Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Sketchblog: Sharp-Dressed Man
A character design for a bad guy quite a ways down the line. Something about villains in Armani suits...
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
A Very Dorky Wish List
Okay, so everybody on Earth is trying to figure out who's going to be or who should be in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Ultimately, this is sort of a futile exercise... our opinions of who should be in the game are meaningless, particularly a little less than a year out from release, when it's likely too late to be adding more than a few characters and a bigger percentage of the company's time is going to be dedicated to tweaking and adjusting numbers, hit boxes, and model skins. On top of that, the bantering about who should be in or out really comes down to arguments of which characters the online gaming punditry like, with a much smaller fraction of the essayists and talking heads talking about which characters would make a better game. Really, trying to debate or rationalize who's going to be in MvC3 is less than pointless.
But, really, pointless has never stopped me before. Ever.
I mean, what am I supposed to do? Marvel vs Capcom is the only video game series that I still really follow, Dragon Age excepted. I dedicated more hours to Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and MvC2 than can possibly considered healthy by modern science. And, well, I'm a huge dork. So.
Following is a list of 10 characters that I would make sure would be in the game if I were a meddling executive in Capcom's offices. They follow no set order (because the only thing more pointless than making one of these lists is deciding that it's more important for Shin Kazama to be in than the Punisher). And this list is heavily weighted towards personal preference, so expect to say "WTF!?" at least once.
So without further ado...
10 Marvel and Capcom characters that should be included in the Marvel vs Capcom series... preferably right now
Arsenic & Old Lace (Marvel) - The Runaways are a really deep team to be pulling characters from. Indeed, you could make compelling characters out of Victor Mancha, Nico Minoru, or Molly Hayes (and the little one would be awesomesauce). But Ms. Gertrude Yorkes would uniquely add to the chaotic feel of the whole series; her genetically engineered deinonychus hanging around behind her (much like Rush does with Mega Man in the previous games) and coming out for special moves and combos would create a sense that there's yet on more combatant on the field, and that's a good thing. Also, having your pet dinosaur charge your enemy would be the best projectile ever.
Mike Haggar (Final Fight, Saturday Night Slammasters) - How has the mayor of Metro City never made it in yet? Mike was the star of the flagship arcade title of Capcom's until a little number called Street Fighter II dropped, and, frankly, he's cooler than the big Russian. He would end up having basically the same moveset as his formerly Soviet counterpart, but Big Mike himself has a better aesthetic. With his trousers, shin guards, that belt strapped across his chest, and his pornstache, he inhabits the weird space between awesome and absurd that Capcom does better than anyone else, and that exemplifies the whole series.
Emma Frost (Marvel) - She's already confirmed by project director Niitsuma to not be in MvC3, and that's a damned shame. Even if you just stuck with her telepathy, she could do some neat things that haven't really been seen in a fighting game before... I'm thinking moves where your enemy's tag-team partners come out to attack them as a mind-control type thing, or an aura that ever so slowly ate health off of your opponent's lifebar simply for being too close. Add in a "style-shift" move where she transforms into her diamond form, and you've have an incredibly interesting character who would never quite play the same way twice. Now we're not getting that chance... at least, not yet.
Harman Smith (killer7) - Speaking of switching fighting styles... The only problem with using Harman's seven manifested personalities (besides the insane logistics of it), Capcom might not even own the rights needed to get the character into the game (Capcom published killer7, but Suda51 developed it, and I have no idea what their publishing deal entailed. This might be more of a pipe dream than anything else on the list).
Black Panther (Marvel) - It's hard to believe that T'Challa (or Suri, if Marvel were so inclined) hasn't made it in yet, as there's so many ways you could make a satisfying character out of him. Something similar to Strider Hiryu would work, keeping his fighting style focused on hit-and-run tactics and evasion.
Arthur (Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts) - I mentioned above how everybody and their grandmother has been speculating who should be in Marvel vs Capcom 3, and every single one of those lists has had Arthur in. Arthur's most beloved for being in one of the all-time classic "Nintendo Hard" video games of all time, and let's face it, he'd be both entertaining as hell and would end up being a great projectile fighter. He's an iconic face of old-school gaming, and there's no reason he hasn't been in yet.
Doctor Octopus (Marvel) - Spider-Man's got the best rogues' gallery in all of superhero comics, bar none, and it's a little odd that they've gotten some truly, truly obscure cosmic horrors (re: Blackheart, Shuma-Gorath) and H-list losers (Silver Samurai, Omega Red)when the rich well of awesomeness that is Spidey's enemies remains largely untapped. Doc Ock's tentacles would give him a lot of similarities to Omega Red, obviously, but they would also allow something akin to flight (by using the arms as stilts, a favorite trick of the bespectacled one), and would be far more impressive visually. Remember some years back when Ock threw around the Hulk, battering him into walls and floors before tossing him aside? Picture that as a super move.
