Ready For Prime Time: Ten Characters DC Should Adapt To TV

ADAM STRANGE and TEEN TITANS are on their way - who should be next?

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Indie Comics Spotlight: The Black Sable #1, Scales & Scoundrels #1, and Lazaretto #1

By: Jonathan Pilley (@omnicomic)

The Black Sable #1

“Now it and my crew…are some of the most notorious pirates on this side of the galaxy.”

Sailing the high seas as a pirate is so 17th century. The new hotness is traversing the cosmos in search of corporate transports to be robbed and plundered. Zenescope seems to agree and offer up a new take on the concept in The Black Sable #1. The issue is written by Joe Brusha, illustrated by Sergio Ariño, colored by Dijjo Lima, and lettered by Kurt Hathaway.

One hundred years in the future the “age of pirates” has returned as mankind reaches out for the stars. Schooners have been replaced by star ships and these pirates wield space age weaponry, but they are as bloodthirsty and ruthless as their predecessors were centuries before them. Experience a new universe of swashbuckling action and adventure in the vast reaches of space!

Brusha knows what makes a good space sci-fi and all of those characteristics are on display in The Black Sable #1 – that being said, nothing about the issue feels particularly original. The issue sets up the main character in Black Sable and from there, Brusha basically writes a script that hits all the space sci-fi high notes. There’s a heist that’s upended by morality, a major corporation that makes an easy target for pirates, an “off-world” location where pirates gather and rival pirate factions. All of this plays out the way you’d expect as Brusha doesn’t really leave much room for something new. And the number of characters Brusha introduces in the issue is somewhat dizzying and makes it slightly difficult to keep up with who’s who and faction alignments.

Ariño’s style for the book is pretty simple. The characters are illustrated in a way that takes the concept of pirates and sets them in space as many of the characters sport familiar pirate trappings. Ariño does illustrate quite a few crowd shots pretty well where the reader gets a sense of the mayhem unfolding during a pirate raid. There are some instances where Ariño focuses on a particular character’s head and shoulders as a means of introducing that character to the reader. Lima’s colors are pretty straightforward and populate the book with the typical reds/greens/blues.

The Black Sable #1 is a very ambitious book that is pretty obvious with what genre it’s inspired by. The Black Sable as a lead character is likable enough, but there’s really nothing about her that fans of the space western/pirate genre haven’t already seen. Brusha’s approach does set up plenty of players to interact with one another and the hope is that as the series unfolds things will get more complex as their paths cross. Ariño’s artwork is a good fit for the tone of the story as it adds a bit of pirate levity to space. The Black Sable #1 has a lot of good intentions and whether or not they’re realized remains to be seen.

The Black Sable #1 is available now.

Scales & Scoundrels #1

“You lousy cheat!”

When faced with a scenario where your city is being pillaged by knights, there are very few options. Things get even worse when a dragon burns all your grain stores. Fortunately for most, those scenarios typically only play out in games, but they’re fairly close to being reality in Scales & Scoundrels #1 from Image Comics. The issue is written by Sebastian Girner, illustrated by Galaad, and lettered by Jeff Powell.

It’s hard to make an honest living in a land brimming with magic and mystery, and treasure hunter Luvander is tired of being a penniless adventurer. Ever in search of gold and glory, she sets off for a fabled dungeon, “the Dragon’s Maw,” an ancient labyrinth, at the bottom of which slumbers endless wealth…or certain doom! But what starts out as a road to riches becomes the first step on an epic journey to destiny, for Luvander holds a secret in her heart that will shatter the chains of fate and bring light to a world encroached upon by an ancient darkness.

Girner knows what makes a great high-fantasy tale and ensures that all of it is on display in Scales & Scoundrels #1 as Luvander lies, cheats, and steals her way to a living. Despite the possibility of falling into familiar territory as far as fantasy goes, Girner works in a rather fast-paced narrative that hews more closely to a flat-out adventure. What’s equally impressive is Girner’s seeming wink and nod at the genre itself, starting with the card game Luvander is conning the others in at the beginning. There’s a good sense of mystery that spins out from that game about Luvander and what she’s really about – that mystery persists to the last page as well. The book works so well because Luvander has such an engaging personality as Girner ensures that she’s always front and center throughout.

