Diskutieren Ueber die Videospielen

Hey, if kalinara and diamondrock can give us lessons in everyday Japanese, then I feel it's my duty to get a little German into your lives. So for the record, if you don't know how to put an umlaut (two dots, which can be used with "a", "o", or "u") over a letter, such as the "u" in "uber", you can follow it with an "e" and it's equivalent. Also, with German you can pretty much just jam together as many words as you need to to form a noun. So now you know. Moving on.

This post started because when I was reading New Excaliber #4, I couldn't remember where I'd seen the Warwolves before. I was sure it wasn't a comic, and then it occured to me: they were one of the standard henchman-type villains in X-Men:Mojo World on my Sega Game Gear. Couple this with my finding out Jake was dead on about Ultimate Spider-Man (in my case for the Gamecube), it prompted this question: What are the best games you've played based on comic book characters?

Let's face it, this can be a limited field. Liscensed games can often be hastily put together crap, banking on the mindless fanboys. Look at most anime games, like the Full Metal Alchemist games. So the bar isn't all that high. But surely there are a few?

So here's mine, I'm sticking to games I bought. If I only like it enough to rent it, it clearly wasn't that good.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game (NES). Man I loved this game. It was the first game I played with co-op abilities, and it was so awesome to team up with a buddy, even if my friends usually died fast and ripped off one of my lives to get back in the game. This one gets bonus points for me getting my father to play it with me. . . once.

Batman Returns (Sega Game Gear) - Admist a horde of awful comic games (Spider-Man and the X-Men:Arcade's Revenge) this one offered the ability to choose one of two routes for most levels. Sure the levels ultimately lead to the same place, but I always believed one was more about dexterity, dodging obstacles, and the other was more about beating up thugs. Never did understand the 20-foot tall robot boss at the end of level three, though.

Spider-Man (N64) - Tied in style-wise with the cartoon of that time. It was my first opportunity to webswing in a 3-D environment. Amazingly, there was actual variation in boss battles. Sometimes you had to just slug it out, sometimes it was about taking the openings you could get, while protecting someone. Other times, you had to run for your life, or sucker them into taking themselves out. Gameplay variety, what an astounding concept!

What's been an enjoyable gaming experience for you?

Things I Think About #15

Is 'dwell' one of those words that can't be used in a positive manner? I saw a sign today, it said, "Dwell on the positive things", and it just seemed so wrong. I mean 'dwell' seems like the less gothic brother of 'brood', something you do over mistakes, or missed opportunities. I figure you 'reflect' on positive things, or 'focus' on them. Just something that occurred to me while I was getting gas this morning.

As to the main crux of this post, Maximum Carnage. For those who aren't aware, this was a 14-part storyline spanning 5 Spider-Man books in the summer of '93. Carnage escapes from a mental institute, forms a 'family' with four other psychos (Shriek, Spider-Doppelganger, Carrion, and Demogoblin) and proceeds to run rampant, slaughtering at least hundreds of people before his defeat. Somewhere along the line, I think Spectacular Spider-Man #203, it was pointed out in the letter column that this whole thing was idiotic because the big teams were nowhere to be found. They had a point. You did have Spider-Man and Captain America, but also Venom, Black Cat, Firestar, Cloak and Dagger, Iron Fist, Morbius(!), and Deathlok. Wow, that's pretty lame. No wonder the heroes kept getting their asses kicked. The question becomes, where the hell were all Marvel's teams? Through exhaustive research, I've determined what teams said they were doing that summer, as well as what was really going on.

Well, since it was confined to New York City, you can eliminate teams from other countries (Alpha Flight, Excalibur) and other states (Great Lakes and West Coast Avengers).

There was only one mutant (Shriek) in Carnage's group, so you could probably forgive the X-teams for their absence, but we'll lump them in too, so for the record:

What they said:

X-Force was scattered all over the world. Some were captured by Externals, the rest were on the run from the same, and Cable was doing his own thing.

X-Factor was trapped in Genosha, dealing with the usual "mutant in Genosha" crap.

Uncanny X-Men had Illyana Rasputin's impending death, and Colossus' impending defection to Magneto.

X-Men had the "What is Betsy Braddock doing in an Asian body again?" fallout, and the subsequent trip to Japan.

The Fantastic Four were distracted by Johnny being on trial for burning down part of Empire State University.

The Avengers were dealing with some group of alternate reality losers called the Gatherers.

The truth is:

Excalibur was involved in some Multiverse mess they didn't even understand. The GLA was teaming up with Alpha Flight to stop a giant sturgeon that escaped from Saint Cloud University in Minnesota. And the West Coasters were dealing with Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch and Iron Man's simultaneous mental breakdowns. Between Wonder Man crying about the time the Master Pandamonium had Wanda's babies for hands, and bit Wonder Man with them, to Wanda crying about how the babies tore their gums on Simon's cranium, to Tony insisting they were all pink Titanium Man's, that's a lot to deal with. Then Wanda made them all forget her craziness, and Bendis had his opening.

