So, last week we had a contest going to win a beautiful Archie Giclee print from AllPosters.com. All the entrants had to do was tell us their favorite character from the world of Archie Comics and a brief description why. There were a lot of great entires, and many passionate responses. The entries were pored over for a bit, and let me tell you, it was a tough decision.

Some of the highlights were Robyn Hill’s vote for Sabrina, The Teenage Witch where she pointed out there was always a lesson to be learned in those stories.  Another favorite was Christine Dinh’s gushing over Katy Keene. The one that probably made the BSR staffers smile the most was A.D. Gonzales and his truly inspired speech about Moose Mansfield. There were a ton of great entries and a big thank you to all who entered! Sadly, there can only be one winner, though.

The entry that ended up being a winner spoke of a character most people have never heard of, but it shows how dedicated someone can be to a character that they’ve been pining for a return for decades. BSR is proud to present the winner of the Archie Glicee (presented by AllPosters.com): Dora!

Here’s what got her the prize.

The choice is obvious: Miss Hipswing from the story “The Lover” in Jughead #179 (1970) for the simple reasons that she wears glasses but Samm Schwartz still draws her cute…and her name is “Hipswing.” I assume she was fed up with the gang mocking her (they mistakenly thought Jughead had a crush on her, the new teacher) and left town because she was never seen again. But I keep hoping! Of course, it’s 41 years later for everyone living outside of Riverdale’s time bubble, so she’s probably Miss Grundy age now, but still.

That is the definition of devotion to a character. Congratulations on winning, Dora! If you’ll email your shipping details to me at shaz (at) bigshinyrobot.com, I’ll let the AllPosters people know and you’ll have this beauty coming to your door very soon.

Again, thanks to all the entrants. If you decide that you want to go ahead and buy a print for yourself, check out the AllPosters Archie storefront where you can find the above print and many more, including the aforementioned Katy Keene and Sabrina!

Releasing on DLC this March, the press material flood gates for this game have opened up. Let’s start with the cover, featured to the left. Nit-pickers will notice the recruit is holding the proton wand upside down and apparently it now has a gun grip. But really, who cares? Let’s start with the press release:

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime brings arcade style gameplay to the beloved franchise. Strap on your proton packs for an all new ghostbusting adventure! Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime brings paranormal activity to Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and PC Download! With 4 new playable characters and a whole new team of Ghostbusters, get ready for a fast-paced battle against the evil spirits that lurk in New York City to take down Dumazu the Destroyer!

Game Features
•12 levels of arcade-style Ghostbusting fun with an all new cast of Ghostbusters
•Immerse yourself in the fight against the paranormal – battle ghosts in NYC’s sewer tunnels, cemeteries & more
•Explore the unique powers of 3 different ghost fighting weapons
•Ride through the city in the all new ECTO-4WD as you battle evil ghosts while in transit
•Up to 4 player co-op multiplayer – combine weapon attacks with your teammates to increase the power of your attacks

It should also be noted that the original four ‘busters will be in the game. They will be featured in comic cut scenes between missions. The latest ghost outbreak is so out of control the fab four had to hire some recruits to help. These recruits are named Allan, Bridget, Samuel, and Gabriel (a woman Ghostbusters? Next thing you’ll tell me they can vote too). IGN.com described the gameplay to “Castle Crashers with proton packs”. Which excites the hell out of me. Check out IGN’s thoughts below:

Yanosh? Button tapping mini games? I’m totally in. And last but not least, how about a list of the achievements:

HERO 10pts
Revive any teammate 20 times.

SPEED DEMON 15pts
Get 100% score with the trap.

STORY TELLER 20pts
Watch each comic without skipping.

ROOKIES 10pts
Finish the first level.

BUSTIN’ MAKES ME FEEL GOOD 10pts
Unlock every level and defeat the final boss.

NICE THINKING, RAY 10pts
Find all the hidden collectibles.

FULL HOUSE 20pts
Finish an online level with the help of 3 other players.

RUSH HOUR REVENGE 20pts
Defeat the Subway Smasher.

DON’T TOUCH THE CAR 40pts
Finish a chase level with at least 75% of the Ecto-shield up.

TEAM OF FOUR 15pts
Play with each character.

ROCKSTAR 10pts
Destroy all the expensive LCD televisions in the hotel.

COLORBLIND 20pts
Kill a Slime Abomination with the wrong weapon.

