Defenders of Ultramar

This is one of the latest minis in Boom Studios series based in the Warhammer 40k universe. Now a little background about my relationship with Warhammer 40k, it really doesn't exist. The closest I got was playing Space Crusade which was tabletop wargaming watered down really far to a very simple level. I know those who play the real thing would scoff at this, and for me it didn't lead on to the full fledged expensive hobby, but on the other hand it engaged my interest in the universe as well. The 40k universe I always thought would be a great place to tell stories. Despite this I've never read a book based in it or played any of the computer games so when Boom announced they were going to do some 40k comics I was intrigued. I picked

up their #0 Black Templar sampler issue when it was released a few months ago, and was impressed. As well as normal "Marines blow stuff up" stories, there was a great piece with the thoughts of a dying marine, and a brilliant story about a primitive village and how they perceive the empire and marines as gods, gods they fear after marines respond to an ork invasion.

Now, I missed the first few stories they wrote, just wasn't looking for them, but managed to catch this little 4 part story.

The story focuses on the 4th company (Memory is hazy so forgive bad spellings etc) of the Ultramarines. Under the command of Brother Sargent Leurchs. We initially see a group of new recruits being selected after a clearly hard race. There is some unknown background which I think comes from a tie in Novel about how Leurchs is acting Captain while the actual captain is missing on some sort of penance. However soon the 4th company is sent out to find the fate of an Ultramarine frigate which has been out of contact. They find it being stripped down by Orks and eventually have to protect an Ultramarine city form the invasion.

As a criticism, it sits more as a middle chapter, I haven't read the preceding story and issue 4 ends on a cliffhanger which is rather a pain for a 4 issue mini. Some parts are confusing, I made the assumption that the scout company who remind Leurchs of his duty to protect the planets Citizens was comprised of the two friends we see in the first issue but neither the art nor the writing makes this clear and the story is a bit rushed. I think i was expected to know more about the characters of Leurchs, the admiral in charge of the ship, the chaplain and the apothecary but we only really get to know Leurchs and his fears and doubts.

These problems don't get in the way of what is otherwise a rip-roaring adventure, where squads of marines get to take on Orkish hoards. The action is well drawn and it does feel pretty epic at times. What helps (I'm sure there are fans of the game who would disagree) is that the ultramarines are about as close as you get to good guys in the morally dubious corps of space marines under the oppressive imperium of man. The religious fervour of the chaplain and some of the Xenophobia is touched on but ultimately Ultramarines are about Courage, honour and protecting the innocent (Provided the innocent in question are human) which I'm sure misses the point of the dark 40k universe but makes me enjoy reading a bit more.

In short, this series made me want to read more, which is a good thing, but perhaps could have used 6-8 issues to expand on characterisation and slow the breakneck pacing. In fact, if this was an ongoing, and it didn't suffer from FP's patchy cover of smaller publishers, I'd really consider picking it up as I'd like to know more. In that respect the book is a success. Overall, I couldn't tell what an actual gamer would think, but for an action packed piece of space adventure you can do a lot worse.

Oh no, not another Watchmen Review

Sorry, its the law, if you have a blog you have to express your opinion of Watchmen, its a tradition, or an old charter or something.

Me, I liked it. A lot. I'd watch it again, in fact I'd even pay over £6 (but less than £20) to see it again.

Ok, not much of a review, but this will include a ramble. One is a random outside theory. See I've been reading posts on forums etc about Watchmen, and its interesting how there is divided opinion even amongst those who read the original comic. My theory about this is as follows. I read watchmen years ago, but on seeing the film my knowledge of the greater exploration a comic with no time constraints meant somewhere in the back of my head I had the extra bits of story not covered in the film, and so my enjoyment of the film was augmented by my prior knowledge of the backstory. Those who thought the film was Ok tended to be complaining about how elements of character were lost through their lack of inclusion, which is a fair criticism. Its also why I'd really like to see some reviews from people who are not critics, perhaps like super-heroes but haven't read Watchmen as it would be interesting to see if not knowing the source material does anything.

But this is not what I want to rant about. Indeed if I was going to follow this thread I'd be gushing about how damn lucky we are to get such a good film made of Watchmen (Considering Snyder got presented with a PG-13 script with possibility of franchise). That's the great thing, if it flops at the box office we don't care, in fact hope it does, that way no-one will try and make a half baked sequel.

