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December 29  My best pal and co-writer Elliott Serrano is a guest panelist on the Around Comics podcast this week, where he discusses XENA / ARMY OF DARKNESS: WHAT, AGAIN?! and shares the story of how we met at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. It's a tale of swords, chainsaws and true bromance...
Ep. 214 - Unscrewed and The Army of Darkness
Around Comics welcomes Tom Stillwell and Elliot Serrano to the panel this week. Tom is the owner and operator of Spinner Rack Comics, a comics company dedicated to all ages and kid friendly comics. He is also the President of Unscrewed, an organization that helps educate and protect creators from fraudulent practices in the comics industry. Elliot is the writer of It's Geek to Me, an article in the Chicago Tribune's Red Eye newspaper. He is also bringing you the further adventures of Zena [sic]: Warrior Princes and Ash in the Dynamite series Zena vs. Army of Darkness. Happy New Year!  With the end of the year closing in quickly, here's a very flattering look back at my BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON ZERO series in the Philadelphia Daily News.
Reimagined 'Galactica' a fantastic voyage | Philadelphia Daily News | 07/07/2008
By JEROME MAIDA
For the Daily News
With a show as critically acclaimed, complex and well-acted as the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica," it would be a challenge for anyone to come up with stories that flesh out the mythology of the show and have the characters ring true. Yet Dynamite has met that challenge time and time again the past few years with various "BSG" titles.
However, with their "Battlestar Galactica Season Zero" series, Dynamite has accepted the daunting task of taking an exceptional ensemble of characters, placing them two years before the Cylon decimation of the colonies launched their adventures on the small screen and dealing with the events leading up to that devastating, watershed moment.
Fittingly, the series opened with a celebratory scene in which Commander Bill Adama and Colonel Saul Tigh share food, drink and laughter with their respective spouses, Carolanne and Ellen. All involved feel that being assigned to the Galactica is a polite road to retirement and it will be smooth sailing the rest of the way. That belief is reinforced in the TV miniseries that first brought these characters into our homes.
(read the rest of this article here) December 16  My partner-in-crime Eric Trautmann (who is soon taking off for Superstar Land and leaving me so deep in the dust it's not funny) spent a few minutes with the Comic Geek Speak folks to chat about FINAL CRISIS: RESIST. This one-shot issue re-teams Eric with Greg Rucka for a look at how the meta-espionage stalwarts of Checkmate respond to the latest DC super-event storyline.
This episode: Another month, and more intensity from Morrison. Joining us this month to discuss the latest from DC's big event is writer Eric Trautmann. He co-wrote Final Crisis Resist with Greg Rucka. The newest issue of THE COMICS WAITING ROOM is waiting to be unwrapped, and you don't even have to wait 'til Christmas. To keep my place in the herd of columns that truly lack inspiration this time of year, I dropped a Top Ten list of my favorite holiday movies. Enjoy my lightweight offering first and then move on to the weightier works of my CWR pals...  Anything Goes: A Pleasant Distraction
I actually intended this installment to be a pensive look back at what has truly been one of the crappiest years of my life. At the last minute, however, I decided to put those thoughts into my first column of the New Year, tempering a glimpse of the past with an optimistic gaze into the future.
(more here) December 15  My Numbah One Son F.J. DeSanto is not only a producer on the film version of "The Spirit" - he's also going to team up with fellow producer Michael Uslan to take over the comic for a few issues! Check out this interview with CBR, and show them some love when their run on the comic starts.
Comic Book Resources > CBR News: "The Spirit" Producers Write Comics Arc
In February, Michael Uslan, most recognizable to the current generation of comics fans as the producer of every Batman feature film dating back to Tim Burton’s 1989 summer blockbuster, teams up with F.J. DeSanto to begin a three-issue arc on Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” to be published DC Comics.
Uslan, recently announced as a Guest of Honor for New York Comic Con 2009, also serves as a producer on “The Spirit,” directed by Frank Miller, while DeSanto is a co-producer on the movie, as well.
