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Iron Man 2 Trailer!

Here you go folks!

Murderer #1

The premise revolves around a twenty-something man named Jason. Jason has a superpower in which he can hear the thoughts of others. However, he is unable to control his power. He can't even turn it off. The only relief Jason gets is when he kills someone. Only then will his ability to hear thoughts shut itself off for a few hours. Though it is a terrible burden, Jason uses this power to catch evil men. He goes out each day screening the people that pass him by, until he finds irredeemable individuals. Then he murders them.

The title of this book is what caught my eye. Then the cover. Then I was drawn to the story. This is something I have never seen done before, and it's a bit refreshing to get away from superhero stories every once in a while. For a murderer, Jason is a very sympathetic character with many redeeming qualities. He only goes after truly evil people. Since his power to read thoughts lets him know everything, he even goes out of his way to help people down on their luck. This book is one of the four Pilot Season books. Hopefully it will be here to stay.

You might want to check this out Tony.

Sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum Announced!

Warner Bros: Interactive Entertainment has announced the sequel to their successful Batman: Arkham Asylum. More details can be found here at SuperHeroHype.

UPDATE: Here is the newly release trailer!

Video Games | Spike TV VGAs 2009 | Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 Exclusive Debut Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Archie #603

In in the alternate universe that takes place in "Archie Marries..." We get a glimpse into what would happen if Archie were to finally choose either Betty or Veronica. The first few issues of the storyline revolved around Archie marrying Veronica Lodge and inheriting the Lodge dynasty. With it, Archie is a stressed businessman who still retains his heart of gold. Even so much as to make salary cutbacks in order to hire his friend Reggie. (The newspaper Reggie worked at went under.) Betty has chosen a life on the other side of the country, and is unable to retain a boyfriend. Archie and Veronica have twins.

This issue starts the story of what would happen if Archie proposed to Betty Cooper. Fresh out of college, Archie finally chooses Betty. However, this time around, he has no goals, no job, and is making a lot of compromises. That's love for you.

I have been an avid fan of Archie since I was a kid, but really, the series hasn't been funny in a long time. It's actually been pretty REAL. Recession, layoffs, and unemployment has hit the town of Riverdale as with the rest of the world. Hopefully by the next issue the story will pick up somewhere happy. I've always been rooting for the Archie/Betty pair. Now if only Jughead would settle down...

DC: Earth One Announcement

Alex Segura from the DC Universe Blog has announced that DC Comics will be producing a new series entitled Earth One.

Starting next year, DC Comics will unveil SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE and BATMAN: EARTH ONE, two graphic novels spotlighting the most powerful heroes of the DC Universe, with their first years and earliest moments retold in a standalone, original graphic novel format, on a new earth with an all-new continuity.

Return to Smallville and experience the journey of Earth’s greatest adopted son, as he grows from boy to Superman in SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE by J. Michael Straczynski and artist Shane Davis.

Watch from the darkest corners of Crime Alley as a young boy is struck by unbelievable tragedy that will forge the greatest crime-fighter to ever stalk the rooftops of Gotham City in BATMAN: EARTH ONE, by writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank.

“It is monumental for us as comic readers to see Superman birthed for the first time,” Davis said. “It’s a privilege to realize that you’re the artist that gets to draw it, better yet having the luxury to do it in an original graphic novel. This is going to be epic!”

What about Geoff Johns? Well, we happen to have a bit from his first interview as well:
“BATMAN: EARTH ONE allows Gary and I to break the restraints of any continuity and focus on two things: character and story.”

Batman: Earth One is what I am really excited most for. After All-Star Batman and Robin, I have been left disappointed with Elseworld Batman titles. As for Superman: Earth One, I am still enjoying Superman: Secret Origin very much but I will still be curious as to how the new format will look. Hopefully this new series will be a success and there will be announcements of new titles. I'd love a Plasticman: Earth One.

