Best-Selling Titles April 2015.

We know, we know, you’re waiting so long to hear what last month’s best-sellers were that it’s almost time to hear about the best sellers for May.

Well, here they are. It seems that the Star Wars universe has it, with Marvel’s series’ making up 40% of the top ten, while DC held 60% of ground with their Convergence event!

10. Princess Leia #3

Not to be forgotten, Princess Leia holds on to a top ten spot from March, making that three successive entries. Deemed one of Marvel’s strongest Star Wars series so far, Princess Leia continues to present amazing action and character development.

The issue where Leia becomes the leader of the disenfranchised and displaced people of Naboo, while attempting to evade the Empire and get them to safety on the planet of Sullust gets our personal thumbs up as well as a recommendation in our history books.

9. Convergence #4

After not-so-good reviews for the initial issues of this miniseries, Convergence #4 does begin to incorporate some action. Earth-2 heroes journey to Telos. The Time Masters are a central issue to this story, incorporating Superman, The Flash and Green Lantern in an epic battle with Soldiers of the Warlord.

8. Kanan: The Last Padawan #1

This series is the fourth of the Star Wars universe to be launched by Marvel. But it is the first that is not set in the years between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Instead, this series goes further to the closing days of the Clone Wars, when Kanan was a mere Jedi in training.

7. Convergence #3

Described a ‘mildly enjoyable’, Convergence #3 is reminiscent of previous issues, filled with more violence, more wasteland and more of the Flash running really fast.

6. Convergence #2

We’re seriously going to post the rest of these without comment.

#5. Darth Vader #4

This issue of Darth Vader takes us to the dark side of the moon – figuratively. Vader and Aphra are missing an army, and the solution is out of this world – literally. Aphra’s droids are given the chance by Keron Gillen to contribute differently.

Vader #4 starts to pick up quickly and really draws readers in with Larocca and Gillen’s storylines.

#4. Batman #40

Batman #40 ended with a special surprise. We won’t reveal it here but if you haven’t read it by now, we kind of assumed you aren’t going to. The conclusion of the Endgame storyline sees Batman fighting The Joker (again?). Capullo and Snyder did a great job in bringing the twist to life, but you’ll just have to read it to find out what it is.

#3. Convergence #1

#2. Convergence #0

#1. Star Wars #4

Marvel’s Star Wars series sees the return of one of our favourite, yet unhorrifying bad guys, Jabba the Hutt. And we get to see more of Luke, Leia and Han. Even though it was off to a good start though, the series needs more time to expend.

Someone get me a Wookiee.

Curicon Recommends…Harley Quinn (2013)

Chances are, if you aren’t reading Harley Quinn, you at least know who she is (come on, if you don’t, how did you even reach this blog?). The petite, agile, psychotic psychologist from Arkham Asylum returned in 2013 to helm her own series for DC’s New 52 – and managed to surprise everyone in the process. Quinn is a character specifically invented for Batman: The Animated Series from Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, who gained extreme popularity in recent years due in part to her involvement with The Suicide Squad and appearances in Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. She was a fledgling psychologist, who sought out contact with The Joker during one of his many stints at Arkham, and the two began a torrid relationship. Quinn’s relentlessly hopeful demeanor and the team of thugs that follow her around, too fearful to laugh at her love for abandoned animals, made her an instant fan-favourite when Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti took the reins for her New 52 series.

Harley is out on her own now, frequently accompanied by an unexplainable taxidermied beaver named Bernie and her good friend Poison Ivy. Connor and Palmiotti have successfully transformed Harley from a psychotic villain into a respectable anti-hero, who has resumed her work as a psychologist at a retirement home, taken over the job as a landlady, and spent some time as Power Girl’s sidekick.

Despite the unmistakable lesbian overtones with her friend Ivy, Harley is no longer involved with any of her other previous buddies from the beginning, allowing her to pull herself together and build a decent circle of friends. Harley manages to join a roller derby team, meet a new love interest, and, in one issue, gains the begrudging respect of Batman, with her puddin’ nowhere in sight. It is no mistake that Quinn’s newfound independence and strength as a woman has transformed her into one of the most popular DC characters around. The unwavering insanity that marked Quinn’s character in the beginning has definitely not disappeared from her reimagining, but Ivy seems to be the person that stabilizes Harley, and is there to save her butt on more than one occasion – usually from herself.

Connor and Palmiotti made a perfect decision when they decided to work with Chad Hardin to bring their stories to life, Hardin’s artwork makes Harley a likeable, if somewhat deranged version of what we expect her to be. Hardin manages to capture Quinn’s expressions perfectly, and when paired with Palmiotti’s writing, Harley is the perfect anti-hero for a new generation.

Many of us were introduced to comic books because of the obscenely huge popularity of TV shows like Arrow and Gotham, and because of the success of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy but Quinn makes it easy to settle in to DC’s world for someone who is just trying to find their feet.

Harley Quinn #17 is on sale July 10th.

Best Selling Titles in March 2015.

In recent years we’ve witnessed a resurfacing of comic book culture, particularly in big Hollywood blockbusters. Think about it, The Avengers took over $200,000,000 its opening weekend, and is now the third highest earning movie in history, next to Titanic and Avatar…a movie about Smurfs. I’m not mad, Smurfs are pretty neat.

Still, it’s been really nice to witness a new horde of incoming comic geeks, and even nicer to read the new adventures of some of our old favourites. In fact, 8 of 10 of the highest selling March titles of this year are all recent series. Marvel dominated the sales with a 90% lead over DC, and the Spiderverse made up 30%.

10. Amazing Spider-Man #16.1

Starting at number 10, Amazing Spider-Man #16.1 launched the ‘Spiral’ storyline. Written by Gerry Conway, Spider-Man comes to discover that all six crime moguls are preparing for an underground war. Wraith joins Spider-Man in this fight to stop these lovable crime bosses from looting and pillaging. As crime bosses are known to do from time to time.

9. Batman: Arkham Knight #1

The prequel stories to the long-awaited penultimate game of the Rocksteady series, the Batman: Arkham games are, in my opinion, the best Batman games ever made. In fact, the Arkham Knight prequels begin where Arkham City ended.

