Usually when it comes to G.I. Joe, I’m old school or nothing. I was a huge fan of the original Marvel series and generally felt that unless the book was written by Larry Hama, it wasn’t worth my time. So when IDW got the license to publish new G.I. Joe comics and announced that they were creating a whole new continuity, I shrugged my shoulders and went and reread the old Marvel books.

Turns out I didn’t know what I was missing.

IDW’s G.I. Joe is a fast paced, espionage thrill ride in the vein of Tom Clancy and Call of Duty, yet still has that G.I. Joe flavor that makes it unique. And nowhere is this more evident than the G.I. Joe: Cobra vol. 2 trade paperback that collects the second half of the title’s part of the Cobra Civil War storyline.

Collecting issues #5-8 by the creative team of Mike Costa and Werther Dell’Edera (with an assist from Antonio Fuso); it tells the story of Black-Out, a Cobra sleeper agent trying to infiltrate G.I. Joe while the competition to find a new Cobra Commander rages on. All the while he’s playing a game of cat and mouse with Chameleon, an ex-Cobra agent trying to become a member of the Joes. It is an intense, fast paced story that takes no prisoners and leaves you guessing until the end you never see coming. Continue Reading…

The folks over at SEOMoz will be hosting a (now fully booked) free event at the SEER Interactive “Search Church” on Thursday, May 10th. SEOMoz CEO Rand Fishkin and Wil Reynolds, Founder of SEER Interactive, will be leading the event which includes presentations by the local web marketing community of Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, SEOMoz announced the full speaker agenda after potential participants were invited to submit presentation pitches for review. The speaker lineup will feature several eight minute presentations by a selection of Philadelphia web marketers.

Topics will include link building, content strategy and web scraping amongst others. The speaker and presentation topics are as follows: Continue Reading…

Dark Shadows is the newest film by Hot Topic auteur Tim Burton, starring his ever-present whipping boy Johnny Depp. This time the source material is the beloved gothic soap opera that featured the likes of zombies, werewolves, witches, warlocks and even time-travel.

Dark Shadows ran for 1,225 episodes and really didn’t hit its stride till about a year into its run when it introduced the vampire Barnabas Collins and a cult classic was born. There was already a film adaptation of the show made back in 1970 titled House of Dark Shadows, which featured most of the original television cast and was more of a stand alone condensed version of the Barnabas storyline.

Now Tim Burton is giving us his interpretation of the series. While I am looking forward to it, I am definitely cautiously optimistic.

We have 25 passes for 2 to a screening Monday, May 7^th at the Ritz East, want a chance to win? Simply comment with your favorite Johnny Depp film by May 4^th and 25 folks will be picked at random. Passes will go out digitally that Sunday, in the meantime check out the trailer below!

No cameras, camera phones, or other recording devices permitted in screening. Seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Theatre capacity is limited and passes won do not guarantee seating. (So please show up early!) Theater is not responsible for overbooking. Ticket holder and guest must enter theater together.

Image via Moo Noo

Celebrate the warm weather by perusing gallery window-fronts…

First Friday: Friday, May 4th

West Looked East @ Arch Enemy: Gallery ML, the kickstarter-funded body art venue, has opened a sister gallery on Arch Street in Old City. The first show is by local artist Gabe Tiberino. Opening reception 5-10pm.

Philadelphia @ Part Time Studios: New paintings by AJ Rombach. “Since moving here, August 2010, I’ve been struck by the nature of the city: it’s subcultures, it’s layout, it’s people and it’s movements… A body of work largely representational, although not completely, of scenes uniquely Philadelphian’.” Part Time Studios in Fishtown.

Bright Visions @ Bluestone Fine Art Gallery: Opening reception for local artist/ friend of Geekadelphia, Britt Miller. Free event, 5-9pm.

Other artist events and open galleries for May 2012:

Saturday, May 5th events:

Lost Treasures: Screenprints of Photos Taken Under the El: Opening for Ralph Stollenwerk show 6-9pm @ Slingluff Gallery in Fishtown.

TBA @ Art in the Age: a vague ‘First Friday @ AITA’ post was left on their blog calendar… not sure on a formal showing (they had their hands full with the Federal Donuts drinks for your donuts party), but it’s possible that the Warby Parker eyeglasses showroom is still on display?

Plastopia; Visual Works by MooNoo: Opening reception 6-10pm @ Phantom Hand Gallery On South Street.

Send gallery tips to geekadelphia@gmail.com

This week in the Roundup we’re going to try something a bit different. In addition to new issues of Uncanny X-Men and The Flash, I’m going to review the trade paperback Hack/Slash: My First Maniac. Since so many fans read comics these days via trade only, I thought this would be a good way to put the spotlight on some books that deserve it.

Uncanny X-Men #11
By Kieron Gillen and Greg Land

One of my pet peeves with Marvel events is that many times, the main miniseries turns out to be nothing but fluff, with most of the important story elements taking place in the crossovers. I had the same fear when I went to read Uncanny X-Men #11, the first tie-in to Avengers vs. X-Men for the series. Shockingly, I think Marvel may have finally gotten it right.

