So, we’ve seen Emma Stone as a blonde in preperation for her role as Gwen Stacy in Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot, but now we have pictures of her actually as Gwen Stacy from the set! . . . There’s not much of a difference.

Either way, the new Spider-Man flick got to filming yesterday, and it looks like it could possibly be a pretty important scene from the movie: the death of Gwen’s father, Police Captain Stacy (played by Dennis Leary). Of course, it could also not be this, but those of us familiar with Spider-Man stories, it would make sense that this obvious funeral scene could be this crucial part of the film.

Now the big question: Will they also kill off Gwen in this film?

You can check out more pictures over at Just Jared.

Personally, I’ve never thought the Transformers movies were incredible feats of cinematic story telling – but – they delivered exactly what I wanted in a Transformers movie: Giant awesome CG robots beating the living shit out of each other. So, that said, I wouldn’t say I’m “looking forward to” the third installment of Michael Bay’s Transformers films, but I will go see it when it hits theaters on July 1 next year – in 2D.

The teaser trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon has hit the interwebs and you can check it out below.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon features Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) taking his first tenuous steps into adulthood while remaining a reluctant human ally of Optimus Prime. The film centers around the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the USA, suggesting there was a hidden Transformers role in it all that remains one of the planet’s most dangerous secrets.

Source: SHH!

If you have never checked out the original Dorkly videos over at Dorkly.com – you should go over there now and have yourself a good laugh. I stumbled upon this one today and had a good laugh over it. If you ever played the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games on earlier systems, this argument should seem all too familiar to you . . .

Okay, I have to make this quick because it’s only a matter of time before Swank’s Force-fueled-radar goes off and he finds outs I’m writing this and shows up to force-choke the shit out of me.

The Brittish tabloid, The Sun, is “reporting” that George Lucas is buying up the movie rights of dead celebrities to use their likeness via CGI in future movies:

British funnyman MEL SMITH – a pal of Lucas – said the sci-fi icon planned to use computer wizardry to show dead actors alongside each other for the first time.

It could mean screen greats such as SIR ALEC GUINESS appearing with the likes of JAMES DEAN and MARILYN MONROE.

Ex-Not The Nine O’Clock News star Mel, 58, who directed Lucas’s 1994 film Radioland Murders, said Lucas was “obsessed” with computer-generated imagery.

He said: “George has been buying up the film rights to dead actors in the hope of using computer trickery to put them all together, so you’d have ORSON WELLES and BARBARA STANWYCK alongside today’s stars.”

Okay, now, before all you Star Wars fans start crying foul, let me make this clear. I’m not reporting this as hard-fact news. Here’s the thing though, this idea of using CG to resurrect dead celebrities has been floating around Hollywood for years now. Big special effects studios now have the technology that they could probably make a pretty convincing Orson Welles on the big screen – and who ownes possibly the biggest special effects studio of them all? “Just sayin’.”

This idea has probably been tossed around the most with rumors surrounding the third installment of Chris Nolan’s Batman movies. Since Heath Ledger died there have been countless rumors about Nolan and company using his CG likeness – if even briefly – to bring him back for the third movie. Nolan has continued to state how ridiculous this is and that it absolutely will not happen.

So, is George Lucas buying the movie rights to dead celebrities? Well, considering the news source we don’t know for sure – and my guess is Swank will have a comment from them by the end of the day completely debunking this. But is it completely out of the realm of possibilities? Absolutely not. Finally, would it be pretty messed up if Lucas (or anyone) were in fact doing this? In my opinion, yes. Am I finally done asking myself questions? We’ll see.

In past columns I’ve covered various heroes from the big two, Marvel and DC, but there are other companies. Take America’s Best Comics, for instance. Sure, they’re published by DC, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that if I hadn’t just told you. In ABC, there are various types of heroes, but they aren’t exactly super heroes. The term that is coined in the books themselves is “Science Hero”. It’s a pretty sweet concept, that calls back to characters like Doc Savage and the pulp roots of comics, but with a little bit of a sci-fi twist. By far, the most approachable and easy to get into hero (not to mention my personal favorite) is Tom Strong. When Alan Moore created the character, he used a pretty ingenious and fun way to introduce him to the reader, so rather than just talking about it, here we go. Presenting the Secret Origin of Tom Strong!

Our story opens with young Timmy Turbo getting a rather highly anticipated piece of mail. His mother wants to scoot him off to school, but Timmy has to at least open the package before he leaves, and with good reason!

Timmy's mother is apparently Nanny from Muppet Babies.

