While the US has Captain America, China now has, uh, Captain China. Part of a secret "Super Human" project, he's Soviet pistol wielding, cytogenetically frozen super commie from the days of the Chinese Revolution.

So when President Obama visits China—to ask the Chinese for, I guess, money—who's there to protect the President from an assassination attempt? Why, Captain China.

Here's how the publisher describes it: "Captain China is a propaganda-styled comic series aimed at capturing the main-stream consciousness of China. The stories will reflect and give insight to China's current political stance, social environment, and cultural differences by blending complex characters, historical information, geographic locations, comic satire, and over-the-top explosive action!"

Well then!

The origin story is similar to Captain America's (the American superhero was also frozen for fifty years and carries a gun). But Captain China also has a helmet that makes him look like Iron Man from afar.

KindleComicBooks is digitally publishing the comic, which is available in both Chinese and English. KindleComicBooks' website is throwing up 404s, so there's not much information about the publisher. This isn't exactly Marvel, folks.

The comic is getting publicity in China, where it's being viewed more as an oddity (Communist superhero? L-O-L) than an actual, serious comic. Chinese sites note that this hero is riding on the coattails of The Avengers, while others aren't exactly thrilled with the character design or the comic itself. "This blows," wrote one Chinese net user.

But come on. Don't listen to the haters! We're all a little safer with the World's Greatest Communist Hero out there. Don't believe me? Check out some sample pages in the above gallery and rest easy, comrades.

Captain China [Amazon Thanks, Keng Hua!]

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William Smith works at Timegate Studios, who have previously been responsible for titles like Section 8 and who are now helping Gearbox out on Aliens: Colonial Marines.

He'd previously worked in advertising, for respected international firm Saatchi & Saatchi X. And his artwork is just lovely.

Enormous killing machines are normally shown as being dreary, dreadful things, but Smith's colourful art gives them a clean, almost cartoon-like appearance.

You can see more of Smith's work at his personal site (thanks, ConceptArtWorld!).

To see the larger pics in all their glory (or so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on them below and select "open in new tab".

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Wondering what a DOTA-style Lord of the Rings game would look? Keep wondering, because this cinematic trailer for Guardians of Middle-Earth is naught but cinematics.

They're pretty, though. And I can't say I can ever remember seeing Gollum try to rip off Gandalf's beard before.

In case you missed it earlier, here's our announcement coverage of Lord of the Rings: Guardians of Middle-Earth from yesterday.

Our first good look at gameplay from the upcoming Tomb Raider prequel/reboot also gives us a good look at hero Lara Croft...not doing so well.

It was announced tonight that the game will be out in March 2013.

As expected since its reveal was spoiled yesterday, Konami has announced that it's currently developing a sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

It's due in 2013.

Pure, 100% organic bananas. I mean, I know we should be expecting this, since it's being developed by the guys behind Bayonetta, but still. Bananas.

The game will be out in early 2013.

I'm not normally one for excitement over games, but whenever I see the world artist Viktor Antonov (Half-Life 2) has helped create for this game, I can't help it.

Especially since I'm a sucker for a good sea shanty.

Bethesda and Arkane's shooter will be out on PC, 360 and PS3 on October 9.

A brand new Star Wars video game has been officially revealed tonight. It's called Star Wars: 1313.

While little has been actually disclosed about the project, Lucasarts describes it as a "third person cinematic action adventure game", while the title is named for "Level 1313, a ruthless criminal underground deep below the surface of the planet of Coruscant".

You won't be playing a jedi, instead taking control of a bounty hunter who "uses human skills and gadgets, rather than supernatural Force powers, to make his way through this dangerous world".

We'd earlier speculated the game put you in the boots of Boba Fett, but given the explanation and the fact you can see a dude's face in the art up top, that may not be the case (though Lucasarts won't actually say who exactly you're playing as just yet).

Interestingly, it also appears that it's shooting for a Mature rating, which would be a pretty big deal for a franchise that's normally been reluctant to let the childhood market go in the name of blood, booze, boobs and space drugs.

UPDATE - Below you'll find some concept art for the game, mostly showing off the game's Coruscant environments.

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The style of the Fallout universe is dictated by two things: the fact it's an apocalyptic wasteland and the way it pays destructive homage to 1950s Americana.

Fallout fans might want to take a look at this brilliant gallery, then, because it shows what an actual 1950s American town would have looked like if it was flattened by an atomic bomb.

These photos were taken at Yucca Flat in the Spring of 1955, after the US military had exploded a bomb close to an artificial town, constructed at a cost of $1 million and there to simulate the effects of a nuclear detonation on American streets, homes and people. Well, maybe not people. Mannequins.

LIFE magazine at the time covered the event, and wrote the following:

A day after the 44th nuclear test explosion in the U.S. rent the still Nevada air, observers cautiously inspected department store mannequins which were poised disheveled but still haughty on the sand sand in the homes of Yucca Flat. The figures were residents of an entire million-dollar village built to test the effects of an atomic blast on everything from houses to clothes to canned soup.

The condition of the figures - one charred, another only scorched, another almost untouched - showed that the blast, equivalent to 35,00 tons of TNT, was discriminating in its effects. As one phase of the atomic test, the village and figures help guide civil defense planning - and make clear that even amid atomic holocaust careful planning could save lives.

There may not be any mutants or radscorpions scuttling around, but everything else here looks like it could easily be somewhere you'd wander through looking for bottlecaps.

Nevada Ghosts: Rare Photos From an A-Bomb Test [LIFE, via Laughing Squid]

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