We won’t spoil Arkham City for you (I mean, the game has been out since December, 2012, you should have played it already) but with the Joker no longer appearing in this installment, we have a new villain to fight off – Arkham Knight.

8. Darth Vader #3

Comic Book Resource gave it 4 out of 5 stars and named it the most entertaining installment thus far. Not much of a feat, being the third issue in the series. Still, it’s difficult to make our favourite villain so humorous without being morbid or accidentally funny – I mean, the thing that Lucas did with Jabba the Hutt’s party is an example of the latter – but Gillen and Larroca manage to do it just perfectly.

7. Howard the Duck #1

With a hint of its return in the post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy – which you seriously can’t tell me you didn’t stay in the theatre for – the debut return of this1970’s character left us in stitches. He returned with his satirical and oftentimes sarcastic

6. Amazing Spider-Man #16

In #16, Peter Parker returns from saving the Web from the evil Doc Ock. He is then faced with The Iguana and Black Cat’s continued attempts to get at him. Half of this issue is focused on Black Cat’s continuing transformation. It helps to know her motivations behind her change after being treated so badly by the Superior Spider-Man and finally clears up the motivation that had been severely lacking.

5. Princess Leia #2

Marvel’s new series continues the story of Princess Leia after the destruction of the Death Star. Mark Waid and Terry Dodson created a great series that tells a story we needed to read. Despite her complicated character within the movies, willing to stand up to the bad guys including her own father (spoilers, but like watch the movie already?), the much-loved and adored Leia seems to lack the room to display emotion about the loss of her home planet. The series explores her personal reactions to the loss of her family and friends, after fighting with the rebels to destroy the Death Star. It allows us an insight into her less abrupt side.

4. Spider-Gwen #2

Some of the most successful recent Marvel titles feature young female protags. Ms. Marvel, Silk, and now Spider-Gwen. We add that to the new Captain Marvel and Thor and we have some of the most successful female protagonists in history. They are building a new universe with guest appearances by the likes of Matt Murdock and Kingpin. The debut issue sold over 200,000 issues, and Spider-Gwen looks to be one of the highest money-earners for Marvel in 2015.

3. Guardians Team Up #1

Bendis uses a brilliant storyline to bring the Guardians to Earth, where they meet up with the Avengers. Joining the characters of the two biggest films in the last three years was a good idea for Marvel in this issue. Despite the vast character roster, which is, at times, hard to display, Bendis doesn’t show all of the Avengers right off the bat.

2. Star Wars #3

The final issue for the opening story arc, filled with comedy, action and a bunch of great moments. We revisit some of our favourite (and not so favourite) characters, with the telling of a story that has been around for three decades. It is difficult to find a negative aspect of this series, but it’s hard to find a negative aspect of Star Wars – I mean, why would you try to? – except Episode I.

1. Princess Leia #1

Starting off in the last scene of Episode IV, with most of a human cast, but the Dodson’s are given the privilege of introducing Admiral Ackbar into the comic series. The only drawback of this great new series is the distinct minimal appearance of Chewie, our beloved Chewie. Definitely keep reading this series.

The Ten Best Halloween Movies as voted by us. Warning: May contain hints to win prizes!

There’s 5 more days until Halloween and Curicon’s secret launch. To prepare ourselves, we’ve been making a list of our favourite Halloween movies to scare ourselves silly. Here at the office we love sharing things with our fans, so here is a list of our top ten Halloween movies in no particular order! If you’re attending our Halloween event on Friday, some of this information could be pretty important. Read on!

10. Friday the 13th. One through, er, The Final Chapter.

You could watch Freddy vs. Jason too, if you like, but we should probably advise avoiding anything after the fourth installment of the series for the sake of your sanity. Including the reboot. People really need to stop letting Michael Bay make movies. After the third movie, New Line Cinema obtained the rights to Jason’s story from Paramount Pictures and flogged it to death, including the crossover with the other New Line Cinema anti-hero Freddy Krueger. ‘But Curicon,’ we hear you saying, ‘you can’t just pretend that eight movies don’t exist.’ Au contraire, mon frere, we all pretend Tobey Maguire never played Spider-Man – except in the second movie, which was alright by comparison, but having your legs chopped off rather than your head is also good by comparison.

At this point, if you haven’t seen the Friday the 13th series, when it’s existed for thirty-four years, you’re missing out on a crucial part of your education into popular culture, and should probably crawl out of that rock you’ve been living under, or the coma you’ve been in. The Friday the 13th franchise is considered to be one of the most successful in the world, it is constantly referred to in pop culture. Jason’s hockey mask is one of the most recognisable icons today, despite his not using a mask until the third movie.

Jason’s killcount has hit 146 across all movies in the franchise, and he is probably one of the most well-known movie bad guys, but he wasn’t always the killer responsible for the deaths of many drunk and naked teenagers. Originally, his mother, Pamela Voorhees was the killer and in later movies, fans of the notorious slasher killed in his name.

9. Scream. 

Wes Craven is perhaps one of the most influential horror movie producer/directors in Hollywood. His career started with The Last House on The Left (1972) and was followed up with The Hills Have Eyes (1977). Mr. Craven has his hand in many pies in the horror movie industry, and Scream is possibly the biggest success of them all. Despite the last two sequels being horrendously disappointing.

Scream was written by Kevin Williamson, after he watched a news report on The Gainesville Ripper. The story of Sidney Prescott, a young woman who comes under attack from Ghost Face – and manages to survive all four movies, each time narrowly escaping losing her head – and possibly her neck. Unlike many other movies (we’re looking at you Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween), each installment of Scream has a new killer behind the Ghost Face mask. But you’ll have to watch for yourself to find out exactly who they are.

8. A Nightmare on Elm Street

The reboot of Nightmare on Elm Street failed to impress critics, receiving a 3.7/10 from Rotten Tomatoes (I’m going to start a Facebook group to stop Michael Bay), but the original franchise – another Craven classic – was a financial success, accruing almost half a billion dollars at the box-office worldwide. The series is the second highest-grossing franchise, behind Friday the 13th, due to their domination of pop culture (though this may have changed due to Marvel’s recent success with Guardians and the Avengers). Both series spawned TV episodes, comics, books and action figures.

