Sam and Max Season 2

Just a quick one today.

In case you've missed me talking about my somewhat obsessive love for Sam and Max I just want to draw your attention over to their website:

www.telltalegames.com

The guys are updating pretty much every week with new information, screenshots and videos of the next season of the game so I urge you to go over and look.

Who knows, you may want to take the risk and buy the first season! It really is worth it.

Oh and so you know, I don't get paid for this. These posts are fueled by nothing but my love.

Upskirt

I don’t know how many of you are reading X-Men Die By The Sword. Seeing as the readership for both Exiles and New Excalibur is fairly low and tends to be the same people, I doubt it's a whole lot of you.

Half of the people seem to like it as it’s a Claremont book, while the other half seem to read it too bash it. I don’t want to do either. I do feel Claremont hasn’t hit one out of the park with me since X-Treme X-Men but he is one of my favourite all time writers so I won’t sit around pulling him apart.

What I do want to talk about is this art. I respect artists so much because they can do something I could never even dream of doing, I find art so hard. I can see what I want to in my head but getting on paper is impossible.

So the guy doing it, Juan Santacruz, is far more talented than I can dream of. With that being said there are some brutal panels in this book. It’s not they lack talent it’s just they make me embarrassed to me a comic reader.

From the looks of things the letterer has had to do anything he can to cover up this “upskirt” shots. While he’s done the best this just seems to add more attention to this immature cheesecake shots.

What are these shots meant to add? I’d argue nothing. This guy can draw superheroes. He can draw a fight and he can pay stuff out just fine. These three panels take so much away from his work. It’s a shame he feels the need to draw these.

It’s really pathetic. I expect more.

DC's Outsiders

Eek! A week come and gone… if you can’t tell, I’ve been very busy. Lot’s of work, I’ve been away from home and family commitments catching up on me.

I just wanted to make a quick mention to a rumour I heard a few weeks ago. The rumour was that DC was so unhappy with the work Tony Bedard, Sean McKeever and co. were doing on Countdown that any work they had been promised was just quietly being forgotten. So quietly that the writers themselves don’t even know the work isn’t coming.

My summary of Countdown is that it is a bad series. Well it’s a mediocre series, following an amazing series. I complain about this books lack of focus as much as anyone else but I would never lay the blame at the writer’s feet.

As much as I can tell from various interviews these guys are just putting words to the editors and Paul Dini’s stories. I love Paul Dini but I feel that the bad timing of the series and uninteresting stories are mostly his fault.

I didn’t believe this rumour was true when I heard it. Surely DC could see this was a team effort book and wouldn’t pull the rug from under these guy’s feet, effectively screwing over their careers and making it seem the series was all their fault. That would be, for the lack of a better term, a dickish move. DC wouldn’t do that! Could they really blame these guys for writing nothing more than dialogue?

This week say the news that Tony Bedard won’t be taking over the Outsiders as planned for months and has been replaced.

Three Month Wait

It's that time again. This month it’s all Marvel with one appearance from DC. While I have some Indy books I can't wait to read like Buffy, Angel and The Circle they don't excite me as much as the stuff I've included.

5. Fantastic Four #553

Dwayne’s take on the Fantastic Four is off and on. He wrote a really badass Sue Richards in one issue that I loved. This issue promises the reveal of Reed’s Civil War plans. It’s got me interested.

4. Booster Gold #6

This series really has been fantastic so far. This issue sees the end to the first arc and apparently the return of the original Blue Beetle. From the sound of things it ends the status quo of the series as it is now, so it’ll be very interesting to see where it goes next. I hope this doesn’t end the Sliders/Exiles feel the book has to it.

3. Avengers: The Initiative #9

Secrets revealed! Taskmaster! Antman! Death! I love this book, I can’t imagine thee Marvel Universe without it.

2. Hulk #1

A brand new Hulk series. I have to be honest; this shocks me… it’s not like Incredible Hulk sets the charts on fire. The death interests me; I’m thinking Rick Jones sadly. The seller however has to be Ed McGuinness’ art. I’m still holding out for Loeb to write a good Marvel story. I hope this is the one, I’m sick of wasting money on mediocre comics from him.

Captain America #34

We’ve all seen the concept designs by Alex Ross. We all know what is coming. A brand new Captain America. I can’t wait for this.

guggenheim

In a past blog I spoke about how much I loved guggenheim’s work on Wolverine, so much so that his name deserved to be written up in all capitals. If you haven’t already guessed his return to the book is less then stellar and he has now been demoted from all capitals.

Not only is the story full of inaccuracies such as Tank’s and Nazi’s in World War One but it’s just another attempt at making Wolverine much more complex then he needs to be.

The character isn’t that deep. He’s had a crap life and he kicks ass because it’s the right thing to do and he partly enjoys a scrap… at the same time he’s always running the risk of crossing that line between good and evil. It’s worked for years now and it’s what has made the character popular.

Now Marvel have always seemed to want to tamper around with his history and such, which I understand as when you have a character who doesn’t know their past in fiction it is going to bite them in ass at some point.

Here they just seem to want to give him crappy shock value twists to his power set. In the past year we’ve found out he’s an evolved mutant wolverine. This idea was rejected years ago and it should have stayed that way.

Now we find out every time he dies his spirit has to fight the devil in order to rejoin his healing body.

Really… Why? Does this add anything to the character? I have to say no, it just makes him far more confusing then he needs to be. It also brings up many questions of just how his healing factor works.

If he comes out of this with a reduced healing factor so the fear of him dying is there, even if we know it won’t happen, I’m all up for it. For now all we have is a really mediocre comic.

I hope this is just a misstep on guggenheim’s part. This is entirely possible as he is still fairly new to the game. I hope his work on Amazing Spider-Man is better. I have my caps lock waiting.

Note: I did love how Wolverine still manages to cup his "member" which both hands, while dead.

Infinity Eck

As most of you know, I’m mostly a Marvel fan. Always have been and chances are, I always will be. That being said I can dish out the compliments to DC when they deserve them. One series they have put out that I don’t think I could ever compliment enough was 52.

52 is easily one of the best series in the last 10 years and is one of those series I can see fans talking about for years. Not only was it a fun concept, it also had the creative team to back up the hype. These types of series can so easily fail but this way beyond anyone's expectations.

