The JLA in a Video Game.

SO, I just beat Justice League: Heros.

To tell you the truth, I was a little dissapointed. THe game play was merely oklay, the Fmvs were awful, and the level-up/powers systems were seriously flawed.

Most of all, however, It didn't have a very good storyline. This is, unfortunately, true more often than not in superhero video games. the story is tacked on rather than really integrated or good.

WOrst of all, for a game in which you are using a bunch of heroes, there really didn't "feel" like t here were more than 2. Not only that, but you were unable to choose which two.

Honestly, I think the big problem was the choice to follow an X-men legends format. due to the standardiztion, none of the characters really stand out. Flash doesn't come of as fast, for instance.

As well, the overhead viewpoint is aweful, and the boost system is frustrating.

In all, I felt this poorly represented the justice league.

By now, you may have seen the end of Marvel Comics Civil War event.

If you are anything like me, this is a releif, as you found civil war to be boring and obnoxious.

However, the way in which it ends is dissapointing. Nothing is resolved. nothintg is fixed. it just...stops.

For those of you who do not know whatcivil war was about, here is a synopsis:
Four young superheroes make a mistake while chasing a villian. this mistake kills an entire school filled with children.
In response to this, the nation wants all the super-powered beings to register their identities with the government, to be used and employed as the government sees fit.

On the side of registration, we have Tony Stark(the invincible Iron man), Reed Richards(Mr. Fantastic), and Spiderman.

On the "rebel" side, we have captain america, daredevil, and nick cage.

Hulk is on another planet, but we'll get to that shortly.

so, they fight each other, making the publics fear them more each time.
Then, Spiderman discovers that the people being arrested for not registering are being kept in a hellish prison in anopther dimension, where they are not being accorded any rights at all. He defects, things go to hell, and both sides meet in a final climactic battle which ends with cap surrendering and everyone else scattering, not because they were beaten, but because the civilians were being hurt.

Really, it sounds more interesting than it was, and much of this feels like it is merely an overblown prelogue, much like DC's Identity Crisis was.

Remember when I said we'd be getting back to Hulk? Y'see, a bunch of superheroes got together a while ago, and tricked him off the planet. He landed on a hellish gladiatorial planet, and fought his way to rulership. Rumor is, he's coming back. And He's PISSED. It is for this reason that I must conclude that all of this is merely prologue(it certainly wasn't good enough to stand on it's own anyway). Because Everyone has to be positioned when hulk gets back, so that WOrld War HUlk can proceed apace.

Somebody is gonna die.

Batman : where's the artist?

The latest Batman was absolutely aweful.

When you pick up a comic book, you expect a book full of images which move or excite. This is not to say that writing is not important--most people whom I know are quite convinced that wirting is actually the most important thing in comics.

I disagree.

This is not to say that I don't think it is important or that I beleive artwork is more important.
Rather, I beleive that the synthesis of the two is what makes the medium of sequential art so interesting; the juxtaposition of artwork and writing creates a dynamic which is in constant motion. This medium allows us as artists and writers to communicate our stories quicker and with more emotional intensity than any other medium.

So, when I opened up my latest copy of Batman, I was, to say the least, dissapointed. Page after page of writing with only a few pictures.

There may have been a reason for this. Maybe they wanted to tell a story they couldn't fit if they used images. maybe they were experimenting. All I know is that it didn't work.

It didn''t work.

secret admirerer

If you have never heard of count your sheep, then you are in for a treat. While it is not just a cute little coic, there are definite elements of cute there much of the time.

However, every once in a while, adis provides us with something that shows he means buisness when he says, "more than cute."

the premise of the comic is that Laurie, who grew up with an imaginary sheep called ship, is a single mother. This is because Marty, who is her childhood sweetheart and friend, died around the time that Katie, her daughter, was born.

Ship, her imaginary friend the sheep, came back to help Laurie raise Katie, and so became Katie's imaginary friend as well.

We have never actually seen Marty, but we have a pretty goo idea of what kind of man he was due to flashbacks and stories involving Laurie. We know he was a smart, funnyy, loving man who didn't know when to give up even as a kid.

And now Adis has given us a little better view of marty in the storyline starting here.

Go ahead. read it. it's only about 5 or 6 comics. I'll be fine back here.

so? back?
I have rarely found a storyline so poignant, yet funny. Well done, adis. well done.

what's with the countdown

okay, so many of you have probably heard of Sluggy Freelance.

It is, after all, one of the oldest webcomics still updating.

for thosae who do not, it folllows the adventures and misadventures of riff, torg, and all their freinds. over the course of the better part of a decade, they have done everything--from space opera to horror, and from power rangers to teen angst.

currently, the fans are eagerly awaiting the return of aylee, the alien xenomorph from another diomension who did not eat torg due to dandruff shampoo. so, Pete Abrams, the creator of the strip, has put up a countdown tiomer, but he hasn't told us what the time is counting down to.

this is an intriguing concept, available only on the web--teasers and counters that update automatically. While it may not be as revolutionary an idea as the infinite canvas, it is useful for creating intrigue, and for making your comic more interactive.

for those in the know, it promises to be... interesting

as always, if you see a comic you want me to comment about, send me an email. I'll probably see it within 3 days.

spiderman. back in black.

Did I miss something? when did peter get kicked out? When did he go back to the black suit and why?

I realize that when they script the comics, the order in which titles will be released is hard to predict, and there are issues related to release dates and deadlines. that said, if you are going to introduce changes into a book, then you have to release your books in such an order that you don't leave the readers confused because half the story doesn't come out for a week or two.

On the other hand, it behooves me to admit that the story in Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman is interesting, and I do look forward to it. It's just frustrating no to have context. I will have to remember this for my own comic.

to start...

Well, If I want to get started, I should probably start by telling you this: I read a LOT of comics, both print and web.

I also have a webcomic of my own, but that's not important. Mostly because I haven't been able to update in a month.
Anyway, My plan is to give you my thopughts on comics here.

Sooo....comics are hard.