All posts by Noob of All Trades

Shawn Lucas is the self identified "Noob of All Trades". He is married and the father of three boys, two of whom help with their own podcast every couple of months. Raised on Atari, Nintendo, and Sega, he enjoys all games and will play all of them to the best of his ability, which is often average at best. Currently, he is most interested in Magic, Heroclix, and other games that he can play with Chris and his sons.
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Comics Round Up: Make Mine Marvel

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(Editor’s Note: Our last comic round up suffered from, as I once heard Stephen King explain it, “diarrhea of the typewriter (insert your preferred method of typing here).” Seeing as how I’m branching out, but still very much a Marvel zombie, I will try to keep this one brief by just giving “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”.)

Avengers

The Good: Mark Waid is a good writer. I really like his Champions book (more on that in a bit). But, he doesn’t quite fit this version of the HydrAvengers, in my opinion.

The Bad: This team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are actually some of the worst villains in the Marvel Universe. While that in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, I feel like the execution isn’t so great.

The Ugly: I simply can’t wrap my mind around these characters as Avengers. I know that we are living in a Cosmic Cube altered reality and that nothing should be comforting necessarily. However, while I’ve gone along with most books on this crazy ride, this is a bridge too far.

The Verdict: Having been reintroduced to Warren Ellis via Injection and Trees, I couldn’t help but be reminded of his run on Thunderbolts. He would be the perfect writer for this hodge podge of characters that make up the HydrAvengers. Maybe that would make it easier to swallow. I, for one, can’t wait until the Legacy reboot of this team.

Champions

The Good: Mark Waid is a great writer. The proof is in this book. Each character is written with a different personality that shines through in the storytelling. This is one of my favorite books right now.

The Bad: Two here, but not really anything to do with the book. 1) While I’m glad that they included this book in the Secret Empire arc and that gave me a chance to discover it, I’m not sure that these characters fit exactly the way that they’re trying to make them fit. 2) I wish that I had been on from the beginning because I really enjoy this book.

The Ugly: I’m pretty sure that this book is meant for teenagers. I’m not sure what it says about me that it is one of my favorite books and I’m 41. Actually, I know exactly what it says about me. Society, and my wife sometimes, might not approve, but I’m comfortable with who I am.

The Verdict: This is one heck of a book and one lone bright spot through the whole Secret Empire event. While other books have changed their focus, flirted with disaster, or both, this one has stayed true to the characters and their mission to mirror “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. Heck, some of these characters have lost their damn minds in other books, but remained true in this one. Really, just a fun book and I can’t wait to see how things progress through Legacy.

Edge of Venomverse

The Good: This book and book 2 were very good. I liked the quirkiness of Gwenpool with the symbiote and the story of this one was fantastic. I haven’t read Old Man Logan yet, so this might have just grown naturally from that, but after the rather pedestrian nature of the first three books, I was surprised by the depth of this one.

The Bad: Book 1 and 3 were…not great. Book 1 wasn’t bad. It just felt very uneven. Book 3 was just not good overall. I didn’t enjoy the story. I suppose that by that pattern, book 5 is going to be meh. Given that it is Deadpool and I tire quickly of “old school” Deadpool, that’s a safe bet.

The Ugly: I’m usually a sucker for different art. Heck, I’ll buy anything drawn by Sam Kieth. However, the art for #3 was just horrible. Combined with the subpar story, I think that one just needs a do over.

The Verdict: An uneven series that seems to have different judgments from different people. The owner of my newly adopted (can’t say that in a few months) comic store, for instance, really liked book 1. She’s a fan of X23, though, so maybe that’s the reason why. I haven’t gotten into that book yet. Even so, I have high hopes for the actual series.

Hulk

The Good: Another excellent book, written by a writer who knows and has been able to define the character in this brave new world that Marvel has been trying to forge. It has dealt with issues of loss and PTSD in a very real and poignant manner.

The Bad: This isn’t your father’s Hulk. “Hulk Smash” is almost non existent. Instead, it’s become a “talkie”, similar to Batman. I’m not saying that’s bad, but if you’re coming for that action, wait until Legacy.

The Ugly: Wait, they’re bringing back Banner Hulk? (Spoiler Alert: They’ve already brought him back.) But, one of the major plot points of this series has been Jen’s reaction and attempts to deal with her cousin’s death. I know they’re resetting with Legacy, but, still I’ll miss that storyline.

The Verdict: I was not initially going to invest in this book. However, one week I was short on books and decided to pick this one up because I am a huge Hulk fan. I’m glad that I did because it has become one of my most anticipated books each month. I’m a little worried how it will endure post Legacy, but hopefully they can figure it out.

Generations

The Good: At this point, I’ve only read these two generations books, but they’ve both been decent to good. I was a bit surprised that I actually enjoyed the Phoenix book more than Hulk. Greg Pak is one of my favorite Hulk writers and the book was good, but I just felt like the Phoenix story was much more in depth and balanced.

The Bad: There was a bit too much “Hulk Smash” in the Hulk book. I know that’s what people want from our Jade Giant. However, I’ve always been more of a fan of the introspective Hulks and less is more when it comes to “Hulk Smash”. But, I’ll stick with the book until we get to the deeper stories.

The Ugly: Another weekly book that I have to read, Marvel? I mean, I don’t have to read it, but I will. I just won’t necessarily be happy about it. Except, I’m pretty sure I will. *sigh* Chris is right. I may have a problem.

The Verdict: Only two books in and I’m okay with the concept. I’m intrigued to see how this shapes future books and tries to tie everything together with the past. I like what DC has done with their Rebirth books and think that a true reboot can do good things for Marvel, too. These books serve to set the tone and so far the tone is positive.

Secret Empire Tie In Books

The Good: Both Captain America books have been great. I hadn’t heard of Spencer before this event, but I like what he’s been doing with the event. While I don’t agree with including Champions in the event, I’m glad they did because it’s a good book. Ultimates2 wasn’t even on my radar, but that has been an amazing book.

The Bad: I don’t like what Secret Empire has done to Amazing Spider-Man. I’m usually okay with different, but the last few ASM arcs I’ve read have just been blah. Bear in mind that I haven’t even been around for the latest clone wars, but I read the one where Uncle Ben came back and the one before that years ago. The other books like Underground and United have been mostly forgettable, though the Widow “red room” story was interesting. Avengers has suffered most from Secret Empire. Again, I get the reason to include the team to show how different this world is, but it hasn’t been a great experiment.

The Ugly: I went from mildly interested in the event, to promising myself that I’d only get the main books, to buying every stupid book with the Secret Empire/Captain Hydra banner on it. Damn it, Marvel. Congratulations. You hooked me.

The Verdict: As is to be expected, these books have been hit or miss. Most have been very good. Some have been disappointing, but I don’t regret buying the books that I did. Overall, they’ve added to my enjoyment of the event and I’m back on the wagon…or is it off the wagon?

