A Month has gone by so why not another...

New Comic Book Day: 11/24/10

Game Playing: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

If I haven't been blogging it's for one reason and one reason only. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

Games like this one tend to suck me in completely. There is just so much to do. Aside from killing those crazy templars there is Art to buy, weapons to upgrade, cities to renovate, and now assassin recruits to level up.
I'm really enjoying the conspiracy plot in this game. It's so engaging that my wife even asks me what I've learned about Desmond and his ancestors.

I know people that played the first Assassin's Creed and gave up on it because it was too repetitive in its game play. While that is true I must say, Tough it out and you will be rewarded in the second and third games.

Some people say that the third game in this series felt a little rushed and did not contribute as much of a change as AC 2 did to AC 1. I personally enjoy the changes they did make and I'm happy to keep the story going.

Ezio can now call assassin's to kill his targets. Excellent

I am definitely looking forward to more game time just to see what will happen next. Interestingly enough when I stop playing after a long period of time I feel like Desmond leaving the Animus.

On my nightstand 11/18/10

Right now I have two single issue releases on my night stand:



Morning Glories #4




Both Morning Glories and Superior are new original titles that have very interesting premises. Morning Glories is about a group of students that get selected to attend a special school only to find that there is something sinister happening.



Superior #2



Superior is the story of a disabled boy who is granted the power to transform into his fictional hero "Superior" I asked my local comic book pusher when this title came out if it was a "Kickass" version of DC's Captain Marvel. So far this is not Billy Batson with a bunny.

Fanboy Rage: The Green Lantern Trailer

Big news today if you are a fan of Hal Jordan, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively or Two minute condensed versions of stories on which we base the entirety of our judgements.

That's right the new Green Lantern trailer is now out in the open for all of us "would be critics" to tear to pieces after which we cry ourselves to sleep over our ruined childhood and the monstrosity that is the Hollywood money machine.

There's just one problem with that, I don't feel that way at all about the trailer. See for yourself and meet up with me in two minutes I'll be waiting.

To quote Mr. Jordan: I KNOW RIGHT?!?!

I love everything about this trailer but I must admit I'm pretty biased I enjoy Green Lantern he is in my top three heroes list. I also love Ryan Reynolds, he charmed me into liking him a long time ago when he portrayed a popular fun loving college student named Van Wilder.

You combine those two and I am seriously geeking out. The masses though do not seem to be on my side.

My enthusiasm for this movie has been tested ever since the first image of Ryan Reynolds as GL was published in Entertainment Weekly. The haters are really hating on this film right now, everywhere I've seen comments on the footage people say two things:

1. The CG looks really awful
2. Ryan Reynolds was not a good choice for Hal Jordan. (One guy even said Green Lantern is supposed to be black...This is not John Stewart Noob although you get points for knowing that there is an African American GL)

I only somewhat agree with the first point and completely disagree with the second. I would say that on the whole the CG looks pretty good: OA looks fantastic, Abin Sur is definitely an alien, Sinestro is spot on, and Kilowog is positively intimidating (You Poozers!) the only part I think looks a bit rough is when Hal says he is going to find trouble. I just don't think the colors of the suit look natural there and it makes the whole thing look rather fake.

The second big complaint is that Ryan Reynolds is too comedic and therefore not good. You see Hal Jordan is supposed to have a stick in his butt apparently. I've never read the character like that but maybe I'm wrong.



Hal is a ladies man



Hal has never been a can't settle down, problem with authority, rushes in half cocked (lol), wisecracking sort of dude. Oh wait....he is. I think Reynolds is perfect to pull off this cocky (lol) character and not only will he pull it off he will be charming while doing it. Yes I am totally crushing. The only other person I would put in that role is Nathan Fillion and I'm not the only one by the looks of this fan made trailer.

The thing is that this movie is supposed to be fun mixed with lots of action. It has a charismatic character and a charismatic actor playing him. To put it into perspective this is a quote from the director Martin Campbell as featured in an interview on Collider.com:

It will be much more in the tone of Iron Man. It’s got to be. Certainly not Batman Begins, which is a pretty dark movie. No, he’s the Hal Jordan character who’s the sort of shoot from the hip, irresponsible kind of cocky test pilot if you will. In fact, the character seems to be the least likely to be chosen as Green Lantern.  Well, of course that’s the fun of it. So no, it’ll be much more like Iron Man. So it’ll have one foot in reality if you see what I mean.

I liked Iron Man, I liked Batman Begins and I'm glad to have Green Lantern get a movie too. If I have one final thought as to why I'm still excited for this movie its this, Geoff Johns approves of what he has seen. If you don't know who that is let me put it to you in S.A.T. terms Geoff Johns is to Green Lantern as Christopher Nolan is to:

A: Batman Begins

B: The Dark Knight

C: Inception

D: Memento

E: All of the Above with an emphasis on the Batman movies cause we are talking about DC Heroes

So cheer up fanboys, good supervision, good actor, good character, and a director that made James Bond relevant and fresh tend to make an alright sort of movie. That and they still have several months to work some things out.

The Morning After: The Walking Dead Vol. 8

If volume 7 of this series ended on a jaw dropping note (which it did!) volume 8 did little to rectify the situation.

I must warn you now about the imminent zombie danger within the rest of the post and by zombie I mean ******Spoilers****** People tend to take zombies and spoilers very seriously. you've been warned.

On my nightstand 11/15/10

On my nightstand to read right now is the next (in my current ownership) volume in this Gem of a series by Robert Kirman:

Volume 8 of Image Comics The Walking Dead. My wife and I have been reading this book together (She holds the book and I turn the pages because I'm the slower reader) It is really an excellent series and the end of Volume 7 left me with my mouth agape wondering what was going to happen next.

You can read the first single issue for free on the image comics web site but be warned this story takes place in a zombie infested world and the people that survived can be pretty horrific.

If you don't like reading you can always check out the adapted for TV version of this story on AMC

What is a Comic Long Box?

Comic long box? You are one of two types of people you either know what it is (you nerd, or in some cases my "I keep tripping on these things" frustrated wife) or you have no idea. It's really quite a simple concept for those who don't know what one is. It's a box. A long box. It stores comics see:



Why is this place named for a box? I know that you are asking yourself this burning question and the answer is: The comic box represents society's love affair with entertainment. Most, if not all, of people's hopes, dreams, and desires can be represented in the stories collected within the long comic box. Also all the other blog names I wanted were taken.

I will focus on books I am reading although I must warn you I am about a year behind current releases. (I took a break from collecting to focus on silly things like a college education) There will also be movie, TV, and video game talk.

I am a fan of stories in any medium and I will try to pass on my over saturated and rather pedestrian view point onto you so that you can be over saturated too.