Email Us: mailbag@drunkengamersradio.com
Voicemail Line: 612-424-3835
DGR Twitter Feed
Facebook Group

SHOWNOTES

00:00-Show Intro
09:49-Drunk Dials
13:51-Mailbag
22:14-Discussion Segment: Holy Discussion Segment, Batman!
55:13-Beer Talk: Innis and Gunn-Rum Cask
61:42-Retro Review: Mickey Mania (SNES)
64:56-Lightning Round
95:42-The Last Shot
97:40-Show Close

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

DGR: 10.21.2011

Ok, I want one. I want one RIGHT EFFING NOW!  I don’t care if have to sell my house and all of my worldly possessions, I want a Batmobile!  In all seriousness folks, for those who have $150,000 just burning a hole in your pocket, you too can own a 1960s style batmobile.  These units are custom made, officially licensed by DC (so you know they are good quality) and come fully equipped with:

• Working flamthrower exhaust (F YEAH)
• DVD player with in-dash LCD screen
• Car sports Radir wheels with accurately shaped bat spinners
• Brand new GM 350 crate engine
• Awesome chrome-painted seat buckets
• Red Bat emergency beacon light (in case their is a crime to get to)
• Batbeam antenna grid
• Bat-Radar
• Actuator switches for raining and lowering the hood and trunk
• Kick ass high end stereo to rock out the Batman theme

Batman and Robin costumes NOT included…

Order yours today here.

Email Us: mailbag@drunkengamersradio.com
Voicemail Line: 612-424-3835
DGR Twitter Feed
Facebook Group

SHOWNOTES

00:00-Show Intro
06:30-Drunk Dials
17:51-Mailbag
31:18-Plants vs. Zombies Review (XBLA)
40:01-Guilty Party Review (Wii)
47:46-Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Review (360)
57:10-Batman: The Brave and the Bold Review (Wii/DS)
1:08:33-Retro Review: Ghost Manor (TG-16)
1:13:53-Five Things
1:32:55-The Last Shot
1:3 3:49-Show Close

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

DGR: 09.10.2010

Like many of us, I grew up watching and loving Saturday morning cartoons.  You know, when Saturday morning was a big event and they had real cartoons on all morning long.  Heck, the major networks would even have special “preview shows”on a Friday night that showed us kids what we could expect to find the next morning.  This was a wonderful time, and it brought us some of the most memorable cartoon shows ever.  For some reason, I never quite grew out of my love for good cartoons, especially the animated series based on Marvel and DC comics. 

Recently, both studios have brought us some quality animated films on our favorite heroes.  In many cases, these animated films are much better than the live action blockbusters that Hollywood rolls out each and every summer.  The reason for this is quite simple: these films are made by people in the comic industry for the fans that love them the most.  The question producers ask is more often “how will the fans react to my choices,” vs. “will this attract a larger audience?”  What we get is a great example of translating the narrative of a comic series into something that works onscreen.  So with your permission, I would like to suggest a few of these wonderful pieces of work; beginning with the latest from DC and Warner Brothers Animation, Batman: Under the Red Hood. 

The film is based on storylines from the Batman series A Death in the Family and Under the Red Hood. Hopefully, most of us are familiar with at least one of the aspects of this legendary Batman canon.  In the Batman universe, there were two young boys who joined the caped crusader in his exploits against crime.  The first was of course Dick Grayson, a trapeze artist who’s family was murdered by a mob boss.  Of course Dick would eventually grow up and branch out on his own as Nightwing. 

The second person to don the Robin costume was Jason Todd.  For the time, Jason’s story was far more complex than Dick Grayson’s.  Batman discovered Jason one night as he was stealing the hubcaps off the Batmobile.  Instead of kicking his ass, Batman felt sorry for Jason and took him under his wing to become the next Robin.  Jason was much more impulsive and brash than Dick was and as such readers didn’t like him very much.  So in the 1980s, writer Jim Sterlin gave his readers the ultimate choice; decide the fate of the new boy wonder.  Readers could call a 1-900 number and vote whether Robin was going to live or die at the end of the Death in the Family storyline.  The voting only lasted one day, and despite being very close, readers chose death for young Jason.  The interesting thing about this storyline is that most casual fans didn’t truly understand what really went down, and they blamed Sterlin for killing off Dick Grayson and not the new Jason Todd. 

