Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Memorial Day can be traced back to the end of the Civil War, in which a group of veterans of the Union Army established a Decoration Day to honor those who died in said war. The former Confederate States had their own day to honor their dead. By the 20th Century, the two days had merged to form the modern Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday of every May. It's also considered the beginning of summer. This is admittedly an abridged version of the history of said day, more can be found here.

On this day, we take a moment to remember those men and women who gave their lives in war to serve this nation and help maintain our freedom.

As we whip out the grills and enjoy our cold drinks, hot barbecued food, and enjoy the summer day, let's all take time to remember those brave souls who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can enjoy this day.

Justice League #221 (December 1983)

Hey there! It's time for Classic Comic Showcase, where we look at a classic comic, and determine whether it should be considered a classic or rusty. I know I have to finish my review of the Falcon mini-series with issue 4, but I got a couple of old comics, and I thought it would be fun to review one of them. One of them is Justice League #221.

I mainly bought this for the cover. The cover appealed to me because I like cats. The cover shows a catgirl doing a slightly off Vampirella cosplay standing over the defeated Justice League, and I think she just ripped Firestorm's throat open. Gruesome. One detail I think is really neat is that whereas we see slash marks and costume rips on Hawkman, Firestorm, and Flash, Superman's is undamaged. Nice attention to detail there, as during the Silver and Bronze Ages, Superman's costume was as invulnerable as he was.

It does lead to one question, though. Considering how powerful Superman was during this era (He was capable of juggling planets during this time), how did the catgirl beat him? Did her powers come from magic? They had to, as I see no Kryptonite on her. Ah well, let's get to the comic itself.

"Beasts"
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artists: Chuck Patton and Pablo Marcos
Letterer: John Constanza
Colorist: Gene D'Angelo
Editor: Len Wein

Before I begin, I just want to apologize for the quality of the scans. These scans will come from a comic that is over 30 years old, and I am scanning these on an iPad.

The comic begins with a bunch of rich people arriving at a building that looks like a rejected design for Avengers Mansion.

"Earth's Mightiest Heroes missed out on THIS building!"

They are all wearing domino masks in an attempt to hide their identities. Keep in mind, this is the DC Universe, domino masks are VERY effective in hiding secret identities there. The comic focuses on two particular rich people, a man and a woman.

"Darling, you make that mask look better than Hal Jordan ever could."

The people head towards what looks like...a modern-day gladiator arena.

"If Russell Crowe shows up screaming about entertainment, this'll be SO worth it."

We don't actually see anything, but it's pretty clear that the ancient Roman sport of gladiator combat is alive and well here. The woman is REALLY getting into it.

"I'll have what she's having."

By the way, putting the title of the story in the program is a great little touch. I love that.

We then switch to a scene of Superman and Wonder Woman in Metropolis taking on a group of computer chip thieves who stole 40 million dollars worth of computer chips. Keep in mid, this was 1983. Computer chips were a BIG DEAL. Superman and Wonder Woman work together to catch the criminals, capsizing their boat and lassoing them. When they're in the water, Superman notices it's cold and heats it up for them.

"I love having heat vision."

They catch the thieves, only for one to reveal that they have help. BIG help.

"HERE I AM! ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!"

Gargantus the Talking Whale Monster whacks Superman out of the water, and the smacks away Wonder Woman. Because he can. Gargantus helps the thieves escape while Supes rescues Wondy from drowning. However, the thieves get away empty-handed. Superman reveals he had the computer chips, which he found in the wreckage of the boat. You'd think since Gargantus has knocked out two of the most powerful members of the Justice League, the thieves would've taken the chance to make sure they had the merchandise before leaving. Huh.

Anyway, the scene shifts to Central City, where the Barry Allen Flash is racing to deal with a bank robbery. Flash arrives on the scene and easily deals with the bank robbers...who happen to look like they couldn't decide whether to cosplay as Green Lantern or a 1950s space rangers, so they decided to merge it together.

