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(05/24/12 12:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It has been nearly nine years since the last “Max Payne” game. The series was known for its implementation of slow-motion into gameplay, but the shooter genre has matured since the series’ inception. With “Max Payne 3,” Rockstar Games proves there’s still a place for Max’s slo-mo gunplay, but the story isn’t quite up to par.Losing the over-the-top noir aspects of the first two games, “Max Payne 3” is a straight-up crime story in the vein of “Man On Fire.” Though presented beautifully, with cinematics that look straight out of a Michael Mann movie, the characters and story never really hook you in. Nevertheless, dodging from cover to cover in slo-mo still feels dynamic and fun. Shooters are rarely as much fun to watch as they are to play, but this game features some of the most realistic character animations this side of the “Uncharted” games. The campaign is complimented by a great multiplayer suite that somehow manages to work slo-mo into a competitive setting. It’s just a shame the story is such a letdown.By Mikel Kjell
(05/04/12 12:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Event comics are a constantly debated topic in the comics world. They promise huge, universe-changing moments, but they often take ages to get to a real payoff. Unfortunately, “Avengers VS X-Men” is following in that trend of disappointment.“AvX” #3 is a set-up issue. Last issue featured all the big promised fights and some ludicrous narration, so this issue takes the pace a step back and focuses mostly on character dialogue. Artist John Romita Jr. is great, and the one fight scene in the issue features the best sense of motion in the series yet, but he isn’t suited for the smaller, dialogue-driven moments. The central problem here is the mischaracterization of Wolverine. In the past year, Wolverine has been portrayed as a man looking to keep kids out of harm’s way. Here, however, his solution to the central conflict of the story is to kill the teenage girl at the center of it all.This event needs to stay true to the characters if it wants to make an impact worthy of its title.By Mikel Kjell
(04/26/12 3:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Fez” is a game that makes you wish you were still in elementary school.Its puzzles and design demand that you talk to your friends to figure things out rather than taking the easy way out looking online for solutions. It’s a great throwback to an era of game design that taught the player through actual gameplay and not tutorials.Fez plays out like a traditional 2-D platformer with the twist of rotating the game’s world three-dimensionally, essentially giving every screen of the game’s world four variants. From the start of the game, most of the world is open to you, letting you solve puzzles and explore at your own pace.Though the plane-changing mechanic is great, the game shines in its puzzles that demand you pull out a pen and paper and write things down. It’s like a 2-D, gorgeous pixel art tribute to adventure games such as “Myst.” The game is not for everyone because it never holds your hand.But for those looking for some mind-bending puzzles harkening back to an era in which a game taught you how to play through its gameplay, it’s perfect.
(04/26/12 2:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>My time in Bloomington has been all over the place, having bounced between emotional highs and lows during the course of three years.I found my comic preferences changing just as often, alternating between seeking comfort and seeking pure enjoyment. Looking back at my reading habits during my time here, I can see a history of myself.Before I get into this, I have to say the comic shop here, Vintage Phoenix, has been wonderful. People often tell me that when I talk about comic shops, it sounds like I’m talking about a close friend or loved one, and the comparison is apt. Comics are a niche hobby, and finding people who enjoy them to talk with can be difficult, especially when compared to more common things like TV, movies, music and video games.Thus, the comic shop serves as a sort of bastion of conversation for my favorite hobby. I go to a comic shop not just to buy but also to talk about all sorts of things going on in the world of comics.So, when I was leaving West Lafayette and Von’s Comics to come to IU, I was leaving the shop I had been going to and engaging in conversation in for my entire life. I was apprehensive about finding a new shop, but after a while, I realized the guys at Phoenix are just as awesome as the guys back home.When I first came to IU, I started off feeling pretty hopeful for the new experiences I was about to have. I started by reading the great stuff that came out that year, like “Asterios Polyp” and “The Hunter.”But as my hopefulness shifted to despair, I found myself seeking comfort in the works of autobiographical authors, such as John Porcellino and Jeffery Brown.The fall semester of 2010 was when I really hit a wall in terms of emotions. I rarely left my dorm, and comics didn’t help that much either, as DC’s big and needlessly drawn-out “Green Lantern: Blackest Night” kept going. Nothing really eye-catching came out that fall semester until a big trailer for a movie that I couldn’t believe was happening emerged: “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”I was instantly rejuvenated. I started going out and socializing again. “Scott Pilgrim” is one of those comics that feels so close to home every time I read it, so watching this undeniably faithful trailer kept me pumped until the movie’s eventual release, and the excitement didn’t subside.2011 brought another boring and dreary winter until I discovered how great the current “Fantastic Four” series by Jonathan Hickman was. It was filled with a huge cast of lovable characters and great long-form storytelling that never felt like it was dragging.This excitement bled into DC’s “New 52” re-launch, and while I still felt a bit depressed this past fall, having so many new comics coming out lightened the load.And that brings us to now: my final few weeks of college and my final column. Right now, I am an emotional rollercoaster, looking forward to the end but also kind of wishing I knew for sure what I’ll be doing with my life. This actually parallels my feelings about the start of Marvel’s latest event comic, “Avengers vs. X-Men.”Yeah, it’s exciting to see Cyclops fight Captain America (like graduation) but I can already see myself wishing they would get to the damn point already (like my post-grad plans.)
