Shaq Breaks Into Comics with New Kingdom Entertainment

   Formally announced today at a panel in Comic Con, Shaquille O'Neal will be breaking into comics with not just 1 but 2 new series. Alongside writer Alexander Storm, New Kingdom Entertainment will release Shaq's Hoop Fighters early next year. The series is, as of now, only going to be 4 issues but the legendary basketball player said that there could very well be a chance of it to go ongoing. Co Founder of Milestone Media, Michael Davis, has called Shaq coming to comics, and the potential readers Shaq will bring, " is the biggest thing in African American comics since Milestone."

   Consider that Milestone brought us properties like Blood Syndicate, Icon, Hardware and most notably, Static, this could be a HUGE move. While details have not be released on Hoop Fighters or Shaq's other book, Clean Ops, we'll keep an eye out on details for you.




 

The Truth about SEX

   Confirmed today at San Diego Comic Con during the Image Comics Experience panel, Joe Casey has come out to talk about Sex.

    Casey stated during that panel that:

 "Sex". . .not a joke title."

Sex is promised by Casey to not be what we expect. Casey commented:

"Superhero comics have always sort of brushed against the concept of sexuality. It's time we just embraced it."


  Sex will be an ongoing, drawn by artist Piotr Kowalski. Casey also promises that Sex is not what we would expect. Sex will hit stores this winter.

Tarantino's Django Unchained Hits DC Comics

     Announced mere hours ago at Comic-Con, prolific director Quentin Tarantino, will be doing a comic book adaption of  Django Unchained. Django Unchained is a western epic that set two years before the Civil War in the South. Django have a very harsh history with his masters which attracts the German-born bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz. Schultz offers Django's freedom if he helps him catch the homicidal Brittle brothers. Django agrees but is focused on having his wife, who had been sold into the compound of Calvin Candie; where his plantation is turned into a hunting ground nicknamed 'Candyland' where slaves are the prey. The duo must face Calvin and his trusted slave, Stephen, in order to save Django's wife, Broomhilda with other adventures along the way.

   The comic will not only  adapt the movie but will be the entire original screenplay for the movie, turned into a 5 issue miniseries.

   Tarantino commented about the comic during Comic-Con today:

"We have worked out a situation where we're going to do a 'Django Unchained' comic. It's going to come out -- I think the first issue is going to come out a couple months before the movie opens and basically take the entire story of the film and do it as a comic book from beginning to end. What I'm really excited about -- not only do I love comic books, I always loved western comics in particular along with the superhero stuff. So I was really excited when it come up with doing a comic about the film. One of the things that I'm really excited about is that 'Django Unchained' is a big epic. When I write big epic scripts like 'Kill Bill,' there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make the movie because they're too f-ing big. They'd be four hour movies if I did everything that was in the script, so there always is this aspect that the script is this big literary piece that I'm always taking it out and changing it and transforming it to make it a movie by the time it's all finished. That's the process, I'm always adapting my movie every day, my unwieldy script into a movie every day as I do it, but what's really cool about doing a 'Django Unchained' comic book is that it's the entire script. Even though things might have changed in the movie, I might have changed something else, I might have dropped chapters, I might have dropped big pieces -- that will all be in the comic. The comic will literally be that very first draft of the script. All that material that didn't make the movie, all of that will be part of the piece. And I'm really excited about it. So, be looking out for 'Django Unchained' in a comic book store and 7 Eleven near you!"


The movie will feature Jamie Foxx as Django, Kerry Washington as Broomhilda, Christopher Waltz as Schultz, Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie and Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen.The movie hits theaters this Christmas.  Django Unchanged #1 will hit stores this November in both print & same-day digital.

Toys Come to Life in Portacio's & Brunswick's Non Humans

  More news from San Diego Comic-Con as it was announced today that Image Founder, Whilce Portacio will team with "Jersey Gods" creator and writer Glen Brunswick for a new 4 issue miniseries called Non-Humans from Image.

   Non-Humans details the story of what happens when a NASA probe returns from space with a disease that brings our toys to life and its affects in that future as it fast forwards 26 years later to see how humans live with their now sentient living play things.

