Big Shiny Robot! is giving away two sets of Marvel Anime:  X-Men The Complete Series and Iron Man The Complete Series.  Each winner will receive one of each title, and to be eligible to win simply answer the following:  what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

I kid, I kid.  I just really like asking that question.

Actually, post a comment below telling me who your favorite Marvel character is.  Everyone who posts will have their name entered in a drawing.

Contest ends on April 27 at midnight; winners will be contacted via email shortly thereafter.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

The Avengers is less than a month away, and I don’t think there is one person that isn’t excited for it. If you do happen to be that person then you just flat out hate fun! Anyway, I stumbled across 2 clips from the movie that spotlight two of the female leads. The first shows a very bad ass Scarlet Johansson as the Black Widow. The second is a clip that was shown when Cobie Smulders, who plays Maria Hill,  was on The Late Show with David Letterman. So for your viewing pleasure, enjoy these snippits from The Avengers!

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Check out this new Avengers trailer from Japan – it’s got some sweet new clips we haven’t seen yet in North America!

-vs

May 4th cannot come soon enough!!!

This morning I got an email from Petsmart. It was the most wonderful email. Vintage Marvel toys and clothes for my dogs! There has been Marvel stuff for dogs before but it was from Tokidoki and was stupidly expensive. $80 for some dog clothes? No. Just no. $6? Yup sure enough. I planned to get my ass down to the store as soon as I could. Without even talking all day Arse-bot had the same plans and sent me a picture of the Avengers Bandana he got for his dog. For folks like us this is great. I will buy my dogs stupid stuff anyway but now it has Marvel characters on them. I can play tug of war with a Hulk Hand, and I’ve changed my dogs into superheroes! If you want to spoil your dogs with some Marvel branded fun get down to Petsmart before April 22nd when they take it off the shelves.

UD Replicas released yet another in their Marvel motorcycle attire. If you’re a complete badass, or a nerd that believes they are badass, you’ll want to pick one of these up. This authentic looking movie quality suit, will have you cruising the streets in your Cap suit, you can even fight crime if you’d like. Don’t have $1200.00 for the entire suit?  You can buy the set up in pieces as well, maybe bypass the pants for the jacket, or hell, even bypass the jacket and only buy Cap pants, I won’t judge. The great thing is that UD Replicas has something for everybody. Even if Cap isn’t your fancy, you can snag an Iron Man Mark V, or even switch to DC and grab the Dark Knight Armor. Think this is worth $1200.00? Comments below.

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Press Release 1/9/2012

AVENGERS VS X-MEN: ROUND 1!

The biggest superhero brawl in the history of the Marvel Universe begins this April in Avengers Vs. X-Men #1!

Which team will reign supreme? Join the conversation on Twitter with #AvX!

For more on Avengers VS X-Men, please visit http://avx.marvel.com

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1 (JAN120625)

Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, JASON AARON, MATT FRACTION, JONATHAN HICKMAN, ED BRUBAKER

Art by JOHN ROMITA JR.

Cover by JIM CHEUNG

FOC – 2/27/12, ON SALE – 4/3/12

To find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook.

Disney have just announced that they are going to have a block of all Marvel comics programming on Disney XD starting on April 1st. The animation block, called “Marvel Universe,” will feature the Marvel animated shows. At this time they’ve only said that the upcoming “Ultimate Spider-Man” cartoon will be a part of it, but one can assume that the returning “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” will also be included. This now means that there will be full nights dedicated animation from the big two, DC announced their “DC Nation” block of programming for Cartoon Network late last year which will include Young Justice, the Green Lantern Animated Series, and a slew of short spotlighting other characters in the DC Universe. Below is the full press release from Marvel/Disney:

Disney XD will launch Marvel Universe, a dedicated Marvel programming block, with the new series “Ultimate Spider-Man” as its centerpiece, on SUNDAY, APRIL 1, it was announced today by Gary Marsh, President and Chief Creative Officer, Disney Channels Worldwide at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, California. Marvel Universe on Disney XD will be the ultimate place for fans to find exclusive Marvel content, including new animated short-form series, live-action interstitials and the series return of “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”  The block will be home to Marvel’s biggest superstars, such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and many more to introduce dynamic stories of action, adventure and heroism to a whole new generation.

Marsh said, “Iconic Marvel heroes and villains and stories with core values of accomplishment, discovery and growth make Marvel Universe a perfect complement to Disney XD and a destination for parents and kids to experience together.”

