Green Lantern: No Fear Review

Green Lantern: No Fear (Vol.04 #1-6)

First off I want to thank DC for including the story "Flight" drawn by Darwyn Cooke, the amazing artist and author of DC: New Frontier, at the beginning of the book. A great look at Hal growing up with with he's father, and he's starting of wanting nothing more then becoming a pilot and he's absolute love of flying. The real highlight of the story is Hal's first flight with he's father that becomes a tradition he continues years later by giving a private flight to Carol Ferris, and then to Kyle Rayner in the present.

In this volume we see Hal meeting Cowgirl, fellow pilot and new love interest, while on the trail of a damaged Manhunter android, which itself is being hunted by a newer model Manhunter looking to terminate the obsolete model. Not long after defeating the both of them he's off to investigate strange genetic experiments like a human turn in to a grey-skinned alien, and the reappearance of The Shark steming from a warning from imprisoned GL villain Hector Hammond. Which leads in to battle with the Germen speaking alien gremlins, Kroloteans, who were doing the experimenting and broke Hammond out prison to experiment on him, when Black Hand joins the fry with a new power and sinister new purpose. In the end Hal is asked to re-join the Air Force by he's former General after discovering he's Green Lantern, and Hal convinced he's younger brother Jim and he's family to move to the rebuilding Coast City.

My favorite scenes were Hal Jumping out of a damaged F-22 Raptor and then recharging he's ring from a ripped off Manhunter power battery skull in mid-air while reciting the Green Lantern oath, pure awesome, and Hal restoring Hector Hammond's pain receptors with he's ring to beat information out of him.

Green Lantern: Rebirth Review

I've been reading and collecting the Green Lantern trade paperbacks since Rebirth, following Hal Jordan's story from he's resurrection to up right before the Blackest Night event, which I can now finally start reading. So I'm gonna start writing reviews for each the nine books leading up to Blackest Night, giving a quick synopsis of each along with my favorite parts of each. If you don't know any of the character's I'll be providing links to info of them.   

Green Lantern: Rebirth

I really liked the character of Hal Jordan before reading Rebirth, he was the Green Lantern I knew the most about and preferred him over John Stewart or Kyle Rayner, after reading Rebirth I freaking love Hal Jordan, and now can't get enough of stories with him in them. Hal Jordan become the villain Parallax in 1994 our time when I was 10 years old, and then died two years later in the Final Night mini-series re-igniting the Sun. Then in 1999 Hal came back now bonded with The Spectre, DC's Spirit of Vengeance but not back fully to life, so after 5 years as the Spectre writter Geoff Johns decided it time for Hal to return to life and once again become Green Lantern of Sector 2814. 

This story shows Kyle Rayner discovering that Parallax is an ancient parasite entity of fear, that took control of Hal when he was most afraid, when he's home town of Coast City was destroyed by Cyborg Superman and Mongul. While Hal is starting to get tired of dealing out vengeance as The Spectre, and what's to be hero again, with he's spirit conflicting with The Spectre gives Parallax, still within Hal's spirit but suppressed by the Spectre's power, the opportunity to once again take control of Hal and now have the power of the Spirit of Vengeance. All this setting the stage for retrieving Hal's body from the Sun, Guy Gardner becoming a Green Lantern once again, Hal's spirit back in he's body, the return of Sinestro, and imprisoning Parallax once again. 

What did I like about this book? EVERYTHING!, it was an epic read, I read it three times already. Magnificent story telling and art by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, a true most have for any Green Lantern fan. My most favorite part in the whole book is the fight with Sinestro, you can just feel the hatred and history between them as they battle each other. 

Hal Jordan: "He's lecturing me like always, but I can't hear him. Sinestro isn't close enough for my ring to translate. ...not yet."

Sinestro: "You took the oath too seriously!"

Hal:"You abandoned it!"  

More reviews coming soon.

