The Dead Space 2 Review

Alright, I posted on my other blog my thoughts on what has happened over at DC. For this blog though I am going to deal with something that has given me so much more happiness in recent weeks.

As many of you might know, E3 happened this week. Last year around this time, the game I am reviewing this post was previewed. It is Dead Space 2, a horror action game from the minds behind the first Dead Space and Dante's Inferno.

Three years have passed since Issac Clarke had boarded the USG Ishimura in order to find his girl friend Nicole. After managing to escape the horror of the necromorphs, destroying the Red Marker and fleeing the planet, he wakes up in a hospital on Titan Station, and not everything is as it seems. When he wakes up, he is met with another Necromorph infestation and must escape. On the way he decides to go after the marker with the help of a fellow patient, Stross, and a CEC Class Four Heavy Equipment Pilot named Elli Langford.

This game is so much fun. After getting it a month or so before I've already played through it at least four times. Its challenging, horrific, funny and emotional. The whole way through the game Issac is suffering from dementia born from the Red Marker he had encountered in the last game. Every time you go into one of his visions the screen turns different colors and you are normally faced with Nicole. Yes, your dead girlfriend from the last game is back haunting you but she is nothing like in the last game. At least in that she was trying to help you. In DS2 she is trying to kill you.

The Necromorphs are as bad as ever. In this game you get a few returning favorites along with some new ones. My current favorites/tough guys are the Stalkers. They come out of behind walls and slam into you. They act a little bit like pack animals. Creepy and tough as hell. Also there is the puker, who pukes acid on your face and makes you move at a crawl. Creepy things.

The action is crisp, the horror is fantastic and truely scary. Some things can be fustrating. If you haven't played Dead Space before, play it on Causal difficulty all the way through. It will make normal and then the other modes after that much easier for you.

Issac's voice actor is wonderful and added voice just makes you feel for him more as a person. His struggles really do come to life. The choice to change Nicole's voice actor also turned out to be a really good idea. I don't think the actress from the last game could do 'hellishly evil and sweet' all at the same time. I really loved the character of Ellie and hope to see her in the next game.

I give Dead Space 2 4.5 stars out of 5.

Legion Of Superheroes The Great Darkness Saga Review: Part one

Guess what I got a little bit ago?

Legion of Superheroes, the Great Darkness Saga!

Now this is a story I've heard lots about. Most people I talk to say that is the best Legion story that they have ever read. Now, I've been looking for it for a while and since its been out of print I haven't been able to find it. But today it suddenly ended up on my door step and I couldn't have been happier.

Now I will review part one: Prologue to Darkness/And the Servant Shall be a Sign

So part one (Prologue to Darkness) written by Paul Levitz, drawn by Broderick and Mahlstedt starts with Mon-El and Shadow Lass getting flying to a dark world, charred and forgotten... no erased from human memory. Their vacation interrupted, they must investigate this strange husk of a world. A strange world has floated into interstellar trade routes and the Legion send two Legionaries to investigate.

The art on these pages are great, especially on Shadow Lass's suit. They land on the world and Mon-El makes a comment that he hasn't seen any place like this in his thousands of years in the Phantom Zone. They search the area and Shadow Lass feels cold, feeling the residue evil in the air. Her love hits her up with a little bit of heat vision before suddenly an old crawler tank comes to life. Pushing Shady away and taking the brunt of the blast, he destroys the tanks rather quickly be he realizes they have to be protecting something. After getting banged around a bit, his lover gets tired of waiting and shades him with one of her dark fields which scares the tanks away. She has no idea why but she is glad for it. Suddenly her flight ring goes off and she and Mon-El head back to Legion HQ.

But as they leave, the shadow awakens. This has to be my favorite part of this prologue, it is really well written. Knowing who it is ahead of time did not ruin the feeling of dread I felt reading it. And you know that this will be one fight the Legion will have a hard time with.

My favorite line: "Worship the darkness, fools... until the day it comes for you!"

Next is 'And the Servant Shall be A Sign' written again by Levitz and drawn by Keith Giffen (more on him later) and Mahlstedt. We start out with the burning Museum of the Mystic Arts in Mega-California were Superboy meets new Legionnaire Invisible Kid II. I really him and his characterization is great. Anyway apparently the Museum was attacked by being unknown, who was looking for something that the Curator was hiding from them. A wand of Mentachem, that has power over elements in their natural state. The minute he brings it out it seems the servant comes and attacks. He makes quick work of the Legionaries, grabbing the rod and returning it to their master. Wildfire summed up the whole fight, 'we blew it.'

