Tag Archive: marvel


EGM’s Best of 2012: Editor’s Choice: Ray Carsillo

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
January 2, 2013

It was a weird year for games in 2012. A lot of highly anticipated triple-A titles got delayed into 2013, and although a lot of great games still came out, there wasn’t a clear-cut winner for me this year like there was with last year’s Batman: Arkham City.

Thus, the deliberations between the voices in my head continued deep into the year, coming right down to the wire. It was neck-and-neck between a handful of titles, but when the chaos finally settled down, a Top 5 list emerged of what are—in my opinion—the best games of the year. These are those games—enjoy!

Ray’s Top 5 Games for 2012

#5: Sleeping Dogs

Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: United Front Games
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Mixing Batman: Arkham City’s hand-to-hand combat with Assassin’s Creed–style free-running, Grand Theft Auto–inspired open-world mechanics and gunplay, and Need for Speed’s driving sequences sounds like the ultimate videogame Frankenstein’s monster. However, unlike Mary Shelley’s rotting, mindless beast, Square Enix created an Adonis of a game with Sleeping Dogs. Although there may be little left to the imagination in terms of gameplay, developer United Front Games wove these aspects seamlessly together with an original, engaging plot—and that made Sleeping Dogs one of my must-play games of the year.

#4: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Firaxis Games
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

It’s never fun to die in games. But in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you must get comfortable with the concept of making sacrifices if you ever hope to complete it. In fact, the game kills most of your team right away in the tutorial just to help get this initial shock out of your system. After all, if humans were actually fighting a war against a superior foreign invader, losses would be commonplace. But even through all that failure, I still had tons of fun as I worked to save Earth from aliens.

#3: The Walking Dead

Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
Platforms: XBLA, PSN, PC, Mac, iOS

It’s not easy to make a comic or TV show into a videogame—especially when your fanbase is as rabid as the zombies they read about or watch. The Walking Dead, however, successfully captures the spirit of Robert Kirkman’s original comic while introducing us to an entirely new slice of life in that crazed, zombie-filled world. The young heroine Clementine is arguably the best new character gaming’s seen in years—especially considering the emotional range she’s forced through—and the story’s branching paths afford dozens of playthroughs. The Walking Dead lets you know that adventure games are back—and in a big way.

#2: Borderlands 2

Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Gearbox Software
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, OS X

I’ll admit that I don’t like to play games with other people. They slow me down—or I kill them too much, and they get frustrated, and it just ends up a mess with thrown controllers, slammed headsets, kids crying to their mommies, or me sleeping on the couch. One game is the exception to this rule, though: Borderlands 2. It’s got so many moments where you just wanna go “DID YOU SEE THAT?!” and you need to share that with someone. And if you do play alone, the game doesn’t suffer for it. Throw in probably the best all-around script of the year, and this should be on everyone’s Top 5 list.

#1: Assassin’s Creed III

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC

The new naval battles perfectly balance the addictive gameplay and historical accuracy for which the series is known. The plot has more twists than a Twizzler, keeping you hooked the whole way through. The new Wolf Pack co-op mode helps strengthen an already impressive multiplayer suite. Oh, and did I mention you can now stab people in the face more fluidly than ever before? By the time you get to the fifth entry in any franchise, it’s damn near impossible to continually raise the bar. And yet, Assassin’s Creed has done it so spectacularly that I can’t help but give Assassin’s Creed III my game of the year.

Ray’s Off-Topic Awards for 2012

The People’s Champ Award
Street Fighter X Mega Man
Mega Man X Street Fighter - Header This year marked Mega Man’s 25th anniversary…and yet, we didn’t get an official game. For some reason, Capcom cannot remove their collective heads from their asses long enough to be bothered with a new title starring the Blue Bomber. It was Street Fighter’s anniversary, too, and that got a game (even if it was a piece-of-garbage crossover with Tekken). Well, Capcom may not care about Mega Man anymore, but the fans do, and one devotee in particular—a Singaporean designer named Seow Zong Hui—honored Mega Man with his own Street Fighter–infused take!
The Marlboro Man Award for Most Unhealthily Addictive Casual Game
Marvel: Avengers Alliance
I rarely play casual or browser-based games, but when I heard about one based on the Marvel Universe, I figured I’d give it a shot. Any good comic nerd would! Now, nine months after its release, I find myself breaking the level-70 barrier with my custom-created character—and I’ve compiled a true dream team of superheroes. All while devoting far too much free time (and occasionally money) to this free-to-play Facebook addiction, as I continue my quest to save the universe from the element ISO-8!
Popsicle’s “The Colors, Duke! The Colors!” Award for Most Colorful Game
Dust: An Elysian Tail
I gave this award out last year, and I feel compelled to do so again—because it would be an indignity to not mention the stunning visuals of Dust: An Elysian Tail. Its hand-drawn animation left me in awe, and when you compound this breathtaking art style with the fact that it was created entirely by one man—Jazz Jackrabbit veteran Dean Dodrill—you can’t help but admire his extreme talents in crafting this intense labor of love.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #15.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

It was an interesting week in the comic world as IDW brings back another old-school hero while Marvel and DC continue to try to spin our old heroes into something new. So let’s just get right to it with this week’s Pullbox!

IDW – Judge Dredd #1 – The year is 2100. Most of the world is a radioactive wasteland aside from a small strip along the North American east coast where all people can do is build upward at this point. The facilities of this last bastion of humanity are mostly automated, but occasionally man’s primal urges to break the law rise to the surface and when this happens, there is only one true form of law. The Judges And the most severe of this militant law-enforcement group is Judge Dredd.

