8 Elements of the Nerd's Perfect Video Game

In this post, I'm going to attempt to distill my favorite features of video games and break them down to components I would love to see make up a single game that would, for The Nerd, be the end all of video games.

Until the sequel comes out, with improved graphics and smell-o-vision.

1. Turn-Based Strategy

This is a must for me. Real-Time Strategy games require too much in regards to practice and memorization. I don't argue that they are fun, but my method of thinking is more analytically, given to examining a situation to make the best decision, without feeling rushed. The strategy aspect highlights this as well -- sure, a turn-based RPG is acceptable, but adding unit location and map variation to conflict scenarios really draws out the strategy-enthusiest in me. And it also highlights the ability to solve a scenario via multiple methods (direct approach, bait and switch, opposed strength/weakness, etc...). I have seen games that use turn-based strategy for an overworld and then something more action-oriented to resolve conflicts... I'd be ok with that as well.

X-COM: Enemy Unknown's Turn-Based, Strategic Combat.

Examples: X-COM: Enemy Unknown had a beautiful system with varied maps, and the fog of war was a nice touch. Banner Saga was another great looking example, which focused on each unit being different, while the maps were not so exciting. A classic example would be Final Fantasy Tactics, though that system is a bit dated and runs too slow compared to recent ventures.

2. Team Building

Being able to grow your team by collecting and grooming new units adds another reason to play the game, aside from the story and combat/conflict. However, these units should be unique or extremely varied, should have different strengths and weakness, and must have different recruitment methods and rarity.

Yeah, 108 characters will work, Suikoden 3.

Examples: The Suikoden series has a roster of 108 characters, which are different across all the games. I've only finished the 3rd game in the series, but it was awesome recruiting such a large cast of characters that had individual stories, unique appearances, and different ways to get them on your team. Pokemon is a better known series that features a collectible, team-building style, and it worked as well. Shin Megami Tensei games have one of the most interest versions of this, with large cast of recruitable monsters, many of which can only be acquired through fusing others... Collectible card games are also appealing in this manner.

3. 'Town' Building

Building a town or location up as you advance in the game is an easy way to make a player invested. It can be a negligible aspect of the game that provides non-mandatory benefits for those who like the simulation-like aspect. Visiting a location you've help 'build' from the ground up is refreshing. Even better if you have to defend it or interact with it during missions. It can also offer an avenue of interacting with the large cast you've recruited above, if they end up relocating to this new location.

One method of "town" building, with X-COM's base screen.

Examples: Suikoden, again, uses this pretty heavily, and it was my absolute favorite part of the third game. I cared less about the main story and more about gathering the "108 Stars of Destiny" in Thomas' castle... XCOM: Enemy Unknown also features a base-building aspect that, while a touch bland, did introduce a puzzle-like aspect and some additional strategy to the overall game. A classic example would be Dragon Quest/Warrior III, which had a town that grew as your progressed the story.

4. Character Evolution

Characters should change throughout the game. Most commonly, this will occur via the story, but that's not the only way to do it. Characters that can unlock abilities that alter the game to a decent degree would work, or characters that undergo a physical change after a certain threshold is met allow the player to set goals based on their characters. Stagnant characters can kill a game fairly easily.

Pokemon Conquest's monsters and 'trainers' could evolve.

Examples: X-COM: Enemy Unknown had your soldiers gaining game-changing abilities as time went on, and their physical appearance changed drastically based on their equipment (and, after the expansion, certain abilities). Pokemon is an obvious choice here, with almost every monster being able to evolve. A less obvious example would be the main character of Knights of the Old Republic, who has a major revelation that is surprising and changes the way the player looks at the character. Similar again to the protagonist in the first Bioshock.

5. The Antagonist's Story

This one is probably the easiest to dispute from this list, but it is absolutely a requirement to be the perfect game for me. Having an opportunity to see the antagonist's story is a minimum. Even better if you can, in some fashion, play through their story. Either as post-game content, or recruiting them to your team, or maybe just given control of them for a couple of sequences.

Magneto was clutch in the final battle of X-Men 2: Clone Wars.

Examples: Chrono Trigger allows you to recruit on of the villains on your team. I'm fairly certain you could play as the antagonists in Suikoden 3, after finishing the main game, but I don't recall. Fallout: New Vegas allowed you to be a villain, and never required you to "save the world" or "fight the bigger evil." Golden Sun: The Lost Ages actually gives you control of some of the main antagonists from the first game, which was awesome. A classic example would be X-Men 2: Clone Wars, where Magneto became a powerful player character after you defeat him in a later level of the game.

6. Variety of Game 'Modes'

Cutscenes separating similar combat scenarios/styles gets boring, eventually. Sure, some games can come to a close before this happens, but I personally love longer titles. My favorite way to break this up is to work in an 'large battle' system or an 'territory conquest view.' These would have different gameplay elements that still required strategy.

Budokai 2 had a board game campaign within a fighting game!

Examples: Suikoden, again, featured this, in the form of large scale battles that gave you control of larger forces that followed different rules when being controlled. X-COM: Enemy Unknown's base building and global management definitely broke up the monotony of repeated turn-based battles. A classic example would be Ogre Battle 64, which had to methods of play - a map view, where you moved your forces around, and a combat mode that played like a typical RPG. The Devil Survivor series also mixed turn-based strategy with traditional RPG elements. Even Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 had a "campaign mode" that worked in a boardgame element. When pieces on the gameboard met, the combat would take place via traditional fighting game combat -- the losing player lost their piece.

7. An In-Depth, Variable Story

Several of the strategy games I play don't bother with a continuous, in-depth story. And the story should present you with options or opportunities that change the way the game plays, so that there is still a motivation to replay the game.

Mass Effect's Decision Tree. Notice how 3 goes off on its own...

Examples: On the negative side, neither Pokemon Conquest nor X-COM: Enemy Unknown have in-depth, persistent stories. They focus on generic or minor stories, with a focus on replayability. This works for them, but I'd prefer something continuous, and with a variety of meaningful choices. The Fallout games have always featured this. Something like the Mass Effect or Dragon Age series, however, where the choices made persist through multiple games, would be even better. Though Mass Effect specifically missed many good opportunities...

8. Appealing Setting/Theme

For me, an appealing setting or theme could pull from an existing universe (Marvel, Star Wars, etc...) or feature elements I enjoy (post-apocalypse, space travel, etc...). Generic fantasy would be hard to feel original, though it could be done. I'd love to see something in this format that includes giant mechs...