   The new miniseries will feature life of the toys and how they are treated in this new future.

Brunswick commented to CBR:

"One of the basic questions that "Blade Runner" asks is, "Are androids actual beings or merely constructs?" It leaves the viewer with plenty of misgivings about whether or not society has the right to eliminate them -- perhaps, in fact, they are too human to kill. Non-Humans are created much in the way that a human mother gives birth to her child. That is to say that they come from us -- the stuff or DNA of our brains. Somehow our personal traits are combined with a spark of life that allows our toys to become sentient. In effect, these live toys are even more human than androids since they actually are a reproductive product of us. Which begs the question, "Does society have the right to eliminate a new partly human life form if it may pose a threat to society?" A good number of Non-Humans are full of anger and violence -- they are deemed a threat. Under these circumstances, the police are ordered to hunt them down and destroy them. On the other hand, some Non-Humans function quite well in society -- once they are registered they are allowed the limited rights of an oppressed minority."


And Portacio added about his collaboration with Brunswick in CBR:

"What attracts me to Glen's style is he is great at establishing a strong premise that instantly evokes images in peoples' minds and that invokes me to ask a lot of 'world building' questions. At my core as a creative I am immersed in Science Fiction and world building. Glen has the confidence to create such a solid premise that allows me to fill in all the details visually, to make this world live and breathe. In fact, throughout we have had hours and hours of conversations just building all the societal structures, how and why they would react to Non-Humans. What would society allow or not allow Non-Humans to do. Even their religion of sorts. We even figured out a philosophy they would naturally develop because of their experiences. We also built layers of different classes of Non-Humans and how they would implant themselves into society. We have so much background that the hardest thing was to edit out what we didn't need at the moment to tell the core story. But if you look at the book and read the script carefully you will see we hint at everything. We meshed so well in building this world we could go for years telling varying stories of how our humans and Non-Humans live and survive."

 And this will not be the normal cute and cuddly story. Buddy-the-Bear is a teddy bear who is a drug dealer while there is a Victoria Secret Mannequin whole will have a toy dog and a Goth doll girlfriend. So, clearly, this will be an interesting future. Non-Humans #1, written by Glen Brunswick with art by Whilce Portacio will hit stores this October.

Silvestri Brings Back Cyber Force . .. FOR FREE!!

Silvestri, Hawkins & Pham bring back Cyber Force this October ... For FREE!

        Announced on Friday and reiterated today at Comic-Con, Marc Silvestri and Top Cow are bringing back Cyber Force this October. One of the biggest differences to Cyber Force this time around is that it will be free. Yes. FREE. Silverstri has started a Kickstarter to start the project. The kickstarter will help fund to bring Cyber Force back ... for free. In both print AND digital formats. Rebooting the title that launched Top Cow, Top Cow COO Matt Hawkins commented to CBR about Cyber Force's return:

"We are very intentionally keeping the rest of the Top Cow Universe pretty far away from "Cyber Force" so we can build and ground it separately, but yes the "reboot" gave us a good reason to start over. There have been somespin-off miniseries done over the years by Ron Marz and Mark Waid but nothing that was a pure reboot. There are no plans in the first year to have the Artifacts stories cross with "Cyber Force." They do take place in the greater Top Cow Universe however."


 Silvestri and Top Cow hopes that will they not only have the first issue of Cyber Force for free digitally or in your local comic shops with enough funding from Kickstarter ... but at least the first 5 issues would all be free in both formats. Merely ask for it or pick it up or download it. Top Cow's Overlord told Hero Complex the following:

"We want to use [Kickstarter's] crowd-sourced funding in typical Top Cow fashion, meaning differently. "While most everybody uses Kickstarter to fund a project in order to build it and then sell it, we at Top Cow are going to use the funds to build 'Cyber Force' and give it away -- for free! Plus we’re not talking just one issue but five full issues of the comic. And it won’t be free just digitally, but also as a full-color printed comic that will be available at any participating comic shop. So for people that want to read 'Cyber Force' digitally -- yes, including torrent sites -- it’s free. And for anyone wanting to hold a traditional comic in their hands to read it -- it’s still free. We figure this is a great way to reward loyal comic fans plus get new people to get onboard reading comics and see what they’ve been missing. Plus it allows fans to actually get involved in the comic making process and be part of something truly groundbreaking that will help all of us that love the genre."