Secret Empire

The Good: Nick Spencer has done a good job of telling this story and the art has mostly been just as good. As an aside, I’m glad that we are in the “hope” portion of the story. I couldn’t take much more “despair”.

The Bad: I didn’t like the art in a couple of the books. I just prefer the realistic art of Steve McNiven. The art of these books made me take a step back and try to absorb it before continuing. It just took me out of the story for a minute.

The Ugly: I almost quit reading the story altogether. One of those reason was that it was just getting too real. Especially with the recent events in Virginia, I couldn’t sit by idly as my escape from reality started to mirror that reality a bit too much. Ultimately, I kept going, but I was close to quitting there.

The Verdict: Overall, this event has been entertaining. I won’t say that it has been good, but it has kept me reading. There are a few times that I wanted to walk away for one reason or another, but I’ve keep reading and I’m glad that I did. Ultimately, at this point, I want to see how they write themselves out of this.

On the Tabletop

Mine! Mine! Mine!

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(Editor’s Note:

If we could, we would have used this picture as our headline for the article.

“There’s a Minecraft card game? What the heck?” Aiden’s question when he saw the game mirrored my exact thoughts when I saw the game in Target a couple of years ago. They must have anticipated that reaction from people because the official name of the game is “Minecraft Card Game?”

Because of our family’s enjoyment of the video game, I knew I was most likely going to buy it. However, I wanted to do some research. First, I wasn’t sure how they’d translate the video game of Minecraft into a card game. Second, I didn’t want to get involved with another collectible card game. It didn’t indicate anywhere on the package that it wasn’t a fully contained game, but I needed to verify. My Google search in the aisle verified it and I bought it.

I shouldn’t have worried about how they’d convert the game from video to card. Apparently there is a reason that people get jobs as game designers and I am not currently working in such a job. It isn’t a perfect translation and I don’t think that it ever could be, but it doesn’t need to be. They can capture the fun and creativity of Minecraft without actually including all of the aspects of the video game. They intelligently realized that the game is pretty much just collect materials, use those materials to craft items, and then use those items to advance by crafting more items.

Well, when you put it that way, of course it sounds silly.

The card game captures those parts of the game very well. Your turn consists of two actions. The two main actions are that you can “mine” resources by choosing them from the piles or you can “craft” items as long as you have the proper resources. The items that you can craft are the basic tools of the game; shovel, pickaxe, axe, and sword. Each of them serves a specific purpose in the game and are worth points you need to win the game.

If this sounds less than thrilling, trust me it isn’t. Just like the video game namesake, the thrill of the card game comes from unexpected sources. Although, instead of the one player conflicts of finding shelter and keeping yourself fed, in the game, you are playing against 1 to 3 other players. This leads to a scarcity of resources which means you need to think very carefully about how and when you mine or craft. A wrong move isn’t as punishing as in a more traditional collectible card game, but an opponent that is paying attention can really ruin your plans.

Sometimes it feels a bit like this. So far, no games have ended with a shootout at high noon, but it might just be because we play it in the late afternoon/early evening.

Aside from the other players, there are a couple of environmental hazards built into the game. The first, and decidedly less hazardous is TNT. In fact, due to the nature of the card, TNT can be both helpful and harmful to a player. When you reveal a TNT card, it destroys the top card from two of the piles. But, and this is where the helpfulness of the card shows up, you get to take the top card from the two of the piles, so it acts almost like a take an extra turn card.

The second card that can cause you harm is the creeper. Unlike the TNT, this one does not have a positive side effect. Instead, just like the video game, the creeper becomes one of the things you most dread to see. It strips you of one of your resource cards. Sure, you can mitigate it with a sword if you’ve crafted one, but that’s a pretty big if. Most of the time you just cry a little inside as you discard one of those valuable resources that you’ve been saving for just the right time.

You can’t have a Minecraft game without these guys. In this game, though, you don’t even get the “SSSsssss” warning before they blow you up.

We have played the Minecraft card game several dozen times at this point and it hasn’t gotten stale. While it is a stagnant set of cards and not collectible (something I actually didn’t want), there is enough variety in each play that you won’t quickly bore of it. You have to play your strategy against the other players and also against the deck itself. Both of those elements enhance enjoyment playing the game.

With all of that said, I think there might be room for an expansion to the game. I’m not sure how they’d do it and not make it just more of the same, but maybe they could set it in one of the other planes like the Nether or the End. Once again, I’m not a game designer. I don’t even play one on TV or YouTube. I just play games. And, this is a game that I absolutely enjoy playing.

Snap *censored* Pop Culture

Comic Round Up: The Little Guys

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(Editor’s Note: We said something about plans in our previous article and how they easily go awry. We planned to do a Comic Round Up on Marvel next, so enjoy this article about few independent titles that I’ve (re)discovered since coming back to comic books again.)

It feels weird calling this article the “little guys” when I’m reviewing 2 Image books. I mean, they have some comics that have a definite “little engine that might” quality, but they also have the old gray mare in Spawn and the 900 lb. gorilla that is The Walking Dead. Still, they are considered independent, and with the rate I’m picking up titles, “the little guys” might soon outweigh even that 900 lb. gorilla, so I’m sticking with the title.

Chris and I were talking a few weeks (maybe a month) ago about our newly found interest in comics. I was still in my Wonder Woman trades only, Batman, and only books that had the Secret Empire flag on them phase. One of us mentioned that there were so many good books to read right now. If it was me who said that, I followed up with the following. If it was Chris, then it was my reply. In either case, I said, “I know, and I have barely even touched DC comics and haven’t even considered any of the independent books.”

Side note: I was still reading Spawn, a book that will be included in this independent book review. What can I say? I didn’t consider Spawn an independent book then and I’m changing my mind now to suit the theme. As if there’s no precedent for that around here.

Well, I’ve now ventured into the world of independent comics outside of Spawn and my poor budget is about to take even more of a hit. Similar to my adventures into both Marvel and DC, I have really enjoyed both of the new books that I’ve read and that will most likely lead to me spending more time with the independent rack. It’s either the best of times or the worst of times, too, as August promises to be light on volume each week due to the “extra” Wednesday. Oh well, more fodder for the next article!

When I picked up the latest issue of Spawn, the woman who owns the store that I’ve adopted as my LCS remarked something about a new Spawn in my pull.

Side Note: I’ve only started the pull, am not sure that I set it up the way that I wanted to get all of the issues I want, and am a little embarrassed by my “mainstream” tastes. The comic book store is in a very eclectic city and I always get the sense that the town itself is judging me for my comic book tastes.

Nonchalantly and trying not to let my embarrassment over my comic choices show, I replied, “Yeah, Spawn is a relic from my reckless youth.” It must have worked on some level because she chuckled and said, “Yeah, we all have those, don’t we.” Whew, crisis averted. She also continued the conversation by saying, “It’s about the art,” to which I nodded and then she continued, “and this cover is so cool.” That’s the cover up there and yes, it is cool.