(04/12/12 1:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Kid Icarus” was one of those big-launch titles for the original Nintendo back in the 1980s. Everyone assumed he was going to be a Nintendo mascot alongside Mario, Samus and Link. That never seemed to happen until now, as the first Kid Icarus game in more than 20 years, “Kid Icarus: Uprising,” has been released.The story, while completely nonsensical, features great voice acting and writing. Conversations are hilariously self-aware sometimes, such as when characters complain about loading screens or talk about the 1980s, and they rarely let up.The graphics, 3-D effects and overall gameplay are wonderful, too. The game uses a solid mix of shooting and melee combat to keep the action frantic but tactical.The problem, though, is that the control scheme involves you holding the Nintendo 3DS with your left hand to move the analog nub, and then using your right hand to aim with the touch screen. The game includes a stand, which helps with hand pain, but it never feels natural. It’s a shame because the rest of the game is so great.
(04/12/12 12:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When you think of a hard-edged noir story, do you think of a blind lawyer who dresses as a devil and fights crime?I didn’t think so.Daredevil is one of the most underappreciated characters in comics, mostly due to his absurd premise and a crappy movie from 2003. The actual comic, though, has delivered some of the comic-book world’s best merging of the noir and superhero genres from team after team of great writers and artists.While his character seems ridiculous at first glance, when you think about it, Daredevil has one of the more tragic origin stories of any superhero. Not only is his dad killed by the mob when he is young, but he also loses his sight to a chemical spill that gives him super senses.“Daredevil” has the quality storyline involving radioactive waste giving him powers, but it also establishes a realistic reason for his fight against organized crime.While Frank Miller had a great run on the character in the 1980s, this past decade has been the real highlight of “Daredevil” comics. This golden era began with writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev’s 2001-05 run on the comic.Bendis’ approach to the character was extremely different from any before his. He had a real knack for snippy, witty dialogue scenes and combined these with his roots in crime comics to create a darkly toned comic that still had a sense of fun to it whenever the characters talked.Bendis also introduced traumatic bombshell after bombshell into Matthew Murdock’s (Daredevil’s alter ego) life that made for an intense series of stories.Maleev aided this darkness by furthering the noir tone of the book with thick shading and muted colors. The image of Daredevil in costume didn’t look goofy under Maleev — it looked menacing and brooding.The only downside is that he wasn’t quite able to render fight scenes with any sense of motion.Whoever took over for Bendis and Maleev on Daredevil had a lot to live up to, but miraculously, writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark managed to top him.Brubaker’s stories took Daredevil from being in prison to teaming up with a kingpin to becoming the head of the big ninja group of the Marvel universe.It was still dark and put Daredevil through the wringer, but Lark’s artwork made it more fun. It looked like a cleaner version of Maleev’s work: It was still dark and brooding, but it had more of a degree of fun to it, as Lark could actually render some really kinetic action scenes.Brubaker’s run was followed by a year-and-a-half hiatus to the golden era of “Daredevil” comics that is best left forgotten. Marvel introduced a massive “Daredevil”-themed crossover, missing the point that “Daredevil” is at its best when its events are free from the constraints of the big Marvel universe.That brings us to current writer Mark Waid’s run on the comic.Realizing “Daredevil” needed a break from being such a hellishly dark comic, Waid has thrown “Daredevil” back to the early days of comics with colorful artwork and fun stories.Though Waid’s run so far has been incredibly fun and provided one of the best comics on the stand for the past year, this week, a three-issue crossover with “Spider-Man” and “Punisher” starts.If anyone can pull it off, it’s Waid, but I am concerned that a crossover could result in the first bad issues, aside from the aforementioned hiatus, of an otherwise great run.
