The environment is faux Depression era Hollywood, complete with snarling gangsters in snappy suits, the untouchable wealthy, corruptible starlets in sleek revealing gowns, and elegantly designed automobiles set against the poverty and despair of the average joe. And in the middle of all this a world of celluloid dreams is being created. Private detective J. Parker Wrighte, is on an upwardly mobile career path from his lowly dust bowl beginnings, but finding that every advancement comes with cost and compromise. Working for the Kinchay Agency, Parker is investigating a case for Louis Orwell, one of the most powerful men in Retrowood; but at every turn he is continually dragged back into contact with his past, beginning with the murder of his best friend from childhood, Henry Irving. Drunken priests, sadistic nuns, nymphomaniacal wives, with basketball and gambling thrown in... How can you go wrong with that?

"We're excited to have Mike on board at Asylum," says publisher Frank Forte, "Retrowood fits in with our growing list of titles. After H.I. or L.O. we have a number of Retrowood one shots coming out as well as a new 4 issue series that Mike is drawing right now."

Retrowood: H.I. or L.O. #1 (of 2) is available for free on Comixology, ComicsPlus, Graphicly, My Digital Comics, DriveThruComics, AVE-Comics and can be found on on iPad, iPhone, Android devices, Mac, and PC.

Neon Alley is VIZ Media's new 24-hour, subscription-based anime channel available for the PS3 game console and Playstation® Network, and soon to be available for the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live®. The platform features the world's best titles (dubbed in English and uncut), presented in HD (when available), for a low monthly subscription rate of only $6.99.

FATE/ZERO is based on a Japanese light novel, written by Gen Urobuchi and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. This is the story that goes back to zero, back to the beginning. The ultimate battle royal, in which seven Masters vying for control of the miracle-granting Holy Grail summon seven Servants and fight until only one remains... The Holy Grail War!

Watch the Dub Trailer on YouTube.

Schenck's site, Webomator.com, is a trove of Pulp Science Fiction Rocket Punk goodness and more.

What do I mean by "and more"?

Bradley has this very addicting Pulp Book cover generator he calls the Pulp-O-Mizer and if you are a fan of old school Science Fiction and Monsters, you'll probably eat it right up!

Check out WebOMater.

Check out Pulp-O-Mizer.

AND

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter: A New Horror Adventure
by Charles Onyett
The Astronauts, an independent studio comprised of ex-People Can Fly developers (Painkiller, Bulletstorm) has revealed The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, an upcoming horror adventure game. Built using Unreal Engine 3 the game is currently scheduled to launch sometime in 2013 only for PC.

You'll play as a gifted detective who can apparently magically analyze crime scenes as you search for a missing boy in a mountainous area presided over by a mysterious force.

Continued at IGN.

PLUS

Horror journeys into the mind in 'Dead Space 3'
By Larry Frum,
(CNN) -- When you are creating the most anticipated horror video game of 2013, there is a certain trepidation about how you are going to bring the scares to your audience. Visceral Games hopes it's up to the challenge with its latest title, "Dead Space 3."

In the series' third installment, everyone's favorite head case, Isaac Clarke, is back, and still trying to get the visions of a twisted future out of his head. Aliens are still transforming humans into hideous necromorphs (zombie-like creatures made from different body parts) and it is up to Isaac to save humanity from a fate worse than death.

Continued at CNN.

But first, let's kick it off with an interview with Tim Lattie, who is on Kickstarter raising funds to finance the first issue of his creator-owned comic, "Night Stars," the story of three children who travel back in time to save the world. Tim, who is based in New Orleans, has done some work for Ape Entertainment, including "White Picket Fences."

Continued at CBR.

"4 will feature CosPlayers in homemade, cardboard animatronic robot suits. Unlike special effects houses that build fabrications, we're going totally DIY with tutorials we found on the Internet!"

Then Michael mangled his own profession's vocabulary by explaining,
"The appeal will be more cinematically esthetic."

Get the real story at CinemaBlend.

AND

DEADLY RENOVATIONS CREEPS TO VUDU!
From DJ Perry
Nail guns, murder and mayhem abound in this dark thriller about millions in stolen cash. This Midnight Release stars DJ Perry, Johnny Dark, Lana Wood & Terence Knox. The film released 4th quarter of 2012 and in 2013 released in Scandinavia and contains to expand as it gains momentum. The film was directed by Robert Gwinn and produced by DJ Perry and Charles Pisaeno. DJ Perry has become an international horror mainstay with films stretching back to the 90's such as "In the Woods," "Knight Chills" and "From Venus". More recently he can be seen starring in "An Ordinary Killer," "The 8th Plague" and "GPS" playing Chiller TV now. 2013 will see the release of "Darkest Night" and "Locked in a Room" both releasing in March as well as "Donors" still in post-production. His name has been attached to "The Beast," "Virtue" and "Soul Eater" for 2013 production. VUDU users can find the film at the link below.

More at VUDU.

Continued at The Scientist.

AND

The Nuclear Monsters That Terrorized the 1950s
By Katy Waldman
People who want to talk about the jumpy, kitschy, gloriously lurid movie genre we now know as 1950s sci-fi usually start with Susan Sontag. This is not because Sontag is a bug-eyed alien or 50 feet tall but because she wrote, in 1965, the definitive essay on Cold War dystopian fantasy: "The Imagination of Disaster." "We live," she claimed in that piece, "under continual threat of two equally fearful, but seemingly opposed, destinies: unremitting banality and inconceivable terror." The job of science fiction was at once to "lift us out of the unbearably humdrum … by an escape into dangerous situations which have last-minute happy endings" and to "normalize what is psychologically unbearable, thereby inuring us to it."

Continued at Slate.

PLUS

Top 10 zombie movies at the box office: Zombies not a monster draw
By Morgan Little
Despite infecting every aspect of popular culture — television, video games, classic literature, CDC jokes — zombie movies have historically under-performed at the box office compared with the highs reached by other horror or supernatural films, failing to reach the haunted heights of "The Sixth Sense," the demonic returns of "The Exorcist," or the J-horror-inspired returns of "The Ring."

Continued at LAT.