I have not read the Hunger Games books yet (though I’ve downloaded them to my Kindle and plan on doing it at some point) so I’m going to be honest: This trailer does nothing for me.

Might it after I read the books? Possibly.

But it looks pretty bland to me. But here’s the trailer. What do you guys think?

DagoBot is on the scene at PAX and this is the first report he fired off.

Greetings from the land of Starbucks and Shmups (aka ‘Bullet Hell’)! Our first day of PAX Prime 2011 was exquisite. The amount of all things gaming here is overwhelming. There is so much to see, play, listen and interact with. Here are a couple of indie gems we stumbled upon while shambling around the convention floor.

The Dishwasher Vampire Smile: This is a sequel to 2009’s, ‘The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai’. However, I didn’t know this since I don’t have XBOX Live Arcade. The stylized art looked fresh when I passed by so I thought I would give it spin. The gameplay was reminiscent of a ‘Super Smash Bros’ beat em up. Some of the basic weapons that I mele-ed with were: Cleavers, shift blades and even a cloud sword. I went in on this for about fifteen minutes and was addicted when I out the controller down. A true side scrolling marvel with over the top violence. http://www.vampiresmile.com/

Fruit Ninja kinect: Slicing food with with agile hand motions has never been so much fun. Or so much fun to watch. I never bought into the Kinect (I don’t own one)…Checking this out made me re-assess my critiques. Your arms are deadly weapons cutting through watermelons, pineapples & pomegranates. Be mindful, avoid ‘the bombs’ or else you get docked points with taunts of bomb loving. This game would be an absolute blast with 4 or 5 friends turning an average night into Shaolin food massacre mastery.

A Space Shooter: A rock solid shoot em up. The production value on this portable, low cost, vertical-scrolling is full of win. Over the top missiles and cannon shenanigans were littered through the ten minutes we tinkered with it. The touch controls were fluid and fun. It’s one of those games that knows what it is and doesn’t try to do too much. It left us wanting more. If you have a couple of bucks laying around and love the shooting game genre, try it out…you won’t be disappointed.

-Dagobot

PS. Silver Surfer NES 1990- one of the worst games ever.

Guest author Kondroid (and yours truly) are here with our third part of this year’s Comiket coverage – The Cosplay of Comiket!

No one is entirely certain who started cosplay, but there is little doubt about who perfected it. Japanese cosplayers are legendary in their design, creation, and modeling of one of the ultimate forms of fan devotion: dressing up and becoming your favorite character.

Cosplaying in Japan is a little different from cosplaying overseas. The cosplay community here is a tight knit group, with a very rigid set of self imposed guidelines in place to preserve the good name of the art. As was previously mentioned in our Guide To Surviving Comiket, one does not simply turn up to an event already in costume (as most of us would do at a western con). To walk around on the streets in costume is a major no-no in Japan. Cosplaying is to be done only in certain predetermined areas and only at certain times – so as not to “inconvenience” the general public by creating a spectacle. Similarly, certain costumes are only welcomed at the appropriate events, especially in the case of themed events (that means that while your Resident Evil zombie cosplay group would fit in perfectly at Tokyo Game Show, it wouldn’t be quite so well received at, say, a Hetalia meet up… unless the people at the event are EXTREMELY familiar with a certain game mode of Call Of Duty… which is highly unlikely).

The reason for such strict regulations is because cosplaying is often associated with Otaku in Japan. And in Japan, to be publicly identified as an Otaku is one of the worst fears many closet fans have. I won’t go into details as to why, as there are many a write up about the subject in existence on the internet already, but suffice it to say there have been some very bad things done in Japan by people who have been identified as Otaku. This is the main reason why the public at large do not hold them in very high regard (“fear and loathing” would be a better description of the popular opinion).

Regardless, the cosplay community in Japan seeks to restore some dignity to their hobby-lifestyle by exhibiting their skill at numerous cosplay events around the country every year. Comiket, as one of the largest cosplay events, is host to some of the greatest examples of high level cosplay you’ll ever see. At this three day cosplay extravaganza you’ll even be able to witness cosplay celebrities displaying their latest creations.

