Well, admittedly, it was more of a light drizzle that drove me into the church, and it was quite well-lit, but I was most definitely excited at the prospect of spending an afternoon playing the role of a protagonist within a puzzle adventure game. Did it deliver? Well – Yes, and no.

Yes, I did spend two hours in heightened mental stimulation, thinking through various puzzles and clues in an attempt to decipher these ciphers, locate the questions and etc. The format of the game is such that one has to solve a certain series of puzzles in order to achieve your ultimate goal, the ability to escape the church through finding the password that allows you to exit. As the only team amongst six or seven to actually win, it was quite an exhilarating experience to have the light switch inside my head turn on, and the answer expose itself. There was a definite sense of achievement, coupled with the adrenaline rush of working against the clock.

It also delivered a prime intellectual challenge, one that kept me not only occupied, but also engaged throughout the afternoon. However, its delivery of my expectations were incomplete. The reason for me saying this is simple. Although it was an interesting and fun experience, it didn’t come close to fulfilling its potential. Firstly, despite the focus upon being trapped within a church, it does nothing to reinforce that fact, and is in fact, MCed by a rather jovial young man who makes it clear that this is a simple game. So, all my hopes of a horror house atmosphere were immediately dashed as I realized that the whole motif of being trapped wasn’t going to be used to its fullest potential.

Secondly, there exists almost no physical activity whatsoever. The full extent of my exertions were walking about the main hall of the church, looking for the clues stuck in not-too-well-hidden corners. Again, this took away from the role-playing aspect of the game, ending up with nothing more than a bunch of four to five people sitting around a table, solving puzzles and ciphers.

In its defence, it did allow for much interaction between team members, forcing them to work together against the one hour time limit they have to solve all the puzzles. However, for its price range, I did expect it to be much more dramatic, perhaps a horror house experience of attempting to open different doors, searching for clues inside clocks, thinking of interesting ways to escape the house. Interactions with the staff would have been nothing more than reminders that the players were trapped, and as much effort would have been taken to make the escape a realistic experience.

Ultimately, this works as a casual experience one would want to have with a couple of acquaintances, especially if one was trying to make friends or to get to know their team members better. Although hardcore role-playing geeks might feel that the Escape game didn’t live up to its fullest potential, I would still recommend it to people who enjoy puzzles, and wish to spend time with friends in a novel manner.

Escape from the Mysterious Chapel played out over the weekend, so unfortunately chances are if you haven’t gone, you won’t be able to see what the Mysterious Chapel was all about. Take heart though! The Real Escape Game will be returning to Singapore in May, so stay tuned for further information!

One of the things that I love about miniature wargaming is that you get to paint your minis. Not all people feel that way though, and any method to make painting more fun or rewarding is a good thing in my book. Which is why I’m sucha big fan of the Journeyman League. Giving people an excuse to paint is great, and well making a points based league revolve around BOTH painting and playing is a great incentive to get people to off their butts and painting. And as even more incentive, I’ll be keeeping a log of what all the players have submitted for their painting points!

In this case though I’ve tweaked the league system into more of a series of mini-tournaments, leading up to the grand-daddy of throwdowns during Sporecon. That way hopefully more people will have stuff painted and be able to join. Also, great tournament/steamroller practice! The first tournament will be a 15 point slugfest without scenarios, mainly to get new players used to the mechanics inherent in Warmachine and Hordes. Subsequent tournaments will have higher pointage levels and bring in the Steamroller rules.

But enough talking! You’re here to see some pictures!

The great dragon Everblight is definitely seeing a horde of new recruits as Jon gets his Rhyas and team painted up.

Not to be outdone, Wil’s also got a veritable SWARM of shredders and other bitey nommy creatures as well.

And for some reason all the Dragons have a showing this week, as Elliot got his Banethralls painted over the past few weeks too!

Current standing:
Jon: 5 points
Wil: 8 points
Elliot: 4 points

If you’re interested in joining the league, forms are at PI at $20 for entry into the entire league (4 tournaments), with the first league in the beginning of February. Just sign up and then email me or link your pictures on our Facebook group and I’ll start counting up your points too!

Peter Panzerfaust. What’s one to make of that title? If you don’t want to head into spoiler territory here and enjoy the tale uninformed like me, you should stop here and I’ll just very quickly say that the tale is definitely worth checking out even though the cover price is on the higher side of comic prices. Thanks for reading!

But for the rest of us, let’s just fly right in – straight on till morning.