Timmy walks out the door, just a bit oblivious to the outside world, which we’re also introduced to. Millennium City is like the idealized futuristic city with mile high skyscrapers, but with retro throwbacks like cable cars. As the series went on, MC became just as much a character as Metropolis and Gotham. Anyway, As the cable car starts its crawl to school, Timmy starts to read “How Tom Strong Got Started” and so too, do we. It’s a really cool meta thing, which I’ll get back to in a while. For now, let’s get into the origin proper.

We start on a ship sailing in the West Indies, circa 1899. We’re quickly introduced to Sinclair and Susan Strong, along with the ship’s captain, Tomas. Before we can really get to know them too well, the weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was tossed. Instead of a life full of coconut radios though, Tomas unfortunately is killed by the falling mast of the ship. The Strongs arrive on shore, relatively unharmed. They truly have arrived at their destination, the island of Attabar Teru. Being freshly shipwrecked, Sinclair gets to work, though not building a shelter as you might suspect. Instead he is assembling something even better:

Hello... Pneuman.

Now why would Sinclair build such a thing? So it can build the shelter, of course! After introductions and how Pneuman operates, we’re told how the isolation of Attabar Teru will provide the perfect enviornment for Sinclair’s many scientific experiments. If the Strongs could see who’s lurking in the bushes, they may change their tune. As it is, we cut to a few months later. Pneuman has built quite the domicile in the heart of an extinct volcano! Things are going so well for the Strongs that they decided to surrender to their passion for each other, with no one but Pneuman to look on. Nine months later, We see Susan about to give birth, but there is a problem, the baby is coming feet first! Sinclair isn’t a medical doctor and is unsure of what to do and is on the verge of panic! When all seems lost, the heretofore unseen (except for that guy in the bushes) native make themselves known. They have a capable midwife, and after a bit of touch and go, our hero is born.

I'd make a joke about Tomas being the real father, but that's actually a future storyline!

As Part one closes, we cut back to Timmy. He muses to himself how this book is just about the best thing ever. He flips through the magazine, looking for part two, oblivious to the fact that his cable car is being paid a visit by… The Blimp Bandits! They start to assault the passengers asking for valuables and whatnot, but just as Timmy is about to be accosted, artist Chris Sprouse gets to show off his skills, and we get one of those really nice intro shots I like so much.

I want one of those backpack thingies. Get on it, guys!

Before Tom can start meting out some two-fisted justice, Timmy finds part two, and we are thrust back to Attabar Teru. It is now 1903 and young Tom Strong is almost 4 years old. Susan is concerned that Tom isn’t able to have normal human interactions, he can’t play with the children from the nearby Ozu tribe, he can’t even have a mother’s caress. You may be asking yourself why, and that answer is Sinclair Strong. Sinclair reveals through exposition to the reader that Tom is the product of a grand experiment. Tom is being raised outside of the influences of modern society. He’s getting progressive schooling, is on a vegetarian diet, including the root of a native plant called the Goloka root, which provides longevity and higher cognitive awareness. This is all fine, but the point of contention is the fact that Tom is also being raised in a special chamber inside the volcano where the pressure is at 5 G’s. While this has the benefit of making Tom very strong, he has also never truly interacted with anyone physically.

Mmmmm, Pi.

Sinclair and Susan continue their argument/discussion, Sinclair ultimately says Tom is probably on the safest place on Earth. It’s too bad for Tom that his day has a penchant for saying everything’s ok before they go all to heck. We’re juxtaposed to 1908 where Attabar Teru is hit by a pretty sizable earthquake, making the humble volcano abode collapse in on itself. Tom indeed is unharmed, but the same can’t be said for his parents. Amid the devastation, a mother and her son get their fondest wish fulfilled, but at what price? Finally emerged from his gravity chamber, Tom carries the lifeless bodies of his parents when he encounters the Ozu. Having learned their language from Pneuman, he asks for help and we close out part two of our tale.

The definition of 'bittersweet'

Cutting back to the cable car, Timmy is a bit verklempt at the scene he’s just witnessed, So overcome with emotion is he, that he still doesn’t notice the action taking place behind him! Tom is on top of the cable car, taking out each of the blimp bandits as only he can, when one of them pulls out a handheld harpoon gun! He threatens to use it to puncture out hero, but Tom just grab the bandit by the wrist and makes him deflate his own blimp! As Tom takes out the last of the baddies the crowd cheer him on, and our Timmy, well he’s a bit annoyed.

Look closely, I guess Timmy is reading the Manga version.

