kate

Lego came to SDCC with some news for Minecraft fans like myself: more micro sets are here. Announced at the show are the Nether and Village sets, each with its own unique pieces. The Village set comes with a pig and zombie, while the Nether set comes with two terrifying Ghasts, a Zombie Pigman and a Nether Portal that has translucent purple blocks. 

Additionally, they announced a new Batman set called Riddler Chase, coming in January. Yep, that's Riddler in a top fuel drag racer and Batman pursuing him in the Batmobile. Some of the upcoming Lego Star Wars sets like Jabba's Sail Barge in its new form were also at the Lego booth this year.

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Speaking of cartoon mascots, this head-scratching take on Mr. Clean was concocted by Leo Burnett’s Toronto office and directed by Pete Riski at Sons and Daughters. While the ad isn’t noteworthy from either an animation or technical perspective, I’m oddly fascinated by how thoroughly creepy, stiff and unappealing they’ve managed to make this character. Perhaps that was the point.

Idol - Sailor Moon by *Courtoon

Hear me out.

Tomoko, the main character of No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! (aka Watamote) is a sad sack whose life gradually rolls downhill as her own delusions of greatness collide with the reality of her crippling social awkwardness. You can even see this in the fact that, contrary to original translations of the manga, the title emphasizes that she blames other people for her problems. Some of those problems are real, some imagined, but what’s generally true is that she makes things worse for herself.

A lot of characters are likened to Tomoko as a kind of shorthand to understand the humor, horror, and appeal of her character. I’ve seen Shinji from Evangelion, Wile E. Coyote (because of how everything she does backfires), and I was originally even fond of comparing Tomoko to Charlie Brown, but the more I think about it, the more that I realize that ol’ blockhead for all of his misfortune doesn’t quite cut it, and that there is only one true answer.

• Obsessed with media and entertainment, but also thinks a lot of it is crap
• Not entirely incompetent, but definitely overestimates his own intelligence
• Awkward, stuttering laugh
• Hears dirty words where there are none
• Misguidedly misanthropic
• Plans to make his life better backfire constantly
• Sometimes believes he got “laid” just by being near a girl

Think about it. I guess the only thing is that Butt-head “wins” more often because he enrages his principal.

2013 marks the 25th anniversary of the first publication of Neil Gaiman’s seminal Sandman comic series and to commemorate it, Vertigo held a panel overlooking the classic series and previewing the forthcoming mini-series Sandman: Overture.

[More about Sandman: Overture from the SDCC panel]

Although originally slated for Sandman’s 20th anniversary, Gaiman didn’t have space in his schedule to write the series. As the author was writing the series initially, every so often there would be space for a Morpheus story that Gaiman didn’t quite have time or room in the existing story to tell. Overture is one of the larger of those notions, explaining where Morpheus was before the events at the beginning of Sandman and just what happened to make him so exhausted that a human magician could successfully capture one of the Endless.

At first Gaimain wasn’t certain he could write the characters again. “There was definitely a worry with the characters that they would’ve gone away. The first five pages I wasn’t sure if they were right, and then I got page six. There was Death and there was Destiny, and they sounded like themselves. It was wonderful.”

The Morpheus we see in Overture is not the Morpheus to which readers are accustomed (he’s hidden in a flower on the first page, as can be seen throughout the post), but Gaiman says that this is essentially the point. “There’s the [Morpheus] who escapes in Sandman #1, and then there was the one before Sandman #1. He’s much prissier, much more hidebound. In many ways, the entirety of Sandman is a meditation on how his years of imprisonment actually changed him.”

Overture is, of course, named thusly because it comes before Preludes & Nocturnes chronologically.

According to Gaiman, J.H. Williams III approached the author to let him know that he’d love to work on a project with him. Gaiman had loved his work on Alan Moore’s Promethea and kept him in mind for Overture. “It was a short list. A short, short list. J.H. was the only one on it.”

Sandman: Overture begins release in October 2013. Check out the below video from SDCC of Gaiman discussing the series.

