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Tapestry out now

porterrecords — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:44:00 MDT

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solomon kane 6

artista646 — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:11:59 MDT

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EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW Scott Allie unveils the gunslinger SOLOMON KANE A long time ago I gave up my dream of making a living writing comics mainly because I decided it'd be a nightmare To make a living writing comics I'd have to write the kinds of comics that paid wellactually that paid period And I probably wouldn't get to start on Hellblazer An eyeopening moment came when I was about twentythree and a friend of mine another aspiring writer called to tell me that he'd gotten his big break They're gonna let me write a spec script for XMan He'd never been so excited He was being allowed to write a story about a character named XMannot an issue of XMen but some spinoff I'd never even heard ofthat the editor in question wasn't even suggesting that they'd publish just that they'd read This was cause for excitement This was where I was supposed to devote my energy Sure there were established characters out there that I liked that I could shoot for writing but mostly I looked around in dread at the idea of writing Robin comics Of course at that time no one was publishing Solomon Kane This is the sort of book that I might have created for myself were I smart enough to have come up with it Just the sort of book I want to write Unlike Hellblazer I'm not preceded on Solomon Kane by stellar runs by the likes of Jamie Delano Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon runs that shook my concept of what comics could do Here was the perfect character for me to explore my ideas about good comics and aside from an inconsistent stack of stories done in the seventies and eighties Kane's comics legacy was open to invention This is the opportunity that would have kept the twentythreeyearold me hungry for a career as a writer New ground to break and a paycheck to boot Of course I still look at the comics landscape with its dearth of interesting paying gigs its intricate tapestry of continuity and Xtitles and am grateful that I have the opportunity to do things like The Devil's Footprints and Solomon Kane while making a pretty good living working with the likes of Mike Mignola John Severin Gerard Way Eric Powell Dave Stewart Randy Stradley Guy Davis Arvid Nelson Gabriel B Sierra Hahn and Joss Whedon among so many others Through my work with all these people my ideas about what makes a good comic evolve daily When I created The Devil's Footprints I had a very clear idea of what I was going forthere were certain things I didn't see happening in comics a balance between what Mike does in Hellboy what Garth Ennis did in Hellblazer and some more traditional supernatural fiction dealing with magic I described it at the time as Carson McCullers meets HP Lovecraft with a little more Jack Kirby Frankly when I wrote that first one I didn't get as much of the Kirby in there as I wanted It didn't fit the plot didn't fit the characters In a way Brandon my protagonist just wasn't enough like Hellboy He wasn't fit for action he was a brooder working in the shadows of magic In the second Devil's Footprints which is written and about half drawn I struck that balance a little better got a bit more Kirby in there combined this time with Martin Scorsese and Dennis Wheatley if I can pull two references out of thin air When Solomon Kane came to Dark Horse I read through all the original Robert E Howard material and I realized that this was the book I wanted to writethat in bringing Howard's work to comics I could get that mix of traditional occult fiction and Kirby action Kirby visuals Howard had perhaps been the first to combine those elements in an alwaysmythic setting with that feeling of grand stakes that lends so much fuel to genre fiction Howard had set the model that I'd been trying to come up with in that first Devil's Footprints something I can now recognize in part because of my own attempts to create it on my own Today I finished the script for the fifth issue of Solomon Kane the end of the first miniseries Violence has never been something I really reveled in in my writing In the first issue Mario my artist on the book had amplified the violence in ways that went outside my own aesthetics but felt right for Howard Conan fans do not shrink from blood Seeing how much Mario enjoyed drawing the violence I've embraced it more and more leading to a bit of a bloodbath in the last issue There's a level of sadism at work that makes the book feel like a gothic western I think it's done creatively and that Mario can do something unusual with it Seeing monsters and a pretty grim hero beat the tar out of each other gives me the explosive color of a Kirby comicalthough Kirby never would have done what we're doing in this book Will I do the same thing next time No because I'm already looking toward all the things I want to do differently next time If I was a fulltime comics writer maybe I'd have more opportunity to try different things Or maybe I'd have less time for navel gazing and the demands of a fulltime schedule would force me to stick to what I've done in the past But as an editor I should remember to not pigeonhole writers that way to not ask them to repeat themselves if only because it would bore me to death Solomon Kane 3 Writer Scott AlliePenciller Mario GuevaraColorist Dave StewartCover Artist John CassadayGenre Horror ActionAdventureWith more dead bodies discovered around the fabled Castle of the Devil the determined Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane and his new ally John Silent look for answers in a pile of ancient bones buried deep in the abbey beneath Baron von Staler's fortress The Baroness is missing and the Baron accuses Solomon Kane Tempers flare and blades are drawnbut the real monster remains unseen Expanding upon Robert E Howard's unfinished Castle of the Devil story Solomon Kane is one of the toughest Robert E Howard heroes to adapt to the comics page but Scott Allie and Mario Guevara have done a stunning job Unsettling moody and eerily beautiful their Kane is absolutely worthy of his creator Kurt Busiek Publication Date December 03 2008Format FC 32 pagesPrice 299

