Perhaps you’ve been to the movies lately and you’ve seen one of these jolly (ho, ho, ho) green guys. They’re in theaters all across the U.S. entertaining movie patrons. When Marvel announced sale of these movie theater statues on eBay I thought it was a little silly. I mean unless you’ve got room for a 8 foot tall and 6 foot wide Hulk in your residence. I’ve got the room, but he’ll have to pull double duty as a coat rack.

Flight 5 was released right in time for the Comic-Con and if you’ve not seen it yet check out the preview. Flight books are a great collection of stories wonderfully written and illustrated by some talented folks including: JP Ahonen, Graham Annable, Chris Appelhans, Bannister, Matthew Bernier, Scott Campbell, Svetlana Chmakova, Tony Cliff, Phil Craven, Michel Gagné, Kazu Kibuishi, Kness, Sonny Liew, Reagan Lodge, Made, John Martz, Sarah Mensinga, Ryan North, Richard Pose, Paul Rivoche, Dave Roman, Kean Soo and Joey Weiser.

I met up with Kazu again this year at the Comic-Con and he’s been busy (on Amulet 2), but is doing well. He’ll be heading over to Europe soon on business. (He’s got a lot of fans on the other side of the pond.) For you Flight fans, you can expect a Flight 6 sometime in the future. I asked him what else he was reading and he said that I should check out Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa. It’s got fantastic visual style as Pedrosa is a marvelous illustrator. I always enjoy good graphic novel recommendations and this one looks great! I think I need more bookshelves though.

Have any of you grabbed a copy of Flight, Daisy Kutter or another graphic novel you enjoyed and would like to recommend? (I know I’ll definitely be getting the Watchmen graphic novel shortly, as I do have a birthday coming up.)

Watchmen - A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, the film is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union, is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. Their mission is to watch over humanity, but who is watching the Watchmen?

I’ll be honest with you, before the talk of these trailers and movie came about, I only was barely aware of Watchmen as a comic and less aware of their story. But after looking into it a bit more, I really like Alan Moore’s story. Perhaps I should read the graphic novels (at least twice) before the movie comes out, so I can get up to speed. Do we have any Alan Moore or Watchmen fans in the audience?

I was lucky enough to watch this while at the Anime Expo last weekend. You may ask why did they show Batman at an anime convention. Well, it’s sort of like what Animatrix was to The Matrix; an anime rendition of Batman and it’s a nice treat. So if you love anime, appreciate change and are a Batman fan, you’ll really enjoy this DVD. The writers weave six interlocking stories together, each with their own artistic style. Even though I’m not a huge Batman fan, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Marvel Legends action figure line by Hasbro has a sweet 6-inch scale series coming in September. Included in this series are Adam Warlock, Silver Savage (Silver Surfer in “Planet Hulk” gladiator gear), Spider-Man (Symbiote costume), Spiral, Union Jack, and Wolverine (Adam Kubert designed costume and classic yellow and blue variant). Buy them all, exclusively at Target, and Build-A-Figure of Red Hulk! Very Cool!

In January 2009 two of the most famous battles in Marvel’s comic book history are finally being brought to life: Hulk vs Thor and Hulk vs Wolverine. (My personal classic Marvel fight would be Hulk vs Wolverine when it was 1st told in issue 181 of The Incredible Hulk.) You can check out the new Hulk vs. Wolverine trailer and be sure to see the whole thing at San Diego Comic-Con 2008! That’s right! The world premiere screening takes place on Thursday July 24th at 4:15PM in Hall H.

You can be sure I’ll be there!

Marvel’s mutants head into a bold new direction in the upcoming historic Uncanny X-Men #500. Not only is this the start to a super story, it also comes in 4 variant covers: a 50/50 wraparound by Alex Ross, a 50/50 wraparound by Greg Land, one by the late Michael Turner and one by Terry Dodson. Each artist is amazing in their own unique way and their artwork will stand out on the shelves when they go on sale July 23. Be sure to pick them up and enjoy. (The Sentinels are in it too!)