Now, where were we? Back on Attabar Teru, it’s now 1921, and Tom is preparing to leave the Ozu and make his first trip to the land of his parents’ birth. In the intervening years, he’s rebuilt Pneuman, introduced electricity to the Ozu, but wonders aloud if his parents would be proud of his accomplishments. Pneuman assures him they would be, and they go to meet their Ozu farewell party. We’re told the Ozu chief, Omotu has raised Tom, and he sees them as family. Omotu’s daughter, Dhalua is among those seeing him off, and it’s revealed that she loves him deeply, waiting on the beach long after everyone else has seen him off. We’ll get back to her in a bit.

We have a quick cut to Millennium City and a battle atop its equivalent of the Statue of Liberty. The mad genius, Paul Saveen is pontificating that the city is his in a very Lex Luthor kind of way. A struggle ensues, and it culminates with Tom tackling Saveen off of the statue and into Millennium Bay. Tom think Saveen is finally gone for good (hint: nope). His work in America apparently finished, he returns to Attabar Teru ro take care of some business that’s unfinished. And what business it is!

Dhalua's dress provided by Peacock & Sons Outfitters, Attabar Teru

Now married, Tom and Dhalua discuss the future. Tom suggests bringing more intelligent life in this world. Dhalua is ecstatic, having wanted a baby of her own for a while. Tom says he actually was thinking of performing brain experiments on a monkey, but sure, why not a baby too?

We flash forward to 1999, where Tom is relating the story to his daughter, Tesla. It’s revealed because of the Goloka Root, the entire Strong family has aged very slowly, despite having lived decades. We’re teased a bit with what the book/character will hold for us in the future (I told you Saveen wasn’t dead). We’re introduced to the entire family, in addition to Tesla, the aforementioned “monkey” is with the group too. King Solomon has a delightful English accent, and has a playful antagonism with Pneuman. He’s also in charge of sorting through applications for new members of the Strongmen of America, which brings us to the end of our tale.

You know Tesla, I think I will!

Oh, did I say the end? Well not quite. We cut one last time back to little Timmy Turbo. Amid the commotion of everyone talking about the daring mid-air rescue of their cable car, Timmy still is engrossed in the story of how Tom Strong got started. He walks, still oblivious to everything and finishes the walk to school, until:

"I have GOT to start paying attention to the world around me!"

And that, as they say is that. While this was pretty much all exposition, it was still a fun ride, and if you enjoyed it, I implore you to track down Tom Strong in any form you can get it, you won’t be disappointed!

MTV spoke with Jon Favreau about the current and future plans of the Iron Man films in relation to the rest of the Marvel films.

“In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and Avengers.”

With different timlines separating the films Favreau is waiting for Thor, Captain America, and the Avengers movies to be finished before planning Iron Man 3. The big question is will Iron Man 3 wrap up the current movie continuity or leave the door open for more films? It’d be nice to see Spider-Man and the X-men make future apperances, but we’ve already seen so many good Superhero movies, maybe we’re a bit spoiled.

A while back, it was announced that Emma Stone would be filling the shoes of Peter Parker’s first “true love”, Gwen Stacy, in Marc Webb’s Spider-Man movie. From day one I have expressed that I would love to see the saga of Gwen and Peter/Spider-Man play out on the big screen – and while no one knows for sure exactly what Webb has planned for this story, we at least know she will be a major character in his movies.

Out and about at the “Trevor Live” show on Sunday night, Emma Stone was showing off her new blonde look in anticipation for filming, which starts later this month. Personally, I think she looks fantastic as a blonde and I can definitely see some Gwen Stacy in those eyes! Check out the pictures below!

Photos: Celebuzz

If you’re going digital with your comic books and are wondering what to do with your single issue runs, consider having them bound in hardcover books by Single Bound Studios.

I’ve had  books bound by Texas Bindery and they did a good job but I quit sending books when they recently sold their company to Houchen Bindery.

The Books I had bound from Texas Bindery have 25 to 30 issues in them. Compared to other graphic novels they seem too big, and I don’t like to read at a table to lay the book out in front of me. Single bound Studios has the perfect solution to this with a ’no frills’ hardcover available from Bindery 59. They also offer many other services including beautiful ‘high end’ books from Capitol Bindery starting at $50.00, with art on the covers, slipcases and dust jackets.

It’s easy to get started just pick the type of book you want and email Single Bound studios. I had an email answer in about 24 hours so I selected 15 issues of Punisher War Journal

Packed them up

And mailed them off

I received an email when my books arrived and a layout sheet shortly after, for my approval

The average turn around time is 4-6 weeks and I got my book within that time frame.

