Superman Can Be A Real Dick Sometimes

 

I was listening to an old episode of the GeekRoundTable this morning when I heard fellow Geek-tastic contributors Wes and Matt discussing a panel they attended at this year's San Diego Comic Con called Comic.  The panel was called Comic Book Heaven, and it was put on by a man named Scott Saavedra who runs a website by the same name.  Basically, the panel involved Mr. Saavedra finding funny, outrageous or questionable comic book covers or panels from old golden age books and making fun of them.  The result, from the sounds of it, was hilarity.

 

The reason I'm posting about this though is that their discussion on the podcast came to the above image of Batman, Superman and Robin sitting astride some rather large cannons.  It's a famous example of classic World War II propaganda that both Marvel and DC participated in at the time, and it's also hilarious because the implied message one can gather from looking at the picture is pure comic gold.

 

Anyways, this whole thing reminded me of another great website I found a few years back called Superdickery.com.  Superdickery is a site that is also devoted to focusing on questionable or outrageous comic covers from the golden age of comics, only with a slightly more focused look at just how big of a dick Superman can be.  The site has tons of examples of golden age Superman being a dick to everyone around him.  Here's one example:

 



 

Yes, that is the Man of Steel torturing his friend Jimmy Olsen and fellow superhero Aquaman.  Why do you always have to be such a dick Superman?

 

Aside from pointing out Superman's vast character flaws, the site also has a number of other funny covers and panels to look at organized into different categories.  One of my personal favorites is the Seduction of the Innocent category.  Here's a good example of why:

 

New Battlestar Galactica Webisodes Start Airing Friday

 

For those of us like myself who are desperately waiting for January to get here already so we can get our fix of new Battlestar Galactica episodes (and find out who the frak the final Cylon is), the wait is like torture.  We're like drug addicts that need to score a hit soon, or we'll be liable to start killing people around us very soon.

 

Luckily, the sci-fi channel is aware of our horrible plight.  To help ease the pain they will begin airing new webisodes on their homepage starting this Friday.  Two webisodes each week have been promised for the next five weeks, totaling 10 webisodes in all.  Each show will run three to four minutes in length and will complement the current storylines that were running through the show at the season's midpoint break.

 

The webisodes titled, "The Face of the Enemy," follow the story of a stranded Raptor ship carrying a group of passengers, including Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) and a Number 8 Cylon (Grace Park). When some of the people aboard suddenly start dying, chaos ensues as they realize a killer is among them. Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh) and Brad Dryborough (Lieutenant Hoshi) also star.

 

Hopefully, these new webisodes will help to make the next few weeks fly by until the new full episodes start in January.  It's not like we have much choice in the matter.  No, if you'll excuse me.  I'm going to get back to wandering the net and trying to figure out who the frak the final Cylon is.  I still think it's Hot Dog.

Terminator Salvation Trailer

 

 

Yesterday, the internets was all abuzz with a leaked Japanese version of a new Terminator Salvation trailer.  I chose not to post it because:

 

1.  There were annoying Japanese subtitles that were way too big.

2.  The trailer didn't make a whole lot of sense.

3.  I figured an American version would be released in the next day or two, so I may as well be patient.

 

Well, it looks like I was right on that last part.  Less than a day later, here's the subtitle free, slightly more understandable american trailer for Terminator Salvation!  Now don't get me wrong here, the film looks like it'll be fun and all.  I mean, who doesn't enjoy watching big scary robots killing people, right?  But one thing in the trailer really bugs me.  Christian Bale's voice.

 

This is the same issue I had with the Dark Knight.  Why the hell is Christian Bale delivering all of his lines in a half growl/half whisper?  Does he think it will make him sound like more of a badass if he speaks like a 60 year old chain smoker who's ruptured their vocal cords?  Why can't he just speak like a normal person?  His whisper delivery is distracting and annoying.  Is this going to be a regular thing with him going forward?

 

I will at least say this though.  Bale's delivery of the line from the Dark Knight where he says, "I'm not wearing hockey pants!!!" to the group of Bat-wannabes at the beginning of the film is flipping hilarious!  So at the very least Bale's voice is good for comic relief.

Super-Cool Comic Book Video Double Feature

 

First, there's this:

 



 

Ok, so I've shown you the individual trailers for Hulk vs. Wolverine and Hulk vs. Thor before, and they already looked awesome then, but holy crap-on-a-stick does the new trailer manage to make them look even more awesome!

 

Aside from the fights alluded to in the films titles, the new trailer also shows us a bunch of other cool fights and characters we'll get to see.  Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike, Deathpool and even Loki all show up to cause violent havoc in the shows.  It looks like someone over at Marvel's animation studios finally realized that all fans want to see in direct to DVD titles are kickass comic book battles.  Thank god!

