New episodes of Marvel‘s Super Hero Squad Show are coming to Cartoon Network, according to Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief and show producer Joe Quesada, who made the announcement this weekend during the Marvel Animation Panel at the C2E2 2010.

“We are feverishly working on season 2,” Quesada said, adding also that “the lay of the land will change this season… it’s going to go cosmic,” which seems to pick up with the end of season 1 that saw the Silver Surfer volunteering to once again become a herald of the planet-eating Galactus.

While there won’t be an appearance by Spider-Man, Quesada did say fans would see plenty of new characters pop up, including Bucky, Hercules, Zeus, and Captain Marvel. [...]

Two new Captain America series were announced at yesterday’s MONDO MARVEL panel at C2E2, and one brings up a Bad News/Good News situation.

Bad news: Dale Eaglesham is no longer drawing Fantastic Four. Good news, he’s moving over to a new series titled Steve Rogers: Super Soldier. The four-issue mini-series launches in July and is written by Captain America mastermind Ed Brubaker.

Marvel editor Tom Brevoort told the audience that the story follows Steve Rogers in his post-Siege role, and also looks into the creation of the original super soldier serum that changed him into Captain America. It will be a high octane espionage adventure and will set up events that will affect the Marvel U for the foreseeable future. Covers for the series will be done by Carlos Pacheco [...]

At yesterday’s MONDO MARVEL panel at the 2010 Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) saw a bunch of new titles announced, and one that has me excited is an out of continuity project by Atomic Robo writer Brian Clevinger.

The new series is called The Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet and was described as a complete reimagining of the original story, published in 1991. Apparently Clevinger was told to read the original series, then forget everything he just read and come up with his own Infinity Gauntlet story.

In the new story, Thanos has the Infinity Guantlet and a group of Avengers has to get it back before everything dies. We’ll have to read the series to find out exactly how it differs from the original story, but if it’s anything like Clevinger’s other works, it will have a lot of action and humor [...]

Originally scheduled for release in late March, a recent post on the Left 4 Dead 2 blog reveals that brand new DLC The Passing will be coming out sometime next week. A new post is promised next week to reveal the actual release date. This new add-on will bring a new level, linking Dead Center and Dark Carnival.

Here’s a list of what is included in the new DLC:

A Wicked Witch Bride!
A Gargantuan M60!
A Slashing Golf Club!
And Introducing The Fallen Survivor!
Meet 3 Left 4 Dead 1 Survivors!
New Game Modes!

So what we have here is some new weapons, new zombie type, and new game modes. Yes, the plural is intentional; they are adding more than one new mode [...]

I may not be able to make comic book movies, but I can kick your ass. I am a big comic book fan and read Kick-Ass a while back and really enjoyed it. That being said I was extremely nervous and excited about seeing this movie’s translation from comic book to movie. Well the time finally arrived for me and I got to see another one of my favorite comics on the big screen.

Now that I have seen the movie I have to say I really enjoyed it overall. One thing that stands true for most adaptations to film is that not everything translates perfectly from print to the big screen. As seen with Wanted a couple years ago this is nowhere near a straight translation from print to screen. The movie started production when only four issues of the comic had been written.

There will be people upset by the changes but overall they make sense for a big screen version of the story. I really hope people come into the movie with an open mind. I am sure that anybody with a chip on their shoulder from Wanted will probably not enjoy the movie as much as it should be enjoyed.

Well enough small talk let’s kick ass and start up a little SPOILER TALK about one of the most action-packed movie of the year so far.

Below are my spoiler filled thoughts on the movie Kick Ass. Don’t forget to add your spoiler filled thoughts at the end of the post in the comments section [...]

Some major Summer blockbusters have been adding new faces to their cast over the course of the past week.

Though the casting of Chris Evans in the role of Steve Rogers in Joe Johnston‘s The First Avenger: Captain America and the news that Joss Whedon would be directing The Avengers has without doubt stolen the spotlight, there was still work to be done.

