Welcome to LIGHTSABER DAYS here at ONCE UPON A GEEK! This week we’re going to feature some fan-produced films of lightsaber battles!  There are zillions out there on the web, but these are few of my favorites.

Today’s film is Ryan vs. Dorkman.  This fan-made film is really fantastic!  I’m seriously impressed with the choreography, effects, and story.  The best part is there are no embarrassing scenes of them pretending to be Jedi or Sith. They are just regular guys on modern Earth having a battle using Jedi weapons and powers. Really cool stuff. Enjoy!

If you can’t view the embedded video above, please click here.  Come back tomorrow to see their re-match!

BBC America ran a special Doctor Who teaser recently just for us folks here in the United States!  Check it out below!

Yee-haw!  And if you missed the complete trailer for next season, check it out below.

It looks soooo good!  I can’t wait for next season!  Geronimo!

Oh yeah, Happy New Year too!

The Eleventh Doctor locked in a life or death struggle with Doctor Doom as the Fantastic Four and Amy Pond look on helplessly!

Here is the inked version before coloring.

I couldn’t resist posting this insanely awesome picture here!  Drawing by Dan McDaid with colors by Dean Trippe.  Found via HeroPress.net.

Long-time readers of ONCE UPON A GEEK may recall I’m a big fan of Norman Rockwell.  My good buddy Ravenface recently directed me to a wonderful Norman Rockwell tribute by John Byrne done in 2007.  This is a homage to Rockwell’s famous “Runaway” painting.  Check out the inked work below, and further down is a color version from Back Issue #38.

Simply fantastic (pun intended).

Listen up folks!  I recently appeared on three, count ‘em THREE, Christmas-themed podcasts.  Sorry I didn’t get this posted before Christmas, but now you can listen to these holiday-spirited podcasts without all the pressure of gift-buying and annoying relatives.

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Chick here for the VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX 2010 Christmas episode! Michael Bailey and I chat for nearly two hours of holiday cheer. We discuss three or so Christmas comics as well as some Christmas movies and why Mike may have to turn in his man card. Also, listen for the zany Scrooged/Superman connection!

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THE GEOFF JOHNS PODCAST hosted a two-part Christmas special entitled, “A Few of My Favorite Things”!  To drum up a little Christmas cheer, Kevin Cushing gathered a group of his favorite podcasters to talk about some favorite Geoff Johns stories. We also discuss what it might be like if Geoff wrote some Marvel books like Spider-Man and Iron Man. Kevin’s guests included: Brad Douglas, George Berryman, Josh Bertone, Zach “Spideydude” Joiner, and myself.  With this group you know there are plenty of entertaining tangents to be had (such as a discussion of the spinoffs from M*A*S*H, and YES there was more than one).

• Click here for part 1 of THE GEOFF JOHNS PODCAST Christmas special
• Click here for part 2 of THE GEOFF JOHNS PODCAST Christmas special

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Click here for THOMAS’ PREROGATIVE Christmas Special! Thomas “Primetime” Matis hosted a holiday podcast featuring Michael Bailey (VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX), Chris Honeywell (TWO TRUE FREAKS), myself, and legendary voice actor Kyle Hebert. So sit down at your fireplace with your loved ones and some hot cocoa as we entertain you for a couple of hours.

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My thanks to Michael Bailey, Kevin Cushing, and Thomas Matis for inviting me to share the holidays with them. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

We here at ONCE UPON A GEEK wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas Eve!  To help celebrate, please enjoy some holiday-themed comic book covers!

• 25 Santa Claus comic book covers
• 23 holiday season covers
• A few more holiday season covers

Merry Geekmas!

THE BOOK

DC Comics: The 75th Anniversary Poster Book contains 100 of the most important, most beautiful, and most bizarre DC Comics covers ever.  These oversized covers span from the classic Action Comics #1 (1938) to modern tales such as Batman: RIP (2008).  One of the coolest features of this book are the perforated pages.  These 11″ x 14″ covers are ready to be torn out and hung up anywhere you like!

The backside of each poster features another two covers (each about trading card size) that relate in someway to the poster.  So you really get 300 covers with this book!  Also on the backside is commentary about the cover, and often quotes from the artists themselves.