Thanks to Proton Charging, GhostbustersNews, IGN and Xbox360 Achievements for all the info. Lots of screens below:

Continuing my Odyssey with someone who has never seen Star Wars before, we’ve got together on two separate occasions to watch Episode III and Episode IV and I have to be honest, the reactions were a little different than I expected.

Revenge of the Sith is an emotional roller coaster for someone who actually loves and appreciates Hayden Christensen’s characterization of Anakin Skywalker. Kelsie, our Star Wars virgin, was a fan of his from before she saw any Star Wars movies because of his performance in Life as a House, and she seemed able to tune into the fact that he’s acting apropriately for a character in his situation. I mean, really, how else is a celibate monk of a teenager with no experience with girls supposed to act? Like Hayden did, that’s how.

The first part of the film is so adventuresome and fun that when the whole enterprise turns to the Dark Side her mouth became slackjawed and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

In fact, had her mouth covered during the entirety of the slaughter of the Jedi and gasped in disbelief when Anakin went to kill the younglings. She had tears in her eyes.

Of course I was crying like a baby, but damnit, this movie is sad and amazing.

But this film was a thrilling tragedy and the pace doesn’t flag for even a moment.

(One moment I was more struck by than usual was the moment on the docks when Obi-Wan is leaving to defeat Grievous. It’s the last time Obi-Wan and Anakin part as brothers and upon repeated viewings, it resonates with so much more bittersweet heartbreak than I’d realized.)

She reacted as I would have expected someone invested in the characters to react through the course of the whole film. She was on board the roller coaster and it never let go.

Where things became unexpected was when we watched A New Hope.

She seemed a little bored. Here’s what she said as soon as the credits started: “I didn’t like it as much as Revenge of the Sith.  I liked it a lot, but I thought there was way more going on in Revenge of the Sith.  And Luke was just really whiny.  I kind of wish he’d die and we could get on with the story without him.”

I think she rather enjoyed Han Solo and the smuggler character and she was incredibly interested in the fight between Obi-Wan and Vader. Obi-Wan’s disappearance was certainly cause for questions I refused to answer.

Watching it in this order with a new viewer, you are really hammered by the symmetry between A New Hope and The Phantom Menace. And I think the problem for a first time viewer is that Revenge of the Sith is a culmination of emotion and plotlines from the prior two movies, A New Hope is like a clean slate and gets back to telling a very basic, straightforward story (mirrored exactly in The Phantom Menace.)

I can’t wait to see how she reacts to The Empire Strikes Back, though. It has much more complexity on the way.

In parting, I’ll leave you with thoughts from her blog:

We’ve now watched Episodes 3 and 4. I LOVED REVENGE OF THE SITH! Wasn’t crazy about A New Hope, because I HATE Luke. He’s such a whiny little bitch, I just want to smack him. We’ll see how I feel about the next movies, because I hate Yoda. Who knows, maybe I’ll be the one freak on the planet who loves the prequels and hates the originals…

So there you have it. I’m hoping we get to The Empire Strikes Back this weekend. I’m insisting on at least a day between Empire and Jedi, so she can stew in the events and possibilities. We’ll see if it works out.

But I’m fascinated by her take on the characters and what she likes and what she doesn’t. I never would have guessed Luke and Yoda could be so reviled. The swamps of Dagobah should be interesting.

Last year Redbox fell victim to the same deal that has plagued the Netflix DVD mailing service for a while now – they must wait 28 days after the DVD goes on sale before they can stock the title for rent in their kiosks. This deal hit Redbox pretty hard as reports are putting Redbox rental revenue down by as much as $50 million in fourth quarter of last year. So what’s a DVD rental service to do? Go online.

According to the LA Times, Redbox is positioning itself to offer an online video streaming service for a monthly subscription which will be a direct competitor to Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” service. Redbox also noted that they will launch this digital service with a partner, but didn’t name who that partner would be. There is some speculation that this secret partner could be Amazon.com – who just three weeks ago inadvertently started some excitement over the possibility that they too would be offering a streaming video subscription service. For some reason, Redbox and Amazon seem like an unlikely duo to be teaming up, but there are a few points that make sense. First, Netflix has pretty much cornered the online video streaming subscription market unchallenged, so they are going to be difficult to compete with and lure customers away from. Secondly, Redbox stated their subscription service would allow customers access to the kiosks for physical DVD’s as well – something that’s already set up. It would make sense for Amazon to perhaps look at this as a plus as they wouldn’t have to offer their own DVD mailing option to customers – a feature that despite all of the online streaming options available today, Netflix customers still enjoy to have.

