Photon Torpedoes on DC Comics, Video Games, and Pop Culture

Borderlands: So good it should be illegal.

2009-10-22T14:51:03Z

I bought Borderlands (XBox 360) yesterday, popped in the disk at 11pm thinking I'd play an hour before going to sleep. When I stopped it was 1:30am.

This game is irresistible if you loved the loot-gathering of Diablo and you get off on the kickback of a gun firing. The enemy AI leaves something to be desired, but the gun combinations are terrific. I got a pistol last night that fires incendiary bullets and a grenade mod that splits your grenade up into separate little mini-grenades. This is only just the beginning, as I'm only at Level 7.

Jeff Gerstmann's review of Borderlands on Giant Bomb really convinced me that I would love this game. I like to play games mostly on my own, and this game works well either single player or with friends. A number of critics detail Borderlands good vs bad points, but only Gerstmann accurately described the crystal meth level of addiction that Borderlands can inspire. Nuff said.

BTW, Fanboy Radio fans will be pleased to know that Oliver Tull is the voice of the Soldier character, delivering funny lines like "Now that's what I call a head shot!" Nuff said.

Superman as President and Public Enemy #1

2009-10-20T15:32:16Z

I love the high concept covers of old DC Comics. These covers (by Neal Adams) were probably conceived before the actual story. These two have Superman having identity problems.

Superman's Greatest Role: The President of Steel! I predict his foreign policy would have been smashing.

Superman as Public Enemy #1! Obviously suffering from multiple personality disorder. Nuff said.

Keith Giffen's 1983 Legion of Super-Heroes Poster

2009-10-19T15:49:34Z

In 1983, Keith Giffen took on a daunting poster for DC Comics. One that featured nearly every character (heroes, villains, substitutes) that had appeared in the Legion's entire history. The picture above is only one-third of the entire image, taken from the right-hand side! I cropped it to this side to show my favorite Legionnaires: Dawnstar, Wildfire, Star Boy, Karate Kid, Mon-El, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and Colossal Boy.

Here's the full poster, you can click on it to view the scan. I remember buying this and pouring over the voluminous cast of characters. It could have been blown up and used as wallpaper in order to see all the characters better.

Keith Giffen blew a gasket on this poster, as he said in an interview with Jon B. Cooke (for Jack Kirby Collector #29): "What happened was I did this Legion poster, characters all over the place. And in drawing that Legion poster I totally burned myself out on the book. After the poster I just had to walk away."

Giffen's last regular Legion issue (as penciler) with co-creator Paul Levitz was in the Baxter Legion of Super-Heroes #2. He would return to guide the Legion in their infamous "five year later" reboot. Nuff said.

Wildstorm toasts Paul Levitz with Legion of Super-Heroes Drawing

2009-10-18T18:46:35Z

Here's a terrific Legion pinup by the Wildstorm crew on their Gelatometti blog.

This was a gift to departing publisher Paul Levitz. The sign says "Welcome Home" as he is returning to writing the Legion in Adventure Comics.

This drawing brings back memories of the Levitz-Lightle Legion era, with Sensor Girl, Kismet, and Tellus featured prominently on top. A great way to celebrate Levitz returning to these characters! Nuff said.

Flash Facts: Manapul is a Flash fan, a Kid Flash series, and Wally's new costume.

2009-10-16T14:12:55Z

There's a nice Geoff Johns interview on CBR where the writer discusses all things Flash and Green Lantern. Here's a summary of what is coming over the next few months:

A new Flash monthly comic in March 2010, with Francis Manapul as the lead artist. There is a very lengthy and good interview with Manapul over on the Legion of Substitute Podcasters (Episode 51). Manapul is a huge Flash fan, particularly of the Wieringo run, and actually tried to get on the Flash series in the past.
The Flash comic will have a backup series featuring Wally West, by Johns and Scott Kolins. Huge kudos for all Wally fans.
Wally West's new costume will appear in Flash Rebirth #5, now scheduled for November 11th. Does it appear on the very last page? We'll have to see.
There will also be a Kid Flash comic sometime around the launch of the Flash. Johns intends to bring theses two series in tight continuity, as he did with GL and GL Corps.

I think all Flash fans are dying to see what Wally's new costume design (by Ethan Van Sciver) will look like. SpeedForce.org is guessing that it will be a red costume with the top sliced off, exposing Wally's hair, as does Kid Flash's. My choice would be the Flash costume made out of "pure speed force energy" that we saw Wally wear in Flash #131-133. These issues were written by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, who came up with this great concept, and the costume was drawn by Paul Ryan. I think it looks out of this world, and would look even better now with modern coloring techniques. Nuff said.

