The CW released a trailer for the finale four episode of season one of The Flash called “The Reckoning.”
Will The Flash be fast enough to stop Eobard Thawne?
We watched Cisco die once, will Barry Allen be able to save him or will this be the transformation of Cisco into Vibe? The CW loves to kill off characters in the season finale of shows. Who do you think will not survive season one? Who is Barry try to prevent getting shot in the above image?
The Trap Ep20
Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, and Joe set a trap for Wells. Cisco uses himself as prey which puts him in grave danger. Meanwhile, Eddie makes a decision regarding Iris, which leaves Joe a bit unsettled.
April 28, 2015
Grodd Lives Ep21
5 May 2015 Grodd Lives
Barry deals with the latest threat from the Reverse-Flash; Dr. Wells distracts the team by releasing Grodd on the city; Iris and Barry have a serious talk.
Rogue Air Ep22
12 May 2015 Rogue Air
As Wells once again gets the upper hand on the S.T.A.R. Labs team, Barry realizes he needs to make a big move and reaches out to an old foe, Captain Cold, for help. Joe and Caitlin warn Barry that Cold can’t be trusted. True to form, Cold has his own agenda that involves the meta-humans trapped in the containment cells. As things seem to be going from bad to worse, The Flash gets reinforcements – Arrow and Firestorm.
HeartMob is a Kickstarter project by Hollaback! which helps individuals experiencing online harassment and empowers bystanders to act. The project has 158 backers and has reached 83% of its goal of $10,000 with 21 days to go.
HeartMob allows users to easily report their harassment and maintain complete control over their story. Once reported, users will have the option of keeping their report private and cataloguing it in case it escalates, or they can make the report public. If they choose to make it public, they will be able to choose from a menu of options on how they want bystanders to support them, take action, or intervene. They will also be given extensive resources including: safety planning, materials on how to differentiate an empty threat from a real threat, online harassment laws and details on how to report their harassment to authorities (if requested), and referrals to other organizations that can provide counseling and legal services.
Bystanders looking to provide support will receive public requests, along with chosen actions of support. You can “have someone’s back” and know that you’re helping them out in a time of need while directly contributing to safer spaces online. HeartMob staff will review all messages and reports to ensure the platform remains safe and supportive.
Ben Stiller has been busy on his Instagram account, posting photos of Zoolander 2 cast members.
Ben Stiller stars and directs Zoolander 2. The film also stars Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Kyle Mooney, Fred Armisen, Penélope Cruz, Kim Kardashian West, Christine Taylor, Owen Wilson, Billy Zane, Cyrus Arnold, Kanye West, Romuald Andrzej Klos, and Alan Cappelli Goetz.
Zoolander 2 comes out 15 years after its original in February of 2015.
Since the dawn of time, man has pondered life’s most difficult questions. Where did we come from? Why are we here? If a monkey fought a robot, who would win? Thankfully, Matt Sardo has been sent back in time from the not-so-distant future to help answer this very question.
Spoiler Alert – The answer is monkeys. Or is it robots? While the true answer to this question may take years or even generations to discover, one thing is clear –
The journey begins at Monkeys Fighting Robots.
The brainchild of former comic book store owner and pop culture aficionado Matt Sardo, Monkeys Fighting Robots is your online source for pop culture news and opinion on film, television, comic books, music, technology and most importantly, craft beer.
Never heard of Matt Sardo? For starters, he made the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs. Prior to that, he gave Doc Brown the idea for the flux capacitor and led the Resistance to victory over SkyNet – all while sipping a finely crafted IPA. As a radio host, he’s interviewed celebrities, athletes and everyone in between. He’s covered the Super Bowl and Comic Con.
Sardo teamed up with the robots at Visual Realm to bring the website to fruition. Visual Realm specializes in innovative web design and development and most definitely, brews better beer than Matt.
Along with the website, Monkeys Fighting Robots also features a weekly podcast that can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn.
A change in pop culture is coming on April 27. Choose a side. Join the fight before it’s too late.
For more information about Monkeys Fighting Robots, or to schedule an interview, please contact Matt Sardo via email at matt@popaxiom.com.
According to an interview with Empire, Charlie Cox a.k.a. Daredevil wants to see the Punisher, Elecktra, Black Widow, and Bullseye show up in season two of Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix.