Supergirl artist Jamal Igle on Facebook: "Now that DC: Earth one has been announced all I can think about is ...The Flash: Earth One. No it's not scheduled and i don't know if there's going to be one but I'd kill you and your mother to draw it."

I love this guy.

Spotlight: Sinestro

I am quite glad about what DC has done with the character Sinestro over the last few years. Since his return in Green Lantern: Rebirth, Sinestro has evolved greatly as a character.

First appearing in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #7 back in 1961, Sinestro was the primary antagonist of title character Hal Jordan. Introduced as a former member of the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro was considered the greatest Green Lantern there ever was. However, his lust for power grew out of control and was stripped of his title as a Green Lantern and banished. Sinestro manages to get his hands on a Yellow Qwardian power ring and throughout the years clashes with Hal Jordan and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps.

In the controversial Emerald Twilight storyline, a greif stricken Hal Jordan murders many of his fellow Crops members. As a last ditch attempt to stop his rampage, The Guardians of the Universe revive Sinestro and his status as a Green Lantern in order to stop Jordan. Sinestro was killed.

A decade later, in the Green Lantern: Rebirth series, Sinestro was revived along with Hal Jordan. It was revealed that he in fact did not die, but rather, orchestrated the entire chain of events that lead to Hal Jordan becoming Parallax.

In 2007, DC Comics launched the much anticipated Sinestro Corps War. After the events in Rebirth, Sinestro has been biding his time creating Yellow power rings and recruiting some of the most savage criminals in the universe for his army. With that, he launched a full on assault on the Green Lanterns as well as Earth. Though there were hundreds of casualties on both sides, Sinestro was once again defeated.

With the recent events of the Blackest Night crossover, Sinestro finds himself working along his rivals in preventing the Black Lanterns from taking over the universe.

Though always been characterized as an egotistical dictator, Sinestro has grown much in the last few years as a character with many layers. Once a loyal officer of the Corps, he followed orders without question, carrying out the Guardians' will. In his mind, Sinestro only wants peace and order and is not afraid in taking drastic measures to make sure this happens.

With Geoff Johns on the helm of the roller coaster ride that is Green Lantern, Sinestro has made a sick comeback. He is characterized as a man who wanted more for his people that the fear that had been plaguing them for years. Sinestro was a man who was in love, faced tragedy in that love, and was changed by it. Johns even gives him a daughter!

In my opinion, Blackest Night is so far an over hyped glorified zombie storyline. But if it has given us anything, it is an in depth look into the character of Sinestro. He has quickly become #1 on my favorite villains of all time, and in the top 5 of my favorite comic book characters of all time.

On a somewhat related note. I'm ready for Comic Con. Green or Blue?

Photoshop Final

My final project for my PhotoShop class.

We Kill Monsters #3

Three issues into the series and I have not found anything that would make me want to stay on this title. The two protagonists, brothers Andy and Jake Basher, are two auto mechanics who own a garage in a small town. When said town is infected by monsters, the two brothers manage to kill one accidentally. The blood from the monster infects Jake's arm, giving him superhuman strength in his new "monster arm." When the father of Andy's former lover is captured by one of the monsters, the brothers team up with her to help find him.

Written by Christopher Leone with pencils by Brian Churilla, this independent comic is in the vein of the Supernatural television series. The only difference is that there appears to be no good quailities in these two characters. Andy is a stale one dimensional character who isn't happy with his situation in life. Jake is a simple minded brute who doesn't really think for himself. Then there are monsters.

I will give this series until the end of the first story arc. If it lasts that long. Hopefully they'll be able to turn it around. 

Ninja Assassin (and new cartoon)

I saw Ninja Assassin today with my friend Tony. I must say, going in with little expectation I was ready to see some mindless violence. Totally satisfied. I haven't seen a movie with that much action since Ong Bak. It's funny how the only scene in the entire movie that I felt squeamish in didn't even involve ninjas. It was in the very beginning when a gang member was getting a tatoo.

