HASBRO TOY REVIEW/PREVIEW

FIGURE: G.I. JOE

DESCRIPTION: JUNGLE B.A.T.. COBRA ANDROID TROOPER; SNAKE EYES NINJA COMMANDO; COBRA VIPER INFANTRY

Those of us who’ve collected the “G.I.*Joe” figures throughout the years continue to do so because of two things. The first would be the very simple, yet effective “comic” style art to the packaging. The second is the replicated product of the heroes/villains we’ve grown to love. With this preview/review, we’ll take a look at a few upcoming G.I.*Joe figures from Hasbro (due out this Summer) that are a sure to please any avid toy collector or enthusiast alike.

B.A.T.s are the perfect COBRA troopers. They never question orders, complain about the chow, shirk duty or surrender. They require no leave time, sick pay or benefits of any kind, and they are cheap and easy to replace. JUNGLE B.A.T.s are one of the robotic variants designed for specific environments; this version is extremely resistant to heat and humidity, and can easily find its way through thick jungle foliage.Get right into the thick of battle excitement with this awesome action figure! Armed with powerful weapons, your JUNGLE B.A.T. figure is set to give the G.I. JOE team a punishing fight. But only you can decide who’ll win the battle — and who’ll win the war!

My personal favorite attribute to the character is all of the accessories that were given. 10 accessories total, some including: 3 arm attachments and 2 guns! The detail to the weapons is above average considering how affordable these figures are (weapons are two-toned colored). The added bonus is a strip of ammo that is also given. The only gripe would be, that you’d be having to store the extra pieces elsewhere. That is of course, dependent on how and what you’ve set up for display. Despite B.A.T.’s “extremely resistant to heat and humidity” disclaimer I’d advise against that. Do not leave him unattended outside, his “bear-trap” arm attachment is hardly the way to find yourself surprised by…and you thought I was gonna say he melts. Pffft!

Jungle B.A.T.’s classic articulation, display stand, and great color make the $6.99 a must have for collectors and G.I.*Joe fans a like.

SNAKE EYES is proficient in 12 different unarmed fighting systems including Karate, Kung-Fu, and Jujitsu, and is highly skilled in the use of edged weapons. He has received extensive training in mountaineering and underwater demolitions; jungle, desert and arctic survival; and some forms of holistic medicine. He was trained by the ARASHIKAGE™ ninja clan, the same clan that trained his sworn enemy, STORM SHADOW®, the COBRA® ninja mercenary. He wears special ninja warrior armor to defend a training temple that has come under attack by COBRA® ninjas. Get right into the thick of battle excitement with this awesome action figure! Armed with powerful weapons, your SNAKE EYES figure is set to give the G.I. JOE team a punishing fight. But only you can decide who’ll win the battle — and who’ll win the war!

Snake eyes arguably the most popular figure of the bunch and definitely most sought out is a must have. When I dressed up like a ninja for Halloween last year I did not look this cool (I’m hairy, out of shape, and have terrible body-odor) ! Ok, well….maybe that isn’t fair. Snake eyes like many figures comes fully equipped with an arsenal of awesome weaponry. Your given a Kusari Gama, Hook-Swords, and 3 different masks! The outfit is great from the waist up. I thought they could have captured the flow of the outfit better., I.e. the chest-plate and arm-guards were detailed and textured as well as the rest of the figures accessories, but the legs were lacking the white outline. Much like “Jungle B.A.T.”, its a small complaint and shouldn’t discourage any potential buyer from this awesome toy. The recommendation here is to actually look into buying two. One for display purposes and one for collecting/trading. Trust me, all the collectors will buy these up and Snake Eyes will move quick (He’s a ninja of course he’ll move quick) ! *Insert drums, high-hat here.

