rip it off.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but it will be something other than chucking it!

I strongly encourage you to buy a copy of this beautiful collection, and/or the lovely Dreamland poster map. Mr. Thompson is clearly a class act who appreciates people supporting his work.

For the record the volume contains graphic adaptations of "The White Ship", "Celephais", "The Strange High House in the Mist", and "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath."

While we're on the topic of graphic adaptations of Lovecraft's work, some of the most faithful adaptations are coming out now from SelfMadeHero's Lovecraft Anthology series.  Volumes 1 and 2 are out now and are stellar.  They are available in the USA through all the normal graphic novel sources.  These are well thought out and well executed adaptations that do the source material the justice it deserves.

The Cats of Ulthar

With Halloween fast approaching I thought I'd share one of my favorite H.P. Lovecraft stories, since this is always the time of year I delve into the black pits of madness in search of elder things and forbidden knowledge (I like reading Lovecraft around Halloween).

One of my favorite Lovecraft stories is a very short piece that I believe was one of his greatest early stories, The Cats of Ulthar.  I can best sum it up as a Lovecraftian fable that anyone with a great love of cats will enjoy.  You can read it here.

A while back the fine gents at the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast put together a magnificent reading of The Cats of Ulthar, which you can download and listen to here.  It is one of the best readings they've done, in my opinion.

If you're a Lovecraft fan and have never checked out HPPodcraft then you are doing yourself a disservice.

The image above was done by Jason Thompson, who has created an absolutely beautiful graphic version of Lovecraft's Dreamland stories.  Yet another Kickstarter success, it turns out.  Where would geeks be without Kickstarter?  Well, we'd have a lot less cool shit, that's for sure.

1st Maryland Regional MERCS Tournament

This past Sunday I ran the first Maryland Regional MERCS Tournament!  I hope to run one about every three months alternating locations between Games & Stuff (who hosted this one) and Icons Comics & Games.  One of the main reasons I became a MERCS Black Ops representative was to run gaming events such as tournaments, and I've been planning this one for a while.

I worked with Sarah to make this tournament a success.  She is G&S's "minis guru" and put in a lot of effort to make Sunday go better than I had hoped.  We both spread the word via the MERCS Forums, and in the end we had ten players show up!  She snapped this picture of us before we started.

The players at the 1st Maryland Regional MERCS Tournament!

Sarah also went all out and made trophies for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place!  They are beautiful!

Left to Right: 1st, 2nd, 3rd place trophies.

In addition to trophies, the $10 entry fee went toward very generous prize support with the following breakdown: 

1st: Choice of MERCS Starter Box + Gold Trophy

2nd: MERCS Game Mat + Silver Trophy

3rd: $15 Gift Card + Bronze Trophy

It is also a tournament standard at the store that the last place player gets their $10 entry fee back in the form of a gift card, which is cool.  

Our game boards. Many thanks to everyone that set these up for me.

The format for the tournament was as follows:  Everybody plays three games with a 6-turn/1 hour time limit each (in the end the tournament took about four hours), at the end of each game the total Blood on your opponent is your score.  Winner had the highest Blood total across all three games.  Simple.

My feeling at the end of the day, and from those I asked, was that everyone had an intense three hours of gaming!  MERCS is a fast paced game and playing "under the gun" back to back for such awesome prizes made it intense.  That being said in the games I played and what I saw when I looked around I know everyone had a cordial and enjoyable experience.  It was pointed out on the Forums after the tournament that opponents were regularly calling modifiers against themselves (helping the other side win), so clearly everyone was in it for fun, even with those great prizes on the table.

My goal for the day was to have everybody have a good time and for people to get a chance to play somebody they'd never played before.  From what everyone told me after the tournament I'm sure I accomplished my mission.

Thanks to my buddy Thomas (Conphas on the Forums) for taking most of these pictures for me.

I have to call out Michael's CCCs.  Some of the most beautifully painted models I've ever seen. The cable at the feet of the Leader is a great touch.

Me doing some setup, aka "Black Ops'n."

Setting up for Round 1.

Round 1!

Round 2!

Round 3!

The Gracious Winners!

Peter won by a good margin, wish I could have played him.

Brian took second, and called for a round of applause for Sarah & myself. Much appreciated, sir!

Kevin took third.  It was my pleasure, sir!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to play any of the top winners.  Hopefully next time!

Congratulations, gentlemen!

