Normally I don’t get too excited about Marvel’s Digital Comics initiative (don’t get me wrong, digital may very well be the future, I just haven’t seen anything on the site I need to have), but I’m going to make an exception here. If you go to Marvel’s Reborn page, you can read FOR FREE an 8 page prelude to tomorrow’s Captain America Reborn #1 that is exclusive to the site (as in not going to be in print) and done regular Cap writer Ed Brubaker and penciller Luke Ross. I checked it out, and it’s pretty solid stuff.

So check it out here.

Pretty much all of us here at Project Silence-while we do own Blu-ray players-have been complaining for a while that Blu-ray’s potential just hasn’t been reached, not by a long shot. Well it looks like Zac Snyder is doing for Blu-ray what he did for Comic movies, make it bad ass. The upcoming Watchmen Blu-ray will include a feature called Maximum Movie Mode, where in Mr. Snyder himself walks you through a detailed making of his film. Think commentary, but with audio and visual components, and even greater detail. I want to hold out for the inevitable Ultimate Edition of Watchmen (with Curse of the Black Freighter included in the film itself), but I have to admit, this makes the upcoming Blu-ray very appealing.

[Slashfilm]

It’s become obvious to me recently that I will almost never buy a game for $60 again. It’s a lot of investment for something you can’t be sure about in most cases, and it’s going to become a problem for the Video Game Industry, an industry already built on the success of mega hits like Grand Theft Auto and Halo 3. I’m a grown man with a reasonable income, I can afford $60 games, but I just find the value is not there.

When a game like Too Human arrives – a name and studio few are familiar with – most people are going to take my approach, wait and see, and for good reason. Too Human doesn’t do much to grab the player early on and it’s repetitive nature doesn’t allow for any real long term investment.

Fortunately for me I was able to pick up Too Human at a recent $10 sale at Best Buy, fortunately for you I can now tell you why most of you should not go running out to purchase Too Human, even for $10.

The Graphics are one place where Too Human shines, for me at least. I found myself really enjoying the combination of Hi-Tech with Norse Mythology for an art style. Even if a lot of the locations are repetitive and happen to look a lot like Halo levels, I found the Graphics pleasing. Unfortunately this is where my positive thoughts on Too Human end.

The Gameplay is simple and repetitive, using the right stick to control your combos doesn’t even allow for the amount of variety in attacks using the A AND B button would. There are a few different attacks you can accomplish, but none of the feel particularly different, or powerful. Also, since this is an RPG, you would think the wealth of different weapons would add variety – you would be wrong – the different weapons all feel very similar and there are SO MANY OF THEM you will feel like you are updating your weapons and armor more often then you are slaying the limited variety of actual enemies.

The Story of Too Human isn’t terrible, as video game story’s go, but it isn’t told in a particularly compelling fashion either. I spent so much time hacking and slashing through excruciatingly long levels that I found I didn’t remember of care what what was really going on by the time the story attempts to reintroduce itself.

Ultimately the Gameplay of Too Human can’t sustain itself and that causes the game to be Too Long, Too Boring, and far Too Repetitive (yup, that line wrote itself). I could honestly only recommend a game like Too Human to rabid fans of point and click hack and slash games and achievement whores (you can rack up a good 700 points easily in 10-12 hours, but you probably won’t have fun doing it), to anyone else I would say stay away.

Too Human (Xbox 360): 2 out of 5 stars.

This weekend, I took one for the team.  Am I a hero?  No.  Am I a saint?  No.  What I am, though, is now partially deaf after having been both visually and audibly attacked  by “director” Michael Bay’s latest abortion, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”.

I realize that those are strong words, but let me explain myself:  I’m one of the few people I know that will admit to having enjoyed the first “Transformers” movie a couple of years ago.  I went into it expecting to be entertained by giant fighting robots and I was not disappointed.  When I heard that a sequel was on the horizon I thought, “yeah!  More, even bigger robots fighting!”.

Be careful what you wish for.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is the stupidest, loudest and most ridiculous of any popcorn flick that you are likely to ever experience.  To it’s credit, this “movie” (if you can actually call it that) actually manages to insult, offend and assault the viewer all at the same time.  I won’t go over the plot here for you since there isn’t one.  Suffice to say stuff happens, robots fight, Shia (Rough) Labeouf yells and runs around a lot and Megan Fox provides eye candy.  The only good parts of this movie are the aforementioned robot fight scenes, but they are so quick and convoluted that it is difficult to keep track of who’s fighting who or tearing who’s robot head off.

