Once again, the Roman snake god Glycon graces us with its presence! Top Shelf released a PR Friday stating that the fourth installment to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, following The Black Dossier, would be released tentatively in April.

courtesy Top Shelf

“At last! The League returns, better than ever! It’s a new age,
a new publisher, and an all-new adventure, packed with even
more metafictional fisticuffs and diachronic derring-do!

Top Shelf is proud to announce the all-new chapter in the
breathtaking series by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill.
In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III):
Century #1 (”1910″), our familiar cast of Victorian literary
characters (or what’s left of them) enters the brave new world
of the 20th century!

The present installment is set against a backdrop of London,
1910, twelve years after the failed Martian invasion and nine
years since England put a man upon the moon. In the bowels of
the British Museum, Carnacki the ghost-finder is plagued by
visions of a shadowy occult order who are attempting to create
something called a Moonchild, while on London’s dockside the
most notorious serial murderer of the previous century has
returned to carry on his grisly trade. Working for Mycroft
Holmes’ British Intelligence alongside a rejuvenated Allan
Quatermain, the reformed thief Anthony Raffles and the eternal
warrior Orlando, Miss Murray is drawn into a vile opera acted
out upon the waterfront by players that include the furiously
angry Pirate Jenny and the charismatic butcher known as Mac the
Knife. Sounds like a ripping good tale, eh?

This book will be the first of three deluxe, 80-page,
full-color, perfect-bound graphic novellas, by the original
League of Extraordinary Creators: Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill,
Ben Dimagmaliw (colors), and Todd Klein (lettering). Each
self-contained narrative takes place in three distinct eras,
building to an apocalyptic conclusion occurring in our own
twenty-first century!”

Start catching up on your early 20th century occult fiction! I know I am.

Nicol Bolas, the main planeswalker (interdimensional mage), in Magic: The Gathering has been revealed as a card in the new expansion, Conflux, which comes out in three weeks, according to MTGSalvation.com.

Nicol Bolas 4UBBR

Planeswalker - Bolas

+3: Destroy target noncreature permanent.
-2: Gain control of target creature.
-9: Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker deals 7 damage to target player. That player discards seven cards, then sacrifices seven permanents.

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Thom Zahler, the writer and illustrator of Love and Capes, is one of the fine gentlemen I had the pleasure of meeting at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con. His series is a romantic comedy that plays on romance and super hero conventions, blending the two together into a funny, intelligent comic series that honors and pokes at the genres it replicates.

Today a contest was announced in a press release from Mr. Zahler:

“Valentine’s Day is coming up, and since I write comicdom’s most romantic superhero book, I figure I ought to do something to celebrate. So I am. I’m doing a giveaway.

You can sign up at http://www.loveandcapes.com”

I highly encourage new comic readers to check out this series for several reasons. First off, this series is not based on pre-existing characters. You will discover these heroes and the supporting cast without needing to worry about back issues and continuity. However, the series does play on comic conventions, things that are symptomatic to comics you could soon read. Comedywise, this is a great critique of the super hero formula and can allow a new reader easy access to what usually seems like a monster industry.

But don’t take my word for it, click the link to see what it’s about!

images courtesy Thomas Zahler

The new year approaches, as does the next Magic: The Gathering expansion, Conflux, the second set in the Shards of Alara block. The spoiler is up at MTGSalvation.com, one of the largest and most accurate Magic fansites on the net.

Unlike most sets of Magic, which focus on the five colors of Magic cards (which correspond to the different requirements to use the cards) acting solo, or on two color combinations, Alara so far has focused on tri-color combos, each configuration representing a unique location in the Magic universe.

So far of what’s posted, 27 cards as of right now, there are some reprints as well as some fantastic new rares. Cards like Giltspire Avenger and Noble Hierarch are cards that I’m already going to add to my “You Bant Always Get What You Want” deck. This set will hopefully get players psyched for this set, as there is a lot of negative net and store chatter about Shards in comparison with the previously released blocks.

You’ve probably already seen this, but I think this is a great song. It’s festive, funny and these guys are really talented.

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas

I apologize for this post’s brevity, but I’m on the road for the holidays.

Magic has announced the theme for their next Duel Deck: Divine vs. Demonic. Focusing on a presumably white and black colored deck, featuring Angels and Demons respectively, each deck will focus on those tribes. So far none of the cards have been released, but some contend that the card Akroma, Angel of Wrath will be in the deck due to some promo art that featured a purple-haired angel.

These decks will hopefully be as good as the past two special decks, and after seeing the fantastic new symbol for the set, I can’t wait to see these cards. I’m almost more excited for this set than for the second set in Shards of Alara, Conflux.

image courtesy Wizards of the Coast

According to recent news, Bill Willingham’s comic epic, Fables, will be given the chance to wow the top ABC brass to see if the show could make it to air. Fables is about a world where fairy tales are real and live in our world. Forced from their otherworldly fairy tale dimensions, the Fables try to keep themselves hidden from us and the foe they have fled.

The series is one of the best comic books out there today, mixing spy thriller, comedy, romance, epic fantasy and political genres into one massive story that deals with the lives of several popular, less popular or never heard of fairy tale legends. While the story focuses primarily on the Big Bad Wolf, reformed of course, and Snow White, later we see characters like Little Boy Blue, King Cole, Beauty, Beast, The Frog Prince, and dozens of others take center stage.

Fables would make a great TV show in the current market due to this chemistry. Shows today focus on several characters (think Lost or Heroes, even Grey’s Anatomy has several players). More people means more drama and more story-driven conflict due to various interactions. This would be on top of the epic fantasy and political drama the external storylines Willigham crafted to guide the characters.

But of course, a pilot is just a first episode, meant to see if the show would be worth it in the long run. Fables the comic had a lot of mileage, but if we try to slow down the conflict to have a lot of star-studded drama scenes, would the show be a legitimate translation? Probably not, but then again, for this series, I’m willing to wait and see what we get.

Andy Richter, John C. Reilly, Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris and Scrubs‘ Sarah Chalke are a few of the stars that appear in the online exclusive musical, Prop 8, a tongue and cheek parody of the debate over gay marriage in California.

Written by Marc Shaiman of Hairspray fame and debuting on the comedy website Funny or Die, Prop 8 has already gathered a smattering of media attention due to its star studded cast and hilarious delivery, like Jack Black playing Jesus or Neil Patrick Harris appearing just because he’s Neil Patrick Harris.

Now of course this musical is biased towards one side of the debate, and arguably skews religious argument for their own agenda (like omitting New Testament examples), but the purpose of satire is to poke fun and laugh, which this short does. Check it out!

The new trailer for 2009’s Star Trek is online, appeasing angry fans who were appalled at the film’s continuing backpedaled release date. The film will explore the early years of the original Star Trek’s cast, focusing mainly on Captain James T. Kirk and the emotionless Vulcan, Spock.

While the movie may not appeal to non Trekkies, this film is designed to appeal to a wider audience, hopefully revitalizing the franchise in ways the recent and canceled TV show Enterprise could not. To do this, mainstream flavor of the month actors were cast in the lead roles, Heroes‘ Zachary Quinto as Spock, Hot Fuzz’s Simon Pegg and Harold and Kumar’s John Cho as Sulu.

I already have an opinion about the film, as you can probably tell. I’ll hold off from bashing until the movie rears it’s ugly head, but until then form your own opinion after watching a young Kirk jump out of a car and slide to the edge of a cliff…