Vertigo Launches 6 New Titles, Confirms New Sandman Release Date

DC's mature-readers imprint, Vertigo, has been going through some big changes in the last year or so. With the reorganization of DC Entertainment, Vertigo had noticeably cut back on launching new ongoing titles and even ended its longest-running title, Hellblazer, earlier this year. Additionally, Vertigo's longtime Exectutive Editor Karen Berger left her post and was replaced by Shelly Bond.

However, all of that news came after last year's San Diego Comic-Con, where the imprint revealed that Neil Gaiman would be making his return to his signature series Sandman with a brand-new prequel mini-series alongside artist J.H. Williams. Today, the New York Times confirmed that this new Sandman series is officially titled The Sandman: Overture and will launch, fittingly, on October 30.

"This is the one story that we never got to tell. In Sandman #1 Morpheus is captured somehow. Later on in the series, you learn he was returning from somewhere far, far away - but we never got to the story of what he was doing and what had happened. This is our chance to tell that story, and J.H. Williams III is drawing it. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world," Gaiman told the Times.

Despite the shifting climate of Vertigo, it seems the return of Sandman -- along with Vertigo's best-selling issue in over a decade, The Wake #1 -- bodes well for the future of the imprint. Alongside the Overture reveal, the Vertigo blog unveiled six new books slated for later this year.

Here are the new titles, which will start launching in October, as described by the Vertigo blog:

• Hinterkind – Decades after “The Blight” all but wiped out the human race, Mother Nature is taking back what’s hers and she’s not alone … all the creatures of myth and legend have returned and they're not happy. After her grandfather disappears, Prosper Monday must leave the security and seclusion of her Central Park village to venture into the wilds to find him, unaware of how much the world has changed. An epic fantasy adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world, Hinterkind is written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Francesco Trifogli, and debuts this October.

• The Discipline – Launching this December, The Discipline is a dark, erotic thriller about a privileged young woman named Melissa who is thrust into a centuries old battle between good and evil. She begins an affair with a mysterious man named Orlando who opens her eyes to a sexually sinister world she never knew existed. Through this ritualistic seduction (“The Discipline”), Orlando unlocks Melissa’s inner power and then enlists her into a shadowy war that has been fought for centuries. The Discipline comes to you from writer Peter Milligan and artist Leo Fernandez.

• Dead Boy Detectives - Spinning out of the pages of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, two dead British school boys star in their own monthly series and solve crimes in the 21st century with the help of a new female accomplice. Premiering in November, Dead Boy Detectives is written by noted British novelist Toby Litt with layouts and painted covers by Mark Buckingham (Fables).

• Suiciders – Hitting the spinner rack this December, this new series marks the incomparable Lee Bermejo’s (Joker; Batman: Noel; Before Watchmen: Rorschach) debut as an ongoing series comic book writer and artist. Suiciders follows the lives of two futuristic boxers – one on top of the world, the other trying to fight (and kill) his way there. Set in Los Angeles after “The Big One,” “Suiciders” is the wildly popular reality sport that contestants are literally dying to be a part of … and to be the best, you have to murder the best.

• Coffin Hill – When she was 15, Eve Coffin summoned a darkness that had been buried since the Salem Witch Trials. Now Eve’s back to harness the evil that destroyed her friends and is slowly taking over the sleepy town of Coffin Hill. This is a series full of magic, madness and murder via a twisted family of New Englanders. Arriving in stores this October, Coffin Hill combines the talents of artist Inaki Miranda (Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom) with writer Caitlin Kittredge, a young, dark fantasy author whose writing includes the Nocturne City, the Black London, and the Iron Codex series of novels – which include the recently published titles Dark Days and The Mirrored Shard.

• The Witching Hour – Just in time for Halloween, this anthology-style one-shot collects short stories exploring witchcraft written and drawn by some of the most talented veterans and newcomers in the business – including Kelly Sue DeConnick, Cliff Chiang, Lauren Beukes, Emily Carroll, Matthew Sturges, Shawn McManus, Tula Lotay and many more.

Vertigo also unveiled the covers for Hinterkind, Coffin Hill, The Witching Hour, and Dead Boy Detectives, which you can see below.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He's finally seen Man of Steel. So, um, now what?

Source : ign[dot]com

EA Explains NBA Live, Tiger Woods, Next-Gen Strategies

Sports is a big business for EA. At Microsoft’s Xbox reveal in May, EA revealed four of its titles headed to next-gen consoles: NBA Live, FIFA, Madden and UFC. EA has since gone on to explain that those titles will be powered by its next-gen Ignite engine and has clarified that other sports titles like NHL aren’t making the leap to next-gen just yet.

