The best movie geek related aspect to all this Twitter/Instagram / Facebook stuff is that people making movies important to geeks make use of it. Your JJ Abrams', Edgar Wright's, Joss Whedon's and now it looks like Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, all make use of the interweb to communicate with and tease the fans with info.

So, here we have a veterinary patch from an employee of Jurassic World. The picture was put onto Twitter by the director. It's the perfect kind of look behind the curtain that I love. I don't want to know what dinosaurs are in the movie yet, I don't want the ending spoiled, but seeing a patch like this gets me for excited at what is to come.

I've clearly learned nothing from Michael Chrichton's cautionary don't mess with nature sci-fi tale, 'cause if there was an option to bring back dinosaurs, I would vote yes. If they said that we are inexplicably going to recreate a bunch of the most dangerous and ferocious ones along with the tame easy to handle ones...I would still vote yes. I feel the same about dinosaur movies. I don't care if they're good or bad, as long as there's a dinosaur in it I am all in. I hope that the long delayed fourth Jurassic film makes a truck-load of money and instigates an onslaught of dino-sequels.

There can be absolutely wrong with a comic book called Captain Action Cat: The Timestream Catastrophe. Nothing! The funny animal sci-fi super-pet cross-over epic comes from Tiny Titans masterminds Art Baltazar and Franco. It's a great book for kids, or for grown-up kids who maybe should be reading something more mature with less pictures in it, but think heroic cats are cool.

Sad to hear of the cancellation of All Star Western. I've been reading writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti's take on the classic DC Comics western since they brought the character back in Jonah Hex #1 in 2005. They've showcased an deep pool of artistic talent over the years, survived a universe reboot, and had Jonah run up against historical characters, ghosts,and even Superman. I hope that the DC powers that be find another place for Jonah Hex stories sooner or later. DC aren't letting the writers go though, Gray and Palmiotti will return in the fun and intriguing sounding Star Spangled War Stories featuring GI Zombie.

Josh Rodgers, a talented comic creator that I met while in Halifax earlier this year, has a new website to showcase his wares. If you like fun sci-fi and gory horror, B-movies, EC Comics, or you enjoy stuff like Zomkeys, I'm sure you can find something you'll enjoy over at Mushface Comics.

I'm sure there is some form of NHL playoff action going on tomorrow night. I lose major Canadian citizen points by once again having little to no knowledge as to anything happening in the world of hockey. I know that Montreal is still in the running,'cause I continue to be glad that my Montreal residing friends haven't been killed in Mad Max-ian caliber hockey riots that happen when the Habs win or lose. Otherwise, I am in the dark to the ways of these strange ice skating / face punching ways.

Much more important than Hockey Night in Canada though, Saturday May 24 is Roller Derby Night in Ottawa!

It's a double header night of derby action in Kanata (which is technically Ottawa) with an inter-league bout as the Riot Squad battle the Prime Sinisters. Round 2 will feature the Vixens squaring off against the Roc City RocStars from the far off land of Rochester NY.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Tickets are a mere $10 bucks. For more info, check out the Rideau Valley Roller Girls site.

There was much excitement on the Mayfair Theatre corners of the Facebook and Twitter universes at the announcement today that we'll be screening what was once known as the Indiana Jones Trilogy on Saturday June 14th. Now-a-days, whenever one mentions Indiana Jones now-a-days, the first thing that many people seem to do is start ranting about how much they hate the fourth film. Some associate The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with the same anger and displeasure that one might for falling down the stairs or watching a puppy getting beaten.

Crystal Skull is often my go to example at the subjective manner of cinema. I don't really listen to what film critics say put much stock in awards. Sometimes movies I like happen to be critically acclaimed and win awards, but just as often there are movies I like that receive a single star rating and aren't allowed within miles of an awards ceremony. Army of Darkness got the lowest rating possible from The Ottawa Citizen, and somehow didn't get a single Oscar nomination, and yet I love it with all of my heart.

Back in 2008, one of my best friends and I went to see Speed Racer, and a couple days later went to s Crystal Skull. As the credits rolled on Speed Racer, I pretended to type out a letter to the Wachowski's to ask them to please stop making movies. My friend on the other hand thought it was cartoony filmmaking brilliance. A few days later we went to see Crystal Skull, which I watched for 2 hours in a state of childlike joy and wonder. My friend was not as impressed. Neither of us were incorrect in our opinion, and that's why I think critics and awards organizations can't really be trusted.