COBRA VIPERS are the highly motivated, superbly trained and formidably equipped backbone of the COBRA® legions. Their combination assault rifle/grenade launcher can function as a short burst assault weapon, sustained fire cover support weapon, or long-range marksman rifle with a night vision telescopic sight and range-finder. Get right into the thick of battle excitement with this awesome action figure! Armed with powerful weapons, your COBRA VIPER figure is set to give the G.I. JOE team a punishing fight. But only you can decide who’ll win the battle — and who’ll win the war!

Now Cobra Viper is a figure they did perfectly head to toe (budget-considered), but lacked on the weaponry. Compare Cobra V’s pants to the package’s picture. They’re textured and bunch a little where his pads are! Another cool observation is the placement of his grenades. With so many by-the-book comparisons its only obvious that when it came to his gun, it lacked. I know its common to geek-out and say that they should have painted it better (rather than the one-tone gray), but that would have made this figure really stand-out! As a fan, I must say that despite that small quarrel I will still purchase him. Maybe, that’s why they didn’t “doll-up” his gun? *Bad pun-intended* The package is dope with this blue aura around the character that makes it pop from the cardboard. Enough reason for me and most “toy heads” to keep this in its package and not display outside of it. My recommendation here is…aesthetics alone, brings this home.

I hope you found this review helpful going forward in what to look for from Hasbro’s latest and greatest. They’re really good at making a authentic transfer from paper (comic) to plastic (figure) at an affordable price. You can check out the rest of the GI*Joe 2011 Summer Line Preview from Hasbro below!

Keep checking back to Big Shiny Robot as Mexicus Prime will be bringing you plenty more Hasbro 2011 previews/reviews including new offerings from their Marvel, Transformers, and Star Wars lines!

Continuing from last week, we kind of left out story a bit unfinished. Sure, we got through Captain Carrot’s origin just fine, but we left his entire world in peril! I actually debated just leaving it like that, and any interested parties could find out on their own. I ultimately decided, “Why not continue it?”. After all, the story has not been reprinted, and the issue the story continues into has a staggering 6 origins in it (7 if you count the Captain Carrot recap)! So then, let’s dive into the second part of the first multi-part Secret Origins column with… The Secret Origin of the Amazing Zoo Crew!

The story starts where we left off last time, Superman and Captain Carrot are off to Superman’s dimension to stop the source of all of the troubles from the previous column. Before they can do that though, the two heroes spot a jetliner being bombarded by those same pesky de-evolving rays. The pilots now don’t have the know-how to fly a plane, and as Superman remarks, being an ostrich and a kiwi, they don’t know how to fly anyway. Captain Carrot steps up to save the day, still carrying a chip on his shoulder from Superman’s poor treatment of the Cotton-tailed Crusader last issue. Sadly, he miscalculates a bit and can’t catch the plane in the air. Superman tries his hand, but suffers from a bit of performance anxiety he blames on dizziness from the space barrier around Cap’s world. After alternately declaring the passengers doomed, and telling Captain Carrot he’s their only hope, he passes out or something. Although going in with a lot of trepidation, seeing as he isn’t as strong as Superman, Captain Carrot valiantly shows how he’s earned the title of hero:

Eat your heart out, Supes.

After that amazing feat, Superman is suddenly able to function normally again, and CC quickly escorts him away from the scene, as people are giving the hairless ape some funny looks. After that, both heroes do a bit more recapping which is pointless for me to also rehash. Finally they approach this mysterious barrier. Superman, who even after constant examples of how Captain Carrot can handle himself, tells Cap if the Long-eared Lagomorph can’t make it through, he’ll return after he takes care of business on Earth-1. Carrot scoffs at how arrogant it is to call your home dimension Earth-1, but is stopped short when Superman is caught like a fly in amber after attempting to breach the barrier. A second later, he disappears with a resounding “Zappt!” Captain Carrot tries to give chase by also trying to go through the barrier, but he only bounces off of it. It’s then he realizes he can’t fly and starts pummeling back to his own Earth. You’d think this’d be the end of our Buck-toothed Buccaneer, but comics don’t work that way, and we get this pretty cool splash page.

