Entertainment

The Beat is contractually not allowed to pay attention to video games, but the E3 convention just wrapped up and we'll just direct you...

This popped up somewhere in our RSS feed: The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guideby Doug Kline from popculturegeek.com. This self published guide is a small pocket-sized book that sells for $7 plus shipping and includes info on surviving the ordeal of a lifetime, or at least the month. BUt if you ask us, you don't really need a book to figure out most of this stuff:

You realize this movie doesn't even have all the great lines in the trailer??

The first time we mentioned Morgan Spurlock's upcoming documentary set at Comic-Con, both we and commenters were a bit skeptical that the casting call...

Yesterday video and photographic evidence of the Smurfs movie was released, and we're glad to see that New York City, the Beat's hometown, is once again the setting for the deeply profound story of alien-in-America and what we can learn about ourselves and others, especially when the others are small and blue.

Okay, we've restocked our load of piss and vinegar and we've loaded our shotgun for bear! UNTIL WE TELL IT, WE JUST CAN"T MOVE ON! My first "Complaints" post drew a bit of private praise, especially from those who welcomed a return to more pointed commentary. To which I say, I'd love to do more of it but I was literally up until dawn writing that first one (I'm ssslllooowww) and this one will take just as long. Especially since this time I"m taking on everyone's FAVORITE SUBJECTS: Race and gender. It's a good thing comics never talk about religion or we'd be here all night and day! And if I can predict one thing with dead certainty it's this: Gene PHillips will show up in the comments.

Welcome to a recap of the premiere episode of True Blood’s Season Three. I will be recapping episodes of True Blood for the Beat throughout Season Three. Read on and let it bleed in the comments section, bitches.

From various sources, great artists who like to do things their way, and have earned the right to do so. Plus, is it okay for R. Crumb to use the work of other, lesser cartoonists as scrap for his own work?

We didn't get a chance to cover Wizard World Philly this year, although Mike Manley promises his usual Babymen update, however as you can see from the above, as wrestler Lisa Marie Varon tweeted, it was a great chance for nerdlebrities to hang out.

It's been a while since we wrote about The Venture Brothers, our favorite psychoanalytical adventure satire cartoon, but the show's animatic editor, Thomas Bayne has organized an auction of Venture-related artwork, including storyboards, roughs and so on, with all proceeds benefitting Colbert Nation's Gulf of America Fund. Creator Jackson Publick writes:

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is in interesting entry in the world of long-form cinematic Batman stories for a few different reasons. First, it manages to do what the Tim Burton movies were unable to — make Bruce Wayne/Batman the protagonist of his own story. Second, it’s primarily a detective story as opposed to an action story. Third, at least half of the story is told in flashback, a parallel-action setup ambitious for an animated movie thought of as primarily for kids. Lastly, the story it tells is rather emotional and internal — Bruce/Batman broods a lot in this movie, even by his own standards. The action sequences feel perfunctory and tacked-on. The two that come to mind — a truck chase and the explosive finale — are poorly motivated and don’t advance the plot in any meaningful way.

A Scott Pilgrim video game is coming from Ubisoft later this year as a downloadable game for Xbox Live Arcade and PSN. The game has been created with a retro 16-bit look and a soundtrack by chiptune band Anamanaguchi. Rating: Awesome.