A turn-based RPG that uses Gundams? Oh, yes please, MS Saga: A New Dawn

Examples: The Front Mission series features giant mechs, which I love. Fallout has the post-apocalyptic angle covered, and Knights of the Old Republic was awesome for its innovative storytelling AND the fact that it was set in the Star Wars universe.

Games that blur the lines.

There have been some titles that have blurred the lines and mixed some of my favorite elements, though I know of none to get them all:

Pokemon Conquest - Combines Team Building, Variety of Game Modes, Character Growth, Variety of Game Modes, Appealing Setting/Theme. Technically it also hits The Antagonist's Story, though that's because there isn't a true antagonist. I love how it mixes Pokemon with Nobunaga's Ambition for the setting/theme. The strategy aspect is a bit too basic and easy, and there is no 'true' consecutive story, but this game comes pretty damn close.

Suikoden Series - Team Building, Town Building, The Antagonist's Story, Variety of Game Modes. And there are two titles in the series that feature Turn-Based Strategy. These games are pretty awesome, though each suffers from a variety of issues. I would love to see a new, next-gen entry into the series.

Fallout Series - Turn-Based Strategy (in 1, 2, and Tactics), Team Building, Town Building, Character Evolution, An In-Depth, Variable Story, Appealing Setting/Theme. The post-apocalyptic setting gets me every time...

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Conquest Mode) - Turn-Based Strategy (via galactic map), Team Building (you had to unlock different units as time progressed), Town Building (you collected planets as you won battles), The Antagonists Story (you could be the Empire!), Multiple Game Modes (board game-like galactic map and then combat as a 3rd Person Shooter), Appealing Setting/Theme (Star Wars!). This game had a lot to love. With some polished combat and maybe a story-driven conquest mode, it could have been damn near perfect for me!


If you have any games that hit multiple points here, let me know in the comments! Also, if there are different elements you'd need for your perfect game, I'd love to read about them! Right now I'm playing MS Saga: A New Dawn and... Well, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, which doesn't mix any of my favorite elements, really, but is still pretty damn awesome!

Spoiler-Free Diet: X-Men: Days of Future Past

Solid cast, all around.

The most recent entry into the sometimes decent, sometimes awful X-men movie franchise is, fortunately, from the former category. I went with a group and most everyone liked it. The Wife fell asleep, but she ended work late and starts early, so that's understandable. Oh, and the movie doesn't try to engage folks not interested in the series already, which is a bit of a weakness.

Oh, and no spoilers below, so feel free to glut yourself on some nerdy review goodness.

The Good

Acting - The cast for this movie was pretty stellar, an

Future Sunspot, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, and Colossus

d no one dropped the ball. Moreover, everyone was somewhat interesting and had a place/purpose, even the folks set in the future, which we only see for a few scenes. This is in direct contrast to X-Men: Last Stand, which wasted talent, characters, storylines, and was just generally unwieldy. This was a decent sized cast, but it was handled well.

Story - Many movies that try, fail to make sense of time travel, or leave large plot holes. This movie didn't have any issues with it -- technically it was time travel lite, with simple rules and simple, well-defined consequences, but it helped in that it didn't detract from the story. I've read reviews online that say it were confusing -- they either watched a different movie than I did, or simply weren't paying attention.

This is a story about characters. Yes, there's obviously a big-bad event that causes the future to go awry, but the solution doesn't lie in stopping the event, rather in changing the players involved. It's a different take on a super hero movie and not done completely well -- without a major focus, the movie does seem to drift a bit from time to time and, scaled against super hero movies, even runs a bit on the boring side. It's never bad, and it ends well and with interesting results, it just wasn't quite as focused as it could have been.

Action - Early on, there are two amazing action scenes. The rest of the movie moves away from them and there isn't too much fighting until the very end, and it doesn't really compare to the beginning sets. Either way, it was worth it (and still had more fighting than Godzilla... heh).

Correcting wrongs - The X-Men movies have been full of plot holes and errors, especially since X-Men: First Class, which tried to set itself apart from having to correct the wrongs of Last Stand. This movie, using a bit of time travel, does fix some of these issues, which is nice. It also more-or-less gives Last Stand the middle finger, which is very good. There are still some issues, which I could go into but won't, but they're not quite as glaring as they had been. Sort of. Hey, at least they're making an effort. And, really, it's consistent with the X-Men comics in the '90s -- overly convoluted with too many writers and no real cohesion.

The Bad

Mystique - This is definitely a personal issue, but I hate Mystique. I've never liked the comic or movie character, and I think the movie version looks stupid. Jennifer Lawrence was fine, but the fact that the movie focuses on her so much (figuratively and literally, those close-ups, man) annoyed me. I'm very much on the side of "there are so many MORE interesting X-Men characters....", and it does sometimes impact my ability to see past things such as "movie rights" and silly things like that. The plot device she's used for makes some sort of sense (kind of, and was worked in from First Class), but there are several other mutants that would have made more sense and been much more interesting. The focus on Charles' relationship with her always annoys me, though conceptually I understand a need to tie characters together on a deeper emotional level.

But still, Mystique. Ugh.

First Class - The "back in time" portion takes place ten years after the events in First Class, but the intervening ten years are only briefly mentioned and hardly seem to fit. I didn't see a reason for that particular time jump (heh), and it grated for me whenever they mentioned it in passing.

Comics - The "future" portion was a mash-up of the comic arcs "Days of Future Past," the issues that introduced Bishop/Apocalypse's dark future, and the "Age of Apocalypse" (thanks to Blink's presence) arcs. This, to me, was a waste. Bishop's future, in the comics, was so much more interesting than the briefly touched upon "Days of Future Past," timeline. It was nice seeing him in the film, but I'm a bit bummed that, should he appear in the next one, it will lesson the normal impact of his character on the X-Men universe.

Also, the future wasn't used nearly enough. A couple snapshots of an apocalyptic wasteland are really all we see, then it focuses very closely on the Future group, never straying far from their hideout. I wanted to see more of why the future was rubbish -- it's my favorite setting.

Sentinels - The future ones look too similar the The Destroyer from Thor. The past ones don't do much. These are iconic X-Men enemies in the comics, but they were under-utilized in the extreme here.

Future sentinel. It's face opens in a familiar manner...

Focus - The story, lacking a major, stand out villain, loses focus. Is Trask the target? Is Magneto the true enemy? Can the future even be changed? Etc... This wasn't assisted by an unnecessary scene or two in the future, which dragged our attention further away, without adding the intended suspense.

The focus on characters wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be either. The most interesting character in the entire film was introduced and cast aside fairly early. And the comic arc had followed Kitty Pryde back to the past, not Wolverine. True, I think Wolverine worked in this aspect, but super hero movies in general need stronger female leads, and the writers of this missed a great opportunity to use a wonderful actress (Ellen Page) to her fullest extent.

