Even moreso than Savage Dragon, I feel like WildC.A.T.s had to be one of the most random-as-fuck comics to come of out Image’s line of launch titles back in 1992. The sheer abundance of pastiche characters was rather overwhelming, and it seemed like no one could ever decide on a concrete mythology to follow. Details of certain characters changed like the weather, contradictory elements got added in just to spice things up, character’s transformed into whole other different beings. Let’s not even get into the short-lived animated series and its glorious theme song! If any comic NEEDS to be brought to the big screen, it’s WildC.A.T.s. And I’d want it to be as fun and blissfully stupid as possible.

CAST

Sam Worthington as Spartan - Who better to play an emotionally confused cyborg/alien hybrid than a man whose most famous roles have been as an emotionally confused cyborg AND an alien hybrid! He may hail from the Keanu Reeves acting workshop/pottery class, but I feel like that’s exactly the route to go when bringing a character like Spartan to life. He feels like a “leader by default” type of character.

Abbie Cornish as Zealot - Say what you will about Sucker Punch, but Cornish threw down when it came to those action scenes. I think her character even had a sword in that one, too! Hell, she even had to go “warrior woman” in one scene of Limitless, and the look in her eyes was menacing! I would not wanna tango with this broad (or maybe I would!)

Brian Van Holt as Grifter - Van Holt’s acting career is peppered with roles that come close to matching the “cocky gunslinger” quality of a character like Grifter. ANd just look at this face. He’s already a “that guy” actor anyway. If you had to guess his name, wouldn’t your mind already come up with something along the lines of “Cole Cash”?

Matt Mullins as Warblade - I wouldn’t subject him to the “Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine” treatment, but this casting choice is more for Mullins’ skills as a martial artist than his acting, which isn’t necessarily bad. I’d let him speak, and stuff!

Rosario Dawson as Voodoo - A flashback to the character’s time as an exotic dancer would be mandatory!

James Ransone as Dr. Jeremy Stone - Ransone’s a solid actor, and has always been skinny-ass gnat. He’d be perfect for the human side of the character Maul.

Brian Steele as Maul - Steele is a veteran creature performer, and he’s done characters as tall as 8 or 9 feet, easy. Get someone like Steve Johnson or Patrick Totoupolous to do the creature effects, and I’d be more than confident in their ability to come up with something impressive.

Peter Dinklage as Jacob Marlowe/Lord Emp - Even before Game Of Thrones, Dinklage has been known for turning in one stellar performance after another. I could see him having fun playing the alien billionaire that finances the WildC.A.T.s. I can already see him smokin’ a cigar in a fine Italian suit.

Any random European model as Void - Over time, I’ve gotten the impression that Void is a more complex character than she has any right to be, but to most fans, she’s just a hot chick that floats around as she stares blankly into space. Squeeze her into a mo-cap body suit, and let special effects adorn her in all manner of silvery goodnees.

DIRECTOR

Oh, this has Louis Leterrier written all over it!!!

Somewhere, in a land where unicorns dance with pegasuses (pegasi?) at the Equine Cotillion, the superhero movies in our head are being made. My own personal Batman movie has cameos by a young CGI Adam West imparting wisdom to Christian Bale on how to properly handle a Joker.

That is just one of the many scenes of the “Batman Movie In My Head.” It’s not quite done and I’m not quite sure it ever will be. Here’s what I do know… it’ll probably be a movie presented in six, three-hour long parts and feature everything I love about Batman. I will keep adding scenes, firing directors, recasting actors and throwing imaginary money at it. F*** practical application, f*** a studio, f*** the actors I want being dead or too old to play the part.

F*** you, I have a movie in my head to make.

(ahem)

That said, I just realized I fired myself from the epic, six part, three-hour long each “Batman Movie In My Head” and been replaced with a studio wanting a return on their investment, a director who cares about these sorts of things, a casting director who knows nothing about CGI, actors interested in working with that puissant and a writer who knows story structure.

F*** them.

That said, this summer, I went to the movies knowing the movies-in-my-head wouldn’t ever be made and sent a mental mash note to a 12-year old Devon circa 1984. I told him over the course of the summer of 2011, in a dark movie theater and watching movies based on some your favorite things in the whole wide world will become movies. A Green Lantern movie! Yes, a Green Lantern movie! The technology finally caught up with the idea of a Green Lantern movie and yes, they do sort of botch it up with a horrible script and an actor you won’t like in twenty-seven years but kid, you’ll be sitting with friends watching this thing you’ve always wanted to see. Just try and be OK with it and enjoy.

