“Awakening” follows Private Investigator Derrick Peters as he uncovers an unconventional zombie outbreak. “[Peters] is a former detective for the Park Falls Police Department and retired early from the force,” Nick Tapalansky told CBR. When “town crazy” Cynthia Ford starts spouting conspiracy theories linking a series of seemingly unrelated murders, most people dismiss her claims out of hand, but Peters’ history with Ford drives the P.I. to dig deeper into her story.

Like other classic noir protagonists, “Awakening’s” Derrick Peters is far from infallible. “I really like how Derrick isn’t the perfect hero,” Alex Eckman-Lawn said. “He’s kind of a gloomy recluse and while he’s certainly capable, he’s not Batman, you know? He can’t solve the case on his own and he knows it.”

To that end, Peters enlists the aid of Dr. Daniel Howe, a young scientist in the employ of the United States Government. “Howe’s here to dig into the problem and resolve it, but bureaucracy seems to have kept any useful information from him,” Tapalansky explained. “It seems somebody knows there’s something more to the rising number of missing and murdered in the city but if they know more than the general gist they certainly didn’t tell Daniel. Once he and his equipment arrive in Park Falls he essentially starts from scratch, trying his best to discover a cause and solution to these ‘awakenings’ before it’s too late.”

Of the two protagonists, Eckman-Lawn finds it easier to identify with Peters. “Drawing Daniel-heavy pages actually used to make me mad because he’s so damn slick and confident,” the artist admitted. “I identify more with the uglier grumpier side of the team. I suppose that’s very telling.”

http://www.archaia.com/

Normally VERTIGO books are not really considered "INDY". However, SCALPED is so good, it deserves the recognition.

Dashiell Bad Horse returns to the "rez" after fifteen years of absence, picking fights with whoever crosses his path. His belligerence quickly leads him to a run-in with Chief Lincoln Red Crow, chief of the Oglala tribe, chief of the local police, and a wealthy mob boss. Red Crow assesses Bad Horse's fighting ability and enthusiasm for getting his hands dirty, and coerces him into joining the tribal police force. Bad Horse's primary duty is breaking up fights and shutting down meth labs—Red Crow is about to open a $97 million dollar casino, and is anxious to clean up the tribe's public image, not to mention taking out competition for his illegal interests.

Bad Horse, an undercover FBI agent, is tasked with infiltrating Red Crow's organization. Dashiell's immediate superior wants to bring Red Crow to justice for the murder of two FBI agents thirty years ago, when Red Crow was a militant Native American rights activist alongside Dashiell's mother, Gina Bad Horse.

Dashiell develops an obsession with Red Crow's estranged daughter, Carol, who resents Dashiell for leaving the reservation. Dashiell speaks to her occasionally, but mostly follows and observes her as she tries to escape the crushing boredom and poverty of the reservation through alcohol, drugs, and sexual promiscuity.

48 PAGES!
From the company behind some of the best horror and fantasy comics in stores today comes a brand new anthology series. Blending horror, fantasy and science fiction Zenescope Entertainment brings you a frightening view of the not so distant future with a series of incredible 48 page one-shots. When a lonely, socially awkward man named Andy Wussler purchases a cybernetic girlfriend he soon realizes that buying love can have dire consequences.

Written by: Joe Brusha
Pencils by: Claudio Sepulveda
Colors by: Joel Chua
Additional Artwork by: Jason Embury and Mike DeBalfo
Letters by: Crank!

Cover by Al Rio

http://www.zenescope.com/bookpages/sff01.htm

5 Days To Die

In addition to Detective Crisara's conflicting priorities, there is also some ambiguity as to the sequence of events leading up to the fateful car crash and Crisara's perception of them. "Perception is a big theme in the book. For example, Hoverman himself is not written as an all-evil, all-the-time kind of bad guy. As much as I love Mr. Joshua from 'Lethal Weapon,' this isn't him," Schmidt said. "The perception that Ray has of Hoverman has him characterized as Satan himself. When we meet Hoverman, he's not exactly what you'd expect. He cares about his 'business,' but he also cares for his employees and so on. Some of my favorite stories are about perceptions - things like 'The Truman Show' and such. So, yeah, there's definitely more than meets the eye.

"It's actually something I'm a bit worried about when it comes to getting people to pick up the book. With the covers the way they are, and the set up, I worry that it looks too much like standard action fare or something. But then again, maybe that just plays into the theme even better..."

As for why the series will be published in five weekly installments throughout the month of September, Schmidt said, "It's all in the title. He's got 5 days. I can't put out a daily comic, but we could do weekly, so we looked up a good month with five Wednesdays and did it there. It was a happy coincidence that the content suggests itself to this kind of release schedule. That actually wasn't decided until we almost solicited issue #1 many months ago. And IDW hasn't done a weekly comic stunt like this before on its own. So we're really doing this as a test case, but I'm confident the content is strong and I hope people really connect with these characters. There's a lot to them, I just hope I was able to bring that all out in them. And Chee did a fantastic job capturing their facial expressions and movements. He's a tremendous talent just waiting to break out."

