Looks like Buzz lightyear is about to have some competition. That's right, Thanks to Disney's acquisition of Marvel Comics, Captain America is about to make his way into Disney Stores alongside Hawkeye, Thor, and Black Widow. These figures are part of Diamond Select Toys' fantastic Marvel Select line and are a great way to build the classic team for your shelf. Below is all the info straight from Diamond Select, along with photos of the figures in their packaging!

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Tags Action Figures, Black Widow, Captain America, Diamond Select Toys, Disney, Disney Store, Marvel Select, mtv, MTV Geek, The Avengers

This is the big week for Viz manga—I count 19 Viz titles on this week's ComicList. None are volume 1's, but there are some solid series that are easy to jump into. As I noted last week, Viz published the digital edition of vol. 52 of Naruto—the seventh digital volume in as many days—the same day as the print volume, on VizManga.com and their iPad/iPhone app. They also did a simultaneous print-digital release of vol. 10 of Black Bird. My pick, though, would be vol. 6 of Dengeki Daisy, a clever and mildly suspenseful romance about a schoolgirl, Teru, who is on her own after her brother dies—except for the mysterious DAISY, who communicates and offers comfort via her cell phone. The big mystery in the first few volumes is who DAISY is (it's not that mysterious, but I won't spoil it here); by volume 6, Teru has figured that out, but there's a bigger plot under way as well. Dengeki Daisy isn't particularly subtle, but it's an enjoyable read that has some good characters and doesn't lean too hard on the conventions of shoujo manga.

Another good bet is vol. 9 of Twin Spica, the story of a young girl who aspires to be an astronaut on the Japanese space team. It's basically a school story, with friends and enemies all thrown together in a really cool sci-fi setting. Creator Kou Yaginouma's art is perfect for this subject, detailed enough to give a sense of place but not cold or overwhelming. It's a wonderful story with a lot of heart. Read more...

Tags Dark Horse, Kodansha, Manga, Vertical, VIZ

What better crowd to announce that the Alpha Flight maxi-series would now be ongoing, than at Marvel’s Pint O’ C.B. panel at FanExpo Canada? None, we think. Luckily, we got a chance to chat with writers Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak before the big announcement, to find out how this will affect the arc of the series, what’s going on with the evil Unity Party, and just what part Wendigo plays in all of this:

MTV Geek: So first of all, congrats on getting the go ahead to make Alpha Flight ongoing! How’s that feel? It certainly seems like a huge vote of confidence from Marvel, with only three issues on stands so far.

Fred Van Lente: Well, it's a huge vote of confidence from the readers, which we really appreciate. It's a tough market out there, and we glad they've responded to this series in such a strong way by voting with their dollars.

Greg Pak: Huge thanks go to all the fans who have been talking the book up with their friends and preordering with their comic book stores. This kind of thing only happens because of you guys -- and you're the best!

Geek: When/how did you get the news? At what point in scripting the maxi-series were you when you found out it was getting extended? And has it affected your plans at all?

FVL: It was something that was discussed when the first orders on the first issue started coming in, so Greg and I had plenty of lead time to plan the extension -- and we're glad we got it, because the coming Canadian Civil War is an epic story that needs more runway to fully take off.

GP: We knew it was a real possibility from the beginning, but we just got our final confirmation fairly recently. But as Fred says, we had plenty of time to start that big Plan B, which actually reminds me a bit of our original Incredible Hercules run, during which we got extended a few issues at a time, but decided at a certain point to figure out the big bullet points of our huge storyline, just in case. Read more...

Tags Alpha Flight, FanExpo Canada, Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, Marvel Comics

This is a big week for Kodansha Comics, with six new series debuting today, as well as volume 10 of the black comedy Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei.

My pick of the week is the first volume of Cage of Eden, a survival story about a group of high-school students whose plane crashes on an uncharted island filled with prehistoric creatures—from different eras. It's not great literature by any means, but it is entertaining reading; Dave Ferraro has a good review at Comics-and-More. Read more...

Tags Digital Manga Publishing, Kodansha Comics, Manga, yaoi

Are you ready for the Perfect Storm of insane nerdiness, all in one video? Well, get ready, because we have:

1. Torchwood’s John Barrowman…

2. …Singing about Doctor Who…

3. …To the tune of “The Wizard and I,” from the musical Wicked.

What you just heard was the sound of myself, back in high school, sobbing uncontrollably with joy. Also probably getting slammed in a locker or something, who even knows what happened then, amiright?

This little gem has been shooting all over the Internet (though we saw it first on The Mary Sue), and to answer your questions in advance:

1. Yes, that really is John Barrowman.

I think that answers all your questions:

Okay, to answer a few more questions, it’s a track Barrowman sang on tour to promote his album, titled, “You Like The Coat?” Kidding, it’s actually appropriately titled “John Barrowman.” However, this track is only available on UK iTunes.

Now, take your RetCon, and listen to this like it was the first time.

Related Posts:
Doctor Who's New Season Gets Totally Spoiled By The BBC
BBC America Gives Us More 'Doctor Who' With Four New Best-Of Specials

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Tags Doctor Who, John Barrowman, Torchwood

If you read manga, you probably read some Square Enix series. They don't publish manga under their own name in the U.S., but their titles are licensed by Viz and Yen Press. In December, Square Enix launched an online manga store, so I decided to check it out.

The best thing about the site is the selection of books: Black Butler, Fullmetal Alchemist, Hero Tales (a favorite of mine), Black God, Pandora Hearts. Unfortunately, that's the last nice thing I'm going to be able to say about it. The design is terrible, the registration process is way too complicated, and the reading software is unwieldy and locks the user in to one or two computers. Oh, and it's only available in the U.S.; the rest of the world is locked out. But if you're reading this in Canada or some other exotic place, let me reassure you: You're not missing much. Read more...

Tags Digital Comics, Manga, Square Enix, VIZ, Yen Press

test post for NYCC secret stuff -- Please leave untagged and uncategorized.

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