Missed Out On Free Conan Comic Day? Fret Not...

Conan of Cimmeria believed that Thulsa Doom’s evil had been banished forever, but the Atlantean necromancer’s dark power stirs once more and, if it cannot be stopped, the dead shall overtake the living! The Tyrant-King of Atlantis returns and all shall suffer, unless Conan and his brave allies can turn back the tide!

Did you miss out on the Conan The Barbarian offering on May 2's Free Comic Book Day?

Don't worry - publishers Titan Comics has you covered. The 24-page book is now available as a free, downloadable PDF direct from them, here.

Written by legendary Conan scribe Jim Zub, with art by Jesus Merino, the comic is a prelude to the next big Howardverse comic book crossover event, Tides of the Tyrant King, starting in the Autumn.

This year's event ties into the classic 1929 Robert E Howard pulp story Skull-Face, his take on the Sax Rohmer's popular Fu Manchu adventures that began in 1912.

Tides of the Tyrant King also features, from the original Skull-Face yarn, Soldier Stephen Costigan, cousin of my favourite Howard creation Sailor Steve Costigan.

Azumi (2003)

While I enjoy anime as much as the next geek, nothing can beat the sheer visceral thrill of live-action comic book adaptations.

Serialised in comic form since 1994, Azumi is the ultra-violent tale of a teenage girl raised, with nine young boys, in a hidden mountain retreat to form an elite cadre of assassins to restore peace to Japan by killing off warlords who make trouble.

The two-hour movie starts slowly, and at first I wasn't sure where it was going. Then once the 10 assassins were exposed to their "final test" before heading into the outside world to complete their mission, I began to appreciate what a brutally clever film this was going to be.

Obviously it helps that Azumi herself (Aya Ueto) is very easy on the eye and let's be honest to most geeks there are few things hotter - besides our significant others - than an Asian lady with a katana!

And, yes, there is a lot of blood - more than a Victorian slaughterhouse - although few actual graphic wounds (one severed arm and a couple of decapitations that I can recall) but the swordplay and creativity of the stunts distracts from the red stuff anyway.

Azumi and her cohorts are tasked with killing three particular warlords, but to get to their targets they have to carve their way through hordes of samurai, ninjas and bandits in a variety of inventive settings and, often, massively outnumbered.

Mix this in with some incredible characters - the stand-out being the effeminate psychopath Bijomaru Mogami (Jô Odagiri) - and a thought-provoking plot and Azumi surprised me by quickly rising to classic status.

Tackling honour, friendship and the cycle of violence, the film certainly doesn't preach, instead choosing to serve up its lessons with a heavy dose of tomato ketchup through its morally ambiguous protagonist constantly questioning the veracity of her mission, but finding her heritage impossible to ignore.

For those who love their chanbara, I cannot recommend Azumi highly enough.

Figuring Out My Mummy Issues

It's a definite truism - and a meme - that as you grow older people are less inclined to ask you your favourite dinosaur (it's a diplodocus, by the way) but I've realised the same is true for your favourite monster. Specifically the original Universal Monsters.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. Not sure exactly why. 

I'm pretty certain my friend, the author Charles R Rutledge would say Dracula, but I really had to put my thinking head on before it struck me which monster I'm most fascinated by.

The Mummy.

Although my favourite old Universal monster movie is, of course, the marvellous Bride of Frankenstein, the actual Bride is only really on-screen for around five minutes.

However, The Mummy is ubiquitous in films, comics, games etc. 

I even did a whole series of Show Me The Mummy movie reviews... and am planning a second such collection of write-ups in due course.

The Mummy was also a key antagonist in both issues of my DIY comic, Monster Mag, that I created as a youngling. For instance, in the first issue it easily defeated the Hulk! You can find issue one here and issue two here. 

From the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual, pg 72

And I've always been a fan of mummies as monsters in the old school Dungeons & Dragons games of my youth (really must bring them back at some point!).

There were some grand pyramid-themed dungeons in old issues of the Judges Guild magazines around at the time.

But all this has culminated in Rachel buying me a most incredible present the other day: the Ultimate Mummy action figure of Boris Karloff's portrayal in the the original 1932 film.

After thanking her profusely, I excitedly told her I now had an excuse to pick up the Ardath Bey figure and the sarcophagus accessory pack!

There is a rule (well, more of a guideline) in this house that my action figures are "tolerated" as long as they are not kept in their boxes, but put out on display.

