There are a lot of advantages to the age of the internet; the ability to easily find people with common interests half a world away, massive amounts of information available around the clock, and an endless supply of funny cat pictures. It's also been a boon to comic book fans. Character histories are laid out in detail on any number of different pages, there are online venues eager to sort out the various numbering reshuffles, and it's possible to buy just about any issue of any comic just by typing its name and number into Google and following it to an eBay link.

One of the purest, and meanest, joys of the internet is the ability to watch a multiple car crash of an internet argument pile up, comment by comment. Watching a fan fight may not be a new way of experiencing schadenfreude, but it's one that has massively improved since the invention of the internet. Let's take a look at how the internet turned arguments from random occurrence to spectator sport.

This Sunday marks America's 234th Independence Day. If you live in the USA, then the 4th of July is a celebration of national independence. It's a good time for resting, relaxing, (enjoying some comics) and hosting a good old-fashioned barbecue. If you're anything like me, you might want to combine some of those activities in your head and imagine what it might be like to get superheroes together to celebrate.

With that picture in mind, we take a look at the fantastic fictional scenario for you, dear readers. Read on for the first-ever imagine ComicsAlliance 4th of July Superhero Barbecue!

ZOMBIES AND DRACULAS AND ROBOTS (OH MY) - Marvel Zombies 5 #4 / The Death of Dracula One-Shot


Unless you've been buried alive for the past decade you've probably noticed that various incarnations of the undead in fiction have experienced bursts of popularity in the last several years. And that this in turn has led many publishers to churn out zombie and vampire books in order to try to get their own share of that sweet sweet terror from beyond the grave consumer dollar. While that's led to some books of dubious quality, it's also led to a negative stigma being attached to all books featuring the undead. Simply because a story features appearances by a shambling corpse with a taste for human flesh or a pointy-toothed pale immortal with a thirst for blood is no reason to prejudge it as awful.

Marvel releases two books this week that some might avoid out of a sense of undead fatigue. And that's a shame, because one of those books is a lot of fun, takes it own path to playfully poke fun at several genres, and isn't at all a desperate attempt to leech off the popularity of other works. And the other book is "The Death of Dracula."

Kazuhiko Kato's "Lupin III" manga and assorted anime series may star the world's greatest thief, but there's a chance Revoltech's upcoming action figures based on the Frenchman's adventures won't end up stealing your heart. As Tomopop points out, the toys' prototypes might just bear a little too much articulation.

An unspecified Japanese magazine scan shows Revoltech versions of Lupin and marksman Jigen (remarkably unarmed in this picture) from an upcoming "Yamaguchi" line. While lots and lots of joints are typically welcome hallmarks of the Revoltech toys, Kaiyodo may have gone overboard with these two, even if the likenesses and head sculpts seem pretty legit.

Party City, if your mission was to blow our minds, you can go ahead and start patting yourself on the back. As spotted by Robot6, the store is now offering exclusive pre-orders for both adult and child-sized costumes of Tyrese Gibson's controversial super hero.

Despite fandom's polarizing relationship with the costumes' source material, I must admit that these outfits look remarkably accurate. Mayhem's costume had his name printed on it, right?

For those of you with motion sickness, pop some Dramamine because you're not gonna want to miss this -- Activision and developer Beenox have released an all-new 360 screen cap from "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions" showing off the games sure-to-impress 3D world of the 2099 dimension (joining "Amazing" and "Noir" shots)

For the regulars here at CA, you've already seen plenty of in-game screen grabs and downloadable skins for our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's latest button-mashin' adventure. However, with this latest screen, we not only get to see just how deep Spidey's brave new world goes, but look closely and you'll also catch a glimpse of a main villain -- the 2099 version of the Hobgoblin. Just be prepared, because it's a 360-degrees look that spins like a whirling dervish (and we all know how fast those dervishes tend to spin).

Last October, it was announced that PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners could purchase downloadable content for "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2," affording players with the opportunity to play through the game with Magneto, Black Panther, Carnage, Psylocke and Cable at their disposal. But the offer was for a limited time only - an extremely limited time, as gamers could no longer purchase the package after December 31, 2009. It was a bummer, to say the least

But complaints and grievances from gamers across the globe have apparently been heard, as the "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" downloadable content is back in action! Activision made the package available again as recently as yesterday, giving players one last chance to put Cable, Carnage, Psylocke, Black Panther and Magneto on their roster. Additionally, Juggernaut can be purchased for $1.99, or 160 Microsoft points.

With "Pokémon: Black" and "Pokémon: White" headed for the Nintendo DS this fall in Japan, it's no surprise that a brand new anime series is scheduled to accompany it following the conclusion of its current incarnation as "Pokemon - Diamond and Pearl." What is a little surprising, however, is the upcoming series' seeming complimentary closing.


Japan's TV Tokyo announced this week that the new series will be called "Pokémon: Best Wishes!" I ran the title by CA editor Laura Hudson (who used to live in Japan and now teaches Japanese to me to protect me from foolish assumptions), who said that the title is just a transliteration of the English words "best wish," and that it's suitable in the context of the Japanese use of English loanwords in pop culture. Or something. I stopped listening when it became apparent that I probably shouldn't really mock the title.