I’ve got to say, I absolutely love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Well duh, right? I’m a red-blooded American male in his 20-30’s who grew up with the antics of Mike, Leo, Don, & Raph. That being said, I can’t really watch any of the original cartoon (aside from the earliest episodes) without realizing nostalgia is better left as such. After I outgrew the turtles though, I discovered their adventures on the printed page and fell in love all over again. These much more violent (I’m not going to say mature, because come on) tales made me realize that the Turtles were highly adaptable, and there is room for multiple interpretations of the characters (Michael Bay notwithstanding). With that in mind, when IDW launched their new comic version of the TMNT, I was intrigued. The main reason for this is that while things are somewhat drastically different in the IDW-verse, there are many concepts that stay true to my childhood & adolescent memories, or even improves on them, which brings us to TMNT Micro-Series #7.

Ostensibly taking place between issues #12 & #13 of the main series, the issues opens with the Turtles along with April riding in her van. It’s a nice shot that establishes the current status quo. It would be a perfectly serviceable story if it just focus on the turtles and their current lot in life, but since this one-shot focuses on April, she gets to shine. Some worrying from Donatello galvanizes April to go to Stockgen, and disable anything that Baxter Stockman & Krang may be using to track the turtles. It’s a long story, see the current series to catch up.

This version of April is a scientist, but she’s no slouch in the action department either. She infiltrates her work, finds out that Stockgen is much more evil than it turns out to be. Using guile, pluck, some fighting skills learned from Casey Jones along with pure luck, April manages to escape from the evil lab with her mission accomplished and her skin intact. It’s a fine story (Barbara Kesel knows her way around a script), but those aspects are not why I love this book. I’ll tell you, but it’s kind of spoiler-y, so I’m going to giver some spoiler space before i reveal it.

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

OK. Still here? Good. This issue not only introduces a version of Slash, the “Evil Turtle From Dimension X”, it actually makes him a plausible character, and one whose continuing story I really want to know more about. You see, during April’s shenanigans, she caused a power outage. During this outage, there are a few obvious looking cloning chambers. I don’t know if that’s what they actually are, but let’s go with it. Anyway, due to the outage, the tanks fail. It’s unknown what happens to the majority of the tanks, but out of one, a very turtle-y creature appears. He’s probably not all there though, again, due to the fact the the cloning (or whatever) process wasn’t complete. The emerging turtle has deformed fingernails, which could be considered claws, two different colored eyes, and a penchant for palm trees. That last bit could be considered silly, as it was a hangup of Slash from the 80’s cartoon, but in this incarnation, he seems to have fragmented memories of April caring for the original turtles in their tank (they were originally Stockgen experiments, but April got attached and gave them their names)which happened to have a palm tree. For me, this bit was worth the price of admission alone. TMNT Micro-Series #7 is available now at you local comic shop, and also digitally for $3.99.

From this…

To this…

Are three Jedi enough against Darth Maul and Savage Opress? Artoo calculates the odds of their survival as 725:1 in the second issue of Darth Maul: Death Sentence. (more…)

The Nintendo 3DS XL came out here in the states a little over a week ago. I have taken the last week to really spend some quality time with it. Nintendo was smart enough to release a brand new Mario Brothers game on the same day as the XL. Giving us all a reason to not only buy the new console, but play it for a good chunk of time after.

The first and most obvious pro is simply the size of this 3DS. While other technology companies are making their gadgets smaller and smaller, Nintendo said, “Nay! We will go the way of fast food and make this bigger and possibly more fattening!” The most obvious super-sized feature are the larger screens.Each of them 90% larger.

The second big one for me are the upgraded buttons. The three buttons beneath the touch screen have been turned into larger clickable buttons. Rather than those from the original 3DS seemingly hidden under 1/8″ of plastic. Another improvement is on the 3D slider. There is a noticeable click and lock when the slider is turned all the way to off.

And last but not least, I noticed a much longer battery life. Keep in mind, I had the 3D turned off and the volume turned down the majority of the time I played. The battery lasted me roughly 6 to 8 hours. It took a couple evenings of three to four hour gameplay before it needed some juice. With the previous 3DS, I was having to plug it in by the end of any extended play session.