The X-groups were all taking it easy, in preparation for yet another stupid X-over. Wolverine was busy drinking a lot, after Editorial told him Magneto would rip out his Adamantium in October. The X-Men were still sore about that time in Secret Wars when Spidey found out they were going to bail on the heroes and jump to Magneto's side, and Spidey proceeded to whip them (Before Xavier mindwiped him. Bald Asshole). X-Force was mad about that crossover they had with him, where MacFarlane managed to draw them even worse than Liefeld did. X-Factor couldn't leave Genosha, because Quicksilver refused to leave just to have to come back after Cortez kidnaps his daughter.

The Fantastic Four were actually distracted by Reed's moping about the fact Editorial was going to let Doom "kill" him soon. Sue was busy designing her "slut" outfit, Torch was adapting to Skrull sex, and Ben was mad that when Spidey tried to bring the Torch to jail, he got Wolverine as part of his team, and Wolvie clawed off half of Ben's face.

The Avengers were reeling from the message they would be taking part in the X-book crossover "Bloodties". Besides, they were having trouble with a group lead by a guy named "Proctor". Carnage's group would have wiped the floor with them. If that's false, why didn't Captain America call them in, huh? Man, the Sersi/Crystal/Black Knight Avengers were lame.

The only team I couldn't find anything on was the New Warriors. For whatever reason, they chose not to show up and help their teammate, thus failing to show just how good they were on a big stage. Maybe they recognized Maximum Carnage for the amazing suckfest it was, and voted to stay clear. But when you think about, Firestar is the only one who went on to bigger things. She joined the Avengers, what's Speedball left with? Sure Marvel Boy - I'm sorry Justice - got to join Earth's Mightiest, but that was all because of Firestar. I guess being willing to take part in a horrible mess, and prove yourself as a team player has its benefits, huh?

Good God, Marvel was terrible in the '90s. No wonder I gave up on comics part way through the decade. Well, that and my extremely limited funds.

On Comic Book Stores

Today I want to know what the stores you buy from are like. I guess that's somewhat reliant on you buying from a "traditional" comic book store, but really, wherever you get them from. Is it a large bookstore chain? Do you order online? Or, if it is a place that deasl primarily in comics: What is it about that place that you like? Why do you use them? Are they the only game in town, or is there another reason you shop there?

In Cape, Marvels and Legends is pretty much the only store. There is another store, but it deals almost exclusively in older comics. That actually works out nicely, since Ken doesn't carry many books that go back more than a few years, so they each fill have their own niche.

I think what makes me enjoy using M & L is that people like to come there. That sounds kind of silly, but it's fun to go to a place where you know you can spend a few hours talking about various stuff. And it isn't just about what happened in this month's issue of Infinite Crisis. People are talking pro wrestling, sports, Smallville, movies, everyday life stuff. I don't know how big Ken's overall customer base is, but there's a core of about ten people that are guaranteed to show up every week, who are willing to talk about all kinds of different topics. And even though Ken may not get involved, he's very cool about it. He's not rolling his eyes at us geeking out over last week's Full Metal Alchemist, or getting impatient because we won't buy our stuff and clear out (the store isn't very large, so you get more than about six people on the main floor and space does become a bit of an issue). He likes it if people come in just to talk (over the summer I was there for about two hours every Friday, just to talk baseball with him).

Maybe the reason I like it so much is because I've seen the other side. I graduated from Southeast Missouri State with a bachelors in '04. I spent the next seven months trying to get my butt in gear and get into Mizzou's graduate program, while living back home in Columbia, Missouri. Since, it wasn't feasible to drive 250 miles back to Cape every couple of weeks, I had to cancel my pull list at Marvels and start a new one wth a store in Columbia, called Rock Bottom Comics.

In terms of selection, Rock Bottom matched Marvels for the new stuff, and vastly exceeded it in terms of older issues. But it never felt right. The owner was there, but spent all his time on his computer, possibly placing orders. He had college students to handle all the customer-related stuff, and while they were very helpful, that community sense wasn't there. No one was talking about what came out that week, or something really awesome that happened in Ultimate X-Men last week. People picked up their comics, completed their transactions, and left. Maybe that's how it usually is, but it felt kind of cold, you know? Not what I expected from a store that is primarily comics and related items.

At any rate, no one at Mizzou had money for a grad student, so I reversed tracks, applied at Southeast, and here I am, a year after, with this blog.

