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If you’ve been following indie comics or Kickstarter projects over the last few years, chances are you’ve come across the work of Alan Faria, even if you didn’t realize it…

The post Artist on the Rise – Alan Faria appeared first on First Comics News.

DC COMICS ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #14 ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #19 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN BOOK OF EL #8 (OF 12) BATGIRL #19 BATMAN #9 BATMAN STATIC BEYOND #6 (OF 6) DC X…

The post NEW COMICS SHIPPING THIS WEEK appeared first on First Comics News.

The battle between DC and Marvel isn’t just about characters, it’s about philosophy, timing, and who understood readers better at key moments in history. If you look at the 1960s…

The post HOW MARVEL OVERTOOK DC AND WHAT HAPPEND NEXT appeared first on First Comics News.

 The revised edition of AX-3 Capital of the Borderlands serves as a foundational "home base" module designed for use with the Barrows & Borderlands system and other classic RPG rulesets. It expands significantly on the original version, providing a more living, breathing urban environment for players to explore between dungeon crawls.Overview of the CapitalThe Capital is a bastion of Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

The post Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Survival, 1989 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

Outlaw Space Station Encounters (d100)The following table is designed for the gritty, "used-future" atmosphere of the Hostile RPG. These encounters range from atmospheric flavor to life-threatening complications common in the lawless fringes of the Reached.d100Encounter01-05Hydroponics Leak: A burst pipe floods the corridor with nutrient-rich, foul-smelling sludge. It's slippery and obscures Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

This post serves two purposes. 1) To demonstrate how my broken mind works and doesn't work. 2) To talk about a little passion project eating my broken brain. Read this post only if you want to be subjected to me meandering and ranting about mostly nothing important.

Formats. Sizes to print your book. They vex me. Always have.

See, I come from the 80s-90s small press scene. In 1987 I partnered with pals to make our first comic zine Fast Lane and we did it on my friend's dad's work Xerox machine on a Saturday when nobody was there. We understood that 8.5x11 was the standard paper size, so we made our book fit 8.5x11.

It was easy. I even drew the pages of my comics on 8.5x11 typing paper, so when we made copies it was as easy as laying the original in the machine and pushing the print button. We fiddled around until we got the front and backs correct, ran off 50 copies of each, then laid them all out on the floor to collate. Then we put a couple of staples in them and BAM. Comic book magic.

Next issue we decided to go with that sexy "digest" look. All that means is we did it half the size as before and arranged the pages side by side to fit on a sheet of paper. Same process, just a little bit fiddlier. Since 4 pages were connected by a single sheet of paper, you had to be careful to get the order correct. But we did it and it was fun.

On into the 90s I generally worked alone. I made my first mini-comics, as I understood the term. If our first book was full size and our second was half size, then these minis were quarter size. You can make an 8 page mini on a single sheet of paper. There are tons and tons of tutorials about this online.

4.25 x 5 inch book

This is the fiddliest of the standard versions of the zine sizes because each sheet of paper is 8 pages of your book, so the arrangement is crucial. You can't just go 1-2-3-4, you gotta make sure 1 flips over to be 2 and so forth. Easy to get fucking confused unless you're a right genius at spacial thinking, which I am not.

Anyway... there's also the classic comic book format. In the USA, currently, that means 6.625 x 10.25 inches. If weird numbers bother you like they do me, you can just call it 7x11 or 6.5x10 and be done with it. The slight difference won't mean shit.

The reason this format matters to me is because it's what comic books look like. And I want to make comic books. I have made proper comic books... and I want to keep making them. So I fixate on this. I worry that any comic I draw that doesn't fit that format can't fit into a comic book at some nebulous point in the future.

For example, I did some comics for The Merry Mushmen and Tuesday Knight Games and none of those are US format. If I reprint them on my own at some point, they won't look quite right on a floppy page.

It's a trivial thing to be bothered by. After all, Europe and Japan have entirely different comic book formats and I'm not worried about them am I? But hey, it's my nostalgia we're talking about here.

Anyway... I'm thinking of this RPG series in mini format. My idea was to do this series of books at 4.25x5.5 and roughly 16 or 24 pages each (minis have to be in increments of 8 pages*). I can do this, but it's a pain in the ass to format so someone can print it from a PDF. I'm not aware of a good way to do it so that you can read the PDF like a proper book and also print it like a mini. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm saying I don't know that secret sauce and it sounds like a lot of work, man.

