Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 26, 2010 in Comic Books
I’ll never forgot those magic moments as a child when The Six Million Dollar Man featured an episode with Bigfoot. Up until that point you might get to see a blurry photo of the guy in an In Search Of… episode, but that show managed to weave Bigfoot into the plot without feeling silly. Eons later kids just don’t care about Bigfoot: Add a zombie, a werewolf or a vampire to any media property and you’ve got a hit — but sadly our Sasquatch friend tends to be overlooked. But now that’s changed with the publication of Proof #1 which comes this Wednesday. Now only does this book start Bigfoot, but instead of him being some inarticulate creature in this book he’s got a great deal of personality: Read more…
Your jealous office mates will accuse you of having yet another toy, however this R2-D2 USB Cleaner isn’t just a plaything as it can destroy any dust bunnies found within a parsec of your PC. This tidy droid stands at just a bit under four inches tall, plugs into any USB port on your computer and should be shipping in August.
This interesting video features David Eagleman giving a chat on what do if the internet were to go down. It’s part of a larger lecture on Six Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization. At first this concept seems laughable to me because the internet as we know it was originally designed by the military (arpanet) to survive multiple points of failure. However after having seen events like 9/11, Katrina and now the chaos caused by a single volcano bringing Europe to a standstill the notion of war or global power outages seems less absurd.
Wait until you get a load of these. Custom Toy artist, Sillof, recently completed his latest series of custom figures, entitled Samurai Wars, in which he took the cast of Star Wars, and re-imagined them as characters in a Akira Kurosawa masterpiece. The details on the figures are absolutely fantastic, from Obi Wan’s eye patch to Vader’s burnished iron clad armor — it’s clear that a lot of work went into these. Read more…
What did geeks play before Dungeons & Dragons? Well for this geek and his nerdy buds our board game of choice back in the day was Risk! Oh sure in games like Monopoly you could become the next Rockefeller — and games like Battleship let you destroy an entire navy. However Risk! appealed to our inner Napoleon who was intent on world conquest. Of course it’s with a bit of irony that the game was in fact invented by a Frenchman: In 1957 film director Albert Lamorisse released La Conquête du Monde (The Conquest of the World), in France. Shown above is a new re-release of the 1959 version of the game which came to the United States thanks to Parker Brothers. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Apr 23, 2010 in Comic Books
I absolutely loved this. In a recent episode of the YouTube video series Crazy Sexy Geeks, fashionconsultantTim Gunn joined comic book historian, Alan Kistler, as they took a look at some of the questionable fashion worn by our favorite superheroes and heroines over the years. While I know that Tim Gunn probably doesn’t frequent his local comic shop, the man has always struck me as having impeccable taste, so I was really interested to hear what he had to say. It may seem a bit short, but this is only part one of what looks to be a three part series so keep an eye out for those in the coming weeks. Read more…
Of all the PC games I played in the 90s, very few stand out in my mind as having revolutionized their genres, but Doom easily makes that list. I have fond memories of wading through level after level of demons and beasts with little more than an arsenal of guns, and strategically placed health packs. I still find myself playing the occasional first person shooter, but few games really capture the magic I experienced that first time, and thanks to the Doom 3 mod community, I finally have a chance to relive those fond memories. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 22, 2010 in Comic Books
These five beautifully illustrated covers are from DC Comics, and the one thing that they all have in common is that they’re aimed at mature audiences. In the past mature signified sex and violence, but I feel that with these covers that it also implies grown up art tastes. I bring this up because so many of the superhero covers I see from DC look like clichéd coloring book covers — it’s almost as if DC was looking down at their younger readers who I think are much more hip than they give them credit for. Shown above is the cover for The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man by Yuko Shimizu and below is Unknown Soldier #22 illustrated by Dave Johnson: Read more…
Feast your eyes on these wicked new chopsticks from Kotobukiya. Fans of the Sengoku Basara anime series, as well as Japanese history buffs like myself, might recognize the designs. Believe it or not, they’re actually fashioned after the swords and blades supposedly carried by the likes of Masamune Date, Keiji Meada and Yukimura Sanada — warriors who fought during Japan’s Sengoku era — with some amount of historical accuracy. I’ve always had a fascination with Samurais, so these are right up my alley. The chopsticks, estimated to cost about $9 a pair, won’t be hitting stores and online retailers until sometime in July. For more information, check out Kotobukiya’s US website. Read more…
The Blammoids! seem to be catching on quickly — the first set is due out this month and features Batman, the Joker and some other well known DC characters. Shown here is a preview of the fourth series which is due out in December and will feature Flash, Etrigan the Demon, Brainiac, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and Reverse-Flash: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 20, 2010 in Comic Books
So I find myself looking through the dozens of previews that DC Comics has lined up — and I see cover after cover of the same old mediocre prancing over posed lackluster superheroes. But alas one jumped out at me, it’s the cover for Batman: The Widening Gyre which goes on sale in September. The first thing that hit me is that the draftsmanship of the drawing itself is just stunning. There’s a great deal of action going on, yet the drawing style is very loose but not cartoony. And then there’s the color and specifically the texture of the drawing which is so much more sophisticated than the typical coloring book job you see on almost every other DC Comics cover. So of course I go to check out the illustrator and the artist is the master himself: Bill Sienkiewicz.
