[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]

Spoilers Ahead. Forreal.

3. 2. 1. Blast off!

Once I’ve escaped Earth’s gravitational pull, I fire up the hyperdrive. I shoot past the moon, past Neptune, past the limits of our damn solar system. I disengage the primary thrusters and find myself in the middle an interstellar storm. I careen past stray panels and pixilated nuclear explosions and bits of what was once a moon. I could’ve sworn that I had set the proper coordinates. But my eyes are telling me different.

So are my onboard monitors. I watch the Galactic Positioning System power down, turning all of the maps and sequencers and frames of reference into nothing more than an abysmal black screen. A moment later, the GPS reboots. When the screen settles, it tells me that myth has become fact.

[You have reached Omega Level]

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This week’s comic of choice is Batman #702.

I won’t lie; the decision to feature this book might be yet another testament to my dwindling sanity.

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Source: Threadless

You know, if fucking Sonic 4 wasn’t announced and looking beyond super-gorgeous-time, I’d be bitter as fuck watching this video. But given the state of affairs, and that Sega may finally have gotten it, it just gives me a chubby for gaming lore, and geeks.

A dudebro who goes by the name of BlobVanDam recreated Sonic & Knuckle’s Mushroom Hill Zone in widescreen 2.5D awesomeness. It’s like peering into a manifestation of everything I’ve wanted out of a Sonic game since 1999.

At 47 seconds, it’s far too short. Just enough to get the parts a bit slushy with gaming lust, and then, done. Hit the jump to check out the video.

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As the fifth season of Dexter creeps up on us – obviously to then slit our cheek, save our blood, and stab our saran-wrapped chest – I couldn’t help but think of how fucking awesome last season was. I have no idea how you top the Trinity Killer, but fuck if I ain’t excited to see them try.

Bioshock Infinite ain’t set in Rapture. It’s set in Columbia. And it ain’t got a Big Daddy in it. Instead, those dudes who look like steampunk-ified Big Daddies? That new version of the Daddy is a Handyman.

Destructoid:

On the latest episode of the consistently excellent Irrational Behavior podcast, the beast was given a name — the “Handyman.” Concept artist Rob Waters details the origins and evolution of the character, saying it went from featuring giant mechanic crab claws to the hands (made out of porcelain, apparently) that we see today.

“The functionality problem was that claws are for grabbing, and not for pushing or punching,” he explains. “This guy’s actual functionality was to punch.”

Interesting. They’re a clear analogue (at this point, and to me, I know) for the Big Daddies of this new universe, but they have a different name. Here’s hoping they induce the same awe and terror as the Big Daddies did. Those son of a bitches freaked me out every time I tried to drill shotgun shells into their heavily fortified face.

The big question is, what does a Handyman sound like?

Was it just last month that we got the Wonder Woman redesign? It feels like forever ago. But good lord does it now seem clunky in comparison to these pencils by Jo Chen. I came across these pencils today on Comics Alliance, who provides the details into them.

Comics Alliance:

Jo Chen’s high-powered rendering abilities have been proven in comics via “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” UDON Capcom work and “Runaways” cover art, but some of the greatest gems in her portfolio came via these Wonder Woman pencils she made for DC’s licensing department, destined for an unnamed mystery creation.

“These pencil pieces of our favorite Amazon were for an undisclosed project for the D.C. licensing department,” she wrote on her MySpace blog in 2009. “Not sure if the project will ever come to fruition but Sonia Choi at D.C. was kind enough to allow me to display them for your pleasure/displeasure/indifference. Hope it’s the first one.”

They’re beyond gorgeous. Hit the jump for the pencils, and check out Chen’s MySpace Gallery right here.

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[pixelation | weekly gaming & life column every wednesday or uh thursday or even more uh, friday]

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Oh god dammit. I was curious yesterday as to how my gaming schedule was going to look this Fall. I knew that Vanquish and Fallout: New Vegas were dropping close to one another. I just wasn’t sure how close. And that shit is integral for a variety of reasons. Namely, money and time. It seems like a lot of bullshit comes down to money and time.

So I cue up Gamestop.

Flip between the two pages.

And that’s when I realize that I’m fucking fucked in the fuckhole.

Son of a bitch!

