Geek of Oz

With Red Skull playing what seems to be a big part in Fear Itself, its only natural that Marvel would release a mini-series to give the fans what they want. Enter upcoming artist Mirko Colak and the ever present Greg Pak deliver the story of the Red Skull's transformation from disfigured street rat to the hateful super villain that he became. This 5 issue mini has cover art by David Aja and has managed to blow my mind! All of the covers flow from one to the next and are nothing short of stunning. Click to read on and indulge in the Skully goodness!

In Thor: God of Thunder, Thor battles through the numerous worlds of Norse mythology to save Asgard, the capital city of the Norse Gods. Thor must overcome monstrous foes lifted from the pages of the comics including Ulik, Ymir, and Surtur, as well as other monstrous denizens. Players will wield the iconic Mjölnir, Thor's legendary hammer, to fight enemies on an immense scale while controlling the elemental storm powers of lightning, thunder, and wind to vanquish enemies. As Thor earns Valor points through his exploits, players can acquire new abilities, powers, and weapon upgrades.

Everyone's favourite blue speedster is back... is back... That's right! Sonic is getting the old Kirk/Picard treatment in Sonic Generations, a new game from Sega. Modern Sonic meets up with his 1991 side-scrolling self in a full HD adventure to save his/their friends from a diabolical and insidious plot from a mysterious new power!

"Shinjuku Skyline" by Ryan I am absolutely infatuated with Japan. I have been for an incredibly long time and I'm not the only one. But why? What is it about this tiny country of extremes that draws the admiration of foodies, geeks, nerds and (supposed) normal people alike? How can one country make me feel the love that I do, especially considering how much I struggle with the language?

Marvel's latest step on the journey to The Avengers comes in the guise of Kenneth Branagh's action adventure epic, Thor. Potentially the most anticipated of Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures collaborations manages to bring a lesser known superhero to the fore to create a film with much more soul than your usual cape caper. It's almost impossible to keep track of how this character came to the screen. Thor is the age old Norse god who was first characterised in comic book form in the pages of Marvel Comics' Journey into Mystery #83 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966. He was "modernized" in the pages of a 2007 relaunch by artist Olivier Coipel and writer J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame. Also, it has a real-life knight playing a god! In the film, masterfully directed by Branagh, Thor the Norse god of thunder is a vain, arrogant and headstrong warrior being groomed for the throne by his father, the all-father Odin, before being cast out to Earth i...

April the 20th sees the release of Robert Kirkman's latest creation, Devil Dinosaur, published by Image Comics. Inspired by his 5 year old son who asked Papa Kirkman to draw a Super Dinosaur he held onto the idea for almost two and a half years before creating SD, Derek Dynamo and his genius father, Doctor Dynamo. If you don't know who Robert Kirkman is, you've been under that rock for way too long. He is one of the five head honchos at Image Comics and the creator of such powerhouse titles as Invincible, The Astounding Wolfman and the Eisner award winning The Walking Dead. A creator owned dynamo who has changed the face of modern comics.

Based upon the smash hit manga series by Toboso Yana, Black Butler ( 黒執事) tells the story of young Master Ciel Phantomhive. After watching his parents brutal murder he made a deal with demonic forces to ensure vengeance on those responsible. Vengeance comes in the form of his trusty butler, Sebastian, on hell of a butler. After Ciel has achieved the vengeance he so desires Sebastian is free to consume the soul of his dear, beloved master. Set against a pseudo-Victorian era backdrop with steampunk elements it mixes fantasy, horror, comedy and a touch of yaoi to achieve a very engaging and bloody addictive series. 

Victor Gischler is the current X-Men writer for Marvel comics and author of between one and eight novels... the answer is seven. Local to Baton Rouge, Louisiana he earned a Ph.D in English at the University of Southern Mississippi and worked as a Professor of something before becoming an Edgar and Anthony Award nominated author. No less than three of his works are currently destined for the silver screen, Gun Monkeys, Pulp Boy and the incredibly dark, witty and debaucherous Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse. His stories are filled with unassuming protagonists who are thrust into ridiculous situations full of sex, ultra-violence  and mayhem all the while driven by an undercurrent of dark humour.

Click for a Big Squizz Welcome true believers! 2011 truly is a great year for geeks everywhere. I remember being a young pup, dreaming of the day that Spiderman, Wolverine and Captain America would grace the silverscreen. Sure, it meant that I had to sit through Ghost Rider, Elektra and both FF films to get there but AMERICA'S FINEST HERO IS HERE... soon... For those of you that haven't been unlucky enough to meet me, I have a Cap tattoo, yeah, I'm that much of a geek. So I have a vested interest in this film. I don't want people to be asking "hey, isn't that the shield from that awful movie?". That being said, I'm feeling very confident. Judging by the trailer, it's going to be a belter! Plus, it has Hugo Weaving playing a bad guy.

FLCL, or Furi Kuri to the cool kids, is a beautifully, nonsensical, mind trip of a series from the masters of madness, Gainax (Neon Genesis Evangelion). Also involved in its production was Production IG (Ghost in the Shell), some pedigree huh?!? Naota is a sensitive and generally responsible kid who lives an extremely boring life, that is, until he is mowed down by a bass guitar wielding, Vespa riding alien. Things get even strangers when robots start sprouting from Naota's head.... There is no other way to describe this series than to say that it is all kinds of crazy. Thankfully it's also crazy fun.

Some great news for all of my fellow Aussies out there! The good people at Magna Home Entertainment will be releasing Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers on Blu Ray and DVD on the 29th of June 2011. The series is being released on XBox Live, The Playstation Network and iTunes but us poor convicts are getting a raw deal and can't download any of them! So much thanks to Magna for rectifying this problem! Check out a couple of clips after the jump!

Summer Wars is the multiple award winning 2009 film from writer Sato Okudera and director Mamoru Hosoda, the incredible team behind The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. This film tells the story of Kenji, your stereotypical anime nerd. He's great with computers, a genius at school but a complete dullard when it comes to girls. Kenji works part time as a low level administrator in Oz, a world-wide social media phenomenon that has connections to everything from mums and pops to the military. At the start of summer he is approached by Natsuki, an outspoken and beautiful schoolmate who proposes something utterly incredible and terrifying. She wants him spend the summer with for family from Ueda all the while pretending to be her fiancee!