Archie Comics is a quintessentially American comic company that for most of us never represented what America really looked like. It was a universe stuck in a 1950’s episode of Father Knows Best: almost all white, all heterosexual and with no religious diversity. Archie was the most conservative comic companies on newsstands, but recently it is one of the more progressive.

Kevin Keller is one of the most refreshing additions to comics. First appearing in Veronica #202, published in September 2010, Kevin is not just a wonderful character; he is an Archie superstar. He is not a supporting character; he is on the same level as Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and the rest of the crew.

Fans love him and now he is a big fancy award winner! On Saterday 5/11/13, Archie was awarded their first Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation(GLAAD) award for ‘Outstanding Comic Book’ .

Not everyone is a fan of Kevin. Last February, One Million Moms, a project of The American Family Association, tried to get Toys R Us to not display Life With Archie #16 near it’s checkout aisles because the issue featured Kevin getting married. Toys R Us ignored the protests and the issue sold out. His newest issue should piss them off just as good.

Issue #10 of Kevin’s solo title will feature a story where Kevin kisses his boyfriend in Pop Tate’s diner and a Riverdale mom “gets very offended and kind of pitches a bit of a fit,”. Dan Parent, the writer/artist of the issue, states “Kevin is kind of used to that, but Veronica records the whole thing and of course uploads it to the Riverdale equivalent of YouTube and that starts a bit of a debate.”

Archie admits that the issue is a “playful poke” at the One Million Moms protest. Good for you Archie. The diversification of your brand is refreshing, I currently love your company, and comic fans love Kevin Keller!

PS. Betty and Veronica are great and all, but Archie wants some of that brown sugar(Cue the D’Angelo)!

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Jay Deitcher, LMSW(@mrdeitcher) embraces the term MUTANT and proudly represents his MUTANT brothers and sisters.  He is an educator on comic history and runs successful Free Comic Book Day events yearly.  You can see a listing of his incredible articles and his highly energetic videos at JayDeitcher.com.

These days it seems more and more the case that we are in a Golden age of Geekery. There are comics, cosplay, and gaming cons all over the world and new ones are popping up in unlikely places. And one look at the movie line-up for this year shows just how open are the arms embracing all that nerdery.

Iron Man 3 started the season off with a bang (and quite a few “boom”s). Star Trek: Into Darkness is still packing theaters. Man of Steel is right around the corner, and we’ve got Ender’s Game, World War Z, Thor, and The Wolverine to look forward to this Fall. In fact, at least 25 films with sci-fi or superhero themes are premiering this year.

It is a glorious time to be a geek.  But you’ll notice that the leading lads of all of these films are white guys. That, of course, is nothing new.

The industry has even been improving somewhat its representation of minorities with controversial casting choices like Viola Davis as Major Anderson in Ender’s Game or Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. John Cho as Sulu and Zoe Saldana as Uhura had major roles in the new Star Trek movie. A few other heroes of color, like War Machine (Don Cheadle) in Iron Man 3, Gail (Rosario Dawson) in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For,  and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) in the next Avengers film, are on the roster. And 3 of the approximately 25 science fiction and superhero films out this year feature a character of color as the main protagonist and hero - After Earth featuring Will and Jaden Smith, Midnight’s Children featuring Satya Bhaba, and Machete Kills featuring Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jessica Alba.

Nonetheless, it is a rarity to see a hero of color as a leader in sci-fi and superhero films.

As I’ve written more on elsewhere , there are, of course, exceptions: Abar, The First Black Superman (1977), Independence Day (1996), Steel (1997), Spawn (1997), Blade (1998-2004), El Muerto (2007), I am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), … to name a few… most of them not exactly film masterpieces and most of them starring Will Smith.  And there are refreshed rumors of a Black Panther movie running about again.

Here’s hoping After Earth, Midnight’s Children, and Machete Kills rock the box office with their original superheroes, but we haven’t seen a a movie based on an iconic sci-fi hero or superhero of color for since Blade. So, calling all producers, directors, and studios, here are a few heroes of color that could probably unleash a lot of awesome on the big screen…

Heroes for Hire

Heroes for Hire would be a great way to bring Luke Cage into the mix, a character who stands out as pretty unique in the world of fancy costumes, masks, and flight abilities.  Luke Cage makes appearances all over the Marvel universe, and rather than throw him in as a side-character or random appearance in one of the big franchise movies that already have dedicated fans, a Heroes for Hire movie would create the chance to go into his dynamic back story. On top of that, sequels would turn over the lead to Misty Knight, whose own history is pretty intruiging too and she has the appeal that characters like Hawkeye bring to the table. No superpowers to speak of, just serious strength and talent. There’s also a mix of other superheroes of various races on the team, including Latina superhero White Tiger, so it could likely avoid the usual “All Black cast? Oh that’s a movie for Black people then” problem.

Katana

Katana first appeared in DC Comics’ Outsiders, alongside superheroes Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Geo-Force, Halo, and Looker. While an Outsiders film could be interesting, it’d probably look more like a knock-off Avengers movie. Besides, Katana has an interesting enough story to hold a film by herself, though appearances by a couple Outsiders, old and new, would certainly make it one of the most diverse movies to hit the big screen. With no superpowers herself, Katana became a superhero after tragedy struck her family in Japan, and she acquired a sword possessing the spirit of her husband and others. The sword itself if magic, and Katana supplements its power with her own kick-ass fighting skills. Her’s is the familiar story of vengeance that drives many superhero movies, and that drove two installments of sword-heavy revenge film Kill Bill. Katana is holding her own in her own new title comic these days.

Static Shock

The Spider-man movies were supposed to appeal to a younger audience. He’s a punchy nerdy kid who basically gets to jump and climb on things all day. It seems pretty perfect for nerdy action-addicted kids, right? Well, ya. Except he’s still a spider. You know what’s way cooler?  An awkward 15-year-old geek with electromagnetic powers. His costume is cooler, and he flies around on a magnetized disk that basically amounts to a hoover skateboard. The four year run of the animated series Static Shock can attest to a healthy fandom for the character. Side-perk: It’d also be a great way to introduce the Milestone Universe to the big screen..

Xombi 

Speaking of Milestone… How does a movie about a perpetually young, invulnerable, nanotechnologically-enhanced scientist fighting supernatural creatures sound?  Korean-American scientist David Kim invented the nanotechnological virus that saved his life and turned him into a superhuman.  There’s lot of fun science to play with. One of my favorite scenes is when Kim, having a beer with a friend, explains how the nanotech in his body makes efficient use of every single thing in his body, meaning he produces no waste and can’t get drunk… and explains why he’s not doing the pee-pee dance after all those beers. It could raise some interesting questions about biotechnology too…at a time when we’re increasingly incoporating technology into our daily lives…

Parable of the Sower

Apocalypse stories are hot again, and the apocalypse movies and shows out there seem to rely exclusively on zombies or huge environmental disasters to create the desolate landscape for the tense story to unfold across. And usually, after this one big disastrous event, we’re in postapocalypse territory in no time. Octavia Butler‘s Parable of the Sower is unique, however. The apocalyptic landscape has come about by a combination of political instability, religious fanaticism, drugs, poverty, and desperation. Very real possibilities in our own world. People form communities and hide inside of walled neighborhoods to stay safe, but walls don’t always hold. The story unfolds in the heat of the apocalypse rather than after it, and our hero is a young Black woman Lauren Olamina, who suffers from a hyperempathy that makes her physically feel the pain of others. Way more interesting than zombies…

Hey remember Thanos? Yeah the guy that stuck out his filthy mug at the end of Avengers! Well he is coming back to the Marvel comic universe in a huge way, with a storyline called Infinity. The purple guy is never truly happy unless he is smashing worlds apart and the upcoming event mini-series by marvel will give him the opportunity to do so in excess. Will earth’s mightiest heroes be there in time to stop him, and how exactly with the mystical Infinity Gems fit into this event?

Writers Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer are also going to be answering the big question in the main Avengers title as of issue #14. Mysteries have been floating around this mysterious since issue one. Those dialed into the universe have a few clues as to what the big purple cheese is planning. The excellent artist Stefano Caselli is providing the interiors to the prelude of the grand event shipping this June 19th. Feel free to salivate over the pencils until the issue ships!

Good luck figuring out what the hell is happening! Seriously though who are those blockhead people?

Source: CBR

A few days ago, we reported that the popular fighting video game series BlazBlue would be receiving an anime adaption, but further info was not yet available. Luckily, new details are now available, including staff, cast, plot, and other tidbits.

The anime series, which is titled BlazBlue Alter Memory, will adapt the plot of the first BlazBlue game, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, which was created by Arc System Works, and released in 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The story is set on December 2199. During the New Years celebration, a rebel named Ragna the Bloodedge appears in the high-class city of Kagutsuchi. Ragna’s goal is the destruction of a system that controls the world, so a group of strong fighters join forces to stop him.

In good news for the fans of the games, the Japanese voice cast for the anime series are the same as for the video games, and the games’ designer, Toshimichi Mori, will be supervising the series. Hideki Tachibana (Higurashi) will be directing at Hoods Entertainment. Other staff includes Seiji Mizushima, Deko Akao, Tatsuya Takahashi, and Tomoyuki Shitaya.

The anime will premier in Japan this Fall. Will you be watching?

Source: ANN

Yeah, I know that title is immature and a tiny bit incendiary, but come on people! I just went to the cinema last night to see STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, and after devouring equal amounts of Pretzel M&Ms and half-melted Junior Mints, I left the movie in a haze of fan-elation. It’s honestly one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen. I would never want to tread on the honorable Star Wars faithful, but Into Darkness was everything that the Star Wars Prequels should have been: a maniacal super-villain, a crew of bickering spacefarers, and a few epic brawls.

And yet the latest Star Trek flick suffered a disappointing opening weekend with only $70 million. Where were the fans? Where were the recent converts? Since the movie was so damn amazing (in this humble fanboys opinion) I can only blame the massive gap between the original J.J. Abrams reboot and this sequel for the poor results.

I sure as hell want to see another romp in this franchise, so I’ll be at the 4:10, 6:40, and 9:00 o’clock showings tonight. Who’s gonna join me?

SOURCE: BoxOfficeMojo

Gina Carano, the badass elbow breaker from Haywire, has just revealed that she’s “talked” about starring in a superhero flick… and I’m pretty damn excited. Unlike the rest of the great bearded fanboys and the brass knuckled fangirls, I don’t want Carano for Wonder Woman. Sorry folks, I just don’t think she’d be that great in that role (WW is a ridiculous character for the big screen, anyway!).  And she doesn’t seem to have a specific role in mind, though, so all clear ahead.

” There have been talks about some different characters. That’s a dream to put on a costume and be a whole other level of character, but I think that…we’re looking at a whole bunch of different things right now. There’s always the possibility that some day I will be a comic book character that I’ll play and I’m not sure who that’s going to be. It would be very fun and fascinating. We’ll just have to see where my career is going to go. I love emotions, I love drama, I love comedy and I also want to take action up to another level, I love comics.”

No, instead I think she should be SHIELD Deputy Director Maria Hill. Yes, I’m well aware that this role is currently under the stewardship of Cobie Smulders, but she’s not exactly that awesome, is she? Maria Hill is a shady, neck snapping spy, and she can go blow to blow with Marvel’s most terrifying man in the shadows, Nick Fury… traits which Smulders doesn’t really convey.

SOURCE: Collider

Bryan Singer’s resumed his habits of Tweeting pics from the production of DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, and this time he’s drafted friend and DOFP baddie Peter Dinklage into the scene. Here’s the pair doing something important, like deciding on their lunch menu or debating the merits of Dinklage’s disgusting perv mustache.

We’ve been debating which villain Dinklage will play, and we haven’t been able to narrow the field. I have a nagging feeling that he’ll play a particularly demonic antagonist… someone of Egyptian heritage, perhaps? You know who I’m talking about, right? Apocalypse!!!

Now, I know Singer’s claimed that Dinklage’s character will not be based in CGI, but he could be fibbing a bit, or at least I hope he is. I wouldn’t want to waste the Half-Man’s potential on a one-off baddie.

Acting as a sequel to both X-Men: First Class and 2006′s X-Men: The Last Stand, the third film in the series, Days of Future Past includes cast members from both: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, and Daniel Cudmore return from the original trilogy, while James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult return from X-Men: First Class. Hugh Jackman, the only actor to have appeared in each of the previous X-Men films, will reprise his role as Wolverine. Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart and Fan Bingbing round out the film’s principal cast. Principal photography began in April 2013 in Montreal, Canada with filming wrapping in October 2013. The film is being shot in 3D.

SOURCE: Twitter

The super-mega-team-up between two different X-Men casts, known as Days of Future Past, has been filming in Montreal for a few months now with original movie director Bryan Singer at the helm. Much to the joy of geeks and nerds everywhere Singer (like Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb) shares daily updates from the set of the movie and usually reveals casting news and shows exclusive photos. He’s done it again. Who wants to see what Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique will look like?

First look: #JenniferLawrence as a vengeful #Mystique. #XMen #DaysOfFuturePast twitter.com/BryanSinger/st…

— Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) May 20, 2013

Not really that much difference here from her look in First Class, but it’s still a good chance to see Jennifer Lawrence naked (technically). What do you think? Are you pumped for X-Men: Days of Future Past? Share your thoughts below.

