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Axe Cop is one of the biggest success stories from the world of web comics. Who knew that a story told by a 5 year old and illustrated by his 29 year old brother would be so popular? If you are not familiar with Axe Cop, it is a comic series about a cop who uses a fireman’s axe to chop crime to pieces and often rides a tyrannosaurus rex. It is full of the randomness, plot twists, and robot moon battles that you would expect from the mind of a little boy. In other words, it is ridiculously entertaining. Fox agrees and decided that Axe Cop would make the perfect cartoon for Animation Domination HD, a new block of late night cartoons that is supposed to draw viewers away from Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.

Yeah, I think I’d watch this.

Neither Malachai Nicolle, the young writer, or Ethan Nicolle, the artist, aren’t Seth MacFarlane, so it is a little surprising that their work will be on Fox. I thought MacFarlane had some sort of monopoly on animated airtime there. Either way, it will be interesting to see how the sudden twists and turns of Axe Cop will fit into animated airtime. I am especially curious to see how long episodes will be. I feel like 15 minute episodes in the vein of Aqua Teen Hunger Force would be the way to go if the Axe Cop television show stays as random as the comics. That kind of manic story jumping could grow wearisome if it went on for a full 30 minutes every episode, as those longer episodes usually require a bit more of a structured story element to keep the audience interested. Too much structure would rob Axe Cop of its unique charm, so Fox will definitely be walking a fine line with the development of this series.

I also wonder if Fox is scouting other web comics to turn into animated series. The popular web comic Least I Could Do has been working on putting together an animated series for quite a while now, and the adult humor in that strip would certainly fit a late night cartoon block. If I was to choose one web comic to become an ongoing television series, my vote would have to go to Anthony Clark’s Nedroid comics. 15 minute episodes of Beartato and Reginald being random and lovable would be the best thing ever. Basically a grown up Adventure Time without having to grow up.

Go read about Beartato if you like being happy.

Tonight saw the end of the second season of The Walking Dead on AMC. I’m going to keep this recap spoiler free, but wow. Things definitely started to get serious towards the end of this season.

R.I.P. to season 2 of The Walking Dead

When the first episodes premiered there were quite a few complaints, even ones from myself, that the story was moving at an excruciatingly slow place. It seemed like there were entire episodes where nothing of note really happened, and we were lucky to get a glimpse of an actual zombie. It even started to become a bit of a running joke among fans to treat every minor event as a huge plot twist to emphasize the slow pace of the story. I am now convinced that this was done on purpose to lull us into a false sense of security so they could hit us with shocker after shocker in the second half of the season. We were certainly not at a lack for action towards the end of this season!

And they didn’t run out of delicious human flesh.

In fact, there was almost too much action towards the end of the season. Those who have read the comics know that some of the dramatic events that happened were actually toned down from what happened in the comics. At first I was slightly disappointed that these events weren’t quite as hardcore as in the comics, but now that I think about it, this was the best way to do this. In the comics, major events are split up with several issues in between each one. The way that all these events happened one after the other on the show made it so they had to be toned down a little bit or else it could have easily become a bit overwhelming for viewers. Obviously the people behind the show know what they are doing.

What’s really amazing to me is how off-guard some of the twists caught me. I have been reading The Walking Dead comics since they came out, overall the television series has been following the storyline of the comics. It hasn’t been exact of course, and many new stories have been told on the show, but some of the events have taken me completely by surprise. These occurrences never happened in the comics, and are so drastically different that it makes me wonder just how different the future of The Walking Dead show will be than the comic books. Some characters from the show have stuck around longer than expected, some shorter than expected, and some haven’t even appeared at all. I honestly have no idea what to expect from the show anymore, and I love it.

In season 3 we find out that Hershel was a vampire all along.

The Walking Dead has had an amazing second season, a must buy when it comes out on DVD, and tonight’s season finale made sure we would be coming back for more. We also finally got the first glimpse of a fan favorite character! Season 3 comes out this fall and I can’t wait!

There have been a lot of shows, and cartoons based on comic book characters over the years, but none match Batman: The Animated Series. This Saturday morning children’s cartoon brought forth what might be the most iconic image of Batman to date. Gone was any trace of the goofy Adam West Batman, the kind that might have been expected to target a younger audience, and the dark and brooding detective was thrust into the spotlight. In fact, this cartoon version of Batman was so dark at times that it was easy to forget that this was a show meant for kids.

A show meant for kids. Mature kids.

