All New, All Different Marvel! - order form and more

by Ben Fardon

"When Everything Ends, There Is Only Secret Wars..."

These ominous words have dominated the Marvel Universe over the past few months. Thanks to shipping delays Secret Wars is set to rage on into October, but the same week that Secret Wars #8 ships, Marvel also begins it's much hyped All New, All Different relaunch!

Starting with the new Invincible Iron Man #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez, Doctor Strange #1 by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo, the globetrotting new Amazing Spider-Man #1 by returning Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli, Avengers #0 (an anthology one-shot featuring All-New, All-Different Avengers, Squadron Supreme, A-Force, New Avengers, Ultimates and Uncanny Avengers) and several more, Marvel have cannily spread their relaunch across two months making it slightly more affordable than the onslaught that was the New 52.

In order to help a little bit more, we're offering the following price promotions to all customers (subject to change and whilst stocks last):

• Avengers #0 - only £3.00
• Doctor Strange #1 - only £2.50
• Invincible Iron Man #1 - only £2.00
• Amazing Spider-Man #1 - only £3.00

Purchase all four of these together and pay only £10!

(saving you an extra 50p on top of these already discounted prices)

Once again we are matching a few titles to previous orders on Reservation Service pull lists. This is primarily where the creative team remains the same (or at least the writer), ensuring that customers who only come in every couple of months will not suddenly find they've missed the next chapter of an ongoing saga like Jason Aaron's run on Thor.

Here's the full list of what we've matched - if you had the former, we've automatically added the latter on to your pull list:

Old Title	New Title (All New, All Different)
All-New Hawkeye	Hawkeye
Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel Now)	Amazing Spider-Man
Ant-Man	Astonishing Ant-Man
Deadpool (Marvel Now)	Deadpool
Guardians Of The Galaxy (Marvel Now)	Guardians Of The Galaxy
Howard The Duck	Howard The Duck
Legendary Star-Lord	Star-Lord
Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man	Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
Ms Marvel (Marvel Now)	Ms Marvel
Nova	Nova
Silk	Silk
Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy: Spider-Woman)	Spider-Gwen
Spider-Man 2099	Spider-Man 2099
Spider-Woman (Marvel Now)	Spider-Woman
Thor (Avengers Now)	Mighty Thor
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl	Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

If you're unsure, please email me to request a copy of your pull list and I'll send over a pdf copy. You are welcome to instantly remove any title we've automatically added to you up until you've purchased the first issue, then you are bound by our usual terms and conditions regarding notice periods for removing a title from your order.

Please remember that the FCBD All New, All Different Avengers showed that while there will be some significant changes (like the introduction of Miles Morales and Old Man Logan into the main Marvel Universe), the majority of Marvel continuity remains intact. This is not a major reboot akin to DC's New 52. For example, Bendis has stated his run on Iron Man will build on Kieron Gillen, Greg Land and Dale Eaglesham's Secret Origin of Tony Stark from Marvel Now.

You can view the full All New, All Different Marvel range in the free All New, All Different Preview magazine, available free from Proud Lion or digitally here.

If you'd like to order anything from the upcoming Marvel relaunch, please use the following order form:

Create your own user feedback survey

Orders made via this form must be submitted by midday on Friday 11th September. Orders after that can be placed by emailing shop@proudlion.co.uk.

Ben is really looking forward to seeing how this new chapter of the Marvel Universe will unfold!

New staff appointments!

by Ben Fardon

As many of you will already be aware, Proud Lion recently began looking for a part-time staff member. I am happy to announce this position has now been filled. Maya Rose has joined the team as our new Retail Assistant. Please give her a warm welcome whilst we proceed with her training.

I would also like to announce that our resident game guru Rae Hurley has become our Assistant Manager. In addition to her full time employment elsewhere, she will be available at the shop on a part-time basis, and will continue to run our schedule of Proud Lion events. She will also be managing many aspects of the website, which will be relaunching very soon.

The team is growing, and we're excited to see where the next chapter of Proud Lion takes us. Stay tuned for more details about the new Click-And-Collect webstore coming soon.

Ben Fardon is getting caught up on emails after a welcome couple of half days off last week! A rare treat!

Big Game Hunting - AvP: The Hunt Begins

by Rae

It's time for Big Game Hunting! This is a monthly gaming event that takes place on the second Saturday of every month. Players will get a chance to learn and play featured games all day long. Each month one or two different games are selected, and all participating players will also receive a voucher for 10% off the featured game(s). This month we're featuring AvP: The Hunt Begins!

AvP: The Hunt Begins is a tabletop skirmish game where one or more players can play as Aliens, Predators, or Marines from the popular Alien and Predator franchises. Each game comes with highly detailed models of all three factions, dozens of room tiles to make multiple configurations, and a rule book packed with scenarios to play.

The scenarios in the book can be played in order to create a narrative, allowing players to build the characters in the factions they play. This enables each faction to gain new skills as they progress through the storyline.

