Being surprised by a story is one of the true joys in life. I’m not talking about having seen parts of a trailer spoil some of a movie, or an accidental comment on a social media thread spoiling a television show you’ve yet to watch off of the DVR. No, I’m talking about enjoying a story totally new to you in every way. That’s the thrill I had during my read of the new graphic novel, UXB, from Dark Horse.

Colin Lorimer is the sole storyteller behind the beautifully dark UXB. The tale is a unique spin on the old apocalypse trope. As the world crumbles around three brothers, their father will stop at nothing to insure their safety during the end. They’re prisoners who, for their own safety, are trapped in an underground bunker near the heart of London. They spend their days playing with the latest VR video games, movies and pornography only to later be subjected to testing for a new kind of high tech body armor. The body armor’s sole purpose is to protect the children through the coming war, but like any great adventure, that’s not all there is to it. Will their body armor be their salvation, damnation, or is it just another layer to their gilded cage?

Lorimer’s art will pull you into his world and his story will leave you wanting more. He has published some parts of this story in Dark Horse presents, and other parts on the web, but this is the first published collection of UXB. It comes in a wonderful hardcover with never before seen pages that will leave you stunned and horrifed. It’s another release by Dark Horse with perfect timing for the season.

Pick up UXB from your local comic book store and you’ll see that the enjoying something you never thought of before is a true joy. If the preview pages here aren’t enough to convince you, check out the additonal art over at his blog http://colinlorimerart.blogspot.com/. If you’d like some more inforomation about the story in 140 characters or less, go ahead and tweet me @MarkAvo.

Writer: Colin Lorimer
Artist: Colin Lorimer
Cover Artist: Colin Lorimer
Genre: Science-Fiction, Fantasy
Publication Date: October 09, 2013
Format: FC, 136 pages; HC, 7” x 10”
Price: $19.99

Brian Michael Bendis is one of the hardest working writers in comics today. Francesco Francavilla is one of the most in demand artists in comics today. They bring their unique skills together to produce an Infinity tie for Guardians of the Galaxy #8 to be released October 30th, 2013. Over in The Mighty Avengers, Thanos and his armies have attacked earth while the prime Avengers team is off world. While the Mighty Avengers fight Thanos’s armies in New York, it’s up to Peter Quill and the Guardians to rescue a beseiged S.W.O.R.D. station in orbit above the earth. Francesco’s art look amazing but don’t take my word for it, see for yourself below:

 I know I’ve shown you a lot of Francesco Francavilla art lately. Feel free to thank me on Twitter @MarkAvo.

I’m pretty sure someone typed google into Google and broke the internet, because I’ve heard absolutely nothing about the IT Crowd special that aired last week in the UK. 

The hour-long episode is the last we’ll ever see of the show, unfortunately. What was originally supposed to be a full season five had to be reduced, the actors are just way too busy. Good news is, while there is currently no airdate for the last episode of the phenomenal show in America, I managed to snag a copy of the finale. Here’s a spoiler-free sneak peek:

Even though it’s been three years since the last new episode of “The IT Crowd,” it’s amazing how well the special would have fit in if it aired right after the end of Season 4. There’s no mention of how much time has passed, and that’s a good thing. “The IT Crowd” has always been a show that isn’t afraid to push the reset button. Opening the episode as if the show had kept on going, without the viewers having to play catch-up for the lost time makes it easier to jump right back into the world without missing a beat. What’s different this time is that at the end of the hour, we know it’s over. And series creator Graham Linehan knows it too. At the end of it all, things do change for the characters in a big way. Honestly, I think that’s the best way to say goodbye, choosing to leave the reset button alone. 

It takes about five minutes for the premise of the episode to kick in, and once it does, the jokes start flying. It could be that I was just in a great mood to finally have the show back, but this is the most I’ve ever laughed while watching the show. It just doesn’t let up. I also can’t remember an episode that tied the characters together so well. Everyone has their own plotline as usual, but the way they weave in and out of each other’s stories is done a lot smoother than most of the older episodes. It really feels like everything is part of a cohesive whole, which I have to admit I was worried about when I found out about the length. But at no point did I feel like I was watching two episodes glued together.

Ultimately I don’t know if it will be as memorable as say, “The Work Outing,” but there’s no question that “The Internet is Coming” is a much more fitting finale than Season 4’s “Reynholm vs Reynholm.” In a way it seems like a love letter to the fans, as nearly every great reference from the show comes back in some small way or another, but never so much that it’s jarring. I’m sad to say goodbye to the show (again), however I’m grateful that it got one last chance to make an exit, because it excels at doing so. And with any luck, we’ll get word of a US airdate soon. 

Dark Horse Comics is bringing back the often loved, but inconsistently published, Shaolin Cowboy. Geof Darrow is the storyteller with Dave Stewart on colors. The Shaolin Cowboy was, at one time, an Eisner contender against Brian K. Vaughn’s Ex Machina for best new series. Fans of great comics will be happy to know that Shaolin Cowboy continues to be terrific.

