Sometimes, keeping it simple just doesn’t work, and you have to go all gaslight on that shit.

[Source unknown]

How to Break Up Around Valentine’s Day is a post from: The Inquisitr

“I still believe in heroes” says Nick Fury.

“We have the Hulk” says Tony Stark

The ‘extended’ spot that played during the 2012 Super Bowl may not have been all that long but you definitely got to see some of the action that will be coming our way when The Avengers hits the movie theater on May 4, 2012.

I have my fingers, and several other parts of my body, crossed that this movie is going to seriously rock because anything less that awesomeness is going to be serious let down to a lot of people.

In the meantime here’s today’s new trailer for The Avengers and let us know what you think in the comments.

The Avengers extended trailer commercial from the Super Bowl [ Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

When I was a kid the Ghost Rider was one of my favorite comic book characters and then when I grew up and they decided to make a movie out of the character with Nicolas Cage starring as Ghost Rider I was just a tad apprehensive; and then they released the movie and I was devastated – it sucked major donkey balls.

Then I heard they were going to do a remake and this time they promised to do it right and my spirits lifted a little bit; and then I heard the reboot was going to once again star Nicolas Cage and I became despondent. I mean didn’t they learn anything the first time around?

However  when they posted the first official trailer of the reboot I clicked on the play button with a large degree of trepidation only to be pleasantly surprised. A surprised that has just increased with the release of a behind the scenes featurette of the work being done on the movie, and I can feel the excitement begin to grow once more even though it still has Nicolas Cage starring as the Ghost Rider.

I do have to admit to being just a little freaked when watching just how the directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are doing some pretty insane things to be able to get the shots they want for the movie – just watch for the arrows.

However I’ll leave it for you to decide but I’m looking forward to see if they can finally pull a great comic character out from movie hell and make an enjoyable movie to watch.

We can’t show you the featurette so here is the trailor:

You can see the featurette at FirstShowing.net

‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence’ behind-the-scenes featurette [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the most anticipated movies coming in the summer of 2012 has to be The Avengers from Marvel, which has had a number of big name comic character movies leading up to it.

It looks like those lucky enough to be going to the Comic Con in New York later this year will be getting a look at some new scenes from the movie.

Marvel will present a panel on Saturday October 15, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., where Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, along with actors Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, and Cobie Smulders will present never before seen footage of the movie.

I will admit that I am really looking forward to the Avengers and will greedily watch any new trailers that come out for the movie. In the meantime here here is Tom Hiddleston talking about his Loki character in the new movie.

via Hollywood Reporter

All new scenes from Avengers to be shown during NYC ComicCon is a post from: The Inquisitr

In addition to the unfair portrayal in pop culture, there are further pitfalls.

[source unknown]

On Being a Stepladder is a post from: The Inquisitr

This happens so frequently one would be forgiven for thinking its in the employee manual.

Every. Single. Time is a post from: The Inquisitr

In today’s update of the PSP’s digital comics service over at the PlayStation Blog, Sony announced they’ll be pulling the plug on the digital comics service.

Fortunately for comic fans, that doesn’t mean the 4,000+ strong digital comic library is going away – you’ll still be able to collect all of them, if you’re so inclined – but today’s update will be the last for the service.

While this marks the end for the PSP side, Sony assured fans that the service will be appearing on other Sony devices. We don’t know just what those devices will be yet, but I’d say that the PlayStation Vita is a pretty safe bet.

If you’re interested in seeing what the final waves of comics to hit the service are, head over to this link.

Sony shutting down PSP digital comics service is a post from: The Inquisitr

I have been a comic book lover for years, I even owned my own comic store for awhile; talk about a kid let loose in a candy store, and when I first heard of Graphicly (previously Graphic.ly but they seem to have dropped the ‘ly’ domain extension) I will admit to being a little sceptical.

It wasn’t so much the idea of a web based comic book service but rather being more of aesthetics as I wan’t overly convinced that digital versions of our favorite reading material could be pulled off. I have checked out other offerings, from Marvel for example, but none of them hit my personal sweet spot when it came to reading my comics online.

Graphicly though, has through its platform iterations, been a pleasant surprise and now they have gone one step further and created a fantastic web reading experience using HTML5.  Additionally they have incorporated all the social features that you could want for sharing your favorite comic much as you can see from this screenshot of one of my favorite comics Witchblade.

If you want to get even more immersive in your reading you can go to full screen mode and enjoy the smooth transition between panels, as well as drill down into each part of the panels depending on your viewing options you will really be able to enjoy your reading experience.

For those of you that aren’t so fond of doing everything in your browser Graphicly also has a really nice cross-platform desktop app (AIR) which is my preference.

