tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3399207644783807522024-03-08T18:21:56.224-05:00I Say Thee NayWriting about video games and pop cultureMark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-47002738178731215782015-03-24T23:45:00.000-04:002015-03-24T23:45:17.904-04:00History LessonA thought occurred to me while watching a TV show today: what did Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, namesake of my <a href="https://govsimcoe.dsbn.org/">high school</a>, do?<br />
<br />
Why did I have that thought? No idea. Possibly because Sherlock Holmes takes place in the past?<br />
<br />
So I went to Wikipedia, as one does here in the future. Here are things that I learned:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Simcoe was a fairly effective military commander for the British during the American Revolution.</li>
<li>He tried to establish a Loyalist free black regiment, but was offered command of the Queen's Rangers so he did that instead.</li>
<li>He pushed for abolishing slavery in Upper Canada, but the 1793 Act Against Slavery was compromised, so any current slaves remained slaves until death. It *did* prevent new slaves from being introduced, banning importation - the only new slaves were children born to female slaves, although the kids would be freed when they turned 25 with sufficient provisions from their prior owners to ensure they wouldn't have to be supported by the government. Slaves were finally emancipated in 1834 along with most of the slaves in the British Empire (excepting Ceylon (Sri Lanka), St Helena, and the territories of the <a href="http://pirates.wikia.com/wiki/East_India_Trading_Company">East India Company</a>).</li>
<li>He moved the capital of Upper Canada from Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) because it was too close to the USA, separated only by the Niagara River. He picked out a nice spot on the water to start a city, renaming that body of water the Thames River and the site London to match the British capital. He was then overruled by Governor-General Carleton and had to use his second choice, a site on Lake Ontario near the Rivere Taronto, which he named York. He also renamed the river to the Humber.</li>
<li>He had Yonge Street and Dundas Street built. Yonge Street was built along the logging route connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Taronto (which he renamed Lake Simcoe after his father). Dundas connected York and London.</li>
<li>In 1797, he was in charge of the British forces in St-Domingue (Haiti) where he was fighting to take the island from the French - and re-establish slavery, as it would have served the British agenda. Slavery had been abolished there in... 1793.</li>
<li>He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of India in 1806, replacing Charles Cornwallis who had died shortly after arriving in India. Simcoe died before leaving for India at the age of 54.</li>
</ol>
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Non-Simcoe things:</div>
<ol>
<li>There are two Lord Mayors in Canada; one is the head of Niagara-On-The-Lake in recognition of its status as first capital of Upper Canada. The other is Wayne Gretzky, honorary Lord Mayor of Brantford.</li>
<li>There is only one Lord Mayor who's status was granted solely by the city council: Wayne Gretzky again.</li>
<li>When York was incorporated as a city, it was named Toronto because of the negative connotations that were associated with "dirty Little York."</li>
</ol>
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A trip to the library for Simcoe's biography is in store for tomorrow, I think.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-42915709718495716362012-10-11T17:54:00.003-04:002012-10-11T17:54:41.959-04:00Dragon QuestingSo I haven't forgotten this, I just haven't been doing it. So many other things! Mass Effect 3! Skyrim! Borderlands 2! Super Mario 3D Land!<br />
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I dunno. Clearly I'm not hardcore enough to maintain something like this. I just don't find it as much fun, y'know? I rarely finish games (although I've beaten the last boss of 3 of the 4 I listed above...). I do have thoughts on something I could try - building something akin to the Atari 2600's <i>Adventure</i> to see what making a video game is like. Maybe throw down 100 dollars and become a PlayStation Mobile developer and get myself committed to doing something. Still, may not happen.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-46896997058928069492011-07-14T10:29:00.000-04:002011-07-14T10:29:26.578-04:00773 HoursHere's an article from <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/">Giant Bomb</a> about <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/news/773-hours-later-steve-tolin-is-finished-with-dragon-quest-ix/3482/">someone 1000 times more dedicated than I am</a>.<br />