Again, this movie’s existence spans thirty years, and if you haven’t at least seen the first one, you are missing key parts of today’s pop culture. Those knife fingers and the christmas jumper/fedora combo are pretty recognisable and if you haven’t at least seen Freddy’s likeness somewhere, then you really have been living under a rock.

Freddy frequently haunts the dreams of the teenagers of Springwood, because a child-killing, fedora-wearing, knives for fingers dead guy isn’t scary enough, he needed to get us in our sleep.

7. It

Stephen King’s work has spanned decades, spawned many movie adaptations and perhaps the most notable of all is It. Tim Curry, that guy who danced around in lingerie in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, plays Pennywise the clown. Pennywise is an inter-dimensional predatory life form that feeds predominantly on children because they are easier targets.

In true Stephen King adaptation style, It was filmed as a two part miniseries that aired on TV in 1990. Often to remain true to the novels, many of King’s adaptations are filmed this way. Over the last 24 years, it has garnered a large cult following and created a fear of clowns for much of the Y generation. Just. Watch it.

6. Evil Dead

Bruce Campbell plays Ash. The badass protagonist of the series. Throughout the three films in the original series, Ash battled demonic possession brought on from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. The series, much like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, spawned its own series of comics and videogames.

The 2013 reboot of the franchise, starring Jane Levy, a female version of Ash, is one of the only reboots that has received generally positive views. Possibly because Michael Bay didn’t have anything to do with it. It even pays homage to Ash’s chainsaw hand during the climax. Cool stuff.

 5. Insidious Chapter 1 and 2.

James Wan has recently become quite the scary movie man. Despite the fact that Chapter 2 did not quite meet Chapter 1’s impeccable standard for frights that will almost pull you out of your skin – or, if you’re like me, you laughed at your boyfriend when he jumped out of his – both of the movies raked in almost $260 million in the box office and were praised by critics. Chapter 1 won 8 awards, including Best Actress and two wins for Best Horror Movie.

With a third installment on its way next May, we suggest that you get off your butt and view the shit out of these movies in the next 5 days. And honestly, if you’re an Aussie and you haven’t seen James Wan do his thing with Angus Sampson, Rose Byrne and Leigh Whannell, you’re definitely missing out.

4. Child’s Play

Yep, it was only a matter of time before we started talking about the possessed killer doll. Four sequels and a reboot later, and Chucky has still got a strong army of fans, despite the mess that it became in Seed of Chucky. It has also expanded out to comics, like it’s eighties compadres Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.

Chucky was possessed by Charles Lee Ray, or the Lakeshore Strangler, in the first movie. His wisecracking mouth combined with stumpy plastic legs were designed to create an element of comedy in an otherwise creepy as hell series of happenings. The franchise has done pretty well for itself overall, including an app released in November of 2013. The original Andy Barclay, Alex Vincent, even returned to reprise his role in the 2012 sequel, Curse of Chucky.

3. Halloween

We couldn’t really have a Halloween post without including Halloween, could we? Michael Myers, not to be confused with the short Canadian guy who worked with Dana Carvey in Wayne’s World, no, Michael Myers, the silent, creepy, knife-wielding, babysitter killer. The original film grossed the 1978 equivalent of $250 million today, in short, they made 725 times what they spent making the movie and it became the one of the most profitable independent films of all time.

The movie was not only inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, but the lead role was given to Janet Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis. The film has become so influential, despite being criticised for encouraging sadism and misogyny, that in 2006, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. Some people have even argued that the movie is a critique of the behaviour of teenagers in the 70’s, due to so many of Myers’ victims being promiscuous teenagers. Many of the techniques and plot elements in the movie have actually become common horror movie tropes today.

2. The Conjuring

Yeah, another James Wan and Patrick Wilson movie. Except he doesn’t go batshit insane in this one. The Conjuring was released in July of 2013 and took in a total of $318 million worldwide.  Based off real life events of Lorraine and Ed Warren, the movie explores the haunting of a home occupied by a young family and the subsequent events that followed. A sequel is planned for release in early 2016 and the spin-off Annabelle, was released this year.

1. The Cabin In The Woods

If you haven’t seen this one, you really are missing out. Written and produced by Joss Whedon, this movie gets the award for the most underrated meta-horror movie of the fucking century. Chris Hemsworth is probably the only face you’re going to recognise, but the movie is worth it. It was featured on Metacritic’s Best Movies of 2012, and won a total of 8 awards, two for best screenplay and two for best horror or thriller. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 92% approval rating and a 7.8/10.

The movie isn’t totally shit-your-pants scary, and it isn’t supposed to be. It pokes fun at all of the major horror movies being released today and drops hints from the very beginning, which, if you’re not listening out for, you’ll miss. If you watch nothing else, let it be this movie. PS – There’s a super cool twist at the end, and it’s not just the Zombie Redneck Torture Family.

Did You Know? Eight Facts About Some of Our Favourite Heroes.

Our friends in the Marvel and DC universes come from a history spanning several decades, but what little known facts about them could help you win a competition? Find out which one of your heroes was a frog, and which of your favourite villains almost never made it past his first appearance!

1. Marvel cancelled The Hulk after just 6 issues.

The Incredible Hulk has been associated with strength and rage for over 50 years now, and we can all picture a giant green guy a la Lou Ferrigno smashing his way through walls. But the Hulk was originally discontinued. Following a lack of interest and enthusiasm from Marvel fans, they were forced to cancel The Incredible Hulk six issues after his debut in 1963.

Many bloggers have posited that his early cancellation is due to character inconsistency. In a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fashion, Hulk was as intelligent and kindhearted as he was deceptive and merciless. Others have attributed his lack of popularity to the fact that Bruce Banner originally transformed into the Hulk by deliberately exposing himself to Gamma rays, and not transforming automatically out of anger, or only being able to turn into Hulk at night.

Following his cancellation, Hulk began his career in other heroes stories as a villain, and eventually guest starred in the Avengers.

