TMNT @ NYCC

If you're into TMNT you can score an exclusive Box set of all 4 Turtles and their display bases at the New York Comic Con next month. AFI's got all the details HERE.

Who watches the Watchmen?

Well I guess we do. The 1st official pics from the Watchmen have hit. You can go HERE to the official site as well. I'm kind of on the fence about these. I was really hoping they would stick to the graphic novel designs a bit more, however they chose to make the costumes more film like. I guess this is to be expected, but it's a tad disappointing. My thoughts have always been if any comic book movie could get away with the staying true to the comic it was Watchmen. So I give these a

2 of 4 Ass Monkey (thanks for reminding me to do this SM)

Enjoy the pics.

Toys - New GI Joe 2 packs

Hasbro just released some pics of wave 4 of the New GI Joe 2 packs. I have to say they have really hit one out of the park with this line. I mean look at Snow Job and Flash..perfection. I've have nothing but good things to say about this line up until this point....so I'm gonna say some bad things.

Joe, like most toy lines has a HERO character that drives the line. The HERO character, based on how popular he/she is, according to most toy companies, sell more units than the others. Batman has Batman, Spiderman has Spiderman, X-Men has Wolverine etc, etc.. So what most companies do is place their HERO characters heavy into each wave of figures. So for Joe, you have the BIG 4: Snake Eyes, Duke, Storm Shadow and Cobra Commander. Hasbro's been pretty good about trying to make their HERO characters somewhat distinctive each time they re-release them. For example they try to release them in a different outfits, like Snake Eyes in his original costume and then Snake Eyes in his ninja costume. This is good for Joe cause our HERO characters have many different versions, so even though it's repetitive at least they are different somewhat. This leads me to the New GI Joe 2 packs.

FIREFLY & STORM SHADOW

COPPERHEAD & SHIPWRECK

DUKE & RED STAR

You can see more pics HERE.

Out of these 6 new figures, we have 4 of them already. Now granted, they are somewhat different. But the new Joe line is only on wave 4 and already we are seeing way too many rehashes. The great thing about G.I.Joe is that the Joe universe is very vast. There are over 200 characters in the Joe universe. This make them very unique. Most toy lines top-out at about 20-30 unique charters. I mean there are just so many Superman figures one can make (although DC Direct keeps trying), but Joe on the other hand numbers in the hundreds. Now I understand that toy companies feel they need to place one HERO characters into each 2 pack. They feel that without them, no one will buy them. For example as much as I like Tripwire and Raptor no one is gonna buy a 2 pack of those guys. I just think that this wave missed the boat. For example, why another Shipwreck? What not Cutter. The figure looks more like Cutter then Shipwreck anyway. Shipwreck's not even what I consider to be a HERO character. It's a simple new head sculpt and that's it. See this mock up, come on Hasbro how hard is that. Also why Duke in military fatigues? He never even had a costume close to that. That Duke figure looks more like Grunt, just make him Grunt. Why can't Grunt fight Red Star? I'm sure he hates communists as much as the next guy. I know I'm ranting a bit here, but these seem like simple choices that would make the fans very happy and not effect overall sales one way or the other. So for this reason I'm giving these 2 packs a

2 of 4 Ass Money

COMICS - wtf Batman hits Robin

Happy new year all. Sorry the blog's been a bit sparse as of late. Between the holidays and not too much interesting to blog about I haven't updated much.

I did happen on this today. It comes to us from "Teen Titans - Year One" which hit the stands last week. I picked it up cause the art looked cool and I thought a "Year One" story might be fun. Boy was I wrong. Way wrong. Not only does Batman hit Robin, which is all of stupid (or maybe Frank Miller wrote it), this book has a horrible story and outrageous dialogue. Plus it suffers from the typical "even though these Year-One stories are from the past, let's write them like it's taking place modern day" or to simplify "let's use the internet it can solve all our problems". ugh. I mean I guess it's possible that Batman was taken over OR is not really Batman, but to be honest I don't care.

Anyway I hear this is written by a writer of the Teen Titans cartoon. So maybe this is suppose to be in cartoon continuity, even though the characters are completely different. Who knows...All I know is it's dumb and the new year is not starting out well, it gets a

1 of 4 Ass Monkey

TV - Torchwood Season 2

The trailer for BBC's Torchwood Season 2 just hit the web. Season 1 was hit or miss, but Season 2 has appearances from Buffy's James Marsters and Marta Jones from Doctor Who.

Check out the trailer.

TV - Battlestar Galactica Propaganda

This site just posted a set of Battlestar Galactica Propaganda posters. They are very sweet.

Check them out.

Movies - Go Speed Racer Go!!!!

I'm sure you've seen it. But I think it's gonna be fun.

MOVIES - BATMAN

Well the WB has started their marketing campaign for "Batman the Dark Knight". They've been doing some internet viral marketing for months, but this week they turned it up a notch. These 3 posters will be in theaters this week and there will be a 6 minute preview in front of the IMAX screening of I Am Legend along with the 1st trailer for the film.