Wasted opportunity, not having this shot somewhere in the film.

... Despite my constant gripes, I liked the movie. I also liked it a TON better than I expected. But I do have my gripes. Arbitrary rating of 7/10. I'm now fairly excited for the next movie (stay after the credits!).


... I hadn't bothered to post about it, but my rating for Godzilla is an 8/10 and am super excited to see what they do next with the series.

2014 (Nerdy) Movies of Note

I have been severely disappointed with recent movie releases. I don't believe I've actually bothered to go to the theater in 2014 yet, and that is one of my favorite dates with The Wife. Well, this is all about to be rectified, starting two weeks from tomorrow... for me, anyway (the Veronica Mars movie coming out last week was probably a big deal, but I've never seen the show).

April 4th: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The adds have looked amazing and I've been especially antsy for the next Marvel movie due to all their teasing of things to come. That's it in April for me, unfortunately. May, however, slaps the cinema into shape.

May 2nd: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
I'm actually not excited by this movie, beyond that it is Spider-Man. I'm getting a "Spider-Man 3" vibe with the excessive amount of villains that, really, look terrible (I hate what they've done with Jamie Foxx, and the Electro origin story, if it truly deals with electric eels, is embarrassing). I'll see it, but I'm full of anti-hype at the moment.

May 16th: Godzilla

Most anticipated of the year, for me.

This. Looks. Incredible. They're actually using a strong cast of actors and the ads have been causing goose-bumps. Woof. Even the Japanese films had terrible acting, I'm not sure I can imagine a Godzilla with a strong cast and good writing. Of course, it remains to be seen just how well they've written an American kaiju film, but I've got a lot of hope for this one (and suspect I'll need to rope friends in to see this one, The Wife doesn't enjoy Godzilla that much...).

May 23rd: X-Men: Days of Future Past
I'm on a edge for this film. I love dystopian future settings, I really enjoyed the short comic run, and some of the promo materials look pretty damn good. That being said, they're NOT following the comic line for more than general setting, I'm not sure how the sentinels will actually come off in the film, and we've seen X-Men films flop hard when they try to do too much. I'm looking forward to this one, but fully plan on annoying everyone by complaining, loudly, about all the plot holes I see (thinking of you, X-Men: First Class).

June 6th: Edge of Tomorrow
Ok, I'm not too sure about this one. It looks somewhat interesting, but so did Oblivion. I suppose I appreciate Cruise is doing a lot of sci-fi films that are relatively unknown titles, I'm just not sure if I'll motivate myself to see it.

June 27th: Transformers 4: Age of Extinction
Ehhhh. I'll probably see it, as reluctant as I am. I mean, I saw that last three in theaters...

July 11th: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
I liked Rise, that's enough for me. Even if I find the movie titles excessively long.

August 1st: Guardians of the Galaxy
The recent ad for this made it look pretty damn awesome. I'm hoping it stays fairly light-hearted -- Marvel could use a funnier hero film.

Looks great, hoping comics being unknowns won't hurt it...

September 19th: The Maze Runner
Never read the book, but the premise sounds interesting. Oh, and the month of September has nothing else interesting for me...

October  17th: Dracula Untold
Another premise only, these two months look to be a movie dry spell...

Nothing in November, other than annoyance at another YA novel-turned-film being split into two films...

December 17th: The Hobbit: There and Back Again
I'm sure I'll complain about this being cut into three films some more, but I did enjoy the first part...

And, you know, sometime in 2015 we get The Avengers: Age of Ultron... I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of collected set they'll have for the Marvel Phase 2 movies -- I really enjoy my SHIELD briefcase for the Phase I Blu Rays...

Watching the Detectives: Beware the Batman Ep3 "Tests"

XXXVII

'Men of England, heirs of Glory,
Heroes of unwritten story,
Nurslings of one mighty Mother,
Hopes of her, and one another;

XXXVIII

'Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.’

So says dying Hope in Percy Shelly’s The Mask of Anarchy. It’s the kind of sentiment I hoped would be applied to TV’s Anarky.

I hardly expected this version to spout off about Washington Bullets, civilian drone casualties, war on whistle blowers, but the whitewashed declawed one I saw made Dennis the Menace look like Sid Vicious.

I'm not afraid of Beware the Batman... I'm angry! Pogo through the break.

Spoiler Free Diet: The Wolverine

Love this poster.

Did you hold off on seeing The Wolverine this weekend? Too afraid of another X-Men: The Last Stand or Wolverine Origins? Read below to find out if you made the right choice or not.

Oh, hi. You got here pretty quick. Hold on, a little bit farther down.

Ha. My thoughts on The Wolverine were surprisingly positive, but let's give a rundown of my thoughts going in and then what I liked and disliked.

---X-Men in films--- (This is a pseudo rant, skip to the next session for Wolverine specifics)

In general, I am disappointed with the X-Men movies. It feels as if they don't have a single person working on the movies who has even picked up an X-Men comic book, they just tried to get the gist of it from Wikipedia.

That doesn't work.

And it doesn't really work that the movies really focused on Wolverine, because that just gets confusing: Origins-->X-Men-->X2-->Last Stand-->The Wolverine is the actual series order for Wolverine's story. First Class... well, he makes a cameo, I guess.

It has led to senseless character changes that really hurt the series as a long-running entity. Maybe they didn't expect it to do so well and wanted to hit the big names that would draw people in. Maybe they were just confused. Maybe they Sony needs to release them back to Marvel...

Aside from going so far off the comic book path, X-Men: The Last Stand wasn't good. And it felt like the writers were trying to write off the series. And then we got Wolverine: Origins. The movie suffered from the same off-comic book script that would have been MUCH better if they tried to stick a bit closer, but only really got bad when the writing got lazy. Really, Striker KNEW that two adamantium bullets to Wolverine's head would give him amnesia and WOULDN'T be fixed by his healing factor? Nonsense. A machine to wipe minds, which was mentioned, would have been acceptable, especially since the comics have so many explanations (and the real one wouldn't fit the movies), but this lazy writing actively killed the movie for me.

Enter First Class, and no one even knows if this is a reboot, a re-telling, or an honest-to-goodness prequel! Well, it looks like a prequel in the end, as long as you don't mind them slapping the timeline of THEIR OWN MOVIES across the face. This could possibly be rectified in Days of Future Past, but it shouldn't have been needed.

---Ok, I'll actually talk about the movie now---

The Wolverine directly follows Last Stand, with references to Origins (though I didn't see any to First Class, not that that's important). So you should see the original trilogy before going to see the Wolverine if you want to know what the deal is with one of the characters in the movie (ooh, spoiler-free makes this sound more interesting than it was).

