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Comics Round Up: Make Mine Marvel! (8/27)

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(Editor’s Note: Initially, we were going to include issue 9 of Secret Empire in this review, but since the final issue is releasing this week, I decided to do one article dedicated completely to that. Look for that one Friday or Saturday.)

Edge of Venomverse

The Good: I already covered #2 and #4 in my last review. Honestly, though, they remain the only good thing about this series with #1 as an uneven honorable mention depending on your opinion of X-23.

The Bad: I was worried about this issue. The uneven pacing of the series saw a pattern of meh, decent, ugh, good bordering on great, and then finished with meh again. While not as bad as #3 (honestly the worst comic I’ve read in a long time), I just don’t like the traditional character of Deadpool.

The Ugly: Maybe my mistake, but I read this book while eating breakfast. The graphic depiction of parasitic monsters being surgically implanted into people and then cut to pieces, smashed to bits, and squished almost made me physically sick. Even thinking about it now is making me a bit ill. Perhaps only my overactive imagination and a recently developed weak stomach are to blame. Still gross.

The verdict: After a great issue #4, I was looking forward to the main Venomverse event. After this let down of an issue, that excitement is tempered some. I will still give it a chance, but it won’t be at the top of my list. Hey, I’ve been proven wrong before.

Deadpool

The Good: I’ve often said that “less is more” when it comes to Deadpool. The character always has been parody, but it reached that rarefied air of being a parody of a parody. The current book is none of that. There are still the core principles that make the character Deadpool. However, they are balanced to make him more human. I know that’s not what Deadpool fans want, but I like the multi dimensional aspect of the character.

The Bad: While this arc has been both entertaining and fun, it has been absolutely heartbreaking at times. His decision to kill Coulson, the result of manipulation by Captain Hydra, has caused a domino effect that has led to the loss of almost everything that tethered him to this new Deadpool personality. I can see the writing on the wall. Speaking of…

The Ugly: Rejoice, traditional Deadpool fans! I’m only going by title, cover, and description, but it sounds like he is goint to be back in full force for Legacy. Prepare your butts for off color jokes, ultraviolence, gratuitous nudity, and breaking that fourth wall. Fun! *sigh*

Doctor Strange

The Good: It has been fun to watch Stephen Strange and Wilson Fisk essentially switch bodies freaky Friday style. Dr. Strange got evicted from the Sanctum and lost his magic ability. Forced to accept the help of Kingpin, who was taken over by a demon and imbued with magic, the two work together to try to lift the Darkforce dome from New York along with a rag tag group of B-listers. It is a silly premise that paid off in a big way. This was one of the consistently fun books during Secret Empire.

The Bad: They still hadn’t lifted the dome by the end of this issue. While some of the other books, including the main title, have started to turn the corner from “despair” to “hope”, winning the battle, but seemingly no closer to winning the war. Oh well, there’s always hope. It looked for a while like the space heroes would never break the bubble and they finally did.

The Ugly: Nothing. Literally nothing. As I said earlier, this has been one of the most consistently fun books from the whole of Secret Empire. I hope they can keep up the momentum into Legacy.

The Verdict: Dr. Strange has always been one of my favorite heroes and books. While many considered his movie to be filler, I knew better. If they are going to do a Thanos and Infinity Gauntlet/War event in the cinematic universe, they have to include Strange in that story. However, I didn’t know how they’d include Strange in the events of Secret Empire, but I’m glad they did. It reminded me what I liked about the title. I know that I’ve talked some about dropping titles, but this is one that I’m going to be collecting for the long haul.

Weapons of Mutant Destruction

The Good: I may have already mentioned in my previoius Marvel review that Greg Pak is one of my favorite Hulk writers. I was not a huge fan of his Hulk: Generations, but I understand the reasons behind the book. Since this book has revolved around Totally Awesome Hulk, he has been able to explore the “softer” side of the Hulk. It has been especially fun to watch that butt heads with the likes of Logan, Sabertooth, Domino, and Deathstrike.

The Bad: While the characters were well fleshed out and their interactions fully realized, the story didn’t quite live up to the expectations. I know it’s becoming a cliche that I follow criticism with the caveat, “It isn’t bad”, but it really wasn’t a bad story. I just thought that a story revolving around a “Wolverhulk” created by a secret government organization would have more action.

The Ugly: Aside from the slow pacing and massive set up for not much of a pay off in the event itself, some of the failed experiments in the Weapon X attempts to make the “Hulkarine” were the ugliest thing about this series.

The Verdict: I usually don’t like the “Hulk Smash” version of Hulk and prefer the Hulks that are more introspective. Also, I’ve been on board with most of the reimagined heroes that Marvel gave us. However, I initially didn’t like the idea of Amadeus Cho becoming Hulk. I think it was mainly the title that turned me off. This book, series, and, to an extent, the Generations book has changed my mind. The Cho Hulk has both the intelligence of Banner and the struggle of Hulk in a new and refreshing way.

Generations

The Good: These books continue to get better and better. After a slightly uninspired Hulk book and a very good Jean Grey book, the Wolverine book was amazing. The Thor book was slightly less so, but it still had some good moments. Marvel got a bit of a dig in on those who were screaming about a female Thor, the Odinson had some other great one liners as a meathead “teenager” Viking without much direction or worthiness, and I can’t wait to see how his story progresses. The Wolverine book showed the relationship between the two characters evolve in a very real and touching way. Seeing Wolverine show tenderness as he slowly worked through the mystery was fun to read.

The Bad: I know that characters don’t stay dead in comic books or soap operas, but I’m just getting to know some of these characters and it has been strongly hinted, if not outright stated, that several of them won’t survive the Legacy switch. Female Thor and X-23 are both characters that I’m just meeting and they’ve made a good first impression. At least one of them is rumored not to make it.

The Ugly: The silly grin on my face as I read these two books wasn’t ugly, but it wasn’t exactly flattering. These books are bringing up fond memories of being a teenager and reading comic books simply for the joy of it. Consequently, and not surprisingly, they are reminding me why I like comics, cementing my interest in the books again, and driving me to buy more. None of this is ugly except, as I said last time, to my budget.

