Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Geoff Johns Interview!

According to this interview, there's more Aquaman on the way!
Aquaman may be one of the most well known superheroes, but that doesn't mean he's one of the most popular. Though his fans know he's among the most powerful and fearless characters in comics, the general public has been laughing at the orange and green clad hero since his days on the 1970s Super Friends cartoons. Long derided because his main superpower seems to be his ability to "talk to fish," and due to his perceived uselessness out of the water, Aquaman is more associated with punch lines than punches.

But the hard luck hero has been steadily working his way onto the pop culture A-List over the past few years, and his new comic book series has turned into a best seller. "I really thought the character had tons of potential," says Geoff Johns, DC Comics' chief creative officer, who is writing the book. "Having Aquaman be the king of Atlantis but a joke on land, that's a great dichotomy for a character."

As part of a relaunch of DC Comics' entire line this fall, Aquaman was given a solo series for the first time since his last book was cancelled in 2006. Ironically, that was just as his mainstream image makeover was beginning. A guest appearance on Smallville (played by American Idol semifinalist Alan Ritchson) in the fall of 2005 was a hit with fans, and on HBOs' Entourage main character Vincent Chase got his big break starring in a (fictional) blockbuster Aquaman movie directed by James Cameron. More recently the sea king became the breakout star of Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold thanks to an unabashedly jolly (while still plucky) reinterpretation of his personality.

Still, Johns felt that the new Aquaman comic needed to address the hero's laughingstock history. "You have the fans, like myself, who always root for the character, and you're always on the defensive immediately," says the author, who has previously rebooted other dusty DC franchises, like the Justice Society, Teen Titans and Hawkman. "And I wanted to take that approach in the book, that he's the ultimate underdog of superheroes. He becomes much more human and relatable by being underestimated." In the first few issues, police officers have mocked him to his face, and in a recent issue of Justice League of America (also written by Johns) Green Lantern, on meeting him for the first time, says, "I thought Aquaman was a sketch on Conan O'Brien."

This honest take on the character has won raves from old fans — and brought in new ones. The first issue has sold more than 100,000 copies (an impressive number by today's standards) and with issue No. 4 going on sale this Wednesday — in comic book stores and online — the book ranks in the Top 20 for sales, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. Still, a recent cameo in an SNL Digital Short illustrates what he's up against. "It's going to take a long time to make Aquaman the coolest superhero there is, but I love fighting against that tide," says Johns, who confesses that water-themed puns are inevitable when talking about the character.

Given that much lesser known heroes like Iron Man, Thor and Green Lantern have turned into Hollywood stars, could a screen-version of the King of the Seas be far off? "You will see Aquaman in a lot of different things beyond comics," Johns promises, but, "that's all I can get into now."

One place where he could conceivably show up is Cartoon Network's upcoming DC Nation programming block, a partnership with Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics slated to launch in 2012. Sandwiched in between shows like Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series will be animated shorts showcasing DC's enormous library. "Some are reinterpretations of characters that we know," says Johns, "some of characters that we never thought we'd see animated."
That DC Nation block does look interesting. I think a regular Aquaman series in the top 20 is a darn good Christmas gift for this fan!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Movember

It's finally over! People said I looked like Freddie Mercury... I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Aquaman Sales Figures!

According to this article at The Beat, Aquaman issue 1 sold more than 100 000 copies!
18 - AQUAMAN
09/2011: Aquaman #1 -- 80,302 [108,545]
10/2011: Aquaman #2 -- 79,156 (-1.4%)

First-month sales are holding level, while Aquaman #1 sold another 28,243 units in its second month — more than any other “New 52″ debut issue apart from Justice League #1. This seems to be one of the titles that retailers underestimated the most.
Underestimate Aquaman? People have been underestimating him for years! Phenominal! Even the second issue drop really isn't that bad. (Although, why would anyone want to drop such a good book??) I wonder if issue 2 will see reorders like issue 1? I guess we'll find out in a month. In the meantime, it looks like Aquaman will be around for a while! In the Top 20! Whoooo-hoooo!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Baby Dolphin Update

A while back I posted on my Google+ account a link to pictures taken of a female baby dolphin who was found with her umbilical cord still attached, but no mother. It looks like she's getting along ok! The people caring for her have an incredible opportunity. Can you imagine being able to raise this sweetie to adulthood? But I imagine as soon as she's big enough, they'll introduce her to other dolphins so she can learn from her own kind. I would hope, anyway. I don't know what the protocol would be here.



Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

UGO Aquaman Interview!

UGO has a great interview with Geoff Johns and all he talks about is Aquaman! I especially liked this part:

Before he disappeared into the crowd of people at New York Comic Con, Johns briefly talked about scenes that we'll be seeing in upcoming issues, including a touching scene of Aquaman remembering his father on the ocean's shore. Aquaman's father was a lighthouse keeper, who fell in love with an Atlantean and Aquaman was the result of that forbidden relationship. Once separated, he on land, she in the sea, he promised to go to the same spot on the shore every day and wait for her. Aquaman recalls his father going to the beach every day to look for a "whale," he says, that just never comes. Touching stuff for a superhero everyone has slammed over the years.

I'm so glad Aquaman is finally getting his due! Reviews of the first issue have been largely favorable. In fact, I haven't read a bad review yet!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

NYCC Aqua-News!

According to this link from CBR,

Switching to "Aquaman," Johns brought series artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado to show off pages from issue #5. "He's fighting in an airplane and he falls out…and when he looks up he's in the middle of a desert," said Johns as the audience gasped. John also said that issue #6 would be a Mera issue.

Well, that explains issue five's cover! And Mera spotlights are always welcome!

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Aquaman Released Tomorrow!

It's been a long time coming, but Aquaman has his own comic again! And it's being written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado! Mera, Aquaman's wife, will be featured prominently in the book and will she'll also be a member of the Justice League! Aquagirl is still around and the newly introduced Aqualad should also be making appearances, I hope... Mera was featured prominently in Blackest Night as well as Brightest Day, and Geoff Johns has mentioned time and again how proud he is that Mera was one of his recent breakout characters!
brightestday 20var
Current AquaFamily
Aquamanv7 01 05var
Issue 1, page 4
aquamanv7 01 06
Issue 1, page 5


Aquaman has been confirmed as a title that retailers have ordered over 100,000 of, along with Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Batman The Dark Knight, Detective Comics, The Flash, Green Lantern, Superman, and the 200,000+ selling Action Comics, Batman and Justice League. That's awesome for any comic these days, but Aquaman hasn't seen numbers like this since the 70's! In fact, in 1970, the official circulation statement indicates 141,332 copies of Aquaman were distributed. We won't know exact sales figures for a while, but it'll be fun to speculate what numbers Issue 1 will hit! I have a feeling it's going to be a great book!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Teen Titans and Batman

3/4ths (or 3/5ths, depending on whether you count Speedy as a founding member) of the original Teen Titans. Art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez!

teentitanslopezwp

Digital Batman by Chris Burnham!

digitalbatwp

Enjoy!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The New 52 Logos!

Have a look!



I have a reputation as kind of a logo nut on the DC wallpaper thread and I wondered what others were thinking about the logos. For the most part, they were ok, but I was expecting more for the relaunch.

Here are my thoughts (in the order presented):

