Video Games and Comic Books

The NEW 'King of Kong'

2010-03-09T15:18:00.003-05:00

Billy Mitchell be damned! The pretentious patriot has been bested in the age-old game of jumping barrels and dropping monkeys — but not by Steve Wiebe.

That's right, contrary to how all those old arcade cabinet games worked there is now a Player 3 plunking coins into the machine and saving princesses.

Visit Kotaku at THIS LINK and read about the new "King of Kong," Hank Chien.

On a side note, I've always been amazed Wiebe wasn't called out for neglecting his kids after that movie came out. I doubt if Chien had to deal with toddlers yelling to wipe their butts. Just sayin'...

Will you P.B. my valentine?

2010-02-12T17:20:00.003-05:00

2K Games just showed me a little Valentine's Day love ... oh, and promoted the release of "The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom," downloadable on Feb. 17.

Milking Green Lantern

2010-02-12T16:39:00.002-05:00

Get those udders ready — DC is about to milk us for all we're worth.

Over the past few weeks, DC has rolled out plenty of news on new series to look out for in the coming months. Already, most of the news has assured me my wallet will be hurting very soon, but that's been mostly because everything that's spinning out of "Blackest Night" has been pretty exciting and natural stuff. None of it has felt like an over-the-top cash grab ... until now...

Check THIS LINK to DC's Source blog and read about a new Green Lantern title kicking off in a matter of months, "Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors."

Yes, that's right. Five years ago, DC was skeptical about a single GL title being able to sell, and now they're trying to make us support three. Yes, we are being milked, and punished for our love of all Geoff Johns has given us.

The lineup will be as follows: "GL: EW" with Guy Gardiner and Kilowog. "GLC" with Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and Ganthet. "GL" will (presumably) still feature Hal Jordan.

Is it just me, or does this seem like it's going to end up killing both "Corps" and the newborn "Emerald Warriors?"

With apologies to Peter Tomasi, who has done a masterful job on the book, "Corps" was selling so well, predominantly, because it was the No. 2 book on the road to "Blackest Night." Now, DC is not only taking away two of "Corps" more popular characters, they're being taken away right as the "Blackest Night" momentum is ending.

On the other side of the spectrum, other than die-hard fans like me, is anyone going to buy a book starring just Guy and 'Wog? Especially when "Blackest Night" had just ended?

I think DC is over estimating how much people love the Green Lantern family of titles vs. how much people loved "Blackest Night." And it's going to cost us. First, it will cost those of us who are willing to try all three books. When that ends, it will cost us one, if not two, of the three GL family books.

Cash Cow won't last long with this sort of milking, DC.

Will 'Fable III' make you 'super pissed off'?

2010-02-08T14:21:00.003-05:00

It's quickly becoming clear that history will remember "Fable III" for ... something. It's going to be ambitious, that much is obvious. But, will it be an ambitious success or failure?

It's going to use Natal. And it's being made by Peter Molyneux, the developer who seems to be embracing Natal more than anyone else. And it's quickly looking evident that those Natal controls are going to make "Fable III" less of a sequel and more of an entirely new series.

Which is why I'm not the least bit surprised to read this quote on IGN.com: "We're making some announcements about Fable III and […] it's going to really upset people. I'm really scared when I go out and tell people what it is they're going to get super pissed off."

Let the speculation commence. IGN itself has started already at THIS LINK, which provides some hard evidence backing up all of those pissed-off guesses.

Then again, 'ole Pete loves running his mouth before a game comes out, and most of what he says turns out to be rubbish. So I guess we'll all see next week.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest (Part 3)

2010-02-05T18:18:00.003-05:00

Don't worry, I have not forgotten about my quest to save Hyrule, even if real life has taken away plenty of time of late.

I've had plenty of time to get used to my adult body now, however, my biggest challenge remains the awkward GameCube controller. In fairness, some of the awkwardness is coming from the age of the controller itself. It tends to stick in a forward position, making aiming difficult and maneuvering slim edges VERY difficult.

But, I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. To give you a sense of context, I've blown through the Forest, Fire and Water Temples, as well as mini-dungeons Bottom of the Well and Gerudos Fortress.

Surprisingly, I wouldn't call any of the three temples any tougher than their first-quest counterparts. Rather, they were all simply variations on a theme — with the exception of the Water Temple.

The Forest and Fire Temples are extremely similar to their previous incarnations, and if I didn't already think the first Forest Temple was a breeze, I would say this second one is easier than the first. The first version of the temple had a little more back-tracking, while this one had a couple more monsters, Six for one, half-dozen for the other. The only real surprise here was that I'd completely forgotten how to fight Phantom Gannon at the end of the temple, so it took me a while to get him to get out of those paintings of his.

One challenge at the start of the whole thing. Attaining that first key by lighting fires and shooting an arrow across the room to light torch number three proved devilishly hard. Still, that may have only been because, with the state of my GameCube controller, it took me a while to even figure out that shooting an arrow to light torch No. 3 was a possibility, let alone then taking the time to execute the move. But the rest of the Temple was pretty simple, and was the most similar to its' original counterpart since the Deku Tree dungeon.

The Water Temple, on the other hand, was very different from the original. Frankly, when playing through the original game on second and third play-throughs, the Water Temple was groan-inducing. I would cringe at the thought of how much tougher this "Master" Water Temple would be. As it turns out, the Temple was VERY straightforward this time around. Water-level changes were kept to a minimum, with very little back-tracking. In fact, the only problem was simply over-thinking. There are two small wings of the Temple which cannot be accessed until you already have the Boss Key, and they have very little redeeming value, only containing Gold Skultas. But the decoy existence of these rooms will make you think the Temple is more puzzling than it is.

Thus far, I would still call the "Master Quest" a must-play for any Zelda addict. But the game really has not been a challenge, just a variation on a theme. And so much has felt easier this time around outside of the dungeons, just because I've played the game so much. I currently wield Biggoron's Sword (possibly my favorite weapon of any Zelda game ever), and again wondered why I felt it was so tough to acquire 10 years ago.

But we will see. I'm about to head into the desert armed with the Eye of Truth, so hopefully Nintendo has a couple of super-tough dungeons awaiting me before I go after Gannon.

New 'Sonic' game revealed

2010-02-05T18:14:00.002-05:00

It's an all-new Sonic. And no, I'm not talking about the restaurant on Route 9 across the street from Arby's.

Oh, how I love Arby's... where I was I?

Oh yeah, Sonic. Or should I say, Project Needlemouse. Or, should I now say, "Sonic 4!"

All the rumors were true, there is an all-new 2D old-school looking downloadable Sonic the Hedgehog game in the works, with a release window of this Summer.

Oh, how I love Jesus for this news. And oh, how I love starting sentences with "oh."

Follow THIS LINK to the official Web site for more news.

Wii topples NES

2010-02-01T15:57:00.002-05:00

This story pains my retro-gamer heart. Follow THIS LINK to IGN.com and read that the Wii has now sold more units than the original Nintendo Entertainment System.

I may just be Talkin' 'bout my Generation here, but sales shmales. The NES provided more cherished bright new world moments than all other gaming systems combined. It's just too bad all those soccer moms following the Wii trend managed to usurp the NES' economic crown.

Besides, the NES had something it seems we'll never get from the Wii — Kid Icarus. Yes, it's a small strand of pride to cling to, but I'm clinging, damnit!

New format: Weekly Comic Report

2010-01-28T15:07:00.003-05:00

As you have probably noticed if you are an avid reader of this blog, the format for posts has changed since the New Year. As such, the old weekly "Buy Pile Report" is no more. Instead, I'll focus my attention on one or two topics which are of special interest each week in the "Weekly Comic Report." (I know, creative name).

There will always be spoilers, so be warned.

First and foremost, what a week this was to be a comic fan, eh? DC delivers several of the more important "Blackest Night" tie-ins plus a couple of big Superman-family books and Marvel gives us more "Necrosha" and the finale to "Captain America: Reborn."

Which leads us to our first topic: Was "Cap Rebirth" -- er... sorry -- "Cap Reborn" the most anticlimactic story in the history of comics? Probably not. After all, us comic geeks have a penchant for hyperbole.

But, oh, let me count the anticlimactic ways: 1) This story did not need to be an over-priced mini-series, it could have simply been the next story in "Captain America" proper, kicking off with issue #600 to make it special. 2) Wasn't "Lost in time" one of the first widely-spread Internet explanations for how Steve Rogers would come back to life? 3) The outcome was spoiled by COUNTLESS other Marvel books before even issue #5 of 6 was released, including the epilogue chapter "Who Will Wield the Shield?" 4) After 50 issues or so of brilliant plotting -- both by the Red Skull and writer Ed Brubaker -- Skull's master plan to inhabit Steve Rogers' body was undone because Skull didn't count on Rogers having the will to fight back?

And that last point is where I find the most disappointment, because we spent four issues hemming and hawing, one issue watching Skull take control of Rogers and then in the space of mere pages, all those issues of plotting and scheming are undone before the reader even gets a chance to be afraid of Skull. Thanks to all the plot spoilers in other books, we didn't even get a moment to wonder if Brubaker was planning on keeping Skull in control of Rogers for a couple of story arcs.

And that brings me back to my first point of anti-climax -- if this story were carefully plotted and slow-roasted like the rest of Brubaker's run, we might have gotten to read the incredible tale of Skull doing some real damage as Steve Rogers for a while. How fantastic a few story arcs like that would have been! And wouldn't Bucky's eventual victory feel all the more rewarding?

Instead, to get in line with all the rest of the happenings with "Siege" and such, "Cap: Reborn" felt like it could not rush us to the finish line fast enough. And really, that's my problem with most of what Marvel has done over the past five years or so, and why I have been reading so much less from the "House of Ideas."

Secondly -- and I won't take as long on this rant, I promise. There have been PLENTY of "Blackest Night" tie-ins (I know, I've been buying most of them). And, I'm sure many of you have gotten so sick of reading the same old stories of "Character A has to watch Character B come back to life and deal with those emotions!" to the point where you've turned off to any of the tie-ins at all.

Well, you should know this: 1) "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern Corps." are almost always required reading. 2) This week's "Atom and Hawkman" tie-in is very worth your cash, so go buy it.

The Atom's story, which focuses on Ray Palmer much more than his feathered friend, serves as a vehicle to flesh out the powers of Indigo light and allow the reader to understand how it works. Granted, it doesn't give us that highly-desired Rosetta Stone for the Indigo Tribe's language, but the most mysterious of all the lantern powers is now pretty well defined.

'God of War III' dated for March 16

2010-01-28T13:02:00.002-05:00

Dear readers,

If you own a PlayStation 3, you may want to schedule a sick day for March 16.

Sincerely,
Kratos

iPad: Gaming device?

2010-01-27T18:41:00.002-05:00

So, it's finally official. Apple's iPad.

Ignoring most of its capabilities for a moment (this is a gaming blog, after all), my question hinges on Apple's assertion that this could be an online gaming juggernaut.

Obviously, given the growing success of the iPhone in the gaming world, Apple has some credibility to make these claims. My own brain won't let that credibility mesh with logic, though.

Here's my knee-jerk take: The iPhone works as a handheld gaming device because of it's size. It's just as convenient as a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP, and the size allows the gamer to make use of the motion-sensing capabilities.

The iPad is just too big to be convenient as a portable gaming device. It's not big enough to be convenient as a mainstream gaming device, since the touchscreen surface cannot support both a touch keyboard and a big enough screen.

I don't know what kind of games can really be used on a device like this, since most of the games that work best on the iPhone would not gain anything by being larger. This strikes me as an instance when being in between two successful genres doesn't equate to being the best of both worlds.

Am I alone on this? I guess we'll all just have to wait to get our hands on it to make a final judgement.

No 'NBA Jam' news, afterall

2010-01-27T18:25:00.002-05:00

My interview scheduled to happen today was canceled and cannot happen until Monday. I know, I'm as bummed as you are.

What I did find out is that the game will definitely be released in the fall as a physical disc, it won't be WiiWare. I asked about price and about the possibility of the currently-Wii-exclusive game making it to Xbox or PlayStation, but could not get an answer to either.

When I know more, I will pass it along.

Boom-Shakalaka (in a sad voice).

News on new 'NBA Jam' on the way...

2010-01-26T18:30:00.002-05:00

Big news, sports fans!

...Well, it could be big news. I don't really know for sure yet. What I do know for sure is that I will be speaking with a representative for EA Sports on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming Wii remake "NBA Jam."

Boom Shakalaka indeed.

I shouldn't have to tell you, "NBA Jam" is a game near and dear to my heart. Just recently I was playing "NBA Jam Tournament Edition" on my old Sega Genesis — and yes, I was on fire. Hopefully I find out some good info on Wednesday, including the answer to my biggest question: When can we expect to hear about the game for Xbox Live or PlayStation Network?

For now, you can visit the game's official Web site at THIS LINK and vote for which players you want to see in the game.

Razzle Dazzle!

'Mass Effect 2' Review

2010-01-26T17:13:00.003-05:00

We have a review of "Mass Effect 2" up on the PoJo Web site (at THIS LINK), written by the Associated Press.

As you may have expected, the sequel was given a glowing recommendation.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest (Part 2)

2010-01-25T18:13:00.004-05:00

Well, I've had a weekend to dig my teeth into "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest." What's the verdict, you ask?

Well, for any "Zelda" fan, this 2003 kinda-remake is a surprisingly rewarding experience. I recommend it, love it, and look forward to the day when our civil union will be recognized by the people of New York State. For anyone else, don't waste your time or money tracking this game down.

Here's the good: So far (I just turned adult and promptly won me a pretty Filly named Epona), the dungeons I've encountered are honest-to-goodness tougher and fresh, just as advertised. And, as advertised, the rest of the game is a spot-on recreation of the original "Ocarina of Time," no tougher, no easier.

The Deku Tree dungeon's layout is not changed too much, which initially left me worried I'd just spent $40 on a lemon of an experience. The main change here is an increased number of monsters, most of which take the form of the miniature Gohma pods.

But Dodongo's Cavern erased all of my fears, as the sequence of where you go in the level is completely altered, right from the beginning. In fact, if memory serves, the first place you have to go in the dungeon is to the walkways hanging overhead, a jarring and confusing change. The puzzles are not only tougher to figure out, but tougher to execute. Instead of simply needing to light every torch in a room to open a door (a classic "Zelda" cliche), this dungeon forces you to complete what I called a Torch Relay, in which you light a torch with your deku stick, but then have to put that stick away and light a new stick using the torch you just lit because the distance to reach the next torch you have to light is too great for one stick. On top of that, you'll have to fight monsters in-between torches.

Jabu-Jabu's belly is likewise turned on it's ear, but this time there is an even stranger twist: There are cows lodged in the walls which serve as switches. I could not make that up if I tried.

These new dungeon layouts also make it much harder to collect gold skultas. It seems the dungeons are filled with secret doors and ledges just out of reach of your current arsenal of weapons. And it also seems each time you encounter one of these rooms, there is that familiar skulta sound, letting you know you should remember to come back later in the game.

But, here's the bad: Despite the tougher dungeons, which are now tough enough to please any "Zelda" fan, the boss battles have not been made more difficult. The result is a slightly anti-climactic feeling for each dungeon, and a lack of any anticipation.

The main flaw, though? The GameCube controller. The familiar Z-Targeting is replaced by the "L" button, and while it may work very well for "Wind Waker" and "Twilight Princess," it just fails miserably here. Whereas "Ocarina of Time" boasted a fluid, natural camera and feel on the Nintendo 64, on the GameCube it almost feels like you are succeeding in spite of your limitations. Also, trying to play songs using the clunky GameCube C-button stick, or simply draw your side-weapons quickly, is sometimes difficult.

Still want to hear more? Well I plan on playing a little more tonight (after watching the Blazers/Hornets game, of course) so hopefully I'll have more to report soon.

P.S. Wasn't winning Epona difficult back in the day? I think Ingo has been getting rusty in the past decade.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest (Part 1)

2010-01-22T16:37:00.003-05:00

My absence from this blog for a while was not without good reason. Following the restructuring of the PoJo and the restructuring of my job (which I explained a bit about when it happened), my schedule in all facets of life changed completely.

I'm not the same geek I once was... or, at least, I don't have the time to be the geek I once was. For instance, yesterday was my first chance to read the dozen or so new comics I purchased nine days ago. I still haven't picked up my buy pile for this Wednesday, believe it or not. And on the gaming side of things, I have a mile-high stack of recent games I still haven't had a chance to get to, like "Assassin's Creed II," "Shadow Complex," "Brutal Legend" and several others.

And all that makes it even stranger that the first video game I'm making time for in 2010 is almost a decade old. For the first time, I'm playing through the "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest," which was released as a GameCube disc as a promotional perk for pre-ordering "Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker."

If you haven't heard of it, the "Master Quest" is a recreation of the N64 Classic (same graphics and all, despite the GameCube platform), with the differences being each dungeon is now laid out differently and with tougher enemies.

How did it come to this, you ask? Well, it started on Kotaku.com, where I read about Zelda Reorchestrated, where a loyal Zelda fan had just recreated all 82 songs (most of them very short jingles) and uploaded them all for free download.

As is the case with most video game music, the sounds make you remember all you loved about the game, and, with the good games, makes you want to go back and experience it all again.

I knew I had the urge to play "Ocarina of Time," again, for the first time in at least eight years, which is when it hit me:

I had always wanted to play the "Master Quest," but with so many other bright, shiny new games out there all the time, it was always hard for me to justify paying new-game prices to get a game I've already played through (the original version) several times. For a while, the best place to find the "Master Quest" disc was at GameStop used, and their prices generally ranged between $60-75, depending on which state you are in.

Last week, found a copy on ebay from a seemingly reliable seller for $40 after shipping. Knowing it would be tough to find a better price right now, and the game will only become more rare as the years roll on, I took the plunge.

I've carved out a little time in the schedule to play over the next two days, so check back real soon and I'll give you the very tardy inside scoop on whether or not the "Master Quest" is worth putting in the time and effort to give it a try.

IGN uncovers the truth about Final Fantasy and Jersey Shore

2010-01-19T16:27:00.001-05:00

Spotted this a couple of days ago and busted my sides laughing. If you've played plenty of Final Fantasy and have been subjected to the trash which is known as "Jersey Shore," then you must read THIS LINK.

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-19T16:14:00.002-05:00

What? I'm only 19 days late! And it's ONLY been two months since my last post.

What do you mean you thought I died?!? That's a horrible thing to say!

Now that all that unpleasantness is over, get ready to start experiencing Gaming Geek Version 2.0. Or, as I'm calling it, Gaming Geek Vista.

No, wait ...

This week's comic expectations

2009-11-03T22:34:00.003-05:00

Happy Election Day!

...

Yeah, I know, it's not so exciting. Unfortunately, that's not the bad news. The bad news is this week's comic books are almost as unexciting with just one "Blackest Night" book and (for as much as I can give a damn about them) No "Dark Reign" books. So what is there? Check out THIS LINK for the full list.

Care for an illustration on how slow it will be? Superman: World of New Krypton #9 is just about the biggest book out. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying just about everything from the Superverse lately, and Kal's ongoing troubles dealing with intergalactic politics is pretty strong of late. And yes, we're due for an update on Zod's condition and yes, it looks like we're in for an action-packed issue. It's just that this series is still very much working its way toward a climax and in no way is this a book we're all chomping at the bit for.

Oh well. There are other books to like this week from DC, just no Triple-A choice. Batman: The Unseen #3 of 5 and Batman: Widening Gyre #3 of 6 are both solid minis worth taking a look at. Cinderella from Fabletown with Love #1 of 6 is the beginning of a mini any "Fables" reader is going to be interested in. And if you enjoyed our heroic Chinese friends from "52," The Great Ten #1 of 10 could be a good choice for you.

Oh, and that "Blackest Night" tie-in I mentioned? It's only Doom Patrol #4, which definitely promises to be a fun ride from Keith Giffen & company, but if you're in the majority out there that knows very little of the "Doom Patrol's" universe, seeing ghosts from its past isn't going to do much for you.

All that said? The book I am most looking forward to is The Mighty #10 of 12, a maxi-series which has not let up on the gas pedal the last few issues as we're careening toward a conclusion. I know not many of you are reading this story, but I highly recommend it to any and everyone of you when it comes out in trade form.

I know what you're thinking right about now: "OK, DC fanboy, what about Marvel?"

Well, Marvel is equally quiet, with the lone exception of Captain America: Reborn #4 of 6. With Steve Rogers lost in time, Sharon Carter and Bucky are fighting to get their friend back to the land of the living. As many of you regular readers know, I've been a big fan of Ed Brubaker's run on "Cap" since the start. That said, am I the only one who feels like this mini is just one long drawn out conclusion? Of course Steve is going to be saved. At this point, I am only still interested in finding out where Bucky will stand in the future. Otherwise, I'd just as soon move on to reading more great stories from Brubaker about Bucky, Steve or anyone. Heck, I'd take a book staring Hydra Henchman #4 if it were a fresh storyline at this point.

So what else is there? Well, Astonishing X-Men #32 will look to make it two weeks in a row of not being horrible. Deathlok #1 of 7, Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1 of 4 and Psylocke #1 of 4 all begin mini-series with niche characters, so take your pick.

And...... that's it. Sad, huh? Oh well, at least I'll have time to get caught up on gaming. You know I haven't touched my Xbox 360 in five days? Sad, huh? Well, not as sad as what "Heroes" has become, but that's an entirely different story...

This week's comic expectations

2009-10-27T21:31:00.002-05:00

Hey Guys, this has to be a short one ...

Yes, I know, I only just returned from a lengthy absence and now I'm already cutting things short, but it's not my fault! Honest! If it makes you feel better, I've spent more time shooting video and editing it for poughkeepsiejournal.com in the last two days than I have sleeping. In fact, I think I've spent three-times as long on video than I have in bed.

Anyway, Check out the list of comic book releases HERE.

Obviously what immediately jumps off the page are the three "Blackest Night" books, with the mothership, "Green Lantern" and "Titans," all three of which have been out of this world and the later two have been required reading.

But there is more to love. "Superman: Secret Origins" was an instant classic from issue 1 last month, so I highly recommend #2 to any DC reader. Also in the Superman universe there is the first issue of the "World's Finest" mini to take a look at.

And don't forget the new issue of "Justice Society!" Is Mr. Terrific really dead?!? (doubt it).

And before we leave the realm of DC, the first issue of the "Arkham Reborn" mini is also out this week, so I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you of how strong the "Arkham" one-shot was during "Battle for the Cowl."

Marvel's got some books of interest this week too, though (Boy, suddenly this isn't such a quick post!), including two of the "Dark Reign: The List" titles of "Punisher" and "Wolverine."

And while there are plenty more "Avengers"-family books this month, I'd say all eyes for Marvel are on the "Necrosha" one-shot kicking off that highly controversial storyline. I wish Marvel would just admit to their thievery and be done with it, but oh well.

Whew! Back to video editing!

'Borderlands' Review

2009-10-22T21:23:00.002-05:00

Whew! Giving up every free hour I've had since finding the game in my mailbox Monday morning, my review of "Borderlands" is online at THIS LINK.

It's a little bit odd to review a game without having seen all there is too see, but even dozens of hours into my time in Pandora, there really is so much more to be found. This game is for MMO vets and loot lovers. Heck, I just read a feature on Kotaku.com in which Gearbox creative director Mikey Neumann said there are weapons even he hasn't seen yet, including one that shoots mushroom clouds. Mushroom clouds!

What I said in my review I really believe to be true, though -- I'm enjoying this game plenty, and it has been very hard to turn off, even as 2 a.m. becomes 4 a.m. becomes "I can get by on four hours sleep, right?" But, that said, I am really not that guy who loves grinding and leveling. It's my least favorite part of RPGs. I can only imagine what some of you out there are feeling over this game if you're just as much an MMO nut as a fragger.

What I do love about this game, though? The Skags. It's like shooting the Gatekeeper and Keymaster from "Ghostbusters." Don't worry, if someone asks if I'm a God, just call me Zeus.

Buy Pile Report

2009-10-21T22:08:00.002-05:00

For the first time since I first started writing this blog, I am able to come on here and proclaim to you all that James Robinson gets not one but TWO passing grades.

Neither of his books were the best piece of writing he's ever given us, mind you. Far from it. But, given the legend's lengthy slump, both were pleasant surprises.

And we start with the relaunch of one of DC's tent pole books, Justice League of America #38, written by Mr. Robinson and Mark Bagley. And let's get the negative out of the way: Yes, killing a marginal character to start an arc has gotten out of hand and cliche. Yes, the JLA returning to Happy Harbor to reflect has become cliche. Yes, this particular bunch of JLAers has been doing WAY too much of that reflecting lately. And yes, Despero is one of those characters, like Doomsday, which has become a shell of his formerly-terrifying self, due to overuse and misuse.

(Like I said, this certainly was not Robinson's best work).

