Critical Hits Cocktails Takes Over Geek & Sundry Vlogs To Make Your Geek Drinking Dreams Come True...

Geek and Sundry Vlogs has a stable of great geek related videos over at their Youtube page. That is a given... but some are definitely more appealing to my particular geek sensibilities than others. Critical Hit Cocktails does just that, with host Mitch Hutts, takes nerd friendly characters and properties and comes up with awesome drink recipes to satisfy your geeky palate. They make both alcoholic and non alcoholic recipes, and the best part is that if you take some of their non alcoholic drinks and just add a spirit of your choice you can still get a buzz out of it! These are great, and Hutts minds the classics for his inspiration. TMNT, Harry Potter... hell, the newest video is a Star Lord inspired drink, which is fitting since Guardians of the Galaxy is killing it right now. The best part is the instructions are easy to follow and the ingredients are simple and easy to obtain. So in just a few minutes you can turn yourself into the Nerdiest Mixologist of all time! All of them are fun, so make sure you check em all out... I will be making some of these behind the bar this weekend, so I will let you know how they shake out!



Star Lord:

 

Donatello from TMNT:

The Faces Of A Thief, 2 Thugs, An Assassin and A Maniac... What Do You Get? Sean Hamilton's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Face Mash-Up !!!

My buddy Sean Hamilton is back at it again, this time taking on the hit characters of the 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. In his latest 'face mash-up' piece he takes on the new Fab 5 and uses their distinct facial features to meld them into one cohesive facial pattern. You get the crown of Groot's tree head, the flowing purple ponytail against the green skin of Gamora, the red tattoos of Drax, the furry brow of Rocket, and the mask and 80's headphones of the man called Star Lord... all in one piece! Pretty great. Sean is a very talented dude and has been knocking out amazing art pieces over on his webpage but, he is also finding time to be in the podcasting game with the guys over at the League of Geekz. They have some interesting takes on everything from pop culture, and Sean gets to chat with his fellow podders about toys, movies, comics, TV and much more. Where does this guy find the time? Another great artistic endeavor done well by Create Ink Studios. Make sure you try and cop this puppy when Sean adds it to the online store. Check it out after the jump....

The CCD Podcast: Episode #15.5 - The Guardians of the Galaxy Review or I Plan For Awesome Mix Vol #1 To Be The Soundtrack Of My Life...

Wow... this may very well be the best Marvel movie released thus far... yup, I said it!!! Guardians of the Galaxy has come... and boy did it CONQUER!!! Over 160 mil worldwide, and as much critical acclaim as any comic book I have seen. So it is a perfect time for us to launch our '.5' episodes, which will be mini review episodes. Sometimes the movies will be new, sometimes old... but you get our perspective on it one way or another!!! So let's get on the journey with Groot, Rocket, Drax, Gamora, and Star Lord... come and get your love!!!! Check out the pod embedded after the jump... and please head over to ITunes where you can Subscribe, Download, Listen, Share... and then REPEAT!!!






Follow the CCD Podcast Instagram & Facebook... it's tons of nerdy fun!!!

Guardians of the Galaxy x Tommy Lombardozzi x Erle Tompkins = FUEGO !!!

So I saw Guardians of the Galaxy at the 7 pm Thursday night show... and it was magnificent. Absolutely perfect. On every level. It was just amazing, and words can't do it any justice. So I'm going to let two of my very talented artist friends do the talking with their talent. Tommy Lombardozzi is an amazing artist who is not afraid of any challenge when it comes to character creating. So when he began getting hype for the GOTG movie release, he decided to add his own vintage loving spin to the version of the team that appears in the movie. He has Groot, Rocket, Drax, Gamora, and Star Lord... but it is the retro versions of all the characters instead of the most current inclinations!!! Great idea and execution... can't know where you are headed unless you know where you are going!!! Up second we got our boy Erle Tompkins and his homage to the GOTG. He decided to bust out his own unique Peter Quill... The STAR LORD himself! It is the movie version of Star Lord, complete with the orb and all. Suns out, Guns out... two great pieces, by two great artists. Check out all their work by clicking their names above, and check out these pieces after the jump...