In the issue, Gillen takes the opportunity to flesh out some of the battles from the first two issues of AvX. We see the Colossus/Red Hulk fight in all its brutal glory and the Hope/Wolverine confrontation from Hope’s point of view. It works as the perfect compliment to the main AvX miniseries, but doesn’t overshadow or contradict it. Land’s art is still incredible in all its photo referenced glory. Ironically, some of the best art in the issue is the underwater fight between Red Hulk and Colossus, where I would imagine reference material would have been hard to come by.

I really hope all the tie-ins for the series follow this example. It would be nice to read the 12 issues of AvX and not feel like I missed a huge part of the story because I didn’t read Avengers Academy or New Mutants. Continue Reading…

Fans of ‘90s point and click adventure games are no doubt familiar with the Gabriel Knight series, but did you know that the series’ creator lives here in PA? True facts. Right out in Lancaster County. On a farm. That may or may not have some serious occult business going on. Watch the video, you’ll see what I mean.

Anyway, the farm is now home base for Pinkerton Road Studio, Jensen and composer/husband Robert Holmes’ new outfit exploring the idea of CSG, or community supported gaming. Like a CSA, but for video games! And the first game will be… Moebius:

Malachi Rector is an antiquities dealer who hunts down artifacts all over the world. After his upscale Manhattan store is destroyed in a fire, he’s hired by billionaire Amble Dexter to investigate a series of events and document them in his meticulous way.

The first event is the death of a young woman in Venice. She was found hanging from a bridge. As Rector investigates her life, compiling facts for his dossier, he realizes that the beautiful and talented young woman — and the interrupted path of her life — had great hidden significance.

It appears that Amble Dexter and his associates are playing with the fabric of life in a way Rector never imagined was possible. Even he, Rector himself, is part of a larger pattern. He must figure out who is doing what, and whether their intentions are for good or ill, before he can decide if he will play his pre-scripted role — or try to change the outcome. This is a metaphysical thriller ala Dante’s Equation and Gabriel Knight.

Want more? Watch the video and take a look at the video updates that the team is putting up. And go support them!

The Project: Jane Jensen’s Moebius and Pinkerton Rd. Studio

Creator: Jane Jensen

The Sweet Spot: $16 gets you one game this CSG cycle, which means Moebius! You’ll also get quarterly updates and access to a special member’s only forum. If you really want to get in there though, $50 makes you a full blown CSG member with monthly updates, beta access, PDF design bibles, and the ability to give your own input on the game. The decision is clear.

Funding Deadline: May 19th, 2012

More Info: Find Jane on Facebook, the official Pinkerton Road site, and of course right over on Kickstarter.

Every Monday Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by locals. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

Our Masters of the Universe screening is coming up this Friday, May 4^th at The Troc and when it came to putting together another event, one thing I really wanted was a really rad poster.

I know a lot of people really liked the one we did for Scott Pilgrim and as a poster collector I wanted the kind of poster I would put on my wall for the event. I contacted local Philly artist Haunt Love, who does the posters for Exhumed Films. He was more than happy to help out.

Here is a time lapse of the process of creating the poster. I think its a great look into how these things are made. The posters were a very limited run so if you want to snag one, the best advice I can give is show up in costume at the event.  So enjoy the video and see you at the event!

This Friday, the Please Touch Museum is throwing an epic celebration of all-that-is Star Wars. After all, it is May 4th.

The museum is encouraging families to swing by the museum dresses as their favorite Star Wars characters, and enjoy tons of Star Wars themed activities through out the day. This includes:

•  “Padawan Academy” themed story times with favorite Star Wars heroes
•  A Far Far Out Dance Party in Hamilton Hall
•  Star Wars characters from Pennsylvania’s 501st Garrison Carida, as well as the Mav oya’la Clan of the Mandalorian Mercs Costuming Clubs will be making appearances for photos
•  Special End of the Day Imperial March lead by Star Wars villains

For more details on the special Star Wars day and for information on the museum, visit their official website. May the 4th be with you!

Please Touch Museum
4231 Avenue of the Republic (19131)
www.pleasetouchmuseum.org

It’s 2012. Penn Museum is celebrating the imminent end of the world by building sand castles.

Before giving away all your worldly goods and drinking strychnine-laced Kool-Aid, though, we recommend you check out the upcoming premiere of Penn Museum’s Maya 2012: The Lords of Time, an exhibition that will commence with the construction outside of 30th Street Station of a 25-ton recreation of famed Mayan monument Altar Q, located in present-day Honduras.

The sculpture will be made of sand, the only medium truly worthy of the enterprise—because it can crumble like your hopes and dreams before the onslaught of the apocalypse!

Artists Greg and Bandi Glenn are starting work on the sculpture today and aim to finish it by May 5, just in time for the public opening of the May 2012 exhibition. On May 3 at 5pm, visitors to the sculpture can meet a host of Penn and Honduran officials, including the Ambassador of Honduras, Jorge Ramon Hernández-Alcerro, Dr. Richard Hodges, Penn Museum Director; Loa Traxler, Curator of MAYA 2012; and the artists themselves, Greg and Brandi Glenn.