However, at the moment, I'm so in awe of my Mummy figure that I can't bring myself to open it quite yet.

I also think I might have a new idea for a theme for my protracted castle tower project as well (inspired by the Egyptian Collection at Lord Carnarvon's Highclere Castle [aka Downtown Abbey])! 

Free Character Class For Free Comic Book Day

Superzero art by J.E. Shields

To celebrate Free Comic Book Day (and Comic Giveaway Day) today. my good pal Pun has released an ashcan version of a character class scheduled to appear in his upcoming Dungeon Crawl Classics superhero zine Crisis In Infinite Zines #1.

The featured character class is the Superzero, designed to emulate the comic book staple of heroes with powers that aren't always that 'super', such as Marvel's Morlocks from the X-Men titles or DC's futuristic Legion of Substitute Heroes.

Read all about it - and pick up the free four-page PDF - on Pun's blog, Halls of the Nephilim.

TOMORROW IS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!!

Tomorrow is that most wonderful day known as Free Comic Book Day (and Comic Giveaway Day, for reasons).

The day when comic book publishers (large and small) try to tempt you to try their wares - or hook existing readers in for the next "must read" story arc - with free sampler comics at your friendly local comic store.

Remember, the books may be free to you - but the store still pays for them, so don't be greedy!

I've already revealed several of the titles that have caught my eye this year, such as the two Conan comics and Marvel's "apes and aliens" book, but there's also a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe/Dungeons & Dragons offering from Dark Horse that will scratch a certain itch.

This Month Conan Teams-Up With Legendary Italian Hero

Issue one cover art by Roberto De La Torre

Pulled to the mysterious land of Erondár by dark forces, Conan comes face to face with the famed dragon slayer, Dragonero, and the two warriors must set aside suspicion to stand back-to-back against a supernatural force poised to doom both their worlds.

This landmark crossover brings together two legendary heroes in a story that honours classic sword-and-sorcery while forging something bold and unforgettable.

On May 13, Conan of Cimmeria and Dragonero meet for the first time in Conan & Dragonero #1, from Titan Comics.

Where's All The Roleplaying Stuff Then?

Photo by Nika Benedictova

When I launched this blog last November (with a hefty backlog of material preloaded) it came with the implicit suggestion - if not an outright statement - that Cowboys, Capes, and Claws would be largely a roleplaying game blog.

Well, that was the idea in my head anyway.

There have been general roleplaying posts, but primarily the blog has been - to date - film reviews and trailers, comic book news, wargames bits and bobs, and some coverage of TV shows and my meandering health issues thrown in for good measure.

Those who read my old blogs will know that sometimes I'd tack gaming material on the end of my film reviews (e.g. monsters and magic items that had appeared in the movie, translated into my own old school mechanics), but there has been none of that so far here.

And I'm very conscious of that absence of "added value".

The big thing - and this has been alluded to in most of the gaming-related posts I have published here - is that I simply don't know what system I want to focus all my attention on these days, what game I want to run for the Tuesday Knights (my gaming group).

The strongest contender is Twilight Sword, the anime and video game-inspired fantasy roleplaying system coming soon from Two Little Mice.

The full game is due to be released to backers of the crowdfunder (such as I) in the next few months.

However, a beta PDF of the core rules - largely absent the setting material, which will be in a second book (all part of the crowdfunding campaign) - has been delivered. And I like what I've seen. It's simple, and seemingly elegant, but I'm still not sure if it offers everything I'm looking for in a game.

But then again, does any rules set?

I tried kludging together my own RPG system a few years ago, to cover everything I wanted in a game mechanically, and it turned out to be a Frankengame with an ease of accessibility somewhere in the region of Phoenix Command or Advanced Squad Leader.

While I knew how it all worked and how each subsystem meshed with the others, it would have been a nightmare to explain to our group - especially as we generally lean towards the more "rules casual" approach to gaming.

The rules and themes of Twilight Sword are quite different from my usual offering, but that just needs a mental adjustment upon my behalf, as I'm sure the players will adapt without thinking or complaint - as long it's clear what they need to do.

Therefore, I don't want to start "tinkering" - coming with scenario-specific houserules, new magical items or monsters - until I have the full game in hand (the actual books, rather than the PDFs) and have probably played more than a handful of sessions with "rules as written".

