§ Brett Warnock has a long post filled with goodies at the Top Shelf Blog but it starts out with this:

Alex Robinson will be doing a short fantasy comic for us later this year, called Lower Regions. (You read it here first, folks.) If you’ve never had the opportunity to read Alex’s fantasy stuff (like the strip “One Gold Coin,” in his mini-comic Tales of Action and Adventure), then you are in for a real treat.

§ Meanwhile, Oni has a big preview of a new book by Rick Spears and Chuck B.B. called BLACK METAL. We’ve never been disappointed by anything Spears wrote, and this looks very tasty indeed:

Black Metal is the story of Sam and Shawn, misunderstood twins with a mysterious lineage and a penchant for the darkest metal. Though daily plagued by the rituals of the normal; school, shopping trips to the mall, and little brothers, the boys endeavor to stay true to the blackness in their souls. When they acquire the new Frost Axe album, their true destiny is revealed: they are the Roth incarnate.

Empowered by the legendary sword of Atoll, these kids are determined to thrash and wail on however many demons they have to in order to fulfill the ancient prophecy and regain their rightful position as Hell Baron of the Pit. Loud, fast and heavy like the music it is inspired by, Black Metal ties into the youth culture that has grown up around this ferocious sound. Then infused with a shot of ancient myth and a healthy dose of high adventure, it rises to the level of a truly epic tale.