This, my friends, is where Batman: Under the Red Hood begins, with a short retelling of the final scenes from A Death in the Family.  The movie continues five years later as mob bosses gather in a warehouse, unaware of why they have been brought there. Enter the Red Hood, a vigilante who claims he can protect them all from Batman and the major crime boss of Gotham City, the Black Mask.  All they need to do is contribute 40% of their earnings to him and not sell drugs to kids.  Reluctantly, they agree to this proposal, pissing off The Black Mask and intriguing one Bruce Wayne.  With the aid of his former protégé Nightwing, Batman begins to put together the pieces of who this vigilante really is and what his ultimate plan may be.  The truth about what he discovers will not only revive many ghosts from his past, but challenge the very foundations on which Batman stands for.  
(more…)

Hello again, dearest Robot Panic readers. I have returned from my far too long hiatus that may or may not have involved secret ninja training, world domination planning or seeing how many bags of Goldfish brand crackers I could ingest before my stomach ruptured. During my awesome and very hush hush ninja training, I have discovered something that I felt I need to share with all of you. It is a book, nay, a tome of collected literature/art hybrids. I shall call them…”comics”.

This particular collection is dubbed “Wednesday Comics”. A little backstory, if I may. About one year ago, a bunch of DC wiseguys put their artsy fartsy heads together and came up with an idea that would harken back to the early 1920′s and 1930′s, when a reader of the daily or in those days, weekend, newspaper would be entertained by pages of adventure comics featuring superheroes and other various kinds of heroes. This concept proved to be hugely successful, that is until it stopped being successful and became unsuccessful. So like many people before them that have fallen victim to the old addage of “History repeats itself”, DC has decided to bring back a form of entertainment that has been the way of Gary Coleman (too soon?) for decades. So DC decided to bring some of their most popular characters, with a few less popular, give each a team of great writers and artists, print each issue on shitty classic newsprint paper and ship em out every Wednesday for 12 weeks straight. It was a huge success and as of this day no word on whether or not another series will happen again. (I guess that DC doesn’t like money.)

Enclosed in this HUGE hardcover book, are the originally released 15 character based stories, plus 2 unreleased stories. And who might these characters be? Well, has anyone ever heard of Metamorpho? Or the Metal Men? Or Kamandi? Yes! These DC flagship characters are all in this collection, featuring new stories and collaborations from the top writers and artists that DC keeps locked inside a small, poorly lit basement surrounded by a chicken wire fence at an undisclosed location. Oh, and some jerks like Bat-something, Superbro and the Green…um…Giant are also in there, but no one cares about them. They suck and will probably never be heard from again after this. (more…)

Phil Haymes joins us this week and once again brings the class and charm while we talk about Batman: Arkham Asylum, iMech and Dissidia: Final Fantasy!

Thanks for listening!

Email Us: mailbag@drunkengamersradio.com
Voicemail Line: 612-424-3835
DGR Twitter Feed
Facebook Group

SHOWNOTES

00:00-Show Intro
06:38-Drunk Dials
14:15-Mailbag
23:07-iMech Review (iPhone)
29:54-Dissidia: Final Fantasy Review (PSP)
36:47-Batman: Arkham Asylum Review (PS3)
54:42-Retro Review: Robotron 2084 (7800)
1:01:22-Feature Presentation: Philthy’s Guitar
1:21:28-Five Things
1:36:03-The Last Shot
1:37:53-Show Close

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

DGR: 08.31.2009

Alright, so Batman’s dead. What next? After Grant Morrison’s head-scratching conclusion to Final Crisis and Batman R.I.P., we were left wondering what the hell just happened and what the hell is going to happen now? I mean, how did DC plan on continuing the story of Gotham City without its most compelling Gothamite? Because, let’s face it, Batman’s supporting cast aren’t nearly as strong or appealing as The Dark Knight.