Many hold the original Indy Trilogy on a pedestal, thinking that thy are all filmmaking perfection. Seemingly they have forgotten that Temple of Doom got a truck-load of negativity driven towards it for the musical number, for the voodoo, for Willie Scott, and for Short Round. It's like how Star Wars geeks praise the original Star Wars Trilogy as sci-fi fantasy cinematic perfection, conveniently forgetting stuff like the highly besmirched Ewoks. In conclusion: I liked Crystal Skull and Ewoks and I don't care who knows it!

The highly anticipated, much delayed, Grant Morrison written DC epic Multiversity finally has a release date of August 20th. I didn't think I could have a higher level of impatient anticipation for this book to finally see the light of day, until this cover for the first issue. Amongst alternate universe versions of Superman, Captain Marvel and Green Lantern, there stands none other than Captain Carrot! Leave it to the brilliant madness of Grant Morrison to include an obscure funny animals super hero from the early 1980's into the mix. The complete 20 issues of Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew, and the Oz Wonderland War 3 issue mini-series that followed are some of my most favourite comics of my youth. I look forward to reading what my favourite writer has in store for these characters in their modern day reimagining.

Guardians of the Galaxy Full Trailer Official

On top of thoroughly enjoying Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I also got to sit in wonder of the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer last night. Please do not think less of me if I tell you that the moving pictures image of a gun wielding raccoon riding on the shoulders of his tree-man best friend in the midst of battle got me a little choked up. Unlss this trailer to movie ration is the greatest misdirect in the history of cinema, I can't imagine how this thing is not going to end up being one of my favourite movies of all time.

I hate going to the multiplex. I know that hate is a strong word, but every time I break down and go to one, I have a sub-par movie going experience. Tonight's experience was sadly no different than the multiplex norm of poor presentation.

No staff member closed the door into the theatre, leaving a glow of light on the lower left hand side of the screen for the first portion of the film. I could hear employees talking outside in the hall. The walls are thin enough that I could hear Godzilla wreaking havoc in the theatre next door. And, despite listings on their site making no reference to this, our movie was only in 3D. My friends and I all hate 3D. I could go on. Luckily, I used free reward points off my credit card to see the movie,or I would have been really upset.

Here's the good news, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was so spectacular, that it made up for all my cinematic experience whining and complaints. Marvel has turned the super-hero genre upside down by successfully presenting a movie starring a guy in a goofy patriotic costume that is as good as any political military espionage thriller the like of The Manchurian Candidate or Hunt For Red October with double the action of a Bourne movie (without the shakey camera). The actors excel, the twists and turns kept me surprised, plus it has Robert Redford and a guy in a cool jet-pack with giant metallic wings. And Scarlett Johansson...I think her Black Widow might just be the best female action hero since Ripley.

On top of it's awesome and entertaining filmmaking achievements, the movie is also filled with a truck load of fun easter eggs, character name drops and inside geeky references that will make any loyal comic geek sit up and take notice. As it stands now, Captain America III is going head-to-head against Batman / Superman in 2016. I think Warner Bros might want to reconsider this strategy and concede a loss and move back its release date. 'Cause I'm a giant DC Comics fan, but my movie going heart belongs to Marvel.

Thank you Cap, for rescuing what otherwise would have been another underwhelming night at the multiplex.

Have you contributed to the Strangebeard fundraising campaign on Kickstarter yet? You have? Good for you! You are helping the world become a better place by bringing awesome kid-friendly comic books into papery existence. You haven't yet? Well,what are you waiting for?! You can help out the cause for as little as one dollar, and in return get a digital comic book-y reward. For a higher contribution, you can get paper comics or original art. The endeavour is going very well, and it looks like the undertaking will be a rand success. Let's make sure it is though. Go check out the Strangebeard Kickstarter right now!

The new Star Wars movie is filming right now at Pinewood Studios in the UK. I want to go to there. Often the anticipation of a movie beats out the quality of the movie, but I do enjoy the months and years of contemplation and hope and rumour and speculation leading up to an epic franchise motion picture. I think Disney has done a spectacular job with their acquisitions of The Muppets, Marvel and Pixar, and I have high hopes for their handling of the Star Wars universe as well. Living in a world with more Star Wars on the horizon is a good thing. I will be counting down the days until a 20th Century Fox-less drum-roll of a Star Wars arrives at the end of 2015.

This may sound like the sad geeky ramblings of a basement dwelling mad-man, but that fact that the Marvel powers-that-be are making use of painted artwork for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie poster makes me happy to be alive. It's nice that someone is finally listening to the voices of the fans when it comes to ugly photoshopped posters vs the beauty of traditional painted work. I hope this marks the start of a trend.

