So you’ve grappled with the installation problems in Halo 2 Vista and got your ass handed over to you in the Halo 3 beta, and you start to wonder how much more Halo you can get in your life. Well, if you are anything like us (by which I mean me), then you start pulling a Lester Burnham and see Halo-related stuff fall slowly from the sky, as the American Beauty theme tinkles away in the sad recesses of your brain.

First off, if you have the dough and fancy yourself a true Halo-geek, you can ditch that iPod you’re all carrying for the Halo 3 Special Edition Zune. It’s the regular Zune, with the all-you-can-eat music store, the wonderfully envisioned yet woefully executed music sharing options, 3″ of sexy screen-space and oh yeah, did I mention the complete Halo and Halo 2 OSTs, trailers of Halo 2 and Halo 3, “Making of” documentary videos, the first 6 episodes of Red vs. Blue Season 1, tons of Halo-related images and a special, Halo: Zune edition of Red vs. Blue! All this, in a sleek Halo-themed shell, can be yours for a measly $249! Get yours today!

More on the Special Edition Halo Zune 

And if that didn’t fix you, there’s even more information straight from Bungie and IGN on the upcoming Halo: Uprising, a four-part mini-series by Marvel and Halo: Contact Harvest, the next Halo novel, which is being penned by Bungie man/Grunt voice Joseph Staten and will chronicle hard-ass UNSC Sergeant Avery J.Johnson’s first contact with the Covenant forces.

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Its been almost an year since Virgin Comics launched three all original comic series in the international market. Since then they have launched almost 50 issues under various series and certain independent graphic novels. Virgin has already made a stamp in the International arena with its magnificent art work. Now that their leading comic series: Devi, The Sadhu and The Snakewoman are about to get a new story arc, they have launched yet another series. This time around they are coming out with India Authentic series and the character is none other than Lord Ganesha.

The comic totally focuses on the Indian Mythology unlike the Ramayana reborn, which was a retelling of the original myth with new story elements and twists. Ganesha features the lineart from the hands of Satish Tayade and the myth has been scripted by Saurav Mahapatra. This is what the officials say about the series:

For generations, all enterprises in India have been launched with an invocation of His name. He is called the Vinayak - God of Endeavors, Vighneshwar - the Remover of Obstacles. Perhaps the most adored of all in the Indian Pantheon, Ganesha is the God that best represents India - benevolent, wise and noble.

Come with us on a journey to witness the origins of a God, a timeless tale of an inanimate golem crafted from primordial clay by Uma, the all-mother. His innocent bravado in defying Shiva, the mightiest of the Gods and even giving up his life to uphold a simple promise he made to his mother, the twist of fate that intertwines his destiny with another and the “rebirth” of the two as they become one.

I have already gone through the comic and I must say that this time around they are lacking in the artwork. If one compares it to their earlier issues, one can easily spot the weariness and the hurried frenzy at the hands of the coloring artists (three of them in this one, namely M. Vishwanathan, S.M. Bhaskar and R.C. Prakash). Most of the panels have flaws in them and certain characters lack the emotive feel completely. For instance at the bottom of page 9, the character of boy Ganesha is the worst portrayal I have ever seen. The face is nothing but a couple of random lines… this is definitely not expected of artists working at Virgin. Perhaps the best portrayal in the whole comic is that of Lord Shiva and the fight that commences between Lord Shiva and the Child avatar of Lord Ganesha. The ambiance of the landscape has surely been done well, but its no compensation for an average art concerning characters.

The story, as I said earlier is totally based on the Indian Mythology, but the comic’s pace is very, very fast. In the very first issue they have already covered the initial phase of the protagonist. Mostly we see comparisons being made to western philosophies and ideologies which totally confuse the rhythm of the story. A lot is being said, and at the same time a lot is being left untold… it really leaves the reader asking.. hey wait.. what about that?… and what about what you said on the last page… !!

As usual, the comic is very high on metaphors and similes, which are told with style as usual, but this time they went ahead and used the story of the elephant mother and her son as a visual metaphor in the storyline. This story which moves sideways with the main storyline serves as a metaphor initially and totally makes a bolting impact later, when we see its relation to the main plot. A really good device to narrate a story this vast.

Still the credit goes to the Virgin Comics for sticking to the Indian roots and not moving to the glorious superheroes to lure more readers. This indeed is a noble effort and moreover the stories do keep in touch with the real myth. So, lets hope the artists get back to their magnificent artworks back again and the scripter’s pen slows down the story a little bit in the coming issues, till then enjoy yet another effort from Virgin Comics.

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Oh yeah… Duffman…!! Well this is the dream come true story of the female comic artist from Canada, N. Matsumoto aka spacecoyote who drew a Japanese manga version of The Simpsons. She submitted the artwork at www.deviantart.com on January 5, 2007 under her DA account spacecoyote. As you can already see the amazing artwork in the images shown above, this work made to the top pages of DA within days and even faster then that the artwork was circulated throughout the internet. Soon it ended up on the digg.com as well as ABC News Australia and various other blogs and websites.