Capitalizing on the fair success of the Dredd movie, this comic is the start of bringing Britain’s most infamous comic book hero ever here to the States in a way that stays true to its dark, dystopian future. This first comic is a joy for any comic reader that is even just vaguely familiar with the character as it throws you in head-first to Judge Dredd’s world without pulling any punches. Pick this up and stick with it folks because it is going to be one hell of a ride from here on out.

DC – Talon #2 – Calvin Rose begins his war against the Court of Owls in earnest in the hopes of finding the women who helped prevent him from succumbing to the same fate as all other Talons. When he looks to hit one of the Court’s primary fund reserves, however, he realizes that he may have bitten off more than he can chew and will need to push his skills as an escape artist to the test if he hopes to live.

Even though this book is only a couple of issues in, and I didn’t even really enjoy the whole ‘Court of Owls’ concept, Talon shows a lot of potential as it is already introducing new and unique characters, and looks to be working hard to give Calvin some nemesis of his own to do battle against. The idea of bringing back Owls from the dead could get old quickly, but it definitely works through a couple of issues and it should be interesting to see how Calvin’s war on the Owls continues in the coming months This is definitely one book to keep an eye on.

Marvel – Astonishing X-Men Annual #1 – In this one-shot story, we again see how being an X-Man affects Northstar and his marriage as The Friends of Humanity terrorist group has started targeting the loved ones of mutants instead of just the mutants themselves. Labeling them gene traitors, Northstar must aide his friends in hunting down the hate mongers before his husband becomes the next casualty.

If you’ve been reading Astonishing X-Men, this Annual issue really helps put a nice little bowtie on the recent events that have happened with Northstar and his wedding and all that. It doesn’t really feature a lot of action, but does a nice job of fleshing out some characters, including Karma, Northstar, and his husband, and feels like it is setting them all up for something big in the future. A solid read, but not a must have unless you’ve been following this series very closely.

DC – Batman, Inc. #5 – Batman claims he’s had a vision of the future where Damian becomes Batman and Gotham gets wiped off the map because of it. Everyone Bruce knows and loves die in the future and so in order to prevent this from happening, Bruce wishes to send Damian back to Talia as a peace offering.

A little confusing at first, as is typical of most of Grant Morrison’s more recent works, it all comes together in the end as this issue has an old-school ‘Elseworlds’ feel to it that I appreciated. Also, having the Joker being the villain the brings about the end of Gotham was a nice touch as any time you can work in the Clown Prince of Crime is a bonus for sure. It would have been nice though if aside from explaining Batman’s insane vision, if this issue has actually done something, like, I don’t know, forward the story, perhaps. Not the best issue of Batman, Inc. in how it relates to the series, but I’ve read worse.

Marvel – Secret Avengers #34 – Captain Britain and Hawkeye are trapped in the Earth-666 parallel universe where all the heroes we know are classic movie monsters (Thor is the Mummy, Wolverine is a vampire, Punisher is a Frankenstein monster, etc.), Venom and Valkyrie are ejected into space, and Hank Pym gets turned into a Deathlok!

This was one of the most difficult issues for me to follow in a while what with so many different stories going on at once. I usually love Rick Remender’s work, but he needs to get a grip on the reigns of this one fast because it feels like an out of control train ready to wreck at any time. And it’s not like I tried jumping into this one cold turkey. I’ve been following this series and still had trouble trying to piece together everything that was supposed to be happening. The whole feel of Secret Avengers seems to have taken a downward turn ever since Hawkeye took it over from Captain America and even though I’ve been with this book since the very beginning, it needs to pick up soon or I’m jumping ship.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #14.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
November 20, 2012

It’s been a long time coming folks, but I’ve finally gotten ahead of my backlog of comics and so I’m thrilled to finally present to you another Pullbox! The Marvel NOW! Initiative is under way (a clear reaction to the New 52, but at least the continuity has remained the same), and with it comes a flurry of new directions, writers, artists, and team-ups for our favorite heroes. DC meanwhile has a pair of smaller events under way with “Death of the Family” in Batman and “Rise of the Third Army” with Green Lantern. But most excitedly may be the start of a new limited run of origin stories from IDW based on the Borderlands video games! With that, here is this week’s Pullbox!

IDW – Borderlands: Origins #1: “Roland” – Everyone knows how much of a bad ass Roland from the first Borderlands game is, but little is known about his time as a Crimson Lance soldier with The Atlas Corporation. This story takes a look at just how he fell out of Atlas’s grace and what happened that turned this supreme soldier into a Vault Hunter.

Written by Gearbox Software Creative Guru Mikey Neumann, this first of four origin stories does a great job of expanding the Borderlands universe even further and holds a special place in my heart because I played my first playthrough of the original Borderlands as Roland. The only thing this comic lacked was how Roland acquires his patented turret. Otherwise, fans of the series will not be disappointed by both the tremendous art stylings of Augustin Padilla and how Mikey begins to further flesh out the characters that started it all for this fan-favorite shooter franchise. Great story, great action, great art makes this an easy addition to anyone’s Pullbox this week!

Marvel – X-Men Legacy #1 – Legion, one of the most powerful mutants on the planet and Professor Xavier’s prodigal son finally shows his face again. While the Avengers and X-Men fought over the Phoenix Force, Legion continued to fight his own personal demons in the Himalayas. With the aid of an old friend of his dad’s, Legion constructs a psychic prison that keeps his most malevolent personalities at bay. But when Legion is overwhelmed by the psychic outburst that occurs when his dad is killed by Cyclops, there is a prison break.

Legion has become one of the most interesting characters in the Marvel Universe over the past few years as the shades of gray become even more vague with him as he slips further and further into himself. To continue to see the ramifications, however, of Professor Xavier’s death and tie it directly into him makes this a storyline to watch. I can’t wait to see where Legion goes from here and I’m thrilled that he is being brought back after sitting out the Avengers vs. X-Men event. A strong start to this relaunched title, no doubt.

