Superman has always been a bit of a hit or miss read for me. Depending on the writer and the story taking place, I've found some stories to be excellent and thought-provoking, while others have left me either underwhelmed or completely baffled in the end. It's caused me to be more selective with the stories I've chosen these days, as comic book prices continue to rise every year. I'm sure everyone has their own opinions on what makes for a great Superman story by this point. In my case, I tend to prefer the stories that are more reflective, and less action-y, outside of the more crucial moments. The calm and sympathetic Superman, who acts more human than any of us sometimes, despite being from another planet altogether. I had a feeling I would want to read the issues contained in "The Men of Tomorrow" due to some factors that didn't actually have to with its story (as I knew nothing about it prior to picking these up).
For one thing, I knew Geoff Johns would be on writing duties, which was an immediate plus for me. This is the man who single-handedly got me interested in Green Lantern again, from his "Rebirth" storyline, all the way to present. I had also heard that John Romita Jr. was on the pencils this time, which has resulted in more hits than misses for me, especially since his artwork in Amazing Spider-Man was some of my favorite during the JM Straczynski run. I understand his art style is not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't like every last panel he's ever drawn, but overall, the good outweighed the bad in my experience with him. These two factors were enough to get me on board, at least to see if it would be worth our while.
So what's it all about anyway? Well, there are of course multiple plot threads to consider (as this IS a Geoff Johns story after all), but the main story really focuses around a new character, Ulysses. He draws many similarities to Kal-El in that he was allegedly transported from a dying world, and brought to our own, with powers of flight, super strength, and others. Part of the fun of this 8-issue story arc was slowly uncovering the truth about Ulysses origins, as well as seeing how he and Kal-El continued to interact, the more their differences became apparent.
There's a lot of heart in this story too, and that may be the strongest aspect of all here. From the joy of Ulysses seeing his parents again, to the small, subtle moments like Clark looking through a photo book to represent his current state of loneliness, you really felt for every one of these characters throughout. It's only made more painful as the story continues and we start to realize that not everyone is going to come out of these events scot-free.
As I said above, Geoff Johns has been known to "fix" a lot of problems in the DC universe and bring things back to a state of former glory again (before messing around with it further!). This arc was no exception for him, as he immediately brought Clark back to working for the Daily Planet, came up with a solution about Jimmy Olsen and the large amount of money he inherited, and addressed many other situations that fans were complaining about previously.
But there was plenty of new to go with the old as well. For starters, we have a new villain called The Machinist, who ends up having a deeper connection to Supes than I was initially expecting. It all flows into the grand scheme of things very well. This is a villain that manages to make you feel uneasy almost every time you see him, which is really saying something when it's not just some big brute that can smash a lot.
One thing I definitely have to bring up is that Superman now has a new power as a result of the events in issue #38. For spoilers sake, I won't go into what it is or how he got it, but it's already added another element of story that is sure to shake things up in the future. Let's just say that between this and Dragon Ball Z's Goku getting a new Super Saiyan God form, we've still got whole new bits of life to look forward to from these legendary franchises.
I'd like to mention one other moment that I believe is noteworthy; the final issue of this story, issue #39. This serves as more of an epilogue to the story than anything else, and yet it provided some of my favorite moments of the entire arc. The dynamic between Kal-El and Jimmy in this issue is completely genuine, and we once again see more of those "human" moments that you don't get in too many Superman stories these days (though I'm hearing the latest issue of Action Comics is right on the money with this concept and I for one can't wait to read it).
This story arc could more or less be made into a movie (or at least an animated film); it's that good. Geoff Johns is at his best here, and I deeply regretted hearing he won't be writing any more stories for this title (at least for now, as far as we know). The artwork became a little less consistent near the end (if the cover of issue #38 is any indication), but this is hardly major or off-putting in the least. If you've been avoiding any New 52 stories like the plague, you may want to give this a try. I've never been a major Superman fan by any means, but I would be if there were more stories like this one out there. Pure gold.
