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This new trailer begins with: And we’re back, just like The Five Musketeers. Dumas killed the Muskateers in his sequels, you know… Check out my close reading of the first trailer for more commentary. Second, Longer Trailer For Edgar Wright And Simon Pegg’s The World’s End

This is being written on an aeroplane waiting to take off. I am cramped, I am tired, I am sober, I feel like bouncing off the walls. A perfect time to read Bounce #1, out today. Do you remember Speedball? Created by Steve Ditko for Marvel a one-last-chance-to-do-another-Spider-Man? And all the cracks made about the class A drug action in the title? And the questions asking if Speedball had been knocking back Speedballs to get like that? With all the little floaty bubbles around his head? I get the feeling that Joe Casey did, with this new Image Comics launch title, Bounce, with pretty much the same super power set as Speedball, and getting his powers, it seems, from a drug trip. The comic, though giving us a superhero/super villain fight scene, is more concerned with reality, and different ways to change it. The book gives us both the chemical and the electronic, with all the baggage both brings us. One has a faux spiritual element to it, the other is all military gung ho. This looks like it may well be going on an Action Philosophers journey, exploring reality, drugs and The Man with a variety of complexities. What ever hard and fast truths are delivered are soon knocked away. I wonder what Steve would have thought of such an attitude, oven his Randian beliefs? Yeah he’d have probably hated it. Welcome to Speedball Done Right. Bounce #1 is published today. Bounce #1 – Knocking Back A Speedball

Doug Mahnke’s interlocking “Trinity War” covers More than three months after teasing that he and his Green Lantern collaborator would reteam on “a new project later this year,” this morning Geoff Johns made it official: Artist Doug Mahnke will join him on Justice League of America. The announcement arrives in a farewell message from the writer in today’s Green Lantern #20, which marks the end of a nine-year run that began with 2004′s Green Lantern: Rebirth. After praising artists Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, Johns continues, “And Doug Mahnke … he’s the current superstar I work with every month on Green Lantern and have for years now. Doug, you’re one of the most amazing and unique artists in the business. Your power, grit and sense of wonder can be seen at its very best in Green Lantern #20. I’m fortunate to continue working with Doug as we head over to Justice League of America.” The news may not come has a complete surprise, as Mahnke was already scheduled to pencil Justice League of America #6-7, part of DC Comics’ “Trinity War” crossover. Now, however, it appears the assignment may be more permanent. Mahnke, who’s worked with Johns on Green Lantern since 2009, has tackled the Justice League franchise before, with stints on JLA and Justice League Elite.