"I'll squeeze him and love him and name him George!"

I am beginning to think normal physics don’t work on a cartoon animal world, because Captain Carrot was certainly moving at escape velocity in the upper atmosphere. I’m just saying he should be a liquifed sack of carrots, if you get my drift. Thankfully he isn’t, and he relates his story to his savior, Pig-Iron. After the exposition exchange, he gets around to asking the Hoggish Hulk how he got his start. Pig-Iron is happy to oblige.

Get used to this, we still have 5 more origins to go.

So, it turns out we’re going to learn where all the rest of the meteor rocks from last issue went. If you think that’s absurd, wait until you find out why they imbue mild-mannered animal-people with powers in the first place! Anyway, introductions and origins are out-of-the-way (for now), Captain Carrot convinces Pig-Iron to help out with the barrier, but the whole “no flight” problem is still there. No big deal though, last issue Captain Carrot saw a news report about all of the heroes popping up in the last couple days! He figures at least one of them has to know how to fly, so get ready for a whirlwind tour of the United Species of America! First Stop: Mew Orleans!

And as it is in all fiction, when the new duo gets to Mew Orleans, Mardi Gras is of course going on. Captain Carrot wonders how they are going to find this supposed Alley-Kat Abra, but for the sake of the narrative, she just happens to be floating alongside the parade. Things are never that easy though, and the parade crowd is then pelted with more de-evolving rays! Cap and Pig-Iron jump into the fray, as Cap asks the Tricky Tabby for some assistance.With the assistance of her “Magic Wanda”, Alley Kat-Abra and the gang take care of things handily. Captain Carrot explains his plight and asks Kat if she can fly. She says she can levitate and can help, but she wants them, and us by proxy to sit through her origin, so here it is.

Meteor rock? Check. New Age mumbo-jumbo? Double check.

And so Felina Furr reasons that’s what gave both her and her wand magical powers. Why she just happened to have a wand is a complete mystery though. It’s best not to think about it. Carrot and Pig-Iron tell her she’s on the mark, and say they have to get moving to Kornsas for their next recruit. With that, Alley Kat-Abra does a quick incantation and they get to their destination, but maybe not exactly where they wanted. You see, they teleported into the heart of a twister! Luckilly, the “man” they’re looking for is on the scene. Fastback, the Tornadic Terrapin does his best Flash impression and dissipates the cyclone. If you’ve read this far, you know what’s next, as Fastback relates his origin.

I'd think constantly having a rock down your shell would be uncomfortable, especially when running.

So, formulaicly, Fastback is brought into the fold. Kat offers to teleport everyone to Follywood where the last two meteors landed, but Fastback prefers to run. I can’t blame the guy. If I had super speed, I’d use it all the time, too. The group gets to the L.A. Freakway (love the puns, guys!), and it seems whoever is behind the de-evolving rays is stepping it up a bit, converting the entire expressway at once. This would be overwhelming, but the Malleable Mallard, Rubberduck and the Star-Spangled Spaniel, Yankee Poodle are on the scene already, where they have things well in hand. The formula for this issue continues, but thankfully, we get a two-fer this time.

Just what we need, a super-powered Joan Rivers.

Although the Follywood twosome seem to be in the hero game as a lark (and to make movies, natch), they agree to lend their super stretching and animal magnetism to Captain Carrot’s cause after a quick contract negotiation. The quintet makes their way back to the barrier and attempt to overcome it again. Alley-Kat Abra ponders if it is similar to barriers created by mystic Yogis. This leads to what is simultaneously the best, but most belabored of the puns in this issue. I’ll just let you see for yourself. You see, the barrier is a —

You have got to give props to a combination baseball/cartoon/cosmic pun.

