i hope when mia comes back she gets to have a conversation with roy that lasts more like like 3 words. what a concept

What are your favourite comics anyway?

Oh! Oh! Oh! Okay. Full disclaimer. We’re going for what comics I re-read over and over again. Are these comics...good? Eh. Are they bad? No, I don’t think so. Some were meh to wow! when first released that time has either been kinder or harsher to, but I don’t think I have a series or a run or a title which is I like which is like... hot guilty garbage. Though, of course, feel free to disagree. There are some authors on here which people will not want to touch with a barge pole, and I totally understand and encourage not touching them if you don’t want to.

Having said that, here are my favourite popcorn comics (largely Titans and Batfam because I am... basic): 

The Flash (2016) issues 39-45 + Annual #1

Having said that, Flash time first. People think Williamson is a real hit or miss writer and I do agree, but I think this whole arc is one big hit. It’s frantic in its energy, I love Gorilla Grodd as a villain, I love the modern Flashfam trying to help, I love how Wally coming in to help totally turns the tide and the mood. I love how everyone looks at Wally like… this guys is powerful, more powerful than any other speedster… but also noting there’s something very fragile about him. I didn’t include Flash War in this because I’m still waiting for the payoff for that angst regarding Wally, but this arc… mwah. Wallace Rudolph West being vindicated as the greatest Flash (whilst allowing Barry to be flawed and to lead his family)? Yes please. Also I love Carmine’s art. I gather it’s hit and miss for some folk but I love the line work. Also Carlos D’Anda’s issue (come baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack draw Dick and Roy again your work has gotten so much cuter this past decade) is a beauty too. Big ol’ eyes.

 (Under the cut ‘cause this is LONG)

Batman Dark Victory

One of two Loeb stories for me. And yeah sure Long Halloween is objectively better but…jelly bean

Also, angry traumatised Dick smacking a dying man with a stick. What a legend.

Gates of Gotham

Cass! Damian! Dick!Bats! Tim! A mystery villain! World building for Gotham! Stuff exploding! Batfam banter! Trevor McCarthy art! This bizarre panel of Jim Gordon holding Tim’s hand like he’s checking the time?

It’s one of the last ‘pure’ Batman stories before the reboot – Bat Inc aside – so it’s how I like to read the Batfam’s relationship by the end of that universe. Everyone’s a lot more content, proud Dad Bruce, happy and settled Dick and Damian, Cassandra returning home, Tim chopping off the emo hair… it’s all good.

Grayson (particularly #5)

I know why people can’t stand it. The circumstances leading up to it are bog awful. Opinions on Tom King’s writing has only grown more spliced with time. The (sex) jokes are too on the nose and hit too close to home for many. The cheesecake art is too stilted for some. But! Issue #5 is my favourite single issue story. Ever. You never have thought boxes in this series, because everyone is lying, but you aren’t told when. You never know how genuine Dick is being at any given moment, until it is just him and the baby. I love how single-minded it allows him to be. I love how he flat out lies and manipulates to protect that little girl, whilst also caring for Helena. About how seriously he takes his job of protecting Bruce and his family (and that’s why he’s even doing the stupid spy thing in the first place). And maaaaybe it’s unrealistic that Dick could outlast Midnighter crossing the desert, but screw it. Bruce can be better than metahumans all the time. Let Dick get an issue to be so to. Saving a little girl who is probably going to grow up to be akin to Superwoman. Just because he’s given himself that responsibility. He’s going to double cross twenty groups at the same time and come out clean as a whistle. And he’ll cross a desert with a newborn to do it.

Light of my fricking life.

Infinite Crisis

I…I like that things go boom. John’s is very good for that. Also, the Nightwing and Batman moments howowheheheheheheeeeeeee. Almost wish Bruce had shot Alexander. I wonder what would have happened?