That said, I'm also lining up at a small number of back-up offerings, in case I decide Twilight Sword isn't actually what I'm looking for. The last couple of times I tried to run games at our table (
Shadowdark and Villains & Vigilantes) both crashed-and-burned because I wasn't happy with the way things were shaping up.

Therefore, I really, really want to be certain that the game I choose is the right one before I present my next campaign to the Tuesday Knights.

I have a great deal of lost trust to regain. We only meet up 10 or 12 times a year, so each session is precious and can't (in my mind) be wasted on something that isn't going anywhere.

And this, gentle reader, is why I haven't written anything system-specific on the blog yet. Because I don't have a system to write to.

So, bear with with me, please keep reading the silliness I post (and commenting when you feel so inclined) and one day... hopefully in the not-too-distant future... there will be useful gaming material on the blog.

Along with film reviews and trailers, comic book news, wargames bits and bobs, and some coverage of TV shows and my meandering health issues thrown in for good measure.

More Uninvited Guests Drop In On The Planet of The Apes

Cover art by Stonehouse

Rather than giving the classic Planet of The Apes its own ongoing series, Marvel continues to push it as the perfect tourist destination for crossovers with its other properties.

The planet is currently enjoying a visit from the Fantastic Four, and in July the Yautja (aka Predators) are dropping in for a five-issue miniseries, Predator versus Planet of The Apes, penned by Greg Pak and illustrated by Alan Robinson.

"Worlds collide when a deadly Yautja crash-lands on the legendary Planet of the Apes!

"After a rescue mission gone wrong, astronaut Arch finds herself embedded in a hostile ape society where humans are subservient. But the hunters soon became the hunted when the apes find themselves being stalked by Predators!

"A three-way war is about to erupt between humans, apes and Yautja – who will reign supreme?!…

"Blending the mythology as well as the themes of both universes, the revolutionary saga pushes both Yautja and ape to their limit in a brutal battle for dominance!"

A prequel story to this series will appear in Free Comic Book Day Comics Giveaway Day's Alien, Predator & Planet of The Apes #1 (available on Saturday, May 2).

Variant cover by Tim Seeley

Movie cover variant art by Chris Campana

Archie's Birthday Celebrations Deliver A Present For Me

Proudly showing off my new Archie magazine - shipped all the way from the good ol' U.S. of A.

I took a gamble on Archie and it paid off.

Back in February, I wrote about the planned release of a special magazine-sized Archie issue celebrating the 85th anniversary of the first appearance of Archie Andrews.

I've been on Archie Comics' mailing list for ages, but never dreamed of ever buying anything from them direct - what with me being on this side of the Atlantic and they being on the other.

There was a time, not that long ago, when I'd think nothing of ordering a book from the States or sending a parcel to a friend across The Pond, but these days, with outrageous postal charges and random tariffs, the idea of doing such things is usually comparable with the prospect of tooth extraction... without anaesthetic.

However, one email from Archie Comics caught my eye with its promotion for the Archie Jumbo Comic Magazine that seemed to suggest, through a combination of offers, that I could not only get the magazine on pre-order at a reduced cost but I could also secure free shipping.

I was sceptical at first - such deals usually turn out to be region-locked. But I did all the clicks, entered my address, and both the deals and my home address were accepted!

So, I pressed the equivalent of "buy it now" and paid what I considered to be an acceptably low sum should the magazine never actually appear. Perhaps someone at Archie would realise this was a mistake and not process it... 

But, the gorgeous Archie Jumbo Comic Magazine turned up this week, 112-pages of oversized stories from throughout the decades, classic Archie artwork, full-page character profiles, pin-ups, puzzles, and text introductions to each "age" of Archie stories (Golden, Silver etc).

As I've said before, amidst all the costumed fisticuffs, laser blasts, gorefests, and barbaric fury of the bulk of comic book reading, I've always - since my early days in the hobby - found room for the wholesome antics of the Riverdale crew. 

I guess it's a kind of palate cleanser, but that's not really what keeps bringing me back to Archie comics: it's their consistency, both in the art and writing. Not every joke lands, but enough raise a smile or even a chortle to make think "this was money well spent".

The Archie Jumbo Comic Magazine looks like it's going to be a wonderful book to dip in and out of, peeling back of the layers of Archie's history across the last 85 years.

However, the latest marketing email from the company reminded me that it's not just Archie that's celebrating a special anniversary this year... but his homeland as well:

Archie Comics Celebrates America's 250th is a 32-page, one-shot due out on July 1.