You’ll see a Thor movie that won’t remind you in any way of the Walt Simonson Thor comics you’re reading right now but that’s OK. It’ll still be a fun movie. As a matter of fact, if you can look at it as the best Masters Of The Universe movie Hollywood will never make, you’ll love it even more. Oh, and it leads into an Avengers movie… but, first, you’ll have to watch the Captain America movie. Yeah, seriously…

Also, this summer, there will be a movie called X-Men: First Class starring this guy Kevin Bacon who’s in this movie coming out called “Footloose.” You won’t give a crap about “Footloose,” matter of fact, you still won’t have seen it but you’ll have met Kevin Bacon once and found him to be an alright guy so his casting will make you happy. He does a great job and you won’t believe who he’s playing. This movie’s sort of like a blend of “The X-Men meets James Bond.” Two of your favorite things, right? I KNOW!

Oh, and Captain America: The First Avenger? It hasn’t come out yet but man, it looks great. The guy who played The Human Torch is Captain America…

(sigh)

What is the big deal about a guy who played one comic book character not being able to playing another? There’s no rule against it. No, there isn’t. I know things. There won’t be in 2011 so, shut up. I’m from the future!

Just enjoy your “Movie Summer Of Awesome.” The movies-in-your-head already has its own greatest audience and always will. The kid in you who won’t believe he’ll see a Thor, Captain America, X-Men and Green Lantern movie all in ONE SUMMER will thank you for letting him enjoy it in peace and quiet.

SEATTLE – July 8, 2011 – Ten of the industry’s best (and definitely most original) indie games culled from more than 100 submissions have been selected for the 2011 PAX 10. The developers of these titles will have free booth space at PAX Prime where they will be seen by the tens of thousands of gamers that will attend at the Washington State Convention Center on August 26 – 28, 2011.

The PAX 10 was created to provide the very best independent game developers with a way to get exposure to the gamers, media and industry professionals at PAX Prime. The winners were selected by industry experts looking for the best in gameplay, originality and overall fun-factor.

“Every year the showcase of new indie gems are one of the highlights of the show,” said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. “In always chasing the next big blockbuster, too much of our industry is dedicated to making the same game over and over again. The PAX 10 is one way that indies with innovative game concepts can get in front of the community.”

The winning entries are:

• A Flipping Good Time (PC) – Digipen Institute of Technology – Players will have a flipping good time in this fast-paced free-flowing 2D platformer as they flip and fly through an expansive underground world using the fluid nature of gravity to avoid hazardous terrain.

• Antichamber (PC) – Alexander Bruce – Journey through the depths within a non-Euclidean labyrinth where geometry and space follow unfamiliar rules, and many obstacles are a matter of perception. Players must create, destroy and manipulate matter in this mind-bending psychological exploration game.

• Atom Zombie Smasher (PC, Mac, Linux) – Blendo Games – The zombie apocalypse is upon us! Take strategic command of mercenary forces to conduct massive rescue operations using military forces such as snipers, artillery crews, and orbital bombardments to hold back the undead while the civilians escape.

• Fez (XBLA) – Polytron – Guide Gomez, a 2D creature, on a voyage of discovery into the mysterious 3rd dimension. Change his perspective and look at the world in a different way.

• Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (PC) – Final Form Games – A neo-classical top-down shooter for up to 4 players set on 17th-century British Colonial Mars with a new twist on the genre. There are no shared pools of health or lives; so long as any player survives, the team can be brought back from death.

• Snapshot (PC) – Retro Affect – Pic, a robot camera, can actually absorb objects into photographs, removing them from existence! By pasting pictures back into the world, captured objects – everything from doors, light, even copies of yourself – can be used to solve puzzles.

• Solar 2 (PC) – Murudai – In this open-world, sandbox game set in an infinite abstract universe, players are the planets. Play constructively: grow your system, nurture life and attack enemy life in huge battles. Play destructively: crash into objects and cause chaos, use orbiting objects like wrecking balls and steal planets.

• Splatters (PC) – SpikySnail – You play as a group of semi-suicidal, liquid filled Splatters that get their kicks by igniting in colorful confetti bombs of liquid. Crash into spikes, ride the slides, Air-Strike into bombs or do just any stunt-combo you can think of. With every new maneuver learned, each show becomes more spectacular.

• Vanessa Saint-Pierre Delacroix & Her Nightmare (PC) – Bad Pilcrow – Standing between Vanessa and freedom are platforming mechanics. The twist? Her two-dimensional world lies on the surface of a three-dimensional cube, and players must rotate each face to find clever solutions to a wide variety of problems.

