I love Threadless shirts. I love that here and there a design like the above is released and I must have one. Here are the X-Men represented as animal counterparts:

Professor X = Brain Mole
Wolverine = Wolverine
Emma Frost = Polar Bear
Shadowcat = Panther
Nightcrawler = Monkey
Storm = Horse
Beast = Gorilla
Jean Grey = Phoenix
Colossus = Elephant
Cyclops = Falcon (I think)

Okay so I’m not sure about Storm as a horse, and maybe there’s a pop culture reference in there I’m missing. Also not sure about Kitty Pride as a large wild cat, I think it’d have worked better if she was a house cat, personally. Finally I’m not sure about the bird for Cyclops… but what else would you do for him? I’m not sure “brain mole” is an actual animal… but it sure as hell was a monster in D&D back in the day if my memory serves me correctly (good chance it doesn’t).

I just can’t get enough of alternate Batman concepts–probably because I really REALLY dislike underwear-on-top-of-pants superhero designs. I think they are dated and goofy and work against modern day aesthetics. Alas, each has their own thoughts on the matter. But that’s mine. So these crazy concepts are a breathe of fresh air…

Well, not so sure this guy is breathing any fresh air. He kinda looks like he died, went to hell and came back as a Hellspawn. This piece is by artist Halil Ural, his DeviantArt gallery has other great stuff.

What?! Seriously? Akira was one of the first animes I watched in my early teens when we had to rent VHS cassettes. Good times.

Not really actually…

But look what we get out of a big Akira fan’s imagination 2 decades later! DeviantArt user, Ulises Farina gives us Batman done in an Akira style. How cool is this? God it’s so grungy and “street” that it may just make Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass look like it’s owned by Disney (oh, wait… no no it’s not technically…) or Frank Millar’s Dark Knight look like “your father’s Batman” (oh, wait, technically, it is nowadays…)

Update: Wow, I just came across a 2nd piece of Farinas featuring Batman–this time it feels like a Batman Mixes it up with I Am Legend. Instead of making a new post I’m updating this one and keeping it all together! Wicked stuff!

Just when I start thinking too much is going on in the Batverse over at DC Comics, and I start fearing the day it’ll all just go back to the same old same old… an artist comes up with a concept like this–Robin and Bat.

So simple. So perfect. So fresh.

The artists’ intent was for this to be Tim Drake with a new troubled teen… but I can’t help wanting this more than the current Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin setup. It’s obvious Batman will return after he figures out how to get back from the past–yadda yadda–but lets face it: The day of Bruce Wayne as Batman is coming. Deal with it.

Wouldn’t this be the perfect answer?! The conceptual stuff aside… this Robin design just looks badass and maintains a level of fearful respect that would have been learned during his time as Batman. This artist, “kizer180” needs to get hired asap.

Artist Ulises Farinas has taken a critically acclaimed comic book event done by DC with their Green Lantern Universe… and made it MORE epic by portraying the many characters as LEGO! Instant masterpiece to many a fanboy on the interwebs for sure!

Doug Savage, in a Savage Chickens strip once again applies humorous chicken-antic simplicity to something that seemed more complicated in my head three weeks ago.

I am leaving a job I loved for a long time this week. I came to the conclusion (again in my life) that ultimately all choices have one constant: Death. We can either be risk takers and explore life… or we can find stability and die comfortably. Either option is perfectly acceptable by the way. Just seems the first options keeps knockin’ on my life’s door.

When my friend asked me if I’d be home after midnight tonight I immediately knew something was up. This is a humble guy who doesn’t do “surprises” and doesn’t fit in with the normal mold of folk who celebrate holidays of any kind (to more of a degree than even I). His name is Rui DaSilva, him and I are currently co-creating/writing The Aquatic League of Heroes webcomic and aquatic hero support site.

There’s another under-dog character I defend almost as much as Darkhawk. The character is Booster Gold. One of the first issues I had a few years before I jumped on to comics strong with the Archie Ninja Turtles stuff, and eventually got won over by Darkhawk, was Booster Gold #7.

I’d always remember that issue number because Superman guest stars and whops Booster’s ass. I always respected the lesson I knew would be learned from that experience even if I never got another comic of Booster Gold (until now, 20 years later). Something about the concept of the character intrigued me because it broke the mold of “the norm”. I finally just bought the Essentials collection that collects the first run of the series in the mid-80s. I just read the issue Booster Gold saves President Nixon and Vice-President Bush from an alien shapeshifter assassination/take over. (Go Booster Go! Talk about a guy who now fights to fix time blips huh?)