Tweet Unexpectedly long lines and preemptive attempts to avoid the same have caused some ruckus on the con circuit. This past weekend’s Motor City Comic Con in Detroit was the latest show in a growing number to have more people than they knew what to do with—even folks who had brought tickets meant to avoid standing in line ended up queueing for hours, and the con has issued an apology. Fans eager to see Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, 90, and other pop culture and comic stars jammed streets and highways near Novi’s Suburban Collection Showplace. Lines to enter the venue wrapped around the building, with some patrons waiting more than two hours to enter. Waits for autographs were even longer. “We were literally hit with a humanity bomb,” said Goldman, who estimated attendance for all three days at more than 30,000. He said his staff worked hard to get guests inside “as fast as possible, which we realize wasn’t fast enough.” Growing from 18,000 to 30,000 people in a year is pretty impressive. According to Crains “Those numbers represented a 20 increase in dealers, a 15-percent increase in comic guests and a 20-percent increase in celebrities. Lessons were learned: Given that we had every one of our employees and volunteers working diligently to get attendees in quickly , we were unable to respond to the multiple e-mails and social media messages alerting us of the issues you were having. Next year we will plan to have one person dedicated to e-mail and social media communication to better serve attendee's needs. We learned some valuable lessons this year and are already working hard to prevent these issues from happening again. We have already been in talks with Showplace management to begin working on solutions for 2014, which will be the 25th anniversary of the Motor City Comic Con. We truly hope you will accept our sincere apologies for any delays or inconveniences you may have experienced and will come back next year, as it will be better than ever. Basically, if you can put together enough money to afford Stan Lee and a few Walking Dead cast members, you need to plan for lines. As we’ve noted several times recently, as con culture grows, haphazard planning will quickly be exposed. Not saying that’s what happened in Detroit, but the casual nature of old skool comic-cons and the current reality are two different things. Another show, Japan Expo USA, an offshoot of a French manga festival to be held in Santa Clara this August, went too far the opposite way, and initial show information said that there would be no ins and outs — so if you needed to drop off some stuff in the car, or go out for decent food or just get some fresh air and decompress…you couldn’t get back in. This plan did not go over well, and the show quickly reversed the policy. Hey everyone–After a sound beating with baguettes, management has dropped the one in/one out policy! This policy was based on our French model, but we recognize the value of adapting to our market and being responsive to fan desires and needs :) We really appreciate the time that everyone took to respond. We hope to see you all in a few short months, and don’t forget registration opens shortly! We’re sort of curious about a venue where a no ins and outs policy would make sense, but order seems to have been quickly restored in this case, anyway. [Photo of the young girl cosplaying as Stan Lee from Cosmic Brownie] #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}

Unfortunately, I’m suffering from limited access to the internet today. Things keep breaking. And so I’ve only just seen this quite exciting new trailer for Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel. Still, it could be worse. My internet could have been hijacked by General Zod… Click here to view the embedded video. That was crunchy. The pile of skulls was quite a striking image – certainly not something I was expecting. The Man Of Steel – New Fate Of Your Planet Trailer

Press Release: The Guardian Angels to Debut “Angels In Action” Reality TV Series at Philadelphia Comic Con 2013 “Angels In Action” on FirstRun.tv Network follows the true-life patrols of unarmed volunteers as they work to fight crime and safeguard streets. Los Angeles, CA, May 22, 2013 –(PR.com)– The Alliance of the Guardian Angels, in association with FirstRun.tv Network (www.FirstRun.tv) has begun production of “Angels In Action,” a new reality television series that captures the true-life drama and action of the Guardian Angels as they patrol inner-cities and communities to help citizens and police fight crime. Unarmed, and putting their own safety at risk, the organized teams of brave volunteers encounter drug dealing, prostitution, thieves, and more, as they traverse the streets. The debut episode, which follows Guardian Angels chapter teams in Philadelphia, PA, and Atlantic City, NJ, will make its worldwide debut at Comic Con in Philadelphia, May 30, 2013 through June 2, 2013. The reality series is broadcast exclusively on FirstRun.tv Network. In the debut episode of “Angels In Action,” the Guardian Angels work with local law enforcement and residents in Philadelphia, PA to hunt down three suspects who allegedly broke into the home of a 63 year-old woman, and then robbed and raped her. In addition, the Guardian Angels patrol the downtown Philadelphia and intervene in a drug deal, take down and hand over the suspect to local police. In Atlantic City, the Guardian Angels investigate massage parlors that allegedly operate as fronts for prostitution. They encounter a woman who they suspect may be engaged in selling sex against her own free will. Other episodes of “Angels In Action” follow the Guardian Angels in cities throughout the world, where their chapters have grown to 130 cities in 17 countries, and will a volunteer base of 5,000 members. The Alliance of The Guardian Angels is a non-profit organization founded in New York by Curtis Sliwa in 1979. At the time, Sliwa was a night manager at a McDonald’s restaurant in The Bronx. Having to take the subway to and from work at late hours, Sliwa became fed up with the crime rate and lack of safety for passengers. He banded with a group of friends to begin weapons-free volunteer patrols of the New York City subways. With their signature red berets and red jackets, The Guardian Angels are now recognized worldwide as icons representing community safety, education, and youth development. FirstRun.tv is an online television network launched in 2011 by Gary Kleinman, a former Walt Disney Studios Vice President. FirstRun.tv was designed ground-up to support and advance television’s move to the web. The network features ten channels of new online primetime shows from independent producers, and can be viewed free on any smartphone, tablet, notebook, desktop computer, browser-capable gaming consoles, web-ready TV sets, and the Roku streaming player. Free apps are available for iPhones and Android phones. “Angels In Action” is produced in association with FirstRun.tv’s production wing, StoryArc New Media. For more information, contact: press@FirstRun.tv or Gary Kleinman at 818-748-7630 More information on The Alliance of the Guardian Angles is available at: www.guardianangels.org

