Pinnacle Entertainment Group and Visionary Comics have released a digital edition of The Cackler graphic novel at DriveThruComics.com!

The Cackler is an ancient Harrowed in search of a very particular blood relative for a nefarious and mysterious ritual that could change the world of Deadlands forever!

2016: Downs and Ups and More of Both

2016? It was a year of ups and downs, with the ups very, very up but some of the downs pretty far down, as well. It was a year in which a lot of personal heroes passed on, including my older brother Michael. It was a year in which a turbulent election roiled a lot of uncomfortable currents around my country.

On the other hand, there were definite high points, worthy of celebration, and that’s what I’ll focus on here, in more-or-less chronological order.

Pinnacle Entertainment has expanded the Deadlands Noir setting with two new fiction eBooks, Tenement Men by Shane Hensley and Blood & Roses by John Goff, both are available now at DriveThruFiction.com.

Hensley also has a new thriller tale that is not related to the Deadlands setting, called Texter, available in eBook formats.

C. Edward Sellner is the Chief Creative Officer for Visionary Comics, having launched the studio in 2006. Having embraced the digital publishing revolution several years ago, Visionary is currently one of the largest digital publishing houses in the comics industry.

We sat down with Mr. Sellner to talk about comics in general and the Deadlands license in particular.

You can’t keep a good game down. Deadlands has been around for over 15 years. It’s gone through two editions, a d20 version, and two Savage World editions. It’s spawned spin-off games ranging from sequels like Hell on Earth and Lost Colony to acclaimed CCGs like Doomtown. The game recently returned to Savage Worlds for the line’s budget minded Explorer Editions. The Marshall’s Handbook is built for the brave soul looking to take his or her players on a tour of the Weird West. It’s built for fans of the setting that want to use the slimmed down Savage Worlds rules, which were born out of the original Deadlands rules.

Gaming has several kitchen sink style settings that mix and match strange elements for unique tastes. Shadowrun mixes dark future heists with high fantasy magic. RIFTS sets as many genres as possible at each other in a war over earth. Deadlands brings creaky steampunk machinery, gory 80’s horror movies, wire-fu, action horror and more to a Wild West time and setting. The West is a great setting for a game and Deadlands brings a lot of excellent flavor to the table. Deadlands Reloaded was recently re-released in a budget conscious Explorer’s Edition for Savage Worlds.

Deadlands Reloaded merges the classic setting with the mechanics of Savage Worlds. Savage Worlds started as The Great Rail Wars, a miniatures skirmish game for the setting. Since then, Savage Worlds has been hammered into one of the most prolific rules sets outside of d20. Coming back to Deadlands brings the setting full circle. The setting has spanned novels, a few attempts at a video game and a CCG that is very well regarded. The game even spawned spin-off games set in a post-apocalyptic future and exotic space frontier. The company even recently held a Kickstarter to fund and all new chunk of the settings set in 1930’s New Orleans.

Visionary Comics brings the weird west world of Deadlands to full-color life with a series of comics by a variety of artists and writers. Five different issues featuring five different main stories combine to give readers the full-bore Deadlands experience. Combining elements of the classic Western with Steampunk – a fairly natural fit, as it happens – and horror, Deadlands offers a unique experience to gamers. It was only natural that such a two-fisted, four-color setting would make the jump to a more visual medium – comics.

Visionary Comics and Pinnacle Entertainment Group are proud to present Deadlands, the critically acclaimed and fan favorite new comic series, now available at DriveThruComics.com. The work of masters such as Jeff Mariotte (Desperados), Brook Turner (Golly!), Ron Marz (Artifacts), Bart Sears (Conan), Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (Jonah Hex), Lee Moder (Shinku), David Gallaher, and Steve Ellis (High Moon) brings the Weird Western World of the Role Playing Game to the world of comics with style.

This collaboration of industry all-stars has created four brand new stories that delve deeply into the mystery and mayhem of Deadlands. Set against a backdrop of the Old West gone slightly weird, these stories range from the mad invention of The Devil’s Six Gun to the masterful horror of Death Was Silent. We are also excited to bring you, for the first time in one complete issue, The Kid: Origins; the backup story that ran through all four print editions of Deadlands from Visionary Creators C. Edward Sellner, Oscar Capristo, and Ale Aragon now collected together under an exclusive new cover. Telling the origin of the fearsome werewolf stalker Billy the Kid, this story sets the stage for the upcoming mini-series.

There are some games I appreciate for their simplicity. Between a day job, two kids, nurturing a media addiction, and writing, I still like to squeeze a game into my schedule. Saddle Sore is a game that can help make things fit a bit easier for Marshals with hectic timelines. This tidy 34 page book is chock full of adventures that happen “between adventures.” It’s a nifty little idea I’ve seen before in an article, Game Chef entry, or indie-rpg (I think the title was “Something Happened on the Way.” I’d love to know the answer to this mystery if anyone can help).

Deadlands, a mix of classic Western, science fiction and alternate history, has gone through a few changes and several editions in its 14-year history. A miniatures battle game and a pen-and-paper RPG of the Deadlands setting – the Wild West with magic and the supernatural in an alternate history timeline – have both been popular and successful, and last year a new addition has been added to the fold: a board game of the Deadlands world, produced by Twilight Creations.

Deadlands: The Battle for Slaughter Gulch pits two to six players against each other in a struggle for control of a small town. Each player leads one of the factions in town: The Agency (think precursor to the Secret Service), The Texas Rangers, The Blessed (Missionaries bringing the Good Word to the uncharted West), Hucksters (spell-slinging dudes from back East), Shamans, and Mad Scientists.

Twilight Creations, Inc., the publishers of the popular Zombies!!! Board game, has reached an agreement with Pinnacle Entertainment Group to create a board game from their award-winning, best-selling Deadlands property.

The game, to be designed by Kerry and Todd Breitenstein of Twilight Creations with input from Shane Hensley, the creator of Deadlands, is set for initial release in June. “This will be one of the largest releases we have ever done,” said Mr. Breitenstein. “We really love the Deadlands world and we hope it shows in the final product.”

We’re happy to announce three new products will be available at GenCon!

Slipstream: Beyond the black holes lies the Slipstream, a pocket universe of shattered worlds, desperate aliens, and savage monsters. Ruling over the shattered isles is the diabolical Queen Anathraxa, who some say is close to finding a way to escape this interstellar prison. Strap on your rocket pack, charge your ray gun, and prepare to blast off into the the most wild and exotic Savage Setting yet—the Slipstream!