Did you know that Thor was the master of the casual flex? You can see all of the hotness in a new picture from The Avengers. What is he doing? Oh nothing. Looking at something on a computer screen. While his fucking triceps go goddamn insane.  Also featured: slow rollin’.

Hit the jump to check them out.

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A principal in a Taiwanese school dressed up as Iron Man as part of a graduation ceremony. Doing my own rough translation this occurred at what is called The Best School Ever. The principal didn’t just stop there though, he used the superhero metaphor to crack eggs of knowledge on the kids’ faces.

Hit the jump for the video, and some knowledge, brah.

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Wang XiaoKang is clearly the most pimp of Iron Man fans. By day he is a Chinese Telecom worker. By afternoon, or evening, or sometime he is the builder of an absolutely gorgeous Iron Man  Mark I movie armor.

Want to see him lumbering about in it? Of course you do.

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Iron Man 2 was fun. It was also forgettable, and it strove so hard to integrate into a larger universe than it ended up getting lost in its own cross-marketing bullshit. Recently named director and apparent writer of the third flick, Shane Black, addressed all of this at the Omaha Film Festival this past weekend.

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Enlarge. | Via.

I was first made aware of Paolo Rivera through last year’s Spider-Man storyline “One Moment In Time”, and since then I’ve had a huge hankering for his artwork. Goodness gracious the time I’ve wasted not knowing of his existence! But so it goes. Anyways, Rivera’s artwork is gorgeous, and there’s an insane fuckload of it for free on his excellent blog. Today Rivera revealed an Avengers study he’s doing that’s (according to him) a work in progress:

A new  Thor trailer just debuted, so I thought it would be a good excuse to show a recent study of the cinematic Avengers (they’re mostly based on the  concept art that made its way on-line last year). I haven’t really read any  Thor comics, but I’m still excited for the movie. I like what I’ve seen so far and I can’t wait to see them all on the screen together.

It’s fantastic. Get over there for more of his goodness.

[via diversitile, click to enlarge]

These things are super hawt. Like, ohmaigawd. Like I said when I was busy gushing over Nike’s Bioshock kicks, I can’t wear these. Size 15 feet. Freakishly large. It’s up to you chaps to buy a set of these, so I can live vicariously through you.

[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]

I love comics — honestly and earnestly, at that. As such, I definitely spend more money on Wednesdays than I should. Not only do I pick up  titles that will be remembered for years to come, but some of their more timid brethren as well.

It is with this preface that I present OL’s comic of the week: Ultimate Armor Wars #4

As the final issue of a limited series taking place within the Ultimate universe, this book is hardly “mandatory reading.” In fact, I can’t even remember whether or not I’ve read all three of the preceding issues. Fortunately, this isn’t really of consequence and the comic could work fine as a one-shot about Tony Stark.

How can this be? Three word answer — Warren fucking Ellis.

While I’m sure that the story would’ve made more sense if I had carefully followed the entire Ultimate Armor Wars series, Ellis demonstrates his complete mastery of paneled images in a mere twenty-two pages. Unlike most comic book writers, Ellis can create works of legitimate merit (such as Doktor Sleepless and Transmetropolitan) and still triumphantly return to the world of capes and superpowers. So even though I can imagine Warren Ellis banging out the script for Ultimate Armor Wars in a thirty minute haze of Red Bull-induced freneticism, it’s still stronger than most of the garbage released on hump-day.

So, what’s the plot? Again, I’m not even completely sure. I know that it involves Tony Stark fighting people who wear knock-off Iron Man suits, having sex with a babe who double-crosses him and realizing that his grandfather is a cyborg. And not just any cyborg, but one that threatens his life in the hopes of learning the secret of some technological wonder. It’s chaotic, kooky and all over the place, but somehow it works.

Again, what makes the book work is the writer’s grasp of the Tony Stark character. While it seems easy for  creators to make  Stark either too much of a hero or too much of an arrogant playboy, Ellis has stumbled upon the perfect balance. Take note of the following bits of dialogue, muttered by Iron Man in the midst of battle;

“I quite literally cannot afford for you all to get killed. I’m not as rich as I used to be.”

“Dammit — everywhere I go, people in metal suits trying to turn me into dog food–”

Hell, Ellis even gives Stark a great line to describe his grandfather;

“Like Ernest Borgnine in an ill-advised love triangle with farming machinery and the wreckage of a Lincoln Continental.”

If you’re weary of spoilers and think you might  buy this book, stop reading right now. But Ultimate Armor Wars #4 gets the feature in Images & Words because it ends with one of the best monologues I’ve seen attributed to Tony Stark in awhile. Having saved the day, the billionaire-genius heads to a bar to toss back a few shots and shed a tear.  Below are the words of a man who realizes that his capacity for good is only rivaled  by his capacity for evil.

Here’s to killing things.

Here’s to stamping out evil. Heh.

Here’s to liars and cheats and what they deserve.

Here’s to the life of a bachelor and an orphan.

Here’s to saving the world.

From me.

Oh, God.

Ellis knows just which question to ask – Is Tony Stark a sad superhero or an inspiring drunk?

Fortunately (for the readers), he seems to be both.