It’s not a great thing to be Batman’s protege. You get shot at, blown up, killed, and — like Menudo, the Boy Scouts, or the Disney Channel — you get kicked out once you get too old. Robin is little more than a brightly colored sprite for criminals to shoot at instead of Batman, much like how a magician would use a sexy assistant to distract the audience. Except this sexy assistant is (usually) a nubile young boy, and stands a much better chance of actually getting sawed in half.

Robin has been part of the Batman mythos for 70 years. Even in real time, that means Batman must have gone through a slew of supple young teens by now. But in comic time? Hoo boy.

So just how many goddamn Robins are there anyway? (And why isn’t Batman clever enough to think of another alias for his underage sidekicks?)
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So I rented the movie Get Him to the Greek from Netflix. I was a big fan of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but missed this quasi-sequel in its theatrical run. I think renting a movie before purchasing is a perfectly acceptable and legal way of watching a movie, and allows me to make an informed decision before deciding if I like a movie enough to re-watch it often enough to warrant owning it.

Netflix is often times presented with bare-bones discs, which is fine if you just want the movie. After the movie was over, the DVD returned specifically to the special features menu. Seeing a slate of deleted scenes, I thought I’d continue the laughs and opted to “play all.” I was presented with a message: “This disc is intended for rental purposes and only includes the feature film. Own it on Blu-Ray or DVD to view these bonus features and complete your movie watching experience.”

Universal Pictures, it seems, was content to load only the movie on the disc, but not change the menus so that selecting ANY option other than the movie will show the above message. This is really obnoxious and annoying and I’m wondering how many movies I’ve rented from Netflix with similar messages I never accessed.

I’d like to mention that I’m not really against a bare-bones DVD release for renters, but to keep all the menus in tact and waive this “PLEASE BUY THE MOVIE” message up front is fairly strange, and almost abusive to the viewer. Why do I feel like a criminal when I pay my Netflix bill? You guys sold them the DVD! I could’ve downloaded a pirate copy and seen no such message!

Sadly, the tactic worked, as the movie was hilarious and I’ll probably buy it to watch any expanded features. Still, there is a nice way to do things and I’m not sure Universal did it.

Entertainment Weekly just released the first front-on pic of Chris Evans in full Captain America costume from the Captain America: The First Avenger film, which has a release date of July 22nd 2011.

If that chin doesn’t do it for you, folks, I don’t know what will.

Watch my video review of DC’s latest reboot and 21st century re-imagining of Superman; Illustrations by Shane Davis, written by J. Michael Straczynski.

Superman Earth One is available at local comic book stores today, and will be available from other booksellers and retailers on November 1, 2011.

You can purchase Superman Earth One here. Or read Secret Origin, or Birthright, which also proclaim to be 21st century reboots of Superman. Seriously, is the origin story the only one worth telling?

Syfy has announced in a statement that it has seen fit to cancel Caprica, the prequel series to rebooted Battlestar Galactica.

“The remaining first run episodes of Caprica – airing Tuesdays at 10/9c – will be removed from the schedule as of next Tuesday, November 2. These final five episodes of the season will be re-scheduled to air at a to be announced time in the first quarter of 2011, and will conclude the run of the series.”

“We appreciate all the support that fans have shown for Caprica and are very proud of the producers, cast, writers and the rest of the amazing team that has been committed to this fine series,” said Mark Stern, programming head at Syfy. “Unfortunately, despite its obvious quality, Caprica has not been able to build the audience necessary to justify a second season.”

This news comes very soon after Syfy ordering a new pilot for a series based in the same Battlestar Galactica universe that occurs between Caprica and Battlestar Galactica. It will follow a young William Adama, a fresh recruit from the academy assigned to the brand new Battlestar, Galactica. Events will take place during the first Cylon war. The series will be called Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome. Executive Producer David Eick is back without Ron Moore this time around.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, a sentient robotic race, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a brash rookie viper pilot enters the fray. Ensign William Adama, barely in his 20’s and a recent Academy graduate, finds himself assigned to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet… the Galactica. The talented but hot-headed risk-taker soon finds himself leading a dangerous top secret mission that, if successful, will turn the tide of the decade long war in favor of the desperate fleet.

The L.A. Times “Hero Complex” column recently had an interview with Christopher Nolan, who had a bit to say about the 3rd upcoming Batman movie in his famed series.

He goes on to reveal the new movie’s title will be “The Dark Knight Rises“, and not “Shadow of the Bat” like a few rumor mills were banking on. He also would not reveal the villains of the film, but did knock a few off the list – namely the Riddler and Mr. Freeze. The Riddler was the fan-favorite for possible Nolanverse villain in the 3rd movie, given the gritty realism that Nolan has been staunch to stick to. The Mr. Freeze angle, while could work within Nolan’s means if done a different way than we’re used to, was stricken from the list just to save us the trouble of guessing who could be a villain if not Edward Nygma.
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In a world where Mass Effect and Dragon Age exist, there’s really no good reason to obfuscate the process of importing save data from a game sequel’s predecessor — and yet Lionhead Studios has managed to do this with Fable III.

So how do I make sure Fable III imports the Fable II character I want?

• Launch Fable II
• Select your desired hero
• Once in the game world, save and quit
• Launch Fable III and start a new game

This tidbit of wisdom was gleaned after an hour of trial and error, following 40 minutes of otherwise enjoyable gameplay that was riddled with the uncertainty that any import had in fact occurred.

What the hell, Peter Molyneux? If the intent was to keep the player immersed in the game world, then this oversight makes that goal an impossibility, and now my entire perception of Fable III is colored by it.
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Art Asylum has unveiled a new exclusive pack of Marvel Mini-mates on their blog.

From their blog:

Here they are finished and in final package for the first time, the Heroes and Adversaries 4 pack. This is a great pack that features some of the Marvel Universe’s most popular characters. Available through Toy Brigade/Xtreme Toys

I did a quick search for these two outlets and didn’t turn much up aside from that one is a toy retailer somewhere in California. Its not clear if this deadpool is the same as the one from Wave 28. Gotta say, that Venom looks terrible.