Galaad’s artwork is very light and airy which makes it a perfect match for the tone set by the narrative. The linework is very clean when it comes to defining the characters, but the tone is cartoonish enough that the artwork never feels too heavy. The backgrounds feature enough detail to get a sense of what’s going on when and Galaad also excels in presenting the world as one that struggles to keep up with Luvander. This is further evidenced by the panel layouts which eschew the safety of a grid for something more organic and frenetic. The colors are vibrant throughout the work and do a lot to effectively convey the change in scenery from the village to the forest and accentuate the ferocity of the fire at the beginning.

There’s a lot to like in Scales & Scoundrels #1 as it wear its fantasy influences on its sleeve. Luvander is a very enthusiastic lead character through which the narrative flows through in a way that helps keep things moving. Girner’s script is pretty easygoing and does what it needs to do as far as getting the reader up to speed while still leaving some things to the imagination. Galaad’s artwork is very clean and the lighthearted tone is a great fit for the story. Scales & Scoundrels #1 has plenty of great things about it that make for great fantasy reading that also manages to offer some mystery to the reader.

Scales & Scoundrels #1 is available now.

Lazaretto #1

“Welcome to Yersin Univesity!”

College generally ends up being fun by the end, but at the beginning it can be pretty rough. There are all manner of people, groups, and cliques that one has to find their way through to discover one’s self. Work in a pandemic and things get a little dicier as they do in Lazaretto #1 from BOOM! Studios. The issue is written by Clay McLeod Chapman, illustrated by Jey Levang, and lettered by Aditya Bidikar.

After a pandemic strikes, a dorm complex at a small American college is quarantined with all of the students trapped within. What first starts out as youthful freedom from authority soon devolves into a violent new society – it’s Lord of the Flies on a college campus.

Chapman offers plenty in Lazaretto #1 that makes it feel at least somewhat plausible in the sense that the college campus feels realistic. The two main characters Charles and Tamara are depicted as navigating the new realities of being new students at a college and Chapman uses this as the backdrop for what unfolds by the end of the issue. There’s also a ton of dialogue throughout the issue that gives the characters room to establish their personalities; these personalities are seemingly disparate but the desperate circumstances bring them together. Once the setting and players have been introduced, Chapmen gets to work in setting up the premise of the story that revolves around a pandemic. The pacing definitely ramps up in this regard as Chapman starts things out slowly before getting into a full-throated outbreak situation.

Levang relies on an illustrative style that feels as uneasy as the students faced with the sickness do. Characters are drawn with a loose attention to physique, but Levang still manages to give each character plenty of room to be unique and better reflect the melting pot that is college. Peppered throughout the new groups and clubs that Charles and Tamara can join is evidence of the illness which Levang illustrates with pretty gory effect. It’s not that Levang lets things get so graphic that readers will be turned off; rather, there’s an emphasis on the toll such an illness takes on the body in the form of blood, vomit, and tears. These effects are further emboldened by the fact that much of the book feels like it’s colored in pastels that add a sense of brightness to an otherwise dreary situation.

Lazaretto #1 is an interesting first issue that upends the traditional tale of freshmen going to college. Charles and Tamara are in the thick of learning how to be adults while having to deal with an outbreak of epic proportions. Chapman has a story he wants to tell although there are still some outstanding fundamental questions that still need answering, such as why the students don’t trust the authority at the school. Levang’s illustrations provide the right level of levity for an otherwise dramatic book in a way that doesn’t undercut the underlying message and story. Lazaretto #1 is a book about people finding themselves as individuals as well as society as they band together to survive.

Lazaretto #1 is available now.

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The Walking Dead: Compendium One - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard & Tony Moore

The Walking Dead: Compendium One Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard & Tony Moore Genre: Graphic Novels Price: $39.99 Publish Date: May 19, 2009 Publisher: Image Comics Seller: Image Comics, Inc.

The Walking Dead Compendium is here! Since 2003, Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead has been redefining the survival horror genre with its unique and vivid account of life after the end of the world. Although the cast is diverse and often changing (including, of course, a great number of zombies), at the heart of every tale is Rick Grimes: former police officer, husband, father, and de facto leader of a ragtag band of survivors looking to make a future for themselves in a world that no longer has one. To call The Walking Dead a zombie tale is accurate to a point, but it touches on only one facet of a story that asks timeless questions about what it means to live. It also asks whether or not this is possible in a world full of the dead. This is a great opportunity to experience this gripping read for the first time or catch up on the tale with the first four years worth of material, collected in one volume for the first time. The first eight volumes of this fan-favorite series collected into one massive collection. This volume collects THE WALKING DEAD #1-48.

get it now at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-walking-dead-compendium-one/id878363983?mt=11&uo=2&partnerId=11&at=1010ldoE

BLACK BOLT Is Back On Earth - and Under Fire - in MARVEL LEGACY

BLACK BOLT is coming back down to Earth in MARVEL LEGACY.