The cosplay sections of Comiket usually wrap up an hour before the actual con does, but there’s nothing saying the day is done for the people in costume. Across the street is a private cosplay event only open to those in character… or willing to fork out ¥2000 (USD $20) for entry. There, cosplayers are free from the prying eyes of the public to pose and shoot the night away. (This event usually goes until about 10 PM every night of the convention.) Afterwards, if you know people who know people, you might be able to find your way to the “dan-pa”, or “cosplay Dance Party”, which goes on to early morning. It’s here that you can see hundreds of cosplayers in a dark strobe lite room swaying to anime songs in an odd but amazing mass-synchronized routine that everyone somehow seems to be familiar with… no matter what the song is.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get to the private “after con” events, but Comiket itself had more than enough cosplay to feast our eyes on.

Check out our gallery from this year’s Comiket yourself! Enjoy!

With Smallville ending this year it was only a matter of time until The CW had another show based on a DC comics property. However if you had given me 5 guesses I would never had guessed Deadman would be in the running. When I first heard the news of a Deadman show possibly happening I was skeptical, until I saw who was going to be in charge of it. According to Deadline, The CW has appointed Eric Kripke to write and executive produce a pilot. Kripke is most known for creating the cult favorite Supernatural for The CW, which will be going into its seventh season this year.  If  anyone can take this mid tier “Supernatural” like character that  most people don’t know and make him a hit on the CW it would be Eric Kripke. As of now there is no word on when the pilot will be filming or if there is any casting.

Created in 1967 by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino. Boston Brand was a trapeze artist in the circus that performed under the name Deadman who was murdered during one of his acts. He wakes up as a ghost with the power to possess anyone. This power was bestowed upon him by the hindu goddess Rama Kushna as a means to track down the one that killed him and bring him to justice. He recently had a rise in popularity and interest as he was one of the main characters in DC’s Brightest Day story.

Will Deadman be given a chance? Or will he end up next to Mercy Reef, the Aquaman show that was never picked up?

In honor of tomorrow night’s new episode of Doctor Who, Ripple Junction has teamed with us to giveaway three officially licensed Doctor Who shirts.

Entering is as simple as can be!

Go like Ripple Junction’s facebook page and send an email to editor (at) bigshinyrobot.com with the subject line “FEZZES ARE COOL” before Monday, August 29th to tell us you’ve done it.

AND: For an extra chance to win, you can go to our facebook page and invite all of your friends to like us. Or you can ask your followers on twitter to follow us @BigShinyRobot. Just be sure to mention in your email that you’ve done it.

The contest closes on Monday, August 29th, so be sure to get your entries in!

If you simply can’t wait to see if you’ve won and want to buy a T-Shirt now, you can visit the Ripple Junction website. Doctor Who isn’t the only license they have. You can get Futurama shirts, The Big Lebowski, Firefly, and dozens of others.

Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson is the stuff of legend.  In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, he brought is into the drug-fueled wasteland of Vegas in past and under Terry Gilliam’s deft direction created one of his most iconic performances.

In The Rum Diary, Depp is sort of recreating that spirit.  There’s a vein of Thompson to be seen in the trailer, but The Rum Diary is a much more subdued and straightforward story with far less drug use than Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Though the trailer seems to work hard to make it feel like a new Fear and Loathing, the book is nothing like that.  This does look good though.

You tell me: Is this something you think you’d like to see? Or does it seem too much like they’re trying to have lightning strike in the same place twice?

Guest author Kondroid is here with the second part of this year’s Comiket coverage – his Guide to Surviving Comiket!

As discussed in our first article, attending Comiket can be a pretty harrowing experience for the unprepared. If you’re ever planning on attending Comiket, here are ten pointers which will make the experience a little easier to bear.

1- ACCOMMODATION. Don’t expect to be staying anywhere near the convention center itself. Any room that will still be available (hint: better luck finding a speck of pepper on a black sand beach) will be astronomically priced. Find somewhere to stay elsewhere in the city and just take the train in like everyone else does.

