Studio To Get Their Grubby Hands on Batman: Arkham Sequel
Or should I say prequel.
According to Variety, Warner Bros. is taking a firmer hand in the third part of the Batman: Arkham series. It’s going to be a prequel, and it’s going to tell the story of how Batman first met the Joker. Not only that, but it’s apparently going to include appearances by the Justice League.
F*** this.
Pardon my potty mouth
According to that article, Warner Bros. has finally started to get their act together in preparation for a live action Justice League movie in 2015. And part of that process involves steering all of their existing properties towards that goal – including properties that are really popular and have nothing to do with a Justice League movie. Properties like the Batman: Arkham games.
You know what’s great about the Batman: Arkham games? That they’re not a tie-in to anything. Superhero movie tie in games suck. Sometimes they’re playable, like the Captain America movie tie in game, but most of the time they just flat out suck! The Batman Begins tie in game was terrible, especially compared to Batman: Arkham Asylum, which came out a short time later. Game developer Rocksteady had the freedom to create their own version of Batman on their own timetable, and not rush it out to stores in time for the movie’s release. Rocksteady has created this amazing world and story in their two Batman: Arkham games, and we all want to see that story continue.
Along with Batman/Commissioner Gordon co-op
Nobody wants to see a freakin’ prequel to the Arkham games! Nobody likes prequels! We want to know what happens next, not what happened before. Where does the story go from the end of Arkham City? Going back in time to tell a prequel accomplishes nothing! Rocksteady are on the verge of telling a Batman story that’s never been done before. What happens after the Joker is dead? That’s a fascinating question! Let Rocksteady tell that story! They already alluded to an angrier, more volatile Batman in their Harley Quinn’s Revenge DLC. So obviously something is wrong with Batman. Obviously Rocksteady has something good planned.
Damn prequels.
I’m less worried about the Justice League appearance. Based on my classic List of Six about what I want to see in the third Batman: Arkham game, cameos by the Justice League are on that list. I think it would be cool – but not like this.
Studio executives do not know how to be creative. That’s why they are studio executives and handle the money. Keep in mind, I have no real idea how studios work, but whenever a studio tries to mess around with a creative person’s project, they f*** it up! Do you know why Sam Raimi’s third Spider-Man movie was so bad? Because of the studio! After the success of the first two, where he had total creative control, the studio stepped in and started making demands. The studio demanded that Venom be in the movie because he was popular, but Raimi didn’t want Venom. The studio won that argument, and Spider-Man 3 sucked.
Personally, I think Raimi made a bad movie on purpose just to stick it to the studio.
Keep the studio heads away from the creative properties. Nothing good will come of it. Especially if they’re demanding that the next game tie in to their Justice League plans.
It will spell doom for us all.
6 Awesome Character Classes I Want in the Diablo 3 Expansion
One of the greatest video gaming regrets in my life is that I never beat the expansion pack to Diablo 2, call The Lord of Destruction. I beat normal Diablo 2 multiple times, but whenever I tried to play the new expansion level, something came up and I never made it very far, let alone to the final fight against Baal. And I loved Diablo 2, so I don’t know what my problem was!
It definitely wasn’t the badass characters
For those of you who don’t know video games, expansion packs were sort of mini sequels to popular games, adding new content and new levels just for the fun of it. You started with the main game, and then a few months or years later, the developers would come out with an expansion and basically say, “We know you love our game, so here’s even more of it to play! Plus new characters! New accessories! Basically just a bunch of new stuff! Now where’s our money?”
We happily paid them.
The best things to come out of the Diablo 2 expansion pack were two new character classes: the Assassin and the Druid. I played as both, though the latter was my favorite. Not only could the Druid rain fiery meteors down upon his enemies, but he summoned wild animals to his side, and was both a werewolf and a werebear! He was totally boss!
So this got me thinking: When Diablo 3 releases its inevitable expansion pack, what new character classes might they add to the game? Just in case anyone at Blizzard reads my blog, I’ve decided to make a few suggestions. And yes, I’ve kind of stolen this list idea from GamesRadar. But it’s a fun list idea! Check out my suggestions (with some help from my girlfriend Alyssa) after the jump.
October is Going to Be A Big Month for Me and Marvel Comics
The solicitations for the first month of Marvel NOW have hit the web – and things look pretty damn cool! Marvel plans on launching a new #1 issue every week, and the first one will be Uncanny Avengers #1, which I already told you guys about. So there aren’t any more fancy new comics to tell you about. But there are still dozens of other post-Avengers vs. X-Men comics coming out in October, and apparently Marvel has geared a lot of them towards some of my favorite characters. Weird! But awesome!
