This is one of those wonderful times that I get to just let the post speak, or as the case may be sing for itself. If you haven’t heard nerdrock group Kirby Krackle’s Green Lantern themed song “Ring Capacity” yet, now it’s easier than ever to take in with their all-new animated video! Check out the video below, then hit the jump for information on the animator and links to more Krackle-y goodness!

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If you haven’t seen Thor yet, or don’t want to be spoiled about the post-credit scene, click away now.

In an interview with Empire Magazine, Thor actor Stellan Skarsgård revealed that Kenneth Branagh wasn’t the only director on set. Joss Whedon in fact, director of the upcoming Avengers film from Marvel, did a scene of his own for the film – the post-credits scene.

“That was just a couple of months ago. I was happy to meet Sam[uel L. Jackson] again,” Skarsgård said. “I flew over there and went down into a basement, talked to Sam a couple of minutes and then went back home.”

Nothing really of note there, right? Until the interviewer asked, “Was that with Ken Branagh?” And Skarsgård replied, ”No that was with a director Joss Whedon, who’s doing The Avengers.”

Very interesting. So it looks as if Whedon got his trial run with Marvel shooting part of Thor. It could also be proof that the cosmic cube we saw in the post-credit scene will be a plot device in Whedon’s film and not a sequel to Thor or any of the other Marvel films coming out before then.

Skarsgård also mentioned he’d start filming on The Avengers very soon. “I know what’s going to happen to my character in that film but I’m not allowed to say anything because then I’ll have to sell my house to pay the fines.”

Look for The Avengers in theaters May 4, 2012.

Neil Young’s Greendale
Based on the album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Written by Joshua Dysart
Illustrated by Cliff Chiang
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Todd Klein
Published by DC/Vertigo

I already reviewed this one a while back, but that was based on a black and white advance copy. I got a permanent edition, finally took time to read it during my 2011 dig-out, and wanted to give some props to Dave Stewart. Greendale‘s a beautifully colored book, soft (maybe a little too soft at times) and organic, warm and inviting. Lots of cool, natural tones.

DC did a very nice job assembling the book also, something I rarely feel they deserve credit for. It’s an attractive package. The script holds up well – Greendale‘s not exactly nuanced, but it’s engaging and fun to read, and my sympathies lie along its message. And Cliff Chiang, man, that dude makes it look fantastic.

There’s a new X-Men: First Class trailer out there — and it’s in Russian, which kind of adds to the overall gravity of it all. Though it’s structured similarly to the domestic trailer, there’s plenty of new glimpses at things, including Banshee, Hank McCoy turning into Beast, and Emma Frost shifting into her diamond form. Here it is!

The film is out — in English — on June 3.

In a film full of memorable performances, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World‘s Bollywood-tinged fight sequence with first evil ex Matthew Patel, played by newcomer Satya Bhabha, was still a scene-stealer. Bhabha showed off his musical skills in the movie based on the Bryan Lee O’Malley graphic novels, and in real life he’s the cellist for modern folk troupe He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister.

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Neil Young’s Greendale
Based on the album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Written by Joshua Dysart
Illustrated by Cliff Chiang
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Todd Klein
Published by DC/Vertigo

It doesn’t come up much in my writing here, but I’m something of a Neil Young fan.  One might even say a Neil Young obsessive, if you consider that I have nearly every officially available release (missing only the entirely redundant Greatest Hits and one import-only EP).

The announcement of Neil Young’s Greendale, the graphic novel, aroused some conflicting emotions.  Could the creators really get the point, yet still realize the full breadth of the album?  Maybe as importantly, could they add anything meaningful to the experience?  I’ve already spent time in Greendale via the concert show, the album and the feature film (directly by Young, with actors literally lip-syncing to the songs), so the book needed to bring something new to the table.

