Nonplayer Might Head To Kickstarter -- Do You Care Anymore To Actually Support It?

I was a huge supporter of Nonplayer when it came out. Enough that I even tracked down Nate Simpson to do an interview with him on a site I used to work for (search Talking 'Nonplayer' with Nate Simpson to read the article). The thing is that the second issue became terribly delayed and then Simpson was in an accident. Still not a lot of details on that and how it actually effected the book, but it's his personal life so we'll respect that. It didn't stop Hollywood from optioning the movie right though.

Now, Simpson has announced on his blog that he's working out the details to take the project to Kickstarter. The problem I have is that based on what he's saying the project has suddenly gotten much bigger, decades bigger in fact. When I interviewed him the series was supposed to be self contained and range from six to seven issue. Now he's talking about hardcover for ever two issues and that if he were to quit his job he'd need to make up a ton of money. I guess Hollywood options don't go as far as they once did huh?

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Retro Review: Nonplayer #1

A retro review is when I basically take a review that I wrote for my previous site (ask me in the comments) and copy and paste it here. They're still very good books worth checking out, but it's been a while since the review had some attention. Today we have Nonplayer #1; a book that I heavily supported upon release that has fallen behind. With all of the movie talk, I decided now was a good time to bring it back out.

It’s been a while since I started off a review talking about the art of a book, but that’s exactly where I will begin with Nonplayer. The pencil’s and color are breath-taking. They are so beautiful that the story and dialog become almost an annoyance while reading it. The different character designs and just the designs in general, are very cool and a lot different than most comics. The coloring gives the book a very realistic look with perfectly colored forest canopies and a very animated look to it. Think Spirited Away, but more so for adults.

So what’s this book about? Well it opens with a Scout on a Dinosaur-type horse riding ahead from its troops to make sure that the path is clear. From there it pans to a huge Elephant-esque creature carrying a King and his Queen. The King tells the Queen that he had to kill one of his best soldiers to defend her honor. The Soldier claimed that he heard noises from her the night before and then saw something un-natural leave the tent. From there we see two characters plotting an attack on the caravan of soldiers. They speak as if they are already defeated and that the attack is a suicide mission. They also speak in a manner that implies that it’s just a game to them.

They attack the troop and bring down the King and Queen’s transport. The Queen is knocked out and the King must drag her from the wreckage. One of the characters (a red headed girl) goes to town on the troops cutting them down until the King becomes involved. Her companion, an Elf, joins the battle and saves her from an attack from behind. Eventually, both characters die and they are transported back to their hub. The red head then leaves that hub and wakes up in the real world. A game within a game, if you will.

I’m going to take a bold guess that the “non-playable characters” are actually real and that when players go into their world they’re actually killing people and don’t even know it. Even if I’m wrong this book was pretty damn good. All the pieces aren’t there for the story yet, but writer/artist Nate Simpson does what a first issue should by establishing the setting and world for the story to happen in. The “game” is in a Lord of the Rings-esque setting, but the real world is a futuristic setting full of trash and robots.

In general this book has an interesting mix of action and story with that one big question looming in the air… what’s real and what isn’t? The story isn’t as strong as the art, but I think that the visual storytelling makes the book more than worth it to pick up. If Nate Simpson isn’t already being scouted by other companies, he will be by the time this series is finished. Also, if you like WOW you should probably just get this book for that reason alone.

Score: 4/5


Writer/Artist: Nate Simpson
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: April, 2011

Guess What Sucks? Nonplayer For The Big Screen

Nate Simpson's Nonplayer is becoming a movie. Jane Goldman's (Kick-Ass, X-Men: FC) is doing the writing and Kevin (me) is taking care of the not giving a shit.

The story follows a young woman who escapes from her drab life into an online fantasy world. "It’s futuristic, it’s incredible," Goldman enthuses about the story, which is set in a distant future.

Source: IndieWire

Here's What Everyone Is Talking About In Comics

I just don't have the time today to make a bunch of mini news post so we're just dumping it all into one happy bag of crap. Why crap? Because most of what everyone is talking about is crap. Let's get the crap going.

Bleeding Cool Ruins Dark Horse Announcement of New Conan Team

Yup, the news organization that doesn't understand that they suck the joy out of special announcements has announced that the new creative team for Conan is Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. Frankly this would have been awesome as hell to hear with a bunch of similar minded people in oh about two weeks when DH will officially announce it. The Demo team probably had a lot of free time now that DC has regressed back to 90's style comic books. Oh well another awesome announcement ruined by the guys who always want to shout, "First!"

Source: Bleeding Cool

Dan Didio Says "Crisis What?" Over The Weekend

I think Bleeding Cool broke this story too, but it could have been anyone of Dan Didio's Facebook friends that spread the news too so we'll just credit the Internet for this one. Basically Didio said that in the new DCnU continuum that no Crisis ever happened. Hopefully this doesn't give them the idea that fans want another one to happen since that brand is basically dead and leaves a foul taste in people's mouths.Didio basically admitted that the whole thing was to convoluted to expect writers and creative teams to follow, Here's my thoughts... WHY THE FUCK WAS THIS EVEN ON THE TABLE! Seriously what the hell were they thinking even considering this to be apart of the history? It's bad enough we still have all the shit in Batman's life and some of the shit in Green Lantern's life, but they actually wanted the Crisis' involved? Fuck me that's stupid. I imagine the conversation went like this:

Dan

"Hey Guys, let's start the entire DCU over and include the Crisis Saga in it!"

Everybody Else

"But Dan, this is a chance for a fresh start. No more jacked up continuum to worry about and finally the fans will get off our ass!"

Dan

"Nah, we can do it. I can't bare the thought of losing the ending to Final Crisis. You know where Superman defeats some evil (that I still don't quite understand) with a single note of a song."

Blank stares from the room.

Dan

"You know what loose it, better yet I'll tell everyone on Facebook."

Nonplayer #2 Delayed Due To Accident That Happened Two Weeks Ago...

Let me just say that I'm a fan of Nonplayer so much so that I was probably the first person to interview Nate Simpson about the book. A few weeks ago he apparently was in an accident and I'm glad that he's okay and recovering, but for some reason the delay for issue #2 of Nonplayer is being pinned on this accident from a few weeks ago. Now let me point out that the first issue came out in March of this year. Let's do the math and all agree that there is no way that this accident delayed the book initially. Sure it's stopping him from finishing it now, but there ain't no way, no how that it stopped it the other six months. Also I know that the movie rights were already picked up and at this rate the movie will be out first. Call me heartless, but I like people to accept responsibility for their tardiness and end up like Mark Millar, Jeph Leob, Kevin Smith, Damon Lindelof, J. Michael Strczynski and really the list goes on and on.

Source: Multiversity

I Will Read This Marvel Book

Rick Remender is apparently one of Marvel's next "Architects" as he's crafting his own story-line running through... something. Frankly I don't know what the hell is going on at Marvel as they just have too many fucking books out. But this one... I'm reading. Also, unless its Future Foundation they need to stop saying "Foundation" because at first I thought there were five new FF books.