Forget about it being AMC’s top rated series. Forget about Volume 1 being the number one selling graphic novel of April 2012 despite it being published more than eight years ago and seven other volumes filling up the top 10. And even forget about it being the title that made Robert Kirkman a superstar comic writer.

The Walking Dead is now a video game too. And yes, we were just as hesitant when we heard about it as anyone else. As much as we appreciate a studio like Telltale with a pedigree of former Lucasarts employees and titles like Monkey Island franchise and Sam & Max, we know the dangers of a licensed franchise being brought to the gaming world. Luckily, Telltale showed us once again that the right team working with the right property can bring magic on screen.

Gameplay:

The Walking Dead comes to players as a newer style of point and click adventure game. Traditionally, the genre revolved around players sorting through an environment with trial and error until they found the proper combination of items and persons needed to solve a puzzle. Now, The Walking Dead steps up the ante with a faster paced and more natural feeling action oriented adventure.

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As we have seen, The Walking Dead franchise has already been able to support a monthly comic, AMC’s most popular show and two toy lines. Now, a third toy line will be added to the list as favorites Rick, Dale and a horde of zombies make their way to the Minimates line. This will be the first line of toys associated with Robert Kirkman’s hit series not from Todd McFarlane’s company.

After hitting 9 million viewers in the season 2 finale, it’s safe to say that the series is now more in demand than ever before. This first wave of The Walking Dead Minimates will follow the standard Minimate format of three different two packs and a fourth variant two pack featuring a chase version of one of the regular figures.

The Walking Dead Minimates will feature accessories, in addition to the 14 points of articulation, including weapons for the human characters and additional limbs for the zombies.

The first wave will feature:

• Rick with Roamer Zombie
• Herd Zombie Two-Pack
• Dale with Roamer Zombie
• Winter Coat Dale with Roamer Zombie (Rare variant)

Art Asylum has also hinted at an alternate Toys R Us exclusive line as well. Keep your eyes peeled at your local comic shops for the latest in both the Minimates and The Walking Dead when these hit shelves soon.

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With comic properties being snatched up by movie studios like lucrative hotcakes, a Luna Brothers film project is clearly inevitable. With their cinematic style, self-contained stories, and strong emotional centers, Joshua and Jonathan Luna’s titles are a perfect fit for the silver screen.

Probably the best thus far, a very original and dark superhero tale called simply The Sword could make an amazing, violent, and beautiful modern fantasy film. Of course, the cast would have to be as moving as the source material. Here are my humble suggestions for a movie adaptation of The Luna Brothers’ The Sword.

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It has never been a hotter time to be a fan of Sherlock Holmes. The old chap now has two blockbuster Hollywood movies. Plus, Sherlock has a highly rated and successful BBC television series. The only thing he is missing is a comic book.

His mortal enemy Professor James Moriarty is brilliantly featured in his own series published by Image comics called, what else, Moriarty. It is the beginning of the 20th century, the dawn of World War 1, Sherlock Holmes has been dead for twenty years, and Moriarty has been drafted into service by MI5.

This issue is part four of the storyline called The Lazarus Tree.  A full-scale riot breaks out in the streets of Kyauktada, and the British authorities sweep in to take control. The mystery begins to unravel, and Moriarty becomes aware of the lurking threat of Moran’s sniper rifle hunting him in the shadows.

The characterization of Moriarty is brilliant. He is essentially an evil Sherlock Holmes. He sees common details that people miss, he is a brilliant doctor, and he is even a brilliant professor, dealing with concepts and theories that are way beyond his time. The major problem with the character is that even though he interesting; the writing never truly gives us a reason to like him.

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Robert Kirkman is perhaps best known for his hugely popular Walking Dead series, a long-running comic franchise that last year won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series and just last fall landed its own TV-series on AMC. And yet, Kirkman’s SKYBOUND imprint over at Image Comics has been churning out one huge comic hit after another that have absolutely nothing to do with zombies.

I hit the SKYBOUND panel on Friday in sunny Downtown San Diego to find out just what the small company has been up to lately. With Kirkman heading up the panel, also on tap were ”The Infinite” artist Rob Liefeld, “Thief of Thieves” co-writer Nick Spencer, as well as Brandon Seifert and artist Lukas Ketner of Skybound’s recently launched “Witch Doctor” series.

