Dan Reviews X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse!

So I know that you are all looking forward to the next part of my Marvel vs. DC, but not today. Don't worry, be happy, we'll get back to it right after this.

This kind of even fits in, but not really.

For those of you who didn't know, I just got back from a week off. A week which was spent almost entirely playing X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse. Now I haven't quite finished it yet, more due to my own stupid mistakes and poor saving on my part than length of the game, so this is not a full review. Though it does seem to be longer then I thought it would be for this type of game.

There are five acts, each with about 5-6 stages per act that I have seen. Gameplay is almost exactly the same as the first, which is fine, you can jump right into the action. There is still a Danger Room for you to hone your skills in, but I have really just been using that to level up my unused characters. And characters? Well there are a few. The idea is that the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the X-Men have to team up to stop Apocalypse from taking over the world, so you get everyone right from the start: Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Iceman, Rouge, Nightcrawler, Sunfire, Colossus, Juggernaut, Magneto, Toad, and Scarlet Witch. So it starts you off in fine style, with Deadpool, Iron Man, and Professor X making up the unlockables.

As you progress you also get some very nice costumes for your mutants. After starting with the Ultimate costumes I was relieved when I saw Giant Size X-Men #1 costumes as well as their Astonishing X-Men and new Uncanny outfits. On the third act you get the much desired Age of Apocalypse costumes. Not so much desired for their looks, though this Iceman is a badass, AoA costumes give your characters +100% to their attack rating. Other combinations include Femme Fatale (4 women), New X-Men (any four from GSX #1), and Old School (Prof X, Mags, Cyke, and Bobby).

An aside, if you didn't know who those last four were, you shouldn't be playing this game.

Now I stuck with the AoA costumes for obvious reasons, but also for the fact that the story IS Age of Apocalypse Ultimate style. While not set in the AoA, Ultimate, or "regular" universe, it is a good blend of the three. In the first act Apocalypse takes out Magneto's mutant paradise of Genosa and your job is rescue survivors and stop the first Horseman, Abyss. The second act is set in the Savage Land where you stop Mikhail Rasputin, the second Horseman, from stealing the advanced weather control tech that keeps the Savage Land going. In the third act you must destroy the Infinite processing facility where Mr. Sinister grows Apocalypse's soldiers, and a nuclear facility called the Core where they get all their power.

These installations are guarded by the third Horseman, Holocaust, and the Sugarman respectively. Sugarman is the one from AoA though, so that's a little confusing. Right now I am at the start of the fourth act, in which I have to destroy the newly completed Atlantic sea wall defenses just like in AoA. Ultimate Nick Fury just showed up with a bunch of Sentinels and SHIELD agents to help out, but of course the Sentinels get co-opted by Bastion almost as soon as they show, so that didn't really help at all. But I'll tell ya, those SHIELD agents are a bunch of tough SOB's. Four or five of them can take out a Sentinel faster then Wolverine. And that's fast!

With a few major improvements over the first, more characters and easier character management, this game is an incredible amount of fun for any X-Men fan. Watch out for the trivia game in the home base too, it's not too tough if you're a long time fan, but even I missed a couple. Apparently I can't tell you exactly which issue of Uncanny Juggernaut made his first appearance in, or what year it was. I shall now go and hang my head in shame.

Shipping Wednesday 3/1/06

New Trades:

AI Yori Aoshi Vol. 12
Battle Club Vol. 1
Black Cat Vol. 1
Captain America Winter Soldier
Death Note Vol. 4
Dr. Slump Vol. 6
Essential Official Handbook
Essential Spider-Man Vol. 1
Exiles Vol. 12
Gravitation Novel
Harlequin Violet
Hunter X Hunter
Is Vol. 6
Jojo's BIzarre Adventure Vol. 3
JSA Vol. 10
Knights of the Zodiac Vol. 14
Last Fantasy Vol. 1
Love Mode Vol. 2
Mickey Mouse Adventures Vol. 8
Naruto Vol. 9
Never Give Up Vol. 1
Night Mary
Psychic Academy Vol. 11
Rave Master Vol. 19
Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 24
Samurai Champloo Vol. 2
Sayonara Art
Secret War HC
Shaolin Sisters Reborn Vol. 4
Snow Drop Vol. 12
Squadron Supreme
STNG Comics Classics Vol. 2
Superman Adventures Vol. 3
Superman Adventures Vol. 4
Telepathic Wanderers Vol. 2
Tsukuyomi Moon Phase Vol. 2
Vampire Game Vol. 14
War Stories Vol. 2
Warcraft Vol. 2

New Comics:

