Astros at 50

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As many of you know, I’m a huge baseball fan. My team for good and bad is the Houston Astros. As a kid, we moved to Houston in 1978 and for whatever reason I became hooked. Re-locating to Austin in the late 90s didn’t diminish my enthusiasm for the team.

This season marks the 50th for the ‘Stros (nee Colt .45s) as a major league franchise. To commemorate this event, MLB Productions has produced the impressive looking 5 DVD box set: Astros 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition

Quote:
From the Lone Star State’s first MLB franchise – the expansion Colt .45s of the early ‘60s — and the erection of the Astrodome, the world’s first multi-purpose domed stadium to the roster of baseball greats that made their names as ‘Stros, the Houston Astros have long instilled a boundless sense of pride in their fan base deep in the heart of Texas. As the team celebrates its milestone 50th Anniversary in 2012, Major League Baseball Productions and A+E Networks Home Entertainment invite Astros fans to join in the festivities with the five-DVD set, HOUSTON ASTROS 50TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION. Saluting four classic full television broadcasts with ESSENTIAL GAMES OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS, plus the all-new, feature-length documentary special, ASTROS MEMORIES, this commemorative set is a must-have for Astros fans everywhere!

From the roof-raising euphoria of the Astrodome to the open-air adoration of Minute Maid Park, relive the cascade of emotions and joys as four ESSENTIAL GAMES OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS are presented on DVD for the first time!

· 1981 NOLAN RYAN’S 5TH NO-HITTER vs. LAD, September 26, 1981 – In his second season with the Astros, Ryan became the first pitcher to throw five career no-hitters.

· 1986 MIKE SCOTT’S NO-HITTER CLINCHES DIVISION vs. SF, September 25, 1986 – The Astros punctuate their 25th season’s celebration with the double delight of clinching the division behind Scott’s no-hit masterpiece.

· 2005 NLDS CLINCHER–18-INNINGS vs. ATL, October 9, 2005 – Chris Burke’s solo home run in the bottom of the 18th caps the Astros 7-6 victory in the longest game in postseason history.

· CRAIG BIGGIO’S 3,000TH HIT vs. COL, June 28, 2007 – Biggio entered three hits shy of the 3,000 hit milestone, then promptly collected five hits in the game and sparked the winning rally which ended with Carlos Lee’s walk-off grand slam!

From the Colt .45s in Colt Stadium to the National League Pennant-winning Houston Astros in Minute Maid Park, Houston fans have flown across five decades of Astros baseball. To help commemorate the landmark 50th Anniversary, Major League Baseball Productions has opened the Film & Video Archives to marry remarkable archival footage with new, insightful interviews in ASTROS MEMORIES, a comprehensive and joyous tribute to half a century of Houston baseball. The team’s story can be told through the accomplishments of its legendary players and ASTROS MEMORIES salutes Jimmy Wynn, Jose Cruz, Nolan Ryan, Caesar Cedeno, and the “Killer Bees” — Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. Beyond individual heroics, this documentary also celebrates the 1980 and 1986 seasons as well as the magical 2004 and National League Pennant-winning 2005 seasons. The history makers also become the story tellers through exclusive interviews with Biggio, Ryan, Phil Garner, Art Howe, and Alan Ashby. From celebrated no-hitters and 3,000 hits to iconic heroes and magical moments this is 100% Houston baseball.

BONUS FEATURES

· Featurettes: “Astros No-hitters Under The Dome”, “Dierker’s Diary: ‘What Might Have Been’”, “Bob Aspromonte Home Run Story”, “Craig Biggio’s Biggest Night”, “Bob Watson Speech”, “Dierker’s Diary: ‘All-time Astros Team’”, “Houston Midsummer Classics”, “Nolan Ryan In The Gym”

Can’t wait to get my hands on this one!

Astros at 50 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Astros at 50

Posted on by
Reply

As many of you know, I’m a huge baseball fan. My team for good and bad is the Houston Astros. As a kid, we moved to Houston in 1978 and for whatever reason I became hooked. Re-locating to Austin in the late 90s didn’t diminish my enthusiasm for the team.

