BEST JUGGERNAUT EV-ER.

YES!!!

GRENDEL LOOKS FUGTASTIC

The Top pic is "GRENDEL" from Sony's upcoming Beowulf movie. I put "Grendel" in quotes because that is NOT fucking Grendel. I miss Imagination. I really do. But I guess it doesn't matter since most of the audience paying to see this movie will be dudes wanting to see a nude CG Angelina Jolie.

Grendel Concept Art for Beowulf:

DETECTIVE COMICS #27 FOUND

Wow, Todd McDevitt, owner of New Dimension Comics in Pittsburgh has acquired a copy of DETECTIVE COMICS #27, the first appearance of BATMAN!!! A near-mint copy is worth $500,000... his copy is in "astounding shape" with "very minor edge wear, a light dust shadow, and a Siamese centerfold (meaning extra paper made it through the press during the printing process)".

How did he get his hands on such a gem? He says, "It was the classic story of folks cleaning out an attic and uncovering something they thought might have some value. I was happy to be the one to tell them that they were right!”

Oh you lucky motherfucker, how I hate you with pure juvenile jealousy.

MAC G-THANG POWERBOOK

This one's for my diehard MAC fiends....
A 24kt GOLD MACBOOK!!
It's a custom, but this sucker would sell like hotcakes here in L.A.
There's just that many rich idiots with no taste here.

(source)

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO

Is it sad that I "know" some of those people? Or is it uber-cool?
Let's go with uber-cool.

THE BOY WHO COULD FLY

Holy crap! Check this out:

15-year-old boy from the Urals suffered acute frostbite after riding the wing of a Boeing-737 plane on a two-hour flight from Perm to Moscow, Russian radio station Mayak reported on Monday.

After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukova Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.

A department spokesman said the incident occurred on Friday, and that the boy’s parents were immediately informed, and flew to the capital the same day.

Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that Andrei survived the flight, with temperatures hitting minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit), the radio station said. The Boeing-737 has a cruising speed of 900 kmh (560 mph).

(link)

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*thanks, Bry!
*anyone remember that movie, "The Boy Who Could Fly"?

MONICA MEZA: ANGELIQUE CENOBITE COSTUME

One of my favorite CENOBITES from the HELLRAISER movies is ANGELIQUE, from the horrible 4th outing. Check out the kickass costume of her that MONICA MEZA made at Cal State Fullerton. It was for her Advanced Theatre Make-Up class. Nice job, Monica!
You can read more HERE.

JimSmash Villain of the Day: Cenobites
Chatterer II appearance change post

STAR WARS TRUMPET W/STACY HEDGER

MOVIE REVIEW: ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES

We saw THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD saturday night. I've been having trouble writing a decent review of the film, so here goes some quick thoughts.....

Overall I really liked it and continued to think about it afterwards (usually a good sign). The cast is fan-fucking-tastic; Brad Pitt, Sam Shepard, Paul Schneider, Casey Affleck, Garret Dillahunt and Sam Rockwell (who's always great). The costuming, set design, sound and lighting was also something I found myself noticing and enjoying throughout. Although at times some of the cinematography came across as "artsy amateur bullshit". The attention to detail in some scenes was a treat and the theme of Celebrity and ramifications of was very interesting, as well.

The main problem I had with the film was it was long and fucking boring. There, I said it. That is to say, the pacing was very slow and never moved. Now I'm not one who needs quick MTV cuts and bullshit Hollywood formula, but I do need to be entertained outside of just pretty scenery. The film is too slow and is missing that xtra element (in the script???) needed to make this a classic. It's a real shame because the film comes very close.

At first I said I probably wouldn't need to see it again, but the more I think about the film, the more I'd like another viewing.

COMPLETE MAD ABOUT STAR WARS

It's on sale now!!!! The 30 Years of MAD Star Wars!!! 150 pages of pure MAD drivel! "...it's all here, and not only the movie parodies of the original trilogy published long, long ago. Every teensy scrap is re-visited, from old covers (and alternate covers) to fold-ins and right down to Sergio Aragone's silent visits to the corners of the Star Wars universe never even considered by the rational thinking fan." Sweet. Oh, and its $22.

ADVERTISEMENT OF THE DAY

RANCOR RIDERS

The top pic is from the upcoming STAR WARS UNLEASHED game and semi-toyline. It shows Jedi riding around on RANCORS. Where to begin.... if anything, I'd say SITH would be the ones to ride on Rancors. But then again, WHY???? Some ideas should be just that. But I give the concept guys credit for not giving the Rancors giant lightsabers.... you just know some chode pitched it.

GIANT X-WING MODEL "FLIES"

These guys in SoCal made a 20-Foot Long X-WING model to be rocketed into rebellious glory! I've been sitting on this post for weeks, since the flight was set for October 6.

Well, the flight happened on time.... and here's the footage.