It was a dark and stormy night... Alright, it was actually sunny afternoon, but I'm trying to sound DARK here! As many know, the New York Comic Con ticket system has gotten a little more difficult to use each year, due to a large increase of people trying to get tickets. Last year was already crazy enough: The website completely crashed at 12 noon, the minute tickets went on sale, leaving the people who didn't already have the ticket link bookmarked in the dust. After finally getting in, you were placed into a queue and put on somewhat of an e-line with other people, to organize everyone by the order that they each log in. Eyebrows started to raise when people saw 3 and 4 day passes already sold out after being in said queue for over an hour. Compared to last year (2013 at the time), this was INSANE! It took over a week for tickets to sell out the previous year, and here they were selling out in less than an hour! I settled for a Saturday pass, bowed my head in shame, and called it an afternoon.
Surely things would be better this year? Well, right off the bat, we all knew that was highly unlikely. The popularity of events like these only increases from year to year, and boy do people LOVE to get in on NYCC! But still, even with more people trying to get in, I figured I had a shot. After last year, they probably prepared their servers for the worst, so it all had to be good this time, right? RIGHT!? Holy freaking salamander on a stick Batman! How WRONG we were!!!
So the process was more or less the same. You click on the ticket link they provide at 12 noon and they place you into the queue line. Page loads, little squiggly circles move around the screen, and we play the waiting game... until...
Dun Dun DUNNNNNNNNNN!!! Well, that one's new. Will reloading help? ... No? Okay... Now what? I decided to check the Facebook page with the ticket link, to see if any other unfortunate souls were having this issue. Turns out, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was having the same problem! Now, before going all screwy on us, the queue page did say that our place would be held in line, even if we did get an error message. But that error message just didn't sound right to me. And on top of everything else, it had the NERVE to blame MY browser for this problem! How rude!!! I will have you know my Google Chrome browser is a motherf@#king BEAST, thank you very much! The queue page also had one more little gem of a quote: "In the unlikely event that you get an error page..." HA. Ha. Haa... *sobs*
So how did all of THAT turn out? Was I still in the queue after all of this pandemonium? Turns out, I actually still was! About an hour and fifteen minutes later, I finally reached the ticket selection page... Or so I thought. These people had the nerve to put in a survey with questions I HAD to answer! Why the hell does it matter whether I'm a male or a female NYCC? I just want my damn tickets!!! And on top of that, the page kept crashing every time I entered the information!!! WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
Okay, okay... So after about SIX MORE F@#$KING ATTEMPTS at reloading the survey page and refilling in the questions, I finally get to the ticket page. The moment of truth, I shout vehemently!!! We have at last arrived on the ticket page, and lo-and-behold! It still lists 3-day passes are available! I click the link for two 3-Day passes and rush to checkout, in the hopes this will somehow not give me a problem. Unfortunately, my life never quite works this way (as you may have noticed by my incurable CANCER and misadventures with Cable over the years). There was another error, and I had to reload the ticket page yet again. But OH NO!!! Now it says the 3-Day passes are sold out!!! ASKDFHKHAKDSNJDHFKAJNDKH123KHDAHRKJ!!1!!1!! What now!? Are there still 4-Day passes? Yeah? Okay, fine, let's just click that then. ANOTHER ERROR!!! WTFWHYISTHISHAPPENING!? Wait, now 3-day passes are available again!??? Okay, click... ERRORED!1! ... Aaaand, it's gone again. 4-Days again? Okay...
After doing this at least five more times, I finally got to the "payment method" page. "How can THIS go wrong?" I once again thought to myself, apparently causing the worst set of jinx's in the history of jinxing. First time, I clicked the Paypal option. PayPal is generally the safer route to go, so I of course clicked it. ERRORED B*TCH!! What now!? Back to the page. Click credit card?... SUCCESS! I had no idea why, but I'd run out of questions by that point and my arms were getting tired from all the flailing around.
