For every good, there is evil. For every life, there is death. And for every superhero, there is a villain.

Amazing artist Simon C. Page has taken the idea that heroes and villains are connected, and turned it into art using his own variation of the “two faces and a candlestick optical” illusion. The posters, which there are only three of so far, can be ordered through his website and would definitely look right at home on any fanboy’s wall.

Check out the posters below of Vader Vs. Luke, Spiderman Vs. The Green Goblin, and my personal favorite, Batman Vs. The Penguin.

The trick is, can you see both good and evil in the posters? Or just one?

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Vertigo’s popular comic series, Sandman, is once again being consider for a TV adaptation as Warner Bros. is trying to acquire the rights to air it on TV. If successful, they have plans to have Supernatural creator Erik Kripke to take on the project and also air it on CW network. Throughout the ’90s there has been many attempts to adapt the series into live action via film or TV and has never passed through the planning phase. HBO was once close but due to rights issue, the planned mini-series never happened.

While I’m up for some good television and hearing many good things about the Sandman story, I wouldn’t mind checking it out. My only worry is that WB is aiming to air this on CW. As of now, most of the shows on CW are aimed for female audience, hence getting rid of shows like Everybody Hates Chris, Reaper, and their number one watched show, WWE Smackdown! I guess you could say, I have a bad feeling on how they may want to take on the story. Anyway, how do y’all feel about this? Any of you excited for the possibilities of a TV show or does the news upset you?

Source: ComicBookMovie

Oi, you know how you know your old? When you realize comics you felt like you were reading just yesterday date back to 1996.

So, back in 1996  there was a very successful comic-book series known as Darkchylde. It was the story of a cursed teen, Ariel Chylde, who can become the creatures from her many nightmares, and had to save her small town from the forces of darkness she set free. It was kinda like Buffy the Vampire Slayer except not as fluffy and with out the Whedon talk of ending every other word with a Y (like Demony). For it’s first nine-month run, the comic series outsold every other popular title including Spider-Man and Superman Marvel and DC’s respectively best selling comics at the time. After a relatively successful run the comic fizzled out of the spotlight and went back into the Darkness from which in came.

Now, after years of debate whether to turn the property into an animated series or big budget, studio film, Randy Queen, creator and now head of Darkchylde Entertainment, has decided to pursue the live-action route: but on his own terms. The comics author has allied himself with Richard Taylor, and the Academy Award Winning Weta Workshop, to create a small budget Darkchylde film that will both strictly adhere to the source material and please the character’s cult following. Here is a message from Queen his fans:

“What we’re showcasing..is hard won, self produced, test footage for a proposed 20-25 million budgeted Darkchylde film. We are the underdogs, so it’s important to not expect Avatar or Iron Man footage, you know? We’re giving a glimpse behind the curtain of a smaller, more intimate horror film we are cultivating, something on the scale of Carrie, but with a more impressive FX resource for Ariel’s dreamscapes and the creatures she becomes.”

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

source: comicbookmovie

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(Post by nerdbastards contributor Nick Bungay- Twitter @NickBungay)

For over a decade Vertigo comic book series ‘Preacher‘ has been through it’s own stations of the cross. Now it can add the station of a new director to it’s holy book. A while back it was announced director Sam Mendes would helm the project but he’s now off to pursue the next James Bond film. Thanks to a recent, all be it, small interview with Total film producer Neil Mortez gave up some more details on the man with “the word of God”:

“John (August, the screen writer) has done a really faithful adaptation but made it probably more accessible to a broader audience”…“The movie is definately R rated. And its an amazing central character”…“Another unnamed director has apparently signed on”

Another unnamed director, who the hell is it gonna be? Well, John August (The Nines) is showing interest in directing this badboy. After all he wrote this adaptation, along with a wishlist of directors he and Mortez would like to replace Mendes. Yet, the best and most logical director would be the made who helped reboot the A-team, Joe Carnahan:

“I’m kind of desperate to do another comic book adaptation…And the other thing I’m really keen on or interested in is ‘Preacher’ because I’m a big Garth Ennis fan and I love that series and that’s out there, and that might be something…I really love that. You gotta do the Allfather (D’Aronique) and all that crazy shit and I haven’t seen a script and I don’t know what it is, but yeah, we’ll see. Who knows?”