So yes. It does get pretty obvious in the title, and if you haven’t realised by now, Peter Panzerfaust is Wiebe’s own take on JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, setting Peter Pan in a “realistic” World War II setting. A Panzerfaust, as Wikipedia puts it, is a cheap, recoilless German anti-tank weapon of World War II. That makes the title doubly apt, not just as a chronistically sound pun on the Pan name, but as an actual descriptive of Peter Panzerfaunst himself. This sets the scene for the clever bits – and it is clever.

Knowing the source material definitely enhances the tale – we get to trace the different references towards the original story. Now, this isn’t your straightforward adaptation of a classic, in fact the magical bits (flying etc) get a rather real-world version right here. Yet, Peter is unmistakably Peter Pan – brash, full of derring-do and confidence. The Lost Boys of the story are French orphans Peter chances upon in his search for Belle, and he quickly takes them under his wing, and saved from certain death but having to constantly escape, their adventure begins.

Tyler Jenkins handles the art, and his rough pencils and shadows lend a dynamism to the story. Throughout all the breakneck action (of which there is plenty), nothing gets occluded or messy. If anything, the art is reminiscent of Gabriel Ba’s work in The Umbrella Academy. With Jenkins, I think Wiebe definitely has a good partner to tell his story.

I can’t wait to see how Wiebe transposes the other elements of JM Barrie’s tale into the WWII setting – and even then, I don’t think I can forsee how it’s going to turn out. I just 22 pages Wiebe has already managed to stick close to the source material while also turning it on its head – and that’s no mean feat. And now, the tale is as realistic as it gets (other than some crazy feats that can really just be summarised as being fearless / trying to save your own life) but it feels as if the tale is teetering on the fantastical.

If there’s a weakness, it’s that at one point the story introduces a change from the introspective right back into action. It’s not a horrible thing, and on hindsight definitely gives the chance for Peter to, well, be Peter (in more ways than one) – it’s just that on first reading that took me a little by surprise.

So, consider my interest piqued. Wiebe’s work on adapting the classic into another time and milieu feels fresh and unlike adaptations where transposed moments are tired, each one in Peter Panzerfaust gives you a giddy thrill. The writing, coupled with the kinetic pencils of Tyler Jenkins makes this a pretty great comic that’s worth checking out.

Fatale #1. Whoa, first favorite title for the year and it ain’t one from the Big Two? I honestly didn’t see that coming. It’s Image’s Fatale by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips, the same team behind last year’s acclaimed noir mini-series Criminal: Last of the Innocent.

Now I would have given Fatale a miss if not for the almost non-stop Twitter barrage by Brubaker. Sure, I like just about everything he wrote last year but I’m already up to my eyeballs with my regular weekly stuff. However I did it pick up and without having seen or read any previews about it, I didn’t know what to expect. Is it another crime title, superhero, horror or something else? Well, after that first issue, it’s still hard to tell but I thought that actually worked in its favor.

Brubaker and Phillips brought that noir magic back here and this time, they managed to sprinkle their crime story with a healthy pinch of horror, plus it’s my favorite type too, the Lovecraftian-type. Well, there’s no direct reference to Cthulhu or any of the Ancient Ones (yet?) but nameless cults, bloody human sacrifices and a cover featuring a big squid thingy all do seem to point towards a treat for fans of H.P. Lovecraft, I hope.

The story opens in the present day with protagonist Nicholas Lash attending his grandfather, crime novelist Dominic Raines’ funeral. And like it says in the title, a femme fatale shows up and things start getting interesting. The subsequent flashback to Raines’ story in 1956 takes the tale down a chilling yet unmistakable noir and Lovecraftian road.

In Fatale, Brubaker has crafted a cool mystery tale on one’s quest for immortality, and I really think there are enough tantalizing hints in this first issue to make folks come back for more. Philips’ art definitely sets the mood; it’s shadowy and compliments the story perfectly. Can’t wait for the second issue.

Action Comics #5. What just happened here?!? The Superman’s-first-fight-with-Lex Luthor storyline that has been running for the first four issues has been hijacked midway by a Superman origin story.

According to the Internet, the first storyline will continue in issue #7 in March. This new story arc is still written by Grant Morrison but drawn by fan favorite Andy Kubert instead of regular guy Rags Morales. In this issue, Morrison gives his spin on the destruction of Krypton, nothing major changes in the telling of how baby Kal-El escaped to Earth in a rocket ship. Although it took me awhile to realize that it’s the rocket ship’s computer narrating the story. Then halfway through that, we take a deep left turn down Time-warp Boulevard and we are in the 31^st century with a new yet familiar cast of characters. Confusing? Definitely but that just means Morrison is up to his old tricks again. Just please don’t turn this into the mess that The Return of Bruce Wayne time travel story was!