The Verdict: Unlike some of the other events/series that Marvel has produced recently, this one has consistently gotten better with each book. The Hulk book was not bad, but it wasn’t my favorite style of Hulk writing. The Jean Grey book illustrated a flash point in that characters history. The Wolverine book dealt with the sometimes complicated relationship between parents and children. Thor dealt very nicely with some of the elephants in the room as a result of changing heroes and angry nerds not able to deal with the changes. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the books do, how it all joins in with Legacy, and what fun awaits us on the other side.

Digital Playground, Uncategorized

Video Game Collecting Q&A and Tips!

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As many of you who regularly peruse our website are aware, I’m known for being a retro video game collector above all else. With that in mind, I wanted to write an article that not only answers questions that I get frequently when I have friends/family stop over and see the ol’ game room, but also gives you, the noob collector, a few tips on building a collection on the cheap.

I guess the most common question I get is ?How did you afford all this stuff??

This is a pretty easy one to answer. I’m not rich. I have bills just like everyone else, so I built a gaming budget that I strictly abide by. I’ve also learned that building a collection is costly if you buy games individually. Always hunt for lots. Craigslist is an invaluable tool for this. For the most part, it will always be the cheapest route to go. eBay is useful for when you can’t find that one game you want in a lot anywhere. Lots are the quickest way to build a collection and if it contains games that you don’t want, then eBay them and put that money back into your gaming budget.

What’s your favorite system?

I don’t even have to think about this one. Playstation 2. It has such an immense library of great games, and I’m always discovering ones that I had never heard of before. Also, the price point is perfect right now, more on that later’Here’s a quick list of hidden gems:

The Red Star, Darkwatch, Castle Shikigami 2, Samurai Western, Klonoa 2, Arcana Heart 2, Blood Will Tell, Snoopy vs the Red Baron (Yes, really.)

Which one [system] do you play the most?

Well this isn’t a static answer so if I had to answer this question today, it would be the Neo Geo X Gold. I was lucky enough to receive it as a Christmas gift from my sister a couple of years ago, and I use it pretty consistently. As with most Neo Geo products the price for it has jumped significantly and it’s currently twice as much as my sister paid for it. Which, ya know, fortunate for her (and me), but unfortunate for anyone who didn’t get one in time. I’ve been on a shoot ?em up kick lately and this system came with a few really great shoot ?em up titles.

How did you get so many games?

I partially covered this in my first answer, Craigslist lots, but there is a slightly more to it than that. Game collecting is kind of like playing the stock market, you buy low, always buy low. What this means is that you wait until a console is fading away into the twilight and then collect for it. Right now is the absolute perfect time to collect for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3. Even Gamestop is trying to bomb out their preowned inventory for a song, and usually has buy 2 get 1 free sales on last gen’s games. The games are super low because everyone is focused on the Nintendo Switch/Xbox One/PS4. Shawn and I have a running joke that we are always one generation behind everyone else. Well, there’s a good reason for that, it’s cheaper to build up a collection when you are buying games that the average gamer doesn’t want anymore. At this point in time, I’ve started collecting for the Wii, as the prices for the games are at an all-time low.

What’s your favorite game?

Of all time? I’ll have to go with Zelda: A Link to the Past. Currently? As I mentioned before, I’ve been spending a lot of time playing shoot em’ ups on my Neo Geo lately. My favorite kind are of the bullet hell variety, and no one does this better than CAVE games out of Japan. There are two amazing games on the Xbox 360 that I’ve been playing called Akai Katana and Deathsmiles (This game was featured in one of my articles a few years ago), and as of right now, Deathsmiles is my favorite game.

What’s your rarest game?

I’ll say Shining Wisdom for the Sega Saturn. I don’t even have a Saturn anymore, more on that later, but I held onto this game. While it’s not insanely rare, it does command a steep price ($80-$100). I found it at a indy video game store and got a really good deal thanks to a lazy employee and complete lack of price tags on all of their games. Long story short, I paid $15 for it. Don’t be afraid to haggle at your local game store.

How do you have time to play all of these [games]?

I don’t! If you remember I wrote an article a few years ago about the first time I was asked this question and my reaction to it. I’ll save you the time of trying to find that article, I sold most of my collection except for the stuff that I played on a regular basis. Something that I regret to this day. These days, I realize that it’s impossible to play every game from beginning to end. Sometimes it’s all about the hunt. I’m at peace with that fact, and I’m enjoying collecting.

Okay so here are my collecting bullet points for all my noob collectors out there:

-Set a realistic budget. Rome wasn’t built in a week and neither is a great game collection.
-Try not to buy individual games. Look for lots on Craigslist and sell off any games that you don’t want from those lots in order to stretch your budget.
-Obviously sometimes you will be forced to buy a title individually. If that’s the case, check your local goodwill first. You’ll be shocked at what you will find there. It’s hit or miss, but when you get lucky there is nothing better than paying a few dollars for a rare game.
-Narrow your focus. If you try to collect for a handful of systems at once, it’ll get costly very quickly.
When you do choose the system(s) you want to collect for, make sure they’re ones that have just faded out of the spotlight (Wii, PS3, 360) are all prime targets right now.
-Don’t be afraid to haggle at the game store. There is nothing wrong with trying to get the right price for your budget. Trust me, at your indy game store, the prices are not set in stone and if you run into an owner who is unwilling to budge, then turn to Amazon. It hurts the owner a lot more to watch that sale walk out of their store. 9 out of 10 times they will budge on the price.
-Visit your local Gamestop when they are having a preowned sale, that’s when you are getting the best deal that you can get there. Do not make them your first, uh, stop when it comes to finding that title you’ve been hunting for.

As always, thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or thoughts for us, just comment below!