I don’t know if you’ve caught the new Hellboy II trailer/commercial on TV yet, but it looks sweet! The official production site for Hellboy II: The Golden Army has updated with a fourth TV spot for the July 11 movie release. The first movie was great and Ron Perlman does a super Hellboy! I can’t wait to see this one and I bet it’ll be better than the first. What do you think and will you be going to watch the movie?

What do you normally think of when you see lots of green and red? Xmas? Well this time is different. In the next comic book issue of Hulk (#4 on sale June 25) we’ll see lots of Red vs Green merriment. I can’t wait until they explain why there’s two Hulks. I thought the red one was just an angrier green one, like the calmer grey one a.k.a. Mr. Fixit. I’m really digging this new series of Hulk comics and can’t wait to see what happens next. On a similar note, the new Hulk movie opens this Friday, go see it!

In case you hadn’t heard starting next week with Wolverine #66, Mark Millar and Steve McNiven will join forces for Old Man Logan. The story is set 50 years in Wolverine’s future and it’s being called the The Dark Knight for Wolverine by many comic book fans. It might be a good read and the art looks fine, but I can’t stop thinking that they based the whole thing on me. I mean, just look at Wolverine’s rugged good looks, his short hair and of course his adamantium skeleton.

Cool! It seems that Universal Pictures and Marvel Studios just updated the official website for The Incredible Hulk movie. So now you can get pumped for the upcoming Hulk flick by watching the trailers and grabbing downloads such as wallpapers, icons, photos and such. I’ve been a Hulk fan for as long as I can remember and I’m really looking forward to it, so cruddy CGI be damned! It opens June 13 and stars Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth. (I’m glad they’ve made him into a hero this time.)

See Mike Draw - It’s a site for “Mike [Jacobsen] to share his cartoons with the world” and he’s got some funny and twisted ones. I’ve been keeping up with his comic for quite awhile and highly recommend them to our mature readers. So if you want a laugh be sure to keep up with Mike and be sure to peruse his archives.

Free Comic Book Day celebrates the stories, artwork and long history of the entertaining medium that are comic books. Every year, on the first Saturday of May, this amazing event takes place. Don’t forget to grab your free comics at your local participating comic book store today! All across North America and around the world they’ll be giving away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores. They are fun to read, so go enjoy yourself!

Iron Man Movie! I can’t believe I haven’t posted about this yet and it’s out this Friday! I imagine all of you will be going to this movie, right? You know that Iron Man is based on Marvel’s best-selling Iron Man comic book character. Even though I’m a big Marvel fan, I’ve only collected a few of his comic books. It’s probably because he wasn’t a mutant or the Hulk, but boy does this movie look better than the upcoming Hulk flick. (I’m also not a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr. and with my oldness and swiss cheese memory, I get him mixed up with Johnny Depp often. But from what I’ve seen in the previews, he’s got the character down pretty well.) Heroes aren’t born, they’re built.

Update: Great quote from io9:

Iron Man is the first comic-book movie that’s actually better than its source material. That’s partly because Iron Man is one of the most boring characters in the history of comics, but it’s also because the movie manages to transcend its source.

Now even more reason to go see the film!

Update 2: After watching the film I can say that it unequivocally rocked!

I hope you’re ready for the show next week and I hope you have fun. If you’re like me and can’t make it, you can check out their free audio and video podcast coming from the event (April 18-20, 2008). Remember that the show is more than just comic books. It’s the East Coast’s largest pop-culture event with comic and graphic novels, anime and manga, toys and games, movies and TV, video games and art. If you’re going, don’t forget to say hi to Stan Lee, Dan Goodsell and get your Official Iron Man Toon Tumbler!

It’s also only a few months before the San Diego Comic-Con. So you better get ready!