SOURCE: Bryan Singer

The SpringCon Comic Book Carnival, organized by the Midwest Comic Book Association and hosted at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds is true to its roots.  It’s a humble and friendly affair, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from the good folk of Minnesota.  Prior to moving to the Twin Cities in 2007 I lived in Oakland, California, and New York City before that, meaning I’ve hit conventions on each coast.  And while I love the sheer spectacle that a con in San Francisco or NYC can offer, there was something nice about finding a parking spot two minutes from the entrance of SpringCon 2013 this weekend, and knowing that I could get a buck off the admission price just by bringing a donation for the local food shelf.

The Midwest Comic Book Association has been holding bi-annual conventions here in the Twin Cities for the last 25 years, strategically placing each con during those times when Minnesotans are most likely to attend: fall and spring.  The logic makes sense — during the winter temperatures can dip (and hold) at around negative 30, making even the busiest streets of downtown Minneapolis look like a scene from I Am Legend; people hunker down and the outside world looks vacant.  During the summer, once the weather turns gorgeous, everyone goes swimming at the lakes.  Long story short: if you want to buy and sell comic books, this is the time to do it.

For as big a metropolitan area the Twin Cities is, I’m always a little surprised at how mellow this particular con is.  While there’s still the frenetic buzz and parade of costumes that you’d expect from a con, the crowds are manageable and the vendors more relaxed.  The sheer easiness of this con makes it particularly popular for families, and it feels more like a church festival than a bustling marketplace.  Knowing this, I decided to take my four-year old daughter along this year, and we strolled along the rows like two kids at the park.  In classic Minnesota fashion, I had two Heath Ledger Jokers and one Deadpool apologize to me for wearing costumes that might frighten my her.  My daughter was, of course, unfazed, but the politeness of these folks struck me.

There’s a lot of chit-chat, and comic shop owners don’t mind taking a moment to lean against a longbox and talk about their shop.  A particularly friendly couple were the owners of Rogue Robot, a new shop in Duluth, MN, who took the time to make sure my daughter knew the name and history of the My Little Pony doll she’d brought along (Twilight Sparkle; I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t known).  Another highlight was getting to meet horror artist Andrew Ritchie, who managed to produce at least print that my daughter loved and bought with her leftover birthday money — Krypto the Superdog.

Despite the relaxed feeling, this con still delivers: about 250 guest creators attend, and an impressive swath of dealers set-up shop.  They even host some decent panels.  And while it’s true that Jim Lee won’t be signing books at the SpringCon anytime soon, I’m old enough that I’d much rather find easy parking than wait in line to meet a comic legend.  At least for now.

Hello & Welcome to ANIME MONDAY right here on Unleash the Fanboy! As always I am your gracious host, Marcell and we have another hot batch of anime for you guys. The battles against the Cold Emperor’s begin in “FAIRY TAIL”, Summer vacation starts in “PERSONA 4″, Kirito & Asuna are drawn back to the battlefield in “SWORD ART ONLINE”, Alibaba’s past is revealed in “MAGI”, & Mikasa learns of her brothers fate in “ATTACK ON TITAN”. Let’s begin.

Fairy Tail – “Natsu Vs. Yuka The Wave User”

“Natsu Vs. Yuka The Wave User” is nothing too spectacular but it is a good ways away from mundane. Natsu’s fight scene (while panfully short) shows how versatile the Dragon Slayer can be when he uses his head, and the interaction between him and Gray works well here. The adventure continues next week as Lyon continues his plans and Lucy takes on Sherry.

Full Review HERE

3.5/5

Attack On Titan – “The Small Blade – Defense of Trost Pt. 3″

“The Small Blade” while not as character heavy as last episode still is another good offering from this so far stellar series. The fear is real, the characters are relateable, and the action scenes are still very well done. The fight to survive continues next week as the trainees mount an assault on Headquarters and the mystery of the “Rogue” Titan is revealed.

Full Review HERE

4/5

Persona 4 The Animation – “A Stormy Summer Vacation 1/2″

“A Stormy Summer Vacation 1/2″ is a decent little break from all of the mystery by being enjoyable and humorous. The focus on Nanako and the others was nice and it was good to see Yu be in the episode without being the main focus. The Investigation continues next week as we see summer vacation from Yu Narukami’s point of view.

Full Review HERE

3/5

Sword Art Online – “Edge of Hell’s Abyss”

“Edge of Hell’s Abyss” is an episode with heart warming as well and heart breaking scenes. The stuff with Kirito & Asuna is definitely the selling point here and the other moments and battles are good as well, exploring the world as well as more characters in it. The fight to survive continues next week…where it’s GAME OVER.

Full Review HERE

4.5/5

Magi: Labyrinth of Magic – “A Promise That Can’t Be Kept”

“A Promise That Can’t Be Kept” is a pretty somber episode that explores Alibaba’s character as well as expanding some more on the Fog Troop. A couple funny moments in the beginning help keep the tone pretty light until the heavy stuff starts rolling. The magic continues next week as Cassim mounts a force to take back Alibaba.

Full Review HERE

4/5

Previously on Attack on Titan:

The citizens within Wall Rose have been successfully evacuated but the Titan forces still have to be quelled, fearing for her brother’s safety, Mikasa goes out to find Eren. Spoilers Ahead.

Mikasa eventually comes across the rest of the trainees on the far side of town in her search for Eren. There the groups lament over the fact that the Titans are swarming their HQ, preventing them from getting gas for their Maneuver Gears. Mikasa asks Armin what happened to Eren and he tells her the bad news. Seemingly not caring she begins to berate her teammates and takes off towards HQ, killing 2 titans. However she runs out of gas and falls into an alley, as a Titan closes in on her, Mikasa recieves help from the most unlikely of sources.

Before I get to the nitty gritty I have an announcement: IF YOU ARE NOT WATCHING ATTACK ON TITAN, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND WATCH IT NOW! Now that we have that out of the way let’s get into the details of the episode.

Mikasa again takes the focus of the episode and once again she steals the show. She is a pretty compelling heroine and the reasons for her behavior are understandable. When Armin tells her what happened to Eren, she seems unfazed at 1st but is very upset by it. She berates her teammates, not because of some cliche motivational speech, but because she thought it was something Eren would do. The only who can see through he facade is Armin, and he notices after he and Connie follow her that she is recklessley wasting gas. All of her emotions come to a head when she lands in the alley and the Titan approaches, she has lost the will to live, since her “brother”, the only person she cares about in the world was taken from her leaving her alone again. It is very heart breaking to see her in such a state but even when her death approaches she somehow continues to fight after having some kind of introspective moment with a pomegranate (seriously) she resolves to fight again because that’s what Eren would have wanted. She even manages to wound the Titan trying to kill her.

The rest of the trainees get development as well, mostly Jean, Connie, (and my second favorite female in the show) Sasha. They rally the rest of the troops to follow Mikasa, but they are soon halted by the Titans leading to a few gruesome scenes where some of them get eaten because they ran out of gas, this leads to another moment for Jean as he watches his comrades get eaten, wondering why he didn’t save them. Things get so dire that some of the trainees in HQ commit suicide for fear of the Titans getting to them. This continues to drive the point home that the Titans are as fearsome as they played up to be.

“The Small Blade” while not as character heavy as last episode still is another good offering from this so far stellar series. The fear is real, the characters are relateable, and the action scenes are still very well done. The fight to survive continues next week as the trainees mount an assault on Headquarters and the mystery of the “Rogue” Titan is revealed.

4/5

Previously on Magi:

Aladdin & Morgiana make it to the city of Balbadd, however they are soon roped into helping a man named Sinbad fight off a group of thieves called “The Fog Troop”. Spoilers Ahead.

Morgiana & Jafar are at the Fog Troops mercy until Aladdin arrives atop Ugo. He looks poised to stop the thieves but stops when the cloaked leader of the Troop is revealed to be Alibaba! Aladdin is initially overjoyed to see his friend, but Alibaba brushes him off, saying that he can’t “keep their promise anymore”. After leaving the scene, Morgiana finds Alibaba and kidnaps him so he can talk to Aladdin about his actions. After the three are properly reunited, Alibaba tells the two of his past and why he joined the Fog Troop.

Alibaba & his mother

Here we finally shed some light on Alibaba’s backstory, well only about his connection to the REAL leader of the Fog Troop, Cassim; not about how he ended up in the town he met Aladdin. As with a good majority of anime protagonists Alibaba had a rough childhood, but even this one threw a curve ball at me. He grew up in the slums of Balbadd with his beautiful mother Anis, who was a prostitute (never heard of that in an anime, but it does fit with story setting). He & Cassim were friendly rivals in the slums and eventually began living together when Anis took him and his sister Miriam in after their abusive father disappeared.

Alibaba’s “Family” (Left to Right), Mariam, Anis, Alibaba, & Cassim

Soon after, Anis was stricken by illness and died leaving the children on their own and forcing Cassim to assume responsibility. Cassim then begins to slowly engage in theviery in order to help his family, and tells Alibaba that he doesn’t want him doing these things. Alibaba soon finds out that he is the son of the king of Balbadd when it is revealed his mother used to be a housemaid there. These scenes are nice as we shed some light on Alibaba as well how he sees Cassim. Cassim was a responsible elder sibling but grew desperate in order to protect his family, even telling Alibaba to go with the king so he could have a better life. However, Cassim was the orchestrator in the “incident” that caused Alibaba to leave Balbadd, so it will be good to see what happened between them and why he joined him again.

Alibaba meeting Cassim again after leaving the slums

Aladdin also gets some development as we see that he is happy Alibaba is doing well but still doesn’t understand why he became a thief. Although he knows he wouldn’t do it without a good reason, it shows the unshakeable he has in his friend. Morgiana on the other has none of Alibaba’s crap and is angry for what he did. We also get so see Alibaba’s Djinn in action when he summons Amon’s power in his dagger, creating a huge flame that covered the Fog Troop’s escape. We see more of Sinbad and his retainers but they don’t contribute much to the plot, but we also see that the thieves that stole his vessels (items that store Djinns) in town so that may come up later.

“A Promise That Can’t Be Kept” is a pretty somber episode that explores Alibaba’s character as well as expanding some more on the Fog Troop. A couple funny moments in the beginning help keep the tone pretty light until the heavy stuff starts rolling. The magic continues next week as Cassim mounts a force to take back Alibaba.

4/5

Previously on Sword Art Online:

After letting go of their “daughter”, Yui, Kirito & Asuna return to the 22nd floor and try to enjoy themselves. Spoilers Ahead.

After resettling back into their cabin, Kirito meets a man named Nishidawhile fishing one day. After he catches a fish, Kirito invites Nishida to his house so Asuna can cook it for them. While at the two’s home he tells them of a huge fish tha supposedly lives in the lake on that floor and asks Kirito to help him catch it. After taking care of the huge fish, Asuna & Kirito are suddenly called back to the front lines by Heathcliff. He tells them that he needs their help defeating the boss on Floor 75, however as the time for battle draws nearer Kirito & Asuna both begin to fear that the other may not return from this fight.

We get a glimpse into another game feature as the 1st half of the episode focuses on fishing. Nishida was a network programmer who helped design the network security for SAO (bang up job by the way) and ever since he was trapped he fished. The scene where they are going to catch the big fish is both humurous and proveds some nice action when Asuna takes out the huge fish in one blow. The real world is also referenced when Asuna reminds Kirito of a couple years ago when a majority of players went offline for a few hours, mostly due to the fact that their bodies were being moved to hospitals. This adds to the haste to complete the game more as they don’t know how long their bodies will be alive in the real world.

The highlight of the episode is definitely on Kirito & Asuna’s relationship and we get a glimpse of how they see one another. Asuna’s love for Kirito is real and this leads to a few heart warming as well as heart wrenching scenes for the two in this episode as they tak to one another. She tells Nishida (who had given up on going back home) before they leave that she used to feel the same way, and begin to resign herself to fighting only to win, until she saw Kirito sleeping under a tree (way back in Episode 5 ). She then tells him that Kirito became her reason for living the two years they have been trapped in the game.

Kirito, Asuna, & Nishida

This point is brought back up when Kirito asks her to stay behind before the boss fight, she refuses (of course) and tells Kirito that if he went and didn’t come back, she would kill herself (dark).  Kirito also gets a gleam of more development when he slowly starts to panic before the fight, he has become so accustomed to being with Asuna that he doesn’t even want to fight anymore, but Asuna states that she wants to go home so everything that happened in SAO can happen in real life (them dating and evetually getting married). He also tells Heathcliff that Asuna is his main priority in battle and if shes in danger he will guard her before everyone else.

Not to say that the episode is light on action, in fact the latter half is quite action packed when they take on the 75th Floor boss, the Skull Reaper. it is absurdly powerful and can kill with just on strike which makes the battle all the more dire for everyone involved. Klein & Agil return to help, and even with Heathcliff assisting the battle promise to be a long and difficult one.

Heathcliff Vs. The Skull Reaper

“Edge of Hell’s Abyss” is an episode with heart warming as well and heart breaking scenes. The stuff with Kirito & Asuna is definitely the selling point here and the other moments and battles are good as well, exploring the world as well as more characters in it. The fight to survive continues next week…where it’s GAME OVER.

