Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 23, 2008 in Comic Books
Shown above is a detail from the first cover of Sky Doll #1 the first French comic being published by Marvel in May (although it should be pointed out that both the artist and author are Italian). As much as I love manga I think it’s great to see French comics get some real distribution here in the United States. Here’s a description of the book which is illustrated by Alessandro Barbucci and writing by Barbara Canepa:
“Meet Noa, a so-called Sky Doll; a life-like female android without rights, who exists only to serve the State’s needs and desires. But when Noa meets two so-called “missionaries” who aid in her escape from her tyrannical master, all hell breaks loose for our cyborg siren as she uncovers clues that she may be much more than just a robotic toy. The first release in a new partnership between Marvel and cutting-edge French publisher Soleil!”
I never quite liked the TV show itself, but for my money back in 1985 there was nothing quite as cool as the opening titles of ThunderCats, in fact we would video tape it and watch it frame-by-frame to catch everything that was going on! Well now you can relive the glory the this epic show and give your friends nicknames like Panthro and Cheetara with this rad ThunderCats t-shirt from ThinkGeek.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 22, 2008 in Comic Books
How often do you see pink used on a comic book cover in a non-cute way? I just love the concert poster look of the cover of Amazing Joy Buzzards Volume 1: Here Come The Spiders illustrated by Dan Hipp due out in stores in May from Image Comics. Here’s a description of the book which features a story by Mark Andrew Smith:
“The world’s greatest rock ‘n roll adventure band makes their original graphic novel debut With girl-magnet Biff on guitar and vocals, tough guy Stevo on bass, and four-eyed genius Gabe on drums – not to mention their mythical Mexican wrestler genie, El Campeon – the Amazing Joy Buzzards hop from one fast-paced adventure to the next, living life to the fullest! As their world tour commences, their battle with the nefarious Spider Syndicate gets into full swing with the fate of the world in the balance!”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 21, 2008 in Animation
In 1991 for some odd reason Brian Cirulnick and myself were able to talk John O’Donnell of Central Park Media into making the first Anime themed CD-ROM. The CD-ROM featured 1,000 targa images taken from various Anime TV shows and movies (everything from from Project A-ko to Urusei Yatsura) and 100 digital video clips which were produced using the then new technology QuickTime from Apple Computer. In fact the CD-ROM was the 2nd commercial title to feature QuickTime, the first I believe was a porno title. The other cool thing about the project was that it featured a multimedia presentation which contained a catalog showing a thumbnail sketch of each image. After it’s release the CD-ROM started to sell well and was even picked up by Educorp (one of the early CD-ROM catalogs). However sadly the title was spotted in Japan by one of the copyright holders who mistook it for a video game and thus ending the shelf life of the project.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 21, 2008 in Science
I wish I was an astronaut! Shown above is a great photo taken by an astronaut aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis on February 18, 2008. Click on the image to see it as full size…
“It took just a couple of hours using data available on the internet for University of Sydney scientists to discover that the Milky Way is twice as wide as previously thought. Astrophysicist Professor Bryan Gaensler led a team that has found that our galaxy – a flattened spiral about 100,000 light years across – is 12,000 light years thick, not the 6,000 light years that had been previously thought.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 20, 2008 in Animation
Shown above are the opening titles for Zero-sen Hayato (0戦はやと) an anime series that ran for 41 episodes back in 1964 and was produced by Fuji TV. The series got started as a manga by Naoki Tsuji and deals with fighter pilots during World War II.
“What’s the biggest misconception about teleportation? That the object itself is being sent. We’re not sending around material stuff. If I wanted to send you a Boeing 757, I could send you all the parts, or I could send you a blueprint showing all the parts, and it’s much easier to send a blueprint. Teleportation is a protocol about how to send a quantum state—a wave function—from one place to another.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 18, 2008 in Science
Shown above is a video of author George Dyson at the TED conference. Dyson wrote an amazing book on Project Orion, a massive, nuclear-powered spacecraft that could have taken us to Saturn in five years.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 18, 2008 in Comic Books
Mixtape Volume 1: Food One published by Image Comics goes on sale this week. This is an amazing hardcover art work featuring the work of Jim Mahfood (Clerks, Grrl Scouts, Stupid Comics) and includes everything from album covers to animation pitches. Shown above (click on the image to see it at full size) on the left is the cover art by Jim Mahfood and Jose Garibaldi and the right and below interior art by Jim Mahfood.
