www.Grandaiza.com

My online art gallery.

2012-01-01T23:57:00.003-05:00

In 2012 I want to do a little more drawing and I hope to share these attempts with anyone who's interested on a personal little art blog I created called....

(insert drum roll here)

http://johnbeatoart.blogspot.com

so if you curious to see my finished drawings, feel free to pop on in from time to time and feel free to leave any comments.

Thanks.

And now a message from the campaign offices of Wallace Rudolph West.

2011-12-28T19:55:00.002-05:00

On foreign policy...

...reaching across the isle to get things done...

...Wally West, he's the hero America deserves, the one it needs right now.

"I'm Wally West and I approve this message"
(paid for by the friend's of Mr. West")

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Announcement Trailer (HD)

2011-12-22T09:21:00.001-05:00

RUBIK'S CUBE SOLVED BY SMART PHONE AND LEGO BLOCKS IN RECORD TIME!

2011-10-18T17:30:00.000-04:00

First Chess, then Jeopardy, now the Rubik’s Cube. Mike Dobson and David Gilday’s CubeStormer II Rubic’s Cube solving robot successfully beat Australian Feliks Zemdegs’ 5.66 second record by solving a cube in a mere 5.352 seconds. The feat was accomplished using four LEGO Mindstorm NXT kits controlled by a Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone.

Skynet is proud of you little guy!

THE AVENGERS official theatrical trailer looks gooooooooood!

2011-10-11T18:03:00.003-04:00

I enjoyed the trailer and you get a glimpse at the new CG Hulk but I feel that the studio is holding out with it's big villain reveal.

I know that Loki is involved some how but he's always been the manipulator, a more hands off kind of guy when tackling Thor and the Avengers together and the Skrulls to me are nothing more than foot soldiers that need to be under the command of a greater force.

That's why I'm hoping that someone like THANOS might be the secret main villain in this movie since the Infinity Gauntlet was seen in Odin's trophy room in the THOR movie.

Now that would be awesome!!

Scratch Build 1/72 scale USS Enterprise CNV-65 Carrier is a sight to behold.

2011-10-10T16:53:00.001-04:00

Sixteen feet long, five feet wide, and four feet tall, this 1/72 replica of the US Navy’s “Big E” represents nineteen years of builder Gabriel Suryani’s hobby, and has been called “something that is close to the limits a single modeler can achieve.” It was featured on the 15th anniversary cover of Fine Scale Modeler, in 1997, the same year that Mr. Suryani himself was hosted aboard the real Enterprise for 2 days, compliments of the captain, in recognition of his work.

The model, mostly completed in 2003, represents the USS Enterprise and Air-Wing 11 during the ships’ 1989 cruise. Top deck of the carrier is finished in rough grip surface. Over 6000 tie-downs are on the top deck and 5000 in the hangar bay. The tie-downs have been obtained from a British Company named PP Airoparts, unfortunately they discontinued operations in the early 90’s. Many other parts were die cast in New Jersey.

Starboard shows flight operations. Airmen in colored uniforms, tow and fire trucks , catapult operators, flight directors, safety officers, missile launchers, chaff dispensers, refueling lines, hoses and plumbing, various antennas, control surfaces and storage areas.

- Anchors Away.

My favorite Walt Simonson pages # 3

2011-10-05T19:52:00.002-04:00

FROG OF THUNDER baby!!! Loki turns Thor into a frog, frog gets his little webs fingers on Mjolnir and the rest is comic history!

From the awesomely amazing The Mighty Thor vol. # 1 (364-366)

-ribbit.

Online comics that Rule! #1 : Terry LaBan's MUKTUK WOLFSBREATH HARDBOILED SHAMAN

2011-10-03T17:51:00.001-04:00

I first stumbled upon Terry LaBan's crazy ass medicine man Muktuk back in the late 90's when Vertigo released it as a 3 issue mini series that really didn't catch on. (Note to the youngins' out there, before the turn of the century it was very difficult for most artists and writers to self publish their works via an online comic like most do today, due A noisy beast known as a 56.6K modem, it would have taken too much of our precious time to view most comics from the internet back then, time that most comic readers agree they would have rather earmarked for viewing pictures of naked ladies doing naughty things, but I digress.)

Muktuk had all of the trappings that I enjoyed in a supernatural comic: Demons, Zombies, Spirits hallucinogenic "medicine" with a touch of humor and some nicely fleshed out characters that at the I just wasn't getting out of main stream super hero comics and like all things I enjoy...it was gone.

The DC series sold only moderately and unsure what else to do with the character, LaBan shelved him and moved on. Over the years, though, he continued to hear every so often from Muktuk fans, looking for art and asking him if he’d ever write more. The answer was always “no’, but when, one day, when considering his options for a thesis project that would allow him to complete his Masters in Interactive Design, he decided a web comic would fit the bill and that Muktuk Wolfsbreath would be the perfect concept to build it around.

Fast forward Thirteen years to February 2011, DC comics still owned the rights to Muktuk, LeBan asked DC for the character rights to revert back to him and instead of giving him the run around like you think most major publishers would do, they gave him the rights to his character in a timely manor (thanks to Mumblestein for pointing this out) Terry LeBan then turned Muktuk into a online web comics written and drawn by himself as a thesis project to complete his Masters in Interactive Design course.

And now without furthur ado, here's MUTUK WOLFBREATH HARD-BOILED SHAMAN

( updates every Monday and Thursday )

DC: All Star Western #1 Review

2011-09-29T19:50:00.001-04:00

I normally leave the reviews to the more experienced hands but I felt I had to share how much I enjoyed this comic and if you give just one new book a glance this week, I hope it's this one.

All Star western feels more like a Sherlock Holmes story than anything, a murder is preying on prostitutes in Gotham City circa 1890, Amadeus Arkham and Jonah Hex find themselves working together to solve a case of a serial killer that, without revealing too much of the plot, could be a member of Gotham's social elite.

The writing by Gray and Palmiotti is perfect for this book and it's only complimented by the stylish art of Moritat.

O.K. Now get this book or I'll stop posting scantily clad cosplay women for Halloween this year damn it!

Verdict : Need more ALL STAR WESTERN now!!!

"I'm your huckleberry"
- Doc Holliday

WALKING DEAD SEASON 2 : The Zombies are coming, the zombies are coming!!!

2011-09-29T04:15:00.000-04:00

Just a friendly reminder that the greatest television show on earth is back.

DARK SOULS : WHIP IT GOOD!

2011-09-28T16:08:00.002-04:00

For those looking to add a little Castlevania to your Dark Souls your in Luck! One of the new weapons in the successor to Demon Souls has added a whip to the arsenal of weapons you can use in your new career as "The slayer O demons"

( personally love the Two handed "I'm gonna beat yo ass" whip grip )

DARK SOULS arrives next Tuesday (10/4/11) for the PS3 & 360

enjoy the clip:

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Dark Souls - Undead Days: Where There's a Whip There's a Way, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

TREATS & TRICKS : COSPLAY GOODNESS vol. 4

2011-09-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

Today we have the pleasure of Featuring this lovely cosplayer that goes by the name of VAMPBEAUTY on deviantart. This bold young lady decided to tackle one of the most scantly clad super heroines of the Modern comic era, Jim Lee's purple little mutie ninja, Elizabeth Braddock aka Psylock.

She fills that up that outfit nicely with A body built for gravity defying latex superhero costumes, amazing.

If she showed up to my door step on Halloween looking like this, I'd give her all my candy and the keys to the apartment.

"psychic powers not included"

- Happy Halloween kids.

My Favorite Walt Simonson pages #2

2011-09-24T21:32:00.002-04:00

This one comes to us from THE MIGHTY THOR vol. 1, issue # 339. Odin invites Thor, Lady Sif and Beta Ray Bill into The furnaces of Nedavellir, the great forges of the Dwarves where Eitri the master Weapon-smith of Asgard casts a second hammer out of molten Uru metal.

Odin then pours a portion of the his life force into the molten hammer and casts an enchantment giving the bearer of this new weapon, Stormbreaker, all of the powers and abilities of Thor.

Eitri instructs Bill (Thor's new ally and equal in both strength and virtue who Odin has appointed as protector of Asgard and the realm eternal,) to pull the molten Stormbreaker out of the forge so that the enchantment can hold.

What comes next is one of my favorite comic book pages of all time:

-"By Ymir's frosty beard!"

The many talents of The Batman [Catwoman #1]

2011-09-23T08:25:00.000-04:00

During one of my nerd-tastic outings with a couple of buds, one of them (who we'll call Malformed to protect his real identity) brought up the excellent observation that Batman's true power is being prepared for any situation, no matter how crazy things get Batman always manages to come out on top.

I believe nowhere is this point best illustrated than in the latest DC relaunch, CATWOMAN #1, where Selina puts the moves on Mr. Batman and he counters with something right out of his own porn parody.

Behold....

The Bat-Hickey

And mighty boner-rang!

Welcome to the new DC!

"oh my"
- George Takei

My Favorite Walt Simonson pages #1

2011-09-22T06:00:00.004-04:00

After having just enjoyed THOR on blu-ray with my family and since I recently received my WALT SIMONSON'S THOR ARTIST EDITION from IDW (which is a thing of beauty and a steal at $99 bucks) I thought I'd share some of my favorite pages from his now legendary Marvel comics THOR run.

Today's page comes from THE MIGHTY THOR vol. 337, a forsaken Donald Blake (Thor's alter ego) is left stranded on the wreckage of a shield helicarrier without his enchanted hammer screaming against a tempest for his father aide.

Damn that's sweet.

-Grandaiza out.

The sad state of Marvel comics part 1: The many faces of Wolverine.

2011-09-21T01:56:00.006-04:00

Marvel comics has managed to put Wolverine in almost every single line of funny books that they make with a "Gotta Have more cowbell" zeal in an effort to whore out a "popular" character with the fanboys. This "milk the cow until it's dead" disregard for storytelling makes me wonder if anyone at Marvel is even trying anymore.

Allow me to give you a whiff of the monthly dung heap that they call continuity over at Marvel right now.

(yes all of this takes place in the same publishing month, if not week)

In the X-men books their having an event called Schism where Wolverine and Cyclops solve their philosophical differences by beating the crap out of each other and wind up splintering their little mutie cabal into Two separate factions.

Fine, but while this is going on we have Wolverine in this months X-Force traveling to an alternate universe and getting fried....

.....like chicken and in no condition to fight for the next issue of that book.

A nice Harvey Dent, but wait! he ain't licked yet!!

Mr. Logan is now a member of the Two Avengers teams now let's see whats doin' with this
fine character over in those teams...

Oh, it looks like they're having their own crossover called Fear itself where the Avengers are duking it out with evil Asgardians armed with enhanced weapons provided by Odin and here we have The Wolverine with his new prickly look courtesy of the allfather.

And in between all that he has a little downtime for a sparring lesson with the immortal Iron-Fist in The New Avengers.

The Wolverine even manages to find time to make a cameo in the Spider-man event Spider-Island where (I kid you not) Radioactive bed-bugs are giving people in NYC spider powers.

I know They're just comic books but if publishers want people to keep reading their books, there has to be at least an attempt to have the story make some kind of plausible sense.

Here's a little example of what I'm blathering about:

When Dick Grayson became Nightwing in the New Teen Titans, Chuck Dixon over at Detective Comics had Grayson confront Batman about his decision, they argued, Dick handed in his resignation and left the Bat books for a long while.

If DC took today's Marvel approach to editing, Richard Grayson would be Robin, Nightwing, The Red Hood and Batman in 3 separate books.

