Super Yakuza Bros.

While it does not surprise me to discover that Mario and Luigi are mobbed up, it wasn’t the Yakuza that I suspected. (Eduardo Vieira)

Previously on Popped Culture…
Grand Theft Mario
Mario's Mass Grave
Mario Gets An Offer He Can't Refuse

Crime Lords of Oz

Go and ask the wizard for a heart, for a brain? Hell no! You want something, you just go and take it!

Above: Heartless by graphic designer Juan Carlos Bueno, at Threadless.
Below: The shocking footage you were never meant to see, from cartoonist seemikedraw.

Previously on Popped Culture...
Popaganda: The Pop Culture Revolution
Superuseless Superpowers
Rihanna's 15 Minutes Of Unwanted Fame

Rihanna's 15 Minutes Of Unwanted Fame

Is it a statement about violence against women? Some sort of odd homage?

"I thought the bruises in the police photo were interesting shapes to draw," artist Sham told E! Online, about his Andy Warhol-esque painting of Rihanna's now infamous police photo. "And it was cool to color them pink and blue. Those are two of my favorite colors. There is no message to any of my art," he says of his work, Disturbia. "It's meant to look cool hanging on your wall and that's it! I'm not into deep meanings."

It seems unlikely that an artist would be so flippantly uncaring about using such a controversial image and perhaps wants people to make their own interpretations.

Said one commentator: "In four quick panels he condemns Chris Brown and all his enablers * particularly the entertainment media * for the free pass Brown gets. And Sham indicates (through mass production) that we shall certainly see this crime again...and again...and again."

I'd like to hope so.

Previously on Popped Culture...
You're A Bad Man, Chris Brown
Pop Art

Superuseless Superpowers

13th Bullet Bulletproof
Your skin turns to Kevlar... eventually.

In-flight Flight
You can fly, but only while the plane you're on is in the air.

More pointless abilities from Superuseless Superpowers

(Link via Information Nation)

And in a related note (it's funny how things group themselves togather) the Globe and Mail ran a piece on Super Joes: about "real-life superheroes are donning costumes and prowling their streets, looking to fight crime - or at least shovel a senior's walk."

There are quite a number of caped crusaders out there, and while most appear to be philanthropists with a penchant for Halloween, there are a few of them who clearly have a Watchmen fetish.

They even have a pseudo Justice League, called the World Superhero Registry. Through most of them have MySpace pages, which I think should disqualify them immediately.