But there was glimpses of promise here. For one, I'm looking forward to seeing who is powerful enough to control Despero. My guess would be Dreamweaver, leader of the Extremists. For two, I really don't mind the idea of JLA tying into "Blackest Night" so soon into Robinson's tenure. I know many critics allowed failed JLA scribe Dwayne McDuffie sympathy by thinking his book was editorially forced to tie into big events too often, but a good writer finds a way to tell his story around those bumps and thrive off of it. Some of the "Justice League International's " best issues were the result of a tie-in. And immediately you see Robinson is looking to wrap his tale around the tie-in here.

I'm no believer in "Cry for Justice" yet, you know that. And you also know that I'm not entirely sold on Robinson's advertised JLA roster. But there was enough in this issue to give me hope for the future, and that's something I didn't have in two years with McDuffie.

I was even more pleased with Blackest Night: Superman #3, the conclusion of the Smallville-based mini-series. As I wrote last night, I looked at this as a litmus test for the many "BN" minis to come, following a fairly-disappointing conclusion to the Batman mini. Well there was nothing ground breaking here, and yes, there was a bit of the 'ole deus ex machina in there, what with Conner stealing Psycho Pirate's smile, but the ending offered a better sense of closure than the ending of Batman's story.

So yes folks, the yellow alert is over, you can go back in the pool it because it was just a Baby Ruth. "BN" minis are officially safe to empty your wallet.

And before we leave the Superman universe, Supergirl #46 concluded the "Hunt for Reactron" crossover with "Action Comics," with a bang. I've said it before, I'll say it again, Sterling Gates has made "Supergirl" a very strong wing of the Superman universe. Here, we get a reunion between Kara and Thara, a revelation for Kara and Lana's relationship and even a very nice and subtle moment of understanding for Lois, who has previously been blaming the Maid of Might for her sister's death.

But, beyond the titular character, this issue also contains some enormous moments for Nightwing and Flamebird -- so enormous that I wouldn't even want to hint at what it was for those of you who have been patiently following their tale -- and I've decided that I really like this pair of characters. If they weren't starring in a book in which half the readers are just waiting for Clark Kent to come back, I doubt if they could sustain a book all their own, but Greg Rucka and, to a lesser extent, Gates deserve all the credit in the world for fleshing out two brand-new characters (yes, Chris as a grown up is an all new character compared to kid Chris) and making them compelling and human (excuse the irony). In these pages, I found myself hoping that DC has long-term plans and a long-term home for these two.

And with that, back to Pandora. Review is coming soon!

This week's comic book expectations

2009-10-20T22:44:00.003-05:00

You want pure fanboy crack? The solicitation for Incredible Hulk #603 claims Hulk and Skaar will be fighting Wolverine and Daken. Now, I haven't been paying attention to any of these four characters lately (I have too much taste), but aren't Logan and son enemies? Does it matter? No! Because this is the sort of book that fanboys dream of! So enjoy it fanboys! In the meantime, I'm going to be buying books of higher quality...

Check out the full list at THIS LINK.

And I am hoping Justice League of America #38 is of that higher quality, with James Robinson and Mark Bagley debuting. I've made no secret of my distaste for Robinson's work since returning to comics, but that doesn't change the fact that the man helped bring the Justice Society back to prominence. And did I mention "Starman"? Yes, his work on "Superman" has been mediocre at best. And yes, "Cry for Justice" has been corny and trite left and right. But I'm hoping that he is simply in a mini-series-induced rut. And I'm hoping he just needs a good team book to write instead of only a couple of characters in "Superman." And I'm hoping that team book does prove to be JLA, as the book has been fairly-consistently horrible since Brad Meltzer's departure.

Now let's just hope Robinson didn't carry over as much of "Cry for Justice" as he initially said he would. Because that junk ain't good. That's right, it's so bad I used poor grammar. Deal with it.

I'm also hopeful for Robinson's other book on the shelves this week, Blackest Night: Superman #3. For one, we have ourselves a pretty intense battle going because Kal, Conner, Dead Kal and Psycho Pirate. But more importantly, for me at least, this issue will serve as a litmus test. All three "Blackest Night" minis began with a bang. All three took only a slight step backwards in issue #2. Well, last week's "Blackest Night: Batman #3" was questionable at best. Don't get me wrong, watching the Demon Ertigan in action is always a treat. But the idea that the zombies can conjure an entire circus or apartment building out of thin are is only slightly more believable than Dick and Tim freezing their hearts to a stop only to revive themselves moments later.

So, will "BN: Superman" end with satisfaction? Or will it end colder than Dick and Tim? If Supes' mini ends just as poorly, it will go a long way in terms of creating expectations for Blackest Night minis to come. And since solicitations have already shown BL Kal-L will face Power Girl in "Blackest Night: JSA," I'm fearful of the answer.

It's worth noting at this point that I just started eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch, so if you notice a happier tone to my writing, its no coincidence.

Then again, it's tough to be positive when talking about Azrael #1, out this week. The last of the post-"Battle for the Cowl" tie-ins to come out, I can only wonder which of DC's marketing wizards came up with the concept of this book. I imagine the conversation inside the DC offices went something like this:

Marketing guy 1: Wow, this "R.I.P."/"Battle for the Cowl" stuff is going to be intense! Kind of reminds me of the "Nightfall" storyline.
Marketing guy 2: Hey, remember Azrael? He was a badass.
MG1: Dude! Azrael should be in "Battle for the Cowl!"
MG2: Yeah, too bad John Paul Valley is dead.
MG1: Or is he?

And somewhere along the line, DC remembered that yes, John Paul Valley is in fact dead, but by then the wheels were in motion.

Anyway, I have no idea who this new Azrael is. I don't much care. I'd bet dollars to donuts (yes, I'm apparently a 64-year-old man now) that this new Azrael lasts even shorted than JPV.

Other DC books out this week I expect to be strong are Supergirl #46 and Power Girl #6. Love those Multiversial Twins.

Meanwhile, Marvel is hitting us with a heaping helping of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. In Dark Avengers #10, our pal Norman Osborne (who is even more over-exposed than Wolverine and Tony Stark combined lately) continues his tumble back down into insanity. In Mighty Avengers #30, all five Avengers teams will be making an appearance in an enormous brawl (for once not with each other) with The Unspoken. Plus, two "Dark Reign"-specific titles come out this week, Dark Reign: The List - Avengers and Dark Reign: The List - Hulk.

But the Marvel book you most want on your radar this week is Invincible Iron Man #19, which concludes the "World's Most Wanted" storyline. If Matt Fraction's tale of Tony Stark's sacrifice for survival were not so strong it would be downright goofy. Good thing for us, he's made Tony's intellectual troubles not only believable but powerful. It all ends here. If you've been on board, it's been a nice ride, hasn't it? For those of you who haven't, that's what trade paperbacks are for!

And with that, I'm off to the World of Pandora, site of "Borderlands."

'Wet' review

2009-10-20T19:52:00.002-05:00

Although I am now, officially, knee-deep in "Borderlands," I (finally) managed to get my "Wet" review up on the Web site.

Check out the review at THIS LINK.

"Wet" is enjoyable. It's got style. And frankly, there is one song I still haven't gotten out of my head.

But any shooter in which your aim is better when flying through the air than standing still is a game with major flaws. MAJOR flaws.

So Rubi, all I have to say to you is, Baby, you driving me insane (insane).

Get it?!? Well, if you play the game, you will.

'Mini Ninjas,' 'Borderlands'

2009-10-19T15:53:00.002-05:00

Those two games in the title of this post have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

They're only combined because they are the immediate present and immediate future of my Xbox.

Last night I FINALLY got started playing "Mini Ninjas," a birthday gift from the girlfriend, after work and sickness kept me from having a chunk of a few good hours to sink my teeth into it. While I'm only three hours into it (and the three hours flew by, which is always a sign of a good gaming experience), but I'm really enjoying the game so far.

While the game can really be reduced to simply a hack-and-slash, even at its toughest level, I don't think I've ever played a game which can be more accurately described as "charming." The characters are bright, shiny and cute, without becoming sickeningly so, and you can even access your "spirit form" to possess the local wildlife.

However, I'm going to have to push off "Mini Ninjas" once again for the next few days. When I walked into the office today, I found a review copy of 2K Games' "Borderlands" waiting for me.

Goodbye happy, furry woodland creatures. Hello looting, pillaging and killing everything in sight. I'll hopefully have a full review for you good people up within a week.

In the meantime, get a load of the box art from "Borderlands." Is it just me, or is suicidal imagery just a step too far for a game which anyone of any age will be able to see on the shelves on Tuesday? (And yes, I know, I'm just as bad for posting it here).

Three reviews

2009-10-19T15:07:00.003-05:00

In my current housekeeping quest, I just got three Associated Press game reviews up to our Web site, www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

Here are your links:

Brutal Legend

Uncharted 2

NBA 2K10/ NBA Live 10

IGN's top 100 Nintendo games

2009-10-19T14:33:00.003-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows I'm just about the most rabid retro console gamer you're going to come across. Which is why when sites like IGN post lists like these, I'm a sucker.

Check out THIS LINK to IGN's countdown of the Top 100 Nintendo games. I cannot say I agree with every choice on the list, I would have put "Bubble Bobble" in the top 10 (and talk about what a sad substitute "Bubble Bobble Neo" is), but you have to love the choice to deny the original "Super Mario Bros." the top spot.

This week's video game releases

2009-10-18T20:03:00.002-05:00

After a busy couple of weeks for us gamers, we're slowing down a bit this week. Check out THIS LINK and see if you can use the week to catch your breath.

Highlighting the week is "Borderlands," a shooter which features one of the most mature box covers I've ever seen, and "FIFA Soccer 10."

Personally, I have a STACK of games I've been struggling to find the time to play, like "Mini Ninjas" and "Ghostbusters." (Yes, I cannot believe I've yet to play "Ghostbusters" either).

My exile

2009-10-18T19:57:00.004-05:00

I'm back!

Did you miss me?

I'd love to say the reason for my absence was something cool, like exploring the timeline in a phone booth with Alex Winter or traveling the multiverse with Donna Troy (What? Just because "Countdown" sucked doesn't mean I can't make a snarky reference to it!) ... but I can offer no such cool excuse, only a blog post with a title sounding similar to an episode of "Scrubs."

Truth is, a whole lot changed here at Journal central, including heaping a whole load of new responsibilities on yours truly. So while I have been keeping up with my comic books, I haven't had much time to write about them. And while I've been done with "Wet" for a couple of weeks, I haven't written up my review (which begs the question of what good is reviewing a game without writing the actual review). I also got pretty sick there for about a week...

But enough with the excuses. Fact is, I'm back and rededicated to making this blog your source for comic book and video game news and reviews. We'll have that 'Wet" review up shortly, we'll have comic book thoughts throughout the week, and without further ado, this next post will get things started...

"Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" review

2009-09-21T18:19:00.001-05:00

As promised, HERE'S YOUR LINK to the "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" review.

'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2' review coming

2009-09-20T12:46:00.002-05:00

Did you miss me? Sorry to be away for so long, other responsibilities at the PoJo made this last week a busy one...

OK, it's not only that. With the release of "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" this week, all of my free time was spent standing alongside Cap for a civil war.

Now, I could tell you more about my experiences as an anti-registration fighter right now, but I'd rather just write up a full review. So look for that either tonight (if I can carve out a little time) or Monday afternoon.

In the meantime, let's all just hope Fred Jackson can help out my fantasy team with a repeat performance from last week.

This week's video game releases

2009-09-13T18:34:00.002-05:00

Gentlemen. We're about to embark on one of the biggest release days of the year, stacked with something to like for just about every taste. Check out the full list at THIS LINK.

"Scribblenauts." "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2." "Wet." "Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story." "NHL 10." "Need for Speed: Shift."

The question is not what you will be doing this week. The question is, what will you be playing?

I just hope you all are finished defeating the Joker and solving the Riddler's puzzles, because it's officially fall release season.

New 2D Sonic in HD: "Project Needlemouse"

2009-09-09T16:02:00.002-05:00

"Project Needlemouse."

Check out THIS LINK for an interview with Sega's Ken Ballough which spills the beans on some downright thrilling news: Sega actually listened to your pleas for mercy. Sonic the Hedgehog will be granted relief.

Gone are the 3D trainwrecks Sega has been trying so hard to make work with the mascot. They've tried everything, it's just not working for Sonic. So instead, the company is working on an old-school 2D Sonic adventure with high-def graphics.

I don't know who to thank for this, but someone is due a big fruit basket and a nicely-worded Hallmark card.

Actually, when I heard the description of the project, the first thing I wondered was if the beauty that was "Shadow Complex" helped encourage Sega's developers to explore this route we've all been clamoring for.

Either way, we have a long way to wait. The game is scheduled for 2010, which likely means we won't see this game until the winter of 2010, and that's without delays. Still, this is the sort of news that makes a good day even better.

Warners create DC Entertainment

2009-09-09T13:32:00.002-05:00

Check out THIS LINK to read the news for yourself: Warner Bros., DC's parent company, is taking firmer control of their comic-creating pals by folding the publishing division under a new division called "DC Entertainment."

This news has a two-headed impact.

1) You know, last week when discussing the Marvel/Disney merger, I used the 40-year-old DC/Warner Bros. partnership as an example of a parent company leaving a comic publisher alone to do what it knows best. Well, I guess the Warners didn't realize they were the example of the right way to do it.

It seems to me this is a move based out of fear, a knee-jerk reaction to compete with Disney's acquisition. And normally I would think this restructuring was just a cosmetic sort of move made just to take away some of Marvel's headlines. But the Warners did something the Mouse did not — remove the publisher.

The fact that Paul Levitz was demoted worries me. Again, I am taking the same opinion I had when Marvel went through this — that we're going to have to wait and see before making judgements — but Levitz's removal is like firing a warning shot, so all of this talk about simply trying to maximize properties seems more hollow now than it did when Disney said it.

The best we fans can hope for is that Levitz was not "fired" like many of us are assuming he was, but rather he simply wanted to make a change, as he said in THIS STATEMENT.

2) Levitz is the man taking over "Adventure Comics." While I stick by the words I used last night, as it does seem DC tends to use Johns' name for nefarious reasons at times, this is very, very good news.

The man was responsible for the Legion of Superheroes' best stories for most of the 1970s and 80s, so if anyone is going to take the reins from Johns, and be given the proper respect and time to develop stories, it's Paul Levitz. And while you may argue the Legion is a team built for a younger writer to handle, I argue the team's complexity makes it necessary for only the most detailed and DC-knowledgeable writer to handle. Writing the Legion is all about juggling a large cast, all with their own specific personalities, and making stories flow back and forth from the 31st century to present-day DC.

What is unclear right now is whether "Adventure" will turn into a Legion-dominated book with Superboy taking a backseat or if we're going to have to wait longer for full-on monthly Legion. Still, no matter what DC has planned for the immediate future, this is the best-case scenario in Johns' absence.

If you'd like to read a fantastic recap of Levitz's career so far, head to THIS LINK.

Nothing new on the shelves today

2009-09-08T21:24:00.002-05:00

Just a friendly reminder from your friendly neighborhood Gaming Geek, thanks to the holiday, Thursday is the day for this week's new comic books.

Johns leaving "Adventure Comics"

2009-09-08T20:46:00.003-05:00

Buried in a DC Source Blog post at THIS LINK you will see some rather troubling news — Geoff Johns is leaving "Adventure Comics" after six issues.

This is troubling on two levels. The first is, obviously, Johns is enormously talented, so he was the guy I was thrilled to have handling both Superboy and the Legion.

But the second reason is, this is the second time in the last year that DC and Johns have seemed to use the writer's popularity for a bait-and-switch. For almost a year DC has been hyping "Adventure Comics" and Geoff Johns as a package deal. As far as the content goes, Johns has been including the Legion in several projects over the last few years, teasing us on a possible Legion ongoing, which was to be "Adventure." He then shoehorned Kon-El's return into "Legion of Three Worlds," in a distracting move which could only be deemed acceptable because of the promise of Johns writing Kon-El in an ongoing again. Johns then proceeded to give interview after interview on how much he cherishes Superboy and the Legion.

And yet, now he's leaving. All of that buildup, only to have Johns move on and another (yet-to-be-name) writer step into his place. That's not even mentioning the fact that DC let Johns completely reshape Legion into his own image, despite its fairly-successful "Threeboot."

All of this only about a year after we were teased non-stop on Johns' "New Krypton" idea, only to have Johns leave the Superman world right when the buildup ended and the event began.

I love Geoff Johns' writing. If the man said he could write an ongoing based on the phone book, I would believe him and buy it. But all of this teasing has to stop. For every "Justice Society" there's a "Booster Gold." For every "Green Lantern" there's an "Adventure."

And sure, this may not be DC's doing. The company may not be deliberately teasing us with Johns' ongoings, maybe Johns legitimately just keeps getting offered projects he doesn't want to pass up.

Well, that's not flying with me. When you tell your fans all about the marvelous ideas and plans you have for a comic, you don't duck out on that promise just because a slightly more attractive book opens up. Johns is a great writer, he'll have those opportunities again down the road. For now, he should be working on keeping his promises.

This week's video game releases

2009-09-08T15:19:00.002-05:00

Yes, yes, THIS LINK to this week's video game releases is highlighted by the game everyone, including my Mother who's never played a music game in her life, is excited by — "The Beatles: Rock Band."

I, however, am more excited by the release of "Mini Ninjas," a game which blends cute graphics with some in-depth combat tactics. You can take a look at the whole list and judge for yourself.

Buy Pile Report

2009-09-03T01:00:00.003-05:00

I shouldn't have to sing the praises of The Mighty #8 and Irredeemable #6 this week. Both books were again must-read material for anyone who loves a good anti-hero, and both added a lot to their respective storylines. Alpha-1 hinted heavily at an extraterrestrial background while Cole flirted with insanity. The Plutonian reveled in what seemed to be his childhood, and later found his former allies hiding place. If you haven't been reading these series, I doubt I will ever get through to you.

So I will simply move on to a couple of very pleasant surprises. The first of which is Justice League: Cry For Justice #3. Yes, nobody has criticized this book more than I have, so there is a better than even chance I am confusing mediocrity for quality, given how low my expectations were going into this third issue. Still, despite three pages opening the book which reached new depths of crapiness, the rest of this issue actually managed to stop throwing the word "Justice" long enough to get a coherent storyline flowing (I know, three issues in and we finally get plot -- a miracle!).

Writer James Robinson who, by my estimation, encountered a talent-sucking alien during his time off from writing comics, manages to somewhat salvage his monumentally bad mini-series in two ways. 1) While everyone (literally everyone) except Green Arrow is written in the most cliched and out of touch way possible, Oliver Queen is as entertaining and genuine as ever. 2) Robinson actually manages to paint Prometheus in an impressive light here, even managing to catch me very off guard.

This series is still in serious danger of joining the ranks of the historically awful minis of all time (I don't think I'm ever going to get over two whole issues of characters simply saying they want "justice" over and over again, and Supergirl's motivation here is ridiculous, given the events of her own book), there was enough positive in this issue to give us some degree of hope. James Robinson just better pray there are a lot of Blue Lanterns left out there to keep buying this crap.

The second pleasant surprise in my Buy Pile this week is Magog #1. Keith Giffen wastes no time painting a clear picture of who, exactly, Magog is for us readers. The entire issue is spent inside of the former David Reid's head, as Giffen explains swiftly his take on Magog's current motivations, his relationship with the JSA, his cast of supporting characters, his new hometown, and, most importantly, his system of values. This issue is a masterpiece in entertaining exposition and characterization, something which is invaluable to making a new character catch on.

And I have to admit, I really like the world Giffen is painting. If the veteran scribe set out to write the story of who Magog was 10 years before "Kingdom Come," I believe this would be spot-on. And I really like the sort of tagline this character has adopted for himself:

"Where are all the Heroes? Give Them an Alien World in Need and they're there in a flash. Give them a country in need and they turn a blind eye, start bleating about national sovereignty and exerting undue influence ... basically the same tired litany of excuses for not doing what they know is right. Sorry ... not my style."

OK, that was much more than a tagline, but you get what I mean. This is a man on a definite mission, a human mission, and he does seems to have a chip on his shoulder regarding the meta-human population. I was sold even before a brilliant piece of characterization when Giffen showed us how Magog deals with a friend's abusive boyfriend (you can read it for yourself, I don't want to spoil ALL the story beats).

That said, my biggest question right now is how much discussion Giffen had with JSA writers Matt Sturges and Bill Willingham because, as far as I can tell, this isn't the same character I have been reading for the past year or so. In these pages, Magog is openly hostile toward the JSA, whereas in the team book, he loves the squad but wants to improve it. And while this Magog stinks of "Kingdom Come," I thought the Magog in "Justice Society" was supposedly on a different path, especially following the events of "Thy Kingdom Come." I sincerely wonder if these two takes on the character are going to mesh, because it sure seems Magog will be playing a central role in the JSA for a while to come.

This week's comic book expectations

2009-09-01T23:15:00.002-05:00

This week, the list of comic book releases is bereft of A-list titles. What saves the week are a few strong niche books and a couple of sleepers you may want to give a try. Check out the full list at THIS LINK.

The book I'm most looking forward to this week is Irredeemable #6 which, while unfortunately costs more than the 99 cents it cost last month, is 5-for-5 in quality so far, as far as I am concerned. Every month Mark Waid seems to find new and frightening ways to use Superman's -- er -- The Plutonian's powers. I hope by now you've heard me rave enough about this title for you to be buying it by now.

And, I might add, Waid has yet to be late with this book. How many titles have kept to a monthly schedule over a six-month span in the last few years?

Another anti-hero book is also out this week, The Mighty #8. And frankly, given the events of last month and who Alpha-1 killed (was I the only one genuinely sad that you-know-who was murdered?), this title is quickly gaining ground on "Irredeemable" in terms of shock value. The series has taken a disturbingly dark turn after writer Peter Tomasi established a likable and complete cast of characters in the first couple of issues, only to turn the world on its ear just as quickly. My main question left, though, is how this first run of 12 issues is going to play out, since DC is talking about giving the story another 12-issue run soon after?

DC also has a pair of No. 1s out this week, the first being a new ongoing, Magog #1. I am anxious to see what Keith Giffen (one of my favorite writers since the JLI days) is going to do with this character and how closely it actually ties into the main JSA mothership. As I detailed previously, I am finding it very difficult to watch Magog's current exploits without the influence of his "Kingdom Come" past. It would be an enormous tribute to Giffen's talent for characterization if, six months from now, Magog's tainted past (or should I say future) has been forgotten.

Another No. 1 you may find interesting is Red Tornado #1, the first in a six-part mini-series which is going to delve into Reddy's robot "family." I'm not quite sure what to make of this idea for a couple of reasons. 1) Red Tornado's gimmick has always been that of a robot trying tragically to convince himself of the humanity everyone else sees in him. Making him suddenly want to look into his robot roots undermines the depth of the character. 2) Does anyone really care to learn about these other robots? Isn't that kind of the Metal Men's schtick?

Also of note this week from DC is Supergirl Annual #1 (dealing with Kara and Thara's thorny relationship), Solomon Grundy #7 of 7 (which ties at the end to "Blackest Night," apparently), Batman #690 (continuing Judd Winick's solid Penguin-centric storyline) and Justice League: Cry for Justice #3 (which, from the looks of the preview pages, is even worse than the previous horrendous issues).

From Marvel, Cable #18 has to be considered one of the top issues of the week, especially considering the strength of the two post-"Messiah War" issues which have led Cable and Hope to flee into space. And when is going to space ever a good idea for X-Men? Honestly, between Jean's possession by Phoenix, Professor X's brood experience, Kitty's sacrifice and Havok's ongoing war with Vulcan, Cable should have known to just take his chances on Earth. But, this development does drastically change the landscape of this book and the situation with Bishop in pursuit, so it should be interesting how this advances the storyline.

The only other Marvel book which may pique your interest this week is The Torch #1. Now that Toro is back, Torch can't be far behind, right? Apparently that's what Marvel is thinking with this eight-issue mini-series in which, apparently, the Mad Thinker plays a central role. It may just be a cooky idea enough to really work.

And with that, I am off.

Mickey Mouse buys Peter Parker

2009-08-31T12:58:00.003-05:00

Have you heard the news? Disney is buying Marvel for $4 Billion in cash and stock.

Given how ludicrous that statement seems, I'll pause for those who just heard.

...

OK, feel better? Newsarama has already talked to several people 'In the Know' and slapped together a decent reaction story at THIS LINK, so check it out.

This is already one of those 'Internet cracked in half' moments, with every fanboy out there needing to run his mouth about how horrible a move this is or how wonderful. Personally, I have no opinion whatsoever, other than simply surprise, since NOBODY knows what this will mean for any of the parties involved. More than likely, the changes will be minimal. I mean. Joey Q is keeping his job. And Marvel's movie-rights deals are going to have to be honored. Really, the most pressing concern in the comic book world should be the status of Boom! Entertainment's many strong Disney titles.

