Best Costume Ideas For Halloween (Now This Is How You Do It!)

Wow... just wow. If you are going to wear a costume for a convention, or Halloween, you gotta do it right. While most people epically fail at this, these two got it right. Here is why. (Photos were taken at the 2010 NYC Comic Con)

Best Male Costume: Black Manta (Aquaman Villain, DC Comics)

This guys Black Manta was spot on. Rubber Suit w/ fake abs? Check. Trident? Check. Crazy Huge Helmet made of metal? Check. Robot voice? Check. Sweaty swamp ass at the end of the day? You Betcha!!!! On the other side of the equation, both Aqualad and Catwoman left much less to be praised. In fact, the fact that the Aqualad kid had to walk around in that dicky outfit all day while Black Manta strode proud as the man must have drove him to contemplate suicide. Great Job kid!!!

Slave Leia - Return Of The Jedi - Before you start in with all the "Not another Slave Leia... there are so many of these... blah, blah, blah..." let me point out three things about THIS PARTICULAR Slave Leia:

1. She is in much better shape then most of the broads who are dressed as Slave Leia... there are some really nice girls who absolutely should never dress as Slave Leia for body type issues. This is a fact. I didn't create the costume, Lucas did. (Guess he got something right... huh Joe Esq?) The person wearing this costume should be relatively fit.
2. It's very authentic. Looks like it cost a bit. Top looks (and might have been) like real metal, as did the sides of the skirt and front piece. Cheap imitations of this particular costume usually result in an automatic fail no matter how hot the chick is in it.
3. Two words: NO DRAWS!!! Most girls who wear this outfit usually wear skin colored tights or pantyhose, so despite the fact that the sides of the dress are totally absent their who-ha is not flapping in the wind. I don't know if Carrie Fisher was bare under her costume (it was the 80's) but this young lady certainly is. How do I know? Well, when we were next to her (That's me and Sam in the background) we could see no side evidence of panties and could see that she was not wearing tights or pantyhose. That means nude in my book... hence the high ratings!!!  

Alien Chest Burster On A Baby - (From the Alien movie series)

This is a phenomenal take on the classic chest burster scene from Alien that has been parodied over and over again due to the fact it is timeless (Spaceballs... nuff said!) The fact that it is A) On a baby & B) Coming out of what appears to be a Chicken costume makes it even better. Look at how frightened that kid is... priceless. Thanks to the Great White Snark for that one. Excellent. Parents, it is your responsibility to make sure your kid's costume is on point. Do your fucking job!!!! Please leave some feedback comments below... we love to hear your opinions!

The Saw 3-D Panel @ 2010 NYC Comic Con Takes Us Into Jigsaw's World One Last Time

I am a big fan of the Saw franchise of films. Like any multi film franchise, some are better then others. In my opinion, the first 3 were the best. That doesn't take away from 4,5,6 at all... i feel like Saw has managed to make sequels that are quality even though they are approaching film #7 in the series. This is definitely not the case in ANY OTHER series of films I have ever seen. Think about it: The Godfather 3 is an abomination, Alien fans hate 3 & 4 and the Alien vs. Predator films, and there are definitely a few Star Wars Prequel haters out there... right Joe Esq? (I love ya kid...) Don't even get me started on the Halloween, Freddy or Jason franchises. Those guys have made some outright shit boxes of films despite being handed a solid main baddie and story. But Saw has done a good job of maintaining a good level of film. The crew does a good job of moving the story forward in different directions while tying up lose ends through reveals and flashbacks that are intriguing. So when I had the opportunity to attend a press only Saw 3-D panel at the 2010 NYC Comic Con, I felt I needed to check it out and report my findings.