Marvel – All-New X-Men #1 – New mutants are popping up all over the world and Cyclops is trying to outrace Wolverine’s Jean Grey School in terms of recruiting them. Meanwhile, Beast is facing a terminal illness on his own as he refuses to share the burden with his friends and so before he leaves this plane of existence, he needs to make things right with Cyclops. Not necessarily the one of the current time, however.

This issue got off to such a strong start with Beast’s illness and Cyclops recruiting new mutants left and right. Then Brian Michael Bendis decided to send Beast back in time. Just because. There is nothing I hate more than time travel as a mechanic to kick off a new book because you are just trying to set a tone for why people should read this and time travel always ends up confusing people. Time travel and parallel universes are the two things that need to be held off of more often because they can end up with so many ramifications and therefore should be saved for major events. It even led to a confusing first-issue cover with the original five X-Men that almost made me want to pass up this book. Issue #1 and Bendis is already jumping the shark. Damn him and his time travel.

DC – Batman #14 – Alfred has been abducted and Commissioner Gordon is next on the Joker’s list as he wishes to remove all distractions from Batman’s life in order to harden him into the person he once was. To do this, Joker has finally deduced who the people are under the masks and is re-enacting all his first crimes with Batman, but out of order to keep the Dark Knight on his toes.

This is the best story in comics right now. After lying dormant for a year, the Joker has returned with the ultimate scheme. And for once it has purpose that even we can understand. Not only to hurt the people of Gotham randomly, but to drive a stake through Batman’s heart in the process by eliminating all those around him. You can’t stop turning the page to see what the Joker does next and how he will inventively eliminate his targets. Not only is he forcing Batman back to the way he once was, he’s also changing himself by ostracizing Harley and riding this scheme out solo. I look forward to every one of these chapters each week and get giddy just thinking about what I may read in each one. A must read for sure.

DC – Green Lantern Corps #14 – Guy Gardner and his troops fail to overcome the Third Army soldiers with only Gardner escaping the unfortunate fate of assimilation. The Guardians quickly change their plan, however, and turn this minor setback still into a victory by then revoking Gardner’s ring and sending him back to Earth. With only two original Earth Lanterns of Sector 2814 left, The Third Army may be poised to carry out the Guardians’ mission of complete and total emotional annihilation.

This story is moving along at a snail’s pace right now as each issue is the slow, methodical elimination of the main Lantern threats for the Guardians. It is setting itself up so that once the action does start, it’ll be hot and heavy, but as it is all this table setting is starting to bore me. Stay with this a few more issues folks to see if it starts to get good, but if The Third Army ends up leaving a sour taste in my mouth like the Blackest Night and Brightest Day events, this could be the end of my following the Green Lantern books. Step on the gas with this one DC!

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Gimmicks Assemble!

Every time you walk into a comic book store nowadays, it seems there is some sort of new major event going on, especially with Marvel. This constant bombardment of universe changing stories makes it so that mighty Marvelites barely get a chance to breathe when it comes to keeping up with the flood of fiction usually before them. Fear Itself, World War Hulk, House of M, Dark Reign, Avengers vs X-Men, Civil War, Chaos War, Schism, and Spider-Island, are just some, not even close to all, of what has happened in the past few years of Marvel. So when we first heard we were getting a Marvel Avengers Kinect game based off of Secret Invasion, most of us were shaking our heads at the idea since in modern comic terms, this four-year old story arc was already considered ancient in the mythos of Earth-616 and is not nearly as beloved as some other stories.

The basic premise of Secret Invasion was that the shape-shifting Skurllls had found a way to transform themselves to resemble many of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes without being detected and then inserted themselves as sleeper agents amongst the super hero populous. Once it was revealed with Skrull-Electra’s death, the event had everyone guessing as to whom they could trust and just where all the original heroes had gone. And so the idea of jumping into the shoes of everyone’s favorite heroes to bash those green-skinned, three-chinned, would be conquerors led to Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.

The game has you play as 20 different characters from the Marvel Universe and take on both regular and Skrull versions of many of these heroes and villains in a fighting game style as you loosely follow the events of Secret Invasion. From the infiltration of the Baxter Building where the Fantastic Four make their home to the attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, you must fend off dozens of foes overall as each level has several conflicts associated with it.

Each round of fighting features a pair of heroes or villains on each side, but should one character’s lifebar be depleted, the match is over. In terms of the motions you must perform, anyone who played Ubisoft’s previous Kinect hero game, PowerUp Heroes, should be familiar with the actions as you kick, punch, and swing your arms around to mimic moves that the actual Marvel characters might do. From clasping your fists together and swinging upward for a massive Hulk uppercut to opening your arms up wide for an Iron Man Repulsor Beam, the game does a very good job of recognizing your movements and what exactly you want to do with each character. To immerse you in the experience even more, there are even voice commands where if you scream certain phrases during Ultra Attacks, like ‘HULK SMASH’, your moves are even more powerful and as cheesy as you may sound, the gimmick is surprisingly fun.

As tight handling as the game may be for a motion game though, its core mechanics are overly simple and the motions become repetitive and boring as you quickly realize just how many battles you have to work your way through in order to beat the game’s campaign mode. The story adaptation also clearly needed more work than it got and if you are a diehard fan of the comics, you won’t appreciate the characters and scenarios that were randomly added to try to force some longevity into this title that even then should really only require a few hours to beat.

Despite its fatal flaw of being as repetitive as every other Kinect game out there though, Marvel Avengrs: Battle for Earth actually has a lot more polish than you might expect from a game of this nature and is a great way to get your butt out of your chair to pummel some of your all-time favorite comic book characters. Along with some tight controls, there is a versus and co-op feature that allows you to play with or against your friends and could prove to be a great way to kill a rainy day should your living room have the space for it. The look and sound of the game also helps give the game an authentic comic book feel. All told, if you’re a Marvel fan really looking to get into the shoes of one of your favorite characters, there are worst things you can do than play Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.

