Comic Books

A topic of discussion among many fans lately is whether Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. will renegotiate with Marvel Studios for future appearances in their films. The Hollywood Reporter says that the actor met with Kevin Feige and many other executives last night to begin laying out the groundwork for his return. Insiders say that the negotiations looked to his return as the character in the upcoming Avengers 2 and a third "Avengers" film.

A fourth Iron Man film was said to not be included in the talks as it is unclear if Downey Jr. is interested in another stand-alone feature as the character. Beyond the news that Marvel is developing a third "Avengers" movie, THR also revealed that the studio has scripts in development for Ms. Marvel and a reboot of the character Blade (whose screenrights were recently returned to Marvel). 

Plans for a feature film version of Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko's Torso are back on as The Hollywood Reporter brings word that David Lowery has signed on to write and direct for Circle of Confusion.

David Fincher was once attached to bring the story to the screen, but the project fell by the wayside, leading to Paramount Pictures letting the rights lapse back in 2009.

The graphic novel looks at the later days of Eliot Ness (post-Untouchables) and his investigation into the "Torso Murderer" killings in which a serial killer only left behind the torsos of his victims between 1934 and 1938.

Over six months ago we reported to you that this comic was in the works and now it looks like Dynamite is finally ready to release the horror crossover we've all been waiting for, Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash!

Hit the jump for all the details.

Max Brooks, author of "World War Z," is back in undead territory with the vampires versus zombies tale Extinction Parade, an epic horror comic series through Avatar Press.

This massive 250+ page event teams Brooks with super-star illustrator, Raulo Caceres and is scheduled to debut in comic shops worldwide on June 19th, the day before World War Z opens in theaters.

Extinction Parade is Brooks’ first all-original serialized comic book work and is positioned to be an instant genre classic. In a world where the zombie plague has put the human race on the endangered species list, another predatory undead species realizes that to stand by idly means the end of their food supply. Vastly outnumbered by the zombie hordes, vampires descend into all-out subdead war, with humanity caught in the crossfire.

Legendary Comics and Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro gave WonderCon attendees a surprise treat today as they revealed the cover art for the graphic novel, Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero. The fully-painted cover was created by Alex Ross. 

Hitting stores June 5the, the comic serves as a prequel to the highly-anticipated film opening July 12th.  

Chronicling the very first time Earth is menaced by incredible monsters known as Kaiju, these inhuman beasts rise from the ocean depths and threaten to extinquish all mankind! Witness the race to develop massive robot fighting machines called Jaegers, each one controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. 

In the wake of David Duchovny urging fans to write to Fox asking for another X-Files film, IDW Publishing has announced some major plans for the property. 

Today at Emerald City Comic-Con, IDW Publishing and Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products announced the creative team for their upcoming comics based on the legendary television series (taking a cue from Buffy the Vampire Slayer over at Dark Horse, which brought Joss Whedon in for a new "season"). The entire project will be executive produced by The X-Files creator Chris Carter, who is returning in an active role to help steer his characters back to the forefront of popular culture once again.

One of Guillermo del Toro's many gestating projects is the Dark Universe project detailing the darker characters from the DC Universe.

Though the film started out as a rumor, Del Toro liked the idea enough to make it a reality.  Speaking with Total Film, Del Toro says the film is on the right track.

Details are slim - slim like an emaciated walking corpses - but Marvel has teased its upcoming comic book series which George Romero is writing.  It won't involve superheroes, but it will involve zombies (as Romero himself has said).  Check out the teaser inside.

Last spring, it seemed it was all about Lobo, that bad-ass DC Comics character created in 1984 by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen.  Lobo was a Czarnian (originally Velorpian) bounty hunter who, as a nearly indestructible anti-hero, drives a space-faring motorcycle across the cosmos in search of his next target.

And he was expected to hit the big screen at some point under the direction of Brad Peyton (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island).  And Dwayne Johnson was rumored to be circling the role as the eponymous "main man."  But it appears momentum on Lobo has dissipated at Warner Bros.