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Chris Lough is the production manager of Tor.com and once asked Jack to draw him like one of his French girls.

The heat wave that blanketed parts of the East Coast in close to 100-degree temperatures and high humidity broke the daily temperature record at JFK International Airport. It was the longest heat wave in New York City in more than a decade. But it made history in another way too: New York City broke its record for energy use on Friday, as residents cranked up air conditioning in an effort to stay cool.

Friday marked the sixth of the seven-day heat wave that brought heat indexes as high as 107 degrees to parts of New York. The city wasn’t alone in its need for air conditioning: the heat wave caused New York State, too, to break its previous power record, which was set in 2006.

New York City’s last energy use record was set in July 2011, amidst another bout of extreme temperatures — a cycle of high rates of energy usage in response to high temperatures that will become more common as climate predictions continue to play out. Heat waves are already becoming more frequent and intense as temperatures rise, and duration of heat waves has increased worldwide since the 1950s. In order to find relief from the high temperatures, residents retreat to air conditioned homes and buildings, driving up the emissions that contribute to climate change. The U.S., which has long been a leader in air conditioning usage, has seen a surge in its energy useage from A.C. over the past few decades — between 1993 and 2005, the energy it took to cool U.S. homes doubled, and by 2010 it increased by another 20 percent.

But as temperatures and income levels rise, A.C. is quickly becoming a fixture in the rest of the world as well: China is on track to pass the U.S. as the biggest consumer of electricity for A.C. by 2020, and India, which is experiencing some of the fastest growth in A.C. demand, is expected to take over growth in the industry post-2020.

These widespread increases in A.C. demand are bad news for the climate, as Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, told Environmental Health Perspectives. “You’re putting out more climate pollutants as you’re burning more coal or gas to run the air conditioners, and you’re also putting out the greenhouse gases that serve as the refrigerants in the equipment,” he said.

Though A.C. usage goes up as a whole during heat waves, there are still many people that don’t have access to it, which makes them vulnerable to the deadly effects of heat. A study released this May found that heat-related deaths in Manhattan could increase by 20 percent over the next decade, and will affect poor communities that lack access to A.C. most of all. Air conditioning, despite its contribution to climate change, can be a lifesaver during a heat wave — which is why New York started a program to provide free units to the state’s most vulnerable.

I couldn’t even walk in these Swarovski- and glitter-encrusted shoes by Etsy seller WickedAddiction, never mind fight supervillains. And now I’m imagining Batman, wearing these, yelling to Alfred to to bring him his dinner because he can’t walk to the kitchen without falling down a flight of stairs and breaking his back. Again.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

Devin T. Quin, writing for Bleeding Cool:

For you, the sad Venture Brother’s true fan who didn’t make the pilgrimage out to the San Diego Comic Con 2013, TAKE HEART! Just follow these easy steps, and YOU TOO can simulate the panel in your very own living room. Here goes!

First, stand outside in the sun for about two hours. Continuously worry that you won’t get back in your home. It will help if you dress your house pets or children up in Adventure Time costumes and have them occasionally slink by dejectedly, as Adv. Time was the panel before Ventures which many fans were shut out of.

Wait an additional 15 minutes, then come on back in and have a chair. Cut several pictures out of your High School Yearbook and tape them to a wall. The Indigo Ballroom at the Convention Center Hotel is so huge, these photos will be indistinguishable from the REAL Doc Hammer, Jackson Publick and Patric Warburton sitting a football field away from you.

Read the following statements, in order, and digest them.

• Doc Hammer and Jackson Public are writing season 6 now.

• Obviously Doc Venture is not dead, as was pictured at the end of the last episode, as he’s the main character.

• There will be an Art of the Venture Brothers book from Dark Horse, but no release date is available.

• The Season 6 opening episode is the REAL season 5 finale, and this last, upcoming episode of season 5 meerly sets it up.

• The only thing stopping them from making a Venture Bothers video game is that nobody has ever asked them.

Now that you have learned everything of substance there was to learn, inhale deeply from your canister of Nitrous Oxide, call up your crazy, drunk Aunt and have her babble at you for about 20 minutes about whatever comes to her mind. Laugh your butt off. Hang up the phone, get up, leave.

