As Hilden would say, “Must be a movie coming out!”. The following week after whichever movie game he had mentioned was released would be filled with confusion, sadness, anger, and disdain. Every time we get our hopes up that maybe this game would be the game to finally buck the trend, and nearly every time we get another rushed hack job full of bugs to shatter our dreams of playing something decent with far cooler characters then 90% of games out there. These games are not cursed, but rather simply the result of what happens when a publisher gives whatever B team they can pull out of Croatia ten months to piece together whatever they can. When you do that, odds are you’re gonna have a hunk of poo sitting on store shelves. If you give a good developer the time and let them swing for the fences, then games like Escape From Butcher Bay become a more common occurrence.

So there isn’t a curse, but why do shit movie games keep coming out? The same reason Sonic games are still terrible: If Sega sells millions upon millions of copies of whichever raping of my childhood they decided to release this month, why would they ever spend the money to make sure it was good? Until people stop buying shitty movie games, there will always be shitty movie games. The latest well intended effort to do a franchise justice comes to us from the kings of whoring franchises: Activision. So it is all the more stranger that they are the ones to give Raven Software, one of their finest developers, the time and resources needed to have a good chance at actually making X-Men Origins: Wolverine into a decent game.
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Walking Dead #61

PICK OF THE WEEK!

Written by: Robert Kirkman

Art by: Charlie Adlard

Just judging by the cover of this issue, you can tell that things are beginning to change for the characters in Walking Dead.

Flip open this issue and sure enough, things are changing, big time. At first, things seem optimistic, and sweet Jesus, this book needs optimism. The group come across an abandoned car that still functions, and even has some matresses inside, which in the zombie infested and constantly on the run world of the Walking Dead seems to be a luxury.

Two pages later, we see Rick going back to his old insane ways. Picking up the phone he carries around with him and hearing his dead wife’s voice say that they need to talk about their son, Carl. A page later, and Andrea is searching for the twins, Ben and Billy, only to find that one of them, Ben, is not so right in the head. After locking the boy away, the group argues about what needs to happen to the boy, for the sake of the rest of the group’s wellbeing. Also, a new character arrives that brings a eerie calm to the book. This newcomer, a preacher, claims to just walk across the country with only a Bible and God’s love to help him fend off evil. More noticeably, the group doesn’t encounter any zombies while the preacher is in their presence.

The most significant portion of the book deals with Rick and Abraham actually agreeing on something, but little do they realize, they are forming an impression on Rick’s son, Carl. So while the majority of the group agrees that something needs to be done about Ben, during the night, someone takes it upon themselves to correct the problem.

The last page gives away the upcoming plot that will soon be in full light. The group are being followed, but not by the dead.

Once again, Kirkman and Co. deliver an astounding issue of the Walking Dead. The last time something this horrific and depressing happened, it was back in issue 48, where many long time and much loved characters met their ends through various means. I’m gonna say that this issue, without killing off multiple characters, still manages to bring about the fact that absolutley NO ONE is safe in this book. Not even children.

Charlie Adlard again draws us a beautiful issue. It is just amazing how he can draw emotions for the characters. Little nuanced detail give this book the written AND visual feel that when both combined, give the reader the EXACT emotion that someone in the characters situation would have.

I really can’t stress this enough, YOU MUST BE READING WALKING DEAD! If you haven’t been, start from the beginning. It is paramount that you experience this series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Walking Dead WILL go down as one of the greatest comic book series of all time when it finally ends. But in the meantime, with issues like these, I almost don’t want it to.
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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.
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I missed a comic book weekly review so I’m gonna cram two weeks of reviews into one post. So bear with me.

Wolverine #71

Written by: Mark Millar

Art by: Steve McNiven

I don’t want to jinx this book, but I gotta say that every issue of Millar/McNiven’s “Old Man Logan” arc has been outstanding. I’m hard pressed to find anything that I didn’t like in each issue. If you happen to be not reading this either because you hate Wolverine or don’t know about it, you really should be.