4.5/5

Previously on Persona 4:

The Investigation Team defeats Mitsuo’s shadow and solves the murder case. With nothing to do, their summer vacation begins. Spoilers Ahead.

After defeating Mitsuo’s shadow and solving the murder case, Yu (Johnny Yong Bosch) and his friends finally get their summer vacation underway. As the days pass by however, Nanako (Karen Strassman) begins to notice something wrong with her “big bro” as he leaves during the day and comes home late at night and becomes the “Magical Detective Loveline” to investigate his strange behavior.

Even though this is another episode that explores other “Social links” that were in the game, what I like about this episode is that it shifts the focus away from Yu and spotlights the supporting cast, most prominently Nanako. We get a look into how Nanako sees Yu, as well as how she interacts with the rest of his friends. Due to their ignorance of the world (though for completely different reasons) Nanako gets along with Teddie (Sam Riegel) the most and the two have a couple scenes together when she firsts starts to follow Yu around. As for Yu we see very little of him in which I usually think is a good thing for show to shift from the protagonist every once in a while.

We also get some more development on Yu’s friends as they too want to know why he has been avoiding them along with Nanako. This does lead to a few humorous scenes in the episode when Nanako sees Yu with a black haired woman who she assumes is his girlfriend, she tells the guys and follows him to a park along with Teddie, Kanji (now played by Matthew Mercer), & Yosuke (Yuri Lowenthal); where they find him with a different woman with a son who saw Nanako earlier in the episode. They then return to the girls and tell them what they saw and they then follow Yu to the riverbank (Rise being the most adamant to go) where they see him with an older woman in funeral garb, later Nanako sees a young boy looking sullenly at a group of kids playing in the park. This adds to the comedy as well as the mystery as to what Yu was doing. All the plot points sort of come together at the festival in town where Nanako encounters Naoto (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn), Ai Ebihara (Julie Ann Taylor) and all the people she had seen Yu with over the past couple of weeks.

“A Stormy Summer Vacation 1/2″ is a decent little break from all of the mystery by being enjoyable and humorous. The focus on Nanako and the others was nice and it was good to see Yu be in the episode without being the main focus. The Investigation continues next week as we see summer vacation from Yu Narukami’s point of view.

3/5

Previously on Fairy Tail:

Natsu & his team finally square off against the Cold Emperor, things take a turn however when the group finds out that their adversary is Lyon Vastia, and Ice Make wizard and former friend of Gray. Spoilers Ahead.

After sending Natsu (Todd Haberkorn), Lucy (Cherami Leigh), & Happy (Tia Ballard) to protect the villagers from Lyon’s (Jerry Jewel) forces, Gray (Newton Pittman) faces off against his old rival. Still reeling from the revelation that his former friend is reviving Deliora, Gray is soon defeated and Lyon leaves. Natsu comes back to retrieve his friend and the two make their way to the village to back up Lucy & Happy. After failing to destroy the village outright, Lyon’s minions are separated from each other, as are the Fairy Tail wizards; causing Natsu to find himself  in a two on fight against the calculating Yuka (Anthony Bowling) & the dog man Toby Horhorta (Chad Halbrook), while Lucy finds herself alone in the woods against the “lovely” Sherry Blendy (Trina Nishimura).

Natsu Vs. Yuka

No revelations in this episode instead focusing a bit on the dynamics of Natsu’s team. Most of that focus is put on Natsu & Gray’s relationship as friendly rivals. While the two do come to blows ALOT in the guild (mostly due to Gray’s constant stripping, Natsu’s impulsiveness, and their conflicting magic abilities), they genuniely are friends and care about one another. This was briefly touched upon in the Lullaby arc when Gray told Natsu not to die on him, but is shown more prominently here when Gray pushed Natsu off the altar when Lyon froze his body (because he said Lyon could have blown up the ice killing Natsu) and when Natsu came back for him and told him to stop moping because their Fairy Tail wizards. Natsu also knocks Gray out before he fights Yuka and Toby because he knew he wasn’t recovered enough to fight. These are some good moments that slowly advance their relationship as well as the guilds.

Sherry

We are also introduced to more of the antagonists in more detail. Natsu’s opponents, Yuka & Toby, were members of the Lamia Scale guild before joining with Lyon. Yuka is sort of calm and calculating and likes to hear himself speak, he uses “Wave” magic which can cancel out magic he comes in contact with. Toby on the other hand is an idiot and very easy to fool, this is evident when Natsu tricks in into touching his head with his own poisonous claws. Sherry on the other hand is more of a problem, she is obsessed with love and Lyon, so much so that she attacks Lucy in a rage when they arrive in the woods because she fears Lyon won’t love her anymore. She has a giant pet rat named Angelica (anime) and uses “Marionette” magic in which she can control living things (except humans), this spirals into Lucy’s development for the episode. when Sherry takes control of Taurus (Jeremy Inman) Lucy is able to snap Taurus out of it and close his gate, showing she’s gotten stronger.

“Natsu Vs. Yuka The Wave User” is nothing too spectacular but it is a good ways away from mundane. Natsu’s fight scene (while panfully short) shows how versatile the Dragon Slayer can be when he uses his head, and the interaction between him and Gray works well here. The adventure continues next week as Lyon continues his plans and Lucy takes on Sherry.

 3.5/5

I’m back with another Teen Titans Go! review! But could the latest episode hold its own against the previous one?

Eh. Not really. In the first segment, Dude Relax, Robin (Scott Menville) is desperately awaiting some sort of crime for him to fix. It has been over a week, and saying that he is restless would be the biggest understatement ever. To fix this, Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) gives Robin the challenge of spending a whole day just….relaxing! Can Robin do it?

In the second segment, Laundry Day, a fight with a slime monster leaves the team’s costumes less-than-clean, so obviously, someone needs to wash them. After a series of amusing challenges, Raven (Tara Strong) ends up being forced to wash them. But then the costumes come to life! Can the Titans stop their own costumes from killing them?

Dude, I am tripping…

Last week’s batch was tons funnier, IMO. Part of the reason may be that Robin’s earnest personality is starting to wear off. So far, he has been the funniest character, but this week, I just wasn’t feeling it. He does have a cool meeting with “The Couch”, but otherwise, the first segment made me yawn.

The second segment was mostly full of gross-out gags, which let me tell you, are not my things. There was a really funny Ghostbusters reference, and once again, Raven is awesome with her, “I don’t care” personality. Oh, and the episode earns its TV-PG rating since the team spend half of their time being naked in the final segment!

Anyway, a pretty unfunny weak. Here is hoping for better next time.

The hotly-anticipated Star Wars Episode VII is set to begin filming sometime early next year, so obviously director J.J. Abrams and the folks at Disney are looking to cast the movie sooner or later. Latino Review report that they know who’s being eyed for a role in the movie, and it’s none other than Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

The actor previously worked with Abrams in 2006′s Mission: Impossible III so they have a connection – however other than that his most famous role is on the TV series The Tudors (the same show that Henry Cavill originated from). It’s unclear who he’s set to play but he has the appearance of a character like Anakin or a Sith; Jacen Solo perhaps?

Take this all with a grain of salt for now, but what do you think? Do you think Rhys Meyers would fit into Star Wars Episode VII? Share your thoughts below.

SOURCE: Latino Review

So, eight weeks on from the Spoonheads and the killer Wi-Fi, and a full eight months since the Dalek Asylum and Souffle Girl, we’re at the end of Doctor Who series seven. It’s been a strong series, if not the best – crackers like Asylum of the Daleks, The Bells of Saint John, Cold War and Hide interspersed with bog-standard episodes like Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS - and of course, The Rings of Akhaten. But can the finale, titled The Name of the Doctor, top them all and earn that elusive five-star rating?

Doctor Who has a history of somewhat fudging its finales. Last of the Time Lords rendered the great previous episode inert with a mighty cop-out ending, Journey’s End had its cake and mashed it all around its mouth while laughing, and The Wedding of River Song  substituted answers for more questions. The Name of the Doctor, however, avoids all these pitfalls, by heading down a route uncovered by modern Who (the universe has been at stake on two occasions in the revived series): a small-scale series finale.

The Name of the Doctor began with a spine-tingling little montage, seeing Clara Oswald interact with the first seven Doctors. There’s the First Doctor, leaving Gallifrey for the first time, the Second Doctor sprinting across a field, the Third Doctor driving Bessie, the Fourth and Sixth Doctors in a corridor, the Fifth Doctor trapped, and the Seventh Doctor dangling from a cliff. The quality difference between now and then is noticeable – but when you’ve got such a superb, fan-pleasing montage like this, it’s hard to complain. Openings are a tricky thing to pull off – but if you weren’t sucked in by the pre-credits sequence, there’s very little that can excite you.

But after that montage, it’s back off to Victorian London, where everyone’s favourite lizard/potato/maid combo Vastra, Jenny and Strax have come across a very nasty piece of news – that the Doctor’s greatest secret will be discovered at Trenzalore, the place first mentioned at the end of The Wedding of River Song. Armed with that knowledge, they ring up Clara and River Song via handy dream call. Yes, River Song. She suffered from a bit of overzealous character development in Series 6 and seemed a little pointless in The Angels Take Manhattan, but thankfully it’s River’s best appearance for a while – it’s an excellent, but understated performance from Alex Kingston… but more on River later.

But at the conference call, there’s an unfortunate intruder – the Great Intelligence, and his army of Whispermen (creepy, but mildly underwhelming aliens) intrude on the conference call, kill Jenny, and kidnap Vastra and Strax, blackmailing the Doctor with the promise that the Intelligence will free them if the Doctor goes to Trenzalore.The episode feels fairly tension-free up until this point – but Jenny’s death (even if it’s temporary) shows that The Name of the Doctor is not hesitant to go to some fairly dark places. In a light, adventure-y series, The Name of the Doctor feels much more serious - the Deathly Hallows of Steven Moffat’s era. And rightly so – the episode spends most of its runtime on a graveyard planet…

… And speaking of that graveyard planet – the Doctor’s not too happy about visiting Trenzalore – because it’s where he’s buried. The Doctor’s ‘death’ was shown in The Impossible Astronaut, but the time traveller’s death has never felt more real than here. Arriving on Trenzalore after a bout of TARDIS shenanigans, the Doctor and Clara break into the Doctor’s tomb… which is a massive TARDIS. Steven Moffat clearly knows his stuff – it’s the only thing the Doctor’s tomb could be, and it looks suitably epic. The production values have never been higher for the show – and considering it’s the 50th anniversary, it’s good to see an almost movie-like Doctor Who.

The Great Intelligence showed up in The Snowmen and made a brief cameo in The Bells of Saint John - so it’s no wonder that the Intelligence is a big part here. He’s cornered the Doctor and friends at the entrance to the centre of his tomb – and orders the Doctor to speak the key: his name. There’s been a fair bit of fan ire at the idea of revealing the Doctor’s name – but thankfully, we’re spared by River Song, who speaks his name… but luckily for us, we don’t hear it. So a breathe  a sigh of a relief, and wait until the 100th anniversary, where it’s revealed as Keith. 

Appropriately enough, there’s not a body in the Doctor’s tomb – instead, there’s a time web – everything the Doctor’s ever done and will do. It’s an ingenuous idea… but proves to be a bit of a bugger when the Great Intelligence hops into the web, reversing all the Doctor’s victories throughout time. It also kills Jenny (again), and reverses Strax’s fairly docile (for a Sontaran) demeanor, attempting to kill Vastra – who instead kills him in self-defence. The idea of reversing the Doctor’s victories is a really great idea – screaming ‘why didn’t someone think of this before’…

… But finally, we get the reveal of Clara, the Impossible Girl’s identity. It’s been hinted at since Asylum of the Daleks - but now we know that Clara is a normal girl, who splintered herself across the Doctor’s timeline to reverse the Great Intelligence’s reversal of the Doctor’s timeline, saving him at multiple points in his timeline… hence the fan-pleasing little cameos from Doctors One to Seven, and the Dalek and Victorian governess  But the original Clara is lost in the Doctor’s timeline… so the only thing that’s left to do is for the Doctor to save the original Clara. Yes, there’s an awful lot of timeline hopping, and no, I do not care.

But beforehand, there’s a touching little farewell to River Song. The River we see is dead – the uploaded version seen at the end of Forest of the Dead, but that doesn’t stop the Doctor from giving River an almighty smooch. It’s a lovely coda to River Song’s story, and while she’ll certainly be back  - that cryptic hint at the end certainly hinted at a series eight return – it’s still a nice ending to her story, and a far better River than we’ve seen in previous stories… even if it does look like the Doctor’s snogging air.

And at last, that ending. It was snipped from press previews and mostly kept secret (only on spoiler forums was the secret divulged) – but there’s no doubt that it’s an almighty shock. The Doctor finds Clara in his own timeline (where old incarnations of the Doctor are whooshing by) and rescues her – but there’s one Doctor who Clara didn’t see. The Doctor’s greatest secret is that there’s a secret incarnation of him, one that broke the promise made by the Doctor, in the name of sanity, one that the Doctor prefers to forget… and it’s only played by John Hurt.

It’s a superb climax – a game-changer on the level of Utopia‘s Master reveal – and an amazing tease for November’s 50th anniversary special. God knows how Hurt will slot in – but one thing’s for certain: it’s gonna be a long six months.