Cyber Force # 1, written by Marc Silvestri & Matt Hawkins, with art by Khoi Pham, will hit stores this October . .. FOR FREE!!!

Joker Returns & Goes For Broke in 'Death of the Family'

Creepy Ad for "Death of the Family"

   Just shortly after the end of the recent Night of Owls storyline and the Court of Owls epic in Synder's Batman, he drives readers right back into the fire with the upcoming "Death of the Family" storyline in his book. Yet, like Night of Owls before it, the story will spill into other books while following the same structure as Night of Owls, making them connect to the main storyline but still stand alone if need be.

The main storyline will be in Batman, starting in issue # 13 and running to it's double-sized conclusion in Batman # 17. Meanwhile, the books along for the ride with tie-ins are as follows: Nightwing, Batgirl, Catwoman, Batman & Robin, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Teen Titans & Suicide Squad.

  Synder has not hide his love for the longtime enemy of Batman, stating that "Death of the Family" is his love letter to the Joker while opening so many things for other members of the Bat-Family.

Synder commented to Newsrama the following about how Joker looks after the villain had his face cut off at the end of Detective Comics # 1:

   "He really is going to, obviously, have a new look. At the same time, we want it to echo his iconic look. So it's Joker in a much more horror movie fashion.

But, without giving too much away, you will see the iconic face and the grin, and he might look a little bit different and scarier. But you'll find that he's still himself at his core. And he's really here in his blood-stained clothes going to work."

So, a new, horrific look for the Joker but what else does this story line have? There will be personal effects to many in the Bat-Family; particularly Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl, who will have her first face to face with the Joker since being able to walk again. Batgirl writer Gail Simone hinted to Newsrama about the encounter and Batgirl's state of mind will be:

"There's definitely a feeling out there regarding this stuff that someone is fixed or not fixed, like an on/off switch. It's not that binary, but she is facing this stuff head on. And I am pretty sure a Joker/Batgirl story is inevitable, but I can't say more than that. Think of two trains on the same track facing towards each other...there's nowhere for either of them to go but towards collision. 

It is the once-and-for-all confrontation between the Batgirl and the man who shot and paralyzed her. It does not go as he expected.

This story starts in issue #14, and I have to say, it's pretty shocking. That's all I'll say right now, however."

  And Harley Quinn, Robin and all the other members of the Bat-Family will get affected by Joker's return. Synder commented to Newsrama again on Joker's plan for revenge during "Death of the Family":

 ". . .this is the Joker having been away for a year planning all of this stuff, like planting traps and seeds and all kinds of stuff that are going to come to fruition in this thing.

A year ago, Joker decided, I'm going to walk away from Gotham, I'm going to plan my revenge, and I'm going to come back in a year and bring it all back. So this is what he's been planning to do for a long time. And all of those things are set in motion.

 . . .But because the story is so big, and because Joker is attacking all those members of the Bat-family, essentially, to prove this point that he's come back to Gotham to prove and to expose this secret that he has, you will see Joker attack Nightwing in Nightwing. And you'll see him come after Batgirl in Batgirl. And you'll see him go after Damian in Batman and Robin. And Tim, even, in Teen Titans. And Jason in Red Hood [and the Outlaws].

So there will be issues of those books that feature the Joker coming after him in ways that will be part of the moving parts of the bigger story. But they will all be self-contained, so you don't need to read other books to follow the series that you love.  . .

But this story is much darker and much more personal.

Joker is coming after the Bat-family in ways where, it really is almost like when you think about it.... he hasn't faced off with those characters, essentially, or directly, before.

