Jumping in Headfirst

Green Lantern: New Guardians #21 New writer/artist team Justin Jordan and Brad Walker take over with this issue, and honestly the promise of something new is what truly landed this book on this list.  Green Lantern: New Guardians has slowly but surely turned into a Kyle-centric title, and with this issue it has fully taken on that role in the DC Universe, finally granting me and hopefully twenty thousand other fans what we've wanted since 2005's Green Lantern: Rebirth , a Kyle Rayner solo ongoing. Still, I personally feel Kyle always did better on Earth (or at the very least without a bunch of little blue tagalongs) so New Guardians is a long way from where I'd prefer it to be, but the goodwill Jordan built up on Team 7 and Brad Walker's beautiful pencils that naturally lend itself to science fiction means I'll probably pick the book up for at least the rest of the year to see where it goes.  For now, welcome to the bottom of the pile, New Guardians .  I hop...

Yep.  This went down like it was supposed to.   JC got this 3-0, even though the first half of his last round was super light, nothing Pooh Bear had could really scratch dude.  It's getting about time for him to get on that big stage, but I'm pretty sure SMACK ain't trying to put him on Summer Madness 3.   I'm glad he's getting light in KOTD--hopefully next up he'll start on Don't Flop. Favorite line: "The same story, but the Garden of Eden is out./He act, so ya'll believe that ni--a he scream he about./But since bitch was made from a ni--a, it doesn't justify bitch-made ni--as!" That ass-whuppin' was biblical.   Anyway, at some point some of these top tier dudes gotta give JC a shot.  He's battled nearly 20 times, got one classic under his belt, and went up against two well-respected battlers (Caustic and O-Red) and still hasn't lost a battle since fairly early on.  He should've been on that NOME 3 card but...

Super late, which is weird because its also super short.  I read a ton of comics but really only a couple qualified for the "Bottom of the Pile" status, in stark contrast to what happened last week. Superman Unchained 1 I have to apologize to Scott Snyder and the rest of the Superman Unchained team for this.  Initially I simply didn't believe that Scott Snyder's Superman would be anything we hadn't seen before; it was just going to be a vanity project for Jim Lee to tie-in with the Man of Steel movie that was released last week.   As it turns out, I was very, very wrong.  Superman Unchained #1 honestly should have been Superman #1; it manages to use all of the core characters of the Superman mythology, introduce something new, and tie it all together into a neat little 22 page package that was an enjoyable read from start to finish. Seriously, there's so much I loved about this issue: - Superman feels heroic.  The issue starts with him hav...

By now everyone's heard of Justice League 3000 .  Replacing "Legion of Super-Heroes" on the stands as DC's single title perpetually set 1000 years into the future, Justice League 3000 is a comic book that sees both Legion and Justice League legend, Keith Giffen, alongside Justice League cohorts Kevin Maguire and J.M. DeMatteis together creating stories about a thousand years from now's World's Greatest Heroes.   Of course, the primary problem in all this seems to be that Justice League 3000 is replacing The Legion of Super-Heroes, leaving dozens (hah) of stalwart Legion fans without a book for the first time since 2008.  It may even be worse now, since at least at the time we had the unannounced but obviously forthcoming (albeit short-lived) Geoff Johns title.  As far as we know right now there appear to be zero Legion-focused titles in the works at DC.  This could be seen as troubling, but to be honest I'm not all that worried. The future Superman and...

I finally sat down to check this battle out the other night, and its like most people say: Clips 2-1.  But its definitely not a body--Serius' third round is mean.  Like, real mean.  It had to be to make up for that garbage second, but still.  Memorable lines: "You can try that freestyle shit, Jones, but it don't work here./If you freestyle about the barbershop, then it hurt, and you really work there."   -- Clips "Yeah, ya'll know me.  It's been a minute, but off the top, I dismantle shit./Yeah, nine years ago I was a barber, so you know I know how to handle Clips." - Serius Nowhere near as excellent an example of freestyle versus writtens as AyeVerb vs. Hollow Da Don, but still a good battle.  Summer Madness got at least 3 hot battles, which makes up for Mook and Iron and that Ness battle.  Still I'm looking forward to SM3 stepping it up.

