Days Missing, Vol. 2: Kestus
Hardcover
Written by Phil Hester
Illustrated by David Marquez
Cover by Alex Ross
Archaia Black Label w/ Roddenberry Productions
Release date: August 2, 2011

As a life-long fan of science fiction, one thing I’ve gotten used to is questions without answers. Whether in comics, television, or film series, the best sci-fi makes you think as much as it entertains, but can often belabor ideas to the point of exhaustion and frustration. With Roddenberry and Archaia’s Days Missing, you won’t find such unsatisfying storytelling. Each issue provides questions as well as answers, but leads the reader along just enough to keep you hungry for more. I felt this way before I read Days Missing: Volume Two: Kestus, and I feel the same way now.

Days Missing is a sprawling sci-fi epic that reveals as much of human history as it teaches. The series follows the life of The Steward, a being of unknown origin who has watched over Earth from the beginning of time. He longs for the greatness humanity can achieve, hoping that one day they will become his equal. To ensure their ongoing development, The Steward has helped mankind navigate catastrophes throughout history. Rather than fight their battles for them, he gives them the tools necessary for their success and folds the day around them, removing himself from the struggle. Those left behind do not remember The Steward himself, but they retain the ideas he has implanted [...]

The deal of the day over at Things From Another World today is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 1: The Dust Waltz trade paperback edition for only $4.95 (that’s 50% off the list price of $9.95).

Note – This deal is valid only for today, Sunday, September 4, 2011, til 11:59PM PST while supplies last.

This graphic novel volume, which is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series created by Joss Whedon, was originally published back in October 1998 by Dark Horse Comics, and was written by Dan Brereton with art by Hector Gomez and Sandu Florea.

Visit the TFAW’s Deal of the Day page to view the hours left in the sale as well as quantities left on the item [...]

First, promo art, and now, a cavalcade of set photos.

No matter what may happen, one thing is always going to be true. The Avengers will be fodder for hard news stories like casting, as well as softer stories like out of context, standard set photos. Thanks to the fine folks over at SuperHeroHype, there’s a new collection of set photos from the upcoming film, and they look, well, like another batch of set photos.

The new photos show show stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston, Scarlet Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, and more at the outdoor set in New York [...]

Amazon is currently offering up the mp3 version of the Sebastian Bach song “Kicking & Screaming” from his upcoming album of the same name for FREE.

Yes, FREE. Just follow the link and download the song and then it’s yours, you own it. But grab it now, as it’s the Free Song of the Day offer, which means it’s only available for free today, Sunday, September 4, 2011, til 11:59PM PST.

The album Kicking & Screaming, which will be released on September 27, 2011, is available for pre-order now on CD, CD+DVD, and MP3 Download. The CD and MP3 versions contain 13 tracks. The CD+DVD has the 13 songs, plus one bonus track, as well as a DVD with behind the scenes footage of the recording of the album, live footage from Bach’s tours opening for Guns ‘N Roses, and 3 music videos [...]

Please check out our awesome sponsors, Instocktrades or DCBService for great savings on all your comic needs!

Check out Episode 89 of Comics of Doom, the official comics podcast of Geeks of Doom. This episode, we doom Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly.

Click HERE to open the podcast player in a new window.

Podcast player is here below, along with an Episode Guide.

Listen now! [...]

Jay Leno just reminded me why only grandparents think he’s hip by having former VP Dick Cheney dress up as Darth Vader for a recent segment of The Tonight Show, which you can watch here below.

Simply put, I don’t think Darth Vader is quite villainous enough for old, dark Dick. If Cheney really wants to look like the villain he is, I think he should don the Penguin costume. He’s already got the voice [...]

Brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, the highly respected directors and duo behind Scott Free Productions, will be collaborating on a brand new web series for Activision’s hugely popular Call of Duty franchise through Ridley Scott Associates.

The series, which will be called Friday Night Fights, will be on the brand new service being launched by the company, Call of Duty Elite, where the biggest fans can pay a monthly fee to gain access to bonus content in the form of monthly DLC, the ability to compete for prizes, and something called Elite TV, which is where this new Ridley and Tony Scott web series will air. If you don’t want to pay a monthly fee you can sign up for free, but you won’t have access to the things listed above and more. You can learn more about Call of Duty Elite at the official site.

In the web series, real–life rivals will be brought together to do battle in Call of Duty‘s famed multiplayer setup…much like you’d see two fighters come together in a ring or an octagon, only the “punches” will be bullets. [...]

