Dave Bergschneider, the head Villain at VillainTech, is an avid reader of PC Weenies. This evening, he sent me a photo of himself with his copy of “Rebootus Maximus” and The PC Weenies / UNcubed Sampler #1.

Dave wrote:

Hi Krishna,

Looks great! Bob would most definitely approve (and probably help you build it.)

If you’ve received your copy of “Rebootus Maximus”, send in your photo with your books, and i’ll post it on the blog! Don’t have a copy of Rebootus Maximus? Never fear, you can order one, with a choice of two specific versions, no less!

(And go check out VillainTech while you’re at it!)

-Krishna

P.S. I’ve set up a Flickr group showcasing sightings of PC Weenies comics and books. Add yours to the group, if you’ve got ‘em!

Some comics you have to dig through to see if they’re good. No need with Comic Book Comics: Our Artists At War! The cover features a wild image of a giant flaming comic book smashing a military blimp and crushing tanks as desperate gunners look up and at the reader.

The team of Fred Van Lente and the illustrator Ryan Dunlavey (no relation to Anton) get right down to brass tacks with ribald just-the-gags-ma’am writing. Aside from the occasional full-panel art, every sentence or two is lettered with a hilarious accompanying panel that is perfectly suited to the words.

OAAW is a scholarly work on the artists of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. While solidly researched, the writing is a rare combination of eloquence and madcap humor. If you’re not getting a funny tidbit of information from the text, Dunlavey makes sure to illustrate it in an action-packed or riotous fashion.

The issue starts with the dynamics of comic writing in crowded writers’ “bullpens” and shows the seamy odds they faced, lavished with quotes from Jules Pfeiffer and Joe Kubert. A map shows how Manhattan was the birthplace of the mainstream comic scene. From there, it’s a synopsis of the big boss players of the time: Lloyd Jacquet; copycat king Martin Goodman; the shady Harry Donnenfeld; Max Fleischer; Walt Disney. Then a disillusioned young Stan Lee and Jack Kirby enter into intrigues with Jerry Siegel.

World War II arrives, setting the comic world on its ear, and the issue details the roles of Kirby, Lee, Charles Addams, and Will Eisner; we learn how Eisner’s efforts led comics for a purely propaganda-based role into training manuals.

Disney’s ugly side as a strikebuster is touched on before the comic mentions his change of focus from movies to work for the armed forces. The issue recounts unsettling anecdotes where a stressed-out executive used to hurl after every meeting with Disney and an artist knew his boss had checked his work overnight from a Chesterfield butt left in his ashtray. Then OAAW touches on Walt’s growing bunker mentality and aim toward a 3-D demesne he could keep dictatorial over: Disneyland. At the end of the WWII section, Kirby is depicted as almost losing his life to an art-related job: scouting hot zones in Europe for enemy troops and sending back sketches of anything suspicious.

Post-war, with domestic tranquility arriving hand in hand with a baby boom, the female demographic begins to have its say in the comic world as stock in superheroes plummets. The famous team of Simon and Kirby, by then battle-hardened and taking smack from no one, launches Young Romance, selling an amazing 92% of the first 500,000 issues. As an amusing side note, Martin Goodman releases a series of mediocre copycats, true to form. The humorous narrative doesn’t let up, with freelancers pranking Simon and Kirby with raunchy drawings tucked in final drafts of YR.

For a brief time, the comics industry flourishes unchecked. But then the innocence of the medium fades with the ghoulish turnaround of EC Comics and the BDSM-birthed Wonder Woman. Al Feldstein makes strides in breaking the factory mentality, letting artists introduce their own styles, as one Dr. Frederic Wertham, forensic psychiatrist, sets the stage for a colossal showdown on Capitol Hill.

What will happen? A big teaser ad for issue #3 promises R. Crumb, and Andy Warhol and more of the insidious Doctor.

I can’t wait. Comic Book Comics is a technically sound treat and would make Scott McCloud proud.

Writing/Dialogue: A rollicking “way it was” look that belies the goofy PSA movies of the time. Imagine Archie Bunker telling you all about it, no holds barred. A

Art: Things look cartoony, which is fine considering the subject matter. There are never any dull panels and there is great synergy between the words and images. A lot of the fun is that neither hogs the spotlight 100% of the time, instead sharing the pages. A

Story: A fascinating, trivia-filled walk through the world of yesterday’s pop media. Something for everyone, from the smoldering anti-authoritarian to the bag and board-fondling aficionado. A

Characters: A little heavy on the anecdotal side, but what anecdotes! A-

Originality: A well-assembled historical study of the comics that made the country go round, a grand stage filled with gritty real-life heroes and checkered founding fathers. A+

Overall: This is the most entertaining account of anything historical I’ve read. Under-the-radar text and over-the-top illustrations (wait till you see the first cover of William Gaines’s EC Comics, and the real face behind Young Romance’s advice columns), with many laugh-out-loud moments and surprising revelations from the rascally formative years of the industry. A+

Regular readers of Villaintech are familiar with my preoccupation with zombies. I’m particularly fond of the fast ones, ala Dawn of the Dead, or the rage-infected in 28 Days Later. Left 4 Dead, therefore, looks to be a very promising thriller of a game.

