Find: Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators (GEN)

Price / Condition: $4 / With case and manual, but the manual is warped.

Where at: Half Price Books

Why: I think the intro speaks for itself:

Wow. This is what happens when target marketing filled with “hip” catchphrases meets overused sampling. I’ll bet the executives at Virgin thought kids would just eat this stuff up… which makes me wonder, did we, at some point, actually think this crap was cool? It seems to me we always laughed at this kind of stuff, and maybe that was the point. Moving on, this is a slightly-better-than-mediocre platformer, that controls decently, and looks and sounds good. Where it loses point is level design, as it lacks a certain finesse. They mostly rely on throwing a bunch of enemies at you, without any sense of purpose, and they were even unoriginal enough to pull the “pallette swap” trick as soon as the second level. It may get better as it progresses, but I’m guessing they were banking more on the McDonald’s tie-in (and the totally radical music) to sell this game.

Deal or Not a Deal? It’s complete, which is nice since I love to collect Genesis cases. An okay deal.

Find: Quake (PC)

Price / Condition: $2.50 / Still sealed! A few small dents in the box.

Where at: St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store

Why: This was a no-brainer. I have a hard time passing up anything in factory sealed condition, especially if it’s cheap, and Quake is certainly popular enough to make it worth money. I waffled over whether or not I should open it for myself just to get that new game smell, but in the end I decided that the opened copy I already have will suffice.

Deal or Not a Deal? It sold for $27 on eBay, so this definitely paid off. Usually sealed games are a safe bet, as long as there’s some demand for the game in general. People love the idea of something that’s never been touched.

Find: ChoroQ (PS2)

Price / Condition: $2 / Another one still in the shrink-wrap!

Where at: Pawn Xchange

Why: I included this as a contrast to the previous find. I knew very little about this game, other than it’s a Car-PG (yes, a racing game with RPG elements), but the collector in me couldn’t resist picking up a cheap, still-sealed game. I actually own the sequel to this game, which is supposed to be the better of the two, so I’ll probably just stow this away until I feel like opening a below-average game.

Deal or Not a Deal? This one is pretty worthless on eBay, so this was not a deal. Thankfully I didn’t waste too much money.

Find: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

Price / Condition: $2 / Complete and in excellent condition.

Where at: Pawn Xchange

Why: I used to own this game, and have played through it in it’s entirety. While I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Metal Gear Solid 2 (mostly due to the lengthier cut scenes and more ridiculous story), it was still a good game with some great moments. I wanted to get it back in my collection.

Deal or Not a Deal? Although there are plenty of copies of this game to be found, this is the cheapest I’ve ever seen it, so it was a good deal.

Find: How To Master The Video Games

Price / Condition: $0.75 / Cover is a little dirty, but the pages look good.

Where at: Value Village

Why: This book dates all the way back to the year I was born, 1981, and it provides an intriguing look into very early video game writing. The introduction actually touches on a familiar debate: are video games bad for kids?. Almost thirty years later, and we still haven’t put that discussion to rest! The meat of the book provides an analytical approach to getting better at (mostly) Atari games, and it even includes a section with exercises you can do while not playing video games, to improve your reflexes. Perhaps the most dated thing about this book is the title, and it’s superfluous use of the word “the”, which makes it sound like Bill Cosby came up with the name.

Deal or Not a Deal? Hey, it didn’t even cost me a dollar. If I ever decide to become a master at Space Invaders, I’ve no doubt this book will more than pay for itself.

Find: Advance Wars 2 Nintendo Power Guide (GBA)

Price / Condition: $2 / Beat-up spine, but otherwise good.

Where at: Half Price Books

Why: I’ve already acquired the game itself, but haven’t played it yet, so this is perfect. I’m gonna have to put up a shelf for my strategy guides soon, but I feel they’re worth the space. There’s just something more satisfying about using a real book, rather than a GameFaqs walkthrough, to get through a game. Sure, it’s not as cool as calling a 1-800 help line, like we did in my day, but its less annoying than having to run back to the computer whenever you can’t figure something out.

Deal or Not a Deal? Usually, official strategy guides for good games such as this would fetch a price closer to $10, so this was a solid deal.

Find: Pinball Quest (NES)

Price / Condition: $5 / A little dirt on the cart, and some scratches, but a clean label.

Where at: Pawn Fathers

Why: I was wowed right off the bat when I laid eyes on this game, just because I’ve never, ever seen it before. I had heard a friend talk about it, and the idea of a pinball RPG certainly intrigued me, so I decided to grab it.

Deal or Not a Deal? I probably paid a couple bucks more than I should have, especially since I don’t know if it’s any good or not. It did come with a vintage Funcoland dust sleeve, though!

Find: Turn and Burn, Whizz, Space Football (SNES)

Price / Condition: $10 for all three / Poor to good. Some ugly looking labels in there.

Where at: Game Dawgz in Aberdeen, WA

Why: A little story goes along with these carts… My wife and I were on a trip to the Washington coast, and on the way there I saw a store called Game Freaks, in the small, podunk town of Aberdeen. Even though the uncreative name should’ve been a giveaway, I decided to stop and have a look. My suspicions were confirmed, as it was run your typical scuzzy craigslist reseller, with questionable customer service skills and atrocious prices ($40 for a loose Shining Force cart). I left that store pretty quickly, and when we reached the ocean, I found yet another store with awful prices and idiotic salespeople (the guy kept telling me “ooh, that’s a collector’s item” whenever I asked about a game’s price). I didn’t end up buying anything there, either, which was pretty frustrating. So when, on our way back home, I encountered a third and final store called Game Dawgz, I was desperate. Thankfully, their prices were much better, and the guy even gave me a “buy two, get one free” deal. So, even though these aren’t the prettiest of cartridges, I was satisfied with picking up three uncommons for my SNES collection. More importantly, I had something to show for my game hunting efforts in a strange land.

Deal or Not a Deal? Whizz and Space Football are actually decent, if somewhat odd, games. The poor condition takes some of the steam out of these finds, though. I’d say mediocre at best.

Find: Mr. Do! (GB)

Price / Condition: $3 / A little yellowing on the plastic, but the label looks great!

Where at: Pawn Fathers

Why: This is another game I’d never seen in the wild before, and I knew that it was somewhat valuable due to it’s semi-rarity. It’s a remake of an arcade game originally released in 1982, with “remix” features that you can toggle on and off (although they amount to pretty minor changes). I tried it out, and it seems like a fun game, playing like a more complex version of Dig Dug. It’s also for the Super Nintendo, though, so I’m not sure if I’m gonna keep this version.

Deal or Not a Deal? It’s easily worth at least ten bucks, so this was a very good deal on a hard-to-find game.

Find: Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Game Boy Strategies

Price / Condition: $1 / Very good!

Where at: Value Village

Why: I have a lot of soft spots for various forms of cheesy video game memorabilia, but perhaps my biggest soft spot is for “unauthorized” guides from the Nintendo era. These books are usually so unashamedly cheesy that they make for a very entertaining, and nostalgic, read. This particular volume bucks that trend a bit, as its fairly well written, with only a light layer of cheese. It covers a lot of games, and although the strategies aren’t very in-depth, they do include as much info about the game as possible, and even have screen shots for most of them. There are fun facts about things like the battle of 1942, the origin of Batman, and even a section in back for those simplistic handheld games made by companies like Tiger (what a strange thing to include).This is one of the better books of it’s kind that I’ve come across.

Deal or Not a Deal? Super cheap, and surprisingly better than I expected. What a deal!