THE END

DON’T GET ME WRONG, The Venture Brothers is my favorite TV show currently on the air. Originally a goofy parody of Johnny Quest, The Ventures universe quickly became a sensitive love poem to failure, 70s-80s pop culture and the burning quest for identity. It is slick, smart, ridiculously funny when it wants to be and spontaneously heartbreaking at other times.

The show is directed, written, edited and art directed by only two guys, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. These two, dapper gentlemen are college friends who love what you love, unless it’s “Game of Thrones.”

“I do not watch that stupid Show.” says Doc Hammer, sporting a minty fresh black speedsuit with an orange to yellow color chevron and Astro Base patches. “It just seems like Falcon Crest, but with Dragons.”

“And yet you love Falcon Crest.” intones Jackson, in a matching speedsuit.

“I love Game of Thrones,” states Patrick Warburton. Patrick is the voice of Brock Sampson, the Venture family’s off-and-on again bodyguard. “I’m not wearing a jumpsuit,” Warburton stated earlier, “because I wasn’t given one. They cost about $300 dollars.”

“Thank you Shirt Club” adds Jackson deadpan. He is slightly upset that he couldn’t convince Doc to wear matching orange turtleneck dickies underneath their speedsuits, and holds one up for the crowd.

Two clips were shown for the attendees. First up was the opening three minutes of the season finale, premiering this Sunday. A shorter version is currently available on Adultswim.com. The clip shows Hank and Dean waking up to their new lives as wards of their Godfathers, The Action Man and Colonel Gentleman, after reading a note that their father may be dead.

The Second clip featured the Monarch, Doctor Venture’s arch nemesis, creating a list of tortures to perform on the captured and prone body of his foe. Doc states to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch that he is far from afraid, as he’s been kidnapped before and no one is really going to hurt anyone. The former Dr. Girlfriend chillingly informs him of his mistake, and then breaks his arm.

Patrick’s son is in the audience, cosplaying as Shore Leave. Doc and Jackson essentially make fun of Patricks 15 year old kid until it is slightly uncomfortable for everybody. Doc assure people that they have prepared no content, and proceeds to ramble about bowel movements, Patrick’s voice and his regrets at killing off fan favorite 24.

“I have pages of jokes for him,” says Doc. “Can’t we do a flashback?”

The boys open the floor up to questions, which they have no intention of answering with any urgency. Jackson answers a “Yes or No” question with “Yup.” When asked if there would be a follow up to a plot point that Doc Venture was writing a musical, and would we see more of it, Doc explodes “Really, you want more music in your cartoon? Do you want more kissing too? When I was a kid, I hated that stuff.”

A fan asks if the characters Dean and Hank, the eponymous Venture Brothers, are slowly turning into Doc and Jackson as the show goes on. “The whole cast is slowly turning into us” says Doc.

“Next season Hank will have a bad knee.” agrees Jackson.

“Or a bad back,” adds Doc. “So sure, I don’t know, who cares?” Doc

A fan starts her question with “My first dumb question is – ” before Doc breaks in with “OH! There’s a series of them? Excellent!”

This is what a Ventures Panel is. Funny, unfiltered ego trying to push past the discomfort two brilliant artist feel when thrust out of the studio and forced in front of a giant ballroom’s worth of screaming fans. This devil-may-care attitude is one of the reason these Venture panels are so well attended. An absolutely adoring fan base is another.

A costume contest is held, and the winner is given a T-shirt from the new T-shirt club the lads run. Shirts based on episodes,  are designed and produced by Doc and Jackson, and are sold through their website to provide merch for the fans and help with the bills. The winner gets to be the model for the new shirt, and the photo is taken on the spot with Doc’s Droid. “I’m just going to get my cell phone out and take a picture of it, because that’s how crappy Shirt Club is.” says Doc.

Are you getting the idea?