(carry on) December 12 The action continues with 10 exclusive webisodes of Battlestar Galactica. "The Face Of The Enemy" picks up where Season Four of the series ended. Lieutenant Gaeta is sent off in a Raptor with a handful of strangers when one of them mysteriously dies. The psychological Human vs. Cylon struggle ensues in the restrictive confines of a Raptor as everyone is a suspect and paranoia sets in among the group. One by one more passengers die under puzzling circumstances and those remaining must ask themselves if a Cylon is responsible for the deaths, or if it is one of their own — a human. December 09 Being one of the biggest Depeche Mode fans on the planet, I'm pretty damn quick at this game...but I have yet to crack a Top 50 qualifying score. Seems you need to be able to do 4 or 5 songs in less than 5 seconds or so...if anyone feels up to the task, consider the gauntlet thrown down... "Depeche Mode may mean 'fast fashion' in English, but it's all about Depeche Doigt for our Beat The Intro game." December 08  You already know that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: GHOSTS # 3 is being released this week, but while you're out shopping for yourself (you know you are), make sure to pick up the newly-released trade paperback of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON ZERO VOL. 1 - collecting the first 7 issues of this epic 13-issue series...
Comic Book Resources > Preview: New Battlestar Galactica Season Zero Vol. 1  BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: GHOSTS # 3 (of 4) is out this week, and Comic Book Resources has the 5-page preview. Hold on to your hats, because this ride is about to turn dark...
This is a double-treat week for fans of my Galactica work, as SEASON ZERO VOL. I hits shelves in trade paperback form as well.
Comic Book Resources > Preview: New Battlestar Galactica: Ghosts #3
 A decent review of XENA / ARMY OF DARKNESS: WHAT, AGAIN? from the Philadelphia Daily News...
Xena and Ash: An unusual partnership | Philadelphia Daily News
"This is a story about an idea. An idea while pretty good to begin with . . . went horribly, horribly wrong."
Thus says the narrator in "Xena/Army of Darkness: What . . . Again?!" and that statement could easily have summed up this book featuring one of the more unlikely team-ups you'll see.
It likely would have, if not for talented writers Brandon Jerwa and Elliott Serrano, who make the odd combination work.
(more here) December 07 I don't know about you, but I've fallen completely in love with FRINGE, the new J.J. Abrams sci-fi mystery series on Fox. If you follow the show, you'll no doubt be familiar with the pale, hairless man known as the Observer. While the show is taking its winter break, Fox has decided to tantalize Fringies even further with this compilation video showing all of the Observer's appearances on the show thus far. I certainly didn't catch him every time...did you?
December 04 I couldn't be happier to see those whorish, deformed dolls vanishing from toy shelves forever. Score one for good taste: Barbie beats back Bratz: Toy giant Mattel Inc., after a four-year legal dispute with MGA Entertainment Inc., touted its win in the case Wednesday after a federal judge banned MGA from making and selling its pouty-lipped and hugely popular Bratz dolls. December 03  If you're building a complete Brandon Jerwa collection, then Hasbro's MERCENARY WRAITH action figure is a must-have. Based on the character I created for the Devil's Due G.I. Joe comic series, this figure comes in two versions: the "standard" depiction of the character, and a second, harder-to-find clear variant that shows the true power of Wraith's high-tech stealth suit.
Ironically, I wasn't asked to write the file card for Wraith, despite having helped create and write file cards for several Hasbro G.I. Joe characters in the past, and being made into an action figure myself!
Regardless of that, I'm certainly honored to see one of my creations immortalized in plastic!
MERCENARY WRAITH is available at HERE (though it's currently out of stock) and in your favorite toy retailer's action figure aisle.
HabroToyShop.com
"MERCENARY WRAITH was known for years by the G.I. JOE team and the COBRA organization. Each group hoped that the skilled spy and fighter would choose to join them. In the end, DESTRO was the only one who discovered what MERCENARY WRAITH truly lived for: chaos and destruction." December 01  XENA vs. ARMY OF DARKNESS: WHAT, AGAIN? #2 (written by Elliott Serrano and yours truly) hits stores this Wednesday, and the 5-page preview is online now. Don't be the last one on your block to own a copy...
Comic Book Resources > Preview: Xena Vs Army Of Darkness: What, Again? #2
What, more? Oh right, issue #2 of the sequel to the surprise (none more than us, I tell you what!) "hit" cross-over series! And it takes two writers to put this together? Serious? Whatever it takes, I guess...
In all (heh!) seriousness, Jerwa and Serrano continue to amaze as they are again joined by artist Miguel Montenegro for a time-spanning, thrill-inducing, literary (no, really) adventure! Featuring two covers by series artist Miguel Montenegro!
(See the 5-page preview...)
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