DC Universe Online is our only hope!

2009-09-17T16:59:34Z

See More DC Universe Online Screenshots at IGN.com

We all know the development on DC Universe Online is taking forever, with no firm release date yet (sometime in 2010).

I was hoping that either Champions Online (PC only right now, XBox 360 coming later this year) or Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 would be worthy enough to tide us over in the meantime. Alas, both games have mediocre reviews, with the theme generally being "more of the same, nothing new here to see". I think the Marvel game is still worth playing, but I will wait until the priced drops to $30 or less.

Given the excitement that Green Lantern has generated over the past few years, how far will the DC game go to incorporate the GL mythos? We've seen screenshots of Sinestro in his yellow uniform. I wonder if you can create a bad guy and make him a member of the Sinestro Corps?

Surely the DCU game cannot have Red, Blue, Sapphire, or Indigo Lanterns? Those are too recent.

Can the Flashes go so fast they become the one with the Speed Force? Probably not.

Too many questions. I hope the game will be released in the first quarter 2010. Nuff said.

Green Lantern’s Blackest Night is Leaving a Black Hole in my Wallet

2009-09-09T14:22:09Z

I though I had given up collecting monthly comics for good, but as Al Pacino (once said in Godfather III): "Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in." Now I'm ordering comics through an online service and I've pretty much stopped reading digital stuff. I'm getting Marvel and DC titles, including all of Geoff Johns work and Blackest Night. Getting the monthlies isn't too bad--online services save a lot there. The Blackest Night madness has triggered an addictive need to own every single issue of Green Lantern since Rebirth!

Sure, I could get the trades. That would make very good sense, being cheaper and easier. There's just something about the single issues I've got to have--maybe it's the thrill of the hunt. From eBay to various comic stores in my area, I've managed to snag all GL issues except for #12 and #20. Why is #12 (shown above with the Cyborg Superman cover) so hard to find?

Issue #20 is more understandable. That's the first appearance of the blue, orange, red, and sapphire rings that have been featured during the past year in GL. There's also a Tales of the Sinestro Corps story by Johns and Gibbons. I think I was lucky to pickup issue #18 and #19 for a relatively cheap price--these issues also had Sinestro Corps backup stories.

This disease isn't contained to just the main title, no. Of course, the Green Lantern Corps titles are in the back issue bins next to them. First I started getting just the Corps issues tying into Sinestro Corps and Blackest Night. Then I found a bunch of other Corps titles for a good price and now I have a near complete run of that as well.

Let this be a lesson to you kids. Think you want to stop collecting comics? You can try but they will eventually pull you back in. It's cheaper to keep up your subscription plans. Nuff said.

Star Sapphire’s Come A Long Way in Green Lantern #45

2009-08-31T00:50:36Z

DC Comics has really reversed its creative slump during the last few months. Wednesday Comics, Batman and Robin, Flash Rebirth are quality comics. And of course, leading the way are Blackest Night and Green Lantern.

Green Lantern #45 veers away from Hal Jordan (while he is the spotlight in Blackest Night) to focus on Star Sapphire, Sinestro, and his fear-mongering corps on the Zamoran homeworld.

This story really struck me as to how far Carol's character has grown. In her early appearances as Star Sapphire, Carol was obsessed with Hal Jordan--to the point of battering down his resistance to becoming her mate! The purple ring pretty much brainwashed Carol, who only reverted to her normal persona after being defeated in battle. There's great subtext in all of this depending on which decade you read the stories. In the 60s, it was about women's liberation and having the power to get what they wanted--only to have a man take it away! Especially in the scene above (from Green Lantern 74, 1970) where Star Sapphire battles not only Green Lantern, but Sinestro as well.

Now in the current Green Lantern series, Geoff Johns has done a lot to explain why Carol has acted so crazy over the years. The sapphire ring is so dominating to the bearer that they do become brainwashed. Only Carol is able to resist the power, as she has had the most experience with it: "Stop trying to put me on autopilot."

As the cover promises, Carol throws down against Sinestro after he breaks free of the Zamoran purple prison. I take some disagreement with Sinestro's statement ("I have never sought revenge against my former pupil through, you Carol...") because obviously he has done so. But you have to think that Carol is terribly overmatched in this confrontation. I had Bullseye/Elektra jitters all over again.