A lot of teevee shows needs a few episodes before the writers and actors and everyone find their feet and things settle into some good storytelling. Being a geek related show, it not so surprising that a certain brand of geek attacked the show with negative critiques as soon as its first episode aired. I have a more laid back approach to my entertainment intake...if I don't like a teevee show, I'll stop watching it.

Although I didn't think that the early episodes of SHIELD ranked amongst the greatest television of all time, it also didn't fill me with furious anger. I trusted in Joss and his gang, and I had a feeling that the show was marching towards something big. It was indeed. The last half dozen of so episodes of season one marched along at a ferocious pace. There were a couple of dramatic twists or comic book source material reveals that overwhelmed me with comic book aficionado joy.

Even though watching SHIELD played spoiler towards certain aspects of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (which I have yet to see), I was happy to see certain Marvel Cinematic Universe dramatic reveals happen via my SHIELD watching. In one season alone they've introduced a whole bunch of Marvel Comics characters who were unseen in the live action realm up to this point, have had big screen character guests, and geek royalty Patton Oswalt even shows up as a SHIELD agent. They even referenced Alpha Flight!

In my wildest childhood comic book geek dreams, I would never have imagined that not only a SHIELD ongoing teevee series were possible, but that it would also interact with a whole bunch of epic big screen Marvel adventures. When I was a kid, the best we had was stuff like a Hulk / Daredevil teevee movie and Superman IV. What we have now is much, much better. I look forward to SHIELD season 2.

Mirror Comics publisher Dominic Bercier and my Zomkeys partner in crime Barb Felix will be on hand at the SuperFan ComicCon this upcoming long weekend in Toronto - May 17, 18 and 19. If you are in Toronto over the weekend, drop in and buy awesome comic books from these fine friends of mine.

I have been a fan of comic artist and writing genius Sam Kieth forever. Or if not forever, at least since his co-creation of The Sandman, and his Aliens and Marvel Comics presents work of the early 1990's. And of course, his bizarre and beloved work on The Maxx, which even when I wasn't quite sure what the hell was going on, I still loved dearly. A rare Maxx action figure and an audio-cassette radio-play read-along version of the first few issues of The Maxx are two of my prized possessions.

Sam Kieth's reunion with the Aliens comic book universe is as great as one might hope. If you are a fan of the Aliens movies, but have never checked out a comic version of the mythology, this novella sized story is a great first step into the expanded universe mythology. If you are a fan of Sam Kieth, then I'm sure you don't need any further pressure from me to read Aliens: Inhuman Condition.

Truth is stranger than fiction is a constant recurrence in our world, and it is always the theme of my favourite documentaries. Imagine a story where the hoarded belongings of a quiet, unassuming nanny are purchased at an auction, and that those items end up revealing one of the greatest photographers of all time. If that wasn't enough, then throw in conflicting back-stories of her origins, and a couple of rather dark twists and turns. All of which would never have been learned if the contents of a storage locker had been tossed away. Amazing, but true.

Finding Vivian Maier is compelling and fascinating stuff, we're screening it at the Mayfair tonight and Tuesday May 13 at 6:45pm.

We hopped the bus from central Ottawa out to the EY Centre to attend the third and final day of the Ottawa Comiccon. My favourite part of a Comiccon invading a city is the costumed fans, and how their wardrobe must confuse people who know not that a comic book convention has invaded their city. On our bus there was a Ghostbuster, Mario, Luigi, Captain Marvel, Kaylee from Firefly, and some anime influenced costumes of unknown origin to me. It must be quite the interesting and confusing sight for non-geek city residents.

Working the comic con floor and attempting to get one's comics into peoples hands makes for an exhaustive weekend. It was an excellent weekend though, and Zomkeys was all sold-out well before the con came to a wrap. On top of that, a number of folks came around the table asking for copies after they were all gone. A fine ego boost all in all. Plus, I found a Buckaroo Banzai movie adaptation comic, and my pal Marco Rudy whipped up a quick Liberty Belle sketch for my sketch-book collection.

It was a long, slightly exhaustive, over-crowded, but none-the-less rewarding and worth-while day at the Ottawa Comiccon. I'm pretty jaded about a lot of aspects of the modern comic con experience, but it's always great to see comic pro pals, geek friends in attendance, and to get copies of Zomkeys into more readers hands. My girlfriend got to hang out with friends in artist alley and was resident multitasking knitting booth-babe. I'm just sad that I missed out on Robert Englund dropping by the table yesterday, and Ray Park performing a live and in person Darth Maul lightsaber routine. Star Wars enthusiasts must have been dropping in the isles as their hearts exploded from nerdy joy overload.