As far as the story goes, it’s been a bit hit and miss. The first issue that I read felt very familiar as if it’s all been done before. I know that the book has been around for over 20 years, is about 2 years short of #300, and hasn’t experienced a full reboot or crisis in that time. So, it’s gotta be tough to keep coming up with new stories. Still, it was slightly disconcerting to come back to such a ho hum issue. I even considered just jettisoning Spawn to the trash bin of history. I did so with The Walking Dead and while I’ve recently considered a return, Chris talked me off of that ledge.

But, Spawn and I have history, Man. I was there from the beginning. I bought issue #1 off of the rack when it was released. I replaced the first 150 issues (because I threw them out during one of my moves) 20 years ago when I got back into comics again for the Civil War event. The Walking Dead was part of a phase. It was a college thing. I was curious, okay?! Spawn will have to get a lot worse for me to abandon the book completely. So far, that hasn’t happened. It’s actually steadily increased in quality as far as the writing goes. The latest arc, that’s starting with 276, isn’t great, but it’s good enough to keep me interested at least in the short run.

The Good – The art quality for this book has always been great and some amazing artists have worked on the book. That hasn’t changed. Todd McFarlane has an eye for what works visually on this book.

The Bad – The writing is uneven and was almost enough to turn me off from the book, but it has shown signs of improving.

The Ugly – I called Spawn the old grey mare. While she isn’t as long in the tooth as some of the Marvel or DC books (and they’ve even tried changing some of those books to loud and angry nerd shouts), but it is one of the longest running books not published by one of those two. It is showing it’s age.

The verdict: If you’re a fan, you know what you’re getting. If you’re not, there’s not really much here to recommend over some of the other books out there. I will say that if this current arc doesn’t pan out and I’m crunched for money, this will be the first book to go.

I was in line at the comic book store, waiting to pay for my latest haul of Secret Empire tie in books, when I overheard the guy in front of me talking to the owner of the store about Sam Kieth. I’ve already mentioned that I feel weird about not having as many “offbeat” comics in my reading list and Sam Kieth is as “offbeat” as they come. I’ve been a fan of his since discovering him during my first discovery of comic books as a teenager. Like Todd McFarlane, I wasn’t aware of Sam Kieth’s work with Marvel and DC. I found him through his Image book, The Maxx.

Side note: See, I used to be much more hip and with it. Image probably never was the “fringe” of comics, but it was alternative in a time when that word had a much more positive meaning. I suppose that I’m just getting safe in my old age, falling into patterns from my youth.

The Maxx was, and probably still is, my favorite comic book of all time. Like most Image books, it suffered from delays, but I always looked forward to every new issue. Also, like Spawn, I trashed my Maxx books, but bought the entire run again. Unlike Spawn, or any other book for that matter, all of the books are in a binder for safe keeping. I loved the weirdness of The Maxx and how it wasn’t typical comic book stuff. Now I might need to go back and read it again.

And, back to the present. After a casual conversation about the books in my hand, that ended with an awkward admission (as an attempt to gain some cred) by me that I thought Ultimates has been a really good book lately, I quickly changed the subject. “What’s Sam Kieth been up to?”The owner’s eye’s lit up, she mentioned the title, and took me over to the rack. Only issues 2 and 3 were available, but she said that she would try to get issue 1 for me. She was great about getting me issue #5 of Secret Empire, so I have no doubt that she will make good on it.

It might just be the bias of having read The Maxx, but similar themes run through Eleanor and the Egret. It is nowhere near a carbon copy of it, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t notice the similarities. Strong female protagonist accompanied by a non human ally. Weird creepy man in black. Flash backs (though in The Maxx, it was not always clear if they were flashbacks, flash forwards, or alternate realities) that serve to drive the story. Okay, so maybe there aren’t as many similarities as I thought and I’m just reaching here.

In any case, the book is very good. I don’t know the writer, but apparently he’s very well known for something that he did while I was away from comics. I will say that I’ve enjoyed this book so much that I might have to go back to read that series one of these days. Eleanor is not your typical comic book stuff, even more so than The Maxx wasn’t. It revolves around an artist turned art thief and her pet bird, who seem to have a bit of a bone to pick with another artist for some reason. They steal this other artist’s paintings and the bird eats them. I know. It sounds weird. And it is weird. In my opinion, it’s very good, too.

The Good: Sam Kieth’s art takes me back to the beginning and reminds me again why I love comic books. It isn’t always just about the beautiful photorealistic art. Sometimes, the fuzzy lines and muted colors work just as well, if not better.

The Bad: It’s not a book for everyone. If you are super hero only, avoid this book. There isn’t anything for you here.

The Ugly: As with any of these indy companies, I wonder how long they will last. I know that it isn’t the wild 1990s anymore, but I’d hate to get invested in a book only to see it killed due to low sales or delays.

This past week was light on the main books. There was no Secret Empire, only one or two tie ins, the Hulk generations book, and a new Batman. Instead of putting away the rest of my budget for next week, I started to wander through the independent titles. At first, I thought I might get suckered back into The Walking Dead, but the book just doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. I also found myself looking at Kirkman’s other book, Outcast. That looked really good, but I had already committed to my new obsession. Maybe next time.

While looking at the racks, I noticed the name “WARREN ELLIS” on one of the books. I know him best from his insane super hero book Nextwave: Agents of HATE followed shortly after by my discovery of his work on Thunderbolts at the same time. He was somewhat restricted by the characters in Thunderbolts. However, at that time, it was a book with completely bonkers Green Goblin, off his rocker Venom, nutso Penance and Bullseye, and slightly less crazy, but still perfect for Ellis’ off the wall writing style, Moonstone, Radioactive Man, Songbird, and Swordsman. He faced less resistance from the roster in Nextwave, as it was mostly 3rd and 4th tier characters that nobody ever heard of and he could be much crazier with them. I read his Thunderbolts, but I loved Nextwave and it put Warren Ellis on my must buy list.

While checking out, I remarked what a slow week it was for books and the owner replied, “Going to be that way all month because of the 5 Wednesdays. Need to spread it out.” I talked about picking up Injection to fill the void because of my undying love for Warren Ellis. She said that she loved the book, but it could get a little hard to follow because it is vintage Ellis. And, boy is it ever. If you thought I had a tough time explaining the plot of Eleanor, this one is beyond words.

The Good: Nextwave was Warren Ellis with minor restrictions. This is Warren Ellis with the gloves completely off. She said that it might be difficult to follow. I didn’t find that to be true, but the story is absolutely insane in the best way possible.

The Bad: I blew through the first two TPB volumes in no time at all. That leaves only 4 issues and then I think I have to wait until October for Issue #15. Bummer.

The Ugly: It took me until the end of Volume 2 to realize that he’s writing the series to focus each 5 issue story arc on one of the 5 main characters. I’m not sure how he will handle it if it goes beyond 25 issues, but that was a bit embarrassing.

