I count 15 characters, and not one single foot. Wolverine seems to be missing his waist, as well, unless he’s finally started succumbing to the ravages of time and taken to hiking his pants up to his sternum like an old man. There’s no background either, just a gaggle of characters huddled together in a very uninspired team pose. I understand the appeal of Turner’s art, even though I don’t find it particularly appealing myself. I’d be really curious to see what a comic penciled by Turner with someone like Keith Giffen on layouts and someone like Kevin Nowlan on inks would look like. Probably nothing like a Turner comic, I’m guessing.

I do like the fact that he included Longshot in the group. That makes me feel nostalgic in ways that dressing the team in their costumes from 15 years ago can’t.

Oh, and there’s an interview at Newsarama in which Axel Alonso and Nick Lowe say nothing interesting about a major storyline that will apparently feature lots of Iceman. Joy.

Good news is that they are releasing a 30 minute OVA based of the Lucky Star Anime, bad news it is only 1 OVA and its only 30 minutes long. I’d prefer if Kyoto Animation released more maybe a 6 part OVA series, or just a second season maybe that wishful thinking. But hey if are already working on a second season of “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” they could also do a seconds season of Lucky Star, due to it being such a cult hit with fans all over the world.

Hopefully this will spark the creation of season 2, which means more Kagamin and Konata! The announcement will be made in the June issue of a magazine called: “Comptiq”. The Lucky Star OVA is scheduled to go on sale on the 29 August and the DVD will be retailing for 6,090 yen.

Being a lover of Children’s Literature (Young Adult books being a personal fave of mine, despite my advanced age of 33) I’ve been cautiously aware of Artemis Fowl for quite a long time. I mean, how can I not have these books on my reading radar when the sheer volume of, uh, these volumes hog-up an entire row? Yet regardless of my awareness I have never inspired enough to pick one up and read it. Even though I do love me some fantastical stories with magical creatures I just never felt a burning desire to dive into the Artemis Fowl world. That is until I pleasantly stumbled upon the Graphic Novel version (meaning pictures along with words)! Suddenly - feeling safely in my familiar comic book world - I was happily able to enjoy and immersed myself in the terrifically great story.

Written by the very creative Eoin Colfer (awesome name!), and adapted by the equally talented Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano, Artemis Fowl follows the tale of a 12 year old boy genius, the titular star of the book and from who the story is named, and his incessant quest to restore the fortune, success, and former glory to the Fowl crime family. His means to achieve this dubious goal? Using the stolen magics of mythical creatures, such as fairies, to gain access to power and wealth of course. Having such a villainous lead for a tale geared towards the younger sect is a surprisingly bold and usual choice, and thankfully Artemis’ cold exterior does not prevent the reader for thoroughly enjoying and routing for the character.

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Don’t always update The Reverend’s Show like I should, mainly because the day job keeps me busier than ever, along with Newsarama responsibilities. But I was due, so here you go.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t knock someone who is about to be inducted into the fraternity of fatherhood, but this is Clay Aiken we’re talking here, the guy who called out his dad for being an ass the minute he got into the public eye and yet has refused to stop making an ass out of himself ever since he stepped into the spotlight.

As far as the baby is concerned, sorry about your luck, kid… on the bright side, maybe in about 20 years you too can act like you won finish second place in the national karaoke contest and call out your old man in the media too.

By the way, he made such a big deal about how he shut off his sex drive… now he’s turned it back on for a turkey baster? I guess “Solitaire” truly IS the only game in town… and was that the same hand he put over Kelly Ripa’s mouth? No wonder she was so concerned about germs…

Synopsis:

On a planet called the: “Endless Illusion”, a mysterious man named Van wanders the wasteland searching for the man with a claw hand who murdered his bride as they were about to get married. Armed with a magical sword that can shape shift, and his mech “Dan of Thursday” which he can summon from the heavens using his sword. Van is joined by Wendy a plucky little girl with nothing to live for, she is searching for her brother who has been kidnapped by the man with the claw hand. The very same person Van is searching for, so she decides to join him in his journey to find this man with the claw hand.

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Some of you might remember the blog post I made earlier called: “Witchblade Live Action” where I was discussing the fact that they are working on a film adaptation of the popular Comic Book and TV series. Well only a few weeks after the announcement, they have already launched the movie website! There isn’t much on the web page yet, only a picture of our female heroine in her birthday suit sporting only the Witchblade, nothing to get overly excited about… who am I kidding?! LOL!

The Summertime music explosion is right around the corner! While the hip-hop world feverishly awaits for new “ish” releases from Lil Wayne, Game, Nas and Ice Cube (oh yeah, O’Shea is promising a ‘hot’ Summer with Raw Footage); the Lyrical Lounge got you covered with these hearty appetizers:

JR Writer - Do Dat - Break-ups. First, the Fat Boy’s then N.W.A. and now The Dipset. Cam’s, Jimmy’s and Max B’s latestet falling out hasn’t stopped JR Writer’s grind! Check out “Do Dat” from the forthcoming album Politics & Bullshit. Dipset unity or not, looks as if ”the writer of rappers” is gonna continue to drop heat! (Babygrande)

Dame Grease featuring (the recently ousted Dipset member) Max B - Connecticut Kush is the first (and prob the only) single off Dame’s self-produced compilation Goon Musik! (”Light a spliff, nod your head, and zone out to “Connecticut Kush.” - Who knew the good stuff was buddin’ up in New England?)