Find: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest, Mario Party 4, Resident Evil, Super Smash Bros Melee, Luigi’s Mansion (GC)

Price / Condition: $50 / All complete and in excellent condition!

Where at: Pawn Fathers

Why: This deal required a little bit of haggling, but pawn shops are always willing to negotiate, which is why I’ve come to appreciate them more than thrift stores in some ways. I asked the guy how much they charged for their GameCube games, since I saw Luigi’s Mansion, and have been thinking about adding it to my Cube collection.. He said they all have different prices, but if I wanted a bunch of them, I could make an offer. Feeling somewhat reckless, I grabbed a stack of the best ones that I could find, and said “How about thirty bucks for these five?”. He took a look at the games, added up the “normal” prices written on the insides of the cases, and then countered with $50 for all of ‘em. I declined at first, just because I wasn’t sure if I should be dropping a Ulysses S. Grant on video games. After thinking it through, I figured that I could make a decent profit on everything except Luigi’s Mansion, and thus justify the purchase.

Deal or Not a Deal? Not as amazing as some of my other “big hauls”, but this is still a great deal in my opinion. Five AAA GameCube titles for $50 is good, as all of these are worth more than ten bucks each. The Zelda bonus disc is especially valuable nowadays. If my estimates are correct, I should be able to double my money, all the while netting myself a free copy of Luigi’s Mansion. Score!

That’s it for this round. It’s funny that I started off talking about trying not to spend as much money on game hunting, and then ended with a story about spending fifty bucks in one place. Somebody get me some help! Or bid on my auctions, hehe… Anyway, Labor Days sales are approaching, and hopefully that means I’ll be able to show off some finds that are both super-thrifty and super-rare. As always, let me know what you thought about this week’s finds in the forums. See you around!

Impressions: It’s pretty obvious this is supposed to be a light-hearted joke. I guess this is like an alternate reality retelling of the Infinity Gauntlet saga. Half the population disappears, but this time instead of Dr. Strange and Adam Warlock leading the way, we have a ragtag team including Spidey, Ms. Marvel, Hulk, Thing, Invisible Woman, Dr. Doom, and Wolverine (“because he’s on every super hero team”). And instead of being transported around by Dr. Strange, this team will just take the Star Rig, driven by none other than Ulysses Salomon “Ace”. The setup is thin and cheapens the whole Thanos / Infinity Gauntlet relationship. The art is cheesy and cartoony. - Andrew

Verdict: Meh. It’s good for a laugh but not much else.

Impressions: The Children’s Crusade was introduced in Avengers #1 and X-Men: Legacy #526 from the perspective’s of the Avengers and Magneto. For the Avengers, Kang returns to warn them that a super hero team of their children will end the world. For Magneto, he hears that two of the heroes, Tommy (Speed) and Billy (Wiccan), share the name and looks of his two grandsons, children of Scarlet Witch. In this opening issue, the focus is on the relationship of Speed and Wiccan to the Scarlet Witch and Magneto. The threat the Avengers were warned about is subtly revealed but also sets the stage for possible redemption. So which will it be? Will the children bring about the end of the world as prophesied by Kang? Or will their actions bring about a much more stunning fate for mutantkind? I am excited to see where this goes, and hopefully at 9 issues this is gonna be the setup for something big. It does reach into very liberal comic book style resurrection territory, but hopefully it is explained well. - Andrew

Verdict: Great. For those of use who never really followed the Avengers comics, this is a good platform to start on. And given the ties to other comics, it seems like this will just get better.

Impressions: This is a cool 3 issue arc from 1990 (Batman #452-454) that I decided to pick up after reading about it on the CSBG blog. The general premise is that Riddler has concocted up a particularly brutal overall series of riddled crimes that result in a lot of bodies piling up, and 4 babies kidnapped. Batman immediately sees that Riddler is acting strangely and is at a loss to figure out his motives and ultimate end game. He seems more violent, but desperately wants Batman alive and even goes out of his way to save Batman. His crimes seem random and bizarre, such as holding up a blood bank and drenching Batman in blood, attacking Batman in a cemetery using thugs dressed as zombies that rise from the ground, and forcing a baby to choke on a ping pong ball that Batman needs to remove by cutting open the baby’s throat. As the story progresses, you are fed a side story from over 200 years ago that described a demon summoning ritual from a freemason-like society that seemingly has little to do with the Batman story. However, as the story goes on, you begin to see how this has affected the Riddler and the plotlines tie together. It’s kind of a spooky weird tale, but it’s pretty entertaining and completely self-contained. I think one of the coolest parts is that it deals with the idea of Gotham itself being a living thing, and it blurs the line between Gotham being some sort of ancient demon and Gotham being a living city. Some really neat ideas here. Also great covers by pre-Hellboy Mike Mignola. I would love to see a nice collected trade of this with some improved colors and lettering, because it’s very well done, and deserves an upgrade from the old newspaper style paper it was printed on. - Zach

Verdict: These issues are cheap and widely available. It’s a great Riddler story that touches on very unique elements. Good stuff, good writing, give it a try.

Impressions: In the process of buying the above story arc, the clerk recommended I check out this one-off story written and drawn by the aforementioned Mike Mignola. It’s a pretty great story, and could very well be a Hellboy story. The general premise is that Batman tracks a criminal to the cemetery where he is ranting and raving about how much blood he needs to complete a ceremony, and during a struggle with the Batman, he is accidentally impaled on a gate when he falls. As soon as the criminal dies, Batman is suddenly sucked into a surreal world where an ancient black magic occultist madman. Here, the man known as Drood has waited for centuries to be revived, and over the course of the issue, he slowly changes from corpse to healthy man as he sucks the life energy from Batman. It’s a cool little story that challenges the idea of if Batman is a murderer or not, but the issue is really just a showcase for Mignola’s art. He goes to town here, with a mix of stark colors and great use of darkness. It’s a really nice story and is usually cheap, recommended if you like Mignola’s work. Also the cover is fucking rad. - Zach

Verdict: Short, but fun creepy little story. Great back issue to grab for a couple bucks if you like Mignola’s work.

Impressions: I love the classic “comics as propaganda” idea, but the comics of the golden age and World War II definitely show their age. Thankfully Roger Stern has set out to cast a small part of this era, the Young Allies, in a more modern light. The opening page displays this updated attitude quite well: A determined looking Captain America shielding himself from a hail of bullets, five grenade rings dangling from his fingers with the grenades trailing behind him, and a menacing looking Bucky riding his shoulders firing a Thompson submachine gun while a Nazi fighter plan is crashing behind them. This miniseries splits its time between WWII and modern day, narrated by Bucky from his perspective as one of the Young Allies and currently as Captain America. The story introduces a mystery surrounding a former enemy of the Young Allies who seemingly shows up in present day America. The artwork is split up between Nick Dragotta taking care of the wartime part of the story and Marco Santucci covering the modern day. Dragotta does a great job of keeping a golden age vibe while introducing a harder, more modern edge. Santucci’s work keeps Captain America looking badass and the modern tone is a great contrast. - Andrew

Verdict: Great. I can’t wait to see where this goes, and it is awesome seeing golden age stuff de-cheesed.

Impressions: Over the past few years I’ve been trying to get back into the X-Men, mainly just reading the big seemingly-annual crossovers (not much luck in keeping up with the multiple titles regularly). My biggest problem with jumping from the Claremont / Lee run of the early 90s into current day X-men is that I had no clue as to why certain characters were gone, some had drastically changed (Beast is a cat, what the fuck?), and who are these new big-time villains like Cassandra Nova? Fortunately Morrison’s run on X-Men created or explained a lot of the major plot points that had a significant effect on the current X-books.

