Today’s Google Doodle is a video Valentine story of how a guy learns the way to a girl’s heart. Music by Tony Bennett.

Sometimes it’s better to just not open a can of worms, especially if you’re not going to believe his answer anyway. This image is from a collection of Relationship Public Service Announcements from College Humor. Link -via Buzzfeed

Just because the video games in the Mario Bros. franchise feature Mario and Luigi as good guys doesn’t mean that the other denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom don’t see them as total jerks.From their penchant for destroying brick structures to their cold blooded turtle kicking tactics, the Mario Bros. just might be the enemy after all.

These propaganda posters from the Mushroom Kingdom urge you to take action against the moustachioed plumbers, and they ask the question the Shy Guys are afraid to answer- “The Koopas are fighting, why aren’t you?”

Link  –via Super Punch

Artist Matt Cowan used a bit of math to explain superheroes. Take a look at Matt's deviantART page to see if the equations jibe: Link - via Notcot

This Twaggie was illustrated by a Tweet from @DamienFahey, who apparently a frustrated Whole Foods customer. See a new Twaggie every day at GoComics. Link

Let your geekiness show in the valentines you send! Express your love for your sweetie plus your love for your favorite video game, online community, scientific discipline, movie, or TV show. There are lots to select from, but you won’t find them in your local greeting card store -no, these out-of-the ordinary valentines are found on the internet. Shown here are some valentines based on the TV series Breaking Bad, by Beth at Butt Horn. See the rest of the collection at mental_floss. Link

Sometimes it’s too hard to actually get your kitty in a costume. Fortunately, with a simple cardboard box and a marker, you can make your little one the coolest geek kitty in town. Click the link to see the picture even bigger.

Link Via I Can Has Cheezburger

These cute, colorful and rather kitschy Valentine’s Day cards were licensed by Paramount Pictures in 1939, and they feature characters from Max Fleischer’s animated version of Gulliver’s Travels.

They’re charming and simply ooze retro cartoon charm, so it’s no wonder these cards are highly prized by collectors of animation memorabilia, and Valentine’s Day card enthusiasts, over 70 years later.

Anyone have a nice color printer and some cardstock, I want to give one of these adorable cards to my Valentine! *wink*

–via Cartoon Brew

(YouTube Link)

Here’s your WTF moment of the day, an animated short featuring a giant hot dog eating the Caped Crusader! The hot dog has no facial features save a giant maw, so it’s hard to tell what it’s thinking about as it chomps down on old Batsy, but I bet it wishes it had a giant beer to help rinse the taste of spandex out of it’s mouth.

And so, the question remains-why would a giant hot dog do such a horrific thing? Because it’s hungry, of course!

BTW this video (LINK) could well be the reason why the giant hot dog went after the Dark Knight in the first place. Apparently payback reeks of mustard and relish…

–via i09

Zombie-themed wedding photos not for you? How about this Archie Comic-inspired one instead? That's what Bryan and Anne did for their engagement photo shoot.

Mike Lavarez of Visionary Photography Hub explains over at My Modern Met:

"Bryan and Anne wanted something unusual and beyond real. Summing up their core connection – being spontaneous, fun and outgoing – they fell into the perfect notion of comics. Infusing acting, photography and comic illustration, we bring them into the bright world of Riverdale with Archie and the gang."

Surprisingly, everything was drawn by the company's graphic artist, except for the diner setting which was shot at Johnny Rockets. "Photoshop was used and as well as a pen tablet for the illustrations," Lavarez explained to us. The greatest challenge in creating these scenes belonged not to the graphic artist, however, but to Jervy Santiago, the photographer. "He had to consider the rules of perspective in every layout," he said. "The point of views had to be consistent since we wanted everything to look dimensional with a cinematic flair (a storyboard was involved for each angle). It had to look like they were actually with Archie and his gang."

Link

Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s going on when you look at an ultrasound image of a baby in utero, but in this case the truth is plain to see-this woman’s baby is clearly the supervillain Venom, and he’s coming back for vengeance against Spider Man!

Giving birth to a supervillain might seem like a scary scenario, but really there are a lot of perks-your kid won’t get picked on at school, they will generally be able to take care of themselves, and every time they knock over a bank you’re in the money.

And at least her baby doesn’t look like Green Goblin, now that would have been terrifying!

Link

Being green? I now that feel, bro.

It's not easy being green. Certainly a sentiment that The Hulk shares with Kermit the Frog, as illustrated by Chris Gerringer.