This is a wait and see sort of deal. Still, this merger is very surprising, and something to keep an eye on over the next few years and beyond.

If I could have one and only one wish, though, I have to admit a Pixar X-Men movie would be just about the greatest thing since the Chipwich...

"Batman: Arkham Asylum's" Best Moments; Ideas for Sequel

2009-08-30T19:32:00.005-05:00

Check out my full review of "Batman: Arkham Asylum" at THIS LINK. As you will read, I fell head-over-heels in love with this experience, only to be sorely disappointed in the final moments in such a way that only "Fable II" had done before.

Consequently, I am not as quick as some others to anoint this the greatest comic book game of all time (I have a lot of appreciation for the "X-Men: Legends" series). What I will say is this is a strong contender for that role, as well as a strong contender for 2009 game of the year, because there was just so much to love in the first 95% of "Batman: Arkham Asylum." Here are my Top 5 favorite moments of the game, and the Top 5 things I want to see in a sequel.

My Top 5 Favorite Moments (PLENTY of Spoilers):

5) The revelation of the Batcave. There are moments in comics when you can't help but step back and say "Damn, Batman is cool." When Bruce reveals he has his own mini Batcave underneath Arkham Island, I had one of those moments (and another one is when he called in the Batwing out of nowhere just to get his zipline tool, which I cannot remember the name of at the moment). In truth, there were not that many uses for this Batcave. Sure, he concocts the Titan antidote here later in the story, but I image writer Paul Dini could have let him use an Arkham lab if he wanted to. No, the Batcave was just in this game because we had to see what a badass cool guy Batman is, and the moment delivered.

4) The opening sequence. Yes, it sounds weird that glorified opening credits ranks among my favorite moments, but few things compared to the glee I felt, playing this game early on the morning of its release, on little sleep, having awaited this game for so long — and as the Joker was wheeled through the halls of Arkham his voice and words felt as authentic as possible. Any fears I had for the storyline or realism were immediately washed away and I was immediately sucked into the world those characters inhabit.

3) The room near the water pumps patrolled by gunmen. This was the last and the toughest of the patrols to take down, and honestly it did take me a few tries. As far as I was concerned, rooms like this brought players as close as possible to Batman's true (if he wasn't fictional) way of operating. This particular room offered very little cover in the sky, so if a gunman spotted you at all, you best go down below into the grates and vents, not up, or else you're swiss cheese. The multiple walls to pull down also provided this room with the most potential for setting traps. A close runner up in the category of best rooms full of gunmen would have to be the one with the sabotaged gargoyles.

2) The welcoming committee when arriving at the party. I didn't have "Detective Mode" on when entering my favorite place on the Island (how cool was the Joker/TV interaction at the visitors center throughout the game?), so when I stepped inside and there were 20 thugs waiting for me, it was a shock. The only bigger shock? When they all started cheering for me, the guest of honor. There was no moment that better encapsulated the nutty personality of this storyline. And then, of course, I beat them all up.

1) The final Scarecrow hallucination. All of the Scarecrow moments were fun, but this was far an away the best idea Dini had in the game. Watching Joker drive Batman back to the Asylum at the outset of the delusion was the perfect way to knock players' minds for a loop, and then the choreography as Bats was wheeled into the Asylum was simply spot-on with the game's intro. And what would the scene be without nurse Harley at Mr. J's side?
P.S. — To be honest, I began this hallucination in a state of fear myself ... I've experienced The Red Ring of Death before, it was actually ironically sparked while playing "Lego: Batman," and the screen malfunctions at the start of the dream sequence made me briefly think I was about to go through it all again!

Top 5 Things I want to see in a Sequel

5) Wayne Manor, and the rest of Gotham. While the concept of locking Batman inside the loony bin with the loons gave "Arkham Asylum" an immediate hook, the execution of it, using the entire Arkham Island, proved this game was much more like Batman in a small town than one Asylum. So why not let our Dark Knight head home to Gotham proper for the sequel? In doing so, we would be allowed to explore the real Batcave and Wayne Manor, which would lead to what are always exciting moments in Batman stories -- when Wayne Manor becomes compromised. It worked in "Batman Begins," it worked in "Batman: R.I.P.," it worked in "Knightfall" and it would work here.

4) Matches Malone. As I said, I would want a sequel to deal in a large chunk of the Gotham we know and love, which would inevitably lead to more opportunities for detective work and possibly the need to go undercover to learn clues. Allowing us to play a level as Matches Malone, Batman's favorite undercover alias, in order to uncover the truth, would be an innovative concept every Bat fan could get behind.

3) More side quests. While enjoyable, "Arkham Asylum was extremely linear for an open-world game. Hunting down the Riddler's riddles was just about the only distraction from the storyline. A possible sequel would be wise to take a page from "Fable's" book and provide ample side tasks to fill out the surrounding world. Heck, there's always crimes to thwart in Gotham, right?

2) Robin. How many games nowadays don't offer multiplayer? And, a better question, how could this series neglect to add multiplayer when Batman so often works with sidekicks? He's got Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Huntress, Spoiler ... need I continue? Obviously, Robin (Tim Drake, preferably, in order to keep the Nightwing options open) would be the logical choice to give players the option of progressing through the bulk of the storyline in multiplayer. Given the importance of stealth in the game, multiplayer might actually make things tougher for a change.

1) Many, many more boss battles! The only consistent problem you can find with "Batman: Arkham Asylum" is the major lack of boss battles. Killer Croc is always lurking, but you never get to fight the brute. Sure, the sewer sequence was unique and challenging, but it wasn't a real fight. I LOVED the Scarecrow sequences, but it would have been helped by a fight with the over-sized Scarecrow at the end of the last of the sequences. And did I mention how horrendously weak the fight with the Joker was? In a game with so many monsters and A-list villains, the only real boss battle was with a giant plant.
I understand with a character like Batman and a rogues gallery such as he has, it's difficult to create challenging fights. But this game was sorely lacking in the "Legend of Zelda"-esque fights in which Batman can use a combination of his gadgets to take down challenging creatures. These developers could have done much better than pulling the Joker down with his back turned.

Buy Pile Report

2009-08-27T00:01:00.002-05:00

Alright folks, we're going to make this quick. And no, it's not so I can get back to playing "Batman: Arkham Asylum." It's so I can go to bed ... in order to wake up extra early to play "Batman: Arkham Asylum."

What?!? There's a difference! I'm not an addict! I can quit anytime I want!

Where was I? Oh yeah, this week's comic books. And highlighting the week was one of the juiciest (yes, I said juiciest!) "Blackest Night" tie-ins yet: Green Lantern #45. This one had everything you could ask for and all without the use of any of the four Earth GLs (with the exception of two pages at the outset). So what did it have, you ask? Well, Sinestro and Carol Ferris have a heart to heart, with Carol showing her mettle and Sinestro really cutting loose with more pure power than we've seen out of him in a long time. We saw dead Sinestro Corps., lurking Black Rings, and we even saw Pariah making a very welcome cameo in his own special way.

And -- serious spoiler alert here -- does it get any better than the end of this book, with Larfleeze surrounded by Black Lantern Orange Lanterns?!?

While most comic events aim to reward readers for their anticipation, "Blackest Night" has an incredible talent for only making me anticipate the event more and more as the books roll on. And who doesn't love this production schedule, with at least one tie-in out every week?

Speaking of which, there were two "Blackest Night" tie-ins this week, the second being Blackest Night: Titans #1. I was on the fence about buying this mini or not, and now I am sure glad that I dug into my wallet for those extra three bucks. Not only did this book flat-out break my heart at one point (poor Donna Troy!), but it revealed something that's going to play into the main "Blackest Night" story (or at least I think it will). In these pages we see two Doves ... well, plenty of dead dove birds, but only two Dove heroes. We see Don Hall once again, still resistant to the Black Rings, and we see the woman who took up his mantle, Dawn. We also get to see Dawn's aura -- bright white. No predominant emotion. And the Black Ring could not read it. If you're looking into that "White Lantern" theory, there's a big clue right there.

And oh, by the way: Gar ... ew. Folks, this is NOT the mini to pass on.

So what else did we have this week? Superman #691 concluded the "Codename: Patriot" storyline with dubious and predictable results. General Lane's gambit played out with his desired result -- Earth now hates Kryptonians and all things Superman. predictable, right? But also incredibly dubious, seeing as Superman has to be about as popular and trusted as Jesus. How many times has he protected Earth? And we're not going to hear him out? This was dubious 25 years ago during the "Legends" crossover (yes, Morgan Edge, nice Glorious Godfrey impression), and it's dubious now.

I think I just set a world record for most times using "Dubious" in a paragraph.

Similarly dubious, for entirely different reasons, was X-Force #18. Overall, this issue is not bad. We just chug along with the storyline, Wolverine and Cyclops have a nice get-together, we get some cleanup from the last issue and Laura has a real pain in the ass day. But two pages are spent teasing to the upcoming "X-Force," "New Mutants," "X-Men: Legacy" crossover, "Necrosha." This tease included a man by the name of Eli Bard using his blackened hand to reanimate a corpse.

Yes, "Necrosha" will include a man who looks perfectly normal except for his black hand that can reanimate people. Where have I heard of that before? Damnit, this is going to drive me nuts. It's on the tip of my tongue.

Let's just move on, I'll think of it eventually.

I got two more and only little patience. Here's some quick thoughts:

Flash: Rebirth #4: Not the worst story, but if Geoff Johns' cards are all out there on the table now, then this event has to be considered a disappointment. The whole thing is feeling pretty convoluted right now, and if this is where Johns is taking these characters, I'm not sure I want to go along for the ride. Hopefully he finishes strong, but having to wait so many months for this issue made it easier to dislike this issue.

Justice Society of America #30: You'll love the use of new Doctor Fate, but we're starting to see the seeds for the JSA's split in this issue and I'm already not buying it in the least. Here's the problem -- we know too much of Magog's (likely) future. We know what he (likely) becomes. So even if his points have any merit here whatsoever, I cannot help but read all his actions as very misguided, if not flat out wrong. Consequently, I find myself very worried about the future for my favorite superhero team right now. But, as I've said the last couple of months, I trust Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges, so we'll see.

Whew! All done. Back to Gotham!

Finally, a complaint about "Arkham Asylum"

2009-08-26T15:01:00.002-05:00

After 12 and a half hours of gameplay, I finally have a single complaint about "Batman: Arkham Asylum." As I said last night, I can pick nits, but in terms of big complaints, this game has me giddy.

But finally, I have one. My angry little heart is almost happy that I finally have a complaint. Just before I had to shut off the Xbox and head into work, The COOLEST cinematic yet began playing. Literally, my jaw dropped. The only problem is, without warning, it stopped being a cinematic and I was dead. If I get the chance to do it again, I will sure as shoot be ready for it next time ... the only problem is, I won't get a next time.

As I said, I had to go into work. So instead of choosing "Retry," or doing what I normally do, which is just hold the power button on my controller, I (for some God awful reason) chose "Quit," which did not take me to the title screen, it took me to a graveyard I'd never seen before.

So there you go, my complaint, "Quit" made me miss something (which I will probably see once I play through the game again very soon).

I'm telling you, though, this game is THAT good.

The Joker has hijacked this week's comic expectations

2009-08-26T01:20:00.003-05:00

There will be no details on what to expect out of this week's comics. Check out the list of releases at THIS LINK.

If you're disappointed, blame the Joker. I rolled out of bed this morning, powered on the Xbox and proceeded to play "Batman: Arkham Asylum" for 11 of the next 14 hours. It's that good, folks. I cleared my schedule and made darn sure I wasn't supposed to do anything today, and boy was it worth it.

Don't get me wrong, I could pick nits if I really wanted to (and I likely will when writing the full review), but I have not been this thrilled as a comic-reading gamer since "X-Men Legends" came out.

As I said, I'll have much more to say very soon, but for now I need a little sleep so I can get in a few more hours of gaming before heading into the office on Wednesday. Good Night Gotham!

Closer look at Project Natal

2009-08-21T14:32:00.002-05:00

Our good friends at IGN.com ... OK, we've never met, but I'm sure if we met we'd be friends ... What? I can be personable and make friends sometimes! ... Where was I? Oh yeah, our good friends at IGN.com took a much more in-depth look at Microsoft's upcoming "Project Natal," so visit THIS LINK to read all about it.

IGN also raises the same questions I've had about the technology all along, wondering just how much something like this would help classically controller-based games. I have a feeling we're going to have to wait until launch to get a good answer.

So what if "Final Fantasy XIII" is three discs on Xbox?

2009-08-20T18:50:00.003-05:00

Follow THIS LINK to read what I'm telling you right now, "Final Fantasy XIII" will come packaged as one Blu-Ray disc for the PlayStation 3 but likely three (if not four) discs for Xbox 360.

The link will also tell you the games will look pretty darned near identical visually.

To this I can only respond, who cares if "FF13," or any game, is on multiple discs? I've heard over the years how Sony loyalists treat this Xbox flaw as some "PlayStation will prevail!" rallying cry, but I just don't see it.

Why? Because "Final Fantasy" titles have a long and successful history of multiple discs. I've played all of them, and they've never bothered me in the least. Heck, "Final Fantasy VII" even incorporated the disc break into their storyline. Back in the day, the only thing more epic than the concept of Aeris — decade-old spoiler alert — dying was the fact that the moment marked the end of a whole disc. As me as a youngster, this combination was packed with more mythos than was previously humanly possible.

I, for one, will walk fearlessly forward on my way to playing "Final Fantasy XIII" on my Xbox, disc changes or no. If we're lucky, it might even add to the experience once again.

Buy Pile Report

2009-08-20T00:14:00.002-05:00

Well, as anticipated, it was up to Black Lantern Earth-2 Superman to save the day.

And while Kal-L wasn't quite enough to make up for the rest of the waste of space books out this week, but he sure was awesome.

Blackest Night: Superman #1 was everything you could ask for in a tie-in. For one, it's pretty clear that you really don't NEED to read this issue to follow "Blackest Night" proper. For two, any Superman-family fan will gush over this. With the possible exception of Power Girl's absence, given her connection to the character, James Robinson wrote the perfect zombie Kal-L story. I say that because it wasn't enough for him to simply write about Kal-El meeting again with Kal-L, he includes Superboy as a main character, and considering how "Infinite Crisis" played out, the choice was brilliant. Also, Kal-L brought another Black Lantern friend back with him that I wasn't expecting whatsoever (No, it's not Pa Kent, at least yet), but she too was just a perfect choice.

On top of all those good choices, we also get a strong first issue to this storyline which, while didn't include all that much action yet, definitely showed the potential for plenty. Also of note, this was the first time in the "Blackest Night" event that we have seen characters exude more than one emotion at once. Frankly, to me, this looked like a slight editorial mistake. But, if Robinson's script was on the level, then Superman showed the potential to wield just about any emotion you can ask for.

Unfortunately, the other three books I picked up this week were pretty disappointing.

Supergirl #44 was the third installment of the four-part "Codename: Patriot" crossover. Or, at least it called itself the third installment. Very very VERY little was advanced here, which, frankly, was a shock considering how short this crossover is. General Lane showed his plan is moving along, but we already knew the plan was to make Krypton look like a much bigger threat than it is, so what's new there? Lois Lane was still acting irrationally bitchy toward Supergirl, so what's new there? The only thing that we really saw was that that Mirage girl is fixing to trick Nightwing, Flamebird and Supergirl into looking very bad. That's it. Waste of time and money.

But, not as big of a waste of money was Superman Annual #14 was. This book, the "Secret Origin of Mon-El and his World," rarely even featured Mon-El!!! It was literally just the story of how Daxam was founded, and the big reveal was that for some God awful reason Robinson chose to make Mon-El's great great great great grandfather an Earthling. Let me tell you, when DC said it would be bringing the concept of annuals back a couple of years ago, I was thrilled. I loved annuals growing up and how they provided exciting, self-contained stories as a bonus to what I was following on a monthly basis. But, if DC keeps insisting on making these annuals glorified back-up tales, the concept is going to die again.

Speaking of back-up stories, Justice League of America #36, the second part of a three-issue story featuring the Royal Flush Gang -- a story which surprisingly had a very strong first issue -- spent most of its pages explaining the origin of the Gang. Let that set in for a moment. If you can picture a freight train coming to a screeching halt, that's what happened to the momentum this story built last issue. It's almost as if Len Wein had two-issues worth of story to tell and DC told him they needed three.

Oh well, at least we got more glorious zombie action this week. And now, back to "Shadow Complex." Jealous?

'Shadow Complex' review

2009-08-19T17:53:00.004-05:00

As soon as I get home tonight, the first thing I'm doing is getting on my Xbox and downloading "Shadow Complex." I'm sure I'm not the only one.

You've heard of it, haven't you? Epic Games' new 3D, 2D-shooter which plays like a combination of "Metroid," "Castlevania," and "Legend of Zelda" combined. Yes, I have to stick 'ole faithful "Zelda" in there, since a good portion of this game revolves around puzzle solving. It was just released today, which is making sitting at this desk that much harder.

Need to know more? Click THIS LINK to the Journal's Gaming page for a full review. Until "Batman: Arkham Asylum" comes out next week, "Shadow Complex" is going to be my life.

'Fable III' announced!

2009-08-19T15:24:00.003-05:00

Well, the long part of my week actually just ended. And it just so happens that the first news I read after my long week ended was cause to celebrate:

"Fable III" was announced today, with a release date of late 2010 (which likely means summer 2011, but beggars and chooser, you know?).

Check out THIS LINK to IGN.com for more news and descriptions of what to expect out of the threequel.

Two things of note here:
1) "Fable III" will begin by reading your "Fable II" game save, so you're going to want to really have the sequel mastered by the time you pop in the new game.
2) Unlike previous installments of the series in which you played a fledgling adventurer looking to make a name for himself, this time around you become ruler of all of Albion. BAM! It could be an awesome change, or it could make the game much too much of a resource allocator like some hospital management game. Still, it's something to anticipate.

This week's comic book expectations

2009-08-18T23:38:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been a long day. Tomorrow looks like a long one too. So what is my light in the distance?

Black. Lantern. Earth-2. Superman.

BAM!

Well, that and a chipwich.

We're staring a slow comic week dead (no pun intended) in the eyes, but all that could be forgiven if Blackest Night: Superman #1 is as good as I'm anticipating it to be. Check out the full list of this week's comic releases at THIS LINK.

Last week, any remaining fears any of you may have had regarding the validity of "Blackest Night's" tie-ins should have been put to bed for good. "Blackest Night: Batman" debuted with the perfect mixture of humor, heart and horror (which, I now think DC should adopt that as the event's new tagline), and "Green Lantern Corps." once again showed how to add to a storyline without stepping on its toes. I can only expect a lot more of the same from "Blackest Night: Superman," which will feature Zombie Kal-L's return, as well as PA KENT. Could there possibly be more potential for humor, heart and horror?!? (See, it works!)

We've yet to see New Earth's Superman show up in "Blackest Night," so it should be interesting to see how Clark handles his dad and, well, himself rising from the dead. I am also curious as to how far into the Superman family of characters writer James Robinson digs here. Will he include Supergirl and her father? Will Superboy show up, and, if so, didn't Tanya Moon die? We'll see here and I'm guessing we won't be disappointed, despite my growing fear of anything Robinson writes nowadays.

Speaking of the Superman family, Supergirl #44 marks the third quarter of the "Codename: Patriot" storyline, which has me interested in General Lane's machinations for the first time in a while. Granted, I think we can all be pretty sure he's going to be double-crossing that Kryptonian "Patriot" real soon, but it's still the first one of his plans that has grabbed my attention. I'm also looking forward to the reunion of Kara and Thara. Personally, I would love to see those two kids kiss and make up (no, not that way, perverts), which would really fill out Supergirl's supporting cast as the series goes forward. That said, I'm pretty sure Nightwing and Flamebird will be making a mortal sacrifice within the next year. Just a hunch.

I'm much less hopeful for Superman Annual #14. For one, I think my feelings on Robinson's work of late is well documented. For two, this story will center on Mon-el's past life in Daxam, and the history of his people. Is anyone interested? I mean, Mon is a pretty decent character and all, but I just don't see where his past is going to become important. And didn't Peter Tomasi already paint us a perfect picture of Daxam when exploring Sodam Yat?

And don't forget about Batgirl #1 (we finally get to see if DC made the giant mistake of replacing Cassandra Cain!) and Justice League of America #36 (the second of a three-part series written by Len Wein which had a surprisingly strong debut despite the Royal Flush Gang).

Marvel's got less this week, but they do have Daredevil #500, a milestone issue in which Ed Brubaker promises to explain plenty about Kingpin and Lady Bullseye. If you've been following all along Matt Murdock's story, then you know this is a must-buy. If you haven't been reading, you should know this is a must-buy in trade form, and you should also know that issue #501 is likely going to be a real nice place for new readers to jump on board.

The only other books that are (somewhat) of note are Mighty Avengers #28, Punisher Noir #1 (yes, another "Noir") and X-Men: Legacy #227 (a "Utopia" tie-in).

And before I go, you may also be interested to know Archie #600 is out this week. Yes, THAT issue. The one titled "Archie marries Veronica." The one that got at least one fanboy to lose faith in humanity. I have to say, I am a bit interested ... if only because I have a sneaking suspicion the book will twist with Archie getting with Betty after all, and all those angry "Archie" fans can feel oh so foolish.

PS3 Slim Officially only $299

2009-08-18T19:07:00.003-05:00

Big News! Sony has dropped the cost of the PlayStation 3 to $299!

Bigger News! Sony just announced the PS3 Slim officially, at a cost of $299! (Read more HERE). It will be out the first week in September.

In other words, it will soon be the right time to finally buy a PS3. Just don't buy one just yet, unless you're fine with outdated electronics which are 66% bigger than they need to be.

Frankly I was going to buy one anyway soon, with so many big games coming out in the next year ("DC Universe Online" and "Mod Nation Racers" should be enough alone), but this price means, definitively, Microsoft once again has competition to worry about.

The Ballad of Ocho Cinco's Maddenoliday

2009-08-16T14:50:00.002-05:00

Click THIS LINK to read all about Chad Ocho Cinco's harrowing experience trying to get online to play "Madden NFL 10."

It's about as intelligent as you would expect from a man who needed to change his last name to poorly-translated spanish. It's also about as intelligent as you would expect from someone who feels the need to tweet so much.

Fanboys like all sorts of comics

2009-08-15T14:52:00.002-05:00

Through the magic of the AP wire, I present to you the world's biggest "Archie" fanboy:

DALLAS — When comic book store owner Dave Luebke heard that after 67 years, the carrot-topped everyman of the comic world, Archie, was proposing to va-va-voomy rich girl Veronica instead of girl-next-door Betty, he decided to protest by selling his copy of the series’ rare first issue.
Luebke’s Archie Comics No. 1 sold for $38,837 when Dallas’ Heritage Auction Galleries offered it Friday. Heritage spokesman Noah Fleisher said the buyer was a longtime Archie reader and collector from Virginia who did not want to be identified.
“Betty is it. Not Veronica,” said Luebke, whose Richmond, Va., store has more than 1 million comics in stock. “This is serious.”

'Blackest Night' top dog revealed

2009-08-13T16:00:00.001-05:00

Click on THIS LINK to see the cover to "Blackest Night #5" and learn who the main villain behind the event is. Needless to say, spoiler alert!

This week's comic expectations

2009-08-11T20:25:00.006-05:00

Ladies. Gentlemen. Prepare for one whopper of a week for DC Comics. I can barely count the number of DC books in this week's buy pile on my hands, and I need to take my socks off to count all the books I'm taking home. Check out the full list at THIS LINK.

So, where to begin? On any other week like this, "Blackest Night" would have to take center stage — and there is plenty of "Blackest" to go around — but I am going to have to give Adventure Comics #1 the nod for where to start this time. What's so intriguing about this book is, even on the eve of its release, I'm still not sure what exactly we're going to get. On the one hand, it's a Superboy main feature with a Legion of Superheroes co-feature. On the other hand, the Legion will play a role in the main feature, as will Superboy's former Teen Titans teammates. On the other hand, we should expect to see all three different Legions in these pages in the months to come, and Superboy Prime by the fourth issue. Oh, and on the other hand, Francis Manupal said this book will reek of Americana. That's a lot of hands!

But enough about the mystery which is "Adventure Comics." As I said, there is a lot of "Blackest Night" to go around, starting with Blackest Night #2. When last we left our heroes, the Dibneys had just killed the Hawks, consequently making the Hawks black lanterns themselves. Scar had taken the rest of the Guardians hostage, Ray Palmer was freaking out missing Jean Loring (don't worry, Ray, I betcha you'll see her soon!), and Aquaman was about to get turned to the dark side (not to be confused with Darkseid. Oh, and Hal Jordan and Barry Allen were just about to face off with former teammate J'onn J'onnz, but that fight has already been won by the Martian in the last issue of "Green Lantern." All caught up? Good, because I don't have a clue of what Geoff Johns will be pulling out of his rear this time around!