Throughout the New X-men run, there are several 3-6 book arcs that all add up to one big story. Its starts out with the big bang of Genosha and Magneto being destroyed by some kind of insane rogue mega-sentinel, and moves on to cover ground with Cassandra Nova trying to take over, Xavier going public about being a mutant, new students trying to take over, a new examination of the Weapon X (or “Weapon Plus” in this case) program, Magneto trying to take over, and the Phoenix force coming back. The run ends with a tacked-on four issue arc about an alternate future that has no real effect on the rest of the story (in other words, you might as well skip it and let it end on a high note). Morrison does a fantastic job of tying all the arcs together in the end to make one big complete story.

While I enjoyed the story and the X-progress made in this run, I had some major problems with some of the artwork (to the point where I rushed through some of the early books because I couldn’t deal with all the squatty-looking faces). The duo of Phil Jiminez on pencils and my main man Andy Lanning on inks took over toward the end (again not counting the last tacked-on arc, which was done by stuck-in-the-90s Silvestri) and really made the books shine. A consistent art team (preferably that aforementioned duo) would have done wonders to solidify this run for me.

In the end its a great read for anyone trying to piece together the bigger picture of the modern X-Men. The overall story is great, and little moments like Wolverine and Cyclops having a drinking competition in the Hellfire Club keep things from feeling overly-serious all the time. I certainly recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in X-Men who would like a fresh story. - mig

Verdict: Good.

Impressions: Y: The Last Man is a pretty interesting 60 issue series from Vertigo that poses the idea of “what if every guy but one just dropped dead?” It’s a great concept, and actually turns out to be much less of a depressing post-apocalyptic tale than you would initially imagine. It deals with Yorick, the last man on Earth, and certainly not some square-jawed hero, but rather a bit of a loser that makes terrible decisions and generally is lucky he is still alive. As he quickly realizes how dire his situation is, he gets hooked up with a protector from a secret organization, a woman known only as 355, and a scientist named Dr. Mann. Along with his helper monkey, Ampersand, this group comprises most of the adventures as they try to figure out why Yorick and his male monkey lived while also trying to avoid people out to capture or kill them, and Yorick is looking for his girlfriend, whose last known whereabouts are in Australia. The comic covers a lot of ground and slowly reveals hints of why every man died, and also builds up a lot of camaraderie between the main characters. It also doesn’t shy away from the sex and violence, which of course makes it better. While the series does meander from time to time, it reads remarkably well as a long form story, and ends on an ambiguous but very cool note. In the end, Brian K. Vaughn created a world that was believable, funny, sad, and a little strange, but engrossing nonetheless. It’s also refreshing that all 60 issues were made by the same creative team. I love that it feels like one unified vision and doesn’t meander from artist to artist or writer to writer. - Zach

Verdict: Definitely recommended if you want a great self-contained, original, and unique story.

Want some emotional lyrics? Here is a taste of “Tomorrow Wendy” by Concrete Blonde.

I told the priest,
Don’t count on any second comings
God got his ass kicked,
The first time he came down here slumming
He had the balls to come
The gall to die,
and then forgive us
No I don’t wonder why,
I wonder what he thought it would get us

Johnette Napolitano sings this verse with a supreme confidence that boarders on defiant anger. “Tomorrow Wendy” is a dark song about a girl that has had he life change suddenly and for the worse. Napolitano said this song is about a girl, Wendy, who discovers she has AIDS. The lyrics express feelings of regret, remorse, and anger. All the things a person with AIDS probably experiences at some point. The way the lyrics are executed and how well they correspond with the instruments creates an eerie atmosphere. It is powerful and moving when you imagine the hardships people endure and how they cope with the pain. “Tomorrow Wendy” is simply a very human song.

Impressions: A year after Marvel’s Annihilation event the second major cosmic crossover occurred. Conquest deals with the Phalanx takeover of the Kree empire and once again brings numerous underused cosmic characters into the limelight. This was Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s first crack at a major event (the two writers piloted the Nova mini-series during the first Annihilation event, then went on to write that character’s ongoing series afterward). While the story is once again rife with great action and characters, its a bit lacking overall, especially when compared to the original Annihilation crossover.

It feels like the authors may have bitten off more than they could chew with this one and then tried to stuff too much story into too few pages. At times it seems there are too many characters with their own agendas to keep up with, and some characters (namely Wraith) are simply too convenient and one-dimensional to deserve a major part in the story. In the end, everything comes together nicely and forms the perfect foundation for the Guardians of the Galaxy line, as well as the future of the cosmic universe for years to come. If this event would have been 8 issues instead of 6, and if some fat would have been trimmed, I feel it would have been as epic as it should have been. This is still a good and important read if you are into Marvel’s cosmic line, but it just didn’t meet my high hopes. - mig

Verdict: Good.

Impressions: I lump these two together because together they make a pretty good tale but both have small problems. Batman: Hush is a pretty entertaining read from beginning to end. I like Jeph Loeb’s writing, as he makes it easy to jump in, read, and understand without knowing every facet of Batman history (in start contrast to last week’s Grant Morrison stuff). He also writes things in a way that I feel really get to the heart of Batman, his allies, and the villains. By the end of the trade, you feel like you know these characters even with little knowledge going in. Additionally, Jim Lee has always been a longtime favorite of mine, and while his art doesn’t always work, it really shines in this trade. Big muscles, big tits, big action sequences, yes please.

The story is about the introduction of a new villain Hush who systematically has gathered up Batman’s enemies to put him through a gauntlet and break him. The mystery is kinda obvious halfway through, and Batman makes some silly mistakes that you wouldn’t expect (he really didn’t consider someone might cut his batline?), but it’s a pretty great story overall with one big issue; the origin of Hush. They do these flashbacks all through the book that are supposed to shed light on his past but none of them justify his actions really. He just seems to hate Wayne/Batman for being a good person.

That’s where Heart of Hush, a short sequel of sorts from Paul Dini, elaborates on Hush and gives him a much better backstory where you can finally see why he is such a petulant, evil shit. The flashbacks here make him a much more sympathetic figure (well…sorta), and moreso that his actions here and in the first Hush storyline make a bit more sense. Unfortunately, the main story in Heart of Hush is just ridiculous. I mean, there’s two gigantic issues. One, in a cartoon-worthy plot twist, Hush tears out Catwoman’s heart and leaves her on some sort of machine to keep her alive while preserving her heart. Second, he has the magical “Face-Off” movie surgery to make himself look exactly like Bruce Wayne, which is a terrible plot point. It just gets waaay too hard to believe.

But probably the most interesting part of the whole two stories is Batman’s love interest in Catwoman which comes to a head and sees them working together and getting involved until Batman’s trust issues cause him to push her away. The writing from Loeb and Dini is really great capturing their complicated relationship. - Zach

Verdict: They aren’t masterpieces or anything, but the creative teams here are excellent and they craft an interesting, if flawed, villain and do a great job with Catwoman. Good stuff.

