Sylvester Stallone revives another classic character for an over the hill swan song. Much like Rocky Balboa before it, John Rambo sounds ridiculous on paper, but in action looks insanely awesome.

Thanks to Captain Genius

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had found a couple of very impressive scratch-built customs of a couple Transformers Generation 1 characters. The same person who made those customs is at it again with another Generation 1 character, the triple changing Octane. Its still in progress, but impressive nonetheless.

  

Nova #2
written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, art by Sean Chen

My surprise delight last month was issue #1 of Nova. Having read Annihilation I was definitely looking forward to the series. After all, it was the same team that wrote his lead-in book to Annihilation, and that was probably my favorite of the four that were made. While this book wasn’t as deep on story as I expected, it was one hell of a thrill-ride, all the way through. Sean Chen doesn’t have a long resume of work, but I was definitely pleased with his work here. He showed some gorgeous spacescapes, his aliens were nicely alien looking, and he did some great, great action sequences. Even better, the book was written very clearly, in a way where someone who didn’t read Annihilation could pick it up and run with it.

If you missed the first issue, you missed one of the better new series to come out in the last couple years. It’s a crapload of fun and excitement, and it’s a lot of fun to read, if for no other reason than that the Worldmind that Nova’s constantly dealing with is kind of an arrogant prick. Issue #2 lands this Wednesday, and with Nova’s newfound galaxy-class power levels, it looks like he’s about to come face to face with a post-Civil War Iron Man, which I can only hope results in Iron Man getting turned into toothpaste.

Your store may have another copy of Nova #1 lying around, so grab it if you can, and grab issue #2 while you’re at it. This book kicks ass.

Almost forget that Devil May Cry 4, the newest installment in the acclaimed Capcom series, had been shoved to the wayside in terms of development news? Well thankfully, it is not so. Seems some new news about the game has leaked out.

Newcomer Nero has gotten a little more exposure this time around, and some additional info. Nero, a member of the “Order of the Sword” whom greatly resembles the Demon Knight Sparda, whom the Order worships, is on a quest against Dante after he witnessesthe son of Sparda killing off members of the Order. Packing his doubel-barrel revolver “Blue Rose” and his motorcycle-hilted sword “Red Queen”, as well as the mysterious demonic arm known as the “Devil Bringer“, Nero would seem like a decent match for the half-breed demon Dante.

Apperently the Devil Bringer is not just for show – as shown in the new fully playable demo released – but will couple as a weapon and a mechnism used for juggling opponents during combos, earning more red orbs for the player. Devil Bringer will also be key in ascending to multiple pathways by using rappeling actions and grappling onto higher ledges. Another secret revealed by game producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi was that, indeed, Dante will be playable in DMC4. Whether or not he’ll be an enemy of Nero’s throughthe entire game or will only be opposed to Nero for a portion of ithas not yet been established. IGN has more on the article HERE.

Devil May Cry 4 is slated for a release sometime late summer/early fall of this year for PS3, as well as Xbox 360 and PC. (thank god)

May 5th, 2007 marks the sixth time the comic book industry will come together to celebrate the spirit of specialty Comic Book Shops around the world. The titles being given away this year are extremely solid and include selections from every major comic publisher, as well as a number of issues from smaller, independent artists. The sheer number of styles and genres available may make choosing individual comics incredibly difficult. Transformers the Movie Prequel # 1, Amazing Spider-Man Swing Shift, and Justice League of America # 0 are just a few of the almost 30 titles that will be available, so remember to call your local shop and ask if they will be participating in this year’s festivities.

Check out the “Free Comic Book Day” website here

Full list of “Free Comic Book Day” titles

The modern day comic book is one of the few original American art forms. They have been a mainstay of popular culture for close to 70 years, and the lifeblood of the industry is still the neighborhood specialty shop. Show support for your favorite shop by stopping in this Saturday and picking up a free book, (and buying another for yourself).

This reminder brought to you by your Friendly Neighborhood Bloggerman! ‘Nuff said!

The image above comes from a few weeks back, when Terrence Howard (playing Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes in the movie) came by Edwards Air Force Base in California for some training. Recently, when Howard made a return trip to the base, this time he brought everyone back with him, and director Jon Favreau set up camp to do three days of filming.

The article from Edwards AFB’s actual website talks a bit about locations they used, shares some quotes from Favreau, and even has some personal quotes from the members of the Air Force:

At Edwards AFB, Mr. Stark and his sidekick, Lt. Col. Jim Rhodes, brought their comic book characters to life against a bustling backdrop of high-tech aircraft, a dry lakebed that’s a secondary landing strip for the space shuttle, and stretches of desert to be depicted in the movie as Afghanistan.

“I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but my friends who got involved with it had a great time, so I didn’t want to miss out on this one,” he said.

The article continues with a few more quotes from various members of the Air Force who enjoyed their time working on the film, including one man who just wants his son to be able see him in a movie, another who actually did get to work on the Transformers movie, and even one guy who was just happy his Porsche got put in the film.

There have been many consoles that people would consider “god systems”, that pack convinience and multitasking into one console. Well, another one has recently hit the market, in the form of a console that plays *both* 8-bit NES and 16-bit SNES games! Whodathunkit?!

The FC Twin Video Game System was released on November of 2006 by the manufacturer known as “Yobo”, but only has recently become any kind of known in the gaming world. This system has separate circuitry and separate slots to play both Nintendo and Super Nintendo cartridges, which can be switched between the two types with a double throw power switch to toggle back and forth. It also utilizes two SNES compatible controllers, which can also map to NES controller inputs. (B maps to Y, A maps to B).

Sounds like the perfect grab for anyone whose current retro systems are failing, and don’t want to shell out for the two separate systems, right? Well, there are a few drawbacks. one being that the system can’t handle the NES zapper lightgun for games like Duck Hunt. Another downside is that a few certain games made for either system will not play for the FC Twin, such as Castlevania: Dracula’s Curse – one of the reasons I actually bought the system in the first place…. *mumble*. See wikipedia’s entry for a list of the games for both NES and SNES that cannot play on the Twin. Also, some sounds for the NES may not sound exactly like their originals, but SNES sounds seem to work fine. And don’t even think about trying to use Super Famicom games.

Despite the downsides, the FC Twin system itself is a neat toy for any gaming enthusiast, and comes at the eye-catching price of around $40-$50, which would make it generally less than buying clean copies of both original systems that it emulates. So if you’re looking for a good backup system for either of your original Nintendo consoles, like I did, then picking up the FC Twin might be a decent investment.

Botcon.com has posted the fourth figure in the Botcon 2007 exclusive box set of five. Bugbite is a straight repaint of Classics Bumblebee. He is another Decepticon and supposedly the leader of the pack. Bugbite is actually not a new character. Similar to Sunstorm, the Bugbite character originates from an E-Hobby Exclusive repaint of the Generation 1 book-format reissues. In the reissue set, six minibots were included with Bumblebee featuring a retooled, cartoon accurate face (see post banner). This set’s E-Hobby exclusive counterpart featured repainted versions of the six minibots with new names and some new alliegances. It is also worth mentioning that the names given to the repaints were all former Go-Bot names with similar alt modes (Pathfinder, Smallfoot, Bug Bite, Treads, Bad Boy, and Road Ranger).

 

Bug Bite photos from Botcon.com
Bug Bite E-Hobby Exclusive face picture from tfu.info.