The Good: The character of Wolverine was done well. They've had four movies to work on it, and this is the first one that I feel they hit the important elements of the character, from his inability to remain a pacifist to his desire to protect younger/smaller female figures (well documented in the comics).

Mariko and Wolverine.

The movie doesn't follow a comic run per se, but it also doesn't step on any toes and does tie in characters in a relatively appropriate fashion. This is easily the least damaging movie to the comic storyline.

There weren't quite as many fight scenes as I had expected and there were a few missed opportunities, but I enjoyed those that were in the film and really enjoyed one sword fight in general.

The supporting cast plays their roles well enough. Again, the character roster is actually pretty small considering the comic book Japanese history Logan has, but this made for an easier to control movie where we know who was important/interesting

Yukio and Hobo-Wolverine.

The 3D for this movie was actually really beautiful. I normally don't care for 3D, especially since it is a gimmick that feels more appropriate in a Michael Bay film, but it wasn't used for overt action sequences in The Wolverine, it actually just gave a nice field of depth to the whole movie. I loved the opening pan done with the 3D technology and this is the first movie I honestly suggest spending the extra cash when you see it. The Wife, who hates 3D, agrees with me on this one.

There is an appropriate after-the-credits scene, which is something Sony usually sucks at.

The Bad: There aren't really any surprising moments. This means the plot is easy to follow, but the attempted plot twist is very weak.

The ending doesn't go in any direction I wanted it to. It has promise for the future, but I sincerely doubt it will get much focus in later movies, which is unfortunate.

Wolverine has a much larger history with Japan in the comics. As far as I can tell from this movie, this is no longer the case. What we have was done well, but it is an example of missed potential.

I really disliked one of the villains they chose. I don't think they are mentioned anywhere so, to remain spoiler free, I'll just say that I felt they looked stupid and had zero interesting points. In fact, they could have easily been removed from the film and it actively would have been better with all of their scenes removed. They have one gimmick that got them in the film, and it could have been replaced VERY simply.

It could have been shorter. Some scenes dragged on and others could have been removed entirely.

The Verdict: This is a strong entry into the Wolverine storyline. One of the strongest, honestly, because the focus is clear and doesn't stay from the title character, who goes through several changes throughout. It was a good comic book movie in the sense that it doesn't outright ruin any comic stories for future films and it still remained in the realm of plausibility. The writing was better than Origins, though there were a few points I'll contend with if I am motivated to do a Spoiler-Full review.

As it stands, any comic book fan should see this movie. Anyone who remotely liked the X-Men films should see this movie. Fans of Hugh Jackman will enjoy this movie. Fans of over-the-top action films... will find it a bit slow.

My arbitrary rating would be a 7/10.

Magnificent 7 Part 1: Sunny Doomsday

Doom Patrol, Book 1: Crawling from the Wreckage (Original issues from 1989)

Written by Grant Morrison; Art by Richard Case, Doug Braithwaite, 

various

Recommended Listening:          Munki-Jesus and Mary Chain (1998)

Meet the “World’s Strangest Heroes”, the ultimate misfits of society led by their wheelchair bound genius mentor in a fight against the bizarre and meaningless. No, I’m not talking about the X-Men. Technically DP debuted before Marvel’s mutants, and although some comparisons can be made, can you actually picture Wolverine slicing his way through Dadaism? Maybe a little.

The DP takes the “Strangest Heroes” title literally. Cliff Steele is a survivor of brutal car wreck with only his brain intact inside a robot body. Crazy Jane suffers from over 60 split personalities all vying for control, and each with their own superpower. Rebis is a hermaphrodite paradox wrapped in specially coated bandages to hold in its radioactive Negative Spirit. 

Having first read their odd adventures during my initial year living in Japan, I could find myself relating more to the DP’s newest ape faced teen sweetheart recruit, Dorothy Spinner than to seXy-Men Gambit, Logan, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, and the rest.

"Walk, Don't Run" with scissors

As part of their duties the DP courts the totally weird. The series is filled with fever dreamed images that will stay with you for a long time. Although an experiment in Dadaism (Video of Morrison’s writing process during the run), you don’t need to regret not paying attention to the boring lecture and slideshow from Art History 101 in order to understand what the hell is happening in the stories. Sometimes you don’t need to understand everything because it doesn’t need to be realistic. It’s a comic! It’s not real! 

 That isn’t to dismiss comics as not being artistic (There’s often more creativity on a single page of DP than in many other books or films), but the emphasis in the late 80s at the time was on how to make superheroes as realistic as possible, which is interesting for a few stories, but has been hammered to death, and isn’t a healthy approach to these impossible characters. What is plausible are the emotions and reactions of the characters in Doom Patrol, which is all you need to jump into the absurdity.

The team is a metaphor for traumatized and handicap individuals, but instead of being depressed and suicidal the heroes are able to actually cope. It’s a process that isn’t made light of, but the possibility is in reach when their working as a team. By realizing that they haven’t been destroyed through their own self doubt they can see life through all its randomness.

Despite the serious issues that come up in the series, in no way is this isn’t your average joyless dark 80s comic. The characters like many real survivors of misfortunes can make fun of their own handicaps and see the absurdity in and around their situation. Cliff “Brain in a Robot” Steele is in a similar mold to the Fantastic Four’s The Thing, a man stuck in a rocky exterior with a similar jaw line. Cliff is a lovable roughneck, leather wearing Tin Man whose heart figuratively also survived the crash. The DP’s Chief has a constant craving for chocolate, presumably to help boost his genius inventions and research. Dorothy Spinner is the Judy Garland of the team, who due to her facial deformity only had imaginary friends. Eventually she said goodbye to those friends with an imaginary shotgun Old Yeller style. The DP characters’ relationships with each other are tender and never feel forced or hokey as they search for an OZ of their own.

Crawling from the Wreckage does what it says. Imagine surviving your own worst apocalypse. What do you do next? Life will always have something stranger to throw at you

.

Comic Tour to the Capitol

Hi All,

Just wanted to post that you can find the Twitter recap of our trip to Washington, DC here: #comicsandcapitol.

Stay tuned for some PLRs soon and possibly some news on another social media front. I'm playing around with the idea of incorporating a Tumblr into this mess...

Highlights from the trip:

Day 1 Haul

I picked up a bunch of Ultimate X-Men, including at least 30 consecutive issues that I can start reading now, which will bring me up to issue 69 (I have some later issues, but refuse to read series out of order).

I was able to find a good amount of Exiles comics for cheap, including the first 10 or so issues, meaning I can start reading the series.