Princess problems? I know that feel, bro.

Itty bitty living space? I know that feel, bro.

Genetic experiments? I know that feel, bro.

Check out the entire list of "I know that feel, bro" over at Chris' tumblr site: Link - via Laughing Squid

What do you get a cat who has everything? The world's cutest airline, of course! Hello Kitty (which scored over $1 billion in sales every year outside of Japan, to which the NeatoShop duly contributed) has added another way for you to spend your money: the Hello Kitty Jet.

Hiufu Wong of CNN Go has the story:

The carrier has recently launched three Hello Kitty-themed aircraft [Chinese language], on which everything from the fuselage to the flight attendants to the food is kitted out in the kawaii cat brand's images.

Passengers have been purring with delight, according to Anna Wong, an EVA Air public relations officer in Hong Kong. [...]

The new Taipei-based Hello Kitty jets -- called Apple Jet, Global Jet and Magic Jet -- will operate for at least a year on different routes originating from Taipei. [...]

Passengers can also purchase limited edition duty-free products, such as Hello Kitty-shaped pasta, from flight attendants wearing Hello Kitty aprons.

View more pics and details at CNN Go: Link - Thanks Tiffany!

Vinnie’s Pizza in Brooklyn gets creative with its menu board, showing themed meals for fans of A Clockwork Orange, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, and more. Stop by and exterminate a pizza during lunchtime.

Link -via reddit | Official Website

Grant Snider at Incidental Comics found the secret to making life a lot more artful, interesting, and …strange. Link -Thanks, Rich!

Hooters, the chain restaurant that is built around showing off women’s *ahem* assets, is getting an extremely unlikely crossover in their Japanese restaurants as they introduce Hello Kitty elements just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Apparently, the Japanese don’t feel like characters intended for children should be kept separate from adult and sexually suggestive merchandising, which makes me wonder-where do they actually draw the line?

And were those Hello Kitty “personal massagers” I saw online actually licensed by Sanrio? Ewwwww!

Link

Why don’t Daleks on Doctor Who get cutie marks? There have to be different ways of exterminating life, and therefore different ways to earn them. This should be explored in a crossover episode.

Link -via The Mary Sue | Image: deviantART user XFizzle

This blog has the tagline “an illustrated introduction to criminal law and procedure.” It’s part webcomic and part law class, and all interesting. Author Nathaniel Burney breaks down criminal culpability into small pieces so we can understand some of the many facets of crime and the justice system. In the latest post, there are quite a few people who hate “you,” but they have different intents and take different actions. Which ones are guilty of attempted murder? The concepts are laid out in logical order from the beginning of the blog, but it’s not totally necessary to read them in order. Link -Thanks, Wiseayse!

(YouTube Link)

I’m pretty sure the only way a fan film can have this many celebrity cameos packed into one short film is if the fan in question is John Landis’ son Max, with co-collaborator Bryan Basham on hand to keep all that Hollywood cred from going straight to his head.

Watch as Max and Bryan, and a handful of really famous friends, make The Death And Return Of Superman, “a somewhat-mostly-accurate educational parody film” about the time Superman got “killed” by Doomsday, then came back a little while later.

It’s like Drunken History, only about comic books instead of, you guessed it, history, and I really hope this picks up where DH has fallen short over the years and they run with this concept, because it’s gold I tell ya GOLD!

Oh, and in case you missed it in the title, this hilarious vid is for grown folks and is extremely NSFW, so if adult language ruins your day don’t watch, just ask someone who’s seen the vid to give you a recap!

–via The Mary Sue

(YouTube Link)

As you can tell by the soundtrack music in this parody trailer for A Muppet Wicker Man, it isn’t referencing the excruciatingly bad version with Nic Cage from about five years back, but rather the much more enjoyable 1973 version that still gives me the creeps.

I’m still on the fence about this trailer, and why a room full of Muppet faced children creeps me out when I love the Muppets so much I’d name my son Gonzo just to have them perform at his first birthday party.

However the comic book that tells the whole story, and for which this trailer is a bit of creative advertising,  is amazingly well done and available to read for free online.

It’s full of Muppet style humor, creepy moments and puppet heads photoshopped on to human bodies that enhance the eerie nature of this tale of witchcraft and human puppet sacrifice. And yes, I’m aware that it’s been around since 2009, but does that really make it any less neat, or any more o-rama?

–via Topless Robot    –comic book LINK

Have you ever wondered what hero (or villain) you have the most in common with, based on the moral choices you make in your life? Then this alignment chart should clear some things up, or show you that your fate lies in the realm of supervillainy.