2. Superman wasn’t always able to fly.

That’s right, our man from Krypton could only jump one eighth of a mile. This explains why, in the 1940’s cartoons, he was able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Superman’s ability to jump long distances was borne from his origins on Krypton, where the gravity was much greater. Earth’s relatively weaker gravitational pull allowed our friend to jump a much greater distance. A lot like those guys did on the moon, later on in the 60’s. Am I right?

The problem with Superman’s power though, was that it was difficult for Max Fleischer Studios – who produced the cartoon – to animate. They therefore requested that DC change his ability to allow him the powers of flight. This change worked out remarkably well for live-action adaptations as well, because it was much easier to show using a green-screen, than requiring frequent background changes that would accompany a viable jumping sequence.

3. Thor and Loki aren’t brothers.

It’s a well known fact that, despite being raised by the same parents, Thor and Loki aren’t brothers in the Marvel universe. However, in Norse mythology, Thor and Loki weren’t even raised in the same house.  In fact, Loki is a constant source of frustration for Thor.

In the mythology Loki is the son of Farbuti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Byleistr. His relationship with the gods is varied depending on the source; he sometimes helps them and sometimes causes their problems. His relationship with the gods effectively ends when he is instrumental in the death of Baldr, and he is bound with the intestines of one of his sons.

Thor and Loki are often at odds, but also work together. When Mjolnir is stolen by Thrym, the giant, Thor disguises himself as Freyja, and agrees to marry Thrym. Loki joins him as the bridesmaid and the two work together to retrieve the hammer.

4. The Hulk was originally grey.

I mean, when we all hear that name, we see green. That’s one of his defining qualities. But when he first appeared, he was supposed to be grey! Hulk would constantly change colour from a light grey to a black between different panels and pages, and it was due to this printing inconsistency that Stan Lee changed Hulk to the green guy that we all know him as today.

 However, when Joe Fixit was introduced in the eighties, the grey hulk returned. Joe Fixit was different in other ways, unlike green Hulk, he could talk, he retained his intelligence and often used weapons.

5. The Joker was going to die in Batman #1.

It’s a general, worldwide agreement that the Joker has become one of the best super villians, in recent years. Likely due in part to Heath Ledger’s stellar performance in that movie. So, it comes as a surprise that Bob Kane had planned to throw him away in the first issue of Batman, much like Batman’s other early nemeses he was to succumb to a fatal accident.

It was the editor, Whitney Ellsworth, who noted the Joker’s potential to be a great ongoing enemy for Batman and, therefore, made Kane include a panel that showed the Joker awakening.

6. Pink kryptonite appears to give Superman gay tendencies.

In the DC universe, there are 20 types of kryptonite. Ironically none of them increase his power, but all of them have an input into altering Superman’s behaviour, like the gold kryptonite, which permanently removes Kryptonians powers. But it is the pink kryptonite that gives him gay tendencies.

Originally, kryptonite was a red crystal but changed over the years, and has been green for some time. The pink kryptonite came from an alternate timeline, and does not weaken Superman, but resulted in the quote “Did I ever tell you how smashing you look in bow ties, Jimmy?” when complimenting Jimmy Olsen on his clothing choice.

It was later on that Brainiac supplied Superman with periwinkle kryptonite. Periwinkle kryptonite was hilariously shown to make Superman hallucinate a psychedelic disco where he danced fabulously with Lois Lane.

7. Wonder Woman was created as a nod to feminism.

During the politics of the 30’s-60’s, and the Golden and Silver ages of Comics, Fredric Wertham, a critic of youth culture and child psychiatrist, spoke about how comic books were corrupting youth and turning them into juvenile delinquents. However, it was Dr. William Moulton Marston, an American psychologist and advocate for feminism, who challenged Wertham and pushed forth the idea that comics had a potential to positively influence the beliefs of youth.

It was Marston who created Wonder Woman, attempting to emphasise the importance of feminist beliefs. However, Wertham, comic book hater and misogynist, publicly criticised the new character and disparaged the ‘lesbian overtones’ of the book.

8. Thor was a Frog.

That’s right, Thor spent several issues of his own comic as a frog. After becoming the victim of one of Loki’s insane ideas, Thor led a group of frogs into a battle against a mischief of rats – yep, that’s what a group of them are called.

The story, written by Walter Simonson in the eighties, lasted a total of four issues. At the end, Thor returned to Asgard, but not before gifting a shard of his beloved Mjolnir to Puddlegulp – one of his new amphibian friends. Puddlegulp later became the hero Throg, and carries a small version of Mjolnir in Marvel’s ‘Pet Avengers’.

We’d like to thank all of those people who maintain blogs that make stuff like this available for us to borrow. It’s not easy to find all of this information and it’s made much more pleasant when people take the time to aggregate these little known facts.

So, how can you win prizes at our Halloween event? Maybe it’s useful to know some, or all of these facts and keep watching us for more hints.

Game of Thrones: Why Did They Have to Die?

Why was King Joffrey poisoned at his own wedding? Too many reasons.

The HBO TV series Game of Thrones has no mercy when it comes to killing off your favourite characters. You might love them (Nedd Stark) or hate them (freakin’ Joffrey) but the show has proved it has no favourites. Check out HBO’s killer infographic explaining how and why each of these Game of Thrones characters died.

Big spoiler alert for Game of Thrones fans who haven’t been keeping up with Season Four!

View the full infographic at the source URL below.

Source: http://www.sattvdepot.com/game-of-thrones-infographic-why-did-they-die

DIY X-MEN: Magneto Flamethrowers

 

English boy Colin Furze has a passion for building awesome, dangerous toys. Undeterred from his previous  firearms charge for his flamethrowing scooter from four years ago, he’s still creating insane toys. This extreme fan has been building his own versions of X-Men superpowers to coincide with the release of X-Men: Days Of Future Past; we’ve already seen his pneumatic Wolverine claws and magnetic Magneto shoes.