SUMMARY: As usual, the gimmicks quickly become evident and tiresome, especially for folks familiar with the comic arc this game’s story is based off of. However, there is some surprising polish here and you might have more fun with it than you’d expect as it is one of the few Kinect games where the controls actually work.

  • THE GOOD: Great look and sound to the game that mimics the comics well
  • THE BAD: Simple game play that can become boring quickly
  • THE UGLY: Skrulls and their triple chins

SCORE: 7.0

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth is available currently for Xbox 360 and will later be available on Wii U. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.    

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #13.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — 1 Comment
October 20, 2012

Sorry to do this to you again folks, but next week EGM will be at New York ComicCon so the Pullbox will be in hiatus for another week. Luckily we are here this week and it was a good week for comics with the AvX event wrapping up. Instead of focusing on that though, we’re going to look at a few comics that we don’t want you to forget about, including a couple of new #1’s. With that, here’s this week’s Pullbox!

Marvel – Minimum Carnage #1 (One-Shot) – Someone has broken Cletus Kasady, a.ka. Carnage, out of prison and he’s looking to go on a killing spree in a whole new universe! The micro-assassins who broke him out of jail want to get back to their home dimension, but Venom and Scarlet Spider may have something to say about that as Kasady leaves a trail of blood miles long to get to where he needs to.

Starting and ending in a one-shot, the bulk of this six-issue mini-series will carry over in a crossover between both Venom and Scarlet Spider over the next couple of months. Looking like the next issue will be your standard “Who are you? I hate you. Let’s fight. Wait, we’re both good guys. Team-up!” while Venom and Scarlet Spider try to figure out what universe they end up in. All I know for sure is that whenever Carnage is involved, the action is likely to be epic and Kasady will do something so deranged that you may crap yourself. He’s one of the best villains of all-time for a reason folks and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Marvel – The Defenders #11 – Finally, the massive Concordance Engine story arc that seems to have been going on since this series started will come to an end…next issue. This issue at least has explained what the heck the Concordance Engine is and it is an interesting take on the creation of the Marvel Universe. What the Engines do is pull the miracles from all the alternative universes out there into one universe, the Marvel Universe, in order to prepare for an epic confrontation between all those with powers and the dreaded Death Celestial, who actually acts exactly like DC’s Anti-Monitor.

The idea of what these Engines are is one of the most creative ideas the Marvel folks have come up with in a while. Basically saying that one universe was supposed to have mutants and the X-Men, while another would have the Fantastic Four, and another would have Spider-Man, but these engines pulled these unique situations into one world to prepare it for this final battle. A great idea and good action as things finally start to come to a head and we learn that John Aman was indeed always a good guy all along, but I personally can’t wait for this story to be over next issue.

DC – Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1 – Three short Batman stories come together to help give us insight into just how Batman works, and in the case of these particular stories, how he overcomes his mental and physical weaknesses to be the badass superhero that he is.

One of my favorite DC Comics for a long time was Legends of the Dark Knight, so to see it return in this form brought a smile to my face. Each individual story had a special charm about it while also giving us a great look at how Batman operates. It even took the time to make fun of itself at one point by referencing the infamous Adam West ‘Bat-Shark Repellant’. Add-in a great confrontation with Amazo in one story and really I can’t wait to see where this new monthly goes from here and for me is a must-add to the Pullbox.

DC – Before Watchmen: Rorschach #2 (of 4) – Rorschach survived his surprise encounter with a bunch of gangsters only to collapse inside his favorite diner from internal bleeding. After spending three days in a hospital bed, Rorschach healed, and readied himself again to go after Rawhead, the head of the little criminal empire that Rorschach wants to take down and that meant shaking down every two-time thug he sees.

Great, gruesome action throughout this book as Rorschach’s methods of interrogation are amazing to see on the comic page. The lengths he will go to for justice show why this is most everyone’s favorite character from the original Watchmen. And doing his internal dialogue through his journal entries is brilliant as we get to see what really makes the character tick and how unwavering he is in his one-man war on crime. One of the best of the Before Watchmen books, if you get only one of these series, I think Rorschach should be it.

Image – Non-Humans #1 – In the future, inanimate objects take on life and develop souls. Action figures, teddy bears, store mannequins, and, of course, robots, all become sentient and its all people can do to try to keep this from spreading further. In fact, all creative thought becomes outlawed in order to keep this unknown plague from spreading into anything else and overthrowing what humans have come to know. So the internet, TV, movies, video games, and more, are all destroyed. And during it all, one cop is just trying to keep the peace between these new creatures and the old human race.

This was one of the craziest books I’ve read in a while. From serial killer dummies to drug dealing teddy bears, this book is like a little kid’s nightmare come to life. I was disgusted, shocked, bewildered, and I want more damnit. At least for another couple of issues anyway just to see how things develop in this weird and crazy world. There are so many questions this book brought up that I need to see a couple more issues and so for the time being, I’d recommend picking this up as you might be surprised at much you enjoy it.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #12.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
October 2, 2012

Sorry to have missed the past couple of weeks folks. Lots of various fall preview events have pulled us, the EGM Staff, into a dozen different directions and so certain things had to be sacrificed. But we are back this week and have a brand new Pullbox ready to go!

IDW – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #14 – Raphael is taught an important lesson about his temper as Casey Jones and April O’Neil are officially welcomed into the family. Meanwhile, Baxter Stockman begins to learn just how deep General Krang’s resources go and the Shredder begins to hatch his latest scheme in the hopes of finding someone to replace Karai as his number two!