2- GETTING THERE. As mentioned above, take the train. The Yurikamome line or the Rinkai line will take you right to the convention center… the only issue will be, it will seem like everyone one else in the entire city will also be riding the train that day. Overcrowding does not even being to describe it. Be prepared for the worst. Once you get out, don’t even worry about trying to find the convention center if you’re not sure where it is. Just follow…

3- THE LINE. Expect to be in it for a long time. “Oh, I’ve been in long lines before–” … no. Not like this, you haven’t. The world “Colossal” does not do this line justice. It starts early in the morning, as overnight line waiting is not allowed, meaning the truly devoted have no choice but to catch “first train”, normally getting there around 5am. By the time the doors open at 10am the line stretches further than you can see, from every corner of the massive Tokyo Big Sight convention center.

Bringing a DS or PSP should be a must-have – anything to take your mind off the tedious standing/shuffling around (they will move the crowds into more organized lines closer to opening time, so be ready to move when they tell you).

4- FOOD. Surprisingly, food is not too over-priced at the various vendors inside and around the convention center. Still, it’s probably a better idea to bring something to eat and drink with you. Bring something to keep you going while waiting in the line in the morning, as well as something to munch on over the course of the day. Just a note, though: try not to walk around while eating, as Japanese people consider it rude (don’t ask me why, no one really knows for sure!).

– Food vendors outside the convention center. –

– If you’ve got plenty of ¥100 ($1) coins with you, then you can take advantage of the many vending machines around. Just be warned that under heavy traffic they can run low (or empty) of your favorites (Have you tried Pocari Sweat yet? It’s a must when trying Japanese vending machine drinks for the first time!) –

5- INSIDE. Once you get in to the halls themselves, good luck trying to navigate the sea of people. Comiket is divided into several halls, each of which is the size of several football fields. Depending on what day you’re attending, those halls will be divided into different themes based on what is available in each area. If you’re attending in hopes of finding something particular, your best bet would be to purchase the Comiket Catalog before you come (available at comic stores around Tokyo, as well as online), so you’ll know exactly where (and when) to find the vendors you’re after. Once you find them, however, depending on how popular the circle in question is, you may be required to wait in ANOTHER line just to purchase their doujin. If you’re only interested in doujin from top circles, you may find yourself standing in lines all day and only having a handful of comics to show for it.

6- WHAT DAY TO GO. Yes, this makes a massive difference. Because there are so many circles vying to get in to peddle their wares at Comiket, they’ve had to restrict who is allowed to sell what on certain days. As a result, days have “themes” assigned to them. Day one is “girls day”, with the majority of vendors displaying all manner of homoerotic match ups from everything you can think of (even if you didn’t want to imagine what a romance between Yoshi and Luigi would look like). Day two is devoted to more “normal” stuff, with day three being the biggest: “guy’s day”, with your regular run-of-the-mill hentai stuffs (largely devoted to whatever the current popular anime is – this years favorite was ‘Madoka.’).

7- SHOPPING. If you’re planning on buying anything, please don’t whip out a ¥10000 (about USD $100) bill for that ¥300 (about USD $3) comic and expect to see a smile on the vendor’s face. If they run out of change, they do not have the luxury of dashing off to get some more. Carry around a stack of ¥1000s ($10’s) in your wallet and you will be everyone’s friend. Also, if you missed out on picking up that Naruto doujin from your favorite artist you had had your heart set on, not to worry… There’s a pretty good chance you might be able to pick it up in Akihabara or Otome Road from one of the many doujinshi re-sellers that exist… for an exorbitant mark up (the average price for a doujin sold at Comiket is about ¥500 ($5). To find one of these doujin at a shop later may run you ¥1500 to ¥5000 ($15 – $50), depending on how rare and in demand it was. Some doujin can ever make it as high as ¥10000+ ($100+)… suddenly you can see why there is such a rush to be the first one in the doors to buy a certain doujin before it sells out).

