Monthly Archives: October 2020

Review: “Johnny Phantasm in the Tales of New Detroit, 1977” (Riot Press, Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things fantastic and phantasmic! We have reason to believe that Johnny Phantasm artist and co-creator Patrick Thomas Parnell has been cozying up to the indie comics press as of late. In fact, we have inside information that indicates that The Splintering‘s own founder, Blake Worrell (aka “me”),

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“Baroque: Original Version” Releasing 12 November for Nintendo Switch; New Trailer Revealed

Japanese game developer Sting has announced that their Nintendo Switch port of Baroque: Original Version is scheduled to release in Japan on 12 November via the Switch eShop. It will be priced at 2,400 yen (approximately $23), but pre-orders and early adopters will get a 15% discount on the game, making it 2,032 yen (approximately $19). Baroque: Original Version is

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Crowdfunding Review: “Zombie-Sama!” (Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things dark and dystopian! Today, we’re featuring yet another “Crowdfunding Review” of an independent comic book, this time it’s Zombie-Sama! written by Billy Tucci and featuring illustrations by John Broglia and colors by Paul Little. For those of you not familiar with the crowdfunding review format, we

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Sit DOWN Sunday Comic Book News Livestream – 25 October Edition

On the latest installment of Sit DOWN Sunday (hosted on Patrick Thomas Parnell’s YouTube channel Riot Press Productions), The Splintering founder Blake Worrell got another chance to discuss recent comic book news with Parnell, and The Shepherd creator Dr. Andrea Molinari. This week, we discussed the future of online commerce, the latest on The Splintering’s Festival of Dread event, the

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Review: “FUBAR: Empire of the Rising Dead” (Alterna Comics, Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things unsightly and undead! Today we’re featuring FUBAR: Empire of the Rising Dead, a black and white horror anthology published by Alterna Comics. Published in 2012, Empire of the Rising Dead is the second in the FUBAR series, which features a collection of war-themed zombie tales. Each

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Jonathan Thompson Preps “Burn Residue” for Kickstarter

Independent comic book creator Jonathan Thompson is hard at work prepping a crowdfunding campaign for his next project, Burn Residue, for launch via Kickstarter. Written by Thompson (Commander of Space Station Zed) and featuring artwork by Rossano Piccioni, Burn Residue is described as “a dark hearted noir in the style of Ed Brubaker’s and Sean Phillips’ CRIMINAL” that tells a

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Horde Shooter “Hero Potential” Features Indie Comics Stars Cyberfrog, Cecil & the Jawbreakers

On Thursday, independent video game creator Harrison Bergeron launched a crowdfunding campaign for Hero Potential, an online multiplayer shooter featuring heroes from several independent comic books (as DLC), such as CyberFrog, Cash Grab’s Cecil, and the Jawbreakers. Of course, there are plenty of original heroes in the base game, too. At the moment, the Steam PC release is the focus,

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Crowdfunding Review: “The Deep Dark” (Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things dark and dystopian! Today, we’re featuring yet another “Crowdfunding Review” of an independent comic book, this time it’s The Deep Dark written by Gilbert Deltrez and illustrated by J.L. Giles.* For those of you not familiar with the crowdfunding review format, we grade a crowdfunding campaign

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Top Ten Halloween-Themed Stages in Retro Games (Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to The Splintering‘s Festival of Dread, our month-long celebration of all things that go bump in the night! Today, we’re going to highlight some of the best Halloween and horror-themed stages in retro games. It’s important to note that this list will not include stages from games that are fully horror inspired like Castlevania or Ghouls N’ Ghosts,

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The IP Lawyers Known as “Atari” Reveal the “Mini Pong Jr.” Handheld

The small group of intellectual property lawyers who call themselves Atari has announced the Mini Pong Jr., a portable handheld version of the original Pong arcade game. The Mini Pong Jr. features both competitive two-player and single-player modes, complete with ten different AI settings (sounds like difficulty levels to me). Here’s the official announcement trailer for the Mini Pong Jr,

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Spotlight: New HARDCOVER Edition of “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and Bernie Wrightson (Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things gory and gruesome! For those of you looking for a classic horror novel to celebrate the Festival of Dread, look no further than the newest edition of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein featuring reproductions of Bernie Wrightson’s classic illustrations.  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was original published in

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COVID Cramping Your Halloween? The Public Domain Comes to the Rescue (Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things dark and disturbing! Let’s face it – there’s sadly fewer Halloween activities to enjoy in 2020. Some venues are completely shut down, and many people are still not working at the levels that they are used to. It therefore goes without saying that “recreational spending” is

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In Memorium: Marvel Comics Inker and World War II Veteran Joe Sinnott

This past June, the family of Joe Sinnott announced that the legendary Marvel Comics inker had passed away. Sinnott was born on 16 October, 1926, so we’ve chosen to commemorate his life on what would have been his 94th birthday. Joe Sinnott was born the sixth of seven children in Saugerties, New York. After serving in the U.S. Navy during

