Fatalities are a crucial part of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise; the graphic and gruesome death of an opponent by your own hands has been satisfying gamers for years and is still going strong today.

But have you ever wondered what the Fatality finishing move would be for other classic video game characters like Mario, Link, or Pacman? Well, my friends, that day has now come. A hilarious new video has been released showing off the lost “audition tapes” of many different classic game characters, who use familiar elements from their own games to brutally end the life of a Mortal Kombat opponent.

You can see the video right now by continuing on below.

The video was released in preparation for the brand new Mortal Kombat title that’s set to be released on April 19 (Pre-order: Xbox 360, PS3), which features God of War‘s vicious main character, Kratos, as a playable crossover character. [...]

A brand new and insanely short video has been released by WETA to tease the effects being used in their Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (previously just called Rise of the Apes).

The movie takes place well before the Apes take over all things, when tests are being performed on the animals that ultimately cause everything about them to rapidly evolve. The movie will feature performance capture CGI apes, with Andy Serkis playing the main creature called Caesar.

Click over to the other side to see what it looks like and share your thoughts below.

The video is only 5 seconds in length, but you do get the best look we’ve seen at what these CG apes are going to look like. This may be too hard to judge from, but so far things actually look pretty promising. [...]

Apparently there’s this band called LCD Soundsystem and everyone loves them and lots of crying occurred last week because they played their last show or some shit like that. Now, don’t be mad at me, but before the crying began, this band was not on my radar and when I went to YouTube to hear what they sounded like, I was like, “Ack!, my ear, ears!!!”

I said don’t be mad at me! I’m a metalhead, you can’t blame me.

Anyhow, a few minutes ago, I get this IM from GoD editor Tom Cheredar with a link to The Muppets — who I love — doing a music video to LCD Soundsystem’s song “Dance Yrself Clean,” which of course, you know, I’ve never heard before. So I click on it and I hear the music, and I’m like, “Tom, what the hell is this?” and he says, “It’s the greatest fake music video ever, Eve…. and it contains the Muppets.” He proceeds to tell me that I must cover this, that our readers must be notified. And I’m like, “Tom, man, I hate this f’n music.” And he’s like, “Muppets getting trashed on a beach… what’s not to love?” So, I’m like, “Fine, dude, I’m writing that shit up right now, but it’s all on you.”

And so here we are. There’s The Muppets getting trashed on a beach and also on a rooftop in Brighton rockin’ out to some band I’ve never heard of, but TChed thinks it’s awesome, and yeah, it is cuz it’s The Muppets and they rule, so go ahead and watch it here [...]

Starting this July, BOOM! Studios will be publishing Elric: The Balance Lost, an all-new, all-original, on-going comic book series that expands the Michael Moorcock universe.

You can get a peek at the new series this May on Free Comic Book Day, as Elric: The Balance Lost FCBD Edition will be offered as one of the free titles. The FCBD Edition will also contain an original prequel story which is said to provide a good jumping-on point for readers new to the Elric saga.

The series will be written by Chris Roberson with art by Francesco Biagini.

Check out a 4-page preview of the FCBD Edition here [...]

Fear Itself #1
Written by Matt Fraction
Pencils by Stuart Immonen
Inks by Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors by Laura Martin
Letters by Chris Eliopoulos
Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
Release date: April 6, 2011

There is a delicate line between the amount of realism that I am looking for in my fantasy escapism and Fear Itself, the newest event from Marvel Comics, straddles the line very closely. The series, written by Matt Fraction with art by Stuart Immonen, is the next in a line of Marvel books that have taken a more “realistic” look at the world in comics. Marvel has prided itself by taking place in a world very much like our own. The President in our world is the President in the Marvel U. Problems in our world become problems in their world. They have examined many real world issues, such as drug use in Spider-Man, racism in Uncanny X-Men, and a host of other topics. However, I have to question just how much realism can exist in a fantastic world filled with colorful characters fighting against villains who can be blamed for all of society’s ills. How much realism is too much, and can real world issues exist in a world where they could be conceivably solved by the characters within that universe? I don’t just read comics for fun, I want my mind to be involved and I want the comics I read to inform the world around me. On the other hand, I still want to have fun while reading my comics, and I will admit that they are a form of escapism from the reality of my everyday life. So when reading this issue, I had to decide how much realism do I want, and how much do I just want to escape into a world where problems can be solved by an Ultimate Nullifier [...]

Moon Lake
Volume 1
CREATED BY: Dan Fogler
WRITTEN BY:Dan Fogler, Brian Holguin, Stef Hutchinson, Blake Leibel, Tim Seeley, R.H. Stavis, Nick Tapalansky
ILLUSTRATED BY: Brooke Allen, Tommy Castillo, Jim Daly, Alex Eckman-Lawn, Mark Englert, Josh Finney, Lizzy John, Scott Newman, Kat Rocha, Robbi Rodriguez, Jeffrey Zornow
Archaia Comics
PRICE: $19.99
RELEASE DATE: November 30, 2010

As far as comic books go I’m not quite as knowledgeable as many of our other fine reviewers here at Geeks of Doom, but I do like to work on that whenever I get the opportunity. So when the chance to check out a wild and wacky comic from actor Dan Fogler called Moon Lake came around, I was excited to take a peek.

