Persona 4: The Animation
Yokoso, waga Velvet Room.
Oh Holy Crap I loved this series SO much. I'd never played the games,
but I have a good friend who is obsessed with them so she turned me onto
this. After my bad experience with .hack//roots and the feeling of
wanting to play the game, but not having the means to play the game that
I usually get when I watch an anime made about a video game, I just try
to stay away from them, but this is the only adaptation of a game I've
ever watched that could stand alone perfectly as the anime(.hack//sign
isn't far off though). It's also got a unique feel to it that mixes the
two types of anime I gravitate towards, typical action-shounen stuff
and comedic slice of life stuff. When I say this I don't just mean
action with funny moments, but theres a few episodes that are strictly
character development and interaction in their day to day lives. It
also had me on the edge of my seat a few times with a mix of
detective/suspense/horror moments, and it is really rare for me to enjoy
that kind of thing.
So to sum it up. Persona 4: The Animation is a Shounen Slice of Life
Detective Suspense story that follows a group of friends as they try to
solve a series of murders in their town intertwined with this
alternate-reality world they discover and in which they have "Persona"
monsters that fight for them.
I really got a kick out of the main character too, which is REALLY rare.
At first he just seems like a blank slate character that can take on
the attributes of the watcher but in the more slice of life moments you
see a really awesome mischievous sense of humor.
10/10 all the way.
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For those curious about DFC, winter breaks started, and I've started again ;)
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Winter Break
Pretty good news all around everyone. I've been settled for awhile now, but my schedule was kind of wonky until after the first weekend of the month. I'm a staff member at an Anime Convention here in Omaha (Anime Nebraskon), most of which is tech team stuff, making sure our tech setups are going to the right panels and everything. It's pretty hectic considering we ran about 200 panels this year for around 3000 attendees. On top of that I also run the Karaoke event Friday and Saturday nights and that keeps me REALLY busy the two weeks or so preceding the con, updating the encyclopedia of songs, remaking the list of songs available since the file was lost. I do kind of want to brag about one thing though. Our big name guest this year was Steve Blum (Spike from Cowboy Bebop, amongst other names), and I was able to get a couple of his prints signed by him and my collector's edition S-cry-ed and a picture too.
I also came away with a bit of a cold, all this crammed into school work as well, so I've been busy. The point? Well, aside from showing off the swag from Steve Blum, with the con out of the way theres a finish line just at the edge of the horizon, that is the end of the semester. I have no commitments planned, no vacations, no events, nothing, between early December and early-mid January. That means I'm wiping off the dust and whipping out the C++ to see how much I can shoot out in that time. I'm not sure how things will go once the semester starts again, but things look rosey.
I also came away with a bit of a cold, all this crammed into school work as well, so I've been busy. The point? Well, aside from showing off the swag from Steve Blum, with the con out of the way theres a finish line just at the edge of the horizon, that is the end of the semester. I have no commitments planned, no vacations, no events, nothing, between early December and early-mid January. That means I'm wiping off the dust and whipping out the C++ to see how much I can shoot out in that time. I'm not sure how things will go once the semester starts again, but things look rosey.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Problems
As evidenced by the lack of posts, things have happened. Awhile back my roommate said she was going to buy a house, which meant breaking our lease and it was all going to happen in the middle of the semester. That meant we had to get everything revved up to move, clean and repair the house we rented, do the move itself, unpack, all with minimal help because my parents are elderly and I hate tasking friends with such tasks. The move took place last friday. Since I'm in my last year of school I decided to just take over a room at my parents house instead of adding to everything with having to search for a new place to live. Well, a myriad of problems has cropped up since then. The internet is a bit sketchy at best, cutting out depending what I'm doing and probably the biggest thing to happen, my hard drive crashed sometime between Tuesday when I went to bed and Wednesday when I woke up. More specifically, the hard drive for the computer I do my dev work on. I have the PC up and running again with a new hard drive, but I haven't been able to recover whats on the crashed one. Typically, I have a pretty good backup system with my file server, but in preparing to move I had left it at my parents house the last time I had visited, which was almost a month earlier. The good news? I didn't really lose much because I didn't have the time to get anything done in that month anyway because of everything else. I still haven't got everything unpacked, and only briefly had my server up when restoring my tower since I don't really have a good place for it at the moment. I'm going to have to find my copy of visual studio again too.
Sooo, Hurray! Shit happens all at once. Back to the grindstone I go.
Sooo, Hurray! Shit happens all at once. Back to the grindstone I go.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Necros Skellies and Anonymous
First off, apologies for the long delay between posts, the next semester has started and I'm retooling my weekly activities around it as well as preparing for an upcoming move as one of my roommates recently bought a house and I can't afford this place by myself.
Bael-elves
Necro healers were always kind of boned in general, though they could hold their own in PK with Pain.V and sneakyness combined with a fair bit of talent. As I see it theres two options going forward. One, keeping them at cloth like their brother guild, but granting them level 5 sheilds instead of level 4. The other, lowering them down to level 4 shields and granting them the leather armor that orcs and priests have. It will also be much easier for them to hunt with a weapon, ie training weapons, than before, allowing them to hunt much like priests used to. That will be similar across all three healer classes.
Pure Necromancers, similar to wizards, will take over part of the "warding" burden/privilege, retain their role as primary tappers, shields, teleportation, cold/pain lists and of course the good old namesake ability of their undead pets which were never really all that exclusive to them in the first place. I always thought that was a bit silly. Necromancers who can only summon one at a time and whose summoning ability isn't unique to them at all. Maybe I'll do something about it if there is an imbalance.
Skeletons
I've made a previous post where I described the joke ability "bone" and how Skeletons will have a second guild option akin to rangers/gnolls to take over evil's archer race. Of course the typical melee double fighter class will remain and will have Parry as well, though I cannot remember if they had it originally or not.
Anonymous
The big news of this post is a big thank you to the anonymous poster who has given me a link to documentation on the tempest engine, that is, really really really freaking detailed information on how the game works. It's uncovered a lot of tiny things missing from my database design. It would have all been picked up as the game was developed, but having it pointed out now saves significant time later on. So, Cheers to whoever sent that. It is immensely helpful.
I also have another message of appreciation to another person and those who came before him, who have offered material support of some kind. Thank you.
Bael-elves
Necro healers were always kind of boned in general, though they could hold their own in PK with Pain.V and sneakyness combined with a fair bit of talent. As I see it theres two options going forward. One, keeping them at cloth like their brother guild, but granting them level 5 sheilds instead of level 4. The other, lowering them down to level 4 shields and granting them the leather armor that orcs and priests have. It will also be much easier for them to hunt with a weapon, ie training weapons, than before, allowing them to hunt much like priests used to. That will be similar across all three healer classes.
Pure Necromancers, similar to wizards, will take over part of the "warding" burden/privilege, retain their role as primary tappers, shields, teleportation, cold/pain lists and of course the good old namesake ability of their undead pets which were never really all that exclusive to them in the first place. I always thought that was a bit silly. Necromancers who can only summon one at a time and whose summoning ability isn't unique to them at all. Maybe I'll do something about it if there is an imbalance.
Skeletons
I've made a previous post where I described the joke ability "bone" and how Skeletons will have a second guild option akin to rangers/gnolls to take over evil's archer race. Of course the typical melee double fighter class will remain and will have Parry as well, though I cannot remember if they had it originally or not.
Anonymous
The big news of this post is a big thank you to the anonymous poster who has given me a link to documentation on the tempest engine, that is, really really really freaking detailed information on how the game works. It's uncovered a lot of tiny things missing from my database design. It would have all been picked up as the game was developed, but having it pointed out now saves significant time later on. So, Cheers to whoever sent that. It is immensely helpful.
I also have another message of appreciation to another person and those who came before him, who have offered material support of some kind. Thank you.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Demons
For pretty much everything CoX demon you can refer to the craftie characteristics of goblins and craftsmen. They have the physical creation/reparation skills of craftsmen types,. When it comes to fighting, however, they have slightly less defense (studded leather vs chain) in favor of more offense (melee) while also retaining the parry skill that the other two have.
Burning Hnad Demons will have level 4 shields, leather armor, the ability to tap, though not to the extent of primary tapping classes. There won't be any mechanics tricks to it, BH demons simply have less points in the mental area than the others akin to the way CoX demons are better at fighting than a goblin would be, but not as good as a skeleton would be. They will have their pets, though the CoX might have them as well. I am uncertain on that specific point. They will cover the craftsman duties not covered by CoX demons, that is weapons/armor infusions/enchantments. They will also be the alarm wards casters as well as absorbing some of the other wards for evil realm (healing/refreshing) and if I ever manage to implement a fair approach to light/dark issues, they would also have a darkness glyph.
Burning Hnad Demons will have level 4 shields, leather armor, the ability to tap, though not to the extent of primary tapping classes. There won't be any mechanics tricks to it, BH demons simply have less points in the mental area than the others akin to the way CoX demons are better at fighting than a goblin would be, but not as good as a skeleton would be. They will have their pets, though the CoX might have them as well. I am uncertain on that specific point. They will cover the craftsman duties not covered by CoX demons, that is weapons/armor infusions/enchantments. They will also be the alarm wards casters as well as absorbing some of the other wards for evil realm (healing/refreshing) and if I ever manage to implement a fair approach to light/dark issues, they would also have a darkness glyph.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Werewolves
Wolves were always one of my favorite classes. I'm a fan of the idea
behind the berserker type of fighter and the shapeshifting ability is
just the cherry on top for me. My largest non-good realm character was
a level 35 wolf named "Ultimatemooo" and I can't really remember why I
stopped playing him. Anyway, as I have elaborated in the troll post, I
have made a strong attempt to re-implement berserk and make it useful at
higher levels and not really a death sentence. The theoretical method
for calculating berserk is to take half of the berserk skill and add it
to the weapons skill, while taking the same % off of defense. Having
run a few simulations, PVPwise, using berserk does provide a significant
damage increase and the defense decrease isn't so damaging that the
wolf is killed by a random level 1 town npc, which I remember happening
more than once in DFC.
As for shapeshifting, I initially wanted to keep it as a skill, and have the damage related to the shapeshifting skill % but that doesn't seem feasible for various reasons. Instead it seemed easier to implement it as a spell casting ability. If I recall correctly, blood coven vampires had spells to shapeshift themselves into bats and I remember more than once staff using spells to shapeshift themselves and targets. I mentioned in previous posts that monks and gnolls forms were less diverse and fewer in number. Monks and Gnolls operate in their forms with only one real choice, their highest level form. To use any other form would be stupid. Wolves, being the natural shapeshifters they are are given a much more diverse setup.
First tier of forms:
2) Physical damage, single attack
7) Earth damage, single attack
11) Cold damage, single attack
Second tier of forms:
16) Physical Damage, chance of attack being a double attack
20) Cold Damage, 10% stun chance
25) Earth Damage, 10% fatigue damage chance
30) Fire Damage, 10% chance for a second attack
Third tier forms:
35) Physical damage, 100% double chance
40) Cold damage, 25% stun chance
45) Earth damage, 25% fatigue damage chance for a second attack
50) Fire damage, 25% fire damage chance for a second attack
Each tier's forms have the same basis for damage and defense values meaning a level 50 wolf in any of the third tier forms will get the same usefulness from them.
As for shapeshifting, I initially wanted to keep it as a skill, and have the damage related to the shapeshifting skill % but that doesn't seem feasible for various reasons. Instead it seemed easier to implement it as a spell casting ability. If I recall correctly, blood coven vampires had spells to shapeshift themselves into bats and I remember more than once staff using spells to shapeshift themselves and targets. I mentioned in previous posts that monks and gnolls forms were less diverse and fewer in number. Monks and Gnolls operate in their forms with only one real choice, their highest level form. To use any other form would be stupid. Wolves, being the natural shapeshifters they are are given a much more diverse setup.
First tier of forms:
2) Physical damage, single attack
7) Earth damage, single attack
11) Cold damage, single attack
Second tier of forms:
16) Physical Damage, chance of attack being a double attack
20) Cold Damage, 10% stun chance
25) Earth Damage, 10% fatigue damage chance
30) Fire Damage, 10% chance for a second attack
Third tier forms:
35) Physical damage, 100% double chance
40) Cold damage, 25% stun chance
45) Earth damage, 25% fatigue damage chance for a second attack
50) Fire damage, 25% fire damage chance for a second attack
Each tier's forms have the same basis for damage and defense values meaning a level 50 wolf in any of the third tier forms will get the same usefulness from them.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Gnolls
Gnolls run a lot of the typical archer stuff they used to have, mildly akin to Rangers in good. The main difference comes in the spell setup. Gnolls still retain a few of the wilderness skill spells that rangers have, like improve.track and such, but they also pick up the slack when it comes to Chaos's shapeshifting class. Their intervals are every 10 levels, like monks and are all animal forms (Large Cats/Hawk/Bear etc). Nothing else really all that special.
Tomorrow I'll start in on posts about evil and possibly dive back into programming again, it depends as I am having a few friends over.
Tomorrow I'll start in on posts about evil and possibly dive back into programming again, it depends as I am having a few friends over.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Ogres
I hinted at some changes to the overall game that affected Ogres, but didn't get into a lot of detail. As of right now Ogres have the fire and earth lists that wizards have and when you consider that wizards have more elements available, well that is not terribly fair to Ogres. I've discussed a few changes with the others to be made to all the tappers that will even things out, so I won't get into that and I'll ask people reading this to put that point aside at the moment They will still have wards, that is, all of the types of wards available, unlike other realms who's wards are split between classes/guilds. They will also likely have better versions. The ability bonuses are not the same as would be elves and bael-elves and account a bit more for Ogres size, that is, they have the same basic mental characteristics but the other four stats vary from the other two races, like higher strength and constitution, but lower agility and dexterity.
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Lizardmen and Orcs
Lizardmen haven't really changed, but like a few of the other unique skills it took time to come up with a good algorithm to mete out proper damage throughout the levels for Lizardbreath. It did prove very fruitful when dealing with something new and fun Masterpuppet and I came up with for another class, though. It will remain on a 7-ish second timer and the damage is increased over typical weapon attacks, to make up for the increased timer. Of course they will keep double and whether they had it or not before, they will have parry.
Orcs presented a problem, and still kind of do. I have designed some spell lists that initially cover most of the healer class basics. I have absolutely no frame of reference for orcs buffs and very little with offensive spells. Their skills and makeup are similar to priests, and if I'm not mistaken that does improve their hunting ability compared to what it was before.
Orcs presented a problem, and still kind of do. I have designed some spell lists that initially cover most of the healer class basics. I have absolutely no frame of reference for orcs buffs and very little with offensive spells. Their skills and makeup are similar to priests, and if I'm not mistaken that does improve their hunting ability compared to what it was before.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Goblins and Trolls
Goblins:
Not much to tell here. Chainmail is the "favored" armor, they still have their bombs that they get every 10 levels or so. I might slip in parry at somepoint since it makes sense they'd be a somewhat defensive fighter, but at the moment they don't have it. Currently they do have sneak since they are so small. SURPRISE! BOMBS! being the idea behind that.
Trolls:
Trolls aren't a terribly complicated class. Berserk, Pummel, 2 handed weapons in 1 hand and off the charts strength. I'm not sure how to exactly describe the method I did for stat layouts and how much bonus each race gets from how many points in what stat, and how that progresses from low to high, but initially it involved 7 levels. Very Bad, Bad, Weak, Average, Better than Average, Good, Better than Good. I had based a lot of these off of various stats I saw in logs I found across the internet with a little guestimation. Each rating had values (-4,-3,-2,-1,1,2,3) and each class had ratings assigned to each of their stats based on what they were good in. Take for example, a tamian:
Strength: Good (2)
Constitution: Bad (-3)
Agility: Good (2)
Dexterity: Good (2)
Intelligence: Better than Average (1)
Wisdom: Better than Average (1)
Total: 5
Tamians were designed to be versatile and able to do just about anything, but not be overly excellent in any one thing.
Then I came to Dwarves and realized, when I compared it to my Dwarf Paladin's stats, that "Better than Good" strenght wouldn't cut it. So I made "Super" and having taken another look, I went back and adjusted some of the other races to have the Super trait, like Elves with Intelligence and Halflings with dexterity. Then I got to chaos, and Trolls and realized, the highest possible bonus for a 20 str on super, doesn't even come close to the original DFC bonuses. So I created Super.ii. Which, after calculating it out, STILL didn't come close. So I created Super.iii which finally seems to have hit the mark. I couldn't remember for sure what armor they used before, possibly chainmail, but I upped them to plate. The changes to Berserk should make it a much more useful skill and a little more viable for hunting.
Just a side note, each of these "levels" are at equal increments between each other, so there is a uniformity to it and super.ii and super.iii actually have two of these increments between each of them so I suppose technically they should be super, super.iii, super.v. I'll lay out the mechanics of it after I'm done with all the race/class posts.
Not much to tell here. Chainmail is the "favored" armor, they still have their bombs that they get every 10 levels or so. I might slip in parry at somepoint since it makes sense they'd be a somewhat defensive fighter, but at the moment they don't have it. Currently they do have sneak since they are so small. SURPRISE! BOMBS! being the idea behind that.
Trolls:
Trolls aren't a terribly complicated class. Berserk, Pummel, 2 handed weapons in 1 hand and off the charts strength. I'm not sure how to exactly describe the method I did for stat layouts and how much bonus each race gets from how many points in what stat, and how that progresses from low to high, but initially it involved 7 levels. Very Bad, Bad, Weak, Average, Better than Average, Good, Better than Good. I had based a lot of these off of various stats I saw in logs I found across the internet with a little guestimation. Each rating had values (-4,-3,-2,-1,1,2,3) and each class had ratings assigned to each of their stats based on what they were good in. Take for example, a tamian:
Strength: Good (2)
Constitution: Bad (-3)
Agility: Good (2)
Dexterity: Good (2)
Intelligence: Better than Average (1)
Wisdom: Better than Average (1)
Total: 5
Tamians were designed to be versatile and able to do just about anything, but not be overly excellent in any one thing.
Then I came to Dwarves and realized, when I compared it to my Dwarf Paladin's stats, that "Better than Good" strenght wouldn't cut it. So I made "Super" and having taken another look, I went back and adjusted some of the other races to have the Super trait, like Elves with Intelligence and Halflings with dexterity. Then I got to chaos, and Trolls and realized, the highest possible bonus for a 20 str on super, doesn't even come close to the original DFC bonuses. So I created Super.ii. Which, after calculating it out, STILL didn't come close. So I created Super.iii which finally seems to have hit the mark. I couldn't remember for sure what armor they used before, possibly chainmail, but I upped them to plate. The changes to Berserk should make it a much more useful skill and a little more viable for hunting.