"America is celebrating its 250th birthday, and who better to ring in the occasion than the beacons of Americana - Archie Andrews and all his friends and family in Riverdale!

"Take a walk down memory lane (no, not THAT Memory Lane), as we revisit some of the best U.S. and U.S. history stories from Archie’s 85 years!"

Skeletor's Origin Revelation Is A Bit Close To The Bone

Dive deep into the history of Eternia this August with a new maxiseries from Dark Horse Comics: Masters of the Universe - Genesis.

Discover the origins of your favourite heroes and villains!

In issue #1, we meet Skeletor - a power-hungry demon-mage determined to seize control of Castle Grayskull, conquer Eternia, and become Master of the Universe!

This 12-issue comic series unpeels the layers of Eternia's storied past through the eyes of its most heroic and most evil warriors.

Issue #1, available on August 5, is the start of a three-issue arc, written by Rich Douek, illustrated by Gavin Smith, coloured by Fabi Marques, lettered by AndWorld Design, and featuring cover art by Mark Buckingham with a variant by Lee Bermejo.

Future arcs in Masters of the Universe - Genesis will feature stories by Cavan Scott, Nick Roche, John Harris Dunning, Giovanna La Pietra, Tiffany Smith, and more!

The Cimmerian Is Ablaze Once More

Cover art by Chris Regnault

Continuing yesterday's celebration of upcoming comic book releases related - or inspired by - the works of Robert E Howard, July also sees the start of a new miniseries for The Cimmerian.

Once again, after a break of about four years, Ablaze is publishing the English-language translation of Glénat's original French "uncensored" adaption of Howard's Conan adventure Xuthal Of Dusk (aka The Slithering Shadow).

Conan, accompanied by Natala - a slave of wild beauty - advances through the seeming infinity of a sandy desert. With water and food supplies now exhausted, and with the two stranded in turn under a blazing sun and frigid nights, it is clear that the inevitability is death. Right as Natala’s final ounce of strength leaves her, Conan spots something in the distance. It’s a city that shines like glass. It’s Xuthal…

Written by Christophe Bec, with art by Stevan Subić, this will be a three-issue miniseries and marks the regular return of The Cimmerian series, following on from the publisher's Free Comic Book Day release at the start of next month.

Variant cover by Stevan Subic

As I understand it (I am not a copyright lawyer, nor do I play one on TV), Ablaze can publish The Cimmerian because it limits itself to republishing existing European adaptations of Howard’s original Conan stories that are in the public domain in Europe.

Heroic Signatures controls the global Howardverse I.P and works with Titan Comics to publish its new, original, line of wildly successful comics and magazines inspired by Howard's work.

It struck a deal, six or so years ago, with Ablaze to translate and distribute the French Glénat bande dessinée adaptations as The Cimmerian (to differentiate these comics from Titan's new Conan books).

Forthcoming Howardian Comics That Piqued My Interest

Legendary scribe Gail Simone is bringing us The Ring: The Man Who Beat The Man in June, courtesy of Dark Horse.

The eight-issue series, produced in co-operation with venerable boxing magazine, The Ring, follows:

"...veteran Ring Magazine journalist Cameron Duggan and rising broadcast personality Lisa Wolfe, a former podcaster who has transitioned into television commentary. As the pair travel the boxing world covering a new wave of contenders chasing championship glory, they encounter the ambition, rivalries and politics that shape the sport at its highest level.

"Each fighter approaches the pursuit differently, but the goal remains the same, reach the top of the sport and prove himself as the man who beat the man. As Duggan and Wolfe document the journey of these fighters, they also find themselves navigating the pressures and personalities that surround the sport."

While not directly a Robert E Howard story, Two-Gun Bob was a massive fan of boxing and wrote plenty of pulp tales set in that world - including those of my favourite character, Sailor Steve Costigan.

However, the next comic that caught my eye - and will be added to my pull-list PDQ - is pure Howard.

The incredible writer/artist Patrick Zircher brings his take on Howard's Puritan monster-hunter Solomon Kane back for another miniseries from Titan Comics in July.

Solomon Kane: The Lion Errant sees our hero travelling to India, guided by a "mysterious black-maned lion" where he is drawn into a "confrontation between the warrior queen Rani Durgavati and the mighty Mughal Empire".