Why do the gaming gods hate me so? Droppin’ two of my favorite games on the same day? Not only is it monetarily Super Rape Time to even contemplate getting the two games on the same day, but it’s also completely impossible to consider squeezing any sort of Super Action Mech Time into my Wasteland wandering. Son of a bitch!

…Motherfuckers, too. If this was last year I’d just pick them up on the same day, and watch as my backlog swells while my wallet diminishes. Don’t tell my girlfriend or parents, but I think I’ve shown some maturity in realizing something: I need to pick one and put off the other. I think I may be evolving. I mean, let’s not go crazy, I’m probably going to publish this article and then go masturbate before playing two hours of Modern Warfare 2.

But hey man, progress is slow.

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I’ll always have a thing for Yeoman Chambers. Primarily since she is the classic interstellar babe that I cannot get with. Alas. That’s like, you know, every chick on the planet. Or galaxy. Particularly ones that aren’t real. But Miranda Lawson from Mass Effect 2 was a cutie as well, and these cosplay pictures of her are certain both impressive and sexy. Sexily impressive. Impressively sexy.

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It’s Tuesday, somewhere along the second half of the day here on the East Coast, mainland Empire. That can only mean one thing. I’m staring at a clock watching as it whittles away the time I have to write Variant Covers.

Instead of glazing over the release lists this week, I’m more interested in sounding off on what I fear is the forthcoming over-saturation of my boy Thor. I love me some Thor. Always have. Giant guy, swings a hammer, is a god. Of lightning. And It seems that Marvel is intent on getting everyone into the love fest. By the end of the year there’s going to be so many god damn Thor titles that you’re not going to know what to do with yourself.

There’s Thor proper, which is going to be taken over by Matt Fraction and Pasqual Ferry.

Awesome.

Then there’s Ultimate Thor, which is going to be helmed by Jonathan Hickman and Carlos Pacheco.

Double awesome.

But wait, true believers! There’s more!

Thor: The Mighty Avenger is currently out, and it’s absolutely excellent.

The list doesn’t stop there! There’s also Astonishing Thor, and Thor: For Asgard, and on and on and on.

Are you getting fatigued yet?

This is all being done, I assume, to ramp up public knowledge regarding our boy Thor prior to his movie dropping next year. I don’t really know how popular Thor is/has been, since I am out of touch and I sit in my dungeon all day. Rough guessing based on my own ignorance puts Thor at significantly less beloved than Iron Man, and even below Captain America. Which means, again, using my own ignorance, that they need to get his gorgeous Viking frame firmly injected into the collective nerd consciousness. It’s understandable while they’re ramping up his exposure, I just wonder how much he can take before there’s a breaking point.

I’ve always loved Thor for a couple of reasons. Namely because I play World of Warcraft and listening to thrash metal in a basement. Couple that with the fact that he suffers on occasion the same existential angst as Superman that I relate to; a strange man in a stranger, alien land, and he’s my boy. Of thunder. But again, I need therapy for my fatal case of Emo Angst and I’m a dork. So there’s that.

But for other people? I have no idea.

But I’m fearing Thor may suffer the same over-exposure that seems to bury every franchise eventually. I mean, who doesn’t fucking yawn when they seen Wolverine now? And Jesus Christ, at his core, that Canadian Feral Ball is awesome.

The good news is that Marvel seems to be stacking all of Thor’s titles with beyond talented teams. I mean, I don’t have to go into detail, if you read any of my slop regularly you know I go absolutely Viagra Priapism for Fraction and Hickman. I’m going to read those titles based purely on their names alone. I mean, if you want to get his name out there, you might as well have true genuine talent backing up the titles. But as you continue to release more and more titles with his name on it, when does it stop being wise, and start burning people out?

And does Marvel even care?

I mean, how can people go and buy nineteen Deadpool titles a month, and now want to rip their hair out?

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When the four and a half minute trailer for Walking Dead dropped at Comicon this year, geeks and necrophiliacs alike orgasmed in glee. It was apparently of the most righteous awesomeness. That’s probably not a sentence. Anyways. Today the trailer was released officially (as opposed to the grainy bootleg copy you’ve been fapping to), and god damn, I’m excited.

It looks fuggin’ fantastic, and it premiere on the most apropos of evenings, Halloween. Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

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