But I digress before i started. One of the things that is bothering me is that before the film is even out a week people are talking about the directors edition DVD, which will include extra scenes and have bits cut in such as elements from the "Tales of the Black Freighter". Now my inner geek should be relishing the longer cut, because the proles just can't sit through 4 hours of film, but it bothers me. See, way back when Blade Runner: The Directors Cut came out, it felt more like it was undoing studio interference, which is a good thing. Aliens: Special edition was probably the first one that I can recall where they really just added a few extra scenes that were originally cut, good scenes mind, bucking the trend that all too often something is cut for a reason. What I'm really getting at though is to Directors, if you want these bits in the film, put them in. Lord of the Rings was one of the most prominent to do "Extended" editions, with extra bits not seen in the cinema, and indeed announce their release more or less while the films were still showing. I personally feel part of the skill of being a Director, particularly working on condensing dense works such as Lord of the Rings or Watchmen into a cinematic length you can sit through without your bladder rupturing, is to do so without leaving stuff out. There seems to be more of a habit now to say "Yes, this is the cinematic release, but wait till you see what I'm putting on the DVD"

There are many times i will forgive a directors edition. I hear good things about the Directors Cut of Daredevil, which undid studio interference and made it more of a hidden gem in the super hero films that it already is, and the Special Edition with re-jigged effects of Star Trek: The Motion Picture really improves on the original and (Listen up George Lucas) is probably what I'd call the textbook on how to do a Special edition. I'd be very interested to see what a Directors Cut of the mostly poor Avengers film (The Uma Thurman/Ralph Feinnes one) would be like as one reviewer likened it more to a bout of "When studios attack" and similarly Shatner has always wanted to do a Directors cut of Star Trek V.

When there has been resistance or interference that only a good box office or support on DVD can allow you to overcome, then yes, by all means, make a special edition, release the film as you wanted to, let us judge who was right. But Watchmen, Lord of the Rings, they were great already, if you wanted to add more, we'd have sat through it. Ok in watchmen if they are giving the option to see the black freighter stuff intercut or not then that's fine, but really, anything else you could have added in.

In short, unless there is a very good reason not to put footage into the cinematic cut, put it in there, because I'm getting bored of people talking about how much more awesome the DVD will be.

Games that stole my life #1

Some day I'll compile a list of all the #1 starts of series I've started.



Games that stole my life is not a negative thing, instead it refers to a game that you played a hell of a lot and took days of your life in playing. Its a good thing, honest.

First up is the X-Com series, now available on Steam. My good buddy Reilly2040 blogged about them here http://reilly2040.co.uk/blog/2009/01/20/x-com-on-steam/ I thought I would add my own take.

UFO Enemy Unknown/X-Com UFO Defence

The first in the series, and only one with two titles. The plot is simple, you are in charge of X-Com, a secret organisation fighting alien invaders. Gameplay switches between the Geoscape, where you manage your base, from personnel to building new facilities and buying equipment. You also intercept UFOs, and the Battlescape, where you control your squad of agents in an isometric turn-based battle against the aliens.

Its hard to express why this game is so good, I think it is the combination of Geoscape and battlescape, where you micro manage resources in one to the nerve racking battles with aliens on the ground. It really pulled you in, and you became invested in events. You feel frustration and loss when an entire squad of agents is lost, frustration of a mission being fouled by psychic attack and glorious relief when a Snakeman terror mission is finished. I think it was also the nature of geoscape and management/Battlescape combat that seems to make time slip away. You will while away many hours of "Just one more mission"

X-Com - Terror from the Deep

The much maligned sequel, rumour is that it was actually made by a different team using the UFO engine, and it shows. Yes it is more of the same, only with the difficulty increased substantially. There were some decent fixes, such as a way to lock on the reserve time units option, and a decent tactical choice with some weapons only working under water meaning that you had to consider your teams equipment before you sent them out on a mission. It was pretty atmospheric, with the oppressive rumble of underwater or the gentle sea washing sound of a surface terror mission. And it was hard, did I mention that. Your starting weapons are not only weak as heel, but hold very little ammo so you do find yourself frequently reloading. It also lacked the "Master Weapon" so to speak. See in UFO once you researched the Heavy Plasma, that was your go-to weapon, rapid fire, light enough for anyone to carry, plenty of ammo lying around. Great stuff. TFD actually made the choice between the Aliens Sonic weapons and the researched Gauss weapons a tougher choice. Gauss packed less of a punch, but you got an Auto shot that the sonic guns lacked. Also the Heavy sonic (Sonic Cannon) was really heavy, so you would often pack a few rifles for weaker agents. The tech tree was a mad monkey puzzle and the enemies were just harder (Tasoths and Lobster men still give me Nightmares) Maligned as it is there is a lot of entertainment to be taken from this sequel.

