Villain Spotlight: Lou

Since Legends of Rock, Lou (Lucifer) has plagued the Guitar Hero franchise. His original plan?: Have your band sign off their soul to him. It can honestly be said that it was an interesting twist. Might have been advertised, but I don't know, so meh. Though, he hasn't really done all that much since then. In World Tour, he did manipulate all the events without consequence to my knowledge, and then showed up again in Metallica to spread his mayhem once more...and was subsequently hit by the Metallica Jr. van.

In any case, the climatic Guitar Battle against Lou is a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the games, presenting us with my favorite cover of one of my favorite songs (The Devil went Down to Georgia).

Incidentally, I was once accused of not knowing good music if it hit me in the face because I said I like the metal cover. I did mention that it was inferior to the original, but it's the internet, so what do you expect?

TV Tropes Sugar Wiki.

I visit TV Tropes a lot. My favorite page would probably be Crowning Moment of Awesome. But it has three counterparts: Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, Crowning Moment of Funny, and Dethrowning Moment of Suck. DMoS is the polar opposite, being moments that are terrible, and that you wish you could forget. DMoF is stuff that makes you LOL. CMoH is a different story altogethor. It's stuff that makes your heart fill with the warmth of humanity. It can still be funny at times, but for the most part I personally feel my eyes swell with Manly Tears (technical term). You may find it here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SugarWiki/SweetExists?from=Main.SugarWiki

Even in the Comic Book section you can get your share of Manly Tears, even if they don't make sense, like Dr. Doom helping out after 9/11. It dosn't make sense, and to that fact I say, Screw Sense, MANLY TEARS! My two favorites so far are the tale of The Boy Who Collected Spider-Man and the belief that the Marvel Adventures universe is where Marvel Heroes go when they die. To cut it short, if you are upset, or even just a little irritated, read this and you will hopefully feel better. I certainly did.

Batman: Brave and the Bold.

Welcome again. As you know, who am I kidding, only Robert reads this. Hi Robert. Anyway, onto the review thingy.

When Batman was first created, it was clear that people were enjoying him. So, we got those cartoons that were around before Superfriends and stuff. Then, we got a live action TV in the form of Adam West. Even his name sounds awesome, even if the show itself was overly silly and basically whacked Adam's career over the head with a shovel. It was popular enough to bring us the Superfriends version of Batsy that was also moderatley popular. Let's face it though, that didn't do the character justice. The Adam West show actually did the character more justice than most believe. But I guess while he is Crazy Prepared, I think he'd more likley carry around a harpoon as opposed to Shark Repellent.

So then for a few years we got nothing. Until Tim Burton decided, 'Hey, I'm gonna make a kickass Batman movie!' And did he succeed? HELL YEAH he succeeded. Okay, I actually didn't like the film as much as I probably should as a Batfan, but I can't help but see too many problems with it. Not to say that it wasn't a good film, the absolutley only true problem I had with it was that Batman was willing to kill. However, I can actually accept that in this film. Except for when he blows up Ajax Chemicals, which didn't necessarily kill anyone, Batman's only kill attempt was on the Joker, and that failed. He died, and Batman had to do with it, but he didn't push him off the edge of the building. The machine guns on the Batplane were a bit strange, but he didn't hit anyone, it's justified as intimidation. Plus, Joker killed his parents, and is the Big Bad so yet again, justified.

This problem came up again in Batman Returns when...you know what? I'm gonna do this another time, I just lost track for a moment, my bad. We're here to talk about Brave and the Bold.

So, yeah, Batman The Animated Series came out and kicked serious ass. There were sequels and spin-offs, and then we got The Batman. This show was sort of like a less realistic Batman Begins. In fact, I actually felt that it was just a tie in. But the series lasted long enough to get a following, and while I didn't think it was that great, I did think it handled itself pretty well. Eventually it ended.

As it turns out, the people need a healthy dose of Batman to keep them going. Unfortunatley, BTAS had already established the awesomeness, and it was continued in The New Batman Adventures, and Justice League, Static Shock, and Justice League Unlimited. The Batman attempted to reimagine the universe with limited results. So, what would the plan be? Do the exact opposite of what we're used to. Let's make our way back to Adam West. This was the beginning of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Brave and the Bold is one of DC's crtitically acclaimed titles that serves pretty much as advertisement that they get paid for. I don't mean to demean the comic in any way, but I'm just saying it's there to show off characters we might be interested in. It's been through multiple incarnations, at one point specifically having Batman team up with people. So, they made a TV show.

I can't say I was thrilled with the idea of a campy and bright Batman show, I had just seen The Dark Knight and decided that this was the Batman I loved. My feelings were pretty much identical to the later Superhero Squad Show. But like SSS, I saw one episode and was hooked.