They should have made a PORKINS model for it.

ALIENS DIORAMA PICS

A few weeks ago I posted about the upcoming ALIENS diorama statue (here). Well here are some more pictures! Its not as cool and dramatic as the ALIEN one hiding inside the Nostromo (here). I was hoping for a similar treatment with this one inside some Hived-Out Hadley's Hope Colonial complex. Oh well, its still fucking awesome and I've already pre-ordered it.

You can get yours HERE for $130 (13% off!)

AVP2 FIGURE LOOKS GOOD

Yes, the movie is going to suck and further piss me off at FOX for deficating on TWO once-great movie series....

BUT, the single image released for the upcoming TOYLINE looks good! From this one picture I've seen, its the best ALIEN figure since McFarlane's ALIENS figure a few years back.

Since then, most Alien figures have been warped, perverted versions that look more like Pumpkinhead.

This looks pretty cool...
I'll be buying it!

SIGOURNEY WEAVER TURNS 58

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
SIGOURNEY WEAVER!!!!!!

Personal favorite roles:
LT. Ellen Ripley - Alien/Aliens/Alien3
Gwen DeMarco - Galaxy Quest
Dana Barrett - Ghostbusters

(BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT opened today in LA!!!)

NERDS NEVER NEED TO LEAVE THEIR HOME

"You wanted to frighten us. We are frightened.
You wanted to show us that we are inadequate.
For the moment, I cry that! You wanted me to say, 'I need you.' I need you!!" --Picard.
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That's right, fellow Dorks.... you can now buy the ENTIRE SERIES of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION on dvd. Every single season, 49 freaking discs, all in one neat-o-torpedo package!!! However, there's no special stuff, like commentaries, episode listings, seat-belts, etc. It's set at a whopping $450, but Amazon has it for $305.

Me, I'm holding off for the complete ORIGINAL series to be made available.

Or I just may buy the uber-geeky-cool Tri-Corder set! And by "I", I mean "One of you JimSmash Readers".

Make it so.

STORMWATCH WAS COOL

STORMWATCH was a comic produced under Jim Lee's WILDSTORM imprint at Image Comics during the mid-90s. The book was about the U.N. organization STORMWATCH that operated out of "SKYWATCH", an orbiting satellite station under the command of "THE WEATHERMAN", Henry Bendix. Basically it was [Marvel's] S.H.I.E.L.D. in space but with superheroes. The book introduced some really cool characters like BATTALION (the main Field Leader), WINTER, FAHRENHEIT, FUGI, HELLSTRIKE, BACKLASH and DIVA. While not the best book, those first dozen issues were still pretty cool and helped flesh out the Wildstorm Universe, which was pretty much depicted through Lee's WILDC.A.T.s book.

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After those first dozen issues or so, the book took a nose-dive in both story and art. I personally dropped it....until WARREN ELLIS came onboard as writer with Issue 37. Ellis took Stormwatch to new levels. While still keeping it within the world of costumed heroes, his stories amped it up with political commentaries, increase of horror & violence, and overall more mature themes. During this Ellis' run, he created new great characters like ROSE TATTOO, APOLLO, THE MIDNIGHTER, JACK HAWKSMOOR (who can communicate with Cities), SWIFT, THE DOCTOR and JENNY SPARKS. He also introcuded the concept of "THE BLEED", a space in between parallel universes that one is able to travel through... a concept later used in Ellis highly-enjoyable PLANETARY and later in DC Comics as well. This run of Ellis' Stormwatch is some of my favorite superhero comics to come out during the 1990s.

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Stormwatch #50 was the last issue of the first series, quickly being relaunched into another. This 2nd series was a bridge Ellis built where he transformed the Stormwatch of old into a "new" creation called "THE AUTHORITY". Stormwatch Vol 2 ended with #11 and the one-shot "Final Orbit" (with a great suprise crossover ending!), with THE AUTHORITY #1 launching soon after with soon-to-be-superstar-artist BRYAN HITCH on artchores.

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The Authority was cool too (for its time) and introduced the new era of "WIDESCREEN" storytelling in mainstream comic books. While very enjoyable, I found it a bit too cynical and drab for my tastes. Many of its stories revolved around pissing on characters very similar to Marvel and DC characters (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Avengers, etc). Still a great comic, but the fun "superHERO" aspect was gone; I tend to prefer to LIKE my heroes. The Authority (later picked up by writer MARK MILLAR) also inadvertantly changed the tone and feel of MARVEL COMICS in the Tweens-Present. Which makes sense since Mark Millar is now one of the main writers and guiders of Marvel (see his ULTIMATES for a good example).

Warren Ellis and Mark Millar's Stormwatch/Authority runs are collected into Trade Paperback collections. Recommended!

Contact LISA, Golden Apple Comics, or your local comic bookstore today!

RANDOM FIND: DUNE-CAT