Okay, I’ve branched out and bought a few other DC books. I’m now entrenched into two independent books. I’ve admitted to Chris that I may go hunting for the Dale Keown variant cover for the Hulk Generations book even though I already bought the main cover. I’m deep into comic books again and there isn’t much hope for me now.

On the Tabletop

Quick Update: Looking Back and Going Forward

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(Editor’s Note: We are back from our many adventures on Cape Cod and ready to get back into the business of bringing fun and interesting content.)

There are two games around here that we really enjoy, but often get pushed to the back burner due to my interest in other games. Most notably, Magic the Gathering takes all of my money and time and we don’t get a chance to play much else. One of those games, Dicemasters, has been given much more coverage recently due to my purchase of a gravity feed of the World’s Finest set and our rainbow draft of the set. The other game is Heroclix, and it might be one of my favorite games. Shame, then, that I don’t get to play it often.

Unlike Dicemasters, where my history is murky and forgotten, I remember exactly when and how I was introduced to Heroclix. I’m positive that I’ve told the story before, so I will give the abridged version here. We were in one of our favorite local gaming stores to pick up something Pokemon card related for Liam. While in the store, Aiden noticed the Heroclix and asked about them. I had wanted to get into miniature games for a while, so we picked up an Avengers starter set and played a few rounds with very limited rules.

Am I the only one who imagines that the miniatures have squeaky little mouse voices when they talk?

To be fair, we are still playing with limited rules. However, we are much closer to playing the actual game than we were back then. There are still minor rules that we have changed or outright ignore. But, hey, we’re just playing around the kitchen table (sometimes literally), there’s no stakes to our games, and if we screw something up really badly, there’s always the option to take it back. So, what’s a little rules manipulation between friends and family?

At the same time that I purchased the World’s Finest Dicemasters gravity feed, I also bought a gravity feed of Wonder Woman Heroclix boosters. The idea was to play both games in June and report on them as part of a huge DC blowout in that month. But, it’s summer and the best laid plans and all that. The Heroclix lie, unopened, in the playroom. I know that it’s been promised before and there have been many false starts and I can’t say that this time won’t be different, but we have honestly gotten better about keeping a schedule and only really fell off the wagon for the month of July.

I wonder why podcasts and blogs haven’t been our top priority in July.

As mentioned in the editor’s note, we are back from our many adventures on Cape Cod and I’m ready to commit to the web page again. I already recorded the test pilot for my new one man show, “Snap, *censored*, Pop Culture” and I’ve put together a schedule for the month of August that we should be able to follow without issue and that will let us keep updating on a regular basis. Again, I promise nothing, but it has to happen eventually, right?

If nothing else, I’m ready to crack into that box and see what goodies we got. I don’t know if we will do a draft or any such thing or just throw the new characters into the box and build some teams, but I have been wanting to play some miniatures. So, we will definitely play Heroclix this weekend and I’ll be back with a report of some of my favorite minis from the Wonder Woman set. Hope you all enjoyed the time off as much as we did and we’ll see you in full force next week!

Snap *censored* Pop Culture

Comics Wrap Up: DC

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(Editor’s Note: I know that I have the good, bad, and ugly format for review articles. However, these comics articles are often going to cover several titles and that format might cause the articles to become so long as to be cumbersome to read. I’ll work the good, the bad, and the ugly into the articles somehow, but they won’t be the focal point.)

The title of this article is a bit misleading. Unlike Marvel, which has hooked me into buying multiple new books with their Secret Empire event, I’ve only read Batman and Wonder Woman from the DC Rebirth universe. That may change with the “Metal” event or as I become more adventurous and branch out into other titles. For now, though, enjoy my first edition of comic Wrap Up for Wonder Woman and Batman. Only two titles lets me test out some things and figure out what works and doesn’t.

Wonder Woman

Part of the reason that I haven’t gotten into more DC books is that I have been having trouble figuring out starting points for the books that are unfamiliar. Due to having grown up an unabashed Marvel zombie, most of the DC books are unfamiliar. I’ve always liked Batman, used that to get into Batman/Superman title of the early or mid 2000s, branched out from that into Superman for a very brief time, and not much else.

From the looks of things, Aquaman 25 appears to be a good starting point, so that might be the next DC title that I start collecting.

The new Wonder Woman movie led me to check out the comic book. Luckily, the 2nd volume of the trade came out during one of my visits to the store, so I picked it up. I found it strange that Volume 2 was titled “Year One” because I then had no idea what the story of the first book might be. Having never read any Wonder Woman before, though, I was thankful for the origin story.

After getting the first volume second, which actually made sense in the context of the two books, I did some research. I discovered that the writer was intertwining two stories concurrently during a particular story arc. As an example, the first 12 issues alternate between the year one origin story and another story where Diana is trying to find her way back to Themyscira. The odd issues tell one story and switched to the other for the even issues.

Because I bought the trades, I haven’t been able to experience how they worked together and if it enhanced the narrative at all. However, I’m a huge fan of alternative story telling methods. I recently watched Shimmer Lake and it was told in reverse. Hopefully, he keeps it up and I will be able to see if and how it affects the flow of the stories.

“The Lies” are leading the “The Truth”, which looks similar to a Buffy the Vampire Slayer storyline, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

As far as the stories, they are of high quality. Having never read Wonder Woman, I only had the movie to give me any expectations. But the origin story moved quickly, set the scene and established characters. The other did the exact opposite and is serving to undermine the entire mythology. While they are antithetical and you might wonder why he’d immediately work so hard to destroy his creating, the stories oddly fit together. I see now how weaving them together heightens the drama and keeps the reader on edge. It is actually a brilliant strategy.

The Good: The stories are fantastic. They are well paced and complement one another and bring together what is an unorthodox story telling style that could have gone very badly.

The Bad: At least the first 2 arcs that I’ve read will be familiar to Wonder Woman fans. They might have switched some things up to modernize it a bit, but it is an origin story.

The Ugly: Infinite Crisis, The New 52, now Rebirth? Jesus, how many reboots do we need? At least they seem committed to this one for the long haul. Here’s hoping.

Batman

Unlike Wonder Woman, Batman has been a part of my life since I watched the old TV series with my father. I saw several Robins killed. Witnessed the Batman broken by Bane. Lived through watching the Tim Burton franchise lose all credibility when it grew “bat nipples”. Threw out an unenthusiastic “Meh” followed by a slightly less enthusiastic “this is fine” over the announcement and current reign of “Batfleck”. So, there’s little that they can do with the character that would surprise me.

So, even though I joined Batman around issue 23, I don’t have an incentive to fill in the first two dozen or so issues via trades. I will continue forward. If I have some left over some week in my comic budget (not likely), I will grab the trades and see if there’s anything new in the Bat’s history since Rebirth.

Remember when I said that not much could surprise me. Well, more on that in a bit.