solomon kane 5

artista646 — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:11:59 MDT

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solomon kane 4

artista646 — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:11:59 MDT

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solomon kane 2

artista646 — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:11:59 MDT

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solomon kane 1

artista646 — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:11:59 MDT

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solomon kane cover

artista646 — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:11:59 MDT

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Athena

salsa88 — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:39:24 MDT

Athena - Athena.jpg

Athena is one of the most fascinating and influential deities of the ancient Pantheon The great Athena was the first to teach the science of numbers and all ancient women's arts such as cooking weaving and spinning She was the goddess of wisdom and war but unlike the god of war Ares she took no pleasure from battle preferring instead to settle conflict through mediationBut that's not to say she wasn't one tough goddess Her mercy was great and if ever it came to her to cast a deciding vote in a criminal trial she usually chose to liberate the accused But don't mess with AthenaWhen Athena was moved to engage in battle she never lost even against Ares himself for she was a far superior strategist and tactician than he generals and wise captains always approach her for advice She bears no arms in times of peace and will usually borrow weapons from Zeus when needed She alone waspermitted to use his fearsome Aegis and his devastating thunderboltsIt's suggested in the Palasgian myths that Athena was born beside Lake Tritonis in Lybia and her father has been variously identified as Poseidon Itonus or Zeus king of the Olympian godsThe most widely accepted version holds that Athena is Zeus daughter and his favorite child and she is often described as grayeyed or flashingeyed In popular myth and in accounts related by her own priests she is said to have nomother because she sprang full grown and in full armor from her father's headThis is not entirely true however Athenas mother was Metis Zeus came to lust after her and wasted no time in pursuing her in his direct way Metis wanted nothing to do with Zeus and tried to escape as best she could going so far as to change her form many times turning into various creatures such as hawks fish and serpents But Zeus was both determined and equally proficient at changing form Refusing to be denied he continued his pursuit until she relentedAn Oracle of Gaea Mother Earth then prophesied that Metis' first child would be a girl but her second child would be a boy that would overthrow Zeus as had happened to his father Cronus and his grandfather Uranus Zeus took this warning to heart When he next saw Metis he flattered her and put her at her ease then with Metis off guard Zeus suddenly opened his mouth and swallowed her This was the end of Metis but possibly the beginning of Zeus's wisdom for many claim that Zeus really had no brains until he swallowed his wifeAfter a time Zeus developed the mother of all headaches He howled so loudly it could be heard throughout the earth The other gods came to see what the problem was Hermes realized what needed to be done and directed the smithsgod Hephaestus to take an axe and split open Zeus's skull Other sources claim that it was the Titan Prometheus who rendered the blow Out of the skull sprang Athena full grown and in a full set of armor The very ancient Greeks believedthat men were solely responsible for conception of a child and the womans only role was to carry it until it was born that's why Metis is not given any credit for Athena birthThere are two distinctly different representations of Athenas character In the classic story of the Trojan War the Iliad by the poet Homer she is a fierce and ruthless warrior goddess who takes pleasure in war and fighting In the Odyssey and all alter poetry she is still very powerful but only fights to defend the State She was the embodiment of wisdom purity and reason as well as the patron of the handicrafts and sciences and agricultureAthena was fond of many Greek heroes and assisted them in their quests helping many of the Greek superheroes attain their goals Those she helped included Perseus Jason Cadmus Odysseus and Heracles She even personally went up to Mount Pelion to cut down the trees to build the Argonauts' boat called the ArgoHer contributions to society were manifold She gave mortals the bridle allowing them to tame and use Poseidons gift horses She also invented the trumpet the flute the pot the rake the plow the yoke the ship and the chariot Of the threevirgin goddesses Athena Artemis and Hestia she was chief and called the Maiden Parthenos To honor her