It’s hard to say what exactly would be the best way for Redbox and Amazon to enter the online streaming service fray – together or apart – but it does definitely look like they both have some sort of plan up their sleeves and my guess we will find out a little later this year if our online video streaming subscription service options include “Netflix, Amazon, or Redbox”, or “Netflix or Amazon/Redbox”.

One last thought: How the hell is Blockbuster still around?!

Wow. If the first trailer and the Superbowl spot weren’t enough, Marvel has laid on us a second trailer for the upcoming Thor. From this trailer, the story really starts to take shape. It really looks like they’re going with more of an Ultimate Thor route with the “homeless guy” approach. I suppose that works, but I miss Don Blake and the cane transforming into Mjolnir. In any case, I am kinda pumped, which I never thought I would say about Thor of all characters. Enjoy!

Deadline is reporting that Shane Black is indeed in final negotiations to direct the third Iron Man picture which has a May 2012 release date.

Shane Black is a favorite choice of ours because of his work as a tight screenwriter of films like Lethal Weapon and as a fantastic director, particularly his last Robert Downey Jr. team up, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

A curious note in the Deadline story: Black isn’t, at this point, writing the screenplay. That piece of the negotiation is up in the air, but any director worth his salt will change up the script to suit the material and vision regardless. And Shane Black’s strengths start with his story structure and screenwriting. It would be foolish to hire him for directing and not bring to bear the true nature of his talent.

Take it from us, this is great news for Marvel fans.

The New York Times revealed this morning that the season finale of The Clone Wars will be a two part episode arc featuring none other than Chewbacca the Wookiee, Han Solo’s first mate and one of two Wookiee’s responsible for aiding Yoda in his escape from Kashyyyk in the aftermath of Order 66.

Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in all 4 films that featured the character (as well as in The Holiday Special and on The Muppet Show), was also invited to give the animators an insight into what it takes to bring everyone’s favorite walking carpet to life.

From the New York Times article:

Though Lucasfilm Animation is keeping specific plot details under wraps, the “Clone Wars” finale, scheduled for April 1, will see Chewbacca cross paths with Ahsoka Tano, the Jedi apprentice to Anakin Skywalker (a k a the future Darth Vader). To prepare for these episodes, titled “Padawan Lost” and “Wookiee Hunt,” the “Clone Wars” supervising director Dave Filoni and his team of animators and artists delved into the Lucasfilm archives for original Chewbacca reference materials and costumes, and invited Mr. Mayhew to their studios in Marin County, north of San Francisco, to advise them on the process of bringing Chewie to digital life

This begs a number of questions. Will we see Chewbacca interact with Yoda once more? If you remember closely, in Revenge of the Sith (which happens after the events portrayed in The Clone Wars) Grand Master Yoda mentions his good relations with the Wookiees and Chewbacca is seen closely guarding him throughout his entire stay on the Wookiee homeworld.

Will we see that backstory play out?

It also says much about Chewbacca’s role in the galaxy and the wider conflict. Some have opined that Chewbacca was actually a secret Republic spy (using Artoo as his contact) during the Dark Times. Will we see the seeds of that theory grow into something more tangible?

And I know I’ve harped on this clue more than once, but at Star Wars Celebration V, Filoni dropped a hint that there would be an episode that drew inspiration from Predator. And if the season finale is called “Wookiee Hunt”, could there be a more fitting homage to one of the best science fiction thrillers ever made?

Only time will tell.

In the meantime, the New York Times has a clip of Chewbacca’s appearance (to Ahsoka of all people). I love the music cues in the piece. They’re taken straight from Ben Kenobi’s reveal in A New Hope.

Very excellent stuff.

The season finale of The Clone Wars airs April 1st.

I really think this geek news just made my day.

FOX no longer owns the rights to Joss Whedon’s Firefly! That right there would be enough to make my day, but it gets a little better than that because the cult hit TV series is returning to basic cable – running in it’s entirety plus a few extras! The Science Channel has acquired the rights to Firefly and plan to being running the series on Sunday, March 6 with the two-hour pilot followed by the first episode. Episodes will continue to air every Sunday night, in order, and in High-Def.

In honor of Firefly’s return to cable, Nathan Fillion took some time to talk to EW, here’s a little of what he had to say:

What was the part about playing the character?

