Rock of Ages, Colin Meloy's children's book and more new release picks for August 30, 2011

Okay folks, this is pretty much the end of the summer-media blight, so prepare yourself and your pocketbook over the coming weeks for the onslaught of Christmas-gift media. Sure, it will only be September, but these people like to start early. Even still, we've got some great stuff coming out this week, including a news-style graphic novels, a game with a Monty Python-style look, a children's book from rocker Colin Meloy and plenty more. Unfortunately,we weren't able to dig up any DVD releases, so hopefully you're not too into new movies.

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Books

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Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I, by Colin Meloy
If you need a good barometer for what to expect from Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles consider that Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" is on the suggested music playlist to accompany the book. It's also the first book from Colin Meloy -- you know, the lead singer of the Decemberists -- and it doesn't skimp on the ambition. Dozens of illustrations accompany the 560-page coming-of-age fantasy tale, and although we never, ever condone musicians trying to write novels, it seems like Meloy really nailed it with this one.

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Games

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Rock of Ages (XBLA)
Rock of Ages isn't an easy game to describe. It's... well, it's a game where you defend against attacks/attack with a giant rock as a sort of tower-defense title. More than that, it's about playing through a variety of art periods, with each section of the game having a distinct style based in five different eras. Did we mention it's about controlling a giant rock to crush things? That's pretty much the most awesome thing ever. Xbox gets the $15 downloadable title first this week, but PS3 and PC are set to follow shortly. Achron (PC) Hold onto your hat, because we're about to blow you away: Achron is an independently developed meta-time strategy game, which is to say it's a real-time strategy game with a time travelling mechanic. At its core, it plays like the Starcrafts and Command and Conquers you've come to love, but with, ahem, time travel. Look, it's really hard to explain, but if you like the genre, check it out.

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Comics

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Yiddishkeit, edited by Paul Buhle and Harvey Pekar Whether you're aware of it or not, Yiddish is everywhere, including in the art and writings of a few notable artists, including Barry Deutsch, Peter Kruber and plenty others. Yiddishkeit aims to provide a multimedia compendium to the language and culture, with illustrations, comics, plays and stories written by a variety of different people. It also happens to be the last fully realized project of Harvey Pekar, who died last year. Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case Green River Killer is kind of a double-whammy of awesome. It's written by Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen and it tells the story of the Seattle-based Green River Killer. The detective in charge of the case was Jeff Jensen's father, Tom Jensen, so chances are we'll see a telling here never before revealed. If nothing else, it's a fascinating, disturbing story of a serial killer who took the lives of at least 48 people.

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