MONDAY LINKS TEAM-UP

- A couple weeks ago Hasbro released their 2010 toy line. We were all wowed by Tony Starch, but one toy slipped through the cracks. The toy was a new take on an old favorite: Check out Biggus Helmetus Galactus.-j

-So, last week on the Howard Stern show, the story about the Action Comics selling for a whole lot of money segued into a classic, bad Stern childhood reminisce in which he told a story about how one day he got home from school and his parents had given all his comics to some other kid down the street. What was interesting is how Stern mentioned his cousin Jack Adler, a DC Comics cover artist and colorist, as the source of many of his comics. Adler was one of the many worker-bee, artistan-like comics artists who understood that balance of efficiency and clarity and the perfect amount of stylization. Check out this cover; it both looks like plenty of pulp you've seen before and has some perfect design/illustration in it too.-b

-Mouse Guard: Fall is going into it's third printing and author David Petersen talks about it in a couple of interviews with Flames Rising and Crave Online. In an interesting section on the Flames Rising interview, Petersen talks about what goes into making his Mouse Guard RPG. Everything from how much a mouse can carry to what it takes to becomes a Guard. In the Crave Online interview, he talks about 11 pages of new Mouse Guard he's putting out for free comic book day on May 1st. Definitely getting me excited for his upcoming Legends of the Guard and Black Axe due out later this year. -j

-Fantagraphics put up this really sparse, really simple teaser for the upcoming Jacques Tardi trade It Was the War of the Trenches but no one's watching it! 35 views?! In a way this is better than some "preview" scans, you just kinda grab these glimpses of the art and story. Can't wait until April.-b

-The biggest shlockmeister in the world Gene Simmons' son Nick has a comic that no one really reads, that is, except for fans of Bleach. Tracing pictures and stealing direct dialogue and plot points goes beyond inspiration and into, you know, plagiarism. The internets has the whole story. Can you imagine his father, the most full of himself man on Earth, having to deal with this? At least it'll make Family Jewels actually interesting. -s

-With all the talk of dream super hero movies this week, let's talk about a real one. Woody Harrelson plays Defendor, a man down on his luck but making an attempt to change the world. Sorta like Batman, sorta like the Maxx, I can't believe I didn't write about Harrelson as Batman.-s

-So, Jim from The Office might be Captain America. All I have to say is..."if you thought out dream comic book movies were ridiculous...". No really, this is good in theory but bad in execution because John whateverhisnameiz is one of those 2000s actor who is always in-quotes and smug and like, uneasy in his roles, so he won't sell anything. We'll get this like frumpy dumpy embarrassed Captain America and man...FUNK DAT!-b

-We are all familiar with Wookiepedia, the best source of Star Wars information on the net, but what about Banthapedia, the Non-Canon Star Wars Wiki? Ever wanted to know Luke Skywalker's death toll? The names of the Jawa Football League teams? It's got it all. -s