Empire Theatres is holding a special one night only screening of Death Note 2: The Last Name. Why one night? I have no idea, but since it’s the middle of the week, I can’t make it. But if you can, advanced tickets can be purchased online.

Date: Wednesday, December 3
Time: 7pm
Price: $10.00 plus tax
Running Time: 160 minutes (including a 20-min special feature)

Venues:

AB – CALGARY – Empire Studio 16 Country Hills
AB – EDMONTON – Empire City Centre 9 Cinemas
BC – SURREY – Empire Studio 12 Guildford
BC – VANCOUVER – Empire Granville 7 Cinemas
NB – FREDERICTON – Empire Studio 10 Regent Mall
NB – MONCTON – Empire 8 Trinity Drive
NB – SAINT JOHN – Empire Studio 10
NL – ST. JOHN’S – Empire Studio 12
NS – HALIFAX – Empire 18 Cinemas, Bayers Lake
NS – SYDNEY – Empire Studio 10
ON – KITCHENER – Empire Studio 12 Gateway Park
ON – MISSISSAUGA – Empire Studio 10 at Square One
ON – NORTH YORK – Empire Empress Walk 10 Cinemas
ON – OTTAWA – Empire 7 Cinemas
ON – ST. CATHARINES – Empire Studio 8 Pen Centre
PE – CHARLOTTETOWN – Empire Studio 8

This trailer for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game gives a virtual tour of the Asylum’s facility. Sorry, no actual gameplay in this footage since it’s only a teaser.

After a lengthly hiatus, the sci-fi comedy show Galacticast came blazing back with this catchy and hilarious little commercial for artist Tony Moore. Here is Tony’s reaction from his blog:

So Casey and Rudy from Galacticast (and A ComicBook Orange) have taken it upon themselves to put together a commercial to promote my work. Probably one of the coolest things anyone’s ever done for me. Thanks a trillion, guys. I’m glad you enjoy my stuff enough to spread the word!

When I went to see Iron Man, I remember my boyfriend turning to me asking what was up with the ‘cheseburger’ scene. It was shortly after Tony escaped his captors and was demanding cheeseburgers. My boyfriend figured there must have been something up with that, but we never discussed it again. Ends up it was loosely based on Robert Downey Jr.’s own personal experience with his drug addiction and credits Burger King for helping him beat the habit.

The fast food epiphany happened in 2003 when the “Iron Man” star was driving a car piled with “tons of f—ing dope,” Downey Jr. told Britain’s Empire magazine. The actor decided to pull over for a burger and everything changed.

“I have to thank Burger King,” he said. “It was such a disgusting burger I ordered. I had that, and this big soda, and I thought something really bad was going to happen.” Downey Jr. says he then tossed all of his drugs into the ocean, deciding right then and there to clean up his act.

Source: New York Daily News.

Agatsuma Entertainment in Japan is releasing a really adorable little Iron Man figure. This 16 cm tall soft vinyl figure sports a really big head, stubby arms and legs, then finished with a metallic paint job, ready to cap super villain butt in the cutest way possible! The figure retails for 4000 yen.

Found on National Console Support.

Photos of the new Iron Man Mark I 1/6 scale collectible figure were published this week. The action figure will be produced by Hong Kong based company Hot Toys. It has a pimpin’ 36 points of articulation and his mask lifts to reveal Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, utilizing Hot Toys’ new sculpting technique. He has a working missile launcher and on the center of his chest is a battery-operated glowing heart. This new Iron Man action figure stands over 30 cm (12-inches) tall, perfect to take Barbie out on a night on the town. No release date announced as of yet.

Additional photos can be found on Hot Toys’ website.

Remember people making fun of of Scott McCloud’s Google Chrome comic? Gizmodo.com ran a contest for readers to submit their Photoshop-enhanced Chrome Comics. The results? Dozens of hilarious winning entries.

Related:
Scott McCloud explains Google Chrome
More from McCloud on Google Chrome.

For the month of September, Mattel is showcasing the DC Comics Dolls on their Barbie Collector website, and offering three sizes of the DC Barbie desktop calendar featuring the 2008 DC Barbie line-up: Supergirl Barbie Doll, Batgirl Barbie Doll, Wonder Woman Barbie Doll, and that hussy Black Canary Barbie Doll, who is hiding her skanky legs in the back.

Related:
Group calls Black Canary Barbie ‘filth’
Variations on a ThemeL Black Canary Barbie

Some people think these are adorable. Others shudder at a moment’s glance. Whatever the reaction, these contacts are made for anyone that wants disproportionately large manga or anime eyes. Korean manufactureres G&G and Dueba seemed to have cornered the market.

