Late night nerd music: Star Wars main theme

File under music that gives me both eargasms and nerdgasms. Enjoy.

United Nations announces seven billionth person born

In other news, the Soylent Corporation has announced that they will be stepping up production of their popular Soylent Green to meet expected increase in demand.

(h/t LA Times)

The Conqueror, or The Movie That Literally Killed People

Okay, before we begin, I just want to address both the the sheer stupidity of this movie's casting and its poster. Let's start with the latter:

Internet Movie Poster Awards

"I fight! I love! I conquer...like a barbarian!"? What does that even mean? Do barbarians conquer any different than non-barbarians? Their tactics and strategy are different when it comes to fighting, I'd imagine, and I don't even want to ponder what loving like a barbarian entails, but it probably isn't pleasant. The whole text both makes no sense and totally sounds like something John Wayne would say at the same time.
Speaking of The Duke, let's move on to casting, namely what in the blue blazes were they thinking? John fricking Wayne as not just Genghis Khan, but Asian? It's a sad and unfortunate truth that back in the day, white actors were sometimes cast to play ethnic characters, like Asians and even Native Americans. Hell, Iron Eyes Cody, famous as the "Crying Indian" from the old Keep America Beautiful ad of the early 70s wasn't Native American at all, but Italian-American. In the case of Asians, makeup artists would use tape to pull back the sides of the eyelids to replicate an Asian person's eyelids and man, that was amazingly uncomfortable to write. Yeah, old Hollywood was pretty racist. Apparently the reason why they cast John Wayne is because he lobbied for it.

Arguably Wayne's worst film, The Conqueror (1956), in which he played Genghis Kahn, was based on a script that director Dick Powell had every intention of throwing into the wastebasket. According to Powell, when he had to leave his office at RKO for a few minutes during a story conference, he returned to find a very enthused Wayne reading the script, which had been in a pile of possible scripts on Powell's desk, and insisting that this was the movie he wanted to make. As Powell himself summed it up, "Who am I to turn down John Wayne?".

 Clearly, The Duke needed a sassy gay friend.

Moving on, let's talk about how this movie actually killed people. You see, someone had the brilliant idea of filming the outdoor scenes near St. George, Utah, which was downwind of the Nevada Test Site, where the military tested nuclear weapons. Of the 220 member cast and crew, 91 got cancer and of those, 46 died. Hell's bells, Dick Powell, the director, died seven years after making The Conqueror. What's worth noting about this is that John Wayne did develop cancer twice afterward. In 1964, he had to have his entire left lung removed because of cancer and he lost his stomach in 1979. The former can be chalked up to his five-six pack a day smoking habit, the latter though seems like it would be caused by something else, especially considering that the cancer other cast and crew developed were varied.

It's a shame he died, really. True, John Wayne's political stances would rub a lot of people the wrong way, but who doesn't love a John Wayne movie and wish he had lived long enough to have done more? A final note on the movie: While it was filmed in 1956, Howard Hughes refused to release it until 1974, which ought to tell you how bad it was.

Supertrain: Yeah, I'm not all that surprised it failed

Wikipedia

Back in 1979, NBC debuted a new show that they were sure would be a big hit - Supertrain. It wasn't and almost slayed the peacock network. The best way to describe the premise is that it was essentially The Love Boat, but on a huge nuclear powered train. A nuclear powered train who's top speed was only about 78mph. You'd think something with a nuke reactor would move faster, but I guess not. Honestly, the idea of a nuclear powered train is more than a little far-fetched, given that trains will sometimes derail or crash into other trains. Anyway, the show featured the tried and true formula of 70s and 80s television, celebrity guests. Like The Love Boat, the episodes centered around the guest stars and you can probably guess their level of quality. The show lasted all of nine episodes and when combined with the lack of revenue from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow - which the United States famously boycotted - it nearly drove NBC to bankruptcy. Oops.

Reading the summaries for the nine episodes, I can see why it failed: they were too similar. I mean, three of the nine involved characters being hunted by hit men and unbelievably, two of those were the first two episodes of the series. Seriously, they aired two episodes a week apart that both featured hired killers. Another two episodes not only revolved around kidnapping plots, but in both episodes, the intended victims were heiresses. I can see why Supertrain flopped, five of the nine episodes aired had similar plots! Brilliant work, guys.

