3D Futurama is Glorious
Behold what the glory of the Internet has wrought!
Seriously, that’s brilliant. It’s a thing of pure beauty. The time and energy it must have taken to draw that 30 second clip is astounding! My hat goes off to Alexey Zarkharov, a Russian designer who has some more images on his website. Check them out too!
Change. Change Never Changes. The Next Marvel NOW!
Guess what! Marvel Comics has a bunch of awesome plans in store for all of their most popular characters! And for a few of their upcoming movie stars! They’re setting up their third Marvel NOW! wave, and personally, I think it all looks pretty neat. Check out this lineup!
The Amazing Avengers? Invincible Avengers? Irredeemable Avengers?
If you haven’t heard yet, we’ve got female Thor and the fact that Sam Wilson, the Falcon, is taking over at Captain America. I’m a big fan of that idea. Cap with wings? Bring it on! The Winter Soldier is getting a new series, where he becomes the protector of Earth. Deathlok is getting a reboot to bring him closer to his TV counterpart. And Marvel is still trying desperately to make Inhuman happen. See that flaming guy in the picture there? That’s Inferno, the new Inhuman. He and Medusa are the stars of the comic Inhuman, which has published all of 2 issues so far. If Marvel is really serious about making the Inhumans a force to be reckoned with, they are failing terribly.
Seriously, Inhuman is terrible. Inferno should be ashamed to be in that group picture.
Also in that picture, you can see Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, both of whom have upcoming movies on the Marvel slate. I’m excited for both, and if Marvel can get both heroes their own comics, that would be a blast. Marvel is doing great things with comics these days. I’m dying for a quality Ant-Man comic.
Entertainment Weekly has some of the details.
Iron Man is getting a big change too. See his fancy new white/silver armor? That’s the Superior Iron Man!
Iron Man is suddenly big into testing
Tony Stark will be moving to San Francisco, where he plans to implement some darker, tougher technology upgrades. Tony’s going a little dark. Good for him.
I don’t know about you, but all of this looks great to me. Maybe I’m just really into Marvel these days. I know that’s the truth. They can do little wrong in my book. I have always been a Marvel man, and the various Marvel NOW! campaigns have been comic book gold. So you better believe I’m excited to get my hands on some of these new books.
This is going to be the year of the Ant-Man!
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Review: Teen Titans #1
After only a few short months, Teen Titans is back with a new #1 issue and a new…not much else. Scott Lobdell’s reign of terror is over. Bring on Will Pfeifer’s reign of terror! I say that with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek, but after reading and digesting Pfeifer’s first issue in this new, relaunched Teen Titans, it doesn’t look like much has changed. I’m willing to go easy on Pfeifer, and artist Kenneth Rocafort, and give them the benefit of the doubt, but the problems with Lobdell’s Teen Titans were very clear and very easy to fix. So why Pfeifer and DC didn’t do a complete 180 and try something totally new is beyond me.
Teen Titans #1
Teen Titans #1 could just as easily have been Teen Titans #31. It picks up exactly where Lobdell left off and brings absolutely nothing new or interesting to the table.
Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.
I was ready to forgive and forget, and embrace a new approach to the Teen Titans comic. I stuck with Lobdell’s stink pile for the entire run, watching and wincing as DC let him have 30 whole issues and some annuals. Whereas nearly ever other comic in DC’s New 52 was given a new creative team at some point, or cancelled outright, DC stuck with Lobdell despite the fact that everyone pretty much hated and abandoned the comic. Lobdell’s Teen Titans was a frantic mess, unwilling to sit still for even a second to focus on the characters, the team or anything other than hectic superhero action. I could go on and on about all of the problems with the first run of Teen Titans, but I don’t have the time or energy. We’re here to talk about the new relaunch.
And you better believe I’m disappointed.
Pfeifer’s Teen Titans #1 is wall-to-wall action, starring pretty much the exact same Titans team that Lobdell left off with – only now Beast Boy is green for some reason. No explanation given on that change. It’s Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Raven, Beast Boy and Bunker stopping a group of terrorists on a speeding bus (yep!), while Pfeifer hints at some kind of future plot with S.T.A.R. Labs. There’s plenty of chatter among the team members as they go about their business, but there’s little in the way of actual, meaningful interactions. No effort is made to explain why they’re still a team or why they spend any time together beyond being the selected roster for the book. No background is given, no establishing information is put out; nothing beyond a bunch of superheroes responding to a sudden emergency on the streets of New York.
In that regard, Peifer and Rocafort make a fine comic. The action is well-paced and well-drawn. I suppose it’s as exciting as any generic action scene in a comic might be. There’s a good use of everyone’s powers and abilities. Everybody is generally likable. I don’t necessarily think Rocafort’s hyper-detailed, sketchy style is the right fit for Teen Titans, but it works fine. No real complaints from my end on art. It’s also definitely a colorful comic.
But Teen Titans #1 doesn’t do anything new to warrant the relaunch. It looks like business as usual, even after I got my hopes up that something would be different this time around.
Oh wait, there is one change. After 30+ issues of Bunker’s sexuality not being an issue for anybody, Pfeifer is apparently totally going to make it an awkward, clumsy issue. Great.
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
First Official Sneak Peek at Avengers: Age of Ultron
Entertainment Weekly continues to be a magazine in circulation, and they have landed the first official look at Avengers 2: Age of Ultron! I used to love that magazine in high school in the swinging late 90s. So good for them at this pretty awesome scoop. Check out this cover, with our first real look at Ultron himself!
He looks pretty gnarly. And Captain America and Iron Man look pretty cool too.
You can check out an early sneak peek at the Avengers 2 interview at their website. It gives a lot of details on the plot, so be careful of spoilers, and talks about a few of the new characters. You can check out a few pictures by clicking here, including an official look at Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, as well as a possible surprise superhero cameo. Or you can just wait for the actual magazine, because people still apparently buy those. Right now, I’m legitimately considering it.
The 6 Best of Hercules in Pop Culture
Hercules! Hercules! Hercules! That’s still a reference people get, right? Good. The Rock’s big Hercules movie comes out at the end of this month, and that’s reason enough to celebrate as far as I’m concerned! He’s the Rock! Doing Hercules! It’s kind of perfect, actually.
I’m torn as to whether or not the word ‘smackdown’ should be in this movie
I am a huge fan of Greek myths. I can still remember the Big Book of Greek Myths I used to devour from my middle school library. So seeing a big budget Hercules movie (that isn’t that earlier big budget Hercules movie from January) is kind of a treat. It’s the Rock fighting all the great Greek monsters. That alone should be pretty cool. And you know what else is pretty cool: the idea that people have been playing Hercules for centuries. This is a character that has existed since before the Roman Empire. How cool is it that we, as a society, are still telling the story of Hercules?
And why can we do that? Because nobody owns the rights to Hercules! Anybody can make a Hercules movie or cartoon or video game or comic book…and they have! Join me after the jump to check out the 6 greatest pop culture appearances of the Lion of Greece!
Henchman-4-Hire 