Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics - Worlds Collide

Following the success of company crossover fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom and X-Men vs. Street Fighter in the 90’s, it was only a matter of time until we saw another versus style arcade game finally developed. Now comes news that Midway and DC Comics are joining forces to bring the heroes of the DC Universe and the warriors of Mortal Kombat together for the very first time in the new Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics video game.


As a child of the 90’s I can’t even begin to determine the amount of quarters I spent playing Mortal Kombat back in the day. There was nothing better than beating an opposite and then killing them with Mortal Kombat’s patented “Finishing Move.” And now to be able to control both Mortal Kombat and DC Comic characters in a versus style fighting game might just be the thing needed to finally motivate me to retire my PS2 and look into getting a PS3 or Xbox360.

According to News-a-rama.com, “there will be two different stories, one told from the side of MK, one from the side of DC, where each universe is invaded by the opposite universe’s characters. These stories will be told in a new version of the traditional single player campaign. The story will be used to balance the fights more evenly, and will do so using established mythology. For instance, the story will feature magic factors, to weaken Superman against a character like Sub-Zero.” (link)

Already confirmed in the game are Superman and Batman from DC and Sub-Zero and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. Be on the lookout for future confirmed characters and an official release date at WorldsCollide.com. In the meantime check out this awesome “first look” trailer for the game, which shows Batman and Sub-Zero going at it Mortal Kombat style.


There has been some serious mixed reactions to the announcement of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics, but my favorite commentary on it comes from David Willis’ Shortpacked!. Shortpacked! is one of my favorite webcomics and is updated 3-5 times a week. Check out Willis’ Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics comic strip below and click here to find out more about Willis and his cast of Shortpacked! characters.

Be A Pepper Too - The Dr Pepper Museum

The Blot had a meeting last Friday in Waco, Texas, a city I never thought I’d find myself in and will probably never go to again. Since I was having to drive all that way, I thought I’d look to see if there were any big tourist attractions in Waco I could hit up before heading out of town. What I found was the Dr Pepper Museum.

Like most of you, I couldn’t figure out why Waco, TX had a Dr Pepper Museum. As it turns out Dr Pepper was created in Waco back in 1885, and was even originally called a “Waco.” (link) According to the Dr Pepper Museum’s website, it was “founded in 1988 to educate and entertain the general public through the collection, preservation, interpretation, and exhibition of objects relevant to the history of the soft drink industry.” (link)


The coolest part of the museum has to be its building, the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, which was built in 1906 and is the original bottling plant of Dr Pepper. The museum walks you through the history of Dr Pepper and its 23 flavors, its merger with 7UP and the company’s eventual purchase by Cadbury Schweppes. It really was fascinating to learn about the early creation of a new soft drink back in the late 1800s, but most of all where else can you truly be a Pepper?


If any of you have ever been to the World of Coca-Cola, the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, GA, then you’d be a little disappointed in the Dr Pepper Museum. It’s a fraction of the size and does not have anywhere near the technology or sophistication of the World of Coca-Cola, but if you’re in the neighborhood it’s well worth the $6.00 admission fee. Then again how often do you find yourself with some time to kill in Waco, TX?

Welcome To A World Without Rules

We haven’t had a Dark Knight update here on The Blot Says… in a while, but it seems like The Dark Knight viral marketing campaign has started to pick up since the untimely death of star Heath Ledger. A few new Batman themed sights have been popping up around the web, and this new Batman promotional poster showed up last week on WhySoSerious.com. It’s a pretty sweet movie poster and is probably the first sign of The Dark Knight’s campaign to focus less on The Joker and more on Batman. The Dark Knight debuts this summer on July 18th.

