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Swamp Thing Season 1 and 2 Cover ArtTVShowsOnDVD have announced that Seasons 1 and 2 of USA Television’s Swamp Thing series will be released on DVD on January 22, 2008. I never thought this series would be released. I created my own DVD set of this show a few years ago and it was one of the harder shows I’ve tried to locate. I went through several people until I found decent quality VHS recordings. After all of that, the quality was still lacking, so I’m really looking forward to this release.

Sleep tight naughty evildoers! Don’t let the Swamp Thing bite! Enter into a mind-bending world where a humanoid mass of plant life matter fights to protect his swamp home, the environment and humanity from various supernatural and evil threats as the comic book superhero Swamp Thing comes to life! On January 22, 2008, Shout! Factory will unleash the Swamp Thing: The Series DVD box set, packed with all original 22 original suspenseful episodes culled from Seasons 1 & 2 of the cult TV series, in the order they were meant to be seen. Special revealing bonus features include exclusive interviews with Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein, actor Dick Durock and more!

It’s really unbelievable the amount of shows that are being released on DVD. It’s no secret that TV on DVD is popular with consumers. As the DVD format ages and the most popular shows get released, more and more rare and odd shows such as this will finally see the light of day on DVD.

Pre-order your copy of Swamp Thing: Complete First Season today.

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Dark Knight Pumpkin from WhySoSerious.com

The latest teaser for the Dark Knight (Batman 2) has appeared and it’s WhySoSerious.com. Visit the site and you see a flickering Jack-o-Lantern with a Bat Logo grin. What this all means is anyone’s guess.

WhySoSerious.com is the latest in a viral marketing campaign that started months ago to promote the film. Despite the fact that we’ve seen numerous web sites, teasers, and images; no real footage or information has been released about the film. Does the Jack-o-Lantern image mean that we’ll get to see an actual trailer on or around Halloween or does it relate to the Jeph Loeb penned Batman: The Long Halloween story, which retells Harvey Dent’s transformation into Two-Face.

More rumors are floating around that a 7-minute preview will be attached to the IMAX version of I Am Legend on Dec. 14. I hope not, because I won’t go see that film for a 7-minute preview, although many might, which is the reason it may actually happen.

Regardless, I’m eagerly awaiting whatever happens at WhySoSerious.com and in the meantime, I may have to carve a Jack-o-Lantern to match the one picture above.

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The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones – Volume One DVD set looks great. Somehow I missed the series when it originally aired (probably because that was my senior year in high school and the year before I went to college). The few episodes I’ve gone back and watched were quite a departure for TV at the time. The show feature more action, effects, and historical content than anything on TV at the time. Now, 15 years later, we’re all spoiled by shows that have huge effects budgets and computer effects at their disposal. At the time, Young Indy was groundbreaking.

Despite the high price tag on this (and following) sets, I’d still like to pick them up. Just watch the video above for an example of th extra content George Lucas and LucasFilm have put into this DVD set. Young Indy has been one of the most requested shows on DVD since the format began. Lucas always stated he wasn’t going to put the set out until had time to archive it as he wanted. He envisioned a DVD laden with extra features and historical content that accented each episode in the series. With the Star Wars prequels out of the way, it looks like he found the time and delivered on his promise. The first volume set has only 7 (of 22) episodes, but they’re spread across 12 DVDs. Just part of the extra feature on the volume one set include:

The 38 historical companion films are original works from the Lucasfilm documentary unit, headed by CBS News veteran David Schneider. The documentaries complement the episodes with insights from scholars, historians and luminaries from a wide range of disciplines, bringing remarkable and fresh insight into The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. They include interviews with Gen. Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Gloria Steinem, Martin Scorsese, Barbara Boxer, James Earl Jones, Hal David and Deepak Chopra, along with some of the world’s pre-eminent academics.

The “episodes” included on the DVD will be the 2-hour versions. Lucas envisioned the show as a throwback to the serial films of his youth and every two episodes of the series combined for larger story. Later VHS releases edited the episodes together. There were 44 episodes originally produced and since the DVD touts only 22 episodes, it’s safe to assume the versions being released wil be the 2 hour, edited together episodes.

One last comment, I like that the packaging mirrors the box set of the Indiana Jones films. These will look nice sitting on a shelf together. I can’t wait to pick these up and start watching them with Carter. It should be a fun way to introduce the concept of “history” and important characters from the world’s history.

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SlashFilm has posted a great article on 55 Must See Movies of 2008. There’s a lot of good films on there. So many and I know I’ll never watch half of them and likely only see half of that in the theaters. I do know I’ll see Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight next year. With Carter, I’m sure Wall-E, Where the Wild Things Are and Horton Hears a Who will be sure bets. From what I hear, the Wachowski Brothers Speed Racer film will be G rated, so we’ll definitely be there for that one.

Fanboys, Be Kind Rewind, Fanboys, The Changeling, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button all sound interesting, but will probably have to wait for cable/DVD.

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Alex Ross Cover to Captain American #34Every fan knew that Marvel wouldn’t go long without Captain America. What most did not know, was the method of his return. While we won’t know the details until January, Marvel has just announced that a new Captain America will make his debut in January’s Captain American #34.

Judging from the picture, my guess would the Winter Soldier will be the new Cap. Series writer Ed Brubaker “created” the character from Cap’s past and he’s quickly become a fan favorite and the most likely to take over the role.

The new Cap costume is pretty cool looking and not too different (which it shouldn’t be). I’m not crazy about the gun. Captain America wouldn’t use a gun/laser. I hope they get rid of that pretty quick. Overall, I’m glad to see the story continuing, but I still wouldn’t rule out the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, making a return appearance to the Marvel Universe. Brubaker even comments in the Marvel.com article that he’s only halfway through his story:

This was always the plan, to have—with issue #34, halfway through the whole big, ‘Death of Captain America’ epic story—[a new Cap]. So, you know, it’s all very, very planned out, believe it or not. I have an extensive notebook that I sometimes lose. Which is kind of traumatic.” Ed Brubaker

Be sure to read the full story on Marvel.com for more images the new Alex Ross costume and the new Captain America.