Starr The Slayer #1: Daniel Way & Richard Corben

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

As I’ve said in the past, I’ll buy pretty much any comic book that lurks on the outer edges of DC and Marvel. That’s where the off-the-wall, non-continuity stuff can be found, and there are some real gems that feel like someone’s sliding them under my door and running off. Starr The Slayer is one of the latest, written by Daniel Way (Deadpool) and illustrated by the most-excellent Richard Corben (Den; Hellboy; Cage).

In the first issue of this four-part mini-series, pulpy genre writer Len Carson enjoys wild success with a series of Conan-like books called Starr The Slayer. So successful that he’s soon churning out books like crazy and driving fast cars packed with top-heavy women. Y’know, just like real life. He soon tires of success because “the lit scene calls to me.” Twenty years after he’s abandoned his barbarian creation and failed to crack the world of tweed jackets, college professors and Borkum Riff, he’s ready to tackle his greatest creation one last time.

In a parallel story, Starr, a barbarian with a hot temper, journeys from his village to “civilization” with his family. They promptly hit a wall of trouble, his family is killed and Starr is forced to fight in an arena, where he brutalizes a local named Trull so badly that the disfigured guy runs away to concentrate on the black arts—and making these two parallel stories collide.

Click to continue reading Starr The Slayer #1: Daniel Way & Richard Corben

Chris Ulm’s Zombie Pizza

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,

Halloween is coming and it’s the favorite time for witches, ghosts and everybody’s favorite: zombies. I love the undead, you love the undead, and so does Chris Ulm. But who’s Ulm? He was one of the co-founders of Malibu Comics back in the day, the originator of what became the Ultraverse and co-creator of Rune with Barry Windsor-Smith. He’s now one of the founders of Appy Entertainment, which creates games for the iPhone.

Working from their Secret Worldwide Headquarters, and just in time for Halloween, the Appy boys have released Zombie Pizza. The game has you racing against the clock to make pizzas with disgusting ingredients - brains, guts, bones, eyeballs, etc. Fill the orders fast enough or your undead customers will smash through the restaurant doors and take a thick slice out of your head.

According to Ulm, Zombie Pizza is “a fast-paced, light-hearted horror puzzle game where lightning-quick reactions are all that stand between you and a grisly fate at the hands of the ravenous undead.”

Zombie Pizza is available at the iTunes store for just 99¢, about 1/4 the price of a regular comic book these days.

Click to continue reading Chris Ulm’s Zombie Pizza

Read More | Appy Zombie Pizza via Appy Entertainment

ULTRAVERSE: BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH AND RUNE PEZ

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

One of the great joys of working in comics is getting to hang out with a lot of creative people. As comics are Frankensteined together out of their various parts, you have access to fun stuff that never makes its way into print – notes, sketches, doodles, penciled pages, rough drafts, color tests, model sheets, costume designs, etc. Sometimes in the heat of production an artist will do something really funny that gets passed around from desk to desk and much laughter ensues.

Malibu Comics’ Editor-in-Chief Chris Ulm was one of the founders of the Ultraverse (it was his idea, if anyone asks) and he was also the co-creator of Rune with Barry Windsor-Smith. They envisioned Rune as the UV’s ultimate villain, a vampire of sorts who would be to the Ultraverse what Galactus was to the Marvel Universe and what Darkseid was to the DC Universe.

Rune starred in his own comic, guest-starred in others, and fought both Conan and the Silver Surfer. Not too shabby for an upstart neck-biter. One of the things the Ultraverse had going for it was a strong licensing department. There were a couple of people in the office who were always out hustling up licensing partners for t-shirts, watches, pins and more. That led to a little creative fun from Rune artist Barry Windsor-Smith and his inker Alex Bialy. They sent this little fax to Chris Ulm with their humorous pitch for a potential licensing partner. For the first time outside of the Malibu offices, you can now see the Toy That Should Have Been Made: The Rune Pez Dispenser, the first in a new product line of “vampire Pez” or possibly “comic book Pez.” Enjoy!

(Rune © Marvel Comics)