The contact lenses are available in a large variety of colours and more importantly, have a larger diameter than normal contact lenses. The effect gives the wearer the appearance of gigantic irises for that alluring cartoony look. Both cosmetic and prescription lenses are available.

At $35-40 a pair online, big eyes are much more reasonably priced than a small nose and more readily available than the Astro Boy makeover.

Doed-eye wannabes can get these contacts through Shopping Times.

Found via Inventorspot.

Aspen Comics’ Editorial Director Vince Hernandez sadly announced the passing of fan favourite comic creator Michael Turner at the age of 37.

From Aspen Comics’ Message Boards:

Hello all,

Unfortunately it’s with great sadness that I must inform everyone that Michael Turner tragically passed away last night, June 27th at approximately 10:42 pm in Santa Monica, Ca. Turner had been dealing with recent health complications arisen in the past few weeks. More details concerning Turner’s passing, and services, will be given shortly.

Anyone wishing to send their condolences to Michael Turner’s family is encouraged to send to:

Aspen MLT, Inc.
C/O Michael Turner
5855 Green Valley Circle, Suite 111
Culver City, CA, 90230

Aspen also encourages anyone wishing to make a charitable donation to please send to Michael Turner’s requested charities:

The American Cancer Society

Or

The Make-A-Wish Foundation

Official Contact: Vince Hernandez

Turner got his big break into comics as the artist and co-creator of Witchblade. Shortly afterwards he moved onto his creator-owned series Fathom and eventually started his own publishing company, Aspen MLT Inc. He also worked with Marvel and DC Comics doing mostly covers but he also illustrated the six-issue “Supergirl from Krypton” story arc in Superman/Batman.

In March 2000, Turner was diagnosed with cancer which he lost his entire hip, 40% of his pelvis, and three pounds of bone. Since then he has been in and out of treatment for his condition.

Whenever I saw Michael Turner at cons, he was always smiling, very humble and very approachable. When I got word from colorist Blond of his passing, I had to do a double take. I knew he was sick but I kept wanting and thinking he was going to get better. It is such a shame he spent such little time with us. He will definitely be missed.

All of us at Newsarama send our condolences to his loved ones and to those that loved him.

I made my way down to Calgary this weekend for the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. It’s much bigger this year as the con is now a two-day event, with extended programing and dozens of guests. Pretty good for a con that only started two years ago. I talked briefly with Events Coordinator Kandrix Foong.

“Going into our third year, we’re expecting a massive jump in attendance again this year. I believe our success is due to two main things. The first, is that there’s nothing like this event in Western Canada. The second, is our extensive guest list! We’ve got 75+ guests from all over coming into the event, and a few of them rarely make appearances,” said Foong.

“There’s a lot of new stuff this year at the Expo. For starters, we’re expanding to two-days, which will be an adventure in itself! We’ve got our 2008 exclusive artbook featuring contributions from 39 artists. There’s a charity auction, a photo-op session with our media guests, and expanded programming.”

I made the three hour trek from Edmonton last year to attend this con. I asked Kendrix about the convention’s attendance over the years. “In our first year, our out of town attendees was very limited. It was primarily driving distance, so Edmonton would pretty much be the furthest away. This year, I know that we’ve got a fan flying in all the way from Italy to meet Michael Rosenbaum!”

And I had to ask about CCEE’s gorgeous cowgirl logo.

“She was designed by artist Alberto Ruiz, we’ve named her ‘Alberta’, so it’s kinda like tribute to 2 things at the same time!”

I’ll be floating around the con over the next couple of days taking pictures making sure I get in on some Jo Chen (my idol!) and George Takai goodness. If you figure out who I am, make sure to say “hi!”

Mortal Kombat Online reported Midway Games has confirmed last fall’s rumor that a Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe video game is in the works.

Today, Midway Games confirmed what had been rumored for a while: the first next-generation Mortal Kombat title, up until now called “Mortal Kombat 8″ by the community, is officially titled Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. As the title suggests, it will be a crossover with the characters and setting of DC Comics.

Lots of unanswered questions remain, such as will the game have the signature fatality moves Mortal Kombat fans have grown to love. Details about its gameplay are still unknown, although a past interview with creator Ed Boon revealed that the next installment of Mortal Kombatwould be more serious.

It’s going to be a fighting game, definitely, but after that anything can go”, he added, talking about the fact that he’s starting from scratch for the new game.

The game will have more features, take advantage of motion-sensing controllers and “try to introduce as many new characters as possible”.

