Well the very anticipated Fantastic Four #558 is and here and it’s a doozy.  And here I thought the last panel in issue 557 was a cliffhanger… that has nothing on this.  Spoilers after the break,

Turns out Dr. Doom was broken out of the Raft by a group calling themselves the “New Defenders” and broke away from them in time to seek help from the Fantastic Four before he was dragged away by said group.  Why they need Dr. Doom has yet to be seen, but just the fact that this group could so easily manipulate him says a lot about their power.

The Fantastic Four must be a part of their plans since two of the characters introduced by Millar recently have turned out to be sleeper agents.  Both Johnny and Ben’s new girlfriends are working for this group, which explains why Johnny’s was stealing so much, so she could help fund their secret lair.

There is also a mystery surrounding Franklin and Valeria’s new nanny Mrs. Deneuve.  She has a conversation in private with Valeria in which it is revealed that Valeria is actual a genius already, much like her father, but has been concealing it.  How this woman knew this already when her own father did not is a big question.

The biggest shock of the entire issue came at the end however when it is revealed that the New Defenders are being led by Doctor Banner aka the Hulk.  Now I don’t follow the Hulk’s books, but this just blew my mind.  What the hell is going on?

I particularly like the cover for this issue because unlike most comic book covers the thing on the front actually happens in this one.  Too many times have I picked up a book that shows something very exciting only to find out it couldn’t get more boring.  I also like the layout and how it differs from the usual fare, making it look more streamlined.

I do have a bit of a problem with the art direction in the recent issues.  Hitch’s drawing is just a little blah for my taste.  Nothing is really eye catching.  Maybe he’s trying to go for a more realistic approach.  I don’t hate it but I don’t love it either.  I will say that he draws a very good Dr. Doom and Hulk, however.

Now I’m even more anxious for the next issue than I was between this one and the last.  I’m very interested to see where this is all going, especially since this story arc is called “The Death of the Invisible Woman”.

Well, Hancock opened today to mixed reviews, leading many to question whether or not he will be able to challenge the successes of Iron Man, or the sure success of The Dark Knight.

Big Will has a knack for carrying big, bad action flicks to big bucks at the box office (I think Stan Lee just rolled over in his straight jacket), so I’m not ready to toss this film aside yet - I expect it to beat out Hellboy II, and maybe even Incredible Hulk, which is, after being on pace with its 2003 counterpart Hulk, finally pulling away, and earning more per day than the prequel-that-wasn’t-really-a-prequel-but-we-won’t-completely-pretend-never-happened.

For the sake of appearing like I did some form of research, let’s look at Entertainment Weekly’s set of predictions.

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $355.9 Million
2. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - $310.8 Million
3. Hancock - $280.4 Million
4. Wall*E - $280.3 Million
5. Iron Man - $262.7 Million
6. The Dark Knight - $255 Million
7. Kung Fu Panda - $224.6Million
8. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - $176.5 Million
9. The Incredible Hulk - $147.2 Million

Now, we all know Iron Man has jumped the $300 Million mark, bringing into question, when factoring in the negative reviews Hancock has begun to garner as of late, whether or not the Man of Steel’s knockoff can dethrone the man whose suit is technically a titanium alloy, or Even Indy, who, as of this morning, is at $300.1 Mill.

At least he has a chance at taking Prince Caspian now, which was about as successful as the Pet Rock.

Note: Anybody else think it’s funny EW predicted The Dark Knight would land somewhere between Iron Man and  Kung Fu Panda?

Will Metal Gear Solid 4 ever come out on the X-Box 360? It is a question on the lips of many people. I hope to tackle that question in this post and I will do so by breaking it down into two smaller questions. Should it happen? Will it happen?

My first question is much easier to answer. Should it happen? Of course it should. Now I know there are of lot of PS3 fanboys that had a joygasm the day MGS4 came out and that is understandable because having MGS4 as a PS3 exclusive is a big freakin’ deal. However there are some practical reasons why MGS4 should make its way to the 360.