X-Com Apocalypse

Again, a sequel that often gets a bad press, this time for the opposite reason of TFD. Apocalypse was a drastic departure, although the meat and veg of the game stayed the same, with one screen being related to base building, procuring resources etc and the other controlling a squad, there were many differences. The Geoscape was replaced with a cityscape and world governments by organisations. There were completely new aliens and new situations. so there was a real change in look and feel. The Battlescape was now playable in real time as well. However in my opinion most of these complaints are due to Apocalypse being different.

The Cityscape is used to brilliant effect in the game. Its far more a living breathing entity than the old geoscape. The different organisations will battle each other in normal competition (Such as police and gang vehicles getting into fights) while you're waiting for aliens to show up and these same police will help you fight aliens when they arrive. n fact one of the best moments I had was when the aliens foolishly attacked a MarSec (The main weapons manufacturer) plant. Suddenly all these extra vehicles launched and joined the battle. That sort of thing happens frequently. Similarly you could raid and be raided by hostile organisations or gangs looking for a quick buck. One of my favorite touches was, unlike in the original games, supplies were finite. f you'd been careless with your machine gun ammo, there was a good chance that there wouldn't be any more on sale until the end of that week. Similarly you may want to hire 50 scientists, but only 10 may be available. When you hire personnel, they have to travel to yoru base through tubes. Indeed at one point the tube network had been damaged and so I ran out an APC to pick up the new personnel. The game also replaced the monthly review with a weekly one, each usually having a corresponding hike in difficulty. This really gave the invasion a greater sense of pace than before. Overall this one is a forgotten gem, but again, it can be bloody hard.

Overall these games have probably eaten up a good few years of my life. And you know what, If I get my copy working, or just download off of steam, I'd loose a few more in a heartbeat.

I will not buy yoru stinking X Titles

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=20244

Gods be damned. Are the X-Books really doings o badly that they need sellotaped into everyone else's titles? Or are the cosmic events and Dark Avengers doing so badly that they need wolverine in them?

Yes, I cracked and bought Kingbreaker, and was left none the wiser regarding the influx of X-Men characters to my cosmic events, but now we have the Dark Avengers going up against the X-Men in a crossover of the likes that were so rightly hated in the '90s. So, to get the full story I have to pick up two issues of Dark Avengers, well that's not too much of a problem, but I'll have to pick up 2 issues of Unpronounceable X-Men and a special Alpha and Omega issue. Alpha and Omega issues, gods, haven't seen them since the Clone Saga. But for those counting, that's 2 more comics a month for 2 months for a story. And you know what, they're at the same thing with Thunderbolts, they're crossing over with Deadpool soon in a similar 1 issue of Thunderbolts, 1 of Deadpool type affair, although that bothers me less since i pick up both titles anyway.

I could see the argument that the whole object of the exercise is to see Osbourne's cabal pulling strings and the Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts both making Dark Reign felt across the Marvel universe. But these crossovers where i have to hunt down issues of other titles are really annoying. I wouldn't mind if they, say told em that there was going to be an X-Men story featuring the Dark Avengers, or that the Thunderbolts were appearing in Deadpool, but No, not a cross title crossover. I may man up and vote with my feet and either only buy the Dark Avengers issues or better still, buy neither, save me some money and pick up Dark Avengers after this debacle is over. Yes, I am that down on cheap marketing stunts like this, it could be the best story in the world but it is blighted by stupid cross title crossovers like this.

Grump and Harrumph.

As for Kingbreaker, if we are to assume that there will be another cosmic spinnoff from Kingbreaker My guess it will be one of the following, Darkhawk, Inhumans or Starjammers. Hint, don't make it Starjammers.

Great comics You're not reading damn you.

I should point out to my one valued reader, this title isn't actually aimed at you since you read at least one of these. However, with She-Hulk cancelled and Ms. Marvel embarking on a potentially ruinous change in status quo I thought I'd list 3 comics that are getting good reviews but not seemingly the readership. Now I've not heard that any of these are up for cancellation, but in these trying times there is always a risk. Notably none of these are Dark Reign tie-ins and that always means they run the risk of being dropped in favour of tie ins.



