So close!

This had all the elements lined up to be a great book and yet it just doesn’t quite come together.

Admittedly the biggest draw initially for me was the art by Fiona Staples because I love the work she has done on Saga. And she doesn’t let me down here.

But there were other exciting elements here. Jules Verne’s brain in a giant robot? Yup that’s cool. A husband and wife mystery solving team? Yeah I’ll go for some of that.

You see this book really wants to be wacky and crazy and it throws out some big ideas. The husband and wife team are ridiculously, crazy rich, so they’ve got a UFO shaped escape craft and a jet that actually has bubbles for 5 people. Like I said, it wants to be wacky. There’s a character whose last name is Culprit

But maybe it’s trying too hard. Maybe it’s trying to do too much. In this volume there’s the main plot and a B plot. The B plot doesn’t get enough time to justify its existence. Calling it a plot would be overstating it. So it wastes the characters that are involved in it.

And that time could probably have been better spent on the pacing of the main plot and fleshing it out a bit more. Because we’re left with some terrible cliches, like the old dog general and the spoilt military brat. Stuff we’ve seen a million times before. I’d also be happy if we never saw Area 51 again in fiction. I’m tired of secret government committees. It’s been done to death.

But it’s so close. So close. The repartee between the husband (who looks rather like Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride) and wife team is delightful. The character designs are great. And the possibilities set up here are boundless.

I enjoyed it. But it didn’t live up to its potential.

A hardback edition of Mystery Society comes out on July 23rd 2013 and includes the 2013 special as well as the 2010 series. http://amzn.to/10vaPNQ

If I’m not mistaken each of these panels has been recreated direct from a comic book panel.

I would probably have killed to have a superhero mural like this on my bedroom wall as a kid.

Batman, Hulk, Superman, Thor, Wolverine, Spider-man, Iron Man…

http://imgur.com/rxQv14n

So Marvel cancelled their excellent  Avengers cartoon to replace it with a new one. But they’re also starting a new Hulk cartoon. HULK and the Agents of SMASH.Which is basically Hulk, Red Hulk, She-Hulk, Skaar (Son of Hulk) and A-Bomb. I predict a lot of smashing.

Pretty cool voice cast though including Clancy Brown, Eliza Dushku and Seth Green

Not sure quite what to make of this. It’s an effective enough comic short featuring a couple of the non-human characters from Frozen.But if this is the tone they’re going for I’m a bit disappointed because it will be a  waste of the Snow Queen source material.

Still as I understand it, this material was generated specifically for the trailer, it’s not part of the movie.

Ridley Scott said early on he saw Prometheus as the start of a new story rather than the continuation of Alien and work continues on the Prometheus sequel although currently Scott himself is only listed as producer.

But apparently while Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace are expected to be back, Damon Lindelof will not be writing the sequel. Instead the studio has brought Jack Paglen on to write the script.

Dan Harmon Colorfully Explains Why He Didn’t Like Season 4 of Community — TVOvermind

This is the Marquis. Built by Peter Mowry it stands 56″ in height and it has to be suspended on a special tripod.

It is one of the most epic and unique LEGO spaceships I have ever seen.

Artist Otto Schmidt gives his shot at a redesign of Daphne and Velma keeping most of the elements from their classic Scooby Doo days but giving it a little update at the same time.

Now Velma is giving Daphne a run for her money.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=318728134927206&set=a.185158128284208.43710.165066126960075&type=1&theater

Brent Knowles has a short story in the latest issue of the magazine Plasma Frequency and he’d like everyone to read it.Since you can download PDF/Kindle/EPub editions for free… why not do just that?

“Slaying Dragons” In Plasma Frequency Plus a CONTEST! – Brent Knowles
My story, “Slaying Dragons” is available to read in the latest issue of Plasma Frequency Magazine. You are able to download the issue (and past issues) and read them on a variety of devices (Kindle, PDF, ePub, et ce…

Disney had what could probably be called it’s first hit CGI movie (I’m counting Pixar as a separate entity in this) with Tangled. Which was a rather more modern re-telling of Rapunzel than the traditional Disney Princess movies.

And it seems they’re going for that again in Frozen which is a Disney adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.

The movie which comes out in November 2013 features the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Johnatha Groff, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana.

This certainly has a Disney look to it. A teaser trailer will debut in the next day or so.

New Motorola X Phone specs leaked, surprisingly mid-end
The mysterious Motorola X Phone has ahd its fair share of rumors, particularly around specs and the possibility of customization. People are going wild over the X Phone, and we don’t know anything …

Digg Reader to launch just days before Google Reader shutdown — Liliputing
Tweet. The Google Reader shutdown is imminent, but don’t fret! The team of engineers at Digg has been slaving away to make sure that Digg Reader will be ready to rock a few days before Google pulls the plug. Digg Reader. Digg’s crack unit consists of just five individuals and has been tasked …

[emebed]http://youtu.be/hsUlHilL0Is[/embed]

Here’s the first of the production blogs for the next Hobbit movie. It looks at the sets and locations that were featured in the first movie which is disappointing.But still it’s always nice to see that New Zealand scenery.

It’s not just women who deserve properly fitting armor you know. Admittedly they hog all the attention on the subject. But that’s probably because they can… you know… write… and speak.

Well it’s time someone took a stand for Guinea Pigs.

If you want to make sure that your guinea pig goes into battle properly protected… well jump on over to ebay and start bidding!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hand-made-Guinea-Pig-Scale-Mail-and-Helmet-Armor/321142440749?ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1&ih=011&category=121854&cmd=ViewItem#viTabs_0

This shot by Bob Perkins really jumped out at me today. I like all the details and textures, I love the “angry” sky contrasted against the brightness of the sun. And the use of portrait orientation for a landscape is refreshing too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45810923@N03/9060195183/