#gauntletcomics

So I just finished reading the first story arc in the Image Comics Birthright, by writer Joshua Williamson and artist Andrei Bressan, and I got to say I loved it.  For those of you unfamiliar with the comic its a story about a child who goes missing and a year later emerges as a fully grown barbarian searching for seven wizards.  The comic gets into what happened to him and his family in the year he was missing as he became a monster hunter in a fantasy world.  Then upon his return to the normal world has to deal with trying to fit in. 

So last night during board game night here at the store I took up the role of Julie in the table top game Dead Panic by Fireside Games.  Myself and four others had to defend our cabin in the woods against the hordes of zombies shambling our way.  Julie was only out there delivering a pizza to Father Michael the Priest, Barbara the Convict, Ray the Paramedic and  Al the Construction Worker. What they were doing in that cabin together before I arrived I guess I'll never know.  Things were rough, we didn't have a lot of supplies on hand at first but after searching the cabin we all found some gear and weapons to defend ourselves from the impending doom.  A moan bellowed through the night and we knew the zombies had found us. I took aim at a sh ambler and took it out with my rifle but one of the fast moving ones managed to get right to the wall and damage it enough.  Al using some rope he found, managed to pull a survivor Texas style through an open window and into the cabin and out of harms way. Bob the survivor was grateful and gave us a part to his broken radio for saving him. Father Michael patched up the damaged wall then started rummaging through more cupboard in the cabin looking for useful items to fight back the horde.  Barbara, watched in horror as another survivor was taken down and turned right before her eyes. This must have angered her because she darted out the front door into the night with the fire axe I gave her and tried to avenge her. Meanwhile Ray managed to drop another one of the shambling zombies with his crossbow much like Daryl in the Walking Dead.  This is when things went from bad to worse as more moans broke out in the night and many more zombies came out of the woods.  Barbara managed to fight off the zombies and searched the survivors body to find another broken radio just in time to watch another survivor break out of the woods and get taken down by two more zombies. In the death blow of the survivor we noticed the last part to fix the radio tumble out of the hands of the victim and Barbara was only a few feet from it.  Myself and Father Michael protected the weakening cabin walls while Al and Ray managed to take down some of the zombies and protect Barbara so she could get back inside and fix the radio.  Al managed to take out a hulking zombie with his elephant gun just in time to watch one of the cabin walls break into splinters as the horde broke through.  Father Michael chain saw roared to life and took down the zombie who broke in and I watched Ray frantically search for something else to use in the cabin.  Ray panicked as a zombie hidden in the stove broke free and attacked him, but he quickly gathered himself and beat it down with his wrench. The zombies kept on coming but we managed to radio for help and soon Barbara friend with the SUV showed up to get us out of there, only problem is we had to get to the truck.  Everyone made a mad dash to the SUV and I covered them from behind.  I emptied my pistol into a few zombies in time to get bitten but I pulled out my flare gun and set one on fire. Everyone made it into the SUV as the horde started crawling all over it. I had to beat them off with my tire iron and got bit again but I finally made it into the vehicle and got away.  Now I only hope we can find a cure in time before I turn. 

So I just finished reading last weeks issue of Superman. Issue 38. The final part of Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr. run that started seven issues ago when the team took over the comic.  Great story I have to say but that's not what this post is about. Don't get me wrong I love Geoff's writing and all, and I think Romita Jr. works better on a books with masked characters but the heart of this one is Superman's new power.