The only complaints I tend to hear about this series is that is started out very slow. I disagree with that on a personal level as I enjoyed it from start to beginning. Even so, starting out slow is a fairly tame complaint. If you haven’t had the chance to read it, make sure you get round to it. It’s fairly accessible to anyone and is a good introduction to the DC universe if you need one.

As I enjoyed that series I’ve also picked up a number of the spin offs. Due to a budget I’ve picked up Black Adam, Booster Gold and Infinity Inc. At some point I will also get around to Countdown to Adventure, Metal Man and Four Horsemen.

Booster Gold has been amazing and Black Adam has been pretty good too. The one that really disappoints me is Infinity Inc.

The way I saw Steel’s personal story in 52 was one of the classic hero. He has a deep sense of responsibility that is what makes a hero, rather then any power set. His story was pretty much a modern day look at the classic genre.

If you were looking to spring board an ongoing series off of the success of his story in 52 surely it would make sense to stick to the themes you showed people in the series. I’ll admit those more classic based series tend not to sell well these days (Take a look at Marvel’s Thing for example) but the series they have come out with is a complete 180.

It’s Peter Milligan, a guy known for not doing the classic superhero genre, doing a very dark tale about a group of hero’s who are mentally screwed up. It’s everything but what hundreds of thousands of people read about for a year.

It’s quite and odd move to make. Two issues in and I can't help but think it doesn't work. I’ll give it one or two more issues but I can see me dropping this one and not looking back.

I love Judd

News just in, Judd Winick is amazing!

I spoke a few weeks ago about how much I enjoyed the Black Canary and Green Arrow Wedding Special. On the strength of this one shot I asked my comic shop to pull their new ongoing.

Of course, I’ve done this a few times. I get a taste of a character or a writer and when I follow them to their next project it turns out it was a fluke. I am happy to say this wasn’t the case at all.

I loved this issue and first thing Monday I’m getting an ongoing subscription for this book.

It could just be Judd Winick has a great handle on this character but reading these two issues I’ve fallen in love with the character. I said that before but it’s an incredible skill he has. I can’t think of any other writer currently working who can make me love a character so fast. I might like them and grow to like them, but to be hooked in a matter of pages is amazing.

The pace of the book is also incredibly fast too. If you are one of those comic readers who complains about decompression then get this. The cliff-hanger from the Wedding Special (Black Canary stabbing Green Arrow, who had just tried to kill her, through the neck) is answered straight away. That takes guts, that cliff-hanger launched the series and really could have been stretched out for months.

I googled Judd’s bio just to see his background and previous work and it’s safe to say that he is by far the most talented person to come out of any reality show, in any country… ever. Although let’s face it the competition isn’t that fierce.

Hype Machine Part 2

Okay, so the announcement was Captain America is coming back. They’ll be a new person in the suit and he’ll be a little more hardcore (he has a knife and gun!) but the icon is coming back.

I won’t judge the idea because I haven’t read the story yet. I trust in Ed Brubaker so chances are I’ll enjoy the story.

What I do want to comment on is Marvel’s advertising of this “event”. I understand why they’ve done this, making it seem like a big announcement. They want the people who ran to comic stores to buy Cap’s death to run back and see his replacement. I get that and I understand it.

But... why leave it this long? When Captain America died we had 2 or 3 months of people speculating who would replace Captain America. You couldn’t go in any comic shop without it being discussed, you couldn’t log onto a message board without seeing at least one “Who will be the new Captain America?” topic. On holiday in a place totally unrelated to comics someone I just met started talking to me about Captain America’s death. It was huge news and that hardly ever happens in comics!

Then Fallen Son #5 hit and we were told no one would replace Captain America. So everyone let out a collective “Oh…” and walked off to discuss the next Internet topic be it Skrulls, Green Arrow or Countdown sucking.

Now Marvel has chosen the time to get us all excited for this replacement but no one seems to care. Everyone got out all the excitement and anticipation months ago. If you ask me, they waited too long to try and encourage this speculation.

Hype Machine

Just a quick one today, as you can tell university has been very buys these first few weeks. I apologize but I'm doing my best.

Marvel seem to be hyping a big announcement for tomorrow at 12pm, click here to see it. I've got to admit, I'm interested in how this one will turn out. I always pay attention when companies decide they are going to announce they are going to announce something. Most of the time it turns out to be nothing but I always enjoy the antipitation and when it really does take you by suprise like the Nintendo Wii for example it's great.

So expect an update on this tomorrow. Speculation seems to be looking at Joe stepping down at EIC or a countdown series to the Skrull Invasion, I'll guess we'll soon know.

Creative, Processed

Comics are an interesting medium. It’s a medium that seems to inspire some sort of creative inspiration into everyone who reads them. If you were to log onto any message board, everyone seems to have a story want out there or they have some level of artistic talent.

I couldn’t begin to explain why this only happens in comic books. With film and television while people can point out faults and lines they would of done differently, it’s very rare you’d ever find someone who would be inspired enough to pick up a pen and try and write down a movie script or a pilot for a television programme. It just doesn't happen.

Am I included in that list of dreamers? Of course I am. My bookshelf is increasingly filling with books on the craft of writing from all sorts of mediums and my laptop’s hard drive is diminishing as more and more scripts are being saved.

Will I ever get published? Probably not.

So why keep doing it? I have no idea.

The only possible reasons I can think of is that the people drawn to comics are generally more inclined to go a little over the top and get attached to the characters. I think I would be included in that list, when I was 7 or 8 and saw Toy Story I wrote 8 sequel stories. If you think Disney milk their franchise, they’ve got nothing on me. They weren't just short 10 page stories either, they filled notepads.

The other reason could be that these characters have been around for so many years, longer then most readers have been alive. To be able to write these characters would be a privilege. With television and film, they air and it’s over. You can get them on DVD sure, but Spider-Man and Batman come at you every single month for so long that it’s hard not to let them into your hearts when reading them.

Do I have a fitting ending? No (See why I am not a writer?) but I’d be interested in hearing from you lot reading. Do you have hopes of being involved in the creative process in some form, or do you have views on why the majority of fans seem to want to? It really is a fascinating phenomenon that only happens in comics.

