For last week’s edition of The Pull List, click here and here.

Pull of the Week:

Captain America #600 – Marvel – $4.99
Score: 9.0

Without a doubt, Captain America #600 is a work of love. 104 pages dedicated to the Sentinel of Liberty that has been around for nearly seventy years. The sheer volume of work in the book including new stories, classic reprinted work and a cover gallery let the reader know just how important this character is to the creators who were privileged to play a part in it.

The issue begins with “Origin”, a two page painted summary of Cap’s history done by Alex Ross and Paul Dini. The pages are beautifully painted in a style that only Ross can capture with Dini telling Captain America’s origin in his own words. This had been originally published in Captain America: Red, White and Blue back in September of 2002. Of anything written, this two page synopsis of Cap’s history may be the best explanation of the essence of the character and his motivations.

The next piece of the book entitled, “One Year After” continues the current Brubaker story arc of the Captain America series as it takes a look at how the world deals with the aftermath one year after of Steve Rogers’ assassination on the steps of the New York courthouse where he was going to be tried for treason. Ed Brubaker hits every foreseeable corner of Captain America’s world as he catches up with Sharon Carter, Steve’s ex-lover who had been brainwashed in to delivering the fatal shots on Steve, as she begins finding pieces of her shattered memory and searches for the “most notorious murder weapon in the world”. The shooter of the first bullet to hit Steve Rogers, Crossbones, is given a spotlight as his fellow inmates praise his actions from a year ago, ultimately resulting in a prison riot. 

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With July just around the corner, and half of the big summer blockbusters already out in theaters for the year, questions are coming up on what the “next big thing for 2009″ will be. According to a press release by Fandango, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen looks to be the one to put your money on.

The film is currently outpacing this summer’s Star Trek movie and the original Transformers in advance ticket sales on Fandango at the same point in those films’ sales cycles (one week before release date).

“For nearly two years – since the last Transformers opened – this new movie has been one of the most highly-anticipated films among fans on our site,” says Rick Butler, Chief Operating Officer of Fandango. “Tickets for the new Transformers are already selling fast, so moviegoers should plan on buying their tickets in advance, as many showtimes are certain to sell out next week.”

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Top Cow has provided us with a preview of their super-cool comic Fusion #2, their continuing mini-series crossover with Marvel. We’re big fans of this comic here at The Flickcast and can’t wait for the next issue to hit stands. The comic, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with art by Tyler Kirkham and covers by Stjepan Sejic is, according to the official press release from the company:

The mother of all Top Cow/Marvel crossovers thunders on in June! Battle lines are being drawn between Cyberforce, The Avengers, Hunter-Killer, and The Thunderbolts; but who is siding with who? Ripclaw has been detained but neither Cyberforce nor The Avengers are happy about The Thunderbolts being in control.

A crossover event too massive to be contained in a single issue and brought to you by the writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova) and Top Cow favorite artist Tyler Kirkham (Ultimate Fantastic Four, Broken Trinity: Aftermath).

Be sure to check out all the great preview pages after the jump.

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According to an article in Variety, all systems seem to be go for Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams to team up once again for another round of Mission Impossible. What was once seemingly never going to happen is, at least according to the article, being put together right now over at Paramount.

According to the article, Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams have agreed to co-produce the sequel and are aiming for a release sometime in 2011. This project should come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Cruise’s treatment by Paramount and the abrupt termination of his 14 year deal with the studio in August of 2006. The rift created by the summary nature of Cruise’s terminated deal led to the actor becoming the head of United Artists and basically thumbing his nose at Viacom’s CEO Sumner Redstone.

Now, it seems all is forgiven and Cruise is prepared, at least for this project, to return to the studio where he’s spent so much time and made so much money. There’s no word yet on if Cruise will star in the film, if Abrams will direct or the potential story. However, it would probably make sense that Cruise at least would take on the Ethan Hunt role one more time while he still can.

No matter what, production on Mission Impossible IV will have to take a back seat to Cruise and Abrams other commitments. Abrams is, of course, currently responsible for the Star Trek franchise and its next film and Cruise is busy working on a movie for director James Mangold. So, it seems we will get another Mission Impossible film but just not anytime soon.