For those who would rather play a straight-up skirmish, that's fine - there's a free-for-all mode that allows players to do away with the scenarios and simply play a head-to-head game. These modes include Last Man Standing, Capture the Flag, Defend the Post, and more.

During the day, we will be running open demos from 11am to 5pm. Feel free to drop in at any time, we're happy to teach you how to play! We will make every effort to have two game sets available, with two small demo games ready to play, to give as many people as possible a chance to give it a go.

Rae discovered the game Acquire this week, thanks to Ben, who may be regretting that decision!

Proud Lion will be closed Thursday, 30 July

by Rae

Proud Lion is working hard this week to bring you all a better experience when visiting our website at www.proudlion.co.uk. In order for us to continue this, we need to complete a full stock take for the store, to make sure our products and information are as up to date as possible.

As a result, Proud Lion will be closed Thursday, 30 July to take stock of our products. The store will be open as normal from Friday 31 July.

Rae still adores Funko Pop! Vinyl, no matter what Jean-Luc has to say!

Improvements coming to proudlion.co.uk - but first, last chance to grab a bargain!

by Rae

If you fancy a geeky bargain, this weekend will be your last chance to grab reduced items from our online outlet store! Customers have until midnight, Sunday 26 July, to take advantage of reduced items currently for sale online at proudlion.co.uk!

Proud Lion Outlet Store currently provides end of line items that have been reduced to clear, with the option of paid shipping or free collection in store. While this has provided some of our customers with another avenue of shopping with us, we wish to expand the webstore to provide more functionality. In order to achieve this, we need to make some improvements to proudlion.co.uk, which will require a small amount of downtime.

From Monday 27 July, the webstore will be temporarily under maintenance. Once this essential work is complete, we hope to provide you with an improved online shopping experience. More details will be released once the maintenance is finished and the refreshed webstore is ready!

Rae has a few too many RPG ideas floating around in her head this week.

Carrier bags and charity - Cheltenham Open Door

by Ben Fardon

Hi folks,

The last financial quarter finished a last week, the end of the carrier bags for charity schemes fifteenth full quarter and together we raised a whopping £41.39.

Last time we donated to Comic Relief and the Disasters Emergency Committee's Nepal Earthquake Appeal. This time a local charity was nominated by one of our customers, Joe S.

Cheltenham Open Door supports vulnerable, disadvantaged and lonely people. They work to relieve poverty, hardship and social or emotional distress by offering them hospitality, warmth, food and somewhere to relax. Cheltenham Open Door  rely solely on donations to provide the services they do.

They accept donations of food, clothing and money and the ways you can donate can be found here.

The next carrier bag donation should be in early October. If like Joe, you have a charity you'd like Proud Lion to support, please email me at shop@proudlion.co.uk.

FUNKO POP! OFFER Three for £25!

FUNKO POP! OFFER Three for £25!Buy any three £12 Funko Pop! for £25!25% off all other Funko Pop!Offer valid on Saturday 20th June.
Posted by Proud Lion on Friday, 19 June 2015

Free RPG Day 2015 @ Proud Lion!

by Rae

In addition to our normal gaming events scheduled throughout the month, this June sees the return of Free RPG Day! On Saturday 20th June, Proud Lion will be hosting sessions of D&D Expeditions, followed by an evening at Boston Tea Party where we will also be running Dread and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire.

D&D Expeditions is the perfect way to get a taste of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. Each Expedition is only a few hours long – perfect for a quick adventure! We will be running two different Expeditions on the day. The first will run from 10:30am until 3pm. The second will be a split session, running in store from 3:30pm until 5pm, then continuing at Boston Tea Party from 6pm until 9pm.

There will be a maximum of four players for each Expedition, and to ensure Expeditions are balanced, pre-generated characters will be made available - no custom characters will be allowed. Tickets are free, but must be reserved via Ticketsource in order to play. Please note this is not a drop-in, drop-out session – please only reserve a ticket if you will be staying for the complete session!

Our evening offerings at Boston Tea Party will also be free but will again require tickets via Ticketsource. Our first, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, is based on the adventure contained within the Beginner Box, and serves as an excellent introduction into this science fiction RPG. Our second evening game will be Dread, a horror RPG that is centred around a classic game of Jenga. Both games will run from 6pm to 9pm at Boston Tea Party and can support up to four players. Again, both games will be using pre-generated characters for all players.

In order to reserve your space for one of these games, please follow the link below to our Ticketsource page, where you can select which game you wish to play and claim a spot.

In order to ensure as many people as possible get a chance, we are limiting each player to playing only one of the above games on the day.

Click here to reserve a ticket for Free RPG Day!

However, that doesn't mean you can't bring your own games! Feel free to grab your friends and run an RPG of your own along side us in the evening. We'd love to see more people getting involved and trying out different RPG systems! We'll see you all on Free RPG Day!

Rae has a lot of RPG stories in her head this week!