Dematteis Da Man?

JM DeMatteis recently posted on his blog found over on Amazon that he has finished working on his first Spider-Man story in 10 years. While he wrote an ok Spider-Man during and after the Clone Saga he will always be known for his Kraven's Last Hunt story and so discussion on this announcement has lead to Kraven talk, rather then any of the other Spidey books he wrote.

I have to admit something about this story... I didn't like it that much. I mean it was good and well written but it's one of those stories that are discussed so much and so often that by the time you get it, it can never live up to the hype.

All the twists and turns, all the character insight, everything you want from a good story has already been told to you a thousand times before hand that when you finally read the story, it feels like you are just rereading message boards or reliving comic store discussions.

So I'll be interesting in reading this story just to see if I like DeMatteis' work rather then any sort of legendary status he has gotten.

If you haven’t already Kraven’s Last Hunt do so. I won’t expand on it for obvious reasons.

Give Me Liberty...

I love Frank Cho. While he is known for drawing beautiful women, which he does very well, I think he is one of the soundest storytellers in comics today. With my new mindset of trying to find Indy work of guys I enjoy, in the main stream I went out and got Liberty Meadows Vol. 1.

Now I have to say, I found this hard to read at first. Reading a comic strip, which was originally published once a day in newspaper as one long story, is kind of hard. Every four panels you have a quick recap. It takes a different mindset to get into it and that was something I hadn’t thought of when I got the book. So that’s just a little warning.

At first I have to admit I wasn't blown away. It was cute and amusing, nothing amazing but somewhere along the line I got emotionally hooked to the characters. There is a storyline where one of the animals leaves the sanctuary and I just felt sorry for his friend. Getting someone attached to characters in 4 panel stories a very hard thing to do.

I still need to check out the other volumes but I think it’s got me hooked; I want to see these characters lives move on and see their little, cute jokes. It’s not an amazing piece of literature; it’s just a good piece of escapism that is accessible to pretty much anyone. It’s not just for the comic fan, although I’d imagine the people buying it are hardcore fans as those are who buy Indy comics regularly. Give it a shot.

Annually Retentive

I think the Annual's Marvel has put out over the past 2 or 3 years have been excellent. They really mattered but if you had no interesting in the subject (Luke Cage and Jessica Jones marriage in New Avengers for example) you could skip over it and save $4. You didn't miss anything vital but anyone who wanted to buy it got something they could care about. It was the perfect happy medium.

I picked up the Immortal Iron Fist Annual this week though and we seem to have faltered. It was nothing more but part 3 of a story. Infact, it was the cliffhanger of the issue 9. Now if you don't pick up the annual up you're lost. To be fair the previous issue warned you about this but I can't help but feel this is taking a step in the worn direction.

I used to complain that Annuals were nothing but an oversized one-shot which was usually a bad story, with very little importance. It was a way of charging you more money once a year.

This however is forcing people to pay $4 for another part of a story they are already invested in. It's taking advantage. I hope we don't see to many of these and go back to the Bendis formula.

I Am So Scared...

If you have ever heard Bendis in an interview, chances are you'll of heard him talk about people who claim to be his biggest fans and yet have never read his independent work like Powers, Jinx or Torso. I fall in that list. I have probably read everything he's done at Marvel except Alias, which I need to pick up, but never really got around to his older work. After hearing him joke about these fans for about the hundredth time I decided that if I saw his Indy work for a good price, I had to make the leap. It’s not that I didn’t want to read it, its just there is so much stuff out there that you can’t just pick up anything you want.

As luck would have it, on Wednesday I saw the collection of Fortune and Glory for £3.50 so I went ahead and bought it. It was a great price and I’ve heard so much praise for this book so I quickly ran home and cracked it open. The writing was funny and the art was unique. You get a wide-eyed newbie to the Hollywood world making snarky comments. It’s an Internet fanboys dream. We do it everyday on the net.

So why am I scared after having bought an excellent piece of literature? One of the few comics you could hand to anyone who isn’t a comic fans and chances are they’d enjoy it despite of any prejudice they have against the medium? Well I’m currently spending nine grand and devoting 3 years of my life to try and enter the industry that this book explores and shows just how shallow and empty it is.

Thanks Bendis. I’m having a mid-life crisis at 19.

Superhero Wedding Cliché

I took a risk this week and picked up the Black Canary and Green Arrow Wedding Special. I always feel guilty about not reading more DC and as I have a few extra £’s I figured I’d take a shot on this and the new creative team on JLA.

Now, this issue was a comic book cliché. Everyone was in costume and it ended in a super villain fight. Now we’ve seen this a lot and no one really adds anything new to the formula. All you can really hope for is that it is written well and the art is good. This had both and I loved it!

I love Amanda Conner’s art. It is so slick and curvy. It has a touch of old school too it and the women just look beautiful. There is a particular scene where Green Arrow and Black Canary tear each other’s clothes off for a bit of slap and tickle before Black Canary decides she wants to wait until the wedding. Green Arrow is a bit disappointed to say the least. Now this wouldn’t work for the reader if you couldn’t see why Green Arrow is attracted to Black Canary.

There are very few artists who I think draw beautiful women. Frank Cho is the best in my opinion and Terry Dodson is arguably up there. I’d put Amanda Conner up there as well. She is very talented, I would love to see her tackle these two characters again.

Judd Winick wrote the book and he made me fall in love with the characters as well. I have always liked the Green Arrow; he’s a fun character so I came in mostly because of his name. He was my insurance, if the story blew atleast there might be a Green Arrow gag or two. Obviously I knew of Black Canary and had seen her around but she mostly appeared for a page or two and had very little characterisation. With this issue though she became a person and a person I really liked. I don't know what it is but other last 10 years or so, women characters in comics have really taken a step up. They get alot more respect then they used to even in the 90's.

As a couple, I got a sense of a love/hate type relationship. They are fuelled on adrenaline due to their careers as superheroes and are never more attracted to each other then when they are trading insults and yelling at each other. It's not a new concept, we see it on TV all the time but here it really works. It makes for a very interesting read.

Oh and the cliffhanger? Wow!