Initially, talk of a Mortal Kombat/DC Universe pairing had comic and gaming fans writing off the possibility as a far-fetch senseless idea but in light of the news from today, expect a new round of speculation of how good or bad it could be.

***UPDATE 3:20 pm***

Games Radar posted this trailer featuring Batman and Sub-Zero having a throwdown. The game will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Thanks James.

Art Spiegelman was featured on CBC News’ Sunday Night to talk about censorship from the perspective of a comic creator. He reflected on surviving 911, the Danish cartoon controversy and changing his artwork for Canada while sitting in a continuous stream of cigarette smoke.

You can watch the full report on CBC’s website.

The original oil painting used for the cover of Tintin in America sold for €764,200 (1.2 million USD) at an auction on Saturday March 29, obliterating the old record for an original comic book art. Last March, a drawing by artist Enki Bilal called Bleu Sang (Blue Blood) fetched €177,000 ($285,950 Cdn).

Held in Paris, Auction house Artcurial announced that the 1932 oil painting, by Tintin’s Belgian creator Hergé, was part of one-off sale of 650 comic originals.

Tintin Actor chosen

Tintin record-breaking sale of the original artwork happened only a day after the announcement that british actor Thomas Sangster will be playing Tintin in the upcoming Steven Spielberg movie. Sangster is best known for his roles in the films Love Actually and Nanny McPhee . Andy Serkis has been confirmed in the role of Captain Haddock.

Tintin was also in the news as recently as last week, publisher Raymond LeBlanc passed away.

Via CBC News.

Spider-Man water bottles sold exclusively at Sears in 2007 are being recalled due to a chocking hazard.

CBC News reported:

The screws under the water bottle’s lid can come loose and fall into the cup, posing a choking hazard to children. No injuries have been reported but the company has received three reports of the screws coming loose.

The company told CBC.ca the product was not sold in Canada.

Consumers should immediately take the recalled water bottles away from children and contact Fast Forward LLC at 1-877-244-4433 for instructions on returning the product for a full refund.

The recall is voluntary.

The official recall notice is available online at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website.

At Toyfair, not only was the new 2008 Barbie/DC Super-heroes line-up was shown off, but a gift set featuring Barbie’s little sister Kelly and her friend Tommy, cosplaying as Catwoman and Batman, was on display at the Mattel booth.

Pictures of the Barbie display can be found on the CarolynnW’s Picasa Web Album.

Inspired by the 1960s campy TV series, RedHotPhones, a website that sells nothing but red phones, made this little gem available for sale.

Heavy-duty traditional desk phone with dial replaced by blank plate, and bell disconnected if you prefer a silent signal.

Neon light flashes when call comes in. No external power or battery required.

Brand-new. Two-year warranty. Bright red phone with red color lens centered within chrome ring.

Normally used for answer-only, but can make calls if connected to a phone system with memory dialing, or a ring-down circuit.

At $112 USD each, it’s a bargain for any playboy millionaire vigilantes.

The only thing that would make this complete is your own prim and proper butler to let you know when the commissioner is calling.

So when will I finally get my Bat-Shark Repellent?

Via Engadget.

Game developer Electronic Arts confirmed that they and Marvel comics have decided to terminate their plans to develop a new Marvel fighting game.

“EA and Marvel have jointly agreed to discontinue development of the Marvel titles under the EA Games Label. This was a business decision based on EA’s portfolio strategy,” an Electronic Arts rep told GameTap today.

The deal with EA was similar to one Marvel had with Capcom. That deal pit classic Marvel superheroes against original characters from the game publisher and resulted in the 1999′s Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes.

Only one game has been developed under the EA/Marvel licensing agreement since 2004: Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

Marvel briefly stated that they are other fish in the sea.

“(this) will not affect Marvel’s ongoing plans to release fighting games based on the Marvel properties in the future.”

Fans of the popular Marvel vs. Capcom fighting games rejoicing and hoping Marvel reunites with their former star-crossed lover, Capcom.

Beautiful handbags in the shape of Wonder Girl and Mary Marvel’s torsos made by graphic designer Luc Latulippe’s brother, Guy. In his blog post, Luc said:

My talented younger brother, Guy, made these several years ago. He used to sell them in various boutique shops in Toronto and Montreal, using hundreds of different patterns, but each in the same bustier shape. Handmade, kids.

And if you’re wondering, no, these fab bags are no longer for sale.

T-shirt design proposal by Jillian Nickell. To help get this shirt printed, vote for it on Threadless.com.