This past weekend at Big Apple Comic Con, we had the opportunity to get some exclusive hands on time with the upcoming THQ release Darksiders. Our very own Matt Raub also got the chance to sit down and talk with its creative director Joe Madureira of Battle Chasers fame to talk about the game. That interview will be up soon.

Darksiders tells the story of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Like his other three cohorts, Death, Strife and Fury, he’d help bring upon the End of Days when the time was right. But something went wrong and someone set events in to motion for the end of the world too soon and War was blamed for it. Now, a hundred years later, War comes back to earth to try and set things right in a literal post-Apocalyptic world where he hacks his way through both angels and demons to try and find out what went wrong.

Starting off with just his sword in hand, War cuts his way through demons very much in style similar to God of War. War, being the master of weaponry, is also able to pick up non-traditional weapons to the original Apocalyptic mythos when he is able to wield an assortment of guns as well. As his attacks pile up, War also gains access to the power of his Wrath meter which allows him to unleash stronger attacks and various powers that he regains through the progress of the game.

The game’s action takes place in underground areas filled with puzzles as well as topside of a free roam world. Joe Mad has compared the style of gameplay to that of the Legend of Zelda series. When wandering through the demo levels, the game was easy to pick up and play with intuitive controls and easy to navigate areas.

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In what could very well be the next step in comic book storytelling, Marvel entered the motion comics arena with Spider-Woman, based off of the recently launched series written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Alex Maleev. Available on iTunes, each episode is $1.99 US each or $8.99 US for the entire series with a total runtime of 53:46. Are we witnessing evolution, or merely a fad? And how is the story itself? Pouring through all five episodes, the answers may surprise you.

Starting with the story, Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman, finds herself lost in a world she doesn’t recognize. No, she’s still on Earth, but she was replaced by Veranke the Skrull Queen during the Secret Invasion storyline and has only recently returned to the playing field. Making matters worse, at one point Jessica was an agent of practically anything you can be an agent of in the Marvel Universe – all simultaneously – so it’s no wonder she’s a little out of sorts these days.

When SWORD Agent Abigail Brand tracks her down and offers an outlet for that pent up frustration, Jessica feels that she may find herself and knock a few heads in the process, so she sets off to the island of Madripoor. As the story unfolds, Jessica winds up in a whirlwind of activity as local authorities, Skrulls, the Thunderbolts and the New Avengers try to insert themselves into her booked-solid dance card. Once the dust settles, it’s the decisions going forth that has Jessica’s full attention as she continues to find her rightful place in the world.

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As we do each week (unless something goes horribly wrong) following is a list of all the great Marvel comics hitting store shelves this week. In case you don’t know how this works, new comics come out on Wednesday of each week unless Monday is a holiday or something. Then, they come out on Thursday.

Fortunately, today isn’t a holiday so Wednesday it is. So, be sure to head out to your local comic book store two days from now and pick up some cool new comics. Some of the Marvel titles we’re interested in this week include the latest issue of Punisher Noir, a new Dark Avengers, the second issue of Spider-Woman and the latest Invincible Iron Man.

Be sure to check out the entire list, and some great art from some of these upcoming titles, after the jump.

Comics On-Sale:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #609

DARK AVENGERS #10

DARK REIGN: THE LIST – AVENGERS 2ND PRINTING VARIANT

DARK REIGN: THE LIST – HULK

DARK WOLVERINE #79

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This past weekend marked the very first year for Wizard World’s Big Apple Comic Con. Though some may be confused, this show has nothing to do with New York Comic Con, nor the legendary San Diego Comic-Con. This is a new brand established by Wizard, which has been making waves across the country in places like Boston, Anaheim, and Chicago.

This past weekend was quite interesting in terms of turn-out for a first year show. Friday was OK, but Saturday and Sunday had a fair share of fanboys and fangirls roaming the con floor. You can always tell how good a con is by the amount of costumed heroes and heroines, and you can see for yourself after the jump, that they all came out of the woodwork for the show.