Greendale, the album, tells a winding narrative of the Green family, who live in the fictional southern California town of the title.  Each song spotlights a different aspect of the family and community, rounding out a complex, nuanced and involved portrait of small town America and family life circa 2003.  Major themes revolve around media saturation, energy consumption, anti-war sentiment during the building to the Iraq war, environmentalism and violence in American culture.  Actually, scratch “circa 2003”, because it’s all still pretty relevant today.

Neil Young’s Greendale, scripted by Joshua Dysart and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, tackles all the appropriate themes, but does so in a more focused and concise manner, befitting a book rather than a song cycle.  Dysart brings young Sun Green, eighteen and searching for her place in the world, to the fore.  Sun plays a considerable role on the album, carrying the final two songs, but steps off stage for nearly half the songs. Dysart wisely opts to put her front and center from page one, and he keeps her there until the finale.

For readers unfamiliar with the album, it’s a great move.  The narrative’s thrust is clear from the start, and seeing the world of Greendale through Sun’s eyes allows Dysart to dig deeply into the Green family history.  Characters who never appeared on the album, but were referred to on the expansive Greendale website, rise to prominence in Dysart’s script, each supporting the themes he’s exploring in Sun Green’s coming of age.

Suffused with magical realism, Dysart conjures forth imagery only suggested by Young’s grooving guitar solos.  Sun Green’s comforting connection to mother Earth plays nicely against the chaos erupting around her, in both her family and the outside world.  For Young fans, Dysart moves a few pieces around to make the story flow more elegantly – Sun’s war protest comes early, for example, leading to a touching scene of one young girl perhaps moved by Sun’s field art – but he also gives new insight into the Green family and effectively samples several of Young’s better lyrics throughout the dialogue.  Crossing paths with her grandparents, parents, cousin Jed, granduncle and officer Carmichael (oh, and the devil himself), Sun comes into contact with all the major characters from the album, as Dysart weaves their stories into Sun’s awakening social consciousness.

Hand-picked by Young for the job, Cliff Chiang handles the artwork, and to no surprise of anybody who’s read a book drawn by Chiang, Neil Young’s Greendale looks beautiful.  Crisp, strong lines carry the story forward inexorably.  Chiang’s character designs are very strong, instantly recognizable (they vary quite a bit from the James Mazzeo drawings in the album jacket, if you’re an album purist), and he shifts between the magical dream sequences and the mundane small town settings with aplomb.  Simple, clear visual storytelling keeps the entire story accessible to potential crossover readership.

So it’s a comic book, or graphic novel if you prefer, based on a rock and roll album.  Unusual origins, but the end result remains a terrific read.  Neil Young’s Greendale is a socially challenging, politically conscious coming of age riff, exquisitely illustrated, smartly scripted, offering something challenging and something engagingly fun for both Neil Young novices and the most hardcore of aficionados.  And it’s certainly a worthwhile addition to the library of any comic book lover.

Also, you can read my interview with Neil Young’s Greendale writer Joshua Dysart on the main page and my colleague Chris Arrant’s conversation with artist Cliff Chiang.

(P.S. If anybody knows where I can get an affordable copy of the El Dorado import EP, I’d be much appreciative.)

My lord, has it really been FIVE YEARS since the beyond senseless murder of metal guitar god Dimebag Darrell? The music community was rocked to its core this month in 2004 when a deranged “fan” shot and killed Pantera guitarist “Dimebag/Diamond” Darrell Abbott (along with 3 others) in a Columbus, Ohio, music club while performing with then-current band Damageplan.

In recognizing this tragic event’s 5-year anniversary, Revolver magazine is doing a cover feature in tribute to the accomplished and widely admired guitar legend (of which you can count your Reverend a fan). Of special note to comic book fans is the talent responsible for the original cover to this issue, graphic artist Tim Bradstreet. Along with work on the Punisher, readers are likely familiar with his lengthy run of covers of Vertigo’s Hellblazer series.

