Reader Michael Tricksey points out an obvious flaw to the Superhero Registration Act (you know, besides the fact that it’s dumb shit in the first fuck place).

Now, I realize that I might be a lot late with mentioning the Superhero Registration Act, but I just have to say this. What is it, THREE YEARS NOW!!! WHY DO WE STILL HAVE THIS!!!! I know it’s trendy for comics to reflect world events realistically, but sometimes you need to REMEMBER THAT IT’S A COMIC! Am I just not thinking, or should have some major villain like Doom or Red Skull or some random alien threat already KILLED half the Marvel roster. If super-humans have to register, then that means that they have to put their info into a database of some sort. How many super-villains are tech-savvy? How many kids are on the government’s watch list for hacking into their info-structure in REAL LIFE? I mean, relevance is great, but think about the environment. Forget about the Spider men and Daredevils of the world, and let’s focus on the fact that Tony Stark is a drinker, that the Fantastic Four are dysfunctional. These little quirks have been exploited before. Why not do it on a mass scale? Am I really the only one who sees this?

Stark would need to hire a team of super nerds just to work computer security for that database. That thing would be a hacker’s dream come true. Imagine the mad cash some thirteen year old could make by selling even just a small snippet of data from that database. You’d need some sort of software imbued with the power of plot to keep out all the script kiddies, hackers, and crackers.

Also, by creating a superhero agency under government control, that agency is now subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). They would need to hire an army of legal experts to deal with the deluge of FOIA requests sent by the media and watchdog agencies. Every communique the superheroes send while on duty would be subject to FOIA. Daily activities would be subject to FOIA. You’d have to create this whole cumbersome bureaucracy surrounding your superhero agency. There’d be paperwork, mandatory sensitivity training, swipe cards, procurement, contractors, and all sorts of official mumbo jumbo that would get in the way of the business of saving lives. FEMA with tights.

Oh man, now my head hurts. Maybe this stupid Skrull thing will end the Registration Act. It’s certainly ended my interest in giant crossover events.

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Reader Nathan Yuen sent along this link with a trailer for Batman: Gotham Knight. The DVD release will feature six animated shorts from different directors. The preview looks amazing. There’s only a quick shot but one of them looks to be inspired by Murakami’s Superflat style. Brilliant!

DVD drops July 8. MUST. GET!

[Via Wired]

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Though Emma’s voice in my head is slightly older than the voice actor they chose, this is actually quite good. Whedon’s dialog works best when read out loud. I also love the subtle enhancements to the animation, the little wisps of hair, the undulating ocean, nice and subdued. Cassaday’s art doesn’t need any fiddling.

I know Crossgen was experimenting with this style of animated comics and if they were still around, I suspect they’d be at the forefront of this technique. So the question is, if Marvel does more of these animated comics and releases them for free to spread virally, aren’t they subverting their whole subscription online comics?

Hope they do more and I hope more companies do their own versions.

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Hawk sent me this early in the morning to start my day. I think the trailer is a beautiful primer on who the Avengers are. Very well produced. Has an epic feel. Then they go ahead and ruin it with this whole Children of Avengers Avenge their Avenging Parents thing. That and I don’t like the character designs all that much. They’re clearly trying to pander to a younger audience. This is obviously not for old coots like me.

Sorry Marvel. I’m still holding out for anime Bats. Thanks to Hawk for the strange wakeup call.

[Via Marvel]

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Leave it to Marvel to spoil their own comics. So, without further ado, I present Anti-Venom courtesy Entertainment Weekly:

What can I say, love John Romita Jr.’s art. Always a big fan. Not so crazy about Anti-Venom. A bit cheesy, like Anti-Spawn. Much funnier as Auntie Venom.

So, friendly neighborhood wall crawlers, let’s play the caption game! You know what to do, drop your caption in the comments.

[Via Entertainment Weekly via Occasional Superheroine]

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Finally got this all edited together. We get a sneak peak at what the webcomic guests are really like when they’re away from their tables and panels. It’s a frightening world of pain and sorrow.

I’d like to thank Applegeeks, Dead of Summer, Rockets Rock Out, Onezumi, Fragile Gravity, Paradox Lost, Steve Bennett, Quest to Nowhere, Staccato, Partially Clips, Erfworld, and The Fump for not punching me in the face when I pointed the camera at them. Although, now that this is out, they might do so when I see them again.

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Stan Lee does manga.

