dovka

Microsoft has finally released the long-awaited Fall Dashboard Update for the XBOX 360, in Winter. The newly revised Dashboard features support for the new Game Store, which offers downloaded versions of original XBOX games for about $20 (CDN), or 1200 Microsoft Points.

As of launch, 7 games are being offered: Halo: Combat Evolved, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Psychonauts, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex, Fuzion Frenzy, Indigo Prophecy and the original Fable (no Lost Chapters here).

Indigo Prophecy totalled in at 1.9 GB download, and went pretty quick, about an hour and it was installed. The game is transitioned pretty well to the 360 and still excellent.

The update took about 3 minutes to download on my DSL connection, and hasn't bricked the console yet.

Some other changes are the moving of the Themes and Gamer Pictures option to the Games Store, as well as the intergration of the XBOX LIVE Arcade to the store, instead of it's old location in the Games blade.

Another new feature in the Games Store are Game Add-Ons, right now the content is pretty limited, but these are basically the XBOX Live version of patches; the Bioshock add-on includes some new Plasmids and Gene Tonics.

No new TV or movie content, yet. Still waiting on those NBC Sitcoms to be delivered direct to my 360.

Some new free themes are also available, most of them from the 'Xbox Originals' area. I added the Fable theme.

power less …it has different punctuation, but Dovka doesn't like it.

Surreal: Finding a bowling ball in your yard.
Double Surreal: Realising said bowling ball fits your hand more perfectly than any other ball you have picked up.

Most of you know/hate Jack Thompson. He's the insane lawyer who sues you for not agreeing with him, the guy who hates videogames…and most lately, it's been suggested he undergo psychiatric evaluation.

More Here


All I can say is: about time!

Bruce Willis was in the local transport newspaper "The Metro" here today. There is a set of three pictures taken from press conferences surrounding the release of Willis' new film, Die Hard 4.0. In the pictures he's tugging at the ear of co-star Justin Long whilst looking the other way. I was more concerned with the text however. The Metro reports Bruce as pratically computer illiterate! Quote: "He may fight Internet terrorists in his latest Die Hard film, but at home Bruce Willis needs the help of his young daughter to use a computer." Almost as soon as I read it I recalled a really interesting post over at Switched about a month ago. The article is about people on a film-goers internet forum doubting a guy who comes into the conversation posing as Bruce Willis. Naturally (I'd be the same), they don't believe it's really him. They don't actually ask for proof, but Bruce offers it up on a plate. And there is the result - the picture in the post (follow the link) is fantastic. I particularily like the inset picture from iChat; the reaction on the poor guys face is a mixture of "Oh my god. I'm on iChat with Bruce Willis." and "I just made myself look like a right idiot… but… Bruce mother-fucking Willis!" Bruce is showing off his tats and goofing about - It makes him seem very human and for some reason really grounds him. Seems an obvious thing to say, but Hollywood stars seem so untouchable that an event like this was great to see; it does make me wonder why it doesn't happen more often.

And so the next logical question: how many other stars browse over the same social internet gathering spots as the rest of us? Last report I heard, people like Orlando Bloom were signed up to Facebook (surely that must be an absolute nightmare - talk about friend request every 15 seconds). I know if i were an actor, I'd feverously check reviews of all my movies, and I'd probably write fake shit about other actors I didn't like on IMDB. I think the episode with Bruce sparked a lot of debate over this at Ain't it Cool News.

What the devil are facebook doing? They've just started allowing "developers" build inline applications using some specialised subset technologies (FML instead of 'SQL', FML instead of 'XML'). This seems like a great idea on the surface. They are some pretty decent applications popping up (like the iLike music application) but companies have been quick to jump on the bandwagon. I think the Red Bull app was one of the first ones out there. It just goes to show really. I've very hap-hazardly signed up to most of the social networking websites going (well, the popular ones anyway… I needed to join a lot of them as 'research' for my University project). Facebook in my eyes was one of the few that I can actually use as the original developer intended.

Take myspace - everybody has heard of it and it is generally a big heap of shit (code-wise). The CSS is easy to override, which means surfing from page to page A) takes hours since clueless people stick 2Mb animated GIF backgrounds in their pages. B) burns your retinas since clueless people stick 2Mb animated GIF backgrounds in their pages. Meh, you see where I'm going with this. It's terrible, and has grown so large I doubt the developers can do a thing about it. And why would they? It's hugely popular despite it's shortcomings. I prefered facebook for several reasons. It has set styles to each page: each profile is similar to the last, just the content changes. I like the fact that you're drilling into a specific format; it's both easy on the eyes and easy to find what you're looking for. The AJAX is over the top and crazy, and it works. That's great. I also love the fact it (previously) was 'invite-only' as far as you needed a college e-mail address to have an account. That really helped 'cement' the network part of the social network.

Now they've introduced applications, it's going down hill (in my opinion). I've had a look at developing one and it seems pretty easy, i've thrown up a couple of forms and written some FML. They've been clever with the CSS (It's parsed and sanitized so you can'd do anything crazy like on myspace) and the 'Platform' as they call it, is genuinely well thought out and well documented. But my 'latest' feed is flooded with literally tens of 'so and so has done this, and wants you to use this application' posts. If I wanted all that crap I'd have a myspace? In conclusion, overall, it's a good idea. If I were part of the facebook development team, I'd have some sort of quality control though. Implementing QC on a social networking website would probably lead to either a rebelion or something though. Code-Jocks! They'll beat you up and steal your C++ textbooks and API reference cards.

As most of you are (hopefully) aware, Blizzard announced Starcraft II this weekend in Korea. I won't bother reciting the details of the announcement or video, which you can read and see here.

What I'm wondering is how Blizzard plans to overcome what could be a serious challenge in their development; resources. I don't mean crystals and gas like in the game; I'm talking video and RAM resources on systems. Most of you are probably vexed as to why I'm bringing it up. But, if you stick your dusty Starcraft 1 CD in your drive and start playing, you'll notice that the game is unit intensive (anybody remember building fleets of 15 carriers on Battle.NET just to have the game lag out? or your machine go insane?). Well, imagine that scale of units, with the obvious new attention to detail that Blizzard can afford to pay to units with the advances in processor and video technology since their last event?

While the company was pretty okay when Warcraft III came out, there is some serious competition in the RTS market now; C&C 3 showed a huge amount of promise, Supreme Commander is a fantastic (albeit large game). And, I'm sure that Blizzard is planning on enlarging the map sizes far beyond the original Starcrafts size and scope, and obviously upping previous unit caps, all the while having to ensure the company doesn't alienate gamers who don't embrace the top-of-the-line machines.

But, I could be wrong, Blizzard has shown great skill at fitting the best quality game into the smallest possible packages before, and hopefully Starcraft II won't fall back on those previous promises.

As for me, I'm looking for to this game. I'm even debating digging my original Starcraft CD and Brood Wars CD out for a jaunt through old memories.

Okay. I'm weighing in on Firefox.

I'm not a huge fan of this browser. To be honest, the moment I find something better I'm dumping it. It's not that the browser is crap. There are some wonderful features like Morning Coffee and the like that make my web-life a little bit easier. It's free, which is a big bonus, it's secure…but there's one aspect of the Fox I can't get past; the user-base.

A quick google brought me this and a slew of similar mindless garbage. My biggest pet peeve with Firefox users is this Mac-like attitude of superiority. "Oh, you use IE? Poor you."

It gets worse when you come up against a Foxfanboy who also has his own website, in my IE days, I actually stopped visiting sites which would proudly tell me "Get Firefox, 'cause it's better than your crappy Micro$oft browser." The statement might be true, but if I'm using Internet Explorer, chances are I have a reason. Mainly because most large corporate websites are still pretty IE heavy, and Firefox makes a wonderful mess of my banks website.

