If you’re still not sure one way or the other about the Walking Dead TV show, AMC has released three new teasers!

Man, watching Rick shuffle through the hospital — I know the intro is almost exactly the same as 28 Days Later, but it’s little subtleties like that zombie-esque limp is just great.

Want to see the other two teasers? Click here for AMC’s site! The show, directed by Frank Darabont and executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd and series writer Robert Kirkman, is due out on Halloween.

Are you ready to yield before Cap’s mighty shield? The Daily Mail has some new images up of a stuntman wearing the Red, White and Blue:

So what say you, Rama readers? This good, bad, ugly? Note that these images are of a stuntman, rather than Chris Evans himself. Still, there are some other images that definitely looks like Hydra following Cap. Got an opinion before the movie comes out next year? Sound off!

[Link via SuperheroHype]

The Walking Dead aren’t just coming to your living room — they’ve already got an invitation to stay.

Comic Book Movie has reported that the Robert Kirkman-created zombie thriller has already been greenlit by AMC for a SECOND season, even before the first episode has even aired!

“It would be great not just to get out of the heat, but to present a different idea to the audience visually and tonally by having it be winter,” director Frank Darabont said. “There’s some really cool stuff that Kirkman did, where they find the one zombie that’s frozen to the ground. I’d never seen that before and that’s really cool.”

The show will also expand to a 13-episode season, says producer Gale Anne Hurd. Shooting is set to resume for the show in February.

Greg Pak has the above image up on his blog, presented without comment. Speculators, sound off!

Marvel EiC Joe Quesada hasn’t just hit his 10th year as head honcho of the House of Ideas — he’s also hit his 100th podcast!

If you’re interested in comics history, or even hearing how Quesada made his way into the business (or the swanky times of Marvel Knights), you should DEFINITELY give this podcast a listen.

Heck, I’m not even a huge fan of podcasts, but there is a LOT of information here, including Joe Q’s recollection of Brian Michael Bendis joining the Ultimate Universe and the origin of Wolverine. Seriously. Listen to this podcast. There’s a wealth of perspective here on Quesada’s 10 years.

It looks like the Black Widow will be the only thing stopping the Avengers from being a boy’s club, as Joss Whedon confirmed that there’s only going to be one female Avenger in the upcoming film.

“It is true that the movie is only going to have one female Avenger,” Whedon told the Herald-Sun in Australia, according to Moviehole. “But she will not be the only female character.”

Scarlett Johansson’s character, the Black Widow, has already been signed for the movie (and was featured prominently in a star-studded SDCC photo-op with the big-screen Avengers assembled). The other confirmed Avengers include Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, the Hulk and Nick Fury.

Rumors floating around thus far include love interest characters such as Pepper Potts and Betty Ross — and I wouldn’t rule out characters like Sharon Carter or Maria Hill, either. What say you, Rama readers? Which female Avengers would you have wanted to see?

Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Vol 14
Story and art by Yukiya Sakuragi
Published by Viz Media
Review by Julie Opipari

Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs is another series that always manages to wrestle some very real emotions from me. It’s due strictly to the subject matter, and people who know me personally know how much I love animals, especially dogs. A family isn’t complete without a slobbering, panting mascot to greet you every time you walk through the front door. The thought of not hearing a collar jingle is too awful to contemplate, and even when Buu is an obnoxious Greenie demanding brat, I still count my blessings he’s my dog.

 Suguri, the heroine of Inubaka, is absolutely nuts about dogs. She’s moved from the country to Tokyo, where she works at Woofles, a pet shop owned by Teppei. The series is comprised of short story arcs, centering around the various customers of the store. Suguri is a caring and friendly young woman, and she probably gets a little too involved in the lives of Woofles’ clients. Part of the enjoyment from the series comes from Suguri’s character development. She makes many mistakes because she thinks with her heart instead of her head, but she learns some valuable life lessons from her missteps.

This volume is a bit of a hot button for me. Teppei has a black lab, and it’s his dream to raise puppies to sell in his shop. Suguri has a mixed breed dog, Lupin. She and her family never bothered to get him fixed, and it’s Suguri’s dream to see Lupin’s puppies. Teppei is adamantly opposed to the idea; how will she find loving homes for a bunch of mutts? The two argue over the issue, and despite Suguri acknowledging that Teppei has a good point, she still wants Lupin’s puppies.