Now, this enthusiastic mad man has made himself some  Pyro’s wrist-mounted flamethrowers! He’s said this will be the last X-Men inspired invention… but there’s always for more of Marvel’s hero’s to entice his crazy passion.  Shine on, you beautiful, crazy diamond

 

Aliens. Action. Apocalypse. Here’s the Edge of Tomorrow.

 

“They have the power to reset the day. And now so do you.“

 

Tom Cruise has been absolutely killing it with the Sci-Fi films as of late. Right now he’s one of the very best in the genre.

His latest flick,  Edge of Tomorrow , releases today in many parts of the world. It’s based on Japanese fiction All You Need Is Kill ; basically Groundhog’s Day in the Action/Sci-fi genre. Think aliens, action, apocalypse. Interested?

In the near future, an alien race has invaded the Earth and defeated the world’s military units. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise), a military officer is totally inexperienced in combat and is forced to undertake what is essentially a suicide against the aliens.

Though Cage is killed in minutes, he finds himself starting over in a time loop, repeating the same mission and being killed…

Each time Cage dies, he teams up with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) who trains him to defeat the invaders. Blunt‘s character is a completely badass combat-goddess. She’s a war-propaganda poster-girl known simultaneously as The Angel Of Verdun and Full Metal Bitch.

And did we mention she’s seen swinging a huge helicopter’s propeller as a sword? Epic!

So far, it has earned a very fresh a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes:

It’s “Aliens” meets “Groundhog Day” meets “Starship Troopers” meets “Source Code”, and each of those films’ best traits are expertly deployed into “Edge of Tomorrow”….[This is] one of the most original sci-fi adventures I’ve seen.
Schmoville

the kick-ass fight scenes against the army of Mimics are eye-boggling. There is no shortage of spectacle and the visual effects are extraordinary.
Louise Keller

You’ll sense nods to everything from Saving Private Ryan to Starship Troopers to War of the Worlds, but Edge of Tomorrow is unique in that it never feels like it’s imitating what’s worked before, but rather reinventing it in a way that consistently keeps you on your toes.
Erik Davis

If you want to see more, there’s tonnes of footage online, including an IMAX exclusive trailer  showing off some incredible actions scenes to get  you excited.

Check out this  trailer and let us know what you think in the comments below!

Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, image and trailer and originally from Warner Bros. Pictures

Worst Toys Ever.

If you’ve seen the Mattel’s new quest to make a new type of nerf gun doing the rounds online, you would probably agree that creating a kid’s toy would be best job in the world. You get to play, research kids toys and create something that kids will adore: plush toys, dolls, play guns, action figures…. Easy, right?

Wrong. It seems that, sometimes, ideas of cultural sensitivity, age appropriateness and everyday sensibilities go right out the window. Toys can be very, very wrong. Hilariously  wrong.

Check out these golden toy failures that I will be keeping far, far away from my kids.

Here are some of the Worst Toys….Ever.

Butterface Barbie by Mattel

A cost-effective response to criticism for an unrealistic body image

In response to criticism in the media for propagating an unattainable image stereotypes for young girls, Mattel conceived this gem. While plus-size” and “short” variants were also born,  simply slapping a “normal” head on Barbie’s signature bod was the cheapest option, thus Butterface was born.  The office joke was that she would be given some unique accessories, like a ‘tramp stamp’ tattoo and a brown paper bag that could be placed on her head. This was not a popular concept with the women at Mattel.

Some prototypes of Butterface exist,  though eventually the entire concept was scrapped.

 

Super AIDS  by Mattel

Wrong place, wrong time for Positive Peter.

Talk about wrong place wrong time. This clean-cut, attractive young guy was aimed at hooking a new generation of young Republicans. The gimmick was that White House presidential aids were accidentally exposed to a chemical that gave them super powers. They’d help President Reagan fight injustice around the world.

Shortly after these dolls hit the shelves, the terrible and mysterious affliction sweeping the homosexual community was unfortunately named: AIDS. Mattel decided to recall the entire line and to cancel the animated television program scheduled to air in November.

 

 

Musical Jolly Chimp – Daishin C.K. (Japan)

I’m sure this guy featured in my nightmares.

The Musical Jolly Chimp. Seriously? this guy looks anything but Jolly. It screeches, clangs  and shows its teeth when you touch it. Their bulging, unblinking eyes are are often painted with red rings, creating an appearance that everyone finds disturbing. These creepers are supposed to symbolize emptiness and stupidity, but when when your kids’ toy turns up in horror, sci-fi you know you’re doing it wrong.

 

H-Bouya! Erotic Boy  Cube (Japan)

What even…?

Again with the creepiness, Japan!? Here’s the H-Bouya! The ‘H’ used in the name may also mean ‘erotic’ in Japanese (‘H’ is pronounced “eechi” = erotic). So you can say this is the Erotic Boy! H-bouya is plugged into a USB port, and each time the keyboard’s ‘H’ key is hit, it turns red and its eyes blink! Why?

 

 

‘Shave the Baby’ Zbigniew Libera

If that’s not enough, the poor thing was born with a mullet too.

OK, this one definitely tops the list for the most disturbing toy of all times! The super hairy ‘Shave the Baby’ doll was created with added bushy tufts of bright orange hair protruding from her ankles, armpits, and most disturbingly, her pubic region, and was designed with the intention of giving the owner of the doll the pleasure of shaving it off. Apparently this is not really a toy, but an art object created in 1995 by Zbigniew Libera…we still thought it belonged in this freaky collection!

 

 

GOD ALMIGHTY

Forgive us our trespassers!

From the Jesus Christ superstore comes the “God Almighty Action Figure”, complete with AK-47 to help kids reign down the almighty’s wrath. Why the hell does god need a gun?

 

My First Hitler…?

Nein. 100% Wrong.

I wonder who would ever give a little girl a doll of a deceased anti-Semitic genocidal maniac.

 

Fuggler McGettrick’s Fugglers

You know what would make my soft cuddly toy more appealing? Teeth.

Each one of Mrs McGettrick’s Fugglers is unique. She hand makes them herself using fake dentures. Rumours suggesting this Fuggler maker uses any other kind of teeth have been aggressively denied: Shame on you! This is a TERRIBLE LIE put out by my ENEMIES in the cut throat PLUSH COMMUNITY…. Now, the real question is which would be worse to be locked in a room with, Mrs McGettrick or the Fuggler!?