Matt Kindt's comic book series Mind MGMT is headed to the big screen through Twentieth Century Fox, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. Ridley Scott is joining Mike Richardson and Kieth Goldber to produce.

First published in May of 2013, Mind MGMT is written an illustrated by Kindt and planned for a 36 issue run. It is officially described as follows:

Reporting on a commercial flight where everyone aboard lost their memories, a young journalist stumbles onto a much bigger story, the top-secret Mind Management program. 

We're just over three months from the official launch of Marvel Studios' "Phase Two" of their cinematic universe when Iron Man 3 hits theaters on May 3rd.

Today, President of Production Kevin Feige updated MTV with plans for future big screen entries that look even further into the futre. Ant-Man, he says, will officially launch "Phase Three" and early plans also call for the long-rumored Doctor Strange to be included. 

First rumored by Latino Review last fall, IGN has now confirmed with Guillermo del Toro that plans are underway for a DC Comics ensemble film that will star quite a few of the company's supernatural characters. Similar in lineup to the current "Justice League Dark" series, the film version is being developed with the title Dark Universe and has just hired a mystery writer.

"I'm working on it," Del Toro says. "I'm writing the outline and we're already in talks with a writer. A very, very good writer. People are probably going to be happy with who we have chosen. He accepted. I've been courting this writer, who I think is the perfect guy for this job. We're doing it. Hopefully it will happen."

The Pacific Rim director goes on to hint that the lineup for the project includes Swamp Thing, The Demon, John Constantine, Deadman, The Spectre and the father/daughter pair of Zatara and Zatanna.

Picking my top five horror comic books of the year was a lot harder than picking my top five horror films.

There were a lot more comic books that I loved than films, though in fairness I read a lot more horror comics than saw horror films (shame, shame I know).  I had a list of about 17 titles that I thought were outstanding and whittling it down to about 12 was easy, but picking five from that was torture.  How could I include one without this one?  People should know about that one, I need to put that one there!  But I did it, I've picked a top five but I have to give an honorable mention to some titles. 

Honorable mention: Eric Powell's The Goon stayed in top form this year, the quality of the series hasn't dwindled at all and is just as funny and heartbreaking as ever.  Alex Link and Riley Rossmo's Rebel Blood.  The pair have concocted a very peculiar zombie tale with some unique artwork, it's a lot better than most of the zombie comics out there.  Tim Seeley and Mike Norton's Revival.  What makes this comic stand out from the other undead/horror tales is the setting and the noir writing.  It bills itself as a "rural noir" which is a perfect description.

Heres' my top 5...

It has been a big week for 2013 sneak peeks and what a lot of people are talking about right now is Guillermo del Toro's robots versus monsters flick Pacific Rim.  There is one unhappy camper out there, however, who is pushing to get some eyes on a project he created that bears a resemblance to Pacific Rim.

Dan Brereton (creator of "The Nocturnals") took to Facebook this morning to vent and inform his followers about "Giantkiller."

"I know quite a few of you have seen GIANTKILLER, and read it, but I'm a little glum about a certain giant-monster movie being promoted right now that bears a huge resemblance to my 1999 mini-series, coming along and hurting our existing screenplay for the movie adaptation of my kaijus-from-a-wormhole story," he writes.

Dark Horse Comics has announced the release of the first in a five issue comic book series, To Hell You Ride: White Man's Guilt, by renown actor, Lance Henriksen and co-writer, Joseph Maddrey with graphic illustrator, Tom Mandrake, will take place Wednesday, December 12th.

Lance Henriksen is no stranger to our genre, of course, having starred in Aliens, Near Dark, Pumpkinhead and countless other films.

"Dark Horse Comics took a chance on a handshake. A year and a half later we are closing in on the fifth issue of To Hell Your Ride. We have channeled the whole adventure, sharing the work load between Tom Mandrake, Joseph Maddrey and myself. I have never been more excited about revealing my work to an audience," said Henriksen.

