How come? Personal Effects: Dark Art is packaged in a unique hardback format, containing a batch of ‘Personal Effects’, i.e. documents, ID cards, notes, photos and more pertaining to events in the book itself.

With these items, along with websites (Google the companies in the novel and there they are), voicemail numbers and more, you the reader can become part of the book and even discover more about it than the characters themselves ever know.

The concept for Personal Effects: Dark Art is from notorious games designer Jordan Weisman, who got Hutchins involved to supply the novel. It is an ingenious way to take in a story, and it really does add to your enjoyment of the book.

Much more than being just a gimmick, this approach to involving the reader in the action is actually very exciting, and bodes well for future volumes in the series. An extremely good book presented in a brilliant way. I can’t wait for the next one.

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While individual comic sales have slowed, the sales of complete graphic novels (or trades, if you’re an ubergeek like the rest of us) are up right across the board in comic shops around the world. Why is this? There are a number of reasons.

One is increased interest in the scene from movie fans who have loved stuff like The Dark Knight, Watchmen, Iron Man and so on. Then there are fans that have come to the scene through TV shows such as Heroes, The Ghost Whisperer and the continued Star Trek titles.

Video games have also sent a number of people to the graphic novel shelves thanks to things like the ultra-popular Halo: Uprising title. Then there are those who have come from word of mouth alone, picking up titles such as The Walking Dead, Y The Last Man and Powers due to the simple fact that so many other people love them.

These are good times for the scene. There are some publishers who are concentrating on new graphic novels over individual issues. This, far from being the death knell for the comics industry, just means that things are changing. Graphic novels/trades are excellent value, long lasting, and extremely powerful ways of telling a story.

There is also growing interest in titles outside of the traditional superhero/supernatural genres. With a huge number of humour, romance, thriller and geek titles on the market, interest in graphic novels is widening ever more into the general subconscious.

The quality of graphic storytelling has improved so much in recent years that the world at large is taking note and discovering graphic novels for themselves. Hello, we’ve been waiting for you.

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Despite the book’s scant length (only 165 pages), George Zebrowski’s ‘Empties’ is a great read, harkening back to the days of shorter novels without a hint of filler. This is something that many of today’s writers could do with taking note of. Just because a book is 700 pages long, it ain’t necessarily good.

This one is. It’s creepy as hell. Following a detective who is on the trail of a brutal killer. Bodies are turning up without their brains. The book starts out as a pretty grim but pretty straightforward murder mystery with an interesting lead character in William Benek, but around the page 50 mark we are thrown into a maelstrom of madness and violence that doesn’t really let up until the shocking finale.

You really get a sense of Benek’s frustration as the bodies pile up while he can’t do a thing about it. He doesn’t have enough evidence against his suspect for a conviction, and this the chaos continues.

‘Empties’ is essentially a noir thriller with a vicious horror edge to it. Zebrowski’s prose is fluid and to the point, with none of the flab of some contemporary authors. Yes, there is a supernatural element to the story, but it is a little sidelined in favour of the main plot. This works very well, giving the whole tale a macabre edge, with the strange forces mentioned in passing, but never taking centre stage. This makes events so much more powerful.

The development of the Benek character is compelling and harrowing, and with the pace picking up a great deal after the somewhat quiet opening, you’re rarely allowed to catch your breath. This is no-nonsense storytelling that only someone of Zebrowski’s stature can manage.

Empties by George Zebrowski, Golden Gryphon Press, 2009, ISBN: 978-1-930846-59-3 (Available through Gazelle Book Services in the UK)

Thanks to Gazelle Book services for sending this in!

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Publishers: To get your titles reviewed here, send preview copies to: Book Reviews Editor, The Last Picture Show, 38-39 The Lanes, Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield, S9 1EP, England

We’ll be covering as much of the San Diego Comic Con news as we can across our many blogs, so stick with the Starstore blogs for a unique British perspective on the latest developments from SDCC 2009!

We swear one day we’ll make it there and report to you live from the event itself, but until then, we’ll be scouring the net for the best news and announcements so that you don’t have to!

This year’s event runs from the 23rd to the 26th of July, with a preview night on the 22nd before the shenanigans commence for real. There are some suitably awesome panels, previews and product unveilings going on this year, and we’ll cover as many of the big ones as we can.

