Graph Paper Games

I tried to avoid spoilers to this movie, but if you think I didn't, my apologies in advance. It's been a while since I've reviewed something, so I thought I'd give my handful of readers my take on the new DC animated movie Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay For those familiar with the earlier animated Suicide Squad movie Assault on Arkham , I should tell you that this is not a sequel to that movie but rather follows the DC animated movie Flashpoint , a fact which isn't revealed until pretty late in the movie.  That's too bad, because I thought Assault on Arkham was a great movie and vastly superior to the live-action film.  The real giveaway that the two are not related is that Killer Frost, theoretically killed in Assault on Arkham , appears in Hell to Pay  but with a different secret identity and costume (for those keeping track, the AoA version is Louise Lincoln, the HtP version is Crystal Frost). Hell to Pay is a pretty standard Suicide Squad plotline: th...

I've really let my writing slow down, so I thought I'd expound upon some things that I like that are on my mind lately.  One of these is The Mighty Crusaders. My interest in the comic book team The Mighty Crusaders goes back not to the original team, but to the brief period when DC Comics re-envisioned the former Archie Comics characters as part of their Impact Comics line from 1991 to 1993.  Despite DC's goal of reading younger views with more kid-friendly story-lines and direct-to-newstand sales, as a college student I liked the Impact line for several reasons. (Side note: DC Comics also took another property they owned outright, Charleston Comics, and used those characters as the basis for the Watchmen .) First, it was fun getting into an entire comic book universe on the ground floor, one which appeared to have little-to-no backstory and every character was just having its start.  Second, with the Iron Age in full swing, I appreciated the more Silver Age-style sto...

I don't usually critique TV shows on this blog, but I talk about about comic books and superheroes so I thought that it might be fun to jot down my thoughts (and concerns) about the foursome of superhero shows on the CW. Of the four, I'm least concerned about Arrow, which is funny because if you had asked me last season I'd have said it was about done.  The hero/villain constellation of Damien Darhk and Oliver/Felicity just didn't do it for me and the show seemed poised to lose its edge.  Much like the old sitcom News Radio and Moonlighting, the fans might want to see the romantic tension resolved, but it's not what is best for the show. Wiping that slate clean and introducing a slew of new characters, both heroic and villainous, brought a lot of new life to Arrow.  The new proteges deserve more time to develop, but they really helped put Arrow back on its feet.  Plus I'm kind of a sucker for non-Batman non-super DC characters. The show that I'm feelin...

Is there any person who exemplifies the Iron Age of comic books better than Rob Liefeld?  Now I am a pretty critical person when it comes to the Iron Age, but I will admit that I bought the comic books (along with a gazillion other people) in hopes that it would lead someplace interesting.  It didn't.  It led to over-indulgences like foil-covers and bagged comic books hoarded away by collectors thinking the comics would put their kids through college in twenty years. But hey, Rob Liefeld apparently got enough people to back his Kickstarter to start publishing Bloodstrike and Brigade again.  I'm suspecting ironic hipsters may be to blame here. But the thing that brought a real smile to my face was Liefeld's "homage" covers that he drew for Bloodstrike. On behalf of every comic book store owner who ever got burned by Liefeld's spotty work ethic, I would joke that these two comics took him eight months to create, except that apparently he just trace...

I have been really disappointed in DC's Convergence and Marvel's Secret Wars, mostly because both of them have been fairly random and confusing and have that sense of mining previous era's successes in hopes of reminding old readers why they used to like comic books (but maybe don't so much anymore).  I'm also fairly convinced that I can just wait out both summers and both "universes" will reset to whatever closely resembles their respective movie franchises. So what's a comic book reader to do?  Two comic books series have come out this week, both worth a look, especially if you're a fan of sci-fi comics. The first is Onyx , a space alien wearing a suit of starfaring armor that comes to Earth to protect them from a parasitic alien race that has already infected the planet.  If it sounds like Rom the Spaceknight , it is because the creators made Onyx as a sort of "love note" to that series.  There are some differences.  First, Ony...

It's been pretty slow on the gaming front the last few weeks, but I thought I'd at least share a few things I've been doing. As DC and Marvel Comicss have been simultaneously pulverizing their respective universes in hopes of ginning up for readers, I've decided to take a break from both houses until the dust settles and I get a sense of what the new regular comic book offerings are going to look like.  I'm not optimistic, and deeply suspect that I'll be dropping a lot of titles from my "pull box" at the local comic book shop. In the meantime, I've been cruising the library reading some older titles, including the weird and funky Tomb of Dracula.   The series is so, so 1970's, with its mod-style heroes and hip dialogue.  Dracula is the ultimate square, an arrogant authority figure from the past set on preying upon mostly young (and generally female) victims.  There is that 1970's fondness for Universal Studios monsters, "Asian...

I had the chance to read the most recent DC/Marvel crossover recently.  By "recent" I mean "2003-4," since there have been other crossovers, such as the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover and the Amalgam Universe titles.  If you haven't read this series, or the collected edition that I found in my public library, it's worth a look, especially if you're running a superhero game. For one thing, it's Busiek and Perez, two top names in the industry.  I loved the Busiek/Perez run on the Avengers at the time, and frankly feel like it was the last time the team really felt like the Avengers to me, although the "Heroic Age" came awfully close. The plot is pretty straightforward.  Krona, an exiled Oan, comes to the Marvel Universe looking for the truth of creation, in the process destroying several alternative universes, including the "Earth 2" of the Crime Syndicate of America.  When he gets to the Marvel Universe, the Grandmaster challen...

To help get me thinking about how a team book works, especially in the Marvel style, I headed down to my local public library and picked up Essential Avengers, Vol. 4 (Marvel Essentials) Volume Four covers Avengers 69-97 , which is roughly 1969-1971 and for the most part features Roy Thomas as writer and John Buscema as artist (and Stan Lee consistently getting top billing as editor).  While the cast rotates a bit, it's a mostly Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Yellowjacket, Clint Barton as Goliath, Vision, and the Scarlet Witch.  There's a few leit motifs  throughout these years.  For example there is the snarky sarcasm and semi-affectionate name-calling between members of the Avengers, especially Goliath, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp.  There's the somewhat overbearing tendency to have people verbalizing the action as a way to help the reader follow along (e.g. "Goliath's bringing down the entire building!" or "Your bullets can't do anythi...

I finally got over to my local comic book shop to empty out my pull box.  I'm a sucker for team books, and right now have The Avengers , Justice League , Teen Titans , and Batman and Robin being held for me.  I had dropped Amazing Spider-Man  after the whole "Spider Island" story.  DC has recently done the whole "relaunch the entire universe" thing (aka "the 52"), and I've been hoping that it would bring something interesting to the table. Justice League #7 Nope.  I'm pretty much done with the Justice League , but my son is trying to get me to continue with Teen Titans .  After six issues to introduce all the characters, Justice League #7 has shifted into the post-modern crypto-fascist drek of the '90s.  The US Government is antsy about the League having a new satellite, people want the League to take over the government, and the members of the League continue to be snarky, unlikable characters with no chemistry. Look, DC Comics.  T...