 

MISC “Wildly Inappropriate toys for exceedingly Obvious Reasons”

We also found these….they really need no explaining.

Batman-water-pistol

Jar-Jar-Binks-tongue-candy

Hannah-Montana-concert-candy

Dora-Aquapet Um… what does that even mean?

 

 

Growing up Skipper. Who needs puberty anyway?

 

Can you find any more ridiculous toys? Better yet, does anyone collect them?

Share your creepy finds below!

Crowdsourcing Rocks

– Matt Byrne

The internet is a strange place. Ever year, it gives birth to a plethora of obscure memes and strange videos that are the reflect the collective inner thoughts of mankind…

The internet can produce some pretty amazing ideas in real life too. Crowd funding platforms like Kickstarter, Pozible, indegogo and Chuffed supply ideas for incredible new products and take it to the market, finding funding and demand.

Kick Starter gave wind to this game, Cards Against Humanity (CAH). Its campaign generated more than 300% of its funding goal. Since then it has been sought after the world over, sold out of the first release in the first three days and has since released 5 expansions.

In December 2012, CAH released their holiday pay-what-you-want edition and sold more than 85,000 sets. Instead of buying a private island, 28,000 packets of astronaut ice cream or 5.8 million live crickets (as detailed on their website), the CAH team donated the money to Wikimedia to keep the crowd funded Wikipedia up and running and add-free.

It’s crude, rude and completely politically incorrect. It even comes in a bigger, blacker box.

Cards Against Humanity is a game for horrible people, prescribing a very adult mix of crass and creativity for a hilariously awkward, twisted and adult party game. The set comprises of seemingly innocent questions paired with offensive suggestions needing nothing more than your creativity. Note: not for the feint of heart or easily offended.

Crowd-funding serves to connect people with good ideas to a niche market. It allows them to communicate, and not just pool funds but also gather ideas and feedback that will ultimately produce great products tailored specifically to a niche.

Pop-culture comics and gaming thrive on these funding sites. Greg Pak’s “Code Monkey Save the World” Comic (inspired by the songs of Jonathan Coulton) surpassed its initial goal of $40,000 in only seven hours, and in the end totalled a mind blowing $340,270

with more than 8,200 backers. Other titles like The Middle Man, saw more than $60,000 of support, while “Antler Boy and Other Stories” found fourteen times more than its goal and earned $85,532 and sold more than 2,200 copies.

Crowd-funding does not benefit the creators exclusively, it creates new content, stories and experiences for readers. It allows independent artists to produce something extraordinarily beautiful and refreshingly different amongst the larger players in the comic world.

If you think you’ve got something worth sharing, or want to support someone else, check out kickstarter.com, indegogo.com or even crowdfundcomics.wordpress.com.

Good luck, and be sure to be well aware of all the costs involved in shipping and producing, and read the terms and conditions on the website before posting your project online.

Hannibal – Comic Con SD 2013

Matt Byrne

I don’t know about you, but Hannibal has become one of my all time favourite shows on TV. And I don’t even like horror/gore! Not at all.

What the creator Bryan Fuller, the writers, directors and the genius art direction have brought to this medium has just changed my whole position on horror. It is a masterpiece.

Though not easily obtained in Australia and hidden on channels at strange hours, I have managed to watch the full season twice. Thank you to the trend of the “encore screening” – which I think might have been introduced as the networks wondered why people were missing the first showings at 11:17pm Wednesday nights despite all of the no advertising they had done to explain they moved it from the original 9:30pm Monday…

The show places the viewer in the Silence of the Lambs universe made famous by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 thriller “The Silence of the Lambs”, during the earlier Red Dragon time period. Lecter is free, unknown to the police and in the advantageous position of FBI advisor and psychiatrist.

 

The series centres on Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) and Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). Primarilythe developing relationship between Graham and Lecter.

 

Most viewers of the series would be familiar with the books and movies from the Silence universe, which makes the whole idea of suspense and mystery a different beast. If you already know what is going to happen, how can it be exciting, entertaining and suspenseful?

Oh it is. So very much all of those things.

 

During this years Comic Con San Diego, I found myself in the fortunate position to be interviewing Brian Fuller, David Slade and Hugh Dancy.

 

Brian Fuller

Hannibal has been described by some as sick, how would you respond to this?

“It’s sick, but it’s also surreal so I don’t look at it as reality. I couldn’t write it if it were about dramatising a serial killer who is raping and murdering women, that’s no fun for me. What’s fun for me is when it gets purple, when it is so big that it isn’t about reality. It’s about surrealism and storytelling and being inspired by such a pop culture phenomenon as Hannibal Lector.“

 

What would you describe as the main theme of the upcoming season two?

“The nasty breakup. Season two is the nasty breakup of the bromance. One of the things I am most excited about is that we told the story of Will Graham’s descent into madness in the first season and it was fun to see him hit rock bottom. When any human hits rock bottom, their only choice is to go up and he is going to go up swinging. I am excited to see what Hugh Dancy does with the character now that he is scrappier, feistier and pissed off that somebody set him up.”

 

Does he know who/why?

“He knows from the end of the first season. He understood in that moment and that isn’t to say that he doesn’t have doubt, as he has no proof, but the fun is the process of answering those questions.”

What’s something special you can tell us about season two?

“We will see human sushi”

Has the network ever had to tell you to pull back on the horror/gore?

“There have only been a couple of times where the network has made us pull back. We had the blood angels that we were pushing in this great cinematic shot. They were nude, so you could see their butt cracks. NBC said that we couldn’t show their butt cracks. So we said to them, what if we cover the buttcracks with blood? They said, yeah, that will be fine.”

David Slade

Hannibal is almost art. What techniques do you use to produce the amazing visual experience?