Fortunately, Carol's ring has a power more potent than creating purple constructs. She traps Sinestro and causes him to remember his own lost love, who turns about to be the sister of Abin Sur! Perhaps this has been established elsewhere, but it was the first time I knew who exactly he had married in the past. With the recent revelation that Sinestro is the father of Soranik Natu in the Green Lantern Corps--Sinestro's story just keeps getting more wondrously complex. We still don't know exactly how Arin Sur died...or at least I do not. Was it from Sinestro's own hand, a la Darth Vader?

John Siuntres just speculated in a recent Word Balloon podcast that Sinestro might actually be "the greatest Green Lantern of them all" if somehow he turns around during the Blackest Night conflict. It's possible, but I hope that Geoff Johns doesn't try to totally change Sinestro...he's just too much fun being evil. Nuff said.

DC Universe Online Fan Event at SDCC 2009

2009-08-28T16:54:55Z

This fan event for DC Universe Online was held last month at San Diego Comic Con 2009. The video below doesn't show you anything of the game--just the crazy, wonderful fans who came to eat ice cream and get Jim Lee's autograph on a poster. I can sympathize with one fan who said he had been waiting three years and would buy the game right now!

DC Universe Online at IGN.com

There's a woman dressed as Mary Marvel (good version) and several DC characters (Wonder Woman, Vixen, Batman, Catwoman) dancing in the room. Greg Miller from IGN is pretty wacky. Nuff said.

The Flash’s New Speed Effect in Blackest Night

2009-08-22T19:39:50Z

I'm really hot on Blackest Night. It's revived my enthusiasm for DC Comics...it's even spurred me to collect all the single issues for that title, as well as Green Lantern, GLC, Flash Rebirth, etc.

I can see why Barry Allen had to be revived. In scenes like the following, where a Flash needs to interact with Hal Jordan, it just feels better if it's Hal's peer, Barry. As they say in this splash page from Green Lantern #43, they are both cops, after all!

But here's something even greater: the new speed effect for The Flash. It's a ghost effect showing the after images the Flash leaves in his wake.

Ethan Van Sciver talked about this in one of his recent interviews, that he was charged with designing a new speed effect. During the Golden Age, the Flash's speed effect was portrayed with multiple images of him doing something. In the Silver Age, Carmine Infantino drew the character with trailing speed lines that looked great in the 1960s. For the modern era, Wally West had those effects, plus a blurring of what was going on around him.

Now with digital computer art, this new ghosting trick, combined with the traditional methods, really makes the Flash's power new and exciting. This panel by Ivan Reis shows you all of them. The colors also blur to give you that notion of speed.

Even when the Flash isn't fighting, just turning his head, it still looks fantastic.

The art in both Green Lantern books is really top notch. Now I am wondering who the artist will be for the regular Flash title, once Flash Rebirth is done. I'm thinking that DC Comics should tap Ivan Reis when Blackest Night is over. What do you think? Nuff said.

DC Universe Online demo at SDCC 2009

2009-07-31T17:46:11Z

Here is a demo of DCU Online, now called an "action MMO", taken at San Diego Comic Con 2009. The video is a walkthrough and the actual game screen is in the distance, but the description of the game is interesting. Solomon Grundy helps the playable character defeat "patient zero", a character infected by a mutant virus. Still no firm release date for this game! Fall 2009 belongs to Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Nuff said.

Wipeout HD Fury: Fantastic DLC for $10

2009-07-29T15:10:44Z

I've bought Wipeout on the Playstation 2, Sony PSP, and now the Playstation 3. Wipeout HD was released last year in September 2008; I was pretty darn crazy about that game. The only problem with it was the AI was really hard in the single player campaign--I reached my limit around level 5 or 6. This locked out certain tracks that would be fun to try. I was a bit hesitant to buy the DLC, which transforms Wipeout into WIpeout Fury HD. But it was only $10, what the heck.

Fury is well worth the price--you get an entirely new Wipeout experience as a result of the DLC. There's a new single player campaign and even better--all the tracks from the original game and Fury are available in the Racebox. And one of the new race types, Detonator, is utterly mind blowing. It takes place within the psychedelic Zone levels, but transforms Wipeout from a racer into a shooter. You don't have to worry about speed, just steering, as you shoot down various glowing orbs scattered around the track. Given the design of the Zone tracks, this mode reminds me of the movie Tron, with pulsating color and explosions that ripple the landscape.

There's another mode called Zone Battle, where you compete against other ships in the Zone levels. I haven't quite figured out all the rules to this mode yet. You try to steer your ship without hitting the walls, holding out as long as you can until you trigger the next Zone level.

