The Red Shirt Crew

Review: Lobster Johnson - Satan Smells a Rat

2013-05-22T14:00:00.000-04:00

Lobster Johnson is an important character in the Hellboy Universe. I know this because his wiki page told me so. In all seriousness, this is a character I've never previously encountered, but this is the thirteenth comic that Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and artist Kevin Nowlan have written about him, so he is clearly a character held in high esteem. That said, since I've never experienced him before, I'm going to review this comic as the one shot it is, without taking the character's larger context into account. And for what it is, Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells a Rat is a very enjoyable comic, albeit not as deep and intellectual as typical fans of the Hellboy Universe have come to expect.

Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells A Rat begins with a man taking a woman back to his room after a night on the town, only to discover a rotting corpse inside. It becomes clear quickly that someone is after him, and it turns out to be none other than Lobster Johnson himself. But why is Lobster Johnson after him, and what secrets does this man hold?

This comic does not tell a deep story. It reads very much like a classic detective story from the 1930s and 40s, which is when this comic takes place in universe, and that's its big advantage. The characters are exactly what you would expect a comic in that genre to discuss; there isn't anything revolutionary about the goon, boss, henchman, or the dynamics between those characters. It's a simple "chase the bad guy, find the hideout, beat up the bad guy" story. But what some see as a weakness, I see as it's greatest strength. It knows what it wants to be, and it executes those measures flawlessly. The atmosphere is really well done, and the comic is really a lot of fun. Yes, the moral it tries to bestow upon the reader is a simplistic one, but a good story well told is always worth dealing with these simplistic moral values, especially when executes as well as this moral is.

What I didn't appreciate as much was the absence of Lobster Johnson in the first third of the book. Instead of following our hero in his attempts to track down these bad guys, thus giving us a reason to want this guy hunted down and these criminals' schemes to be stopped, we follow the henchman himself. This isn't a bad idea in and of itself, but it means that the reader doesn't really know who the main players are or what's at stake until the comic is almost over. And as soon as it's established, the bad guys are dealt with, and its all over. This might not be an issue to some people, but I ended up appreciating the style more than this specific story as a result.

It's worth mentioning that Kevin Nowlan's art here is incredible. It's hard to point out what specifically is done so well, but that's only because it's basically all of it. The shading is great. The colouring is really well executed. And the attention to detail on things like bullet wounds is just superb. It's exactly the kind of art that a comic of this genre needs, and Nowlan deserves some major kudos for it.

I know this review is rather short, but that's because there's not much to say about it. It lacks the depth that one might expect from a Mignola/Arcudi team-up, and the story could have used a little more Lobster Johnson in it, but what's here is executed perfectly for the genre it wants to create, and sometimes, a bit of fun is all you need from a comic. For $3.50, you can do a lot worse than this comic, and for that, it gets a recommendation. That said, if you pass it by, I wouldn't hold it against you, as there's already so much great Hellboy out there, and money is sadly not an unlimited resource. At least not yet...

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He admits that sometimes, you just need to turn of your critical side and enjoy something. But don't worry; that day isn't coming anytime soon. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Dark Horse Presents #24

2013-05-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

I always look forward to a new issue of Dark Horse Presents. Most of the stories are excellent, and even when a story goes wrong here and there, there are enough in each issue that they are greatly outweighed by the successful ones. This is no different: a couple flops, but all in all a pretty solid issue. To get a glimpse of which stories are in this issue, follow the jump!

Chapter 1 of Blackout introduces us to a fascinating character, a thrill seeker with a suit that allows him to create portals to... I don't really understand where he goes. A phase shifted version of the current setting I guess? It's like the flash game, Shift, except gravity doesn't reverse. The main character, Scott, is on the cover to the right. Cool, right?

Chapter 6 of Alabaster: Boxcar Tales is back, after not appearing in last month's Dark Horse Presents, not that I'd know they were part of the same story from the plot. We left off with a raven telling the story of a half crazy albino girl in the bayou. This story is about the strange events aboard a broken down spaceship. No raven and no bible verse narration this time, so I doubt it's the same narrator. The same creative team of Caitlin Kiernan and Steve Lieber is about the only consistent element, but they do a good job, and this story is arguably more interesting, so I can't complain. This one will have to prove itself next time, me thinks.

Chapter 2 of Bloodhound: Plain Sight is in this issue too, and other than Clevenger still being a really dumb name for a character, I'm really starting to enjoy this series (Ed. note: Don't tell friend of the blog Brian Clevinger that :P). Why? A good balance of superpowers, real science, and "I made up this science so I could have a cool story". If any of those is too light, the story comes out unintelligible or uninteresting. Also, great pacing! As of this point, clues are starting to reveal themselves: Clev is starting to figure out what's causing the mysterious string of deaths, but there are still plenty of things left to wrap up in the final chapter.

Chapter 2 of Brain Boy is my favorite from this series, but I'm biased by my love for superheroes. Following the previous chapter's massacre, Matthew "Brain Boy" Price panics. I loved that Fred Van Lente takes us on the whole range of reactions: first we're worried because we're not used to superheroes having panic attacks, then Van Lente changes to an almost playful tone, and then we see his true power! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! But we also learn that Brain Boy isn't the only superpowered individual. I can't wait for the next issue.

Chapter 1 of Trekker: The Train to Avalon Bay is a great story set in the 23rd century about a female bounty hunter, Mercy St. Claire. St. Claire is actually not new to Dark Horse Presents, appearing back in the '80s in Dark Horse Presents #4. Props to Ron Randall for creating an engaging female lead who is strong and capable, without detracting from her strengths by dressing her in skimpy clothing or giving her ridiculous proportions.

Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

Chapter 2 of King's Road: The Long Way Home was a bit of a let down, mostly because the first chapter was action packed and really worked at establishing the strange setting. This chapter is less involved; there are about two pages which elaborate the situation, while the rest is spent introducing the reader to the fact that the main characters have kids. I was bored, then intrigued as the situation was explained/expanded in the middle, then bored again.

Chapter 5 of Crime Does Not Pay: City of Roses is really confusing. First of all, I have no idea when the last chapter was, but it hasn't been in the past four months that I've been reading Dark Horse Presents. Not only that, but this chapter is basically 8 pages of the characters running around screaming "We're corrupt cops!" at the top of their lungs. There doesn't seem to be any character development or plot, just "La dee da, we like drugs!"

Chapter 2: of Nexus: Into the Past was one of the comics introduced last time for which I was most looking forward to seeing in this issue, other than Brain Boy. Time travelling to visit Sherlock Holmes! If you have a mystery to solve, he would be the one you'd want for help. Holmes seems a little too willing to accept the time travel explanation, which I felt was uncharacteristic, but Holmes seems to notice something about the time traveler's hands, so maybe his reasoning will be elaborated at the end in true Doyle like style.

Hunter Quaid: Armageddon Outta Here. I'm not sure how I feel about this comic. On the one hand, the art is gorgeous: I love the ancient chanting at the beginning being on parchment instead of speech bubbles and the SHWOOOSH of flowing water being worked into the water itself. I even love the horrible puns, as most writers for this site will attest. But it felt like it shouldn't be a one shot, that it should at least be Chapter 1 of something larger. It's like it wanted to be, but Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal couldn't convince Dark Horse their story was worth more than one part, and that's a shame.

Chapter 4 of Villain House is another of my favorites, but this week, it was very political, and that lost a lot of my interest. Basically it's about how America has a tendency to unnecessarily involve ourselves over vague, perceived threats. Blah, blah, blah politics. Not really my cup of tea and it took a cute, silly, and clever comic series and made it serious and preachy. Hopefully the next one will return to the antics I've come to really appreciate from these series.

While this was not one of the stronger issues of Dark Horse Presents that I've read, if you're a fan of Superheroes and high tech gear, there's enough in here to be worth the $7.99. 6 out of 10 stories I liked a lot though, and only two of the others were actually displeasing rather than disappointing. I'll take that percentage every time.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is an editor for the Red Shirt Crew, though he often forgets it. This article is dedicated to all the orphans out there: remember, you probably have the best chance of becoming superheroes. You can find him on twitter at @BStreetHolmes or email him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: Akaneiro #1

2013-05-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

Akaneiro #1 (written by Justin Aclin, illustrated by Vasilis Lolos) is the first issue of a comic prequel to the video game Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, itself based on Red Riding Hood as interpreted by American McGee, best known for the video games Alice and Alice: Madness Returns. All of that adds up to a rather convoluted backstory if you decide to research the origins of this comic. Ultimately, this background would be much more helpful if I had any knowledge of the Alice games, but since I do not, I can only comment on the comic itself.

I was pulled in immediately by the cover. Though it's very different in style, it's not false advertising: the art inside is really good. I'm not sure what it is that I love about the art; the best I can tell is that I'm drawn to the style for reasons I can't put my finger on. The one thing that I can say for sure that I love is the coloring, for which I should really give credit to Michael Atiyeh (colorists are very underappreciated in general). The pencils are so detailed that I get the feeling (though I’m not sure) they would be overwhelming alone. By going with bright colors, they bring out the detail instead of allowing it to become a distraction. It’s there if you’re looking for it, but had they gone with more subdued coloring, the same pencils would be muddled and distracting. It’s a choice that many others would be likely to go with, but they avoided that pitfall here to great success.

Getting to the writing, it starts off slow. The beginning is very heavy on unclear exposition. I might understand it better with more knowledge of Japanese mythology and tradition (or it could be fictional for all I know), but it’s still a failing of the book that its scene setting exposition is unclear. Knowing that it’s a prequel to the game, I might get more of that background there, but requiring outside knowledge to understand the story is a huge problem.

Once it gets going, the story really starts to pick up, and not understanding that exposition doesn’t matter. The tension goes way up and Kani (the protagonist) has some really great lines (at least one will go into my mental registry of awesome quotes), but this isn’t until about the 2/3 mark. Since this is in a single issue, this gives us barely enough time to get excited, and then the issue ends. It makes me want to read the next issue, but the little that is in this issue is underwhelming.

One more point about the writing, which is probably more a personal pet peeve, is the heavy reliance on narration. It isn’t “describe what we're already looking at” bad, but there are long stretches where we're given almost all of Kani's thoughts in narration. Some of it is needed, but I would much prefer that most of it be done visually. The art is definitely up to the task, but the writing doesn’t let it, which frustrates me.

Would I recommend this book for the $3.99 cover price? I'm not really sure. If I did, it would be on the potential for the future more than what is in this issue. I don't like to make that sort of recommendation, but what is here shows a lot of promise. I’m going to be more cautious and wait to see if the next issue really gets the story going before giving it a full recommendation.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) is caught off guard by a lack of video game knowledge interfering with reading a comic, but knows that he shouldn't be. Follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings to read his other thoughts in bite-sized pieces when he actually has any worth sharing.

Review: The Deep Sea

2013-05-21T15:00:00.000-04:00

The Deep Sea is quite a tale: Rip Van Winkle meets Fantastic Four #1 meets 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A combined work by the likes of Washington Irving, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Jules Verne might seem like an untouchable combination, but if there was ever a team that could pull it off, it would be the writing duo of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (co-writers for so many things like The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, Powergirl, and, most recently, Jonah Hex) backed up by dynamo artist Tony Akins (best known for his work on Fables, Hellblazer, and the current run of Wonder Woman). Supposedly a one shot, it ends with a cliffhanger and "End. (For now)", leaving plenty of room for a return. I certainly hope so!

First off, take a second to look at those suits they're wearing on the cover and tell me that you aren't reminded of the Fantastic Four. Go on; I'll wait. Since I can't hear you, I'll assume you agree. I'm still waiting for them to turn out to have superpowers.

The man in the middle is Paul Barry. On the morning that he and his crew were supposed to delve into the Challenger Deep in 1958, he was injured and unable to join them. That was fifty five years ago, and Paul has never forgotten. It is the day that haunts his dreams, the day that plagues his mind, the day his friends and his lover were lost to the sea. Melodrama. But today, their craft has been recovered, and he will finally get some answers as to what happened on that fateful day. But the deeps have a few more surprises in stock for him than he expected!

I don't know what it is about this comic, but I want more. The plot is unpredictable. Well, some of it is pretty predictable. But there is a massive surprise about halfway through. And it is certainly not a "one shot". There is so much about the events of that day that are left a mystery while test results on the contents of the vessel are tantalizingly dangled in front of the reader's face. We know they're important; we just don't know what they say. And like I said, it ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. Most one shots are structured so that if there is no sequel, the audience will still feel like all is resolved. If there is no sequel to this, everyone who reads it will become a ghost after death due to "unfinished business" on this world.

I love the art in this comic. You get a glimpse of a volcanic vent at the bottom of the ocean that;s just beautiful. There is plenty of detail in the faces, which I always love to see in comics, as well as a good use of shadowing. I also love that the last couple pages have sketches from Akins, with notes explaining his process, which is normally reserved for "making of" specials, personal websites and books specifically about art, like some of the ones we review here.

