Geek of Oz

Freshly released by our pals at Madman is Strike Witches Season 1, the story of a rag tag group of magic wielding young ladies with fighter planes for legs and an apparent dislike of pants. These super moe girls fly around and shoot up alien bad guys with big guns… and no pants… In all honesty, that is the most basic explanation for the series. Based purely upon that outline it would be very simple to skip Strike Witches and pick up just about any other series, thankfully however, there is a lot more to this story than meets the eye. This anime series is based on a strong foundation that was laid by its light novel and manga predecessors to deliver a fan service filled action/adventure series with a nice, and unexpected, dose of heart.

The good folks at Paramount Australia have provided us with a couple of new clips from the upcoming Transformers 3 - Dark of the Moon.This time we get to see a glimpse of our new love interest who gets a surprising nickname from Doctor McDreamy. Do you think "The Duchess" is a reference to co-star Josh Duhamel's beau, Stacy "the Duchess" Ferguson? The second clip is a short snippet from director Michael Bay and James Cameron on the creation and use of visual effects. Enjoy! Read on for more...

The Tin Tin comics were among the first comics that I could get my hands on. Along with Asterix, they were always plentiful in my school library. This is probably because of the wholesome stories that take place in fantastic yet real locales. It was the perfect "get out of gaol free card" for lazy geography and history teachers. Excitingly, Paramount Australia is bringing Tin Tin to the silver screen. The screenplay has been written by Joe Cornish (The Adam and Joe Show), Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Steven Moffat (Doctor Who) and directed by Steven Spielberg. The Adventures of Tin Tin - The Secret of the Unicorn is destined to be a box office smash. Read more for a brand new trailer...

In further Transformers 3 news, Megan Fox's replacement has won the crown of Maxim's Hottest woman of 2011. This is quite a surprise since nobody really knows who the hell she is! This news comes to me second hand as I didn't get an invite to the party. It may have something to do with my hideous... HIDEOUS face. Continue on for some official behind to scenes footage of Maxim's Hottest 100 party.

Not a great deal happens in the thirteen hours that is allotted to the entire Honey and Clover series. There are no gigantic robots or crazy ninja antics. You won't find demon possessions and barely any moments of fan service. So how is it that this anime series bucks so many deeply ingrained anime conventions only to steal the hearts of countless numbers of aficionados? Madman's release of Honey and Clover Collection 2 encompasses the second 13 episodes of a 26 episode series and as such it is incredibly difficult to review this second half without at least acknowledging the first. You can find my earlier review here . In the first 13 episodes we saw a cast of characters slowly develop from newly enrolled collegiate individuals into an empathetic tight knit unit who seemingly became deeply entrenched in the day to day lives of one-another. This second half of the series further builds upon this by beginning to deconstruct these relationships as the characters further develop

Everyones pals Viz Media are all growed up! They dominate the market and there's a good chance that the first english language manga you ever read was a Viz release. Inspired by the wonderful mangacurmudgeon.com I've decided to put together a list of my 25 favourite Viz releases. But before I do, I want to congratulate everybody at Viz on a very successful 25 years and thank every single one of you for doing what you do and doing it well.

Honey and Clover is a slice of life series based upon the josei (womens) manga series by Chica Umino and published in English by Viz. This review is solely for the first collection of Honey and Clover which is released locally by Madman. The impact of the series is just as impressive as the series itself. It showed that a story about a handful of adult university students could be engaging and successful without even a mention of monsters, ninja or nude girls. It played around in the best seller lists alongside Bleach and Naruto, the usual stalwarts, and it is easy to see why.

As one would expect, the market is going to be flooded by Captain America related books in the lead up to the Marvel Studios film later this year. One such book is Captain America #1 from artist Steve McNiven and consumate Captain America scribe, Ed Brubaker. It comes with a handful of variant covers which are all stellar, especially the Coipel one. Read on for your first look at Captain America #1. Will I buy this book? Yes. Am I excited over this? Hell Yes. Is my wife going to kill me for adding ANOTHER title? .... more than likely. Read on for your first look at Captain America #1.

If you've read a few of my previous posts, you'll know that Transformers (the original animated) hold a special place in my geeky little heart. So when I see ANOTHER film hitting cinemas I get a little concerned. Following the train wreck that was 'Revenge of the Fallen' we have 'Dark of the Moon'. Here's hoping that Admiral Explosion has learned a lesson and omitted THE TWINS from this latest incarnation. Read more for an all new trailer!