Now if you are more into the mobile aspect of reading your favorite comics Graphicly has apps for Android, iPhone, iPad, and Windows Phone but to be honest I didn’t enjoy the reading experience that much. It might be different on a tablet but I really believe that is the smallest form factor for enjoyable reading.

Anyway if you are a comic fan, and especially indie comics then head over to Graphicly and try out their apps, or the web version, with any of the many free comics that they have available. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

thanks to Louis Gray for the heads up on the HTML5 release

Graphicly brings your comic love to wherever you are – now with HTML5 goodness is a post from: The Inquisitr

For those of you not familiar with the term cosplay it refers to people who dress up at their favorite character from a movie, a game, or as in the case with steampunk as an alternate universe that could have been.

In many cases though the term generally refers to some pretty incredible real life look-a-likes for everything like anime characters to comic characters. I get to see a lot of different images that people post of themselves while in character but this one of a woman dressed up as Lara Croft and hanging from a rope near a waterfall has to be one of the all time best.

There is CosPlay and then there is Lara Croft is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m not one for watching anything horror related but after seeing some of the trailers for the upcoming AMC show The Walking Dead I am going to have to break this stead fast rule and that was before I watched this new 17 minute behind the scenes trailer that just hit the web.

This is going to be awesome.

hat tip to FirstShowing.net

Massive new trailer for The Walking Dead is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ya, I’m a sucker for just about anything steampunk but toss in some of my favorite comic characters from the Marvel universe and you get a lot of damn I wish I owned those moments.

I mean what else can you say about a Victorian era version of Iron Man with a just right dose of steampunk thrown in for good measure?

The work is by a gentleman going by the nickname of Sillof, pronounced “Si” (like Psi or Sci-fi ) and “llof” (like cough or pilaf), who has been doing this kind of thing most of his life as a hobby.

You can find the complete collection of his works at Sillof’s Workshop but these are my favorites from his Victorian Marvels collection. Also one off the cool things about the collection is that Sillof has created a back story for some of the characters he has re-imaged so take a few minutes to drop by the site and check them out further.

Man of Iron

Thor

Captain America

Dr. Banner / Mr. Hulk

The Vision

Blind Priest – Daredevil

Wanted Outlaw – Frank “The Punisher” Castle

Victorian era Marvel characters with a touch of steampunk is a post from: The Inquisitr

Marvel Comics is one of the biggest names in the comic world and even though they came close to bankruptcy (see you can learn something from infographics) the company survived to become an entertainment powerhouse. So it was interesting to see this infographic from Online Schools and find out a few things I didn’t know before even though I use to collect and sell comics.

via Geeks Are Sexy

Some infographic love for Marvel is a post from: The Inquisitr

Harvey Pekar, creator of the American Splendor comic, has been found dead in his home.

Police responded to a call from Pekar’s wife at around 1am, and found his body “between a bed and a dresser.” Pekar’s wife said he was in “good spirits” when he retired to bed at around 4:30pm on Sunday. Cause of death was not immediately apparent, but the artist was suffering from prostate cancer, high blood pressure, depression and asthma in the years leading up to his death.

Pekar’s American Splendor comic chronicled his everyday life in a series of mundane jobs, and was adapted to become the 2003 film of the same name, starring Paul Giamatti. Pekar chronicled both his cancer diagnosis and his movie adaptation in two works titled Our Cancer Year and Our Movie Year, respectively.

An autopsy is planned, but no plans have yet been announced for a funeral or memorial services. Pekar was 70.

Comic author Harvey Pekar dead at 70 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Of all the villains that inhabit our world of fantasy and imagination none is more iconic than The Joker. From the comic books to the graphic novels and on our movie screens The Joker has become ingrained as a part of our culture.

These 13 visions of The Joker from artists around the world are a testament to his effect on our imaginations. Cartoonish to surreal, photo-realistic to black and white The Joker will always be a creative challenge.

13 Fantastic visions of The Joker is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you, like me, collected the hell out of Archie comics when you were a little girl, you may have been pleased to see that Riverdale High has finally diversified its student population.

This week, Archie Comics cartoonist Dan Parent disclosed that a new storyline involving Veronica will introduce the series’ first openly gay character. Parent says the character, Kevin Keller, will make his debut in Veronica #202:

“The plotline is that Veronica’s got the hots for this guy and can’t understand why he’s not interested in her,” Parent said, “and … he’s gay.”

The cartoonist said that while readers shouldn’t expect any of the regular characters to come out of the closet, we shouldn’t look for residents of Riverdale to make a big deal about Kevin’s sexuality, either. “The reaction is going to be, there isn’t going to be a reaction — it’s just going to be acceptance,” he said.