Monster Jam World Finals 2011

Yesterday was the 2011 Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas, Neavada, and like the past 4 years I was there. I love Monster Trucks, I been going to Monster Truck shows for long as I can remember, I grew up with the original trucks like Bigfoot and USA-1, back when Grave Digger first came out and he was the rookie. I do miss the old show staples like tracker pulls, mud bogging, and Carzilla, but racing and freestyle is all you can probably fit when there's 28 trucks competing all in one night.

Maximum Destruction after he's Freestyle

The year's 2011 Racing Champion is Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction, he's fifth Racing Championship, previous in '00, '01, '03, and '09.

Jimmy's after Freestyle dip

This year's 2011 Freestyle Champion is Jim Koehler in Avenger, he's second Freestyle Championship, last won in '03. Usually after he's freestyle run every year Jim jumps in a fountain the usually build out in the center of the field, but this year they didn't make one, so this time he jump in to the back of a stretch Hummer Limousine hot tub.

Grave Digger The Legend after he's freestyle

In addition to Dennis Anderson's Grave Digger, there was two other at this year's show, Grave Digger The Legend and Son Uva Digger each drove by two of he's sons Adam Anderson in The Legend, and Ryan Anderson in Son Uva Digger. Son Uva Digger was a real sweet surprise this year, I really love the paint design, he ran a perfect after show encore run, that was just awesome awesome stuff, even did a perfect back-flip and doesn't get a scratch or dent. Can't to see more of him in he's career. 

Will definitely be picking up the Hot Wheel toy

New Captain America Trailer!

Ooo, oh yeah! Now that gives me better hope for this movie, previous teasers and pics didn't convey much "Cap-ness" from Chris Evans, but in this trailer I definitely saw him as Captain "you think this A on my forehead stands for France" frickin' America. Hell, the trailer wins just for the shots of Cap throwing and ricocheting he's shield and shooting Nazis with he's .45 pistol.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Source: Stickskills.com

"FIRST DETAILS ON RESIDENT EVIL: OPERATION RACCOON CITY UNVEILED  

Posted Mar 24, 2011 10:27

Rumors have been floating around for quite some time about Slant Six, former developer of SOCOM, working on a brand new Resident Evil title.  Today, we're here to officially validate those rumors along with giving you the very first detail on the upcoming title.

Hitting this Winter, gamers will be able to get their hands on Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  Our friends over at the Official Xbox Magazine have the official cover story this month, and while we'll list a few details, you'll have to pick up their May issue to find out everything!

• The game takes place in 1998, a time where Resident Evil fans already know what's set to take place.  The title lets you enjoy the series from a new perspective, as the men and women who are technically responsible for it all.
• Rather than continuing the zombie slaying antics of BSAA agents, you're taken back to the original outbreak "that underscored both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis."
• The game doesn't require any crazy amounts of knowledge of the past titles or characters involved in the series.  The title opens up to a "quartet of new faces".  Essentially, you're playing as members of the official Umbrella Security Services squad.
• Operation Raccoon City is a team-based shooter allowing four members of the USS team to destroy all evidence of the ongoing outbreak.  Along with slaying the zombies, you're looking to "kill pretty much every survivor possible".
• The gameplay is described as "dirty", and the series will feel much darker than it has up to this point.
• The game features three factions that Capcom has stated make up a "three-corner conflict".  The other two factions are the US Spec Ops, who are there to repel the USS, and the "bio-organic weapon monsters (BOWs) created by Umbrella.
• The USS team is made up of the following characters: Vector, Beltway, Bertha, and Spectre.  Depending on which character you choose, the responsibilities that you're asked to do within your team will variate.
• Hunk, first seen in Resident Evil 2 as a hidden character, is the inspiration behind the USS team.
• "Whichever team you play on, you'll be facing Umbrella-created horrors in between skirmishes with each other".
• Zombies in the game can sense you in three different manners: sight, sound, and smell.
• A situation is described in the game where Vector cloaks himself to stir up previously slumbering zombies to use against the Special Ops military foes.
• Quite a few scenarios in the game aren't "all about headshots".  A quote in the article states, "It's about shooting the other soldiers - manipulating the, making them bleed."
• The game will take you through a number of familiar areas if you're a Resident Evil junkie who remembers your journey to Raccoon City.
• Operation Raccoon City, depending on how you play the game, will give you the option to "change the history of Resident Evil".  Not only will you have the chance to meet and interact with various characters from the series, but you'll even have the opportunity to kill them.
• One of th mottos repeated to OXM throughout the demo was "Kill Leon".  It's also stated that if you choose to represent in the game as the Special Ops team, that you'd more than likely have the goal of trying to save Leon Kennedy.
• Slant Six or Capcom won't reveal if any other characters will be playable in the title just yet, but it'd make sense to see quite a few big cameos.
• The title will still see players relying on collecting herbs to heal from any attacks you may suffer.  You won't need to hoard any herbs, but they'll still benefit you to collect them throughout the game.
• "This is not a one-versus-one game where you've got one clip full of ammo and zombies on you.  If you've ever thought of those times in an RE game when you thought, 'I'd wish I had a big gun', that's what this game is.  It's not fair to give people big guns, then take all the ammo away."
• One of the pictures in the article showcases a zombie being used as a "meatshield".
• Operation Raccoon City allows players to earn XP for kills, with these points helping you survive the onslaught, and to help to encourage you to anihilate everything in your path.
• The XP will allow you to earn new abilities, such as Vector's cloaking skill, and new weapons.
• Tyrants will most definitely be included in the title.

