Join the Cosmic Patrol at Free RPG Day this weekend!

Calling all Patrolmen! Come explore and protect the solar system in a retro space game this Saturday at the Source. I'm running "The Doomsday Protocols," a quick-start adventure for Cosmic Patrol by Catalyst Game Labs.

The particulars:

• 6pm - close at Source Comics & Games 
• Pre-generated male and female characters will be provided 
• BYO polyhedrals

Seal your space helmet and buckle your jet pack for some ray-blasting pulp adventures!

Flash Gordon movie in development!!!

It's happening! As in really happening. We've been left heartbroken before--like when Mummy director Stephen Sommers was the director of the moment, and poised to take the big screen reins. But the project lingered too long, then fizzled completely.

Now, it seems, 20th Century Fox is finally ready to make a new Flash Gordon movie a reality.

They've picked the right director, Matthew Vaughn has proven himself to a more than capable handler of well-known genre franchises, like when he rebooted The X-men. He's good with fast-paced action and ensemble casts. And his most recent film, Kingsman: The Secret Service was a huge success last year.

A recent report had quoted the last man to play Flash, Sam Jones, stating that a new movie would be a sequel. I really, really hope that's not true. I love the 1980 film. But its place in pop culture is firmly seated in camp. The Mike Hodges movie, the 70s animated series, the 50s live action series, and the old movie serials before them--they're all fantastic in their own way. It's time now for something new. But that doesn't mean we have to start from scratch.

I'm really hoping this is what we're in for:

A Flash that's full-on swashbucker...

A Dale that finally gets her due as a fully-realized character, with wit and wry humor of her own...

And swoopy rocketships...

And close encounters with strange beasts and weird technology...

The 2014 run of Flash by Dynamite comics with Jeff Parker (writer), Evan "Doc" Shaner (pencils) and Jordie Bellaire (colors) was one of the best iterations in years. A live action version of that run, or even something in the spirit of it, with Parker's snappy dialogue and Shaner's sublimely classic feel but still thoroughly modern. 

Vaughn would be wise to hire them--as well as Flash's other comic caretaker Jim Keefe--to get some perspective on handling the Mongoverse and its cast of characters. 

Parker and Shaner have done an incredible job with their run and Keefe had Flash for years in weekly and Sunday newspapers. Together they'd make a formidable creative team.

In any case, the keys to Flash's rocket cycle to the movies seem to be in good hands.

Yes Vultan--very much so!

More about Flash:

• News via Nerdist
• Flash Gordon turns 80 on Exonauts
• Space Opera's Champion, Flash Gordon, Turns 80 on io9.com

Coming soon: "Retro Raygun" tabletop mini game (Video)

I've long been a fan of Hydra Miniatures retro space figures--I've got several of their space ranger-y dudes. I even ordered a bunch of their War Rocket spaceships from the Source (say, that order never did come in...). That game has it's own rulebook for staging rocket-and-saucer style space battles a la Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. They're a smaller shop, who's work cannot be celebrated enough.

Earlier this month, they've announced their next tabletop game--a set of rules to go along with their character miniatures line. Here's a video preview:



So it sounds like the game will be more of a goal-oriented adventures, not so much "this army vs. that army" which sounds like a lot more fun to me.

While I wish there was a separate blog post to link to, they've put up an update on their main webpage (so this will be outdated as soon as they put up a new one). But you should go there now while you can and see the book layouts they've posted, plus a bunch of new mini designs.

Here's a few of their current Retro Raygun figure offerings:

Good, old-fashioned space pulp fun! Check out their full range of Retro Raygun miniatures.

UPDATE: Retro Raygun: Action Adventure in the Atomic Age is now available! 

Trove of retro scifi illustrations!

Looking for some gonzo space art to inspire your players at your next game? Those crafty devils over at Dark Roasted Blend have posted a space cruiser-worth of incredible covers of 50s British pulp adventure stories! This is just a sample:

If you're Pintrested, I've posted them on the Exonauts Retro SciFi board for easy sharing.

Enjoy!

Flash Gordon turns 80 today!

It was on January 7th, 1934 that Alex Raymond's FLASH GORDON first appeared in newspapers to the delight of pulp adventure fans and readers of funny pages. It should go with saying just how much Mr. Raymond's hero has influenced modern popular culture.

Whether he was reappearing throughout the years in his own strip, comic, TV show or movie serial or acting as the zeitgeist behind even bigger mythologies (*cough*, STAR WARS), the other-worldly escapades of Flash Gordon have given us decades of epic entertainment.

Happy Birthday Flash!