Free Comic Book Day 2015!

by Rae

Tomorrow will see Proud Lion taking part in Free Comic Book Day! This annual event takes place the first Saturday in May as a celebration of comics, allowing readers to delve into familiar favourites or discover something new. As in previous years, Proud Lion is pleased to say we will have a fantastic selection of free comics for you to pick from!

Many of you will remember our previous Free Comic Book Day events, and will already be aware that our supply of free comics tends to disappear very quickly. Last year in particular saw our tables emptied within an hour! We want to ensure everyone who visits the shop on the day gets a chance to pick up a free comic, so to allow them to last a little longer, we are changing the rules slightly from previous years.

For this year's Free Comic Book Day, every visitor to the shop will be able to take up to five free comics. This means you can pick up one copy of up to five different titles you think you'd like to read! All our available titles will be on offer from 10am, and it will be first come, first served. If there's something in particular you'd like to get your hands on, try and get down early to make sure you don't miss out!

FCBD 2014, photo courtesy of @OldManRupee

Here's a list of the free comics we will have on offer:

• 2000 AD Special
• And Then Emily Was Gone #0
• Bobs Burgers
• Bongo Comics Free-For-All!
• Boom Studios 10th Anniversary FCBD Special
• Dark Circle Comics #1
• Dark Horse Fight Club The Goon The Strain
• DC Comics Divergence FCBD Preview
• DC Comics Teen Titans/Scooby Doo Team-Up
• Doctor Who Special
• Legendary Comics Sampler
• Marvel’s All-New, All-Different Avengers #1
• Marvel’s Secret Wars #0 FCBD
• Motorcycle Samurai
• Neil Gaiman’s Lady Justice
• Perfect Square Presents Pokemon
• Savage Dragon Legacy
• Sonic The Hedgehog Mega Man Worlds Unite Prelude
• Spongebob Freestyle Funnies
• Steampunk Goldilocks
• Street Fighter Super Combo Special
• Stuff Of Legend Call To Arms
• The Tick
• TMNT Prelude To Vengeance
• Transformers Robots In Disguise #0

We will have guests Jon Lock and Lucy Brown in store, with a selection of books from Big Punch Studios. Don't forget to pick up your free copy of the FCBD special edition of Big Punch Magazine! (This does not count as one of your five free comics.)

In addition, we will be offering the first 100 attendees an opportunity to choose either FCBD 2015 CBLDF DEFEND COMICS or FCBD 2015 OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE as an extra free comic, sponsored by True Believers Comic Festival 2016! The first 50 customers to make a purchase in store will also receive a free True Believers 2016 badge.

If there are more than five comics you're interested in, we will be re-opening the free comic tables from 3pm for readers who are looking to pick up extra titles. Please note this is only while stocks last!

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Rae and Ben will be up bright and early in the morning to make all the final preparations for FCBD.

Delayed delivery this week

by Ben Fardon

I'm sorry to say folks that we've just had the following email from our comic supplier:

Dear Retailer,

Due to an unforeseen error a large number of deliveries were not picked up last night. The problem has now been rectified. Unfortunately due to this some retailers will only receive their delivery on Wednesday.

We wish to apologise for this unforeseen issue and for any inconvenience that this may cause. 

Unfortunately we are one of the affected retailers and won't receive our comics until Wednesday.

Comics will be available as soon as possible on Wednesday, but it's unlikely to be before 1pm.

UPDATE: So we had four boxes arrive after all (with about ten more still outstanding) which has most of our new release comics so they'll be available from 10am tomorrow.

The comics that remain missing until tomorrow afternoon are:
2000AD, Borderlands, Drones, Galaxy Quest, Godzilla Rulers Of Earth, Hinterkind, The Names and Zombies Vs. Robots.

Stay tuned to our social media feeds for more news on the day.

To compound the issue slightly, we will be closed on Thursday 23rd April for annual leave (aka Ben and Rae have a rare day off together and go and see Avengers: Age Of Ultron whilst the Munchkin is at school and before anyone spoils it for us!). Apologies for any inconvenience but we will be open Friday and Saturday as usual. 

Ben Fardon is now dreading tomorrow. Thank goodness for a break on Thursday!

PREVIEWS MAR-APR15 - Marvel's Secret Wars

by Ben Fardon

I can't lie folks, this has been a tough one to put together. After the chaos of Convergence, I was very excited by the prospect of Secret Wars, until we actually began to see the vast array of new titles and the uncertainty that came with it.

Thankfully in the last few weeks, details have begun to emerge about April's Secret Wars titles and Marvel have gone on record as to which titles are ending as Secret Wars kicks off. This makes things much easier!

I think we can now divide Secret Wars into several distinct sections. Firstly we have the main Secret Wars title and a couple of ancillary anthology titles. Secondly, there are a series of interesting titles revisiting classic Marvel events from the last few decades. Finally we have a long list of new titles that expand the new Secret Wars' Battleworld setting in a variety of ways.