Overall, The Name of the Doctor is an immensely satisfying finale, giving us the answers we’d been looking for, alongside some superb performances and clever, innovative writing. Sure, the Whispermen are a little wasted, but when you’ve got classic series footage of the first seven Doctors and a butt-clenchingly good cliffhanger, that’s not too much of a big deal. Overall, I give The Name of the Doctor a score of:

That’s until The Three More Doctors (titled not confirmed) – but we’ll be keeping you updated with news on the 50th anniversary special right up until the big day itself. Next stop, November 23!

]]> http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/news/doctor-who-7x13-spoiler-review-the-name-of-the-doctor/55353/feed 4 http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/news/bts-video-of-matt-smith-and-david-tennant-from-the-doctor-who-50th-anniversary/55359 http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/news/bts-video-of-matt-smith-and-david-tennant-from-the-doctor-who-50th-anniversary/55359#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 19:56:04 +0000 Jasper C-H http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/?p=55359 Read More >>]]>

If, like me, you tonight witnessed the majestic epicness of Doctor Who‘s series finale, The Name of the Doctor, then you’ll be reeling from the dramatic cliffhanger in the episode. A week ago BBC America accidentally shipped out advanced copies of the Series 7 Part 2 box set which enabled a few lucky fans to watch the finale a week early. As a treat for not spoiling it, the BBC promised to release a special behind-the-scenes video of Matt Smith and David Tennant and they lived up to it – watch it below!

What do you think? Stay tuned to UTF for our review of Name of the Doctor coming up later this evening. Are you excited for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary!? Ah who am I kidding, of course you are. Share your thoughts below!

SOURCE: Youtube

Prepare your bodies, loyal fanboys. Anchorman: The Legend Continues has been shooting for a while now (with absolutely tons of celebrity cameos lined up, although we won’t spoil those) so naturally a new trailer for the hotly-anticipated comedy sequel will hit soon. It has. Unfortunately we don’t see any footage of the film… Well, it’s really just a variation on the two teasers back from Christmas. Watch it below:

I figured the new trailer (showing in American theaters with Star Trek Into Darkness) would include actual footage since they’ve been shooting for so long, but I’m going to hazard a guess and say a real trailer will show with Paramount’s next big movie, World War Z, or possibly The Hangover Part III, however that might be too soon.

What do you think? Are you excited to spend another two hours with Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team in Anchorman: The Legend Continues? Share your thoughts below!

Video game films don’t usually end up being winners, but fans always hope that one day, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. Maybe the upcoming Assassin’s Creed film will be the one. At any rate, 20th Century Fox and New Regency seem to have faith in the film; Box Office Mojo is reporting that the companies have settled on a release date, and its a risky one!

The Assassin’s Creed film will reportedly open on May 22, 2015. At first glance, this seems like the smart choice. After all, isn’t that around when many big action films come out? Assassin’s Creed could make it big! But here is the thing…this means that Assassin’s Creed will be opening only a few weeks after a small film called AVENGERS 2!!!

Fox will have to be really careful when promoting this film. After the whole Battleship experience (where Avengers completely overshadowed it), I hope Fox has a plan!

So far, there hasn’t been much casting news, but Michael Fassbender is slated to star and produce. Michael Lesslie is handling the script.

So…think this release date might help Assassin’s Creed, or be its downfall?

Source: IGN

Sometimes, there will be some news where you think, “That makes complete and total, logical sense”. For me, this is such news. The popular fighting game series, BlazBlue, will be receiving an anime adaption. The BlazBlue games have always used anime designs, anime-style attacks, and anime-style plots, so I think this should have happened awhile ago. In fact, the game’s designer, Toshimichi Mori, stated in 2010 that he would like to see an anime series. I guess now he’ll get his wish.

There are currently no details on the anime. No premiere date, no casting news, no staff, and we’re left wondering if the anime will adapt one of the games, a few of the games, be an original story, etc.

The BlazBlue game series, which is developed by Arc System Works (Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors) began in 2008 with BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, which was released for the arcade, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Windows. The game received an 89% on Metacritic.

The franchise has already spawned various sequels and spin-offs, some manga, and even novels in Japan, but most of these haven’t reached States-side. I think an anime series would probably make it here, at least in streaming.

So….would you watch this?

Source: ANN

It’s finally here. After eight weeks of Cybermen, Ice Warriors, ghosts, salvage crews and er… songs, we’re at the finale of this series, titled The Name of the Doctor. In tonight’s finale, we’ll meet River Song for quite possibly the final time, discover why exactly Clara has been popping up at multiple points in the Doctor’s timeline and possibly find out the Doctor’s greatest secret. So, for the final time until November, here’s all you need to know about tonight’s secret-revealing finale…

AIR DATES/TIMES

UK - Tonight at 7pm on BBC One

US - Tonight at 8/7C on BBC America

Canada - Tonight at 8pm on SPACE

Australia - Tomorrow at 7.30pm on ABC1

Poland & South Africa - Tomorrow at 6pm & 7pm respectively on BBC Entertainment

New Zealand - Thursday 30 May at 8.30pm on Prime

SYNOPSIS

Clara is summoned to an impossible conference call, alerting her that the deadly Whisper Men are closing in on Vastra, Jenny and Strax.

There’s only two issues left in this event, so one would expect some Ultron action here. Does #8 finally deliver the good stuff? If you’re into what ifs and alternate timeline stuff, you’ll like this comic. Otherwise it’s another disappointing issue.

Here’s the official description from Marvel:

With the Marvel Universe turned inside out, who will take responsibility for breaking the world? And is there any way to put it back? Wait until you see who is in charge of the new world order and how they got there. . .

A reality-spanning choice is made this issue that will affect the Marvel Universe for years and years to come.

Age of ULTRON is turning into the most disappointing comic event of all time. ULTRON doesn’t appear in this issue. In eight installments he has not made an appearance…in his own event. It was tolerable for the first five issues, but no longer. In the previous one, we saw the alternate, or rather new timeline which resulted in the death of Henry Pym. There is virtually no action, and while Ultron is referenced,  it just isn’t good enough. Truth be told, it’s a little better than the last issue, but still can’t be called ‘great.’

Brian Michael Bendis has crafted a very interesting new timeline. What’s up with ‘Colonel America?’ It’s stuff like that which makes the reader think. It’a intriguing, but at the same time all of it is here mainly for shock value instead of it actually being an age of Ultron. The best piece of dialogue is between Stark and Wolverine. Bendis packs some great humor and offers up a would-be solution to this timeline problem. The ‘Defenders’ are pretty much jokes and on the side. Their dialogue comes off as awkward and hollow. The deranged Iron Man is the best written character, but isn’t enough to save the issue. The uninspired cliffhanger didn’t help matters.

Brandon Peterson’s art is pretty solid throughout the issue. Tony Stark is amazingly done, fully capturing his rather deranged look in this new timeline. The main cover is another ‘alright’ one, it gets the job done in connection with the story. The Ultron variant is stunning, not quite as much the previous ones, but still an exciting cover. (And tease.)  Cover C is a rather dynamic one, showcasing Colonel America against some pretty awesome dragons, definitely one of the best covers yet.

Overall, the eighth Age of Ultron installment isn’t exactly the worst issue, that’d be the previous one. It’s just disappointing because the Ultron conflict is pushed to the side in favor of this alternate timeline thing. Sadly with just two issues left, it’s pretty much too late to start delivering the reason why this story exists in the first place.

3/5

My name is Daniel (@Destroyer_199), the main guy for comic reviews here at Unleash the Fanboy. I was born in 1995 in the Big Apple, spent my formative years in Staten Island, and currently reside in the awesome state that is New Jersey.

Feeling heroic, love that book about a certain purple archer? When you see Hawkguy drawn by David Aja and written by Matt Fraction do your nether regions shiver with delight? BE HERO BRO. Follow this link. Buy a Hawkeye shirt and support a great cause.

ABOUT US

This collection is curated by Matt Fraction, the writer behind the Eisner Award-nominated Hawkeye series for Marvel Comics.

Matt Fraction will donate his curation commission to Futures Without Violence (formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund), which works to prevent and end violence against women and children around the world.

When embarking on a spree of public nudity embrace the hawkblock t-shirt, we all know it is for your own good bro! Read every issue of the Matt Fraction monthly series starring the purple guy to understand the dumb jokes in this article, it is the best title Marvel is currently publishing. Leave a tip to the Futures Without Violence cause as they are a legitimate charity helping people.

Earlier today, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige was kidnapped, chained to the front of a locomotive, and painfully interviewed for 4 hours… all under threat of being smashed to tiny bits by steam powered awesomeness. Well, as mighty as the mildly bald chieftain of the MCU is, he wasn’t able to endure the torment, and he revealed everything he knows about MARVEL PHASE 3.

Here’s a breakdown.

Concerning Ant-Man and his microscopic heroics:

“We started working with Edgar on that movie right in the dawn of us becoming our own studio,” Feige says. “It goes back so long you maybe even remember our 2006 appearance at Comic-Con. Edgar was on that panel talking about Ant-Man. And it had been a few years [of planning] at that point.”

And Doctor Strange:

standalone character,” Feige emphasizes. “He’s got a great origin story, for the most part. And that world of pure magic, we haven’t done yet. There’s a whole supernatural/magic alternate dimension going on in the Marvel comics that we haven’t ever touched on. So I think that’s exciting.”

How about Iron Man 4?

“I believe there will be a fourth Iron Man film and a fifth and a sixth and a 10th and a 20th,” the producer says. “I see no reason why Tony Stark can’t be as evergreen as James Bond. Or Batman for that matter. Or Spider-Man. I think Iron Man is a character just like that.”

Any hopes for a Marvel Knights movie?

“So Punisher, Ghost Rider, … Blade, all those characters are back,” Feige told EW. “They all have potential, but I think we need to find the right time.”

What about a Mark Ruffallo Hulk movie? The actor is getting up there in age, after all.

“If anyone could be a great 55-year-old Hulk, it’s Mark so I’m not worried about that,”

And those pesky Inhumans?

“Inhumans is cool, they’re really great characters,” he said in a recent interview, getting more animated about this title than almost any other he discussed. “The most powerful guy is the king who doesn’t say a word and if he does — lookout. That’s awesome. And the notion of the Terrigen Mists, this notion that you go through and don’t know what you’re going to be on the other side, is incredibly compelling dramatically.”

Is Runaways still in the works?

“It’s a matter of where it fits,” Feige says. “The way the business is working now, you either have really inexpensive, sort of surprise movies that can come out and be hits, but don’t cost much. Or you have the big giant summer blockbusters that really swing for the fences. Right now, we’re just swinging for the fences every time. Runaways sort of falls in between those, in a way. We just haven’t found where or how to do it… right now.”

And dare we dream… a Marvel Zombies flick?

“Are you going to draw figures in chalk with your 3-year-old with Hulk eating someone? Or Captain America with his brains coming out of the top of his head? Probably not,” Feige said.

True. But then… there’s always Phase Four.

SOURCE: EW

We’re all familiar with Google’s gem of a time-waster, Google Earth. It’s that one nifty web app that you’ve used to stalk your childhood, retracing your daily walks to the school bus from that old Louisiana town home, or double checking that your favorite college town ice cream shop is still in business.

Well, the brilliant egg heads at Big G have created a much needed masterpiece… GOOGLE MIDDLE-EARTH. Or, at least that’s what I’ve called this mysterious gem. They’ve only actually revealed this teaser webpage along with a short trailer, but from what we’ve seen, it’s a map app filled with Trollshaws, Lothlorien forests, and Farmer Maggot’s prized crop!

We can’t embed the video on here, so just click the image link below and you’ll be taken to their official website titled “A Journey Through Middle-Earth”.

Did you watch it? The whole project looks like a majestic ice cream sundae of geekery, but if I’m allowed to share one critique without sounding like a Tolkien-shaming asshole, I’d have to say those “game elements” were a bit cheesy. Just leave me to my faux-satellite imaging and I’ll be happy!

SOURCE: A Journey Through Middle-Earth

A few weeks back it was revealed that Chronicle star Michael B. Jordan was on Fox and Josh Trank’s radar to play the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. Trank and Jordan are close friends (seeing as they worked together on the previously-mentioned-superhero-found-footage-movie) so it feels fitting for him to play the next on-screen iteration of Johnny Storm. One minor obstacle which has already pissed off a lot of fans – he hasn’t got the right skin colour.

“Things change and time goes on, it’s 2013 right now. The characteristics of the Human Torch are his name is Johnny Storm, he’s charismatic, and he’s a playboy. That’s it. You know what I’m saying? That’s all there is.”

“Nothing is real. Everyone knows we’re good friends. It’s something that if it happened I would be ecstatic. I’d love to be a part of it.”

After the last quote he proceeded to wink… Take that as you will. Personally I’d love to see Jordan as Storm, he was great in Chronicle and skin colour isn’t an essential aspect of his character. Well, that means you either have to make him adopted or turn Sue Storm black too but the fact remains that it doesn’t matter.

What do you think? Would you like to see Michael B. Jordan play the Human Torch in Fantastic Four? Share your thoughts below.

