Howl
Directed by Robert Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Starring James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Bob Balaban, Jeff Daniels, Todd Rotondi, Mary-Louise Parker
UK Release date: February 25, 2011

16:10pm Screen 3 in the basement of the Cornerhouse, the missus and I alone in the dark, a screen no bigger than 15×10 feet, making this feel like a slideshow presentation and the film starts in greyscale, in a smoky basement cafe in 1955 San Fransisco…

In 1955, a 29-year-old unpublished poet realised the American Dream in a four-part poem called Howl, a poem that would become an obscene ode to the struggle of his displaced lost generation, post WWII when the creation of ‘teenager’ also created a whole slew of new problems for the new transition between child and man.

“What would my father think of Howl?” Ginsberg wondered, a typical notion of self examination and the constant need to prove to parents that, yes, you will find a job, even if it is not in their footsteps. Ginsberg would soon find out two years later in 1957 that it isn’t just what his father thinks, but the general public when the poem became infamous when his publisher was thrust into a court trial for the distribution of obscene materials [...]

Recorded May 1, 2011.

Our May Doom Of The Month will be the first half of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men! If you want to read along with us, head on over to Instocktrades.com or DCBService.com to pick up New X-Men for a super price! The Ultimate Collection Book 1 TP collects NEW X-MEN #114-126 and ANNUAL 2001 so read up and be sure to check back at the end of May for our special review episode!

Check out Episode 60 of Comics of Doom, the official comics podcast of Geeks of Doom. Click HERE to open the podcast player in a new window.

Podcast player is here below, along with an Episode Guide.

Listen now!

E-mail us at comicsofdoom [at] gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter – @ComicsOfDoom
Subscribe to the Podcast: RSS | iTunes [...]

We’ve now seen the first episode of Doctor Who Series 6 and have been given more Moffat questions than answers, so in the meantime, between now and the concluding episode that airs this weekend, I thought I’d bring you some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey…uh…rock!

First up, we have Third Doctor Jon Pertwee rocking out to the Doctor Who theme song with lyrics he co-wrote with a few fellows with the BBC, Rupert Hine and David Maclver. This is legit – it was released in December 1972 and was entitled “Who Is the Doctor?”

Secondly, we have a tune called “Doctorin’ the TARDIS” by a group called The Timelords. Essentially it’s one of the first mash-ups ever, blending the Doctor Who theme with music from Gary Glitter, Sweet, and Steve Walsh. U.S. fans may not have seen/heard this one before, but it hit number one in both the UK and Australia. It’s crazy, mad, and for a bit of fun. [...]

On Sunday we posted about the video game deal of the day at Amazon, which was for Portal 2 for Xbox 360 and PC. At that time, the Playstation 3 version was not available at all.

Now, the PC version is still on sale and also, the PS3 edition is available and discounted, though there’s no indication how long this deal with last.

- PS3: $34.99 [that's 42% off the list price of $59.99]
- PC: $29.99 [40% off the list price of $49.99]
- Xbox 360: $58.95 [2% off the list price of $59.99]

Portal 2 is a unique first-person Action-Puzzle-Platforming game that tests player’s ability to think and act creatively as they use the game’s ingenious wormhole creating portal gun to produce their own paths through otherwise sealed surfaces and across the open spaces of the game. [...]

Marvel announced last Thursday that they are bringing most of their animated shows (at least those not already available) to Netflix Watch Instant online service. Starting April 29 (meaning NOW) the following shows will be available to those who have a subscription through Netflix:

• The Incredible Hulk (1996-97)
• Spider-Man Unlimited (1999-2001)
• Iron Man: Extremis – Marvel Knights Animation (2010)
• Astonishing X-Men: Gifted – Marvel Knights Animation (2010)
• Spider-Woman: Agent of the S.W.O.R.D. – Marvel Knights Animation (2010)
• Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes (2006)
• Silver Surfer (1998)
• Black Panther – Marvel Knights Animation (2010)
• Iron Man: Armored Adventures Season 1 (2009)

And if you want more, there will be more series coming though out the summer and fall [...]

The Incredibles
4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack
Writer/Director Brad Bird
Starring Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Spencer Fox, Sarah Vowell
Walt Disney Pictures Home Entertainment
Release date: April 12, 2011

We all have our favorite superheroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and so on. We watch them in movies and television shows and read about them in comic books and we’ve been doing this for decades. These superheroes continue to fight crime and bring about justice decade after decade, to the point where we can’t imagine our popular culture without them.