Korean pop sensation Rain delivers the performance of his career as the protagonist ninja assassin, Raizo. That's not saying much though as his last American movie was Speed Racer and he had the sum total of three lines. With cheesy dialogue, sub par acting, and ridiculously awesome special effects fighting scenes, I am reminded of a movie from my youth:

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

Also, here is my new cartoon for the paper. It is about class cutbacks during the Winter intercession.

First Iron Man 2 Poster!

Featuring War Machine!

Smallville: Absolute Justice Promo Pics!

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Aussielo has posted some pictures from the upcoming Smallville two hour movie event! Pictures include, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Dr. Fate, and Stargirl.

What Do I Know About...

Bryan Shaw. The first in the "What Do I Know About..." series.

Irredeemable #8

The sh** has hit the fan for the Plutonian as Tony was in for a great surprise the last issue. My love for Mark Waid's writing has been renewed with this series. I haven't enjoyed a Waid story since I was reading his Flash run. (Though I admit, Birthright was pretty cool). Peter Krause's art reminds me alot of Jim Aparo's Batman that I used to read religiously as a young boy. It took me back. It was nice.

Spoilers

• Charybdis reveals that he and his twin brother Scylla did not share powers, but rather, the powers were his all along and he allowed his brother to leech off of him. 
• Charybdis appears to be much more powerful than the Plutonian now that his brother is dead and the powers are his alone. 
• The team meets catches up to the battle to see their comrade actually winning.
• It is revealed that the reason the Plutonian went insane, wasn't just because of the Jacksonville Plague, but rather that he lost the trust of his faithful sidekick Samsara for lying about it.
• The Plutonian flies off to lick his wounds, leaving the rest of the team uneasy with a cocky (and possibly dangerous) new Charybdis assuming command.
  

This one's for you Cedric

Ultimate Team-Ups

Two Sets of Wonder Twins and Gleek.

Dr. Doom, Gigan, Batman, Megatron, and Meatwad.

Frank Zappa, Adam Valenzuela, Jesus Christ

The Flash: Rebirth #5

AMAZING ISSUE.

Alot of new development for our heroic speedsters this month kids! It was a wait, but it was worth it!

Geoff Johns keeps consistent with his story telling giving the readers more and more in the penultimate issue of the Flash: Rebirth series. Originally, the series was to end with issue #5. But with the order of an extra issue, Johns was given the task of stretching out the storyline. This is why the first few issues seemed exceptionally slow. But, I'm not complaining.


Ethan Van Sciver, however, is the true star of this issue. Van Sciver knocks it out of the park with his pencils. I love the new costume for Wally West. I was apprehensive at first as to how it would look, but as soon as I saw it, I knew Van Sciver knew what he was doing from the start. Also, his Liberty Belle was HOT.


SPOILERS:

• The Flashes team up to fight Professor Zoom in an epic battle.
• Iris and Jai West are still experiencing pain from the Speed Force. Iris deduces that it is because they were born the same time that they share a connection.
  
• Iris takes away her brother's connection to the Speed Force in order to save his life.
• Zoom gets the upper hand on the heroes as Wally teaches them a way to mend themselves and their costumes giving them a second wind.
  
• Wally creates a new costume for himself, resembling the Justice League cartoon version.
• Liberty Belle goes back to her Jesse Quick costume.
• Iris adopts the Impulse costume and takes the name as well.
• It is revealed that Zoom was the one who traveled back in time to shape Barry's childhood. Breaking his arm as a youth, killing his dog, and finally murdering Barry's mother and framing his father.

The Dream Team

Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner (DC)
Superboy: Conner Kent (DC)
Scarlet Spider: Ben Reilly (Marvel)
Invincible: Mark Grayson (Image)
Kid Flash: Bart Allen (DC)

My All Star line up if I ever got to pick my ideal superhero team. Put yours in the comments and I'll try to draw them out. Five members maximum.