Hopefully they don’t have another case of ‘Ghostbuster 3′ on their hands with this one. Being part of a film chalk full of false starts since 1998 is like playing hopscotch with one leg. Having directors like Robert Rodriguez once attached to your project once had meaning. Now it means that we could never have this see the light of day and the next director filling like a clean-up batter.

The official plot synopsis from the graphic novel follows:

“Here’s a book guaranteed to offend a bunch of people, not only because of its profuse profanity and graphic violence, but because it’s the epitome of iconoclasm. Like a brutal accident, you can’t watch but you can’t turn away. The story follows an ex-preacher man, Jesse, who has become disgusted with God’s abandoning of His responsibilities. So Jesse starts off into the wilds of Texas with his hitman girlfriend and new best friend (a vampire) to find God so that he can give Him a piece of his mind. Despite its superficial perversity, this book contains what may be the most moral character in mainstream comics. A cult hit in the making.”

With 75 issues from 1995 to 2000 under Vertigo’s belt you might as well buy the entire series. In another 6 months this film will have another director and people will still be bitching, the church should get their confessional booths ready now.

source: slashfilm

A mash-up made in heaven, this is.

Artist James Hance has created one of the greatest mash-ups I have ever seen – putting together Star Wars and Winne the Pooh.

The cast shows Han Solo as Christopher Robin, Chewbacca as Pooh Bear, R2D2 as Piglet, and (my personal favorite) an AT-AT as Eeyore.

Seriously, I do not think these illustrations could be cuter if he tried. You will be glad to know that you can buy prints of all the illustrations for $10 here through his website.

Check out all the pictures located below, as well as his adorable little captions.

source: iesb.com

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It’s no secret (except to maybe you newbies) that we here at nerdbastards are super excited about AMC’s upcoming The Walking Dead series, based on the wildly acclaimed comic by Robert Kirkman. The comic itself is a rich, smart, character driven story about what happens when a group of people are forced to survive in a world ruled by the dead. It’s filled with great moments of suspense, psychological terror and gut wrenching loss. The live-action series is set to deliver to do the same. As a sign reassuring quality it is being produced by AMC, who are the fine folks that have brought us both Mad Men and Breaking Bad (best shows on televisions right now). That and the premier episode is being directed by Frank -FUCKING- Darabont (The Green Mile). Even if you have never read the comic or for that matter a fan of Zombies, this show is poised to rape your face.

Now, the premier episode hasn’t even aired yet (Oct. 31st Release) but AMC is sure as shit feeling confident that the show will be a success, as they have officially green lit a second season (Woo Hoo!). Although the first season will be 6 episodes, the second has been upped to 13; happily, there’s obviously plenty of source material for the show to work with

The AMC Television Series stars  Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually) Jon Bernthal (The Pacific), Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break), Laurie Holden (The Mist), and Emma Bell (Law & Order). The show follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, traveling in search of a safe and secure home after a zombie apocalypse.

Source: Via Empire

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER AFTER THE JUMP

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‘This Week in Comics’ is a weekly column done by resident comic expert and nerd bastards contributor Empress Sith (A.K.A. Megan G.) . Empress works at Collectibles Unlimited in Concord N.H. and knows more about comics than anyone should know. She has boobs and reads comics. What more do you need to know? Empress Sith is here to tell you what’s out and what’s going on this week in comics. Enjoy. ~ Management

The big news out of the week is that Diamond has decided to keep new comics shipping on Wednesdays. There was some talk about moving it, and now they’ve decided retailers can opt-in to Tuesdays, but Wednesday is still New Comics Day.