But what if there were real-life superheroes — people with super powers, who could fly or had super strength or invisibility? And what if one day, those superheroes we love and have come to rely on were forced to retire forever?

That’s the premise of writer/director Brad Bird‘s The Incredibles, the 2004 Disney/Pixar CG-animated film, where “Supers” must hide their extraordinary abilities from the public after a law is paced banning super heroics, forcing these superhuman do-gooders to live ordinary lives [...]

Word of Marvel’s next try at a massively multiplayer online game (having tried before in a game that would eventually become Champions Online) started last week when they launched an official twitter feed and tumblr account [Read: Marvel Teases Details Of New MMO On Twitter & Tumblr]. Throughout the week, they have been dropping hints as to who would be writing the game, and it should come as no surprise that the game’s producers have tasked Marvel’s biggest writer. It was announced on Thursday at an event in San Francisco that Brian Michael Bendis, writer of The Avengers, Moon Knight, and Ultimate Spider-Man, would be writing the game. That was not the biggest announcement of the event though. No, the big news would be that the Marvel MMO will not only be a free to play game, but will also allow you to play as your favorite Marvel super.

Bendis revealed that the game will allow players to take the roles of their favorite characters including Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, and even Squirrel Girl, among many many others. This alone will already set it apart from DC Universe Online, which relies on characters to make their own characters and only allows users to play the big DC characters in very limited areas. Bendis also revealed that the main villain of the game will be Dr. Doom [...]

The battle against The Silents continues in Day of the Moon, as the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companions form a plan to begin a revolution against the strange aliens who use their post-hypnotic suggestive powers to control to human race. The Doctor has a plan, involving Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong’s foot… but the Silents may prove to become the Doctor’s most dangerous adversaries of all time…

During TARDISblend 24, we review the events of Doctor Who Day of the Moon, and discuss the possibilities of who the strange little girl (Sydney Wade) was in this episode — as well as the jaw-dropping cliffhanger involving her at the end of the episode! We take a look at the complex relationship and tragic love story between The Doctor and River Song (Alex Kingston), and how he wants to run off to new adventures at the conclusion of the episode as opposed to finding out more about the mysterious little girl and The Silents.

We also examine the character of Canton Everett Delaware III (Mark Sheppard) and ponder him making another appearance in Doctor Who down the line. But more importantly, we speculate on the importance of Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and how significant her role will be during this series. All this and more on the latest TARDISblend! [...]

It’s being reported that yet another incredibly talented actor, Guy Pearce, has been cast in director Ridley Scott‘s upcoming movie, Prometheus, which is the currently filming prequel to his 1979 horror classic, Alien.

It’s unclear what role Pearce will be playing, but he joins a fantastic existing cast that includes Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, X-Men: First Class), Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Charlize Theron (Monster, The Road), Idris Elba (The Losers, Thor), Sean Harris (24 Hour Party People, The Borgias), Kate Dickie (The Pillars of the Earth), Rafe Spall (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), and Logan Marshall-Green (Devil, Across the Universe).

Pearce is perhaps best known for his work as the lead in Christopher Nolan’s Memento, but has also appeared in titles such as L.A. Confidential, The Proposition, and The King’s Speech, among many others.

Word of how much Prometheus is actually connected to Scott’s Alien has varied over the months, but at last word it sounds like it is in fact set in that world and we will likely see the creatures. [...]

Mike Deodato began his career as a mainstream funny book artist at Marvel Comics working on The Avengers and Thor. Some of his most recent work for the House of Ideas includes Dark Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, and Thuderbolts. Marvel Comics has assembled some of his “greatest hits” if you will into one massive hardcover called The Marvel Art of Mike Deodato.

“Since I was a kid, I’d loved art books collecting my favorite artists. More recently, I’ve been thrilled to see works of comic book artists taken more seriously,” said Deodato. “To be featured among talents such as Joe Quesada and Marko Djurdjevic in a book like this makes me awfully happy. My dad, who bought me all my early Frazetta hardcovers, was beaming with pride when I told him Marvel was doing one about me. I feel honored.” [...]

Images from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 have been popping up slowly but surely, showing us just a tease of what’s to come in this first part of the final installment of the vampire saga — a holiday, a honeymoon, a certain wedding night.

Now, Summit Entertainment has released 11 new images from Breaking Dawn Part 1.

Check them out here below.

There’s no blood and gore or sex just yet in these stills, but I’m guessing if you know what happens in the Breaking Dawn book, then you’ll be able to ascertain what’s happening in this scenes. There’s definitely what appears to be danger and urgency, as well as a little romance, and possibly even a shot from the wedding [...]