I give a major recommendation for this comic. Unlike many of Dark Horse's comic issues, this is $2.99, so it's an amazing deal. I'd recommend it even if it cost way more. And don't believe the people at Dark Horse: it's not going to end up being a one shot. This is issue #0. They aren't fooling anyone.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, hopes that he doesn't have to eat those words, especially because he'd really like to see this team come together again. Also, more [no spoilers allowed] ! You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: The Massive #12

2013-05-21T13:30:00.000-04:00

The Massive is back with issue #12. The crew of The Kapital have chased the ghost of a signal believed to be from The Massive all the way to the arctic circle. Captain Callum and his crew have been chasing their sister ship for nearly a year since they were separated in the storm, and it's starting to take its toll on him. Callum's desperate, and beginning to reach the point where he'll do anything to find this lost ship.

In the past few issues, we've seen morale aboard The Kapital take some massive hits (pun intentional). They've lost crew members who want to defend their homelands from internal strife, and the ship's emergency helicopter was destroyed in a crash. And if the other members of the crew feel at all like I do, they're tired of Mary being little miss perfect. Even Callum is doubting himself. Worse still, the Arctic ice threatens to trap them where they are for who knows how long (likely just this issue), with the signal from The Massive still just beyond the horizon.

While the series has recently focused on internal rather than external conflicts (see our review of Massive #10), the struggle within Callum in this issue is by far the most interesting. I won't go into the details as it involves spoilers, but I will say it's a very interesting look into Callum's past. This issue combines the man versus self and man versus nature elements of the last two issues, making a nice end to this storyline. The next storyline is already available for pre-order, but I'm torn right now. If issue 13 has them free from the ice that threatens them in this issue, it was too easy of an escape, but if they are still there, I don't know what more there is to tell of the story, unless raiders try to take advantage of their situation and attack the ship. As much as I love these internal issues, there has been very little violence lately, considering how volatile the setting is supposed to be.

Found (larger) here.

In the last review, I had a problem here and there with the art, but overall it was good. This issue, I was not impressed with the artwork at all. We've seen Kristian Donaldson, Garry Brown, Gary Erskine, and Declan Shalvey all lend their art to the last 11 issues of this series, and they've all been good, some of them even quite impressive (Donaldson, I love you!). But I was pretty insulted by the art of Danijel Zezelj in this issue. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea, but if I had picked this up in a comic shop without any previous knowledge of the series, I wouldn't have bought it after one look at the art, story quality aside. I'm reminded of a collage of colored paper. There is absolutely no shading. He clearly didn't have paper called "Caucasian skin", so he went with "rotting zombie flesh green" because eh, close enough, right? Garry Brown is back for at least the next three issues, so at least I won't have to look at any more of it.

This comic is $3.50 as always, but I found the art so distractingly bad that I can't in good conscience recommend it. That, however, is just my opinion. If the above art doesn't bother you, enjoy, as it is a worthwhile story.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, admits that if Callum, Ryan and Lars were zombies, this series would be a whole different kind of interesting. Lol, zombie pacifist tree huggers! You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: House of Gold and Bones #2

2013-05-21T12:00:00.000-04:00

Well, when I reviewed last month's House of Gold and Bones #1, I was genuinely sad to have not enjoyed it. Corey Taylor is a talented musician for a band I really like that seemed really passionate about making a successful comic book, and the passion was all over the pages. Unfortunately, so was the constant narration, unsatisfactory art, and unending slew of questions with no satisfactory answers was also all over those pages. I was ready to write the series off as a misguided first effort, but the passion he had for the book led me to decide it was worth giving this book another shot. And man am I glad I did! Click the link to see why I found this book to be such a marked improvement over the previous issue.

When we last left our hero(?), Zero, he was being chased by a bunch of dark forces screaming, "RU486". Throughout the issue, he must try to escape these dark forces using his cunning and strength. He also works hard trying to decipher what is going on in this strange world in which he now finds himself, while also struggling to remember how he got there in the first place. But he can't focus on that for too long, because the dark forces will not stop coming for him.

In the last review, I spent a lot of time focusing on the negatives of the comic, mostly because they simply overpowered anything positive I had to say on it. That overwhelming narration slowed everything to a crawl, and the protagonist simply wasn't an interesting enough character in his own right. He seemed empty, almost like he was supposed to act as an audience surrogate, which is never a good idea in comics. In this issue, though, we see him actually display character. Instead of Zero just being some guy the comic happens to follow as things happen around him, he displays actual initiative in this issue. He stands up against the dark forces despite being completely outmatched, and he makes decisions against people like Adam (hurray for Biblical allusions!). This goes a long way towards making him more likable as a character in my eyes, and I found myself rooting for him in a way I simply didn't in the first issue.

There were three main issues I had with the last comic, and all three have been rectified here, at least to some extent. The art is the one with which I still have the most issues, but I think it's really limited to the drawing of the protagonist and Adam, who's being overplayed as evil so much that we actually see him in a knockoff of an SS uniform here. The problem with the human characters presented is one of facial structure. They all end up having too much forehead, and characters without facial hair look equally off on the lower half of their face. Perhaps this is a me thing, but at the very least, what was a major issue in the last comic is now merely a minor one, and it shouldn't get in the way of you buying this comic.

The biggest issue I had was the constant narration, which completely decimated the pacing. This has been fixed almost entirely through the introduction of Peckinpah, a side character that seems to want to help Zero. Well, maybe help is the wrong word, as any time a character in a world in which no one should be trusted is portrayed as kind I immediately get suspicious, but at the very least, he wants to help Zero uncover the mysteries of the world around him. Because the story is presented in mostly dialogue instead of an overlong monologue, there's a lot more characterization presented, and the pace picks up quite nicely, slowing just enough so the reader can grasp what's going on without bringing everything to a crawl. The material was always well-written, but now that it's matching the medium in which its trying to tell the story, you can honestly enjoy it.

The final problem was an overabundance of mysteries to the point of frustration. A good creepy comic keeps things tense and keeps you guessing until the very end, but it also drops hints now and then while presenting the reader with an idea of what's going on so they're not completely lost and confused. It's a tough balance to walk, and the first issue was definitely too far on the latter side of things. This issue, however, was far more balanced, giving a general idea of what the upcoming conflagration is (though, spoiler alert, a dictionary search tells me it's not going to be sunshine and rainbows) while still keeping it's ultimate purpose and Zero's role in all this a mystery. It gives us enough reasons to care without spoiling it all for us, and that balance makes this a very compelling comic.

As much as I enjoyed this issue, I'm going to have to give it a conditional recommendation for its $3.99 cover price because of how vastly different in quality I found this issue to be compared to the first one. I honestly think you could drop the first issue and just pick it up here if the series interests you and/or you're a big Stone Sour fan, but I can't unconditionally recommend this given the potential for it to go off rails again. If the next issue is as good as this one, I'll be able to bump both to a definite recommendation. For now, I'd hold off for one more issue to see where this is going. That said, this issue is a great sign of things to come, so here's hoping it continues down this path.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He's really happy this issue worked out far better than the last one, and he definitely hopes this is the sign of a trend. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Counterpoint: Star Trek: Into the Darkness

2013-05-18T16:00:00.000-04:00

According to my friend, MaristPlayBoy, Star Trek: Into Darkness is 3.5/5 stars calling it as he said to me “above average” which I can see where he is coming from because he has more experience in rating films and has seen considerably more than I have, so I trust his judgment. When my friend said it was a perfect 5 star rating, I drew the line and knew I had to make a review of it myself. To be fair, my rating of 2 stars makes the average of all three review a 3.5, thus validating my previous statement in trusting it as a rating, I just want to get in my 2 cents on why I gave the film 2 stars.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408101/

Before you continue reading, here is what you need to know: this review will be very subjective and I may bring up points that you may not notice or even care about. If I were to try and give a completely objective review from the point of view of what I would consider to be the “average movie goer” then I would give the film more credit. Part of what I didn’t like about the film is that I felt like it was too melodramatic and I felt like the plot was being spoon fed to me. Was the film entertaining? I would objectively say yes. Did the film appeal to many emotions? Again, yes. Did I like? Not as much as I should have. Now I know there are people out there that say you can judge a science fiction film based on actual science, but here is what I have to say to you: If part of what makes a film good is the believably of it, then for me, this film was barely believable even on the scale of science fiction or the scale of Star Trek (taking into account both the series, but more importantly, the last film).

I’m going to start with what turned me off the most, which I recently found out makes a lot of people angry; being a physics major, I cannot watch a film and not point out where the science just completely and utterly breaks down. If you couldn’t give a crap about scientific accuracy, feel free to skip this bit. While I know the writers and editors could not change much of the traditional Star Trek mechanics such as warp drive causing accelerations of 10,000,000 times the acceleration of earth’s gravity and disregarding relativistic effects on time and space at those speeds, there were parts where basic physics was thrown out the window for the sake of dramatic effect. First of all, the mass off a ship in warp drive would make it such that nothing could break off or fall away just due to the amount of gravity that ship would have (more than a planet depending on the speeds) nor could they make a ship that would travel 3 times as fast as warp drive, as warp drive is already near if not at achievable limit. Granted that is both fairly high level of physics and part of the Star Trek traditional writing, so I can come to peace with that, reluctantly.

Where dramatic effect over physics really came into play is near the end. Without giving anything away, I will try to express what utter rubbish the film tried to sell me on, and horribly failed. Firstly, the effects of pressure in space was completely ignored because it would end up in more complex and near impossible measures that wouldn’t work on the time scale of the film as well as the causalities of some audience favorites. While the writing needed that to work as an enjoyable, marketable film that can be later continued, it took a fair amount of believability out of the film, whether at the time or in retrospect. I will say that this is needed for the film, and will give that to the writers.

How it should have looked falling

What really took the cake is changing gravity in free-fall. Anyone who has taken physics at a high school level and remembers anything should know the acceleratory, or “force-like”, effects of gravity do not apply to particles in free-fall. But they needed that in order to have the ever changing direction in gravity and severity of allocation and repair capabilities. Taking into the way to fix that by moving power to “stability”, in a real world situation, there would be no need for this as no power is stability, or whatever was giving them the artificial (yes it would have to have been artificial) gravitational force, and thus could be put towards anything else that could have helped the ship and crew to survive.

Additionally, the film was supposed to be primarily plot driven, and because of that, there was almost no character development, arguably none. The most character development done was in the long monologues from characters throughout the film, and giving credit where credit is due, they were well written and well performed. Needless to say, some of the melodrama surrounding those moments took away from the flow of the plot and devalued the character development as there appears to be minimal individual change from the beginning to end. The points where there is development are short lived and quickly forgotten. While the story is allowed to make some presumptions from the last film and the main plot of series, I fail to see how it could be overlooked entirely. A new character was introduced and her character was so poorly developed that I can’t say I could tell you much about her at all that was explicitly explained to me. On top of that, I argue that if she were to return that the staff did that to make the audience wanting to know more about her. In my mind, she is unjustly forgettable and I would not care if she were not to return.

While the cast is more than competent (as seen in the first film), there were points where the actors were being obnoxious in the level they portrayed their character. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and over-acting where you don’t need it felt like the film belittled my prior knowledge of the character as well as my ability to come to my own conclusion of what I thought of each character. Ultimately, I felt like the film was playing to the lowest common denominator, which I never will find entertaining as a serious work which this had the potential to be. If they focused less on being predictable, melodramatic, and at some points gimmicky, they could have improved the film significantly.

This was everywhere.

Here’s the last thing I will say, and to be honest was blissfully ignorant of after the first film and now painfully aware of: lens flare. While at some points, lens flare does add a dramatic effect (for example: in the desert to emphasize heat, or panning past the sun onto a planet) it was either overused or overlooked because it was everywhere. I wouldn’t have a problem if it didn’t take away too much from the film itself, but when it is covering a face of someone speaking, I can no longer say it doesn’t affect the film. Considering the level of production value I was expecting, I was thoroughly disappointed that the problem was so out of control to the point it made the film less enjoyable and took away from the work of the actors, special effects people, and set designers.

Overall, I give the film 2 stars, mostly subjective to be fair. It did not meet my expectations, fell short of last film, and merely perpetuated what was already set in place while simultaneously setting up the next one. The film was predictable as well as unbelievable, even amongst films under the same genre. I will say that I do not regret seeing the film, as there were moments where I really connected with what was on screen as well certain comedic and realist action scenes that were enjoyable. Similarly, I would not see this film again without reason of seeing it with someone else or something similar. I hope that with many classics made movie, the second movie is just a slump and the third movie makes the whole series. I don’t mind if you don’t agree, so long as you have reason to do so. Thank you.

