War Machine - First Arc

Recently, Marvel's new War Machine title finished its first arc, and I thought I'd post some thoughts on how I think it went.

Overall, very good. In this story Rhodes starts his mission to take out the worlds untouchable bad guys by "Killing the **** out of them" My first gripe was that this was a far cry from the War Machine we knew and loved who did question the ethics of killing, but Jim's been through a lot since then, and indeed there isn't much left. In fact the reason he's picked up a bloodthirsty streak was even better explained. Now that he is a cyborg he can't forget, ever, anything. Every killing, atrocity and genocide, he remembers.

There have been a few changes to the general gist set up in the War Machine: Weapon of Shield story in iron man. Suzi Endo left in disgust of Jim's killing, to be replaced in issue 1 with his old friend Parnell. He also now has a ground crew in the form of Bethany cabe. He also has a new ability, to incorporate any technology into his armour automatically. This leads to some rather bizarre armour configurations later in the story.

The story itself sees Jim head out to the nation of Aquaria, to kill the CEO of arms company Eaglestar, and rescue Parnell's wife and Jim's old school crush Glenda. On the way he runs into Ares, God of war, which actually provides some of the story's finest points, the interplay between War Machine and Ares is top stuff. Ares admires Jim's work and forces him to take a good long look at how much of his humanity he has given up. At the end of the story Ares refers to War machine as his champion, hopefully a plot thread that will be followed up.

The art was good, not fantastic but good, grimy and muted. It suited the mood of the book. A particularly nice touch was when we see things from War Machine's POV, the chaotic mass of data really gives a good impression of how he sees the world.

So, at the end Osbourne has the newly cloned body for Jim, and indeed offers everyone a reward, but Jim has other ideas. It looks like he has a nice supporting cast, with the possible love triangle between Jim, Glenda and Parnell plus Bethany Cabe, Suzi Endo (Cybermancer from Force Works, yes, I remember Force Works) and new character Jake Oh, Ex SHIELD agent and medic. I'm genuinely interested to see where this is going.

Ok, so any war machine story is a soft sell on me, and it really would have had to have been utter drivel for me to hate it, but I like the characters, enjoyed the story and want to see where it is going next. War Machine is back.*

*Unless Marvel have cancelled the book by the time this gets posted

Marvel Knights, Where Are they now #2

Punisher

Punisher was actually considered one of the poorest of the Marvel Knights launch titles by fans and critics alike, in its first 4 issue mini they re-jigged Marvel's most psychotic Vigilante into becoming a warrior of heaven with a celestial armoury. They may have been aiming for a preacher feel and truth be told I liked it, but it is usually a bad idea to give characters who are so defined by their lack of powers supernatural abilities.

Punisher had a second 4 issue mini called Revelation where he teamed up with Marvels busiest mutant, Wolverine. Again, the angelic powers were a turnoff for fans. However this run of poor luck was soon to change. Marvel hired Preacher writer Garth Ennis to take over punsiher. He did It in style, unceremoniously dumping the supernatural elements he took Frank back to basics, taking down the Ganucci crime family in a story called "Welcome back Frank"

Under Garth Ennis Punisher was great, sick, funny and generally warped. When Marvel launched its MAX line for adults only titles, it took a while, but eventually Punsiher shifted over there. Ennis took a different direction, blacker humour and real dark gritty stories really made Punisher a must read title.

During Civil war, Punisher was so popular there was an attempt to re-introduce him to the mainstream Marvel-U. This was in Punsiher: War Journal by Matt Fraction, it wasn't his best work.

Nowadays however Punisher is in rude health, Still running two titles Punisher is mainstream Marvel currently running its Dark Reign plots, and there is still a MAX title as well. It is almost opposite to Black panther, It started shakily but is now a solid title.

As for teh angelic powers, I'd like to see them return, not in Punisher, but it was a neat power set, and I liked the idea of him being a crusader for the underdogs. Perhaps a new hero?

Not another Star Trek Review

Saw the new JJ Abrahms Star Trek Relaunch, and it is gooooood.