DASH RENDAR ACTION FIGURE! YES!

I found some sets I didn't know I wanted, completed a few sets I've been hunting for for awhile, and found a few random series that look worth following up on.

Biggest finds for me were probably the random issues of Y the Last Man, Wasteland, and Preacher. They are all somewhat difficult to find series that, up until this trip, I'd not had a single issue of. And I managed to find all these in $1 or 50 cent bins.

Speaking of bins, the best comic shop from the trip would have to be Main Street Comics in Milltown, NJ. It was relatively small, but 90% of their back issues were in ORGANIZED $1 bins. Normally, cheap bins are disorganized messes that you dig through for hours and HOPE to find an issue or two you're looking for. I was able to pick up a ton of good stuff here and will hopefully find time to swing by again before moving back to MA.

Honorary mention to Captain Blue Bird Comics and Stormwatch Comics, the last two stops on our trips that I also really enjoyed and sported a good selection of cheap bins.

Oh, also, DC was a lot of fun. It was cold and windy, which made it like an adventure (at one point it even seemed like a Post Apocalyptic adventure). My favorite part would have to be the Dinosaur Exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Not only do I love dinosaurs, the Wife does too!

Rare sighting of the elusive Nerd...

Ok, that's all for now.

Extra! Extra! Centennial Edition (100th Post!)

With this edition of Extra! Extra!, I officially hit 100 posts! Going along with this theme, I'm going to select my top 5 favorite comic book series that have gotten to at least 100 issues (without renumbering) and talk about them a little bit.

Oh the fun we will have.

Wolverine I'm going to be honest, I've never been a huge fan of the Wolverine series. There are several story arcs that I find interesting, but overall I never got into it. That being said, I really do enjoy the character, especially when he's working along side other characters (Wolverine and Spidey is my favorite team-up, ever). So this series gets credit for developing a character I've come to enjoy, if nothing else. The series HAS been renumbered a couple of times now, but at least Volume 2 ran for 189 numbered issues, and I'm counting it.
Star Wars (Marvel) This series is... well, very much dated. That being said, it has two things going for it that will make me always appreciate it: First, the covers are awesome! Sometimes they're insane or oddly drawn, but each one has so much going on or so much attention paid to it. This is the era when comic book covers could be a story unto themselves. Second, this series helped pace the way for the Star Wars EU and the many, many Star Wars comic series that have followed. As for the issues themselves, I haven't read too many, and most of those were when I was a kid. My preference would be Knights of the Old Republic and Legacy, but I'd have to add those series together to hit 100 issues...
Batman This series started and stayed campy as hell for a long, long time. That alone gives it some credit. Since then, the title has grown into the Dark Knight we all know and love and has produced several quality arcs that I enjoy. But I will never forget the Adam West era, which bled into the comic series in its formative years. The campiest campy-ness that ever did camp. I will never collect the series, but I will always appreciate the stories that have come from it and keep an eye out for the older issues at yard sales and the like -- they're worth a pretty penny. I'm pretty sure this series didn't get renumbered for #713 numbered issues, which is a feat in and of itself.
Ultimate X-Men I have not finished this series, and have heard there were some ups and downs with the story telling. From what I've read, I've enjoyed the different directions taken with the characters and the way the writers were able to play fast and loose with recognizable characters that are overlay established in the main Marvel line. I could actually say the same for all the Ultimate titles, but Ultimate X-Men has the honor of making it to issue 100 (exactly) before being renumbered. I will eventually collect every title in this series, similar to what I've done with Ultimate Spider-Man.
The Amazing Spider-Man If you didn't see this one coming, you obviously don't know me very well! ASM has been renumbered once so far, but that didn't happen until after issue #441. It was slapped back into the original numbering system with issue #500, but will sadly be ending with issue #700, to be replaced by Superior Spider-Man. Your friendly neighborhood nerd is NOT happy with this, but will probably survive. I love Spider-Man because I really enjoyed Peter Parker when he was the nerdy kid down on his luck, to being the every man as he got older. His personal life was interesting without being too insane (though it CERTAINLY had its moments) unless his Spider-Man issues got in the way, which was ALSO interesting. One of my favorite things about Spider-Man, however, are is the varied Rogue Gallery that has cropped up around him and spread to other books. The series has been campy, light-hearted, dark, depressing, upbeat, confusing, obscure, upsetting as a reader (I'm looking at you, One More/Brand New Day), but, in the end, always something I've enjoyed reading and look forward to its eventual return. Because you know Marvel can't let a good title die.

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I didn't realize how many series I read have been renumbered before issue #100. It's kind of sad, actually. For a moment, this turned into a hunt for series I've read SOMETHING from that have hit 100 issues. I'm happy with this list, but would love some other thoughts on long running series, and I always appreciate more comments!

Other than that, this wraps up my 100th blog post. I'll try and plan something a bit more special for post #200. Maybe a video blog? Would that be awkward enough? I'll be accepting suggestions until then!

Extra! Extra! Alternate Dimensions Edition

That's right folks, for this weeks rendition of Extra! Extra!, we're taking a look at some alternate dimensions of popular comics that you should look into.

Some of these universes may have come up in previous posts, but I'll make sure that the chosen books are different!

Note: Marvel's "Main" Universe is designated 616, while DC's is designated Earth-0 (I think -- this could be wrong because the New 52 actually merged several of their universes together to make their current main universe).