The back-up story about Jonathan and Martha Kent’s wedding and them trying to have a baby was a total waste of time and space. Written by Sholly Fisch and drawn by Chris Cross, it doesn’t tell us anything new except maybe that the Kents tried for a test tube baby! Doesn’t add to Morrison’s main story either. Yah, we already know they are a truly loving couple, they got a farm and they really, really wanted a kid. In other words, a short sappy tale that just didn’t work for me.

But the big question on everyone’s mind of course is, what villain is he going to play in the Star Trek sequel?

The big money is on one of Star Trek’s most memorable villains, Khan Noonien Singh. Prior to Cumberbatch’s casting, it was reported last month that Benecio Del Toro had turned down the villain role, and that Edgar Ramirez and Jordi Molla were in contention to replace him. It seemed almost certain that they were looking for someone to recreate the role originated by the late, great Ricardo Montalban.

After all, the first film proved that appearance was very crucial to the casting process – as far as possible, the new cast would have to physically resemble the originals.

Which makes Cumberbatch’s casting rather curious, to say the least. The tall, dashing actor carries himself a very palpable yet subtle gravitas which would be perfect for the role of Khan – a genetically enhanced dictator who was ruled the Earth, but his lanky, angular physicality doesn’t quite lend itself to the image of a iron fisted megalomaniac that Montalban presented. Perhaps the villain is being rewritten to accomodate this new casting decision?

Alternatives to Khan abound, of course. Cumberbatch could very well play a totally new character, like the first movie’s Nero. The way he looks now, he could easily pass for a Vulcan – perhaps a disgruntled survivor of the first movie’s genocide who believes that the only way for Vulcan to return to their former state is to expand aggressively. An emotionless, cold-blooded Vulcan Führer is a chilling thought indeed.

The less obvious possibility would be the beloved villain Trelane from the classic episode The Squire of Gothos, or the more infamous Q, Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s omnipotent antithesis from The Next Generation. Both these characters have similarities to Cumberbatch’s current role of Sherlock Holmes, a flippant, childish character whose antics belie undeterminable depths of power and knowledge. That being said, I’m sure Cumberbatch is versatile enough to not choose a role that so resembles the one he’s most recently famous for, but who knows, really.

Other casting news also include Noel Clarke, who appeared alongside David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor as Mickey Smith. While Clarke’s character is also not revealed, online speculation have naturally linked him – for better or worse – to some of the characters from Star Trek originated by black men.

These include Dr. M’Benga, whose experience in Vulcan physiology complemented Dr. McCoy’s, Richard Daystrom, the brilliant man whose only mistake was to build the M5 multitronic computer, a complex A.I. that evolved a self-preserving attitude and began killing people, or even a younger Cartwright, the admiral who was part of the conspiracy to sabotage peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Of course, the other likely possibility is that Clarke’s character is totally new, but it would be a nice tip of the hat to the fans if he were one of these three. Personally, I would say he plays M’Benga, whose medical expertise would be in much demand following the destruction of Vulcan.

The casting of the Star Trek sequel has been very exciting thus far, what with Weller, and Entourage‘s Alice Eve and now Cumberbatch and Clarke. Production is said to start in a couple of weeks, and the release date is stil May 17th, 2013.

On Jan 6 and 7, Invasion! Comics will hold their grand opening at Funan The IT Mall #05-36 and will go from 6pm to 9pm on Friday and 11am to 9pm on Saturday. It will feature special guests Sonny Liew, Stephen Segovia and Rudy Ao. Each of them have produced exclusive prints for the event (you can check the prints out on Facebook), and will be on-site to do signings. As I understand, Sonny is available for commissions.

So – here’s what I’m piecing together based on Internet sleuthing so everything here is conjecture, but hey, coming up with unconfirmed facts on the Internet is fun! But yes, I’ll try to keep it simple.

Basically, Invasion! Toys & Collectibles (still the official name of the facebook page) are a, well, toy and collectible store that has sometimes also brought in comics, usually of the more popular variety. Then there’s Elseworlds, who specialise in back issues. They have been appearing at cons and making a huge name for themselves especially with their ever-expanding guest lists for each year, and have also been holding events outside of STGCC. And they’re now working together to form an amalgamation known as Invasion! Comics at a spanking huge space at Funan!

Like I said, it’s a very simple summary of their history based entirely on what I know + Google. Rest assured I will do my best to fill in the gaps this weekend. Nonetheless, this is an exciting time for the comics industry in Singapore – questions will be raised as to whether it can be a “big 4″ again, but I’d have to say a little competition is good for the business, as long as no STGCC-esque silly bad blood occurs.

So, I know that I’ll definitely be heading down on one or both days! Hope to run into some of you there!