VIZ Media Offers an Emotional Mix of the Real and Imaginary in the Debut of Taiyo Matsumoto’s “GoGo Monster”

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the upcoming release of Taiyo Matsumoto’s celebrated manga GoGo Monster on November 17th. GoGo Monster will be published by the company’s VIZ Signature imprint, rated “T” for Teens, and will carry an MSRP of $27.99 U.S. / $36.00 CAN.

Third grader Yuki Tachibana lives in two worlds. In one world, he is a loner ridiculed by his classmates and reprimanded by his teachers for telling stories of supernatural beings that only he can see. In the other world, the supernatural beings vie for power with malevolent spirits who bring chaos into the school, the students’ lives, and even nature itself.

“Taiyo Matsumoto’s clever stories and striking art have placed him among the best of a new generation of influential manga artists and we are privileged to present GoGo Monster to U.S. audiences,” says Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President Sales & Marketing, VIZ Media. “This story continues to show Matsumoto’s fascination with youth as he seamlessly blends themes of alienation with the paranormal. For anyone with an overactive imagination or has even just daydreamed during class, GoGo Monster offers an emotional tale that shows how what we see and imagine, whether real or imaginary, shapes our personality in profound ways.”

Taiyo Matsumoto made his manga debut in the Japanese magazine Comic Afternoon with the short story “Straight”. He went on to travel throughout France and became heavily influenced by the French comics he studied there including those created by pioneering European artists like Moebius and Enki Bilal. Matsumoto has become internationally acclaimed for stories that capture the essence of disaffected youth and adolescent alienation. His other notable works include Blue Spring, NO. 5 and Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White, which are all published in North America by VIZ Media. Tekkonkinkreet won a prestigious Will Eisner Award in 2008 and was also adapted for an animated feature film. Another Matsumoto manga story, Ping Pong, was turned into an award-winning live action film that is available from VIZ Pictures.

Fore more information on other VIZ Signature titles please visit VizSignature.com and Sigikki.com.

VIZ Pictures to Release “20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End”

20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End

from VIZ Pictures:

VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, will release the science fiction feature 20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End on DVD on December 15th in the United States through its distributor, VIZ Media. 20th Century Boys will carry an MSRP of $24.92 US / $35.99 CAN.

The 20th Century Boys saga was directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi (who also directed the live-action film, Happily Ever After which is also available from VIZ Pictures) and is based on a popular manga series by Naoki Urasawa. It all begins in 1969 when a young boy named Kenji and his friends write “The Book of Prophecy” in which they write about a future where they fight against an evil organization trying to take over the world and bring about doomsday. Years later in 1997, a mysterious cult being led by a man only known as “Friend” emerges and begins to gain strong influence over society. A series of catastrophic events begin to occur mirroring the prophecies made up by the young Kenji and the greatest fear is the climax of “The Book” becoming a reality; December 31st, 2000, a terrifying giant virus-spreading robot will attack the entire city of Tokyo leading to the end of mankind. The only people who know about “The Book” are Kenji and his childhood friends. Who is “Friend”? Will Kenji and his friends be able to save mankind and live to see the 21st Century?

“20th Century Boys mesmerized audiences at its U.S. theatrical premiere in San Francisco this past summer and we’re very proud to announce its North American debut on DVD,” says Seiji Horibuchi, President and CEO of VIZ Pictures. “Naoki Urasawa’s multi-layered story of childhood mystical prophecy, government conspiracies and alien invasion is given a lavish production treatment and the film’s ending is a real cliffhanger that’s also very different from the original manga series. We look forward to introducing audiences to this exciting 3-part science fiction saga!”

VIZ Pictures has scheduled theatrical screenings of 20th Century Boys 1 in December at VIZ Cinema, the nation’s first theatre venue devoted exclusively to Japanese film operated by VIZ Pictures, Inc. On December 10th, starting at 7:30pm, VIZ Pictures has a special event to celebrate the DVD release of the first chapter of the trilogy. Tickets are $25.00, which includes a pass to the film screening, the brand new DVD, a poster, and more! VIZ Cinema is located inside NEW PEOPLE, a newly opened entertainment destination in the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown offering the latest examples of Japanese popular culture. Tickets are available at vizcinema.com or can be purchased at the theatre box-office. For more information about this event, please visit vizcinema.com or viz-pictures.com.

For more information on 20th Century Boys or other VIZ Pictures titles please visit viz-pictures.com.

Emily the Strange Goes GREEN with a New Line of Organic Cotton Emily Wear

from Emily the Strange:

Introducing… Black is the New Green!
The new line of organic cotton Emily wear…

Zombies Recycle: Everybody should recycle and this tee shows that even the undead do it. Be it bottles, paper or brains — donations are always welcome!