Impressions: I swear I’ll stop talking about nothing but Batman at some point. But not now. These two things don’t have much in common except they are both Year One tales, and one is pretty crappy and the other is among the better Batman stories out there. In case you couldn’t guess, the annual isn’t very good. I picked up this one from some old back issues (it’s from 1995) because it had a promising cover and YEAR ONE plastered across the top. It covers the origin of the Scarecrow through flashbacks from Crane’s perspective and Batman trying to track him down in the Year One time. In short, it’s pretty badly written and drawn, and there’s a complete lack of anything really interesting here. Crane’s origin is cliched and expected, the smart, nerdy, skinny kid who finally takes all his years of being picked on out on his attackers and then blah blah blah Scarecrow. Batman gets exposed to fear gas, stuff about parents being killed, eventually takes down Crane. Big waste of for a Year One tale, which are normally excellent, gritty, and well written.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs, on the other hand, is a masterful telling of Joker’s first real appearance during the Year One timeline from 2005 (taking cues from several older Joker origin tales). You can tell The Dark Knight movie lifted some ideas from this, and it was right to do so. I loved the ponderings of Gordon in this, as he discusses how the city is changing and it seems more and more freaks are coming out of the woodwork. Also, it shows how Batman completely underestimates the Joker and has not yet learned to expect the unexpected from him. He treats him like a common murderer and nutcase and people end up dying, and he nearly kills himself in the process. This story is everything that the Scarecrow one isn’t. It’s a great cop story on what the Joker will do next and instills this sense of dread as you are reading it. The Joker feels like he has turned the whole city into chaos, and it’s up to Batman to finally understand the Joker and stop him from poisoning the entire city before it’s too late. - Zach

Verdict: Annual is terrible and should be skipped. The Man Who Laughs is, in my opinion, a Batman essential that should be read by anyone who enjoyed Year One and associated stories along those lines. As a bonus, the trade for it comes with a nifty extra Batman/original Green Lantern tale as well that is pretty damn good for a bonus story (which is surprisingly long and very interesting).

Impressions: During the comics boom of the early 90s, a lot of terrible ideas got the greenlight to be put into print; Frank Miller’s ‘Robocop vs. Terminator’ is a fine example of this phenomenon. At first glance, it seems like it could be a cool idea. How could anyone resist seeing two iconic movie badasses duke it out over the fate of Earth’s future? The premise seems great, but the execution is rough at best. The main story revolves around Robocop’s merging with Skynet being the catalyst that creates the Terminators. A freedom fighter from the future goes back in time to kill Alex Murphy to try to kill him before he can become film and TV’s Robocop. While her initial attempt is a failure, she succeeds in making Robot Cop see the light, which leads to a few instances of humans defeating the Terminators, only to have the Terminators send their last unit(s) back in time to start the entire process over again. Not surprisingly, the hero wins in the end, but the journey there is a tedious one that takes a lot of willpower for the reader to complete.

Both the writing and artwork of these books scream early 90s. The overtly dated feeling presented here really made it tough for me to get through the entire story. Truth be told, I was basically just skimming at the end so I could finish it and write this article. The worst, most laughable, point of the script came early, but was unfortunately used as a refrain throughout the rest of the books. I leave you now with that harrowing bit of literature: “Rain falls, driving the humans to the shelter. Striking his helmet, his chest. He listens to it. It seems so far away. Far away, as a woman’s touch. Far away as everything – except the call of duty.” - mig

Verdict: Fuck this.

Impressions: Good lord this is silly. I love it. The main story is decent enough, which is a story of Wolverine in Madripoor, with him battling Cyber as Cyber tries to push a new hallucinogenic drug in the city. However, what makes this worth reading is Sam Keith’s art and Peter David’s trippy story interludes. In the middle of the story, Wolverine gets hit with the drug and goes off into this crazy dream state where it’s like American Graffiti and he is like a white-shirt wearing greaser hitting on babes, before Coach Cyber shows up and they end up drag racing in weenie mobiles. It’s off the wall and hilarious.

Weenie races with Cyber (click to enlarge)

There’s some other good moments too, like the druglord rivals playing ping pong trying to determine how to cover up the fact that Cyber murdered all their henchmen and made them look like idiots. But for me, what I love most here is Keith’s art, as it has a primal, surreal, and unrestrained quality that fits Wolverine and this story perfectly. For a nearly 20 year old comic, it’s still pretty worthwhile to pickup. - Zach

Verdict: Worth it for the hallucination scene and the art alone. Overall it’s a decent story too.

Impressions: It seems the general impression of this comic is that it is kind of a load of crap. The #900 is confusing and it rips on the recently released Deadpool #900. But this is Marvel we’re talking about. I took a gamble on this book with little information about it, needing only the bad ass cover to draw me in. It is essentially a Giant Size type issue, bringing in several stories by several writers and artists. There is nothing particularly non-typical in these pages, but they certainly draw on the core parts of Wolverine’s character.

First up is a story by CB Cebulski and David Finch presenting Wolverine as usual, a rage filled berserker. The plot is a throwback to the early Wolverine stories in Japan. He even has his old red and yellow costume. It’s a simple story backed by some amazingly gritty and vibrant art. We’ve seen Wolverine fight ninjas in Japan before, but I certainly wasn’t opposed to another round, especially when it’s this good looking.

Next is “The Curse of the Yellow Claw”. The noir-like story has Logan as head of the Black Dragon and working a case for Mai Ling to save her family’s business from a rival gang. I always like Logan in these types of small-time affairs. In the end Wolverine saves the day with reckless abandon, but he gets the job done. I love this Wolverine and the artwork gives the whole story a nice dark and slow feel.

My least favorite of the bunch, “Desperate Measures” takes place after X-Men #75. Wolverine finds himself trapped in the Morlock tunnels with Beast, Marrow, and a few other Morlocks attempting to escape from some revived Sentinels. The point of the story is essentially laid out from the beginning: Wolverine considers himself and his powers as a weapon, but learns that there is sometimes more use to a mutant’s powers than combat purpose. In the end I felt that the lesson was kind of weak. It doesn’t help that the artwork is up and down.

Next is a classic Wolverine drinking story, “One Night Only”. The premise is that Logan takes one night every year to drag another mutant, one with the power to inhibit other mutants’ powers in his vicinity, out to the bar. Why? Because Wolverine’s healing powers quickly nullify the effects of alcohol, of course! So for one night this poor kid has to deal with Wolverine getting shitfaced and causing a whole heap of trouble. What else to say? Wolverine knows how to party.

Wolverine doesn’t typically pal around with children, but in “Worst There Is” he teams up with a young girl to help find her deadbeat dad. The interaction between the two is pulls at Wolverine’s desire to do good conflicting with his carnal rage. Is the general premise anything new? Of course not. But seeing a few pages of Wolverine with a grade-schooler is pretty entertaining.

The next story was originally told in Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2. So it’s a rehash. And it’s another drinking story. But I’ve never read it. Wolverine drags Spider-Man out to the bar for some mysterious need, and all he does is get hammered and cause trouble in the bar. It’s a great story of Wolverine’s social interaction and why none of the X-Men would never want to hang out with him on his birthday. Following is another retelling, this time of Wolverine’s epic fight against Hulk in the Canadian wilderness. But the end has a twist, and it turns out to be a jokey tale that pokes at the blurry lines of Wolverine’s past.

Finally, is “Hunger”. This story seems to take place directly after the Weapon X book. The tone is much like in Weapon X, with very visceral art work. There is no dialog, merely a savage, naked Logan trudging through the snow looking for a meal. It seems as the berserk Logan is about to commit an awful act, but instead turns to an even more brutal fight, giving him a bit of compassion even when in the throes of his fury.

It’s no secret, I love Wolverine. Especially non-X-Men Wolverine. While everyone else seems to hate this book, I wound up loving it. Yes it’s a lot of filler, but that somewhat discredits some of the amazing artists who worked on these stories. A simple story with great art, especially when the art matches the character’s essence, can make for the best comics. I could easily flip through this now and again just to get a glimpse at some of the best panels of Wolverine I’ve laid eyes on. - Andrew

Verdict: Great. For a newcomer this would serve well as a primer on what and who Wolverine is. For long time fans this is just some classic Wolverine and a good reminder of why his character is one of the most popular and bad ass in comics.

