2/26/2010

D&D Encounters


 The Launchpad will be hosting a season of D&D Encounters at the store at 7pm each Wednesday starting March 17th and running for 12 one-encounter sessions til June 2nd.

The first D&D Encounters mini-campaign takes place in the Forgotten Realms, with players exploring new areas of Undermountain, with their own characters, one they create at the store, or a pre-generated character provided with the kit.

X-Men: Second Coming Package Deal starts this Wednesday.


The X-Men: Hope one-shot is being released this Wednesday, 3/3 and with it our X-Men: Second Coming package deal will begin. 

We'll be offering package deals on the X-Men: Second Coming crossover.

The first part of the package will include the March & April Titles:

X-men: Hope #1
X-men: Second Coming #1
Uncanny X-men #523
New Mutants #12
X-men Legacy #235
X-Force #26
X-Factor #204

You’ll pay only $15.99 for the above titles, discounted from the cover price of $21.93.

2/25/2010

Lodinews.com Cutest Kids 2010

We're happy to be one of the sponsors for the Cutest Kids 2010 contest over at the lodinews.com site. Check it out, upload some photos. Good luck! 

2/24/2010

Captain America Casting Underway

Chace Crawford (CW's Gossip Girl), John Krasinski (NBC's The Office), Scott Porter (NBC's Friday Night Lights), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Michael Cassidy (CW's Privileged), Patrick Flueger (Brothers).

From Deadline Hollywood... Not sure I know who most of these candidates are. (Mike)

2/20/2010

MONDAY TELEMETRY For February 22nd, 2010

Welcome to another installment of Monday Telemetry, a weekly blog from The Launchpad that covers some of the more interesting releases or events that are coming to the store this week.

ITEM! Wow! A bunch of good books coming out this week. Read on for just some of the highlights.

ITEM! For February Siege subscribers we've got AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE # 33, DARK WOLVERINE # 83, NEW AVENGERS # 62, THOR # 607, THUNDERBOLTS # 141. We'll be announcing the winner of the Siege #2 variant drawing at the end of the month. It's not too late to buy into this package and get a shot at the variant drawing!
 

 BATMAN & ROBIN #9
Another Batman & Robin ish this month! Very cool arc.
Part 3 of "Blackest Knight" guest-starring Batwoman, Knight and Squire! Only months into his new role as Batman, Dick Grayson faces perhaps the biggest threat of his life. In hopes of attaining his heart's desire, has Dick instead unleashed a terror the likes of which the world has never seen?

Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, Alfred and a recuperating Robin are at the mercy of someone both fearsome and familiar…

 

 BLACKEST NIGHT #7
Keep an eye out for a special deal on Brightest Day...
As Nekron continues to wage war on life throughout the universe, Hal Jordan discovers the grim, true mission behind the villain's return. But the truth is so cosmically abysmal that it threatens to expose a secret that could tear the very universe asunder. You can't miss this stunning, penultimate issue to the year's biggest event!

 

 DEADPOOL #20
Second issue of Deadpool this month. We sold out of #19 quick (more on the way, don't worry) and this issue will move fast too. And finally we get the delayed appearance of Hit-Monkey!
“WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN,” PART 2 Deadpool and Spider-Man team up (yes, team up) to combat the unstoppable killing machine known as Hit-Monkey! Yes, Hit-Monkey.

 

 MS. MARVEL #50
Here it is. Last ish (for now).
Over-sized final issue! It’s Ms. Marvel and Mystique in a fight to the finish—and the ending will rock the world of Carol Danvers!



FYI, the Ms. Marvel cover is an homage to this cover...

 

Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman


Hulu has the first six Zatoichi movies up here. If you haven't seen any of these or only seen the newer Beat Takeshi version you need to check these out. There is no Zatoichi other than Shintaro Katsu. Now if they would only put up Zatoichi versus Yojimbo. (Mike)

2/15/2010

MONDAY TELELMETRY For February 15th, 2010

Welcome to another installment of Monday Telemetry, a weekly blog from The Launchpad that covers some of the more interesting releases or events that are coming to the store this week.

ITEM! February Siege Package Purchasers: Dark Avengers is out this week, and the ALL the other Siege crossovers for this month are out next week. 

 DOOMWAR #1
Wakanda has been conquered, its Vibranium reserves plundered. Storm faces execution in the next 48 hours. And Dr. Doom stands triumphant. It will take the combined forces of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the two Black Panthers to stand against him. A war has begun that will pit the world's most relentless super-villain against a collection of the world's most powerful super heroes -- one that will span the globe, offering twists and turns and surprise players (hello, Deadpool!) that neither side will see coming.



HULK #20
FALL OF THE HULKS continues! He’s smashing his way through the heroes of the Marvel Universe with a rage unstoppable. Next up? THE RED HULK vs. THE UNCANNY X-MEN. And what do RED GHOST AND THE SUPER-APES want with Beast and The Black Panther? Superstars JEPH LOEB and ED McGUINNESS keep bringing the pain in the event of the century.

