John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

The DC-Marvel hypothesis

Professor Flash, and other hybrids that never made it off the drawing board, can be seen here. 

 

Star Wars comics ... make that THE Star Wars comics

Star Wars fans know that what ended up in the 1977 movie wasn't quite where George Lucas started when he was banging out ideas. The Skywalker family was originally Starkiller, and the title itself had a "the" stuck at the beginning. Lucas fleshed out the ideas quite a bit before he had a shooting script and a budget from Fox, but decades later, his 1974 rough draft has inspired something interesting: a series of comic books that will start publishing next month. 

 

A Calvin and Hobbes documentary

The good news: a documentary about Calvin and Hobbes, and the strip's reclusive creator, is coming. 

The bad news: we have to wait until November to see Dear Mr. Watterson. 

Have a look at the trailer. From first appearances, it looks like the strip will be getting the attention it deserves. 

 

These two bros decide to split some atoms ..

A little physics humour, courtesy of Explosm. 

The Justice League ... of American currency

I guess it's technically defacing money, but this collection of superhero-enriched money is pretty amusing. 

 

The chemical Avengers

A little humour for the science folks and the comic book folks, and especially those who identify with both camps. (Remember: don't mess with thorium!) As seen here. 

If Spider-Man had a mustache

... or other super-heroes, for that matter. 

Have a look, and a chuckle, at this portfolio by Wes Montgomery, who is an illustrator and not (obviously) the late jazz guitarist. 

Here comes old Flattop

Here's the latest puzzle of a dream: last night, I dreamed that Flattop and 88 Keyes, two of the Dick Tracy villains, were in St. John's. Doing what, I'm not sure, but they were at a swanky party that I was attending. Some odd-looking faces, but they didn't seem to jibe with other characters I could recognize ... at least before I woke up! 

When superheroes were kids (including digital Jarvis)

 

Agent Coulson doesn't take a day off

A cartoony-take on The Avengers ... with a great little punchline, to boot. 

As seen here. 

Saving Captain America

What if popular movies were recast with, say, The Avengers? They may end up like this assortment. 

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | Century: 2009

This was a nice surprise: the latest instalment of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's Century series of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was released today, so I downloaded it straight away through the Comics app. It's just $4.99 digitally. 

I've haven't read it through yet, but I was schoolboy-giddy enough to flick rapidly through the pages quickly, looking at how this one is put together ... and to see what winks, nod, in-jokes, allusions and asides are packed inside. There are quite a few, right at the surface, from Bond girls to 30 Rock to Doctor Who to the Lion King, of all things. I imagine it would really help, again, to be English to spot some of the background characters who pop up in these books! 

I'm setting it aside for the weekend. It looks like a treat, with the same attention to detail and sidebar production values (the fake ads are as complicated as anything else) as the preceding ones. 

Darth Vader and Boba Fett chill to some classic Floyd

Saw this on Facebook today, and had to share. A great strip from Brevity. 

In like a lion, off like a rhino

[Surf’s Up, as published in The Telegram in St. John's on Thursday, March 1, 2012. Yes, that's a while ago. Better late than never!] 


The saying goes that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb – or should that be the other way around? (The proverb may have it as the former, but my perceptions, incorrect as they may be, are with the latter.)

I don’t know what weather we’ll have today, as I’m writing this in advance, but I have a suggestion or two on making sure you’re not caught off guard, whether you’re heading out for a walk or to the slopes. 

The Weather Network
iTunes, Android, BlackBerry, PC
A weather app came with my phone, and yet the Weather Network’s app is a must-download. Why? Because it’s frightfully easy to use, and it comes ready to roll for every platform. It’s my digital standard.

SkiMarble
Snow Report
iTunes
What are the conditions like at Marble Mountain? Or at other major ski resorts in Canada, for that matter? These two apps will be appreciated for ski enthusiasts, who (I know from experience) can get very fretful about tiny changes in the forecast and accumulations. Snow Report is sponsored by trendy retailer The North Face, so be prepared for a sales pitch, and bear in mind that what you read is based on latest filed reports, which means they may not be as up-to-the-instant as you’d like.
Unfortunately, Snow Report doesn’t list Marble Mountain, which makes SkiMarble the go-to app for skiers heading to OMJ and other runs. A webcam helps set the scene.