8- COSPLAY. This is important. If you are planning on cosplaying in Japan (this goes for anything, not just Comiket), DO NOT WEAR YOUR COSTUME TO THE EVENT. This is considered to be in extremely bad taste by Japanese cosplayers. There are changing areas where you are expected to change into your costumes (once inside the con) and storage areas for you to ditch your bags. This year’s Comiket saw a “crackdown” on skimpy costumes, with new rules such as “no visible underwear” and “not too much exposed flesh” being enforced…. This didn’t stop everyone from pushing the envelope, though.

– Cosplayers will often show up with a suitcase containing their costume and change once they have reached the designated changing areas. There are places to check your suitcase during the day so you don’t have to lug it around. –

Once you’re in costume, you’re free to walk around anywhere you like. Just be prepared to be inundated with requests to pose if you’re in the cosplay photo area. (Note: if your costume is particularly good, you may be getting more requests than you can handle. Feel free to say no if you wish.)

9- PHOTOS. Common sense prevails when photographing cosplayers. Always ask. Even if there is a crowd of people already taking photos themselves, always ask. There’s one catch, though: do not, I repeat DO NOT take photos of cosplayers outside of the designated cosplay photos areas. YOU WILL BE KICKED OUT IF YOU DO NOT ADHERE TO THIS RULE. This is not an exaggeration. The rule applies to attendees taking photos, attendees having their photos taken, cosplaying vendors sitting at their booths, and even staff in costume. The one exception is the corporate booths who employ professional cosplayers to dress as their characters, but even then, you still need to ask. One note of courtesy would be try not to clog up foot traffic, as that was the main reason the rule was created in the first place.

– Cosplay photography: don’t do it like this guy… unless you ask first. –

10- LEAVING. As was mentioned in my last article, once 4pm rolls around the whole  con shuts down for the day. By that time the majority of the crowd will have disbursed. Everyone will have picked up what they were after and headed home – or off to Akihabara to sell their swag and/or find what they had missed out on while it may still be in stock at the doujin re-sellers (for probably triple its original price). The congestion getting back to the city is just as bad as getting to the con itself and goes well into the night. If you’re not in a hurry to get anywhere, your best bet would be to jump on the train heading in the OTHER direction (away from the city), go a few stops till the train gets to the end of the line and turns around, thus ensuring you’ll have a seat all the way back! (common sense, you would think, but only ever see a handful of people exploiting this seemingly obvious tactic).

And that’s it!
So do you think you have what it takes to tackle the biggest con in the world? (or more importantly, now that you know what it’s all about, would you even want to?)
x__x

…check out part three of our Comiket coverage coming tomorrow – The Cosplay of Comiket!

Before I start today’s column, let me apologize for the hiatus, let’s just say I was trapped in the Speed Force. Speaking of, I’m coming up on the first anniversary of doing these Secret Origins columns, and my first subject ever was The Flash. While the column has evolved a bit since then, I thought for a (near) one year anniversary, I’d revisit the Flash family with the guy who started it all. So hold on to your silver, wing-tipped hats for the Secret Origin of Jay Garrick, The Golden Age Flash!

Our story begins at Midwestern University, an Ivy league school if ever I’ve heard of one. “Unknown” student Jay Garrick is trying to get a date with the lovely Joan Williams. Luck isn’t on Jay’s side though. Joan refuses to go out with our hero, because he has potential to be a great student, and a football star, but he’s just a scrub. As she puts it, Jay is “an old washerwoman.” Ouch.

"Run fast AND stand still! My advice may not be the best, now that I think about it."

Regardless of his (lack of) football prowess, Jay is the determined sort. If he can’t get ahead on the gridiron, he will excel in his studies. And so, Jay finds himself in the science lab, tirelessly working on experiments in hard water. Now, I don’t know if the 1940’s definition of hard water is different that it is today, but I don’t think there is much to be learned from water with high mineral content. Heck, if you were to ask the average person what hard water was, they’d answer “Isn’t that ice?” I don’t think we’ll ever really know though, because of the silliest origin sequence this side of Bouncing Boy!

