it just occured to me... 52 ends this week.

in week fifty, ww3 occured. those who still had powers from luthor's everyman project ran away. wouldn't it be cool if one of the depowered people ended up staying? Like, losing their powers made them a better hero?

just a thought.

oots still being worked on.

8-bit theater is one of the older webcomics out there. It is also one of the most popular sprite comics.

Basicly, it makes fun of role-playing conventions, video game rpgs, and everything else.

We have black mage, who is evil, thief who steals, redmage, who powergames, and fighter who is dumb.

form these shallow characters, we see ourselves mirrored in their eccentricities.

It may be a rag tag band of heroes out to save the world, but if they do, it'll be an afterthought.

the world is, after all, where they live.

another trade

this one is for mature audiences only.

seriously, if you are squeemish, or under the age of 16, or blasphemy irritates you, turn back now.
we'll wait.













okay, now that they're gone, I'm gonna talk about preacher. I's bloody brilliant. the art is good, but the writing is fucking awesome.

the preacher is a man with a past. when the series begins, he is a small texan preacher, who is in a crisis of faith. then genesis comes.

genesis is the union between an archdevil and an archangel. it never would have happened if the devil weren't dead. but, as a new concept, composed of both heaven and hell, it had the power to bring about the end of god. God retired the instant of it's birth. just ran away.

well, genesis was caged, but it got free. Seeking a mind, it bonded to the soul of a preacher--jesse custer. doing so killed the entire town.

the angels in charge of heaven were terrified of what was to come, so they sent the saint of killerws, a gun-toting angel of death, after him. meanwhile, jesse met up with his old girlfreind, whp was traveling with a vampire. on finding out that he's being chased by the killer, he discovers why.

god has left, so custer intends to confront him and make him take responsibility.

it rocked aall the way to houson, and that's only the first part of the first trade.

Wargird...

been a while since I posted... I actually have another post half done, but am currently going through an arcive for examples.

Anyway, I had a dream last night that would make a decent comic, so...

Characters:
Good:
John "the keyman" brannigan- agent of a black FBI division called wargird, dealing with ultra-human activities and threats to the nation. Somewhat geekish, he is a walking encyclopedia, as well as physically capable. wears glasses, somewhat short when on the job. AGE 36 thinks of morgan as a blowhard, musclebound twit.

Alex "Mr. Thunder" Morgan- super-strong, physical invulnerability. likable, but tends to go in fists first. currently working under brannigan in the wargird, he has never met a challenge he couldn't face alone Age 35 considers brannigan a pencil pusher, has some hope for "the kid"

Benny "the kid" Rattan- age 20, a rookie assigned to wargird just out of training, he is likeable, but inexperienced. not a very good fighter, he makes up in gung ho what he lacks in actual ability. has incredibly good luck- once tossed a coin that came up heads 731 times.

Bill "cowboy" McCoy- age unknown, was once known as wild bill hickock, until he faked his death, the cowboy has changed his name and identity innumerable times. the first recorded identity is over 250 years old. he likes to say he shot death, so death isn't coming for him again any time soon. Currently working for Kinnescorp. as a programmer. has accelerated reflexes. has worked with brannigan years beore, during the Iraq war.

Cassandra "sandy" Kinnes- cousin to Gerald Kinnes, she was born with the ability to fly and move at high speed. has been taken underthe cowboy's wing, age 17. Looks vulnerable, acts sassy. tired of being pushed aside.

The bad guys-
George Kinnes- owner and CEO of Kinnescorp, he has many dangerous projects in developement, with the aim of carving out his own personal empire in midwest USA. Age 57.

suits- mostly buisnessmen, there are many ex-special forces among them.

goons- security-not to bright.

XCK238(project flamestar)-- a clone, trained in combat and armed with energy weaponry.

Jason kirkins- the only man to ever serve in both the green berets and the Navy Seals, he also did a term in the marines. he is Kinnes dirty man- he does what Kinnes can't. Age 58, looks to be n his late 30s.

the story-

Brannigan discovers that Kinnescorp has developed two incredibly dangerous projects, which he feels must be contained- XCK238, and X4T- a bomb capable of delivering 4 teratons of explosive power(10 to the twelth power tons of TNT), comparable to 1 000 000 000 times the force that leveled hiroshima.