I don't have all the answers and if you read my blog with any frequency you know that I am no wordsmith, but when you deal in the hyper fantasy world of superhero storytelling, it's important that in between the impossible abilities and epic battles there should be some semblance of an editorial plausibility that the gives a character...well character.

Otherwise Just write it into the story, make Wolverine immortal, give him the ability to clone himself, teleportaion, put him on every Marvel book and call if a day.

Bionic fingers for a 15 year old school girl

2011-09-15T06:30:00.000-04:00

Amazing.

This is the most articulated artificial hand that I've ever seen, it's incredible how it allows her to grab onto smaller

objects like a piece of fruit with her thumb, index and pointer fingers while the ring and pinkie curl up into a "natural" position.

It still needs a little work before I decide to replace one of my real hands with one of these, but it
reassuring to know that someone out there is working towards a "skywalker" quality hand.

Now if only I can get someone to work on that hover conversion system for cars I saw in back to the future....

A headboard fit for the Satellite of Love courtesy of Gizmotics Institute

2011-09-14T19:43:00.000-04:00

No description necessary, either you get it or you don't.

REMEMBERING THE WORLD TRADE CENTER.

2011-09-11T09:11:00.007-04:00

This is for the city that I call home...

Twin Tower Cameos from Dan Meth on Vimeo.

HERZOG ZWEI IS BACK BABY!

2011-09-05T06:30:00.004-04:00

AIRMECH is a little RTS strategy game that appears to be the spiritual successor to one of my favorite SEGA Genesis games from the 90's called HERZOG ZWEI, a little known game that was the very first Real Time Strategy game and birthed an entire video game genre.

Build units, acquire bases and vanquish your enemies in a veritech fighter. Sweet!

(Here's the original in action.)

No release date for AIRMECH but if it stays true to the original, it should be a blast.

THE VERY BEST IN SUPER SPY LUXURY SPORT VEHICLES

2011-09-04T17:03:00.000-04:00

If your going to save the world, do it in Style.

Here's a few of Mr. Bonds favorite vehicles for you enjoyment:

Source: CarBuzz.com

THE BEST OF EVO 2011 : MARVEL vs CAPCOM 3 SEMIFINALS JUSTIN WONG'S AKUMA

2011-08-17T04:00:00.000-04:00

New York City's very own Justin Wong, the king of the now defunct Chinatown fair arcade in Mott St. pulls off Two amazing comebacks in a row in this Semifinal vs Richard Nguyen.

Justin playing Wolverine, She-Hulk and Akuma on your left, the first win is nice in it's own right but the second come from behind win with AKUMA is just sick.

enjoy:

ULTIMATE MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3 : DOCTOR STRANGE VIDEO

2011-08-16T15:32:00.001-04:00

So many game announcements that it's hard for me to keep up or even care, but by Vishanti, the Sorcerer Supreme's debut in a fighting game can not go unmentioned.

Although I could never imagine Stephen Strange as someone who would go fist a cuffs with the likes of Ryu, his spells, teleportation and enchantments look spot on, even his creepy "I'm starting an all females defenders" pre-fight comment to CHUN LI, fits him perfectly to a tee.
(editors note : see Strange's relationship with his one time apprentice Clea.)

Kudos to Capcom for taking a risk with the good Doctor now I can't wait to see some Iron Fist clips.

Note: They also released a clip of another addition to the game on the CAPCOM side of the game
Nemesis from RESIDENT EVIL 3, I really don't have any feelings either way but I'll add it for those who care:

Scott McCloud's Comic Lettering Tutorial ( ILLUSTRATOR CS4 )

2011-08-07T09:25:00.001-04:00

Hand letting a comic page has always seemed to me as a daunting task that I'm honestly
not good at and now thanks to the miracles of modern computing, it doesn't seem so intimidating.

Creator of the indie comic ZOT! and author of super insightful Understanding Comics, Making Comics,
Reinventing Comics The always insightful Scott McCloud has posted a great video tutorial on how
to create a template in Illustrator ( any CS version ) that will make any lettering assignment a breeze.

The tutorial is broken up into Two , 10 minute clips, I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

Enjoy:

Part 1

Part 2

11 minute unaired Plastic-Man pilot.

2011-08-05T12:53:00.001-04:00

Here's an cool animated clip by artist Andy Suriano as a pitch for a new cartoon series for where else....The Cartoon Network. Tom Kenny, best known as the narrator of The PowerPuff Girls and Sponge Bob lent his voice to the title character PasticMan.

I'm enjoyed the light hearted direction they went with that owes a lot to Kyle Baker's nifty PlasticMan limited DC series from a few years ago with a hint Jack Cole's humor from the original comic.

It's a shame that this didn't get picked up since it seemed like a fun idea for a show.

Here's the Clip, enjoy:

Henry Cavill is Superman?

2011-08-04T21:28:00.000-04:00

Warner Bros. has bravely released a first look at Zach Snyder's Superman, Henry Cavill, in costume and so far it looks serviceable.

Mr. Cavill's hair looks like something out of the Sopranos and the colors are once again the muted variety now favored by studio execs but over all not bad.

(Click here for HD image courtesy of Project rooftop)

STAR WARS GAME DEMO - SAN DIEGO COMIC CON

2011-07-30T19:51:00.003-04:00

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON: SC reporting

2011-07-24T20:22:00.009-04:00

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON: SC reporting (part 1)

2011-07-24T19:20:00.003-04:00

"Is this the line for the Grandaiza.com Panel?"

"The Mile High club is accepting applications"

"El Casador de Fantasmas"

"Silly little monsters"

"Artist Alley Classic....."

"....Artist Alley digital Sponsored by Devianart.com"

"Awesome genie pants Mr. Seacord!"


".....and that's why Wedge Antilles should have ended up with Leia"

"From the House of bad ideas.....give everyone in NY spider powers and call it SPIDER ISLAND"

"Nicolas Cage....is Captain America"

"Nerdette with Badonk-a-donk"

"Moody Solo rethinks his unsuccessful booth babe pick up lines...."

" I am just doing this until they call me for that pilot I auditioned for, I think it really went well and blah,blah,blah,blah"

BREAKING NEWS: GRANDAIZA TAKES THE MONTH OF JULY OFF

2011-07-22T19:55:00.001-04:00

Lazy ass founder and contributor to the site grandaiza.com John B. takes July off missing out on all sorts of gaming, movie and comic news.

When sources approached the befuddled blogger for a comment regarding the media blackout on the site, he released the following statement:

"I AIN'T POSTING NOTHIN' UNTIL I GET THAT DAMN PHOSPHOROUS POLE IN DEMONS SOULS!!!"

Sources close to the reclusive madman say that he's obsessed with the PS3 game and is terrible at Demon Souls.

Here's a little clip that's always brought me a laugh until we return to our irregularly scheduled website

Enjoy....

Just a Reminder ( STREET FIGHTER 3 Third Strike )

2011-06-30T06:45:00.000-04:00

With what many (including yours truly) consider the greatest fighting game of all time due to be released soon, I would like to repost this fun little video reminder of the fact that Third Strike is the pinnacle of fighting game genre for it's almost limitless offensive and defensive options that it offers a player for any given situation.

This clip gives you several examples and ways to counter many of the same bag of tricks that keep players at bay in other iterations of STREET FIGHTER, let's just say that you won't be able to just dragon punch your way to victory.

Enjoy the clip and remember STREET FIGHTER 3 THIRD STRIKE ONLINE should be out this summer on PSN, XBL and I'll be waiting to clean your clocks.

PSN id : Grandaiza
(if you dare)

"Don't think, feel. It's is like a finger pointing at the moon. Don't look at the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory"
-BRUCE LEE

COMIC BOOK MOMENTS : Ratzi bashing at it's finest.

2011-06-28T17:19:00.011-04:00

Courtesy of DC's Flashpoint - Frankenstein and the Crusaders of the Unknown.

I tell you man, any mainstream comic that has the Frankenstein monster ending the Nazi menace at the height of WWII gets the GRANDAIZA seal of comic awesomeness.

I love how the "Monster" deals with a caped German unber-man droning on like a run of the mill old school comic book villain.

The following page is also priceless as Fuehrer faces the monsters rage, I love how they have Hitler throwing his arms up in a panic like a bitch, also the SS officers expression as Hitler is put out of his misery is a nice touch.

Fun stuff.

A revealing look at a DARK SOULS E3 video clip.

2011-06-28T03:26:00.007-04:00

Here's a nice video courtesy of Youtube/SCRAWLfx from E3 that gives us a little more to work with as far as what's changed and what remained the same. Here are my thoughts and comparison to DEMON SOUL based on whats in the clip.

The demo gives you Six different character builds to choose from, I'm guessing these are based on what attributes you spend your "souls" on like the original game and your not locked into a "type" throughout the entire game.

On the demo level, UNDEAD PARISH, we see the player interact with a bonfire instead of the archway and an option to enhance the bonfire, I'm interested to learn what this does. We also see the player get roasted by a giant red dragon and like in the first game he was able to recover his souls where he died.

It looks like Namco Bandai had a LAN going in their booth allowing players to experiment with leaving messages and invading worlds as black phantoms, I also noticed that your still able to see the "ghosts" of other players while you play.

Now onto what I hope they fix....

Online chat, it only makes sense that you should be able to communicate with a fellow player in your world be it PVP or CO-OP.

There should be a way were people on your friends list are automatically on the same server as you are without having to jump in and out of levels to sync up with people that you wish to play with.

Lighting, I know they want to set a mood but the game is too damn dark on the interior levels.

The "What If" that never was, Peter Parker getting drafted in 68' to 'Nam in "SPIDER-NAM"

2011-06-26T20:38:00.003-04:00

The creator and artist of WONTON SOUP and ORC STAIN James Stokoe shows some love for the mainstream classics with this unpublished 5 page piece he did just for the love of the art titled "Spider-Nam"

I think the concept is brilliant and if Marvel had any sense, they'd call James up and commission this book for a trade or a mini.

Check out the pages below....

The many woes of the Uncanny X-men in "real time"

2011-06-05T07:35:00.003-04:00

[original article by Cyriaque Lamar @ Io9.com]

I just wanted to share this article, It's an interesting look at the wacky world of comics focusing on the our favorite group of mutant outcasts, The Uncanny X-men and how the Marvel editors handled the passing of time in the Marvel Universe for almost 30 years and how insane it appears once you look at the events in the funny books in real time.

;
The X-Men have been around for 48 years, but in the comic books, they've been saving the world for approximately 16 years. In that time, there's been so much crushing tragedy in their lives that it's downright comical.

Unlike Superman or Spider-Man, the X-Men have never had their entire history rebooted, so deaths, magical resurrections, marriages, and divorces just keep piling on like automobiles on some sadistic freeway that ends with a brick wall. And if we're to compress their entire history into 16 years, their story becomes a non-stop carnival of characters dying every other month. Xavier's isn't a school — it's a damn grief crisis center.

First off, some of you may be wondering where I got the "16-year existence" figure. According to TV Tropes, Stan Lee introduced this ratio in the 1960s, and Marvel's more or less stuck with it:

In a "Stan's Soapbox" in the mid-1960s, Stan Lee stated that, as a general rule of thumb, they were trying to keep the then-new Marvel Universe on a one-to-three timeline - every three years that passed in the real world would be a year of Comic Book Time. Deliberately or otherwise, Marvel actually managed to stick pretty close to that right up until the early 1990s when, during one of the X-Men's 30th Anniversary comics, Professor Xavier mused about the things he'd been doing for the past 10 years - starting with the founding of the X-Men.

By and large, the 1-comic-book-year-to-3-real-years ratio works for the X-Men. The first issue of Uncanny X-Men — which had a teenaged cast — came out in 1963. It's now plausible that the founding X-Men (like Cyclops and Beast) are in their early 30s. Similarly, Kitty Pryde was 13 when she first appeared in 1980 — 30 years later, she's in her early 20s.