“Marvel Universe block is an incredible animated ride filled with fantastic action and adventure,” said Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television. “The spectacular team of writers and animators capture stories with all the dynamic fun you can imagine. Disney XD is the perfect place for families and Marvel fans of all ages to come together every Sunday.”

Acting as the keystone of the Marvel Universe block, “Ultimate Spider-Man” features a teenage Peter Parker juggling the typical growing pains of high-school with the not-so-typical growing pains of being a Super Hero.  As the newest member of Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, Peter finds himself on a team with four other teenage Super Heroes.

Produced by Marvel Animation, the series’ award-winning creative team includes Joe Quesada (Marvel’s CCO), Paul Dini (“Batman: The Animated Series,” “Lost”), the creative powerhouse Man of Action Studios (creators of “Ben 10” and “Generator Rex”), comprised of lauded creators Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle; and Brian Michael Bendis (visionary behind Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man comic series).

The voice cast includes Drake Bell (“Superhero,” “Drake & Josh”) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Chi McBride (“Boston Public,” “Pushing Daisies”) as Nick Fury, JK Simmons (“Spider-Man”) as J. Jonah Jameson, Stan Lee (“Spider-Man”) as Stan the Janitor, Clark Gregg (“Iron Man”, “Thor,” “The Avengers”) as Agent Coulson and Steven Weber (“Wings”) as Norman Osborn.

Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand showcasing a compelling mix of live-action and animated programming for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. Disney XD branded content spans television, online, mobile and VOD platforms. The programming includes series, movies and short-form, as well as sports-themed programming developed with ESPN. In the U.S., Disney XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 78 million households via its basic cable and satellite affiliates. For more information visit http://www.DisneyXD.com/

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing.  For more information visit http://www.marvel.com/

I haven’t seen any footage myself from the Ultimate Spider-Man show, but I have heard that it looks like a very fun show. However the most important bit of news, to me, from the above press release is that Clark Gregg will be playing Agent Coleson in the animated universe. This makes me very excited!

Press Release:

AVENGERS VS X-MEN Leads to The Can’t Miss Digital Comic 99 Cents Sale!

New York, NY—December 21, 2011—Not only is everyone talking about Avengers VS X-Men, the comic book event of 2012, but it’s also the holiday season—and that means it’s the perfect time for the most exciting digital comics sale ever! From December 21^st (at 12:01am EST) to December 30^th (at 11:00PM EST), experience the AVENGERS VS X-MEN: MAJOR PLAYERS sale on the Marvel Comics app , featuring some of the most important stories in comics history for only 99 cents per issue!

The world’s greatest super heroes—Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Wolverine and more—go to war with each other in 2012, but now’s your chance to learn all about the Avengers and the X-Men before the first punch is thrown!

Don’t miss a single issue of the Avengers VS X-Men Major Players Sale, including:

• Amazing Spider-Man #546-601
• Astonishing X-Men #1-24 and Astonishing X-Men Giant Size #1
• Captain America #1-24
• Invincible Iron Man #1-24
• New Avengers #1-25
• Thor #1-12, #600-603 and Thor Finale
• Wolverine: Weapon X #1-16

But remember, this is a limited time offer—it all ends on December 30^th! So fire up the Marvel Comics app right now to take advantage of the Avengers VS X-Men Major Players Sale!

Which team will reign supreme? Join the conversation on Twitter with #AvX!

For exclusive Avengers VS X-Men desktop wallpapers visit www.marvel.com

To find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook.

Marvel has announced that the anime version of Iron Man is coming to the U.S. this Friday at 11 PM ET on G4. The show originally aired on Japanese network Animax in October of 2010 and the 12 episode run was fairly successful. The big question is…how successful will it be here in the States?

Marvel has been lightly criticized by anime fans for taking almost a year to bring this series to the states, but I’ve heard mixed reviews about the show so maybe they deliberated over how well it would do here. I haven’t had a chance to see the Iron Man anime yet but I did watch the entire X Men anime run (also by Madhouse production company) and thought it was pretty cool. The show did take a while to get going but once it did it was a fun watch.

I’ve honestly been wondering what non-anime-fan reactions will be to all these regionalized versions of iconic Marvel characters – especially since Wolverine, Iron Man, and the X Men have each had their own anime series created in the past two years.

