Funimation released several really cool announcements at their Industry Panel yesterday. Here’s the roundup of the biggest news:

Funimation.com is hosting “The Summer of Streaming” in which you will be able to watch over 5,000 episodes of anime for free. The reporters over at Funimation “did the math” and informed us that 5,000 episodes is roughly “100 days of anime” which is pretty awesome! Even better – you can track what you’ve watched using their Summer of Streaming Checklist. On top of all the free anime, they’re also hosting several contests in which they’ll be giving away neat anime-themed stuff, so I’d say anime fans should definitely rush right over to their website and enjoy the awesomeness! Currently the theme is “Beach Week” so when you head over you’ll see beach themed episodes from shows like Ouran High School Host Club, Hetalia, Witchblade, Air Master, School Rumble and Heaven’s Lost Property.

"Ouran High School Host Club"

Funimation also announced that they’ve acquired North American distribution rights to Deadman Wonderland for 2012. The show will be available streaming on their website this year, so I’m glad that they’ll also be bringing the show to us on DVD and Blu-ray. I watched through a few episodes this spring in the original Japanese and found it pretty interesting. (You can read my review of episode one here.)

Baka and Test – Summon the Beast‘s second season (Baka to Test to Shokanju Ni!) – has also been picked up by Funimation to stream online for free just days after it airs in Japan later this month. If you haven’t watched Baka and Test yet, you are definitely missing out! The show is a crazy blend of high school comedy and drama; rpg-esque, summoning-based video game themes; and mayhem. Yes, I’m aware that what I’ve given seems like a strange description – but it fits. “Class F” is a group of complete and absolute failures… and you’ll find yourself rooting for them all the way.

“>Watch episode one and see what you’ve been missing!

Also acquired by Funimation for release in the U.S. are [C] – Control – The Money and Soul of Possibility,  Steins; Gate, and the “risque comedy” B Gata H Kei – Yamada’s First Time.

B Gata H Kei follows “Yamada, a boy-crazy school girl with distracting daydreams about future bedmates – but before she can get this saucy sex life underway, she realizes she first needs to lose her virginity! She knows to whom she will bestow this prize: her classmate Kosuda. However, a successful seduction of Kosuda is more difficult than this lusty teen had counted on.” (…Oh my!)

“B Gata H Kei – Yamada’s First Time”

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more updates from Anime Expo 2011 here at Big Shiny Robot!

Ah, the old run down shack. Always a go-to for serial cliffhangers. Of course Captain America is no exception. If you really think they’d let anyone, let alone an innocent “girl” get blown up in one of these though… Anyway, one thing I like to note in the chapter, is the noise that the thug makes when he falls to his doom. It’s actually a little evocative of the “Wilhelm Scream”, even though it pre-dates it by about a decade or so. I do have to wonder what films would be like if they all had the “Republic Scream” instead. Also, apologies on how murky this chapter is in parts. That’s what you get with a cheaply produced VHS copy, I guess. Even so, don’t let it sully your enjoyment of Chapter 11 of Captain America: The Dead Man Returns!

This week’s supplement is lacking again, I’m afraid. It’s just another high-res screenshot, but at least this one has Cap punching a dude out! You could even Photoshop his mustache a little, and he’s a dead ringer for Hitler! And there’s nothing more patriotic than the living embodiment of America socking a Nazi in the jaw! Happy 4th of July everyone!

Anime Expo in Los Angeles is now under way and there are already some big announcements being made.

Viz Media announced today during their panel that they will be releasing both the Professor Layton Film – Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (2009, Japan), and the Bleach Film – Bleach: Fade to Black (2008, Japan) – this fall on DVD and Blu-ray. (I know I’ve said this a lot about DVD and Blu-ray releases from Japan lately but…Finally! Two to three years is a long time!)

Viz also announced that they will be premiering Season Two of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Demon Capital – simultaneously with the Japanese premier on Sunday, July 3rd over at their website.

“Based on the bestselling manga series by Hiroshi Shiibashi, the story follows young Rikuo, a typical junior high school student… But little does anyone know – he’s 1/4 yokai, and heir to the fearsome Nura Clan, leader of all the yokai! He’s successfully navigated the territory conflict against the Shikoku yokai in Season 1, but now he must contend with the most powerful enemy yet – the Hagoromo-Gitsune and her Kyoto yokai!”

If you need to catch up, go marathon through all of Season One at Viz’s Webite or over at Hulu. This cool trailer for Season One should give you a good idea of what you’re in for.