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Retro Rant Rampage

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As the title suggests, this article will be focused on a couple of things that really grind my gears (crappy Family Guy reference). Ok, first off all, let’s go for the low hanging fruit of Gamestop. I’m fairly sure that I’ve complained about them before but hey, what the hell? They do a few things that really leave a bad taste in my mouth and just irritate the crap outta me. First of all, the upselling at the register. Yes, I know I’ve mentioned this before, but in my experience, checkout time seems to be at an all-time high. I just want to buy the frickin’ game in my hand, not listen to a sales pitch. No, I don’t want to pre-order. Dammit! I’m cheap! I’ll never buy a brand new $60 game! I wouldn’t sleep at night knowing that the same game that I just bought, will be $40 cheaper in a few months. Yeah. That’s a hard pass on the pre-order. I also don’t want to insure my disc for a $1. How about you just check and clean the frickin’ disc when it’s traded in?! Speaking of trading in games, seriously people, you are getting robbed. Stop. Ebay your game. Put it on Amazon. Don’t trade it in for a few bucks in store credit, just so you can see your game marked up $10-$15. Holy hell, I know they’re running a business but the trade in program is so screwy and one-sided. I stop in from time to time and always cringe when I see the next victim bringing their stack of games up to the counter hoping for a decent payday. Last weekend, I bought a preowned game and the employee, after going through the motions of unsuccessfully trying to sell me extra crap, stuck a coupon in the bag. $5 trade in credit. How generous. Listen, I know that it’s absolutely not the employees’ fault, they are doing what they are supposed to. I think we have all heard about the reformed quota policy that corporate Gamestop enforces.

Okay, final Gamestop complaint. Did you all know that they “sell” retro games and systems online now? Notice how I used quotations around “sell”? Because if you go to actually order something, most of the time it’s out of stock. “Why is that?”, you maybe asking. Well let me just slap on this tin foil frickin’ hat and I’ll tell you why. They never had stock to begin with. So why would they offer the item online and for a reasonable price? Well friends, it’s used as a reference point for trade ins. Think about it, you walk in with an old Dreamcast looking to make some space in your nerd cave. Well they will offer you $15-$20 for it, which is about a third of what they are asking for it online. You think the two thirds profit margin would be enough but no, they wait until they get a predetermined number of systems and then they will suddenly not be out of stock and suddenly the price of the Dreamcast increases on their site. They run out, the price lowers, rinse and repeat. It’s actually brilliant. It makes bartering impossible. They can claim that they are only asking $45-$50 for the system and it has to be tested, cleaned, etc so the piddly offer is actually a decent deal. Which if it was actually 50% of what they flip it for, would actually be fair. But it isn’t, it’s a third at best. It’s not just limited to consoles either, a majority of the retro games are out of stock but still have their low price listed. Strangely enough it’s all the best selling classics like Contra, Punch-Out, etc. It’s the same strategy. Again, brilliant. They realized that there is a growing demand for older games and not wanting to miss out on the cash grab, they hatched a solid plan to get product on the cheap. As a guy who works as an analyst for a big ol’ company, I understand the strategy, but as a retro collector, I find it shady as hell.

Ok, whew, congratulations! You made it through that block of text! It’s almost over people! So a few months ago, I, like many others, saw the announcement for SNES classic system and immediately decided that I had to have it. I signed up for email notifications from all of the major retailers,(Best Buy, Amazon, Target..), so the minute it would be available for preorder, I’d know and could quickly log in and get my order in. Solid plan right? I thought so too. Until for some frickin’ reason, Best Buy and Amazon decided to take preorders at 4 frickin’ A.M! Oh! And those bastards didn’t send out the notification email!! Are you kidding me?! Why the hell would you start to sell them at 4 in the godamn morning?! Not sure why but dammit I blame Nintendo. They know that it’s going to fly off the shelves so what do they do? Did they decide that they would produce more so everyone would get a shot at owning one and playing some great games? Oh no, grasshopper! They tell everyone that it’s going to be extremely limited and that they will not produce more. Nice. Needless to say, it’s sold out everywhere today and I will not be getting one. The only thing I hope is that they limited it to one per customer just to screw over those bastard scalpers out there that bought up the NES classics last year.

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Comics Round Up: Make Mine Marvel

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(Editor’s Note: Our last comic round up suffered from, as I once heard Stephen King explain it, “diarrhea of the typewriter (insert your preferred method of typing here).” Seeing as how I’m branching out, but still very much a Marvel zombie, I will try to keep this one brief by just giving “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”.)

Avengers

The Good: Mark Waid is a good writer. I really like his Champions book (more on that in a bit). But, he doesn’t quite fit this version of the HydrAvengers, in my opinion.

The Bad: This team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are actually some of the worst villains in the Marvel Universe. While that in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, I feel like the execution isn’t so great.

The Ugly: I simply can’t wrap my mind around these characters as Avengers. I know that we are living in a Cosmic Cube altered reality and that nothing should be comforting necessarily. However, while I’ve gone along with most books on this crazy ride, this is a bridge too far.

The Verdict: Having been reintroduced to Warren Ellis via Injection and Trees, I couldn’t help but be reminded of his run on Thunderbolts. He would be the perfect writer for this hodge podge of characters that make up the HydrAvengers. Maybe that would make it easier to swallow. I, for one, can’t wait until the Legacy reboot of this team.

Champions

The Good: Mark Waid is a great writer. The proof is in this book. Each character is written with a different personality that shines through in the storytelling. This is one of my favorite books right now.

The Bad: Two here, but not really anything to do with the book. 1) While I’m glad that they included this book in the Secret Empire arc and that gave me a chance to discover it, I’m not sure that these characters fit exactly the way that they’re trying to make them fit. 2) I wish that I had been on from the beginning because I really enjoy this book.

The Ugly: I’m pretty sure that this book is meant for teenagers. I’m not sure what it says about me that it is one of my favorite books and I’m 41. Actually, I know exactly what it says about me. Society, and my wife sometimes, might not approve, but I’m comfortable with who I am.

The Verdict: This is one heck of a book and one lone bright spot through the whole Secret Empire event. While other books have changed their focus, flirted with disaster, or both, this one has stayed true to the characters and their mission to mirror “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. Heck, some of these characters have lost their damn minds in other books, but remained true in this one. Really, just a fun book and I can’t wait to see how things progress through Legacy.

Edge of Venomverse

The Good: This book and book 2 were very good. I liked the quirkiness of Gwenpool with the symbiote and the story of this one was fantastic. I haven’t read Old Man Logan yet, so this might have just grown naturally from that, but after the rather pedestrian nature of the first three books, I was surprised by the depth of this one.