(h/t Wikipedia and Business Pundit)

Not surprisingly, lighting Juggernaut on fire is worse than ineffective

Uncanny X-Men #542

Who knew? Not Cyclops, evidently.

Comic Covers: Amazing Spider-Man #121 and 122

And one of the greatest (or in Spider-Man's opinion, worst) moments in not just the Web Crawler's history, but comics in general. ASM #121-122 is the arc that saw the deaths of both Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin. The latter got better, though and eventually returned in the 90s during the much maligned Clone Saga. The fact that a supporting character to a superhero was killed off years after the hero has already made his debut was relatively unheard of in comics at the time. Usually, a character is killed off before or sometimes right after the main character becomes a superhero, in order to galvanize them into fighting crime and evil. One of the reasons why I like the Bronze Age of Comics, because writers were willing to do things like this.


Stacy's cause of death was much debated; it was originally unclear whether Goblin killed her before he tossed her off the top of the George Washington Bridge Brooklyn Bridge or if Spider-Man killed her, accidentally snapping her neck when he used to webbing to catch her. She would have been dead either way from hitting the water. Eventually Roy Thomas, an editor at Marvel stated in the letters column of Amazing Spider-Man #125 that it was the latter. Hate to have that hanging over my head.

The reason why Gwen Stacy was killed off was because the writers felt that she and Peter Parker had reached a point in their relationship that marriage was the only option left and they didn't want to go there, because they thought it would age the character too much. They then paired Peter up with Mary Jane and several years later, they got married. So much for the single life.

(h/t to Fortress of Baileytude for the pictures)

Interesting panel from Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

IGN Comics

Red Hood and the Outlaws have gotten a lot of crap since it's inception because of the ridiculous, over-the-top sexualization of Starfire, but this isn't about that. I saw this picture over at The Nerdist and marveled at the way the panels are laid out. It just looks cool as hell.

I'm sure Scott McCloud creamed his pants when that page was put together.

Cool nerd lamp is cool, but overpriced

Nerd Approved

This is an actual lamp that someone made and is selling on Etsy. The downside is that like most things on that website, it's a on-off. On the other hand, they're selling it for over a thousand bucks, so I can't imagine it's going anywhere soon. Seriously, $1,540 for a lamp and a bunch of action figures that you can buy anywhere, plus a can or two of spray paint? All that stuff combined wouldn't even total four hundred bucks and they expect to make over $1100 dollars profit. Talk about price gouging.

Characters shown: J. Jonah Jameson, Thing, Mister Fantastic, Trinity (from The Matrix trilogy), Lara Croft, King Theoden (LOTR), Batman, Wolverine, Spider-Man (possibly, the Etsy page lists him), and Conan the Cimmerian. Frodo is supposed to be on there, but unless he's got the One Ring on, I don't see him.

It's cool as hell, but it's wildly overpriced.

See this list? Yeah, never do these

Underwire made one of the worst mistakes in Geekdom and posted a list of 9 Essential Geek Books You Must Read Right Now. No. Just...no. These kinds of lists always lead to flame wars because everyone has their own opinions on what are and aren't "essential". Oh Underwire, what a can of worms you opened.

Croc Master

YOJOE.COM

When I was a kid, I inherited my brother's smattering of G.I. Joes as he grew older and unfortunately, they were often missing their accessories. I was also fairly ignorant of who most of the characters were, since the Sunbow and DIC cartoons didn't feature all of them, so I had absolutely no idea who Croc Master was and didn't until this week. I think I mostly used him as a heavy muscle/brute whenever I had the Joes throw down with Cobra. He certainly fit the part and the more I look at him, the more I realize that Croc Master bears a strong resemblance to another black mask wearing, musclebound comic book character: Bane, from DC Comics.

JIM SMASH

Clearly, I was not the only one. The resemblance is unintentional, obviously - Croc Master predates Bane by a half decade and unless Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan, or Doug Moench were fans of the G.I. Joe comic or action figures, it's a purely coincidence.

