If you thought the Sinestro War was almost over...

I saw the original cover for Green Lantern Corps #20 on Newsarama and really thought nothing of it. I tend to skim through those and only occasionally get really excited about something 3 months down the road. But then I went to The Straight Poop, which is GLC artist Patrick Gleason's blog, and he posted the hi-res, and much larger, version of the cover.

Seeing Mongul with a yellow ring on is terrifying. If you don't remember who Mongul is, how about a little refresher course, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Mongul possesses extraordinary superhuman physical attributes. He demonstrated that he actually was stronger than Silver Age Superman himself. In addition, he was invulnerable to nearly all forms of physical harm. Superman at one time did defeat Mongul, by going all out with speed and strength and heat vision, but fell into unconsciousness immediately afterwards. Mongul also seemingly had the capacity to create dimensional-inversion cubes, designed to prevent escape by warping their interior reality and absorbing any power used against them from within. Whether this was an actual power or merely a sophisticated technological device remains unclear but it general believed to be technological device. He also seemed to possess a limited capacity for telepathy, and the ability to teleport himself across even interplanetary distances.

If you read the entire Wiki entry you'll also find out (like I did) that the Mongul that is currently ruling Warworld is actually the son of the Pre-Crisis Mongul that I knew of growing up. And while the original Mongul was toned down in terms of power, supposedly his son has all of the power he had before, which is what is listed above. Typical Dc to muddy up good characters with a bunch of bullshit tampering, but whatever, give him all that power plus a yellow ring and he is simply terrifying.

The best part of his backstory though is this:

In the meantime, he sought his sister, Mongal, to settle family squabbles. The heroes broke free and used a teleporter to transport Mongul and Mongal to their home planet. Stating family to be a weakness, Mongul punched off Mongal's head.

CG

WhySoSerious.com

I have kinda avoided saying anything about WhySoSerious.com to this point because viral marketing campaigns are usually good for a cheap laugh and not much more.

However, the people working on the Dark Knight movie have consistently done some good work (here, here, and here and I think I am missing one, too), but up to this point there was really nothing to talk about concerning WhySoSerious.com.

Now there is. Kinda. SuperHeroHype.com reports that the candle on the site is actually burning down day by day, and anticipates that something is going to happen on Halloween.

The only real problem with this movie, so far as I can tell, is that it is being covered so extensively in blogs and other various websites. It is hard to look at sites like SHH! and not see a new Dark Knight entry every day. So please don't come here expecting the same, because it just isn't going to happen. However, when there is something fun or interesting, I'll link to it at the very least. Enjoy!

CG

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

That title kinda sounds like a straight to video X-Men cartoon, doesn't it? Well, according to Variety.com it will be the name of the new Wolverine motion picture. The movie is scheduled to drop on May 1, 2009 directed by Gavin Hood and starring Hugh Jackman as Logan, and Liev Schrieber as a young William Stryker. If you remember, Stryker was played by old dude Brian Cox in X2.

Pic explores the claw-wielding character Wolverine's violent and romantic past, and his complex relationship with Victor Creed and the ominous Weapon X program, as well as his encounters with other mutants.

Hood will start shooting in Australia before moving to New Zealand and, later, to New Orleans. Latter location is a clue that the storyline might include New Orleans-based character Gambit, who is able to make objects explode and was a professional thief before joining the X-Men.

Sounds good to me... so far.

If you are wondering who Liev Schreiber is, he has been in a number of movies, though rarely in a starring role. His most memorable role was in The Manchurian Candidate as the brainwashed Presidential candidate. However, if you want to see his nastier side, and what you can likely expect from him as William Stryker, check out The Sum of All Fears. In that movie he played Mr. Clark, who to any Tom Clancy fans out there is the preeminent badass. Mr. Clark is also the leader of Rainbow Six, the spec-ops squad from Clancy books that so many video games have been made out of.

For those who haven't been paying attention to the details leaking out, this movie is being made by alot of the same people responsible for the last X-Men movie. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, but either way the best part of any of the X-movies was always Wolverine so there is a good chance this is going to be worth seeing.

CG

Marvel's "Holiday Gift" to us

Poking around the Marvel site today and saw that for this Christmas, Microsoft is going to package Marvel Ultimate Alliance with new Xbox 360's.

The fan-favorite action-RPG that let's you form your own playable team from over 25 of Marvel's finest heroes (and villains, thanks to the Gold Edition!) will be included as a free bonus with Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite consoles! That's right folks, FREE!

Want Mr. Fantastic to fight alongside Dr. Doom? Spidey and Venom? We wouldn't go that far here at the House of Ideas, but "MUA" let's you go for it! So unless you want coal in your stockings, we suggest adding the spectacular new bundle to your wish list ASAP and you'll be Wall-crawlin' and Hulk-smashing faster than you can say "Gobble Gobble" (we know you just said "Gobble Gobble")!

