New 'Mortal Kombat' On The Way or "Get Over Here Right The Heck Now!"

I'm just going to say it: I love me some 'Mortal Kombat'! It's the ONLY video game series that I jones for as much as 'Street Fighter' or 'Need For Speed'. There's just something about the mix of violence, the whole 'fighting tournament' genre and the gorgeous character story/designs that hooks my imagination. And who can argue that it was not one of the best video game movies yet filmed?? I love my 'Street Fighter' movie (R.I.P. Raul Julia), but it hardly holds up to the awesomeness that is "Mortal Kombat (1995)". I mean, come on! The 'Highander' as Raiden or Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, not to mention the movie launched the Hollywood careers of Robin Shou (Liu KAng) and Paul W.S. Anderson (he directed the movie). How about the animatronics on Goro?! That was kick-ass stuff! The series has languished in purgatory (whoa, look at me use using the big words there!) for the last few years, ever since the release of "Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe" in 2008.

But the time has come for this game series to rise up once again! I was tooling around on Facebook, checking my updates, when I found this link (Thanks, Mike Dodd!) to a new viral video on YouTube called "Mortal Kombat: Rebirth". It is epic. It is awesome. It is .... got a LOT of blood and gore, so definitely NSFW (Not Safe For Work). Check it out!




AWESOME! We got Michael Jai White ('SPAWN The Movie'), Jeri Ryan (Shark, ST: Voyager, Leverage) and I've seen Ian Anthony Dale (the guy playing Scorpion) in tons of TV shows and action movies. Some people have commented on the YouTube channel that it's a fan vid. I say NAY! It's either a viral video for a new game (which could be announced at E3 this year) or maybe, just MAYBE, it's an advanced promo for a NEW 'Mortal Kombat' movie!! Oh, it's good to be an MK fanboy!


UPDATE: I was jonesing for more MK stuff and found this old school TV ad for "Mortal Kombat II" (my personal fave of the old school console games). I miss how they used to dress up for these ads.




Update #2: According to Jeri Ryan (Sonya Blade in the 'Rebirth' vid) on her Twitter feed, the video was done as proof-of-concept to sell the director's skills to Warner Brothers on a potential new movie. Only time will tell.

Kim Kardashian & Heidi Montag Want To Be Lara Croft or "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

I haven't laughed this much all week! Leaders of the 'famous for being famous' pack, Heidi Montag and Kim Kardashian, are both reportedly vying to portray Lara Croft in the next installment of the video game film franchise. What do I think about this?

That is what I think. Seriously, WTF?! (Via Crave Online)

John Barrowman Writes 'Torchwood' Comic or "Captain Jack's Back!"

Are you a fan of the show "Torchwood" and, by extension, lead character Capt. Jack Harkness? Have you wondered what's going on with the series since the end of the "Children of Earth" miniseries from last year?

As it stands right now, creator Russell T. Davies has a fourth series in mind, but the BBC has yet to green light it. So, in the meantime and between-time, we'll have to make do with a "Torchwood" comic book series, written by Captain Jack himself, John Barrowman.

Released by Titan Publishing and featuring art by Tommy Lee Edwards, the tale therein features Jack tackling the mystery of people disappearing on a Scottish isle all by himself in the first part, then Jack, Gwen and Ianto become trapped in a 'cosmic' hotel by an old enemy from the TV series in the second installment.

I have been waiting for anything new about "Torchwood" for a while now and what better way to satisfy the craving than with a comic book? Now, if only the BBC would get off their tea drinking duffs and get to work already! (Via Comic Book Resources)

Thundercats On The Comeback Trail or "Thundercats HOOOOOly Crap, They're Back?!?"

That's right, "Thundercats", one of the best examples of  '80s animated cheese and one of my personal all time faves, is making a comeback! Cartoon Network (TELETOON is our Cartoon Network in Canada) will be producing an all new animated series to be broadcast some time next year. This by itself is VERY cool, but I also found out that a company called Icon Heroes will be producing 'staction figures'(action figure sized statues)  for the new series, similar to what the Four Horsemen did for the 2003 "Masters of the Universe" animated series. I mean, check out the detail on their version of Skeletor!