The Surgeon General left the warnings for potential superpowers off the pack.

As a result of Jay’s inhaling smoke, he’s forced to… inhale smoke. That is, the fumes the hard water gives off are too much for Jay and he is forced to breathe them all night as he becomes unconscious. Eventually, he’s found the next morning. While he was in a coma for weeks, doctors then weren’t like doctors today, so was treated well and got better. While Jay is in bed convalescing, his professor and his doctor are talking about some really, really garbage science about how hard water makes a man’s reflexes speed up. So Jay, having practically bathed in its essence, will be “the fastest thing that has walked the Earth!” I can imagine it now, The amazing adventures of Power Walker! Jay decides he’s all better when he sees his unrequited love, Joan out the window. He’s off like a whirlwind, literally! He gets to Joan before she can take another step. Yes friends, the first thing Jay does with his powers is to try to impress the girl. Honestly, this is probably what any of us would do, but still, not exactly heroic is it? Neither is Joan’s response to these new advances…

Even in the 40's guys would do incredibly irresponsible things because a woman tells them to.

Before you know it, it’s time for the state game! Jay’s raring to go, but he’s still warming his buns on the bench. His coach still thinks of him as a scrub, after all. Jay laments that he’ll never get on the field unless everyone else is injured. Inexplicably this happens. I don’t want to imply that Jay broke a bunch of his fellows legs using super speed, but man, that guy wants a date really badly. When Jay is finally on the field, he’s greeted with boos and catcalls. Jay shuts everyone up quick as a Flash though, when he zips around the field like a road runner on uppers. Single-handed, Jay brings the team to victory from a 30-point deficit. After the game is over, he basks in the glow of victory.

"And in this age of no drug tests, I'm off with no consequences. the '40's are awesome!"

Now the story takes a bit of a time jump, Jay graduates with honors, and is going to be an assistant professor at New York’s Coleman University, while Joan is off to help her father research “atomic bombarders“. Apparently in the intervening time, we can infer that Jay has forsaken using his powers for personal gain (now that he has what he wanted) and gained a social conscience, because one night, as he reads the paper…

So the true Secret Origin of this Flash, he just decides to up and fight crime one day.

We then cut to some gangsters complaining about how the Flash has disrupted their operations, and then Jay putting his costume away. It feels like a complete cop-out to have the Flash’s true first adventure not shown. Instead, we’re treated to Jay playing tennis with himself. It’s a time-honored Flash tradition, but he’s doing this as Jay, and wouldn’t you know it, Joan just happens to be along and recognizes his fast moves instantly (she’d know, after all). Joan starts to explain that her father has been kidnapped, but just then, a car passing by fires a gun at Joan! Quicker than you can blink, Jay pulls off another time-honored Flash gimmick…

"How can you pull off yellow pants with having a monkey companion?!"

Before Jay can learn about Joan’s missing dad, we have an interlude with a quartet of evil men, who are now sure with the “death” of Joan, their prisoner, Major Williams will surely give away the information they need for his Atomic Bombarder. Mr. Williams is a canny bloke, though. Even though he thinks his daughter dead, he knows she wouldn’t want him to give away war secrets! Since interrogating the major is an exercise in futility, one of the four decides to visit Joan’s house in the guise of an undertaker to hopefully find some clues. Sadly for him, he asks Jay is he knows the “dead girl”, playing his hand much too soon. Joan reveals herself as well, and the villain freaks out and leaves. Joan explain the sitch to Jay, and he gives chase as only he can.

Two things, Jay. A) You can't exceed the speed of light, and B) Did you even bother to get the license number?

By sheer luck (or the advantages of moving at the speed of light), Jay manages to find the “undertaker” and follow him back to his hideout. When he gets to the lair of those who call themselves the “Faultless Four”, he makes his presence known. As you might guess, bullets start flying, and The Flash uses his speed tricks to pluck bullets out of the air again. After this display, Flash decides to not waste his time on the bad guys, and rushes around looking for Joan’s daddy. He isn’t having a large amount of luck, having searched the entire compound to no avail. Suddenly, he notices a trap door. That couldn’t possibly be a trap, could it? Nah, it’s is a freaky mirrored room where Major Williams is being kept, though.

