It’s all about “New” in today’s Comic Roundup as I review the latest issues of Astonishing X-Men and Haunt, which both feature new creative teams, and the new issue of The Mighty Thor which features a whole new direction for everyone’s favorite Asgardian.

The Mighty Thor #8
By Matt Fraction and Pasqual Ferry

While Fear Itself may have limped to a rather lackluster ending, you just knew it was going to have big ramifications for the monthly Thor title. I mean, Odin’s gone and sealed up the way to Asgard-Space with him. Thor, the star of the book, is dead and there are now a ton of Asgardians trapped on Earth. (more…)

The last couple of months have been busy for our friends at Titan Books as they continue to produce some amazing works focusing on artists who should be household names for fans of film and art, as well as branching out with new novels featuring classic characters of literature.

This time around they have re-released an updated collection of the personal artwork of Drew Struzan, as well as a collection of works of popular science fiction artist Chris Foss. Finally, they have also released a new Sherlock Holmes novel, The Breath Of God.

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Halo: Combat Evolved was to the original Xbox what Goldeneye 007 was to the Nintendo 64. In other words, Master Chief’s struggle with the Covenant not only sold a lot of consoles, but set a new standard for multiplayer shooters.

A long 10 years later, we celebrate developer Bungie’s contribution to video games by–how else?–playing more Halo. The Spartans’ baton has been passed to Microsoft’s own 343 Industries, and its first order of business was to commemorate a decade of Halo with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

Frankly, any self-respecting Halo fan owes it to himself (or herself) to fork up the $40 for Halo Anniversary. And that’s for far more reason than the simple fact that it’s a Halo game. This is the most feature-rich, loving revival of a classic game you’ve likely experienced in a long while.

The point of an HD revival is to remind you of the wonderful experience you enjoyed years ago with a fresh coat of paint, but 343 has made that reminder even more powerful. (more…)

This week we look at the return to greatness of Swamp Thing, Blair Butler’s debut in the pages of Image’s Heart and how the New Mutants are dealing with Regenesis. All in this little thing I like to call The Comic Roundup.

Swamp Thing #3
By Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette

While I love Alan Moore’s work on Swamp Thing and do consider it a bench mark of modern comics, I have always thought that Mark Millar’s criminally overlooked run was actually a better read. So when the guy who was doing such great work on Batman was announced as the writer of the newly relaunched title, I went in with an open mind, without the baggage of the Moore era weighing me down. (more…)

The great folks at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival were kind enough to give an advance look at some of the films playing this weekend.

They’ve got a lot of great stuff screening, and I am going to share with you my picks for this outstanding festival.

Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe (Friday Nov. 4^th @ 7pm)

If you enjoyed the Banksy Documentary Exit through the Gift Shop I highly suggest checking this one out, it’s definitely my favorite feature length of the festival.  Over 7 years in the making the film follows David Choe from obscurity to being one of the most well known street artists today.

The film is a very stark portrait of an eccentric, troubled artist. The documentary captures all the highlights and low points of his life and career, from being in prison in Japan to doing the mural for the Napster offices. The film doesn’t glamorize its subject at all, letting the audience make the decision for itself if this man is mad or a genius.

Geek rating 4.5/5
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In the opening moments of Melancholia we see the Earth destroyed as the planet Melancholia collides with it in a beautiful symphony of destruction as only Lars Von Trier can envision. In a series of beautiful slow motion vignettes we are given a brief yet very telling look into the destruction of our world and the lives of the characters who will be inhabiting our screen for the next two hours.

The film’s story is broken into 2 parts each centering on one of two very different sisters as they cope with their differences, copious amounts of family baggage and the end of the world together. In the first part we are introduced to Justine (Kirsten Dunst) on her wedding day.

In what starts out as a playful, perfect day turns into a portrait of a very dysfunctional and troubled young woman. We then switch gears half way through the film and are focusing on Justine’s seemingly more stable sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) in the throws of a pending apocalypse in both a worldly and familial sense.

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This week I review the first issue of Marvel’s Wolverine and the X-Men, the finale of Zenescope’s summer event The Dream Eater Saga and the second issue of Aquaman. All in this week’s Comic Roundup!