“Midtone contrast. That is something that we introduce a lot of. Sharpening is something that we do. We work at a very, very shallow depth of field, which you know, I think some people find that way of working very difficult. Yes, it is difficult, but it is important. We want to put the focus here and have you be afraid of what could be here, because you can’t see it because it is out of focus. This language is going to remain through the series from episode one right through to the end. It becomes a constant.”

 

“Blacken rather than lighten, take away light. Make the audience come forward. Bring them to the edge of their seat and keep them there.”

Hugh Dancy

 

How has the journey been in becoming Will Graham?

“It’s been great. I knew what I was getting into. It’s dark and it’s crazy, but it is enjoyable and well written. I’m working with great actors and directors, so the overarching feeling is one of satisfaction. Great job satisfaction.

It appears that the role is very physically taxing, despite a lack of physical content. Do you feel that way?

“I think he is carrying around a lot of stress. A lot of fear and things aren’t normally easy for will. I think there is something very tiring about that.”

 

Did you do anything special to research the role?

“I started by reading Red Dragon. Obviously. In a way, with a character like this, you can’t ask for more than a writer like Thomas Harris giving you a 300 page detailed description about the inside of his head. The secondary reading was the kind of people that Harris based his characters on. The people that pioneered behavioural science as an investigative tool.”

“Then beyond that, I thought about where on the spectrum Will lives. This spectrum of information. Like the opposite of an autistic person.”

Hannibal returns for season two in 2014. I can’t wait!

– Matt Byrne

The IT Crowd has rebooted one last time

– Matt Byrne

Sadly, turning your TV off and on again won’t restore the IT crowd to our screens.

The excitement surrounding Grahem Linehan’s latest double-length episode of the “IT Crowd Episode” could only be dampened by the knowledge that this would be the finale for Roy (Chris O’Dowd), Moss (Richard Ayoade), and Jen (Katherine Parkinson) as our beloved IT crowd powered down.

Since early 2006, we have watched this naive and emotionally stunted trio from the IT Department amble through seven years at the sub-basement of the vague company, Reynholm industries. Over the years, we have grown to love the geeky genius Moss, the emotionally colour blind technician, Roy and the computer illiterate relationship manager, Jen, battle against the tides of black comedy; walking the line unbelievably ridiculous and perfectly hilarious.

Moss: What do we normally do when we get into a scrape?

Jen: We usually make things worse and worse and then it ends.

It was a nostalgic and generous conclusion, delighting long term viewers with reference to many brilliant moments episodes across their four seasons. We see a reappearance of “The Internet”, Richmond, mention of Roy pretending to be disabled and Moss’s the night in an arcade machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iDbyYGrswtg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW2esYwKxiU

The episode itself is not without its own comical gems. Roy reveals the fact his new girlfriend has declared him to be emotionally on the “artistic scale” meanwhile Moss finds the secret for confidence: women’s slacks rocketing him to internet fame.

Meanwhile, Jen and Roy become the most hated people on the internet for being “a woman hater” and a “small person racist” for their unfortunate involvement in a “small person” being run over and killed by a van with boobs, and scorching a homeless “Tramp” with coffee.

We must wonder if there may be some extent to the ridiculousness this delightfully misanthropic team could get away with.

Perhaps, it is best for the show to bow out with dignity, rather than to dilute the originality of both plot and characters in milking another season’s worth of sketches. Scrubs, The Office, Lost and How I Met your Mother, all pushed well past their use-by-date and lost fans by exhausting their patience and loyalty for what was once a very well regarded stable of shows.

Instead, we can gracefully pull the curtain on the IT Crowd, preserving this series amongst Black Books and Father Ted as one of the funniest and most consistent British comedies of the last decade.

Comic Con San Diego 2013 Photos!

– Matt Byrne

Curicon Meetup #2

Last week we had our second official meetup, again at Kings Comics in the heart of Sydney. This time with a lot of prizes including posters and DVDs decided by a highly competitive scissor-paper-rock competition. Thanks to all those who provided prizes inculding FilmInk and Hasbro as well as the guys from Zombie Cities, and of course Kings for hosting us again!

Again discounts were provided on the night by Kings if you are a Curicon member so if you aren’t a member already make sure you register before the next event!

We’ll hopefully be holding another event soon, the best way to watch out for this is to follow our Facebook page and register to the Curicon group on Meetup where we post all our announcements regarding future events.

See you next time! (more photos to come soon)

– Mike Robins

Tom Grindberg and Roy Thomas team up for Tarzan comic strip

If you’re a fan of the Tarzan story-line from any era, let us direct you to the Edgar Rice Burroughs website. Rice Burroughs was the original writer of the Tarzan stories and he is best-known for the Jungle Lord who was the protector of the jungle, the animals and the weak and oppressed.

Since then, several writes have taken up the Tarzan storyline, making the jungle-dwelling warrior one of the best-loved and most recognisable fictional characters in history.

The most recent Tarzan project is the brainchild of writer Roy Thomas and artist Tom Grind berg, who have collaborated to create the All New Tarzan Comic Sunday Strip which is being hosted over on the Edgar Rice Burroughs website.

You can log in and see the latest and all archived Tarzan comic strips, plus bonus material. I’d highly recommend a visit. It’s a really great collaboration and well worth a peek!

Geeking out with Star Wars

Ryan Huff, part-time blogger on Geek of Oz and full-time nerd tells us about his love affair with Star Wars and the plastic friends who made his childhood special.

As a kid, I had no shortage of toys at my disposal and even as a young child I had the utmost respect for these little plastic men and women. These were the friends that you could play with when your other friends weren’t around. While I had a multitude of toys from a broad range of franchises including Transformers, He Man, Voltron and more, it was my Star Wars toys that held pride of place. When Mum and I would go shopping I was always on the look out for secondary characters to fill out my own little “Galaxy Far, Far Away”. Characters like R5-D4, 2-1B and Lobot were a dime a dozen because other kids didn’t want them. Other kids were after the A-Grade characters like Luke, Vader and Yoda but I, after already procuring the main cast, decided that it just wouldn’t be “real” if I didn’t have a supporting cast of characters, the characters that made the Star Wars universe so rich.

