Thunderbolts #110
written by Warren Ellis, art by Mike Deodato

As Civil War trudges along, it’s finally time for the much-hyped new Thunderbolts lineup launch! While I’m a longtime fan of the group under Fabian Nicieza’s excellent pen (and I question the decision of taking the book out from under him – again), I won’t deny that the different approach Warren Ellis is bringing to the table has caught my interest.

In the new lineup we have cold-blooded killers mixed in with former, more heroic Thunderbolts. With the psychotics being controlled by nanites, and unwilling holdovers being forced on the team for yet unexplained reasons, things are no doubt going to be tense and violent, and with the ever-brilliant Mike Deodato (ever-famous for his work on the Hulk – where he even drew the Thunderbolts’ first appearance, in Incredible Hulk #449) on pencils, they should also look fantastic. Keep on reading after the jump for 5 preview pages – you really don’t want to miss it; Bullseye show off the different facets of his crazy while never lifting a finger – and also for our quick ‘n dirty rundown on the characters involved.

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The #1 reason people were still buying Playstation 2 this fall is coming to Xbox 360. Guitar Hero II will sport a classy white guitar based on the Gibson Explorer and will likely feature online functionality like song downloads (starting with the entire original Guitar Hero song list). Theres a press photo on the left of the box and guitar as well as the sticker sheet.

This much we know. But at CES yesterday, Kotaku’s Micheal McWhertor not only played it, but found out some of the new songs. Team Xbox also dig up some info. from those 2 links I’ve culled 8 of the 10 new songs:

“Surrender” – Cheap Trick {Correction: Reader Matthew points out that this track is already in the PS2 version of the game.}
“Billion Dollar Babies” -Alice Cooper
“Dead!”- My Chemical Romance
“Hush” – Deep Purple
“Life Wasted” – Pearl Jam
“Rock N Roll Hoochie Koo” – Rick Derringer
“Possum Kingdom” – Toadies
“Salvation” – Rancid

Those worried that GHII had a little too much metal can rest easy and this is a generous helping of classic and modern rock.
While I understand that online co-op is impossible, online leaderboards is going to inspire some really dedicated players in ways YouTube can’t provide. And I’ll happily shell out for some, if not all of the original Guitar Hero tracks, especially if they’re enhanced for GHII’s co-op multiplayer.

Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360 is slated for a March release in North America and Europe.

In the ongoing saga of Marvel teasing the FF’s new lineup, there’s been a couple new hints this week. For starters, you might want to catch up on the previous teaser image we showed you, featuring Storm and Black Panther with the Human Torch and the Thing. Rich Johnston’s Lying In The Gutters reports that this pic originally slipped through the cracks as “a ‘Civil War’ variant cover”. Makes sense – That’s about all Michael Turner does for Marvel. So what about the new space-themed image that Marvel sent out today? Read on after the jump for answers.
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A quick update – new images of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime are now available, as book covers. Bumblebee graces the cover of a sticker book, and Optimus is on the cover of the movie novel, sure to be a literary wonder for all time. The synopsis for the novel actually reads:

The Transformers are back – hitting cinemas in June 07 – and this time they have even more battles to win! Now you can read their adventure in this action-packed novel! Get ready for the return of the mighty Transformers in the action packed movie novel! Filled with amazing battle stories, this retelling of the Transformers story is perfect for older fans. It even includes cool movie photo inserts!

Both books should be available for purchase on July 4th.

IESB.net brings us the initial news and the cover images, which are mirrored after the jump.

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In 1993, Taito published a Neverland-developed RPG known as Lufia and the Fortress of Doom. It told the story of a group of heroes and their battle against a group of demon-gods known as the Sinistrals. The game was noted as being an RPG game for beginners. While It wasn’t a terrible game by any means of the imagination, it didn’t do a whole lot to set itself apart from other RPGS of that period. In an era that would soon include Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy 6/3, Secret of Mana, and other heavyweights, this would quickly caused it to be overlooked. However, one good thing it did, was to open with a playable flashback sequence depicting the defeat of the Sinistrals 100 years earlier. In fact if you just bought the game brand new, it would start as soon as the game loaded up, and the title screen would show up after this sequence. In 1996, near the end of the SNES life cycle, Natsume would publish a sequel that would show the events leading up to that point.

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I’ve never really been into racing games. The only reason I have this game is becuase my brother bought it for me as a christmas present. Once in a blue moon however, I have the itch for some racing action. For the most part Ridge Racer’s acrade-style action did it for me, but during the Playstation 1 era, there was one game that caught my attention becuase of it’s heavy handed approach to racing: Gran Turismo 2. I would spend hours trying to attempt the challenges and unlock all the cars. Now 7 years later, I got a racing simulation that was just as fun, and it took full advantage of Xbox Live.

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There’s a new trailer available at the Invincible Iron Man official site, and it gives a decent glimpse of what the story will be like in the movie. It’s an interesting choice of enemies for Iron Man – ancient Chinese elemental creatures? It hardly feels like any sort of a definitive Iron Man story, let alone one worth using in his premiere solo adventure … until you check some of the desktop images at the site, clearly showing classic Iron Man villain Mandarin playing a large role in matters. Not that Mandarin’s role has been a secret mind you – It was in the advertised synopsis since day one. Just makes it all the more odd that he’s being hidden in the trailer.

As for the movie, I’m wondering how we’re going to go through three different armors (initial grey, underwater yellow, and good classic old ketchup-and-mustard, er, red-and-gold) over the course of a single story. I guess only time – 19 days to be exact – will tell.

Also, the Hellboy Animated movie (Sword of Storms) has a sequel due to hit in February, called Blood and Iron. The trailer can be found HERE. According to the Animated Hellboy blog, one of the scenes from the trailer isn’t from the movie; it’s from an “extra special DVD extra”, whatever that might mean. The blog also talks about plans for a third movie to follow this one, but will only be greenlit if DVD sales warrant it.

Manhunter #27
written by Marc Andreyko, art by Javier Pina and Robin Riggs

Manhunter launched in the aftermath of Identity Crisis (was it really two years ago???), and I ignored it, because books that launch from events have a bad habit of being rushed to market, capitalizing on the event’s success instead of being carefully crafted. As a result, I missed out on what has turned out to be a surprisingly excellent book. And, it turns out, so did most people, as the book was slated to be canceled at issue #25. Fortunately, the powers that be at DC have given it a 5 issue stay of execution, starting with #26!

To be honest, I only started picking it up at the previous arc, which ended with Kate Spencer (Manhunter) driving an electric blade into Dr. Psycho‘s forehead and snapping the blade off, for the sole purpose of (effectively) shutting down his mind-control powers. This actually took place in the middle of a courtroom too, as she happened to be the lawyer DEFENDING HIM. Interestingly, the verdict had just come in, but hadn’t been read before he went bananas – she managed to get Psycho a “not guilty” verdict!

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