(03/29/12 1:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the early days of the Internet, somebody had an idea that suggested maybe this crazy, new-fangled network could be a birthing ground for new and great comic strips. Maybe these comic strips could showcase a sense of wit the newspaper strips don’t have, maybe they could give creators the freedom to do some really crazy things with artwork and maybe they will be totally awesome.Thus, webcomics were born.OK, that might not be exactly what happened, but webcomics have been around since the early days of the Internet and have continued to evolve since.While I could take this opportunity to endorse webcomic greats such as “Achewood” and “Penny Arcade,” I am going to talk about some lesser-known strips that deserve just as much praise as those heavy hitters.“Romantically Apocalyptic” is a webcomic about three gas-masked fellows and their lives in the post-apocalypse — or is it about something more? The plot is pretty hard to follow, but it’s a fun read with gorgeous artwork — which mixes live actors, edited photos and sketches — that creates a vision of the apocalypse that looks real and otherworldly at the same time. While it can be hard to follow at times, it’s worth it for the beautiful artwork alone.Another great comic is “Nedroid.” It is one of the rare webcomics that manages to be consistently hilarious while keeping the comedy completely clean and lighthearted. The strips are mostly about a bird named Reginald and his best friend, a round little bear named Beartato (pronounced as a hybrid of “bear” and “potato”).Reginald and Beartato alternate between being huge yuppie idiots (the worst day of Beartato’s life was the day his father wouldn’t buy him a fresh violin) to witty geniuses (in one strip, Harrison decides to buy novelty gravestones for his friends).The artwork further sells the humor through a simple blue color palette and Harrison’s variety of expressions, despite his having only one eyeball and a beak. The magnum opus of “Nedroid,” though, is “Party Cat,” a story about, yes, a cat that loves to party.Lastly, we have “Gunshow.” The best way to find out if you would enjoy “Gunshow” is to ask yourself if you enjoy questioning an author’s sanity while reading his or her work. If you do, chances are you will love its disturbing comedic brilliance.Author K.C. Green alternates between techniques ranging from sheer absurdity (one strip depicts the characters of “Seinfeld” turning into owls) to more simple humor (another has cowboys taking an exam about the definition of “hootenanny”). Then there are those that still manage to be funny despite their bleakness, such as “Fun With Your Depression.” The variable sense of humor is what manages to keep “Gunshow” fresh, and you never know if you are going to get a disturbed or lighthearted laugh out of it.The true beauty of webcomics, though, is their archives. If any of the aforementioned comics strike your fancy, you have instant access to all the strips produced throughout the years.It’s easy to find a new one to enjoy every day, and then lose that entire day going through it.
(03/22/12 2:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Many things have been promised about it. Many things have been expected from it. It had to live up to being the sequel to one of the best games ever made.“Mass Effect 3” lives up to all of this.Its story sees the conclusion of nearly every single plotline the “Mass Effect” series has been building up to, with Earth under attack and the gamer trying to unite the galaxy against the threat.It introduces the most morally gray decisions of the series, often making for great tension.Seeing all these events that were foretold in earlier games is great, and they all fit together into the best overall story of the whole series. Overall, the quality makes up for an ambiguous, endlessly debatable ending.For a series that is so strictly single-player, the new addition of multiplayer is great. It’s the most fun I’ve had playing a four-player co-op shooter since “Left 4 Dead” — not to mention the most exciting fights and set pieces of the whole series.