People will say, "Oh, well, he came after Batgirl in The Killing Joke," but he was really going after Commissioner Gordon. So when Batgirl realizes that here, too, it's almost like the Joker is staring at her saying, "I'm coming after you this time. I'll kill everyone and burn down everything in your life to do what I did to your father, but to you." You know?

So in that way, he's saying that to every member of the Bat-family. To Nightwing and everyone, saying, "You've never faced me before. I've never actually targeted you. I've only used you as pawns to get at Batman. So welcome to your worst nightmare." "

With all this, This might be the Joker's greatest caper yet.  Who will live? Who will die? How will the Bat-Family will be changed by this? And how will Bruce face his greatest enemy when he comes for everyone he loves?

"Death of the Family" starts in Batman # 13 this October, written by Scott Synder with art by Greg Capullo, for $3.99.

Marvel NOW brings 3 New titles and Ends A WHOLE LOT MORE!

As we inch closer to Marvel NOW, the solicitations for October has come out. And as such, things are gonna change very much for the Marvel Universe. We got 1 new title in October. Well ... technically 3.

Space Knights mini series #1 and the Dexter adaption hits stores alongside the much anticipated Uncanny Avengers; as we showed the cover in a previous post.

Yet, For this new beginning, we are getting a LOT of endings.

The Following titles are having their final issues during the month of October:


Captain America (with issue #19)
The Mighty Thor (with issue # 22)
Invincible Iron Man (with issue # 527)
Incredible Hulk (with issue #15)
Fantastic Four (with issue #611)
FF (with issue # 23)
Uncanny X-Men (with issue # 20)
New Mutants  (with issue # 50)
X-Men Legacy (with issue # 275)


 Most of these titles are not a surprise. Unfortunately, New Mutants and X-Men Legacy are two of the biggest surprises. I know Astonishing X-Men and Wolverine & the X-Men are still focusing on the Jean Grey School but damn ... I love X-Men Legacy. *sigh* Forgive my fanboy moment. It does look like they are not going to cancel Wolverine & the X-Men anytime soon. Although, Avengers and New Avengers are on their final arcs, so they'll be ending next.  But at the very least, we are gonna see quiet a few changes with the restarts of most of these series. I say most cause I doubt that X-Men Legacy, New Mutants or FF are coming back.

I guess we'll find out. Keep your eyes here for more news. The end is coming.

"Chew" creator John Layman takes over Writing Chores on Detective Comics

"Emperor Penguin" begins in Detective Comics # 13

 It has been confirmed by multiple sources that John Layman, winner of an Eisner Award in 2010 for Chew, will be taking over as scribe for the comic. Detective Comics former writer/artist Tony Daniel announced his departure last week, with his run ending in issue #0, this September. Layman will take over as main writer as of issue # 13 with new rising super star artist, Jason Fabok. Two will begin their run with the Penguin showing up in a storyline called, "Emperor Penguin."

   Layman recently stated in an interview that his tone for Detective will " concentrate on more of the detective part of the character. I want to make very smart, surprising stories . . ."


Layman promises that the overall story behind "Emperor Penguin" will not be apparent till later but till focus on the Dark Knight's detective skills and more. Detective Comics # 13, written by John Layman with art by Jason Fabok, will hit stores this October for $3.99. 

Go Busters: Red Buster Freezes for Cock & More Interesting Facts About Go Busters

Hello worshipers. I am back with another dose of Tokumei Sentai Go Busters. This time, we are gonna look at some of the more ... interesting and mundane things about the Go Busters. So, if you haven't seen it yet, Spoilers are abound but really can't help that too much now. You have been warned.

One of the things about Super Sentai is that it loves having themes. Themes to suits. Themes to characters. It is very big on themes. This year, The Go Busters went very different for their military-like unit. Their suit are not made with spandex like they have been since the 80s. No. Their suits are actually made of leather. Yep. Colored Leather. It does and the design does help to give the military look. Plus, I assume the sunglasses mode on the helmet is a kind of homage to the Men in Black.