At the beginning of the panel, Doc states that he’s sorry that it takes the two of them so long to make their show, but that they try to make it wonderful and they really love what they do. They love their fans, but get bothered by the criticisms regarding turn around times.

“Stop getting mad at us and just love us” states Doc. This is not a joke, but an earnest request.

We do, Doc. You, Jackson, Patrick and all of the Venture Brothers family. We love you, We love you, We love you….

Venture Brothers Creators Announce an Art Book from Dark Horse, Talk Nonsense. The Ventures Panel at SDCC 2013

Limited edition Blu-ray (6,825yen) and DVD (5,775yen) and standard DVD (3,990 yen) versions the Saint Young Man anime movie adaptation of Hikaru Nakamura's (Arakawa Under the Bridge) comedy manga about Jesus and Buddha rooming together in modern Tokyo is scheduled for October 23rd.

 

Bonus features include illustrations by Hikaru Nakamura, jacket by character designer Naoyuki Asano, 32 page delux booklet, cast and crew interviews, making over, promos and music videos.

 

 

 

for you Attack on Titan fans, Nakamura's end card

 

via Comic Natalie

 

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

Japanese Shin Megami Tensei fans can look forward to a selection of prize lottery figures this October. Manufacturer Furyu is partnering with lottery provider Minna no Kuji to give away exclusive figures from across the franchise, from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne's Demi-fiend to Pyro Jack.

 

Here's a sample of the prizes:

 

A prize: 17cm Demi-fiend

 

B prize: 17cm Vishnu

 

C prize: 45cm Decarabia cushion

 

D prize: 10cm Nue 

 

E prize: 10cm Pyro Jack

 

Via Siliconera

 

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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. His blog can be found at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter at @Moldilox.

Here I am, like so many of you fine, wonderful people, relaxing at home instead of walking among the majestic masses of Comic-Con International in San Diego. Comic Book Resources and Robot 6 are keeping we homebodies abreast of all the news from this year’s mega-super-hyper event, so it’s kind of nice to be able [...]

With Nerdist Industries jumping into more and more roles as producers, they just announced they’ll be co-releasing a film that gets right to the heart of nerd culture. Zero CharismaIt stars Sam Eidson (Natural Selection, My Sucky Teen Romance) as a dungeoon master who is threatened by a far more charismatic figure, played by Garrett Graham. In other words, the alpha nerd battle we’ve al had at one point or another.

It’s the directorial debut of Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews, and at the 2013 South by Southwest Film Festivals it won the audience award in the Narrative Spotlight category.

As the strict Game Master of a fantasy role-playing game, Scott (Sam Eldson) leads his friends in a weekly quest through mysterious lands from the safety of his grandmother’s kitchen. But his mastery of his own domain starts to slip — along with everything else in his life — when neo-nerd hipster Miles (Garrett Graham) joins the game, winning over the group with his confident charm and dethroning Scott with an unexpected coup. Caught in delusions of grandeur, Scott must roll the dice and risk everything to expose Miles as the fraud he believes him to be. A darkly comedic fable of epic proportions, Zero Charisma is an ode to nerds from every realm.

States Nerdist founder and chief creative officer Chris Hardwick, “My podcast mate Jonah Ray saw Zero Charisma at SxSW and immediately texted me to say it was one of the best movies of the year. When I saw it, I knew I had to tell as many people as I could about it. It’s hilarious, touching, beautiful, authentic and an eerily accurate echo of my first D&D group in the 80’s. I think the character of Scott will become a cultural hero. He is the personification of the nerd rage that boils in all of us when PEOPLE. DON’T. FOLLOW. THE. RULES. OF. THE GAME.”

 

The film will be released October 8, for VOD and have a theatrical release on October 11, 2013.

Here’s the trailer:

If today’s “Image Comics and the Genre Fiction Renaissance” panel at Comic-Con can be any guide, there are only two genres in the comic book industry: superheroes and everything else. Image are putting out a lot of ‘everything else’ these days, and genres are crossing like crazy. A panel including Tim Seeley, Mike Norton, Ed Brubaker, Ron Marz and Frank Barbiere gathered to talk genre under the watchful eye of Ron Richards.

