Jumping in Headfirst

Green Lantern: New Guardians Writer: Tony Bedard Artist: Tyler Kirkham And so we come to the last of the Green Lantern titles. While Green Lantern focuses on Hal (still DC's flagship title), and Green Lantern Corps is the "special ops" team focused on Guy Gardner and John Stewart, Green Lantern: New Guardians focuses on Kyle Rayner, the old-school. Written by former GLC writer Tony Bedard, New Guardians shows Kyle Rayner suddenly chosen by the rings of the other Lantern Corps for some currently unknown reason. The action ramps up fast, with the first issue showing what happened to the previous owners of the rings before they were drawn to Kyle, and members of those Corps coming to retrieve those rings (or take retribution for what happened to their former owners when they were suddenly left without rings). More than any other title, Green Lantern: New Guardians carries the continuity of the previous Green Lantern titles. If you were a fan of Geoff Johns' multi-p...

Writer: Geoff Johns Artist: Ivan Reis/Joe Prado So, I'm a little late with the first issue thing. My bad. No excuses. But to make up for it I'll be doing thoughts on the first three issues for what I'm behind on. I've got seven titles left to do, including this one. The opening issue of this is pretty good. It teases us with a new villain(s) for our hero, one that's a fair deal more terrifying than even Ocean Master and Black Manta, Aquaman's most notable bad guys. Geoff takes advantage of Aquaman's long history of being in the public eye (even if as a joke character) to skip over wasting the first issue retelling Aquaman's origin or giving us long expositional backstory for him, instead showing us what his take on the character will be. Gone is the arrogant king of Atlantis, more concerned with his people beneath the surface than above it. This version, while confident and self-assured, is a superhero through and through. Despite the jokes (more...

A friend and I recently finished Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa, the second part alternate retelling of one of my favorite anime series to come out of 2000-2010, Macross Frontier. While I won't spoil the movie itself, considering this song spent three days bouncing around in my head (Valkyrie~...*ahem*), I HAVE to post this song. Be warned, it's 7 minutes, but it's a duet between Sheryl and Ranka, and it's beautiful. I wish I could post the video clip that goes along with it, but again--no spoilers. Go see the movie. There's no excuse for you not to. I know some people would prefer an official copy, but unless you want to watch it raw it's not happening. Go find your eyepatch. (Or your GokaiCellular.) In the meantime, enjoy the song.

Definitely my favorite song off of CAMP. As much as I love the swag and energy and classic Gambino lines in both "Sunrise" and "Power", this track is just the perfect mix between a good beat and lyrics that are easily relate-able and resonate with anyone that's been in any kind of situation like this. Don't let the beat and the chorus fool you; you can almost feel the anger in Donald's voice as he sings this song, with each verse going deeper into the mind of a man who's been abandoned by a girl he was truly in love with because of his commitment to his work. The last line is hilarious, but it's also kind of symbolic of the ridiculous thought processes of men in general: So many guys have either stayed with women or gone back to women because we were simply incapable of giving up the sex, regardless of the mental or emotional havoc that gets wreaked upon us.

Gambino is a Mastermind. I played this song at least a dozen times back when it was just a one minute clip on Vimeo. To hear the full thing is almost like bliss and I can't stop playing it. Can't say its my favorite track off CAMP (which has a First Listen on NPR), but it's definitely pretty far up there. I find hipster girls both amusing and kinda hot (the look at least), so I can't help vibing to this song. Next week I'll probably throw up my favorite, but I'll be honest: I can't get this album out of my head right now so favorite is relative.

I was pretty sad this summer when I couldn't find a trailer for this game, but this eight minute trailer definitely makes up for it. Showing us all the universes that will be participating in the game (including Slayers, R.O.D., Scryed, Mai-HiMe, Magic Soldier Louie, among others), this game looks completely insane and so awesome your PSP will barely be able to handle it. ...But it's by Banpresto, so it's entirely likely it'll never get localized. Especially since there would be rights issues insofar as who owns what. Still, I've been studying Japanese for like a year and a half. Might as well put it to use! Heroes Phantasia drops 1/19 for the PSP.

It's a cover, but it's a good cover. I've liked SCANDAL for a year now, but I still haven't taken the plunge and immersed myself in their entire discography yet. But this is giving me reason...

