Rise of the Batmen is something of a launch for a new status quo for Detective Comics in the post Rebirth DCU. Someone is putting together a literal army of Batmen – a black-ops team with skills comparable to members of the Bat-Family, except they’re willing to use deadly force. So, Batman puts together his own team to stop them. Continue reading
Comic Review: Batman (Rebirth) Vol. 1 – I Am Gotham
I’m adding the “Rebirth” tag to the title of this comic to distinguish it from the initial post Flashpoint relaunch. of the Batman books. Tonally, the book is interesting, in terms of how the book openly embraces the concept of the Bat Family (by contrast with the last Batman graphic novel I reviewed), while also escalating the power level of superheroism in Gotham City.
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 166 – Insights & Upgrades
We chat with Kamille about the aftermath of his fight, and we get some upgrades installed on the Ples’ mobile suits.
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 165 – Who Inherits the Stars IV
With Humanity’s fate in the stars on the line, we press the attack against Full Frontal. Continue reading
Nintendo Power Retrospectives: Part 85
A whole bunch of sequels this issue, with Mortal Kombat II, Super Bomberman II, and Pocky and Rocky 2.
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 164 – Who Inherits the Stars III
Just when you thought this fight was over with, Neo Zeon and Full Frontal show up, and we learn what their end-game is. Continue reading
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 163 – Who Inherits the Stars II
We continue taking on G-Hound, and finally take on their two Boss mechs head-to-head.
Manga Review: Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 25
As I mentioned in my overall review of the Golden Week arc, that was an arc that was begging to be animated, and sadly was not. It also thoroughly smashed the existing status quo with a literal and metaphorical nutcracker, with Nagi giving up her fortune and her house to save Hayate.
Manga Review: Hayate the Combat Butler – The Golden Week Arc
There comes a point in any manga where the status quo, as it exists, can no longer stand. Where if things stay as they are, the work will stagnate. In Battle Angel Alita, it is in the leadup to the Motorball arc. In Hayate the Combat Butler, that arc is the Golden Week arc.
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 162 – Who Inherits the Stars I
We’re under attack by G-Hound, and some of their number have unfinished business with Kamille and Banagher. Continue reading
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 161 – How & Why of SRW V
We get up to speed on what Inez Fressange has been up to since the end of Martian Successor Nadesico.
Vlog: 6 RPG Recommendations based on Video Games and Anime of 2018
In this episode (with its light novel adaptation length title), I give some recommendations for tabletop RPGs based on various video games and anime from the last year.
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 160 – Axis Shock Revisited
Just blowing up the colony from the inside won’t be enough – it’s up to a desperate gamble by Banagher to save the world. Continue reading
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 159 – Light of Ruin IV
We finish off the combined Embryo/Gamillan/Amalgam forces so we can stop the colony. Continue reading
RPG Book Review: Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide
Oriental Adventures was a sourcebook for AD&D 1st edition that sort of re-imagined and re-interpreted the game to fit a setting inspired by various stripes of Asian cinema, with varying degrees of success. However, two things that book did moderately well was to present a setting in microcosm that used the mechanics and the book’s non-weapon proficiency system. What it didn’t do well was to create classes and races that were conducive for adventuring, and it didn’t create a setting that a standard adventuring party could be inserted into.
Film Review: Haxan (1922)
When it comes to horror and documentaries, in the sense of horror films that are deliberately planned to be documentaries, you have two main stripes represented by two big names. On one hand, you have Legend of Boggy Creek, a historical reenactment heavy documentary about a Texarkana cryptid that effectively recounts a variety of local myths and legends in an uncritical manner. On the other hand, there’s Haxan, the film I’m covering today, which is not only a very early work in the documentary genre, it’s also a work that is also very critical of historical accounts of witchcraft.
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 158 – Light of Ruin III
We continue pushing the attack on Amalgam and Embryo’s forces. Continue reading
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 157 – Light of Ruin II
Londo Bell continues their counter-attack, but now with some old friends fighting on the side of the enemy. Continue reading
Legends of the Force Part XXVII: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
I’ve got a short story collection this month.
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 156 – Light of Ruin I
Londo Bell launches their counterattack against Neo Zeon and the Gamillan’s Colony Drop. Continue reading
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 155 – Spectator to War
We see the forces behind Ghuli – and they’re currently waiting on the sidelines to see how things pan out. Continue reading
Film Review: Humanoids From The Deep
Roger Corman is widely recognized as a producer who launched the careers of numerous writers, actors, and future directors. He’s also widely recognized as a producer who churned out numerous exploitation films of a wide variety of stripes almost like clockwork, on the cheap, and without much concern about the craft.
This leads to the problems with Humanoids from the Deep. Part of this film is a very well done horror creature feature, with incredibly suspensefully shot sequences, and is a film that is willing to straight up kill off a kid and several dogs very early in the film. It’s also a film where Roger Corman decided to fire the film’s original director, Barbara Peeters, because he wanted the film’s rape scenes to be more explicit – so he handed those sequences off to the second unit director, and the film is lesser because of this. Continue reading
Comic Review: Cable Vol. 3
With the release of Deadpool 2 this past year, a whole new range of audiences were introduced to Wade Wilson’s grumpy-Gus soldier from the future buddy, Nathan Christopher Askani Summers, aka Cable. Consequently, Marvel also put out a new Cable book, with a mid-volume shift in the numbering to line up with Cable Vol. 1’s numbering. However, what it was not was a buddy-book with Deadpool, Cable was at the fore of this story. So, the question is, what kind of story does the book tell?
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 154 – Ms. Gearhead (No VO)
After the fight, Nine finishes explaining her backstory some, only for Neo Zeon to fall into their old tricks
(Note: Due to technical difficulties there is no commentary for this episode.) Continue reading