Frank Barbiere describes his book “Five Ghosts” as “a literary pulp adventure comic.”

Ron Marz says that he works in a number of different genres. “Witchblade” is a “super-natural/noir/crime procedural,” and that “Dragon Prince”  is “epic fantasy.”

“The dragons are a dead giveaway,” he adds, drawing laughs from the crowd in conference room 7AB.

Tim Seeley and Mike Norton can’t even agree which category their Image series, “Revival,” falls into. Seeley says the it’s “rural noir,” while Norton classifies it as horror. Of course, back in the 1950s with EC Comics, there wasn’t always a lot of difference between what went into “Crime SuspenStories” and “Tales from the Crypt” except that the poor saps who met with foul play in their horror comics had a habit of rising from their graves. In the crime comics, they usually stayed dead.

“Fatale” scribe Ed Brubaker, showing up late after being interviewed by MTV, quickly joined in the sub-genre smack down by calling “Fatale” a “crime/noir/alternative comic,” and then labeling his new Image series, “Velvet,” as “a Cold War espionage thing” and “feminist.”

“I’m terrible at pitching things to people,” Brubaker continues. “I even used the word ‘meta-textual’ once, but I finally got the pitch for ‘Velvet’ down, which is ‘If you like ‘Casino Royale’ and you like ‘Barbarella, then you’ll like this.”

While everyone on the panel can’t quite put their finger on which category their work falls into, they all agree that it’s way different from the 800-lb. Gorilla Grodd in the room: the long underwear books–superhero comics.

“As superhero comics become more corporate, more editorially-controlled, we want to do different things,” Marz explains. “When you work for Marvel or DC, you’re playing with their toys.”

“I’m happy DC and Mavel are doing mostly super heroes because it leaves everything open for me,” Brubaker adds.

Image Comics’ director of business development and panel moderator, Ron Richards, says that “the one comic that is severely lagging in comics these days is romance.”

“Why does science-fiction or horror take off while romance lags,” Richards asks, throwing the question to the panel.

“I’d love to do a romance comic,” Brubaker says. “I did an issue of ‘Daredevil’ that was a tribute to a John Romita romance comic from the 50s. One can argue that ‘Fatale’ is romance comic, but everyone who falls in love with her dies.”

“You can’t expect the direct-market comic stores to suddenly be a place where romance comics are going to sell because nobody’s going in there who wants that,” Brubaker continues.

“Five years ago doing a rural crime drama like we’re doing  with ‘Revival’ wasn’t a great idea,” Seeley says, noting how quickly things can change in the comics industry. “Somebody’s going to come along and kick the crap out of romance comics.”

“It’s Image,” Brubaker says, “anything is possible.”

Bob Calhoun is the author of “Shattering Conventions: Commerce, Cosplay and Conflict on the Expo Floor,” available from Obscuria Press on June 18th. You can follow him on Twitter at @bob_calhoun.

By Nicholas Eskey

Almost 25 years ago, a comic book that really didn’t look, read, or follow the other hero laden stories that were more in circulation hit local store shelves. Its main character didn’t look like any of the flying, spandex wearing beings that saved damsels in distress and diverted near-world-apocalypses. In January of 1989, DC comics under the imprint of Vertigo, introduced the world to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

Located in room 6DE of the San Diego Convention Center, DC comics and Vertigo brought together a brilliant collection of people who worked on the comic. In attendance was Shelly Bond (editor during the comic), artists Todd Klein, Sam Kieth, Dave McKean, and JH Williams III, and of course Neil Gaiman himself (who I might add is a classy man with a stylish hairdo). The collective discussed the humble beginnings of the Sandman series, its better known issues and artwork, to even the series’ future.

Once the entire panel had been seated and said their introductions, we were shown on the big projector screen next to the proctor’s podium a house ad for DC comics from 1988. It showed the main character of Sandman (Morpheus) who fans would come to know eventually, holding in an outstretched hand a small pile of golden sand, his eyes glowing red. The words “Sandman” emblazoned below, with the tagline “He controls your dreams.” In big bold lettering off to the side the caption read, “I will show you Terror in a handful of dust.”

