Books & Comics

Into The Badlands Has Its Own Comic, and You Can Read It Right Now

AMC already hasa pretty good rep for comic bookTV shows, considering they run The Walking Dead and will soon have the intense-looking Preacher adaptation. But it turns out they can also turn their TV shows into comic books, as is the case with their upcoming martial arts series, Into The Badlands. AMC have released a…

Oh No, There’s Going To Be More Of Those Horrifying Thomas The Tank Engine/DC Comics Mashup Toys

Earlier this year at San Diego Comic Con, Mattel and DC came together to share with the world a nightmarish vision: a set of Thomas the Tank Engine toy trains that were actually train versions of DC superheroes. We thought they were safely confined to convention exclusives, but you can’t keep monsters contained for too…

All the Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You Can’t Afford To Miss in November!

The holidays are coming up, and there’s no better gift than piles of books. And luckily, there are tons of fantastic science fiction and fantasy books coming this month. Including Stephen King! Ethan Hawke! Plus time travel, space colonies, and tons more! Here are the books you can’t afford to miss in November. The Bazaar…

A True Crime Author Explains Why We’re Drawn to People Who Survive Against All Odds

In 1987, two women were pulled from a wrecked car in Los Angeles. The older passenger was dead; the younger, barely clinging to life. Investigators soon became suspicious: Why didn’t their injuries appear to be related to the wreck? And why did their clothes smell so strongly of gasoline? The true-crime tale detailed in Anthony…

io9 Book Club Is In Session: Let’s Talk About If Then by Matthew De Abaitua!

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. This month, we’ve read If Then by Matthew De Abaitua. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! What is this io9 Book Club all about? We meet once a month to discuss a book we’ve all read together, and then we have an…

How a Crazy Space-Vampire Comic Like Interceptor Could Be the Next Big Comic Book Movie

There’s been a bit of a running trend of comics getting picked up for movie adaptations even before they release an issue—and Heavy Metal’s next big creator-owned series, Interceptor, is joining that trend. We sat down with writer Donny Cates to discuss the wild new series, and what it’s like having your comic turned into…

How Ta-Nehisi Coates Inspired a Book About the Hunt for Vulcan

The hunt for a hypothetical planet called Vulcan near Mercury fascinated author Tom Levenson for years. It took some tough talk from Ta-Nehisi Coates to get him to finally write a book about it. It was just a day or two, but sometime between the twelfth and eighteenth of November 1915, Albert Einstein lost his…

Here’s Your Exclusive Excerpt From One of This Fall’s Most Exciting Space Novels, Planetfall

Emma Newman’s novel Planetfall is getting a ton of buzz, with people comparing it to Ursula K. Le Guin. And now you can see for yourself why, with our exclusive excerpt. In Planetfall, Renata “Ren” Ghali lives on an alien planet, in a seemingly perfect colony, underneath the mysterious structure called God’s City. But long-buried…

Learn to Take Drone Photographs That Are Breathtaking Art

Photographer Eric Cheng has captured some of the most dramatic natural phenomena on Earth with drones. And now he has a new book, Aerial Photography and Videography Using Drones, about learning the the art of drone photography. In this gallery from the book, he gives us the backstory on some of his most memorable shots.…

Even Stan Lee Has a Hot Toys Action Figure Now

This is the point we’ve reached now. Hot Toys has made so many eerily accurate replices of Marvel’s movie superheroes, they’re now turning to a man who played a role in some of their creation stories for toy inspiration. Yes, now even Stan Lee is getting immortalized in plastic. Excelsior! Funnily enough this isn’t Lee’s…

The New Captain America Comic Reveals the Big Difference Between Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers

The new Captain America comic, starring Sam Wilson as Captain America, has already drawn some heat for the way it’s shown Sam taking an active role in the politics of the modern day U.S. This is something Steve Rogers himself did throughout his career as Cap—but the second issue goes a long way in highlighting…

Go to Amazon.com right now, and you’ll probably find a book that you’re looking for for $.01. Even with shipping, that’s a steal. The New York Times takes a look into the industry of buying books in bulk (sometimes from the trash) and reselling them for a penny.

io9 Newsstand: Here’s a Great, Mind-Bending Story for Time-Travel Geeks

This week’s stories are about the perils of time travel, resisting and embracing change, and coming of age on a distant planet. And they all come from the December issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. If you remember, last week I talked about how all of the “Big Three” digest magazines have changed editors…

Get One of The Most Acclaimed Space Books In Recent Years For Just $1.99

The self-published novel A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers got nominated for the Golden Tentacle Award for best SF debut, and got tons of praise from some of science fiction’s most respected critics. Now it’s coming out in a fancy new edition from Harper Voyager, and for today only it’s…

One Of The Scariest Aliens In Film History Gets An Adorably Cute Makeover

The Xenomorph from the Alien series has got to be one of, if not the, most terrifying creatures ever in film history. Even in the bad films of the franchise, the alien looks awesome. But one author imagined, what if he wasn’t so scary? Enter Alien Next Door, a picture book by artist Joey Spiotto.…

I Used To Be Too Scared To Check These Books Out of the Library

I remember the exact place where they were kept. They hovered together, trapped tightly between two wood slabs until they could be freed. I tried to ignore them, but they called out to me, over and over, in a deep low-pitched moan. Aliiiiiiiiissa. Aliiiiiiiiiissa. In third grade I discovered these three books of short stories…

You’ll Soon Be Able to Read a Classic Judge Dredd Comic Uncensored for the First Time Since 1978

The Cursed Earth is an infamous epic in the long history of Judge Dredd comics—but ever since it was first published 37 years ago, you’ve only ever been able to read the censored version. But a new change in UK law means that you’ll be able to experience it as was intended, for the first…

Which Epic Book Series Would Benefit From Being Shortened and Combined?

Everybody loves to dive into a pile of books that spin out an epic, immersive storyline. There’s nothing more satisfying than a trilogy or series with deep worldbuilding. But some book series could stand to be a bit shorter—and maybe also fewer books. Earlier today, we had an essay from Kim Stanley Robinson about the…

How Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Became One Of Marvel’s Biggest (And Cutest) New Comics

Even with a host of new comics coming from Marvel lately, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur sounds like one of the most interesting (and adorable). To find out more, we sat down with writers Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder to discuss how they and artist Natacha Bustos brought back a classic Jack Kirby creation—with a…

The New Extraordinary X-Men Comic Will Revive One Of The X-Men’s Biggest Fallen Heroes

Extraordinary X-Men, the new banner X-Men series in Marvel’s “All-New, All-Different” reboot, sees the X-Men facing some cataclysmic threats to mutant kind—and a potential new enemy in the Inhumans. But they’ll be getting some help: from a long dead X-Men… and maybe not the one you’re expecting. And no, it’s not Wolverine, who was killed…