Welcome back to the fifteenth issue of Convention Sketches!

We feature a convention sketch here every week. We’ve got a whole pile of our own, but we want to see yours, too. Email us convention sketches you want to show off and let us know what website you’d like credited for it. (bigshinyrobot(at)gmail.com)

This is from Shazbot’s personal collection.

This is a Superboy commission from Jeffery Moy. I am a big Legion fan, and I like the idea of Superboy in the Legion. I asked Jeff to make a Superboy in the outfit Alex Ross used for him in Kingdom Come. He didn’t have any reference except for his memory, and it turned out this way.

Right now the photography market is flooded with great cameras for someone who wants to step up from a point and shoot to a DSLR. Many companies and stores offer combo packs that give you the camera body plus a kit lens and maybe a bag or tripod. These are a great way to start but the kit lens isn’t always the best glass to make use of that awesome new camera you bought.

I shoot with a Canon T2i, I got it about a year ago and used it a hell of a lot but was dumb and just stuck with the kit lens because stepping up to some nicer lens just seemed far too expensive. The first thing I should of done and I strongly recommend you all do is go out and spend $100 bucks on the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. For that very low price you are getting an awesome lens that is going to really progress your photography.

The reason I recommend this lens is because of what you’re getting so cheap. First off look at the f/1.8, thats a fast lens that is going to let in tons of light, great for concerts or those nights out, you won’t need a flash and won’t have to crank your ISO and end up with grainy pictures. Second, the bokeh, you are going to get some pretty awesome bokeh with this camera that will help add some fun and style to your pictures and if you throw on a shaped bokeh kit you can make some really creative pictures. Third, you really have to move your feet and think about the composition of your photo with a 50mm lens, you can’t zoom in, you have to walk in. Doing this will help make you a better photographer because it makes you think.

Simply put there is no reason that you shouldn’t have one of these lenses in your camera bag. I’ve only had mine a few months and I almost never take it off my camera because I can produce such better pictures with it than my kit lens. And for you Nikon folks out there, they have one too at the same price point. Go pick yourself up a Thrifty Fifty.

Things are sure getting exciting in our Green Hornet adventure, aren’t they? Last week, the Hornet got ever closer to finding out who the head of the evil syndicate is, but just as he was to find out, his plane went out of control and crashed, seemingly with him in it! Can our hero have possibly survived, or is his body a green charred mess? Will Kato have to carry on alone? Is there good reason this episode is called Pillar of Flame? Well, don’t just stand there, hit play and find out!

As always, if you need to play catch up with episodes, be sure to click here.

Fans have been wondering for a while now, and rumors have abounded everywhere, but now the truth comes out! On May 13th, the series finale to the CW’s long-running Smallville hits and its greatest antagonist is along for the ride. Michael Rosenbaum, played the role of Lex Luthor for the first seven seasons of Smallville’s run and was declared dead so Rosenbaum could pursue other acting opportunities. It seems you can keep a good megalomanic down though, as TVLine reports after much speculation, Michael Rosenbaum is indeed coming back, and he had a few words to say about the matter.

“I’m delighted to return for the series finale, I’m simply doing it for all of the fans out there who made Smallville the great success it is. I appreciate all of their passion, their relentlessness, and even their threats. Ha ha.”

The fans of Smallville can indeed be vocal, but I am sure this is something that brings a smile to their collective faces.

There were moments in ‘Ghosts of Mortis’ that were tremendous. And it makes you really think about the nature of Anakin’s future.

This episode is the last in the Mortis arc and picks up where the last episode leaves off, with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka needing to flee the planet before the Son can manipulate his way off of Mortis to the eternal ruin of the galaxy.

But the Son sees the future of Anakin and feels that he can be easily swayed by the Dark Side. Anakin seeks out the Son to kill him, but finds the well of the Dark Side and the Son shows him his future in the single most powerful moment in the Mortis saga. Through the swirling mists of the dark side of the Force, the Son shows Anakin his future, and it’s a future we’re all familiar with.

