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.

The Passenger Quickly Turns Van Life Into Demon Life

A few weeks into their van life adventure, a young couple witnesses a horrific accident that leaves the driver dead. Soon they’re being pursued by a demonic stalker who’s impossible to outrun and follows them wherever they go.

130 million people take road trips every year. 15,400 of them are never seen again. Watch the official trailer for Passenger – only in theatres May 22.

Hat tip to my buddy Pun for alerting me to this intriguing horror road movie.

"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!

New Superhero Zine Launches for Dungeon Crawl Classics

My good pal Justin ' Pun' Isaac has just launched the first issue (The Origin Issue) of his new superhero-themed Dungeon Crawl Classics series, Crisis In Infinite Zines.

Pun describes it as:

"...a new supers toolkit designed for Dungeon Crawl Classics/Mutant Crawl Classics and their superpowered offshoots like Evolved: Super Heroic Time Travel Roleplaying Game and Comic Crawl Classics. You'll find new classes, foes to fight, adventures, and other rules/tropes conversations."

Written with Dave Coppoletti, and illustrated by Dave, David Vance and Joseph Beckelhimer, the 30-page, comic book-sized zine is available in both PDF or POD formats from DriveThru.

The debut issue includes two new classes (The Super Pal and The Butler), two freakish monsters, one fearsome nemesis (The Refrigerator), one giant-sized ape, 30 secret origins, 0-level accessories, comics, letters to the editor, adverts and more.

You Know What Your D&D Games Need? Deathstalker!

Although the Kickstarter-funded reimagining of/sequel to the original - and infamous - swords-and-sleaze classic Deathstalker has yet to materialise on these shores, my old pal Pun (of Halls of the Nephilim) stumbled over a fresh treat on DriveThruRPG.

It's a free, official, 18-page PDF called the Deathstalker D&D 5e Compendium, and describes itself as follows:

Bring the world of Deathstalker into your Dungeons & Dragons 5e games with this guide from Shout! Studios and ProgCore Fantasy. Featuring full D&D5e stats for 12 of Deathstalker's deadly adversaries and two powerful magical artifacts, all straight from the new Deathstalker film by Steven Kostanski.

This compendium is produced by the ProgCore Fantasy team for Shout! Studios, and is offered FREE in conjunction with the February 17 2026 Blu-ray release of Deathstalker.

Fearing spoilers, as is my wont, I've only skimmed the booklet. I was impressed by the variety of creatures on display, but I noticed a couple of things in particular that piqued my interest:

Firstly, Deathstalker seems to have had a real human man name before he was Deathstalker, which, to me, rather demystifies the character and fails to understand the central joke at the heart of the original quartet of low-budget movies.

Secondly, one of the magical items is a multi-bladed sword called Light of Talon. Is this iteration of Deathstalker also the long-awaited sequel to Albert Pyun's The Sword and The Sorcerer? Does this signal the establishment of a Deathstalker'verse???

One Month In And We're Blogging Strong

    I couldn't find any free images for "monthaversary" because that's not a real thing

 Image by bise eise from Pixabay

It's a month since Cowboys, Capes, and Claws sprang to life, bringing my current views on geekdom (be it RPGs, comics, movies, and so on) to this chill corner of the Internet.

Since "Life Day", we've had a reasonably steady flow of visitors to the site. Sometimes too many for my liking, but generally a decent number of genuine readers interested in the words, pictures and videos I've posted up.

It may sound counterintuitive, but my goal would be to keep the number of hits per day to around 500 at most. I'm looking for quality over quantity. I'd rather half-a-dozen people read my blog each day and left comments, than thousands of bots hit the site and did nothing good.

First month visitors - the pulse of the blog

In this first month 35 per cent of the hits came from the United States while only 11 per cent were from the UK, with the bulk of referrals coming via Facebook.

While I'm generally settled on the design of the site, I've still been tweaking the right-hand column, moving bits up and down to see which placing I find most aesthetically pleasing. I think we're getting close to a final form.  