Wolverine and the X-Men #1
By Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo

Wasting no time after the end of an era “final” issue of Uncanny X-Men last week, this week sees the release of the new mutant flagship book, Wolverine and the X-Men. While I won’t be buying the new Uncanny X-men series out of principle, this new title’s premise piqued my interest enough to get me to buy the first issue. After reading it, I might be buying it for awhile longer. (more…)

It’s almost Halloween, so of course its time for another installment of everyone’s favorite found footage franchise Paranormal Activity.

While I will go on record as being a huge fan of the first film and thought it revitalized the found footage genre, I really felt the second film was a rushed rehash of the first. But when I saw the creepy trailer for Paranormal Activity 3, I was hoping for them to finally spend some of the money they have been making on these films and take this franchise up a notch.

Paranormal Activity 3 is supposed to be the bridge that essentially ties the two previous films together, giving you the genesis of the entity plaguing Katie and Kristi that we have already witnessed destroy both of their families. The film is presented like the others as found footage, but this time from old VHS tapes mysteriously taken from Kristi’s basement before the events of the second film.

While it’s a somewhat clever way to go about this since the film takes place in the 80s when both of the women are children; its getting pretty hard to believe that another person would do the exact same thing recording everything when the undertaking at that time would be both technological and cost prohibitive.

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The Thing is a lot like the film’s namesake alien. While its a good imitation of the original, some parts just still don’t seem quite right. Its part re-make, part sequel and while it has its moments, living up to the expectations of fans of the original is a whole different problem altogether. While sitting down to watch this being a huge fan of the original, I tried to keep an open mind and look at this as more of an update for today’s audiences more than anything else.

The Thing takes place 3 days before the events of the first film and follows a camp of Norwegians as they discover the Lovecraftian creature encased in ice that is ultimately going to kill off the entire camp. The Creature’s claim to fame is its ability to mimic is prey, so the film is pure paranoia as they try to figure out who is human and who isn’t in this small isolated research camp in Antarctica.

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On October 4th, Apple announced the successor to the iPhone 4 under a series of speculation, leaks and rumors leading consumers to believe (and some to expect) the debut of the phantom iPhone 5. What we were in fact introduced to was a modified upgrade in the form of iPhone 4S. Subsequently this would be the last Apple product that Steve Jobs would see presented to the world. It’s been heralded as a tremendous leap forward in innovation and technology. Quell all of the hype and settle down the fanboys, I’m here to tell you geeks whether it’s worth the upgrade.

Critics of the iPhone 4 form factor will not see much of an aesthetic upgrade to the case and physical appearance. All of the improvements to the 4S have been made under the hood. Boasting an A5 dual core processor with speeds up to 7x faster, the iPhone 4S posted impressive benchmark scores when compared to its predecessor. Battery life patterns remained relatively similar to that of my iPhone 4. I personally never managed to get more than 4-5MBPS on AT&T’s 3G network here in Philadelphia. The device is still hampered by 3G limitations in the absence of a true high speed LTE connection even with improvements made to the Safari browser in iOS5. On the bright side, Apple did finally correct the antenna death-grip issues that plagued users of the iPhone 4 causing loss of cellular reception simply by holding it a certain way. (more…)

For a film whose plot has essentially become a meme, the sequel had to be not only smarter but also even more twisted than the original. That is a pretty tall order when you’re the director personally responsible for making one of the most controversial films to hit cinemas in the last 3 years.

This film is not for everyone, and the first film may have been well enough for most. But for those looking for more, director Tom Six is more than happy to oblige his fans. Giving them something that literally as Tom himself puts it, “makes the first film look like My Little Ponies.”

If you haven’t seen the first film, be warned… spoilers ahead.

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Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente, is a terrible book.

WAIT.

Before you stop reading, allow me to explain. When contemporaries dubbed Ivan IV “the terrible,” they didn’t mean “awful” or “horrible” as we understand the word today (although one might argue that dropping puppies off the Kremlin walls as a child is pretty terrible in the modern sense of the term); rather, they meant “awesome” or “mighty”–beyond the comprehension or judgment of mere mortals such as you and I.

It’s in this sense that I describe Deathless: To read it is to be struck by its terrible beauty. (more…)