It took me well over a month to get back to this, and for that I apologize. The site has not gone wanting for updates, but school has kept me from updating as frequently as I would like. I said when I came back I would do Staple Traps, but at the moment I feel more like doing a post on Staple Synchro Monsters. (First thing's first, I'm going to explain some things to absolute newbies to this game. If you know what you're doing, just press Ctrl-F and then type "the list" and hit enter twice to jump you down to it.) Now, what *is* a Synchro Monster? Well, that's an excellent question! In Yu-Gi-Oh, when you have a Tuner and a non-Tuner monster on your side of the field at the same time, you can summon a synchro monster who's level is equal to (not less than or greater than) the combined levels of said Tuner and non-Tuner monster. For instance, let's say you summon the Tuner Monster Junk Synchron onto the field: Cute little fellow, isn't he? Now...

The opening of the first episode of Green Lantern: The Animated Series. I have my complaints, but it doesn't look TOO badly right now. I'll be giving it a shot. The premiere is November 11th, but much like Young Justice, the actual series won't come on until the following year in March. Anyways.

Finally, it's done. Near as I can tell, X-Men: Regenesis was a one-shot--one that finally capped off this whole "Mutant Civil War" story, once and for all. ...You ever feel like, you have so much to say, you really don't know where to begin? That's my current standpoint on this whole thing. But this is about my writing, so let me try: To start, the reasoning for this Wolverine/Cyclops split was pretty hollow. Wolverine has a problem because the X-Men are becoming soldiers? They already WERE soldiers! From the moment The Fab Five put on their 60's yellow and blue outfits, they became soldiers. Ones who studied Algebra and Chemistry when they weren't training to fight--but still soldiers. That Cyclops increased the amount of training they get so that every person on the mutant sanctuary Utopia would be completely battle-ready is less a problem, and more an acknowledging of just how serious it is to become a mutant. The sad thing is, Kieron Gillen (...

Well....THIS was nice to wake up to... That "If we can't protect the Earth" line feels like it's on the serious side of an incoming joke, but other than that? I like.

Holy crap. Phonte and Elzhi BODIED this track. I know Jumping in Headfirst usually doesn't mention "hip hop" without the words "Childish Gambino" following in the sentence, but this site is about dopeness, and this track personifies it. Enjoy.

Her majesty Masami Okui has released another album, Self Satisfaction II*. Unsurprisingly, I fucking love it. But I'll spare you my gushing over the thing and just let you hear one of the tracks off it. It's got a nice, energetic feel to it, and even though it's not my favorite song thus far (Cosmic Dance probably stole that), it's still pretty good. Song below: * Even though I hate sequels. Edit: A bit of research has shown this is apparently a cover album. Interesting. That explains the sequel thing.

Chart. Some tool posted on one of these a while back and asked why I cut stuff out of it. I didn't on that one, I didn't on this one. And, if it's not OBVIOUS, this isn't my chart. While I can read some Japanese (I'm in J3 now), I can't read much kanji. And if I could, this isn't something I would devote my time to create. That out of the way... Guilty Crown Summary: The story takes place in Tokyo in 2039. After the outbreak of the unidentified virus "Lost Christmas" in 2029, Japan has been under the control of a multinational organization called GHQ. Ouma Shu is a 17-year-old boy who has a psychic power in his right hand. He can use the power "Ability of King" to extract tools or weapons from his friends. He has been avoiding making trouble for others but his life changes when he meets a girl named Yuzuriha Inori, a member of a resistance guerrilla group called "Undertaker", whose members pilot mecha weapons to figh...

Writers: Michael Green and Mike Johnson Artist: Mahmud Asrar Supergirl is one of those characters I can take or leave, but whenever she's written by someone with talent I'm glad to pick up her book. Because I take that stance, when they announced her title and it was written by someone that I didn't really know, I gave it a shot. I was thoroughly impressed. In sharp contrast to Superman, Supergirl has always been the Kryptonian who actually remembered her homeworld, which was meant to give her a different perspective on Earth than her younger cousin Superman. (She was supposed to land before Clark and protect him while he grew up, but her ship was knocked off course.) The issue portrays this fact excellently, as despite the issue being about Supergirl beating up a bunch of humans, I still found myself rooting for her. Written as a fish out of water, on a world and with powers she doesn't understand, Green and Johnson manage to make someone with Superman's pow...