Guardians of the Galaxy



Ok, this and Nova (Will be discussed later) have their own big event in War of Kings. However Marvel's cosmic events don't pick up quite the audience of their earthbound cousins. Anyway, Guardians spun out of Annihilation: Conquest in much the same way that Nova spun out of Annihilation. Its been that rare thing, a title that is both a lot of fun and still has some serious plot points. Fun comes from the team not being particularly friendly and hence quite a lot of bickering. There is also the rather heavy concept that there are huge tears in the universe thanks to too many big cosmic events, and the Guardians have to seek them out and seal them. Then the team disbanded, sort of, but we still follow ex-members while focusing on the current team. Overall a very enjoyable title. Slightly duff teams are always a laugh but its fun not to have every character being deeply introspective. It also uses inserts of post-mission debriefings for great comedy effect. The seamless balance of comedy and epic cosmicness is a really good read. Fianlly, it has Rocket Raccoon and a psychic russian dog.



Nova

The first Annihilation event spin off has been a good consistent read thought. I previously had no real interest in Nova, but Post Annihilation I was intrigued to see where he would go from there. Yes, he has been very similar to Kyle Rayner of Green lantern during his last of the green lanterns phase, but Nova has really gone off in a different direction. The latest plot looks like a doozey, it may well take nova into conflict with the Newly reformed Nova Corps and Worldmind itself, all while managing to seamlessly interact with most of the major cosmic and non cosmic events.

Captain Britain and MI-13

This is one that has a good community fighting to make sure it survives. Paul Cornell has really done a good job making me care about a bunch of characters who I barely registered before. The comic has a suitably British voice, and thankfully with Cornell, its properly British, not a cartoon version designed for Americans as so often gets editorially mandated. One of the best titles Marvel is putting out at the moment and its just started a new story arc. No one will laugh at you for buying a comic starring a character called Captain Britain.

Dark Reign 1 (And A bit) Months on II

Ok, so I've covered the main Dark Reign titles with Avengers in the title, now the others. I've already covered War Machine, so it will be missed out and I'll probably post about the conclusion to the first arc when it concludes.

The Invincible Iron Man

Well now 3 issues into its dark reign arc, and a good sign if not a little annoying, I missed one. Still its been great, Tony destroys a load of HAMMER systems and deletes the Initiative database, and only 1 copy now exists, in Stark's head. Osbourne has started a media offensive implying (well now accusing) Stark of colluding with Skrulls. This has been fantastic and I'm glad its being read. I hope this story will join some of the other classic Iron Man stories as all time greats and I'm just glad to be here reading it as it comes out.

Ms. Marvel

This title actually kicked off its Dark Reign plot before Dark Reign even started, Secret invasion was still running. We've seen flashbacks to Carols life in the Air Force and intelligence and it has eventually been revealed that she's working to collect information on a certain individual who is now running the show. It also explains why she's not been in costume, Moonstone having been awarded her identity. Its been a strong book but I have fears. You see, the writer has said he plans to kill off carol and put Moonstone front and centre. I'm not keen, not just because Moonstone is in her original costume and her current one is one of the best looking female super-hero costumes in existence. I do feel invested in Carol as a character, so suddenly switching to moonstone (Who I do know quite well through Thudnerbolts) is a bit jarring. Still, will give it fair chance.

Punisher

Oh yes, Just when I thought I wasn't picking up any more Punisher. Dark Reign is really a reboot of War Journal aiming to put frank back into the main MU (Since his Max counterpart tends to stay well out of it) In this title he takes a sensible decision and tries to take out Osbourne, sadly he is stopped by the Sentry. This looks at least interesting enough to keep during dark reign, as I reckon the Punisher has more chance of stopping Osbourne than just about anyone else.

Secret Warriors

Just out last week this title focuses on Nick Fury and his "Caterpillar" team we last saw in Secret Invasion. So far its mostly setup and trying to get us knowing these people a little better, but it had a pretty major revelation at the end and it has me curious enough to keep an eye on. I think I may be a sucker for new characters, that could be it.

Agents of Atlas

I really enjoyed the previous mini, using old 1950s characters who I had only seen previously during a brief moment in Avengers Forever. Now, following the events of the mini the Atlas foundation are operating as a criminal cartel, which looks better when the guy they're ripping off is Norman Osbourne. But could they be forming an alliance? It was enjoyable stuff, and I liked the little wolverine Agent of Atlas story at the end, with the retro styled art. In fact with this having that short and Darkhawk having a reprint of Darkhawk vol 1 #1 I really felt like i was getting value for money.