Publishers are always staging big events like this. Hell, they “killed off” Superman years ago and Marvel “killed off” Captain America. So I wasn’t surprised when DC announced they were going to “kill off” Batman. I was, however, surprised by how baffling Grant Morrison’s narrative was; how they chose to handle the “death” (notice all the quotes I’m using?) of one of their biggest characters. After all, you’d think after you just pulled off the highest-grossing and most critically-acclaimed superhero film of all time you’d want to handle this major event in a way that, I don’t know, made sense without consulting an FAQ.

Yet, as surprising as the actual death was, what is more surprising is just how good the post-death Batman comics have been. Seriously, Batman comics haven’t been this well-written and enjoyable in years. An amazing feat considering the lack of…Batman.

It was no big shock that the post-R.I.P. event “Battle for the Cowl” would result in Dick Grayson wearing the costume. He was the one most suited for the job and the one who seemed to want it the least. It made me sad to see the Nightwing comic end when it was arguably the best it had ever been, but seeing Dick as Batman just, strangely, felt right. And it was the way the process was written that sold it. Dick understood what Batman meant to the city and that the lack of Batman would result in utter chaos. Others tried to fill Bruce’s shoes. Hell, even nutso Jason Todd got in on the action. But Nightwing-to-Batman felt like a natural transition.

But then the question was, “What about Robin?” Surely Tim Drake wasn’t going to play second fiddle to Dick Grayson. Instead, Bruce’s petulant son Damian was the natural fit as the new Robin. He did, after all, just lose his father and has a serious need for discipline and guidance. Dick takes Damian under his wing (so to speak) and together they go out and kick ass in the new Batman & Robin series, which is only two issues in and already the best Bat-series I’ve read in years. Together with Alfred, Dick and Damian keep the streets of Gotham under control while using eachother to deal with their grief over losing Bruce.

The last part of that sentence is key. The thing that really holds these books together is the family bond and shared grief of the main players: Alfred, Dick, Tim, and Damian. And this grief is what drives Tim in his new series: Red Robin. Convinced that Bruce is alive, or unwilling to accept his death (however you chose to interpret it), Tim takes on the persona of Red Robin and travels the globe to search for clues of Bruce’s whereabouts. His determination, of course, gets him into all sorts of trouble and he winds up having run-ins with international villains. And though the action is great in Red Robin, it’s really Tim’s internal struggle and moments of self-doubt that make this a book worth reading.

And then there’s the oldest of the Batman books: Detective Comics. This one’s more of an unknown as it features Kate Kane as the new Batwoman. It’s intriguing so far, but seems to be more of a side-story to the whole “Batman Reborn” series. However, the panel layouts are among the most creative I’ve ever seen.

So there you have it. You are now up to speed on the world of Gotham, post-Batman. Having spent the last several years stubbornly waiting for Bat-books to be good again, I’m glad to see that the wait is finally over. I just never thought it would take killing off the lead character to make it happen.

Green Lantern #39

Written by: Geoff Johns

Art by:Philip Tan

Things just keep heating up in the Green Lantern ‘verse. Not only do we have the Green and Yellow Lanterns, but we have the Reds, the Blues, the Sapphires, and now the Orange. The Orange Lantern, or “Avarice”, meaning insatiable greed, has now been born and adding even more fuel to the upcoming event, “Blackest Night”.

This issue is mostly about the birth of the Orange Lantern, but it does reveal more about Hal Jordan’s inner battle between his green ring and his blue ring. Both rings are trying to consume Hal, while not as terrible as his fight with the red ring, the blue and green ring are merely in a symbiotic lock. Both rings are, as far as we know, for lack of better terms I’ll reference Star Wars and say that both rings are deemed “light side”. Both rings are fueled from each other and therefore need each other.

