Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Release Date: June 28, 2011
Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Ehren Kruger

Giant Robots once again rule the screens this summer with Michael Bay’s third installment in the Hasbro Blockbuster, Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  This time around our robotic allies from the stars find themselves drawn into a dark conspiracy decades in the making as the Autobots learn of a crashed ship from Cybertron on the dark side of the Moon that could spell the end for the Autobots and the Planet Earth.  In the years after the Decepticons last attempt to conquer Earth Optimus Prime and the forces of earth have been  tracking down any sign of Energon activity while keeping an eye out for the potential rise of Megatron.

To summarize, the Autobots learn that their prior leader, Sentinel Prime, on last ditch mission to save the planet Cyberton was attacked by the Decepticons and sent off course until finally crashing on our moon.  Seems like Earth and Cyberton are neighbors.  We learn that Sentinel Prime was transporting the Space Bridge, a device used often in the animated series to send resources back and forth to Cybertron.  Its this very thing that makes the Space Bridge a threat to Earth and begins the large scale invasion of Earth.

If you liked the first two movies then theres a fair chance you’ll like this one as well.  Michael Bay spares no expense getting us right back into the action from scene one.  Not a fan of plot, you got it because there isn’t one aside from the danger of an alien invasion.  Love watching fast cars, big explosions and air headed women, its the perfect movie.  Heck, so long as you don’t have anything better to do for almost three mind numbing hours and somehow have money to throw away this is the perfect night out.

As you can tell I wasn’t a fan and this is where I get my rant on.  While the first movie had some flaws, the story was so much better then the sequels.  Shia LaBeouf’s character Sam Witwicky and his family help set the humorous family tone in a movie about giant robots coming to earth.  The problem is, now that that part is over all we have is fight after fight, ass shots and dumb jokes to support these films and I’m sorry but that only works for so long before it gets tiresome.  And some of the decisions the Autobots make to save humanity are horrible.  At one point the US decides to exile the Autobots into space just because the Decepticons said they wouldn’t harm Earth if they did so.  Of course this turns out to be a lie as Starscream shoots down the ship taking our heros off planet, following it up with a full scale invasion of Earth, destroying major cities and killing millions.   Then, after what feels like a full day of destruction, the Autobots show up to save the day stating that they had to remain in hiding until the humans understood for themselves not the trust the Decepticons.  I mean…come on, its in their name!  So we learned our lesson, millions are dead, can you save us now Mr. Massive Robot Man with guns…

The thing is, as a toy, the Transformers are really one of the greatest creations for a kid.  They were made well, and looked pretty dam awesome as both robots and whatever they happened to turn into and the act of transforming them was fun in and of itself.  Now turn that into a animated cartoon for saturday mornings and its a recipe for success.  So why can’t I be drawn into the these piece of crap movies.  Like I said, where the first movie had its boy and his car charm, these sequels drop the ball by just attempting to overstimulate the viewers to the point where we’re just tossing out money at it for nothing.

So even though I wasn’t a fan and thought this was one of the worst films I’ve seen so far this year I can’t turn a blind eye that this movie made such a stupid amount money in its opening weekend that we can almost guarantee another in the series.  Oh joy…

Beware My Power, Green Lanterns Light!

Iconic words from an iconic oath created durning the Silver Age of Comics at DC.  A time of change in the industry when DC decided to relaunch their staple of characters from the Golden Age to a new audience, bringing some big changes to some beloved characters such as Hawkman, changed from a reincarnating Egyptian warrior prince to an alien police officer from the planet Thangar, Green Lantern, an emerald warrior powered by a magic lantern to human bestowed an alien ring and drawn into a powerful corps of peacekeepers.  The Atom, originally a mighty mite in a cowl with a fist of steel, now changed to a scientist who created a belt using a white dwarf star to grant him the ability to shrink to microscopic sizes and finally the Flash, the scarlet speedster clad like mercury given power by breathing in hard water vapors, relaunched as Barry Allen, a chronically late police scientist given powers of speed after being splashed by electrified chemicals in his lab. This around a number of reboots on existing characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to the current times helped bring DC back to the forefront, telling compelling stories and reintegrating their lineup.  So with all this we see that DC has a history of change.  So why am I so afraid that my favorite comics are going to die a slow death after the upcoming “52 new issues” this fall.

 Back in the 80’s when DC shook things up with their house cleaning event Crisis on Infinite Earths, that, while not so streamlined to be a flawless reboot, did what it intended.  The company used a successful event to update and relaunch their titles for a new generation and I was on their bandwagon.  Beforehand the only DC titles I’d read where the seldom Batman, Justice League or whatever random book I happen to grab at a flea market for a quarter, and I can say for certain that if anyone asked me I’d say my money was with Marvel’s House of Ideas reading X Men or Spiderman.  That is until the Crisis.  This event drew me in, showed me the rich history of characters DC had and captured my imagination when it ended, giving me a ground level view of such great characters as Superman and Batman.  They became icons of my generation and opened up all the other characters and stories DC had a chance to retell with a new spin.