In an interview at E3, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau explained the decision to keep those titles on current-gen for now, plus the EA's goals in reviving NBA Live and why we haven’t heard anything about Tiger Woods.

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Golf is a vital part of our business and we believe in it greatly. We’re going to get to it in the right sequence.

“Each franchise has its own circumstance,” Gibeau told IGN about the titles not yet announced for next-gen. “You can fully rest assured that you’ll see the full EA Sports lineup over the course of gen 4. It’s about resourcing, tactical market opportunities, how big the platform is. You’ll definitely see all of our titles on gen 4.”

One title that was conspicuously absent from both console reveals and E3 was Tiger Woods, which is said to be taking a year off. According to Gibeau, it’s simply a question of resources.

“We have a lot going on,” Gibeau said. “One of the things at EA is, like any company, you have finite resources, and more importantly you have finite talent. What’s important to me, when I run the studios and look at it, is making sure that our best people aren’t spread too thin, and that we’re not trying to do too many things where we end up with a bunch of 70-rated games. I’d rather have two 90s than five 70s. The 'fewer, bigger' strategy is how we’re looking at it. We’re going to nail golf. Golf is a vital part of our business and we believe in it greatly. We’re going to get to it in the right sequence as we look at how our technology and teams and talent are available.”

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Our goal for this next cycle is to build a great basketball business and compete with 2K and win back the customers.

Finally, we asked Gibeau about the decision to revive NBA Live. Given that NBA Live 13 was canceled and an NBA Live title has not been released since NBA Live 10 in 2009, can the franchise still compete?

“At one time we had a great business in basketball,” Gibeau said. “There was a great rivalry between 2K and us back in the day. Unfortunately, we didn’t deliver what we wanted to deliver, and they did a great job creating an exceptionally good sports game. We thrive on competition. We want to come back at them in gen 4. That’s one of the reasons why we’re focused exclusively on gen 4, so we don’t have to compromise the game at all to get a gen 3 version of it out. We’re in basketball for the long term. Our goal for this next cycle is to build a great basketball business and compete with 2K and win back the customers through our quality and our performance.”

For more on EA Sports, read our interview with EA Sports head Andrew Wilson.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Check Out This Killer Nightwing Fan Film

Up-and-coming director Hisonni Johnson has released the first episode of his webseries Grayson: Earth One, a gritty and grungy new take on DC's Nightwing.

Described as a re-imagined origin story for Dick Grayson, the series takes place in an unestablished continuity where the would-be Boy Wonder was never taken in by Bruce Wayne. Think two parts Frank Miller, one part Elseworlds and a dash of The CW's Arrow.

You can check out the series premiere below:

As it happens, Grayson: Earth One is now crowdfunding at Indiegogo in hopes of finishing out Season 1. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Green Arrow #22 Preview

As writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino continue revitalizing the Green Arrow title, a new villain is set to make his debut in Green Arrow #22 -- Count Vertigo! You might remember that the character recently made an appearance on the Emerald Archer's current hit TV show Arrow, so it only makes sense that we'd be seeing the character re-emerge in comic book form as well.

Green Arrow #22 hits on Wednesday.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He's finally seen Man of Steel. So, um, now what?

Source : ign[dot]com

Comixology Adds Subscriptions, Bundles

The leading digital comics platform, Comixology, announced the debut of some long-awaited new features today, including series subscriptions and discounted bundle packs.

Subscriptions allow users to have the series of their choosing automatically purchased and delivered to their cloud for download to any device when it becomes available. There's a screen cap below of when I went to subscribe to Saga (which you should all do) and you can see Comixology's description of how subs work.

When you subscribe, they'll automatically charge you for any new issue of that series that's released and notify you via e-mail when it's available. However, they won't automatically charge you for the current issue, back issues, or any collected editions. Those will have to be purchased separately.

But if you're looking to catch up on certain series or dabble in new ones, Comixology also launched bundles, which are discounted groupings of themed samplers or complete series. Some of the initial bundles they are offering include the entire Rick Remender run of Uncanny X-Force for $50, a 21-issue Valiant Comics Starter Bundle for $30, a Monkeybrain Firsts Bundle for $6, the Infinity Gauntlet Trilogy Bundle for $40, and many more.

The caveat to both of these new features is that they must be purchased through the Comixology web store. After subscribing or purchasing a bundle through the web store, your comics will then be able to be synched to the device of your choosing.

