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SHOWNOTES

00:00-Show Intro
04:14-Drunk Dials
08:14-Mailbag
20:45-Discussion Segment: Comic Intervention
52:36-Wine Talk
56:16-Lightning Round
1:16:28-Top PIcks
1:20:49-The Last Shot
1:21:24-Show Close

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DGR: 02.12.2011

A while back, I wrote a pretty lengthy article on the new super hero MMO, Champions Online. Despite fantastic graphics and excellent storytelling, this new MMO from Cryptic had a hard time maintaining a solid customer base. I’m not sure if it was the lack of necessary grinding, or if people simply preferred City of Heroes, but server populations shrunk shortly after launch. 

So what’s an MMO to do? Throw in the towel like APB? Not these heroes! Cryptic has launched a free-to-play version of Champions Online. The game is essentially the same; the same zones, enemies, and missions. The limitations come in limited character archetypes and less overall powers. You can still experience the world in a pay mode and have access to unlimited powersets and costumes. They even re-upped the lifetime subscription model and it’s on sale for $239.  (That’s only a good idea if you plan to play for over 15 months). 

So like The Defender, I am calling all DGR heroes who might be interested in kicking butt together to sign up.  It would be great to create a super group and bust bad guy heads together. Who’s with me?

Ryker XL, aka “Tarantula”

http://www.champions-online.com/account_creation

I was just a kid watching reruns of some classic TV shows from the 1960s, but I remember this opening monolog as well as William Shatner’s classic intro to Star Trek.  “Another challenge for the Green Hornet, his aide Kato, and their rolling arsenal, the Black Beauty. On police records a wanted criminal, the Green Hornet is really Britt Reid, owner and publisher of The Daily Sentinel; his dual identity known only to his secretary, and to the district attorney. And now, to protect the rights and lives of decent citizens, rides the Green Hornet!”

Believe it or not, The Green Hornet has been around for quite some time. He first appeared as a popular radio series that ran in the mid 30s through the 1950s. He later would grace the big screen in two successful movie serials. And then, of course, ABC would bring this crime fighter to televison in 1966 and 1967 during the height of the Batman crazy. Since then, one could only find the Green Hornet in televison reruns or the pages of some indie comic books. That is until Director Micheal Gondry and writer/actor Seth Rogen have delivered this hero to the big screen; and in 3D, no less. The big question is in this day of hit-or-miss super hero genre films, can Rogen and company deliver on one of my most beloved crime fighters? 

The cool thing about the Green Hornet (aside from his bad ass car, the Black Beauty) is he’s not your typical crime fighter. Instead of donning a mask and going out publicly to bust the bad guys, Britt Reid dons a mask and acts like local criminal. This allows him and his trusty valet Kato to get close to the criminals and break up their plans and let the police clean things up. 

The movie follows this formula quite well as Seth Rogen portrays Britt Reid. In the film, Britt is a spoiled playboy who inherits his father’s newspaper amd fortune after his untimely death. In his grief, Reid fires all of his father’s caretakers until he realizes that none of them can make a decent cup of coffee. ”Who used to make my coffee?”, he screams.  Well, that would be Kato (played brilliantly by Jay Chou) the former mechanic and secret martial arts wizard. Reid soon learns that Kato is a master inventor and has retro-fitted his father’s limo with bulletproof windows and other nifty gadgets. Together, they get drunk and head out to deface his father’s statue and in the process wind up breaking up a robbery. 

Reid comes up with a novel plan of using their new secret identities to pose as criminals so they can get close to the real bad guys. He uses the power of his newpaper to create the persona of the Green Hornet to generate attention and publicity. This does not sit well with the local crime boss, Benjamin Chudnofsky, (Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, from Inglorious Bastards) and he vows to kill the Green Hornet so as to not lose any more power. What follows is a funny-at-times series of car chases and bar fights that try and piece themselves together into a coherent film. 

I’ll be honest, I wanted to love this movie. I’m a big fan of the Green Hornet and Seth Rogaen has made me laugh more times than I can remember. While not the perfect choice for the lead role, I was hoping he could pull it off and provide some laughs along the way. (I’m hoping the same for Ryan Renolds as Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern film this summer). However, Rogen’s portrayal of Britt Reid for 3/4s of the film is down-right annoying. Rogen’s Reid is a spoiled brat who never takes anything seriously and is seemingly unaware that he is driving everyone nuts. This is not the Britt Reid I remember from my youth, and I’d be okay with that if it were genuinely funny. Sadly, oftentimes it’s not. And that just makes him unlikeable, a trait not associated with super heroes at all. In the last reel of the film, Reid “gets it” and begins to take his role of The Green Hornet seriously, and the last thirty minutes of the film are quite enjoyable. But I have to ask if that makes up for the first half; and I’m not so sure. 