To celebrate the premier of Season Two, Viz is also giving away Volume 1 of the Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan manga for a limited time through their digital device Manga App (for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch). Go download it now before it’s too late!

Stay tuned for more updates from Anime Expo 2011 here at Big Shiny Robot!

Well, This is the last entry for Green Lantern month here at Secret Origins. It’s been a wild ride, but let’s be honest, most Green Lantern origins are startlingly similar. “Ooh I inherited a ring, I am gonna make giant boxing gloves and stuff now, I guess.” Today’s Lantern is decidedly different. Not only is he not a member of the Green Lantern Corps, but he’s also the prototypical Lantern. How can that be, you may ask? Well, it’s because he’s the first, and still one of the greatest. He’s Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern!

The story of the original Green Lantern starts eons ago with the Guardians of the Universe. One day, those “lovable” blue overlords created the Central Power Battery and the Green Lantern Corps themselves. This was considered good, but those wee totalitarians also decided to banish all magic in the universe into the heart of a star, because hey, why not? Eventually, the Starheart gained a kind of sentience, and broke a part of itself off, and it in turn found itself approaching a small blue/green world of little importance in the milky way galaxy.  Gravity did its work and drew the fragment of the Starheart into the Earth. Smack dab into ancient China, specifically. When it landed, the Starheart made an ominous statement…

One man, named Chang the Lampmaker, was unafraid to approach the meteor. While many of the townsfolk were afraid of the glowing green rock (Kryptonians visiting ancient Earth maybe), Chang takes it and forms it into an ornate lamp.A historical note, here, Alan Scott was originally called Alan Ladd, evoking Aladdin and his lamp. At the time, there was a famous actor by the same name, so the publisher changed it at the 11th hour. Back to the story, the lamp itself looks pretty great, but because this is taking place in a time of extreme ignorance, the other villagers assume that Chang is an evil  guy for messing with green fire. So when his work is complete, poor Chang doesn’t get to admire his handiwork for long…

And so, Chang dies. You might think this fulfills the prophecy that the Starheart recited earlier, in an ironic Twilight Zone twist, but you’d be wrong. This is comics, so as soon as one of Chang’s murderers touches the lamp, it emits its green flame and incinerates the attackers and the house when the murder took place. After that, the lamp passed through the hands of many owners. It brought luck and fortune to the good, and destruction to the wicked. That’s what I want out of my magic lamp, a moral compass. Eventually, the lamp made its way to 1940’s Gotham City, because yes, the city can exist without Batman. You’re forgiven for instantly thinking Batman though, because it does come into the possession of an inmate at Arkham Asylum. The inmate murdered his stockbroker after the 1929 crash, he also liked to work with metal, so he fashions the lamp into a train lantern. After this task is completed, the lamp decides after many centuries to fulfill the second part of the prophecy…

And so, the man inexplicably is allowed to walk free. What of the newly minted train lantern, though? Well, as luck would have it, it came to be used on a train! And while it took centuries for the second prophecy to be fulfilled, the third would only take a few days. We find Alan Scott and his assistant Jimmy Henton testing a new trestle bridge built by Scott’s company. Jimmy is concerned with a man named Dekker, who lost out on the bid for the bridge. Jim thinks Dekker is going to somehow sabotage things. Jimmy is a pretty astute guy, because the bridge is blown up. In the wreckage, Alan finds Jimmy dead, but what is in store for him will change his life forever…

The Starheart/Lantern continues with its spiel, tell Alan to fashion a portion of itself into a ring to be a focus for the power. As such, the ring must be touched to the lantern every 24 hours to recharge its link. To me, this actually makes more sense than the Corps’ version of the 24-hour limit where it seems much more arbitrary. Anyway, as Alan forms the ring, he has thoughts of revenge on Dekker, even contemplating murder. The ring has other ideas, though. It seems to give Alan some clarity of mind, and ultimately Alan decides to bring Dekker to justice rather than vengeance.

Alan is surprised to find himself streaking through the sky like a green comet, making a bee-line for Dekker’s “place of business”. Once there, Dekker immediately outs himself as the mastermind of the bridge explosion, going so far to say some of the overhead he’s going to charge the government when they’re forced to take his bid will cover the costs of the explosion itself. So yeah, he’s kind of a dick. At this point, Alan makes his appearance and freaks everyone right out by his method of entry.