But what is Secret Wars? Well simply put, Secret Wars spins out of the recent Jonathan Hickman Avengers titles as the main Marvel Universe as we know it collides with the Ultimate Marvel Universe in what is being called the final incursion. The good news is you don't need to have been reading Avengers or New Avengers over the last couple of years to get into Secret Wars, as the collision of these two realities has created a brand new world in which most of the characters have no idea that this isn't the way things have always been.

The titular Secret Wars miniseries itself is the main event. Written by Jonathan Hickman, this is the spine of the whole event. If you read nothing else, read this book. 

This is accompanied by Secret Wars Battleworld - a title akin to the Vs. miniseries during AvX - featuring all the knockdown, drag out fights that are probably just to crazy to feature anywhere else during this event.

The final part of this initial section is an anthology series called Secret Wars Journal where every issue will feature a couple of short stories jumping around and highlighting different, small but significant parts of the Battleworld.

Both Secret Wars Battleworld and Secret Wars Journal feel to me like ones for completists and not essential if your looking to save the pennies for other titles on the list below.

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After that we have an array of titles re-visiting classic storylines and events from Marvel's past including beloved adaptations such as the 1992 X-Men animated series. A lot of existing Marvel titles are ending to make room for these - in fact some are direct continuations or analogues of previous titles now shaped to fit in with Secret Wars. More on those later.

Finally, there's a bunch of Marvel titles that aren't coming to an end, but are instead telling Last Days stories detailing the final adventures of the features characters before the final incursion. These titles include Black Widow, Captain America and the Mighty Avengers, Loki: Agent of Asgard, Magneto, Ms. Marvel, The Punisher and Silver Surfer.

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Confused yet? Well, let's see if a quick look at the full list of titles (revealed so far!) helps a little. Here you go:


Secret Wars: Battleworld

• Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies
• Ghost Racers
• Inhumans Attilan Rising
• Korvac Saga
• Marvel Zombies
• Master of Kung Fu
• Red Skull
• Runaways
• Secret Wars: Battleworld
• Secret Wars Journal
• Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde
• Thors
• Ultimate End

Secret Wars: Warzones

• 1602: Witch Hunter Angela
• 1872
• A-Force
• The Age of Apocalypse
• Armor Wars
• The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows
• Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders
• Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps
• Civil War
• Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars
• E Is for Extinction
• Future Imperfect
• Giant-Size Little Marvel: AvX
• Guardians of Knowhere
• Hail Hydra
• House of M
• Inferno
• Infinity Gauntlet
• M.O.D.O.K. Assassin
• Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos
• Old Man Logan
• Planet Hulk
• Secret Wars 2099
• Siege
• Spider-Island
• Spider-Verse
• Squadron Sinister
• Weirdworld
• Where Monsters Dwell
• X-Men '92
• X-Tinction Agenda
• Years of Future Past

Secret Wars: Last Days

• Black Widow
• Captain America and the Mighty Avengers
• Loki: Agent of Asgard
• Magneto
• Ms. Marvel
• The Punisher
• Silver Surfer

For more details on each group of titles, click on the header to take you to the marvel.com explanations!

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In the hopes of making life easier for everyone, we've taking the liberty of creating a matrix - a list of everything that was coming out, followed by a list of the Secret Wars comics we'd recommend you get as a replacement. I've taken the liberty of automatically signing our Reservation Service customers up for our recommended titles, but these can be removed without our usual notice period up to the point of release. I've been trying to take the time to talk to you all about these new titles when you pop in, but if I don't see you before Secret Wars kicks off, please do email me for a pdf copy of your current pull list and then we can make alterations where required.

I hope that all makes sense!

Here's a look at that matrix (apologies for the jpeg):

If there's anything else I can do to help with Secret Wars, please do get in touch. I'm really excited for this event, I think it's going to be a whirlwind tour through some of Marvel's greatest moments before leading into the new status quo for the House Of Ideas. I hope you'll join us!

Ben Fardon was very, very happy with Daredevil on Netflix. Roll on AKA Jessica Jones.

Big Game Hunting Live presents TableTop Day 2015

by Rae

Every year, Proud Lion takes part in an event devoted to encouraging people to play more games: International TableTop Day! This year the local gaming community in Cheltenham is joining forces to bring you the biggest and best TableTop Day yet. On Saturday 11 April 2015, take part in a Camden Crawl-style game day, where an assortment of locations will leave players spoiled for choice!

What is International TableTop Day?

International TableTop Day is an annual event celebrating tabletop gaming. People are encouraged to play more games, anywhere they can, and encourage others to join in. Many locations run open gaming for anyone to get involved, as we are! For more information about TableTop Day, how it began, and other events running on the day, check out the official website at www.tabletopday.com.

Where can I play games during the day?

Here at Proud Lion, we'll be offering a selection of card and dice games throughout the day, as well as a few of our favourite board games. Some of the games on offer include King of New York, Forbidden Desert, Munchkin Panic, Fluxx, and Ninja Dice! More details about when you can play these (and more!) will be available soon. All games will be open to the public, so just turn up and play! Proud Lion will be hosting open gaming in store from 10am to 5pm.