"Punch for you...punch for you...kick for you, I take your gun..."

However, there is a surprise waiting for the Scarlet Speedster in the truck. A monster that looks like Rocksteady's cousin bursts out and gores the Flash. And since this is 1983, Joey Styles isn't available to scream about it.

"GORE! GORE! GORE! OH MY GOD!"

Rocksteady's Cousin smashes Flash through a wall (That has to hurt), and the robbers get away. One thing makes me wonder...how did Rocksteady's Cousin get in the truck? Was he in there the whole time? Did something go wrong in the robbery?

The scene changes to San Francisco, where Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, the Ductile Detective, is observing a stereotypical Chinese laundromat, smelling a mystery. Turns out the man who runs the place is a fence, who is buying some stolen pearls to resell. Ralph makes the bust, but the laundromat owner sics birds on him. To Ralph's horror, the birds have human eyes, which he is somehow is able to figure out.

The birds knock him into a clothing press, and the owner slams it on him, complete with cheesy pun about presses.

"I can only be cleaned with hot water! HOT WATER ONLY!"

In New York City, a woman is breaking into a building by using a fingernail to cut a hole in the window. Unknown to her, she is being observed by Firestorm. He decides to check it out, figuring it would be fun. For some reason, he doesn't surmise it may just be Catwoman. I thought in the Bronze Age, Batman actually talked shop with other heroes! Shows what I know, I guess.

He flies in, and is shocked to find that the one who is breaking in is a cat woman, alright. An actual cat woman.

"Oh my God!" "I couldn't decide whether to cosplay as Pantha of Vampirella, so I combined them!"

The cat woman says her name is Reena, and she tosses a computer at him. Professor Stein advises Firestorm to knock her out with a nuclear blast. Yeah, blast the cat woman with nuclear radiation, that always works. However, she's an agile one, and manages to dodge his attacks. She kicks him in the mouth, screaming that she won't let Firestorm destroy her or bring her back to someone named Rex. Of course, Firestorm has no idea who she is talking about. In a nice little nod to Firestorm's own series, Professor Stein compares Reena to the Hyena, a Firestorm villain who was a were-hyena, but unlike the Hyena, Reena retains her intelligence and can speak.

Stein advises Firestorm to use his head, so Firestorm turns a chair into a giant pincer and uses it to catch Reena. Reena is a determined one, though, and tries to escape. Firestorm struggles with her, Reena saying she would rather die than return to Rex, and Firestorm trying to tell her he has no idea who "Rex" is.

The fight is heard by a pair of security guards. The guards see Firestorm and Reena smash each other through the door. One of the guards, being an idiot, tries to fire at Reena and Firestorm.

"Aw yeah, time for gunplay! EAT LEAD!"

This part bothers me a bit. The Justice League in universe are very famous. Everyone knows who they are. I think at the time of this comic, Firestorm was a new member of the group, but you'd think that with a team as well known as the Justice League, a new member joining would be a BIG deal. Which shows this guard is an idiot. TV existed in 1983, Firestorm would've been all over it thanks to his being a Justice Leaguer.

This convinces Reena somehow that Firestorm can be trusted, so she helps him flee. Firestorm goes after her, saying she is not getting away. She surrenders to him, saying if he protects her, she'll tell him about Rex and why she's scared of going back to this person.

Firestorm takes her to the Watchtower, figuring the League can help Reena with her problem.

"And we're talking, we're talking..."

One bit I love here is the little continuity nod. Superman mentions Batman quitting the JLA to form the Outsiders. I love little nods like that, as it gives the feeling that the books are interconnected and events have an impact. It's one reason why I do not like the whole "do what you want" approach to continuity the "DCYou" thing was doing.

Zatanna reminds us of Flash and Elongated Man's earlier issues, and shows they are in the hospital. She and Aquaman spot Firestorm and Reena.

"Uh, Ronnie? Your new friend is looking at me funny..." "Mmm, fish man..."