So anyway, what's it like for you? Does the environment you're in matter? I got to admit, I'm curious to see what Big Monkey Comics is like. I gotta think with Scipio and Devon running the shows, it's a little. . . weird.

Dream Weaver

This isn't what I had planned initially, but it was weird, so I thought I'd run with it.

I don't know how many of you remember your dreams. My ability seems to come and go. Last night, I had an odd one involving the JLA. They were in what I guess was a Siberian bar/dance hall/meeting place. Green Arrow was sitting on the bar with his legs crossed (?), and then he tried to hit one of the patrons with a beer bottle. He missed, and I think they kicked his ass. Batman was doing Riverdance, or "Achey, Breaky Heart" or something with his new sidekick, who is roughly his height, but wears a red cape like Power Girl's, has huge frizzy organe hair, and looks like an emaciated crack addict. Then Kyle started tossing people, I assume villains, around with the ring, and the ghost of Firestorm merged with him. Kyle sprouted huge angel wings and just went off on these guys. The scary thing is that his green aura formed a Phoenix shape, and he started screaming about "No friends, no family!" and people started to vanish. Fantastic, my subconscious confused Kyle with Hal.

I have no clue what this means. it isn't my first comic book realted dream, I had one where I had spider-powers and I was fighting Darkseid behind my high school and the world was black and white. Another where Killer Croc tossed me into an operating room in Arkham (clearly I'd watched too much of Batman:The Animated Series)

Anyway, do any of you dream of comic characters? Do they haunt you? Help you? Get helped by you? Am I touching some sort of gateway, that lets me see into their world? And why was Faye Valentine trying to shoot me?

Comics and Gaming Expo

This'll just be a quick post. I'm giving a quick plug to my buddy Ken Murphy, who runs the store Marvels and Legends, from which this blog steals it's name. So, for anyone who reads this blog in the Cape Girardeau, Missouri area, Ken is arranging a nice little convention on the weekend of April 8th and 9th.

The 8th is going to be a gaming day, the 9th for comics. There's more information at http://www.comicsexpo2006.greatnow.com

To my knowledge, if you'd be interested in having a booth at the convention, Ken has contact information on the website. Let him know.

I know for certain, that at least a few of his customers are going to be showing off their artwork at the show. I've seen at least one of the guys work, it's pretty good.

Tomorrow there'll be a more extensive post, on what I'm not sure. I'm thinking about doing a meme for this whole thing Dorian started, but I have no idea when I'll get that.

What I Bought 2/8/06

A question. If I walk out of my apartment, see it's snowing, and my reaction is "Well that's just great! I really wanted snow to make my drive to school more difficult today!", does that mean I'm getting old, or am I just bitter college kids don't get snow days? Anyway, spoiler warnings as always.

Teen Titans #32 - Todd Nauck draws this issue, though Daniel still gets named on the cover. At least that explains why both Superboy's necks looked too long, and Flash had an unusually large upper body. So this is basically the fight from Infinite Crisis #4, drawn out for a whole issue. I suppose it allows for a bit more depth, but really, it's all feels pointless.

On January 17th I made this post asking what you thought Speedy's arrow was. Turns out none of us were right, not even Chris who guessed it was a plot device. Nope, it didn't even work as that. Len at the store realized it was a placeholder arrow. You know, it fills a gap in Speedy's quiver until she needs to put a useful arrow in there, then she gets rid of it. Seriously, how the hell do you even make an arrow that does what it was supposed to? Also, I had no clue what was going on with all the Doom Patrol stuff. Was that making fun of John Byrne or something? Going into One Year Later, I can't say whether I'll continue to buy this book. 2 "I've Seen This Before" out of 5.

Robin #147 - So this is the end of Bill Willingham's run. I wish it had gone better, both this issue and the run as a whole. As it is, there were lots of things I didn't buy in this issue. I like Tim tried to check on Dana and Eddie, but he tried to call Nightwing and called him "burnout". That sounds kind of disrespectful. And getting mad at Beast Boy for making jokes? Tim, that's what he does, if you haven't noticed by now you weren't paying attention. And I'm left with this question: Which Luthor was Tim getting that cure for Connor from? I guess it had to be non-Alexander Luthor, but he's been kind of out of it lately. Not really in any condition to be dropping hints to Tim to help find that base.

If I had to say what bothered me most about this it would be Tim's behavior. In part one, which was good, he was calm, confident, making a plan, and keeping his teammates aware of it, while at the same time demonstrating some emotion, such as his concern for his best friend and letting Wonder Girl pummel the security bots because she needed to let off some steam. This issue, he's cross, snapping at people, having these weird inner monologues about how viciously he and the other Titans are fighting the Brainiac things. In other words, he seemed to go from a well-written Batman, who would be the master sleuth, but still had compassion, to Batman of recent years, who's a humongous jerk. If they're going to turn Tim into Bats, at least don't make it that one. I'll probably read this book at least until this "did Robin kill Batgirl?" story is over, though the obvious answer to that question is "Not on the best day of his life". After that, who knows? 2 out of 5.