He tells Morgan that morgan cannot do this alone, and assembles a team consisting of morgan, himself, and Rattan.

upon infiltrating the building, morgan goes off on his own while brnanigan starts going through computer files. Rattan is nearly captured by a bunch of suits when his tracker is ID'd by security systems. He escapoes by throwing it away in an elevator, and acting like he is in attack mode. seeing Kirkins, he follows after, discovering the bomb placed in a jeep--and is captured.

meanwhile, Morgan finds kirkins, who is testing out XCK238, and is defeated by a barage of sonic energy, which causes him ot pass out. awakening in a complex aray of straps, he is told that the material he is wrapped in, a variation of buckminster fullerene, this material gains strength as strength is applied. Thus, if Morgan employs all his strength, it will crush even him.

Brannigan discovers that Kinnes is in gym 4-b--and has captured Morgan. Rattan has dissapeared, and the whole operation seems to be going south. in addition, he discovers that project XCK238 is a clone, with an augmented power level that is literally off the charts.

Brannigan frantically searching for anything he can use as a distraction, finds an old freind in the databases: "Cowboy" McCoy. he immediately goes to the location of McCoy, hoping his old freind could help.

Rattan, who has been tied up and placed in the back with the bomb, has been working to free himself. Kirkins, busy driving, doesn't notice, and to keep him occupied, Rattan is trying to convince him that kirkins was a hero, and should not betray his country in this way. Kirkins reveals that his country betrayed him- three times. leaving him to die in all three branches, Kirkins had actually convinced Kinnes that the country was too sick to survive! Rattan places a tracking beacon on the bomb, but is discovered trying tto escape, beaten badly, and retied. Kirkins then tells him that both of them are going to die, once the jeep reaches The Ozark Mountains. He plans to set the bomb off in a place where what is not destroyed will be irradiated, killing most of americas breadbasket.

Brannigan finds McCoy in a gym, next to a young girl he recognises from the files hje recovered- Cassandra Kinnes. Telling Cowboy most of the situation, he then asks cowboy to contain Cassandra and come after- whispering "she really shouldn't see what's in that room. she's too young to have to deal with that."

Cowboy locks her in a closet, and goes with Morgan to confront kinnes.

shortly after they leave the room, The closet door rockets out of it's casing. yelling that she is not a child, Cassandra comes flying out, then stops, wondering how she blew the door off without even touching it.

At this point, cowboy reveals himself by shooting of the "bucky-bands" hitting an impossible number of points at once, causing them to expand outward enough for morgan to escape.

however, even Morgan and the cowboy are not enough to defeat XCK238, whose face is covered by a mask. however, cowboy does manage to shoot off the mask, revealing the face to be that of Cassandra!

while this is happening, Brannigan has been sneaking around behind Kinnes, utilising a stealth suit which gives him limited chameleonic ability. Kinnes explains that he had discovered 12 years ago that Cassandra's abilities were actually caused by an energy field which was not fully under her control. He cloned her, implanting the clone with cybernetic parts, and connecting them to external units, bringing the energy fields fully under the clones control. The clone, unlike Cassandra, could be raised and trained to do whatever Kinnes needed doing, without regard for morals. Cassandra enters the room just in time to hear how her uncle had used her.

Brannigan jumps Kinnes, just as the device in brannigans pocket goes off. cowboy and Morgan are fighting the clone, and cassandra is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

brannigan tries to calm her down, while struggling with kinnes.

Finally, kinnes collapses, and brannigan goes to cassndra. Brannigan explains what the beacon means- the bomb is active, rattan is on it, but he needs help.