Drawn by Hiroyuki Takei and written by Stan Lee, Ultimo will be chronicled in Viz Media’s Shonen Jump. And that’s pretty much all I got. Oh, the character Dan pictured above is obviously based on Stan Lee. Looks like he’s dressed for sepuku.

UPDATE: Thanks to KamenOtaku, you can now experience the first chapter online. Um… well… meh. Only one chapter and it’s already convoluted as all hell which I suppose in some way is standard fare for manga these days. Color me underwhelmed.

[Via Anime News International]

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Reader Devin Wolfe sent me news that BET will premier a Black Panther animated series based on the Marvel comic in their 2008-09 season.

BET Cages Black Panter

I hope that:

a) This thing is simulcast on Adult Swim or goes into immediate syndication, kinda like Boondocks, because it’d be a shame if they limit their target audience to a specific demographic with such a cool and enigmatic character like BP… It’d be like making a Wolverine spin-off cartoon only available on Canadian television because of the main character’s nationality.

b) That they do a bang up job on the animation, a la say Gotham Knight or Afro Samurai. Dear God let them tap I.G. or GONZO…

Whole heartedly agree. It’s about damn time. Regarding Devin’s second point, I haven’t been impressed with much of Marvel’s animated efforts lately. They’ve all left me rather underwhelmed while DC still manages to knock them out of the park. But I’m hoping for the best.

[Via Variety]

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Marty picked up the news that the eighth Mortal Kombat game will pit our favorite MK warriors against characters from the DC universe. As you might imagine, there’s no way DC would let Sub Zero skull fuck Batman’s severed head (you know Sub’s is kinky) so this iteration of Kombat will be free of the fatalities and blood that have become the signature of the series.

Without the blood and fatalities, what’s the point of a Mortal Kombat game? It’s like Street Fighter without Ryu, Smash Brothers without Mario, GTA without hookers. This, sir, is no Mortal Kombat!

Superman wins. Unless Reptile and Jade has uniforms made of Kryptonite cloth, Superman wins. And you can’t very well have a MK vs. DC game without big blue. Again, what’s the point? I suppose Outworld’s sun could somehow affect Superman’s powers, but that’s just stupid.

Without Superman, there could actually be some interesting matches. Batman would need to get rid of his stupid cape, but his hand to hand skills would fit in well with the Kombat ninjas. The Gotham family in general mixes well with ninjas. Lobo versus Baraka would be so entertaining. But again, without the fatalities or blood, I don’t think you could get Lobo to the party.

This might have been interesting when Marvel vs. Capcom first dropped or maybe when Mortal Kombat was still a big deal. Now it just seems a little late and a bit ponderous. Better to just make a DC fighting game and leave the Outworld out of it.

Update: We have trailer. Looks like there will be some blood after all. Thanks to commenter Charlie for the link!

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I have to admit, I’m a huge Rob Lifeld fan. Whenever I see a Lifeld comic in the bargain bin, I snatch it up. He’s the train wreck that keeps on giving. Whenever I feel bummed about my art, I take out a stack of Lifeld comics and just chuckle away. In all of these years that he’s worked in comics, his art hasn’t improved one bit. The only difference between current Lifeld art and 90’s Lifeld art is the shiny colors.

Anyway, reader Martin Chung sent over this story about Lifeld’s latest project, Armageddon Now: World War 3. Rob Lifeld has gone Biblical! It’s the End of Days as told by Lifeld!

Oh yeah, when I think End of Days, I think Rob “Eight Pack” Lifeld.

I don’t think Rob Lifeld is suited to tell a reverent bible related story, but hey, it’s his dime. I’ll just leave it at that and move on to the artwork.

The preview pages at the site for Armageddon Now look gorgeous, a word I don’t regularly use in sentences related to Rob Lifeld. The pages are fully painted by team lead Mike Capprotti, Emily Warren, Matt Yackey, and Matt Swift. I haven’t heard of any of them, but the pages look beautiful. In fact, you might wonder where the Lifeld is. Upon closer inspection, it seems that the coloring team paints over Lifeld layouts. Take a look at this standard Lifeld shot:

That’s the standard Cable pose Lifeld uses to introduce all his main characters plus his standard dynamic shoulder dip pose on the right.

Oh, and check out the arms on this guy!

He’s been working out so much, his arms have shrunk. Classic Lifeld musculature as well as his signature fist-with-knife-drawn-in. In Lifeld’s universe, guns, knives, and swords grow out of fists.

The 120 page book is the first of five and drops sometime this Summer.

I’ll be looking for it in the bargain bins in the Fall.

[Via Newsarama and Armageddon Now]

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