Even if I don’t keep up with JLA, I’m there for the Black Canary and Green Arrow ongoing. I can’t wait!

The In Store

This addition of the “In Store” might seem like an obvious entry and let’s face it, it is. eBay is one of those businesses that is known by everyone you meet on the street, like Microsoft and Coca Cola. So I’d imagine a lot of people who collect comic books use eBay but I also know from talking to people a lot of people use ebay wrong.

Never buy single issues on eBay. If you buy one comic, the price for postage and packaging tends to be more then the actual comic so you tend to pay more then you would getting it from a physical comic book store. The cost of the comic may seem like a steal but that p+p will bite you in the butt.

If you want to use eBay to collect comics make sure the seller you want has a few other comics you want to get as well. As a rule of thumb I normally need to want a minimum of 5 issues from a seller to try beat the postage costs.

The safest bet is bidding on lots. I just won 105 issues on ebay and had to pay £10 postage. If I’d bought them in single issues on average the postage would have been £1.25 an issue. The different is huge. The problem with this of course is that sometimes you don’t need runs so you need to balance it out with your own personal needs and if ending up with a few doubles is worth the amount you save.

In terms of quality of issues sometimes you have to take a risk. Everyone looks at their comics and over evaluates their quality so bare that in mind. You also need to remember if you aren’t sure of the quality, ask for more pictures. Most sellers will be happy to do so as could lead to them selling their auction.

eBay is perhaps one of the most valuable tools at a comic buyers finger tips if used wisely. The only downside is you can sometimes spend more then you have to spend so make sure you can afford what you are bidding!

My Claim to Fame

This is perhaps the saddest blog you will ever see, so bookmark it... this is history in the making.

I knew something Dan "Brain of the Marvel Universe" Slott didn't!

Click to enlarge, Orignal Topic Here

Yes, I am that sad that I'm posting this. This is the result of a slow comic week, Slott's reputation and my need to inflate my ego.

Really it gives me the chance to bring Slott up and tell everyone to go out and pick up Avengers: The Initiative and Amazing Spider-Man. Also I get to thank him for a great run on She Hulk. The only reason I picked up this book was because of talking to Slott online. He's a very talented writer and he's only getting better.

Three Month Wait

It’s time for me to peek at the solicitations for December 2007 as say what I am most excited to get after another three month wait.

5. Indiana Jones Omnibus Vol. 1

I’m a big Indiana Jones fan but of course let’s be honest… who isn’t? Most people have seen an Indy film and enjoyed it but I’m sure there are many of those people who never read any of the Indiana Jones comics. I’ll be taking this opportunity to read "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis," "Thunder in the Orient," and "Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold" for the first time.

4. Booster Gold #5

This comic is good. I’ll admit I do get a bit confused when they go off on long explanations of time travel in the DC verse but for the most part this is introducing me to key points in the DC universe. I’m not a big DC reader so I’m finding this a valuable learning experience, which is fun at the same time.

3. Avengers: The Initiative #8

This book sort of snuck up on me. #1 was ok and then they off’d my favourite character in it. I figured I’d give Slott a chance as I love his work and somewhere in the space of 4 or 5 issues it’s become a book I can’t imagine Marvel without. It’s key book in the post Civil War World and just gives you a look at everything in the Marvel Universe. It’s great. This issue promises new recruits and old ones graduating so it should be a key point. Also, looks like there is an Irremediable Giant-Man.

2. Captain America #33

The book promises Iron Man and Bucky. The book promises a shocking ending. The book is reading by Ed Brubaker. So yeah, we are getting all of that and so much more. It’s perhaps the most solid solo book out right now and has been for three years.

1. Amazing Spider-Man #546-547

This is it! Spider-Man goes thrice weekly with Slott at the helm of the first arc. Even if I’m a little nervous about the fallout of Brand New Day it’s hard to argue this is isn’t an exciting time to be a Spider-Man reader.

It's A Review, Little Buddy

I completed Sam and Max: Season One a few days ago but I didn’t have time to review it until now. Things are getting busy with family and getting ready for the next year of university so if it takes a day or two for me to post, you know why.

First I have to say, I can’t compare this to the original game. The original game has so many happy memories for me as a kid that to compare the two would automatically bury this game. This game doesn't deserved to be buried, o I am looking at this game as completely separate entity.

The first thing that springs out to you when playing this game is the look. There have been a few 3D Adventure Games but too be honest I’ve found the majority of these games annoying. The graphics are ugly and blocky and the 3D world in turn introduced controls, which were clunky and vastly more complex then they needed to be. Sam and Max is both pretty to look at and easy to navigate. The game takes the adventure game back to using only one button, which is really all you need in this type of game.

The format of the game with it being separated into six different chapters leaves something to be desired. You do get 6 good little stories that create one big arc but at the end of each episode you are left thinking “Oh, is that it?”. They introduce the characters into some marvellous situations like them staring in a number of TV shows or Max becoming President but these only last only a few hours and it’s kind of sad that they didn’t make the most out these great ideas. Of course that just goes to show how well these have been writing that I’m actually sad when we leave these storylines behind. If they had been bad or even mediocre I would have been happy to move on to the next thing.

Another minor complaint I have is that parts of the episodes do become very formulaic. With an introduction of a strong supporting cast, by the second episode you know 3 puzzles you know you have to solve straight of the bat. You know Sybil Pandemik will have a new job that will help you out, you know you need to buy something from Bosco and chances are Jimmy Two Teeth will be up to some crime that will help you move on.

One thing that annoyed me was at times you knew you had a puzzle only because someone was obstructing you. If someone is stood in front of something you have to move him or her. Why? Well… it’s an adventure game and that’s the point. Sadly that’s not enough. This is the problem of a non-linear game where you can branch off to do several tasks at once but I’m sure with careful scripting it could be done.

The voice acting is superb. The actors of Sam and Max aren’t the same from the original game but they manage to sound similar but at the same time add something different to it. Not necessarily better but just as good. I was also impressed to see a different voice actor for every character, instead of taking the much cheaper option of paying one person to do a few voices. This gave every character a very unique voice and helped them come alive.