There are some fantastic workshops and signings right across the event, but the big ones for many fans will be the TV previews, movie previews and merchandise previews. We’re personally really looking forward to finding out what Sideshow Collectibles have on offer this year in the way of new products.

Other panels and stuff of note throughout the SDCC weekend? Summit’s Astro Boy preview, the reveal of details on the next Tetsuo movie, a preview of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, a look at the groundbreaking new James Cameron science fiction epic Avatar, the next developments in the Halo franchise, a presentation of material from Terry Gilliam’s Imaginarium of Dr Parnassuss, a Doctor Who panel with Russell T Davies and David Tennant, a panel on the Kick Ass movie, a talk with fantasy legend Terry Brooks, the premier of the animated Green Lantern movie, The Guild, Farscape’s 10th Anniversary, a look at the new version of The Prisoner, Star Wars Day, Sideshow Collectibles‘ panel, Dr. Horrible The Totally Rad Show Live, Ray Bradbury… gah, so much!!!

We’ll be covering as much as we can right here! It may not be as cool as actually being there, but we’ll be bringing you as much of the AWESOME as we can.

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Legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott has stated that his new project, an adaptation of the classic science fiction novel The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, is to be done in 3D. The famed director says that after seeing some of the work that James Cameron has been doing with the highly anticipated Avatar project, he had to go for the 3D route with The Forever War.

If anyone was suited to the scale of Haldeman’s epic space war adventure, then it has to be Ridley Scott. While I’m not sold on the whole 3D gimmick yet (seeing as it comes in and out of fashion every few years), the fact that Scott will be in the chair for the film means that at least we’re in for a damn good science fiction movie.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman was released in 1974 and was a Hugo and Nebula award winner. Many have drawn the obvious parallels between the Forever War’s story and the Vietnam war, but social commentary and quasi-autobiography aside, it is an extremely well written science fiction story that has gripped readers for decades, and more than deserves its title as a masterwork of SF literature.

Marvel Movie Date Changes
There have been some big changes to the slate of Marvel movies to be released in the next few years, mostly in order to accommodate the new Spider-Man films. Only Iron Man 2 has kept its release date, and will be out in May 2010. Thor will now hit on June 17th 2011, The First Avenger: Captain America will come out July 22 2011 and The Avengers movie will arrive May 4th, 2012. Somewhere in there, we may well be seeing Spider-Man 4 (and possibly 5) too. Stay tuned.

IRON MAN 2 NEWS
It has now been officially confirmed that both Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson have been cast in the sequel to last year’s superhero hit movie. Robert Downey Jr will reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man, but there is a ton of controversy over the Samuel L Jackson/Nick Fury issue.

STEPHEN KING’S ‘IT’
Warner Bros have apparently ordered a new film adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel. Previously filmed as a popular miniseries in 1993, it is unclear how close to the book the film will stick. To be frank, unless it is about 6 hours long, it won’t really resemble the book much, plus you can’t beat Tim Curry as Pennywise

DOCTOR WHO- New images online
The Radio Times Website features a selection of brand new images of David Tennant and Michelle Ryan taken during the shooting of ‘Planet of the Dead’, the next Doctor Who special for 2009.

TWILIGHT: Eclipse gets new director?
Has the third film in the Twilight saga found its director? While the second, New Moon, is only just getting underway, the third film in the series, Eclipse, is already getting hyped up. According to Variety, the third film may well be directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, of The Orphanage fame. WHOA. If anyone could make a good film out of the Twilight stuff, it’ll be him. What next, Del Toro for the fourth? The mind boggles.

The depth of his work is astounding, as is the quality of the characters brought to life on the page. So look past just the Watchmen book on your shelf and discover the other great titles from this master of graphic storytelling.

It is a testament to the craftsmanship of the animators that many people think that certain scenes are computer generated. They aren’t. There is some digital correction going on, such as wire removal and the like, but the characters and their environments are pretty much untouched.

Directed by the man who brought us The Nightmare Before Christmas, this is being hailed as one of the best children’s book adaptations ever, and quite rightly so. It takes a brave production company to tackle anything by Neil Gaiman, but it seems here that the task has been executed perfectly. With visuals that surpass many expectations and sound design that brings the story fully to life, ths is one family film that will unnerve, fascinate and enthrall for many years to come.