Brendan McDonald, aka bigmacd101, wrote this article after heated debate post-viewing of the movie in question. He hopes that this review will help JJ Abrams make movies like he used to: good. If you would like to be around for more short rantings, follow him on twitter @bigmacd101.

AoaRD #4: Guard for a Day

2013-05-16T18:15:00.000-04:00

Every two weeks, Baker Street Holmes tells the story of Urbal gro-Dushnikh, an orc who just wants to be a blacksmith, even though it seems Skyrim has other plans. You can follow his journey through these journal entries with new entries every two weeks. Enjoy!

Flashback Part One Part Two Part Three

25th of Last Seed, 201

The Jarl's offer turned out to be a selfish one. He wanted someone to attack a Forsworn camp near by, that is why he offered to make me his Thane. I told him I'd think about it. A raid against a Forsworn camp is not a light task. I believe he may just want me dead. Regardless it's not a task I could take on alone.

I set out before the sun rose yesterday morning, headed towards Falkreath and some known Corundum mines. Walking down from the keep to Markarth's main gate, I heard guards shouting and came upon a vampire and a couple of it's thralls. I saw a vampire the other morning in the wilderness, but with the city walls! Unheard of! I steered clear of the fight and only end up leaving town a little later than expected.

I made for Gloomreach, but I had tapped it out of corundum in my last visit so continued on to Greywater Grotto to the South of Helgen, and made at least a little collection there and in some of the surrounding hills. I passed through Falkreath on the way, but decided to stay at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood as I had before. It was closer to my final destination of Whiterun and Falkreath is just so grim.

This morning, I made good time to Whiterun and was able to sort out enough small daggers that I should hopefully be able to prove to Ghorza that I'm ready for her next lesson. I even got a chance to sharpen my ax and fix the fitting on my armor a little. Whiterun is charming enough I guess, but ever since the whole thing with the dragon, everyone there is calling me "the Dragonborn". It's obnoxious. This one little kid kept following me around the whole time. I hope I don't have to come back here any time soon.

I'm writing this just after a nice lunch at the Bannered Mare, mercifully hidden away in a backroom away from gawkers, and riding a carriage towards Markarth. Normally I would loath to take a carriage, stupid, lurching things, but at this point in the day it's the only way to reach home by tonight and it is the cheapest way to get there. The driver, a Nord named Bjorlan or Bjorlim or something will not shut up.

Urbal gro-Dushnikh

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26th of Last Seed, 201

Another vampire attack in Markarth when I got in last night. By the time I came in the main gates, one of the guards had already died, so I did what I could to help. I hate Death Hounds. This morning one of the guards from last night asked if I'd help in finding out why Margaret was attacked in the market. That was nearly a week ago, I was surprised they had not resolved it. They handed me a guards uniform and sent me on my way.

I decided to check the murder's room in the Warrens, and he had a note from someone who called themselves "N". Leaving the warrens a man attacked me, saying to drop the case. Strangely, not only did the same thing happen when I asked around the Silver Blood Inn, but this time the man that accosted me was a guard. All signs pointed to Thoran Silver-Blood and the reclusive Nepo, so I figured I'd pay them a visit in that order.

***

Thoran is an ass and in an Orc stronghold, he would have been beheaded years ago. At first he was uncooperative, but a pair of assassins broke in to kill him, and kill his wife when they got in their way. can't say I feel sorry for the man, but at least he was more talkative after he saw it might cost him his life. Turns out he and Nepo work for the "King in Rags" a man they call Madanach who organizes the Forsworn from within Cidhna Mine. Nepo was an ambush, but an Orc nose can smell and ambush a mile away. His head was rolling across the floor before his little Forsworn housemaid could even get off her first spell.

I followed a note Eltrys gave me the night of the murder, saying to meet him in the Temple to Talos, but when I arrived there he was dead. Two guards and the local Imperial Legate, Legate Admand, were waiting for me. They said that I was under arrest for all the murders, as they needed someone to pin it on. They explained that I wasn't really supposed to figure any of this out, they just needed it to look like they were investigating. I am a proud warrior, as all Orcs are, and probably could have taken three random guards on. But with the Legate, I knew resistance meant death, and I was forced to go.

I'm scratching this on my pick ax with a shiv, in case I get out of here. I originally started this journal to tell what it's like for Orcs outside their strongholds. I've been framed for murder. Because I'm green.

Urbal gro-Dushnikh

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To those familiar with Skyrim: no, I did not officially become part of the town guard, I just took the dead guard's armor. I wanted a reason to investigate, but in character he would have just left it to the professionals. So I made him one of the professionals.

Review: The Art of Remember Me

2013-05-16T13:00:00.006-04:00

Remember Me has me more excited and nervous for a video game than I can basically ever recall being. By all accounts, it looks to be everything I love- cyberpunk, female-protagonist (!!!), atypical gameplay, and, most pertinent to the following, beautiful design. The Art of Remember Me, with forward by creative direct Jean-Maxime Moris and introductions by art directors Aleksi Briclot and Michel Koch, has only made my burning want for this game even stronger, and reminded me why I absolutely adore cyberpunk design so painfully much.

First off, let me summarize what Remember Me is about. It takes place in Neo-Paris (a near-future Ghost in the Shell more than Mirror’s Edge) where memories can be digitized and then extracted at any given time- in essence, human memory becomes transferable and externalized. Memory becomes vulnerable to theft and tampering, thus human nature itself gets open for alteration, as when our memories are vulnerable our very self-identity is also vulnerable. The undercurrent of commentary on the role of technology in our lives is unavoidable; it is the hallmark of good sci-fi and especially cyberpunk, after all. The protagonist of the game, Nilin, is a hacker (of course) who can manipulate that digital memory data, but who wakes up to have her own memory hacked and has to work to regain it and figure out why it was taken in the first place. As I said, it feels very Ghost in the Shell meets Inception (a parallel Koch referenced himself), and as a fan of both those things I am just giddy with excitement for it.

Now, into the art book. Right off the bat you’re greeted with beautiful nighttime cityscape illustrations, with lots of blue-orange contrast (it is cyberpunk, lest we forget). The design of the book is very crisp and clean, which beautifully suits the subject matter. Where so many books succumb to giving it the most frills possible (the Game of Thrones Season 1 companion book comes to mind), this one knows when to keep it simple. The forward, for example, is just an orange title with black text on a white page, with a fade to game scenery at the bottom- simple, effective, appealing. Moris’s foreword sets the stage nicely for the following concept art, but extolling the virtues and the importance of concept art itself, citing it as the thing “what sparks imaginations”. It’s a love letter to creativity, worldbuilding, and the team that made it happen. It’s always nice to read something that shows just how passionate the artists and creators of a game are, and the foreword just left me with a really good, hopeful feeling about this game.

The same good design sense is carried over to Aleksi Briclot’s introduction. His introduction focuses more on the process of creating a game and the interplay between concept artists, programmers, writers, and so on. He really expounded on the creation of not only the game, but the studio that created it, DONTNOD, and how Remember Me really arose from five guys wanting to make a cool science-fiction game and deciding to go for it rather than just talk about it.

More images here.

Finally, Michel Koch’s introduction. He discusses how cool he thought the memory theme was and how much creative potential it had. You really get the feel that he 100% loves the project. We also get a look at how Neo-Paris came to be, and how the team really wanted to keep it in the near-future and believable. The foreword and two intros really give the impression that this was a complete team effort, and that everyone involved is in awe of the others on the team.

From there, the book is broken down into chapters that focus on different aspects of the game. Chapters focus on the setting (Neo-Paris), the main character Nilin, and then hone in on the different episodes and nitty-gritty details of the game itself. At the end is a “Deleted Memories” section, where we get to see the stuff that didn’t quite make it into the game, followed by “Inside the Studio”, which continues the trend of highlighting the collaborative aspect of Remember Me and emphasizing just how awesome this team is.

The first chapter has an introduction that gives insight into how the team approached the specific aspect of the game about to be delved into. It really helps to get into the minds of the creators and see what their intentions were, while also giving more info about the game itself to really get people hyped up. Comments throughout the book continue this trend, letting the reader know what was going on in the minds of the creators at each step of the way. Beautiful concept paintings of Neo-Paris are accompanied with comments that point out, “look, that’s the Seine!”, or other such things that give the game a baseline comparison with reality that really makes the design choices stand out. As one comment stated, “recognizable elements were established” so that “larger than life elements could be layered on top”. The scenery looks bright and colorful while retaining the darker edge that a city at night has, avoiding the muddier “realism” that so many games take lately.

More images here.

The thought put into every aspect of the setting, from graffiti to advertisements, is remarkable, and a delight to look at. I was struck, however, by just how similar certain things were to Ghost in the Shell; the Sensen’s neck access points, Senwalls, look almost identical to those used in GitS, and one advertisement had to be a direct reference to the show as it used the title “Bits: Babes in the Shell”. This isn’t a bad thing- Ghost in the Shell is one of the cyberpunk works, and it’s not surprising to see it referenced here. The problem arises when it’s too much of a good thing, and we won’t really know if it crossed that threshold or not until the game comes out, but judging by the art book I don't think this will be a concern.

The next part focuses on Nilin (does her jacket kind of look like Major Kusanagi's or am I just in a GitS rut now?), and the comments about her genesis are really fascinating and informative. For one, they emphasize that Nilin is of mixed ethnicity, as she is a woman of the future. Everything about her was chosen to emphasize this futuristic setting, to which I say well done- it really does not make sense to have every hero be straight-up white, as that is not at all indicative of the world we live in. Her outfit isn’t sexualized, either- it’s practical, with non-heeled boots, jeans, a t-shirt and a really damn cool jacket. Her proportions also aren’t ridiculous. In fact, Nilin reminds me a lot of my best friend from middle school- tall, slender, mixed-ethnicity, and kickass.

In this chapter we also get a glimpse of gameplay, and learn that Nilin fights by utilizing her hacker abilities or hand-to-hand rather than with the usual arsenal of guns. It’s a unique approach, and I’m really quite excited to see how it pans out.

The rest of the book focus on the scenery from various parts of the games, enemies found there, and NPCs. They paint a really impressive picture of just how thought-out every aspect of this game is, ensuring a cohesive, believable world as a result. And some really, really damn cool fashions, that aren’t just cool for cool’s sake but serve to create distinctions between the three parts of Neo-Paris and thus distinctions in class and job. They remind me a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's fashions a bit, but honestly, done even better.

Rather than just running from some agency that wants to take you down (a la Mirror’s Edge), enemies such as the Leapers come into play. They’re humans that have abused the Sensen technology and mutated accordingly, with memory and mind issues and something like a hivemind that links them- perhaps a warning regarding transhumanism? Regardless, they’re creepy-looking buggers, in no small part because they retain just enough humanity to keep the fact that they once were humans at the forefront of your mind.

More images here.

Another touch I love that came to light via the concept art is that modernity coexists with history. There’s an absolutely stunning concept painting of a traditional stone statue of a woman, in traditional-looking room with a beautiful glass ceiling, but you can clearly see digital, brightly-colored advertisements in the hallways branching off from the room the statue is in. So many cyberpunk settings completely ignore historic traditions and focus on clean, crisp lines and glass and steel everywhere, so it’s refreshing and fascinating to see traditional materials like stone brought back into the equation, no matter how slight a role they might serve.

Then you get pages of info on Memorize, and valets, and architects and drones and- there is so much info here! I couldn’t do a review that does it all justice, there’s just that much, and it’s all presented beautifully and with insightful commentary to help the reader figure out just what it is and why it’s the way that it is.

Everything is clever, logical, and stunningly done, all while keeping in mind that all this art needs to work well in game (a key point for the creation of X-Mas, a rival memory hunter of Nilin’s). Really, that’s what hit me most while reading through this art book; every aspect was designed to make the game have more impact and be more enjoyable to play, without sacrificing the deeper themes the team wanted to get to.

The team’s goal was to create a believable cyberpunk world for their story about memory, human nature, and the role of technology in modern life to take place in, and if the art book is anything to by they achieved this and then some. The book is a delight, brilliant to read and look at, painfully clever at times (the chapter that looks at the concept art for the Bastile is called “Panoptic Icon”- just brilliant), and provides so much insight into the game that I have no idea how I’m going to be able to wait until June 4^th to play it, I’m so damned excited for it. Seeing how all the concept art was translated into the game will be another layer of enjoyment to the game. The concept art here promises a brilliant game, if the mechanics can live up to the ideas. At $39.99, if you’re a fan of brilliant design and thoughtful concepts, especially of the steampunk variety, it’d be a disservice to yourself not to pick it up. It shot up to the top of my to-buy list, and if you’re at all excited for Remember Me do yourself a favor and pick this up- it’ll make the wait a bit more bearable. A word of warning, though, the art book does include some mild spoilers, so avoid Chapter 10 if you really don’t want that at all.