SO, finally.. finally... FINALLY!!!! It freaking worked. After all the turmoil, the errors, the near heart attack, and my arm (literally) falling off from all the flailing, I finally obtained the coveted tickets!!! I was very glad that what I had read on the queue page was actually correct, and that my place in line WAS in fact held during all of the e-riots. However, I had heard that not all soldiers came out of this one alive, as many were unable to get tickets, and some even claimed that their friends (who logged into the queue later) got to the ticket page before people who logged in at 12:00 noon, and were still waiting. WAT!? I seriously hope this was not the case, but who the hell knows? Certainly not I.
I would like to thank the people at NYCC for making me feel such a crazy rush of emotions all at once. I don't remember the last time I felt anger, grief, anxiety, nervousness, and immediate relief all in the same few minutes. And those are the things that remind me I'm still a human being, let alone an ugly decrepit one.
5 Scalper-Sold VIP Badges Out Of 10
Now I can truly flash my tickets around town and look like a true bad-ass, and also have the joy of not having to have bought from scalpers! They're going to think I'm rich or something!!! Would suffer again.
It took me a while to get back to this (as Bloodborne kind of took over my entire life once it came out!), but it was all very worth it. I'm planning to use footage from this for a new series I'm starting, called "Indie Corner." I hope to work on my video editing skills more, in order to make something truly fun and memorable, focusing on indie games (some famous and some not so famous). In the meantime, enjoy the playthrough footage here! This game was no cakewalk!!!
*ahem* Ah, excuse me. Sorry. So I guess you may have noticed that the new Avengers movie is out and I'm just trying to regain my composure after seeing it. Marvel movie events (especially of THIS grand a scale!!!) are always a big big deal. It's no coincidence that Free Comic Book day also happens to follow it. Marvel knows how to hop people aboard the HYPE TRAIN, and it doesn't seem to be showing signs of letting up anytime soon. These movies are more than just stand alone products, but rather pieces of a larger narrative that always seem to come to a head around the time a new Avengers film hits the theaters. Now, let's be honest here; there was NO way a movie like this was going to live up to the hype that people set for it, especially after the first amazing entry. I guess what I'm saying here is people need to take time to enjoy things more and shut the hell up! Quit being so nitpicky all the damn time. Ah, language...
Okay, so I'm going to be a little nitpicky, as it's a review and that's just how these things work. Deal. Funny thing about this movie; it actually has NOTHING in common with the Age of Ultron comic of the same name. Why am I okay with this? Because that comic was actually disappointing as all hell for many readers, myself included! Joss Whedon only went with the title because he thought it worked well in the grand scheme of things. So if you're trying to complain that the movie doesn't resemble the comic in this case, you're likely just trying to sound cool or hipster-y, with your deerstalker hat and Starbucks coffee in hand at all times, like your life depended on it. You don't need that kind of hat in the spring time, damn you!!!
The plot to this movie is a bit more scatterbrained this time around, but it still works. After recovering Loki's scepter... again, Tony Stark convinces Bruce Banner to aid him in helping create Ultron, an alleged global defense program. This obviously does not work, because this movie would have been insanely boring otherwise. Ultron is alive and absolutely insane, hellbent on destroying all humans in order to "fix" the world. What's a superhero team to do!? That's for me not to spoil and for you to WATCH. (Seriously, why are not watching this already!? Is this part of that hipster-y thing I mentioned above?)
It wouldn't be big Marvel movie without NEW CHARACTERS to fit the bill!!! This time, we are curiously given both Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (ie. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver). We've now seen Quicksilver in two movies (though I would argue his portrayal in this film was better than in Days of Future Passed), but this the first time we've ever seen the Scarlet Witch in anything live action from Marvel's side! Unfortunately, her character is actually pretty poorly depicted, though part of me is just happy to get her over-powered butt into these films finally. Their addition into this cinematic universe is weird as hell too, mainly because Fox still owns the rights to X-Men movies, and these two characters are clearly from the X-Men universe (as they are literally the son and daughter of Magneto himself!! CERMIC BERK TRIVIERR!!!11!!!!1!!). The Vision also makes his triumphant debut into the Marvel films with pretty positive results. His costume design and look are a little different from the original comic design, but it looks just fine to me.