Hayley Atwell, who has starred in films like The Duchess and the TV mini-series remake of The Prisoner, has now been cast as the Captain America female lead, Peggy Carter. Atwell will be playing the the love interest of Rogers, and her character could become much larger depending upon how they take her comic book storyline and transfer it to the screen. Many actresses were looked at for this role, including Keira Knightley and Emily Blunt.

The First Avenger also stars Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes and Hugo Weaving as Red Skull. It will be released on July 22, 2011. [...]

Waiting in my inbox this morning was an email from BOOM! Studios titled “IA! IA! CTHULHU FHTAGN!”

Hmm…

I opened it to find what appears to be a teaser image for a new BOOM! comic book. Check it out here at right (click for larger full view).

As you can see from the red and black teaser image here, it merely states “IA! IA! CTHULHU FHTAGN!” and that whatever this title is, it’s coming to BOOM! Studios in July 2010.

Cthulhu is a reference to the entity in the H.P. Lovecraft universe, one of the Great Old Ones in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythology. I’m not sure of the exact translation of the phrase, but “fhtagn” is one of the words in a chant in the short story The Call of Cthulhu. The chant from the story means “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.” [...]

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Blu-ray Edition (1984)
Starring Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley
Directed by Wes Craven
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release date: April 13, 2010

What gives the original 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street such a potent effectiveness is its character Freddy Kruger. Director Wes Craven conjured up a character in Freddy who is unacquainted with reality, but has a sufficiently perceptive realization to a world where he is the embodiment of malignancy. He reigns supreme in the world of dreams, always constructing, devising, and manipulating situations that make it impossible for anything else that is not evil to prosper. Psychology may not seem like the appropriate term to equate Freddy with, but he knows his limitations, victims’ weaknesses and the little ways he has to seize his victims in order to satisfy his urges for human flesh. He is self-appointed to this world and this world only. The devilish delights he finds here come at the expense of those doing the dreaming. This is what makes Freddy the most plausible of all modern day horror characters; He endures in a world where anything goes, where humans become unconscious and succumb to the illogical sequences that dreams are known to possess. Freddy integrates himself into any dream in which he believes could further advance his infatuation with preying on the weak minded [...]

Nicolas Cage, who stars as Big Daddy in Kick-Ass, made an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno this week to promote his new superhero action film, which opens in theaters today. In Kick-Ass, which is based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., Cage’s Big Daddy is a [...]

Kick-Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring Aaron Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Rated R
Release date: April 16, 2010

I’m in love. My heart has been stolen and I may never get it back. I think you’d really like her. She’s cute, she’s into violence, she swears like a sailor, she can name ever John Woo film ever made, she’s into guns and heavy weaponry, she likes bowling and she’s 12 years old. Her name is Hit-Girl (or Mindy Macready if you’re into not secret identities) and when she’s on the screen she absolutely steals the show. Chloë Grace Moretz is amazing in the role and I’m now actually looking forward to seeing her in the upcoming American remake of the Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In (Let Me In). Think of her this way, she’s like John Rambo meets Polly Pocket and she’s involved in some of the best action scenes I’ve witnessed in the past decade. She was my favorite character from the comic book which the film is based on and she did not disappoint one iota in the film.

My history with this franchise goes back a bit. I’ve been looking forward to the film adaptation ever since I got my hands on the first issue of the Mark Millar/John Romita Jr. comic book of the same name way back in February of 2008. Reading the comic was like a breath of fresh air in the now stale and stagnant world of superhero comics. I’m proud to say the movie is equally refreshing to the world of superhero movies [...]

It was pretty crazy to discover that geek god of all things fanboy Joss Whedon was going to direct Marvel Studios massive culmination of characters and storylines in The Avengers. But now it looks like Marvel might be ready to really hand Whedon the keys to the car.

According to reports, not only will Whedon be directing The Avengers, but he’ll also be rewriting Zak Penn‘s script. This doesn’t mean that he’ll be throwing the entire script away and starting all over, but what he will be doing is going over everything, removing and replacing some things, and adding whatever he thinks might be crucial to the story or his style of directing.