The afterward by Oskar Guilbert includes a line that sums up my feelings after reading this book: “If the quality of this game can be at the same level as the concept art, then we must never give up.” It’s true. If the game is even half so good as the concept art, Remember Me promises to be a brilliant, fascinating game, and I wait, eager and hopeful, to see if it achieves that.

Jeni “Science Whyzard” Hackett loves all things cyberpunk and cannot contain her excitement for Remember Me, because cyberpunk and female leads and STUNNING DESIGN and oh goodness she needs a moment to compose herself. She also really loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the clear philosophical influences on the game- is it June 4^th yet? You can find her on twitter under the name @allonsyjeni, email her at jeni.is.a.geek@gmail.com, or find her on tumblr at hellomynameisgeek.

Review: Mass Effect Library #1

2013-05-15T14:48:00.001-04:00

The Mass Effect Library Vol. 1 lives up to its name, including four comics in one - a great deal for someone like me who got into Mass Effect quite late in the game (I didn’t start the trilogy until well after the third game came out, which turned out to be a lucky fluke of fate, but that’s another article for another time). It's attributed to Mac Walters, Omar Francia, and John Jackson Miller, but a slew of other creators had a hand in the comics it compiles. The four comics and the included one-shot stories delve more into things hinted at in-game but never got the chance to take center stage. They all focus on squadmates or side-characters, including everyone from Liara T'Soni to Captain Bailey of C-Sec. Like all good supplementary materials to the source, they’re non-essential to enjoy the game, but they definitely add some enjoyable flavor to it. Now buckle up, people; this review goes over four full comic arcs and a bunch of short-stories, so it's gonna get long.

Before I get into reviewing the four comics included, I’ll make a quick note of some overall things about the Library (and, by extension, the Mass Effect comics) that I enjoy. The main thing is that it lets the creators add comments to pages at the bottom - like a commentary track you’d find on a DVD, but in comic form. It’s fun seeing what the artists' and writers’ thought processes were in translating the game to the page, providing insights on everything from making biotics still look awesome without the glow to illustrating parts of Omega that hadn’t been revealed in-game yet but would be, thus necessitating a careful hand in order to avoid rendering a canon supplementary materially inaccurate later on (something fans would surely notice).

The other touch I quite liked and found to be essential that ran through the comics was a more personal one - Shepard is not only never depicted, but also never assigned a pronoun. In a game like Mass Effect, where creating your own Shepard is a big aspect of the game (to the point where myself and many of my friends have elaborate backstories and pretty strong emotional attachments to our various Sheps), it is vital to not lock in one singular canon Shepard. We all know Jane and John Shepard, sure, but mercifully they don’t even risk choosing between those two - Shepard is Shepard, and while it may make for some clunky dialogue at times (say “Shepard” one more time, Illusive Man, I dare you) I much prefer a panel of awkward to raging that my female Shepards are suddenly forever rendered as non-canon. There are even some moments where the writers intentionally lampshade this planned ambiguity (“hard to tell if it’s even a man or a woman, blown to hell like that”), and they make for some quality comedic moments while recognizing the importance of gamers' attachment to the character.

(Anyone even thinking about creating a Mass Effect movie, take note: you’re gonna piss everyone off. There’s a reason the comics and the anime series, Paragon Lost, do not include Shepard and never assign Shepard pronouns. It fundamentally changes the narrative, and people don't want that. Seriously, you already smacked your fans in the face with the ending; you really don't want to try your luck by creating a canon Shepard that will invalidate our own personal stories.)

Anyway, more to the point, the comics.

First off is Redemption, a Liara-centric story that looks at what happened between Shepard’s death in the beginning of Mass Effect 2 and the delivery of Shepard’s body to Cerberus. Now, it being Liara-centric is either a cause for delight or dismay, but hear me out. I did not like Liara in ME1. She weirded me out a bit, as she was just way too into me. However, I found her to be much improved in Mass Effect 2, and once I’d played through the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, I was sold on her because damn, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard at a game sequence as I did during the chase scene of that DLC. If you’re like me and Liara had to grow on you, fear not - the Liara of this comic is the Liara of the Shadow Broker DLC, in no small part because this is where that story began.

Related to that, we get to see a lot of Feron, which makes me really, absurdly happy. It’s good to know more about the guy Liara wanted to save so badly. Feron himself is just a quick-talking, snark bucket of delight with solid motivations. Seriously, I did not expect to love him as much as I do. Overall, Redemption was a solid read that I feel contributes well to the canon, as it gives you more insight into how Shepard’s body got to Cerberus and for what reasons, while also setting up Liara for her information broker role in Mass Effect 2. It also very neatly sets up the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC to have even more impact, to the point where, excuse me, I really want to go replay that now.

The next is Evolution. It utilizes a more realistic, mature art style compared to Redemption, and takes a very interesting story arc. It starts with Shanxi, which fans will know as a place highly relevant to Ashley Williams’ grandfather, and it follows the person who will become The Illusive Man while also providing insight into the First Contact War. Quite a few familiar-ish faces show up, making this read both highly informative in regards to the making of the Illusive Man and fascinating in terms of how all the components of the Mass Effect story intertwine. I do wish they’d let Eva zip her suit up, though. Seriously, that gratuitous cleavage just isn’t necessary. I’m accustomed to the Ass Effect, but I don’t need that!

While Redemption felt light-hearted and comedic at times, Evolution is straight-up serious exposition and narrative, and it works. It suits the creation story of the Illusive Man, informs his choice to create Cerberus, and sets up a really fascinating parallel between him and Saren. I already rather liked TIMmy, and honestly, this just made me like him more because I got to understand him more. Always a good thing.

Moving right along, we have Invasion. Continuing the trend of following characters from the game, this one focuses on Omega and Aria T’Loak. While I love Aria, this one dragged for me a bit, mainly because it was mostly space dogfights and lots of bickering. I loved Redemption and Evolution for their backstory and the light they shed on certain in-game events, and that isn’t as center-stage in Invasion. It’s still damn pretty, though, and not necessarily a bad read; it just doesn’t hold up to the previous two in my opinion. Although I did rather enjoy Petrovsky, particularly his Russian literature references, and the abundant military history references spoke to my history major in a rather pleasant manner. It ends more strongly than it starts, I will give it that. Just get through the first bit, and it becomes just as good as the previous two.

(Being fair, Invasion sets up the Omega DLC, a DLC I haven’t yet played. Maybe this would be more meaningful to me if I had. I’ll come back and update this if I find it fundamentally changes my stance.)

Next, there’s Homeworlds. These are quicker, one-issue stories that show us the personal history of some of the squaddies. Vega’s goes into how he entered the military; Tali’s opens with her struggling to get to Dr. Michele (all the way back in ME1 - we get to see how she got that intel on Saren!); Garrus's tale is framed by him recalling his life while making his stand on Omega (the Archangel recruitment mission from ME2. His is probably my favorite one, right in the feels), and Liara’s explains how she ended up on Mars (beginning of ME3). I enjoyed all of them, and I felt them to be very true to the characters they depicted, although I did find myself wishing for more. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy; my two favorites (Tali and Garrus) did get issues, but I would’ve killed for a Kaidan, Ashley, Thane, or Mordin-centric one.

Following Homeworlds is Incursion, a quick, one-shot comic following Aria on Omega. It was, well, quick. Pretty, but didn’t really do much. Although it is always nice to see Aria being badass.

Next up: Inquisition. This follows an unexpected side character--Bailey, the C-Sec officer turned Commander--and shows how he got his promotion. And, again, this story hits you in the feels. Remember how you and Bailey talk about contacting loved ones on Earth? Yeah, we see him lose his chance to take some leave to Earth to see his daughter at the hands of Udina in the name of a promotion. Like I said, feels.

And now we come to Conviction, the final tale in the book called a Library for a damn good reason. This one follows Vega, reacting negatively to news reports painting Shepard as a terrorist after Shepard takes down the Batarian system (I think that was also a DLC. There seems to be a trend of comics setting up or responding to DLC). Not much else to say, it’s quick.

That does it for the comics, although there’s a fun sketchbook-type component at the end where we get to see concept work from artist Omar Francia. Always nice to see some concept work, especially since, honestly, the ones he illustrated were my favorites in terms of art style, as it felt the truest to the game while still being remarkably beautiful.

… This review got long, and that’s a testament to the amount of content it had to cover. There are 400+ pages of comics and art in this Library, including all four series and all the one-shot stories published elsewhere around the web. It’s a bit pricey at $59.99, but considering each of the four series in it would run about $16 each, it’s a hard-cover, and it includes one-shot stories that haven’t been published elsewhere (and honestly, while they’re not bad, wouldn’t really merit buying on their own in my opinion), it still seems like a reasonable price. Also, the cover art is gorgeous, which is a check in its favor. If you haven’t been following the comics and want to get your hands on all of the already published ones in one go, this is your best bet. This is a collection that won’t disappoint and will look mighty pretty on a bookshelf.

Jeni "Science Whyzard" Hackett was really pleasantly surprised by how much she loved these comics, particularly the four full series. She supposes she's lucky she found The Illusive Man really fascinating, although she does wish there had been more of other squadmates like Wrex, Kaidan, Ashley, Jack, and so on. Oh, well, can't get everything, she supposes, and there is always time for more. When playing herself, she ends up going pure Paragon and romances Kaidan, in part because she really, painfully ships Tali/Garrus and couldn't bear to break them up- on a related note, she is currently working on a Tali cosplay, cosplay gods save her soul.You can find her on twitter under the name @allonsyjeni, email her at jeni.is.a.geek@gmail.com, or find her on tumblr at hellomynameisgeek.

Review: R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned TPB

2013-05-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

As you might remember from my review of the first R.I.P.D. trade, the Rest in Peace Department is God's police force, helping to expunge demons and other dark forces that just won't stay in hell where they belong. In that trade, our protagonist Nick Cruz teamed up with Roy Pulsipher to find out who killed him. The comic wasn't all that original in its presentation, but it made up for that lack of originality with strong characters and a hell of a lot of fun. R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned, however, was written just this year, thirteen years after the original series, with none of the writers or artists coming back to work on it. Reviving the series without any of the main creators doesn't make a lot of sense...until you remember there's a movie based on the series coming out in July. Yep, it's a cash-in. So let's look at what they've done and get this over with.

The first series was written and created by Peter Lenkov, and it appeared by all rights to be a self-contained story. At the very least, there was little chance of Roy coming back, since that mission was his last; he'd hit his hundred years of service required to move onto the afterlife, so his adventures in the R.I.P.D. should be over. But I guess someone looked at the original series and decided Roy was the far superior character (he was), so new writer Jeremy Barlow had to come up with a reason to make the series about him.

So, instead of progressing the story, we get a flashback, ensuring that no tension is had throughout the book since we know Roy survives in the end anyway. Oof. Not a great start. Especially when it means the back of the trade explicitly lies to you, as Nick Cruz...wait, apparently it's Nick Walker now, in a bizarre retcon that lazily gets rid of any racial traits the original character had so that Ryan Reynolds could be cast as the lead. UGH. Thanks for ensuring the hispanic and Latin American communities who would so desperately love to finally have a leading man in a movie like this won't get the chance, Hollywood. Anyway, he's in about ten pages of the four issue collection despite being mentioned multiple times on the back cover. Gotta love false advertising.

Before I go into the multiple problems with this book, I should point out that the art is not one of them. Tony Parker (no, not that Tony Parker, this Tony Parker) and Michelle Madsen (best known for her work in the Buffyverse) are more that capable of picking up where original artists Lucas Mrangon and Randy Emberlin left off. The art is definitely different than the original, going for something more realistic than cartoony, but the change is not necessarily for the worse. Also, the design for the villain is absolutely incredible. It's not necessarily all that original, but it's sinister in all the right ways, and it deserves to be in a better comic.

If a story is going to take away from the action by setting it in a flashback until the very end, then it has to be a piece that opens one's eyes to the character, helping us learn who he really is and why he behaves the way he does. It has to be well told and well executed through and through, really working as an exploration of the themes of the original more than anything else. So, one must ask: what do we learn about Roy Pulsipher, the R.I.P.D., or any of the relevant characters in the series? Why, absolutely nothing! There's no character development or deep symbolism or thematic exploration; instead, it's just one big action set piece after the next. You don't even really get to rest to take in what just happened, since the series had to be finished before the movie came out and they could only fit in four issues if they wanted this on shelves in time. And the side characters are so forgettable that I've read this trade twice and still can't remember anyone's name.