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Well. More like five times, to be honest. Partially because the security on my wireless at home is not WEP, the only thing a DS game can handle - but even then, it'd be closer to twice as dedicated at the outside.<br />
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Update on Dragon Warrior coming soon - I've been playing Witcher 2 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D in the interregnum, but I'll be going back soon.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-22859086448303750812011-05-26T21:59:00.000-04:002011-05-26T21:59:00.418-04:00Not-Me: Retronauts1up.com's Retronauts podcast will be doing a <a href="http://www.1up.com/news/call-retronauts-dragon-quest-anniversary">Dragon Quest episode</a>. Alas, their call-in time falls when I'll be out, but I'm looking forward to listening to it.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-40295688142055811632011-05-24T22:52:00.001-04:002011-05-24T22:52:55.512-04:00Dragon Warrior, part the firstThere are so many copies of Dragon Warrior for the NES out there that there's a reasonable chance you're familiar with the basic story: DracoLord has kidnapped Lady Lora, and the player character, a descendent of the great hero Loto, must go to save her.<br />
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And those of you who are familiar with the NES game are now thinking, "Wait, <i>those</i> aren't the names." First thing I noticed too, and I started with Dragon Warrior III on the NES. As mentioned in the introductory post, the game was re-localized for Game Boy, tossing out the delightfully evocative NES translation with a more direct translation which retained the original Japanese names. "Thee" and "thou" were out (not necessarily a bad thing), as were Dragonlord, Gwaelin, and Erdrick among others. Apparently this was a request taken from Enix's forums; if true, it is another sign the internet signals the end of civilization. Square Enix has since gone back on this, and Dragon Quest IX refers back to the original NES localization. Or perhaps it was Nintendo? They published both Dragon Warrior on NES and Dragon Quest IX, after all... and it seems like Nintendo always does an impecable job localizing, favouring the intention of the text rather than the words in the text.<br />
<br />
The game isn't a very long one, but I haven't gotten too far in it yet, having not yet fought a boss. After the King gave me my quest, I went to the town and bought a stick and a leather shield to defend myself, and then set upon grinding money to upgrade my gear before setting out in earnest. Along my grind I entered a cave, expecting to fight more enemies - it was empty except for Loto's tomb, which exhorted me as his descendent to find the three artifacts he used to save the world. When I made it to the next town, Garinham, I was finally informed I should head to the tomb. In Garinham I buy the copper sword and leather armor and set out for the next town, going east.<br />
<br />
There's little preventing you from exploring the world beyond how tought the monsters get; monster difficulty is basically indicated by the number of bridges you cross. On the Game Boy, at least, this seems to be more of an approximation. All the grinding I've done means I go through the town of Kol, and the south to another island containing the next town, Rimuldar, before I am killed for the first time.<br />
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Death does not mean Game Over in Dragon Quest, it means resurrection with half your gold. This fairly light penalty (particular in 3 and later games, with the advent of banks where your gold, while not accessible, is safe) has undoubtably contributed to its popularity among Japanese people from all ages and all walks of life. Still, it's enough that I grind my way to 800 gold and buy the iron shield in Gorinham before returning to the island. There are only three shields, which makes the iron shield the second best shield in the game despite the fact that I have yet to fight a boss.<br />
<br />
