The Marvelous Land of Oz#2 by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young! This is the duo’s second Oz series from Marvel Comics, the first – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – a bestseller (when it was collected) and picked as one of the School Library Journal’s Best Comics of last year. Below we have a preview of the issue for you, whether for getting a sneak peek of the comic you are already picking up next Wednesday, or to entice you to grab the first two issues (see our preview of issue #2 as well) and this one!

What’s it About? – War comes to Oz as the sassy General Jinjur and her army of amazonian milkmaids storm the city gates. And what do the ladies want? Gems, Fudge, and Sandwiches with the crusts cut off! Well, that and the head of King Scarecrow. Join the best-selling team of Eric Shanower and Skottie Young as the revolution heats up! All Ages …$3.99

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Friday means Marvel previews of the following week’s books both here and at BSCreview! Sweet cover on this one by one of my favorite artists in the biz, Skottie Young, and written by Paul Tobin who I told you knocked it out of the ballpark with Spider-Man & the Secret Wars#1–get the preview and be on the lookout for Marvel Adventures Spider-Man#59 on Wednesday (January 27th)!

What’s it About? – The Torino crime family continues their hunt for Spider-Man, and now they’re not alone, as the mysterious mutants known as the X-Men are in NYC, stalking down Spider-Man on their own. But… why are the X-Men after Spider-Man, and what can he do to stop them from taking away one of the things he holds most dear? 32 PGS./All Ages $2.99

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The 350th issue of Donald Duck and Friends is written by Fausto Vitaliano and illustrated by Vitale Mangiatordi, and hitting stores next week, via Boom! Studios.

Below is our 5-page preview of the issue–get to it on Wednesday, January 27th!

What’s it About? - The stakes get higher as Donald, in his new role as “Double Duck,” is drawn further into the Agency’s world of shadowy intrigue and danger! This is Donald Duck like you’ve never seen him, as only BOOM! Kids can deliver.

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More Boom!/Pixar/Disney goodness with this preview of issue #2 of Wall-E! It’s written by J. Torres with interior art and cover art by Morgan Luthi, and will be out in stories on Wednesday, January 27th!

What’s it About? – Rummaging through garbage has never been so sweet. Join Wall-E as he continues his quest to clean our planet, one cube at a time; all the while proving that one planet’s trash is a certain trash compacting robot’s treasure chest. Come see what he unearths next in this amazing new ongoing series!

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Another preview from Boom Studios, and another of a collected (TPB and HC) story! We have a 10 page preview of a comic based on perhaps my favorite Pixar film, The Incredibles! Mark Waid & Landry Walker bring us the story and Marcio Takara the art, in 112 pages of Pixar fun brought to comic book shelves ! When? Wednesday, January 27th!

Remember, we brought you a preview of issue#4 earlier this month as well!

What’s it About? It’s the already legendary Incredibles story written by acclaimed writers Mark Waid and Landry Walker collected in one place! Baby Jack-Jack, everyone’s favorite super-powered toddler, battles…a nasty cold! Hopefully the rest of the Parr family can stay healthy, because the henchmen of super villains are rapidly starting to exhibit superpowers! Can The Incredibles discover the cause of both outbreaks before the city is left in total shambles?

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At the end of last month BSCkids brought you the preview for the fourth issue of Cars: Radiator Springs, Boom! Studios presentation of a comic miniseries based on the Disney/Pixar franchise! It was actually the first preview that we presented here! Now, Boom! has collected (my preferred reading format) the issues in TPB and hardcover format (112 pages!). Today we have a 10-page preview of the collection for you to check out!

Cars: Radiator Springs is written by Alan J. Porter with art by Magic Eye Studios. Go get it at you shop on Wednesday, January 27th.

What’s it About? From writer Alan J. Porter, this collection of CARS stories is perfect for the whole family! After his return to Radiator Springs, LIGHTNING MCQUEEN is hanging out with his friends at Flo’s V8 Café when he realizes that everyone knows his story…but he doesn’t know anyone else’s! McQueen wants to know how his friends ended up in Radiator Springs…and more importantly why they decided to stay!