Hawkman Revealed!

TvGuideMagazine has released an exclusive interview with Michael Shanks who will be playing Hawkman in the two hour Smallville movie set to be released on February 5 2010. The movie will consist of two episodes being aired back to back: Society and Legends. The second hour of the feature will be directed by Tom Welling.

Green Lantern Corps #42

The Green Lantern Corps are in the heat of battle against the Black Lanterns. With the dead rising, ghosts of the past haunt the Lantern officers. Among them are the deceased Lanterns from the catacombs on Oa. Kilowog faces all the rookies who have died under his watch. Kyle and Soranik battle Black Lantern Jade.

I hope Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason stick to the GL Corps title for as long as I can. I never really enjoyed Green Lantern Corps as a series until they revived it. Tomasi really focuses on the space police aspect of the characters. Patrick Gleason's art is always amazing. He provides so much detail into his art that it is surpsing he is able to produce an issue on time every month.

Spoilers
- Kyle and Guy release Red Lantern Vice from the science cells to help battle the Black Lanterns
- Alpha Lantern Chaselon kills Vice, but is immediately piced apart by the Black Lanterns.
- The battery inside Chaselon is about to detonate causing a tremendous explosion.
- Kyle flies the battery off to safelty detonate about OA taking out hordes of Black Lanterns and sacrificing his life.
- Kyle's ring flies off in search of a replacement.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Trailer!

Health Care

Form of...!

Smalville's Wonder Twins courtesy of the CW for the upcoming episode Idol.

Kick-Ass Posters!

IGN has release four character posters for the upcoming comic book adaptation for Kick-Ass.

Kandor Trailer

The trailer for the upcoming Kandor episode of Smallville! Seriously waited a LONG time for this one.

Smallville's Jor-El!

Kryptonsite has released a first look at Jor-El, Clark's father, in the upcoming episode of Smallville. Jor-El will be played by Julian Sands (Warlock). The episode, entitled Kandor, will premiere on November 6th.

Interview with Jamal Igle!

Me: Can you tell me what a day is like in your work schedule?
Jamal: My work day starts around 830-9am depending when my wife wakes me up and my baby hits me on the head with a bottle. Then I usually work until from 10am to 5pm and then cook dinner, hang out with the family until about 10pm. Then I’ll work from anytime from 10pm-4am.

Do you give yourself a work schedule? Or do try to get as much work done as you can in a day? For instance, do you designate a set amount of panels?
Um no, I try to get at least like a page done per day maybe more. It’s usually around a page and a half a day. Sometimes two, sometimes one. It really depends on, not just my work schedule but what’s going on. Like if I have like real life stuff going on.

You’re currently penciling Supergirl is that correct?
Yes.

Can you tell me what’s currently going on with that story arc?
Well actually right now, I’m taking a quick breather off of Supergirl and penciling an issue of World’s Finest. But I’m still drawing Supergirl. I’m penciling World’s Finest, which is the first meeting between Supergirl and the new Batgirl: Stephanie Brown. I’m still working with sterling gates and I’m still drawing Supergirl. I’m just not drawing the main book.
World’s Finest is a four issue miniseries that I believe comes out this month. I usually only do about one book a month. I’m taking a break from the series for three issues and in November I’ll be doing Supergirl 50.

A pretty milestone issue.
Yeah. I haven’t seen the script yet, but I get an inkling of what’s going to be happening. We’re shooting for 38 pages, so we need the next time.

And when is that coming out?
That should be out in February. The last week of February.

For Supergirl, do you have an idea how long you’ll be staying on the title?
Um. No, not really. I mean initially, when I first got on the book, I said I was probably going to do a year and see what happens. And I’ve done a year already; I may be on another year. I haven’t decided yet.

So it’s up to you if you stay?
Yeah. Usually. Unless something happens and they want me to move onto something else.

