They’ve been been building up to it for a long time now. Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Thor have all enjoyed a level of solo success at the cinemas.

Now, they’re all starring in a big fat slice of Marvel movie goodness - The Avengers. And they’ve thrown Scarlett Johansson in the mix for good measure.

We might be quite excited about this. The only annoying thing is, it’s not out until May. So essentially, this trailer is just a big geek tease.

Check out the trailer below, then let us know in the comments what you think.

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I love cake. Who doesn’t? And I have a soft spot for Marvel movies (yeah, even Thor. For very, very shallow reasons). So this Marvel Cakelet pan is right up my street.

This cake pan has moulds for three of the characters from next year’s mega-movie, The Avengers, (Iron Man, Thor and Captain America), so it would be great for a bit of comic book-inspired afternoon tea before you hit the cinema. All you need is a bit of practice with an icing bag.

You can get the Marvel Cakelet pan from Williams Sonoma for £25.45.

The bad news is, it’s not eligible for international shipping, so you might want to get a kind friend in the USA to ship it over to you.

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The internet has been really rather wonderful this week. Here are five things we’ve spotted that you’ll love.

Marvel Super-hoodies

As a general rule, I’m not the biggest fan of hoodies. But I’ll make an exception for these Marvel Superhero hoodies. The two Spider-man designs and the Captain America version are $49.99 from ThinkGeek.

Alternion
Alternion is a busy geek’s saviour. It brings together multiple email accounts, 220+ social networks and your Twitter and Facebook feeds in one web-based app. I particularly love the fact that they’re so quick to turn around any features you’ve requested. Plus you can only check your emails 50 times a day, which means in theory that you’ll spend less time hitting F5 on your email. Sign up for a beta invitation here.

T-Mobile Angry Birds
We like Angry Birds (especially Angry Birds soft toy patterns) . And we like clever videos that combine technology with real life situations. So we really love this video from T-Mobile (y’know, the guys who came up with the Royal Wedding dance spoof and those flash mob videos?) of the real-life Angry Birds.

Quirky

Quirky is an online community that ‘makes inventing accessible’. People submit invention suggestions, and the community can then discuss and vote on whether the suggestion will make it to market. Two products are then chosen each month to reach production. You can have a peek in the shop to see what sort of things have gained the Quirky mark of approval.

Winterwell Festival

You know that thing where you find out about something really brilliant, but you’re just a smidgen too late to take advantage of this new information? That’s how I feel about the Winterwell Festival.

Taking place this weekend, the Gloucestershire festival is all about Tipis (much more glamorous than a soggy tent), unsigned-but-talented artists, a comedy tent and, best of all, a BOARD GAMES THEME! If I was able to make it, I’d totally rock up in this freaky Operation costume.

Discovered anything you think the dorks will love this week? Let us know in the comments, or send us a Tweet.

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In a brand new feature I will be sharing with you some of my favourite Etsy finds each week. This week I mainly have comic books on my mind as I will be heading along to the wonderful Thought Bubble Comic Con later this month. So, in honour of this amazing event I have been hunting down wonderful comic book-related items.

Kapow headband, $23 from Janine Basil

This Kapow headband from Janine Basil’s Etsy shop is quite simply genius. There is a full range of Comic Sound FX headbands available, including ones that are covered with rhinestones, not to mention one that glows in the dark. Yazooks!  Quite frankly I want them all.

The shop is also worth checking out for the rather awesome mirrorball head bust that a lot of the pieces are photographed on. I want one of those too!

Captain America handknitted Meerkat, $37 from Nifty Knits

I really don’t feel there is a great deal I can say about this fella, he pretty much speaks for himself I’m sure you will agree. You can buy Captain America Meerkat, along with his friends Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit and Rogue from the X-Men from the Nifty Knits Etsy shop.

More of a DC Comics fan? Never fear as Nifty Knits have it covered with a wide range of super hero meerkats including Batman and Robin, Superman and Wonder Woman among them.

Vintage Comic Passport Case, $12.50 from Bookity

Your passport need never be naked again! Not when you can dress it up in this fabulous passport wallet made from a vintage comic.

Throw on your stetson and mosey on over to the Bookity Etsy shop right now cowboy. Or for those of you who are full of gung-ho and daring-do you might prefer the Red Falcons fight the Air Smugglers version.

Superhero Notebook, $35 from Bombus

I have a whole pile of notebooks but I would happily add this wonderful hardback Superhero Notebookfrom the Bombus Etsy shop to my collection.

The notebooks are customisable so you can choose the superhero that you think most reflects your personality. Who would you be?

Prof Brian Cox Rocks Necklace, $12 from Polka Dot Emporium

Not technically comic book related but Lynn, the lovely lady behind Polka Dot Emporium, is actually going to be selling her wares at Thought Bubble so I will get the chance to check them out in person!

If you are not so lucky, you can get your mitts on this Prof Brian Cox Rocks necklace from the Polka Dot Emporium Etsy shop.

Now it is worth noting that although I shall tend to feature UK-based makers, shop local and all that malarkey, all Etsy pricing is in US dollars. I seem to recall they had a handy currency conversion function at some point recently but it seems to have vanished again.

What is the very best piece of comic book-related makery you have ever seen or made? Why not let me know in the comments below!

Related: More Etsy on Dork Adore | More Comics on Dork Adore

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The pilot episode of Pulse, the new BBC3 medical-supernatural horror that aired on Thursday, opens with a messy operation sequence. Ketchup flies, people scream, and if you’ve been scared since childhood of being awake during your own major surgery, it looks like this show will trigger that phobia hard.