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We have a new preview/featurette for Disney’s The Last Song, starring Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth, to add to the one we got just last week (which was introduced by the two stars). This one has new footage and offers thoughts and commentary by Miley and other members of the cast like Kelly Preston and Greg Kinnear, and the author of the novel that the movie is based on, bestseller Nicholas Sparks.

Back in December we also brought you the poster for the movie, which features Cyrus and Hemsworth walking on the beach. The Last Song is scheduled to be in theaters on April 2nd, 2010, and is the latest novel by Sparks brought to film, following Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, and Nights in Rodanthe.

What’s it About? – Based on best-selling novelist Nicholas Sparks’ (“A Walk to Remember,” “The Notebook”) latest novel, THE LAST SONG is set in a small Southern beach town where an estranged father (GREG KINNEAR) gets a chance to spend the summer with his reluctant teenaged daughter (MILEY CYRUS), who’d rather be home in New York. He tries to reconnect with her through the only thing they have in common-music-in a story of family, friendship, secrets and salvation, along with first loves and second chances. The film is directed by Julie Anne Robinson from a screenplay by Sparks & Jeff Van Wie.

This week the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) revealed their nominations list, including in the Best Animated category which had 3 nominees: the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline novella; the Wes Anderson stop-motion treatment of Roald Dahl The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Disney/Pixar’s Up . Two of them are already available on DVD/Blu Ray, with The Fantastic Mr. Fox coming out on March 23rd, 2010 (though available now for pre-order).

Up is also nominated for Sound, and both it and The Fantastic Mr. Fox got a nod for Music. Michael Giacchino has been grabbing several awards and nominations for his score on Up, taking home the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award already this year.

The winners will be named and given out at London’s Royal Opera House on February 21st. You can check out BAFTA official site for nominees in other, less fun, categories.

President Barack Obama will visit Graham Road Elementary school today in Falls Church, Virginia to talk about his Race to the Top program.  I personally think that education can fall by the wayside because it is not immediately felt in the economy.  What a grave mistake that can be as the here and now always becomes the future.  While I do not know if I fully agree with the program, I am glad that Obama is doing something to push the education system.

Here is a quick overview from the U.S. Department of Education

Through Race to the Top, we are asking States to advance reforms around four specific areas:

• Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;
• Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;
• Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
• Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

Awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform. Race to the Top winners will help trail-blaze effective reforms and provide examples for States and local school districts throughout the country to follow as they too are hard at work on reforms that can transform our schools for decades to come.

This is a bit of a competition and the Obama is looking to request $1.35 billion for the program in his Fiscal Year 2011 budget.  This program is one of the largest investments in education reform we have seen and it looks like we will be seeing more of the program in the next few weeks with a companion program Invest in the Innovation Fund.

Last night My Life as Liz premiered last night on Mtv, who watched it?  I think it is an interesting take on popular life in high school.  Here is the summary from episode 1 so that you can get a feel of what the show is about.

Liz’s dream of taking her senior year by the horns is sabotaged when she’s forced to spend the last days of summer with Taylor Terry–Burleson High’s perfect blond specimen of popularity. But the experience ends up changing both girls in ways they could never imagine…or does it?

I actually liked the pieces that I saw, I did not get to watch the whole thing though last night.  A weird time that it is on also for the age group that is targeting.  10:30 is rather late in general for a school night.  So what does everyone thing about this show?  Is the whole show real do you think?  I like it though and will continue to watch it.  What I find weird is that the popular girls really do not care that they are being filmed and what Liz has to say about them?  I guess it is because they are popular and get to be on television.  Cori though is pretty mean though, she has got to see some of that when she watches herself on the show.

I think that kids like it because most kids go through this whole popularity roller coaster.  The fact that Liz has taken a bit of a different path on that roller coaster makes it interesting.  Plus this sort of show gives the Disney crowd something to upgrade to.