“Originally I used ‘I will show you Fear in a handful of dust,’ a quote from T.S. Eliot,” said Mr. Gaiman. “I got a call from DC who asked if it really was a quote, and I said yes. Then they said it needed to be changed then just in case T.S. Eliot’s estate would want compensation. So ‘fear’ became ‘terror.’”

Just before the idea of Sandman as we know and love came to be, Neil Gaiman was one of the writers working on Black Orchid #3. But, it was decided by a representative of DC that since he was a relative unknown at the time, to raise his profile and benefit the eventual release of Black Orchid, Neil Gaiman would start doing a monthly comic.

He came up with idea after idea, until his vision of reinventing Sandman (which was a comic done by Jack Kirby and Ernie Chua between 1974 and 76) won out. Instead of using the original character of Sandman who was named “Wesley Dodds,” Mr. Gaiman would create a whole new character. A god of sleep. And so, his first monthly published comic came to be.

“I felt I need[ed] something I can go anywhere with. A vehicle, a machine.” And with this proposed Sandman, he felt that it was just the vehicle he needed that could take him places that no other comic would or could go in terms of subject matter.

As the panel talks on, it is revealed where the whole design of the character of Morpheus came from. “I didn’t want to go in the direction of ‘Super Hero…’ I will make him look like a rockstar!” said Gaiman. Which he ended up looking very Bono-Bowie. “We said ‘who can draw this thing?’” he continued. “That’s where Sam’s name came up.”

Sam Kieth is the man who is credited for designing the look of Morpheus (The god of Dreams) which was eventually settled on, and has been used for all 75 issues of the comic’s series.

The panel then shifted focus, showing covers of various popular Sandman issues, and discussing them more in depth; starting with the very first nostalgic issue, to the very last. Each with a different story to call its own. Two of which I found personally interesting were the one’s entitled “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the “Tempest” (which was also the last issue for Sandman). Somewhere along the way Neil Gaiman began to use William Shakespeare as a semi-reoccurring character. Personally inspired by this, the writer decided that Midsummer and Tempest needed to become issue titles, as they were the only two original, not borrowed plots used in Shakespeare’s plays.

Then in great fashion, to end the panel in wonderful fashion, a great announcement was made in regards to the future of Sandman and the character Morpheus. “Some stories I had written just never fit in the series.” revealed Mr. Gaiman. “At Sandman’s 20th anniversary, I came to DC with the idea of using them for a comic.” Sadly, the one’s at the helm at the time didn’t see fit to run with the stories, and they were left aside.

Nearing the 25th anniversary however, a new set of helmsman approached Mr. Gaiman and asked if he had anything special in mind. The stories he had set aside resurfaced. And hence the coming of what is to be known as Sandman Overture. It will deal with the story of how Morpheus before the original Sandman comic got mixed up in a battle on another world, and then later in a weakened state came to be captured in Sandman issue #1.

For any and all Sandman or story driven comic fans, the beautiful artistry that has been placed into this new series will wonder, astound, and awe. Much like the original series did of course. Be on the lookout for Sandman Overture, coming this year in October.

Shouko Fukaki, Atsushi Kagurazaka launch new series in free online manga magazine

大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ X

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now onto color!

Scooby-Doo and Batman have met before -- in one of the so-called New Scooby-Doo Movies of the early 1970s and then again on Batman: The Brave and The Bold. The Scooby gang and the Dynamic Duo will be teaming up once again, this time in a digital comic, DC Digital announced in a Thursday panel at Comic-Con International.

Continue reading…

Cospa's mask t-shirts can be a bit perplexingly weird, such as the men's shirt that allows guys to flip up the tee and superimpose the face of YuruYuri's Akarin on top of their own. However, this new Attack on Titan number is just awesome. It allows you to declare "I'm a 60-meter class!" then flip up the inside to display your skinless face.

 

Preorders are being taken now at the Cospa Gee Store ahead of an August general release. It goes for 2,900yen.