Speaking of comics, his history there is interesting. Prior to his membership in Cobra, he wrestled crocodiles for a living and even started a business aimed at selling the reptiles as home security. Now there's a business model, what I like to call the "Screw ADT" Plan:  Put a couple crocodiles on your property and you'll never have to worry about burglers, murders, salesmen, or the inevitable visit from Child Protective Services. Cobra somehow heard of this guy and decided to scale his idea up, so they hired to use his crocs to guard the swamps of Cobra Island. Yeah, in the comics, Cobra had their own island, formed after they tricked the United States into launching a nuke at a fault line in I believe the Gulf of Mexico. Brilliant. Anyway, he showed up for work with a bunch of pissed off, psychotic crocodiles and let them loose in the swampland. According to My Useless Knowledge, he then spent the rest of his tenure with the terrorist organization sleeping and collecting paychecks.

During the Cobra Civil War between Serpentor and a fake Cobra Commander, Croc Master sided with the former and after the United States decided to send in the G.I. Joes to help Serpentor (no, seriously), he created a path for them through the swamp. His ultimate fate was not a good one. After the civil war ended (his side lost) and the real Cobra Commander returned, Croc Master was tossed into a freighter along with the fake CC, the real one's son (now there's a story!), and a few others, which in turn was buried under a collapsed volcano. No idea what exactly he did to incur Cobra Commander's wrath, unless it was the civil war thing, but damn, he really pissed him off!

It's disappointing that I never got all the cool accessories that came with my handed down Croc Master, especially the pet crocodile! The newest version of his toy though looks even cooler.

YOJOE.COM

Look at all that stuff!

Epic Mass Effect fan art by Patryk Olejniczak

Patryk Olejniczak is an amazing artist and his Mass Effect 3 artwork is the tops. Of the three below, the first one is my favorite.

Miranda Lawson.

Mordin Solus.

Thane Krios.

You can check out the rest here.

Goodbye, sweet Clown Prince: Mark Hamill says ado to the Joker

Twitter

Mark Hamill was the voice of the Joker for a long time - nearly twenty years total - but all good things must come to an end and so he's officially retired as the Clown Prince of Crime. Last year, he stated his intention to retire after voicing the character for Batman: Arkham City and with that done with, he's keeping his word and moving on. More than Romero, Nicholson, or even Ledger, Mark Hamill was my Joker. I grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series and I automatically compare all subsequent Jokers to that incarnation and always give the nod to Hamill's. The funny thing is, I didn't even know that the same guy who played Luke Skywalker was also doing the voice for Joker until several years ago. It wasn't until the late 90s that I finally got a chance to watch Star Wars (I had seen parts of it before, but never the entire Original Trilogy) and back then, I didn't pay attention to the names of voice actors, so I never made the connection. I'll miss that voice.

(h/t ComicsAlliance)

And on that day, arguments everywhere were forever rendered invalid: Harrison Ford playing a video game

Specifically, Uncharted 3. The video is footage taken for a commercial that will air in Japan and not America. Talk about being cheated! Oh, and possible spoilers alert.


(h/t Topless Robot)

Amazing faux-70s era Fantastic Four art is amazing

Stephanie Sans

This was a variant cover for Amazing Spider-Man #667 in honor of the Fantastic Four's 50th anniversary. Holy smokes, does it ever look good! Yowza!

(h/t ComicsAlliance)

I just nerdgasmed hard at this Legion of Super-Heroes 12 pack

Action Figure Times

Now I just need about $180!

(h/t Bronze Age Babies)

Batman and Space Ghost, like peanut butter and chocolate

From last week's episode of The Brave and The Bold, which I unfortunately keep missing. Doubly unfortunate is that the show isn't coming back for another season. Anyway, I really dug this team-up because I used to watch Space Ghost all the time back when I was growing up in the late 80s and 90s. I watched as much Hanna-Barbera as Loony Tunes/Merry Melodies and Disney. The fact that hardly any of Alex Toth's creations besides Birdman and Space Ghost have gotten new shows is a travesty. Even then, Harvey Birdman and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast were both parodies and not original shows. At the very least, there needs to be a new Space Ghost though. Hop to it, Cartoon Network.