Watch the new Iron Man anime trailer here and tune in this Friday to G4 to see the premier:

Seen any of the new Marvel anime series? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

The comics summer event. An almost yearly occurrence from the big 2 publishers of comics, DC and Marvel. The subject of much bitching on the internet, yet increased sales prove. As an employee at a local comic shop I see many types of customers with many differing opinions on events. One type of customer, the “Event Completest”, is the person who gets every single issue and tie-in to an event. Even though most times you only need the core event book and occasionally a couple of other tie-ins to get the whole story, there are those that must know every little bit to the story… no matter what! After seeing a couple of these people, myself being one of those with Flashpoint, I wanted to see how much those of us that must have it all will be spending and I feel it is my civic duty to inform you as well.

First up is Flashpoint, the catalyst for the big DC relaunch starting this September. It had a 4 issue prelude in the ongoing Flash series. The event itself is made up of a five issue miniseries, four one-shots,  fifteen 3 issue mini-series, and it ties in with only one ongoing series for three issues. Here is the full checklist with prices:

Prelude/Main Series

Flash #9 – 2.99

Flash #10 – 2.99

Flash #11 – 2.99

Flash #12 – 2.99

Flashpoint #1 – 3.99

Flashpoint #2 – 3.99

Flashpoint #3 – 3.99

Flashpoint #4 – 3.99

Flashpoint #5 – 3.99

Tie-Ins

Abin Sur – The Green Lantern #1 – 2.99

Abin Sur – The Green Lantern #2 – 2.99

Abin Sur – The Green Lantern #3 – 2.99

Batman: Knight of Vengeance #1 – 2.99

Batman: Knight of Vengeance #2 – 2.99

Batman: Knight of Vengeance #3 – 2.99

Booster Gold #44 – 2.99

Booster Gold #45 – 2.99

Booster Gold #46 – 2.99

Citizen Cold #1 – 2.99

Citizen Cold #2 – 2.99

Citizen Cold #3 – 2.99

Deadman and the Flying Graysons #1 – 2.99

Deadman and the Flying Graysons #2 – 2.99

Deadman and the Flying Graysons #3 – 2.99

Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager #1 – 2.99

Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager #2 – 2.99

Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager #3 – 2.99

Emperor Aquaman #1 – 2.99

Emperor Aquaman #2 – 2.99

Emperor Aquaman #3 – 2.99

Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #1 – 2.99

Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #2 – 2.99

Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #3 – 2.99

Green Arrow Industries one shot – 2.99

Grodd of War one shot – 2.99

Hal Jordan #1 – 2.99

Hal Jordan #2 – 2.99

Hal Jordan #3 – 2.99

Kid Flash Lost starring Bart Allen #1 – 2.99

Kid Flash Lost starring Bart Allen #2 – 2.99

Kid Flash Lost starring Bart Allen #3 – 2.99

Legion of Doom #1 – 2.99

Legion of Doom #2 – 2.99

Legion of Doom #3 – 2.99

Lois Lane and the Resistance #1 2.99

Lois Lane and the Resistance #2 2.99

Lois Lane and the Resistance #3 2.99

Project Superman #1 – 2.99

Project Superman #2 – 2.99

Project Superman #3 – 2.99

Reverse Flash one shot – 2.99

Secret Seven #1 – 2.99

Secret Seven #2 – 2.99

Secret Seven #3 – 2.99

The Canterbury Cricket one shot – 2.99

The Outsider #1 – 2.99

The Outsider #2 – 2.99

The Outsider #3 – 2.99

Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 – 2.99

Wonder Woman and the Furies #2 – 2.99

Wonder Woman and the Furies #3 – 2.99

The World of Flashpoint #1 – 2.99

The World of Flashpoint #2 – 2.99

The World of Flashpoint #3 – 2.99

Now if you were to get every little bit Flashpoint your grand total would come to $196.36 . That is quite the investment!