Find: King’s Quest Companion Third Edition (DOS)

Price / Condition: $3 / Some bowing on the front cover, but otherwise good.

Where at: Value Village

Why: This isn’t really a strategy guide so much as it is a labor of love written by somebody intimately familiar with the King’s Quest series. What you get here is a walkthrough for the first six games in the series, written in the form of a novel. The book is almost 500 pages, so it’s definitely thorough, as it also includes quick hint sections and full maps. This body of work comes from a time when the industry was still innocent, and people wrote guides not because they wanted to cash in on the newest hit game, but because they had a passion for it. This is the ultimate gamer’s coffee table (or bathroom) material, and for that reason, I couldn’t pass it up.

Deal or Not a Deal? Three bucks is a low price for something this comprehensive, and it can go for around $10 on eBay. A good deal.

Find: Wolf 3-D Mania!!! (DOS)

Price / Condition: $2 / Very good.

Where at: St Vincent De Paul Thrift Store

Why: Here’s another find that harkens back to the early days of DOS gaming- an unofficial map pack for Wolfenstein 3-D! Sure, this product smacks a little bit of “cash grab”, as I’m sure the publisher was trying to take advantage of the FPS craze of the early nineties. Still, you have to give them credit for including a level in which we get to mow down Barney the Dinosaur with a machine gun. It’s cheap thrill, but a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Deal or Not a Deal? Kind of tough to put a price on something unofficial like this; a dollar probably would have been a better price, as it may turn out to be a collection of half-baked ideas that really aren’t much fun to play.

Find: Sega Program Pad 6 (GEN)

Price / Condition: $3 / Pretty dirty, with some weird gunk on it, but all of the buttons work.

Where at: Goodwill

Why: You might remember the SNES version of this controller from an earlier article, and I’m disappointed to say the L-button on that one turned out to be faulty. Thus, I grabbed the Genesis vesrion, so that I could find out if the programmable moves gimmick is all it was cracked up to be. After putting it through its paces with Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition, the verdict is… not that well, actually. It’s nice that they’ve already programmed most of the SF2 moves into this for you, but there are a few logistical problems that get in the way of making this a reliable controller. For one thing, you pretty much always have to be in a neutral position before you hit a programmed button, because any other controller inputs will usually muddy the waters and prevent the special move from going off. What’s worse (and I really should have thought of this before), the programmed moves are only going to work if you’re on a certain side of the screen. If you switch sides, you’re out of luck. I used to think this was the coolest idea for a controller ever, but now I know the reality of it: this thing is just too cumbersome to be really useful.

Deal or Not a Deal? Not very good, and not a deal. Leave this one behind, my friends.

Find: Head Rush (WIN)

Price / Condition: $1.50 / Brand new!

Where at: Goodwill

Why: I like to think of myself as the world’s biggest You Don’t Know Jack fan. I have all eight games for the PC, and both Playstation versions. It should come as no surprise, then, that I decided to buy this game as soon as I saw the logo in the corner proclaiming it to be “from the makers of You Don’t Know Jack”. A little disappointment was in store, however, as this is essentially a “tween” version of the smarmy quiz show. The jokes aren’t as funny, the questions are much easier, and I think they even used a cheap imitator in place of the original host. It’s not the worst game in the series (that honor belongs to YDKJ: Mock Two), but it doesn’t deliver the same hilarious good time that I’ve come to expect.

Deal or Not a Deal? Even though it was a letdown, it was still worth it to experience the excitement of opening a new game, and playing it for the first time with friends. Outside of rabid You Don’t Know Jack fans, however, it’s a waste of money.

Find: Sonic the Hedgehog Piggy Bank

Price / Condition: $1 / Good.

Where at: Goodwill

Why: I’m not sure this piggy bank is an official Sega product, given that the workmanship is a little on the rough side, but it still has that “how cute is that” appeal. Coins go in between Sonic’s head spikes, and come out via a plug on the bottom. My only complaint is that I don’t think this little hedgehog could hold more than a few bucks, unless it was all in quarters. Good luck using this guy to help you save up for your next game purchase!

Deal or Not a Deal? This thing is silly, so I can’t really say either way. Maybe the fact that he helps you save money pays for itself. Yeah.

Find: Mario Party Card Game (GBA e-Reader)

Price / Condition: $1 / Like new!

Where at: Goodwill

Why: This was kind of an impulse buy, since I didn’t know exactly how it worked, but wanted to find out. Although you can play this card game without owning an e-Reader, it seems like a large part of the fun would come from playing the mini games on your Game Boy Advance. A neat concept for a card/board game, but sadly I can’t get the full enjoyment out of it since I don’t have the GBA add-on. Hopefully, whoever wins it from me on eBay will put it to full use.

Deal or Not a Deal? It was basically brand new, with the cards looking like they’ve never been touched, so it was a good deal.

Find: Street Fighter: The Movie Soundtrack

Price / Condition: $3 / Jewel case and CD in good condition.

Where at: Goodwill

Why: Knowing how laughably bad, yet entertaining, this movie is, I figured I couldn’t go wrong with the official motion picture soundtrack. I did go wrong, however; very wrong. Being mostly “gangsta” rap, this album manages to have almost nothing to do with the movie, aside from some really forced references to things like Kung Fu and roundhouse kicks. I can appreciate good rap music, but it seems like these guys were hastily slapping together songs loosely related to Street Fighter and calling it a soundtrack. There’s a lot of swearing on most of the tracks, and even though that doesn’t really jive with a PG-13 movie, it was fitting because all I wanted to do after realizing I wasted three bucks was string together a tirade of expletives not suitable for Chun Li’s ears.

Deal or Not a Deal? Not even worth owning for the kooky merchandise factor. NO DEAL!

Find: Atari Supercharger Cassettes

Price / Condition: $0.50 each / Good condition with cases.

Where at: Deseret Industries Thrift Store

Why: I’m no Atari collector, but let me just read off some of these titles: Escape From The Mind Master, Killer Satellites, Dragonstomper, and Communist Mutants From Space. With names this awesome, they must be worth something to be somebody! Anyway, the Supercharger was an add-on for the Atari 2600 that increased it’s RAM 49-fold, and apparently the games are pretty good (most of them being upgrades on classic Atari games). The fact that the games are stored on cassette tapes is all the more interesting, and is the reason I stopped to check them out in the first place.

Deal or Not a Deal? I guessed correctly, as somebody was willing to pay me a decent chunk of change ($30) for the lot of them. Not bad. Hopefully that person is now enjoying the fast-paced action of Communist Mutants From Space!!!

Find: Sacrifice (WIN)

Price / Condition: $3 / Good, jewel case and disc only.

Where at: Value Village

Why: There’s nothing outwardly exciting about a PC game you’ve never heard of, but this caught my eye because it’s a Shiny Entertainment game I’d never heard of (most of you know them as the makers of Earthworm Jim). The premise here is that it’s an RTS, without all the resource management and building. For you hardcore Starcraft players out there, think “all micro, no macro”. The game is viewed from a third person perspective, and while there is a little bit of resource gathering (in the form of harvested souls from the units you kill), it’s mostly about controlling units and casting spells. I’ve only played a little bit of it so far, but it’s extremely well polished and beautiful, with superb voice acting and an interesting story. By all appearances, this is another hidden gem from the folks at Shiny.

Deal or Not a Deal? No box or book, but that’s okay because the tutorial mode is thorough enough to get you going without a manual. A good deal.

