Comic artist Joe Madureira made a splash in the video game industry back in 2010, when his company Vigil Games developed Darksiders, a action game that combined God of War-like combat with puzzles and exploration that drew comparisons to the Zelda franchise. 

In the game, players took on the role of War,  one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who had been wrongfully accused of bringing about the end of the world. Joe Mad served as the creative director on the game, and his style was clearly evident in the look of Darksiders. The game was both a critical and commercial success, garnering great reviews and selling over one million copies.

This August, Darksiders II will be arriving, and this time around, Death is the lead character. The storyline will take place around the same time as the original game, and will see Death investigating who is behind the conspiracy to frame War for brining on the apocalypse.

Fans eagerly awaiting Darksiders® II can get an exclusive Darksiders prequel comic from Dark Horse Comics when they preorder the Best Buy exclusive Darksiders II: Angel of Death edition for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3!

With a stunning cover from game creator Joe Madureira, this Best Buy exclusive print issue takes place before the events of Darksiders II, as Death travels to Earth to hunt down and confront a rogue demon! 

Written by Andrew Kreisberg (Batman Confidential, Green Arrow and Black Canary, FOX’s Fringe) and drawn by Roger Robinson (Batman: Arkham City,Azrael), Darksiders II: Death’s Door reveals essential secrets from the world of the upcoming game! 

You can preorder your copy of Darksiders II today, and you can see a video (via IGN) about the game in the player below.

Editor's Note: For those who have kept their old episodes of Secret Identity, issue #202 featured and interview with Joe Mad about the original Darksiders game.
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From our great friends, Keith and John!

Top 3 Cartoon Sidekicks: Fresh from the Boston Comic Con, The Swass-Cast returns with a brand new episode featuring our good buddies from the Secret Identity Podcast.

Matman and Brian join us to discuss the top 3 cartoon sidekicks of all time and some of the choices will surprise you. From the funtastic to the fantastic, the lists are sure to entertain. We also do one of our very funny mailbag segments where we read a lot of our hate mail. Some people like to read their good comments, we like to read our negative ones. This episode features lots of cartoon talk between friends.

Please join in the fun and download this episode now. Always remember the episodes are available in Video and Audio format on Itunes and you can always enjoy on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/TommySwass
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Press Release

Paizo's incredible award-winning, best-selling fantasy world, fiction line and tabletop RPG is now the ultimate fantasy comic from Dynamite Entertainment, hitting stores in August! Dynamite is proud to announce that the ongoing series is written by Jim Zubkavich with art by Andrew Huerta, with covers by Lucio Parillo, Matteo Scalera, Dave Dorman, and Erik Jones!!!

The iconic heroes at the core of the Pathfinder's world are brought to life for the first time in a brand new story full of charm and high adventure that will please fans and entertain new readers alike. Issue 1 clocks in at 40 pages (and remains $3.99) and includes over 10 pages of character profiles and Pathfinder RPG game statistics, plus an EXCLUSIVE removable, playable tactical map and poster. Be sure to pick up Pathfinder #1 from Dynamite, coming this August to comic stores everywhere!

In issue #1, Valeros can rely on only his sword arm and his friends, the mysterious and beautiful sorcerer Seoni and silver tongued quick-witted elven rogue Merisiel, but nothing can prepare him for the dangers that lurk ahead. The scattered and chaotic goblin tribes of Varisia are changing, growing in power and unifying in ways no one has ever seen before. At the heart of this strange evolution is an ancient evil looking to establish itself anew.

"Pathfinder has blazed new trails in gaming and fiction, winning over thousands of fans all over the world. I'm absolutely thrilled to add to its mythology and flesh out the iconic characters at the heart of the Golarion world," says writer Jim Zubkavich. "Sword and sorcery adventure pumps through my veins and I can't wait for readers to experience what Dynamite and I have planned."

"I am thrilled with the work Jim Zub and Andrew Huerta have put into the Pathfinder comic book," adds Paizo Publisher Erik Mona. "Jim and I go way back to my time as Editor-in-Chief of Dragon Magazine, and his experience with fantasy and gaming make him the perfect writer for the series. Andrew's pencils are absolutely amazing, and bring an exciting and fresh new look to the characters, monsters, and lands of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game."

