Fanboy.com

Ah yes there's nothing better than looking at good old Edgar Allan Poe sitting at the pub and enjoying a tasty brew with an oversized anthropomorphized rodent creature (I would say a rat but I don't want to make a negative judgement).

What I love about what I've seen of this graphic novel is that while the cover art by David Hartman is great (I just love those monsters!), the interior pages by Thomas Boatwright have nice sense of humor to them. In fact Boatwright's work sort of reminds me a bit of the early comics by Phil Foglio. There's a several page preview of the book is here which is well worth checking out. Credit for the story inside of Edgar Allan Poo goes to Dwight L. Macpherson who you can tell has a clear love of comic books and tales of horror. Edgar Allan Poo will be haunting your local comic book shop's shelves on August 15th (published by Image Comics).

The above animated commercial is for a mobile phone service in Japan, I love the look of the character designs and cream toned palette. The commercial doesn't look like your typical anime show with a love of detailed complexity, but instead has a bit of a graphic hipster feeling to it that you might find in a poster for a band.

Seen above is the cover for the second volume of 24seven by Austrailian illustrator Ashley Wood. I love Wood's sketchy quality on the cover which features a decaying Blade Runner looking architecture as a backdrop. Also his use of bold black strokes with little touches of pink and cyan make for a striking contrast.

For those of you who missed the first volume (which will be re-issued) the comic is a group effort of artists telling multiple stories with the common theme of robots. Here's an insightful quote from 24seven editor from an interview telling how the project got started:

"'24seven' came about in a bunch of random conversations at conventions and so on with like-minded creators who showed me there was the potential there for a hell of a book," explained Brandon. "'24seven' is, for me, somewhat like a smaller record imprint at a major studio. A lot of the creation of work for hire comics is the equivalent of playing session guitars on someone else's album, whereas in the path to creating '24seven,' this quickly became an opportunity to let some of the best minds in comics finally cut loose on their own songs, unfettered by continuity or any of the other bits of the business that hinder free creativity. The result will be obvious, the fans will get to see their favorite creators doing some of their most amazing and creative work."

24seven Volume Two is published by Image Comics and will be out on August 1st.

I love the creepy goth look of the animated commercial above which features a nice contrasting upbeat pop tune underneath it. The commercials is for Mode Gakuen which is a vocational school in Japan for fashion, makeup, hair, graphic, and interior design. I wonder if they have courses in designing goth lolita couture?

Stray Toasters will be back in print! What's great about Bill Sienkiewicz is that his artwork moves between comics, illustration with just the right added dash of abstract fine art thrown in for fun. The above cover for Stray Toasters reminds me of the illustrator Marshall Arisman with it's underlying sense of violence and chaos. I'm surprised that with all of the attention that Frank Miller is getting in Hollywood that Sienkiewicz (who was the visual force behind Elektra: Assassin with Miller as the writer) hasn't been exploited by the suits at this point. In fact Stray Toasters was suppose to come out as a film in 2005, so perhaps this re-release of Toasters which is due out at the end of August will give the film a push in the right direction.

I found the above video via Japan Probe:

"A group of bengal tiger cubs recently born at a zoo in Seoul have made TV news in Japan (for being cute). Don’t worry folks, they still aren’t old enough to eat meat, so those little chicks aren’t going to be eaten!"

...I feel so cheated about my childhood when I watch that video! How come I never got to play with baby tigers when I was growing up? Just look at those kids, when they grow up they'll think that it's perfectly normal to play with baby tigers. The closest I got to that as a child was watching the Adventures of Waldo Kitty.

Seen above is the 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' Enterprise is based on the debut episode of the classic Star Trek series from 1966 (shown below the model are two shots from that episode - seeing your name on a grave stone on an arid alien planet is always a good excuse for a fight!).

Anyway this classic collectable is put out by Diamond Select and is part of their Starship Legends series. The best part is that it will feature light and sound effects including the voice James T. Kirk. But sadly the headstone and 3D chess set won't be included...

Found via Toy News International.