Find: Stretch Panic (PS2)

Price / Condition: $1 / Good, with case and manual.

Where at: Garage Sale

Why: This is one one of my few garage sale finds, since I don’t frequent them (it was a beautiful, sunny day, so I said what the hell). I knew a little about this game, mainly that is was weird yet fun. Which actually doesn’t do it justice, because this game is flat out bizarre! Allow me to present exhibit A:

Yeah, that’s the first area in the game. You have to pull on the ladies’ boobs with your stretchy-hand snake thingy, which makes their ridiculously large bosoms snap back and hit them in the face. On top of that, the control scheme is pretty odd, and takes some getting used to. You control your character with the left analog stick, and your stretchy-hand with the right. Thankfully, you don’t have to use any face buttons, just the shoulder ones. Yeah, this is easily the strangest Playstation 2 game I’ve ever played; at least something like Mr. Mosquito makes sense!

Deal or Not a Deal? It’s not an earth-shatteringly amazing game, but still worth a buck for some silly fun.

Find: Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga Demo Cartridge (GBA)

Price / Condition: $3 / Good

Where at: Value Village

Why: I got pretty excited when I first laid eyes on this, because I thought I was getting a super cheap copy of a game I’ve been wanting to play. Upon closer inspection, I saw the “DEMO GPK ONLY” sticker on the back, and my heart sank a little. I still bought it, just because it’s cool to have something that says “PROPERTY OF NINTENDO” on it, and I held out some hope that it might actually be a full game despite the label (naive, I know). This hope was crushed when the game cut out on me thirty minutes in, with a “Thanks for playing” screen.

Deal or Not a Deal? I dunno, I was pretty disappointed after I got a taste of how fun this game is. I might be able to turn it into a little bit of cash on eBay. Time will tell if this was a deal or not.

Find: Fighting Arena (PS1)

Price / Condition: $10 / Beat-up box, but the mat itself looks pretty good.

Where at: Value Village

Why: This is one of the dumbest controllers out there, far dumber than that one-handed RPG controller, and more cumbersome than the Power Glove and the U-Force combined. Not only are we talking about setting up a DDR-style mat in your game room, but you’ve also got two gigantic poles to deal with. All this, just so you can pretend you can actually kick ass just like Ryu does in Street Fighter Alpha 3. I haven’t had the desire to put it through its paces just yet, mostly because I want other people present to witness the awkwardness, but I’m guessing that it works about as well as when you were a little kid and tried to do moves like the Dragon Punch or the Hurricane Kick in real life.

Deal or Not a Deal? Clearly I paid too much for something that’s gonna take up more space than it’s worth, but I’m banking on the fact that when I finally try to impress some friends with it, the laughter will be non-stop.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for this installment. There weren’t any insanely rare and valuable finds; just a bunch of mostly off-beat gaming oddities. The Classic Game Expo in Portalnd, Oregon is coming up next month, and you better believe I’ll be writing an article to commemorate the show! There will be awesome finds, and maybe even some awesome stories this time around. Hopefully I’ll see one or two of you there! Until next time, please resist the urge to buy stupid crap just for the sake of buying stupid crap (unless you’re going to write an article about it, of course).

Awaken the Dead (2007)

Awaken the Dead is a zombie movie that does everything poorly. This is a very low budget, independent film. The acting is borderline painful. It reminded me of making movies for Spanish class in high school. Aside from the bad acting, the story is pathetic as well. It’s a very basic zombie story about a group of survivors held up in a house. They soon discover that the government is responsible for the zombies and they try to stop the people involved. This story has been done so many times. I was expecting a little bit of originality because this is an independent release, however, Awaken the Dead offers nothing new to the viewer. The main antagonist even resembles Albert Wesker from the Resident Evil series. This movie wasted my time and that made me mad. It could make for a funny time if I was drunk with a group of friends. Other than that scenario I will never attempt to watch this again. There are two classic lines delivered by the two main characters when they are about to sleep together.

Christopher: Your father would kill me if saw us in bed together. Mary: That may be the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard.

Classic!

The Quick and the Undead (2006)

Another zombie movie. The Quick and the Undead has a much higher budget and better production than Awaken the Dead, although that isn’t saying much. The world was plunged into the past when the zombie outbreak occurred. There is an old west mentality among the survivors and people can get money for killing zombies. Other than the bounty hunter aspect, there is little to do with the old west in Quick and the Undead. It is as if the writer had a vision for a old west zombie universe but wasn’t creative enough to incorporate the wild west into the movie. Overall this is an interesting idea that doesn’t deliver and leaves the viewer unsatisfied.

War of the Dead (2006)

The theme of zombie movies continues. War of the Dead is another stab at an unconventional zombie movie. It manages to have a more creative story than Quick and the Undead and has no problems making fun of itself which is always a nice touch when the movie isn’t that good to begin with. War of the Dead is about a group of German World War II soldiers that hunt down the Americans who killed them. They go about killing them in some pretty ridiculous ways. Thankfully the FBI and a rookie cop are on the case to stop them before they kill more geriatrics. I watched this movie twice because it has a wonderful cheese factor to it. It is very low budget with no-name actors, but War of the Dead never takes itself seriously. It’s just a fun little movie.

Dance of the Dead (2005)

I will break up the zombie movies a little with Dance of the Dead. There are two reasons I bought this: one, it stars Robert Englund, and two, it was directed by Tobe Hooper. Based on the title I thought I was getting another zombie movie, but I was wrong. This is a post apocalyptic film that begins with a girl, Peggy, who works in a restaurant falling in love with a rebel (who has a heart of gold) and exploring the world. Peggy works for her mom in the restaurant every day so she has no idea what life is like outside the small town they live in. Peggy discovers a world of depravity and decadence outside her quiet little town and she soon becomes part of it. The movie is very slow and there isn’t enough Robert Englund. This made me sad, however, the movie ties up well at the end and there is a nice twist.

Platoon of the Dead (2009)

Back to the zombie movies. Platoon of the Dead rivals Awaken the Dead for lowest budget, worst acting, and poorest production values for this batch of leftovers. This movie is a must see on a drunk movie night. It is on a level of bad that didn’t exist until it was created. The story revolves around a group of soldiers hunting the undead when they get ambushed and how to take refuge in a house with some survivors. I lost interest about halfway through except when one of the soldiers tries to rape a girl and passes it off as nothing but a light hearted jest. It was a very uncomfortable exchange to have to watch and it leaves you dumbfounded when it is over. Besides this scene there is little else to mention. There was something about demons or some kind of evil being responsible for the zombies, but I don’t remember all the details. Good drunk movie night film just because everything is so bad.

Dying God (2009)

Dying God is an interesting horror movie. It is about a rather corrupt cop in South America who must solve the mystery of dying prostitutes. It is revealed that a monster is killing them with his huge penis as he tries to impregnate them. Unfortunately for the monster his penis is too big and he ends up ripping apart their insides. Interested in seeing this movie now? Probably not but it does have the legendary Lance Henriksen as a wheelchair bounded pimp. Other than his performance (which I am completely biased towards because it’s Lance Henriksen) the movie is bad. The effects, acting, and script are all laughable. It takes itself way too seriously to even make for a good addition as a drunk movie night film.