Eliminator is really fun as well, putting an emphasis on combat on the regular tracks. I had to wrap my mind around the fact that by pressing L1, your vehicle can travel in the opposite direction. It's extremely useful when you know you are ahead of several vehicles--you just flip around and blast them.

Lately I have been buying a lot of DLC, including Big Island for Burnout Paradise and Speed Expansion for Motorstorm Pacific Rift. Sony Liverpool has really raised the bar for DLC packs. If you are a Wipeout fan, you won't be disappointed. Nuff said.

Comic Strip Soap Opera: Luann’s brother Brad finally gets the girl

2009-07-25T16:55:59Z

I still get a newspaper and read it every day--a ritual I just can't give up. The first thing I do is scan the headlines and then head to the comic strips. I follow Zits, Sally Forth, Hagar the Horrible, Doonesbury, Foxtrot (on Sundays), but probably my favorite strip is Luann by Greg Evans.

Luann is about a high school age girl who lives in suburbia. She crushes on boys like crazy while ignoring the geek she's destined to wind up with, Gunther. Luann has a great cast of supporting characters, including her parents and brother, Brad. We've seen Brad change the most over the years. He became a firefighter, moved out of the house, burned down his own house, moved back home, etc. Brad's had an infatuation with the beautiful Toni Daytona that always sputtered on the runway--until this week! After Brad saved her life, Toni finally woke and smelled the coffee. Brad is the love of her life.

It's like the 1970s version of General Hospital. Sniff. Forget Archie's decision between Betty and Veronica, Greg Evans pulled off this years-long story arc with great skill. Nuff said.

Jim Lee’s Google Logo in full size and color

2009-07-24T02:01:20Z

If you've visited Google today, you've probably seen the special logo that Jim Lee designed. Here is a slightly larger version of that, taken from Jim Lee's Deviant Art page.

I think it's a really cool drawing. You have to love Plastic Man making up two of the letters like that. Superman isn't here, but that is all right--I like seeing Plas and Green Lantern getting some love.

You can also see the pencils for the Jim Lee's Google logo on CBR Live. In addition to all of this, you can select a number of comics themes for iGoogle, including Jim Lee's Wildstorm line. Nuff said.

Legion of Three Worlds 5: A Legion Fan’s wet dream ends, Bouncing Boy gets many wives

2009-07-23T14:59:28Z

If you're a Legion of Super-Heroes or George Perez fan, you've probably devoured Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #5 by now.

All in all, this mini-series was a super duper roller-coaster ride, a true gift for Legion fans who waited decades to see the classic versions of these characters return. It had more resurrections than Resurrection Man, a good one (Kid Flash) and a clumsy one (Superboy).

You can understand why the last issue of this series was delayed. It's packed with to wall to wall action and tons of characters. The double page spread, shown above, of Legionnaires from alternate universes banding together to fight Time Trapper (an older version of Superboy Prime) was spectacular. I can only name about 70% of the characters. My favorite is Saturn Girl on the lower right, in her swinging 1970s swimsuit.

There were more endings in this final issue than in Peter Jackson's Return of the King. Here are some of those and other great moments that I liked. Spoilers after the break...

Luornu Durgo and Chuck Taine show up before the whole shebang is over. Is she Triplicate Girl? Duo Damsel? No, Geoff Johns amped up her power in a spectacular way--now she is Duplicate Damsel! Fantastic. We always thought Chuck had a good deal with 2 or 3 versions of his wife. Now he can have a real harem all to himself. Just look at the shit-eating grin on Bouncing Boy's face. No wonder he had a third honeymoon!
Superboy Prime's final fate. Geoff Johns breaks the fourth wall in a manner similar to Grant Morrison's Animal Man finale. It's a fate worse than death, to go from super-villain to being trapped in your Mom's basement, as the ultimate comic fan! Wonder if he posts on Newsarama message boards?
White Witch defeating Mordru and becoming the Black Witch. Was that Alan Scott (Golden Age Green Lantern) trapped on the wall in Sorcerer's World?
The return of the Green Lantern Corps in the future is good stuff. Only one problem for the present timeline. Whatever happens, Sodam Yat cannot die during any Green Lantern storyline. It would ruin the end of this story.
I can't keep track of where all the various version of the Legion are being sent on the cosmic treadmills. Can some make a Visio diagram for me?
Brainiac 5 running off to get a haircut was the cherry on top of the cake.

I'll be buying the hardcover collection of this series for sure. Where will the Legion appear next in the DC Universe? I thought it would be Adventure Comics, but apparently that is the home of Superboy and Starman. Perhaps there will be an announcement this week in San Diego. Nuff said.