I almost missed this story, I love that the Mach 5 still has that vintage 60s sports car look:

Speed Racer's Car Revealed

"As you're almost certainly aware, the Wachowski brothers are back back back with an adaptation of Speed Racer, the cult anime where all the characters mouths stopped moving several seconds after their dialogue stopped. And, as the title might have clued you into, the series was a little bit car-centric, following a wide-eyed boy racer as he seeks to become world champion with the help of his faithful monkey (because why wouldn't a driver have a monkey?). And today USA, er, Today offer the first look at his car. And very faithful it is to the cartoon. They also have a few other snippets, like the fact that the monkey will be real and not CG and is actually a chimp.

Speed Racer is released next August and has a cracker of a cast, including Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon and Matthew Fox. And a monkey. Sorry, a chimp."

PX! stands for PandaXpress has been a webcomic that's been around since January 2005, and is set to come out in print this August. Except for Inuyasha it's pretty rare to see a Panda in a starring role in a comic book which gives PX! a pretty unique sensibility. Manny Trembley who's the artist behind the PX! features a rich and wonderful candy colored palette on his panels. The story (which is by Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson) is about a young girl named Dahlia who – with the help of her giant and trusty Panda sidekick - sets off on an epic journey around the globe to save her missing father. 

If you like what you see more work by Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson you'd be well advised to also check out Sam Noir: Samurai Detective which is a bit darker but also features a off-kilter sense of humor.

PX!A Girl and Her Panda will be out in August and published by Image Comics.

Show above is episode one of Gottu Five Rangers was a Japanese TV comedy program from back in 1990's. They make fun of the Power Rangers called Goranger (Go means 5), but what I love about the comedy here is that you don't need to be a Power Rangers expert or even speak Japanese to get a kick out of the humor here.

Warner purrs for Thundercats
'80s animated series heading to bigscreen

"It's Thundercats, ho! at Warner Bros. Studio has optioned a script by tyro scribe Paul Sopocy to turn the popular 1980s animated series and toy line into a live action feature. Warner-based Paula Weinstein will produce through her Spring Creek Prods. banner, along with Dick Robertson and Lew Korman.

Property revolves around a group of humanoid cats (with feline names like Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro and Cheetara) who must flee their planet of Thundera after it's destroyed. Once crash-landing on another planet, Third Earth, they must thwart Mumm-Ra, an evil sorcerer, bent on killing them off.

Sopocy has written the script as an origin story expanding on the major heroes and villains from the animated series, with the plot focusing on Lion-O coming of age as the leader of the Thundercats. Project was brought to Warner by Palek Patel, VP at Spring Creek. Dan Lin is overseeing the pic for Warners."

I love the above cover artwork for the graphic novel Catwoman: When in Rome for it's bold graphic quality. However sadly I looked at the final design and they ruined it by putting too muh type on it. This cover was illustrated by Tim Sale, who has a nice flair for cheesecake and cartoony illustrations with a sense of wit and humor.

Shown Above: Manga series like Lupin III glamourize international jewel thieves, but a poor bunch of deodorant-free otaku upload some manga scans and it's a major criminal matter...

This is amazing, these otaku were so dedicated that they got their hands on the manga magazine before it went on sale:

Men charged over illegal distribution of manga on Net

"KYOTO: Two men who distributed comics from a magazine through the file-sharing software Winny before the magazine officially went on sale have been charged with copyright law violations, public prosecutors said. The Kyoto District Public Prosecutors office indicted the men, Mitsukazu Tamashiro, 29, and Kenji Kodama, 26, for violating the Copyright Law by distributing comics from the magazine "Shukan Shonen Sunday," published by Shogakukan.

On Friday last week, public prosecutors also sent a 17-year-old technical college student from Tokyo's Adachi-ku to a family court in connection with the case, recommending that he face criminal charges as an adult. Public prosecutors said that Tamashiro distributed three works from "Shukan Shonen Sunday" on three occasions between January and April, illegally allowing an unspecified number of people to view the comics through the file-sharing software Winny. Kodama allegedly distributed six works from the same comic magazine between February and April."

