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'The End of the F***ing World' returns to Netflix November 5th
One of Netflix's finest original series is coming back in just a few weeks' time. Season two of The End of the F***ing World will start streaming November 5th.
The best books, movies and graphic novels to give as gifts
It's cold outside! Which makes the holidays the ideal time to give the gift of indoor entertainment. We've curated a breadth of books, movies and music in our holiday gift guide to curl up to, all of them staff favorites. On the list you'll find some physical treats for film buffs, including The Matrix Trilogy 4K, the Mission Impossible series 4K Blu-ray, Stanley Kubrick's galactic masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K, and animation Avatar: The Last Airbender Blu-ray collection -- due for the Netflix live-action treatment next year. Or you could nab a Crunchyroll streaming subscription for the anime fan in your life.
Netflix's take on 'The End of the F**king World' debuts January 5th
Netflix has been diving head-first into graphic novel adaptations as of late, and its next premiere might just be a sterling example of that. The streaming service has announced that its adaptation of Charles Forsman's graphic novel The End of the F**king World will premiere on January 5th. As the bleeped out title suggests, this isn't exactly a family-friendly coming of age story. Self-admitted teen psychopath James joins salty rebel Alyssa on a road trip to find a new life, at first looking for opportunities to kill her and eventually realizing that he's starting to develop feelings. Suffice it to say that their clashing-yet-oddly-matching personalities lead them to strange places.
Telltale's 'Batman' game does Bruce Wayne justice
Batman comics excel when they dive into the psyche of Bruce Wayne. The moody billionaire is conflicted by his desire to be a good person while protecting Gotham by any means necessary. How much force is excessive? Where do you draw the line? It's easy for the Caped Crusader to lose sight. Bruce is also a genius, capable of unraveling the most complex mysteries. Watching him scour the city and piece together a supervillain's plot is as rewarding for the reader as seeing the Dark Knight foil it with fists.
An 'Overwatch' graphic novel is coming
With over 10 million players on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One, Overwatch is a bonafide success. By now, gamers have got to grips with the abilities of its 22 playable characters, the latest of which was added this week, but the game itself doesn't go into too much detail as to the organization's origins or explaining why agents were urged to reactivate in the first place. Blizzard has slowly started to fill those gaps with a series of video shorts and an online comic book series, but a new partnership with Dark Horse Comics looks set to expand on that quite significantly.
'The Walking Dead: Michonne' debuts on February 23rd
The Walking Dead: Michonne is a three-episode miniseries from the undead-drama masterminds at Telltale Games, and the first installment is set to drop on February 23rd for PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. Android and iOS versions land on February 25th. The premiere episode is titled "In Too Deep" and it ties directly into Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead graphic novel: Michonne disappears between issues #126 and #139, and Telltale's miniseries divulges what she did during that absence. Spoilers: She becomes a badass pirate.
Actually read the iTunes TOS with this graphic adaptation
It's a little lie you tell every single time you sign up for anything on the internet. "I have read and agree to the terms of service." You haven't read them and everybody knows it, but maybe you should read the iTunes Terms and Conditions, just once. Not for legal reasons of course, or on Apple's website -- that would be boring -- but in R. Sikoryak's 'Unabridged Graphic Adaptation: iTunes Terms and Conditions.' It's exactly what it sounds like: two volumes of unwieldy legal jargon juxtaposed with gorgeous comic imagery.
Sony shuts down PSP Comic Store after October 30th, leaves most of us in the lurch for now
PSP Comic Store, we hardly knew ye. No really, we hardly knew ye -- which is probably why Sony is warning PSP owners that its comic book portal is shutting down after October 30th. Come Hallowe'en, we'll lose the option to download the necessary app or buy additional titles. Any currently owned comics will be available to download again until mid-January, but readers will be on their own to preserve existing libraries after that. Outside of Japan, that creates significant problems for literary PlayStation fans: while PS Vita owners in Sony's home country will get a Manga store and reader in October, there's no equivalent crutch for other countries (or any PSP owners) at this stage. The console maker is non-committal and says there's nothing it can discuss "at the moment," which to us is a hint that we shouldn't plan our reading hours around a PSP or PS Vita in the near future. [Thanks, Sooraj]
Kindle app updates bring children's books, graphic novels and comics to iOS, Android and Cloud Reader
Put down War and Peace for just a second. If you're a Kindle user on iOS, Android or Amazon's Cloud Reader, a new update brings children's books, graphic novels and comics to your virtual library. The children's titles will support Kindle Text Pop-Up to help boost the size of the words and spare your little one's eyes. Comics, however, get the Kindle Panel View treatment -- on supported titles -- that'll keep that analog format's frame-by-frame style. An iOS-only tweak adds title- and author search of your library, plus smaller margins on the iPad. Android tablet owners and Cloud Readers, on the other hand, can now enjoy a two-page view. The updates are available starting today, so fold the corner on the source links, or head straight to the next chapter.
