For over a century, rumors have spread across Gotham of a secret criminal organization that operates deep within the city’s shadows. Despite mounting evidence to prove their existence, Bruce Wayne uncharacteristically sticks to his beliefs that it’s nothing more than folklore. It’s this stubbornness that causes Batman to get caught with his pants down in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls.
Best known for making hit games exclusively for Sony such as the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance series’ of games, Fuse was their first attempt at a multi-platform title. Heavily influenced by the likes of Gears of War and Mass Effect, this game sounds better on paper than the actual execution. Not to say that it’s bad, but it’s not going to make any of its competitors lose any sleep from its presence.
Wonder Woman is without a doubt one of the most iconic comic book characters of all-time and one of the original symbols of girl power. She’s also a character that had no real significance to me up until this point. Not that I had anything specific to hold against her, but I think the perceived girliness didn’t seem like something I was all that interested in. As part of the New 52 omnibus, Wonder Woman made a positive impression on me with her standout “first” effort. Off the strength of that, I did not hesitate to pick up Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Blood when I found it for half price at a store closing sale.
Having made waves as part of The New 52 edition of the Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn finally gets her own series. As a story that sits outside of the Suicide Squad continuity, a former patient from Arkham Asylum has passed away and given her his apartment building. After the Joker blows up all of her stuff, she heads off to take claim to hew new digs and rebuild her life. Through Steff, I’ve been able to read through Harley Quinn #0-3.
After a successful reboot on the Wii, Nintendo’s prime primates are back in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. A new set of enemies have frozen Donkey Kong Island, and its up to the Donkey, Diddy, Dixie and Cranky Kong to put a stop to their shenanigans.
Since starting this comic book adventure with the All New X-Men, I’ve been reading a lot of other stuff, mostly from the DC and Marvel relaunch omnibuses I purchased. Some of them were really good, others were alright, and there were a handful that I couldn’t even get through. Still, everything I’d read to date fell short of the high bar that All New X-Men set. Maybe it’s the short-term nostalgia setting in, but I thought that first book read beautifully, was an interesting take on the X-Men universe and also featured great art.
Now that I’ve run myself through a crash course in comics, I come into Vol. 2: Here to Stay with what I think is a keener eye to what I think a good comic book should be. Was I wowed by the first one just because it was my first book? Or is this old/new X-Men crew really worthy of high praise?
After a strong debut, I really felt like the Suicide Squad series fell off a cliff in Vol. 2 with an uninteresting story arc and a focus on characters that don’t bring much flavour to the table. In particular, having Harley Quinn sit out much of this set of comics really sucked the life out of this set. This time, Harley’s back, but how will the team cope without Deadshot, who sacrificed his life for the good of the last mission?
Originally released in 1988, Batman: The Killing Joke is widely considered to be a classic. It’s also considered to be one of the most important, as there are events that take place here that had ramifications in the DC universe for decades. Having finally gotten around to reading it, I see what the hype was all about.
Micro games have become a hot trend in the board game scene, but Iota takes it to the next level. Standing at about two inches tall, two inches wide and an inch thick, it’s hard to imagine putting much of anything in there. Once you crack that tin open, you’ll get 66 cards that are part of an interesting abstract strategy game.
In the Wolverine: Logan mini-series, the X-Men’s adamantium warrior travels to Japan to settle an old score. As much as I love the character, my first attempts at reading some of his Marvel Now solo outings have been busts. This one however, is really well done.
In Third Person 