The Mantis-Eye Experiment

Venture Bros. storyboarder Douglas Lovelace has put up his latest batch of season one storyboard art for your browsing and bidding pleasure. Among the offerings this time are angry Hank from "Careers In Science", Hank and Dean as fantasy treasure hunters from "The Trial of the Monarch" and Monarch on the phone from "Home Insecurity" as well as many others. Check out all the listings on Douglas' eBay page.

So NY Toy Fair is currently ongoing and, as she has done before, Chandra Free snapped a photo of some new Venture Bros. toys from BigBangPow!'s Mego-style line. These are extremely early prototypes of Pete White and Jefferson Twilight. No word on when these will be out just yet, though by the looks of the prototypes they are still a long way off. You can also click on the image above for the full version.

Since we're in the off-season any news is good news (for the most part), so you Community fans may be pleased to know that Gillian Jacobs, who plays Britta Perry on the show announced via her IAMA on Reddit that she recently recorded a voice for Venture Bros. Of course we don't know anything else really, but there will be a new female character on the show for at least one episode, probably.

I asked @BifBangPow what the deal with the Venture Bros. 3 3/4" figures is, since they mentioned they might have news at the end of January. Slightly encouraging result since it means the figures aren't quite dead yet, but unless they can get a bunch of buyers I don't know how likely it is these will happen. You can also check out their Toy Fair 2012 preview which doesn't include any Venture Bros. items, though they do offer words of encouragement on that front.

I guess this Facebook thing is what all the cool kids are using these days. I was once content to stick with just Twitter and Tumblr but I see now that we need at least three social media networks to be truly awesome. So what does this mean for you, the loyal reader? Well, mostly nothing aside from that you can get Venture Bros. news on your Facebook thingy. All the cool stuff will still be happening here at the main website of course. Anyway you should head on over there and 'like' the site or something like that. I need at least 100 likes so I don't feel inadequate! That's how you truly measure success, you know.

We're back! 8pm on the dot, look at that. Anyway, thanks for sticking with the site through that. The blackout site is forever preserved here if you ever want to check it out (it contains many helpful links). Thankfully a lot of sites did this today and there seemed to be a pretty significant impact seen throughout the day (largely thanks to Wikipedia, which will be blacked out until midnight). That includes normally Hollywood-friendly Republican Senator Orrin Hatch promising to vote against the bill as well as a variety of one-time supporters of PIPA and SOPA dropping support. Perhaps most importantly President Obama has said he will veto either bill if one comes across his desk, effectively killing both pieces of legislation without serious alterations to either.

Of course, as you probably know, it's not over, and it may never be. Please take the time to email or fax (you don't need a fax machine!) your state representative and let them know how unhappy you are with this legislation. Sign Google's petition and learn more about what you can do. Piracy and copyright infringement are very real problems, but bills like SOPA and PIPA are not the right way to combat those issues. Mostly just remember that you can make a difference and what you think does matter. The next time someone tells you that protests don't work, just remember today.

Thanks for reading! Now we'll get back to some Venture Bros. stuff, promise.

If you're a user of the internet, and I know that you are, you may have heard of two anti-piracy bills that have been kicking around in the US Senate and House. They are Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). For US citizens passage of these bills would be a major blow to a free and open web, and potentially a means to an end for many sites out there that depend on community-driven content and participation.

In general I try not to take any sort of political stance here (with varying degrees of success), since it's not really the time nor the place, but I feel that these two bills are too detrimental to ignore. So on that note, following the lead of Wikipedia, Reddit and many, many more this site will go dark tomorrow, January 18th from 8am until 8pm (eastern time). To learn more about SOPA and PIPA, and to learn what you can do to help, visit Stop American Censorship. Thanks for your support and understanding.

Head on over to the Gallery 1988 X Adult Swim site to see all of the pieces featured in the show and perhaps to purchase one if that's your thing. Many of the originals are still for sale and some of the artists are also offering more economical limited-edition prints. Remember, the show will also be running until February 4th at the Melrose location, so if you find yourself in the Los Angeles area you should check it out. Also don't forget to check out the Mantis-Eye gallery featuring many of the Venture Bros. pieces in the show (with the remaining ones soon to be added).

In case you haven't been paying attention to this site for the last week or so you should know that Gallery 1988 X Adult Swim, an art show celebrating Adult Swim, opens tonight at Gallery 1988's Melrose location. The opening reception begins at 7pm tonight.

I've also been posting various Venture Bros. pieces from the show and now have compiled all of them, as well as a few new ones, into a Gallery 1988 X Adult Swim gallery (the online kind of gallery, not a physical one, you have to go to the show for that). Feel free to check that out and if you're attending the actual gallery let everyone know how it went!

On the eve of Gallery 1988 X Adult Swim's opening we have a piece by Glen Brogan, aka Albino Raven. Click for the full-sized version:

Tomorrow I will have a gallery up with all the previous ones shown here as well as a few new ones that I haven't been able to post. If you know of any, or you're contributing to the show yourself please let me know (or via email) and I'll add it! Enjoy the show, to those attending!