Darwyn Cooke “Batman Beyond” Short That Was Just Unveiled At WonderCon

So, in honor of the Batman 75th anniversary, this Batman Beyond short by Darwyn Cooke was just screened out at WonderCon in Anaheim today:

Clever homage to all the various Batmen from the past 75 years. I particularly like the robot Adam West Batman at 1:06.

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Today being Easter, the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office has been traveling to see family and encountering some…automotive issues. Pop quiz – a car don’t really need a roof, right? We’re hoping to keep the podcast streak alive, though. Tune in tomorrow to see if we make the cast a three-fer. Meanwhile, happy Zombie Jesus and Related Chocolate Bunny Needs Day!

Eye Candy – VFX Of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug Featurette

Weta Digital, the masterminds behind the stunning virtual cinematography in The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, have posted a quick featurette about their work. It’s a neat little package that shows the process from soup to nuts on a small portion of the film. For those of you who were convinced the effects of the movie were the work of digital dark elves on a never ending quest to kill creeps and grind up through levels while leaving magical pixie dust pixels behind in their terrible wake, here is a peek behind the curtain. Also, please stop huffing your keyboard cleaner. It’s becoming a real problem.

Via Bleeding Cool.

Brain Bleach – A Brony Tale…A Documentary Of A Fandom That Refuses To Die

Some time in the early 80s, my kid sister began collecting My Little Pony figures. Her two favorites were a pony called Cotton Candy and a pegasus called Firefly. I generally referred to them as Miss Piggy and Braciole, respectively. So, even at a young age I guess you can already figure out where I stood on the matter of embracing the Love And Tolerance creedo of the MLP fandom, along with picking up on one of the rough 732,000 reasons my sister now lives in Ohio and doesn’t speak to the family.

However, there are a ridiculous number of folks out there that are MLP fans. Some of them are grown ass men. They are called Bronies. They are here and they are legion. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

A Brony Tale opens on April 26, as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Now, for the rest of us, who’s hungry? I’m in the mood for a little braciole…

Via Deadline.

Bryan Singer Explains Why Everybody Loves X-Men

Fox has released into the wild this featurette to promote X-Men: Days Of Future Past with new footage and an interview with Bryan Singer, who explains why he wanted to come back. Click the tag for a hint!

[Show][Hide]
Young Meat.

I know I feel better for having shared that with you.

Wow. James McAvoy “finally feels like he’s in a real X-Men movie”? Damn. Harsh diss on X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn, although I suspect he’s too busy directing the movie version of Mark Millar’s The Secret Service or dealing with the pre-production mishegas of the The Fantastic Four reboot to really give a shit. I wouldn’t.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past opens Stateside on May 23, 2014.
Via Bleeding Cool.

Hugh Jackman Sings!…About Wolverine

I’d like to make a couple things clear before I go any further in this post:

• Hugh Jackman was invited on BBC 1 Radio’s Matt Edmondson Show to plug X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
• Hugh Jackman was handed a set of lyrics to a parody of Les Miserables power ballad “Who Am I?”, which Jackman sang when he took a turn as Jean Valjean in the movie version, scripted as though sung by Wolverine.
• Hugh Jackman gets through the experience nicely and is a very good sport about the whole thing.

Watch.

That being said, Parker The Kitten, Official Office Mascot for Crisis On Infinite Midlives, reacted poorly to this video. Like, nosed my laptop closed, climbed on top of it (on my lap), and then scratched at the cover like he was trying to cover his own deuce in the cat box. To be fair, he also has that reaction to videos of howling puppies, Animal Planet footage of hyenas in the wild, and Bruce Springsteen. I don’t pretend to understand it, but, he’s got enough other adorable things going on that I’m willing to let it slide. Rob hid upstairs the entire time I screened Les Miz here at the home office, shrieking “Who am I? I not fucking drunk enough for this; that’s who I am! Why is Wolverine yelling at me? Where are my pants? Hey, do you smelling burning toast?” But, that’s just Monday around here. Your mileage may vary.