This movie has some serious action; SO much action that you almost forget there's a plot from time to time. Thankfully, the plot that we CAN see in this is pretty good, albeit being more jumbled than a rubber band ball. Without going into too many details, you will feel like quite a bit is happening all at once, without feeling too overwhelmed from colorful superhero goodness at the same time. More elements were changed around from the comics books (Ultron's Origin, the birth of The Vision, the backgrounds of Wanda and Pietro, etc.), but this was to be expected. These things really don't have to be the same in order to be enjoyable, and I was still giddy like a 5 year old on Christmas morning despite.
The soundtrack is once again handled by mah boi Danny Elfman, who knows how to hit just the right notes and make these movies really sing. I can't even imagine these movies without his chops to back it all up. The visuals are also nothing short of incredible, as even I have a hard time figuring out when I'm looking at a green screen or actual scenery. I hope I can figure that out by the time I finish filming my own movie. When you stand in front of that screen, ANYTHING is possible! I could be running past dinosaurs with laser beams attached to their heads, while sliding across a rainbow into a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal, and wouldn't even realize!... And on that note, this now HAS to be a thing in the movie! It doesn't matter the reason. Dinosaurs with Lucky Charms, people!!!
People are going to have different thoughts on Black Widow's portrayal in this movie, but I don't really think they did her character justice in this one. After seeing a hell of a lot of great development from her in Winter Soldier, it was kind of disappointing to see Whedon take her back to the same place he had her around the time of the first Avengers film. I understand there's a lot of other characters you need to focus on in movies like this, but I wish we could have seen her as more than just that troubled woman throwing herself at a guy to make all her problems go away. One thing they did do right this time around was Hawkeye's development. After getting almost nothing about him information-wise last time, this was a great step up for his character, and the way that the rest of the team sees him.
So the movie has fights... LOTS OF THEM!!! Like, holy crap, martial arts movies would be jealous of the amount of fights this movie contains! If you came for action, you will not be disappointed. It was fast, frantic, but most of all follow-able (F to the third???). I can imagine people talking about the "Hulkbuster" scene alone for years to come. I'm still trying to figure out how Hawkeye mysteriously never runs out of arrows, but I really don't want to be "that guy." Trust me, you NEVER want to be "that guy." Something that made the action even more interesting was that unlike The Man of Steel, and other such comic book movies, the Avengers actually take the time to SAVE PEOPLE in this! I don't remember the last time I saw actual lives being saved in one of these, and it was refreshing to finally see for a change. Personally, I'll probably be doing the exact opposite once my awesome movie rolls around, but hey, that's to be expected. These people have a job to do! I do a different kind of work. It all comes with the territory (stabby stabby stabby).
8 Cap Language Jokes Out Of 10
At the end of the day, this movie was pretty boss, despite pacing issues and the other gobbledygook I mentioned above. Seriously, this is the stuff to see in the movies right now! You will not regret it, even if you do come out feeling a little underwhelmed. I'm more psyched about my own movie however. Now, how am I going to pitch to Fox that we need to throw in a dinosaur with a laser beam attached to its head in this?...
In honor of this memorable demo and the disappointment of knowing the official game has been cancelled as of yesterday, I decided that now was the perfect time to stream this. It is being taken off of the Playstation Store after tomorrow. Whether or not downloaded copies of the demo will even work prior to this date is still a mystery, and I just couldn't take the chance. So here's the full demo in all of it's scary splendor. My voice was raised quite a few times during this one!!! Enjoy!!!
Five years ago, I would have never imagined seeing the first two story arcs of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure come to the States, especially in its original manga form. What Hirohiko Araki started in 1986 eventually became one of the highest-selling manga throughout all of Japan. To this day, the series has sold over 80 million copies in Japan alone, and that number continues to grow every day. It began to have some footing in the US, when Viz licensed and released all 16 volumes of JoJo's third story arc, Stardust Crusaders. But this left out the original (1-5) volumes of the first arc, Phantom Blood, and the following story (5-12), Battle Tendency. So just what is this strangely-titled series, why is it so iconic in Japan, and why did it take so long for us to get the first two story arcs here in the States?