It’s time to begin our Thor – Week of Geek, leading up to Marvel’s highly anticipated film Thor, out in theaters this Friday.

To kick off the event, you can get to reading some discounted digital comic books from the Thor universe over at ComiXology, which is running a sale today on Loki issues #1-4 by and Balder the Brave issues #1-4 for only 99 cents each.

Note, the sale is only for today, Monday, May 2, 2011 and ends at 11pm EST in North America.

You can download the digital versions for the iPad or iPhone of issues of these two Thor-related Marvel comic book series for only $.99 each at the ComiXology App [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is a mash-up of the movies The Breakfast Club and Serenity called “The Serenity Club.”

The tee, by artist Kari Fry, went on sale at RIPT today, Monday, May 2, 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 big news that fans of the hit Starz original series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, have been following since the first season ended long ago was the loss of star Andy Whitfield after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and his eventual replacement with Liam McIntyre.

What many fans might not be so aware of, is that another popular actor from the first season also departed from the show during the lengthy delay. Lesley-Anne Brandt, who played top slave girl to Lucretia (Lucy Lawless), Naevia, decided during the delay to accept a job on CSI: NY. Now it’s being reported that Starz has found their new Naevia with the casting of Cynthia Addai-Robinson.

Addai-Robinson has mostly done TV work with gigs on Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: Miami, Numb3rs, CSI: NY, ironically, and FastForward. She’s also set to appear in the upcoming movie Columbiana with Zoe Saldana, recent addition to The Hunger Games, Amandla Stenberg, Cliff Curtis, Callum Blue, and Michael Vartan. [...]

For our April Doom Of The Month, we doom the hardcover collection of Beasts Of Burden with special guests Brenda and Laura from the Geektress podcast!

This episode is brought to you by Instocktrades.com and DCBservice.com. Check them out for some great deals on Beasts Of Burden and much more!

Click HERE to open the podcast player in a new window.

Podcast player is here below.

Listen now!

E-mail us at comicsofdoom [at] gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter – @ComicsOfDoom
Subscribe to the Podcast: RSS | iTunes [...]

Fast Five
Directed by Justin Lin
Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster. Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot and Joaquim de Almeida
Release Date: April 29, 2011

WARNING: All that occurs in Fast Five is beyond belief and is a blurred, falsified vision of a supposed “reality.” Any time a giant vault is pulled by two cars across the busy streets of Rio de Janeiro and no bystanders are scathed, we realize this can’t be reality. But with a movie this fun, who really cares? Gentle, respectful, and cautious are not the most popular words used to describe director Justin Lin’s latest, and most victorious, foray into the world governed by the fast and the furious (he directed the impoverished Fast & Furious and Tokyo Drift). These unpopular word choices do not suddenly appear by way of Lin’s fastidious and keen craftsmanship. No eye on this film’s staff is capable of discerning the slightest form of subtlety, though we are encouraged to indulge in that incessant upsurge that is popular entertainment (gorgeous women, cars, exotic locals, explosions, muscled men, and more gorgeous women). This all means only on thing: summer movie season has begun.

The proportions in which we are served this kind of entertainment in Fast Five are vast and at times overwhelming. Those who will see the film will be unable to dismiss such abundant offerings and will find themselves involuntarily requesting more and more because of the way Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan completely devote themselves in making the impossible and the unnecessary pleasant to watch, at times even beguiling [...]

The MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is the 1975 self-titled album by the classic rock band Fleetwood Mac for only $3.99.

Note, this deal is only for today, Sunday, May 1, 2011, til midnight PST.

Fleetwood Mac was the first album for the band after singer Stevie Nicks and singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham joined and their contributions are prominent on the record, especially on what became two of their most popular songs, “Rhiannon” and “Landslide,” both written and performed by Stevie Nicks.

Math time: Typically, MP3 songs sell for $.99 each, which means in order for the $3.99 sale to be worth it for the buyer, there has to be at least four songs on the album worth having. In this case, the entire album is worth having and listening to, but here’s the four: “Rhiannon,” “Landslide,” Monday Morning,” and “Say You Love Me.” [...]

The video game deal of the day over at Amazon today is Portal 2 for Xbox 360 and PC.

- Xbox 360: $34.99 [42% off the list price of $59.99]
- PC: $29.99 [40% off the list price of $49.99]

Note, this deal is only for today, Sunday, May 1, 2011, til midnight PST while supplies last [...]