Ultimate X-Men (Ultimate Universe) The Ultimate Universe was originally an updated retelling of popular Marvel titles, with liberal changes here and there -- I would say that no character remained completely unchanged. It has since gone on to look MUCH different than the 616 universe -- many characters have been killed or permanently changed, and many team rosters have been edited. The X-Men start out when Sentinels are being released on unsuspecting mutants and Charles Xavier (Professor X) recruits a team of mutants to combat them. These original cast includes Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Storm, Iceman, Beast, Colossus, and Wolverine. One example of a dramatic character change: Wolverine initially joins the group because he was hired to assassinate Xavier. I'm not too far into the X-Men series, but what I have read has been very interesting, and I'm looking forward to eventually catching up. I've also read: The Ultimates, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Team-Up
Iron Man Noir (Noir Universe) The Noire Universe is another set of retellings, this time with elements taking from Noir films and stories and are set in the mid-1900s. Iron Man follows Tony Stark, an adventurer who has his journeys chronicled for a magazine targeted towards men, allowing them to escape into fantasy during troubled times -- this being during the events of WWII. Tony is actually going on these quests in the hope of finding a way to cure or permanently power his mechanical heart (we never learn how he got it). He finds much, much more as he is hounded by Baron Zemo and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker during his quests. I've also read: Spider-Man Noir I want to read: X-Men Noir
Superman: Red Son (Elseworlds Universe) Elseworlds was the format DC used for telling alternative stories without adding on universes to actually worry about. Since then, several worlds introduced in Elseworlds have made their way into the DC Multiverse. Red Son follows an alternate timeline in which Superman fell to Earth and landed in the Soviet Union instead of the US. Superman becomes the Soviet Union's new greatest weapon. Instead of a Nuclear Arms race, this creates a super-being arms race. Alternate versions of Batman, Wonder Woman, Bizarro and political figures of the time abound. I have yet to actually read this, but I'm looking forward to picking it up in the near future. I think it will be very interesting to see a Superman with core values very different from the one we know today.
Wolverine: Days of Future Past (811 Universe) The 811 Universe pops up in a few different titles, those these are generally related to the X-Men in some way. The biggest different with this univserse is that mutants are hunted down and incarcerated in internment camps. The Wolverine tie in is actually a prequel to the main story line that occurs in Uncanny X-Men. It explains why Wolverine is in Canada and Magneto is in a wheelchair. I am currently working up my collection of Days of Future Past issues, so I have not read the series myself. The original Uncanny X-Men run (I think it was two issues) is considered a classic X-Men story line, and I am looking forward to collecting them in the future.
The Exiles (Many Universes) For this one, I'm cheating a little bit. The Exiles are a group of heroes from disparate dimensions (one of the main characters, Blink, is actually from the Age of Apocalypse dimension)that have come together for their different reasons. Their job is to correct errors that occur in other dimensions that would create more or worse divergent timelines. Its an interesting concept that has potentially infinite possibilities. This is another series I am not read up on, though I was especially interested when I found out that a version of Spider-Man 2099 eventually makes his way onto (and off of) the roster. I've started collecting them and will do some more posts on the series when I find especially interesting runs.

Along with collecting Exiles, I'm also looking to start collecting issues of Uncanny X-Force and finishing off my (currently small) collection of Spider-Man 2099. When I find particularly interesting runs of these series, I will rotate them into the Monday "Extra! Extra!" posts. Hopefully this will add some new flavor to the standard suggested reading format.

If there's anything else you'd like to see me take a look at, please leave a comment below!

For now, I have no clue what next week will bring!

Extra! Extra! X-Men Edition

As promises, here's some suggested reading dealing with the X-Men!

X-Men: First Class This seems like a good place to start. As a comic series, First Class started as an 8 run mini-series that, as far as I can tell, got a regular series (and barely related movie title) due to popularity. The series follows the original X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman, and Beast) through untold stories that happened during the early years of the comics. You don't need to have read the original series, but they will make a few references to other events that occurred. The writing, art, and story lines are all fantastic, and, while I haven't completed the entire series yet, I have found it very enjoyable. This is a 9/10 for me. Issues to Collect: Volume 1 #1-8 (that is a good sample to see if you want to keep reading, which I would suggest that you do).
The Amazing X-Men: Age of Apocalypse If you are surprised to find this on here, you don't know me or this blog very well! I love post apocalyptic setting and this just happens to be one ruled over by a guy names Apocalypse! This is the story of world if Charles Xavier had been killed before founding the X-Men. Apoc takes over and turns the world into a Mutant run hellhole, with the only safe place being Europe. Humans are a race on the way to extinction and the nastiest mutants around rule in their stead. The protagonists, then, are teams of X-Men founded by none other than Magneto himself, who doesn't agree with Apoc's extreme (and murderous) views. The team feaured in this book is made up of Quicksilver and Storm (the leaders), Dazzler, Banshee, Iceman, and Exodus. They're tasked with helping evacuate humans through Maine to Europe, but things get more complicated every step of the way. The original AoA event was pretty interesting -- ever X-book that was out at the time suddenly became set in this bleak timeline and featured completely different versions of the most recognizable faces (Cyclops is actually on of Apoc's top lieutenants, for example). The story lines converged eventually, leading to the end of the event and the Age of Apocalypse... except we've been shown since then that the universe of AoA is alive and kicking, with all new heroes and problems. This run, specifically, gets an 8/10 from me. Issues to Collect: #1-4, and the other X-books set during this time would be good additions too (especially issues Alpha and Omega, which tied the series together).
X-Men: World War Hulk The world should have known better than to make Hulk mad! The "Illuminati", of which Charles Xavier was part, decided that the Hulk was too big a threat to remain on Earth. When Hulk eventually got back, he was none too pleased. This mini-series has Hulk planning to take his vengeance on Xavier, by killing him and anyone that gets in his way. It's mostly an action packed run, but that can be good from time to time. It also has one of my favorite versus match ups: Wolverine vs. Hulk. The way the fight ends is pretty damn decisive for once, too. This short series is an 8/10 for me. Issues to Collect: #1-3, and the main World War Hulk line would be pretty good to get too.
Fatal Attractions This specific item is a cross-over story line that hit all the major X-books out at the time. The story is that Magneto, along with his Acolytes, return and the confrontation with the X-Men begins anew. As a series, it is best known for the issue in which Magneto forcefully rips the adamantium from Wolverine's bones. Unfortunately, I can't comment on more than that or give it an official rating -- I'm missing one issue and refuse to read the others until I have it. It's on here because it is one of my most anticipated story lines to read. I'll edit this with a scoring when I finally find the last title (ironically, the Wolverine issue). If it helps, all the covers have are wrap-around and have a hologram component. Issues to Collect: X-Factor #92, X-Force #25, Uncanny X-Men #304, X-Men (Volume 2) #25, Wolverine (Volume 2) #75, Excalibur #71.
House of M Similar to AoA, this Marvel Event features an alternate timeline in which Mutants have become the dominant species and "pure" humans are second class citizens. Unlike AoA, this reality is ruled over by the "House of M", which is to say Magneto and his family. It is created by the Scarlet Witch's powers when she goes a bit nuts. Her reasons for going crazy are a bit complicated, so I'll leave it there. The major Marvel characters are all given different origins and supposedly given versions of their lives that they'd have wished for (IE, Spidey is a movie star married to Gwen Stacy and has his Uncle Ben as an agent). Mutants have great lives and humans, while second class citizens, are able to function and rise in society (Tony Stark being the major example). The main House of M story line starts with Wolverine realizing that reality has been changed -- due to the mess his mind has become through past manipulations, he alone retained all his original memories (I think that's the explanation given). His mission is to gather the heroes, make them remember, and then force Scarlet Witch to turn things back to normal. This, of course, happens, but with catastrophic results -- a whispered phrase, "No more Mutants." The event gets a solid 8/10 from me. Issues to Collect: #1-8, and I also enjoyed the Spider-Man (#1-5) and Iron Man (#1-3) tie ins.