(03/22/12 1:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>We may be nearing the end of March Madness, but fortunately, March also marks the start of music festival season. So of course we had to bracket-ize 32 of the country’s biggest festivals between now and August to let you know which should be 2012’s best. Read our music festival guide for more information on each.ROUND ONESOUTH#1 Bonnaroo defeats #8 Old Settler's#4 Hangout defeats #5 Beale Street#3 Wakarusa defeats #6 Free Press Summer Fest#7 Forecastle defeats #2 Jazz & HeritageIt’s hard to believe that the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival could get upset in the first round, but Forecastle had just the lineup to pull it out. With headliners such as Wilco, Sleigh Bells and Girl Talk, it looks like Louisville, Ky., is now Upset City. — Jonathan StreetmanWEST#1 Coachella defeats #8 Treefort#5 Pickathon defeats #4 High SierraIn a battle of West Coast fests, Oregon’s Pickathon bested California’s High Sierra by boasting a rootsy lineup centered around performances by Neko Case, Dr. Dog and Heartless Bastards. High Sierra buried similar bands under flash-in-the-pan EDM acts, so Pickathon gets the edge. — Brad Sanders#3 Outside Lands defeats #6 Harmony#2 Sasquatch! defeats #7 Sunset StripEAST#8 Orion defeats #1 The BamboozleThe Metallica-curated Orion Music and More Festival might be in its inaugural year, but its wildly diverse bill — and the promise of full performances of “Ride the Lightning” and “The Black Album” — earned it some serious buzz. Meanwhile, The Bamboozle is putting Skrillex and Mac Miller at the same place at the same time. ’Nuff said. — Brad Sanders #4 Ultra defeats #5 Wanee#3 Gathering of the Vibes defeats #6 Camp Bisco#7 Governors Ball defeats #2 Mountain JamJazz and blues acts spread over a four-day period in Hunter, New York, can’t compete with Governors Ball’s lean two days of acts such as Beck, Fiona Apple and Passion Pit on Randall’s Island in New York — not to mention zero overlapping sets in that short and sweet weekend. — Mikel KjellMIDWEST#1 Summerfest defeats #8 North Coast#5 Electric Forest defeats #4 Summer CampAside from Electric Forest having evolved from the fabled Rothbury Festival, it boasts a more diverse lineup than Summer Camp. With names from Das Rascist to Thievery Corporation enhancing its breadth, Electric Forest strutted away the winner. — Rachel Hanley#3 Pitchfork defeats #6 All Good#2 Lollapalooza defeats #7 NelsonvilleSWEET SIXTEENSOUTH#1 Bonnaroo defeats #4 Hangout#7 Forecastle defeats #3 WakarusaAny lineup with a range from Flying Lotus to Real Estate will get our votes over usual suspects Pretty Lights, Umphrey’s and Slightly Stoopid; Forecastle, easily. — Steven ArroyoWEST#1 Coachella defeats #5 Pickathon#2 Sasquatch! defeats #3 Outside LandsEAST#8 Orion defeats #4 UltraIt’s kind of hard to imagine how awesome it would be see Metallica perform two of its seminal albums alongside Best Coast, Modest Mouse and Titus Andronicus in the middle of the summer. How can a three-day dance music festival with an inconvenient late-March time slot even attempt to compete with that? — Mikel Kjell#7 Governors Ball defeats #3 Gathering of the VibesThe annual Gathering of the Vibes Festival has been running for 17 years, but the two-year-old Governors Ball seemed to edge Vibes out with ease. Fortified with a wider range of music, Governors Ball has a distinct identity in a scene of summer music festivals typically dominated by hippie themes. — Rachel HanleyMIDWEST#1 Summerfest defeats #5 Electric Forest#2 Lollapalooza defeats #3 PitchforkELITE EIGHTSOUTH#1 Bonnaroo defeats #7 ForecastleWEST#1 Coachella defeats #2 Sasquatch!EAST#7 Governors Ball defeats #8 OrionMIDWEST#1 Summerfest defeats #2 LollapaloozaFINAL FOUR#1 Coachella defeats #1 Bonnaroo#7 Governors Ball defeats #1 SummerfestContinuing a remarkable Cinderella run, Governors Ball rode its immaculate roster to take down the #1 seed out of the Midwest, Summerfest, cementing its spot in the finals. They face Goliath-fest Coachella in a battle of the coasts next, but Passion Pit, Modest Mouse and the now-defunct LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Pat Mahoney nearly took the Ball all the way. — Jonathan StreetmanTHE WINNER#1 Coachella defeats #7 Governors BallSo many things about Governors Ball impressed us here — among them, a gorgeous location on Randall’s Island in New York, an offer of no overlapping sets and a diverse and near-spotless lineup. Unfortunately for the Governor, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival offers most of those things, too, and it’s offering them twice. Its unfathomably lucky attendees will enjoy an unbeatable lineup of more than 100 artists, from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg to Radiohead, playing two consecutive weekends in scenic Indio, Calif. Governors Ball might just prove itself as the country’s best-kept secret of music festivals, but Coachella was probably going all the way from the start. — Steven Arroyo