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Cosplay feature: Capcom’s “Darkstalkers” (Festival of Dread Special)

There’s few game series that scream Halloween as much as Capcom’s Darkstalkers series. Featuring characters inspired by horror mainstays such as Dracula, the Mummy, and zombies, Darkstalkers has a fun take on whatever your Halloween fancy may call for. As with many other Capcom arcade fighters, the roster of Darkstalkers and its sequels (Night Warriors and Vampire Savior) features expressive

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Review: “A Murder of Scarecrows” (Caliber Comics, Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things ghastly and ghoulish! Today we’re getting into the spirit of the season with A Murder of Scarecrows, an 80-page graphic novel first published by Caliber Comics in 2011. In the years before the American Revolution, the seeds of rebellion were being planted. Local colonists are becoming

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Is Tim Lee Olson’s “Melvin” the “Ultimate Action Comic?”

Aspiring comic book creator Tim Lee Olson has been prepping his upcoming project Melvin for quite some time. Inspired by the style of the mid-90s, Olson developed quite a passion for comic book artwork. Since then, he’s honed his skills and begun crafting Melvin as a sci-fi fantasy book which Olson boastingly refers to as the “ultimate action comic EVER!!!”

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“War Party” Creator Justin Murphy Talks Horror, History, and Werewolves (Interview – Festival of Dread Special)

Earlier in October, independent comic book creator Justin Murphy launched an Indiegogo campaign for War Party, a six-issue comic book miniseries about supernatural lycanthropes in Colonial America. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to discuss his War Party campaign which is still available to support here. As always, the answers below are represented as closely to “as written” as possible

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“Blood Realm” Creator Robert Geronimo Unleashes “WIREHEAD” on an Unsuspecting World

On Tuesday, independent comic book creator Robert Geronimo launched a crowdfunding campaign for WIREHEAD, an all-new, 80-page horror graphic novel. Written by Geronimo (Blood Realm) and featuring illustrations by Michael O’Shea (It Came Out on a Wednesday) and letters by Wes Locher (Red Koi), WIREHEAD is inspired by the slasher tales of the 1980s, such as Halloween and Friday the

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Western Release of PS4 Brawler “Uppers” Cancelled; Still Coming to PC

Late last week, publishers XSEED and Marvelous announced that their 3D brawling game Uppers will be headed to Steam PC on 21 October. In addition to the standard edition priced at $29.99, there will also be a Digital Deluxe Edition that includes a digital art book and a 46-track soundtrack for $39.99. Keen readers of The Splintering may recall that

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Backlog Review: “Night Slashers” (Switch/Arcade, Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to The Splintering‘s Festival of Dread, our month-long celebration of all things hideous and horrid! Today, we’re going to review a lesser-remembered arcade beat-em-up now available on the Nintendo Switch, Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Night Slashers. Originally released in 1993 by Data East, Night Slashers is an arcade brawler for up to 3 players. While the early 90s was

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Sit DOWN Sunday Comic Book News Livestream – 11 October Edition

On the latest installment of Sit DOWN Sunday (hosted on Patrick Thomas Parnell’s YouTube channel Riot Press Productions), The Splintering founder Blake Worrell got another chance to discuss recent comic book news with Parnell, and The Shepherd creator Dr. Andrea Molinari. This week, we discussed the future of online commerce, the latest on The Splintering’s Festival of Dread event, Patrick’s

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Review: “Undead Border: Year Zero” (656 Comics, Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to the Festival of Dread, The Splintering‘s month-long celebration of all things deadly and disturbing! My attitude towards zombie stories resembles Indiana Jones’ attitude toward snakes.  With that bias in mind, reviewing an anthology of zombie stories like Undead Border: Year Zero seems antithetical, but good storytelling surpasses inherent biases. Please keep that in mind as you review

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Exact Bloody, Monstrous Revenge in “The Kill Journal”

Earlier this week, the independent comic creation team of Adam Lawson and Raymund Bermudez launched a crowdfunding campaign for The Kill Journal, a gritty horror book featuring ultraviolence reminiscent of grindhouse cinema. Written by Lawson (The Eighth) and featuring artwork by Bermudez (Wolverine), The Kill Journal is an 88-page horror graphic novel that features a unique, limited-edition leather cover. Here’s

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Backlog Review: “Claire: Extended Cut” (PS4, Vita, PC, Festival of Dread Special)

Welcome back to The Splintering‘s Festival of Dread event, our month-long celebration of all things evil and eerie! And hoo-boy, do we have some great evil to discuss today, because we’re going to take a look at Claire: Extended Cut for the PS4 and PS Vita, an atmospheric adventure puzzle game that many might call the most terrifying thing of

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