All and all I love this model much more than the last. I like the heavier weight and button placement. Much more comfortable for those longer gaming sessions. The XL also has a sexy matte finish instead of the glossy semi-gradient that collected more fingerprints than a private dick. I can only foresee two situations where this version wouldn’t be worthwhile. The first, if the main user is a child. The new XL could be a  little unwieldy for them. The second would be if you bought the original 3DS for $250. Spending another $200 on Nintendo right away could feel a little expensive.

To Nintendo’s credit, making the switch was very easy. I was able to transfer all of my Ambassador titles quickly and easily over wi-fi. And I even had a brand new Mario game to play on day one. If you are in the market for a 3DS and you can afford the extra $30, I highly recommend the XL.

As a long time fan of radio drama (some readers may remember my reviews of the old Superman radio dramas) and a huge fan of the NPR versions of Star Wars I couldn’t miss Kyle Newman’s live, Celebration exclusive.

The show was billed as a Brian Daley-esque return the days of yore with everything handled in an audio-only fashion starring Han Solo in an all new, original trilogy-era adventure. The cast was a who’s who from the Clone Wars: Tom Kane, Ashley Eckstein, Dee Bradley Baker, Daniel Logan, Matt Lanter, Sam Witwer, Matthew Wood, Clare Grant, and Dave Collins as Han Solo. Chewbacca and other sound effects, unfortunately were not handled by Dee Baker, but Jimmy Mac did an excellent job from the sound board.

The story took place between Episodes IV and V. Ashley Eckstein and Sam Witwer played a pair of bounty hunter/smuggler/lowlife types looking to cash in on Han and Chewie’s bounty from Jabba. Well, that’s what Witwer’s character planned. Ashley’s Ryder Thorn was more like a female Han Solo – smuggler with a heart of gold. Cameos from Boba Fett and Prince Xizor were fantastic.

While the story was not canon, Newman did essentially set the stage for what eventually goes wrong with the Falcon’s hyperdrive. The story also led us straight to the eventual bounty hunter Han and the rebels will meet on Ord Mantell.

Currently there are no plans to do anything with the recording they took a this event. Nor are there any plans for more radio dramas in the Star Wars universe. However, if Newman has his way, this is just the first step into a larger universe. He’s eventually liek to see prequel dramas made for radio using the wonderful cast of Dave Filoni’s Clone Wars. Asked about the possibility of another radio drama at the next Celebration, Newman promised he’d make it happen with as much of the recurring cast as possible. He even promised a line to the young girl who asked the question, assuming she would be available at the time.

Star Wars has its roots in a bygone era. Radio is a great fit for a universe built so heavily on Ben Burtt’s sound design. I would love to see more come from this show, even if it’s just a slapped together podcast from starwars.com. I’d much rather see a whole new foray into the expanded, or exisitng, universe by taking our audio adventures beyond audio books and back into “radio” drama.

As a special bonus, during the Q&A at the end, two things of note were mentioned. First, for fans of Being Human, they are currently about halfway through filming the third season. Sam Witwer has seen about five episodes and is thrilled with the direction. He promised lots of surprise guests and weird turns. Weird enough that you couldn’t even hint at it for fear of ruining a surprise.

Second, next week is Dee Bradley Baker’s 50th birthday. He was visibly moved by the fans singing to him and tried to show us the picture of him on his phone in which he wore a homemade Jawa costume for Halloween in October 1977. Baker is one of those rare talents who has a true and deep love for his job. May we all find careers in our passion as well as Dee.

Here at Star Wars Celebration VI, we were given the privilege of watching the Season 5 premiere of The Clone Wars.

I did the red carpet and interviewed many of the actors and crew behind the show and we’ll see those appearing on the site over the course of the next few weeks. Then, we were led into the Digital Stage and were shown three episodes back to back. The first two we saw were the season finale episodes involving Darth Maul from Season 4. (You can read my review of those episodes here and here.)

Then we were shown the first episode of Season 5.

