Issue 2 - May 2008
Right about now, subscribers should be receiving their copies of PiQ, Issue 2 and for those of you just discovering PiQ, you should be seeing copies popping up in stores across the country.
This month, our cover story is all about Sam & Max and the history of the franchise, from the games to the comics to the TV series. We also had the opportunity to chat with series creator Steve Purcell and even worked with Telltale games to create an exclusive cover you won’t find anywhere else. For anyone who’s been following the franchise all these years, you won’t want to miss this issue, and even if you’ve never of Sam & Max, you’d be remiss to not check it out.
You’ll also find features on Lucky Star, the new Iron Man movie, Torchwood, Vexille, two Asian film favorites Nana and CJ7, and new games Disgaea 3 and Persona 3 FES. There’s also a pair of Q&As with Tim and Eric from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and with Todd Dezago on The Perhapanauts.
In List, you’ll see reviews of some of the most notable offerings for May, like 5 Centimeters per Second, The World Ends With You, Haruka, Dororo and a CLAMP double feature of Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC and more. And for HD enthusiasts, there’s also a look at new Blu-ray releases of Yukikaze, Gattaca and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
In our Monitor section, we lead off with a big to-do on action movies and how they’ve evolved over the years. Much love is shown for long-forgotten gems like Road House and The Last Boy Scout, we examine how actioners have gone from beefed-up, nationalistic explosion-fests like Commando and Rambo to the comic-based, CGI-laden events of today and because guys tend to blindly eat this stuff up, we even get to hear from the ladies on what’s wrong with action movies today.
After that, we introduce some new regular columns from our contributors, such as Jonathan Clements’ Far West, Amos Wong’s Postcards, Lisa Cooper’s On the BL and Game Person, written by…well, we’ll let you try and figure that out. Speaking of games, Meet the Maker goes into deep, deep undercover and learns about the hard truths of the video game industry in China.
And last but not least, there’s sure to be something for all tastes in our exclusive manga previews this month, with excerpts from CMX Manga’s Batman: Death Mask by manga artist Yoshinori Natsume and Steel Fist Riku by Jyutaroh Nishino.
Lots of “branching out” topics that fall into the animation, comics and gaming entertainment categories, which is really interesting. I especially like the continued coverage of live-action Asian films, in the U.S. no less. A lot of people are missing out on some quality contemporary filmmakers from Japan and Korea; especially from Korea; that touch on just about every genre there is.
great issue and all dude but, i thought it was gonna be a newtype usa clone. seriously don’t get me wrong u did provided the comics. but seriously where is the poster and the free dvd .
Love the Format. Can’t wait to see what else you guys add as things progress.
Um, it’s “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” Tisk, Tisk, Tisk.
D’oh! Indeed, you are correct. “Great Job!” it is. My apologies, all you T&E lovers.
Alright alright alright. Lemme get this straight.
A non-anime cover.
THIS ISN’T THE MAGAZINE I SUBSCRIBED TO OH GOD
Also, i’m noticing a trend of brown/red covers. Might want to try using some more colours sometime too. I know this is different from Newtype, but Sam & Max on the cover? Seriously? I love S&M and all (no, not THAT S&M) but this is an outrage.
Seriously guys.
I got my issue last week, and I have to say, it’s a different breed of magazine. The format frame is well done, but when it comes what is inside each category, I feel like I’m running in a zig-zag motion between one genre to another, and back. It felt too randomly organized.
Other than that, my journey with PiQ is turning into an interesting one. I hope this organization quirk can be fixed!
Loved the Sam & Max cover feature. I’m definitely subscribing to this mag. Hopefully PiQ will add a poster, a little more anime, and a little more underground comics like Sam & Max. Keep up the great work!
I wish newtype usa could returns because i feel want to see lot of new anime stuffs, books, games and dvds much than tiny different living action stuffs (such as Sam and Max, etc.) so badly!
I would be very happy to see PIQ could get free anime dvd trailors, poster and a little anime story!
That’s how I feel and I always keep my fingers crosses … anyway … keep up the great work!
Haven’t received mine yet. I renewed recently, and I assured that my renewal would start with the May issue. I am patiently waiting…
I subscribed on March 3rd, an have yet to recieve anything.
@Nordmann: I love the sarcasm in your comment. Especially the part where you love Sam & Max, but can’t possibly comprehend why we would put in on our cover. Brilliant.
@Charles: Yes, that’s something that we’re continuing to improve with each issue and I think you’ll see a noticeable difference with Issue 3.
@Ricki/Patrick: If you don’t receive your copies, please contact us here.
I’m with simon more anime, a poster, and for the love of god the dvd !!!!! You guys have gotten better. so keep trying
i would also really like to see a poster and a dvd in the new magazine. {mostly posters(my room isn’t coverd yet)} also PLEASE PUT MORE ANIME!!! I’M BEGGING ON MY HANDS AND KNEES!!!
MORE ANIME, no need for Sam and Max, its a good story and all but honestly, we have plenty of Zines with THAT type of subject matter, what happened to the magazine that hardcore anime fans know and love, honestly. (Also would appreciate a DVCD ; ) ) There’s n odenying you guys are doing a great job, just want to see more anime oh, and ALL of us want a REAL explanation as to why Newtype went down the drain…
Got my mag today finally. I am thinking the PO lost mine, because this arrived in an envelope a week after I checked on the status of my renewal (thanks!). I am still loving it and I do not think it needs any additional anime, and it definitely does not need any posters or DVDs because I never cared for those. Keep putting the manga in!
[...] about the writing I’m doing for PiQ Magazine. I didn’t get a chance to talk about issue 2 (May), because it came out while I was at the NY Con, so I’m catching up. PiQ (pronounced [...]
whoa whoa whoaaaa…no DVD and poster? thats madness. And what kind of an anime mag is this…Sam and Max?…NTUSA was the ONLY american magazine that was solely centered around anime/otaku stuff like, animerica and what-not are great but NTUSA had a certain somethin somethin that had me comin back for more. Sorry but im not gonna give this mag a chance. maybe in the future but for now im just gonna buy japanese/chinese magazines and just look at the pictures.