I don’t like The Sentry character introduced some time back by Marvel. A neurotic, schizophrenic hero with the power of a million exploding suns with a serious split personality disorder? Give me a break.

Having said that, I found Ares’ death at the hands of The Sentry in Siege #2 to be a little over the top. If Batman taught us that you can shoot a god (a comic book one) to death, The Sentry does one better by tearing him into gibs.

Did you know that there’s a Final Fantasy XII manga out there? One Manga has the unofficial English translations for the first 3 chapters. Here’s the description of the manga, taken from the site:

This is the story of a world called Ivalice. It is a time when the existence of magick is still commonplace, and soaring airships cover the vast sky. Princess Ashe has vowed to restore her ruined country. Together with a few companions, she waits for an opportunity to strike back. A direct adaptation of the hit RPG!

Click here to start reading.

Looks like everyone is jumping on the digitial comics bandwagon; have you checked out the Archie comics on the iPhone? Anyways back in December, Disney introduced the Digicomics app for the iPhone/iPod touch.

This app is a collection of the most successful Disney comic books from around the world.  The app allows users to choose from dozens of comics including Mickey Mouse’s epic adventures in Wizards of Mickey; Casablanca, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer starring your favorite Disney characters.

Disney’s Digicomics features:

• Two free downloads from the Digistore: Disney’s A Christmas Carol featuring Scrooge McDuck, and SuperDuck.
• The ability to purchase and download additional comics from the Digistore. It is loaded with dozens of comics including complete sets and volumes with new comics made available every week. Search characters and categories or browse Featured and Top Rated comics. Prices range from $0.99 to $1.99
• Digicomics is tailor made for the collector. Collect complete sets of comics by character or category. You can even share pictures of your comics with friends.
• Read your comics by scrolling pages or choose the Autoplay function and custom set your reading speed. Includes a handy Bookmark feature.
• Includes comics from acclaimed writers and artists such as Stefano Ambrosio, Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, Giorgio Cavazzno, and many more.

New comics now available for purchase in Disney’s Digicomics include

• A Christmas Carol #2
• Donald Duck Agent Qu-Qu 7: A Diamond Jam
• Mickey Mouse and the Flavored Bubbles
• Scrooge McDuck and the Saint Valentine Trick
• Superduck #2 Toyland
• The Canterville Ghost

Digicomics is also available on Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) through the PlayStation Network’s Digital Comics Service which launched in December 2009. Check out the iPhone/iPod Touch version of Digicomics over here.

Have you checked out the one-shot X-Men Origins: Cyclops comic book? Yup, Charles’  red-eyed boy gets his own Origins title (albeit a one-shot) and there are pretty stunning revelations within.

Remember Cyclops’ first encounter with Magneto in an army base? Well, who would have thought that in the ensuing conversation that Scott Summers would be the one to broach the subject of a mutant brotherhood to Magneto, sowing the seeds to something that he (Cyclops) and the rest of the X-MEN would be battling.

While waiting for Tony Stark to recover from his vegetative state, take a look at the latest iteration of the Iron Man armour that will premiere after the Stark Disassembled story arc. The response I got from my friends were worthy of some LOLs.

Some commented it looked rather wussy. Personally, I feel like the armor looks a little too slick like those spandex suits worn by the X-Men with a bit of Samus Aran  and light bulbs thrown in. In summary, it looks really generic, like a cookie cutter third grade manga robot. Anyone else care to add?

This is pretty cool, having gotten this bit of news off of Geoff John’s Twitter feed. So what comes after the Blackest Night? Well, the Brightest Day of course. It’s a bi-weekly title written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi. Ahhh..this is gonna be great for Green Lantern fans and those who love the Blackest Night series. DC Comics was on a roll in 2009, can they do the same as well for 2010?

Check out the logo:

I had a friend who actually shrieked “What, you had never read Dr Seuess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! when you were kid?!” LOL. My upbringing back then was typically British and that would mean reading material like J.R.R Tolkien and Enid Blyton in the same boat with English breakfast (which was a daily affair).

In any case, I actually had “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” read to me on Friday night. That’s right. The new e-book from Oceanhouse Media has a “Read to me” function and a very nice voice-over would narrate the story.I used this function when I was stuck in a particularly nasty traffic crawl trying to get from one end of KL to the other end.

Alternatively, you can choose to read the e-book yourself (sans narration). Obviously meant for kids who I’m sure cannot resist but to touch the screen because of the beautiful artwork shown, a voice-over would come on and name the particular item touched (a tree, Mount Crumpit, the Grinch, etc).

I must say that this was all very well done by Oceanhouse, creating such a kid-friendly e-book. The story is not that long, but the story and artwork should be able to keep kids occupied for a bit. Here’s a demo video for the e-book:

Check out Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! e-book over at the App Store, it’s available for just USD 3.99. Click here for details.

I know that Sunday is the customary Comics Book posts day for Nine Over Ten 9/10, but I would make an exception for today. Have you seen the cover of Superman/Batman #66? I can’t help but notice that Bizarro was drawn like another anti-hero of sorts. Check it out:

And compare with that of Hellboy below. It’s the eyes I tell you. So, have you seen any similarly drawn comic book characters lately?

What a bumper week for comics. DC Comics takes the cake again this week with issues of Green Lantern #48 and Blackest Night #5 which sees the return of one particular dead superhero and the profound effect he has on the living. Can’t guess who? Well, take a look below:

Not forgetting Marvel Comics, the Ultimates Universe is currently on the mend. If you were left with a bad taste in your mouth after reading Ultimates 3, well, fret not as Ultimate Avengers is a return to form with Frank Millar back on the helm.

Taking place right after the events of Ultimates 3 and Ultimatum, Ultimate Avengers is currently into Issue 4 (out of 6). Here’s the story so far:

• In the Ultimates universe, Captain America actually had a son who goes bonkers, cuts of his own face and becomes the..wait for it…Red Skull!
• The Red Skull is now in possession with the blueprints for the Cosmic Cube and is constructing one.
• Nick Fury has assembled a new team of Avengers to deal with the Red Skull and a Captain America gone rogue.

The Surrogates, the movie did a disservice to the graphics novel but don’t let that stop you from picking up the book from your local bookstore. It’s a fine piece of police + sci fi writting, and now, there’s a prequel.

The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone is set 15 years before the events of the first graphics novel. The book sets the foundation for many of the characters that you’ll find in The Surrogates.

This is the time when the protagonist from the first book, Detective Harvey Greer was still a beat cop and The Prophet, a convict on parole who just started his fledgling anti-surrie religious ministry.

The book also touches on the riots that occur after the murder of a street vagrant by teenager boys operating their respective fathers’ surrogates and also the subsequent truce between the Dreads and the city which lead to the formation of the Dread Reservation seen in the first book.

Some of the plot twists can be spotted a mile away but it doesn’t detract from the fact that, like the first book, Flesh and Bone is an engaging read. Once again Robert Venditti embellishes the story with newspaper articles. tracts, magazine interview, and even the surrie application questionnaire to “ground” the story in the real world.

IMHO, both fans of the first book and newcomers would definitely love this piece of sci-fi. The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone is available at Borders for just Rm 50.90.