So with all this, I can only hope, beyond hope, that DC somehow comes out of this new change smelling like a rose and not what I’m expecting.  It doesn’t help that almost all the images that they released for their new costume changes are a mess.  I have no idea whats going to appear on the shelves this fall but after I finally got over the shock of all this news I finally decided to give it a shot.  No matter what, its story that carries comic books forward.  With a focus on great storytelling I can overlook any artistic mishaps along the way.  Ultimately where it stands is that I’m a comic fan, in the years I’ve been reading, the industry has gone through a lot of changes and I’ve seen some really awesome stories unfold and this won’t end anytime soon.  We may have a hiccup along the way but thats to be expected.  Comics are really a great medium and as we all know, any publicity is good publicity, so no matter what, DC has people talking again about their titles and at the very least, remembering how good the older stuff was.  We all know, theres always back issues calling out to be read again and for some, for the first time while we’re enjoying good comics from the other companies.

Poll Results

Which Super Hero in Civilian Identity Would You Rather Hang Out With For One Day?

Turns out it was a tie between Tony Stark and PeterParker.

No one feeling the love for Ben Grimm or Guy Gardner here, personally I’d hang with either of those dudes anytime.

The only problem with hanging out with Parker is you can pretty much guarantee he’ll split out right away mumbling something about “spider sense tingling” whatever that means….and stiff ya with the bill.  Good ol Pete.  Actually, now that I think about it, I think I’ll use that excuse next time and see how it works out.

Who Are The Mystery Men

Who Are The Mystery Men

Writer: David Liss
Artist: Patrick Zircher
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: 2.99

It isn’t everyday that I walk the new comic shelves and find something published by one of the Big Two on the rack that I hadn’t either heard about via Previews magazine or just hearing talk about it around the comic shop.  Today was one of those special days that I found something totally unexpected.

Who Are The Mystery Men is a new limited series by Marvel Comics set in 1932 New York in the Marvel Universe.  Meant to bring a Pulp Era feel to Marvel set within their historical continuity, this title grabbed my attention right away, mostly because it wasn’t an attempt to tell an alternate history using famous characters like Spider Man or Doctor Strange (who naturally scream out to be rethought in Pulp Era style) but instead David Liss introduces us to all new characters setting the place within Marvel New York.  The cover leads me to believe that the Mystery Men will end up being a five person team but this issue focuses on two or possibly three of our heroes being introduced.  I say three because I’m suspecting that one of the female characters will end up being a heroine by next issue.  In this issue we are introduced to The Operative, a calling card cat burglar with the golden heart and the mysterious Revenant, the vengeance of the night.

This title was top of my read stack and I finished it off as soon as I got home today.  Its so great to find something like this on the shelves in a sea of Fear Itself summer event titles.  Give it a try, the art, story and concept spells success in my book!

One Angry Comicjunkie

Dungeons and Dragons Fortune Cards

A few months ago Wizards of the Coast released a new option for 4th Edition Dungeon and Dragons Players in the form of Fortune Cards.  These cards are sold in booster pack, each pack contains 1 instruction card 5 common cards, 2 uncommon and 1 rare for a total of 8 playable cards per pack.  Please note that these cards are not needed at all to play Dungeons and Dragons but meant to be an optional addition to the game, giving players an edge in their traditional 4th Edition game play. The set contains 3 different card types, Attack, Tactic and Defense.  These cards are RPGA Legal for those of you who participate in RPGA events.

 How they are played.

Please note, deck construction rules are found on the Wizards of the Coast Website.  Its only a 2 page rule sheet but not included in pack purchases.  The following is copied directly from the rule sheet.

 “A custom Fortune Card deck can contain any multiple of 10 cards (10, 20, 30, and so on).  For every 10 cards in your deck, you must have at least 3 cards of each of the three categories (Attack, Defense, Tactics).”

Now this of course means a player needs to purchase at least two booster packs to make a deck, and even then to build a deck by the rules you might not have enough cards. Welcome to the world of collectible card games my friends.

Once you have your deck built, players have the option of drawing a card during combat to form a one card hand that they can play as a free action.  If for any reason the player doesn’t want the card they can discard and draw another the following round.  Sort of a rinse and repeat action here.

General Thoughts on Game Play.

While the concept of giving players an option to enhance their gameplay is nice, this plays out and feels like something that is tacked onto the Dungeons and Dragons line in order to perhaps draw in the Collectible Card Game crowd.  Sort of like the general class construction of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons felt like it was attempting to appeal to the MMO crowds out there.

