The World’s First Talking Comic Book Cover

X-O ManoWar courtesy Valiant

  The voice of War will command you to buy his comic book! Actually I’m not sure what he’ll say but Valiant Comics is talking up a comic book breakthrough – the world’s first QR code augmented talking comic book cover. Preview posters for the X-O Manowar #1 QR Voice Variant are coming to comic book shops this Wednesday.

“We want fans worldwide to know that something special is happening in their local comic shop during the build-up to May 2nd and the launch of the new Valiant Universe,” said Valiant Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani. “Valiant’s QR Voice Variant is not only a new innovation in comics and a true incentive for retailers, but an enhanced and immersive experience for fans as well. By merging elements of print and digital, we’ve hopefully created something that fans will just have to see in person!”

  X-O Manowar #1 by Robert Venditti and Cary Nord will re-tell the tale of the Visigoth warrior in the alien armor when Valiant relaunches May 2nd.

  “From the beginning, it has been Valiant’s mission to get readers into their local comic shop and talking about what makes this such an exciting medium,” said Valiant CEO Jason Kothari. “A trailblazing effort like the QR Voice poster and accompanying limited edition cover to X-O Manowar #1 not only accomplishes that, but also brings a first-of-its-kind interactive experience to print.”

For the entire press release here’s the Comics Newsarama link.

A Seattle Man’s Marvel Universe!

  A friend introduced me to the work of this super creative and devoted Marvel  fan! I begged to be introduced so I could show off his creations to the geek world! I really love that he gave Nightcrawler his own cloud of brimstone!

  “Nightcrawler and X-Force are still under constructions, but that was probably about 4 hours so far,” Michael told me about the time he puts into this labor of love.

  “I started do customs/modifications because the toy companies either weren’t making the characters I wanted, or weren’t getting all of the details right, so I either made them from scratch or modified them,” he added.

  I wanted to know about Michael’s early influences and favorites.

  “My first comic was actually a Batman comic back in the seventies, but that was probably the only DC comic I really ever had – I have always been a diehard Marvel fan. Spider-Man was my favorite as a kid, but I have grown to love the X-Men more than anything (can’t narrow it down to one character – love Nightcrawler, Beast, Colossus, Iceman and Wolverine in that order).  Favorite villain is by far Apocalypse (can’t believe they haven’t made a movie with him as the villain).”

  Michael’s creations are so stunning I wanted to ask him about advice for other fans who turn their comic book heroes into models. 

  “As for any tips – make something that will make you happy looking at it on your shelf… it is exciting to know you can have a one of a kind figure that you created. 

 Michael – I salute your creativity and share your passion!

My Comic Book Movie Oscars

The Cast of X-Men: First Class courtesy Marvel.com

Best Film: X-Men: First Class

 

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr/Magneto

 

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme/Mystique

 

Best Supporting Actor: Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast

 

Best Supporting Actress: Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter

 

Best Director: Matthew Vaughn X-Men: First Class

 

Best Villain: Tom Hiddleston/Loki

 

Best Script: X-Men: First Class

Captain America: The First Avenger courtesy Marvel.com

 

Most Inspiring Moment: Captain America bringing back Bucky and his unit back!

 

Best Special Effect: Asgard and the Bifrost

 

Best Human Special Effect: Chris Hemsworth (male) January Jones(female)

 

Best Costumes: Thor

 

Best Decision to Change a Costume for the Big Screen: Captain America

 

Gone Too Soon: Darwin, X-Men: First Class

 

Coolest Comic Book to Movie Makeover: Azazel (Jason Flemying) X-Men: First Class

Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes in Captain America: The First Avenger courtesy Marvel.com

 

Coolest Male Character I Hope to See in a Sequel: Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan)

 

Coolest Female Character I Hope to See More of in a Sequel: Lady Sif (Jaime Alexander)

 

Most Perfect Casting: Chris Evans (Steve Rogers) and Hugo Weaving (Red Skull)

 

Best Mix of Marvel Mythology in one movie while still keeping it accessible: Captain America: The First Avenger

 

Honorary Award: James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier. Michael Fassbender received most of the praise but he had the more demanding role. Everyone roots for the anti-hero. Xavier was the optimistic, steady yin to Erik’s passionate, revenge driven yang.  Xavier is the mentor to the other characters and McAvoy was the rock for the rest of the cast.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki & Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor courtesy Marvel

 

Honorary Award: Kenneth Branaugh! I had serious doubts about making Norse Gods, Asgard, and the Nine Realms accessible and enjoyable but he pulled it off beautifully. His Shakespearean background was perfect to infuse the Odin, Thor, Loki conflict with power and drama.