First of all, the panel was separated into two rooms. We were instructed that there would be no film or video allowed. Both rooms would get the chance to talk with two sets of people from the movie, one after another. I was in the room that got Cary Elwes and Betsy Russell, who play Dr. Gordon & Jill, two returning characters from the Saw series. Elwes & Russell really towed the company line throughout the whole panel. They praised the Saw production team, praised the whole Saw franchise, and praised Saw 3-D as by far the best film in the series. They avoided giving anybody any real answers, such as when they were asked for their favorite kills (both said... "They are all so good!!!") and when I asked Elwes his favorite film in the series (He immediately said the upcoming Saw 3-D... he didn't even reflect on the other films like I asked).

Russell also walked the line. I asked her where she thinks the Saw franchise sits in the history of film franchise, and she said "Were #1... we got the record for most money made, so that's that." That's not really what I meant... your movies came out years after other franchises when ticket prices were higher and in an era where Horror films are revered and promoted, not regaled to a small amount of screens. Of course you will make more money. I wanted to know how SHE felt about HER FRANCHISE stacked up. Neither would answer ANY QUESTIONS about the upcoming movie. The whole panel was kinda meh... until the press lady called "Last Question". Some kid asked Elwes the question of the day: "Cary... how many times have you been asked about the Princess Bride today?". This brought a smile to Elwes face, and made everyone laugh. He said its an honor to be revered for a film that came out so long ago and he really appreciates all the fans of Wesley and the rest of the Princess Bride crew. The panel concluded, and Russell and Elwes moved into the other room. Next up, Costas Mandylor & director Kevin Greutert.

Mandylor walked in wearing a Yankee jersey and Yankee skully, which automatically scored points in my book. Him and Greutert walked in laughing and smiling, and sat down ready to talk. The 2nd panel went much differently. Mandylor is refreshing to hear talk, as he curses and reveals some cool behind the scenes info. When I asked him his favorite movie in the series and his favorite kill, he was quick to answer and revealed that he loved Saw 5 cause of the direction his character took and the pendulum kill from Saw V as his faves. He also told some cool stories of how he is a jokester on the set and fucks with everybody that is in the traps in between takes. He said he kept tickling the kid on the table with the pendulum on his face, and the kid couldn't defend himself because he was strapped into the table to give the illusion of being cut in half. It was the kind of behind the scenes stuff you want to hear from a panel... not the blah stuff that came out in the first half. Greutert went on to provide lots of insightful tips about the film while at the same time nor revealing much. I especially liked how he described the use of 3-D in the flm and how it was made for a movie like Saw to use. I hope its as intriguing as he made t sound. He assured us that this was it, no more Saw fims... I don't know how I feel about this, since studios are greedy and will probably greenlight another one in the future. All in all, a much better panel than the first. Costas was even nice enough to take a picture with Sam and I. Saw 3-D opens next Friday, October 29th, and I am kinda excited since it was originally given a NC-17 rating and took 6 times to come in as an R. So its sure to be bloody and full of gore. Make sure you check it out, a perfect way to start the Halloween weekend!!!

2010 NYC Comic Con - Pics From The Show Room Floor - Part 2

Here you go... round 2!!!

Robert Kirkman, creator and writer of The Walking Dead & Mike D

***Please click "Read more" below for additional pics from the NYC Comic Con showroom floor***

CCD Interviews The Man Behind Black Dynamite, Director Scott Sanders

So all week long I have been regaling you guys with stories about the 2010 NYC Comic Con, one of our first major events that we were granted press passes to cover. There was so much going on and we tried our best to hit up all the things that interested us. Early on in the day Friday we walked past the Ape Entertainment booth and my heart almost stopped... I was staring at a Black Dynamite comic book!!!

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Now this is something I was really happy to see. If you read this blog, you know of my fascination with Black Dynamite. I freaking love that movie... and then fresh off the announcement that there would be a Black Dynamite Cartoon (we covered that here), we would also get some further adventures of every ones favorite Super Negro... and Surviving Slave Island??? Yup, I'm in. As I began to explain how excited I was to Sam, I realized he was not as enthusiastic as me. Immediately I knew why he wasn't as excited as me: He had not seen the movie. As we broke into a classic "What? You haven't seen it? What..." conversation, a gentleman behind the Ape Entertainment table interrupt us. He said "Hi guys, I'm Brent. If you want to have him watch the movie, why don't you guys stop by our panel tomorrow night. We are showing the whole movie plus 10 minutes of the cartoon." Holy. Fucking. Shit. I wasn't missing this for the world.

