CA Staff

There's no better time to be a Star Wars fan than right now. With the first new movie in over a decade finally on the horizon, the hype has hit an all time high. There's also never been a better time to be a fan of Star Wars toys. Not only are there more action figures and collectibles available than ever before, but we live in a time and age when some of the characters actually get practical reproductions that fans can own. While once upon a time it would have cost you a fortune to get an R2 unit, you can now take home a BB-8 at a reasonable price. Or in this case, completely for free. That's right, we're giving away another Sphero BB-8 to one lucky reader. Not only has BB-8 been front and center in most of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' footage, but the little droid has also found its way into the hearts, minds, t-shirts, purses, suitcases, action figures, soda cups, Google Cardboards and everything else you can slap a BB-8 on. None of those compare though to the actual interactive version of the droid created by Sphero. That's why we're giving another one away.

Have you guys heard about the Stars Wars? Have you also heard about Funko Pops? These are two things that seemingly came out of nowhere to dominate store shelves, social media, and websites over the past few days, and quite frankly we're alarmed. But because we don't want to look like we're behind the times, we've snapped up a bunch of these Star Wars: The Force Awakens Funko Pop figures to giveaway to the loyal readers of ComicsAlliance and ScreenCrush. The whole first wave of figures has been rather hard to find all in one place, but through the grace of the internet god's favor, we managed to procure all your favorite heroes and villains from the upcoming movie nobody has seen, such as Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma and Rey. We've even got some of the classic heroes who actually have proven their worth already in Chewbacca and C-3PO, but we know everyone is really after that cute little BB-8. For all we know, that guy is just a mini-Death Star, and the real villain. You can't prove us wrong. Deal with it.

Hey, hey! It looks like it's time for another Funko Pop giveaway. ScreenCrush and ComicsAlliance are teaming up to offer up another selection of the collectible figurines fans just can't help but gobble up. From movies and comics to television and video games, Funko's reach knows no bounds, and neither does the adoration of collectors around the world from all walks of life. Fortunately, we're going to make it a tiny bit easier for fans of characters like Deadpool, Wolverine, Boba Fett and Ant-Man to get their hands on these coveted cuties. For the next few weeks, we'll be tossing up these little heroes on Twitter, so if you aren't already following either @ComicsAlliance or @ScreenCrushNews, it might behoove you to tune in to our feeds if you hope to get your hands on one.

Did you know that Batman is a city in Turkey? Or that the Penguin is based on a cigarette mascot? Or that The Flash once ran all the way to the Marvel Universe? Or that Jimmy Olsen dreamed up both Lucifer and Supergirl? We've uncovered some of the strangest and most wonderful facts from more than eighty years of DC Comics history to provide you with tidbits to amuse, educate, and inform --- including weird-but-true facts about Wonder Woman, Superman, the Joker, Harley Quinn, Aquaman, John Constantine, and even JFK.

Did you know that Doctor Doom is not a real doctor? Or that Marvel gave Optimus Prime his name? Or that Captain America drew Captain America? Or that Marvel created a character to slaughter Doctor Who's Daleks? We've uncovered some of the strangest and most wonderful facts from more than fifty years of Marvel Comics history to provide you with tidbits to amuse, educate, and inform --- including weird-but-true facts about Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, the X-Men, Doctor Strange, and the big guy himself, Groot.

Who is the greatest Avenger of all time? You probably have your personal favorites. You probably also have a pretty good idea who the popular favorites might be. We wanted to know for sure, so to mark the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron we conducted a giant-size poll to give you the chance to choose between more than 100 Avengers members, and rank them from least to best. Now the results are in. And we think there are a few surprises.

Two Christmases ago marked the 20th anniversary Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, a film that’s arguably its creators’ most perfect expression of their enduringly influential animated vision of DC Comics’ dark knight — a vision that many believe is the most perfect expression of Batman in any medium. While Warner Bros. has yet to announce any plans for a high definition reissue or any other offerings connected with the special occasion, the film fanatics at Mondo — purveyors of extremely fine illustrated film posters and other cinematic celebrations — decided to honor Mask of the Phantasm with an anniversary event in connection with the famous Alamo Drafthouse of Austin, Texas, where they screened the film in its original 35mm format for a sold-out house. As always, Mondo came prepared with an extremely limited quantities of an original screen-printed poster, which serves as an update of the film’s original theatrical one-sheet and an homage to the aesthetic legacy of co-directors Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski’s work. Naturally, being a Mondo release, the poster is no longer on sale except on the collectors' market, where it fetches hundreds. Now, ComicsAlliance was in attendance that night in Austin, and we were lucky enough to procure a variant edition of the poster -- illustrated by Phantom City Creative -- to offer to our readers in this giveaway contest. It took us quite a while, but we finally tracked down Timm as well as Andrea Beaumont herself, actor Dana Delany, who graciously signed the poster in the presence of former CA editor Andy Khouri, making this a truly one of a kind collectible.

While cosplayers are present at virtually every major convention celebrating comics, gaming, fantasy and science fiction, it’s Atlanta’s Dragon*Con that has become a a kind of Mecca to which most of the scene’s most dedicated hobbyists and professionals pilgrimage every year. The cosplay phenomenon can be compared to that of b-boying, where the primary inspiration is expressing creativity, performing and earning props from other people like themselves. You can see what we mean in this gallery of fabulous photography by Pat Loika -- convention photo maestro and host of the popular Loikamania podcast -- whose shots from Dragon*Con express just how much fun cosplayers are having without us.

With the still-can't-believe-they-actually-made-this-one Guardians of the Galaxy opening this weekend, it’s time again to break down the convoluted history of comics in the recurring feature we call Comics, Everybody! Courtesy of cartoonist Chris Haley of Let’s Be Friends Again and colorist Jordan Gibson, the subject of this edition has an uncommonly strong claim to the title of unlikely hero. Or at least, unlikely movie star. That's right, we're talking about Star-Lord, the Marvel Comics space hero created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan. Whether you’re new to Guardians and Star-Lord and curious to learn more about his ridiculous history or you’re a hardcore Marvel nerd looking to Um-Actually this feature into oblivion, you’ll be sure to enjoy this special tribute to the galaxy's newly famous nobody.