“Based on the show we’ve created, which is very grounded in reality, I’d like to see Punisher maybe show up,” said Cox, “A little bit of Elektra maybe. I wouldn’t mind Black Widow making an appearance, and you can’t think about Daredevil for too long without thinking of Bullseye. I don’t know when or if or how that would happen, but it’d be cool if it did.”
Season two of Marvel’s Daredevil is expected for release on Netflix in April of 2016.
A few years ago, comic readers were excited to hear that a major character from the DC Universe was going to come out of the closet. DC revealed the character that was going to come out was the Green Lantern. This meant that Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, or any of the other mainstream Green Lantern characters were poised to change the universe. Instead of having any of the dozen well-known Green Lanterns in the main universe come out of the closet, Alan Scott, the Earth-2 Green Lantern, came out as gay. Choosing Alan made a statement: Gay characters are welcome as long as they don’t affect a primary universe’s continuity. This was the last time the comics community was promised a major gay character reveal and were handed a letdown. Since then, many have taken the promise of a major character being revealed as gay with a grain of salt.
This week Bobby Drake came out as gay…sort of.
Wait…Bobby Drake was outed as gay…kind of.
Marvel’s bold move to reveal a major character in their main universe is gay should be lauded. Despite the many issues some have with the way the story was handled, this is an incredible step forward. There is no going back, and that is exciting. This is Bobby Drake, one of the original X-Men. The X-Men continues to stand as a title in which GLBTQ persons see themselves. It has stood as a story for the struggle for equality and a story of social outcasts. Bobby Drake coming out of the closet should be heralded.
However…there were a few problems with the way All-New X-Men presented this newly-outed character (spoilers ahead – you’ve been warned!).
The first problem is Jean Grey and time travel. Both of these factors leave this development open to being retconned. Jean Grey is the mutant you would find sitting with the Plastics. She is an Omega-level mutant with psychic abilities, and that makes her an unreliable character and a shoddy plot device. In All-New X-Men #40, Jean Grey reads young Bobby Drake’s mind and outs him. Many queer people can speak to the pain of being outed in an intrusive manner; it is an important narrative in the strange ritual of coming out of the closet. The problem with Jean Grey outing Bobby Drake by looking into his mind is that this now makes Bobby Drake’s coming out easy to retcon. Leaving this revelation to a high-powered, Omega-level psychic mutant is problematic because down the road, Marvel can reverse this at any time since it is easy to say Jean Grey altered Bobby’s mind and made him believe he is gay. Psychic mind control is often the loophole used for retcons (Xorn, anyone?) In fact, Bendis himself proved the mental influence of psychic mutants in the recently wrapped up a storyline in Uncanny X-Men in which Professor X had worked to put mental blocks into place in order to prevent the world from being destroyed by Matthew Malloy, a high-powered, destructive mutant kept secret from the world. This shows how easy it is for a powerful psychic mutant, like Jean Grey, to manipulate the way a person behaves and perceives themselves. Psychic X-Men characters routinely alter characters, and this fact could come back to erase Bobby Drake’s sexual orientation should Marvel decide to take a step backward.
This retcon could also come from the fact that outed Bobby Drake is young, disoriented, time-traveling Bobby Drake, not the adult, mainstream Bobby Drake currently working with the X-Men. Using this specific Bobby Drake means that time-traveling Bobby Drake is gay, but it could turn out that he is not the same as adult Bobby Drake. As far as we know, the X-Men from the past are from the 616 past, but that could change once Bendis is out of the driver’s seat or if Marvel decides that it’s time to shake things up a bit. We have no proof that young Bobby Drake is indeed the child version of adult Bobby Drake other than Bendis’s word. Time travel, like psychic influence, is an easy catalyst for a retcon.
Another problem is that the whole execution of this revelation is a huge mess. The exchange between young Jean and young Bobby is in a filler issue that really advances nothing. The issue itself is a patchwork of plot set-ups to be explored in future issues. Whereas this does allow Bobby’s story to be completed in future issues, it leaves a lot of important questions unanswered. The outing is abrupt and ham-fisted. Young Bobby salutes Magik’s “unbelievable hotness” and Jean Grey decides that the proper response to that is to reveal that she’s been reading Bobby’s mind, pull him away from the group, and then tell him that he should not make such comments because they are inappropriate and sexist because he’s gay. This is just sloppy writing, and it is only remotely forgivable because this is a delicate situation handled by characters who are children with no real social experience.