I am most intrigued by the set-up of the game. It is a four person multiplayer cooperative shooter, and the squad must fight its way through an army of running zombies. But the most interesting aspect of gameplay is the collection of four mutated zombies, each with their own particular brand of awesomeness. These four “super” zombies are also player controlled, which is unusual, but highly fabulous, especially for a zombie sympathizer such as myself.

A fansite for the game provided these very handy descriptions of the four zombie players:

The Hunter –

The Hunter is a normal looking infected that wears a dark, hooded sweatshirt and leaps from the shadows upon unsuspecting Survivors to maul them.

The Hunter is able to pounce great distances to land upon the Survivors and proceed to shred their flesh from bone. In order to do this attack, the Hunter must crouch or crawl until the pounce is charged up. The Survivor is held helpless and the Hunter cannot end this attack until the Survivor is killed or the Hunter is knocked off. The Hunter may also use this leap to barrel into a Survivor and knock them backwards, possibly off of a ledge. This attack has no cooldown.

The Hunter is able to wall jump to reach areas that would be otherwise unattainable.
The Hunter has the ability to regenerate health, allowing him to escape and rest up for another attack.

The Smoker –

The Smoker is an average sized boss infected covered in growths and boils and has a fifty foot long tongue as its primary weapon. He also releases clouds of smoke.

The Smoker’s tongue is fired at the head of a Survivor and wraps around their neck. The Smoker can choke its victim from above by hanging them from its tongue. A choking Survivor is unable to move or attack until another Survivor rescues them. During its tongue attack, the Smoker is helpless, even if it misses. This attack has a cooldown.

When at a more horizontal angle from the victim, the Smoker can use its tongue to pull a Survivor towards itself, moving the Survivor away from his or her team. Further, this action poisons the Survivor. The longer the Smoker pulls the Survivor, the more the Survivor’s health is poisoned. If the Smoker completely pulls the Survivor to itself, all of the Survivor’s health is poisoned. Poisoned health slowly ticks down until a medkit is used.

When the Smoker is shot he releases an obscuring cloud of smoke, limiting the Survivor’s vision. A smoke cloud is also released around the Smoker with every tongue attack.

The Tank –

The Tank is a giant beast with an abnormally muscular upper body who relies on his health and strength to pummel the Survivors and lob debris. It is only playable several times throughout a campaign, as this boss is considerably more powerful than the other infected.

The Tank uses its speed and large amount of health to close the distance and slam the Survivors with its massive fists, knocking them back and doing a lot of damage. If the Survivor is knocked down, the Tank can bash the Survivor until they are dead.

The Tank can smash cars to send them flying towards the Survivors. If there is no car around, the Tank will rip a chunk of earth from the ground and toss it.

The Tank is able to smash through certain areas in walls to surprise the Survivors.

When the Director chooses to spawn a Tank, a player is randomly chosen to play it. The Tank has a frustration meter that forces it to find the Survivors. If it does not find the Survivors in this time, the player loses control of the Tank and the computer takes over.

The Boomer –

The Boomer is an obese methane-filled boss infected covered with boils whose main form of attack is projectile vomit, but also explodes when shot.

The Boomer’s vomit is released in one large attack, and in the right circumstances can hit more than one target. The vomit obscures the vision of its victims, and also acts as a pheromone to both existing infected, and causes more to be spawned and attack the victims. This attack has a cooldown.

If the Boomer drops from a high enough height, it will “pop” and blood will spread to any Survivors in the immediate area, having the same effect as a vomit attack would.

When successfully shot at, the Boomer explodes which covers any nearby Survivors with puke.

(AWESOME.)

The story is your basic city-plagued-by-virus routine. You, along with three other uninfected survivors, must blast your way out of the city. The four survivors are Bill, veteran of the Vietnam war, Louis, an assistant manager at the local Circuit City (soon out of a job), Zoey, the teenage daughter of a wealthy family (who, judging from the preview clips, has the ability to kick a lot of ass, Buffy-style) and Francis, the tattooed biker dude.

Where are they headed? To the countryside? That is my favorite question to ask of this genre. In the remake of Dawn of the Dead, the survivors make for an island in the middle of a lake, only to find that the island inhabitants have been infected. While the survivors of Left 4 Dead do have guns and ammo, the real question is…where can they go?

The game is set for a November 18th release for PC. I’ll post a review as soon as I get the chance to play this baby.