Image taken from
http://www.darkhorse.com

Worst of all, at the very end, we finally break out of flashback and have a chance to see events that can truly change the course of the R.I.P.D. universe. The weight of this encounter has been building throughout the entire series. Supposedly everything that happened, the entire bland ride from action scene to action scene, was meant to set up tension for this exact encounter. And right when you finally think that perhaps they've really been building up to something this entire time, it just ends. Seriously. They spend almost ninety pages building up to this scene, only to end it in less than ten panels. I didn't even know you could kill dramatic tension that quickly. It's clear that the series was badly rushed at this point, so I understand they had to wrap everything up, but when the plot of the flashback is so dumb that even the writer points out how silly this all is, I can't help but feel like the ending deserved more respect than it got.

R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned will not be seen as anyone on this creative team's finest hour. Then again, being forced to work with a universe you didn't create and have no ties to that also fits the image some Hollywood company wants to create for their movie adaptation all while on a strict deadline could not have been fun. I'm going to give the creative team all of the benefit of the doubt and assume the bureaucracy behind this sunk the project before it could even launch. Still, if it isn't obvious, this is $14.99 you should spend elsewhere.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He's hoping beyond hope the movie will be enjoyable, but this is most assuredly not a good sign. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Dream Thief #1

2013-05-14T16:00:00.000-04:00

Dream Thief #1 is a new comic series written by Jai Nitz and drawn by Greg Smallwood. As I haven't read anything by either creator before, all I had to go on was the premise of the comic. A man steals an Aboriginal mask that somehow gives him superpowers that have a dark bent to them. Ok, sounds interesting enough, but where do you take that premise from there? Well, in the case of Jai Nitz, apparently you take that comic to a rather dark and hateful place, making it difficult to read, yet still making the reader want to keep going. Why am I so conflicted about this comic? Well, follow the link to learn more.

Dream Thief #1 introduces our protagonist, John Lincoln, while providing the origin story necessary to get the comic started quickly. The first half of the comic is very well paced, introducing a few side characters that are sure to become more relevant later while also giving us a glimpse into John's mind. By the end of this comic, we have a very good idea of who John is and what he cares about (more on this later), and we've learned the origins of his powers that will dictate the course of the rest of the series.

Now that you understand the base of this comic, it's time to answer one simple question: why read Dream Thief #1? You would think this question would be self-explanatory, but as this review progresses, you're likely to understand why I find this question so difficult.

Let's start with the art. It's pretty good. It's not something like Dragon Resurrection where the art is enough to blow you away, but it more than gets the job done, using clever colouring combinations to highlight what's important. It can a little lazy with the backgrounds sometimes, but that's forgivable. Less forgivable are the spelling errors. Seriously don't know how you screwed that up, Smallwood (responsible for both art and lettering on this issue), but I appreciate the laughs at being told that one shouldn't smoke weed in a "musem". Also, using a facebook like symbol to show a woman is interested in another guy? Yeah, I don't know who's idea that was, but it was a tacky one at best.

Well, what about our protagonist? Dear God I hope you're not reading this book for a likable protagonist. John Lincoln is one of the most misogynistic, lazy, good for nothings that we're supposedly rooting for that I've seen in a long time. Openly cheating on your girlfriend while she's traumatized after a break-in during which she was held hostage at gunpoint? Classy. Also, he repeatedly refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and acts like a jerk whenever someone tells him to grow up. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to slap him across the face. Unless you're a bigger jerk than he is, you're not going to end up rooting for the guy in the end.

Also, I should mention there's a scene towards the end about which I can't really talk because it'd be a spoiler that I found downright offensive. The powers of the mask are established as being directed towards those who deserve it, and there's no context given as to why it goes after the second group of people in this comic. You know what is given? Their sexual orientation and profession. Either the rules of this mask are poorly explained to add suspense that doesn't really work the way they planned, or the writer is truly a despicable person. Either way, I shouldn't have to be wondering which is the case, and given there were a thousand different ways they could have achieved the same effect, it's mind boggling that they chose one this inherently gross. I'm giving benefit of the doubt because I want to believe that no mainstream comic could be published that's that hateful, but the explanation of the mask's powers better explain that one sooner rather than later.

Image taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

So the protagonist is a twat and there's some offensive bits at the end; what about the rest of the story? Well, after that first half that was well executed, things go off rails once the power-granting mask is found. The whole thing is incredibly rushed, leaving me feeling like Nitz could have used two issues to tell this particular story. In its rush, the comic took a couple shortcuts that largely undermine the issue. First, it assume that the audience is mind-numbingly stupid. Quick pop quiz: do you think that watching crime shows gives you enough knowledge to commit a murder? If you answered "Of course not; that'd be silly," then congratulations! You are officially smarter than this comic thinks you are. Given there were so many other ways to explain that knowledge, it's still strange to me that that was what they picked. Also, the comic gets rid of a character a move that feels like it should be bigger than it is before the audience can make any emotional connection with that character. And the moral superiority with which the book claims that move is justified is laughable at best and downright aggravating at worst.

In conclusion, there's pretty much nothing about this comic that should justify its $3.99 cover price. Objectively, the thing is a mess that manages to infuriate, insult, and offend me more than any book I've read while I've been reviewing comics.

And I can't wait to read more.

I know that makes absolutely no sense, but come with me on this. Yes, the story is badly paced, but the dialogue and exposition is well written and displays a lot of great characterization, even if those characters aren't necessarily likable. The premise is poorly explained, but it's an interesting one that creates the potential for a lot of really great stories. And with the exception of a few bad artistic choices, the art is fun to look at.

Do I recommend this comic? Of course not; there's absolutely nothing about this comic that makes it worthy of a recommendation when there are so many other, better books coming out this week. But I'm going to keep reading it simply to see where it goes. Perhaps I'm just one of those people who can't turn away from slow-motion train wrecks. Or maybe this is just an issue where everything went wrong, and the clear talent the team presents will conjure an issue that does everything right. Either way, stay far, far away until I figure out which of these two things is actually propelling me forward.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He's wonders if the Dark Horse editors were on vacation last week, as this is the second book with significant editing mishaps this week. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Dragon Resurrection

2013-05-14T14:00:00.000-04:00

Mutated animal hybrids? Check. Dragons? Check. Badass fight scenes? Gratuitous check. Dragon Resurrection is a comic by co-writers Mark Byers, Lin Zhang, and Lyan Zhang (who seem conspicuously absent from the internet) about a girl and her twin brother who are working together to unlock the ancient potential of dragons with the modern science of genetics. But, as always with any such story, there is an evil, grey haired military general looking to raise an army of dragon warriors. We'll talk about everything I loved, and the few things that made me shudder in horror.

The art is the first thing that MUST be mentioned for this comic. It's fabulous. The cover (left) is just a taste of the delicious art in this comic. Admittedly, the cover is by Vosa Wang, but Erfan Fajar's work in the main body of the comic is no less impressive. In the first couple pages, we get a brief history of the legend of dragons used in this world, and there is some armor that has such beautiful, graceful details that I want every D&D character I ever play to have their own set. The genetic experiments, both failed and successful, are beautifully done. The scenery is gorgeous as well, which usually receives minimal effort from an artist. I would buy this book just to stare at the art.

That's not to say the story isn't good. In fact, I found it very compelling with characters having understandable motivations. Even the somewhat unusual goals of the bad guy are reasonably explained. I do wish more was explained about the twin's father, because he is a decently significant character and yet, I'm not even 100% what his job is (Archeologist? Historian? Maybe?). That being said, I feel like we do get a working understanding of the twins' background, and they are of course the main characters, Jesse somewhat more than Jack.

I think it's also very interesting how they touch on a key point of perspective: modern (or rather somewhat futuristic) technology is actually much more of a match for ancient mystical powers than we usually portray it. Think of it this way: one thing that got people declared witches centuries ago was their ability to heal others with unexplained concoctions, yet these same brews would be no match for modern medicine and a typical hospital. At the time, it seemed potent, but that was compared to what was available at the time. The comic becomes a grand battle between a man with super high tech gadgets and one with ancient dragon powers. It's a fairly even match, which I think is a more realistic portrayal of how such things would really play out.

Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

I have to complain about, well, words. The letting is done by Nate Piekos, who runs a digital font site, and yet, his lettering is often hard to read, and letters will sometimes run together. It's not as bad with English words, because with the familiarity of being a native speaker, er... reader, one can figure out what's being said pretty easily. But with Chinese names and words that are sprinkled throughout by the Jesse and Jack, as well as their father, it can get a little confusing, and it inadvertently slows down the reading process. But all in all, it's not that bad of lettering; it just has a few hang ups.

On the other hand, each time the action shifts locations, the latitude and longitude are marked, along with the name of the location. And after about half way through, they're wrong. Part of Alaska is marked somewhere out past Hawaii, a city in Malawi is placed south of the Cape of Good Hope. Hell, they put the U.S. Pentagon in Quebec! That's a pretty big screw up, considering that the person who wrote those coordinates got it wrong, and it was then missed by (roughly) at least three other people in the editing/review process. If had happened once, I could understand and say "You know, sometimes thing slip through." But it happens four times. That's careless, and on a project this big, they should really be ashamed of themselves.

Despite it's flaws, it is still a very good read. The comic goes for $17.99, which is a great price. Like I said earlier, this is worth the eighteen bucks just for the art alone, but it's a pretty good story to boot. A well deserved pat on the back for Mark, Lin and Lyan, a bottle of our finest for Erfan, and a stern, disappointed look for Nate.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is excited that this series will apparently be coming to theaters in Fall 2014, despite the lack on an IMDB page. He loves animated movies. And dragons. And Legends. And boats (unrelated). You can find him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: The Fall of the House of Usher #1

2013-05-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

The Fall of the House of Usher #1 (written and illustrated by Richard Corben) is the first part of a two part adaptation of the short story by Edgar Allen Poe. I’m familiar with the original short story, which I read long enough ago to remember the general story but to have forgotten a lot of the details. That led to a lot of confusion when I read this book, since Corben doesn’t just adapt The Fall of the House of Usher, but also merges it with elements of The Oval Portrait, a Poe story with which I was unfamiliar. Until I read both stories for this review, I couldn’t tell which elements were taken from each, which really speaks to Corben’s writing.

An adaptation of something by Poe in comic format is probably not something that I'd expect to work completely. He deals with very internal stories, while a visual medium like comics are better dealing with external stories. There’s enough going on in this story that it can be heavily event focused, but the tone that Poe had in the original story still needs to be conveyed, which is where the art comes in.

The art for this book is very interesting and essential to the story. With it, Corben manages to convey the creepy tone necessary to pull this off. The house, while still habitable, is highly dilapidated, looking just like a house where someone that crazy would live, and that doesn’t even get into the Ushers themselves. They’re drawn with deformed features, both accentuating that they’re related and adding even more to the creepy tone throughout.

There are a couple places that the layout of the panels is confusing and not intuitive. I don't see any deeper purpose to it - it really just feels like an incompetent layout, which luckily only happens a couple times and not throughout the book, otherwise it might be a major problem.

There's also an odd flow of time throughout the book. Unlike the panel issue, this fits right at home here. Poe had a tendency to play around with perception, and having days elapsing between panels with only subtle indications feels much like that. The long period of time over which the story takes place also accentuates just how creepy everything really is. Things like that make the writing hard to really talk about without delving into specifics - it's mostly in setting the tone that the writing works, and it's hard to convey in this review without just telling you that it works.

This issue also has a few pages at the end of extra features, which I've noted before that I am a real sucker for. This is especially surprising since this is a single issue and not a trade. It has quite a few sketches and includes some of the ideas that Corben had while deciding how to adapt this material. I love these, especially since his methods are definitely those of a perfectionist who wants to find just the right feel and look for everything.

Overall, would I recommend this for $3.99? Yes, so long as you realize that this isn't a standalone story and will need the second part. If that bothers you, you might want to wait for the second issue to come out. It leaves me really wanting to know what he's doing with the second half since it's changed significantly from the source, but the fact that an adaptation of something I'm already familiar with leaves me not knowing what's coming next and really wanting to know is probably the best recommendation I can give.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) has had an odd fascination with Poe ever since using a flashlight to read The Raven in a dark room in the middle of the night, which seemed like a better idea at the time. Follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings to read his other thoughts in bite-sized pieces when he actually has any worth sharing.

Review: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #2

2013-05-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

So, in my last review of Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, I was a little hesitant to recommend the comic, as it was unclear where it was going. Reading the second issue has cleared up some of my questions, but I'm still less than thrilled with it. What went wrong now? Check it out after the jump.

Despite my uncertainty last time, the comic did shift focus from the assassin to Darth Vader, which I think makes the comic a more compelling read, since the main character isn't expected to fail anymore. And we see an attempt on the Emperor's life that lures Darth Vader out into the open, so they've at least started the true action of the story. Even the star destroyer that gets attacked, teased on the Dark Horse page for the comic, is pretty spectacular. But as I noted last time, I still have trouble getting really excited about anything from this time period in the canon, particularly in regards to Vader, because we know he lives to see the original trilogy.