Firestorm realizes she's a bit skittish being in this strange place and surrounded by strangers. Superman reassures her the League will hear her out. This is classic Superman, friendly and willing to hear someone out. Hawkgirl worries about Hawkman, her husband. What is Hawkman up to? Well, he's working on an archeological dig in Luxor, Egypt. He is working with an archeological dig with a college class, and they found some new relics.

Carter and the teacher spot a helicopter, and it attacks the dig. The helicopter also has backup: Scorpion Men!

The sequel to THEM! did not quite live up to the hype.

arter throws on his Hawkman gear, which was made easier as he was already not wearing a shirt. Hawkman goes Thanagarian on the thieves' butts, and throws a titanium-wire bola at the helicopter's rotors...somehow causing the copter to crash. The Scorpion Men are about to attack some students, but Hawkman manages to save them. One of the Scorpion Men remarks about their leader being named Maximus Rex, which gets Hawkman confused, and causes him to get stung in the back by one of the Scorpion Men.

At this moment, Carter Hall really regretted not listening to Shayera about him wearing a shirt.

In another unknown location, a geeky-looking man wearing one of the thieves' uniforms and looking like Jasper Sitwell's goofy cousin is reporting that Reena has escaped. The person he is reporting to, Lion-O's evil uncle, is enraged and vows revenge on Reena and anyone who helps her.

"We will get our revenge! Now get me my scratching post!"

Next issue promises us that we will hear of Reena's Tale!

This comic does have some strengths. The story manages to give spotlight to several Leaguers and it does set up rather well just how dangerous these monster-men are. The art is really good. It's not great, but it's still competently done and it does its job. The art was credited to two artists, but I didn't notice any major difference in the styles. The story moves along at a good pace, and it was a fun read.

If you are looking for a comic to read to kill some time, and you can find it cheap, pick this up.

Captain America: Civil War Review

I finally got to see it! I finally got to see it! I finally got to see Captain America: Civil War!

I have to admit, I had been excited for this film for a very long time, especially since the trailer that revealed Spider-Man would be in the film. I was so excited to see the role he would play in this little flick. Now, I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible in this review. Because I don't want to ruin this film for anyone.

So, what is Captain America: Civil War about? Well, after the events of Age of Ultron, people are concerned about the potential dangers of the Avengers; power, so some accords have been drawn up. It causes a conflict among Earth's Mightiest, focusing on Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Stark feels the heroes need a check and balance. Rogers fears that putting such a check may end up forcing the Avengers to compromise their principles. However, there's another threat who is using the Winter Soldier to cause chaos and even further divide Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

What amazes me is that despite the films' big cast and sheer amount of heroes in this film, everyone got a moment, and there is a lot of character in this movie, especially when it comes to Stark and Rogers. Stark really goes through the emotional wringer in this movie, and Robert Downey Jr. sells it incredibly well. And Chris Evans' performance as Captain America is very good as well, in fact, we had a great cast for this movie.

Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther and Tom Holland as Spider-Man were considered the breakout stars by many of the film's watchers, and I can certainly see why. Holland's Peter Parker/Spider-Man felt like an authentic teenager, and his Spider-Man was hilarious. I loved the banter he threw with everyone he faced in the movie, and the fact they showed this rookie hero facing off and holding his own against these more experienced heroes was awesome.

Boseman's Black Panther can be described with one word: Badass. He made Black Panther a badass. He also had the bearing and inherent aura for a fighting king. And it was really cool seeing the Black Panther in action. That's pretty much all I can say about him. Buy the way, buy Black Panther's series. It's really good.

This film had so many awesome moments to see, especially the airport fight. It was probably the most epic fight of the whole freakin' movie! Every hero got at least one awesome moment. I especially loved Ant-Man's moments. So much for one of the heroes people would consider goofy.