Give Strange a Chance: Inspired by the 60’s, this graphic features Emily and a strange pal promoting Strange as well as peace.

Mean and Green: This empowering image shows Emily and a gang of strange creatures taking a stand for what they believe in.

Find Emily on: Facebook | MySpace | YouTube

The Latest Scoop on the “Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls” Dolls

from Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls:

November 11 is only a parsec away, and there have been lots and lots of questions about how, where and when you all can get a gGirl rag doll. So here’s the scoop:

On November 11, the famous FAO Schwarz catalog will be arriving in mailboxes. Anyone who receives this catalog will be able to order any of the 5 gGirl dolls on that very day!! They’ll be in the warehouse and read to ship!

At that time, the dolls MIGHT be available for purchase at FAO.com [UPDATE: the pre-order page is now up!], but I don’t know for sure. If not, they’ll be in there very soon after.

Then, right after Thanksgiving, the dolls will be in 3 STORES ONLY: FAO Schwarz in New York City, the Toys R Us in Times Square (also in NYC) and the FAO Schwarz in Las Vegas.

There has been some confusion because of the announcement that Toys R Us will be featuring FAO Schwarz boutiques in all their stores beginning this month. Unfortunately, GALAXY GIRL DOLLS WILL NOT BE IN THESE BOUTIQUES. At least not this season. There is a lot of talk about gGirls in Toys R Us, so it’s just a matter of time before you can find them at your local Toys R Us. So please just be patient!!

Over and out,

Mother Earth (Lauren Faust)

VIZ Signature Presents Motoro Mase’s “Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 3”

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 3

What would it take for you to find inspiration in the little things in life, to appreciate the world and its people for its beauty?

Volume 3 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit by Motoro Mase (artist for Heads) follows two totally unrelated characters in two different stories. One is a high school dropout, the other a con artist, and the thing the two have in common are papers they receive from “The Ministry of Health and Welfare” notifying them of their deaths in 24 hours.

Why would the Ministry of Health and Welfare do that? To promote how precious life is and how important it is to be a productive, active member of society. Ironically, some of those served dead papers are productive members of society: “All citizens undergo national welfare immunization in the first grade. Because of a nanocapsule in some of the syringes, 1 in 1,000 young people will die sometime between the ages of 18 and 24.” This method of “improving society” would never be accepted in our world and, as exemplified in the first story of Volume 3, things could go very wrong.

Takimoto Naoki is a depressed, anti-social, self-harming young man. His mother, Kazuko, is a workaholic politician with a one-track mind: to win the election, no matter what it takes. His father, Nobuhiko, is a soft spoken gentleman who helps out with Kazuko’s campaign, though it’s questionable whether he truly supports her. Through flashbacks, the reader learns that Naoki was neglected by Kazuko throughout his childhood, resulting in his suicidal behaviour. The delivery of his death papers come as a shock, but not as much as Kazuko’s reaction to her son’s impending fatality. As the book warns, youths who receive death papers execute their “despair in unpredictable ways.”

The other story follows Iizuka Satoshi and his sister, Sakura, and is much sweeter. This is shown by the familial relationship of the Iizuka siblings, who were orphaned when they were children because of a car accident. Sakura also lost her vision, which led to a reliance on her brother. Satoshi doted on her and continues to dote on her; the story picks up with Satoshi announcing his purchase of an apartment so that he could be a full-time caregiver for Sakura. The joyful occasion comes to a bittersweet ending after Satoshi is served death papers. Unlike Naoki, Satoshi makes the best of his last 24 hours on Earth in order to make sure Sakura is cared for.

Furthermore, the light/dark difference in the storylines is reflected in the amount of black ink used on the pages. Naoki’s story is much darker both in nature and colour, and the artistic style is much more frantic, the panels much more crowded, especially when the reader sees Naoki in his room. Satoshi’s story is littered with full panels of cherry blossoms and other wonderful scenic views.

Other than the death papers, the only shared element of both stories is the letter carrier, Fujimoto, an employee of the Ministry of Health and Welfare whose job is to physically deliver death papers to the chosen few. The brilliance of the Fujimoto character is allowing the reader to see both sides of the coin: he struggles with his own morals about the national welfare system. It would be interesting to see how much he has changed between Volume 1 and Volume 3: did it affect him more at the beginning? When we meet him in Volume 3, he is more seasoned and his boss seems to think so too. But as the stories unfold, especially in the second one, Fujimoto still questions his own actions.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 3 (224 pages) is written and drawn by Motoro Mase, and is published by VIZ Signature. It will be available for purchase at your favourite book stores and online retailers on November 10, 2009. It can also be purchased directly through the publisher here:

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 3

Previous volumes are also available direct from the publisher or at your local book store.