Around the corner at the 2PIGS, Pork Chop Gaming will be hosting tables full of epic games! Join in for some Warhammer 40K, Star Trek: Attack Wing, Star Wars: X-Wing, Wings of Glory and more. Pork Chop Gaming will be hosting their event from 10am until 6pm.

Slightly further afield you'll find St Paul's Boardroom! Based at St Paul's Church, this is where you'll find eurogames, co-ops, and classics. Some of the games you'll find here include Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, 7 Wonders, and Five Tribes. St Paul's Boardroom will be running from 10am to 6pm.

Why should I go to more than one place?

You mean besides trying out a bunch of new games and meeting like-minded gamers? How about a prize draw where you can win some cooling gaming stuff? To encourage people to try out new locations and expand the local gaming community, Proud Lion will be hosting the Cheltenham TableTop Day Prize Draw!

The rules are simple. When you go to any venue, you can pick up one of our TableTop Day flyers. Play at least one game at any of the participating venues to get your flyer stamped or signed by the organiser. If you collect two stamps, you will earn one entry into the prize draw. Collect three stamps to get three entries! You will also receive one entry to the draw if you purchase a ticket to [Gather Your] Party! (more details below).

Prize draw? What kind of stuff could I win?

Prizes are currently set to include a month's membership with Pork Chop Gaming, a Munchkin hoody, games, vouchers, and more! A full list of prizes will be available soon.

What is [Gather Your] Party?

[Gather Your] Party is a Proud Lion hosted event taking place at the 2PIGS! Just in case we haven't packed enough into TableTop Day, in the evening we will be running even more gaming! Some of the events include a Cash 'N Guns tournament, exhibition-style Attack Wing games, and a late night game of Cards Against Humanity. There will be food, there will be a bar, and there will be a lot of gaming going on! Details about how to get tickets for this event will be available very shortly.

Questions? Comments?

Feel free to contact us at shop@proudlion.co.uk. If any other venues are participating in tableTop Day and would like us to help spread the word, please do get in touch!

Rae has decided that gaming is definitely more important than sleep.

Big Game Hunting - D&D Encounters: A new adventure begins!

By Rae

For the last six months, Proud Lion has been leading two groups of would-be heroes through burning villages, enemy camps, and evil creature-infested caves in our first ever season of Dungeons & Dragons: Encounters. This casual-style gaming event allows players to grab a character and join in the adventure at almost any time, and is particularly suited to those new to D&D or role-playing games in general.

We're pleased to let you all know that the new season of Encounters is about to begin! This month we will start a brand new adventure, Elemental Evil. This will feature content from the upcoming Princes of the Apocalypse. Once again we will be inviting players to join in and have fun as we battle minions, acquire allies, and defeat evil every week!

We will kick off this season with a session devoted to developing characters. On March 18th, we will be supporting players in building a character that is uniquely their own, and creating a background that will get them off to a running start. If you want to make a character but have no idea how to get going, this is a good place to begin. Experienced DMs (Dungeon Masters, the leaders of the game) will be on hand to answer questions and help generate your character.

On March 25th, we will being the adventure itself! Bring your newly created character (or grab a pre-generated character if you'd prefer) and get stuck in! Spaces for D&D Encounters are on a first-come, first-served basis, and we currently have enough space for a maximum of 14 players (2 groups of 7 players each). These do tend to fill up fast, particularly in the first few weeks, so don't be disappointed if we can't fit you in straight away!

To keep up to date with D&D Encounters, please keep an eye on the event pages on Facebook: the character building session, and the first play session.

Rae is planning and plotting for an epic TableTop Day this year!

Ramping up! EPOSible! Comic Wars! Gaming Tournaments! And TBCF16!

by Ben Fardon

Phew! What a busy time here at Proud Lion!

The shop itself has just seen several great upgrades in the past few weeks.

We've finally taken delivery of a folding access ramp. If anyone needs to make use of it, please ring either of the doorbells by the front door and we'll bring it out and set it up for you.

This is great news and something we've been working towards since we relocated the shop last year.

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Apologies to anyone who has noticed that our email newsletter has become a little intermittent over the last few weeks. We're in the middle of an extensive EPOS upgrade that propels Proud Lion into the 21st Century with barcode scanners, touch screen tills and all manner of other great functions. This will allow us to unveil a host of excellent new features to our services in the coming months, and should speed up the queues on big events like Free Comic Book Day.

I'll keep you posted with the new developments as they become available and I'll endeavour to keep up-to-date with the mailing list during the upgrade as best I can. Thank you for your patience.

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Thank you to everyone who has completed the DC Convergence order form we've been circulating in February; it's been a huge help! We have a little bit of every Convergence title on order for the shelves, with extra of the main title and the seemingly standout offerings like the Harley Quinn and Batman: Shadow Of The Bat issues, but I'd still advise you to pre-order anything you know you want to avoid disappointment!

To do so now that the survey is closed, please email shop@proudlion.co.uk.