In a press release, Archie Comics confirmed that the character would be revealed in a storyline titled “Isn’t it Bromantic?” CEO of Archie Comics Jon Goldwater commented on the decision to add the character of Kevin Keller:

“The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive. Archie’s hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books.”

Things done changed: Archie’s Riverdale High gets its first gay student is a post from: The Inquisitr

If your geeky kid won’t come up out of the basement and stop reading comic books, it may not be such a bad thing. (Unless your kid is thirty-five and jobless.)

A new study indicates that comic books may not be far behind standard reading material in regards to impact of vocabulary and future inclination toward reading books. In fact, University of Illinois researcher Professor Carol Tilley described comics as “just as sophisticated” as other reading materials and indicated that children benefited ”at least as much” from comics as they do from regular books:

“A lot of the criticism of comics and comic books come from people who think that kids are just looking at the pictures and not putting them together with the words.

“Some kids, yes. But you could easily make some of the same criticisms of picture books – that kids are just looking at pictures, and not at the words.”

Tilley also said:

“Any book can be good and any book can be bad, to some extent. It’s up to the reader’s personality and intellect. As a whole, comics are just another medium, another genre.

Fanboys vindicated: studies indicate comics “just as good” as books is a post from: The Inquisitr

Imagine, for a moment, that Amazon has announced the next release of their Kindle product:  the Kindle DX II (pronounced “dee-ex two”), and while it includes a long list of upgrades and improvements, the single most important development is its ability to display full-color, when necessary, via a dual-mode rendering process.

Continue the imagination process for a moment to understand what new opportunities this would bring:  digitized issues of National Geographic, full-color covers for all Kindle edition books, and comicbooks.  Wait, what?  Comicbooks!?!?

The two largest comicbook enterprises, Marvel (now owned by Disney) and DC, have been experimenting with the digital revolution for their core business, to varied levels of success – Marvel has a “digital comic” subscription, are experimenting with “motion comics”, and even provides some online for free; DC has freely available origin stories for most (all?) of its characters, and provides previews of its upcoming comics (like Blackest Night: Superman #2).

The unsaid assumption throughout all of this, however, is that printed comicbooks will never actually leave this world, because the experience is too unique, and “motion comics” are likely just a supplement or even a novelty.  Cue the digital book revolution, stage left.

As e-readers continue to evolve, their core technology will undoubtedly reach a point where they are both feature-rich and cheap enough that it is no longer possible to ignore them – much like the iPod’s entrance a decade ago.  Color display options will undoubtedly be a feature of a future release, if only for the added market possibilities and display of illustration, since color eats away at battery life, to to mention unnecessary in black-and-white printed word display.

When e-readers have a color display option, comicbooks will likely become a market that explodes with growth and helps bring the devices to a more visible position in public life – who wouldn’t want their comicbook collection available on the train commute to work, or at school during boring classes?  The Kindle’s size and design would lend itself, almost uniquely, to comicbook usage and the actions of comicbook publishers suggest they would embrace the new, untapped market with open arms.

So, Amazon, if you really want to make the Kindle the reading device of the future, you need to target those who will gladly pay to make your dreams happen:  nerds.

And nerds love comicbooks.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction.  He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

Comicbook Publishers’ Untapped Market is a post from: The Inquisitr

Conferences can be a lot of fun especially when you get the ones that are dedicated to things that feed our imaginations. As much fun as they can be though there is no denying that we get to see the really strange and sometimes head shaking fans who take the whole conference going thing to heart.

Nowhere do we see this more than at things like the big comic conferences, such as the annual San Diego Comic-Con. Now I haven’t gone to any of these comic type conferences but I gotta tell ya if SDCC is any example of what happens I’m not sure I want to because there are some pretty strange folks out there. It’s one thing to be a fan but some of these people carry it a little too far I think.

The Smurfs?? … uhm how about a big No!

 [via newsarama]

And the sins of the father not to mention the silliness shall be visited upon their poor children.

[via StarWars.com Blog]

Apparently not even Lego’s are immune from being co-opted by their silly human overlords

[via StarWars.com Blog]

Anyone point these folks to the G.I. Joe Redneck Tailgate party please.

[via My Modern Metropolis]

Sorry dude but this Batman of yours – please go away before I puke or suffer a really bad acid flashback

[via My Modern Metropolis]

But then it can all be rescued by a gorgeous fan who does it right (yum)

 [via newsarama]

Comic-Con photos show how strange we can be is a post from: The Inquisitr

But then again, it’s not about making money, it’s about taking money.

Looks like someone didn’t read the Evil Overlord list.

Evil league of evil fail is a post from: The Inquisitr

For starters, they were way less emo.

[Source: Roflrazzi]

Why retro superheros are cool is a post from: The Inquisitr