Just a side note, each of these "levels" are at equal increments between each other, so there is a uniformity to it and super.ii and super.iii actually have two of these increments between each of them so I suppose technically they should be super, super.iii, super.v. I'll lay out the mechanics of it after I'm done with all the race/class posts.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Priests
The final class for the Good realm, Priests have had some slight changes. I had a good friend in high school who played a priest (Dominic) but as it has been so long he no longer has logs of spells and some details. So with that I had to make spell lists based on memory. A single offensive spell casting list, the traditional group shields, level 4 self shields , light/bless/holywarrior etc. If I recall resurrections Healing, resurrection and cures/remove curses were in seperate lists, 2 or 3. This is the same for all the healing classes. In DFC they could wear plate armor and cast through it with divine spells. I am not entirely sure of how viable that is in comparison to the healer necros and orcs. I've lowered their "Favored armor" down to leather. I'll get into more detail about how armor changes will work in another post as it will be quite detailed. From a physical combat standpoint, and there is a likelyhood that these might be removed, they will also have pummel and parry. I included parry because they are essentially a defensive class, and pummel because of the crushing weapons nature of the class. But as this may be too much, either or both may be removed.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Craftsmen
With craftsmen I didn't do a whole lot of changing anything, the only really unique battle skills/items are parry, which is kind of one dimensional, and their golems. Most of the work done with crafties was consolidating item/weapon/armor creation lists. If I recall, before, there were lists for each type of armor, maybe more than one for weapons too, I cannot remember. The updated version is based on tiers of 10 levels. Each tier (ex level 1-10) deals with one specific type of item (ex boots,gloves,leggings, helm, shirt etc) Within those 10 levels are where the difference in material lies, cloth, leather, studded, chain, plate. There are also a cloth and leather cloak mixed in as well. Weapons follow a similar patter. Crushing, Slashing, Thrusting, Ranged, Shield etc. Right now I have all of the armor enchantments and weapon infusions in their own lists, but at sometime int he future I'll probably split them off to be specific to craftsman/goblins/demons. I suspect it would be too easy to get full set of gear that has resistance to everything on it if all realms had access to all protections. Walls and Catapults/Ammo are currently equal for all realms. The slight differences each realm had in DFC were good in theory but, particularly with walls, I don't think it panned out terribly even. There is nothing saying I can't change that back though, and it isn't out of the realm of possibility. I did level a crafty to around high-30s and had GM for awhile, so I remember how stupidly hard to get some rather inconsequential components for enchantments and such were. With that in mind some of the lower required components will obviously be much more available, while the components for the higher level items will be fittingly rare. In particular, I'm tossing around the idea of having a temporary bonding enchantment. It would last for some amount of releases of the character, and would require a rather large number of rare items. Keep in mind that that is just an idea and may never actually be implemented. Finally, I remember wearing plate as a craftie on DFC, goblins having chain, but chain sucked so they often wore studded leather, and CoX being Studded/BH being leather. I've bumped crafty favored armor down to chain though. It seemed more fitting. If you're constructing things on the battlefield, you're going to want a little more flexibility than plate would offer, plus too many plate wearers can just get silly.
Side note: I've finished my final program for the class I am in 5 days earlier than the due date. All I have left to do is study for the quiz and final exam and I'll be done and begin working on programming this again instead of sitting around and making these posts while I take breaks from programming my assignments for class.
Side note: I've finished my final program for the class I am in 5 days earlier than the due date. All I have left to do is study for the quiz and final exam and I'll be done and begin working on programming this again instead of sitting around and making these posts while I take breaks from programming my assignments for class.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Rogues Kobolds and Imps
Well...Honestly there isn't really much to say here. I had a heck of a time tailoring the algorithm for backstab and it gets rather complicated, mixing between percept, weapon skill, backstab skill etc. It is drastically different from basic damage calculation to say the least.
Weapon type being used might factor in, but at the moment it doesn't....
Well, that was informative. See everyone tomorrow for Craftsmen!
Weapon type being used might factor in, but at the moment it doesn't....
Well, that was informative. See everyone tomorrow for Craftsmen!
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Wizards
Wizards presented a real problem. I knew exactly where their points were, but I never had a great understanding of how tap factored in to damage done so I had to completely rework it myself through testing. In fact, tap, backstab and berserk were probably the three skills i spent the most time working on when figuring out the balance between everything. What I came up with was a multiplier effect. Base 200 damage with 100 tap is 400 damage, base 100 damage with 200 tap is 300 etc with max tap being your tap skill * 2 (200% in tap, 400 max). This may sound like its more costly on power, but I should point out again, every realm will have some form of power ward/rune/glyph to counter it. The other problem was spells. Wizards have a TON of spells and I had a list of none of them. I did have a 45ish wizards in DFC, so I could vaguely recall some, but a lot of it I had to make up. This did give me a chance to balance things out between the tappers though. I remade the spell lists to have similar spells at similar levels across classes. I also worked in the remaining wards for good realm (Lethargy, power, anti scry, magic, combat) all at level two except for power (4).
Edit: Thanks to an anonymous tipster, that is, anonymous because I have no idea who he was in game, I snagged the old help file that had a rudementary list of spells in the game prior to many of the updates. It is definitely going to help iron things out.
Edit: Thanks to an anonymous tipster, that is, anonymous because I have no idea who he was in game, I snagged the old help file that had a rudementary list of spells in the game prior to many of the updates. It is definitely going to help iron things out.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Rangers
Rangers are the first class with spells that I don't have enough experience with to remember their spell lists in good detail so it was interesting trying to recreate them. Pretty much everything else is the same. Ranged, Volley, track, etc, and I think I got the points setup right. As for the spells, I remembered pets, some basic "nature lore" type stuff, which would be personal buffs and self heals and glyphs as alarms. Rangers are also the beneficiaries of the balancing effects. One of the big things that chaos had over everyone was wards, ogres had good reason for the power ward, with their lower overall power capabilities, but frankly, giving them to a single realm was really tipping the balance, at least if Chaos ever rallied in numbers. I didn't want to put all of the wards in one place, and it just seemed natural to put healing and refresh "glyphs" with Ranger's already having the alarm glyphs. Additional note, Ogre wards are still better than the other two realms versions and Ogres/Necros/Wizards all have same power regeneration capabilities.
Tomorrow: Wizards
Tomorrow: Wizards
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Cyra vs My Darkness Falls Remake
I knew this time would come so I figured I'd make the post now while its fresh. Someone who frequents the Cyra forums has found this blog and informed Cyra about it. I'm actually surprised that it has taken this long as I the first chunk of work I did was for about 2 weeks back in January, then put on hiatus until now, with a few bits here and there. Anyway, I have no connection to Cyra or what Vassi and Rashka are doing. Their project has little if anything to do with mine, nor was it really a motivation either. Last fall I did have a bit of a longing to play the game, went looking and noticed Cyra seemed inactive. I tried a few other MUDs but like most former DFCers was disappointed. Eventually it all passed and I went back to other endeavors. In late December and early January I began playing the Magestorm remake, this is what inspired me to start this project. I saw the amazing job Sorien did/was doing and realized that I could do the same with DFC. Not only would it indulge my desire to play again, but it would also be a fantastic project that I could point towards for prospective employers. Originally it was just a secret between myself, Niteninja and Masterpuppet and one or two Strike Force (SF) members in Magestorm. At some point one of the SF guys told someone else about it, I can't remember who, but he didn't know I wanted it as a secret, and the word spread through the people who played Magestorm that loved DFC as well. After that it wasn't really necessary to keep it secret, so I began infrequent posts on this blog which I had normally used for other things. That is the story of things.
I know that some people have emailed me or replied to my posts mentioning Cyra, but anything that happens to Cyra has no bearing on my remake just as it had nothing to do with my motivation to begin. I wish Vassi and Rashka well in their attempt. Even if theirs goes up first and is wildly popular, which would be kinda neat, I'll still keep up with this because its something I want to do, to show that I can do it. I guess the entire point of this post is, I don't want people to lump the two games in as competing, or as if I did this because Cyra had not released yet. I did it because it was something I wanted to do for fun. I'm not really too familiar with how Cyra has progressed or anything about it, but I'm sure the two of them have put a great deal of work and effort into it and look forward to seeing the fruits of their labor.
I know that some people have emailed me or replied to my posts mentioning Cyra, but anything that happens to Cyra has no bearing on my remake just as it had nothing to do with my motivation to begin. I wish Vassi and Rashka well in their attempt. Even if theirs goes up first and is wildly popular, which would be kinda neat, I'll still keep up with this because its something I want to do, to show that I can do it. I guess the entire point of this post is, I don't want people to lump the two games in as competing, or as if I did this because Cyra had not released yet. I did it because it was something I wanted to do for fun. I'm not really too familiar with how Cyra has progressed or anything about it, but I'm sure the two of them have put a great deal of work and effort into it and look forward to seeing the fruits of their labor.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Paladin Pummel Parry
I haven't really made any surface changes to the Paladin class, they were pretty beefy before hand, but at the same time they were also fairly 1 dimensional. Double target, double target, double target. The shield spells made them great, but I can't remember if they had anything above level three. In any case, they won't now. I plan to keep it so that all shield/protect/blur spells 4 and above are only self cast, so that means that Paladin spells are only as good as anyone else could cast on them. The advantage being that they don't have to find someone to cast the shields for them. As before, their damage/defense (prior to shields) are not as good as skeletons and lizardmen. One of the biggest downsides to Paladins was that they could only reasonably train one weapon type, maybe two, whereas those in evil and chaos could use all. As it stands, I've made it so that every realm has a "weapons" skill instead of "crush" "slashing" etc. A simlar change has been made to armors, but I'll get into those two changes in deeper detail in another post. To give Paladins a little diversity I also retooled parry and pummel so that they actually make viable choices as an attack compared to double.
As best I can recall, parry was mildly useful, if the user had enough percentage in it they could use it to run through tough areas without getting hit, or laugh at people while they try and get through his defenses for minutes. I have tooled the parry percentage to work in the same manner as backstab but instead of removing % from defense and placing it in offense, the % is moved from offense to defense. It will still be possible to hit while parrying, and to be hit during parry. However, it won't be indefinite, there will be a timer to disengage berserk/parry style attacks.
Anyone who has ever played a zombie for any length of time can tell you how useless pummel was. I think I only ever played one to mid-teens or so, probably not any higher. However, Masterpuppet provided me with a great deal of input on zombies, which includes the Pummel attack. As it was, for zombies and maybe priests, the situation was more of a "Well I might as well Pummel instead of regular attack" instead of it being a definite primary attack. While I did do more with zombies (more in a future post on that), there isn't much I can do for pummel mechanically. If I made it do more damage, it would need some sort of drawback, but from a RP perspective, I can't really think of one. Keeping it HP/Fatigue damage calculated the same way as regular attacks is good, but since everyone has the same max hp and fatigue, and many heals are both HP and fatigue, its kind of pointless since by the time you pummel away someones fatigue, they'd likely be dead or at least 0'ed too. Now, this is by no means definite, but the only thing I could think of was to also have pummel do power damage. It gives someone a slight more reason to use pummel, power can't be healed and takes forever to regenerate, from an RP perspective it is much less effective on a fighter than a caster, which would make sense as the casters are traditionally physically weaker. While HP and Fatigue damage were originally the same, and will remain that way, the power damage is still up in the air, but will probably be less. The starting testing point will be power points equal to the number of HP/Fatigue, divided in half. I'll see how it goes from there.
From a spell perspective, Paladins will have roughly the same they used to. Shield/Protect/Blur/Holy Warrior and a basic bless, storm pets, and some energy intensive low yield healing spells.
Edit: I want to emphasize that Pummel is one of the more subject to change skills on my list
As best I can recall, parry was mildly useful, if the user had enough percentage in it they could use it to run through tough areas without getting hit, or laugh at people while they try and get through his defenses for minutes. I have tooled the parry percentage to work in the same manner as backstab but instead of removing % from defense and placing it in offense, the % is moved from offense to defense. It will still be possible to hit while parrying, and to be hit during parry. However, it won't be indefinite, there will be a timer to disengage berserk/parry style attacks.
Anyone who has ever played a zombie for any length of time can tell you how useless pummel was. I think I only ever played one to mid-teens or so, probably not any higher. However, Masterpuppet provided me with a great deal of input on zombies, which includes the Pummel attack. As it was, for zombies and maybe priests, the situation was more of a "Well I might as well Pummel instead of regular attack" instead of it being a definite primary attack. While I did do more with zombies (more in a future post on that), there isn't much I can do for pummel mechanically. If I made it do more damage, it would need some sort of drawback, but from a RP perspective, I can't really think of one. Keeping it HP/Fatigue damage calculated the same way as regular attacks is good, but since everyone has the same max hp and fatigue, and many heals are both HP and fatigue, its kind of pointless since by the time you pummel away someones fatigue, they'd likely be dead or at least 0'ed too. Now, this is by no means definite, but the only thing I could think of was to also have pummel do power damage. It gives someone a slight more reason to use pummel, power can't be healed and takes forever to regenerate, from an RP perspective it is much less effective on a fighter than a caster, which would make sense as the casters are traditionally physically weaker. While HP and Fatigue damage were originally the same, and will remain that way, the power damage is still up in the air, but will probably be less. The starting testing point will be power points equal to the number of HP/Fatigue, divided in half. I'll see how it goes from there.
From a spell perspective, Paladins will have roughly the same they used to. Shield/Protect/Blur/Holy Warrior and a basic bless, storm pets, and some energy intensive low yield healing spells.
Edit: I want to emphasize that Pummel is one of the more subject to change skills on my list
Monday, July 30, 2012
Apologies DFCers
I had planned to release something new about the work on DFC everyday but I'm in the middle of an intense class right now and I spent about 12 hours today programming and I'm still not done. The good news is, in a little over a week the class is done and I'll be back to working on the Darkness Falls: The Crusade remake.
As a bonus, here is a clip of quite possibly the best scene from any zombie movie/show:
As a bonus, here is a clip of quite possibly the best scene from any zombie movie/show:
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Darkness Falls: The Crusade: Monks
Okay starting today I'm going to keep up regular postings about races, guilds, weapons, armor and other skills and how I've worked out balances. It should be noted, before reading, that I have already written a program to test the algorithms behind these skills, weapons, armor and how everything comes together for a fight in game. All skills were designed to do similar damage/defense of comparable classes at comparable percents while also taking into account the opponents level. So Before anyone goes crying about something being overpowered, be aware that I've done my best to balance these things out. Additionally, there will obviously be some testing in game, as that is basically what "beta" tests are for.
Today's entry: Monks
I probably know more about monks than any other class. Back in the day I used to quiz staff about the inner workings of the game, points in offense/defense as well as the bonus to defense when using martial arts, simple things. That combined with observing how percentages worked and were affected by stats, I reverse engineered a rough approximation of how it was originally designed. As I was comparing the mechanics of various classes, namely berserkers and monks, I realized that Trolls/Werewolves/Monks were really more similar than just being each realms "extra, no standard warrior" class. While the berserk skill produced massive damage increases at the expense of defense, martial arts/adrenaline/counter would alter the state of the monk for different purposes. It was never really determined how monks received the defense bonus when using martial arts, but I believe I found a way to approximate it, or at least have developed a balanced approach at it.
When the monk is not holding anything, he receives a 10% of his martial arts skill as an extra chance of evading the attack. Say the monk has 250% Martial Arts. That would mean there is a 25% chance the attack will miss. If the attack gets through this calcuation, then a normal calculation is done in the manner of the other classes.
Secondly, the monk also receives a 10% of his martial arts skill bonus to his armor skill percentage. I will get into how armor is calculated into everything in a different post but the algorithm, assuming proper training of the armor and martial arts skills, would be roughly equivalent to a plate wearer at 50.
I never really cared for counter's original design but I suspect that is because one of the big toning moments monks received was when I was around the mid-20s on my monk, so I never got to see the real benefit of a good counter skill, prior to the toning. The idea was that you went into a hyper-alert state, attacking anything that hit you, but you did no independent actions. You couldn't attack anything besides the automatic attacks from when something hit you, if there were a significant amount of enemies in the room you could run out of fatigue rather quickly and you had to "undo" counter, stuck with a timer, before you could do anything else, which meant if you bit off more than you could chew you had to wait an extra few seconds to try and escape. Obviously it had its benefits, you could clear a room pretty fast, or in a huge PVP battle do some decent damage, but its usefulness was generally only for moments when you felt lazy. Despite popular belief, going afk while countering was generally a really bad idea if you were in any area that could do damage. I believe for the most part it won't operate any differently here, it might do less damage, but its hard to tell since it was such a comparatively underused skill.
Adrenal move was very situational too. Unless you wanted to carry around a ton of melons, you didn't use it while hunting. In PVP it was much more useful but you had to pick your moments. The idea was you received a boost in your damage in exchange for losing a massively larger amount of fatigue for each hit. I want to say that you would be out in 10ish+ chops, but I can't remember clearly. Anyway, the bonus received from adrenaline is functionally the same as the berserk skill but instead of the drawback being a loss of defense, its instead exhausting yourself which can be rather damaging in its own way.
Spells are where things get different with monks. Everything else is basically the same, minus a few tweaks, but spells will be slightly different. I don't remember why I always teased staff about giving monks a dragon form, I know someone else thought of it, probably Grip, but the idea seemed intriguing. This is one of the places where I've attempted to balance out the three realms. In general, with cases where only one realm had something the others didn't, I took that and translated it into the other two in an attempt to level things out. However, I made sure that the original primary class holder of that skill, spell type or ability retained a better version. Essentially Werewolves are primary shapeshifters while monks and gnolls would be secondary shapeshifters. While Monks and Gnolls each received new forms at level increments of 10 (10,20,30,40,50) and would have roughly identical damage and defense capabilities, Werewolves receive at rough increments of 5 levels ( 2,7,11,16,20,25,30,35,40,45,50). For Monks and Gnolls, it will most likely always be beneficial to be in their highest level form, but for Wolves, the damage types and effects vary based on tiers. All forms in a tier would do the same base damage, but other elements or status affects would prove useful for different situations which brings me to my final point about Shapeshifting. It will all be done by spells. Doing this eliminated the need for training shapeshift and sitting around trying to shape for 5 minutes until it works. It also lets the shaper choose which form they want to use.
Also, I totally forgot until I had written all of this, and I don't feel like going back to edit it in, but Blood Coven Vampires do also still have bat forms. They are similarly tiered to wolves except at larger intervals mostly (2,7,14,20,25,32,38,45,50).
Feel free to post comments and thoughts about this. I will take it under advisement but there is no guarantee I will change it as I calculated the interaction between skills months ago.
Today's entry: Monks
I probably know more about monks than any other class. Back in the day I used to quiz staff about the inner workings of the game, points in offense/defense as well as the bonus to defense when using martial arts, simple things. That combined with observing how percentages worked and were affected by stats, I reverse engineered a rough approximation of how it was originally designed. As I was comparing the mechanics of various classes, namely berserkers and monks, I realized that Trolls/Werewolves/Monks were really more similar than just being each realms "extra, no standard warrior" class. While the berserk skill produced massive damage increases at the expense of defense, martial arts/adrenaline/counter would alter the state of the monk for different purposes. It was never really determined how monks received the defense bonus when using martial arts, but I believe I found a way to approximate it, or at least have developed a balanced approach at it.