But I will also say that as far as game balance goes, this isn’t that bad.  Each card gives the sort of bonus or enhancement that either a feat or magic item of low to mid level would give.  Nothing too far fetched that would make the cards unplayable.  So in closing, if your looking for something to add to your Dungeons and Dragons game and you have about 15 bucks burning a hole in your pocket pick up three packs and give it a go.  Or you could do what I did and hunt down retailers at conventions like Pax East handing the stuff out as promos.  That Wizards of the Coast seminar helped me build out my small deck enough to make me happy!

Keep on rolling twenties my friends!

Time for some Polls

DC Universe Reboot Rumored

Rumors abound that the powers that be at DC are planning a reboot of the DC Universe in the Fall by relaunching 52 new titles and making what could be major changes to existing characters.  Plans for a new Justice League, potential changes to their flag ship characters Superman and Wonder Woman, everything is just a rumor.  There is even a rumor that Grant Morrison will get the Superman title….AHHHHH…the comic gods are soo cruel!

The Mighty Thor 2

Writer: Matt Faction
Artist: Oliver Coipel
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: 3.99

A Thor movie was released so guess what?  Matt Faction gets to write another series for the (insert movie character name here).  Oh joy.

Actually, as I was starting to gather my thoughts regarding this issue so I could give it this brief review I was surprised to see Matt Faction as the writer for the book.  Usually I’m not a fan of anything he writes since my first experience with him was that piece of crap Casavona.  Such a horrible horrible book…   Anyway, this is about Thor and his new title, time to focus.  First off, I didn’t read the first issue, it was sold out at my local comic shop but as usual the first page gives a story summary to catch up new readers.  Mostly is blah blah Thor, blah blah, Yggdrasil the World Tree, blah blah, Odin’s acting all crazy train again.  You get it.  But the art in this book is SO SO great, i had to give it a try.  Pretty much the last half of the book that has The Silver Surfer appearing in Broxton (this happens before the events in Fear Itself when Asgard returns to Asgard Space) is worth the price of the book.  I was even happy with the writing in this book as well.  So, with the story line building up to a Galactus vs Asgard story I’ll check out the next few issues.  Like i said, its worth it just for the art, trust me, i’m a comicjunkie.

The Incredible Hulks 629

Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Tom Grummett
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: 2.99

Issue 629 wraps up a three part story featuring The Incredible Hulk and the Red She Hulk’s battle against old school foe of the Hulk Tyrannus in his quest to possess the ancient artifact Pandora’s Box.  Sounds a little like the plot of Tomb Raider 2 right?  Well maybe so but at its core a great hulk story involves conflicting personalities and lots and lots of rage and this issue gives us a bit of both.  For those not in the know, over the last few years the Hulk family has exploded with the appearance of Red Hulk, Red She Hulk, a brand new Savage She Hulk under the guidance of the Sensational She-Hulk Jen Walters and finally Skarr, the son of the Hulk.  Now i’m not going to go in the long story about who and how all these characters all appeared over the years but instead focus on my initial thoughts on my coming back on board the Hulk series after being away since the Peter David run oh so long ago.

What really drew me in was the fantastic cover art by Frank Cho showing The Hulk and The Red She Hulk in battle, the man has such a great style and mastery of the human form that anything he works on pops out on the shelfs.   Since I’d skimmed the first two parts of the storyline I felt I had enough of a grasp of what happened before this issue to give it a try, that and the first page gives a storyline summary helped out too.  The story picks up as Tyrannus has taken possession of an mystic fortress floating over Rome Italy and uses its power to transform into a huge construct in his own shape, (because he’s Tyrannus, its what he does..).  Mostly its the standard hero vs villain story but what I liked the most was the interaction between Hulk and Red She Hulk.  We all know the Hulk is Bruce Banner, we all the Hulk is a savage hero who gets stronger as he gets madder.  What you may not know is that over the years his personality has changed drastically, sometimes he’s dumb, sometimes he’s smart, sometimes he’s crafty and selfish, other times he’s a World Breaker.  Its seems now that the Hulk is smart again but not Bruce Banner so we have the conflicting personalities again.  With the Red She Hulk, we have Betty Banner (surprise!!) back from the dead after being changed by the foes of the Hulk into the Red She Hulk, who, i may add, doesn’t like the Hulk much.  So what we have here is a married couple who in human form love each other but in Hulk forms hate each other.  Pretty much thats screaming out to me as a rich story telling element that could keep me coming back for a little while.  So long as the Hulk Smash bit still keeps the action high, i’m interested in how this Hulk / She Hulk story is going to resolve itself.  So for now, i’m on board.  At least it hasn’t struck out twice like my recent attempts to get back on the X Men train.