Jumping in Headfirst

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...

Writer: Nathan Edmondson Artist: Cafu Well, this is an interesting thing. It's rare to read a book and know pretty much the same about a character after you're done than you did before you finished. That's what we have here. This book introduces us to Cole Cash, a talented con man who gets abducted by aliens but escapes before they can complete their task, and now has the rest of the hidden aliens after him. And that's all I know, aside from the Grifter once being a character from Wildstorm Universe's WildC.A.T.s superhero team. But since he's being introduced to the DCU that factoid is irrelevant and sends me right back up to the previous one-sentence description of this issue. It's not even that the book is compressed...plenty of stuff happens, it's just nothing I care about. I'm given no reason to root for the guy, no reason to think he's cool, and no reason to care about his problem, which says a lot considering someone's trying to ...

Bonfire by Childish Gambino First track off the album "Camp". I know people loved Freaks and Geeks but man this is so much better. At least to me. Dude comes so raw with it this time, and his flow has almost completely changed. This will be the second album I cared enough to pay for this year. Looking forward to it in November.

I've never been a huge Tokyo Jihen guy, but hearing this song I had to give it a little play on JiH. Enjoy.

AriadnenoIto by Bored4Lyfe Do As Infinity was a major part of my high school years (when I didn't leave the house without my CD player), and I was seriously depressed when the group broke up. They got back together some time ago but it slipped under my radar. This led to it never joining my conscious timeline, so whenever a new song is released I always initially go, "When did they get back together?!" Anyway, for their "come back" song, this is pretty impressive. Can't help wondering if DAI is still apart of the group or not.

As I've mentioned before , I'm a huge Suikoden fan. I love that universe, and ever since the PS3 came out I was hoping for a new game in the main series. Sadly, this is not to be (not yet), but Konami HAS given us some hope in the form of Genso Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki. ...I should be able to translate that, but I can't. For now, enjoy the video. Hopefully we'll get more information about the game soon. (Like when it's going to get brought over here. ...Seriously.)

The controversial prequel to Devil May Cry finally has a trailer. Looks pretty sweet to be honest. I never bought into all the rage--I'm just hoping for another GOOD DMC game where Dante is the focus character. What's everyone else's thoughts on the new video, though?

Writer: Eric Wallace Artist: Gianluca Gugliotta I didn't actually have much in the way of high hopes for this project. Rather than follow characters, I follow creators--I didn't know much about the artist, and the writer...what I know of Eric Wallace is that he wrote Titans, which was kinda terrible. But I like Mr. Terrific. The idea of the "third smartest man in the world" deciding to use his genius to fight crime interests me, so I gave this book a try. And it's not bad. The art could use a bit of work (beautiful backgrounds, but the artist needs work drawing people), but the story itself is solid. It's straightforward, but it does a great job of setting up Michael Holt as a brilliant super-scientist that just so happens to smash in bad guys' faces in his spare time. I read several interviews that said we'd see this series go cosmic real fast, and it delivers--Mister Miracle has a slick base of operations in the ninth dimension and his villain...

When I got my PSP, one of the first games I got for it was Gundam Battle Universe. It's still one of my favorite games, even though I can't actually understand the plot bits (though there aren't that many of those to begin with). My only complaint was that I prefer action games like that on the big screen. It's possible Gundam Extreme VS. will be the game I'm looking for. Check the video below.

Writer: Dan Jurgens Artist: Aaron Lopresti First things first: This is a gorgeous comic. One of the best-looking ones DC put out for the first week of the relaunch. Aaron Lopresti has always been one of my favorite artists so seeing him work on this brings a smile to my face just looking at the cover. And I loved Dan Jurgens work on Booster Gold. I wasn't happy when it was canceled, so learning Booster was not only on the JLI, but would be leading them left me a very satisfied fan. Hopefully, even with the relaunch Booster's still had a number of the adventures he'd had in the old timeline, so he's just as competent as before--hence Batman's support of him. Speaking of, seeing both Booster Gold and Batman work as a team? AWESOME. There's something about the fact that only the World's Greatest Detective actually respects The Greatest Hero You've Never Heard Of that I'm hoping will bring this book an extra level of emotional complexity people ...

Writer: Grant Morrison Artist: Rags Morales Perfect. I hate to start off with such glowing praise, but that's what this first issue of Action Comics is. Perfect. For years, Superman has struggled to remain relevant in a world which is increasingly cynical and gray. It's caused him to slip to the middle of the sales charts while DC pulls stunt after stunt out to try and remind comic fans about the character--largely to no avail. So what do you do? How do you make a character like Superman interesting, without changing the core of who he is? Well, as it turns out, the answer to that is simple: You take the character back to his roots. The original Superman didn't just fight mad scientists and threats from places no one's heard of. He fought organized crime and corrupt businessmen. Of course, when he was created, that's not what people wanted to read about--so characters like Captain Marvel, who had more traditional superhero tales, outsold him at the new...