Adventures of Superman
Amazing Fantasy
Aquaman Sword of Atlantis
Archie
Archie Double Digest
Batman Annual
Batman Secrets
Battle Pope Color
Beowulf
Blood of the Demon
Books of Doom
City of Heroes
Daredevil
Daughters of the Dragon
Detective Comics
Doc Samson
Ex Machina
Fallen Angel
Fear Agent
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Godland
Green Lantern Corps
Hellboy Makoma
How to Self Publish Comics
I Heart Marvel
Infinite Crisis
Jonah Hex
JSA
Justice League Unlimited
Local
Looney Tunes
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
Marvel Team-Up
Marvel Zombies
Ms. Marvel
New Excalibur
Next Wave
NYC Mech Beta Love
Outsiders
Punisher
Queen & Country Declassified
Red Sonja
Red Sonja vs. Thulsa Doom
Sentinel
Spider-Girl
Star Wars Empire
Star Wars Knights o/t Old Republic
Strangers in Paradise
Superpatriot War on Terror
Swamp Thing
Team Zero
Thunderbolt Jaxon
Ultimate Marvel Flip
Ultimate Tales Flip
Ultimates 2
Uncanny X-Men
Underworld
Untold Tales of the Universe
Veronica
X-Factor
X-Men the End & X-Men
Y the Last Man

If you want to create comics...

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE COMICS OR JUST LIKE TO DRAW, PLEASE READ!

Tonight I missed The St Louis Artist Guild's Fantasy Sketch night. Its a model drawing session geared towards comic artists and fantasy illustrators, in which the models are dressed up like Conan or Space cadets or whatever.

Its only once a month and its on Friday night, when all good nerds should be watching Battlestar, so I'm going to try to take matters into my own hands and start my own event at the store...

Here's what I'm thinking. A weekly (bi-weekly if needs be) night (Monday or Thursday). Two hours of clothed model posing. (1 hour of short poses, 1-2 long) We've got a wide open basement that isn't really being used. Short ceiling but I think it'd be okay. 5 bucks each to pay for models. sound reasonable? It'd also be a good opportunity for artists to get together, get feedback, and share secrets. I've got some secrets. oh yeah.

Here's what we don't have... Easels or Artist's horses. Costumes. Props. Lights. Models....some of these are obviously pretty important. Others aren't. I don't need an easel myself. A chair and maybe a table will do fine for me. But how are other people gonna feel about it?

It won't happen unless I find others who are interested, so If you are, or if you know somebody who might be...if you're involved with costume design or (gasp) cosplay, if you're interested in modeling, if you think you could help at all or if you have any thoughts on the matter, PLEASE help me get this going- post a comment or E-MAIL me... Nick@starclipper.com.

Dissing the Ultimates DVD

Since I've been on an 'Ultimates' kick lately, I decided to rent the new animated movie. It was totally almost worth watching. I'll give them credit for sticking to the story as much as they could, adapting a relatively mature comic into a cartoon marketed to kids. But where's the excessive drinking, the wife beating, Freddie Prinze Jr? These are the things that make the magic of The Ultimates (and everday life). Without Freddie Prinze Jr, Hulk can't scream 'HULK WANT FREDDIE PRINZE JR'...thus an inferior story.

Seriously, Millar and Hitch make the comic more than the 'modernize an old story' formula. I can't say that for the movie. If you've read the comic, you may want to check it out. But I'll tell you up front, its probably everything you'd expect: a flat version of the original with disappointing voice acting (no Samuel L Jackson of course) and animation that's barely on par with other direct-to-video releases.

DC vs. Marvel

Hey, so another week, and another posting.

This week I want to take a second of your time and talk to you about the two major comic book publishers. "The House of Ideas" vs. "The Distinguished Competition" as they are sometimes called. Because this will probably be fairly big I am going to split this into two posts, one for each company. You should know going in however, I'm a DC guy. Been that way for a good ten years or more. But first of all, House of Ideas? Maybe back in the day when it was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but now? Not so much. Apparently it's not enough that Wolverine has his own series, is in damn near every "X" title, is one of the Avengers, and is getting another solo book. So lets make a clone. Oh, wait, we did that with Spidey and everyone hated it. I know, make it a teenage girl and the fans will love it. And love it you did. Morons.

