Category Archives: DC
6 Popular Superheroes That Do Nothing For Me
If I ever become a professional comic book writer, my dream project would be Robin, the Boy Wonder. Not Batman, not Teen Titans, but simply Robin. I am probably the biggest Robin fan you’re ever likely to meet, which might seem weird to some, considering Robin is one of the most maligned and disliked comic book characters of all time! But that’s simply the way I role. When it comes to comic book characters, I tend to like the more obscure, secondary characters. You can even check out my list of my 6 favorite comic book characters and see what I mean.
Though I actively hate dogs in stupid clothes
But I got to thinking and realized that there aren’t many comic book characters that I actively hate. Not even Damian Wayne. However, there are a lot of comic book characters, especially some classic, all-time greats, who I simply don’t care about. Weird, right? I love obscure, secondary characters, but don’t care for hugely popular iconic characters. I can’t tell if that makes me more or less of a total geek. But I look at some of these amazing characters and the most I can muster is a shrug and a “meh”. No thanks, not for me. Here are 6 popular comic book characters that I just don’t care about, one way or another.
Review: Teen Titans #9 and The Culling
For anybody who eagerly reads my Teen Titans reviews, I’m apologize that this is so late. I have been dreading The Culling storyline, which is a crossover with two comics that I don’t read: Superboy and Legion Lost. I’ve been dreading The Culling because, quite honestly, Teen Titans has been a bad comic book, especially in the build up to this crossover. And I simply don’t want to have to buy Superboy or Legion Lost. Plus the rest of the Internet has been pretty negative about The Culling. So I just kept putting off actually reading the damn thing.
Teen Titans #9
Now that I’ve read it, I’m somewhat relieved to say that The Culling wasn’t so bad. Writer Scott Lobdell has finally answered pretty much all of my questions about N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and has actually provided a reasonable explanation for everything that’s happened so far.
Unfortunately, one has to sacrifice character development, personality and more than a few brain cells to enjoy this action-oriented story.
Teen Titans #9 rating: 4/5: Good. The Culling rating: 3/5: Alright.
What can I say? While I was reading The Culling (at least the parts I bought) I was enjoying myself. The comic is almost entirely climax, with the Teen Titans finally facing off against everything N.O.W.H.E.R.E. has to offer. The big threat that has been building since Teen Titans #1 – and spent most of that time in the frustrating shadows – finally comes to a head in a big way. And the Teen Titans band together, kick some ass and save the day, while facing some bittersweet truths in the process. If I was more invested in these characters or these villains, this would definitely be a satisfying conclusion to the entire Teen Titans opening story arc.
But once you get past the action, there’s nothing left. The characters all blend together, with few, if any, unique personalities. There is no character growth or any real emotional bonding between any of them, which has been a problem with Teen Titans since the start. Despite knowing N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s master plan, they still remain a largely stupid opponent, with far too much reach and power to fit comfortably into the DC Universe.
Though I will say that the art remains pretty good. More after the jump.
The Gay DC Character is a Green Lantern That Nobody Knows and is Also From an Alternate Dimension
The superhero grandpa
The rebooted Alan Scott is gay.
Out of the five human Green Lanterns, the one who is least important, who has nothing at all to do with the recent movie or the current cartoon series, who isn’t even connected to the Green Lantern stories that have become so popular, is the character DC revealed as gay. Not only that, but Alan Scott only exists on Earth 2, an alternate dimension that is completely separate from the main DC Universe.
Why the hell was DC Comics making such a big deal out of this?
They couldn’t have picked a more complicated character to explain to the mainstream media. Alan Scott doesn’t have anything at all to do with the Green Lantern movie from just last year, and in fact has an entirely different backstory; plus he’s part of an alternate reality. If they were really looking for a positive gay role model character, they picked one of the absolutely least consequential characters possible.
I realize that the news initially broke because a fan asked DC a question at a comic-con panel, rather than a big DC press release, but then DC went and milked the reveal for all it was worth. And today they launched a huge media blitz revealing that one of their “iconic” superheroes was going to be rebooted as gay. Now that we know that Green Lantern Alan Scott is the gay character, I just think it reinforces how silly this publicity stunt was in the first place.