Sometimes doing freelance tech gigs can be boring and corporate in nature. Sometimes though, you get to work with dinosaurs! This fella was one of the stars of the show at a performance at the kids fest here in town, which premiered today. He brought joy and terror to all the kids in attendance. I have clearly learned nothing from the lessons of Jurassic Park, 'cause I would be totally fine if cloned dinosaurs walked the earth.

Went to see Million Dollar Arm tonight. A - It was free. B - My girlfriend and I have a love for Jon Hamm that outweighs our hatred of the multiplex. Whether it be the Blu Ray logo bouncing around on the screen pre-movie, or lights going on and off at the wrong time, showcasing the lack of employees and disregard for quality presentation. Or that patrons at multiplexes have a tendency to talk aloud, walk around with their cel phones in flash-light mode, or checking out stuff on a tablet while the movie is playing. Million Dollar Arm was yet another good baseball movie. I don't really have any affection for baseball, but baseball movies always seem to grab my attention and appreciation. I'm certainly glad that it was a free screening though, 'cause if I had paid for a screening in such horrible surroundings, I would have been really pissed.

I'll be at the Ottawa Comiccon this weekend (it runs from May 9th - 11th), hanging out with my geeky friends and selling copies of Zomkeys. Bruce Campbell will be there too, and very likely a bunch of people dressed as characters from Adventure Time and in anime costumes from stuff that I'm not familiar with.

The new cult movie phenomenon that is Fateful Findings soon makes it's grand return to the Mayfair. I have seen Fateful Findings, I can't exactly tell you what happened in Fateful Findings though. Not because I want to refrain from spoiler-ing anything for you, but because I have no idea what the hell was going on in this movie. I can piece together some rough brush-strokes of a plot, but it's so bizarre I don't know how or why they are all mashed up together into one script and movie. There are supernatural aspects, there's some weird romance stuff, there's a big conspiracy theory, and there's a rather gruesome ending that I think qualifies as a twist. Not sure. There's also a lot of shots of shoes, a guy typing on laptop's that aren't turned on, and some ghosts...I think.

Fateful Findings is the new contender that gives The Room a challenging run at the title of worst film. For all of its faults, it's a hell of a lot of fun to see with a crowd, despite of its terrible over-all nature. Which, of course, you can partake in on Friday May 9th at 11:30pm at the Mayfair Theatre.

Do you love awesome comic books? Of course you do. If you don't love awesome comic books, I frankly have no idea how we can be friends, or why you might be perusing this blog. So, click on over to the Kickstarter for my friend (and Zomkeys cover artist) Kelly Tindall's comic book Strangebeard. You can be rewarded comic book-y goodness for as little as a one dollar contribution! Excellent comics from talented folks deserve support!

Some people are not collector's...they don't get it. I'm far from a hoarder, and I don't buy anywhere near the toys and stuff that I used to, but I still have a collector's vibe running through my veins. One geeky addiction that can be spotted on display throughout my apartment is my love of vinyl art toys, specifically stuff from Kid Robot. There was a sale at Lost Marbles, which of course means that I had to buy some more vinyl toys. Luckily my girlfriend supports this habit instead of shunning and judging it, and we walked away with a new armful of blind-boxed treasures. I managed to get three new Marvel Labbit toys without getting any doubles (I often have bad luck with doubles). My favourite is the Cap Labbit...I want more Labbits...do feel free to buy some for me, I will give them place of honour on a nice shelf in a good home.

Happy Free Comic Book Day! Get outta bed, go find a comic store, partake in the joy that comic books bring to our world. All for the low, low price of free!

Happy Free Comic Book Day eve! Tomorrow is my favourite holiday of the year. Drop by your favourite comic book store and get some greatcomic books for the very reasonable price of free. If you aren't a reader of the wonderful world of comic books, seek out a store and pick up some great samples to take that first step into a brave new world.

The twelfth annual Free Comic Book Day acts as a thank you to the fans, a promotion to get new readers into stores, and a way to spread publicity to something that means so much to a comic geek like me. This year there are offerings with familiar comic book icons the like of Archie, The Tick, The Smurfs, Judge Dredd, Teen Titans and Guardians of the Galaxy. There are also a myriad of other pop culture mainstays appearing in comic book form like The Simpsons, Adventure Time, Spongebob, Mega Man and Avatar. They've done a great job at compiling a diverse selection of indie, mainstream, kid friendly, adult stuff, and all kinds of different genres.