Anyone interested in the comic but afraid of whether or not this is a good jumping on point, should stop worrying. The book takes care of the back story with nearly two pages of written out history of the Cowboy Shaolin monk. Coming into the book as a newbie, it was, honestly, a little overwhelming. The cover was great; the first panel of the monk in front of some Peking Duck was great; and then BAM, two pages of prose. The history is deep though, and funny. Beyond that, I’m sure that Darrow knew the reader would be a little exhausted because the next half of the book is nearly wordless. It’s a tour deforce of sequential storytelling.

I gazed over the art for longer than I read the first two pages. Not to spoil anything, but it’s a great series of panels where the monk wields a double sided chainsaw spear against a horde of zombies. If you think this book would be fun for your kid though, be forewarned that some of the zombies are very graphic. If it’s for you, you’ll be very pleased because some of the zombies are very graphic. That’s not the entire story though; the book is 32 pages! At the halfway point, the book goes into the ongoing portion of the story where the monk is being tracked down because he has been marked for death.

The potential for this book is self-explanatory considering the greatness in Darrow, who is a former Eisner winner for Hard Boiled with Frank Miller. That would be enough on its own, but what makes this book over the top are Dave Stewart’s colors. They give the book a style that is both modern and nostalgic.

Cowboy Shaolin is going to appeal to the kind of comics fan that is hardest to please; the fan that wants something new but won’t like it unless it’s the same old thing. It’s smart and doesn’t talk down because it doesn’t need to. This is simple comic storytelling done by masters of their craft and this time it’s ongoing. Dark Horse has solicited the Shaolin Cowboy as an ongoing series. According the Dark Horse solicitations issue #1 is due next Wednesday on 10/09/2013 and issue #2 is due 11/13/2013.

Writer: Geof Darrow
Artist: Geof Darrow
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Cover Aritst: Geof Darrow
Variant Cover: Walter Simonson
Publication Date: October 09, 2013
Format: FC, 32 pages; Ongoing
Price: $3.99

 

Preview Art Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
 

Want to talk more about Shaolin Cowboy, what I had for breakfast, or your innermost feelings? Find me on Twitter @MarkAvo or sound off in the comments. 

Valiant comics are creating more buzz with their upcoming event titled Unity. Unity #1 will be Valiant’s first 100% returnable book for qualified comic book retailers. Unity will be featuring exclusive variant covers and an all-star cast for a creative team. Matt Kindt, the New York Times best-selling author, Doug Braithwaite of Marvel and DC Comics fame as well as colorist Brian Reber who has a resume of work a mile long. Valiant is confident offering their first fully returnable comic event because of the talent on the book but also because of the story.

The world’s most dangerous man, Toyo Harada, has been struck by the one thing he never thought possible – fear. Halfway across the globe, a new power threatens to topple modern civilization and, to preempt the cataclysm that is to come, Harada will unite the most unforgiving team the world has ever known – UNITY. Their mission: defeat the threat responsible for the destruction of MI-6, the decimation of an alien world, and the occupation of Eastern Europe… Unseat the warrior king armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon… Kill X-O Manowar!

Unity is also the launching pad for Valiants recently announced 8-bit covers. Engineered by CineFix, these covers will be the first fully animated covers accessible by an embedded QR code in the cover.

Unity #1 launches November 13^th, scroll below to see some preview art of Valiant’s must read event of the year!

Follow me on Twitter @MarkAvo

We have two bonus clips for Iron Man 3, which hits DVD and Blu-ray on September 24th.

The first is a gag reel with Robert Downey, Jr.: 

And this second clip features Ben Kingsley being silly:

You can preorder Iron Man 3 from Amazon now!

DC Comics has graciously allowed Big Shiny Robot! the exclusive premiere of these preview pages from their digital-first title Adventures of Superman.

This story is the first in a three part arc written by JT Krul and art by Marcus To. The story takes place early in Superman’s career and he meets Mongol, Zod and Lois for the first time! The chapter will be available for download on Monday.

I think DC is heading in the right direction with their digital plan and books like this only solidify that theory in my mind.

It’s good looking stuff! Look for it Monday…

I think they nailed who Deadpool was. Now I’m interested to see how he interacts with Spider-Man himself.

Here’s the text of the press release for this episode:

Ultimate Heroes. Ultimate Villains. Ultimate Responsibility.

Spider-Man must lead his team of teen heroes against the greatest assembly of super villains the world has ever seen! Season Two of the hit series ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN continues as Spider-Man comes face to face with the Marvel Universe’s most unhinged hero – Deadpool! Spider-Man envies Deadpool’s free-spirited life, but that all may change after one day in Deadpool’s madcap world!

Don’t miss the next amazing episode of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN debuts this Sunday at 11a/10c inside Marvel Universe on Disney XD.

11bit has released something that I’ve never played before, it’s new, unusual and a ton of fun. Here is our first look into Anomaly 2!

This first appeared on The Huffington Post.

When it was announced that DC would be revisiting the characters and material created by Alan Moore for The Watchmen, there was a lot of skepticism. Over the course of the last year, we’ve been treated to thoughtful, well-written, beautifully rendered comics that complement the original novel in ways I didn’t expect and could not have predicted.

Here is a look at the final issue of The Comedian’s story.

Before Watchmen: The Comedian #6 comes out on Wednesday at finer comic retail shops everywhere.

Bryan Young is an author and the editor of the geek news and review site Big Shiny Robot!