Evil Ernie is one of those characters you think you know about because he was a part of the huge comics boom in the early '90s. Though I will admit I don't know nyxg about the character because the 'uber tough' and overly violent comics of that era are of no interest to me. Since his creation, Evil Ernie has gone through a lot of different publishers and several miniseries featuring the character have come around but now he's taken to the latest comic book trend and gone for the reboot.

Dynamite Entertainment has brought the character back to life, that's a joke for those of you that are familiar with Ernie, and it's not vapid or boring like some other characters' reboots.

The first two issues of the newly polished series are in stores now and they're a nice departure from the other stuff on the stands. While other horror comics are content in rehashing zombie stories, Evil Ernie is bringing back the Satanic mass murder subgenre and how can you not love that? Writer Jesse Blaze Snider, son of rocker Dee Snider, has brought the character back but contained him in a way that keeps him interesting. In '90s comics it was all about how big and bad something can be, while that's still on the table for this series it isn't trying to outdo everything else in the market.

Dark Horse series R.I.P.D. will be making the leap to the big screen next summer and it's been almost ten years since the series saw publication in its original comic medium.

With the film quickly approaching though, there's no better time to have another story from the series. On November 28th we will see the release of R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned #1 and we have a six-page preview inside.  The comic will function as a prequel to the upcoming film and is described as follows: 

Roy Pulsipher and Nick Walker are dead, but that doesn’t mean their time in law enforcement is over. Both Roy and Nick are officers in the Rest in Peace Department, sworn to serve the Almighty and protect the living from evil’s foul corruption. Their current case has them chasing a ghostly fanatic determined to undo all of creation—a threat with very personal connections to Roy’s past, stretching back a hundred years into a weird, Wild West and Roy’s first day on the job. It’s a twisted history that Nick is only starting to uncover, and one that could have him reconsidering ever joining the R.I.P.D.!

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, is returning in 2013 with a new series of Elvira comic books.  

Working with author R.H. Stavis (Daniel’s Veil, Activision’s Transformers: War for Cybertron) and artist Jeff Zarnow (Godzilla, '68), the stories will focus on the Elvira’s MISS-adventures centered around a backstory about Halloween.

The collaboration was teased to audiences at the recent “Stan Lee’s Comikaze” event in September in Los Angeles.

“Unlike a typical licensing deal, we are bringing together the power of the Elvira brand, a top-notch female writer and a rising artist to develop a new line of comic books independently,” says Cassandra Peterson aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. “We will then find a publishing/distribution partner that shares our vision to unleash these stories to the world.”

Head inside for a larger look at the cover art.

Cassie Hack, of Hack/Slash, has met and fought with many cinematic icons from the horror genre: Chucky, Victor Crowley and Herbert West have all met the "Suck It" bat at one point or another and now the "King" himself Ashley Williams will fight alongside her.  Over at Bleeding Cool they've posted the cover for the upcoming miniseries Hack/Slash vs. Army of Darkness drawn by creator Tim Seeley. Not a lot is known about the series right now but it will be released next year by Dynamite.

Take a look at the art inside.

We haven't heard from ol' George Romero in a while, but allow us to remedy that.  The fellas at Twitch caught up to the godfather of zombies and he provided an update as to what he is working on.  In his discussion with the site, he teased an old project and a new one...

"I am in fact adapting a novel right now, and it is a zombie novel, but it's not my kind of zombies," he told Twitch. "It's a novel called The Zombie Autopsies written by a Harvard medical doctor. It's a wonderful book and I'm having a wonderful time adapting it into a screenplay. I am also working on an original story, which I guess if I had to categorize it, I would say it's a psychological thriller. it's....mmm, Psycho like? But it's not really. I don't know how to tell you anything more without giving it away. But in reality I don't actually know for sure what the next one is going to be. It often comes up out of the blue. You just don't know which one the money is going to come through for. I am also writing a comic for Marvel. I'm writing it now, but it's plot is a secret."