The panel started with an overview of how the imprint is doing, with clear winners Walking Dead and Invincible hitting the biggest numbers in terms of sales. Kirkman’s own all-ages series “Super Dinosaur” has been rapidly gaining popularity, especially among the younger readers out there.

I may not necessarily be the comic’s core demographic, but an armor-clad, missile-equipped tyrannosaurus rex named Super Dinosaur sounds pretty damn cool in my book. I made a note to pick up an issue or two next time I hit my local comics store.

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Going back to the early days of comics, heroes have been created to stand for something. Peace, justice and the American way has been a strong theme since this trend began and never seemed to falter.

As time as passed, the simple blind patriotism has faded and led to more complex characters that have evolved with the times. Today, on the anniversary of America’s independence, we take a look back at some heroes and even some villains who have proudly worn the red, white and blue.

While there are many we don’t have the chance to look at below such as the Flag, Liberty Bell, the Shield or even the Spirit of 76, we look at all those heroes and what they stood for, the men and women who helped give us the freedom to be able to live in a land where these characters actually exist.

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With E3 over, the next big summer event in the geek world is Comic-Con in San Diego. Every year, more than a hundred thousand people descend upon San Diego, taking over the city and enveloping it in geekdom.

There isn’t a corner you can turn without seeing a Green Lantern T-shirt or a bar you can walk into that doesn’t have a revised comic book inspired martini list. It is nerd paradise.

But, Comic-Con isn’t all Batmobiles and conversations with Jim Lee. There is a darker side to the Con that becomes increasingly apparent (and annoying) once you get there.

As much as we love the Con, there are a few things we wouldn’t mind living without for our week in San Diego.

Twilight

The past few years, Comic-Con has been invaded by screaming teenage girls and even louder overeager cougars in search of their first glimpse of the latest trailers of the Twilight saga. Twilight is not comics. It’s not even geek.

Ask any person on the street to tell you what they imagine a vampire looks like before Twilight came out and not a single one would mention “sparkles.” The vampires that most people love revolve around sex and violence, not good Christian values and celibacy. Real vampires don’t shimmer, they kill people.

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Ever since The Walking Dead went off famously on AMC, it seems like other networks are ready to jump on the “indie comic” bandwagon. Showtime has recently picked up a script based on the comic book series Chew about a detective who gets a psychic impression of things he eats. From Deadline.

Showtime has bought a script for Chew, a quirky half-hour cop show based on John Layman and Rob Guillory’s bestselling comic book of the same name. Stephen Hopkins is attached to direct and executive produce the project, which hails from Circle of Confusion, the company behind AMC’s hit series adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead.

Chew tells the darkly comic story of federal agent Tony Chu, a “cibopath” able to get psychic impression from the things he eats who is assigned to the most usual and bizarre crimes.

Not only is Circle of Confusion the studio behind the brilliance of bringing The Walking Dead to screen, but they’re also the company that is working on bringing Brian Michal Bendis’ Powers to FX. Expect the next few years to be quite huge for the lesser-known comic book world. Which is not a bad thing at all.

With news of Chew hitting, who would you like to see as the titular character Tony Chu? John Cho? Stephen Chow? Are these all too easy?

You tell us.

Shhhhhhh! You hear that?

“Braiinnnnsssssssssssssssssssssssss!”

It’s AMC’s The Walking Dead arriving on your Apple iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad courtesy of the comiXology app. While the world anxiously awaits AMC’s Halloween premiere of the brand new zombie-destroying series, comiXology has launched a dedicated digital comic app in collaboration with Image Comics and the comic’s creator Robert Kirkman.

“Robert Kirkman and Image Comics have been great partners of ours and we love to see them continually pushing the envelope with The Walking Dead series,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “Through this new app, zombie lovers everywhere will be getting a full dose of their favorite comic on their mobile devices all in one location. We’ve even added all the collected editions.”

In case you’re not familiar with the franchise, The Walking Dead is a mostly black-and-white comic first published by Image Comics in 2003, and created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. The story arc focuses on Rick Grimes, a small-town police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky, his family, and a number of other survivors who have banded together in order to survive a world stricken by a zombie apocalypse. The series won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series at the San Diego Comic Convention.

