THQ

Before Marvel's Avengers assembled on the big screen, plans were in place to create an all-new Avengers video game to launch alongside the blockbuster film. In the lead up to the big crossover film, Marvel heroes like Iron Man, Captain America and Thor had all starred in their own movie tie-in games. Reception to the individual games was mild at best, and Marvel was looking to partner with a new publisher to bring the Avengers to life. In 2010, Marvel tapped THQ to do just that.

Last weekend, I flew across the country from my home in South Carolina to Los Angeles, California for WWE SummerSlam weekend -- and believe it or not, this was technically a business trip. See, part of the reason I went out there was to test out WWE '13, the next video game based on World Wrestling Entertainment, set for release this October...

To many gamers, the original Darksiders was a fun surprise during the first week of 2010. Releasing in what is usually the most barren season for game launches, Darksiders was known for blending the art of Joe Madureira with the frenetic action of God of War and the cerebral dungeon solving of The Legend of Zelda...

THQ and Vigil Game's Darksiders series is known for creator Joe Madureira's bright and bulky figures and an overall aesthetic that pulls straight from the longtime comic book artist's illustration work. The franchises comic book ties resulted in two projects back when the first game dropped in 2010, and now Dark Horse Comics will provide yet another Darksiders project when the game drops in August

San Francisco is known for some rad sights. The City by the Bay's got the Golden Gate Bridge, a neighborhood that sounds like it hates... ash berries? and that house the Tanner girls grew up in. I didn't really see any of those last week when I visited to attend a hands-on event for THQ and Vigil Games' upcoming Darksiders II, but I did see a version of the horseman Death who looks like a fusion

Webcomics: Grant Snider illustrates an epic Map of Thanksgiving Dinner. Creators: Gerald Scarfe, an English political cartoonist, got a newly-discovered dinosaur named after him. There's a new metric for success in the industry, as far as I'm concerned...

It may not require much actual drawing to play through, but THQ's upcoming Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat does cast players in the role of a new Marvel Comics artist working feverishly to complete a six-issue miniseries. Rather than mashing buttons ala the '95 classic Comix Zone, Comic Combat calls on players to steer the action of a cluster of characters by swiping around on a uDraw pen tablet...

Events: If you want to help the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund AND learn about comic book promotion from Our Love is Real writer Sam Humphries and our own Andy Khouri, pick up a ticket for the Comics College master session at Los Angeles' Meltdown Comics...

More leaked in-game footage from THQ's canned Avengers title has hit the web, and it's chock full of Skrull-killing action. It's much more complete than previously seen footage and stills and actually seems to demonstrate the supposed would-have-been game's playability...

THQ closed an Australian studio awhile back that was rumored to be working on an Avengers game -- or at least a pitch for one. Looking at leaked video from said studio's former senior animator Mike Smout, and the LinkedIn profiles of two former THQ employees caught by WouldYouKindly however, it seems unlikely the studio was actively working on a literal tie-in to next summer's The Avengers movie..