Sorry, we're CLOSED

ry-spirit

WELP.

Luke Skywalker is the 99 percent

Crazed Women and Bearded Intellectuals

What every girl wants to hear, Allons-y!

Excuse Me, Deer

(h/t TheTardis via Nerd Approved)

Awesome X-Men artwork by Fabio Moon

Flickr - 10paezinhos

Cyclops and Phoenix's last stand from the epic Dark Phoenix Saga.

Fabio Moon's blog.

Nerd Music - Faunts: M4 Part II (Mass Effect OST)

I really liked this song when I heard it at the end of Mass Effect. It gave the game an epic blockbuster movie feel with the credits rolling to it. Enjoy.

Quiz: Real 80s Show or not?

This came across my dash on Tumblr the other day and I've been meaning to post it here, but kept forgetting. Mental Floss has a nice quiz where you have to determine whether eleven TV shows from the 80s are real or made up. I took it and got six right. The ones I missed were surprising. Have at it and if you want, post your results in the comments.

The Timber Wolf from BattleTech

BattleTech Wiki

For when you absolutely, positively gotta kick somebody's ass.

Of Troopers and Vipers

Joepedia.

The blue helmets, the black masks, the red Cobra symbol on their chests. These are the cannon fodder...I mean Troopers of Cobra. Troopers have been around since the beginning, acting as the equivalent of redshirts and background characters in the G.I. Joe comics and cartoons. In the former, they're made up of mercenaries, criminals, and whoever else attracted to Cobra for money. Considering that Cobra was a terrorist organization, it seems odd that they'd have an organized military force, but then again, we're talking about an organization headquartered on it's own island and led by a psychotic who wears a helmet with a highly reflective face plate, so common sense does not apply here. On the plus side, Cobra did have enough foresight to give these guys some cross-training, requiring each one to be at least competent at two different things. The only really notable member of the Cobra Troopers was Scar-Face, who appeared in some of the early comics. He assisted the higher-ups in their plans and was ultimately killed when the terrorist organization attacked and destroyed the PITT, G.I. Joe's secret base.

Joepedia.

Then there's the Cobra Vipers. These guys, who looked completely different from the Troopers, appeared in the original G.I. Joe comic, along with their specialty variants, in the mid-to-late 80s. Technically, they basic Vipers are actually no different than the Troopers, aside from their uniforms. The general consensus, however, is that the former are on a slightly higher rung of the ladder than the latter. The idea being that when someone first enlists in Cobra, they start out as lowly Troopers and are eventually upped to either Viper or one of the specialty units, like Tele-Viper or Alley Viper, depending on your skills or lack thereof. It does make sense if you think about it. Like I said before, Cobra's pool of recruits are mercenaries, criminals, and dregs of society; not all of them are going to walk in trained in communications or vehicle operation, or anything. So, you start them out blue uniformed cannon fodder while you assess their usefulness and then train them accordingly. If they don't excel at something, then you can just train them to be a regular Viper or keep them in the blue and use them to soak up the incoming Joe fire that would otherwise have killed your better soldiers.

BurningAstronaut.

I'm not really sure why, but I like the Vipers. They look cool, for one, and I like the whole specialty classes that exist, Tele and Alley Vipers just being two of the many available. You can check out the rest of them at My Useless Knowledge. I think another reason for my affinity is that I owned at least two of them when I was a kid - the aforementioned Tele-Viper and a SAW Viper. I may have also had a Techno-Viper who, while having a bad ass sounding name, was basically a mechanic and to a lesser extent, a combat engineer. One of my cousins had an Alley Viper, which was one of the most bad ass action figures I had ever seen as a kid.

Four reasons why the 90s almost killed comics

Comics in Crisis has a nice post citing the four things that hurt the comics industry back in the 90s, things like the Clone Saga and variant covers. It's a good list, but they left the biggest reason: comic book speculators. You see, folks, back in the 90s, some people got it in their heads that comics could be worth a lot of cash. The problem was the only comics with any substantial value were old ones from the Golden and Silver Age. Maybe even in the early Bronze. This was because naturally, not a lot of kids growing up held on to comics. They'd read them, then either toss them, trade with a friend, or give them to their younger siblings to read. Either way, not a lot survived in decent enough condition to be worth something. Speculators - liking Wall Street folks - somehow figured that brand new comics would, in a few years, be worth huge sums of money, so they started buying them en mass. Well, Marvel, DC, and others weren't about to pass this up and so they started printing off comics by the millions, creating "collectors" editions with those infamous variant covers. It created a bubble, not unlike what happened to the dot.com industry in the late 90s and the real estate market in the early 00s.