Cameron Diaz portrays Lenore Case, Reid’s personal secretary. Case has a degree in criminology and unwittingly helps Reid and Kato plan their next steps as vigilantes. Case is an important character in the canon of The Green Hornet, and as one of two people who know his secret identifty she provides insight and helps the team.  Here, Case is a comedic love interest as both Reid and Kato want to date her and then begin fighting, jeopardizing their entire plan. In the end, they do reveal to her their secret identities, but there’s no time for Case to grow as that character and we are left making a huge leap of faith that she has bought into what Reid and Kato are up to.   

Christoph Waltz graces us with a fine performance after his Oscar-winning performance as the “Jew Hunter”.  Sadly, his talents are wasted on a trite script and an unusual desire to become a masked vigilante himself. I found this strange because as a confident suit-wearing bad ass he was perfectly menacing enough. I guess that wasn’t funny so they pursued this angle instead. 
(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…)

Bloom County represents one of those comics that has always seemed a part of my childhood days, even though I didn’t understand a lick of what I was reading at the time. Berkely Breathed’s seminal comic strip of the 1980′s lampooned just about every facet of entertainment and politics of that decade. While Opus and Co. were taking jabs at Reaganomics, the Iran Contra Affair and Jimmy Swagert’s infidelities, I was simply entertained by a talking Penguin and a guy in a wheelchair who pretended to be playing out Star Trek. I remember two of my uncles were big fans of Bloom County and I would take time at family gatherings to pour over the collections that sat in their bookshelves. As such, when it comes to the culture of the 80′s it seems pretty well captured in every line of Bloom County. Now, thanks to IDW and their fantastic new hardcover series, I get to have the whole series from the very start.

For a start, the collection is presented in a beautiful hardbound book with heavy weight paper that really shows off the comic strips nicely. The book is the kind of thing that would look fantastic on your coffee table. The comics are laid out in chronological order with a few that have never been in print or haven’t been seen since the seventies. The books begins with a brief interview with Berkely Breathed regarding the start of the series and even has some of his old comics from his college strip to show where some of the Bloom County characters originated.

Admittedly, some of the early comics don’t look as fantastic as those in other collections you might already own. The Calvin and Hobbes books are a few that come to mind. Both Breathed and the editor mention this in the preface to the book as well. The reason for this is that many of these old strips had to be pieced together after being found in old newspaper archives. For something as awesome and important as this comic was, it’s almost shocking to find out that Breathed never took care to save his Bloom County work. Many of the comics in the collection had to be pulled from cardboard boxes in the creators garage. The result of this is a collection of comics that visually appear uneven throughout the book. Nothing that makes it unreadable or not worth the price. However, for those looking for a pristine presentation, you’re not going to find a set without visual flaws here.

However, I’m of the opinion that these visual faults actually work in favor of the set. Breathed’s early work is a study in inconsistancy and creative direction finding. Breathed himself notes this in many of the sidebar comments he’s added on every page. Many of these comics were finished on the plane ride to the editor as he made a last second dash to meet his deadline. Many of the jokes and characters are complete rip-offs of early Doonsbury, one of Breathed’s biggest influences. The great part is, he doesn’t hide it and even takes great pains to tell you just how rough and early these comics are. I think one of the greatest things about this collection is how much of an open window this is into a creators mind as he develops his work in the early stages. It’s candid, raw and ultimately brilliant.

A great study in the early run of Bloom County and a must own for any fan of the comics scene in the 80′s, IDW did a fantastic job on this set. The best part is that we get more volumes in which we see the true zenith of Bloom County. Rumor has it that Breathed’s follow up, Outland, will also be getting a similar treatment. We can only hope.

The best price for this book can be found at Amazon.com. Follow the link below to check it out:

Bloom County: The Complete Library, Vol. 1: 1980-1982 (Library of American Comics)

Sadly, it’s been awhile since any sort of comic thing graced this site and that’s a damn shame. I’m not sure exactly why the Comics/Manga category has been such a wasteland, as we’re reading them all the time. I suspect it has to do with the fact that we’ve been busy with other things.

It time to remedy the situation and I know of no better way than to talk about the latest storyline being crafted by the great and mighty pen of Ed Brubaker in the most recent issues of Captain America. We’ve already said a ton about our admiration and respect for Brubaker’s work. We are all big fans of what he’s brought to the table as far as Captain America goes as well. In all honesty, this may be the greatest run that Cap has ever seen and may ever see. This particular storyline does a great job of demonstrating why that is.