“The Box” Weekend Event from Premiere Props

The Box

from Premiere Props:

From Warner Brothers and Media Rights Capital comes the ultra suspense thriller The Box starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don’t know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.

Premiere Props invites you to own all the incredible complete hero costumes and props! From Arthur’s (James Marsden) screen worn NASA red and white “All Heart” lab coat, his hero tuxedo jacket and pants, his brown leather slip on “Frye” boots to his hero rejection letter from NASA and more! Plus Norma’s (Cameron Diaz) most complete costume including her cream knit turtle neck sweater, dark blue denim front pocket jeans, side zip “Frye” boots, brown and gray leather gloves, gold hoop earrings, gold hoop bracelet, key NASA props and costumes and much more! Be sure to see The Box opening today in theaters everywhere!

Plus mark your calendars now for Premiere Props Live And Exclusive Holiday Auction on December 12 with over 500 movie props and costumes! Own major props and costumes from Bruno, Whip It, The Box, Armored, The Blind Side, Bad Santa, The Flintstones, Bowfinger, 27 Dresses, P.S. I Love You, Boston Legal, Lords of Dogtown, The Ugly Truth and much more! This auction will be broadcast live for everyone to participate worldwide and is in conjunction with the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

The Live And Exclusive Holiday Auction starts at 11am PST with the preview from 9am to 11am PST. This live event will be held at Premiere Props (128 Sierra Street, El Segundo, CA 90245) and will be broadcast live on television to over 4 million homes on Time Warner, Direct TV and Dish Network in Southern California and streamed worldwide online for everyone to watch and bid live! Make sure to pre-register now!

Authentic props and costumes from some of the hottest new theatrical releases are coming soon to Premiere Props! Visit Premiere Props for the chance to bring home one-of-a-kind, screen-used movie memorabilia from The Blind Side, Armored, Legion, Piranha 3D, Nine, Bruno, The Book Of Eli, Leap Year, The Back Up Plan, Beastly and many more!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars on DVD and Blu-ray

from StarWars.com:

The battle to restore peace and justice to the galaxy rages on — but the origins of the Clone Wars continue to reverberate throughout the conflict, touching every skirmish and influencing every turn in the ongoing adventures. Return to the beginning and revisit all of the inciting causes and incendiary catalysts of the galactic civil war with Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One, now available on DVD and high-definition Blu-ray Disc.

Relive every exciting adventure and uncover hidden secrets about the Clone Wars — from the stories, the motivations and the thrilling battles to the groundbreaking genesis of the series itself.

Lucasfilm has opened its production vaults for unprecedented access — including behind-the-scenes, never-before-seen production secrets, easter eggs, restricted information, artist insights, crew confidentials and much, much more.

Uniquely packaged with an exclusive 68 page production journal, the four-disc set contains all 22 episodes from the groundbreaking first season — including seven extended Director’s Cuts — as well as companion featurettes for each episode.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray disc, fans can venture even further into the “galaxy far, far away” with The Jedi Temple Holocron Vault, an interactive feature enhancing the viewing experience with over three hours of additional content and an extensive database of information — including interactive 3-D object turnarounds, more than 550 images from the production and scene fly-throughs.

For insights into where the Clone Wars are headed — see where they began!

RiffTrax Live Christmas Tickets

from RiffTrax:

You demanded it! You got it! RiffTrax is back on the big screen with RiffTrax Live Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza! Join Mike, Kevin and Bill for an evening of riffing on a wonderfully warped collection of Christmas shorts! Our Special Guest is “Weird Al” Yankovic!

The Live show is on Wednesday December 16th, and the Encore is on Thursday December 17th. So come along and bring a friend! Bring ALL your friends! Get your tickets now before they sell out!

All event-attendees will receive 5 FREE digital goodies including a holiday song by the RiffTones, two downloadable shorts, an autographed digital photo of the guys, and a Christmas desktop wallpaper!

Get your advance tickets to the live show here.

Get your advance tickets to the ENCORE show here.

Safety Geeks: SVI Season One

Safety Geeks: SVI starring Dave, Tom, Brittney Powell, Benton Jennings & Mary Cseh, chronicles a CSI-like team which investigates safety accidents, leaving a swath of comedic chaos and destruction in their wake.