On my way back to the island, I take a detour and find an old man guarding a chest containing the rain staff. He'll give that to me if I bring him the Silver Harp, proving my worth as a hero and descendent of Loto. He doesn't say where I can find it, but I do know Gorin, who founded Gorinham, was a bard, so I can guess. Alas, it is presumably in the big locked building in Gorinham, so I'll need keys. And keys can be bought in Rimuldar. Once there, I buy a full complement of keys. A key can be used once, but you can carry up to six at a time, and there are locked doors all over the place. I unlock every door everywhere I've been (except Gorinham, where I need to go), eager to take what's been locked away. A guard tells me a real hero wouldn't steal from the chests he's guarding; I take what's in them and there are no apparent consequences. Another guard says that because I made it past a barrier - floor panels which do a lot of damage when you walk on them - I'm probably ready to go to Gorinham. It makes me glad I waited and unlocked all those doors, although I didn't gain a level doing it so I was already good enough. I grind my way to 1500 gold (with a slight detour when a Wolf Lord kills me - it shouldn't have happened, but I was playing sloppy) and buy a Steel Sword, and prepare to return to Gorinham.<br />
<br />
Despite my slight distaste for the new translation, I'm still enjoying myself. The few clues given as to what you need to do next are sufficient, and finding the clues shows off the game dialogue's charm. Next time I'll speak a little about the player character's stats and the battle system, along with whatever the heck I end up doing.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-54882484592435408882011-05-21T11:26:00.001-04:002011-05-21T12:24:26.854-04:00Dragon Quest MarathonSo: The Dragon (Quest|Warrior) Marathon. Unlike Nick's <a href="http://ziggyny.blogspot.com/search/label/Final%20Fantasy%20Marathon">Final Fantasy Marathon</a>, these are mostly games I've never completed so it will be fairly straightforward: beat the game, move onto the next one.<br />
<br />
The Dragon Quest series has always had three main contributors: designer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuji_Horii">Yuji Horii</a>, character designer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Toriyama">Akira Toriyama</a> (known mostly for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball">Dragon Ball</a>), and composer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koichi_Sugiyama">Koichi Sugiyama</a>. The first game is Horii's attempt to bring cRPGS like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry:_Proving_Grounds_of_the_Mad_Overlord">Wizardry</a> to the masses. He achieved his goal in Japan, although it was less well received here as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Warrior">Dragon Warrior</a> in North America, selling less than Nintendo expected and eventually getting given away with subscriptions to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Power">Nintendo Power</a>; however, that didn't stop the next three games in the series from being localized and brought over the Pacific.<br />
<br />
Those aren't the versions I'll be playing. I don't have an NES and they're not on the Wii's Virtual Console. They were also re-released for the Super Famicom in Japan - also not the versions I'll be playing, for the same reasons as the Nintendo version and the additional detriment of my inability to read Japanese. The ones I have are:<br />
<i>Dragon Warrior I&II</i>, for Game Boy/Game Boy Color - a compilation and re-localization of the first two games, based on the Super Famicom versions.<br />
<i>Dragon Warrior III</i>, for Game Boy Color - again re-localized and based on the Super Famicom version.<br />
<i>Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen</i>, for Nintendo DS - also re-localized, but this time based on a PlayStation version of the game.<br />
<i>Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride</i>, for Nintendo DS - the first of the games to originally come out for Super Famicom, this one is based on a PlayStation 2 version. The Nintendo DS port is the first English version of the game.<br />
<i>Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation</i>, for Nintendo DS - also the first English version of this Dragon Quest game.<br />
<i>Dragon Warrior VII</i>, for Sony PlayStation - the first of the games to not be a re-make! Also, technically my brother's and not mine.<br />
<i>Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King</i>, for PlayStation 2 - the game which signified Square Enix finally claiming the Dragon Quest trademark in North America.<br />
<i>Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies</i>, for Nintendo DS - probably the best game I played in 2010, and certainly my favourite.<br />
<br />
Other games may be added along the way: a few spin-offs are also available in English, and there's one non-Dragon Quest game I'm considering including. I've already started playing Dragon Warrior, so the next post will cover the beginning of that game.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-15385108657456595422011-05-20T12:08:00.000-04:002011-05-20T12:08:05.595-04:00New PlanSo obviously I didn't keep up with PlayStation posts. I've got a Twisted Metal post that is half-written and also terrible because I can't give either a good personal anecdote or proper game analysis for it - Heck, when I went to play it I ended up switching to Twisted Metal 2. A half-written Wipeout post is going to be retooled and will eventually see the light of day - talking about Wipeout the game isn't working for me either, but I still have some things I'd like to write about it.<br />