The comic is a collection of short stories, and when I say “wild and wacky” I truly mean it. These stories are completely vulgar and graphic and oozing immaturity, and that can only mean one thing: comedic gold.

From sex-frenzied monkey-peoples at a sex-frenzied summer camp the week before kids arrive to werebears and psycho-killer cheerleaders stuck in a sunshine and rainbows dreamland to a warrior woman and a dinosaur — they’re all in here. [...]

Warner Brothers has officially announced that they’ve found their General Zod, the villain in director Zack Snyder‘s upcoming take on Superman titled Man of Steel.

Snyder and WB have chosen Michael Shannon, the incredibly talented and Oscar-nominated actor who recently delivered brilliant performance after brilliant performance in the first season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.

Of the announcement, Snyder said “Zod is not only one of Superman’s most formidable enemies, but one of the most significant because he has insights into Superman that others don’t. Michael is a powerful actor who can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character, making him perfect for the role.”

Shannon was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Revolutionary Road, and has appeared in other films such as 8 Mile, Bug, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, and The Runaways. He’s also set to play infamous serial killer Richard Kuklinski in The Iceman. [...]

Each year, Forbes releases their Fictional 15 list, where they figure out which fictional characters are the wealthiest. While characters like Scrooge McDuck, Richie Rich, and Simpsons boss C. Montgomery Burns continue to top the list each year, Twilight‘s Carlisle Cullen is back for the second time (bumped from #1 to #2 with $36.2 billion), while “Jo” Bennett, the Sabre Corp. CEO from The Office, makes it on for the first time.

But, the big surprise addition to the list this year is none other than Smaug, the famous red-golden dragon from J.R.R. Tolkien‘s novel The Hobbit. While the dragon obviously doesn’t have a stock portfolio to analyze, the folks over at Forbes have ascertained that Smaug “sits atop an $8.6 billion-dollar hoard of gold, silver and gems,” placing the fictional beast at #7 [...]

HBO has released a 25-minute featurette that goes behind-the-scenes for the making-of their upcoming series Game Of Thrones.

Watch it here below.

Also, the first 14 minutes of the first episode is available for viewing online. Click here to check that out.

Game of Thrones premieres on HBO on Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 9pm [...]

Feeding Ground #1-4
Written by Swifty Lang
Art & Letters by Michael Lapinski
Story by Swifty Lang, Michael Lapinski, and Chris Mangun
Edited by: Paul Morrissey
Archaia Comics
Release date: February 23, 2011 (Issue #4)

Feeding Ground is a comic about the blurring of borders: borders between man and animal, good and evil, childhood and adulthood, even borders between countries. The Feeding Ground of the comics namesake is the term given to this nowhere space the characters find themselves in, trapped and hunted by monsters of all stripes.

Swifty Lang and Michael Lapinski have created a fascinating comic in Feeding Ground, one that marries the topical politics of the day with supernatural horror and traditional Mexican folklore. It follows the story of Diego and his family, living on the edge of the Mexican/American border. Surrounded by Mexican gangsters, Diego works as a snakehead, safely transporting illegal immigrants across the Mexican/U.S. border. His daughter, while playing along the edge of a farm owned by local land baron, Backwell, is bitten by something she couldn’t see, and begins a horrifying transformation right as her brother kills a local pimp and hustler in order to defend his mother [...]

One of those names that might not be quite as recognized as others, Sidney Lumet is one of the legendary directing talents of film history. Lumet died early Saturday in his sleep after suffering from lymphoma, his family confirmed.

Born in Philadelphia in 1924, Lumet soon moved to New York City where he would remain for the duration of his life and where he would set many of his eventual films. His career started early on with a radio job as a 4-year-old child and he had a run on Broadway in the ’30s before going off to World War II where he was a radio repairman.

Upon his return, the director formed an acting company in 1950 and many of his first directing jobs were TV series throughout the ’50s. Then came the big one: 1957′s 12 Angry Men, which nabbed Academy Award nominations for best picture, best writing, and best directing for Lumet — one of his five nominations. What’s even more impressive, perhaps, is that it’s listed at #7 on IMDB’s top 250 movies of all-time. [...]

Any longtime Metallica fan knows that lead guitarist Kirk Hammett has an obsession with horror films. Many of his guitars are decorated with classic horror imagery, like The Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, and much more. Hammett is an avid collector of horror memorabilia, so it makes sense that the musician would put together a photo book of all of his very rare collection, which will include commentaries on each piece written by Hammett himself.