When the monk is not holding anything, he receives a 10% of his martial arts skill as an extra chance of evading the attack. Say the monk has 250% Martial Arts. That would mean there is a 25% chance the attack will miss. If the attack gets through this calcuation, then a normal calculation is done in the manner of the other classes.
Secondly, the monk also receives a 10% of his martial arts skill bonus to his armor skill percentage. I will get into how armor is calculated into everything in a different post but the algorithm, assuming proper training of the armor and martial arts skills, would be roughly equivalent to a plate wearer at 50.
I never really cared for counter's original design but I suspect that is because one of the big toning moments monks received was when I was around the mid-20s on my monk, so I never got to see the real benefit of a good counter skill, prior to the toning. The idea was that you went into a hyper-alert state, attacking anything that hit you, but you did no independent actions. You couldn't attack anything besides the automatic attacks from when something hit you, if there were a significant amount of enemies in the room you could run out of fatigue rather quickly and you had to "undo" counter, stuck with a timer, before you could do anything else, which meant if you bit off more than you could chew you had to wait an extra few seconds to try and escape. Obviously it had its benefits, you could clear a room pretty fast, or in a huge PVP battle do some decent damage, but its usefulness was generally only for moments when you felt lazy. Despite popular belief, going afk while countering was generally a really bad idea if you were in any area that could do damage. I believe for the most part it won't operate any differently here, it might do less damage, but its hard to tell since it was such a comparatively underused skill.
Adrenal move was very situational too. Unless you wanted to carry around a ton of melons, you didn't use it while hunting. In PVP it was much more useful but you had to pick your moments. The idea was you received a boost in your damage in exchange for losing a massively larger amount of fatigue for each hit. I want to say that you would be out in 10ish+ chops, but I can't remember clearly. Anyway, the bonus received from adrenaline is functionally the same as the berserk skill but instead of the drawback being a loss of defense, its instead exhausting yourself which can be rather damaging in its own way.
Spells are where things get different with monks. Everything else is basically the same, minus a few tweaks, but spells will be slightly different. I don't remember why I always teased staff about giving monks a dragon form, I know someone else thought of it, probably Grip, but the idea seemed intriguing. This is one of the places where I've attempted to balance out the three realms. In general, with cases where only one realm had something the others didn't, I took that and translated it into the other two in an attempt to level things out. However, I made sure that the original primary class holder of that skill, spell type or ability retained a better version. Essentially Werewolves are primary shapeshifters while monks and gnolls would be secondary shapeshifters. While Monks and Gnolls each received new forms at level increments of 10 (10,20,30,40,50) and would have roughly identical damage and defense capabilities, Werewolves receive at rough increments of 5 levels ( 2,7,11,16,20,25,30,35,40,45,50). For Monks and Gnolls, it will most likely always be beneficial to be in their highest level form, but for Wolves, the damage types and effects vary based on tiers. All forms in a tier would do the same base damage, but other elements or status affects would prove useful for different situations which brings me to my final point about Shapeshifting. It will all be done by spells. Doing this eliminated the need for training shapeshift and sitting around trying to shape for 5 minutes until it works. It also lets the shaper choose which form they want to use.
Also, I totally forgot until I had written all of this, and I don't feel like going back to edit it in, but Blood Coven Vampires do also still have bat forms. They are similarly tiered to wolves except at larger intervals mostly (2,7,14,20,25,32,38,45,50).
Feel free to post comments and thoughts about this. I will take it under advisement but there is no guarantee I will change it as I calculated the interaction between skills months ago.
Darkness Falls: Bone Update
Yesterday I posted about the new approach to Evil's archer class using skeletons and their "bone" command. As Rangers and Gnolls both get significantly more than simply volley. In the future, I'm going to be making a series of posts regarding specific classes and races as well as mechanics changes I've made in favor of making the playing field a little more equal, things like a version of bless for all three realms. Anyway, I digress. The as of yet to be named new archer skeleton guild is still in the brainstorming stage but I think I've got a good idea of where I want to take it in terms of their side benefits. After consulting my two assistants, the ideas we've come up with are plays on the "bone" command, that is, the skeletons ability to break off a piece of itself and use it as a tool. Obviously since they would have to fire arrows at a rather fast pace, they would need some sort of regeneration to replace the components lost. With that in mind Masterpuppet suggested we give them a minor regeneration. This will be better than the best "Quick Heal" abilities than other classes have but less than Zombie's quick heal. Additionally they will have access to limited transport type spells. Something akin to "Masterpuppet removes his skull and launches to the east as his body crumbles to dust!" While in the target room people would see "A skull comes flying into the room from the west and lands on the ground as a skeleton begins to regenerate at it's base! Masterpuppet rises!" At the moment this is all I have for them, and I am hesitant to add more, but it is always possible. It is also most likely they will be studded leather wearers.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Bone Bone Bone Bone Bone
Earlier tonight Niteninja and I were discussing random stuff with no real impact on the world, like we always do, and he jokingly suggested that we give Skeletons a "bone" attack so that skeletons could "bone insertplayernamehere" or "bone vixen." Loving infantile jokes such as this as much as I do, I ran with it. One of the biggest problems I had as I was reverse engineering the mechanics and balancing all the realms of Darkness Falls: The Crusade was what race/guild would be the best fit for an archer. I did not think giving it to vampires was very fair as both guilds will have plenty of toys to play with, while wolves do track, ranged attacks are pretty much the exact opposite of how a werewolf would normally fight. As it was, giving it to the CoX demons meant it would conflict with their melee attacks. Bael-elves are pure casters, so they were out of the question. Zombies, while fairly screwed in DFC, are already set to have some really bitching fun (bite attack akin to lizardman breath attacks), so I was basically left with Imps. Imps, while physically weak (Niteninja's primary disagreement with me on it), were also not really a combatant you'd find in your face, making ranged shots and sniper shots a bit more logical. So it sat like this for almost a good 4-5 months now, until tonight when Niteninja made the joke. As of tonight, I have made the decision that the evil realm volleyer/ranged race/guild will be a second skeleton guild and it will no longer be a second imp guild. The skeletons will have an attack command known as "Bone" that is functionally identical to the ranged style commands like "fire." Here are examples of how the text would look:
--------------------------------
fire anubus
Jagorn releases a flaming arrow that pierces Anubus's side, setting him ablaze.
Anubus is now burning!
------------------------------
bone anubus
Masterpuppet rips off a femur, loads it into his bow and fires it at Anubus!
Masterpuppet's flaming bone flies through the air and plunges into Anubus!
Anubus is now burning!
-----------------------------
Everything will be functionally the same, stats/special effects determined by the bow used to bone the target. It is a relatively easy thing to alter in the code, in case it ever gets old I could swap it out in no time. I'll also have to figure out what else to give this second skeleton guild. Gnolls and Rangers both have more than just their bows and volley so in the name of balance, skeletons would need something more as well.
--------------------------------
fire anubus
Jagorn releases a flaming arrow that pierces Anubus's side, setting him ablaze.
Anubus is now burning!
------------------------------
bone anubus
Masterpuppet rips off a femur, loads it into his bow and fires it at Anubus!
Masterpuppet's flaming bone flies through the air and plunges into Anubus!
Anubus is now burning!
-----------------------------
Everything will be functionally the same, stats/special effects determined by the bow used to bone the target. It is a relatively easy thing to alter in the code, in case it ever gets old I could swap it out in no time. I'll also have to figure out what else to give this second skeleton guild. Gnolls and Rangers both have more than just their bows and volley so in the name of balance, skeletons would need something more as well.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Kumare: The True Story of a False Prophet
Kumare is a documentary about a man who, as he falls from the faith he was born into, Hinduism, and the increasing number of "Gurus" who don't really seem to have any holy traits about them. He takes it upon himself to see if he could do it as well. The documentary follows him and two others as they transform themselves, gather followers and discover how much they are in over their heads when it comes to the level of control they can exert over someones life.
The documentaries website is here: http://www.kumaremovie.com/
I wish it was playing somewhere near me. It is a perfect showcase for just how much religion is a fantasy created by the human mind to fill in the holes in our knowledge. People need to have confidence in themselves instead of some invisible dictator in the sky.
The documentaries website is here: http://www.kumaremovie.com/
I wish it was playing somewhere near me. It is a perfect showcase for just how much religion is a fantasy created by the human mind to fill in the holes in our knowledge. People need to have confidence in themselves instead of some invisible dictator in the sky.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
John Kieffer
Today I read an interesting case about a man who is essentially on trial for being an atheist, in Florida of all places. Accounts state that a group of citizens had gathered for a regularly scheduled school board meeting, but the meeting had yet to be called to order. A priest began to lead most of the room in prayer. While not strictly unconstitutional, its clearly a means to subvert the separation of church and state, but there isn't really anything that can be done about it. In protect, Mr. Kieffer and a woman who was in attendance with him continued about their business during the prayer. At this point a board member began to verbally attack Mr. Kieffer for not joining in. Kieffer and his friend's only response was to question if the meeting had been called to order or not. As it hadn't, they had every right to go about their business. This wasn't good enough for the school board member who then summoned the police and had Mr. Kieffer arrested on resisting arrest peacefully, disturbing a school, religious, or lawful assembly and disordely conduct. Two of the charges have since been dropped by the state attorney but one still remains, the remaining charge leaves him facing up to a year in jail. It is worth noting that Mr. Kieffer did not resist arrest and I'm not really sure how someone "resists arrest peacefully." Anyway, the following link is kept up to date with the proceedings.
http://free2think.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1414
Freedom of religion works for everyone.
http://free2think.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1414
Freedom of religion works for everyone.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Programming Marathons
It has been awhile since I went on such a programming binge. I've been hard at it for two days straight, looking at another day tomorrow. The assignment is to create a basic shell, using C. I HATE C, or rather the limitations the teacher has put on us. Anyway, one program down, two to go, then DFC binging :D
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Batman doesn't use Guns
Today was a sad day. For whatever reason, a man took up arms against a packed theatre of helpless individuals, killing some, wounding more. It was some sort of sick joke, during the latest Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" and the shooter claimed he was the Joker. Very quickly the news and comments around the web devoted to two fields, demands for more gun control and claims that if there was less gun control it would have never happened. More gun control wouldn't have stopped this. The man had no criminal record, no recorded mental health problems. The best that could have been done was keeping the assault rifle out of his hands. It would have made it much more difficult for him to fire so many rounds and injure as many. Similarly, if conceiled carry permitted people to carry in the theatre, it wouldn't have stopped him either. At best he would have fired less shots as someone pegged him. At worst the people trying to stop him would have missed and harmed others, or have been mistaken for being a second shooter. The theatre was packed full. Guns don't like crowded rooms.
I also ran up against someone claiming that if an audience member had an assault rifle themselves, it would have been stopped much earlier. Frankly, that would be much more likely to hit innocent bystanders, not to mention the inability to hide such a weapon would have made him the first target for the gunman.
Finally, good old Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) pulled another one from his book of classics and used it as an opportunity to promote the death penalty. Here is the tweet in question:
"Aurora, CO mass murder is a terrible event near Littleton. Another very evil individual whose heinous crime calls out for the death penalty."
I'm sure all the victims and their families loved it being turned into a gun control/freedom debate so it must have been all the better that a congressman wants to add another body to the count.
Edit: A good friend of mine from Chicago told me about a family that lives down the road from her and her husband. Their son was in the theatre and they had not yet heard anything as to his condition. All the area television networks were camped out on their street trying to get an interview or waiting for news. Despicable.
I also ran up against someone claiming that if an audience member had an assault rifle themselves, it would have been stopped much earlier. Frankly, that would be much more likely to hit innocent bystanders, not to mention the inability to hide such a weapon would have made him the first target for the gunman.
Finally, good old Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) pulled another one from his book of classics and used it as an opportunity to promote the death penalty. Here is the tweet in question:
"Aurora, CO mass murder is a terrible event near Littleton. Another very evil individual whose heinous crime calls out for the death penalty."
I'm sure all the victims and their families loved it being turned into a gun control/freedom debate so it must have been all the better that a congressman wants to add another body to the count.
Edit: A good friend of mine from Chicago told me about a family that lives down the road from her and her husband. Their son was in the theatre and they had not yet heard anything as to his condition. All the area television networks were camped out on their street trying to get an interview or waiting for news. Despicable.
Friday, July 20, 2012
You know you're a nerd when....
Today was a great day in my nerdocity. Not only did my 17 button razer wired/wireless mouse arrive, but I pulled a rabbit out of a hat when fixing my parents computer. Last week I had remoted into my parents computer to fix a problem they were having with their printer. It is much simpler to do it this way rather than to have me drive the 45 minutes to their place and 45 minutes back. Somewhere in the process their system wonked out would no longer run programs or properly connect to a remote session. So today I made the journey down there, Windows 7 disc in hand and my laptop in case I needed to grab any drivers. The OS installed just fine, but many of the motherboard related components weren't working properly, including the Ethernet port. I looked up the specs on the motherboard from where purchased it, went looking for the necessary drivers on my laptop, nothing out of the ordinary, but my parents only had 3 blank CDs for transferring, one of which I had already used for a separate task. As it turned out the manufacturers drivers did not work and I was left with no method to transfer any other installers I found to the new computer. Then I earned my nerd cred.
I whipped out my phone, looked at my Dad dramatically and said, "I need your charger, NOW!" He quickly rushed to the kitchen in a desperate search and returned with both his and my Mom's power cord only to discover that they were simple chargers and not the 2 in 1 charger/data cable I needed! In a panic we desperately began to theorize as to where his data cable had gone, for you see, we both have identical models of phones, and I knew for certain that he had one! We donned our platemail, readied our blades and ventured forth into the rest of the house in a last ditch effort to find the cable and save the quarter tank of gas it would take for me to make another trip and at last we discovered it in a seldom used cabinet in my parent's bedroom, hidden by ferocious cassette tapes! The day was saved! We rushed back to my laptop, plugged the phone in, turning on USB storage, transfered the driver with much fervor and made haste towards my parents computer only to be thwarted by USB ports on the front of the tower being in negative hit points! In a last ditch effort, I reached around the tower, scrambling for an open USB port and SUCCESS! I plugged the cable in, turned on USB storage again, transferred the file and the day was won! I had conquered the shortcomings of Windows 7 with the lowly Droid operating system! FEAR ME! FOR I AM NERD!
I whipped out my phone, looked at my Dad dramatically and said, "I need your charger, NOW!" He quickly rushed to the kitchen in a desperate search and returned with both his and my Mom's power cord only to discover that they were simple chargers and not the 2 in 1 charger/data cable I needed! In a panic we desperately began to theorize as to where his data cable had gone, for you see, we both have identical models of phones, and I knew for certain that he had one! We donned our platemail, readied our blades and ventured forth into the rest of the house in a last ditch effort to find the cable and save the quarter tank of gas it would take for me to make another trip and at last we discovered it in a seldom used cabinet in my parent's bedroom, hidden by ferocious cassette tapes! The day was saved! We rushed back to my laptop, plugged the phone in, turning on USB storage, transfered the driver with much fervor and made haste towards my parents computer only to be thwarted by USB ports on the front of the tower being in negative hit points! In a last ditch effort, I reached around the tower, scrambling for an open USB port and SUCCESS! I plugged the cable in, turned on USB storage again, transferred the file and the day was won! I had conquered the shortcomings of Windows 7 with the lowly Droid operating system! FEAR ME! FOR I AM NERD!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Lore Updates
Niteninja and I have been doing a lot of tossing ideas back and forth for both of our sections of the Darkness Falls: The Crusade remake, possible story directions for him and how to proceed with what components of the project in what order and what we want implemented when. As an example, something like choosing what font to use and developing graphical representation of idols is of much lower priority than character interaction, but fonts are even further down the line than the idol representation. I'd give a more detailed answer but then it gets into more programming mumbo jumbo.
On Niteninja's section of the project, he's decided to set a preliminary release schedule of one "chapter" or release of story/background content per week. This isn't fixed, but its what we're shooting for. He currently has an opening chapter to begin to explain how the world changed from DFC to this new version we're working on and is just polishing it up before I post it as sort of a teaser. Hopefully it gives people a little something to keep them interested until we can get the beta out.
Finally, to the joy of a lot of people, a few who have IMed/emailed me and a few who are in magestorm, I have met all the goals I set forth in magestorm that was keeping me there. For those not familiar with the plan I had, I had a few months of downtime between semesters that coincided well with the revival of magestorm. I put this project on hold so that I could make all the different builds I had always wanted to try. I reached that with a week before this current semester began. This semester ends in 3 weeks. Between the class I have now and the classes this fall, work seems promising.
On Niteninja's section of the project, he's decided to set a preliminary release schedule of one "chapter" or release of story/background content per week. This isn't fixed, but its what we're shooting for. He currently has an opening chapter to begin to explain how the world changed from DFC to this new version we're working on and is just polishing it up before I post it as sort of a teaser. Hopefully it gives people a little something to keep them interested until we can get the beta out.
Finally, to the joy of a lot of people, a few who have IMed/emailed me and a few who are in magestorm, I have met all the goals I set forth in magestorm that was keeping me there. For those not familiar with the plan I had, I had a few months of downtime between semesters that coincided well with the revival of magestorm. I put this project on hold so that I could make all the different builds I had always wanted to try. I reached that with a week before this current semester began. This semester ends in 3 weeks. Between the class I have now and the classes this fall, work seems promising.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Some Darkness Falls Progress
I've split up the work on the remake of Darkness Falls: The Crusade into three sections. The programming, database work and all similar things are strictly in my hands (Draken) with some consultation from Niteninja on networking and security. There was also a component of algorithm design and interaction that was developed by me with feedback from both Niteninja and Masterpuppet. The second section is more of a lore theme and is primarily in the hands of Niteninja. Obviously I will consult with him a bit on this but I trust him to do a superb job. The final section is a slightly related to lore and consists of the creation of lands, monsters and items. This will mostly be in the hands of Masterpuppet and Niteninja, and maybe later on a few people who have commented on a previous post, expressing interest. (Note: I do have your info cataloged guys)
Now that that is sufficiently laid out, the news. Awhile ago we decided that instead of a clean remake that we would make this a sort of "DF3" or a continuation in the story. Unlike the change from DF1 to DFC, however, there won't really be a huge difference in mechanics. Without going into too much detail, as Niteninja is still having fun with the lore, here is a rough breakdown in the timeline:
Now that that is sufficiently laid out, the news. Awhile ago we decided that instead of a clean remake that we would make this a sort of "DF3" or a continuation in the story. Unlike the change from DF1 to DFC, however, there won't really be a huge difference in mechanics. Without going into too much detail, as Niteninja is still having fun with the lore, here is a rough breakdown in the timeline:
- World wide event to explain the "shutdown" of DFC
- Period of time in which the realms congregate in a single city
- This will be a beta-like situation to accommodate smaller player base with a similar format to DF1
- World wide event that shifts the 3 realms from a single city to 3 new realms, a return to DFC style setup
- This is to account for the fact that we do not have logs to cover all areas in all realms, while some of it can be reconstructed by memory, much cannot.