<br />
In the meantime: I'll be copying my friend Nick's <a href="http://ziggyny.blogspot.com/search/label/Final%20Fantasy%20Marathon">Final Fantasy marathon</a>, but doing Dragon Quest/Warrior, because I like those games a lot, but haven't completed very many of them. There will be a setup post for that with more details before I begin it; currently I'm waiting on the package bringing me the first game.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-20002774404590297042011-01-30T15:48:00.004-05:002011-01-30T23:48:13.632-05:00Street Fighter Alpha<i>by <a href="http://www.capcom.com/">Capcom</a> for PlayStation</i><br /><br />In 1991, Capcom revolutionized arcade gaming with the introduction of <i>Street Fighter II</i>. It took the setup of the first <i>Street Fighter</i>, of two characters facing each other in a martial<span style="font-style:italic;"></span> arts contest, and took it up to 11. The characters were now large, colourful, and distinct, with crazy moves and satisfyingly fluid controls. Capcom then took this formula and tweaked it for the next few years, selling each new iteration at full price.<br /><br />As much as the thought of all those different versions annoys me now, I was thrilled by all the new Street Fighter II games back when I was in junior high. Imagine how thrilled I was when Capcom announced an <b>all-new</b> Street Fighter, with a visual style based on Capcom's gorgeous <i>X-Men</i> and <i>Darkstalkers</i>! That it was <i>Street Fighter Zero</i> and not <i>Street Fighter III</i> dampened my enthusiasm for a time, but any disappointment was gone by the time the game hit North America as <i>Street Fighter Alpha</i>. After a bus trip to Toys R Us, I made it the first game I would buy for my PlayStation.<br /><br /><i>Street Fighter Alpha</i> is a fantastic looking game. Capcom would use the anime-styled character sprites originating here in different fighting games for the next decade, with their final bows coming in 2004's <i>Capcom Fighting Jam</i> and 2006's <i>Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX</i>. The backgrounds are attractive, although their pre-rendered style was jettisoned for further games in the series. The strangest aspect of the visual style is the subtle placement of the letter 'Z' throughout the game - something that makes sense for a game named Zero, but not one named Alpha. The PlayStation version is hurt by tons of loading screens which interrupt both the flow of the game and the attractive screen transitions from the arcade. Another disappointment comes from the lack of characters to play as - at ten, Alpha contains the fewest available characters since the original <i>Street Fighter II</i>. The three hidden characters just barely manage to edge <i>Street Fighter II</i> out for total cast members.<br /><br />It plays the way you expect a Street Fighter game to play - something that's not always easy to pull off, as evidenced by the Street Fighter movie game and the <i>Street Fighter II</i> DOS port. There's a nagging feeling that the gameplay is a little bit too much vanilla Street Fighter - one certainly reinforced by the number of systems the Alpha series spawns in its subsequent games. The game is even replaced in the Street Fighter fiction by its sequel, indicating Capcom may never have been have been completely happy with <i>Street Fighter Alpha</i>. Sadly, I've never been good enough at Street Fighter to detail Alpha's strengths and shortcomings as a fighter beyond my vague misgivings that ultimately weren't strong enough keep me from enjoying myself a great deal.<br /><br />Ultimately <i>Street Fighter Alpha</i> was a very conservative choice as a purchase, and I was much better served by the next couple of games - both of which were chosen by my brother. And a better fighting game would have been <i>Tekken 2</i> (although I'm not sure I have ever played it). But I like to think I've learned my lesson: take some damn chances sometimes! It'll be okay.<br /><br />Despite that, it should come as no surprise that the first game I intend to buy for the Nintendo 3DS is <i>Super Street Fighter IV</i>. Hey, at least this time it's likely the ultimate version of the game, not the one that replaces it a year later. That one, <i>Street Fighter IV</i>, I bought for the XBox 360. And also the PC.