Let’s start with some Comic Con Gaming news.  Lets see where do I start?

If you pre order Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 you will receive and Pro or Anti Registration T-Shirt with an Exclusive Juggernaut playable Character, Over the Weekend Activision revealed that Stan Lee is going to be an NPC in the game. Activision showed off Singularity. Singularity is an FPS with its main focus on Time manipulation (sounds like Time Sift). This is a ” On the Radar” game.  Activision had a light showing this year, but it was still entertaining either way.

UBI Soft came to the Con with their RE-make of one of the best Super Nintendo games ever, Turtles In Time!!! That’s right Turtles in time was playable at Comic con and it is more awesome than the original game. UBI Soft did a complete over haul on the game, The Turtles them selves look great, their animation is (for lack of a better word) Sexy. Every little aspect of the game is back with a vengeance, Remember how great it was throwing the Foot Soldiers at the screen? now its done in High Def!!!! They only had to player Co-op on display but they were shooting for 4 player Co-op by the games release. The same cant be said about Turtles Smash up, Pretty much if you played Super Smash Brothers you’ve played Turtle’s Smash up. No Assassins Creed 2 (sad face).

Sony came to the show with force. They Brought with them Uncharted 2 and Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time

Uncharted 2 was Multiplayer only… The Multiplayer is amazing. I don’t have the beta so this was the first time I got to play it. The environments are beautiful, and the game sports some slick controls. I always ended up getting owned by the people who already owned the beta but the outcome was worth it. Anyone who tried the demo got a code for an unlockable skin for Multiplayer. Uncharted 2 should be on your radar and in your ribrary when it drops this Holiday season.

Ratchet and Clank. Oh how I love thee Ratchet and Clank. Every game you bring gives warmth to my icy cold FPS playing heart. Crack in Time was playable on the show floor and it was amazing. Before you say this is just another Blinx style game ( you should die if you think that) hear me out. The time manipulation works a million times better than Blinx’s (think of Prince of Persia but with a Lombax). Like any Ratchet and Clank game, it’s all about the weapons. This game delivers and then some (it’s like that girl you met at the club the night before and cooks you breakfast the morning after). If you own a PS3 you should totaly pick up this game, you wont be disappointed.

Capcom came to us this year with a plethora of games, Fighters, Platformers, and a little game set in the snow.

How about that Lost Planet? Lost Planet 2 was shown on the floor with a CO-OP demo. The point of the CO-OP demo was pretty awesome, You and three other players team up to take down one giant Akrid (sounds easy but it really isn’t). This thing hits hard. Luckily you have a great armory of weapons at your disposal. It felt like playing Monster Hunter…. And that’s a good thing. Unfortunately I didn’t get a lot of play time with the game but it was fun anyways.

What would Capcom be with out a little Fighting game action, They brought with them Marvel Vs Capcom 2 for XBL Arcade and Tatsunoko Vs Capcom for the Wii. OK so MvC2 for XBLA is amazing! Everything was already unlocked for the show but Capcom is saying that everything will be unlocked right off the bat when it comes out. The Sprites look amazing, They aren’t like Super HD quality but they aren’t crappy PS2 pixels either. The game play hasn’t changed, if you own any of the older versions of the game you’ll be right at home with the XBLA version. Nuff said

Now for the real reason I hit up the Capcom Booth. Tatsunoko Vs Capcom. Tatsunoko Vs Capcom was a pleasant surprise. For those who have been living under a rock or your internet has been down for the past year, TvC is a fighting game on the Wii (yeah thats right the Wii) Using the same control style as MvC 2 (4 buttons). A fighting stick will be required to enjoy this game, you could use the Classic Controller but I dont recomend it. Before you go running off  let me explain. This game shines with personality. The Sprites look insane (almost Stree Fighter 4 quality) and that’s saying a lot for a Wii game, they are 3D characters fighting  on a 2D plane. Character wise you couldn’t ask for more. On the Capcom side we get everyone from Ryu to one of the Mechs from Lost Planet (think of sentinel from MvC 2). Im not to familliar with the Tatsunoko characters (I’m into anime as much as a fat guy is into the Gym) all I recognize are the Bird People from that one anime. They also have a nig character selection. The Tatsunoko  characters seem a liitle more Over Powered than their Capcom counterparts (I know they are anime characters and are supposed to be powerful but come on) which makes you wonder how online is going to be when one side seems more buffed up than the other. Besides that minor complaint this game will be one of those cult fighters that will sell on ebay for 100 bucks a year after its released.