My childhood lives again, which is so very cool. All I need now is for Earle Hyman (Bill Cosby's dad on 'The Cosby Show') and Larry Kenney to reprise their roles of Panthro and Lion-O respectively. And for the Thundertank to make a comeback. Oh yeah, that would be SWEEEEEET!

“Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.”

When phreak_711 invited me to geek out here, I agreed that there would be plenty for me to say. I work in a comic book store: there's always something new and something great to show off. Something to reveal to the unwitting, or just accolades and/or things to rant about to the already enlightened. I'm really good at preaching to a choir.


So, where to start?


And...for more than a week, I really had nothin'.


I really didn't want to preach to the choir, even about those several-odd titles I think I could celebrate better than anyone else I knew. As for new-geek news, that's not really my forte. I've spent so little time online lately that it's hard to keep up. Phreak_711 does a crazy-good job of not going outside and living in those "series of tubes" that we all know and love as the internets. Mostly, I learn about the future of cool stuff through him. (I also go outside.)


Thus, at a loss, I eventually tracked back to the tried but true method of keeping things simple. I'll do this by writing about a simple web-comic that everyone should read.

It's called Abominable: Charles Christopher and it's by Karl Kerschl.

I bring Abominable up here because I had merely chanced across it by accident and I worry that some of you out there won't have the same fortune to have heard of it prior, or the luck to have found it already. Though nominated for a couple of Eisner awards, and being a really great Canadian comic, Abominable is not published through the bigger distributors and is primarily hyped through the more remote grapevines.

Here's what you need to know:

Kerschl updates weekly, on New Comic Wednesdays. The good news of this is that the archives (spanning from June 2007) can be read in pretty much one sitting. The bad news is that once you're caught up you're stuck waiting weekly for the next installment.

Our protagonist is Charles, an abominable snowman(?). He doesn't speak and the story jumps around playfully from him to any number of creatures in the forest. Kerschl does this really cool trick of telling an epic story in strands, portraying and building up a grand number of characters in Calvin & Hobbes-esque moments. All of this is leading up to some kind of confrontation between nature and man, and I don't think we--the humans--are going to be the good guys.

Part of the appeal is the art, which is meticulous. Insert a paragraph of praise alone on the art here. Kerschl is a damn fine artist and he uses big spreads, empty panels and simple tones to show it.

Another reason this comic stands apart is for the wait. Kerschl takes his time in the narration of this epic, and while one hopes that the latest installment will bring you closer to the "encounter between hero/villain for the sake of the world" you're just as likely to be shown a quaint mundane moment which makes up the foundation of these characters' world. This is one of those rare reads that I won't mind following for years, if it takes that long to tell Charles' tale.

I think that's more than enough reason to recommend it to others. Check it out. If you enjoy it as much as I do, pick up the book that Kerschl self-publishes. If anything, pass the story's existence along to others. Like Jeff Smith's Bone, or Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes: this is something worth geeking over.

-Danger Socks.

Nerd Makes iPhone Into Gun or "Go Ahead, Drop My Call!"

Thru the miracle that is 'StumbleUpon', I found this link to Thingiverse, a geek tech website where like minded souls can share their mods, tweaks and hacks. Site poster 'juniortan' created a specialized 'holster' for his iPhone. It rocks hard. Try making one and not go for the obligatory 'Dirty Harry' impression. I know I would. Click on the picture to check the article.

Nerf Gun Modded Into 'Halo' Assault Rifle or "Master Chief Loves His Nerf War"

(Click on the picture to read the article)

Searching around on Kotaku.com, I found this article about a dude who modded a Nerf N-Strike Recon gun into a spot on match for a 'Halo' assault rifle. It never ceases to amaze me when I find such examples of nerdy passion in the Interwebs. I have neither the technical skill or manual dexterity to accomplish such a thing, but GAWD, do I wish I did!