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-43181292306216309152011-01-23T22:56:00.005-05:002011-01-23T23:16:48.139-05:00CyberSpeed<div><i>by Mindscape for PlayStation</i></div><div><br /></div>I got a PlayStation on my fifteenth birthday. It was the first time I bought a video game system with my own money; it was the first time I had bought anything that expensive. After giving $300 (plus tax) to the Sony Store, we set out to Blockbuster to have something to play on the system. The game I had my heart set on: Namco's <i>Cyber Sled</i>, a game I had played in the arcade and loved.<br /><br />In 1996, Blockbuster had enough money to have two cases on the shelf: the original game box, and the Blockbuster box behind it containing the actual game. Unfortunately for fifteen-year-old-me, Blockbuster had put the wrong game behind the <i>Cyber Sled</i> box. Instead of <i>Cyber Sled</i>, it was Mindscape's <i>CyberSpeed</i>. It was disappointing, but my brother and I made do.<br /><br />It was fine. <i>CyberSpeed</i> is a futuristic racing game where you drive a pod hanging from a cable; a video game version of a hanging roller coaster. If you don't manoeuvre your pod during a turn, centrifugal force swings it to the outside. (And to those of you who are complaining that centrifugal force doesn't exit: <i>you know what I mean so drop it</i>.) To minimize the distance you have to travel, you want to be on the inside of a turn. You fire weapons at the other pods, which is common for futuristic racers, and whoever crosses the finish line first wins, which is common for races. Its hanging-from-a-cable gimmick remains unique to this day, probably because it only serves to make racing less interesting by restricting control to a single wraparound dimension in an unintuitive way. The graphics were colourful and fast and fantastic, although perhaps only because it was my first PlayStation game.<br /><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hmMUmeD3rmw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="font-style:italic;">CyberSpeed's gameplay, which someone hacked onto PSP. Alas, no video grabs of CyberSpeed on PlayStation (or even Windows!) seem to exist.</span></span></div><br />That weekend <i>CyberSpeed</i> was the only full game we had, so we played the Hell out of it. It went back to Blockbuster at the end of the weekend, and I haven't give it more than a moment's thought about it until I wrote this. I'm probably the only one who has, given that it doesn't even have its own Wikipedia entry.<br /><div><br />Last week I bought a PlayStation 3 for $250, plus tax. To the best of my recollection, I never played <i>Cyber Sled</i> on my PlayStation.</div>Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-42467828338878173482011-01-23T17:47:00.004-05:002011-01-23T23:35:04.697-05:00New Project: PlayStationSo I saw <a href="http://www.gamespite.net/verbalspew2/2011/01/23/gsq3-cant-you-hear-me-noqing/">this post</a> on the wonderful video game site <a href="http://www.gamespite.net">GameSpite.net</a>, overseen by games journalist Jeremy Parrish, requesting people who played the original PlayStation, were good writers, and could hit a deadline. I immediately thought to myself "that sounds interesting!" <br /><p/>I then thought to myself, "I'm only one of those things. It would be irresponsible to actually offer to write at this point. But maybe I could do the others!"<br /><p/>Good thing I have my own blog to find out. Posts start soon.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-13153208792613240912009-07-25T11:38:00.006-04:002009-07-25T12:31:32.991-04:00Prototype<span style="font-style:italic;">by <a href="http://www.radical.ca/">Radical Entertainment</a>, published by <a href="http://www.activision.com/">Activision</a> for XBox 360</span><div><br /></div><div><i>Prototype</i> is a game I was looking forward to a great deal; I mean, it is an open-world game starring a super-powered character from the makers of<i> </i><a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/cube/incrediblehulk?q=Incredible%20Hulk"><i>The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction</i></a>! It's Ultimate Destruction 2 only you've got over-the-top shape-changing powers instead of just being incredibly strong!</div><div><br /></div><div>What's frustrating about the game is that it does so many things right. The opening sequence, giving you a tease of what's to come later, is about as well handled as these things can be. And even when you flash back to the beginning of the narrative, the game plays brilliantly. But the game lost me fairly early on, and I'm not likely to go back to it.