Green Lantern Corps. #39 will be the first issue that really deals with the Green Lantern-specific side of "Blackest Night," as a good part of the issue will be centered on the situation on Oa — dead Green Lanterns turned Black. I'd also bet we'll see the next step in the Sinestro/Mongol showdown here, as well as Sodam Yat's story fighting Mongol on Daxam. I'd also bet "GLC" will be the place for seeing more on the ongoing "War of Light" between the other color lanterns, so this is one must-read book if you're following "Blackest Night."

The "Blackest" content also spills over into the first of the six three-part mini-series to come, Blackest Night: Batman #1. Two reasons to read this one: 1) Deadman, a longtime member of Batman's supporting cast, has got to have some fun things to say about these black rings. 2) Dick Grayson vs. the Flying Graysons. Need I say more?

I'm also psyched (yes, I used the word "psyched" past 1994) about JSA vs. Kobra #3, the next part in the six-issue mini-series depicting Kobra's beatdown on the Justice Society. Well, so far it's been a beat down. We all know the good guys will come back. But, in the meantime, writer Eric Trautman has been spinning an expert tale by narrating from Kobra's point of view for a change, which has really helped show the reader just how far ahead the bad guys are right now. No JSA fan should be sitting this mini out.

Other top DC books out this week include Red Robin #3 (which features Ra's Al Ghul), Action Comics #880 (the second part in the "Codename: Patriot" crossover) and Booster Gold #23 (which begins to reveal the secrets behind Black Beetle).

Marvel's offerings this week are far more sparse, with a couple of exceptions. The Marvels Project #1 may turn out to be a decent series, even if it's just the latest in a growing and lengthy list of "Secrets of the universe's origin!" tales. This particular series will look at the dawn of the Marvel Universe proper, and the origin linking The Invaders in 1939. Why could this one actually be good for a change? Look no further than the creative team, writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting, the guys who brought Captain America back to prominence.

That said, I'm trade-waiting this one, since I have so little faith in these "secret origin" stories.

And speaking of Marvel stories I have no faith in, the relaunch of the Ultimate Comics Universe continues this week with Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 and Ultimate Comics Spider-man #1. The good news is, Mark Millar is back on Avengers and Brian Bendis is still on Spidey. The bad news? Can anything undo the stink left on the Ultimate Universe by "Ultimatum?" The Ultimate Universe was built as a continuity-free playground where writers like Bendis and Millar could stretch their creative legs. Did anyone at Marvel actually think the way to reset that universe was by killing off tons of characters and decimating the land? Isn't that just a crapload of continuity to work around?

Also of note from Marvel this week is Cable #17, Uncanny X-Men #514 (the fourth part of the "Utopia" storyline), and Incredible Hercules #132.

Stride aims to "Save The Arcades"

2009-08-11T13:39:00.003-05:00

Get a load of this press release sent over the AP Wire by the makers of Stride gum. Keep in mind, they wrote this, not an AP writer.

With classic video game arcades facing the ultimate "game over", the makers of STRIDE, The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum , want to do everything they can to help keep the elbows bumping and quarters flowing. Enter Save the Arcades — a nationwide campaign to stop the disappearance of this beloved and endangered form of gaming.
Last week, STRIDE discovered that a Philadelphia-area arcade called Challenge Arcade was within days of closing down, so they decided to help. By providing $10,000, STRIDE ensured that Challenge will stay in business and continue to offer gaming goodness, world record events and tournaments to the community.
"What a wonderful gesture!" said Joe LeVan, Owner, Challenge Arcade. "I can’t say enough good things about the folks at STRIDE who helped me stay afloat during this difficult time."
"Well, we couldn’t launch ’Save the Arcades’ without actually saving an arcade!" said Gary Osifchin, Marketing Director, STRIDE. "Now that Challenge Arcade is safe, we’ve identified four other arcades that deserve a long lasting existence, and we’re asking everyone who cares about gaming to help preserve this long lasting tradition and keep those quarters rolling in."
STRIDE is inviting gaming enthusiasts everywhere to join the movement to save the arcades by choosing the next arcade to receive some financial support.

Now, I really like the idea behind this ad campaign (and yes, don't fool yourselves, for as good as the cause is, it's still an ad campaign), but there are two just horrendously funny things here:

1) The quote from Challenge Arcade's owner. You're trying to tell me that wasn't written by a PR guy? If someone gives you $10,000 and saves your business, I doubt if you would use the phrase "What a Wonderful Gesture!" Far more sincere would be "Holy eff'n Cr@p man!"

2) The marketing director just happens to slip in Stride's catch phrase into his mission statement. "... we’ve identified four other arcades that deserve a long lasting existence ..." Really, Gary? A "Long Lasting Experience?" Where ever did you derive your choice of words from?

Still, since the campaign seems like it could do some good for some people, I'll tell you to visit www.savethearcades.com for more info.

This week's video game releases

2009-08-11T13:18:00.002-05:00

I'm a little late with THIS LINK to this week's video game release list. I was busy playing "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" for the better part of the last 24 hours ... which, by the way, I shot a 59 on my first full round playing Baniff Springs. I also downloaded yet another course, Cog Hill (on sale this week for 33% off, which makes it $5), but you can find my thoughts on that HERE.

Anyway, it doesn't take a genius to know this week "Madden" is the word, out at midnight on Thursday night. It does take a genius to figure out why ESPN insists on calling their Thursday night preseason Super Bowl rematch, which is a promotional tie-in to the "Madden" launch, the premiere of their "Monday Night Football" season. But I digress.

If "Madden" isn't your thing — or if you just wonder if this year's game is enough of a step up from last year's to drop another $60 — other releases are pretty bare, but include a promising first-person shooter for the DS called "C.O.R.E.," and a Namco/Bandai Wii exercise game (yes another one) called "Active Life: Extreme Challenge," which includes base jumping. Yes, Base jumping. If there is one activity I doubt the Wii can replicate, it's base jumping.

'Batman: Arkham Asylum' demo

2009-08-10T11:49:00.002-05:00

Rarely have I ever looked forward to a demo like I looked forward to the demo for "Batman: Arkham Asylum." If you haven't taken the time yet, it's available for free download on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

I finally got a chance to play the demo last night and it both excited me and worried me at the same time.

There is plenty to drool over here. The demo allows you to beat up a few henchmen, use your batarang, and show off exactly how "Detective Mode" will work, by highlighting areas of the wall that you can grip to and highlighting where in the room henchmen are hidden. Most importantly, this one-level cross-section of the game makes it obvious that charging headstrong into a pack of armed criminals will only result in bloody, bloody death. Instead, Batman will have to creep around in air vents and skulk the ceilings in order to get the drop on villains. The second part of the demo forces you to take out a room of five henchmen one by one without getting caught.

The whole thing, between the game mechanics and voice work by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, feels uniquely Batman.

The one flaw which really worries me, though, is the speed at which Batman moves. You feel much more Michael Keaton than Christian Bale. The man walks like he's enjoying a sunny day in the park. And yes, there is a button specifically for running, but it doesn't feel very organic. Here's hoping the speed at which the Dark Knight moves doesn't prove to be this very promising game's downfall.

All in all, though, this demo did nothing but encourage me to take August 25th off from the office.

'Wii Sports Resort' impressions

2009-08-09T16:43:00.004-05:00

In an event so rare it ranks up there with Bigfoot sightings, solar eclipses and Jeph Loeb books of redeeming value, I was given both Friday and Saturday off this weekend.

I'd cue the choir of angels for celebratory music, but they're probably exhausted from my cuing them so often already.

Anyway, the bad news is, I was far away from my Xbox 360 all weekend, so I have still yet to get my hands on the "Batman: Arkham Asylum" demo. Rest assured that I'll be fitting that in between "True Blood" and "Entourage" once I'm out of work later. The good news is the girlfriend and I finally got a good chunk of time to try out "Wii Sports Resort."

Keep in mind, this is no formal review, as I generally don't review games until doing more than playing for three hours with a Wiimote in one hand and stuffed-crust pizza in the other, but it doesn't require very much time to see "Wii Sports Resort" does, in fact, fall into that rare category of party games for the Wii worth your time — a category so rare I wouldn't even include "Wii Play" in it, were it not for the pack-in controller.

"WSR" includes 12 mini-games, most of which are new to the "Wii Sports" series, and all (ok, most) do have that same easy precision control that made the original title such a party-game favorite. Included in the 12 games are a new bowling (which I didn't try), ping pong (which plays similar to "Wii Sports' " tennis) and golf.

Surprisingly, of all these 12 games, I may have spent the most time of with golf, partially because the "Wii Motion Plus" makes the game very smooth and partially because of the inclusion of 18 holes, including nine taken directly from the very first Nintendo golf game ever, simply titled "Golf." My dad and I may have played over 100 rounds on "Golf's" lone course, so playing those holes again is truly a thrill, even if the nostalgia is lost on 98% of those who pick up "WSR."

If any of these new games break out in popularity like "Wii Sports' " bowling did the first time around, I predict it will be archery. With three different difficulty levels, each with four different competitions, this mini-game tests your ability to aim through differing levels of wind, elevation and obstacles. It can become competitive very quickly, especially since one bad shot can make it tough to come back, and concentration is a must. Unfortunately for me, the girlfriend is apparently a natural when it comes to firing virtual arrows ... let's just move on.

I also really enjoyed the frisbee mini-game in which you need to throw your disc as close to a target as possible, and also get your little virtual puppy to catch it. While not the toughest game ever, there's something enjoyable about having a happy little dog go that extra mile to catch your throw and score points for the team.

Unfortunately, this game falls a little short in the depth category. A couple of the games require very little skill, like wakeboarding and sword fighting (the game I was most looking forward to and consequently most disappointed by), while others were hampered by bugs, like basketball which was just very awkward (and I play basketball!) and canoeing, the only game that really had difficulties reading the "Wii Motion Plus" sensor when switching from one side of the boat to the other.

And you know, I really hope that I just gave up on sword fighting too quickly and find out that I love it once I give it another chance, because isn't that the game we all hoped to get the most out of the "Wii Motion Plus" innovation? Upon first try, sword fighting just feels like the player who whacks the other as fast as they can is the winner. There's very little reward for strategy and patience. And really, if this version of sword fighting stunk so hard, what does that mean for our future hopes for a lightsaber game? As I said, I really hope I just gave up on the mini game too quickly. I guess you can judge for yourselves.

Overall, I'm very pleased to have "Wii Sports Resort" in my game library, and yes, "Wii Motion Plus" does make a world of difference in Wii games, even if the sensor has to be reset from time to time.

Will it reach the same wild popularity that "Wii Sports" had? No, certainly not, but that's mostly because "Wii Sports' " popularity was mostly borne of the Wii's own novelty. That will never be reproduced, or at least not until Project Natal launches. In the meantime, the best you can say for "Wii Sports Resort" is that it plays and feels like the direct successor to "Wii Sports," and that should be all the endorsement you need.

This week's comic expectations

2009-08-04T16:05:00.003-05:00

To quote "Blues Brothers," "We're on a Mission From God."

That's us. This week. Mission From God.

What is this mission, whether you choose to accept it or not?

Get "Irredeemable's" sales numbers to where they should be!!! Headlining this week's comic book releases is Irredeemable #5, priced at 99 cents! Check out the list of this week's stuff at THIS LINK.

I've been doing my part to get the word out on how fantastic Mark Waid's tale of Superman gone wrong is. It is at once the most cerebral read and the most marvelously horrific read on the market. And yet, the sales numbers have never even reached the 14,000 mark, and they've been stumbling.

Folks, you want to be reading this book several times an issue. It isn't just that Waid is telling the tale of Earth's greatest hero turning into its greatest enemy, Waid finds the most creative and well-developed ways to use The Plutonian's powers to their most devastating extent. And it's not always in the flexing muscles sort of way — in the second issue The Plutonian turns an entire office of people into psychological wrecks simply by pointing out the many downsides to finding out his secret identity. And all the while, we slowly learn more and more about where The Plutonian comes from and how he slowly spiraled down the rabbit hole.

I would gamble my salary for the next five years — there are many, many, many more of you that would love this book than the piddly 11,000 or so it averages now. At 99 cents, you all had better be buying this book!

Marvel's top book in a slow week is Captain America: Reborn #2, continuing the story of Steve Rogers' return to the land of the living. Now, I've been as big a fan as anyone of Ed Brubaker's run on Cap, so I trust his storytelling and long-term plans. That said, Bru's got a lot of 'splaining to do over that last issue. First off, I am going to need to see much more before I classify this whole "lost in time" thing as interesting in the least. For two, I am hoping against hope that this doesn't turn into yet another Norman Osborne-dominated story. "Captain America" has been my last refuge from "Dark Reign" stories, so the climax to the story had better not revolve around it.

But, I do trust Brubaker and find myself anticipating this release, mainly because the biggest mystery of this run, ever since issue #1, has been the Red Skull's master plan. At this point, even knowing Cap is lost in time, we still don't know what that endgame is. And so, I keep reading.

Also from Marvel this week is War of Kings #6, the conclusion to the Inhumans-centered space epic. Plenty of big, BIG developments have already taken place in these pages, from Crystal's marriage to Ronan to the Inhumans getting serious about killing to Lilandra's death. Amazingly, though, we enter this final issue with still little idea of how this will all shake out.

Will Vulcan survive? That's the biggest question on my mind, mainly because I've felt like Brubaker created this character of great potential (between the relationship to Cyclops, relationship to Shi'ar and his bratty personality), and yet we have not gotten to see that potential play out yet to the fullest — attacking the main X-Men team in an all-out war. If he does survive then the next logical question is, will Havok survive? I doubt this series will end without a confrontation between the two, and neither is likely to show any mercy. And oh, by the way, with all this talk of killing, Black Bolt was just about to use a weapon that would kill him, wasn't he? So who will lead the Shi'ar? Who will lead the Kree? Will the Inhumans succeed in advancing the Kree's evolution? So many questions!

From DC, Superman: World of New Krypton #6 kicks off the four-part "Codename: Patriot" crossover encompassing the Superman family of titles. Last issue closes with the apparent murder of General Zod. Apparently Zod told the guy to kneel one too many times. If you read solicitations, it seems Zod may survive, but that's besides the point. The point is, one minute Zod is putting Kal-El on trial, the next moment Kal-El needs to go hunt down his killer, who is heading to Earth. Do I smell a reunion show? Seinfeld has me in that mood.

Meanwhile, Justice League: Cry for Justice #2 is out this week, and this is a pivotal issue for the series. The debut issue of this long-delayed mini was, well, a piece of crap. All that beautiful painted art readers waited so long for was only given pages upon pages of dialog in which the only thing each character said — individually, I might add — was that they wanted "Justice." The saddest part about it was that in every instance where the characters wanted "Justice," they didn't actually want "Justice," the wanted Revenge. So this was either a case of James Robinson not knowing the differences between the two words, or maybe this is the entire theme to his story, the characters learning the difference, in which case we're looking at a real dud of a mini-series.

On top of all that first-issue-sucking-pressure in this second issue, we now know Robinson will be taking over the main "Justice League of America" book following this mini, and carrying some storylines and characters over. Which means, if this mini continues to be as horrible as it began, then we're not looking at a case of one bad mini, we're looking at a case of the whole Justice League line of books being taken down by this bad mini. And after the years of Dwayne McDuffie's horrible Justice League stories, I cannot take more crapage.

As I take my leave of you, remember, we're on a Mission From God this week. Go buy "Irredeemable!!!"

Marvel's Blackest Night

2009-07-31T14:16:00.003-05:00

Not a dream! Not an illusion! The Dead Shall Rise!

Oh wait...

Get a load of THIS LINK to a Newsarama interview announcing "Necrosha," a crossover between "X-Force," "New Mutants" and "X-Men: Legacy" in which X-Villain Selene uses the Transmode virus to reanimate the corpses of plenty of dead mutants, namely those in Genosha.

Yes, a 2009 event in which The Dead Shall Rise.

I'll spare you a diatribe on cheap knock-offs. That should be obvious.

My indignation is directed at Newsarama itself, a site I frequent as much as most of the rest of you... 10 questions were asked in that interview. Zero included the words "Blackest Night." One question involves the words "the skies over mutant-kind seem to be getting darker and darker..." as if this was all obviously an original idea.

Well I'm calling you out, Newsarama and namely interviewer Steve Ekstrom, from one Journalist to another, you just made yourself look like a shill.

The wrong and right ways to have downloadable content

2009-07-30T14:15:00.003-05:00

My love for all things "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" is no secret. I've been playing the series since long before it was named for el Tigre, and I'll probably keep buying the games every year until the sport of golf is done away with to make room for Blernsball. Heck, I bought my Xbox 360 a week after learning just how well the system's controller and "Tiger Woods" fit together.

So, it should come as no surprise that I've purchased all three of the downloadable courses EA Sports has offered since releasing "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" on June 8.

However, am I the only one angry to have had to spend over $21 in new courses already, just under two months since the game's initial release?

Don't get me wrong, all three courses are wonderful — and the fantasy course "The Predator" is devilishly challenging. But, my question is, why couldn't those courses have been included in the initial game? Heck, one course was released on the same day as the game!

Downloadable content should not be content that could have been in the game in the first place, it should be content developed in the months following the game's release in order to keep gamers playing long after they conquered all there is to conquer.

Instead, this feels as though EA intentionally left out content in a mad grab for our cash after the initial $60. What's to stop next year's game from including only two or three courses with the option to download any of another dozen for $7.50 a pop?

This greed is even more glaring after reading THIS PRESS RELEASE I had in my inbox when I walked into the office yesterday. 2K Sports will be releasing downloadable content for "NBA 2K10" called "Draft Combine" a month before the game's release for $5 (or 400 Microsoft Points).

I'm loving this idea. Heck, I've always been a "NBA Live" fan, but this content alone has me thinking of changing teams. In preparation for the main game's release, "Draft Combine" will let you begin the process of creating a player and navigating the pre-draft activities necessary for a created player's success.

And yes, for those of you that cannot see the difference, "Draft Combine" does seem to be something that can (and likely will) be included in the main "NBA 2K10." But by releasing it early, it gives gamers the opportunity to whet their basketball appetites and really get their hands dirty in a way that far surpasses most demos. If you're going to make downloadable content available so early in a game's lifetime, this is the way to do it.

I applaud 2K Sports' idea here and hope to see more ideas of its ilk (maybe an "NFL Head Coach"-style download before next year's "Madden?") in the near future. In the meantime, I'll still be paying those greedy prices for fresh golf courses.

So Spidey can't get a divorce but he can...

2009-07-30T13:37:00.002-05:00

One of the horribly bad choices that led to the train wreck that was Spider-man's "One More Day," was Marvel's notion that Spider-man and Mary Jane getting a divorce would make him a horrible role model for children.

In fact, the whole idea behind getting rid of Peter's relationship with MJ was to de-age the character to better embody a heroic role-model who young readers can relate to.

So why, then, do I see THIS happening on the fourth page of "Amazing Spider-man #601?"

That's right, according to Marvel, divorce is morally wrong, but drunken sex out of wedlock (and, given Peter's state in this page, likely unprotected sex) is A-OK!

Is that really the image you want our younger readers to be relating to, Marvel? Let's take our hero out of a stable, healthy relationship with the woman he loves and turn him into a Spider-Ho. Good call. No, really, good call.

Buy Pile Report

2009-07-30T01:13:00.002-05:00

Well, to paraphrase Kirsten Dunst, Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges brought it.

Geez, how old is that movie? I feel old. Where was I? Oh yes...

Right now, it feels a bit impossible that anyone could surpass Geoff Johns' ability to write the Justice Society. Still, the first issue under new writers Willingham and Sturges, Justice Society of America #29, sure packed a lot of punch into one issue.

I think the biggest compliment I can pay the pair is it didn't take more than a dozen pages for me to completely forget I was ever worried about how this large group of characters would be portrayed under new scribes. Sure, the voices are somewhat different (how could they not be?), but this is not a Matt Fraction/"Uncanny X-Men" situation. Willingham and Sturges are authentically adding their own flavor to the characters' pre-exisisting personalities, and as a result, I felt right at home as a reader within those first dozen pages.

I also have to applaud the writers on their decision not to spend this entire issue being over indulgent and harping on the idea of this issue marking a new beginning. Willingham and Sturges jump right out of the box with storyline without even mentioning a staus quo.

The storyline itself, however, did not seem like anything special -- and I do use the word "seem" intentionally. Step One: The JSA encounters a mystery. Step Two: The JSA is sidetracked by a group of B-list villains. Step Three: Those B-listers overwhelm the heroes in order to set up the come-from-behind victory in a few issues. We've seen this all before, right?

I'm guessing wrong.

I trust Willingham and Sturges enough that what we read here is not simply the old hat bad guys vs. good guys storyline, and I think the events of the last few pages should prove that. I'll hold off on truly judging this storyline until the arc is complete.

All in all, this first issue for the JSA's new writers made me a very relieved fan.

The rest of the week's books were not as successful.

Just hours after discussing with a friend about how James Robinson has yet to do anything I can appreciate since returning to comics, I read his Superman #690, a book which felt more like one of those 99-cent teaser comics before big events than an actual issue of a story. Contained between the covers are five vignettes, none of which truly advance anyone's story, just sort of give you the impression that there may be a story there in the future.

Let's list them, shall we?

1 - Atlas, who had already kicked Steel's rear last issue, kicked his rear again.
2 - Guardian paired Gotham's own detective Harper as Jonathan Kent's teammate.
3 - Zatara (where the hell did he come from?!?) meets Mark Merlin, who wants his help in finding Prince Ra Man.
4 - Guardian and Dr. Light flirt a little.
5 - Ganglios stops Sodam Yat from meeting Mon-El, in a move which basically just saves continuity after the two met for the first time already 1,000 years in the future in "Legion of Three Worlds."

That's all, folks! James Robinson! Come on, man!

Equally disappointing was Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #3, not for a lack of quality but a lack of value. This book is $3.99, yet only contains a Kilowog backup story, an Arisa backup story, and a "Director's Commentary" of "Blackest Night #0, which would have been interesting had ANYTHING of interest been said. No third story, and no story on a member of a non-emerald corps.

Though as I said, those two backup stories we got, both written by Peter Tomasi, were very very good. The first focuses on Kilowog's first days in the corps, showing how 'wog's drill sergeant treated him, how 'wog first stepped into a leadership role and even how 'wog met Sinestro. The story is strong, poignant, humorous (we learn where the word "poozer" comes from!) and I am now in love with Chris Samnee's simple and straight art.

Arisa's story is more of an origin and a showcase of her personality for any younger readers who don't know her or understand why she holds a special place in longtime fans' hearts. We see her boundless energy, her passion for the corps, her early training at home and her personality during her first encounter with -- who else -- Kilowog. And did I mention I am now in love with Mike Mayhew's pencils and Andy Troy's colors?

Another plus is, given the amount of death and personal connections in these stories, you can be sure they will be pertinent to that little zombie tale we're all reading.

Heck, maybe this book is worth four bucks?

This week's comic book expectations

2009-07-29T01:18:00.002-05:00

I had a conversation today with the girlfriend about how I could actually see myself souring on comic books in the relative near future. The details are not important, I'm sure on a boring rainy day I can fully explain my position in this space. But, I'll tell you two reasons right now. For one, the numbers 3.99 are certainly involved. The name Joe Quesada is also in that mix.

I'm harsh on Joey Q sometimes, it's true. So before I say what I'm about to, I'll preface it by saying I believe Marvel's head honcho is THE SMARTEST man in comics. The man sees where to make a buck and buys a house there.

But, I'm simply not interested in anything Marvel is doing anymore. Inside the stories, it's all just become too convoluted and political with stories like "Dark Reign," and outside the stories, the refusal to actually fully develop a good storyline instead of hastily moving on to the next big event has made me realize nothing Marvel does anymore will hold any weight.

Why do I bring this up now? Because, after looking at this week's offerings, I realized that I will not be buying ANY Marvel books this week. It's a bit of a sobering thought for a man who owns a reproduction of nearly every issue of both "Uncanny X-Men" and "Fantastic Four." Check out the full list of releases at THIS LINK.

So what does Marvel have this week, anyway? Well, eight of their 19 new books are "Dark Reign"-related. You heard me, eight. Exactly zero of them seem worth reading. Among the worst of the drivel is Dark Reign: The Goblin Legacy, which is simply a modern reproduction of Norman Osborne's 1966 unmasking, and Dark X-Men: The Beginning #2, which is a collection of three back-up stories focused on individual members of the ever-so interesting Dark X-Men.