Thunderbolts

Not seen the new issue but the past two have been a sort of prelude. Obviously the current team are no more, with Bullseye, Moonstone and Venom in the Dark avengers, Radioactive man recalled to china, swordsman apparently dead, Penance institutionalised and Songbird officially dead, actually on the run we're getting a whole new team. Story is that this team are going to be Norman Osbourne's personal kill crew, and the new lineup includes Black Widow II, Ghost, Paladin and the irredeemable Ant Man. Again, could be interesting but I am always dubious about entire cast changes, and indeed how well this title will go post Dark Reign. Still, I'll stick to it at least until after the Deadpool crossover, lets face it, to see ant man and deadpool banter will be worth a few of my earth pounds.

Dark Reign 1 (And a Bit) months on

I thought I'd take a look at how the Dark Reign titles are getting on now each has at least 1 issue out (With a few exceptions) This post will deal with mainly the Avengers titles

Avengers: The Initiative

This title is 2 issues into its post Secret Invasion/Dark Reign stint, new writer, new arc and by the look of things a mostly new batch of students as we see the next class graduate and many of the trainers go out to initiative teams rather than face what Osbourne is likely to do at camp Hammond. All this and as a fail safe Clor has been switched back on. It is fitting with its disassembled theme that things are All change at camp Hammond. Story is quite entertaining, Christos Gage is still finding his feet but a clean house should help him with what has been Dan Slott's baby. Art, well they picked Ramos again, who I really don't rate at all but so far its not been a deal breaker. It will be interesting how the pieces fall on this one.

New Avengers

We're two issues into this now, and the search for baby cage has been quickly resolved although they had to go to Osbourne for help. It would be out of character considering how many times Cage should have gone to Stark before secret invasion, but he is searching for his kid. We have what look like a few lineup changes, Captain America has joined and offered his house as a secret base, the real Spider-Woman is on the team and it looks like Ms. Marvel has joined (Which makes sense since she'll be on a wanted list after events of Dark Avengers). To me, New Avengers was always the weakest title. Still this could be a new start. Nice that there is some great scope (and indeed virtually a promise for next issue) of a throwdown between New and Dark Avengers considering both teams have a Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Ms Marvel and I'm betting Bucky isn't too happy about Osbourne wearing Cap's Colours. If this title can find some solid direction it might turn out to be rather good.

Mighty Avengers

I always preferred Mighty to New, and Genuinely Mighty's only problem was scheduling problems early on. Now being written by Dan Slott it stands out as being the least Dark Reign tied in of all 4 titles. Instead earth is being hit by a Chaos Cascade and in a roundabout way the Scarlet witch gathers a squad of avengers to face a dire threat in Transia. Slott has said that all selected Avengers won't be the final team, but for the moment we have (if I remember) Hank Pym (now Wasp) Jocasta, Jarvis, USAgent, Iron Man, Stature, Vision, Hulk, Hercules and his sidekick Amadeus Cho and of course the Scarlet Witch. Nice touch is that, aside from lacking a Hawkeye, this team is made up entirely of Ex-Avengers or Relatives (Well Cassie Lang and the Vision carries all the memories of the original) Indeed, it was a nice touch that the Scarlet witch initially looks at Bucky, but comments that "Captain America is dead" and goes for USAgent, who has previously been an Avenger. This is one of the most promising of the titles, and while I suspect that Iron Man, Hulk and perhaps USAgent (Mainly because I want more Omega Flight) will leave, we could have a good team here. The comic was fun, and that is often missing in these dark days.

Dark Avengers

Arguably the most anticipated of the Dark Reign Launches this is the New Official Marvel Universe Avengers lineup. And I was largely right, it is mostly the Thunderbolts. We have from Mighty Avengers Ares and Sentry. Noh-Varr, Marvel boy, now called Captain Marvel, Moonstone, now called Ms. Marvel, Venom, Now Spider-Man, Bullseye, Now Hawkeye and finally The Iron patriot, in fact Osbourne himself using suits that he found in Tony Starks carelessly abandoned armour store in Avengers tower. Now this is was a good read, but I do wonder how long it can carry on, Ideally we'll have a significantly less moral and more fragmented team (They already don't get on too well) and this could be interesting, but is there a long term future, and are they going to pull a Thunderbolts, I doubt it from the likes of Moonstone (been there, Done that) Bullseye or Osbourne (Too damn crazy) and Ares just likes to fight, but who knows.

Later I'll post on some of the non-avengers titles, and ones coming soon.