You may notice I'm missing some great X-Men events/story lines. That's because I probably haven't read them, to be completely honest. If you can, please suggest some! I'm already collecting Ultimate X-Men, but any other suggestions would be welcome.

Next week: I will due Spider-Man suggestions, based on my top 5 favorite costumes. This is due to the fact that I will be taking "50 Shades of Spidey" post down for maintenance while I try to work some issues out. Swing by Wednesday for some Video Game updates!

Extra! Extra! Trade Paper Back Edition

Before we start this weeks rendition of "Extra! Extra!", I wanted to introduce the Nerd! He's swung his way onto the banner (in his Scarlet Nerd outfit) and will be popping up in a few other places as well (like my Twitter icon).

I'm contemplating adding a supporting cast to the blog, but I'm not 100% sure what that'd look like. More on this later!

Alright, onto the reading! The five Trade Paper Backs (which I defined at the end of this post, for those getting in late in the game) listed below can probably be found as single issues, I just personally find that they are better collected as one volume.

Note: These are all DC and Marvel, simply because I haven't collected much else in TPB form. As I work more alternative companies into my collection, I will consider making an Independent TPB list.

Kingdom ComeThis story is set in a bleak future in the DC Universe, as imagined by Alex Ross and Mark Waid. It is about a decade since Superman and most of the other current super heroes retired. They were replaced by the next generation of Metahumans, a sizable population of super-powered individuals who have no qualms about killing their enemies and have no regard for civilian casualties. The story is told from the perspective of Norman McCay, a minister who has begun to receive visions from Wesley Dodds that show the end of the world. Dodds meets The Spectre, who takes Dodds on a trip to watch the apocalyptic events unfold. The story really picks up when a major disaster is caused by the new Matahuman community and Wonder Woman tries to convince Superman to come out of retirement and help teach the new generation how to be heroes. The heroes of the past have to reunite and overcome the new generation of heroes, the past generation of villains, and, more importantly, themselves. This book gets an 8/10 from me, mostly because I love dystopian/apocalyptic/darker future settings. The artwork isn't my favorite but it is solid throughout. Collects issues #1-4
Earth XNot to be left out, Marvel has their own bleak future (based on notes from Alex Ross, no less). This story takes place about a decade after the end of the "Heroic Age" and is set in a dystopian world where every normal human has gained super powers (thanks to Black Bolt and the Terrigen Mists), making the original heroes obsolete. This tale is seen from the eyes of X-51 (Machine Man), who has been brought to the Moon by Uatu to replace him as the new Watcher. X-51 watches from above as the world begins to tear itself apart, unaware of the impending doom coming in the form of the Celestials. Without spoiling anything, we see the future of many prominent characters, and none of them are good: Spider-Man has been replaced by her daughter (the current wearer of the Venom symbiote), Captain America has quite the Avengers, considering himself unfit after killing the Red Skull, the Hulk and Banner have split but chosen to stick together for reasons quickly made obvious, and Iron Man is the last remaining human. That's just a small selection covered in this grand tale, which spans 12 numbered issues and several specials. This book gets another 8/10 for me. I enjoyed seeing the alternate futures shown and the story kept me interested throughout. I dislike the art for the most part, but it is at least consistent. So far I have read half of the first sequel, Universe X, but have not enjoyed it as much. I've heard that the third chapter in the trilogy, Paradise X, isn't any better. Collects issues #0-12, as well as #X
Spider-Man NoirThis is another version of a popular hero -- Spider-Man Noir is set during the great depression and thus features a very different kind of Spider-Man. The story is darker to fit the Noir title, as are the villains and other characters seen. Peter becomes a pupil of Ben Urich, a reporter who also has a secret network of informants under the persona "The Spider". Peter gains his powers after intercepting one of these tips and becoming bitten by a spider that came from an antique spider statue being smuggled into the city by Norman Osborn's gang. His powers are similar but different than normal Spidey's: he can't cling to walls and gains organic webbing that doesn't form into web-lines and is therefore useless for travel. Peter decides to use his new powers to take down Osborn and his gang, who were responsible for the grisly murder of his social activist uncle, Ben Parker. The dark setting and story as well as the different images of the prominent characters make this story stick out. The art is dark and gritty and fits a Noir style well, getting an 8/10 for me. It's a bit short, unfortunately, and therefore a bit rushed. There is a sequel, titled Eyes Without a Face, but I have yet to pick it up. Collects issues #1-4
The Mighty Avengers: Venom BombThis is the first regular collection on this list! Yay! I normally don't read much that involved the Avengers, and almost nothing under the title "The Mighty Avengers", but this features a Venom-Virus that runs rampant through New York City, causing its inhabitants to turn into symbiote-like monsters. The Avengers have to fight them off without turning themselves. Then they have to find out who's responsible and stop them as well -- but who in their right mind would create a virus based off of Venom? You get an internet cookie if you guess without peeking! This gets another 8/10 from me (which, if you haven't gathered, is a pretty good rating). I appreciate the inclusion of symbiotes being taken on by someone other than Spidey. The writing is done well and the story overall is interesting. I don't rate it higher simply because I don't care for The Mighty Avengers and this trade makes up all the issues I own with them. Collects issues #7-11
Batman: KnightfallThis title makes it on here over other excellent Batman trades for two reasons: first, Knightfall is the story arc that The Dark Knight Rises was based on (link brings you to my movie review!) and second, it is MASSIVE! If you can find this cheap (check Amazon!), you're getting a huge bang for your buck. This is the first of three installments that make up the "KnightSaga", and this particular collection features Bane's now-famous breaking of Batman -- although that comes after Bane releases the prisoners from Arkham Asylum, causing some of Batman's most dangerous enemies to be set on Gotham. The Bat has his work cut out for him, and it won't end well. The next to installments feature story elements you didn't see in the movies and turns this story into an epic. I won't rate this one only because I have yet to complete it. That being said, it is definitely one of the best values listed simply because of the amount of issues that are collected within, and the story has definitely become a classic. I plan on doing a more in-depth review once I've finished the entire Saga, and I will put my review score there. Collected issues Batman: Vengeance of Bane Special #1, Batman #491-500, Detective Comics #659-660, Showcase '93 #7 and 8 and Batman: Shadow of the Bat #17-18

That was a little difficult -- I didn't want to cover anything previously seen. Stories like Old Man Logan and Maximum Carnage could have been up here just as easily, though I'm still happy with the above list.