I also feel like there are a lot of wasted frames in this comic. The attempt on the Emperor's life is about two pages too long. The conversation the two of them have at the end could also have been more concise. It felt sort of like the Tim Siedell had a three comic story in mind, but Dark Horse gave him more than that (up to issue #5 can be pre-ordered on Dark Horse already) and he went "Oh, um, okay, I guess I can leave some blank pages for Stephen Thompson to draw on then..." Overall, it just hinders the pacing, and the whole thing feels kind of slow.

As much as I'm complaining, it is not all bad. I still like the art; Thompson does a great job. There is also a bit of mystery to the story, as the assassin is never actually said to be behind either of the attacks, and in fact, the attack on the star destroyer doesn't even really help his cause much, but seems to be perpetrated by the same people who tried to kill the emperor. Is one of the other eight assassins going to make an appearance? The first comic did say they weren't all accounted for. Or is the ninth assassin really behind that too? Maybe he has his own agenda. Honestly, it's my curiosity over these minor matters that are keeping me reading for at least one more comic, not the main plot.

I still can only give a "so-so" recommendation, because I just find it so hard getting drawn into this time period in Star Wars with anything less than an enthralling plot hook. But if you want it, it's $3.50. I'll be back in a month with issue 3.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, just learned that not only might Jar Jar make a return in Episode VII, Robert Pattinson has expressed interest in lending his voice to the role. Holmes would love to see Binks die a horrible, painful death more than ever. You can follow Holmes on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Preview: Papers, Please

2013-05-13T17:53:00.000-04:00

I'll be honest; I don't usually look at games before they're released. As a general rule, I actively try to not get too excited about games before they come out as...yeah, that happens. However, every once in a while, a game will cross my radar that grabs my attention, made by an indie developer who deserves recognition that I just HAVE to talk about. In today's case, I've played the Beta twice and passed it on to multiple friends. It's that good. So, let's take a look at the upcoming Papers, Please.

Papers, Please hopes to corner a market I didn't even know existed. The site lists it as a "dystopian document thriller", and that's actually the best way to describe it. You play as a man who's been forced to run the new border patrol gate in the communist state of Arstotzka. Each day, citizens and foreigners alike will attempt to get through, and it's your job to determine whether they should be allowed into the country. You'll examine passports and other important documents, conduct fingerprint scanning, and, if necessary, send people away with the police in tow to ensure no damage is done to your wonderful country. Oh, and you better work quickly, because your daily wages are directly based on how many people you successfully process, and if you can't keep up, your family back home will be the ones to suffer in the cold, dark, and hungry apartment the state so kindly forced you to live in.

Now, one might look at this and immediately be fearful of a strong political undercurrent. After all, immigration in a country that looks and acts like a member of the former Soviet bloc could easily turn into a politically charged soapbox of a game. Luckily, Lucas Pope, the sole designer of the game, is aware of that risk and seeks to avoid it entirely. "My main goal is just to create an interesting and entertaining game with somewhat original mechanics." said Pope. "Beyond experiencing some empathy for the tough job that immigration inspectors have, there are no deep political aspects." A focus on the gameplay over preaching a political agenda? Awesome.

So, if it's not a political game, what is it? Well, it's a tightly made game with a heavy emphasis on technical gameplay. You're constantly scanning documents looking for the most minute discrepancies, as the safety of the country--and your wallet--depends on your ever sharp eye ensuring only those who deserve to get in are able to do so. Every time you screw up, the state sends you a warning letting you know what you did wrong. The first two times are purely warnings, but from that point forward, it results in docked pay. Which, in all reality, neither you or your family can afford.

The result is a frantic, fast-paced game that's constantly pushing you to move more quickly while also requiring you to look at more and more things. The state will constantly be reacting to the events happening around you, forcing you to be more strict with certain countries or changing the type of pass a foreigner needs to work there. As such, you are constantly having to check your rulebook to see what's in effect and using it to point out any discrepancies that may exist. But don't forget to watch that clock, as after 6:00 P.M., any work you do is unpaid. Ouch.

This is the kind of unique idea that keeps the indie market going strong while the AAA industry is poised to crash. So where does an idea like this come from? Pope said, "Although I'm American, I live outside the US now and have done a good amount of international traveling in the last few years. Going through airport immigration enough times, I slowly got the impression that whatever the inspector was doing could be fun. Once that was marinating in my head I started to see elements of current events and popular fiction that could work well within the concept."As someone who's currently living in the UK, I can assure you that he's on the money with that one; if nothing else, the life of an immigration checkpoint worker must be colourful and interesting.

There are two features that I feel need to be discussed before I wrap this preview up. The first is a beautiful use of moral choices that actually feel like choices. There isn't a tangible benefit to these actions, nor is there commentary presented. The ones presented in the Beta are rather straightforward, but Pope tells me that there will be longer stories later in the game that span multiple days. Despite being simple on the surface, there's a lot that goes into it. Using an example from the Beta, let's say an old woman wants to see her son, who she hasn't seen in over twenty years. That seems reasonable, and the idea of her reuniting with her son has to make you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. But what's this? Her documents are not in order, and the odds are good that if she doesn't get in now, she'll never get the chance. Do you let her in, knowing that you'll get a warning for it? And what if you've already gotten your warnings for the day? Then it will be a dock in pay, and you run the risk of your family going cold and hungry yet again. You need that money. Do you keep her away from her son?

It's a tough call, but the decision is entirely up to you. As Pope explained, "the moral choices are a natural extension of the 'threads' that define the story. Like a real checkpoint, the player meets everyone in passing and each person may have a small story to tell. Including moral choices lets the player experience the tough situations that I imagine a real inspector often finds themselves in. Keeping the dialog brief and the choices commentary-free allows the player to project more of their own feelings onto the interaction and makes the game more interesting for me." Take note, other game developers: this is how morality should work. Not with outlandish moral choice systems that have me either slaughtering fields of babies or picking flowers to give to the elderly, with tangible gameplay benefits for being all the way good or all the way evil. It should be difficult life choices presented straight-forwardly, leaving the player the freedom to act as he or she genuinely would in that situation. Now that is interesting.

The other factor I loved is one I've mentioned a couple times already: the use of family as a sign of progress. When things are going well, the family will be well fed, warm, and generally happy. Well, as happy as one could be in a cramped apartment in a communist state in the 1980s. However, if you start slipping up and getting docked for pay, or simply move too slowly, things will start going poorly. Food won't make it to the table, the heating bill won't be paid, and worse, people will start getting sick. As Pope explains, "Once I decided on the basic style of narrative, it was clear the player needed influences outside their job. The nighttime screen is a way to motivate the player and apply pressure to the decisions they make during the day. It also nicely inserts the player into the same world as the immigrants they're approving and denying. Just like the real world, everyone's got problems." A genuinely interesting mechanic that both increases the pressure on the player while also increasing their immersion? Yeah, I'm sold.

I'm not going to pretend the game is perfect. A lot of times, I end up finding myself knowing something is wrong, but having no idea how to prove it. The in game tutorial isn't great at telling you exactly what you need to use to point out each discrepancy (I didn't even know there was an audio transcript until I started searching for images for this post), and it's going to take some trial and error to figure out what you need to do. And then there are bugs. In my playthrough, I experienced an issue where I'd be warned for letting someone through with false fingerprints, even though the game seemed to tell me the names matched who they were supposed to be. Pope is aware of that and is actively working to fix these bugs. But see, these bugs are forgivable because the game is still available as a free Beta. This is what Betas are for, after all.

So, at the end of the day, you have a clever concept with tight gameplay mechanics that are able to provide an interesting storyline with moral choices that don't feel forced upon you...what more do you need? I'm not a person to hype games before they've been released (I keep quiet on my Kickstarter donations for that very reason), but this is a game I truly enjoyed from start to finish. If your interest is piqued, check out the Beta for free here for both Windows and Mac. Pope is aiming for a summer release, though no definite date has been given. Check it out for yourself, and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He sincerely regretted turning the old woman away after her son's building burned down the next day, but at least his family was fed, right?...Right? You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Shaking up Pokemon

2013-05-10T13:30:00.000-04:00

If you are like me, you are snob when it comes to Pokemon. You know that the original Pokemon were the best and that no matter what anyone says, it's not just nostalgia talking. Lately, "new" Pokemon are just the old ones with slight redesigns or type changes. Tell me this: what does GameFreak do with all it's time if they're just rehashing their old work? After the break, I'll expend my point about the recent failing in Pokemon creativity and even offer some new, unique concepts.

In the first generation, Pokemon were interesting. I still don't know what Lapras is, or what kind of creature Electabuzz is supposed to be. Jigglypuff is a singling balloon and Farfetch'd hits people with a leak for some reason. How did a bunch of eggs get to be psychic? Mr. Mime... well psychic mimes are a little cliche, but you get the idea. For the most part, Pokemon were new. Now? Beartic is just an ice type version of Ursaring, and Liepard is a dark type Persian. Bouffalant is EXACTLY a Tauros, Unfezant is a Pidgeot, except now it's ACTUALLY a pigeon Garbodor is Muk, Excadrill is Sandslash, Conkeldurr is Machamp; I could go on. But I won't.

Instead, I'd like to prove that Pokemon has not run out of unused ideas; that they don't just have to keep rehashing the same old concepts. Below are four Pokemon concepts I believe to be unique, which is to say that they lack existing Pokemon corollaries. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed coming up with them. (All art was a custom commission by my friend Victoria)

Stalkaffe - (grass) - Stage 3 of 5

First, something I've been waiting for since the third generation came out: a Pokemon with more than three stages. Imagine this: there is a new Pokemon game, and you have forced yourself not to look at the new Pokemon before playing. In one of the first routes, you encounter a small sprout called Shootly. As it grows, it begins to take the shape of a little bamboo giraffe. you think you've reached its third and thus final form, Stalkaffe. But then, it starts to evolve again! imagine your excitement when you find out it has not three, not four, but five stages! I love this idea because A) there are no giraffe Pokemon. There are some long necked things, but they're more like chimeras. B) Giraffes fight by whipping their necks at each other, which would be an awesome signature move. And C) I really want GameFreak to get out of this three stage limit. It's boring.

Monitox - (poison) - Stage 2 of 3

Next, we have a poison type called Monitox. Pokemon has a number of poisonous plants and many, many poisonous snakes. They even have a poisonous fish. But they've never done a poisonous lizard. Personally I think Gila monsters and komodo dragons are really cool, and I would love to see a similar creature show up in Pokemon. The color scheme too is very different. So many poison type Pokemon are green or purple that I think the warm orange and reds would really stand out. Another thing that I would really like about a poison type lizard Pokemon is that the evolved form could be a basilisk. Not the basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets, because J. K. Rowling made it a snake just for the whole Slytherin thing. Basilisks were originally multi-legged lizards and incredibly poisonous. It's a fitting final form and GameFreak has never done a poison/dragon type pairing before.

Lashrow - (dark) - Stage 2 of 2

Then there are Frightle and its evolved form, Lashrow. Dark type Pokemon have almost no creatures that are personifications of shadow itself, excluding Darkrai, who is specifically made near impossible to get in the one generation he's available. All the rest are some kind of malevolent animal. Lashrow builds on moves that ensnare enemies with its shadowy tendrils, lower enemy defenses, and prevent the opponent from fighting back. I also love the pun of giving him a signature move of "clothesline" because of the cloak he has wrapped around himself. I think that it would be an interesting ability to have his evasion increase at night, blending him into the darkness. You have to love those day/night cycles, and while pokemon evolution, and wild pokemon appearances have been effected by time of day, they have yet to have abilities that play in at different times of day.

Hemoski - (bug/steel) - Stage 1 of 1

Lastly, I offer Hemoski, a bug/steel type. This type combination has been seen before in Pokemon like Scizor and Forretress, but this is one of the types of bugs I've been amazed they haven't used: mosquitoes. I think of a Hemoski fighting very much like a Beedrill, using its speed and flight to use hit and run tactics while also using a lot of moves like Leech Life, possibly with its own souped up version. It may not look like a steel type, owing to the lack of silvery hues, but between its blood and the oxygen it carries, I liked the rusty color a lot. It's much darker colored than either steel or bug types typically are, which gives it a fairly unique look. But also I liked the idea of the parallels between the mosquito's proboscis and a hypodermic needle. If you imagine a Hemoski being nearly five feet tall, that's a big needle!

