DC Comics Unveils A New Logo

Bleeding Cool gave us all a peek at this logo last week, but it was an official reveal from DC Comics. I was quite disappointed with it because I felt like that star swoosh with the letters was an iconic look for the company. My mind has changed a bit today with the release of the colored logos and templates shown for how it will look on the finished products. I think over time it will find its place among fans. Check out the press release below, and view more logo designs from DC's official blog, The Source.

New identity designed to showcase DC Entertainment’s rich portfolio of brands, stories and characters across all media platforms.

BURBANK, CA, January 19, 2012 – DC Entertainment, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company and home to iconic brands DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD, revealed today a new brand identity.  The new identity is reflective of the company’s mission to fully realize the value of a rich portfolio of brands, stories and characters, distinguished by incredible breadth and depth across publishing, media and merchandise.  A new logo for DC Comics was also introduced, closely aligning with DC Entertainment’s new mark.

“It’s a new era at DC Entertainment and the new look reflects a dynamic, bold approach while at the same time celebrates the company’s rich heritage and robust portfolio of characters,” stated John Rood, EVP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development for DC Entertainment. “It was just a few months ago that Superman, Batman and many of our other Super Heroes were updated when we launched DC Comics – The New 52 and now it’s time to do the same for the company’s identity while remaining true to the power of storytelling which is still at the heart of DC Entertainment.”

DC Entertainment worked with Landor Associates, one of the world’s leading brand consulting and design firms, to develop an identity that creates a visual connection among the company, its three brands DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD and its vast array of properties as well as celebrates the power of the company’s stories and characters.  The design of the new DC Entertainment identity uses a “peel” effect – the D is strategically placed over the C with the upper right-hand portion of the D peeling back to unveil the hidden C – symbolizing the duality of the iconic characters that are present within DC Entertainment’s portfolio.

“It was our goal to capture DC Entertainment in a dynamic and provocative identity.  Our solution is a living expression which changes and adapts to the characters, story lines and the ways fans are consuming content,” explains Nicolas Aparicio, Executive Creative Director at Landor’s San Francisco office.  “The new identity is built for the digital age, and can easily be animated and customized to take full advantage of the interactivity offered across all media platforms.”

The new brand identity will come to life across all consumer touch points in order to create a clear and consistent message in support of DC Entertainment.  The new identity will begin to appear on comic books and graphic novels as well as new websites in March.  Consumers will also see the new identity rolled out over time on other DC Entertainment products from Warner Bros. including film, television, interactive games and merchandise.

“We believe our new brand identity will strongly resonate with our loyal fans who will want to proudly express their affinity for DC Entertainment and their passion for their favorite stories and characters, this new look allows them to easily do this. In addition we were excited to update our identity, it’s not often a company gets to revisit something as important as its brand and we took the opportunity to make sure it represented the multi-media business we set out to build with the formation of DC Entertainment,” said Amit Desai, SVP of Franchise Management for DC Entertainment.

Limited Edition Transformers Blu-Ray Set

 I can sleep soundly tonight knowing that whatever the price tag is on this seven disc monstrosity, won't be a burden on my wallet. These movies have been bashed enough already without me adding on so I'll leave it alone and let the fans of this franchise enjoy what is soon to come for them. Specs listed beow.

Two-disc Special Edition Blu-ray of Transformers presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. Two-disc Special Edition Blu-ray of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

 SuperHeroHype.Com

Spider-Man Joins DX

It looks like Spider-Man is feeling a bit nostalgic for late 90's wrestling programming. The image above of Andrew Garfield showing us an extreme crotch chop is scanned from the upcoming Entertainment Weekly magazine with Batman featured on the cover. Superherohype scored the image from a user on their message boards and a hi-res version should find it's way online over the weekend.

It's really hard to tell how this new installment of Spidey will play out for non-fans. I thought Andrew Garfield was the stand out performance of The Social Network so this Peter Parker definitely has the acting chops. The teaser trailer was a mixed bag of reactions, but the sci-fi horror them they chose really intrigued me. Images of the Lizard from the toy merchandise haven't looked too swell so far. I'll wait before fully judging that because they were images of plastic figures after all.

The Amazing Spider-Man is in theatres July 30th.

Dark Knight Rises Cover For Entertainment Weekly

 

The Dark Knight Rises will be featured in this weeks Entertainment Weekly with the Dark Knight himself gracing the cover. I'm all for exposure to Nolan's upcoming conclusion to his Batman saga, but were there no better photos of Bale to throw on the front of the magazine. It looks like he is laughing at everyone in the room because they smell a fart and he's the one who passed it. 

Notice the text that says "exclusive photos". I doubt they have many photos that will vary from what Empire debuted recently, although I hope I'm wrong in my assumption and they give us some nice new shots from the movie. The site gives a very small snippet of comments they got from Christian Bale;
 
“I can tell you the truth because I’m done with it: I felt immense pressure,” Christian Bale tells EW. “And I think it’s a good pressure, because you owe it to the films — and the people’s expectations — to make great work.