Well, all bubbles must burst and this one did before the decade was out. Those same speculators who had spent thousands of dollars hoarding comics discovered years later that those same comics weren't worth the paper they were printed on, because there were literally millions of copies of each one. Needless to say, when word got out, the bubble burst and the market collapsed. The industry barely survived  - Marvel notably had to file for bankruptcy - and in many ways, is still recovering. X-Men, Spider-Man, Justice League, Batman, these comics used to sell millions of copies each and now, their success is measured in whether they several a few hundred thousand.

The 90s were truly a terrible time for comics and its moniker of being the "Dark Age" of comics is fitting. Let's hope we never have to experience it again.

Want: Star Wars: Essential Guide to Warfare

Wookieepedia.

I saw this on Tor today and I am drooling. The book covers the military history of the Star Wars universe, all the way back to the earliest point and discusses (in universe, of course) different wars and militaries and such. Here's Emily Asher-Perrin's description:

This guide will offer a detailed history of the Star Wars universe by examining its conflicts, including the early theocracy that almost tore the galaxy apart, and the Proto Jedi and Sith, giving details of how they split into two factions of Force users. Vignettes will be laced through the chronology, including Lando’s account of his “little manuveur” at the Battle of Tanaab and reflections on what it was like to be a female stormtrooper.  There will be a detailed ship classification system and a history of Mandalorian society.

To use a common internet phrase:

 

According to Wookieepedia, the guide is set for release in May of next year.

Nerd Music: Chilling out with the Adam Warrock's Browncoats Mixtape

Download and enjoy.

Battle Damage He-Man

Penny Arcade

I had a Battle Damage He-Man and that shit was tight back then. Basically, it was a regular He-Man action figure, but he wore armor and his chest had a rotating cylinder. One side was normal, another side had a deep gash, while the other had two, to represent 'battle damage'. The cylinder was spring-loaded, so you would lock the non-damaged side in place, tap it, and it would rotate around to the damaged sides. It had a hair trigger though and even just shaking it could cause the cylinder to go off.

VOLTRON: The End

A short video made by Alex Albrecht and starring Timothy Omundsen.



Yeah, can Hollywood just go ahead and give Alex Albrecht a couple hundred million to make a Voltron movie, please?

(via Live for Films)

Even Seth MacFarlane wants Family Guy to end

I've seen this story pop up on several blogs today and thought it was interesting enough to post here. Seth MacFarlane did an interview with Hollywood Reporter where he said he wants to do a Star Trek TV series. What caught my attention though was what he had to say about Family Guy:

"Part of me thinks that Family Guy should have already ended. I think seven seasons is about the right lifespan for a TV series," he says of a show that launched its tenth season last month.

 I can't help but agree. Family Guy has gone down the toilet the last few seasons, it seems like the writers or producers wanted to push it into a South Park direction, but only included the gross outs and extremities and left out the smart writing that made the latter such a success. I stopped watching Family Guy last Spring, partly because Game of Thrones came on at the same time, but mostly because Family Guy had become too tasteless. As for his desire to do Trek, it has as much chance of happening as me waking up next to Christina Hendricks tomorrow. Actually a bit of a shame, he couldn't do any worse than Rick Berman and Brannon Bragga did, which was pretty bad, considering the franchise had to be rebooted.

(h/t Gamma Squad via Topless Robot)

Poll results: Well, this was unexpected

I would have bet money that Dick was going to win, but Tim bested him by three votes. I was also sure that Stephanie would come in last, but I was wrong there too.

Hikaru Sulu's sweet stache appreciation post 2011

Rising Shadow

Because that is one sweet stache.