Which leads me to the good ole workhorse of small press publishing: the digest. A sheet of paper folded in half. PDF brochure printing handles this automatically like a champ. It's a super common format, a nice pocket size, and is easy to set up. So I should probably go that route. It just makes the most sense.

But those sexy little minis... they call to me. That fiddly work you put into them can be fun. It's a bit novel to have a RPG book series that's tiny. (See how I talk myself into spirals?)

Yeah, so... that's where my brain is today. Oh, what's the game? It's just a simple micro game system for funsies. Something I can fit in 16 mini pages. Then crank out some adventures and shit for it. Just a silly idea I have. I have a lot of them.

*Well they don't HAVE to be. You can make a 4 page flat repeated twice on sheet so that you're at 4 page increments... but it means you gotta make 2 copies of the book each time. You can't just print 1 copy.

Dr. Mid-Nite was, in a way, the child of the Black Bat and the father of Daredevil. Blinded by a mobster’s grenade, Dr. Charles McNider lost the bandages over his…

The post JUST IMAGINE! April 1941: When Justice Is Blind appeared first on First Comics News.

One of the things I'm doing is a visual re-design of the various other creatures in the world of the ants. For many creatures, I only have some sketches or a handful of drawings in my comics. As a for instance, bees only ever made an appearance in the form of General Groth, and his design was pretty weak from the get-go. I always just kept it because that was how I'd established him. I've now come up with a re-design for bees that I think makes them a little more visually interesting, and reflects where I am now as an illustrator vs. where I was thirty years ago (and might still in some way feel beholden to)... this design is both kind of cute and a little menacing at the same time, which fits the vibe of the whole thing quite well. 

These are two drawings I did this morning that might give you an idea - a Bee Soldier and Dr. Weevil. For Dr. Weevil, I think that he is a mad chemical engineer who works for the Wasp Empire, and is developing all sorts of nerve toxins or biological weapons that could be used against the ants. This opens the game up for various effects that would be more than simply dealing or resisting damage. 

I would think that any mission involving Dr. Weevil would require that he be brought back alive - I like him too much as a squirrely little nuissance to have him killed off entirely.
 

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred will headline Doctor Who convention Pandorica as it moves to its new home in the Albany Theatre this Hallowe’en

Fantom Events have begun to announce guests for their biggest convention of the year, Pandorica. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred will headline the Doctor Who convention, which takes place the weekend of the 30th of October to the 1st of November. The actors, who played the Doctor and his companion Ace, respectively, from 1987 to 1989 will appear alongside their Battlefield co-star Marek Anton. His character, the Destroyer, was an interdimensional demon who attempted to consume the entire Earth.

Fantom describe Pandorica as two action packed days of stage entertainment and fans’ opportunity to meet legends from both sides of the camera. All the fun will be in Fantom’s own unique, accessible and individual style.

The weekend includes stage talks, exclusive video presentations, evening entertainment, autographs, merchandise and photo opportunities. Tickets are strictly limited and are already selling fast. All-inclusive tickets start from only £129, and talk-only tickets start from only £79.

This year’s event takes place at a new venue: the Albany Theatre in Coventry.

The regular ‘Mondas’ tickets cost £79 and include entry to all stage panels and screen presentations as well as the evening entertainment. You’ll also receive a ‘regeneration pack.’ Autographs will need to be bought separately on the day, however.

The ‘Skaro’ tickets give you all the same benefits as the regular entry tickets, plus one autograph from every guest. These tickets cost £129.

Finally, the most exclusive package is the Gallifrey ticket for £189. This includes two autographs per guest, and an exclusive mystery gift. There are only 30 Gallifrey tickets so they’ll likely sell out well in advance of the event.

You can buy tickets directly through the Fantom Events website, as well as keep up to date with new announcements.

The post Pandorica 2026 Announce First Guests appeared first on Blogtor Who.

Alpha Red #4 Genre: Superheroes Rating: E Size: 6.624″ x 10.25″ Frequency: Monthly Page Count: 24 Price: 4.99 Color / B&W : Full Color In Stores August 12th, 2026 Writer…

The post STAR CROSS COMICS AUGUST 2026 SOLICITATIONS appeared first on First Comics News.