The people at Monsterverse have a good knack for writing classic monster stories in a world dominated by zombie comics and it's an appreciated effort by us readers. There's the truly awesome anthology series Bela Lugosi's Tales from the Grave and their serialized graphic novel series Flesh and Blood.

Flesh and Blood does its best to combine a lot of the classic monster tales, whether they be books or films, and create a linked original storyline that brings all your favorites together in one place.

Book two of the series picks up where the first left off and doesn't bother to hold your hand explaining itself either, which could be a bad thing if you haven't read the first volume. 

Deadline is reporting that producer Scott Stuber has optioned The Order, a graphic novel from the 'film friendly comic line' of Arcana/Benderspink.

The graphic novel tells the story of a group of priests put together by the vatican that travel all around the world battling evil and the supernatural.  Brian Nathanson will write the adaptation with Stuber and Benderspink producing. No word yet on where the project will land or who else will be involved, but keep an eye on this one.  You'll find cover art inside.

Maybe Marvel was listening all those months ago when I suggested a series of dark movies for us horror fans because they announced this weekend at Fan Expo Toronto that they will be launching an all-new on-going series, Morbius the Living Vampire. 

Joe Keatinge and Rich Elson, the team behind the now canceled Thanos: Son of Titan mini-series, will be helming the brand new title that launches in January of 2013.

“There are very strong horror elements to it, but there's a lot more to it than that," said Keatinge in an interview with Newsarama.  "The closest comic I can even think of in terms of the types of stuff we're doing in here might be Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, but we're ultimately having a very different end result. This is a book largely about people who have absolutely no easy role in society. The outcasts. The people on the fringe. The people of the Marvel Universe who are even too weird for the X-Men.”

We don't feature fan-made fare all that much here on Shock, but that changes (a tad) with a faux trailer for Hack/Slash, the comic book adaptation that has been languishing in development hell for years.  Years.  

The trailer's creator favors Christina Ricci as heroine/slasher killer Cassie Hack and they culled a number of clips from Ricci's filmography and pieced them together (along with some comic book images) to create the preview.  

You'll also see a familiar face from The Dark Knight Rises as Vlad.  Hack/Slash creator Tim Seeley posted the trailer to his Facebook page (he approves).

Hack/Slash initially had The Apparition's Todd Lincoln attached as writer and director.  Lincoln developed the property for a number of years before he moved on to other projects.  Currently, the rights to the property rest at Relativity.  Check out the preview inside.

Dark Horse is the number one place to look for horror comics and they've been that way for some time and they're not going to slow down.

We just received this teaser image from them about an upcoming project they'll be releasing this fall entitled Colder.  The series is written by Paul Tobin with art by Juan Ferreyra.

Colder tells the story of Declan Thomas whose story isn't exactly normal. 

Declan Thomas's body temperature is dropping. He checks it every day, and it's dropped from 98.6 to a current average in the high fifties. He never gets sick, never feels pain. He's just an ex-inmate of an insane asylum that began operation in the 1890s, specializing in those poor souls deemed too dangerous for society. As to when Declan himself was admitted, the records were destroyed in a fire. His nurse has found references to him that go as far back as the 1940s...which is odd, since he doesn't look a day over thirty. 

While we eagerly await more news on Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, we'll have to sate our appetite for destruction, Big G-style, with IDW's line of Godzilla comics.  I never really thought the Godzilla comics worked, however, next week's release - "The Half-Century War" - looks...awesome.

The five-part mini-series was previewed at io9 and we have a peek within.  

The publisher describes the tale - from James Stokoe and Orc Stain - lilke this: The year is 1954 and Lieutnant Ota Murakami is on hand when Godzilla makes first landfall in Japan. Along with his pal Kentaro, Ota makes a desperate gamble to save lives...and in the process begins an obsession with the King of the Monsters that lasts fifty years! Don't miss the first decade in a tale of a lifetime!