Writer: J.T. Krul Artist: Dan Jurgens Forewarning: This just might be the only positive review of Green Arrow you'll see. If you want to have someone savage J.T. Krul and call Dan Jurgens' art average yet again, turn away now. Going in, I'll just ask: Was anyone reading Green Arrow pre-relaunch? I was. It wasn't a bad comic, but it was incredibly depressing and almost the perfect reason for why this relaunch needed to happen. Ollie spent most of his time wallowing in depression and talking about how jacked up his life was. Most of the comic took place in a forest because Ollie had killed a supervillain who blew up half his city, so he was wanted for murder. His wife divorced him while he was in a jail cell. He had no clue where his son was. And his ward/sidekick, Red Arrow/Arsenal? Well, he was hanging out with supervillains, strung out on drugs again and beating people with extension cords after his daughter was killed by the supervillain Ollie murdered. ...

Writer: Gail Simone Artist: Ardian Syaf The most controversial book in the relaunch, and unfortunately proof that from the very beginning Dan Didio kind of wanted to return all the comic characters to who they were in the 60's. Well, now that it's here, how does it stack up? Well, to be honest...pretty decently, if not perfectly. Simone shows us a Batgirl who (rightfully) suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but who also refuses to give up being a hero when there are people she can help. It's a good opening issue--showing us who Barbara Gordon is, what she was and hopes to become again. It introduces a supporting cast, a main villain, and gives our hero a base of operations. (Actually, very few comics managed to accomplished all this in this New 52, now that I think about it...) The problem--if there must be one--is that this was a project Gail took out of...I want to say, responsibility. Any hardcore comic fan that isn't a mindless fanboy knows that...

A new single by BACK-ON. Kinda depressed that their rapper looks like that... Nice song though.

Like I was really going to let a CG verse slip by. Yeah, right. Especially not when he's over half this song. Sick. If this is what CG's bringing on Camp, I'll be listening to his album another year straight.

I've never been a fan of Todd MacFarlane's work, and the friend I have whose opinion almost always syncs with mine tells me R.A. Salvatore isn't really a good writer, or at least, doesn't match either of our sensibilities at all. And yet, this game looks gorgeous, and pretty fun. Not sure how to reconcile this. Check the trailer below that explains everything from character creation, races to classes and combat. All I can do for now is wait on the actual release of the game to give it a go-round.

Thought about passing on this game, but the fighting looks pretty slick. Also the entire Ginyu Force is in, which means they were actually interested in fitting characters into this thing. Also? The newest addition to the Tenkaichi games--a Hero Mode. Create-a-character is something people have wanted for some time. Initially, I didn't care. But having found out they let you become a Super Saiyajin? Well, now I can't help wanting to buy it.

This popped up when I was checking out more information for one of the more interesting games that was announced during E3: OverStrike . Sounds pretty awesome, so far. Looking forward to in-game footage though.

Writer: Scott McDaniel and John Rozum Artist: Scott McDaniel Despite the Scott McDaniel art, I was looking forward to this one, and it turned out much better than I'd hoped. I was actually quite the fan of Nightwing, but I hadn't seen McDaniel's style employed in the best way possible on a title. Until here. Unlike the Static cartoon, this time Static Shock finds himself hanging out in New York City, having moved there from Dakota because of his parents. Considering DC's reader-friendly objective, the move was probably to simplify a character who used to exist inside of a completely different universe. Virgil Hawkins feels like a modern Peter Parker--a genius teenage boy with superpowers. That's not a bad basis to work off, and fortunately the issue skips out on the main character having trouble adjusting in a new school, dealing with bullies and trying to ask out the cute girl he likes. ...While I'm sure some of that will come later, it's great that R...

Writer: Sterling Gates Artist: Rob Liefeld Most iffy comic I actually chose to read. Sterling Gates was the first writer to make Supergirl readable on an ongoing basis since Peter David left the character in 2003--I know he has the chops to make this title work. Rob Liefeld on the other hand...I'm not sure what to say. I have no ill will against the guy. He's a creator that had a very strong career in the early 90's, and no matter how many people insult the guy, he's still probably sold a geometrically larger number of comics than most people's Top 5 favorite artists put together. But overall I'm not a big fan of his work. And it kind of...affects the whole of this opening issue. It feels like the first comic Gates has ever done, when I know that's so far from the truth. Hawk and Dove's origin sounds so unoriginal I feel like a kid came up with it, but I don't think that's Gates' fault. What is Gates' fault is that in twenty two pa...

I feel like I should drag the opening to this entry out. Y'know, talk about how this is a new beginning, the dawn of superheroes, et cetera, but if you follow this site you know all that. The biggest complaint I have about this series, is that it doesn't quite feel like a brand-new world to me. But that could be for any number of reasons (chief of which is that it's *not* entirely brand-new), and I can't blame Geoff and Jim for that. What is new about this version of the Justice League, is that it's at the center. The original League was created in 1960, appearing in DC's Brave and the Bold #28. By that time DC had already introduced two Flashes, an entire Corps worth of Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman were already decades old. The second big launch of the League was around 1986. And while it meant to have all the big names, it ended up with only Batman as it's marquee superhero, and was sort of shoved off to the corner in terms of...