The big reveal this issue that propelled TMNT #14 into my top spot this week is in the picture directly above this entry. Yes, the creation of the Technodrome is underway and with it means the likelihood that Shredder and Krang will finally form their partnership sooner rather than later. Also, with Shredder ready to make a move, the action will likely start to pick up again as this issue’s main focus was Raphael’s needed lesson in anger management. All told though, Kevin Eastman hasn’t lost it as this remains one of the best-written comics on the market today and should appeal to TMNT fans new and old alike.

Marvel – Wolverine and the X-Men #17 – It’s the issue we’ve all been waiting for. Nevermind AvX, this is much more monumental to the X-Men universe. Finally, we have explained to us what the heck Doop’s job is at Wolverine’s academy!

Taking a short break from the AvX event for a more light-hearted moment, this issue shows us that Doop is indeed an X-Man and more than pulls his weight around the academy, even if no one but Wolverine sees it. Just seeing what Wolverine needed to do to recruit Doop though will have you cracking up, and when you see how much of a ladies man he is, you might just fall on the floor. A well-written issue that was a much-needed change of pace from the seriousness of the AvX event and its upcoming fallout, this is a great one-off story to get into this series.

Marvel – X-Men Legacy #274 – A lot has been going on in the world of the X-Men and now more than ever, mutants are hated and despised because of the acts of Cyclops and the rest of the Phoenix Five. But Rogue is a hero. And so she keeps on doing heroic things. But it’s not easy to be heroic when Magneto comes to her in the middle of a train wreck and starts pouring his heart out to her.

Nice to see this little lover’s spat finally get resolved, even if it wasn’t in the way we expected. This loose end needed to be taken care of for a while and this one-off story does that while also waiting for the rest of the AvX books to wrap up. It also features several great shots of Magneto (one is above) and a lot of great art in general for such a simple story so kudos to  David Baldeon (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), and Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist) for the style that drips off this book.

DC – Batman: The Dark Knight #0 – Continuing the DC series of Zero Issues that tell more elaborate back stories of some of our favorite heroes, this tale of Batman looks at what he does when he learns that Joe Chill is the man who killed his parents and wants to know why.

More so than any other of the Zero Issues from DC, the Batman ones I think have been the best because they’ve only added slight twists to the classic tale or told never before heard stories of Batman in the early days involving his training and whatnot. This one with Joe Chill was particularly interesting because it turns Joe Chill from a low-ranking mob hitman into nothing more than a common mugger looking for his next score. Same basic premise, but it adds an interesting twist to the character as Batman learns the hard way that there are just bad people in the world on all levels of the social ladder. A solid read for all Batman fans if you can get past the fact that yes, we have heard this one before.

DC – Red Lanterns #0 – The birth of Atrocitus, the Rise of the Manhunters, the creation of the Green Lanterns, and the spawning of the Red Lanterns is detailed in another continuation of the Zero Issues from DC.

Another story we’ve heard before, but with more detail and another twist as we finally learn just how it is Atrocitus was able to survive while the rest of his planet in Sector 666 got turned to ash. Great art, especially if you love the color red, and a chilling tale of how Atrocitus watched his family burn around him and how he rose up to hate the Guardians more than anything else in the universe. I especially loved the design of the Manhunters and the sequence when they started annihilating everyone in their way. A solid read if you’re a fan of the Red Lanterns or even Green Lantern for that matter, but again, a story we’ve heard before, just with more details now.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #11.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
September 11, 2012

DC’s Issue #0’s started this week, but was there anything of any real note in them to check out? Couple this with a light week from Marvel and on the Indie front should make this an interesting Pullbox! Find out below!

Marvel – Venom #24 – Hellstrom has brought the demon inside Flash Thompson to the surface, but is he strong enough to force it back down? Or is the symbiote even stronger than both the possession and in his host combined? Agent Venom must find help as soon as possible before whatever it is inside him ends up destroying him though.

Seeing the Venom symbiote’s ferocity again like it was in this issue was a refreshing sight and seeing what Thompson’s desperation would push him to do again made this issue a fun read. The end reveal of what Hellstrom’s master plan felt a little cheesy and a little more oddball than I’d expect from the son of the devil, but could be entertaining if pulled off well in the next issue. As is though, I’ll be picking it up just to see what Venom does next as the demon inside him is ready for an interesting fight!

Marvel – Avengers Academy #36 – The Clean Slate nanotech meant to de-power the world of all its superheroes is ready to go and the Academy’s revolt against the plan has pushed up the timetable of its release by Jeremy Briggs! Half the team still has to reclaim their powers though if they have any hope of going after Briggs and his hired help in time to stop the missiles full of the nanotech.

I haven’t loved every issue, but most of Avengers Academy has been a fun and entertaining read and this 4-issue story arc has been no exception as you finally start to see many of the characters come into their own and mature. Much how real people might if there were in a real academy tailored to folks with super powers. The entire story does have a bit of a funny feel to it though as it’s also a bit too neat at certain points. It makes me feel that this is all just some Danger Room test or something and the last issue of the story will end with the kids coming out of stasis or the like. After all, how would you figure out if a bunch of super powered kids were ready to graduate to the big league? Maybe I’m reading too much into it. Either way, this book is only good at this point depending on how early you got into it, being the most rewarding for fans who’ve been there since Issue #1. As is, you might want to wait until after this story.

DC – Batman: Detective Comics #0 – Looking to go into the origin stories of every DC superhero, DC’s Issue #0 initiative for Detective Comics tells of one of Bruce Wayne’s last training exercises. In the Himalayas, he searches for a master of martial arts and body control called Shihan Matsuda. There, Bruce will learn some of his most valuable lessons of both mind and body, but they will come at a terrible cost.