</div><div><br /></div><div>What lost me? There's a mission where I break into an office building, and then I am chased out of the building by what looked to be four monsters to an army base. I enter the army base level (being a separate environment than the open world), one of the monsters follows me. I kill it with the rocket launchers left about conveniently (not sarcasm; it is military base, after all), absorb it, and gain claws. Then the other three jump in, and I was learning how fight these things, and I die a lot, but I come back at the checkpoint time and I have these claws now that are way better than my fists if not quite as good as the rocket launcher and eventually I beat all the monsters that were chasing me awesome!</div><div><br /></div><div>And more monsters jump in the base, breaking the deal I suddenly realize I never had with the game that there were four monsters. I die again, and I have <i>Ultimate Destruction</i> on the bookcase next to me, <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/crackdown?q=Crackdown"><i>Crackdown</i></a> on the bookcase across the room, and <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/infamous"><i>Infamous</i></a> sitting next to my roommate's PlayStation 3, and I realize that while it was fun for the couple of hours I played it, I don't want to play <i>Prototype</i> any more or even ever again and go to bed.</div>Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-7886276313094901342009-01-29T20:10:00.002-05:002011-01-23T23:41:30.975-05:00Final Crisis<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">by Grant Morrison, JG Jones et al; published by DC Comics<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;">I originally started writing this as a comment on David Uzumeri's post on issue 7 over on <a href="http://www.funnybookbabylon.com/2009/01/28/final-crisis-7-new-heaven-new-earth/">Funnybook Babylon</a> when it got way too long and digressing. Now that I've had a little time to digest the whole of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16;">Final Crisis</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;"> (minus </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16;">Legion of Three Worlds</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;">, obviously), I find that the <a href="http://www.wizarduniverse.com/011409batmandead.html">channel surfing style I've seen mentioned</a> on the internet makes it feels like Morrison tried to emulate how every other capital-C capital-E Crossover Event ties in to every other book in the line, only this time DC never bothered to publish (or even plan to ever have) most of the tie-ins. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;">Take Aquaman - clearly, the currently running </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16;">Aquaman</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;"> ongoing series tied in to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16;">Final Crisis</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;"> and told the story of Arthur's return to Atlantis in its hour of need, except - oops, that title doesn't even exist and was probably never even going to. Mr Terrific & his OMAC Army getting from Antarctica in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16;">Resist</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;"> back to the Castle (and what happened to the OMACs until #7)? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16;">Checkmate</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;font-size:16;"> #32 and #33, also never even conceived.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-size: 13px; ">Despite my snarkiness, this works for me. The DC Big Events used to only last for one month, so the only time I was old enough to have the money and young enough to not have something better to spend it on than a comic book event and every tie-in issue was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">DC One Million</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-size: 13px; "> (competing would have been things like </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">Metal Gear Solid</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-size: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">), which even then still had a few gaps in it (although that annoyed me at the time - "I GOT EVERYTHING AND YOU *STILL* DIDN'T SHOW ALL THE TITANS ESCAPING THE ROCKET RED SUITS?" - so part of me understands some of the <a href="http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/01/the-final-issue-of-final-crisis-finally/">complaints</a> I see on the internets), so any other event I've ever read always has such gaps. What DOES bother me are the ways what ought to be major events are unclear - is Mr Terrific dead? (I don't think he is...) Hawkman and Hawkgirl? (I think so...) Final Crisis is magnificent and the rapid-fire quick cutting works, but simple failures in storytelling - in clearly showing what ought to be seen - keep it from being perfect.