 

 

There's also a wall mug coming for 800yen

 

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

For a while it seemed as if Namco Bandai might skip over North America with Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers, but that's no longer the case. The company confirmed today that the fighter will be coming to North America in November exclusively on PlayStation Network. 

 

Developed by Dimps, Brave Soldiers features playable characters from the Sanctuary, Poseidon, and Hades story arcs. In addition to the one-on-one story mode battles, players can also jam Brave Soldiers online with versus and ranking modes. 

 

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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. His blog can be found at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter at @Moldilox.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) signed a controversial abortion bill into law on Thursday morning after weeks of ongoing protest against the measure. HB 2 will criminalize abortions after 20 weeks and impose harsh regulations on abortion providers that will force the vast majority of them to close their doors.

The governor added his signature to the bill while flanked by other conservative members of the legislature, including Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R), who championed the anti-abortion measure. Laubenberg praised the governor’s legacy of “eternal life.”

Silent protesters lined the capitol rotunda, wearing black clothing and holding signs proclaiming “SHAME.” After Perry signed HB 2 and applause erupted in the auditorium, shouts of “shame” could be heard from the protesters outside the room. “The blood of Texas women is on your hands!” protesters chanted in the rotunda.

HB 2 combines several pieces of anti-abortion legislation that were unable to advance during Texas’ regular legislative session. Perry called two special sessions specifically to give lawmakers more time to push them through. During the first session, thousands of protesters helped delay the abortion restrictions until the last minute, giving Sen. Wendy Davis (D) a chance to block the bill with a dramatic filibuster that lasted for more than 11 hours. But those tactics weren’t enough to prevent the bill’s advancement during a second special session.

Pro-choice activists in the state haven’t yet given up the fight despite the legislation’s passage. The protests have continued, and women’s health advocates hope to translate the current momentum into voter drives to elect pro-choice candidates. Legal challenges will likely be filed against the harsh new law.

Women’s health advocates condemned the governor’s decision to sign HB 2. “Governor Perry and anti-choice politicians in the Texas Legislature have worked overtime to advance a cruel assault on women’s health, dignity, and constitutional rights,” Julie Rikelman, the litigation director at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “Even after tens of thousands have stood up in the State Capitol and in cities across the state to tell them loud and clear that politicians should not be interfering in a woman’s personal and private decision-making, some politicians are still not getting message,” Terri Burke, the ACLU of Texas’ executive director, added in a statement of her own.

More photos from the San Diego convention

 

It looks like Periscope Studios is the place to be for PopCap Games' popular Plants Vs. Zombies. Dark Horse Comics has released the first two chapters of a new six-issue PvZ title by Eisner Award Nominated Bandette writer Paul Tobin and Roy's Boys artist Ron Chan, which are available now through Dark Horse Digital.

Continue reading…

submission for ★KIRBY DREAM ZINE!★  curated by ashley davis

Last week Microsoft asked the Justice Department for permission to release information to the general public about its participation in government controlled surveillance programs, but the DOJ would not allow it. According to CNet, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith sent a letter on Tuesday to the Obama administration asking for permission to reveal details about how it responds to orders from the U.S. government for private user data.

read more

jetgreguar:

oh my god

scottlava:

“Today we face the monsters that are at our door."

Masameya is ready to outfit your need for reminders of mortal peril. Need a colossal titan staring at you from the top of your cubicle or an abnormal titan on the window? Well, a set of 110 x 150mm Attack on Titan restickable stickers are set to be released in August for 750yen each.

 

Bonus moe titan make-up via a3daisuki

 

new nail art via @colors_ai

 

via 

Yoko Hikasa promoting her single with Titan

 

 

 

thumbnail via http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=1471757

 

 

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

Olive Seon built this terrifying Lego Mothra (モスラ), showcased in all her lepidopteran glory. She's featured using her signature ability, entrapping her enemies with silken spray. Mothra is likely laying waste to New Kirk City here (in revenge for the kidnapping of secret fairies by evil, greedy American businessmen).

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