So last ish, we are left with a shot of the geezer-y duos next challenge, a T-Rex with the powers of Venom chasing after them through the desert wasteland. Take that concept out of context and you would laugh and tear this issue up in your hands, but for some odd reason, Millar and McNiven make this work. Awesomely.

So back to the giant Venom-y T=Rex. It’s chasing Wolverine and Hawkeye through the barren desert towards their ultimate goal: reaching a place called New Babylon. Even in the ridiculously cool Spider-mobile, the T-Rex is closing in on them. But just when it seems like the curtains are falling on our adventurers, a familiar face shows up in one of the coolest cameos in this storyline and stops the T-Rex dead in its tracks. The softly spoken savior whisks the team down into a secret hideout that is home to some of Wolverine’s past friends, most namely Emma Frost. This series has always seemed to pride itself on showing us future versions of characters that aren’t really there for anything but nifty cameos. Which brings me to my next point: I LOVE THEM! This issue has one of the best cameos and it just solidfies this series as a really cool interpretation of the Marvel Universe’s future. Much like the city of Hammer Falls in a earlier issue that featured a city based around the location of where fallen Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, fell to Earth. In my opinion, this newest “cameo” trumps that one. It’s so great, that McNiven used two pages to show it.

So by now, you should realize from my tone that the current storyline in Wolverine is worth reading. If single issues aren’t available to you, I’d say that you need to mark down the date that the trade is released. So far, barring some unforseen disaster in the last issue, Wolverine “Old Man Logan” is worth your hard earned penny, even in this shitty, crumbling economy. (more…)

Wolverine #70
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: Steve McNiven

SPOILERS!!!!!
Continuing in the “Old Man Logan” storyline, Wolverine finally reveals what happened in the past that made him give up fighting or “popping” his claws: himself.

Yep, in the past he was the reason the bad guys won. Being cleverly tricked by a certain Mysterio-us villain, Wolverine unwittingly killed his teammates, giving the upperhand to the villains of the world. After realizing his own berserker-y ways, he exiled himself from the world. Vowing to never hurt anyone again.

Some cool scenes in this book are not only the vicious and extremely bloody (How is this not a Marvel MAX series?) fight scenes, but the conversation between Hawkeye and Logan about what happened in the past. Millar’s writing really conveys that Logan is truly sorry and, in ways, suicidal, about what he has done. Once again, this story arc is proving to be one of Wolverine’s best…evar…

McNiven’s art stands out again. It is cinematic and detailed and all around really, really purty. Fight scenes are fluid and gorgeously brutal. He really has a visual idea of how this broken down Wolverine and his world look.

Millar and McNiven ought to team up much more after this.
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Tyler Durden 84 sends us some reviews of comics sitting on your local shelf right now! Enjoy!

Author:Tyler Durden 84

Amazing Spider-man #568-569
Written by: Dan Slott
Art By: John Romita Jr

Continuing the arc titled “New Ways To Die”, Amazing Spider-man #569 gives us the next issue that tells about Spider-man dealing with a political candidate who may have some secrets that he would rather not become public. In the previous issue, Spider-man finds a sweatshop that is later linked to a politician. Parker gets heat from the new boss at the Daily Bugle and decides to fight back by giving Ben Urich’s paper, Front Line, his newest pictures, proof of candidate Crowne’s sweatshop.

Meanwhile, at the DB, Betty Brant is tasked with finding dirt on the other mayoral candidate, Martin Li. Li runs the F.E.A.S.T. centers. F.E.A.S.T. or Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training, are designed to help the downtrodden get back on their feet. Pete’s very own Aunt May often helps out there, too. A surprising guest to the FEAST center is former Mr. Venom himself, Eddie Brock, only now a cancer patient due to the symbiote leaving his body and attaching itself to the former Scorpion and new Thunderbolt member, Mac Gargan. Eddie, in the last issue, was “healed”, unknowingly, by Martin Li, curing Eddie’s cancer and ridding his mind’s obsession over Venom. He returns to the FEAST center to tell everyone the good news. Becoming yet another “miracle person” that had once frequented mayoral hopeful Li’s FEAST centers.
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