The Comic Stop

Watchmen Trailer

2008-07-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

Yeah Yeah Yeaaaaah Wow..Spidel-Man!

2008-07-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Goblin Bloggin'/Misunderstood Monsters

2008-07-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

Just realized I hadn't looked for new entries in this series lately, and missed a couple. Sorry for the slacking.

The Dark Knight

2008-07-16T00:59:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a special screening of "The Dark Knight" at the IMAX. In a word: AWESOME! (And I'm not just saying that to make Girl Friday jealous! )(You so totally should have come with!)

Without going into details or spoilers, this was not only the best superhero movie of the summer (Sorry Iron Man) but it's easily the best movie I've seen all year. Heath Ledger's Joker is SO good! He just exudes creepy! I'm pretty sure Hannibal Lector would have nightmares about this Joker.

The rest of the cast is great too. Both Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman do particularly good jobs but I really want to give Christian Bale special mention. His Batman is really spot on. It's easy to forget how difficult it is to play Batman. Don't think so? Ask George Clooney or Val Kilmer, both of whom I think are fine actors but definitely had a bit of trouble getting Batman right. It's easy to want to try and give the character more personality by making Batman say a funny line or two but when that happens, it seems to make the character a bit campy. Mr. Bale anchors the film in a very believable way without falling into the "I'll add a joke here" trap. That isn't to say he doesn't have some humourous moments. He just does it without bringing a lot of attention to it. He does an excellent job in what is, really, a thankless role

In a very small role is the character actor "Tiny" Lister and he is in one of my favorite scenes of the movie. Look for him on the ferry.

I'm hoping to post a more in depth review later today but with the move downstairs at RTC, internet is going to be gone for a week or so and thus I will have to wait till I get home after work to write.

Do yourself a favor and see The Dark Knight as soon as you can.

Redmond Store Falls One Floor, Gets Cavities

2008-07-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Girl Friday K took it upon herself to move the Redmond Comic Stop down one floor so she could be closer to the Sweet Factory in the RTC. I know this because I gleaned it from an obtuse twitter I saw on her blog. Using my impressive deduction skills, I also now know that Girl Friday K is the mysterious thief who has been committing Marmot-themed crimes all over the city. Her next target: Bill Gates impressive LolCats collection!

Gotham Cable News

2008-07-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Anyone who is excited for The Dark Knight and hasn't watched any of the episodes of Gotham Cable News should head over to www.gothamcablenews.com. This is an example of some of the amazing marketing that has gone into The Dark Knight and what marketing for a movie of this magnitude can look like in the age of the internet.

It's also worth noting that not only did gothamcablenews.com get 'jokerized', but so did thedarkknight.com. Somebody in marketing is having way too much fun... 6 more days, is anyone else excited?

Batman R.I.P. Tie-ins

2008-07-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

I have been a huge fan of the Batman RIP series and cannot wait to see what happens in the remaining issues. So, naturally, I was pretty excited for Detective Comics to come out this week since it was a tie-in to Batman RIP. Unfortunetly, I was terribly disappointed. Not by the issue itself, I am a huge Hush fan, but by the fact that DC claimed that this was a tie-in. Just because you add a couple of lines into the script that pay homage to Batman RIP... that doesn't make it a tie-in and it defiantly doesn't deserve the title at the top of the issue.

Seriously... the Hush storyline is it's own beast, why do they think they have to force it to tie-in with RIP? It took me out of my comic book reading experience and made me roll my eyes. What ever happened to the type of tie-ins that they did during Knightfall? Those are tie-ins... Ones where you actually need to read all of the issues to get the whole story. Nobody needs to read Detective Comics 846 to understand RIP at all. It tells you nothing new.

How frustrating... I guess I have to wait another month for my RIP fix.

Lunchboxes

2008-07-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Another great Hellboy II ad, this time featuring Chuck:

and another one:

I hope all these are collected on the DVD eventually...

Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip.

2008-07-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

Zero Punctuation's review of "Lego: Indiana Jones"...stick around after for his review of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The Heroes Journey

2008-07-08T14:35:00.001-07:00

I'm not even a big STAR WARS fan, but this is brilliant...

Boo. Ya.

2008-07-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Where The Deep Ones Are

2008-07-02T18:01:00.001-07:00

One of my childhood favorites was Where The Wild Things Are. One of my adulthood favorites has been the Cthulhu Mythos. Apparently that was the case for Mr. Hite and Mr. Hopp as well. From the June Previews:

If only we could just get Tim Burton and Henry Selick to get together one more time!