[Review by Doug Glassman, who Tumblrs at Hell Yeah '80s Marvel!] A few years ago, DC published a book called Solo, allowing artists a chance to create stories in their style as they saw fit. Despite decent sales, great critical reception, and three Eisners for three individual issues [plus a forthcoming collection -- ed.], the title folded in 2006. Various artists had already begun working on ideas for issues; one of them was Walt Simonson. Last year, Simonson reworked some of his Solo ideas into a graphic novel, The Judas Coin, which was one of Collected Editions’ recommendations for holiday shopping. Even though The Judas Coin is broken up into six individual stories and a brief prologue, it doesn’t feel like a watered-down miniseries in the way JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice does. As the prologue reveals, the titular coin is one of the pieces of silver paid to Judas in exchange for betraying Jesus to the Romans. However, the book doesn’t dwell on theology; Jesus is simply called a betrayed friend, and the curse seems to derive more from the betrayal than any Christian doctrine. The coin’s cursed nature is immediately apparent: after Judas flings his blood money in the faces of his benefactors, a beggar finds the coins, only to be immediately trampled by a Roman soldier. Throughout The Judas Coin, simply being in the coin’s proximity is enough for bad luck to happen, although it gets progressively worse if you invoke the coin as a lucky totem. Each section is prefaced with a brief text piece about the actual history of the time period to set up the situation with a minimum of exposition. The one exception is Part 5, starring Batman and Two-Face, where the text blurb is just reads “Gotham is an awful, awful place.” Instead, hints of backstory are given through newspaper articles printed behind the panels. The entire story is printed so that you have to tilt the comic on its side, turning it into a newspaper broadsheet complete with a “Gotham Gazette” header on the first page. Normally I complain about this technique; a particularly annoying example was in Iron Man/War Machine: Hands of the Mandarin, in which one single random Force Works splash page was printed vertically. But in The Judas Coin, the entire story is done this way, and it actually enhances the story. Two-Face is actually the only person to really figure out the curse, a refreshing take on the character. Batman and Two-Face are the most famous characters to feature in the graphic novel; the rest are obscure stars of features in books like The Brave and The Bold, the home of Golden Gladiator and Viking Prince. The Golden Gladiator story finds the character near the end of his life in the service of Vespasian, who rose to power during the bloody “Year of the Four Emperors.” In fact, Vespasian co-stars in the story, a detail I thought was odd until I found out that he was a soldier as well. By setting the story in Germania, Simonson allows the coin to migrate from Judea to Europe in a realistic manner. This sets the stage for the Viking Prince chapter, which, as you might expect, has a few The Mighty Thor nods, including a picture of Hela with a half-rotted face and elaborate Kirby-esque Viking helmets. The next three chapters were two of the furthest along in the creation of Simonson’s Solo issue, and are thus the most solid. The Captain Fear tale takes advantage of the traditional greed of pirates and uses it to accentuate the treachery of Fear’s crew in a mutiny. His resulting plan ends up destroying his ship, and the mutineer leader experiences the book’s most karmic death. Next, the tone shifts to comedy with a poker game between Bat Lash and some hooligans where everyone is on an even keel due to cheating. Like Captain Fear, Bat Lash has an intricate way to get out of his bad situation, even if it involves beating the crap out of himself. It’s a necessary tonal shift after three fairly dark stories in a row. The aforementioned Batman and Two-Face sto