 Forgive me for a moment, as I ascend to my soap box. Both Teppei and Suguri need to reassess what they want for their dogs. There are tens of thousands of dogs and cats that are destroyed every year because nobody wants them and because nobody was responsible enough to spay or neuter their pets. I know. I have a dog that nobody wanted. Even being a purebred wasn’t enough to keep Buu in the good graces of his previous owners. He’s a good dog. He knows his basic commands, and he walks like a perfect gentleman on a leash. He knew how to do all of these before I rescued him. He was 50 pounds underweight, he had been abused, and he was very ill. He almost died before I could bring him home. This is a dog that somebody, somewhere in his past, cared enough about to teach him how to sit, stay, and heel. But not enough to provide a home for him for the rest of his life.

 Now, before you start calling me a psycho tree-hugger, let me remind you that a comic book unleashed this torrent of feelings. Inubaka has a very simple premise. It’s about a girl who works at a pet shop. It’s about her learning to become independent, while doing something that she loves. It’s about a cast of odd and wonderful characters, and it’s about that special connection you can have with a dog. Each of the fourteen volumes to date have managed to make me feel something; sadness, happiness, and now even a flash of disappointment. This is another series that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Sure, every now and again there’s that oddly placed bit of fan-service, but the art is engaging and the content is compelling. It’s easy to relate to the characters, even the few I don’t care for, and they all have one thing in common. They all love their dogs, and they all think they are doing what’s best for them. Even if the readers may sometimes disagree.

When Julie Opipari isn’t mucking around the barn, she can be found trying to make a dent in the massive pile of manga that keeps following her home from the bookstore.  Not wiling to admit she has a problem, she blissfully continues to anticipate the latest releases despite the cries of agony from her credit card.  She cheerfully blames her addiction on the stresses of college and post traumatic work disorder, and is grateful that her family grumbles only occasionally about the amount of time she spends buried in her books. In addition to reading Your Manga Minute every Wednesday, you can read more of Julie’s work on her blog, Manga Maniac Cafe.

By Vaneta Rogers

SuperFogeys, one of the leading webcomics over at Th3rd World Studios, just made a few heads explode.

For loyal followers of the SuperFogeys story, today’s comic was a doozy. The ongoing series, which is a humorous yet dramatic look at a retirement home for superheroes and villains, just took a twist that few, if any, readers saw coming.

“Right now is when all the pieces of the story I’ve been building for four years finally come together,” said Brock Heasley, who creates the webcomic. “So far the reaction to the reveal has exceeded my wildest expectations — and they were pretty wild to begin with. I’ve been sitting on this idea of what my story is really all about for nearly four years and anticipating this moment.”

According to Heasley, this big reveal is actually a great time to jump on board with the comic, because the curtain of mystery has been pulled back, and now the real fun begins.

“This revelation both casts new light on everything that’s come before and points the way toward where the story of the SuperFogeys is headed next. One of the things the story has been marked by so far is a great deal of mystery and even, at some times, confusion. Now, I’m taking away the mystery and replacing it with something else — tension,” Heasley said.

“If you’re brand new to the SuperFogeys, then you can read the reveal and head immediately into the archives and find that things click into place in a very satisfying way,” he said. “I’ve been predicting a big run on the archives once this hit — even for longtime readers. But, hey, if archive reading’s not your bag, no worries. The big reveal tells you all you really need to know to enjoy what comes next.”

(For more on SuperFogeys, check out a story we did about the series over on the main site last year.)

So what’s the big reveal? It concerns the secret identity of Dr. Klein, who has been controlling the retirement home where the SuperFogeys live. What the characters in the story don’t know is that Dr. Klein is also the villain known only as The Third Man. But who is The Third Man?

“Dr. Klein has been sitting down with each of the Fogeys in turn, conducting short interviews and, well, generally messing with their heads,” Heasley said. “With [today's] final strip of Chapter 9, ‘All is Revealed,’ I’m pulling the veil back and showing just exactly what Dr. Klein/The Third Man is all about.”