As far as the story that I’ve read, I was wrong about there being no surprises. The first issue that I read involved a team up with Swamp Thing. While only a one off, it was so well written that it hooked me. Then, Batman (spoiler alert) proposed to Catwoman. Yeah, it’s a gimmick. But, holy crap, what a gimmick! Plus, the book is so well written with good pacing and dialogue that it doesn’t feel like a gimmick. Currently, they’re setting the stage for a huge arc with Joker and The Riddler. Chris has said a couple of times that this is his favorite book right now. I don’t know if I can say that unequivocally, but there aren’t many, if any books right now that I would put above it on my most anticipated every month.

The Good: Again, just good writing. Great story, characters are familiar.

The Bad: The pacing of the story is a bit odd. It’s a good story, but sometimes there’s a little bit too much talk and not enough action.

The Ugly: Oh man, that Catwoman thing has worked so far, but it could have been a book killer if they didn’t do it right.

Batman is great. Wonder Woman is great. For some reason, none of that has led me to explore other books. I grew up as a Marvel zombie, a Marvel zombie I remain, and some day I will die and rise from the grave as a true Marvel zombie. Secret Empire and the tie in issues have swallowed much of my comic budget. However, I’ve mentioned to Chris that the Trinity series looks intriguing and I might have to read some Justice League before the movie comes out in November.

On the Tabletop

Follow Up: World’s Finest Dicemasters Second Impression

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(Editor’s Note: Apparently, this is our 200th article on the page. If you had told me when we started that we’d make it through these years and 200 articles, I might not have believed it. But, it’s proven to be a fun diversion and here’s to another 200 at least! Huzzah!)

I already wrote an article about the Dicemasters rainbow draft that the boys and I did for the World’s Finest set. I stated at the end of the article that I would not allow anything, not even the new Magic set, to distract me from my regained interest in the game. I was right about Magic. Hour of Devastation has barely even registered on my radar. However, I did not anticipate comic books becoming such an integral part of my life again.

It started off innocently enough. Similar to my last extended trips into the Marvel and DC universes, I got sucked in by a gimmick. Two gimmicks, in fact, this time. DC hooked me with a Wonder Woman movie that looked like it might actually give them more than just Batman. (Spoiler Alert: It does.) Marvel’s mega event, which I have recently learned will only serve to lead into their super ultra mega event, has me buying multiple books per week.

Wait, DC rebooted their reboot of a reboot? We gotta get us some of that!

One last story before I continue with my overall impression of the set. Chris went to catch up on recent comics and found several of them sold out. Since hearing that, I”ve been trying to figure out a way to get the books that I missed by taking a week off. Going forward, I’ll be okay because I just need to set up a pull list. But, among those I missed was Secret Empire #5. No!

But, this article isn’t about comics. I actually have two comic wrap up articles and a solo podcast to discuss comics coming this month. It just goes to show how much comics have been consuming my life in the last two months. Therefore, I need to shift my focus away from the books and to the dice long enough to write this article. Let’s do this.

Dammit, Leeroy.

The last time I did a Dicemasters set review as way back during the Age of Ultron days. I wrote up a top 10 in the style of an interview with Ultron. I am not going to do anything of the sort this time. There are several reasons why.

First, I only have limited (zing!) experience with the set. I’m not going to do extensive research on an old set just for a gag. Second, it is an old set. When I reviewed Age of Ultron, it might have even been a preview. Hey, we are sometimes on the ball here at 2 Generations Gaming. Third, and finally, I’ve resurrected a perfectly fine format to do reviews and previews.

The Good

As a noob who gets most of my enjoyment from how much fun I can have with a set, this seems like a very good set overall. In my previous article, I mentioned that I was able to find a couple of different synergies for my time. After a failed attempt at building a “Super” team, I settled on a hybrid Super/Bat Family team that worked very well together. The boys were able to hold their own, too.

Aiden went with the classic Villain archetype. Liam mostly put together a “good stuff” team, and our game was very close and back and forth the whole time. He may have even been able to beat me if we played according to the actual rules. Even Quinn, the youngest at 6, picked Krypto as one of his cards and then proceeded to try to build a “Super” team of his own. I think that he might have been the one who was cutting me. As Chris would say, “freaking ungrateful kids.”

I give you life and this is how you repay me? Pray that I am feeling merciful.

All four of us were able to build a suitably strong deck. That didn’t happen when we did the Pokemon event. That might have had something to do with the quality of the set. It might just be that Pokemon is not as good of a game for limited as Magic or Dicemasters. Who knows? What I do know for sure is that I’d like to test the theory with both games more.

The Bad

There wasn’t much bad that I can attribute to the set. Not only were we able to put together good teams for the event, but we also had fun discovering each card and some of the dice in the set are very cool. Harley Quinn’s die, for instance, is one that I remember being remarkable for the design. However, as Chris said, they’re only dice. While they can play around with both color scheme and hero icon design, it is still limited and the ultimate design is just a 6 sided die.

While that, by itself, isn’t bad, it’s not the greatest when you compare it to other games. Miniature games, most notably the other super hero game of Heroclix, naturally offer a much wider variety of design. The miniatures can take the art from the cards (another aspect of Dicemasters that showcases creativity) and give them life as 3D models. I understand that this is nit picking and somewhat comparing apples to oranges. However, I’d be lying if I said that Dicemasters is in any way comparable to the other games that I like playing.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a fun game. It’s just fun for entirely different reasons and would be a better game if the dice were just miniatures. True, it would be a completely different game. Oh heck, I admit it. This whole section was simply a straw man and I’m terrible at building up terrible arguments.

The Ugly

So, I couldn’t even really make an argument for the bad of this game, so I’m certainly not going to have much to say on the subject of “ugly”. All I will say is that Aiden had almost no mercy for his younger brother. He was a stone cold killer even though it was Quinn’s first time playing Dicemasters. Still, it didn’t sour him on the game because he said that he wants to play again and can’t wait to open the rest of the box.

Mine and Liam’s game was ugly because we didn’t follow the rules completely. Instead of recycling our KO’d dice back into our next roll, we put them back into the pool to be drawn who the heck knows when. Again, I have no idea how it might have affected the game other than he had something that did one damage to each fielded character, so we could have recycled dudes as new dice much quicker than expected. I must have a guilty conscience about that because I keep bringing it up. We are going to have to replay that game soon to clear my guilt.

?Yes! Yes, I killed him. Pull up the boards and you shall see! I killed him. But why does his heart not stop beating?! Why does it not stop!??
Uncategorized

Wunderbar!

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(Editor’s Note: I chose the title for two reasons. First, the obvious is that Germans are the bad guys in this movie. Second, it’s interesting how the 6 year old brain works. Quinn watched the movie, made the connection that the Germans were the bad guys, and came out with “I’m part evil”. When I asked him why, he said, “Well in Wonder Woman, the Germans were evil and I’m part German, so I’m part evil.” Can’t argue with that logic, I suppose. Also, see Der Eier von Satan.)

