We’re into double figures! We’re into double figures! Happy second Saturday in December, everyone. Congratulations on making it this far… What say you click through and we all celebrate with a nice meal? (more…)

We’re going a little international with today’s offering, but I think you’ll find the cover star more than a little familiar. He is, as the song goes, a real famous cat all dressed up in red. And, no, I don’t mean Captain Marvel. (more…)

We’re in the second week of the month! The holidays haven’t managed to kill us just yet, despite their best attempts (Seriously, I can’t be the only one who’s had a surreally stressful and busy week, right?), so let’s keep barreling along with the Yuletide covers by clicking through to see what festive treat lies in store today!

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Be warned, Santaphobes: You may find today’s Christmas Cover just a little bit disturbing. Click through… if you dare! (more…)

It’s not just halls that are decked in this sixth installment of Blog@’s Advent Calendar, as you’ll see as soon as you click through to discover just what comic cover awaits you… (more…)

There’s no escaping the festive cover from the Modern Master in Day Five of the Blog@Newsarama Advent Calendar. Yes, that’s a clue as to whose work you’ll see when you click through… (more…)

Seasons Beatings! It’s an old-school slugfest on Day Four of the Blog@ Advent Calendar… (more…)

Yes, Virginia! There is Blog@Newsarama advent calendar! And if you click through, you can see what cover is there for the third day… (more…)

The second installment of my misguided attempt to recreate the experience of opening up small cardboard doors to see what picture is underneath, all in the name of counting down to Christmas, is under the jump. Dare you click through? (more…)

When I was a kid, I loved the first of December because that meant that my family could break out the advent calendar and start the countdown to Christmas Day. There was always something about the daily routine of opening the little card doors and seeing what was underneath (especially if it was chocolate). With that in mind – as well as my love of holiday-themed comics, the more sentimental and ridiculous the better – I decided to attempt my very own version of an advent calendar right here on Blog@: Every day between now and Christmas Day, I’ll post a holiday comic cover under the jump, as your own little festive treat. Click through for the first! (more…)

Minimal posting today (Basically, this) and tomorrow, normal service will resume on Monday. Happy Turkey Day, everyone.

It was recently announced that Dr. Who would finally make his way to the big screen in what appears to be the start of a movie franchise. Director David Yates, who was behind the last four Harry Potter movies would helm the project. Now, it doesn’t have a release date just yet as Yates told Variety they are now looking for writers and it may take “two to three years” to get it just right. He and Jane Tranter, head of L.A.-based BBC Worldwide Productions are making sure they appeal to long-time Whovians, as well American audiences not that familiar.  However, the “British sensibility” won’t be lost, “but having said that,” notes Yates, “Steve Kloves wrote the Potter films and captured that British sensibility perfectly, so we are looking at American writers too.”

No word yet if current Doctor, Matt Smith, will be involved to some capacity, but since this is being seen as a big budget reboot exclusively for the big screen, I doubt it. Especially Yates made it clear that his movie adaptation would not follow on from the current TV series, but would take a completely fresh approach to the material. I’m sure a plethora of Who fans feel confused and concerned about this, but it gives non-Who fans a chance to jump on without worrying about 40 years of continuity. Then again, one of the characters greatest attributes is his continuity and how he draws from his previous lives, but if you can have Smallville and Superman Returns at the same time…

So if they are starting over again, and having an older Doctor, can we just sign Alan Rickman or Ian Holm up already?

In an interview with VH1, current Dr. Who, Matt Smith revealed he will be leaving the show after the 2012/2013 season. He mentions he wants to take a stab at Hollywood and give American cinemas a try.

Interestingly enough  this would place the regeneration of the next Doctor right in the 50th anniversary season of 2013.

At the age of 26, Smith was the youngest Doctor to be casted, only 3 years shy of Peter Davidson when he was cast in 1981. When Smith began the role at of the previous season, he received a mixed reaction from fans, mostly because the previous actor, David Tennant was so well loved by audiences. However, with the BBC’s expansion to American television providers and not having to deal with an airing delay, Smith has gained quite a following and in some eyes, surpasses Tennant’s popularity.

While this is hardly set in stone, it does seem like Smith has already decided that he’ll be done playing Doctor after next season.

So Whovians, are you ready to see Matt off yet and to bigger things, or are you still wanting more?

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has made a comic that teaches the importance of being prepared…for anything. Even back in May, the CDC posted advice on their blog about such a possible event. Now they are following up with a comic book demonstrating how one could be prepared against zombies and tornadoes and various hazardous situations.

“I think this has to do when one CDC worker said to prepare for anything…including zombies,” says former CDC associate Lisa McCarty, who has experience dealing and educating CDC standards on preparedness. “I think its fun and imaginative and helps people learn how important preparedness is for any occasion.”

