Web of Webhead

…or maybe it is!

On with the rant!

DC/Wildstorm - DREAMWAR - #1

I had a glimmer of hope for this book…I had planned on not picking it up at all, but then I read this interview with the writer, Keith Giffen.  I quote:

You mentioned in other interviews that the basic outline happens—they meet, they fight, they revolve it, they do something together.Yeah. Well, that’s pretty much par for the course, isn’t it? The heroes meet. They fight. They go, “Wait a minute. We’re both heroes.” And they go off and fight the common enemy. I’d like to think this time I came up with a real rationale for that happening other than the fact that the heroes are too stupid to recognize one another for that they are.

 

 

I would argue that he has changed the formula to simply “they fight”.  We see a number of known DC teams, but none of them seem quite right…A Morrison era looking JLA except with an old school Green Arrow and Hal “Green Lantern” Jordan, and Old School Titans team with half the squard wearing their modern garb.  3 strangers meet the “Tranquility” cast…except they have to announce basically to the audience they are really Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and Ted Grant.  (Who are really Green Lantern/Sentinel, a Flash, and Wildcat.)  And some Legion of Super Heroes members that don’t appear to match any of the current five or six versions spy on something called Stormwatch.

There isn’t even that much fighting.  The Titans fight Majestic, no introduction, they just attack him.  Cyborg fights some guy in a suit.  I think he is supposed to be Spartan.  Who, is either a cyborg or a pure robot, assuming that is who it even is.

Here’s the breakdown, even if you really know all of this stuff, and I think I know it fairly well, you’ll still be confused, and I don’t think there is a hook to bring you back.  (See also: Secret Invasion #1)  Put another way, the five page preview of Hawksmoor #1 at the end was far and away the best part of the book.

On with the RAVE:

MARVEL - Captain America - #37

I’ve been pleasantly surprised so far at the Cap run since the titular character was killed.  However, this issue is a little light on action.  Actually, there is no action.  I take that back, Barton (”Yeah.  You used to be Hawkeye.”) takes a couple of swings at the new Cap.  That’s it.  The Red Skull broods a lot.  (Even in the flashback he is brooding.)  Faustus broods.  Sharon Carter broods a lot.  The Falcon broods and complains.

Crap.  This is a rant too.

This chapter will look fine in retrospect when you read it in a graphic novel couched between (hopefully) some more action packed issues on either side.  This one was just a little too much “look at how clever I am by interweaving all of the real world conspiracy theories into a comics story line” for me this week.

Bonus META-Rant of the week:

Avengers/Invaders?  Project Super Powers?  (Or whatever it’s called.)  Can someone reign in Alex Ross a bit?  Yes…you’re the pre-emminnet artist of the day, I get it.  I believe it too.   But can we leave the stories to someone else?

ICv2 is highlighting a year of growth for gaming in 2007.  CMG’s, CCG’s and Board Games are all up, with RPG’s being down.  (In particular, it is noted that the announcement of DnD4 hurt DnD3.5 sales as would be expected, but we could and probably should see an upswing when the new release is out.)

Here are some of the interesting things I picked out of the article.

• CCG’s make 4 times as much money as all Minis.  ($600 mil vs. $150 mil)
• Minis make about 10 times as much as RPGs.  ($150 mil vs. $15 mil)
• Which of course means CCG’s make 40 times! the money of RPGs.
• By way of comparison, though not mentioned in the article, a rough count of World of Warcraft moneys (10 million players x $15 per month) means that WoW alone makes as much money in a month as all Minis sales do in a year, WoW alone makes 3 times as much per year as all CCG’s.  WoW brings in as much as all RPG sales do in a year in about 3 or 4 days.
• Fantasy is still king, with the top two spots of the CCG market claimed by fantasy themes, as well as the top RPG.
• WotC is still king, with top spots in CCG and RPG markets, as well as 2 out of the top 3 in CMGs.
• Board Games are surging, hopefully meaning more CCG/RPG players are getting more well rounded in their gaming hobby.
• Anime titles do well in CCG form.
• Warhammer, strong in minis and rpg both

So there you go, some of my insights on the year.  In particular, 2007 was a year in which my own taste in games grew quite a bit, particularly in the board game realm, matching it seems a trend in that direction.  If you haven’t tried one of those game, I’d encourage you to do so. - B

At least that’s what we all ended up saying around here today since we never did get a white Christmas, but now have plenty of time for snow apparently.

Five Easter Egg Hunts later, we have made it through another holiday. 

P.S., hope you didn’t have Duke in your Final Four this year… - B

Some bad news to report.  It has been reported that last Thursday Barron Vangor Toth, co-designer of the WWE Raw Deal CCG passed.  He was only 34.  I knew Barron from my days of playing Raw Deal, he was a very hands on designer, running tournaments and hanging out and meeting the players, playing games, all of the stuff you’d expect from a fan turned pro in the gaming world.  He was a very nice guy, and he will be missed by many I’m sure.

Today we also got the bad news that Gary Gygax, co-designer of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away overnight.  Gary is considered the father of the role-playing game by many, and the first Game Master by many more.  Gary was 69.

So sadly this week we mourn both the old guard and the new guard in the gaming world.  My heart goes out to their families and close friends. - B

…and horrible for it.

We were all sitting around the office today eating girl scout cookies, and trying to figure out what was missing, why they taste like crap plastic.  Sure enough, according to the scouts themselves, girl scout cookies are now trans-fat free.