The greatest thrill, for me, in the current run of Captain America is the effortless way that Brubaker has taken the over-the-top aspects of Cap lore and brought them into modern times. All this without making them seem too “out-there” or cheesy. No small feat. Brubaker is once again weaving the legendary Captain America characters into the fabric of our modern day events in his latest storyline called “Two Americas”. In it, Brubaker makes the bold choice of taking on one of the most interesting and vexing stories in our news day; the Tea Party movement.

One of the more interesting characters that Brubaker has resurrected over the years is a forgotten villain simply called 1950′s Cap or Bad Cap. Years after the original Captain America (aka Steve Rodgers) was trapped in ice at the tail end of World War II, a school teacher in the 1950′s underwent plastic surgery and mimicked the Super-Soldier syrum that created the original Cap. While the procedure did create an exact likeness of Steve Rodgers, the process made the new Cap insane. Of course, when Steve Rodgers retuned, the Bad Cap was quickly put down and presumed dead. Thanks to Brubaker’s use of him during the Death of Captain America storyline, Bad Cap is alive and a fully fleshed out antagonist, ready to be used. It is indeed he who is causing all the trouble in this latest story.

Following the events of the Captain America: Reborn storyline, James “Bucky” Barnes continues to wield the costume and shield of Captain America. Word is sent that Bad Cap has resurfaced and become disenchanted with the current state of America. As a result, he has become a leader for a homegrown militia group called the Watchdogs. Rallying members of the Tea Party movement (or Marvels version of it at any rate), Bad Cap creates an army hell bent on sending a message fueled by anger. Of course the message comes attached to a series of devastating bombs that are meant to go off at key government facilities. As Bucky attempts to infiltrate the Watchdog group, he is discovered by Bad Cap and is forced to don his old Bucky costume and work as Bad Caps “sidekick”.

The story is well paced, the characters are, once again, used to great effect and the series of four comics takes what could be horribly cheesy and infuses it with a good mix of drama and action. With another round of absolutely stunning art by Luke Ross, this storyline is both relevant to current day events and another engaging use of the Captain America characters. Brubaker does it once again and I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s also not too late check this book out. Two Americas would be a great story to jump in on if you’ve never checked out the series.

Since Action Comics released “Superman” in the 1938, super powered beings who fight crime and rescue damsels in distress have been an integral part of American culture. Today comic book sales rake in close to 10 million dollars, and the box office numbers for super hero movies average 300 million. With all of the lore and drama of these heroes penetrating our lives, why hasn’t anyone ever tried to be one in real life? That is the question that teenager Dave Lizewski asks his friends in Kick Ass. What follows is a light hearted, yet all too real look at the reasons why you shouldn’t try this at home.

Kick Ass was originally a comic created my Mark Millar in 2008. The comic was unique as not only did his main character not have any super powers, but he rather sucked at the whole crime fighting business to begin. The comic launched with a viral campaign with a YouTube video of a costumed hero defending some poor sap. Later a MySpace page was launched telling viewers that Millar was writing a comic book based on the vigilante’s adventures. Comic book stores that sold the most copies of Kick Ass were actually featured in the later issues and even a charity auction was held to determine the name of Kick Ass’ secret identity. The winner, Dave Lizewski chose his own name. (Figures. I woulda). The series lasted only eight issues and fans everywhere were hungry for more. Scriptwriting for the film began almost immediately and rumors have it that Millar plans a sequel that will be released in 2011.

The movie centers on Dave Lizewski, (played by Aaron Johnson) your typical geek teenager; he spends most of his days reading comics and fantasizing about his busty math teacher. One day Dave asks his geek friends why no one has ever tried to be a real life super hero. They laugh at him and explain that such a person would definitely get his ass kicked. Dave continues to explore his fantasy by purchasing a green scuba suit and parading around as a masked vigilante named Kick Ass. However his first foray into crime fighting ends quite poorly and Dave is sent to the hospital for major surgery.

In a way, his misfortunes give him some new advantages to fighting crime. He now has several metal plates throughout his body (To which he gleefully compares to Wolverine) and his nerve ending have been dulled. Dave also gains the sympathy of the fetching and longtime crush Katie Deauxma, who is surprisingly interested in him. Katie thinks he is gay and she wants to take care of him. Dave goes along with this in an effort to spend time with her.

Bound and determined to be a crime fighter, Dave dons his costume once again and hits the streets. One evening while trying to rescue a cat, Kick Ass stumbles onto a mugging. Armed with two steel pipes he manages to fight off the attackers while onlookers grab video and pictures. One such video is uploaded to YouTube and quickly gains over 4 million hits. Excited about his new found fame, Dave sets up a MySpace page for his alter ego and soon Kick Ass is an overnight sensation.
(more…)

SPOILERS…..obviously.