In short, fuck Firefox. It's a program. Get over it.

Cover Spotlight of the Week::

Blue Beetle #14
Cover by by Cully Hamner

The old phrase "a picture tells a thousand words" comes into play here for me. It's very "newspaper panel comic" one single panel that you get just by looking at it - like Gary Larson (The Far Side) style comics. The cover also sets the tone for the rest of the book and shoes classic characters in a budyd team-up. Guy chauvinistic, beer drinking man's man. Jaime stuck in Guys terriroty underage and the butt of the jokes.
Annoyingly Cully Hamner is off the books internal art but he still sticks around for covers which is fantastic. He has such a talent with subtleties and especially facial expressions and this shines through here; to let an audience know exactly what a character is saying or thinking without having them read any words is an absolute bonafied talent. Kevin Maguire (JLI) is the supreme master of this but Cully Hamner obviously is encroaching in on his mastery of the talent.
Plus I loved the fact the barman looks exactly like Kyle Rayners' Coffee shop owning friend Radu - I'm going to presume that's intential because it makes me happy.

Comics Spotlight of the Week::

JSA Classified #25
Written by Tony Bedard
Art by Dennis Calero
Cover by Steve Uy

My secret is that I constantly love the stories in JSA Classified. I don't pick up every one, just when the character that is being spotlighted interests me. I think it has been consistently better than its sister title JLA Classified, where as they approach the ideas in different ways (JSA focus' on character spotlights where as JLA focuses on untold stories from the past) JSA Classified just seems so much more well rounded.
This issue focuses on Alan Scott, who everyone knows is the original Green Lantern and the still the best - as it says on the front cover and there is something I love about seeing the old Green Lantern logo on the book despite never seeing it when it was originally published. The story is about Alan having to break an agreement with an ex-villain of his (Johnny Mimic) and contact him to find out how the HERO dial was stolen from S.H.A.D.E. Y'see Johnny Mimic is able to perfectly recreate crime scenes by just going to their location.
The story all winds up in one issue which is something of an almost lost art - Fell, Jonah Hex, The Spirit all successfully run on a one issue basis and it works so well. The story ends up being a tale of Alan Scott getting a timely reminder of his place in the world "even the hoodlums looked up to Green Lantern. You were the super-man before there was a Superman" and that he and people like him need to set the standard not be dragged down to the lower levels. Johnny looses his mind a little bit and ends up forcing Alan to kill him and break the H.E.R.O. dial because he doesn't want Father Time and S.H.A.D.E. to have such a powerful device. Kind of ironic that Alan kills someone considering the story it seems like an accident and it still seems to work in context.
For a one issue spotlight it's great, the art work is stunningly good (even if they have forgotten Alan's eyepatch - although not that we really want it) and they story ties in nicely to current events and sets a nice reminder for the JSA's role in the world. Successfully incorporated things from the DCU like the H.E.R.O dial and Johnny Mimic who I believe appear a grand total times of once before and I like things like that. All together great issue and worth checking out.

Blue Beetle #14
Written by John Rogers
Art by Rafael Albuquerque
Cover by by Cully Hamner

I think if DC do one thing better than Marvel or even any of their rivals with a shared universe it is that they can do legacy characters very well. Most of the time they get over rather well and end up building a successful fanbase for themselves and sticking around adding to the universe. From recent times Kyle Rayner, Wally West, Connor Hawke, Tim Drake have been very successful in their own right - Connor Hawke's recent mini which was much better than Green Arrow has been for a while, Kyle Rayner is arguably as popular as Hal Jordan ever was and his maxi-series Ion also just finished and it looks like he will play a huge role in the Countdown weekly which is starting just over a week. Of course these legacy characters aren't even the first wave; before them we had Silver Age characters taking over from their Golden Age counterparts; Barry Allen taking over from Jay Garrick, Hal Jordan taking over from Alan Scott, Ray Plamer taking over from Al Pratt, etc - and that's not even scratching the surface. Now after Infinite Crisis we are having a brand new wave of legacy heroes. Ryan Choi taking over from Ray Palmer with the Atom, Arthur Curry Jr. taking over from Orin in Aquaman, Bart Allen taking over from Wally West in the Flash. Of course where we had Ted Kord taking over from Dan Garrett in the 60s now with Ted Kord's death we have Jaime Reyes taking up the mantle of Blue Beetle.
Sometimes legacy characters don't hit the mark, they fail to capture something unique that the original did. But when they work well they add the whole universe, making the DCU seem much more well rounded and whole. Where as passage of time is hard to get across in a comic legacy characters provide a nice way of moving the world along. For me Blue Beetle has managed to incorporate the legacy aspects of the character while not bogging down the title. So new readers can enjoy the story and older readers can appreciate how Jaime fits into the world. The title took a while to get going and to find it's feet but now it has explained where the Scarab that powers Jaime (and before him Dan Garrett) came from and now we know who the big baddies are in the Reach (who created the scarab and like to take over planets) the title has hit it's stride. It has strong supporting characters in Jaime's parents, friends and the Peacemaker and Jaime provides a unique voice in the DCU - he's someone who doesn't know much about the world he's incredibly normal.
In this issue Jaime meets Guy Gardner again - after each other fought each other in issue 1. We've since learnt why they both freaked out (a old rivalry between the Reach - who created the Scarabs and the Guardians - who created the Green Lantern rings). Jaime asks Guy for help against the Reach and they end up fighting the Ultra-Humanitie and someone Robot Attack Penguins - Tim Burton ain't got nothing on this. Guy is written in his usually cocky buffoon persona - but with the underlying moments that he always cares more than he shows. They fight the Ultra Humanite and Guy promises to help Jaime out with the Reach in future. The best bit of the issue though, is the final page. Guy talks to Jaime about his predecessor and Guy's friend Ted Kord. Saying how he never had powers and he was always outmatches in every situation but he never backed down (makes a nice reference to Starbreaker) and always won. Guy gives him a book on Strategy which Ted had originally given to him. And with this act finally fans of Ted Kord get the legacy aspects from this character they have been waiting for. Jaime is no longer a kid in a powersuit - he is becoming the Blue Beetle. I personally love it.
Roger's wonderful witty comedic writing mixed with Albuquerque's action packed sequences give this book such a good feeling supercharged with energy which makes reading it even more fun. Over it's last year the book has been a good read, nothing stunning but a solid fun read which is important for a new book. As it is now approaching it's second year it's tying itself into the wider picture of the DCU. Jaime is no longer just a new hero on the block he is now becoming the rightful bearer of the title of Blue Beetle and if John Rogers continues on in this fashion he's going to have a very good and long lasting character in his hands. Plus I cannot wait for the first Blue and Gold team-up.

I'm sure both Liam and Ethan are especially saddened by the loss of this great author, who died from injuries after a fall at his home. Many are a fan of his works, and Kurt has rightly earned notoriety for his writing style and his quirky sense of humour. He will be missed..

And for that, we are sorry.

Notes:
1. fon is a brilliant idea, right in line with my socialist tendencies, but the fonera router is a piece of trash. It won't connect to Googletalk, or check Gmail via POP. I also can't attach to my work VPN through it, and the private wifi signal won't ever give me an IP address. So now I just keep it plugged in, so on the off chance anyone ends up in the middle of nowhere near me, they can connect all they want.

2. DECT makes for a better home phone than 2.4ghz ever did.

3. I'm clearly a network nerd, which you should all know by now, since I just rewired my home network to fit in the unused portion of a bookshelf. Well, in the empty space under it, really. Although now I'm thinking it would be neat to get some short rack rails and actually fit it into the shelf.