There wasn’t much to be said about programming. There were maybe a dozen panels over the three day period, most of which were just Q&A’s with names like Jim Lee, Joe Quesada, or William Shatner. There was also a fair amount of celebrity presence at the show, at least more than other NYC shows. Many names like Michael Hogan of Battlestar Galactica, Miracle Laurie of Dollhouse and even Billy Dee Williams were in attendance, and we even got a few one-on-one interviews with them to bring you later on.

For now, check out a photo recap of this weekend after the jump.

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Though we’ll have to wait until November 8th for the next new episode of Family Guy, we here at The Flickcast have got a special sneak peek at the episode, entitled “Brian’s Got a Brand New Bag”.

In the episode, Brian gets into a fender bender with an attractive young woman, falls for her, and goes to her house to retrieve her information. When he gets there, he gets shot down but immediately finds the girl’s mother as interesting. Things pick up from there.

There will be no episode this Sunday or next Sunday due to something called “sports,” but the show will be back with a full season after that, including the second part to the Family Guy Star Wars spoof entitled “Something Something Something Dark Side.”

Check out four new clips of the next episode after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for more on the show!

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The Stepfather is a remake of a 1987 movie that starred Terry O’Quinn (Lost) as a deranged man looking for the perfect family. Of course, no such thing exists, and when a family doesn’t live up to his impossibly high standards, they meet a most unfortunate demise. He then disguises himself, moves to a new city, and sets up the cycle once again.

In this updated version, director Nelson McCormick (Prom Night 2008) tries to coax scares from the premise once again, but the movie too often wanders into camp (unintentionally, I’m sure).

Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck) steps into the stepfather shoes as David, and unfortunately, he is about as menacing as a teddy bear. I like Walsh, but I have the same problem when they try to make him do something deviant on Nip/Tuck, I just don’t buy it. That is not to say he is a bad actor, I just think they should have cast someone a little creepier. When Walsh tries to flick back and forth between normal and psycho during the movie,  it elicited more giggles than scares.

Sela Ward (stunning at 53, we should all be so lucky) plays Susan, the most clueless, desperate woman in recent memory. Freshly divorced, she meets David in a grocery store and promptly asks him out. They have a whirl-wind romance, and within six months are engaged, much to displeasure of Susan’s teen-aged son Michael (Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgely) who is home from military school.

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As predicted, Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are seemingly dominated the Box Office with $32.4M.  It played on a whopping 3,700+ screens, including IMAX screens, for a per-screen average of $8,693.  Sounds decent, but figure in the reported budget of $100M, and it looks like it may be a bit of a climb for the movie to be profitable, at least while in theaters.

The ultra-violent thriller Law Abiding Citizen boasted a very respectable $21.25M, and a $7,353 per screen average, which actually shows it performing very close to WTWTA.  It played in substantially fewer screens (2,890), and if  WTWTA had not had the benefit of IMAX prices, this would have been a much closer race.

The unstoppable juggernaut that is Paranormal Activity continued its trajectory scooping up another $20.1M on only 760 screens!  That puts its per screen average at more than $26,000, nearly three times what WTWTA averaged.  Pretty impressive.  It will expand further next weekend.

Couples Retreat dropped off 47.7%, but still made $17.9M, bringing its total to $63.3M over two weeks.

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While news about the upcoming Green Lantern movie is still pretty sketchy, details are starting to trickle in. The latest is pretty exciting. Ain’t It Cool News is reporting that Jackie Earle Haley may be playing villain Sinestro.

Haley is probably best known at this point for playing Rorschach in Watchmen which came out last April.  However, as notorious as Rorschach seemed he’ll be getting upstaged soon enough.  When next we see Haley he’ll be wearing the hat, sweater and razor glove made infamous by Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot.   Unfortunately, as deadly as Krueger was as a nightmare serial killer can he really compare to a villain feared throughout the galaxy?  Hopefully we’ll get to find out.

