With the release of Batman: Arkham City, it has become increasingly clear that video games featuring our favorite characters from comics are still very much in demand. It just needs to be good enough to deserve our attention, like any piece of entertainment. Rocksteady can’t carry that torch alone, however, and luckily they don’t have to; there are a plethora of games out there featuring comics if you know where to look.

So, without further ado, we at Geekosystem present our list of video games based on comics that are worth your time.

The European neurosurgery journal Acta Nuerochirugica has recently published an unusual paper on traumatic brain injury. Instead of worrying about human experimentation, the study focuses on the sample’s found in the legendary comic book Asterix. In their study, the researchers looked at 34 books and observed 704 cases of head trauma, 87.1% of which were caused by the Gauls central to the series. The Medical Express blog breaks down the Vital Statistix:

[O]ut of the 704 victims, 698 were male. 63.9 percent were Romans and the rest were Gauls, bandits, pirates, Normans, Vikings, Goths, Britons and even extraterrestrials. [...] In looking at the victims, researchers noted visible injuries such as ‘raccoon eyes,’ or periorbital ecchymoses and tongues that stuck out in a sideways pointing fashion known as paresis of the hypoglossal nerve to identify the traumatic brain injury. They also used the Glasgow coma scale to rate the seriousness of the brain injuries. According to their findings, 696 of the cases were a result of blunt force trauma while strangulation was responsible for the remaining eight.

This study is primarily a tongue-in-cheek exercise, and only really advances the knowledge that scientists do have a sense of humor. That said, it does open the door for discussions about the role of mass wild boar consumption among diminutive members of the Gaulish community, and perhaps a look at the mathematical distribution of Menhirs across a fictional landscape. The possibilities are endless when you’re not overly dogmatix!

(via Medical Express, thanks Erin!)

The world of comics is an ever-expanding one. With each new title comes a bevy of new superheroes, villains and general populace that then must be worked with when dealing with the greater continuity. Sometimes, this can lead to interesting developments like The Avengers or one of their various incarnations or can even lead to massive crossover events.

Regardless, continuity marches on and things become convoluted, complex and downright difficult to work around. It should come as no surprise, then, that DC Comics has decided to go ahead and “relaunch” their universe with all new #1s in September. It’s not as if this is setting precedent either. This is following in a long tradition of reboots, relaunches and general simplifications.

These types of events are sometimes met with frustration on the part of fans, such as the M-Day aftermath in the Marvel multiverse, or with genuine enthusiasm, like the previous Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline in DC Comics. More often than not, these stories herald the death of many different versions of superheroes and others that fans have come to know and love. (Though it likely deserves to be mentioned here, the Spider-Man: One More Day saga is just too painful to talk about.)

So, it’s with cautious optimism that I look forward to the coming “relaunch,” which you can brush up on over at The Mary Sue.

The so-called “Polaroid effect” is the darling of many an iPhone photo app. Just by messing with the image’s coloring and slapping that iconic white border around it, would-be photographers can give their pictures a vintage hint without the trouble of owning an actual Instamatic-style camera. It’s all just innocent fun, though. No one could get hurt…right?

Apparently, with this week’s release of Action Comics #900, “a blockbuster issue filled to the brim with guest talent from all corners of the world of Superman adaptations,” Superman will renounce his U.S. citizenship.

In the issue, Superman gets in some hot water with the president’s National Security Advisor for showing up in Tehran in support of Iranian protesters. Just showing up, non-violently. Since Superman is an American hero, Iran’s Government construes his actions as being with the tacit permission of the US Government. This desire to remain autonomous from whatever administration exists in Washington is what motivates the Man of Steel’s decision (panels above). Controversial comics stuff, treating superheroes like they exist in greater world full of regular human beings and their governments! … if you’re Superman in 2011 and not, to pick one example, The Authority in 1999.

Our sister site The Mary Sue has a nice analysis.

(via The Mary Sue. pic via Comics Alliance)

In news that literally caused my jaw to literally hit the floor, Munchkin card game creator Steve Jackson announced that a collaboration between himself and the creative half of Axe Cop that has a driver’s license has resulted in Munchkin Axe Cop.

Jackson made the announcement this morning on his blog, describing the new project:

Axe Cop and Munchkin are a perfect match. Doing this project will be total fun for me. Axe Cop has a manic energy that goes with the Munchkin story . . . kill the bad guys, take their stuff, and level up!

The game will be released in the third quarter of this year, and will feature original art from the Axe Cop creators. For the moment, the new game’s slogan is, appropriately, “chop their heads off and take their stuff!”