Unlike SSS, BBB dosn't feature an awesome theme song. The opening theme is cool, but I don't have it in my Youtube favourites. To make a long story short, the show is about Batman, who is treated as awesome as we feel he is, teaming up with superheroes to take down supervillains. Obvious really. Though we get many, and I mean MANY different heroes, if there's a recurring cast, it would have to be Aquaman, Green Arrow, Blue Beetke, Red Tornado and Plasticman, mainly because they're pretty popular yet unknown, especially Aquaman. Yeah, he can control fish, breathe underwater and throw balls of water. What use it that?

...F*ck.

With SSS, I have to admit the action sequences aren't all as good as the first few I saw. Most of the time they actually just stand there and throw lame punches at each other, or they just stand there and talk. BBB dosn't have this problem, and the action sequences almost ALWAYS rock. Batman himself is done pretty well. Admittedly he dosn't hide in the shadows as much, but he's definatlet 'powerful' and respected. And you'd think he's look silly with the bright blue, but when they show him in his more classic outfits, then he looks ridiculous.

It's also really fun to see other heroes being awesome. Especially Aquaman, who is now a fan favorite because he is now effective and pretty damn hilarious. Many people might think the campy nature is pretty lame and even a step back, but I disagree. While I do love darker Batman, I am also a sucker for the Silver Age. In fact, when I think superheroes, or comic books in general, I think Silver Age. I love the silliness, the campiness, and the style, and especially the basic, 'Oh no!' covers. Love them, so basically this is one of the reasons I love the show.

Now, let's talk about some negative aspects. Well, to start off with, the characters have some problems. I've heard people complain that Batman is too godlike. He's Batman, he's supposed to be. Well sort of, he's awesome nonetheless. I guess my biggest character related complaint is the occasional blandness of characters. Not necessarily in personality, but appearance. They just look like, 'I am a superhero,' or in some cases, 'I am a supervillain.' Like for example Dr. Fate and enemy sorceror whose name escapes me. Aside from Fate's mask, they look bland as hell. I hate that in characters, the appearance helps hook you in. That contrasts other times when characters look awesome, like Blue Beetle or Rubberneck (kinda).

Then there's the substitute villains. Fun Haus is obviously replacing Toyman for copywrite reasons. But why? Toyman isn't exactly our one stop for Superman villains. He's been known to be creepy, but he's not that great. So, why did you create Fun Haus? Same with Toy Maker on The Batman. Didn't Toyman appear on that show anyway? I can't remember.
Then there's Kru'll the Eternal. What? You wanted to draw Vandal Savage as a neanderthal? What gives? Didn't you like the name? I mean I've barley heard of the guy in the first place. I first 'found out' about him because of a Simpson's Super Spectacular where a knock-off named Sinister Van Dallus, who had the same basic gimmick kidnapped some writers from RL and made them screw around with Radioactive Man's continuity. Packed with jokes about Marvel Zombies and Clone Saga.

Then there's Babyface, and Mrs. Manface...WHY?!?! These are two original characters who I guess are parodies of Batman's common gangster enemies. But seriously, they have to be some kind of Nightmare Fuel. But then, one man's Nightmare Fuel is another man's Fetish Fuel. Wait...WHY?!?!
I suppose they aren't forbidden from creating original characters but...They're just weird.

Then there's Equinox. I don't know if he's original or not, but he's an okay villain. He attempts to create order by creating chaos to make up for all of Batman's doo gooding. He keeps reappearing to bother us until the season final where he faces Batman and Dr. Fate. The action and stuff was good, and it was sorta cool to have the heroes come togethor, but...this didn't seem like an episode of BBB. It seemed like 'Oh shit, we have to wrap up that storyline, don't we?' Dr. Fate was important to the plot, but he didn't really contribute anything that we couldn't recieve from the likes of any other mystic hero. It would've been much more epic to have a full on brawl between the heroes and Equinox.

Then there's Joker. Seeing how Batman's Rogues Gallery is purposley left out on the most part (though Catwoman has appeared more than she ought to) and in fact some like Riddler only appear in the world of Bat-Mite, because he's a big time Batman fanatic. But...Joker. I will admit, he's had some funny moments, and he's more of a Silver Age villain, but honestly, he's not that great. I don't hate him, but he just dosn't give me any sense of, 'Come on, do a Joker episode!' which is what we always wanted from BTAS and to a lesser degree, The Batman. But at the very least you can take him more seriously than Doctor Doom, who was beaten up by a little girl. I don't care if she was powered by a Fractal, he was beaten up by a little girl. Lame!

But other than those minor problems, BBB is an awesome show that showcases what's awesome about the DC universe, and may actually convince you to buy series you'd otherwise never look twice at. It made me pick up Booster Gold.

Mental Cover: When Mentallities Collide!