This season marks the 50th for the ‘Stros (nee Colt .45s) as a major league franchise. To commemorate this event, MLB Productions has produced the impressive looking 5 DVD box set: Astros 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition

Quote:
From the Lone Star State’s first MLB franchise – the expansion Colt .45s of the early ‘60s — and the erection of the Astrodome, the world’s first multi-purpose domed stadium to the roster of baseball greats that made their names as ‘Stros, the Houston Astros have long instilled a boundless sense of pride in their fan base deep in the heart of Texas. As the team celebrates its milestone 50th Anniversary in 2012, Major League Baseball Productions and A+E Networks Home Entertainment invite Astros fans to join in the festivities with the five-DVD set, HOUSTON ASTROS 50TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION. Saluting four classic full television broadcasts with ESSENTIAL GAMES OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS, plus the all-new, feature-length documentary special, ASTROS MEMORIES, this commemorative set is a must-have for Astros fans everywhere!

From the roof-raising euphoria of the Astrodome to the open-air adoration of Minute Maid Park, relive the cascade of emotions and joys as four ESSENTIAL GAMES OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS are presented on DVD for the first time!

· 1981 NOLAN RYAN’S 5TH NO-HITTER vs. LAD, September 26, 1981 – In his second season with the Astros, Ryan became the first pitcher to throw five career no-hitters.

· 1986 MIKE SCOTT’S NO-HITTER CLINCHES DIVISION vs. SF, September 25, 1986 – The Astros punctuate their 25th season’s celebration with the double delight of clinching the division behind Scott’s no-hit masterpiece.

· 2005 NLDS CLINCHER–18-INNINGS vs. ATL, October 9, 2005 – Chris Burke’s solo home run in the bottom of the 18th caps the Astros 7-6 victory in the longest game in postseason history.

· CRAIG BIGGIO’S 3,000TH HIT vs. COL, June 28, 2007 – Biggio entered three hits shy of the 3,000 hit milestone, then promptly collected five hits in the game and sparked the winning rally which ended with Carlos Lee’s walk-off grand slam!

From the Colt .45s in Colt Stadium to the National League Pennant-winning Houston Astros in Minute Maid Park, Houston fans have flown across five decades of Astros baseball. To help commemorate the landmark 50th Anniversary, Major League Baseball Productions has opened the Film & Video Archives to marry remarkable archival footage with new, insightful interviews in ASTROS MEMORIES, a comprehensive and joyous tribute to half a century of Houston baseball. The team’s story can be told through the accomplishments of its legendary players and ASTROS MEMORIES salutes Jimmy Wynn, Jose Cruz, Nolan Ryan, Caesar Cedeno, and the "Killer Bees" — Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. Beyond individual heroics, this documentary also celebrates the 1980 and 1986 seasons as well as the magical 2004 and National League Pennant-winning 2005 seasons. The history makers also become the story tellers through exclusive interviews with Biggio, Ryan, Phil Garner, Art Howe, and Alan Ashby. From celebrated no-hitters and 3,000 hits to iconic heroes and magical moments this is 100% Houston baseball.

BONUS FEATURES

· Featurettes: “Astros No-hitters Under The Dome”, “Dierker’s Diary: ‘What Might Have Been’”, “Bob Aspromonte Home Run Story”, “Craig Biggio’s Biggest Night”, “Bob Watson Speech”, “Dierker’s Diary: ‘All-time Astros Team’”, “Houston Midsummer Classics”, “Nolan Ryan In The Gym”

Can’t wait to get my hands on this one!

The Raven Concludes

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As part of his ongoing column at New Pulp, Alan J. Porter serialized our story “The Raven: Nameless Here For Evermore,” scheduled to appear in the not yet published Protectors anthology. The conclusion ran today.

Quote:
Then she saw the man in the chair. She couldn’t see his face, but she recognized the clothes. Despite her best intentions, she screamed his name. “Edwin!”

She never recalled actually moving to his side, she was just there. Holding his blooded head in her arms, sobbing and saying his name over and over, as if by some miracle it would bring him back to life. How long she continued with this fruitless ritual was also lost to memory. It may have been minutes, but most likely it was just a few seconds. “Who?” she demanded, almost screaming the question.

Read more at New Pulp.

The Raven Concludes was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

The Raven Concludes

Posted on by
Reply

As part of his ongoing column at New Pulp, Alan J. Porter serialized our story "The Raven: Nameless Here For Evermore," scheduled to appear in the not yet published Protectors anthology. The conclusion ran today.