I’ve heard the comic was passed around NYCC last week at the “Zombie Summit: How to Survive the Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse” panel,  but those who missed out on that, can read the comic (for free) online. It’s an interesting approach to teaching groups about such things and even if zombies aren’t your thing, I’m sure there’s something any reader can find educational in the pages.

Get your fatalities ready folks, Mortal Kombat is making it’s way back to theaters.

The Hollywood Reporter says New Line cinema has tapped the creators of the Mortal Kombat digital series, made earlier this year.

“The movie deal marks the end of a journey for Kevin Tancharoen, who will direct the new movie,” says THR, “Tancharoen, a choreographer for Madonna and Britney Spears who directed the 2009 remake of Fame and more recently the Glee concert movie, directed a short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth as a proof of concept for a Kombat movie he tried to pitch.”

Released by Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, Mortal Kombat: Legacy proved very popular in part to stars like Star Trek: Voyager’s Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade and Spawn star Michael Jai White as Jax.

“The short was viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube, and although no movie deal materialized, he was asked to direct the 10-episode web series, which debuted in April, attracting more than 15 million unique visitors,” writes THR.

The original Mortal Kombat movie, based on the popular video game franchise, was directed in 1995 by the now well-known Paul W.S. Anderson. It did fairly well at the box office but its sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, directed by John R. Leonetti 1997, flopped.

THR says writer of the digital series Oren Uziel will write the new movie but that there is no actor attached and the story will not be a continuation of the video game or series.

Digital comics distributor Graphicly has joined forces with Facebook to make instant access to comics even easier.

“Who isn’t on Facebook?” Graphicly asked via their blog.  ”At Graphicly, as we built out the social features of our application, we realized that there is an amazing amount of conversations occurring on Facebook around comics and creators. What was missing? The comic books themselves!”

With that, the company has launched Graphicly on Facebook. The application allows creators and publishers to embed a comic book or graphic novel onto any Facebook Page. “This simple application can enable any creator or publisher to provide their comics (either the complete book, or just a preview) and make it even easier to buy and read comics, all from their Facebook Page,” says Graphicly.

Graphicly is already integrated into sites like Newsarama, ComicVine and iFanboy but this is a huge step towards spreading comics more easily to the masses since people share everything else on Facebook already.  Graphically says the app is now being used by Archaia, Top Cow, Red5 Comics and more than 50 other creators and publishers across the web. Here’s what it looks like on Archaia’s Facebook page.

What are your thoughts about being able to purchase your digital comics while surfing on Facebook? Or, if you don’t buy digital, do you think you might be tempted now that it will likely be right in front of you?

This may be the single greatest thing to happen to my generation. I’ve been waiting since 1989 for Nike to come through with the power lacing high-tops Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future II. It’s been teased a lot over the years but…the future is now. Sorta.

I give you the Nike MAG, a replica of the sneakers from Back to the Future II. One catch, they don’t actually power-lace, they only look like the real deal and light up. They also aren’t designed or intended for normal wear and use as footwear. Still interested? If you aren’t rich, you probably aren’t going to get a pair. Not because they are so expensive to produce but because these babies are incredibly limited in quantity and are being auctioned off on Ebay instead of sold in stores. Don’t yell foul just yet – the proceeds from the sales of the Nike Mags are going entirely to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

“It’s about time,” reads the Foundations’ website. “For 22 years they have existed only in the year 2015 on Marty McFly’s feet. Today they finally become a reality. Famed Nike designer Tinker Hatfield and footwear innovator Tiffany Beers have returned to recreate the footwear legend. Based on an original movie prop used in Back to the Future Part II, the 2011 Nike MAG shoes have been rebuilt to the exact specifications of the originals. It features an electroluminescent outsole, space-age materials and a rechargeable internal battery good for 3,000 hours.”

Starting today, 150 pairs of 2011 Nike MAG shoes will be auctioned on eBay and the fact that they aren’t quite the futuristic item we’d like them to be hasn’t dampened anyones mood. As of publishing this piece, a pair of size 11s are going for $75,100. Holy. Crap. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these shoes went upwards of $100,000 when all is said and done. (See the full list here) UPDATE: Those size 11s have now been bumped down to $8,200 and a size 10 is in the lead with $11,100. I wonder if those bidders didn’t initially read the fine print of them not actually being power laces and they let them out of the bids.Bidding is still restricted to pre-qualified bidders only.

The Foundation is also using the Back to the Future auction to help meet the $50-million Brin Wojcicki Challenge. “Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and his wife Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of personal genetics company 23andMe, are matching up to $50 million in funds raised by the Foundation between now and December 31, 2012. Net proceeds from the 2011 MAG auctions on eBay will be matched, so please bid generously,” asks the Foundation. Indeed they are.

Even if the shoes won’t tie by themselves, this was still a great idea to raise money. My only problem is there aren’t any women’s sizes. Not that I could afford a pair anyway but my tiny feet aren’t fitting in a men’s 7, which is the smallest they’re offering, 13 is the largest. Guess I’ll just wait for my hoverboard. The real one Mattel.