Please folks, Marvel has made it abundantly clear that sales = quality in their eyes. Start voting with your wallets and say no to this "Dark Reign" junk, not to mention other horrible material out this week like Ultimatum #5 and Marvel Zombies 4 #4.

Meanwhile, this won't be DC's strongest week either, but there are a few books out to keep fans happy. Justice Society of America #29 gets my nod as the most anticipated book out this week, marking the debut of new co-writers Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges of "Fables" and "Jack of Fables" fame. The pair have a lot to live up to as departing writer Geoff Johns' stellar work took the JSA back to the bigtime for the first time in decades, and the biggest question I have is whether or not Willingham and Sturges will be able to write each character as we've come to know and love them. Remember, Johns not only created many of these characters, but he also redefined most of the old guard for a new generation. For all intents and purposes, Johns' voice is all we've known of many of these guys. I am just hopeful this first arc will be able to adequately explain why we're getting this team split for the launch of "JSA All-Stars" (see previous post for more).

I am also looking forward to Len Wein's Justice League of America #35, which is to feature new Batman Dick Grayson's first appearance in the book. Of course, Dick has just been announced as one of the new members of the team when James Robinson takes over the franchise, so it will be interesting to see how he comes into the fold and how he interacts with the team, especially given their relative weak state at the moment.

Other DC books to keep on the radar include Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #3 and Superman #690.

Later folks, I'm off to Xbox land to tee off some more Tiger Woods golf on the new "Predator" course. More on that to come.

DC's Comic Con News

2009-07-25T15:18:00.003-05:00

Obviously, my responsibilities here (not to mention my budget) at the Journal are keeping me from attending San Diego Comic Con. Thanks to the magic of the Interwebs, though, we're all able to follow along from the comfort of our own homes (or, office, as my case is).

Three major DC Universe revelations have already been unveiled, two of which just happened today in the past hour or so.

1) JSA All-Stars.

In response to the problem of too many good characters in the Justice Society, new writers Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges have opted to split the team in half with most of the older heroes in the "Justice Society of America" book and most of the younger characters, including Magog and Power Girl, in "JSA All-Stars."

As any regular reader of this space will tell you, the JSA has always been one of my favorite teams to read, and in recent years my favorite book period. So, the idea of twice as much JSA each month is obviously appealing. And I do trust Willingham and Sturges to know what they're doing and where they're directing this franchise. Still, I have two thoughts...

The JSA's real problems over the years has been finding enough new, fresh villains and obstacles to overcome and finding enough time to provide each character with good individual moments. It would seem then, that the way to fix this problem while still doubling the JSA each month, would be to relaunch a "JSA: Classified"-type book of singular character stories, only this time the book would be consistently handled by Sturges and Willingham, not a rotating carousel of B-list talent. Splitting the enormous team into two squads is only going to double the number of good threats needed without giving individual characters that much more spotlight.

Also, though, isn't the idea behind the JSA, since David Goyer and James Robinson relaunched the team a decade ago, older heroes helping team younger heroes how to go about becoming better heroes? Isn't the father-knows-best aspect of Jay Garrick and Alan Scott in relation to Jakeem Thunder and Maxine Hunkel what makes this team unique? Without that constant youth vs. experience interaction, are we just going to be left with one generic team of older heroes and one generic team of younger heroes?

Still, I'll trust Willingham and Sturges on this one that they know what they're doing.

2) James Robinson's new Justice League.

In the image above, you will see three of the characters James Robinson said will join his Justice League when he takes over the team's flagship title, while most of the characters will remain a mystery for now. In case you don't recognize the faces, we're talking about a Justice League featuring Mon-El, Donna Troy, Dick Grayson and Hal Jordan (Congorilla was not shown in the image but he will, unfortunately, be on the team as well).

I've got to say, I haven't been this excited about the team since Brad Meltzer left "Justice League" two and a half years ago. I also don't think I have ever been this excited about a solicited Justice League roster (since I was a little too you to know what a solicitation was when "Justice League International" hit the stands). I've never been one that has needed DC's "Big Three" in every book — in fact, I'm a little sick of just how important we're constantly told they are. So, I'm a fan of unorthodox JLA rosters, as long as the character interactions seem promising (Dwayne McDuffie's Vixen, Dr. Light, Firestorm roster would not be what I consider interesting!). I cannot wait to see how grown up Dick and grown up Donna help Hal lead this team.

3) Sterling Gates' Kid Flash.

Quietly today at the "DCU Live" panel, Geoff Johns announced "Supergirl" writer Sterling Gates will be writing a "Kid Flash" ongoing, which will be working in concert with Johns' own "Flash" ongoing, as Johns builds his huge "Flash" storyline just like he did with "Green Lantern" and "Sinestro Corps"/"Blackest Night."

There are absolutely no details about this "Kid Flash" series yet. As I said, the announcement was quiet. Still, I can guarantee right now, with 100% certainty, that if you are going to read "Flash," you're also going to want to be reading "Kid Flash."

For one, Bart Allen is a FANTASTIC character, someone with a personality that can easily carry his own book. For two, Sterling Gates has done some strong work on "Supergirl," a series which was an absolute train wreck for years before his arrival. For three, if this book is being billed as the equivalent companion piece that "Green Lantern Corps" is, you can be sure that Johns is going to help provide Gates' books with more than enough story points that spill over from one book to the other, just as Johns and Peter Tomasi do for the Ringslingers of OA.

Regardless of what we learn the rest of the weekend, these three revelations have made me one happy DCU fan.

Legion of Three Worlds' ending

2009-07-23T13:57:00.003-05:00

I wanted to wait a bit before discussing the ending to Geoff Johns' "Legion of Three Worlds." But then I took a look at some message boards out there and realized the cat is definitely out of the bag.

So, here's your spoiler warning...

The fight is resolved, in as I said last night a very deus ex way, by tricking Superboy Prime into sending himself back to Earth-Prime, which Brainiac-5 (the classic B-5) deduced was back in existence due to the Threeboot Legion's Element Lad's ability to create Kryptonite that could hurt SB-Prime. SB-Prime then returns to his home where his parents and girlfriend Lori have been reading about his dirty deeds in the comic books their universe gets, and he promptly retires to his basement as a pariah to read comics and post his thoughts on messageboards.

Now, I've read messageboards regarding this ending and have found there are two groups of you out there: Those who dislike the ending and those who love the ending, claiming the only way to dislike the ending is if you take personal offense as a fanboy to SB-Prime's portrayal as a fanboy.

Clearly, this is not true, as people have all sorts of reasons for not liking an ending. So before you write off these opinions as just another fanboy, take a moment to listen to these two reasons I am disappointed in Johns' conclusion.

1) While I don't take exception with SB-Prime's character as a fanboy by any means, his actions in the final pages of this book turned him into a truly one-trick pony in my eyes. I've been one of those over the last few years defending the character because, frankly, I appreciate a good headcase. With the exception of a few horrible appearances in "Countdown," Johns has been taking great care to present SB-Prime in a manner befitting of his character.

I mean, the poor kid saw all of his dreams come true and his world erased in the blink of an eye. I could buy his growth toward resentment, especially given Alexander Luthor's voice in his head. I could buy that resentment and desperation for home turning into hatred for the world's heroes, and I could even buy the idea that he truly believed killing all of this goodness in the world would, in his mind, lead to his finding a way home...

But he's finally home now. And when he saw the horror on his girlfriend's face and the fear coming from his parents, I wanted to see that character arc paid off. I wanted to see SB-Prime have a moment of clarity in which all of his evil deeds suddenly become real and come crashing down on to his shoulders. I wanted to see him instantly have the irresistible urge to repent, as his parents' eyes serve as the mirror he never had to look at himself in before.

It would have all accomplished the original goal Superman set forth in the series — to redeem SB-Prime.

Instead, Johns took that golden opportunity and used it for a two-dimensional jab at fanboy nation. For however true his jab is, it still will have forever cheapened SB-Prime's character and ruined what could have been the perfect ending.

2) I'm not so fond of Earth-Prime in the first place. I was alright with it as a dead idea, and alright with it as the origin story for SB-Prime, but I don't want to see it back in existence, namely because the thought of a New-Earth/Earth-Prime crossover is cringe-worthy.

I'm also not the biggest fan of over-meta textual stories. They have their place, and used sparingly they can be a very effective story-telling tool. Heck, I'll read anything with Deadpool in it, and "Animal Man" was obviously a classic. But I fear the headaches that could result from an entire story of series that takes place on Earth-Prime, where meta could happen every other panel. And frankly, since not only SB-Prime but also Threeboot Legion are to be in Earth-Prime now, it seems that story is only a matter of time.

Overall, this has been one strong series and it's only made me itch for an ongoing Legion monthly that much more. But Johns could certainly have handled SB-Prime's conclusion better.

Buy Pile Report

2009-07-23T00:20:00.003-05:00

For any of you fellow old-school comic fans wondering why big event tie-ins just don't work like they used to, you're apparently not going to be disappointed with Geoff Johns' "Blackest Night." In recent years, big events have had one of two problems: 1) The event's main book is almost worthless without tie-ins to fill in the meat of the story or 2) The tie-ins are worthless filler themselves.

Enter Green Lantern #44, the first true tie-in for "Blackest Night." (Sure, the "Tales of the Corps." series is already out, but that's less tie-in than it is a collection of backstories.) This issue picks up with Hal Jordan and Barry Allen right where Johns left off in "Blackest Night #1," alone in a graveyard and confronted by J'onn J'onzz. The story then strives to achieve just two goals -- detail the fight between the three friends and dive into some detailed character work -- all while neatly wrapping up at the end of the fight so as to pick up easily in "Blackest Night #2" next month. There is very little "Blackest Night" critical information shared in these pages, and at the same time, no reader can deny the quality of the book or it's worth as a tie-in. In structure alone, Johns should be applauded.

But, as I said, there is a detailed storyline here to go with all of that structurally-perfect writing, and most of it should make any DC-junkie want to cheer. There are just so many moments here that Johns pulls off. Barry and Hal discussing how Clark Kent pulls off his secret identity, which, of course, leads into a discussion of how Lois Lane could fall for such a geek. J'onn saying "I'm as powerful as Superman. Why does everyone forget that?" And did I mention the fight itself is pretty darned well orchestrated? After watching how Johns utilized J'onn's many powers, I am wondering who this character has been so under-used over the years.

For those of you keeping score, here is what we did learn in the grand scheme of "Blackest Night:" 1) The black goo associated with the Black Lanterns and Scar coagulates like blood (and again, kudos to Johns for having Barry, of all people, to be the one that uncovers this). 2) BL J'onn seemed to try to elicit specific emotions from his prey, presumably to make their hearts more ripe to excavate. 3) Scar says he and the BLs are trying to bring order to the universe -- the original goal of the Guardians in the first place.

This is a must-read comic as far as I am concerned, but not necessarily necessary if you are looking to read "Blackest Night" and still save money. That's the beauty of it.

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2 was far from the same beauty, especially with that $3.99 price tag. Here, we get two very generic stories about two lanterns (Bleez of the Red Lanterns and Blume of the Orange Lanterns) sandwiching a tale featuring Carol Ferris. Of the three, Ferris' story is the only one which comes close to carrying its weight, as we are essentially given a quick flashback of her life, detailing all the many times she has been willing to sacrifice her own happiness for others. Predictably, it all leads to her becoming a Star Sapphire, in fact one which has the potential to become one of their best, but the interesting part is seeing that she is doing so almost souly to help keep Hal Jordan safe. The whole tale was satisfying in the least.

Not to make this an all-Johns Buy Pile Report, but I would be remiss if I did not mention Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #5, finally the conclusion of the Legion vs. Superboy Prime tale. Frankly, though, while I enjoyed the series up until this point, I think all the delays really took a toll on my reading this final part. I'll likely need to go back and re-read the whole set before I can truly judge this conclusion, because I found myself just trudging through this issue awaiting its climax. Unfortunately, there is a whole lot of Deus Ex going on with the conclusion, and even more of Johns just trying to be cute. While I won't ruin anything in specific, I will say the conclusion bothered me enough that I'm going to have to make a post on its own once I give you all a little more of a chance to read it for yourselves.

That's it for now, though. I am off to bed. Or, maybe to watch "Watchmen" again. Could go either way.

This week's comic expectations

2009-07-21T15:59:00.006-05:00

It's a big week for comic books. For one, "Watchmen" is out today, and there's a copy at Wal-Mart in Fishkill just sitting on the shelf waiting for me to pick it up when I get out of the office tonight. For two, obviously, San Diego Comic Con is this week.

Unfortunately, the slate of new comics on the shelves Wednesday is slightly underwhelming. There are several exceptions though... Check out the full list at THIS LINK.

The biggest book of the week is, almost unarguably, is Geoff Johns' Green Lantern #44, the first official "Blackest Night" tie-in for the Emerald Army's flagship book. This issues mixes the old with the new, and both storylines are guaranteed gold. First, if you've read "Blackest Night #1" (and if not, why the heck not?!?), you know a certain Red-Planet Black Lantern just tracked down Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. We'll see the continuation of that skirmish in these pages. Second, if you're a regular reader of the GL books (and if not, why the heck not?!?), you know Sinestro is pretty peeved that Mongol went and took over his spot as Sinestro Corps leader. We'll see the beginning of that skirmish in these pages. Need I say more?

A second "Blackest Night" book, Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2, is less of a sure-fire hit. Last week's first issue, featuring three vignettes on different ring-slingers across the spectrum, was a mixed bag. The story on Saint Walker was great. The tale from Mongol's youth was anything but. And the Indigo Tribe's debut story was just plain intriguing. This week we'll get three more stories. While it's unknown which stories will be told this week and which in issue #3, among the remaining storylines solicited by DC are a spotlight on Carol Ferris and an origin tale for Kilowog, both of which should interest any Corps fan.

Another Johns book certain to draw interest is Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #5. Yes, after a year of waiting, we finally have a full five issues of this story which was dubiously and only tacitly linked with last year's big DC event. Just to remind you all, since it's been two months since issue #4, the Three Legion of Superheroes teams, along with Superman, Superboy and Kid Flash, are still fighting Superboy Prime and Time Trapper's Evil legion ... and oh, by the way, Time Trapper was just revealed to be Superboy Prime all grown up.

Unfortunately, the impact and value of this truly well-done series will be lost forever given all the delays, but two key points will still need to be resolved here: 1) Will Superman succeed in his original plan of "redeeming" Superboy Prime in this series? 2) How will the end of this story filter into next month's "Adventure Comics #1"? Really, this second point had suddenly become just as important as anything else regarding this series, given the vague nature of the Legion of Superheroes' co-features in "Adventure Comics," and even the vague link upcoming between the Legion and Connor Kent.

Also of note from DC this week is a double dose of girl power (ugh, I cannot believe I just used that cliche), Supergirl #43 and Power Girl #3.

The biggest book of the week from Marvel is X-Force #17. Yes, that includes Amazing Spider-man #600 and Incredible Hulk #600. I've gone into great detail on how irrelevant I feel Marvel has made "ASM" ... and "Incredible Hulk" is just plain horrible. This week's "X-Force" is the first since the conclusion of "Messiah War," and if you remember back to before Cyclops sent Wolverine and company into the future, the Leper Queen was in the process of offing several of X-Force's friends. Here, we'll get to see who lives and who dies and just how pissed our merry murderous mutants are at Cyclops for sending them on their trip.

Unfortunately, there isn't too much else from Marvel to speak of. Invincible Iron Man #14 kicks off the second half of the "World's Most Wanted" storyline, but is a story centered around Tony being too sick to handle his duties as Iron Man compelling in the least after all these times it's happened? Guardians of the Galaxy #16 is another loose tie-in with "War of Kings," and Avengers: The Initiative #26 is the first featuring Camp Hammond's new role as "reforming" villains. That's about it.

This week's video game releases

2009-07-19T19:57:00.001-05:00

Click HERE for a list of this week's (or do I mean WEAK) video game releases. All you really need to know is this week on Xbox Live " 'Splosion Man" is out.

Boosh.

Buy Pile Report: Cap

2009-07-15T23:32:00.002-05:00

OK, so this week's Buy Pile Report is kind of odd, I admit it. For all the good good "Blackest Night" stuff, check out the previous post. There isn't much else to really bring attention to, with one main exception.

So, to sum things up quickly, Dark Avengers #7 was the third part of the "Utopia" crossover, with very little story advancement except for some painful times for Hank McCoy, Action Comics #879 continued to inch the story along, with yet another issue packed with fighting, and JSA vs. Kobra #2 featured more of the Justice Society chasing its own tail (although I have to say, I am really liking the potential of this six-part mini).

The only non-"Blackest Night" book this week that really deserves much coverage is Captain America #601 -- and that's NOT a good thing. I had hoped that, since "Captain America Reborn" was going to last a few months, we would get one or two more good story arcs featuring Captain Bucky before Steve Rogers returned to the scene and took back his series. What I read in this book dashed those hopes faster than you can say Pietro Maximoff.

I should have known immediately what kind of trouble I was in for when I read the disclaimer of "This story takes place during Civil War and before Captain America #25." Still, I was hoping Ed Brubaker had chosen to hold this hidden story for the right time, for right after we learn more about how Cap was, in fact, still alive. I was hoping this story was all part of Brubaker's master plan.

Not so.

Instead, what we got was a flashback story of Bucky telling Nick Fury about a time when he and Cap had to stop an outbreak of Vampires -- yes, Vampires -- in Nazi Germany. Apparently "Twilight" fever really has hit everywhere. The moral to this whole story was that killing a child Vampire scarred Bucky.

What was truly ridiculous (you know, other than the storyline) was that this issue, which began as a flashback to "Civil War," flashed back to World War II, and then flashed back within that flashback when Steve told a story. Three layers of flashbacks to tell a Vampire story!!!

So, apparently us readers are going to have to put up with crap like this until "Captain America Reborn" is finished. As if it wasn't bad enough that Marvel seems to be snatching Captain Bucky away from us before his prime, Marvel is now going to forcefeed crappy flashback comics on us until Steve Rogers is star-spangled again.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Ugh.

'Blackest Night' is here!

2009-07-15T14:44:00.003-05:00

So, I'm back from the beautifully gorgeous U.S. Virgin Islands just in time for what I've been really looking forward to this summer — "Blackest Night!" Screw vacation, give me zombies any day of the week!

I'll get to more of an explanation for where I've been and why I abandoned you for so long, but for now I just got finished reading the first three parts of "Blackest Night" (including last week's Green Lantern #43, which I only just saw today, but not including the Free Comic Book Day issue), so we're all about zombies in this post.

Amazingly, when I start to think about this event's debut issues, I think less about action (though there was a good deal of it) and more about what we learned. First and foremost, Blackest Night #1 not only taught us the general demeanor of the zombie lanterns, but also the identities of many.

And yes, there are spoilers coming, so please put on your spoiler earmuffs if you don't want to learn a thing or two...

One of the most interesting parts of these issues is hearing (or reading, as the case may be) the Black Lanterns (or BLs from now on) speak. Not once did we get a zombie yelling "BRAINS!" Instead, we found out that these BLs have carried over their personalities from their previous, more warm-blooded lives. On the one hand, it was pretty creepy watching Ralph and Sue Dibney interact with each other and act with the same attitude they've always had, and yet, they were bashing their friend's head in. On the other hand, was there any real difference between how they acted here and just another "hero falls under evil mind control" storyline? I suppose the main difference is the emotional weight. This is definitely a "wait and see" sticking point for me.

This also begs the question of why their personality would carry over, and yet the BLs are still looking to kill their best friends. But, I trust we'll get a good answer to that question soon enough.

Writer Geoff Johns (I cannot believe I got so far into this post without mentioning his name) also gave us a quick example of the strange rhythm we are to expect in this event — Heroes fight BLs; BLs kill heroes; Heroes receive BL rings. It will just be interesting to see just how many of our beloved heroes become zombified before the tide turns to the side of good.

On a related note, I really enjoyed the splash page showing all of the newly-minted BLs on OA, each one a character we watched die during the past two very bloody years of "Green Lantern" comics. Nothing like a giant "War of Light" to provide zombie fodder.

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1 also taught us a good deal, with three standalone stories, the first of which was a fantastic Johns-penned origin story of Saint Walker, worth the price of admission on its own. The second story? Not so much. Watching Mongol run around killing things as a young boy is not my idea of necessary, and really the only thing I was left wondering was just how much of a role does Mongol play in this storyline with Sinestro looking to take back leadership of his Corps. Maybe he becomes a BL himself?

The third story, though, is where the intrigue begins — a story introducing the Indigo Tribe. We get to watch the compassionate bunch in action for the first time. The only problem is, Johns intentionally keeps us all pretty much in the dark by making their language indecipherable and failing to narrate anything. So we're left with Rags Morales' art to show us that the Indigo Tribes' staffs seem to inhale the light of other lanterns and then use that power against them. As far as compassion goes, we watch the Indigo leader put a Green Lantern out of his critically-injured misery by suffocating him, and scare a Yellow Lantern away instead of pursue him for nearly murdering a GL. Interesting stuff.

Finally (actually it was chronologically first), Green Lantern #43 gave us a whole lot more information on one of our story's main antagonists, Black Hand. However, I don't know what you all thought of this issue last week (I was without Internet for seven days, so checking reviews on an issue was not first on my to-do list), but this origin story fell a little flat to me. Don't get me wrong, aspects of the story were downright awesome, like the fact that BH's original costume was made from a body bag and that Johns insinuates BH's first kiss was with a corpse. It was the crescendo that falls flat for me. The best Johns could think of was BH killing his family? That's sort of played-out as far as villain origin stories go.

And, unfortunately, for as much as I enjoyed all of the information Johns dropped on us this week, the first issue of "Blackest Night" fell a bit flat for me too — and probably because my expectations were so high.

See? I bet you thought a formal review wasn't on its way!

The main device Johns uses to bring us readers into the story — a day in which all of the heroes across the planet are gathering to honor their fallen — felt a bit too close to the debut of "Flash: Rebirth," in which Johns began the story gathering heroes into parties everywhere to celebrate Barry Allen. I don't know if we was looking for that symmetry or not, but it came off as unoriginal to me, not clever.

Further, I could not help but compare this first issue to the feeling I remember while reading "Sinestro Corps War #1," which left my jaw on the floor with amazement and possibilities. Here, it was impossible for Johns to floor us with his ideas because all he really did was run through a list of every dead character over the last 20 years, and insinuated that all would be back as BLs. Well ... we've been compiling that same list for the last two years since "Blackest Night" was officially announced, so this issue felt more like a formality instead of a revelation. Learning about Black Lantern Ralph Dibney did not have the saw shock as Yellow Lantern Superboy Prime.

That said, this series definitely leaves the reader with the feeling that the action will be cranked up to 11 in a very short time, so it still managed to hit its goal of getting this reader anxious for more. I just can't wait to see what happens when BL Ted Kord and BL Maxwell Lord team up!

Housekeeping: This week's games and comics

2009-07-04T19:55:00.003-05:00

Hey kids, I'm hoping to get on here one more time before taking my vacation with a review of the game I've spent my nights playing lately, "Prototype," but just in case I have no more time to spend with you all for a little while, I figured you would need next week's news.

First off, your link for this week's new video games is HERE. Not much to speak of here, other than "The Bigs 2."

Second, your link to this week's new comic releases is HERE. Books to be excited about include "Green Lantern #43" (The direct prologue to "Blackest Night"!) and "Wednesday Comics #1" (if only for curiosity's sake).

So yeah, either you'll be hearing about "Prototype" on Sunday or after a week of my vacation. I would tell you where I am heading, but I just know you all would try and follow. Frankly, a guy can only sign so many autographs. And only be so delusional.

Early thoughts on 'Worms Armageddon 2'

2009-07-01T14:32:00.003-05:00

If you're a loyal reader of this space, then you likely know of my decade-long love of the "Worms" series, namely of the two-dimensional variety.

You likely also know that I've been counting down the days until today for a few weeks, the day "Worms Armageddon 2" hit Xbox Live — a game which not only promised to bring the game back to its glory days but also fix the bugs from the first "Worms" on Xbox Live.

And though I only had a couple of hours to play this sequel before coming into the office, I'm actually already ready to FAIL this game.

Yes, it's given me a pain in my stomach just to admit the sad truth, but the fact is, not too much is improved whatsoever from the first edition of "Worms" on Xbox Live, unless I am somehow missing something big. And keep in mind, this is not a review, just my early impressions.

Let's go over the additions, shall we?

* There is the capacity for all your favorite old weapons, like the concrete donkey and armageddon. However, many you have to earn before you can use and there appears to be NO WAY to change the pre-game settings to different weapon-sets or crate rates.

* You can now rack up points by playing the game, and these points can buy the aforementioned weapons or maps or gravestones.

* You can play Forts!

* Maps are now very vertical, probably twice as tall as they were formally, which likely will help me out if ever I can find a way to play with my beloved MAD COWS.