Over a week late with this, so I apologize.  After I finish 3 I'm doing the work necessary (if you call "reading comics" work, that is) to do #4 so bear with me. Detective Comics #21 I've enjoyed Detective Comics pretty consistently since John Layman ( Chew ) started writing it.  We've gotten a fairly awesome version of Batman, with the ridiculous action that Detective is ironically known for in every issue. From the Emperor Penguin arc to The 900, Layman has set out to do new and interesting things with the villains Batman we've known Batman to have. Here, Layman introduced not only a new villain for Batman, but put to use the Scott Snyder created Harper Row (who's going to be the next Robin, even if I wish it were still Tim Drake), and reintroduced a villain who's been missing even before Flashpoint happened.  It all works together to create a surprisingly good issue, and the only thing I thought was a little clunky was the random romance ...

I felt 11 again when I watched this trailer.  Back when J-RPGs reigned on consoles as king, and each one was an enjoyable experience that was fairly distinct from the next, and I spent hours sitting in front of my tiny Sanyo television playing the original Suikoden and Tales of Destiny . Monolith Soft rekindled that feeling which died for me some time after buying a PS2, and if for no other reason than that, I thank them. One of the things that I've found most interesting about the WiiU is the fact that it is an HD console, and so many of the tricks that Sony and Microsoft have had access to over the past seven years are now available to Nintendo as well.  And developers that might have been pushed away by either the high cost of HD gaming or the difficult of programming for certain systems now have a brand-new console that's not exactly pushing the boundaries of technology but is still capable of creating gorgeous experiences like the one you see above in "X"...

I still don't believe this game really exists, but here's your full gameplay trailer nonetheless. Its in Japanese, but the characters aren't saying anything especially important, just throwaway anime dialogue like "Leave it to me," and "Thanks you saved me" and whatnot. I'll have to actually play it myself or at least read about someone who has, but XV looks like a full switch over from XIII's "not really an RPG, and definitely not an action game" to action, with main character Noctis teleporting from building to building, and using his Wall O'Swords to both climb the sides of the aforementioned builds as well as block enemy attacks. The gameplay shows off a variety of villains, from normal human foot soldiers to the mythical giant monsters most Final Fantasy players are used to.  I'd be lying if I said this didn't look interesting, but I'd also be lying if I said you'll be seeing this game before 2015.  ...

How I know Dizaster doesn't actually freestyle.  Or if he does, its not all freestyle.  You wouldn't choke like that after spitting two rounds of near-written level material.   I'll be honest and say Dizaster gets on my nerves a little.  He takes his shit a little too seriously during battles, like he just doesn't even respect his opponent.  Most battlers just stand there silently when their opponent's rapping, they may nod their head or laugh at a good line, maybe roll their eyes at something they think is off-base or they've heard too much.  Dizaster?   He makes jerk-off motions at the camera while his opponent is spitting.  Granted his opponent was noted bar-thief Arcane, but still.  Cut that shit out.   And I know reading this you think "Isn't that what you're supposed to do?", and the answer is no.  This is just a display of lyricism by way of trash-talk. You're trying to outdo your opponent and you get ...

Okay, so with Day 1 over I thought we'd go ahead and take a look at the hopes I had and predictions I made and see where we stand. Hopes: We did learn more about Batman: Arkham Origins We got a tiny amount of gameplay wrapped into a brand-new trailer that features a new assassin announced.   Not out of the woods yet as far as it being a good game, but I've got a lot of faith in it now.   (Also, I've got a lot of love for WB for adding the AzBats costume.) Prediction #1: We did NOT learn more about the next next Arkham game Neither Sony or Microsoft brought it up in their conferences and I'm guessing Warner Bros. is satisfied enough with the response to Origins that they won't try and mention this game's existence until they have to, or want to. Hopes:  We saw footage for both The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age: Inquistion While we haven't seen any sign of Lords of the Fallen (yet, there's still 3 days to go), The Witch...