Since I just referenced Spider-Man one more day, I just wanted to have a post that detailed why the devil is real. There are certain things in life that makes a person wonder if there is a god. It could be many questions:

• Why his BATMAN RIP being delayed by 2 months?
• Why does the WII suck? Why does it repeat the Nintendo curse? ( separate post)
• And to be completely off topic, why does Great America charge 58 dollars for full price theme park tickets?

In these trying times of a recession,  when you find that Citigroup is laying off a gazillion employees you have to wonder why crappy theme parks still charge for people to attend. 

For their recent “scary Halloween” promotion, Great America charged $58.00 per person to go to their theme park. This is outrageous!

I can only think that it has something to do with the devil. 

Don’t ask me why I include the 1970’s Mephisto, it just seemed right. As time goes on, I am going to add more posts to the devil is real category. Maybe then conclusions can be made of how to solve this great crime against humanity.

Ah the pain. Can anyone remember the hurt of Spider-Man One More Day?

People much smarter than me have analyzed the number). It looks like sales have mildly declined, but there’s a good chance that the post OMD Spider-Man is here to stay

Since the new status quo has been implemented, I can’t help look at the fact that Spider-Man is a coward. Who would sacrifice their hot wife for an old nasty aunt? 

Let’s not forget that at the same time of OMD, Aunt May told Peter that SHE WANTED TO DIE.

One thing that the Spider-Man staff wanted to flaunt was that the characters were going into a new direction.

Given this fact, they had a nice little piece of Mary Jane reading a copy of “Dante’s Inferno”.

I can’t think of any other medium that regularly insults their readers, and think they can do what they want with the characters. It’s a little depressing, and is one of the many reasons I no longer buy Spider-Man. There could have been a 1000 different ways to reset the status quo. But when were growing up with these chacters, we can’t but help relate to them. Pieces of fiction become real to us in their own way. After spending 1000’s of hard earned dollars on a character, it feels like all your dollars are wasted.

A lot of things can be said about J Michael Straczynski run on Spider-Man. But one thing you can say is that the character evolved. The age remained the same, but there were many poignant moments on Straczynski’s run. I think the “Back in Black” storyline was awesome. Spider-Man confronting the KingPin? Bring it on. The character had a maturity, and I was actually picking up the title again. This was all reversed with the introduction of Mephisto and a magic wand. 

This hurt. It was a spit into the face of an aging fan base that decreases each month. I was more than happy to reduce my comic purchases, and use my dollars elsewhere (like video games).

It remains to be seen for if Spider-Man can come back to the light again. Now he just reads like an everyday loser. 

Make mine not Marvel.

What more I there to say about Fallout 3, other than the fact that it’s glorious? Gaming these days seems to go into three categories:

• Too Much Work
• I’m Picky
• Fun

As I work 50+ hours a week, and also commute about 2 hours a day, I would say that the games I do want to play have to be fun from the initial get go.  So this of course puts 98% of games in the “too much work” category. Here is a list of recent games that I despise and loathe (organized by category)

I’m Picky

Super Mario Smash Brothers

I can’t stand the trophy. I’m a big time book reader, and can’t understand how the stupid characters can transform from person to trophy. It bothers me so much, I can’t play the game. Can someone explain to me how they turn into trophies? What’s the bloody point?

Lego Star Wars

Fable 2

The dog that accompanies your character can somehow fly, run, and play fetch. It’s kind of creepy. Also my friend created a female character that somehow turned into some lesbian football player. The game has a weird metabolism feature that warps your character. As I said, creepy.

Too Much Work

World of Warcraft (This game is from the devil. This will be added to my posts on “THE DEVIL IS REAL”). This steals time and your soul. It’s a “mind trap”. I immediately recognized the evil of this game as I played it for a few short hours. This is definitely the top contender for “too much work”.

Fun

Fallout 3

Why can’t all games be like this one?  When then world was created, God said “Let there be fallout 3”, and all was right with the world. I can’t even begin to say how much I appreciate the excellent work that Bethesda does with their games. Elder Scrolls and Fallout are in my top games of all time. They offer games that offer 100 plus hours of gameplay. You get excellent value for your gaming dollar. I’m over 20 hours into the game, and still haven’t really begun the first mission!

My main priority with this game right now is to blow up the evil super mutants in Washington. I will retrieve the declaration of independence, oh yes.

Thoughts on Batman RIP

I don’t know what to think of the latest Batman storyline. I have to admit that I am terribly addicted to it. There have been many twists and turns that have been made it enjoyable. I really appreciate it when writers actually draw upon a characters history, and manage to make it into something new. This is self evident with the “Batman of Zur En Arh” incorporation, as well as many elements of Grant Morrrison’s run. So why does this book have to be delayed so damn much? It’s now 2 months late, and is forecast for 11/26. Given all of the delays, one has to wonder just what the hell DC is up to these days.

This first blog post will be a series of analysis on my favorite comic character, Batman. He’s the only character I can think of who has had AT LEAST a 100 different interpretations (probably more), and they all somehow hold true. Today’s first post will be who many consider to be the definitive Batman artist, Jim Aparo.

Jim Aparo came on to Batman around 1971 and has left a permanent mark on the character. His version of Batman is dark, moody, and instantly iconic.

What first got me into Batman were the stories of Knightfall, and A Death in the Family. Some of the images from these stories are permanently burned in my mind as the definite version of batman. Several different writers may have their take on Batman, but it always seemed like that Aparo’s version remained the same, no matter who the writer. Sometimes the art outdoes the writer, and no matter how they write it, the story becomes something else with such powerful artwork.

The picture of Batman cradling a dead robin is one of the most iconic batman pictures in the last 20 years (despite crappy continuity reboots, the death of robin is still firm in many fan’s minds).

Jim Aparo took a somewhat far fetched story (the Ayatollah was in the story for chrissakes), and turned it into something powerful and moving.

Artists such as Neal Adams, Frank Miller, and Jim Lee are usually regarded as the definitive Batman artists. The purpose of this series is to highlight some of the unsung heroes of Batman’s past, and also to show some of their strongest works.

DC is finally giving props to Aparo in the upcoming Batman Black and White Statue.

As said, the art sometimes speaks for the writer. I’ll leave this post at that, and give tribute to one of the most iconic batman artists of the last 20 years.

Next artist/writer team up: Alan Davis/Mark Farmer

Hello. Welcome to my blog.

This blog combines my two great loves, Comics and Videogames. This will be a blog that analyzes the comic industry, and some various elements of the videogames I love.

Posts are forthcoming.