And how about HOUSE OF M you might ask? Well, I did just reread it in the trade, and found I liked it much more than I did when I read it in the singles. This is probably due to the fact that there are whole issues where nothing happens, followed by issues that are so jam-packed with action that you can barely keep track of what is happening. I like that fact that doing this has made the X titles get their shit together and brought them all into step with each other, but how about the rest of the universe? Hardly a single other title has mentioned what happened. Spider-man had an absolutely horrific thing happen to him and no one is talking about it in any of his THREE books. The NEW AVENGERS just started mentioning it this issue, but only to deny that they know anything about it to SHIELD. And can someone tell me why all the House of M tie-ins had absolutely nothing to do with the actual mini-series? They should really just have stuck some "What If..." labels on them and gone from there. And DECIMATION? Well, not so bad, but when you consider that Grant Morrison killed 16 MILLION mutants in less then four pages of his second issue of NEW X-MEN, it just seems hugely out of proportion. And luckily for us about 99% of the X-Men made it through DECIMATION with their powers. So nobody's feelings got hurt too bad and everyone gets to keep reading about all their favorite mutants.

Wouldn't a much more interesting story be if only a couple of X-Men had been left with their powers? How about if Nightcrawler lost his mutation but Beast kept his? Or if the only the mutants who couldn't pass for human had been left untouched? Or the other way around? Imagine X-Men teams made up almost entirely of de-powered mutants out to save the few of their race that are still left out in the world. I would read that.

You know, this might take longer then I originally thought. But before I go I want to make it very clear that there are plenty of Marvel books that I do like and read all the time. So, a few of my favorites and a word or two about them. Look for more on Marvel later this week, and DC probably this weekend.

WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

CABLE AND DEADPOOL - Marvel has been doing a few comedies lately, and this is one of my faves.
X-STATIX PRESENTS DEADGIRL - Another one that makes me smile every-time.
NEW AVENGERS - Good book with the cast that the Avengers has needed for a while. But why does this book seem so damn spastic? Why didn't the Sentry story in there mesh with the original mini-series, or for that matter, the second Sentry mini?
YOUNG AVENGERS - Probably the tightest book that Marvel is putting out. You know where every character stands and why they're doing what they're doing.
DAREDEVIL - The Bendis/Maleev run on this book will be the stuff of LEGEND in ten years. That said, why oh why Marvel did you not even try to keep who you were going to kill a secret?
THE THING - Dan Slott came out of nowhere it seems to be one of the most consistently funny writers on the block.
SON OF A GENIUS: FRANKLIN RICHARDS - It's like a cross between Calvin & Hobbes and Barry Ween.
FANTASTIC FOUR - JMS writes the follow up to Mark Waid's amazing run. There is nothing funnier then when the Thing starts making copies of his butt.
MARVEL TEAM-UP - Robert Kirkman these pure formulaic super-hero team-ups with a freshness that can be startling at times. Another book that is just FUN to read.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN - JMS asks the big questions about Spidey, who he is, and where is he going.
SHE-HULK 2 - See "THE THING"
SUPREME POWER - A new gritty version of DC's classic characters by one todays best episodic writers. But Marvel, why did you have to get rid of the MAX rating?
X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS - Probably the book that I look forward to the most, but again suffers the same problem as Daredevil. Marvel needs to learn when to keep their mouths shut and let some things be a surprise. They've has dropped so many hints, nudges, winks, and secret hand-sign's about this book you almost don't have to read it.

Dipping little feet...

Star Clipper is dipping its little feet into the Designer Toy Market. Dan says he doesn't get it. Not his thing. I guess I like em. But Why?

They're usually not coming from a comic or even a cartoon. Often, the only apparent history behind the characters is crammed onto the box, telling you their likes/dislikes or their eating habits. They have little movement, if any. And they're kinda pricey.

But they're coool. So, they're pricey...they're usually a very limited run and toys aren't exactly cheap to make unless you're expecting to sell eleventy thousand of them. But that'll only contribute to their 'collectability', right? And the only reason they don't have any history is because most of them are fresh out of the minds of bizarre Japanese artists or "so-called Lowbrow artists" ('so-called' is in quotes too because everyone who writes about Lowbrow artists seems to need to point out that the name might be a misnomer...like so-called Modern Art) Anyway, I can't afford original paintings by these guys so toys make a nice alternative to just buying prints.

But my favorite thing to come from the designer toy trend doesn't come from a designer. Its Munnys. 7" big-headed 'blank' vinyls that you're supposed to design yourself with paint, pencils, cloth, clay or whatever you want. These were introduced last year with three big charity shows in NY,LA, and SF and now they're on the market for everyone. There's been some talk of us hosting a show at the store, so if you're interested, send hundreds of e-mails to info@starclipper.com. It won't happen unless every single person sends hundreds of e-mails, so get on it.

Planets and Whiskey

Hello all, welcome back to the Star Clipper blog.