The trailer hits the web on Monday, but someone posted a pirated copy of it on YouTube today. I would embed it here, but I'm sure it'll get pulled. You can check out the Ain't it cool link HERE.

TOYS - Iron Man the movie figures.

Looks like Hasbro has released some pics of their 1st wave of Iron Man the movie figures. The big news is that these are 6 inch. They tried producing a 5 inch wave for the Spider-man 3 movie line, and failed miserably.


Although from the looks of it they have learned from their mistakes and really raised the bar on these Iron Man the movie figures.

I'll have to see them in person to give them a final rating but for now they look like a

3 of 4 Ass Monkey

TOYS - Wave 03 of DC Superheroes from Mattel.

Some pics just surfaced of Mattel's Wave 03 of DC Superheroes. I thought I'd share. These are scans from the new issue of Toyfare.

This line looks to be fantastic. I only have 2 problems.

1 - I have bought most of these figures from DC Direct. So do I really need to buy them again, cause they might look at little cooler and have better articulation? I think everyone knows the answer to that one.

2 - Mattel is producing these. They have a track recored of poor distribution that will kill most of their lines buy the 3rd wave. They have publicly stated that they are trying to re-think their distribution, in order to not have these issues in the future. So I guess well see.


I'll have to see them in person to give them a final rating but for now they look like a

4 of 4 Ass Monkey

TV - Knight Rider lives again.

Well it was only an matter of time. Knight Rider will be returning to the small screen with David Hasselhoff in tow. NBC has just commissioned a tv movie that could potentially turn into a new series. I guess the series revolves around Michael Knight's son and the next generation of KITT. KITT 2.0 is also now a Ford Mustang. This show could be really cool, or it could be complete crap. I'm betting it will be crap, but you never know. I guess we'll have to wait till next season to know for sure.

You can read all about it HERE on Ain't it Cool News.

COMICS - Batman & The Joker

Well it's a big week for the Joker. 1st we got of some official press images of Heath Ledger as the Joker from "Batman the Dark Knight". I got to say I'm not too crazy about the look. I think Heath Ledger is a fine actor and I'm looking forward to his portrayal of Mr. J, but I think they went too far away from source material for the film. That being said, if the script and the performances are strong enough, then I'm sure I can look past it. I mean I looked past the fact that Alfred didn't have a mustache in "Batman Returns". :)

I give this look a 1 of 4 Ass Monkey

However I reserve the right to change my rating once the film is released. It could potentially go as high as a 3 of 3 Ass Monkey. If you're out there Heath I'm sure you're standing by.

On another Joker note. All-Star Batman and Robin #8 hit the stands last Wednesday. It's the 1st appearance of the Joker is this book. As most of you know I HATE this book. I mean I wouldn't wipe my ass with the pages from this book. It's god awful. Poor Jim Lee's talents are waisted on this POS. The fact that the same guy who wrote Sin City, Daredevil and Dark Knight wrote this crap-fest astounds me.

I do honestly believe that Miller knows what he is writing, he can't be that stupid. He's throwing his shit at the Warner Bros. wall knowing that DC will pay him an ass-load for it.

I know for a fact that he writes this book on the crapper while reading the latest issue of Maxim.










If you read this book knowing that simple fact it can be a fun read. A buddy sent me a link to a humorous article that breaks down the 1st 7 issues. This a MUST read, even if you haven't read any issues of the book. Here is PART 01 and PART 02. check them out, the dude summarizes this book perfectly.

I can't give this book anything more than a 1 of 4 Ass Monkey.

Not even Jim Lee's art can help this rating. If I could give it less I would.

TV - Conan O'Brien vs Walker Texas Ranger

If you like Conan O'Brien and Walker Texas Ranger, then you'll love this clip.

I give it a 3 of 4 ass Monkey

Comics - Midnight Men

There has not been much to blog about the last few weeks, I don't know why, but not much has caught my fancy. Maybe it's the holidays. Anyway I thought I'd share some pages from the comic book I'm producing called "Midnight Men" . Hope you like them. You can read up on all the characters HERE on the Midnight Men blog.

TOYS - TMNT

Now those of you who know me know I'm not a big Ninja Turtles fan. However I know quite a few of you are. I ran across a blog called The 5th Turtle. It's written by the head of Licensing, for the Turtles property. It's got some interesting insight into what it's like to manage an IP as large a the Turtles. By far my favorite post is this one HERE. It discusses the recent shift in power from the licenser to the now ALL POWERFUL Retailer.

TV - Simpsons vs Alan Moore

Last night comics writer Alan Moore had a guest appearance on the Simpsons. It was priceless. I need to score me a copy of Watchmen Babies.

Comics - Pulp it up

Thought I'd share a blog I found today called Pulp Sunday. Every Sunday artist Francesco Francavilla draws a scene from a pulp novel or radio show. He's starting off with one of my favorite pulp heroes, The Shadow.

You can also check out Francesco Francavilla's website HERE.

I give this site a 4 of 4 ass monkey (but how can I not).