SOURCE: USA Today

So now it’s officially officially confirmed – twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver will be joining the team in The Avengers 2! Writer/Director Joss Whedon hinted at their inclusion on the red carpet premiere of Iron Man 3 and Entertainment Weekly later said they had also heard they would feature. However, Kevin Feige naturally said that he wasn’t confirming or denying, and that the draft could change from now until release. Now, in an interview with IGN, Whedon officially confirmed the Maximoff Twins would join the roster in the sequel. Read what he had to say below:

“You know, they had a rough beginning. They’re interesting to me because they sort of represent the part of the world that wouldn’t necessarily agree with The Avengers. So they’re not there to make things easier. I’m not putting any characters in the movie that will make things easier.”

Oh, Joss, you harsh bastard. This would bump the roster up to eight members, and along with all the other shit going down in the sequel I sure hope Whedon has a tight hold on it. It’s well-known that the duo are the twin children of Magneto in the comics, but because their rights are shared by Marvel and Fox that means their origin will definitely be changed for the movie.

Are you excited for Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in The Avengers 2? Share your thoughts below!

SOURCE: IGN

After relatively slow winter and spring releases that consisted mostly of re-releases, anime licensor and distributor Funimation Entertainment has schedule a huge summer of releases that surely dry up lots of happy anime lover’s wallets (including mine) of their hard earned cash. While June mostly consists of re-releases, the real meat of the summer season comes in July & August, where we get a continuation of certain series and brand new shows being released. Here are the highlights for the coming months.

June:

Appleseed XIII

Based on the popular manga series “Appleseed“, this 13 episode series is a retelling of ES.W.A.T. Member, Deunan Knute (Luci Christian) & her cyborg partner Braireos Hecatonchires (David Matranga) as they try to stop a terrorist group called the Argonauts from wrecking havoc on the city. Boasting some impressive CGI visuals, this show is definitely a wonder to look at and is must see for fans of Appleseed and cyber punk stories.

July:

Fairy Tail Part 5

The wizards of Fairy Tail are back for Season 2, but they haven’t come alone. Boasting new enemies and allies, season 2 promises to be just as action packed as the 1st Season. After an ancient weapon is reactivated, it’s up to Natsu (Todd Haberkorn), Erza (Colleen Clinkenbeard), Lucy (Cherami Leigh), Gray (Newton Pittman), & Happy (Tia Ballard) to stop it, but they aren’t alone as they have to form an alliance with the other guilds across Fiore to get the job done. Part 5 contains the 1st 12 episodes of the Season 2, which is about half of the Nirvana Arc. Fans (like yours truly) will be very happy that the show will be returning after about a year.

Release Date: July 23rd, 2013

Note: The set is NOT available now, for some reason the narrator botched.

Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

Based off of the popular Lupin III (or Lupin the 3rd) franchise from Monkey Punch, this 13 episode series focuses on the beautiful yet illusive burglar Fujiko Mine (Michelle Ruff), who is sort of the Catwoman to Lupin’s Batman…if Batman were a thief, as she  partakes in various missions and encounters different people throughout the “Lupinverse”. Boasting some amazing visuals this is certainly eye candy of the highest caliber, but don’t let that fool you, this anime is chock full of action, intrigue, and suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end.

Release Date: July 30th, 2013

One Piece Season 5, Voyage 1

The Straw Hats are back and rowdy as ever in the highly anticipated 5th Season. Taking place right where Season 4 left off, the remaining Straw Hats and their allies arrive on the judicial island of Enies Lobby in order to rescue Straw Hat member Nico Robin (Stephanie Young) and Franky (Patrick Seitz) from execution; but before they can do that, they have to fight against the governments most elite covert agents, Cipher Pol 9. Part 1 covers about the 1st 11-12 episodes of the Enies Lobby Arc (which is the arc that got me into One Piece) and is filled to the brim with action, humor, and drama.

Release Date: July 23rd, 2013

August:

Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail OVA

Based off the critically acclaimed manga and anime series of the same name, Roberta’s Blood Trail is a 5 Episode OVA that continues the adventures of the crew of the Black Lagoon as they are drawn into a violent killing spree led by Roberta (Tabitha St. Germain), the near superhuman Colombian maid of the Lovelace Family, after her employer, Diego Lovelace, is killed. Boasting the same cast from the original anime (good stuff Funimation) this is surely to hit fans of the series with a hard blow of nostalgia. Still as violent and raunchy as ever, Roberta’s Blood Trail is certainly a must buy for fans of the series or lovers of action.

Release Date: August 6th, 2013

Eureka Seven AO (Astral Ocean) Part 1

Eureka Seven AO follows a young boy named Ao (Micah Solusod) as he uses the mecha suit known as Nirvash to find his mother Eureka as well as his own origins. A direct sequel to “Eureka Seven”, AO boasts beautiful visuals, kick ass mech designs, and a story of a boys search for his past. Containing the 1st 12 of the 24 episode series, Eureka Seven AO Part 1 looks great and is a definite must have for fans of the original series.

Release Date: August 13th, 2013

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends

Based off of the light novel series of the same name, Haganai follows Kodaka Hasegawa, a transfer student to St. Chronica’s Academy, a Catholic School. Due to his blond hair and “fierce-looking” eyes, he finds it difficult to makes friends, however he soon comes across Yozora Mikazuki, a socially awkward girl who has an imaginary friend named Tomo. The two soon form a club called the “Neighbors Club” which is dedicated to making friends and increasing social skills. While I’ve never seen or heard of this anime until yesterday, Hanagai looks like a pretty standard slice of life anime that can relate to a lot of people.

Release Date: August 6th, 2013

 High School DxD

Issei Hyodo is your typical perverted high school student who has just been admitted into the formally all girls school known as Kuoh Academy, after going on a date with a girl named Yuma Amano, he is killed by her when she reveals herself to be a fallen angel (its always the pretty ones that get ya). He is soon revived by Rias Gremory, a third-year student at Kuoh Academy and a devil who has reincarnated as a devil to be her family’s servant. Again this anther series I’m not totally familiar with, but it is surely one that has been anticipated for a while, so it may be worth checking out.

Release Date: August 20th, 2013

Fairy Tail Part 6

Basically a continuation of Part 5, Part 6 covers the rest of the Nirvana Arc as well as the filler Daphne Arc. Hopefully Funimation will get the rest of Season 2, as the latter half has the stellar Edolas Arc (fingers crossed).

Release Date: August 20th, 2013

The Future Diary Part 1

Another highly anticipated anime that I covered in my 5 More Anime That Should be On Toonami article a couple of weeks ago. Covering the 1st 13 of the 26 episode series, this is definitely a show worth checking out for fans of suspense, mystery, and horror. An is definitely on my must buy list for the summer season.

Release Date: August 13th, 2013

Guilty Crown

Guilty Crown follows Shin Omua, a young boy who possesses an ability called “The Power of Kings”. This ability allows him to draw out items known as “Voids” from peoples bodies. He is soon drawn into a conflict between a resistance group Funeral Parlor and the governmental organization GHQ, Shin is soon plagued by the burden of his powers as well as the tragic events of his past. Guilty Crown is an interesting series blending many different genres together, but mostly draws from science fantasy. This one also looks like a series worth checking out.

Release Date: August 27th, 2013

Looks like Funimation is pulling out all the stops to make sure this summer is one spent indoors watching anime. Personally, I’m going to be throwing my meager paychecks towards Fairy Tail, One Piece, Future Diary, Guilty Crown & Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, may also pick up High School DxD as I always enjoy a good harem series (don’t judge me).

What about you fellow anime fanboys & girls? What are you looking forward to this summer? Let us know in the comments below.

This news is just a little surprising. The Daily Mail reports that James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have entered talks with acclaimed director Christopher Nolan to direct the twenty-fourth instalment in the popular franchise. It’s just coming off a billion-dollar hit with Skyfall, and as Sam Mendes has turned down a return for the next movie the hunt is on for his replacement.

However, this August Nolan starts production on Interstellar and will be overseeing post-production on that sci-fi flick until it’s November 2014 release. That being said, how can Nolan do both? Unless he jumps straight into Bond when Interstellar completes filming (likely sometime around February) he may have to either drop the hotly-anticipated movie about a crew of scientists who go through a wormhole, or turn down Bond 24.

Mendes told me that there would be at least a year to 18 months of pre-production preparation and then six months of filming involved in Bond 24, and the producers want to shoot the follow-up soon after.

This could position the movie in a Summer 2015 release, if all of this works out of course, however I’m not sure anyone would have the balls to go up against Disney that season with The Avengers 2, Star Wars Episode VII and Pirates of the Caribbean 5.

What do you think? Do you want to see Christopher Nolan direct a Bond movie? Share your thoughts below.

SOURCE: The Daily Mail

Steve Niles, the creator of 30 Days of Night, has written a new version of a classic Jewish mythological tale titled Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem. What the crap? Is that dude even Jewish? My Jewdar is not going off at all. Should I check for a circumcision or does it matter whether Niles is a Yid or not?

The comic is set for release by Dark Horse Comics on June 12th, with art by Matt Santoro and covers by Dave Watcher. The synopsis states:

The giant clay monster from Jewish legend goes on a Nazi-killing rampage in order to protect the inhabitants of a small Jewish stronghold and an injured British pilot.

The golem is one of the most well-known Jewish mythological creatures. The golem is a clay monster created by a Rabbi using magic in order to protect Jewish communities from anti-Semitism and Pogroms. There have been many versions of the story, the most well-known takes place in 16th century Prague. In most stories the artificial life form eventually goes nuts, loses its purpose and starts killing innocents. It must then be destroyed by its maker.

The Golem myth was a clear influence on Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Comic superheroes have been compared to golems because they are artificial life created to protect people. There is even a Pokémon character based on the clay mammoth.  The tale is by far the Jewish tale gentiles are most obsessed with, and there have been many versions of it in mainstream media including movies, a Simpsons cameo and an appearance on the X-Files.

One of the main themes of the story is that creation is not to be messed with. The golem is a false savior; stupid and uncontrollable. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Niles stated “The Golem is [a] monster created from faith and extreme emotion. It is not mindless or rampaging, but designed with a very specific set of goals based on what its creator needs.” Niles is correct that the Golem is created for a set purpose, but he stated that the monster is “not mindless”; this goes against the most every version of the story. The term golem is used as a Yiddish diss meaning stupid fool.

I have no proof Steve Niles is not Jewish, but I have not seen any Bar Mitzvah photos either. Should it matter if he is Jewish or not? A little bit. The Holocaust alone is a difficult topic to write on and must be written with great sensitivity and respect to those lost. I own many graphic novels based on Jewish history and mythology and often will pre-order them if they are by a trusted author. Niles has not proven his loyalty, connection or knowledge of Jewish subjects. I look forward to seeing his take on this classic tale, although I am looking at it with skepticism, I truly hope it is something spectacular.

Here is the preview:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jay Deitcher, LMSW(@mrdeitcher) embraces the term MUTANT and proudly represents his MUTANT brothers and sisters.  He is an educator on comic history and runs successful Free Comic Book Day events yearly.  You can see a listing of his incredible articles and his highly energetic videos at JayDeitcher.com.

Matthew Yglesias over at Slate.com just published a great piece explaining in detail what makes Star Trek so compelling and he rightly looks to the nature of the Enterprise’s five year mission as summed up in Star Trek’s famous opening lines: “These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Everything amazing about Star Trek is contained in this sublime statement of purpose, and Yglesias sums up the ideas behind them beautifully:

“The Federation, which our beloved crew serves, is engaged in something like a cold war with the Klingon Empire. But its premiere starship is not a military vessel and has no sharply defined political agenda. Kirk establishes diplomatic relations with new species and tries to play a constructive role in the galaxy, but he’s not there to open new markets to Federation goods or to assist one side or another in proxy wars.”

Not as cool, twice as deep.

If ever there was a time to revive these principles, it is now. Think of what’s happened in the last decade or so. 9/11 led to fears of a terrorist holocaust and growing xenophobic extremism, a slow-motion economic collapse showed the deep structural failures of capitalism, the environment is dying, each day inching closer to a kind of fatal path dependency toward, well…the end of everything. It is easy with all of this going on to feel despair, to feel nihilistic, to lose hope. We can see this in the kinds of science fiction coming out: visions of calamity, of doom, of the decline of cities, the spread of war, of the end of the world. It is as if, to quote Slavoj Zizek, “we are obsessed with cosmic catastrophes: the whole life on earth disintegrating, because of some virus, because of an asteroid hitting the earth, and so on. So the paradox is, that it’s much easier to imagine the end of all life on earth than a much more modest radical change in capitalism.”

Star Trek came out of a time of similar doom and gloom, but rather than losing hope, Trek dreamed of utopia. Star Trek dared to question what would happen if humans do not destroy themselves. In the 23rd century of Star Trek, not only does humanity beat the evils of war and environmental collapse, they overcome the ugliness of feral capitalism, racism, sexism, and bigotry. Trek posits a humanity that no longer cares for political brinksmanship, thinks in ugly, realpolitik terms, or even considers ruthless acquisition of property to be a social good. In fact, in Star Trek, the people that do think in these terms (like the Romulans, Borg, and Ferengi) are the villains, the people getting in the way of humanity’s quest for enlightenment. Humanity has devoted itself to exploration, to expanding the definition of life itself, all while embarking on a search inward, to understand the nature of humanity when the term itself can mean so many wonderful things.

Anything less is beside the point.