The whole next day was spent anticipating the 8pm Black Dynamite panel. Brent told us there would be a special give away and appearance, and I was wondering just who would be there. Would it be Cream Corn, Bullhorn, The Fiendish Dr Wu... or BD himself, Michael Jai White? When we got downstairs, come to find out that it was going to be the creative team speaking at the panel. Director Scott Sanders, musical editor and composer Adrian Young, and soundtrack supervisor Andres Torres of Wax Poetics. Now I was really psyched, cause we were about to get some real behind the scenes info, and I couldn't wait to hear what the guys had to say. Check out our footage of the actual panel here.

Once the panel was over, they went into 10 minutes of the Black Dynamite cartoon footage, which was phenomenal. Very over the top and crazy. Then the film was shown. I thought Sam was actually gonna have a heart attack from laughing so hard. The whole room was buzzing with laughter. After the film, they announced that Scott would be sticking around to sign some limited edition black & white variant covers of the #1 issue of Black Dynamite. Sweet. We waited to the end to ask Scott some questions as only my crazy ass could think of. Check out the video:

Very cool dude... and honest as hell. The fact that he looked up Moon Cricket in the dictionary proves his dedication to the racist comedy awesomeness that is Black Dynamite. Great dude, and he was even gracious enough to inscribe my #1 variant with "I thought I told you honkies in the CIA that Black Dynamite was out the game..." So Fucking Cool!!!

Scott also signed four copies of the #1 variant preview issue for you guys... the CCD readers!!! There were only 500 of these special covers made up, and it was strictly for the NYC Comic Con. All you have to do to win one is add your favorite Black Dynamite quote in the comment section below. The 4 best quotes will get the issues... Thanks to Scott Sanders for making such a great movie and being so cool to a couple of dudes with a small time (but up and coming!!!) blog and thanks to Brent and the whole Ape Entertainment team for the extra books and tickets to the screening. I can't wait till the BD cartoon and comic book come out!!! 



CCD Sits Down With Oscar Nominated Director Tomm Moore

A definite highlight of my weekend at the 2010 NYC Comic Con was meeting and interviewing director Tomm Moore. While you may not be familiar with his name (that is sure to change!), you have probably heard of his Oscar nominated animated film The Secret of the Kells. Now if you haven't heard of The Secret of the Kells... well, then you must have been living under a rock last year. It was the story of the Oscar season and some thought it might have given Pixar's Up a run at best animated feature. I had heard great stuff about this imported feature, so I took my ass down to the Village and caught a screening of it at one of the independent theaters... and my mind was blown. I even wrote a suggestion to go see the film way back in March. Kells is one of the greatest cartoon/animated features I had ever seen, bar none. Imagine my surprise when I received an email asking if I would like to interview the man behind the camera and story... I made it the cornerstone of my weekend!

I caught up with Tomm at the New Video booth, and we sat down to tape an interview. He was a very cool guy and we jumped right in. Tomm was cool enough to show us some pages from the online graphic novel on his Ipad, talk about what its like to have this much success his first time out the box, and lots of more interesting topics. Check it out here:



What a great interview. I can not wait for Tomm's next project, because if Kells is any indication of what he can do than this is just the beginning of a wonderful career for him. You can catch the Secret of the Kells on Netflix Instant Streaming or you can buy it on Blu-Ray/DVD by going to the New Video online store or wherever else movies are sold. You can also get the digital comic there as well. Make sure you also check out Tomm's blog, The Blog of The Kells and also check out the Cartoon Saloon page as well. Thanks for the interview Tomm... and if you haven't seen the movie yet, what are you waiting for? It gets the CCD stamp of approval... now watch it!!!

Meet Andi & Her Worry Woo Monsters...