(Brief side note: Graphic Audio’s adaptation of this is great fun. I dropped a bowl of cereal at the part of Superboy Prime versus the Titans. Cassie’s scream when Pantha’s head got punched off was a bit…intense. The No Man’s Land one is very good too if you have cash to burn - the voice actors are the same in both and Nightwing’s voice actor has this lisp and I don’t know man... I love it. He’s now the voice in my head for Dick).

Titans/JLA and The Titans (1999) issues 1-25

The Titans are now known I think for not being a very proactive hero group. Books struggle with balancing team dynamics versus plot, and this one is no exception. I know people don’t want to touch Devin Grayson’s stuff with a barge pole. My justification for this is flimsy I accept that, however, the JLA/Titans comic was the very first comic I read when I was like six or seven. I was rummaging through my brother’s room as a nosy kid does and this was at the top of his pile. Thank god for the little info boxes as each Titan was captured/referenced. I fell in love with Kory, I fell in love with Dick, I fell in love with Donna (oh Donna…) and then I tumbled down a hole and pretended I hadn’t until about six years ago. So that’s nice. So yes, this one is one hundred percent nostalgia based. 

But honestly, Linkara did a retrospective on this event comic and series years ago, and his reasons for loving it are the same as mine really, so go watch those if you have like five hours to kill. When Devin leaves the comic remains strong for just a moment then... absolutely plummets off a cliff. So I really wouldn’t bother with the second half of the series but hey. You do you.

Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders

More Geoff John’s explosions. My first comic that got bought for me. My brother walked in to the shop and said: “I need a comic for my sister where Starfire gets a good showing” and the men went… ah yes.

Eleven-year old me was like EXPLOSIONSSSSS but also was intrigued by Kory and Dick’s bedtime convos (perhaps…I was a bit under the age bracket for this book - Kory gets a good showing huh?) but uh. Anyway. Also this is when I was thoroughly enamoured with Roy. This crossover is typical Winnick and John’s angsty angst with overly poetic narration and tropey tropes which, combined with what came before and what was to come for the Outsiders, can make both series such a slog to get through, but in isolation, I think it’s a real fun crossover which gave everyone a bit of time to shine and some real fan-ficcy moments (very self-indulgent, and I love that in a comic).

Teen Titans: Year One

I love Amy Wolfram and I love Karl Kerschel. It’s a good intro to those five characters with cute stories. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Batman is demonstrably a major prick in this, even after de-brainwashing, so it’s obviously going with the ‘Dick is only half as functioning as he is thanks to Roy, Wally, Garth and Donna’, which I can get behind 100% depending on what story they are trying to tell, but it’s just… it’s still sad to read. I just think the art is brilliant at giving each of the five very clear characteristics just from their body language, and you know immediately what each character dynamic is like with another.

Batman Hush

The other Loeb story. Again, it has what I like in a Batman story. A mystery, the family, appearances of villains, flashbacks and brooding, fighting, Jim Lee’s Nightwing being hunky… Ahem. It’s a fun read I think. Also, I really like Loeb’s Bruce? I don’t think people talk about it much. But he’s really chatty in his own head. And he’s witty and dry and funny. I like that! Also, Babs is such a backbone of this story. I adore that. She’s treated well here, I think.

Black Mirror

I flipping love this arc. I love it. I love the two contrasting but deeply disturbing in different manner art styles, I love the mystery, I love Babs role in the story, I love Tim’s little appearances and the banter with Dick, I love the weird villains and the terrifying ones, and how you think one is one of the two only to be revealed to be the other or both. I love Dick’s investigation and how he goes about it differently to Bruce. I love Dick’s relationship with Jim, I love the flipping reference to the vultures and owls seemingly following Dick (a whole reboot before Snyder got to tell that story), I love the monologue about how James thinks Dick is weird and weak for his compassion and love, when really that’s his greatest strength, I love Jim wanting so hard to believe James is trying against Babs’s cynicism, but also does try to get an unbiased opinion of someone who is proven good at reading people (Dick) and does what he needs to when his son is actively harming people, I love that ambiguous ending and the questionable science, I even love the Joker’s one (1) scene with Dick. I love this line,

I love Snyder at his best. When he’s good…mwah. Great.