On top of all of this, Pajiba has it on good authority that Whedon might even be taking the script for The First Avenger: Captain America and giving it the same touch-up treatment that he’ll be giving to The Avengers. [...]

At the moment, there’s no real news here, but the prospect is pretty darn interesting and worth discussion, for sure.

According to CHUD, sources have shared that producers of Scream 4 have actually spoken with none other Jamie Kennedy to come back in the role of Randy. The character was easily the most popular among fans of the franchise, and *SPOILER* (here and below; how have you not seen these movies?) most were pretty upset and angered when he didn’t make it past the second film, despite his tiny cameo in the third.

Again, this is all just ifs and maybes right now, but it’s an interesting enough possibility to think about. One would have to assume that the thought of Kennedy’s character returning would be the best news so far for some fans, and the worst news so far for other fans.

Many, if not most fans, have always thought that Randy should have ultimately been unveiled as the killer somehow. He was always the perfect and most knowledgeable in the rules of horror movie slasher killers and there’s no denying that it made the most sense. But alas, they went another way with things. [...]

Cold Space #1
Writers: Samuel L. Jackson and Eric Calderon
Art: Jeremy Rock
Colorist: Juan Manuel Tumburus
Letterer: Troy Peteri
BOOM! Studios
Price: $3.99
Released: April 14, 2010

Samuel L. Jackson ventures into the world of creator-owned comics with Cold Space #1. Jackson and his Afro Samurai collaborator Eric Calderon have teamed up to tell the story of Mulberry, a space pirate in the year 4012. When the story begins, his ship is boarded by space cops intent on arresting him. Mulberry easily eludes them, and warp jumps to another area of space. His ship crash lands on a strange, corrupt planet, and the adventure really begins.

Mulberry, who is drawn to look like Samuel L. Jackson, is a totally cool character. He rarely gets flustered in combat, and his handling of the space cops was hilarious. One cop, Johnson, seemed to have a history with Mulberry. Their interaction implies a lot of potential backstory and future plot developments. Also, the inhabitants of the planet that Mulberry crashes on are also very colorful and are begging to be embellished. He encounters a very interesting motorcycle gang, corrupt businessmen, and rival gangs. The most interesting character visually is Patience, who we learn nothing about. We are thrown into the middle of Mulberry’s story with no explanation, but it only made me more curious to learn about him and to see how he deals with these situations [...]

Confirmed! Looks like that leaked ad for Gears of War 3 that was seen on Xbox live the other day spoke the truth. Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games, appeared on The Jimmy Fallon show this week, and confirmed that Gears of War 3 will launch next April. Epic has since given a firm release date of April 5th.

A trailer had appeared online briefly, but was immediately taken down at the request of Epic Games. When it’s officially released, we’ll have it here.

This will be the third and final installment of the popular Gears of War video game series, which is exclusive to Xbox 360. The end of Gears 2 hinted that there may be something more sinister around than just the locust hordes. In the interview with Bleszinski, it was revealed what that more sinister enemy is: the Lambit. Bleszinski said that these are “kind of crazy tentacle monsters that can mutate while you are fighting them.” [...]

A cool little viral teaser trailer has been released on Flynn Lives, the website made for Disney’s highly-anticipated sequel, Tron: Legacy.

The trailer is for a little game called Space Paranoids, which comes from the Tron world but will soon become a reality for all. A special old-style arcade machine with the game was produced for the awesome Flynn’s Arcade that was created for Comic Con last year, but an announcement at Dragon*Con recently revealed that a new 15-level Space Paranoids will be available for all to play online.

Search your couch cushions for as many quarters as you can find and head over to the other side to watch the brief teaser of this classic Tron game you’ll be able to play soon!

Official Synopsis
Tron: Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. [...]

Reports have surfaced stating that Pete Steele, frontman for Brooklyn-based metal band Type O Negative, died on the evening of April 14, 2010 from heart failure.

