Warner Brothers has made a fantastic decision and has purchased the London based Rocksteady Games. Rocksteady developed the fantastic Batman: Arkham Asylum and it’s critical and financial success probalby made the purchase that much easier for WB. The main goal of this purchase is to have Rocksteady work on many WB properties, but no exacts were mentioned. Hopefully this will lead to a good Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and many other DC properties getting games they deserve. More news to come once we get more information on upcoming projects.

¡Hola mis amigos nerdy!  How about some comic-book-turned-movie news, yes?

Captain America:  (here), (here), and (here)

Green Lantern:  (here)

Superman: (here)

Daredevil: (here)

That was fun, no?  Until next time, ¡Ruego para que usted pierda su virginidad!

Well, here’s another time waster. If you’ve ever wanted Robin to say something to Batman that would result in him being smacked, now’s your chance to make it happen! The link below is for a Batman and Robin comic panel generator. Have fun.

http://www.batmancomic.info/

How often have you looked at those amazing NECA TMNT figures and thought to yourself, “Man, if I only had a Triceraton figure to go along with these guys!”? Probably, like, every day, right? Well, so did the customizer known as Pock63 over at Figure Realm, who made this massive 10″ custom Triceraton warrior figure.

Maybe some day, after NECA gets around to releasing those Foot Soldier and Shredder figures that they showed us 2 years ago, we’ll finally see a Mirage-style highly-articulated Triceraton.  Until then, however, it’s up to resourceful customizers like Pock63 to give it their best.

From Pock63:

Body: Meistro Hulk with schulpted armor
Arms: Meistro hulk with schulpted gloves and tooth picks fore the spikes on his left arm.
Legs: Grey hulk legs with schulpt added to exstend the pants leg I also added schulpt to make the skin match meistro hulks skin
Head: Schulpt
Tail: Mcfarline toys figure
Belt: Batman pouches, LCBH Ripclaw belt, unknown grenade, gun in holster sawed off the lege of mcfarline toys figure.

I spent a lot of time schulpting the armor and head on this guy. I changed the design of the chest armor a bit but appart from that I stuck pretty close to the design of the old figure. The head was a pain to schulpt but I think it turned out pretty well.

More pics/links after the jump. (more…)

With Sony starring as Stormin’ Norman/Green Goblin of course….

“Spider-Man 4″, which has had significant problems between Sony and director Sam Raimi concerning the story as of late, has been completely canned for a “reboot” of the movie series.  Ain’t It Cool News linked to their sources of Nikke Finke and Mike Fleming (article here) reporting that since Raimi couldn’t make the release date with the movie he wanted to film Sony decided to pull the plug and relaunch the series.  That means a new web-slinger and supporting cast of actors as well.  After the story broke Sony sent out a press release that said:

“Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012.”

Hopefully we won’t get another origin out of this and Sony will realize that they can just jump into a great story.  Going back to high school and ignoring the first three movies is kinda “One More Day”ish which REALLY won over fans with its retconning of more than a years worth of issues and the marriage to MJ.   While losing Raimi/Maguire is a big deal, it’s not the end of the world.  We all saw how “Spider-Man 3″ ended up with an unhappy Raimi at the wheel, so MAYBE this will be for the best.  But I also think that the studio stepped in and forced some of what we saw with the third movie.  I mean there are plenty of great ways to do another Spider-Man franchise seeing how the character has the second best stable of villians, just slightly behind Batman.  The press release wasn’t specific on a date other than “Summer 2012.”    I personally would love to see a “Kraven’s Last Hunt” on the big screen, but that’s just me.  Best wishes to Raimi, Maguire, and company, for their part in reviving Hollywood’s interest in comics and for making us believe a nerd can swing.

Hit the jump for the full Sony press release.

(more…)

As another Nerd year comes to an end, it’s hard not to reminisce about some of the awesome shit from 2009. With that in mind, my pick for best comic of last year (further discussed on next week’s episode of Nerd City) is Marvel’s Strange Tales.

A three issue anthology of top indie creators’ free-for-all interpretations of classic Marvel characters, Strange Tales is innovative and nostalgic and awesome all @ the same time. Featuring work by alt-comic luminaries Paul Pope (Batman: Year 100, Heavy Liquid), Nerd City guest Jeffrey Brown (Clumsy, The Incredible Change-bots), Max Cannon (Red Meat), Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Tony Millionaire (Maakies, Sock Monkey), Jhonen Vasquez (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Invader Zim), and their takes on Spider-Man, The Hulk(s), Dr. Strange, The Inhumans, The Watcher, Submariner, The Fantastic Four, Longshot, The Punisher and many more.