No doubt that the 360 is definitely the dominant gaming console right now. To date, the number of 360 units sold far accedes the number of PS3 units sold. Simply put; more people own a 360. So releasing MGS4 on the 360 would do wonders for the game sales. The more people that buy the game the more money Konami can make and therefore the quicker they get to recouping the money spent on producing the game.

For me personally though a more important result of releasing MGS4 on 360 is that more people will get a chance to experience the game. MGS4 is such a masterpiece of a game that it should be experienced by every video gamer. A multi-system release would help that happen.

So we’ve determined that it should happen. But will it happen? That question is not easy to answer because there are many factors at play.

Game size, the number one factor people reference, is not as big a deal as some make it out to be. Simply put, MGS4 is a massively large game. It is so large in fact that even Sony’s Blu-Ray disc format couldn’t hold it in a conventional fashion. Thus Kojima’s team had to get creative and develop a system that installs data for each act of the game onto the console hard drive depending on which act is being played.

Seeing the lengths that had to be taken to fit the game onto on a Blu-Ray disc there is no chance that the game will fit on a smaller 360 game disc. The simple solution to this problem is multiple discs. The people who say size will prevent MGS4 from going to the 360 seem to forget that multiple discs per game has been a common occurrence in video games for many years now. Heck even the first Metal Gear Solid game was a two-discer. So the only real “problem” with the game size on 360 is that gamers will have to get off their kiester and switch a disc every now and then.

A more challenging a roadblock would be the ways in MGS4 directly incorporates key aspects of the PS3 into the game play. Case and point, two weapons in the game are manipulated by moving the sixaxis controller. Also there are in game references to the Sony consoles. Snake can be seen using a PS3 controller to control the Metal Gear Mk. II and Sunny can be seen playing a PSP during a briefing cutscene.

The PS3 elements present in MGS4 are not impossible to remove, but they would take some work. By no means is it just a simple case of porting over the code and once the game was transferred into a 360 format, it wouldn’t quite be the same game it originally was.

In the end, despite how much others and myself would love to see MGS4 on the 360 we can’t ignore the very obvious fact the MGS4 was built with the PS3 in mind. MGS4 is a PS3 game in the strongest sense of the term. It’s much like what Halo 3 is to 360. In fact that might just be the ideal way to look at this situation.

Think of it this way; you are just about as likely to see MGS4 on the 360, as you are to see Halo 3 on the PS3.

Now doesn’t that get ya thinking?

If there’s one thing I love it’s Rockstar Energy Drink.  Usually I stray away from flavors other than Original, but when I saw Rockstar Roasted sitting on the shelf in 7-Eleven I knew I had to give it a try.

I was a bit trepidacious purchasing Rockstar Roasted because I was having a hard time trying to imagine what Rockstar with coffee in it would taste like.  God knows I didn’t want to live through another Rockstar Juiced where I needed to stop myself from throwing up after every sip, so I decided on getting the Mocha flavor because I felt that out of the choices, that one would agree with me the most. It did.

The only similarity between Rockstar Roasted and Rockstar Original is the “Rockstar” in the title.  Rockstar Roasted tastes like it could really be any chilled coffee drink.  It costs the same as any other can of Rockstar, and compared to other coffee drinks you get more for your money.  If you’re just looking for the coffee taste in a beverage, I would say get this over a Starbucks product, especially the Double Shot Espresso which is very tiny.

I don’t think that I’ll buy this brand of Rockstar too frequently, but I’ll definitely have it again, and would recommend it to anyone interested in coffee drinks.

Michael Turner, the beloved artist and publisher who started Aspen MLT, and is known for runs on Witchblade and Batman/Superman, passed away June 27th.

Turner, who was discovered by Marc Silvestri at a convention. Co-creator of Witchblade, Turner lent his expertise to Marvel and DC as well, doing a slew of covers for Marvel and DC alike, as well as having brief stints on numerous DC books.

Turner passed away after years of battling chondrosarcoma, a form of cancer affecting bones and cartilage.