Click to embiggen. Image: King Features Syndicate 2014, all rights reserved.

To commemorate the occasion, Flash Gordon's publisher, King Features launched a new website www.flashgordon.com with comics from the most recent artist to steward Flash's newspaper appearances, Jim Keefe. 

Jim's been a fellow Twin Citian now for a number of years and I've been lucky enough to bump into him from time to time at local comic conventions. Besides being the nicest guy this side of Mingo City, he's an unabashed Gordon fan himself, with a real reverence for Raymond's original imaginings. 

From primeval monsters, to swashbuckling sword fights, and swooshing rocketships, to finned spacecraft, sleek cityscapes, and elaborate costumes--Keefe's Flash hearkens back to the early Raymond adventures and planetary romance themes. But he's also put his own unique spin on the Mongo universe, including updating a few characters.

From time to time, he's even turned the pencil work over to a few guest artists, including Al Williamson himself!

Longtime readers Exonauts, know that Flash looms large in my geek psyche. To kick off Flash Gordon day here on Exonauts, here's a few of my favorite renderings of Flash. I've noted artists/sources in the file names when known. Click to embiggen. 

Probably my favorite though is this one:

For more art, check out this Flash Gordon Pintrest board I put together. 

We'll have a little Flash Gordon Fest here on the blog throughout the month. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Check out Comic Kingdom's post on Flash's anniversary.

UPDATE 2: Jim Keefe has posted an excellent snapshot of Flash's career in comics, check it out!

YOUR MUST GET COMIC: BLACK SCIENCE!!

YOU GUYS! Remember when I told you about Black Science, Rick Remender's new weird science-horror comic? Well I picked up the first issue last week and it's awesome! It has everything you could want in a scifi pulp adventure. Here's a few quick snaps from my phone (sorry if the quality isn't great when enlarged):

Primitive fish folk riding land eels!

Ancient temples spewing eldritch energies!

Frog gods and the evil bullywugs who worship them!

Who hasn't mistakenly stumbled into a bullywug shaman lair and made a few new friends, am I right?

These are some of the wonderful splash pages from the book. The cover art by Matteo Scalera and Dean White is--to my eyes--evocative of those old pulp fantasy novels from the 70s. And there's more here to help fuel your RPG game:

• Cosmic Cthuluesque horror!
• Tragic consequences for practicing forbidden science!
• Hero loses initiative roll at least twice!
• Creative problem solving to get out of--not one, but two--jams!
• Dimension hopping gone awry not once, but twice!

Note: Black Science is rated "Mature".

Rick Remender returns to space comics with "Black Science"

One of my favorite wa-hoo, space comic creators Rick Remender (Fear Agent) is coming out with an all new sci-fi comic November 27. His stories tend to have a strong pulp influence and it looks like his latest titled Black Science will likewise cling to that mode. Remender is teaming up with artists Matteo Scalara and Dean White on what looks to be a gorgeous series...

(Click images to embiggen) 

Comic Book Resources did a Q&A with Remender, here's what you need to know about the Rickster's approach to writing:

CBR News: Rick, your body of work has been fairly pulpy, and it seems like a mode you've been really successful in. What do you love about the world of pulp meeting the world of Sci-Fi?

Rick Remender: The basic recipe I follow is taking a Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic and mixing it with true science and adult themes for a fully realized cast with identifiable motivations. I love to focus on wild ideas, and in a visual art form, such as comic books, it's mandatory to give the reader and artist a visual story. Lester Dent-style structure, pulpy sensibilities and classic Sci-Fi aesthetics deliver that when done right. This sensibility allows me to delve into big crazy ideas with a seedy underbelly, which I then decorate with fully realized characters with big hearts. When those things come together in the right balance I feel that's when I'm at my best.

I've always been drawn to science fiction with a touch of horror because it allows for an infinite amount of possible dilemmas for your characters, dilemmas that carry huge consequences, which is why I like to include a horror aspect. Peppering horrific fates throughout an adventure leaves you on pins and needles for the fate of the characters, which you hopefully have come to care for, and are rooting for.

The story itself is set to focus on a morally gray scientist, traveling parallel dimensions, who will come face-to-face with the consequences of his work. He sounds like the polar opposite of Heath Hudson, the gruff and slovenly, ray gun slinging protagonist from Fear Agent, Remender's previous space pulp series. It also sounds awesome!

Check out the full CBR interview with Rick Remender!

MTV Geek (now defunct) did a preview story with more images back in September.

UPDATE: CBR has just posted some new teasers. These look like they could be covers for some weird science horror RPG! (Click them to enlarge.)

Images: Comic Book Resources