Action Comics - Minor update to a classic! Well done!
All Star Western - Classic with a modern sheen. Good for 2-D!
Animal Man - Reminiscent of the old logo, but I don't get what all the points on the font are... Are they supposed to be talons or claws? Not good.
Aquaman - Nice use of the belt symbol, the font seems to have depth and a hard outline. Perhaps because this book has been in the pipeline longer, that's why the logo seems more like ones on books now. Good.
Batgirl - Bat symbol and a font with some interesting curves. Good.
Batman - Weird font trying to mimic the scallops of an imaginary bat symbol? And what's with the odd letter sizes? Not good.
Blue Beetle - Interesting font and designs that remind me of technology. Good.
Blackhawks - Here's where a bit of detail can make a 2-D font pop! Love the symbol in the middle! Well done!
Batman and Robin - No change.
Batman The Dark Knight - No change.
Batwing - Another bat symbol paired with a decent font. Good.
Batwoman - This is the old font, but why does every other Bat-titled book have a bat symbol and this one doesn't? No change.
Catwoman - Another interesting font that fits the character. Good.
Captain Atom - I like the font, it's very modern! Worried all the Photoshop effects are going to get lost on a cover. Good.
Birds of Prey - Uninteresting font with weird tails trying to mimic the look of the last font. And what are all the lines in the letters for? Not good.
DC Universe Presents - No change.
Deathstroke - A 2-D font with what look like pointed weapons running through the white space. Not good.
Detective Comics - Bat symbol, a font reminiscent of an older Detective logo with some texture, coloring, and depth as well as including Batman? Well done!
Demon Knights - Demonic type font with only a drop shadow for depth. Not good.
Flash - The font is bland and the forward leaning letters getting smaller doesn't say 'fast' to me. Not good.
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. - Another 2-D font, but the blockiness works here, as do the two colors. Good.
Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Men - Both fonts are interesting and the symbol adds a little depth. Good.
Green Lantern - No change.
Green Lantern Corps - No change.
Green Lantern New Guardians - Old Green Lantern font paired with a font that's been used on DC covers for a long time. Not good.
Green Arrow - Boring font, half-hearted attempt at a symbol. Not good.
Grifter - Good, heavy font with a nice gradient and bullet holes. Well done.
Hawk and Dove - Another boring font with some bird-like flourishes. Not good.
Savage Hawkman - I like the use of the symbol, the font is savage with all the points, and a drop shadow for a bit of depth. Good.
I, Vampire - Weird, twisted rope font that has also been used many times before. Not good.
Justice League - The plainest font possible with a perspective that tilts the whole thing toward the reader. I can see the word 'League' being unreadable as it's so thin and there's no background to make reading it easier. And no shield motif? Not good.
Justice League Dark - All the above but paired with another font that looks like the I, Vampire one. Not good.
Justice League International - Same perspective as Justice League along with some very tall thin letters that make it hard to recognize the map in the letters. Not good.
Legion Lost - Does 'Lost' need to be that big? Not good.
Legion of Super-Heroes - I like the futuristic font and how 'of' fits nicely in the tail of the L. Even though it's a 2-D font (and one we've seen before), it suits the book. Good.
Men of War - Plain, like the original, but is it going to stand out against the cover art? Not good.
Mister Terrific - Kudos for spelling out Mister and using his face in the logo. Good.
Nightwing - Bat symbol, good font. Well done.
O.M.A.C. - Heavy, thick, and easy to read with a suggestion of technology. Good.
Red Lanterns - Pointy edges to the Green Lantern font with a symbol. Well done.
Red Hood and the Outlaws - Plain 2-D font with a bit of color and a bat symbol for a team with one member related to the Bat. Not good.
Resurrection Man - Nice update to the original, this time showing a hand reaching up rather than his outline. Good.
Suicide Squad - Another 2-D font but this one adds symbols and color! Well done!
Superboy - No change.
Superman - No change.
Supergirl - No change.

This applies to all the 'Super' titles... they really look like they don't belong with the others anymore.

Swamp Thing - No change.
Static Shock - Cool font, nice design, neat colors and effects. Well done!
Stormwatch - Plain font but the symbol helps a lot. Good.
Teen Titans - Another plain font with a tiny bit of design in the crossbar of the A. Not good.
Voodoo - The O's set the pace here, and it's a nice, heavy font. Good.
Wonder Woman - Plain letters without a hard edge and some wings resembling her symbol. Not good.

Your thoughts?

Friday, August 19, 2011

New Aquaman Logo!

I've been wondering when this was going to show up! I got it from the cover of an upcoming Previews!

Aquaman3

And here it is enlarged to show detail.

aquaclose

The logo is following the trend of the other 'New 52' logos seen so far... a 2-D font arranged in stylized manner and, in the case of Aquaman, Hawkman, Batman, and Firestorm, a symbol. I like that they used Aquaman's belt symbol behind the logo, but it looks like the same symbol used on the Brightest Day variant cover, which isn't quite right.

brightestday17

As you can see, the symbol behind Aquaman on that cover isn't quite the same as the belt that Ivan Reis drew on that very same cover! Jim Lee has been having a hard time with it on the Justice League covers I've seen so far. It seems no one can draw the updated symbol like Ivan can! So I took it upon myself to replicate the new logo using a more correct (IMO) symbol and this was the result!

Aquamanv11alt2

Pretty good, if I do say so so myself!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Unicorn/Road Runner Meat

Too good not to re-post!

unicornmeat

It reminds me of a diagram Wile E. Coyote had of the Road Runner... I think the Road Runner's was different flavors... his tail feathers were chocolate and his wings were vanilla, if I recall correctly.

Update! I found a graphic of the aforementioned diagram... I was close, it was flavours.