I was going to open with a jokey fanboy type jibe of how it was a travasty and a slap in the face to all "Real" fans, but you know what, forget that. It is brilliant. There is fun, there is sadness there is action. Pine carries Kirks swagger with charm, Quinto really manages to bring Spock's inner conflict to screen and Urban's Dr McCoy is the best thing in a film filled with best things.

Criticisms, Abrahms coudl have cut down on the lens flare effect, it got a little annoying, and the Enterprise is still pretty duff, but these are small niggles in an otherwise storming film.

Trek is back. Oh yes.

Marvel Knights, Where are they Now

Back in 1998 Marvel released the Marvel Knights imprint. The idea was to make a more adult imprint in the Marvel universe but without going into the adult areas of DCs Vertigo line. While the initial launch was considered a mixed bag Marvel Knights very quickly became a banner of quality, basically you would know a good book if it had Marvel Knights written on it. A certain Joe Quesada was in charge of the Marvel Knights line, and as a result once he became EiC of all of Marvel the line was slowly diluted and phased out. It now stands for one-off prestige events. But I wasn't going to talk too much about the fall of Marvel Knights as an imprint. Instead I was going to talk about the Marvel Knights titles and Where they are now.

The original 4 Launch titles of the Marvel Knights range were Daredevil and Black Panther as ongoings, a Punisher 4 issue Limited series and an Inhumans 12 issue maxi series.

Black Panther

Obviously in the launch the majority of focus was on Kevin Smith's Daredevil story (Back when you could trust Smith not to run away and make Jersey girl on you) but the major critical acclaim at launch came from Christopher Priest's quirky take on Black panther. For starters, the story was seen from the point of view of a government attache called Everett K Ross, second the story was told from his rather fragmented reporting of this story to his superior and girlfriend. The result was a confusing but very entertaining non-linear story. Over the course of the issues we had the initial fragments expanded and it was a rare thing to have a story that was entertaining both as a single issue and a full story.

So, what happened. Well Panther has had a hard time of it as a title. It was the first of the Marvel Knights titles to be taken into the mainstream Marvel Universe, where it seemed to lack the spark of earlier issues. This volume finally ended with a very entertaining story where struggling New York cop Casper Cole found and used a Black panther costume.


Black panther then re-started in a story that was almost a re-boot of the title. This started well with international politics taking a high stage and the US threatening an invasion. However I found the story was de-railed by dragging Black panther into every big summer event in existence plus further confusion when Panther joined the Fantastic 4. In the end I dropped the title and it has since had to be re-booted for the current Dark Reign state of affairs.





Overall Black Panther has never really regained its status from the Christopher Priest issues which is a shame as the character is ripe for development. Here's hoping this newer run brings back some of the old Marvel Knights magic.

This is why I love Knight Rider

This will be my first attempt to get a video clip embedded in a post, wish me luck.

Ok,

This is why I love new Knight Rider, we're near the conclusion of a 3 episode arc, KITT has been de-activated and mike must invade a base to get him back and defeat KARR. Now, dark gritty series may have used forboding or stealthy music and had him do a lot more sneaking. Not Knight Rider, they Put on the AC/DC and turn the action machine up to 11. The only way they coudl have made it better is if he was actually playing teh music from concealed speakers during teh scene, and I kind of like to think he is.

Electric

What holds back the electric car, and who made Steve Gutenberg a Star? I will attempt to answer one of these questions in this post.

Steve Gutenberg had a cheeky smile that suited some roles during the 1980s furthermore.....

Just kidding. There are currently moves to encourage electric car ownership, with government attempting to get a network of plug in points assembled across the country. This has seen some success in London where the GeeWhiz electric car has been quite successful as a small commuting vehicle.

Electric cars have also evolved from their predecessors which often lacked speed and range. Indeed it is often said that an Electric Car's bigges weakness is the weight of its batteries and the amount of energy it spends hauling those around. However I disagree. Range is now just about comparable to a tank of petrol and speed isn't an issue with cars like the Tesla proving that it is possible to build an exciting electric car.