And for those who have read the reveal, one post on the site by Chris Blanchard pretty much sums it up: “I’m stunned… speechless… wow!”

Sand Chronicles Vols 1 – 9
Story and art by Hinako Ashihara
Published by Viz Media
Review by Julie Opipari

Sand Chronicles is one of those series that creeps up on you, and once it’s got you hooked, it toys mercilessly with your emotions. I always make sure there is a tissue near at hand when I am reading a new volume, because I always get teary eyed. The series can be agonizingly painful, as the young protagonist, Ann, struggles to deal with the most dreaded experience a young child could ever imagine – the suicide of her emotionally fragile mother.

After divorcing her husband, Ann’s mother Miwako is forced to move back to the rural village where she was born. She moves back home with her parents, and tries to move forward building a new life for herself and her daughter. She can’t hide the fact that she hates the backwater village of Shimane, and that all of her dreams have been brutally shattered now that she’s back. Once she found the freedom of Tokyo, she wasn’t supposed to ever have to endure life in the country again. Caught in a cesspool of despair, Miwako gives up on life, and more tragically, she gives up on Ann.

What Ann’s mother leaves Ann is a lifetime of guilt and remorse. This last, achingly selfish act sends the young Ann spinning hopelessly out of control. It colors her relationships with her grandparents, her classmates, and her closest friends. Ann must grapple with her confusion and her feelings of unworthiness. If even her mother abandoned her, does she ever deserve to be loved?

I loved this series. It’s told in eight bittersweet volumes, with a ninth volume comprised of side stories that nicely compliment the main plot. Ann’s struggles to lead a normal life touched me deeply; it’s rare that book leaves me weepy after every volume, and embarrassingly, some of the tears were because I had reached the last page! Each new installment of Sand Chronicles was special, and I waited to read them until I had the time to savor every page. Though the reading material is certainly heavy and depressing at times, it also has one other element that makes it very, very special. The entire series is also full of hope, hope that Ann will one day overcome the shadow of her mother’s death and learn to live life the way she is meant to – filled with happiness and love.

When Julie Opipari isn’t mucking around the barn, she can be found trying to make a dent in the massive pile of manga that keeps following her home from the bookstore.  Not wiling to admit she has a problem, she blissfully continues to anticipate the latest releases despite the cries of agony from her credit card.  She cheerfully blames her addiction on the stresses of college and post traumatic work disorder, and is grateful that her family grumbles only occasionally about the amount of time she spends buried in her books. In addition to reading Your Manga Minute every Wednesday, you can read more of Julie’s work on her blog, Manga Maniac Cafe.

Hensin A Go Go, baby!

It’s looking like life is viewtiful, as Viewtiful Joe and Dormammu are joining the cast of Marvel vs. Capcom 3!

Viewtiful Joe, from the Capcom side of things, is an ordinary guy named Joe, who is turned into a high-flying super-sidekick when he’s drawn into “the movie world” by the hero Captain Blue. For those who played the Gamecube and PS2 versions of the game, Joe was able to speed up and slow down time by increasing the frame speed of the movie world.

Dormammu, meanwhile, is one of the greatest foes of the Sorcerer Supreme — a flame-headed sorcerer from another dimension, Dormammu is some bad mojo for the Marvel Universe, and judging on the trailers from the game, it looks like he may be a Doctor Doom- or Thanos-level threat for more than one universe.

The game — which will have Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Deadpool, Wolverine, Hulk, Doctor Doom and Super-Skrull from the Marvel Universe, and Ryu, Chun-Li, Morrigan, Dante, Chris Redfield, Felicia, Trish and Amaterasu from the Capcom side — is due out in the Spring of 2011.

[Image via Marvel]

Ready for a new Dynamic Duo? Think Dustin Nguyen and Stephanie Brown, as the artist of Batman: Streets of Gotham will be moving on to draw Batgirl starting in November.

The series, which will team him up with writer Bryan Q. Miller, will allow Nguyen to help design a brand new rogues gallery for Steph to combat, according to a statement on the Source.