Road Runer Meat

Enjoy!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Marvel Family, Firestorm Redux, Aquaman and Superman

Art by Kurt Schaffenberger, colors by me!

marvelfamilywp

Firestorm by Ethan van Sciver, using what is supposed to be the logo for his new series!

firestormsaltwp

Aquaman (art by Ivan Reis) and Superman (art by George Perez) in art released by DC for their new books in September!

aquasuperdcnuwp

Enjoy!

Monday, May 02, 2011

Aquaman Artists Announced!

Courtesy of CBR:
The newly announced Aquaman series will re-team Geoff Johns with Brightest Day artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, the writer revealed today at WonderCon 2011 in San Francisco.

“I don’t think you can get much better in comics,” Johns said during the DC Nation panel. “Everything the do elevates the characters they work on, and we hope to do the same for Aquaman.”

Announced last weekend during MegaCon, the new Aquaman will mark the seventh series for the 70-year-old character. Although he was left dead with the cancellation of Sword of Atlantis in 2007, the sea king was resurrected during Blackest Night before going on to play a central role in the current Brightest Day series.

Johns has insisted that Aquaman is one of DC Comics’ A-list characters, telling Comic Book Resources in December that, “He’s got to be showcased like that, and he’s got to kick ass like Green Lantern or Batman or the entire Justice League.”

Aquaman #1 is expected to debut later this year.

I've said from the beginning that Ivan Reis needs to be on an Aquaman book!!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Aquaman Ongoing - More Details

In a follow-up to Aquaman getting his own series again, Newsarama has more details...
Geoff Johns clarified that his run later this year on Aquaman will be an ongoing series, and it will start after Flashpoint ends.

"It's been great to see the popularity of Aquaman," Johns said, referring to the fan response to his announcement at MegaCon on Sunday that he'd be writing an Aquaman series. "It's really cool to see all these characters get some attention for once."

Johns, who also serves as the chief creative officer for DC Entertainment, said the cast of the new ongoing series will include the characters that have been supporting Aquaman in Brightest Day.

"Mera will be a staple in the series. She'll be right next to Aquaman," he said.

Johns already added to Aquaman's supporting cast by introducing a new Aqualad in Brightest Day #10, coinciding with the same new Aqualad appearing in a new Young Justice animated series. The writer said the teenaged Aqualad is here to stay and will be important to the whole DCU.

"There are a lot of plans for Aqualad, not only in Aquaman, but throughout the DC Universe. He's become a pretty big character for us, which is great," Johns said.

After having died a few years ago in the comics universe, Aquaman was resurrected by Johns in the 2009 mini-series Blackest Night and has been starring in the bi-weekly Brightest Day, which finishes in April. Johns, who co-writes Brightest Day, hinted in a December interview with Newsarama that he would be writing the hero after the bi-weekly ended.

Out of all the characters the writer could choose for his next ongoing series, Johns chose Aquaman because he's enjoyed writing him so much in Brightest Day, "more than anybody," he said.

"I just know that there is a lot of potential in that character," Johns said. "I know there is untapped potential in that character and everything he's about. I love that everybody knows who he is, but they don't know a lot about him. And I just had ideas and stories for him."

But the writer said that even though people saw a "Johns-written Aquaman" in Brightest Day, that isn't necessarily the type of stories they'll be seeing in his new Aquaman ongoing series.

"There are a lot of things that will happen in the book that people won't expect," he said. "Brightest Day had a pretty straightforward superhero Aquaman story. That was to get him and Mera and Aqualad and Black Manta and everybody back on stage.

"But where we go in the book will surprise some people," he said.

Having first appeared in 1941, Aquaman has gone through some drastic changes as writers have tried to make him popular enough to sustain an ongoing series. The last ongoing Aquaman series, Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, ended in 2007 with issue #57.

Johns said he's been interested in the character for a long time, and he compared his universe to that of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, which Johns has ushered into a significant revival over the last six years.

"Aquaman lives in such a cool world," Johns said. "Where Green Lantern goes out away from the Earth, Aquaman goes to the depths of Earth, and there are a lot of things we've never explored. The depths of the ocean are a frontier. You see it on the Discovery Channel, that they discover a new species on the bottom on the ocean all the time, and it's a whole new world down there.

"And how does that relate to our world?" Johns added. "That's what I want to explore. I really want to find Aquaman's place in the DC Universe, but then also explore what he means within the rest of that world."

Newsarama recently explored Aquaman's potential and creators pointed toward the story potential of Aquaman's connection to environmental issues.