"Every hour of every day, everyone at Comixology is thinking about how to make it easier for Comixology fans to get the comics they love," said Comixology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger in a press release. "With subscriptions and bundles we’ve taken yet another step in delivering the great experience that our users deserve."

"We are excited to help our customers get their favorite series automatically with our new subscription functionality – it means you don’t have to remember when the next issue comes out and you’ll be notified when it is ready to read on your device," said Comixology co-founder John D. Roberts in the same release. "And with Comixology bundles isn’t it great that you can now get bundles of great titles at significant savings with just one click? I can’t wait for our customers to see both features in action."

The announcement of subscriptions and bundles comes a week after the app added new functionality with Fit-to-Width and Show Two Pages viewing options.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He's finally seen Man of Steel. So, um, now what?

Source : ign[dot]com

Call of Duty: Ghosts Pre-Orders Offer Bonus Map

Activision has announced a bonus map available to players who pre-order Call of Duty: Ghosts. The multiplayer map, called Free Fall, “drops players into a shattered skyscraper on the brink of collapse” and shows off Infinity Ward’s new dynamic map events, which change the environment as you play.

Activision explained Free Fall with the following description: “Sideways staircases climb into the night sky, elevator shafts run along the ground, and what were once windows now form a terrifying glass floor, hundreds of feet above the city streets. Free Fall’s close-quarters combat and frenetic action are then thrown into overdrive as the ruined skyscraper continues to fall throughout the match. With every drop, the accompanying shockwaves cause further destruction, disrupting sightlines and constantly evolving paths and chokepoints as the map changes in real-time.”

"Dynamic map events change the way players approach the game, and Free Fall does a great job illustrating this new mechanic,” said Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin. “As the match progresses, the geometry of the world continues to change and players need to adjust on the fly or else. It’s a really fun new feature that adds layers of strategy and constantly evolving gameplay options for players. And this is just one of the many new approaches we’re putting into Ghosts’ multiplayer across the board. There’s so much more that we look forward to sharing in the weeks to come."

Call of Duty: Ghosts will hit stores on November 5th and is available for pre-order now.

For much more on what Ghosts has to offer, read our impressions from E3.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

EA: 'No Other Shooter Does What Battlefield Does'

Battlefield has been a remarkable success for EA. Even against the mammoth sales of Call of Duty, Battlefield 3 has managed to sell 3.5 million Premium subscriptions and is still ranking on U.S. sales charts.

As the first-person shooter genre becomes increasingly crowded, IGN sat down with EA Labels president Frank Gibeau to discuss how Battlefield stands apart and how it stays competitive.

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There’s no other shooter on the market that does what Battlefield does.

“There’s no other shooter on the market that does what Battlefield does,” Gibeau told IGN. “The mix of vehicles and infantry combat with fully destructible environments in very large levels, nobody matches that. Until they do, we have a unique position, and I think we have a great position. From Bad Company to Bad Company 2 to Battlefield 3, we’ve grown that business from 3 million units to 18 million plus. The quality has gotten better. The technology has gotten better. We’ve done new things with the experience. We don’t feel like we’ve reached a barrier that says, ‘oh, we’re out of ideas to innovate.’ I think the idea that in real time, you knock a skyscraper down right into the middle of the level, it completely changes the whole game. You can imagine. And be rest assured that we have more levels like that.”

Gibeau explained that even though there are a ton of shooters on the market (and even multiple from EA), he believes the genre will continue to grow as long as games keep innovating.

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We feel very confident that we’ll be able to continue to make better and better Battlefields.

“Our idea is to leap ahead using gen 4 and Frostbite 3 to drive the shooter category and grow Battlefield and give fans what they want,” he said. “We feel very confident that we’ll be able to continue to make better and better Battlefields. At the same time, we have a great rotation. We’ve got Battlefield. We’ve got Titanfall. We’ve got Battlefront. We feel pretty good about that mix. They all do something very different. That’s the trick. The more that these things feel the same, that’s when the category starts to fall away. I don’t see that happening yet. I think we’ve got plenty of opportunity in gen 4, with eight times the computing power of the last gen, plus all the new online features, plus a lot of things like SmartGlass integration with Commander mode, where we’re going to continue to give shooter fans and those big franchise buyers bigger and bigger experiences.”

While EA isn’t ready to announce anything just yet, Gibeau hinted that Battlefield 4 could see a subscription service similar to Battlefield 3’s, telling us “we had a great customer response on the Premium service for Battlefield 3. You can fully expect that we’ll exceed that value offering and that feature set next time. It worked great.”

Battlefield 4 will hit stores on October 29th. For much more, read our hands-on impressions and our interview with DICE executive producer Patrick Bach.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com