The characters were also well written and designed. They all had unique chrematistics and funny quirks, which this type of humour game works. While his supporting casts tasks became very formulaic as mentioned above, I still enjoyed them and look forward to seeing them again. There was only one character who annoyed me but seeing as he annoyed Sam and Max just as much, I’ll take it he was designed to be.

The puzzles had various levels of difficulty and were fun to try and figure out. The game suffered from the episodic releases due to items being restricted to only 2 or 3 areas, making the puzzles perhaps not as complex as older, larger games but over all it didn’t bother me to much.

I was happy to see the addition of a hint system in the sixth episode, something I felt the game was missing. I might suggest that a notepad for Sam might be an important feature. As freelance police you’d expect them to take notes, which you can look back on and perhaps pick out key points that may help you to figure a puzzle out. Sometimes you forget a key detail a character said at the start of the game.

While it may seem the episodic format annoyed me I have to say if that means yearly releases and a cheaper price sticker that I’ll take the trade off. The game lasted me a week or so, so perhaps it should have been longer. However at the same time I paid £24 for it, compared to the £40 to £50 I normally pay for games that last not that much longer. I can also expect the second season later this year/early next year instead of years of wait like we had come to expect from the Adventure Game.

Honestly, the worst part of this game was that we are lacking this type of thing in two mediums I love. We should have more adventure games out there. I don’t think every game needs to be more action orientated, and I hope there is a market out there for this game so we can have more. I also think the comic industry is severely lacking a good humour book. Not a knock on Telltale’s online webcomic but I really wish Steve Purcell (Sam and Max’s creator) would spend time getting new material in print or reprint all of his older work. I can’t imagine a publisher like IDW or Image wouldn’t want to publish a new Sam and Max comic.

So overall this game was good. It has a few little problems but the majority of them were fixed by the time the sixth episode hit. I can only think that now they have all player feedback in that season two will be even better. I know I can’t wait. All I have to do now is try and fill my time in between the releases.

For now I have the hope of Sam and Max Surfin’ The Highway coming out, which I’m sure you’ll hear me discuss more in-depth in the future. There are also the other TellTale games out in stores. Sigh… I need more money!

The W’ong Wong

So I got New Avengers #34 today and it turns out I was wrong. They didn't share their pasts; they showed how they see themselves... I liked mine better although I guess it would rule out the "Embarrassing History" jokes Bendis loves to do.

Now I’m assuming all this “There is a Skrull on the team” stuff is going somewhere and isn’t just setting up the atmosphere of the Secret Invasion crossover.

But at the minute it’s kind of heard to think any of the team are Skrull, they’ve passed two Doctor Strange tests now and Bendis made fun of the idea of “Sleeper Skrulls” in this issue so that can’t happen.

So who do I think is a Skrull in New Avengers now?

Wong.

No one suspects him but he’s in a position where he could screw with one of the top teams and many of the top players in the Marvel Universe. I bet he drugs the tea.

Hitting their stride

The Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run is legendary and changed comics forever. Don't try to argue that, it's fact. The old style of comics from the 60's may not be everyone's cup of tea, which I understand, but you have to respect what they did.

If you ask most people who had the honour of reading this run, they usually cite issue 30 as when the team really clicked and their creativity just exploded. I want to argue about this.

I assume people normally sum up runs as whole numbers as it's easier to remember then say 29 or 31. So I understand why everyone says this is when they really "got" the characters but I want to make it clear I think that point should be five issues earlier.

Fantastic Four #25-26 are amazing comics! It's a two part story which for the most part is Thing getting his ass kicked by the Hulk but he keeps getting back up, even if he knows he could die doing it.

This is when Ben Grimm clicked. For the first 15 issues or so the Thing was a hardass and was always complaining. For the next 10 or so the Fantastic Four kept saying they loved him but the audience had no real reason to... every other issue he was starting fights and threatening to either take over the team or quit.

This story kicked off a feud that every writer seems to want to write at least once, Hulk vs. Thing.

This was just good comics. Really, if you get the chance pick it up. The Fantastic Four Omnibus is a great read if you can get over the high price tag.

Okay! I believe you!

I’m a big fan of the X-Men. I own the run of Uncanny X-Men, bar 30 or 40 issues I’m still hunting for. The Claremont run stands up there with the best runs we’ve ever seen and it had defined the X-Men ever since. That is part of the problem with the X-Men these days. For the most part they are coasting, doing the same thing they’ve done for 40 years. You get the odd big moment like the destruction of Genosha… but nothing really changes. We will never get human and mutant equality so all you can hope for is some good stories from good writers.

So when Marvel started up the hyped machine and inserted Messiah Complex I wasn’t too excited. At the end of it, we’d get the same old stuff. Perhaps the mansion would blow up (which the image to the right could be showing) which is an X-Men event requirement and we’d get a random lottery of characters to appear in the main 3 books. Changes yes, but major? No. It’s the same old stuff just with a new look.

I logged onto Newsarama this morning to find a surprising news piece. The new line-up to X-Force.

It’s a line-up change but is it just a line-up up change? I’m not sure. Looking at that image we seem to be looking at some kind of mutant strike force. These guys don’t mind kicking ass, and are all killers at one time or another. Their outfit colours also seem to match the idea of being a black ops team.

I have to say I’m upset that it looks like Brubaker isn’t writing Warpath anymore, although he could still be writing X-Force for all I know, as he has been the real breakout character in his Uncanny run. That being said the X-Men needing a secret strike force perhaps does mean that we are getting a real status quo change.

Of course it’s just as likely I’ve bought into the hype and we’ll get the same old, same old.

New Avengers #34 Speculation

Newsarama are showing off the cover to New Avengers #34, and playing the mystery card. I figure seeing as I’m hyped for this Secret Invasion (The title to the Skrull storyline) I’d take a quick shot at what I feel it means.

Apparently in the issue Doctor Strange does something to temporarily get the team to trust each other. Armed with this information and the cover I’m speculating that Doctor Strange shares the entire teams history with each other. This will allow them to see their past and understand where they are coming from and why they do what they do. This would certainly help out their trust issues.

The only part of the cover I’m not sure on is the female Daredevil. I’m not family with Echo’s origin (although it is on my Wish List) but did she ever dress up in Daredevil’s costume? Anyone? Little help?