I hope to see you all at our future tournaments!  Thanks again to Games & Stuff for hosting!

And because I love them, here are some random pics of games in progress.

Some KemVar hurt.

KemVar vs USCR

My red CCC vs Winfield's CCC, aka "The Board of Infinite Armor Break."

sefadu vs CCC

Waza with a KemVar Assassin! Oh, but is that a Waza Sniper scoring a head shot?! BOOM!

Beardy Blackwell's BatRep

My buddy Thomas made a badass MERCS Battle Report video of his Waza vs Josh's USCR.  I thought I'd share because its awesome.



Thomas is on Twitter as @BeardedThomas and Josh is @thedorksreports.

I'll be posting an extensive report this week of the tournament I ran in Glen Burnie yesterday.  Short version: it was awesome.

Here's a teaser:

Why I'm getting increasingly worried about IDW's Judge Dredd series

A few months ago, in anticipation of the movie coming out and as part of 2000AD's big push over the last few years into the US market, it was announced that IDW will be creating an all-new American comics format Judge Dredd series.

At SDCC they announced the creative team of Duane Swierczynski and Nelson Daniel.  They also released a slew of variant covers for issue #1 by famous artists.  Included is the "regular" cover by interior artist Nelson Daniel.

Judge Dredd (IDW) #1 cover by interior artist Nelson Daniel.

The book is slated to come out in November, a full two months after the movie release.  Unfortunately the movie seems to have tanked in the USA, but those that have seen it seem to have liked it and may be interested in the comic.  We all know that comic book reading numbers are far lower than movie viewing numbers in general, but Dredd could potentially bring in some current comic book fans that are now familiar with the character.  Given the serial nature of 2000AD and the (still) difficulty getting it in the USA, IDW's Judge Dredd is the place to turn for monthly readers that want more than the amazing 2000AD trades can offer right now (remember that we currently only have five volumes of the Case Files).

So it has been months since the team was announced and the book is now just about a month away.  What new news?

Nothing.

I present to you the full sum of the fruits of my Googling.

According to ComiXology, the official release date for issue #1 is November 21, with issue #2 due December 12.

There has been no significant talk from the creative team since SDCC, not on Swierczynski's blog, or Daniel's blog or deviantArt. There are also no new articles concerning the series on IDW's website. Like I said, according to ComiXology, this book is still coming out.

What concerns me the most is that there have been no samples of interior pages.  None.  The book is a month from being shipped to stores!  This is the type of book that needs sample pages out there for people to look at.  With the book being released next month comic shops have to get their orders in now.

Now the kicker.  Just today it was also announced on 2000AD's FaceBook that Swierczynski has had to cancel his attendance at NYCC's 2000AD panel, a panel which features many Brits.  They don't say why, maybe its personal reasons, but it still resonates with what I'm saying: nobody is saying a thing about this book.  The fact that there are no interior art samples, finished sample pages, or even new chatter about the book makes no sense.

Unless the book is shit.

From the beginning I've been weary of this book. I want it to be awesome. I really do.  I am buying it to see if it is awesome.  I'll probably give it at least six issues (what I presume will be the initial arc if it is truly American format).  But I'm no fanboy.  I don't read a comic I think is no good, regardless of what character its about.  I've been telling friends that this book is totally untested, it could be amazing or it could be horrible.  50/50.

But now, I'm seriously worried.

I believe in 2000AD.  They put out enough awesome content that they have earned that from me.  I show that faith by buying a lot of their collected editions based solely on tag-lines, and 90% of the time I'm pleased with the books, which is a much higher percentage than any other publisher.  Fact is, we don't know how involved they are in this book.  I think its actually not very much.

Only time will tell if what we have coming from IDW is a brilliant crime-fiction based take on Judge Dredd, or the comic book form of the Stallone abortion.

Your move, IDW.

MERCS Tournament Prep

Tuesday night board game night at Icons turned into "MERCS tournament preparation" this week as Thomas, Josh and I got some games in before the tournament at Games & Stuff I'm running this Sunday.

I played two games of my CCC against Josh's USCR.  Here's some highlights and pics.

Overall: Not enough terrain on either map.  I need to put more terrain than I think I should when playing MERCS.  That's the form of the game.  I think I should also use more full cover walls.  I quickly built a small two floor building using my TerraClips.  I think this was a little too much.

Board setup for game one.