Darth Maul and Savage Opress had no problems escaping their entrapment on the abandoned ship where Obi-Wan and Ventress left them. They are marauding around the galaxy, causing as much havoc along the outer rim as possible.

Maul, taking cues from his old master, The Phantom Menace himself, begins hatching a plan to lead the Jedi to him, to bring them out and become a major player in the larger conflict. To that end, he seeks to subvert Hondo Ohnaka and his pirate men to marshal the beginnings of an army.

Obi-wan and Adi Gallia are sent to deal with the situation.

I’m not sure how much more I want to say beyond that as far as the story of this episode goes.

Fights ensue, and they are amazing. Obi-wan faces down with two lightsabers against Maul and Opress and it was one of the most impressive fights I’ve ever seen on the show. It was clearly choreographed, it was exciting, and the stakes of the episode were raising the stakes on the entire series.

Obi-Wan and the heroes spend half of this episode on the run, outmatched by a superior foe. Filoni has said many times before (and he reiterated this time in the Q and A afterward) that the episodes where the good guys are on the run are always the best and this episode was no exception.

The show is getting even better and more mature than we’d seen. And, from the looks of the trailer for the rest of the season, this episode is only the tip of the iceberg.

We also were treated to a new model build of Yoda. When I spoke to Tom Kane on the red carpet, he promised Yoda was going to find himself in some action situations in Season 5 and afterwards, Filoni said the new model was a hint that the character is going to be doing lots more. It looked great.

As far as this episode goes, Aaron Goins pointed out that there will be another Even Piell level of continuity outcry concerning Adi Gallia. I’m sure that by the time next season rolls around, everyone will go back to not caring. Again, I don’t think it’s a big deal, Star Wars is what you make of it, but others will be livid. Particularly fans of the Dark Horse comics.

And did I mention that Snaggletooth has an appearance? It was great and the crowd loved it.

This episode premieres on September 29th. The Clone Wars is moving to a new time slot with that premiere: Saturday mornings at 9:30 am. I’m not sure how I feel about the change. I really like the feeling of watching something like a movie in the evening, but the morning doesn’t give the same feeling… Maybe if it were a matinee at a movie theatre, then I’d be on board.

After the episode, Filoni answered some fan questions and there were some interesting tidbits of information. For one, Tikkes will not be appearing in this season, though we will be seeing Muuns. Stories involving Muunilist are of great interest to me.

Mother Talzin was another topic of discussion, especially given some of the visual cues we were shown when Maul or Savage took damage in their fight. “We won’t see much of Mother Talzin for a while,” Dave Filoni said, “And she’s tricky in a way Grievous didn’t understand.” He went on to explain that the Nightsisters are not so easily defeated. “They have an older magic than the force. They’re nature wielding creatures.”

Filoni also said that we’d be seeing lots of odd pairings and alliances this season.

A question was asked about Ian Abercrombie, the late voice of Palpatine/Sidious, but Dave assured the audience that Ian completed almost all of Season 5 before his death and there will be no announcements or discussions of his replacement until the entirety of his work on The Clone Wars is released.

Then… We were shown a trailer for the rest of season 5.

Saying that it blew my hair back would be an understatement. It seemed as though there were many episodes we were given tastes of. There appears to be an episode where Artoo is given an entire squad of droids to infiltrate the Seperatists on a secret Mission. Maul’s story seemed to be taking him in different places, and we saw him going to Death Watch, offering to start Civil War on Mandalore. But we were also shown footage of Maul fighting Pre Viszla. Filoni has long talked about Mandalore being the powder keg of a planet, like Europe before World War I, and it seems as though Darth Maul is the spark they need.

There were many shots of two characters in disguise. Whether it means those two characters are teaming up (which would be incredibly fascinating) is beyond me, but it certainly places them on the run from someone. Those two characters? Asajj Ventress and Ahsoka.

There could be some fascinating stuff there.

There were also many shots in the trailer of Anakin being angry and tossing people about, but there seemed to be Padme in the shots or the context… I can’t be sure because the whole thing moved so quickly… And it seemed like they’d be addressing more of his jealousy and rage issues.

But, the piece de resistance?