Friar Rush #1 Genre: Horror/Supernatural Rating: T – Teen 13+ Size: 7.5″ x 10″ Frequency: Monthly Page Count: 24 Price: 5.5 Color / B&W : Full Color In Stores August…

The post SILVERLINE COMICS AUGUST 2026 SOLICITATIONS appeared first on First Comics News.

CARRIERS: SEASON ONE TP VOL 01 Genre: Superheroes Rating: E Size: 6.625″ x 10.187″ Frequency: One-Shot Page Count: 136 Price: 17.95 Color / B&W : Full Color In Stores August…

The post RED 5 COMICS AUGUST 2026 SOLICITATIONS appeared first on First Comics News.

Mighty Mascots Volume 1 TPB Genre: Superheroes Rating: E Size: 6.625″ x 10.25″ Frequency: Irregular Page Count: 96 Price: 14.99 Color / B&W : Full Color In Stores August 12th,…

The post RECKLESS SIDEKICK PRODUCTIONS AUGUST 2026 SOLICITATIONS appeared first on First Comics News.

The post Video of the Day – The Hangin With Web-Show, 2026 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

 Bringing the 1960s Hanna-Barbera icon into a 2d6-based supers system  requires capturing his blend of cosmic authority and "silver age" gadgetry.In the 1960s, Space Ghost wasn't the talk-show host we know today; he was a stoic intergalactic peacekeeper with a power set defined by his Power Bands.Space Ghost (1960s Version)Core Stats (Typical 2d6 Scale)Might: +1 (Fit, but relies on techNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

I've done a little bit of housekeeping here on ye old blog, and I've also shifted (as you can see) to an Army Ants theme for a bit, since that is where my head is right now. Of course I've got the core rules available as a PWYW download or (if you love killing trees as much as I do), it's also available in print. 

Furthermire, I've started a series of posts following an actual play experience. You can see how the game works and following along with my silliness. 

I've also got an Army Ants Companion going. This should be a full release at some point, but for now I'm keeping everything new that I create in a separate document that you can access and use as you see fit.

Semper Formica!

This post first appeared in 2017, but I think a trotted out back in 2020 as well. The occasion of the double repeat is discovering a post on RPGnet forums about a cool Hellenistic setting by Kenneth Hite I remembered from Supressed Transmission coming to Kickstarter, only to be disappointed to see the post was from 2018 and the projected abandoned...

Historically accurate Aristotle? A social media thread about bad history in historical costume drama caused me to recall an idea I had years ago upon a re-read of Aaron Allston's wonderful Mythic Greece: Age of Heroes. At the time, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was still in syndication, and while not particularly good, it did suggest the using of Greek Myth and geographic as a backdrop for a fantasy setting that might not otherwise have a lot of the trappings of Greek myth. For the most part, Hercules stuck to the big names, but there's no reason you couldn't get as detailed as Allston's book, but give it a wholly un-Mythic Greece feel.

The changes can be big. Reign: The Conqueror (based on the novel Arekusandā Senki by Hiroshi Aramata) re-imagines the life of Alexander the Great as a sort of science fantasy thing with giant Persian war machines and Pythagorean ninjas. Or, they can be subtle, like Black Sails weaving historical pirates with a sort of prequel to Treasure Island. (The difference I see between this last one and a standard historical setting which would generally tend to insert fictional characters, i.e. the PCs, into history, is the "high concept" of the literary/historical mashup.)

A lesson on Greek myth every week? So I say go ahead and run a Kirby-esque space opera based on the book of Exodus. Recontextualize the War of Roses to have it take place in something like Warring States Japan. Or take the history presented in the Book of Mormon and turn it into a hexcrawl as Jeff Reints did.

Let history be your guide, not your boss.

 Integrating the monumental 1980 supplement Gods, Demigods, and Heroes (Supplement IV) with Barrows & Borderlands (a modern "Old School Essentials" style hack) creates a high-powered, mythic campaign atmosphere.This post picks right up from Using Original Dungeons & Dragons rpg with The Barrows & Borderlands Rpg While Original D&D (OD&D) provides the raw stats Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0