Quote:
Then she saw the man in the chair. She couldn’t see his face, but she recognized the clothes. Despite her best intentions, she screamed his name. “Edwin!”

She never recalled actually moving to his side, she was just there. Holding his blooded head in her arms, sobbing and saying his name over and over, as if by some miracle it would bring him back to life. How long she continued with this fruitless ritual was also lost to memory. It may have been minutes, but most likely it was just a few seconds. “Who?” she demanded, almost screaming the question.

Read more at New Pulp.

Books received 4/4/2012 Part I

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Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Unterzakhn
by Leela Corman

Promo copy:

A mesmerizing, heartbreaking graphic novel of immigrant life on New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century, as seen through the eyes of twin sisters whose lives take radically and tragically different paths.

For six-year-old Esther and Fanya, the teeming streets of New York’s Lower East Side circa 1910 are both a fascinating playground and a place where life’s lessons are learned quickly and often cruelly. In drawings that capture both the tumult and the telling details of that street life, Unterzakhn (Yiddish for “Underthings”) tells the story of these sisters: as wide-eyed little girls absorbing the sights and sounds of a neighborhood of struggling immigrants; as teenagers taking their own tentative steps into the wider world (Esther working for a woman who runs both a burlesque theater and a whorehouse, Fanya for an obstetrician who also performs illegal abortions); and, finally, as adults battling for their own piece of the “golden land,” where the difference between just barely surviving and triumphantly succeeding involves, for each of them, painful decisions that will have unavoidably tragic repercussions.

I reviewed this back in February. The best graphic novel I’ve read so far this year.

Quote:
Corman’s absorbing book follows the lives of twin sisters Esther and Fanya, the children of Russian Jews, on the teeming streets of New York’s Lower East Side. Beginning in 1909 when the six-year-old girls work alongside their seamstress mother, the tale follows each of their divergent lives. The young Fanya attracts the attention of the “lady-doctor” Bronia, who performs illegal abortions. Bronia teaches her how to read and mentors Fanya in the medical arts. Corman’s evocative portrayal of health care for women in those pre-Roe V. Wade days effectively showcases why abortion must remain legal. Esther finds paying work for a woman who runs a burlesque theater and a whorehouse. While there, she learns about and eventually relies on her sexuality to find her place in society. Unterzakhn (Yiddish for “Underthings”) follows the twins throughout their lives, chronicling their loves, successes, failures, and losses, while exploring the roles — sexual, intellectual, familial — of women. Corman produces an exceptional portrayal, deserving of much laudatory praise and acclaim, of immigrant and Jewish life on par with the works of Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman.

The McSweeney’s Book of Politics and Musicals
Edited by Chris Monks

Promo copy:

Ever since John Hancock broke into song after signing the Declaration of Independence, American politics and musicals have been inextricably linked. From Alexander Hamilton’s jazz hands, to Chester A. Arthur’s oboe operas, to Newt Gingrich’s off-Broadway sexscapade, You, Me, and My Moon Colony Mistress Makes Three, government and musical theater have joined forces to document our nation’s long history of freedom, partisanship, and dancers on roller skates pretending to be choo choo trains.

To celebrate this grand union of entrenched bureaucracy and song, the patriots at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (“The Iowa Caucus of humor websites”) offer this riotous collection (peacefully assembled!) of monologues, charts, scripts, lists, diatribes, AND musicals written by the noted fake-musical lyricist, Ben Greenman. On the agenda are…

Fragments from PALIN! THE MUSICAL

Barack Obama’s Undersold 2012 Campaign Slogans

Atlas Shrugged Updated for the Financial Crisis

Your Attempts to Legislate Hunting Man for Sport Reek of Class Warfare

A 1980s Teen Sex Comedy Becomes Politically Uncomfortable

Donald Rumsfeld Memoir Chapter Title Or German Heavy Metal Song?

Noises Political Pundits Would Make If They Were Wild Animals and Not Political Pundits

Ron Paul Gives a Guided Tour of His Navajo Art Collection

Classic Nursery Rhymes, Updated and Revamped for the Recession, As Told to Me By My Father

And much more!