There's a ton of details listed above, but there's even more listed in the May 2011 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine.  Don't forget to be on the lookout for the issue to hit store shelves to get even more details on Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City!"

Fricking sweet, I've never played any of the SOCOM games, but me being a hardcore Resident Evil lover this sounds like a must have first day buy. Oh, man I have been icthing for a new RE game since I beat RE5, and RE: Revelations dosen't have release date yet and I'd have to buy a Nintendo 3DS to play it, so RE:ORC is awesome awesome welcomed news that just became the highlight for my day. Can not wait to start seeing pics and vids for this, you can bet I'll be posting all future updates here.

Pic of The Day 03/22

 I am a huge Robocop fan so this pic was a must save for me, it's awesome but at the same time laugh out loud funny.

Battle Armor Skeletor & Princess Adora

You know for a guy who at first really only wanted two Masters of The Universe figures I now have 6, and a small list with a few more to boot. Today I add a figure I've been waiting been waiting 10 months for since I first saw pics of him from San Diego Comic Con 2010; Battle Armor Skeletor. Was he worth the wait? Hell yeah, he's freaking evilly awesome, from he's metallic chest armor with interchangeable chest plates to he's wicked purple axe, which I have to say was he's number 1 selling point for me.

There is one thing I can say that I prefer was done a different way, is the paint on he's face. The paint job on my re-release Skeletor is perfect, to me perfectly recreates an evil skull that has had it's flesh remove from it and has been decaying and dwelling in slime for decades with it's mixture of green and yellow, but B.A. Skeletor is too bright and rather cartoony in my opinion. Now I just need Panthor for him to ride on, and Battle Armor He-Man to face off against.  

Yes!, now I just need a purple shield

You'll pay for that He-Man!

OK fine, I surrender

"Thy sword, and thy staff"

Will the real Skeletor please stand up

BATTLE OF THE AXES!

Now I have to admit He-Man's sister from a spin-off show wasn't on my list till last week when I saw see was being re-released the same day as Battle Armor Skeletor, but I figured getting her from Matty would be cheaper then trying to get her elsewhere later. Princess Adora is a beautiful figure, the Four Horsemen sculptors truly outdid themselves with her, see looks like she walked right out of an episode of She-Ra: Princess of Power. Adora comes with her Sword of Protection, and a nicely designed and detailed little pistol, both can be stored on her, her sword on her back, and the pistol on the holster on he hip, which is also a removable belt.