The aim next week is to bring you a roundup of all of the Secret Wars titles on offer from Marvel in May. I'm also delighted that after the frustration of Convergence, I find myself actually very excited about the following launch of DC's new Divergence titles in June!

“This heralds in a new era for the DC Universe which will allow us to publish something for everyone, be more expansive and modern in our approach and tell stories that better reflect the society around us,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Dan DiDio.  “Whether you’ve been a DC fan your whole life, or whether you are new to comics – there will be a book for you beginning in June.”

More on that at the end of this month. Stay tuned.

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We've just had our biggest weekend of gaming tournaments thus far, with both a Marvel Dice Masters Rainbow Draft and a Star Trek Attack Wing OP yesterday, followed by a really fun Netrunner draft tournament today. Our huge thanks to everyone who helped to get the word out about these events, and congratulations to all of our players from this weekend, not just the winners. Fantastic sportsmanship conduct throughout all of the events; you're all a credit to the local gaming community.

Work has also begun on bringing you our biggest and best TableTop Day event to date, on Saturday 11th April. Further details to follow, but for now you can follow the news at our TableTop Day 2015 Facebook event.

We're aware that not everyone uses Facebook, so work has begun on bringing a dedicated forum to the Proud Lion website; initially for gaming, but eventually intended to expand to include comics, TV, films, and more. This should hopefully create a place for everyone to discuss our favourite hobbies!

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Finally, we're all booked in for the True Believers Comic Festival 2016 on Saturday 6th February next year. Save the date!

Ben Fardon really enjoyed Power/Rangers!

Big Game Hunting Live - three tournaments, one weekend!

by Ben Fardon

This weekend sees Proud Lion play host to not one, not two, but three different organised play/tournament events, and we have tickets still available for all of them!

On Saturday 28th February from 1:30-5pm we're hosting our second Marvel Dice Masters tournament! This one's a Rainbow Draft where your ticket price includes 12 Uncanny X-Men Dice Masters boosters packs (RRP £12.00), and you and your fellow players will open, select, pass and assemble your team from the cards and dice you open on the day. A great level playing field for both new and experienced Dice Masters players.

Each player will receive a Magneto card as a Participation Prize, with further prizes for the winners. Tickets cost £12.50 each.

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Thirty minutes and one quick rearrange of the store later and we'll be rolling up our sleeves for our latest Star Trek Attack Wing OP and our first Open Format STAW event. This OP runs on Saturday 28th February from 5:30-11:30pm.

The Open Format means ANYTHING GOES (provided it fits within the scenario build cost). We're even expecting to see a few of these monstrosities make it to the table!

This is a constructed tournament and each player will receive a blind booster (RRP £12.00), along with the Advanced Targeting Systems Resource Card, plus further prizes for the winners. Tickets cost £15.00 each.

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Then on Sunday we round out our big weekend of gaming with our first Netrunner LCG Draft Touurnament, Cyber War! Running on Sunday 1st March from 11am-8pm, this sees players drawing cards from three special Cyber War products produced by Fantasy Flight Games to allow players a break from the usual constructed LCG play, again creating a level playing field for new and experienced players alike.

Each player will receive one Draft Starter Pack (11 cards and 2 IDs provides a fixed core of essential cards for both Corp and Runner), one Corp Draft Pack (a selection of 40 randomized Corp cards) and one Runner Draft Pack (a selection of 40 randomized Runner cards). The cost of these items are included in the ticket price.

The overall winning player will receive £25 worth of Proud Lion vouchers, enough to cover the cost of the next two Netrunner Data Packs (and still have change for a comic book!). There will be additional prizes of £10 worth of Proud Lion vouchers for runners up, TBC. Tickets cost £20.00 each.

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We do our best to make these events fun and lighthearted; we want to enjoy running them and support the local gaming community in lots of different ways, with Organised Play being a key part of that.

I hope to see some of you this weekend and good luck to all of our players!

Ben Fardon is itching to throw down with a D&D Attack Wing 3BG build, but there just isn't enough hours in the day right now!

PREVIEWS FEB15 - selected highlights

by Ben Fardon

We only have time for a quick run through the rest of February's Previews this month, the real push now is to get every Reservation Service customer to complete the Convergence order form - if you haven't looked at this yet, please do so now!

All done? Brilliant! Welcome back. So without further ado, let's press on with the rest of the highlights for the latest Previews. As before please email any orders to shop@proudlion.co.uk. Please note that all release dates below are subject to change.

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The hottest stuff these days seems to come from Image Comics, so let's have a look at their latest offerings:

Savior #1 comes from Todd McFarlane with beautiful digital art from the incredibly talented Clayton Crain: What if the MOST DANGEROUS man on Earth was also the one trying to do the MOST GOOD? The world is real. The people are normal. And then he appears! A man appears with no background, no memory, and no place to call home. But he has powers. Powers that seem resemble those we learned about in Sunday School. Could it be?! Is it possible that this man is much, much more than that? Is it possible that he is our 'SAVIOR' in the flesh? And if he is, then why doesn't he know who he is or how he got his powers? Strip away the spandex and trappings of the traditional comic superhero and ask yourself a simple question: 'How would I react if GOD suddenly appeared in front of me, but everything we had been taught about him seems out of whack?' What you would have left, beyond your own doubts, is the presence of a man who has to deal with the fact that his appearance in the world is seen as both a blessing and a curse. Some will see him as a hero, a messiah. Other will see him as an enemy because there isn't room for a person with god-like powers to disrupt the status quo of what we already believe. Some will rally behind him. Others will denounce him. But none of us will be able to ignore him.