Visitors may not stomp on the sculpture, as it could precipitate the end of the world far ahead of schedule. Respect the sculpture, folks; no one has ever trifled with Mayan eschatology using sand before.

The original Altar Q was carved in 776 AD and depicts the kings of Copan, the site at which the monument is located, as the Mayan “Lords of Time.” The exhibition explores the rise and fall of Copan and Mayan concepts of time and the calendar.

Visitors can see artifacts recently excavated from the site and hear modern Mayan concerns for the future… if there is one.

Learn more about the exhibit at the Penn Museum’s official website.

new photo editor

Offices are places of work. They’re usually set up for practicality and function. They’re full of cubicles, fluorescent lights, and water coolers. The offices of an eCommerce vendor would seem to follow in that tradition, but WebLinc is no ordinary company. Based in Old City, the company has two offices on 3rd street both with interesting features that would bring out the inner geek of any jaded office worker.

Darren Hill was kind enough to show me around WebLinc’s offices. It turns out tailoring eCommerce solutions for clients is easier when there’s a ready supply of caffeinated beverages, arcade games, and Nerf guns. It doesn’t hurt being above National Mechanics either.

The office space above National Mechanics is devoted to WebLinc’s developers. Developers are programming geeks. These are the guys who write the back end code for e-commerce solutions. They’re also known to break out into Nerf gun battles. I was lucky enough to visit during a cease fire, but if anything went down I made sure to note the location of a Nerf shield to deflect any stray darts.

WebLinc’s other office on 3rd street has a storefront that looks like a demented butcher shop. It’s twisted and a little sick, exactly the look that Darren was going for in historical Old City. I always wondered what odd people occupied this storefront in Old City. It’s WebLinc.

This space houses mostly project management employees so there’s less of a threat of taking an errant dart from an over caffeinated developer. But there was a higher threat of cardiac arrest from trucking up all the funky stairwells. I am out of shape.

Darren explained how a lot of the features of the office are to instill creativity and productivity. The whiteboard walls are great for jotting down ideas or collaborating with coworkers. The red telephone booth rooms provide privacy when taking conference calls. The televisions in the bathroom? Those are for multitasking.

Based on what I saw, WebLinc’s digs give any red blooded geek office envy. Scope out some more pics in the Flickr gallery or in the slideshow below.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Before the advance screening some of you attended at the Rave of The Cabin in the Woods, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with one of the stars of the film Fran Kranz. I have been a fan of Fran’s since Dollhouse and remember hearing about him getting the role in Cabin, and was really psyched for him and the film.

That was 3 years ago, since then he has done quite a bit. Dollhouse was canceled. He went on to do Much Ado about Nothing (also with Whedon), acted in Death of a Salesman on Broadway and raised over $100,000 for a film called Lust For Love on Kickstarter.

I got to chat with Fran about his career and asked if he was able to get his way into Whedon’s The Avengers.

I was a huge fan of Dollhouse, what was it like working on that show?  Were you happy with how it ended?

Yeah, people think it’s crazy to say, but I’m thankful to Fox for giving us a full two seasons. Do you know what I mean? Look at the end of the day, we knew where our ratings stood, we knew we were on Friday nights, we always kind of felt like the black sheep of the Fox family.

Obviously, we had to accelerate towards a conclusion and I think you can feel that and the budget was chopped in half. There were things that would not have been done if we were given another season for sure. I’m just thankful that it got an ending because it allowed for my character to have, I think, this very beautiful journey.

Topher began as this kind of amoral, seemingly insensitive, sort of wise-ass tech genius or whatever. A lot of people, I know Whedon fans thought I was really annoying, you know? And I meet a lot of fans that now say “I hated you at first and now you’re my favorite character.”

Continue Reading…

I paused for a second the first time I ever heard the word “Paleoartist”, even in context, I had to stop and think about it. But considering the nature of what Bob Walters and Tess Kissinger, what would you call it? Bob and Tess are as knowledgeable of dinosaurs as they are skilled in their renderings.

When you meet them, they speak with a passion so strong that if harnessed for evil, it could darken the sky and bring about another ice age. When I swung by Bob and Tess’ studio, I thought that few people would ever know two of the world’s most brilliant and talented dinosaur artists reside in the heart of Fairmount. Behind some unassuming rowhomes, they’ve got their studio where they’ve fashioned together everything from the world’s largest dinosaur mural to the illustration that would later be the Spinosaurus in 2001′s Jurassic Park III.

The path to dinosaur art was one Bob started down at the age of four, when he saw the foldout cover of LIFE magazine. It featured Rudolph Zallinger’s mural of dinosaurs from the Peabody Museum. From then on, there was no turning back. For Tess, she took her love of art and science, and gravitated toward paleontology when she met Bob. Along the way, she even became good friends with the paleo guys at the Smithsonian.

Seasoned veterans in traditional fine art, they’ve since gravitated to doing their work entirely digital. As they stated themselves, the pair work at the intersection of art, science and technology — and I’m hard-pressed to think of a finer example than their stunning work depicting plants and animals long since departed from our world. Continue Reading…