Back at Legion HQ, Brainiac Five tells Blok about the tourist who are here to look at HQ. They clue the reader on Matter Eater Lad's insanity after he ate something a little wrong, and about how the Legion seems to have forgotten him. Then we switch to Chameleon Boy and Timberwolf, who is still pissed after the suicide mission. Apparently he is in big trouble for going to the Khund World, the United Planets going to bring him to court for almost starting a war. He rushes his way from Cham and ends up bumping into Saturn Girl. There are some unresolved feelings there.

Then cut to London in 2982, a much different place than what Superboy remembers in his time. They are going to find the next possible item that the Servant could be after; the Excalibur. I like the mention that Supergirl unearth it during her initiation. They are not there for long when another servant arrives, this time one small and big headed. It doesn't take him long to take the sword and vanish, leaving the Legion once again empty handed. Poor Legion.

Back at Legion HQ, poor Lighting Lad is suffering from some strange illness that leaves everyone confused and wondering how it happened. Especially a worried Saturn Girl, who is worried it was her fault that Lighting Lad is in the state he is in. Element Lad comes by to get her to go and see her husband and then tell Timber-wolf off. Poor Timber-wolf if neglecting his girl.

Then we go to the forgotten world mentioned in the Prologue, were the dark master takes in the power of the two items. He mentions how his servants are little mockeries, shadows of things that really exist. It is one of the first mentions of it. Then we go back to the Tower, where Cosmic Boy decides to go back to Legion HQ to figure out where the Servants will strike next. Invisible Kid says he could follow the servants when they next show up, to find out who their Master is and Superboy says that is a bold move. He will make a great Legionnaire, if he survives.

Brainaic Five points them in the direction of Talok VIII, Shadow Lass's home world and they even meet up with her and Mon-El to protect a strange Orb. Its not long before the next servant arrives. This time it is a woman who can create shadows much like Shadow Lass but much more powerful. She hits Superboy hard, trying to get the orb but Cos gets in her way. They start to get the better of her then another servant appears, riding on a strange sled like thing kind of like Orion. He grabs the orb and is out of there fast, but the female servant is taken down by the Legion. Now they got their first capture, and she will lead them to some interesting places.

Returning to Legion HQ, Element Lad decides that now, during the middle of an attack by some unknown evil force, that they should have Elections. Dream girl says she is in the running, and in the middle of the meeting a U.P. spokes woman says that Chameleon Boy's trail is tomorrow and they might want to come. Way to put everything into prospective. We shift to Superboy taking the servant down to the lab where even Computo is acting violently to her presences. Oh boy. Evil can feel a greater evil.

Then we go to the master again, where he takes the orb from his 'son' as he puts it. Interesting. He takes the power of orb, making the power his. He tells his son that it is time to leave this world, to search for people to give him the rest of his power. Then he is gone in a crackle of energy, leaving the world empty.

I'm really loving the story so far. Its sinisterly written, and well drawn. Giffen is a great artist in this saga (even if I do not like his art in the 'Five Year Later' Legion and his writing in that), and I'm glad that I finally got this.

Next time Part two of the Great Darkness Saga... A Sign of Darkness Dawning.

Some Art

I just decided to update (since I haven't in a while) with some of my art... It sucks I know but hey, not everyone can be a star.

Oh, and a disclaimer before I get started. I do not own any DC, Milestone, Marvel, or any of the other characters I drew in this work. They belong to their respective companies and not to me. Please do not sue.



This first one is called 'Lack of Control' and it is art for my fanfiction trilogy 'Supergirl and the Legion'. Brainiac Five begins to lose the sense of who he really is as he falls further and further into the control of a great force of evil in Legion Lost. His true self falls to sleep as it were and the new him wakes up. That's all I'll say for now though. You can read Future Perfect, and Legion Lost on Fanfiction.net



This is number one of the Static Shock AU 100: Into. For my little sister Autumn's birthday I was callenged by her to write a none Virgil/Richie Static shock fan fiction and somehow put Supergirl and reboot the cartoon all at the same time. A bit of a challenge but I am loving it so far. This is also my first time I've written or drawn these characters so I have to say the challenge is good. I think my favorite part is how these dreadlocks came out. Yay, Virgil!

Till later!
Supergirl & the Legion Lass out.

The White Lantern REVEALED

So the big hero of Blackest Night is revealed and guess what,

Sinistro!