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https://www.newsarama.com/36402-black-bolt-marvel-legacy.html

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 Set for 2019

First they kill his dog - then they go after him. What could be next?

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https://www.newsarama.com/36405-john-wick-chapter-3-set-for-2019.html

SUPERMAN is in Danger as DC's Own 'Legacy' Continues in JUSTICE LEAGUE #29

Here's a preview of interior pages from JUSTICE LEAGUE #29.

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https://www.newsarama.com/36404-justice-league-29-preview.html

Best Shots Review: RUNAWAYS #1 'Brings All the Flavor We Loved About Our Teen Heroes Into World of Young Adulthood' (9/10)

Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka begin a new era.

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https://www.newsarama.com/36397-best-shots-review-runaways-1.html

TALES OF SUSPENSE #100 Puts BUCKY & HAWKEYE In an 'Anti-Buddy Book' For MARVEL LEGACY

And on the Trail of BLACK WIDOW.

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https://www.newsarama.com/36403-black-widow-winter-soldier-hawkeye-marvel-legacy-tales-of-suspense-100.html

The Nintendo Switch: Six Months Later

By: Eric Flapjack Ashley (@flapjackashley)

Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch, quietly turned six months old earlier this month. It’s doing well in sales with nearly six million units sold worldwide – that is already almost half of what the Wii U did in its entire lifespan – so why not take a look at how it has done in other areas: what went well, what didn’t, and what’s still MIA.

Tremendous Launch

There were a lot of questions about how the Switch would be received by customers. Not counting the barely-there Virtual Boy, Nintendo’s previous system, the Wii U, was the lowest selling console in the company’s history. Nintendo needed a hit, and it would be tough to manage with fellow competitor Sony and the PlayStation 4 dominating in every region. Then March 3rd happened and it sold like gangbusters. The Switch started hot out of the gate – it has steadily outsold the PS4 in Japan every single week but two by a large margin since launch, and it is also performing better on average that it here in North America as well during the same timeframe. Keeping in mind that the Switch launched with, if we’re being honest, only one game that people really wanted and during a non-traditional holiday period to boost sales, selling almost six million consoles in six months is pretty darn good.

Library Woes

Outside of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Switch game library started off pretty slow. Not until Mario Kart 8 Deluxe almost two months later would the home/portable hybrid have it’s next big title. Nintendo tried to space out releases so it wouldn’t have a five month drought like the Wii U had at one point early in it’s lifespan, but it still feels like a long time between major first-party games. ARMS, a new IP, would come a month and a half after Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon 2 a month after that.

Over on the digital side of things, it was a brighter picture. An average of three to four new games are released on the eShop so there are actually a good number of titles available to play as of this writing. Some standouts include Snipperclips and Sonic Mania, plus a wealth of content from indie developers who saw some of their best sales ever on the Switch versions of their games.

The only problem with having most of your game offerings in digital format only is that to the average customer, it looks like the Switch has no games. Walk into a Best Buy or a Walmart and you’ll see the same nine or ten boxed physical games for sale – and for a system that has six months under it’s belt, ten games is not a lot. It just appears like no one is making games for it. What’s more is that a good number of retail games are ports of older titles: as good as the games are on the Switch, seeing Mario Kart 8, Lego City Undercover, Cave Story, and The Binding of Isaac for sale in 2017 isn’t going to set the world ablaze.

Not Ready For Primetime

The Nintendo Switch console itself is pretty great. I am absolutely in love with being able to play a massive game like Zelda at home on the big screen and then take it with me on the go. Even though it has been done on a smaller scale before, this is revolutionary in how the Switch is able to execute it so flawlessly. As a handheld, it plays games in 720p which is magnificent for a portable device, and docked and attached to a television, it goes up to 1080p.

However, I feel the console is lacking some very core features. At the very least, the system uses “Friend Codes” from the Wii and Nintendo DS/3DS generation as opposed to usernames like the Wii U and every other modernized console does. As of this writing, there is no way to communicate with friends online – there is not even a text-based messaging function. Nintendo also made the very baffling decision to keep your game saves locked to your console – you can’t transfer it to a different Switch if yours dies on you…and while a possible cloud saving option could become available when their paid online services roll out in 2018, it’s crazy that it isn’t an option right away.