If you wanted to see this movie, my words here aren’t going to stop you.  Likely you were among the millions of people (like me) that contributed to this eyesores behemoth opening weekend.  What I’m hoping for, though, is to maybe get through to that one person who was on the fence about whether to see it or not.  Please, for your own sake and your  sanity, DON’T! When Michael bay has done so many explosions that he’s tired himself out (which he stated in recent interviews that he will not be doing any more sequels or “action” movies for a while), then you know that there’s something wrong here.

Stay home. Read a book.  Go play outside or go for a swim.  This movie has already wasted hours and hours of people’s lives already.  I’m through talking about it.

Jason’s Rating:  1 ½ out of 5

The single biggest shipping week (at least from the big 2) in the last ten years, and I have to say, I’m impressed.  Tons of books released, and they definitely put a dent into my wallet.  And with all these new releases, there were a bunch of great books.  After finally getting through them all, I narrowed my picks down to two.  So without further ado, here we go.

First up this week is Detective Comics #854.  Talked about for almost a year, with the mainstream media coverage deciding to  focus on a minor aspect of it, the first issue of Detective Comics featuring Batwoman is finally here.  So, was it worth all this attention and hype?  Well, yes and no.  I’ll touch on the no part first-the media’s focus and attention on the lead character’s sexuality is so out of touch, and missing the point, that their coverage seemed to conveniently forget the most important focus, that is, the fact that this was a superb comic.  If the “mainstream” media had paid any attention to what was actually going in within these pages, they would have seen what has been an almost universally critically acclaimed comic looks like instead of seeing cheesy gay headlines for a slow news day.  Now that that’s out of the way, let me just say that this comic is a true work of art.   Greg Rucka does his usual terrific job on the script, giving us a strong female lead that is a believable woman rather than just a guy with boobs (though that is his strong suit, as Rucka’s females always seem to be better written than any by other authors-just seen Tara Chase, Rene Montoya, etc.).  But where the book is truly elevated is by the masterful artwork of J.H. Williams III.  Williams artwork has always been something to behold, from his work on Chase, to Promethea, to Desolation Jones, to 7 Soldiers of Victory, the man’s art has always been what even a non-comics fan would have to classify as “true” art.  Masterful to every detail, with layouts that are so original, so thought provoking, that re-reading is almost necessary to take in all that is there, these are Williams trademarks.  Combined with the color work done here (which actually bears mentioning for it’s  adding to the effect on the story itself) by Dave Stewart, the art on this book alone is worth paying for.  All this, and there’s a great second feature, part of DC’s co-feature bit on some of it’s titles, this one on the Question.  A great idea, and nice in that while some of the co-features going on in other books are by creative teams different than the main feature, this one is by Mr. Rucka teaming with veteran Cully Hammer.  This book is should be an example to the rest of the market, that if you put out a book this great, adding pages of actual content, that the increased price is worth it.  I can’t highly recommend this one enough, go out and get it immediately if you haven’t already.

Second up this week is Astonishing X-Men #30.  While I initially raved about the Ellis/Bianchi team on the title, it’s slow release schedule (which I understood due to Bianchi’s time consuming artwork) combined with what I felt was a bit of padding on the story itself made the book something I enjoyed, but had it missing the mark repeatedly for book of the week.  Well, with this issue that’s no longer the case, as the creative team’s final issue of the story arc is very much worthy of your attention.  The story itself actually gets to the heart of the matter and completes itself in the issue, and Ellis provides some memorable moments for most of the characters, with Hank McCoy/Beast really stealing the spotlight.  What helped here was Bianchi’s artwork, because just like Detective Comics and J. H. Williams III, the art here stole the show.  Bianchi’s European style art is gorgeous, and while he doesn’t come close to Williams, the layouts and pacing he provides are hands down some of the best in comics today.  While I understand the next story arc is going to feature art by Phil Jimenez due to Marvel wanting the book back on a more reliable schedule, I’m going to miss Bianchi’s art and urge all of you to pick up a copy to have your chance at seeing it as well.

Well, there we have it folks, your picks for this week.  I’ll see you back here next week, same time, same channel.

A great week of releases this week, including a special Monday release for a much-hyped-by-the-media Marvel book.  But while that book (Captain America #600) was a quality read, it wasn’t what really captured my attention.  No, that honor goes to another Ed Brubaker release.