• Word Fighter (iOS & Android) – Feel Every Yummy – A one-on-one word battling game that mixes rules from popular word games like Boggle and Scrabble and wraps them around a competitive fighting environment. Think “Street Fighter” meets “Words with Friends”, or word games mashed together with “Super Puzzle Fighter”.

The PAX 10 website can be found at http://prime.paxsite.com/pax10.php

After airing only 4 episodes TNT is rolling out the red carpet for Speilberg’s fledgling sci-fi hit Falling Skies. The show has had some high ratings since premiering and even walked away with the highest premiere rating for a summer show on TNT.

If you haven’t been watching, Falling Skies follows the 2nd Mass — one of the last pockets of resistance fighters after a devastating alien attack nearly wipes out humankind. Noah Wyle stars as Tom Mason, a history professor from Boston and the father of three sons who has become the second in command of 2nd Mass. Using his background in military history, Mason helps give a leg-up on the invaders using strategy to try and determine why they’ve come to invade in the first place. Moon Bloodgood co-stars as Anne Glass, and pediatrician in training who serves as the outfit’s medic.

The show is currently in the middle of a 10-episode run for season one and 10 more episodes have been ordered for season 2. You can catch Falling Skies on TNT Sunday nights at 10/9c. If you’re trying to get a good sci-fi fix, catch up on this show before it gets too far ahead.

Say it with me… “I love comics.”

OK, now try this… “ I love comics. I am a grown person who realizes no one, especially DC Comics, is trying to rape my childhood.”

See, now doesn’t that feel great to get that off of your chest? With that declaration of independence, you’re taking ownership of your future and more importantly, past comic book enjoyment. Fly away, little bird…

Oh, you’re still here. Oh, OK. You want context. Sure, I can give you that.

We all know that about a month ago, DC Comics announced a reboot of its massive continuity-intensive universe with, get this, the launch of 52 different titles in one month’s time. This news was met with much gnashing of teeth and comics fans rolling up their sleeves, ready to get down to the very serious business of complaining about change.

We complained about everything from Superman’s lack of red underwear, to the move by DC to do “day and date” digital distribution to well… we really did complain about just about everything. (Full disclosure: I was a general at the front lines.) We complained and complained but what we never did was take a look at the underlying cause of this reboot.

Us.

Numbers.

We’re their numbers and our numbers suck.

Comics’ best selling titles nowadays are barely breaking the 100,000 readers mark and falling everyday. New readers aren’t coming in to bolster those numbers. We’ve become a boutique market, constantly shrinking and yet, demanding our tastes and dwindling dollar be catered to more and more everyday. Our favorite medium cannot and will not survive under these conditions. It’s simple; cash rules everything around us and any good business must go where the paper is. There are millions of potential new fans out there who don’t give a damn about comics and frankly, they’re the ones who need speaking to. Not us. We’re already here. And yes, I’m with you. We are the ones who’ve kept the comics flame burning over time with our loyal dollar. Is DC trying to give us the chance to get the f**k out we might have been looking for? Why are we being asked to toss our childhood memories to the side so that new “civilian” readers can come into our hobby and mess shit up for the rest of us? Because, frankly, now, more than ever, we need to support our medium, even if the execution’s has much to be desired, the intent is to save it.

All this business is asking of you is to let others give it a chance. They need them just as much as they need you. All I can say to you is to do with your upcoming DC Comics dollar is what you would do in any other facet in life: choose wisely. Buy what piques your interest, leave behind what your mind tells you you’re done with. Essentially, use your dollar like you would as an adult.

No one’s asking you to abandon your childhood. Your childhood doesn’t need defending. It’s yours. Your memories will still be on the page and in your mind. Trust me, Chris Meloni won’t be on scene every Wednesday in your local comics shop.You’re gonna be OK. Your childhood will still be OK.

When you walk into the comics shop, you’ll be just as valued, if not more, than ever before. What we all choose to do with the new-ness of this is entirely up to us. Me? Hell, I love comics and DC, you’ve certainly got MY attention. Impress me. You haven’t done that in a while.

Honestly, I’m happy you gave yourselves permission to try and do so again.

Sorry for the confusing headline. Not trying to imply that Batman has a new sidekick. At least, not yet. As far as I know, Damian Wayne is still going to be Robin in the all new, all different DC Universe this fall. That said, the controversial, yet still eagerly anticipated, reset of the entire DC Universe has some fans scratching their heads, and others drooling over the creative teams announced to navigate the new DC landscape. One of those drool-inducing teams is writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiang at the helm of the new adventures of the Amazon princess herself in this September’s Wonder Woman #1.