The only person who could possibly get there in time is cassandra. Millions of lives are on the line, so he is trying to be gently about it-and failing miserabley. He tells her he thinks he can stop her clone without killing her, and will do what he can, but he needs cassandra to stop kirkins.

cassandra, in tears, races off over the plains, traveling at nearly the speed of sound. Brannigan, tearing apart a computer terminal, begins to assemble a device. Morgan after throwing a wight set at the clone, jumps on her back, but is deflected by an energy field. His continued attacks have slowed her down, and she isn't watching qanyone else but morgan. Brannigan, having devised a gunlike object, hands it to cowboy, who has been partially pinned under rubble, saying, you will only get one shot."

Cowboy shoots, and an energy ball passes through the shielding, knocking her out.

Cassandra, catrching up, dodges the gunfire from kirkins. Rattan, having partially freed himself once again, kicks at kirkins just as cassandra comes in from the otherside. at that very moment, they hit a very large pothole(it doesn't sound nearly as deus ex machina if you live in missouri. honest.) there is a crash, and kirkins is knocked out.

unfortunately, the bomb hjad been activated. using the radio, tey get instructions on how to deactivate it, but as usual, there is some confusion as to which wire to cut.

Closing his eyes, rattan stabs directly in between the two wires...

cut to a scene in the oval office, where the president is honoring the five of them personally, although cautioning cassandra and the cowboy that the events of last week must remain secret. after all, if the public knew that super-powered beings existed, and that some of them were not on the side of angels, well, there'd be panic.

Brannigan invites both of them to join his new special ops team, code-named Aegis. After all, they HAD worked together well.


I have the strangest dreams.

!

DO you like the joker? DO you enjoy his twisted antics? Are you insane? then come on down to EMPORER JOKER's bizzare Universe, created when Mxysptlk Gave him 99% of his nigh-universal power.

See the man of steel break out of prison each night, only to be returned by the worlds greates hero, bizzaro. See the bald Lois lane, head of lanecorp play dangerous power games. see the joker league of Anarchy(JLA) fight against wonder woman, who fears all men, the incredible flab, who never met a food he didn't eat, yellow paper lantern, who fights with shadow puppets, and MOre.

Watch as joker slowly come near the destruction of the univerwse, while each night, a horrendous screaming of a damned soul covers the world.

watch Batman break.

just look for the playing card covers.

Kurt vonnigut is dead.

we will observe a moment of science for one of the great writers of our time.

we shall miss you, Mr. Vonnigut

superman: our worlds at war

a massive book entailing the war of the dc universe with imperiex.

Imperiex is billed as the inevitable, the demolisher of worlds. never defeated, never slowed, he went along destroying those worlds targeted for demolishion in order to cleanse the universe. Until Superman stopped one of the probes cold.

referred to as "the anomoly" Superman had actually turned back the probe many months before the beginning of the stor9y.

The story begins with president Lex Luthor making plans for a war--it is not descrtibed what he is preparing to fight until an attack is made on the earth. Clark kent wakes up lost among the rest of metropolis's people, who have been beamed to a ship for their safety. he escapes, and is told that earth is at war, and he needs to do what he is told. on his return to metropolis, he discovers who his commander is--Darkseid.

Throughh a web of shifting aliances, covering a massive event in the DC Univerts with titles from superman to young justice, we see the triumphs and losses of war, the people lost and the changes it causes.

Most of all we see the theme of sacrifice, perhaps exemplified best by strange visitor, who gives her life to destroy the probe producing mothership, and superman, who having lost kansas, having fought so long and hard he doesntt even recognise lois' voice, then punches through the sun, burning awqay almost everything he is in order to gain enough power to stop imperiex and brainiac.

yet, in the end, the question remains..."we won, right?" after all the pain, all the loss, DC has left us Superman questioning whether it was worth it.

THe trade paperback certainly was.

The Birth of Venom

Let me say, first, that the timing of this trade is suspiciously close to spider-man 3.

the problem with this trade is that it covers a period of literally years, and so skips many, many story arcs, in order to focus on its actual subject.

THis makes it confusing, and leads to leaps in the quality of the artwork.

The story is okay, but you porbably already know all the salient points.

actually, the best part of the trade is the inking on the mcfarlane art. it's really great inking.

and the amazing bagman is always fun to see.