Following the releases of My Soul to Take and Scream 4, Wes Craven took a break.  Some might say a much needed one.  A step away from the industry to rejuvenate the creative juices.  

Others have echoed that perhaps he should just retire, however, we never truly want to see our horror icons fade away, right?  Besides, wouldn't we want to see them go out with a bang rather than a wimper? (That's depending on how you feel about My Soul to Take and Scream 4, I suppose.)

Well, Craven fans will be pleased to know that he's collaborating with another horror vet for a new project.  According to Deadline, Craven and Steve Niles are uniting for Coming of Rage, a comic book that is also being groomed for the big screen.

The Fringe is a place where non-horror genre films can get some play on Shock.  These films might be sci-fi, fantasy or action - and certainly contain some horror elements - but will likely be light on scares, or, straight-up "horror."  Still, they might be of interest to you.

With the release of a Dredd 3D, a tie-in digital comic prequel is coming this August.

Lionsgate has premiered the first look at the digital comic's hand drawn cover by Greg Staples.  The prequel, written by 2000AD editor Matt Smith, will feature the comics first appearance of Ma-Ma, "Game of Thrones" star Lena Headey.

Based on the acclaimed comic series by John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra, the new film starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby & Lena Headey opens nationwide on Friday, September 21st.

Read our early thoughts on the film right here.

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and illustrated Charlie Adlard participated in a panel that focused solely on the world of The Walking Dead in comic book form (a TV series panel is on tap for today).

The guys kept it as spoiler free as possible for The Walking Dead Issue 100. So, you can read on, even if you haven’t finished the 100th issue. 

Robert was hilarious.  I want to point out a few of his more memorable remarks. Keep in mind these were all said in jest. 

“Usually, I am extremely anti-deaf people," he said in response to a fan suggesting a deaf character appear in the comics.   “I hate tall people. It’s like, you have everything. What more do you want?” he added in response to a fan suggesting the addition of more tall zombies.

“We haven’t had many powerful moments in the comic. Mainly because of Charlie’s art," he said when explaining why the television series is more gripping, at times, than the comic.

Legendary Comics have had a pretty good bag of tricks thus far into Comic-Con.

They've already announced a new series from Mark Waid, Shane Davis and Max Brooks, titled Shadow Walk. Plus they've shown a preview of The Tower Chronicles by Matt Wagner and Simon Bisley. Now they've got one more (for now).

J. Michael Straczynski is teaming up with Legendary Comics with penciler Geoff Shaw and Inker Matt Banning for a project called The Majestic Files.

If you know a thing or two about UFO culture,  then you've probably already figured out this has something to do with the Majecstic-12, an alleged secret committie of scientists, military leaders, and government offiicals created to investiage tthe infamous 1947 Roswell crash.

You read it right, Neil Gaiman is writing more Sandman comics.

The announcement was made today at the Vertigo panel that Gaiman will be writing another mini-series set in the realm of his famous comics and J.H. Williams III will be drawing.

"When I finished writing The Sandman, there was one tale still untold. The story of what had happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in The Sandman #1, and why he was returned from far away, exhausted beyond imagining, and dressed for war. It was a story that we discussed telling for Sandman's 20th anniversary... but the time got away from us. And now, with Sandman's 25th anniversary year coming up, I'm delighted, and nervous, that that story is finally going to be told," said Gaiman (quote via IGN).

Ibid Filmworks is poised to produce My Friend Dahmer, John "Derf" Backderf's autobiographical graphic novel that follows Jeffrey Dahmer from age 12, when he was a shy, bespectacled kid, right up to the day he kills his first victim two weeks after high school graduation.

Aperture Entertainment’s Adam Goldworm is partnering with Ibid Filmworks on the project.  

Set in the bizarre world of 1970s suburbia, Jeff Dahmer, a troubled teenager, descends into darkness as his divorcing parents, high school teachers, and peers stand by and do nothing. Told through the eyes of his friend Derf, this is a touching, realistic look at some oddball teens trying to find their identities in the tumultuous 1970's.