So when we convert the X-Men's 48-year publication history to a 16-year timescale, the result is unintentionally hilarious. The X-Mansion's constantly blowing up, characters who die on Christmas resurrect by Labor Day, and Charles Xavier's perpetually jumping in and out of his wheelchair. Can you imagine living in this reality? The X-Men must have their neighborhood funeral home on speed dial.

To get a temporal sense of how screwed-up the X-Men's lives are, let's assume that Charles Xavier began the team 16 years ago in early 1995. I didn't include every single X-Men tragedy because I'm not writing a graduate dissertation in Wolvernomics. So indeed, strap yourself in for a nonstop barrage of unlucky superheroes getting tossed into the narrative meat grinder.

Winter 1995: Professor Charles Xavier, a psychic Daddy Warbucks, rounds up a bunch of precocious teenagers and forms the X-Men. (Uncanny X-Men 1, 1963)

Summer 1996: Aliens murder the secret X-Man Changeling. Changeling is the first team member to kick the bucket, but he's in the form of Professor X at the time. Ergo, nobody mourns Changeling. (Uncanny X-Men 42, 1968)

Winter 1999: Due to low sales, the X-Men were cancelled for five years. When the X-Men were resurrected, X-Man/Native American stereotype Thunderbird dies in a plane explosion...after appearing for all of two issues. (Uncanny X-Men 95, 1975)

Summer 2000: Jean Grey becomes possessed by a primordial cosmic force known as Dark Phoenix. To nourish herself, she consumes a distant star, which supernovas and kills billions of confused aliens. Another alien race known as the Shi'ar condemns Jean to death in a trial by combat. Jean commits suicide to prevent herself from destroying the universe. Everyone cries. (The Dark Phoenix Saga, 1980)

Spring 2001: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is wrecked by an alien race known as the Sidri. (Uncanny X-Men 154, 1982)

Summer 2001: After malevolent extraterrestrial parasites known as the Brood transform Professor X into the giant insect, he transfers his consciousness to a cloned body and can walk again. See? There's an upside to a cosmic tapeworm infection. (Uncanny X-Men 167). Wolverine's fiancee Mariko Yashida is mind-controlled, stands him up at the altar. Wolverine weeps. (Uncanny X-Men 172) Cyclops turns right around and marries Madelyne Pryor, a clone of his dead girlfriend. He is unaware of this at the time. (Uncanny X-Men 175, 1983)

Summer 2002: The Mutant Massacre — the Morlocks, a group of homeless mutants who live in the sewers of New York, are systematically eradicated by Sabretooth and the villainous Mr. Sinister. The winged X-Men Angel is crucified and his wings are amputated.

Also — due to circumstances too convoluted to explain here — Jean Grey's alive again when her body is found in a healing capsule at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. Turns out Dark Phoenix was never Jean — instant redemption! Cyclops has to awkwardly explain to his now alive girlfriend why he married a woman who looks exactly like her. (Fantastic Four 286, 1986)

Spring 2003: Teenage mutant polymath Doug Ramsey is shot by anti-mutant mercenaries. (New Mutants 60). Also, thanks to the mutant supremacist Apocalypse, the feathery Angel becomes the metal-winged baddie Archangel. (X-Factor 24, 1988)

Summer 2003: Mister Sinister blows up the X-Mansion. (Uncanny X-Men 243, 1989) Madelyne Pryor realizes she's a clone of Jean Grey, goes crazy, and then helps open a gate to Hell over New York. Demons pour into Manhattan and mailboxes eat people. Madelyne tries to kill the X-Men and Cyclop's new girlfriend, Jean Grey. When that fails, Madelyne commits suicide. (X-Factor 38)

Elsewhere, Magneto's daughter, the Scarlet Witch, realizes her twin children are just magical figments of her imagination. Also, her fake kids' poppa was a robot. It's confusing. (Avengers: West Coast 52, 1989)

Winter 2004: Apropos of nothing, Wolverine fights a sentient pile of alien cocaine. (Wolverine 23, 1990)

Spring 2004: Cyclops' son Nathan — whom he conceived with his now-dead clone wife Madelyne— contracts a cybernetic virus and is sent to the future to be cured. Cyclops basically forgets about him because — if it isn't abundantly apparent already — Cyclops is an insufferable prick. (X-Factor 68) An attack by a morbidly obese psychic known as the Shadow King puts Charles Xavier back in a wheelchair. ("Muir Island Saga," 1991)

Summer 2004: After Mariko is poisoned with blowfish toxin, Wolverine mercy-kills her with his claws. (Wolverine 57, 1992)

Winter 2005: Magneto rips out Wolverine's Adamantium skeleton. Professor X lobotomizes Magneto in return. (X-Men 25) Colossus' kid sister Illyana Rasputin dies of a mutant plague. (Uncanny X-Men #303, 1993)

Spring 2005: Four years (according to our timescale) after he married his clone wife, Cyclops finally marries Jean Grey. (X-Men 30, 1994)

Winter 2006: Professor Xavier becomes the all-powerful psychic bad guy Onslaught. Onslaught destroys the X-Mansion yet again (X-Men 54, 1996), and sends almost every single hero in the Marvel Universe to a moronic pocket dimension, which I refuse to explain. (Onslaught: Marvel Universe, 1996)

Spring 2007: The teenage mutant Synch dies in an explosion. (Generation X 70, 2000)

Summer 2007: Colossus dies after injecting himself with a pure handwavium cure to the mutant plague. (Uncanny X-Men 390) The X-Men's human ally Moira MacTaggart is assassinated by Mystique. (X-Men 108) Psylocke dies for a reason too stupid to get into. (X-Treme X-Men 4) To cap all this death off, millions of mutants die when Sentinels destroy Magneto's citadel on the island of Genosha. (New X-Men 115, 2001)

Winter 2008: Thanks to the mutant healer Xorn, Xavier can walk again. (New X-Men 126, 2002)

Spring 2008: Former main characters Skin and Maggott are unceremoniously crucified and sent to an anti-mutant death camp, respectively. (Uncanny X-Men 423, Weapon X 5). Xorn turned out be Magneto, who cripples Xavier (again). Magneto fires Wolverine and Jean Grey into the sun, Wolverine runs his claws through the woman he loves again. The X-Mansion is destroyed by Magneto. Jean Grey is reborn as Phoenix; Magneto kills her. Wolverine kills Magneto, but he's not really Magneto. Comics are hard. (New X-Men 150, 2003)

Summer 2008: Colossus comes back from the dead. (Astonishing X-Men 4, 2004)

Winter 2009: Sentinels destroy the X-mansion almost immediately after they rebuild it. (Astonishing X-Men 8) Wolverine is brainwashed and kills the X-Man Northstar, who is then resurrected evil. (Wolverine 25) Thanks to Scarlet Witch going bonkers over her fake children, she depowers most of Earth's mutants — only 198 mutants keep their abilities. (House of M 8) Psylocke comes back from the dead. (Uncanny X-Men 355, 2005)

Spring 2009: Anti-mutant activists blow up 42 depowered students using a bus bomb.(New X-Men 24, 2006) The X-Man Banshee gets hit by a plane. (X-Men: Deadly Genesis 3) Aliens murder (the now dead) Jean Grey's whole damn family at a family reunion. (Uncanny X-Men 466, 2006)

Summer 2009: Wolverine decapitates Sabretooth with a magical katana blade. (Wolverine 55) Cyclops' space pirate dad Corsair is murdered by his son, Vulcan. (Uncanny X-Men 486, 2007)

Winter 2010: Mr. Sinister destroys the X-Mansion for a second time. The X-Men say "Fuck it" and move to San Francisco. The X-Force member known as Caliban dies. (Messiah Complex, 2008) Former X-Man and mutant prostitute Stacy X dies in battle. (New Warriors 6, 2008)

Spring 2010: Doug Ramsey comes back from the dead. (X-Force 18) Political pressures force the X-Men to move to a floating asteroid in the middle of San Francisco Bay.(Utopia, 2009)

Summer 2010: Nightcrawler and Cable both die in circumstances that require too much exposition. (X-Force 26 & 28, 2010)

Present Day: The X-Men trundle onwards, silently praying that they'll stop being popular so they can escape their endless, deathless cycle of tragedy. Seeing as how death means nothing to the X-Men, the most they can wish for is irrelevance.

In the white spaces between panels, our heroes build invisible chapels where Pastor Magneto leads his gutter congregation in entreating the editorial gods at Marvel, entreating them for a writer atrocious enough to kill the franchise. Nonexistence is not a nightmare when life is Hell. And Hell costs $3.99 a pop.

Cashing in on a buck.

2011-06-04T16:39:00.004-04:00

Courtesy of Geekology.com

The shooting gallery in San Francisco is currently featuring the art of James Charles, who among other things, likes to work in the medium of US currency.

He redesigns real currency notes and I have to say the results are amazing, I'm still trying to figure out how he removes the original image and maintains the Bills hue and pattern.

If you want to purchase some of his funny money, they go for $600-$1000 a pop.

here's a link to the gallery:

Shooting Gallery

Band on the Run...from MAGNETO!

2011-06-03T12:11:00.003-04:00

Courtesy of CBR.com

Here's a rarely seen piece from Jack "the King" Kirby that he drew for Paul and Lynda McCartney way back when.

The story goes that Paul use to read marvel comics to his kids back in the 70's and he enjoyed the "new" comics coming out at the time, wrote a little ditty on their 1975 album Mars and Venus titled "Magneto and the Titanium Man" and requested a meeting with Jack during a Wings tour date in L.A.

The two met, Jack gave Paul the drawing, Paul gave Jack tickets to their concert in LA and Paul dedicated the aforementioned song to Kirby.

Pretty sweet.

BOT TIME! The SOC GX-41 RAIDEEN from Bandai

2011-06-02T03:00:00.002-04:00

The super awesome Soul of Chogokin Raideen is a throw back to late 70's early 80's robot designs with it's flaring bell bottom "boot" design and Egyptian pharaoh motif, it really stands out on it's own on a shelf next to Mazinger or Grendizer in the SOC line.

This bad boy stands at about 8" and has a good amount of die-cast in it's arms, legs and torso giving it a nice hefty feel to it

He also has a slew of accessories, like the collapsed bow that can be swapped for it's next form...

...blazzow! the Long bow!!

Ready to put a midevil cap in your a$$...

....or shank you on the chow line at Riker's island.

Bird Missile GO!!!

GOD VOICE ATTACK!

Another cool Raideen fun fact, it was the first Japanese toy robot that "transformed" into something else, in this case he turns into a "God Bird Raideen".

(It's a pain to transform him and I really didn't want to mess around with my display piece so with all due respect to JoshB over at collectiondx, I'm posting a couple of his pics of Raideen in his Second form and save my robot the fingerprints and wear-n-tear.)

Hands down one of my favorite classic super robot designs of all time, why it's so bad a$ that in Marvel comics continuity, D'ken Usurper of the crown Sh'iar empire threw his sister, L'ilandra's a$ in jail for treason when she stood in his way of getting his hands on Raideen during a Dave Cockrum's issue of Uncanny X-Men.

(Yeah I know that's super nerdy but if you've read this far, so are you)

Oh you don't believe me? I guess I'm going to have to post the panel then...

A robot so cool that it started a fictitious alien civil war in the pages of Uncanny X-men back in the Uncanny X-men heyday, sweet.

Let's review what we've learned, Bell bottoms, Egyptian god, First Transformer ever, A friggin' bow and immortalized in the now classic Uncanny X-men Dark Phoenix saga, it's everything you could want from a cool looking retrobot and then some.