I’ve been one of the biggest critics of the New 52 since it started a year ago. And this Issue #0 program is just another poor idea by DC to push comics as it delays current storylines of major characters by another month, forcing us to read stories we already know for most of our favorite heroes. At the very least though, this particular book, that could make sense as part of Batman’s back story, was a good read and helped us learn where Batman acquired some of the techniques that allow him to slow his breathing, control his body temperature, and increase his pain resistance. It also explains part of the reasons why he keeps most people at arm’s length in his never-ending crusade against crime in Gotham.

The worst thing about this book and the rest of the Issue #0 run though is DC blatantly ignoring the histories of some of their most celebrated characters. By claiming James Gordon and the Phantom Stranger (who is next in the Pullbox) just appeared in the DCU a few months ago literally throws away DECADES of history and sends the wrong message to new fans. Honestly, DC should be embarrassed by how they do things now and if I didn’t feel a responsibility to keep reading comics, I’d probably stop. Even with their relaunch of Spider-Man a few years ago, at least they didn’t suddenly change that Spider-Man’s first appearance wasn’t in Amazing Fantasy #15.

DC – The Phantom Stranger #0 – Judas Iscariot, one of history’s most infamous villains, has been brought forward to a council of wizards to pay for his crime against humanity. As part of the Trinity of Sin, Judas must now walk the earth for eternity until he atones for his crime, now as The Phantom Stranger!

The Phantom Stranger’s origin has always been in question, but the constant theme of dealing with heaven and hell has always been there, so making him Judas Iscariot and making his quest one for atonement isn’t a bad idea. And since he’s had so many origins over the years, banging an official one out and making it readily available for the public was a very good idea by DC. But completely ignoring his past 50 years of history though cannot be forgiven and on top of this slap in the face to long term fans, the book itself isn’t even that great a read once you get past the first few pages. Hopefully this can lead to some more interesting adventures featuring Phantom Stranger since he’s been eerily quiet (even for him) during the New 52, but DC better get their act together before long term fans stage a massive revolt.

Valiant – Archer & Armstrong #2 – After dispatching the lower level thugs of ‘The One Percent’, Archer is captured by some more imposing figures. Armstrong is there to help bust him out, but not before Archer has a vision and understands what he must do to save his friends. Now, in the vein of National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code, Archer and Armstrong are on a scavenger hunt around various holy locations in the hopes of finding the six pieces to The Boon, an item of immense power that everyone else is dying to get and only Armstrong has the clues to find!

This was an amazing read and is yet another feather in the cap of Valiant Comics and their triumphant return to Pullboxes and comic book stores everywhere. The dynamic between Archer and Armstrong is great to watch and this epic movie feel to what they’re doing makes it all the better. Not to mention, unlike many other comics out there, this still has a feeling of unpredictability while taking jabs at today’s more prominent organizations like the American government and the Catholic Church. Ninja nuns anyone? Fred Van Lente continues to show off as a tremendous writer in the industry and this is easily my favorite new indie of the year so far. Bravo on every front. Get on this book NOW folks.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #10.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
September 5, 2012

A slightly less busy Pullbox this week that looked very similar to last week in terms of what we’re covering, but very different in regards to content. Without further ado, here is this week’s Pullbox!

Marvel – Uncanny X-Force #30 – Evan, a.k.a. Genesis, a.k.a. the Boy Apocalypse, is on the road trip from hell as Daken’s new iteration of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants attempts to jog his memory of what his life’s purpose is as they hope if he remembers, they’ll be at the forefront of Apocalypse’s new army. So as Shadow King plays countless games with the boy’s mind, X-Force and the rest of the X-Men are lost as to what to do to go about getting Evan back before it’s too late.

Anyone who is a fan of Apocalypse as a villain will love this issue. Not only does it show off the lengths Daken, Sabertooth, and Shadow King are willing to go to torture the boy into reminding him what he is supposed to become, but we finally start to see Evan show off some of Apocalypse’s more infamous powers, like shape-shifting, as his rage forces him to push himself to the limits as The Brotherhood breaks down everything he has ever known bit by bit. Surprisingly, much of the book revolves around Evan, which hasn’t happened since X-Force took the boy in, and the X-Men themselves only get a few panels explaining their concern about the creation of a new Brotherhood. Again, if you’re a fan of Apocalypse, pick this issue up.

Marvel – Wolverine and the X-Men #15 – Wolverine and the rest of his school prepare for what will likely be the final battle with the Phoenix and everyone on campus, from Krakoa to Toad to Iceman have different ways of getting ready for what could be (but most likely won’t) be their final battle.

Okay, we get it. I’m honestly kind of tired of the whole Avengers vs X-Men event now. It’s coming to a head and this issue just felt like a waste of ink and paper. It was interesting to see some of the asides, like Toad with Paige Guthrie, and Professor X with Quentin Quire, or even Iron Man and his little think tank having at it before Broo the Brood shows them all up, but in terms of forwarding the actual story, very little happened of note here and it makes you wonder how long Marvel will drag this out at this rate. I’m ready for it to be over already and at this rate, I’m almost rooting for the Phoenix.

DC – Batman Detective Comics Annual #1 – During the Night of the Owls debacle at Arkham Asylum, it seems that Roman Sionis, a.k.a. the original Black Mask, had escaped and hypnotized much of the staff into believing he was still in his cell. Now, Batman has to find a way to stop him before he forms a new False Face Society and begins a new reign of terror over Gotham.

This is probably my favorite Batman related comic since the New 52 launched because it feels like an old-school Batman story in terms of its pacing, the action, and the villains involved. Bringing back Roman Sionis into prominence is a good thing, even if the entire mind-control battle between him and The Mad Hatter (read the book to better understand!) came out of left field a little bit. Batman fans should definitely pick up this book, especially if they’re looking for a solid point to get back into Detective Comics incase they missed some of the Night of the Owls stuff.

