Latest Gear Live Videos
Weekend Reading: Atlas, Dick Tracy and Cowboys & Aliens
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Reviews, TokyoPop,
It’s the weekend and I have just one word for you: Winning!
Now let’s see what you’ve won:
Tie-In: I missed this: Apparently Scott Rosenberg’s Cowboys & Aliens has been reissued by It Books, a division of HarperCollins.
Plainclothes: If you’re a fan of Dick Tracy or Joe Staton, you might already know that there’s going to be a change in your newspaper on March 14. Mike Curtis and Staton will be the new team on Dick Tracy, and here’s a little profile of them, courtesy of their syndicate.
Atlas: If you remember the old Atlas/Seaboard comics of the 1970s or just love a good comic book retrospective, mark your digital calendar for March 11. Geppi’s Entertainment Museum is hosting “Atlas At Last,” which also ties in with the relaunch of the company’s characters from Ardden. Check it out!
Wulf: And speaking of the Atlas relaunch, here’s a review of one of the titles I’ve been waiting for: Wulf The Barbarian, written by Steve Niles.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Atlas, Dick Tracy and Cowboys & Aliens
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Hands-on with the String Labs Augmented Reality Showcase iPhone app
Posted by Reza Malayeri Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Product Reviews, Software, Videos,
Take a look at the future of mobile virtual reality with the String Labs Augmented Reality Showcase app for the iPhone. This amazing new application is a tech demo from String Labs, celebrating the launch of their brand new augmented reality platform. Download the free app from the iTunes app store, and head over to the String Labs website to print out the five available image targets.
Choose from Pharaoh's Fury, Clayful, Scrawl, Proto, and Sneaker. When you launch the app, you can focus your rear camera on the image targets, and play with the games and utilities that show up in virtual reality. There are fun games, creative artistic drawings, and random virtual three eyed pets to play with. Check out our video, where we walk you through each one of the five image targets, and give you a taste of the technology. Take a look at the future of mobile virtual reality, and imagine all the possibilities.
What do you like about these new applications? Can you dream up an innovative way to use augmented reality? Share your idea's with us in the comments below.
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| String Labs
Eagle Returns: Neil Vokes & Jack Herman
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Independent,
Back in the go-go 1980s there were a number of creators who jumped into the direct market with their own comic books, spurred on by a low barrier to entry, an open marketplace and a burst of energy and talent. And the ability to own and control the rights to their creations.
One of the very best of that bunch was Eagle by Jack Herman, Neil Vokes and Rich Rankin.
Now, Moonstone Books is releasing the first collection of this black-and-white classic in a deluxe edition trade paperback.
Moonstone's PR describes the series as "Lone Wolf And Cub meets Blade Runner" and I'd say that's pretty on the mark. Eagle is supernatural adventure with swords. Even if I weren't already a fan of the original series, I'd pick it up based on that alone.
This volume collects the first six issues and offers up a preview of the new series that the guys have in development. Neil and Co. have tossed in some extras here too: a cover gallery, concept sketches, and "editorial pieces from the creative team and artists that were inspired" by Eagle.
Eagle: The Original Adventures TPB Vol. 1 is a whopper, weighing in at 200 pages for just $16.95. That's a bargain for this kind of comic, and its success will pave the way for the rest of the series.
[Artwork: Eagle: The Original Adventures TPB Vol. 1 cover by Neil Vokes]
Weekend Reading: Dwayne McDuffie, Bill Crouch and Wulf The Barbarian
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews, Movies, Reviews, IDW Publishing,
So, so sorry to hear that Dwayne McDuffie passed away earlier this week. I hate it when a good guy and a terrific writer goes too soon - from his work at Milestone Media, to his animation writing on Ben 10 and other series, it felt like he had a lot more to say that I wanted to read and see.
Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool had a nice reminiscence of his interactions with Dwayne.
And Heidi MacDonald at Comics Beat also weighed in with some very nice thoughts.
Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter has a round-up of various links to posts about Dwayne. Condolences to his family and his many, many friends on their loss.
Also sad to hear that comics historian Bill Crouch has passed away.
CG: Animation historian Michael Barrier does not like computer animation a technique “creating mechanical, manipulative series of films that don't capture the magic of the yesteryear.”
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Dwayne McDuffie, Bill Crouch and Wulf The Barbarian
Bleeding Edge TV 376: Motorola Xoom video review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Features, Handhelds, Podcasts, Videocasts, Videos,
We've got the Verizon Wireless 4G Motorola Xoom, and in this episode we give you a nice, thorough walkthrough of the device. We show you the hardware, alongside a look at Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Get a look at the music player, YouTube for Android tablets, the front and rear cameras, multitasking, widgets, the built-in Google Books reader, and much more in our Xoom review. In case you missed it, we also have a video of our Motorola Xoom unboxing.