SonSon (SonSon, Marvel vs Capcom 2) - SonSon needs to be in. Yes, she probably needs a little bit of an overhaul to stay competitive (she was definitely a lower-tier character in MvC2), but she adds a much-needed burst of humor and energy to the series, and just as importantly, she doesn't conflict with the feel that it's clear Capcom's going for in 3. The general feel of the newest iteration, at least what we've seen so far, is one of pure, undiluted badass. SonSon doesn't contradict that any more than Deadpool does, she would look as natural standing next to Dante and Captain America as Chun-Li does, and she's pure fun to play with and annoying as hell to play against. Save her a slot, Capcom.
Doctor Strange (Marvel) - Come on, now both Shuma-Gorath and Dormammu are in the series, but the guy who most regularly stops their incursions into our world has yet to be announced. Here's hoping, because he'd be awesome.
Sigma (Mega Man X series) - The other character that's been begged and pleaded for by basically everybody is Dr. Wily, the man himself. But, here's the thing, he wouldn't actually make that great a fighter. The only real ideas that anybody has put forth for him to actually credibly involve himself in the fighting is to put him in a mech suit similar to MvC2's Tron Bonne, which he never actually used in any game, or his trademark hover-pod, which wouldn't actually be that cool in a side-to-side fighting game. Sigma, however, has an awesome visual that looks like the megalomaniacal love child of one of Mega Man Classic's Robot Masters and Baron von Underbheit from Venture Brothers, and he would make both a credible fighter with his basic moves, specials, and his hyper combos would be boss.
One last point: This list assumes that Frank West, Mega Man, and Spider-Man will be in and announced soon, and smart money says that they're already in.
Realistically, that list seems pretty short, looking at it. I might have to revisit this...
But, really, pointless has never stopped me before. Ever.
I mean, what am I supposed to do? Marvel vs Capcom is the only video game series that I still really follow, Dragon Age excepted. I dedicated more hours to Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and MvC2 than can possibly considered healthy by modern science. And, well, I'm a huge dork. So.
Following is a list of 10 characters that I would make sure would be in the game if I were a meddling executive in Capcom's offices. They follow no set order (because the only thing more pointless than making one of these lists is deciding that it's more important for Shin Kazama to be in than the Punisher). And this list is heavily weighted towards personal preference, so expect to say "WTF!?" at least once.
So without further ado...
10 Marvel and Capcom characters that should be included in the Marvel vs Capcom series... preferably right now
Arsenic & Old Lace (Marvel) - The Runaways are a really deep team to be pulling characters from. Indeed, you could make compelling characters out of Victor Mancha, Nico Minoru, or Molly Hayes (and the little one would be awesomesauce). But Ms. Gertrude Yorkes would uniquely add to the chaotic feel of the whole series; her genetically engineered deinonychus hanging around behind her (much like Rush does with Mega Man in the previous games) and coming out for special moves and combos would create a sense that there's yet on more combatant on the field, and that's a good thing. Also, having your pet dinosaur charge your enemy would be the best projectile ever.
Mike Haggar (Final Fight, Saturday Night Slammasters) - How has the mayor of Metro City never made it in yet? Mike was the star of the flagship arcade title of Capcom's until a little number called Street Fighter II dropped, and, frankly, he's cooler than the big Russian. He would end up having basically the same moveset as his formerly Soviet counterpart, but Big Mike himself has a better aesthetic. With his trousers, shin guards, that belt strapped across his chest, and his pornstache, he inhabits the weird space between awesome and absurd that Capcom does better than anyone else, and that exemplifies the whole series.
Emma Frost (Marvel) - She's already confirmed by project director Niitsuma to not be in MvC3, and that's a damned shame. Even if you just stuck with her telepathy, she could do some neat things that haven't really been seen in a fighting game before... I'm thinking moves where your enemy's tag-team partners come out to attack them as a mind-control type thing, or an aura that ever so slowly ate health off of your opponent's lifebar simply for being too close. Add in a "style-shift" move where she transforms into her diamond form, and you've have an incredibly interesting character who would never quite play the same way twice. Now we're not getting that chance... at least, not yet.
Harman Smith (killer7) - Speaking of switching fighting styles... The only problem with using Harman's seven manifested personalities (besides the insane logistics of it), Capcom might not even own the rights needed to get the character into the game (Capcom published killer7, but Suda51 developed it, and I have no idea what their publishing deal entailed. This might be more of a pipe dream than anything else on the list).