From Revolver’s press release:

REVOLVER Magazine has teamed with renowned and award-winning graphic illustrator Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher, Hellblazer, “Vampire: The Masquerade”) for a Pantera Vulgar Display Of Power commemorative issue, celebrating guitarist Dimebag Darrell on the fifth anniversary of his death. The issue–available only on newsstands from December 22 through February 22–captures the defining moment in Pantera’s career and features Bradstreet’s stark and powerful cover illustration of the classic 1992 album cover photo.

The REVOLVER Vulgar Display Of Power issue includes an additional Pantera illustration by Bradstreet, rare photos, as well as exclusive interviews with all surviving Pantera band members (Phil Anselmo, Vinnie Paul, Rex Brown); Dime’s longtime girlfriend Rita Haney; album producer Terry Date; musicians Rob Halford, Rob Zombie, Sean Yseult, Scott Ian, Zakk Wylde, Nick Bowcott; and other key friends and associates. In fact, this marks the first piece to include interviews with both Phil Anselmo and Vinnie Paul since the 2006 VH1 “Behind The Music” on Pantera.

In this issue, REVOLVER Magazine and writer Jon Wiederhorn debunk the myth behind the Vulgar Display Of Power album cover photo shoot and reveal the stories behind how “Diamond Darrell” became “Dimebag Darrell” and the origins of Dime’s signature “Black Tooth Grin” drink.

Each newsstand copy of REVOLVER’s Vulgar Display Of Power issue will include a special memorabilia pack with an authentic replica of a Vulgar Display Of Power tour backstage laminate and concert ticket, a Pantera show flyer, and sticker. In addition, REVOLVER will give away Tim Bradstreet’s original hand-drawn cover art for the issue, an Affliction Pantera Signature Series T-shirt, Dean Dimebag Dimebonics ML Electric Guitar with Case, Dunlop MXR DD11 Dime Distortion Pedal and DB01 Dimebag Signature Wah Pedal, Seymour Duncan Dimebucker Pickup, and ddrum Vinnie Paul Signature Snare. Look for contest details in this issue and enter online at www.REVOLVERmag.com.

Fans can also purchase a highly limited-edition (only 250 printed) Vulgar Display of Power Commemorative T-shirt featuring Bradstreet’s cover illustration at www.REVOLVERmag.com/store.

Marvel has a music video up, featuring the Spider-Woman motion comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. The song, called “Watch Your Step,” is by Dan Phillips with Anna Abbey and the Marvel Music Group.

I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard of the Marvel Music Group before, but this song does start to grow on you after awhile — and the amount of personalization for this song was really cool. What do you think?

If you ever have the pleasure of hanging out with me for more than about an hour at a time, chances are I’ll play you some of my favorite “nerdcore” rappers (though that may be a misnomer for some of them). I usually start off easy with MC Lars, a guy who skates between nerdcore, parody, and sometimes just plain old fun songs, whom I’m happy to call my friend. After that I might drop some of the original nerdcore rapper on you with some MC Frontalot, then try to branch you out a bit into other realms of underground hiphop (that sometimes happens to have nerdy lyrics) like Schaffer the Darklord, K. Flay, Optimus Rhyme, and many others.

The aforementioned MC Lars put up a blog post tonight saying nerdcore as it was originally conceived is dead or dying, and it’s up to new musicians (and those currently making songs out of life) to come up with the next big thing.

As with any genre, if you want to last, you have write songs that affect people in an emotional way and have an interesting live show and be very savvy with your business. What came up were hundreds of Myspace sites with kids rapping over Nintendo samples about Star Wars and how they couldn’t get laid. Nerdcore has been declining in popularity and notoriety because, to be quiet honest, its appeal as a genre outside of a select few people is ultimately finite. The Ramones and the Sex Pistols had an aesthetic that changed music forever, Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash perfected the art of the breakbeat and changed the party vibe by creating a context for funky beats to be played for hours with no gaps. It wasn’t until punk evolved into the post-punk of bands like Joy Division and Public Image Limited that it became interesting again and it wasn’t until the of the breakbeat and production were reinvented by guys like Dre that hip-hop began to evolve musically. Not to oversimplify things, but music evolves when people realize that it’s time for something new, and that time for nerdcore hip-hop is now.