I just came across this fan made video which features the characters from Sailor Moon dancing to the song Dan-Jo. It seems to be a reply to this video which features the characters from Gundam 00:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 17, 2008 in Dr. Who
I sometimes just don’t get the folks who do the merchandising! Shown above is limited edition $300 model of Doctor and Davros from the classic 70s Dr. Who episode Genesis of the Daleks. While I loved that episode I just don’t get the appeal of having this on your shelf unless it’s some sort of eBay investment scheme. Why not instead release a model based on sexy sidekick Leela whom every fanboy had a now not so secret crush on? I’m also amazed that in this era of mainstream acceptance of cosplay that the Doctor’s fashion forward isn’t on sale at better apparel shops worldwide…
eBay investors please take note: Dark Horse will be releasing the above model in May.
“Disneyland will team with Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and others to bring the $15-million Innoventions Dream Home to Tomorrowland in May, according to the Associated Press. The two-bedroom demonstration home with a kitchen, living room, dining room, study and backyard (but no bathroom) will feature current and near-future technology, including:
* Closets that help select clothes and suggest matching outfits.
* Touch-screen kitchen countertops that recognize groceries and make menu recommendations.
* Digital artwork that adjusts to personal preset preferences.
Disney actors will play the fictional Elias family of four (an obvious nod to Walter Elias Disney) living a “digital lifestyle” in the 5,000-square-foot “smart house” inside the rotating-floor Innoventions building.”
Sure it wasn’t a Sean Connery picture but The Spy Who Loved Me was one of my favorite films back in 1977. I think every fanboy back then would have loved to go on a dream date with Barbara Bach while driving underwater in a Lotus Esprit:
“OK, so the Swiss have invented a car that runs on land and underwater. But did they REALLY have to make it a convertible? It’s called the “sQuba,” and conjures up memories of James Bond’s amphibious Lotus Esprit from “The Spy Who Loved Me.” That fictional vehicle traveled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine — complete with “torpedoes” and “depth charges”.”
“The Red Planet was too salty to sustain life for much of its history, according to the latest evidence gathered by one of the US rovers on Mars’ surface. High concentration of minerals in water on early Mars would have made it inhospitable to even the toughest microbes, a leading NASA expert says.
Clues preserved in rocks that were once awash with water suggest the environment was both acidic and briny. The observations were made by the US space agency’s Opportunity rover. It has spent months examining rocks on an ancient Martian plain.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2008 in Comic Books
Eric Powell covers always feel more like a good old fashioned pulp fiction magazine rather than showing super heros covers which always feature guys running around in their underwear — shown above is a detail from the cover of The Goon #24 which will be out on May 14th at a creepy comic book shop near you.
When I first read the The Pentagon is going to shoot down an ailing US spy satellite, my first thought was “I want that job!” But sadly instead of sending up fanboys on the space shuttle armed with ray guns (like the Japanese Tin Space Gun pictured above) the Pentagon will just do the conventional solution of firing a missile from boat:
I hare to admit it, but this looks pretty darn good! I know I made all of those jokes about Geriatric Jones but come May 22nd I get the feeling that this old dorky fanboy is standing on line waiting all day.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 14, 2008 in Videogames
Shown above is the 3D work of talented interactive media pioneer Larry Rosenthal. Larry has just opened his own 3C Skybase (shown above) and Star Trek Tribute Lounge in Second Life:
“Second Life, Jan 21, 2008: Cube3 the creators of the Starbase C3 Online World and RPG, has created with the sponsorship of the StarFleet Command Second Life Quadrant Roleplayers ( SFCSLQ) a new multilevel floating outpost at the groups sim at Sovereign. The Outpost , named the C3 Skybase Sovereign is now open and all aliens, avatars , etc, are welcome to attend.