(03/01/12 12:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On the night of my 16th birthday, I was sitting alone in my basement, watching television.Not exactly how you celebrate that big day.Little did I know it was about to become a hugely influential day in my life. I was almost asleep on the couch when my older brother came down into the basement, plopped two comics on my lap and said, “Happy birthday.” Those two comics rekindled my forgotten love of comics.Let me back up.While most kids would be reading stories such as Golden Books and fairy tales as they were going to bed, my parents liked to mix in comic books. We would read “Captain America,” “Batman” and nearly every “X-Men” title.Comics in the 1990s were full of cheap gimmicks, and I ate all of them up. The first issue of my favorite series, “Generation X,” had a shiny, silver cover. Certain comics also had exclusive trading cards, and some issues came in bags that hid their covers to encourage readers to buy more to get the covers they wanted. It was all creatively bankrupt, taking the focus away from the content and putting it squarely on attempts to make more money.One big instance of that creative bankruptcy is what led my dad to stop getting comics for us. At the end of Marvel’s big crossover in 1996, a whole bunch of series, such as “Captain America” and “The Avengers,” were re-launched with new issue No. 1’s.Re-launching a series nowadays is perfectly acceptable, as it can signify a dramatic shift in tone or plot of a comic, but then, the re-launch felt like a desperate plea to the collector market. It didn’t help that the new issues had terrible writing, as well as crappy artwork from widely reviled artist Rob Liefeld, which made you question how someone would even function with so many damn muscles. My dad wasn’t buying into it, and he stopped our trips to the comic shop.Back to my 16th birthday. The comics my brother gave me were unlike any of the things I remembered from the gimmicky 1990s. “Clumsy,” by Jeffrey Brown, initially looked like a vulgar book drawn by a little kid. But when I read it, I discovered an intimate, autobiographical account of a long-distance relationship. I had no idea stuff like this existed, and I instantly craved more.That night, my brother took me to a party, where I met his coworkers from his high-school job. Through talking to them, I realized my brother actually used to work in a comic shop, something I’d never known. A couple weeks later, I put an application in to work at the same store. I had my first day there within the month and was encouraged to read all sorts of stuff, including “Watchmen,” “Batman: Year One” and “Blankets.”Suddenly, my childhood love of comics was rekindled.
(02/23/12 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Final Fantasy XIII wasn’t the most well received game, so when a sequel was announced, a huge collective sigh was let out by fans everywhere. XIII-2 is a hard game to classify. For every mistake it fixes from XIII, it screws up something minor in the process.Unlike the first game, which took 20 or so hours for you to finally feel like you had gotten out of an extended tutorial, XIII-2 gives you access to all the combat mechanics an hour in. The battle system was the only positive in XIII, so gaining access so early in the sequel is wonderful.The plot in XIII-2 is more focused and gets to the point faster this time — 25 hours to beat the game compared to XIII’s 30 to 40 — and stars only two lead characters as they time travel around to prevent a terrible future. The plot is enjoyable enough until the ending, which feels like the developers are flipping their collective middle finger at you.Despite these problems, the music is fantastic. It might sound strange initially for a background track to feature vocals, but the lyrics and singing actually add to the beauty and tension of certain areas and fights. Every song in the game elicits some sort of emotion, something other Final Fantasy games don’t manage.
(02/16/12 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The long-feared, long-thought too blasphemous to ever actually happen has finally occurred. A few weeks ago, DC Comics announced the medium-defining comic Watchmen is getting a new line of mini-series this summer. The announcement has sparked debates about several issues, including creators’ rights, the sanctity of artwork and morality. Every comic fan, no matter how casual, seems to have an extreme opinion for or against the prequels, while I find myself firmly in the middle.The main criticism being levied toward the prequels is that they violate the sanctity of a complete piece of art. People believe Watchmen is a self-contained story and doesn’t need any additions. They say doing so could dilute the original piece of work.I agree that Watchmen tells a complete story, and I don’t see any need to add to it, but letting an addition to a work ruin your enjoyment of the original is stupid. I can still watch the original Star Wars movies and enjoy them, despite their terrible prequels. Hell, I actually enjoy them more because I see how much better they are than those green-screened versions George Lucas put out.Adding new stories to an established universe will always encourage people to look at the original. If the Watchmen prequels are bad, Watchmen will look all the better. If they are mediocre, Watchmen remains great. If they are great, then hot damn, we have two great collections of stories about incredible characters. Letting additions ruin your opinion of a great universe only harms your experience.I agree with the sentiment, though, that writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons were royally screwed in this situation. Don’t get me wrong, what DC is doing is legally sound, but it’s morally bankrupt. Creator rights have always been a touchy issue in comics, with creators such as Jack Kirby routinely being cheated out of royalties and rights to characters they created. Moore and Gibbons signed a misleading contract with DC that said the rights to Watchmen would be returned to them when it was out of print for a year. But it never went out of print, so the rights never reverted back to them.Despite all the negativity I feel about the royalty issue, I find it hard not to get excited for the prequels because the team of artists DC has assembled is staggering. The list includes Darwyn Cooke writing and drawing the Minutemen, Jae Lee on Ozymandias, Lee Bermejo on Rorschach and the Kubert brothers on Nite Owl. Google these artists, and you will see this is truly a holy shit team. Even if the writing is bad or mediocre, we will at least have more pretty pictures to see.