New Photo From Man of Steel

 

A few months ago it seemed that every couple of days a photo from the set of Man of Steel would pop up online giving us a peek at what's to come from the beloved comic character. The photo above was just spotted on the message boards of Superherohype. It's said to be a legit photo taken from the set of the movie, but there hasn't been any confirmation from other sources. 

From the looks of the surrounding, this takes place during the photos we saw with bearded Clark directing people towards a helicopter. This could have been caused by a natural disaster like a tornado or possibly some large scale battle with Zod and his pals. 

The Man Of Steel Professor

Variety is reporting that Emmy winner Richard Schiff has joined the cast of Man of Steel as Dr. Hamilton. No further naming is given in the article, but fans familiar with the Superman mythos can assume this is Professor Emil Hamiltion. The doctor has gone through several variations throughout his time in comics, sometimes aiding Supes when he needs to recuperate and in recent stories he feels like the Son of Krypton could be a threat to the world.

He was also once an employee of the US Government which fits in with rumors of the military feeling uneasy about the appearance of Superman. Whether he is in the story to be a friend or to conduct experiments on the Kryptonian, it's nice to see them bring some characters in that have already been established rather than create new ones should he end up being of the same persona. 

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

From DC Comics' blog, The Source:

Burbank, Calif. – Jan. 5, 2012 – Batman is back to save Gotham City and the action will only build from here! Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games and The LEGO Group are teaming up once again to announce that LEGO® Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes will be available beginning Summer 2012 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Wii™ system, and Windows PC, as well as the Nintendo DS™ hand-held system, Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system, and PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system.  The game is the sequel to the best-selling LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame, which to date has sold more than 11 million units worldwide.

LEGO Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes complements the brand new, recently released LEGO® Super Heroes: DC Universe toy collection.  The line includes five construction sets, such as The Batcave and three buildable, detailed action figures.

In LEGO Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes, the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin join other famous super heroes from the DC Universe including Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to save Gotham City from destruction at the hands of the notorious villains Lex Luthor and the Joker.  Batman fans of all ages will enjoy a new and original story filled with classic LEGO videogame action and humor as players fight to put the villains back behind bars.

“LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes builds upon the action and cooperative gameplay experience established in our best-selling LEGO video game to date, LEGO Batman: The Videogame,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “We’re offering fans a rich and expansive Gotham City environment filled with cool characters, great customization options and plenty of surprises that families, young gamers and DC Universe fans can enjoy together.”

“LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes further extends and combines both the Batman and LEGO videogame experiences to create very fun gameplay,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Development and Production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Fans of all ages are going to enjoy the action and light hearted humor that TT Games and LEGO provide.”

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes allows players to explore all new areas of Gotham City utilizing a variety of vehicles including the Batmobile and Batwing.  In addition, they’ll be able to fight for justice by mastering new gadgets and suits, such as Batman’s Power Suit and Robins’ Hazard Cannon, and using all-new abilities including flight, super-breath and heat vision.

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is being developed by TT Games and will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.  For more information, please visit www.videogames.LEGO.com.

Hunger Games Awards You With Nail Polish

Nail polish isn't exactly a product I imagine being tied in with a major motion picture, but Hunger Games is giving it's fans a unique item indeed. The ad features Elizabeth Banks as the character Effie Trinket. I'm not familiar with the books other than the recent news of the movie so this seems like a really odd choice to advertise your film. Maybe it makes sense to have this character showcasing the nail polish with how she is portrayed in the story. Lionsgate is teaming up with the cosmetics company China Glaze to create twelve colors based around what is known as the Districts of Panem. Below is an image and title of the colors. My personal favorite is Smoke and Ashes.

Luxe and Lush – District 1 (Luxury)
Stone Cold – District 2 (Masonry)
Riveting – District 3 (Technology)
Hook and Line – District 4 (Fishing)
Electrify – District 5 (Power)
Fast Track – District 6 (Transportation)
Mahogany Magic – District 7 (Lumber)
Dress Me Up – District 8 (Textiles)
Harvest Moon – District 9 (Grain)
Foie Gras – District 10 (Livestock)
Agro – District 11 (Agriculture)
Smoke and Ashes – District 12 (Mining)

A New 'Goon' Trailer

The sports comedy Goon stars Sean William Scott as Doug Glatt, a slacker from a rich family who discovers he has a knack for fighting hockey goons. Dragged to a game by his best friend, Doug punches out the visiting team's toughest player when the angered player rushes into the stands. The team quickly gets Doug on the team and, even though he can't skate, encourage him to beat up their opponents.

Official Dark Knight Rises Hi-Res Images

Even though the trailer for The Hobbit dropped online yesterday, I still get a sense that The Dark Knight Rises holds most of the attention for this week. As it usually is with Christopher Nolan's films, things take a while to heat up and it looks like we are finally hitting the good stuff. Above are two hi-res images which should look very familiar to everyone. These two images were recently released in an issue of Empire magazine with scans floating around online. Hopefully more will follow in the next few weeks. Screen Rant has larger versions of both images and have constructed quite a fun and interesting image of the various Bat-suit's the hero as worn over the years.