Review: 'The Zen of Steve Jobs' graphic novel
I just took ten minutes (hey, it's a comic book) and read Caleb Melby and Jess3's The Zen of Steve Jobs graphic novel and I think anyone who is a fan of comic books or Steve Jobs is going to like it. As I told you in September, the 60-page graphic novel is a re-imagining of Steve Jobs' life during the mid-1980s after he left Apple and before he founded NeXT. Specifically, it deals with Jobs' relationship with Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist priest (who also married Jobs and his wife, Laurene Powell). The writer, Caleb Melby, makes it clear from the get go that the graphic novel is not fact. He combines existing Jobs/Kobun interviews and biographies with his own interviews of several Kobun students who were contemporaries of Jobs. The result, enhanced with Melby's imagination is a really interesting story. In the graphic novel, Jobs and Kobun clearly have a Luke Skywalker/Yoda thing going on (although Jobs is more of a jerk to Kobun than Luke was to Yoda). As the story progresses, the reader is treated to flashbacks and flashforwards of how the Buddhist principle of Ma eventually affected Apple's designs after Steve's return. Speaking of style, Jess3's art is beautiful -- a combination of manga and western styles with clean lines and sweeping, single-color tones. While this graphic novel is about Steve Jobs, Kobun is the most interesting character. His real-life death eerily mirrored the fictional Joseph Knecht's death in Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game almost exactly, and Melby depicted that well (readers of both will probably note the similarities between the two before they even finish Zen). The Zen of Steve Jobs finishes with some extras, like a fascinating afterword from the author about why he brought Steve Job's to life in comic book form, a mini-biography of Kobun and some interesting behind-the-scenes looks as to how the project was created. The Zen of Steve Jobs is available in print from Amazon (US$10.28) or on the iBookstore ($9.99).
Preview: 4 pages from forthcoming Steve Jobs graphic novel
Forbes has published four pages from the upcoming Zen of Steve Jobs graphic novel. The 60-page book is brought to you by Forbes and the people at JESS3, who specialize in data visualization. The Zen of Steve Jobs is a re-imagining of Steve Jobs' life during the mid-1980s after he left Apple and before he founded NeXT. During that time Jobs befriended Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist priest. The two shared a passion about art, design and innovation. The graphic novel imagines how their friendship influenced Steve Jobs' later decisions when he returned to Apple. Yeah, it's a little weird that Forbes is publishing fictional Steve Jobs comic books, but I'm sure it'll be a best-seller. The graphic novel will have its digital release in late fall. In the mean time you can check out four preview pages by clicking the link above and another page here.
Chris Ware releases iPad-only comic via McSweeney's app
Chris Ware is an amazing cartoonist out of Chicago, and he's done a lot of work with McSweeney's, the literary journal run by novelist Dave Eggers and his company. Now, Ware has released an iPad-only comic, released inside the McSweeney's app, and co-developed with Spaces of Play, the studio behind the recent iOS game Spirits. The comic is called Touch Sensitive, and it's apparently 14 pages of art and animations by Ware, featuring his great style and pace. The piece itself is a 99 cent purchase inside the McSweeney's app, which is a free download available now. There's a lot of other content in there, too, including a month long subscription to their service called The Small Chair, featuring stories, essays, interview, and other works from the McSweeney's stable. If you haven't checked the app out yet, you should definitely pick it up. And the Ware comic is a great first purchase in there, too -- it's completely exclusive to the iPad, so this is your only chance to read it.
Viz brings mainstream manga to the iPad
Viz Media, LLC introduced its first iPad app this past week, Viz Manga, and it's something that I've personally waited a long time to see. I've been a manga fan for years, ever since I saved my allowance as a teen to buy $18 copies of Ranma 1/2 in the mid-90s. A good section of my bookcase is devoted to volumes in both English and the original Japanese. As, first, the Kindle, then the iPad were introduced, I looked at both of these devices as not only a more convenient and cost-effective way of obtaining more series, but also as a chance to hopefully cut down on the frequent pirating that goes on in the manga (and anime) world. Hundreds will take the latest chapters of well-known, licensed series, such as Bleach and One Piece, then translate and release the chapters online within days of the Japanese release. While Viz, one of the larger companies out there, has taken strides toward getting chapters of the English releases done at the same time as the Japanese, it's not fast enough for a very picky community that wants their fix before the releases have even hit the printing press. There is manga out there that's available for the Kindle and iPhone, but these are niche titles. TOKYOPOP took a step in the right direction of making more mainstream work available by releasing Hetalia through the comiXology app. Dark Horse introduced more digital content in October, but that focused more on traditional comic books than their manga titles. There is also an iPad app coming from Yen Press. But by Viz opening its own store on the iPad, we're finally getting to see the mainstream manga releases like Bleach, Naruto, Dragon Ball, and more in a legal, digital format, and I couldn't be happier.
