X-Ray Vision

As the Green Lantern movie comes closer to fruition, we have learned some new things. The biggest piece of recent news is the fact that Ryan Reynolds will have a mostly CG costume when he dons the mantle of Green Lantern. As fans get more and more excited about the Green Lantern movie, one fan has gone above and beyond.

Gary Mitchell has composed an entire song for the Green Lantern movie, in the hopes that it gets used. He has been working to bring this song to the attention of the filmmakers and fans alike. Mitchell himself describes the song like this: “With hard hitting guitar riffs, rock solid groove and exhilarating energy, “In Brightest Day” is the perfect GL anthem, exalting themes of courage, perseverance and will power in the midst of impossible challenges, perfect to appeal to fans and non comic fans alike.” That is a pretty good description, and the song itself is pretty darn good. Check it out for yourself:

So if you enjoyed the song and happen to have any inside connections, go ahead and forward it along. It would be pretty amazing to hear this song during the movie. You can also check out MySpace and Facebook for more information.

If you are anything like me, you spend a good amount of your time online finding ways to procrastinate. Since you are at this site, that probably means one of your procrastination methods is reading about comic book news, reviews, rumors, opinions, and anything else somebody decides to write about. The only problem here is that it can be difficult finding a blog that is actually well written, updated on a semi-regular basis, and interesting. Luckily I have a solution for you.

After much time scouring the interweb, I have come to the conclusion that the Comic Blog Elite is the premier website to visit if you are looking for some good comic book related reading material along with some actual comics. There are many blogs to choose from, and they are all interesting. One site I would like to pimp is The Adventures of Captain Otter . Captain Otter is actually a friend of mine, and I can let you know right now that he takes his comics seriously. That is only one of the many great blogs you can find at the Comic Blog Elite, so hurry up and go visit it. Do it for Superman. Do it for your country.

I recently receive a comment from Cy Tymony, which is pretty cool considering he has published a couple of books including the best seller Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things. He has also created a website on building Superhero costumes . Yes, Cy Tymony is officially awesome.

He has links to YouTube videos where he walks you through the process of creating various superhero costumes, and he even has links to tutorials from other creators. Some of the designs included are Iron Man repulsor beams and a Green Lantern ring. It is a great site whether you are looking to make a costume of your own, or check out some stuff other people have made. I am particularly impressed by the Batman Tumbler Go-Kart and the full suit of Iron Man armor.

Go visit Superhero Gadgets and send me pictures of your creations and I will feature them in a later post. Also check out Tymony’s books on the site, I’m hoping to score a free copy if you guys buy enough because I’m devious.

Percy Carey might or might not be a familiar name to you, but he has made some great contributions to comics. Back in 2008 he created an autobiographical graphic novel entitled “Sentences: The Life Of MF GRIMM” which was nominated for 2 Eisner awards. He has also written for MTV’s Splashpage, which we all know has become one of the top sources for information in the comic world.

That adds up to a fairly impressive comic resume for Carey, and he is back at it with his latest project “You Only Live Twice: The Audio Graphic Novel”. Carey is getting back to his roots in music and has combined hip-hop with comics. This album comes with a 13 page graphic novel, one page for each of the tracks on the album. This is an intriguing idea mixing the two mediums as Carey moves from comics back into the music world. We can only hope that he gives us a comic project every now and then as he gets back on the mic. “You Only Live Twice: The Audio Graphic Novel” drops May 18th.

Before you start panicking, let me tell you that this is about the best crisis I have ever seen. It is definitely better than the Infinite Earths Crisis. I am here today to tell you about another comic book blog you should check out (while of course remaining a loyal reader of X-Ray Vision). My Comic Book Crisis  is truly unique and well written blog about a new fan’s journey into the world of comics.

You might be wondering what part of that is unique. Well first off it is a well written and grammatically correct blog, which already seperates it from about 99% of blogs. Second, it is run by a 47 year old woman. Now I don’t mean to sound sexist, it is just that it is not often you hear about a 47 year old woman who suddenly decides to jump into collecting comics. I am not complaining about this at all, as she provides some great insight into comics and hasn’t been jaded by the Spider-Man clone saga. She has gotten into the comic book hobby with as much dedication as any fanboy, and the way she details how she discovered her love for comics makes one begin to reminisce on their own comic journey. Plus you have to respect the woman, she collected all 8 lantern rings from the Blackest Night storyline.

Do yourself a favor and visit My Comic Book Crisis , you just might learn something.

I was contacted by Jason Brubaker recently, and I have to admit I was surprised. First off I was surprised because he said he read and enjoyed X-Ray Vision, which allowed me to pat myself on the back, and then he asked me to check out his website and comic. As you may have heard me say before, I consider the vast majority of webcomics to be junk, and honestly I wasn’t expecting much. Boy was I in for a surprise when I visited the reMIND blog.

Brubaker has been working on reMIND for around 3 years now, and uses the blog as a way to share his journey with others. It is amazing to see how the comic has evolved over the years, starting as a short animation and working it’s way towards a 2 part graphic novel series. It is one of the most interesting blogs I have ever read, this one included. One of my favorite features is the Making Graphic Novels section where Brubaker has chronicled what he has learned over this 3 year project. The best part is that the comic itself is actually good, and the artwork is great. Do yourself a favor and check out reMIND today.

By now we have all heard of the cancellation of the Spider-Man 4 movie. This is disappointing mainly because we most likely won’t see Bruce Campbell now. On the other hand I was completely over Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man so I am looking forward to seeing some fresh faces. I am also looking forward to what new director Marc Webb will do with the movie.

There have been rumors circulating that Marc Webb is looking to the Ultimate Spider-Man comics for inspiration. I sincerely hope that he actually reads Ultimate Spider-Man and remembers some of the storylines. That would alleviate all of my fears about this so called “gritty” reboot. The Ultimate Spider-Man comics did a good job of tackling serious issues without getting all dark and moody. Marc Webb, if you’re listening, please base your movie off of Ultimate Spider-Man. I predict good things if that happens. And just for the record I like your plan to cast relative unknowns, just make sure your Mary Jane is hotter than Kirsten Dunst.

The Jonah Hex news has died off somewhat, and even I found myself letting Jonah Hex slip from my thoughts. That is incredibly surprising considering Megan Fox will be in it. Luckily for Hex, there are now more scenes being added to the movie and thus this movie has been thrust into the spotlight once again.

An additional 12 pages of script will be filmed to help flesh out the movie. By that I mean 10 of those pages involve a scantily clad Megan Fox. It is said that these extra pages are being used to help move the story along and also to help Jonah Hex compete with other high budget films that will be coming out. I am still nervous. The concept of Jonah Hex is a difficult one to capture. Josh Brolin, who will be playing Jonah Hex, said that the script was awful but he decided that it would be fun to do. To me, that translates to “This movie will not be any good so I can just have fun.” I love the character but this is not easing my fears of some ridiculously cheesy Jonah Hex movie. I will cross my fingers and hope that this extra material really does make the movie that much more enjoyable, but I assume Green Lantern will be better. Oh well, at least I will get to see a scantily clad Megan Fox.

As you might have been able to tell from my earlier post, I am very excited to see Kick-Ass grace the big screen. My only disappointment is having to wait until April 16th to see the actual movie. The powers that be in the comic world are keeping me satisfied by presenting yet another kick-ass Kick-Ass trailer. There is absolutely no way I won’t see this movie.

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The only thing I can ask for now is some more Red Mist footage. McLovin as a superhero is priceless. Especially since Red Mist is also a bit of a pothead. I still think Hit-Girl will be the best character, but I guess we will have to wait and see.