Of course, bullets are pretty futile. Really now, the guy just walked through your wall! Do you really think bullets won’t go right through, too? Dekker is convinced Alan is just playing up the “superstitious, cowardly lot” aspect of villainy and tells his goons to keep at it. These thugs are apparently paid pretty well, because they comply, even though they aren’t very effective.

Even though he is full of green fighting fury, Alan is felled by a wooden paperweight, revealing his ring’s only weakness. Alan is a hearty specimen though. He gets right back on his feet, and although the ring isn’t working, his fists still do! He takes out the remaining thugs easily and it’s just down to Scott and Dekker…

Alan gets Dekker to submit, and flies him across the Grand Canyon, scaring the ever-loving crap out of the unscrupulous cretin. At this point, Alan makes him write a confession admitting all of his wrongdoing. I don’t think that this confession would be considered valid seeing that Dekker is obviously doing it because he’s being threatened. It really doesn’t matter though, because as soon as the confession is signed, Dekker dies of fright. Alan scoffs, saying it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Now don’t get me wrong, I like Alan Scott, but the way this is written, it really seems like Alan is just protecting his business interests rather than being truly heroic.

Thankfully, Alan Scott realizes that he has been given great power, and he can use it to help the weak and oppressed, because that’s what Golden Age heroes do, dammit! But to be a Mystery Man, he needs an alter ego. Using the source of his power as his new moniker, he dons one of the most garish unique costumes ever…

After these humble beginnings, Alan Scott, aka Green Lantern, has had one of the most storied careers in comic history. Other than a brief hiatus, Alan has brought emerald justice to the world for nearly 70 years, and is still serving actively today. While DC Comics has said that they’re putting the Golden Age heroes, Alan included, to the side for a while, you can’t keep a good ring-slinger down. I’m certain that the first Green Lantern will grace many a comic page in the years to come!

This story was originally published in Secret Origins vol. 2 #18 September, 1987. It’s never been reprinted to my knowledge, so keep an eye on your back issue bins!

I’m so all in for this movie.

I liked the first and third Mission: Impossible movies and adding perhaps one of my favorite directors (Brad Bird – Iron Giant, Incredibles, Ratatouille) into the mix works for me on about every level. Plus Simon Pegg? This is a nerd’s wet dream.

And this movie really does look incredible. This is going to be fun, well-scripted, and well-directed. The action looks amazing and… wow… I’m stunned.

My only complaint? That song they used in the middle of the trailer… It’s not a song, really, but whatever it was… It was terrible and they should have done better.

In any case, what do you guys think of this?

It hits theatres in December.

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Ultimate Comics Ultimates #1, from the critically acclaimed creative team of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic! Iron Man, Hawkeye, Nick Fury & Thor are back together after the monumental events of Ultimate Comics Fallout! One of the biggest villains that ever faced the Ultimate Universe has returned. But with a teammate out of action, can the remaining members save the world as they struggle to find their place in the Ultimate Universe?   Ultimate Comics Universe Reborn kicks off this August in Ultimate Comics Ultimates #1!

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #1 (JUN110620)
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN

Art by ESAD RIBIC

Cover by KAARE ANDREWS

Variant Cover by ESAD RIBIC

Rated T+ …$3.99

FOC – 08/01/11, ON SALE – 08/24/11

I feel the need to preface this review with a few facts about me regarding the Sonic comics in general. In short, I am not a fan of them. I read a few of them back when I was twelve, and they were OK then, but trying to read them now is an exercise in WTF-ness for me. The storylines are very complex and I always felt that I needed a scorecard to know all the players. The irony is not lost on me that this is how a lot of people who try to get into Marvel or DC feel like. That being said, when I heard about the Sonic: Genesis storyline starting in Sonic #226, my interest was piqued. Not only did I think that I could enjoy it without a headache, I also have a young niece who is just learning to read and is crazy about Sonic. Does it pass our combined litmus test? Well, yes and no… Mostly yes.

Sonic knows things, and yet he doesn't. Strange things afoot...

As a jumping on point, the book is pitch-perfect. You can jump into the issue not knowing a lick about Sonic. Everything you need to know is laid out for you, and the various characters (re)introduced in the story appear naturally and the story flows well. Ian Flynn definitely knows his Sonic-lore. In fact, most everything in this issue has a basis in either the original Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega Genesis, or the much beloved Sonic SatAm animated series from the 90’s.

The art looks like it leaped off the screen an onto the comic page.

