PiQ Magazine - Entertainment for the rest of us

One thing we here at PiQ always look forward to every summer is what the minds at Pixar will dream up next, and with Issue 4, we celebrate the release of Disney’s WALL•E. Check out our coverage of the crafty little robot’s cinematic adventures and even get a peek at what’s coming from Pixar in the future!

We also follow the continuing convergence of comics and movies with interviews with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier, take a look at new comic collections The Legion of Superheroes and The K Chronicles. We also talk to Bang Zoom! president Eric P. Sherman, ADR director Kristi Reed and voice actor Steve Blum about their work on Ghost Slayers Ayashi, catch a glimpse of the long-awaited Maria Watches Over Us, take a trip behind the scenes at TimeGate Studios, catch some quick peeks at new games Final Fantasy IV for DS, Death Jr. and Infinite Undiscovery. To top all that, check out our features on Doctor Who including interviews with star Freema Agyeman and executive producer Julie Gardner and Stargate Atlantis where we catch up with everyone’s favorite medical hologram Robert Picardo, and discover With the Light, a unique manga dealing with the challenges of autism.

In List, you’ll find reviews of the ten most notable releases for July, including Persepolis, The Signal, Mad Men, Chocobo’s Dungeon, American Nerd, The Onion Movie and more.

In LINK, look for our story on A/V Geeks founder Skip Elsheimer (aka “the man with 20,000 films”). That’s 20,000 reels of 16mm goodness, including educational films, PSAs, industrial and training films. And here we thought our tastes were eclectic. Also check out our coverage of this year’s New York Comic Con and Japan Film Festival Los Angeles.

Stick around for Monitor’s big exploration of tabletop RPGs entitled This is How We Role, where we hear from three perspectives on the different genres of RPGs, including Dungeons & Dragons and its future, Japanese RPGs like Sword World, and even our own take on the rise of indie RPGs like Primetime Adventures and Wushu. After that, we talk to Rueben Wu from Ladytron about the band’s newest effort Velocifero, learn about the history of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and more.

Last but not least, if you’re a Hellboy fan (and even if you’re not), be sure to catch the comic excerpts of B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground and Hellboy: Darkness Calls.

Now available on newsstands and other classy retailers, PiQ Issue 3 goes under the hood of the Wachowski brothers’ film adaptation of the classic anime Speed Racer, including the project’s long and storied past as it made its way to the silver screen. If you enjoyed the film as much as we did, then it’s a must read.

We’ve also put together a solid roundup of this summer’s most-anticipated movies, including Indiana Jones, Hellboy II, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight and more. Add to that some excellent summer viewing recommendations from some of the finest movie podcasters around and an overview of the new wave of movie video games and you’ve got yourself a great guide to what’s worth watching (and playing) for the next few months.

Other features include a retrospective on the career of acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro, new games Ninja Gaiden II, Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Space Invaders Extreme, an interview with Joel Bergen, Jared Hedges, and Alex Muniz (writers of The Shin-chan Show), Emma, a thoroughly enlightening discussion on heroes and other elements of fantasy with author China Miéville, and a introduction to josei manga with contributor Johanna Draper Carlson.

In LIST, look for reviews of the most notable releases for July, including R-Type Command for PSP, the raunchy but heartfelt Asian film Wakeful Nights, the always good for a laugh Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, anime fan-favorite Lucky Star, the contemporary vampire/slacker comic Life Sucks and more.

Leading off this month’s MONITOR section is an examination of the challenges of translating across cultures called “Found in Translation“. We talk to two veterans of the manga industry, Fred Schodt and Jared Cook, about their work with Tezuka Productions and other projects, discuss the ins and outs of video game translation and even look at what happens when translations go bad.

Also in MONITOR, we talk with Isaiah Saxon of Encyclopedia Pictura about their work on Björk’s new video “Wanderlust”, re-visit Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, meet up with Japanese RPG publisher Working Designs and of course, check in with our regular columnists in Lisa Cooper’s On the BL, Jonathan Clements’ Far West and more

For manga fans, be sure to check out this month’s 16-page excerpt of Toto! The Wonderful Adventure from Del Rey, presented in right-to-left format.

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.

Ladies and gentlemen, here’s a look at the premiere issue of PiQ! Since our subscribers have already started receiving their copies and stores will be putting out issues in the next week, we thought now would be the perfect time to share with everyone all the stuff we’ve packed into this issue. That would include anime, movies, TV shows, comics, games, blood, sweat, tears and lots o’ love.

More specifically, our cover story is all about Appleseed Ex Machina and includes some exclusive access to producer John Woo as he discusses his involvement with the project. It’s a pretty good read and if you’re looking forward to catching this on DVD soon, you won’t want to miss our take on it.