And honestly, I would rather Abrams spend his time working on another Star Trek movie anyway. I loved it and can’t wait for another. As for Tom Cruise, he can do whatever he wants — as long as he doesn’t interfere with the next Star Trek movie. Other than that, its all good.

Remember shows like Wanted: Dead or Alive and Monster Squad? Of course you do, why else would you be here? Well, if you’re tired of living in nostalgia when it comes to your favorite shows, you can now rest easy. Meet TVShowsOnDVD.com, the first and most complete website dedicated to all of your favorite shows and when you can finally pick them up for your DVD collectio

Not only is the site the most complete guide to every show on DVD today and the near future, but it also gives you a chance to have your voice heard on your favorite show NOT yet on DVD. Now you can help move the process along to get 1989′s The Animated Adventures of the Karate Kid on DVD for you and future generations to enjoy.

You can find out the best deals on the site as well, with full updates on price drops from Amazon.com. Still not enough for you? Well there is plenty to keep even the biggest skeptic entertained such as the latest in DVD reviews and news of upcoming releases. Be sure to check out TVShowsOnDVD.com (also on Twitter @tvshowsondvd), and stop waiting around for your bootleg Canadian release of Salute Your Shorts to arrive in the mail.

I feel pretty strongly I’m not the only one who liked M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable. It had a good cast in Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis, an interesting premise, Willis’ character as “superhero” to Jackson’s “super villain” and was well made in most other respects. Since the film came out I’ve always thought it was a great origin story for Willis’ character and secretly, and not so secretly, hoped for a sequel.

Apparently, I’m not the only one interested in an Unbreakable 2 movie. According to our friends over at MTV Splashpage, the writer/director himself is also interested in a sequel to the film. During a recent press event, Shyamalan was asked if he was considering an Unbreakable sequel.

“I am,” revealed Shyamalan. “I don’t know where all the parties are in the world. Sam [Jackson] is like ‘Mr. Comic Book’ now. And Bruce, I don’t know what he’s up to. I don’t know where Disney’s at in their head and what kind of movies they’re up for making. But yeah, I love that movie.”

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There’s lots to see and do at the upcoming Anime Expo in Los Angeles. The expo, a production of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, showcases the best in anime and manga, serves to foster trade, commerce and the interests of the general public and animation and comics industry.

The event, which is the largest of its kind on North America, goes from July 2 through July 5, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Be sure to check out some video of the group after the break.

Here’s some info about the show, and its guests of honor, from the official press release:

Visual kei fans get ready for a musical explosion as Moi dix Mois rocks Anime Expo® 2009 as an official Guest of Honor for the nation¹s largest anime and manga convention. Moi dix Mois is a sound project headed by Mana, the consummate guitarist and leader of Malice Mizer which is on indeterminate hiatus.

In addition to writing music and lyrics, Mana does all of the computer programming and arrangements for his songs. Mana¹s strikingly electrifying and unprecedented musical creation is the result of his remarkable talent to combine the diametrical opposites, such as the classical and the avant-garde, the elegant and the delirious, or the creative and the destructive.

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There are few television shows that hold my interest past the pilot episode. When they do, they usually get cancelled because most networks can’t seem to identify quality programs without the help of their woefully misguided Neilsen system. In rare instances, such as the Family Guy and Futurama resurrections, a fantastic show gets canceled, then does so well on DVD, the network is forced to place it’s tail squarely between its legs and bring the show back to life. Sports Night was not one of these shows.

The year is 1998. ABC has Home Improvement, NYPD Blue, Ellen, Dharma and Drew. On Tuesday September 22, they premiere a little show-within-a-show called Sports Night.  The ensemble cast includes a few heavyweights, and several actors who earned their street cred long after Sports Night was running on Comedy Central at 3am.

The show centers around the cast and crew of a sports broadcasting program on a cable sports network. The anchors, Casey McCall (Peter Krause, Six Feet Under) and Dan Rydell (Josh Charles, S.W.A.T.) are lovable, damaged sports fans, who, with humility and humor, suffer the outrageous fortune of being immersed in all things sports on a daily basis.