Time and Space decide that physics are for wussies and let alternate realities run wild! Cue a crossover event that streams from violent blobs, to mischevious ghosts, to city slinging nutbags, to...people covered in nanobot goop and Anime. Woo.

When I had huge expectations for the Mental series, I originally designed multiple universes for which to do spin-off titles. Assuming that I ever get it published, and it's any bit successful, I may get to do some of these. Some of these I thought were cool, while others I seemed to have made just for the heck of it, examples, Penultimate (Madman looking) Mental, and Living Impaired Mental respectivley.

Random Comic Trivia: Savage Dragon.

It's once again time for random fun facts! Woohoo! Tonight's subject, Savage Dragon.

Savage Dragon was originally created by Erik Larsen during his childhood. Back then, he was a combination between characters such as Speed Racer, Hulk, Batman and the sort...Yes.

Dragon is most famously an officer of the law, even though he's had other occupations, but he hasn't weilded a gun in quite some time. Larsen had an excuse, but I forgot.

Dragon had his own cartoon series, and by what I've seen it wasn't that bad. The bad guys were there, the setting was there, and the bad guys are there. And I haven't heard Larsen talk about it with disgust, so that's pretty good. To make a long story short, it didn't last very long. And be was voiced by Jim Cummings (DarkWing Duck)which I just don't think is a very good choice.

I still think Larsen gets a CMoA for going off at a fan who claimed he was selling out by changing the setting of the book. And this guy wasn't just saying, 'Shame on you,' he was full guy was just infuriated, he was talking about how the book is a laughing stock, how Dragon has been turned into a wimp, and how he feels ashamed to have ever respected Erik. Cue one ass kicking rebuttel.

Larsen sounds like Bruce Campbell.

This seems to be a bit more about Larsen than Dragon, isn't it?

In a fight between Savage Dragon and Savage Dragon, the winner would be Savage Dragon...No, really, check out Issue 156.

Dragon fans love Avatar. Mainly because now they can have an awesome looking Savage Dragon film one day.

The most famous issue of Savage Dragon features God punching out Satan and saying "Don't f*ck with God!" This would be awesome for christians, except it's God from the Spawn universe, who like Satan, is evil.

Dragon is a one-man police force. He can knock down buildings with his might. He can rip criminals apart with his bare hands. He can also raise two kids and write a bestselling book.

There is a Savage Dragon precurser in the Marvel universe. He has the fin and basic shape of the herop we know now. Unfortunatley he's completley unimportant to the universe and has made like two appearances. Fans have dubbed him something like Savage Swampman or something, or Savage Fin.

Dragon has been considered for a live action series. Looking at it...yeah, they could probably get away with all this using prosthetics and stuff. That could work.

One of the series most popular characters, Powerhouse, is super powerful man with...Am I reading this right? No, I don't believe it. He's a super powerful man with a...chicken head.

Image United.

Today I'm gonna talk about Image United. I've only read the first two issues, so this isn't an actual review.

The series is Image's answer to the massive vent comics that surrounde Marvel and DC. Unlike most other Event Comics, it sort of screw around with continuity. Wait, did I actually just say that? My bad. Like most event comics, Image United screws around with continuity. It's written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by a number of Image's top guys.

The story is simple...and I do mean SIMPLE. Big Bad Guy makes other bad guys go nuts, superheroes try to stop him. But that' not why we read it. We read it cos there's lots of fighting.

After only two issues, I can honestly say that I am really enjoying it. Unfortunatley the critics don't seem to agree. In fact, apparently rge reviews have actually been negative. At first I had no idea why. It's like an event comic, it just shows the important stuff, such as the mass fights that are enveloping the world. But then, I figured some stuff out.

The artwork is somewhat inconsistant. In one scene, Spawn is in his most famous getup, but then we see him in his more blobbish and basic look that he's been using for a few issues, then never goes back.
Issue 1 ends with the character Fortress locked up by Shaft of Youngblood for assaulting Savage Dragon, which is actually a result of his robo-suit malfunctioning. As the world goes to hell, Shaft bursts in, as Fortress has been declaring that he knows what's happening. Then they reappear in Issue 2, Shaft is acting like Fortress is wasting his time. Admittedly, he has lives to save, but he's the one who came to Fortress!

Also, while it's called Image United, and there's a ton of Image Characters, it seems to be focussing more on Youngblood and Savage Dragon. That's good for Dragon fans like me, but heck, the Big Bad is the original Spawn, and he seems like just one of the many villains running around, even if he's targetting the new Spawn. Witchblade appears and fights, but she dosn't have a story going on, she just arrives and starts fighting. ShadowHawk is trying to join Youngblood, so that basically makes him part of their story, and if I'm right, Fortress was made specifically for the series as a main characters. He hasn't done all that much compared to Dragon or Youngblood.