I’ve been looking forward to the stand alone Wonder Woman movie since I heard the announcements. Unlike many who saw Batman v. Superman, I didn’t think that she was the only good thing about the movie. Sure, she was absolutely the best thing about the movie, but I was much more forgiving of the rest of the movie than others. For instance, I didn’t think that Batfleck’s performance was the end of comic book movies as we know them. Secondly, Mark Zuckerberg’s take on Lex Luthor was refreshingly different. So, while not my favorite comic book movie by any stretch, it was a fun movie and a step in the right direction for the DC movie universe.

This is much more indicative of how I feel about the movie. Batman v. Superman starring Wonder Woman!

The Good

I will avoid my usual starting line that the best thing I can say about this movie is that it is “Wonder Woman”. First, I don’t want to become too much of a cliche. Secondly, the truth is that I don’t have that much of a history with Wonder Woman. Sure, I’ve seen the Linda Carter series as a kid, but I never read the comic until recently and in no way would call myself a fan of the character. Unlike Power Rangers and Guardians of the Galaxy, my interest in Wonder Woman as a character is a result of seeing a movie, not the other way around. Therefore, it would be intellectually dishonest of me to start off with that statement.

Dang, that means that I actually have to do some work to write this article. I have to research (read comics) the character (a kick butt woman who is quickly becoming a hero to women and little girls again) in order to flesh out an article (on a web page that I run for my own fun and entertainment). Well, it’s a tough job (it’s not a job at all), but someone’s gotta do it. In preparation for the article, I picked up the first two trades for the newest iteration of Wonder Woman from the DC Rebirth event (?) Honestly, I’m not sure what to call it. It’s technically just a reboot, but that doesn’t make sense because they’ve rebooted about a million times over the past few years. Oh well, whatever it is, the stories have been decent from what I’ve read.

Also, from what I’ve read, the Wonder Woman movie was faithful to the comic character as she is interpreted now. Even with my limited interaction with her, I do know that her origin (as far as becoming a character) is a little strange because her creator was into some weird stuff. Being a family friendly page, I’ll keep it at that. Lately, though, and over time, she’s been reclaimed and turned into the female icon that we know and love today. I think, especially, with the weird time we find ourselves living in, she represents much more than maybe she would under less stressful circumstances. Gal Gadot, the actress chosen to play the role, fits that perfectly. I know she’s an actress and she gets paid to play pretend and dress up, but it genuinely seems like she enjoys the character and has fun with it.

Luckily, DC has started to turn the corner when it comes to fun in their movies. They’ve pivoted from the “dark and gritty” hyperrealism of Christopher Nolan’s Batman and embraced that, at their heart, these are characters that spend most of their time as colorful drawings in what some consider to be kid’s entertainment. Now, you and I know that comics are not strictly for kids, but we’ll let everyone else think that and underestimate us. It’s worked for the last 40 years and we have been slowly taking over.

Wait, was that out loud? Ignore that. *ahem*

The Bad

The movie is too long and the final battle drags on seemingly forever. The movie is yet another origin story. However, unlike Spidey and Bats, who have been origined to death in their cinematic history, this is the Amazonians first feature, so I don’t mind them taking the time to introduce her. Plus, the origin is handled well and respectful of the source material, as far as I can tell. Again, I only know the newest Wonder Woman, so take my opinion with that grain of salt. My main complaint lies with the second point. The final battle just feels like it takes forever to reach a conclusion and there’s a bit of an unnecessary M. Night Shamalyan twist before it even begins.

I said earlier that DC seems to have started to turn the corner with their movies. I enjoyed the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, as did many. I despised both of the stand alone Superman movies. I cringed, with my fellow nerds, as more and more information released for Batman vs. Superman and then just sort of fell into a state of numb acceptance and finally even nervous excitement. Zach Snyder is directing? *sigh* Okay, fine. Let’s see what he can do this time. Ben Affleck is staring as Batman? Who is playing Lex Luthor? Um, wait, what? They’re doing the Doomsday and “Death of Superman” story. Well, okay, hopefully they don’t screw it up.

Then, the movie came out and there was honestly no reason for the trepidation. It wasn’t a great movie, but it wasn’t terrible. It was watchable bordering on okay. I’ve watched it twice? Maybe three times? Once with a friend, once with Christine, and then once with the boys. With each successive viewing, I actually found myself enjoying it more. It just wasn’t as Zach Snyder heavy as the Superman movies. I know that some will look to this Wonder Woman movie as the one where DC turned the corner. While that might be true in the long run, Batman vs. Superman is where the movies started to take a turn for the better, in my opinion.

What does this have to do with Wonder Woman? Well, having been trained by Marvel, I sat through the credits for a potential Easter egg. None came, but I did notice that Zack Snyder got producer or story writer credit or something. His hands were all over that last scene. I could just feel it. He’s definitely less than during the Superman fiascos, but there is still a bit too much.

I know he’s a god and integral to the WW mythology, but come on. It’s just too much. Plus, I feel like the better villain from a storytelling angle could have been Dr. Poison.

The Ugly

I already started to discuss this in “The Bad” section, but Zack Snyder. I don’t mean the man himself. I have no idea if he’s actually ugly. But, his storytelling needs quite a bit of work in my humble opinion. How much is that worth seeing that I am a self-published author and he’s writing DC comic book movies? Probably not much. However, I’m one who can usually forgive and forget. I’m also not generally very critical of creativity.

I just can’t get the taste of those Superman movies out of my mouth. Also, I feel like, while he did okay with Batman vs. Superman and is showing some growth, this movie could have been damn near perfect with a more deft handling of the story and especially the finale. Oh well, I’ll take the incremental improvements and hope for the best come the release for Justice League.

Again, he’s got the support of Ben Affleck again and, I just learned, Joss Whedon (due to a terrible family tragedy), so things can only get better.
On the Tabletop

Dice to Meet You

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(Editor’s Note: Yes, it appears that the “bad Dad” joke disease is back for this headline. Hopefully my prescription comes through soon and it is only temporary. Nothing is guaranteed in this current political climate surrounding healthcare, though.)

I don’t remember how Chris and I got involved in Dice Masters. I think that it might have been something that we played in order to have a Marvel tabletop game to discuss on the podcast and we had already talked about Heroclix. I might have it all wrong. I might have picked it up and played it with the boys first. However I became involved with the game, I enjoyed it very much.

I bought all of the starter sets that I could find. I got a booster box of Age of Ultron that I opened with the boys. We recorded it to put on our less than active YouTube page. I organized our dice and cards, joined a online community, did several articles on the game, and then (in my true short attention span style), promptly forgot all about Dice Masters.

…and not so shiny objects, and shiny non objects…let’s face it. I’m easily distracted by, well, easily distracted covers it.

Chris and I have played a few games since. I know because I remember digging through the tackle boxes that I use for storage of the dice. The boys and I have also played one or two games, mostly with the starter packs, but we might have played a pick up game or two during the Christmas break that we also rediscovered Heroclix. However, the interest has not been sustained like it is with Magic, or even the idea of Hordes/Warmachine. I think that might actually change.

