Irene Gallo of Tor Books put together a great selection of science fiction works of art which reference famous paintings and prints like John Mattos’ fantastic C-3PO upgrade of Marcel Duchamp’s groundbreaking cubist/futurist Nude Descending a Staircase. Sidenote: I’ve seen that painting of Duchamp’s up close in Philly, and man was it even stranger and dissettlingly awesome in person, in no small part because the nude figure is about the same height as you when you look at it, and they hanged it at just the right height to seem like this creepy figure was nearing the end of the staircase and coming right at you. Nightmare fuel.

We’ve collected our ten favorites along the famous works they reference (plus a bonus picture) from Irene Gallo’s gallery at Tor Books starting on the next page. Thanks to Neatorama for the assist.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, Sony Pictures screened a new trailer and some footage from The Amazing Spider-Man in locations nowhere near you. After the 3-D screening in Los Angeles, director Mark Webb spoke to the crowd, as did Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Rhys Ifans in an international simulcast from New York City, Rio de Janeiro, and London, respectively.

Garfield (who hates Mondays, we hear) explained his motivation to play Spider-Man: “I’m not an idiot. Everybody in this room wants to play Spider-Man. First it was Tobey [Maguire], now it’s me — hopefully next time it’ll be a half-Hispanic, half-African actor.”

“I’m not an idiot” should be the go-to answer for all actors when asked why they took a paying gig. Emma Stone summed up the difference between her character (Gwen Stacy) and Mary Jane: “Gwen falls in love with Peter Parker. Mary Jane fell in love with Spider-Man.” Awww, that’s sweet. NOW KISS.

The new trailer and some photos are below.

[Sources: WIRED, /film, FirstShowing]

Read the rest of this entry »

We could be nice about this…no we can’t.

Crossovers, especially lately, suck. “Crisis On Infinite Earths” was a wonderful thing, but it touched off a trend that continues to this day of huge crossovers that demand you buy every freakin’ book, even the ones you deliberately avoid because they’re awful, just to get the full story, which usually isn’t that good anyway.

Lately, though, it seems like the companies get it, a little. DC is so far limiting its crossovers to one or two issues between two characters (Swamp Thing and Animal Man, OMAC and Frankenstein). And now we’ve got “The Omega Effect” from Marvel.

The plot: Reed Richards, being useless as usual, downloads all the information about the major crime syndicates into something he calls “The Omega Device”, because Reed won’t use anything so pedestrian as a thumb drive, and heaven forbid he just send this information anonymously to the authorities. Daredevil gets his hands on it. Then the Punisher shows up, for obvious reasons. Then Spider-Man shows up to reclaim it for Reed.

Here’s why we’re looking forward to it.
Read the rest of this entry »

Video games based on popular superhero franchises are almost always garbage. Despite the fact that most successful video game characters are already basically superheroes (Mario’s Superman, Sonic’s the Flash, Master Chief’s Iron Man) when it comes time to make games based on actual superheroes, the video game industry usually fails disastrously.

But which superhero franchise has inspired the worst video games? I decided answer the question definitively — I took a look at all the games spawned by five of the most popular superhero franchises, picked out the ones that are actually good, and calculated the crap ratio. Which hero has been the least inspiring? Batman? Spider-Man? Hit the jump to find out…

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for Gamma Squad’s Friday cosplay feature, spotlighting the best comic book related costuming from the cosplay community.  We’re again casting the spotlight onto those cosplayers who we think deserve special recognition for coming up with the best costumes, whatever the budget, and the photographers who capture them for posterity.

This week, we’re continuing with our special Spider-man theme, showing the very best from your friendly neighborhood cosplayers from across the web, submitted to our Flickr group or by our friends at The Superhero Costuming Forum.

So, without further ado, let’s continue with this week’s selection.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good afternoon you princes of Maine, you kings of New England, you stalkers of Charlize Theron. Here are all the mashup and parody videos I didn’t get a chance to cover, thrown in your face like you’re Jodie Foster working for the FBI.

In the offing for today:

1. Nicole Kidman, Robbie Williams, and a Skyrim reference I won’t spoil for you. [via GeeksAreSexy]
2. FancyPantz made a Skyrim PC mod that gives a Spider-Man upgrade to the giant spiders in Skyrim. The result is both silly and disturbing. [via Kotaku]
3. Like that Spider-Man Syrim mod but looking for something a little different? Why not Zoidberg? [via Kotaku]
4. “Ender Scrolls V: Minerim” is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim recreated in Minecraft, because everything ever has to be recreated in Minecraft, including our sex tapes (especially our sex tapes). [via Neatorama]
5. “The Dragonborn works in mysterious ways, and he sometimes appears where you least expect him.” — TDW
6. Banner picture: “Dragonborn In A Sea of Fog” by A.J. Hateley, based on “Wanderer In A Sea of Fog” by C.D. Friedrich (1818). Prints available at her storefront. [via Rampaged Reality]
7. Inset picture via EpicPonyz.

Read the rest of this entry »