Anyways… here is the result of Rui hearing me rant one time too many times about my second favorite under-dog comic hero of all time:

Gravel

Warren Ellis’ Gravel comic series may hit the big screen. The film rights have been picked up by Legendary Pictures. Where it goes from there is anyone’s guess.

Spider-Man 4

Sam Raimi has confirmed that the next Spider-Man movie will start filming in March 2010. The script is currently going through a re-write, and additional casting hasn’t been done yet, but preparations with the sets and visual-effects. Rami’s thoughts on the direction required with the new villain:

What we’re trying to do right now is really understand the journey Peter is going to go on this time and have the villain maybe be a counter to that growth, something that he has to overcome. Or maybe he has to grow in a way to overcome the villain, because there always seem to be stories of coming of age, of a young man growing up and learning things about life, so once we are identifying the exact movement that Peter has to grow to, I think the villain—and we’re trying this right now; we’re trying to choose a villain based on who would be the proper counter to that growth, so we really have dramatic conflict.

Transformers 3

Looks like Michael Bay is tired of dealing with Megan Fox and her free-flowing mouth. Bay discovered Fox, who has been the lead female role in the Transformers franchise–now it’s time for a possible deal scene in the first few minutes of the next Transformers movie, and time to move on to the next in line.

X-Men Franchise

It seems Bryan Singer is interested, and in discussions with Fox, about possibly returning to the X-Men franchise. Singer’s comments about science fiction and fantasy films is that he likes to “trick audiences into thinking they’re seeing fireworks, but they’re learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say,” and that “The excitement about working in science fiction and fantasy is – the stories, if they are good, are about the human condition.”

Preacher

Garth Ennis’s Preacher series may be coming to television. Rose McGowan is claimed to be producing the mini-series for HBO.

Ghost Rider 2

David S. Goyer will be producing Ghost Rider 2, starring Nicolas Cage again. They will be using Goyers 9-year-old script and are going to “polish” it accordingly. It will be said to be more scary than the first. Here’s to hoping that it will be better as well! Here’s what Goyer had to say:

[My Ghost Rider script was] definitely written as a hard R. It was a Blade-type film. Now they want it to be PG-13. But… ‘The Dark Knight’ has come out and I like to say that it was skirting the bleeding edge of PG-13, so people’s concepts of what a PG-13 movie could be [may have changed].

Transformers 3

Michael Bay and crew aren’t wasting no time! The new Transformers flick will be hitting theaters on July 1, 2011! That’s the cue for all you noisy geeks out there to flame the internet with all your poisonous words about how the first two movies were a disaster (ignoring the titanic financial gross it made each time) and then get the HELL outta your computer chairs and hit theaters RIGHT WHEN IT COMES OUT! You NEED to do this so that you have something to rant about online. If you do it well enough, you might even get a Transformers 4 out of Michael Bay. Think about it.

Oh also, from Michael Bay, himself… A note for Megan Fox:

Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.

Superman

Director James McTeigue was asked what he would do if he was able to take hold of the direction of the next Superman movie. None of this is official but it’s worth stating that McTeigue is touching on some points that make sense and SHOULD be considered in the next Superman film. Superman just isn’t in the same world he was created in and that needs to reflect in the core of the character. This is what McTeigue had to say:

I think I would be interested in doing it if they let me do it the way I wanted to do it. I would say that, if you take the Richard Donner Supermans and the last Superman [from Bryan Singer], I think that Superman is probably ripe for a bit of a change up. I think society has changed around the core idea of what Superman was.

And I’m not saying you do the ubiquitous dark Superman, I’m not saying that… I’m just saying that I think there are some things that you could excise from the Superman mythology that people would get into it, if you took the world that he was in and changed that a bit, and maybe even project that into the future a bit. I think you don’t really have to play into the origin story anymore. I think there’s a whole bunch of things you could do to make that film more alive and exciting again.

Green Lantern

Due to Australia’s booming dollar Warner Bros was forced to move the production of this film to a new location. First there was talk of bringing the production to Louisiana. Now there is talk of shifting it south into Mexico. Nothing is confirmed as of yet, but leaving Australia would save the studio $20 million so, hey, can’t blame them for the wishy-washyness. Everyone wants to save a buck right?