Weather office
Environment Canada’s consumer site is filled with far more than just temperature readings. I use it frequently for all kinds of things, particularly radar and satellite views of coming storms. (In the news business, storms on the march are taken seriously indeed.)

@ryansnoddon
I happen to sit about 30 seconds away from CBC’s meteorologist, and yes, I’ll cop to strolling over to ask him specific questions (such as, “My son’s Scout camp this weekend – yay or nay?”). Here’s the thing: Ryan tells his coworkers nothing more than what he tells everyone who subscribes to his Twitter feed, or says on the air.  He keeps up with each day’s details, and looks after the whole of the province to boot.

Elsewhere this week

Sporcle
www.sporcle.com/
What comes after “hey, where did we go?” in the Van Morrison song Brown-Eyed Girl? If you said, “days when the rains came,” you’d do well in one the “finish the lyrics” brain-teaser here on Sporcle, as you race against the clock to get all the right answers. Incidentally, I answered, “days when the rain came” … and got it wrong, until I realized the correct word was the plural, “rains.” Yes, it’s that precise, and that applies for punctuation, too! Check out similar quizzes while you’re here.

Comic Booked
www.comicbooked.com/
I was a pretty big comics fan in my day, and that would be the mid-Seventies. If I could rub a couple of dimes together (I remember with horror when comics went from 15 cents to 20, and then – gasp! – to 25), I was picking up the monthly instalment involving someone with a cape and/or mask. My son is submerging himself in comic book culture,  spending his allowance (oh, that seems familiar) at the comics shop. I found this for him: a roundup of news about the industry, adaptations for the movies and TV, and miscellaneous threads, many about characters and series he doesn’t yet know or hasn’t yet bought. Hmm… maybe I should set this aside for a while!

YouTubeTime
www.youtubetime.com/
Want to send your friends to a specific instant in a YouTube video? They won’t have to sit and wait for the first part to pass with this tool. Enter the desired time and the link of the original video, and voila, a new link that will take you right to the marker.

John Gushue is a digital editor with CBC News in St. John’s. Twitter: @johngushue. 

Rethinking what a guitar hero is

Clever idea, as seen on Herochan. 

Assembling the Avengers

Check out this gallery of an ad campaign for Target, tied into the Avengers movie launch. 

There are several ways to gain superpowers

Here's a list. As seen on the Midtown Comics Tumblr page.

About Spider-Man's nose

Someone connected a few dots to the Harry Potter side of things. From 9Gag.

Loki there! The Avengers bring the party to you

Just a couple of months before The Avengers is out. Today, the latest trailer went online ... and there was a smile on the kid when I showed this to him.

When Superman met Samantha from Sex and the City

As seen (quite of context, we assume) here.

Another look at another Spider-Man

This summer's reinvention of Spider-Man is coming pretty quickly on the heels of the Sam Raimi trilogy. Nonetheless, it looks like it'll be different, and a little darker, to judge from the new trailer out this week. (A key point: Peter Parker invents his webslinging apparatus, whereas the Tobey Maguire version woke up with the sticky powers like, um, some teenage hormonal thing.) 

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I know I'll be buying two or three (depends if Martha wants to tag along with the boy and me) tickets in July. 

Zombie dinosaurs

From Buni.

Winnie-the-superhero

I've never seen an episode of Young Justice, but the characters look familiar from the time when I inhaled DC comics in the Seventies. I still got a laugh out of this parody, which successfully matches images with audio straight from Winnie-the-Pooh.

The Justice League of the internet

Yahoo as Bizarro Superman? Gotta laugh. See this and much more on a post via the Tumblr feed of Midtown Comics. 

Two interpretations of the upcoming Avengers movie

The official one. 

The totally unofficial one.