Bill Hanstock

Francesco Francavilla is probably my favorite comic book artist working today. Whether it’s Batman, Black Beetle or zombified Archie, this guy knocks everything he does out of the park. Well, in honor of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Francesco is doing a series featuring Marvel characters competing in various winter Olympic sports. Sorry DC fans, looks like Batman and Superman have boycotted these games. Well, that or they’re still stuck in their hotel bathrooms.

Check out some images from Francesco’s Super Olympics below…

via Comics Alliance

Well, here’s one way to spice up the biathlon. 

The only thing that would make this better is if it were two-man luge with Falcon. 

Get your head down Reed! Surely a scientist like you should understand aerodynamics!

The plan is to continue posting a new Marvel Olympics image ever day for the remainder of the games — you can check them out as they’re posted at Francesco’s Tumblr.

Last weekend, The LEGO Movie scored one of the highest box-office debuts ever for an original animated movie. Many critics were surprised by how enjoyable it was. But I and a small group of others were not, as we had seen Clone High, the 2003 MTV animated series created by Lego ... More »

Yesterday, as Shia LaBeouf was wrapping his second day of sitting, staring, and crying at a Los Angeles art gallery, Marina Abramovic — who famously sat in situ with visitors for days on end, tears streaming down her face, for her 2010 MoMA performance The Artist Is Present — was ... More »

We’ll release Banner Pilot’s fourth full length, Souvenir, on April 15th! Back at the helm is producer Jacques Wait (Prince, Off With Their Heads, Soul Asylum) over at The Terrarium. Souvenir displays a touch of Banner Pilot’s musical influences like Jawbreaker, Superchunk and early Replacements, but showcases their evolution into a more complex band compositionally. True to their Midwestern pop sensibilities, Souvenir shines with hooks both instant and subtle, melded into sturdy song structures and braided together with Banner Pilot’s signature introspective lyrics. Containing twelve well-rounded tunes, Souvenir exhibits a perfect amalgamation of the band’s two previous albums, Heart Beats Pacific and Collapser. Bassist and songwriter Nate Ganglehoff details how Souvenir took its shape:

Looking back over the process of making this album, one thing that jumps out at me is how bad the first songs we wrote for it were. They sounded like us, I guess, but more like a half-hearted cover version of us. The same chords and melodies you’d expect, but missing…. something. I remember listening to them one evening in the dead of winter while I was outside shoveling snow, bitter winds whipping into my face, slick ice tripping up my feet, and thinking, “I hope every single thing I’m experiencing at this moment is better by the spring.”
We could have just shrugged and rolled with them, I guess, but I’m glad we were a little stubborn and kept plugging away, looking for something better. We scrapped what we had, hunkered down over the rest of the winter, spending many hours at our practice space, or in front of our respective computers, tinkering around with new ideas. We didn’t overthink anything; we just tried idea after idea after idea until something would stick. And the tunes did start to get better. Not only was it rewarding to start to develop songs that didn’t sound like complete horse crap, it was also fun. They started to feel like the songs you get excited to play live, and it reminded me of what’s so great about being in a band in the first place.
I’m really happy with how it turned out. I think that in the end we stuck to the things we do well, but varied them a little without messing them up. And I think the attitude of “Let’s keep trying to make this better” paid off.

“Usually, this is not the crowd you’d want to see your first live show as a test audience,” Robert Lopez told me last night, his eyes scanning the packed Vibrato Grill Jazz Club, where scads of high-powered executives, celebrities, and bloggers had all turned out for Frozen Live, a one-night-only ... More »

Channing Tatum's writing space apparently involves a fedora and a bust of Matthew McConaughey. (Just like ours.) According to a Facebook post, he's writing the Magic Mike sequel, "a road trip movie and essentially the movie that everyone thought the first one was going to be," he told The Hollywood Reporter ... More »

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As long as there’s been football, there have been football fans, and nothing brings out their devotion like the Super Bowl. While passions can run high, at the end of the day it is just a game—which has made the football fan perfect fodder for New Yorker cartoons over the years. In honor of the Seattle-Denver matchup on Sunday, here are some of our favorites.

Read more of our coverage of the Super Bowl.

...read more

Drawing of Miley Cyrus.

Miss Piggy is an expert on love.  It’s what drives her entire personality, along with her drive to become a star.  So it’s of little surprise that she was asked by The Wall Street Journal to become their latest celebrity columnist on the epic subject of Love.

Miss Piggy is joined by her fellow celebrities Baz Luhrmann, Elaine Stritch, Jacques Torres, RZA, and Ali McGraw. Only The Wall Street Journal could find an excuse to put all those names into one sentence.