From comedy duo Dave & Tom, Safety Geeks: SVI is a unique web series that draws from many pop-culture icons to lampoon the ever-popular crime dramas that over-run prime time television. With elements borrowed from CSI, Adult Swim, Monty Python and Kung Fu (among many other TV staples), Safety Geeks: SVI is adult humor with wit. These well-meaning folks are almost painful to watch as they humiliate themselves, fumbling through accident scenes causing more damage and hazards than they ever resolve.

The series is filmed entirely on green screen and features high-quality special effects and great music, especially the theme song which pays homage to The Who’s “Who Are You?” (otherwise known as the CSI theme song). Well acted and cleverly written, there are enough crass one-liners and sight gags here to keep the younger crowd laughing yet enough subtle humor and sarcasm to keep the more mature viewers entertained. You can view season one of Safety Geeks: SVI right here or check out these other great Dave and Tom links:

Safety Geeks: SVI on KoldCast.TV
Dave and Tom’s Website
Safety Geeks: SVI on Twitter
Safety Geeks: SVI on Facebook

Arcana Launches Comics & Pop Culture Magazine

Arcana Banner

from Arcana Studios:

Arcana Studios, an award-winning comic book publisher and transmedia producer, is proud to announce the launch of Arcana Magazine. Debuting on January 27th 2010, and solicited in the current November Previews (Diamond Code: NOV09 0599) is the new quarterly magazine simply entitled Arcana, the re-designed print version of the on-line comics based magazine Extra Sequential.

Extra Sequential was the brainchild of Kris Bather and Dave Lapsley in Perth, Western Australia — two men who were looking for creative opportunities outside of their day jobs at a large architectural design firm. From January to June of this year, three issues of Extra Sequential were published, containing interviews with an array of creative professionals, such as Joe Jusko, Zeb Wells, Tom DeFalco, and Brian Cronin. Topics covered included Street Fighter, Flash Gordon, the new Hulk and so much more, with an eye on both mainstream and rising indie stars.

After reaching over 16,000 subscribers on Scribd.com and becoming a Featured Magazine on Issuu.com, Extra Sequential was picked up by Arcana Comics for the transition to print, with Bather and Lapsley continuing their unique comics focus in the new print format.

Bather is the former Comics Department Head of now defunct website Infuze and current contributor to popular website Broken Frontier. Lapsley is new to the world of comics but brings a keen sense of design and shares Bather’s desire to let the world know how cool comics truly are.

“The thing that has always seemed odd to me is that comics continually reveal diverse art from some of the world’s greatest artists, but few people outside of the local comic book shop will ever know that,” says Bather. “Sure, a multitude of people are more familiar with Spider-Man and Batman thanks to Hollywood, but that seems to rarely translate to an increase in regular readership of comics. We hope Arcana can be somewhat of a bridge for those readers as well as show something new to longtime lovers of sequential art.”

Inspired more by the surf and skate magazines than the usual pop culture assortment on the shelves, Arcana aims to let the art speak for itself while also making sure every page is an artistic display. With bold layouts incorporating unique design and photography Arcana aims to be more than a throwaway item, but an attractive glimpse into the cutting edge of comic books and the people behind them.

Bather states, “We chose the landscape format straight out of the gate because we want people to know that we’re different upon first glance. We realise it’s perhaps a risky choice, but that’s exactly what comics are too. We want to conjure curiousity in comics newbies, but there’s enough content in Arcana for the veteran reader too.”

The first issue of Arcana features interviews with Star Wars: Invasion writer Tom Taylor, artist Josh Medors, Singaporean writer Edmund Shern, Surrogates creator Robert Venditti, and ground breaking artist David Mack. Also included are previews from upcoming comics and features such as a look back at The Death of Superman event, a talk with pro cyclist/comics fan Dave Zabriskie, a brief chat with the legendary Marv Wolfman, and an article on the current love affair between musicians and comics, including an interview with Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez. There’s also a look at just how to market comics today, a breakdown of popular comic book terms and more.

Arcana #1, a 96 page full color magazine goes on sale January 27th, 2010.

About Arcana Studios:

Arcana Comics has published over 150 original comics and books and is a division of Arcana, an award winning transmedia company founded by CEO Sean O’Reilly. Arcana establishes new brands and intellectual properties with engaging storytelling and compelling visuals through comic books, graphic novels, animation, short-form live-action, video games, toys and now, feature length films. Arcana has created original brands they control such as The Clockwork Girl and Kade, and have further developed existing brands for Disney, Sony, Capcom, HBO and more. In addition, several of Arcana’ s other properties are in development or pre-production such as GEARHEAD with Valhalla Motion Pictures and a mixed martial arts movie through Grindstone Entertainment.