Murder Party (2007)

This movie took me completely by surprise. I had no idea what was going to happen or what kind of quality Murder Party would be. The other movies on this list don’t put Murder Party in the more favorable of lights, but this was a hidden gem. This is more of a suspense/comedy movie rather than a horror movie but I was fooled by the box so I will throw it in here. The plot is very simple: a normal guy finds an invitation to a Halloween party and decides to go. He goes to the address and is immediately tied up. A group of art students have decided that they want to kill someone for the sake of art. The way the movie portrays the students is hilarious. Every stereotype you’ve ever heard about college art students is in this movie. What makes this movie stand out is how well it is acted. The main character plays the part of lovable loser perfectly and the art students go beyond what this movie would have normally called for. They could have all given ho-hum performances because this is an independent film that most people will never watch, but they chose to take these characters and make them vibrant. Their attempts to kill this poor man are funny and engaging, while the whole movie moves along at a great pace. The writing is well done and there are even some nice special effects. Screw drunk movie night, Murder Party is a worthy contender for sober movie night!

Impressions: While Civil War was raging on Earth, the ad-wizards at Marvel decided to dust off several cosmic characters and create a colossal event for fans who needed a break from Cap’n America vs. Iron Man. In doing so, they pulled out a bunch of heroes and villains I could not have cared less about and made me fall in love with them.

The story revolves around Annihilus invading with a slew of baddies from the Negative Zone in an attempt to take over our galaxy. This brings some of the cosmic heavy-hitters like Galactus, Thanos, and Silver Surfer into the fray, as well as many characters that had not been inked in decades. While the story may sound a bit simplistic,the writing and character development keep you interested and on the edge of your proverbial seat throughout the series. The success of Annihilation served as a total reboot for Marvel’s cosmic universe, which is still going strong today (nearly four years after the end of Annihilation). Whether your interest in Marvel’s cosmic roster is minimal or extreme, you should read through this series and beyond. - mig

Verdict: Legendary.

Batman #700

Impressions: This issue is of course a big round number, so it’s sort of a big deal. It’s basically a time travel tale that accentuates the longevity of Batman and how no matter when. there will always be Batman to fight crime. It’s kind of cool. The caper the Batmans are trying to solve takes the reader through campy early Batman, modern non-Bruce Wayne Batman, future Damian Wayne Batman, Batman Beyond, and a bunch of other future versions I didn’t recognize. Along the way, each one is drawn by different and great artists, so this issue is quite the treat visually. Andy Kubert, Frank Quitely, and Tony Daniel are all among my favorite artists. I guess my issue with it is that it was a little hard to follow and they crammed a ton of shit into the issue. The Damian Wayne part was by far the most interesting though. Also great pin up art at the end, along with cool tech diagrams of the Batcave. - Zach

Verdict: Story was confusing and took a second read to kinda understand. Everything else was excellent.

Batman: RIP TPB

Impressions: For as much acclaim as this got, I feel like I missed something. Maybe it’s just not a good trade to pick up as you are trying to get into Batman’s current stories, but this series is kinda hard to follow, goofy, and seems a bit implausible. This is another one of those “series of villains decides to tear Batman’s life apart” story, but the manner it is done is strange and seems way too easy. Batman seems too willing to show his identity to a new girlfriend who is obviously a plant, Batman apparently has been conditioned for trigger words which render him immobile, then villains just wander into his Batcave and fuck up the place. Then they load Bruce Wayne full of drugs and dump him on the street where he doesnt’t remember anything, but takes up a new Batman identity wearing purple, red, and yellow while consulting a Bat-mite that apparently exists only in his mind. It’s…odd. I’m also not a big fan of the main villain pretending to be Bruce Wayne’s dad and messing with the core of Batman’s origin. I guess that is the reason to do it, but I feel it isn’t approached well here. The ending isn’t really an ending and leaves you with a lame cliffhanger that wasn’t resolved until Final Crisis. Also, there’s a ton of characters and references here that would have been well served with like a one page recap. Going in cold kinda sucks on this.

On the plus side, The Joker is awesome in this and he was characterized perfectly. Tony Daniel did an awesome job with the art, and the covers by Alex Ross are perfect as usual. The front is one of my favorite pieces of Batman art ever. - Zach

Verdict: Has its moments, but ultimately disappointing. Doesn’t work well as a collected edition.

Heroic Age Avengers Comics

May 2010 marks a big day for Marvel, as Siege, in all its forms, has finally ended. Rising from the ashes of Asgard is the new “The Heroic Age,” an overall cast throughout marvel focusing more on teams and titles than crossover events and universe spanning changes. Of course, at the center of all this is the Avengers (now overseen, but not “lead” by the resurrected Steve Rogers) in their many forms. I’ve read all the intro issues and a few deeper into each, but this will just cover the first four issues, and if they’re worth running with.

Avengers #1

Impressions: A good tone is set with none other than Kang on the first few pages. The main Avengers team consists of Thor, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, Wolverine and Captain America (Bucky). Everyone is well written here and it seems like a solid beginning for the core title of The Heroic Age, especially if any of these Avengers are characters you’re interested in, as they make a pretty diverse bunch. You’ve got the still-reluctant and morose Tony Stark, ever-clowning Peter Parker, slowly Westernized, righteous and clever Thor…etc. Kang is a classic villain and introduces a time tested (sorry for the pun) time travelling plot with a great reveal at the end. The art is rather solid, with the splash pages being put to good use for a nice “here’s your starting line-up” piece and an awesome out-of-nowhere action piece. One my one peeve is the way John Romita Jr. draws faces, but it is a minor quibble with otherwise bright, vibrant and well-detailed and interesting pages. A good start and a good foundation for The Heroic Age. - Mike

Verdict: Good

The New Avengers #1

Impressions: Here’s your more off-beat, lighter take on the Avengers. Tony Stark sells the Avengers’ Mansion to Luke Cage for $1 and Steve Rogers let’s him choose anyone he likes to be on his team, with some simple instructions – “Go save the world.” Before the team is chosen and moves into their new home, however, is another classic Marvel trope – mysticism – setting up the plot, with Doctor Strange, Jericho, Daimon Hellstrom and the new Sorcerer Supreme, Brother Voodoo, dealing with some Eye of Agamatto problems. Not so clever of a villainous motive, but a cool starting point that really gets wild in the next few issues. The New Avengers are Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Jessica Jones and The Thing. Victoria Hand is their token sexy reformed acronym loving secretary. I’m not a fan of three of them being dual-teamers, but it does work as far as the team feel and writing goes. Wolverine makes a crack at the issue, so that’s fine. I can dig it. The art is probably my favorite of The Heroic Age Avengers, being punchy, flashy and with a great sense of depth that can feel a little like looking at the world in HDR, but for me it really works in its comicy-ness. If I could have this as my main team of Avengers, I probably would, with only a few exceptions. This is my favorite title of the new bunch. - Mike

Verdict: Great

Secret Avengers #1

Impressions: Here’s your dark, experimental title. Starring Steve Rogers, Valkyrie, War Machine, Beast, Ant-Man, Moon Knight, Sharon Carter and Good-Evil favorite, Nova. They’re your standard team that sneaks around eliminates the deadliest societal/world/galactic threats before anyone can find out about it. This harks back to 2000s Marvel’s darker times, with two team members getting rocked in the first issue and more following later on in the series. Everything is darker and tenser than in the other titles, including the art and writing. Most of the story seems to take place at night under overcast skies, which is a little cliche but not a huge bother, as it serves for a brief but awesome burst of wild space action with Nova. There’s no “battle a main Marvel villain who is a threat to our very existence” of Avengers or “let’s have an awesome battle full of explosions and one-liners in the middle of NYC” of New Avengers. Nevertheless, the steady, tense atmosphere of Secret Avengers should serve as a nice b-side to the overall feel of the rest of The Heroic Age. - Mike

