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Mike Norton the creator of the web comic Battlepug has teamed up with Arcade Brewery to create Battlepug Hoppy Brown Ale. The label sports the Four Star Studio logo which Norton is a founder of. The Hoppy Brown Ale is no puny beer with a 7.5% abv. Arcade Brewery plans to release the beer the week of C2E2.
Arcade Brewery is a Chicago-based craft brewery dedicated to creating delicious craft beer inspired by art and community.
Mike Norton created the characters for Battlepug in a rush to create a t-shirt for iFanboy.com. In February 2011, Norton launched his webcomic, Battlepug. A dark-humored, fantasy-genred revenge story, Battlepug is about the last surviving member of the Kinmundian Tribe known only as “The Warrior”, his steed, the Battlepug, and their traveling companion, Scrabbly. The story is narrated by Moll, who recounts the tale to her talking dogs, a Pug named Mingo and a French Bulldog named Colfax. The first year of strips was collected into a hardcover by Dark Horse Comics and released July 4, 2012. In mid-2012, Mike Norton won the Best Digital Comic Eisner award for Battlepug.
Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is held this year on April 24th through the 26th. This will be C2E2’s fifth year with expected attendance around 75,000.
TIDAL announced it’s premium tier on Monday, but are consumers willing to spend money in an already competitive digital music industry?
Comment below with your opinion.
Complete details on TIDAL’s premium tier below: TIDAL, the first High Fidelity lossless music streaming service with HD music videos and Curated Editorial, announced today a Premium tier to its service.
The ideal music service for those who care about quality, TIDAL welcomes new users to enjoy its extensive library of 25 million-plus tracks, 75,000 music videos, and curated editorial articles, features and interviews written by experts. Ad free and available for a monthly subscription of $9.99 or $19.99, via www.tidal.com or download the app from iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store.
New apps available from today highlight TIDAL as a one-stop shop for music and video experiences for consumers everywhere. Videos move into a more prominent position and join the Curated Editorial footprint on TIDAL’s What’s New Homepage, in Promo features and a dedicated section. TIDAL is a single destination for artists and fans to share ideas, exclusive content, songs, videos, studio sessions, rough tracks, personal conversations and more. New Artist pages feature a separate Video tab, a Social tab integrating Twitter feeds from a range of prominent artists, and a Merchandise tab for selected artists, where users can purchase merchandise through the official artist store. Tracks, albums and EPs have been merged into a new Discography tab.
TIDAL has spent considerable time building up its extensive catalogue of lossless HiFi-quality music and HD music videos.
Available across iOS and Android devices, as well as in web browser and desktop players, TIDAL offers high fidelity, lossless sound quality to enjoy music the way it was intended by your favorite artists. Streaming at more than four times the bit rate of competitive services, users are able to enjoy TIDAL on a wide range of the world’s finest home and portable audio products. Partnership and integration agreements have already been made with over 30 of the world’s most respected audio brands, see complete list below.
If that was the first comic anybody read, they would be ruined for life. – Tim Seeley
Tim Seeley, the co-founder of Four Star Studios in Chicago gave us a chance to visit the studio and talk about his biggest influences, especially Amazing Spider-Man #230. Seeley is best known for his creator own books, Hack/Slash and Revival, other current projects are Grayson at DC Comics and Sundowners from Dark Horse Comics.
Who are your biggest influences?
“Jack Kirby, Art Adams, James O’Barr, the original Image guys, especially Erik Larsen and Jim Lee as far as art. Those guys definitely. And then writing wise; Alan Moore, Chuck Palahniuk, Peter David. Those are the guys that I really starting noting what they were doing, just trying to figure it out. Noticing a style and saying, “OK, what is it the way they doing things that is different and how can I be as awesome as they are,”” said Seeley.
Why are you a creator?
