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Timing is everything. Well, at least it is to the nit-picky species known as the Comic Book Fan who, when following a mega-crossover event, is often known to keep a notebook of annotations and comparative analyses so that they know exactly whether or not the appearance of Hero A eating a hot dog in Title C is before or after Hero A washed his hands in Title B -- and God help the writers if they determine the events are happening in the wrong order, or simultaneously!

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Batman's Cape and Cowl for 'Batman v Superman' on Display at SDCC

Batman’s Cape and Cowl for ‘Batman v Superman’ on Display at SDCC

The first official day of San Diego Comic-Con has ended, and boy, was there a lot going on.  From sweet merchandise reveals to new images, the DC universe has been the talk of the town.

With it being Batman’s 75th Anniversary, and yesterday being Batman Day, it only makes sense that WB would showcase some of the Caped Crusaders most memorable suits.  But one in particular had fans in a frenzy –…

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Do you know how to survive a Sharknado? Do you know what to do if the weather gets teeth? Fortune favors not only the bold, but also the prepared, and should you ever find that those dark clouds are carrying more than raindrops, this Sharknado Preparedness Kit might make the difference between survival and loss of limbs! In this kit you will find:   emergency umbrella, to stay dry emergency towel, to get dry if the umbrella doesn't work shark repellent spray, so you're as prepared as Batman shark gummies, as a victory snack map of New York areas to avoid during a sharknado

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Until now, I had held the belief that Luc Besson films were a “love them or hate them” proposition. There was no middle ground. I loved “Leon: The Professional,” but “The Fifth Element is easily my least favorite sci-fi movie ever—even worse than watching something with Jar Jar Binks in it. With his latest directorial effort, “Lucy,” Luc Besson seems to have finally landed somewhere in the middle. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, an actress whom I think is often underrated because male-dominated Hollywood puts more stock into her shapely figure and gorgeous face than her acting skills. In “Lucy” she gets to flaunt both sides, and the film is better for it.

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E.L. James proved there was an open, willing, paying market for the BDSM tales that were previously available on the Internet for free. And while critics may debate the quality of her writing, and moralists the subject of her writing, Ms. James is giving a fig all the way to the bank. In "Fifty Shades of Grey," the powerful Mr. Grey engages in a BDSM sexual relationship with the submissive Lee Holloway played by Maggie Gyllenhaal -- oops, excuse me, that was 2002's "Secretary," where the powerful Mr. Grey was played by James Spader. This is a completely different Mr. Grey, played by Jamie Dornan, who engages in a BDSM sexual relationship with a completely different submissive, Ana Steele, played by Dakota Johnson.

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Syfy goes back to the schlock well for this sequel to the unexpected social media hit, "Sharknado." In "Sharknado 2: The Second One," Ian Ziering and Tara Reid return to their roles as Fin Shepard and April Wexler, following the horrific weather events of Los Angeles which saw Fin get swallowed by a great white. When we meet the ex-spouses again, they are on an airplane headed for New York, a scene that pays tribute to both "Airplane" (as the pilot and co-pilot discuss whether to have the chicken or the fish) and the classis Twilight Zone episode, "Terror at 20,000 Feet" (as Fin sees a shark get splatted by the plane and exclaims, "There's somethign on the wing!" Very quickly the scene explodes with crashing sharks who take out the lilac-coiffed airline attendant (Kelly Osbourne), both pilots, and -- tragically -- April's left hand, complete with wedding ring and the gun she was using to shoot the sharks while hanging out of a descending airplane.

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TNT's latest episode of Rizzoli & Isles is devoted to actor Lee Thompson Young, who committed suicide last year. Young's character, Detective Barry Frost, is written off the show as the victim of an automobile accident, and "Goodbye" focuses on the characters left behind who deal with the absence. At the behest of Mrs. Frost, Jane (Angie Harmon) takes on the duties of planning the funeral. Maura (Sasha Alexander) is concerned about Jane because she hasn't grieved her partner, and isn't about too any time soon as a case comes literally walking through the front door of the precinct, soaked in blood and bereft of memory.

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Just back from his sabbatical in Paris, Dr. Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) finds himself set upon by all his well-meaning friends as they try to assuage the pain of lost love -- a pain that Pierce fiercely contends he does not feel. This, despite the fact that Pierce's schizophrenic hallucination du jour is one of an anesthesiologist. Pierce is called upon by Donnie and Kate (Scott Wolf, Rachael Leigh Cook) to offer expert testimony in a case involving a human trafficker, whose girls have all but one refused to testify as to their abuse at his hands. When the prosecutor of the case (Jessica Morris) drops dead of mysterious causes during cross examination, their lone witness (Sammi Hanratty) recants her earlier testimony.

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I'll be honest, I don't know much about fan films. If you want to talk about fan fiction, though, I'm your person. I've spent hours writing and researching stories that will never make money and will probably only be read by specific fans. It is writing purely for the joy of writing and the love of those characters. Hence with my fondness of fan fic, I was able to understand what would drive a group to want to put their valuable time, effort, and finances into making a movie that would seem like a silly endeavor to others. So, when I saw the link for a Harry Potter fan film called "The Greater Good", I was mildly interested. However, having not watched anything like it before, when I saw the runtime of 17 mins, I was less than thrilled. Did I really want to waste 20 mins of my life watching some fanboys (and gals) run around with wands pretending to be wizards?  Well, what a mistaken, small-minded thought that was!

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I saw Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, just four short months ago and loved it. Then I heard that Clint Eastwood, the eternally gifted actor and director, was filming an adaptation of the musical. I’m not typically a big fan of musicals made into movies. Sure, there are some that are quite good, but I find too often that Hollywood, either intentionally or due to the limitations of the medium, loses the intimacy of the theatre. When you’re in an audience of 1,000 - 3,000 before your favorite local stage, you have a performer singing right at you, even making eye contact. It’s personal. It’s intimate. You can’t help but feel like you’re part of the show—and don’t let anyone ever tell you that the audience isn’t part of the show.

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On the run from the aliens that have invaded Earth, Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), his family, and the ragtag bunch known as the 2nd Mass march, south, to Charleston, where they believe they will be safe from the Espheni. Alas, as they crest the hills outside Charleston, they find themselves ambushed, herded by fast ships that drop devices which project laser fences. Some escape, some die, and some are captured, and the Masons find themselves separated from each other, not knowing the fates of their family. Several months later, we find Tom Mason is kept in solitary confinement, and the city outside operated like a prison camp, with the deadly fence holding everyone in. On the outside, people struggle to survive on their own, and confrontations are quickly put down by the sudden appearance of the monstrous Skitters.

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The premise for Syfy's Dominion is a simple one. About 25 years ago, God went missing. In the vacuum that followed, many of the angels turned against mankind, led by Gabriel the Archangel. We may find it highly unlikely a prospect that the same angel who delivered the epiphany to Mary would turn against mankind, but there were probably folks who were surprised that Lucifer rebelled as well. At any rate, there's been a war on Earth, man against angels. The only reason man survived at all is because the archangel, Michael (played here by Tom Wisdom, @TheRealTomWisdom), chose to side with mankind against his brothers. Most of this was already covered in the 2010 film, "Legion."

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Carl Potts is just as responsible for my comic fandom as Stan Lee, Bob Kane or Will Eisner. Not only was he responsible for helping industry luminaries Jim Lee and Art Adams break into the business, Potts also wrote or edited many of my favorite comics in the 80s and early 90s, including Dr. Strange, The Defenders, The Punisher War Journal, Strikeforce: Morituri, Marvel Fanfare, Shadowmasters, and the original graphic novels Last of the Dragons and The Alien Legion: A Grey Way to Die. That graphic novel spawned a very successful ongoing series under Marvel's more mature Epic imprint. Now, thirty years since its inception, the Alien Legion is back with an all-new mini-series, Alien Legion: Uncivil War. The first issue is scheduled to hit the shelves on 6/25/2014. The former Marvel Editor-In-Chief took some time to discuss the past, present, and possible future of his beloved space warriors. 

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It's been nearly three years since DC relaunched their titles under the banner of "The New 52." It was a clean sweep -- or was at least meant to be -- allowing creators to take characters in entirely new directions, and ignore history (or parts of it) as though it never happened. It was met with more than its share of reader opposition, even as it enjoyed a rejuvenation of those same readers. The only character that didn't seem to change at all was Batman -- and, ironically, that character has been either the nucleus or the catalyst for some of the more interesting changes that have happened in the New 52, changes that could never have happened believably (at least not long term) in the prior DC Universe.

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Isles and Rizzoli kissed! Oh, how the Internet must have teased the fans with that tidbit. Alas, it was younger brother Frankie Rizzoli (Jordan Bridges) who shared a kiss with Maura (Sasha Alexander), and the consequences reverberate into this episode -- although they're somewhat muffled by everything else that's happening. For those out of the loop, the titular Jane Rizzoli is now pregnant, a secret she's shared only with Maura. And, as luck (also known as "the writers' room") would have it, her next case involves a missing infant and the murder of his mother. The case is actually an interesting whodunnit, with some potential suspects including a registered sex offender and the victim's ex-husband.

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Dr. Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) has had enough, and has left his teaching position to take a sabbatical in Paris. But he can't outrun his schizophrenia, and when he's approached by the enigmatic Agent Drexler (Joshua Cox), he questions whether he's having another hallucination or if he is really finding himself involved in an international spy thriller. His standard companion, Natalie (herself one of Daniel's hallucinations, played by Kelly Rowan), reminds him that the notion is classic paranoid fantasy, but when Daniel has confirmation of Drexler's physicality, he takes the first step into a caper of Chinese scientists, James Bond devices, and espionage. But once the audience has bought into the story, we're once again forced to question: how much of this is real and how much is an elaborate hallucination happening only in Pierce's mind? The answers are ingenious, making this a particularly fun episode of Perception.

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Jon Favreau, the director of the first two Iron Man films, played a coma patient in the third installment. I have no idea how he really felt about not directing the third film and barely being in it as an actor. I can imagine that while he lie in his hospital bed, feigning death, that he may have felt at some level that he’d rather be doing something else, something more creative than being in a coma. And perhaps that’s when his mind seized upon the idea for “Chef.” Written, directed and starring Favreau and some of his excellent friends, the underrated storyteller has crafted the finest film of the year. I hope when the Oscars come around next year the mysterious cabal that selects the nominees can stretch their memories back this far, because Jon Favreau deserves at the very least a “food truckload” of recognition for crafting one of the rarest achievements in Hollywood – a believable comedy that really does make you feel good—good and hungry!