After a familiar “Zappt!” They are teleported much like Superman was earlier. It turns out they are teleported to Pluto like Superman wanted, but it seems to be the Pluto of the Zoo Crew’s universe, although at this point, who knows? The group tries to find Superman, and thankfully there is a telltale evil villain-style cave in the distance. They enter and they do indeed fins Superman, chained up in Kryptonite, which is keeping him docile. Before the Man of Steel can be freed though, the mastermind behind the whole plan reveals himself as… Starro the Conqueror! He plans on killing all of the heroes, but first, you guessed it, he tells his origin!

At least it didn't involve meteor rocks.

Starro goes on to say Carrot and crew’s world reminded him too much of the human beings who plagued him, so he came up with his reverter ray. Superman interrupts at that point telling the Zoo Crew that there is absolutely no way that they can defeat Starro since he couldn’t Man, the ego on that guy. He then takes credit for their powers, in one of the most unsung tales of Super-dickery ever. Apparently, his own kryptonian powers interacted along with Starro’sray and the meteor to empower them all. It isn’t too clear and it includes a lot of “somehows”, so my guess is Superman just wants to get the credit. Starro is kind of sick of all this crap, and starts his attack. The Zoo Crew enters the fray and… they get trounced. They apparently haven’t grasped the whole “teamwork” thing yet, which is odd, considering they had just finished a recruitment/team-up. Thankfully for the team, super villains like to gloat. As Starro is celebrating his victory, Captain Carrot rallies his team together and this time, they work together, with iconic results!

"It'll take more than ropes to stop Mr. Fanta-- Oh wait, wrong homage!"

And so, Starro us subdued but not defeated. Luckily, Pig-Iron has a lot of limestone residue in his body (really, go back and check his origin panels). Limestone is anathema to starfish so Starro just shrivels up and the day is one. I guess the animal kingdom doesn’t have a code against killing. The Zoo Crew then frees Superman, who is surprisingly ineffectual the entire issue. He finally eats some crow though, when thanking his saviors. The heroes decide they can do a lot of good together rather than separately, so they officially band together as the Zoo Crew, and live to fight another day.

"Now get off my planet before I give you the cutest beatdown ever."

And there you have it. Last week I mentioned the Captain Carrot books have not been reprinted, and while that is still true, I have renewed hope in the Showcase edition being released soon, with DC finally working out some of the royalty issues in other books of the period. At any rate, I enjoyed telling the tale, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Next week, we’ll have… well that could be up to you! Let me know what animal-hero you’d like to see and If I y’know, have the issue, it could be in next week’s column!

This story originally appeared in Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew #1 March, 1982

According to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, 20th Century Fox has tapped a fellow named David Slade to bring a new Daredevil film to life.

Word has it that it will be a continuation of Ben Affleck’s not perfect but certainly under-appreciated Daredevil film as opposed to a reboot. Which is good news since the last thing we need is a rehash of his origin story.

Slade has at least one other movie in production between now and Daredevil. He’s no stranger to comics adaptations or genre pictures, he directed the adaptation of 30 Days of Night and Twilight: Eclipse. He’s a music video director, so Daredevil might at least look cool.

There’s no word about Affleck’s involvement, but I thought he was a great Daredevil and I would love to see him take another crack at ol’ Hornhead.

And if Jerk-Bot’s sources are correct, this film needs to be in production by next year for Fox to retain the rights, so expect it to happen.

UPDATE 03/16/11, 3:45PM MT:

Hey BSR readers! Arse-bot here with a quick little update. THR has updated their original story with sources saying that this new story line will follow the “Born Again” story line!

Sources say the new story line will be the adaptation of the critically acclaimed Frank Miller-written and David Mazzucchelli-illustrated Born Again run of the comic series, which saw the Kingpin of Crime learn the identity of the superhero and begin to systematically destroy his life.