The Switch also lacks any kind of serious personalization options. In theory, they wanted to make the Switch menus run as smoothly and as quickly as possible, and I get that. But the console’s menus are just boring to look at. There is no happy music playing in the eShop as Nintendo was famous for in the Wii and Wii U era, and the plain white or back backgrounds on the home menus lack the character and personality that the PlayStation 4 or 3DS has with themes. There are no apps on the console to date, so that means no Netflix or Twitch (which also means no easy way to stream and share gameplay content like the PS4 or Xbox One) – and while that is not a necessity, having them on the Switch certainly would not hurt.

One of the most popular and beloved features of the past two Nintendo console cycles has also been mysteriously absent. The Virtual Console has barely been mentioned, aside from vague references and having a classic game updated with online multiplayer that comes with Nintendo’s paid online service. But the Switch would be a prime place for a Virtual Console, and everyone knows it. So where is it?

When Splatoon 2 launched, it exposed one of the Switch’s most glaring problems: the insane and cumbersome why to chat with friends. As opposed to other consoles, you have to run a chat through Nintendo’s own primitive smartphone app or use Skype or Discord. Nintendo’s app was laughably awful from the start, and it required your phone screen to be lit to be able to use and chat, and you also couldn’t move out of the app and run it in the background as doing so would log you out of the chat. Matchmaking was also done through the app. An update released this week addressed the ridiculous problem of not being able to run when using other apps or having an idle screen, but come on Nintendo, in 2017, this is the best you can do?

A Very Mario Christmas and Beyond

At the recent Nintendo Direct for September, Nintendo highlighted a number of games that give me confidence that Nintendo’s biggest weak spot during the Wii U era especially may be on the mend. Third parties have a number of big games on the horizon including Skyrim, which is pretty dated, but I would venture a guess that a good share of Nintendo-only fans have never played it. Bethesda is also bringing ports of Doom (2016) and Wolfenstein II to the Switch in early 2018, and having some M-rated games on your roster is never a bad thing when people think your console is just for kids. Capcom is porting over Resident Evil: Revelations and its sequel in November, and Rockstar (!) is trotting out an HD remaster of L.A. Noire at the same time as its PS4 and Xbox One counterparts. EA is testing the waters again with FIFA 18, which was custom-built for the Switch and is 90% on par with the other systems. 2K is bringing NBA 2K18 and WWE 2K18 – neither franchise appearing on a Nintendo console since 2013 – to Switch this fall/winter. Terrific, if older, indie titles like Rocket League and Stardew Valley are coming as well, with Nintendo-exclusive content. Third parties are coming back to the Switch because it’s sales can’t be ignored.

But Nintendo’s big holiday game is Super Mario Odyssey, and boy, does it look good. If you’ve seen the trailers for it, you’ll know it’s not just your normal Mario game. We fans have wanted something different from the Mushroom Kingdom for years, and we’re finally getting it. Also coming out in a console bundle, I believe the Switch will have a very, very good holiday season. Nintendo traditionally does extremely well during the Christmas shopping season, and this year will certainly be no exception. If stock can hold up, I don’t think them moving two million units in December alone is out of the question.

And also, if Mario’s nipples don’t sell you on the game, I don’t know what to say.

Looking Ahead

When you have franchises like Pokemon – who’s mainline series will be essentially making its home console debut on the Switch – and Animal Crossing waiting in the wings, and fan favorites Yoshi and Kirby already confirmed for early 2018, you have momentum on your side. The third parties that have been lacking seem to be making a welcomed return, and if you combine them with Nintendo’s first party quality, you have a winning combination.

And lest we forget about a little title called Metroid Prime 4 in the works. Sure, it may not come in 2018, but the fact that we know it’s coming is enough.

There is work to do on Nintendo’s part. Some of their decisions have been very good, while others have been quite infuriating. 2018 will be a year of reckoning for the Switch because the newness will have worn off, it will be past its first Christmas season, and the online subscription service will be in full play early in the year. They have issues that I mentioned with the console itself, but most of them can easily be remedied and I hope they are.

Nintendo really is onto something with this console. It has gotten fans excited, brought back the dedicated fans who were disappointed with the Wii and then skipped Wii U era, and even still appeals to the casual gamer as well. The hybrid nature of the console is something no other system has at the moment – and even if they do at a later date, they won’t have the benefit of being able to offer a full Pokemon game that can be played on the big screen for the first time in that franchise. It feels good to be a Nintendo fan again with the list of games coming. I just hope that Nintendo takes this momentum and use it for good with wise decisions going forward instead of the weird ones they have had the history of making at the most inopportune times.

But until then, let’s Switch and Play!

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