[ grandaiza out ]

STAR TOURS-IT'S A TRAP

2011-05-30T22:28:00.009-04:00

Living out in California puts me close to DisneyLand. So, I WILL be making my way out to the park to check out the updated Star Tours!

It had been in need of an update for years which doesn't happen with Disney rides very often. However, they have been updating a few of their rides in the last few years, none of which I have seen the new versions of yet. Seeing this commercial got me a bit excited about Star Tours and going back to Disney again. I watched it about 5 times to see what I could see.

Then I recognized someone.

Other than fake Admiral Ackbar, I realized that I had met the actress playing "mom" before! Elena Eva, actress and better half of Dan Panosian (recent X-Factor artist). I did a quick check with him to make sure that it was her I was seeing... Yes! He said that she is a pretty big geek, and she had a great time hanging with Chewbacca. Nice!

reporting

NETFLIX INSTANT REVIEWS : The Twilight Zone (TOS)

2011-05-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Click here for The Twilight Zone: The Original Series on NETFLIX INSTANT

This classic Sci-fi TV staple is a must see for any fan of the genre, Rod Sterling's anthology is, in my opinion, some of the best short subject features created for television staring the famous and soon to be famous cast of actors that would draw you in to these fantastic stories.

Now I'm not going to drone on and try to sell you on The Twilight Zone cause if you haven't seen at least one episode then you must be an extraterrestrial or some kind of crazed mountain person and you should be locked up for your own good.

Now I'm currently 6 episodes deep and have seen at least 2 episodes that I have no recollection of whatsoever (and I consider myself a fan and a TV junkie) and to watch them in HD, commercial free, is a wonderful thing to behold.

Black and White picture of course, the aspect ratio is set at the original 4:3 which is perfect for the ipad. Resolution for the most part is 720p but this highly depends on the connection speed, rare moments of lag result in a momentary dip in resolution and then in a few seconds it's back to 720p. it also looks great on the 50" 1080p plasma via the PS3 (thank you White Jesus for answering my prayers and giving me my PSN back.)

Also I should point out that NETFLIX on the ipad now feature subtitles on most of their content for the hearing impaired or for people who just dig subtitles.

The show is legendary and is a must see for anyone who enjoys great story telling and the occasional Shatner episode.

Gaming with my kid : Scott Pilgrim vs. World Review

2011-05-18T17:48:00.013-04:00

Some people have a problem with letting their kids play any and all video games at age 4 believing it's detrimental to a child's development but I really believe there are important character building and problem solving skills that a kid can learned playing the right games.

here's one of my kids favorite games and what I believe she gets out of playing it:

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (PS3)
This retro side scrolling 2D beat-em up is simple enough so that most kids can pick it up and play with a parent or a friend. It's beautifully rendered levels and cute character designs are endearing. Level progression is tough on your own but with a second player it becomes a bit easier.

It's a great game that helps your kid understand teamwork. Before you dismiss me as a gamer nerd dad gone mad, just hear me out. It's a multi player game that requires my child to come to the aid of a fallen comrade and resuscitate them in order to progress to the next level. You can also team up to help one another in and some levels require to keep the enemies distracted while the other person runs around collecting coins that you can share in the store to upgrade your favorite character's attributes.

So you get team work, selflessness, counting, patience, hand-eye coordination and learning how to be a gracious loser, a skill that if you've played anyone online, many adults have yet to learn.

I really love this game and further more I love playing it with my child.
Review Score:

Grandaiza: 4/5

Baby No: 5/5

here's a glimpse of the game in action in case you where thinking about getting it.

PSN UPDATE 3.61

2011-05-14T19:08:00.005-04:00

I restarted the PS3 and received a megssage to upgrade the firmware to 3.61, it's been downloading for about 2 minutes and it's at 10% so cross your fingers and wish me luck, I'm going into the void.

UPDATE:

I wasn't able to log on after the update, it's probably a security patch in preparation for the relaunch.

Sound the klaxon! The Playstaion Network is back online!

2011-05-14T17:05:00.005-04:00

My wife was able to sign in on the PS3 PSN and play a Netflix instant movie this very instant. The only problem is that my daughter Is currently I'm possession of the ps3 remote watching her heinous Hello Kitty cartoon on my only console. (the curse of being a male in a house full of women...sigh)

UPDATE:

I'm still unable to log on to the network but Netflix is on the Ps3 is working at least, for now.

My thoughts on the "GREEN LANTERN" movie based on what I've seen so far.

2011-05-04T14:35:00.006-04:00

I don't think Warner Bros. Pictures has a lot of confidence in the GREEN LANTERN live action movie that's coming out this summer cause they are releasing a lot of footage in a short amount of time and in my opinion they've essentially blown their load early. I feel like the studio has already given me the juiciest parts of the film in the Two trailers they've released so far.

Will I pay to see this in the theaters or wait for the Blu-Ray? Before I answer that I'll post the trailer and break down the things I like, dislike, my thoughts on what I know about this movie and then I'll render my verdict.

0:15: A nice shot of OA, a planet at the center of the universe that acts as the Guardian's home world with a nice shot of the members of the Green Lantern corps who act as police officers to the many sectors of the DC universe. To me this is actually reassuring, they would have done the movie a great disservice if they didn't establish the Corps in the film.

0:17: Parallax writhing and revealing what eventually is known as the Sinestro Corps logo. O.K. this would have been a delightful surprise for fans going to see the film but you've ruined that by including it in the first 20 secs. of the second trailer.

0:20: Sinestro for the most part looks and sounds good.

0:49: Ryan Reynolds seems to be doing a serviceable Hal Jordan, I'm among the many online who thought that Nate Fillon ( Firefly, Castle ) would have been a better choice to play a seasoned, wartime fighter pilot now experimental test pilot at Ferris Aerospace, but hell what do I know.

1:14: Hal on OA, great idea, I just hope it doesn't get reduced to a "gymkata" training montage.

1:30: Here's the thing that bugs me, Hector Hammond and Amanda Waller are the major villains of this piece. Waller has very little as far as history with the Green Lantern mythology unless they're turning her into the Sam Jackson of the DC movie universe, the character has no business in this movie. As for Hammond I can name a few more interesting GL villains that I believe would have been a better fit to the whole Parallax understory: Black Hand, Mongul, Manhunters, Krona, The Quardians. See than, now you have something that you can tie into the sequel with Sinestro as the villain.

1:55: Can't help it, I keep finding myself asking, where's the Justice league when the big "Parallax monster thing" attacks the Earth. I know it's due to the fact that for as long as I can remember GL has always been associated with the Justice League, especially when it comes to defending the earth from an evil giant alien cloud thingy. I know this is an origins story with no expectation of any other DC character cameos or mentions other than the GL corps, but I can't help but think of the Flash or Superman when I see Green Lantern defending the world from the cloud formally known as Galactus from Fantastic Four 2.

1:59 Carol Ferris looks hot!

Just a sidebar, I know someone had to have mentioned this before but why did they remove the white gloves and boots from the GL uniform design? It bothers me to no end. I loved the Carmine Infantino design, it really should have been left alone as an homage to the character and the man who designed the uniform.

ALL KNEEL, GRANDAIZA WILL NOW RENDER HIS VERDICT!

Sorry NETFLIX BLU-RAY for you and your little leprechaun friends Mr. Jordan.

Space Adventurer Cobra movie in the works.

2011-05-02T11:05:00.004-04:00

The international edition of Variety has the first promo art for Alexandre Aja's film, now called Cobra the Space Pirate. The movie is still in the development phase so no casting news has been announced.

As A fan of the series, I can't see anyone presenting this movie to Hollywood without having the soul and humor completely sucked out of the final product by producers.

Aja, the director of Piranha 3D, The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension, bought the rights to the bestselling manga about a pirate who changes his own face and erases his own memories to hide from his enemies.

I just hope that this doesn't end with Buichi Terasawa committing seppuku in shame for selling the feature film rights to a Hollywood devil.

Cobra has a tentative release date of 2013 (Cover below):

The promo image gives me the impression that the whimsical aspects of the original property are out the window.

Here's Cobra as I remember the series:

Damn you Hollywood!

Super Fail #4 - Psycho Robin

2011-05-01T13:20:00.003-04:00

For those of you who've lost touch with what's going on in the Batman books, let me give you the $2 tour...

Dick Grayson, aka Robin Numero Uno aka Nightwing is currently the Batman of Gotham City and his sidekick is none other than Damien Wayne, Bruce's kid that he fathered unbeknownst to him with Talia Al Gul, Ras Al Gul's Daughter evil bitch must have poked a hole in the bat condom, SUPER EVIL!!

Oh and Bruce Wayne is also parading around as Batman in a different costume getting into fights around the world and recruiting more Batmen, but we'll save that mess for another day.

Just to give you an Idea of what Richard Grayson has to deal with on crime fighting nights, here's how Damien aka Robin the 5th, deals with an inmate during a prison break:

Yes he's carving up Mr. Zsasz, the killer that marks his kills in his own flesh, not exactly what I expect out of a "Robin" but his psychotic episodes sure do make for some entertaining funny book reading.

Wanna join our silly little site as a contributor?

2011-04-28T23:36:00.007-04:00

Think you have what it takes to blog about Robots, comics, art, movies, games or whatever is on your mind?

email me at grandaiza@gmail.com and join our sad little Team Of One.

Best part is you ain't getting paid squat!

"Christmas meats! Best thing for a kid like you!"
- J.Jonah Jameson

PSN update 4/27/2011

2011-04-27T11:58:00.001-04:00

An exclusive look behind the scenes at Sony's Playstation network labs as they try to get the PSN back up and running.....

...oh well, we'll try logging on to the PSN tomorrow.

Mortal Kombat : Legacy ( Eps. 1 & 2 )

2011-04-19T15:33:00.003-04:00

An fun little series put together by Warner Brothers I guess as a test bed for a potential TV series or just to promote the new Mortal Kombat game out this week either way, it's better than most of the Sci-Fi offerings on TV today.

I normally don't watch shows produced for the internet because for the most part, they're horrendous low budget affairs that aren't worth the bandwidth.

This on the other hand had what I thought were decent production values, visual effects rivaling most TV shows and a couple of familiar faces. Michael Jai White, Jeri Ryan and that guy who's name I could remember, that guy that banged boomer in Battlestar Galactica and then went on to co-star in Dollhouse?

once you see him you'll be like "oh him".

Any how here's the first episode that has Sonya infiltrating a weapons factory, meeting the villain and then the villain spilling every little detail of his plan to her because she's tied up and helpless ( that's old school villainy right there for you!)

And episode Deux, Seven of nine get's her violence on while Black Dynamite gets the his ass handed to him.

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade edition DLC update coming

2011-04-07T13:04:00.002-04:00

That's right kids, The Arcade Edition DLC update for Super Street Fighter 4 is coming to both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 sometime this spring / summer.

What does the arcade edition update add to the already amazing SSF4?

Tweaks and balances to the characters damage ratio ala Street fighter 2 : champion edition eliminating any unfair advantages or combos from stronger characters and adding new moves and combos to weaker ones.

Four new Characters:

Yun
Yang
Evil Ryu
Oni Akuma

And a bevy of other features including the ability to challenge people from the console
version via the Arcade version online and vice a versa!

here's a clip,check it before it's gone!

Super Fail #3 - Kitty loses her ghetto pass

2011-03-25T17:07:00.007-04:00

I've changed the name of this ongoing experiment, it was intended to focus on the insane things that Professor Charles Xavier use to profess but now I noticed that it's the entire comics universe that has lost it's freaking mind.