- Some old areas will make reappearances though possibly altered slightly
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Michael Salman
There has been a big ruckus created recently about a man in Arizona who was supposedly arrested for holding Bible studies. This is a gross mischaracterization of the issue. A simple summary is that Mr. Salman wanted to build a building on his property, according to the permit, it was to be a sort of game room. More than once he stated that it would not be used for what it was later used for, massive Bible studies. It was reported that there was seating set up for close to 100 people. The problem is the building was not build to code to properly support so many people. In an emergency many could be trapped inside. The city had no problem with him doing what he wanted to do, he could have built the building to code, he didn't. More than once he stated it wouldn't be used for the Bible Studies/Church assemblies despite the fact there is a sign on his property indicating it is known as the "Harvest Christian Church" and his vehicles are also covered in advertisements. Nobodies rights are being violated. Mr. Salman just wants to the attention.
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2012/07/michael_salman_is_not_in_jail.php
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2012/07/michael_salman_is_not_in_jail.php
Star Trek: Enterprise
I finished watching all of Star Trek: Enterprise today. It is a shame it was cancelled so early because it really was a fantastic series. The story was never about the goal and all about the journey. You knew the entire time where human history was headed, the forming of the United Federation of Planets and the level of technology ahead. In many ways I think that is what made it so great. With all of the other series, the science officers and engineers would just make up some bullshit and save the day. With Enterprise, their options were limited. They had no shields, no tractor beam, phasers and transporter technology were brand new concepts. Don't get me wrong, I love the entire universe, but Enterprise really was fantastic.
Also, I'd totally Sub Command Her T'Pol.
Also, I'd totally Sub Command Her T'Pol.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Doctor Manhattanism
"Thermodynamic miracles...
events with odds against so astronomical they're effectively impossible,
like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a
thing. And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for
a single egg. Multiply those odds by
countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive;
meeting; siring this precise son; that exact daughter... Until your
mother loves a man she has every reason to hate, and of that union, of
the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you,
only you, that emerged. To distill so specific a form from that chaos of
improbability, like turning air to gold... that is the crowning
unlikelihood. The thermodynamic miracle." -Dr. Manhattan
That is one of my favorite quotes, from a fictional story ironically, but it illustrates very well how beautiful our existence in this universe is and that attributing such existence to a creator cheapens it to nothing more than a factory produced steel rod.
That is one of my favorite quotes, from a fictional story ironically, but it illustrates very well how beautiful our existence in this universe is and that attributing such existence to a creator cheapens it to nothing more than a factory produced steel rod.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
High School Civics
Recently a local group I am a quasi-member of put up a billboard at one of the busiest intersections in my city. The billboard said "Don't believe in god? Join the group!" with a link to the groups website. Tonight there were two stories on the local news stations covering it, a rather hateful posting on a local radio stations website and tomorrow the local paper will be covering it. I spent hours pouring over the posts on the facebook page for one of the networks and it was very enlightening. Most of the posts were respectful, but it was abundantly clear that too many people lacked a proper understanding of rights, including the poster of the article who stated "Should this be taken down?" Other people posted claiming it infringed on their rights to even see such a thing. It was really disappointing. I think more people need to retake high school civics class.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Hitlerball
Anyone who uses facebook with any frequency has probably seen the wave of postings that consist of a picture of some figure, or an info-graphic, with a quote from that figure, usually anecdotal and out of context. People see these, get a quick laugh out of them, assume they are correct if they fit their religious or political outlook and repost it, repeating the process. As most of my friends come from varying ideologies, I see a wide range of them. I look upon most of these with sadness because,whether I agree with them or not, all they do is to further divide people and like I said, their factual basis is usually questionable. As we currently have a Democrat in the White House, much of what I see are quips about fascism, loss of freedom and liberty and how Barack Obama is driving the country into hell. I remember 10 years ago, similar things being said about President Bush. I was younger then, 18, and I remember participating in the hyperbole myself and I'm not particularly proud of it. Another cool-headed friend of mine posted another one today. An info-graphic making fun of info-graphics, my favorite kind. It said basically what I am saying here, it was a picture of Adolf Hitler with a caption pointing out how everyone accuses everyone else of being Hitler-esque. The minute someone kills 6 million innocent people because they have "inferior genes," is the only time Hitlerball should break out.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Ariel and Jordan Reunited
I had previous written a blog post about Jordan Clipstonand his efforts to be reunited with his daughter. Jordan is an atheist and his mother comes from a very religiously conservative family and has done everything they could to keep his daughter from even knowing he exists. The post can be found here:
http://nerdsandpoliticsandnerds.blogspot.com/2012/05/jordan-clipston.html
Good news though, Jordan and Ariel have been reunited and have had several visits that went great for Ariel. The future does look bright for the two and the mother and her family do seem willing to at least meet minimum requirements. To follow the story you can find his new page on facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/ArielJordanReunited
There is a very detailed post of the experience the two had together. Please join me in supporting them.
http://nerdsandpoliticsandnerds.blogspot.com/2012/05/jordan-clipston.html
Good news though, Jordan and Ariel have been reunited and have had several visits that went great for Ariel. The future does look bright for the two and the mother and her family do seem willing to at least meet minimum requirements. To follow the story you can find his new page on facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/ArielJordanReunited
There is a very detailed post of the experience the two had together. Please join me in supporting them.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Items and Monsters and Items
Originally I was going to have two of my close friends who was consulting with me on the Darkness Falls: The Crusade remake do much of the creative work for item and monster design while I proceeded on the guts of the game itself. To that end I am considering writing a program that lets people interested design weapons and monsters for the game and submit them directly to the database. I am not sure I'm going through with it, but for anyone that reads this, let me know if you're interested and I'll consider tossing the program your way.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Diablo 3 and Magestorm and DFC
Today was the release of the long awaited Diablo 3 game. I never played Diablo or D2 and don't particularly have any interest in D3. Unfortunately, most of the Magestorm community does. Today was extremely difficult to find a game to play for most of the day. Since my favorite passtime is disappearing, and I now have more free time that can't be filled with the awesomeness that is magestorm, that means WORKING ON Darkness Falls: The Crusade! So all you guys that search DFC so much and contact me about progress....You're welcome ;)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Marriage and Religion and Marriage
Yesterday President Obama came out and openly supported marriage and all the rights that that entails for same sex couples. This was a pretty historic event as he is the first Politician to support it either in office or running for the Presidency. But, today, I want to talk about the backlash and give a brief response to those who oppose equal rights for gay citizens and as it usually is, it focuses around Church and State separation. The most common argument I hear is that the Christian God says that homosexuality is an abomination. Okay, fine, your god says that, but the government is supposed to stay out of religion right? What if the government decided that everyone had to stop what they were doing five times a day, kneel on the floor facing Mecca and pray. I don't think many of these Christian Fundamentalists would like that. It is the same thing. I will respect your belief that your religion tells you an act is wrong, but I'll be damned (har har) if I will stand by and let you force your religious beliefs into government and onto everybody else. Your argument that "God says _____ so therefore the government should do _______" is invalid and has no basis in a serious discussion. Now say you want to get into arguments like calling it unnatural or counter to propagation of the species. In those cases, they could be considered valid in the sense that they have nothing to do with religion. I vehemently disagree with you and could cite many reasons why those points are wrong, but they are still valid to a discussion on government involvement in peoples lives.
In the end, what is more important to you and your religion? Two members of the same sex performing a consensual act in the privacy of their own home or following many of the other teachings of Christianity like "turn the other cheek," "Judge not lest ye be Judged." and/or "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone." I think that is where the real crux of the issue should be for you.
Addendum: I saw a fantastic article today about how divorce rates are highest amongst conservative Christian denominations compared to others and atheist/agnostic/non-affiliated are dramatically lower. I lawled.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/927753/hey_fox,_what_about_this_%22war_on_marriage%22_divorce_rates_are_highest_among_evangelicals/
In the end, what is more important to you and your religion? Two members of the same sex performing a consensual act in the privacy of their own home or following many of the other teachings of Christianity like "turn the other cheek," "Judge not lest ye be Judged." and/or "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone." I think that is where the real crux of the issue should be for you.
Addendum: I saw a fantastic article today about how divorce rates are highest amongst conservative Christian denominations compared to others and atheist/agnostic/non-affiliated are dramatically lower. I lawled.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/927753/hey_fox,_what_about_this_%22war_on_marriage%22_divorce_rates_are_highest_among_evangelicals/
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Women and Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson and Women
I watched a very interesting video earlier tonight of a woman hijacking Sean Hannity's show to attack another guest that she did not know was going to be on the show with her. Of course this in and of itself was a great treat, but even more of a treat was what she was angry about, and most rightfully so. She tore into the man about his misogynistic comments he had made in past sermons to which he only gave a rambling response about how he was just telling the truth. Well, I went out and found the video and it was 12 minutes and 3 seconds of the most sexist comments I've ever heard, all rolled into one long rambling, semi-coherent thought. He is definitely right at home on Fox News. I hope he went home to be kicked in the nuts by his wife after she heard this.
To paraphrase: "Women can't handle stress, they freak out. Women can't handle power. Women have no shame. Women are whores. Women shouldn't be allowed to vote because they elect evil people. Women are responsible for homosexuality and gay marriage. Women can no longer be put in their place."
We should elect this guy emporererer of Urf.
To paraphrase: "Women can't handle stress, they freak out. Women can't handle power. Women have no shame. Women are whores. Women shouldn't be allowed to vote because they elect evil people. Women are responsible for homosexuality and gay marriage. Women can no longer be put in their place."
We should elect this guy emporererer of Urf.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Jordan Clipston
Normally I am not much for hopping on the bandwagon of internet causes, but after reading this interview I just couldn't stop myself. Jordan Clipston has a daughter, Ariel. Jordan Clipston is an atheist. The mother of his daughter, a woman he was with for 5 1/2 years is moderately religious, but very submissive towards her very religious parents. In short, the parents didn't like that their daughter had a child with an atheist. They eventually convinced her to leave him and she took their daughter, Ariel. There is a transcript of a phone call Jordan had with the grandfather of his daughter in which it is made very clear why it is all happening. Jordan worked three jobs while they were together to support the entire family while the mother had trouble holding down one for various reasons. Jordan has been kept from his daughter for far too long.
There is a facebook page to offer support that can be accessed here:
https://www.facebook.com/HelpReuniteArielAndJordan
The intervew can be found here:
http://crackpotchronicle.net/main/2012/05/02/being-an-atheist-is-causing-a-good-man-to-fight-for-custody-of-his-daughter/
There is a facebook page to offer support that can be accessed here:
https://www.facebook.com/HelpReuniteArielAndJordan
The intervew can be found here:
http://crackpotchronicle.net/main/2012/05/02/being-an-atheist-is-causing-a-good-man-to-fight-for-custody-of-his-daughter/
Thursday, May 3, 2012
DC Cancellations
The time for DC to make decisions on which series stay and which get the axe has come and gone and I'm not terribly happy about it. There were 6 series cancelled, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, OMAC, Mister Terrific, Static Shock and Blackhawks. I was not terribly surprised by OMAC, Men of War and Blackhawks. The story behind Hawk and Dove seemed like it could go places. Static Shock felt like it should have been given more time to get rolling but it wasn't as good as it could have been, yet. Most disappointingly, Mister Terrific was axed. I don't believe it is intentional, but it is worth noting that 3 of the 6 cancelled were minority super heroes (OMAC, Static Shock, Mister Terrific) with Men of War and Blackhawks not really having a specific hero. Hawk and Dove was the only axed series that focused on white heroes. As I stated, I don't think this was intentional, it is just unfortunate the dice fell that way.
Now back to Mister Terrific. I wont beat around the bush, the story and dialogue in general was not that great but Mister Terrific was an odd man out in the super hero world in that he was openly atheist, devoted entirely to scientific discovery and was proud of it. He was a hero in the truest sense of the word, putting himself on the line to save others, sometimes on a gigantic scale, and he did it all without having to be told what is right and what is wrong. Now, none of the characters themselves are nixed and will still make appearances around the DC universe, but the comic world is not better off today. Not at all.
Addendum: The new replacement titles: The Ravagers (Teen Titans spinoff), Batman Incorporated (was on hiatus), Dial H, Earth #2, G.I. Combat and World's Finest.
Now back to Mister Terrific. I wont beat around the bush, the story and dialogue in general was not that great but Mister Terrific was an odd man out in the super hero world in that he was openly atheist, devoted entirely to scientific discovery and was proud of it. He was a hero in the truest sense of the word, putting himself on the line to save others, sometimes on a gigantic scale, and he did it all without having to be told what is right and what is wrong. Now, none of the characters themselves are nixed and will still make appearances around the DC universe, but the comic world is not better off today. Not at all.
Addendum: The new replacement titles: The Ravagers (Teen Titans spinoff), Batman Incorporated (was on hiatus), Dial H, Earth #2, G.I. Combat and World's Finest.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Atheism and Religion and Atheism
As time goes by I find myself falling farther and farther away from the position on religion I used to have. I used to see it as ones own personal search for enlightenment, and for the most part I still do, but at the same time as I continue to question everything, despite having converted out of Christianity, it just keeps crumbling away for me. Recently Dan Savage was chastised for his criticism of people who use the bible to justify their hate. He referenced a long list of things that the bible used to promote or require but that have become generally ignored in the face of modern culture. Things like slavery, stoning women who aren't virgins, menstruation, and masturbation. The bible's content on all of those things is ridiculous and it started me thinking about the bible itself. Christianity bases itself off the teachings of Jesus Christ but the problem is, Jesus didn't record anything he taught. The bible is a collection of writings from a large assortment of people that was assembled 300 to 400 years after Jesus's death by a group who obviously had never even met any of the writers. This is beyond 2nd hand information. It is centuries beyond 2nd hand information. Now, Jesus may have been what he said he was, I can't prove that wrong, and nobody can prove it right, but honestly, it just sounds like he was a crazy cult leader who struck gold and his idea took off and running and is still living strong 2000 years later. I still see the pursuit of spirituality as very strong and worthwhile and honor those who truly do pursue that spirituality but out of every 100 people I meet who say they are religious, maybe 5 or 6 are constantly questioning and searching. The rest were born into their religion, have lived it their entire lives in it and won't dare question anything that was pounded into their heads as children.
It is sad. I love the search for knowledge. I wish everyone did.
Question everything.
It is sad. I love the search for knowledge. I wish everyone did.
Question everything.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Nepa_SBR
Tonight in Magestorm SBR paid tribute to a fallen member of their roster, Nepa in much the same way we paid tribute to my good friend Bugatow. A double experience event, 7 hours long. As I understand it Nepa had a heart condition and a few years ago finally succumbed to it, doing what he loves, sitting at a computer having fun. This time around his nephew and son both play and his nephew has leveled a 30 arc with the same name, Nepa_SBR. Magestorm was a great love of Nepa, he had Nepa tattooed on one arm and SBR on the other. It was an honor to marathon-magestorm it all night in his name as it was an honor to play in Bugatow's name.
My thoughts with Nepa's nephew and son.
My thoughts with Nepa's nephew and son.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
More DFC and DFC and DFC
I thought it would be prudent to post something that could serve as an update for those who find this blog and are interested in my progress. The easiest way to contact me is DFCRemake@gmail.com and I'll get that immediately, if I'm not at my computer, I'll get it on my phone. I can't give a definite time table as to when it would be done. Most of the work is creative work, the actual client/server isn't terribly complicated. Most importantly, I want to address the issue of donations. Originally, I wasn't even going to release this to the public so it wasn't an issue. Now that I am actually designing something for others to use, at some point I will end up taking donations, and probably implement some sort of currency in game in which is received when donations are made. This would be used for certain benefits like retraining, renames, perhaps race changes and other things. Finally, I will not even be entertaining the idea of accepting anything until people are able to play it and it is out of "beta." It is extremely nice of people to offer, I know they all loved the game like I did, but I do not feel right taking money for services/products not rendered, it would be wrong.
Addendum: Magestorm levels gained: 202 Magestorm levels remaining for 9 30s: 68
Addendum: Magestorm levels gained: 202 Magestorm levels remaining for 9 30s: 68
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Birth Citizenship and The Presidency
The birther issue just keeps popping up these days with crazy new stunts and conclusions based in insanity. The latest one is that the Obama administration admits it faked his birth certificate. For that specifically I am just going to leave it as it is as the whole thing has be debunked countless times. The larger issue I want to tackle is the requirement that the candidate must have been born in the US or in some rather feeble interpretations, born in the US to two US citizens. It strikes me as odd that in the land of the free where everyone supposedly plays on a level playing ground (other issue entirely) that the leader of said free country is restricted by something out of their control and has no real bearing on their ability to be President. The person could have been destined to become the best President the country has ever seen and ever will see, lived here for 50 years, been a citizen for 49, but was born elsewhere and brought by his parents as they immigrated to the USA. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that he wished people to be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. While this isn't a race issue, the sentiment remains. Why are people even raising the issue in the first place? Yes, for some it is because they refuse to accept reality that they are not members of the majority voice of the country, but there is definitely a "not one of us" for many others heavily involved in this issue.
It is obvious why this was originally in the Constitution. There was a genuine fear that foreign powers might try to usurp the sovereignty of our budding nation, but that time is long past. Even with the Cold War, technology and communication was so much better, as well as looking into basic backgrounds, that the amount of energy that would be needed to have two adults move to a new country, have a child, raise that child so perfectly that one day he/she will even have a chance at public office let alone the Presidency without their parents political leanings ever being discovered. Then you take into account all the checks and balances involved. Yeah, this is a really relevant provision of the constitution isn't it.
It is obvious why this was originally in the Constitution. There was a genuine fear that foreign powers might try to usurp the sovereignty of our budding nation, but that time is long past. Even with the Cold War, technology and communication was so much better, as well as looking into basic backgrounds, that the amount of energy that would be needed to have two adults move to a new country, have a child, raise that child so perfectly that one day he/she will even have a chance at public office let alone the Presidency without their parents political leanings ever being discovered. Then you take into account all the checks and balances involved. Yeah, this is a really relevant provision of the constitution isn't it.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
30 Day Anime Challenge
There is a meme that goes around facebook every so often, with a different face, but it is still the same meme. It involves posting a picture each day over 30 days of what the given list says to post, all around one theme. A friend of mine made up her own using anime, so being the good friend that I am, I am joining in the fun, even though I don't normally do so.
Day 1 - The very first anime you watched.
This is from "Fushigi na Koala Blinky" or as most children of the late 80s/early 90s remember it, Noozles. It aired on Nickelodeon from 1988 to 1993 while I was 4-9. At the time, of course, I didn't know it was anime, but going through the animenewsnetwork.com list years ago, I stumbled upon it and it blew my mind how early I was actually into things from Japan without even realizing it. So here it is, as best I can estimate, the first anime I ever saw.
