Pro/Con: Comic-Con Announcements

Pro:

• The return of Cloak and Dagger!
• Milestone characters Static being folded into the DCU!
• Fables and Jack of Fables crossover! New Fables mini-series! New Fables graphic novel!
• The Brave and the Bold cartoon teaser trailer!
• New Muppet Show comic book from BOOM Studios!
• I was able to secure a sketch by Art Balthazar, even without going!
• Andy Diggle as new writer of Thunderbolts, because Christos Gage’s first issue was pure crap.
• New Black Canary creative team! Is it too little, too late?
• Black Panther animated series being done in John Romita Jr.’s style.
• ‘Perry Bible Fellowship‘ winning the Eisner for ‘Best Humor Publication.’
• I’m not sure Agents of Atlas will sell as an ongoing, but I’m game.

Con:

• Inhumans vs. Shi’Ar: War of the Kings? Seriously? Vulcan is still stupid.
• Who asked for the War Machine ongoing?
• DC had a perfectly fine Flash book before Infinite Crisis. The fact that they have to reboot with Flash: Rebirth is really embarassing.
• Koi Pham’s art isn’t very good. Why would they make him the regular artist on Mighty Avengers?
• The ‘Archie superheroes being folded into the DCU. I think a Jughead/Matter Eater Lad crossover would have been much more interesting.
• Revisiting ‘Classic’ X-Men storylines for the zillionth time.
• Reggie Hudlin, President of BET, greenlighting a ‘Black Panther’ animated series based exclusively on the comics he wrote for Marvel. Conflict of interest, much?
• Kevin Smith returning to mainstream comics.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer winning the Eisner for ‘Best New Series.’
• Justice League of America #11 winning ‘Best Single Issue.’
• I didn’t get to go this year.

Loving the new Ultimates set..!

But I need to know…

Are we gonna get Ultimate Dazzler or not?

S&M Barbie?

From The Sun, via Boing Boing.

BARBIE’S new S&M look has whipped up a storm – with protesters dubbing it “filth”.

The doll’s image is transformed with kinky fishnets, motorcycle jacket, black gloves and boots. Makers Mattel say Black Canary Barbie, out in September, is based on a DC comic superhero of the same name.

But religious group Christian Voice said: “Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far.

A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible – it’s filth.”

It’s the fishnets, isn’t it? Barbie kind of always dresses like a hussy, I don’t see how this is any worse.

HL: Modern Legends!

This week (tomorrow) the format will be Modern Legends. A lot of the decks we’re playing in our Hobby League are already Legends, but we thought it would be fun to throw them against one another and see who makes it to the top.

The fun starts at 5 at The Realms Games and Comics in Brea, California!

Weird Werds: Awesome

I hate it when people use the word ‘awesome’ to describe something negative. Despite the actual definition of the word, I will always associated ‘awesome’ with words like ‘gnarly’ and ‘tubular.’ You know, things that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles used to say.

It really doesn’t matter how many people had their lives ruined by a natural disaster. Once you describe the event as ‘awesome,’ I immediately think of pizza, and I smile.

What words have a strange connotation for you? Sara, I know you’re reading this. Hi.

Sweet Christmas: Misty Knight!

I was going to try and throw together an Iron Fist/Luke Cage “Heroes 4 Hire” deck on paper today when I discovered a problem: hardly any Luke Cage/Iron Fist supporting characters have appeared in the Vs. System!

Danny Rand and Luke Cage have been Marvel Comics staples for decades, yet only recently have they received any love from our favorite card game. At a time when Luke is running the Avengers* and Iron Fist is starring in a critically acclaimed solo title one would expect RnD to be tripping over themselves trying to incorporate more of the characters and their rich histories into the game.

However this is not the case, at least not yet. I want Iron Fist and Luke Cage legends! I want a proper Heroes 4 Hire team affiliation! I want Misty Knight!

Who?

Points Store Update

The awesome Kamiza alerted me to this, but I thought I’d repeat it here anyway. UDE has updated their points store, giving you a chance to burn through all of those point cards you received while buying MUN.

My favorite card of the bunch is Bring It On!, but there’s other cool stuff too like Alan Scott and the Royal Flush Gang. Given the renewed popularity of army decks after Marvel Universe I’m a little surprised that nobody has tried to break this card open yet.

Perhaps in time we’ll see someone use them to their full potential.

PS I Hate You

Disclaimer: The following has absolutely nothing to do with the VS. System. The following details my evening last night following our weekly Hobby League.

It’s 8:30, and my good friend Omar is moving out of his apartment this week. His car is full of junk, and before we go out to dinner he asks if we can stop by his Public Storage locker to drop this stuff off.

“Of course,” I said, “That seems harmless enough.”

We arrived at Public Storage around 8:40, and Omar enters in the code to open the automated gate. On the way in we pass by several signs stating that the complex closes at 9:00, and we make a point of hurrying so that we can leave before that.

Our transaction with the locker is completed swiftly enough, but upon trying to exit Public Storage we discover that the gate code we used to enter the complex isn’t letting us leave. We’re trapped.

These things only happen to me, I swear.

If only…