This trailer truly sets up the idea that the political nature of the Clone Wars are shifting. Maul has created so much strife and a second front of war for both the Republic and the Separatists that he’s interfering with Sidious’s machinations. At the end of the premiere episode, Palpatine insists to the Jedi council that dealing with Darth Maul is a distraction from the war, and to a large degree, I think he’s right.

But when Sidious comes to take care of business?

He does so with a lightsaber.

The brief glimpses of him fighting Darth Maul were breathtaking.

I get the idea that this is truly going to be the best season yet.

I can’t wait for you all to see it. Hell, I can’t wait for me to see the rest of it.

If nothing else, you can say the people at Archie have no problems being experimental with their properties. Case in point, this week’s issue of Archie (#636) has all of the principle characters swapping sexes. In a world where you have things like a time-traveling length of road,  dogs that think like human beings, and a literal teenage witch otherwise unbelievable things like this happen more often that not. That being said, going to the well of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch to make fantastical things happen has been used very often as of late. I do think it’s forgivable this time, because not only does writer Tania Del Rio has an established track record using Sabrina (She wrote her solo title for a respectable 40+ issue run), it’s also just too much fun.

A big part of the enjoyment I got out of the issue is of course, how the character’s interactions/designs are turned on their head. While sexes are reversed and the gang are all in slightly different situations, they are all still recognizable as the characters we know and love. Case in point, Ron (Veronica) and Billy (Betty) still vie for Archina’s (Archie’s) affections, but in this case it’s a show of physical strength rather than feminine wiles. Regina (Reggie) is still an unrepentant jerk/prankster and JJ (Jughead) can still pack away the calories without it showing (though the famous crown has been traded in for a hairstyle that still evokes it).

While the writing is top-notch and clearly shows a love and understanding for the Archies and their motivations, the real star of this issue is the art by Gisele. Her renditions of the group both pre and post magical MacGuffin and a refreshing change up from the usual Archie house style, while still maintaining that flavor. I especially like her rendition of Sabrina, which brings back the widow’s peak hairstyle and slightly mischievous look the character had in her original appearances.

So now the question I have to pose is “What now”? I think this was a very nice one-off, but I can certainly see the potential for an ongoing series, much like the alternate futures presented in Life With Archie. It would give space for these versions of the Archie crew to be further fleshed out, and the story possibilities are endless. You could even take the serious tack and tackle relevant social issues like LwA does. Plus, we’d have a chance to see sex-swapped characters not in this story, such as Kevin (Kevina?) Keller, Big Ethel (Ethan?), Chuck (Chiquita?), Nancy (Nathan?), and Pop (Ma?) Tate.

Archie #636 is in stores and digitally now, and even if you’re the slightest bit curious, I highly recommend you check the issue out. I daresay you won’t be disappointed! For more from Tania Del Rio, check out her website, and for more of Gisele’s lovely art, check out hers as well.

GONK reviews this week’s Star Wars comic: Can Vader turn the imprisoned worst scum in the galaxy into his own fighting force? (more…)

I’d hazard a guess that any nerd/geek/what have you worth their salt has seen at least one episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. If not, that’s ok too. It certainly isn’t a pre-requisite to have seen the show to know that making fun of awful movies makes them bearable. That said, MST3k/Rifftrax/Cinematic Titanic are the undisputed kings of “riffing” on movies. The episode of MST3K featuring “Manos: The Hands of Fate” (yes, technically it means Hands: The Hands of Fate) is widely considered one of the best, if not the best episode of the series. So when the Rifftrax crew, consisting of venerable MST alums Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy decided to re-riff this “classic” I was a bit skeptical. Sure, the MST Manos had different riffers, but Mike was still the head writer, so was this going to be a rehash? Based on that, I almost didn’t go to the one-night-only showing. That would have been a huge mistake.

As soon as I entered the theater, I knew I was in for a treat. The cosplayers in Gizmonics Institute jumpsuits and Torgo hats gave off an incredibly geeky Rocky Horror style vibe. In all honesty, I could see myself going to see this movie on weekends with these people and enjoying the hell out of the experience. When the lights went down, we were treated to what we thought were the usual movie-going slides with trivia and such. Instead, we got a very snarky version of same with movie facts like: There is only one result if you Google “Gordy is a better movie than Babe” (we checked. not true, but still funny).

