MEGA-CITY ONE – A VAST, NIGHTMARISH FUTURE METROPOLIS BUILT ON TOP OF THE POLLUTED CITIES THAT ONCE POPULATED THE EASTERN SEABOARD OF THE UNITED STATE. The forgotten Undercity is now a lawless refuge for unwanted outcasts from the ‘Big Meg’ – mutants, monsters and escaped criminals all struggle to survive on the streets of old Manhattan.

A chemical spill in the Undercity has spawned a race of super-strong lycanthropes, all desperate to get above ground and feast on the flesh of Mega-City One’s citizens. Things could get hairy, but thankfully Judge Dredd is on the case!

Hey, you got Zombies in my Frankenstein!

In the midst of an undead apocalypse, one scientist tries to sustain the human race by cloning himself (again.) Unfortunately, things don’t work out exactly as planned. But then, do they ever?

In Last Man Standing, writer Monica Valentinelli and artist Josie Pi Grant do a modern twist on the first, great literary zombie. The digital download includes a BONUS page from “Monsters and the Monsters Who Make Them,” a mini-series written by James McGee and illustrated by Alex Cormack.

Pinnacle Entertainment Group and Visionary Comics have reached agreement with Tor Books for the publication of all-new, original prose novels set in the world of the popular roleplaying game Deadlands. The deal calls for three novels, with an initial lineup of authors that includes New York Times bestselling, award-winning Jonathan Maberry and Jeff Mariotte.

The novel line is an exciting step in the expansion of the Deadlands world. Visionary Comics has already successfully launched the property as digital comics available at DriveThruComics.com, and C. Edward Sellner, chief creative officer for Visionary, said, “We’re very excited to be bringing Deadlands to such a publishing powerhouse. It’s our first move into non-comics media, and the people at Tor have been fantastic to work with. I have no doubt the fans will enjoy the results.”

In Mouse Guard, mice struggle to live safely and prosper among all of the world’s harsh conditions and predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed. They are not simply soldiers that fight off intruders; rather, they are guides for commonmice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden mouse village to another. The Guard patrol borders, find safeways and paths through dangerous territories and treacherous terrain, watch weather patterns, and keep the mouse territories free of predatory infestation. They do so with fearless dedication so that they might not just exist, but truly live.

DriveThruComics.com has over 400 FREE digital comics available now from dozens of publishers including Top Cow, Archaia Entertainment, Moonstone, and more!

Dozens of publishers, including a number of independent creators from all over the world have offered a selection of their digital comics available for instant download at DriveThruComics!

Check out all of the FREE digital comics available now at DriveThruComics.com!

A deadly plague developed during the brutal ‘Great Germ War’ has reached the futuristic metropolis of Mega-City Two, located on the West Coast of the USA. Charged with delivering a life-saving vaccine to the citizens of the disease-ridden city, Judge Dredd and a small crew of Judges, war droids and the lawbreaking biker, Spikes Harvey Rotten, must travel a thousand miles across the radioactive wasteland known as ‘the Cursed Earth.’

It is a near-impossible journey – hate-filled mutants, rampaging monsters and crazed war robots populate the hellish stretch of terrain. Many men have attempted to cross it and most have failed. But Judges are more than normal men and Judge Dredd is the best Judge there is!

Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga is available now at DriveThruComics.com!

THE BATTLE BEGINS ANEW

Simon Ambrose is a brilliant young professor at MIT. Always somewhat out of sync with the rest of the world, Simon is a man of science and does not put much stock in faith. When he discovers that he is the bastard son of the world’s greatest wizard Merlin, he is forced to put his skepticism aside and embrace a world of magic and the mayhem it embodies.

Science and magic collide in this introductory priced first issue! You can’t afford to miss this next step in a battle that has been waged for ages!

Son of Merlin #1 is available now at DriveThruComics.com!

Nothing is more horrifying to us than fighting hordes of shoppers to get that last book or spooky comic sitting on the shelf. While we specialize in bringing you atmospheric scares, today we’re going to save you from the madness, by bringing you a round-up of deals from sites like DriveThruRPG, DriveThruComics, Noble Knight Games, and more!

Want to get on Santa’s naughty nice list? If you find a good deal, add the link to the comments section for your fellow FlamesRising.com readers to get in on the savings…

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.

Black Watch Comics and ShadowCatcher Entertainment announce the release of The North End of the World, the historical fiction graphic novel written by Dave Hunsaker and illustrated by Christopher Shy (Soul Stealer, Pathfinder, Dead Space)

Enter the world of Edward S. Curtis, the man who will win immortality photographing and documenting the native peoples of North America…and meet the demons he will face as he travels to the north end of Vancouver Island to make his master work with the Kwakiutl Indians: the groundbreaking motion picture, In the Land of the Headhunters.

To properly review Dredd, I should share with you a couple of important niggly bits. First, we saw Dredd in the old-fashioned version, the two-dimensional format. Second, I haven’t read all the comic books so I’m not as well learned as others might be. Yes, yes I know. This is awful of me, to be sure, but he’s on my pile of “have to read soon.”

Going into the theater, I had heard the reviews. Flat characters. Boring storyline. Not much better than the original. Then, I skimmed comments and anecdotes from people I consider to be professionals. “Don’t listen to the critics,” they said. “Go see it. It’s what a comic book movie should be.”