Now that I have Adora I have to add her heroic alter-ego She-Ra to my want list. Luckily I heard there gonna release a new She-Ra with a new body to better fit on her soon to be released horse Swiftwind. So now I have to ask myself, Do I want to get Swiftwind?

Horde Force Captain Adora

Give me a reason

Sister Sword/Sword Sister

For the honor of Grayskull!

"Put a shirt on Adam."

Leader of The Great Rebellion

Gundam Unicorn Episodes 1-3 Review

Mobile Suit: Gundam Unicorn
It is the year U.C. 0096, three years has passed since the end the second Neo-Zeon war which ended with influential Newtype pliots Amuro Ray and Char Azanable being listed as K.I.A. after Neo-Zeon's last attack on Earth. This story introduces us to 16 year old Banagher Links a young engineering student living on Industrial 7 space colony, when remnants of Neo-Zeon called "The Sleeves" arrive at the colony to retrive "The Key to Laplace Box" from the elusive Vist Foundation. Banagher saves the life of a mysterious girl name Audrey Burne, who he has an uncontrollable devotion to help her in her quest to talk to the head of the Vist Foundation.

When the Sleeves decided to try to take "The Key" by force and starting fighting Earth Federation forces inside and outside the colony, the confusion and destruction around him leads Banagher in the cockpit of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam, and the beginning of him learning he's past and he's destiny in opening Laplace's Box, that could either destroy relations to space or forever bring peace.

Episode 1: "Day of The Unicorn"
There is one thing this episode had in spades that looks like it'll be a staple for every episode is the Mech action, I mean you can't have a Gundam series without Mobile Suit battles, but Unicorn does it with a classic meets hi-def style that out shines even the fights in Gundam 00 (which I also highly enjoyed). I really think it has to do with the Universal Century's type of Mobile Suits and their weaponry of just beam sabers, beam rifles, missiles, and machine guns, nothing too powerful, battles being won more on the skills and tactics of the pilots then on machines capabilities and most importantly there was only ever one Gundam at a time unlike in the Alternate Gundam universes (Wing, G, SEED, 00) that usually had anywhere from 4-10 Gundams on one or both sides dominating the battlefield. So after saying that I can say this OVA series not only is a new story set in the Universal Century but also pays great respect to the type of storytelling, character motivations and mech desgin and fighting that was laid before in the previous U.C. Gundam tales of the One Year War, Zeta Gundam, and Char's Counterattack.

Episode 2: "The Second Coming of Char"
This episode introduces the new antagonist of Full Frontal who is called "The Second Coming of Char" cause of he's ability of piloting he's red mobile suit the Sinanju at three times the normal speed of other mobile suits, appears to be a Newtype and also of he's blond hair and red uniform. People also recognize he's voice and even when unmasked looks identical to Char Aznable right down to the scar between he's eyes, but could Char have survived the event of  the Psycoframe fueled pushing of the Axis asteroid out of Earth's atmosphere three years ago? I really loved hearing and seeing Full Frontal in this episode, he's english voice actor, Keith Silverstein, does an excellent job sounding like the One Year War Char, but I wish they could of got Michael Kopsa who provided Char's vioce for the original series and the Char's Counterattack movie back cause Full Frontal sounded great as charismatic pilot and captain, but is missing that great leader and Newtype idealist tone that should of been there that would of made us better believe this is the same Char.

Episode 3: "The Ghost of Laplace"
A lot of cool stuff in this episode, like appearances of enemy mobile suits from previous series like the Dreissen, Geara Doga, Drac-C, and Gaza-D for the fans to find, for me it was awesome seeing the new Delta-Plus is action, which is an evolution of the Hyaku Shiki with an added Waverider flight mode. I'm not 100% sure but I'm pretty sure the Kshatriya's Psycoframe cockpit is the same exact one form Char's Sazabi's from the way it was described, so it adds a little more possible evidence to the Char/Full Frontal connection. I have to give props to ECOAS Commander Daguza just like in episode 1 he's not afraid to straight up just go and shoot a mobile suit in the face with a hand held rocket launcher, this time at Full Frontal's Sinanju. Another great moment in this episode is getting some background on Marida Cruz, which is a great connection to the ZZ Gundam tv series.