My pick for this week is Incognito #4.  This mini-series is a consistent pick here at the Ettatorial, and there’s a reason for that: every issue is a perfect example of comics done right.  Creator-owned, well written, well-illustrated, and not part of the big-two’s next big event, this is what readers are supposedly looking for.  But while that’s the claim, sales say otherwise-if what readers claimed they wanted was really what the bought, books like this or Rasl, Scalped, or Chew would be dominating the charts.  Instead, it’s the next Dark Reign or Black Night tie-in (not that there’s anything wrong with those, I’m a pretty big supporter of both).  So here’s your chance to match your words with deeds.  Go out and buy Incognito #4, and support the kinds of books that the market needs more of.  Be part of the solution to diversity in the marketplace.  This issue is full of great moments, be it character building or action, and is full of the twists that made the series so enjoyable to begin with.  And just like previous issues, the back matter material on great pulp magazines of the past is both enlightening and interesting.

There you have it folks, your pick for this week.  We’ll see you back here next week, same time, same channel.

A slow and small week of releases this week for yours truly, resulting in a trade paperback selection for you instead of issue picks.  While I can’t say the 2 books I purchased were bad, neither were anything special to nominate them for books of the week.  So instead, enjoy my alternate selection.

Noble Causes Archives Volume 2 is your pick for this week.  Following up on his Volume One, this massive trade collects the rest of the  Noble Causes series.  I originally recommended the first volume way back in November of 2008, and after getting done with this volume, felt the need to do the same.  The price on this alone is enough to make it a bargain, with an astounding 598 pages for a cover price of just $19.99 (or cheaper online hint hint).  Just like the first volume, the book is printed in the black and white “Marvel Essentials” style to make the book financially viable.  Finishing the series off, this volume includes the 5 year jump to the future and the 2 part Extended Family mini-series that had guest writers and artists such as Brian Vaughan and Geoff Johns contributing to the series.  Just as good as volume one, this superhero soap opera is an entertaining read.  Kudos to Jay Faerber and Image in releasing this terrific series in such an inexpensive and complete format.

There you have it folks, your pick for the week.  We’ll see you back here next week, same time, same channel.

A very good week of releases this week, highlighted by both my choices above. A few books came close to making the list, such as Secret Six, but it was these two that really were excellent.

First up this week is Batman and Robin #1. The first issue spotlighting the new Batman and Robin after “Battle for the Cowl” (spoilers on Dick  Grayson is Batman and Damien Wayne is Robin).  While I was a bit hesitant about this new launch after the debacle of Batman RIP, this issue alleviated  all of my worries.  With the creative team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, the geniuses behind All-Star Superman, this issue is exactly what I was hoping for.  The issue hits the ground running, throwing the reader into the thick of the new dynamic duo’s most recent adventure, and introducing us to some of the changes that have taken place for Batman and Robin.  Add to that a new addition to the rogues gallery that seriously disturbed me, and you’ve got a winner.  Fun, well written, and beautiful to look at, this is a title I can safely say is a certifiable hit.  I can finally say it’s nice to see DC bringing a bit of their “A” game to the table once more.

The other pick for this week is Dark Avengers #5.  Another well written issue, that makes Norman Osborn one of the most fascinating characters in the Marvel Universe.  Harkening back to one of Bendis’ more “talkative” works, Osborn is given an interview that allows him to sum up his past for the reader while at the same time actually achieving the feat of making him sympathetic if one was ignorant of the rest of the story.  Based solely on just that part of the book alone, the issue is worth it.  Add to that some interesting bits with the “new” Ms. Marvel and Marvel Boy, and Ares and Bullseye (I refuse to call him Hawkeye), and the book just sings.  Part of me is just waiting for this series to just not work, waiting for the inevitable time that the Avengers franchise pulls a 1990s X-Men, and kills itself by overextending it’s titles and series by diluting the concept and creators.  But every issue is proving me wrong thus far, and I’m thankful for it, especially after reading ones like this.

There you have it folks, your picks for the week.  We’ll see you back here next week, same time, same channel.

If the video above doesn’t convince you, nothing will. This is, quite honestly, the most stunning combination of Audio/Video a video game is going to see. I’ve never considered myself a Beatles Fan, I’ve always respected what they did, but to call myself a fan was too much. In less than two minutes Harmonix makes you realize how much The Beatles gave to music, and how familiar we all are with their legendary sound. There is also the fact that Jason is a Beatles nut and he’ll be in line at midnight for this one, guaranteed.

Lego: Rock Band

If for no other reason, The Final Countdown. Something about Lego: Rock Band feels different, fresh. Sure it will play like all the others, but it says to me, “don’t take this to seriously, lets just have some fun!“. From it’s fresh music selection to unique pairing of two mega-successful IP’s, it just looks like a good time.