"From day one of when we were awarded the license for the Pathfinder comic we knew we had only one chance to make a great first impression for Pathfinder and comics fans - Jim and Andrew are the perfect team for the series. It is great to finally have the opportunity to publish these wonderful comics," adds Dynamite Entertainment President and Publisher Nick Barrucci. "I also finally get the chance to work with Jim Zubkavich, a writer whom I have the upmost respect for, and Andrew's art is nothing short of breathtaking. And these covers by Lucio Parillo, Matteo Scalera, Dave Dorman, and Erik Jones are just astounding!"

For more info on the Pathfinder roleplaying game, head over to  http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG.
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Last week, comic fans were so captivated by ‘The Avengers’ film (myself included) that the news of a creator’s passing went a little under the radar.

In April artist Tony DeZuniga suffered a stroke, but sadly there was too much damage and on May 11th, at the age of 79, he passed away.

Tony broke into comics at the age of 16 and became part of a ‘Philipino Invasion’ of comic book artists which included Ric Estrada, Nester Redondo and the brilliant Alfredo Alcala. But it was his pairing with writer John Albano that DeZuniga helped to create one of the longest running and one of the most important characters in my life, Jonah Hex!

In 1971 Albano and DeZuniga created a western bounty hunter character on Clint Eastwood’s ‘Man with No Name.’ But to give him a more interesting look, DeZuniga looked to a medical chart for inspiration. From an interview in 2010, he tells of how an anatomy poster; half muscle and half skeleton, gave him the idea of giving Jonah hex a scared right side of his face. And the rest is history!

His art style was well suited for the westerns, fantasy and war titles that he drew. He would use a lot of lines to create emotions and would take advantage of every inch of the panels he drew. He spent the next two decades working for both Marvel and DC and drew most of the big characters for each including Batman, Conan and Spider – Man.  

Following his career in comics, DeZuniga later became a videogame conceptual designer working for the American and Japanese divisions of Sega. He also did work for TSR’s ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. In 2010, he returned to the world of Jonah Hex along with writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray for the graphic novel ‘No Way Back.’

Since I’ve been reading comics since the mid 1970’s, it’s only inevitable that many of the creators that I grew up loving would be passing. So please enjoy, support and reach out to the creators that you love and whose work means so much to you while we still have them. I have a lot of things I wish I could say to Tony but I can’t now. Thank you, sir!
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Our good freind Buddy Scalera reached out this week to let us know that he will be taking over as the ongoing writer of Ape Entertainment's Richie Rich comic with issue #5. The series brings back the cast of the original cartoon, but has added a few twists as well.

"Each issue will have an original Richie Rich story featuring a modernized version of the original cast," Buddy told us. "Now they travel the world on adventures as Rich Rescue, an elite (and extremely well funded) team."

"In Issue #5, we have Rich Rescue turn into superheroes," Buddy added. "It's good, wholesome fun that may help a new generation of kids discover comics." 

Issue #5 of Richie Rich is slated to hit shops later this month. You can find out more about the series over at www.ape-entertainment.com. You can also download the richie Rich comics app for your iOS device here.

Congrats to Buddy!
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It's that time again! Time for you to vote for the Summer Reading and Watching Projects. We've got a lot of great candidates this year, and we are planning on starting at the beginning of June. For those that don't know, each year we pick a comic limited series as well as a season of a TV show and discuss the issues and episodes weekly on the podcast. 

Without further ado, here are your Summer Reading Project candidates:

Liberty Meadows--Book 1
Sgt. Rock--The Prophecy
The Infinity Gautlet
Immortal Iron Fist--Book 2: Seven Capital Cities of Heaven
Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk
Hellboy: Darkness Calls
Infinite Kung Fu
Your Summer Watching Project candidates are:

The Middleman
The Dresden Files
Birds of Prey
Kingdom Hospital
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Dollhouose (Seasons 1&2)
Terriers
American Gothic
Now it's up to you to vote on which Reading and Watching Project you want! Head over to our forum for the official poll, which will be up for the next week or so. Once the votes are tallied, we'll pick a start date and dive in. 

Go vote!
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We at Secret Identity are pleased to announce a new sponsor to our podcast family… Curious Goods and Comics!

Curious Goods and Comics is the top rated seller on Comic Collector Live! With over 300,000 comics in stock, they have something for everyone with books for as little as 50 cents! Curious Goods and Comics also provide free shipping! Whether it’s old or new comics, toys, cards, single issues or full runs, Curious Goods and Comics is all you’ll need.