I know my "reviews" haven't revealed a lot about the actual story of what happen in each episode, I wanted to stick to what I liked about each episode, and opinion on things cause if you are a Gundam fan then you most likely already seen or read up on what happened or know from information of the original novel stories and also didn't want to spoil to much for any that haven't seen it yet. If you haven't, then if your any kind of Gundam fan, or Mech anime fan you should definitely need to watch these, it scores 10 out of 10 on ever possible scale of rating. 

Batman: Arkham City Gameplay Trailer

OH HELL YES! Did that not make you want to play the game right damn now. I'm hoping every Batman fan played Arkham Asylum, cause that game was hands-down the greatest Batman video game ever made, and we're all looking forward to Arkham City being even better. This trailer shows off some of Batman's new moves and abilities, and reveals a few new character complete with lines from them.

CAN. NOT. WAIT. for October 14th.

Pic of the Day 03/11

Ah, Time Travel: tricky business. Let's not even go into the fact that Cyclops and Jean Grey did exactly raise Cable in the future via time displaced conciseness in genetic template bodies, and that Cable has an alternate reality half-sister Rachel who's mother is who he's mother was cloned from.

Romantically Apocalyptic

A new web comic was brought to my attention today Romantically Apocalyptic, and it is funny as hell and it going a great addition to my list of daily funny reads. It's only up to 36 pages so it won't take long to catch up before the next installment, which I don't know if it's daily or not. Not only is this series a great read, but The Captain and Mr. Snippy reminds me of Deadpool and Bob Agent of Hydra, so from a certain point of view looks to me to possible be their ongoing future adventures.

This one panel and I was hooked

DCUC Wishes and Thoughts

So if your a DC Universe Classics collector then you've likely seen the pics from Toy Fair 2011 and know the line-up of the next two series, 17 being Blackest Night Deputy Lanterns and 18 being half cartoon non-comic characters. Now some fans, me included, find these line-ups a little strange, do we really need or want the "Rainbow Lanterns" as their being called, I'm loving the Anti-Monitor build a figure, but I really don't want any of these one-shot costume changes, the only good thing I see coming out of this series is the molds for Lex Luthor and Scarecrow for repainting later. I'm looking forward to half of series 18, Captain Boomerang, Toyman, and Bronze Tiger, but can totally live without the completely made up just for the 70's Super Friends TV series characters Samurai, Black Vulcan, and El Dorado.

Some would say that after 18 waves, and various spin-off series, exclusives, and multi-packs that Mattel may be hitting the bottom of the barrel of "buyable" heroes and villians, but I say neigh! Mattel still has plenty of heroes and villians not yet released as DCUCs, not including cool alternative costumes, like 90's harpoon hand Aquaman, that still need to be made. So I present here my own personal wish list series of figures I'd love to see one day.

RED ARROW

Not he's current cybernetic arm druggie Arsenal persona, but when he was at he's most heroic best as a member of the post-Infinite Crisis Justice League of America. Just repaint the Green Arrow body with a new belt buckle and head, easy peasy.

ELONGATED MAN

I have the story Identity Crisis to thank for me really starting to like this guy, and want an action figure of him. If you didn't know beside he's stretching power he is a master detective equal to Batman. If ever made, would hopefully come with some of Plastic Man's interchangeable shape-changing parts.

RED HOOD

 Oh yeah, Jason Todd, a real hot topic for Batman fans. I personal love he's revival and what he has become to the Bat-Family. I would want him to come with removable helmet to reveal he's red domino masked face, guns, and knifes.

HUNTRESS

 Now if I remember correctly she won the second fan choice poll, so we should be seeing her soon. Definitely hoping she'll be in her current Jim Lee designed costume, then just needs a crossbow and a bo-staff.