Much of the humor in the show was quite mature, with subtle quips between Batman and Alfred or one-liners tossed by various villains. There were love triangles, death threats, kidnappings, and all sorts of material that wouldn’t usually be associated with a children’s show. One episode, Off Balance, even featured assassins gassing themselves and convulsing until it appeared they had committed suicide. Only Batman’s report to Commissioner Gordon that the assassins had simply erased their memories proved otherwise, but it was still a strong visual with close-ups on lifeless eyes. It was this overall atmosphere that Batman: TAS created that made it stand out. The animation was superb, creating a whole new style known as Dark Deco, where backgrounds were actually drawn on black paper to create the setting for Gotham City. Even the music set new standards. Danny Elfman created the theme music, and there was an actual orchestra that played all of the background music. Seeing the attention to detail involved with every aspect of this series, it is no wonder that it is still just as enjoyable as it was when it first came out.

Batman: The Animated Series also taught me everything I know about relationships.

The innovation and daring of everybody who put this show together, from producers Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski to writers Paul Dini and Michael Reaves, have made it stand out among all the other superhero cartoons that have been made. Batman: TAS had a great mix of original episodes and stories based off of the actual Batman comics. The episode Joker’s Favor was actually the first appearance of Harley Quinn, now a staple in Batman’s Rogues Gallery. The amazing voice talent brought that and the rest of the great stories to life. Kevin Conroy is the voice of Batman, that’s all there is to it. His deep and gravelly voice was so perfect for the role that they had to bring him back to do voice-over work for the Arkham Asylum and Arkham City video games. The same goes for Mark Hamill. He might be best known as Luke Skywalker, but his portrayal of the Joker was brilliant. All of these elements added up to the single greatest superhero cartoon I have had the pleasure of watching. Unfortunately, much of what made Batman: TAS great wouldn’t be allowed on television these days, at least not for a kids’ show. It is hard to see a Batman cartoon getting put in a prime time television slot next to shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons, but that’s really the only way that a Batman cartoon to rival Batman: TAS could be done. The unfortunate truth is that we will probably never get to see another Batman show of that quality, but luckily we have the Christopher Nolan films to fall back on.

AMC has gotten a pretty nerdy following recently. The Walking Dead is a big part of this, and AMC has apparently realized that comic books and the people who read them are awesome. Also we are now a powerful demographic to be targeted by everyone! Our time has finally come! Moving on from that rush of power, let’s talk about AMC’s newest show: Comic Book Men. The basic premise is watching a bunch of nerds hang out in their comic book shop, talk comics and collectables, and show the cool stuff that people bring into the store. Also. it’s Kevin Smith’s comic book shop. Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.

There are plenty of anti-Kevin Smith folks out there, but I am a fan of most of his work. While his refusal to pay attention to any sort of deadlines with his comic book work is infuriating, I still find Kevin Smith to be a very entertaining individual. That made me pretty optimistic about Comic Book Men, but I was surprised to find that I found the employees in his shop to be a better and bigger part of the show than him. Bryan, a former manager at a different branch of Smith’s comic book stores, isn’t technically an employee anymore, but he hangs around the shop and has quickly become my favorite part of the show. His sardonic wit, often at the expense of Ming, left me laughing several times throughout the premier episode. The back and forth between everybody on the show, and their willingness to tease their customers, make for a fun show that leaves me excited for the next episode.

One thing I’d like to see more of is the stuff that people bring to trade into the shop. The first items brought in were pretty cool, with issue #35 of Batman and an original sketch by Batman creator Bob Kane. Unfortunately the quality of the stuff brought in dropped off sharply after that. It is hard to be interested in a folded up Australian movie poster for Dawn of the Dead. Hopefully some more awesome stuff will be brought in during later shows. Overall, I was very pleased with Comic Book Men and highly recommend that you check it out if you missed the premier.

While I love The Walking Dead, I hate that they took this mid-season break. How was I supposed to get mentally scarred on Sundays without Rick and the gang taking on little girl zombies? Thank goodness that the wait is nearly over. The Walking Dead will be returning with new episodes tomorrow night on AMC! It has been far too long since we’ve been able to see a good old zombie apocalypse in action. Check out AMC’s trailer for tomorrow’s big event:

Yes, this looks awesome. What that trailer didn’t focus on is the great relationships building up between the various characters on the show. This is a mistake, considering that Valentine’s Day is coming up on the 14th. We should celebrate the love between Glenn and Maggie, Shane and being a dick, zombies and succulent human flesh. The good folks over at someecards.com didn’t forget that fact and have created some great Walking Dead themed Valentine’s Day cards. Here are two, you can check the rest out on someecards.

A short time ago, we heard rumors that DC was working on a live action Green Arrow show for the CW. We’ve heard plenty of rumors about DC trying out various obscure characters (Deadman, Raven), and the closest we’ve seen to a project being picked up was the failed Wonder Woman pilot. A few weeks later, we already have our Green Arrow. It’s…… this guy!

He needs to work on his goatee.

