Show me the way to San Diego...

San Diego Comic-Con kicks off today. SDCC is one of THE biggest events in the Geek calendar, along with Gen Con and E3 Expo.

Don't let the Comic part of the title, now that we Geeks rule the entertainment world SDCC is were all the big film and TV people go to pimp their new wares.

Don't take my word for it though, let Kevin Clerks' Smith tell you about five his coolest encounters at SDCC: Part 1 and Part 2.

Sadly I won't be there, so I suggest you follow the latest news with me @:

Comic Book Resources News

---

Buy toys and merchandise @ Forbidden Planet

Follow Fight Friday

Movie Line have come up with an novel way of filtering the plethora of celebs you can follow on Twitter; A Twitter Tournament of Champions! Let the battle commence!

This weeks follow suggestions:

@NathanFillion - Actor and star of Firefly/Serenity.
@serafinowicz - Actor, comedian and voice of Darth Maul.
@scottmcloud - Writer, artist and guru of sequential art.

This week @maycontaingeeks:

#StarTrek TNG: Genesis = 2 Gs. Spider Barclay? Neanderthal Riker? Fishy Troy? This is supposed to be season 7!

---

FreakAngels

Review | FREE | Writer: Warren Ellis | Artist: Paul Duffield | Avatar Press

Like the poster says, a group of twenty-somethings with psychic-powers living in a flooded London and looking after their fellow survivors; both from the elements and other rival communities.

Post-apocalyptic Britain, psychic powers, steampunk, swearing, shagging and violence. Everything you expect from the forward-thinking Mr Ellis. Here he mixes his realistic vision of a world post-environmantaly desaster with a little psy-fi and tech-magic. Teamed with Paul Duffield's clean and details art, he creates a world which, despite its futuristic powers and technology, takes a step back so the enigmatic FreakAngels and tale of human survival can take center stage.

FreakAngels is now 69 issues in but this week is a skip week, were Mr Duffield take the opportunity to describe how the comic is created, and start from the beginning.

---

Buy Warren Ellis @ Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.com| Forbidden Planet

Captain America Reborn #1

Preview
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Bryan Hitch
Released: 01/07/2009
Marvel
4 Gs

All true Geeks know the film rule; if you don't see the body then the character is not dead. In comics, even if you see the body no-one stays dead forever.

Today Marvel announced that this July's Reborn limited series will feature the return of the first and true Captain America; Steve Rogers. Are we surprised? Not at all, we have been waiting for this day since issue #25.

Brubaker and Hitch have both rejuvenated the character in their own ways. Brubaker showing that Rogers could be a believable soldier and hero in a post-9/11 world when he started the current series and Hitch added a level of reality to the other-world version of Cap, and fellow Avengers, during his Ultimates series that is on par with the movie re-styling of Blade.

Cap will always have a special place in my Geek heart. The first real comics I remember buying were tatty, old second-hand issues of The Invaders from a local market stall, so I will be counting the days until this issue hits the shelves.

---

Buy Captain America @ Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.com| Forbidden Planet

Waiting for Mr Snow...

from Warren Ellis.com
Oh yeah! A coloured page from the final issue of Planetary. I have been one of those check-for-the-next-Planetary-issue-every-time-I-visit-the-comic-shop guys for too-many-years.

My one question: Page 18, does that mean it’s halfway done?

Out in October according to the Wildstorm blog.

---

Buy Warren Ellis @ Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.com| Forbidden Planet

Rourke cracks the whip.

USA Today has a first look at Mickey Rourke as the villain Whiplash in the upcoming Iron Man 2 film:

Whiplash in Iron Man 2
The classic look
The cape and ponytail are no great loss and Rourke now has an mean ex-con look with those tattoos and the orange jumpsuit. Fingers crossed, IM2 should be as good as the first.

---

Buy Iron Man @ Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.com| Forbidden Planet

Does anything Andrew Lloydd Webber can!

WTF? Spider-Man the musical? With music by U2?

If this wasn't June I would be very suspicious of this announcement.

---

Buy Spider-Man @ Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.com

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2

Preview
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, Nintendo DS
Due: Fall 2009
Official web site: marvelultimatealliance.marvel.com
4 Gs



The story is a re-working of the Civil War major event from 2006. When a super-related tragedy shakes the nation the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe are forced to take side between Captain America and Iron Man over the new Superhuman Registration Act.

I've played a couple of the previous Marvel action/adventure games so I am fully prepared for that frustration point when my button-bashing fighting skills fail to get me past the end of level confrontation for the um-teenth time. But the graphics on this new version look great and re-working the excellent Civil War story gives the game a very strong narrative base, so I am very much looking forward to a playable demo of this one.

---

Buy Ultimate Alliance @ Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.com

XKCD - The Voynich Manuscript

It's true, we gamers are the Atlanteans of the future!

Wikipedia:

"The Voynich manuscript is a mysterious, undeciphered illustrated book. It is thought to have been written in the 15th or 16th century. The author, script, and language of the manuscript remain unknown"

I'm off to go and bury some of my old D&D books in the garden now...

Batman and Robin # 1

Review
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frank Quitely
DC Comics
4 Gs

"Batman Reborn" begins here in earnest with a new Batman, a new Robin, a new Batmobile, a new Batcave and a new set of villains. The story literally begins with a bang as the new Dynamic Duo chase down the odious Mr Toad and his henchmen in a flying Batmobile. A sky-high interrogation of Mr Toad leads this New Batman back to his circus roots, while things turn ugly as the Mr Pyg turns up to punish the unsuccessful henchmen.

If you are not up to speed on the current events in the Bat-universe after Batman RIP and Battle for the Cowl, Bruce Wayne is dead [No, I don't think it will last either] and 1st Robin/Nightwing Dick Grayson has taken up the mantle. Partnered with Damian, son of Bruce and Talia al Ghul, and relocated to a city center base the Batman return to Gotham to rescue it from the criminal chaos that has boomed in his absence.

Morrison and Quitely manage to both brighten and futurise the heroes, with a bright and modern penthouse/Batcave lair and a hovering Batmobile, and also recover a macabre horror in it's new villains that the classic villains have lost over the many animated and PG recons. The chatty, up-beat Dick/Batman vs egotistical/confrontational Damian relationship has a lot of potential.

Want to make your own mind up? Download a preview from the DC Comics website HERE and let me know what you thing in the comments below.

---

Buy Batman @ Amazon.co.uk| Amazon.com