My Incinerator moved up and got hit my all three shots from the Behemoth. Damn.

TOO MUCH OPEN AREA. I set up the board so its all my fault.

I managed to get my "speedy" Medic to the balcony, but running ahead of the pack ended up being a fatal flaw. Lesson learned.

One of the things I love most about MERCS is simultaneous actions. We had an unusual situation with a four-way simultaneous action. It ended up not doing too much because of which of my models it was, but it was still weird.

My Heavy "set" and the Incinerator had broken armor, so she "repaired".

Other half of the simultaneous.

I was the Ice Grenade's bitch this night.  The USCR Leader has Ice Grenades which can anchor models for three turns.  The problem is the Leader can target an area of the board.  Well the Leader (the guy all by himself just above the building in the next picture) targeted the balcony and froze my medic in place... with his back facing the stairs.  Ballsacks.

My Demo (just below the door) was able to toss a grenade into the room and deal a Blood each to the two USCR on the lower level. Score.  My Heavy (to the right of the Demo)? He ain't doing shit. He was useless.

USCR up the ladder, about to get ass-rapey.

He's in 100% of my back-arc and I can't turn around for two more rounds.

My Demo broke the USCR's armor and was dealing Blood, but my Medic had broken armor and was a dead man.

Everybody was getting shot in the back.

Outside the building, my Leader went on Suppression to stop this A-hole from doing anything and my Heavy had him in an Overwatch arc just in case. I ended up Suppressing him for the rest of the game.

Medic down, the USCR I grenaded through the door comes back for revenge.

This was the end of turn five (of a six turn game) and at this point I surrendered in favor of getting another game in.  My Demo was going to take at least one Blood. So the "final" score was 7-4 with Josh winning the most Blood.

I did three main things wrong.

1. Running my Medic up ahead to get elevation early got him killed. Sending a man ahead alone into a hot-zone is dangerous. Duh.
2. WTH was my Heavy doing this game?!  Nothing. That's what. 
3. Incinerator. I killed you. I'm sorry.  Don't run models without long range weapons up in nothing but half cover.

Game Two!

I did much better.  I moved the brick walls and added a full cover wall.  Here is the setup at the end of round one. 

Speedy Medic in a good position this time.

My Incinerator was able to get up to the wall just in time for the USCR Medic to come running around the corner. I torched his ass.

*BWOOOSH*

The Demo took some fire getting into position, but he was getting his Heroic bonus so he was shooting well.

Medic shooting in through the door.

I continued torching the USCR on the right, which apart from doing Blood was forcing Suppression checks compounded by my Heavy (on Suppression) which was locking him down.

Medic's armor broken. USCR Booster moving in on the Demo (left side of the building).

The Booster got behind my Demo!  I was able to execute a Move & Shoot so I turned and fired.  Heroic (as well as Short Range) made the penalties easier, but my double 4's doomed me!

NO!!!

The USCR launched another damned Ice Genade at my Medic, freezing both the Medic and my Leader in the doorway.  My Leader couldn't move and didn't have LOS on anybody. I realized far to late that I could have used his action to try and repair the Medic's broken armor, but in the end that wouldn't have mattered.

My Demo got a shot off on the Booster, bringing him to two Blood.  The Booster then shot at me, killing the Demo but triggering Overwatch from my Heavy, which took him down.

Now we're there...

... and now we're dead.

The whole time I was frozen in the doorway I was able to keep shooting at the USCR Leader that put me there.  I broke his armor so he couldn't get up the stairs (or anywhere else for that matter).

Frozen models can still fire. Much to the USCR Leader's regret.

Once the Ice Grenade wore off it was turn six.  My Leader moved to face the Behemoth and I did an action that I think is one of the most clever ones I've ever made playing MERCS.

My Leader went on Suppression.

Its the last turn. If the Behemoth opened up at my Leader he could deal a ton of Blood.  If I Suppressed him successfully he wouldn't be able to shoot. If I failed it would still raise the FN.

Well the Behemoth passed his Courage check but only landed one hit on my Leader so the game went to me! Yay me!

End game state.

These two games illustrate why I love MERCS.  In the first I made some dumb shit tactical decisions and paid for them through the whole game.  In the second game I used smarter tactics and came out ahead.  It doesn't so much matter what faction you play as long as you bring sound tactical decisions that exploit that faction's abilities and that unit's synergy.

End of lesson.