Usually these variant covers sell out pretty quickly but I got a feeling these Movie Poster variants won’t last the day they go on sale. I’m hoping to pick some up but more likely will be forced to get them off ebay.
Tag Archives: dc comics
My Batman Converse All Stars
I got these shoes for nothing
And they have lasted me forever
Searching up and down the lost highway
And they have lasted me forever
Searching up and down the lost highway
-Acathisia by Tilt
In 2011 Austin City Limits was coming up and I needed new shoes and wanted to try something different. Austin City Limits is a 3 day music festival that is outdoors. There is a lot of walking around in grass and dirt and you need a comfortable shoe that can handle outdoor terrain. I went with a pair of Converse All Star because DC Comics happened to have just teamed up with Converse and they seemed like they could handle rough terrain. I got these bad boys in a size 11.
What They Looked Like New
It’s been a match made in heaven ever since. These were my first pair of Converse All Star’s and there is a good reason that this iconic shoe has lasted as long as it has. While its simple it is also incredibly comfortable. You can walk long distances on uneven outdoor terrain or on flat hard concrete and still feel good. The sole is thick enough to cushion while the canvas is thin enough to breath and prevent your socks from getting sweaty.
Based on my FitBit steps from when I got these shoes until now I would guess I’ve walk about 500 miles in these shoes. They have treaded literally on the other side of the planet throughout the streets of Singapore. Through the ice and snow (which, while I love these shoes offer zero protection against the cold) in the far north of Canada. Hiking through the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. Across miles of hard concrete flooring at George R. Brown Convention Center for Comicpalooza. Through dirt, dust, and mud while I saw some of my favorite bands for 4 consecutive Austin City Limits. On the same paved streets as royalty in the streets of London. Filling with sand on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean in California.
Cat Not Included
I don’t generally get attached to shoes, but I happened to get these shoes the same time I got into comic books so there has been a real connection between the two. Over the last four years comic books have become an important part of my life, something which I don’t imagine changing anytime soon. Because I travel a lot for work I wind up going to comic book shops in lots of different cities throughout the country and internationally. At this point its been probably close to 50 shops across the US, Canada, England and Singapore and the vast majority of these shops I’ve walked through the doors wearing these shoes.
I’ve since bought three other pairs of DC Comics Converses. Two Wonder Woman Hi Tops and one pair of Harley Quinn High Tops. I even bought a pair of Black Canvas All Stars for my self and all my Groomsmen for my wedding (which I wore during the ceremony and reception). While I’m slowly building a closet full of All Stars my Batman Converse’s still remain my work horses. I’ve had to replace the shoelaces once and the tread is becoming smooth across the bottom. I can’t imagine they will survive much more than another year but I will wear them until they fall apart, and when they do I will give them a Viking funeral.
But until they give out completely I’ll be happily wearing them every Wednesday to pick up my pull list.
DC February Variant Covers: Harley Quinn
Who better to represent the month of love than every ones favorite Harley Quinn. In February DC Comics will be releasing a series of 22 covers. Also don’t forget to pick up the Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special as seen above.
DC January Variant Covers: Flash 75th Anniversary
January will have a new set of Variant Covers from DC. This months theme will be the 75th Anniversary The Flash and the scarlet speedstar will be photo-bombing some of the most iconic comic book covers of all time. Here are all 22 covers that will be out throughout January.
DC December Variant Covers: Darwyn Cooke
I’m a little late in posting this but here is the complete list of all 23 Darwyn Cooke Variant covers DC released for November.
Marvel, All-New X-Men Annual is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
Star Trek vs. Star Wars, Apple vs. Android, Vampires vs. Werewolves, no matter how arbitrary it seems like we are all ways picking a side. Generally when I met fellow comic book nerds this is one of the first things that comes up is which do you like DC or Marvel? For the sake of argument I generally just say DC but the truth is I like both and the argument that one if better than the other is dumb. I say thing because I’ve written a lot about DC in past posts and I don’t want this to seem like I’m just an exclusive DC fanboy. I have Marvel and DC books on my pull list and go see every comic book movie that comes out regardless of which company puts them out. The rest of this post is going to be talking a lot of shit about Marvel but before I want to say some good things. I really do like All-New X-Men and it’s one of my favorite books to come out each month. I also regularly Read X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, Guardians of the Galaxy, and will start reading the monthly Spider-Gwen when it comes out. I think Marvel has been really smart to release digital copies of books with their books. I really appreciate it and it actually is a big selling point for me. I wind up picking up a lot of Marvel books I might not have just because I know I get a digital copy with it.