Friend Jeph Loeb may have put it best when he said “A nicer guy never lived. A better friend you could never want.”

We here at Press The Action Button wish to extend our condolences to Turner’s family and friends in this trying time.

While clicking around the Internet the other day I stumbled upon an interesting article at Yahoo.com.

It seems these last two years have not been so kind to Sony in regards to the PS3. To date Sony has lost a mind blowing 3.3 billion dollars on the console.

Now I like many others was a little taken aback when I first heard the original price of the PS3 back at its launch. As a result I waited and ended up getting a cheaper 40GB model at the beginning of this year. The whole time I was waiting to pick up the PS3 I assumed that the high price was the result of Sony just trying to ensure some degree of profit of the console. I had absolutely no idea that even with the high price; Sony was still selling the units way under production cost.

From a business standpoint selling any product for a cheaper price then the cost of production is risky and usually done on a short term basis with the hope of generating hype and in return more sales. While I can’t be sure, I speculate that Sony was hoping that biting the bullet and selling enough units at a price under the production cost would spark enough sales of the systems and games to start turning a profit in the immediate future.

But the fact PS3 is the least purchased next generation console is something I’m sure Sony higher-ups didn’t imagine would occur. While PS3 is definitely the most powerful console on the market, the simple fact is the 360 and Wii have a bigger following.

As bleak as things appear for Sony, I feel all hope is far from lost. The very same statistics that show the devastating lost also show that things are starting to look up. So far, the financial loss for this year is less then last years. Couple that with the ever expanding PS3 game library, which is finally starting to get some really heavy hitting exclusives, and it seems the PS3 might be on the verge of hitting it big.

As a proud PS3 owner I would like nothing more then to see the PS3 get the success it deserves. It is a marvelous piece of hardware and hopefully some time in the very near future, more people will realize that.

An interview with The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier at MTV Movie Blog sheds some interesting light on the Hulk’s cinema future. Will the Hulk be friend or foe to the Avengers? Well that’s up to the box office.

According to the interview, the ending to The Incredible Hulk was left vague intentionally for whoever is set to direct the Avengers movie to take whichever direction he/she wants with the character. Both Leterrier and star Edward Norton agree that the final shot of Banner smirking at the camera is up to interpretation and can be taken different ways. Perhaps Banner is smiling because he is starting to control the Hulk, or maybe he is smiling because he is starting to enjoy his destructive side. Leaving the ending intentionally nebulous allows the character to possibly become the enemy in the Avengers movie.

Leterrier says the decision for the Hulk to be good or bad should be up to the fans, but it is clear that the determining factor will be box office success. If The Incredible Hulk manages to be a success in some sense of the world then he will go on to The Incredible Hulk 2 and remain the good guy. If it under performs, however, the Hulk may end up being the Avengers nemesis.

Personally I would not mind seeing the Hulk be a villain in the Avengers movie, but I wouldn’t want him to be the sole enemy. I could see a little bit of the movie devoted to fighting the Hulk, and perhaps the Hulk could eventually “join” the Avengers and help them take down another foe. The Hulk was a founding member of the Avengers before he went on to pursue smash other things.

If The Incredible Hulk isn’t as successful as Marvel hopes and they do decide to make him an enemy I would suggest that in the Avengers movie they do what the Illuminati did in the comics and launch him into space. That would get rid of his character and they could pretend he never existed. Problem solved.

A prop, from the set of The Incredible Hulk, which has been sold.

Well, after beginning the process of selling off the Life Size Hulk Statues, Marvel has done it again, this time by selling off costumes and props made in their latest film, The Incredible Hulk, which has just crossed the $ 100 million mark.

Items that were or still currently for sale include a humvee from the schoolyard fight, Banner’s grey hooded sweatshirt and blue work jumpsuit, and, interestingly enough, a display case from the abandoned Marvel Theme Restaurant Marvel Mania Hollywood, which one could use to display their favorite Marvel memorabilia.