Black Panther (Marvel) - It's hard to believe that T'Challa (or Suri, if Marvel were so inclined) hasn't made it in yet, as there's so many ways you could make a satisfying character out of him. Something similar to Strider Hiryu would work, keeping his fighting style focused on hit-and-run tactics and evasion.
Arthur (Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts) - I mentioned above how everybody and their grandmother has been speculating who should be in Marvel vs Capcom 3, and every single one of those lists has had Arthur in. Arthur's most beloved for being in one of the all-time classic "Nintendo Hard" video games of all time, and let's face it, he'd be both entertaining as hell and would end up being a great projectile fighter. He's an iconic face of old-school gaming, and there's no reason he hasn't been in yet.
Doctor Octopus (Marvel) - Spider-Man's got the best rogues' gallery in all of superhero comics, bar none, and it's a little odd that they've gotten some truly, truly obscure cosmic horrors (re: Blackheart, Shuma-Gorath) and H-list losers (Silver Samurai, Omega Red)when the rich well of awesomeness that is Spidey's enemies remains largely untapped. Doc Ock's tentacles would give him a lot of similarities to Omega Red, obviously, but they would also allow something akin to flight (by using the arms as stilts, a favorite trick of the bespectacled one), and would be far more impressive visually. Remember some years back when Ock threw around the Hulk, battering him into walls and floors before tossing him aside? Picture that as a super move.
SonSon (SonSon, Marvel vs Capcom 2) - SonSon needs to be in. Yes, she probably needs a little bit of an overhaul to stay competitive (she was definitely a lower-tier character in MvC2), but she adds a much-needed burst of humor and energy to the series, and just as importantly, she doesn't conflict with the feel that it's clear Capcom's going for in 3. The general feel of the newest iteration, at least what we've seen so far, is one of pure, undiluted badass. SonSon doesn't contradict that any more than Deadpool does, she would look as natural standing next to Dante and Captain America as Chun-Li does, and she's pure fun to play with and annoying as hell to play against. Save her a slot, Capcom.
Doctor Strange (Marvel) - Come on, now both Shuma-Gorath and Dormammu are in the series, but the guy who most regularly stops their incursions into our world has yet to be announced. Here's hoping, because he'd be awesome.
Sigma (Mega Man X series) - The other character that's been begged and pleaded for by basically everybody is Dr. Wily, the man himself. But, here's the thing, he wouldn't actually make that great a fighter. The only real ideas that anybody has put forth for him to actually credibly involve himself in the fighting is to put him in a mech suit similar to MvC2's Tron Bonne, which he never actually used in any game, or his trademark hover-pod, which wouldn't actually be that cool in a side-to-side fighting game. Sigma, however, has an awesome visual that looks like the megalomaniacal love child of one of Mega Man Classic's Robot Masters and Baron von Underbheit from Venture Brothers, and he would make both a credible fighter with his basic moves, specials, and his hyper combos would be boss.
One last point: This list assumes that Frank West, Mega Man, and Spider-Man will be in and announced soon, and smart money says that they're already in.
Realistically, that list seems pretty short, looking at it. I might have to revisit this...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Book One: Out From Under Me, page 1
Alright, here's the very first page of the new webcomic.
Not quite sure I want to say what it's actually about yet, but when all's said and done, it'll have a little humor, a little action, a little romance, a scoop of fantasy, and a dash of hard science. You know, exactly what every good comic should have.
Tomorrow: a very geeky list
Thursday, July 22, 2010
In Which We Start Somewhere (Because Everybody Has To)
See that notice underneath the title up there? That'll be true starting Monday. Until then, I suppose I can find two days worth of stuff to rant about.
For example...
It seems effing bizarre to me that the major comics news sites seem to be completely missing the point in the headlines about the Alan Moore news that just shook out.
"ALAN MOORE Refused WATCHMEN Rights," says Newsarama.
CBR leads with "Alan Moore: 'I Don't Want "Watchmen" Back.'"
Click on the CBR link and it takes you to the original Robot 6 story: "Alan Moore Rejects DC's Rights Deal."
And yet, any headline that focuses on that aspect of the story is, invariably, burying the leads: the only reason that DC would be pursuing this is because they're interested in following up on Watchmen, and the offer they made was kind of dickish.
I'm not a comics insider. I don't know any of DC's higher-ups, nor do I even know who would be in charge of spearheading something like that. I'm just a guy who likes the comics medium looking from the outside in. And from that perspective... is there any other reason they'd try this insane "You get the rights back but you get to write us some more Watchmen," deal? Two years after the movie has come and gone, it's certainly not a severely miscalculated PR stunt.
No, it definitely seems that the already-common consensus is probably correct: DC is looking to publish some new Watchmen material, and there's no reason not to just because Moore declined this "rights for work" trade. Dan DiDio, in Comic Book Resources's followup to that story, is appropriately coy about the subject of doing more Watchmen, but has lots and lots to say about this project that he'll neither confirm or deny.