So, get up Saturday morning and go get yourself some free comics and support the lovely comic book store folks and pick up something there in exchange for monies while you're there too.

The Muppets are my earliest memory, not one of my earliest memories, but my very first one ever in my whole life. I have a distinct memory of loving Kermit and being afraid of Sweetums and the other big guys. I love Muppets Babies, Muppets Tonight, Fraggle Rock, all the movies that they're in...I wish that The Muppet Show would re-boot itself onto teevee. I have a Kermit tattoo on my arm.

I am very excited to see their latest theatrical effort, Muppets Most Wanted. Supposedly the powers that be at Disney are concerned 'cause it didn't make a ton of money. I'm a bit angry at the family friendly movie going audience for supporting the Alvin and the Chipmunks trilogy to well over a billion dollars in ticket sales, but not showing similar love to The Muppets franchise. Hopefully the $70 million that it has made so far (off a $50 million budget) might convince Disney that there is indeed a smaller but still supportive audience out there. Mayhaps an audience might more easily support Kermit and company on the small screen.

Muppets Most Wanted screens at the Mayfair on Saturday May 3rd and Sunday May 4th at 1:30pm and 3:45pm.

Although of course all good things must come to an end, Dave's upcoming teevee retirement still hasn't settled into my brain and leaves me feeling sad. It'll just be so strange not watching Dave on a frequent basis, as I have for decades of my life. Thanks to Stephen Colbert though, I am quite confident that the future of The Late Show is in good hands.

If I had been JJ Abrams, I would have gotten Leonard Nimoy or Tom Cruise to sit in on this Star Wars Episode VII table-read, just to explode the brains of some Star Wars geeks out there on the interwebs.

The praise of "funniest ever" gets thrown around whenever one sees a new teevee show or movie or stand-up comic that is exceptionally funny. I am fairly confident though, that U Talkin' U2 To Me is the funniest podcast that I've ever listened to.

The show is hosted by Comedy Bang Bang creator Scott Aukerman and Parks and Recreation actor Adam Scott. On the surface, it is a podcast featuring a couple of U2 super fans, in which they are supposed to talk about everything U2. The twist is, that despite all best intentions, they constantly go off the rails and lose train of thought and end up talking about everything but U2. They end up talking about movies, other bands,or delving into improv fueled comedic distraction. This would not be the end of the world, if not for over-obsessive types who have too much time on their hands, and really love U2. I never get why people keep partaking in something that they don't like. They do actually talk a lot about their love of U2...they are just a couplof funny guys who talk a bout a lot of other stuff too.

My favourite part of every show is my imagining of a U2 super fan stewing over and getting infuriated by the hosts as they talk about Huey Lewis & the News while still staking claim at being the be all and end all comprehensive U2 corner-stone on the internet. It gets even better when they read e-mails from those not in on the joke, and e-mails from those smart enough to play along with the gag. Initially they were supposed to do one episode for each U2 album, ending with a wrap-up episode about the latest album release. They've had whole episodes where they go pretty much U2-less, and the anticipated new release from the band has been delayed again and again. I hope the album never comes out so that this podcast can go on forever, and that it can continue to annoy U2 fans with no sense of humour.

This photo of Joel Hodgson with his robot friends Tom Servo and Crow fills me with unbridled joy. If you aren't familiar with the comedic mastermind and the two robots in said photo, then you are missing out on one of the greatest and most hilarious bits of television ever created by humans. In simplest terms, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was a show in which three funny performers made fun of old bad movies. Thanks to a high concept story surrounding the characters and genius writing, MST3K is so much bigger and better then it could be in the hands of lesser talent. There have been numerous times that my friends and I have watched episodes and almost died with laughter. It can be a dangerous endeavor. After 11 seasons and an incredible collection of bad motion picture history on display, the series came to an end way back in 1999.

So, you might imagine that a giant in-depth article on Wired titled Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Definitive Oral History of a TV Masterpiece caught my attention. And, the part where it reveals that Joel has plans to bring back MST3K this year almost made me cry.

While in Montreal, which I am this weekend for roller derby, one of the mainstay places for me to visit is The Green Panther. Good vegan restaurants glean high loyalty points from vegan peoples. Today I ate there twice in fact. I had a delicious sammich, a butter tart, and then the bestest salad I've ever had. The highest praise an out of town restaurant gets is when a traveler goes out of one's way to drop by and eat. I buy food from The Green Panther every single time I'm in Montreal, and wish that there were one in Ottawa. If there were a Green Panther on home turf though, that would be one less reason to cross over the border for a visit to Quebec though. I wish I had brought home some take-out.

