I think we can all happily agree that Doctor Who is about four minutes away from full fledged being turned into a musical – at least, if the two clips released online this past week are any indication. Okay, to be fair, the two YouTube only videos were made by the cast BEFORE Matt Smith and Karen Gillan took over the show, but there seems to be a pervasive amount of singin’ and dancin’ and generally being triple threats that comes with being involved with the Timelord.

The first clip is a doozy, a musical tribute to departing show runner, and the guy who rebooted Doctor Who for a new generation, Russell T. Davies – as well as his fellow Executive Producer Julie Gardner. The song, a parody of “The Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let’s Do It)” from the BBC sketch comedy show ‘Victoria Wood As Seen on TV’ features David Tennant, Catherine Tate, and John Barrowman telling the full story of how they put the show together over the previous five years: Read more...

Tags Doctor Who, The Proclaimers

There’s a tricky road to walk when you cross over in the comic book industry from being a critic, to being the subject of criticism. Plenty of writers have made the leap – from Gail Simone, to Mark Waid; but plenty more haven’t, suffering under the crushing, “You’ve made fun of me for years, and this is the best you could produce?”

Happily, Blair Butler, host of G4’s Fresh Ink section of Attack of the Show shouldn’t have a lot to worry about, as her earnest Mixed Martial Arts comic Heart launches this week from Image Comics, with art by Kevin Mellon. The book doesn’t try to be the next mega-franchise, or redefine how we look at comics. Instead, it takes a look at MMA from the perspective of an insider and a fan, which Butler (sort of) is both.

We chatted with Butler about the book at New York Comic Con this year, and the host (now writer!) said, “It’s about this guy named Oren Rooster who gets tired of punching the clock, and finds he’s good at punching guys in the face… And making them go violently to sleep.”

NYCC 2011: Blair Butler Talks 'Heart'

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Tags Blair Butler, Heart, Image Comics

The creators of Marvel's Shame Itself include Daily Show writers and on-air personalities

Are you ready to feel shame??? Marvel hopes you are, as on November 2nd it launches a one-shot humor anthology, Shame Itself, by some of New York’s best up and coming comedy writers, and some of the best comic book artists in the business. The project was put together, and edited by Tom Brennan, the roguish “James Dean of Marvel” who has been championing a number of off-beat projects, like the time traveling Iron Age, and Joe Casey’s universe-trotting non-Event/Event, Vengeance.

“Wait, have I been doing that?” asked Brennan, when we chatted with him over e-mail. “I wouldn't say off-beat. I like to work on what I like to read, so maybe I have an off-beat sensibility. I honestly don't know what to make of this question. But I would say that we're heavily encouraged at Marvel to make the most of every project -- inject as much life, creativity and excitement into every book (really, every panel on every page) and so when I'm given the chance to do a project, I want to make it as unique an experience for the reader as possible. What can I give you that you can't get anywhere else? Shame Itself is certainly a place where you'll get creators and stories you won't find anywhere else.”

Okay, so that headline is totally not fair, at all… But anyone who read the excellent one-shot ‘Our Love Is Real’ during its initial – tiny – print run, or on a digital platform knows that writer Sam Humphries scifi opus doesn’t shy away from some really weird ideas. Sexual ideas. About dogs. And plants. And crystals.

Now, after success with a limited run, Humphries is releasing the book to a much wider audience through Image Comics on November 2nd (hey, you can pre-order it here!). With the order cut off date fast approaching on October 10th, we thought we’d check in with Humphries to talk about one of our favorite single issue comics of the year. Oh, and how much research he had to do for the dog sex portions of the book:

MTV Geek: Before we get into “Our Love Is Real,” can you talk about your background in the comic book industry – how you got to where you are now?

Sam Humphries: Sure. In 2002 I worked for a manga company called Gutsoon! Entertainment, publisher of Raijin Comics, which was my first entry into comics as an industry. Some time later, for two and a half years, I worked in content and development at MySpace, back when it was cool to work for MySpace. One of the projects I developed there was MySpace Comic Books, including MySpace Dark Horse Presents and so forth. After all that collapsed, I began pushing myself as a comic book writer.

Geek: What was the impetus for self-releasing Our Love Is Real?

SH: I didn't have anything else going on. No projects coming up. No books in the pipeline. Nothing on tap. I was about to have a "lost year" in a two-year career, and I felt like a loser. Then I realized, fuck it, if I'm gonna go down, I might as well go down swinging, right? So I decided that no matter what, I was going to spend 2011 making comics and putting them out there. If a publisher wanted to be a part of that plan, great...but if not, I was going to figure out how to do it myself. I wasn't going to wait for anyone else to come around and give me permission. That was just an illusion I had, anyway -- that need for a rubber stamp of approval to go ahead and make a comic. Read more...

Tags Image Comics, Our Love Is Real, Sam Humphries

And like that, we now have to wait until January for new episodes of Archer. Sob. Still, it was nice to see the team experiment with a new format, a three episode arc aired over the course of three weeks. And even if they didn’t totally knock it out of the park, Archer still stands as one of the smartest, funniest shows on TV.

We picked up this week where we left things, with Archer and team all imprisoned on the pirate island where he was once King (sort of). Ray is missing an eye, Lana is pissed off at Archer, and Noah (guest star David Cross) is trying to cut through stone with a spoon. Meanwhile, back at ISIS headquarters, Cyril and Pam are desperately trying to figure out where they hid all of the spy orgs money during a blackout drunken night of debauchery.

So, you know: business as usual.

Not a lot more happens over the course of the episode, actually, other than the gang breaking out of prison, witnessing an intramural pirate lacrosse game, and Ray getting crippled. Also, Rip Riley loses an eye, and gets pissed off - leading to Archer to call him, “Nick Furious,” which is hilarious and nerdy and go team Archer.

Last week, I wondered whether there would be some real change Read more...

Tags Archer

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