Yeah! This guy! Who is “This Guy”, you ask? Why Stephen Amell, known for his appearances on….the Vampire Diaries and 90210. Okay, so that’s not the most confidence inspiring resume for DC’s goatee-sporting hero. Regardless, the guy is basically an unknown property, so who knows? It could go either way with him. Then again, everything about this project is still up in the air.

Why might this project get picked up where something like Wonder Woman failed? Wonder Woman has always been a tricky character to tackle, and was also fighting for a spot on a huge network. CW has been a home for shows like these for some time now, and there isn’t the same pressure for huge numbers and mass appeal.

I guess I was the only one to find this appealing.

I’m surprisingly excited for a Green Arrow TV show. He’s not my favorite character and I’m not expecting a riveting drama, but there is certainly room for an interesting story following Oliver Queen’s early career. I’m curious to see how they incorporate Queen’s social crusading. Green Arrow really found his place when he began taking up social causes, and it makes him a much more unique hero. He can tackle issues that ground the series more in reality and, as long as the show isn’t too heavy handed, can add some real depth to the character.

Things got pretty intense during the half-season finale of The Walking Dead. It was so crazy that we actually needed a half season finale and the ensuing time off just to let our minds recuperate from what we saw. The producers of The Walking Dead also realized that the astounding turn of events might have been a little too much for us viewers to handle. As a result, you can expect the second half of the season to be quite a bit different than the first half. Radically different. Take the newly tooled intro to The Walking Dead as an example of what to expect from the second half of the season:

Thankfully that is just a hilarious parody made over at MovieWeb. You can still expect to see all the gory zombie kills and shocking plot twists that you have grown accustomed to.

Boo!

Warner Bros owns the rights to lots of DC characters, which allows them to do some fun things with their other properties. One of the best shows they have put out is Looney Tunes. Characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are always entertaining, and adding in superhero references just makes them that much more entertaining. Take this little clip as an example:

We can all agree that Daffy Duck would be a terrible Batman. It turns out that Daffy has impersonated other heroes besides the Dark Knight. In fact, there has been a whole episode featuring Daffy Duck as a Green Lantern. Usually television shows will hint at a character impersonating another character with rhyming names and similar costume designs, but not this time. Daffy Duck wears a Green Lantern costume, references Spider-Man by name, and fights alongside Kilowog on Oa. Actually, there are a number of lesser known Green Lantern Corps members featured in this episode. Yes, it is as awesome as it sounds. Some kind YouTube user has actually uploaded the episode. I highly recommend you check it out, Green Lantern fans won’t be disappointed.

The CW had a pretty good run with Smallville. I didn’t watch it, but from what I’ve heard it was kind of a mix of Superman and the O.C. as Clark Kent learns how to pick up girls with his powers or something. Not my cup of tea, but apparently lots of people enjoyed it considering it was around for 10 seasons. According to MTV, CW is close to ordering a pilot for a series featuring another DC superhero, Green Arrow. Presumably this show will follow Oliver Queen as he goes from being that douchey rich kid to a crime fighter trying to grow his first goatee.

I am not a big fan of Green Arrow, but I know there are people who are. If CW plans on sticking with their dramatic Smallville formula, then Green Arrow seems like a pretty smart character to base a show around. He has always been one of the more emotional and dramatic heroes in the DC Universe, so using a teenage version of him should provide lots of story lines. I don’t foresee Green Arrow’s lack of super powers to be a problem because Batman. That one word nullifies any argument about superheroes needing to have super powers other than large bank accounts and cool gadgets. The CW seems to be more interested in feelings than epic super powered smack downs anyway. It will be interesting to see if CW goes forward with this show and how it turns out. Smallville had the benefit of everybody knowing who Superman is. Green Arrow is a lesser known hero, will he be able to make it on the CW?

G4 has been rolling out the comic inspired anime shows recently. They started out with Iron Man and Wolverine anime shows, and followed those two up with an X-Men show. Apparently these shows have been doing well enough to justify the creation of a new show, Blade. While I haven’t been very interested in the previous G4 comic book anime shows, I might just have to check out Blade when it premieres in January. If there is one thing that I can enjoy in an anime it is violence, and a show about a perpetually pissed off vampire hunter is sure to provide a lot of that.

Killing vampires and evading taxes, that’s what Blade does.

I must admit that I have only watched a couple episodes of the Iron Man and Wolverine shows on G4, and none of the X-Men, and I wasn’t a huge fan of what I saw. It’s definitely a different style than many fans are used to, but I can see the appeal it has to some. The animation is very good, highly detailed, and looks great from scene to scene. I guess enough people have been tuning in to watch these shows for Marvel to take a bit of a risk with giving a lesser known character a show. Yes, Blade has had some movies made, but the last one was made in 2004 and didn’t exactly set the cinematic world on fire. Either way, if you like seeing vampires get chopped up into little vampire pieces, tune into G4 on Friday, January 13th for the premier of Blade.