Next up is Marvel’s big crossover, Fear Itself. At this time I can’t give an accurate dollar amount on what you’ll be spending because there is still one more month of Fear Itself that hasn’t been solicited. For now the list goes through issue 6 and its tie ins. So far Fear Itself is made up of one prelude, a seven issue main series, ten mini series, four one-shots, and ties into sixteen ongoings. Here is your checklist (JiM stands for Journey into Mystery) and prices for Fear Itself so far:

*JiM stands for Journey into Mystery

Prelude/Main Series

Book of the Skull – 3.99

Fear Itself #1 – 3.99

Fear Itself #2 – 3.99

Fear Itself #3 – 3.99

Fear Itself #4 – 3.99

Fear Itself #5 – 3.99

Fear Itself #6 – 3.99

Ongoing Tie-ins

Alpha Flight #1 – 3.99

Alpha Flight #2 – 2.99

Alpha Flight #3 – 2.99

Alpha Flight #4 – 2.99

Avengers #13 – 3.99

Avengers #14 – 3.99

Avengers #15 – 3.99

Avengers #16 – 3.99

Avengers #17 – 3.99

Av. Academy #15 – 2.99

Av. Academy #16 – 2.99

Av. Academy #17 – 2.99

Av. Academy #18 – 2.99

Av. Academy #19 – 2.99

Black Panther #521 – 2.99

Black Panther #522 – 2.99

Black Panther #523 – 2.99

Ghost Rider #1 – 3.99

Ghost Rider #2 – 2.99

Ghost Rider #3 – 2.99

Herc #3 – 2.99

Herc #4 – 2.99

Herc #5 – 2.99

Herc #6 – 2.99

Heroes for Hire #9 – 2.99

Heroes for Hire #10 – 2.99

Heroes for Hire #11 – 2.99

Hulk #37 – 2.99

Hulk #38 – 2.99

Inv. Iron Man #503 3.99

Inv. Iron Man #504 3.99

Inv. Iron Man #505 3.99

Inv. Iron Man #506 3.99

Inv. Iron Man #507 3.99

Inv. Iron Man #508 3.99

Iron Man 2.0 #5 – 2.99

Iron Man 2.0 #6 – 2.99

Iron Man 2.0 #7 – 2.99

JiM #622 – 3.99

JiM #623 – 2.99

JiM #624 – 2.99

JiM #625 – 2.99

JiM #626 – 2.99

JiM #627 – 2.99

JiM #628 – 2.99

New Avengers #14 – 3.99

New Avengers #15 – 3.99

New Avengers #16 – 3.99

New Mutants #29 – 2.99

New Mutants #30 – 2.99

New Mutants #31 – 2.99

Secret Avengers #13 – 3.99

Secret Avengers #14 – 3.99

Secret Avengers #15 – 3.99

Thunderbolts #158 – 2.99

Thunderbolts #159 – 2.99

Thunderbolts #160 – 2.99

Thunderbolts #161 – 2.99

Thunderbolts #162 – 2.99

Thunderbolts #163 – 2.99

Uncanny X-Men #540 – 3.99

Uncanny X-Men #541 – 3.99

Uncanny X-Men #542 – 3.99

Uncanny X-Men #543 – 3.99

Minis/One-Shots

Black Widow #1 – 3.99

Deadpool #1 – 2.99

Deadpool #2 – 2.99

Deadpool #3 – 2.99

Fearsome Four #1 – 2.99

Fearsome Four #2 – 2.99

Fearsome Four #3 – 2.99

Fearsome Four #4 – 2.99

Fellowship of Fear – 3.99

FF #1 – 2.99

Hulk vs. Dracula #1 – 2.99

Hulk vs. Dracula #2 – 2.99

Sin’s Past #1 – 4.99

Spider-Man #1 – 2.99

Spider-Man #2 – 2.99

Spider-Man #3 – 2.99

The Deep #1 – 2.99

The Deep #2 – 2.99

The Deep #3 – 2.99

The Deep #4 – 2.99

The Home Front  #1 – 3.99

The Home Front #2 – 3.99

The Home Front #3 – 3.99

The Home Front #4 – 3.99

The Home Front #5 – 3.99

The Home Front #6 – 3.99

The Monkey King – 2.99

The Worthy #1 – 3.99

Uncanny X-Force #1 – 2.99

Uncanny X-Force #2 – 2.99

Uncanny X-Force #3 – 2.99

Wolverine #1 – 2.99

Wolverine #2 – 2.99

Wolverine #3 – 2.99

Youth in Revolt #1 – 2.99

Youth in Revolt #2 – 2.99

Youth in Revolt #3 – 2.99

Youth in Revolt #4 – 2.99

Youth in Revolt #5 – 2.99

Like I said above this still isn’t a complete list of Fear Itself, but up to this point if you are getting everything the damage comes out to $350.96 .

It is kind of eye opening how much events like this cost overall when its actually put in front of you.