"The three fanboy pundits who host the weekly Comic Book Club—Alexander Zalben, Justin Tyler and Pete LePage—have stumbled on something that seems to have been lacking for the city’s comic book-obsessed. Every Tuesday at 8 p.m., they gather with comedians and industry professionals to dissect the latest promotional materials and the origin myths of various superheroes. Add to that quirky musical guests and you have the reigning kings of geekdom holding court for the masses.”

"The audiences of comic-book aficionados, which have been growing each week since the show had its premiere in December, seem pleased. They laugh in the right places."

For the first anniversary of the Comic Book Club, a weekly interview show at the People's Improv Theater, co-hosts Pete LePage, Justin Tyler & Alex Zalben brought out the big guns: Not only Matt Fraction, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker—three of Marvel Comics's most popular writers—but Bill Hader and Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live were in the hot seat as well, which pretty much guaranteed that the evening was going to be a free-for-all. Geek humor abounded; one of the biggest laughs of the evening came when Hader and Myers recalled having Natalie Portman as a guest on the show and discovering the Star Wars actress didn't know the correct way to pronounce Dagobah.

 Finally, for those who like smart, informed talk about superhero comics, the three hosts of "The Stack" video podcast—Alex, Justin and Pete—run through the current highlights of the mainstream and indie-hero realms with a lot of charm and insight. Nerdy but agreeable, The Stack's trio trade off-the-cuff lines but rarely waste their seven-to-nine-minute timeslot, instead running through the reviews quickly, with lots of illustrations, a fair amount of friendly disagreement, and none of the snooty pissiness of many Internet comics critics. They're the kind of guys it would be fun to talk comics with down at the local. The Stack is available via pulpsecret.com, or as a direct download to TiVoCast-enabled TiVos. B+

In an interview with "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet" airing this Friday October 10th, Murray comments on the rumors that there’s a ‘Ghostbusters 3’ in the works being penned by a pair of writers from 'The Office.' "It’s promising, it’s never been promising before…[The unnamed writers] are probably pretty funny. And the idea of having a new fresh look at it, is a great idea, you know, to see if through someone else’s eyes. I think a new idea would be great, I think it’d be fun.”

IDW presents Kevin Colden’s award-winning true-life crime tale, Fishtown, in deluxe hardcover format In 2003, the city of Philadelphia was shocked by an act of violence so brutal it almost defies description. The ensuing trial and intense media scrutiny unearthed the story of the murder of 16-year-old boy who was led into an empty lot in the city’s Fishtown section by his girlfriend and beaten to death by three boys he knew—one of them his best friend. In IDW Publishing’s upcoming, fact-based, fictional hardcover graphic novel Fishtown, author and Philadelphia native Kevin Colden examines the motives of the murderers through loosely-based characters, imagined conversations and confessions directly aimed at the reader. Inspired in 2005 by newspaper articles, television coverage, and snippets of trial testimony, Colden originally intended to create a more fact-based account of the story, but hit a roadblock due to inaccessible trial transcripts and ongoing litigation. Says the author, “At that point, I began to think about the reaction the public was having to the story and wrote the events how I imagined they occurred. When I finished the script I realized I had hit on a deeper emotional truth than the facts alone could have shown.” In March 2007, the first chapter of Fishtown was awarded a self-publishing grant from the Xeric Foundation which Colden declined in order to publish the piece as a weekly webcomic at www.ACT-I-VATE.com, a web-based collective of established and up-and-coming cartoonists. “I mistakenly put Fishtown online before hearing from the Xeric committee. It turned out there was a conflict with their policy regarding simultaneous web and print release, so I chose to decline the grant money and take my chances with the limitless potential of the web.” The Xeric Foundation remained supportive of Fishtown, and in 2008, partly as a result of Colden’s decision, reversed their policy and now support concurrent web serialization for grant recipients. Fishtown presents a chilling portrait of teenage angst gone horribly wrong by threading fact with fiction, reality with fantasy, and weaving a tapestry of connected vignettes that add up to a devastating treatise on the human condition. In its yearlong run at ACT-I-VATE, it garnered near universal praise for its confrontational and unflinching dramatization of the events leading seemingly average kids to turn into vicious killers.