THE COVERS

The covers in this book run the gamut from iconic to outlandish.  Here you’ll find the first Silver Age appearance of the Justice Society in Justice League of America #21.  Just a few pages earlier were sinister snowmen invading the Earth in Strange Adventures #79.  Below are few of my favorite covers from this collection.  Please note the images below were not scanned from the poster book.  These images came from the Grand Comics Database.  The poster book is so large, I couldn’t fit it on my scanner.  The images in the poster book are much cleaner than these.

Below is a great shot of Batman! Very impressive cover design for 1939!

This Wonder Woman/Miss Santa Claus cover will help you get in the spirit!

The Challengers of the Unknown were so friggin’ cool!  Great cover!

This next one definitely falls in the “outlandish” category!

Ahhh… romance comics!  Always the most ridiculous, but hilarious, covers!

This next cover is seriously bizarre.

Here comes some breathtaking Neal Adams artwork!  Looks even better on a poster!

Nothing says “awesome 80s” like Perez’s New Teen Titans!

Such a clever Wonder Woman cover by Adam Hughes!

Up next are a couple Brian Bolland covers.  He is truly a master!

The book features some Vertigo titles, such as: Fables, Preacher, Y: The Last Man, Hellblazer, 100 Bullets, and more!

THE REVIEW

I simply adore this book!  It was love at first sight!  The cover design cleverly focuses on the insignias (rather than the faces) of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, proving just how iconic their heroic symbols are.  The oversized format provides a fantastic opportunity to admire this truly gorgeous artwork.  It’s evident the publisher labored over each cover to ensure the reproduction was sharp and the colors vivid. Did the book contain every one of my favorite DC covers?  No, however, it had many of my favorites along with tons of excellent ones I wouldn’t have thought to include.  Finally, the commentary on the reverse of each poster is entertaining and informative.  It really is a complete package.

I highly recommend this book to any fan of DC Comics or comic-related posters.  It’s well worth the money.  It’s not too late to pick up this gem for the geek on your Christmas shopping list.  Alternatively, wait for the after-Christmas sales and pick up a copy for yourself!

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My thanks to Quirk books for sending me a copy for review.

Here is a cute Foxtrot cartoon to get you in the spirit…

Thanks to Lore (the irredeemable brother) and his son for sending this to me!

I recently picked up a copy of The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.  I read his book The Accidental Time Machine and really enjoyed it.  Apparently The Forever War is his masterpiece.

Here is the description from Wikipedia:

The Forever War (1974) is a science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story of soldiers fighting an interstellar war between humanity and the enigmatic Tauran species. The pithy, insightful explorations of the inhumanity of war and of bureaucracy, and of the psychological effects resulting from time dilation space travel (a soldier returns home after centuries away), won the Nebula Award in 1975, and the Hugo and the Locus awards in 1976.

Inside the book are two pages of quotes praising this novel.  And I’m not talking podunk newspapers, these are big time names such as: William Gibson, Greg Bear, Cory Doctorow, Stephen King, and more.  It may be a little while until I can start on this book, but I’m really looking forward to it!

Anyone else miss discount comic boxes?  Remember when you’d go into a comic book store and troll through the 25 cent or 50 cent bins?  I’d spend hours and hours pouring over those boxes trying to fill in collections or find new books to try.  That’s where I found most of my Bronze Age gems like All-Star Comics #58-74 starring the JSA.

Seems nowadays those discount boxes are getting harder and harder to find.  Those I have found are now priced a dollar per comic and typically are packed with 1990s Superman comics.  And not the good ones.

Over Thanksgiving I stopped by Comic Central in Sanford, Florida.  They had a wonderful discount bin!  It was like those bins of yesteryear packed with Bronze Age gems and more recent interesting comics.  One particular comic I picked up was Super-Team Family #15 by Gerry Conway, Arvell Jones, and Romeo Tanghal.  Would I ever pay “price guide” value for this book?  NO WAY!  However, in the 25 cent box?  HECK YA!

Am I alone in my love for discount comic bins?  If you know of any well-stocked discount boxes at your local comic shops, please mention it in the comments.  Let’s give shout-outs to those awesome LCS’s that still provide this much beloved service.