I remember your work from about ten years ago. You worked on Green Lantern.
I did about five filler issues on Green Lantern, over the coarse about ten years. I used to joke with people that I was a regular artist, I was just really slow.

I remember that was one of the earliest books I’ve ever picked up. The Ion series.
Oh wow. Thank you. I mean, that was really fun stuff. I like the Green Lantern; I liked the whole concept of the Corps and everything. They’re always fun characters to work with and I had a lot of fun working on those stories.

Do you think you’ll ever return to the title?
Whoo. I don’t know. I mean they got Doug Mahnke and Pat Gleason on it now I think. I think they got that pretty much locked up at the moment.

How about the main series.
Oh, I don’t know. The thing is, I’m on contract so I go where I’m needed. So depending on what happens, there’s always stuff being planned and things in flux. They could decided to create a whole new initiative and create a whole new Kyle or whatever and they might ask me to do it and they might not ask me to do it you know I could just stay with the Superman books and keep going with that.

So you’re exclusively contracted with DC comics right now?
Yes. I just signed on for two more years.

Any plans on moving to Marvel after that?
Um. Haha. No, I don’t really think about it actually. I don’t know. There isn’t much that I would want to do creatively over at Marvel right now. So I don’t know if that’s something that is really interesting to me at the moment. I mean, I’ve done some stuff for marvel in the past, but it just never worked out that way that I would end up doing something with marvel. So I don’t know.

Can you tell me how you started in this business?
I started as an intern at DC when I was in high school. I did a 6-month intern ship when I was 17 years old. After my internship, I went to college, I dropped out after two years. I sort of wandered around aimlessly for a while.

Around 1991 or 92 I started putting a portfolio together. I didn’t approach anyone at DC at first because I didn’t think I was ready for that, so I started doing some work for a company called Majestic Entertainment. This was back towards the tail end of the comic flood when you know; everything was chromium covers, number one issues, and trading card comics. I did that for about 8 months or so and then that company went belly up.
I ended up taking the work that I did for them, sending it around to a bunch of people that I knew from different companies.

And Kevin Dooley called and asked me if I wanted to do eight pages in the new issue of Green Lantern. And that’s sort of how I got my foot in the door as a penciler.

People have said that you are the nicest guy in the comics industry. Do you have anything to say about that?
They’re all liars. They are liars they are fools. I am an ogre. I am evil. I am, I don’t know (Laughs). I’ve met a lot of nice guys in this business. It’s nice to be thought of that way though. I appreciate it; I’ve been very lucky. I’ve run across so many good genuine people in this business and very few negative influences. But its nice to be thought of that way.

Well, thank you for taking the time sir.
No problem man.

How Transformers 2 Should Have Ended

The Real Terrorist

So this strip hits a pretty hot topic. It was an assignment for poliSIX.

Buddies

This took me the better part of three weeks.

WWBN Alun Trucker Hat for Sale!

Designed my first Which Way Back North product. Thanks to Mike J. for the idea! Buy Now!

The Freshman Vol. 1

I Found this great series earlier this weekend called The Freshman. The premise is that due to overcrowding in the dormitories, a group of college freshman are forced to dorm in a science center. Though a freak accident, they are all granted powers based on what they were thinking about at that very moment. A vegan can talk to plants, an Amish boy can cause earthquakes with this stomach, a socially awkward girl can make people fall in love with her, and there's also a talking beaver. What's not to love about a talking beaver?! Written by Seth Green and Hugh Sterbakov, this series follows this rag-tag group of fledgling heroes as they take on evil.

Scandinavianville

In 2006, the now defunct WB made an unaired pilot for a television series based on the youth of Arthur Curry, also known as Aquaman. This follows the grain of the then, and now, still successful show Smallville. Although the Aquaman show, known then as Mercy Reef, did not air, a trailer was released. This is a spoof I found a few years back about it. I still love it to this day.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Review

Fans of the storyline will not be disappointed. The movie follows the core of the plot almost word or word. When I say core, I mean that some things had to be trimmed down for the movie. The subplot with the Kingdom Come Superman was obviously taken out as well as the storm the White House scene with Superboy, Steel, Supergirl, Batgirl, Robin, and Nightwing.