And yet, none of this made it into J.J. Abrams Star Trek. J.J. Abrams himself says that he never liked Star Trek. In fact, on The Daily Show, he claims that he never liked how philosophic it was. So rather than developing a film based on the premise of Starfleet as a force for exploration and discovery, Abrams defines Starfleet as a “peace keeping and humanitarian armada”. Abram’s Starfleet is basically the military, a kind of spacefaring U.N.

Oh, and there are titties

This is not just a minor change, this is a totally different premise that effectively neutered what was formerly the only popular vehicle for utopian, philosophic science fiction. Yes, Abrams made a film that retained all of the visual trappings of Star Trek, but none of the strange, wonder philosophy that defined it. Instead, Abrams made a generic science fiction movie, starring empty copies (ok, I’ll admit that I loved the performances) of Trek’s amazingly crafted characters. Abrams’ Trek has no thematic connection to Star Trek writ large. No exploration of humanity, no broadening of the idea of life, no examination of a world beyond our ugly ideological assumptions. This Trek is just a fun movie, as exciting as it is shallow. Abram’s goal, presumably, was to reach large audiences and to do this, he must have guessed that he had to make a “popcorn” film. I can’t tell if this is insulting or just sad. Either way, it implies that audiences aren’t smart enough for challenging science fiction, and are too cynical to buy into utopian thinking.

I fear that Into Darkness is going drift even further away from Trek’s core themes and ideas (or maybe even flee from them at warp speed). The trailers suggest that Abrams is further investing in high action and whiz-bang effects and less I philosophy or utopia. I’m sure that, like 2009’s Trek, I will enjoy it as a summer film. I’ll probably buy it. I’ll probably even watch it a hundred times. I’m also sure that I’ll be disappointed in it because it will be Space Film: A Movie About The Future…Of Space! But it will never be Star Trek. And that’s what disappoints me.

Dave Batista, who’s just been cast as Drax the Destroyer in the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie, has tweeted this interested photo to his faithful followers. I wonder what it could be?

Any ideas? Well, if I were a betting man (and I am… every Friday from 7-9 on Walnut and 9th street if you wanna join), I’d say this is a makeup test for Drax. Given the placement of the prosthetics, I don’t think there’s anything else this could be.

I know this is only a teeny, tiny look at Drax, and nowhere close to his finished form, but what do you think of it? I hope they retain the stylized tattoos on his shoulders and arms (which the newer version of the character sports in the comics).

SOURCE: Twitter

Tony Stark has officially joined the likes of Batman and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (or at least he will by the end of Friday Night) as Iron Man 3 crosses the Billion Dollar mark. Admittedly, this was a rarer feat in the era before 3D, but it’s still a lofty accolade.

At the end of Wednesday night, the flick topped out at $984,195,076… just $15 million and change until it reaches that glorious threshold. Now, I’ll be the first to admit, there’s been a a bit of controversy surrounding this movie, with diehard fans decrying it for ruining The Mandarin, while casual viewers loved it (faults and all).

So what do you think? Will the success of IRON MAN 3 encourage Marvel to produce even more light-hearted, loosely adapted flicks? Could they ever be as bad as FOX’s X-Men?

SOURCE: BoxOfficeMojo

Hannibal delivered another bloody delicious episode this week as a dark force of nature discovered the secret of Dr. Hannibal Lector. This show has been in a constant state of awesome since the first episode. Upon further examination of the credit sequence in the first few moments, showrunner Bryan Fuller has a co-writer credit on the episode. This may remind some of cable shows like Mad Men or Breaking Bad where showrunners are deeply involved in each and every script. An artist sharing their direct vision with the audience is deeply exciting for the viewer, and no doubt improved the incredible script in this episode. A great touch that this show has done from episode one, is including the Silence Of The Lambs font and style on the opening credits. At the end of the day its the small things like the ones mentioned above that show the immense quality of this incredible show. Each hour that viewers spend with this cast of characters, they are gifted with more insight into these perverse individual.

This week a performer sought a new audience, the concert hall! The performer in question is simply named Tobias. He owns a music shop and makes strings for different woodwind instruments. Saying anything more would ruin the interesting parts of this episode. Dr. Lector thoroughly enjoys cooking for everyone, even certain individuals whom he is not quite fond of. This simple notion was taken to whole different level this week. Even though all of these characters had narrative arcs that wrapped up this week, there short appearances were handled with care and were very interesting. Hannibal has often been compared by the differences between himself and the others around him. This week he sought the advice of his doctor about why he thinks Graham is worthy of his friendship. A question like this is enticing and was focused on throughout this hour. It was done so by means of someone who is not worth his friendship, the aforementioned Tobias. The exact point of interest to which the doctor made his decision was even before he invited the performer for dinner.

Sociopaths are some of the most interesting human beings alive, simply for their sheer sense of confidence. Most of them seem to be some of the smartest people alive today as they are often portrayed in film and television. Will is having some incredibly important revelations this week as a bogeyman began to haunt his nightmares. Garrett Jacob Hobbs is beginning to walk across the profiling visions of our main character. This first season so far has revolved around the deceased serial killer who momentarily serves as a black fog around the show. When the walls of reality begin to crumble around the protagonist, Hobbs will be there in the front row clapping. Thinking about how Will is not appropriate for love or dating was insightful, as Dr. Bloom analyzed her patient until there was nothing left. The climax of the episode dealing with the violence was masterfully dealt with. Killing the audio when the action reached it’s peak is the most dangerous part of this show. Viewers must be paying attention to let the real horror sink in. The doctor knew exactly how to wrap up the situation with a beautiful bow when the police came. He also had an answer to why his friendship with Will was indeed valid, and this incredible episode drew a curtain.

5/5

Bruce Lee might just be the most popular martial arts actor of all time, so it was kinda weird that the majority of his films were never available on Blu-Ray. But good ol’ Shout! Factory aims to change that.

For all you Bruce Lee fans, you might want to start saving up! Shout! Factory will soon be releasing The Bruce Lee Legacy Collection, a Blu-ray and DVD box-set that will feature four of Bruce Lee’s most popular films (in their English Blu-ray debut, no less!), three documentaries, and a whole bunch of bonus content that will make this set worth your money!

The four films are The Big Boss (which was Lee’s firsts ever big film), Fist of Fury (which won two Golden Horse awards), Way of the Dragon (which was Lee’s directorial debut), and Game of Death (which was Bruce Lee’s final film).

The documentaries are Bruce Lee: The Legend, I Am Bruce Lee, and The Grand Master and the Dragon: William Cheung and Bruce Lee. Bonus content includes new stills, a book, archive materials, and that spiffy box. The set will sell for $119.99.

Think you’ll buy this?

Source: IGN

Jeremy Renner, best known to comic book fans as the arrow popping badass Hawkeye, has been pretty vocal about his disappointment with the portrayal of his character in THE AVENGERS. He signed on for the role after starring in the massively successful HURT LOCKER, and when Marvel wooed him for the part of Clint Barton, I’m sure they promised him some classic onscreen heroics. But he never really received that, did he? He had a short, uncelebrated cameo in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor and his role in The Avengers was only a tiny bit better than “Mindless Minion #2″.

Let’s face it, Jeremey Renner should LEAD a franchise, not be a lame animated punching bag for Scarlett Johansson. So it’s no surprise that the thespian might bail on THE AVENGERS 2, which will add even more characters to its roster, leaving little time for Hawkeye. Here’s the rumor according to our friends at The Daily Superhero:

The source hints that there’s the tiniest chance Renner will reprise his role in The Avengers Sequel but the source also said there is a greater chance Hawkeye will be recast (like War Machine and the Hulk have been recast before). Finally, the source said if Hawkeye is to be recast there is a solid chance he could be incorporated into the new television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a primary character.

Marvel, you cruel cruel mistress. As much as I love Renner (he’s one o the best parts of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), and I’d absolutely love to see him strutting his bow & arrow skills in future Marvel flicks, he deserves more than a second tier character. He should bail on the studio, then join the “We Hate Marvel Club!” with Edward Norton and Terrence Howard, and they can spend their days devouring Pepperjack Pizza and Cherry Garcia milk shakes as they ridicule the latest Iron Man flick. Because that would be cool.

SOURCE: TDS

That was quite possibly the nerdiest and most ridiculous title I’ve ever written. Appearing on The Jimmy Kimmel Show the other day to promote the North America release of Star Trek Into Darkness (in theaters over there today), director J.J. Abrams was naturally bombarded with questions from the audience about the hotly-anticipated Star Wars Episode VII.

Like when Harrison Ford appeared on the show and members of the audience asked him silly but hilarious questions, fans dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia (both being male…) got to ask such riveting things like “I think Luke Skywalker should kill people with a lightsaber.” However, there were two very surprising members of the audience appearing… Find out who below:

“I’ve got an idea. The next Star Wars… Nothing but Lando. Two hours of Lando and beautiful ladies, making love, sweet love, in the galaxy.”

I have to say, I think Billy Dee Williams’ ideas are absolutely stellar as are William Shatner’s. Come on guys… You know you want to see interracial alien sex in the Sequel Trilogy!!! Anyway, did that manage to crack you up? Would you like to see Lando back in Star Wars Episode VII? Share your thoughts below.

Autumn is going to be a rather busy season for games. We’ve got the next-generation consoles launching, and new entries in the Saints Row, Call of Duty (even if that’s a given) and Battlefield franchises. And Grand Theft Auto V, of course (but for the sake of brevity, I will stop talking about Grand Theft Auto V ) But one of the most exciting prospects is the new Batman game, Batman: Arkham Origins. Rocksteady knocked it out of the park with the first two installments (Arkham City especially, which is one of the finest superhero games ever made. Hyperbole? Never), so the prospect of a new Arkham sequel is pretty exciting. Except Arkham Origins isn’t developed by Rocksteady. And it’s a prequel.

But with the next best studio for the job on board (that’s Warner Bros Montreal, who Rocksteady have handed the keys over for), a massive open world that’s double the size of Arkham City and some of the Bat’s most famous foes starring, it’s looking pretty great. And the very first teaser trailer has been released today, featuring a battle between Batman and Deathstroke, the sword-wielding part-time-villain of DC comic lore, which you can see below:

Pretty exciting stuff, right? The full trailer will be coming May 20th (that’s next Monday), the day before the reveal of the Xbox 720/Infinity/8/Next/Fusion/Mango (the last one may be made up). Coincidence? Probably. But never ignore a coincidence, in case you’re busy, in which case always ignore a coincidence*.

Batman: Arkham Origins will be released on October 25th for current-generation consoles and quite possibly next-generation consoles.

*Thanks to Doctor Who for that.

My God, Pacific Rim is released next month! To increase public awareness (trust me, not a lot of people know about this film which is quite worrying) Warner Bros have released the third trailer for Guillmero del Toro’s 2-hour nerdfest and, dare I say it, it’s the best one yet. If this doesn’t make you want to watch Pacific Rim, then… Well, I really don’t know. Check it out below!

“We are cancelling the apocalypse!“ is one of my favourite pieces of dialogue from any movie this summer (the rest is the entire script for Man of Steel) and it certainly has the greatest action out of them all by far. What do you think? Can you wait any longer to watch Pacific Rim? Share your thoughts below.

SOURCE: Youtube

Interstellar is a very secret movie. Christopher Nolan is a very secretive director. Both well-known facts, so this piece of news is quite frankly shocking. That is, if it’s true at all. The eagle-eyed nerds over at NolanFans have found two audition tapes on Youtube for Nolan’s sci-fi movie for a little girl named Tina.

Given the movie’s secrecy, part of me says that this is just a load of crap. However one of the girls here, Hannah Chassereau, has other audition tapes on her channel (you’ll see she has one for Tim Burton’s upcoming Big Eyes) which makes me believe it a little. So far the only known cast members are Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine with filming set to begin this August in Toronto. Check them out below:

Yeah… Those were pretty bad. Especially the second one. They also picked up that the first half of the dialogue is from Contact, another sci-fi movie that Kip Thorne was a part of (he was the genesis for Interstellar originally) and the rest seems to be original. Here’s what we can infer from the clip:

• Tina is a little girl who likes flying and may or may not be a part of the interstellar mission.
• Her grandfather is referred to repeatedly, which could possible be Caine’s character (probably).
• She says her dad is going somewhere to do something “stupid”, which makes me believe this is the daughter of Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper and this is before he goes off into space.
• This one’s pure speculation: could Tina be the younger version of Anne Hathaway’s character? Both girls have blonde hair (she’s been sporting a blonde hairstyle for about two weeks now) and Tina sounds like a name that suits Hathaway If so, this would be pretty damn great – when Cooper and the rest of the team travel through the wormhole he meets his daughter again but as a fully-grown woman now. Plus, unless her hair turns ginger when she becomes an adult it’s unlikely she’s a young Chastain.

As I previously said there’s most likely more chance this is a bunch of crap than there is of it being legit, but since we have so little to go on for the movie fans are picking apart every minuscule detail to keep themselves busy (there were pages and pages of forum discussions on Anne Hathaway’s new hair).

What do you think? Real or fake? Who do you think Tina is? Share your thoughts below!