The average new generation of Pokemon adds 125 new species of Pokemon. Between all the stages of the Pokemon presented here, that's 11 Pokemon that I hope you agree are new and unique Pokemon. That doesn't include a swordfish water type, a banshee ghost type, an elephant normal type, and a series of ditto like creatures made from magma (fire), mercury (poison) and mud (ground) that didn't make it into my favorite four, as well as a number of evolutions of existing Pokemon. All in all, I could probably cover a fifth of the new Pokemon for a new generation from the ideas I already have. Come on GameFreak. Step it up a notch.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is an avid Pokemon fan, despite the decline in creativity. He is anxiously awaiting the release of Pokemon X and Y this Fall. You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: Star Trek: Into Darkness

2013-05-09T19:10:00.001-04:00

Today, Chase (MaristPlayBoy) and his good friend Sam discuss the new Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Into the Darkness. It's actually pretty good, but don't expect to be blown away.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Creepy #12

2013-05-08T16:00:00.000-04:00

Well, the time has finally come for me to review an anthology comic. To be honest, I was rather sad when I first handed over Dark Horse Presents to Baker Street Holmes, since Dark Horse's anthologies are known for being among the best the world of comics has to offer. But today, I get to look at another great anthology series, Creepy #12. With good ole' Uncle Creepy providing some opening and closing narration, Creepy #12 tells five spooky stories with three cartoons to lighten the mood. Does this issue warrant a purchase, or will it fail to deliver the creeps? Let's find out.

Since each story features a different creative team, there aren't many overarching points to be made about the comic as a whole. With the exception of the front and back cover, the comics included are black and white. This isn't an issue for most people, but since some people prefer colour comics, I figure it's worth mentioning. But now, let's get into the actual stories.

"Uncle Magnus" by Richard Corben is the first story of the bunch. Now usually, I would be ecstatic to see a Richard Corben piece in anything, as his legendary status (he's a member of the Will Eisner Hall of Fame) speaks for itself, but if I learned anything from my Last Day in Vietnam review, it's that great creators are capable of mediocre work. "Uncle Magnus" avoids that pitfall by being quite good, if not as fulfilling as it could have been. The art is fantastic, nailing the facial expressions such that the art itself tells the whole story. However, the ending fell a little flat for me. Without giving anything away, a character is punished at the end of the story without anything being presented that would make the reader believe she should be punished. Maybe it's meant to emphasize how terrible things can happen to people without due cause, but I wasn't rooting for that character's demise like I rooted for the demise of the other characters. There's no real moral to be taught from this one, and if there had been, a very good story would have been a great one. Still, it is an enjoyable piece.

"Fishing" by Ron Marz (story) and Richard P. Clark (art) was my favourite piece. The art here is also well done, making the scenes really feel as if they're playing out in front of you. It also really does a good job of handling the horror bits, with injuries looking as gruesome as one would hope they would. What really makes this story great, however, is the irony of the tale. Without giving anything away, the story is able to be terrifying and amusing at the same time, and the whole thing struck me as being incredibly clever. Well done by both artists, and I hope they team up on something else again soon.

Next up is a one page comic called "Role Models" by Dan Braun and Peter Bagge. Not much to say about it, honestly. It's okay. The joke might be funnier if you've read previous issues (I have not), but as it stands, it's simply okay.

"Local Talent" by Matthew Allison is another excellent piece (you might be noticing a trend at this point), focused on a horror movie production gone wrong. When the director, who acts like a complete jerk, loses his make up man and monster actor, a local named Kino promises him some local talent to help complete the movie on time. It's another one of those "be careful what you wish for" stories, but it's executed very well. And the art in this piece is brilliant, really emphasizing the gore in some of the later parts of the story in a truly rewarding way. Well done across the board by Allison.

The next comic is actually a reprint of a classic tale by some of the most legendary creatores in comics. "The Spirit of the Thing" by Archie Goodwin (story) and Steve Ditko (art) features a very different set up than the rest, having the character involved tell the story of what happened to him instead of showing the events play out in real time. In this way, the reader becomes a member of the group of tenants who searched to see what was going on themselves, and the technique really works. The story is not as scary or amusing as some of the others in this book, but it more than makes up for it with its creativity. The other stories included were somewhat predictable in that they covered tropes that have been cornerstones of horror for quite some time. This story, while not being without its influences, didn't fit into a single trope, and thus actually kept me guessing what would happen next. There's a reason these creators are considered classic, after all.

"Mother's Little Helper" by Peter Bagge is another one page comic. It's pretty funny, but that's all that I cna really say about it, so let's move on.

"Pack Leader" by John Arcudi (story) and Julian Totino Tedesco (art) stands out from the other comics in this book, as it doesn't have any opening or closing narration by a member of the Creepy family. The art is also quite experimental, with certain images being so detailed as to be nearly photorealistic, yet other pages have no art whatsoever, existing merely as white pages with narration and dialogue. It's a very different kind of horror story, going more for building a tense and harrowing atmosphere without having to rely on any over the top scares. It's a heartbreaking tale, well told and amazingly executed. This one will stick in your mind long after you've finished reading it. Just...wow.

Finally, there's one more comic from Dan Braun and Peter Bigge; this one's called "Reflections of My Life". My biggest problem with it is that it comes at the end of the comic, when "Pack Leader" provided the perfect end point for the issue. It's actually the funniest comic of the three, but I just wish they'd structured the comic as a whole differently so that we could end on "Pack Leader". This is, admittedly, a nitpick.

Creepy #12 delivers in every way you could want it to. Each of the five tales is sufficiently scary and entertaining, with a couple that will most assuredly stand out in your mind long after you've read them. "Pack Leader" wins the top prize in this collection, with "Fishing" as a close second, but each story included is worth reading. For $4.99, you're getting more than your money's worth with this collection. Do yourself a favour and go buy it. It's worth every cent and more.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. "Pack Leader" may have scarred him for life, but it was totally worth it. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #21

2013-05-08T14:00:00.000-04:00

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #21 (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) is the first issue in the final arc of Season Nine, "The Core". If you've read my review of Buffy Season Nine Volume 3, you'll know that I don't have the same unbridled enthusiasm for the main series that I do for the Angel & Faith series. While I still have my reservations, this issue is a step forward and gives me hope that the end of the season might be able to redeem this otherwise lackluster season.

The art in this issue is good, for the same reasons I mentioned in my review of Angel & Faith #21. Like I said there, the characters are just slightly abstracted from the actors who played them. This can be slightly confusing, but only to people who haven't already been following the comics, and if you haven’t, don’t try to jump in at issue #21. The specific thing that jumps out to me in this issue is Dawn. As the storyline of her fading from existence continues, she’s drawn in grayscale instead of full color, reminding the reader what is happening and reiterating how high the stakes are. For this, I have to credit Michelle Madsen, who did colors in this issue and whose work probably does unnoticed most of the time.

As of this issue, the main three characters are finally reunited, explaining the name of this arc, "The Core". This is important, as these characters were the main reason that people were so invested in the TV show during its run. While the comics aren’t the show, that dynamic was very important for seven seasons of TV. Obviously, something about it worked, and seeing that restored in the comics gives me some hope.

More importantly from a story standpoint, this issue has finally brought together each of the different storylines in the season. The Big Bads have now been firmly established and are moving forward with their plan from the previous issue. We know what the stakes are, and for the first time this season, we know exactly where the story is going without all of the confusing diversions and side plots that felt like pointless wandering to kill time until the end of the season.

Georges Jeanty Variant Cover

Something else of note is the continuing trend established earlier in the season of finally implementing parts of the Angel series into the main Buffy series. Though I can't say what, something very important to the Angel series appears is this issue and becomes a major plot point. This helps make the world feel more cohesive, something which was often lacking both in the TV series and the Season Eight comics.

Speaking of crossovers and cohesion, this episode has a mild crossover with Angel & Faith #21. It’s not something you need to have read that book to understand (but you should because it’s awesome), but it’s there if you need everything to be explained.

On the execution side, I need to bring up Willow. In her miniseries, she struck me as boring and badly written. In this issue, she's starting to sound like Willow again. While the miniseries focused a bit too much on her otherworldly side, she still grew up in California in the '90s, and she has the speech patterns to match. This issue restores that second bit to her character, which was sorely missing in that series.

I’ll give this a tentative recommendation and say that this issue is worth the $2.99 cover price. They’re moving in the right direction again, which is nice to see. This is a good issue and a good start to the last arc of the season, but I can't make any guarantees that the rest of the arc will live up to the promise with which it starts, hence the tentative recommendation.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) really wants this to get better, but knows much better than to get his hopes up. Follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings to read his other thoughts in bite-sized pieces when he actually has any worth sharing.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Nine Vol. 3 Guarded

2013-05-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

Guarded, the third volume of Season Nine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, collects two separate story arcs: Guarded (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) and Billy the Vampire Slayer (written by Jane Espenson and Drew Z. Greenberg, illustrated by Karl Moline and Ben Dewey). These are two very different storylines, only included in the same book because they add up to five issues. They even have different writers and artists, so there's even less cohesion between the two stories. Sadly, this is only really an issue because one story is so much better than the other.

Guarded (the story arc) follows Buffy working with Kennedy’s bodyguard service, trying to protect a social networking mogul who’s being threatened by Wolfram and Hart. He’s managed to keep a link to their dimension alive through technology, which is my only major issue with the story. Since the loss of magic, the writers have gone to great lengths to write magic-based stories without using magic instead of embracing such a fundamental change to the universe and using it to tell some really different stories. The constant handwaving and general confusion over what the loss of magic really means is a particular pet peeve of mine, so it might not bother others as much as it bothers me. It’s also not unique to this arc, so I try not to hold it against this arc compared to the good that it does.

What really sticks out here is Kennedy. It’s not at all a stretch to say that Kennedy is the most hated character from the TV series. She’s so reviled by the fans that general fan opinion on episode quality is inversely related to how many lines she has (no, really -- people have done the math). The main complaint is that Kennedy is very one-dimensional, something this arc fixes by giving her actual character traits. On the show, she was just Willow’s girlfriend, but since they broke up near the end of Season Eight, she has to define herself in some other way. She’s still a lesbian, but that’s no longer her only defining trait -- she’s now trying to help other Slayers who feel lost in a world without magic, including Buffy. And even though her relationship with Willow is over, she shows an actual attachment to her and still cares for her, even though she knows the relationship is done for good. This character development is far and away the most noteworthy part of this arc, since it made me actually like a character I used to hate -- and even if you still don’t like her, she does get punched in the face at one point, so there is that.

Billy the Vampire Slayer follows Billy, a boy from a small, unnamed California town, who wants to do something about the zompire problem despite having no supernatural powers or abilities. His friend, Devon, serves as his watcher in an attempt to emulate being a Slayer as they actively try to fight zompires the town.

Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

I really want to like this storyline, but there are multiple reasons why this just doesn’t work. The first and simplest reason is, in the middle of the main Buffy series, we’re suddenly taken away and thrown into another story. If that was the only problem, I’d suggest just expanding the story and making it a mini-series, similar to the Willow and Spike miniseries. This type of plotline even has some precedent -- Robin Wood was a demon hunter with no supernatural powers, so it can work.

The real problem comes from something that I haven’t yet mentioned: Billy is gay. That’s not the problem. The problem is that it's his only defining characteristic. In case you were hoping for subtlety, he’s wearing a “No H8” shirt in the first panel, and that’s just the beginning. Every interaction he has with anyone is either him being bullied for being gay or trying to hide his obvious crush on Devon, who (spoilers) becomes his boyfriend by the end of the story. It feels like the writers are trying harder to make a statement than to tell a good story, and it doesn’t even do a good job at that. I don’t even know how to appraise the story since it’s barely anything more than a few events in the background of a public service announcement.

This confuses me to no end. The writers seemed to figure out that was the problem with Kennedy, and fixed that in the previous story arc. Having Billy’s storyline fall into the same trap right afterwards makes it seem like no one was paying attention. Given that it had different writers, they might not have been paying attention, or just missed the point completely. It’s a really jarring shift in tone that happens when so many different writers tackle a comic series, which doesn’t work in that way like a TV series does.

Related to the shift in tone is a shift in the art. There are different artists for each arc in this book, which isn’t that noticeable right away, due to the shift in characters and location. In a way, the change is fitting, since it’s obvious that they wanted a different feel for that storyline. It’s a little disconcerting at the end, however, when they tie Billy’s story back into the main story and Buffy suddenly looks different than she did earlier in the book. This may be making a big deal about nothing, but it’s really jarring when the main character suddenly looks different. This isn’t a reason not to buy given how insignificant it is (and how big the other problems are), but this is just a warning for when you get to that point yourself.

The extras in the back of the book are fairly standard: all of the variant covers (interestingly, all drawn by Georges Jeanty, even though he wasn’t the artist on #14 and #15), along with some rough sketches to show how they evolved. The most interesting cover to me is #11, which is designed like the old Star Wars posters, and is given a prominent position at the front of the book instead of the back, with all the pencils and rough sketches in the back. My favorite, though, is a script page from issue #12, along with rough sketches of the layout and the final version, showing the process of going from script to finished page -- I’m a sucker for features about the processes of making things. Noticeably absent is a small extra story like was included in both volumes 1 and 2.