In terms of animation, the overall designs of the characters were faithful to Ed McGuinness' style. This was very pleasing to my eyes. While the movie was rated PG-13, it did not push the boundaries of said rating as did previous DC animated features (Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman: Doomsday, Batman: Gotham Knight...). It was for the most part pretty tame.

Public Enemies was pretty much an hour long fight scene with Superman and Batman kicking everyone's butt. It was awesome. It was great seeing all these characters from the DCU that have never been animated before. It was even greater to see Supes and Bats punch them in their faces.

4.5/5 (Go Buy it!)

SyFy Phantom

The trailer for the SyFy re adaptation of the comic book series The Phantom has been posted.

Foxtrot

A strip from my favorite cartoonist of all time.

Green Lantern to Start Shooting Next Year!

During an interview on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" Ryan Reynolds mentioned that the blockbuster Green Lantern movie will begin shooting in approximately "four to five months." Any other details on production have been kept secret according to Reynolds for the time being. The episode can be found here on Hulu.

Superman: Secret Origin #1

This issue was absolutely amazing. Geoff Johns (Writer) and Gary Frank (Pencils) team up once again for a definitive retelling of Superman's Origin.

The two had previous worked on Superman and the Legion of Superheroes and Superman: Brainiac.

This story combines elements of the Silver Age adventures of Superboy, the John Bryne Origin from the Post-Crisis 1990s, and the Smallville TV show.

The story follows a young Clark Kent as he struggles to fit in with his peers all the while knowing that he will always be different. As his powers develop, he discovers his true alien origins.


Some highlights from this new continuty include: (SPOILERS)

• Lex Luthor also grew up in Smallville.
  
• A specified reason as to why Clark wears glasses at such an early age.
  
• Lena Luthor exists once again.
• Smallville's Chloe Sullivan seems to exist in this universe as well (not shown however).

Overall, this was a very satisfying Superman story which Johns and Frank seem to be delivering alot of these last few years. I'm really looking forward to the second issue.

Thor Casting

The Hollywood Reporter has announced two more additions to the cast for the upcoming Thor movie being produced by Marvel Studios.

Jamie Alexander (of Kyle XY) and Colm Feore (Paycheck, 24) have just been cast. Alexander will play Thor's Asgardian love Sif. While Feore's role remains unknown but is slated to be that of a villainous nature.

The Thor cast consists of Chris Helmsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), and Natalie Portman (Jane Foster).

Rob Liefeld

I met Rob Liefeld yesterday. Liefeld is a comic book writer, artist, and publisher. Prominantly known as one of the founding members of Image Comics as well as creator of Youngbloods and Deadpool.

Swine Flu

Behind the Music

Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths (First Look!)

Ain't It Cool News has posted the synopsis for the newest DC Universe animated feature film. Along with it are two pictures from the film.

In the film, a heroic Lex Luthor from an alternate universe travels to Earth to recruit the Justice League to save his Earth from the Crime Syndicate, a group of villians who have the same powers as the Justice League.

Bruce Timm (Superman: Doomsday, Batman: Gotham Knight) serves as executive producer, Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight) and Sam Liu (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies) will co-direct the film, and Dwayne McDuffie (Justice League, Static Shock) is writing the script.

The cast confirmed for this film includes Mark Harmon (St. Elsewhere, NCIS) as Superman, William Baldwin (Backdraft) as Batman, Chris Noth (Law & Order, Sex and the City) as Lex Luthor, Gina Torres (Vixen from Justice League Unlimited) as Superwoman, James Woods (Shark, Family Guy) as Owlman, and Bruce Davison (X-Men) as the President.

Can't wait!!!!

Also, James Woods as Owlman?! F*** Yeah Dude!!!