The first anime that I ever watched that I KNEW was anime was either Big O or Gundam Wing, whichever aired first on Cartoon Network, I cannot remember.
Day 1 - The very first anime you watched.
The first anime that I ever watched that I KNEW was anime was either Big O or Gundam Wing, whichever aired first on Cartoon Network, I cannot remember.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
DFC Progress
For awhile now I have been having this weird bug that would not let me progress to the next step, making a program that lets my two other guys do database work like making items/lands/monsters. I only attempted to fix it every now and then because magestorm had me enthralled but tonight I finally got it all working. There were two things going on, something in Visual Studio didn't like the connector instal I did and bugged out every time I tried to enter a server address. The other involved some port issues that I had fixed at one point but in the process of fixing the first bug, it had been reset. Regardless, it is all fixed now. Visual Studio connects just fine to the database. ONWARD WITH DFC!
Monday, March 12, 2012
DC The New 52 - Review
Seeing as how as of this week DC's New 52 reboot has reached 6 months old, or rather 6 issues a piece, I thought it would be a good time to write up a review of all of the ones that I have been keeping up with. Fortunately for me, I've got access to every single one of them which means I'm reading about 13 comics a week plus a couple mini-series that are testing the waters for viability. Going in I was looking forward to a lot of the series, wary about others and had no idea where some would even go. Looking back, of course, there were some that were disappointing, some that grabbed my attention and some that didn't really do it for me or seemed out of place. I also think that it is rather fitting that this post is my 52nd post. Without further ado, my review:
All-Star Western
Animal Man
Aquaman
Batman titles:
Batgirl
Batman
Batman and Robin
Batwing
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
Catwoman
Detective Comics
Nightwing
Red Hood and the Outlaws
The Dark Knight
Black Hawks
Blue Beetle
Captain Atom
DC Universe Presents (Currently Deadman stories)
Deathstroke
Demon Knights
The Flash
Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
Green Arrow
Green Lantern titles:
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Red Lanterns
Grifter
Hawk and Dove
I, Vampire
Justice League titles:
Justice League of America
Justice League Dark
Justice League International
Legion of Super Heroes titles:
Legion Lost
Legion of Super Heroes
Men of War
Mister Terrific
O.M.A.C.
Resurrection Man
The Savage Hawkman
Static Shock
Stormwatch
Suicide Squad
Superman titles:
Action Comics
Superboy
Supergirl
Superman
Swamp Thing
Teen Titans
The Fury of Firestorm
Voodoo
Wonder Woman
Miniseries:
Huntress
The Ray
For a brief intro I will provide you with a bit of my comic background. I grew up in a mild comic book nerd environment. I never did a lot of reading of comics themselves until much later, around 23 or so, but I was always a sucker for super heroes. I had a few action figures from both Marvel and DC, I watched both X-men series (Animated Series and Evolution), I watched the live action Flash TV show with my Dad, I watched all the Batman movies as they were released, I listened to stories from my Dad and his childhood where he and his twin brother would travel to the nearby town to get the latest comic, in fact he still has a very large collection that he preserved decently and I would follow my Dad's own comics he had written and drawn with his brother when they were younger as well as the ones he drew in his spare time. Later on, as Super Hero movies became more prevalent, I branched out and stumbled upon a torrent that had every single Green Lantern comic ever printed from Alan Scott all the way to 2003. Realizing the size of it, I skipped reading the Alan Scott era comics and moved right into the Hal Jordan reboot that started in 1960. I kept reading these off and on for a few years, I think it took me about 3years to finally catch up to the current releases and along the way I sought out various miniseries that took place in the DC Universe begining around the mid-1980's. I also tracked back to the Teen Titans reboot of 1980. By the time I had finished all this, "Blackest Night" was coming to an end and DC was preparing to launch "The New 52." I seem to have a knack for timing things like that. Anyway, considering DC's goal was to let new readers jump in to old character, I took on the task of reading every single series, and here I am.
Ranking System:
5 - Must Read
4 - Good Read
3 - Didn't Lose My Time
2 - Don't Go Out of Your Way
1 - Meh
All-Star Western
I have never been a fan of the Western genre and frankly, I am amazed there is enough demand out there to support a regular comic for it but, apparently, there is, so I held my nose and dove in. The series, at least so far, has consisted of a main storyline involving Jonah Hex and Dr. Amadeus Arkham, who would later found Arkham Asylum, as they investigated occurrences in 1880's Gotham City and smaller duration stories involving lesser known names. The shorter stories have been okay. One involved zombies and a man who gained powers from a curse placed on him by an Indian that he could only access while unconscious, please ignore the absurdity and lack of cultural knowledge involved in this, and another story involving a Chinese woman seeking revenge against another Chinese mafia-esque who had wronged her and her family. Both were mildly entertaining but not terribly memorable and I can't really see either having their own stories. However, the primary storyline with Jonah Hex and Dr. Arkham was absolutely fantastic. DC has used the 1880s setting to provide backstory to the entire DC Universe, primarily Batman, and you can see many setups for references in other comics, mostly Batman related, as well as references to ancestors of common names in modern Batman lore, like the Cobblepots. For a Batman fan, I would rate this a Must Read.
Animal Man
I knew very little about Animal Man going into this series and had to actually look up a bit about his powers to help work myself into it. I had no expectations going in and a slight hesitation from not particularly being interested in him based on his power-set and what the character was in the past. This was not a straight reboot but more of a short introduction to the character without really needing any of his history other than details about his origin. Instead, it was more of an expansion on the character that, as you read other titles, is obviously going to be interweaving with the other titles, primarily Swamp Thing. The art for it is rather unique and takes a bit of getting used to, but the cover picture for the first issue really makes you want to read it and it doesn't disappoint. Instead of being strictly about Animal Man, it gets much darker and actually switches the focus from him onto his daughter of roughly age 5 or 6 who has developed the rather morbid ability to basically animate dead animals and treat them like her pets. From there the story develops into the primary conflict of future issues and the larger tie-in with other series as Animal Man struggles to protect her from "The Rot." It is hands down one of the most terrifying things I have read and I cannot put it down. I would rate this a Must Read.
Aquaman
I've always felt bad for poor Aquaman. For a 1960's character, he wasn't terribly bad and did serve a pretty good purpose but as power creep gradually took its toll, he just became more and more silly and rather useless out of water. I did like his reboot where he was more gruff and had a freaking hook for a hand as well as the Blackest Night style telepathy only working with dead sea animals, but the reboot hasn't really gone in that direction. Instead, Aquaman has moved straight into stories assuming everyone reading basically knows who he is, which is probably true for 99.9% of the readers, though the most recent issue has hinted at delving into more of the rebooted back-story. I am very encouraged by the writer connected to the project, as the first few issues were chocked full of jokes and references to Aquaman's prior "uselessness" in the form of the public's general lack of information on anything about him. My favorite line probably being a few officers realizing that they were "never going to heard the end of it" when the other officers at their station heard they were saved by Aquaman. For the "new beginning" of this pseudo/semi-reboot the reader finds Aquaman and his wife, Mera, retreating to the shore in an attempt to live in peace, away from Atlantis, only to have the area attacked by humanoid piranha-like creatures starving for food and abducting animals and humans alike. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batgirl
Batgirl as a character has seen a lot of really weird stuff happen to her. At one point there were two Barbara Gordon's, one as Batgirl and one paralyzed as Oracle, I never followed it much at all except that I knew what Oracle was and in the crossovers and miniseries I read with Oracle references, I thought she was a pretty good character that only suffered from a bit of computerish-terms-can-solve-everything syndrome. This time around, the second Barbara Gordon, a Batgirl from a parallel Earth, had never appeared and Batgirl had received a miraculous spinal surgery that allowed her to walk again. The first arc focuses on a rash of killings of people who, in the killer's opinion, were supposed to have died in an explosion, including Barbara Gordon. Matters are made worse by the fact that Batgirl is nowhere close to fighting fit despite making her rounds of Gotham. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batman
Batman is one of three strictly Batman related titles, the others being "Detective Comics" and "The Dark Knight." This title has definitely lived up to the post-1980's Batman style with it's dark atmosphere and has less focus on fighting itself with more attention paid to solving the current problems presented directly to Batman. There is a good connection between many things that happen in the first story arc with things that are revealed in "All-Star Western," so reading both is definitely beneficial. The story revolves around a secret society that has existed in Gotham City since it's founding and is intertwined with the fate of the Wayne family but without the knowledge of Bruce Wayne himself. I would rate this a Must Read.
Batman & Robin
Though many aspects of the DC Universe are being rebooted, the characters that have been Robin over time have stayed the same. At this point in the DC Universe Dick Grayson has returned to being Nightwing after his stint as Batman, Jason Todd remains as Red Hood, Tim Drake has continued his career as Red Robin and Damian Wayne takes his place at Batman's side. Batman & Robin follows the rocky relationship between the father and son as Batman attempts to counteract Damian's upbringing in the Assassin's Guild. Using this as a guide the characters as well as their relationships are developed significantly while simultaneously boosting background elements of Bruce Wayne's History. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batwing
In recent Batman history, Bruce Wayne has branched out with Batman, Inc. in order to take the fight against crime to the rest of the world in a very public manner. I was never a very big fan of this as it seemed counter to the way Batman typically operated. The spinoff Batwing follows one of these operatives in Africa as he fights corruption in his home country. Aside from the appearances of Batman himself and the equipment/costume given to Batwing, very little about the Batwing Universe is known prior to reading and is nearly all new material. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batwoman
I was very unfamiliar with Batwoman going into this comic. As it is, I have never been a hardcore Batman fan, so I had to do some research into who exactly Kate Kane (Batwoman) is. The title Batwoman does seem to be attempting to push against some social norms in that Kate Kane as well as a few other characters who make appearances are openly gay. The opening story arc deals with her being hunted by a government agency, discord with her psuedo-side kick and at this juncture doesn't seem to have finished it's initial story so it is much harder to rate. Some of the story points I did find fascinating but at other times the story was hard to follow. Hopefully it will pick up soon. I would rate this a Meh.
Birds of Prey
I am vaguely familiar with the Birds of Prey team from earlier years, though not terribly versed in them. The series features a powerhouse lineup of female characters that currently include Batgirl, Black Canary, Katana, Poison Ivy and Starling. Even if you are not familiar with some of the heroes or not particularly interested in some of the bigger names, this would still make for an interesting experience. The team design definitely boosts the appeal of all the characters, particularly Starling and Katana. During the first arc the team is investigating a group that is turning people into human bombs that use the carrier as the explosive and is triggered by rhymes. The mystery is intriguing and there is good action. I would rate this a Good Read.
Catwoman
DC has taken on an interesting approach with this title as Catwoman is most definitely a villain. The opening comic does feature a very graphic sex scene between her and Batman, capitalizing on their history but this seems more used as a teaser to the overall series instead of the first arc specifically. Thus far the comic has given the reader insight into Catwoman's past, her fiery relationship with Batman and the consequences of her life as a thief. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Detective Comics
Detective Comics, along with Superman's "Action Comics" is one of the longest running titles in history. Thus far the series has taken on a larger focus on current happenings int he DC universe and took the initiave to introduce, in my opinion, one of the best Batman villains yet, "The Dollmaker," while simultaneously creating layers of intrigue behind the villain and things yet unrevealed happening behind the scenes. I would rate this a Good Read.
Nightwing
In this title, Nightwing (Dick Grayson, the first Robin) has returned to the circus he grew up in to reunite with old friends, meanwhile being targeted as a killer by a masked vigilante in his private identity of Dick Grayson. The story follows Nightwing as he unravels a deep mystery surrounding the circus and its relationship to the vigilante. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Red Hood and the Outlaws
The first issue of this title created a big stir on the internet with its most recent portrayal of Starfire, a former member of the Teen Titans and long time love interest of Dick Grayson. Starfire has always been depicted with a much more "free" sense of physical intimacy but was always monogamous and showed a deep intellect that belied her ditzy appearance. With this reboot, as with the other updated versions of Starfire over time, her costume is skimpier than the previous costume but changes were made to her on an intellectual level as well. The story follows Arsenal (Red Arrow, former Green Arrow sidekick, Roy Harper) following the death of his daughter and his substance abuse relapse as he wanders without direction. He is joined by Red Hood (Jason Todd, the second Robin) who has been recently working recently with Starfire in their own attempts at fighting crime and under typical American social norms, the two would appear to be dating. The controversy arose with a particular scene in which Starfire reveals that sexual encounters with multiple partners are commonplace to her people and that there is no actual "love" involved in "making love." Additionally she seems to have difficulty even remembering the names of her partners. There are other issues involved, but none as prominent as that one. However, as I read on through other issues, either because of the stir created, or originally designed that way, Starfire as a character improves greatly and seems to do away with the idea that she was simply objectified for male readers, for the most part.Onto the actual story itself, Red Hood and the Outlaws, under the leadership of Red Hood, embark on a somewhat mystical journey that delves deep into Jason Todd's past and is remarkably interesting while also going far back into Earth's history as well. I would rate this a Must Read.
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight is the final of the 3 primary Batman titles. The primary arc does seem to be wrapping up and I find it difficult to give a summary without spoiling an entertaining story. I am not sure what about it makes it different from the Detective Comics present-day stories theme as they are both equally Batman-ish in style, but nevertheless, it is mildly entertaining so far. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Blackhawks
Prior the the reboot I was unfamiliar with the Blackhawks team. They are a secret military organization funded by the United Nations, the primary focus of which is to intervene in situations of high risk. The members are all non-metahumans (no powers) and are quirkily nicknamed with the names of various countries but with a twist, the names do not coincide with their country of origin. Due to their lack of powers they are often placed in situations over their head but through their own excellence and training, come out on top. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Blue Beetle
The Blue Beetle has been rebooted in the truest sense of the word. While Jaime Reyes has played the part before in a very similar series of events, DC has made the decision to start over. Seeing as how The Blue Beetle is a mildly underplayed teen hero, this is probably a good decision and lets teens pick up the story much easier than they otherwise would. I, myself, never read any of the Jaime Reyes issues but he did do a brief stint as a pseudo-member of The Teen Titans a few years back and was done decently there. The introductory story arc features the origin of The Scarab, how it gets attached to Jaime and the fallout of him having his life suddenly thrown into chaos by the Scarab and those that want it and it's power. For those unaware, the scarab attaches to a host and operates as a retractable exosuite with various forms of weaponry and defensive options. I would rate this a Good Read.
Captain Atom
This is another complete reboot that shares many similarities to the previous version, though like Blue Beetle, I am only casually aware of Captain Atom's background. For those unaware, the character "Doctor Manhattan" from "The Watchman" (The Blue Penis Guy) is based heavily on Captain Atom from each of their abilities and with some similarities in their creation. The first story arc follows Captain Atom as he learns to deal with the transformation that has befallen him by removing inoperable cancer cells from a person but also unintentionally hurting others while the military, upset with his decision to not be their personal one man army, targets him for destruction. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
DC Universe Presents
I have never read prior to the reboot and obviously the name is quite ambiguous. There is no single hero or storyline the series follows though many will reoccur throughout the series. The title appears to operate as both a mechanism for introducing new characters as well as advancing the stories of existing characters that are seldom used or typically appear in a crossover. For the first arc the reader follows Boston Brand as he is granted his powers as Deadman and is forced to wander the globe, possessing others in order to improve their life, a-la Quantum Leap, though Deadman was created much earlier. The first Deadman story arc finished up in the 5th issue and the 6th issue has begun a story with a new set of characters and locations that overlap slightly with those presented in the first arc, minus Deadman himself. This is a very difficult title to rate due to its revolving hero nature. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Deathstroke
Deathstroke, depending on the series he is in can be seen either as a villain or an anti-hero. He is most famous for his involvement in the 1980s reboot of the "Teen Titans" as well as the primary villain "Slade" in the "Teen Titans" animated series. Slade Wilson, or Deathstroke The Terminator (predates the creation of the Terminator movies and has no connection) is a former soldier that was given super human enhancements and though advancing in age is still much more agile and stronger than many other heroes. His abilities are centered heavily around his increased ability to utilize normally unused brain power as well as reflexes making him a worthy adversary for characters with seemingly much more devastating powers. Going into the story I was hesitant as to if he deserved his own title and if it could be pulled off and I have come out of the story not overly impressed. I would rate this a Meh.
Demon Knights
The Demon Knights series takes place in medieval times and consists of a group of ragtag humans who in someway are different than normal powerless humans. In some cases immortality or super human strength and others with a more magical base. Some of the characters are more familiar faces than the others such as Jason Blood and the Demon Etrigan, Madam Xanadu and Vandal Savage. The new faces, a new Shining Knight, the Horsewoman, Al Jabr an inventor whos inventions are perceived as magic and Exoristos, an amazonian. The first issue wastes no time throwing the reader into the story, slightly at the expense of the reader's ability to know what is happening but once the reader is more familiar with the characters, it boils down to the "Heroes" defending a defenseless village against a woman posessing great magical ability and a horde of beasts and soldiers for her army. As the reader goes on though, interest does pick up. I would rate this a Don't Go Out of Your Way.
The Flash
For the reboot, DC has decided to bring back the original Flash, Barry Allen. This is a risky in my opinion as Barry Allen was one of the plain boring characters from the 1960s who failed to evolve to keep up with the sophistication of the stories and was later replaced with, in my opinion, a much better character in that of Wally West, the nephew of Barry Allen. While Barry Allen does keep all of his origin story as well as his job with the police, all of the character development that has taken place over the last 50 years has been erased. While his wife Iris West has appeared in the series, she is not serving as the love interest, or at least has yet to take on that role. The first story arc involves The Flash confronting a friend from his past both as himself and as The Flash, though the secret is not known by the friend, as the friend is being hunted by an unknown group. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
This is another title that I was not familiar with prior to the reboot and was definitely skeptical going in. Having read the first 6 issues I have come to realize that it is actually quite interesting. Frankenstein, the others on his team and with S.H.A.D.E. are seemingly very close to the characters in Hellboy. Frankenstein is roughly the same as his namesake except that he has decent intelligence. His team, a werewolf, vampire, a mummy healer and this weird aquatic woman, all travel around the world investigating more paranormal like situations and in one instance crossed over into the O.M.A.C. comic. I would rate this a Good Read.
Green Arrow
This time around DC is playing very heavily into Oliver Queen's "Q-core" as a DC Universe equivalent of the real world Apple Computers. Oliver Queen plays the pretty boy in charge who doesn't appear to care about the company while in reality he is using the companies innovations in his weapons fighting crime. I would rate this a Good Read.