However, those vertical maps lead me to the biggest flaw in "Worms Armageddon 2," which was also the biggest flaw in the first Xbox Live "Worms" — Ninja Rope is darned near impossible to use skillfully. Again, maybe I just need to spend more time getting a feel for it, but I just don't feel like the controller offers nearly as much delicate feel as a keyboard does. And since the maps are so vertical, roping is that much more important.

Believe it or not, also, on top of decreased mobility with rope, the game also has decreased mobility with — GULP — jumping! Yes, due to the fact that jumping forward is one press of the "X" button and back-flipping is two presses of the "X" button, I found myself committing suicide many times simply because of the game's poor recognition of my commands.

Another major problem I have with this new game which was also formerly present is the fact that you can only have four worms on a team! What's the problem with eight on eight? Is the Xbox Live capabilities really that much weaker than computer games from 10 years ago?

And finally, there is NO WORMNET. I'm looking for a lobby for joining games. I'm looking to be able to host games and set my own game settings. I'm looking for big six-player brawls.

There just isn't enough here that improves upon the Horrible first effort for "Worms" on Xbox Live.

I'm going to play this a little more and hope that it grows on me, if only for pure love for the series, but it looks to me like tonight I start counting my lucky stars that "Worms Armageddon 2" is also slated for a PC release in the coming months.

Late thoughts on Steve Rogers' return

2009-06-24T15:03:00.003-05:00

I know I'm a week and a half late, but I told you I would weigh in on "Captain America #600" and the return of Steve Rogers, so here I am.

I have two very different thoughts regarding this issue:

1) It's just too early to bring Steve Rogers back from the dead. Whether Marvel predicted it or not, Bucky Barnes has turned into a dynamite character, and a very different but almost equal Captain America as Steve Rogers was. That's not to say Steve shouldn't reclaim his mantle down the line, but for now, Bucky is just finding his footing. Unfortunately, that footing is still very closely tied into Steve's shadow. To suddenly bring Steve back into the fold is going to stop Bucky from blossoming into his own man and his own character. Given another six months to a year, after we get a few Bucky-as-Cap stories, then the character would be more ready to move onto his own Solo title, or, better yet, a title co-starring with Black Widow.

But the problem runs deeper than simply my affection for Bucky's very human Captain America — Marvel is too darned ADD for my taste lately. Ever since Wanda Maximoff went insane, Marvel has been burning through ideas like dry wood in a wildfire without ever giving us time to breathe and actually live in the new status quo these events produce. This is just another example of this. We're set up with a new direction, a new idea, a new world to live in — and yes, the sales numbers are there — and yet Marvel would rather jam another "This Changes Everything!" event down or throats than actually letting an event run its course. And guess what? Word is, "Captain America: Reborn" is going to serve as the beginning of the end of "Dark Reign," another event Marvel is looking to completely do away with way too quickly.

2) As a newspaper man, I am disgusted with Joe Quesada's use of the mainstream media and disgusted with some of my colleagues for not seeing him for the used car salesman he is. When Peter Parker unmasked, Joey Q just had to make it the biggest thing in the world, even though he was already planning "One More Day," which Quesada once again went to the media and convinced the big city papers to give a damn. I'm sure when Peter and Mary Jane are back together again, we'll read about it in the Daily News before Wednesday arrives.

With Cap, Steve Rogers died, but Ed Brubaker was always saying his death was part of a bigger story. Heck, Quesada himself just said Rogers was actually supposed to come back sooner. So why was the horn blowing so loudly to get CNN involved back then? And why did we need another news flash when Rogers came back last week, when it was so obvious that he always was going to be back?

And for God's sake fellow newspaper people — At least this time around, how in the world could you treat Steve Rogers' resurrection as actual news?!? It was only three years ago that Rogers "died" — can't you see yet that all this is just slimy money-hungry publicity whoring?

I don't even want to picture what the comic-reading world would have been like if Marvel was always so eager for mainstream attention. A four-page spread in the New York Times when Jean Grey died? A series of features in the fashion section when Spider-man put on the Black Suit? Black is very slimming, after all.

These are comic books, people! There will be deaths, there will be resurrections, NONE OF IT IS NEWS! It's times like these that I applaud Dan Didio for his handling of Bruce Wayne's "death."

Oh well, it could be worse. We could have President Obama show up to be saved by Spider-man again and get another nine printings of the issue.

Two Reviews

2009-06-24T14:54:00.002-05:00

Remember when I told you I wasn't blogging because I was finishing up playing two games for reviews that week? Well, they both ran in the Journal this week. Here are the links:

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

EA Active: Personal Trainer

This week's comic book expectations

2009-06-16T21:56:00.004-05:00

Hey! Long time no see. I know, I know, I have a a habit of falling off the face of the Earth, but this time I have a good excuse! I've been working on reviewing a couple of new games, both of which I hope to have the reviews of for you all to read this week.

I'll give you a hint ... I just chipped out of the rough 24 yards away for a birdie... and boy are my arms tired...

Anyway, before I disappear again, I'll take a look at this week's comic books. And no, I have no ignored Cap's return on Monday, I'll have a LOT to say about that in this week's Buy Pile Report. HERE'S the full list of this week's offerings.

Now, you all know about Captain America #600, right? Good, we'll cover that in a day or two.

Past that, though, there isn't all that much out there worth heading to the shop for, especially in Marvel's case.

As you can see, there are more than enough books under the "Dark Reign" banner (Dark Reign Fantastic Four #4 of 5, Dark Reign Hawkeye #3 of 5, Dark Reign Mister Negative, #1 of 3, Dark Reign Young Avengers #2 of 5), but I am hoping you all realize by now that these ancillary titles are even more irrelevant than those "World War Hulk" ones were.

Personally, I am excited for Cable #15, the penultimate chapter of the "Messiah War" crossover with "X-Force." We haven't seen nearly as many twists in the story so far, but the biggest one is happening in this issue, the emergence of Apocalypse to throw a monkey wrench into everyone's plans. And despite advance solicitations spoiling certain things (though I won't spoil it for you), I'm still pretty clueless as to where this story will end and where Cable's new direction will lead. All in all, add near-zombie Deadpool into the mix and you have strong chances for a good read.

Finally from Marvel, and for those who follow the Ultimate Universe (are there any of you left anymore?), Ultimatum Spider-Man Requiem #1 of 2 will put a cap on the first chapter of Ultimate Spider-man's existence. I would say his life, but then that's in question, isn't it? These "Requiem" titles will supposedly serve dual purposes of recapping the first nearly decade of Ultimate comics and give a glimpse of what's to come. The only real question is, after Marvel went and rebooted the universe like this (similar to the regular Spidey reboot in "One More Day"), will anyone really care about the Ultimate universe ever again?

Also worth noting from Marvel is a "War of Kings" tie-in (War of Kings: Ascension #3 of 4), a new Thor mini (Thor: The Trial of Thor #1), and a new direction for a strong X-Men series in X-Men: Legacy #225.

From DC we have a couple of strong choices from the Super family of books, the first being Action Comics Annual #12 (but first in a while), which promises to tell the secret origin of how Nightwing and Flamebird -ahem- hooked up. It's a story we Super fans have been waiting a while before, as it will hopefully reveal both how the chief security officer for Kandor decided to kidnap General Zod's son, and how Chris Kent is aging faster than Dwayne Wade.

Also, in Supergirl #42, we deal with a little bit of the fallout from the surprisingly strong "Who is Superwoman?" storyline. Kara Zor-El has really matured in the hands of writer Sterling Gates, so I am eager to see how he handles her emotional side here, both in having to break the news of Lois' sister's death and in how she handles things talking with her wacky but lovable mother.

Finally, this week sees the debut of yet another new Batman book, Batman: Streets of Gotham #1. Veteran Bat-writer Paul Dini is handling this book, which will be focused on the Gotham P.D. and more of the ground-level aspects of the Bat-verse. Remember, the last time DC tried this we got a fantastic series from Greg Rucka called "Gotham Central." Will Dini be able to work the same magic here?

That's about it for me, back to the coal mines... er... video games. I know, woe is me.

Today Only — $50 Price Cut on 80-gig PS3!

2009-06-11T13:23:00.003-05:00

Check out THIS LINK to Amazon for your chance — one day only, until Sony drops the price itself — to buy an 80-gig PS3 for only $349.99.

I just want to see the numbers on how many took advantage of this deal when the day is done. I've been as vocal a critic of the PS3 as you can find, and yet, following Sony's great showing at E3 last week, even I'm thinking this is one deal to jump on.

Need more proof? CLICK THIS LINK for a look at the best PS3 Exclusives due out in the next calendar year.

Reflections on "Ninja Blade"

2009-06-10T14:26:00.005-05:00

FromSoftware's X-Box exclusive "Ninja Blade" has been out for a while, so even though I just got around to playing it and beating it a few days ago, I'm going to skip the full review. Instead, I'm just going to throw some fairly unorganized thoughts at you.

First off, I'm sure what most of you want to hear from guys like me is a final grade. "Ninja Blade" is very middle of the road. It's not bad per se, just struggling from an identity crisis. I want to call it a hack-and-slash, but there are far too few villains to really fit it into that category. It's not an RPG, either, but there is a storyline (told through cinematics in-between levels) and you do get to choose which of your weapons to spend points on for upgrades. There are very slight platforming elements, like the eventual wall to run across or a bar to swing on, and it is also fairly linear.

The best game to compare "Ninja Blade" to would be "God of War," mainly due to a mix of action and Quick-Time Events. The only problem is, to call "Ninja Blade" a poor man's "God of War" would be giving "Ninja Blade" too much credit.

That said, all of these elements combine to make "Ninja Blade" very middle of the road. It's certainly not a bad gaming experience, but it's neither difficult nor memorable. It's also not very long at all (I took my time and still clocked in at only 8 hours), so it's definitely a rental not a purchase at a $59.99 retail price.

And speaking of middle of the road, the story line. To make a short story shorter, At some point before 2015 (when the game takes place), evil sentient worms began invading people's and animals' bodies, taking them over and turning them grotesque. Your job, as Ken Ogawa (not to be confused with failed New York Yankee Kei Igawa), who has magically worm-resistant blood, is to kill every last worm in Tokyo before world leaders just nuke the area. What results is essentially a game of running around killing zombies and monsters that look like animals.

There are nine levels total, but the last two are one giant ongoing boss battle against — you guessed it — Ken's Dad, who let himself get taken over by worms in order to turn Ken into the cold killer he would need to be. It would be heart-wrenching if it made any sense, or if the game showed any emotional attachment between the two characters before turning Daddy evil.

Each of the first seven levels follow a similar pattern: Kill zombies — often from a vehicle, mini-boss, kill zombies, mini-boss, kill zombies, main boss. And in each of those boss battles there are two or three Quick Time Events, which are, believe it or not, the game's biggest downfall. For one, there's just too darn many of them, including a lengthy one for delivering the final blow to each boss. For two, there's no consequence for getting the buttons wrong, other than rewinding and starting again. Sure, most of the time it's easy enough to get it right the first try, but all you really have to do is remember your mistakes and get it right the second time around. There's no threat of physical pain or reviving the boss if you fail. Consequently, boss battles (which really only require you to take your biggest sword and hack away in the first place) have no rhythm and slow the game down.

By the way, there are spoilers ahead, so be warned...

Really, there is only one difficult fight in the whole game, which encompasses all of the eighth mission, facing the still-human form of your father. The final battle — mission nine — is again fighting your father, only this time he's not your father. You see, all of the worms decided the best course of action would be to gather together in one place and condense themselves into one giant monster, and they decided to take the form of Ken's Daddy.

So yes, this game featuring body-snatching, zombiefying worms ends with a giant monster destroying Tokyo. No word on whether Daddy became Facebook friends with Godzilla.

So, if you really love games mixing action and QTEs, or if you really love killing zombies, then "Ninja Blade" is a game for you to fill up an afternoon or two. Otherwise, stick to "Rampage" for your giant monster quota this week.

This week's comic book expectations

2009-06-10T02:04:00.002-05:00

Sorry folk, it's been a long day and at 3 a.m. it's got to end soon. So I won't be able to tell you what the best of THIS FULL LIST of comic book releases is, like Red Robin #1, Flash: Rebirth #3, or X-Men Forever #1.

I'll make it up to you with detailed thoughts on the game I just finished -- "Ninja Blade" -- as soon as I wake up.

This week's video game releases

2009-06-07T19:41:00.001-05:00

"Prototype." "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10." "Grand Slam Tennis." Heckofa week coming up!

Check out the full release list at THIS LINK.

NO Online Support for "New Super Mario Bros. Wii"

2009-06-04T16:31:00.003-05:00

Check out THIS LINK to Kotaku for the most depressing news of the week — "New Super Mario Bros. Wii," a game which I was just as excited about as any at E3 — will NOT support Online play.

Keep in mind, this side-scrolling Mario game focuses on a mix of teamwork and competition. Four players can be on the screen for each level, and you both need each other to achieve certain tasks but are in competition with each other to get the most points.

This co-op heavy game will not have online support. Meaning, you're actually going to have to be in the same room with three other friends everything you want to get the most out of this game.

Speaking as someone who has a full-time job and gamerfriends who live as far as an hour and 45 minutes away, this is some horrible news.

E3: Sony press conference

2009-06-02T12:48:00.073-05:00

Welcome back to ... well ... for an explanation of why I'm not in Los Angeles, scroll down, I'm tired of explaining it. The point is, I'm at home watching from G4's glorious commercial-free coverage, providing you whatever updates you need.

G4 just shifted its coverage from Nintendo's event (again, scroll down) to Sony's, and this time we have a pair of top-flight hosts, Kevin Perreira and Adam Sessler. The big expected story here is "God of War III," which our hosts are discussing now, but the big question is what will Sony unveil? Microsoft had "Project Natal," and Nintendo didn't have much more than a couple of games and a heart monitor. So what does Sony have in store? A new PSP?

Steve Wiebe, by the way, tapped out at 923,400 points, over 120,000 shy of Billy Mitchell's record. His second attempt has still yet to start.

1:57 p.m.: We're still 24 minutes away from the start of Sony's show, so hit tight. Of course you know the drill by now, we're watching G4 recap Sony's past 12 months. At least this year we don't have to see more previews of "Home."

2:00: The first mention of the rumored "PSP: Go," Which will apparently NOT include a disc drive. Rather, the system is rumored to download the games straight to the system. Stay tuned...

Wiebe just died after only 13,000 points, so he's intentionally killing off the rest of his men. That's just good strategy.

2:09: Sony's press conference starting, early.

The company opens with a montage of game clips, none of which seem to be anything newer than "Infamous."

OK, I was wrong, there are definitely a lot of games to be seen here, including the new DC Universe MMO, which I'm now hopeful to see more of.

2:14: Jack Tretton takes the stage. I think he's the least likable of all the presenters, even less than Cabbie this morning. But that's just me.

2:16: Uh-oh, Jack is promoting Sony as the "only player with three successful consoles at once." You're still promoting the PS2? Really?

2:17: Jack runs off a list of six big games coming out, only two being exclusives.

2:18: Jack opens with ... the PS2. Yes, the PS2. Sony really knows how to open big.

"We're committed to this system as long as people see value in it."

Jack says PS2 will feature 100 new titles this year and a load of screen shots hit the screen behind him ... TWO of which were "Lego Batman."

2:20: We're just hearing lots of corporate numbers. Remember last year when Sackboy and "LittleBigPlanet" so skillfully showed off the Sony graphs? Not the case this year, boys.

2:21: The first game mentioned? "Infamous" ... which is already out.

2:22: "Unchartered 2: Among Thieves" hits the screens. Here's a good PS3 exclusive, 20 minutes into the show.

The beta of multiplayer is available midnight tonight.

A hands-on demo of the upcoming game begins, and we find our hero Drake in what appears to be South America, running around rooftops. Pretty stuff. Much nicer than the latest "Tomb Raider" games.

The demo also shows off the game's third-person shooter aspects, as Drake and friend comes under Helicopter fire. Again, just real pretty and smooth gameplay.

2:28: "MAG," a 256-possible-player game which debuted a year ago at E3, finally has in-game footage for us to see, footage that includes, year, 256 players at once.

The game's graphics are probably either on-par or a half-step down from the "Halo 3" level. And yes, there is a heck of a lot of action going on at once. This is a game that could absolutely make the PSN.

Wiebe just lost his first man just shy of 160,000 points.

Back to "M.A.G.," we're getting a good view of what air-strikes and helicopters look like as our player tries to secure areas of the map. What I do wonder about this game is, what if one or two of the 256 lag?

2:35: Kaz Hirai takes the stage. Now this is a likable guy.

We're talking changes to the PSP... Yes, the new PSP is officially introduced, the "PSP: Go"

Over 50% smaller and 40% lighter, offering 16 gigs of memory to store games, movies and photos. It also has a memory stick port.

"Media Go" is a new application replacing the media manager, and you use it to access the PS Store.

Kaz makes it clear physical games will still be sold as they are only looking to make an alternative to the PSP, not a replacement. It will be available for $250 on October first. A little pricey for a re-hashed system in my opinion.

2:42: Kaz moves on to the video delivery service. It will now be available on the PSP, which just about kills the UMD market.

2:44: "Gran Turismo" for the PSP is announced. It's creator is showing the game is running flawlessly on the PSP Go. Nice little bit of tying things together by Sony.

After a load of gabbing, we have a trailer for the game, which looks beautiful for a PSP game.

2:51: Wiebe just lost his second man, again on the board with the patrolling fireballs.

2:52: Hideo Kojima takes the stage to talk "Metal Gear Solid."

"Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker" is announced, and it will include Solid Snake, 10 years after "MGS 3," in the 1970s. It is the "true sequel to the 'Metal Gear Solid' franchise."

Hideo brought a trailer to show... a decent looking game with lots of stealth elements evident as Snake tries to - it seems - free Costa Rica. There are also several scenes with four Solid Snakes at once...

3:00: Hey! Jack's back. Still waiting for any true big news, though, mostly because the PSP Go wasn't that much of a secret.

Jack is showing us a montage of PSP's upcoming games, most of which were already announced, like "LittleBigPlanet."

3:05: More numbers on why the PSNetwork is so awesome. Only, it isn't. Heck, it's free and Xbox Live stil kicks its butt.

3:07: A video showing "Home." There I was hoping we'd finally get an E3 without it.

At least Steve Wiebe is still keeping me entertained, he's over 451,000 after two deaths.

3:09: Another video, this time showing a montage of upcoming games for PS3. Doesn't Sony realize these videos don't really show us anything?

3:15: A new PS3 exclusive Rockstar Games title called "Agent." But no footage or images are shown.

3:16: Ubisoft takes the stage to showoff "Assassin's Creed 2." The footage Ubisoft showed last night was absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully we get different stuff here.

Last night we essentially saw a trailer, this time we're watching gameplay. However, it looks a whole lot like the first game, just in the Renassiance.

Apparently DiVinci specially makes you weapons and vehicles! Your hero, Eizio, can glide using a Divinci device. Man oh Man.

This game will have more assassination techniques than last time, very good news since last time the game was fantastic but it got old.

Apparently the AI can search bails of hay now also. Wow.

I'm officially PUMPED for this sequel. The game is out this holiday season.

3:23: A video from "Final Fantasy XIII."

3:26: Jack announces "Final Fantasy IV," an online title exclusively for PS3. Crazy. I thought he was kidding at first.

3:29: Jack mentions motion-controlled gaming... and a couple of very nervous guys take the stage to show a prototype for a new controller which looks like a motorized lollipop...

I wonder if this guy is so nervous because of "Project Natal?"

The PSEye picks up the sensor on the controller, and yes, the movements show up one-to-one on screen.

The technology is certainly better than the Wiimote. Still, yesterday's Microsoft product looks like the far and away better idea.

Using the controller, we're now back to painting, much more precisely than "Natal" could. And no more elephant people, I assure you.

And while I would give Microsoft the edge overall, this Sony technology could possibly be better for hardcore games, since those precision controllers could have buttons on them as well. Using "yourself" as the controller means certainly no buttons.

Now we're being shown how, using two controllers, we can fight on screen. Pretty cool.

3:40: Wiebe is out after 683,700 points.

3:41: Jack promotes Sony's motion control for the spring of 2010.

3:42: "ModNation Racers," a PS3-exclusive "Play, Create, Share" game is announced.

Apparently you will be able to make your own racers and your own cart-style cars for this game. The graphics are pretty nice, with a somewhat cartoon-style. And yes, just like other cart racing games, you can pickup weapons.

The racing doesn't look all that tight, though. And that's the main necessity in a racing game.

Now we're being shown that you can BUILD your own TRACKS. Can you imagine a "Mario Kart" game with that?

And you know what else, I sincerely doubt the Xbox 360 can so quickly and beautifully make tracks like these.

The game control still doesn't look very tight, though. Tempers my enthusiasm a bit.

No release date mentioned.

3:52: A sneak peek at "The Last Guardian," another PS3 exclusive.

Microsoft may still have out-shined Sony due to the motion-sensitive market, but this has been a really good Sony showing.

3:57: A look at "Gran Turismo 5"

3:59: Finally, "God of War III." Sony is about to show the first few minutes in a live demo.

4:07: Jack's wrapping up a pretty darned great presentation.

I'll be back with more soon. If any of you have been reading these live blogs, thanks for reading, it's been fun!

E3: Nintendo press conference

2009-06-02T09:54:00.068-05:00

Welcome back to E3, where we're getting set for Nintendo's press conference ... from the comfort of my home. Yes, just as I said yesterday, I'm not in Los Angeles where the action is. But, thanks to the magic of G4, I will be watching the press events live all day, and bringing them to you on this blog.

And after yesterday's bombshells, namely Microsoft's "Project Natal," the question today is whether Nintendo or Sony has anything up their sleeves to steal the show. Frankly, I'm shocked one company was able to keep the "Project Natal" technology under wraps before E3, so I doubt anyone else was developing something similar, but we'll see.

11 a.m.: And early on us TV viewers are already disappointed -- our hosts for the Nintendo event are Chris Hardwick, Blair Herter and that G4TV.com editor guy. Who needs any of these guys?

Speaking of which, what was up with Ubisoft last night hiring that guy from "The Soup" to be their host? The guy's not funny. And besides that, he spent the whole show distancing himself from us geeks by making it painfully obvious he didn't know what people on stage were talking about.

11:05: Steve Wiebe and WalterDay live from the G4 Studios! I just re-watching "The King of Kong" last night in preparation for today. Am I the only one hopeful for Steve? The man is sitting down at the machine... as G4 cuts away.

11:06: G4 takes a look at Nintendo's 2008-09 since last E3. Here's it in a nutshell: Lots of people are still buying Wiis. Lots of people are still buying DS. Lots of people inexplicablly bought the DSi. And because so many people own these systems, they're selling lots of games. Done!

11:09: Our hosts point out the obvious -- Last year Nintendo's big announcement was "Wii MotionPlus" ... and we're still waiting for it!

11:13: A demo of "DJ Hero" as we wait for Nintendo to step on stage. That's got to be the goofiest looking peripheral ever made.

11:18: Meanwhile, I am having a heck of a time trying to find where to watch Wiebe's streaming world record attempt online.

11:19: Nevermind, found it. They (finally) put a link on the main home page. Thank God, this "DJ Hero" stuff is putting me to sleep.

Wiebe is already over 100,000, by the way.

11:25: You know, watching Walter Day right now, and after watching his initial comments on Billy's importance to Twin Galaxies in the movie, I wonder how much of Walter's enthusiasm right now is genuine hope for Steve and how much of it is just him being backing the popular horse?

Still waiting for Nintendo to get going.

11:36: Meanwhile, Wiebe is incredible. He's like a machine. I never thought I would be so enthralled watching, essentially, the same levels over and over. The man's about to go over 200,000.

And on the big screen (my TV not computer), we're getting a hands on preview of "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories." Speaking of which, "Alan Wake" really looked awesome yesterday, huh?

11:46: Wieve just lost his first man after 257,000 points, victim of a bunch of fireballs holding him up too long.

Noon: I get the feeling G4 was not ready for Nintendo to take SOOOOO long to get going. For the last 20 minutes all we've talked about is how bad last year is and how we need some core-gamer games this year. We get it, change the record.

I would have fallen back to sleep if not for Wiebe's streaming game. He's over 366,000 right now after dying twice.

12:04: Finally, we're starting. Nintendo opens with another of those Godawful "look how happy all these people are while using our equipment" montages that filled last year's show.

Cabbie Dunaway opens the show. Remember her? The very soccer-mom looking woman that dominated last year's show with Reggie Fils-Aime taking a backseat? Well, it seems Nintendo is pandering to the soccer mom's again, at least to open.

12:07: Cabbie is saying Nintendo will be delivering tons of innovation today. More than Microsoft?

12:08: It's a Super Mario montage. How exciting.

12:09: "New Super Mario Bros." For Wii!