Jimmy Fallon Returns To NBC As Host Of Late Night

After years of speculation, we now know who will be taking over as host of Late Night when Conan O’Brien leaves in 2009 to take over the Tonight Show. (link) The Hollywood Reporter found out earlier today that Jimmy Fallon has signed a deal to take over hosting duties for NBC’s Late Night upon O'Brien's departure. (link) Conan’s chair became available in 2004 when it was announced he would be Jay Leno’s successor as host of the Tonight Show upon Leno’s retirement in 2009.

It has been a long four years since the initial announcement of Leno’s scheduled retirement as rumors mounted that Leno was unhappy about his already planned exit and was hoping to either extend his Tonight Show run or move to a rival station. Many names have been floated around as the eventual successor to O’Brien on Late Night, with Fallon’s name repeatedly being mentioned as a front runner based upon his popular run on Saturday Night Live and his stint as co-host of SNL’s Weekend Update with Tina Fey.


While Fallon has been The Blot’s favorite Saturday Night Live cast members in recent years, I am worried that his unique style of delivery might be found a little grating when on television 5 nights a week. Hopefully his transition to behind Late Night’s desk will be a smooth one and much more successful than the comedian’s movie career which pretty much died on impact after Taxi and Fever Pitch bombed in theaters.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at Storm Shadow and The Baroness

More and more pictures of the live action G.I. Joe film’s cast are slowly leaking on to the internet and here we have our first look at two of the movie’s villains, Thomas S. Arashikage, a.k.a. Storm Shadow, and The Baroness. I’ve been pretty impressed with the movie’s costumes so far and like the modern feel of the characters. With that being said I’m a little disappointed in Storm Shadow’s uniform. The character has always had a very distinct look in the G.I. Joe comics, cartoons and toys, but here he looks like a generic ninja straight out of the Matrix trilogy. After having done such a great job with Snake Eyes’ uniform and staying so true to his character, I am surprised the movie went such a different direction with Snake Eyes’ blood brother and fellow ninja, Storm Shadow. The Baroness, on the other hand, has always had a very simple look, one that is easy to reproduce in a live action movie. I’m anxious to see how the movie chooses to recreate G.I. Joe’s main adversaries, Cobra Commander, the leader of COBRA, and Destro, into living breathing characters. Storm Shadow is played by Byung-hun Lee and The Baroness is played by Sienna Miller. Update 5/9/08: To see BRAND NEW photos of Storm Shadow (in a different uniform) and The Baroness click here! To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.

Wanted - Teaser Movie Poster

Wanted, a new movie based on the comic book mini-series of the same name created by writer Mark Millar and artist J.G. Jones, “tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforce of justice. In 2008, the world will be introduced to a hero for a new generation: Wesley Gibson.” (link) Wanted is a highly regarded, creator owned comic book that many have compared to the classic Watchmen comic book series with its adult themes and unique take on super heroes. Even though the book had a short run, Wanted has had a lasting impact in comics since its debut in 2003. Jones’ artwork in particular is amazing and his comic book covers are some of the best in the business.


Hopefully the movie version of Wanted will be as spectacular as the comic. The movie, by Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (the Night Watch series), stars James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, Morgan Freeman as Sloan, Angelina Jolie as Fox, Terence Stamp as Pekwar and Common as The Gunsmith. Look for Wanted in theaters this summer on June 27th, 2008. If you’re interested in reading the trade paperback of Wanted, which includes all six issues of the comic, you can do so here.

GID 8 Inch Zombie Pet Dunny

The Blot’s pretty excited for tomorrow’s release of a new, glow-in-the-dark 8 inch Dunny. Designed by Argentinean illustrator Patricio Oliver and produced by Kidrobot, the new Zombie Pet Dunny is an “undead predator…made of translucent, blue vinyl and printed with glow-in-the-dark bones, for a distinctly ghoulish (but adorable) look. (link) This limited edition designer vinyl figure is sure to be a “must get” for fans of the zombie craze. One thing I like about this Dunny in particular is the fact that the figure doesn’t actually glow, just the printing on its body. It’s a unique twist on the glow-in-the-dark Dunnys of the past and, like most 8” Dunnys, should not last very long in stores.