More after the jump.
New DC Superhero Fighting Game Gets Nasty
Remember when Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe came out, and everybody was whining about how the goody two-shoes DC superheroes couldn’t do the bloody fatalities? Well apparently DC Comics and NetherRealm, the makers of Mortal Kombat, heard those cries and have designed a new fighting game where the Justice League superheroes are evil, so now they can get as brutal as we gaming nerds might want!
Behold Injustice: Gods Among Us, the new fighting game announced today that is apparently only going to feature DC superheroes and villains. Which is awesome. Too often video game makers seem to think we want non-superhero characters mixed in with our fighting games. Anyone remember Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects? For your sake, I hope you don’t. Anyway, this new game is going to feature “at least as many” characters as Mortal Kombat, so that means dozens. And it’s going to feature interactive battle zones, like the Batcave and other familiar sights.
Burn baby, burn!
The roster so far includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Harley Quinn and Solomon Grundy. I expect we’ll get more announced as we get closer to the release date sometime in 2013. Of course, I demand to see Robin in the game, but that might just be me.
This game looks pretty cool, as far as I’m concerned. I liked the last Mortal Kombat game, and this one looks very similar in play style. Granted, I mostly played Mortal Kombat for the story (and Smoke, my favorite character), but it was a fun fighting game to play with friends for a week or two. That’s exactly what I’d expect this new game to be, just a fun little fighter to spend a few weeks on and nothing more. If I still had a Blockbuster near me, it’d make for a great rental.
Wonder Woman gonna have to cut a bitch?
The trailer looks cool, with a lot of well-done animation. If this game looks as good and plays as good as Mortal Kombat, it’ll be a fine game. I’m not at all bothered by the idea of turning the DC superheroes evil in order to fit them into a fighting game, or whatever the plan is there. It’s not going to warp my fragile little geek mind if Superman now burns people to a crisp with his heat vision. It’s just a game, one that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.
Though that is one gripe. What’s the point of this game? Why make a video game with its own standalone continuity? Why not connect it to the New 52 comics? Or the Young Justice/Justice League movie style animation? But then I suppose Warner Bros. has always been absolutely ridiculous when it comes to uniting their different continuities.
Also, what’s up with the name? Injustice: Gods Among Us? That name could be applied to any video game of any genre starring any characters whatsoever. Nothing about it says ‘Justice League’ or even ‘superheroes’ to me. They should have just called it Justice League: Gods Among Us. At least then people would have some idea what it’s about.
Or why not at least ‘Injustice League’?
Review: Harley Quinn’s Revenge
I’m tempted to give this mini-game a 5 out of 5 because they let you play as Robin, but I think I’ll be a little bit more professional. Harley Quinn’s Revenge is the brand new epilogue DLC for that exceptional game Batman: Arkham City, which came out last October. I gave the main game a 5 out of 5 because it was one hell of an awesome game. Arkham City was phenomenal, a perfect sequel that gave us a bigger and more badass game than the first. Everything was improved, from the characters, to the gameplay to the game world.
That the developers, Rocksteady, would come along all these months later and give us one final helping of Arkham goodness defines the very reason why modern games should have DLC. That Harley Quinn’s Revenge isn’t as groundbreaking or as amazing as Arkham City itself does not speak ill of the effort.
Game rating: 3/5: Alright.
She’s had better days
The magic and excitement of Arkham City is gone, sad to say. The high octane energy I felt when it first came out has simply faded away, replaced by other games. So stepping back into this world, I was immediately reminded how sloppy and out-of-practice I’ve become. The signature Arkham gameplay is fun to master, but more than a little frustrating when you have to remind yourself how it works on the fly. Harley Quinn’s Revenge brings very little new to the table. It’s essentially just a long-lost final chapter to the main game, wrapping up a loose end in the story that nobody was particularly worried about wrapping up. It’s a suitable distraction and reminder of how much fun this game series really is.
And holy crap, guys, they let you play as Robin in story mode! It’s a move so brilliant that I’m still at a loss that Rocksteady would have the guts to make it! I respect them even more now!
Henchman-4-Hire 