December, and the winter smiles upon us. Its dark bitter smile. Unless you’re one of those fuckers blessed with place of residence that keeps the climate balmy. For the rest of us? Let us escape into the panels, dialogue bubbles, and yes, even the occasional splash page to escape. Ah, escape. Much like I’m escaping into this list of comics that caught my eye this week, to abstain from writing a term paper.

Grab my hand and let’s fly.

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Strange Tales #3
The final issue of the second volume of Strange Tales comes out this week. Just buy this comic book, okay? It’s a collection of indie artists spinning their own unique take on the Marvel characters you’ve come to know. And love. And probably, to an extent, become apathetic to. I don’t usually say this, but even if it’s shitty, it’s probably worth buying. Show some love, so Marvel continues to allow some outside voices to spout off on the characters.

Consider it a dorky political move.

It doesn’t hurt that the comics themselves are generally well done. Some clunkers, but even then, they’re trying. I sound like a little league coach.

Onwards.

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There’re twelve days until Christmas, the holiday in which we celebrate the birth of a God by telling kids that if they’re assholes all year a fat burglar is going to put coal in their socks. Makes sense. Anyways, there are no doubt fools in our ranks who want the next eleven days to fly by so that they can collect their Christmas goodies. But to that, I say Bah humbug!

We are now in the thick of the best part of the holiday season. We’re close enough to the summit to actually begin enjoying the ascent, but don’t have to start thinking about the dreadful descent. The holidays are making out, baby, and with the shirts being taken off the post-coitus regret isn’t even a consideration.

So put on an ugly sweater, drink some eggnog, and grab the ass of the one who catches your eye.

And while you do that, let me tell you about my upcoming week. After all, Monday Morning Commute is my chance to tell you what I’ve got planned for the next few days. If you’re feeling bold, hit the comments and tell me what you’ll be doing.

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[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]

How does it feel to be abandoned by those once thought of as family? What life can be led when the shadow of death looms overhead? Is losing all purpose liberating, allowing an individual to take chances otherwise thought foolish? Just how much would it suck to be an old dude in a Viking village?

These are the questions raised in Northlanders: The Girl in the Ice.

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If the Thor movie is anything like this poster for it, we’re in good shape. Sometimes when browsing through the promotional material, Thor looks so fucking awesome and his outfit gets me fucking jacked. And then sometimes it looks plastic-y and something you buy at the Big Party.

They crank it out of the park for this poster. Sure it’s photoshopped to hell and everything, et cetera. It’s still swank.

Hit the jump for the full beast.

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Someone is going to a funeral! As Spider-Man begins shooting this week, the first set photos have dropped. Just what the fuck is going on here? Slashfilm speculates that Gwen is attending (spoilers, fools) the funeral of her father. Apparently Father Stacy   passes away in the comic books and implores Spidey to watch over Gwen. Guess he’s going to be pretty upset that its his webbing that snaps her damn neck in the funnies.

But also, why not Uncle Ben’s funeral? Who knows.

Hit the jump for the pictures.

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Hey! Is X-Men: First Class flying under your radar? Yeah, me too. I don’t think there’s going to be a middle ground with the flick. I appreciate the 1960’s vibe they’re taking, as well as the unique cast of characters. No Scott Summers? Ballsy. That said, the whole thing could backfire in an avalanche of suck.

Today some set photos dropped, featuring some impressive destruction and the inclusion of your favorite X-Vehicle.

Hit the jump for the crappy (in quality) pics. Yeah, I’m selling them hard.

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Apparently everyone’s a fucking fan of teaser trailers for   trailers these days. Specifically, for shit they’re revealing in this weekend’s Spike Video Game Awards. First it was BioWare, and now it’s time for Rocksteady Studios to tease the new footage of Batman: Arkham City that’s being revealed on Saturday. It features Batman laying down the stinky-hammer on a bunch of jabronis that are hunting him, and looking all smoldering and shit.

Hit the jump for the video.

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I’m excited about The Wolverine. While it isn’t the first thing you’d think of when you conjure up Darren Aronofsky, I’m stoked to see what he can bring to such a huge franchise. He’s got such a unique touch that my naive ass thinks he can bring his own feel to the typically typical huge tentpole movies. Hugh Jackson is totally feeling me.

Slashfilm via EW:

He’s a visionary. I’ve been trying to get Darren since X-Men 3, really. We’ve been talking about this and Wolverine for so long.

[cont]

…we had a meeting about three weeks ago, catching up as friends more than anything, and he just ran a few ideas by me and my eyes just lit up, because already I think this is like a whole new ballgame — just the ideas, the level of depth, and intelligence, and creativity. I think he’s been waiting so long to do a movie in this genre. When he found the script, he said this is it. It’s really exciting.

Jackman and Aronofsky teamed up for The Fountain. And while it’s my least favorite of his movies, it did enough to jerk off my ocular glands that I came out entertained. Let’s see what the duo came bring about in this flick. I mean, Christ, it can’t be worse than the first Wolverine movie.

Justin Van Genderen dropped some gorgeous prints over on his Flickr. They’re sexy travel guide renditions of some of comic book’s most famous locales. Oh, and Neo Tokyo just for good fucking measure.

Hit the jump for his gorgeous work, and if you dig them, you can buy them right here.

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All you have to do is hit the search button on OL to know the raging dick-crush I have for Chris Samnee’s artwork. This current find isn’t doing anything to reduce the purple-headed beast in my pants. Chris Samnee decided to take on the Superman movie in six panels. Why?

Chris Samnee explains over at Comic Twart.

A while back someone on Twitter (so sorry I don’t remember who) was talking about doing a movie as a six panel comic. When I heard the idea, I knew I wanted to do one for my favorite movie, Superman: The Movie. I never got around to it, but figured that Mitch’s pick of Superman this (last) week could be a great time to give it a go! Hope you enjoy!

It’s awesome. But to be clear, almost anything Samnee does is fantastic.