This is a huge relief to me as I’ve arranged my life for the last fifteen years around new comics on Wednesdays. It’s a great way to get through the rest of the week knowing that you have comics at home to read!

The full release from Diamond is here:

I hope everyone had a great time at Baltimore! A special shout out to my very good friends at COMIC ART HOUSE who were there. And a special fangirl squee to the appearance of James “I made empressith fall madly in love with Starman” Robinson. I wish I could have been there. Next year maybe! (Hey readers, talk Nerdbastards into paying for my tickets and hotel room!).

On to this week’s ship list:

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With Kick-Ass recently released on DVD and Blu-Ray, it was only a matter of time before news about the sequel, Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall began to creep up.

There has already been quite a bit revealed about the plot and character arcs for both Hit-Girl and Red-Mist last month (you can read the full story on that, here), but there has been no art revealed from the comic on which the movie will be based.

Well folks, today is your lucky day!

The website BleedingCool has got their hands on a few of the panels from the first issue of Kick-Ass 2. And, since the first movie followed the beginning of the comic pretty faithfully, my guess is that this is a fairly good blueprint of how the movie will begin.

According to the site:

Well, the comic starts with Hit Girl and Kick Ass seemingly rejecting their choice to abandon superheroics. Hit Girl is training up Kick Ass in a boxing ring, with the aim of created a superhero team. She proceeds to pummel him, before bringing in a bunch of goons to continue the thrash down.

So, while Mark Millar has talked about the sequel focussing on bad guys, especially a team built by Red Mist, ikt looks like there will be a superhero team to face it.

Check out the comic panels below the jump!

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(Post by nerdbastards contributor Nick Bungay- Twitter @NickBungay)

Holy Testicular trauma! Batman has been through many strange battles in his lifetime, fighting the likes of the Joker, Riddler, bad acting and cheesy puns(thanks Batman & Robin). How many of these have envolved him getting a hit below his utility belt though? Drawn by an assortment of artists and collected by Justin Stewart, this ball busting Batman Bonanza shows us how the Dark knight reacts to getting busted by The Flash, Prince, children! Watching these would bring a smile to any villian’s day.

Warning: The following contains images of bean bag destruction, enjoy the show.

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Ya know my biggest problem with X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Hugh Jackman! I’m sure I’m gonna get shit for this (bring it), but he sucks as Wolverine. The character of Wolverine is that of a feral beast trying desperately hard to find his humanity. Jackman plays it the other way around. He’s just a jacked underwear model trying to hard to be a beast. But, that was just one of my many disappointments with the Wolverine flick. It wasn’t thematic, had no tension and it they just cherry picked the characters comic history, put it in a blender and served it with a side of shit (shit shakes are the worst). Suffice to say I hated the movie (and you should to) and I am not looking forward to the sequel. Regardless of who’s involved.

But, that’s me. I’m sure the rest of you have some investment in second installment. And, with word going around the internetz of directors being approached for the project you might actually be excited.

Deadline New York has reported that previously rumored director, Robert Schwentke, has dropped out of contention for directing the film, most likely because he may have committed to the R.I.P.D project.

The trade site is now reporting that Darren Aronofsky (The Wrester) is in the mix now to direct the film but that the studio’s favorite is David Slade (Twilight: Eclipse).

With Aronfsky and Jackman’s history with ‘The Fountain’ I can see why he might approached. But, knowing the creative freedom Aronofsky likes to have with his projects and knowing the butthole spelunkers at FOX are controlling Nazis, it seems unlikely Aronofsky would take the offer seriously. So, who does that leave? The fucking guy responsible for Twilight: Eclipse. Honestly, do I even need to illustrate how bad of an idea that is? hmm, I guess I do. OK, here it goes. David Slade+Wolverine= POOP w/claws.

The rumored plot for the sequel will focus on the relationship between Wolverine and Mariko, the daughter of a Japanese crime lord, and what happens to Logan when he escapes to Japan after the Three Mile Island incident of the first film.