(02/09/12 2:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Soul Calibur V could be the end of the series. While previous games showed a slow sense of advancement with fighting mechanics and play modes, the game takes a huge, possibly franchise-killing step back. The series has been known for strong single player components, but all we get here is a laughably bad one-hour story mode and three different ways of fighting computer opponents. While fighting games are about playing against other people, it’s disappointing to see the series lose so much.The basic fighting is still solid, though it adds countless imbalances with the introduction of a super move system ripped straight from Street Fighter. The character roster also removes fan favorites such as Zasalamel in favor of characters such as scythe-wielding Pyrrha, a girl who whines the entire time she's fighting.The only good thing about the game is the character creator, which has seen huge advancements. Making ungodly looking abominations, such as my deer-headed, horse-hooved man, is incredibly fun, but it doesn’t make up for all its problems.
(02/02/12 3:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>We all know what comic book characters such as Batman and Superman look like. They are so ingrained in our culture that anyone can mentally picture their images. Sometimes, though, that image can vary, and it can be due to publishers introducing costume redesigns for characters as a way of modernizing or giving a different take on a character. Marvel and DC have released countless redesigns lately. Here are some of the worst and best.With its recent re-launch, DC Comics redesigned costumes for many of its popular characters. Some are great and modernize the characters tastefully. Wonder Woman, for instance, had always looked odd in a lot of situations with her one-piece swimsuit outfit, but DC has allowed her to sometimes wears pants! Not so weird looking anymore!Animal Man is also better since ditching his orange and blue spandex with a leather jacket, changing to a much less garish blue and white, which benefits the current horror-themed run.But the reboot has also introduced some of the worst redesigns in the past decade.Plenty of female characters have been needlessly sexualized, but it’s actually Superman who got it the worst. His standard cape and blue spandex are still intact, but he has lost the red underwear in place of a belt. After seeing Superman with the red undies for so long, it feels awkwardly like seeing him naked without them. It’s awful. Every time I look at him now, I see a Ken doll with a Superman paint job. Marvel, on the other hand, has been constantly acing costume redesigns throughout the past few years, including those of Captain America, Rogue and Hawkeye. Nothing Marvel has come up with looks like it belongs to another decade; it all looks remarkably modern and smart. The company also deserves credit for the fact that most of the costume changes have come with an actual story element to warrant them.Of all the redesigns, though, the best from either company (hell, maybe even the best ever) is last year’s redesign of the Fantastic Four. By dropping the blue spandex and the stylized “4” on their chests, the redesign gave Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Thing black and white spandex outfits that look like stylized lab base attire. Not only do they look modern, they get right to the essential parts of their characters. After all, the Fantastic Four have always been more of a superhero science team. And because the Human Torch died, it also has a wonderful plot element because the team is no longer four.Costume redesigns can be a strange thing and have the power to fundamentally alter someone’s perception of characters. The best costumes, such as those of the Fantastic Four, keep in mind the true spirits of the characters and/or make them look less goofy.While I don’t like picking sides, Marvel has definitely led the redesign charge while DC has ruined the look of its most iconic character.
(01/19/12 3:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Welcome back to another semester of Words In Balloons. This year is shaping up to be a huge year for comics with Marvel’s big Avengers vs. X-Men comic coming up and The Dark Knight Rises being released in the summer.Nothing is more important to watch this year, though, than how the DC Comics re-launch from last September pans out in the long run. The re-launch is now five months in, and so far, the overall results have mostly been great.This past week, DC announced the first casualties of the line with six titles being canceled, including Static Shock and Mister Terrific. It’s not shocking that they were canned, as they continually showed up at the bottom of sales lists, but it’s a shame to see any titles go, especially ones like those two that star heroes of non-Caucasian backgrounds.Surprisingly, these titles will be replaced by six new titles in May after their final issues in April, showing that DC is serious about keeping the re-launch fresh.The re-launch has also been a major success for DC in terms of sales. While their totals still lagged behind Marvel at the end of the year, they have benefited from releasing digital versions of all their comics the same day as their print release. Marvel still won’t have day-and-date digital until March, giving DC a six-month lead.The re-launch has also resulted in a huge boom in creativity. Before, you could go a week ignoring DC’s new releases. Now, it feels like every week they release something awesome. Comics like Wonder Woman, for instance, show the characters at their best while throwing new ideas into back stories; her reworked origin (now a daughter of Zeus instead of a statue given life) finally gives her a sense of humanity and a driving purpose to her character.Still, nothing out of DC’s 52 new books beats Animal Man. Writer Jeff Lemire creates a strange blend of horror, super heroics and family ties that mixes with the bizarre artwork of artist Travel Foreman into the most fun and disturbing series coming out these days. If you check out anything from the new 52, make it this.The only serious flaw with the re-launch is that many titles could have come out from DC without the reboot hubbub. Green Lantern, for instance, picked up exactly where its story left off. If the re-launch was supposed to be a good jumping-on point for new readers, why continue ongoing stories? It makes the whole thing feel even more like a marketing stunt.That quibble aside, the re-launch has so far provided new stuff every month. It will be interesting to see if DC can maintain this fresh feeling throughout the year. But, as of five months in, it makes walking into a comic shop like walking into a candy store.