“Born Again” is one of my favorite DD story lines, one that I have read and re-read nearly a dozen times. While I’m quite excited to see this played out, it seems a bit like a story line that should come later in the franchise being that we have just barely established the character in one movie – a movie that is several years old now. That all being said though, I understand this has been a difficult franchise to get off the ground and who knows if we will even get more films beyond this, so I’d rather see it early (in my opinion) than not at all!

Daredevil is one my top three favorite superheroes, and I know he doesn’t have as much fan clout as Spider-Man and the X-Men, but neither does Iron Man and look how well that turned out in the right hands. I’m excited to see another DD film finally go into the works, and hopefully this time around it won’t be so underappreciated!

A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

I’ve always been in love with good title design. It’s something that most good movies have and it’s something that might seem so disposable to a regular audience member.

Opening titles are important, though. They help set the tone for your film and a well-conceived title sequence can make or break the momentum of your film.

Ian Albinson put this film together for a SXSW showcase and it’s an incredible look at the history of good title design. Sure, there are some glaring omissions, but it’s only a couple of minutes long, what did you expect?

I would implore all of you to pay more attention to good title design and appreciate it when you see it. And see how many of the movies in this video you’ve seen and try to seek them out if you haven’t.

This came from a website called “The Art of the Title” and I would implore you to check it out. They have a pretty stunning database of film titles that you can watch in glorious Quicktime.

Spoiler Alert: If you want to be shocked by the comic you can read it first then read this and decide if you agree or disagree. I will reveal important plot pieces and shockers in this review…. at least… I guess they’re important.

This week Image is releasing a one shot companion to their ongoing series Hack/Slash. I’ll be the first to admit that the promises of a super-villain queen that demolishes cities with her explosive powers battling 2 people who just plain like killing killers peaked my interest enough for a read. After the six minutes it took to absorb the book, I almost wish I hadn’t. I’m aware that this is supposed to be an over the top violent, edgy, profane, and sexual experience. The Bomb Queen is rocking a thong bikini, and the main character is in a mesh top and mini-skirt, trust me, the connection wasn’t hard to make. Through the well done art and the angry demon battles I found myself thinking, “I’ve read this before” or, “Really? This isn’t sex charged enough?”

The problem that I found with the book wasn’t the the art work or the premise. I thought the characters were well put together and thought-out enough to be interesting. My gripe was the needless piling-on of the “all comic readers are pervs” imagery. It didn’t help develop the characters, advance the story, or really change the outcome.. Oh my god I sound like my parents….

I don’t consider myself a prude by any means, there’s generally nothing that offends me, and this comic is no different. I just find being explicit for the sake of being explicit to be tacky. As an example: imagine that you’ve already wrapped your head around them entering an alternate dimension with their spiked bat and meat clever to kill a demon who’s invading our world, and of course most of the demon’s minions are naked zombie women. As an added bonus you then get to wrap your head around the super hero crew that wanted vengeance against the Bomb Queen and her demon cat. (He, by the way, was fed off of hate, and he only wanted his hate stone back.  Unfortunately for him it was nestled firmly in the queen’s Vajay.) At what point do you ask, ” Why didn’t she just leave the hate stone at her bomb queen palace, or shag pad, or whatever?” The answer is right in front of you, and is depicted in the image below. Because if she didn’t then the hate stone couldn’t give her a 3 page hate orgasm when the demon is slain..

The point of my rant is simply this: After reading past the death of our foe the “Demon Cat” and watching the Queen’s 3-page orgasm due to the release of hatred into her super-villain Vag, I found myself wondering when it would all just end. For any form of entertainment the viewer checking for the ending, or waiting to escape the confines of the media providing the escape is a bad thing.

This is something to pick up to say you own it, or to prove that nothing shocks you. The artwork is fantastic, and the story is so so, for artistically inclined folk this is probably a worthy look. As for me I think the fact that nothing shocks me was proven years ago, and art escapes me, so I’ll let this one go to the “donate” pile .

This turned up in the BSR mailbox, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t share it with the community at large. If you can help, please do.

Greetings Fellow Industry Artists

Alex Simmons here.