Johns agreed there's a "real issue there."

"Aquaman cares about that, and it's central to who he is," Johns said. "But you have to be careful not to be preachy."

Then he added that there's something happening in the DCU that could allow Aquaman to approach the issue. "There are some twists and turns coming up that involve some of that, but I don't want to get into it just yet," he said, then added, "I'll just say this: It's all about responsibility."
I'm certainly along for the ride and am dying to see where he takes the Aquaman Family! I echo his sentinment that all the Aqua-characters have been woefully underused. I can't wait for Flashpoint to be finished (and it hasn't even started yet!!)

Monday, March 28, 2011

Aquaman is Back!!

This news comes from an article on CBR:
A new Aquaman series written by Geoff Johns will launch later this year in the wake of Brightest Day. The announcement was made Saturday at MegaCon during the DC Comics spotlight panel and confirmed last night by Johns.

“Announced at Megacon: After Brightest Day I’ll be moving over to a new book — Aquaman #1 coming later this year!!” he wrote on Twitter. It was not revealed whether the title is an ongoing or a miniseries, or who the artist will be.

It will be the seventh series for the 70-year-old character, who reached the height of his modern-era popularity in the 1990s under writer Peter David. The last Aquaman comic, subtitled Sword of Atlantis as part of a sweeping “One Year Later” retooling, was canceled in 2007, leaving the sea king dead. Or, rather, “dead,” as he was resurrected in DC’s Blackest Night event before going on to play a central role in Brightest Day.

Although Aquaman is often the butt of jokes, in large part due to his depiction in the Super Friends animated series, Johns has championed the character and his place in the DC Universe.

“I think Aquaman is one of DC’s A-List characters, but he’s got to be treated like that,” Johns told Comic Book Resources in December. “He’s got to be showcased like that, and he’s got to kick ass like Green Lantern or Batman or the entire Justice League.”
Please, please, let Ivan Reis be the artist! Whoooo-hoooo!

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Young Justice Downtime

This week's episode featured Atlantis and the Aquaman family of characters! In fact, it was incredible how many they managed to get in:

Starting with Aquaman and Aqualad, the two characters we have already seen.



And you would expect to see Mera, Garth, and Tula, and weren't disappointed:







Black Manta sightings tend to run high as well:



Vulko and Orm (who isn't Ocean Master on Earth-16) are always welcome, if unexpected:



So the Earth-16 Ocean Master looks something like this:



And here are Lagoon Boy and Sheeva from the Erik Larsen run:





As well as Topo from the Kurt Busiek run:



That's ten characters, not counting Arthur Jr.! I think the show did a great job in showcasing Atlantis and was very impressed with what the creators did! Here's the immediate AquaFamily members (including the new Aqualad) once again:



And in case there was any doubt, Mera kicks ass on Earth-16 as well! Here she creates a hard water octopus for protection from Black Manta's manta men!



Enjoy!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Legend of Aquaman Special

Back in 1989, I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Aquaman Special I recently posted a wallpaper from. In something that was rare at the time, I received a personal reply from then-Editor, Mark Waid! His entry on Wikipedia describes his career better than I could:
He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America. From August 2007 to December 2010, Waid served as Editor-in-Chief, and later, Chief Creative Officer of BOOM! Studios, where he wrote titles such as Irredeemable, Incorruptible and The Traveler.
And he wrote lots of other cool stuff from DC as well!
First, check out the cool envelope!



And the back of the letter!



And the front of the letter! When you hold the letter up to a light, the characters on the back look like they're holding up the DC Bullet! Very cool! I don't have a copy of the letter I sent, but I think you get a sense of a few of the things I asked him about!



I remember being excited about plans for Aqualad, and knowing that Ocean Master could have returned! It was sooooo cool to have gotten this letter! Even better than an autographed comic!

Enjoy!

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Red Lantern Mera

Here's a new action figure I picked up today... and it's the very first Mera action figure ever put out by DC Direct! She's not looking like herself because during Blackest Night, she gained a red power ring and it changed her appearance.

Mera also comes with Dex-Starr, otherwise known as Rage Kitty (a regular earth cat who also gets a red power ring), so I think that could make her one of the more popular figures in this series! She also makes a great companion for Black Lantern Aquaman! I can't wait to display them!