Its great that the man finally gets to be a hero after so many years of being the bad guy. My guess is that after Hal went Paralax someone found a way for Mr. Leader of the yellow lanterns to help.

Can't wait to read the issue.

Just a little update

Well, with my life being the way it is, things should finally start settling down. Should.

Anyway I got a bit to talk about. First of all has anyone read the last issue of World of New Krypton? I had to say that it wrapped up the whole story line quite nicely, allowing the book to follow straight into the whole Brainiac and the Legion of Superhero's story line. I just hope that Kal-El can over come what is going on.

I have to also say that I am continuing to dig what is going on in Blackest Night. With one more month to go its going to be interesting to see how they finally wrap this up. Favorite issues so far are Blackest Night: Superman (1-3), Blackest Night: Wonder Woman (1-3) and that nice little skip month they had were they brought back long dead comics back to the world. (Hawkman and The Atom was good...)

Plus R.E.B.E.L.S. continues to impress. I like the way they are showing Virl's son and the way he hates his dad but seems to be liking him more now that he is with Starro. The kid had got to learn that Virl is the lesser of the two evils (most of the time XD)

But out of all of my comics from 2009, Supergirl is impressing me the most lately. With the fight against the Silver Banshee finally reaching its end and Lana just dying on panel its a emotional roller coaster. Not to mention that panel were Lana falls to the ground covered in her own blood and they attempt to bring her back... just to have Kara show up and not being able to find hope... Its horrible. I can't stop reading.

Can't wait for Supergirl #52!



Night all.

Best and Worse of 2009 (Long Post Alert)

I know it's late, but it took me a little bit to figure out what I really did like about 2009, since I am in the Navy and life has generally sucked. But anyway.

Best in Comic Books

I just got into Comicbooks in 2009, because of all the comic book stores around in the Norfolk area. Its a great place to shop if you love comics. But I've read a lot and I think I know some of my current favorites of this year.



With the current run of the Action Comics I have to say I am happiest with the Flamebird and Nightwing characters. They are interesting and add a nice little bit of Kryptonain mythos into the current DCU. The Codename: Patriot story line and Hunt for Reactron story line were very well written and drawn. I just hope Thara Ak-Var stays around for a while.


The relaunch was a great idea, and besides Conner is a very solid character. With guest stars like Wondergirl and Red Robin the mix things up, this comic looks to heat up in 2010. Not to mention the Legion of Superheroes side stories is something I look forward each week. (Not to mention it made me believe in Superboy Prime again.)


When I first read Supergirl she was a slut, but now she has come into her own this year, dealing with the death of the father and the sudden hatred of the Earth towards her people. Not to mention her mom and her former best friend Flamebird and then becoming her friend again and then a host of bad guys trying to tear her appart. Nice work guys!


I usually dislike Superman, and this book made me love Superman for the first time. Amazing.


I'm into crossovers, but all of these Blackest Night story lines are crossovers done right. Besides, it got me into Green Lantern Corps.


Virl Dox II is a badass, and with the cross over with Blackest Night, and the stuff between father and son it has changed into a very interesting story line. Read it, I recomend it.


Got into them because of Blackest Night but I'm glad I did. It shows a whole new side of the Corp and the way power curropts even when you have the best of intentions (The Guardians). Guy Gardner rocks.


A good under the radar favorite. Booster Gold is coming into his own now that he is on his own, and his own impact on the time line is begining to be seen. Besides, I love time travelers.

Worse Comics of 2009


I just hated it for the story line... and that whole fact that it could have been something beautiful. The art is great but the writing... at least with Supergirl... sucked.


It was alright in the first few but... it sucked later on. I'm hoping it leads to another better Flash story line. He's great in Blackest Night.


Ugh... this is the story of a character that did not need a reboot as this seemed to be, but just a simple story about his past. When 'Super' Mon-El came into the comics and was appointed Metropolis's protector, and then got kind of run into the ground. I never thought I would be looking forward to Superman's return.

I'll go into more later....

Saying goodbye is hard to do

Yesterday I saw the final episode of Doctor Who to feacture David Tennant and it was a tear jerker in more ways than one. I watched as the Doctor faced the Master and then helped him take his vengences against the people who made him the way he is. I watched the Doctor struggle over the last day of his life, trying to figure out wither or not he could stop his death or not and then finally give in. I watched him say good bye to all his friends and even see Rose one last time...

I'll have a better post soon but until then... Thank you David Tennant for being the 10th Doctor and showing me the wonderful world of the Doctor and his life. Thank you.