Boutique publishing house les éditions volumiques shows us that print is far, far from dead
Say what you will about traditional media and the continually shrinking size of print magazines, but we've got some proof right here that good 'ol pulp still has a lot of life left. French publishing house les éditions volumiques has been doing research into new and... interesting ways to use the print medium and to combine it with mobile devices. The company's site is like a playground for bookistas, with short videos showing off all sorts of wondrous things. One project is The book that disappears, a volume printed on reactive paper that turns black after 20 minutes. Another is The Night of the Living Dead Pixels, a graphic novel (shown above) that allows you to choose your path, with terminal pages featuring QR codes that trigger videos on your smartphone. There's a board game that uses iPhones for pawns, and even a book that turns its own pages. All are demonstrated at the company's site (in Flash, so watch out for Steve), and most are destined to actually see print by the end of the year. We've already made room on our bookshelves.
Have Clone, Will Travel: An EVE Online Wish List
With Empyrean Age and and Ambulation just around the corner, CCP is about to make a lot of its EVE Online subscribers very happy, including yours truly. The idea of walking around in a space station has been a wish of mine for quite some time, ever since I got word that CCP was looking at doing something like it. Of course my EVE Online wish list is much longer and probably won't get fulfilled for some time. Indeed it would keep the Icelandic developer busy for a number of years! Instead, let's narrow the list to the 5 top items and see what we've got.
New Metal Gear graphic novel sneaking onto your PSP
Did you enjoy the first MGS graphic novel? Then you're in for a treat. Kojima announced at the Metal Gear Solid 20th Anniversary party today that there's another one currently in development. This one will be based on Metal Gear Solid 2. The comic, tentatively titled "MGS2: Bande Dessinée", will feature full voice acting. So it'll be just like playing watching any other Metal Gear Solid title, then. Oh, behave. We loved the first graphic novel, so we're very much looking forward to this second one. What about you?
D2C unofficially announces D2 Comics for PSP
Speaking to Gamasutra, Scott Orr from the new video game publisher, D2C Games, has mentioned an ambitious new project for the PSP: "For us, the PSP offers a platform that users look at as more than just a game machine. At GDC we will officially announce D² Comics, which will offer interactive comics for PSP users. These comics give writers and artists the opportunity to play at being movie directors, panning a scene to create a sense of motion, and letting the user dictate the pacing or let it run on its own." This isn't the first time the PSP has been home to digital comics: Konami successfully transformed the Metal Gear Solid franchise into a digital graphic novel. This kind of innovation is what D2C plans to bring to PSP owners everywhere: "We plan to initially support the PSP. So far the PSP has had nice ports of PS2 games, but our sense is that publishers are shifting gears and putting limited resources toward next-gen development at the expense of the PSP. We will fill that gap. There is a real opportunity here to bring gamers content to that platform which is different."
300 marching for glory on PSP
Keep an eye out for 300, a PSP exclusive quietly marching under the radar. Based on the upcoming film inspired by Frank Miller's graphic novel (a re-imagining of the historic Battle of Thermopylae), 300: March to Glory seems to be taking a number of cues from its Spartan predecessor God of War, including a fixed camera, blood-showering violence, and d-pad selected powers (or "battle skills"). Fittingly, the odds of 300 succeeding as God of War did are exceedingly slim, in turn, sparking the potential for a surprise hit.300: March to Glory hits retail February 27.[Via PSP Fanboy]
Read NYC2123, a graphic novel for the PSP
Long time reader daniel-kun sent us a tip, pointing us to NYC2123, a graphic novel made for the PSP. This impressive-looking fan effort can be viewed directly via a PSP-formatted version of the site, or downloaded via the official website. Kill some time by checking it out, and then tell us what you think about it!
Portable Ops crucial to Metal Gear Solid 4 story
Everything's connected. At least, according to Kevin Bacon JJ Abrams Hideo Kojima. And, in order to fully understand the events of the amazing-looking Metal Gear Solid 4 on the PS3, you'll have to buy yourself a PSP. The two upcoming PSP-exclusive Metal Gear titles (Digital Comic 2, Portable Ops) will establish the story for the next-gen sequel. "We'd like you to definitely play it [the PSP games]," Kojima was quoted saying. "If you change the Ops story, you have to change 4. If you change 4, it also becomes necessary to change Ops. Until Ops is finished, 4's story can't be finalized." We'll all get a taste of the Guns of the Patriots' storyline when Portable Ops hits the system in December.[Via IGN]