Of late, I have been introduced to the stories within the Zenescope universe. When I first heard of Grimm Fairy Tales, I thought it was just the classic fairy tales put to comic format. Now that I have learned more about what the universe was thanks to some colleagues here at Comic Booked as well as reading a few of the selected titles (such as the Robyn Hood trade paperback) I have found that I am really enjoying the different stories here. Much of my personal reading list is focused on the superhero books from Marvel and DC, but of late I’ve been finding alternate-style stories are really grabbing my attention. This issue, Realm Knights, is a one-shot that takes place during the opening stages of the “Unleashed” crossover currently impacting the entire Zenescope range of books and it was definitely a fun read. There are some spoilers here, but I’ve marked those sections so if you want to read the spoiler-free section only simply jump down to after the asterisks. *** SPOILERS BEGIN *** For new readers to the GFT universe, there are basically several realms that exist where the fairy tale characters we know about are based in a form of reality. As you can expect, some are good and some are bad. This story has the bad guys get together and attack the United Nations in New York City – and it gets pretty nasty. In order to battle these villains, a government agency “recruits” a number of individuals who are a force for good – the Highborns known as Sela Mathers (who has been around since the beginning of Grimm Fairy Tales; Shang; Hecate; Hook; Red (as in Little Red Riding Hood); and Robyn Hood. These heroes take the battle to the baddies, led by a false Highborn (at least, that’s my interpretation) named Cindy. She leads a few others in attacking the UN, including someone identified as a necromancer who I do not recognize (and as he gets taken down pretty easily I’m not sure how instrumental he is), Nox, and Grendel. In order to stop them, the team splits up with Red and Robyn Hood taking on Grendel and the rest of the group heading indoors to take on Cindy and her main team. Although the battle snaps back and forth among the teams at various times, the good guys are eventually victorious… but at a price. Robyn and Red have met before, and it turns out that only Robyn knew that Red could turn all wolfen. She exploited that fact to defeat Grendel, forcing Red to lose her concentration and wolf out. The team departs at the end, with Robyn heading out to New Jersey (where she can be found in the pages of Robyn Hood: Wanted #1). Shang reads Cindy’s mind and discovers that something bad is about to happen, and that’s where Unleashed comes into play. *** SPOILERS END *** OK, so now that that’s done. Pat Shand is one of those writers for Zenescope that, no matter what I pick up, he seems to be writing it. Here, he has written the story in such a way that as a new reader to Zenescope, it gives you a great introduction to some of these characters who have had a history with the series. You don’t need the whole history here, as you gather some of the salient bits as you read the story. That means that a new reader, such as myself, don’t need to worry about missing a lot of backstory in order to jump into the action in this issue, and that’s a good thing. It also shows that Shand has a handle on many of the characters quite well. In fact, he is the writer on many of the Zenescope books each month so he definitely has a handle on the nuances. The story was co-plotted by Shand and Joe Brusha, and if you look at the actual Unleashed titles you see that Shand has his hands in there as well. Although I think some of the action in this story is minimized as it turns into a battle of quips at times. Not every story needs words in every panel, but that’s one thing I have noticed with many Zenescope books. There needs to be a word balloon or a

Tweet If you are like The Beat, you have always wanted to see a graphic of San Diego Comic-Con’s attendance growth and now thanks to this infographic presented by Film School Rejects and BuyCostumes.com, you can! (click for big) There’s much more in the complete chart including masquerade info and how Comic-Con compares to a Super Bowl in economic impact. In case you are interested in going, there’s going to be a badge resale in June, but details are kind of shrouded in mystery for now, which given the server melting capabilities of anything to do with Comic-Con is probably very good idea. #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}