The story begins with Sonic trying to rescue some missing animals, just like the original 16-bit game. Along the way, he finds out their fate, and faces Snively, a lackey of Dr. Robotnik Eggman from the animated series. Eventually Sonic meets up with the Freedom Fighters for the first time, and they team up and in turn face Eggman for the first time. The story ends rather abruptly, with the Freedom Fighters continuing to take the fight to Eggman. Regardless of the negatives I’m about to point out, I’m eagerly awaiting part 2 of “Genesis” and that’s something I never suspected would happen.

Now for the negatives I just mentioned. Now, I am not well-steeped in Sonic lore, but I do have a rudimentary understanding. To me, it seems like this re-imagined world is cherry picking events from the previous one to be more streamlined, and that’s great. I mean, it’s kind of hard to work things into an ongoing story according to the edicts of a game company. Case in point, in the United States, The man who is now called Dr. Eggman was originally called Dr. Robotnik. When the Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure came out in 1999, Sega decided to use the Japanese name of Dr. Eggman in all territories with little to no explanation. The comics took a different tack involving clones, or alternate reality versions of the same mustachioed villain. It was all very confusing. It seems Flynn and company are taking this opportunity to just make things easier to understand. The negative aspects come in because while this is great for new readers, people who are well versed in the Sonic comics just had the rug unceremoniously pulled out from under them. It’s actually brings to mind fanboy fear of the upcoming DC Relaunch as to what from the past counts or not. While there are little seeds in the story that hint that all may not be as it seems (Sonic seems to know more than he should, Sonic and Sally are very familiar for people who’ve just met), it remains to be seen how everything is going to play out.

On the art side of things, the team of Patrick Spaziante, Tracy Yardley and Terry Austin(!) absolutely nail it! The character designs are a nice mix of the old and the new, everyone seems to be in proportion and it literally looks like the old Genesis graphics were translated into pencil and ink. From the environment to the characters, almost everything absolutely pops off the page. That’s in no small part to the colors by Matt Herms. It’s pleasing to the eye and never garish. The only oddity I could pick out is that, the characters seem to use their latter-day designs except for Dr. Eggman, who looks like he did in the Genesis days. I am not sure if this is for a future story reason or not, but it was noticeably jarring, at least for me.

Yes, Snively still snivels, and Sonic still has "attitude".

The real test of course was my niece’s reaction. To her, continuity, especially Sonic continuity doesn’t matter in the least bit. The various games, shows, and yes, comics she’s been exposed to have at least 6 different incarnations of Sonic & friends. All she wants is to be entertained. The comic fit the bill. Her favorite parts were those with Boomer Walrus. Whenever he’s show up on panel, she insisted I call him BOOMer, putting the emphasis on the boom. When I asked the kidlet if you had five of Sonic’s rings to give this comic based on how good it was, how many would you give it, she said 5 and a half. While I myself would give the issue a solid 4 rings, I can’t think of a better endorsement than that of a 5-year old enamored with all things Sonic.

The bottom line is if you were always intimidated by the Sonic comic-verse, this is the perfect time to jump in, and if you have younglings that you just want to share your love of comics with, you can’t go wrong with Sonic the Hedgehog #226. It’ll be out in comic shops this Wednesday, pick it up, won’t you?

My rating:

My niece’s rating:

You’ll have to excuse the punny headline, but it is very apt. To honor both the Rocketeer’s 20th Anniversary and Dave Stevens, its creator, John Banana whipped up this great little animated short. Check it out below.

While the tone isn’t exactly like the original source material, the Pixar-like adventures of the Rocketeer are something I’d watch in a heartbeat. A fine tribute indeed. You can see Mr. Banana’s other work at Digital Banana Studios.

Today we’ll be going back in time to 1988 – a time when Nintendo was booming and the NES was becoming the most successful home video gaming console of its time.

It’s no secret that I love Nintendo. When I was born in 1986 my parents had already purchased a Nintendo Entertainment System and had owned an Atari for many years. My mother gave me her favorite NES game – The Legend of Zelda – when I was four years old, and I was immediately hooked. And although my parents stopped playing video games around when the N64 came out (it was 3D and had moved beyond what my parents loved in classic gaming), they still bought us Nintendo games every year at Christmas. (Something for which I am truly grateful. I still have every cartridge and they all work beautifully.)

So when a friend sent me this VHS upload of an old 20/20 segment about Nintendo in 1988, I found it to be the perfect opportunity to discuss Nintendo ‘then and now’ – chip shortages, video games as a relatively new form of home entertainment, the fear of violence in video games, and the wild suspicions once held that video games could possibly make children go “brain-dead!”