Overall, unless you’re a completionist, I’m really not going to recommend this book, especially since it’s releasing for $18. I might be able to recommend it for around $10, but it’s just cheaper to buy the individual issues for Guarded ($3 each for issues 11, 12, and 13 physical, $2 each digital) and skip the Billy story -- you won’t miss much, as it’s barely relevant to the rest of the season, and also isn’t good.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) is amazed that he suddenly likes Kennedy now, and also hates that this story forced him into an awkward, almost political situation. Follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings to read his thoughts in bite-sized pieces when he actually has any worth sharing.

Review: X #1

2013-05-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

This week, we get to see X return, and while I was a little trepidatious about what I'd find, it turned out better than expected. When I reviewed X #0, I enjoyed X's bad-ass rating of over 9000, but I did wonder where they could really go with it. X #0 was fun in its gratuitous violence, but after a while, nothing but blood and gore would undoubtedly get boring. X #1 shows that writer Duane Swierczynski has more planned than just horrible violent deaths.

I started following X in Dark Horse Presents some months ago, and while the character was a bucket and a half of awesome, there was little to no plot in the zero issue. Bad-ass kills three guys using gratuitous violence. Simple. While I won't spoil the details, we see a lot more happen this time. Things I will mention, because they don't spoil much: the police find the mess X made in the previous issue, a blogger starts investigating, and X has announced his next victim. All of that is just on Dark Horse's page for the comic, and that doesn't even cover the couple major twists!

I didn't really talk about the art in the last review, but Eric Nguyen is the artist for both X #0 and #1, and his art is grungy and dark, which makes it great for this kind of comic. He does a lot of shadow play, covering X's face in the few scenes we get where he's not in costume, and using a lot of darker backgrounds to bring out the action. It's smart: the comic is not about where things are happening; it's what's happening that holds the emphasis. Also, and I don't know if I just missed it in issue #0 or if this is truly new, but the red X motif exists on far more of his costume than just the big X on his face. Honestly, I don't really like that he does this, as it draws too much attention away from that face and de-emphasizes that mystery a bit. I would just have him in all black, with the X on the face and that awesome torn up cape, but not on the belt, vest, gloves or anything like that. But what do I know? I have trouble drawing a decent bunny.

I really want to comment on a number of other things that are going on, but I don't want to give away any more about the plot. Here's what we'll do: go buy this comic, and read it. It's good (definitely worth the $2.99 cover price), and I'm very interested in seeing what happens in issue 2. When I review issue 2, I believe many of the points I want to make now will still be relevant, so I can comment on them, referencing this issue. Until then, just trust me on this one: it's worth the read.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes is wondering if next time we'll find out why Dave Wilkins seems to like putting strip joints on the cover. Because there's like two or three this time and a couple next time. This whole series could take a major genre shift. You can follow Holmes on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Free Comics? Free comics!

2013-05-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

As some of you may know tomorrow (Saturday May 4, 2013) is the 11th annual FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! If you no longer care about what I have to say about free comics, because you are too excited and want to get your comic right now, you are free to leave. Free comic book day isn't about you. Free comic book day is all about those who aren't yet comic fans.

We read a lot of comics around the Red Shirt Crew office, in case you didn't notice. Personally, I love that part of our job, because I grew up with comics and comic book characters. But maybe you've never really gotten into them, perhaps you never understood the draw.

That's precisely why Free Comic Book Day exists, so people like yourself have a chance to pick up a comic or two (or five, if you're at a well stocked store) and give it a shot and see what you think. But just because the offer is there, doesn't mean you're necessarily going to take advantage of this opportunity. That's why I want to give you 6 reasons to go out and get a comic tomorrow, if you aren't already a comic fan. If you are a comic reader, some of these will still have useful information for you too so read on!

6. Even if you aren't a big superhero fan, there are still plenty of comics to choose from!

Tomorrow you can get Superman and Judge Dredd comics, sure, but the video game fans can get a Mass Effect or Sonic the Hedgehog comic, Sci Fi fans can get Star Wars. There are even some television show based comics like Spongebob, The Waking Dead and Grimm. There's over 50 comics in total involved this year, and while not ever comic shop will have every comic, pretty much any comic shop will have something for you. Which brings us to...

5. Participating locations are easy to find, so don't fret if you don't know where your nearest comics book store is and whether or not they are participating.

Just go here, and type in your Zip code (or look up an international location!).

4. Comics are a great way to help kids learn to read.

Maybe you're not there to get a comic for you. Comics are a great place for kids to start to learn to read. They're short, they teach good lessons and even when they aren't free, they're an inexpensive way to get kids to read regularly.

3. It's a great way to get introduced to new writers and new series.

Whether or not you are a comic fan already, Free Comic Book Day is a way that you can find writers and series you didn't know you'd love. Like Neil Gaiman? (note: I don't think any of the comics this year are from Neil Gaiman) You may not keep reading comics, but you might watch his upcoming episode of Doctor Who or one of his novels, like American Gods. You never know where a single read might take you.

2. Many major comic shops across the United States and around the world are having comic signings by comic writers.

If you're not a comic reader already, this might be a bit of a stretch reason to go to a Free Comic Book Day event, but many places arrange to have comic book authors in their stores to sign comics that day. This is of course in addition to other events such location might arrange around Free Comic Book Day including other kinds of free merchandise or movie viewings of comic book movies.

1. Because Hugh Jackman told you to.

If you're still not convinced, go pick up a comic anyways (it is free after all). Give it a shot. Maybe it'll be nothing, but if it is, you haven't lost any money over it and you'll never know unless you try.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, will not be participating in Free Comic Book Day only because it's a $28 train ride to the nearest comic shop, and that defeats the point of Free Comic Book day. But he wants that Grimm comic SO MUCH! You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: The Victories #1

2013-05-02T22:36:00.001-04:00

The Victories #1 is truly a rare treat when it comes to comics. Originally having a run in Dark Horse Presents, Michael Avon Oeming was granted a miniseries, the collection of which I'll be reviewing in early June when it's released. Now, it's received its own ongoing, becoming the first real superhero team Dark Horse has seen since The End League in 2008. Does the story live up to the promise from the miniseries that got it this far? Let's find out after the break.
Full disclosure: I sadly missed the original miniseries run of The Victories, so I'm reviewing this comic purely on its own merits. There is a character that appears in the end that feels like a character that would have appeared earlier in the series, given his lack of proper introduction, so I'm not going to say anything about him that could spoil it for other readers except the power set is awesome and I'm looking forward to seeing where Oeming goes with him.

First, let's talk about the art. If you've read an Oeming comic before, you know what to expect. I for one am a big fan of his style, and am happy to see it appear in a non-diluted form. There's a lot of pressure given the permeance of superheroes in comic culture to create something that matches what one would expect a superhero to look like. And with characters like Metatron, that ends up being the case. Yet Oeming's style helps them stand out, even when using a more traditional template. Look at the cover here to see what I mean. I might not know how to describe it well, but I really do enjoy it.

The story presented here is excellent, and serves as a nice introduction for those, like me, who were unfortunate enough to have missed the initial miniseries run. The Victories are a team of superheroes brought together by Metatron, the most powerful hero of the bunch. At some point in the past, there was an accident that turned everything to shit. The power's gone, people, including villains, are panicking, and no knows if things will ever go back to the way they were before. However, this accident has also granted certain individuals these superpowers, most of which seem to relate to the individual possessing them on a personal level.

The hero on which this particular issue focuses is D.D. Mau, and fortunately for this comic, she doesn't fall into anything you'd usually think of when you think about female superheroes. She's portrayed as strong willed, but quite insecure on the inside. The changes granted to her by the accident are both for the better and worse, as they grant her abilities she's always wanted while also having a downside that preys upon her worst insecurities. I won't spoil anything here, but believe me when I say there's a ton of depth to the character worth exploring, and I look forward to learning more about her and the rest of the cast.

The other really great positive of this issue is the dialogue presented. If you're anything like me, superhero comics at DC and Marvel can feel way too wholesome at times. Are we really supposed to believe that Batman doesn't want to drop a few F-bombs when the Joker is causing chaos all over the city? Obviously, those companies are restricted by the audience they want to pursue and the image they hold, but without those restrictions, Oeming has created a far more natural team of superheroes. They're flawed people. They get angry. They fight amongst each other. They even use each other for personal reasons. And they curse as often Louis C. K. does on his standup. But you know what? That's exactly what characters in this situation would do. They want to keep the peace and pursue good, but that doesn't mean they're angels that always do the right thing. And through these characters, there's a lot of natural conflict that can develop, in addition to the standard "hero vs. villain" fare.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention The Strike, a former hero that's now...well, I'm not entirely sure, actually? He could just be a druggie, or he could be a new villain just waiting to happen. I honestly can't predict where his story arc will end up (though having a couple friends who partake in...recreational activities on a regular basis, his comments on 'expanding the consciousness were particularly funny to me), but I know I am utterly fascinated by the character, even more so than D. D. Mau. That's not a knock on D. D., mind you, but The Strikes philosophies are utterly fascinating, and touch on the underlying theme of transformation that pervades this issue in a really powerful way. I knew I was going to love this comic after his opening narration, and when he appeared again later in the comic, I found myself being strangely drawn to the guy. I don't know if he appeared before (D. D. seemed to recognize him), but I sure hope this isn't the last we see of him.

I can't honestly remember the last time I rambled this long about a single issue of a comic. It's not that I haven't read great comics before; heck, I read a great comic earlier this week. Perhaps its just refreshing to see a true superhero comic done by a writer and artist I really enjoy. Actually, yeah, that and really excellent theming just about sums up why this comic is more than worth the $3.99 cover price. Don't worry if you've haven't read a Victories comic before. Just makes sure you read this one.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He's always happy when he can add a new superhero team to his list of "must reads", and this certainly ends up on that list. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

AoaRD #3.5: The Flashback

2013-05-02T20:45:00.001-04:00

Every two weeks, Baker Street Holmes tells the tale of Urbal gro-Dushnikh, a blacksmith in Skyrim just trying to make a living. Unfortunately, Holmes is studying for exams and can't devote four hours to video games right now. So here's a flashback. We return to the regularly scheduled plot on May 16th.
Part One Part Two Part Three

5th of Midyear, 198

Today, I left my stronghold home and became a gro-Dushnikh. I was provided with a couple days food, a mace from Gharol and some leather armor. My tribe did not fuss as I left, true to their orc ways. Their stoicism is an honor to Malacath and a credit to our tribe. The armor was of course an insult from Chief Burguk. Leather armor for an orc that wants to be a blacksmith. He only sees it as a woman's job, because he cannot see past the traditions of our people.

My mother was the forge wife of Dushnikh Yal; it's in my blood. She even named me for Urbul, the blacksmith in the Imperial City at the end of the Third Era. Legend says that he armed the very hero who stopped the oblivion crisis. Perhaps one day my own armor will be worn into battles that will be told of for centuries. But I couldn't do it back there.

Ghoral says there is a smithing teacher in Markarth to the North, an Orc by the name Ghorza gra-Bagol, who is looking for an apprentice. I plan to make for Markarth and see if she will take me as her student. So few Orcs leave their strongholds, especially given the prejudice against our kind in the wider world. That is why I plan to keep this journal; to chronicle this experience for those orcs who cannot be spared from their strongholds.

Urbal gro-Dushnikh

________________________________________________________________

31st of Evening Star, 198

Today is a Tamriel Old Life Festival. We celebrate the close of one year and welcome in the new, but we also reflect on our own past. I've been in Markarth for nearly seven months now and I've been doing a lot of looking back lately. Besides myself and Ghorza, there are only four other orcs in the city and I admit feeling over whelmed and Gat's been tamed by city life, so he's practically not even an orc anymore. And working along side this sniveling Tacitus. He's been learning from Ghorza for about a week less than I have and he still can't make a damn nail right. Ghorza's been loosing her temper with him more and more lately, so I doubt he'll be studying with her much longer. If we were in an orc stronghold he would have been given a gash on his arm, some linens and told to play with the children by now.

I've been making progress, despite the frequency with which he distracts Ghorza. She has me making iron helmets now, and the horns sockets have been quite the challenge to shape. Of course, I'd be working shields by now if he wasn't so pathetic.

Still I can't complain about my life here. I spent the first month or so sleeping in the Warrens until Ghorza saw me headed there one day she was working late. He brother put me up in his forge in the keep, not that staying the keep has meant much to the locals. All but the guards shy away from me as I pass, scared the big, mean orc will eat them or something. Naive bigots. But at least I'm not on the streets and despite my former misgivings about living in stone houses being like damp, chilly mines, they are nearly as comfortable as our longhouse back in Dushnikh. I think I'm going to like it here.

Urbal gro-Dushnikh