Here we have a young mutant named Katherine Pryde who's had her share of bigotry and hate thrown her way for being born a mutant in the marvel universe ( and a Jewish one at that ) you would think this would make the character a little sensitive to slang and taboo words being used at inappropriate moments (like when your surrounded by suspicious classmates looking to do some mutant bashing on campus)

So what does she do? Does she use her powers to escape? Does she summon the Xavier through that psychic rapport he shares with all his X-men?

No, she uses the N-word.

And by the look on Phil's face, he doesn't give a rats as is she is a mutant she's lost her ghetto pass for life.

If you haven't read Uncanny X-men # 196, it ends with Phil choking the shit out of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine having to beat him off her.

Soon every home will have a robot helper. Don't worry...it's perfectly safe.

2011-03-24T12:38:00.003-04:00

Here's a great short subject Sci-fi flick written & directed by Ruairi Robinson

Starring Max Records from "Where The Wild Things Are".

Cinematography by Macgregor

Music by Ólafur Arnalds courtesy of Erased Tapes.

Here's Blinky

GRANDAIZA PRESENTS : Bandai Soul of Chogokin GX-02R Great Mazinger

2011-03-11T12:41:00.006-05:00

Here's a nifty little piece from my collection that I thought I'd share with you all, One of the all time classics designed by super robot legend Go Nagai and given form by the masters over at Bandai The SOUL OF CHOGOKIN GX-02R GREAT MAZINGER.

One of my all time favorite robot designs, this baby looks like it just jumped out of the TV screen.

This guys chest, torso, waist, arms from the shoulder to elbow & Legs from hip to knee are made out of die-cast making this one hefty robot.

Great BOOMERAAAAANNNGGGGG!

Double driller flying fist!

Here's a nifty little backpack that shows his jet pack in non flight mode.

Bazow! ready for take off!!

(notice the little leg fins on his heel that pop out for flight mode)

A little flexing before take-off. The backpack adds a heft and color to the whole design.

(I love the flaring forearms and hips, early 80's robot chick)

Here's his long range space "scrander" for off world missons.

(Slightly bigger that the jet scrander it has a neat 60's jet plane look)

Ready for takeoff.

Here he is on his stand with all of his bits and pieces

(minus the space pack to give you a better view )

He actually came with Two swords, one of which I game to Mazinger Z.

If you collect any sort of die-cast super robots, this bad boy should be one of the linchpins in your collection.

Next week we'll feature the SOUL OF CHOGOKIN GX-41 RAIDEEN.

Super Fail #2 - Chuck hates on Scott

2011-03-02T09:55:00.009-05:00

And we,re back with another one of the great professors note wothy moments.

When Professor X learns that his precious X-men may have died in Antarctica at the hands of Magneto ( issue # 114 ) what does he do?

He flies off into space for about #15 issues with his new girlie, Lilandra vacationing across the universe with his alien hottie.

During this time the X-men Save the savage land, defeat Proteus one of the most dangerous mutants alive that no one knew about (thanks for the heads up Chuck ) Save Japan, beat Alpha Flight and Arcade.

Finally good ole Chuck comes back ( issue # 129 ) I'm guessing Lilandra finally realized how annoying he was and just dumped him back on Earth.

Now the Professors back and all is well, until he begins taking out his inadequacies on the X-men.

Okay, we all agree the wolverine was a douche early on in Uncanny and probably deserved that, lets continue...

You're dogging your best student and leader of your team for taking care of business while you were away? Your a class act Charles.

Super Fail #1 - Chuck offers Scott the back of his hand.

2011-02-22T14:39:00.012-05:00

As I re-read my uncanny X-men collection, I'm beginning to realize why humanity hated mutants.

it was all due to one man, Charles Francis Xavier, leader of the Uncanny X-men, foremost proponent of mutant rights and the grand daddy of all haters. I'm going share every instance I come across where I feel that Prof. X is being a prick and I'm inviting all of you for the ride.

Here's our precious first note worthy moment of good ole' Chuck using a couple of his many hidden mutant abilities: ultimate cock blocking & extreme douche baggery.

Uncanny X-men # 102 , Jean Grey saves the X-Men from an inescapable death after a space mission by volunteering to manually pilot their space shuttle in a cock pit with a big ass hole that destroyed it's radiation shielding back to Earth while Xavier's precious X-Men happen to be safe from the radiation in the shuttles shielded cargo hold, are helpless to do anything to help. Jean nearly dies saving the team, she's taken to the nearest hospital, The surviving X-men go on vacation to Ireland (wtf?) and Scott's at her side trying tomake sense of it all and this is when our "Hero" makes his entrance and tries to comfort his grieving field commander with these empathetic words:

(dick)

DARK SOUL aka DEMON SOUL 2 video

2011-02-02T17:11:00.002-05:00

I loved the original Demon Soul and still I didn't come anywhere near to finishing it. Some players where put off but it's staggering difficulty in the beginning of the game , others just put it aside to get back to it later.

For me I enjoyed the game but got swept up in other....who am I kidding the game was freaking hard and to this day I can't bring myself to play it or get rid of it, it sits on my shelf daring me to put the game disc into my PS3.

Now with the announcement of the sequel, I have no choice but to man up and get back to it.

here's the clip:

Marvel vs Capcom 3 final boss battle Video

2011-01-31T10:42:00.004-05:00

See it while you can since this is actual cease and desist material I'm hoping to get this out before the major game news outlets get to it.

My thoughts? I wasn't a fan of the giant Apocalypse battle in X-men vs Street fighter and Onslaught in Marvel vs Capcom, anyone who's read Marvel comics featuring Galactus should understand that he's not a villain but a force of nature who could care less about the inhabitants of the world he's devouring, making his face grimace and attack using his hands just looks silly to me.

just click below to find out.

Galactus Boss Fight Marvel vs Capcom 3
Uploaded by WhalingDan. - Discover more gaming videos.

A crazy little foriegn film called ROBOT

2011-01-28T21:12:00.004-05:00

I have to say that I problably couldn't watch the entire film due to the plethora of dance numbers and nudity free love scenes that are probably peppered throughout this Bollywood Sci-Fi flick but I have to admit that the special effect are immpressive for a south east asian film.

Watch out Micheal Bay, Bollywoods got your number!

take a gander below (please disregard the Russian dubbing):

MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3: HSIEN-KO & SENTINEL

2011-01-27T12:26:00.002-05:00

On of my favorite Darkstalkers, Hsien-Ko made the cut ( I really hope there's a Japanese voice option for this game ala Street Fighter 4 )

along with everyones favorite Mutie hunting SENTINEL ( hope he comes with the Blue and Orange Mets / Mango color sceme )

GUNDAM MODELING : RG 1/144 MS-06S ZAKU II (in progress)

2011-01-24T12:34:00.003-05:00

I'm half way through building this Bandai Real Grade 1/144 Zaku II and it's amazing the level of detail that they put into such as small scale model.

Below you can see the model as I left it, built from the waist down this portion of the Model is about 3"1/2 inches tall.

all the panels on the leg are actually removable revealing a very complex skeletal structure underneath that gives the model an amazing range of articulation. ( Sorry, I'm not taking them off for this post, they're just too darn small and I'm afraid to loose them )

The thigh plating shifts when you bend the knees to give this model a complete 90 degree bend on the leg. Joints are nice and stiff allowing this model to do the flamingo pose in with ease.

Another angle...

I have a minor issue with the decals, I think Bandai should have included waterslide decals on this model since the peel and stick decals stand out on a model of this size.

I'll post the finished Model sometime next month since I'm taking my sweet time with it, until then, hasta la pasta baby.

SUCKER PUNCH TRAILER

2011-01-21T11:53:00.004-05:00

Sucker Punch, Zack Snyder's Fourth feature film ( you know the guy who brought us That awesome Dawn of the Dead remake, 300 and Watchmen ) looks like a it was made for those of us who suffer from a young ladies in cosplay fetish ( shhhhhhhhh ).

Story: crazy broads use their vivid imaginings to escape a harsh reality ( awwww that's so sad..sniff.)

The hell with the plot I say! Just give me the crazy visuals, scenery, action and fan service pronto!!

MVC3 AKUMA & TASKMASTER Videos

2011-01-17T10:27:00.002-05:00

Akuma was a no brainer for Marvel Vs Capcom 3 - but Taskmaster for those of you not familiar with Avengers history is a mercenary that has an interesting ability aptly named Photographic reflexes. any fighting style he sees, he can duplicate.

He can't replicate or absorb powers like rogue, but he's learned moves from the likes of Captain America, Daredevil, Spider-man, Ironfist, Hawkeye, The Swordsman just to name a few.

sweet.

Now here's a grainy video of the both of them in action:

MASS EFFECT 2 : Character classes

2011-01-14T05:00:00.003-05:00

With Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 due out in less than a week, I thought it would be nice for those of you that are unfamiliar with the first game to get an idea of what the character classes are about and capable of. Since my experience with the first game was limited due to me selling my Xbox 360 before I could play though the first Mass Effect, I differ to Senior Editor of TheKoalition.com and Mass Effect Maven, Gary Swaby.

Take it away Gary......

I see a lot of people asking; Whats the best character class in Mass Effect 2? Or, What class should I use on Mass Effect 2? Whats The Easiest Class to use? Where can I get some class help? Well to all those asking the question, I am here to provide you with an answer. This is The Koalition’s official character class guide, in which I will show off some of the pro’s and con’s of each class. Hopefully this will steer you in the right direction, helping you choose the right class for you.

However I would like to give a more upfront answer to these questions before we begin. In my opinion there is no best class, there is no easiest or most complicated class. Mass Effect 2 is a game that is all about choice and decisions, this is no different with the classes. Choose the class you think is best for you. For all you non decisive people out there, I hope this guide will help you make the final decision.I will now list all the classes and provide a brief summary of what you get with each one, then go on to display some of the pro’s and con’s.

SOLDIER – COMBAT SPECIALIST

The Soldier class would be ideal for someone looking to just gun their way through the missions, without worrying about using any Biotic or Tech abilities.

In their place you will have adrenaline burst and concussive shot, which are two very useful abilities to have in combat. Also remember that the Soldier class is the only one that will give you an assault rifle from the start of the game. So if you love to use the assault rifles, then this is the class for you.

Weapons: Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, Heavy Pistol, Disruptor Ammo,

Incendiary Ammo, Cryo Ammo.

Powers: Adrenaline Rush, Concussive Shot.

Pros
- Assault Rifle from the start of the game.
- Able to use all weapons.
- Good in close or long range combat.
- Adrenaline rush is great for outlasting your enemies.

Cons

- No Biotics or Tech (Sometimes it’s good to throw people around).
- Your only as good as your shooting skills, since there is not much else to rely on (except your team of course, but this is focusing on your class alone).

———-

ENGINEER – TECH SPECIALIST

The Engineer class is great for those looking to tactically dominate their enemies. Your abilities as an Engineer will have you creating combat drones, freezing enemies (and then shattering them to pieces), and hacking AI’s to turn them on their enemies. It’s a very fun class to try out if you want to mix things up a little. Starting the game as an Engineer will only provide you with a heavy pistol and a submachine gun, but it’s a fair trade for having all those useful abilities.

Weapons: Submachine Gun, Heavy Pistol.

Powers: Combat Drone, Overload, AI Hacking, Incinerate, Cryo Blast.

Pros
- A constant advantage over synthetic enemies.
- Spawning combat drones can divert the enemies attention.
- Overloading the enemies shields is a huge tactical advantage.
- Cyro Blast freezes enemies, this is useful if an enemy tires to get too close.

Cons
- Lack of weapons from the get go.
- No Biotics.