"5 Days" artist Chee Yang-Ong, most often credited simply as Chee, previously worked with Schmidt on the BOOM! Studios miniseries "Challenger Deep," created by Andrew Cosby. "I have the glorious Mark Waid to thank for that," Schmidt said of that first collaboration with Chee. "Mark had just joined BOOM! Studios and I had just left Marvel Comics to start Comics Experience. I called Mark to see if there was something I might be able to write for him and he offered me 'Challenger Deep.' It was a concept that BOOM! had, and they asked me to flesh it out. I had a great time working with Mark on it (man, did I learn a ton from him). But Mark had worked with Chee and knew that I really wanted a storyteller for the series and he hooked us up.

We decided any action scene that was more spectacular than anything in the original 'Die Hard' was too much. But you'll feel it when you read it. If someone gets shot once, even if they're not dead, they're out of the fight. That hurts. So, that was very much on our minds as well. I think it makes the fight scenes that much more exciting, personally. But, yeah, sorry, he doesn't take out a Harrier with his .45."

http://www.idwpublishing.com/

Atomic Robo

Atomic Robo, the new print comic from Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, chronicles the Action Science adventures of a robot that’s a little Ghostbusters and a little Indiana Jones crossed with a lot of Nikola Tesla.

If you’re tired of endless, meaningless mega-events and incomprehensible continuities, then Atomic Robo is the comic book series for you. Atomic Robo puts the fun, the adventure, and the optimism of the pulp era back into today’s comics. Join up with the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne, and let’s show that angst isn’t depth and fun isn’t frivolous. Pick up Atomic Robo today!

See what people are saying! Atomic Robo comics and collections are available at your local comic book store or online.

The Last Unicorn in Comics!

Peter B. Gillis's writing captures the dark and magical story of an imprisoned unicorn that meets a strangely inept magician named Schmendrick. The adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's beloved novel, The Last Unicorn carries on with another exhilarating issue with illustrations by artist Renae De Liz.
http://issuu.com/idwpublishing/docs/lastuni-01

San Diego, CA (February 23, 2010) - Peter S. Beagle's acclaimed and enchanting fantasy, The Last Unicorn, has delighted fans for more than forty years. Now, IDW Publishing is pleased to launch The Last Unicorn comic book adaptation of Beagle's acclaimed novel at WonderCon, one of the country's leading comics and pop culture conventions, held April 2nd through the 4th in San Francisco. Under the close direction of Beagle himself, writer Peter B. Gillis, illustrator Renae De Liz and her husband, colorist Ray Dillon, have all joined forces with IDW to capture the depth of this heartfelt story. Beagle will be a guest of WonderCon and host a panel to discuss his famous story. A signing at the IDW booth with an exclusive variant cover number one issue will follow.

"I'm delighted that IDW is doing this adaptation of my book," says Beagle, "and by the real effort everyone there has made to stay true to what I wrote. Together with the creative team of Peter, Renae, and Ray, they are achieving something I honestly hadn't believed possible and I cannot wait to debut it at WonderCon."


The Last Unicorn was originally published in 1968 and became an instant classic, selling more than five million copies worldwide. Beagle created some of the most delightful and real characters in modern fantasy fiction, and also wrote the screenplay for the incredibly popular animated film that was adapted from his novel.

The Unwritten

The plot revolves around Tom Taylor, son of Wilson Taylor, an author who disappeared without a trace at the height of his career. Wilson wrote a series of books about a boy wizard called Tommy Taylor, filled with fantasy, even being compared to the Harry Potter series. During a comic convention, it comes to light that Tom Taylor may not be Wilson's son at all. Conspiracy theories about identity fraud become prominent with fans of the books, becoming outraged that they may have been lied to all this time. Other fans in New Zealand that form a cult, create a theory that Tom Taylor may in fact be Tommy Taylor made flesh from words, and that he will be their messiah. This theory gains credibility when other characters from the Tommy Taylor series begin to involve themselves in the real world. Tom then sets out to find out the truth behind all of this, while a covert organization looms in the background.

http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/comics/?cm=15069

This July, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray introduce themselves to the Radical Comics universe with "Time Bomb," their newest original action-adventure time travel tale. In the series, a modern-day scientific expedition uncovers a bomb from World War II Germany and launches the countdown to an epic explosion. A military team is tasked with the objective of going back in time 24 hours to stop the bomb from ever being activated. However, instead of going back a single day, the team is sent to Nazi Germany in the midst of World War II. Now, not only do they have to stop the bomb from ever going off, they must find a way back to their own era without changing the entirety of history.

Bringing Palmiotti and Gray's sojourn into the annals of military history to life is artist Paul Gulacy. Gulacy, best known for his work at both Marvel and DC.

Palmiotti: The genre mashing of "Time Bomb" makes it something that a lot of readers haven't had too much of in comics, so it works on those levels. As far as standing out against the other projects... well, it's all in the concept and execution. We have never had a 150-page story to tell. This, by far, is our biggest project to date for a single story.

http://www.radicalpublishing.com/

Hellboy

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/24/preview-hellboy-the-storm-1-exclusive/

The final chapter of Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo's Hellboy arc may be concluding beginning with "Hellboy: The Storm" #1, but the "Darkness Calls" and "Wild Hunt" team clearly aren't going out with a whimper. Joined by colorist Dave Stewart, the trio are set to explore what happens when some historically important corpses wind up missing and how it connects to an ever-growing assembly of evil. It's the kind of scenario that could very well inspire an "Aw, crap" or two from Earth's greatest ally in the war against the end of all things.