As we walked the floor of the 2010 NYC Comic Con, we were looking for some really cool stuff to bring you guys here on CCD. Now sure, there was plenty going on at the Marvel, DC, and other large companies booths, but we wanted to get the stuff you never heard of out to you guys. As I walked past the Worry Woo booth, I knew I had to stop. At first glance, the monsters of the Worry Woo universe were enough to get me interested. These characters unique design and bright colors instantly drew my attention. But then once I met creator and artist Andi, I was completely sold on the line. Each monster represents a different emotion & has a beautiful book to tell the story of that emotion. Check out our interview with Andi in which she chats with CCD about how she came up with the Worry Woo's, what their purpose is, what comics she loves (a very suprising and impressive list!!!) and why she thinks no one can fill Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman suit. Check it out:

Very cool... Sandman and Bone as some of her favorite comics??? Thats amazing. Andi was super sweet and nice enough to give us some books to share with our families. When I asked her to sign mine, sh kind have looked at me and laughed. I guess she was shocked at my request, but this is Comic Con and if I can get the signature of the creator... well, I'm getting it!!! You can see more of Nola, Rue, Fuddle, Squeek, Wince, and Twitch (the monsters) by checking out the Worry Woo website here. Not only do they sell all the books and plush toys on the site, but they also link you to all the news stories that have been written about the Worry Woo line. We wish Andi and the rest of the Worry Woo family all the best... make sure you check back, cause more monsters will be coming in the future.

Check Out The Black Dynamite Panel From The NYC Comic Con 2010

Check out these really cool videos featuring Black Dynamite director Scott Sanders, music editor & composer Adrian Young, and Andres Torres of Wax Poetics, who oversaw thee soundtrack. These guys are the ones who brought the flavors of the film together from behind the camera and reveal some intresting tidbits about the behind the scenes events. I think Black Dynamite is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen... and honestly, so do the critics. It currently has an 85% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a hell of alot better than a bunch of other movies. Not bad for a movie with hardly no big screen release and strictly word of mouth promotion. If you haven't seen it yet, it is available on Blu-Ray or DVD, or on Netflix Instant Streaming. Enjoy the panel clips, and tell us what your favorite Black Dynamite line is in the comment section below.







Check back tommorow for our One on One interview with Scott Sanders... CCD gets the scoops son!!!

Bryan J.L. Glass Presents Large Scale Action On A Very Small Scale

At the recent 2010 NYC Comic Con we had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Bryan J.L. Glass, writer of the Harvey Award winning comic series The Mice Templar, as well as many other titles. Bryan was situated at the Image booth, and upon walking past and seeing him I had to get a conversation with him. Check out the video of the interview:




Bryan was such a breath of fresh air to talk to... he seemed like such a happy dude who was genuinely proud of his project and greatful to meet anyone willing to peruse his table. The next day I actually brought him my copy of the Mice Templar graphic novel and he signed it for me, and he sketched a picture of the series leading character Karic (all this despite the fact that he IS NOT the artist who draws the books). I was so impressed by his rendering that I brought him my father/son sketchbook I am putting together for my son Mikey and he drew me a sick version of Zombie Cat from the Mice Templar Vol 2.2 Destiny pt. 2. Not only did he draw it, it was phenomenal!!! You can get more information about the Mice templar series by checking out the official page by clicking here. You can also check out some of Mr. Glass's other series by checking out his work for Marvel Comics, the Valkyrie one shot (already out) and the new mini series Thor: First Thunder (just hit stores this month), which is a 5 issue mini series that will be retelling the story of Thor's first year on Earth. Think of it as Batman: Year One for the God of Thunder. Also, make sure you pick up The Mice Templar Vol #1: Prophecy, Vol#2.1 Destiny Part 1, Vol#2.2 Destiny Part 2, and the upcoming Vol #3: A Midwinters Nights Dream, which is coming out in December. you can also follow Bryan on Twitter, his username is @BJLG. Thanks for the talks and drawings Bryan... see you again!!!