Then there's the mass of villains and heroes who appear. I love this aspect, cos it makes me want to buy more Image comics to see them with their proper personalities, but it also shows how unoriginal they can be. At one stage a hospital is attacked, and we get, "Super Strong Guy1" then "Super Strong Guy with Nazi Tattoo" then "Super Strong Guy who is Some Kind of Moose." Admittedly, they did look cool, but it was like looking at alternate costumes for the same character.

I'm also not understanding why Invincible isn't appearing. He appeared in Savage Dragon, and virtually everyone and more here appeared in Invincible War. I'm assuming he dosn't fit into the more gritty world of the rest of Image, but still. And I'm not confused because Kirkman's writing the series, I think he's probably the one who decided it.

One more nitpick, and this one is VERY petty. In the first issue, Fortress looks upon the heroes who the story focuses on and declares that they are not the worlds greatest heroes, but what is left. What the Funk and Wagnall is he talking about? You've got Spawn, who was created by Malebolgia, who is pretty much The Devil if he didn't already exist, Dragon, who has saved the world numerous times and is without a doubt more capable than the entire Police Force, and freaking Youngblood. I'm not a fan, but dammit, they're the flagship team of Image, just like how Spawn is their Spider-Man (you McFarlane fans can count that as a mythology joke if you wish), they have to be at least effective!

Still, I can't say it deserves such negative reviews. The only real problem is that while it's supposed to be canon, I don't think the usual event comics tie into the main series, and I don't think they did that here. I can sort of understand lackluster sales, but so long as it's not flopping, it's all good, right?

Also, Dragon's daughter's name is Battle Girl. Serious? Her real name, Angel, makes a much better superhero name. Admittedly I don't think she's actually called Battle Girl that much, but still. I'll admit, Larsen tends to give his characters names like this a fair bit. We get fellows with monickers like, "Killcat" or "SuperPatriot" or even "Buster Justice," but they seem to be done on purpose. Still, Battle Girl? If it was her usual name, that'd just be lazy.

Son of a Bitch: Linkara vs. Image.

Okay, this isn't actually a complaint, so I think I might change the title in future. This is just a little thing that annoys me a tiny bit.

Linkara's show, Atop the Fourth Wall is based around reviewing bad comics, and admittedly he's let at least one decent comic fly, on a whole he seems pretty hateful towards most of them. Now, I'm not going to say he hates them in real life, I doubt he actually yells at bad comics while he reads them, that's just cos it's funny, and he's never reviewed a comic I have personally owned, or even given a bad review to a series I buy (except Maxx, but I don't buy that any more, and it was moreso because he just didn't get it. In fact, I don't think I got it either). But I noticed that while multiple DC and Marvel comics appear because he schedules his show that way, I noticed that Image has appeared quite a few times when he does independents. Looking back on those years I missed, I can't say he's wrong, they were very misguided and some of the stuff they made was just terrible.

But that's the thing, it WAS terrible. In recent years, the company's really picked up it's feet. I'm sure it's still got problems, but I obviously don't pick up that many books that contain them. Unlike characters of Marvel and DC, I don't think he's ever stated that the book eventually got better. Youngblood was cancelled, but it picked up again and got really popular. Heck, Alan Moore had a run! Logic dictates that would improve it at least a little.

He's also never pointed out that while Pitt was a terrible comic, he didn't mention that he's managed to become popular enough to be brought back for multiple guest appearances, mini-series and action figures.

In fact, he never really points out that Image has a plethora of quality comics. My guess is that he's aware of this because he only really reviews stuff from the early years, but I don't recall him ever pointing out that they're some good ones now. Take Invincible for instance, it is a perfect example of what he's talking about.

Invincible is probably Image's most popular title, and it embodies nothing of the early years. He dosen't kill, carry guns, look ridiculous, and his name certainly isn't EXTREME! And it's one of their bestselling titles! It proves his point!

Then there's his joking about the shared universe. I know they didn't actually appear in each others comics, but what's so strange about a shared universe? Maxx thought Mako the Sharkman from Savage Dragon, and Spawn and Youngblood regularly crossed sides. Heck, Spawn was sent to hell after being killed by Chapel!
Okay, this ones a bit strange, cos the Image Universe is much different nowadays. WHile most of the comapnies characters exist side by sidem it isn't really the same continuity. The best example I can think of? The Earth was destroyed in Savage Dragon. I don't really get it myself, so I can't really explain, but the planet was destroyed, and it didn't in any other comic at the time. But several issues earlier, Dragon fought Spawn, and this apparently happened in his universe too. I can't say about it any more, because while they have a shared universe, it's weird.

So, this isn't so much as anger as mild confusion. I don't think he hates Image, I just think he...I don't know his opinion, and I don't have an opinion on what it is. I just thought I'd get this off my back.





Though I must admit, I do like how he hasn't mentioned Savage Dragon. Hopefully that stays off his radar.