So with that power struggle going on, the Orange Lantern makes his way through space and greedily consumes whatever he can, eventually throwing a monkey wrench into the Green Lantern homeworld, Oa.

Destined to consume everything he can, the Orange Lantern finds himself in the midst of a very appetizing opportunity.

Once again, Geoff Johns shows us why he is a top nerd book writer. He just has a unshakable grip on the GL universe. Philip Tan’s artwork helps bolster this book. Crisp, detailing and down right fuckin’ purty art, this book is a must read.

With this book, the GL book is going full steam into the next Lantern war. If you haven’t been reading GL, now is the time to get in. With very little heavy continuity being used, and more about establishing new concepts, GL is very open doored.
(more…)

Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk #3

Written by: Damon Lindelof
Art by: Leinil Yu

So three years later, the third issue of “Lost” creator Damon Lindelof’s “Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk” has finally arrived in comic shops. So how does it fare? Like a book that has been delayed for three years.

Most of this issue is a recap of what last transpired three years ago, and I mean three years ago in actual real life time. Basically, the two previous books were tied to each character, issue one dealt with Wolverine being contracted to stop the Hulk and issue two dealt with Banner running off to an Asian mountain range. Issue three re-explains all that, with only a few pages adding to the plot. Not a wise choice considering that people who first read this story all those years ago, probably still remember what has happened and have been waiting to find out more about the characters big brawl.

So Lindelof lets us down after all our waiting. In a “Lost” -esque fashion, he uses flashbacks to recap. Only, these flashbacks happen from Wolverine’s perspective. We are shown bits and pieces of them, and in a nonsensical order, too. We are told that it is Wolverine’s multiple brain washes that contribute to the shuffled order of the flash backs, but it comes off like a cheap way to try to make up for the lack of continuation of the story. Especially after such a long hiatus, you would think that he would just march on with the battle, instead of bogging us down with a recap. Especially since it’s only two issues worth. Not a whole lot to recap anyways.

So, at the end of the story, we are introduced to a new Ultimate version of a character. This character has never been “Ultimate’d” yet, so it is kinda neat to see it happen in this story. Only similarities in characters names are given, no other information about this character has been revealed yet. But it comes to mind, whether or not this new version of a classic character was worth the wait for three years. While it is neat to see this person pop up, I was hardly surprised by it and didn’t think that it had the impact that was perhaps intended.

Also, as much as I hate Leinil Yu’s art, he does a pretty good job in this issue. I guess he only had 3 years to work on it (Sarcasm).

In a book that has VS in it, there really haven’t been a lot of fighting, or at least the caliber of fighting that you would come to expect. So hopefully, the next issue will come out in my lifetime. But it’s still too early and too vague to know how this story will turn out.
(more…)

People have children for all sorts of reasons. Some people want to carry on their family name. Some people have a yearning to take care of someone. Some people got drunk and had dirty sex in a bar bathroom. Me? I wanted an excuse to play with toys. Seriously, if there’s one thing I miss about my childhood it’s all the bad ass toys.

While growing up, my favorite toys were He-Man action figures. I had dozens of figures, all the accessories, and watched the after-school cartoon religiously. In my mind, Eternia was a real place and Skeletor was a diabolical villain who needed to be eradicated.

While in retrospect He-Man figures seem to be, I don’t know, a little homoerotic, was there any sweeter toy than Castle Grayskull? I mean, just look at this thing:

The most awesome toy of the 80s.

Given my childhood obsession, it was only natural that immediately upon finding out that my wife and I were having a boy, I returned to my parent’s house and fished all my He-Man toys – and Castle Grayskull – out of the attic so it would be ready for him. I knew that any son of mine would find Castle Grayskull to be the coolest toy ever. But as cool as Castle Grayskull is and was, Ethan got something for Christmas nearly as awesome: the motherfucking Batcave.

(more…)