ADEPT – BIOTIC SPECIALIST

Adept is the ultimate biotic class. For those who don’t know what Biotics are; its the ability to use the power of your mind to let off a dark energy, which can be used to move physical targets. In this case, they can be used to have your enemies flying all over the damn place. Using Biotics can be fun, but you have so many people on your team that use them anyway, that later in the game you may wish you had something more unique. Just like with the Engineer class, you only get a heavy pistol and a submachine gun to begin with. However given that you have some of the best Biotic abilities at your disposal, it’s easily forgivable. Also having the Shockwave ability can help you a whole lot when enemies start to come for you in packs, as this ability will knock over everybody directly in front of you.

Weapons: Submachine Gun, Heavy Pistol.

Powers: Singularity, Throw, Pull, Shockwave, Warp.

Pros

- Biotics can help save your life in certain situations.
- Shockwave breaks down swarms of enemies heading towards you.
- Singularity can stop enemy activity for a short period of time.

Cons
- No Slam ability? (The slam attack looks dope, especially when Miranda uses it.)
- Biotics can get boring after a while, since most of your squad can use them.
- Lack of guns from the get go.

———-

INFILTRATOR – COMBAT/TECH

Want more weapon advantages, plus some tech abilities? Then this is a great class to suit your needs. I am currently using this class in my game, and I can tell you it’s great for taking down enemies, especially if you love using the sniper rifle to aid you in combat. Not only that but there are also stealth elements, you can even turn invisible for a couple seconds to flee and line up a good shot.

Weapons: Submachine Gun, Heavy Pistol, Sniper Rifle, Disruptor Ammor, Cryo
Ammo.

Powers: Tactical Cloak, AI Hacking, Incinerate.

Pros
- A perfect mix of the Soldier and Engineer classes.
- The only class that lets you use Tactical Cloak, to go invisible.
- You get the sniper rifle from the start of the game.
- Disruptor Ammo will help you take down shields and synthetic enemies quickly.

Cons

- If you aren’t too good in close range combat, this may not be the class for you.
- Tactical Cloak is over way too quickly until you start to level it up.

———-

VANGUARD – BIOTIC/COMBAT

This class is a mix of Biotic and Soldier advantages. The most notable ability to a Vanguard is being able to charge at your enemies, making them stumble backwards to give you a close range advantage. Vanguard is ideal for those who like a more head on approach in combat, being able to wield a shotgun from the start helps with this too.

Weapons: Submachine Gun, Heavy Pistol, Shotgun, Incendiary Ammo, Cryo Ammo.

Powers: Biotic Charge, Pull, Shockwave.

Pros

- Biotic charge can be used to take out the tougher enemies, as long as you use it at the right time.
- Using the shotgun in combination with biotic charge makes you very dangerous on the battlefield (Great for when those Krogans choose to get too close)

Cons
- Once again, Biotics can get boring.
- If you don't deal with close combat very well then you will often get overwhelmed.
- Using biotic charge when there are too many enemies around puts you is too much of a big risk.

———-

SENTINEL – BIOTIC/TECH

———-

Perhaps the most flexible class in the game, allowing you to mix Biotics with Tech, as well as using your firepower. Though of course you only start off with the basic load out, wielding a heavy pistol and submachine gun. The most unique ability in the Sentinel class is being able to throw up a tech shield to guard yourself for a period of time.

Weapons: Submachine Gun, Heavy Pistol.

Powers: Tech Armor, Throw, Cryo Blast, Overload, Warp.

Pros
- The nice mix of Tech and Biotic abilities.
- A useful class for both close and long range combat.

Cons
- The basic load out.
- Sentinel possibly may give you too much of an advantage, making the game easier depending on your difficulty.

I hope that helps you guys come to a conclusion of what class you wish to use. Just like I said before, there is no class better than the other, it just all comes down to how you want to play.

For even more reference on the advantages of all classes, I will now give a basic index of all the abilities. So if you are still indecisive, this should definitely help you make up your mind. I will detail all abilities and add a small description.

INDEX OF ABILITIES

Adrenaline Rush: Slows down time around Shepard to give you time to line up shots on your enemies.

AI Hacking: Temporarily re programs synthetic enemies to turn on their enemies.

Biotic Charge: Uses Biotics to charge Shepard at the enemy, making them stumble. The ability can take a chunk of health (From the enemy) away once leveled up.

Combat Drone: Deploys a drone, which can stun enemies and damage their shields. The drone is also useful for distracting enemies, taking the attention away from you. Only one drone can be deployed at a time.

Concussive Shot: When activated, Shepard’s weapon will fire a single high powered shot, which is likely to either kill or stun the enemy.

Cryo Ammo: When activated, Shepard’s weapon will sometimes freeze the enemy. Further gun fire at the target can shatter them into pieces.

Disruptor Ammo: When activated, Shepard weapon can easily break down enemy shields, or take out synthetic enemies. It also gives you a chance at overheating enemy weapons.

Incinerate: This is a shot fired from the Omni-Tool, which inflicts damage to the enemy over time, also stopping their health regeneration.

Overload: When used, Overload can shut down enemy shields, presenting a chance to gun them down.

Pull: Pull is used to levitate your enemy into the air, during which time they will slowly fly towards you. This is presents a chance for you and your team to damage them with gunfire. Using Pull will not do damage to the enemy, it just presents the chance for you to unload on them. You can even combine other Biotic powers to manipulate them further, such as throw.

Singularity: Creates a small Mass Effect Field, which draws in close by enemies and renders them helpless for a time.

Tactical Cloak: When activated, Shepard will go invisible for a period of time. This is useful for escaping the enemies eye.

Tech Armor: Puts a tech shield around Shepard. Once the shield gets damaged enough it sends a surge of energy which will knock back enemies close by.

Throw: A Biotic power allowing you to throw enemies back, if they hit an object they will take damage.

Warp: A Biotic power which damages enemies and stops their health regeneration. When used in a combo of Biotic powers such as Pull or Singularity, it can be very powerful.

The Flaming "C" vs Young Justice

2011-01-13T05:00:00.001-05:00

From the Conan show on TBS.

Say what you will about the Flaming "C" but it takes a real man to where fishnets and a cape.

Speaking of which, I cant wait till DC universe online goes "play for free"so I can make my own ridonkulous namby pamby superhero with all sorts of wacky accouterments to fight along side Batman.

But I digress, enjoy the clip:

The Battle for Lost Angeles

2011-01-12T20:22:00.002-05:00

It would take an awesome trailer to get my lazy ass to post again. What you fools doubt my refined cinematic taste!?!

Well you can stone me for enjoying TRON : Legacy but this trailer for Battle for L.A. looks sweet.

Still don't believe me eh?

This sucker has it all, Marines, Aliens, Mechs, Ships, Missle Explosions and best of all...NO MICHAEL BAY.

take a gander at the trailer and see for yourself:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-12-31T11:55:00.003-05:00

Fireworks provided by the star spangled avenger and the north Korean army.

and remember kiddies, guns don't kill people.
(unless they're being wielded by the most bad ass super soldier of them all!)

Hope you enjoyed 2010, cause it's over Johnny......IT'S OVER!!!

From COMIC BOOK MOMENTS

(art by cap artist extraordinaire, Ron Garney.)

Marvel vs Capcom 3 : Alternate Costumes Preview

2010-12-21T21:56:00.002-05:00

By Seth Killian MVC3 developer

courtesy of Marvel.com

As far as career highlights go, working on Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for Marvel definitely ranks way up there for me. (And as far as obvious statements I’ve made go, my last sentence ranks pretty highly itself.) From the start, I’ve had the honor of personally working closely with Capcom to ensure everything Marvel in the game feels appropriately, well, “Marvel”—from character designs to environments to the phrases that come out of the characters’ mouths. Basically, I’ve acted as a fan on the inside, making sure that the stuff in the game is as cool as it’s always been in Marvel fighting games from Capcom—actually, to do my best to help it become even better!

That’s a tall order, too—they may be on the other side of the world, but the folks developing the game really know their Marvel characters! But one of the things I’m proud to say I’ve actively helped to influence was the creation of alternate color schemes for all of the characters. As a holiday gift to you—or maybe just to show all this cool stuff off on the internet—I’d like to show you the kinds of things I’ve worked with the team to bring to the game in this regard.

First, some back story of what I’m talking about here, in case you’re new to this whole Capcom fighting-game thing. Basically, a game like this allows you to pit the exact same characters against themselves, providing the need for differentiation of their visual presentation. With a few exceptions (such as Gray Hulk), this has always meant some sort of random color variation without a ton of thought behind why, leading to characters like the “mango Sentinel” that makes you think of the New York Knicks (hardcore MvC2 fans know exactly why that reference is so Pringles…). So…I took it upon myself to help in putting a ton of thought into the color variations this time.

If you know comics, you know most characters have one or two iconic outfits we associate with them...plus, in many cases, many others we don’t. What follows is a small sample of the color variations you can expect when you play MvC3, plus an explanation of the thought that went behind each, usually based on less iconic ensembles. There were two key rules we had to deal with as we selected each alternate color scheme:

1. Gameplay comes first, so the color scheme has to differ enough from the others to easily differentiate in the heat of battle. Because of this, we can’t do alternates like “Bucky Cap” for Captain America—they’re just not different enough.

2. The color scheme has to fit on the character model. For this reason, I hesitate to call these “alternate costumes” (although in some cases, they actually are). With so many characters, changing the models to get completely authentic alternates in there would delay the game quite a bit—and we think you want to play in February. You’ll see some examples of this below.

So, with that in mind, here are five characters, along with their three alternate color schemes, along with the story behind each. And yes—they all have a story.

IRON MAN

Here, we have Tony Stark’s primary suit of choice, based on the popular Extremis look he’s sported with regularity over the past few years. (Yeah, yeah… I know he’s not wearing it now—he’s just worn it a lot’s all I’m sayin’…)

The team would love to have gotten the “Tin Can” first-ever look for Iron Man from TALES OF SUSPENSE #39 in there… but adapting the color scheme to this character model will have to do.

The stealth suit is just plain badass. It hasn’t appeared much in the comics, but we don’t care. It serves the color differentiation purposes well, plus it’s actually a fairly close fit to the source material.

And, my personal favorite—the Silver Centurion color scheme. Actually, I think this combination of Silver Centurion colors with Extremis svelte makes for my favorite Iron Man costume ever.

WOLVERINE

That’s right, bub—this is the primary look Wolvie’s been sporting since ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 in 2004. You might not notice at first, but it’s actually quite different from his similarly colored MvC2 outing, especially in the lower legs and, uh, ear things.

I’m proud to say I’m friends with Craig Kyle, the co-creator of X-23, as well as the new take on X-Force that started in 2008 (and producer on next year’s THOR movie—guy gets around!). The new X-FORCE comic—which was recently relaunched as UNCANNY X-FORCE—introduced this great gray/black color scheme for Marvel’s most popular mutant.

Another classic! The brown suit is predictable, sure, but it’s gotta go in there. Of course, the ASTONISHING X-MEN model adds some variation to it we’ve never seen before, but I kind of like that, actually.

When it came to the fourth suit, the pickings suddenly got slim—so I resorted to expanding the idea a bit here by dipping into one of my all-time favorite (if all-time convoluted) X-Men stories, “Age of Apocalypse.” You might recall Wolvie was missing a hand in that one and didn’t have a mask. Well, this is what he looked like right before he lost the hand! Right? Two hands and a mask. The justification works for me, and I’m sticking to it. Frankly, I’m just glad I got some AoA love in there.

SHE-HULK

The classic look of Jennifer Walters.