It’s a really cool essay on music and musicians and a lot of what he says can be applied to the evolution of creative works in general. He also lets you know who else you should be listening to that’s pushing music forward right now, and who you should go to for a little hip-hop education.

Since initially being introduced to the genre and its close siblings wow, 5 or 6 years ago now, I’ve seen it change quite a bit. Lars isn’t wrong, there are a lot of pretenders and copiers, but there are also people taking the Do-It-Yourself ethics and nerdy storytelling that nerdcore was built on and doing it in fresh new ways; some are even taking it back outside the realm of hiphop, from Jonathan Coulton to Kirby Krackle, there are people out there putting out great, new music in great, new ways, that happens to appeal largely to us of the nerdy persuasion.

So go give MC Lars’ post a read, then give a listen to some of these guys, then if you’re so inclined, go out and make some tunes yourself (and feel free to post them here).

Need a little bit of music with your webcomic? Well, look no further!

Matthew Petz, creator of the supernatural western adventure The Corpse Carries A Gun, has written a nice little theme song for his Zuda comic.

You can rock out to the song here, and learn more about the series by clicking here!

This week kicked off with some interesting news, with Wizard CEO Gareb Shamus announcing that the ailing entertainment company would be assuming the reins of FunFare, a toy magazine aimed at younger children.

Yet at the same time, we’ve also heard reports of even more layoffs, in addition to general complaints about Wizard’s online store. With competition looming in the convention department, and Wizard’s staff and funds shrinking to the point of consolidating into one New York office, what’s the company’s next step?

You may be surprised, but apparently it’s taking over a new convention — in Toronto.

According to the Beat, Wizard has announced that it has purchased the Toronto Comicon. “We’ve always had a strong following in Canada, so buying the Toronto Comicon is something that allows me to give back to our fans. These attendees are known to be serious collectors and comic industry followers,” Shamus said in a press release.  “I am thrilled to offer the guests, celebrities, artists, dealers and exhibitors to our Canadian audience for the very first time.”

Peter Dixon, the former owner of the con, will be “intimately involved” with the new management, who are scheuled to debut the all-new, all-different con in 2010. But with Wizard’s shrinking fortunes, is this a sound reinvestment strategy, or a Hail Mary in the face of opposition from exhibitors like Reed and websites like, well, us? What say you, Rama readers?

Need something emblematic when you’re reading about Niko, Chase, and company? Look no further!

Marvel editor Nick Lowe has put together a theme song for the cult series, which is now on Marvel.com. MTV has a music video for the whole thing, which you can see above!

IDW has posted on their blog that Linkin Park has released a video for “New Divide,” the theme for the upcoming film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Linkin Park – “New Divide”

The soundtrack will be available in stores on June 23rd.

I, uh… well, there’s really no good way of introducing this, is there?

No lie, I can’t really put these two icons together without feeling a little bit uncomfortable. But Marvel has done the impossible, making a two-part comic mixing Eminem and the Punisher! The book is due out May 5.

To me, however, this cover of XXL Magazine is additionally interesting because of the weird history Eminem has had with comics: anyone who has read Wanted will know that J.G. Jones specifically modeled the character of Wesley Gibson off of the Great White Rapper.

Yet when rumors swirled around Eminem possibly taking the role in the comics’ film adaptation, he flatly refused, as he accused Mark Millar of exploiting his name to garner hype for the film: as Rap Basement explained, “since the creator of the comic not only lied about Eminem being attached but didn’t even run it by Eminem’s people, his camp didn’t consider the project anymore.” Also, the genre film Jumper apparently also was considering having Eminem star. I can’t even imagine what that would have looked like.

And yet, at the same time, Eminem also wrote NSFW songs called Superman, and regularly references the superhero in other songs like Rain Man (granted, this was probably more due to the Christopher Reeve jokes rather than any affection for Clark Kent). And of course, in his song Real Slim Shady, Eminem has his own Buttman-style character, which you can see here.