SOURCE: Youtube via NolanFans

Equestria Girls is something no one saw coming. Humanized-ponies are nothing new, you can can find them in fan-fics and fan-art, especially fan-art. It’s a concept fans have joked about and played around with. But never did they think Hasbro would actually make a thing with human versions of our favorite characters. This was rumored some months ago, reception was not very positive. Then images started coming, showing off the designs. But it was yet to be ‘confirmed.’ Once it was, it drove a pretty big shock into the Brony fanbase. Many, including I, thought it would be a spin-off TV series. It would actually turn out to be a feature length movie. The trailer officially came out a few days ago, leaving many bewildered.

Friendship is Magic strayed away from the high school scene, focusing on these young adult ponies living their lives in a town called Ponyville. It was simple, it was nice, it was pretty much all one could ask for in a modern cartoon. Many hoped for the day it would get a movie of some kind, a big event. That day is coming, just not what anyone had in mind. Equestria Girls could seem like a cheat. Finally MLP was getting the big screen treatment, but not with the Ponies. Instead, they would be high school students in a high school setting. First and foremost, I think we should be getting a Pony movie first. It’s the series with those specific incarnation of characters that brought the brand back and made it a culture phenomenon. Of course, Equestria Girls contains the same characters, excellent voice talent, and writers. So in essence I’m happy we’re getting it, because it has the same production team. It could be questionable of why we’re getting it ahead of an actual pony adventure, but it is what it is. There are however some questionable things…

The human designs received plenty of flak. And I have to agree, they were looking way too thin, almost like stick figures. Maybe not as bad as the Bratz, but I think they could have been given a little more weight on the arms so they look a little realistic. (Adding the fact that it’s a high school setting.) They do look better on screen than paper thankfully, it works. The most interesting part might be the story. Twilight goes through a magic mirror which leads into another dimension where humans reign supreme. (I wonder if actual ponies exist there.) She’s apparently looking for her stolen crown. The plot itself is definitely ripe for a two or three-parter, so making it into a movie was fine. Some might not like seeing our favorite Ponies as humans that have hands and walk upright, but it’ll make for an interesting hour. No reason to hate on it. A questionable thing is definitely the guy Twilight runs into, and even hugs later.

 Friendship is Magic avoided the high school scene of crushing and dating. In fact, the only episode which dealt with that was ‘Hearts and Hooves Day,’ in comedic fashion. (And of course Spike’s ongoing crush with Rarity.) None of the Ponies was ever shown to have feelings for someone, or wanting a boyfriend for that matter. (Well, maybe except Rarity in ‘The Best Night Ever.’) It was definitely refreshing to see romance playing a very little part in the show. That’s why Equestria Girls could be worrisome. Truthfully, seeing Twilight fall for a guy would be painful to watch, and generic. Because if there’s a high school setting, there’s gotta be a crush for the main character, right? While that is worrying, a theory is that the guy is actually Shining Armor’s human counterpart. This is believable I’d say, he looks like him and the hug could be a BBBFF hug. But then that begs the question…why wouldn’t he recognize his sister? Does she not exist in that dimension? It’ll be an interesting thing to see on screen and I truly hope it will avoid any type of teenage romance.

One pretty controversial thing was having Spike be a pet in this dimension. If you look closely in the trailer, you can catch a glimpse of him in the portal with Twilight. I don’t think many caught that. Spike is a dog here, which his controversial because he’s a character in the pony-verse. He’s one of my least favorite characters, but it’s easy to see why fans would be annoyed. Spike has been gaining a lot of fan respect lately, I’m sure his heroic intervention in ‘The Crystal Empire‘ was a cause . In the Pony-verse, he’s Twilight’s #1 assistant and friend. He’s gone on to star in quite a few of his own episodes. So to see him reduced to a pet could be disheartening for his fans. If anything, I would have imagined in the human-verse he would be a little kid as opposed to a pet.

Not too long ago a Pony called Sunset Shimmer was confirmed to be getting a toy. Her description was interesting because apparently she was also a student of Princess Celestia at one point. Fans wondered if she would be in Season 4, but that was shot down by Meghan McCarthy herself. Lo and behold, she was actually going to appear in this thing. In the trailer you can get a good grasp of her character, which is stereotypical mean girl. She’s basically Trixie, which begs the question of why she wasn’t used since these two are virtually the same thing. Of course from a toy-making perspective, it makes sense to introduce a whole new character. We’ll see if she turns out to be someone special as opposed to a Trixie clone.

The more I see the trailer, the more I begin to like it. Equestria Girls is not a shallow concept, but a very interesting idea. It’s not going to replace the Ponies, we still have Season 4 coming in the winter. (Wow, that is a long time.) This movie will still have our beloved characters, the same amazing voices, and humor. (Twilight attempting to eat her lunch like she normally would as a Pony is pretty darn hilarious.) Granted, it is baffling why we’re not getting a real MLP movie first. The brand is expanding, maybe not in the way Bronies like myself imagined, but I am intrigued and happy to see where this goes. It’s easy to forget whom the real target audience is sometimes, we should be happy with what we’ve gotten and what we will be getting. Unless this movie turns out to be bad, instead of hating on it we should be cautiously optimistic and look forward to seeing what the team brings to the table. Even if it turns out to be a flop, at least the music will be incredible, if the trailer song is anything to go by.

Equestria Girls comes out next month on the 16th, it will have a limited theater release in over 200 cinemas across the country. Go here to see if it will be playing in a theater near you.

Daniel is a huge fan of My Little Pony: Friendship and is awaiting Equestria Girls with cautious optimism. His favorite pony is Fluttershy and you can follow him on Twitter: @Destroyer_199

Arrow actually had an astounding twenty three episode season. That is a massive burden for any television show to carry by itself. How something can stay focused for almost half of a year is beyond my body of knowledge, however this should not affect the quality of a show. That being said this episode took some massive leaps forward, yet still it continues to fall short. So many television shows establish a great villain and simply go through the motions never resolving their character arc. Throughout all of the light shed on Robert Queen and the undertaking there is still more that writers and actors can articulate. The island plot of the show also took a pretty big leap forward as the audience is moving into the next phase of whatever that will be.

The episode started strong with some great lines from the impeccable Malcolm Merlyn. At the end of the day this character is a moustache twirling, good looking villain that tore the show apart. For establishing your show throughout a first season this is a fine direction to take things in, simply because melding an entire cast of characters is going to be so hectic. Next season different things are going to be required, like fleshing out so many of these character. A short list of who needs a new direction would include the two main cast members Ollie and Laurel. These characters have become snarky, unlikable, slimeballs who have been consistently annoying. Oliver himself does not in fact really know what he was fighting for. So much of the Undertaking is still a complete mystery to Oliver and the audience.

In addition to not knowing what he is fighting Oliver continues to lie to virtually everyone he loves, and just backstabbed his best friend. His morals are very fuzzy due to the inherent truth that he is also a serial killer. Then there is Laurel who is an ignorant mess. The character can’t make her up her mind and really hurt Tommy Merlyn. The prodigal son of Malcolm was walking around like he wasn’t really awake in this episode. Watching him spiral into the greatest descent of his life was invigorating. When had been stripped to his core, at the end of the day he paid his dues to those he truly loved. In the next season of this show the character will likely be hailed as a saint. The younger Merlyn is so enjoyable because he is a riff on the classic Harry Osborn character archetype. Arrow has done few things right this year, but Tommy was handled expertly the past seven or so episodes.

Now that we are an astounding twenty three episodes wiser to the show it is time for this to hang up the tropes that being on the CW brings. How many different times can we see the abs of Stephen Amell in action, or the characters not being fully fleshed out. The reason why this show has never lived up to its true potential is because the people in it lack depth. Comic Books have absurdly dumb plots and are disposable unless the characters are fully fleshed out. If Arrow could work out some of the kinks and introduce a stronger supporting cast next year, there is a good chance that it would be the best show on television.

3/5

Hey everyone. Welcome to another edition of UTF’s Weekly Comic Reviews, I’m your Godzilla-loving host, Daniel Alvarez. A pretty exciting week for comics! Nightmare Rarity takes over in the pretty dark (!) My Little Pony #7, the classic Battlestar Galactica series is brought back to life, and even an Edgar Allen Poe poem is given new life in comic format. (And there’s many more things here too! Not every day you see two comics in the same week with ‘dream’ in the title.) Without further ado, let’s get started.

DREAM MERCHANT #1

The Dream Merchant jumps and shifts without being shocking or confusing. It’s capable of hooking the casual reader by exploiting the comic medium for maximum story-telling value. There are plenty of books that ask you to think outside the box  and this one does too but supplies you with a road map as well. If you like a title asking you to think a little without being talked down to then The Dream Merchant should be in your weekly stack.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Fatale #14

When it comes to this set of tales, I have to admit that the bar to impress has been raised high.  The creative team behind this has done an eloquent job delivering a series of consistently compelling narratives while still thriving in a genre that’s been explored by many before them.  Despite that fact this comic book stands tall on its own delivering a saga that deserves to be on everyone’s pull-list.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

It Girl & The Atomics #10

“It Girl & The Atomics” #10 is another fun issue that sets up the next story arc well enough. The dialogue continues to be fresh and the art remains consistent for the most part, making the book a fun ride from start to finish. This is definitely a book to be read.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

The Legend of Luther Strode #5

The Legend of Luther Strode is oft overlooked but should be given pause and consideration. This is book is a non-stop action ride with enough heart and toughness to rival anything else on the shelves. Pick it up and enjoy the ride.

For the full review, click here.

4.5/5

Think Tank #7

If life for a normal person is a series of seemingly inexplicable connections and events based solely on chance, than the world of military grade genius Dr. David Loren is like that but minus the chaotic question of what might happen.  As the latest issue proves the creative team has done a great job of selling that concept as this intelligent but rebellious main character allows his brilliance to fall into place.

For the full review, click here.

4.5/5

Vescell #8

Not sure what genre you want your comic book to be?  No problem.  With issue #8 of Vescell, Image offers a rubik’s-cube of disjointed possibilities — and some work better than others.  Too bad they’re all part of the same story. Carrion deserves a lot of credit for conceiving of such an imaginative project.  Vescell is definitely unique.  But it could benefit from not trying so hard.

For the full review, click here.

3/5

B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth #107: Wasteland Part 1

What I like about this issue is how well it sets up the story while having plenty of fun action. There’s barely any references to the previous arc, making it new reader accessible. It’s a team based story, with having an intriguing concept of humans turning into monsters. B.P.R.D. continues to be one of the most fun titles on the stands.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Conan the Barbarian #16

As this latest interpretation proves, one can go back to a well that’s been positively destroyed from unnecessary use and still find something compelling to pull out of it.  From the first issue on this creative team has run a veritable gauntlet of clever ideas that’s simply reinvigorated interest in this property.  And despite the fact that there may be some shortcomings attached to the franchise this saga has never felt more fresh or accessible.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

DREAM THIEF #1

Nitz and Smallwood have crafted a great debut for this series. The plot progresses nicely, though there are still plenty of questions, and the understated reveal at the end should ensure you’ll want to check out the second issue.

For the full review, click here.

4.5/5

EDGAR ALLAN POE’S THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER #1

A unique choice for most readers pull lists, The Fall of the House of Usher #1 presents a unique and profoundly disturbing take on a classic staple.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Star Wars Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #2

When dealing with a universe that’s been as thoroughly explored as this one, it can be rather difficult to offer up something compelling to its already captive audience.  This comic mini-series is not attempting to do that, but instead it’s focused in on yielding brutality in the form of faceless vengeance and never ending style.  In short: the creative team’s got something worthwhile here.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #1

Overall, a pretty solid start to reviving the classic Battlestar Galactica. It’s not the amazing opener I was expecting, but we’re just getting started. The story is set up, we really have no idea what’s coming. Fans of the original show should definitely hop on board. The writing is off to unenthusiastic start, but I seeit improving. Battlestar Galactica is officially back.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

The Bionic Man #20

All in all, its hard to find any major faults with this issue, aside from the blunt ‘surprise’ ending. Its a fun issue that’s equal parts personal, political and enjoyable, without being over the top or bordering on ridiculous (Ala the Big Foot saga).

For the full review, click here.

4/5

The Bionic Man vs The Bionic Woman #5

All in all, its not a bad issue. Maybe its just me, but I really wanted to see the two titular characters battle it out when the series first came out. Although that proved to be too much too expect, this issue at least makes for a some-what enjoyable conclusion.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

Green Hornet #2

Overall, a solid issue of Mark Waid’s Green Hornet. The art is uncanny, showing how the Hornet should look all the time. The story isn’t bad, but could be uninteresting sometimes. It falls upon the next comic to get the plot rolling with big things happening.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Jennifer Blood #27

As dedicated readers know, our chief character has been through the wringer in an attempt to adjust or even escape her extended prison sentence.  In many ways she’s gotten exactly what she deserves but nonetheless the creative team finds a way to make you feel attached to her struggle even as she does some rather questionable things for the sake of freedom.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Lord of the Jungle #15

All in all, its hard to rate a comic that looks fantastic, but lacks substance. Whilst some may love this new direction, Lord Of The Jungle (and Tarzan in general) has always had certain themes and motifs that go against this in various ways. Only future issues can tell what will actually happen, however.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

Pathfinder #7

Overall, Pathfinder returns with a fun opening issue. It looks to be another great story. The art is more of a miss than hit, but isn’t awful. If you didn’t pick up the previous six issues, (and why the heck not?) you should definitely consider giving this one a go.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #9

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #9 is a release that signifies the forthcoming end of this series.  While it highlights some of the good and bad, it also slowly but surely starts to tie things up.  Recommended.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

The Shadow #13

There’s a mysterious foe in town, hunting down questionable people but what separates her from The Shadow?  We don’t really know yet, since this is the first issue of this new saga we’ll have to wait and see but nonetheless this stellar creative team certainly came ready to play with all the classic tropes associated with this franchise.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

Voltron #12

Since the launch of this series the Voltron Force has been through the proverbial wringer.  And at this point it seems that all signs point to this creative team not stopping this beat down any time soon.