“Today’s app release will provide fans of The Walking Dead, new and old alike, another way to enjoy this series,” said Robert Kirkman. “The Walking Dead app will make the series that much more accessible to the new generation that, more often than not, experiences their entertainment completely digitally. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with comiXology, on the eve of the debut of the AMC television series, to bring this series in front of a whole new generation of readers.”

Interested in grabbing the dedicated app? Head over to iTunes and download it now. And don’t forget about the new series on AMC, premiering on October 31, 2010.

In place of my usual witty wordage, I’ve done an interview on Marvel, DC, Image, and Boom! (among others) comic book artist Dan Panosian in beautiful, living color. His artwork encompasses Captain America, The Flash, Spider-Man, X-Men, Prophet, Wolverine, Green Lantern, Irredeemable, and a couple issues of the fondly remembered Marvel Swimsuit Special, so you can be sure there was a lot to talk about.

His current book, X-Factor Forever is on shelves now. If the interview just wasn’t enough for you, check out his website at DanPanosian.com and his bountiful blog, the Urban Barbarian. If you’re in the LA area, you can see him and a smattering of other artists boozin’ and sketchin’ during a clandestine meeting of the infamous Drink N’ Draw Social Club held every Thursday night at Casey’s in Downtown LA.

But for now, press play on the video after the jump and be profoundly amused by his words of wisdom.

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When we first told you about AMC’s commitment to an adaptation of Robert kirkman’s The Walking Dead, the network had only ordered a pilot. Now, word comes via Variety that AMC has now greenlit the entire six episode series, which will be adapted and directed by Frank Darabont.

In case you’re not familiar with the comic or the series, it revolves around a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse and their struggles with said zombies and within their group as well. In addition to adapting and directing the pilot, Darabont will exec produce with Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert. Charles Eglee, an experienced TV drama showrunner, has also boarded the project as an exec producer.

Jon Bernthal, currently seen in HBO’s The Pacific, has been cast in a lead role and speculation is Jonny Lee Miller (recently seen in ABC’s Eli Stone and previously opposite Angelina Jolie in Hackers) will have a role in the series as well. The Walking Dead is targeted to debut in October to coincide with Halloween and AMC’s annual “Fearfest” two-week marathon of horror and thriller pics.

This week On the Radar George Lucas seeks to capture the minds of even younger viewers, Image Comics takes a shot at Marvel, and one of the most famous music videos of all time may go 3D.  All that and whole bunch of other fun stuff!

Crispin Glover talks Back to the Future controversy

Personally, I didn’t realize Back to the Future was mired in any kind of controversy, but it is.  Speaking at a promotion for Hot Tub Time Machine, Crispin Glover, who played Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) Dad spoke about the raw deal he was dealt after the first film came out:

“On the DVD to the Back to the Future trilogy, Bob Gale has said something that’s totally fabricated,” Glover told a group of reporters at this weekend’s press junket forHot Tub Time Machine. “He said I asked for twice the amount of money that Michael J. Fox asked for in the first film. In the negotiation for the second film, they offered me less than half of what any of the actors that were being asked to come back in the film—Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson. They had all done studio films, and they’d made a lot more money. I was being penalized.”

Interesting stuff.  Mind you, considering the somewhat lackluster opinions of the second and third film maybe Glover got off easy by not being in them.

Jamie Foxx to star in Kane & Lynch video game adaption?

There hasn’t been a lot of talk about the film adaption of video game Kane & Lynch other than it could star Bruce Willis as Kane.  Now, another big name is being tossed around to play opposite Willis, Jamie Foxx.  Developed by IO Interactive Nu Image/Millennium is set to finance with Lionsgate distributing.  While I’m confident in the actors involved, video games are not well known for the best of translations to the big screen.

George Lucas bringing Galactic Heroes to TV

Ask any “real” Star Wars fan and they will probably tell you that The Clone Wars cartoon is pretty childish.  Well, prepared to consider that more mature entertainment.  Looking to draw in even younger viewers to the Star Wars universe, George Lucas is working on a cartoon adaption of the Star Wars: Galactic Heroes toy line.  You know, those chunky figures with a whopping two points of articulation (usually the arms).  Worse yet, this problem means more screen time with the one Star Wars character that can relate best to 3 year olds-Jar Jar Binks.

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