“About a week ago Brian and I put an order in,” Matman said. “We both have some holes in our collection and thought we should try CGaC. Not only did we get our books within a few days, but they were in great shape too.”

“I really liked the ease of ordering on the site,” Brian added. “You type in what you’re looking for and if they have it, you just click! If they don’t have it in stock you can’t order it, so there are no surprises.”

To find out more, head to www.curiousgoodsandcomics.com
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Press Release

Ironclad Imagineers is thrilled to announce the return to the comics world of Australian comics legend, Artist - Glenn Lumsden. Glenn's work on Marvel's The Phantom, DC's Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight and Cyclone Comics', The Southern Squadron and Dark Nebula paved the way for a generation of aspiring Aussie comic artists to come. We've lured him back with our game-changing digital comic series, The Legend of Spacelord Mo Fo. Glenn will be making a Special Guest Artist appearance in the upcoming Episode 1: Part 15, as we blast our way towards the explosive Episode 1 finale.

A word from Glenn - “I can't wait to help out the guys on Spacelord Mo Fo. When Dave first showed me what they were doing, I fell in love with the new medium. Comics and computer combining beautifully to create a whole new story telling experience. The visuals are fabbo, it's exhausting to think Dave's been drawing this solo. Then I read Pat's screenplay and was totally sold on the whole thing. Believe me, the story is NOT what you expect! It's going to be a lot of fun helping Dave to at least one of the many grueling weekly deadlines the guys have committed themselves to.”

Launched in January 2012 by Ironclad Imagineers, Pat McNamara and David G. Williams', The Legend of Spacelord Mo Fo is leading the charge across the digital comics frontier alongside celebrated pioneers, Mark Waid of Thrillbent's Insufferable and Marvel's Infinite, Kurt Christenson and Reilly Brown of Power Play, and D.J. Coffman of Hero by Night.

About The Legend of Spacelord Mo Fo
It's a post-apocalyptic, space-western, dramedy, with anime influences and a shot of that dark and sexy HBO stuff, so yeah, it's for a more mature audience... well, not for 'kids' anyway, not sure about the 'mature' part. We follow the misadventures of Bran Mak Foo and Honey Pott, a just-married couple scrounging a living in their dilapidated deep-space freighter, the Qupid, on the Edge of Endspace; a vast region of space where no semblance of civilization has reemerged after a galactic apocalypse... or three. The Edge is a place where heroes are few, villains are plentiful, and the rest are just trying to survive...

...oh, and as if life weren't tough enough already for our heroes, Bran just so happens to be the most wanted man alive - Spacelord Mutha... well, we'll say Mo Fo because we're in polite company. The Mo Fo's said to be a one man army who walked into a bar and let loose a hell that destroyed a city. Of course, the truth behind that tale is something else, but that's a truth for another telling. At its heart The Legend of Spacelord Mo Fo is a rock-em, sock 'em tale of love and guns, with Bran and Honey fighting the good fight against the galaxy, and sometimes each other, but always finding a way through... together... mostly... we hope...

How the Digital Comic Works
You may have seen or heard of a 'little' game-changing comic that debuted in March 2012, Marvel's Infinite by Mark Waid and Stuart Immonen?... Well, the Mo Fo's like that. The Legend of Spacelord Mo Fo is a serialized, full-color, digital comic, written and illustrated specifically for the digital storytelling medium, and presented panel by panel in a cinematic widescreen format we call, Cinegraphic. Episode Parts are released weekly, and are available FREE, Online, for Download, and by Subscription, with completed Episodes to be released for sale as Ebooks and Apps, in Full HD, with a host of cool behind the scenes bonuses included.

Where to find the Mo Fo

Read, Download or Subscribe to the Mo Fo @ www.spacelordmofo.com

Follow our developers blog @ www.spacelordmofo.blogspot.com

Show the Mo Fo some 'like' @ www.facebook.com/spacelordmofo
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This is the time to vote; European and Asian elections, local American primaries and of course, American Idol!

But for comic book fans, it’s time to vote for the Inkwell Awards 2012!

The nominating committee (featuring once again Secret Identity) have picked the best inkers in 2012 from books cover dated 2011. Vote for the best in eleven categories including ‘Best Inker’ and the ‘All In One Award’!

“Inking is a serious skill that needs to be recognized”, Matman said! “A good inker will add depth and texture to a book. They will also bring out the best in a penciler and they need to get more credit for what they do.”

To vote, please go to http://www.inkwellawards.com/ and exercise your right.
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