DC – Green Lantern Annual #1 – The battle between Hal, Sinestro, and Black Hand finally comes to a head. Meanwhile, halfway across the universe, some of the origins of the Guardians comes to light as they free the source of power that will drive their Third Army, which we also finally see just what that Army will be!

I really don’t know what to say about this comic aside that it is a must-read if you are at all interested in the upcoming Green Lantern crossover event. 16 issues (17 if you count this prologue) across four titles will change the face of the Green Lanterns forever as it seems a being called The Original Lantern and who can effortlessly wield all spectrums of light is powering a Borg-like entity for the Guardians. The Guardians have realized the only way to ensure order in a chaotic universe is to destroy free will. Therefore, making the universe of a hive mind seems to be the way to go and although I’m not really a fan of this direction, it could provide a very interesting new threat to the DCU. The most exciting part of this book though is that in freeing The Original Lantern as their power source, the Guardians have also stirred up a long lost remnant of their race! This could possibly lead to an entirely new cast of Guardians down the line to replace these power-mad ones. Time will tell on that front though as Hal Jordan first has to worry about coming back from the dead again.

IDW – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: April O’ Neil #1 (One-Shot) – April feels tired of sitting on the sidelines and wants the turtles to know she can be an integral part of the team as well. She may not be a ninja, and she might be able to bash skulls even like Casey, but her intelligence and ability for subterfuge can be just as valued as being a human for her has its perks. Of course, after the mess she caused, it’ll be unlikely she’ll be brought back to Stockgen again.

I wasn’t going to do a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic two weeks in a row originally. But after reading this and absolutely geek-gasming at what this book laid out, I couldn’t resist. Fans of the original cartoon series and Archie series of comics will immediately pick up on a failed experiment that April lets loose during her antics in this issue, best known as Slash, the Evil Turtle. Whether or not Slash will exhibit his same low-level intelligence as his previous incarnations is yet to be seen, but his obsession with palm trees at least remains the same. And considering how much of a fan favorite rogue Slash ended up becoming (he even had his own badass action figure), it’ll be interesting to see what other mutants start popping up in the issue of TMNT in the months ahead. We also see one of the main characters of this book finally have some direct interaction with Rock Soldiers, who up until this point, had been seen only with Krang and Baxter Stockman and kept hidden from the TMNT. All in all, this book may not look like much if you just glance at the cover but old-school TMNT fans must pick this up.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #9.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
August 28, 2012

A bit late this week. Clearly must still be recovering from the trip to Gamescom. Either way, after catching up from the missed week before, we ready for another edition of the Pullbox!

Marvel – Secret Avengers #30 – Many of the villains of the Marvel Universe start to get wise to Venom’s act and soon what seemed like an easy snatch ‘n’ grab turns into all out mayhem! And with it, Taskmaster bolts for Max Fury with the Third Crown. Lucky for them, it seems the completed Crown will not work on the head of a Life Model Decoy. That doesn’t mean the Secret Avengers are out of the woods yet though…

Tons of action, great banter between Venom and Taskmaster and later Hawkeye and Vengeance, and a cliffhanger that sets up this story arc possibly coming to an end soon. If it doesn’t end soon, you can expect a lot more conflict and action in the coming issues as it looks like some of the Secret Avengers are falling under the power of the crown. And it’s interesting how once again, being just a robot, how Max Fury is left all alone. If you haven’t been reading Secret Avengers, now is not the time to jump in, with such a convoluted story line, but if you have, keep going!

Marvel – Astonishing X-Men #53 – After being blown up at Northstar’s wedding, Wolverine starts to put himself back together and Beast helps this small team of X-Men figure out who has Karma, who put her up to this, and just what they’re going to do about it. And Northstar is none too happy about having his wedding crashed by exploding nanobots.

I think the best part of this comic was that we are really starting to see how far Iceman’s powers go. For a long time he was considered an Omega level mutant who was only held back by his own inhibitions and lack of imagination. In this book, as we have in a lot of other recent X-Men stories with Iceman, we see just how far he is able to push himself as he’s split up his consciousness, pulled himself back together from almost nothingness, and in this issue created an absolute monstrous ice creature. The rest of the issue though was rather lackluster, but hints at something larger as it looks like yet another new X-Men villain is in the business of existing simply to make their lives miserable and prove they are not as special as they think.

DC – Batman Incorporated #3 – In order to see just how far Leviathan has permeated the power structure of Gotham, Batman dusts off an old disguise, fan-favorite Matches Malone, to see if he can’t stir up some trouble in Gotham’s underbelly and get a few snitches to point him in the right direction. Unknown to him though, the snitches might be in Leviathan’s pocket, too.

Bringing this long-time alias back to life, after the real Matches Malone was killed by the Ventriloquist some time ago, and having Malone’s new crew being other members of Batman, Inc. was just a stroke of genius by Morrison. And he needed it considering how much momentum this book lost in the launch of the New 52. Finally though it seems to be back on track. And the idea of Robin having his own second identity now, although a bit too early in his life for my liking, was a nice touch as now everyone who has ever worn the yellow cape has matured into something more. And keeping with the red theme that now permeates Nightwing’s costume to match Red Hood and Red Robin, Damian decided to do the same as his new moniker is Redbird. What this means in the future, we will have to wait and see, but at the very least after ‘Matches’ stumbled into a Leviathan trap, I think he’ll be happy to have Redbird around next issue. 

DC – Green Lantern: New Guardians #12 – After finally realizing who has been pulling the strings of members of each lantern corps, Kyle and the others must band together to stop Invictus once and for all before he brings chaos to every star system in his path. But will the secret that Sayd has kept for so long also drive this group apart once their mission is accomplished?