The (Old School) Guardians of the Galaxy by Tommy Lombardozzi

Star Lord aka Pete Quill by Erle Tompkins

Mike Vazquez Has Some Dope SD Comic Con 2014 Exclusives Ready For The Show!!!

We are on the cusp of this years San Diego Comic Con, and show exclusives from everyone involved are starting to crop up all in our Feedly feed. One of the coolest ones so far mashes up what will probably be 2 of the biggest comic book movies of 2014: Days of Future Past & Guardians of the Galaxy. Artist Mike Vasquez abandons his typical Adventure Time inspired creations to create a variant cover/poster that features everyone's favorite Raccoon in the role of Wolverine and the rest of the Guardians supporting cast on the posters behind him. He means business, and this is a great interpretation of the classic cover of issue X-Men #141. The piece was a combined effort creation between Vasquez and LogicFun (an artist from France who colored the piece). Vasquez also has some dope stickers featuring Groot, Star Lord Gamorra and Rocket (yeah, no Drax... weird), and a bunch of team Adventure Time inspired prints (Friday is Nintendo characters, Saturday is Guardians, and Sunday is Spidey & the Sinister 6) that are limited and only available at Vasquez's table. He also has a cool 35 page sketch book available for purchase. As someone who has followed Vasquez's art for a while, you will be blown away by both the look of the pieces as well as the quality of the prints. You can see more of Vasquez's work over at his Etsy & Deviant Art pages, and check out pics of everything from SDCC after the jump....

Uncolored

Finished Version

2014 SDCC Sticker Set 

2014 SDCC Exclusive Print

Vasquez's Sketch Book

2014 SDCC Exclusive Prints By Day...

  

Just Who Is This 'Groot' Anyway???

A lot of hub bub is being made over the upcoming 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movie, and the trailers are very Star Lord & Rocket Raccoon heavy. While the two green members of the team (Gamorra & Drax) are both brooding and about action, the final character that rounds out the 5 may be the most mysterious. Groot is a giant walking tree, and he talks... well, he says "I AM GROOT" over and over. Kind of like Hodor from 'Game of Thrones', just with more foliage....but just who is this Groot and where did get his start? Take a look after the jump for a little background info on the Terrific Tree known as Groot.

What most people don't know about Rocket's best buddy is that originally he was a bad guy, alien invader, created by 'The King of Comics' himself Jack Kirby!!! And he also spoke a whole bunch, in typical "I'm an alien hell bent on taking over the Earth" style that was always present in Kirby's giant monster/alien stories. He was actually quite articulate. He appeared in a handful of stories (all done by Kirby), than kind of faded away...

... until making an appearance in 'The Incredible Hulk' annual #5 (1976) alongside five other Kirby-era monsters (Goom... fuck yea!) taking on the Hulk. The story was drawn by Sal Buscema & written by Chris Claremont, two guys who adore Jack Kirby and were happy to give the King and his monsters a highlight.

The plan failed (there is no way 6 monsters can put together a cohesive battle plan... just my opinion!) and he would pretty much disappear from the pages of Marvel Comics until 21 YEARS later when he appeared alongside other Kirby-era monsters in The Sensational Spider-Man #1 in 1997. Groot along with the other monsters come alive in a young Peter Parker's nightmares to terrorize him, and Peter defeats them.

In the year of 2006 it seems Joe Quesada and the other higher-ups at Marvel had bigger cosmic plans that included Groot .....but, this time as one of the good guys! After appearing in Nick Fury's Howling Commandos miniseries and 'Annihilation: Conquest' with a newer look but, able to speak and be extremely articulate. The character was extremely popular, and we would begin seeing more of him in things like the Star Lord mini series, his team up 'Annihilators' series with Rocket, and eventually 'Guardians of the Galaxy' in the relaunch.

So that's how he ends up in this interesting movie. It has been a long road for a humble King Kirby monster character, and now he is finally getting his due. Groot is also in a new team book with Rocket, so keep an eye out for that. Looking forward to seeing a golden character such as Groot get the total mainstream love he deserves. 'Guardians of the Galaxy' hits theaters on August 1st.