The issue never consults adult Bobby Drake which is incredibly problematic. By not addressing adult, present day Bobby Drake with this “revelation,” we are left with a lot of ambiguity on this issue since, up until this issue, Bobby Drake has been straight. When young Bobby begins to question how he can be gay but adult Bobby is not, Jean suggests that this is a “unique situation.” Young Bobby suggests that his adult self could not handle the pressure of being a mutant and being gay and that perhaps he found it easier to “put away” his homosexuality. When the two are discussing adult Bobby Drake, young Bobby says that his older self is not gay, and Jean, the Omega-level psychic who reads minds on a regular basis, says, “I know.” She knows that young Bobby is gay, but she also “knows” that adult Bobby is not gay. When Bobby suggests that he might be bisexual, which would also be a wonderful revelation for GLBTQ persons, Jean says he is “full gay.” This is dangerous because it implies that homosexuality is a choice, something one can repress or switch off simply because it’s too difficult to be gay. This is a dangerous implication since the “choice” of homosexuality is the backbone of every anti-GLBTQ argument. Though this issue does not bring adult Iceman into the conversation, it does leave a lot up in the air, and that is irresponsible when the idea of the “choice” of queerness is on the table.
This conversation about Bobby Drake’s sexual orientation could have been handled better. Marvel and Brian Michael Bendis surely only have the best intentions for this character and wanted to present a progressive storyline in a comic book series that has always felt like home to social outcasts. Iceman coming out of the closet is an amazing step forward that was tripped up by poor writing. Marvel is on the right path with good intentions, but the execution is a mess of ambiguity and forced character development. In the end, the lesson is that perhaps it is time for queer narratives to be crafted by writers other than straight white men who have no concept of the closet.
Herb Trimpe, best known for his long run on Marvel’s Incredible Hulk series, including the first appearances of Wolverine in the Incredible Hulk #180 and #181, passed away recently on April 13, 2015 at the age of 75. Not long after, the vultures started showing up trying to profit off of his passing.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends!
If you can’t tell already, I probably spend a little bit too much time on eBay looking for collectibles — but don’t we all. Sometimes, you can find great deals or really cool and unique items. And sometimes… just sometimes… you can find things that make you sick to your stomach and want to kick someone in the face with your fist.
Like this for example:
Now, loyal reader, let me put this into perspective for you. Herb Trimpe did a lot of charity work, including work for the Hero Initiative, which is a foundation that helps comic book creators and their families with expenses such as medical bills and the like. You see, since many early comic book artists and writers worked freelance, they never received any benefits. But don’t take my word for it:
The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterdays’ creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.
Okay, now back to this $2500 sketch. Herb Trimpe never charged nearly this amount for his work. In fact, I got a sketch from Herb very similar to ones in the later examples I’m about to show you for around $250 last year and most of that money Herb put towards the Hero Initiative.
I understand that the value of artwork will undoubtedly increase after an artist dies — which it has if you check eBay auction history with bids for sketch covers going up to $1380 — but a $2500 asking price? That’s nearly twice the amount!
Oh, but it gets better!
I… I can’t even. No. Just no. Do me a favor. The next time you’re on eBay and you see this listing, message the seller and say, “shame on you”.
But, look at me! I’m doing a good thing and donating to charity!
Good for you! A whopping 20% of the final sale price goes to charity! Let’s see… 20% of $4500 is $900. That’s a bit better right?
Sure, $900 is a HUGE chunk of money to donate to a charity, but not when you’re making a $3600 profit. Fine, fine, you take into account eBay and PayPal fees and the cost for you to buy the artwork originally — it doesn’t equal quite that much. Cry me a river, bub. You know what you’re doing and it’s disgusting.
Now, here is something that might even be criminal:
This is a signed 11×17 Homage sketch of the iconic Incredible hulk 181 with pen and pencil! It is one of, if not the last sketch ever signed by Herb Trimpe. Signed on April 12 2015 at East Coast comic con. RIP
THIS IS NOT A PRINT. IT’S A HAND DRAWN SKETCH. IT IS UNKNOWN WHO ACTUALLY DID THE SKETCH. WHEN HERB SAW IT HE HAD A HUGE SMILE ON HIS FACE. I PHOTOGRAPHED THE MOMENT!