Well, I did have several things planned that I wanted to talk about today, but to be honest, I really just don't feel up to it. I'm exhausted and my brain hurts. I think it needs liquor. Obviously therefore my brain thinks it needs liquor as well. Tricky, huh? Just another example of subjective reality for you. Speaking of which, let me ask you a question. How many planets does our solar system have? Nine, yes? Wrong! Not only have scientists discovered a new planet, they've found at least three, one with a moon. And apparently there is some discussion as to wether or not they are actually planets, planetary bodies, or something new.

I unfortunately don't know what the difference is, but if it's one of the latter, well then we don't even have nine planets. See, one of the new "planets", the one with the moon, is actually larger then Pluto. BTW, do you know what astronomers have nicknamed these two? The planet is Zena, and the moon is Gabrielle. Now these names are not permanent, just nicknames, as there are very specific rules governing the naming of such things. When asked why these objects were just now being discovered when we have found planets in other star systems, astronomers said simply, "We weren't looking for them." Huh, so what type of other things aren't you looking for? A giant black hole isn't going to just pop up underneath the solar system next week, right? So there you go, your reality just got a little less subjective. Now my brain just has one thing to say before we go, Brain, over to you.

Thank you Dan. That was a interesting little story there. Now moving on, Isle of Jura, is there a better whiskey? Let me know.

-Dan

Dan Chimes In...and really hates 'Science Fantasy'

Hello, my name's Dan, I'm the manager here at Star Clipper, and I would like to welcome all of you to my little part of the Star Clipper blog.

If any of you read our old staff quotes page you probably already know what kind of stuff to expect out of my postings, but for those of you who didn't, I would like to give you an idea of what is to come. Mostly I will be posting reviews of books, movies, some TV shows, and the like. But also expect the occasional rant on some off the wall topic, I think this is one of those.

I'm a big sci-fi fan, so expect it to be heavy on that, but focusing on science fiction, not science fantasy. If you don't know the difference, shame on you. Science fiction is fiction based on actual explainable science, while science fantasy is not. It's the difference between "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Star Trek". It's the difference between spending years traveling to others stars and warp drive. Or space ships with rotating crew sections and artifical gravity. I mean, some one please explain this to me, how many times have we seen the heroes "transport" into a derelict ship, where there is no power, life support is barely functional (if at all), but somehow there is still gravity. I mean sh*t, if I was stuck in a dying spacecraft and I had to shut off all non-essential systems, you can bet your ass the gravity would be gone long before communications or heat. Hell, that would be first. "Shut it down! Shut it all down!" And, for that matter, how does it work? Is there just one big gravity generator at the bottom of the ship? If so, why isn't the gravity stronger as you get closer to it? Isn't that how gravity works? The closer you get to the source, the more it increases. If that's not how they're doing it, do they have some sort of gravity web in the flooring? If so, can they be directed? They would have to be, otherwise you would have to have really tall ceilings. Think about it, you're walking along the corridor, gravity web humming away beneath your feet, while at the same time the web on the next floor up is pulling you into the ceiling. There are two possible outcomes to this. One, the two webs negate each other, and you float between the two. And in that case, why f*** do you have them in the first place? This is really the preferred outcome as the second one just rips you in half and smears your carcass all over the place. Not very pretty. Of course they could be really low power webs, which in that case all your blood would end up in your feet, which would much heavy then normal anyway. I wouldn't recommend wearing steel toed boots in this case. Or shoes of any sort really, maybe some flip-flops if you're feeling spry.

Now I'll be watching this space, so if any of you can find a way to explain this, with REAL science, I welcome it. In the meantime head on over to Playback and read my review of one the best comics on the shelves these days.


-Dan

I heard some bad news...

I heard some bad news today that one of my newest, favoritist artists, Seth Fischer, died yesterday. He apparently fell 7 stories from the roof of a club in Osaka, Japan. wtf. While I can't say this is emotionally scarring for me, it is a terribly sad thing. The world lost a really talented artist early in his career.

I really only became aware of him a few months back when the first issue of the 'Fantastic Four/Iron Man Big in Japan' mini-series came out (the last issue of the series just came out Wednesday.) It was awesome. It seemed that Marvel handed over some major characters to an artist (that I had never really heard of) to pretty much run free with crazyness just because his style was so damned hot. it was too. Very unique. He seemed to borrow equally from America, Europe, and Japan. It really stands out on the shelf...Not to ignore some good writing by Zeb Wells and top notch coloring by Chris Chuckry but they all seemed to be contributing to giving Fischer a playground to work.

Later Dan clued me in that DC had already done somethng similiar by giving him Green Lantern in the 'Willworld' book. Its awesome too. I backpeddled through his work and realized he'd also done a Batman story last year (Good but not as conducive to his style) and a Flash story, 'Time Flies'. (more crazyness)

If you don't know his work, check it out www.floweringnose.com.

-Nick