The Bad: Book 1 and 3 were…not great. Book 1 wasn’t bad. It just felt very uneven. Book 3 was just not good overall. I didn’t enjoy the story. I suppose that by that pattern, book 5 is going to be meh. Given that it is Deadpool and I tire quickly of “old school” Deadpool, that’s a safe bet.

The Ugly: I’m usually a sucker for different art. Heck, I’ll buy anything drawn by Sam Kieth. However, the art for #3 was just horrible. Combined with the subpar story, I think that one just needs a do over.

The Verdict: An uneven series that seems to have different judgments from different people. The owner of my newly adopted (can’t say that in a few months) comic store, for instance, really liked book 1. She’s a fan of X23, though, so maybe that’s the reason why. I haven’t gotten into that book yet. Even so, I have high hopes for the actual series.

Hulk

The Good: Another excellent book, written by a writer who knows and has been able to define the character in this brave new world that Marvel has been trying to forge. It has dealt with issues of loss and PTSD in a very real and poignant manner.

The Bad: This isn’t your father’s Hulk. “Hulk Smash” is almost non existent. Instead, it’s become a “talkie”, similar to Batman. I’m not saying that’s bad, but if you’re coming for that action, wait until Legacy.

The Ugly: Wait, they’re bringing back Banner Hulk? (Spoiler Alert: They’ve already brought him back.) But, one of the major plot points of this series has been Jen’s reaction and attempts to deal with her cousin’s death. I know they’re resetting with Legacy, but, still I’ll miss that storyline.

The Verdict: I was not initially going to invest in this book. However, one week I was short on books and decided to pick this one up because I am a huge Hulk fan. I’m glad that I did because it has become one of my most anticipated books each month. I’m a little worried how it will endure post Legacy, but hopefully they can figure it out.

Generations

The Good: At this point, I’ve only read these two generations books, but they’ve both been decent to good. I was a bit surprised that I actually enjoyed the Phoenix book more than Hulk. Greg Pak is one of my favorite Hulk writers and the book was good, but I just felt like the Phoenix story was much more in depth and balanced.

The Bad: There was a bit too much “Hulk Smash” in the Hulk book. I know that’s what people want from our Jade Giant. However, I’ve always been more of a fan of the introspective Hulks and less is more when it comes to “Hulk Smash”. But, I’ll stick with the book until we get to the deeper stories.

The Ugly: Another weekly book that I have to read, Marvel? I mean, I don’t have to read it, but I will. I just won’t necessarily be happy about it. Except, I’m pretty sure I will. *sigh* Chris is right. I may have a problem.

The Verdict: Only two books in and I’m okay with the concept. I’m intrigued to see how this shapes future books and tries to tie everything together with the past. I like what DC has done with their Rebirth books and think that a true reboot can do good things for Marvel, too. These books serve to set the tone and so far the tone is positive.

Secret Empire Tie In Books

The Good: Both Captain America books have been great. I hadn’t heard of Spencer before this event, but I like what he’s been doing with the event. While I don’t agree with including Champions in the event, I’m glad they did because it’s a good book. Ultimates2 wasn’t even on my radar, but that has been an amazing book.

The Bad: I don’t like what Secret Empire has done to Amazing Spider-Man. I’m usually okay with different, but the last few ASM arcs I’ve read have just been blah. Bear in mind that I haven’t even been around for the latest clone wars, but I read the one where Uncle Ben came back and the one before that years ago. The other books like Underground and United have been mostly forgettable, though the Widow “red room” story was interesting. Avengers has suffered most from Secret Empire. Again, I get the reason to include the team to show how different this world is, but it hasn’t been a great experiment.

The Ugly: I went from mildly interested in the event, to promising myself that I’d only get the main books, to buying every stupid book with the Secret Empire/Captain Hydra banner on it. Damn it, Marvel. Congratulations. You hooked me.

The Verdict: As is to be expected, these books have been hit or miss. Most have been very good. Some have been disappointing, but I don’t regret buying the books that I did. Overall, they’ve added to my enjoyment of the event and I’m back on the wagon…or is it off the wagon?

Secret Empire

The Good: Nick Spencer has done a good job of telling this story and the art has mostly been just as good. As an aside, I’m glad that we are in the “hope” portion of the story. I couldn’t take much more “despair”.

The Bad: I didn’t like the art in a couple of the books. I just prefer the realistic art of Steve McNiven. The art of these books made me take a step back and try to absorb it before continuing. It just took me out of the story for a minute.

The Ugly: I almost quit reading the story altogether. One of those reason was that it was just getting too real. Especially with the recent events in Virginia, I couldn’t sit by idly as my escape from reality started to mirror that reality a bit too much. Ultimately, I kept going, but I was close to quitting there.

The Verdict: Overall, this event has been entertaining. I won’t say that it has been good, but it has kept me reading. There are a few times that I wanted to walk away for one reason or another, but I’ve keep reading and I’m glad that I did. Ultimately, at this point, I want to see how they write themselves out of this.

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Wunderbar!

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(Editor’s Note: I chose the title for two reasons. First, the obvious is that Germans are the bad guys in this movie. Second, it’s interesting how the 6 year old brain works. Quinn watched the movie, made the connection that the Germans were the bad guys, and came out with “I’m part evil”. When I asked him why, he said, “Well in Wonder Woman, the Germans were evil and I’m part German, so I’m part evil.” Can’t argue with that logic, I suppose. Also, see Der Eier von Satan.)

I’ve been looking forward to the stand alone Wonder Woman movie since I heard the announcements. Unlike many who saw Batman v. Superman, I didn’t think that she was the only good thing about the movie. Sure, she was absolutely the best thing about the movie, but I was much more forgiving of the rest of the movie than others. For instance, I didn’t think that Batfleck’s performance was the end of comic book movies as we know them. Secondly, Mark Zuckerberg’s take on Lex Luthor was refreshingly different. So, while not my favorite comic book movie by any stretch, it was a fun movie and a step in the right direction for the DC movie universe.