MODERN WARFARE 2: GHOST #3
Dane and Maya storm the castle in Sanctuary, but they may be too late to save the queen. They have to fight through hordes of monsters and soldiers, but even when it looks like the day is won, Geoffrey offers a chilling warning of the dark days that lie ahead.

POWER GIRL #9
Satanna is back in town with her animal menagerie in tow to terrorize Power Girl. The villainess tries to succeed where her former lover, the Ultra-Humanite couldn't. This time, though, Satanna has a secret weapon Power Girl won't see coming.

New Comics In Store 02-17-10

A list of the new books coming in Wednesday, after the jump.

2/12/2010

Watchmen Heroclix


WizKids/NECA has announced the summer 2010 release of a Watchmen HeroClix Collector’s Box Set and a Dr. Manhattan Colossal Figure for the HeroClix Collectible Miniatures Game.

Halo Reach Vidoc


For all the Halo geeks out there. Of which I am one. Oh, and the Beta for ODST owners opens in May. (Mike)


2/07/2010

MONDAY TELEMETRY For February 8th, 2010

Welcome to another installment of Monday Telemetry, a weekly blog from The Launchpad that covers some of the more interesting releases or events that are coming to the store this week.

ITEM! Our Valentine's Day Sale is on and runs through the 14th. 35% off select "girl-friendly" books.

ITEM! Siege #2 is out an it's not too late to take advantage of our February Siege Package Deal for a saving of 35% off this months Siege titles.   


ADVENTURE COMICS STARRING BLACK LANTERN SUPERBOY #7
Written by Tony Bedard; Art by Travis Moore; Covers by Francis Manapul
TOP SECRET!




BATMAN & ROBIN #8
Written by Grant Morrison; Art and Variant covers by Cameron Stewart; Covers by Frank Quitely
BATMAN AND ROBIN double-ships in February with part 2 and 3 of "Blackest Knight" guest-starring Batwoman, Knight and Squire! Only months into his new role as Batman, Dick Grayson faces perhaps the biggest threat of his life. In hopes of attaining his heart's desire, has Dick instead unleashed a terror the likes of which the world has never seen?

Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, Alfred and a recuperating Robin are at the mercy of someone both fearsome and familiar…

DARK X-MEN #4 (OF 5)
Written by PAUL CORNELL
Penciled by LEONARD KIRK
Cover by MIKE CHOI
What has X-Man done to Norman Osborn? Whatever it is, it must be extreme because the Dark X-Men are making a journey into Osborn's mind to fix it!  But once they're in, can they survive the depths of madness they find in the dark corners of Norman's mental minefield?



HIT-MONKEY #1
As far as we can tell this is shipping early, it's not on Marvel's Catalog for this Wednesday and Deadpool #20 isn't out until 2/27. This probably all has something to do with the name change from "Hitman Monkey", to "Hit-Monkey". We're guessing Marvel got a cease-and-desist letter from the makers of the Hitman video games. This probably required changes to the books' text and is why Deadpool #19 and #20 got pushed back and are both due a week apart.
Written by DANIEL WAY
Penciled by DALIBOR TALIJIC
Cover by FRANK CHO
"The Legend of Hitman Monkey"
You're digging him in this month's issue of DEADPOOL and you want to know more about him?  How about his origin story? A troubled soul, set upon a path of vengeance he does not understand.  An assassin without equal, trained in the most secret of killing techniques.  A flesh and blood specter, haunting the killers of the world.  A monkey...with a gun.  Bear witness as the legend is born.  Hitman Monkey.

New Comics In Store 02-10-10

 After the Jump...

Star Trek writers to pen Locke & Key screenplay

Joe Hill's superlative Locke & Key was optioned almost immediately upon release and now writer/producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Transformers) have now acquired the rights and moved the production to Dreamworks. From the Latino Review.

2/05/2010

X-Men: Second Coming Package Deal!


We'll be offering package deals on the X-Men: Second Coming crossover.

The first part of the package will include the March & April Titles:

X-men: Hope #1
X-men: Second Coming #1
Uncanny X-men #523
New Mutants #12
X-men Legacy #235
X-Force #26
X-Factor #204

You’ll pay only $15.99 for the above titles, discounted from the cover price of $21.93.

New Stuff from WotC

We got the new Fall 2010 catalog in from Wizards of the Coast....

Highlights include:

  • A new "red box" D&D Essentials Starter game. An actual boxed set with maps, dice, counters, the works... out in September.
  • Gamma World... yup, a 4e boxed set standalone game. Out in October. Expansion include Famine in Far-go.
  • More Dungeon Tiles sets.
  • What looks like a return to fully randomized D&D Miniature monster boosters.