 

Then there's this:

 



 

The new trailer for the upcoming video game Batman: Arkham Asylum looks frakking rad!  I have no idea if the final product's gameplay will be any good or not, but everything they've shown of this game thus far looks amazing. 

 

If you haven't heard of this game yet, here's what little we know.  Batman brings the Joker back to Arkham (again), and the Joker promptly escapes (again).  This time though he also somehow manages to free every single person locked up in that loony bin.  Now it's up to Bats to kick every single person's ass and put them back in their cells. 

 

The art design for the game looks really sweet.  Let's just hope the gameplay lives up to these trailers.

Merry Christmas from the Hoff

 

My Geek-Tastic friends,

 

Being the Hollywood Hot Shot, I thought it only fair to share the love and let you know that you have a fan bigger than me out there:  The Hoff.

 

He sends some California Christmas Cheer your way.

 

Robert.

The Rich...You Know Why They're So Weird? Because They Can Afford To Be.

 



 

How would you like to own the actual lightsaber handle used by Mark Hamill in the making of The Empire Strikes Back?  Or How about Batman's Cowl from Batman Begins, the one actually worn by Christian Bale?  Or maybe you'd prefer a life-size Martian from Tim Burton's film Mars Attacks!

 

Well, if you've got a lot of disposable income (and I mean A LOT of it) then you could procure some of these geek trophies to put on display in your home.  The auction house Profiles in History is hosting what can only be seen as the greatest geek auction of all time.  Some amazing props from some of the most loved geek films ever are being put up for sale, but you'd better have a ton of free cash to get some of these things.  Luke's lightsaber has a starting price of $175,000.  Batman's cowl is starting at $20,000 and the Martian is selling for $30,000. 

 

Other items going up for sale include:

 

• Marlon Brando's Jor-El costume from Superman ($40,000)


• The C-3PO head worn by Anthony Daniels in Return of the Jedi ($70,000)


• An original Gorn costume from the classic Star Trek TV Series ($11,000)


• Wolverine's black leather suit from the first X-Men movie ($70,000)


• Arnold Schwarzenegger's costume from T2: Judgement Day ($25,000)

 

Or there's my personal favorite on the list, an original first edition set of all three Lord of the Rings novels with elvish inscriptions that are all signed by JRR Tolkien.  Those are going for $100,000.

 

The Bidding begins this thursday at 12pm Pacific Standard Time.  I'd love to buy some of the the items that are up for sale here, but I'm a tad strapped for cash at the moment.  If any of you kind souls would care to buy me any of this stuff  (especially the lightsaber or the books) and give them to me as a christmas gift, I'd be very grateful indeed.  I'd even grant you a contributing editor position here at Geek-tastic for life.

 

(Via Wired)

New Geek DVD Day - 12/9/08

 

The Good:  Resident Evil - Trilogy Box Set

 

Why It's Good:  It's Milla Jovovich running around in skimpy outfits and killing zombies.  What else do you need?  Ok, fine...if you need more then there's the fact that the movies are based on the awesome line of Resident Evil video games, which just happen to be the very first games that ever actually scared me as I played it.  Sure, they don't follow the storyline of the games entirely, but they're close enough to be enjoyable.  Plus, the woman who plays Jill Valentine in the second film manages to kick just as much ass as Milla does, which I had always thought to be an impossibility before this.

 



 

The Badass:  Lost - The Complete Fourth Season

 

Why It's Badass:  After a rather mediocre third season, the fourth season of Lost saw a return to proper form for the show.  The storylines got better, the intruige was more...well...intruiging, and the fans started caring again about what was going on.  The writers threw the fans a curveball and started having flash forwards on the show instead of flashbacks and we found ourselves suddenly glued to our TV sets again as we were trying to figure out what had happened that made the future such a crappy place to be.  And now we're stuck waiting for season five to start.  Damn you Lost writers for being so good.

 



 

The Awesome:  The Dark Knight

 

Why It's Awesome:  What can I possibly say about this film that hasn't already been said a thousand times over by comics fans and geeks everywhere?  Christopher Nolan's follow up to the smash hit Batman Begins is nothing short of phenomenal.  It's been argued by fans everywhere as possibly the greatest comic book movie of all time.  Heath Ledger's joker is so scary and crazy and cool that it makes Jack Nicholson's version of the character look amateurish by comparison, and I don't say that lightly because I love that version of the character too.  There has even been talk of oscar nominations for the film, which is almost unheard of for a comic film.  Aside from a posthumous nod to Ledger for Best Actor, there has even been some buzz about the film possibly being included in the Best Picture category.

 

There's many good reasons why this film has made a billion dollars worldwide.  It really is pretty much the best film to come out this last year.  Even if you take the comic element out of it, remove the characters of Batman and the Joker and replace them with random regular characters...you still have an amazing crime drama on your hands.  The fact that Batman and the Joker are in it just makes it better.