These cute little storage devices are now available through ThinkGeek.com:

"Mimobots are a cute mashup of designer toys and USB storage devices. We originally carried these nifty monster-style thumb drives a couple of years ago at ThinkGeek, but when we heard that Mimoco (the somewhat insane creators of Mimobots) had secured an official Star Wars license we really perked up. It turns out that Mimobots + Star Wars = Some pretty sweet collectable USB Thumb Drives. Choose from Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2, or Stormtrooper. All are cute, limited edition, and can store up to 2GB of data while protecting it with the force."

...speaking of things geeky: You know what's sad? It's that were living in the the 2007 and I'm now using these thumbdrives ala my early sneakernet days in the late 80s.

Two of my favorite anime shows from the mid-80s were Cat's Eye and Orguss (seen above), of course I had to enjoy them on 5th generation VHS tapes. Well I'll no longer have to dust off my collection as both classic titles are heading for DVD thanks to Imaginasian which will be selling the titles through RightStuf.com.

Shown above is the trailer for I am Legend which will hit theaters this December. This will be the third film based on the 1954 horror novel by Richard Matheson about the last man alive in Los Angeles, California. Although I'm pleased to see this new version seems to take place in my hometown New York City!

So for the historical fanboy record here's the trailer for the 1964 version of the film which was titled The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price:

And here's the trailer for the 1971 version of the film which was titled The Omega Man and features none other than Charlton Heston:

Walking home last night I came across two posters, one for Ratatouille and the other for Surf's Up. I have to say that on the merits both films look alright and I'm very much the fanboy when it comes to all things Pixar, however I find myself wanting to ignore these films because they're "yet another 3D animated flick".

I don't blame Pixar in fact I think what pushed me over the edge was the dreck that's Shrek 3, or perhaps the announcement that there will be a Shrek 4 and a Shrek 5. Things are looking grim for American cinema when Grindhouse bombs but we can churn out some more Shrek. I'd like to see a day in the near future when the 3D backlash begins. I don't when this will hit a tipping point but I hope it's sooner than later.

I'm not saying that 3D is bad or will die, but I'd like to see a good old fashioned 2D cartoon epic every now and then. Perhaps that's the reason why I love anime so much? They use 3D for the spaceships but in the end it's all about the characters, even if they're 2D drawings. In fact I love the fact that Bleach makes the animation look like a manga drawing when they draw shadows on someone's face.

So let the countdown begin...

This laptop is sooo bling-bling meow-meow purrrrrrr:

The Hello Kitty LaVie: is this really "the life" NEC?

"Egads NEC, show some pride... a Hello Kitty LaVie? Say it ain't so! Your LaVie series of laptops were already totin' some serious Alice-the-housekeeper frump, and now this? What can we say, that puss dominates Japan like a pink, mouthless Godzilla... really, what could poor NEC do. Available now for ¥199,500 or about $1,645 with plenty of pasted-on Swarovski nuggets destined for the recessed folds at the pit of your man-bag. Sure, you'll buy it for your daughter but we know who'll use it... sissy."

Found via Engadget and Impress.

Shown above is cool concept model of Kanada's bike from the famous old school anime film Akira. Sadly it's just a model so it doesn't quite work, although I wouldn't mind having it to show off to my fellow anime fanboys. This amazing bit of work was created by BSU, a custom motorcycle shop in Japan. And of course they've been showing it off to to local otaku at local conventions.

Found via Adam Frucci at SciFi.com.

At long last fanboys (and fangurls) everywhere can not only own their own robot, but they can own an authentic Star Wars robot:

R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid

"Direct from Industrial Automaton comes this scaled down version of the Astromech droid made famous by the documentaries collectively known on Earth as "Star Wars." This little R2 unit is ready to obey your commands - voice commands, that is! Just like the larger version of R2 you know from the flickers, this R2 needs nothing but some tender words and he'll do what you command.

Without a doubt, this has to be the coolest Star Wars toy ever created. Artoo really will listen. You can talk to him and he'll chirp back. You can ask him about different characters and he'll have amusing reactions. Artoo will even play games with you (Spin the Droid is our favorite!) He'll guard your room; let you plot a course for him to execute; carry your Juri juice around; and if you are really lucky, he'll play a message for you from a certain Princess."

