DC New 52 - Week 4

4 weeks and 51 comic reviews later, the first month of the New 52 is done and in the books. (Yes, I missed a couple reviews along the way, whaddyawantfromme). Each week, I took home a pile of comics, then read and reviewed each one. I occasionally had to scrub my brain of the violence and gratuitous nudity (okay, I didn't scrub all of it), but it was an interesting challenge; Reviewing books has never been something that came naturally to me. Personally, I don't like picking apart the medium I love, and professionaly, I really don't like speaking too critically of any of our product, even though I think it's important to be honest. But I learned a couple things along the way, so I guess I could conclude my month-long reviewing experiment with "it was fun".

And I am never, ever doing it again.

... although Sean and David are telling me these reviews are driving traffic to the blog, and that I might be doing more of this in the future.

Oy.

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So here we are, Week 4 of the New 52. Coming into September, it was the last week of the month that looked the most intriguing:  Cult characters (Firestorm), Old concepts by hot new talent (I, Vampire), popular b-lister written by popular A-lister (Aquaman), several artists taking on writing duties for the first time (Manapul on Flash, Van Sciver on Firestorm) and one high-profile artist writing again for the first time in a long time (Perez on Superman).

A very interesting batch of books. And overall, I'd say this is the best comics week of the month.

Hands down.

So let's get into this and see if I have any more rage-induced meltdowns.

Run Forest, run.

* Flash #1 - Francis Manapul had some assistance on the writing chores, but wow... this did something no comic has ever done before: Made Barry Allen likeable. Sorry Silver Age fans, but to me, Barry Allen is the equivalent of the bow tie; it's quaint, is nice to bring out every couple years, but gets really boring, really fast. But yeah, this was a great read, and you can see Manapul really playing with the layout and format of each page. Reminds me a bit of JH Williams on Batwoman. I think this book has serious potential to go from very-good to Fantastic.

And that's a Flash Fact.

(Sorry, couldn't help myself. It was that good.)

* Justice League Dark #1 - If you're going to take a bunch of Vertigo fan-favorites and put them together on a Justice League-like team, then Peter Milligan is the guy to do it. Whereas Red Lanterns sometimes felt a little too mainstream, this one is dark, creepy and has just the right tone. I see they cleaned up Zatanna's costume a little, too. Good idea, the fan backlash on that was getting a little hoary. The art on this was a good mix of Vertigo and Super-hero, but it felt a little rushed sometimes. Great start, this looks like it'll go the distance.

* Blackhawks #1 - Had to struggle to finish this one, but that's because I don't have much connection to the characters. Okay, I'm lying, I have _zero_ connection to these characters. Have I ever read a Blackhawks story? Hm. Food for thought. Anyways, the story was okay, the art felt rushed here, too, in places. This was probably the most "meh"-like book of the week for me. Really didn't do much for me.

* Voodoo #1 - My Wildstorm-induced rage has been whittled away after the last month, so no red ring this time about how they've destroyed one of my precious characters (not yet, at least. keep reading). This book was a little gratuitous, and felt a little light on the plot. Whereas Catwoman was cheesecakey and over-the-top but still had a good story, Voodoo was lacking in substance.

Look at him. So cute.

* Annihilators Earthfall #1 - Ah, Abnett and Lanning. I may have a mancrush on these guys. The cosmic Marvel books have been awesome the last couple years, and this books is no exception. Plus, look at that cover! Beta Ray Bill bringing THE SMACKETH DOWN on the Avengers? Totally sold. And it's got a talking Russian dog cosmonaut.

What? Oh, sorry, yeah, Annihilators Earthfall is not part of the New 52. Or, um, published by DC. But it's a damn good book anyways. Go buy it.

IT'S GOT A TALKING RUSSIAN DOG COSMONAUT, FER CRYIN' OUT LOUD.


* Fury of Firestorm #1 - A little heavy-handed with the race conversations, and I was surprised that they went for a cold reboot of the Firestorm mythos, instead of playing off the Brightest Day stories, which, frankly, set them up just fine. But they lost me at the end with the 2 Firestorms and Fury. That just didn't do it for me at all, sorry.