Based on the nine basic alignments found in Dungeons and Dragons, this chart is pretty much spot on in my opinion, at least in terms of where the comic book characters chosen for this chart fit in to the spectrum.

I range between Rorschach and Deadpool myself, which character do you take after in terms of alignment?

Link  (much bigger version with legible text)

And the more she lies about the fake boyfriend, the more it beeps. This Twaggie was illustrated from a Tweet by @SEAempire. See more Twaggies at GoComics. Link

Just got friend-zoned? Here's the culprit: the Platonic Fairy, as visualized by cartoonist Mark Anderson. 

View lots more really neat cartoons over at Mark's website | Valentine's Day gifts from the NeatoShop to free you from the dreaded Friend Zone.

Aliens may have been rating our planet as a travel destination all along! This set of reviews is from Matthieu Barrère’s webcomic Awful Drawings. Link -Thanks, Kim!

AMC is promoting the return of the TV show Mad Men with a minimalist poster showing a falling man, with a blank expanse around him. The only other thing the poster contains is the date at the bottom right. That’s just asking to be embellished, and plenty of folks have great ideas about what to add. Gothamist asked for submissions,  and has been collecting the “improvements” to post for your pleasure. Link to gallery one. Link to gallery two. -via Laughing Squid

Who showed up in MetLife's toon-filled Super Bowl ad? And can you find Waldo? Cartoonist Mark Anderson has the answers (and one question in his blog - see if you can identify the mystery character): Link - Thanks Mark!

(YouTube Link)

This trailer for imaginary animated series Space Stallions would have fit right in with the rest of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup in the 1980s, and considering that the creators were clearly going for a retro cartoon feel, that’s definitely a compliment.

Created as a senior film project by students at The Animation Workshop in Denmark, it was created by combining  cartoon shaded 3d characters with traditional 2d animated elements and backgrounds, to give it that toony look and classic style.

The Space Stallions need to meet up with Wyld Stallyns (from the Bill & Ted movies) and party down somewhere in time!

–via i09

(YouTube Link)

This great Legend Of Zelda trailer was created by Joel Furtado for a game called The Lost Oracle, a sequel to The Wind Waker that doesn’t exist, at least not yet, because Nintendo might decide to do a sequel when they see this great animated short!

Link  –via Topless Robot

This Twaggie was illustrated from a Tweet by @DrTwittenheimer. Wouldn’t it be nice if our lives were as simple as our house cat’s lives are? Link

(YouTube Link)

I recently posted an article about the upcoming action figure series featuring Alfred E. Neuman as various DC superheroes, and there was a comment posted which stated something to the effect that MAD Magazine is dead, outdated and nobody cares.

I guess whoever wrote that hasn’t watched Cartoon Network at all since September 2010, when the hilarious, and extremely popular, animated sketch comedy show MAD premiered.

MAD often features superhero themed sketches, including this segment which aired July 2011 and features an adorable Adventure Time and Avengers mashup, with the least muscle tone ever displayed on a superheroic character design.

Watch and laugh, because MAD is still cracking people up to this day, but it can only make you laugh if you’re aware it actually exists.

–via The Mary Sue

Vi Hart has a bone to pick with Nickelodeon, in that the show Spongebob Squarepants does not represent the world the way it really is to children. Does she complain about the talking kitchen sponge who wears pants? The squid who runs an underwater hamburger stand? The squirrel in scuba gear? No, it’s the pattern drawn in the pineapple that Spongebob lives in. -via Metafilter

T-Rex Trying is Hugh Murphy’s cartoon collection showing a poor little tyrannosaurus trying and failing to do different things that require longer arms. It’s hard to be a t-rex in a brontosaurus world.

Link -via Blame It on the Voices

Who knew Homer was speaking dragon this whole time?

Link Via The Daily What

I love to see Alex Pardee’s take on iconic characters because he always manages to wow me with his redesigns. From his perspective, the world is full of shifting facial features, sharp teeth and splattered edges.

It’s a fine mess when you think about it, and love or hate him you gotta admit-Alex Pardee is an original. Here’s his fresh look at superfolks who were getting a bit too big for their britches.

Link

What, me worry about DC Direct’s upcoming crossover action figure line, which features MAD Magazine’s gap toothed spokesman Alfred E. Neuman dressed up like DC’s most beloved superheroes?