You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down…

And you can’t keep a bad man down either. I don’t know if you were one of the 10 people who read The Irredeemable Ant-Man series but it was really good and produced a great character. There aren’t many characters out there that are only superheroes because they want to pick up women and even fewer heroes who play on the Wii with the villain Black Fox.

It was announced at Baltimore that the Eric O’Grady character will be jumping over to Avengers: The Initiative now that his own series has been cancelled. This move happened, apparently at the request of Kirkman so I assume we are going to get the same tool, we have come to love.

If anyone was fit to take over Ant-Man from Kirkman, it’s Dan Slott. Count me in as a fan of this move.

Blogging Baltimore Part Deux

I love Robin and I love the current creative team on the book. They sell twenty thousand plus a month despite the fact they are putting out one of the best books every single month. Adam Beechen’s writing is excellent and Freddie Williams just gets superhero art. His fight scenes flow so naturally from move to move.

That being said, it’s just been announced Chuck Dixon is returning to the book. It’s fair to say this comic would still be on the shelf without this guy having been on the book for a 9 years but the old saying “You can’t return home” comes to mind.

I can’t think of a single writer who returned to their most well received run and had just as much success the second time around. Claremont on Uncanny, DeFalco on Amazing Spider-Man etc.

Blogging Baltimore

For the uninformed, this weekend is Baltimore Comic Con. If I’m completely honest, I had forgotten. This is the first con since the site news so I figured I’d introduce what I’d do with any news we get from it. You can expect lots of smaller blogs covering any news I find interesting. We’ll see how it goes, shall we?

The first piece of news that I am excited about is the new Young Avengers mini hitting stores in January. It’s entitled “Young Avengers Presents” and will feature a whole bunch of different writers taking turns to focus on members of the team.

I feel in love with these characters during their first 12 issue series and sadly their Civil War mini series and guest appearances haven’t been anywhere near the quality we got when we first met them. So I am worried we are going to get another Zeb Wells series, I have to hold out hope that it can be good. It’ll be no Heinberg but with his schedule I doubt we’ll get another series written by him in a long time.

In The Interest Of Fairness

According to a new Videocast on Marvel’s websites Mark Millar and Brian Hitch plan to return to The Ultimates in 2013. After complaining about DC hyping Final Crisis long before, in an apparent desperate attempt to sell Countdown I thought this was worth mentioning.

I think this is going to hold the record for longest tine between announcement and release.

*Insert joke about #2 coming out in 2015 here*

This does remind me that I need to pick up the back issues of Ultimates 1 and 2 sometime.

My First Time

There is a question that is asked on comic message boards every few months, that being “How did you get into comics?”. These questions always get me thinking because growing up I had no idea that so much of the stuff I enjoyed as a kid was influenced by the world of comic books. Hell, I had no idea there were actually comic books, my local store only carried crappy UK magazines that were filled with dot-to-dots and crosswords. The only comic books I knew of were the Beano and Dan Dare and they are only a source of nostalgia for parents these days.

When I talk about these influenced products such as television shows, movies, games etc. I don’t mean the obvious ones like Batman, Superman or Spider-Man because as a kid I had no interest in them what so ever. I knew they existed but I didn’t get the appeal.

The obvious early influence to me was the Teenage Mutant Turtles. I had all the videos, all the toys and could sing the theme tune with the best of them. For a while I even wanted to grow up to be a turtle. But I was too young to remember any of this stuff, so I can only go by home movies and embarrassing stories as told by drunken relatives.

What I would list as the comic book that had a biggest impact on me without having read the comic book was Sam and Max. Since I was very small I always had a fascination with computers and there are numerous pictures of me sat on the potty with a game controller in hand. In the early 90’s we got our first PC and my brother and me got hooked on the world of adventure gaming. Monkey Island, Broken Sword, Day of The Tentacle, we’ve played them all. We ran up bills of hundreds of pounds for phoning the game help lines, which we inevitably got in a lot of trouble for.

When 1993 hit we got the best of them all, Sam and Max Hit the Road! It was laugh out loud game that required you to think to complete the game. The two characters that were far beyond my scope of the world and their humour was adult and that has changed my viewing changes forever. Since I was 8 I’ve been watching adult sitcoms and cartoons soon became no existent to me. They were somewhat violent and never talked down to the gamer just because they were a cartoon dog and rabbit. It was so unique to me and I don’t think I’ve ever found a game with characters I’ve fallen in love since.

But the adventure game died out and was replaced. I’m still a fairly big gamer but it was sad to see my favourite genre die out because it wasn’t interesting enough as shoot em’ ups and today’s audience just don’t have the attention span to try and figure out puzzles which can take hours.

Then in 2002 Lucasart’s announced a return to their gaming roots and announced the sequel to the original Sam and Max Game and my heart jumped for joy… then they cancelled it. I, along with many other people campaigned for it’s return but Lucasart’s didn’t listen and instead continued to work on their 6 or 7 Star War’s titles a year quota.

Luckily I was instore for good news again as bunch of former Lucasart’s employees set up their own company called Telltale Games and announced they were bringing Sam and Max back!

It was about this time I found out that it was based on a comic book, a hobby I’d had for a while by this time. Sadly the back issues are out of my price range, although they are re-releasing an old trade soon. I find it so interesting to see stuff that was so important to my childhood were based on a hobby I had no idea existed but now have fallen in love with.

So, why did I bring this up now? I just bought Sam and Max Season One from my local game store. If you don’t see me for a month, you know where I am!

I'll review the game when I've completed it, my 360 is going to take a month to repair so that Superman Returns review might never happen.

Going Places

I just finished reading Teen Titans #50. This marks the firs time I have ever bought a Teen Titans book. I list Robin as one of my favourite characters but I could never be convinced to lay down my money every month on seeing him and his pals. I was perfectly happy with him appearing in Batman titles and his own solo series.

Why did I choose now to purchase Teen Titans and not before? The answer is Sean McKeever. There is something about this guy’s writing that I just love. There is certain optimism in his work, something I think we’ve lost over the years. Now we expect our hero’s to be full of angst and get angry, which is fine… but you need that bit of hope. The idea of superheroes is that these guys can make the world around them better, if they don’t have that hope then what are they fighting for? Perhaps that idea of hope is why I prefer Robin to Batman, a character that despite everyone close to him being killed is still hopeful and enjoys life.