Some may complain about the surprising amount of humor in this film, but I saw no issue with it. In fact, considering the darker times for the team in this film, I found the bit of humor to make a nice balance. And the ending was bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter. I don't think the Avengers will be broken apart for very long.

This was a fun film, and I can't wait to get it on DVD! If it's still in your local theater, watch this movie! You won't regret it!

Wild Guns is Back!

One of my favorite games for the Super Nintendo is Wild Guns. It was one of my favorite games to play on the Wii thanks to the Virtual Console. I think it is definitely one of the best games on the SNES, and one of its most underrated, too. I had written a review of it for the now late website 1MoreCastle's "Review A Great Game Day" in 2015, which can be read here.

Hence, my surprise when Natsume, the makers of the original Wild Guns, announced this.

Yup, Annie and Clint are back! They're rested, reloaded, and back in action! Natsume is creating a brand new Wild Guns game after over twenty years! Natsume has revealed some things about the new game to people asking about it on Twitter.

When asked if it was a reboot or a remake, it was said "A bit of both". I'm guessing they're going to do like with the DuckTales remastering: They're going to remake the game, but with a deeper storyline and some new stuff added. I have to pick up that DuckTales remastering sometime. I loved the demo, brought back a lot of memories playing it on Game Boy when I was a kid.

According to an article I found on Nothing But Geek, the game will add two new characters, and have eight levels with three zones each. I like this. One of my only complaints about the original was it had only six levels. Glad this new one is getting more levels. I am curious to see who these two new characters will be, and how they will play.

One thing Natsume did reveal on Twitter is that some of the people who worked on the original Wild Guns will be working on this game. That's actually really cool. I hope we get to see some great remixes of the original soundtrack, as the music was one of the best parts of the original.

Unfortunately, there is one downside to this announcement: This game will be PS4 exclusive. That's right. You can only play this game if you have a PS4. That made me a little sad, as I do not own a PS4. I do not even own a PS3. I just got a Wii U last Christmas, and it's a shame I can't play this game on it. Ah well, I can just get the original the Wii U on the Virtual Console service and play that. That game is still a lot of fun. Hopefully, Natsume will be able to release it on other consoles. It would only be appropriate to play this Wild Guns on a Nintendo console.

Despite the exclusivity problem, I am happy to see Wild Guns make a comeback. The original was one of the most underrated games of the 16-bit era, and I'm hoping this one will make it into a viable franchise.

Voltron: Legendary Defender Trailer, My Thoughts

A while back, it was announced that Netflix was going to revive the 1980s series Voltron, which was created from the anime known as Beast King GoLion. I gave my thoughts on that announcement here. Long story short, I was excited. I discovered Voltron thanks to it playing on Toonami many years ago, and I have seen the Third Dimension series. I remember the lions being able to assume "stealth" forms for that series.

Anyway, the new series has itself a little trailer.

I could not wait to watch this thing. The first thing I noticed was how bright and colorful it was. That was a good sign. It felt like an updated take on the original, so that was nice. The people who did Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series The Legend of Korra, and that style is clearly seen here.

Watching the trailer, I noticed a bit of humor in the interactions between the lion pilots, and I thought that was another good sign. I had heard that this take was going to be a bit darker, which honestly did make me concerned a bit. To me, Voltron should be a fun series, it should not get excessively grim and gritty. This trailer, however, has alleviated a lot of my fears. It seems to be a mature take on the Voltron mythos, while also not being afraid to have some fun. Voltron should be a fun series.

We also got a brief glimpse of Witch Haggar and the main villain, King Zarkon. I couldn't really judge their looks as we don't seen them completely fully, but I do think they are going for a bit of a Thanos vibe with Zarkon. What I'm wondering is, will be see Prince Lotor? There was no mention of him in the cast so far, so I guess he won't be appearing in the series. That's a shame. I'd love to see how the series handled him and his obsession with Allura.

I also loved the appearance of the Blue Lion. I think the Lion is supposed to be CGI. Some may have some issues with the Lions being CGI with everything else being done with traditional 2D, but honestly, I did not see it as very jarring. The Lions and Voltron look great.