Green Lantern
Of all the titles in "The New 52," I think the Green Lantern series, currently centered on Hal Jordan, has probably seen the least change, if any at all. Nearly all of the events of "The Blackest Night" and related incidents seem to be the same, in fact it picks up following the final issue before the reboot. For those unfamiliar, Sinestro, having helped thwart Krona's plans, was chosen by the sector ring while Hal Jordan was stripped of his responbilities and returned to Earth, powerless. Hal begins to rediscover his life without the ring. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Green Lantern Corps
This Green Lantern title typically follows the actions of teams of lanterns on specific assignments and with the reboot has been redisgned to fit Guy Gardner and John Stewart. While investigating a rather extraordinary disaster the Lanterns stumble upon "soldiers" wielding the same green energy as they are and are also resistant to the corps members constructs. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Green Lantern: New Guardians
This Green Lantern title was newly created and is specifically set to follow Kyle Rayner, my personal favorite of all the Earth Geen Lanterns. The initial story arc begins with Kyle having had a ring from each of the other corps (Yellow, Blue, Indigo, Orange, Red, Violet) appear before him having selected him as their new owner. Shortly thereafter a member from each corp shows up ready to attack Kyle for stealing the rings. I would rate this a Must Read.
Red Lanterns
The Red Lantern comic is a curious addition to the DC Universe as the Red Lanterns are vengeful more than they are heroic. Thus far the series has taken on a more intellectual tone as Atrocitus, the leader and only sentient Red Lantern, contemplates the future of his corp now that he has possession of Krona's body. As the series progresses it delves deeper into the past of the various Red Lantern members, their creation and their rise in intelligence. I would rate this a Must Read.
Grifter
I first discovered Grifter in the Flashpoint miniseries, whether or not he existed prior to that, I am unaware. At the time he just seemed like some background character from some series I'd never read but the reboot has definitely put an interesting spin on things. An ex-special forces soldier turned con artist suddenly begins hearing voices in his head, he is abducted by aliens, escapes and now they are after him. This is a very important series for what appears to be an upcoming DC event as the aliens who abducted him are appearing in small places in some other series and in larger ways in a few others. The story follows Cole Cash as he is on the run from the government who believes he has killed at least two people and has threatened to blow up a plane all while also being hunted by the aliens he has escaped from. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Hawk and Dove
Hawk and Dove were originally a pair of brothers that were part of the Teen Titans. One brother was an avatar of peace, the other an avatar of war. Their abilities and personalities complimented each other to the point that when Dove died, Hawk went crazy and tried to destroy the universe. Later on DC revived Hawk and Dove in the form of two sisters. Various events transpired to all four characters and the end result was the female Dove and male Hawk were the only ones left alive and began to team up. That is where this series picks up. The opening arc begins to delve much deeper into the realm of the avatars of various alignments with the sudden appearance of another avatar, something that has not been seen before. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
I, Vampire
I, Vampire is a very a-typical series for DC. It follows a vampire with a conscience who feels guilty for having turned a woman many years before who, unlike himself, cannot resist the urges and has thus declared war on humans. For most of the issues so far there have hardly been any references to meta-humans and only one appearance by another DC character, Batman. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Justice League of America
This is almost a complete reboot of the JLA series and takes place 5 years prior to the "current" year in DC comics. None of the heroes know each other, some aren't sure if others even exist or are just rumor. The lineup this time is a lot of the old mainstays, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Wonder Woman, Aquaman and a new addition, Cyborg. When I saw this line up I thought, "This is going to be a fantastic reboot" and it pretty much has been so far. The opening comic starts out with Batman being hunted down by the government and running into Green Lantern. Some of the best comic dialogue that I have ever read occurs between Batman and GL and if they keep the relationship between the two in that form it is going to make for some great comics. On top of all that, they really go all out for the graphical presentation of the comic. I've never seen such great detail on GL's constructs. I would rate this a Must Read.
Justice League: Dark
This is a new approach to Justice League titles and at the moment is only marginally related to the Justice League itself. The series follows around a group of magic-oriented heroes who have gathered together because of a future that has been foreseen by Madame Xanadu. The team consists of herself, John Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, Zatanna, Mindwarp, Deadman and Enchantress. This group is designed to take on what the Justice League can't handle in terms of magic. There are also some interesting metaphysical issues raised involving Shade, Deadman and Enchantress that do give it a nice philosophical touch. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Justice League: International
This is not a new title, but due to the reboot the team is a first of its kind, commissioned by the United Nations it has representatives from all over the world, some oldies and some new ones that are quite interesting. I was a little bewildered at the choice of leader, Booster Gold, as the character has always been fairly shallow and in the game for the wrong reasons, or at least it seems that way to everyone else in the DC Universe, but it kind of works because of his lack of confidence in dealing with the responsibility that has been thrust upon him by Batman who weirdly enough has the utmost confidence in Booster Gold. The rest of the team consists of: Batman, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Rocket Red (Russian), Fire (Brazil), Ice (Norway), Vixen (Unnamed African Country), August General in Iron (China) and Godiva (Britain). The team is hastily formed to investigate a disappearance and stumbles upon a plot to destroy the planet. The team has to deal with lack of unit cohesion and team work as well as conflicting personalities. There are definitely nationalistic conflicts between various members and a the spotlight on some of the lesser known heroes has worked very well. I have a particular fondness for August General in Iron as his powerset is rather unique and the dynamics between him and others is intriguing. I would rate this a Good Read.
Legion of Super Heroes
Neither this series or it's spinoff series "Legion Lost" presented readers with a problem if they weren't familiar with it prior to the reboot as there wasn't really a reboot at all. In fact LoSH doesn't seem to have an opening and just dives right into a story arc without much introduction at all. Yes, it is nice that in every issue the hero is identified with a brief description of their powers, but that doesn't stop the feeling of a starting to read something in the middle of the story. That part aside, the stories aren't terrible, but it isn't the best for new readers. LoSH takes place in the 30th and 31st century where the universe is much more integrated and Earth is completely aware of the universe at large. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Legion Lost
Legion Lost is much better for new readers than The Legion of Super Heroes as the onslaught of characters is smaller, though it does still suffer slightly from not really having a reboot. The story begins with a small group of the Legionnaires, noticibly absent in LoSH, being stranded in the present day after giving chase to a criminal who seeks revenge by exposing humans to the DNA of various alien species and attempting to mutate them in order to alter the future. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Men of War
I'm not totally sure how to take in Men of War. It is a series of short stories, sometimes connected, sometimes not, that follow soldiers through battlefield situations. Some of the stories have meta-human references or characters, others don't. All in all, most of the stories have been rather boring and if I had to drop a title, this would be the first. Perhaps there is some audience out there it rings true for, but I can't imagine it is terribly inundated with Comic Book Nerds. I would rate this a Meh.
Mister Terrific
I wasn't a huge Mister Terrific fan prior to the reboot but having read the first 6 issues he is definitely climbing my list of Super Heroes. Mister Terrific or Michael Holt is the worlds 3rd smartest man, an arbitrary title/nickname given to him by some unknown person or group and often recited sort of as a joke. Similar to Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), he is the CEO of his own company but is clearly more interested and capable of running it while at the same time is moderately aloof about such responsibility. Mister Terrific is known for using his "T-Spheres," as part of his hero tech, which can do a multitude of things including but not limited to supporting him for flight, laser grids, Holographic projectors and portable computers. Most importantly, to me, is that he is very openly and adamantly an atheist and often cites it without shame. He does acknowledge a lot of the supernatural aspects of the DC Universe but maintains there is still a rational explanation for them. As for the reboot, Mister Terrific himself doesn't have a terrifically large reboot, he is still very much the same guy after as he was before, minus the non-existence of the Justice Society of America which has not yet been remade, though it is in the works. I would rate this a Good Read.
O.M.A.C.
OMAC was a tool of the primary antagonist from the Infinite Crisis miniseries of 2005-2006 known as "Brother Eye." Brother Eye was an artificial intelligence located on a satellite in orbit around earth and was used by Maxwell Lord (Head of Checkmate) in an attempt to rid the planet of all meta-humans by using sleeper agents known as "OMACs." OMACs were humans who had been secretly given nanites that would transform them into the OMACs which had a very robotic style and would then attack meta-humans as Brother Eye directed. Along the way Brother Eye rebelled despite Maxwell Lord's attempts to thwart it though in the end, of course, the heroes saved the day and Brother Eye was defeated. With the advent of the "New 52," Brother Eye makes his return by in a sense, escaping and infesting a single person with the OMAC nanites. The series follows this person, Kevin Kho, as he is hunted by the government as part of Brother Eye while Brother Eye extorts Kho to be a tool to help Brother Eye expand. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Resurrection Man
The basics of Resurrection Man are pretty simple and straightforward. Every time he dies, he returns to life but with a different meta-human ability. He cannot remember who he is and, of course, people are chasing him trying to capture him. This summary does make it sound a-typical and unoriginal but that really isn't the case. The nature of Resurrection Man's powers makes for a very unique experience and the story is pretty well written if not slightly high on the fan service in a few issues. Two bounty hunter women called up for a job and of course they're just laying around in lingerie looking sexy. That aside, I would rate this a Good Read.
Savage Hawkman
Hawkman has been notoriously unpopular in the modern age of comics mostly due to the perception that his power is to simply "fly" in the same way that aquaman's power is to "swim." I never read earlier editions but for this series, as the title suggests, Hawkman is very savage and a rather scrappy brawler. Instead of having the various Nth Metal Weapons and gear, the Nth metal has merged with Hawkman's body, against his will, after he had attempted to get rid of it. For those unfamiliar with it, Nth Metal is an extremely rare metal with great properties. Basically, Hawkman hits a bajillion times harder with an Nth Metal Mace instead of a regular steel mace. Thrown together with some interesting new villains, this reboot of Hawkman will hopefully fare better than the earlier ones. I would rate this a Good Read.
Static Shock
Many people will remember Static (Virgil Hawkins) from the Static Shock animated series many years ago. If you don't then here is some info. In a fictional midwest city there was basically a big sciency accident, things went boom, a large group of teenagers were exposed to sciency stuff and began developing powers. In Static's case, he gained control over electromagnetism and can use it to control objects an roughly simulate flying amongst other cool uses of his powers. In this reboot, Virgil and his family have moved to New York City under the guise of expanding his education as he is of extremely high intellect as well as an internship at STAR labs. In reality he is fighting crime alongside the hero Hardware. For the most part the reader is fine coming into the series, though there are a few things that are clearly hold overs from past issues, namely the fact that his sister has a duplicate and neither can tell which is the real one. I would rate this a Good Read.
Stormwatch
Stormwatch looks to be a very integral part of the at large DC Universe in the future as it is a very old secret organization that essentially protects the planet. By this point the organization has a space station in orbit that is somehow cloaked from view. Most importantly, this is the new home of The Martian Manhunter who is noticibly absent in all other comics minus an appearance or two where after finishing, he erases his existence from the observers' minds. The other heroes are Jack Hawksmore, a man who quite possibly has the most unique power I have ever seen. He is unable to live outside of a city in that he gets sick in doing so but at the same time he can converse with the city which takes on a humanoid form only he can communicate with. Apollo, a solar energy based hero who can fly and shoot blasts from his hands. There are other characters too, but each are relatively unknowns, particularly compared to the Martian Manhunter. It is clear through the first few issues that Stormwatch is going to play an integral roll in whatever upcoming miniseries DC has planned. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Suicide Squad
This is a re-imagining of an old great title. Suicide Squad has been around for awhile and I suspect will stay around just as long. The premise of the series is that the government uses criminals they have in custody to perform covert missions that can be written off as having no connection to the government. The prisoners are fitted with explosives in their bodies set on a timer. If the timer ends, kaboom, end of mission, end of villain. In exchange, the prisoners involved get time taken off of their sentence or released. The actions of the team are frequently questionable and sometimes directed by the government in the performance of morally questionable or outright evil acts. The team members are frequently changing, either by death or by skillset needed for the mission. Many times the villains are also new or seldom used background characters. In the outset of this version of Suicide Squad the more notable names are Deadshot, a master marksman and the closest thing to a main character the series has ever had, and Harley Quinn, the Joker's sidekick. There are a few others who are interesting characters, but nonetheless, are small fries. I must give a big round of applause to the writer as well for the dialogue given to Harley Quinn, fantastic. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Action Comics
Action Comics is to Superman what Detective Comics is to Batman. With this reboot, DC uses Action Comics as a method of retelling the emergence of Superman in metropolis as he feels out his powers and they begin to mature into what everyone is familiar with. It also gives a good look to the rewriting of Clark Kent's history as a reporter. As of the 6th issue, all of the happenings take place prior to the current time in the DC Universe. I like the new approach for Clark Kent but some of the stories haven't been as good as others. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Superboy
The modern era Superboy was a piece of the miniseries where Superman died and was subsequently replaced by 4 others claiming to be Superman. Cyborg Superman, a version of Superman with similar powers but light sensitivity, Steel, a man in a suit of armor akin to Marvel's Iron Man and a clone who would later become Superboy. This creation story has been retained, for the most part, but altered in the sense of the organization who "made" him and for what reason. He still possesses the original Superboy's "Tactile Telekinesis" as well as the understanding that he is a clone. The story arcs thus far have focused on experiencing the world outside of the facility he was grown in, learning how to use his powers and developing a moral compass. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Supergirl
Supergirl has had many incarnations over the years, to the extent that there were two at once (Power Girl). In this reboot, she is shown to having had a similar origin as that of her cousin Superman except that she was a teenager at the time. When she arrives on earth Superman is already a grown man while she has not aged at all. Supergirl possesses no knowledge of where she is, why she is there, what happened to her planet and is beginning to notice she has the powers we all have come to be familiar with that of a Kryptonian on Earth. Her story begins when she is discovered having crash landed in Siberia and the conflict involved in people trying to "recover" her. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Superman
This Superman title is used to tell stories happening in the current portion of the DC Universe timeline. The first issue does much to rewrite the world of Clark Kent for a more modern era. The Daily Planet is merging with a TV network as print media begins to die out. Clark Kent is still a beat reporter for the little guy and Lois Lane has moved on to producing at the TV network. As of yet there is no relationship between the two and it doesn't look to be a high story point priority. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Swamp Thing
The Swamp Thing title has been around for decade though I have never been terribly interested in it myself. The reboot is styled so that if you had never read anything involving Swamp Thing, then you would be fine, but at the same time does not remove any of the prior events that have happened in Swamp Thing history. The direction DC is taking the series is pretty clear and heavily tied into that of the "Animal Man" series. Whereas Animal Man is connected to the animal kingdom, similarly, Swamp Thing is connected to the plant kingdom. The two end up sharing a similar enemy, The Rot. While it is interesting and a bonus for those who enjoy Animal Man, it isn't quite as good in my book. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Teen Titans
As previously mentioned, I have read all the Teen Titans comics begining in its 1980 reboot. It has always been very enjoyable, even the more recent attempts to reform it with new heroes that didn't go quite as well. This team features many of the heroes from Young Justice, although some with different twists. The leader, Red Robin or Tim Drake, the 3rd Robin, is searching the country for meta-human teens he believes are being hunted by a mysterious organization known as "N.O.W.H.E.R.E." In his travels he begins picking up other teens to work with him. His first encounter is with a girl that has the same name as the previous Wonder Girl but is blonde and is only being called Wonder Girl by the media. She is not really a hero as her powers come from artifacts she has stolen but reluctantly accepts help from Red Robin. There is also a Kid Flash present, however, it is not Wally West, the original Kid Flash and curiously enough, Wally has yet to make an appearance at all. Instead the role of Kid Flash is played by Bart Allen, the person who took over the role once Wally West had moved on to become The Flash. The rest of the team is made up of a young girl who forms into a cocoon like state each time she falls asleep and comes out an insect-like creature with, at best, instinctual intelligence, Bunker, a boy with the ability to form objects with his mind and use them to fight and a girl that has aspects of her powers taken from a former Titans heroine with the same name, Solstice. DC has also taken a bold step and designed Bunker as an openly gay teen and done it in a way that is clear it is a normal aspect of every day life, without waving it around to shove it in the readers face and making it a sort of token gay character. I also have to point out how much I enjoy Tim Drake as Red Robin. The costume and tools are amazing and really showcase his abilities when he takes on people with actual powers. I would rate this a Must Read.
The Fury of Firestorm
Firestorm was created a few decades back, known as the nuclear man, he had the ability to rearrange molecules to change certain substances into others. The interesting twist was that he was not one person but two, a student with sub-par molecular knowledge controlling the body and a Chemistry professor who became a part of Firestorm's mind. With the professor helping the student Firestorm became a force to be reckoned with. The reboot, however, has taken a twist on the character. This time around Firestorm refers to two students at a local high school. A black boy with great intelligence and the original student, a white quarterback of the football team with sub-par grades. The other twist is that the two become Firestorm seperately, each with the same powerset, but also that the two Firestorms can combine to become a much more powerful entity that they do not have control over and would presumably be "The Fury of Firestorm." The conflict in the series comes from rogue groups around the world who want to get their hands on the Firestorm protocol, the tool needed to turn someone into a Firestorm. As it turns out, there are many Firestorms, and not all of them with a working moral compass. I would rate this as Good Read.
Voodoo
I was not sure how to take approach this series as the title and cover reveal very little about who Voodoo is or what she has to do with the DC Universe. As it turns out the role she and her story play in the DC Universe is very similar to that of the series "Grifter." Without going into too much detail that would ruin the story, Voodoo is an alien and the government is after her in the same manner they are after Grifter. Voodoo, herself, has shapeshifting abilities as well as limited mind reading. Of all of the new "unknown" titles, this one is easily my favorite. I would rate this a Must Read.
Wonder Woman
I was never really a Wonder Woman comic fan. The heroine was entertaining in Justice League, but as a solo character, I could never really get into her due to the Greek God centered stories. There are many good changes to Diana's background that I think work very well but I am reluctant to reveal and some interesting twists with the Gods themselves, not to mention some really fantastic dialogue. I would rate this a Good Read.
Miniseries:
Huntress
Huntress is one of those odd holdovers from DC attempting to merge universes and has been used by many different women, though often in some way connected to Batman. In one instance she was the daughter of Earth-2's Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle. The miniseries follows her as she is singlehandedly hunting down and tearing apart a human trafficking operation. She has no super human abilities and often uses a hand crossbow and other gadgets to complete her mission. I would not be opposed to reading the series if it became a full-fledged monthly comic. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
The Ray
This miniseries is still very much in the works but it does look very promising. The Ray has been reimagined a few times over the years but never to huge success. His powers are based on light absorption and manipulation. He can travel at the speed of light hence the name, "The Ray." The miniseries includes his origin story as well as him coping with the change to his life. I would rate this a Must Read.
Breakdown
I hope this has been some help to people who read it and are interested in checking out new DC titles. Finally, a tally of how many titles received each rank to illustrate the overall effectiveness of the reboot.