A press release explains, "although there are macabre elements to this story, this will be less a horror film and more a coming-of-age tale of teenagers teetering on the abyss."  Think, Welcome to the Dollhouse meets Dazed and Confused by way of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

If you're following Hellboy comics, this is a welcome tease for you. If you're not and you want to be kept in the dark, turn away now.

The last we saw of Big Red, he had his heart ripped out and there was only one place to go after that, his namesake. Dark Horse has finally produced a teaser for us for the upcoming Hellboy in Hell story arc from Mike Mignola.  The series will run for four issues and is set to be just the first in a line of Hellboy in Hell stories.

The first issue is set to be released December 5th of this year.  

Head inside for the full teaser!

Studio 407 has released The Night Projectionist in trade paperback and to celebrate its arrival, the company has offered a 10-page preview.

Written by Robert Heske and illustrated Diego Yapur, you can find the TPB in your local shop or on Comixology or Graphicly.

On the eve of Halloween a small group of movie goers attend the final showing in an old movie theater not knowing it could be the last thing they ever see! All hell breaks loose when the mysterious night projectionist traps the group in the theater, and it quickly becomes surrounded by a horde of vampires.  But who is hunting who? Soon a bloody war rages through the theater with the body count multiplying by the minute. Don' t miss this no holds barred, tale of bloody revenge that puts the bite back into vampire stories!

The comic was once in development for the big screen through Myriad Pictures, however, I think that project lost momentum.

From celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden come the next installments of the critically acclaimed Baltimore series.

In Baltimore: The Play, a mad playwright puts on a Grand Guignol featuring actors that are real vampires. The evil financier of the play makes a bizarre discovery when he finds out that the playwright is a fraud and the true author is the disembodied head of a famous American author kept in a glass case. Baltimore: The Play is on sale November 21st.

Following The Play, Lord Baltimore finds himself in a double feature with Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank, on sale February 20, 2013. “The Widow” concerns a woman whose husband and war buddies have returned from the war as vampires and begun preying on their hometown. In “The Tank,” Baltimore learns of a wrecked tank in a field as he is passing through the war-ravaged countryside. People believe there is a vampire living inside that has been eating cattle and attacking locals. When Baltimore checks it out, it turns out to be true…to a point.   

Crossed is a very special kind of zombie story. If you don't know about it, they're not your typical zombies. These are like rage virus zombies with an affection for....sexual desires - that's a clean way of putting it.

But if there is one thing that Crossed isn't, it's clean. This is one of the most depraved and disgusting comics put out, but I loved every page of it.

The latest series Crossed: Wish You Were Here is no exception to the rest of the Crossed series. It has all the violence and nastiness that the rest of the series has, but also a very important placement on characters and their working dynamics. Simon Spurrier, the devilish writer behind the series, has really cemented a great story within this universe (which is saying a lot after you're following up the likes of Garth Ennis and David Lapham). What is so cool about the way he handles this story is the amount of limitations he's put around himself, almost as if he's written into a corner purposefully. This works to the advantage of the story and makes it a much more relatable and personal tale to read.

You've perused Wednesday's schedule.  Now, here is the jam-packed San Diego Comic-Con schedule for Thursday.  Mind you, these are just the "horror highlights."  You'll find the full sched right here.

For Dexter fans, this is the day for you.  Also, there's no shortage of zombie love.  There are a number of panels this day devoted solely for the undead, whether it is Image Comics The Walking Dead comic panel or a few academic discussions about shambling corpses.

The big surprise is SDCC's space for indie horror as Jen and Sylvia Soska take to the stage to talk bout American Mary and Dave Parker (The Hills Run Red) is previewing his next film Coldwater.  Check out the schedule within!

Telltale Games and Robert Kirkman announced today that, "Starved for Help," the second episode of the game series based on the critically acclaimed comic book series, The Walking Dead, is now available for download.