4. Getting Amazon Secret Santa gifts in April is actually a pleasant experience, and Porco Rosso is excellent.

5. I bought a 32" LCD TV today. I'll let you know how that is when it arrives in 7-10 days.

6. Goodnight!

With an addition to a previous Dovka:



That is 3:15am so set your VHS' or more modern recording equipment if you are not a nocturnal geek like some of us… ahem. Also the odd time is nothing to be concerned about apparently BBC just want to show it before the end of the financial year so later on we will have a more normal repeating of the pilot.

Edit on 26/03/07:

Courtesy of a nice Youtuber I present Biffovision in Youtube format.



Excellent-o.

And so the PS3 has finally been released in Europe and the UK after what seems like years of waiting for it and it has met a quiet hum of excitement. When the X-Box 360 was released there was a huge excitement in the air people at gaming shops talking about it and happily taking them home. The Wii release beat this you couldn't move for people wanting Wii's - I was working in a music shop at the time and we had people queuing up outside despite the fact we weren't even stocking them, unless you had ordered about 12 months in advance you were very stuck for getting one.

I went into town today and I was offered a PS3 at every shop I went too. Is this Sony shipping millions of PS3's to UK shops? (Nope they shipped 200,000) or is it the fact that at £425… in March. No-one can be bothered. People are still recovering from Christmas/New Year on their Credit Cards, even Valentines Day which has become nearly as expensive as Christmas for a lot of people. March isn't the best time of the year to ask people to spend more money and I think most people in the world who want a console already shelled out the money for a 360 or a Wii. Or is it that people are really not that interested I know I'm not, I don't know anyone who is and no chance I'm spending that much money on it to play Medal of Honour, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (seriously way to be new and exciting), whatever NBA/NFL games there is or the plethora of Tom Clancy games that I'm sure will roll out. At least the Wii had Zelda on release there is nothing on the PS3 till Metal Gear 4 is released sometime in Q4 of 2007.

Of course Sony knows this this is why; "At the London launch everyone who bought a PS3 also received a free 46-inch HD television and a taxi home." Beg more Sony?

I'm not saying the PS3 will fail because it obviously won't (you have brand loyalty and because of franchise games and rich bastards with money to spend). I'm not even saying it's a bad console, you're an idiot if you say the technology is bad. But with all the mistakes Sony have made from E3's and it's other "worldwide" launch to all the cutbacks with the sup-par European PS3 this is another bump. I think it's surprising that something which is meant to be the most amazing console has been released to such a yawn or is it a culmination of their mistakes? In my opinion, the FFXII launch was much more exciting and that was a game not hardware.

Happy Sunday, dames and gents. What follows is a quick journal of my first 48 hours with the PS2 RPG Rogue Galaxy. Nothing too in-depth, just first impressions, notable quirks, flaws, etc. Not quite a review, but the beginnings of one. The initial WOW factor which is really what grabs you. I'm thinking I might make this an ongoing bit, with games, and maybe books or music, if it works. So by all means, tell me if it does/doesn't.

9:28pm, 15 March 2007: I just put Rogue Galaxy in the PS2. Immediately, I am taken by it. Level 5, you are amazing. The style of this game is exactly what I hoped it was. Why more people don't make Space Operas, I'll never know. I am Jaster Rogue, who is more than a little Luke Skywalker. From a desert planet, doesn't know his real father (yet), fights with a sword/sabre and a blaster. You get the idea.

9:38: First battle. Combat is fast! Not in a bad way, but when you have five baddies on-screen, it gets a bit hectic, and I wasn't prepared for it in my overtired state.

9:44: Second battle. I died. Little cactus creatures slaughtered me in two hits before I could hit triangle to use a potion. Whoops. That's discouraging, just a bit. Restart! Skip intro this time, and head back into it, only this time a little smarter.

9:58: Wow, I'm bad at this. I died. Again. Ethan needs more random encounter practice, and needs to learn to dodge.

10:07: This time I manage to hack up a whole lot of enemies, and roll on down to the first boss, after a bunch of cutscenes, and allies coming and going. I especially appreciate Steve, the robot, because who names a robot Steve? I find that hilarious.

10:28: First boss cleared. It took me forever. I have a habit of wanting to wander around looking at everything, instead of just killing stuff. I'm also having a conversation as I play this game. This was an interesting fight. I was handed a gun that forms platforms over its back, so I can jump up on them, while it's moving, and hack away at its exposed heart. Nuts!

10:42: Ethan, you are a dumbass. I forgot to save after my big boss victory… and ended up dying in a huge, hectic, random encounter. Restart again…

10:58: I finally managed to level up, upgrade my equipment, and get ready to head out of town into the desert, ALL WITHOUT DYING. Hooray!

Since I have to work tomorrow, that's it for day one. I really do enjoy this game, despite the whole… dying three times thing. But, to be honest, I suck at any sort of action game until I play it for forever, so it's to be expected.

Friday: 5:01: Time for space! After a couple random battles, and a new flamethrower, I head into the desert. Lots of cutscenes ensue. They are GORGEOUS. Lots of craziness involving giant worms and cute space girl and big flying ship. I am assuming she will become the love interest at some point, because hey… that's just how these things work.

5:10: Finally, I am a crew member on Captain Dorgengoa's (The Greatest Space Pirate in the Galaxy) ship, the Dorgenark. Not the most creative name, I know, but its second in command is a suspiciously Meowth-like cat. He is highly entertaining, though, so I'll let the plagiarism slide. After all of five minutes aboard, CRASH, and we land on a jungle planet, and I get the chance to roam around free, battling and levelling and DYING but only a couple of times, and that was from the mimics. Note to anyone playing: save before you wander to the end of the stream. That chest is a mimic, and it most like will kill you, as it does about 90% damage to all your characters at close range.

And there you have it. My first 48 hours with Rogue Galaxy. I spent a little more time with it tonight, and still, I do love it. It is almost on par with Dragon Quest VIII, though that is a Dragon Quest game, so it naturally wins out. I've discovered a couple of clunky menu design flaws, but nothing major. On a scale of zero to one, with zero meaning don't buy, and one meaning buy, I give this: 1.

Now, I'm off to play Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime until I go ZZZZZ. ….When did I become such a gamer?

Wow, I am hip, now. "Why?" I hear you ask. Because, my friends, I have discovered the joy of Phoenix Wright.

It is no small secret that I love the DS. NDS, even, if you want to keep things to sweet three-letter abbrev's. I haven't bought so many games for a system since… well. Never, probably. Not in such a short period of time, at least. In a little more than a year I've probably bought a dozen games, and all but one are gold. So, when Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney came out forever ago, I thought "that looks nifty," but then promptly left it alone. Cue to a year later. The sequel And Justice For All came out, and herds of fanboys got excited, and about then, I started to wonder if I was missing something. The short answer is "HOT DAMN I CERTAINLY WAS!"

Phoenix Wright is intense. That is the single word that describes it best. Everything is exaggerated. Beautifully so. Every little action in dialogue results in anime sweatdrops or tit bounces or *WINKS* n_~ Every time you object or present a new piece of evidence brings fullscreen graphics saying OBJECTION! or TAKE THAT! on top of a big explosion graphic. The dialog is honestly funny, unlike a lot of games that try to be humourous and end up…. just failing. The plot is honestly somewhat predictable. Logic-ing out whodunnit is never an impossible task, though presenting the right evidence and cross-examining properly, can get challenging. It seems like it will offer very little replay value, but the quality of the rest of the game more than makes up for this. That and its pure INTENSITY.

Besides, I got it for 17 bucks on eBay, so who's complaining? Not me! I'll be picking up the sequel as soon as I'm done with the first, and attacking all the text adventure-type games that have come out for NDS in the last little while. Hotel Dusk ready yourself. Ethan Ace is headed your way.

On another note: Fixedsys Excelsior 3.00 is out, and it is heavenly. 