Now, this might stir up a bit of She-Hulk controversy, but rather than go with the “She-Hulk in the Fantastic Four” costume you might predict, Capcom convinced us that the “Lyra in the Frightful Four” look was better for gameplay—Lyra having a red outfit and red hair and all. Plus, in a weird way you get an extra character (who just so happens to move and talk like Jennifer Walters). Wait, you don’t know Lyra? Read some SHE-HULKS then, written by the guy I could throw Pac-Man figures at from my desk if I wanted to, Harrison Wilcox.

And the “She-Hulk that isn’t Jennifer Walters” theme continues with this ensemble, which you may have seen in Damon Lindelof’s—yeah, the LOST guy—ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS. HULK. In the Ultimate Universe, She-Hulk is actually Betty Ross, not Jennifer Walters.

Oh, and speaking of Betty Ross…we’ve also got a take on Red She-Hulk.

SPIDER-MAN

You might have played a game or two wearing this suit before.

Maybe even this one.

And less likely, but still possibly, this one.

Definitely not this one, though. (Dan Slott, where you at?...)

MAGNETO

Behold, the Master of Magnet! …Uh, -ism. The Master of Magnetism! (Sorry about that, X-chickens—X-Men Arcade new on Xbox Live and PSN and all…)

In the Ultimate Universe, they spell “Erik Lehnsherr” as “Erik Lensherr,” and he prefers darker hues mixed with a deeper shade of red.

Mixing it up a bit is Magneto from the Mutant X Universe. No big yellow X on his belt, but hey…if you ask me, it’s an improvement.

Finally, you might know this version of a Magneto as a version of Magneto I can’t say on a family blog like this—let’s just call him “MAG-F#$%IN’-NETO”! That’s right. The MvC2 variant from that delightfully profane, wildly popular viral video. Gotta respect the old school (pardon me—OLD SCHOOL!), my friends…

So, there you have it—the first in what I hope is a series of blog entries like these that reveal all the alternate color schemes of all the Marvel characters, plus the thinking behind each and every one. Of course, your comments will inspire me to get off my butt and actually do it, so please, let me know what you think. The more thoughtful your comments, the more inspired I’ll be to reveal more. So, on that note…

Excelsioryuken!

UNCHARTED MOVIE CASTING (WFT)

2010-12-21T19:08:00.003-05:00

I don't know what goes into casting a major Hollywood motion picture but Marky Mark Walberg as Nathan Drake (uncharted movie) really burns my coils.

Fans of the series recognize Nathan Fillon, best know for his work on TV's FIREFLY, ABC's CASTLE and SERENITY as a dead on match for the Nathan Drake. From his looks to his mannerisms it seems that the game designers had Fillon in mind when developing the character for the game and would seem like a no brainer for the roll.

instead we get this:

"Wahlberg finds his Bourne" that's not how I remember it.

A fan posted this video where he asked director David O'Russell about the casting choice and he seemed like he could give a rats @$$ about who's playing what in the Uncharted movie.

here's the clip:

Wahlberg should stick to producing boring shows about vapid hollywood groupies
and gracefully bow out of this roll. Why? because I feel it's going to be another charmless
Tomb Raideresque romp with non of the humor and wit that made the Uncharted
series a joy to play and to watch.

But that's just my Two cents.

The New Conan O'Brien Show.

2010-12-19T11:28:00.004-05:00

I've never laughed out loud at anything Jay Leno has done on TV or in the movies.

Conan on the other hand has his moments of awesomeness.

This hilarious clip from the new Conan show is proof positive that NBC execs are mentally deficient.

enjoy.

Holiday greetings from Adam Hughes

2010-12-14T14:24:00.001-05:00

A nice little holiday x Star wars piece by Mr. Hughes.

Happy Chrismahanukwanzikaa by *AdamHughes on deviant ART

UNCHARTED 3 Gameplay footage ( J.Fallon)

2010-12-14T09:23:00.004-05:00

Here's a clip from the Jimmy Fallon show of the next installment of what could be the greatest action adventure gaming franchise, Uncharted.

here's the clip ( sorry about the ads ):

Storm and C. Viper make the cut (MVC3)

2010-12-09T14:13:00.002-05:00

Storm, former pick pocket/ X-men / Dracula's concubine / Mohawk punk chick / Leader of the Morlocks and X-men / queen of Wakanda and Goddess of Thunder made the roster of Marvel vs Capcom 3

Oh I almost forgot, C.Viper made it as well

Da CyberMon

2010-12-05T11:25:00.003-05:00

Some old school Dr. Who Hi jinks for my people from the Islands.

10 Awesome Flybys courtesy of the USAF

2010-12-01T20:00:00.000-05:00

Something to hold you all over until the next Ace Combat comes out next year.

enjoy.

Top 10 Low Pass Flybys - Watch more Funny Videos

ONLY IN COMICS # 1

2010-12-01T10:15:00.006-05:00

And we're back from our November hiatus and I want to focus on what's going on in the monthly books.

The this week we take a look at Deadpool Team up # 887 where the overexposed (he's in Six titles at the moment...and counting) merc with a mouth finds himself looting the fallen remains of Asgard where he runs into the Mighty Thor and we get a nice little don't ask don't tell moment in Three little panels.

enjoy.

From ONLY IN COMICS

AMC's "Walking Dead" premiere episode

2010-11-05T05:24:00.002-04:00

I just have to support this show with a plug, it's that damn good!

Just in case you missed the premiere episode of what could be my favorite TV series of all time, I've taken the liberty of throwing it up here for your enjoyment.

( in case your bored at work )

SUNDAYS on AMC @ 10PM

Doodling with the ipad: Kitty sketch

2010-10-28T21:06:00.003-04:00

I recently got my grubby fingers on an ipad, after testing it's ability to stream porn on the fly, I decided to try my luck at finger painting on the damn thing.

First I needed a serviceable app. that wouldn't cause me to throw the damn thing against the wall. I bought Art Studio for about $4.99 in the app store you get a nice set of tools to draw with (layers, brushes, pallets).

first I started doodling a Catwoman in the app with a .5 blue pencil just going at it like a fine napkin drawing like so:

Kitty Sketch : Artstudio ipad by ~Grandaiza on deviant ART

Then I decided to try my luck at inking and coloring the damn thing, which didn't turn out too bad except for the murky background which couldn't be helped since I learned the layer controls after I started this piece.

Kitty final : Artstudio ipad by ~Grandaiza on deviant ART

The Hello kitty statue in the background was an afterthought ( so was the entire piece for that matter )

next up I started working on a Chun Li piece that I'll share once it's finished (you can see the sketches on my deviantart site) once that's finished, I'll start working on my characters for this story I've been siting on for a while.

later.

I can't make this $#!t up vol. # 533 : Raptor Jesus

2010-10-16T04:00:00.001-04:00

Now I've seen my fair share of crazy $h!t online, from Italian spider-man to three girls and a cup but this one just had me giggling like a 5 year old wired on chocolate covered frosted sugar bombs.

Raptor Jesus has apparently been around for years ( Don't believe me? google it ya heathen ), people have been taking images the Lord and adding a Velociraptor head on them pissing off creationists and Darwinist all over the internet.

Me I just love me some weird internet buffoonery.

Here he is rocking dual Uzi's

Tending to the Lame ( in this case Professor Charles Xavier )

Laying hands

Shepherding the meek

Renaissance style

Or just taking care of business.

Star wars force unleashed 2 demo impression

2010-10-14T20:16:00.005-04:00

As a star wars fan, I really enjoyed the first game so much so that I still find myself playing the original from time to time, even though some of Starkillers moves where a bit choppy it still made for some of the best star wars gaming available on current consoles.

( Lucas arts, get to work on that x-wing vs tie fighter for Ps3 pronto. )

Well I'm pleased to report that it looks like Vader's secret apprentice has been training in-between games with Kratos cause the kid is swift! Dual lightsabers moving with enough speed and grace to make the god of war himself green with envy. he also borrowed the "rage gauge" from Kratos, string together attacks and you gauge slowly fills, once filled click down on your L3 & R3 buttons and you can dole out insane combo moves at twice the speed.

The new Jedi mind trick move is awesome, sending hapless weak minded fools leaping to their death. I'm told that once upgraded this new ability will allow you to actually turn stormtroopers against each other but this feature was not available in the demo.

I was able to fight a carbonite spewing battle droid trying to bring me in alive, force grabbing plums of the substance and hurl it back at the droid, freeze it and take it apart with a variety of force powers.

If the demo is any indication this one's a winner, my only concern is the amount of levels and the games length but that I'll save for the review.

here's footage of the demo in action available now on xbox 360 and ps3!

NYCC coverage part 2 : Marvel vs Capcom 3.

2010-10-09T19:35:00.007-04:00

First of I want to reassure everyone freaking out over the horribly cheesy character voices, Capcom rep at NYCC confirmed that the option to change to the Japanese voices will be incorporated into the US version ( like Super Street Fighter 4)

That being said the game plays a lot like Tatsunoko vs Capcom ( which didn't bode well for me since I've only played that game a handful of times. The game looks terrific, feels responsive but the control scheme change threw me for a loop, but I'm sure the option to change the controller to a more familiar set up will be in the final version.

Big announcement characters will have complete alternate costumes!

(the following Four costumes have been confirmed for Spidey)

So will we see Layton's Iron man?

Simonson's Thor?

Mr. Fixit?

only time will tell.

NEW CHARACTERS ANNOUNCED:

MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing) insane!

MAGNETO ( A classic )

ARTHUR ( Ghouls N Ghosts )

Spencer ( bionic Commando )

The only thing worth hating about this game for me is the release date of Spring 2011!

NYCC coverage part 1 : The cosplayers

2010-10-09T11:34:00.008-04:00

I thought I'd start my coverage of the NY comic-con with the people who's love of comics and gaming compels them to dress up as their favorite characters, the back bone of any gathering of nerds.....the cos-players.

I give props to anyone who'll go out in public in tight ass spandex but in my opinion, cosplay should be reserved exclusively for chicks with tight bods or people with the resources to produce
accurate replicas of what they're trying to depict.

and now on with the show!

(click on images to enlarge)

The Good

the Marvel Family looking good with they're accurate ( hey where's CM jr? ) Mary Marvel,
The Wizard Shazam, "dad" as Uncle Marvel and the little lady as Captain Marvel.

Lil Miss Riddler gets an "A" for effort.

I know, Booth Babes shouldn't count, but look at those guns!

X-23, wolverines younger female clone ( don't ask ) and playable character in Marvel vs Capcom 3. this chick pulls off the emaciated emo mutie teen look nicely.
The dueling Leia's rocked!
The Monarch's Henchmen ( Venture Bros. ) again thank you for not rocking a spandex version
of this suit and sparing me that vision.

The Bad

I give "Two-face" credit for the face makeup but the suit could have easily been distressed or burned on one side. Catwoman is phoning it in with her tribute to the 1988 Batman returns look. Ivy's costume actually works but for posing with these other two knuckleheads, I lumped her into the "bad" pile.
Napoleon Dynamite is SNAKE!
The flash costume isn't bad, but something is just off with his look.
Accurate kick ass costume, but it's he loses points for taking off the mask...Commit damn it!
either your Kick ass or not.

The Ugly

This poor bastard with his dirty left glove (hmmmm?) swimming cap and orange mustache.. you can practically smell him through your screen, he's the embodiment of everything that's wrong with comic shops.

Go home and take a bath sir! invest in some deodorant before you go out in public again.

that's it for the costumes, next post we'll look at some of the cool toys at the con.

Hail to the King, baby! Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

2010-09-30T13:03:00.006-04:00

Now here's some downloadable content that I'm definitely willing to pay $10 for.

Zombie's and the old west? I'm there dude.

Video Games | RDR: Undead Nightmare | Debut Teaser

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

CAT SH!T ONE.