* Aquaman #1 - Oh hey, this was good. Good, clean, bright, shiny art. Aquaman just popped right off the page, and the story was fun. I had a "They did this bit far better on South Park" moment about halfway through the story, but I really dug this. Good action, good laughs, good drama, good ending. Best Geoff Johns story of the month, hands down.

* Green Lanterns New Guardians #1 - Oh. Oh wait. What. What are they-what is this. What.. Why..  Why are they remaking Kyle's origin? What is- Kyle has friends? No DC, no Kyle Rayner is the creative artistic type. WE HAVE NO FRIENDS, DC. What is, wait he's being compared to Hal? That SILVER AGE LOSER? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT IS THIS- WHY, DC? WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST I DON'T UNDERSTAND- WHYDOYOUMAKEMESOANGRYOUWONTLIKEITWHENI'MANGRYYHULKSMASHHULK
WANTREDRINGTURNINTOREDLANTERNAND...

Sigh. Okay, this was a really, really solid first issue. Quick origin, then a jump right into the action, while quickly drawing comparisons between him and Hal, and... man, Grant Morrisson did this much better in JLA about 12 years ago. Oh, but hey, the Rainbow Corps show up, along with my main squeeze, Bleez. Good times.

* All-Star Western #1 - Jonah Hex in Ye Olde Times of Gotham City? Yeah, this was fun, although it felt a bit padded. Add in one of the Arkham's, and all the backstory of the city created by Scott Snyder in Gates of Gotham (great story), and the writing was pretty good. The art was flat though, not a lot of contrast in color or tone. I understand why they went for this particular look, but they overdid it a bit.

* Savage Hawkman #1 - Again, the art didn't look completely finished here. The writing was okay, but nothing special. And I have to say: Hawkman is the posterboy for screwed-up continuity @ DC for the last 25 years. I don't think he should've been part of the reboot, and I don't know that I quite understood his origin story in this one. Weak first issue and the weakest of the week.

* Teen Titans #1 - Fresh start with the characters and I liked it. The art crackled, and the writing was solid. "N.O.W.H.E.R.E." seems a bit much, though, but Lobdell and Booth did a good job here. Nice hook on the ending, even though we probably knew that was coming.

Nice um, bunny ears.

* Batman The Dark Knight #1 - Man, David Finch can really draw, can't he? If he can stay monthly,and undo the mess he's made over the last year on his first aborted attempt on this series, maybe he can salvage his reputation. Gorgeous book. As for the writing, I have a soft spot for Paul Jenkins: A number of years ago, he wrote an Inhumans mini-series, with artwork by Jae Lee. Beautiful art, great story, I think it's Jenkins' best work ever. But everything he's written since (with the exception of the original Sentry story) has lacked the magic and mystery he put into Inhumans. The writing on this one is no exception, the words felt awkward and forced sometimes. It's been awhile since Jenkins had a monthly gig, so I'm hoping he gets back into things on this title. But for now, the art is enough for me to say good things about this one, even though that last page was just... yeesh. Don't know about that.

* I, Vampire #1 - I had high hopes for this one, and it did pretty well. The art was a wee bit too Vertigo-esque (more of that rushed feeling I've been getting over the last month.) The writer, Joshua Fialkov wrote the INCREDIBLY creepy Echoes for Top Cow earlier this year. That story sent chills up my spine. Great stuff. I, Vampire succeeds in setting up the first issue, although the art sometimes got in the way of the story. I needed to re-read this to make sure I had the characters right.

* Superman #1 - And now, something slightly different. For all the internet hooplah about Scott Lobdell writing three of the New52, it went practically unnoticed that George Perez was jumping in on the "other" Superman book. The writing was distinctly old-school, but I came away feeling like I actually _read_ a comic book. It had weight and heft, it felt like a story that had consequence. A good done-in-one, although the "old-school" feeling was a little much some times. The art was serviceable, no flaws, didn't feel rushed, but I wish they'd gone with someone a little flashier for the first issue, y'know?

New dress code at work? I'm sold.