Sideshow Collectibles has always been a hallmark of quality in terms of toys and collectibles, though I’ve never really been able to afford to collect them myself. Never the less, the quality of their products never cease to amaze me. For example, take a look at this fantastic replica of the Bat-Cowl from Batman Returns. I could only dream of having this displayed in a dark room of my make-shift manor. They took the original mold that used in the film and painstaking crafted the fine details in fiberglass, limiting it to a run of 500. At $499, it’s just a little too rich for my blood — after all, I’m no Bruce Wayne. If you’re interested however, check their website for updates. It’s supposed to be available sometime this quarter. Read more…
When I first laid eyes on an iPad, I knew I had to have it. Sure, I didn’t really have a practical use for one, aside from using it to read e-books or check my mail, but the hipster in me just couldn’t resist. Besides, it was the closest thing to a Star Trek padd I could get, and now, thanks to the LCARS Reader app, it’s even closer than before. Let’s just hope that CBS keeps their grubby hands off of it. Read more…
The guys over at Luxury Lane Soap really blew me away with what could easily be the coolest bar of soap I’ve ever seen — so much so that it would pain me to have to use it rather than keep it on display in my own sand-scarred palace. I’m not even sure how they got the idea to make soap out of Han Solo’s carbonite tomb, but it’s pretty fantastic if you ask me. Of course, I’d find it a bit morbid to wash myself with poor old Han, but I think the coolness factor easily makes up for that. Luxury Lane is currently out-of-stock, but you can still place one on a four to six week back-order for around $6.50 a piece. Read more…
A teaser has been released for the upcoming fan film Star Wars: Uncut. For those of you who haven’t heard about the project, the film consists of 15 second clips by fans in an attempt recreate Episode IV: A New Hope in its entirety. The trailer highlights the variety of methods used to create each scene with everything from Legos and toys, to pets and food. I about died when I saw the hamburger Millenium Falcon take off, making its escape from a cardboard Death Star. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 16, 2010 in Comic Books
The Marvelous Land of Oz #5 hits the street next week on Wednesday, April 21st — if you haven’t seen this series do yourself a favor and get your hands on it. I love the fact that Marvel is doing a series that doesn’t involve superheroes — and then add the fact that Skottie Young really has a unique visual style that you don’t get to see anywhere else in comics these days. I wouldn’t be too surprised that given the Disney takeover over Marvel that one day we might be lucky and get to see an animated version of this series. Read more…
The upcoming May issue of Pen magazine in Japan will be honoring legendary horror manga artist Shigeru Mizuki. Mizuki is the artist behind GeGeGe no Kitaro which features a great deal of Japanese folklore and a little boy who was born in a cemetery. Currently the issue isn’t out yet but when it’s available you can order it via amazon.co.jp. Read more…
Amazon has updated their listing for the upcoming Star Trek: The Original Series 365 coffee table reference book. The 774 page hardcover claims to be the most comprehensive guide for the series to date, featuring remastered photos, in-depth episode synopses, interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes and more. While the concept behind the book is similar to that of John Knoll’s Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days, the description promises quite a bit more in terms of content. It’ll retail for $29.95 when it ships this September, though Amazon is currently offering a 34% discount off the list price for pre-orders. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 15, 2010 in Comic Books
It’s all too often that comic books are really about escapism, but every so often you see a book that tackles the issues of society. And one such manga is Hagane no Onna by Hukaya Kaoru which has touched a raw nerve in Japan — now up to its sixth volume (shown above) this manga focuses on a teacher who has to deal with out of control kids and their overly demanding parents. Apparently the book has been so successful that a live action television drama has been produced based on manga and will go on the air in late May in Japan. Read more…
Have you ever wondered what the weather outside would be like if you were in a galaxy far, far away? Well, now you can know, thanks in part to Tom Scott’s Star Wars Weather Forecast. The site uses Yahoo!’s weather service to determine the forecast for any city you choose and presents it to you in terms any true Star Wars fan could understand. If it’s muggy and humid, you’ll get Dagobah. Temperate but cloudy? Endor, maybe. Currently New York City is like Naboo: Read more…
Rather than exploring strange new worlds or civilizations, Seagate and Paramount have recently teamed up to offer a strange new deal for film and portable hard drive enthusiasts. In what they claim is an industry first — I’ve yet to find evidence to the contrary — Seagate will be selling a selection of their 500 GB Free Agent Go portable hard drives pre-loaded with a selection of 20 Paramount films, including a free copy of J.J. Abram’s Star Trek. Read more…
You don’t have to worry about the lack of Flash on your iPhone because Hello Kitty brings her own style! Shown above is the is the ever so kawaii Hello Kitty iPhone 3G/3GS Cover Case. As a kitty fan I like the design of the case although I wish they had gone the extra mile and included a set of wallpapers to complete the effect.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 13, 2010 in Comic Books
I really really wanted to like Cold Space — for starters the story is by Samuel L. Jackson and his Afro Samurai collaborator Eric Calderon. Yet while Afro Samurai looked amazing the artwork in this book by Jeremy Rock is a little bit on the stiff side. The layout of each frame has little to no action which is made even more boring by a lack of interesting mecha. I’m not sure that I’d blame Jackson and Calderon for the lackluster visuals, however I would say that Boom! Studios could have done a better job given the subject matter. Read more…
This beautiful Irodori Collection Stickers for DS Series will give your Nintendo the look of traditional Japanese prints. Irodori is a Japanese word for an assortment of colors and this collection of stickers features a dozen different style which are available for the DSi and the DSLite. To me the best part about this collection is that when you get tired of one look you can peel off the sticker without doing any damage. Here the rest of the collection: Read more…