I hate sports

Some baseball game on Fox is preempting Terra Nova because for whatever reason, no one on either team is capable of breaking a tie. Who knows if Terra Nova will even air tonight? Damn jocks.

The poster for Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar" proves that fat Leonardo DiCaprio is still an attractive Leonardo DiCaprio

the diary of a film awards fanatic

I want to see this movie, it's directed by one of the best directors around and stars one of the greatest actors ever. Not to mention that it's an actual movie and not some explosion and testosterone filled jizzfest or badly written comedy.

Barnes and Noble loses its shit, pulls DC's books off shelves

Saw this on The Beat and facepalmed so hard, I almost broke my nose. DC Comics recently inked a deal with Amazon to make their graphic novels and trades available on the new Kindle Fire, Amazon's upcoming tablet and Barnes and Noble, much like an angst-ridden teen, lost their shit and in a gross overreaction, is yanking a hundred of DC's titles off their store shelves. Multiversity Comics has a list of the titles and holy shit, it is extensive: A lot of Batman, all of Fables, Y: The Last Man, Sandman, Blackest Night, and more.

My take: A really dumb move on Barnes and Noble's part and destined not only to hurt them more than DC, but will go down as one of the biggest business blunders of the decade. They're basically pushing people to their competitors, but online and off. Dumbasses.

Edit: According to The Beat, DC's exclusivity deal with Amazon is only for four months and it was only for those one hundred titles that B&N are pulling. Nonetheless, the latter overreacted big time. Oh well, I'm sure their competitors will enjoy the boost in comic sales for the next four months.

Doctor Who - Time Crash

There's an annual charity the BBC does called Children in Need and in 2007, this beauty was set upon the world. Called Time Crash, it was set between Last of the Time Lords and Voyage of the Damned and featured the Tenth Doctor briefly meeting his Fifth Incarnation. Whovians everywhere nerdgasmed. It's worth noting that David Tennant is currently engaged to Georgia Moffat, Peter Davison's (Fifth Doctor) daughter, who also played Jenny in The Doctor's Daughter. I find that amusing for some reason.

Nerd Music: Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters - Civilization

One of the things I loved about Fallout 3 was the music: 40s and 50s era. There was nothing like starting the game, setting the radio on your Pip-Boy to Galaxy News Radio and going for a stroll out in the Capital Wastelands. Ah, memories.

Here's the crazy one, the rebel

Farewell, Steve Jobs

Pop Culture Brain

I can't believe I'm actually typing this, but Steve Jobs just died at the age of 56. I've never owned anything made by Apple, but Jobs was a pioneer, an innovator that helped push computers and electronics further than they had ever gone. He founded Pixar, an animation studio that gave us Toy Story, Up, WALL-E, and more. He was no saint, but thought different and for that, he deserves praise.

Rest in peace.

Poll: Your favorite Teen Wonder?

Since the last two polls were scifi based, I thought I'd switch things up by doing one more comic oriented. So, of all of Robins that have been Batman's sidekicks, who is your favorite?

Hyperborea

Dick Grayson, the first Robin and the most associated with the role, even though he hasn't Robin for decades. Eventually went on to become Nightwing and ultimately took over the mantle of Batman on two separate occassions, the second of which was current until the recent reboot.

Spider-Bob

Jason Todd, the second Robin and the first to die. He was never popular with Bat-Fans and his death was famous (or infamous, depending on your POV) because it was voted on by the public. Was dead for almost twenty years until resurrected in the comics and eventually became the Red Hood - formerly an alias used by the Joker, the man who killed him - and became a violent vigilante. He was known to be aggressive and had a habit of leaping headlong into situations without thinking it through.

Comicvine

Tim Drake, the third Robin. He got the job after both deducing Batman and Nightwing's secret identities and realizing that Batman needs a sidekick to help keep his aggression in check. After the death of Jason Todd, Batman became much more violent, sending more criminals to the hospital than to jail. He was the first Robin to gain a new costume, primarily pants, and was also the first to leave and return to the role. He was forced to retire after his dad found out that he was Robin, but returned to the job after the events of War Games. Went on to become Red Robin after the death of the original Batman and his replacement as Robin by Damian Wayne.