“You never thought of anything else. The moment I got out of college I was trying to get out of what ever really job I had to do comics. I’ve had moments were I want to quit because it drives me insane. I imagine that I could get a really job, but I would probably just do comics on the side anyway. So I might as well just do it for living,” said Seeley.
What is the first comic you read?
“The first comic I ever got was Amazing Spider-Man #230 which was Spider-Man fighting the Juggernaut. It’s a classic issue anyway, but for that to be the first comic I read was like… If that was the first comic anybody read, they would be ruined for life. It’s a classic Spider-Man story is had some the coolest (scenes). And I had seen Spider-Man on cartoons and the Electric Company. So I had an expectation of what Spider-Man was like. I knew I liked him, but I’d never seen him use a web as a slingshot and shoot girders at a guy. It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. I couldn’t even read at the time when I got it, I had to have my mom read it to me. I wore it out, I still have it but it’s just like a flimsy mess right now because I read it so much,” said Seeley.
What was the first comic you published?
“I used to put out little weird mini comics by myself as a teenager and they were terrible and not real and folded over typing paper, but I was ecstatic about those. The first real printed comic I did was a book called The Adventures of Monkey issue four, which a friend of mine made. He had me draw a backup called The Freshman.Which was sort of a super hero teen book. I remember feeling so strange and foreign because this was the first I was drawing the size I supposed and it was shrunk down and looked like I didn’t do it. It was weird, I remember being kind of excited about it and also kind of feeling “oh, it’s not really what I was hoping (it look like).” Which has been my career since then. Which is, you get it back and its really not…. yeah, alright, it’s a thing,” said Seeley.
How would you describe your style?
‘I don’t even know my style, I know how I get things done. I think maybe my style in general is that I like to just make comics. I don’t have a style so much as this is the way get making comics done. That goes for writing and drawing. It’s more about getting them out. Try not to obsess about it and lament about it and never get anything out because I’m so worried about it being perfect. It’s more about filling it full of ideas and excitement and then putting it out,” said Seeley.
What advice do you have?
“Utilize the internet, you’re lucky, you have that, we didn’t when we started. Put something up, it doesn’t cost anything. You don’t have to make crappy little books on folded typing paper like I did. From the local copy shop, the only choice of cover stock was red and green. Make stuff and put it up, get to be friends with everybody. There’s tons of ways to end up with a great project and sometimes the best way is collaborating with people you know. Go to cons, people seem to be following that one pretty well. That’s also a great way to network and get to know people. If all you have to do to get into comics is go to cons and go on the internet, I think you’re pretty luck,” said Seeley.
What book do you want to work on?
“I’ve knocked a lot of them out. Most of my list I’ve already hit, which I’m not bragging but that’s how it work the longer you do it. There is a of DC guys that I like that I think don’t get used properly. Any Kirby character; the Demon, OMAC (the original OMAC), the Creeper. The weird Ditko characters, I would love those guys. Hawk and Dove and Devil Dinosaur. Some day I want to do something with Devil Dinosaur, I don’t know what, but something,” said Seeley.
The creator of The Sixth Gun, Cullen Bunn spoke with Matthew Sardo about the creative process and Bunn’s childhood influences. The Sixth Gun will conclude the series at issue 50 later this year.
What book did you read, that made you want to get into the comic book industry?
“When I very young I drawing comics books. I was a terrible artist but I was drawing comic books and writing stories. The book that made me love comic books, in the 70’s there was a book called Micronauts which was based on a toy-line. And that comic book for what ever reason made me love comic books,” said Bunn.
How would you describe your style?
“I try to tell fun stories, action-packed stories. I want to tell a story that pacing wise keeps the reader turning the pages. At the same time I’m tell you I like fun stories I lean towards darker elements and darker stories as well,” said Bunn.
What’s the best part of working on The Sixth Gun?
“We’re really building a world with Sixth Gun. We’re building a mythology and I like that element of storytelling, especially of that book. I also like the collaborative nature of working on a book,” said Bunn.