You can read all of the solicitations here, but I’m going to be going through a few of my favorite titles.
X-Factor #245
X-Factor #245: Starring Multiple Man, my all-time favorite comic book character, it seems that the book is getting a pretty big shake-up. We already know that Havok is leaving the team to join the Uncanny Avengers, but who else?
“BREAKING POINTS” Conclusion!
• In the last of five issues that will change the face of X-FACTOR forever, two characters find their lives irrevocably altered.
• When the smoke clears, the team’s roster will be nearly halved…
Finally! I’ve been complaining about the size of X-Factor’s cast for a long time now. It’s about time writer Peter David trimmed the fat and made the team more manageable. It’ll make for a much better series. I hope he keeps Multiple Man, Strong Guy and Wolfsbane for sure. The rest can come or go as he sees fit. Based on an interview I read about Marvel NOW, one of the Marvel head honchos said that X-Factor is going to be largely unaffected by the relaunch. On the one hand, that’s too bad. But on the other hand, I’m glad it will be sticking around in a version that’s similar to what I’ve been enjoying for years. X-Factor doesn’t sell very well, but it has a very loyal fanbase, myself included. So I’m glad it’s not going to have its feathers ruffled too much by this relaunch.
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Secret Avengers #33
Secret Avengers #33: I’ve written a bit before about Eric O’Grady, the Irredeemable Ant-Man! He’s been a member of the Secret Avengers for awhile now, but most recently, he was ‘killed’ and somehow brought back to life by the bad guys. Well in October, it looks like he’s going to become a full-on villain!
THE RISE OF THE DESCENDANTS part 1
• THE RISE OF THE DESCENDANTS BEGINS HERE! The event that will devastate the lives of the Secret Avengers!
• Descendants siege on Avengers Lighthouse station!
• Father launches his invasion. Can the Marvel Universe survive the plague of contagious robotic evolution?
• A terrible new Avenger’s foe is born: Beware the bite of The Black Ant!
I can’t say as how I really like this change, because I was a big fan of O’Grady’s perverted, jerkass version of a superhero. He had a lot of potential as a member of the Avengers. But I suppose he could make an interesting villain, maybe. Though aren’t red ants far more evil and dangerous than black ants? But then the superhero Ant-Mans usually dress in red, so I guess he needed to dress differently. We’ll see where this goes.
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Hobgoblin Fight!
Amazing Spider-Man #695 & 696: Writer Dan Slott is finally getting around to doing something awesome with Phil Urich, the new Hobgoblin! Though it looks like Phil might be in the crosshairs, because the solicitation sounds like a former Hobgoblin is going to be coming back and gunning for Phil. That makes sense, considering Phil had to kill the previous Hobgoblin to take over. And nobody stays dead in comics.
ISSUE #695 – DANGER ZONE Part 1
• Dark times are coming for Peter Parker and change is closer than you even fear.
• As we aim headlong to ASM #700, The Kingpin ‘s latest plan turns one of Spider-Man’s greatest strengths against him.
• Hobgoblin is back…but his days may be numbered as the past sharpens its blades.
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
ISSUE #696 – DANGER ZONE Part 2
• GOBLINS GO TO WAR…and Peter Parker is caught dead-center!
So I’m worried that Phil would make for an easy death. He’s not as established as the previous Hobgoblin, and hasn’t exactly proven himself to be all that great. Since he became Hobgoblin, Phil became a total jobber, thrown into books like Venom and Spider-Girl just to be beaten, to make the heroes look good. Not to mention the fact that he hasn’t beaten Spider-Man. Though of course I hope Phil’s days aren’t numbered. Maybe he’ll become a good guy again! That would make my life.
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But the October solicitations are not all good news! The solicitation for Uncanny Avengers #1 mentions “the funeral of one of Marvel’s greatest heroes!” So it looks like Cyclops is going to bite the big one after all at the end of Avengers vs. X-Men. And it appears that X-Men: Legacy is getting cancelled only a handful of issues after writer Christos Gage made the Mimic an X-Man again. Mimic barely got to do anything! So I guess from now on I just have to hope that he shows up somewhere else…I must hold on to hope!
And finally…where’s the Scarlet Spider comic?
Super Golden Friends
Starting today with a bit of comedy, we have someone drawing old superheroes over the top of the Golden Girls theme song. Kevinbappdotcom thought of it, and I’m posting it. That’s how Internet fun is made!