Do you like Mad Men, but wish that it had crazier characters, wilder sex, and took place behind the scenes of the early days of television during a 1950's kids sci-fi space show? Then you should be reading Satellite Sam. I have a hard time singling out my favourite when it comes to comics that I'm currently reading, there's so much great stuff being published, but this is for sure one of the best comics out there today. The seventh issue is currently on the comic book store shelves, available for digital download, or you can pick up the volume 1 collection (containing the first 5 issues). Great writing from Matt Fraction, beautiful art by Howard Chaykin...keep it out of the hands of lil kids though.

I try to avoid partaking in interweb negativity, but I swear to all of the gods that I don't believe in, that Rob Liefeld is without question the worst comic book artist of all time.

I don't know if this is a self inflicted joke by Robert Downey Jr or a cast or crew member prank...but I have a feeling that working on Avengers: Age of Ultron is a lot of fun.

Another great animated short in celebration of The Bat's 75th anniversary (that I forgot to post a couple of days ago). I may not love their live action efforts all that much, but DC sure does know how to make excellent super-hero animation. I hope that 2014 is filled with a lot more of these cartoon tributes.

Yesterday I watched The Lego Movie, and it blew my mind. The Lego Movie could have very easily been a blatant 1980's style 90 minute commercial to convince kids to big their parents for more toys. Instead, it is the most shockingly original, imaginative, intelligent and heart-felt movies that I've seen since I don't know when. It's one of those kinds of movies, that if financially viable,I would want to screen once a week for eternity at the Mayfair.

We have The Lego Movie at the Mayfair a couple more times today, then we're bringing it back next weekend for an encore. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour and see it in a movie theatre filled with kids to truly experience its joy and wonder. Little kids thanked me for showing the movie as they left,after having given it a rousing round of applause. You can't get a reaction like that when watchin' a movie at home on the teevee.

Some friends and I got together this-afternoon and watched The Muppet Movie. I can't imagine that I will ever hear this song for the rest of my life, and that it won't get me choked up.

My girlfriend has a couple of her family members visiting. Amongst all museum and gallery visits, her little six year old cousin was excited to go and checkout a comic book store, and we did so today. He got an Adventure Time comic and a Darth Vader necklace and asked many a question about all the geek lore on th shelves around him.

We also picked him some treasure from the 50 cent bins. Sadly, out of a table filled with a dozen of more long comic boxes, it's quit difficult to find stuff that is kid friendly. We live in a world where most people reading comic books are middle aged. So, that product has skewed over to appeal to that customer base. After lots of digging though, we managed to find an issue of Teen Titans Go, Pet Avengers, Amelia Rules, a Spidey, and a couple issues of Jeff Smith's Shazam. Her little cousin looks at these books like they are the world's greatest treasure, even if they are only parts of the over-all story, even if they aren't in mint condition, even if thy are only worth 50 cents. Even though comic book characters thrive on the big screen, on teevee, and in video games...we should never forget that comic book characters are best served in comic books. As long as kids like this one still want to read comics, there is hope for the future.

Every year I sneak into the Mayfair with my friends to hold a private birthday screening on my own behalf. This year, things got a bit delayed 'cause Craig Ferguson was in town performing on my birthday last month. He was supposed to be here in January, but he got prevented from coming thanks to illness. Plus,its more difficult to sneak in now-a-days 'cause we do matinees all the time and also rent out the place for weddings and private events and such.

A space opened up this Sunday, so I'm jumping onto that afternoon to bring my friends together to watch a movie. It's not the best of days, since a lot a folks are going to be busy Easter-ing in some capacity, but a handful of us will get together to enjoy some Muppet goodness.

My pal Tall Josh can't make it, so he drew me up this great Rocket Raccoon birthday wish in his absence. Having talented friends is such a nice bonus on so many levels. If you haven't checked out Josh's online comic, zap on over to Robots of Futuretown.

After watching various forms of of Asian cinema, specifically Japanese anime, I have often pondered how crazy almost all those movies are. I have joked before that they seem like such a nice people, but the cinematic output thy offer up can often be mindbendingly bizarre. That might seem like a cliche or stereotype, but I'v watched a lot of Japanese cartoons, and even the most mainstream of them are pretty out there.

