Jordan Blum

Spinning out of the world of the hit Minor Threats superhero series created by Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Scott Hepburn comes a new tale of costumed underdogs--featuring a support group for superheroes, struggling to reclaim their mediocre lives after tasting their true potential. Mary the Multi-Monster The Tripper Crab Louie Kid Curious Persona These offbeat b-list superheroes, formerly known as The Alternates, seemingly sacrificed themselves to stop an invasion from another dimension. Instead they were transported to a mirror reality where they lived complex lives in a more four-dimensional existence--expanding both their powers and consciousness. Five years later they've returned to Twilight City, struggling to reacclimate to their old lives in a traditional two-dimensional superhero world--in withdrawal from the vivid ones they left behind. When elements from this alternate reality turn up as a dangerous new street drug, some of the heroes band together to destroy it, while others succumb to its temptation. Illustrated by Tess Fowler (Rat Queens) and Christopher Mitten (Hellboy, 30 Days of Night) and featuring pinups by Fabio Moon, Tony Fleecs, Ryan Browne, Martin Simmonds, and more Collects The Alternates #1-#4.

The hit superhero saga that's Watchmen meets The Wire returns from Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, showrunners of Marvel's M.O.D.O.K on HULU, and superstar artist Scott Hepburn (Tom Morello's Orchid). Frankie Follis AKA the costumed criminal Playtime has won. Twilight City's greatest hero The Insomniac and its greatest villain The Stickman are dead, allowing Frankie to unify the super crook underworld and assert herself as the Queenpin of Redport. But Frankie is feeling the pressure from every side. Rival gangs are challenging her authority, Scalpel her consigliere is pushing her to legitimize her empire, and the act of murdering The Insomniac has broken something deep inside her. Frankie is about to learn the hard way... heavy is the head that wears the supervillain crown. In the vein of Sin City, Black Hammer, and The Boys, this noir-ish superhero caper focuses on a lower-class kind of criminal, similar to the Coen Bros most pulpy films, but set in a high concept world of heroes and villains. Collects the comic book series Minor Threats: The Fastest Way Down #1-#4.

A new original comic series from Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum - showrunners of Marvel's M.O.D.O.K on Hulu - and superstar artist Scott Hepburn In the vein of Sin City, Watchmen, and The Boys, this noir-ish superhero caper, focuses on a lower-class kind of criminal, similar to the Coen Bros' most pulpy films, but set in a high concept world of heroes and villains. "I was hooked from the first page " -- Taika Waititi It's hard out there for a supervillain. Not the world conquerors, chaos engines, or arch-nemeses, but the little guys, the career criminals. The ones who put on uniforms, knock over jewelry stores, and get tied to telephone poles before the hero swings off to face the actual big bad. Times are tough for costumed crooks...and they're about to get much worse. The psychotic Stickman has done the unthinkable and murdered Kid Dusk, sidekick to Twilight City's premier crime-fighter, The Insomniac. The Insomniac's teammates, The Continuum, are tearing Twilight apart, turning it into a terrifying police state--desperate to capture the Stickman and stop the Insomniac from "crossing that final line" in which he may never come back from. Caught in the middle are the small-time C-list villains, finding it impossible to pull jobs or even walk down the street without being harassed by these heroes. With a bounty on the Stickman's head, former villain Playtime decides to put together a ragtag team of equally disgruntled supervillains to take down the Stickman and kill him themselves, leading her on a dark journey into the criminal underbelly she's tried so hard to escape. This graphic crime drama is about superheroes and villains and the last gasp of the colorful, innocent days of the silver and bronze age...before they're dragged into the grit-soaked modern era. Features a bonus pinups section with art by Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Francesco Francavilla (The Black Beetle), and David Aja (Hawkeye).

No other band has affected modern progressive metal as deeply or widely as American quintet Dream Theater. Formed at Berklee College of Music) as Majesty in 1985 by guitarist John Petrucci, drummer Mike Portnoy, and bassist John Myung, the group has spent thirty years repeatedly pushing new boundaries and reinventing their identity. Although other acts - such as Queensryche and Fates Warning - paved the way for the prog-metal subgenre, Dream Theater were without doubt the first to meld influences from both metal and progressive rock into a groundbreaking blend of quirky instrumentation, extensively complex arrangements, and exceptional songwriting. Whether subtly or overtly, they've since left their mark on just about every progressive metal band that's followed. In this book, Jordan Blum examines virtually all Dream Theater collections, and their behind-the-scenes circumstances, to explore how the group distinctively impacted the genre with each release. Whether classics of the 1990s like Images and Words and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, benchmarks of the 2000s like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Octavarium, or even thrilling modern efforts like A Dramatic Turn of Events and Distance Over Time, every sequence of albums contributes something crucial to making Dream Theater's legacy nothing short of astonishing.

It's nearly impossible to discuss the history of rock music without praising the monumental quality, impact, variety, and boldness of Britain's Jethro Tull. Named after an eighteenth-century agriculturalist - and not after their striking frontman Ian Anderson - the group almost immediately became one of the most ambitious, and significant acts in two subsections of the genre: progressive rock and folk rock. Officially formed in 1967, mastermind Anderson and company initially forged a blues course before veering in a more diverse, and expansive direction. Their early 1970s period - which is often considered their peak-took them close to progressive rock via iconic album cuts like `Aqualung' and lengthy narrative suites like Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play. Moving album by album, this book will examine the behind-the-scenes circumstances and motivations for each release via a track-by-track analysis to acutely observe why Jethro Tull were - and always will be - of invaluable benefit to rock music.