As I said, in anticipation of our podcast about all things DC, one of my recent endeavors was to get one of the more recent DC Dice Masters sets. I lucked out and found a gravity feed of the set “World’s Finest” for a really good price. A subsequent text chain with Chris confirms it because he exclaimed, “That’s a really good deal!” The box sat on the floor waiting for the right time to be played and I started to worry that it might continue to be relegated to the back burner like my half of a box of Amonkhet that is sitting in the playroom unopened. However, the boys kept me honest. My youngest, especially, bugged me incessantly until I finally just gave in and we sat down to play a game.

After the “success” of our Pokemon event, I decided to try a rainbow draft. Only fitting that it happened during PRIDE month.

I had only heard about the rainbow draft online and from various gaming stores in the area. Like an MTG draft, I’ve never actually been able to get out to participate in one. However, they sound fun and we had 90 (maybe plus) packs, so this seemed like as good a time as any to test the format. Luckily, I was able to introduce the boys to sealed format during our Pokemon event, so they were used to the idea. We sat down, busted open some packs, organized the dice, and picked some cards.

I have to admit that I have almost no idea when it comes to the strategy of Dice Masters. I know that there are often synergies between cards like there are with Magic, so I looked for them. It’s funny because I was focusing on a Superman type deck, but I actually ended up with a decent Batman deck without even realizing it. Now that I’ve seen what some of the cards can do (especially the Batcave card that I ended up with), I think I might be able to build a better deck. Nevertheless, it was enough to beat Liam in the first game.

Aiden beat Quinn in their first game, but I’m not entirely sure that they played according the the rules. In fact, I’m almost positive that they didn’t. How do I know? Well, I was looking at the play mat that we were using as a reference and Liam and I actually made a huge mistake by putting our KO’d characters in our used pile instead of our prep area. That would have fundamentally changed the outcome of our game in major ways. So, if two players who sort of knew what they were doing screwed things up, what does that say for the 6 year old who never played and the 10 year old who often plays for blood?

I mean, how hard is it? You just follow directions. Psh, we’re men! We don’t ask for directions!

Bedtime prevented us from finishing our matches (as we were rightly going to play best 2 out of 3 to decide the winners of each round), but from the sounds of it, everyone had fun. Liam was a bit grumpy about losing. He might try to deny it or write it off, but he has a similar competitive streak as me. It lies just below the surface for the most part and when it bubbles up, the villagers run for higher ground. Luckily, he kept it in check this time. Because, I discovered our misplay the next day and we might just replay the game. Ultimately it doesn’t make a difference because it’s not like it is an officially sanctioned tournament or anything. Still, if I’m not honorable when playing against my own kids, what kind of person would I be?

Other than that, Quinn has been asking to play again daily. He also wants to crack open the other packs in the gravity feed. Aiden was less enthusiastic, but he’s had a bit of a “too cool” attitude lately regarding life. I had so much fun that I texted Chris to tell him that I’d rediscovered my joie de vivre regarding the game and he said that he wanted to play some more whenever we are able to get together again.

For such a simple concept, the game is so much fun. It is cheap. You get 2 dice and cards for 1 dollar booster pack. I got the gravity feed for 50 bucks, so that’s more or less half off. It might be one of those boxes that was gerrymandered by pulling out the foils or putting together a box without rares or super rares. I don’t know. I wasn’t keeping inventory of the cards as we opened them. The game is easy to learn. Even though he was overwhelmed, my youngest was able to pick up the basic concept and hold his own pretty well for his first time playing. There are hidden strategies in the game. As I’ve said before, the best games are those that are simple on the surface, but complex once you start to learn the intricacies. All of this boils down to one great game that I will try not to get distracted from for over a year again.

Oh, what’s this I see on the horizon? No, no! No more shiny objects.
Digital Playground

Gods in the Palm of your Hand

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(Editor’s Note: 2 Generations Gaming is back with a celebration of all things DC Comics over the next couple of weeks due to our enjoyment of the new Wonder Woman movie. Next month is Spidey and Marvel!)

I believe I’ve mentioned the mobile version of MKX in one of my reviews recently. Even if I haven’t, just know that I’m not overly impressed with the game. Look, I know that it can’t be an exact port from the console versions to mobile, but I just felt that it could be so much more. Against my better judgement, I fell for the advertisement in MKX and downloaded Injustice 2 for the phone. I’ve heard good things about the console version. However, as a cheap old gamer, I don’t have either of the current gen consoles required to play it. Also, Kevin crushed my dreams by telling me that it would not be released on Steam. Therefore, I have to wait until another price drop or two (and Chris told me that one is imminent!) until I’m able to play that version.

As a result, even though I’m deeply disappointed in MKX and Injustice 2 is done by the same studio, I took the chance. Part of the reason is that Wonder Woman released this month and I had plans of doing a DC spectacular on the podcast and I needed some DC games to fill in the gaps on the web page. Just like the movies (more on that Friday), there haven’t been many decent DC related games other than the Arkham series. I remembered the Injustice name from the first game and, as always, hold out hope that things will get better.

Usually, I’m the guy on the left. Every now and then, I’m pretty sure that I’m standing in a puddle of piss.

Let’s start with my primary complaint about MKX. Combat, frankly, is boring. As I mentioned earlier, it is mobile, so it is unrealistic to think that an exact port is possible. However, I feel they could have adjusted the game to take advantage of the unique nature of mobile gaming and make it more strategy based than just tap, tap, tap. On a related note, I’ve found some additional strategy with the block mechanic, but even that is very limited. Injustice improves upon that.

Adding to the basic/combo attacks and block maneuver, each character has a jumping attack, a crouching attack, a rush attack, and even a ranged attack. Each of them is activated using a unique motion. The variety of moves makes it feel so much more like an actual fighting game than MKX. I will be investing much more time into Injustice 2. I’ve already weaved it into my regular rotation as I wait for cooldowns to expire in MTG:PQ and Sim City.

They’re not lying. In addition to the fact that there is an actual moves list, the characters have unique animations for their different moves. It is quite an impressive improvement on MKX.

So, the move set is more complete. Big deal. Hey, as far as I’m concerned, it is a big deal. That alone makes it work the price of admission. By the way, that price is free for both games. It’s a metaphor, okay?! However, that’s not all. There are several other reasons that Injustice 2 is a vastly superior game to MKX. Let’s explore them.

There are more and a wider variety of game modes. Alongside the campaign mode, arena (which is similar to faction wars), and resource missions (sort of a ladder style mode that is somewhat analogous to Shao Khan’s tower), there is also a robust story mode, operations, and something called challenges. As of this writing, I’ve played all of the modes at least once.