Ok niceties over. So as I said above All-New X-Men is on my pull list for my local comic book shop. It had been coming out pretty consistently bi-monthly but took a bit of a break in November so I was pretty happy when it came back in December. I was even more excited when I saw there was an Annual come out only a week later! I start immediately reading the book and am completely lost and confused. I do not know who Eva Bell is, she is not a part of the All-New X-Men team, hasn’t showed up in a single issue, and is lost in time and space for some unexplained reason. If you were only subscribed to All-New X-Men you would have just wasted 5 bucks on a book that is utter non-sense.
Here was my process of figuring out what was going on.
I read Uncanny X-Men through the Marvel Unlimited app so I have an idea about what is going on in that book but I’m 6 months behind. So I at least am ahead of the curve in that I know who Eva Bell is, but I don’t know why she stuck in time or what is going on. My first clue was when I redeemed my digital copy of the book on Comixology and happen to see the description say “the secret life of Eva Bell Part 2”. Ah, there is a part 1. I searched Comixology and found that part 1 was in Uncanny X-Men Annual.
Ok so I picked up that issue as well. It still starts off in the middle of the action again so I figure I missed something in Uncanny X-men that explains why Eva Bell is stuck out of time. So I read the front matter of the book (which I never do) and this is the explanation.
Ok so I did miss something. I go back in my marvel unlimited app and can’t find an incident where Eva disappeared and came back aged 7 years. It is either in one of the recent six issues or I missed it. I google what issue it is and figure out they are talking about Uncanny X-Men issue 17. Here is Eva Bell from Uncanny X-Men 17.
This is good, it is in the Marvel Unlimited app so I can read it for free. I re-read the issue and it does take place in the Danger Room but said incident of Eva Disappearing does not occur. I even skim through the next couple of issues and Eva Bell is in them but no mention of her aging 7 years. I did find this from Uncanny X-Men issue 19, which is vague but the best I think we’ll get for an explanation.
At this point I just accept that this is the best I’m going to get and move on and read both the Uncanny X-Men and All-New X-men Annual.
So just to recap here is what I needed to do to understand the All-New X-Men Annual:
- Read issues 1-2 of Uncanny X-Men for the introduction of Eva Bell
- Read issue 17 of Uncanny X-Men to see when the Danger Room incident occurred
- Ready Uncanny X-Men Annual 1
This is what frustrates me about Marvel comics. It’s a complete God Damn mess. You cannot just read one series and get a cohesive story. You really need to read All-New X-men, X-Men, and Uncanny X-men to get a coherent story. This isn’t just an X-Men problem. Angela joined the Guardians of the Galaxy but left for Asgard in a Thor comic with no explanation back in Guardians. One day she just wasn’t there anymore. Venom then joined the Guardians of the Galaxy but not in the series but in the Free Comic Book Day issue which came out after he was walking around with them in Guardians Issue 14.
This isn’t even to mention the constant barrage of even tie in issues.
Tie in issues aren’t exclusive to Marvel. As a reader of Batman there have been tie ins across most of the bat family books for every major event. The difference is that they are done in a way where they have been one shot stories and they give you all the information you need within the series to understand what is going on. When Batgirl had a Court of the Owls tie I didn’t need to read any of the court of the owls books to know what was going on. Vice versa, I could only read the Batman main series with no tie ins and get the complete Court of the Owls story.
The worst part about this the story “secret life of Eva Bell” story is actually pretty good. Once I actually read both parts and had the context of the story I actually really enjoyed it. I felt the same way about the Battle of the Atom event that spanned across 4 different X-Men books. It was a great story but just done in a batshit insane fashion. Had I not wanted to read the whole Battle of the Atom event I would have been shit out of luck for two months in whatever X-men monthly series I was reading.
Most fans might look at all this craziness and say “because comic books”. Yes Comic books be crazy but this is the exact reason that there are lot of people who would like to get into comics but find it so confusing and frustrating that they give up.
Lego Batman 3
If my last post with DC’s Lego Variants didn’t give it away I am a big fan of the Lego video game series. This started with the Lego Star Wars games which I initially bought when I got a PS3 and has continued with all most every game they have put out. I have played all three Lego Star Wars games, both Lego Batman games, Lego Marvel, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, and both Lego Harry Potter games. The only ones I haven’t played are the Lego Lord of the Rings games. So needless to say I have played a lot of Lego games, and while they are similar they manage to improve with each new game and iteration.