Watching the heroic Anakin that we know and love from The Clone Wars wrestling with his dark, certain future is heart breaking. We see him doing all of the worst things in his fall and it culminates with the destruction of Alderaan and it’s almost certainly

Though we know him to be lying (as is the way of the Dark Side) the Son tells Anakin that his future is not set in stone and if he turns against Obi-Wan and Ahsoka then he can be spared all of the pain he will cause in his future. It proves once and for all that a willingness to turn evil for the greater good is ingrained in Anakin’s DNA and makes his fall in Revenge of the Sith all the more heartbreaking.

It’s quite apparent that the show is maturing and the themes and topics they’re willing to tackle is growing with them. I was told before hand that this episode would play to all of my interests as a fan of the saga and it was true. My favorite story from the beginning has always been the rise and fall and redemption Anakin Skywalker and this arc has been one that adds so much nuance to it that I’ve been so delighted and impressed.

For some people Star Wars is about the space battles. For others it’s the Imperials. For others it’s lightsaber duels and others still it’s the love stories and Han Solo. But for me Star Wars is a tragedy. The tragedy of Anakin Skywalker and how he became whole again because of the love of his son. And this arc of episodes added shading and nuance to that story arc in a way that made me incredibly pleased.

If this is the level of writing and maturity we’re going to be getting on this show moving forward, I’d like to be the first to congratulate the cast and crew of The Clone Wars. You’ve taken it to the next level.

You’ll remember a week or so ago, I mentioned I was embarking on an adventure to watch the Star Wars films with someone who had never seen them before. You can read my initial thoughts about that here.

Earlier in the week we had the opportunity to watch the first two episodes of the saga.

Watching Star Wars with someone who has never seen it really did make me sensitive to the flaws of the film, and though I love Phantom Menace with all of my heart, there is no hook at the end of the film to make someone who has never seen it keep going.

The girl I watched it with wanted to continue, but she neither loved nor hated Phantom Menace. “It is so not as bad as everyone makes it out to be,” she told me. She rated it down the middle, 2.5 out of 5.

Jar Jar didn’t seem so grating to her at all, in fact she found Yoda much more obnoxious. It’s so fun watching the gears turn in her head about what’s coming and what’s not coming.

One of my favorite exchanges involved Senator Palpatine. “What… Is he the bad guy?”

“He’s a politician and they’re not to be trusted, to quote Obi-Wan.”

“Oh. Well, that’s not a no.”

But the differences Phantom Menace and the rest of the saga become much more apparent when you watch it through those new eyes and immediately before watching Attack of the Clones. I may have been more pumped to watch Clones after Episode I, but she was much more easily convinced when she realized Hayden Christensen was stepping in to play Anakin. She was a big fan of his work in Life as a House (which is a great, underrated movie, by the way.)

Attack of the Clones started and I could tell it blew her hair back a lot more than Phantom Menace. It has much more kinetic energy and a relentless pace that simply doesn’t let up. It kept a little bit more ahead of her than The Phantom Menace and she seemed every bit as taken by the love story in the film as I always have been.

Then we talked about the movies for another hour after Attack of the Clones ended.

She was excited to find out what happens next and we instantly began planning Revenge of the Sith. Out of five, she rated Attack of the Clones a 3. “It’s still Star Wars, but I’m still warming up to it.”

If she feels like Clones is a 3, my guess is The Empire Strikes Back will make her head explode.

Afterwards, she wrote thusly on her blog:

We watched Episode 1 and 2, because I demanded I watch them in order and he’s the first person who’s agreed with me on that. They were actually good! I don’t know why everyone hates on the prequels, but I’ve never seen any of them so I guess I have no comparison. They’re not my favorite movies or anything, but I definitely enjoyed them much more than I thought I would. They’ll still never live up to Trek or Firefly, but still. We’re continuing the saga over the next couple of weeks. I’m actually kind of excited to watch them all, which is amazing if you know me. I am the anti-Star-Wars girl, but he broke me down. Everyone give Bryan a round of applause!