Looking ahead, I have Brightest Day Aquaman, Mera, and Aqualad action figures (all based on Ivan Reis's outstanding artwork) to look forward to!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Star Trek in the real world

From the Edmonton Journal:
A team of Vancouver-based scientists have created a hand-held device that will help doctors diagnose sick patients in a quick test that identifies the bugs patients are carrying by separating human DNA from virus DNA.

Finding a virus's DNA from a throat-swab test is similar to "looking for a needle in a haystack," says Andre Marziali, a physics professor at the University of British Columbia, because the sample is crowded with human DNA. He and his team are hoping his medical "tricorder" invention — a portable, battery-powered device that can pinpoint the specific DNA signature of the virus — will help the medical community.

"Researchers often can't identify viruses that are infecting someone because of the amount of human DNA in the background. That is exactly the situation they're in now," Marziali said. "What this can do is it can pick out specific DNA sequences for analysis. This is huge.

"We have an incredible ability to reject background DNA."

Marziali's work was recognized as one of nine UBC advances that will "transform" the world in the university's Next Big Thing in 2011 report. His team is still developing the technology by testing accuracy and speed, but they anticipate the tricorder could be available in as early as three years if they obtain appropriate funding.

The device will have various ways of taking samples from patients — such as blood tests or throat swabs — that can be placed in the main instrument for real-time analysis.

Marziali couldn't suggest a cost estimate for the tricorder, but noted its success depended on being inexpensive because users would need to buy cartridges to hold samples.

The device is developed using the similar technology to the Aurora, a machine used by forensics researchers to extract DNA from the dirtiest of samples, including dirt and tar.

Marziali is president of Boreal Genomics, a company that currently sells the Aurora.

Marziali and his colleague, Lorne Whitehead, co-invented the computer-sized product — which was also used by RCMP to test forensics samples — in 2009. He said the researchers are the first to use electric fields to clean and untangle DNA.

Doctors are about 70 per cent accurate when diagnosing patients during flu season, which is why the tricorder's accuracy would be extremely beneficial, said Dr. Don Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

"There's no question it would be useful to the medical community," he said. "It would have an incredible use at the front line as a utility in doctors' offices, walk-in clinics and in the emergency department."

Three influenza strains — including H3N2 — are currently circulating across the country this flu season and Low said symptoms can be extremely similar, making diagnosing and determining appropriate treatments — from bed rest to antibiotics — a challenge.

"If a patient comes in with a sore throat, fever or cough, there's a good likelihood it's influenza. But we don't know if it's influenza A, or influenza B, or if it's one of the viruses circulating. These different kinds of viruses are closely related to each other," Low says.

"It's really empiricism, and only if you're lucky will you get a laboratory test to confirm for deny it," he added, noting that samples taken to a lab could leave doctors waiting up to five days before results are received. "By that point, you've decided how to manage that patient. With 70 per cent sensitivity, you're misdiagnosing."

Low said the device would also help doctors quickly discover if their patients have sexually transmitted diseases or other infections, aside from the common cold or flu.

For his part, Marziali is convinced the device would also be of use in other markets — such as security and pandemic control — and in remote areas where access to doctors and hospitals are limited.
A Medical Tricorder... how cool is that??

Sunday, January 16, 2011

DC Universe Online

Showcasing some of the artwork that was used in the game!

Batman


Flash


Green Lantern


Nightwing


Power Girl


Superman


Wonder Woman


Zatanna


Enjoy!

Poll Results!

The last poll asked which DC Comics initiative you were most excited about. 57% and taking first place was DC Comics being priced at 2.99!
14% were excited about the new DC Earth One Graphic Novels!
14% were excited about the new slate of DC movies, of which Green Lantern will be the first!
And another 14% are looking forward to DC Universe Online, which started this month!
And the option that garnered no votes at all, the Digital Comics initiative!
My guess is not that many people are interested in digital comics yet. Thanks for participating and look for another poll to start soon!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

New Aquaman Merchandise!

Today I took a trip to the nearest Toys R Us and found this:



A limited edition DC Universe/He-Man crossover! I'm not a He-Man fan at all, but this is the one version of Aquaman from the DC Universe classics line that I don't have. It's an exact replica of the one released in Wave 2 and it was the only Aquaman (out of the four they made) that I wanted and was missing. Amazingly, this was one time where there was lots of Aquaman to be found! There were at least ten Aquaman/Mer-man and only three Hawkman/Stratos. Weirdly enough, I already own the Hawkman figure. I picked it up at a pop culture convention for five bucks!

Happy Birthday to me!