Angels of Vengeance
by John Birmingham
Cover by Mike Bryan

Promo copy:

When an inexplicable wave of energy slammed into North America, millions died. In the rest of the world, wars erupted, borders vanished, and the powerful lost their grip on power. Against this backdrop, with a conflicted U.S. president struggling to make momentous decisions in Seattle and a madman fomenting rebellion in Texas, three women are fighting their own battles—for survival, justice, and revenge.

Special agent Caitlin Monroe moves stealthily through a South American jungle. Her target: a former French official now held prisoner by a ruthless despot. To free the prisoner, Caitlin will kill anyone who gets in her way. And then she will get the truth about how a master terrorist escaped a secret detention center in French Guadeloupe to strike a fatal blow in New York City.

Sofia Peiraro is a teenage girl who witnessed firsthand the murder and mayhem of Texas under the rule of General Mad Jack Blackstone. Sofia might have tried to build a life with her father in the struggling remnants of Kansas City—if a vicious murder hadn’t set her on another course altogether: back to Texas, even to Blackstone himself.

Julianne Balwyn is a British-born aristocrat turned smuggler. Shopping in the most fashionable neighborhood of Darwin, Australia—now a fantastic neo-urban frontier—Jules has a pistol holstered in the small of her lovely back. She is playing the most dangerous game of all: waiting for the person who is hunting her to show his face—so she can kill him first.

Three women in three corners of a world plunged into electrifying chaos. Nation-states struggling for their survival. Immigrants struggling for new lives. John Birmingham’s astounding new novel—the conclusion to the series begun in Without Warning and After America—is an intense adventure that races from the halls of power to shattered streets to gleaming new cities, as humanity struggles to grasp its better angels—and purge its worst demons.

Part II

Books received 4/4/2012 Part I was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Books received 4/4/2012 Part I

Posted on by
Reply

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Unterzakhn
by Leela Corman

Promo copy:

A mesmerizing, heartbreaking graphic novel of immigrant life on New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century, as seen through the eyes of twin sisters whose lives take radically and tragically different paths.

For six-year-old Esther and Fanya, the teeming streets of New York’s Lower East Side circa 1910 are both a fascinating playground and a place where life’s lessons are learned quickly and often cruelly. In drawings that capture both the tumult and the telling details of that street life, Unterzakhn (Yiddish for “Underthings”) tells the story of these sisters: as wide-eyed little girls absorbing the sights and sounds of a neighborhood of struggling immigrants; as teenagers taking their own tentative steps into the wider world (Esther working for a woman who runs both a burlesque theater and a whorehouse, Fanya for an obstetrician who also performs illegal abortions); and, finally, as adults battling for their own piece of the “golden land,” where the difference between just barely surviving and triumphantly succeeding involves, for each of them, painful decisions that will have unavoidably tragic repercussions.

I reviewed this back in February. The best graphic novel I’ve read so far this year.

Quote:
Corman’s absorbing book follows the lives of twin sisters Esther and Fanya, the children of Russian Jews, on the teeming streets of New York’s Lower East Side. Beginning in 1909 when the six-year-old girls work alongside their seamstress mother, the tale follows each of their divergent lives. The young Fanya attracts the attention of the "lady-doctor" Bronia, who performs illegal abortions. Bronia teaches her how to read and mentors Fanya in the medical arts. Corman’s evocative portrayal of health care for women in those pre-Roe V. Wade days effectively showcases why abortion must remain legal. Esther finds paying work for a woman who runs a burlesque theater and a whorehouse. While there, she learns about and eventually relies on her sexuality to find her place in society. Unterzakhn (Yiddish for "Underthings") follows the twins throughout their lives, chronicling their loves, successes, failures, and losses, while exploring the roles — sexual, intellectual, familial — of women. Corman produces an exceptional portrayal, deserving of much laudatory praise and acclaim, of immigrant and Jewish life on par with the works of Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman.

The McSweeney’s Book of Politics and Musicals
Edited by Chris Monks

Promo copy:

Ever since John Hancock broke into song after signing the Declaration of Independence, American politics and musicals have been inextricably linked. From Alexander Hamilton’s jazz hands, to Chester A. Arthur’s oboe operas, to Newt Gingrich’s off-Broadway sexscapade, You, Me, and My Moon Colony Mistress Makes Three, government and musical theater have joined forces to document our nation’s long history of freedom, partisanship, and dancers on roller skates pretending to be choo choo trains.

