A couple weeks ago I was invited to be an extra in Public Enemies, a new movie starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and directed by Michael Mann. As you can probably guess I had quite an experience, which I’ve detailed all at The Daily Page.

Click here to read: On set at Public Enemies with Michael Mann and Johnny Depp in Wisconsin

Everyone knows Superman was originally created by two men – Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster – whose creation first appeared in Action Comics #1. As of last week, a judge ruled that the heirs of Jerry Siegel were to receive half the copyright of that material back. What does this mean exactly? Well, if I had to distill the story down into only two wildly oversimplified bulletpoints, then know this – DC may have just lost half the profits they make (and have made since 1999) off of Superman, and they may lose the remaining half of the copyright entirely to the Shuster estate in 5 years.

Now, things aren’t really as cut and dry as that – as in any legal case, there’s a lot of room for interpretation. And expect DC/Warner to make more than a couple appeal attempts as well.

But for now…
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Saturday morning cartoons are a staple of every child’s life. Nearly every good (and even some not-so-good) Saturday morning animated feature had a video game tie-in to go along with it. Along with kid-favorites such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers, there were also shows such as Exo-Squad and Gargoyles which, while they were still intended for children, contained themes which were more complex than what one would find on shows like Pokemon. Phantom 2040, which debuted in the mid 90s, was one of the shows in the latter category. It told the story of Kit Walker, who was the 24th Phantom. In the distant future, he was charged with saving the city of Metropia from collapse. It was bought to an end after only 2 seasons, mostly due to it’s themes of environmentalism, corporate greed, and social structure going over viewer’s heads. This was especially unfortunate considering that the show had a lot going for it. It had a stylish art style (thanks to Aeon Flux creator Peter Chung), solid writing, and a vocal cast featuring the likes of Mark Hamil, Margot Kider, and Deborah Harry to name a few. Most impressive of all, it featured a 16-bit era video game tie-in that didn’t suck. This was indeed impressive, especially given the dismal track record of 16-bit games based on existing intellectual properties back then.

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After a long series of delays and setbacks, the Four Horsemen have given us a long awaited updated on the status of the Exclusives from last year.

To bring everyone up to speed, the first factory gave everyone the run around trying to avoid being shut down. Eventually, they were closed their doors and neglected to let 4H in on the situation. Fortunately, with a little intervention from some friends over at NECA, the molds were salvaged and a new factory was hired. That is a very short description of what happened over a very long period of time. The figures were produced at the new factory and pre-production samples looked very very promising. The large shipment of figures was scheduled to be shipped March 20th, 2008. They are hopeful that they will be in with enough time to bring them to NYCC to sell at the booth the Four Horsemen will be sharing with Action Figure Express. Eric Treadaway mentioned that due to some order cancellations that there would be a good opportunity for singles and sets of the whole Anitherian Nine lineup available, though, he was not specific on details.

You can read it all here or look after the jump for the original text. The link also has some pictures the factory sent the 4H of Ramathor in production.

We’ve been following this series of figures for a while now:
Ramathor revealed
Variants Revealed 1
Variants Revealed 2
Variants Revealed 3
Variants Revealed 4
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A While after Age of Empires II, Ensemble game studios went to work on another RTS. Although it has similar gameplay mechanics to Age of Empires, it’s a different experience. For one, there are are only three civilizations as compared to the many civilizations from Age of Empires. Players can choose between the Greeks, the Norse, and the Egyptians. However, each civilization has it’s own set of powers, units, and structures. Each civilization has three gods, one of which you select before a match. Also, there is only one single-player campaign, although it’s huge and expansive. You follow the adventures of Atlantean general Arkantos as he attempts to regain the favor of the god Poseidon. You’ll travel through each of the three lands and meet each of the three civilizations.
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SuperHeroHype has the amazing first images of GIJOE’s masked ninja Snake Eyes in the forthcoming motion picture.

I tell ya, people bitched about Wolverine being tall and not having the yellow suit, people bitched about flames on Optimus Prime, but no one is going to bitch about this.
Ray Park is the man behind the mask, and just like his role as Toad, the Headless Horseman, and Darth Maul; expect him to do some wild shit in this costume.
GIJOE, directed by Stephen Sommers, is currently filming and will be released Summer 2009.
Here is another shot in case the one above isn’t good enough.

Next month, NECA will be releasing action figures for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based on their original comic book design. Each figure comes loaded with accessories including a small turtle, weapons, and base. The first wave consists of Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael. I have not heard of any plans for future waves, but if I do, I’ll be sure to post about it. Figures.com had pictures of the packaging.
    

Fans attending the New York Comic Con will have a chance to purchase the entire wave in an exclusive box set.

Here are the figures loose:

   

Feel free to join in the discussion on these figures here on our forums.

Source: Figures.com

Thanks to his inclusion in the cast of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Pit, the hero of Kid Icarus has finally broken out of obscurity and back into the gaming icon spotlight. No word yet on a new Kid Icarus game, but in the meantime, here is one of his earlier adventures. This little known Game Boy cart, released in 1991 is the only sequel to the Nintendo Entertainment System 8-bit classic. The goddess Palutena has summoned Pit back into action to help defend Angel Land from the demon Orcos. However, Pit must first travel through four worlds and gather the three sacred treasures. Along the way, you must also prove your worth to Zeus. Towards the end of the fourth stage, Zeus will judge your performance and determine how many of the sacred treasures you will be able to use in the final battle. The game uses the same engine as Metroid II, and the graphics have been slightly improved from the game’s console predecessor. Unlike the original NES game, the game scrolls in all directions, allowing players to backtrack. The password system from the NES has been nixed in favor of a save system. They may be small improvements, but they are nice to have. If you’re a fan of Kid Icarus, or a recent Smash Brothers player who wants to know more about Pit, then you should definitely seek out this cart. It will tide you over until Nintendo creates a sequel.