Executive Producer Dana Whittaker (Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives) is the feisty, woman-in-a-man’s-world leader with a heart of gold that keeps the show on track, and with the help of Jeremy Goodwin (Joshua Malina, The West Wing) and Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd, Num3ers) keep the big boss Isaac Jaffe (Robert Guillaume, Benson) happy and the antagonistic network executives at bay.

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With all the trailers, pics, videos and whatnot floating around the Internets concerning Michael Bay’s sure to be a monster sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I’m starting to get a bit burned out. Sure, I like seeing footage of robots fighting, stuff blowing up, gun fights, car chases and Megan Fox running around all sweaty and glistening. Let’s face it, who doesn’t?

That said, I always start to get a bit concerned when studios trot out so much stuff before a movie’s release. Its as if they’re trying to beat us over the head and convince us the movie is “super cool” by the sheer amount of info we’re being subjected to. Its not like there isn’t precedent for this either. Look at the recent campaigns for both Terminator: Salvation or Land of the Lost.

You couldn’t turn on a tv, browse the internet or ride a bus without seeing either Christian Bale, a Terminator or Wil Farrell and a damn dinosaur. And sadly, even with all that marketing and the extreme “in your face” nature of it, both movies ended up being not so good — especially in the case of Land of the Lost which, you could make the case, basically bombed.

So what does this all mean for Transformers 2? Who knows. Just take a look at this new clip (after the break) and try not to get too jaded about it. Plus, it features Megan Fox quite a bit, so that couldn’t hurt, right?

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Today, Apple released the latest version of the operating system for its flagship iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Dubbed “OS 3.0″, this update brings a host of new features to the iPhone in particular. Many of these features are ones users had been clamoring for and, in some cases, thought should have been included in the device from day one.

Some other features, in spite of being announced today, won’t be available to iPhone users until later this Summer, in the case of MMS messaging. Or, in the case of Internet Tethering, perhaps not at all in the U.S.

Still, even with its perceived shortcomings (at least by some users), this update represents a significant step in the evolution of the iPhone and its OS. It’s combination of features, enhancements and improvements helps make the iPhone even more the dominant “Smart” phone not only the U.S, but the entire world.

Some of the many features provided in this update include the following:

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March 7th, 2007. A date that will live in comics infamy. The day that America lost its heart and soul. Captain America, after surrendering at the end of the superhero Civil War, walked up the steps of a New York Courthouse and was gunned down in a massive conspiracy orchestrated by his original nemesis, the Red Skull.

It made national mainstream news. The death of a comic book hero was covered by everyone from Yahoo’s front page to the Daily Show and from ABC News to CNN. For a moment in time, a nation mourned the death of a fictional character. Eventually, people got back to their everyday lives.

Many quickly forgot as they brushed off the death of a fictional character. Others took longer to recover because an ideal, the embodiment of their nation, a symbol they had looked up to for as long as they could remember, was gone. What might have made it easier for them was the cliche’ that characters don’t really stay dead in comics.

With a few exceptions (Most likely because the deaths have been so recent), this holds true. Two of the best examples of this are DC’s death of Superman and Marvel’s death of Jean Grey. The former made national news in the 1990′s and had everyone catching the collector’s bug and clamoring for the comic. Issues which priced at $1.25 were bought in by the caseload only to be resold for $50 to $100 an issue.

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Last week on The Flickcast, the team discussed and debated a slew of new topics including Apple announcements from the World Wide Developer Conference, the recent E3 gaming convention, The Hangover, Kirsten Dunst joining Spider-Man 4, movies in 3D and a whole lot more.

This week, Chris and Matt have to go on without Christina but are joined by special guest Rick Marshall of MTV’s Splashpage and Movie’s Blog to talk comics, movies and all things geek. Some of the topics discussed this time around include John Carter of Mars casting, the rebirth of Captain America, why Tim Burton should return to the Batman franchise.

They also talked about Rick’s favorite comic book-to-film adaptations (including Iron Man and Man-Thing), the disappointment of Spider-Man 3, the power of Twitter in movie marketing and upcoming comic-book-to-film adaptations including Whiteout, Scott Pilgrim and Iron Man 2.

Chris, Matt and Rick also made some picks this week including one of Rick’s favorite comics, Sleeper, Matt’s pick of one of his favorite movies called Fortress, featuring Christopher Lambert and Loryn Locklin, and Chris’ pick of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.