For the full review, click here.

4.5/5

DOOMSDAY.1 #1

Let’s start with the bad news: the planet earth is toast, and only a small fraction of the human race is expected to survive.  But here’s the good news: John Byrne wants to tell us all about it.  Illustrated and penned by comic heavyweight John Byrne, Doomsday #1 is a nearly pitch-perfect introduction to what’s shaping up to be an epic morality play.

For the full review, click here.

5/5

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #190

All in all, this isn’t that bad an issue. Its not perfect, and definitely serves to, less than subtly, segue into a new part of the story, but it can be forgiven for its faults.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

G.I. Joe: Special Missions #3

In short, I’m more than happy with this issue. Next issue should see how this title fairs for large scale action (maybe not so Special Missions, but still) but this issue does a good job of easing in smoothly.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #7

The concept of bringing back Nightmare Moon was a classic idea. What changed however was having one of the Ponies become this dark entity. It’s a cool thing, and the story is surprisingly more dark than you think. There’s a sense of grimness displayed in this issue. If fans are looking for a rather serious and even slightly dark My Little Pony story, look no further than here. (Dark is a good thing in this case, quite a contrast to the always chipper first arc.)

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Transformers: Regeneration One #91

Overall, another solid issue of Regeneration One. Light on the action, but there’s plenty else to like. Hot Rod has been a questionable leader, that comes to full play here. We get more insight on the Soundwave/Bludgeon alliance, plus we see the unrest among the Cybertron citizens. Regeneration One keeps getting bigger.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Michael Turner’s Soulfire (vol.4) #4

This series has proven its resiliency and emotional impact as it dances between the fields of both technology and magic. But now with one of the main characters possessed by a villain the creative team is ready to sink their teeth into this proverbial fray and potentially offer up a sacrifice or two in the process.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Grimm Fairy Tales presents: Madness of Wonderland #4

If you’ve been following this franchise than the purchase of this book is an already decided decision. But if you haven’t you should because the creative team makes sure that there’s still plenty of stuff here to sink your teeth into.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

Grimm Fairy Tales presents Vampires: The Eternal #2

As the cloud of Grimm Fairy Tales Unleashed engulfs this shared universe with death, destruction and mayhem are there any signs of light at the end of this tunnel?  If you’re looking for that this is the wrong comic book, because so far what we’re getting is an attempt for humanization of a villain that at this point is simply repugnant even to members of her own ferocious race.

For the full review, click here.

3.5/5

2000AD #1832

Its another week and that brings another issue of 2000AD. Its a slight change in line-up for 2000AD #1832, featuring Judge Dredd, Tharg’s 3rillers, Sinister Dexter, Stickelback and Zombo. Let’s take a closer look at each.

For the full review, click here.

4/5

The most fun fantasy title on the stands is back with a fresh mew arc. Does Pathfinder return with everything we loved about the previous story? Definitely. Aside from a change of art.

Here’s the official description from Dynamite:

A new evil is rising in Varisia! When Valeros and his companions are tasked with tracking down a mysterious beast scaring the locals of Sandpoint, they find far more than they bargained for!

I was taken quite off guard when Pathfinder first launched. It had a rather light tone, leaving grittiness to the side. The characters were very well established and developed. There was no such thing as an unlikable character. The dialogue was fun to read and the action was fantastic. Combine that with a Lord of the Rings-like atmosphere, we had a real winner. The series could have ended with #6, but thankfully it has some more stories to tell. This issue is great for new readers that missed the previous arc. There are barely any references, but enough to keep longtime readers satisfied.

Jim Zub starts out this issue with some sparring practice between Merisiel and Valeros. A fine way to begin, as it re-introduces the characters for a new arc. The writing early on is great. Kyra not fully understanding the purpose of using real weapons in sparring was interesting to see. The plot moves at a steady pace, not too slow, not too fast. It’s not an action-packed issue, but does feature some fighting with bandits for good measure. Instead a mystery is established, what kind of thief or creature would do such a violent thing to a horse? (You get an answer on the final page, it’s pretty awesome!) The characters each have their own unique voice. Case in point with the battle against the bandits. Kyra is the more peaceful one, offering them a chance to surrender while they still could while Valeros is mocking them and enjoying the fight. I’m telling you, this book has the best cast of main characters.

Artists have changed, Andrew Huerta has been switched to Jake Bilbao. It’s reminiscent of Huerta’s work, but quite inferior. The faces often lack detail. The art last time wasn’t exactly ‘realistic,’ but it worked. Here it seems like a toned down version. But, I’m not saying it’s bad of course, just not half as good as the dynamic art Huethra brought. The main cover I like, it’s simple and gets the job done for a new arc. The variant has a more dynamic style I think people will like more.

Overall, Pathfinder returns with a fun opening issue. It looks to be another great story. The art is more of a miss than hit, but isn’t awful. If you didn’t pick up the previous six issues, (and why the heck not?) you should definitely consider giving this one a go.

4/5

My name is Daniel (@Destroyer_199), the main guy for comic reviews here at Unleash the Fanboy. I was born in 1995 in the Big Apple, spent my formative years in Staten Island, and currently reside in the awesome state that is New Jersey.

Fables #129 wraps up the five-part “Snow White” story arc, and also catches Snow and the others up with the parallel events of “Cubs in Toyland,” which ended in issue #121. Here’s the official description from Vertigo:

Snow White’s life has been shattered in more ways than one. With no one else to turn to, to save her from the ruthless Prince Brandish, who claims to be her only legitimate husband, she has no other choice but to take up arms in her own defense. She received fencing lessons from Prince Charming long ago. Will she remember them well enough now?

Fables has always had a reputation for female empowerment, and Bill Willingham makes sure to live up to it once again, as Snow must save herself. It’s a suitably powerful moment that the whole arc has been building to. There’s also a focus on Bigby’s predicament; this being comics, being turned to glass isn’t the death sentence it might appear to be, although reviving him will be no small task.

Besides Snow’s fist pump moment, the primary emotional response is a feeling of finality. For nearly two years now, Fables has been methodically revealing the fates of Snow and Bigby’s children, which was the great promise of the series since before the defeat of the Adversary. One more child’s place in the prophecy is revealed here, and it’s such a quiet moment, you can’t help but feel that things are slowing down.

Mark Buckingham‘s art is a tad shaky in the beginning, in a scene concerning the marriage negotiations between Beast and the Lady of the Lake. The Lady’s head and the flow of her hair seem off. The rest of the book is top-notch, however. Rose Red emotes beautifully. Buckingham continues to use strong vertical panels to give the action a cinematic feel. It’s a particularly effective technique for Snow’s duel with Brandish.

Even though there’s still plenty left to do and no end has been announced for the series, as of this issue, it feels like we’re getting close. More storylines are being tied up than added. If Fables can keep turning out issues like this one, the series’ eventual end will be poignant indeed.

4/5

Zac Boone controls the horizontal and the vertical. Follow him on the twitter.

Spoiler alert: He is not freakin Luke Cage! He is still a black dude, he still has superpowers, but somehow he is not the token black character white fans reference when debating that comics are not racist.

So who could he be? Marvel Studios claims to perform color blind casting, and their “parts are open to all diversity”. Uh oh, that means historically white characters could end up being caramel, dark chocolate, milk chocolate and many more delicious candy/skin color analogies. In the past, whenever a black dude was cast as a formerly white character many fans rioted. If Richards is playing a formerly white hero, expect many “un-racist” fanboys and fangirls to now accuse Marvel of being racist towards the oppressed white man!

I gotta admit I am so glad he is not playing Luke Cage. I love Luke Cage. Cage is a very deep character who has matured well over the past few years.  He was the leader of the New Avengers, and is one of comic’s only heroes who is a happily married husband and father. His origin story deals with themes of black incarceration, institutional racism and black political exclusion. Luke Cage should be a superstar in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He deserves a spectacular feature film, not to be a supporting character on a spin-off TV show. Plus, I really did not want to see Cage become some just another damn S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (look how lame movie Hawkeye is compared to his comic version).

In an interview with IGN, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” producer Jeffrey Bell was asked about J. August Richards and whether he was playing Luke Cage. Bell stated:

“He’s so good, because we were looking for this character M– I almost said his name. It’s not the one people are talking about. … I’m going to say that’s an interesting Marvel character, but no. But he came in and killed it. Honestly, we were looking for this part, and we just said, look, all our parts are open to all diversity. So the fact that we have a black dude who is awesome and it’s J, was just because he was the best actor. It wasn’t like, ‘You know who…!’”

(IGN stated the “M” sound Bell made may have just been him saying hmmm and not the beginning of a character’s name.)

Who do you think he could be?

Source: WorldofBlackHeroes, IGN

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Jay Deitcher, LMSW(@mrdeitcher) embraces the term MUTANT and proudly represents his MUTANT brothers and sisters.  He is an educator on comic history and runs successful Free Comic Book Day events yearly.  You can see a listing of his incredible articles and his highly energetic videos at JayDeitcher.com.

‘The end’ for Regeneration One officially starts! Does Part One of Destiny bring another quality story further deepening the arc? While not having much action, there’s plenty of stuff to like.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

THINGS FALL APART! The very fabric of the TRANSFORMERS’ universe begins to unravel, as huge and ancient cosmic forces take note of CYBERTRON’s (and the CYBERTRONIANS’) descent into chaos and anarchy. As HOT ROD struggles to hold things together, still reeling from his own game-changing wake-up call, competing destructive forces inch closer to a cataclysmic confrontation. The end begins here.

Scorponok was presumably destroyed by Grimlock’s noble sacrifice last issue in what was one of the greatest scenes of the whole Regeneration One saga. Despite no longer being the antagonist, the effects of his reign lingers. There’s unrest, guilt, and it’s just the complete opposite of a happy society. He was a rather generic villain, but it’s good to see what he did have lasting effects. This issue has some great dialogue as we see Hot Rod being questioned if he’s a true leader.

Simon Furman continues to write a very interesting Transformers lore. Hot Rod had been chosen leader many issues ago, yet he was completely absent during Scorponok’s reign. There’s question if he can truly be a leader, Ultra Magnus’s conversation on that with Optimus was fantastic. Prime is by far the most interesting character beyond the obvious reasons. He’s very passive, almost…old you could say. The writing captures that wonderfully. Back on Cybertron we see the world has gotten grittier. There’s virtually no joy, everyone is sad. The speech by Hot Rod to the citizens was well done, the writing shows how awkward Hot Rod is with being leader. It’s truly something to see the citizens revolt, it’s not every day you see Autobot vs. Autobot.

Andrew Wildman continues to showcase classic Generation One art for a modern audience. Despite being robots, there’s a surprising amount of emotion in the facial expressions. What I like is how well it captures the grim looking Cybertron. The characters have no joy and the planet is beaten up, the art reflects this depressed looking world. The main cover is pretty dynamic, showcasing Bludgeon slicing Cybertron in half. A good metaphor of what’s to come. Cover B is a retro one featuring what’s happening over at Earth. The RI is the most interesting, showing Galvatron in front of an exploding plain.

Overall, another solid issue of Regeneration One. Light on the action, but there’s plenty else to like. Hot Rod has been a questionable leader, that comes to full play here. We get more insight on the Soundwave/Bludgeon alliance, plus we see the unrest among the Cybertron citizens. Regeneration One keeps getting bigger.

4/5

My name is Daniel (@Destroyer_199), the main guy for comic reviews here at Unleash the Fanboy. I was born in 1995 in the Big Apple, spent my formative years in Staten Island, and currently reside in the awesome state that is New Jersey.

The sequel to 2011′s surprise smash-hit Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with the word Dawn in the title now, is currently going in front of the cameras with a new director in the form of Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) behind it. We recently got our first behind-the-scenes look at the movie and has a cast consisting of Jason Clarke, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Gary Oldman and Andy Serkis. But what about the composer?

This is surprisingly early for news on that particular job, but acclaimed composer Michael Giacchino (Lost, Up, Star Trek and Into Darkness) tweeted last night that he was excited to be composing the score for Reeves’ Dawn. Giacchino is a long-time collaborator of Bad Robot and both J.J. Abrams and Reeves so his involvement isn’t particularly shocking yet it’s surprising at the same time.

This is how I will dress when recording the score for Matt Reeves DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES!… instagram.com/p/ZTuJ9BFdmS/

— Michael Giacchino (@m_giacchino) May 14, 2013

I think a lot of his tracks from Lost (which remains my favourite show ever) fit perfectly in the world of Planet of the Apes, and while I’m sad to see Patrick Doyle isn’t returning as his music for Rise was stellar I’m looking forward to some fresh blood in the franchise. What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing what Michael Giacchino has up his sleeve for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes? Share your thoughts below.

SOURCE: Twitter