Seriously, this one of the most jam-packed books I have ever read. Each issue features ten or so stories, their all 48-pages, and it’s only 3.99! In a time when it’s hard not to feel ripped off by the cost of a comic, Strange Tales is an homage to the good ol’ days when books brimmed with guest stars and not because the company was trying to pull off their umpteenth full-universe crossover event of the week. What’s more, it would have been good if even half the stories were cool, but all of them are rad. Really. Fucking all of them. Great for superhero fans, great for indie comics fans, this was the best book of last year.

Get your copy of Strange Tales @ Chicago Comics.

Listen to Jeffrey Brown’s episode of Nerd City here.

Thanks to the glorious internet, somehow the initial writers bible for the original Batman: The Animated Series has been posted online. This “bible” is written by Paul Dini and Bruce Tiim in order to give the writers of the series an idea on where they wanted the cartoon to go. So if you got time to kill and want to enjoy yourself check out the “bible” right here.

Thanks to io9.com for the heads up on this piece.

Last night on Spike TVs VGA awards, Lucasarts and WB games officially announced sequels for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Unfortunatly no details or release dates were provided by either company, but it is at least good to know that we are officially getting sequels to these games, even though it was pretty likely based off of their sales. Thanks to gametrailers.com for providing video from last nights events.

Revealed last week on www.comicbookresources.com, Mark Millar talked about his new book with long time collaborator Steve McNiven (Civil War and Old Man Logan). This new book, which will be distributed by Marvel through their Icon imprint, will tell the story of a billionaire playboy who decides it would be more fun to control the city he lives in then protect it from evil. As Millar puts it “What if Batman was a total cunt?” What will be great about this series, besides the art and writing, is that since it is being published through the Icon imprint Millar will have free reign to write and say whatever he wants without restrictions. With no limitations I’m pretty sure Millar and McNiven will have a sure fire hit on their hands, much like Millar and Romitas Kick-Ass (which was also through Marvels Icon imprint) The book will be launched next year and priced at only $2.99 (this is according to Mark Millar himself) so there is no reason for you not to buy this book. For more information check out CBR for their full interview with Millar and McNiven including additional art-work from the first issue right here.

So I just scored a copy of the new Ed Mcguiness/Jeph Loeb inspired Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and I got to tell you, it’s pretty o.k.

Direct Youtube Link

Not nearly as good as the recent Green Lantern: First Flight, but still worth a watch, “Public Enemies’” animation and art are very cool, but the whole film gets dragged down by a lackluster ending and third act. Some of the battles are exceptionally cool, especially those that feature a dozen or so super characters, and the movie definitely shows revererance for the source material. And I really like a lot of the Batman stuff. It just sort of drags a bit @ the finale, and I don’t know, sometimes I just find Superman kind of lame. The voice work is pretty stellar, and the idea is obviously very inspired, but in the end, it didn’t leave me with that “Wow, holy shit. That was cool.” feeling that so much of Bruce Timm’s work usually results in. I would still say check it out, but only if you’ve already seen First Flight and Gotham Knight, and just need a quick DC animated fix.

When it comes to combining nerdy pop iconography with hip, sophisticated design sensibility, nobody does it better than Nerd City’s ally in Edmonton, ITEM.  These mock-ups for ITEM’s upcoming project take things to a whole other level, mashing up super heroes from comic books with super heroes from modern design.

From ITEM:

This is a physical mock-up posted in my studio of a piece called ‘Philippe’ that is roughly 6ftx8ft. The finished piece will be in color and gel transfered onto a raised plywood panel.

This is part of a series i’ve been mucking about with where i’m mashing up famous designers and famous heroes. So upcoming subjects will be Karim Rashid-Batman, Frank Gehry-Captain America, Will Alsop-Thor, etc, etc.

I don’t have a theory behind this due to the fact that i’m fucking tired of appeasing the Academics.

From ITEM:

This is a digital mock-up of what will be the second in the ‘We Can Be Heroes’ series. So to accompany ‘Philippe’, we will have ‘Frank’. As with the last posting, this will be gel transfer onto plywood at about 6ft x 8ft.

I’m really looking forward to the other pieces in this series, as well as the final products.  I’ll keep everyone up to date as more images and info surface.