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Alrighty then. Gaming news aside lets talk about Comics. (Hence Comic-Con)

Marvel Animated is coming together with a lot of Shows and Movies. Where do I start? For those of you Planet Hulk Fans, Marvel and Lionsgate are bringing us Planet Hulk the Movie, The Trailer was awesome! It looks like they brought elements of the comic to DVD and Blu Ray, all they showed was a trailer for Planet Hulk but if you read the comic you know whats going on. Marvel Animation also showed off a trailer for a new Thor movie. Thor seems to be set in the Ultimate universe where Thor and Loki are still little kids earning thier worth in Asgard (before Loki hated Thor)

TV Show wise Marvel brought with them Reveals for Wolverine and The X-Men, Iron Man Armored Adventures and Fantastic Four.  Wolverine and The X-Men is coming back with a second season, everyone’s favorite big mouth Mercenary is joining the cast of Wolverine and The X-men, Thats right Deadpool. As for Iron Man all we got was the announcement of Modok as a villain. Lame I know.

As mentioned earlier im not a big Anime fan, but I can say that I am excited for Marvel Anime coming in 2010. They showed off 2 shorts starring Wolverine and Iron Man. The Wolverine short was based around Japanese Mythology, He still had his claws but they were more like a Samurai style weapon rather than a part of him, no costume either, no big deal but it was kinda missed. The Iron Man short had awesome action and great animation. It showed him Flying over Tokyo getting ambushed by guys in Iron Suits and Tanks. Marvel confirmed 2 other characters for the Anime, Blade and X-men. Marvel Anime is going to be written by the Great Warren Ellis (nerdgasm).

Joe Q talked about Marvels next “big” Comic Event, World War Hulks. It’s all about the big guys fighting and is what is going to be called The Day the Earth Shook.

I didn’t forget about the DC fans.

Blackest Knight was huge at Con.  As we know the Lanterns are all fighting, Batman is “dead” the Black Lanterns are causing trouble in the DCU. I asked around the booth for some info on anything. I did manage to get some intel on the Batman news, ( stop reading now if actually care, or don’t want to be spoiled) hes not really dead. No word on when or how hes coming back. Sorry folks but that’s all i got from DC, the booth was to much of a mad house because of the “death” of Batman and the Blackest Knight…Damn nerds.

Comic-Con has come and gone yet again and already I’m excited for next year. Maybe I’ll actually have a team go with me to get more coverage and info. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to organize my new additions to my Nerd Castle and  try to hit up eBay for some of the swag that I missed ( I’m talking about you Transformers ass cushions) Live Free and Prosper and May the Force be with you, Peace out.

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Can you hear me now - screw it I'm coming over.

What are some of the big name comic book franchises that you can name off the top of your head? Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men – okay gotta stop because I had to think for a second. Sure there are some recognized heroes in both camps, but none that fly off shelves as quickly or have as many side quests as the big guys. With DC’s Crisis and Marvel’s Civil War combining multiple heroes into one multithreaded adventure, smaller characters are given more exposure and larger roles.

The reason I tend to like to deviate from the bigger names is because anyone given the task to reinvent or rejuvenate any lesser known super hero has to really shine and out perform name talent to even get recognition. Superman will always punch down a wall, Batman will always solve the crime (or die), and Spidey will always miss his classes, fail miserably, and somehow get the girl. I picked up a random The All New Atom comic at a whim and was hooked. Turns out that that random comic happened to be the very last issue, so I managed to spoil and confuse myself at the same time (DOH!) Either way I liked it enough to get the entire trade paperback set so that says something.

Smaller than a speeding bullet!

Aforementioned Ryan Choi is not a super hero. Before his arrival to the States he had no idea Ray Palmer was one either. For years growing up he had corresponded with Palmer for advice and mentoring up until his career as a scientist. When the former Atom went missing, he was picked by Ivy University to carry on the good doctor’s work. He inherited his office, his students and his belt. No ordinary belt mind you, but a magic belt that can beat the crap out of anyone who finds their butt near its buckle. Okay no, but it does allow him to control his size, mass and density on the fly. Pretty cool if you have any idea of what implications would be associated with those properties.

There goes the fine China.

It doesn’t take long for Ryan to realize all is not what it seems in Ivy Town. There are pilgrims, ravenous dog packs, strange happenings in the sewers and killings on campus. Ivy campus’ Dean Mayland is convinced that all these strange occurrences are the cause of Ray Palmer’s time and space altering belt. Dragged into a full on war between Science and Magic, Ryan is forced to put on the guise of his mentor and idol to put right that which is wrong in his new adopted home. This is far from a simple task.

At the first page of the first issue we see the entire Justice League killed or captured by an alien species that resides in Ivy Town. This is to take place 100 days in the future from the first issue. Things can only go up from here right? The aliens are a race of beings known as The Waiting that have size altering capabilities much like Ryan himself. Curiously enough, they reside on packs of dogs through out town. Wat.

If that wasn’t strange enough, under the town exists a creature older than time itself. M’NAGALAH! It is the essence that inspired H.P. Lovecraft to write of Cthulu, created all organic material on earth from its excrements and has now chosen Ivy Town as the central point for its resurgence.  Wat.

What did you eat?!

These two forces have one core gripe with each other: they both want Ryan Choi and his abilities to lead the charge for their uprising. In the very first series we witness a massive battle between the forces of Magic and Science that goes down amongst the populated city.

There are very few things that I disliked about this as a comic. You feel for Ryan pretty much immediately. He’s not cocky, although he is a bit of a smart ass at times. The way the story progresses is primarily through internal dialogue. He rarely says what he’s thinking aloud for the other characters to hear, and most of the time that’s a good thing. The writers added a good amount of quotes relevant to the action occurring in the scenes that are a bit more thought provoking than necessary. They really did seem to go the extra mile when filling out this idea.

Holy Heffalumps indeed Billy.

The humor in the story is a little awkward though. It’s hard to stay serious when some of the characters in the world are so strange. You have a large group of characters that seem stable and down to earth, and then there are people that act straight out of the 1700s and 1940s. This is actually explained somewhat at the end, but it really seems a bit much to get past from a reader’s perspective. I’ll say it right now – Ryan fights a 50ft NAKED Giganta. There’s a sense of urgency, a fair amount of humor, and a giant naked woman. There was bound to be a conflict of direction somewhere along there but it panned out pretty evenly in the end.

Die by the foot!

As a super hero, Ryan Choi does have some really neat powers not withstanding that he was the son of an Olympic gymnast and trained in martial arts since he was young. Since he can control his density, he can shrink to the size of an action figure without losing any of his power. He can increase his weight at that size to upwards of 600lbs and deliver a massive headache if not death to anyone that gets in his way. Something the original Atom didn’t have is his Boomstick. He uses it to fly around and it also blasts bad guys with great prejudice. He managed to snag it from some alien technology The Waiting use and put a hurtin’ on them. Only side effect to hid power is if he shrinks too far his eyes and other senses become completely useless as the spectral range of the eyes goes caput. Light can’t bounce off stuff at such a small size. Also if he changes his size too quickly his skin begins to expand and implode, morphing him into something straight out of Akira. The upside of this is if he grows to maximum size from infinitesimal stature he can blast apart a room. Well, dunno how good that is actually, he’d have to clean it up…

When a backhand just isn't enough.

As far as super villains go he doesn’t have too standard the fare. His arch nemesis Dwarf Star is a murdering psychopath that writes a poem for each person he kills. He was a poetry major so it fits. I guess I’d want to kill people too if I had to endure four years of that. Dwarf Star has the exact same powers as Ryan except for the fact that he’s a stone killer and has more strength behind each blow. Ray Palmer’s arch nemesis Chronos makes a few appearances in the series but his true motives are unclear.

Reading this comic you can tell that the writers had a lot planned out, especially towards the end. Unfortunately the series wasn’t allowed to continue due to poor sales and got Firefly’d. I thought that reading the previous comics would make the very last one make more sense but this just wasn’t the case. It was a great run and a fun ride, but it ended abruptly when it could’ve kept momentum. Nobody’s fault really, it’s just the bane of smaller comics it would seem. If they don’t make a movie out of it no one will know what it is.

Epic ending, but it didn't make sense.

All in all the ending was rather unsatisfactory. Nothing had changed and things are shown to be worse than ever for Ryan. There is a silver lining in that he learns the truth about everything he has been lead to believe for his entire life. It turns out to be a rather rude awakening for anyone. You get the feeling that he is even more determined than ever, but we know that he won’t be having anymore adventures. Still, even knowing this I’m still recommending it. His teaming up with Wonder Woman is worth reading the series alone. Funny stuff, and as a character he’s got the most heart of anyone in the DC Universe. I said it. Seeing Ryan going back to his home town as The Atom gets you pumped, and even more so when he gets down to business. You don’t really make that connection to other super heroes.

Less of a super hero, more a butt kicking scientist, The All New Atom manages to deliver something for everyone. I read like three comics a year, so it says something that I’d read through the entire series in a week. The series is pretty cheap now, about $30 for four trade paperbacks so I recommend picking it up if you’re ever in the mood to explore what’s between the real and the surreal.

Goodbye Ryan Choi, these bad guys will miss you.

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An average day for an Archeologist.

I don’t want to give away too many spoilers, because half the fun is uncovering the secrets right along with Dr. Jones.  However, I guess I need to fill you in a bit on Indy’s latest adventure.  It’s what you’d expect from the series as we see Indy travel to interesting locales such as Tibet, Siberia, and even smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  The book starts on a great note; within the first few pages we get to see Indy trying to make a daring escape with a man he was looking for named Henrick Mellberg.  The story about Henrick is that he owns one piece (of three) to a key that will essentially, unlock the Tomb of the Gods.  Trouble is, although the three pieces were separated for safety’s sake…the Nazi’s are hot on the trail.  Although I would have liked seeing the story more fleshed out, I can understand why they’d condense it for a comic book.

He no nuts...he cwazy.

Throughout the story we are also introduced to a pretty interesting vixen named, Janice Le Roi.  I actually enjoyed her character very much, because she had the same biting, sarcastic humor as Indy; however, she’s no Marion Ravenwood.  After some interesting scuffles with Janice, they eventually become part of a huge race against the Nazi’s to find this tomb, complete the key, and unleash it’s power.  Speaking of the Nazi’s, the main antagonist, Von Hassell,  is quite underwhelming.  I think the main problem I had with Hassell, was that he wasn’t near ruthless and evil enough to be called an Indy villain…let alone a Nazi.  Towards the end he gets a bit more interesting, but it was too little, too late.  Gripes aside,  the final chapter is quite interesting, and the climax is certainly “explosive”; you will walk away, satisfied.

Indy and Janice are about to become shark bait

Each volume was illustrated by a different person, so as you are reading through, you will see four very different and unique styles.  I preferred Chapters 1 and 3 for their very lighthearted, cartoon look.  Chapter 4 is the complete opposite and takes a more realistic approach to Indy.  The funny thing about Chapter 4, is that they made Indy’s chin so big, I thought he was Bruce Campbell.  I guess I am being a bit nit-picky though, because the artist of the fourth chapter makes a really amazing tomb setting.  To be honest, the first time I read through the comic, I was kind of annoyed by the changing art styles.  After rereading, I realized that I actually thought it was interesting to see different interpretations of the same man, because no matter how much his looks change, he’s the same hero.

Overall, this graphic novel version of the comic series is a complete steal.  Also, if you find this particular series interesting, Dark Horse released an Omnibus series of the original Indiana Jones tales from the 80′s-90′s.  Apart from the great new adventure we get to embark on it was nice to see this title pay homage to a few cherished Indy moments.  One that rings a bell would be as we see Indy running from danger and yelling to Jock, “START THE ENGINES!”, and we hear Jock reply, “Always the same with this guy…”  Plus it was great to see Marcus Brody go along for the adventure since he wasn’t around in Crystal Skull.  Since this is an easy read  and has a good price point…this Indy adventure is a definite buy.  Even though Henrick tells Indy,  ”Some mysteries are best left undiscovered.”; The Tomb of the Gods is something you will want to uncover again and again.

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Starting April 5th over in Japan, Toei will be airing visually enhanced episodes that are edited to keep up with the quick pacing of the manga. I’m sure someone will bring it over here. Funimation? Make it happen. I’m not done watching Gohan beating the crap outta Cell in the World’s Martial Arts tournament just yet. Wonder if they’ll go a step further and churn out a couple new movies while they’re fishing for my Yen – err dollars. Only time will tell if the age old adage is true: “If you release it again, and again, and again, they will come.” If only they could find a way to make Dragon Ball GT not suck. One more year till we can find those balls again.