Sadly, this seems to be just a one-off column, although Miss Piggy will probably tout it as if she’s been asked to write for them for the next 20 years.  Either way, it’s all worth it just to see that amazing dot-art portrait of her.

Click here to read the column!

Many thanks to Jason Zaroff for the info! Click here to get wooed by the ToughPigs forum!

by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com

Last night, Adult Swim aired the fourth and final installment in Adam Scott's Greatest Event in Television History series, in which he and some of his pals create frame-for-frame reenactments of the opening credits for eighties TV shows (after ten minutes of mockumentary footage about the making of the reenactment). ... More »

Linda Belcher's enthusiasm knows no bounds. The matriarch of Bob's Burgers has shown an almost superhuman ability to look on the bright side and celebrate life's little victories. And in her war against negativity, she has a battle cry: "All riiiiiiiight!" It's not exactly a catchphrase, but the exclamation — ... More »

So Oreos is introducing some new flavors beyond just the original cream and the crack-level-addictive mint: Cookie Dough and Marshmallow Crispy. If anyone can sell the idea, it’s Tegan And Sara in full-on synthpop overdrive. The Canadian duo haven’t just licensed a song for the new Oreo commercial, set to debut during this Sunday’s Grammy telecast, as Billboard reports. They’ve recorded a full-on old-school commercial jingle — one that, against odds, would probably fit just fine on their very good 2013 album Hearttrob. Watch the ad below.

Read More...

The former SNL cast member and indie-scene lifer Fred Armisen is teaming up with Drag City to release a couple of less-heralded songs from his tenure on the show. Next month, the label will release a split 7″, featuring two fake songs: the Blue Jean Committee’s “Massachusetts Afternoon” and the Fingerlings’ “Embrace Me.” The label is, of course, presenting these like they’re genuine obscurities from long-defunct real-life bands…

Read More...

Wait, the baby-talk version of Frozen's Oscar-nominated song "Let It Go" wasn't enough for you? Whatever. Disney has released a video in which Queen Elsa sings the title track in everything from French to Flemish. ... More »

For those of you still emotionally invested in the 2005 version of The Fantastic Four, now is the time to turn away: The new FF reboot script has been completed. As rumored, director Josh Trank will likely direct Simon Kinberg's screenplay, and actors are lined up to audition. Michael B. ... More »

vvhatserface:

vvhatserface:

KITTY. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!

I HAVE MADE A MISTAKE

By Woody Allen

After threatening to write the Absolutely Fabulous movie for some time now, co-star and creator Jennifer Saunders said during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show that she is actually going to start writing the screenplay. Saunders explained that she hasn't started yet because she’s the "worst procrastinator in the ... More »

everybodybutus:

The worst Christmas song of all-time gets broken down

From Harmontown 83 - DICKS AND BALLS AND BEER.

Yesterday we reported on the existence of something called “Muppisodes,” but we had no idea what that meant. Well, today we have some idea what that meant, because BuzzFeed has posted a brand-new one. It’s a three-minute video, in which the Swedish Chef takes on noted angry TV chef Gordon Ramsay at a food truck fair. Co-starring a plethora of other Muppets, including Beaker, Sweetums… and hey, is that Pops?!

Check it out right here:

So, any guesses as to who might show up in the next Muppisode?

UPDATE: It turns out that there’s an EXTENDED version of the video! Watch it here, along with a few wrestling cameos, Pops’ garbled Swedish, and most importantly, more Sweetums.

Click here to cook up some Méétéé Bøøls on the Tough Pigs forum!

by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com

thetalkingleadstotouching:

I’m walking everywhere like this from now on.

everyday

It was bound to happen sometime.  There’s only so much grumpiness in the world to go around, and so it was fated that the two grouchiest furballs would have to face off in a Highlander-esque staring contest.

Enjoy the epicness that is Oscar the Grouch and Grumpy Cat in a battle of scowls!  Or you can be a grump and refuse to watch.  We’d understand.

Click here to get all Scroogey on the ToughPigs forum!

by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com

"Your work looks as if it were done by four different people."



Artist, writer and editor Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Comics, is hands-down one of the most important figures in the comic book industry. He's had a hand in creating some of the medium's most iconic characters and stories, and his unique style and technique have influenced a generation of artists.

To this fanboy, he's a personal hero -- not only as a comic book professional, but also as one of the first Korean Americans I ever saw working in a nontraditional, creative career. He's the best.

But he wasn't always at the top of the game. Last month, while cleaning out some file cabinets, Jim came across a bunch of old rejection letters he received as a young hungry artist trying to break into the biz. Naturally, he snapped photos of the notes -- correspondence from both DC and Marvel Comics -- and posted them on Instagram. They're definitely humble evidence that even the greats must start at the bottom.

Take a look:

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