• Secret Invasion Trade Paperback I honestly thought this series was kind of a let down, but for those curious its now available in a collection.
• Spider-Man Fear Itself Not the best Spider-Man book I’ve ever read, not the worst.
• Spider-Man Blue HC Reprinting One of the best Spider-Man stories ever told. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale really hit this one out of the park. A must have for any Spider-Man fan. (Check out Arsebot gushing over this title here!)
• Walking Dead #57 More bad stuff happens.
• Wolverine Switchback This is a pretty fun read if you have a few extra dollars in your wallet.
• X-Men Noir #2 and #1 Reprint Swank says this isn’t half bad, which is better than I thought it would be.

Matt Smith, a relatively unknown actor (even more so to American audiences), will be taking a tour of duty in the TARDIS as the eleventh Doctor. This is in addition to Steven Moffat taking over from Russell T Davies position as head writer and producer for the long running BBC Sci-Fi classic series.

image from dailymail.co.uk via BBC

He’s a young pretty fellow, but will he fill the shoes of and old Time Lord with weary eyes and a giddy heart(s)? Only time will tell, as the official new season will not start till 2010, though specials are to be produced and released through 2009

More info at- http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/ , unfortunately you can’t watch the videos here in America.

Damn holidays jacking up our comic ship dates. Pretty light week for me, but two great books will tide you over for next week.

• Kick-Ass #5

Not much more to say that hasn’t been said here.

• Ultimate X-Men #99

Not much to be said here. Ultimatum is warming up. This is the second to last issue before Ultimate X-Men gets axed. After this issue, its not a big surprise that its going away.

• Venom Dark Origin #5

All in all, not a bad mini-series. For those not familiar with Venom’s origin, its a fun read.

• Wolverine #70

This series is only half over and its already the best Marvel series of ‘09. Clang gushes over it here.

Hello all, we just wanted to let you know that the Big Shiny Robot!s are all back from holiday and will be back to bringing you all the geek news and reviews fit to print.

Swank-mo-tron also wanted to remind you that StarWars.com is having a catch up marathon of Clone Wars so you can keep up with his weekly recaps and reviews of the series (which you can see by clicking the attractive Clone Wars button to the upper-right.) You can also check back every Tuesday for his opinions on the DVD releases of the day.

Mandroid wanted to tell you to look out for this weeks Monitor Tapes on Monday as well, you can see all of his past columns by clicking his attractive button up at the upper right.

We’re also working out the kinks for a Watchmen’s Watchtower column to keep you abreast of the Marvel Universe.

On Mondays, Joey Mousepad will be back in form with his weekly Wii virtual console releases and Budgetron will be keeping us up to date about the latest goings on from the land of the Geek Show Podcast (which you should subscribe to on iTunes).

Weekends will start out with Humanjunk’s TrashTalk column on Saturdays (look out for his piece on The Spirit tonight)…

And, though she’s probably skipping this week since she hasn’t returned from holiday, but our very own CyberNev has carved out Sunday’s for her weekly column keeping us updated on the underage fangrrl corner of nerddom.  Seriously, these are columns you should be reading.

On Wednesdays, Kill-tacular-tron will be giving you the heads up on the coolest things you should be picking up at your comic book store.

And with Lost starting up next month, we’ll be back with our episode recaps and speculations about what the hell is going on.

So, the holiday’s have given us a well-deserved break and a shot in the arm.  There’s a lot to look forward to from Big Shiny Robot! in 2009 and a lot more than I’ve listed here.

UPDATE: We also have a contest that will start tomorrow or Monday and it’s for some pretty cool free DVD’s.  More info soon.

This asshole plans to fuck up a perfectly good modern classic.

Variety has reported that Stephen Norrington is gearing up to helm a remake of The Crow. The original version of the film was a wonderful adaption of James O’Barr’s masterpiece about obsession, loss, love and revenge, beautifully stylized and crafted by Alex Proyas. Norrington, whose credits include Blade (a franchise good only when Guillermo del Toro took over the sequel) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a move that was so terrible it caused Sean Connery to go into retirement, plans to make a grittier, more real version of The Crow, in almost a documentary style. This remake is destined to be just as shitty as the other sequels in the Crow franchise, and sadly, unlike the last two flick in the series this most likely won’t go straight to DVD. Norrington was originally slated to remake 1981’s epic Clash of the Titans only to loose directing rights to Louis Leterrier. It looks like he hopped from one stone to the next. There’s a saying “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” and sadly Hollywood doesn’t seem to get that. Add The Crow to the ranks of The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Escape from New York (thanks Brett Ratner, you fucking asshole).