Must Reads (10):
All-Star Western
Animal Man
Batman
Red Hood and the Outlaws
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Red Lanterns
Justice League of America
Teen Titans
Voodoo
The Ray
Good Reads (12):
Birds of Prey
Detective Comics
Blue Beetle
Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
Green Arrow
Justice League International
Mister Terrific
Resurrection Man
Savage Hawkman
Static Shock
The Fury of Firestorm
Wonder Woman
Didn't Lose My Time (20):
Aquaman
Batgirl
Batman and Robin
Batwing
Catwoman
Nightwing
Batwing
Black Hawks
Captain Atom
DC Universe Presents (Currently Deadman stories)
The Flash
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
Grifter
Hawk and Dove
Suicide Squad
Stormwatch
Supergirl
Swamp Thing
Huntress
Don't Go Out Of Your Way (9):
Demon Knights
I, Vampire
Justice League Dark
Legion of Super Heroes
Legion Lost
O.M.A.C.
Action Comics
Superboy
Superman
Meh (3):
Batwoman
Deathstroke
Men Of War
All-Star Western
Animal Man
Aquaman
Batman titles:
Batgirl
Batman
Batman and Robin
Batwing
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
Catwoman
Detective Comics
Nightwing
Red Hood and the Outlaws
The Dark Knight
Black Hawks
Blue Beetle
Captain Atom
DC Universe Presents (Currently Deadman stories)
Deathstroke
Demon Knights
The Flash
Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
Green Arrow
Green Lantern titles:
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Red Lanterns
Grifter
Hawk and Dove
I, Vampire
Justice League titles:
Justice League of America
Justice League Dark
Justice League International
Legion of Super Heroes titles:
Legion Lost
Legion of Super Heroes
Men of War
Mister Terrific
O.M.A.C.
Resurrection Man
The Savage Hawkman
Static Shock
Stormwatch
Suicide Squad
Superman titles:
Action Comics
Superboy
Supergirl
Superman
Swamp Thing
Teen Titans
The Fury of Firestorm
Voodoo
Wonder Woman
Miniseries:
Huntress
The Ray
For a brief intro I will provide you with a bit of my comic background. I grew up in a mild comic book nerd environment. I never did a lot of reading of comics themselves until much later, around 23 or so, but I was always a sucker for super heroes. I had a few action figures from both Marvel and DC, I watched both X-men series (Animated Series and Evolution), I watched the live action Flash TV show with my Dad, I watched all the Batman movies as they were released, I listened to stories from my Dad and his childhood where he and his twin brother would travel to the nearby town to get the latest comic, in fact he still has a very large collection that he preserved decently and I would follow my Dad's own comics he had written and drawn with his brother when they were younger as well as the ones he drew in his spare time. Later on, as Super Hero movies became more prevalent, I branched out and stumbled upon a torrent that had every single Green Lantern comic ever printed from Alan Scott all the way to 2003. Realizing the size of it, I skipped reading the Alan Scott era comics and moved right into the Hal Jordan reboot that started in 1960. I kept reading these off and on for a few years, I think it took me about 3years to finally catch up to the current releases and along the way I sought out various miniseries that took place in the DC Universe begining around the mid-1980's. I also tracked back to the Teen Titans reboot of 1980. By the time I had finished all this, "Blackest Night" was coming to an end and DC was preparing to launch "The New 52." I seem to have a knack for timing things like that. Anyway, considering DC's goal was to let new readers jump in to old character, I took on the task of reading every single series, and here I am.
Ranking System:
5 - Must Read
4 - Good Read
3 - Didn't Lose My Time
2 - Don't Go Out of Your Way
1 - Meh
All-Star Western
I have never been a fan of the Western genre and frankly, I am amazed there is enough demand out there to support a regular comic for it but, apparently, there is, so I held my nose and dove in. The series, at least so far, has consisted of a main storyline involving Jonah Hex and Dr. Amadeus Arkham, who would later found Arkham Asylum, as they investigated occurrences in 1880's Gotham City and smaller duration stories involving lesser known names. The shorter stories have been okay. One involved zombies and a man who gained powers from a curse placed on him by an Indian that he could only access while unconscious, please ignore the absurdity and lack of cultural knowledge involved in this, and another story involving a Chinese woman seeking revenge against another Chinese mafia-esque who had wronged her and her family. Both were mildly entertaining but not terribly memorable and I can't really see either having their own stories. However, the primary storyline with Jonah Hex and Dr. Arkham was absolutely fantastic. DC has used the 1880s setting to provide backstory to the entire DC Universe, primarily Batman, and you can see many setups for references in other comics, mostly Batman related, as well as references to ancestors of common names in modern Batman lore, like the Cobblepots. For a Batman fan, I would rate this a Must Read.
Animal Man
I knew very little about Animal Man going into this series and had to actually look up a bit about his powers to help work myself into it. I had no expectations going in and a slight hesitation from not particularly being interested in him based on his power-set and what the character was in the past. This was not a straight reboot but more of a short introduction to the character without really needing any of his history other than details about his origin. Instead, it was more of an expansion on the character that, as you read other titles, is obviously going to be interweaving with the other titles, primarily Swamp Thing. The art for it is rather unique and takes a bit of getting used to, but the cover picture for the first issue really makes you want to read it and it doesn't disappoint. Instead of being strictly about Animal Man, it gets much darker and actually switches the focus from him onto his daughter of roughly age 5 or 6 who has developed the rather morbid ability to basically animate dead animals and treat them like her pets. From there the story develops into the primary conflict of future issues and the larger tie-in with other series as Animal Man struggles to protect her from "The Rot." It is hands down one of the most terrifying things I have read and I cannot put it down. I would rate this a Must Read.
Aquaman
I've always felt bad for poor Aquaman. For a 1960's character, he wasn't terribly bad and did serve a pretty good purpose but as power creep gradually took its toll, he just became more and more silly and rather useless out of water. I did like his reboot where he was more gruff and had a freaking hook for a hand as well as the Blackest Night style telepathy only working with dead sea animals, but the reboot hasn't really gone in that direction. Instead, Aquaman has moved straight into stories assuming everyone reading basically knows who he is, which is probably true for 99.9% of the readers, though the most recent issue has hinted at delving into more of the rebooted back-story. I am very encouraged by the writer connected to the project, as the first few issues were chocked full of jokes and references to Aquaman's prior "uselessness" in the form of the public's general lack of information on anything about him. My favorite line probably being a few officers realizing that they were "never going to heard the end of it" when the other officers at their station heard they were saved by Aquaman. For the "new beginning" of this pseudo/semi-reboot the reader finds Aquaman and his wife, Mera, retreating to the shore in an attempt to live in peace, away from Atlantis, only to have the area attacked by humanoid piranha-like creatures starving for food and abducting animals and humans alike. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batgirl
Batgirl as a character has seen a lot of really weird stuff happen to her. At one point there were two Barbara Gordon's, one as Batgirl and one paralyzed as Oracle, I never followed it much at all except that I knew what Oracle was and in the crossovers and miniseries I read with Oracle references, I thought she was a pretty good character that only suffered from a bit of computerish-terms-can-solve-everything syndrome. This time around, the second Barbara Gordon, a Batgirl from a parallel Earth, had never appeared and Batgirl had received a miraculous spinal surgery that allowed her to walk again. The first arc focuses on a rash of killings of people who, in the killer's opinion, were supposed to have died in an explosion, including Barbara Gordon. Matters are made worse by the fact that Batgirl is nowhere close to fighting fit despite making her rounds of Gotham. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batman
Batman is one of three strictly Batman related titles, the others being "Detective Comics" and "The Dark Knight." This title has definitely lived up to the post-1980's Batman style with it's dark atmosphere and has less focus on fighting itself with more attention paid to solving the current problems presented directly to Batman. There is a good connection between many things that happen in the first story arc with things that are revealed in "All-Star Western," so reading both is definitely beneficial. The story revolves around a secret society that has existed in Gotham City since it's founding and is intertwined with the fate of the Wayne family but without the knowledge of Bruce Wayne himself. I would rate this a Must Read.
Batman & Robin
Though many aspects of the DC Universe are being rebooted, the characters that have been Robin over time have stayed the same. At this point in the DC Universe Dick Grayson has returned to being Nightwing after his stint as Batman, Jason Todd remains as Red Hood, Tim Drake has continued his career as Red Robin and Damian Wayne takes his place at Batman's side. Batman & Robin follows the rocky relationship between the father and son as Batman attempts to counteract Damian's upbringing in the Assassin's Guild. Using this as a guide the characters as well as their relationships are developed significantly while simultaneously boosting background elements of Bruce Wayne's History. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batwing
In recent Batman history, Bruce Wayne has branched out with Batman, Inc. in order to take the fight against crime to the rest of the world in a very public manner. I was never a very big fan of this as it seemed counter to the way Batman typically operated. The spinoff Batwing follows one of these operatives in Africa as he fights corruption in his home country. Aside from the appearances of Batman himself and the equipment/costume given to Batwing, very little about the Batwing Universe is known prior to reading and is nearly all new material. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Batwoman
I was very unfamiliar with Batwoman going into this comic. As it is, I have never been a hardcore Batman fan, so I had to do some research into who exactly Kate Kane (Batwoman) is. The title Batwoman does seem to be attempting to push against some social norms in that Kate Kane as well as a few other characters who make appearances are openly gay. The opening story arc deals with her being hunted by a government agency, discord with her psuedo-side kick and at this juncture doesn't seem to have finished it's initial story so it is much harder to rate. Some of the story points I did find fascinating but at other times the story was hard to follow. Hopefully it will pick up soon. I would rate this a Meh.
Birds of Prey
I am vaguely familiar with the Birds of Prey team from earlier years, though not terribly versed in them. The series features a powerhouse lineup of female characters that currently include Batgirl, Black Canary, Katana, Poison Ivy and Starling. Even if you are not familiar with some of the heroes or not particularly interested in some of the bigger names, this would still make for an interesting experience. The team design definitely boosts the appeal of all the characters, particularly Starling and Katana. During the first arc the team is investigating a group that is turning people into human bombs that use the carrier as the explosive and is triggered by rhymes. The mystery is intriguing and there is good action. I would rate this a Good Read.
Catwoman
DC has taken on an interesting approach with this title as Catwoman is most definitely a villain. The opening comic does feature a very graphic sex scene between her and Batman, capitalizing on their history but this seems more used as a teaser to the overall series instead of the first arc specifically. Thus far the comic has given the reader insight into Catwoman's past, her fiery relationship with Batman and the consequences of her life as a thief. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Detective Comics
Detective Comics, along with Superman's "Action Comics" is one of the longest running titles in history. Thus far the series has taken on a larger focus on current happenings int he DC universe and took the initiave to introduce, in my opinion, one of the best Batman villains yet, "The Dollmaker," while simultaneously creating layers of intrigue behind the villain and things yet unrevealed happening behind the scenes. I would rate this a Good Read.
Nightwing
In this title, Nightwing (Dick Grayson, the first Robin) has returned to the circus he grew up in to reunite with old friends, meanwhile being targeted as a killer by a masked vigilante in his private identity of Dick Grayson. The story follows Nightwing as he unravels a deep mystery surrounding the circus and its relationship to the vigilante. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Red Hood and the Outlaws
The first issue of this title created a big stir on the internet with its most recent portrayal of Starfire, a former member of the Teen Titans and long time love interest of Dick Grayson. Starfire has always been depicted with a much more "free" sense of physical intimacy but was always monogamous and showed a deep intellect that belied her ditzy appearance. With this reboot, as with the other updated versions of Starfire over time, her costume is skimpier than the previous costume but changes were made to her on an intellectual level as well. The story follows Arsenal (Red Arrow, former Green Arrow sidekick, Roy Harper) following the death of his daughter and his substance abuse relapse as he wanders without direction. He is joined by Red Hood (Jason Todd, the second Robin) who has been recently working recently with Starfire in their own attempts at fighting crime and under typical American social norms, the two would appear to be dating. The controversy arose with a particular scene in which Starfire reveals that sexual encounters with multiple partners are commonplace to her people and that there is no actual "love" involved in "making love." Additionally she seems to have difficulty even remembering the names of her partners. There are other issues involved, but none as prominent as that one. However, as I read on through other issues, either because of the stir created, or originally designed that way, Starfire as a character improves greatly and seems to do away with the idea that she was simply objectified for male readers, for the most part.Onto the actual story itself, Red Hood and the Outlaws, under the leadership of Red Hood, embark on a somewhat mystical journey that delves deep into Jason Todd's past and is remarkably interesting while also going far back into Earth's history as well. I would rate this a Must Read.
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight is the final of the 3 primary Batman titles. The primary arc does seem to be wrapping up and I find it difficult to give a summary without spoiling an entertaining story. I am not sure what about it makes it different from the Detective Comics present-day stories theme as they are both equally Batman-ish in style, but nevertheless, it is mildly entertaining so far. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Blackhawks
Prior the the reboot I was unfamiliar with the Blackhawks team. They are a secret military organization funded by the United Nations, the primary focus of which is to intervene in situations of high risk. The members are all non-metahumans (no powers) and are quirkily nicknamed with the names of various countries but with a twist, the names do not coincide with their country of origin. Due to their lack of powers they are often placed in situations over their head but through their own excellence and training, come out on top. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Blue Beetle
The Blue Beetle has been rebooted in the truest sense of the word. While Jaime Reyes has played the part before in a very similar series of events, DC has made the decision to start over. Seeing as how The Blue Beetle is a mildly underplayed teen hero, this is probably a good decision and lets teens pick up the story much easier than they otherwise would. I, myself, never read any of the Jaime Reyes issues but he did do a brief stint as a pseudo-member of The Teen Titans a few years back and was done decently there. The introductory story arc features the origin of The Scarab, how it gets attached to Jaime and the fallout of him having his life suddenly thrown into chaos by the Scarab and those that want it and it's power. For those unaware, the scarab attaches to a host and operates as a retractable exosuite with various forms of weaponry and defensive options. I would rate this a Good Read.
Captain Atom
This is another complete reboot that shares many similarities to the previous version, though like Blue Beetle, I am only casually aware of Captain Atom's background. For those unaware, the character "Doctor Manhattan" from "The Watchman" (The Blue Penis Guy) is based heavily on Captain Atom from each of their abilities and with some similarities in their creation. The first story arc follows Captain Atom as he learns to deal with the transformation that has befallen him by removing inoperable cancer cells from a person but also unintentionally hurting others while the military, upset with his decision to not be their personal one man army, targets him for destruction. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
DC Universe Presents
I have never read prior to the reboot and obviously the name is quite ambiguous. There is no single hero or storyline the series follows though many will reoccur throughout the series. The title appears to operate as both a mechanism for introducing new characters as well as advancing the stories of existing characters that are seldom used or typically appear in a crossover. For the first arc the reader follows Boston Brand as he is granted his powers as Deadman and is forced to wander the globe, possessing others in order to improve their life, a-la Quantum Leap, though Deadman was created much earlier. The first Deadman story arc finished up in the 5th issue and the 6th issue has begun a story with a new set of characters and locations that overlap slightly with those presented in the first arc, minus Deadman himself. This is a very difficult title to rate due to its revolving hero nature. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Deathstroke
Deathstroke, depending on the series he is in can be seen either as a villain or an anti-hero. He is most famous for his involvement in the 1980s reboot of the "Teen Titans" as well as the primary villain "Slade" in the "Teen Titans" animated series. Slade Wilson, or Deathstroke The Terminator (predates the creation of the Terminator movies and has no connection) is a former soldier that was given super human enhancements and though advancing in age is still much more agile and stronger than many other heroes. His abilities are centered heavily around his increased ability to utilize normally unused brain power as well as reflexes making him a worthy adversary for characters with seemingly much more devastating powers. Going into the story I was hesitant as to if he deserved his own title and if it could be pulled off and I have come out of the story not overly impressed. I would rate this a Meh.
Demon Knights
The Demon Knights series takes place in medieval times and consists of a group of ragtag humans who in someway are different than normal powerless humans. In some cases immortality or super human strength and others with a more magical base. Some of the characters are more familiar faces than the others such as Jason Blood and the Demon Etrigan, Madam Xanadu and Vandal Savage. The new faces, a new Shining Knight, the Horsewoman, Al Jabr an inventor whos inventions are perceived as magic and Exoristos, an amazonian. The first issue wastes no time throwing the reader into the story, slightly at the expense of the reader's ability to know what is happening but once the reader is more familiar with the characters, it boils down to the "Heroes" defending a defenseless village against a woman posessing great magical ability and a horde of beasts and soldiers for her army. As the reader goes on though, interest does pick up. I would rate this a Don't Go Out of Your Way.
The Flash
For the reboot, DC has decided to bring back the original Flash, Barry Allen. This is a risky in my opinion as Barry Allen was one of the plain boring characters from the 1960s who failed to evolve to keep up with the sophistication of the stories and was later replaced with, in my opinion, a much better character in that of Wally West, the nephew of Barry Allen. While Barry Allen does keep all of his origin story as well as his job with the police, all of the character development that has taken place over the last 50 years has been erased. While his wife Iris West has appeared in the series, she is not serving as the love interest, or at least has yet to take on that role. The first story arc involves The Flash confronting a friend from his past both as himself and as The Flash, though the secret is not known by the friend, as the friend is being hunted by an unknown group. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
This is another title that I was not familiar with prior to the reboot and was definitely skeptical going in. Having read the first 6 issues I have come to realize that it is actually quite interesting. Frankenstein, the others on his team and with S.H.A.D.E. are seemingly very close to the characters in Hellboy. Frankenstein is roughly the same as his namesake except that he has decent intelligence. His team, a werewolf, vampire, a mummy healer and this weird aquatic woman, all travel around the world investigating more paranormal like situations and in one instance crossed over into the O.M.A.C. comic. I would rate this a Good Read.
Green Arrow
This time around DC is playing very heavily into Oliver Queen's "Q-core" as a DC Universe equivalent of the real world Apple Computers. Oliver Queen plays the pretty boy in charge who doesn't appear to care about the company while in reality he is using the companies innovations in his weapons fighting crime. I would rate this a Good Read.
Green Lantern
Of all the titles in "The New 52," I think the Green Lantern series, currently centered on Hal Jordan, has probably seen the least change, if any at all. Nearly all of the events of "The Blackest Night" and related incidents seem to be the same, in fact it picks up following the final issue before the reboot. For those unfamiliar, Sinestro, having helped thwart Krona's plans, was chosen by the sector ring while Hal Jordan was stripped of his responbilities and returned to Earth, powerless. Hal begins to rediscover his life without the ring. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Green Lantern Corps
This Green Lantern title typically follows the actions of teams of lanterns on specific assignments and with the reboot has been redisgned to fit Guy Gardner and John Stewart. While investigating a rather extraordinary disaster the Lanterns stumble upon "soldiers" wielding the same green energy as they are and are also resistant to the corps members constructs. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Green Lantern: New Guardians
This Green Lantern title was newly created and is specifically set to follow Kyle Rayner, my personal favorite of all the Earth Geen Lanterns. The initial story arc begins with Kyle having had a ring from each of the other corps (Yellow, Blue, Indigo, Orange, Red, Violet) appear before him having selected him as their new owner. Shortly thereafter a member from each corp shows up ready to attack Kyle for stealing the rings. I would rate this a Must Read.
