Source: Simon Chong Via Kotaku / Enlarge.

[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.

It isn’t always easy to choose a best comic of the week. Some weeks, none of the funny-mags I’ve picked up have any sort of Wow! to them. Other times, I’ve got a stack full of quality books and hate having to choose just one to feature.

This week, I’ve decided to make the entire process a bit easier. The name of this column, Images & Words, is named after the two separate media that combine to make comics. Oh, well, it’s actually named after a Dream Theater album. But the pun stands. So please just roll with it. Anyways, comics are composed of illustrations and text. As such, this week I am going to highlight both the artist and writer with whom I was most taken.

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This year marks the 35th anniversary of JAWS. I’ve been getting pretty jazzed about this fact, annoying friends with my reciting of misremembered lines and begging them to join me at a local screening. Today, I decided to celebrate this monumental event by watching JAWS: The Revenge.

Despite the series’ fourth entry being regarded as one of the worst films of all time, it has a soft spot in my heart. Part of my admiration for this cash-grab stems from the fact that it was the only JAWS flick released after my birth. Moreover, the movie was the basis for the NES game that I watched my brother play for countless hours (of terror).

But today, I realized that JAWS: The Revenge is a worthwhile movie because of its educational properties. A viewing of the final chapter of this renowned shark-saga provides information that is simply not available elsewhere.

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I came across this today at Boing Boing. God damn. Cosplay always entertains me. Always. Whether it is a horror show, or a flawless victory, it’s bound to evoke some sort of emotion in me. I don’t think I often say a cosplay that lands within the Realm of Gray. No sir, it’s usually inciting laughter or awe.

Today? Today we have awe. Meet Shogun Vader.

LA Weekly:

Lam conceived Shogun Vader back in 2007 after reading about the samurai influence on Ralph McQuarrie’s conceptual designs for Star Wars. He chose the name because Shogun means “general.” In the few years since he began working on Shogun Vader, Lam has gone through three costume designs and is currently working on a fourth.

Really, the entire article is an awesome insight into Lam and his design process, and I urge you to check it out.

Hit the jump for more gorgeous pictures of Shogun Vader. The cosplay of my nerdternal emissions.

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Dig on the latest promo for One Moment In Time, which is, I believe, the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #641. Isn’t Paolo Rivera gorgeous?

I’m torn on the current Spidey storyline, One Moment In Time. On one hand, I find it surprisingly grounded in relatable minutiae. The conversation between Parker and MJ that dictates the narrative is absurdly heartbreaking to a giant slobbering mess like me. On the other hand, the entire thing is a knotty attempt at perhaps over-explaining what happened back during One More Day.

I love it, but I feel like I shouldn’t.

As somewhat of a closet Emo Kid and sucker for romance, the heartfelt convo by a shattered couple sprawled about an apartment gets to me. I can’t help it.

Source: Tom Preston / Enlarge.

Duke Nukem Forever is something of a white whale in the gaming community. First announced in 1997, the shit was promised, and promised, and promised, and then promised again. Finally last year, twelve years later, the game was finally axed.

But oh shit! Maybe it wasn’t. And not only is it rumored to be back, but it’s purported that dope-ass Gearbox Software (Borderlands) could be runnin’ the gig now.

Kotaku:

There may be hope yet for the ludicrously long-in-the-making Duke Nukem Forever. Sources claiming to have knowledge of the situation tell Kotaku that Duke Nukem Forever development continues at a new home, Borderlands developer Gearbox Software.

The studio responsible for Brothers In Arms, Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines is said to have picked up Duke Nukem Forever development where former studio 3D Realms left off, perhaps Duke’s best bet for eventual completion.

Duke Nukem Forever, according to sources who wished to remain anonymous, is now in the hands of Gearbox and is planned to be released under the studio’s name. Gearbox was outed as the developer of the apparently scrapped Duke Nukem spin-off Duke Begins earlier this year.

It would be one thing if the game was announced as “back on” – in the sense that I wouldn’t give a fuck. But if it’s truly back, and it’s being developed by a legitimately talented studio? Holy mung. It has the recipe for awesomeness and nostalgia that was once thought incalculable.

Source: Hubblesite / Enlarge.

Yo! You think you had it rough in the school yard? Bully whup your ass? Yeah kid, you could have had it worse! Ask NGC 1911. This poor son of a bitch galaxy is having its arms ripped off by neighboring galaxies. Quit your bitchin’!

io9:

NGC 4911 and other spirals near the center of the cluster are being transformed by the gravitational tug of their neighbors. In the case of NGC 4911, wispy arcs of the galaxy’s outer spiral arms are being pulled and distorted by forces from a companion galaxy (NGC 4911A), to the upper right. The resultant stripped material will eventually be dispersed throughout the core of the Coma Cluster, where it will fuel the intergalactic populations of stars and star clusters.

The Coma Cluster is home to almost 1,000 galaxies, making it one of the densest collections of galaxies in the nearby universe. It continues to transform galaxies at the present epoch, due to the interactions of close-proximity galaxy systems within the dense cluster. Vigorous star formation is triggered in such collisions

Galactic insanity! And holy frak, the Coma Cluster is ridiculous. 1,000 galaxies? That’s got to be an interstellar condo-complex enough to make any aspiring slum lord hot.

Here’s the thing, Grant Morrison is kicking off a new title, Batman INC, in which Bruce Wayne is franchising Batman. No, seriously. And adding an entire line of Batmen makes for some interesting sorts of interpretations of the god damn Rodent Guy. One possible interpretation? Gay Batman.

LA Times:

Batman can take anything. You can do comedy Batman, you can do gay Batman…it all works. It something intrinsic to the character. It ‘s so strange and amazing.

Well then! Personally? I’d love to see a gay Batman. I know there’s the Midnighter over in The Authority who is an obvious Batman homage and homosexual superhero. But a legit gay Batman? Radical. Even more radical would have been if Morrison could fit Bruce Wayne into the gay Batman mold, but god only knows how many heads would explode at DC and Warner Bros.

Remember when I mentioned that last week the Sun totally barfed at 2.2 million miles per hour? Well, that solar storm produced gorgeous aurora borealis.

Boing Boing:

Following up on a previous Boing Boing post: last week, our sun’s hot plasma shot a billion tons of energetic particles towards Earth, which led to some amazing aurora borealis. I was thrilled to see a fine batch of northern lights photos on Flickr, and even more excited that their creators gave us permission to run them on National Geographic News. And–there could be more coming tonight, thanks to a Saturday solar flare! Enjoy!

The pictures are quite amazing sexy-time space porn. Hit the jump to check the lot of them out.

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