You probably won't be down and out for long, so we'll give it a year or so. But in the meantime we'll all be in mourning. Maybe.

Apparently Apple thinks people may be using their iPods for very evil deeds:

You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.

Source: Apple's iTunes software, version 7.0

Fuck you:

• American Idol
• America's Next Top Model
• Project Runway
• House
• 24
• Nip/Tuck
• The Hills
• Grey's Anatomy
• Heroes
• Lost
• Survivor season three hundred and eighty
• Oh fuck it, unless you are: HGTV, History Channel, TLC, Discovery, Comedy Central, CNN Headline News, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Futurama, Monk, or a fraction of Adult Swim — please go away.

Isn't anyone offering ala carte TV yet? Please…?

I've been thinking for the past week now, "Wow Ethan, you haven't dovka'd in ages now. What is UP with THAT??" Yes, it was punctuated and capitalised just like that. The thing is, I have been busy. I'm busier than ever with my job, and actually have been working on a design for the past few hours, off and on. We've got a new accounting and estimating package being installed, and I'm in charge of the estimating portion. Yay. So I've got about 20 projects on the fly, said software, and I'm still supposed to be doing up my RCDD about now.

When I haven't been working, I've been playing Final Fantasy VI Advance, and enjoying it immensely. There aren't many games that are on its level, in my book, and the updates to this one, and the pure fact that I can play it on the toilet, make it exceptional in my book. What makes this game so great, though? I've been trying to put my finger on it the whole time I've been playing it. To be honest, the characters are not amazing. They are mostly cool, but some I find absolutely grating. Kefka, for instance. I've never had a thing for him like everyone else playing this game has seemed to. He's annoying. His motivation is basically just the fact that he's zany. That is not a good character. So what is good?

Firstly, I say the pacing. It moves along at a nice pace through the first half of the game, and much of what you can spend tedious hours pursuing in the second half is optional. That is the beauty of it. The semi-linearity means I can attack the plot when I want to, and the rest of the time can be spent wandering the Veldt or killing brontosaurs for economizers (with any luck, that is).

Second, the options available to you. The selection of espers you equip on each character determines what stats increase, and what spells they learn. And of course each of them have their own unique skill. That's a great compromise between total customization and having characters set on their own singular track.

Thirdly, why am I talking about this game? Everyone knows it is good. If you don't, you are crazy. Unless you just don't enjoy RPGs, in which case I won't attempt to convert you, lest you try to convert me to playing Madden 2018.

Hopefully I will get some things done well enough that I can actually put some thought into this next time. Oh, I bought a bottle of vodka and a 2004 Riesling tonight, as well. Anyone wanting to see me drunk should contact me tomorrow at this time, because I fully intend to finish that wine tomorrow evening, and make a dent in some liquor. Does anyone have a frittata recipe that works? I'd really like to make one, though I'm not sure I have the pans I need for it. Recipes, anyhoo.

Word up.

Birmingham was hit by rather one hell of a lot of snow which kind of snowed me in for a few days, when I eventually got to the comic shop, I bought rather a lot of comics; 52 #40, Action Comics Annual #10, Detective Comics #828, Fell #7, Irredeemable Ant-Man #5, Jonah Hex #16, Mystery in Space #6, Shazam: Monster Society of Evil #1 and Spider-Man Reign #3. All were good especially Reign which had a great Fanboy moment when Peter put on the Red and Blues singing his theme from the cartoon show. However, I chose to focus my reviews on two vastly different comics.

As it is kind of comic related, I would like to point out for anyone that didn't know PBF is back and I'm very much looking forward to his hardback with Dark Horse comics.

Cover Spotlight of the Week::

Action Comics Annual #10
Cover by Adam Kubert and Joe Kubert

I may not enjoy what Johns and co are doing in Action Comics at the moment and yes it pretty much goes in the complete opposite to what I like in Superman. But this isn't a review of the insides and gladly this Annual doesn't touch too much on the Donnerification of Superman (not surprisingly the story I liked the least in the annual was the one about the "three Kryptonian villains" - not sure if it me blinded by bias or not) so all added up I really love this cover it just screams fun. Also to add that Joe Kubert despite being 80 years old is still a phenomenal artist and could actually still teach his sons Andy and Adam something about comic art it's a joy to look at. The cover is just so haughtily comic book which now and again is just excellent and exactly what you want out of a comic and it's not trying to be cool and or trying hard to express it's just fun. This is where I think quite a few artists fall down especially in the 90s - creators were just so bothered about trying to be cool. Not to constantly pick on him (he's a nice guy) but people like Rob Leifeld and even Jim Lee can come across like a geek at high school trying to impress the "cool kids" with his drawings of women with huge tits. This cover to me represents the complete opposite it's just geeks enjoying childhood memories; I get annoyed at how the Silver Age is being forced on modern comics but I can accept a fair share of it and this I like.

Comics Spotlight of the Week::

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #1
Written and Drawn by: Jeff Smith

I'm going to mention it now and not come back to it again during this review. Whatever the hell DC are doing with the Captain Marvel legacy in "Trials of Shazam" is so wrong and so backwards to the character that I can't wait for it to be over just to be retconed. It's ill-conceived and stinks of what I was on about earlier "people trying to hard to be cool" (tattoos, piercings, guns, modern hair/clothes, language - Freddy might as well go sit in his room cutting himself to My Chemical Romance) and they are cutting and blunting Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. into a very bad comic. The series shows nothing of why people love Captain Marvel it shows no love of it's past and I can't imagine why they would try to do this - when all what Captain Marvel needs to be is this comic - Monster Society of Evil.
Written and drawn by Jeff Smith who if the name is unfamiliar to you seriously go out and buy "Bone One Volume Edition". Bone was fantastic a book that transcends genres and speaks directly to the heart of everyone. It was arguably the only independent comic that really ran with the mainstream - apart from maybe Cerebus or Usagi Yojimbo. Bone is simply one of the best stories of our time because of this Jeff Smith didn't really need to work again but thank God he is.
After working on Bone for eleven years in 2002 Jeff Smith was read to move on and DC approached him to relaunch their Captain Marvel property, Bone ended up taking two years longer to finished. So in 2004 Jeff Smith finally sat down to work on Captain Marvel. His inspiration went straight back to the Golden Age - where Captain Marvel dominated the sales he easily outsold Superman and Batman. The idea of a down and out child who was able the transform into an all powerful adult by saying a magic word was amazingly whimsical and spoke to the public and most importantly it spoke to children. Jeff's main influence is to go back to what is considered the first long running story in comics "Captain Marvel and the Monster Society of Evil" Captain Marvel Adventures #22-46 (March 1943 to May 1945). About Captain Marvel battling his main villains who have all banded together under the control of Mr. Mind - the mind controlling worm.
There is a lot in this issue; introduction, an origin, explanation of powers, dive quickly into back story for Captain Marvel, some action, then crocodile men and a search for family to continue the story. All drawn beautifully by Jeff Smith and coloured by Steve Hamaker who just seem to capture again the emotions and the feeling of the comics. I've not read a comic in a long time which was just felt so special and so loved.
Jeff does take some liberty with the ideas of Captain Marvel. Him and Billy are truly separate beings like Billy Batson is more of a host for Captain Marvel, something which in my time has never been an issue apparently this was more clear in Golden Age (and I also have a feeling we'll see the separate beings grow together and combine as they stay together longer - example Captain Marvel already says "Holy Moley" which is obviously more Billy than the Captain). He has also chosen to make people much younger than the have previously been shown, he harks back to the Golden Age by killing the Wizard Shazam and even decided to use the original names of the 7 Deadly Sins of Man. This feels odd just because it's never been the Captain Marvel I've read but it doesn't feel wrong.
Problems? Price at $5.99 it's rather expensive especially when considering DC should be trying to get children to read this. Although, prestige format, no adds and 48 pages. It nearly makes up for it. I find the idea of Billy being a host to Captain Marvel a little creepy but I can't help feeling I'm nitpicking to find criticism. This was exactly what I wanted to read out of Captain Marvel and I don't see how if DC ran with this idea of the Captain they couldn't have a bonafied success on their hands. It saddens me that people reading Captain Marvel for the first time and wanting to read more about the Captain will have to make do with Trials of Shazam.
We often forget that comics should be for kids and I really think it takes a master of his art like Jeff Smith to remind us that you can write something adults enjoy but kids will also love. His managed to capture the essence of Captain Marvel while not patronising anyone who is reading. This is what Captain Marvel should be not shoehorned into depressing comics and I'm glad everyone has been reminded of this.