Hammett was on a recent episode of VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show where he talked about the book, titled Too Much Horror Business, and how he’s spent the last two years so far cataloging for the book his vast collection of vintage horror movie toys and posters from the 1920s to the present [...]

Reddit user Blegatron took the pages of a Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban book and made wedding bouquets and boutonnieres out of it using this paper flower tutorial.

Click here to see more images of these awesome paper flowers [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is the Futurama-inspired shirt called “Bend ‘em! Flex ‘em! Robots!”

The tee, by artist DJTheatre, went on sale at RIPT today, Saturday, April 9, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore.

The design has the robot Bender from TV’s animated series Futurama fighting his “eviler” twin Flexo in “Rock ‘em Sock ‘Em Robots” game style [...]

A new director has been grabbed for the long-planned remake/reboot of the 1994 cult classic, The Crow, which is best-recognized as the movie that star Brandon Lee was accidentally killed while filming.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who’s best-known work is the zombie sequel 28 Weeks Later, has been hired for the job. Fresnadillo was also in the news not too long ago when he was brought in to replace Gore Verbinski on the proposed BioShock video game movie, but that project has fallen apart since then and is now waiting for someone to put it back together.

The movie tells the story of a musician who’s attacked and killed while with his fiancee. He then is brought back to life and seeks vengeance.

At one point Stephen Norrington (Blade, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) was attached to direct, Nick Cave (The Proposition) had written a draft of the script, and Mark Wahlberg was said to be in line for the lead role. [...]

A while back we wrote about a sale on the Doctor Who-inspired shirt “Procrastinate!” by artist Bamboota.

Well, the limited-edition t-shirt is now back in action at another vendor, Qwertee, for the next 48 hours or so and then it goes away once more. is The cost is £8/€10/$13 per shirt, in Men’s and Women’s sizes, and ships anywhere in the world.

The design features a lazy, couch potato Dalek neglecting the items on its To-Do list. On the list? Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Fairly simple. Look closely and you’ll see more Doctor Who images on its cork board [...]

The CW series Smallville is halfway through its tenth and final season with many unanswered questions still to be resolved.

Starting today, the network is running a teaser promo for the final half of the season that uses part of John Williams’ Superman movie score. The music is set against the word “Believe,” which is a throwback to the 1978 movie’s tagline “You will believe a man can fly.”

Entertainment Weekly has the teaser video, so check it out there, or watch an alternate (with Spanish subtitles) version here below. Also, see the Season 10 promo poster here above (click for larger, full version).

Although the original Smallville creators had a strict “No flights, no tights” policy when it came to Clark Kent and his super abilities, I think we can all agree that after ten years of the show, we’re ready for some tights and flights to send Clark off [...]

Red Riding Hood
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Starring Amanda Seyfried, Michael Shanks, Gary Oldman
Release date: March 11, 2011

It seems that updating classics and age-old stories has become something of a fad. Only a few years ago the film Brothers Grimm was released, and three more films, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Brothers Grimm: Snow White, are in the works. Not to mention all of the Disney cartoons that transform the original, often dark material into a colorful, sugar-coated, happy-ending cartoon with music whose soundtracks will sell hundreds of copies. Such movies rarely retain the core of the story they tell, and instead become an excuse for an entirely different kind of tale, one that takes away from the screenwriters the necessity of coming up with an entirely original plot, characters, and setting. This seems to be the case with Red Riding Hood, a film in which the story of a young girl and a wolf are used as an excuse to create a Twilight-esque tale in which a beautiful young woman must choose between two men. And the real shame is that this could have been a good movie, but instead got stuck with a terrible plot and an atrociously ridiculous setting [...]

The nominations for the 2011 Eisner Awards, which celebrates the best in comic books and graphic novels, were announced yesterday. The awards winners will be announced at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International on July 22 and the nominees represent a wide selection of this year’s standout books. This will be the 23rd year for the Eisner awards, which are largely described as the Oscar’s of the comic industry, and while there are a few other awards for comics, these are the big ones of the year.

Leading the nominees is Jim McCann and Janet Lee’s Return of the Dapper Men, which nabbed five nominations. The unique story and art earned the book nominations in Best Publication for Teens, Best Graphic Novel-New, Best Writer, Best Artist, and Best Publication Design. Just behind Dapper Men with four nominations were two Comics of Doom favorites, Morning Glories (by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma) and Locke & Key (by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez). Also receiving multiple nominations was Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys (a personal favorite), Chew from Image Comics, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, and Daniel Clowes‘ Wilson [...]

Planet Of The Apes is coming to BOOM! Studios in a brand new ongoing comic book series, beginning with Planet Of The Apes #1 later this month.

We have a 5-page preview from the upcoming first issue, which will be released on April 27, 2011. Check it out here below.

The series, which takes place before the original 1968 Planet Of The Apes movie and takes into account the continuity of the first five films, is written by sci-fi novelist Daryl Gregory (Dracula: The Company of Monsters, Pandemonium) with art by Carlos Magno (Green Lantern Corps) [...]