Ventura's work is currently on display in the Taksu Gallery in Kuala Lampur. He seems obsessed with the ways that humans use superheroes. These aren't the action figures or masks you see lined up tidily in a fan's display case: They've been used, sometimes abused, and they exude a kind of danger as a result. Somehow, Ventura's toy superheroes feel almost more intense and emotionally-charged than watching Dark Knight.

Of course, there's a bit of sly humor here too: One figure holds a Hulk mask over his crotch while a little man in a devil mask peeks at him. But the man in a Batman mask shooting himself manages to be both cartoony and horrifying.

via ToyCyte

Directed by Yusul Abdul Halim, a member of Malaysian hip-hop group KRU, the Cicakman movies feature Hairi, a loser who works in a lab in the city of Metrofulus — until one day he swallows some coffee that's been infused with a weird experimental gecko virus. Then he starts making weird gecko noises and sticking to walls, not unlike a certain other web-slinging hero. He faces the evil Professor Klon, who's trying to take over Metrofulus using deadly viruses.

In the more action-oriented sequel, Professor Klon is back — but this time he's got the same aim as the villain of the new James Bond movie, to control the water supply. Klon aims to accomplish this by using something called "Black Planet." The heavies from the first film, the Ginger Boys, are also back, and there's a new villain, an assassin named Rrama who takes pleasure in killing. (I think she's the one posing and rampaging in the trailer.) Cicakman gets some help from a female feng-shui master and his dead best friend.

The movie will be released simultaneously in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. [New Straits Times]