Upon reflection, I really cannot think of a better combination. Axe Cop, the anarchic creation of 5-year-old writer Malachai Nicolle and his 29-year-old artist brother Ethan Nicolle, is much loved for it’s lunacy and child-mind logic. Munchkin, a card-based satire of role-playing games, reduces even the most stalwart to a childlike state with it’s ludicrous cards and focus on backstabbing. Both Axe Cop and Munchkin shirk the rules of their genre, and focus on what’s most important: Wild, unabashed fun.

I simply cannot wait.

(Daily Illuminator via BoingBoing)

Friends, we here at Geekosystem believe in sharing the love. That’s why we’re giving away five copies of the Cowboys and Aliens comic book that inspired the movie to you, our gentle readers. But if you want one of these handsome hardbacks, you’re going to have to fight for it.

Update, 2/25: Well, this is pretty awesome: Platinum Studios, the comics-to-film company behind the adaptation of Cowboys and Aliens, has sweetened the pot on our giveaway by offering a copy of Cowboys & Aliens signed by series creator Scott Rosenberg as a grand prize for one lucky winner. Go to cowboysandaliens.com for official news and fan info on the film, and also check out Platinum Studios on Facebook and Twitter. Everyone who has applied up to this point is eligible; if you haven’t applied yet, the contest deadline is 2/28.

The game is simple. Head over to our Facebook page and tell us what improbable but awesome match-up you’d like to see made into a movie. The possibilities are limitless:

• Robots and samurai
• Zombies and basilisks
• Mega Shark and Giant Octopus vs. Sharktopus
• Godzilla and my kitchen radiator
• Sherlock Holmes and the 1999 Detroit Red Wings

But we want to hear your ideas. Give us your unnatural (or surprisingly natural) pairing, and you could take home a copy of Cowboys and Aliens.

Platinum Studios, creators of graphic novels, comic books, and pioneers of digital comic book distribution, have recently shifted their focus towards movies with the upcoming Cowboys and Aliens, as well as Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, starring Brandon Routh. The Platinum ethos: ‘comics can fuel media anywhere and everywhere.’

The time has come for a member of the Fantastic Four, that stalwart superhero group. For several issues, Marvel comics has been ringing a death knell for someone in the quartet-soon-to-be trio, and today the speculation comes to an end with issue #587.

Spoiler lovers, read on.

Often considered the go-to source for comic book news for the last two decades, Wizard Magazine is rumored to be shutting down its print operation effective immediately. First reported by Rich Johnston, a veteran reporter with Bleeding Cool News, the rumors of Wizard’s shut down were swiftly followed by a press release from Wizard World, Wizard’s parent company, announcing the creation of a new online-only publication.

From the press release:

Wizard World plans to launch in February 2011 an all-new digital magazine called ‘Wizard World’ that will appeal to pop-culture fans, the same audience to which Mr. Shamus has catered to, for over 20 years. Wizard World digital magazine will provide coverage of the world of comic books, toys and superheroes, and the personalities behind them.

Wizard’s website and comic conventions appear to be unaffected.

With Wizard’s passing goes the last print publication covering the comic book industry. Much of that coverage has since moved on-line, and other traditional news outlets like the New York Times have begun paying closer attention to comic books, which may be a contributing factor in Wizard’s demise. However, the fact that print coverage of the industry is apparently unsustainable may have more serious implications for comic book publishers which still rely on print products.

Update:

Newsarama is now reporting that Toyfare will also be shutting down. This has been confirmed in an email from Wizard World PR, stating:

Wizard Entertainment is ceasing publication of the print magazines Wizard and ToyFare.  Wizard World, Inc. will begin production of the online publication “Wizard World” beginning in February.   We feel this will allow us to reach an even wider audience in a format that is increasingly popular and more readily accessible.

(via Bleeding Cool News, Newsarama)

DC Comics has announced that it will no longer be submitting its issues to the notorious Comics Code Authority (CCA) for their approval as of January 2011. In a letter addressed to retailers, DC unveiled a rating system designed to inform comics consumers (or their parents) about the content of the issues. DC’s decision to leave the CCA come a full decade after Marvel’s decision to leave. This leaves Archie Comics and Bongo comics — famous for printing adaptations of the Simpsons and Futurama –  as the only publishers still seeking the once-ubiquitous CCA seal of approval for their comics.

With only two publishers left, the CCA seems even more unnecessary than ever. The advent of comic book shops and online marketplaces has all but eliminated the pressure on publishers to submit to the code. Moreover, there is more interest in the artistry of comics than ever before, which places almost no importance on preserving so-called moral values. Take, for example, Art Spiegelman’s award winning graphic novel Maus. It would have almost certainly been soundly rejected by the CCA and yet it has been enormously successful — critically and commercially.

With DC joining Marvel in using their own in-house rating system, this will hopefully be the death knell for this antiquated piece of comics history. Keep going after the jump for a little more history on the CCA, and some highlights from the original 1954 rules.