Christopher Lloyd never ages, I swear to god.

The CW has found its Smallville follow-up. Creator of Supernatural, Eric Kripke, will be writing and producing a Deadman television series for them, currently in the developmental stage.

The series will be a drama says Deadline. Based on the character created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino in Strange Adventures #205, Deadman, aka Boston Brand is a former trapeze artist murdered during a performance and fated to continue on as a ghost. Deadman, who is starting in the upcoming arc of the new DC Universe Presents series starting in September, is given the “gift” to inhabit any living beings’ body thanks to the Hindu goddess Rama Kushna in order to help them solve crimes in their own lives.

“We’re looking next year to do a superhero show if the right superhero comes to be,” CW president Mark Pedowitz said at TCA last month, noting the advantage of having Time Warner-owned DC Comics in the family.

Back in September of 2009, it was reported that Guillermo Del Toro was producing a big-screen adaptation of the character for Warner Bros. but it would seem they changed their minds about which direction they wanted to go in.

Boston Brand has been the focal point of several recent DC events such as Blackest Night and Brightest Day. giving him the kind of spotlight he’s never had before. It’s an strange direction to go in after Smallville but maybe that’s why it will work. Deadman’s turned into a much more interesting character for me and I think his story will make for a cool show.

What are your thoughts?

The Hollywood Reporter is stating that Stan Lee Media Inc is suing the producers for the newly-released (and box office disappointing) Conan the Barbarian and seeking to get 100% of the movie’s gross. The reasoning behind it is because SLMI had the Conan rights since 2000 and when the company went bankrupt, the rights were protected, however, a former attorney for Lee allegedly made an illegal deal to grant the rights to Nu Image/Millennium Films, which produced the new “Conan”.

The company claims that the transfer of the “Conan” character is void because at that time in 2002, “the shares of Conan Properties and all other assets of SLMI were part of a bankruptcy estate and protected from unauthorized transfer by the automatic bankruptcy stay.”

SLMI says that the defendants obtained relief from the automatic stay in March 2002 by getting a judge to sign off on a “Settlement Approval Order” but that this order was itself void because the defendants didn’t provide notice and give 1,800 SLMI shareholders an opportunity to protect their interests by opposing the motion to transfer Conan.

Yet, in 2002, after Conan Sales Co. reacquired the rights to Conan, it sold those rights to a Swedish company called Paradox Entertainment, which has spent the last decade attempting to revive the character in video games, comics, etc. In its lawsuit against Conan Sales Co., Paradox, and others, SLMI is demanding it be restored the rights over the franchise and the defendants turn over all the proceeds from the movie.

Most interesting of all, SLMI is still in the process of suing Stan Lee himself and Marvel Entertainment for the rights to such their most prominent (read: marketable) characters as Spider-Man, the X-Men, Fantastic Four and many of the other major characters in the Marvel Universe.

So what’s your take on this, readers? I thought the estate of Robert E. Howard owned the rights to Conan and his world. Just bizarre. As of today, Conan The Barbarian has only grossed $10 million, a tenth of its budget. I haven’t seen any marketing for the movie, either, so that’s not a surprising number, but disheartening as I kind of dug it.

Geek hosts Blair Herter and Jessica Chobot took their relationship to the next step over the weekend and got engaged with a little help from Wonder Woman and Jim Lee.

The pair simultaneously made the announcement via their Twitter feeds with Herter tweeting, “In a lifetime of affirmation, this was the best “Yes” I’ve heard. Luckiest guy alive.” With his statement, the X-Play host also posted this picture…

Herter, knowing his girlfriend was a huge Wonder Woman fan, had DC artist and co-publisher Jim Lee create this piece specifically to ask for her hand in marriage. Chobot retweeted the picture with this note, “YES!!!!! @blairherter and a ginormous thank you to @JimLee00 for the incredible art! We’ll treasure it always!” And Herter echoed her sentiments on the one-of-a-kind piece, “Massive massive thanks to @jimlee00 for the art. It will always be our most treasured piece.”

The IGN Strategize host then tweeted a picture of her unique engagement ring.

As you can see, the ring is Wonder Woman inspired, and was designed by Herter himself according to Chobot. You can see the lasso/star detail on the left but I can’t quite make out the details on the other side. Either way, it’s gorgeous.

No word on whether or not the proposal was a surprise but Chobot’s last tweet before the announcement was that her and Herter were going on a mini-vacation to San Diego for “sunshine and tattoos,” so it may well have been. Herter thanked everyone for their heartfelt congratulations on the engagement and said, “I promise our future Intergalactic Space Ninja offspring will protect your families against the robots.”

Congratulations to Herter and Chobot and here’s to a comic-themed wedding!