</span><br /></span></span></span></span></div></span>Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-20091061545603040852008-08-09T20:32:00.003-04:002008-08-09T23:04:00.604-04:00All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder volume 1<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">By Frank Miller and Jim Lee with Scott Williams; published by DC Comics</span></span><br /><br />"You've just been drafted. Into a war." Collecting the first nine issues of the monthly series <span style="font-style: italic;">All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder</span> (ASBAR), this book acts as a sequel to Miller and David Mazzuchelli's <span style="font-style: italic;">Batman: Year One</span>. To anyone expecting more of the same, or even coming to comics from the movie <span style="font-style: italic;">The Dark Knight</span> - ASBAR chucks out the dark, serious tone of its forebears and replaces it with something resembling a fever dream. It feels fast (in stark contrast to how it felt to anyone trying to get it as a monthly series, as these nine issues took about two-and-a-half years to come out); the Goddamn Batman laughs as he beats the crap out of the underworld and messes with Miller's versions of the other heroes published by DC.<br /><br />It looks like a million bucks - Miller writes to Jim Lee's strengths as well as he has to previous artistic partners, like Geof Darrow (<span style="font-style: italic;">Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot</span>) or Dave Gibbons (<span style="font-style: italic;">Martha Washington</span>). That first shot of the Batcave astonishes in its detail, and women like Vicki Vale seem effortlessly sexy. The appropriateness of some of the scenes can be called into question early on, but as ASBAR progresses it becomes clear that they are part of the Goddamn Batman's world: a technicolour <span style="font-style: italic;">Sin City</span>.<br /><br />Speaking of <span style="font-style: italic;">Sin City</span>, the plot feels like what would happen if Miller replaced <span style="font-style: italic;">The Hard Goodbye</span>'s Marv with Batman and Robin<span style="font-style: italic;"></span>. ASBAR is the story of how Batman recruits his iconic sidekick, Robin. Batman kidnaps the just-orphaned Dick Grayson, leaves Dick in a cave to fend for himself, puts some shortpants on the kid, and cackles like a madman the entire time. He seems to realize how deeply troubled - and lacking in training - Robin is when the Boy Wonder almost kills a man, finally giving Grayson time to mourn. And once the turning point is reached... the volume ends.<br /><br />There is the matter of Batman's archfoe, the Joker, who is positioning himself to be the villain of ASBAR. When the Joker puts in his appearance in this volume he is quite insane; but he is dour, dark, and when he says "But I'm not very funny," he's absolutely correct. The Goddamn Batman is writ large across Gotham City and revels in being at his prime; the Joker takes himself so seriously, right down to the giant dragon tattoo stretching across his back. It's an inversion of the Batman/Joker dynamic in virtually every other Batman story since 1970.<br /><br />ASBAR volume 1 is ultimately an unsatisfying read due to its inability to stand alone. How it holds up depends greatly on what comes next - which hopefully does not take until 2011 (or later!) to resolve. Miller sees all his Batman stories as taking place in the same timeline, so it is possible to see what happens eventually in <span style="font-style: italic;">Batman: the Dark Knight Returns</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Batman: the Dark Knight Strikes Again</span>, but those are hardly substitutes to getting an actual conclusion.<br /><br />ASBAR is the Batman book you wanted when you were a fifteen-year-old-boy. It's Sin City: Gotham. It's spiritual sequel to <span style="font-style: italic;">The Dark Knight Strikes Again</span>. It could very well be part of a joke Miller's been playing on DC for the last decade. If any of those things sounds appealing, <span style="font-style: italic;">All-Star Batman & Robin</span> is for you. Otherwise - it might be best to stay away.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339920764478380752.post-50489610288067046542008-07-14T13:53:00.000-04:002008-07-14T13:58:43.508-04:00Where did everything go?The old version of this, as personal blog, can now be found at <a href="http://oldisaytheenay.blogspot.com">http://oldisaytheenay.blogspot.com</a>. This location will become a place where I review things, because "I Say Thee Nay" feels like much too good a name to waste <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> reviewing things on.Mark Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.com0