After the events of Marvel’s Civil War, Steve Rogers aka Captain America was going to be tried for treason. Dude didn’t want to cop to making it mandatory that every superhero register their identity with the government. Before the guy could be tried though, he was totally killed, and sent into the time stream.

Having come back though, he was pardoned by Barack Obama in the pages of the funny book. And then someone got the actual Barack Obama to sign the page where it occurs. Amazing. I came across this today via Ed Brubaker’s Twitter feed. If you don’t know who Ed Brubaker is, he’s the dude who knocks it out of the galactic ballpark every month with his work on Captain America, amongst other things.

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Kudos to Pepsibones for bringing this to my attention.

On the first Good Friday, Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross. He went down. Epic-style.

But he’s spent the last one thousand, nine hundred and eighty years training. Rebuilding himself. Fashioning himself into a Eucharist-shootin’, rocket-boot flyin’ bad ass. He’s ready for a rematch.

I’ve got my money on Robo-Jesus.

[source : no cats on the blog via gamovr]

[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.

The second issue of Choker has hit stands and my nerd-tummy is churning and bubbling… With excitement! The first issue pushed the reader right into Shotgun City, the neo-slum that makes Blade Runner’s Los Angeles step back and say, “Hrm…Maybe I’m not so ugly. Let’s go buy jeans so the boys notice our butts!” Alongside, Detective Johnny Jackson, the reader is thrust into a search for Hunt Cassidy, the sociopathic drug dealer referred to as a prince among bastards.

As one would expect, the narrative continue to develop in this new installment. Jackson is still down on his luck, the bad guy is still at large, and Shotgun City is still a shithole. But we’re starting to get glimpses into the reality of the terror at hand, realizing just how worse for the wear the cast of characters are.

For instance…the black glove on Jackson’s left hand? It slips off while he’s sleeping to reveal a mangled, disgusting mess. A mangled, disgusting mess that grabs a gun and tries to shoot the hero until he can stab it with a sedative. Shit’s bizarre/I fucking loves it.

This second issue of the McCool/Templesmith collaboration also introduces a saucy female partner for Johnny Jackson. Her name is Kara Thrace. Whoops, my bad! I mean to say that her name is Walker. But really, if you’re familiar with BSG’s resident lady-badass, then you certainly know Walker. When we first meet Starbuck, she’s drinking space-booze and trading insults with the boys. When we meet Walker, she’s smoking a butt and telling another officer that she’d “rather be molested by clowns” than sleep with him. Starbuck asserts herself, punching Tigh in the mouth and proving that a man can’t keep her down. In place of fuzzy dice, Walker hangs her ex-husband’s nutsack from her rearview mirror. Oh, and they both have short blond hair, personality-defying good looks, and a sick jacket.

But don’t think I’m complaining. Because the fact is that sometimes using tried-and-true archetypes works. Walker is the tough-as-nails woman that Johnny Jackson is going to have to deal with. And, in a not uncommon twist, Walker is working for the slimeball that hired Jackson back in the first place. So we have to spend some time trying to figure out who exactly this femme fatale is going to play — her new partner, her corrupt boss, both of them? Again, standard crime story fare, but it’s working!

Once again, Templesmith’s art is the absolute fucking balls. His line art is top-notch, but it’s his work with tones and colors that elevate Choker to the plateau of visual ecstasy. As I read the comic, I find myself feeling as though I’m lost in some sort of bleak neon nightmare. There is a general gloominess afoot, and the occasional splashes of light are only used to sparingly highlight an impending horror. Take, as an example, the first splash, in which a pack of hillbilly cannibals reveal themselves from the shadows — only their ravenous, drooling faces receive full color.

In terms of visual structure, it’s worth noting that dark gray ink clouds often stretch themselves across the page. Effectively, this helps to blur the otherwise rigid divisions between panels. So while the paneled sequence remains clear to the reader, a subtle sense of narrative obfuscation is presented. Which is useful, considering that Choker is a crime-mystery, slowly revealing itself over the course of six issues.

