PRESS RELEASE - IMAGE COMICS AND MYSPACE FREE MCFARLANE’S SPAWN RELAUNCH!

Image Comics and MySpace release Todd McFarlane and Whilce Portacio’s Spawn #185 for free online as #186 sells out!

24 November 2008 (Berkeley, CA) - Image Comics and MySpace have teamed up to release Todd McFarlane and Whilce Portacio’s SPAWN relaunch as the second issue sells out at a distribution-level!

“Todd McFarlane Productions is excited to be partnering with Myspace Comics to bring the fans Spawn #185,” McFarlane said. “Myspace Comics is the wave of the new generation.  Many fans have turned to this form of modern communication. I hope you enjoy looking at a medium that is challenging how things have been traditionally done.”

SPAWN #185 shocked comics fandom with its series-altering death of Al Simmons, lead of the series since its debut in 1992, and the mysterious awakening of the long comatose Patient 47. While the link between Simmons’ death and Patient 47 is still unknown this past week’s #186 gave the first hints and resulted in yet another immediate sell-out. While limited copies may be available through your local comic book store a new printing will soon be available.

SPAWN #185, a full-color 22-page  comic, is available to read on http://www.myspace.com/comicbooks. Copies of SPAWN #185 2ND PTG (SEP088230), a full-color 32-page comic book for $2.95, are still available.

Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists.  Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently five partners in Image Comics (Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into four major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, and Image Central). Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor, and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. Visit www.imagecomics.com.

Want to check out some cool behind the scenes photos? Jeff Bridges kept his own photo diary during the filming of Iron Man. Check it out.

A while back we told you about Austin, a young boy diagnosed with APML (Acute Promyelocytic Mylogenous Leukemia) who, along with Spider-Man, bravely battles his cancer everyday.

Well, according to the daily blog on Austin’s site, there is some great news:

Today may just be the most significant day in Austin’s battle against leukemia! November 11th potential marks Austin’s final day of Chemotherapy granted he stays in Complete Remission and achieves Molecular Remission and stays that way for the next 5 years. God willing, Austin will be considered “cured” November 11th 2013.

Yes, Austin will continue to take ATRA (Technically an Oral Chemotherapy) a small pill that Austin takes every morning and night for the next year but the side effects are almost nothing compared to those treatments which I have deemed the “harsh” chemos. (See Chemotherapy for more details on ATRA) Before Austin could begin his treatments he underwent a procedure known as a bone marrow aspirate, many people get this confused with a bone marrow biopsy. The main difference is in an aspirate the goal is to retrieve the liquid form of bone marrow (and bone marrow ONLY) from the center of one of the major bone marrow producing bones, usually the hip. In a bone marrow biopsy the main purpose is to retrieve an actual solid piece of the bone.

Another bonus of the day was they pulled out Austin’s NG Feeding tube while he was under. The strategy behind this is the dietitians think he will begin eating better if he is not getting his NG feeds. It makes sense, don’t fill him up and he will get hungry and start eating more normally. We shall just have to wait and see.

Too often we hear about the tragic ends to these stories and this is absolutely amazing that Austin has come so far. This kid has endured more than any one of us will probably have to in our entire lives, and obviously more than any 4 year old boy should, and yet there are still pictures of him smiling on his website; that is truly inspiring.

I know all of us here at BSR! have been pulling for Austin and are delighted to hear this great news. Our thoughts and wishes go out to Austin, his friends, family, and angels, and we wish you all the best, 2013 will be here before you know it!

This is a production shot of Johny Depp in Tim Burton’s upcoming remake of Alice in Wonderland. The movie is slated to come out in 2010, and continue to establish the downhill slide of both of their careers.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Johnny Depp. And I think Tim Burton was great at one time. But, I’m kind of getting sick of his emo/goth remakes.

According to SHH! The Hollywood Reporter reports that Gough and Millar (Smallville, Spider-Man 2, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) are set to pen the Robotech movie (I know, talk about 3rd string information…).

This more than likely comes as disappointing news to all you Robotech fans out there as Lawrence Kasdan, the genius behind Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, among other greats, was originally set to write the big screen adaptation… However, coming from a guy not super familiar with Robotech, I thought Spider-Man 2 was a strong, character driven movie which is something that should be strived for in any movie, so perhaps all is not lost.

Newsarama has posted a few good pictures from the set of Kick Ass, which is of course the movie based on the graphic novel of the same name. We have given all the issues of Kick Ass, by the awesome Mark Millar, rave reviews and I hope the movie lives up to the high expectations! Check out the article and pictures here!

This is just a little blurb, but according to an article on Telegraph.Co.Uk President Elect Barack Obama collects comics and has read every Harry Potter book published. What comics does he collect? Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian. And he also uses a Mac laptop. So, not only is he a nerd? But a scenester.

According to Variety Director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. are being sued by Batman. I know, “What?” But it’s true. Apparently there is a Southeastern city in Turkey called Batman, and they are suing Nolan and company for royalties from the ridiculous amounts of money The Dark Knight made.

I shit you not:

Huseyin Kalkan, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party mayor of Batman, has accused “The Dark Knight” producers of using the city’s name without permission.

“There is only one Batman in the world,” Kalkan said. “The American producers used the name of our city without informing us.”

The mayor is prepping a series of charges against Nolan and Warner Bros., which owns the right to the Batman character, including placing the blame for a number of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the psychological impact that the film’s success has had on the city’s inhabitants.

A spokesman for Warner Bros. stated that they have yet to see any actualy legal action against them and have only heard about it from the press as the rest of us have.

I wonder if this douche bag mayor is aware of the army of high-priced lawyers he is more than likely going to go up against… good luck with all this buddy.

Comingsoon.net has posted new Watchment posters that were distributed by WB to various sites across the internet. They have collected them and put them all on one convenient page. Personally, I dig them because they remind me of a graphic novel cover or something.

Really excited about this movie, I hope it’s good!

Ghostbusters The Other Side #2
Of course I’m picking this up, but even if you aren’t a Ghosthead, this is worth a read. The first issue ended with all of them being murdered by mobster phantasms.

Amazing Spider-Man #577
I never thought I’d say this, but ASM has been getting pretty good. It is pretty fun getting 3 issues a month that spin lots of different plots and side plots.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #4
I know its not a girl book, but it basically is. So sue me, I still like it.

Walking Dead #54
More fucked up stuff happens to Rick.

If I missed something worth picking up, let me know.