A-side-scrolling game in which you pay with friends on screen as a team. You can pickup and carry other players and throw them. As people die, they come back as you go, and there is a running number of lives for each player. You can play by yourself with drones. Plus, there are all new suits to help you explore.

As a retro-gaming lover, this is my bag. The graphics look a whole lot like "New Super Mario Bros." for DS.

That is the way to start off hot. Worldwide launch THIS Holiday season!

12:15: "WiiFit plus" ... which, right now just looks like it has more exercises and 15 new mini games. This doesn't exactly measure up to last night's Ubisoft "Your Shape," if that game's Webcam works properly. Still, the new mini games might make this more of a gamer-friendly title.

it will arrive this fall, as both a bundle and a separate game.

12:18: Hey, another "look how happy all these people are while using our equipment" montage!

12:19: Reggie!

12:21: "The Next advance in game control" is ...... "Wii MotionPlus." Umm... someone call Microsoft and ask them if that's true...

How pissed do you think Nintendo was yesterday, anyway?

And hey! It's another montage! This one shows people doing active things, only instead of shooting a bow or hitting a ball with a ping-pong paddle, they're using "Wii MotionPlus." Did they use the same one last year?

12:24: "WiiSports Resort" makes its return to E3, as our Miis go SkyDiving.

We also take a look at Archery and three-point shooting (which I've never been sooo nuts about basketball games on Wii)... both look like they work pretty well, though.

It launches on July 26. Even though EA will have the technology packaged together with games in a week.

12:33: "Red Steel 2" will be playable only with Wii MotionPlus ... which is good since the first one failed so hard.

12:34: A trailer is shown (Nintendo does that?) for "Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers." Reggie also shows an all-new trailer for DS's "Kingdom Hearts" game, out soon, "Kingdom Hearts: 358/2"

12:36: "Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story" is shown, in which the plumbers are ingested by the big man for a very "Inner-space" adventure.

Game is out this fall.

12:37: "Golden Sun DS" brings the old RPG franchise back. All-in-all these three RPGs should at least satiate hand-held RPG fans.

12:40: Cabbie is promoting "James Patterson's Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion" for DS. Soccer moms.

We're still waiting for more big news to pair with "New Super Mario Bros." and make this a successful presser, if you lost count.

12:41: "C.O.P.: The Recruit" is an open-world "gritty" game for the DS. Looks a whole lot like another "GTA" clone to me.

Wiebe is over 660,000 with no men to spare.

12:43: "Style Savvy" in which you run your own boutique on the DS. I know I'll be accessorizing at launch date!

I am hoping all this DS shovelware is just to throw us off the scent of the second huge Wii announcement still to come...

12:44: A DSi montage, showing what regular gamers on the street think! Surprise, surprise, they all love all the features!

12:47: "Flipnote Studio" DS animation game available this summer.

12:47: "Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again" is back, this time with the ability to create your own levels. Not too shabby. Available as a download for DSi through the online store on MONDAY.

12:49: "WarioWare DiY" for DS allows you to create "Microgames" and share them online.

12:50: Cabbie tells us you can upload DSi photos to Facebook this summer. I'm so sick of that site.

She sure is moving at a fast pace. Not really saying much, but moving fast.

12:51: "Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks" is mentioned. She says "Seeing is believing" ... Then they don't show off a new trailer or gameplay!!!

Instead, you guessed it, ANOTHER MONTAGE! What the hell Cabbie?

12:52: Satoru Iwata takes the stage. I love that guy. He should be in movies.

12:54: Iwata's long-winded introduction has my attention shifted back to Steve Wiebe, who is over 750,000.

1 p.m.: Iwata is finally getting somewhere... the "Wii Vitality Sensor."

The Wii can now take your pulse through a device you put on your finger. Yeah, this blows "Project Natal" away.

Iwata just said it's not long until there is a game to help us fall asleep. He just did that in the last 10 minutes. Man.

1:03: Cabbie's back and she's talking more Mario... ANOTHER 3D Mario Coming to Wii! And this time you can ride Yoshii!

A trailer is being shown for what seems to be "Super Mario Galaxy 2." We can only hope Wart is involved somehow.

Yup, that's the title. BANG.

1:05: Reggie seems to be wrapping things up... but its only been an hour...

Instead, Reggie is about to promote third-party games...

1:06: A trailer for Sega's "The Conduit." Looks like a fun little FPS, especially if it uses "MotionPlus."

1:07: A trailer for Capcom's "Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles."

1:08: "Dead Space Extraction" debuts a trailer. The game promises to give some answers "Exclusively on the Wii."

1:11: Nintendo is teaming with Team Ninja for a gorgeous looking new Wii game by the name of "Metroid: Other M." It will be out in 2010... which means either Holiday 2010 or pushed back to 2011, knowing Nintendo.

1:13: Reggie and company are all finished.

I've got to say, despite a couple of big games, that presentation was still a fail. "Metroid" is still a ways away, and so much time was spent on Wii MotionPlus, meaning that presentation came down to the two Mario games. I expected much more from Nintendo after such a lackluster 2008. Oh Well.

Meanwhile, Wiebe is up and over 910,000, the last 500,000 or so without dying. Check out the stream on G4TV.com if you haven't already, because the man is getting close. I'll be back here in a bit with the Sony press conference.

E3: Microsoft press conference

2009-06-01T11:46:00.097-05:00

Welcome to the 2009 edition of the Gaming Geek's Microsoft E3 live blog. I'm coming to you live from ... well, live from my bedroom, since I have too many responsibilities in the Pojo Sports Department to fly off to Los Angeles. So yes, these live updates will be based off G4's live coverage of the press events.

There are upsides to having to watch the action on TV though. For one, I'm watching a great French Open match between Jelena Jankovic and some unknown teenager named Cirstea right now waiting for 1 p.m. ... it's not exactly a consolation for missing the trip to LA, but I can lie to myself, right?

Anyway, for all of you unable to get to LA and unable to get to a TV to watch G4, let me be your eyes and ears for the next couple of hours. As soon as G4's coverage of Microsoft's press event begins at 1 p.m., start clicking that refresh button for running updates.

1 p.m.: Kevin Perreira, Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler welcome us to the coverage... and Kevin is wearing a jacket with sleeves far too short for his arms ... Cirsta just went up 6-5 on Jankovic in the third set, by the way.

1:03 p.m.: G4 just showed a graphic with a countdown to the start of Microsoft's presentation ... 21 minutes away. Guess we have a little more waiting to do than anticipated.

1:05 p.m.: The first mention of what is rumored to be Microsoft's biggest announcement of the day -- the possibility of an Xbox motion controller. Meanwhile, lots of filler material from G4.

1:10 p.m.: During a big boring look back at the growing "Halo" vs. "Gears of War" rivalry, G4 shows a graphic letting us know Steve Wiebe's "Donkey Kong" world record attempt will begin at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. It'll be streamed live online and parts will be shown on TV.

1:15 p.m.: I have to say, from a journalistic standpoint, G4 has done a very nice job using this filler time to cover all the bases a complete newbie would need to know before watching the coming press conference ... then I remember no COMPLETE noobs would feel the need to watch this press conference, so this is just a giant waste of time to discuss how Xbox Live is popular. On with the presser already!

1:18 p.m.: As we continue to wait, Cirstea is ahead now 8-7 in the third set. Maybe it would have been more interesting to have live blogged on that match?

By the way, am I the only one who questions why G4 has an HD channel when it never uses HD cameras?

1:20 p.m.: Apparently Morgan Webb loves the Xbox Live avatars. Had to be someone out there that does.

1:22 p.m.: Cirstea just fired a forehand into the net ... oh, yeah, it's a commercial break. Meanwhile, as deuce, down 8-7 in the third set, Jankovic is starting to act injured. Biggest whiner in tennis.

1:26 p.m.: Finally, the lights come down and the curtain comes up.

1:27: Microsoft begins it's event with a look at "Rock Band: Beatles." Opening with a multi-platform game? Really?

It does look gorgeous, though.

1:29: An explanation of who the Beatles are. Really guys? What the hell?

1:31: A "live performance" of "Day-Tripper." And they're not even showing screens from the game. I'm close to flipping back to Tennis. Anyone have any rotten vegetables to throw?

1:34: More Beatles, this time showing in-game footage and some of the songs that will be available. Again boys, this is multi-platform. Show us something from MICROSOFT!

1:35: Apparently I missed the ending of the Jankovic/Cirstea match. Yes, I flipped back, this is ridiculous that Microsoft is spending so much of its hour and a half on "Rock Band: Beatles."

1:38 We're thanking people important to the making of the game. Yes, we're still on this crap.

1:39: Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison were just brought on stage. I think Microsoft missed the Yoko portion of the Beatles history when recapping earlier.

1:40: Wow -- I don't think I stand corrected, but RINGO STARR and PAUL McCARTNEY just took the stage. They say they love the game, thank the fans and make an exit. McCartney: "Thanks for having us on your game show."

As impressive as that was, was it all really necessary? Maybe I'm just in a bad mood today.

1:42: After 15 minutes, Microsoft's VP takes the stage to talk about - GASP - Microsoft!

1:43: Biggest news of the day -- Microsoft is showing NO GRAPHS during their presentation! When will G4 go to commercial?

1:44: TONY HAWK on stage to unveil a SKATEBOARD CONTROLLER for the new game "Tony Hawk: Ride." And yes, it is motion sensing.

1:45: A trailer for the game ... "If you have an interest in skateboarding but didn't want to put yourself in a position to get injured, here's your chance."

1:47: The trailer includes a look at people using the Skateboard Controller, and yes, it looks like it works. It also looks like a Wii Balance Board with curves.

1:48: A trailer for "Modern Warefare 2," followed by an on-stage demo. The section they're showing actually has some of the best looking arctic scenery I've seen in an action game.

On-stage demos of a First-person shooter are pretty boring when there are No Enemies for miles. Find someone to shoot already!

Finally, we're shooting people. And "Modern Warefare 2" is really a pretty game. The smoke from things on fire looks fantastic. Smoke is one aspect of scenery in shooters that is rarely utilized well.

1:57: Creators of "Final Fantasy XIII" take the stage. Remember a year ago when this game stole the show at the last minute?

One of them has a controller in his hand...

Yes, an on-stage demo of the battle mechanics. Pretty pretty turn-based fighting with active-time gauges. .... And we also get to see what a summons looks like, showing off Odin... and from the looks of it, the summon mechanics are much like "Final Fantasy X," with the summoned Odin taking the place of the heroes in battle.

Spring 2010 release announced. So long to wait...

2:02: From this moment on, everything shown is Xbox 360 Exclusive. This is what I'm talking about.

2:03: Cliffy B comes on stage to announce an Xbox Live exclusive from Epic Games.

The game is "Shadow Complex," a gorgeous side-scrolling action platformer, a 10-hour long campaing with tons of fighting and shooting.

The game will be out this summer, and it looks like "Metroid" fans will wet their pants over it.

2:06: "Joy Ride" is announced, an XBox Live kart racing game using your avatars.

FREE TO DOWNLOAD this winter, with additional cars and tracks to buy.

2:08: A trailer for "Crackdown 2."

2:09: Apparently we're in a string of trailers. Next up is "Left 4 Dead 2," coming in November.

2:10: Next up is "Splinter Cell: Conviction." Bam, Bam, Bam. The string ends with an on-stage demo.

Are you starting to get the picture here, Microsoft has got a LOT of big games coming out in the next year, and they want us to know it.

The demo includes an ability called the "Mark and execute," which seems like as soon as you mark a guy, Sam Fisher will shoot him in the head as soon as he has a shot ... kind of makes the game seem easy, huh? The fighting mechanics look amazingly fluid, though.

"Splinter Cell: Conviction" out this fall.

2:18: An announcement: "Forza Motorsport 3."

The game is gorgeous, and I don't just mean the scenery, the in-car graphics are pretty darn good too. Plus, apparently you can customize your own cars, allowing you to paint your own designs on the cars.

The game ships in October.

2:25: Time for one of the more awaited moments of the show, "Halo 3 ODST."

News tools include sound-suppressed weapons and light-sensitive visors.

The game will include plenty of flashbacks in which you fight as different soldiers. The idea is all these flashbacks explain exactly what happened in the city you're exploring.

September 22nd is the day the game will be available.

2:31: The premier of a "top-secret" Bungie game... "Halo Reach." A beta invitation will be included in "ODST."

2:33: On-stage demo for "Alan Wake," a mystery action game with a large super-natural aspect.

The demo looks very "Resident Evil," lots of darkness, lots of slow-moving hordes of badguys looking to maim, not shoot.

Game is out in Spring 2010, and I have to say I'm liking what I saw.

2:39: "Music is coming to Xbox Live." Last FM is joining XBox Live FOR FREE to Xbox Live Gold Members.

2:40: A Change to the Netflix service. You can now browse categories and add movies to your queue without needing a computer.

2:42: Video service is changed to "Zune Video Service." With full 1080p downloads that can be watched instantly. Launching this fall.

2:44: Watch Movies, TV and music with friends with "Live Party." ... Didn't they announce that last year and it never happened?

2:45: FACEBOOK on Xbox Live. I, personally, cannot stand "Facebook," but this is pretty big.

The interface looks like Xbox Live, not like Facebook always looks. You can also link avatars and your Xbox Live profile.

Facebook Connect will enable you to post screenshots and highlight videos from games to your Facebook.

2:48: TWITTER on Xbox Live. I, personally, cannot stand "Twitter," but this is pretty big.

BOTH coming in the Fall.

2:50: BIG News coming... Senior VP of Xbox Don Mattrick comes on the stage...

"Metal Gear Solid" franchise to XBox 360.

"Metal Gear Solid: Rising" coming to Xbox exclusively.

2:53: Mattrick is still on stage... big news coming again?

"Can we go beyond the controller? ... Can we make you the controller? We can."

OH MAN. Video games entirely controlled by your own motions. They're showing fighting games, racing games and even games in which you act like a monster.

You can supposedly "scan" in your own things like Skateboards and use them in games.

This looks like the most unbelievable technology this side of fizzy lifting drinks.

"Project Natal." ... Can I be the first naysayer who says this won't work properly for years?

"We can leap into a new era of interactive entertainment without having to launch a new console."

Stephen Spielberg takes the stage to support the project.

Again, to be the first naysayer ... Do we really want this?

3:03: An early demo of "Project Natal."

The Xbox recognizes who he is and signs him in automatically.

A demo of a game called "Richocet" in which you hit balls by moving ANY part of your body and move around in 3-D space.

These people are moving constantly. There is pretty incredible. Remember all those people claiming Wii is great for fitness? This looks like it actually is.

Another demo called "Paint Party" in which you paint with hand motions. The painting is pretty sloppy and unrefined. Still pretty cool.

Back a few years at the National Basketball Hall of Fame, I played a motion sensing game in which you could play one-on-one with legendary players. This looks like a much more refined version of that.

3:11: Peter Molineuyx on stage to talk "Project Natal."

Uh-oh. Peter is drinking the Kool-Aid, calling the controller a barrier. Tell me Peter isn't making the next "Fable" use this system.

Peter made a little boy you can interact with on screen.

Isn't this how the Terminators were created? Someone call John Connor.

3:18: We're starting to wrap things up, I think. But man oh man oh man oh man. In limited doses, "Project Natal" could be the biggest and best thing in gaming since the side-scroller.

Yup, we're all finished here.

Let it be known, I made the Terminator joke before Kevin just made it on screen. Anyway, I will be back a little later with more, for now, I need a break.

McDuffie off "Justice League"

2009-05-29T11:21:00.003-05:00

Dwayne McDuffie has done some tremendous superhero work in the past, for which all of us geeks should be thankful.

His run on "Justice League of America," however, has been pretty atrocious, for a number of reasons. And while one of those reasons was an abundance of editorial-mandated crossovers slowing his ability to tell a story, that doesn't temper my enthusiasm at all today at this news:

Dwayne McDuffie has been removed as writer of "Justice League of America."

(And the peasants rejoiced)

Check out the full story, with his explanation, at THIS LINK to Newsarama.

Now all I need is for Marvel to remove Matt Fraction and Warren Ellis from its top X-Men books and I can stop crying myself to sleep.

Oh, and DC, if I can make a suggestion? Two words: Keith Giffen.

This week's comic book expectations

2009-05-28T01:31:00.002-05:00

Plenty to like this week, from a new "Green Lantern" to much more "Dark Reign." Check out the full list at THIS LINK.

However, it's late and I'm cranky. I have been all day, can't figure it out. I figure, a good night's sleep will cure my crankiness and fulfill my quota for cliches. So, we're going to do this up lightning round style.

Avengers: The Initiative #24: "Dark Reign" continues wreaking havoc on our Marvel heroes, as the Shadow Initiative is left on its own to fight off some gruesome baddies this week.

Green Lantern #41: Do I really need to sell this one to you? More on the history of the Vega system, more on Hal's Blue predicament and more from our new favorite bad guy, Larfleeze.

Guardians of the Galaxy #14: More "War of Kings" fighting, and after the throwdown we saw in the last issue of "War of Kings" proper, I'm hoping for much more on Guardian's change of heart.

Incredible Hercules #129: Hercules and Amadeus Cho head into hell. Need I repeat myself? If there's one thing you can give this series, it's originality.

Justice League of America #33: Honestly, I don't know if this book can get any worse, but we can always hope this story featuring Starbreaker sucking the life out of Doctor Light might somehow be stomachable.

Justice Society of America #27: The first issue without Geoff Johns in years, but not yet the start of a new era. Jerry Ordway will be filling in on this issue and the next before Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges kick off their run. This story will feature one of the more neglected characters of late, Obsidian.

New Avengers #53: Yes, it's been a few months, and yet the New Avengers are still searching for a new Sorcerer Supreme. Why do I feel like this is going to be anticlimactic?

Superman #688: Here's hoping James Robinson's run picks up a little speed, and judging by the solicitation, it could. Mon-El losing his powers? The Science Police helping out the Legion of Superheroes? Sounds promising.

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #6: Not a hoax! Not a dream! Not an illusion! This issue actually exists! How many years has this mini been in the works?

Wonder Woman #32: Just two issues left in the "Rise of the Olympian" arc, and something tells me this story will change things for Princess Diana in a big way.

X-Force #15: "Messiah War" rolls on as Cable and company are in deep trouble. Stryfe is about to learn exactly why Hope (who thinks Stryfe is Cable himself) is so special, Bishop is about to go nuclear, and Archangel is never in good shape when Apocalypse is around. I'm looking for a big twist in this issue.

X-Men: Legacy #224: The final issue of the current "Salvage" arc also looks to be the final issue of Mike Carey's current direction on the book. Look for the whole Professor X chapter to close here and an all-new team to emerge at the end of this one.

Blackest Night Detective: GL #6-9

2009-05-26T19:10:00.002-05:00

No, you didn't miss any installments of this series, with no detectable clues in the first few issues of the proper "Green Lantern" series, I decided not to include another post until I had found something to report.

Well, finally in the sixth issue (and final issue of Geoff Johns' first arc) we got something. By the way, CLICK HERE for the last installment, which continued looking at "Green Lantern Corps.: Recharge."

Green Lantern #6 -- It's often the case with long story arcs (and yes, despite current story conventions, I still say a non-event six-issue arc is long), the last issue will include plenty of foreshadowing. In this particular case, Black Hand makes an appearance to spout off a bunch of clues. Here's one, Black Hand to Hal Jordan: "You think you're strong. But death is stronger. It is the pure power of the far end of the emotional spectrum. The emptiness of space. The Blackest Night." If you picked up on the fact that the emotional spectrum would spawn other corps, clues from past issues, then this sentence would state the existence of the Black Lanterns, clear as day.

Later, Black Hand does some more talking: "Death has power... It's the true color of the Universe. The most wonderful color. It's M-M-My Color."

There also may have been a clue as to what will happen in "Blackest Night," unless I am forgetting a storyline I should remember. Hector Hammond is talking a little gibberish at one point here and says, "Jordan ... the time ... do you remember ... the renegade Guardian ... andddd Carol ... Carol Ferris ... Pretty little girlll ..." The only renegade Guardian I can remember is Scar, unless Hector speaks of the Zamarons. So could Hector have been seeing the future?

Green Lantern #7 -- This issue features a couple of our keywords, both in reference to Mongol (currently the acting leader of the Sinestro Corps.).

First, Mongol's sister: "He hopes to take Earth for himself. Hope is his weakness." Could the Blue Lanterns be taking the big guy down soon?

Then, Hal: "I can't let him terrorize anyone else. I can't let his name become something people fear." Clear foreshadowing that the big yellow softie would weld the yellow light.

Green Lantern #8 -- Under the influence of the Black Mercies, we get a look at Hal's would-be perfect life. Of the most interest to me? Sinestro was not only still a Green Lantern, not only still Hal's better, but he was also Hal's friend. In recent issues we've seen Hal commit to giving Sinestro a death sentence, but we see the true desire of his heart here: Hal Jordan wants to have Sinestro back on the side of good, and with the Black Lanterns' reign on the horizon, you can bet we're going to see Hal and Sinestro get that chance to team up again.

Green Lantern #9 -- At the end of this issue, Hal gives his ring to Batman and explains how he would need to embrace his pain and fear in order to use the ring to its fullest. And yes, Bruce shows he has the ability to "overcome great fear," generating an image of his parents ... but he also said he doesn't want to put his pain behind him, as he gives Hal back the ring. So what does this mean for us? Well, IF Bruce takes part in "Blackest Night," then we know he could hypothetically use a green ring. But, we also know the sight and thought of his dead parents overcomes his willpower, which would be a problem if Thomas and Martha show up all zombiefied.

Either way, that does it for me today. Remember new comics are out on THURSDAY this week due to the holiday.

This week's video game releases

2009-05-24T19:33:00.001-05:00

We're settling into that nice spring one-big-game-per-week sort of routine. This week it's "Infamous" (for you PS3 owners). Check out the full list of releases HERE.

"Tiger Woods 10" Xbox 360 Demo

2009-05-23T20:16:00.005-05:00

I got a chance to play the demo for "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" for a good hour this afternoon, and it's definitely worth a check.

If you've played either of the last two versions of the game, you will be able to be a pro at this one right away. While the demo includes two holes from Bethpage Black and Turnberry (one stereotypical U.S. Open-type course and one stereotypical European links-style course, respectively) to give you a taste of the different terrains and physics you will encounter, most of this new version of "Tiger Woods" feels exactly the same as the last two.

Needless to say, I (and I'm sure most of you will be able to) can birdie each hole consistently already. And I am hoping, hoping HOPING that's because this demo was intentionally set on a low difficulty level, because I was mis-hitting my driver often and long irons occasionally, and yet the ball didn't go too far from its intended destination. But, as I said, I really doubt this could be as difficult a level as EA is offering.

The only real change in the on-the-course gameplay is a new putting meter which shows you exactly when you have to stop your putter to make the ball reach your target in perfectly flat conditions. At first I was very distracted by this, but after a few holes I realized this doesn't change the fact that you still have to set your own target and do your own accounting for elevation and green conditions, it only shows you exactly when you have to stop your putter, which is helpful.

However, I cannot help but feel like this feature is cheating, just as I feel the ability to see the optimum putting line is cheating. If you need to hit three-quarters of a nine iron, the game doesn't tell you where you have to stop your club. So why should the game be able to show us where to stop our putter for that? It just feels cheap to me, but I guess I'll just have to get used to the new generation of "Tiger Woods" golf.

The other thing this demo shows off is a bit of the new "Tournament Feel." While you're playing, you'll receive text updates on screen when someone close to the top of the leaderboard scores high or low on a hole. I have a feeling it's really going to add to the off-line portion of the game, giving tournaments a much more competitive feel with less isolation.

Overall, as I am every year, I'm excited for the new "Tiger Woods." I just wish we didn't have to wait another three weeks for the full version, since I am itching to get back on the links now!

Buy Pile Report

2009-05-21T01:26:00.002-05:00

And so, the Cape and Cowl have been passed on and we are ... underwhelmed. Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3 highlights this week's books, if only for it's status, because as I said, the book is underwhelming. While I'm not looking to spoil anything for anybody, I'll just say that there was no twists on the consensus predicted new Batman, the consensus predicted new Robin and the likely identity of Red Robin.

But that's not the underwhelming part. While I appreciate a good story twist as much as the next guy, in cases such as these, replacing an iconic hero, the right choice should be valued over the surprising one. If you remember back a couple of years, it was the same path we walked with Ed Brubaker while anointing Bucky Barnes the new Captain America. The underwhelming part was ultimately the execution. The first issue basically restated all we already knew. The second issue was a huge fight between Tim Drake and Jason Todd, while Dick hemmed and hawed. The third issue? You got it, a huge fight between Dick and Jason. Add in some looks at the effect Black Mask was having on Gotham's stability (or lack thereof) and you have yourself a full mini-series.