As you know, I have a tendency to try and help worthwhile programs that deal with children and teens.  Many of you have participated in my Kids Comic Con and Color of Comics events, bringing a great deal of fun and creative discovery to young people from the US to Africa. In fact, this coming weekend a group of artists and myself will be dazzling the eyes, minds, and (hopefully) hearts of the children at Ronald McDonald House in New York.

Well, I’ve found another program that needs our assistance. It’s a little different than usual because it is a facility for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

In New York City, Lenox Hill hospital has recently established the Institute for Comprehensive Breast Care, a place where women with breast cancer can receive cutting edge treatment in a supportive and soothing atmosphere.

Breast Cancer effects women of all ages and races, and unfortunately, uniformly inflicts terror in those that have to face the disease head- on. Quite often children find themselves facing that fear with their mothers, some times sitting in the waiting area while she meets with a doctor.

The goal of the Institute is to create a place where women can feel inspired and empowered, and gain the strength they need to forge forward on their battle to overcome the disease. They also want the children to find some cheerful or uplifting distractions while they wait.

That’s why they asked me to help put together a permanent exhibit of comic art to adorn the walls of the center. These would be images of super heroines and heroes, as well as comical characters to lighten the spirits of all who walk through their halls.

To accomplish this task I am soliciting a donation of original comic art, or digital images (300 dpi to allow prints to be enlarge and displayed).

Comics are a popular medium for entertainment — but they can also be a powerful tool for healing. Please help.

For further information, please email me at this address, or call (718-601-0371).

Thank you.

I am no artist, but I thought I’d give my own example, in the spirit of this (apologies to Amanda Connor and DC Comics). I personally have a friend who had to get a mastectomy due to her cancer not being detected soon enough, I know something like this would have cheered her up while she was in recovery. So again, if you’re an artist and you can help, please contact  Alex at Alex@SimmonsHereAndNow.com or phone him at the number above. If you’re not an artist, refer them to this so they can contribute. Every little bit helps!

About a month and a half ago we reported that Derek Luke’s name appeared on a Captain America: The First Avenger poster and ran through a little speculation as to what his role would be – the general consensus being that he would portray the Howling Commando, Gabe Jones.

Well, the official word is in, and it looks like Derek Luke will in fact be playing Gabe Jones!

Since there are only a few African American comic book characters from the Marvel universe during that time period, Blackfilm.com exclusively confirmed through a reliable source that Luke will playing Gabe Jones, an original member of the elite Howling Commandos combat squad of World War II.

As the first African-American to serve in an integrated unit, Jones, who was also known for carrying his trumpet into battle, is one of the close confidantes to Sergeant Nick Fury, who would later become the head of the organization S.H.I.E.L.D. Jones would later join him as an agent. -BlackFilm

So there it is! Looks like Mr. Vice’s tingling geek-sense was dead on on this one!

Captain America: The First Avenger is set to open on July 22 and is directed by Joe Johnston

Kat Martin is responsible for some of the coolest geeky art I’ve seen in a long time.  Using second-hand canvases, she inserts the nerdiest things into the canvases, reclaiming the art into something you’d actually want to put on your wall.

Some of her favorite subjects include Star Wars, Ghostbusters, and The Walking Dead.

She is opening a gallery of her stuff in Salt Lake City on March 20th at the Ulysses gallery.  If you’re in Salt Lake City, you can hit up the Facebook event for more details.

If you’re from elsewhere on the Internet and are looking for prints of her art or want to commission a custom piece, I would hit Kat up on her facebook page.  Her stuff is great and looks even better hanging on your wall.  She’s an artist to watch, for sure.

She even made one of our Big Shiny Robot!

I want that AT-AT piece.  There’s nothing like the Empire attacking idyllic towns.