All images from ITEM’s Flickr.

Today is the day we nerds have been waiting for. We finally get our hands on a good Batman video game. Now the Lego Batman wasn’t that bad but it doesn’t truly show what Batman is all about, and that is going to change with the release of Arkham Asylum today. Batman:AA is available for the Xbox 360 and the PS3, which will have the exclusive Joker levels.

Not since Batman: The Animated series for the SNES has a Batman game received such critical success. IGN gave the game a 9.3/10 (review here, Gameinformer in their latest issue gave it a 9.5/10 and currently the game is holding a steady 91/100 at metacritic. I really can’t wait to get my hands on this game and play the shit out of it….yes the literal shit.

August 25th sees the first collected dvd release of what is, in my mind, the coolest cartoon on TV these days, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  If you haven’t been following this hyper-stylized superhero show, you’re really missing out!

From Amazon.com:

Making its debut on the Cartoon Network in 2008, Batman: The Brave and the Bold is an animated superhero series that should appeal to fans of Batman: The Animated Series and fans of the unusual and often obscure comic-book characters of Justice League Unlimited. Based on a decades-old comics concept, each episode teams Batman with a different hero to battle a different villain. In this collection of the first four episodes from the first season, Batman and the Blue Beetle protect an alien race against Kanjar-Ro in “The Rise of the Blue Beetle!,” then Batman teams with Plastic Man against Gorilla Grodd in “Terror on Dinosaur Island!” In “Evil Under the Sea!,” Batman and Aquaman protect Atlantis against Black Mantis, and Batman and Red Tornado fight Fun Haus in the holiday episode “Invasion of the Secret Santas!” (Yes, each episode is titled with an exclamation point.) Each episode also has a pre-credits sequence, sometimes related to the main plot and sometimes not, that provides an opportunity to feature even more heroes and villains, and the action is peppered with humor and light enough to make it a good choice for kids. –David Horiuchi

From the back cover:

Batman isn’t going at it alone this time! From Warner Bros. Animation comes the latest interpretation of the classic Batman franchise. Our caped crusader is teamed up with heroes from across the DC Universe, delivering nonstop action and adventure with a touch of comic relief. Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Aquaman and countless others will get a chance to uphold justice alongside Batman. Though still based in Gotham, Batman will frequently find himself outside city limits, facing situations that are both unfamiliar and exhilarating. With formidable foes around every corner, Batman will still rely on his stealth, resourcefulness and limitless supply of cool gadgets to bring justice home. Episodes: Rise of the Blue Beetle!, Terror on Dinosaur Island!, Evil Under the Sea!, Invasion of the Secret Santas!

Preview videos after the jump. (more…)

Looking to give Batman Arkham Asylum a try before buying it? Well by this Friday, the demo will be available for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. You will be able to play through a little of the first level to get a feel of how the game will play. The full game will launch on August 25th.

As I’ve mentioned before on the podcast, I am not neccessarily a fan of the Green Lantern. In fact, I kind of think his powers are, well, you know…stupid. Yet here I am, blown away by First Flight, the new G.L. animated feature from animation revolutionary Bruce Timm. With a stellar voice cast including Christopher Meloni as Hal Jordan and inspired choice Michael Madsen as pig-faced alien lantern Kilowog, this is one of the best animated films I have ever seen. Seriously.

Direct Youtube Link

Rated a hefty PG-13, (mainly for light use of the word ass, crap, and damn), First Flight details the origin story of Hal Jordan’s entry in to the lantern corps, as well as their betrayal @ the hands of the evil, mustachioed, aptly-named Sinestro. What’s really awesome about the movie is that Timm wastes no time getting to the meat of what makes the Green Lantern cool (which I have to admit is something I never imagined myself saying). Where most origin films get bogged down early, Timm goes right for the rush, wasting little time getting Jordan his ring and sending him out to space to kick some ass.

Featuring stunning animation, music, and voice work, First Flight handles the source material with a level of respect and enthusiasm that hasn’t been seen since the live-action Iron Man film. With Green Lantern: First Flight out now, and Superman/Batman Public Enemies on the way, DC is quickly establishing themselves as an animation powerhouse, and with ten scheduled live action movies in the works, they may soon end the superhero stranglehold Marvel currently has on the industry.

Direct Youtube Link

I cannot recommend Green Lantern:First Flight enough. Get it here.