2010 NYC Comic Con - Pics From The Show Floor - Part #1

When CCD hit the 2010 NYC Comic Con, the team had cameras in hand, ready to capture every geek-filled moment for all our loyal readers who couldn't make it. Here are some of the pics that Mike D, Sam, Tommy L, Jeff Bond, Kristen Grillo and Briana Melendez took for your viewing pleasure... I hope you enjoy!!!

*** Click read more below to see more pics from the showroom floor***

Skelton Crew Studios Brings The Weapons (And Much More) Of Your Favorite Movies & Comics To Life

One of the coolest moments of the 2010 NYC Comic Con was the day Sam and I happened down a row of Artists Alley and came across the Skelton Crew Studios table. Israel Skelton was there displaying his art... but unlike most of the other artists in the area, his art were not drawings. No, his art was much more 3-D and practical. You see, Israel is a sculptor and he uses his talents to replicate some of his (and ours!!!) favorite weapons and props from the movies and comics. I use the word "replica" lightly... cause these things were no fake versions that just look like the original. Oh no, these things were heavy as shit and sturdy, and I could have probably knocked the shit outta somebody like the Thunder God himself with Skelton's replica Mjolinr (Thor's Hammer). He also had Thunderstrike's mace and Hellboy's gun, The Samaritan, on display. Check out this interview we did with Israel here:

Very cool stuff, and a very cool guy. I especially like the Key replicas he is making from the Locke & Key comic book series. Those books are written by Stephen King's son, Joe Hill, and are critically acclaimed (and fan approved as well!!!). The book series is about to be adapted into a TV show, so stay tuned for more details on that!!! You can buy lots of the cool stuff that Israel and The Skelton Crew staff have to offer by clicking on there website here. Thanks for the interview Israel, and keep up the good work!!!

Captain America: Super Soldier... Wow, Just Wow!!!

If the upcoming Captain America movie is anywhere nearly as good as the new Captain America: Super Soldier game from Sega is... well, then we should all be some pretty happy fanboys and girls. Even though the movie and game will not be released until 2011, the guys over at Sega had a playable demo available at their booth during the 2010 NYC Comic Con. We were lucky enough to get a 15 minute hands on experience of the game with a Sega staffer taking us through the game. Check out the video of this unbelievable looking game:



The fluidity of the Captain and the athleticism that he displays is just amazing, and the combos that he was unleashing on those Hydra agents looked like they were pulled right off the comic book page. And what about that slow down, face mask cracking super punch??? Wow... just wow. The game will be epic in scope, and will not follow the exact storyline of the movie. We were assured that many of the traditional cast of characters from Cap's history will make appearances. Expect to see Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Arnim Zola, Hydra, and maybe even Bucky.. our good friends over at Sega would not confirm this, but they did not deny any of that either!!! Check back here at CCD for more updates on both the Captain America: Super Soldier video game and Captain America: The First Avenger movie in the coming months. What did you guys think of the game play in the video??? Let us know in the comment section below.

Good Game TV: A Streaming Site With Alot More To Offer Then Just The Movies...

We had a chance to catch up with the guys from Good Game TV at the recent 2010 NYC Comic Con, and boy were we blown away by what they have to offer on their site. Anytime I see a poster advertising Tokyo Gore Police and Ichi the Killer available for streaming, my interest is automatically peaked. Bryan took a few minutes out of the hecticness that was the Good Game TV booth to explain some of the virtues of GGTV over other streaming sites. Check it out:



So there you go... not only do you get access to a huge library of films including obscure and hard to find genre, foreign, and anime/animated titles... you get ALL THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE BLU-RAY/ DVD!!! This is where Netflix Instant Streaming and all the rest of the streaming sites fall short, because you get the movies and thats that. Here you get all the extras, commentary tracks, and multiple versions of the films... if they are on the real discs, the features are yours. Make sure you check out Good Game TV (you can do so by clicking here) and if you needed anymore reasons, try this: If you act now, your first rental is totally free!!! Get over there right now and start your account... and tell em Mike D & CCD sent ya!!!