Super speed piggybacking, fine travel for the distinguished gentleman.

The Flash zips the major back to the waiting arms of Joan, because the gangsters wouldn’t possibly try to get them again! To is credit, Flash zooms back to eavesdrop on the quirky quartet, and learns of their inexplicably insane plan. Even more inexplicable is that the Flash lets them go ahead with it! What is this nefarious plan you ask? One of the four is going to fly above the crowds of Coney Island raining down machine gun fire, to throw off suspicion that they’re going after the Williams’ again. Genius in its simplicity, isn’t it. I think the Flash is addicted to plucking bullets out of the air, because he does it yet again…

"Yippee! Maybe there will be more bullets to catch!"

The Flash effortlessly rescues Joan. The villains, clearly desperate, try to retreat back to their hideout. Flash is there in no time, and he’s ready to end this, even going so far as to say “No Mercy”. When he does face the foursome in their den of deviousness, the de facto leader, Mr. Satan throws a switch that’ll kill everyone in the room, Flash included. The thing about the Flash though, is he’s very fast. and follows Satan outside. The other three are quite dead though. Satan is at his wit’s end now, and tries to escape in his new car. He apparently equates newness with speed. Of course the Flash gives chase, and Mr. Satan just gives up the ghost, as it were in a most grisly way…

It looks like he's just standing there watching the guy die, actually.

And so, Jay meets back up with Joan as the adventure comes to an end. Major Williams is astonished by the great feats of the Flash and would love to know more about him. He asks his daughter what she knows, but with a wink and a promise, she keeps Jay’s secret better than he ever has in this story. Maybe she’s a keeper after all!

The Golden Age Flash’s career would last throughout WWII, and he’d lose his hard edge after a while to become the upstanding speedster we know today. If not for Jay Garrick, we never would have had any other Flashes, practically no Silver Age of comics, and certainly no concept of multiple Earths. Whether anyone realizes it or not, Jay Garrick is the linchpin that ties the DC Universe together, even today. Here’s hoping he’ll surface in the New DC Universe sooner rather than later. It has been said it’s not speed that counts, but endurance, but if history has shown us anything, The Golden Age Flash has both in spades, and I’m sure we’ll see him again!

This story originally appeared in Flash Comics #1 January, 1940. It has been reprinted countless times, such as the Golden Age Flash Archives Vol. 1. It is also available digitally.

Locke and Key is a comic book published by IDW that is written and created by the New York Times best selling author Joe Hill, the son of  legendary horror writer Stephen King. Locke and Key is the story of a mansion, called keyhouse, that has all sorts of doors in it that transform the people that walk through them. There is also  a hate-filled creature in the house that will stop at nothing to open a specific door that hide something terrible.

Fox had optioned the series to produce as a TV show, but changed their minds after filming the pilot. They passed on the show not because they thought it wouldn’t do well, but because it would have been too expensive to keep the quality of the show as high as they wanted to. Here is the trailer for the Locke and Key television show that was set to air on Fox.

I myself have never read the series, but after watching this trailer I think I’m gonna check it out!

It’s time for another contest!

We’ll be giving away a Blu-ray copy of Green Lantern Emerald Knights to one lucky reader!

This was a great addition to the DC Animated Universe and featured the voices of Nathan Fillion, Henry Rollins, and Rowdy Roddy Piper. It was easily the best Green Lantern film that came out this year.

To enter, all you need to do is shoot us an email at editor (at) bigshinyrobot.com. Make the subject line read “HEY POOZER!”

AND: For an extra chance to win, you can go to our facebook page and invite all of your friends to like us. Or you can ask your followers on twitter to follow us @BigShinyRobot. Just be sure to mention in your email that you’ve done it.

The contest closes on Monday, August 29th, so be sure to get your entries in!

If you don’t want to wait to see if you’ve won, you can snag it on Amazon now.

Good luck!