JoBlo.com is reporting that for the new kick-ass looking Batman game Arkham Asylum, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill will be back as The Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime.

This is, indeed, great news.

Those guys are the best.

Regardless of whether you were a fan or not, Bettie had a big impact on history. She helped start the sexual revolution in the 1960’s. I think the LA Times had a classy story on her and her life:

Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85.

Page, whose later life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state mental institution, died Thursday night at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been on life support since suffering a heart attack Dec. 2, according to her agent, Mark Roesler.

BettiePage.com is running a slide show Memoriam.

(This first appeared on Huffington Post)

As promised in my revelation last week, the usual gang of idiots over at MAD Magazine have allowed me to exclusively unveil to Huffington Post readers (and the world) who the dumbest person of 2008 is. And for the magazine that employs someone as preposterously stupid as Alfred E. Neuman to say that someone is the dumbest person of the year, it means something.

But their choice really can’t come as any surprise. so, without further ado, here she is. The dumbest person of 2008:

(Obviously, you should click for a larger version, half the jokes are in the fine print…)

I doubt there are many who could conceivably argue with their choice. And if there’s one thing the guys at MAD are experts in, it’s dumb.

For all your Grant Morrison fans out there (which might be dwindling after Batman: R.I.P.) its looks like the film adaptation of his “western manga” We3 has a director. joblo.com has reported that John Stevenson, who directed Kung Fu Panda, has signed on to be the director of the live action adaptation of Morrison and artist Frank Quitely’s miniseries. Morrison has already written a script for it and the producer says they are going for an R-rating. This sounds great to me, who doesnt love a rabbit in a robotic suit that kills people? We3 is available as a TPB if you want to read up on it before you decide if this movie will be worth seeing or not.

As reported on by The Hollywood Reporter:

DC Comics’ “Fables” is heading to ABC.

The network has handed out a put pilot commitment to the fantasy project, based on the comic book created by Bill Willingham and published by DC’s Vertigo imprint.

“Six Degrees” creators/executive producers Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner are penning the script for the hourlong drama set at Warner Bros. TV.

David Semel has come on board to direct “Fables,” which revolves around characters from fairy tales and folklore living in exile in modern-day New York.

“Their lives become interconnected in vary big way,” Zicherman said. “They share a secret and a bond.”

Zicherman and Metzner wouldn’t elaborate which fairy tale characters will be featured in the TV series, but noted that Big Bad Wolf and Snow White, who are central to the comics, will have a similar role on the show.

The comic book series’ first storyline followed Fabletown’s sheriff, a reformed and pardoned Big Bad Wolf, who investigates the murder of Snow White’s party-girl sister, Rose Red.

“We set up a structure to allow any fairy tale character to show up in any one episode,” Metzner said.

The fairy tale characters will keep some of their trademark characteristics. For instance, Prince Charming will be handsome, while Big Bad Wolf will have to shave a four-day shadow from growing back every day.

But overall, “they are just like real people in the real world who live and breathe and look just like you and me,” Metzner said.

Describing themselves as “lifetime comic book fans,” Zicherman and Metzner fell in love with “Fables” when they read the series’ first issue in 2002.

NBC took a stab at developing a TV series based on the comics during the 2006-07 development season with writer Craig Silverstein.

WMA-repped Zicherman and Metzner, who met in college, have been a writing team for the past 10 years.

Semel, repped by UTA and 3 Arts, has directed the pilots for such series as “Heroes,” “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Life” and “The Cleaner.”

To say I have taken the time to read FABLES would be a lie. However, Dr. Cyborg’s “Whole Bloody Affair” on the graphic novel is really good and makes me really want to go pick this up. I will reserve commentary on this for those who are more familiar with the source material, so I’d expect at least Dr. Cyborg to come share his two cents with us on this sometime later today!