I'd like to applaud the founding members of my "posse", who kindly clicked on the blue Follow button (now near the top of the aforementioned right hand column of the blog), pledging their public support for my ramblings. Kudos to Jonathan, Erik, Justin, Percy, and Clare.

All new additions are welcome 😉

Heading into the New Year, my goal is to elevate the gaming coverage, while still maintaining a stream of reviews (films, TV, and comics) as well as general commentary.

When I started formulating this blog I never expected to write so much about my health again, but then the whole osteoarthritis issue was rather a bolt from the blue that - literally - took my legs from under me.

The idea for the blog was that I'd be writing about my progress with PROJECT 60 (that is, getting my Dead Man's Hand skirmish game up and running by the time I turn 60 next year, as well as the makings of a solid roleplaying campaign that would have long-term potential) interspersed with 20/20 VISION "events" where I'd tried something 'new' or stepped out of my comfort zone.

These last six months of heightened disability and constant pain have rather put the kibosh on that, but hopefully we're now coming out the other side and I can get back on track with those ambitions. And record them here on the blog.

The work on my Dead Man's Hand project will just have to be pushed back to 2026, when, all being well, I'll be able to work in our garden room on more scenery, assemble and paint up the buildings etc

As to roleplaying games, having been in a bit a funk because of my physical ailments, I'm now much more optimistic about the future and believe I've found a game that could be just right for my ideas. The trouble is, it isn't due to be published until the middle of next year. 

Of course, we still have Pete's Outgunned Adventures to look forward to every month.

Sweet Revenge (2025)

Sweet Revenge, officially released today on YouTube, is the first live-action appearance - now all the legal wrangling has, hopefully, been ironed out - of the 'new' Jason Voorhees (the unstoppable killer from the Friday The 13th franchise).

Much brouhaha was made of the fact that this 13-minute short is sponsored by a cider company, but, to be honest, the product placement is minimal and subtle. Had I not read about it before hand, I wouldn't have noticed the label on the bottle Ally Ioannides carries around for a minute or so.

It so happens that Ioannides is probably the best thing about this "vignette", her Eve morphing into an interesting twist on the classic Final Girl trope.

Otherwise, Sweet Revenge pretty much retreads classic Friday The 13th territory in a very condensed format.

My good friend Justin 'Pun' Isaac put it best in his review: "...it boiled down the classic slasher formula and just cut out the filler".

Eve and her fiancé Kyle (Toussaint Morrison), and a couple of friends, appear to have AirBnB-ed a holiday cottage from pervy Harold (Chris Carlson), unaware that it's on the site of the former Camp Crystal Lake... the primary hunting ground of the supernatural slasher Jason Voorhees (Schuyler White).

As everyone is settling in, Eve takes a canoe out on the lake in broad daylight - only to be dragged under the water, seemingly by Jason. Inexplicably when she surfaces it's now night time, and Jason has started butchering people.

Why didn't Jason kill Eve when he dragged her under the water? Just how long did she hold her breath? Perhaps Eve did die and is now a deadite zombie? Who knows? 

While I have no issue with Jason's hockey mask design (which seems to be a hot button topic in the online community), the first thing that struck me when the masked killer appeared was how thin and scrawny he appeared. Stuntman Schuyler White is no Kane Hodder, that's for sure.

Written and directed by Wrong Turn's Mike P Nelson, there's a smattering of gore in Sweet Revenge, although the bulk of the kills occur off screen, and a healthy amount of 'strong language' for something thought to be a drinks' advertisement.

With minimal time to fit in an expansive story, Eve is the only character that changes and develops, which makes me hope that she has some future role to play in the resurrected franchise.

However, what, if anything, this short film has to do with the grander Jason mythology going forward, I can't even imagine. Will we see Eve again in an upcoming movie? And if so will it replay her origin story as well?

• Sweet Revenge can be viewed here on YouTube.

Retro Grindhouse Horror Pays Homage To Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes

In 1976 a group of people in the desert for a photo shoot, stumble upon an abandoned town called Savage. But they are not alone. A family of masked psychopaths have claimed Savage as their own and are hell bent on living up to its name.

Brute 1976 is scheduled to carve up VOD from August 26, Stateside.

H/t Pun