NUTS FOR NINTENDO special on ABC news 20/20 from 1988 from Steven Hertz on Vimeo.

In 1988, America was wrapped up in the “chip shortages” that caused NES games to be extremely hard to get around the holidays. This was due to the fact that Nintendo could not produce enough memory chips required for use in each cartridge. Rumor has it that Nintendo didn’t want to pay higher prices for other companies to provide them with additional memory chip supply, so they continued to have shortages through each holiday season.

Although Nintendo has always had a history of shortages (like the chip shortage that caused the Wii to be in such high demand the first few years after its release), these shortages have almost always been in response to the consumer wildly buying up Nintendo’s product from Thanksgiving to January each year. It’s pretty amazing to see some of the parents in this 1988 segment who drove hundreds of miles just to line up at a store that might get them a copy of Super Mario Brothers 2 (Super Mario USA in Japan).

Famicom games like Super Mario USA can still be bought in Tokyo at stores like "Super Potato" in the Akihabara district.

Dragon Quest III prompted similar overnight lines in 1988 in Japan, and I can tell you that nothing has changed since then. You can still see expansive lines for popular game releases in Tokyo today, even with the wildly successful pre-order policies at major retailers. (I personally sat in of these huge lines last year during the Japanese release of Dragon Quest IX. No surprise considering Dragon Quest has been one of the most popular Nintendo franchises in Japan since the release of the first Dragon Warrior in 1986.)

Dragon Quest in Japan - 1986

More recently in America, the Wii Fit has been the real in-demand item around the holidays, and it’s possible that we may see shortages of other new games in 2011 due to the Great Tohoku Quake and Tsunami. Nintendo has assured the world that shipments will be largely unaffected by the quake (especially since the 3Ds is assembled in China), but time will tell when holiday shopping kicks into high gear later this year.

Another concern of the video game buying parents of 1988 was the fear that playing video games could possibly promote violent behavior in children. This fear was certainly nowhere near what it is today (or what it came to be in the early 90’s after the release of the wildly successful Midway game Mortal Kombat) but it’s interesting to hear the concern that was voiced about shooting a cartoon duck. I couldn’t help but laugh when the host of this segment admitted that he and his wife played Duck Hunt until midnight and were fully supportive of their four year old playing the game as well. (Here’s to awesome parents!)

Duck Hunt Box Art in America

What’s really most interesting about watching this segment today is that it was during a time that was the beginning of a huge cultural phenomenon around the world. Think about how many millions of people worldwide play video games every day, and how so many of us have forged at least some part of our identities around a passion for gaming and video games in general. With the advent of the internet and multiplayer online gaming, we’ve inter-connected these cultures even more and allowed for social and cross-cultural exchange over both cooperation and conflict in all the various gaming universes. (Certainly I’m chatting a lot more with someone helping me to look for treasure than I am with the avatar I’m trying to snipe from across the virtual desert, but you get my point.)

I can’t wait to see what Nintendo is going to bring us with the release of the Wii U next year, and I’ll be reserving my system long before it releases in hopes that I might avoid some of those holiday shortages! What’s been your favorite Nintendo product of all time? Sound off in the comments below!

I think the premise of the cliffhanger leading into this week’s chapter is a bit silly. I mean sure, it makes sense for Matson to try and hide the identity of the scarab in context of the story, but we’ve known his identity since the first chapter! Also, I deduct a point for having 2 “Gail in Peril” cliffhangers in a row. Let’s just call a spade a spade and enjoy chapter 10! It’s interesting to note that on my copy of this film, chapter 10 has the title for Return of Captain America, the re-release. I’m not sure why this is. The original title card could have been lost, or the people who made the VHS this comes from didn’t care about consistency. At any rate, it’s an interesting bit of trivia!

Now we’re down to my favorite part, the supplemental material. This week, we have the lobby card for The Avenging Corpse. You know, looking at this one, I got the notion that the movie companies should try serializing movies in this day and age. It’d be something “new” and exciting. The studios wouldn’t necessarily have to have limited budgets, either. You could build word of mouth buzz and get people coming back to the theater week after week. Also, filmmakers who want to make 4-hour long epics could conceivably do so. It’s much easier to keep the attention of an audience for a half hour at a time, rather than in one big burst. It’ll probably never happen, but I dare to dream. See you next week!