Lego Batman 3 continues the way of handling the games that was started with Lego Batman 2 which is to have real voice actors and flushed out story and cut scenes. While I appreciate the effort I actually don’t like this feature very much. The cut scenes are all unskippable the first time you see them, and while they did put effort in it I could care less about the story. What I like about the Lego games is the gameplay and the cut scenes get in the way of me playing. This game did a better job than Lego Marvel did and they were generally a lot shorter and less annoying. The good news is once you finish the initial game and go back in free play mode all cut scenes are once again skippable.
Since the Lego Harry Potter series a staple of the Lego games is an open world hub area. In Lego Batman 2 it was in the form of a very large open Gotham that you could explore. In Lego Batman 3 there are several open world areas. You have a large Watchtower, Batcave, and also several lantern worlds. These areas are all very large and have lots to explore but are a little confusing. I had to look up online to find where to buy the red bricks and will have to look online again when I am ready to buy characters and other items. It’s not a deal breaker by any means but it is pretty confusing on figuring out where to go.
As of writing this I have finished the main game and had a great time. The levels are similar to Lego Marvel in which there are about 3 acts in each and most end in a boss fight. There are a couple vehicle levels mixed in that are pretty short and fairly odd. The main levels are a lot of fun. They have really mastered the platforming that they put in the game and it feels like they put a lot of effort in this game. It’s hard to make puzzles you have to go through when you have Superman on your team but they do a good job at it. They split up all the mechanics through a dozen or so characters so you still need to switch out and use your whole team to complete each level.
In Lego Batman 2 they introduced several suits you needed to unlock various parts of the game. In Lego Batman 3 they allow you to switch between those suits whenever you want which is a awesome and great addition.
There are a total of 150 playable characters in the game. Along with the typical batman characters and many iterations of the Bat suit there are a slew of other justice league and other DC characters. The more famous include Wonder Woman and Green Lantern while the obscure has Bat Cow and Bat Mite. They also included a handful of celebrity characters as well such as Conan O’Brien, Kevin Smith, and Jim Lee. I haven’t found all the celebrities yet but its pretty awesome knowing they are there. The characters are one of my favorite parts of these games. I generally 100% all of these games and the main reason is that I want unlock all the characters.
Along with the game itself I went ahead and bought the season pass for DLC. All ready out is a Batman 66 Pack, Man of Steel Pack, and Dark Knight Pack. Along with those three there will be 3 other packs, one based on the TV Show Arrow and one based on Batman Beyond. I’ve only played the Batman 66 DLC so far and it was great. It gives you one story based mission (takes about 20 minutes to play) and a slew of additional characters. The Batman 66 pack was narrated by Adam West and had the feel of a classed episode of the TV show. When you punched characters big signs with POW, BANG, WHAM appear which I did laugh out loud when I saw them.
If you are a fan of the Lego games you probably have all ready bought this. If you haven’t played a Lego game before this is a great one and you’d probably have a good time. I’ll leave you with one little cheat that you can use in all the Lego games. So part of the cheats you can buy with the red bricks are multipliers that multiply the amount of coins you get. There is a 2x, 4x, 6x, and 10x. The key is that they stack together so when you have them all on you get 3840 times as many coins as you normally do. So when you are playing don’t bother buying characters right away, save all your coins to start getting the multipliers. By the time you have the 2x, 4x, and 6x you will have so many coins you won’t have to worry about running out any more.
DC’s November Lego Variant Covers
Last month was monster variants in honor of Shocktober, this month is Lego Variant Covers due to the release of Lego Batman 3. I’m a big fan of the Lego video games and will definitely be picking it up. Here are all 22 issues.
New Comic Book TV Part IV: Arrow
You Have Failed This City
Most of the new comic book related TV that is coming out this year has been from DC comics. We have The Flash, Gotham, Constantine, and eventually Supergirl. Each show will be fairly different and have different networks and tones but one thing they all share is that without Arrow they would have never been made. Arrow was DC Comics first foray into TV in the new modern “Iron Man” age of blockbuster comic book properties. While there is a explosion of the genre right now it certainly isn’t the first time that DC Comics has made its way into television, hell its not even the first time The CW has entered into comic books.