Dig this video which shows this R2 unit in action:

Shown above is Experiment Jack, one of the creatures you'll find featured in the 'Nightmare Before Christmas: Series 6 Figures' set by NECA. Also included in this series is Mr. Hyde, the Corpse Mom and the Corpse Kid, and of course Melting Guy and Spider-Haired Monster. The set is due to be released in September 2007.

Found via Toy News International.

This may be the best cosplay version of the Lucky Star opening titles that I've seen yet!

Shown above a Japanese news reader pays a visit to a maid cafe. I had no idea that a guy could get a manicure at a Japanese maid cafe! I love how the maids are willing to go on tv but those poor otaku customers don't want to be seen on camera. By the way I'm not 100% sure but I think the cafe they are showing is the Nagomi cafe, you can read their blog here (if you know Japanese):

blog.home-maid.bz

The package design above is for Fujiya Chocolate Cookies. I tend to notice that Japanese package design (and perhaps Japanese graphic design in the larger sense) comes in two flavors: ultra minimalist and jam packed to the edges. I think the illustration above is in the jam packed category.

Whenever I spot these goodies in Japanese and Asian grocery stores I always snap them up, however in some cases the contents don't quite live up to the quality of the packaging. However I do get a kick out of sharing the gift warpping with my friends on the net. By the way to see each illustration at a larger size just click on the image.

Below is the bag for the cookies, and below that is the inside of the box showing all of the characters and creatures featured on the faces of each cookie:

You know I hate to say it, but these guys have * THE BEST * Lucky Star choreography that I've seen to date! Although they're some what lacking in cosplay skills their fast foot work more than makes up for that...

Tin-foil hat wearing South Park fanboys rejoyce:

Butters as Professor Chaos

"From the hit TV show South Park, Mezco Toyz continues it's popular South Park line with Butters evil alter ego, Professor Chaos. The nefarious, yet ineffective, Super Villain responsible for atrocities against mankind such as "Soup Switching & soda can shaking" comes to life in this cartoon accurate action figure. Includes presentation board revealing his evil plot and two evil hamster minions.

Features articulated arms, head and waist. Limited Edition of 2000 pieces, this figure will not be available to retailers. Available this summer to attendees of San Diego Comic Con and Wizard World Chicago."

You old Robotech fanboys will get a kick out of the above video, it's some strange concert from Japan where they're singing the theme song from Macross dressed as the mecha from the show. It's very very silly stuff, I love it when their voice cracks mid-way...

Shown above is a backpage ad that I found in an Anime Mook for Terra He from 1980 (click the image to view at the full size). What's cool about the ad is that it features both Mobile Suit Gundam and Space Cruiser Yamato (Star Blazers). New anime has come and gone but it's funny for me to think that the two shows are still so popular today (I guess you can say the same thing about Star Trek and Star Wars).

I'd love to see an animated Gorey film, but it's still neat to think that one of his tales is headed for the silver screen:

Gorey tale coming to screen for first time

"The world of Edward Gorey is coming to the big screen for the first time with a live-action feature based on the illustrator-writer's classic tale "The Doubtful Guest."

The project is being developed by Walden Media, the firm behind the "Narnia" franchise, Fox 2000 and the Jim Henson Co. Brad Peyton ("Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl") will direct from a script written by Matthew Huffman.

Originally published in 1957, the whimsical story revolves around a quirky family whose life is turned upside down when a mysterious, mischievous creature arrives unannounced and unwelcome, bringing trouble with him and wreaking havoc."

I love this strange fan made video from Japan! It features the Prince of Tennis crew in a Lucky Star opening title sequence, but the best part is that at the end they're being attacked by the LOL cats.

Concert Pianist (and sometimes fanboy) Michael Gluck specializes in the performance of music from anime and videogames soundtracks. Since 2003 he's been on the road giving performances at various anime conventions raising tens of thousands of dollars for organizations like The National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Race for the Cure.