...aaaand that's it. Come back this weekend as I blog my concluding thoughts on the first month of the New 52, talk about what we're doing at NYCC, and I smoke a hand-rolled cigar brought to me directly from the New Orleans aka The Big Easy.

No. Really.

-Scott.

(This blog post was written with the assistance of Ommwriter. Simple music-based word editor that's highly recommended for any writing types out there. )

Infinity Mini Tournament 9/10/11

We had our first Infinity Mini Tournament at the Dragon's Den on September 10, 2011. With only 4 players it was a decent start to a newer system that we play.

We started with a smaller force composition so our mini tournament would not last too long and people would be free within a few hours.

THE RULES!

1. Forces no more then 150pts
2. Standard 3 SWC (Special Weapons Cost) as dictated by the force size (1 SWC per 50 pts)
3. Single Army List
4. Standard Firefight Scenario

Dave - Yu Jing (One of the Demo Forces)

Steve - Aleph

Tom - Ariadna

Kenny - Pan Oceania (Our newest player who showed up out of the blue with a painted force!)

With only four players we played in a round robin style with all players getting to play each other. We gave 60 minutes for each round with time called and that last turn being played out.

3 Points for a Win, 2 for a Tie, 1 for a Loss. Victory Points were tallied at the end in case of a tie.

After three hours of constant fighting we had our clear champion.

Aleph - 1st Place
Pan Oceania - 2nd Place
Ariadna - 3rd Place
Yu Jing - 4th Place

With that we had everything done within 3 1/2 hours. We started at 2pm and finished around 5:30pm. All players seemed to like this style of tournament as it was refreshing and quick. We all had an opportunity to enjoy the morning, play in the middle of the afternoon and get back to our regular schedule to enjoy the evening with friends for family.

One quick note with this type of Tournament. Scenarios are really needed for this game. A quick tournament like this is fun but objectives and tactical ploys would really open it up for a world of new possibilities.

We hope to have our next tournament in a few weeks in October. Check out the Dragon's Den's schedule of events to find what are the upcoming events.

As always ask for a Demo of the game system on Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Saturdays! We have four demo forces available that are fully painted and usable during the tournaments also.

Glad to see people trying out a new game and hope to see you all on the battlefield for our next tournament!

Stan

Support Your Friendly Local Gaming Store

OK, I'll keep this simple.

SUPPORT YOUR FRIENDLY LOCAL GAME STORE for Magic!

This Saturday is the Prerelease for a new Magic the Gathering set, Innistrad. I personally think it looks great and I know that while not everyone is a fan on the new 2 sided transform mechanic cards, I give WotC credit for trying new rules and ideas to keep the game fresh! However, that is not the point of this post...

If you do not buy your Magic cards and play in your local game store for these types of events, then you are hurting both yourself and the Magic community has a whole! Why you ask? I'll give you a few simple reasons.

First, your local game store gives you a place to PLAY! You can't play on-line with that great new box of Innistrad you just got off the web at a few bucks cheaper than your local store, can you! Yet, here is your friendly local game store (FLGS) giving you table space to hang out for FNM and many other times during the week. That table space could be replaced with a pool table or a new product line of model train accessories that would make your FLGS money.  Buy your Magic at your FLGS to help your FLGS provide PLAY SPACE FOR YOU!

Second, who is there for you when you need help with your deck or when you wanted to learn how to play in the first place? Yeah, you might have learned from your friends or family but when you really needed unbiased advice on your bud's really annoying mill deck or how do I beat Red Deck Wins, I bet your FLGS was there to help. I'll even bet the guys and gals at the FLGS didn't even charge you to ask those rules questions or help you adjust the mana ratio of your new deck. Go find that service for free on-line! Buying your Magic and playing in FLGS store events helps to keep that resource alive for YOUR FUTURE NEEDS!

Third, your FLGS helps find you new people to play with. Tired of beating your kid brother for the 347th time? Come in for FNM and see if your "unbeatable merfolk" deck does so well against a former state champ. Hey, maybe you get to draft with a Pro Tour player or win one game against the guy who won GP Providence this year. Chances are, these other players won't be dropping by your kitchen table to play with you. Looking to trade an extra Stoneforge Mystic or 4? Well, these guys are more likely to need them than your mom. You might even make some new friends - ones that like playing the same game you play! In short, you get to be PART OF A COMMUNITY!