The book I received was exactly what I was expecting. The pages are all trimmed perfectly and the covers of the book lay perfectly flat. I’ve inspected the seams of the pages and there is a very minimal loss of the artwork on the inside gutters. The cover stamping is also perfectly straight and as bright as can be. The stitching can be seen a few places inside the book, which is normal, and the buckram cloth is firmly and evenly applied across the book.

Photo of my book by David Banks, Single Bound Studios.

After you get over the fear or ruining your treasured collectibles you’ll realize that the actual value is probably less than the cover price. Taking them out of their cardboard coffins and putting them up on a shelf makes perfect sense. Transform your boxes of old paper into new books you can read again and again without searching and removing them from plastic bags.

Based on this book and the wonderful customer service from David Banks I highly recommend SINGLE BOUND STUDIOS. They’ll work with you on special projects and gladly answer any questions you have.

You can see the various binding services available HERE

Welcome back to 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)

Phil Hester (who blew me away with his work on Green Arrow) provides this profile of Captain Marvel from Shazbots private collection.

Last night’s episode of The Clone Wars, ‘Pursuit of Peace’, continued the story of the senate’s fight to pass or not pass a bill that would create five million more clones to send to the war.

Padme and her sanity caucus, predictably, would prefer to see diplomacy resume with the Separatists, but they have other plans. Last week, we met Padme’s life-long friend and Separatist, whom she convinced to call for a vote for peace with the Republic. Those hopes seemed tenuous by the last episode, but are completely unrealistic after Dooku reveals that the Confederate Senators calling for peace have been killed in an alleged attack by the Republic.

Still hoping to defeat the bill, Padme and Bail Organa play minority whip and try to rile up votes. The problem is that Dooku has hired a pair of Bounty Hunters to rough up the senators thinking of voting against escalation.

I know this episode sounds like a lot of political maneuvering, and it is, but somehow they inserted an urgency and pacing into that maneuvering and made it pretty great. Add to that a great pair of bounty hunters roughing up senators and you’ve got the makings of a great political episode.

A lot of people have complained about the prevalence of political episodes of this show, but I really feel like not only was this one necessary, but that it was a story so incredibly well told that there really is nothing to complain about.

Part of what I really, really liked about this episode was that we get to see a little bit of Palpatine’s side of the scheming. Throughout the course of this show he’s been seen as sort of the doddering old man from The Phantom Menace with hints of who he was in Attack of the Clones, but now we’re finally getting to see hints of his dark side and it enhances the showdown in Revenge of the Sith beyond words.

I can also see conservatives having problems with some of these more recent episodes. The political episodes have been doing a very good job at tackling philosophical issues about greed and corruption in a political setting (and none better than in this episode) but conservatives tend to confuse the words greed and corruption with words like “capitalism” and “free enterprise”. This episode revolves heavily around the fact that the banks have been deregulated and if the government were to take out the required loans for troops there would be no checks and balances on how that money was taken or fair rates of return or interest. Sure, it’s a little heady for some kids, but if that nugget can be implanted in kids now, that greed is wrong and gouging people simply because it’s legal is wrong too, then this show is actually making a positive impact on the world. If nothing else, it will force some parents to have these conversations with their kids and take a long hard look at what they might believe.

I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been more conservative outrage against it yet.

As far as the sets, I feel like these guys are putting in such great work building bars and cantinas that we need a couple of episodes devoted entirely to those locales. When we see the bounty hunters get their jobs in this episode and we sweep through the bar and see the mostly naked (possibly entirely naked) Twi’lek dancers in the dark light and the phosphorescence of the drinks and other lighting… These sets and their lighting schemes are works of art and it feels like these must be some of their favorite sets to build because they always seem to stand out.

As for the one big action scene in this episode, I have to say it was pretty exhilerating. It was a very fun mix between the speeder chase in Attack of the Clones and the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi with a couple of a very determined Bounty Hunters, wishing nothing more than to cause Padme death. It was pretty awesome.

Overall, I would say this is one of the better episodes in this season so far.

My biggest complaint? Where the eff have Anakin and Obi-wan been? I feel like we’ve been so mostly constrained to Coruscant and politics that I’ve almost forgotten that there’s a war on.

But something tells me the episodes for season 3 in 2011 will bring us back to that. Going back to the original press releases for this season and the trailers we’ve seen, we still have the Nightsisters, Savage Oppress, and the Prophecy of the Chosen One to see this season.

And my guess is that they’re saving the best for the finale. And for that I can’t wait.