BatmanYTB

Stephanie Brown, the first female Robin, the second to be fired and almost the second to come back to life. The daughter of a villain named Cluemaster, she started out as a vigilante named Spoiler who met and eventually became Tim's girlfriend. She retired temporarily after becoming pregnant (not by Tim), but returned to the role and after Tim's retirement, became the fourth Robin. She didn't last though and was fired, then unintentionally sparked a massive gang war in Gotham and was almost killed. Her death was faked and she disappeared for a while before resurfacing. She returned to her Spoiler role before succeeding Cassandra Cain as Batgirl.

Wikipedia

Damian Wayne, the biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. Fifth Robin and probably the youngest at ten years old, so not exactly a Teen Wonder, but close enough. He was trained by assassins, so he tended to go for more lethal attacks. Once he became Robin, he restrained himself, having promised his father he wouldn't kill. Still, he was overly violent and only began to temper his attitude until his old brother's tutelage. He has a smart mouth to boot and enjoys taunting Tim.

So, who's your favorite?

Poll results: Ten wins

Much to the shock of nobody. Most Whovians who came on board after the show's revival found Ten to be their favorite incarnation. I like him too, but my favorite is Eleven, at least until I manage to watch the 1963-1989 run of the series.

New poll coming soon.

I love this redesign of Cyborg and I am unashamed

Aaron Diaz, who writes and draws Dresden Codak, has been on a redesign spree of late, first redoing several Marvel and DC characters, and now redesigning the new Justice League of America. You can check out his designs on his blog, but I just have to post my favorite of the bunch: Cyborg.

Me gusta! Diaz based Cyborg's appearance on Moss, a character from nerd favorite British TV show The IT Crowd, played by Richard Ayoade. I've never had the chance to watch the show, but I've heard nothing but good things about it and enough screencaps show up on my dash on Tumblr that I was instantly able to recognize Ayoade's likeness. Diaz also redid Cyborg as a character, shifting him from a heavy hitter and tank to a more nerdy, tech-oriented character. In other words, on a mission with the JLA, this version of Cyborg would be responsible for the majority of computer work and tech support. Diaz's reasoning is pretty sound too: Cyborg may have been the heavy while he was a member of the Teen Titans, but now he's on a team comprised of some of the heaviest of the heavy hitters and would easily be dwarfed by the likes of Wonder Woman, Superman, and Martian Manhunter. I also like that he's not wearing a traditional costume, it really makes him stand out from the crowd.

DC Comics declares all previous Crisises null and avoid: Apparently this came as a shock

The other day Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Comics stated that all the prior Crisises that have occurred - Final, Infinite, Zero Hour, Crisis - never occurred in the new continuity and for whatever reason this has pissed some comic nerds off. I'm not a fan of the reboot, but duh, of course those events never happened. It's a brand new continuity. At this point, it just sounds like people are nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.

Not that it really matters, mind you. DC is addicted to reboots and this new one will be lucky to last more than a year before it gets undone. That folks, is why DC struggles against Marvel, because they reboot their continuity so many times, it confuses and scares off potential new fans who don't want to have to rely on a flowchart to figure out what's going on with their favorite characters or titles. It also wouldn't hurt if they'd stop skanking their female characters up.

(h/t ComicsAlliance)

Newarama seriously needs to lay off the crack

Because clearly, it's affecting their judgment. That's the only possible explanation I can come up with for why they put Gen13 on their list of the ten greatest superhero teams of all time. The rest of their list is facepalm worthy as well:

1. The Avengers
2. Justice League of America
3. X-Men
4. Fantastic Four
5. Teen Titans
6. Watchmen
7. Legion of Super-Heroes
8. Justice Society of America
9. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Seriously? You've got the JSA, the first superhero team near the bottom, a team that didn't actually exist, and a team of public domain characters. There was no "Watchmen" team in the same-named series. You had The Minutemen, but they're hardly top ten anything. I'm not going to try and reorder that list, because this will never be posted, but I do think there are some easy replacement for Gen13, Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Defenders, Doom Patrol, and The Outsiders. The fact that none of those three made the list is purely idiotic. Epic fail, Newsarama. Epic fail.

Hat tip to Bronze Age Babies.