Verdict: Good

Avengers Academy #1

Impressions: Lastly, our go-to “teen” comic with all new characters! GET PUMPED!! Sorry. So we’ve got this rag tag bunch of new super heroes being trained by some old super heroes. Usual story. The kids in the academy are Veil, Mettle, Hazmat, Reptil, Striker and Finesse. You can probably guess their powers. The staff consists of Quicksilver, Hank Pym, Tigra, Justice and Robbie Baldwin (formerly Penance formerly Speedball, now back to Speedball, probably because you can’t have a guy in a literal iron maiden torture device costume bleeding all over the place trying to teach kids not to blow up a town like he did). The students are all former torturees of Norman Osborn, and the Avengers are sticking their best misfits to train them – flip-flopper Quicksilver, spouse abuser and general psycho Mr. Pym, demon lover Tigra, Marvel’s director of patricide Justice and the aforementioned burner of children Speedball. The art is boring, and aside from a few nods to old Avengers story lines via artwork projected in the Infinite Avengers Mansion, is really uninspired. It feels like someone at Marvel said, “Just make this comic look like it was published in the year 2010. Don’t try anything stupid.” It isn’t awful, but it is a bit of a turn off. The writing is geared for teens, I guess, and I don’t mind current event jokes (Twilight and Oprah are referenced, LOLOLOL is used as a text message) or “real life” problems (everyone feels weird about their bodies, both the students and the teachers are feeling quite emotional, etc.), but every new character is flat. The kids find out why they’re actually being trained at the acadmeny at the end, which is a waste, and could have been held for a few more issues. The dialog is overwrought and banal. I felt like this could have had potential about a third of the way through, but by the end I was pissed off. It feels like another wasted opportunity to inject some new blood into Marvel. A different writer and artist could make it happen, but not the current duo. - Mike

Verdict: Poor

Serenity: Float Out

Impressions: I’ve been rewatching the Firefly/Serenity stuff lately, and after 2 good mini-series in Better Days and Those Left Behind, I thought the idea of a Wash solo tale would be pretty great, especially since this if the first post-Serenity movie tale. They even got Patton Oswalt to write it, so I figured it would be funny. Instead, it’s just kind of okay. They made the choice to focus on three of Wash’s previously unseen friends and I don’t really care about them, and each one tells a story about Wash, which turn out to be not terribly interesting. And while the art is decent, it fails to capture the essence of the actors from the series like the previous two series. The best part of the issue, and the best reason to read it, is the cameo by Zoe at the end as she shows off her surprise. - Zach

Verdict: Meh.

Thanos #1-12

Impressions: I read this mini series as a precursor to reading the Annihilation storyline. As someone who has never really paid attention to the Marvel cosmic characters and in general does not regularly pay attention to big crossover events, I was intrigued to get to know some of the players before digging right into Annihilation. The series can be divided in half between two story lines.

Issues #1-6 deal with Thanos’ attempt at redemption by helping out the Rigellians whom he once caused untold trauma to. The tale brings Thanos against Galactus and gives a brief history of each character. The attitude of Thanos is not presented in a whimsical paradigm shift of ethics, rather Jim Starlin uses Thanos’ natural curiosity and contemplativeness to show how Thanos came to desire redemption. His attempts to do good are cold and calculating, requiring the reader to go beyond base emotions to relate. Adam Warlock and Pip from Infinity Watch are along for the ride, giving support when needed. The role of Galactus is questioned when he potentially finds an alternate source of energy to quell his never-ending hunger. The final showdown between Thanos and Galactus is mighty, but presented with a twist that puts each of their motives into question.

Issues #7-12 have Thanos travelling to the Kyln, a prison power plant located at The Crunch on the edge of the universe. His purpose is a pilgrimage but he finds himself wrapped up in the affairs of Mistress Death, the prison population, and some hidden powerful entities. This story admittedly kept me a little confused as to the point but as a tie-in to Annihilation, it makes sense.

The art throughout is colorful and detailed, but leaves room for lots of shadows and grim panels when necessary. There are plenty of characters here that make cameo appearances and many tie in to the Annihilation storyline. As someone who knew very little about the cosmic characters, I felt this series was a good launching point. - Andrew

Verdict: Good

X-Men Second Coming

Impressions: This is the latest (and just completed) X-Title crossover that is the culmination of the few that came before it (Messiah Complex, Necrosha, etc). The gist of the story is that the first mutant born since M Day was taken into the future by Cable to become battle-hardened and is now back to bring salvation to the mutants now that they are in a monster struggle with basically every suit-and-tie wearing X-baddie from the past 30 years. Sound convoluted? Its an X-crossover; of course it is.

The overall tone of the crossover is pretty dark and fairly bleak, giving a perfect setting for the storyline. The action is non-stop and really great…for a while. Much like the other X-crossovers I’ve read over the past few years, there is a terrible problem with pacing. Tension builds and builds during the first half to three-fourths of the story, calms down slightly before the final fight, then the big finale ultra-battle comes down to one anti-climactic panel. On the plus side, I really did like the post-coital pages of the last book – they did a great job of dividing up the X’ers and setting up storylines for all the upcoming X-books. If you’ve even halfway kept up with the X-Men over the past few years, this is certainly a worthwhile read. - mig

Verdict: Decent.

]]> http://good-evil.net/features/operation-co-m-a-c-z-1-batman-avengers-thanos-annihilation/feed 2 http://good-evil.net/good-evil-records/ge002-ryan8bit-2010-8-2 http://good-evil.net/good-evil-records/ge002-ryan8bit-2010-8-2#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:38:47 +0000 Zach Patterson http://good-evil.net/?p=2905 Good-Evil, in partnership with our good friend Jason Vincion at Concatenation Records, is pleased to announce the second album from Good-Evil Records, Ryan8bit’s Bionic Commando tribute album, titled “2010.8.2″. The album is titled after the date at the end of Bionic Commando given by Super Joe, and also happens to be the date that the album will be widely available. Ryan8bit is, in my opinion, one of the finest and most underrated artists that happens to cover video game music today. He’s been around forever in internet times too, as many may remember him as the guy who covered the entire Castlevania and Castlevania 2 soundtracks back in 2003 (whether he particularly wants them out there anymore is another question, but they can be found here). Some may also know him from his tireless Dwelling of Duels contributions for many years, where he did a fine job covering a wide variety of games while also honing and improving his craft. Personally, I always think of this when I think of Ryan’s work, because it’s probably the best thing ever. However you may recognize the name, Ryan8bit has truly crafted a great, tight, and rocking Bionic Commando album that we are delighted to offer up for preorder.

I think I’ve been trying to get Ryan8bit to release an album for like 4 years now, since I’ve always been a big fan of his stuff, and I guess my incessant bugging finally did something because here we are. And I must say, not only was Bionic Commando one of the few NES games I owned, but also one of my very favorites. I’m still rather terrible at it to this day, but I love everything about the game from the unique mechanics to the character designs to the exploding Hitler face. And then there’s the music, which is easily one of the top NES soundtracks made (oh hey, here’s proof!). Needless to say, I was really excited at the potential of a full soundtrack tribute to the game, because it suits Ryan’s style so well. Take a listen to the preview here:

Admit it, it sounds awesome. You want it. I know I can’t wait to get my hands on the disc. As for details about the disc, like our first album from Xoc, this album is limited to 100 physical copies (they are not mini-CD’s this time, in case anyone was wondering). They are $8 for preorder or $10 when it is released August 2nd. Digital downloads will be available starting August 2nd for $5.

Pick one up! Here’s the ordering page:

RYAN8BIT – 2010.8.2

]]> http://good-evil.net/good-evil-records/ge002-ryan8bit-2010-8-2/feed 1