"But the coming battle is more than a clash of armies. Ancient powers are stirring, gods and demons walk among the living, and Kane’s arcane Atlantean staff may hold the key to it all. Steel meets the divine. The Sword of Vengeance answers a higher call."

Joe Jusko cover art

The final forthcoming comic with serious Robert E Howard vibes is Dan Panosian's Fire And Ice: Darkwolf, from Dynamite, which also kicks off in July.

This is a spin-off from the gorgeous - but erratically published - Fire and Ice sword and sorcery comic book series.

"Born from the immortal imagination of fantasy illustrator supreme Frank Frazetta, Darkwolf storms into a new era of savage fantasy-brought to life by writer Dan "Urban Barbarian" Panosian and powerhouse artist Andrey Lunatik.

"Dynamite's acclaimed exploration of the world of Fire and Ice continues in this new series!

"It all begins when a mother and her twins flee the warlock who sired them - until a masked warrior descends from the mountains and unleashes hell upon their pursuers. But saving them is only the beginning. 

"Violent. Mythic. Unrelenting. This is Darkwolf, and the legend begins here - a fierce, visceral rebirth of one of fantasy's most iconic warriors

Dan Panosian cover art

Well, That Didn't Take Long

Just last week I was mourning the loss (for around 18 months) of fresh episodes of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

Not that I'm short of shows - and movies - to watch, both new and old, but I turned to Crunchyroll to see if there were any fantasy animes that could help fill the Frieren-shaped hole in my heart.

I watched a couple, but they didn't really get their hooks into me.

Then I realised that Witch Hat Atelier had just begun, literally a couple of weeks ago. This was another manga that had been on my godson's Christmas list... and this one I actually got him the first volume of.

So, I was inspired to check out this new anime (to date, now, there have been three episodes released).

And it didn't take long for me, once again, to fall in love. This is a simply gorgeous anime, incredibly Ghibli-esque in its design.

It turns out that Witch Hat Atelier is the third pillar of current "fantasy big three" for manga and anime, along with my other favourites: Frieren and Delicious in Dungeon. So, I really should have been all over this before it even began on Crunchyroll.

So far, this is a brief my understanding of what's going on in Witch Hat Atelier:

In an exquisite fantasy world where only witches can cast magical spells, and must be unseen while doing so, young dressmaker Coco discovers she has this gift... as a result of a tragic accident. She is taken under the wing of visiting witch Qifrey, who seems to believe his new apprentice has a grander role to play in the future of their world.

The story hasn't yet quite gripped me in the same way Frieren did straight off the bat, but there is an elegance and beauty in Witch Hat Atelier that is incredibly mesmerising.

Additionally, as a bonus to ignoramuses such as I, Crunchyroll has released all the episodes dubbed, so far.

To be honest, I don't mind subtitles, but I find sometimes when I'm reading the subs I'm miss something happening elsewhere on the screen. 

There was also a massive issue with the release of the later Frieren episodes from season two where the episode would drop (with Japanese dialogue) on a Friday afternoon, but then the English subtitles would randomly appear some time later... sometimes immediately, sometimes two or three days later!

For those, like me, that instantly didn't grok the name of this new show: "witch hat" is because witches wear stylish conical hats as a sign of their status, and "atelier" is a French word for a workshop or studio. In this case, it refers to Coco's new home, the small training facility that Qifrey runs for handful of other aspiring witches.

"I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream..."

An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results.

Get ready to scream for Ice Cream Man. A summer delight like no other from director Eli Roth. In UK cinemas August 7.

Very excited for this one, given its comic book origins and the involvement of Eli Roth.

UPDATE (April 16, 2026): Thanks to my pal, Pun, for pointing out that, bizarrely, this film is NOT based on the successful Image comic book of the same name!

Horror Awaits You In The Pages of New Ravenloft Comic

Ravenloft rises from the grave once more to terrify comic book readers this August with a new eponymously titled four-part miniseries from Dark Horse.

Ravenloft is falling apart, and nobody knows why. Fortunately, monster hunter Ez D’Avenir is on the case! She’s searching the frozen wasteland of Lamordia for an undead creature that may hold the key to Ravenloft’s fate. But when Darklord Viktra Mordenheim catches wind of her quest, Ez is suddenly the one being hunted!

Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft, a new four-issue genre-bending comic series will unite Rudolph van Richten’s protégés from across the horrifying domains of Ravenloft.