Next Week: X-Men! This will be interesting because I'm not overly familiar with X-Men. I'll keep it to what I know and can actually suggest, but I'd love suggestions on any of these posts for further reading of my own!

Suggested Reading: "X-Men and Spider-Man"

I just got through re-reading the 4 issue set of "X-Men and Spider-Man", and I have to say, if you're a fan of either, you should really find yourself a copy. You can find it as a TPB (above) or singles -- I prefer the singles (as always!)

Each issue features a team-up between Spidey and the X-Men throughout their careers. Issue one features the original X-Men teaming up with a young Spidey against Kraven and the Blob. Issue two has black-suit era Spidey, three has Ben Reilly Spidey, and issue four has an closer to current Spidey teaming up with relative teams of the X-men (reflecting some of their roster changes over the years). Each story has a driving force that connects them all and culminated in the last issues.

My only complaint is that the final fight ends very anti-climatically, almost as if they wanted to take some of the elements they created in the series further.

Otherwise, it is a good team-up story, VERY well drawn, and includes my favorite super-hero pairing of all time:



(This image doesn't come from "X-Men and Spider-Man", I just enjoy it!)

Guest stars that appear in the issues: Carnage, Mr. Sinister, The Marauders, Kraven, the Blob, three different Spidey costumes and four different X-Men teams.

The Pull List

First, does every comic book store have a "pull list", or do they use some other term? The two I've used (Rubber Chicken in Franklin, MA and now Joker's Child in Fair Lawn, NJ) knew what I was talking about. When I move back to MA, I'm wondering if it will be the same...

Would love to know some other terminology! I'm still surprised that there are some folks who call every carbonated beverage a "coke".

Right, back on topic.

My pull list is currently comprised of:

Amazing Spider-Man: This will be a title I always follow. I eventually plan to go back and pick up every issue of ASM, but for now I'm content and staying current. Now, I don't like the changes that "Brand New Day" brought. It is our version of the 90's "Clone Saga", except it accomplished what the writers wanted: Spider-Man was now a young bachelor with a lot of romantic and professional options.

The "Clone Saga" attempted to do this by replacing Peter Parker with Ben Reilly (Peter's Clone, you'll remember). This would let Peter hang up the webs to become Spider-Dad and Ben could be a new, single Spider-Man with future plans wide open. In my opinion, this failed because they dragged it out and gave fans a chance riot. The storyline became too convoluted, especially with determining who was actually a clone, a fact that shouldn't have been paramount to begin with (seriously, you want readers to believe they've been following a fake for five years?). But that's neither here nor there. And I still love the Scarlet Spider costume.

On topic! Brand New Day was an abrupt change, but it has been an interesting ride. The stories coming out of ASM are continuously getting better, which is the important part. I enjoy the villain changes we've been seeing and my favorite thing to come from the recent issues is Peter Parker being an important part of the Spider-Man role. Peter finally using his head instead of his natural abilities is how it should be, and it being translated into new costumes is effective.

Avenging Spider-Man: Love the art in this book, and the story has been getting more interesting every issue. I don't think we really needed another Spider-Man title, but I'm ok with it so far.

Ultimate Spider-Man: I have every issue of USM to date, and I've really enjoyed it. I much more enjoyed Peter Parker's stint because it was a fresh take on the established mythos, but I'm not hating Miles Morales' story so far. It is all new and interesting, though I feel it is moving a touch slow in the first 10 issues. And, of course, I wish they had gone a different route with how Peter was shuffled out.

Scarlet Spider: I'll be honest, I'm only reading this because of the title. And the sad hope that Ben Reilly will somehow find a way back. If they can bring Kaine back from the dead multiple times, why not? The story has some potential, but I'm not sure it's gotten there just yet (though I am a little behind). Kaine is being built as a dark-side Spider-Man, but they are trimming his claws and having him not kill his enemies. That's fine, we don't need another Venom. I'm just not sure we need another Scarlet Spider that second guesses everything he does. I look forward to seeing how Kaine finds his way and then bashing it on here if I don't approve. Also, as I've said before, his costume is stupid. Stop it, Marvel, too many red and black Spider-Men as it was.

Boy, that's a lot of Spiders... Now for something different!

Venom: Ok, not SO different, but oh well! I'm trying to like Flash as Venom, I really am. I just hate the new design. The character. His love/personal life. His enemies. Oh, and the military use of the symbiote, which was done in one of the old, terrible runs of Eddie Brock as Venom. Note: I love old, terrible runs. And I love Venom in general. This series isn't terrible, I'm just hoping it picks up soon (last issue I read saw Eddie Brock getting a new symbiote, so maybe I'm getting my wish). Can't wait to read the issue(s) in my pull list!

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - War: I own and have read every issue of Knights of the Old Republic, as well. I think they ended on a note I enjoyed. Now they are bringing Zayne back to play a role in the actual conflict known as the Mandalorian Wars. I don't know how long it will go, but I'm not enjoying it so far. If they were going to start the series again, I want more stories with the characters that made the first 50 issues interesting. Zayne travelling with a new group, none of whom I like, isn't working. Until I see otherwise, I feel this series should stayed finished.

Avengers vs X-Men: Going well so far. I don't follow either group unless there's an interesting event going on, but this has been a good one. Also, these are the first issues I've ever seen using the Marvel AR app, which I'm enjoying. This makes me mildly more interested to read up on the X-men, but only mildly. Avengers I still don't care about, beyond a character here and there.

Batman: GASP! A DC title! It is one of two on my current list (Flash used to be a third, but I really didn't enjoy the first several issues). I'm not really enjoying this run yet. I almost wish I had picked a different Bat title, because this one simply shows Batman at a very low point, getting beat by a bunch of owls. So far, I haven't seen much of any supporting characters. I'll stick with it until the Night of Owls finishes, but if it doesn't improve, I don't think Batman is for me.

Red Hood and the Outlaws: This is a much more interesting book for me, possibly because I have few preconceived notions about the characters (Red Hood, Arsenal, and Starfire). So far I like the writing, the new back stories, the characters, and the enemies. Following this series with interest for now.

I think that's it for the pull list. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments; I swear I'm not just a Marvel fanboy!

Next post will be about the comic characters I enjoy. Or Civilization 5. Because I just need... one... more... turn...


In more personal news, the wife and I just finished unpacking at the new, temporary apartment during the renovation process at the old place. Pro: We have a bathtub (well, two) and a porch. Con: The sink has a garbage disposal and it is one of the most frightening things I have ever seen. Doing dishes will now be put on par with petting slugs in my fear department.

Ok, I'm being dramatic. Petting slugs would be much worse, and I can't believe I even wrote that. Blearg.