The problem with this is at least two-fold. First, they advertise the Gold Edition, but it doesn't come with the Gold Edition. The Gold Edition was a scam anyhow. They added 4 new heroes and 4 new villains but didn't add anything to the game at all. No new achievements, no new levels, no new cut scenes. And it cost $60. Now you can download the characters over Xbox Live, but it's going to cost you 1600 Microsoft Points which will cost you about 20 bucks. Either way though, you aren't getting that this Christmas with your new Xbox 360. You are getting the original one, with fewer characters than this press release leads you to believe. That means no Dr. Doom, Venom or Incredible Hulk.

And secondly, if you are a "Marvel Gamer" as the headline suggests, why the hell has it taken you an entire year to buy this game? It was released last Thanksgiving. Now don't get me wrong, if you don't own this game and consider yourself a Marvel Gamer, and you don't own a 360 and you regularly have relatives who spend $400+ on you for Christmas, then this is for you. Otherwise, I don't see this doing well at all.

I loved Marvel Ultimate Alliance, it was the first game I got for my 360, and I played the shit out of it night and day, beat it three different ways (which is cool that you can do) and would recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it before, so don't think I am just being bitter here.

But you know what would be a better "Holiday Gift for Marvel Gamers"? How about more info on the Marvel MMORPG that is being made? How about another add-on pack for MUA? How about a movie property game that doesn't suck? How about a Howard the Duck game? See, there is a lot they could do, but they really half-assed it with this.

CG

Star Wars live action TV show

According to Variety.com, we will see a live action Star Wars TV show sometime in the near future. This is separate from the Clone Wars animated series he has been planning for awhile now.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Force may soon be coming to a television near you.

George Lucas said Tuesday he is planning a live-action television series spinoff of the "Star Wars" film franchise.

Lucas told The Los Angeles Times he has "just begun work" on the series, which will not include the films' major characters Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader.

"The Skywalkers aren't in it, and it's about minor characters," Lucas told the Times.

Lucas wouldn't reveal details, but joked that the series would be about "the life of robots."

Lucas already has another television series in the works. Lucas Animation has been working for months on the computer-animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

This is going to make every Star Wars fanboy/cosplayer come out of the closet, strap on their stormtrooper helmet or grab the nearest lightsaber, and go stand in line for auditions, their god is putting out a casting call. Ok, I admit I don't have a stormtrooper helmet (yet), but this actually sounds like it could be good. As long as they don't make it into some kind of Dawson's Creek/Buffy/Star Wars freakish-type hybrid, that is.

CG

Waiting on Wednesday - 10/15/07

Bit of a new format than when I did this previously. Waiting on Wednesday is going to be short form with the Release Reviews being more in depth, which only makes sense. I have more to say after I have read it, of course. Also, not gonna be a lot of linkage to Marvel and DC like before, if you are buying comics and using the internet, I think you can figure it out for yourself and save myself a huge hassle. Hope you like it.

Marvel Comics

• Captain America #31 - Beginning of the second story arc in the Death of Captain America storyline. I figure this is where we will begin to learn who will take over.
• Wolverine: Origins #18 - I never realize how much I like this book until it is a week it's not coming out on. If you haven't picked this up yet, you should.
• Penance: Relentless #2 - Ugh. I invested all that time and money into Civil War and almost feel obligated to buy this. The first one sucked. What do you think the odds on the second one being better are?

Since I am not an Avengers fanboy (except for New Avengers for the Skrull angle), and the whole zombie thing is over my head, that's all for me and Marvel this week. Next week though looks much, much better.


DC Comics

• Checkmate #19 - Enjoying Suicide Squad, but not always sure what is going on? Checkmate has the rest of the story involving Amanda Waller, the benefactor of the SS, and all the other merry characters, powered and non-powered.
  
• Death of the New Gods #1 (of 8) - This limited series is going to continue the story started when Lightray fell to Earth waaaaay back in Countdown #50. Seems like forever, doesn't it?
• Countdown #28 - Speaking of Countdown, this series is picking up as we head towards the midpoint. In two more weeks, the title changes to Countdown to Final Crisis. There is too much to even begin to list everything that's going on, so just go get it if you aren't already. 52 the sequel this is not.
• Justice League of America #14 - Continuing the Injustice League storyline, Dwayne McDuffie is doing a great job of writing this title. I enjoyed Brad Meltzer on JLA, but it has actually picked up steam and gotten better than it already was in the first year.

Of course there is other stuff coming out this week, but honestly not much. With Octobr being a five-week month, it is spread kinda thin in the middle where we are now. So like Marvel, DC's lineup gets much better next week, too.

CG