This is much more indicative of how I feel about the movie. Batman v. Superman starring Wonder Woman!

The Good

I will avoid my usual starting line that the best thing I can say about this movie is that it is “Wonder Woman”. First, I don’t want to become too much of a cliche. Secondly, the truth is that I don’t have that much of a history with Wonder Woman. Sure, I’ve seen the Linda Carter series as a kid, but I never read the comic until recently and in no way would call myself a fan of the character. Unlike Power Rangers and Guardians of the Galaxy, my interest in Wonder Woman as a character is a result of seeing a movie, not the other way around. Therefore, it would be intellectually dishonest of me to start off with that statement.

Dang, that means that I actually have to do some work to write this article. I have to research (read comics) the character (a kick butt woman who is quickly becoming a hero to women and little girls again) in order to flesh out an article (on a web page that I run for my own fun and entertainment). Well, it’s a tough job (it’s not a job at all), but someone’s gotta do it. In preparation for the article, I picked up the first two trades for the newest iteration of Wonder Woman from the DC Rebirth event (?) Honestly, I’m not sure what to call it. It’s technically just a reboot, but that doesn’t make sense because they’ve rebooted about a million times over the past few years. Oh well, whatever it is, the stories have been decent from what I’ve read.

Also, from what I’ve read, the Wonder Woman movie was faithful to the comic character as she is interpreted now. Even with my limited interaction with her, I do know that her origin (as far as becoming a character) is a little strange because her creator was into some weird stuff. Being a family friendly page, I’ll keep it at that. Lately, though, and over time, she’s been reclaimed and turned into the female icon that we know and love today. I think, especially, with the weird time we find ourselves living in, she represents much more than maybe she would under less stressful circumstances. Gal Gadot, the actress chosen to play the role, fits that perfectly. I know she’s an actress and she gets paid to play pretend and dress up, but it genuinely seems like she enjoys the character and has fun with it.

Luckily, DC has started to turn the corner when it comes to fun in their movies. They’ve pivoted from the “dark and gritty” hyperrealism of Christopher Nolan’s Batman and embraced that, at their heart, these are characters that spend most of their time as colorful drawings in what some consider to be kid’s entertainment. Now, you and I know that comics are not strictly for kids, but we’ll let everyone else think that and underestimate us. It’s worked for the last 40 years and we have been slowly taking over.

Wait, was that out loud? Ignore that. *ahem*

The Bad

The movie is too long and the final battle drags on seemingly forever. The movie is yet another origin story. However, unlike Spidey and Bats, who have been origined to death in their cinematic history, this is the Amazonians first feature, so I don’t mind them taking the time to introduce her. Plus, the origin is handled well and respectful of the source material, as far as I can tell. Again, I only know the newest Wonder Woman, so take my opinion with that grain of salt. My main complaint lies with the second point. The final battle just feels like it takes forever to reach a conclusion and there’s a bit of an unnecessary M. Night Shamalyan twist before it even begins.

I said earlier that DC seems to have started to turn the corner with their movies. I enjoyed the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, as did many. I despised both of the stand alone Superman movies. I cringed, with my fellow nerds, as more and more information released for Batman vs. Superman and then just sort of fell into a state of numb acceptance and finally even nervous excitement. Zach Snyder is directing? *sigh* Okay, fine. Let’s see what he can do this time. Ben Affleck is staring as Batman? Who is playing Lex Luthor? Um, wait, what? They’re doing the Doomsday and “Death of Superman” story. Well, okay, hopefully they don’t screw it up.

Then, the movie came out and there was honestly no reason for the trepidation. It wasn’t a great movie, but it wasn’t terrible. It was watchable bordering on okay. I’ve watched it twice? Maybe three times? Once with a friend, once with Christine, and then once with the boys. With each successive viewing, I actually found myself enjoying it more. It just wasn’t as Zach Snyder heavy as the Superman movies. I know that some will look to this Wonder Woman movie as the one where DC turned the corner. While that might be true in the long run, Batman vs. Superman is where the movies started to take a turn for the better, in my opinion.

What does this have to do with Wonder Woman? Well, having been trained by Marvel, I sat through the credits for a potential Easter egg. None came, but I did notice that Zack Snyder got producer or story writer credit or something. His hands were all over that last scene. I could just feel it. He’s definitely less than during the Superman fiascos, but there is still a bit too much.

I know he’s a god and integral to the WW mythology, but come on. It’s just too much. Plus, I feel like the better villain from a storytelling angle could have been Dr. Poison.

The Ugly

I already started to discuss this in “The Bad” section, but Zack Snyder. I don’t mean the man himself. I have no idea if he’s actually ugly. But, his storytelling needs quite a bit of work in my humble opinion. How much is that worth seeing that I am a self-published author and he’s writing DC comic book movies? Probably not much. However, I’m one who can usually forgive and forget. I’m also not generally very critical of creativity.

I just can’t get the taste of those Superman movies out of my mouth. Also, I feel like, while he did okay with Batman vs. Superman and is showing some growth, this movie could have been damn near perfect with a more deft handling of the story and especially the finale. Oh well, I’ll take the incremental improvements and hope for the best come the release for Justice League.

Again, he’s got the support of Ben Affleck again and, I just learned, Joss Whedon (due to a terrible family tragedy), so things can only get better.
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Rapid Fire! Random Thoughts 6/1

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Welcome to another edition of Rapid Fire! Let’s get right into it, shall we?

-I saw Diamond’s sales numbers for last month. While Marvel had the best selling book, Amazing Spider-Man #25, their other books just aren’t selling that well, no matter what they try. Meanwhile DC is doing pretty well with the Rebirth titles. I’m sure the cheaper cover price helps. My theory: New readers are coming straight from the movie theater and finding that Iron Man isn’t Tony Stark, Thor is a woman, Captain America might be part of Hydra, but not really, alternate universes up the wazoo, etc..It makes it hard for new readers to jump onboard no matter how many reboots they do. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t try new things but maybe it’s time to rein the writers in a bit.

