Pads & Panels

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the DS Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

For those that like their puzzle games served up with a healthy amount of narrative, the Professor Layton series has been a definite favorite. The newest title in the series, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, finds the professor and his apprentice Luke in a tale of time-travel and mystery after receiving a dire warning from the future. Combine that with over 165 puzzles to solve, and you’ll lose some time yourself in solving this mystery. (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the PSP Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Valkyria Chronicles II

Sega managed to cram a full-fledged sequel to it’s PS3 tactical RPG, Valkyria Chonicles onto the PSP while maintaining the original game’s strategy and stylized watercolor art style. Although the units may be smaller, they’re no less powerful, as this proves to be more than a worthwhile followup to one of the PS3’s stand-out titles of 2008. The military strategist on your list (and who doesn’t have one?) will thank you for this one. (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the DC Comics Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Absolute All-Star Superman

Despite his prominent role as one of DC’s two top characters, Superman has a rather bad rap among much of the comics community. He’s generally a dull, one-dimensional character who can do very little wrong, the proverbial Boy Scout. But Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman uses the All-Star license to its fullest, telling a fantastic 12-issue tale that reminds us naysayers why we should care about the Kal El, and that what makes him special isn’t just his powers. DC made the Absolute Edition, an oversized slipcase book with plenty of extras, available just in time for the holidays. (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Image Comics Fan…

By P&P Staff

The Walking Dead Vol 13

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The Walking Dead is the best zombie comics series hands-down. If your significant other is a comics aficionado, he probably already has the first 12 trades. Number 13 just hit shelves, so the timing couldn’t be much better. If he’s just picking up on the AMC’s television adaption of the series, the massive Compendium (collecting trade paperbacks 1-8, or issues 1-48) is a great way to get caught up at a fair price. (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Marvel Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Invincible Iron Man Omnibus Vol 1

Matt Fraction rides the momentum of 2008’s hit Iron Man movie and crafts a tale that simultaneously reintroduces readers to Tony Stark and builds an intriguing tale for old-time readers to latch onto. This massive collection contains the first 19 issues, and Salvador Larocca’s art makes this the perfect book for any coffee table. (more…)

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Lance Briggs is the Pro-Bowl linebacker for the first-place Chicago Bears, our hometown football team. But as anyone who saw our interview with Mr. Briggs at C2E2 in April knows, the football player is also a true comics aficionado. He conducted his own panel at the Chicago event, and has appeared on a variant cover of The Darkness. He’s also quite the charitable athlete, running the .

Briggs is combing these interests for “Lance’s Comic Book Weekend” in Chicago, two days of charitable happenings related to comics and sports. On Saturday, Dec. 11, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at  The Comic Vault, 1530 W. Montrose, Briggs is scheduled to hold Comic Book Day. Fans are encouraged to donate their old comic books and meet Lance. The donated books will be given to the CHA and to the Armed Forces. Then on Monday, Dec. 13, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., at 42 N Latitude, 4500 N Lincoln, fans can pay $55 for open bar and food to watch Monday Night Football with Lance. The proceeds are to benefit underprivileged youth in Chicagoland. The flier for the events is posted above. A button to purchase tickets to the Holiday Bash is below.

For more info, lancebriggs.com

Lance Briggs Holiday Bash!

Monday, December 13th

7:00pm – 11:00pm

42N Latitude

BUY TICKETS HERE!

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I’ve been thinking about this for a while, pondering even. Over the past few years, we’ve been given an increasing amount of movies based on comics. Is this necessarily a good thing? You may be thinking to yourself, “Definitely! I need my Marvel fix on the big screen!” The thing is (besides Michael Chiklis), we’re being told the same story a minimum of three times!

Take the 1989 Batman, for example. When the movie was released and shown to be a cash cow prime for the milking, DC began releasing more comics, more cartoons and more video games based on the character. Some of these turn out good like Spider-Man for PS2. Most of them turn out bad…Iron Man bad. (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Wii Exclusive Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Disney Epic Mickey

The game that’s going to put Mickey back on the map. After months of screenshots, trailers and unfortunate revelations of what might have been, the wait is finally over. Designer Warren Spector took up Disney’s cause to make the mouse relevant once more. Old-school Disney fans will get a kick out of the nods to the company’s extensive history (such as the inclusion of the recently reacquired character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit). For an extra flourish, throw in the limited edition . (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Xbox 360 Exclusive Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Fable III

The third entry in one of Lionhead’s most popular franchises maintains what works in the series while ironing out many of the rough patches that garnered complaints amongst fans. Fable III‘s story of revolution is much more engaging than pevious narratives, and there are many more nooks and crannies to explore within the world of Albion. (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the PS3 Exclusive Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Uncharted 2: Game of the Year Edition

Our 2009 Game of the Year and that in the hearts of many, Sony gives Uncharted 2: Among Thieves a fairly standard Game of the Year Edition, filled out by the title’s many DLC releases since its launch. Still, for those late to the party, the extra content makes it well worth the $49.99 asking price to pick it up this holiday season. For the mega fan, Ballistic Publishing’s The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a beautiful coffee table-style book, and Archie gave it a rave review. (more…)