 Another interesting thing about Go Busters is that they all have super powers ... for the most part. Well, the main 3 have super powers. And not only do they have super powers, but they have interesting . .. weaknesses. Each of their weaknesses bare a similarity to a problem you would have with a computer since .. .SPOILER ALERT ... SPOILER ALERT . ..

 the Go Busters actually get their powers from a computer virus injected into their bodies so they could teleport back to Earth. 13 years ago.

Yellow Buster

Yellow Buster - Yoko

       She may be the youngest of the group but she is definitely the most agile. She can jump extremely high (beyond normal humans) and fairly durable. Yoko's unique weakness is that if she doesn't have enough calories ... she runs out of energy. She falls to the grow and can barely move. Basically, like a computer crashing.

Blue Buster

Blue Buster - Ryuuji 

     Ryuuji's is the only weakness we did not see right away. We seen him get super strength and inflated muscles at will. Interestingly enough, Ryuuji can increase his strength and mass, pretty much having super strength for a period of time. The downside of his powers? He, like a computer, will over heat if he uses too much of his powers for too long. And when he over heats ... he actually goes from being a kind, responsible guy into a complete and utter asshole. He will fight anyone, anywhere, at any time if he is overheated ... till he falls unconscious. So yeah ... super strength means you are a douchebag!


Red Buster - Hiromu

This is what happens when he sees cock.

     *Sigh* Now for the one you've all been waiting for. I know you guys have been waiting for this one. I know cause you clicked this cause of the title, right?  . . . Pervs.  *laughs*  Anyway, Hiromu has been gifted with super speed. Yes ... the overly blunt, almost always serious Hiromu has super speed. And there seems to be no limits to it.

See. He freezes for cock. 

   That is . . . till he see's a cock. Once he sees a cock ... well . . . That is his face when he sees a cock. Frozen. And It is not just his face. He completely and utter freezes still. Any position or pose he was in, he is then frozen like that. All from seeing cock.

Hey! Get your minds out of the gutter. I don't mean "that" cock. I mean this cock.







You guys are bad. *laughs* Interestingly enough, Hiromu's is the only weakness that Enter has not tried to exploit out of the first 3 Go Busters. As for Jin and J ...


Stag Buster - Beet J. Stag

Stag Buster only takes orders from himself ... supposedly

      Commonly known as J, he doesn't really have a weakness cause he's a buddyroid. I guess the closest thing to a weakness he has is that he constantly wants Enertron to fuel up. Since he battles as a Go Busters and is a Buddyroid as well, it makes sense he uses a lot of energy. Energy for that and . ..


Beet Buster - Jin 

Jin Masato ... Super Genius!

      Jin doesn't have much of a weakness at all. As you know, all the Go Busters have something connecting them to computers. Jin was Ryuuji's sempai (mentor) 13 years ago and has seemingly not aged. Why? Well ... SPOILER ... that is cause he's an avatar of the original Jin. Everything that makes Jin Jin is in there but he's a computer avatar. Much like another character on the show. But more on that later. And for Jin's avatar to work and for his and Stag Buster's mecha to come from the subdimension, they need J. For J to work, he needs a lot of Enertron. So, they truly do need each other. The only real other weakness I see for Jin is his ego. He knows he's a genius and dresses and acts like a rockstar. Ah ... our heroes.


Funny how these rangers have civilian powers, similar to those rangers during the Disney era of Power Rangers; only done a bit better. I say that cause all of the Go Busters have clear weaknesses for their powers and none of  the Power Rangers with civilian powers has any real weaknesses to them. And that is a bit more of a breakdown of the Gobusters for now. Next time, it's time for Mecha and more as we continue our look into Go Busters. Now dance I say, DANCE!!!

Marvel NOW update with UNCANNY AVENGERS!!

Uncanny Avengers by John Cassidy

 There has been A LOT of buzz around Marvel's upcoming relaunch, Marvel NOW. Marvel NOW, for those of you who have been gone all holiday weekend, will be a 22 title relaunch initiative that Marvel will start this October and will have 1 title, every week, till February 2013. Yep. 22 new titles. So it is not a complete, line wide restart.