Last, and this may not mean much to some of you but buying and supporting your FLGS is good for your wallet. The money you spend locally goes back into making your town a better place to live. Maybe you want a job at your FLGS. Maybe your friend already works there. Maybe you like the hot chick who works there (Yeah, they do work at FLGSs and I have pics to prove it!). It would be a real shame if your FLGS closed because johnny internet was $5 cheaper for a box of Innistrad (Bet you forgot to add shipping) and now you have to wait for it to be delivered instead of cracking those minty fresh packs at midnight on release day! In other words, keeping your FLGS strong HELPS YOUR LIFE!

So, when it comes time to buy your Magic, stop and think about the secondary benefit to you and your friends, family and neighbors and SUPPORT YOUR FRIENDLY LOCAL GAME STORE otherwise, you might be home on a Friday Night playing Magic with, I mean by, yourself!

Good Luck with Innistrad!

Dave

PS. Yes, I own a FLGS and may have a biased view BUT, I can prove each of my points objectively so I would love to hear from you folks out there.

PPS. Support Your Local FLGS is a nod to two great James Garner movies done in the 70s, Support Your Local Gunfighter and Support Your Local Sheriff. If you are unfamiliar with these flicks or James Garner, I am sure Netflix can help you out.

New 52 - Week 3 - Reviews from Kathy!

Kathy from The Gamer's Gambit in NJ has also been reviewing The New 52. Check out what she thinks!

Batman: A good beginning, even if the origin story is glossed over. This comic dives into who is Batman? Who is Bruce Wayne? What is Gotham City and is there hope for it? 3.5 out of 5.  

Birds of Prey: Just as the Birds of Prey begin someone wants them—and a nosy reporter— out of the picture. Will this mysterious group succeed? An exciting beginning that could have used a little more story that seems to have taken a different turn with the new creative team. 3 out of 5.

Blue Beetle: The origin of the scarab, and why the earth should fear it. A villainous group wants the scarab, but will they be able to get it? Although this comic, sadly, confirms that Ted Kord was never a Blue Beetle, it’s a good story and a solid beginning. Sadly, 3 out of 5. I’m hoping issue two is better.

Captain Atom: Beginning with a crisis about his powers is an interesting start; a way to get around the origin story while still explaining who he is. Even so, it’s kind of meh. 2.5 out of 5.

Catwoman: From reading this, we know that Catwoman loves trouble. Jewelry, cats, money, Batman, sure, she loves those things as well, but they all lead back to the same: trouble. After her apartment gets blown up, she needs a way to get cash fast. Meaning, she needs something to steal. 3 out of 5.

Green Lantern Corps: Thousands of light years away, Green Lanterns are getting massacred! On earth, Guy Gardener and John Stewart try to balance their heroic and civilian lives, until duty calls. 3 out of 5.

Legion of Superheroes: Oh look! Introduction bubbles! So now we know who all these people are… but I’m still confused as to who the people in Legion Lost are. But it’s much less confusing than Legion Lost, and is even enjoyable at times. I just wish they reversed the release order of this with Legion Lost. 2 out of 5.

Nightwing: Dick Grayson is back to being Nightwing, beating up criminals in his own way rather than as Batman. He’s used to seeing the worst in Gotham, but how will he handle the circus coming to town? To everyone else, it’s just an ordinary circus. To him, it’s a bitter-sweet memory: place where he grew up and performed, and the place where his parents died. 4 out of 5.

Wonder Woman and Red Hood: I put both of these together because I’m confused. Wonder Woman dives right into acts of evil, but I don’t recognize the guy who looks like he’s made entirely out of black rocks. Nor do I recognize the girl that’s being chased after or why she knows Diana/Wonder Woman. And Red Hood? It… seems like DC’s answer to Deadpool, but it doesn’t have the same feeling. I know who Red Hood is because I’m a Batman fan, but what is he doing with those two. Why is Starfire on the run? Why is she so quick to have sex? It has just as little explanation as Wonder Woman. What is going on in both of these?  Both 1 out of 5.