Now discuss.

Capcom’s Dark Void, a Sci-Fi “Vertical” 3rd Person shooter looks to bring some new mechanics (namely jetpacks and mostly vertical levels) and an engaging story to the 3rd person shooter field. Now, they’ve gotten some help from composer Ben McCreary. While the name may not be a household one, most Sci-Fi fans have heard his music. McCreary provided score for the recently completed Battlestar Galactica re-imagining, as well as Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. According to the press release, this is his first video game score:

“When I got the call from Capcom to work on the music for Dark Void, I jumped at the chance to do it, considering my love for Capcom games.” said McCreary. “I have been looking for the opportunity to compose a game score for a long time, but I’ve been waiting for the right one.  Dark Void’s epic story and unique gameplay drew me in immediately and I have had a lot of fun working on the project.”

So at least the music is sure to be awesome! Gamers can find out if the rest of the game is, too, on August 25, 2009, the currently scheduled release date.

Rock Band may not be “genre” in the sense we usually speak of here, but just about everybody has played it or its competitor, and they are games nearly universally liked, so I thought this bore a mention here. So often, in an economic downturn, charity is forgotten. As bad as things may be for some, it is always relative. That makes it especially nice to hear that MTV Games and Harmonix have made a donation of 650 Rock Band bundles to hospitals and Starlight Children’s Foundation Great Escape events. In addition, they’re providing funds for families with chronically or terminally ill children to attend Rock Band Tour concert events, and are sponsoring more Great Escape events for the kids and their families to get away for awhile and enjoy activities that take a back seat when medical bills are in the forefront, including behind-the-scenes looks at the already released and upcoming games. The “minimum $50,000″ donation may not sound like much, but that makes for quite a bit of fun, distracting gaming for hospitalized kids across the U.S. Bravo, MTV and Harmonix. Rock on.

It’s a small, small world when it comes to the comics industry.

MTV has reported that Gerard Way, the writer of the critically-acclaimed Dark Horse series The Umbrella Academy, will be leading his band My Chemical Romance for a track on the upcoming Watchmen movie soundtrack.

Way and Company will apparently be contributing a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row.” The song will be released January 27th.

I am an unabashed, hardcore fan of Nerdcore Hip-Hop. For the uninitiated, Nerdcore is a movement by underground do-it-yourselfers who happen to be nerds and geeks, seeking to bring storytelling and topical conversation back to hip-hop. You won’t hear raps about guns and hos in these rhymes. Instead you’re more likely to hear about Star Wars, video games, comic books, and the latest technology. Being a fan of such rappers as MC Lars, MC Frontalot, YTCracker, Optimus Rhyme, and many others, I was excited to hear that RAVAGE aka MeccaGodZilla sparked a new personality, Ryu Black, for a single about Chun Li that will be followed by an album in 2009. The entire album will be Street Fighter themed, in honor of the Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li movie coming next year, along with Street Fighter IV. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, besides having the awesomest title of any game in recent memory, just came out on PSN and Xbox LIVE, as well. Check out the killer love song to Chun Li at THIS LINK HERE and head HERE for more of RAVAGE’s beats.

The Dark Knight leads the nominations for the 35th annual People’s Choice Awards, with seven nods in such categories as Favorite Movie, Favorite Action Movie, Favorite Cast and Favorite Superhero.

Iron Man received five nominations, including Favorite Movie, Favorite Action Movie and Favorite Superhero.

Fans may vote for their favorites in each category beginning today at the People’s Choice Awards website. Voting ends on Dec. 7. The winners will be announced Jan. 7 during a ceremony broadcast on CBS.

Other noteworthy nominees are Angelina Jolie (Wanted) for Favorite Female Movie Star and Favorite Female Action Star, Will Smith (Hancock) for Favorite Male Action Star and Favorite Superhero, and Heroes for Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show.

The full list of nominees can follows after the break:

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Cliff Chiang may be more awesome than Prince Rogers Nelson.