I’m not exactly sure where Choker is leading. But I’m going to follow.

PS,

Warren Ellis — I want you to read this shit and look at the sexy art. And then I want you to take your beautiful, fish’n’chips snatching fingers and put them to a keyboard. And then, I want you to finish Fell.

I’m not buying an iPad anytime soon. I’m broke, and unemployed, and a general douchebag. It would be a complete luxury item.

That said.

Via CBR:

On Saturday morning, Mac fans, tech heads and curious members of the public alike will doubtlessly line up in some form or fashion to be the first people to buy Apple’s new iPad device. Though while the new keyboardless computer will carry many apps built for its paper-sized screen from ebooks to video games, the question on most comic fans minds since its announcement in January has been when comics will be made available for download. And tonight, a first answer to that query came with the news that Marvel Comics will have a launch app ready for the iPad’s first week on sale, produced by comiXology.

OH GOOD GOD, MARVEL COMICS ON IT!?

Just the concept alone makes me tingly in the groin. I don’t even know if I would use it for that, but the idea alone makes me hot. I love my comic book shop, and I love tangibly owning comics, so I’m pretty torn. But if I could supplement my weekly trip the shop with some splurging in the middle of the night on a random comic?

Good fucking god.

I’m man-wet.

There’s something I’ve noticed about the majority of Modern Warfare 2 gamers out there. They’re a bunch of niggling bitches. I think anytime there’s such a hardcore community revolving around one game, the majority of them seem to feel like entitled blowhards. How do I know? Dude, I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for five years. You can’t throw a rock without hitting someone complaining. “This class is over-powered”, “This dungeon sucks”, “Why can’t Blizzard get the servers to work!?”

Relax. Chill out.

And so I’ve noticed the same thing just with a superficial glance at the MW2 community. And just like WoW players? Just like WoW players, it seems like these people continue playing the game, despite their kvetching.

There’s critiquing, and there’s complaining
I’m not saying it’s unfair to criticize a game, especially when you’re passionate about it. And I’m completely okay with that. My friend Jill is a pretty ardent Call of Duty fan in general. And from time to time, she has a few complaints or criticisms that she lobs Infinity Ward’s way. But I’m cool with that? Why? ‘Cause she actually admits she enjoys the game. She criticizes, but she also can cop to enjoying the crap out of it. Most people I’ve come across simply grouse and grouse, and then they just keep trucking along.

Enjoy the fucking game.

Put your money where your mouth is, yo!
My annoyance has been reignite with the recent release of MW2’s DLC, the Stimulus Pack. In what truly is a bullshit move, they charged the fuck out of the thing for what, five maps? It’s bullshit, I’m with you on that one. But I have a funny feeling that the same vocal majority who shit themselves over the price actually caved and bought it. Watch me write this and get like fifteen people comment and go “Omg, I totally didn’t buy it.” I don’t care, I’d still say you’re in the minority.

Cut them some fucking slack.
The Stimulus Pack launched and it wasn’t without some hiccups. My Twitter feed flooded with “LOL, of course, fucking idiot MS noobs dickbags can’t get anything right.” Yo, cut these people some slack. They’re not hacks, they’re clearly dedicated and working hard. And I assure you, they know for every time they accidentally barf up on themselves they anticipate the swarming of the legions to deride them. Same thing goes for WoW. Every time there’s a patch, it’s like nerd masturbation to grouse about the servers chugging, glitches here and there.

They’re trying. I pinky swear.

Ian, you don’t know shit about shit
Probably.

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Fuck yeah, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is coming. And you better be ready with your hallucinogenic drug of choice for when this son of a bitch drops. What a trippy, engrossing, rewarding game the first Galaxy was.

I am pretty stoked about the sequel, and the trailer only increases my frothing demand. The gameplay is so sexy, so familiar, yet altered. I camped out for thirteen hours on release day for a Wii that simply fucking sits there. But if I can get a new Mario game every couple of years, it’ll be forever worth it.