(12/08/11 1:09am)
WEEKEND's best TV shows of the year
(12/01/11 1:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>First love rarely ends pleasantly. It begins as an ideal of finally finding someone who understands you, only for it to slowly end as the dream becomes reality. It can be hard to look back on positively, but in the graphic novel “Blankets,” author/artist Craig Thompson weaves a tale of first love and religious awakening into an incredibly positive and poetic work of art.“Blankets” is an illustrated memoir about Thompson’s life growing up, struggles with finding his religious identity, family issues with his brother and parents and his first love. The tale is sweeping and not a single one of the three stories ever seems like it doesn’t get enough space, with every piece connected to a central tale about growing up.One of the smallest and most overlooked themes is that of childhood memory. Thompson touches on how memories of childhood become almost as imaginary as the stories made up on the playground. It seems to only be curable by finding someone else who was there to confirm it really did happen. It’s an insecurity that many people might not even realize they suffer from.This small theme translates into the central story of the comic: Craig’s long-distance love affair with a girl he meets named Raina. Aside from having one of the coolest and most gorgeous-sounding names ever, Raina inspires Craig to continue with his artwork and realize there is a world outside of the cold alienation he suffers at his high school.As the relationship progresses and Craig finally visits Raina, the frailty of long-distance relationships emerges. It’s an escape from your everyday life, knowing that somewhere out there someone feels the same way you do. At the same time, though, that person has their own life that you can’t even imagine.When Craig finally visits Raina, it’s like a realization of a dream, but then when he leaves the realization of her having her own life to deal with begins to wake him up.The handling of these themes is aided incredibly by Thompson’s incredible style that goes from looking extremely cartoon-like and abstract to a winter wonderland of words floating by on gusts of winds. He also plays with common comic book styles like a section of panels slowly being painted over. Every page of the 600 looks like it took an immense amount of thought.It’s also one of the only books or comics I’ve ever seen that has a soundtrack accompaniment. The soundtrack, recorded by the band Tracker, has an atmospheric wintery sound to it, with only one track containing vocals. While each track has a designated chapter to read along with it, any track works as the snowy ambience fits all of the comic’s chapters.Comics have the power to emotionally affect people, and “Blankets” ranks highly as one of the best novels of any sort.
(11/17/11 2:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The “Call Of Duty” series is easily one of the biggest, if not the biggest, franchise in gaming right now, making ungodly amounts of money each year. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, the game shows signs of fatigue in what has been an otherwise great series.The single-player campaign is a mixed bag. It has a better story than “Modern Warfare 2,” but the fight environments are nowhere near as interesting as the suburban warfare areas of “MW2” as you go from African slums to bland, war-torn cityscapes.The set pieces fail to really shock anymore, as nothing about the gameplay has dramatically changed. The series shows little sign of evolution or refinement. In fact, if you played the first Modern Warfare, you have pretty much played this game’s single-player.The multiplayer also still feels drastically similar, but it’s great. The best addition is the new two-player survival mode, which is insanely addictive. Unlike the single-player, it introduces a variety of new enemy types.
(11/10/11 1:45pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fall 2009 at IU was kind of a rough patch for me. I was having trouble
adjusting to being on my own and making new friends. It was very lonely
and alienating as I constantly failed to make connections with people.
One night, I attended a reading by comic author John Porcellino, and suddenly, I didn’t feel so alone.Porcellino
was incredibly humble and shy. He didn’t act like someone who was proud
of the wonderful work he has accomplished with his autobiographical
“King-Cat Comics” series. He is just a simple guy who likes to make
comics about the things he sees and does. He seemed very awkward about
having even a group of about 20 people coming to see him, but it made
him happy.
I instantly made a connection with him based on just the way he was
acting around people. When he actually gave his presentation about his
comics, it felt even stronger.Porcellino’s comics are drawn in a
very simple style. They look like doodles you might find in a class
notebook: dots for eyes, bodies consisting of just a few lines and
little to no shading.