Red Lanterns
The Red Lantern comic is a curious addition to the DC Universe as the Red Lanterns are vengeful more than they are heroic. Thus far the series has taken on a more intellectual tone as Atrocitus, the leader and only sentient Red Lantern, contemplates the future of his corp now that he has possession of Krona's body. As the series progresses it delves deeper into the past of the various Red Lantern members, their creation and their rise in intelligence. I would rate this a Must Read.
Grifter
I first discovered Grifter in the Flashpoint miniseries, whether or not he existed prior to that, I am unaware. At the time he just seemed like some background character from some series I'd never read but the reboot has definitely put an interesting spin on things. An ex-special forces soldier turned con artist suddenly begins hearing voices in his head, he is abducted by aliens, escapes and now they are after him. This is a very important series for what appears to be an upcoming DC event as the aliens who abducted him are appearing in small places in some other series and in larger ways in a few others. The story follows Cole Cash as he is on the run from the government who believes he has killed at least two people and has threatened to blow up a plane all while also being hunted by the aliens he has escaped from. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Hawk and Dove
Hawk and Dove were originally a pair of brothers that were part of the Teen Titans. One brother was an avatar of peace, the other an avatar of war. Their abilities and personalities complimented each other to the point that when Dove died, Hawk went crazy and tried to destroy the universe. Later on DC revived Hawk and Dove in the form of two sisters. Various events transpired to all four characters and the end result was the female Dove and male Hawk were the only ones left alive and began to team up. That is where this series picks up. The opening arc begins to delve much deeper into the realm of the avatars of various alignments with the sudden appearance of another avatar, something that has not been seen before. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
I, Vampire
I, Vampire is a very a-typical series for DC. It follows a vampire with a conscience who feels guilty for having turned a woman many years before who, unlike himself, cannot resist the urges and has thus declared war on humans. For most of the issues so far there have hardly been any references to meta-humans and only one appearance by another DC character, Batman. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Justice League of America
This is almost a complete reboot of the JLA series and takes place 5 years prior to the "current" year in DC comics. None of the heroes know each other, some aren't sure if others even exist or are just rumor. The lineup this time is a lot of the old mainstays, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Wonder Woman, Aquaman and a new addition, Cyborg. When I saw this line up I thought, "This is going to be a fantastic reboot" and it pretty much has been so far. The opening comic starts out with Batman being hunted down by the government and running into Green Lantern. Some of the best comic dialogue that I have ever read occurs between Batman and GL and if they keep the relationship between the two in that form it is going to make for some great comics. On top of all that, they really go all out for the graphical presentation of the comic. I've never seen such great detail on GL's constructs. I would rate this a Must Read.
Justice League: Dark
This is a new approach to Justice League titles and at the moment is only marginally related to the Justice League itself. The series follows around a group of magic-oriented heroes who have gathered together because of a future that has been foreseen by Madame Xanadu. The team consists of herself, John Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, Zatanna, Mindwarp, Deadman and Enchantress. This group is designed to take on what the Justice League can't handle in terms of magic. There are also some interesting metaphysical issues raised involving Shade, Deadman and Enchantress that do give it a nice philosophical touch. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Justice League: International
This is not a new title, but due to the reboot the team is a first of its kind, commissioned by the United Nations it has representatives from all over the world, some oldies and some new ones that are quite interesting. I was a little bewildered at the choice of leader, Booster Gold, as the character has always been fairly shallow and in the game for the wrong reasons, or at least it seems that way to everyone else in the DC Universe, but it kind of works because of his lack of confidence in dealing with the responsibility that has been thrust upon him by Batman who weirdly enough has the utmost confidence in Booster Gold. The rest of the team consists of: Batman, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Rocket Red (Russian), Fire (Brazil), Ice (Norway), Vixen (Unnamed African Country), August General in Iron (China) and Godiva (Britain). The team is hastily formed to investigate a disappearance and stumbles upon a plot to destroy the planet. The team has to deal with lack of unit cohesion and team work as well as conflicting personalities. There are definitely nationalistic conflicts between various members and a the spotlight on some of the lesser known heroes has worked very well. I have a particular fondness for August General in Iron as his powerset is rather unique and the dynamics between him and others is intriguing. I would rate this a Good Read.
Legion of Super Heroes
Neither this series or it's spinoff series "Legion Lost" presented readers with a problem if they weren't familiar with it prior to the reboot as there wasn't really a reboot at all. In fact LoSH doesn't seem to have an opening and just dives right into a story arc without much introduction at all. Yes, it is nice that in every issue the hero is identified with a brief description of their powers, but that doesn't stop the feeling of a starting to read something in the middle of the story. That part aside, the stories aren't terrible, but it isn't the best for new readers. LoSH takes place in the 30th and 31st century where the universe is much more integrated and Earth is completely aware of the universe at large. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Legion Lost
Legion Lost is much better for new readers than The Legion of Super Heroes as the onslaught of characters is smaller, though it does still suffer slightly from not really having a reboot. The story begins with a small group of the Legionnaires, noticibly absent in LoSH, being stranded in the present day after giving chase to a criminal who seeks revenge by exposing humans to the DNA of various alien species and attempting to mutate them in order to alter the future. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Men of War
I'm not totally sure how to take in Men of War. It is a series of short stories, sometimes connected, sometimes not, that follow soldiers through battlefield situations. Some of the stories have meta-human references or characters, others don't. All in all, most of the stories have been rather boring and if I had to drop a title, this would be the first. Perhaps there is some audience out there it rings true for, but I can't imagine it is terribly inundated with Comic Book Nerds. I would rate this a Meh.
Mister Terrific
I wasn't a huge Mister Terrific fan prior to the reboot but having read the first 6 issues he is definitely climbing my list of Super Heroes. Mister Terrific or Michael Holt is the worlds 3rd smartest man, an arbitrary title/nickname given to him by some unknown person or group and often recited sort of as a joke. Similar to Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), he is the CEO of his own company but is clearly more interested and capable of running it while at the same time is moderately aloof about such responsibility. Mister Terrific is known for using his "T-Spheres," as part of his hero tech, which can do a multitude of things including but not limited to supporting him for flight, laser grids, Holographic projectors and portable computers. Most importantly, to me, is that he is very openly and adamantly an atheist and often cites it without shame. He does acknowledge a lot of the supernatural aspects of the DC Universe but maintains there is still a rational explanation for them. As for the reboot, Mister Terrific himself doesn't have a terrifically large reboot, he is still very much the same guy after as he was before, minus the non-existence of the Justice Society of America which has not yet been remade, though it is in the works. I would rate this a Good Read.
O.M.A.C.
OMAC was a tool of the primary antagonist from the Infinite Crisis miniseries of 2005-2006 known as "Brother Eye." Brother Eye was an artificial intelligence located on a satellite in orbit around earth and was used by Maxwell Lord (Head of Checkmate) in an attempt to rid the planet of all meta-humans by using sleeper agents known as "OMACs." OMACs were humans who had been secretly given nanites that would transform them into the OMACs which had a very robotic style and would then attack meta-humans as Brother Eye directed. Along the way Brother Eye rebelled despite Maxwell Lord's attempts to thwart it though in the end, of course, the heroes saved the day and Brother Eye was defeated. With the advent of the "New 52," Brother Eye makes his return by in a sense, escaping and infesting a single person with the OMAC nanites. The series follows this person, Kevin Kho, as he is hunted by the government as part of Brother Eye while Brother Eye extorts Kho to be a tool to help Brother Eye expand. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Resurrection Man
The basics of Resurrection Man are pretty simple and straightforward. Every time he dies, he returns to life but with a different meta-human ability. He cannot remember who he is and, of course, people are chasing him trying to capture him. This summary does make it sound a-typical and unoriginal but that really isn't the case. The nature of Resurrection Man's powers makes for a very unique experience and the story is pretty well written if not slightly high on the fan service in a few issues. Two bounty hunter women called up for a job and of course they're just laying around in lingerie looking sexy. That aside, I would rate this a Good Read.
Savage Hawkman
Hawkman has been notoriously unpopular in the modern age of comics mostly due to the perception that his power is to simply "fly" in the same way that aquaman's power is to "swim." I never read earlier editions but for this series, as the title suggests, Hawkman is very savage and a rather scrappy brawler. Instead of having the various Nth Metal Weapons and gear, the Nth metal has merged with Hawkman's body, against his will, after he had attempted to get rid of it. For those unfamiliar with it, Nth Metal is an extremely rare metal with great properties. Basically, Hawkman hits a bajillion times harder with an Nth Metal Mace instead of a regular steel mace. Thrown together with some interesting new villains, this reboot of Hawkman will hopefully fare better than the earlier ones. I would rate this a Good Read.
Static Shock
Many people will remember Static (Virgil Hawkins) from the Static Shock animated series many years ago. If you don't then here is some info. In a fictional midwest city there was basically a big sciency accident, things went boom, a large group of teenagers were exposed to sciency stuff and began developing powers. In Static's case, he gained control over electromagnetism and can use it to control objects an roughly simulate flying amongst other cool uses of his powers. In this reboot, Virgil and his family have moved to New York City under the guise of expanding his education as he is of extremely high intellect as well as an internship at STAR labs. In reality he is fighting crime alongside the hero Hardware. For the most part the reader is fine coming into the series, though there are a few things that are clearly hold overs from past issues, namely the fact that his sister has a duplicate and neither can tell which is the real one. I would rate this a Good Read.
Stormwatch
Stormwatch looks to be a very integral part of the at large DC Universe in the future as it is a very old secret organization that essentially protects the planet. By this point the organization has a space station in orbit that is somehow cloaked from view. Most importantly, this is the new home of The Martian Manhunter who is noticibly absent in all other comics minus an appearance or two where after finishing, he erases his existence from the observers' minds. The other heroes are Jack Hawksmore, a man who quite possibly has the most unique power I have ever seen. He is unable to live outside of a city in that he gets sick in doing so but at the same time he can converse with the city which takes on a humanoid form only he can communicate with. Apollo, a solar energy based hero who can fly and shoot blasts from his hands. There are other characters too, but each are relatively unknowns, particularly compared to the Martian Manhunter. It is clear through the first few issues that Stormwatch is going to play an integral roll in whatever upcoming miniseries DC has planned. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Suicide Squad
This is a re-imagining of an old great title. Suicide Squad has been around for awhile and I suspect will stay around just as long. The premise of the series is that the government uses criminals they have in custody to perform covert missions that can be written off as having no connection to the government. The prisoners are fitted with explosives in their bodies set on a timer. If the timer ends, kaboom, end of mission, end of villain. In exchange, the prisoners involved get time taken off of their sentence or released. The actions of the team are frequently questionable and sometimes directed by the government in the performance of morally questionable or outright evil acts. The team members are frequently changing, either by death or by skillset needed for the mission. Many times the villains are also new or seldom used background characters. In the outset of this version of Suicide Squad the more notable names are Deadshot, a master marksman and the closest thing to a main character the series has ever had, and Harley Quinn, the Joker's sidekick. There are a few others who are interesting characters, but nonetheless, are small fries. I must give a big round of applause to the writer as well for the dialogue given to Harley Quinn, fantastic. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Action Comics
Action Comics is to Superman what Detective Comics is to Batman. With this reboot, DC uses Action Comics as a method of retelling the emergence of Superman in metropolis as he feels out his powers and they begin to mature into what everyone is familiar with. It also gives a good look to the rewriting of Clark Kent's history as a reporter. As of the 6th issue, all of the happenings take place prior to the current time in the DC Universe. I like the new approach for Clark Kent but some of the stories haven't been as good as others. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Superboy
The modern era Superboy was a piece of the miniseries where Superman died and was subsequently replaced by 4 others claiming to be Superman. Cyborg Superman, a version of Superman with similar powers but light sensitivity, Steel, a man in a suit of armor akin to Marvel's Iron Man and a clone who would later become Superboy. This creation story has been retained, for the most part, but altered in the sense of the organization who "made" him and for what reason. He still possesses the original Superboy's "Tactile Telekinesis" as well as the understanding that he is a clone. The story arcs thus far have focused on experiencing the world outside of the facility he was grown in, learning how to use his powers and developing a moral compass. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Supergirl
Supergirl has had many incarnations over the years, to the extent that there were two at once (Power Girl). In this reboot, she is shown to having had a similar origin as that of her cousin Superman except that she was a teenager at the time. When she arrives on earth Superman is already a grown man while she has not aged at all. Supergirl possesses no knowledge of where she is, why she is there, what happened to her planet and is beginning to notice she has the powers we all have come to be familiar with that of a Kryptonian on Earth. Her story begins when she is discovered having crash landed in Siberia and the conflict involved in people trying to "recover" her. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Superman
This Superman title is used to tell stories happening in the current portion of the DC Universe timeline. The first issue does much to rewrite the world of Clark Kent for a more modern era. The Daily Planet is merging with a TV network as print media begins to die out. Clark Kent is still a beat reporter for the little guy and Lois Lane has moved on to producing at the TV network. As of yet there is no relationship between the two and it doesn't look to be a high story point priority. I would rate this a Don't Go Out Of Your Way.
Swamp Thing
The Swamp Thing title has been around for decade though I have never been terribly interested in it myself. The reboot is styled so that if you had never read anything involving Swamp Thing, then you would be fine, but at the same time does not remove any of the prior events that have happened in Swamp Thing history. The direction DC is taking the series is pretty clear and heavily tied into that of the "Animal Man" series. Whereas Animal Man is connected to the animal kingdom, similarly, Swamp Thing is connected to the plant kingdom. The two end up sharing a similar enemy, The Rot. While it is interesting and a bonus for those who enjoy Animal Man, it isn't quite as good in my book. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
Teen Titans
As previously mentioned, I have read all the Teen Titans comics begining in its 1980 reboot. It has always been very enjoyable, even the more recent attempts to reform it with new heroes that didn't go quite as well. This team features many of the heroes from Young Justice, although some with different twists. The leader, Red Robin or Tim Drake, the 3rd Robin, is searching the country for meta-human teens he believes are being hunted by a mysterious organization known as "N.O.W.H.E.R.E." In his travels he begins picking up other teens to work with him. His first encounter is with a girl that has the same name as the previous Wonder Girl but is blonde and is only being called Wonder Girl by the media. She is not really a hero as her powers come from artifacts she has stolen but reluctantly accepts help from Red Robin. There is also a Kid Flash present, however, it is not Wally West, the original Kid Flash and curiously enough, Wally has yet to make an appearance at all. Instead the role of Kid Flash is played by Bart Allen, the person who took over the role once Wally West had moved on to become The Flash. The rest of the team is made up of a young girl who forms into a cocoon like state each time she falls asleep and comes out an insect-like creature with, at best, instinctual intelligence, Bunker, a boy with the ability to form objects with his mind and use them to fight and a girl that has aspects of her powers taken from a former Titans heroine with the same name, Solstice. DC has also taken a bold step and designed Bunker as an openly gay teen and done it in a way that is clear it is a normal aspect of every day life, without waving it around to shove it in the readers face and making it a sort of token gay character. I also have to point out how much I enjoy Tim Drake as Red Robin. The costume and tools are amazing and really showcase his abilities when he takes on people with actual powers. I would rate this a Must Read.
The Fury of Firestorm
Firestorm was created a few decades back, known as the nuclear man, he had the ability to rearrange molecules to change certain substances into others. The interesting twist was that he was not one person but two, a student with sub-par molecular knowledge controlling the body and a Chemistry professor who became a part of Firestorm's mind. With the professor helping the student Firestorm became a force to be reckoned with. The reboot, however, has taken a twist on the character. This time around Firestorm refers to two students at a local high school. A black boy with great intelligence and the original student, a white quarterback of the football team with sub-par grades. The other twist is that the two become Firestorm seperately, each with the same powerset, but also that the two Firestorms can combine to become a much more powerful entity that they do not have control over and would presumably be "The Fury of Firestorm." The conflict in the series comes from rogue groups around the world who want to get their hands on the Firestorm protocol, the tool needed to turn someone into a Firestorm. As it turns out, there are many Firestorms, and not all of them with a working moral compass. I would rate this as Good Read.
Voodoo
I was not sure how to take approach this series as the title and cover reveal very little about who Voodoo is or what she has to do with the DC Universe. As it turns out the role she and her story play in the DC Universe is very similar to that of the series "Grifter." Without going into too much detail that would ruin the story, Voodoo is an alien and the government is after her in the same manner they are after Grifter. Voodoo, herself, has shapeshifting abilities as well as limited mind reading. Of all of the new "unknown" titles, this one is easily my favorite. I would rate this a Must Read.
Wonder Woman
I was never really a Wonder Woman comic fan. The heroine was entertaining in Justice League, but as a solo character, I could never really get into her due to the Greek God centered stories. There are many good changes to Diana's background that I think work very well but I am reluctant to reveal and some interesting twists with the Gods themselves, not to mention some really fantastic dialogue. I would rate this a Good Read.
Miniseries:
Huntress
Huntress is one of those odd holdovers from DC attempting to merge universes and has been used by many different women, though often in some way connected to Batman. In one instance she was the daughter of Earth-2's Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle. The miniseries follows her as she is singlehandedly hunting down and tearing apart a human trafficking operation. She has no super human abilities and often uses a hand crossbow and other gadgets to complete her mission. I would not be opposed to reading the series if it became a full-fledged monthly comic. I would rate this a Didn't Lose My Time.
The Ray
This miniseries is still very much in the works but it does look very promising. The Ray has been reimagined a few times over the years but never to huge success. His powers are based on light absorption and manipulation. He can travel at the speed of light hence the name, "The Ray." The miniseries includes his origin story as well as him coping with the change to his life. I would rate this a Must Read.
Breakdown
I hope this has been some help to people who read it and are interested in checking out new DC titles. Finally, a tally of how many titles received each rank to illustrate the overall effectiveness of the reboot.
Must Reads (10):
All-Star Western
Animal Man
Batman
Red Hood and the Outlaws
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Red Lanterns
Justice League of America
Teen Titans
Voodoo
The Ray
Good Reads (12):
Birds of Prey
Detective Comics
Blue Beetle
Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
Green Arrow
Justice League International
Mister Terrific
Resurrection Man
Savage Hawkman
Static Shock
The Fury of Firestorm
Wonder Woman
Didn't Lose My Time (20):
Aquaman
Batgirl
Batman and Robin
Batwing
Catwoman
Nightwing
Batwing
Black Hawks
Captain Atom
DC Universe Presents (Currently Deadman stories)
The Flash
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
Grifter
Hawk and Dove
Suicide Squad
Stormwatch
Supergirl
Swamp Thing
Huntress
Don't Go Out Of Your Way (9):
Demon Knights
I, Vampire
Justice League Dark
Legion of Super Heroes
Legion Lost
O.M.A.C.
Action Comics
Superboy
Superman
Meh (3):
Batwoman
Deathstroke
Men Of War
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