Count Bass D - Can We Hang Out Tonight - Look up The Count’s discography and you’ll realize that dude’s got enough music in the catalog to make MF Doom envious. I doubt if even Wikipedia can keep up with him! A special shout goes out to 1320 Records for putting a focus on supporting ‘real’ music! And be sure to check for Count Bass D’s new album, tentatively titled L7 droppin’ later this year..

Almost September - Love- A rather coloful collective we have here, as the visual dynamic in the group plays out like a bag of Skittles. Hip-hop meets-chic-meets-punk ???  But what the hey, they got an industree co-sign from none other than Sleepy Brown and the Blastmaster KRS-One-on their debut single -so don’t hate on em’ to hard!! (And yes, that is MC Lyte!!)

I saw this last night a special preview screening. I had seen the trailer here and there, and I it freaked me out. Though I kept making jokes about the Scarecrow asking for a cup of sugar. It played well on one of my two main fears: home invasion. The other one being child ghosts, but this movie is realistic to the point where it could happen. No demon-possessed janitors. No chainsaw-weilding freaks of nature. Just weirdos in masks, looking for a good kill. The thing about this movie is that The Strangers was filmed in the United States beginning in 2006 and finishing in 2007. The production’s estimated budget was around $10,000,000. The release of the film was postponed…twice. The producers originally intended to release the film in Summer 2007, but due to complications, the date was pushed back to the Autumn. The release was pushed back yet again to May 30, 2008. Possibly trying to not get loss in the shuffle of torture-porn movies already in the works around that time.
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DISCLAIMER (angry creators, please read)

[[WARNING! THIS COLUMN MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!]]

“…. my keen deductive mind says that Arcade is behind this. That and he had his face and name scrawled on the big rock. That was a tip-off.” Jamie Madrox, X-Factor V4 #30.

I tried to catch up almost a month ago, and failed, big time. But I’ll keep on trying, here’s the column for the week of 04/16, and nobody found the answer to the Dissect This! from last column, I’m a bit sad at that. The answer was simple: the writer makes a distinction between android and robot; saying that robots are simple automatons with no free will, and androids are distinguished by having ambition. WRONG! R2-D2 and Johnny 5 are not androids, yet they have free will and aren’t simple automatons; while some androids (for example, the animatronics at Disneyworld) that lack free will, or even intelligence. Quickly, The Dissector’s Pick Of The Week for Best Book is Hellblazer #243, which reads like classic Hellblazer, and the Worst Book was X-Factor V4 #30… not because it’s bad, but because it’s not up to par with the usual quality one expects from Peter David (although there’s funny moments like this week’s quote), and the art is not that much. On with the dissections! (more…)

Yeah–this was originally posted on Blog@ over on Newsarama.com; I couldn’t help myself.





Makes you want to move to Italy, doesn’t it?

He’s got his own MySpace page.

Have a great Wednesday!

EKS

Gay cinema is very much in its infancy, despite the fact that there are oodles and oodles (hello Tom C and Ryan S) of homosexuals in La La Land. For the gay-movie-going public there still hasn’t arrived that one film that has pointedly defined the queer movie medium (not counting Brokeback, as that wasn’t created for and by the gays). We lack that one film that all others are measured against, that one tour de force that legitimizes the homosexual movie as a valid creative, flourishing medium. Not for lack of trying of course, as over the last few years there’ve certainly been many little, small, independent movies hoping and praying to be the gay Citizen Kane.

Sadly though, the majority of today’s movies geared towards a gay audience that could be labeled “great” are few and far between. Most of the gay movies - often playing in that old rundown indie movie house the general public rarely visits - are mediocre, with sub-par acting, writing, and overall film making quality. I often joke that these sad little films look as if they were something that I myself could have filmed in my own backyard.

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I’m gonna let this speak for itself.

On Friday, May 23rd Bandai Visual USA ceased operation, and was integrated into Bandai Namco Holdings as a single company. Well what does that mean for people like us who purchase their DVD’s and other merchandise. Well, it means that titles and merchandise which comes from Bandai in Japan will have a faster release date, and quicker turn around times. As they are currently doing with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, releasing a subbed only version of the DVD’s and afterwards doing the dubbed version.

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Sup y’all, Capt. Westside gets bombarded with free swag like you would not believe! Most of it is “all-filler-no-thriller,” but this free-bee “street album” by Nino Bless definitely got my radars up!

Album features Nino ‘blessing’ the mic with fellow hip-hop luminaries such as Graph, Joe Ortiz (formerly of Aftermath), Saigon, Styles P (LOX), mix-tape king Joe Budden and the legendary Kool G Rap!

Tracklisting w/production credits: 
1.) Intro (produced by Veterano)
2.) Da Livest (produced by Yes Sur)
3.) Peep Game (Freestyle)
4.) Times Are Hard f/Joe Budden (produced by Focus)
5.) My Piano (Freestyle)
6.) Means Of Survival (produced by Scram Jones)
7.) Going In (Freestyle) f/Grafh
8.) Name Dropping (produced by Sivey)
9.) 3^rd Degree f/Saigon and Crooked I (produced by Scram Jones)
10.) When It Rains (Freestyle)
11.) Urban Legends (produced by Veterano)
12.) Ever So Subtle (produced by Gunz N Butter)
13.) Cause Of Influence (Nick’s Story) (produced by Veterano)
14.) Blame It On Hip-Hop (Freestyle)
15.) 4 In The Clip f/Joell Ortiz, Styles P & Kool G Rap (produced by Veterano)
16.) Bright Lights (Freestyle)
17.) Won’t Change (produced by Frado)
18.) Going In Pt.2 (Freestyle)
19.) My Story (produced by Blackout Movement)

Free-bee (and all legal) download here: Untold Scriptures