-The first Hour of Devastation spoilers appeared today (accidentally?), we finally got our look at Nicol Bolas, who looks impressive. Steep casting cost but I have a rampy super friends deck, with a set of Oath of Nissa, some mana dorks and a set of Deploy the Gatewatch that might be the perfect home for him. Once I do some testing I’ll post the deck list if it’s any good. Nothing but the best for you guys!

-Wonder Woman looks really good. According to the reviews that I’ve read, DC might have a winner here. I’m looking forward to seeing it soon.

-I’ve been building up my PS4 collection lately. Hidden Gem alert: Earth Defense Force 4.1. Buy it. Now. Go ahead, I’ll wait………….

It feels like a mix between Starship Troopers and 50’s cheesy sci fi flick. You choose between four soldier classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and shoot the bajeezus out of giant insects, giant mechs,and huge spaceships. It’s as nutty as it sounds.

-Since I’m on the subject of my PS4 collection, I also bought King of Fighters 14, which comes with a nice steelbook and is unplayable out of the box. C’mon! A 5gb download?! To be fair, once you suffer through the download the game is really enjoyable. Not quite as good as 13 but still decent in its own right.

-Despite your preconceived notions that we sit around all day playing games, we also both love to read (Shawn is a writer actually, look him up on Amazon. Do it. I’ll wait…….). Anyways, I’m a fantasy/sci fi kind of guy and I recently just finished Brandon Sanderson’s Way of the Kings, which is the first book in his Stormlight Archive series. It was ridiculously good. I highly recommend that you give it a shot. Shawn recommended it to me and when I was at Barnes and Noble heading to the register with it, an employee stopped me to let me know that she absolutely loved it. It’s the kind of book that immediately grabs ahold of you and the hours just melt away.

-I picked up a couple issues of the Batman/Flash crossover event,”The Button”. Usually I’m not a fan of alternate universe storylines, but this one works and is really decent.

-Sadly, last Sunday was the final episode of River Monsters on Animal Planet. After 10 years of scaring people out of freshwater, Jeremy Wade is hanging up his fishing pole. I will miss the Monday morning River Monsters email thread at work which was mainly comprised of “What the hell did he catch?!” and “Why do people swim in anything other than a swimming pool?!?”. The show was educational, entertaining, terrifying and fascinating.

-I bought a box Amonkhet and was lucky enough to pull a masterpiece (I believe they are called invocations in this set). I got a Consecrated Sphinx, which books for $55. While I’m happy that I got one, I’m disappointed in the overall look of the Invocations. It doesn’t even look like a MTG card and the font is ridiculously hard to read. I ended up trading it for a Blood Moon and a Misty Rainforest.

-Finally, we are talking about possibly getting the 2 Guys Gaming podcast going again. We will keep you up to date as far as that goes.

Snap *censored* Pop Culture, Uncategorized

The Itch

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Ah, comics…just the word brings back happy memories of sifting through bargain bins at a nearby sports card shop and of trudging every week to an office supply store in the center of town that inexplicably carried Marvel Comics. Ah, early 90’s, how I miss your $1.00 cover prices.

As I mentioned way back, maybe a couple of years ago, I had grown tired of my comic collection and decided to part ways with it via Craigslist. It seemed like digital comics were taking over and my comics were just sitting in boxes with just a few key Silver age issues on display in my man cave. To this day, it was one of the dumbest things I’ve done. It’s one thing to sell a collection of Modern age books, but it’s another thing to sell a collection of Silver age. Those, well..you don’t sell those. A few months ago, seemingly out of nowhere I got the itch. You know what I’m talking about; that itch so deeply rooted in your brain that the only way to scratch it is by running out of your house screaming like a lunatic and buying that game, comic, miniature, ..etc that you just have to have. For me, that itch was Tales of Suspense #81. It was my favorite cover from my old collection and I just had to own it again.

I figured that if I immersed myself in MTG and built some new decks, the comic bug would fade away. It did not however, instead it intensified becoming a nerdy tornado of materialism..I couldn’t stop thinking about comics. When I was at work, I was reading CBR.com and Newsarama.com articles. At night I would spend hours traveling through page after page at collectors-society.com, (You want to get hooked on comics? Go there. You’ve been warned.). Finally, in an effort to regain my sanity I logged onto eBay and found a copy of TOS #81 for $12 and bought it. No auction or “make an offer” bullcrap for me, I just bought that sucker. It was mine again.. that’s all I needed just that one issue…wait, what’s that? Tales to Astonish #91 with only a few seconds left?! Mine! House of Mystery #219?! For $6.00?! Mine! Oh man! I loved the McFarlane run on Amazing Spider-Man! Issue #318! Mine! It was a long night that night. I was exhausted the next morning at work but not as exhausted as my bank account.

A couple of days later, I found myself standing in Newbury comics with my better half, Caitlyn, eyeballing the newest issues on the shelf. I wasn’t sure I wanted to jump back into collecting new books just yet, but she convinced me to do so. She said that it makes me happy so it’s worth the inflated cover prices. She also made me proud by buying herself a Thor infinity scarf. It didn’t take much convincing for me to jump back in head first. After only a few minutes I had accrued about $40 worth of comics. Thankfully, it was a Monday evening and they have a BOGO sale on Mondays (you’re welcome, corporate guy at Newbury..could we get some swag?), so my wallet didn’t take a beating. Honestly, it was fun to buy comics again, I had never stopped reading them, but there is something about the hunt for that one issue, the interactions you have with fellow collectors, and of course the feeling of holding that book in your hand and not just viewing it on an iPad (iPad plug, Apple, send a couple our way). I also noticed that there is more of a diverse audience for them. Just by being in Newbury for 30 minutes, I saw men, women, kids, all flipping through comics. This is probably due to the emergence of comics in mainstream media via movies and tv shows. I think it’s fantastic that people are finally understanding that comics are not just for kids. Now if the publishers could just stop the reboot nonsense, we would be golden. As for me, I’m proud to say that I’m a collector again. My goal is to regain most of the Silver age issues I sold and build from there, maybe it’ll happen and maybe it won’t but regardless it’ll be fun to try.