Ultimate X-Men #67 - You know what I liked? Colossus trying to get Nightcrawler to relax around him. To stop being so weird just because Peter is gay. I liked his point that Kurt isn't attracted to every girl, and Peter's not attracted to every guy, so they can just be buds. But it wouldn't be that easy in real life, and it isn't here either. For better or worse, Kurt's reaction might mirror mine, not in the sense I'd think the guy was interested in me (I'm realistic about my physical attractivness), but I might be a little confused about how it changes things, if it does, so that resonated.

As for the rest? Well, it's still leaning towards the Phoenix Saga, and I made my thoughts clear about that last month, and nothing's changed. I'm curious about the guy that Nick Fury's getting ready to arrest, though I guarantee Fury's about five seconds from getting his ass kicked, because Ultimate S.H.I.E.L.D. is still worthless.

I am confused as to how absorbing Gambit's power makes Rouge able to touch people safely again. It seems like it should make her not only put you in a coma, but kinetically charge whatever part of you she's touching until it explodes, leaving you an amputee comatose person. But I'm not complaining. While I don't like her as much as Marvel Rouge, I can still be happy for Ultimate Rouge if this lasts. And yes, I'm ignoring Sabretooth's revelation to Wolverine. Gag. 3 out of 5.

Sensational Spider-Man #23 - Formerly known as Marvel Knights Spider-Man. This is it for this book. I haven't really enjoyed it since Millar's opening run, and even that was up and down. Since then, ugh. And this? Note to Angel Medina: Spider-Man and the Vulture should not have back muscles that would make Captain America jealous, ok? The Vulture doesn't get muscles because he flies, because the suit does the work, and Spider-Man is supposed to be lithe, quick, agile.

As for the story, uhm, animals and people are going crazy. Killing themselves, killing others and so on. For some reason this reminds me of the storyline that made me give up Spawn, where the Clown had turned a huge number of people into disciples of a sort, and they were running around acting out their darker impulses, causing chaos. Even in Spawn, where it works, I didn't read it, and I'm not reading it now. I guess I may keep an eye on this book, see if it turns around, but I doubt it will. 1 "It's a Sad Day When I Drop A Spider-Man Book" out of 5.

Ghost Rider #6 - My intial reaction to the ending was that Ennis had angered me to the point this book wouldn't make my Top Three best mini-series of 2005. Then I calmed down, thought about the ending, what it meant to the character, thought about how this is Garth Ennis, and I reconsidered. So, Ghost Rider takes Green Lantern:Rebirth's spot as the second best mini-series of '05, though it's not in the same hemisphere as GrimJack:Killer Instinct.

Anyway, the battle was kind of lackluster, but you had to admire Blaze's determination. He had a goal, and he was going to get it, he didn't care how powerful his opponents were. Ms. Catamint finally realized her boss needed to die, and this she lives out what Homer Simpson called the American Dream. I don't know how that bullet did as much damage to GR as it did, given he came out OK from being hit with a bus. I guess it was consecrated or something. Even though the end was kind of a bummer, I'd say the Rider definitely lives up to his billing as a Spirit of Vengeance. I'd like to see more of him. And Thor. That's not relevant to this, I just wanted to throw that out there. 3.5 out of 5.

I get the feeling Ennis likes to make fun of religion. I don't know, I didn't read any of his stuff before he came to The Punisher.

Things I Think About #14

Wasn't it wonderful to find out that the reason Dr. Light was such a loser is because he was mindwiped for raping Sue Dibny? As grateful as I'm sure we all are to Mr. Meltzer, I'm not sure I can wait 20 years for him to tell us the real reason behind Max Lord's mind controlling of Superman. So I'm asking you to tell me. Obviously by then, rape will be passe, and the writers will have moved on to a new cliche, but what?

Here's my theory:

Sometime shortly after Big S' return from the grave, Max Lord approached him with a favor. See, he had a cousin with terrible eyesight, who lacked the funds for corrective laser surgery. Now Max was too cheap to give him the money, but he figured Superman would be willing to use his heat vision to do the job for free.

Except Superman said "No".

Oh sure he had his reasons: "It's too dangerous. My heat vision doesn't work that way. It won't be covered by his HMO. Jeez, I just came back from the dead, give me some time to settle in." But it all boiled down to the same thing; Sorry Max, I've got better stuff to do.

And it was then, that Max Lord began to devise his revenge. . .

So, what are your thoughts?