Nope, the electric car's biggest hindrance is charging time. Take a petrol car, when you run low on petrol you stop at a petrol station and fill up the tank, this usually takes a few minutes. Batteries take hours to charge. This is irrelevant when you are driving your car to work, plugging it in for 7-8 hours, driving home and plugging in again, but what if you want to make a trip that is outside the range of your batteries, you may need 3.5 hour stopovers every time you run out of power, making long journeys longer.

So, what are the solutions. Well, most practical is the Hybrid, cars such as the Toyota Prius, which carry a petrol engine which can run the car and charge the batteries at the same time. Its not the ideal solution, the car is heavy with the weight of an engine and batteries, and this seriously affects the engine's fuel efficiency when running on petrol. There is a plug-in version available, which allows you to charge the batteries by plugging in, but the hybrid really is a stopgap.

Far More promising is the Hydrogen fuel cell, which has been perfected, it uses a clever chemical reaction from hydrogen to generate electricity. The only by-products, water. of course, the down side is that at the moment it costs more energy to produce Hydrogen than you ever get out of it, but that's merely the next hurdle.

Finally, there have been some encouraging experiments done in fast charging batteries. in short re-chargeable batteries that could run for 3 hours and charge in 30mins. Suddenly all an electric car does is make you take regular breaks.

Providing people are willing to invest and promote new technology I foresee a future where nearly all of us drives either a Hybrid or and Alternative fuel car

Games that Stole My Life #2

Myst

Or to be Precise, the Myst series of games, yes, Myst, Riven, Myst II: Exile, Myst Iv Revelations, Uru and Myst V: End of ages have all taken up an inordinate amount of my time. The series focuses on you, a mysterious traveller who gets dragged into a mysterious book. You become embroiled into the affairs of Atrus, one of the D'ni, a people who could write links to amazing worlds in books.



Myst


The story starts with you trying to work out what has happened on this deserted island, and which one of Atrus's Sons trapped both him and Catherine. As you travel through the ages of Myst you see the signs of both son's corruption, but who was responsible, Sirrus, who plundered ages for wealth, or the more sadistic Achenar. Both try to blame the other in garbled messages from their trap books. The revelation at the end is of course, it was both.


I started playing Myst in School, it came free with the Apple computers that had been donated and being one of the better computing students I, along with others, was occasionally allowed to go to the lab at lunchtime and play games. The look and feel of Myst blew me away, the atmosphere, the mystery. Even now if I load up Myst, I can almost smell the pine on Myst Island. This is a game that virtually requires you to sit down and spend about 20 odd minutes in game reading. Oddly enough when I left school without knowing how Myst ended I needed to buy my own copy, and did, in pre-Internet days my only source of advice was a certain mate who had sometime net access and could provide me with hints. Regardless, this game took as many hours of my life online as it did offline, sitting in classes or in front of the TV I'd be trying to solve puzzles in my head or work out what I'd missed. Once I'd beaten it I would occasionally still load up the game, just to play the story again. I still get annoyed that RealMyst is so thin on the ground, yes I prefer ed the Myst IV engine, but to wander around Myst island with changing weather. Wow.



Riven

Following the events of Myst Atrus contacts you once again, try and free his wife Catherine from the clutches of his power mad Father Ghen in the age of Riven. And there may even be a way home for you.

For me, this was a long awaited sequel. What happened next. Surprisingly, at the time I was a little disappointed. Initially the more uniform look of the different islands of Riven was a let down after the variety of the ages of Myst. However the plot was interesting, and seeing the sadistic way Ghen kept his followers obedient through fear was interesting, if nothing else because you, as the outside observer get the view from behind the curtain. Riven also suffered from puzzles making slightly less sense, in Myst, they were hints to combinations to access the valuable link books, in Riven some made sense but others (The generator puzzle for example) didn't really make sense (Why have a coloured bead puzzle to switch on power?) Overall though a very good addition.