This is pretty cool. If you are unfamiliar with the series of games by Namco called Katamari Damacy, you play as the Prince of the Cosmos. You are tasked by your father, the King to use your magical ball called a katamari. to collect as much junk as you can on Earth. The goal of this is ostensibly to make new planetary bodies, but to be honest, the fun lies in just roaming around and trying to pick up random stuff. You know, paper clips, erasers, the mailman.  The katamari picks up any and everything it sees, and gets larger accordingly. It’s a very charming and addictive game, and now thanks to the efforts of the Katamari Hack, you can play it on any website! Of course I couldn’t resist playing ir here at BSR, and here’s the result:

Just as in the game, you start off with a tiny katamari, but as soon as you start letting it pick up words and images it gets progressively bigger. Best of all, it is accompanied by the game’s distinctive theme song! If you’re curious as to how it works, here’s the skinny straight from the source, but to be honest, I can’t makes heads or tails of it.

Short version: css transforms (for things stuck to the katamari), canvas (drawing the katamari), and z-index (illusion of depth).

Long version: The bookmarklet loads jQuery and kh.js into the current page. jQuery is used mostly for.offset() and .css().  kh.js is where all the action happens:

• Splits all the text on the page into words/spans. (StickyNodes::addWords)
• Builds a grid data structure so that intersections with elements can be found quickly (StickyNodes::finalize). Essentially grid[floor(x / 100)][floor(y / 100)] is a list of elements in a 100×100 pixel block. This should probably be an R-tree, but the hot-spot in this program is definitely in the rendering.
• The ball and stripes are drawn in a canvas that gets moved around the page (i.e. position: absolute; left: x; top: y;). See PlayerBall::drawBall.
• When an element is attached to the katamari, a clone is made. The original element is hidden. The new element is moved around by setting -webkit-transform. The transform rotates the element about the rolling axis of the katamari and scales the element to make it look like it’s coming out of the page. See PlayerBall::drawAttached, transform_test.html, andtransform_test2.html.

So, there you have it. The bookmarklet works best on Google Chrome and Firefox 4, so if you have a few spare minutes, give it a shot. I myself am going to eat more text so I can pick up the Big Shiny Robot himself!

Source: Katamari Hack

Unlike certain other comic cons, you won’t have to scramble in an online queue to attend RDCC ’11! Archie Comics was kind enough to pass along the solicit for June’s Archie & Friends #156. As you can see, the Riverdale gang is doing the cosplay thing. Some of the costumes are inspired, such as Jughead as Spock and Chuck as Mace Windu (no comment on Betty as a Na’vi). On the other hand, Reggie is wearing the wrong Hogwarts’ house colors! He’s always struck me as more of a Slytherin. As it is, I am very much looking forward to reading this one. Not only do we have the inherent coolness of the Riverdale folk going geek, it’s also a mash-up of all of the Archie/Riverdale properties at once. The thing that’ll get me to buy it though, is the fact that Archie PR man extraordinaire, Alex Segura is helming the writing chores on this one. He’s an awesome guy, and I can’t wait to read it!

RIVERDALE COMIC CON INTERNATIONAL

In a tale by Alex Segura, Archie and the kids from Riverdale High run into Sabrina and Josie & the Pussycats at the Riverdale Comic-Con. It’s bigger than the San Diego Comic-Con and hitting right in the middle of the busy comic convention season.

What will the kids find at the biggest sci-fi, comic and entertainment event to hit Riverdale? Will Veronica win the costume contest? Find out as superstar Archie artist Bill Galvan draws this wild, wacky tale! Coincidentally, Bill himself was discovered by Archie Comics at a comic book convention. Will Riverdale’s own comic artist Chuck Clayton be as lucky?

ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #156
SCRIPT: ALEX SEGURA
ART AND COVER: BILL GALVAN
Shipping Date: 6/1/2011
On Sale at Comic Shops: 6/15/2011
Newsstands: Week of 6/21/2011
Comic, 32 pages, 40 lb. glossy stock, Full-Color
$2.99 US