Star Wars: The Force Unleashed footage

At E3, this trailer for the upcoming Star Wars video game, The Force Unleashed was screened. Since the prequel trilogy, this is the most exciting thing to happen to Star Wars fans.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed places you in the role of Darth Vader‘s Secret Apprentice in a mission to hunt down the few remaining Jedi and promises to reveal new tales in the Star Wars galaxy. Plotted with assistance of series creator George Lucas, the game takes place between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and will be released Fall 2008.

Suggested gaming:

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Empire at War
Star Wars: the Best of PC

Ex Machina

Brian K. Vaughn (Y, the Last Man, Runaways, Ultimate X-Men) and Tony Harris (Starman) combined their talents to create Ex Machina for the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics.

Born out of frustration with the current ineptitude of political leadership, Vaughn‘s series features a super-powered New York Mayor Mitchell Hundred capable of communicating and controlling any mechanical devices thanks to an accident involving alien technology.

A former civil engineer, Mitchell Hundred fights crime as his alter-ego ‘The Great Machine,’ who is based on Mitchell’s dreams driven by the DC Comics he read as a child.

The comic book series functions on multiple levels, presenting the reader with political intrigue and traditional super heroics all in stunning visuals provided by Tony Harris.

An odd mix of genres (politics and super heroics) reminiscent of Stan Lee’s Daredevil and Iron Man Marvel Comics in the sixties, Ex Machina has been wildly successful for DC Comics, earning it the 2005 Eisner Award for Best New Series, a series of trade paperback collections, rave reviews online and a large fan following.

Those unfamiliar with the series are welcome to read the entire first issue for free here.

Suggested reading:

Ex Machina Vol. 1: The First Hundred Days
Ex Machina, Vol. 2: Tag
Ex Machina Vol. 3: Fact v. Fiction
Ex Machina, Vol. 4: March to War
Ex Machina Vol. 5: Smoke, Smoke