Writer: Brian Azzarello Artist: Cliff Chiang * Author's Note: I think she looked cooler with pants. Anyway. First thing's first: Cliff Chiang's art is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I thought it was slightly cartoony when I was reading Green Arrow/Black Canary, but that was clearly done on purpose as hear it manages to do a number of tones--including very creepy--with no problems. Everything's pretty much pitch-perfect from start to finish. Next. I've been seeing a few people claim this book is too difficult to follow. Uhm. For serious? The ONLY thing that was kind of difficult to understand was the identity of the guy with the helmet. Everything else...I'm not a mythology guy, unless you count superheroes. And I've read Wonder Woman from the last relaunch of this book until Gail left the book. That's it. I'm not terribly familiar with Greek Mythology, but Azzarello basically telegraphs the identities of these characters. Lastly, before I fina...

Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Francis Portela Okay, I'll say it. This is just the next issue of Legion of Super-Heroes from the last volume. I say this as a fan of Paul Levitz who was enjoying the series but dropped it a month or so before the reboot due to being a little too busy. This was a comic by a guy who may have got the memo that DC was doing a line-wide reboot to attract new readers, but really didn't care. Unlike Green Lantern (which was actually a follow-up to a crossover arc), this book is dripping with leftover references from the last arc Levitz wrote, and feels like the aftermath issue for that crossover. The trouble here is, rather than simply write it like your normal epilogue issue and allow readers to at least piece together some idea of what happened before and perhaps give us a clue of where the book is headed, Levitz leaves things vague, perhaps with the intention of making new readers feel like they aren't reading issue 16 instead of issue 1. The ...

Writer: Peter Tomasi Artist: Fernando Pasarin I'm a bit late finishing this up, and I apologize. By my count, I've got 12 books (including this one) left to post on, and I'll be trying to get them all done by Friday. Now, on to the preview! To start, can I just make the point that it needs to be harder to kill a Green Lantern? I know it's important to set up a villain, but the Green Lantern Ring...it's The Most Powerful Weapon In The Universe. I'd love for that to mean something again in this new DCU. Other than that though, this is a great #1. It provides a new story for old fans like me, but it also introduces the concept of the Green Lantern Corps through exposition that doesn't quite feel blatant or obvious in a way that ruins the story. (Even JLA's wasn't as natural as this...and it came off pretty well.) The stars of the book, John Stewart and Guy Gardner, start the book off showing us the problem with trying to find a job when everyo...

No, not that guy. My boy Phonte from hip-hop lyrical mastermind group Little Brother. For a good while Phonte's major musical output consisted of crooning rather than busting rhymes, but from what I understand his new album Charity Starts At Home will change that, and I couldn't be happier. Nothing against the guy's singing, I've just always been a much bigger fan of rap than R&B/soul, and Phonte is one of the best to ever do it. For those who are unfamiliar, DJ Flash put together probably the biggest (and best) Phonte mixtape ever, DJ Flash Presents the Best of Phonte. Here's your tracklist and download. Don't sleep on the dopeness. Download link: DJ Flash Presents the Best of Phonte

Writer: Kyle Higgins Artist: Eddy Barrows Ah, finally! Dick Grayson had to give up Nightwing several years ago when DC turned Bruce Wayne into Sam Beckett , and this reboot is the first time he's had his own comic since February of 08. I gotta say, as someone who's always been a larger fan of Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, he was definitely missed. We come back to Nightwing with a new writer, Kyle Higgins (whose work I've never read before), and a new story. Reading the interviews, the idea with Nightwing was supposed to be that his time as Batman had made him an even better, stronger hero than before. I'd love for that to be true, but considering his best feat in the issue is beating some throwaway nut and...not doing all that well against the primary villain of the issue, I'm going for that to be Dick's perception rather than reality at the moment. Still, from what I've read so far, we're heading down a new road. It's been a while since Dick h...