Walking Dead #60

Written by: Robert Kirkman

Art by: Charlie Adlard

The BIG 6-0. 60 is most notably the time in your life when you start to lose your hearing, and your eyes start getting worse, along with your driving skills, and you go hobble your way into your huge, boat sized Cadillac and break off the odometer at 25 in a 45 mph zone while heading to your local Walgreens and buy some of those huge, wrap around glasses that look like some kind of virtual reality visor. Yeah, its those years when retirement homes scare you, along with all that new fangled technology, and don’t even talk about those young punks with their “raps” and “skateboards”. But you know what isn’t getting old? The Walking Dead.

60 issues in, Robert Kirkman hopes to bring back the original antagonist of the series: zombies. While most of the series has been about the fact that the zombies aren’t the worst thing roaming the land, issue 60 tries to convince us that they are still a contender.

Last issue, we finally caught a glimpse of the “herd” of zombies heading after our intrepid heroes. Rick & Co. could defend against a group of zombies with little to no effort, but a herd comprises of thousands of zombies. Not a walk in the park.

So in this issue, we witness our car-less heroes running from the herd, trying desperately to get back to their loved ones in time to warn them of the incoming danger. While not the most illuminating issue of the series, this issue does help emphasize the immediacy of the undead flock.

I have always said that the issues that deal with the more humanizing aspects of the story are my favorites. Issues where the characters are just sitting around trying to gather some shred of hope while being surrounded and confronted by acts of horrific violence and sanity breaking situations. This issue still brings that to the table. One character in particular gets this in spades.

So all in all, this issue doesn’t reveal a whole lot, but it does hint at the herd arc coming to an end, but not before a little preview at the end of the book. With preview pages with phrases like “”The dead do not stalk” and an accompanying picture of shadowy figures hiding in the trees right above some of the main cast.

Yeah, I don’t really need to tell you about the art and the writing because it is just so good. It’s just a given with this series.
(more…)

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…)

The Flash: Rebirth #1

Written by: Geoff Johns

Art by: Ethan Van Sciver

If there was one thing you learned or understood from Final Crisis, it’s the fact that Barry Allen was brought back into the DCU. Knowing that fact, it takes away some of the mystery of this new series: The Flash: Rebirth. And that is the main problem with this book: there is just about no mystery or shock in seeing Barry back in the red suit. Obviously, Geoff Johns will have some trouble in making this book seem relevant, and on some note, he does.

Most of the book is spent on Barry’s friends’ and enemies’ reactions. A good amount of the book is spent on these. It all made sense to show reactions of everyone, but after about the third group of people expressing shock and disbelief, it became redundant. I get it, he’s back, but having it spoon fed to me over the course of 32 pages is too much. Much like the last great Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver team-up, Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War, Johns placed a lot of continuity into his story, but NOT like the afformentioned big event, he has not given a concise, yet absurdly detailed recounting of those needed bits of continuity. First time readers of the Flash will more than likely be bewildered by the idea of the “Speed Force” and some of the other little Barry Allen history.

Remember in Live Free or Die Hard, John McClane was an old school cop with technophobia? Well, Rebirth #1 utilizes that same concept. We already know that Barry has been gone a long time, but that fact is just constantly told to us. He doesn’t understand current day technology. Cell phones, internet, and texting and the likes of other “high speed” tech is over the head of a “high speed” superhero. The world is moving faster than the fastest man alive.

The book focused on the lives of everyone around Barry. With just a little hint of what’s to come hitting near the last few pages of the book, it almost comes in as an afterthought. It is interesting, but you have to wait around so long to see what the book is more than likely going to be about.

Van Sciver is a fantastic artist. Sinestro Corps War #1 was a beautiful piece of work. Large splash pages and interesting page layouts seemed to spring from the pages. The cover to the Flash: Rebirth #1 is classic Van Sciver, but the inside leaves something to be desired. It is still fantastic, I was just expecting something more. It’s kinda hard to complain about Van Sciver because his work is always great, it just was lacking some of that “spring” to it.

I still recommend this book, but if you aren’t a Flash fan, I would have to direct you to the nearest comic shop and tell you to pick up some Barry Allen trades before picking up Flash: Rebirth. The book is in capable hands, it is just a lot of continuity. I will say that it doesn’t hold a candle to Final Crisis’ head asploding concepts, but it might help to familiarize yourself with Central City’s crimson speedster. (more…)