You can pick up the Motorola Xoom at Best Buy.
Big thank you to JackThreads for sponsoring the show - be sure to check them out, we've got exclusive invite codes that give you $5 to use towards anything you'd like.
Weekend Reading: Chaykin, Layman, Cunningham & Batman
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Movies, Reviews, Television, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics,
You can’t beat the power of the hammer. There’s a new Thor trailer floating around that feels much more impressive than the earlier Fortress of Solitude one. I’m liking it more and more, even if the big battle in the desert town looks very movie set-ish.
Now let's read some stuff...
Chaykin: Here’s an interview with one of my favorite creators, Howard Chaykin, talking about his upcoming work at Dark Horse.
Chew: Marc-Oliver Frisch at Comics Beat tackles John Layman to the ground and asks him lots of questions about food, comics and work-for-hire.
Smart: I wanted to conduct an interview with Darryl Cunningham, but he’s so smart that it would only serve to point out how not-smart I am. Fortunately, Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter is a smarty and he landed an excellent interview with the creator of Psychiatric Tales.
Batman: The Pullbox talks to my old friend, the comics historian Peter Sanderson. Subject: The Batman TV series from 1966.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Chaykin, Layman, Cunningham & Batman
Weekend Reading: Batman, Doctor Who And Captain America
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Movies, Reviews, DC Comics, Dynamic Forces, Independent,
The new teaser image for the upcoming Captain America movie is out. Looks like the art director grew up reading Image Comics. Now let’s see what you can read:
Heroes: Robin Brenner at Early Word, a site for librarians, has a rundown on superhero graphic novels. “Superheroes For The Uninitiated” focuses on the big names from the MU and the DCU, but she promises a future installment that goes outside Marvel and DC.
Bat: It’s been Bat-Week at Tor.com all week. If you’ve missed it, it’s all still there in all its Bat-goodness. Nick Abadzis is there and so is Gotham City: 14 Miles editor Jim Beard.
British: Beano artist Lew Stringer has news of a new, independent graphic novel from England called Armageddon Patrol, a “what if” that poses the question “what if super-heroes fought the Vietnam War?” I gotta get one of these.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Batman, Doctor Who And Captain America
British Comics: Dan Dare: Safari In Space
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,
My only exposure to Dan Dare previously was a terrific little series by Rian Hughes and Grant Morrison, that was one of those politically infused reimaginings that turned the original character inside out.
But I’ve never read the classic stuff that British comic fans drool over though I’ve heard a great deal about it. And now along comes Titan Books which has been releasing a ton of hardcover collections of classic Dare by Frank Hampson and his team that includes Don Harley, Eric Eden, Allan Stranks, Frank Bellamy and others.
Dare, the “Pilot of the Future” originally appeared in the weekly UK comic, Eagle, starting in 1950. Dare is a pilot for the Interplanet Space Fleet, a position that allows him to fly all over the galaxy and get stuck in a ton of interplanetary trouble. Much like a British version of Star Trek or Forbidden Planet, except Dare got there before they did.
Click to continue reading British Comics: Dan Dare: Safari In Space
Dead Space for iPhone review
Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Games, Reviews, Electronic Arts, $6.99, $9.99,
With the release of Dead Space 2 across platforms, EA Mobile released an iOS version of the game. Coming in at $6.99 for the iPhone and $9.99 for the iPad version, this is more than just a companion app, it's a fairly extensive, full featured game, with multiple weapons, sceneries, moving vehicles, story and so on. The whole plot and setting feeds into the Dead Space universe to create a full mobile experience.
Click to continue reading Dead Space for iPhone review
Aliph Jawbone Era review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, Wearables, Features, Music,
The Aliph Jawbone Era is the start of something new. It's the first Bluetooth headset with an accelerometer and a dedicated applications processor, which could turn it into anything from a game controller to a pedometer, or a navigation unit. Beyond that, though, it's just a top-notch Bluetooth headset, and fully worthy of our Editors' Choice.
Design and Call Performance
Like all Aliph products, the Jawbone Era is a sharp-looking headset. It's slimmer and slightly longer than the most-recent Jawbone Icon ($69), with a three-paneled, textured front; it actually looks more like the previous-gen Jawbone Prime. The Era comes in four colors, but they're all low-key: black, white, red and black-and-red. It comes with five different sets of ear tips (three that sit in your ear, and two that sit on your ear with a hook), an AC charger with a very short micro-USB cable, and a case. There's a single button on the butt end of the headset, and a power switch and pairing light on the inside face. Once you find the right ear tip, it's a secure fit; I wore the test unit comfortably for a three-hour conference call.
Click to continue reading Aliph Jawbone Era review