This month, Gluck is launching a website for his game/anime music CD called GAME, which is currently available for pre-order on the site. The videogame publisher Electronic Arts is partnered with me in this effort, and together they'll donate an amount equal to 20% of all profits from GAME to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. So for a worthy cause and some good listening go to:

PianoSquall.com

Below: Michael Gluck giving a performance.

The amazing walking robot above was developed in South Korea by the Humanoid Robot Research Center (Hubo Lab). Here's the description of the project:

"HUBO-FX1 is the human-riding robot having 12 DOF. The development concept is that the robot can walk naturally with carrying a person or a load of 100kg, so the lower body takes after legs of human and the upper body takes after a chair. A person who sits on the upper body can control the robot naturally using the built-on joystick installed. It has many kinds of sensors. Each ankle has the 3-axis force/torque sensor which measures a normal force and 2 moments. Each foot has the inclination sensor which measures angle of the slope. Also the rate gyro and the inclination sensor of the body can do a stabilization of itself. HUBO-FX1 is 2m in height and 150kg in weight. It is possible to perform forward walking, backward walking, side walking and turning around."

Found via John Dvorak.

Qee (pronounced as the English word "key") are a collection of designer toys created by Hong Kong-based company Toy2R, and shown above is the Qee 8" Hell boy figure which I just spotted at Toy News International:

Hellboy 8" Qee

"They began their Qee line with the classic 2.5 inch Hellboy Qee. Next up, the much-coveted large size 8" Qee. Only 1,500 will be sold worldwide, making this an instant collectible. Hellboy and Qee fans can rejoice and unite in toy heaven!"

I was somewhat surprised to see that the above cover for Cable & Deadpool #41 was by Skott Young. I had noticed his work before on a cover for the New X-Men, however the above illustration almost looks like it was done by an another artist, it's much more goth and uses a powerful painterly technique. I have to say that I'm impressed by any illustrator who can be at home in multiple styles so I'll be keeping an eye out for more Skott Young covers.

You know what's amazing about the above concept art for Ratatouille? It looks like something you'd see from the classic age of Disney! However it makes me wish that Pixar did Ratatouille as a traditional 2D film instead of the same old 3D animation.

Shown above is Lucky Star episode #5 which features Tsukasa repeating the words "balsamic vinegar" which is a funny sounding onomatopoeia in Japanese (or so I've read in other blogs). But what's funny to me is that fanboys are now starting to make their own parody videos based on the gag:

Ted Naifeh illustrated the above cover for Death Jr. Volume Two published by Image Comics and I just love it because it has a candy-coated goth feeling to it without the usual dark colors that one associates with a Bauhaus t-shirt.

Sphere is a very engaging Flash game from Japan, I've already wasted a bit of time playing it (but enjoyed every minute of it). A hints page can be found here.

Found via LinkFilter.net

I was very impressed with the above package design the minute I spotted it at my local Japanese grocery store, matching the cartoon body to the chocolate face brings the character to life in a wonderful way (or a chocolate death in your mouth). The character featured on the chocolate treat is Anpanman, who I admit that I haven't heard of before even though I've been following anime for too many years. So running to Wikipedia I found this interesting entry for Anpanman:

"Anpanman, written by Takashi Yanase, a Japanese writer of children's stories, is one of the most popular anime cartoon series in Japan. It is produced by Nippon Television Network Corporation. Each animated cartoon is approximately 24 minutes long split into 2 episodes of approximately 12 minutes each. Yanase has been writing Anpanman since 1968. The television series called Soreike! Anpanman (それいけ！アンパンマン Go! Anpanman?) has been on the air in Japan since 1988. Yanase became inspired by the idea of Anpanman while struggling to survive as a soldier in World War II. He many times became faced with the prospect of starvation which made him dream about eating a bean-jam filled pastry called Anpan."

I was blown away by the above animation for the above music video "Machines" for the band Kiss Kiss. The video is directed and animated by Robert Schober (nicknamed roboshobo) and I love that fact that while it features 3D animation that the animation itself isn't very slick and has a hipster illustrational look to it. And of course I'm always a big fan of oversized robots running about the place!