I’ve only played through part of the story, but the cut scene that I watched was entertaining enough to keep me interested and I will probably play through more eventually. Right now, I’d much rather play the other modes as they offer much better loot. Area pits you against random teams put together by other players with the computer as your actual opponent. Operations are a completely different way to play the game. You choose one (so far the only ones I have unlocked are one) of your characters to go on a “mission” which awards various prizes depending on the mission. It is not terribly interactive, but I appreciate the attempt at doing something different. Plus, they’re part of the daily objectives that award you hero shards to unlock a new Wonder Woman.

For some reason, I’m all about Wonder Woman right now.

The last improvement that I will discuss is the concept of class advantage. This may exist in MKX. If it does, though, I’m not aware of it. Injustice 2 makes it abundantly clear that even a noob like me can not only know about it but also have a basic understanding of the Rochambeau nature of the mechanic.

I probably could go on, but I’m blanking on other specific parts of the game that have impressed me. It’s just overall a vastly improved game over MKX and very much what I expected a mobile fighting game would be without having any actual expectations the first time that I played MKX. Does that make sense? Probably not, so let me try to unpack it.

As we’ve seen, unpacking issues usually becomes a trip into dark and scary places.

I hoped that MKX would at least be a decent emulation of the console version. In the graphics, animation, and sound departments, it was. For everything else, it was hopelessly not. I played the game because it kept me entertained for about 5 or 10 minutes (my usual attention span when it comes to mobile games), but I wished for more. Having my expectations somewhat diminished by the disappointment of MKX, I went into Injustice 2 figuring that it might just be the same and I’d end up deleting it from my phone in a month or two to make room.

Obviously, that hasn’t happened. I’m playing Injustice on a regular basis and it has now moved past Sim City as my second most played game after MTG:PQ. I don’t see it surpassing that game as, no matter how much it frustrates me, I really enjoy that one. I’m not sure what a game would need to do to become my favorite over MTG:PQ. It is just a solid mobile game with that MTG flavor that I enjoy so much.

In closing, I really, really like the Injustice 2 mobile app. There are a wide variety of characters with a complete move set. Several game modes keep the game feeling fresh even if mobile isn’t exactly the best way to experience a fighting game. It’s free and the virtual currencies are easy enough to obtain that I haven’t found myself considering a purchase at all. We all know that I will usually make my 10 or 20 dollar purchase to support the developers, but I haven’t figured out what that will look like for this one yet. So, download it and give it a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Snap *censored* Pop Culture

Marvel’s Secret

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(Editor’s Note: This secret is nothing like Victoria’s. Although, it wouldn’t surprise me at this point if Marvel did a series where it was revealed that a major male character wore ladies underwear.)

I’m not a huge presence on social media. Imagine my surprise then, when my feeds blew up a few months ago with the news that Captain America was a Nazi. First, if that seems incongruous, you are not alone. Along with many others, I took to Twitter (something I almost never do), to express my dismay at this development.

I also texted Chris about the news. We had our usual “old man” conversation about the state of comics. The stories aren’t as good! It’s a dying medium! They’ve run out of ideas and are just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks! This is a dumb idea to sell more comics and it will probably backfire!

And, yes, you damn kids better stay off my lawn!

Our old man sensibilities might have been right on for some of that, but we were dead wrong on the point that it might backfire. After reading the main comics, I went to the store to pick up some of the tie in issues. Well, during that trip, I discovered that a few of them were sold out. So, yeah, Marvel’s money making scheme has worked on more than just me. Know that I’m not the only sucker still out there made me feel a bit better.

Obligatory spoiler warning: Look, I don’t give 2 craps about spoilers, so this article will probably contain a buttload (an actual measurement by the way) of then. Let this be your lone warning.

I’m pretty sure that issue #0 is a reprint of a previous comic. Even if it is not, as a guy jumping in after almost 2 decades away, I was glad for the recap. Plus, it is well written and the art is by Steve McNiven, so it is top notch. It absolutely added to my enjoyment of the book. Some artists distract from the story by going over the top and others are just bad, but not him. I’ve always liked his work and I’m glad they put him on another major even book. I’m a bit bummed that they don’t have him working with Millar to recreate the Civil War magic, but Nick Spencer is doing well so far as writer.

No snarky comment. Just admiration of his talent.

So, what is this great story that made even you jump on board with the Captain America, Hydra Supreme angle? First, let’s all admit that we know that this isn’t going to last. There will be some conclusion to bring Cap back to his Nazi hating self. Sure, the even might finish with him in custody after Hydra surrenders or is otherwise defeated. However, it’s only a matter of time before ol’ Steve Rogers returns. In fact, it may have already happened.

Until they, they’ve given an outlandish, though not entirely implausible explanation for the transformation. Bear in mind that when I say “implausible”, we are talking about a universe in which Hulk ripped Wolverine into two pieces and the top half had to crawl to the top of a mountain to retrieve the bottom half. So, with that in mind, Red Skull apparently altered or recreated reality so that Captain America was raised from a young age as a Hydra agent. He was destined t become the Hydra Supreme and did so through a takeover of SHIELD and eventually the entire country.

His plan included isolating a group of heroes in space against a neverending attack from Chitauri drones. Another phase trapped a portion of Manhattan in a dark dimension. By the end of issue #1, he had moved into DC to capture the White House. I will say this about Hydra. They probably keep the trains running on time.

Okay, I admit. That was in poor taste. I’m sorry.

Issue #1 explored the resistance a bit by introducing a character that gets “saved” by them. There is also some development of the Cap character in that he is shown as little more than a figurehead as leader of Hydra. I will keep this part in suspense because it involves a death, but Steve isn’t able to “pull the trigger” so to speak.

While the resistance story is expected and predictable, I’m intrigued by the Captain America angle. In the past, Steve Rogers has been nothing if not committed to his values. Even during Civil War, he was willing to play the villain and split the super hero community over his opposition of the Registration Act. To see him conflicted to such a degree is both surprising and encouraging that some of the old Cap might be shining through the darkness.

This thread is tugged a bit harder in Issue #2. We see that, in fact, Captain America ultimately did not make the fateful decisions in issue #1. That fact weighs heavily on him and he feels a bit out of his element. Black Widow does what she does and attempts to set off on her own, but she is quickly joined by others and they set up a new team to fight against Hydra and take down Cap.

Surely, you know me well enough to know that was all just an excuse to show Scarlett Johansson.

The issue ends with a moment that literally had me say, “Oh ****” out loud and cement my interest in the story. I went from openly antagonistic to mildly interested in the main title to needing to buy all of the tie ins and read them, too. They aren’t crucal to your understanding, but they do fill in nicely. Plus, there aren’t a ton of them and the event is fairly short, so I don’t mind keeping up with them.

Look, I admit that I’m an easy mark. I can usually find some redeeming quality about most creative projects. But, this one is genuinely good. I can’t nor won’t necessarily recommend the tie ins unless you have the extra money. However, if you’re looking for a new series, getting back in after an extended break like me, or any other reason you might have, I say absolutely get the main series. You won’t be disappointed.