The Lion Pilots also encounter a woman who might possibly be this series' Allura. She looks really neat. I wonder who role she'll play, since I doubt she'll be piloting a Lion. Maybe she'll be the Mission Control for the Voltron Force.

We also get a brief glimpse of the Voltron Force's uniforms. I love their designs. It's a great update of the original Voltron Force suits, and I do like that the pilots' colors match the Lions they pilot. That was something that always drove me nuts about the original Voltron Force was their uniforms' colors not matching their Lions' colors. I also like the fact they appear to be armored. Does this mean we'll be seeing the Force do more hand-to-hand combat in the series a la Super Sentai/Power Rangers? Guess we'll see.

And in one final little freeze-frame bonus, the Blazing Sword lives up to it's name. It literally will bring the heat. Awesome. Nothing better than slashing a Robeast in half with a flaming sword.

All in all, this trailer has got me excited. I can't wait to watch this series next month!

Pokemon Sun and Moon Starter Trailer, My Thoughts.

Back in February, it was announced that a new pair of Pokémon games were coming, Sun and Moon. I gave my thoughts on the announcement here.

I've heard a lot of rumors and a lot of speculation about the new game, from its setting to its starters. Well, the starter rumors can be put to rest, because The Pokémon Company has released a trailer which gives us a look at the official Starter Pokémon for the new games.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this when I got up this morning, and I just HAD to take a look. And I ended up learning quite a bit more about the new games than I expected, which is nice.

According to the trailer, Sun and Moon will take place in the Alola region. I have heard rumors that the games' region will be modeled on Hawaii, and it seems to be that way, Alola being similar to "Aloha". The music in the trailer does take on a Hawaiian/Polynesian vibe at times and we do see palm trees and Hawaiian/Polynesian design elements in various areas. I like the general look of the game. It's bright and colorful, although one could say that about the majority of Pokémon games.

The first starter introduced is Rowlet, a Grass/Flying type that is modeled on an owl. I think he could be easily considered the cutest of the starters. He's an almost perfectly round little owl with big ol' eyes, and it's really cool his intro animation has him turn his head around like a real owl does. That's a nice little touch.

The second one is called Litten, and it's a Fire type...and it's a KITTY! As someone who is a proud cat lover, I am happy that a Pokémon game has a starter that is a kitty. This one is my choice. Litten is a cute little Pokémon too, nice balance of black and red with big yellow eyes. I have seen comments on YouTube speculating that Litten will evolve into a panther-like Pokémon  and possibly even get the Dark type as well. I hope so. Never used a Dark type in my teams before, and I'd love to have a panther on my Pokémon team.

The third and final starter is Popplio, a Water-type that is modeled on a seal. Hey, Seel and Dewgong have a cousin! I don't know why, but Popplio's design strikes me as a bit odd compared to the other two starters. I honestly get the ruff on its neck and the big pink nose, a nod to performing seals and the famous "seal balancing a ball on its nose" thing. I don't hate the design, it just seems...odd compared to the other two. Still, he's a neat little starter, and his intro animation made me chuckle.

The trailer also shows us a little more of the Alola region, and it's astounding. We see paths with what look like Tiki heads, a city, and lots of paths. You can tell that the makers of the game wanted to create their own version of Hawaii for the Pokémon universe. I honestly hope that the player character encounters a NPC modeled after Jack Lord in Hawaii Five-O.

We got a cool little bonus as well in this trailer. We got to see what may be the Legendary Pokémon of these games. One is a big white lion, and the other is a big black bat. I have to admit, they look awesome! Maybe we'll learn more about them in another trailer. And they'll be front and center on the games' box art, which makes sense. Legendaries tend to take on the role of box art models these days.

I really cannot wait for this game.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful day, and were given some very nice treats!

Happy Force Fourth!

Happy Force Fourth! May the Fourth be with you!