Savior #1 comes out on Wednesday 1st April.

Image Comic produce superb science fiction and this month is now exception, kicking off with Pisces #1. If you love Rat Queens, you'll be delighted to hear this is writer Kurtis J. Wiebe's next project: Former fighter pilot Dillon Carpenter found everything he wanted when he returned from the Vietnam War. A loving partner; a dream career training with NASA to travel through space; and soon, he will learn, a prime candidacy for a secret mission, one that will forever change the world: First Contact. But as Dillon prepares, his war trauma returns and he's haunted by dark visions of his future. There is but one constant; the voice whispering from the stars. A sci-fi psychological body horror series from the writer of RAT QUEENS and the artist of SHELTERED. 

Pisces #1 comes out on Wednesday 29th April.

The other science fiction offering of note from Image this month is Kaptara #1. Written by Chip Zdarsky  fresh from his successes with Sex Criminals and the relaunch of Howard The Duck, with art from Kagan McLeod, here's the bizarre little pitch: A space expedition goes horribly wrong because if it didn't there would be no story! Reluctant explorer Keith Kanga and his crew crash land on KAPTARA, a world filled with danger and weird danger and dangerous weirdos! And if he can't survive then earth, the place where YOU live, is doomed! Join CHIP ZDARSKY (Sex Criminals the Duck) and KAGAN McLEOD (Infinite Kung Fu) as they put the 'fi' back into 'sci-fi' and pretty much disregard the 'sci' part in this epic story of punching and love!

Kaptara #1 also comes out on Wednesday 29th April.

All this and Millar and Quitely return with the next chapter of the story they started with Jupiter's Legacy, albeit a prequel in the form of Jupiter's Circle #1: The most celebrated superheroes in mid-century America seem to have it all-fame, riches, adoration-but tensions simmer beneath the glossy surface, threatening to crack open the secrets behind their public AND private exploits. Before the family dynasty in JUPITER'S LEGACY began, there was JUPITER'S CIRCLE  - a story about a team whose personal dramas collide with super-powered spectacle!

Jupiter's Circle #1 also comes out on Wednesday 8th April.

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There's naturally a lot of buzz surrounding Marvel's summer event Secret Wars. The end of the Marvel and Ultimate Universes, many fear this will be a reboot akin to the New 52. We suspect it'll be more of a merger, with Marvel editors stressing they aren't ashamed of 75 years of continuity, but time will tell.

The first proper salvo of this game changing event is Secret Wars #1, though don't forget we'll get a special preview issue as part of Free Comic Book Day!

Secret Wars #1 comes out on Wednesday 6th May.

And that's your lot for this month. Please send any orders back by 11:59pm on Tuesday 24th February to shop@proudlion.co.uk. Many thanks!

Ben Fardon welcomes any feedback on these new Previews highlights articles.

Shipping Delays - A Message from IDW

by Ben Fardon

We received the following at the end of last week from IDW Publishing and are passing the information onto yourselves.

This will unfortunately affect several Transformers titles, as well as Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles among other titles. 

Due to the ongoing problems at West coast ports, our normal shipping procedures have been completely interrupted, causing unpredictable delays. Regrettably, this has resulted in all our books planned for release on 2/18 to be delayed.

We've looked at every possible scenario to prevent this, but the situation is completely beyond our control. We are taking steps to improve this for the immediate future, but the books and products that are currently on the water cannot be re-directed. 

We will be updating our weekly releases and keeping you informed as the situation works toward a resolution.

We understand this is not an ideal situation, and apologize for any inconvenience this causes, and look forward to things getting back to normal in ensuing weeks. Thank you for your continued patience and support.

We at Proud Lion appreciate that IDW are doing everything they can to resolve these problems and wish them the very best of luck with their attempts to find a resolution.

Ben Fardon has a shiny new barcode scanner.

This Saturday - True Believers Comic Festival @ Cheltenham Race Course - we'll be at Tables A4-5

by Ben Fardon

This Saturday 7th February the Cheltenham Race Course plays host to the True Believers Comic Festival, and Proud Lion will be there with a selection of comics, graphic novels, Pop! Vinyl, Mystery Minis and more, plus a new collection of back issue comics including Deadpool, Wolverine, X-Men and Batman to mention but a few.

We'll also have a selection of superhero themed cookies from Silly Kitten Bakery; I've seen the work in progress and they look fabulous! Designs include Flash, Arrow, Avengers, Baby Groot and more.

Pick up this flyer at the Festival
and save in store on the same day!