Matthew Sardo caught up with Chris Burnham at Four Star Studios in Chicago to talk about what it means to be a creator. Burnham is best known for his work on Grant Morrison’s Batman Inc.
Why are you a creator?
“Oh man! I honestly could not think of anything else I wanted to do. I went to college to try and figure out something else to do and by the end of four years of wasting all sorts of my parents money, I wanted to do the thing you can do for free in your own basement,” said Burnham.
What was your biggest influence growing up?
“The Toxic Avenger definitely ruined my life growing up. That alley scene with the eye poking and brain smashing, i had to run to the bathroom when I saw that. Now I moderately famous for drawing eviscerations and blood and brains and eyeball poking and what not. I guess it eventually paid off, but fourth grade was rough, I had tough time sleeping after seeing that stuff,” said Burnham.
What book did you read that made you want to get into the comic book industry?
“I guess my book growing up as a kid was the Avengers. The John Buscema, Roger Stern run. The first one I picked up was 274, The Death Of Hercules when the Masters of Evil invaded Avengers Mansion. Yeah, that was awesome! It rocked me to my core,” said Burnham.
What was the first comic you published and how did it feel to hold in your hand?
“It was awesome, my first comic was Moonstone Monsters: Sea Creatures and I drew a killer frog monster story called “Croaked” that was written by Ben Raab. I felt like I definitely done it and accomplished something and I was super proud of the work I did. Looking back on it now, I don’t know. There are certain panels that are awesome, but there is lots of stuff that’s just like, “What were you thinking there pal?” I was convinced that I was gonna be drawing Green Lantern within the hour, because at that point Ben Raab was the writer of Green Lantern. I was convinced that I had an open door. Didn’t work out that way, that was 8-9 years ago,” said Burnham.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“Hopefully getting paid more money to come up with weird shit in some form,” said Burnham.
What advice do you have?
“Put your head down and do it. Yeah, just get down and plow through it and don’t waste your time on sample pages for Spider-Man. Cause you’re not enough yet to get hired for Spider-Man. So don’t waste your fucking time. Just do your own thing, try real hard and stay up late,” said Burnham.
Beverage update: Orange soda and iced tea is pretty great. I need a name for it… Lee Trevino? Tiger Woods? Jack Nicklaus?
If The Matrix and The Hunger Games had a two-year-old child, that would be Insurgent. What the film lacks in gritty film making, it makes up for with one character and a decent plot. Miles Teller steals the show in his limited role, showing up just in time to save the film.
Acting
What do you do if can’t tell if a person is a stiff actor or playing a stiff character…
That is the conundrum for several characters in this film until the climax and Kate Winslet’s character Jeanine Matthews starts acting. Tobias Eaton played by Theo James is your dime a dozen, teenage heart throb, but he looks good in a fight. Shailene Woodley has her hands full as Beatrice Prior, with the lead role as the divergent she has to play ever emotion. Woodley does a fair job at holding the main character spotlight, but the toughest battle Woodley faces is against Jennifer Lawrence and Woodley is no Katniss Everdeen. On the other hand Peeta Mellark is no Milles Teller.
Plot
Nothing like a teen romance to wreck a perfectly good post-apocalyptic film. With that said, there were enough twists and turns to keep you entertained for almost two hours. My biggest issue with Insurgent is that the film is the second act of a three act play and the film wrapped up nicely to where the audience wasn’t clamoring for the third film (It’s an up hill battle because I judge all sequels to Empire Strikes Back.). If there was just two films in the series you wouldn’t be left with unanswered questions. The plot point either means really good writing or really poor planning.
Cinematography
There are several shots in this film that work well. One of them being the dried up Chicago river with all the bridges raised. As the camera flies low to the ground, you get a sense of how long its been since society has been normal. That is the best the film has to offer in this regard, as the CGI city cannot mesh with the live sets and becomes mildly distracting.
THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT RAISES THE STAKES FOR TRIS AS SHE SEARCHES FOR ALLIES AND ANSWERS IN THE RUINS OF A FUTURISTIC CHICAGO. TRIS (WOODLEY) AND FOUR (JAMES) ARE NOW FUGITIVES ON THE RUN, HUNTED BY JEANINE (WINSLET), THE LEADER OF THE POWER-HUNGRY ERUDITE ELITE. RACING AGAINST TIME, THEY MUST FIND OUT WHAT TRIS’S FAMILY SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT, AND WHY THE ERUDITE LEADERS WILL DO ANYTHING TO STOP THEM. HAUNTED BY HER PAST CHOICES BUT DESPERATE TO PROTECT THE ONES SHE LOVES, TRIS, WITH FOUR AT HER SIDE, FACES ONE IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE AFTER ANOTHER AS THEY UNLOCK THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PAST AND ULTIMATELY THE FUTURE OF THEIR WORLD.
Stars
1 star- eh…
2 stars – average
3 stars – good
4 stars – great film
While talking to reporters at SXSW, Robert Kirkman the creator of The Walking Dead announced “one day The Walking Dead will end.”
But not anytime soon…
“Decades from now, you will be able look back and … you never would have guessed from the beginning where it was that we were going to end up,” Kirkman said. “Having the luxury of telling a story over such a long period of time with so many different characters is going end up with something really cool and unique when it’s all said and done.”
Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion, most famous for their roles in Firefly are teaming up again to create a web-series “Con Man.” The duo started an Indiegogo campaign to raise $425,000 to fund the first three episodes. Since the launch on March 10th the campaign has raised $1,744,807 in the first four days. Now the series is set for 11 episodes, with a possible 12th episode.
What is “Con Man?”
Wray Nerely (Alan Tudyk-Me!) was a co-star on Spectrum, a sci-fi series which was canceled -Too Soon- yet became a cult classic. Wray’s good friend, Jack Moore (Nathan Fillion) starred in the series and has gone on to become a major movie star. While Jack enjoys the life of an A-lister, Wray tours the sci-fi circuit as a guest of conventions, comic book stores, and lots of pop culture events. The show will feature all the weird and crazy things that happen to Wray along the way to these events.
Con Man – Teaser
Tudyk and Fillion even put together short videos celebrating each goal.
Here is the video that start it all for “Con Man.”
Strap In & Suit Up For the WARZONES! of ARMOR WARS #1 This June!
New York, NY—March 12th, 2015— This June, venture to a wondrous techno-utopia, with a dark and sinister secret in ARMOR WARS #1 – a new Secret Wars series! Eisner-award winning writer James Robinson and artist Marcio Takara show you the beauty technology can bring…and the horrors it can unleash!
Welcome to Technopolis, a shining beacon for all Battleworld to see. Full of science and wonder created at the hands of rival genius brothers – Tony Stark and Arno Stark. Yet shadows fall over this armored Utopia. A unique disease forces EVERYONE to wear armor just to live and breathe!
“We’ve got this absolutely cool as heck city filled with absolutely cool as heck armored citizens,” says Senior Editor Mark Paniccia. “The design work that Marcio has done with both the environment of Technoplis and the armors of all the various characters deserves its own coffee table art book.
“Plus, James is delving into the kind of emotional and hard hitting story he excels at,” continues Paniccia. “He’s doing some amazing world-building and bringing us a mystery that—as it’s peeled back—will shock readers and make their hearts sink into their stomachs.”
But when murder strikes his domain, Baron Tony Stark must race against the clock to identify the mysterious killer. But is he too late to stop more bodies from showing up? And just who is the mysterious Iron Hand? Find out as the mechanical murder mystery kicks off in ARMOR WARS #1 this June!
ARMOR WARS #1 is written by JAMES ROBINSON with art by MARCIO TAKARA and will be on sale in June!