To be fair, I imagine that film fans from around the globe probably think the same about much of our Canadian cinema. I mean, we gave the great David Cronenberg to the world, and I think even he would agree that his movies are kindah weird. This thought came to mind tonight after having watched Denis Villenueve's latest directorial effort, Enemy. As the credits finished up, my girlfriend, two of our best Mayfair patrons, and our projectionist, were all on the same page in a state of wonder and confusion. None of us were looking at it negatively, at the same time I don't think that any of us knew what exactly just happened. Not that that is a bad thing. A movie in which you don't know what's happening can make a whole bunch of interesting conversation and pondering in its aftermath. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers an impressive double duty twin performance, the mystery of the script kept me very Twilight Zone intrigued, and Toronto has never looked more horrible.

See if you are smarter then me and if you can figure out what wasgoing on in this movie, as we screen Enemy once more tonight, Thursday April 17 at 9:30pm.

I'm a bit upset that the fate of Nightwing has been spoilered thanks to a press release in regards to the upcoming DC Comic titled Grayson. That's always the issue with reading a shared universe continuity like that of DC Comics. I'm sure that they don't want to upset readers and ruin endings of storylines...but they also have to advertise upcoming books. Currently, the original Robin'slife hangs in the balance in the Forever Evil series that is about to wrap up. Having just recently killed the most recent Robin, I had a feeling that they wouldn't be crazy enough to off another one...but you never know in the soap-opera like world of super-hero comic book storytelling.

So, Dick Grayson will live on to fight another day, but the moniker of Nightwing will not. It looks like Dick's resume will expand from circus performer, Robin, Teen Titan, and maybe cop (not sure if that carried over to The New 52 universe reboot), to now include super spy. Now, if the impending return of Damian Robin rumors come to be true, it will be happy days for Batman's 75th anniversary indeed.

Does the concept of an Adventure Time / Marvel Comics mash-up sound cool you? Well, if it does (and it should)...behold today's latest Gutters comic!

The Wolf of Wall Street is a three hour long epic that seems like a mash-up of Goodfellas, Spring Breakers and of course, Wall Street. In other hands it might come off like an exceedingly long copy-cat undertaking of stuff that has come before. In the hands of Martin Scorsese, it is not so surprisingly great. The worst Scorsese movie is better then even the most skilled filmmakers best work, and this effort is well worth all the critical praise and Oscar nominations thrown its way. The Wolf of Wall Street screens the next two nights at the Mayfair (Monday April 14 and Tuesday April 15) at 8:45pm. It is not for the faint of heart. It will definitely offend those who think that Oscar nominations = Remains of the Day.

Our manager at the Mayfair Theatre unrolled a poster from a newly arrived in the mail tube, and upon seeing the contents, my heart skipped a beat. At first glance the poster for Journey to the West, the latest from martial arts filmmaking mastermind Stephen Chow, seems to have a poster by Drew Struzan. Upon closer observation, the signature didn't match Drew's familiar signature scrawl.

The poster comes from an artist by the name of Paul Shipper, who quite clearly wanted to be Drew Struzan when he grew up. At first I admit that I was a bit mad that this guy was copy-catting and tracing the perfected style of a master. Upon looking at the artists website though, I have to forgive him because he has produced so many amazing looking movie inspired works. On his website you'll find beautiful posters for Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Avengers, Pacific Rim and more. All of which of course were not used as the actual theatrical posters for any of these films, because whoever is in charge of the poster department of Hollywood is a fool.

Peruse some very pretty movie posters for yourself over at the Paul Shipper Studio site.

I am going to watch Guardians of the Galaxy at least 1,000 times in a row. Goodbye life, hello watching Guardians of the Galaxy over and over again!

It is weird that due to a wacky chain of bad business decision events in the 1990's, Marvel does not own the bulk of their household name comic character franchises for film production. Marvel sold off the rights to Fantastic Four, X-Men and Spider-man, years before any thought that they'd be in a position to produce their own films one day. Meaning that now since we've made our way through the corner-stone Avengers roster, we're moving on to obscurity.

That Marvel is making use of their third tier characters now is not something that I look at with negativity. In my wildest grade-school lil comic book nerd dreams, I never thought there would be a live action Avengers movie. So, it never even crossed my mind that we'd one day have a movie starring Rocket Raccoon! Rocket is maybe my favourite character that most human beings have never hard of would be gracing the silver screen. Rocket Raccoon is making it to movie adaptation before Wonder Woman! I love this risk that Marvel is taking. I hope the gamble to give off-centre characters the spotlight pays off and we get more weird Marvel movies in the future (Micronauts...Cloak & Dagger...Alpha Flight). This is truly the golden age of geekness.