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Amonkhet Prerelease

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A couple of weeks ago, a buddy of mine asked if I wanted to attend the Amonkhet prerelease with him. To be perfectly honest, my first reaction was “Nope”, but lately I have been guilty of being anti-social so I agreed. It was my first prerelease so I didn’t know what to expect exactly. I figured that it was just a handful of players cracking five or six packs, eating some free pizza and playing some casual games. I had no idea that it was a tournament and also that there was going to be a fairly large turnout. I assumed that most people are like me and choose to spend their Sunday afternoon silently crying about having to go to the office the next morning.

I was floored when I walked into my LGS,(that’s local game store for all of you not in the “know”), and every table was full of players waiting for the signal to crack their packs. I grabbed my prerelease box, spotted my friend, who had saved me a seat, and sat down with a confused look. He then filled me in on how a prerelease actually goes, which was essentially that it was slightly more competitive than I had thought. I had been doing sealed drafts with Shawn lately (we actually had done one the week before), so I was feeling pretty good about it. We were given the signal to start building our decks and the place went quiet except for the frenzied tearing of wrappers.

My first pack made the choice for me, I pulled a Glorybringer, which had been my personal pick of the set during the Amonkhet spoilers. A 4/4 flyer with haste AND a Mizzium Mortars built in one is a limited bomb and, spoiler alert, it served me well the entire tournament. The other packs were decent, as I also pulled a Hazoret, as well as some other green and red cards that solidified my choice of RG aggro. I decided to splash white for some defense, which was actually a poor choice as I barely played one white card the entire tournament except when I was discarding them to play Bloodrage Brawler (1R, 4/3, Discard a card when it comes into play).

I won’t give a game by game play by play, but I’m proud to say that I represented 2 Generations Gaming the best I could. I lost one game out of the 4 matches, and that was to a mirror-match. I reached the finals and my opponent and I agreed to split the grand prize as it was late and we both didn’t want to sit through another 2-3 games. We then decided to play one game after claiming our prizes (10 packs of Amonkhet), in order to see who was the actual winner. After several turns of us both being flooded, I drew a Glorybringer, broke the stalemate, and on my next turn, played a Scaled Behemoth, pumped it up and used Fling to end the game.

After it was all said and done, I sent Shawn a text letting him know that I had won. He had always said that we could really make some noise in competitive play so it was nice to prove him right. Regardless of winning or losing , I would do a prerelease again, it was fun, and the fact that everyone was on equal footing made the games interesting. With that said, there were some things that could have been improved on. The 50 minutes given to us to construct our decks felt a little excessive. Shawn and I usually construct our sealed decks in 20 minutes so I basically sat around, waiting for people to finish building. The time between rounds waiting for the next brackets to be posted also felt slightly long. I think with slightly decreased wait times, I would try to make every one, but I just don’t have the free time to sit around for 5 hours. To be fair, I did use the wait times to peruse the X-wing miniatures, since I had been talking about the game the night before with Shawn…but more on that later…

On the Tabletop, Uncategorized

Lessons From The Kitchen Table: A Fond Adieu

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It wasn’t that long ago (about a month) when I was singing the praises of Modern MTG. Since then real life has stepped in and the time I had to go to Modern on Monday nights has stepped out. Admittedly, this “cooling off” period happens this time every year. It’s usually driven by work and Shawn’s family obligations and prevents our nerdy nerd nights from happening, which in turn causes my decks to collect dust. This year is different however. I’m actually not upset about my decks collecting dust.

So what happened? Well I won’t recycle Shawn’s thoughts in his article “I’m on a Boat”, but his assessment of Modern is essentially spot-on. It is basically a format of unoriginal ideas and mechanic abuse. I play against Tier One decks like Jund, Grixis, Dredge, ..etc, where I see the same cards over and over again. Your opponent splashed white? Path to Exile is coming. Multiple times. First turn Swamp? Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek will make an appearance in a second. Blue? Remand. Baby Jace or worse, JTMS. You get the point. The games are predictable. The guys in my group tend to stick with Tier One decks, so there isn’t much that catches me by surprise anymore. It has slowly turned me to other formats that offer a more intriguing experience. As Shawn pointed out in the aforementioned article, we have drafted a couple of times and it is now my format of choice. Standard, once considered a money pit to me, has me actually reading daily articles about deck strategies. Although, it does seem like a slight waste of time as no one in my group plays standard. They are firmly embedded in their modern world. To each their own, and who am I to say what format is better or worse? I just know that my Modern days are behind me at this point. Drafting puts Shawn and I on equal footing, instead of him trying to deal with Modern decks, or more accurately, not wanting to play at all. It makes every game more interesting and even more strategic.

It hit me a few weeks ago. After writing my “Modern Night” article, I said “eff this” and decided that my losing days were over. It was time to brew a broken deck. After going back and forth between building Infect or Mill (both of which are in the shallow end of the proverbial strategy pool) I decided that I was going to build a B/U mill deck. I had gone to the dark side. Suddenly I was very focused on having a strong showing at the next Modern Night. This wasn’t about a game. Or even about having fun. I wanted to win. I was tired of losing to my friends. I bounced my deck list off of one of my friends and he took the deck to task, not because it essentially craps on the spirit of the game but because he felt like it wasn’t built right. It wasn’t a top 8 deck essentially. I had added my own creative twist to the deck which made him believe that it was no good. After going back and forth on it via text, I realized that the debate had gone from if my deck was competitive or not to me saying that I didn’t care if it was a Mill deck, I just wanted it to be fun and my idea, not a net deck. And that’s when I realized that it’s tough to build a creative deck in modern and hope to be competitive.

So, where does that leave me? The bimonthly drafts as well as the collecting aspect of the hobby are what keep me going. I often find myself watching videos of drafts and of Standard games in general. I’m also a big fan of Tiny Leaders. So, even though my Modern days are over with for the foreseeable future, the game is not over for me. I do not regret my time dabbling in competitive Modern tournaments. I met some really cool people, built up a huge collection, improved my game and well, that’s good enough for me.