In this tailored game experience, players get the chance to see how their story continues based on the decisions that they made in episode one, "A New Day."

Starved for Help is now available to download on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, followed on Friday, June 29th on PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.  The PC and Mac versions of the episode will also be available to download on June 29 from the in-game menu.

Visual FX supervisor Victor Scalese is in the spotlight in the latest AMC featurette for The Walking Dead season 3.  From environment to zombies, Scalese talks about his duties on the show and what the forthcoming season has in store for fans (hint: lots of "killing").  You can check out the video inside.

On another note, actor Lennie James spoke to Digital Spy recently.  You might recall he played Morgan in TWD's first season.  On his future with the show, he said: "There’s a possibility I might go back. It just depends on timing-wise if I’m free. At least one of the times they contacted me about it, I was busy doing something else.”

If you read the comics, well, you know the story circles back around to Morgan.  We'll see if the show does the same.

To emphasize just how much The Walking Dead's fanbase has grown, Hall H of Comic-Con next month is going to host a panel dedicated to the AMC show.

Chris Hardwick (of The Talking Dead) will moderate the panel on Friday, July 13th at 1:25pm in Hall H, of all place.  Yep, the big 'un.

The Walking Dead panelists will discuss what fans can expect in the highly anticipated third season, which debuts in October. Panelists include Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Denai Guerrero, David Morrisey, Executive Producer and Showrunner Glen Mazzara, Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Executive Producer Robert Kirkman and Co-Executive Producer and Special Effects Make-up Supervisor Greg Nicotero.

The Walking Dead Escape: San Diego announced its partnership with KNB EFX Group, Inc. and its founder Greg Nicotero, the force behind Special Effects Make-up for TV shows and movies such as AMC's The Walking Dead, Kill Bill, Predators and Land of the Dead, just to name a few.

In conjunction with the release of Robert Kirkman's Eisner Award-winning The Walking Dead Issue #100 at San Diego Comic-Con, The Walking Dead Escape: San Diego takes place July 12 -14 at Petco Park, centrally located near the San Diego Convention Center. Registration is now open at TheWalkingDeadEscape.com.

Okay, so it's not exactly news now that Michael Rooker is returning for The Walking Dead season 3.  How his Merle Dixon character factors back into the story is up for speculation (It's clear from some previously leaked set pics that he's rolling with David Morrissey's The Governor).

But let's talk about Merle's hand.  The man lost it in season one, so how is he dealing with this?  Well, a new set pic answers that.

Guillermo del Toro and novelist Chuck Hogan bring their New York Times best-selling series of novels, the Strain Trilogy, to Dark Horse Comics with an ongoing adventure that takes a terrifying spin on the vampire genre.

Renowned comics creator David Lapham (Stray Bullets, Silverfish) and artist Mike Huddleston (The Coffin, Butcher Baker) join forces in this comic book adaptation unlike any other - bringing del Toro and Hogan’s vision to life in a story that casts a deadly plague over the whole of humanity. The Strain Volume 1, collecting issues #1-6 of this ongoing series, is a horror story unlike any other.

When a Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport and goes dark on the runway, the Centers for Disease Control, fearing a terrorist attack, calls in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team of expert biological-threat first responders. Only an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem suspects a darker purpose behind the event - an ancient threat intent on covering mankind in darkness.

In a summer awash in superheroes, Twentieth Century Fox is introducing movie-going audiences to the original superhero - Abraham Lincoln.  Yes, we're talking about the former President of the United States...who also doubled as a vampire ass-kicker.  His story is being told in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which is opening in theaters on June 22nd, directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted).

In anticipation of the film's release, Shock Till You Drop is exclusively hosting a motion comic book that delves into America's history and its vampire menace.  The art features storyboards from the film.  

HEAD TO THIS SPOT TO START READING (and stick around for an exclusive clip!) - and stay tuned for more installments.

Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jimmi Simpson, Robin McLeavy, Alan Tudyk and Rufus Sewell star in the film.

From the mind of Joe Madureira comes a full-blown Darksiders II digital comic series from Dark Horse Comics.

Delving into the days before the Apocalypse, Darksiders II: Death’s Door is a pivotal contribution to the world of the anticipated new game.  Created in collaboration with THQ’s Vigil GamesTM, the studio co-founded by Joe Madureira, this original story follows Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, on a mission to destroy a rogue demon.

Chasing the creature across magical realms and even through time, Death’s quest takes him on a heart-pounding adventure that reveals some of the greatest mysteries of the games.

Actor Thomas Jane and noted artist Tim Bradstreet’s Raw Studios announced today that they have entered into an exclusive digital distribution agreement with comiXology — the world’s largest digital comics platform — involving all of Raw Studios’ comic book and graphic novels.  

To celebrate, Raw Studios and comiXology are today making available the Dark Country graphic novel as an exclusive digital debut across comiXology’s entire platform — including iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire and the Web.

Thomas Jane fans will be familiar with Dark Country, the title of his 2009 directorial debut. Both the film and graphic novel are based on a short story written by Tab Murphy, Jane conceived of the film and graphic novel adaptions as stand-alone endeavors with unique artistic interpretations.

Just before the Memorial holiday weekend, we shared with you details for Anchor Bay's DVD and Blu-ray presentation of The Walking Dead season 2, arriving August 28th.  Today, we have the trailer for said collection.  The 13-episode season will be packed in a four-disc set.

No one has ever asked me who my favorite comic book characters are.

If you did, you'd get the standard answers: Batman, The Punisher, Daredevil.  The less mainstream answers: Billy Butcher, The Goon, and Iron Fist...and the almost unheard of: Lord Henry Baltimore.

I fell in love with the character immediately after reading Baltimore Volume 1: The Plague Ships. I knew that the character would be returning in future volumes, and with the same creative team behind it I was beyond excited. After venturing the dark jungle that was Baltimore Volume 2: The Curse Bells I can offer, in short, two words: Home Run.

Picking up after Volume 1, we find Lord Baltimore still on the hunt for the vampire that killed his family. Much like the first time around his thirst for revenge lands him in many a hot spot, facing monsters and evils that can only be found dwelling in the mind of Mike Mignola. I often worry about a series that has implications of continuing antagonists, vampires in the case of Baltimore, but these fears were squashed and burned (at least for the future of this series).

Anchor Bay Entertainment is bringing The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season to DVD and Blu-ray on August 28th.  Here's the lowdown, direct from our pals at AB:

A truly unique and very limited edition zombie head case created and designed by McFarlane Toys will also be available as Blu-ray™ only for a SRP of $99.99.  Pre-book is August 1st.  The 4-Disc sets will contain all 13 episodes of the second season and will be loaded with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, featurettes and audio commentaries.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season is the much anticipated next chapter to the acclaimed post zombie apocalypse series. When we last left the “The Walking Dead,” the characters were in the midst of a high-intensity struggle to survive, fleeing the CDC as it burst into flames. In Season 2, they are still fighting zombies, and each other, facing more threats and obstacles than ever before.

You got a fleeting glimpse at her at the end of The Walking Dead season 2 as a hooded stranger with two armless zombies in tow.

Today, everyone is getting their first look at Michonne (played by Danai Gurira), a character who was embraced by fans of the comic book and is making her series debut on AMC's third season of The Walking Dead.

Check out a larger version of the photo inside.  EW scored the exclusive.

“The essence of the character - her personality, her motives, everything that makes Michonne Michonne - remains intact from the comics,” series creator Robert Kirkman tells the outlet. “But like a lot of things on the show, there will be little tweaks and differences here and there. We saw that her introduction is slightly different from how it was in the comic, and her interaction with Andrea is really going to be a really cool addition to the character that I think will get television viewers up to speed, and they’ll get to know her a lot faster than comic book readers did.”