Comic Book Resources

SDCC '09 | Another round of pictures

Iron Men

Here are a few more pictures I took at the San Diego Comic-Con last week, many of which appeared on the CBR Live blog already, but I thought I'd group them all together over here. The picture above shows the four sets of Iron Man armor (Iron Men?) from the Marvel booth this year.

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Follow us on Twitter during San Diego Comic-Con

A few Robot 6 contributors will be in San Diego this week, so be sure to check back here for live reports, photos and other fun stuff. And a few of us will be at home, watching the news and posting about it here ... so stay tuned for that as well.

You can also follow us on Twitter for moment-by-moment updates, wisdom and fits of insanity:

• JK Parkin
• Carla Hoffman
• Matt Maxwell

And if you're on Twitter, don't forget to subscribe to Robot 6 and Comic Book Resources. Not only will you receive links to all the panel reports, interviews and posts coming out of the con, but we'll also be posting other little news bits throughout the week as well on both feeds.

SDCC Fat Bastard Challenge: Preparing for the finals

The Blob

This will be our last update on the SDCC ‘09 Fat Bastard Challenge before the big weigh-in at San Diego. As you'll recall, Comic Book Resource head honcho Jonah Weiland challenged Monster Attack Network/Highwaymen/Genius co-writer Marc Bernardin to a weight loss contest, where both competitors are attempting to lose 20 lbs. before the big show.

The rules are:

• The person with the most weight loss by San Diego is treated to a $50 meal by the loser.
• They both have to donate $10 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for every pound of weight less than 20 they haven’t lost by San Diego.

The final weigh-in was set to take place on the CBR Yacht at Comic-Con International in San Diego on Thursday, July 23, but I think that may be in flux due to some scheduling difficulties. However, we will see this through, even if I have to drag a scale into one of Marc's panels or interrupt one of the interviews Jonah will be doing on the yacht.

Anyway, let's, see where our contestants stand before the big show ....

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Thunderbolts: Rebirth?

Thunderbolts #137

As I've been following the current Thunderbolts run by Andy Diggle, particularly the subplot involving Songbird and her mission to take down Osbourn's team, one of the questions that's been on my mind is, "Where the heck are the rest of the original Thunderbolts?" It's been awhile since we've seen Atlas, MACH-IV and the rest of that crew, and you figure if Songbird's going to ask someone for help, wouldn't it make sense to give her old friends a call?

Well, in issue #134, that call goes out.

As revealed in yesterday's Cup o' Q&A with Joe Quesada over at the main CBR site, the original team is coming back to help Songbird. Two other fans apparently had the same question that I did, and asked Marvel's Editor in Chief about Baron Zemo -- the team's original leader -- and the rest of his crew.

"It's a great question, Steven and Mike, and I guess you can say you heard it here first," Quesada responded. "Old school T-Bolts fans rejoice! Songbird is actually going to begin to assemble the original TBolts in issue #134. Her mission basically is to destroy Norman Osborn and his crazy pack of killers who have taken the good name of the original T-bolts. And yes, Zemo has been discussed internally, so stay tuned. We haven't decided just yet... or maybe we have and I’m just not going to tell you. [laughs]"

From the artwork above, it looks like at least MACH-IV and Techno are back, teaming with Songbird and ... well, if you've read the most recent issue (or even if you just recognize those bracelets) you know who they're standing with ...

SDCC ‘09 Fat Bastard Challenge, Week Four

Superman #221 cover by Chris Harmon

It's been a couple of weeks since we last checked in with our contestants in the SDCC ‘09 Fat Bastard Challenge. As you'll recall, Comic Book Resource head honcho Jonah Weiland challenged Monster Attack Network/Highwaymen/Genius co-writer Marc Bernardin to a weight loss contest leading up to the San Diego Comic-Con. Both competitors are attempting to lose 20 lbs. before the big show.

The rules are:

• The person with the most weight loss by San Diego is treated to a $50 meal by the loser.
• They both have to donate $10 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for every pound of weight less than 20 they haven’t lost by San Diego.

The final weigh-in is set to take place on the CBR Yacht at Comic-Con International in San Diego on Thursday, July 23.

I tossed a few questions at Marc and Jonah to see how they were doing, especially in light of the holiday weekend:

JK: It's been two weeks since the last weigh in, and we had a little something called the Fourth of July in between then and now. Barbecue, potato salad, beer, ice cream ... did you go all out on the 4th, or did you hold back?

Marc: I held back as much as I could, but there was beer to be imbibed, burgers (sans buns) to eat, and a 4th of July party that served something called Monkey Bread. Which, as I learned, basically consists of cinnamon sugar-covered munchkins crammed into a bundt cake mold and doused with a melted-butter-and-brown-sugar death goop. Ye gods, man. Evil dessert, that. So there was some weight, er, fluctuation around Independence Day, yes.

Jonah: No holding back -- I'm a firm believer that vacation and time off should be spent enjoying yourself, especially so since it's really the last break I get prior to Comic-Con. I dove in head first -- burgers, hot dogs, chips, bean dip, a cocktail or 15. YOU NAME IT! That said, I did continue to exercise, even visiting with my trainer Michael Blanks the morning of July 4th.

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SDCC '09 Fat Bastard Challenge, Week Two

Last week CBR's main man Jonah Weiland challenged Entertainment Weekly editor/comics writer Marc Bernardin to a weight loss contest leading up to the San Diego Comic-Con. Dubbed the SDCC '09 Fat Bastard Challenge, both competitors are attempting to lose 20 lbs. before the big con.

Their motivation is:

• The person with the most weight loss by San Diego is treated to a $50 meal by the loser.
• They both have to donate $10 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for every pound of weight less than 20 they haven't lost by San Diego.

We'll be checking in with them every week leading up to the final weigh-in, set to take place on the CBR Yacht at Comic-Con International in San Diego on Thursday, July 23. Now let's hear how they did this week:

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SDCC ’09 Fat Bastard Challenge

Fat Bastard

Editor's note: Today we kick off a series of posts about a weight loss challenge between two of the entertainment world's finest journalists (and I'm not saying that because one of them mails me checks). In one corner, you have Comic Book Resources' own Jonah Weiland. In the other corner, you have Entertainment Weekly's Marc Bernardin, who also writes comics like Monster Attack Network for AiT, the Highwaymen for Wildstorm and Genius for Top Cow. What started on Twitter will surely end with blood, sweat and tears. Or at least a lot of sweat. Now here's Jonah to get everything started ...

by Jonah Weiland

So, you’re asking yourself, what the hell is the SDCC ’09 Fat Bastard Challenge? Have a sit.

Monday, comics and Entertainment Weekly writer Marc Bernardin tweeted that he really wanted to get in better shape for Comic-Con International in San Diego and said his goal was 20 pounds. Now, I’ve been trying to convince myself to get back on the bicycle to get in better shape for CCI as well, but I needed that push. So I sent Marc something of a challenge –- the person with the most weight loss by San Diego is treated to a $50 meal by the loser.

Marc loved the idea and we began planning. We both realized that 20 lbs. in five weeks might not be possible, so we added a twist – for every pound of weight less than 20 each of us hasn’t lost by San Diego means a $10 donation per pound to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

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