The plot involves a young doctor messily stumbling across strange goings on in her hospital. There’s a potential conspiracy and various other things that I won’t talk about, both to preserve the surprise and because I don’t think I’d do them justice. Suffice to say, there’s a reason why this is classified as “horror” rather than simply a tad supernatural.

It’s also swinging more adult than Doctor Who, or even Being Human. Not only in terms of mature content, but there are a lot more characters floating around, a complex storyline and a sense that any words spoken in a given scene could end up being important later.

If there is a “later”. So far, only a pilot has been filmed for Pulse, with the potential for a series if it does well. So if this sounds like your sort of thing and you missed the original transmission, catch it on iPlayer now. If you have an account for the new iPlayer beta ‘social’ features, you can both favourite and recommend it too. The afore-mentioned Being Human began in a similar pilot-only form, so it’s certainly possible to get a full run of Pulse if we put our backs into it.

If you need to hear about some pedigree, the pilot was written by Paul Cornell, who would also serve as lead writer on the potential series. Cornell has written many good things, including the tear-wrenching Human Nature two-parter in Doctor Who’s third year and Marvel’s super-fun Captain Britain And MI13 comic book series.

More important than any of that, it finishes with many mysteries unsolved and I really want to see what happens next. So even if this piece has failed to sway you to watch Pulse properly, would you consider starting it on iPlayer and leaving it running while you have a bath? Go on. Do it for me.

And if you enjoyed it, you can let the BBC know by leaving a comment here on their BBC Three blog.

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On the evening of Monday 22nd March, whilst a glittering galaxy of stars attended the glittering première of the movie Kick-Ass in London, I curled up in my room and read the comic book upon which it was based. Frankly, I think we both know who wins.

Most of the time, these films are based on comic books that are at least twenty years old, which would make this a very dated review, but Kick-Ass is a special case.

Because the eighth and final issue of the series, completing the story upon which the film is based, was only released in mid-February. The graphic novel collecting the whole thing has barely been out for a fortnight. Obviously, the film has not been turned around in that time as that would leave us with something akin to a student production, possibly involving wigs.

Original Kick-Ass writer Mark Millar has been heavily involved in the film from the beginning, and (although I haven’t seen it), one presumes he’s told them what happens at the end, rather than leaving screenwriter Jane Goldman to fill in the blanks herself.

Certainly, I wouldn’t have liked her chances of guessing the ending. Although the basic premise of Kick-Ass is guttingly simple (real-life nerd tries to become superhero, gets beaten up a lot), the actual plot twists and turns viciously. Even more savage, though, is the violence that takes place along the way.

In his work with classic Marvel characters like Spider-Man and the Avengers, Mark Millar has quietly nudged up the level of violence he can get away with, but it pales in comparison compared to the blood-spurting and limb-chopping present in Kick-Ass.

It wouldn’t be quite the same, though, without John Romita Jr’s amazing art. His figures have real weight, and it makes the horrible things that happen to them all the more real. And no-one draws a truly pulverised face quite like him; the make-up artists on the movie will struggle to match it.

For those who seek an intricate character study, this series may not be for you. Kick-Ass does establish its loser-geek character, but only sufficiently to make it clear he’s way out of his depth when things get bloody. But the characters and their actions are over-the-top enough to make you say “Wow, that’s cool”, whilst still seeming real enough for us to care about the stupid things that happen to them.

In short, there’s a lot that’s cinematic to the Kick-Ass comic book series: a clear beginning, middle and end, whilst still leaving space for sequels. So perhaps it’s no surprise that it’s found its way to the movies so quickly. And, happily, thanks to Millar’s clear story-telling and Romita Jr’s career-best artwork, the comic is a perfectly good example of its own craft as well.

As long as you have a strong stomach.

Kick-Ass comic book series on Forbidden Planet

Reserve Kick-Ass on LoveFilm/Book cinema tickets

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Watching Mastermind this week, I realised that basically all of my options for specialist subjects relate to pointless things I’m sad and obsessive about and none involve classical music, politics, literature or anything important.

My plan now is to feel better about myself by a) confessing my sins and b) encouraging the rest of you to tell me how much geekier than me you are in the comments.

I would like to confess the following embarrassing obsessions:

• Marvel Comics

A large part of my parents’ garage is devoted to my superhero comic collection. It will remain there until it dissolves into mulch as I have no room for it and I refuse to throw it away. I can tell you anything about Marvel characters. It’s dreadful. I could be using the part of my brain that contains the secret identities of all the Avengers for information about the French Revolution or how to change a fuse or something.

• Mythology

Probably the least pointless thing I know sizable amounts about, but even so, sitting on the Tube reading large books marked Russian Folklore isn’t cool (what I learned: if you encounter a hut with the legs of a chicken, avoid it). If you have ever been at a dinner party with people you don’t really know, and found yourself trying to explain that the Norse believed that the giants’ main weapon against the gods come Ragnarok was a ship made of dead men’s finger- and toe-nails, you will understand what I mean.

Social death and prolonged silence will be the only things that come of it.

• Championship/Football Manager

Look, I’m not proud. After ten years of this game, I may now be up to proper, literal months of my life spent playing it. If you’re not familiar with it, you manage one of hundreds of football teams, with the aid of reams of statistics and tactical information on thousands of real-life footballers in leagues across the world. If you like football, it’s essentially crack.

Purists were unhappy when recent versions of the game included some animation of the football matches, rather than just lines of text reporting on the outcome. My friends and I have actual anecdotes that we tell each other in the pub of things that have happened to us in the game.

No, seriously. Now make me feel better. What stupid things are you a total loser about?

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