Fell #7
Written by: Warren Ellis
Art by: Ben Templesmith

I'm not sure I could pick a complete opposite to Shazam: Monster Society of Evil as my other favourite this week but Fell is an amazing book. While Shazam: Monster Society of Evil reminds us that comics should be for children. Fell reminds us that thank God they all aren't geared towards them and it's great that we can go into a comic shop and enjoy two titles it shows to me such diversity towards comic books. Comic books are really dominated in the market by Superheroes and I would say the huge majority of stuff I read is superheroes but again thank God there are alternatives and out of the mainstream comic book market Fell is one of the best non-superhero books on the market and behind Invincible the best book Image is publishing. In another direct opposite to Shazam: Monster Society of Evil this book costs only $1.99. Warren Ellis went into the title wanting to write a comic that people could walk into a comic shop and spend pocket change on and actually have a good interesting read. He achieved his brief, it works very, very well.
Fell is a comic about a detective Richard Fell who in the first issue was moved to Snowtown - it's the place where no-one wants to live (endless violence, poverty of a third world country, urban decay on a grand scale) and for a Detective it's a no hoper. But Richard Fell is out there with endless hope that he can save this town and really make a name for himself as a detective. It saves space by using 9 panel pages which just could not be achieved without Ben Templesmith's pencils. Who draws an almost hallucinatory hell when he is depicting the action. He manages to make absolutely nothing feels safe or innocent. Everyone has a motive, everyone is evil in some way and it works very, very well.
Fell's issues stands alone and is designed to be read alone. But as each issues runs through you learn more about Richard Fell and learn more about the world he is in. In this issue Fell has captured a man who is guilty about killing a woman - actually much worse but I'll save you the details. He is presenting the case to the defendant, his lawyer and an optimistic young D.A who has been provided by the city. Fell presents the whole story to the room but gets carried away with trying to see the guy burn for his misdeeds that it all goes horribly wrong he gives the case away. It's not a happy ending and you don't feel good at the end of the comic.
It may sound clichéd but it never plays out like that because you end up thinking about subjects like drugs, the criminal system, law enforcement, the processes involved and the grey line with right and wrong. The comic stories may stand alone but you drag these issues and feelings to comic and comic it all builds up a very satisfying and interesting read.
Usually the issues end with a some sort of extended letter column by Warren Ellis where he talks about why he chose the particular story or answers questions. It's a great thing to read after the comic and I wish more people would actually do that but this one had a preview of Cassanova a new series by Image, which I have to say looks very interesting. Fell is a great book and #7 showcases it. If you have the pocket change go pick it up next time you pass a shop.

This is real? I just don't understand.

I haven't had chance to sit down and write about comics the last two weeks. The week before I was ill and didn't manage to pick up comics to read them and then this week after picking up 16 comics, I still have about 10 to read. It was my birthday weekend so I didn't have a lot of time to sit down and read through.

Except for one thing. Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters has been a constantly awesome miniseries from DC written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and art by Daniel Acuña. #7 was an insanely great issue for a lot a different reasons but stand out for me because it herald the return of Ray Terrill. Which allowed me to geek the hell out. Fanboy moment of the year for me.



This week will see the release of the eagerly awaited Jeff's Smith's Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil to say I'm excited is a huge understatement. It should be a stunning book.

You even have a decoder with the book to read certain parts in a secret code.

Mld sld xllo rh gszg?

Afternoon, people. This is becoming quite a pattern, but hey, cooking and eating are fun. I promised Liam ages ago that I'd write this down. He had a hand in creating the recipe the first time I made it, and this is basically the same.

Need:

• 1.5 Pounds Mushrooms (I use three kinds: white button, crimini aka baby portobello, and shiitake)
• 4 Cups, about a litre, of broth (I used half chicken and half beef, because it's what I had)
• 1-2 Cloves of garlic
• 1-2 Pinches of thyme
• 2 Tablespoons of butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• A pinch of parsley

Do this:

• Make sure your shrooms are clean, but don't wash them in too much water. They soak up a lot. Chop them roughly into bite-sized piecez.
• Mince up that garlic, and throw it in a large saucepan with the butter on mediumish heat. Don't let it burn, or it'll get bitter and gross, and you'll have to chuck it.
• After the garlic is smelling nicely, add the mushrooms — as much as will fit — to the pan. If they don't all fit, just let the others cook down a little, and then add them. My experience is that the mushrooms will shrink about 50%, so don't worry. They'll fit.
• Add a wee splash of broth as this is all cooking, to keep things moist. This will also nicely meld the shroom and broth flavours, to create a SUPERMORPHORATED SHROOMBROTHY flavour.
• At this point, do your seasoning. You should be able to pick a mushroom out and have it be perfectly tasty. If it isn't, add what you think it needs. I like mine very peppery, and with a pinch of thyme. Feel free to add other savory herbs.
• Optionally, right here, you can add a wee bit of flour or corn starch to thicken things up, so you will have just a bit less of a brothyness to the final product.
• When things are sufficiently tasty, add that broth, brotha. Oh, and the parsley.
• Allow to yum for 45 minutes over low heat.
• Eat.

I like mine with crackers, of course, who doesn't? Also, I think a dollop of sour cream and some fresh chives cut on top would be SEX. Too bad I don't have any sour cream.

I also made leek and potato soup yesterday, but I wasn't too happy with it. OH, that reminds me. A nice addition to this soup: a handful of onions or leeks, thrown in with the garlic to soften up and just add extra yum. I had leftover leeks, so I did.

I am out of ideas for things I want to cook! I think I will have to consult a cookbook or something for ideas. I don't even know what I want, really. Maybe Mexican?

Good evening folks. I just finished Dragon Quest VIII after about four months of extremely-solid-followed-by-not-at-all-ohshitthat'srightineedtofinishthatgame play. It is probably my favourite game at the moment, and destined to remain there for some time, as I've always been a Dragon Quest fanboy, ever since Dragon Quest II came out here in the states (the first one hardly counted). I'm not totally done with it, to be honest, as there is a very large optional part that I'm left with, in order to get the true ending. Which is quite a thought, as the first ending was probably half an hour long. But, I promised a certain girl I would finish this game, so I could send it to her, and we could trade. She'll be sending me FFXII. Not to be confused with FFX2. That would also be acceptable, however.

So, until that arrives, which probably won't be for weeks, since I won't be shipping this off til the weekend, I am in need of a new PS2 game. Bear in mind that I only got my PS2 in October, so I missed an asshatful of games in the past few years. The PS2 games I have played are…. just about nothing, really. Final Fantasy X and X-2, Dragon Quest VIII, and…. Leisure Suit Larry. I think that's about it, actually.

I am looking at Shadow of the Colossus, because I think the design is brillyunt, but I am wondering if it won't frustrate me. Mayhaps not, as it gets really good reviews, so it can't be too bad in any area. Rogue Galaxy is also another possibility. That's done by the same team as DQ8, even, but I think it would require more huge time commitment, and I'm not very good at that. The Katamari games I must pick up at some point. Uh, aside from that, I have no clue. Bully looked kinda good? I think?

