Hey everyone, it has been a long time and for good reason. I got a new job and have a new addition to our family, and it has kept me from blogging for a long time. I also got a new computer last week, so my nightmare with my old Compaq laptop is over permanently.
Soooooo.... I am gonna start blogging again regularly. I know, I know, no one is actually checking this blog anymore, it is considered dead, blah blah blah. So I am going to start fresh with a new one. Check me out at http://comicsweekly.blogspot.com.
Instead of the grind of a daily blog, I am going to post a couple times a week and keep it mostly to previews, reviews and the fun stuff like random movie clips. What's a blog without random movie clips?
I saw the original cover for Green Lantern Corps #20 on Newsarama and really thought nothing of it. I tend to skim through those and only occasionally get really excited about something 3 months down the road. But then I went to The Straight Poop, which is GLC artist Patrick Gleason's blog, and he posted the hi-res, and much larger, version of the cover.
Seeing Mongul with a yellow ring on is terrifying. If you don't remember who Mongul is, how about a little refresher course, courtesy of Wikipedia:
Mongul possesses extraordinary superhuman physical attributes. He demonstrated that he actually was stronger than Silver Age Superman himself. In addition, he was invulnerable to nearly all forms of physical harm. Superman at one time did defeat Mongul, by going all out with speed and strength and heat vision, but fell into unconsciousness immediately afterwards. Mongul also seemingly had the capacity to create dimensional-inversion cubes, designed to prevent escape by warping their interior reality and absorbing any power used against them from within. Whether this was an actual power or merely a sophisticated technological device remains unclear but it general believed to be technological device. He also seemed to possess a limited capacity for telepathy, and the ability to teleport himself across even interplanetary distances.
If you read the entire Wiki entry you'll also find out (like I did) that the Mongul that is currently ruling Warworld is actually the son of the Pre-Crisis Mongul that I knew of growing up. And while the original Mongul was toned down in terms of power, supposedly his son has all of the power he had before, which is what is listed above. Typical Dc to muddy up good characters with a bunch of bullshit tampering, but whatever, give him all that power plus a yellow ring and he is simply terrifying.
The best part of his backstory though is this:
In the meantime, he sought his sister, Mongal, to settle family squabbles. The heroes broke free and used a teleporter to transport Mongul and Mongal to their home planet. Stating family to be a weakness, Mongul punched off Mongal's head.
Poking around the Marvel site today and saw that for this Christmas, Microsoft is going to package Marvel Ultimate Alliance with new Xbox 360's.
The fan-favorite action-RPG that let's you form your own playable team from over 25 of Marvel's finest heroes (and villains, thanks to the Gold Edition!) will be included as a free bonus with Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite consoles! That's right folks, FREE!
Want Mr. Fantastic to fight alongside Dr. Doom? Spidey and Venom? We wouldn't go that far here at the House of Ideas, but "MUA" let's you go for it! So unless you want coal in your stockings, we suggest adding the spectacular new bundle to your wish list ASAP and you'll be Wall-crawlin' and Hulk-smashing faster than you can say "Gobble Gobble" (we know you just said "Gobble Gobble")!
The problem with this is at least two-fold. First, they advertise the Gold Edition, but it doesn't come with the Gold Edition. The Gold Edition was a scam anyhow. They added 4 new heroes and 4 new villains but didn't add anything to the game at all. No new achievements, no new levels, no new cut scenes. And it cost $60. Now you can download the characters over Xbox Live, but it's going to cost you 1600 Microsoft Points which will cost you about 20 bucks. Either way though, you aren't getting that this Christmas with your new Xbox 360. You are getting the original one, with fewer characters than this press release leads you to believe. That means no Dr. Doom, Venom or Incredible Hulk.
And secondly, if you are a "Marvel Gamer" as the headline suggests, why the hell has it taken you an entire year to buy this game? It was released last Thanksgiving. Now don't get me wrong, if you don't own this game and consider yourself a Marvel Gamer, and you don't own a 360 and you regularly have relatives who spend $400+ on you for Christmas, then this is for you. Otherwise, I don't see this doing well at all.
I loved Marvel Ultimate Alliance, it was the first game I got for my 360, and I played the shit out of it night and day, beat it three different ways (which is cool that you can do) and would recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it before, so don't think I am just being bitter here.
But you know what would be a better "Holiday Gift for Marvel Gamers"? How about more info on the Marvel MMORPG that is being made? How about another add-on pack for MUA? How about a movie property game that doesn't suck? How about a Howard the Duck game? See, there is a lot they could do, but they really half-assed it with this.
I have kinda avoided saying anything about WhySoSerious.com to this point because viral marketing campaigns are usually good for a cheap laugh and not much more.
However, the people working on the Dark Knight movie have consistently done some good work (here, here, and here and I think I am missing one, too), but up to this point there was really nothing to talk about concerning WhySoSerious.com.
Now there is. Kinda. SuperHeroHype.com reports that the candle on the site is actually burning down day by day, and anticipates that something is going to happen on Halloween.
The only real problem with this movie, so far as I can tell, is that it is being covered so extensively in blogs and other various websites. It is hard to look at sites like SHH! and not see a new Dark Knight entry every day. So please don't come here expecting the same, because it just isn't going to happen. However, when there is something fun or interesting, I'll link to it at the very least. Enjoy!
