You may remember us reporting about an announcement at the 2006 SDCC. Basically, issue 102 of the Fantastic Four had a script re-write which forced Jack Kirby to shelve his already completed art for the book and redraw all the page. This shelved art recently surfaced and Marvel was going to have Stan Lee write a story and dialogue to go with the art and release it to the public. After that announcement, we never really heard anything more about it.

It turns out that the comic appears to have already been released, but not in the way we all expected. Here is the posting from the Blogs@Newsarama:

The story we first heard about a year ago, the lost FF #102 has finally been published. But not as Marvel announced but rather as a digital comic on a DVD as a Best Buy exclusive that comes with a Silver Surfer figurine for $14.99. I picked mine up last night but have not yet watched/read it… Here’s the info on the DVD.

“FANTASTIC 4 — THE LOST JACK KIRBY STORY (digital comic)
The Story Behind The Lost Story:
In 1970, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby talked ove the plot that was going to become FANTASTIC FOUR #102. Jack drew the pencils, but when Stan got them, he didn’t feel that they matched what he had discussed with Jack, so he put them aside. Parts of that story later appeared as flashback scenes in FANTASTIC FOUR issue #108, but the rest remained unpublished, and the pages have neve been put together to appear as a single, complete story in their own right — until now! With the help of Jack Kirby’s estate, Marvel has reassembled most of that story. Stan Lee has rescripted it, and Joe Sinnott has inked the pages that weren’t inked before. Ron Frenz has filled in on pencils for any gaps in the existing material, and worked in Jack’s classic style. Chris Sotomayor colored the story in classic comics style. Now for the first time, experience this Golden Age Fantastic Four story that has never been publiehsed — on your TV using your DVD player!”

I’m pretty disappointed that Marvel chose this as the format for its release. It seems like a bit of a slap in the face to have to pay $14.99 for the digital book. I’m still holding out hope that it will be released in hard copy format at my local comic shop.

Figures.com is reporting that Kaiyodo, makers of the hit japanese toy line Revoltech, will be releasing a subline of female figures starting with the ever-underaged and curiously hot Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Description from CoolJapaneseToys:

The FRAÜLEIN REVOLTECH Rei Ayanami stands six inches tall and features multiple articulation points, including a newly developed joint and body system known as E.L.F.. The five innovations of “E.L.F.” are as follow:

1) – The ball & socket joints are hidden inside the torso, imparting an elegant shoulder shape.

2) – The shoulders rotate on all axis, allowing poses never before possible, including folded arms.

3) – The special concealed custom Kaiyodo’s Revolver joints maintain the natural leg shape and posture.

4) – The curved lower pelvis flows smoothly into the leg and creates a natural bikini line.

5) – The ankle Revolver joint clicks comfortably into position for graceful poses.

In addition to this new joint system, FRAÜLEIN REVOLTECH Rei Ayanami will include multiple accessories; the Lance of Longinus, 2 sets of hands and a display base.

FRAÜLEIN REVOLTECH Rei Ayanami will be imported to the U.S. via Organic Hobby in January 2008 with a SRP of $23.00.

Its pretty cool that they threw in the Lance of Longinus as an accessory, not to mention the new joint system. The figure looks amazingly posable. You can bet this line will be popular among anime fans, toy collectors and pedophiles!

   

When I first played Metroid Prime Hunters on DS, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was an elaborate Quake III mod. Now id software’s less PC-specific branching out to consoles, mobiles, and portables is getting us a port of not only Quake III Arena but also their FPS classic (and my first introduction to floating-gun-gaming) Wolfenstein 3D.

Says John Carmack of id:

“…we’re currently looking at potentially two more DS titles in the next year a Wolfenstein title and a Quake Arena title. Wolfenstein 1 being done in concert with a mobile title, the Quake Arena title would be DS specific”

Now cross your fingers for WiFi support.

from Advanced Media

Just hours after I wondered aloud if the GI Joe movie would still happen soon with the writer’s strike on, Sienna Miller has become the first actress cast.

Miller is a British actress and will be playing fan-favorite character The Baroness. In addition to being Destro’s right hand lady, she’s a skilled spy and a master of disguise.

Filmingwith director Stephen Sommers will begin in February 2008 to make the August 7, 2009 release date. Miller will dye her hair black for the role or everyone will cry.

Read more at Variety. Thanks to Joey O for the tip.

“Cloverfield” was the code name for this secret movie that was filming with unknown actors and had a huge preview before Transformers. Now the movie officially has a title… Cloverfield. Well at least we know what to ask for when we buy the tickets.

Watch the youtube embed above or if you’re a fan of hi-def video, click here.

Newly independant Halo developers Bungie have been talking a lot about new maps, using code words and vague tempting descriptions, but now they make the trio of multiplayer additions official.

Available December 11, 2007 for 800 MS Points ($10 US) will be the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack. You’ll be able to download these using your XBox Live account connection. There are 3 maps in all: Standoff, Rat’s Nest, and Foundry.

Standoff is a symetrical map with 2 bases set at dusk and giant satellite dishes in the background. Rat’s Nest is the companion to the campaign mission Crow’s Nest, featuring indoor and outdoor settings. Foundry was designed from the ground up for Forge alterations; apparently almost everything in the map can be moved or deleted.

Those not wishing to buy the maps will get them free in Spring, right when the next map pack goes for sale.

Read all about maps direct from the designers at Bungie.net

This one is firmly in rumorville, but since the names are big, I’m going to pass it along.

EGM’s “Quarterman” column this month suggests EA will be announced as the publisher for the videogame companion to the big budget GI Joe movie.

With a writer’s strike on and the exact status of the Joes uncertain, the movie could well come out later than the intended summer 2009 release. This could be good news for a game, as the one thing holding back many license games is a rush to get the job done by the movie release date. Activision’s Transformers was a good game, but was about 2 months worth of adjustments and tuning away from a great game.

GI Joe has certainly been the subject of games before, with 2 pretty good NES titles and a fun coin-op entry as well. A next gen third person shooter with all the goofy joe vehicles, characters, and gadgets is just the thing we need to shake up the overly serious shooters. In fact, its high time I log on to Halo 3 and see if I can’t build some kind of Joes vs Cobras map…

In 1996, the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were on their last legs. Won over by their technical capabilities, long time publishers and developers were abandoning the 16-bit cartridge based systems in favor of new stand alone 32-bit disc based systems such as Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn. One of these publishers was Square. Before leaving Nintendo’s side however, Squaresoft joined forces with Nintendo to produce one of the best role playing games ever. Sadly, along with being the last Squaresoft product released on the Super Nintendo, this would also be the last Mario game released for the system. Even so, this game managed to push the Super Nintendo to its limits by providing cutting edge SGI rendered graphics, innovative gameplay, and a solid story line. The game starts off as any other Mario game does. Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool, and Mario runs off to rescue her. However, when a new enemy arrives causing chaos, things immediately spin out of control and Mario finds himself teaming up with his arch nemesis (along with a few other characters) in order to set things right.

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