Remote-controlled Pokemon toys? Not buying this was the hardest thing ever. Damn you, Target!

emeraldcitycomicon:

Emerald City Comicon program cover by *duss005

The sweet sweet 2013 program guide cover, unadorned by trade dress - a gorgeous watercolor by Dustin Nguyen!

SO PRETTY :D

deighvid:

After a long hiatus of Adventure Time/Ghibli crossovers, I finally did part 6! My Neighbor Totoro! Heh
Other AT/Ghibli crossovers, pts. 1-6

THE BEST

Athletic body reference →

If I was an artist, I’m sure this would be awesome. As it is, it’s quite inspiring!

zombiebacons:

Reebok X Marvel Officially Licensed Limited Edition Sneakers!

Pretty psyched about this one, been sitting on it for a while. Here is the first line of the Reebok X Marvel collaboration that I designed. I’ve been working with kids footwear to create Spider-Man licensed shoes for a few years now, and finally, we can get some adult sizes for us grown-up nerds (and nerd-ettes)! The sneakers drop this summer at specific retailers, read more info here, here, here and here. The first lineup is Captain America, Red Skull, Spider-Man, Venom, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Deadpool, Chamber, Black Widow and Emma Frost.

Remember these cupcakes? The ones where I covered mint Oreos in chocolate, then put them inside a brownie cupcake, and covered them with mint buttercream frosting, and mint chocolate buttercream frosting, and green sprinkles? These cupcakes have made it to the final round of the CakeSpy “So you wanna be a CakeSpy” contest. It’s pretty cool. So if you like them, you can vote for me on CakeSpy itself, or their Facebook page, or their Flickr page. Here’s the link for more information.

My entry for the So You Wanna Be A CakeSpy contest! Chocolate brownie cupcakes, with chocolate-covered mint Oreos inside, and mint buttercream frosting or mint chocolate buttercream frosting!

I cobbled together the recipe from various sources, including Bake It In A Cake,  Lovin’ From The Oven, and About.com.

Yesterday I finally finished reading the recent Batgirl series, written by Bryan Q. Miller and illustrated (mostly) by Dustin Nguyen. I was pleasantly surprised. :)

To me, Batgirl is Cassandra Cain. That’s the first Batgirl I read about, and while I know most readers stick with Barbara Gordon, to me Babs is Oracle. So it should follow that Stephanie Brown should be Spoiler to me, but I haven’t read much that involved her, so I think that gave me a bit more of an open mind regarding her rejuvenation as Batgirl.

This series was intelligently written, with a healthy dose of humor and silliness that I feel fits well with the Batgirl identity. I loved the interactions between Babs and Steph, specifically their recurring jokes about their ongoing internal (and accidentally external) monologues. 

Miller writes Stephanie with the perfect mix of frivolity, seriousness, and a bit of what-the-heck-am-I-doing that makes her really believable as a person. Sure Steph’s a genius and somehow maintains a B average despite nightly vigilantism, but she’s still relatable and seems like a fun person to hang out with. 

The storylines were engaging, and the addition of suitor/stalker Grey Ghost was a hoot to read. Steph’s relationship with Supergirl was also fun to see. I wasn’t really sold on Wendy as a member of the Batgirl team, but that was resolved by the end of the series. 

The art, of course, is phenomenal. Not only are the covers dynamic and interesting, but the interior art was engaging and fun with just enough depth. I was initially not a fan of this Batgirl’s costume, but Dustin makes it fit where it could easily come across as ridiculous. 

What I liked most about this series was the little moments between the characters, like Grey Ghost’s pet names for Batgirl, and the sequence I link to above where Stephanie tries to explain the Bat-family to Wendy.

I think this series and this character holds a lot of potential. Those last few pages showing Stephanie’s coma dreams, they could launch a whole new series of alternate futures of Batgirl that I would find interesting and compelling.

I highly recommend this series (there are three trades), and I hope to see more of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl in the future.

Ladies comics night! Batgirl #3, Batwoman #3, and Huntress #2 came out today, three of my current favourite comics. And, wonderfully, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #4!

I was excited for this week’s Batgirl because, yay! Nightwing! I’ve always been intrigued by the Barbara/Dick dynamic mostly from their brief conversations in Birds of Prey. The art on Batgirl continues to be good, except for a few off panels. That second page with the train? So good! Nightwing riding behind Batgirl? Adorbs! I think the fight is an interesting element, as well as her internal struggle with the people who care about her. I don’t really understand the hair thing, but it was a good issue!

The art on Batwoman continues to be ridiculously beautiful, and issue 3 is no exception. I absolutely love the way her cape and hair are drawn, the fluidity and life that ever other character lacks. There’s not much in the way of plot development, but I’m interested to see what Bette’s going to do based on that last page!

It’s hard to keep myself objective on Huntress, but based on the first book I was excited to see what’ll happen next to Helena. If only they’d fixed the missing finger on the cover of the book! I love the way Marcus draws Helena, the body type he gives her. Even the difference in expressions between Huntress and Helena are well done, one is intense and piercing, the other relaxed and frivolous. I think the story is well done too, although the mystery Helena’s chasing is less interesting than Helena herself.

I’ve been a fan of Miles since the first issue, and I feel just as excited about this series as I did when they launched Ultimate Spider-Man initially. I really like Sara Pichelli’s art, partially because her Miles looks like my cousin, but also because of the consistency. And awww Peter’s last stand is so sad! And Gwen! And Miles talking to himself, so funny. :D And yay! Spider-Woman! This comic makes me wish I’d kept reading the original series. So good!

In which I discus my gamer qualifications…

I didn’t have a video game system growing up, I lived vicariously through others who had access to the joys of Super Mario Bros. and GoldenEye. (My favourite part of GoldenEye was using proximity mines in the vents during multiplayer) The first game that was purchased for me was this one that had a ghost and helped you learn to type properly, so that doesn’t count. The first game I bought for myself was Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and I got stuck on a jump for about a year before finally completing it.

I’ve always been interested in computer and video games, but didn’t fall for one until Final Fantasy XI, an MMORPG I ended up playing for six years. I became deeply involved in the game, the politics, organizing events, and making friends from all over the world. I loved that game, and my Mithra Dragoon named Caitir, but I left it in order to devote more time to the world outside my PS2.

I own a PS2, a Wii, a PS3, an XBox 360, and a DS. I used to have a Game Boy Advance SP, but I donated that to Financial Post’s video game drive last year. I play games on all those systems casually, and I’ve had fun exploring the different video game genres and trying my hand at different games. I’ve played hundreds, but only finished one: The Munchables, a children’s game about alien vegetables for the Wii.

I’ve been fortunate in my time at the National Post in that I’ve had the chance to contribute to different editorial teams. Originally housed under the Ampersand Arcade banner, the video game section of the site was recently relaunched as a part of FP Tech Desk. Daniel Kaszor’s asked me to review games before, including Gears of War 3 (twice), Pokémon White, and Fable III. Typically I get called in when no one else is interested, and that’s led to an interesting mix of games to review. Here’s my most recent one, on Just Dance 3 and Dance Central 2.

I consider myself to be a gamer, because I play video games. I’m definitely a casual gamer though, not a hardcore one. And one of my favourite parts of video games is watching other people play. I’ve never played Bioshock, but I’ve watched it, and it’s beautiful. I’ve been to PAX East, and I attended three FFXI Fan Festivals. So I’ll keep the gamer moniker, and continue to explore the world of games when I can.