So, dovkafans, help a brotha out. Give me good suggestions for something to pass the time in the meantime until my darling sends me some love in the shape of a Final Fantasy. I'd even be up for a driving game or something. No sports games, though, please. RPGs are a help, but I may not get to them til later.

Thanks in advance. Also, Final Fantasy VI Advance on Monday in North America wooooo.

There are at least two manufacturers of gin and tonic in a can.

Why did none of you inform me of this?

So, Microsoft finally get around to releasing their new operating system Windows Vista. I read a quick clip-out from the Metro on the train about the first guy to pick up a new laptop with a pre-installed copy of Windows Vista on it. "I really like the GUI" he remarks regarding Vista's new Aero interface, and obviously satisfied with himself that he managed to slip an acronym in. "Apple OS-X has had a nice GUI for ages, it's about time Windows followed suit". There was a small picture of him holding a generic looking laptop with a big, knowing grin on his face. Very. Irritating.

The problem for me with Vista, as a gamer, is the way Microsoft have gone about this release. People like myself that play the latest games on high-spec machines rely on new graphics cards and driver releases in order to keep our systems graphical capabilities up to speed. Traditionally there are two ways in which 3D graphics are rendered on computers. These are OpenGL, controlled by Silicon Graphics or DirectX, controlled by Microsoft (although they both do more than just 3D). Now, certain games run on both, but the majority will only run on DirectX (that's an oversight by game programmers in my opinion). The issue here is, Microsoft have turned around with this release of Windows Vista and said that DirectX 10 is only available for Vista, and not for Windows XP. This basically boils down to "if you want to play the latest games, you're forced to get a copy of Windows Vista". It'll be interesting to see how this pans out for Microsoft. In a way it's clever… but I hate being backed into making a decision I don't want to have to make.

On top of the whole DirectX issue, and we've known about this for a long, long time, Windows Vista no longer comes with WinFS. WinFS (Windows Filing System) was supposed to replace the ageing NTFS (the current standard within Windows XP) but was scrapped back when Windows Vista was still being referred to as Longhorn. I really, really liked the idea of WinFS, mainly because it was based on the idea of a huge relational database for storing files. Everybody who has worked with databases knows how quick they are… and can see the benefits. Abstraction, Polymorphism, Inheritance…it's like a Computer Scientists wet dream. With some good forethought and forward planning by Microsoft's GUI team, they could have made an absolutely revolutionary piece of software. I'm almost convinced that they've decided to exclude it so they can work on things like the Aero glass interface because of stupid bellends like the guy mentioned earlier, smiling away with his shitty Packard Bell laptop playing the new look Solitaire. As long as it "looks nice" most people don't give a shit how it works. There is something so frustrating about that.

So, yeah. Not too fussed about Vista at the moment — but if I want to play the new Halo (well, I know I'll want to play) or even stuff as forthcoming as the new Unreal Tournament (damn you, Epic) then I'm going to be forced into "finding" a copy. Otherwise, I'll be doing my best waiting for Windows "Vienna"

I doubt anyone under the age of 18 and anyone outside the UK has heard of Teletext when I was young it was the hip thing - like the internet except the only way to respond to it was by post or phoning a premium rate number. It was full of bright pixels of colour and information aplenty just by dialing a three digit number on your TV after locating the secret broadcast sent down the TV signal. It was what the reveal button was invented for and the reason kids it is on your TV remote - it's not for clearing censors on porn as I swear some kid had said on a forum recently.

OK I know Teletext still exists at a button press and I know people know it is there but I can't imagine that with the Internet existing and with Digital TV it's get the same traffic it used to when I was young - especially considering digital TV gives you subtitles at a button and now and next on command. Which must have been the most popular uses for Teletext. I'm so old I remember when Fasttext was introduced, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a TV that could do that imagine going to my favourite Teletext pages with only one push of a button - think of how much easier it made Bamboozle. My most fond memory of Teletext was Digitiser which I read every morning for about 10 years while eating Pop Tarts and watching Big Breakfast.

Digitiser or Digi as I will probably type a few times, for those who don't know, was a computer game "magazine" on Teletext which was updated daily. The presented computer game news in a hilarious, offbeat, satirical, surreal way that was so unique it's kind of hard to describe it to people who didn't read it. News stories were hosted by a range of characters, one such was a Zombie (Zombie Dave) that spoke in a code that once you decrypted it because obviously clear he was speaking some pretty crude things - which of course was hilarious. There would be cartoons scattered all over the pages, especially the letter pages, which were usually the highlight of the update. You can never forget the Snakes or the Man and I'm sure they pre-empted the Internet's love for Mr. T by a number of years. Actually they got in trouble quite regularly with the Channel 4 Directors and people in charge of Teletext for being too crude and pushing the limit too far and everyone loves a rebel.

It's pretty clear now that where now we have Internet Memes from 4chan, ytmnd, b3ta, fark, et al. Digitiser was doing the exactly same thing just in a more confined environment. I know at the time out of my friends the ones that read Digitiser would almost talk in a secret code to each other about the recent updates from "reversible sledgewicks", describing something as "huss" to "moc-moc-a-moc" or adding -uss, -O, -ston, -Oh! and -me-do to any word and then ending passages with just "And!" it would leave the rest of my friends in complete confusion. Their loss. And!

There is far too much stuff for me to ever go through and the good thing is I don't have too because the Internet has achieved it all for me:

• Super Page 58
• Digi-Me-Do
• Digitiser Eulogy

The point is; it was awesome and played a big part in why I got into computer games and also made me feel part of an incredibly elite (read pathetic) club. If you got a letter printed it was amazing, hell me and friend got them to draw Yoda once and I remember trying to record it onto VHS and actually just got some of Brookside.

And, I started to ramble on again. The reason I decided to write this was because even though Digi maybe dead the people who created it and ran the thing are not. Mr. Biffo and Mr. Hairs were the two people who started it however after a time it was just Mr. Biffo. Who after a while realised he was a good writer (with a tiny space for text he managed to fill it with humour and subject matter effectively - me being a history student means I do the opposite - I just keep writing on and on with no humour - so being concise is a talent) so he has moved onto TV writing in the past he contributed a lot to kids TV specifically My Parents are Aliens which was wonderful. He also writes a monthly column for Edge magazine.

He has a blog like most people in the world and what started all this is I was catching up on my bookmarked blogs that I haven't read for a while. I knew he was working on a sitcom "Now The Weather" for Channel 4 and I wanted to see where it was going. But I was hit upon with wonderful news. BBC3 have commissioned a pilot for a TV show written by Mr. Biffo and Mr. Hairs called "Biffovision" which is some sort of odd sketch show which sounds like it's more or less a live action version of Digitiser without Computer Games… which is just exactly what I want out of TV. So I'm very excited and I hope someone else is too. He has constantly updated his blog about this and I'm sure he will keep doing that so go over there keep checking it, also the pilot is scheduled for March. So woo!

He also has a book coming out about his conversations in chatrooms with men when he was pretending to be a woman called Confessions of a Chatroom Freak or you can get it from Amazon but it doesn't have a picture so I didn't want to link that one. I'll definitely buy it when it's released I also hope other people will and I hope everyone enjoys.

And so ends an impromptu ramble about Teletext, Digi and beyond.

Tonight we're making meatloaf. I generically stereotypically call this "Meatloaf Italia!" because it has Italian-esque flavours in it.