Rumors of Steele’s death first arose late Wednesday night on Facebook from posts by friends of the musician’s family who had been notified. Just before midnight, Fused TV VJ Juliya Chernetsky, aka Mistress Juliya, posted to her Twitter account confirming that the 48-year-old musician had died. “He passed of heart failure today. Just spoke to Kenny,” Chernetsky wrote, presumably referring to Steele’s Type O bandmate guitarist Kenny Hickey.

As of 2AM EST, no other information has surfaced and no official statements released. We’ll update this story as soon as more details are available [...]

As you all know, Twitter is this crazy world of conversation, networking, and instant information. I’ve personally seen countless great videos, pictures, and articles thanks to the site, and this time around it has lead me to a particularly interesting concept.

The website is called Kickstarter, and it allows independent filmmakers, musicians, writers/authors, and all kinds of different artists to present their prospective projects and a goal amount of money that they need to reach in order to finance it. This is where we come in; each project’s page has a list of donation amounts from a single dollar to $50 to $5,000. The more you pledge toward a certain project, the more you can get in return. Most of the projects offer you a copy of the finished product or even a “special thanks” in the credits. Everyone likes seeing their name in the credits of a movie, right?

Click on over to the other side to learn about a movie you can help get made right now! [...]

Anyone who has ever played the Magic: The Gathering card game will probably remember the high price of the game’s original beta print run. These cards are basically the same as the first set regular edition cards except for some sizing differences. Collectors, on the other hand, must have them.

If you’ve got $89,000 collecting dust in some savings fund, you can head on over to eBay to bid on a Beta Black Lotus with a grade of 10, which is allegedly the only one in existence.

For anyone that doesn’t play Magic or has never played it, a mint condition Beta Black Lotus card is the equivalent to an Amazing Fantasy #15 for comic book geeks. If you don’t know the significance of either of those two items then you need to keep reading our site for further knowledge of geek culture [...]

Farscape: Scorpius #0
Story: Rockne S. O’Bannon
Script: David Alan Mack
Artist: Mike Ruiz
BOOM! Studios
Release date: April 14, 2010

Everyone’s favourite Peacekeeping, S&M bondage enthusiast is back! BOOM! Studios is continuing its foray into the Farscape universe by exploring the fate of Scorpius, the masked, wormhole-obsessed Scarran who has dogged John Crichton and the rest of the crew of the living prison ship Moya for years.

Farscape: Scorpius #0 opens on Scorpius as he is exiled to a miserable frozen world of ice by the newly re-instated Dominar Rigel XVI, once again in command of the Hynerian Empire. Left alone, Scorpius is left to reflect on his life, and on those who have exiled him. Though he has the capacity to convert what’s left of his pod into a communications beacon, he knows that even if he was able to establish communications he would have no one to talk to, and his only friend a small crustacean predator he has named John. We even see a small glimpse into the history of Scarran. As a young boy, he was forced by his instructors to play a game to which he did not know the rules and was brought up in an almost Nietzchean environment that praised strength, cunning, discipline, and that the only justice one will find is the justice you make for yourself. However, when a space fleet lands near his cave, he sees his opportunity for escape [...]

Blackest Night #8
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Ivan Reis
Inker: Oclair Albert & Joe Prado
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Nick J Napolitano
DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Released: March 31, 2010

Well, Blackest Night has finally reached its conclusion, and it’s been a fun ride. Issue #8 is the final issue of the series, so of course we get the big battle, the resolution, and the set up for the next batch of stories.

Was the story as a whole a success? Yes, very much so. A multitude of great character moments: the joy of the Flash as a Blue Lantern; the next great buddy comedy comic in Larfleeze/Lex Luthor: The Orange Couple; Kyle Rayner and the ghosts of dead girlfriends past; and any ton of other things I can’t think of off the top of my head.

I did have some problems with the series as a whole, namely that it did go on for a bit too long (I think it could have stood to be 6 issues instead of 8) and I never felt like I got a good handle on Nekron as the main villain. I wish more time had been spent setting him up and explaining who he is rather than just trotting him out and saying he wants to kill everything. Maybe I need to read the whole story again to get a better feel for his story [...]