Year one and The long Halloween

Batman is one of those heros who live in the darkness.

But everybody knows that.
In Batman year one, we see how batman became batman. We see a city run by the criminals, pretty on the outside, but rotten to the core under the skin.

ENter two men. The detective sergent Jim Gordon, who was apperently dismissed from his last position for irregularities, and Bruce Wayne, returning form parts unknown.

Over the course of the year, Gordon alienates the rest of the police force by insisting on following the law and protecting people, while batman invents himself.

Eventually, Batman saves Gordon's son, and the two come to an understanding.

In the long Halloween, We see many of the characters from year one. Carmen "the Roman" Falcone is the biggest mob boss in Gotham, but Lou Maroni is shown to be unhappy by this turn of events. Wayne has blocked mob money being laundered through his bank, causing tensions to rise.

On the other side, we see two trooubled marriages--that of James Gordon, and that of Harvey Dent(the district attourney, and one of the few good men in power). Gordon re-inroduces Dent and the batman, and they team up in order to bring Falcone's organisation, the greatest threat to law in Gotham, down for good.

Then, on Halloween, John Viti, nephew of the Roman, is killed.

Over the next year, mobsters on both sides are killed on holidays--including the father of Maroni, and the Roman's son.

Suddenly, everyone in gotham is racing to catch this "holiday" killer. For the first time, we begin to see how deeply everything is connected. poison Ivy is hired to "change" Bruce waynes mind, but catwoman frees wayne from her clutches. The Joker cannot handle th e prescence of another killer in town and tries to find and stop Holiday in his own twisted fashion(kill everyone, and you get holiday too!) The ROman Hires the Riddler in order to find out who this holiday is--THe riddler becomes the only holiday victim to live--it is april first, after all.

And through this chaotic tableu, we see THe Gordon's relationship strengthen as the Dent's relationship starts to fall apart. In addition, we see marked deterioration in Dent.

In the end, dent becomes two-face, and we find out who halloween really is--or do we?

Artwise, the two are very different. Year one uses subtle paint ones, and strong inking, while the art on the long hallowee seems more accentuating. the contrast implies that the batman has already began to bring Gotham out of it's dark night.

Both books are currently for sale, and I recomend them both.

Next: Spiderman: the birth of Venom.

trades week

This week, I will be talking about trade paperbacks.

trade mpaperbacks are collections of comics into complete stroylines, usually in groups of six. THis means that you can read the entire story at once, without advertisements, and catch up on things you missed.

It has revolutionised the industry. Not only can you pick up a book that tells the entire story of the death of gwen stacy, but in a couple of months, you wil be able to pick up a couple of trades and see the entire run of 52-which I will comment on soon. promise!

unfortunately, there have been some problems with it too, as many writers and publishers write stroies with the trade in mind. There are fewer loose ends, and everything gets wrapped up in 6 issues. As well, there are fewer interlocking comics than before the trade.

As well, older comics do not translate neatly into the trade paperback. iof they are collecting "our worlds at war" then they have to leave out many titles, and the artwork varies greatly within the book, due to different titles and artists during the event.

Over all, however, the impact of the trade paperback has been good for comics; it has brought more readers in, and helped them to get caught up, it has brought attention to the storytelling possibility of comics(road to perdition, sin city, history of violence) and it has created a less messy way for people who are not serious collectors to gather their favortite stories for continued reading.

Next: trade 1-batman:the long halloween

not a comic, but should be

william gibsons "sprawl" trilogy, a loose storyline which involves many of the same characters from book to book, though not direct sequals, should be a comic. starting with neromancer, which virtually defined cyberpunk, and ingrained the concept of cyberspace in the popular mind, and continuing through count zero and mona lisa overdrive, this trilogy deals with an evolving cyperspace, a dystopian corporate hegemony,m and the code jockeys who eke out a living on the margins.

Filled with plenty of action, sex, and innovative design, this is a must read for anyon who wants to see a possible future, or even what the future looked like back when--it was written through the early eighties.