Via ComicBookMovie.com.

Attention, True Believers And Lovers Of Free Merch – Stan Lee Promotes Free Comic Book Day!

Free Comic Book Day is officially the first Saturday of May. This year, in an effort to promote the day, the organizers of the event have tapped the legendary Stan Lee to get the word out. Check it out below!

And he’s not the only one helping with the promotion. Brian Michael Bendis also has a promotional video. Last year, the event attracted the assistance of Hugh Jackman, Steven T. Seagle, and Joe Kelly, so perhaps we can expect to see other videos as we count down to the day. But even, if we don’t, damn – they got Stan The Man this year! How do you top that?

So, head on over to your local comic book store on May 3, 2014 and check out what they have to offer. Not sure where your LCS is? Log on to FreeComicBookDay.com to search for stores near you. Perhaps you too can begin to develop the kind of relationship that Rob has now with our store, where they know him by name and continue to ask him to stop asking the other patrons if they’d like to check out what’s else is free in his pants. And it all begins with free merch! Yay!

Don’t Start None; Won’t Be None – Hey, Kids! First 10 Minutes Of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Ok, here’s the thing – I maintain, and will continue to maintain, that Chris Evans has never been, nor will ever be, better in a comic book movie than his turn as Jensen in 2010’s The Losers. Now, while I might have been in the minority in that respect, check out the infamous Don’t Stop Believing scene from that movie and then get back to me.

I’ll wait.

No, seriously. I’ll wait.

Ok, so, now that you’ve seen that…HOLY SHIT THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF THE NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA MOVIE…HOLY FUCK!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!!11!!!!!!1

Ok, then. So.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens April 4, 2014 here in the good ol’ US of A, where, if you are very good in life, you can be repeatedly lapped by Steve Rogers and then given cybernetic weaponized flight armor for your troubles.

Now, more importantly, bonus material.

Zachary Levi Wants You To Pay Him $5 – An Alternative For When You, Inevitably, Can’t Get Into Comic-Con

Well, folks. It’s that magical time of year again. Open registration for tickets to the 2014 San Diego International Comic-Con will be this Saturday. The waiting room opens at 7am Pacific Time; that’s 10am for those of you on the non-earthquake and wildfire prone coast. You can check out their official blog for more detail. As with the preregistration sale, the EPIC Web site will begin organizing those waiting into random groups for ticket sales, so, in theory you can log in at 7am or 8:59am and supposedly have the same shot at getting through to tickets. We look forward to reading your digital tales of woe beginning around 10am PT, if last time was any kind of guide, on Twitter.

Meanwhile, there continue to be tons of free events taking place that week to attend as a supplement…or to soothe your heartbreak when you don’t get SDCC tickets. One of these is Nerd HQ, an event that will be taking place at Petco Park at the same time as the convention. Nerd HQ is produced by Nerd Machine, which is run by Zachary Levi. Here, let him tell you about it:

You can find more details about it over on his Indiegogo page. But, essentially, contribute $5 or $1000 and get your name on the Nerd HQ Wall Of Honor. All things are equal in the great Nerd Machine and lead to a great fund raising opportunity for Operation Smile.

Full Frontal Flash – Full Look At The New Flash Costume

A couple weeks back, we shared with you Geoff Johns’s tweet about the costume for the new Flash on the WB spinoff show of the same name. Well, DC Comics and the WB have now released a full length look at the new costume, as modeled by Grant Gustin:

Hermetically sealed for a woman’s pleasure.

More information after the jump.

Meet Black Widow – Captain America Movie Sequel Featurette

Hey, kids! Did you really dig Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, in her various appearances in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers? Did you wish you could see more of her?

No, not that way, you perverts.

Well, it looks like she’s going to have a very central role in the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie. And, she’s got her own stand alone movie in the works, although it’s just in the beginning stages of getting past being a twinkle in Marvel’s pants eye. Take a look at this new featurette focusing on the lady herself!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens in US theaters April 4, 2014.

Via Bleeding Cool.