  A stellar year for Marvel superhero fans at the box-office. Great action, inspiration, and emotion. Thanks to all the creators and actors who accepted the challenge of bringing our heroes to the big screen.

 

The Walking Dead Should Never Have Been a TV Show – But I’m Glad It Is!

  It’s a big weekend for Robert Kirkman. The first ever Image Expo is underway celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publisher. The Walking Dead fans are in a frenzy with news that David Morrissey has been cast as the Governor and will join the series next season.

 I wanted to share part of this Comic Book Resources interview with Kirkman. I think it sums up why the show is a hit. 

“The Walking Dead should never have been made in to a TV show. I’ll just say that right now. When I was doing the comic, never in a million years did I think that anyone would ever go “oh, zombies on TV? Good idea!” It’s not a good idea. It’s a huge risk. It’s gotta be gory, it’s gotta have characters dying. It’s like you said, it’s a very hard thing to adapt for TV.”

“Anyways, it took AMC to have the guts to say “oh you know what, that is a good idea, that would be kind of neat, we would like to try and make that a TV show.” So no, I haven’t gotten any pushback. They read a large portion of the comic; I think issue 65 was out by the time they were trying to make it in to a show. They knew what they were getting in to. They loved the comic and they wanted to adapt that. There was no push back because they knew what they were doing. I can’t gush about AMC enough.”

 As I fan I have to agree with the praise for AMC for allowing the same unpredictability you have in comics on television. If you’re a reader of Kirkman’s series it’s hard to imagine a network allowing the kind of brutality the Governor delivers in the comics to be on television.

 For Kirkman’s entire interview here’s the Comic Book Resources link.

4 Minutes on Mars With John Carter!

Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins in Disney's John Carter

  Somewhere up in Heaven I think Edgar Rice Burroughs is smiling or cheerig. Here’s 4 minutes of Disney’s John Carter based on the first John Carter novel A Princess of Mars. I think director Andrew Stanton has done it! Bring on the Tharks!

I can’t believe we’ve had so many version of Tarzan and this is the first John Carter…hopefully it’s just the beginning! See you on Barsoom in March! Thanks to Twitchfilm. I suggest you check their more expanded review.

New Grant Morrison Project at Image

 

Happy teaser art courtesy Image Comics

  The Image Expo kicked off with a huge announcement. Grant Morrison (Action Comics, Batman Incorporated) is bringing a new project called Happy! to Image Comics this year. Publisher Eric Stephenson made the announcement in his keynote address. Darick Robertson will illustrate the series.

  IFanboy has the exclusive story, teaser image and an extended interview with Morrison.

 Morrison did tell IFanboy the series is “in a genre he’s never really tackled before…but with a bizarre twist, of course.” 

  Let the speculation begin!

  Morrison did say he will continue writing Superman and Batman titles and Seaguy for Vertigo.

Super Teen Fighting Cancer Gets a Date With Taylor Swift

  A teen fighting cancer asked Taylor Swift to be his date for the prom. The country superstar can’t make it but she asked Kevin McGuire to be her date for the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Take a look at this heroic profile from ABC7 in Philadelphia and let’s talk about the possible comic book connection:

 

You can’t help but notice the Superman blanket! I wonder if he’s a comic fan. Regardless, Kevin is a real hero and inspiration.

My friend Carol is a huge country music fan. She knows I’m a big comic book super hero fan. Sometimes you need a story like this to remind of what’s important in life. So we both wanted to share this inspiring story and wish Kevin a full recovery and great time on his date with Taylor!