…And yeah. That’s my story.

Destiny 1.5? Or is it really a genuine 2? (9-22-17)

So, it’s been a little over 2 weeks since this game came out, and scores have started to pour out this week, and I finally want to give what I think about the experience, but first, some back story. First and foremost, I love Destiny. Seriously. Like...I spent 2,000 hours on the original and it’s expansions. So am I a little biased? Sure. However, when the base game for Destiny came out back in September of 2014, I liked it, but I hated it. I hated it so much that after the sixth Legendary Engram that turned to an Uncommon, I threw my controller and stopped playing altogether til the figured their shit out. No joke. I didn’t start playing again til LATE December/early January, after they fixed the broken Cryptarch and more content had come out. With each update, and with each Expansion, the game got much better. If I had to rate the first game out of 10, I’d give it a 6/10. The repetitive strikes, empty worlds, and loot being near impossible to obtain, I totally felt that was being generous. The music is iconic, and the art design was fantastic, but so much was just...lacking other than the gunplay, just like so many others had said back than.  Over the course of the Expansions that came out, it gradually increased in rating for me. This isn’t about “Should you support a game that cuts up it’s games and resells it to you” because honestly, that’s a convo we can have later. After more stories, better direction, and TONS of loot, I’d say the final product is worth an 8/10.  So now moving forward to earlier this month, Destiny 2 comes out and the question comes up, do I like it? Well, no. I truly love it actually.  Now once again, I’m slightly biased, sure, but hear me out. A lot of people have asked me, as well as MANY others, why they couldn’t just do this as a “massive update”? Now for me, I’d say with AS much as they changed, I don’t think it would take just ONE update, but the bigger issue is would people have noticed it? Seriously? Having a brand new game, gives the team a new foundation to start on entirely. The first game and it’s infinite problems really stemmed from 2 things. The lack of direction when they blew the project up a year out from launch, and the fact that they had the previous generation consoles tied to it as well. It’s EVIDENT playing this game, that the first was very hamstrung by the previous consoles. Hell, even Rise of Iron showcased this a bit, but my God it was eye opening. So what didn’t I like? That is a MUCH easier list, and something that I feel does need to be explored, because many have brought some REALLY good points out on it. First off, Microtransactions. They suck, we can all agree with this. But Jim Fucking Sterling Son brought up a good point in his review earlier this week. They almost feel predatory. Something I wasn’t able to sum up, but once I heard it, I was in total agreement on. I too have a very addictive nature. Both my parents are alcoholics, and thankfully I haven’t had that issue at all. But I’ve noticed I tend to love to gamble myself, something I’ve tried to stay away from, but as Jim pointed out, when you take your Bright Engrams, to someone that SELLS them for REAL money, it’s almost sleazy. So I guess if it was an honest mistake, than I feel Bungie will rectify it. If they don’t...well shame on you guys. I know you guys can do better. The fact that Shaders can only be used once doesn’t bother me, as much as you than selling them does. Being able to put them on ANYTHING, guns, ships, sparrows, individual pieces of armor, is fucking brilliant, but than to sell them as once use items? Yikes. However, you can earn them, and I have hundreds at this point, no joke. So yes, you can earn a ton of them, but when there are “particular” ones that are hard to obtain, and you sell them, it’s just exploiting people’s natures, as well as their fucking patience and it should be called out. Next thing I don’t care for? Lack of space battles dammit. I know, we were never promised them at all, so really I blame Angry Joe for this one (I’m kidding, don’t attack me please), but something, something brand new in the series would have elevated this game to higher heights IMO. The new things added, and the things seriously improved on, are all welcome additions, but nothing seriously innovative that I feel would have actually brought a few more people over to D2.  The last part, was really the first couple of missions. I don’t believe this is TOO spoilerish, but after you lose your powers, you get them back...like 2-3 missions after you lose them, and I wish you didn’t. I wish we would have played a couple of more missions without our powers, really felt the struggle and focused on the JUST the gunplay like the Halo days. It’s a little thing, but it would have gone a long way in my honest opinion.  