When the show itself started, the three riffers came up (live via film) to podiums by the big screen to introduce themselves and the movie. Since Manos isn’t a very long movie (although it sure feels longer), a couple of shorts were shown first. Welcome Back, Norman was the first, and dealt with a bumbling 70’s guy arriving home from the airport and all of the trials and tribulation that befall him there. At the end of the short, the audience was encouraged to all say Norman’s catchphrase (a low-pitched wail of despair) in unison. I love audience participation in the movie theater, and this was one of my highlights of the night. The second short was At Your Fingertips: Cylinders. It was even more inane and nonsensical than it sounds, but Mike, Kevin, and Bill’s dulcet tones made it bearable. In one last segment before the movie proper started (it was pretty obvious they were trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible), the crew gave a bit of history about this turdburger of a movie. I actually learned a few things about the movie I wasn’t aware of before, and this knowledge served me well when the movie proper started, as the Rifftrax crew used those factual callbacks to poke fun at the flick itself.

Speaking of the movie and riff therof, I shouldn’t have been worried at all. No riffs were re-used from the MST3K version, and to be honest, I think the new riff is better. With more general and topical references, a wider audience can enjoy the humor as opposed to the sometimes very obscure riffs in the original. One thing I very much enjoyed was how the big screen was utilized. Since Manos is a full frame feature, you got cutaways on the side of the screen showing the three riff-meisters emoting while they did their thing. It showed how much fun they were having, which in turn increased the fun I was having. I will say I think my fellow audience members and I did enjoy a lot of the film’s earlier moments with all of the Texas-centric jokes (Manos was filmed in El Paso), but everyone was floored with such gems as the “Redneck Twilight” sketch. Here’s a small taste of the humor contained within:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MckN7UGFINE

Even when the movie was over, the fun wasn’t, as we were treated to a music video/exclusive footage from the cast of the upcoming sequel Manos: The Search for Valley Lodge. All in all, this was an incredibly fun diversion, and I know I’m going to be buying the inevitable DVD release. If you want to get in on the fun, you can get your tickets now for the next Rifftrax: Live! event in October which will feature the movie Birdemic. If you are a fan of MST3k, Manos, or just making fun in movies in general, head on over to the Rifftrax website where they don’t make movies, but they do make them funny!

This week’s sole Star Wars comic is a digest-size adventure of the dark duo: Darth Maul and Savage Opress. (more…)

Thanks to THQ for the review copy

Game Play

Darksiders II, can be roughly summarized as an amalgamate of every game mechanic I’ve ever loved. Combining that with a backbone of gorgeous and intriguing landscapes, unique leveling systems, piles of side quests, and the ability to modify the way Death plays, and you truthfully get a great game. I’m guilty of judging many things, and thinking that this would be a simple 8-10 hour run was my first mistake. My first play through on normal clocked in at 23 hours without focusing on finding hidden items, or completing the multiple side quests given to me by other in game characters.

I found the story in this sequel to be much more compelling than that of the first. I enjoyed finding out what was happening to Wart, but Death’s quest to save his brother hit home much more for me. It was also a lot easier to love Death he is a bitter, sarcastic, bad-ass. War was a touch drier, okay, much drier, a lot drier really. I also enjoyed interacting with the characters much more. Death asked questions in an insulting way, no matter who he spoke to. I had as much fun wondering what he’d say next as I did finding out important story elements.

Generally when trying to kill a game on a scheduled time limit I find that I become irritated with additional story elements, or puzzles that keep me from finishing the project at hand. With Darksiders II, it simply wasn’t the case, although many puzzle types were re-used in the same realms, each realm had its own unique systems you had to discover that kept the solving fresh. Instead of wishing I didn’t have to run across the map to find another key, or open another box, I was more intrigued that they had utilized several components from earlier levels to tie into an even bigger conundrum.