the ancient Greeks built at Athens a splendid temple called the Acropolis with its centerpiece consisting of a temple to Athena called the ParthenonAthena was perhaps the most recognizable of the gods She was always depicted with her unmistakable helmet and the everpresent spear Because she was Zeus favorite she was allowed to use his weapons and armor including the awful aegis his buckler and even his thunderbolts Her shield was also very distinctive after Perseus defeated the gorgon Medusa Athena affixed its head to her shieldIndeed Athena was a brave warrior and she was the lone deity to stand her ground when Typhon attacked Olympus Typhon was the largest most dangerous and most grotesque of all creatures So frightening and intimidating was Typhon that when he rushed Mount Olympus all of the gods ran off to Egypt and hid themselves by assuming the forms of various animalsOnly Athena stood firm and she shamed and goaded Zeus into action Zeus struck Typhon with a thunderbolt and used Uranus' castrating sickle to wound the enormous creature Typhon retreated to Mount Casius where he and Zeus resumed their struggle hurling mountains at one another which resulted in Typhon being crushed beneath what is now known as Mount AetnaMount Olympus and the reign of Zeus was saved thanks to AthenaAthena's favorite companion when she was a child was a girl called Pallas and the two were inseparable honing their fighting skills and sharing good times One time during a practice sparring session Athena accidentally mortally wounded her best friend and grieving sorely for her death Athena made a wooden image in her likeness which was called the Palladium She also took on her name as part of hers and henceforth was often referred to as Pallas AthenaWhen Athena's warlike aspect was most prominent she was often referred to as Pallas As the goddess of war she was responsible for determining the fates of individuals engaged in combat She received no pleasure from battle and could be merciful in fact she often sought peaceful solutions to potentially violent situationsAthena railed against excesses in war or everyday life She taught men to conquer their savage streak to tame nature and become masters of the elements Her adoring subjects called her Queen of Heaven the meaning of AthenaNike the goddess and personification of Victory was often at her side as one would expect of the goddess of war who never lost Not surprisingly Nike was also a favorite of ZeusEven though she was as modest as Artemis and Hestia the other virgin goddesses Athena was far more generous A man called Teiresias chanced upon Athena while she was taking a bath and she was startled to realize that he had entered the room and seen her Not wanting to kill Teiresias for his folly she laid her hands over his eyes and blinded him but gave him inward sight so that Teiresias became one of the most wellknown oracles in GreeceOne of the few times that Athena showed petulance was in her weaving contest against the mortal named Arachne This young woman fancied herself the world's best weaver even daring to compare herself favorably against Athena Hearing this impudence Athena took on the guise of an old woman and appeared at Arachne's house to give her some friendly advice to respect the gods Arachne was too vain to listen and told the old woman to be goneLet the great Athena try her skill against mine and if I lose she can do whatever she pleases with me she boasted That's when Athena dropped her disguise and revealed her true identity All the bystanders fell to their knees in reverence except for Arachne who was unmovedThe two began their weaving contest and for a while Arachne held her own against Athena even poking fun at the gods through the tapestry she crafted but finally Athena had enough and touched the impudent mortal on the forehead making her feel her shame Aghast at the realization of her vanity Arachne ran off and hung herself from a treeFeeling sorry for the hanging Arachne Athena brought her back to life but so that mortals learn that it doesn't pay to compare themselves to the gods she changed Arachne into a spider There she sits her and her descendents forever weaving their web testament to the folly of vanityAthenas special city was Athens patronage of which she won from Poseidon by giving the city the olive tree which King Cecrops judged to be a better gift than the water spring that Poseidon provided Both gods wanted Athens as their ownand Poseidon struck the side of the mountain with his trident causing a salt spring to burst forth Wise Athena in turn created the olive tree which provided people with food oil and wood for their fires Needless to say her gift was far superiorand she was awarded Athens which was named in her honorAthena's tree is the olive and her bird is the owl also a symbol of wisdom Other symbols of this awesome goddess are the fearsome Aegis her helmet shield and spear and she is often pictured holding Nike or an owl