The box art for the PC version of Portal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I forgot that Friday Night Fights wasn’t happening this week, plus I have a family gathering this weekend and need to get as much work done as I can. So here’s a video from Did You Know Gaming. Since video games started embracing storytelling there have been times when ending have been changed to suit the story, or in the case of the original Portal to better set up the sequel game. From the show Did You Know Gaming? Extra comes a few other examples. So obviously there will be spoilers if you haven’t finished the game, including both Portal games. And one game created an ending the creators didn’t even know existed. How does that happen? Watch and see.
Whether you like the new style Archie Comics is doing with their namesake character or prefer the Riverdale gang as they were created, you may find this interesting. CEO Nancy Silberkleit is not happy with a lot of things at the company lately and there’s been some internal struggles going on for some time now. However, something good can come out of something bad and Silberkleit is working with classic Archie creators to create a special story in the classic style about Autism awareness, introducing a new character named Scarlet. (I wonder if she’ll show up in the new style and TV show?) According to the comments it’s only $1.99 for the digital comic (and yes I can’t even squeeze that until I get some money coming in) and you can email her directly (link is in the article) to pick it up.
A movie in which giant robots fight giant monsters, and it’s not anime? You’re darn right I want to see this! Unfortunately when 2013’s Pacific Rim hit theaters I was busy with ConnectiCon and other goings on (like being stuck on the night shift and my manager at the time loving to mess with me) so I didn’t get to see it. Then I lost my job and life started going to heck so it wasn’t a priority. I happened to catch it on TNT and record it, but it wasn’t until last night that I finally got to watch it. And good thing with the sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising coming in March.
There was a lot of hype for this movie given the circles I associate with. Kaiju, giant robots…it wasn’t a movie I wasn’t going to hear about. Most of my internet friends loved it although not everybody. I don’t know the details because I never watched or read the reviews, trying to keep myself from being spoiled. So if you still have to see this there are spoilers in this review, but I’ll keep them minimal.
Superman and Action Comics #1000 is quite the conversation source lately. Now word is that a formerly lost Superman story will be part of the oversized issue. Sadly it isn’t “The K-Metal From Krypton”, the rejected Superman #8 that would have introduced what we know as Kryptonite years earlier and allowed Lois to learn Clark is Superman long before people started insisting it wasn’t a good identity. (If you haven’t heard of this story, the partly restored comic is a must-read for Superfans. I reviewed and linked to it here.) Instead, according to this article by ICv2’s Betsy Gomez, it’s a story Marv Wolfman found as a young man touring the place. (Or stole depending on your point of view.)
Frankly “Too Many Heroes” doesn’t look nearly as interesting as “The K-Metal From Krypton” and if DC were to restore that instead I would totally spend the money I don’t have to get that comic. Hopefully there will be enough sales from #1000 that we can keep Superman’s classic costume.
I’ve mentioned the DCAU quite a bit, mostly because I’ve been reviewing the comics based on the DC Animated Universe on Saturdays but also because it is an example of how the “shared universe” can work and it features some of the best stories featuring DC superheroes of any medium. It also spawned characters that have appeared in the comics and other TV shows, like Harley Quinn, Mercy Graves, Renee Montoya (although DC has completely botched that up and Gotham used that version), and Livewire.
For those of you who didn’t grow up with the shows or thought you outgrew cartoons, you’ve missed out on some great television and superhero adventures. But if you don’t know what I’m talking about, this video by Comic Drake should get you up to speed. You know this video is old because of the green in his hair. And you should check out every show he lists because they’re all good. There may be stinker episodes but there were no bad series in the DCAU.