JAY GARRICK

 The original DC Comics Flash, an inaugural member of the Justice Society of America to join other members already released, but I also want him to add to the Flash Family. Removable helmet a must.

STARGIRL

With Starman already released, It's a safe bet she's already been thought about for potential release, along with her raised awareness from her appearances in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. I mean her Cosmic Rod Staff is already been made, now we just need her.

S.T.R.I.P.E

Now for the collect-n-conncet figure for my dream series, I would want to complete the Stars & Stripes team with Pat Dugan's armored hero persona. I would make the upper torso have a flip up helmet to show off Pat's head.

Now let's see how many of these get made, and how long it take till they eventually do.

DC Universe Classics Series 5

I now possess the rarest of the rarest of the DC Universe Classics series, the barely produced and hard to find in stores when released in 2009 as a Wal-Mart only exclusive, Series 5. So in 2009 if you wanted this series you'd have to get it off Ebay for hugely inflated prices, with $200 probably being the cheapest if you were lucky. Thankfully this series was re-released on Matty Collector, Mattel's official online store, for a far far way more reasonable price, which I missed because of insufficient funds at the time, but with last of my income tax return I purchased the set of Big Bad Toy Store.

2 heroes, 3 villains, and 1 anti-hero

Series 5 like all the DC Universe Classic series is a "Collect-n-Connect" series with each figure coming with a piece to build the bigger figure of Metallo. Amazo, Riddler, and Metallo are all great additions to my DC villains display, Atom and Black Lightning will join their fellow Justice League members, and Eradicator is just a great piece of late 90's Death of Superman nostalgia. I'm not entire sure if the series was just re-released out of backed up stock sitting in warehouses or was completely put back in to production for this release, but I am overall very happy with this series, the range of heroes and villians for different eras in the comics, the awesome build a figure, all the way down to the crisp paint jobs on them all.



 

Most of the post-Infinite Crisis Justice League of America line-up



My current Batman's Rogue's Gallery

 

     

  A scene from Batman: Under The Red Hood

                                                                  

            

                                      Just need Cyborg Superman and Steel

 

Bring It On

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Thoughts

Cool fan art

I have to say I am loving MvC3, I played it for 9 hours straight yesterday, must of unlocked like 12 characters endings. I may not be the most adapt at fighting games, I usually get my butt kicked at them most of the time unless it's Tekken or Soul Calibur, but with MvC3's Simple Mode it makes the game quite fun and evens the playing ground for those of us that are not so good at remembering and doing button combinations. What I really love are the alternative colors for the characters, not just simple palate swaps but actual colors to represent other costumes and/or characters like the Punisher's version of Captain America's costume, current X-Force colors for Wolverine and Deadpool, Megaman colors for Zero, I love them all, thank you Capcom.

Really wish it was Iron Man's Classic armor instead

Speaking of costumes I downloaded the first costume pack, let's just say I can't stop playing Captain America in he's Steve Rogers: Super Soldier costume, classic Thor, and RE1 Chris Redfield. Just those three there were to me worth the $5 bucks for them, here's hoping for many more down the line like '90's Jean Grey, '90's Wolverine, RE1 Wesker, SF3 Chun-Li or old school NES Bionic Commando for Spencer. Can't wait to download Jill and Shuma-Gorath on the 15th, and pray to the video game gods that the next downloadable character is Cable, oh please, oh please, oh please.

Why wasn't Ghost Rider in this game, instead of Dormammu

I love playing this game but I really wish the game had modes like Survival, and Speed Trial you know something to play other then arcade, or online fighting. I like that the game has specific endings for each character but I do wish their was were more then just two "pages" with a single pic and some text dialog, at least their slightly cool and something to look forward to unlocking. So if your a lover of either Marvel or Capcom characters, a long time collector the of the Vs. games, or just cool fighting games in general this game is great to have not just for the challenge but also for the fun you can have with friends and family, pick it up.