The 8” glow-in-the-dark Zombie Pet Dunny hits stores tomorrow, Thursday April 24th, and has a retail price of $39.95.

Daniel Johnston’s Jeremiah, The Frog Of Innocence Vinyl Figure

Daniel Johnston, the eccentric Texas singer/songwriter/artist and subject of the 2006 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnson, has crossed over from music into the designer toy market. At Arms will be releasing a limited edition vinyl figure of Daniel Johnston’s iconic character Jeremiah, the Frog of Innocence in five unique colors (Green, Yellow, White, Pink and a still undisclosed color).


For those of you who have had the opportunity to live in Austin, TX you might recognize the famous mural Johnston created featuring Jeremiah and the title of the album Jeremiah was featured on Hi How Are You? on the old Sound Exchange building on Guadeloupe across from the University of Texas campus. The album cover has also been featured on t-shirts for many years. The Hi How Are You? t-shirts were popularized in the 90’s by Kurt Cobain who often performed and was photographed wearing the Jeremiah, the Frog of Innocence shirt.

The Spirit Teaser Trailer and Poster

The Spirit doesn’t come out until January of 2009, but the movie is doing its best to hype up its take on the classic comic book hero now. Not only has The Spirit started to promote its official website MyCityScreams.com with a new teaser promotional poster, but the movie unveiled its first teaser trailer this past weekend at the New York Comic-Con.


I think all of this PR is a smart move by the producers of The Spirit because its important to latch on to the super hero craze now while the movie industry is gearing up for a big summer. With six super hero/comic book movies coming out over the next four months (Batman, Iron Man, Hulk, Hellboy, Wanted and Will Smith’s Hancock), The Spirit needs to try and connect with the millions of moviegoers attending those movies now in the hopes that it makes it easier early next year to reconnect with them (and hopefuly entice them to the theaters).


I think The Spirit’s teaser movie trailer does everything it hoped to by teasing the audience of the movie to come without giving any real hint of a storyline or the characters involved. What strikes me as odd is how similar this movie’s look and feel is to Sin City. Obviously I knew Frank Miller was going for a similar look when he decided to employ the same filming techniques he and Robert Rodriguez used on Sin City, but with the teaser’s darkness it almost looks like the same movie.

This worries me considering how different Will Eisner’s The Spirit is from Miller’s Sin City comics. I really hope Miller has stayed true to Eisner’s vision and not turned The Spirit into Sin City lite. As much as I loved both the Sin City comic books and movie, I fear Miller might be using this directing opportunity as a warm up to his production of the Sin City sequels scheduled to hit movie theaters in 2009 and 2010.

The Barney-ism Of The Week and Robin Sparkles' Return

“When I was young I was so…vulnerable and open to things, ya know? I guess I just wanted to feel that way again.
I wanted to be sixteen again.” - Robin

Robin…that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth.
You want to be sixteen again?
I have watched your first Robin Sparkles video a thousand times, and it’s not because I’m proud of you as a friend.
It’s because you were totally, totally lame back then.

- Barney Stinson

"Sandcastles In The Sand"

How I Met Your Mother

Wow, Robin Sparkles is back and it was so worth the wait! “Sandcastles in the Sand” was awesome and the James Van Der Beek cameo was really, really good. I couldn’t stop laughing at the line about his “amazing collection of Hard Rock Café t-shirts.” There was definitely no Britney like letdown here!

Robin Sparkles - “Sandcastles in the Sand” Music Video


Plus, the second Robin Sparkles video for her song “Sandcastles in the Sand” was as good as her first video for the “hit song” “Let’s go to the Mall.” Between Marshal’s made up word “revertigo,” Lily’s bad case of revertigo and the show’s shocking, yet rewarding, ending, “Sandcastles in the Sand” was an all around classic episode of How I Met Your Mother.