My absolute favourite figure in the bunch was a plain, old trooper but not just the regular Stormtrooper, the Biker Scout from Kenner. While other kids went crazy over the Mandalorian armour clad Boba Fett, I was enamoured with the Biker Scout, visored helmet and all. Even to this day, their uniform just seems so utilitarian. While riding through the forests on the forest moon of Endor they needed armour that was less protective, allowing for more range of movement. While having their thighs exposed and covered only in cloth may seem foolhardy, even as a kid I realised that their thighs would be out of harms way when on their mount. Their knees, on the other hand, needed protection from wayward sticks and branches. Their helmets were visored to shield from the suns rays and an eye shield reminiscent of a motorbike rider. I just thought they were the coolest thing ever and eventually lead to the purchase of my second favourite toy ever, a Biker Scout blaster, also from Kenner. The blaster was black in colour and had a grey scope attached to the side. The scope itself had a red plastic insert which had a crosshair embossed on it. Looking through the scope, I could all but see a rebel soldier, bearing down upon me. Wearing my Dads motorcycle goggles and gardening gloves I’d squeeze that bright orange trigger the blaster would let out a battery operated “PEW!”. The battle for Endor had begun.

You can check out Geek of Oz here, Facebook and Twitter

Playing the (Nintendo) Game – one level at a time.

Tom from MTGCast Network recounts his epic quest to become the owner of a Nintendo Entertainment System in the summer of 1990.

Transport yourself back to the summer of 1990.  I was a pasty and pudgy 11 year old (go ahead and do the math to figure out my current geezer quotient) and I had a glaring hole in my life.  I did not own a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

My family was supportive, but $200 at that time was a Herculean, and seemingly unbeatable, obstacle in order to get my hands on that amazing piece of hardware that was seemingly designed to be used in movie practical effects as a stand-in for a Cold War Russian factory.

Luckily, my local cub scout group was working on a fundraiser where you could earn rewards for selling many items of unquestionably high quality.  One of the upper tier rewards was the fabled “NES Action Set”.  Inside this mythical box, you were bestowed an NES, two controllers, a Zapper and a magic cartridge with TWO games on it (Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt).

It took an entire summer, and pretty much every moment of free time, but I earned that NES and became a still pudgy, but somewhat tanned, 11 year old.  I have never valued or enjoyed a singular video game console as much as that early NES.  It also led our group of friends developing a novel non-violent method of settling large disputes.  Combining the time-consuming aspects of a filibuster with the obsessiveness of fantasy sports, these arguments were settled by simulating an entire baseball season (including entering in real player names for your team, often spawning creativity since you only had 6 letters per player) in Baseball Stars.  Whoever won the season, earned the right to win the argument.  This method probably worked mainly by virtue of the fact that you rarely could stay angry enough, or even remember why, after weeks of playing Baseball Stars.  Baseball Stars also taught gender equality with female players and an all-female team.

I still have that original NES and still plug it in time to time to enjoy some Baseball Stars and Dr. Mario with my wife and daughter.  Pretty awesome!

The MTGCast network is a leading-edge PodCast Network dedicated to the world of Magic the Gathering, by providing a variety of different shows for your enjoyment. You can follow Tom and the team on Facebook and Twitter.

Collecting Batman Redbat Cards – 1966

Stephan (Shadow) from Comics Price Guide recounts his first foray into the world of non-sports trading cards.

It was 1966…I was 12 years old and we were visiting my aunt and uncle’s house and showing off my brand new baby brother. My cousin, Lana, was a couple of years older than me, and while the parents talked and brought each other up to date, I gravitated over to the corner of the room where she was playing with some sort of cards…
As I got closer, I saw she was sorting some trading cards…but they didn’t look like the baseball cards I had been collecting for several years. These had Batman and Robin and other characters! Being a huge Batman fan, I was instantly intrigued…
She was sorting out her duplicates from collection…both Batman cards and some Casper cards she had collected. The Casper cards were from 1960, but she hadn’t put together many of those, and had duplicates of most of them. The Batman cards she had stacks of, and she showed me how she sorted them and put them in numerical order…

We looked at them and worked with them for at least two hours…making stacks and writing down which ones were missing.

We had a great time with them, and when we were done, Lana grabbed a stack of her duplicate Casper cards and a stack of her duplicate Batman cards and gave them to me for helping her. I was in seventh heaven…and to this day she is still one of my favorite cousins.
That started it for me with non-sports trading cards. Decades later, and hundreds of additional sets, boxes and packages of non-sports cards…I still have those original cards. My Batman set is complete a couple of times over now…but I still haven’t finished that Casper set…
Stephan (Shadow)

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ComicsPriceGuide.com has become the world’s largest and most accurate online community for obtaining comic book value information. These guys REALLY know their stuff! You can follow the guys at Comics Price Guide here, and on Facebook and Twitter

What's Your Tag?

This is what we imagine Pokemon would look like in our every day lives. Not quite as extreme as the anime makes it out to be. And yes, one of the boys did paint a squirrel yellow, hopefully we don’t have PETA on our backs for this one.

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Ready to Rumble???

 Which toy made your childhood awesome?? Here, Justin Williams, Editor of Otakus and Geeks reminisces about the joys of growing up in early 90’s when 16-bit games and mullet-wearing wrestlers were all the rage!

As a big fan of WWF- now WWE – growing up I played WWF RAW the most in the 16 bit era days. This game was an improvement of the previous game Royal Rumble. It’s one of the first games to have wrestlers like Big Daddy Cool Diesel and 1,2,3 Kid and more. It even offered more modes like Bedlam, Survivor Series and the Endurance match. My favorite wrestler to use was Bret Hart. Even though everyone basically had the same moves like suplex, body slam, Irish whips etc, the finishing moves were all different and nothing can beat Bret Hart’s Sharpshooter.  The graphics were good for it’s time and it managed to have a 6-man Royal Rumble which was pretty fun.

Overall this was a very addictive game growing up and any retro fan should have it in their collection.

Otakus and Geeks is a website run by fans for fans. Covering a wide gamut of geekery from anime, videogames and manga, you can keep up to date with them through Facebook, Twitter, and if you just want to say hi, you can do that here.