Are there any questions you want me to ask her as soon as we’re done with the prequels, is there anything you want me to ask her before we start the classic trilogy?

The Disney Parks Blog has announced a tease of some of the characters that we will be encountering when we ride the new Star Tours ride in the coming months.

One of our goals for the new Star Tours show was to pack as much Star Wars into the attraction as possible. That meant traveling to different planets, and meeting up with classic characters from the saga.

Well, it wouldn’t be a Star Wars adventure without Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith will be accompanied by legions of stormtroopers and some new “skytroopers,” designed especially for our show. Boba Fett, everyone’s favorite bounty hunter, also will be after us, as well as an assortment of nasty droids and creatures.

Balancing out the villains are some classic good guys – and even a princess! Master Yoda, Admiral Ackbar (pictured above in a still image from Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi) and Princess Leia will appear in the show to help guide our adventures. We may even run into Chewbacca along the way!

We’ve known about Boba Fett for a while, but there are some surprises here. These Skytroopers could be very cool (and I’m dying to see if the design is possible to recreate so we can get 501st recreations of them). But how will Princess Leia appear? Is she digital? Is it from cut footage? Is it a hologram? Is Carrie Fisher returning?

And I think the same questions apply to Chewbacca. They got Anthony Daniels back in the costume for Threepio, did they get Peter Mayhew back for the role of Chewbacca?

And which Yoda voice are they going with? Tom Kane or Frank Oz? And how could Yoda possibly fit in unless we were taking a trip to Dagobah?

If Ackbar is on the ride, will it all be a trap?

I’m really excited about the possibilities here and I really can’t wait to get on this ride.

Every week for about 2 1/2 years the fellows from the Geek Show Podcast have been bringing you an excellent, hilarious, geeky hour of geekiness every week. For almost two of those years, I have been producing a video version of their show for Xfinity’s Utah On Demand system. Their licensing agreement was such that the content was exclusive to them, but we’ve since worked it so that it is only a window of exclusivity and now we’ll be getting the show every week on the internet.

Watch fresh episodes on Xfinity – Utah On Demand – SL Alternative. It looks best on a TV!

Be sure to check out the Geek Show website and subscribe to their podcast. The show’s regular panelists includes Kerry Jackson, host of X96′s Radio From Hell, Leigh George Kade from Grimmleigh’s Fiends, Shannon Barnson, my co-host at the Pub Quiz, Jeff Vice and Jimmy Martin from the Big Movie Mouth-Off, and Scott Pierce, television critic for The Salt Lake Tribune.

This week, they had a special guest on the program, Jackie Kashian. She’s a standup comedian and a geek podcaster. Her podcast is The Dork Forest.

As a warning, these appear in their original NSFW form.

Lots of comics were discussed during this episode, particularly Chew from Image Comics, The Unwritten from DC Comics, and Batroc the Leaper…

And part 2…

Starring Jeff Vice from MSN Entertainment and Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine (and both regular panelists on The Geek Show Podcast), the Big Movie Mouth-Off is produced and directed by Bryan Young (me) and Elias Pate from Big Shiny Robot! It appears on Xfinity On Demand in Utah and on Xfinity’s Channel 6, on line, and at Brewvies Cinema Pub.

Please go seek these out on Xfinity if you can. They look best on a TV.

You’ll want to friend the Big Movie Mouth-Off on Facebook, too, as they are constantly giving away passes to advanced screenings of all the newest films.

You should also check out the latest podcast.

But for this week’s reviews:

First we have Sanctum:

Somewhere:

And The Mechanic:

It’s our THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY here at Big Shiny Robot! and the weekly column we have over at IN Magazine is devoted entirely to us and our anniversary bash.

Click on the online version of the article, pick up a physical copy, or click on the version below to get all the details.

As always, click on the picture below for the version as it was laid out in print.

To reiterate the details, we’re having a Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 tournament on the big screen at Brewvies Cinema Pub on February 20th, 2011 starting at 3:00pm.  After that, we’ll be playing The Iron Giant for FREE on the big screen at 7:00pm.

We hope to see you there.