With the success of converting such classic titles as “Quartermain,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Back to Mysterious Island” and “Juliet” into sold out comic book series, Bluewater has expanded further into the world of literature with “Dorian Gray.” The classic story about the literary world’s original bad boy gets a modern makeover in this interpretation.

“Dorian Gray” is and updated take from Bluewater based on the classic horror novel by Oscar Wilde. “Dorian Gray “#1 is now available. The thrilling adaptation was written by Darren G. Davis and Scott Davis (Wrath of the Titans/ Blackbeard Legacy). Federico De Luca (John Saul’s: God Project) illustrated both the interiors and covers for the title.

“Jack and Alice find themselves at an impasse when their client is found dead and their own personal demons start to emerge. The Raven continues his prowl and ominous signs accompany his return. Meanwhile, new players reveal themselves and war breaks out in the unsuspecting town.”

My 2011 pick for the Best Book You Never Heard of is back and it is bringing all the serial killing goodness back with it! While this issue seems to build more on the back story, which is what a second issue should do, it is still an awesome read.

Story: This well-drawn and well-written comic tells a condensed version of the life and rise to fame of one of the world’s best writers. Like other comics by the same company, they worked with the author to tell this story. It includes his life with his mother and brother, after his father left them. The situations that sparked his interest in the macabre. His life at college and his love for his family. His battle with drugs and depression and, of course, the terrible accident that almost cost him his life.

Shockers: While many fans of Stephen king are familiar with the details of important moments in his life, it is something of a shock to the system to see his accident in such visual detail. The artist did a great job bringing the pain and the gruesome reality of the situation to the forefront.

Writer Ron Marz has revitalized Witchblade and is the architect behind the acclaimed First Born and Broken Trinity crossover events. Now, joined by artist Lee Moder (First Born: Aftermath, Painkiller Jane), Marz debuts Dragon Prince, a five-part modern fantasy with equal doses of magic and martial arts mayhem.

Like a lot of teenagers, Aaron Chiang feels he’s never fit in, though he’s never known why. But all that changes when he learns the truth of his heritage: He is the Dragon Prince, last of his kind and heir to the bloodline of all dragons. Hunted to the brink of extinction by a secret society of wizards, dragonkind’s survival is now in Aaron’s hands.

The Dragon Prince series is now available at DriveThruComics.com!

Monarch Comics’ ongoing comic book series, Witch Hunter, is debuting the title’s letters column in Witch Hunter #9 (“The Scarlet Circle Network”), releasing in print format on April 30th (Monarchcomicslair.com and select stores) and shortly thereafter in digital format on DriveThruComics.com To get the magic word out about the column and generate letters for it, Monarch Comics has announced an ongoing letter-writing contest for Witch Hunter.

“This is the first issue in the five-issue story arc, “ODYSSEY”. The mission for Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers was straightforward: battle gun-toting apes at the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, prevent the emergence of the wrathful god, Shiva, and save a pregnant hostage. But the ancient scroll they find means this is just the beginning of something greater, a journey of discovery of who Z-Girl is and what part she is to play in the prophesied zombie apocalypse.”

DriveThruComics.com has partnered with over 30 comic book publishers to offer a $20 bundle of digital comics for charity. Proceeds of the charity bundle, which has a retail value of $95, will be donated to the Hero Initiative. Participating publishers include: Top Cow Productions, Archaia Entertainment, Moonstone Books, Dork Storm Press, and a number of creator-owned and small press publishers.

Filip Sablik, Top Cow’s publisher says, “Top Cow has been a proud supported of the Hero Initiative from the beginning, with Jim McLauchlin, the current director of the charity being a former editor-in-chief at the Cow. We’re always thrilled to support Hero in any way we can and it’s very cool to see DriveThruComics stepping up to participate in this way!”

MAKESHIFT MIRACLE is the hit comic from UDON Entertainment and creators Jim Zub and Shun Hong Chan! The first eagerly-anticipated collection arrives in May as a beautiful high quality hardcover graphic novel with a durable library-quality binding, perfect for teen readers and manga fans alike!

Makeshift Miracle is a new publishing initiative for UDON, best known for their licensed comics, manga, and art books. A completely original story, Makeshift Miracle has been serialized online at Makeshiftmiracle.com to an audience of more than 30,000 visitors since its launch! A steadily growing audience of fans of the work are building up intense interest for this title’s print release, with a built-in fanbase on the launch day!

One of the best things about my role at DriveThruComics.com is working with an amazing group of authors and artists that are producing some awesome comics. One of our publishers has a universe shattering series going on now and I recently had the chance to talk to Artifacts series author/architect Ron Marz about it. This interview was originally crafted for the DriveThruComics Newsletter, so I wanted to do things a little differently. I did some “crowd-sourcing” for questions from folks reading the series. I added those suggestions to my questions and fired them off to Ron.

Artifacts was originally a limited series that involves the bearers of 13 mythological items such as the Witchblade and The Darkness. Recently it was announced that Artifacts will continue past issue 13 and the affects on the Top Cow Universe will be lasting. Here Ron tells us a bit more about the series…