Though he couldn’t divulge any classified information about what’s actually going to happen inside the covers of the comic, Chiang was able to discuss what makes Wonder Woman such an enduring icon as well as why Diana would make for a badass rock star. Also discussed: Cliff’s love of ’80s music and giant robots. Not necessarily in that order.

UPDATED June 27, 2011: Pre-order information for Cliff’s “Mecha” t-shirt is now available at Epic Proportions!

After ten years, tonight’s episode “Prophecy” is the last one until next week’s two-hour finale (which I’ll be [West Coast] live-blogging, by the way.) And if last week’s preview is any indication, the show is looking to head into its finale with a bang. Yes, it looks like in addition to Toyman and Granny Goodness (as seen in the teaser), we’ll get our first look at Smallville‘s take on the freakin’ Legion of Doom! In the photo to the left, which is a screengrab from the trailer, you can clearly make out Solomon Grundy(!), Black Manta (!!), Captain Cold (!!!) and previous Smallville villains Roulette, Metallo and Dark Archer (the show’s Merlyn analog) apparently on Skype with Toyman.

So after seeing the L.O.D., I was inspired to look back at the Superman villains who have appeared on the show. While the movie franchise has only battled Lex and Zod multiple times, over the last decade, Clark has encountered pretty much everybody in Superman’s rogues gallery, including such iconic Supes villains as Bizarro, Doomsday and Darkseid. And he ain’t even Superman yet.

Of all the villains who’ve been portrayed on the show, however, two stand out as the best* and worst. We’ll start with the bad news first.

Following the upcoming debut of Green Lantern: Emerald Knights details are dropping in about DC’s next animated feature Batman: Year One, based off of the comic by Frank Miller which recounted the first year of Bruce Wayne’s career as Batman. The animated feature is already set to carry a PG-13 rating and scheduled to hit this fall, with Comic-Con goers getting a world premiere in July.

the voice cast so far is as follows:

Ben Mckenzie as Bruce Wayne/Batman

Bryan Cranston as Lieutenant James Gordon

Katee Sackhoff as Detective Sarah Essen

Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle/Catwoman

Alex Rocco as Carmine Falcone

DC isn’t stopping there as, two still images (which can be seen below) came out to promote the animated film. Batman: Year One is described as follows:

In Year One, a young Bruce Wayne is first starting out as a costumed vigilante. He creates an early bond with Lieutenant James Gordon, whose importance in the tale makes it as much as Gordon’s story as Wayne’s.

4/13′s got an expensive amount of firsts and lasts.

DC:

Justice League Generation Lost (#23) is wrapping up its suspenseful bi-weekly run, with JLI facing Max Lord’s ULTIMATE WEAPON. Thunder Agents (#6) concludes its first arc with a giant battle. As there battle scenes thus far has been kind of spread it and spastic, I am curious to see how Spencer will write a continous, extended action scene.

For eventful beginnings, Birds of Prey (#11) has Catman and Huntress going on a first date– the Internet tells me it’s the romance everyone has been waiting for, but I do not believe you, Internet!

Batman and Robin (#22) is a penultimate, and possibly the title I’m looking forward to the most. Tomasi’s idea of a vigilante targetting enemies’ families is refreshing twist on the usual formula, and the psychodelic illusions make for some pretty pages.

Also Picking up Cinderella (#3). The Eurotrashy cover was kind a bummer, Cinderella usually has such cool covers!

MARVEL:

Captain America Fighting Avenger (#1) begins another Brian Clevinger retelling of a Marvel Classic. Iron Man 2.0 (#3) gives Rodney a new War Machine suit. I am going to try out Hulks (#626). I haven’t read any hulk in months and months, and the idea of “hulks”, red or otherwise, is so displeasing. But this is the start of Hulk’s career as a sexy spy! And Amadeus Cho is his little Asian sidekick!

Secret Warriors (#26) is an ending issue with a title like “End Game”, revealing stuff about Hydra, Shield and probably some other stuff. I like the team issues more than the intridgue issues (boring!), but let’s hear Hickman out.

The X books have some important middle issues where an arc could every will its steam. X-Men Legacy (#247) is now on Part 5 of Age of X, and raising the stakes by introducing Xavier and having him fuck shit up. X-Force (#7) continues Deathlok Nation and reveals Weapon Infinity’s true identity. Truth be told, I don’t remember who that is, but I do remember enjoying that last issue, so we’re good.

IMAGE:

Infinite Vacation #2. Dude, this was supposed to have come out two month ago!

A nice pull for an early week. Does that mean April is spent?

Having already crossing mediums such as games, novels, comics and iPhone apps, Bioware is going one step further. Today the company announced that Funimation will distribute the Mass Effect anime series here in the states. More details after the jump.