Thanks to a little digging by Comicmix’s Karl Cramer, here are some pretty damn impressive pieces of Etch-A-Sketch comic art.

See more Etch-A-Sketch Comic Art including Hellboy and Joker.

So the new Batman movie opens tonight (well, technically tomorrow at midnight). And yes it looks great, is getting rave reviews and all. But the real star of the show is a short preview trailer appearing before “The Dark Knight.” Yep, Warner Bros. is finally ponying up a full-fledged Watchmen movie trailer. And honestly, I’m shocked that the first peek at the movie isn’t a few quick shots, lots of overdubbing and a big close-up of a bloody smiley face. That’s completely what I expected for now, followed up in a few months by a more legitimate trailer.

Boy was I wrong. While I’m not sure when the trailer technically is supposed to be out, it did leak early. And there’s no stopping an internet leak once something this big is out. And I really have no words to describe it, because frankly, I’m speechless. And March 6, 2009 cannot come soon enough!

View the Watchmen Trailer

And be sure to check the official Watchmen Movie site.

This year I’m actually attending Comic-Con and I’m sure there’ll be something even bigger Watchmen-related. Maybe some scenes, a trailer, a new poster, who knows. I can’t wait and while I rarely go to panel events, I will most definitely go to any Watchmen-related ones.

Over on the official Watchmen Movie Blog, director Zack Synder’s put up a new video blog post that’s basically artist Dave Gibbons (that’s him on the right) talking about his experience on the movie set, and in particular, his appreciation for the immense attention to detail. Hollis Mason’s “Under the Hood” book casually placed on a desk. The grumpy old man at the newsstand and his young comic-reading friend. The Gunga Diner. It’s all there, including a short scene of Rorschach just walking past it.

I know there’s a really small chance this one can live up to the hype and the just awesomeness of the original comic, but everything I’ve seen so far just gets me more and more pumped for this film.

Hurm.

So I just love this swing-style version of the theme by crooner Michael Buble, that a real good friend of mine (Thanks again, Tish!) just turned me on to. Not only does he have an impressive voice, but I’m more impressed that the managed to successfully stretch a 30-second little ditty, into a full-fledged 3 minute tune.

I can’t imagine anyone on the planet wanting to drive this thing around. Other than me, that is. Being a big Captain America fan, I’d love it. And coming from a guy who still has his denim jacket from the ’80s covered in Twisted Sister and Dee Snider patches, I pretty much have no shame.

So why am I ticked off at this contest? Because I have a history of fainting when I give blood. And I”m not talking about blood donating, I’m talking about a basic blood test you get at your doctors. Yeah, yeah. I’m a wuss. I know. I don’t want to faint, it just happens. Happened probably about 3 or 4 times in my life, though there were half a dozen other times I felt it coming on, but stopped it in time somehow. So I don’t think I’ll be entering this here contest. (Although there is a “no purchase necessary” clause. So maybe I still can…)  But yeah, I can totally picture my bad-ass self pulling up to the drive-through window at White Castle in this sucker. Ah, to (American) dream…

Today I logged in and was shocked and pleasantly surprised to see not just a little redesign but a full-on makeover. Embracing the best of Web 2.0 without stuffing every last widget in every corner of the homepage, the Newsarama gang has really done a bang-up job I’ve gotta say. Broken out nicely by categories such as comics, film, TV and games, the news bites and interviews are now actual articles, rather then message board posts. And like most interactive sites these days, readers can leave comments on each post. In essence, it’s still the same style that Newsarama always had (article with comments included), but it’s in a much more digestible and attractive package.

There’s also a nice Comic Preview Viewer. I hate reading comics online, mainly cause they never fit on a full screen and there’s lots of scrolling, plus it takes forever to load. This one is super fast, you can switch pages easily and it’s real straight forward to use. Yeah, it still goes beyond my screen, so maybe I’ll just by a 50″ monitor and be done with the whole problem.

Toss in lots of blogs, plenty of videos (movie trailers, interviews, you name it), that don’t slow down your browser at all, save for a slight delay on initial load), a pretty fast-loading site all around, and this new newsarama is something to really celebrate. For the curmudgeons out there that hate it, yes there’s still a forums to discuss topics, but you can also still access the old archives via a “Newsarama v.1.0″ link in the header to go back to the old style. I’ve always popped in to Newsarama every once in a while just to keep up on comic news… but with this new site, I may just become a regular.

I’m not talking about the cameo at the end of the movie after the credits. Nope. I’m talking about a certain Super Soldier’s best friend. Yep. At just about the 1 hour and 30 minute mark of the movie, take a peak under Tony’s right armpit and you’ll see what appears to be Captain America’s shield.

I’m going to have to see the movie again and really look for it before making any true judgement, but it sure looks like Cap’s shield to me. And if so, does it mean anything story-wise (building up to the next Cap and Avengers movies?) or is it just a neat geek easter egg?

(Source: FirstShowing.net)