There will be some special offer prices, only available at the Festival, plus a flyer that will give you 20% off anything in our normal shop down in the town centre on the same day (we'll also be open as usual there from 10am-5pm, with Saturday Morning Netrunner on as usual continuing their successful Winter 14/15 League, plus D&D Attack Wing open play available in the afternoon from 2pm).

You'll be able to find us at tables A4-5, near our lovely neighbours at Big Punch Studios and Space Robot Comics.

A range of admission tickets will be available on the door.

Please direct any questions about the show to the Organisers at oktruebelievers@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing you there and getting our hands on some of the shiny new releases like For Hire and the Hereafter, seeing what Wolfskulljack and Dead All Over have on offer and checking out the new short horror film from Burnt Papyrus Productions. That's just for starters! With over 160 exhibitors and guests there should be something for everyone.

Ben Fardon is definitely looking forward to the various Marvel Netflix series!

PREVIEWS FEB15 - DC Convergence special

by Ben Fardon

By now many of you are used to the usual shenanigans that DC produce in September ever since the New 52 launched. Well, we've got an extra publishing stunt from them this year - as they cover their relocation from New York to LA - with the nine-week Convergence event that has been described by some at DC as a chance to have their cake and eat it.

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this. Basically it appears that not one, but two Braniacs have managed to squeeze the secrets of time travel and alternate dimensions out of - again - not one, but two Booster Golds. This leads to Convergence were said Braniacs are pitting pre-New 52 versions of characters against their New 52 versions, and indeed Flashpoint incarnations of heroes and villains too.

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Written by relative newcomer Jeff King with assistance from Scott Lobdell and Dan Jurgens, the main nine-part Convergence miniseries is a weekly title starting on April 1st (I know, right?). Here's the pitch straight from DC:

Where do worlds go when they die? The Earthquakes felt round the Multiverse, Superman's lost days after 'Doomed,' the World's End - all these points will converge as the history of the DCU is spun from a new perspective, the perspective of a mad god and his arrogant child. The biggest story in DC history ties into literally every DC story ever told - and it all begins here. Kingdom Come, Red Son, Wild West Justice League, Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew - all the worlds you remember can still be found on Telos. Everything matters. Every story matters. Don't miss the start of DC's April/May 2015 event with this special issue! 

After that, there will be eight further issues for Convergence. In addition to that there will be twenty other titles, all running for just two issues, featuring an array of characters from the New-52, the previous incarnation of the DCU as well as Zero Hour, Crisis On Infinite Earths and Flashpoint.

These titles are as follows: Atom, Batgirl, Batman & Robin, Harley Quinn, Justice League, Nightwing Oracle, Question, Speed Force, Superman, Titans, Aquaman, Batman Shadow Of The Bat, Catwoman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern Parallax, Justice League International, Suicide Squad, Superboy, Supergirl Matrix, Superman Man Of Steel, Adventures Of Superman, Batman & The Outsiders, Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Hawkman, Justice League America, New Teen Titans, Superboy & The Legion, Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Crime Syndicate, Detective Comics, Infinity Inc, Justice Society Of America, Plastic Man Freedom Fighters, Shazam and Worlds Finest Comics.

Full details on these issues can be found on DC's website here: http://www.dccomics.com/tags/convergence.

Despite serious concerns about the overall title, I do think some of the individual titles tickle my interest as a fan of the DCU prior to the New 52. My personal selections would be the Batgirl issues featuring Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain; the return of the Gotham City Sirens in the Harley Quinn issues; the Nightwing/Oracle issues because they're written by Gail Simone and Gail + Babs = win; the return of Renee Montoya as The Question in - appropriately enough - The Question; the grudge match between Batman and Azrael that we'll find in Batman: Shadow Of The Bat; and the fate of the Booster Golds at the heart of it all in their titular issues. 

We're offering a special offer on a complete set of all 49 comics in the Convergence for £140 saving you over £20. A deposit of £40 will be required by 2pm on Monday 2nd March to confirm your order if you take up that special offer. This can be paid in store or via PayPal.

(With regret the offer above has been withdrawn, due to a miscalculation in the number of Convergence issues (89 comics, not the previously stated 49). We will honour this offer for any customer who has paid in full before the release of Convergence #0 and contact all other customers to advise them of any replacements offers and refund deposits where already paid. We apologise for the inconvenience.)

Reservation Service customers are asked to complete our SurveyMonkey order form for the Convergence event before midday on Sunday 1st March. You can do this in the embed below, or follow this link if that's easier: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7X7XKVX. Alternatively, please pop in store and we can help you place your order.

Our orders for comics for the shelves on Convergence are going to be pretty low based on the reaction to previous DC New 52 stunts, so please do use this order form to guarantee your Convergence comics.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Convergence starts on Wednesday 1st April.

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I'll be back later in the month with a look at the rest of the highlights from Previews. Please email any questions to shop@proudlion.co.uk.

Ben Fardon is looking forward to giving the XCOM Board Game a go.