New Dark Knight Poster

2008-07-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest ones yet:

Sheldon

2008-07-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

Those of you at the last ECCC know that we had a ton of cool guests attend the show. My wife and I were lucky enough to get to know Dave Kellett, who writes and draws the comic Sheldon. We were his ride from the airport to the show, and during the drive into Seattle had a chance to chat with him. Little did we know just how popular he was as by noon on Sunday he has sold through all of his books.

We are now both hardcore fans of his work. And I wanted to take a moment to share not only his comic strip, but his same thoughts as mine on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

And Mr. Lucas? I want my $9.50 back.

Atari Label Maker and Poker Party Review

2008-06-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

Juan found this link to the Atari Label maker like, forever ago. I made one as an example of the kind of fun you can have with it. :)

The comic stop poker party/bbq was a lot of fun this Saturday. It was cool to meet so many of the other comic stop patrons/fellow comic geeks. Elwood, maybe you'd like to do a toy story about the events of the evening? Kyle, bring your guitar and we can all have a sing along (I mean come on, everyone knows the theme song to Firefly right?!) *grins* Oh and btw, watch out for George. He's a poker playing badass!! ;)~

Michael Turner dies at age 37

2008-06-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

From Aspen Comics' Vince Hernandez

Hello all,

Unfortunately it's with great sadness that I must inform everyone that Michael Turner tragically passed away last night, June 27th at approximately 10:42 pm in Santa Monica, Ca. Turner had been dealing with recent health complications arisen in the past few weeks. More details concerning Turner's passing, and services, will be given shortly.

Anyone wishing to send their condolences to Michael Turner's family is encouraged to send to:

Aspen MLT, Inc.
C/O Michael Turner
5855 Green Valley Circle, Suite 111
Culver City, CA, 90230

Aspen also encourages anyone wishing to make a charitable donation to please send to Michael Turner's requested charities:

The American Cancer Society

Or

The Make-A-Wish Foundation

Batman: Gotham Knight

2008-06-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Five whole minutes of Batman: Gotham Knight which is out on July 8th. Suuuuper awesome!

Catching Up with Old (Super) Friends

2008-06-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

TV Squad presents: Where Are They Now?

Super Friends and The Legion of Doom.

For Example:

Robin: After leaving the Super Friends, The Boy Wonder published his tell-all book Holy S@#t, Batman, I'm Gay!, which chronicled his days inside the Hall of Justice. It also delved into many of the intimate details about the Super Friends, including a torrid affair between Black Vulcan and Apache Chief.

Solomon Grundy -- Grundy briefly made guest appearances as various monsters on Scooby Doo. He now owns three Casual Male big & tall clothing stores in Chicago. Apache Chief is secretly one of his best customers.

Why is Apache Chief getting picked on? He'll go all Inyuk-Chuk on your ass.

Drunk Dialing = OUT. Drunk Lightsaber Duels = IN.

2008-06-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's not DIRECTLY comicbook related, but I know everyone here probably has a soft spot for THE STAR WARS and THE WII.

Click HERE to read about the recently confirmed "LIGHTSABER DUELS" game on deck for the Wii.

Shooting to the top with a bullet on my list of "stuff I hope I don't die before"...

Cooking with D&D 4e

2008-06-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

In honour of the release of the 4th edition D&D rules from Wizards of the Coast I give you this very funny article from Wired:

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2008/06/alttext_0618/

I can't wait to roll up my new Pastry Chef class!

What game system should you own?

2008-06-19T09:39:00.001-07:00

Those who know me know I love flow charts. What IT person doesn't? Well, I found a very helpful one if you're trying to decide what gaming system you should purchase.

For the record, I play games on my PC and the Wii.

SFX Wizard, Stan Winston Dead At 62

2008-06-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Stan Winston, who worked on a lot of the films us fanboys (and girls) really love, died on Sunday after a battle with multiple myeloma.

Some of the many films he worked on were:

Terminator 2

A.I.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Iron Man

Charlotte's Web

Big Fish

Constantine

Predator

Jurassic Park

Galaxy Quest

Batman Returns

Aliens

Edward Scissorhands

.... just to name a few.

Not to mention all the other projects he worked on in TV, commercials, and music videos.

When I was younger and wanted to do movie make-up and special effects as a career (which obviously got derailed along the way), I would read about how he did his effects and watch programs that spolighted him and fellow SFX creator, Rick Baker.

Stan, you will be missed.

How Can I Pick A Side?

2008-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Word on the streets (where I'm from) is that the new MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE game could be heavily involving last year's CIVIL WAR storyline. Any truth on the side mission storyline involving YELLOW JACKET sewing up GOLIATH'S recently blown out guts for extra points remains to be seen.

Hulk Poodle vs. Bat Nipples

2008-06-13T07:29:00.001-07:00

With a special cameo appearance! I love these videos.

Frack Me

2008-06-12T11:26:00.000-07:00