Chris Sims

2017 is just over the horizon, and as ever, a New Year brings with it the promise of a new Power Rangers series. And this time, it's combining ninjas, robots, an intergalactic game show, and magic crystals.

The NES instruction manuals weren't just simple how-to-play diagrams. They were also tasked with telling the story of the game, describing the enemies, and even providing maps to players who could get lost wandering around Hyrule. And today, Nintendo has put 30 classic NES manuals online, including classic titles like the Super Mario Bros and Legend of Zelda, Mega Man 2, Castlevania, and more.

Earlier this year, NJPW and Toei animation announced the production of a new Tiger Mask anime called Tiger Mask W (pronounced "Double"), and this week, the new character made his debut at New Japan's King of Pro Wrestling event, taking on his equally fictional opponent, Red Death. So yes: anime is real. And so is pro wrestling.

The good news is that this Regular Show is heading into outer space when it returns to Cartoon Network for its eighth season on September 26. In "One Space at a Time," the Park and its groundskeeping staff have been blasted off from Earth, and they're going to be staying there for the rest of the season. The bad news, though, is that this is all building to the end of Regular Show. Season Eight will culminate in the series finale.

If there's one thing that has made the nightmare of existence worth it over the past few years, it's been the revival of and new appreciation for the classic Batman television show. Between the long-awaited release of the series on DVD and the new adventures that have been running in the Batman '66 comic book, it's been a good time to be a fan of what is unquestionably the greatest mass-media incarnation of the Dynamic Duo. But in a few months, we're getting something all new and amazing. On October 11, Warner Bros. will release Batman: Return of the Caped Crusader, a new animated movie that's not just based on Batman '66, but also features original series actors Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar, reprising their roles as Batman, Robin, and Catwoman.

This weekend at Power Morphicon, Saban put together a "blooper reel" for Dino Charge that included footage of the moment that all five actors found out they're Power Rangers. Saban also revealed the cast for the next series, Power Rangers Ninja Steel.

ComicsAlliance is saddened to report that Jack Davis, the legendary artist best known for his work on EC's Tales from the Crypt, MAD Magazine, and the incredible posters for films like The Long Goodbye and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, has died. He was 91 years old.

So here's what you need to know: The canonical Sherlock Holmes, as written by Arthur Conan Doyle, has a brother named Mycroft who is presented as being arguably smarter than the famous detective, but far more secretive, choosing to spend his days in the Diogenes Club rather than galavanting around dealing with snake murders and tripping over waterfalls. This, of course, is not the obscure fact that it once was, as more recent portrayals of Holmes have played up Mycroft's role considerably --- to the point where he's now starring in his own comic. But I think it's fair to say that for this adventure of Mycroft Holmes, the character is far, far less notable than one of the creators working on the book. When it hits shelves in August, Mycroft Holmes And The Apocalypse Handbook comes courtesy of co-writer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who may be best known for his career as a basketball player, activist, novelist, and --- as an actor --- the only cast member of Airplane to also fight Bruce Lee. Check out a preview!

It was only yesterday that I mentioned that there's a Batman statue to suit virtually any need you have, no matter which incarnation of Batman you most prefer. That said, I think we can all agree that you can never, ever have enough tributes to Bruce Timm's smooth, art deco design for the Dark Knight from Batman: The Animated Series. As a result, I'm pretty excited to see Kotobukiya's latest statue, an animated style Batman that's going up for pre-order today. And really, while it would probably be enough to just make a statue that captured that look, Kotobukiya has gone the extra mile with their interchangeable parts, making this the first Batman statue that can give you a thumbs-up. Seriously.

If you don't know who José Luis García-López is by name, that's actually pretty understandable. Despite a 40-year career in the comics industry that has seen him drawing virtually every major DC hero --- a career that's still going strong every time he puts pencil to paper --- he's very rarely enjoyed the kind of long, definitive run on a title that makes an artist a household name among comics fans. But even if you're not familiar with him, you've definitely seen his art. For years, he was not only the primary artist of DC's licensed art, providing the versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman that exist on lunchboxes, t-shirts and other pieces of pop culture merchandise --- a trend that continues even today on t-shirts that feature the classic designs --- but he also drew the in-house style guides that defined the look of the DC Universe in the wider world. In other words, when you think of DC Comics, there's a pretty good chance that the image in your head is one of his.