The miniseries is written by Bram Stoker Award–winning author Amy Chu (Carmilla: The First Vampire, Red Sonja), with line art by Ariela Kristantina (The Girl Who Draws on Whales, Adora and the Distance), colours by Arif Prianto (Poison Ivy, Green Lantern Corps), and letters by Haley Rose-Lyon (BUMP: A Horror Anthology, Jill and the Killers).

Issue #1 will feature cover art by Guillem March, Riley Rossmo, Francesco Francavilla, Todor Hristov, and Angela Wu.

The series is also being touted as the perfect companion piece to the forthcoming Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, the new TTRPG supplement book for Dungeons & Dragons 5.5 that is due out in June.

The Real Hyborian Age?

Map of Robert E Howard's Hyborian Age, from Titan Comics' Conan The Barbarian

In 1932, Robert E. Howard wrote an essay describing an advanced civilization at the end of the last Ice Age, destroyed by catastrophe and flooding, followed by a final period of glaciation. He called it the Hyborian Age. Today, Graham Hancock argues for essentially the same sequence of events using modern geological evidence. But Howard got there first, drawing on sources that go back over a century.

In this video, I trace the intellectual roots of Howard's fictional prehistory through Ignatius Donnelly, the Theosophical tradition, Charles Hapgood, Jack London, Yogi Ramacharaka and B.G. Tilak, who argued that Vedic myths preserved memories of an Arctic civilization destroyed by glaciation.

Featuring rare first editions from my personal collection including the 1938 LANY first publication of The Hyborian Age, one of fewer than ten known copies.

A fascinating half-hour presentation by Howard scholar and essayist Jeffrey Shanks (his erudite writings appear in every issue of Titan Comics' bestselling Howardverse books).

In this feature, he looks into the early 20th Century (and prior) archaeological, historical and pseudohistorical, mythological, and occult ideas on prehistory and the Atlantis myth that fed into Robert E Howard's fictional setting of the Hyborian Age.

And Now We Wait A Year-And-A-Half For More Frieren

Macht of the Golden Land, season three's big bad,
the most powerful member of the Demon King's Seven Sages of Destruction

It's been two weeks since Crunchyroll aired the final episode of season two of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and I'm still thinking about it all the time.

An incredibly intelligent and nuanced anime, it blends long tracts of cosy, lyrical, slice-of-life storytelling with sudden bursts of - usually magical - fantasy violence.

I'd only really heard the name of the series late last year when I was talking to Clare about what manga Alec (her son, my godson) would like for Christmas. She gave me a list of titles and asked me to "report" back on which I thought would be appropriate. Top of the list was Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

At the time, the first volume of the manga was out of stock, but it looked suitably fantasy-orientated that when I saw the anime was on Netflix I decided to check it out... and the rest, as they say, is history.

I didn't really know what I was getting into when I started season one, but I was in love with the show by the end of the first episode.

Like Delicious in Dungeon and the classic Record of Lodoss War, Frieren's approach to swords-and-sorcery is clearly influenced by Dungeons & Dragons (our inquisitive heroine's passion for collecting magical tomes often sees her accidentally diving headfirst into treasure chests that are actually mimics!).

Frieren in mimic, Fern - her apprentice - being all judgy

In fact, the anime is pretty much a template for a dream character-driven campaign, interspersing dungeon crawls into an epic overland quest.

One of the aspects that really spoke to me was the story's main theme, a fascinating meditation on the different approaches to life between immortals and mortals, different perceptions of the passage of time and so on.

For those not au fait with this incredible Japanese animation, here's my - off the top of my head - summation of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End's general story (I might have some bits wrong and this certainly doesn't cover everything... not by a long chalk):

Immortal elf mage Frieren was part of a small adventuring party that undertook a 10-year mission to slay the Demon King. Then they all went their own way.

Fifty years later, Frieren discovers her former colleagues - including human fighter Himmel The Hero, who she was possibly in love with - are all dead or on the brink of death.

She wants to commune with the ghost of Himmel but the only place she would be able to do this is at the northernmost tip of the continent.

So, she sets out on this new adventure, on the way picking up a pair of young companions, former wards of one of her old party members, including Fern, a stoic mage, and Stark, a cowardly fighter.

On their journey they undertake a number of side quests that earn Frieren magical Grimoires containing seemingly useless spells... which will surely have some pay-off down the line.

The first - 28 episode - season of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is available on Netflix, while season two, which is only 10 episodes, is - currently - only on Crunchyroll.