For interview requests about Arcana Magazine, please e-mail Kris Bather at kris@arcanaquarterly.com.

arcanaquarterly.com

Legend of Neil NEEDS YOUR HELP!

from The Legend of Neil:

Season 2 was a tremendous success thanks to our amazing fans but we need your help to ensure a Season 3. Please take a few minutes and watch (and rewatch) the season 2 finale here, and RATE and COMMENT. Show the network that our viewers are engaged and want more! If you’re looking for additional ways to help us, the best thing you can do is introduce the show to all your friends, spread the word, Facebook and Twitter links to the show. Every little bit helps!

As you all know, The Legend of Neil has been a real passion project for me and it’s been so inspiring to see how many of you have enjoyed the show to such a great extent. I try to read every comment and the fact that they’re overwhelmingly supportive (mixed with the occasional “you suck hard” comment) inspires me to do more. Here’s to hoping we get a Season 3.

Kill Link!

Sandeep

Looney Labs Updates the Classic “Chrononauts” Time Travel Card Game

Chrononauts

What would have happened if President Lincoln had survived that fateful night at the Ford Theater, or if President Kennedy hadn’t been struck by the magic bullet fired from the Texas School Book Depository? How different would history be if other key events, such as the Titanic sinking or Sputnik launching, were suddenly altered? In the newly updated re-release of the classic Looney Labs game Chrononauts you are a time traveler from the future entrusted with the task of preserving the timeline.

There are three ways to play: the standard game, Solonauts and Artifaxx.

In the standard game, each player has a unique identity and secret mission that they must achieve before getting to return to their future. Twists and turns of events prevent major events that can cause paradoxes that will either help you or prevent you from achieving your goals. Too many paradoxes can cause the collapse of history as we know it.

The 32 timeline cards cover events from the 1865 Lincoln assassination to the 1999 Columbine Massacre. Your mission may require you to get the Nuremberg Race Laws repealed in 1942 or it could be as simple as collecting historical artifacts such as the Rongo-Rongo tablets of Easter Island that were burned by missionaries in 1865 or the lost Ark of the Covenant. In addition to the 32 timeline cards, there are 14 ID cards (who you are in the game), 10 mission cards (goals you must achieve to win the game) and 84 Chrononauts cards including Artifacts, Inverters (undo or redo a historical event), Timewarps, Gadgets, Patches (repair history without necessarily returning events to the original timeline) and Actions (things you do that effect the destruction or reparation of the timeline).

While some events or artifacts are historically sound, other events you must instigate or artifacts you must retrieve are a little tongue-in-cheek. For example, if you’ve prevented John Lennon’s assassination you might be able to retrieve The Beatles’ reunion album, The Purple Submarine, or if you are one of the giant mutant cockroaches from a far distant future, you might like a Videotape of the Creation of the Universe (World War 3), on Betamax no less.

The standard version of the game is for 2 to 6 players and our average game time was about 45 minutes.

When playing as a Solonaut, instead of each player being a Chrononaut with his own agenda, you must get eight Chrononauts back home in a single pass through the deck. You remove the artifacts, gadgets and missions from the deck and then play through the remainder of the deck until either you get all eight of your characters home or you run out of cards and lose.

Artifaxx is a fast version of the game for 2 to 4 players. Because it is less complex, it’s also a good game to play with younger players. You sort out all of the Artifacts, Actions, Timewarps and Missions and put aside the rest of the deck. Players take turns drawing one card and playing one card until someone achieves their secret mission.

Gameplay is similar to Looney Labs’ Fluxx games but far more structured. You really have to pay attention to the information on the cards because they contain certain “If ___, then ___” scenarios. It takes a few rounds to get the hang of, but is easy to learn and fun to play. Not only will you laugh at the mayhem you cause mucking up the timeline, you might just learn a thing or two about history as well.

Having moved from state to state or school to school at key times, I ended up only getting U.S. History in the 4th and 12th grades, so I have to admit that seeing the dates connected to the events was educational for me. We had a lot of debates about historical events while playing, about both history the way it happened and the way it could have happened if key events had gone differently or not occurred at all. It is a more complex game than other Looney Labs offerings I’ve played, but no less entertaining.

Want to make your playing deck more interesting? Try the new The Gore Years and Lost Identities expansion packs, or go way-way back with the Chrononauts: Early American deck.

Available December 4, 2009, just in time for Christmas, you can pick up a copy of Chrononauts through Looney Labs or Amazon, or find a retailer near you through Looney Labs’ Store Locator.