It was my favorite job ever. What wasn’t great about it? I got to wear a low-slung holster. I got to ride horses. I got to have a spaceship. I got to act mean and curmudgeonly. [Creator Joss Whedon] is really good at kicking characters in the nuts so the other characters would have laughs at my expense and that was great too.

If Castle had its series finale tomorrow and Fox said to you and Joss: “We screwed up, let’s try doing Firefly again.” Would you do it?

Yes. Yes. I would examine very closely Fox’s reasoning — I’m a little gun-shy. If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it own my own, and distribute it on the Internet.

I am still hoping for a revival of the series, or at least a sequel to the film Serenity, and this is probably a step in the right direction getting the rights away from FOX and to someone who will hopefully do something with this great property. I’m hoping airing Firefly on cable again will introduce a whole new audience to this fantastic series that may have missed it the first time, and maybe, just maybe, a resurgence in popularity will give Joss Whedon and company a good reason to revisit this world again.

If you’ve never checked out Firefly this is a great opportunity to do so. Or, if you can’t wait you can pick up Firefly – The Complete Series on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as the film Serenity (Widescreen Edition)!

I have a complicated relationship with Darren Aronofsky. I enjoy his films while watching them, but can never seem to decide exactly how much I like them at the end. Take The Fountain for example. I really like watching that movie, the visuals are beautiful and I’m emotionally invested in the characters, but by the end of the film I’m just sitting there watching the credits roll thinking to myself, “Wait . . . what?” I’m not exaggerating either, I’ve watched it four times and each time I interpret it a little differently – maybe that’s the point?

But I digress. I really believe having this type of director take on a Marvel film with The Wolverine is going to bring something new, and hopefully really great, to the superhero genre. For the most part, Aronofsky his keeping his lips sealed on what he has planned for Logan, but he did give a few details to Popcorn Biz:

“It’s not a sequel,” Aronofsky told PopcornBiz, though he’s still playing close to the vest on the storyline specifics (which reportedly derive from the character’s seminal Japanese adventure in the 1982 Marvel Comics miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller). The director did, however, explain why he signed onto a superhero film after the Oscar-stalking success of “Black Swan.”

“I just love working with Hugh Jackman,” said Aronfsky, who previously collaborated with Logan’s Aussie actor alter ego on 2006’s “The Fountain.” “And I think there’s something to be done in that world that hasn’t been done yet. I’m also excited to do something that everyone wants to make, as opposed to being the only person that wants to make the film at the beginning.”

To be honest, when Aronofsky’s name showed up on the short list of potential directors for the next Wolverine movie – and then went on to sign a deal, I was a bit apprehensive. Now though, I really believe the director who brought us Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and Black Swan could really have something new and great to bring to the table for one of Marvel’s most popular mutants.

No word yet on when production is set to start, nor on a potential release date – though, it will most likely be some time in Spring-Summer 2012.

95′ FLAIR MARVEL ANNUAL 1-150 COMPLETE DECK

CHASE CARDS:

POWERBLAST 1-24

CHROMIUM 1-12

HOLOBLAST 1-12

DUO-BLAST 1-3

Cardset Design: Arnie Sawyer, Bob Conway

Distributed exclusively by Fleer Corp.

A beautiful set of cards from a blind mans perspective. Each card in this set has been directly taken from the pages of the corresponding comics and has been digitally enhanced with often “new” backgrounds to help tell the characters story. Sounds good so far…

Well about a fourth of the cards are portrayed amazing: colors are vibrant, clean details, & great set-up given the space. While the rest, fall to color and idea flaws. There is no excuse for poorly designed cards, especially when you’re ideas for the poses and scenes are coming directly from the comics!

Let’s look at card 36: Kitty Pride (above). Aside from her “Hitler” mustache, what do you see?! Terrible to no clothing detail, sludged up-close profile, and god-awful shading! Compare it now to card 41: “Healing Factor”. Logan’s ripped costume, spiraled bone claws, and a sense of urgency in his face. Even the background on the card flows nicely.

I’d say the worst card in the deck is the THING (below). That whole picture is a digital cluster-fuck! Look at it!!! Can you even tell what the hell the picture is?! A couple more disasters include: Emma Frost, Polaris, and Punisher 2099. It’s a good looking set when its covered in “Holo-blasted” chase cards, that obviously mask the imperfections. The 150 card stand alone set is hardly worth the trouble of collecting and you’d be better off without it.