“This is definitely going to be an exciting venture for me, besides the outline Bryan has for us, I’m just plain excited to be drawing Batgirl,” Nguyen told the Source. “This latest incarnation of her has lots of the aesthetics of the original Babs that I love and some new ones. It’ll take me some getting used to drawing a female in horns, but I’m looking forward to putting away the ‘mean and moody’ for a while and kick in the ‘fun and sexy.’”

Bruce Wayne is back — and he’s a man on a mission.

Grant Morrison spoke with the LA Times about his upcoming series, Batman Inc., as well as his personal philosophies on Bruce Wayne’s personality — “A man who is that advanced in meditation and martial arts and yoga is not going to be a one-note vigilante crime fighter,” he told Geoff Boucher — as well as the wide breadth of stories previously told with the character.

The two news bits of note in this story are the fact that Bruce will be bringing back the yellow oval symbol to his uniform, last seen around the No Man’s Land saga; and the fact that Morrison’s first 12 issues will be “team-ups with Batman and different characters as he traveling the world and kind of training people.”

One character confirmed for the series will be El Gaucho, who agrees with Batman’s ideals if not his methods, as well as Knight and Squire.

“At the end we found out what that’s all about; it’s not just habit or routine,” Morrison said. “He actually has a big agenda. That leads into where I’m taking this. At the end of the ‘first season’ I want to wind up with a really enormous Batman story. Everything is building up to that kind of climatic arc.”

Check out the rest of the article here. Batman Inc. #1, which will be drawn by Yanick Paquette, is scheduled for October, along with David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight #1 seen above.

[Via the Source]

By Julie Opipari

Kekkaishi Vol 22
Story and art by Yellow Tanabe
Published by Viz Media
Review by Julie Opipari

I just love Kekkaishi. Even when I was getting a sinking feeling in my gut that this story arc was going to wander off into territory that I wouldn’t like, Yellow Tanabe managed to keep me engrossed in the plot. I hate the current villain and find her the worst kind of one-dimensional stereo-type, but I like the other new character, Yugami. Even after hating him at first! Saiko, on the other hand, is just annoying and a very shallow excuse for an opponent.

The thing I like the best about Kekkaishi is how Tokine and Yoshimori interact with each other. They have been together for all of their lives, and they are very dependant on each other, whether they want to admit it or not. Being together makes the other stronger, and even if they occasionally bicker, they always have each other’s back. They are a team, and if one of them is not there, the other is diminished.

When Tokine is whisked off to be interrogated by the Shadow Organization, Tokine’s friends are immediately worried about her. Her questioning is very unusual, and when her grandmother learns that she’s been spirited off to Headless Island, she is very concerned about Tokine’s welfare. When Yoshimori and Hatori arrive at the island with the proper documents to have her released, they stumble upon a scene of chaos and confusion. There is something shady going on at Headless Island, and if they don’t hurry up and figure out what it is, they are all going to get themselves killed!

I love, love, love Yoshimori. He is impulsive and has the temper of a bottle rocket, but he is always ready and willing to put himself in harm’s way to save his friends. And he loves to bake! This guy has got it all! He even has some super-duper panels where he looks and sounds really, really cool! I don’t care what anyone else says, he is clearly maturing and willing to take responsibility for his, and everyone else’s, actions.

It is clear that the troubles with the Shadow Organization run deep, and that there isn’t anyone to be trusted. I am finding this story arc intriguing and suspenseful, even though Masamori is nowhere to be seen. ‘Cause if there is one character who I love more than Yoshimori, it’s his older, much more dangerous brother, Masamori. I hope he shows up again soon! If you enjoy action titles with wonderful dashes of humor, I can’t recommend Kekkaishi highly enough. It rocks!

When Julie Opipari isn’t mucking around the barn, she can be found trying to make a dent in the massive pile of manga that keeps following her home from the bookstore.  Not wiling to admit she has a problem, she blissfully continues to anticipate the latest releases despite the cries of agony from her credit card.  She cheerfully blames her addiction on the stresses of college and post traumatic work disorder, and is grateful that her family grumbles only occasionally about the amount of time she spends buried in her books. In addition to reading Your Manga Minute every Wednesday, you can read more of Julie’s work on her blog, Manga Maniac Cafe.