Let's take it from the top. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure revolves around different members of the Joestar family; Jonathan, Joseph, Jotaro, etc. (hence the name, JoJo). Each story arc centers on one of these family members taking down supernatural enemies and saving the world, using special and unique powers they each possess. The major appeal of the series is something else entirely. While being very strange and unpredictable, this show is also known for all of the crazy poses and techniques all of the characters in the show demonstrate. People in Japan especially have turned these poses into a fashion statement. So the last question to ask once again is, why the difference in the States? Why only give us the third story arc of JoJo and nothing else?
Do you remember Yu-Gi-Oh? The popular anime series/card game that garnered such a large following, due to its success with Kids WB (back when that was still a thing) and card sharks all around the world? Well, you may or may not remember that the Yu-Gi-Oh series was not always about the card game. The first seven volumes of Kazuki Takahashi's now famous manga revolved around the main character Yugi Mutou; a boy who loved to play games. One day, Yugi solved an ancient puzzle, which allowed a spirit trapped inside to come out and actually possess Yugi's body. And this was all we really knew about the series at the time. It was quite unpredictable, and nobody really knew where the story was going. But it wasn't until volume 8 of the manga forward that everything became more clear. That duel monsters (the name of said card game) was actually a reproduction of battles from the days of ancient Egypt, and that the spirit of the puzzle was none other than the pharaoh himself. But the majority only care about what the series is famous for: the card game.
So why am I bringing all this up? Well JoJo's Bizarre Adventure actually draws some similarities here. The first two story arcs of JoJo did not garner the same amount of popularity that the third arc and beyond did. The first serial covered Jonathan Joestar, rich and good, and Dio Brando, poor and evil. Dio tries to work his way into the Joestar family, so he can murder Jonathan's father and claim the family fortune. This plot went completely sideways after an ancient mask gets involved, turning Dio into a vampire-like being, while Jonathan learned the ways of Hamon in order to combat him and his forces. What made the third story arc so different from the first two was the use of beings known as "Stands." These Stands were like avatars to the character's personalities that would fight alongside them. They were possessed by both the main characters and the villains of the show, and became a staple for the manga ever since. This is one of the reasons why I believe Viz chose to start with Stardust Crusaders, instead of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency. It is to this day the best-selling chapter of the entire series, and it appeared that Viz was iffy on whether or not they should risk the title coming to the states. This was further evidenced by poor sales in the States for another manga of Araki's, Baoh. Prior to the release of Baoh, Viz had actually stated in a newsletter that they were planning to localize JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to the States in the early 90's. It's pretty obvious what happened next.
One other factor that Viz became more open about in 2013, was that localizing the early chapters was more or less a legal nightmare. Taken from Viz Media's official Facebook page:
This certainly makes sense when you consider the numerous character names, such as Robert E. O. Speedwagon, Poco, Tonpetty, Asidisi, and Dio himself. Despite all odds, we finally saw the release of the rebooted JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime from 2012-2013, as well as the current season (at the time of writing this), Stardust Crusaders. In the US, we were finally able to stream the series on Crunchyroll in April, 2014. Why it took so long for us to get a proper anime adaptation when the manga is so hugely popular in Japan is still a mystery to me. We received an OVA for Stardust Crusaders and a movie for Phantom Blood in Japan, but that was about it. Though it is quite irksome that it took so long for these things to come out, it is still a relief (and in some ways, a miracle) that they finally did.
My only hope now is that the series becomes popular enough stateside, so that we may get to see a growing trend of people making the iconic poses and talking about all of the unexpected things we see/read from this amazing title. This one has been kept in the shadows for way too long in the US, and I can only dream of it finally getting the recognition it deserves.
A lot of people hesitated to try this game because of mixed reviews. You no longer have to wonder what you'd think of it, because now you can watch the game played in its entirety! Enjoy!!!