"'Aaron' will suffice, thank you. 'Mr. Stack,' if you're nasty."

Dark Horse Launches The Spirit Collectibles Program One of the most anticipated new films of the year is Frank Miller’s movie adaptation of Will Eisner’s comic strip, The Spirit, opening Christmas Day. A classic action-adventure-romance, The Spirit tells the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead to fight crime from the shadows of an urban jungle. Dark Horse Deluxe has channeled the noir mood and exotic images of this Lionsgate release and brought the world of Central City into being with a new range of officially licensed collectibles—including a sculpted bust and statue, a beautiful snow globe, and a unique LED illuminated journal. As the movie opens nationwide, fans will be anticipating the arrival of these fine collectibles with the same eagerness with which they rushed to theaters to see the film. The Spirit is portrayed by Gabriel Macht, who brings a larger-than-life heroic quality to the role. His performance inspired the initial sculptures: a limited-edition bust, full-size, limited-edition statue, and elaborate sculptural high-end snow globe. He was very generous in his cooperation for these projects, and the results are apparent in the realism of the finished work. In selecting the creative team for this assignment, Dark Horse enlisted two of the most noted digital sculptors around to create the 3D versions of the moody hero. Hot on the heels of their stunning statues of the characters from the recent Batman smash hit, Kolby Jukes and Oluf Hartvigson have created, respectively, Dark Horse’s statue and bust. The bust, which is the latest example of what is now a well-established area of modern collecting,  measures 4.30"W  X  3.15"D  X  6.00"H . Packaged in a protective foam cube in deluxe color packaging, this piece is a hand-numbered limited-edition of only 750 copies for worldwide distribution.  The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is  $59.99 and The Spirit Movie mini-bust is scheduled to release on January 28, 2008. The Spirit Statue presents the masked avenger in full figure (1:7 Life Size).  The dimensions measure 11.21"W  X  7.34"D  X  8.5"H. Peering over a rooftop of Central City, The Spirit is poised and ready to spring. Sculpted by Kolby Jukes, this piece is also a numbered limited-edition of only 750 copies for worldwide distribution, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $199.00.  It will be released on Christmas Day. The continual snowfall is a graphic theme in The Spirit, as it as often been in Frank Miller’s graphic stories, and creates a visual atmosphere that oozes drama. Therefore, it was not hard to imagine a beautiful snow globe that would capture and reproduce the effect.  Central City, as depicted in the film, essentially becomes one of the main characters. The detail was focused on the buildings and fire escapes, and the movie’s tagline acts as a rooftop sign. A high-quality 120mm glass sphere encases a liquid sky that is spackled with a miniature flurry of white. Crafting the miniature environment was a technical challenge for Dark Horse and sculptors Jukes and Hartvigson, but the result is a unique collectible that is fascinating. Limited to only 500 pieces, packaged in a foam cube in color packaging, The Spirit Movie Snow Globe has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $99.99, and will be available in retail stores in late November. Long known for it’s modern artist journal and stationery line, Dark Horse Deluxe has come up with a new journal for The Spirit. A moody silhouette of the hero stands against a snow-spackled night sky.  This cover is enhanced with a dozen or so tiny lighting elements concealed inside the journal’s cover. When activated by a hidden on/off button, the colored jewels in the snowflakes swirling around The Spirit light up as if under a streetlight on an urban winter’s night. The journal itself is 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", with 128 interior pages suitable as a compendium of the owner's secret thoughts . A logo-lettered book spine conceals spiral binding. The publication date for this item is December 6, 2008, just in time for the film release. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is  $14.99.