Geek of Oz

Last week we got the exciting news that Gerard Way's Dark Horse comic,  The Umbrella Academy,  will be heading to Netflix as a live action series. As a huge fan of the comic, and Way's writing in general, I thought I'd talk about my personal history with the series and what makes The Umbrella Academy one of the best series modern comics has to offer. What follows is the story of how I almost wrote it off completely. It starts with me as a teenager I was 15 or so when I first heard the phrase 'emo'. Initially, I was unsure what to make of this new word and all the connotations it seemed to carry with it, but it wasn't long before the phrase wormed its way into my teenage vocabulary. No sooner had I come to terms with this strange new concept than I was confronted with a deluge of emo rock, in all its high pitched, hard-rocking glory, belted out by black-haired boys in impossibly-tight jeans. During these glory days of emo rock, bands didn't get ...

Way back in 2010, celebrated video game critic, acerbic host of Zero Punctuation and permanent cynic Yahtzee Croshaw released Mogworld . His first published novel through Dark Horse Books, Mogworld was a delightful, parodic send-up of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft coupled with a surprisingly emotional "what measure is a man"-style plot about the life of a video game NPC. This welcome debut was followed two years later by Jam , a black comedy involving a bunch of everyday schlubs who had to navigate government conspiracies, a devastated inner city Brisbane and a flood of carnivorous, man-eating strawberry jam. Both books had heart, even if the jade-coloured glasses were still wrapped around them like cars on oak trees. Yahtzee's third novel, Will Save The Galaxy For Food , is a decent enough successor to the above two novels. The book's - and, by extension, the author's - cynicism, however, is a bit off-putting. In a future where instantaneous space travel ...

Last weekend I had a chance to interview Curt Pires about his new mini series POP, which has just started from Dark horse Comics. We talked about the creation of series, the team involved and little about what's to come next. Enjoy. Billy Tournas: Hi Curt, thanks for taking the time out for this interview. In POP you take a quite dark look at the world of manufactured popularity, and the idea of pop culture being made for people. What drew you to this idea and made you write POP? Curt Pires: I've always been intrigued with and find myself analyzing the systems that govern our reality the frameworks that envelop our existence, and it was always there staring me in the fucking face, when I turned on the TV. Men and women crying and begging for their 15 seconds to Paula Abdul and that other guy. I flick the channel, Britney Spears, selling some other product, stepping into the bathroom, piss on her feet she’s not wearing shoes. I guess what I’m trying to say is that ...

Last weekend I the chance to have an exit interview with Ryan Ferrier after his mini series D4VE finished. We talk about the series and what he has instore next. Billy Tournas: Ryan, thanks for sitting down with me today. Since we last spoke your miniseries D4VE from Monkeybrain comics has ended. Ryan Ferrier: It’s come and gone. Yes with its finite ending. How has it been since the ending? It’s been real bitter sweet for Valentin and myself. It was Awesome in that people seemed to really enjoy it, but it was also really hard to see it end just because as a team we were firing on all cylinders, and it was a lot of fun. A lot of people didn’t realise it was done in 5 issues and were saying that there were surprised that issue #5 was the last one. So it kind rang true for us too. We were like “Aww man this sucks that it’s over”. But it’s been really cool. Which was your favourite issue? That is a tough one. I think I had a lot of fun with issue #3. I felt like ...

Writer Brian Wood is doing some great things with his run on Conan. Even an ever changing roster of artists can't dampen what is turning out to be a real winner for Dark Horse Comics. Conan Volume 14: The Death continues this phenomenal series by collection issues 7-12. Although this volumes does stand well on its own, I'd highly arise reading Conan Volume 13: Queen of the Black Coast beforehand. It's not essential in order to understand what's to come, but does assist in giving significantly more weight to what transpires. Funnily enough, Wood has taken Conan and turned it into somewhat of a romance novel. The relationship between Conan and Belit takes centre stage in both this and the previous volume, being complimented rather than overshadowed by the action and violence that takes place. Rather than detracting from the elements of high-adventure, Wood's emotionally focused approach enhances the experience. Bloody battles and dangerous journeys are so much ...

I was equal parts intrigued and nervous when I picked up The Star Wars #1, an adaption of George Lucas' first draft screenplay of what later became the six Star Wars films. I could almost smell the weight of expectation as I cracked open issue one, this is after all an untold preliminary version of one of the most popular movie franchises of all time. So no pressure guys. As I'm not usually big fan of licensed titles, and I haven't read any of Dark Horse's Star Wars comics before, I was intrigued by what I might find enclosed between the 22 pages of The Star Wars #1. What I found was more or less what I expected.

Right now Jonathan Hickman is dominating the comic book sales charts with his own brand of science-fiction story. His creator owned titles such as The Manhattan Projects and East of West as well as his runs on Avengers and FF have all revelled in high-concept plot devices, epic threats and all encompassing settings. So it's no surprise that the relatively low key sci-fi story, Resident Alien by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, slipped under the radar of most comic book readers, myself included. It's a real pity that this miniseries hasn't yet gotten the attention it deserves as it is hands down one of the best comics I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It's right up there with classics such as Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns , admittedly not in scale or mythos, but very much on par in terms of the quality of writing and visual storytelling.

Although still two months away from spinner racks, Star Wars Legacy: Prisoner of the Floating World has caused a buzz with comic book and Star Wars fans alike. While these two are not mutually exclusive, the fantastic response to Brian Wood and Carlos D'Anda's new Star Wars ongoing has breathed new life into Dark Horse's Star Wars franchise. Enter Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman. Fresh off the (silver) back of their Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes mini-series from Boom Studios, they have again joined forces but this time on the worlds most successful film franchise. Thankfully for ourselves and our loyal readers, Corinna and Gabriel took the time to chat to us about the upcoming release!