And thank god for that really, because honestly, when I’m eating a whole box of cookies, I’d hate to think there is anything bad for me in it. - B

You can check the press release here, but basically, Games Workshop has made a deal to move all of it’s non minis games to Fantasy Flight, including moving the Universal Fighting System (UFS CCG) from Sabertooth to Fantasy Flight.  This means that UFS will be joining the same company as Kingdom Hearts and a Game of Thrones, as well as board games like Tannhauser.

My guess is, this will allow Games Workshop to focus on it’s core lines even further (something they seem commited to after their recent changes to their publishing side).  Fantasy Flight has a good reputation for CCG’s, and UFS seems like a good fit for them as well.  It will be interesting to see how they all co-exist at the ‘cons this year…this might also give GW products a little better foothold in the states? - B

In case you somehow missed it…the Oscars were last night.  Oh, I missed them, quite intentionally, just like every year, but I knew they were going on.  The press couldn’t stop reminding me about it every five seconds, about how whether or not the writer’s strike would be over by then (who cares!), about which movies would win…blah blah blah.

To me, the Oscars serve only one purpose, to juxtapose popular cinema with “art” cinema.  Sure, every once in a while you get your Gladiator or Lord of the Rings that somehow manages to span the gap.  But this year…the top prizes all went to movies that largely, to me anyway, look like they were made only to win Oscars!  What a concept.  I mean, best actress goes to a movie I’ve never even heard of, you’ve probably never heard of, no one I know has seen…but this was the best performance by a female actor?  How does anyone know?  If you make a movie and no one sees it, was it any good…really?

Yes, I unabashedly like my movies Transformers sized typically.  This is not to say that smaller films are never my cup of tea.  But honestly, if there were no Oscars, would some of these movies ever even be made?  Me, I’ll stick to movies that, you know, people actually go see, and that actually make money even though they cost 200 million to make.  But whatever.  Label me bourgeois if you must.

With that, I’ll tell you what I think the best movie of the year was…Transformers.  Why?  Not just because it made a boat load of money.  In a sea of last-of-the-arc trilogies, TF seemed like a breath of fresh popcorn this year.  Two sequels from now, it might not have that same feel, but this year it did feel fresh compared to say, the third Pirates movie.  (Which, by the way, made no sense.)  So there you go.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. - B

…and not in French or Spanish either.  Just when a guy gets back into the habit of writing again…I got the flu.  Well, I was sick.  I describe my symptoms as being “bedridden” for the better part of the week, and consequently not eating for most of that time.  However, I’ve begun to recover from my weakened condition…so here I am again.

Two big items right now…Lucasfilm (i.e. Star Wars) sued Gen Con over some financial issues stemming from Celebration IV.  Gen Con turned around and filed for Chapter 11, and appears to be refocusing on the core business of running Gen Con Indy.  Persons whose opinions I trust on the matter would seem to agree with Peter’s press statement that no real shenanigans happened, and this seems to be a big bookkeeping fiasco.  And really, would it surprise anyone?  But it did make Slash Dot, which is funny to me for some reason, but shouldn’t be surprising.  I’ll tend to believe that there were only honest mistakes made, and that this will all get worked out by (gasp!) the courts of all things.

On the uptick, Toy Fair in New York has been roaring on.  I don’t have a dog in the fight per se this year, at least not directly.  (Next year SHOULD be a different story.)  However, it’s always interesting to see what is going on across the spectrum.  A lot of heat for the new Indiana Jones lines I’m noticing, and I also see that Mattel is going to start doing 3 3/4″ DC figs.

Hmm…might as well throw a plug in quick, Mighty Muggs…those quirky new chunky figs of various Star Wars characters and soon to be Marvel, were designed by one of my friends that works on Attacktix with me.  The price point on these is just right too I think, about 10 bucks.  They are great, fun display pieces, and/or heavy duty enough to the let the little ones play with them.  Give ‘em a look the next time you are out toy shopping.

Ok, that’s it for now, going to take one last DayQuil…  - B

I’m fairly certain I’m not the only person enjoying the 80’s nostalgia of the double dose of American Gladiators AND Hulk Hogan all on one show.  It seems to be pretty popular, and they seem to be focusing on the competitive nature of the show more-so this time.  Plus, it has just the right amount of corny, between Hulk and Wolf alone…

Here’s a few fun facts I’ve picked up so far…Toa is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s cousin, and has done some stunt double work for him in movies.  Crush apparently competed in women’s mixed martial arts (MMA) previously.  Also, Titan played the role of Superman/Clark Kent in a very cool fan made World’s Finest movie trailer.

Ok, so I’m guessing at least some of you know me and have met me in person at least once.  Now, I would never claim to be in quite the fighting shape that the Gladiators are, but just based on the height and weight stats reported on the official site, here is a little size comparison…

Height: 

• Justice - 6′ 8″
• Mayhem - 6′ 5.5″
• Wolf - 6′ 4″
• Webhead - 6′ 3″
• Militia - 6′ 3″
• Titan - 6′ 3″
• Toa - 6′ 3″

Weight:

• Justice - 290 lb
• Webhead - 270 lb
• Titan - 251 lb
• Toa - 240 lb
• Mayhem - 230 lb
• Wolf - 225 lb
• Militia - 220 lb

So there you go, I’m really at about the average height, and only one of the six is actually heavier than me…sometimes I feel like maybe I missed my calling.  :)   - B

It was confirmed today that the new animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series will debut in theaters this fall, in fact, just in time for Gen Con (and my birthday), debuting on August 15th.  Hopefully theater owners in Indy will be able to accommodate the crowd…I’m fairly certain that will be one of the biggest concentrations of Star Wars fans in the world on that particular weekend.

CAN.  NOT.  WAIT.

More news as it comes in…