Bat-Manga and Bat-Manime!

I had almost forgotten that the Batman anime, Gotham Knight, was being released this week. Fortunately MTV.com posted an extended preview on their site, featuring Batman-san in all of his glory. I’ve been trying to embed the clip here, but WordPress is giving me all types of problems. Lame.

To be honest, I’m not really blown away by the style of this piece, but it did have some pleasant surprises. It looks like Gotham Central’s Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya are in the stories, and Kevin Conroy is back as the voice of Batman! (Thank God!)

Also of note is a cool new book collecting Batman manga produced in Japan during the 1960’s. Bat Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan is the first collection of its’ kind, and features Batman and Robin comics created specifically for the Japanese readership. Unfortunately it isn’t being released until fall, but this lengthy and informative interview should hold you over until then,

Whenever I hear about Bat-Manga or Bat-Manime I always think back at the old World’s Finest comics where Batman and Superman are slapping around offensive Japanese caracitures for 45 pages, then spend the rest of the book urging people to buy war bonds. I know that those older books were simply a product of their time, but I can’t help but enjoy the cosmic irony of it all.

Oreo League Report: 6/25/08

Last night our regulars were in full force, and everyone was excited to play their new Marvel Universe cards. Crime Lords had a stellar showing last week, so I decided to put the Red Skull away (for now) and try out something a little different for Modern night.

Yesterday marked Warren Ellis’ last issue on the Thunderbolts comic book, and despite the occasional delays it stands out as one of the best comics Marvel has published in ages. To honor this occasion I put together a Thunderbolts build, choosing to rely on their +1/+1 counter theme. The results were a little mixed, but I had a lot of fun and won more than I didn’t.

Other noteworthy decks were Alpha Knights, Superbitches, Clash of Caps, and HULK! I really need to start coming up with some answers for The Hulk, because right now I got nothing. It should be interesting to see what our local scene looks like once people stop trying to get Hulk rares, and focus on the other awesome teams featured in MUN.

Oh, and I brought Oreos for our baked good this week. People criticized me for not baking something myself, but at the end of the night that cookie box was EMPTY! Oreos aren’t so bad when you’re hungry, now are they?

Deck list after the jump!

Marvel Universe Review!

Hello and welcome to The Brave and the Blog’s first ever VS System set review! I know a lot of other sites do this, so I wanted our to be special. That’s why I arranged for a VS System Legend to join me today, and give his opinions on the cards being presented.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you The Red Skull!

Josh: Thank you for joining me Red Skull. I know you’re a very busy man these days.

Red Skull: It was opportune for you that I should have such time to spare. However, my latest project is going quite smoothly and it would do my nerves good to… relax.

Josh: Good to hear. Now I know you’re not very familiar with the VS System, so if you have any questions about the cards let me know.

Red Skull: THE RED SKULL KNOWS ALL!

Josh: Hm. Okay. 

Hobby League Report: 6/19/08

Dear Red Skull, I love you.

We had an excellent turnout in our Hobby League this week. 9 people showed up, many of them with shiny MUN cards in hand. After skipping last week’s HL it was great to have such a big crowd. Almost everyone was using new MUN, so that helped spice things up as well.

My Illuminati deck is taking longer than I’d like to compile, so I decided to make a Red Skull deck.

In the end the Top 4 was selected through Win/Loss records, which put me and the Red Skull right on top. I was shocked by how well the deck played, since I threw it together only a few minutes after showing up. Of course, I think that’s what everyone else did… hm.

The Line-Up:

• 2x Hulk Warbound
• 1x Red Skull / Crime Lords (Me. Obviously)
• 1x SHIELD Army Burn
• 1x Kree Press
• 1x Secret Avengers
• 1x Heralds/Inhumans
• 1x Skrulls/Inhumans
• 1x Um…. I honestly don’t recall. I’m sure it was way cool, though.

Either way, the top four was Red Skull, Hulk, SHIELD and more Hulk.

Hobby League(s) Updates!

A friendly reminder that we’re back and ready for action at our Rancho Cucamonga and Fullerton Hobby Leagues! We finally got our MUN cards, which means that everyone should have new toys to play with.

Wednesday:
The Realm Games & Comics
860 W. Imperial Hwy.
Brea, CA 92821

New players are always welcome. See you then!

Edit: Okay, apparently the Rancho league is off for this week. Sigh. Apologies!

Artists I Love: Art Baltazar

Every month my pull list seems to get smaller and smaller. Part of this is because of the rising cost of… well… everything, but it’s also because nothing catches my eye anymore. The DC Universe is a huge fustercluck right now, and unfortunately Ed Brubaker can only write so many issues a month.

Where is the imagination? Where is the fun?

Tiny Titans!? Aw yeah!

Illuminations: Part 1

So any minute now Omar and I will be receiving our case of MUN. This is very exciting news for us, clearly, but it also comes with a dilemma. Once we crack open a zillion packs and try to organize everything, we have the tough decision of choosing what team to build first!

The Illuminati!

Not since Enemy of My Enemy has UDE tempted players into building such a powerful jank deck. Six characters, nearly a dozen team affiliations between them, and almost no shared traits or abilities worth mentioning. This could prove to be quite a challenge, but if we managed to build a New Gods deck then the Illuminati should be a cake walk. Mm… cake.

Hobby League(s) Updates

Just as a reminder to all, we WILL NOT be meeting up this week for our regular Fullerton Hobby League. A lot of our regulars made alternate plans, but we’ll be back in full force next week with our new Marvel Universe stuff.

Also, a few of us have been getting together in Rancho Cucamona on Tuesday nights for some VS. action. We are meeting up at around 6 o’clock, and it usually lasts until around 9. Hopefully with two more Hobby Leagues in SoCal we’ll be able to attract some new players.

Shuffle & Cut Games
8605 1/2 Base Line Rd.
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

However, keep in mind that the Rancho Cucamonga Hobby League does not offer baked goods. You’ll have to go down to Fullerton for that.

Burning Questions! MUN

All of our new cards are way cool. More than any previous set it feels like Marvel Universe was created for the comic book fans in mind. I’m loving the flavor I have seen so far, especially smaller details such as the Baron Strucker Legend equipment and Monica Rambeau’s game text. Hillarious!

However, from a gameplay perspective I have a couple of concerns, the big one being consistency. All of the major teams in Marvel/DC Legends were given a character tutor, but here in MUN some teams are lacking.  As a player without Mobilize, I’m a wee bit concerned…

Will this keep me from building my teams of choice? Of course not!

• What team so far is your favorite?
• Did a lack/excess of tutors for that team influence your decision?
• Do you think there is a lack of tutors/consistency in MUN?
• Will this cause Mobilize become even more of a neccessity?

Please answer your questions using a number 2 pencil. I’m dying to know!

Springtime for Red Skull

Marvel Universe is approaching! Worlds will live, heroes will die, and the VS System will never be the same!

My favorite part of previews season is when someone accidentally gets shipped their cards too soon, and is able to spoil the set for the rest of us. This time around we are very grateful that our French VS. players (all three of them) are the ones who have been posting up MUN card text for the past two days. Thanks!

It should be no time at all before the USA receives their Marvel Universe boxes/cases (if they haven’t already) but until then let us salivate over what has been announced so far. Of course, my favorite cards so far have been the Crime Lords ones. Could the Red Skull legend be viable? Could the Red Skull Legend be totally freakin’ awesome?