So that’s REALLY it for the serious negative. It would have been nice to get an extra strike, or maybe a whole other Raid, but D2 fixed a huge issue in the base Destiny game from 3 years ago. The amount of activities you can do is breathtaking. Lost Sectors, Adventures, Quest Lines, Missions, Public Events that you can turn to Heroic versions with more loot and harder enemies, and Flashpoints all can give you the sweet, sweet loot to level up your character. With the number of different activities you can do, I didn’t feel like I was getting bored or the grind became “too much”. I mean, I was so busy doing the above mentioned, that I have rarely even went into strikes, except to complete the quest line to unlock Nightfall’s, which this game brings back! Plus Cayde’s Stashes, the Raid, Trials of the Nine! There is something you can focus on for each day of the week and avoid every feeling the repeat of it all for a LONG time, or at least that’s how I feel. Once again, I’m 292 with one character at the time of this writing, and 280 with another, and not once did I feel the tired, repeating feeling I EVER felt with D1. That deserves praise from me. Someone like me who put 2,000 hours into the first one, should be one of the first to FEEL this. Plus they have other new activities on the near horizon like Faction Rally’s and the Iron Banner, and I can’t wait.  Speaking of IB, we have to talk about Crucible. It’s fantastic. Ditching it’s 3v3 and 6v6 for a straight up 4v4 via Halo works, and it works really well. Five modes crammed into 2 different styles of gameplay. You want to sit back and just have fun? Quickplay is for you. You like sweating bullets? Competitive is for you. All the gamemodes work just fine, with Deathmatch, Supremacy, Control, Survival, and Countdown being apart of the rotation. I look forward to the day they give me back my RIFT! The one game mode I dominated more than anything else, period. Anywho, moving right along, we get into the loadouts. At first, I believed the new loadouts to mainly focus on PVP, but now, I realize they really help balance out PVE as well. With mods you get to change certain perks, damage types, etc. to compliment your play style. Oh yeah, we get mods. As you level up more, you’ll get to do more with them, and they go in both your armor and your guns. Mods are really cool with giving you little bonuses like “Solar Melees charge faster” or “Power Weapons handle faster” so on and so forth. It opens up a huge realm of possibility for future ones made if they continue down this avenue.  Well Steven, what about the gear? Tell us about the loot we can earn! Is it worth it? Yes! And no.  What do I mean by that? Well the mods basically replace the “experience” you use to have to pump into each piece of armor/weapon to unlock certain perks. You no longer have pump hours unlocking everything on the weapons/piece of gear in mention. This also gets rid of the whole “Getting a perfect roll” thing that made people like myself who are perfectionists who would grind endlessly for a God roll item. However, it makes it also so every item is the same. Everything comes the same, and everything comes unlocked right off the bat. It’s both a positive and a negative. After 2 weeks, I’ve come to love it, because it makes testing an item so much easier when I’m just trying to figure out a mod, and that’s it. However, it’s quite obvious this take some of the depth from the overall experience of the first. But to “handcraft” new weapons and armor makes it easier for them as a whole if they don’t have 30 variations of said item, and it all makes sense to sort of streamline it. Plus it’s nice to not be facing 30 versions of a particular gun like let’s say...Imago Loop with Explosive rounds and Firefly every fucking match.  There are LOADS of different guns, gun types having Grenade Launchers and SMG’s make their debuts, and nearly a dozen different outfits to dress your Guardian up in. If I remember straight, 18 Exotic weapons, and nearly a dozen Exotic armor pieces for each class. Some return from D1, I think it’s two guns, and a least 2 armor pieces for each class. But most of it’s new, some of it’s weird, and some of it’s bloody awesome. Two words, Tractor. Cannon.  So with changes to how we can get loot, and the loot we can get, what about the worlds? Are they as barren as they were in D1? No. With Lost Sectors and hidden chests around every corner, and a FREAKING map to check it all out with, there is a TON to do in every world. I’d say the most “empty” is Titan, but it is on a rig system, above basically a giant planet made of nothing but water...so it makes sense. But the EDZ and Nessus are full to the brim with these things, and can we take a minute and appreciate that Bungie took what we would have called “Loot Caves” in the first game, opened them up, and made it a sprawling cave in which you explore for loot rather than just kill spawning enemies coming out of it. It’s both brilliant and a nice little jab at ones “roots” per say, showing what they learned about the mistakes along the way.  So the last thing I’ll touch on is the story. Now some have PRAISED it, saying it’s AMAZING, and some have said it’s “Ho Hum, go check out Witcher 3 scrub” and I have to say, I literally fall in between the two. I feel the story gets a lot right, but also misses a few opportunities to really push itself into next level story telling. But to play Devil’s Advocate here, I feel they did the right thing by giving us something fun, understandable, and more lighthearted to flesh out the fantastic group of characters they have. Obviously the fan favorite is Cayde-6. I don't think anyone has an argument on that one. Zavala gets more of a human touch and look at, as well as the other Vanguard leader Ikora. Adding to the cast is the solid Sloane, the bipolar Failsafe, sassy back and forth between Hawthorne(Bae) and Devrim Kay, and the brooding/snobby Asher Mir. All are welcome into the universe here, and I can’t think of any one of them I’d take away from the series. Each character has a back story that can be fleshed out in side missions and side quests. Also, each one acts as a vendor that you can give “tokens” to the respective leader of the respected area to get gear and weapons from. Each one takes around...30 tokens to unlock an engram? Which sounds like a fuckton, but really is super easy to obtain since you get daily challenges on each planet, activity, and crucible variant that will net you two for fairly easy tasks. Not to mention you get one for completing matches of Crucible, one for opening chests planet side, and one for completing Lost Sectors and Public Events. It wouldn’t even take you an hour to get one engram if you focused on one area.  But anyways, the story, to me, is a strong point. No, not because like I said before, treads new ground. No, it’s because it focuses on it’s great cast, while expanding it further out, and laying a MUCH better foundation to build upon than the sandy lot that Destiny’s first game had. Cutscenes show us more of the rest of the cast, plus gives us deep moments with it’s main villain Dominus Ghaul, aka Gary. Ghaul is a good villain here, who feels like he is owed the Light, the force that gives the Guardians their powers. After you learn more about his backstory, and what he’s been through, you begin to understand just why he feels that way. If he wasn’t Hell bent on killing everyone, maybe he’d be cool to have a drink with. Between him and Oryx, I’d say Oryx is the more interesting, but Ghaul is the most human, whether he realizes it or not.  So I could go on an on about this game, but I think I’ll cut it off here and give my final rating for the game.  My final rating is...an 8/10. I’d also DEFINTELY recommend putting this game on your shelf, and if you do, hit me up on Xbox, clan “House of Spider” is looking for some new blood!  If it wasn’t for the MT and the fact that we get our powers so quickly, we might as well not lost them, I’d rate the game a little higher, but for me, it stays level with the ending of Destiny because even though the overhauled quite a bit, it doesn’t innovate enough to push it past those two solid negatives for me. However, it has a base that with a couple of expansions, some live events (Which looks to be coming!), and a few updates, could evolve into that 9 or even 10 by the end, it just depends on what Bungie wants to do, and hopefully now that they established a little good will, now they can focus on going balls to the wall with future content and releases. But to me, without a doubt, this game is a sequel, but I think it’s safe to say, we want to see even more next time. You gave us a solid story, now give us one that blows us all away. Ball is in your court Bungie.  I’ll see you guys soon, I think I’m going to try and do a review on Wolfenstein: The New Order as well as it’s Expansion “Old Blood” before the release of “The New Colossus” next month, so keep an eye out for that, and I also want to maybe touch on a horror game or two for the spirit of Halloween! So until next everyone, have a great and safe weekend, and I’ll see you guys real soon!