Only it left me feeling like the whole thing could have been done much more organically, and I think that is because of Brubaker's aforementioned tale. While Brubaker slowly moved Bucky through a series of events explaining to us exactly why Bucky was the perfect choice to carry on Steve Rogers' legacy (and along the way explained it to us), it seemed DC simply could not wait to put someone into Batman's shoes.

Overall, between the main "Battle for the Cowl" mini and the one shots, there were about 10 issues of space with which Dick Grayson could have grown into his new responsibility. Instead, Dick rejects the Cowl in one issue, then watches Tim Drake take on the responsibility and it suddenly clicks that he needs to take on the job. Not exactly a heartfelt journey 'ole Dick took us on, huh? And while this certainly hasn't been a horrible three-issue mini -- we've seen some nice fighting, after all -- it all just felt like one big extended foregone conclusion. I bet DC could have just skipped this whole "Battle for the Cowl" and just opened a new chapter in the Batman legacy with a quick "six weeks later" tag in front of Dick Grayson's first issue as Batman. But wait, that would have cost DC those big event-comics dollars, huh?

Speaking of Captain America -- and, for that matter, speaking of underwhelming -- Captain America #50 was Marvel's most-anticipated book of the week. It's Bucky's birthday, and as such, the new Cap is in a nostalgic mood. The only problem is, for a change, Brubaker uncovers no new information for us here. One of the things I've really appreciated over the last 10 issues or so of this series is Brubaker's ability to subtly inject thoughts and feelings into brief scenes, making the most of his space while still managing to let the story breathe. However, he re-covers all of that same ground here.

Bucky still worships how awesome Steve Rogers was? Check. The last time Bucky felt true camaraderie was in World War II? Check. Bucky still regrets his Winter Soldier days and is doing what he can to make amends? Check. Bucky has the support of good friends helping him through his guilt, even if he sometimes feels he doesn't deserve it? Check. They're all great story beats, but I was expecting much more here, not simply a book that may be looked at as a jumping on point. (Which, by the way, this was a great jumping on point for new readers).

I'm ready for the next phase of Bucky's story, and this was not it. Oh well, it could have been worse...

It could have been the next installment of the comic fading faster than Marty McFly's family: Uncanny X-Men #510! I don't know where to start here -- and I haven't looked in my archives, but I think this is very much what I had to say about last issue. The characterizations were ATROCIOUS. From Hisako suddenly being a frightened child (she did fight aliens on an unknown world, you know), to the Cuckoos looking to get into a 4-way with Josh Foley (What the hell was the point of this?!?), Matt Fraction again reflected a complete lack of understanding for who his characters are.

The storyline was not much better. Last issue, the "Sisterhood" attacked the X-Men's San Francisco home. This issue they concluded the onslaught, and we found out why at the end. Apparently, Wolverine kept a lock of Jean Grey's hair and they wanted it. You're trying to tell me all this fighting was so they could get a lock of hair? And, setting aside the fact that they could have likely snuck their way in and out of the place much easier than they did, that was the only way to get Jean's DNA? What a practice in meaningless writing.

But, nothing Fraction bumbled up was anywhere close to being as bad as the art. For one, this issue featured about 12 different women, and they ALL LOOKED THE SAME! I couldn't tell who was fighting who! For another thing, none of the action was anywhere close to being intelligible, except for when Land went way over the top with needless splash pages. If he were a better artist, maybe he wouldn't need to splash so much, huh? I can honestly say I've never been so confused while reading a comic. Between the red-lit panels and the shifts to the psychic plane with no explanation, to that part where Wolverine was fighting Psylocke, then was suddenly confronting the Red Queen, then was suddenly back to fighting Psylocke, Greg Land's art was HORRENDOUS!

Even the rare good ideas in this book -- and by my count there was exactly one -- was ruined by a lack of description. I'm willing to bet most readers missed exactly why that image was Cyclops' "hell" -- every person who was in that room died on his watch. I like the idea, but there was no explanation or bridge to or from the idea. Anyone who gives this issue anything more than a failing grade does not deserve to read comic books anymore.

Everytime I try to write about this series lately I get too mad to go on. That's it, I'm done. Wanted more? Well, blame Marvel. Boosh.

This week's comic book expectations

2009-05-19T12:02:00.003-05:00

It's a bit of a slow week with a couple of highlights, but at least we get the end of "Battle for the Cowl." Take a look at THIS LINK.

Yes, Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3 will finally reveal who takes over the mantle from Bruce Wayne... until he eventually comes back. Will it be heavily favored Dick Grayson (who seems to match perfectly the personality of the Batman we've seen in previews for "Batman and Robin")? Will it be Tim Drake (who seems to match perfectly the personality of the titular character we've seen in previews for "Red Robin")? Will it be Jason Todd (who seems pretty dead-set on becoming an official addition to Batman's rogues gallery)? Will it be Alfred (Who would need to shave his trademark mustache in order to pull off the look)? And, by the way, will Tim Drake even live through his second-issue impalement (pretty sure he will, yeah)?

Just like most of you out there, my money is on Dick taking over the family business, even if that does conflict with his previous characterization in "Prodigal." However, Dan Didio said recently he is surprised nobody has guessed the identity of the new Batman yet (and Dan ALWAYS tells the truth ... you guys get sarcasm, right?). We'll find out this week, and then hopefully also get a better understanding of who will be staring in the many new Batman-family series coming out soon.

Supergirl #41 is probably DC's second most-anticipated book of the week, concluding the "Who is Superwoman?" arc. Last issue we solved that mystery (in somewhat dubious fashion ... ready for a spoiler? .... it's Lois Lane's sister) which means now writer Sterling Gates has a lot of explaining to do, starting with how the hell Li'l Lane has all these powers.

What has been more interesting than uncovering who Superwoman is, though, has been Gates' showing us who Supergirl is. Last issue was another big leap in re-characterizing the Maid of Might. While she was still an innocent, impetuous teenager, Kara Zor-El showed intelligence, cunning and resourcefulness in battling Reactron. Hopefully Gates is able to further show us exactly what kind of hero she is in this final showdown issue.

Other top titles from DC this week include Brave and the Bold #23 (Booster Gold teaming with Magog, written by Dan Jurgens, equals a story with loads of potential), Trinity #51 (the penultimate issue of a decent and far-out series) and Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #1 (if for some Godawful reason you're actually interested in the Super Young Team).

From Marvel, we have to begin with Captain America #50. While Bucky Barnes may be getting overshadowed a bit by other individual titles and big events (Green Lantern's "Blackest Night", Superman's "New Krypton," etc.), Ed Brubaker still has big plans for the new Captain America, and he is far from done telling the story. I'm particularly hopeful for this month's story (and no, it has nothing to do with the "milestone" of a 50th issue). This issue shows us Bucky's birthday, a day that inevitably forces us all to reflect on our pasts, and if there is one thing Bucky is good at lately, it's reflecting on his past. I expect Brubaker to deliver a whopper of a character study here, tying together Bucky's time with Cap, Bucky's time as Cap and his time as Winter Soldier.

Planet Skaar Prologue #1 may also be worth a read, as it should serve as a good jumping on point for new readers to the character before Hulk's son reaches Earth. Reed Richards will serve as our proxy in this issue, as he himself has just learned the news of Hulk's progeny and his impending trip to our planet. Expect loads of backstory in a short amount of time and a bit of a lead in to what could be a good action-packed storyline.

Other top titles from Marvel this week include Fantastic Four #566 (the first part of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's final arc on the title, and their departure could not come sooner for me), Thunderbolts #132 (a new shady killer joins the Thunderbolts, always a good time!), and X-Men Forever: Alpha (Collecting X-Men #1-3 from the early 90s, and a new short story by Chris Claremont, all leading into the "X-Men Forever" series proper).

"Hidden connection" stories. Why?!?

2009-05-18T12:22:00.006-05:00

I was reading Newsarama's advance look at Marvel's August solicitations today at THIS LINK and something caught my interest -- and no, it wasn't Marvel milking yet another pseudo-milestone with "Daredevil #500."

THE MARVELS PROJECT #1 (of 8)
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils & Cover by STEVE EPTING
Variant Cover by GERALD PAREL
70th Anniversary Party Variant by PHIL JIMENEZ
The centerpiece of Marvel's 70th Anniversary celebration! Who is the mysterious old man who lies on his deathbed in a hospital in 1939, and how does his passing mark the beginning of the first heroic age of the Marvel Universe — and signal the rise of the superhumans? Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting unveil the defining story of the origin of the Marvel Universe, revealing the hidden connections that unite the earliest costumed champions, and whose reverberations are felt dramatically into the present day!

Am I the only one feeling like lately we're getting waaaay too many of these "it turns out the whole universe is connected!" stories? I'm ok with it on a limited basis, like finding out one character happened to be a part of another one character's past (the first such example is how Geoff Johns used Superman's past recently to validate Brainiac), but do we really need these big sweeping "everyone is connected!" stories?

I feel like it started with the second season of "Heroes" -- and look how well that turned out! I don't remember anyone feeling the need to make all of their main characters interconnected until Tim Kring and company decided to make every stranger who met each other in season one suddenly a long-lost cousin or test-tube relative of everyone else on the show. And frankly, I felt like in trying to do that, all realism and potential for the show's future was tossed out the window.

And yet, shortly after that, Marvel went and printed the "Ultimatum" crossover, making everyone in the Ultimate Marvel universe (which was nicely and intentionally devoid of heavy continuity), a part of each other's origins. Coincidentally (or maybe consequently) it was written by then-"Heroes" writer Jeph Loeb. The idea was a bomb, the crossover is a bomb and most of us who read multiple "Ultimate" titles up until that point are stuck wondering why Marvel would do such a thing.

But now we have this "The Marvels Project," which apparently is going to try to do it all over again, this time with the mainstream characters we know and love. What's the point? As I said back when "Ultimatum" was beginning, who is crying out for all of our characters to be connected? Does that notion really interest anybody, other than event-hungry publishers?

At it's heart, it's one big retcon, the dirty word in comicdom. Don't companies do their darnest to discourage the idea that retcons of any sort exist? So why are we getting so many of these horrible waste of time "everyone's connected!" stories?

You vote with your wallets. And companies don't seem to care about quality as much as profits. So do us all a favor and, despite the all-star creative team of Brubaker and Epting, PASS on this event.

Blackest Night Detective: GLC Recharge #4-5

2009-05-18T11:36:00.003-05:00

If you missed the last installment, it's at THIS LINK. Otherwise, let's jump right into it, because a MAJOR clue was on the very first page of "Green Lantern Corps.: Recharge #4"...

GLC: Recharge #4 -- One of the hunters: "The lanterns are doomed. Wherever they turn, only death waits for them in Vega!" This hunter could have been talking about the skirmish in Vega he was having with the Corps, or foreshadowing "Agent Orange," or foreshadowing "Blackest Night." a Three-fer!

Unfortunately, that's all there was to speak of in this issue, other than a little more Kyle Rayner/Sorenik interaction that may point to their eventual coupling.

That's right, I used the term "Coupling." Classier than "Hooking Up."

GLC: Recharge #5 -- Other than more anti-Vega talk, there was very little to speak of here ... which, I suppose, I should be happy about, since this probably means I'll be missing very few clues while not reading anymore GLC until the "Sinestro Corps. War."

However, there was one speech by Sorenik Natu that I did find interesting... "Oa and the corps are only wounded. Like you, they will heal. Maybe not in a few days, but soon the scars will fade. And then, like you, the corps will be stronger than ever." I only am intrigued by this speech because of inclusion of a key word of ours -- scars. As in, the evil Guardian who is helping bring "Blackest Night" along, Scar. The only difference is, clearly in Scar's case, those marks did not heal, helping push the little blue traitor over the edge. So I doubt this was meant to mean anything, but you never know.

This week's video game release list

2009-05-18T11:33:00.001-05:00

"Punch-Out!!" for Wii. Need I say more? OK, I do. Check out THIS LINK for the full list of what you can get your grubby little hands on this week.

Advance look at Wii MotionPlus

2009-05-16T14:07:00.001-05:00

The Associated Press gave us an advance look at Wii MotionPlus at THIS LINK.

"600th issue" milestones

2009-05-15T13:35:00.002-05:00

I don't point this out because of my reputation as a slight DC fanboy, I point it out because it was only a few weeks ago that I called out Marvel for their convenient numbering of so many #600 issues lately. THIS LINK takes you to a Newsarama interview with DC chief Dan Didio, where you will find this tidbit:

NRAMA: We’re out of questions for this time, but there was an interesting fact was pointed out in the thread, and we have to admit that we haven’t double-checked the math, so we’re not sure if this is correct or not, but according to one reader, issue #45 of the current Wonder Woman series will be the 600th issue of Wonder Woman published by DC. Anything special planned for it?

DD: Well, since it’s not the actual number of the book, and we have no plans to re-number books just for an “event,” so no, nothing at this particular time, but I do hope that the Wonder Woman story going on right now has the feeling of being worthy of such an auspicious achievement.

Blackest Night Detective: GLC Recharge #1-3; PLUS: spoilers on a yet-to-be-mentioned Black Lantern

2009-05-15T10:42:00.007-05:00

Although I don't have many of the pre-"Sinestro Corps. War" issues of "Green Lantern Corps.," what I do have I'll be re-reading for this little detective project. So without further ado, we dive into "Green Lantern Corps.: Recharge."

GLC Recharge #1 -- When Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner first go back to Oa, they meet other veteran lanterns and speak somewhat cryptically about the Vega System and the Controllers, something that would have pointed toward it's Orange Lantern involvement later on.

Wanting to leave the Corps. Soranik is told there are only three ways to leave: Failure (leaving), death or honorable death. Could Miss Soranik be dying before "Blackest Night" is said and done? How about this one -- a few panels later, Guy calls her "angry." Kyle quickly corrects him and says she is afraid, but when anger means so much to the Corps nowadays, you never know what could be a clue...

Another mention of the Vega system comes later when the Guardians mention a review of their pact grows necessary.

In the last page, Kilowog says "According to the Guardians, the whole damn universe is about to change." Now, I don't remember this story as well as I could, so maybe this makes sense in the context of the immediate story, but could this have been a mammoth clue for the future? And if so, I don't remember the Guardians ever acknowledging they knew the prophecy would come to pass, especially to a lantern. Oh well, guess I will read on and see what this line meant.

GLC Recharge #2 -- Nothing much of note here, other than another reminder that the Vega System is off-limits. Apparently it played a much bigger role in this storyline than I remember.

Also, another reminder which I know has been beaten to death already, Kyle "saw" his dead girlfriend Alex here, which, of course, makes me wonder if we'll be seeing her corpse in a matter of months.

GLC Recharge #3 -- This issue was also light on clues (as should really be expected out of the books only co-written by Geoff Johns), but we get a nice big chunk of the Vega System here. And while the hunters we meet live by a code of sharing their prey, one of the hunters -- Fatality -- uses one of our keywords often here when talking about wanting to kill Kyle Rayner herself: "MINE!" It's enough to make me wonder if Larfleeze isn't the only Orange Lantern we're going to meet.

On a side note, though, right after writing this post I spotted a preview look at the Superman titles for August on Newsarama, and at THIS LINK you will see a major "Blackest Night" spoiler...

You ready for this?

Sure you want to be spoiled?

"Black Lantern Alexander Luthor."

Buy Pile Report

2009-05-13T20:51:00.003-05:00

Well, after a week off, I am back. Did you miss me?

Don't answer that.

Anyway, I'm sure you didn't need my Tuesday night look at this week's comic book releases to know how slow a week it is, so you likely also don't need me to tell you this report will have to be brief. After all, I only picked up four issues today, and one of them was the either-you're-reading-by-now-or-you're-not "Trinity." Is that too many words to hyphenate into one sentence? Screw it, I've been off for a week, we're playing by my rules tonight.

Green Lantern Corps. #36 was without a doubt the best book of this slow week, even if a good half of it was just a couple of talking heads. Sinestro tells us all a story which will doubtlessly pay dividends once "Blackest Night" rolls around, the story of how Soranik is actually Sinestro's daughter (which, strangely, I wasn't surprised in the least to find out). And while I am looking forward to new-boyfriend Kyle Rayner's reaction to this news, the most intriguing part of this story was Sinestro's insistence that Father and Daughter would be fighting on the same side (and he said the same Corps.) very soon (presumably in "Blackest Night"), which just adds to the speculation that Sinestro will become a Green Lantern ally or a flat-out Green Lantern once again.

While the prison riot continued on Oa, we also took a trip back to Daxam, where Sodam Yat attempted to take down Mongol mano-a-mano but was denied access to the "Ion power." Which leads me to my one problem with this issue and my main problem with the Green Lantern books of late — what the heck are the rules of using these emotion-Gods like Ion and Parallax and why the heck are we bothering with them? I can only hope next's issue answers some of my questions as Sodam/Ion take on Mongol again.

Action Comics #877 was a slight step down from Greg Rucka's brilliant beginning on the book — and that doesn't even begin to worry about the fact that this issue's cover has absolutely nothing to do with the story, and I still can't make sense of what it's supposed to be. While last issue was a wall-to-wall action brawl between Thara, Chris and Chris' biological mommy, we get a lot more talking and storyline here, but not all of it is good. For one, Chris and Lois have a tearful reunion, only for as short a time as child Chris spent with Lois before he was aged, I just didn't buy all that emotion. And later, when Chris goes back to talk to his biological mother, he suddenly has a plan on how to deal with her non-violently, the likes of which would make Superman proud. As I said before, I just didn't buy it.

The rest of the issue is spent watching General Lane track the Kryptonian activity on Earth, and frankly, for the amount of commotion as Chris was making, I don't blame Lane at all for finding him and shooting him out of the sky. Heck, Lois was dumb enough to leave Thara out on her roof resting out in the open.

Greg Rucka's issues have all been examples of good, intelligent writing with not as well known characters, up until this point. Instead, this felt like he was doing anything he could to advance the story to where the Superman line as a whole needed it to be, and the book consequently suffered.

That's about it for the abbreviated Buy Pile Report. Now that my break is over, expect the next installment of the "Blackest Night Detective" coming real soon.

Buy Pile Report

2009-05-06T17:03:00.006-05:00

Believe it or not, for as much as needed to be done today, it's been slow here in the office for hours. Believe it or not, that's the bad news, since the only thing I dislike more than work is boredom.

The good news is, I didn't have to be bored for long with all of today's comics just sitting on my desk waiting to be read. Which, leads me to another good news/bad news situation. Nothing was particularly spectacular today. And nothing was very bad either. Am I middle of the road enough for you?

Cable #14 continued the "Messiah War" crossover with "X-Force," and after a action-packed but story-light issue last time around, we finally got the plot moving a little bit here. A good portion of the issue is spent in Stryfe's chamber as he interrogates Warpath. The story takes a turn, though when Bishop has to slightly double-cross Stryfe in order to try and kill Hope. And yes, Bishop did take that shot without much moral trouble, continuing the character's now pretty much irredeemable downward spiral. The highlight of the issue, though, comes with the implications the final page may create, a reveal that I don't care to spoil for any of you, and no, it's not that Stryfe is Cable's clone.

There was also an interesting side-story with Archangel and Apocalypse that didn't amount to anything ... yet. Frankly, this crossover has started to lose a little luster for me, as there just hasn't been enough of a plot. Apocalypse is my hope to be that monkey wrench needed to let this crossover fulfill the weighty promise the first couple of issues had.

Also from Marvel, War of Kings #3 was also pretty good. And again, it was mainly due to the promise for the future. We spend a lot of this issue on Attilian discussing the previously-undiscussed "Uplift Program," a promise Black Bolt apparently made to Ronan to use the Terrigen Mists to evolve all of the Kree. Talk about an idea that could change the landscape of the Marvel Universe ... if Maximus were able to get it to work. And while there is an emphasis here that maybe the Inhumans are not looking out for the Kree's best interest, Maximus drops a side clue as to where this story could be going, saying if the Inhumans can't beat the Shi'ar they could "join them or change them." Emphasis on change. Hmm.

Want more promise for the future? It seems Gladiator may be looking to change teams (finally!). And if that weren't enough for you, this issue is worth buying if only for the teamwork between Marvel Girl and Rocket Raccoon. Yes, a more perfect pair could not be conceived.

Now, I'm sure many of you out there are thinking that if there was only one spectacular book this week, it was going to be Flash: Rebirth #2. Not so fast. (Get it?) There is plenty to like in this issue, don't get me wrong. For one, Ethan Van Sciver's art is absolutely brilliant. Geoff Johns could have let every word balloon blank, and I think Van Sciver's art was good enough and descriptive enough that this issue would still be readable and enjoyable. And there are also a collection of strong moments here, from another cold conversation between Hal Jordan and Barry Allen to a look back at when Barry first met his wife to a look at his previous life as a forensic scientist.

And there was also plenty to be intrigued by. So far, Johns has emphasized the fate of Barry's parents as an unresolved demon in his closet, and we see again how rattled the situation makes him. We also again watched as Barry seemed almost annoyed by Wonder Woman's setting up an alibi with the FBI for his past few years, as if Barry feels he won't be around long enough to use the alibi.

The problem is, so far this all just feels like ground we all have covered before, similar to Johns' "Secret Origins" arc on "Green Lantern." It's entertaining stuff, but where's the payoff? Even the big "reveal" at the end of this issue (and yes, this too makes me intrigued for the future) was entirely too predictable. And so, this issue is just pretty good, not great. But we're still hopeful for the future of the Scarlet Speedsters.

Remember when I said how slow it is in the office? Well, that was four hours ago, when I started writing this post, and then all hell broke loose. That's what I get for taunting a good thing. So where was I?

I'm noticing something disturbing thanks to Superman: World of New Krypton #3. For as much as Superman was an outsider among his own people throughout the "New Krypton" crossover, in these past couple of issues of "S:WofNK" it seems like Kal-El's Earthly ways are suddenly the latest trend on Krypton. Last issue we watched Kal teach his team how to handle beasts without slaughtering them. In this issue, he teaches all of New Krypton the value of discussion over violence and harsh reactions. Heck, even General Zod seems to be coming around to the value of the Clark Kent side to Kal-El.

And while I have no problem with the message that Ma and Pa Kent have a lot to teach people of any planet, it just doesn't feel like this is the same situation we are dealing with outside of this series. Here, Alura seems level-headed and isn't constantly berating her daughter (who played a nice role in this issue too). Here, General Zod doesn't seem like such a power-monger. It all just seems too neat; too reverent to Superman. I am really hoping writers James Robinson and Greg Rucka have a worthwhile reason for all of this seeming lack of characterization, and I trust both enough to stay optimistic.

Speaking of Superman, we end with Mark Waid's tale of Superman ... er ... excuse me "The Plutonian" gone bad. Irredeemable #2 again showed why you have to start buying this series. While Waid's debut issue was heavy on shock value to wrangle as many readers as possible, this second issue gives us a taste of what this ongoing series will be like, and it's tastier than popcorn chicken. And no, I don't know why popcorn chicken was the first food to come to mind.

Waid is telling this story through a series of flashbacks, as the Plutonian's allies are trying to look through the past and uncover information with which to end his reign of terror. As such we again get to see several different sides to the ex-hero. In one page we watch the Plutonian selflessly help out a teammate and then bolster her fledgling confidence. In the next page we get a good view of an entire city he destroyed. In one page we watch the Plutonian charm, wine and dine his own version of Lois Lane. In the next page we get to see just how far he was willing to go to protect his self-interests.

I think the thing that I am most impressed by here is Waid's ability to hold back from going too over the top too fast. Whenever we've seen a flashback in which the Plutonian loses control, we first see a reason and a slight moment of weakness before he overreacts. And where we watched him use his powers to go too far in the last issue, lobotomizing his former sidekick, here we see an even worse side of the Plutonian when he emotionally coerces a group of people into frightened suicide. I'm starting to think Waid is going to be able to find new and creative ways to do this in every issue he writes -- and if so, we're going to have a real classic run on our hands.

This week's comic book expectations

2009-05-06T02:20:00.002-05:00

It's late, I'm tired and I've a long day ahead of me, so this is going to be short and sweet. THIS LINK will take you to this week's comic releases.

There is a lot going on this week, though, so you should really know that Flash: Rebirth #2, Superman: World of New Krypton #3 and War of Kings #3 are all out this week, plus the latest installment of "Messiah War" in Cable #14.

But, that's not all. There are also a pair of very promising first issues, Power Girl #1 and New Mutants #1, which will tell all-new stories in modern Marvel times using the old cast (including Illyana Rasputin, so don't confuse this series with "X-Men: Forever."

And if that weren't enough, there are also a pair of books that are outside of normal continuity but should really be on your radar, DC's The Mighty #4 and BOOM Comics' Irredeemable #2, Mark Waid's story of what happens when a character much like Superman goes off the deep end. I highly recommend both series.

It's a very big week, but I'm very tired, so that's all you get out of me tonight.