In conjunction with this comes a hint that Superman may also appear in the Green Lantern film. While no details have emerged regarding this, it makes sense that DC would emulate Marvel‘s efforts to integrate their various comic book films.  Further, given the legalities DC has been facing regarding the Superman property this may help prove they are making efforts to reinvigorated the character after lackluster reviews of Superman Returns.

In other Green Lantern news, Warner Bros. has been forced to pull production from Australia:

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As you might have noticed, we are huge fans of Battlestar Galactica around here. From the original mini-series through the series itself and the Razor movie, we’ve followed the saga of the humans, the cylons and the last Battlestar: Galactica.

And now, the latest movie to feature the Battlestar story, The Plan, is going to be coming to a Blu-ray or DVD player near you at the end of the month. This story, in case you’re not familiar, unfolds through the eyes of humanity’s deadly adversaries, the Cylons. This never-before-seen perspective of the Cylon plan reunites the series’ original television cast including Edward James Olmos (who also directed), Dean Stockwell, Callum Keith Rennie, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park.

Oh, speaking of Tricia Helfer and Grace Park, they were recently selected to grace the cover of Maxim magazine, in part to commemorate the launch of this new DVD and in part because they are just really hot. Works for me.

As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve got video from the cover shoot to share with you today. Yes, I said video. . . of Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. . . in very small outfits. Interested? Of course you are. Click through to check it out, along with a gallery of stills from the shoot as well.

Don’t say we never did anything for you.

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If you happen to live in New York, or are planning on being in the city on October 28th and you love all things Marvel, this post is for you. Why? Well, glad you asked.

Marvel is having a big party and you’re invited. Check out all the details about Marvel’s upcoming event “MarvelFest” from this very official press release:

Marvel is proud to announce MarvelFest NYC 2009 (www.marvel.com/fest), an all-new interactive outdoor experience in New York City to celebrate the iTunes release of the groundbreaking Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic on October 28th. In celebration of the release of the AXM Motion Comic, based on the award winning story by superstars Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and John Cassaday (Captain America), this landmark first episode will be projected three stories high so that fans can experience the adventure like never before! Join celebrities and the biggest names in Marvel history to commemorate the Astonishing X-Men premiere!

The festivities begin at 4pm at Forbidden Planet (www.fpnyc.com), when some of Marvel’s most legendary creators, including Neal Adams (Uncanny X-Men), Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Forever), and Dan Slott (Amazing Spider-Man) sit down to meet fans and sign autographs. This is your chance to meet some of the most influential writers and artists in Marvel history!

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Fans of the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance will remember the addition of a Heroes Pack and Villains Pack of downloadable content that added eight new characters to the game’s already extensive list of playable Marvel icons. This year’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 looks like it won’t be a slouch either with the announcement of two downloadable characters that will be coming to a DLC pack for the game before year’s end.

The X-Men boost their ranks during the Civil War storyline with the addition of Psylocke. Though like some of the X-Men characters like Jean Grey and Gambit featured in the game as she wasn’t around during the actual Civil War story, this psychic ninja comes ready with her acrobatics and psi-blades ready to fight.

Spider-Man fans will be thrilled to see that the Mac Gargan version (or Ultimate version if you check the alternate costume) of Venom won’t be the only symbiotic presence in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 as lunatic serial killer Cletus Cassidy joins the roster as Carnage.

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This weekend marks the beginning of Wizard’s very first Big Apple Comic Convention happening in Midtown Manhattan, and though the weather may not be as nice, that hasn’t stopped fanboys and fangirls from donning their tights and making their way through the harsh city cold.

The Flickcast will be covering the show all weekend long, with interviews and breaking news as it comes to us, but we thought we’d start it off with a few simple preview pics of the show itself.

Tickets are still available, so if you’re in the New York area, be sure to stop by Pier 94 (55th and 12th) all weekend long to get a peek at what could be NYC’s next big comic convention! Check out our first bunch of pics from today’s show after the jump!

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