No way, because these figures look awesome, even if you’re not a fan of the freckled face chuckle head.

And this is one of those creative and funny crossovers that makes me wish they would create a comic book series, The Many Faces Of A.E. Neuman perhaps, to go along with the toy line. Now that’s what I call a mind bender!

Link  –via Nerdcore

Here’s a little nugget of retro goodness for ya, courtesy of BoingBoing-it’s a comic handed out at a Madonna concert at Madison Square Garden in 1987, warning youngsters about AIDS and urging them not to disrespect those who have contracted the virus. It’s a delightfully colorful fear mongering flyer public service announcement, and look! Free Madonna pinup!

Link

The Oatmeal is certainly the first site I think of for cards when I want to slide a note over to my secret crush at the Neatorama office. That’s why the site’s Valentine’s Day cards are just so darn wonderful… of course, that might also be why Zeon has a restraining order against me.

Link

Falcon Girl is artist James Hance’s wonderful mash up of Princess Leia and Tank Girl. I don’t know about you guys, but I kind of want to see this become a whole comic book instead of just a cool poster.

Link Via BoingBoing

His species only lives for a minute, but he has a long bucket list. (via the Presurfer)

The artwork from the 1966 Batman trading card set is so delightfully retro, with simpler character designs, hand painted panels, and less stylized versions of your fav villains, that I hope modern artists and designers take note when going for that retro look in their own artwork.

It’s not all about warm and tacky color schemes, Hanna Barbera character designs and outdated fashion, it’s the fact that everything is done without using a heavy outline and vector shading to convey form. These beautifully rendered panels by Norman Saunders have a classical aesthetic, and I’d almost forgotten how mundanely human villains faced by the Caped Crusader used to be!

Link

This hand crafted sword looks waaaaay too big to be lugging around all day during a convention cosplay session. Inspired by the sword carried by the main character Guts in the anime/manga series Berserk (as seen in the poster above the sword), it’s a super sized prop that looks really hard to handle. I applaud your effort sir, now get to work on that Final Fantasy VII Buster Sword stat!

Link

Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Jaws and Chief Brody. Ronald McDonald and the Burger King. They aren’t destined to be enemies. All they need is to show each other a little love, as Ingrid Aspöck’s cartoons illustrate. You should do likewise! Hug the next person that you see.

Link -via Bit Rebels | Artist’s Website

DeviantART member viria13 put modern fashions on Disney princesses (and Anastasia, too). The artwork is lovely, but can someone tell me who “Kida” is? Link -via The Daily What

A misdirected email connects two people 9,000 miles apart who turn out to share more than the same name. This is the latest animation from the Rauch Brothers for StoryCorps. How do they find such great stories? This is one that is included in StoryCorps new book All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps which will be available February 2. Link

(YouTube Link)

No one has ever accused me of being a fan of Wilco, or their alt-country sound, but I have been a huge fan of Popeye ever since I was a wee lad, getting in trouble for emulating the Sailor Man by beating up kids on the playground at preschool.

These days, I like my Popeye cartoons old and uncolored, and apparently so does Wilco, for they have cast a decidedly old timey version of the spinach munching tough guy in their new music video, which is the first hand drawn Popeye cartoon produced in over 30 years.

I yam what I yam, and that’s a Popeye fan, don’t hate!

–via ComicsAlliance

John's post about Jim Hines posing as women on the covers of fantasy novels reminded me of this clever bit of Tumblry from last year, where fans re-created Mary Jane's awkward pose from Spider-Man comics: Link

Comic artist Stephen McCranie has been very busy the past few months, and the result is a new book called Mal and Chad: Food Fight! featuring boy genius Mal and his talking dog Chad. To publicize the book, Stephen is running a special Fill in the Bubble Contest at his website. Your caption could win you a personalized comic portrait and the book! Link

JADS International has decided to release a line of perfumes based on The Avengers, including a “Yuzu, bergamot and tarragon create clean, clear top notes along with unexpected accords of water lily and nutmeg,” scent that apparently reflects the scent of The Hulk. While the colognes probably don’t smell anything like the real heroes would smell like, you have to admit that it’s probably a lot better than the sweat, blood and testosterone scent the characters would probably have in real life.

Link via io9

With a soggy and totally psychedelic style to his character renditions, it’s no wonder that Edwin Vazquez and his eye catching artworks have become a popular part of publications such as MAD magazine and Bongo Comics. Trip out on the drips, and some sweet tattoo inspired pieces, at the links below.

Link  –via ComicsAlliance