Venom

Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese co-wrote two drafts for a Venom script and has been told that the studios along with Marvel Studios are doing what they do and preparing for the next steps.

Ghost Rider 2

David S Goyer, the writer behind the Blade franchise and Batman Begins, is lining up to take on the second installment of Ghost Rider. He is not signed on yet, but movements are already being made to use a script Goyer had written years ago for the next film, once again starring Nicolas Cage as flame-head.

Spawn

That’s right folks, McFarlane still has things to say about the methods of his madness… actually making sense… kinda. In any case, McFarlane wants a R-rated Spawn movie. He needs to keep it low budget in order to escape the big-hittin studios wanting the film to be released PG-13. More money could get thrown into it, but the rewards for him personally “at his older age” would mean less. I have to say, I respect that choice. It’s his character and he should be able to do whatever he pleases with it. The thought of a noir-style detective story with Spawn “in the shadows” seems a bit counter-intuitive for a movie called “Spawn” though–for that I have to agree with the fanbase.

The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft

Well, I love it when an indie gets a shot at the big screen so early in its run! Ron Howard in planning to take on the comic series written by Mac Carter released by Image Comics as one of his next big budget projects. Huge article about it can be read here.

Popeye

First off, I had NO idea Marvel had acquired the rights to the character Popeye, so I figured I’d start with that. Second Avi Arad, Marvel’s head honcho stated that he wishes to reboot the character on screen. Unfortunately, the plan is to reboot the character as an animated CGI feature film.

Daredevil

It is confirmed that a new Daredevil film is a-comin! Marvel is currently developing a reboot for the character on film. Ben Afleck will not be taking on the role again as he feels stung by the fan reaction to his part in the first film. I don’t much care for Daredevil–so why am I so excited to see this become a great film?!

Xombie

DreamWorks is looking to pick up the comic book Xombie, a Devil’s Due comic book by James Farr, which in turn is based on Farr’s online animated series. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will produce the screenplay from writer Will Beall. Beall is a former Los Angeles Police Officer who recently became a homicide detective. He still serves the force while writing.

Cowboy Bebop

In an interview Keanu Reeves gave an update as to the status of this film based on the space/western/bounty-huntin anime. Keanu said: “There’s a draft of the script, but the writer did such a great job [that] in order to make the movie, you would need half a billion dollars.” Now the studio is pulling it back and a re-write is happening but is still intended to be fairly faithful. Now we can all just cross fingers and hope that doesn’t mean “mistakes” in executive decisions will be made that compromise the quality of the film in the eyes of fans.

Deadpool

Rob Leifeld met with Lauren Schuler Donner and her team to discuss some details concerning the upcoming Deadpool movie. Leifeld, through Twitter, expresses great enthusiasm, confirming elements about Deadpool that will transfer to the film, one of them being the fact that he breaks the fourth wall. It’s worth mentioning the Leifeld is also excited to discuss the possibilities of Cable in future X-Films. Interesting.

Thor

There is an updated cast list for Marvel Studio’s upcoming Thor feature film: So far Chris Hemsworth is set as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Tom Hiddleston as Loki; new cast members are Jaimie Alexander, who will play Sif, a fierce Asgardian warrior and one of Thor’s love interests and Colm Feore who will play an as-yet-unnamed villain. Jaimie Alexander and Colm Feore are added to the cast of Marvel Studios’ feature film adaptation of its Thor comic book, joining Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Alexander will play Sif, a fierce Asgardian warrior and one of Thor’s love interests. Feore will play an as-yet-unnamed villain.

Spider-Man 4

A date has been given! May 5, 2011. It’s still far off but at least it’s in motion–and whom do we have as the new Spidey villains? Carnage and the Lizard! I’ve always loved the Lizard, he’s easily my favorite of the Spidey rogue’s gallery so excitement has commenced! Toby Maguire has been locked in for the next 2 films with a whopping $50 million contract.

Justice League: Mortal

With the recent retraction of all DC movie properties in development in order to re-structure and build a stronger organized foundation, Warner Bros is poised to bring on Kieran and Michele Mulroney, to script their tentpole film, Justice League: Mortal. This at least confirms not all is dead on the new DC Entertainment front.

New Mutants

Lauren Shuler Donner, the producer of all the mutant movies so far, has confirmed there are plans brewing for a possible New Mutants movie in the future. X4 may also be in the works.