While historically it goes all the way back to the live action TV series, The Adventures of Superman with George Reeves in 1952, the most memorable (to me at least), is the 1966 Batman live action television show. It ran from 1966 to 1968 with a total of 120 episodes and for a long period of time was the definitive take on the character of Batman. There were a couple more shows such as The Secrets of Isis and Shazam! in the 70’s before the next breakout hit of Wonder Woman in 1975.
Wonder Woman ran for 3 seasons from 1975 to 1979 and a total of 59 episodes. Besides Batman, Wonder Woman, and the live action Hulk series most of the comic book television since then has been largely forgettable. There have been some standout successes like the 1993’s Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and 2001’s very successful Smallville. But looking at a list of shows that were made it largely consists of shows I had no idea existed. There was Superboy, Swamp Thing, Birds of Prey, and even a 90’s Flash. Overall there have been 14 shows that have come and gone with maybe three being real successes. The point of all this is that even though a lot of these are properties we all know very well, its still hard to break out and for a TV show to become a real success. Arrow, now starting its third season, can not safely add it self to that list of successes. It is also safe to say had Arrow not been a success there would be no Gotham, Flash, Constantine, or Supergirl.
The Calm
The season three premiere brings us back into what is the new status quo for Starling City. Recouping from the aftermath of the mirakuru Deathstroke army, things appear to have calmed down. Oliver and and the team back to taking down criminals one by one and are slowly cleaning up the city of organized crime entirely. The police no longer see the Arrow as a threat and even announce that they will no longer be perusing him for criminal charges. There are some seeds of deeper plot points to come but it really culminates in a cliff hanger at the end of the episode.
What I Liked
Arrow has really found its groove. The beginning of the episode they take down some unnamed criminal and you see every one working together as a well oiled machine. Sure Thea is somewhere unknown and Black Canary isn’t really a part of the core team now but you don’t have the bickering and second guessing as you used to. Whatever hangups every one seemed to have before are now gone and you get the feeling they are finally really working together as a team. This of course doesn’t last long, which has something to do with that cliffhanger ending but you do get a sense that every one is on the same page now. I liked this part probably the most, you get the sense that every one has been through some stuff and that they are better as a team because of it.
What I Didn’t Like
I love Felicity Smoak. She is one of, if not my favorite character on the show. It’s kind of well known at this point that she was only suppose to be on the show for one episode but due to the positive reception by fans she came back for a couple more episodes, and then eventually became part of the main cast. That being said there is a quick and dumb romance subplot between her and Oliver that was really annoying. It’s not that I don’t want the characters to get together, but they so clearly are not going to end up together they abandon the subplot as quickly as they introduce it. People generally don’t stay together forever and if they had decided to do this romance plot for a little while and have it not work out I think that would have been fine. It just felt very contrived and as an excuse to have some shock and awe and shake up the status quo a bit. They introduced a new character of Ray Palmer (The Atom) and its pretty obvious they are implying that him and Felicity will get together. Which again is totally ok. Just don’t set the groundwork for the next relationship while trying to pretend that her and Oliver are going to get together. It undercuts the impact and makes the whole thing feel exploitative.
Besides my annoyance at the Felicity / Oliver love subplot it was a really solid episode and I am excited for the things to come. I didn’t see the first season of Arrow until the second had started but after a binge watch of it I became a big fan and am now hooked. The cliffhanger at the end was out of no where and as sad as it is I’m looking forward to seeing what that will mean for the future of the show.
Shock-tober! DC Comics Monster Variant Covers
We may all ready be half way into Shock-tober, the holiest of months, but its never too late to start celebrating. First thing we have is that all month long DC Comics is going to be releasing Monster Variant covers to a lot of the comics coming out this month. In the past these line wide variants had been more rare but since March of this year there has been some sort of line wide variant every month.
There was Scribblenauts, Steampunk, Robot Chicken, MAD Magazine, Batman 66, Bombshells, Batman 75th Anniversary, Selfie, and now Monsters.
Here is the complete compilation of all the monster variants coming out this month.
Action Comics 35
Aquaman 35
Batgirl 35
Batman 35
Batman and Robin 35
Batman Superman 15
Catwoman 35
Detective Comics 35
Earth 2 27
Flash 35
Grayson 3
Green Lantern Corps 35
Green Lantern 35
Harley Quinn 11
Justice League 35
Justice League Dark 35
Justice League United 5
New Teen Titans 3
Sinestro 6
Superman 35
Superman Wonder Woman 12
Wonder Woman 35
Comic Books and Cats 