The film is, as of this post, now only barely edging out 2003 Hulk’s pace, and it appears Marvel has decided the best way to make back some of that giant budget for the film is to sell everything they possibly can.

There’s not doubt about it, superhero movies are absolutely huge right now. This summer alone we’re seeing Ironman, Hulk, Batman, and Hellboy all up on the big screen. Yet as I sit back and watch the success of superheroes movies I can’t help but wonder why DC isn’t taking full of advantage of the situation.

See it’s not an opinion, but fact that Marvel is producing the most superhero films and with those films they are showcasing a wide variety of their vast character library.

On the other hand you have DC’s movies which to date have focused exclusively on the two biggest icons in their library, Batman and Superman. Now that is all well and good but why aren’t the other DC heroes getting some love? It seems to me there is an largely held assumption that all DC heroes other then Batman and Superman are “B” heroes. But you can ask any DC fan and they will happily tell you just how wrong that assumption is.

Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman, they are all iconic heroes that have criminally not gotten a motion picture to call their own.

In trying to understand DC’s lack of superhero movies it’s worth mentioning that Marvel’s ability to produce so many movies in the last couple years has been largely due to their practice of using multiple studios. By selling the rights of individual characters to different studios, it has allowed for a bigger quantity of movies to be made but with the side effect of losing some degree of creative control.

For DC, all their movies are done through one studio, that of course being Warner Brothers. Just from a practical and finical standpoint Warner Brothers alone cannot match the production of superhero movies that Marvel has managed by outsourcing.

But recently the playing field has changed. With “Ironman” Marvel saw the release of it’s first fully financed film. The release of “Ironman” is actually the first step in a larger plan that builds up to an Avengers movie. With the release of “The Incredible Hulk”, Marvel has continued to pursue their self financed “Avenger Movie Series”, a series of films utilizing various Marvel superheroes and centered around one connected film universe.

Seeing what Marvel has begun to undertake voids a once legitimate excuse DC had for not producing enough superhero movies. If Marvel can manage to produce multiple movies under it’s own banner, then Warner Brothers has no reason not to step it up and start banging out quality DC superhero movies. And step it up they should because as before stated, superhero movies are absolutely huge right now.

Earlier in this post I rattled off a few DC character names. Those names are but a few of the many characters in the DC universe. So many characters equals so many possibilities. Warner Brothers is the extremely fortunate position of sitting on a film potential goldmine. In having exclusive control of an entire comic book universe, Warner Brothers has a near endless supply of stories to tell. All stories of which come with a built in audience that’s eager with anticipation. Warner Brothers is absolutely crazy to miss the boat on this superhero film phenomenon.

They owe it to the fans and they owe it to the heroes.

Those of you who have read our previous fruit flavored snack review know our feelings about The Amazing Spider-Man fruit flavored snacks. Well we decided to try out Batman fruit flavored snacks, read more after the break:

For some strange reason we assumed that the Batman fruit flavored snacks would taste different in some way. But then we remembered that they are both by Betty Crocker, maker of such products as cake mix. Turns out, they’re exactly the fucking same. No difference in taste, or even flavors, at all.

In fact, there are many striking similarities. For instance, the covers prove to be extremely similar. Take a look yourselves…

Or the backs of the boxes…

Betty Crocker, why can’t you make these fruit flavored snacks taste as different as the characters on the box? You make such delicious cake mixes, and frankly, I’m surprised Marvel hasn’t sued you for your improper portrayal of Spider-man as less badass when compared to Batman, and making the two taste the same. Based on the packaging, Batman looks much cooler - with his arms outstretched, ready to kick some ass. Spider-Man’s box just don’t have the same edge to it.

The simple fact is Batman and Spider-Man are different heroes and as such should have different tastes about them. It would be nice to be able to say “Gee, I could really go for something Batman flavored” and then have the satisfaction of eating a snack with a taste developed especially for The Dark Knight. But no, we can’t have that satisfaction because every time we look at a box we remember that no matter the hero on the front they all taste the exact same. What’s the point? Why bother? What the hell?