  Now more news has come out recently about Marvel NOW ... as I am sure it will throughout the next several months as we do not have full confirmations of what all the 22 titles are. In the previous article, we heard that Avengers, All -New X-Men and Uncanny Avengers are among the relaunch titles. It has also been confirmed that Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca will move from Iron Man to Fantastic Four at the end of Jonathan Hickman's run on the title.



 What do we have now? First, as you can plainly see, the full roster of the Uncanny Avengers, which will be written by fan favorite writer, Rick Remender with art by John Cassidy. The roster will include Captain America, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Wolverine, Rogue and Havok. Yep. The book will start with this group coming together, in the aftermath of Avengers vs. X-Men, as a way to make peace between the two teams. Also, they will have to face off against the Red Skull.

Also, remember we mentioned All-New X-Men by Brian Michael Bendis? Yep. We confirmed that it will open with the original 5 X-Men going into the present from the past. And boy, it is gonna be a shocker. But what is even more interesting? Here are comments from Marvel EIC, Axel Alonso made to CBR:

When we first entertained a story that would bring the Lee/Kirby X-Men into the present, Brian was the one who immediately latched onto it. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who reads Brian's work because he has a special gift for writing compelling, nuanced stories featuring young characters that either come to terms with new powers or deal with strange new situations, or both. No one tells a better ground-level story that introduces readers to a world through a young person's eyes -- and that's apparent from the first two scripts Brian's already written -- yep, already written! [Laughs] This is young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Angel traveling into the future and seeing what happened to Xavier's dream. And some of them will find out they didn't even make it this far! [Laughs] Imagine you're 17-year-old Jean Gray and you crash-land in the present. It'd be, like, "Why is everyone looking at me so strange...?"

And let me be very clear: Once the Lee & Kirby X-Men come into the present, they're here for the long haul. They're here for the foreseeable future, and that's something they -- and the rest of the Marvel Universe -- will have to come to terms with.

  So yeah. The original X-Men are here to stay for a while. So, Jean Grey is back ... sort of. It is before she died though. And the original 5 will be here for a WHILE. Time paradox anyone?


And Jumping back into the Avengers, Jonathan Hickman will be joined by Jerome Opena for the bi-weekly main Avengers book while it has been confirmed that former Avengers artist, Steve Epting, will return to the Avengers franchise as the new artist on New Avengers. It has been confirmed that all these titles will have new #1s. And the only Avengers that we know for sure on the Avengers will be Captain America, Thor & Shang Chi.

I know you've seen this already but just one more time. Let it sink in.

Any other Avengers, we will have to wait and see down the road how that goes. Yet, before we part, many have often compared Marvel NOW to DC's New  52. Here's Axel Alonso talking about that in his own words to CBR:

Well, one thing we did learn is that slapping a #1 on a bunch of cover sure gets you noticed! [Laughs] Look, DC does what it needs to do; we do what we need to do -- and we've been building toward this for some time. Marvel NOW! hearkens back to 11 years ago, when "NuMarvel" employed the simple strategy of "Great writer, great artist, great character, great hook...GO!" Only this time, we're embracing the #1 on the cover -- and we're determined that each issue is earns it -- and we're very conscious that these stories take place in one universe. We're leaning into the concept of shared-universe; while each title tells an independent story, they're part of a larger whole. 


And a couple things I want to emphasize: Marvel NOW! starts with the creators, so don't expect writer shake-ups across the line by the fourth or fifth issue, or half the titles to get cancelled and replaced by a new #1. We aren't throwing $#!# at a wall, seeing what falls off and then replacing it with more $#!#. [Laughs] We're building books we expect to last. Retailers that order them, and fans that read them, will be purchasing new ongoing titles, not limited series. Also, Marvel NOW! unfolds across four months, not one. Each week, we will be offering at least one new entry-point into the Marvel Universe for readers -- old, lapsed and new. It's a patient rollout that demonstrates respect for the fan and his wallet. 


Hmm .... sounds like fighting words to me. Let's see how it goes. Keep your eyes peeled here for more on Marvel NOW and other comic book news.