Writer: Scott Snyder Artist: Greg Capullo Interesting. That's the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of this first issue. I know the basic premise of the first arc to Batman: Scott Snyder wants to tell us what Gotham is REALLY like. Batman thinks he knows the city, but does he really? What happens when he finds out truths about Gotham that the city had kept hidden from him until now? That's the basic idea. Knowing that going in made things a bit different for me. The art seemed to make the city as important a character as all the humans in it. Greg Capullo makes Gotham come alive in this opening issue. You really get a feel for how big and mysterious Gotham truly is, and that's vital for the story Scott is trying to tell. Overall, for the first "Batman #1" since the 1930's, this is a great way to start. We're introduced to the entire cast, given one HECK of a cliffhanger, and an intriguing new villain with so-far unknown goals. I...

From AndriaSang . Looks sick. A game like this really shows you just how expansive the Naruto universe is. I don't really watch the anime anymore, but I enjoy the manga (in 40+ chapter bursts), so I'm pretty excited to play this game. My friends are addicts though, so I'll have to do a LOT of training to not get destroyed. >_<

Writer: Tony Bedard Artist: Ig Guara Okay, this one is slightly unexpected. Initially I believed that of all the characters being rebooted, Blue Beetle would evade it. He's got the most stereotypical superhero set-up in terms of powers, origin, supporting cast, his history is only like, seven or so years old, and given his Brave and the Bold appearances, the guy is probably more popular than half of the superheroes you know. But they hit the reset button pretty hard, giving us an entirely different origin for Jaime Reyes (and, subsequently, getting rid of one of the last remaining reasons Infinite Crisis existed), one that isn't tied to a gigantic crossover comic book. Here, Jaime plays the role of your average high school teen with a smart mouth and, from what we see at the end, the makings of a hero. It's a very busy comic book, what with re-introducing us to everyone and giving Jaime an entirely new origin story, but it all comes together pretty well. Ig Guara's...

Writer: J.T. Krul Artist: Freddie Williams II To be quite honest, even after reading this book, I'm not certain what to make of it. The art by Freddie Williams II is solid, but that was to be expected. The writing, though... There's no origin story. There's no, "my name is..." bit of narration. And while I don't actually need that to enjoy the issue, it's sort of symbolic of the problem with this issue: I read the entire thing without figuring out exactly WHO Captain Atom was. The opening narration would have you believe he's a bit of a cynic, with one of the most pessimistic views on life I've seen from a superhero in a while making up the first few words you read about the character. ....So why's he using his powers to save someone when it's clearly risking his life? I don't get it. And the issue itself doesn't do all that much to show me why I should. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a BAD comic by any means...it...

Writer: Duane Swiercynski Artist: Jesus Saiz Admittedly, I wasn't all that sure about this book. No Oracle = No reason for BoP, I thought. But, I have to say, it works pretty well with Black Canary as our lead. There are still some questions I have, like what happened to the remainder of the team (Huntress, Manhunter, etc.), but I suppose those will be answered over time. While I wasn't sure about Swiercynski as the writer for this new BoP, a great deal of this worry was taken away when he chose to write about all-new characters (and has a good handle on one of the coolest superheroes in comics, Dinah/Black Canary), and overall we get an interesting opening for a first issue with a sick cliffhanger. The art is beautiful, but I expected that from Jesus Saiz anyway. This one's definitely got my interest for it's opening arc.

Writer: Geoff Johns Artist: Doug Mahnke Well well well. One of the few comics I wasn't that excited about when the relaunch was announced, GL was a very pleasant surprise. First things first, let's get this out of the way: This comic book was not rebooted, in any way shape or form. None of the Green Lantern OR Batman books were, for that matter. The Batman titles mostly just kept the history they'd accumulated, but the Green Lantern titles are actually picking up largely from the same places they'd left off. Despite this, I would still call this title new reader friendly, so long as you don't spend too much time getting bogged down in the hows and just enjoy the show. It boils down to absolutely NEEDING to know this, before you read the comic: The aftermath of a previous mission led the Guardians to believe Hal Jordan was too dangerous to own a Green Lantern ring. When the ring left his finger, it sought a replacement user (as they tend to): It chose Sinestro....

Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: R.B. Silva I miss wisecracking Superboy. The one with the leather jacket, sunglasses, and who lived in Hawaii not only to stay out of the spotlight of the Big S, but also because the place had all the gorgeous women. The two closest people he had his age were two cute girls and he had hilarious adventures and reacted, generally, in ways someone his age would actually react, making him a relate-able character for a youth like me. (Mind you, I first read this when I was 19.) I miss that guy, and I miss his comic. Because that guy, isn't in this comic. One of the characters who was reboot the hardest, almost everything about Superboy has been completely chucked to make him more reader-friendly. Once created during the "Reign of the Supermen" plot line following Superman's death by Project Cadmus, the old Superboy was created a few years after Tim Drake (Robin) and like a couple years before Bart Allen (Impulse). He went on to be a ...

Yes, I'd heard there were some bad comics to come out last week. I had no intention of reading either of them. Go read my Batwoman 1 post, then READ Batwoman 1. I also understand Wonder Woman and Supergirl had comics out last week as well, and I'm told they're rather good. Read those too. No, I will not be addressing the bad comics in question. I don't even intend to NAME them. I told ya'll a long time ago, there's no such thing as bad PR. The only thing that happens when you discuss garbage is make it more likely to be spread around. Instead, even though the entire comics internet has already ignored it, I'm just going to say: Stop talking about what you can't stand and start talking about what you love.

Writer: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman Artist: J.H. Williams III Most gorgeous book of the 52, hands down. J.H. Williams' art is immersive, plunging you into two worlds over the course of this one issue. The world of Batwoman--a fast-paced realm where panels flow from one page to the next like still shots from an old movie projector, and then the world of Kate Kane (Batwoman's alter ego), which looks like the most traditional comic you've ever read. Illustrating the difference in how assured Kate is in her own life and how chaotic things become once she puts on the costume, it's rare to see this much thought put into page and panel design. It makes the wait from Batwoman's last appearance as the star of her own comic book worth it. The opening issue's story is solid as well, setting up a new, terrifying villain in the city of Gotham--La Llorona, the Weeping Woman. A truly haunting villain based on an urban legend of a peasant girl who accidental...

Sarce . By the mangaka who created Samurai Deeper Kyo, Code: Breaker is about a group of people that have special powers, and use those abilities to follow Hammurabi's Code. (An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life.) The main character is Oogami Rei, a teenage boy with the ability to incinerate people with a single touch, who one day meets a girl named Sakurakouji Sakura, a girl with a "strong sense of Justice" who believes killing is always wrong, and tries to change Oogami Rei. Considering this series has about 135+ chapters to it, we should get a 26+ episode adaptation with little to no filler. Looking forward to it, and I predict it'll be the next big hit in America if Adult Swim still has any interest in anime.

If haters are wondering why CG is popular--this is why. He brings a frank honesty to hip-hop that we just don't normally get. Hearing the guy be so real and so honest on the mic resonates with you regardless of what background you come from. And if it doesn't, choke yourself.

Writer: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Artist: Fernando Dagnino Kind of an unexpected book; Resurrection Man was a title that came out of the late-90's written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. It was basically about a guy that would come back with different superpowers each time he died, usually related to his last death. Despite the resemblance to Grifter , this is definitely the superior comic. But I still feel like...I've been there and done that. Initially, Resurrection Man had one goal. Beat Vandal Savage, a DCU villain who was immortal. That's it. But now the story is apparently about his soul being wanted by two groups that suspiciously resemble angels and demons, only (of course) there is no good or bad group, as what "should" be the good team are the antagonists for the first issue. While I can't specifically nail down WHERE I've seen that before, that's likely because I didn't like it and I dropped it back then. I love Dan and Andy...

Legion Lost Writer: Fabian Nicieza Artist: Pete Woods What the sprock is going on?! I don't mean that literally--I realize many people have been struggling with understanding exactly what happened in this issue. That's not really my problem. My problem is that it's not what it could, or should be. Fabian Nicieza is capable of some amazing work, and he normally does even better writing a young cast. And while we're at it, Pete Woods is one of my favorite artists of all time. This should've been a gorgeous book featuring a cast of some of the most beloved superheroes in comics kicking butt and taking names. A solid superhero title that was, if not mind-blowing, at the very least an example of how awesome a well-written superhero story could be. Instead, this is kind of a mess. I mean, I know who these guys are, but that's mostly because I'm a Legion of Super-Heroes fan to begin with. Matt Fraction used to introduce the X-Men with tiny yellow boxes t...