2010-09-29T12:51:00.005-04:00

My wife was looking over my shoulder as I was posting this video,
she curiously asked " what is that?"

I told her it was the new season of the wonder pets.

BAZINGA!

Anyhow, I found this clip of the Anime Cat Sh!t One strangely amusing
and thought I'd share it with you

EMBED-Trailer for 'Cat Shit One: Apocalypse Meow' - Watch more free videos

Damn you Steve Jobs! My iPad review

2010-09-29T11:22:00.003-04:00

Through some finagling I've happened to get my hands on a 16Gb 3G iPad and I can't put this damn thing down. It's sleek, easy to use and perfect for web browsing on the fly, reading comics, watching movies.

I've had it for a little over a week now and I can't imagine myself not having it at my side.
Reading comics with my favorite music in the background, the effortless switching between apps
And I haven't even bothered to activate the 3G ( I am, however looking into other less expensive 3G options for the pad, sorry At&t but your service in the city is less than reliable and a bit over priced).

So if your looking for a second ( or Third ) device to lug around, I highly recommend the iPad.

Just be leery of gadget snatchers when your out in public, but that's a post for another day.

Super Street Fighter 4 : New Characters Confirmed

2010-09-18T10:08:00.002-04:00

Yun and Yang, The twin Kung fu fighters from the Street Fighter 3 series have been confirmed for the arcade editiion of Super Street fighter 4 and will soon be available as downlaodable content for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

I'm not a Yun and Yang player ( shit I can't even tell them apart ) but I'm sure someone who plays SSF4 online must be jumping for joy. ( I would have preffered Alex or Q from SF: 3 )

here's a clip:

MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3: TRON BONNE & X-23

2010-09-16T10:12:00.002-04:00

Here's some MVC3 gameplay footage of the recently announced Tron Bonne from Mega Man Legends and Marvel vs Capcom 2 with her trusty servbot.

and the controversial X-23, wolverine's female teenage clone that I believe he's taken under his wing in the comics ( who can tell nowadays, Wolverine is in every Marvel title )

The only thing that concerns me are the English voices for all the characters, I kind of miss the Japanese voices with their broken "engrish" for certain moves.

oh well hopefully Capcom will add a Japanese voice option like SSF4.

here's the clip, enjoy:

AWESOME COMICS ( THAT NEVER HAPPENED )

2010-09-15T19:37:00.004-04:00

This is beyond awesome for so many reasons I just had to share it on my site:

Courtesy of the comic alliance

FIRST CAPTAIN AMERICA MOVIE COSTUME IMAGE

2010-09-09T07:44:00.003-04:00

I 'm really digging the look, which looks like the Bryan Hitch Cap design for "the Ultimates"
Cap has always been one of my favorite characters and I'm actually glad that they're going back to WW2 to do some good ole fashion Ratzi bashing

(on a government issue Harley with mounted guns under the headlights!)

Sweet.

And we're back!

2010-09-07T11:39:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the time off, I just wanted to finish up some housework and enjoy the nice weather with family and friends.

We'll resume our usual shenanigans as of tomorrow.

LANDO CALRISSIAN IS........THE BLACKSTAR WARRIOR!

2010-08-12T10:28:00.004-04:00

I would have definitely preferred this over those fucking God awful prequels.

enjoy, bitches.

RARE TRAILER FOR AN UPCOMING FEATURE FILM

2010-08-05T12:07:00.010-04:00

I'm in an attempt to keep this trailer up for as long as possible, I'm flying this one under the radar by not mentioning what movie it's for and avoid getting a "cease and desist" notice from a certain comic book company / Movie studio.

I PROMISE THEE, BY YMIR'S FROSTY BEARD, THOU SHALL BE ENTERTAINED!

Hammertime
Uploaded by maxspyder. - More lifestyle, fashion and how-to videos.

A GRANDAIZA EXCLUSIVE! MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3:THE REMAINING CAST OF CHARACTERS

2010-07-28T20:26:00.004-04:00

I don't know where to begin with this...so I'm starting this post with a fitting, appropriate video clip that sums up how I feel right now......

Capcom wants to give you the roster to MvC3 in drips and drabs but I can't bite my tongue any longer, I have it on a very reliable source that the following are THE remaining characters. Call me crazy but when the "official" announcement comes, remember where you heard it first.

ready? here we go:

CAPCOM:

MIKE HAGGAR ( Final Fight, Saturday Night Slammasters)
FRANK WEST (Dead Rising)
ARTHUR ( Ghouls n Ghosts )
ALBERT WESKER ( Resident Evil )
VIEWTIFUL JOE ( Duh!)
ZERO ( Mega Man Zero )
TRON BONNE ( Mega man, MvC2 )
HSIEN-KO ( Darkstalkers )
CHUCK SPENCER ( That new Bionic commando guy with the claw arm )
AKUMA ( Raging demon coming at ya! )
FELICIA ( Cat chick from Darkstalkers )

MARVEL:

WAR MACHINE ( James Rhodes, see IM2 )
MR. FANTASTIC ( Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four )
ELEKTRA ( Greek ninja chick that had a thing with Daredevil )
X-23 ( Wolverine's clone "daughter" and member of X-force )
MAGNETO ( X-men Adversary / Ally )
SHUMA-GORATH ( From the "evil squid demon" dimension )
EMMA FROST ( Half naked mutie psi-witch )
TASKMASTER ( Merc with Photographic reflexes )
JUGGERNAUT ( Who? )
SHE-HULK ( Jenny Walters, Lawyer, super heroine, Juggernaut's friend with benefits )
SPIDER-MAN ( I think he's a photographer or something )

DC UNIVERSE ONLINE : MY IMPRESSION SO FAR....

2010-07-28T10:06:00.004-04:00

Although the thought of aa console MMOPRG with DC superheroes really appeals to me, I a little sad that none of the gameplay footage that I've seen gives me any hope for this title.

I know it's a work in progress but with the release date right around the corner I've yet to see something other than a spiffy CG trailer that compel me to play this game. Here are some of the points that believe this game will have going against it at launch:

COST : $59.99+ tax and an additional $14 a month if you don't have a PS+ account or the slightly better deal of getting a PS+ account for $50 per year and you get to play this game for free, HULU plus and wipeout HD included for that price. It's still an extra cost that PS3 console gamers are not used to.

COMPETITION: With the huge selection of established and soon to be released multiplayer games that are for the most part you are able to play for free online with your "friends" I can't imagine that this game has a snowballs chance in hell of taking off, which takes us to my next critique.

GAMEPLAY: looks bad, from what I can gather, it suffers from bad collision, the animations are choppy and the in game world look just bland ( think Nintendo 64 superman). I mean at this point and time you would think that Sony, one of the early pioneers of the multiplayer online gaming world, would have gotten there shit together when it comes to MMORPG by now.

Here's the "sizzle" in the form of the comic con CG trailer for the game, which I have to say had me sold in the first 30 seconds:

And here's the "steak" an approximation of what your getting for $59.99 + $14 a month.

MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3: 4 MORE CHARACTERS ANNOUNCED

2010-07-21T16:33:00.003-04:00

With almost a year before the game drops, Capcom has decided to give us the roster to their much anticipated fighting game in drips and drabs ( and like a true sucker I'm hanging on with baited breath to every announcement waiting for either Thor or Ben Grimm )

NEW ADDITIONS FOR CAPCOM:

- CHUN LI ( a shoe in, she's ever missed a game)

- TRISH ( The Female interest in Devil May Cry, don't know much about her but she looks fun )

AND FOR MARVEL:

- DOCTOR DOOM (It's funny that they would announce him and not an obvious character like Spiderman)

- SUPER SKRULL (This bodes bad for any of the Fantastic Four making it into the game since he's covers all of their powers in one green little package )

here's the clip:

Here's my MvC3 obscure wishlist:

CAPCOM

- Q ( Street Fighter 3 : 3rd Strike - Mystery man wearing a trench coat and an Ultraman mask.)

- LOST PLANET NEVEC PIRATES ( Sweet!)

- DR. WILEY ( Mega Man Villain who summons evil robots )

- ARTHUR ( Fabled king and hero from the classic Ghouls N Ghosts series )

- FOCKER ( Power Stones Pilot guy )

- HAYATO ( from Rival Schools , the gym teacher that makes you do push-ups)

- PHEONIX WRIGHT ( Who wouldn't want to beat up an Ace Attorney? )

MARVEL

- THOR ( He's got a movie coming out, now's the time to get Storm out of there and give the God of Thunder his due)

- Mr. IMPOSSIBLE ( It would be insane, but oh so much fun )

- IRON FIST ( With out question )

- MANDARIN ( 10 Rings of fun for everyone )

- MOON KNIGHT or DAREDEVIL ( I'll take what I can get )

But my number one must have character is Chauncey Streets very own the ever loving blue eyed THING - BEN GRIMM!

JOHN'S COMIC BOOK MOMENT # 2

2010-07-19T09:51:00.006-04:00

(This one's for Pete, the worlds biggest Spider-fan)

The latest run of Amazing Spiderman was quiet fun, but the final chapter had the "I wonder if spiderman would ever get angry enough to use his sticky little fingers to rip someone face off" moment.

And who could push the wise-cracking, cool as a cucumber Parker over the edge?

Non other than Kraven's wife and kids who murdered Madame Web, Spider Girl ( Cassandra Kane ) and another spidey clone Kaine ( don't ask ) in a bizarre ritual to resurrect Kraven who blew his own head off in the now classic "Last Hunt" story.

Dig the sound effect "SCHRIIIIIIIPPP" gruesome!

From www.Grandaiza.com

(from Marvel's amazing spiderman # 627 )

GRANDAIZA COVERS NYCC!

2010-07-15T17:12:00.002-04:00

The nice people at the New York Comic Con were kid enough to grant Grandaiza press credentials for this years con!

Fri Oct 8th , Sat 9th and Sun 10th at the Jacob Javitz center in Manhattan.

for more info click below:

MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3: IRON MAN LvL 3 SUPER

2010-07-14T18:55:00.000-04:00

Uni-beam!

EVO LAS VEGAS 2010 SSF4 GRAND FINAL RESULTS

2010-07-12T10:09:00.005-04:00

Awesome live streaming of the fights with commentary, big thanks to the team at Levelup-series.com.

This is the first time that I actually watched the matches leading up to the finals and I have to say I was blown away with the variety of characters selected and pleasantly surprised to see that players are breaking away from characters that I consider boring like Sagat, Ken and Ryu.

Super Street Fighter 4 SEMI-FINALS
Justin Wong (Rufus) vs Gamerbee (Adon)
(One of my favorite matches)

Not for any cool moves or super comback, what made this match for me was the on camera pre-fight interview where the favored Justin Wong was overheard by Gamerbee stating that Adon was a weak bottom tier character, so what does Gamerbee do? he eliminates Justin with.....Adon, bazinga!

and now on to the Final Match:

Super Street Fighter 4

Finalists Daigo vs Ricky Ortiz

WINNER: Daigo

EVO 2010 LIVE!

2010-07-10T21:14:00.002-04:00

Evo 2010 fighting game tournament is going on right now in Las Vegas.

SSF4, MvsC2, TvsC, and Much more!

Now you can catch all the action live from Vegas this weekend on GRANDAIZA.com!

just click below and enjoy:

Video streaming by Ustream

LOOK MA!! I'M FAMOUS!

2010-07-06T17:02:00.006-04:00

Here's a little video that I stumbled upon while searching google for my username and blog, apparently one of the players of this Super Street Fighter 4 team battle was so impressed by my Blanka skills that he had to share it with the world.

All kidding aside, I love this age of online gaming and video sharing, it's simply amazing (like my street fighting skills)

Check out the video below and enjoy: