Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Comics Day - Special

Only one release this week, but it's a doozy - Blackest Night #6. I really enjoyed it -a lot of cool moments. I'm very sad that I'll have to wait two months for #7.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

New Comics Day - Christmas Week

Last week was pretty big - and tomorrow, Blackest Night #6 comes out.

  • Guardians of the Galaxy #21
  • Fantastic Four #574
  • Incredible Hercules #139
  • Angel Annual #1
  • Invincible #69
  • Irredeemable #9
  • Madame Xanadu #18
  • Jack of Fables #41
  • Willow One-Shot
  • Azrael #3
  • The Web #4
  • Gotham City Sirens #7
  • Detective Comics #860
  • Teen Titans #78
  • World's Finest #3
  • Wonder Woman #39
  • Superman #695
  • Justice Society of America #34
  • Green Lantern #49 - Holy crap! Driq!
  • Blackest Night : JSA #1

I was pleasantly surprised by the Angel Annual. The fake ads sprinkled within were chuckle-inducing. The fake ad in the back cover parodying the Kenner Super Powers line was excellent. But the direct art-lift of the Boulder Mountain headquarters of M.A.S.K. was the icing on the cake.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

New Comics Day

New comics this week - slightly delayed by having a long day yesterday.

  • Angel #28
  • PS 238 #42
  • Ex Machina #47
  • Fables #91
  • Incorruptible #1
  • Blackest Night #67
  • Outsiders #25
  • Streets of Gotham #7
  • The Brave and the Bold #30
  • Supergirl #48
  • Batman #694
  • Power Girl #7
  • Justice League of America #40
  • Green Lantern Corps #43
The teaser title for GLC #44 - best pun of the week.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Capital PUNishment

I am a pun addict. It's true. I revel in little clever bits of wordplay at every opportunity. And sometimes, that works its way into my roleplaying.

A few years back, I ran a series of campaigns in the superhero genre, and I managed to give every adventure some sort of punny title. Some were pretty thin, lame examples, to be sure. But adding the little titles really boosted my enjoyment of the game, and helped convey the episodic feel I was going for.

My favorite of these, incidentally, was for the adventure wherein an archaeologist friend of the team reports that he's lost contact with a friend and colleague of his that was supposed to let him borrow a jade heart, purportedly that of a demon, from Asia. That little encounter with a fear demon was entitled "Loaner of an Oni Heart", and inspired several sequels with 'Oni' puns in the title.

So now I'm back on that tradition for my Mutants and Masterminds game. I retroactively titled the first two sessions, and then this past weekend's outing with a mysterious alien virus striking as the team is in meetings to help shape their public image was entitled 'Viral Marketing'. A bit on the nose, but it's a good start.

I can't wait till I get to run 'Ronin Holiday'.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Comic News

I don't often pop in to gush about various comic news stories here, but one of my favorite things in the DCU returns next year.

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/12/10/dcu-in-2010-celebrate-the-legacy-and-history-of-the-dc-universe/

To sum up :

1.) A Legacies mini-series.
2.) A new edition of History of the DCU.
3.) Who's Who, baby. Aw, yeah.

I love meta-materials like Who's Who.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

New Comics Day

A new week, a new haul.

  • Magog #4
  • The Shield #4
  • Titans #20
  • Red Robin #7
  • Green Arrow / Black Canary #27
  • Batgirl #5
  • Action Comics #884
  • Secret Six #16
  • R.E.B.E.L.S. #11
  • Doom Patrol #5
  • Adventure Comics #5
  • Booster Gold #27
  • DC Universe Holiday Special '09 #1
Batgirl is my unexpected pleasure of the week - Damian and Stephanie are hilarious together.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Pathfinder

I need to get back on my 4th Edition discussion thread - I'll get there eventually. In the meantime, I was overjoyed on Saturday when my long-delayed copy of the Pathfinder core rules arrived. I had originally ordered the book from Amazon directly, at a substantial discount. I kept waiting and waiting, and the book never came back into stock - so early last week, I took a peek out at Paizo's website to see if there was news of a second printing.

To my surprise, the book wasn't out of print - I think that Paizo just couldn't fulfill Amazon's re-order. Perhaps the discount was too steep? So I canceled my order from Amazon and ordered from one of Amazon's affiliates who had the book in stock.

Fifty bucks was, I thought, a fairly hefty price tag for what I expected to be an equivalent to the D&D Player's Handbook. it was, however, a fairly inexpensive price tag for what I actually got - the Pathfinder Core Rulebook is a PHB and DMG in one. Full color printing, too. I may have to do a full review later on, but I have to say I am pleased with the initial quality. The Bestiary, which I also ordered, is likewise spiffy.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

New Comics Day

This week's comics!

  • House of Mystery #20 - should be the last.
  • The Incredibles #3
  • X-Babies #3
  • Absolution #4
  • Jack of Fables #40
  • Cinderella : From Fabletown With Love #2
  • Invincible Presents : Atom Eve and Rex Splode #2
  • Red Tornado #4
  • The Great Ten #10
  • Superman : World of New Krypton #10
  • JSA All-Stars #1
  • Blackest Night : Wonder Woman #1
  • Blackest Night : Flash #1
  • Knights of the Dinner Table #156
  • Empowered Special #1