This was just the beginning of a never ending glory. Soon enough the big people sitting at the Simpsons end noticed her artwork and contacted her. Bongo comics, the brain child of Matt Groening offered her to work on a manga style version of the Simpsons. Also she was contacted by 20th Century Fox to work on the upcoming relaunch of Futurama! Woo hoo… this article is actually about many news, but its more about the success story of a simple girl, who is an artist at heart.

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This artwork doesn’t represent her awesome talent, so do make it sure to check out her DA gallery which has amazing comic artworks. Matsumoto has already done the manga versions of Futurama and a pencil portrait of Sideshow Bob. Also make sure to check out her website and her own comic strip (all the links have been provided at the end of the article).

Talking about the art and talent, many people are using her artworks as their own over the net. Well you will find numerous avatars and signatures made out of her artworks, but worst are those people who are using her artworks as their own. So, if you see any of her artworks under somebody else’s name, don’t let yourself being fooled and do raise a voice against the art theft. All the artworks drawn by Matsumoto are her intellectual property and she deserves a proper credit given to her. This also means a request to the readers of TAP who will be reading this article and saving these images on their systems. If you ever decide to use her artworks, don’t forget to give her the whole credit.

Congratulations to spacecoyote from me and the whole angrypixel team for making it. Some of us do end up painting our dreams in the sky. Mmm…..sky….

N. Matsumoto’s personal site
N. Matsumoto @ DeviantArt
N. Matsumoto’s webcomic - “Saturnalia”

The stale news is that the oriental postmodern (or vice versa) comic The Sadhu from the house of “Virgins” will be turned into a movie. This amazing comic series that Virgin Comics started under the name of The Sadhu is a hit as far as its artworks and storyline goes, just like any other comic series from the house of Virgin. This news should have made me jump off my chair.. it did indeed… but when I read about the protagonist who is going to act the part of Sadhu, I sank deeper into the oblivion of my chair. This guy… this guy who is going to be the protagonist of this not-so-highly-anticipated movie anymore, has the ability to ruin a very good plot and amazing scripts. This guy has done it before, and he will.. probably.. do it again… this guy is none other then… well… Nicolas Cage… I liked him in Lord of War, but never had an interest in his ghost busting acting capabilities. Anyways, I shouldn’t be biased, but just cant help it.

Okay lets move on, lets not talk about Cage. Moving on, Shekhar Kapoor is directing the movie. Of course he will. He and Deepak Chopra’s son Batman.. sorry Gotham Chopra run Virgin Comics. Lets count our odds.. Shekhar Kapoor… recently divorced… known for his moody behavior… kinda psycho… busy schedules… okay.. the chances are astronomical that this movie will never get made. Nevertheless, the team has officially announced that they will start shooting in India in 2008. I thought we just had enough of Jolie and Brat.. sorry Brad.

The official release said that "Nick chose Shekhar to direct the film. The Sadhu is an iconic character"… I really want to laugh my ass out on this.. so much that at the end of my laughing spree, I’d want to cry… may I? He chose? Hello..!! I reckon he also chose Ivan Reitman to direct The Ghostbusters. Well, it says that Cage became interested in the project after reading the comic last year.

Whatever comes out of this, I hope it doesn’t affect the great comic series that Virgin has launched. These comic books have some of the great artworks that ever existed in India, and for once, Indians can proudly present some cult comic art to the world. Finally we will be known for something else then illustrated Kamasutra and M. F. Hussain.

Halo fans rejoice! After the success of the amazing Halo Graphic Novel, Marvel promised to bring us more graphic novel goodness based on the exploits of the Master Chief and the other principal characters in the Halo mythos. And now, it looks like the first details on the comic have finally emerged at Marvel.com. Updating their catalog, Marvel has posted details on the new comic, titled Uprising, which is being penned by Marvel genius Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spiderman/Daredevil/The Avengers/House of M) and drawn by the supremely divine Alex Maleev (Daredevil/Civil Wars/What If…?/New Avengers).According to Marvel, this 40 page graphic novel starts at the end of Halo 2 and ties in nicely with the beginning of the hugely anticipated Halo 3:

The Eisner Award-winning team of superscribe Brian Michael Bendis and artist extraordinaire Alex Maleev unleash an epic story of mankind’s struggle against the alien threat of the Covenant. Picking up from the conclusion of blockbuster video game Halo 2, the must-read issue reveals how the Master Chief, while onboard a hostile ship headed towards Earth, is battling against Covenant forces! Intertwined with Master Chief’s interstellar one-man-war is the saga of a great American city’s rebellion and downfall, two disparate lives’ collision and shared fate, and the Convenant’s hunt for an ancient relic of untold power and value. With hope dwindling and the fate of humanity hanging by a thread, is there any chance for a future?

Selling for $3.99, Uprising promises to be the first in the line of some truly amazing comics that will be set in the epic Halo universe and will be available for the rabid masses on July 18, 2007, which should tie in nicely with the time people start going crazy outside the Bungie offices for Halo 3 and Halo: Wars. Looks like the fight is finally starting to finish…