You'll need:

• Two pounds of ground meat, your choice. I used turkey and buffalo, because I'm a weirdo, and they liked me at the time. Some meats need more mixing together than others, in order to make them a nice homogenous mix.
• An egg
• A handful of fresh basil leaves. Homegrown are much better, btw, because they have a nice sweetness that commercial varieties typically don't.
• A couple of cloves of garlic. I used one monstrous deformed elephantitus clove, which was seriously huge, and two really tiny ones. A mutant bulb, it was.
• 1/4 cup or 60ml (a measurement that Liam hates) or maybe half a handful of roasted red peppers. I took mine from a jar.
• Salt and pepper
• Bread crumbs. I used the Jap ones - panko.
• Parmesan cheese for topping.

Okay, here's what you do.

• Dump everything in a bowl except the parmesan, although you could certainly do that if you liked, and mix it up. If you are using two or more types of meat, make CERTAIN that are mixed well. This means your whole mix should be one colour, and you shouldn't be able to pick out what meat is where. If you don't do this, since different meats cook for different times, it could help the loaf fall apart.
• Oh before you do that, you should probably mince the garlic, and chop up the basil and red peppers. Yeah go! Wooo!
• Form all that into a loaf. You want it to be as moist as possible while still retaining its shape. Make it too dry and it'll fall apart. Make it too moist and it will just flatten and then fall apart. At this point you can do one of two things.
• A: Put it on a flat tray or plate and put it in the icebox. This will allow the flavours to meld a bit more, or so I'm told. Some call this "yumming." Some meaning Liam and I.
• B: Put it on a tray, or a foil-covered rack, and bake for an hour or until the juices are clear at 350 F, or 175 C, or gas mark 4.
• Allow it to cool a little bit after you take it out, slice it up and eat.

I served mine (to myself :(((( ) with mashed potato and swede with parmesan. It was quite the filling meal. OH, this reminds me. If you really want to get fancy, make a mixture of bread crumbs and parmesan, about a 1:1 ratio, and sprinkle it on the top of the loaf when it is nearly done. Then turn the heat up real high until they start to brown and bubble, and it will be yum.

Next weekend, I may actually get unlazy and make mushroom soup again, only this time remember to write down the recipe.

Cheers, all.

A really rare shark called the Frilled Shark has been spotted off the shores of Japan as reported on Reuters.



I thought it was bizzare and interesting enough to post here also a Youtube video of the CNN report.



In a kind of related thing, well not related at all. Except it is weird and amusing. A dog that walks on two legs. Look at it go!



Dovka'd!

I will not apologise for being late this week because I'm starting to think this will be the time each week when I post this so meh. Also seeing that I may not be able to do it every week but I'll keep hope up and try too. I kind of enjoy it actually. I want to put these reviews up earlier but I also want to read Bone and sit on my ass doing nothing so I can't seem to get a happy medium between the lot. I have also managed to break my chair which makes sitting at my computer less comfortable than it usually is I have a feeling after a week of sitting like this I will have the posture of a miner.

And I've just realised the cover of this apple juice carton looks like someone got a bit too excited over an apple, ewww. I can't drink anymore of that.

This week I bought: Aquaman #48, 52 #37, Green Lantern #16, JLA Classified #32, Spider-Man Reign #2, Spirit #2, Star Trek The Next Generation: The Space Between #1. Nothing at all was bad; I found Green Lantern a bit flat but it was one of the best issues in this volume. Aquaman introduces a new twist to an old villain and also has a double splash page of a map of the seascape which I know I'll be coming back to again and again. I really enjoyed reading Slott's Justice League which has sat in a draw for about 2 years - but reminds you why Slott is so loved by fanboys around the globe. I bought IDL's new Star Trek TNG comic just because I am a slight Trekky and I was very surprised of how much it felt like the TV series. I would suggest any fan of the TV series to at least give it a try.

Two Covers of the Week ::

52 #37
Cover by J.G. Jones

I honestly think J.G. has outdone himself this week. I think the biggest challenge in this cover would have been doing the curved reflective surfaces. Having Supernova reflect off the golden body of Skeets, and then off the "legs" of the evil little robot. Then having Booster Gold reflect off the insides of the "eyes" of Skeets - almost like Skeets is seeing the truth I suppose. Then having Booster holding the bottled city of Kandor which is another reflective surface. I think to put all them together takes such skill and talent I must also mention Alex Sinclair's colours on the cover. A lot of times he really makes the cover pop with the colours he adds and this week especially works well. All the different colours and tones must have been hard to do - reflecting Gold and Blue. They both pull it off fantastically though. And not to mention that the cover spoils or a better word reveals one of the biggest mysteries through 52 - OK many people had called it but there was still a lot of doubt. It was fun to see people walk into the comic shop and see the cover and just exclaim "whoa!" "oh shit" "oh snap" "hey!". Everyone was really excited by it and it worked a treat. However looking at J.G. Jones' Blog I can't help thinking I would have loved his concept cover. It looked like a great idea.

Y: The Last Man #53
Cover by Massimo Carnevale

I think this cover really jars your senses. You have a barely dressed supermodel woman on the front which first catches your attention. Then when you've stopped to stare for a while you see she is actually working as a trash collector. However, she isn't just any kind of trash collector - she is collecting the rotting remains of Men who were killed off in a mysterious plague. Bearing in mind the plague was well over a year ago - these bodies are pretty rotten now. It's not the most pleasant of jobs. But yes since you've stood there at the stand looking at this cover absorbing it all in, you want to read the comic. Adding that I'm sure we haven't seen this character in Y since the first volume (she was the first woman to find out Yorick was a man) I think it checks all boxes for an awesome cover.

Two Comics of the Week ::

Written by: Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid and Grant Morrison
Break Downs: Keith Giffen
Art by: Pat Olliffe & Drew Geraci

Before I read this issue and just from the cover I knew it was going to be fanboy joy for me. I've been a huge fan of Booster Gold for many, many years. Since reading JLI stuff and then Giffen/DeMatteis' Formerly Known as the Justice League and I Can't Believe it is Not the Justice League. Where obviously played for laughs but you could see the sentiment behind it and it plays out really well. I have to applaud DC for using Booster in a much more serious role in recent years since Countdown to Infinite Crisis - which annoyingly was the best Blue & Gold story ever written and obviously the last.
So yes Booster Gold is Supernova (and it seems Rip Hunter is Daniel Carter too - but against we will see). He learnt about Skeets' true intentions in Rip's lab and after a meeting with the Time Master he faked his own death to go undercover to stop Skeets, using a lot of stolen technology and using a Phantom Zone projector to have his teleporting powers. A fight between Skeets and Booster in the abandoned Fortress of Solitude ends up with Skeets somehow managing to absorb the Phantom Zone and hints at the fact that Skeets may be being controlled by some outside force. Rip and Booster then escape using the missing 52 seconds… I love Time Travel stories I have to say - they aren't for everyone at all and paradoxes and lost time can confuse and just annoy people. But I revel in it actually - maybe it's watching too much Star Trek or Quantum Leap but they are my favourite types of stories and 52 is working just fine with Rip Hunter and time travel. I think after reading most of JSA that Geoff Johns is writing the majority of Booster Gold stuff. It just seems more like his style, along with probably Mark Waid too. Whoever is writing it they are giving me fanboy pleasure of seeing a favourite character kick ass. Now keep him alive for the remaining weeks!
The last part of the issue catches up with the funeral of another favourite character of mine, Animal Man. A nicely written funeral that is lead by Minister Lobo. However after everyone leaves Buddy wakes up shouting "DON'T LEAVE ME!!!". I think I let out one huge "YES!!!" after reading it. It's a pure fanboy moment which really made this week a fantastic comic for me. On top of that you turn the next page and two characters and standing there that haven't been seen in maybe 15 years. The two yellow aliens that gave Buddy his powers and also have shown they have the ability to rewrite continuity at their whim. When they "And so it begins." you know something major is going down.
The origin story is of the newest Firestorm Jason Rusch beautifully drawn by Jamal Igle. It's a shame that they do this origin story the same week that they announce his solo series is cancelled.
Just an issue full of fanboy moments for me which makes me just want to keep reading.