I’m trying to avoid giving too much intimate detail so as not to spoil the story. But I will comment on the boss fights being a touch predictable. They weren’t predictable in the sense of who, but in the how. Generally (barring the fights against Samael and the Archon) the solution to beating the enemy was handed to you on a silver platter. The weakness was always made glaringly obvious and if they didn’t have a weakness showing, it simply meant to attack full-bore. I wouldn’t call it a major negative but it did take away the sense of accomplishment. Many levels felt like a huge excursion, followed by a quick boss kill.

Sound

The soundtrack to Darksiders is phenomenal. I would expect nothing less from a title of this calibre. The sound effects while being crisp, didn’t always fit when it came to volume. Finishing a boss as the reaper was often quieter than the attacks during the battle. The huge dichotomy created by this felt confusing at many finishes. After a heated and loud battle filled with sword slams, shield clanks and even explosions. Death would finish them quietly with his giant Scythe. The finish didn’t match the battle in almost every fight. The only portion of the game this didn’t apply to is the end. The final kill was heavy, intense, and had my heart pounding for the entire ending sequence.

Story/Content

It’s hard to knock a game for story when the main character is so interesting, and the plot is one of such emotion. Who can’t connect with someone heading to the end of the world to save their brother? I won’t say the ending is anti-climactic; it served the purpose that was intended. The game series is building up to a quadrology, and simply ending the problems would make it impossible to tie in the other Horsemen. I have to give credit to the writers and creative team on story as a whole though. Once again expecting a pretty dry and straight run through Death’s adventure the amount of extra content makes the game worth it’s $59.99 price tag twice over. Once you have finished the game you can choose to play new game plus (keep your level and equipment, everything gets harder, and give it another shot. ) You can take your character into the Crucible mode to battle waves of monsters for rewards, or you can return to your game and finish wrapping up every loose end you left behind.

The story on normal may last 23 hours, but on higher difficulties, and with 100% completion I’d venture to say that 60 hours would be the bare minimum you’ll spend.

SPOILER ALERT
I’m going to discuss the ending after this warning paragraph. If you don’t want to know, skip to controls/combat. Otherwise read on, and feel free to discuss.




The ending left me with 2 wants and 1 major question,: My first want would be a more epic purpose to Death’s sacrifice. He reaches the end of his quest and is laughing over his confusion on the next step. Why not have Lilith try to convince him to resurrect the Nephilim? Could he not struggle more with his decision to fling himself into the well of souls? I was happy with the ending, I don’t want to be a naysayer, but after dragging yourself across the entire known universe and every plane in existence. Death simply throwing himself over the edge after handing his mask to the Crowfather seemed a touch light-hearted.

Spoiler over

Controls/Combat

This is one of the best parts of the game, and the series truthfully. The amount of weapons you collect throughout the story gives you ample time to adjust your combat style to any scenario. I stuck to using Achidna’s Fangs, and whichever set of blades did the most damage from the underworld on. But you can easily become a master of hammers, maces, swords, blades, or fist blades before the story is finished. The timing based attacks also added more depth for those wanting a technical set up. Dodging at the correct time left the enemy punished by a shadow of the reaper, stuns gave you opportunity to siphon life with critical attacks, and the different set of attacks available let you juggle and mix up combinations during every combat piece. There have been few games that bring a combat system forward that I enjoy quite as much as this. I won’t say the combat is better than Bayonetta, but Darksiders leaves little to be desired.

The Long and Short

This game is worth it’s price tag. If you haven’t played any in the Darksiders series I recommend running down a used copy of the first game. Last I checked they were a scant $17.99. The amount of content and the story alone make the game worth anybodies time. You don’t have to be an RPG junky to snag this game and start grinding. It truthfully has something for everybody. It is at times mildly anti-climactic, like I said during the story section it feels like occasionally the developers don’t want you to get too excited at moments that really should have your heart pounding. The pacing may be a tad strange, but the game delivers it’s point and keeps you interested.

If you’re looking for something to fill time and make you happy it did, this is where I’d go.

Score:

• Controls: 9
• Sound: 7
• Story: 9
• Replay: 8.5
• Overall: 8.5