This exact same piece of artwork showed up again less than a week later.
This is an original art piece in ink by Herb Trimpe. It recreates the original cover of the first appearance of Wolverine. This is a beautiful piece worthy of framing, by the late Herb Trimpe legendary comic book artist.
Did you pay attention? The first listing stated, “it is unknown who actually did the sketch. When Herb saw it he had a huge smile on his face”.
The artwork was unsigned and taken to Trimpe to be signed as it is a recreation of his original cover. But, the original seller clearly stated it is unknown who actually drew the image, implying — it wasn’t Trimpe. After looking at the image closely myself, I’m not 100% convinced it’s an original Trimpe either. And it raises the question — if it was originally drawn by Trimpe, then why did he not sign it after he was done and instead had to have a fan bring it to him to be signed? Either way, it was originally purchased for $380 with the intent to be sold for nearly ten times that amount.
So, let me put it into perspective for you again:
My Herb Trimpe Wolverine
I got this Herb Trimpe Wolverine, which is a 9×14 colored sketch in watercolor, from Anthony’s Comic Book Art for $500 AFTER Herb Trimpe passed away (long story short, I sold my original sketch cover a while back because I don’t collect sketch covers anymore). Anthony could have easily changed his price on this piece of artwork after Herb’s passing, but he didn’t (I tip my hat to you, sir). If you’re a collector of original artwork or looking to get into the hobby, I definitely recommend him as he has proven he’s a stand-up guy.
And that’s just the thing — we collect these images of heroes, who in the face of adversity, always choose to do the right thing — yet these eBay sellers are down right exploiting the death of one of the creators of these heroes? As The Dude once said, “this aggression will not stand, man”.
I understand people need to eat, but this isn’t right. Nearly $10,000 for a drawing from an artist who recently passed away and absolutely none of the money is going to a charity or the artist’s family? Is this the kind of world we’re living in — because if so then I can’t wait to see the $100,000 Stan Lee signature books on eBay after he passes away.
Leave a comment and let us know what you think! Tweet Jacob @semperfilm
According to Bleeding Cool, Doctor Strange is rumored to make an appearance in Marvel’s Iron Fist series that will stream on Netflix. Doctor Strange is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, directed by Scott Derrickson, and is scheduled for release on November 6th, 2016.
Doctor Stephen Strange is a successful neurological surgeon performing operations in New York City. After injuring his hands in a tragic car accident, Stephen Strange travels to Tibet in search of the sorcerer supreme, The Ancient One. The sorcerer ends up training Dr. Stephen Strange in the mystical arts to face the inter-dimensional demon known as Dormammu along with his disciple, Baron Mordo. Mordo was once a student under the teachings of the Ancient One, until he plotted to kill his master when The Ancient One denied him the title of sorcerer supreme.
The main character of the book Alice, just wants to hit up the big San Diego comic book convention, meet her Magefire guildies in real life, and maybe, just maybe, score a con exclusive Assault on Saturn action figure.
Her plans go awry when Alice witnesses a murder. On the run from a corrupt cop, Alice and her friends take to the con in hopes of blending in with the throngs of cosplayers, gamers, Whovians, Brownscoats…the cornucopia of Fandom. And maybe still get that sweet sweet action figure.
Fangirl is written by Stillwell with art by Jessica Lynn, and colors by Zac Atkinson. The Kickstarter project is live now and the book is expected for delivery in April of 2016.
Masamune Shirow’s 1989 anime classic, Ghost in the Shell, is getting the live-action remake treatment. Directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) with Scarlett Johansson in the lead portraying Motoko Kusanagi.
“It’s happening. It will be shooting the beginning of next year, so I think we start production January or February and it’s me and Rupert [Sanders]; and that’s all I know,” said Johansson in an interview with Steve Weintraub of Collider.
Ghost in the Shell is set to release April 14, 2017.
Expect ranting and raving from angry fans (including myself) very soon. There is even a petition with almost 48,000 electronic signatures to get Johansson removed from the film.