On the Tabletop, Uncategorized

MTG Modern Night

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Hey guys and gals! Recently I took the time to attend a Modern Night at my LGS and I wanted to share not only the results of my matches but my experience as a whole. So what did I play? After some last minute hmm’in and haww’in combined with texts to Noob to get his last minute words of wisdom, I went with Tron, which is always a solid performer in competitive tournaments. I was going to go with Bushwacker Zoo as I’ve played in a few modern nights at this store and know that the regular participants usually run Aggro or Control decks, but I decided to go with giant colorless beatsticks instead.

Match 1: Tron vs Bogles

The guy I played kind of froze the minute I dropped an Urza’s Mine. “Yeah, I don’t do well against Tron”, he laughed. The minute “Tron” came out of his mouth, heads turned. I was enemy #1. Another player told his opponent that he hoped he got matched up with me in the next round because he wanted to see how his deck would do against Tron. I tried to ease my opponent’s nerves a bit by reassuring him that it was MY Tron deck, not the RG scourge of the tournament scene. By turn 3, I wished I had the RG version as I was staring at two Urza lands and an Eldrazi temple on my side with a wimpy Eldrazi Mimic as my only form of defense, and on my opponent’s side, a couple of Slippery Bogles each pumped up to Eldrazi-esque proportions with Ethereal Armor, Daybreak Coronet and Rancor. I quickly conceded. Game 2 went exactly like game 1, I wasn’t able to get the correct cards in hand to loot for the Urza Tron pieces and was dispatched of with ease. We shook hands and he gave me some tips for tweaking my deck to make it slightly faster. We still had another 18 minutes left before the next round began so we played a couple more casual games to pass the time. The first one went like the last 2 “real” games as he blew me out, although I sensed that he gave me an extra turn or two to get something going on my side. The 2nd casual game went my way as I took a chance and aggressively mulliganed to get an opening hand that I could work with. This tactic stuck in my head and I realized that I was playing my deck wrong. Always mulligan (well down to 5 cards if necessary) til you get an Urza land or two, a green mana source and Sylvan Scrying or forgo the hunt for the green mana source and have either the aforementioned 2 Urza lands (or 1 Urza land and 1 colorless source) with Expedition Map in your opening hand.

End of Round 1: 0-1

Round 2: Tron vs Infect

I hate infect. Just absolutely hate it. Infect is such a garbage mechanic. It’s basically the equivalent of you starting with 10 life. So yeah, I lost in 2 straight games. Hate the deck but liked my opponent as he was a really friendly guy that offered me some good advice on making my deck run better. Notice the theme? Since he won the match fairly quickly he wanted to play a couple of casual games. He suggested that I play against his Burn deck as it would be good practice for my deck. We played two really close games, he won the first and I won the second with Kozilek, the Great Distortion and basically used it’s ability to counter his spells. Seriously, how does Kozilek not get more love? He is basically a 12/12 counter engine that also lets you fill up your hand with cards. Total late game nightmare.

End of Round 2: 0-2

Round 3: Tron vs Grixis Control

I felt good going into this one. My friend has a Grixis deck that he likes to play often, so there wasn’t any surprises here. I mulliganed down to 5 to start the game and ended up with Tron in my opening hand. Unfortunately my opponent was mana screwed and only was able to put down a couple of lands. Even being screwed, Grixis isn’t a joke and he was able to fend me off for a few turns, countering everything I did, including using Remand on Kozilek back to my hand. Unfortunately Kozilek’s ability triggers when it’s cast and I was able to fill my hand with the necessary weapons to seal the game. On my next turn I dropped 2 Reality Smashers with an Eldrazi Mimic already in play and ended it. Game 2 was all him. Classic Grixis control game. He had an answer for everything I tried, and was able to use a devastating mix of burn spells, Snapcaster Mage and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet to take me out. Game 3 lasted quite a few turns as I had a hard time drawing a creature that could do some real damage. Game 1 repeated itself as my opponent was unable to hit his land drops and when he did, it seemed like I was drawing Ulamog, Ceaseless Hunger on the next turn. Even though it was being countered, his ability to exile permanents still triggered and I would exile his lands, keeping him at only 2 lands again. I ended up winning by playing Kozilek,and ironically, using its ability to control the control deck.

End of Round 3: 1-2

Well, I was happy that I was at least able to get into the win column, even though I knew that I wasn’t going to be a finalist as the tournament is 4 rounds and I had lost 2. I didn’t expect to make it to the finals even before I played the first game so I wasn’t terribly disappointed. I did regret not playing my Bushwacker Zoo as I think I could have started the tournament stronger but it is what it is. One more round to go..I was hoping to bat .500.

Round 4: Tron vs Esper Mill

My opponent was really friendly as we both knew that this was essentially a casual game as I was 1-2 and he was 0-3. I was battling to just finish in the middle of the pack and he was attempting to avoid being last. We chatted for a while even after the final round had started, sifting through each other’s deck and making observations. He told me that I should ditch blue in my deck and just stick with Green and colorless and include copies of World Breaker. I offered my opinion that although impressive, 4 copies of Liliana of the Veil didn’t fit with his deck and that there should be more Mill cards. Game 1 started with him casting Gitaxian Probe and looking at my hand. He laughed out loud because I had all the pieces of Tron in it. Nonetheless, he put up a good fight and was able to counter a lot of what I was trying to do but a Thoughtknot Seer removed a Path To Exile from his hand and a Reality Smasher ended the game as besides some Snapcaster Mages, he didn’t have much for creatures in his deck. Game 2 went his way as he milled me out after about 10-12 turns in which I had accumulated over 26 mana but had no creatures as he had milled or countered then all. Game 3 was all me as he had mana issues and I was able to use Ulamog to exile the few lands he had and then used Kozilek to counter whatever he tried to play.

End of Round 4: 2-2

Well I achieved my goal of at least breaking even. To be honest, even with not having the strongest showing I had an enjoyable time. I learned a lot about my deck thanks to everyone wanting to help me out between rounds. I used to be turned off of competitive Magic because of all of the horror stories of poor nerdsmanship I had heard over the last few years..but I can honestly say that I have participated in a few tournaments so far and haven’t experienced anything but good natured Magic players who are more than willing to offer advice. Now I can’t guarantee that it’s the same wherever you go to play, but I’m willing to bet that a majority of the players you run into are good people. And if they’re not, well, a throat punch solves everything.