To celebrate this grand union of entrenched bureaucracy and song, the patriots at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (“The Iowa Caucus of humor websites”) offer this riotous collection (peacefully assembled!) of monologues, charts, scripts, lists, diatribes, AND musicals written by the noted fake-musical lyricist, Ben Greenman. On the agenda are…

Fragments from PALIN! THE MUSICAL

Barack Obama’s Undersold 2012 Campaign Slogans

Atlas Shrugged Updated for the Financial Crisis

Your Attempts to Legislate Hunting Man for Sport Reek of Class Warfare

A 1980s Teen Sex Comedy Becomes Politically Uncomfortable

Donald Rumsfeld Memoir Chapter Title Or German Heavy Metal Song?

Noises Political Pundits Would Make If They Were Wild Animals and Not Political Pundits

Ron Paul Gives a Guided Tour of His Navajo Art Collection

Classic Nursery Rhymes, Updated and Revamped for the Recession, As Told to Me By My Father

And much more!

Angels of Vengeance
by John Birmingham
Cover by Mike Bryan

Promo copy:

When an inexplicable wave of energy slammed into North America, millions died. In the rest of the world, wars erupted, borders vanished, and the powerful lost their grip on power. Against this backdrop, with a conflicted U.S. president struggling to make momentous decisions in Seattle and a madman fomenting rebellion in Texas, three women are fighting their own battles—for survival, justice, and revenge.

Special agent Caitlin Monroe moves stealthily through a South American jungle. Her target: a former French official now held prisoner by a ruthless despot. To free the prisoner, Caitlin will kill anyone who gets in her way. And then she will get the truth about how a master terrorist escaped a secret detention center in French Guadeloupe to strike a fatal blow in New York City.

Sofia Peiraro is a teenage girl who witnessed firsthand the murder and mayhem of Texas under the rule of General Mad Jack Blackstone. Sofia might have tried to build a life with her father in the struggling remnants of Kansas City—if a vicious murder hadn’t set her on another course altogether: back to Texas, even to Blackstone himself.

Julianne Balwyn is a British-born aristocrat turned smuggler. Shopping in the most fashionable neighborhood of Darwin, Australia—now a fantastic neo-urban frontier—Jules has a pistol holstered in the small of her lovely back. She is playing the most dangerous game of all: waiting for the person who is hunting her to show his face—so she can kill him first.

Three women in three corners of a world plunged into electrifying chaos. Nation-states struggling for their survival. Immigrants struggling for new lives. John Birmingham’s astounding new novel—the conclusion to the series begun in Without Warning and After America—is an intense adventure that races from the halls of power to shattered streets to gleaming new cities, as humanity struggles to grasp its better angels—and purge its worst demons.

Part II

Books received 4/4/2012 Part II

Posted on by
Reply

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Amped
by Daniel H. Wilson

Promo copy:

Technology makes them superhuman. But mere mortals want them kept in their place. The New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse creates a stunning, near-future world where technology and humanity clash in surprising ways. The result? The perfect summer blockbuster.

As he did in Robopocalypse, Daniel Wilson masterfully envisions a frightening near-future world. In Amped, people are implanted with a device that makes them capable of superhuman feats. The powerful technology has profound consequences for society, and soon a set of laws is passed that restricts the abilities—and rights—of “amplified” humans. On the day that the Supreme Court passes the first of these laws, twenty-nine-year-old Owen Gray joins the ranks of a new persecuted underclass known as “amps.” Owen is forced to go on the run, desperate to reach an outpost in Oklahoma where, it is rumored, a group of the most enhanced amps may be about to change the world—or destroy it.

Once again, Daniel H. Wilson’s background as a scientist serves him well in this technologically savvy thriller that delivers first-rate entertainment, as Wilson takes the “what if” question in entirely unexpected directions. Fans of Robopocalypse are sure to be delighted, and legions of new fans will want to get “amped” this summer.

Caine’s Law (Acts of Caine: Act of Atonement, Book 2)
by Matthew Stover
Cover by Nara Osga

Promo copy:

SOME LAWS YOU BREAK. SOME BREAK YOU.
AND THEN THERE’S CAINE’S LAW.

From the moment Caine first appeared in the pages of Heroes Die, two things were clear. First, that Matthew Stover was one of the most gifted fantasy writers of his generation. And second, that Caine was a hero whose peers go by such names as Conan and Elric. Like them, Caine was something new: a civilized man who embraced savagery, an actor whose life was a lie, a force of destruction so potent that even gods thought twice about crossing him. Now Stover brings back his greatest creation for his most stunning performance yet.

Caine is washed up and hung out to dry, a crippled husk kept isolated and restrained by the studio that exploited him. Now they have dragged him back for one last deal. But Caine has other plans. Those plans take him back to Overworld, the alternate reality where gods are real and magic is the ultimate weapon. There, in a violent odyssey through time and space, Caine will face the demons of his past, find true love, and just possibly destroy the universe.

Hey, it’s a crappy job, but somebody’s got to do it.

Atlantis Mystery: Blake & Mortimer, Vol. 12
by Edgar P. Jacobs

Promo copy:

Deep under Sao Miguel island, rumoured to be the last emerging part of Atlantis, Professor Mortimer has discovered samples of a mysterious radioactive metal. Could it be the Atlanteans’ legendary orichalcum? When he and his friend Blake set out on an expedition into the depths to find out, sabotage occurs in the form of their old opponent Olrik. And soon, all three will be embroiled in a power struggle far bigger in scope than they could have imagined.

This will be my first exposure to Blake & Mortimer and legendary artist Jacobs. I’m really looking forward to reading it.

Part I

Books received 4/4/2012 Part II was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Books received 4/4/2012 Part II

Posted on by
Reply

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Amped
by Daniel H. Wilson

Promo copy:

Technology makes them superhuman. But mere mortals want them kept in their place. The New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse creates a stunning, near-future world where technology and humanity clash in surprising ways. The result? The perfect summer blockbuster.

As he did in Robopocalypse, Daniel Wilson masterfully envisions a frightening near-future world. In Amped, people are implanted with a device that makes them capable of superhuman feats. The powerful technology has profound consequences for society, and soon a set of laws is passed that restricts the abilities—and rights—of "amplified" humans. On the day that the Supreme Court passes the first of these laws, twenty-nine-year-old Owen Gray joins the ranks of a new persecuted underclass known as "amps." Owen is forced to go on the run, desperate to reach an outpost in Oklahoma where, it is rumored, a group of the most enhanced amps may be about to change the world—or destroy it.

Once again, Daniel H. Wilson’s background as a scientist serves him well in this technologically savvy thriller that delivers first-rate entertainment, as Wilson takes the "what if" question in entirely unexpected directions. Fans of Robopocalypse are sure to be delighted, and legions of new fans will want to get "amped" this summer.

Caine’s Law (Acts of Caine: Act of Atonement, Book 2)
by Matthew Stover
Cover by Nara Osga

Promo copy:

SOME LAWS YOU BREAK. SOME BREAK YOU.
AND THEN THERE’S CAINE’S LAW.

From the moment Caine first appeared in the pages of Heroes Die, two things were clear. First, that Matthew Stover was one of the most gifted fantasy writers of his generation. And second, that Caine was a hero whose peers go by such names as Conan and Elric. Like them, Caine was something new: a civilized man who embraced savagery, an actor whose life was a lie, a force of destruction so potent that even gods thought twice about crossing him. Now Stover brings back his greatest creation for his most stunning performance yet.

Caine is washed up and hung out to dry, a crippled husk kept isolated and restrained by the studio that exploited him. Now they have dragged him back for one last deal. But Caine has other plans. Those plans take him back to Overworld, the alternate reality where gods are real and magic is the ultimate weapon. There, in a violent odyssey through time and space, Caine will face the demons of his past, find true love, and just possibly destroy the universe.

Hey, it’s a crappy job, but somebody’s got to do it.

Atlantis Mystery: Blake & Mortimer, Vol. 12
by Edgar P. Jacobs

Promo copy:

Deep under Sao Miguel island, rumoured to be the last emerging part of Atlantis, Professor Mortimer has discovered samples of a mysterious radioactive metal. Could it be the Atlanteans’ legendary orichalcum? When he and his friend Blake set out on an expedition into the depths to find out, sabotage occurs in the form of their old opponent Olrik. And soon, all three will be embroiled in a power struggle far bigger in scope than they could have imagined.

This will be my first exposure to Blake & Mortimer and legendary artist Jacobs. I’m really looking forward to reading it.

Part I