The WB / DC powers that be got animation legend Bruce Timm to return to his Batman roots and produce the short "Strange Days" in honour of Batman's 75th anniversary. It's as beautiful and awesome as you would expect a Bruce Timm / Batman reunion to be. I have no idea why WB doesn't just let their animation team produce their live action movies. Their movies would be so much better. Anyhow, sit back enjoy 3 minutes of glorious 2D Batman animation. Also...the one line that Batman speaks at the end of the short made me cheer in geeky Bat fan joy.

A friend and I went to see the free preview screening of The Raid 2 last night. As the credits rolled, we took a moment to recover from our shell-shocked state, and then agreed that everyone can stop making martial arts movies now. I can't imagine that anyone will ever be able to top the mid-blowing fight scenes, insane levels of action, awesome characters, and sheer intensity that is The Raid 2. It's 2.5 hours long and feels like a lean 90 minutes. The Raid 2 is the new bench-mark of martial arts movie perfection that all other filmmakers will be looking to beat from now on.

Exciting news for Jeff Smith fans. You can now click over to his website and read all 28 'Season One' pages of his new comic Tuki for absolutely free! If you do not like Jeff Smith, or are disinterested in reading a new comic from him, there is clearly something wrong with you and you should reevaluate everything about your life. Drop whatever you're doing and go read Tuki now!

My talented pal Marco Rudy (whose resume includes Swamp Thing and Marvel Knights: Spider-man) is drawing a Dr Strange tale that's being published as New Avengers Annual 1. Go get in line at your favourite local comic store now!

Jay Leno retired from the Tonight Show twice, and got nothing in the way of tribute from his peers or comedians and talk show hosts younger than he. I am fairly confident that not one comedian in the history of the universe has ever said the words "Jay Leno is my hero". On the other hand, David Letterman should be prepared for a solid year of praise and tribute and lifetime achievement awards to be deservedly coming his way. The always joyful and hard working Jimmy Fallon is the first of the late night host gang who learned from Dave's comedic genius to pay loving tribute to his late night hero.

The very first time Steve Coogan appears on screen, even though it's only in the form of a head-shot photo on the wall of a radio station, I laughed out loud. I continued to laugh throughout the movie that brings his legendary Brit comedy character to the big screen for the first time at long last.

We've got Alan Partridge at the Mayfair tonight (Sunday April 6) at 8:30pm and tomorrow (Monday April 7) at 9:00pm.

We have Frozen this weekend at the Mayfair (Saturday April 5 at 3:30pm and Sunday April 6 at 1:00pm). It's a great modern take of the Disney princess mold, has some wonderful music, great acting and character animation, and a very funny snowman. As an added bonus, the Oscar nominated Mickey short 'Get a Horse!' is also included in the presentation. It's a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen, and this might just be your last chance to do so before it's locked away into those pesky Disney vaults.

This GI Joe themed episode of Community completely blew my mind. I can't believe that Hasbro let Dan Harmon and his gang get away with this brilliantly insane parody tribute to 1980's bad Saturday morning cartoons. If they make action figures inspired from this episode, I will buy those action figures.

News quickly leaked today that David Letterman will be retiring sometime in 2015. The musical guest of the nice twittered about it during the taping of the episode, and it zapped along the internet and news spread at super speed, as news tends to do now-a-days. It's almost good that the announcement got spoiled for me, and I didn't learn from it via Dave as he sat behind his desk. Then I might have been a real mess.

Dave delivered the news like any other story he's told in such a manner, after his stand-up monologue and before his first guest. His announcement was laid back, it was funny, and filled with that reserved Letterman class and charm. This day had to come sooner or later, it's not the end of the world, but it fills me sadness to think of a world without Dave hosting a talk show. Now I must brace myself for a year of getting emotional at what I'm sure will be a parade of tributes and praise coming Dave's way. I don't want to discuss and debate at who might be the new host of The Late Show, I just wanna enjoy one last year of the genius of David Letterman.

Anthony Mackie has said that if it were up to him he would be wearing red spandex for his wardrobe in his portrayal of The Falcon in the new movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Alas, the Marvel powers-that-be did not agree with him. I guess the movie still looks pretty cool anyways.

I love a comic book that looks like a comic book and is filled with a sense of wonder and awe and adventure and imagination. Photo realistic images might show off artistic talent, and there are plenty of dark and dreary comics that are great...but more and more I want to read the opposite of that. The latest incarnation of Silver Surfer, from Superior Spider-Man mastermind Dan Slott and Madmad legend Michael Allred, is everything that is great about comics. Extra bonus, it's a comic that a kid can actually read and enjoy and not walk away from scarred for life.