Writer: Paul Cornell Artist: Miguel Sepulveda From the very beginning, Stormwatch got a pass from the fandom. People saw "Stormwatch" and the words "Paul Cornell", and suddenly people were okay with one title from the 52, if none of the rest. Personally, I'm not quite so convinced. Stormwatch was one of those "mature" superhero titles that came out of WildStorm during the late nineties or so. They introduced wide-screen storytelling, and heroes that weren't afraid to get their hands dirty to "get the job done". To be honest, it was a bit rubbish (I'm one of a handful that will say that--most will disagree vehemently--but this is *my* site), and I'm not a giant fan of Stormwatch or Authority, but I gave it a shot because I wanted to see how it would work having "always" been apart of the DCU. It works out about like I thought it would. Paul Cornell spends the issue laying out who these characters are and what they...

Writer: Dan Didio and Keith Giffen Artist: Keith Giffen One of the more interesting choices, I'm not really sure why O.M.A.C. (One Man Army Corps) got an ongoing, besides the fact that anyone over the age of 30 working for DC or Marvel appears to have a hard-on for every single creation Jack Kirby ever made. Say whatever you will about this book, but you cannot say it isn't approachable. There are only three concepts in this entire book tying things to the DC Universe, and all of them are introduced pretty plainly. O.MA.C. is a creation of Brother Eye's, himself a rejected invention of Project Cadmus. O.M.A.C.'s initial purpose is to find his way inside of Cadmus and connect Brother Eye to the Cadmus mainframe again. Those two sentences tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the book, going in. That said, I'm not yet sure how I feel about it. I love the art, with Giffen doing his best Kirby impression but still showing a heavy influence of his own work, ...

One of the first RPGs to be announced for the Playstation Vita, Ragnarok Odyssey is being developed by one of the best J-RPG companies, GameArts. (Creator of such gems as Grandia and Lunar.) Here's the trailer: I'm going to hold back until Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force comes out on the Vita (for serious--I spend a lot of time playtesting on TF5), but this is a good start as far as decent games on a new system.

Writer/Artist : Tony Daniel Tony Daniel's an incredible artist--loved the work he did with Grant Morrison, so I never questioned that this book would look excellent. And it does, even though the style seems somewhat different from what I remember, this is still a very pretty book. Well, pretty as the grungy Gotham City can be, at least. It's very much appreciated that tonally, everything about Gotham "feels" right. Now as far as the writing goes--initially I had my concerns. He did alright on the one or two Batman arcs I read post-Battle for the Cowl, but after that I stopped reading--life kind of forced me away from comics. But apparently the relaunch has done a world of good, creatively--this is a pretty fun Batman comic. Apparently DC's "we're no longer writing for the trade" wasn't just them blowing smoke--Daniel's Detective Comics is a very compressed comic, giving us a complete story with very little widescreen storytelling and ...

Traphik could be big if he ever got mad serious about rap like CG did. Anyway, I like rap songs that go off the accepted path of subjects for rap. This one has a real chill beat and I kinda know where he's coming from.

Just pointed someone to this that may or may not know how the basic rules of this game. This isn't that hard, and if you've watched the anime you'll be able to discern most of the rules (that's how I learned, and I've never read a rulebook before), but to be certain: To play Yu-Gi-Oh, you need a deck of at least 40 cards, and no more than sixty. Each deck contains monster, spell, and trap cards. It's up to you on the numbers though, and it WILL vary from deck to deck. Some decks are naturally monster heavy, while others can be spell-heavy. Depending on the banlist, a good competitive deck will often be either light or heavy on traps, running anywhere from 8-16. (Sometimes more.) You start each duel with 8000 Life Points. Typically there are three duels in a match. There are three win conditions, or ways in which you can win (or lose) the game. The first is that one player's life points can hit 0 (this is the most common way to win the game, and the m...

And, I'm back. We're going over the staple spells of this card game. I'll note now as we get into this that due to their versatility and power, many of these staple spell cards are limited to one per deck, something you'll see more and more of as I list them. Let's start! Destroy the face-up monster your opponent controls with the highest DEF. (If it's a tie, you get to choose.) This is a card that's begun to see more play this format (each new banlist creates a new format, as the way people play their decks changes either because they've lost cards or have to react to cards other decks gain access to) because Heavy Storm's existence is forcing people to play fewer traps. With fewer ways to destroy an opponent's monsters, and more boss monsters wandering around this format, people need ways to wipe out cards they can't attack over, and this is an excellent spell for that purpose. The only drawback is that occasionally powerful monsters wi...