If you have never read the Gravity mini series, do yourself a favour and track it down either in back issues or the digest. It’s not reinventing the wheel; it’s just doing its thing really well. If you are a fan of Invincible or Ultimate Spider-Man you will love it.

Sean McKeever is going places.

A Plea From Me To Thee

Today is a bit of a selfish entry. Although it is the second entry so quit your complaining!

If you are visiting this blog and enjoy it, please tell your friends. Bring it up on a message board; share the link with anyone you think might like it. You spreading the word could help a great deal.

My second demand from you readers is, please comment. If you read my blog and have something to say, say it! I don’t care if you hate my ideas and opinions; just make sure you offer yours. If you like my ideas and want to comment, then that’s great too. I want to hear your thoughts a lot more then you just reading mine.

My third demand is for anyone with a blog who is reading mine. The demand? Let me know! I can link you from my site and you can link me from yours. I’ll do my best to read and comment on yours and you can do the same for me. You e-scratch my back, I’ll e-scratch yours.

My final demand? See that little ad the right? If you ever see something you are interesting in on that ad, please click it. It helps me out and if you are interested in what it’s advertising it obviously helps you out too.

This post will remain linked on the right hand side, allowing any blog vister to leave a comment with your URL and Blog Name so I can link your blog.

He's The Juggernaut!

I don’t think I’ve every uttered the phrase “He’s a bad writer”. I may not like a certain writer but I have respect for anyone who picks up a pen and writes, the vast majority of them are infinitely more talented then me so I have no write to judge in terms of being a good or bad writers. All I can do is offer my opinion on their work and their choices.

One writer would come close to the term bad writer and that is Chuck Austen. I’ve tried so many of his comics and tried to find something to enjoy. I’ve asked so many people for their opinions but no one seems to get his work. Hell I recently read an interview with Austin’s Avengers artist Scott Kolins where even he admitted he didn’t have a clue what Chuck Austen was doing.

There will always be one thing though that I can say he did well though. He redeemed the Juggernaut. I’ve always loved the Juggernaut. He was a villain that when you saw him on the cover you knew your favourite superhero was in for a beating and you were going to get some beautiful and chaotic art as it unfolded. The X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk. Everyone was afraid of the Juggernaut. He was a great badass villain.

I’ll admit that some of crimes he’s committed over the years made it kind of stupid to try and redeem him but those were quietly forgotten and I enjoyed watching him try to put his past behind him. He became a guy who always had to keep himself in check but at the same time enjoyed kicking heads in, he was just on the opposite side to which we had become accustomed too.

With World War Hulk: X-Men #3 it seems Juggernaut has given in and is soon going to return to his old ways. It’s regrettable, as I don’t think anybody really did anything with Juggernaut after Austen left, and he now joins the likes of Mystique and Magneto who join the team only to revert to form.

I will buy whatever comic he shows up in next because as I mentioned I’m a fan of him as villain or hero but I am a little sad it appears it is over. There was so much more they could have done with him.

Justice is Frightening

I’m a Spidey nut born and breed. Due to that I am bound by law to enjoy the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn is a fabulous character. He is a bitter and tormented sole but with reason to be so. He is the flip side to Peter, using his brains and strength to try and gain him money rather then use it to help the world. But let’s face it, he was stale.

His return at the end of the Clone Saga was shocking and was cool to see for the thousands of people who weren’t around when Osborn was first tormenting Peter. After an interesting run as co. owner of the Bugle who spent every waking hour making Spider-Man’s life a living hell he fell into a rut of popping up every few years, pulling the crazy card and being beat by Spider-Man.

We got the odd great story like Jenkin’s Death In The Family but for the most part they were all the same story. Every other good villain Spider-Man had seemed to be neglected to nostalgia and beat down. They filled time until Green Goblin was going to ruin Peter’s life again.

During this time I stuck by theory that Osborn is a great character and would work wonders if only the writer’s took him out of his safety zone. Get him away from Peter and let the other heroes of the Marvel Universe feel the wrath of the Green Goblin.

At the time he was focused on Peter, but all it would take was a good writer with the right idea to make him a villian in the grander scheme of things. He did start of wanting to be a crime boss after all.

This year with the fall out of the Civil War we got my hopes and dreams for Norman in Thunderbolts. Over half a year in and I still can’t figure out if Ellis is writing this whole book tongue in cheek (some parts definitely are… Stabby Joe, anyone?) but either way I’m enjoying it.

Thunderbolts #116 was a great issue for me that proved that Green Goblin in the Marvel Universe can and does work. The issue was mostly a discussion between Norman and Moonstone. Fairly mundane and easily to make boring but Ellis pulled it off perfectly. This issue reminded me of a serial killer couple. Criminal experts have taken real life examples and claim that if the two disturbed minds hadn’t met they may not of had a chance to reek such havoc. This issue showed these minds meeting and I boy do I feel sorry for the first person who tries to cross these two.

Make Mine Goblin, Marvel. But please… don’t make him a Skrull.

If an X-Man dies in space, do the fans make a sound?

Perhaps Blindfold saying someone was going to die months ago softened the blow. Perhaps the cover of a limp Cyclops body in space gave it away. Or perhaps its because no one, including Marvel staff can seem to decide if this story takes place months ago, and therefore we know the death is reconed!

Really, doesn’t anybody care that Cyclops died in Astonishing X-Men #22? I mean this the leader of the fricken’ X-Men. He bites the big one and people just don’t care about it. This is one of those things that should have been spoiled for me, I shouldn’t have been able to check my emails without friends letting it slip.

The only reason I can find for why no one cares is because of Astonishing X-Men’s biggest problem, that of delays.

With the impossible task of placing this in continuity people are just assuming that he’ll be back before the end of Whedon’s run with #24. But is he? The answer of where Astonishing takes place changes every week and it only gets more confusing as the X-Verse around it continues to change. Everyone seems to have a different answer to if this takes place before Messiah Complex or after. Not to mention the fact if the last three issues of the book had come out on time he would of appeared in Cable and Deadpool and New X-Men after his apparent death.