Season three is slated for October 2027 and was announced at the end of season two. Production has begun and a teaser visual (at top) of the powerful demon Macht of the Golden Land was released on the day the final episode of the current season dropped on Crunchyroll.

Such a layered and beautiful work, understandably, provokes a lot of discussion and analysis online and below are just some of the short videos examining aspects of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Gil Kane

When you're a very young kid reading comics you don't really pay attention to the credits.

Before I became a serious collector in my late teens/early 20s, I was picking up random issues as and when I could find them - either the original colour American comics or the black and white reprints that came out over here.

But I couldn't tell you who drew them. To be honest, I doubt I could have even told you who had written them!

I'm not sure when it happened, but the first artist whose style I recognised as distinctively different, and actively sought out, was that of Gil Kane. I liked his stark lines.

Then my tastes expanded to being able to pick out the work of Carmine Infantino whose art, to my untrained and uneducated eye, I thought was quite similar to Kane's work.

But it's Kane's illustrations that have always held a particular nostalgia for me, taking me to being a little kid, with my comics spread across the bedroom floor, following the adventures of sundry superheroes around imaginary cities, throughout space, and even into different dimensions.

Monday (April 6) was the 100th anniversary of Kane's birth.

RPG REVIEW: Amazing Heroes by Martin Lloyd

To give you a quick summation of my feelings about Amazing Heroes (from 2021), consider the fact that I'm on record (probably many times) moaning about my inability to cope with reading large PDF files, being an old geezer who thinks books should be printed on paper.

Then consider the fact that I made the effort to read - and make notes about - the 131-page PDF file of Martin Lloyd's new Amazing Heroes superhero roleplaying game; quite possibly the largest PDF file I have read from cover-to-cover.

Recently Kickstarted into existence, this is Martin's reimagining of his original kid-friendly, introductory, roleplaying system, Amazing Tales, but targeting a slightly older demographic.

Geared towards playing superhero characters (although the freeform nature of the game allows for a great deal of flexibility), the style of play encouraged takes its inspiration from superhero TV shows (particularly The CW ones), such as Flash, Arrow, Supergirl etc, while still drawing on the lore and tropes of comic books, of course.

Expanding on the very simple rules at the heart of Amazing Tales, Amazing Heroes is - in a nutshell - the perfect distillation of the core elements you need for a rules-lite, narrative-led superhero campaign.

Rather than explaining, and cataloguing, every possible superpower, such aspects of the game are left to a combination of player creativity and gamesmaster fiat.

Characters have a handful of attributes, and powers, each allocated a die type.

All checks in the game are player-facing, however if a player fluffs his roll in, say, a combat situation, he doesn't automatically get hurt, rather the situation "escalates", meaning it gets worse for the hero and his colleagues.

Straight off I will say that while I absolutely love this approach, as it addresses a lot of the problems I've had, personally, with overly mechanical superhero roleplaying systems in the past, it's not going to appeal to everyone.

Power gamers, people who talk about "optimum builds", and those who welcome characters that need spreadsheets to keep track of, will be scratching their heads at the bare bones nature of Amazing Heroes.

It's about as far from my own traditional, old school, comfort zone as you can imagine, and yet the primary function of the simple mechanics is to encourage interesting story creation at a fast-pace, without the necessity of constant rules-referencing.

To me, this seems perfect for a game seeking to emulate the biff-bam-pow of superhero comics, TV shows, and movies.

The freeform, storygame, approach of Amazing Heroes means the gamesmaster will often be flying by the seat of their pants, but with creative players the story is also very unlikely to run afoul of a crunchy ruling.

It does require the players to buy in to the superheroic world that they and the gamesmaster are creating, but with the right ensemble, of any age, I believe great things are possible.

The whole book is gorgeously illustrated in full-colour, with the player's section of the rules taking up the first 23 pages, followed by about 22 pages of GM advice (ranging from pacing and villain creation to guidelines on awarding experience so that player-characters can grow through the campaign).

The rest of the book covers the default setting of Storm City, on America's west coast, a plentiful array of example villains, a collection of story hooks (tied to different areas of Storm City), and then two adventures.

When you read through Martin's sample setting and the fully-fleshed out adventures, you can immediately grok the fact that you don't need pages and pages of stats and description to run an exciting and inspirational scenario.

Amazing Heroes is available to buy in POD or PDF from Drivethru.