G.I. Joe: Retaliation #1
Official Movie Prequel
Written by John Barber
Art by Salvador Navarro and Atilio Rojo
Colors by Esther Sanz
Letters by Chris Mowry
Covers by Salvador Navarro
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 29, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

With just four months to go until this summer’s biggest blockbuster (sorry, Avengers), it’s time to start getting EXCITED!!! And G.I. Joe: Retaliation #2 will get you excited. Although, I’m afraid that for the spoiler-free, this might come with a bit of a caution sign.

Writer John Barber does a fantastic job of giving you, largely, Roadblock’s origin. And an extra kudos for throwing in some great classic Roadblock traits and HEY! in this issue, you can LITERALLY smell what The Rock is cookin’! [...]

Happy Leap Day, everyone!

It’s February 29th, the special day that shows up on our calendars only once every four years. But, how did Leap Year come about and why do we need a Leap Day?

Check out the short video here below created by C.G.P. Grey called “What is a Leap Year?” which gives us the real scoop on this whole Leap thing [...]

The video game deal of the day over at Amazon today is a $50 credit when you purchase an Xbox 360 4GB Console. Add the item to your cart from the main Sale page and purchase to receive the credit.

See more details about this promotion here below.

Note, this deal is valid only for today, Thursday, February 29, 2012 until 11:59pm PST while supplies last [...]

Included in February 2012′s $5 MP3 Album Deals is Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s 11:11 for the great price of, you guessed it, $5!

The CD copy of 11:11 will set you back $12.83, so that’s a huge price difference.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela is a Mexican guitar duo who play metal-inspired songs on acoustic guitars. Both coming from a thrash metal background the riffs are fast and energized and 11:11 even features guest fretwork by Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick on the song “Atman.” [...]

Hot on the heels of the first set photos from the Los Angeles location shoot for Star Trek 2 that were released over the weekend (you can check them out here and here) comes a new behind-the-scenes video from the shoot.

You can watch the video here below.

Here we get to see Zachary Quinto (as Spock) and Benedict Cumberbatch (as the movie’s still-unknown villain) battle it out in an intense action sequence atop some kind of craft or structure, the context of which is still being debated. [...]

Not too long ago it was reported that director Darren Aronofsky was looking at Russell Crowe to play Noah in his take on the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark, which was followed by Crowe himself expressing interest in taking the role on.

Now comes word that Crowe has entered into more official negotiations to join the cast of the movie—simply called Noah, for the time being—in the title role. [...]

Filmmaker Terry Gilliam has made more than a few movies in his career that became cherished favorites with millions of fans around the world, but the man has never had it easy getting seeing his cinematic visions realized. Gilliam has clashed with major studios repeatedly (his battle with Universal Pictures over the final cut of his 1985 dystopian satire Brazil is legendary) and seen several of his projects crumble into dust.

Most notoriously was the legendary collapse of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, an independently-financed feature that reunited Gilliam with his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas star Johnny Depp. [...]

BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 is only one short week away, and fans of the series are more anxious than ever to finally get their hands on the trilogy-maker and final game in the Commander Shepard storyline. Before the game is released, it’s a good idea to reacquaint yourself with the events of the first two adventures in the franchise. And one of the ways to do this, naturally, is through the art of rap music. [...]

Digital comic distributor ComiXology is now running a 99 cent sale on IDW’s Doctor Who comic books. The sale, entitled the “Time Warp/Leap Year” sale, is running now through 11pm EST on Thursday, March 1. Unless you have a TARDIS, here is your chance to grab at this awesome deal.

The leading IDW Doctor Who series follows the current Matt Smith incarnation of the Time Lord on adventures with companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams, set during the events of Series 5 and 6. IDW also has a Doctor Who Classics publication, which reprints the timeless comic strips that were once published in Doctor Who Magazine [...]

Monsters Are Just Like Us
Written and drawn by Super Ugly
Action Lab Comics
Release Date: February 22, 2011
Cover Price: $12.95

Have you ever wondered about the habits and daily lives of monsters? Would you be surprised to learn that they engage in mundane activities just like the rest of us? Writer/artist Super Ugly has spilled the beans and given us an inside look at the everyday lives of monsters.

Through the efforts of Super Ugly, we learn that Monsters Are Just Like Us. Monsters alternates between pages with text and hilarious pictures telling us things like “They never clear a paper jam, just like you!” and “They think ‘double-decaf, non-fat, no foam latte’ is coffee just like you!” My personal favorite is “They sing along with Miley Cyrus in the shower, just like you!” Unlike most books that show monsters rampaging and frightening people, Super Ugly shows monsters at work, at home, and at play [...]

King Conan: The Scarlet Citadel
Written by Timothy Truman
Art by Tomas Giorello
Colors by Jose Villarubia
Letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Chapter-Break Art by Darick Robertson with colorists Dave Stewart and Richard Clark
Cover by Gerald Parel
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 28, 2012
Cover Price: $14.99

By Crom, finally a tale worthy of a king! King Conan: The Scarlet Citadel is a compilation of the four-issue mini-series of the same name. This is a story from Conan’s later years retold in glorious fashion. And for the first time we hear the tale directly from the Cimmerian himself.

We start the story with Conan relaxing on his throne as the King of Aquilonia. A young scribe, Pramis, is tasked with chronicling the exploits of the famous monarch for the kingdom’s libraries. Once convinced to share some of his history, Conan settles in to tell the story of his capture by the evil sorcerer, Tsotha-Lanti. Imprisoned beneath the Scarlet Citadel, the captured barbarian is quick to realize that he is not meant to survive his stay in the dungeon [...]

Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures have unleashed the final theatrical poster for their upcoming superhero team feature The Avengers, loaded with star quality and credits and the works. You can check it out here below.

It’s not the most exciting image Marvel could have used for the poster heralding the film that has been in the works ever since Samuel L. Jackson stepped out of the shadows during the end credits scene in the first Iron Man, but it works well. I think it’s just a shame that the studio couldn’t have rounded up the entire cast at the same time for a poster photo shoot rather than put together this somewhat sloppily composed image [...]

I traveled to New York City recently to cover the International Toy Fair, an event where creators of toys and games meet with buyers of all sizes to attempt to get their products into stores. Just covering this event sort of sets me apart from others that trek to the Big Apple, but I’m further set apart well because of what I like and the lengths to which I’ll go to investigate the things I’m a fan of. So, what’s a geek do in New York City? Well, pretty much what anyone else visiting for the first time does, just with a geeky spin on it [...]

Blind Melon’s debut album Blind Melon is currently available as part of Amazon’s monthly $5 MP3 Album Deals for February 2012.

Originally released in 1992, the album contains the songs “Tones Of Home,” “Change,” “Seed To A Tree,” and their breakthrough hit “No Rain.”

To buy a physical copy of Blind Melon, CD costs just $9.99 [...]

If you don’t know by now, I am a huge fan of Atomic Robo, the comic book series from Red 5 Comics written by Brian Clevinger and drawn by Scott Wegener. I was very excited when it was announced that animation studio The Fictory would be working on an animated short based on the character and was even more excited when I saw some footage from it.

The film is called Atomic Robo: Last Stop, and while some work has been done on the project, finalizing it has been a bit of a problem. Now it’s time for me, and possibly you to chip in to help The Fictory complete production on the project by donating to their Kickstarter project [...]