If it’s before then I can see why no one seems to care because he’ll be back in 2 issues. If it’s after then Marvel pulled off perhaps the worst death ever.

With comics for the longest time you’ve had fans crying foul because we all know the dead characters will come back, it may take an editorial team change but it’ll happen. You have to really make an effort to get people to respect the death, even if they will never completely believe it. When you confuse people to the point they haven’t got a clue if he’s dead or alive, even though you kill him on the page in front of them you have a problem. A huge problem.

Hell, I’m writing this and I still can’t decide if he’s dead or alive… I bet he’s alive and the big death is Lockheed.

Kirby Kolouring

I like Jack Kirby. I wouldn’t put him up their with my favourite artists, mostly because I’m so far removed from it’s original release and his work now has a legendary status it would be one of the most biased choices I’ve ever made. Instead he’s up their with Stan Lee as one of the creators I most admire. Comics wouldn’t be what they are today without those two men. I refuse to choose between the two in terms of who created who, instead I see them as a team. Sadly, those two couldn't see it the same way.

One common criticism I hear from people who are more used to the 90’s and today’s stuff (which I’ll admit I fall under) is that his art is simple by today’s standards. That is simply not the case. I was looking in the back of my Fantastic Four Omnibuses and looked online at some of his amazing untouched pencil work. The guy put in just as much detail as some artists today.

The reason I think it looks so simple is that it’s been scanned and reproduced from it’s original look and the biggest factor is the colouring. The old colouring was so simple and a lot of the time washed out the detail of the pencil and ink work.

One of the biggest, and perhaps most underrated change to comic books over the past 10 years is the advance in colouring. Colouring adds so much to comic books today and it’s a huge factor in setting the mode and brining life to art. It can make a talented artist a superstar; can you imagine Steve McNiven’s art without his colourist?

What I would like to see in an attempt to show newer fans that Jack Kirby is just as talented as people say and also to show people just how vital colouring is too today’s high standards of art is a one shot reprinting some of Jack Kirby’s pages by today’s top colourists.

I think it would be a unique experiment and very interesting comparison from 60’s art to today’s art.

GUGGENHEIM!

What a crap title I hear you say? Well yes it is but Wolverine has been so bad under the pen of Jeph Loeb (although beautiful under Simone Bianchi’s pencil) that GUGGENHEIM’s name deserves to be a title all by itself. He also deserves his name to said in capitals… GUGGENHEIM!!!

I like Wolverine as a character. In today’s comics world that comment can get you killed. I will add the stipulation to my liking him, that of I don’t like him being overused to extent every story he appears in is worthless as no one can do anything meaningful with him but thankful that has calmed down a bit. He only appears in two solo ongoing books and two team books now. A slight improvement over four team books and an ongoing.

GUGGENHEIM produced one of the finest Wolverine solo arcs in a long time with his Civil War tie in so I am welcoming him back with open arms. I wish he had never left the title to make way for Loeb and his evolved wolfmen. That arc was a horrible disaster and should never be mentioned again.

If you’ve dropped Wolverine after the horrendous arc or have never bought a Wolverine, or indeed any, book by GUGGENHEIM do yourself a favour and pick up Wolverine #57 next week.

Weclome back GUGGENHEIM, please don't ever leave us again.

The Cost of a Crossover

I think I’ve reached the point where I am crossovered out. I’m excited for the premise of the Skrull Invasion and I love the creative team on Final Crisis but a big part of me is crying “ENOUGH!!!”.

So I’m going to toy with myself and show me just how expensive these crossovers are.

Marvel and DC often say that you don’t need to buy every issue of the crossover but that argument rarely sticks. It’s almost impossible to create a crossover event where you don’t need to read at least one tie-in and the amount of success these events have, it’s obvious people buy a lot of, if not all of the tie ins. Plus, why would a publisher put a product they really don’t want you to read?

Anyway, every now and then I will take a look at just much these events would of cost you when it first came out. Of course, there is a good chance you’d have to pay more for these now or in the future…

So without future ado, the real price of Civil War.

Prologues New Avengers Illuminati Special: 3.99 Fantastic Four #536-537: 5.98 Amazing Spider-Man #529-531: 8.97 Civil War Opening Shot Sketchbook: Free Marvel Spotlight Millar/McNiven : 2.99

Total: $21.93

Civil War Civil War #1-7: 12.96 She-Hulk #8: 2.99 Wolverine #42-48: 17.94 Amazing Spider-Man #532-538: 17.94 Civil War: Front Line #1-10: 29.90 Thunderbolts #103-105: 8.95 New Avengers #21-25: 14.95 Fantastic Four #538-542: 14.95 X-Factor #8-9: 5.98 Civil War: X-Men #1-4: 11.96 Cable & Deadpool #30-32: 8.97 Black Panther #18, 21-25: 17.94 Young Avengers and Runaways #1-4: 11.96 Daily Bugle Civil War: 0.50 Ms. Marvel #6-8: 8.97 Heroes for Hire #1-3: 8.97 Civil War Files: 3.99 Captain America #22-24: 8.97 Civil War: Choosing Sides: 3.99 Iron Man #13-14: 5.98 Punisher War Journal #1-3: 8.97 Civil War: War Crimes: 3.99 Iron Man Captain America: Casualties of the War: 3.99 Winter Soldier: Winter Kills: 3.99 Moon Knight #7-10: 11.96 Ghost Rider #8-11: 11.96 Blade #5: 2.99 Civil War: The Return: 2.99

Total: 269.30 Prologue + Civil War: 291:23

Epilogues Civil War Frontline #11: 2.99 Captain America #25: 3.99 Civil War: The Confession :3.99 Civil War: Battle Damage Report: 3.99 Fantastic Four #543: 2.99 Marvel Spotlight Civil War Aftermath: 2.99 Wolverine #48: 2.99

Total: 23.93 Civil War + Prologue + Epilogues: 315.16

Unmasking Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #11-16: 14.95 Sensational Spider-Man #28-34: 20.93

Total: 35.88

The Grand Civil War + Prologue + Epilogue Total: 351.04

Three hundred and fifty one dollars, four cents… Three hundred and fifty one dollars, four cents… Three hundred… really, do I have to sum up this staggering price or does it speak for itself?