Spider-Man: Reign #2
Written and Art by: Kaare Andrews

I had just about decided which two were the best of the week and then I realised I hadn't read Spider-Man Reign #2 and whoa I was shocked by how much I loved it. So sorry Spirit #2 - you were a fantastic read but I'm afraid you were knocked out by fanboy loving of 52 and now a pure shock surprise for me - I enjoyed a Spider-Man comic.
I haven't enjoyed a Spider-Man story (in comics the movies are great) since I read Todd MacFarlane's stuff in trade when I was first getting into comics around 7 or 8 years old. Bearing in mind these stories were written before I was born it's been one hell of a long time since I think there has been a Spider-Man story. I know people say Ultimate Spider-Man was good when it started but I know the same people are now saying it's "trash with staples" so I'm happy I never bothered with any of the Ultimate stuff.
The shame is, this Spider-Man story isn't in continuity. But it's also a good thing, most people are fed up with the doom and depression that Marvel has to inject into everyone one of their comics. They kind of seem to have forgotten how to write heroes (which for me is a stark contrast between what is happening in DC especially 52) and yes this story has a dystopian future with depression being the main focus. But maybe it's about the light out of this darkness which will make this story one of heroes. What I do love about this future is that I can see this happening in the Marvel universe. They have never been a universe which loves their superheroes - I think the main difference between the DCU and the Marvel Universe is that the citizens of the DCU on the whole celebrate their heroes, they have Superman Day, and they cheer and look up into the skies when the superheroes are about. In the Marvel Universe you get "Spider-Man is a Menace" on the front of the Bugle. If he ever disappeared for a while I bet the papers would read "Finally Spider-Man has Left" where as in the DC is Superman leaves you get "Where is Superman?". So leading out from this difference you get a future that has banned masks, where there are no superheroes and only a government maintained police force in every city. This is not far off from where Civil War the Initiative is going (a registered Superhero force in every state) take off the masks and you have this future. So I appreciate however accidentally it might be that Kaare Andrews has made this feel like the Marvel Universe.
Obviously the other thing is that this does feel like the Dark Knight Returns. The style, the newscasters, and old hero coming out of a retirement to give hope to people once more. But it does play out differently which to me makes it not just a copy.
J. Jonah Jameson is the break out in this issue. Calling out for his old adversary Peter Parker to put on the mask once more and lead the civilians to freedom. In the first issue he comes across as a quack and old man who has completely lost it all looking to maybe tie up the bad blood he had with Peter when they were younger. In this issue you realise he needs Spider-Man, the knows the city does. He has become the voice of liberty and freedom with a group of kids following his lead and a voice that they have never heard.
Peter is a man crushed, he was always the poor guy who was down on everything, late, no rent, unable to have a good relationship. Whose only escape was Spider-Ma. Now he is a crushed old man who doesn't accept the death of his wife, who is just stumbling through life. It plays out beautifully to the moment when Peter "unknowingly" straps on the costume and accepts his place again the police force "the Reign". He is witty again “There are three kinds of people in this world. Those who can count … and those that can’t.” You accept the old man under the mask is Peter and you cheer for the fact he is back.
You see the inspiration that the world needs, the Hypno Hustler nearly makes his most triumphant return - but forgets fresh batteries. The people start fighting back against the Reign.
However Peter is beaten to a pulp and then pulled away by the arms of Otto Octavius after being beaten by a government sponsored Sinister Six (which is also not too far away from what we are seeing in Civil War).
I want this story to be in canon because I think it has played out so well. Seriously if you love the character or have ever enjoyed Spider-Man buy this mini. It's beautifully written.

A guy I remember watching fondly from my youth dying at only 45 years of age.
A few links of people talking about his life and career;

1. Wiki biography
2. Current WWE Superstars
3. Lance Storm on his blog

Very, very much late this week. Between Zelda, loosing my job at Music Zone (can go fuck themselves), a fake chest infection and being generally lazy not managed to get to comic shop or read them. Anywho comics.

Two Covers of the Week ::

Runaways #23
Cover by Jo Chen

Runaways, even though I resigned to collect the series in trade, has constantly been a fantastic book from Brian K. Vaughan (who also kicks ass with Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Dr. Strange: Oath. Amongst other things) which is now a shame as he is leaving the book hopefully Joss Whedon can continue the good work. One constantly good thing about the book is the covers from Jo Chen (and it's great that she is continuing on with Joss). I just love the composition on this piece how Jo uses the loop on the staff to completely draw your eye to make eye contact with Nico. Honestly, it grabs you from the other side of the shop not to mention how flawless the pencil and colour work is. Great cover.

52 #36
Cover by J. G. Jones

I've got a feeling that up to the end of this run this comic will make regular appearances here because the covers are constantly amazing by J. G. Jones. We have here Lobo, after weeks and weeks of pacifism finally breaking loose and beating the holy crap out of Lady Styx's zombie army. It's just a kick-ass Lobo cover which really does feel like a good 90's Lobo cover. Here we see the moment just before impact which according to J. G. Jones is from Frazetta. One of the things he would always say about cover drawing is "never show the moment of impact, say of a sword or axe cleaving a body. Rather, depicts the moment just before or the moment just after the action. This lets the mind's eye fill in the moment of impact." and we see this in action here, just before the arm swings down onto the zombie warriors. The red of Lobo's eyes set off by the smallest bit of blood running out of Lobo's mouth makes it so eye catching too.

Two Comics of the Week

Justice Society of America #2
Written by: Geoff Johns
Artist by: Dale Eaglesham and Ruy Jose

I've said some unfavourable things about Geoff Johns since Infinite Crisis. I think Green Lantern is committing all the sins that previous Hal Jordan series have done showing none of the personal flair that Geoff has shown in the Flash before, I think he is writing a Superman in Action Comics that is so out of touch to what Superman should be in comics, I think Teen Titans has been long winded and ultimately dull. Causing accusations of overwork and burnt out. Apparently he was just saving it all for JSA because this title already is showing the flair, the history, the love for the JSA and for comics in general that made the previous volume of it so popular and one of the best on goings. This added to the wonderful pencils of Dale Eaglesham (I've been a fan since his Green Lantern stuff and he is so much improved that he was then too) just makes this title a must have for comic book fans. It's a shame Alex Ross has resigned himself to drawing "character on black background" for every cover - Dale's alternative covers are so much better.
This issues continues on to introduce the death of the newest Mr. America, an introduction to I'm sure who will be a new Commander Steel (the grandson of the original and the cousin of the JL Detroit Steel), continues on to Wildcat talking to his newly discovered son, a quite stunning return of Hawkman, Maxine gets shown how a superhero gets a costume, a discovered plot killing off Golden Age bloodlines, and a shocking and continuity-woven revelation of the newest and craziest Starman. Which all makes one hell of a good issue.
I love Grant having a son, I love how similar but yet completely different the two are. Grant is always portrayed as the most hardest man on the planet but yet time and time again it is awesome to see times like this when cracks appear and the old man shows he is human after all. I'm hoping Commander Steel doesn't fall into the same trap of "I feel pain in my Steel bones" which made the others such fodder for death but I do trust Geoff not to string out the character to that point. I'm not the biggest fan of Hawkman ever - except under Geoff's pen so I'm happy he is in this book and his entrance was just awesome.
Then the last page "all blown to Kingdom Come" this crazy Starman seem to be the grown up Starman from the Kingdom Come universe - who is the original Thom Kallor from the Legion of Super Heroes. Now explaining why Da