The simple drawings actually improve the quality of the writing. His
stories can consist of any variety of human emotions, from happiness to
rage, but since they are all done in this simple style, they instantly
seem poetic. It almost feels like looking at his journal in comic form.
None of his work seemed more personable and relatable than “Perfect
Example,” a short chronicle of his experiences with depression as a
teenager. His feelings of isolation, despite having good friends, were
something I instantly related to. As he talked and showed more of his
work, it felt like my experiences had been distilled into comics.
Porcellino’s work isn’t just great when he is talking about emotions,
though. His sense of humor is also excellent. Most of Porcellino’s work
is released in a series of independently published comics called
“King-Cat Comics.” Each issue contains some short stories about his
life, some fiction and even top-40 lists of some of his favorite things.
The most amusing of these lists is one about his local cats. He gives
each cat a name, a description of its habits and a small sketch of what
it looks like. It’s a great example of how much he cares for animals,
something I felt connected with, as well.
When he concluded his talk, I had a book signed and thanked him for
showing me I wasn’t so alone. He shook my hand and said that really
meant a lot to him, and he thanked me for me my honesty. The experience
stuck with me for the next year, and an idea popped in my head.
Everything about Porcellino’s work just struck a chord with me, from the
emotions he felt to his love of cats. I thought I should do something
to immortalize this feeling, so the next summer, I got a tattoo of his
“King-Cat Comics” logo, a cat with a crown, scepter and a king’s robe,
on my back shoulder.
I sent Porcellino a letter with a picture of the tattoo and a list of my
own neighborhood cats. It took months, but one day, he finally wrote me
back. Written on a hotel’s stationery, the note said he had been going
through some rough times but that my letter had brightened up
everything. It was a great feeling, knowing that in our own ways, we had
both made otherwise rough experiences feel a little bit better.
(10/27/11 1:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Revisiting something you loved many years ago can sometimes be rough. There is a real sense of fear that the nostalgia you have for it could be crushed by the realization that the thing you revisit may not actually be as good as you remembered. This is the way I felt when I reread the first series I ever bought in its entirety, “Preacher.”Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon, “Preacher” tells the story of a pastor named Jesse Custer who inadvertently becomes possessed by Genesis, the child of an angel and a demon. Finding out that God “quit” and left heaven the moment Genesis was born, Custer sets out with on-and-off girlfriend Tulip and Irish vampire Cassidy on a journey to literally find God.It’s a pretty high concept for a plot. Remarkably, though, it feels accessible as Ennis builds a cast of hilarious supporting characters who help to ease the occasionally daunting religious themes. The high concept ends up feeling like a framing device to tell a great story about three close friends and how their friendship develops through the years.The element of comedy is illustrated no better than the main villain of the series, Herr Starr. Starr works for a secret Christian Illuminati-type group that is desperate to get its hands on Custer. Starr starts off as intimidating but grows increasingly more hilarious and insane as he loses any shred of dignity he had going after Custer, such as when he acquires an unflattering scar across his head that looks like a certain male appendage. Every piece of dignity lost is another piece of great comedy to the reader.One of the reasons I was hesitant to return to the story was because of its sometimes insane vulgarity. Ennis is known for going to disgustingly juvenile places, but in “Preacher,” it actually works. The ridiculous vulgarity combined with the comic’s Western movie style elements transforms it into something unusual. Do be warned, though, that despite the vulgarity being used wisely, some elements are bound to offend everyone in some way or another.The best and most shocking thing to find when rereading the series is how strongly the three main characters develop through the series. Cassidy, especially, becomes one of the most complex characters in any comic, ever. He initially seems like a bland, booze-hound stereotype, but he slowly grows into someone you feel bad for, hate and love all at the same time. Cassidy also shows Ennis’ attention when planning out the series. Without spoiling it, Cassidy evolves through a plot development that could seem shocking and out of place, but rereading earlier issues reveals that trait was always there. Ennis just waited to really bring that character trait to the forefront.The one negative of the series is Dillon’s artwork. It isn’t that it is bad, it’s just that it is extremely plain and unremarkable. Most characters share similar facial traits that can make them indistinguishable from each other. He does, however, pay great attention to fight choreography, and the many fist fights Jesse and Cassidy get into have a pulpy Western attitude to them.Revisiting “Preacher” was a great surprise for me. The vulgar elements in my nostalgia were shocked by the great deal of character development. Going back to things you used to love can indeed be rough, but sometimes it ends up revealing things you didn’t know existed in the beginning.