The video game deal of the day over at Amazon today is Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition for PC for only $19.99 (that’s 50% off the list price of $39.99).

Note, this sale is valid only for today, Sunday, September 4, 2011, until 11:59PM PST while supplies last [...]

The $10 t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is the Street Fighter-themed shirt “Hadouken Lager Beer” by artist Nana Leonti.

The sale at RIPT began today, Sunday, September 4, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore [...]

Deadline has learned that when Brett Ratner, the director of such titles as X–Men: The Last Stand, Red Dragon, and all three Rush Hour flicks, meets with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences this Tuesday to discuss who he thinks would be a good choice to host the 84th annual Academy Awards, he’s going to push for Eddie Murphy. Ratner was chosen by the Academy in early August to produce the ceremony along with Don Mischer.

This doesn’t mean that Murphy is hosting for sure yet—only that his name will be in the mix with whomever Mischer also suggests. According to sources, Mischer has a plethora of “big names” interested in hosting that he’s talking to.

Many might automatically think this to be the worst idea ever, but, when reminded of Murphy’s long–lost hilarious past, one has to assume he could end up being a surprise hit. In his prime, Murphy was an insanely funny comedian and one of the many legendary Saturday Night Live cast members. [...]

The leading ladies from hit web series The Guild made their way to Atlanta this weekend to join in the geeky celebration that is Dragon*Con 2011. And fortunately for us, they even participated in some panels about the show.

Amy Okuda (Tinkerballa), Robin Thorsen (Clara), and creator/star Felicia Day (Codex) spoke about their past experiences working on The Guild as well as what fans can expect from the next few episodes and future seasons of the show.

If you didn’t already know (and if you’re reading this far into the article, you probably should), The Guild began its fifth season in late July. The most recent episode, Revolving Doors, aired on the show’s official website this week [...]

The Walking Dead might be getting a 90-minute premiere when it airs its second season this October, but it’ll be doing so without original showrunner Frank Darabont, which has more than just fans concerned about the show’s future.

The show’s cast stayed silent about Darabont’s departure during the The Walking Dead cast panel on Friday at Dragon*Con 2011 — their first large public appearance since San Diego Comic-Con in July, after which Darabont was fired.

I’ve embedded a video of the panel below, but I feel obligated to give fair warning to the people who are only looking for spoilers: It doesn’t really contain much information about the next season. Oddly, there also isn’t any mention from the actors about what it’s been like working under new showrunner Glen Mazzara [...]

Star Wars vs. Star Trek
Could the Empire kick the Federation’s Ass?
… and other galaxy-shaking enigmas
Paperback | Kindle
By Matt Forbeck
Adams Media
Release Date: May 18, 2011

I was really curious going into this book, mostly about how someone could write an unbiased novel on which school of sci-fi was better. As it turns out, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Star Wars vs. Star Trek isn’t a novel at all. Instead, author Matt Forbeck created what I consider to be a very nicely divided series of comparisons. Think of it as a sort of Celebrity Deathmatch in book form. I laughed, I cried, I rejoiced.

I’m a Star Wars fan, hands down. I waited in line in 1977 to see the first one and repeated that for every single movie thereafter (even the prequels). Heck, I even have a Stormtrooper tattoo and commonly quote Yoda. I always wanted to be Boba Fett growing up, seriously cool armor on that guy. But I also thoroughly enjoyed the Star Trek movies, not so much the television shows but I also only saw them when my roommates watched them (Sorry, Dan and Randy) [...]

Infinite Kung Fu
Paperback
Written by Kagan McLeod
Pencils by Kagan McLeod
Top Shelf
Release date: August 9, 2011

Infinite Kung Fu is a martial arts adventure with several twists. Set in an ancient time when souls are refusing to pass on and can jump from one dead person to the next, the students of the Eight Immortals have turned on the teachings of their masters and have begun practicing the Poison Kung Fu styles.

One of the Immortals, Chung Li Ch’uan, encounters Yang Lei Kung, a former soldier, and decides that he will be teach him Kung Fu. Ch’uan believes that Kung is the chosen one and will defeat the evil emperor and his generals. Eventually, Kung becomes one of the Emperor’s generals and goes on a quest to learn many different styles of Kung Fu in order to become skilled enough to overthrow the emperor’s evil empire. Along the way, Kung gains several allies, including Moog Joogular, student of Chung Kuo Lao, another of the Eight Immortals. Joogular looks like a young George Clinton and has a very unique fighting style [...]