Myst III: Exile

For a few years this was just a cover picture and a selection of images and concept sketches to me. My machine lacked the oomph to run Myst III. This led me to do something purists will no doubt call a travesty. I played Myst III on the Playstation 2. Yes, I played it on a console, my enjoyment was not diminished of this tale of a nutter who was tortured by Sirrus and Achenar out for revenge, plus you really felt like you were learning a little about the "art" of writing worlds. We also had a good selection of distinct areas, mechanical islands, anachronistic tech and giant organic areas. This was the Myst I remembered. It also had a fantastic "Gotcha" moment on the villain, who I'd found sympathetic, but also fallen afoul of the ending where he basically stabs you in the back.





Myst IV: Atrus has invited you over to see him and his family, and you apparently haven't learned that things go wrong when you drop in. Sure enough, he's been visiting his sons, who he trapped in their ages during the events of Myst, and wants to know wheather he should let them out. While he's away getting parts for a machine there is an explosion and his daughter Yeesha disappears, and worse, it seems that one of his sons is responsible. But which one.

This was excellent, it had the varied ages that drew me to Myst, a decent mystery (Albeit similar to Myst) and my favorite graphics engine, the set nodes made a game that looked better than its sequel, it had the neat feature that you could tap surfaces, in fact the sound could deserve lines of review alone, Only two puzzles were hellish and the mystery was really well presented. Plus it had the superb version of Peter Gabriel's "Curtains" in it. One I must return to at some point.





Myst V

Set many years after the events of Myst IV, Yeesha is all growed up and the events of Uru are in the past. Things are beginning to fail and collapse, and it may be Yeesha's fault. This is so far (With a small caveat) the only Myst Game I am yet to finish. You must re-assemble some sort of tablet, then work out if you can save the Myst universe.

This game had an several new gimmicks, it was split over 4 distinct ages and the D'ni city itself, well at least the access to the City, nice to see areas from the books realised though. Anyway, puzzles are mostly solved using a tablet on which you draw symbols to make events happen in the age. Its a bit weird and can be an utter pain. Each time you draw a symbol you have to drop the tablet and let one of the Bharo (From Uru) judge your drawing, and they're pretty damned fussy. Still, nice touch of having Yeesha and an older D'ni man follow you through the adventure, giving advice and trying to talk you to their way of thinking. Problem is there are far too many timebound puzzles, where you do one thing and have a limited time to do the next few steps. It removes the easy and thoughtful pace of the previous games. Also while the engine used (Same as RealMyst and Uru) allows you complete free roaming, the node based system of IV looked better and seemed more immersive. Another I'll have to go back to and see if I can finish.

Uru

This was a fairly bold attempt by the Myst bods. A Spinoff, so not directly related to Atrus, experimenting with some 3rd person and platform elements, and finally it was to have an online feature, so the game could be played through as a group of friends solving the puzzles, creating new ones and just hanging out. The story follows Yeesha, Daughter of Atrus and Catherine and various prophecies of the D'ni and dark secrets in their past.

This game had a lot of nice touches, not just tat you could run around the ruins of D'ni, and Visit the cleft in the rocks Atrus grew up in. Although those were nice touches. An element of the plot featured an abandoned expedition to the D'ni city by a group called the D'Ni restoration committee, who were investigating this underground city and hoping to open it up for study. The gameplay basically featured exploring several ages in order to highlight a series of "Journey Cloths" througouht each area. You had a home base of your own little island (As seen on the cover) think it was called Rhelto. A neat touch was you could pick up pages for your personal Rhelto book to add things like weather and decorations. There is even a page for trees but they take time to grow. The basic story of exploring the patchier parts of D'ni history is compelling and despite the 3rd person and some irritating platform parts it is a fun game to play. The caveat from Myst V being the only game i didn't finish, not exactly true. I completed the main quest of Uru, but didn't play through the two expansions, Do D'ni and Path of the shell. So those adventures still wait for me. I also never had a chance to try the online element before it collapsed. However I believe there is a new version of the online game out. I'd be interested to meet that online community

So, not only has the Myst series taken many many hours of my life, but it plans to take many more. In fact, when I fix my big computer, I feel a Myst Marathon coming on.