How do you spell ambitious animation? When it comes to DC Entertainment — S-H-A-Z-A-M!

Warner Bros. Animation has announced that on November 9, they will release the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection, a DVD with animated takes including Superman and Captain Marvel, The Spectre, Green Arrow and Jonah Hex.

The Superman/Captain Marvel cartoon, which will last 22 minutes, shows how young Billy Batson crosses paths with Clark Kent… only to gain mysterious powers from an elderly wizard, as well as a murderous foe in the form of Black Adam. Jerry O’Connell will reprise his role the Big Red Cheese, while George Newburn will reprise his role as Superman from the Justice League cartoons.

In addition, you’ve got 10-12 minute shorts including the Spectre animated short written by Steve Niles; the Greg Weisman-penned Green Arrow adventure, in which he protects a 10-year-old princess from the League of Assassins; and Jonah Hex, voiced by one of his biggest fans, Thomas Jane.

Fresh from Fred Van Lente’s Twitter account — an image from Steve Kurth for the upcoming September issue of Iron Man Legacy.

And it looks like it’s a full-page splash of the Pride, the villainous parents of the Runaways… Does this mean we’ll see any of Niko, Chase and the gang? Speculation, activate!

Ready for zombies, manly confessions and Hank missing out that he’s a professionally-certified crybaby?

I’ll be you are. Because Adult Swim has released the trailer for the new season of the Venture Bros.

The comics-to-film exchange is still in full force, as Magnolia Pictures has just released a poster for its upcoming film Centurion, illustrated by none other than the hard-hitting artist of 2000 AD/Lobo/other assorted badassery Simon Bisley.

The film focuses on a toughened Roman soldier, who is forced to survive behind enemy lines when the commander of his legion is killed by the Pict tribe. The film, starring soon-to-be-Magneto Michael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko, is due out August 27.

Trina Johnson and Kelly Tindal, you two are my new favorite team in comics.

That’s because they’ve teamed up to do a webcomics series called “That’s So Kraven,” transplanting the plucky teen Raven with the hirsute hunter and Spidey-foe, Kraven the Hunter.

According to the first installment, the authors have said “wherever possible we chose to keep the dialogue and situations from the original TV show unaltered, thus highlighting Kraven’s ability to fit into the world of a teenage girl.” I think he fits in fantastically.

(Also, the idea that Spider-Man only refers to himself in the third person is comedy gold.)

The comic updates on Wednesdays, and is currently on its third installment. Run, don’t walk, to the web browser!

He made you believe a man could fly.

The Hollywood Reporter has news that Tom Mankiewicz, who worked on the screenplays for the first two Superman films, died last week at 68, after suffering “a brief illness” at his Los Angeles home.

Mankiewicz was brought in by Richard Donner to work on his scripts when the initial stories were too clunky for his tastes. According to THR, Mankiewicz was cited as a “creative consultant” even as Donner and the Writers Guild butted heads.

“Making ‘Superman’ was only possible because when Tom came in, he brought his sense of humor and brought those characters to life,” Donner told THR. “A lot of people in this town have ‘the gift of gab.’ Tom’s was unique; there was always a true emotional center.”

The writer also worked on several of James Bond’s adventures, including Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Man with the Golden Gun and Moonraker.

Top Cow has announced that Brave New World Comics’ Atom! Freeman, seen on the right, has been hired as the company’s new Direct Market Liaison.

Freeman will be working with retailers to promote Top Cow’s publishing lineup through comic shops and the Direct Market.

Brave New World won the Eisner Spirit of Retail Award in 2008. “He’s been one of the retailers I go to regularly for insight and advice on the direct market and Brave New World is one of my favorite stores in the country,” Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik said in a statement. “When the opportunity presented itself to hire Atom! to help us in our efforts in the direct market, I leapt at the chance.”

But fans of Brave New World, don’t fret just yet — Freeman’s wife and partner Portlyn will continue to run the Santa Clarita-based store.