Excited for Battleship? I mean, how couldn’t you be? A horrible cast (save for one Liam Neeson), a mediocre director at the helm, and what can best be described as a dreadful trailer all have been shared in the same breath as the title of this film, and have since sent this movie down the ladder of most anticipated projects coming down the pipeline.

Well, thanks to Entertainment Tonight, we have a new set video for the film, and I must say, it doesn’t do much for me [...]

Who the hell is John Moore, you may be asking. Well, not only is he the man behind such masterpieces as Max Payne, but now, according to Deadline, he’ll be helming the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise.

Moore beat out names like Noam Murro (who left the film to work on the upcoming sequel to 300), Joe Cornish, Justin Lin, and even indie darling Nicolas Winding Refn to take on the film, and should breath a new life into the Bruce Willis-starring franchise, be it one that may or may not be worthwhile [...]

Doctor Who returned last week for the second half of its Series Six run and after the break we’ve got a review of the highly anticipated “Let’s Kill Hitler.”

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode Eight – Let’s Kill Hitler
Directed by Richard Senior
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Nina Toussaint-White, Caitlin Blackwood, Maya Glace-Green, Ezekiel Wigglesworth, Philip Rham, Richard Dillane, Amy Cudden, Davood Ghadami, Ella Kenion, and Albert Welling
BBC America
Air date: August 27, 2011

“Let’s Kill Hitler” makes my brain hurt.

Mind you, it’s a good hurt, but much of the discussion on this episode will have to fall under our spoilers section due to the massive amount of plot that occurs in this episode. Yet, there’s still plenty of non-spoiler stuff to talk about for those that have yet to watch it [...]

As the Fall film season draws closer, one of the biggest films of this year’s final four months has to be director David Cronenberg’s latest, A Dangerous Method.

A new trailer for the film has hit, which you can watch here below, and I must say, it looks fantastic. The film stars Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, and Viggo Mortensen, and follows the story of the friendship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and what happens when a beautiful woman is thrust in between the two [...]

Sylvester McCoy, the seventh actor to portray The Doctor on classic British TV show Doctor Who, revealed yesterday the melodic and humorous origins of his name during his first panel (ever) at this year’s Dragon*Con.

As McCoy explains in the video, which you can watch here below, “Sylvester” actually started out as “Sylvest.” It was coined from a song that he graciously performed for the crowd.

His surname came from “a bad joke.” And don’t get me wrong, if I typed said joke out in this post or retold it to you in person, it would most certainly be a bad joke. However, when McCoy tells it, it’s brilliant.

Anyone who doubts his abilities as a valuable part of the Doctor Who cannon would do well to watch the video [...]

Earlier this year, Borders Group Inc filed for bankruptcy. After a July 2011 deadline came and went without a buyer for the national book retailer, the company began liquidating its retail chain and closing up stores, with the last of them scheduled to shut down by the end of this month. When that happens, Borders will be no more.

Nearly a decade. That’s how long I worked for the Borders Group Inc. I transitioned to one of the Waldenbooks from a larger multimedia/book company and it was quite a shock. Antiquated registers and outdated search systems were the norm. But one thing the company had was passion. Passion for books and authors. New employees were quizzed about their book knowledge and any interview turned into a discussion of favorite novels and writers. I loved it, really loved it. Every three or four months there was a conference with authors and publishers speaking, eating, and sometimes even drinking with us. I have Borders to thank for letting me meet some of my favorite authors like Jim Butcher and Vince Flynn. I actually got to have dinner with dozens of writers over the years, many of them I had never heard of but that didn’t stop me from enjoying their company. I got to have a quiet one-on-one conversation with Charlaine Harris regarding her newest novel. This is before I had ever heard of Sookie Stackhouse of True Blood fame, way back when the series was known as The Southern Vampire series. I met and befriended the publisher for George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, even got on the advanced reader list for them, too. Oh, those were the days.

But those days ended. It was 2005 when I first started seeing changes, not for the better, might I add. Fewer conferences and far fewer writers in attendance, more conference calls berating under-performing stores (not mine, mind you), and an overall bleaker outlook from upper management. It was also about this time that Borders started changing CEOs almost annually, which never lends itself to a sense of continuity [...]