What do I recommend so far?

Frankenstein: Agent of Shade- Don’t let the cover or the goofy title fool you. It’s good. Good characters, good story, I can’t wait for issue two. My favorite, if only because I want it to succeed so much! The Bat family? They’ll do fine. Green Lantern? No problem. I’m most worried this will fail due to a lack of star power despite being better than the rest of the 52’s.

Batgirl: This comic has, sadly, gotten a lot of negative feedback due to Barbara Gordon no longer being Oracle. It’s a touchy subject, but it’s been handled well. It’s emotional and realistic, and it’s nice to see that even superheroes have trouble with fear. I’m reading this to see Barbara Gordon adjust to her new role.

Batwoman: The art may be better than the story, but I’m a sucker for mysteries and the supernatural. For all of the “world’s greatest detective” praise that Batman gets, this one seems to have much more mystery to it than the main Batman titles.

New 52 - Week 3

Another week of comic-y goodness from DC, as The New 52 rolls on. We've still got most of the books in stock from the first 3 weeks (including Justice League and Action Comics).

Let's get into it:

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Catwoman #1: I'm a huge fan of Judd Winick's independent work (Barry Ween, Pedro and Me), but most of his DC work has felt flat. This, however, was a wild sexy ride. If you've been reading the internet, you already know about the... encounter, at the end of the book. This was far more fun than I thought it'd be, to be honest. Then again, I'm biased, Dick Grayson isn't the only one who has a thing for redheads.

(That comment will make far more sense if you read a couple of this week's books... but I'm not telling which.)

Supergirl #1: Supergirl lands to earth, falls through Kansas, burrows through the planet to Russia, gets into a fight and... that's pretty much it. Waitwhat? This book read a little too fast for me. Not enough content, but the art was nice.

DC Universe Presents Deadman #1: Ehhh... i dunno. The art was okay, the writing was okay, the ending was a little abrupt, but I wish they'd stayed more in line with the Brightest Day continuity (as hinted in Hawk & Dove), rather than re-do his origin. Overall, a good #1, but nothing special.

Red Hood & The Outlaws #1: Holy moly, a comic featuring Jason Todd that makes him actually likeable? Scott Lobdell is 2 for 2 on his DCU books so far. The art was good, Starfire was a bit, um, provocative, but this was a solid start.

Blue Beetle #1: Jaime Reyes returns, again, as the Blue Beetle. I really liked the introduction, tying the Scarab in with the Lantern Corps. This was a little light-hearted, compared to the rest of the DCU, it felt more like the early issues of Ultimate Spider-man, which is exactly the tone they should be going for.

Wonder Woman #1: Yeah, okay, now this is a WW book I can get behind. One of the better WW stories I've read in years, frankly. They're dipping their feet into the Greek mythology behind the character, while creating a new villain and adding a new supporting character. Great read.

Legion of Super-heroes #1. le sigh. Okay, I've got to say, the art on this was GORGEOUS. Great detail, lush backgrounds, just incredible stuff. Francis Portella, you created a fan. But the story... man, this would've been a good Legion of Super-heroes #7, but this was NOT a good #1. It felt like a continuation of the previous run, and had characters all over the place; I had no idea who was who, doing what and where. Good comic, bad #1. Really loved the art, though.

Captain Atom #1: Couldn't get through it, the art was too murky. Will try again next week.

Nightwing #1: Hey, another solid book! Great to see Dick back as Nightwing, although it went a wee bit too heavy on the origin story for my liking. This was one of my favorites from the week.

Birds of Prey #1: Not certain what to say about this one. It felt the same as the Deadman book, it didn't do much for me, either way. Black Canary is putting together a new team. The art was serviceable, the writing the same. I don't know, this just didn't jump out at me one way or the other.

Batman #1: But this was AWESOME.Great #1, great Batman story. Capullo's art was pitch-perfect, and the writing was fantastic. this is all I want from a Batman book. Great, great stuff.

Next week: I, Vampire! Superman! Justice League Dark! Voodoo!