Honestly, for what was supposed to be an epic final battle with Invictus, this issue felt flat in a lot of ways and was more about the upcoming drama within the Green Lantern Corps as Invictus folded like a house of cards after the Lanterns figured out what his power source was. It was also mostly about how no one in this New Guardians Group could trust one another, even after all they had been through and Kyle is left there twiddling his thumbs. The only interesting thing this issue brings up is the corruptions amongst the Guardians and how Kyle will fit into that picture as the fabled ‘Third Army’ that has been built up over the last few months will finally come to fruition in the next couple of issues. 

IDW – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 – The Turtles are still rattled after nearly losing Splinter to the hands of the Shredder and even Splinter himself isn’t the same. But when Casey Jones stumbles into the sewers, beaten and bloodied once again by his father, Raphael has enough and goes out to wreak vengeance on the old drunk. Splinter feels this is a perfect time to teach his son a lesson of ninjitsu though. Meanwhile, the Shredder realizes that Karai is not fit to serve him as his second-in-command, even though we find out that she was the one who resurrected Shredder, her grandfather. We also see Krang finally show off his true form, that of a living brain!

Even though Shredder and Krang were two short asides for the main part of this story, this is obviously setting up the team-up that fans of the 80s cartoon have been waiting for. Shredder needs a new second-in-command, Krang needs someone more competent than Baxter Stockman. The ending to this book was shocking though and makes me wonder just how dark Kevin Eastman will take his original characters in the next issue as Splinter is definitely different after his encounter after his old nemesis. If you haven’t been getting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles yet, now is a great time to get on board as it looks like business is about to pick up!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Pullbox – Issue #8.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
August 13, 2012

A decent haul this week saw a couple of new number ones permeate the pile and make things interesting for this week’s Pullbox!

Note: Due to EGM’s presence at Gamescom, the Pullbox will be put on hiatus next week.

DC – Batman and Robin #12 – The new villain Terminus finally reveals himself to Batman and looks to not only destroy the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder, but all of Gotham as well!

This book was one of the most anti-climactic ends to a story arc I’ve read in quite some time. Not only did Batman easily dispose of this new villain, permanently, but the entire sequence with the bomb played out way too much like The Dark Knight Rises and it makes me wonder how much comics and movies go hand-in-hand nowadays. At the very least, we know now Batman can hopefully move on to a villain with a little more gravitas than the awful Terminus and get this book back on track after this issue jumped off the rails. Not pleased with it at all right now.

DC – Deathstroke #12 – Lobo is ready to wipe the Earth from the galaxy baby and only Deathstroke is in his way! How Lobo escaped in the first place also surfaces and it makes Deathstroke realize he has a lot more problems on his hands than just the last of the Czarnians.

Now this is how you finish off a story arc. The end battle between Deathstroke and Lobo was epic and Deathstroke’s finally few pages of dialogue really helped you see the inner workings of the character more than anything else up to this point. The art is classic Rob Liefeld meaning you either love it or hate it, but considering how much action this book had in it, I think he was the right guy for the job. The big question now is to figure out where Slade goes from here after collecting one of his biggest bounties in quite some time.

Marvel – Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe #2 – Deadpool has a new voice inside his head calling the shots and it spells disaster for the entirety of the Marvel Universe as no one is safe as Deadpool hasn’t just broken the fourth wall, he’s shattered it!

I really thought I would be enjoying this spoof spin-off of Deadpool’s usual over the top antics a lot more, but it may in fact be too crazy even for him as it moves away from the goofy and into the dark comedy realm a bit, and I’m not really sure how I like that. The Avengers, Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, and The Incredible Hulk all fall victim to Wade Wilson in this issue and do so far too easily for my liking. I mean, I’ve wanted to shoot Spider-Man in the head for a long while, too, but this left a surprisingly poor taste in my mouth, even if Spidey’s gruesome demise was at least awesome to watch. I’m still not sure how to feel about this one, but I’ll definitely be picking up Issue Three to see just where it can go from here.

Marvel – Gambit #1 – Out of the bayou, off campus from Wolverine’s school, and on a mission to get himself into some old school trouble, Remy LeBeau, best known to the Marvel Universe as Gambit, is looking to cause some trouble with some very interesting characters.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this comic, but a cross between the spy gadgets you might get in an Ed Brubaker book crossed with the crazy thieving scenarios of something like the movie Entrapment, but with a Marvel twist (and no Catherine Zeta Jones in spandex unfortunately), left me just scratching my head in a perplexed, and definitely not entertained sort of way. The coolest thing about Gambit is his power and we barely saw even a glimmer of that in this book and then the entire ending was like diving off a cliff into three feet of water. It made no damn sense and didn’t make me want to do it again. A disappointing start for this new book and yet another Marvel #1 in recent weeks that just left me asking ‘why?’.

Valiant – Archer and Armstrong #1 – The top 1% of America is actually part of a sadistic religious cult who trains children inside an amusement park and only lets the one who can rise above them all out into the real world. His mission is simple: destroy the evil that cannot be named, but who conveniently hangs out in a dive bar in New York City as is actually named Armstrong. What the…

So, yeah, my summary is exactly what happens in this first issue of this new series from Valiant Comics. And as crazy as it sounds, wow, it was really good. It got off to a slow start and I admit it gave off a weird vibe, but by the time I finished it, I seriously cannot wait to see what happens next in what could turn out to be one of the most enjoyable odd couples to watch as Archer, the boy who rose above it all, and Armstrong, a tank of a man who doesn’t seem all that bad but is branded evil by this religious cult, will have to work together in short order I’m sure. Take what you will from the comic’s clear political statements, the point is the comic is well-written, thoroughly entertaining, and setting itself up to be something that could be a regular here in the Pullbox. Do yourself a favor, and pick this up.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment