Some Batman Day Stuff To Drive You Batty

Posted on September 25, 2015 by geelw

So, it’s Batman Day tomorrow and yes, a few (well, more than a few) sites are having some nice sales on some fun to funky items. I’ll give a shout out to a handful below:

MezcoToyz is offering up an awesome deal of mystery randomness with its 1-day ONLY Batman themed Mystery Box. $19.39 (yes, the year Bats first appeared in comics)nets you a box that will contain assorted Batman and DC Comics related merchandise. You may get something common,but you may also snag something super-rare and guaranteed to have the Joker pop by with a can of Smilex gas while you’re sleeping. Hey, he collects toys too… at your expense, of course! This sale runs from 12:01 AM on September 26th to 12:01 AM on September 27th and yes, supplies are LIMITED. Oh, and if you’ll be in NYC for the event, make sure to visit Mezco at New York Comic Con (booth 1754).

If you prefer something a bit more interactive, Bundle Stars has you covered with two cool Bat-bundles of PC games with the Caped Crusaders and friends. Ten bucks nets you the first three Batman: Arkham games along with three huge DLC packs or Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham plus SEVEN nice DLC packs.

Meanwhile, the PlayStation Store, Sony is running a Batman Day sale on a slew of Barman titles for the PS3, PS4 and Vita. Boogie on over to that link above and let your wallet fly around the room for a minute before you wring it out until it’s all dried up and you’re buried in more than enough Bat-games to keep you occupied and out of trouble for quite some time. Or IN trouble because you’ve stopped going to work and have taken to wearing a cape, boots and utility belt you’ve designed on those trips to the bathroom. Remember to duck when you throw that homemade Batarang for the first time, as it’ll swing back and crack you upside the head before you can react.

I suppose you can do some reading as well, but I’ll let you poke around online for assorted sales. I do know DC Comics is doing something fun (as always) I haven’t read a decent Batman comic in ages, so I’m kind of need to do some poking around myself. Hmmm… it looks as if I’ll be hitting up the library here tomorrow or a nearby comic shop for a few freebies.

The Bloom Is On The “Oh’s”: Bloom County Is Back

Posted on July 13, 2015 by geelw

For those who missed its nine-year run back in the 80’s, Bloom County was one of the main reasons to still check out the comics section in one’s daily newspaper. Writer/artist Berkeley Breathed bought a supremely sarcastic and subversive strip to the masses with an art style slightly similar to Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury, but with a more oddball cast. Since I don’t hang out on ~~Hatebook~~, er, Facebook much these days, I missed the photo above as well as the first new strip below. Thankfully someone pointed me in the proper direction and made me do a happy dance for a hot minute or two. Good. Life just got better for millions and worse for a certain bigmouth with a wild coif who’s going to get taken down a few pegs. “THBBFT!” indeed, folks.

Welcome back Opus and company. You’ve been sorely missed. Hopefully, you’ll stick around for a while longer than the first go-round. But we shall see what happens…

Free Comic Book Day, Short Haul Version

Posted on May 3, 2015 by geelw

So. How was YOUR Free Comic Book Day? Mine was minimalistic, but that’s a personal choice due to space and reading backlog reasons. Amusingly enough, the local comic shop closest to here was actually open early for a change. Every time I’d gone by The Lair previously, it was closed and I had somewhere to be and couldn’t get back that way until when they were shut for the night. Fortunately, the visit was worth the about 20-minute walk. The staff is a bunch of cool guys from what I saw, the shop is small but definitely had a nice selection of books and there were plenty of people snapping up bargains from the long boxes placed outside.

I grabbed the two trades shown for a buck each and the free book I picked just so happened to coincide with the PDF of the first issue of Fight Club I got from Dark Horse Comics the day before (thanks, Aub!). I was a bit weary on Saturday thanks to not sleeping much, but the walk and buy trip to The Lair energized me for the rest of the day. Next year, I’ll bring the camera along and bug the guys at the shop for a Half of Twenty Questions session. Or I may do that first as an email interview (and sooner just to have another contact added to my long list). I don’t collect anywhere as many comics as I used to these days. But I do appreciate a good illustrated read every now and then. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some light eyeball, brain and finger exercising to catch up on…

READS: It’s Free Comic Book Day Tomorrow. Go Get Some!

Posted on May 1, 2015 by geelw

So, it’s May already! That means a few things of note for you fans of a few things pop culture-like. One of them being FREE COMIC BOOK DAY which is tomorrow. If you’ve never participated in this event, it’s a simple and enjoyable thing to do. just find a comic book shop near you, walk in and claim your free comic. That’s it. As you can see above, Dark Horse Comics has some nice freebies this year, but you’ll have about 50 different free comics to choose from at some larger retailers with room to spare.

I actually want to check out that Fight Club sequel, as it’s got Chuck Palahniuk writing every single word. Hopefully the guys at the comic shop near me get themselves open before 1 tomorrow afternoon. Sometimes I’ve run by there only to find the gate down and no one answering the phone. Boo. Well, we’ll see what happens this year. If I post pics tomorrow at some point, that means things went according to plan.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead Set To Scare Up Sales on PC, PS4, Xbox One

Posted on April 29, 2015 by geelw

After a few not so stellar attempts by other studios to make a first-person shooter based on The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and David Alpert at Skybound have decided to let one of the best multiplayer FPS teams in the industry have the keys to the car along with all the gas they can scrounge up. Currently in development by Overkill Studios, all we have to look at for now is this simple followed by Kirkman’s announcement and a nice little gift for Payday 2 fans worldwide.

As it’s far too early to say what the game will be about in terms of its plot. We do know it will at least take place in and around Washington DC and be released sometime in 2016 for the aforementioned consoles and PC. Once again it looks as if those holding on to those PS3 and Xbox 360’s for dear life will need to bump themselves up into “next gen” which in now “current gen” to a few million people around the globe. PC owners will of course be trumpeting their own victories on the frames per second and detail setting maxed out front, but that’s always another tale for another time. 505 Games just got another money making AAA title in their library worth checking out.

More From The Vaults: Found Object Fridays

Posted on April 25, 2015 by geelw

Hey there- here’s some more random stuff I unearthed from the vaults while my PC was out of action for a few days earlier this week. I ended up making more of a mess “cleaning up” than I did when I left all those bins and boxes alone. But I did find some nice things I knew I’d kept for assorted good reasons. Enjoy the quick trip down memory lane!

If I recall correctly, this sketch was gotten in a rather oddball reverse double back-flip manner at a Creation Con back in 1981 or ’82. I was minding a friend’s table at the show while displaying some of my (lousy) artwork and a man walked up and started looking through my stuff. We chatted for a bit about comics and when he told me his name was Al Kurzrok, I was thrilled because I remembered the outstanding lettering he did for Marvel on Doctor Strange back in the late 60’s. When I noted that to him and asked for an autograph, he asked me for a sheet of paper and did this quick sketch. That was a big day-maker for me back then.

Heh. Back in 1981, a dot matrix printout sure looked “futuristic”, so here you go: The press kit for Peter Hyams‘ sci-fi flick OUTLAND. The film is basically High Noon in outer space with Sean Connery playing the Gary Cooper part. High Noon is a better film by far, by the way. That said, it does have some suspenseful moments (and a few exploding heads, eww), Frances Sternhagen gets the best part and lines in the film and there’s a great Jerry Goldsmith score worth tracking down.

All that and like many of Hyams’s best films, there’s a nice foot chase that perks things up at just the right moment.

I have a lot more ancient history here, but I’ll pull the plug on this installment before I end up making an even bigger pile of stuff in the home office. No need to have to sleep curled up in a closet because there’s way too much stuff on the bed and floor, right?

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Trailer: A Big SOCK! Full Of POW! For 2016

Posted on April 17, 2015 by geelw

Wow. First we get slapped around by new Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Terminator Genisys trailers and today, it’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice getting people all hot under the collar and a few other places. Well, it certainly looks as if any blubbering about Ben Affleck as Batman has been silenced. The film seems to borrow rather heavily from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight books in terms of Batman’s more tricked out costume (the lighted eyes, sniper rifle and other bits) as well as the big battle that’s going to take place between Bats and Supes.

Of course, the film is also a jump off for the future Justice League movie, so there’s going to be plenty of new things to ogle here and over-speculate about as new trailers drop. You go do that ogling and speculating on your own time. I’ll just wait more more moving picture news and perhaps a few stills to pore over before passing any major judgments Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is in theaters March 25, 2016.

Yeah, yeah – I’ll get to that Terminator trailer tomorrow. I was up way too late working on a few projects and am wiped OUT tonight.

New Batman: Arkham Knight Gameplay: Something to Tide You Over While You Wait A Little Longer

Posted on March 23, 2015 by geelw

“Why so seriously delayed (again!)?” Actually, at this point the game looks so phenomenal that it’ll get snapped up even if it slips into the holiday season. I’m gathering this latest wait is due to the developer making sure the game will run as smoothly as possible out of the gate without the dreaded day one patching issues many games slap players in the face with. I’m wondering just how much better things would be if this was a completely single-player game with no online play, but such is the modern videogame development cycle that allows for DLC, season passes and other stuff that needs to work right out of the box or it’s unhappy campers complaining all over the internet. Well okay, it’s not THAT much longer a wait, but I can see a few Bat-fans leaping around and huffing and puffing in their hockey pads.

Astro Boy Omnibus 1: Manga Classics 101 At An Everyman Price Point

Posted on March 15, 2015 by geelw

If you already own the complete 23-volume set (which I believe is out of print), you probably don’t need Astro Boy Omnibus 1 at all. If on the other hand you’re new to the manga scene or have never read the late, great Osamu Tezuka’s seminal work, Dark Horse Comics is making sure to get your full attention with this 700-page volume. For $19.99, you’re getting quite a deal that won’t take up a lot of physical space. Yeah, some of us still read and buy real books, folks.

Anyway, September isn’t all that far away when you think about it (yeah, time flies, doesn’t it?), so make sure to keep an eye peeled for this one.

Batman: Arkham Knight “Gotham Is Mine” Trailer: Everyone Wants a Piece of the Pie

Posted on February 25, 2015 by geelw

With Rocksteady knocking things out of the park with their best work to date and Scarecrow doing his best to make Batman’s life a living hell by gathering up the worst of his Rogue’s Gallery, Batman: Arkham Knight is clearly going for instant classic status. All that in-game engine visual bliss on display means the game will look phenomenal on anything it runs on and that new Batmobile just makes me wish it were a real ride. Well, just so I could say I saw it blaze by while I was out strolling about to the store. Hey, you put me in a cape and black costume and I’m going to go home and straight to bed. Sleepman to the rescue! See you in your dreams, ladies and gents! Yeah, that’s about all the heroics I’ve got.

Anyway, Batman: Arkham Knight hits retail and digital shops for PS4, Xbox One and PC on June 2, 2015. That’s not to far away at all, really. Just one big super-nap for Sleepman! I’ll see you in a few months, folks. It’s Rip Van Winkle time, Zzzzzzzzzaaaawwwww! *snnxxxx* Zzzzzz!