Given that DC, as of right now, owns all of the rights to Watchmen, there's really nothing stopping them from going to anybody other than Moore and Gibbons. Going to Moore first is, more than anything, a profit maximizer for DC: a brand-new Watchmen sequel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is going to be a much bigger news-grabber than a brand-new Watchmen sequel by Kurt Busiek and Doug Mahnke. Any way you slice it, though, a Watchmen sequel by Busiek and Mahnke, or Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, or Grant Morrison and Lee Garnett, or whatever, would still make DC a not-inconsiderable chunk of cash.
The business models of the Big Two are completely geared around getting as much fan chatter going as possible, trying to keep fan enthusiasm at a fever pitch as much as possible for as long as possible. It's like the complete opposite of The Walking Dead's fanbase. Publishing a prequel or sequel to the most critically well-regarded comic book in the history of the medium is an event in and of itself, filling in whatever section of their calender is free, while at the same time allowing them to say that they're fighting "event fatigue" by not running any events in their main superhero line if they don't want to. It's all upside, honestly (fan backlash be damned, because you know damned well most of us are going to buy copies no matter how morally shitty a move this is or how stupid the very idea of a Watchmen sequel is).
I'm not going to make guarantees that we'll see Watchmen Zero: Countdown to Midnight in the next two years, but nobody gets to act surprised after this.
But we do all have permission to hang our heads in shame.
For example...
It seems effing bizarre to me that the major comics news sites seem to be completely missing the point in the headlines about the Alan Moore news that just shook out.
"ALAN MOORE Refused WATCHMEN Rights," says Newsarama.
CBR leads with "Alan Moore: 'I Don't Want "Watchmen" Back.'"
Click on the CBR link and it takes you to the original Robot 6 story: "Alan Moore Rejects DC's Rights Deal."
And yet, any headline that focuses on that aspect of the story is, invariably, burying the leads: the only reason that DC would be pursuing this is because they're interested in following up on Watchmen, and the offer they made was kind of dickish.
I'm not a comics insider. I don't know any of DC's higher-ups, nor do I even know who would be in charge of spearheading something like that. I'm just a guy who likes the comics medium looking from the outside in. And from that perspective... is there any other reason they'd try this insane "You get the rights back but you get to write us some more Watchmen," deal? Two years after the movie has come and gone, it's certainly not a severely miscalculated PR stunt.
No, it definitely seems that the already-common consensus is probably correct: DC is looking to publish some new Watchmen material, and there's no reason not to just because Moore declined this "rights for work" trade. Dan DiDio, in Comic Book Resources's followup to that story, is appropriately coy about the subject of doing more Watchmen, but has lots and lots to say about this project that he'll neither confirm or deny.
Realistically, we naturally never really comment about any deals – perspective or ones that we close otherwise. But the one thing that we've been saying for a while is that 'Watchmen' is truly one of the premier projects out there, and if we were ever to proceed with [a sequel] the most logical place to start would be with Alan and Dave. For me, it's one of those things that's still one of the crown jewels in comics, and if you ever wanted to approach it, you'd have to do it in that manner – making sure the best talent available and possible was working on it.
Dan DiDio, as quoted by Phil Kiegly, comicbookresources.com
Given that DC, as of right now, owns all of the rights to Watchmen, there's really nothing stopping them from going to anybody other than Moore and Gibbons. Going to Moore first is, more than anything, a profit maximizer for DC: a brand-new Watchmen sequel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is going to be a much bigger news-grabber than a brand-new Watchmen sequel by Kurt Busiek and Doug Mahnke. Any way you slice it, though, a Watchmen sequel by Busiek and Mahnke, or Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, or Grant Morrison and Lee Garnett, or whatever, would still make DC a not-inconsiderable chunk of cash.
The business models of the Big Two are completely geared around getting as much fan chatter going as possible, trying to keep fan enthusiasm at a fever pitch as much as possible for as long as possible. It's like the complete opposite of The Walking Dead's fanbase. Publishing a prequel or sequel to the most critically well-regarded comic book in the history of the medium is an event in and of itself, filling in whatever section of their calender is free, while at the same time allowing them to say that they're fighting "event fatigue" by not running any events in their main superhero line if they don't want to. It's all upside, honestly (fan backlash be damned, because you know damned well most of us are going to buy copies no matter how morally shitty a move this is or how stupid the very idea of a Watchmen sequel is).
I'm not going to make guarantees that we'll see Watchmen Zero: Countdown to Midnight in the next two years, but nobody gets to act surprised after this.
But we do all have permission to hang our heads in shame.
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