Archive for the ‘Misc’ Category

This new 3d upgrade will come on 3colors and and have some great games to go along with it.

Hello boys and girls!  I’ve been on a two week roadtrip, but I’m sure the rest of the team kept you occupied with plenty of goodies in my absence.  I just got caught up on almost three weeks of comic reading (which I will write about shortly)!  Phew! I did, however, get a chance to stop at a few ’shops’ on my journey, and I must say, some middle-of-nowhere southern-fried workers can be strangely elitist.  At times I felt like I walked into the paradoxical dimension of Oxymornia.  Being from New York, I found the jacked-up prices some of those places charged somewhat puzzling.  I suppose they think everyone coming in only knows superheroes from the movies Hollywood has been pumping out, for better or worse, and feel they should benefit off of supplying the demand.  Ok, buddy!  There is a world outside of your town: like the ones up on that new-fangled magic screen they make you pay $11.00 to see ‘nowadays’, and they can smell when something’s fishy.  The jig is up!  (Laughs)  Ok, ok,  I’m only bitter because one or two of the guys snubbed me, but, that being said, there is always one awesome place that rectifies all the ill-gotten doings and back-water snobbery (Just kidding, I was born in the south! Sheesh, calm down already!);  Cheers to the nice owner of Zeno’s Books in Chesapeake, Virginia, and finding the second NEW GODS (and second appearance of Darkseid) for six dollars…in great condition no less!  I would also like to give a shout-out to my friend Kevin for getting my first issue of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction and Next Men #21  signed by Mignola at the Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina (And for allowing us to crash at your apartment at an ungodly hour).  Kevin also blessed me with an introduction to the worst/best movie of all time, The Room by Tommy Wiseau.  Do yourself a favor and watch it over and over.  Just know it wasn’t meant to be funny.   You will  laugh until you question logic and sanity (you might also need an emergency appendectomy).  So, now, on to some of the current DC books I’ve read.

RED HOOD: THE LOST DAYS  has started out interesting.  I was hoping that they were going to change the cause of his resurrection to the Lazarus pit when I saw Ras was involved;  I figured “what better way to get back at Bruce than bring back his greatest failure and use his guilt as a weapon against him”.  But, as this does not seem to be the case now, I guess we will just need to see how this one plays out.  I suggest picking this one up.

THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #2 was a little more confusing for me than the first (which I really liked), but i’m sure it will all be explained in due course (if not in this series, then maybe in the upcoming Vanishing Point).  The art is really awesome so far, I just think I’m looking for something a little less cryptic at this point.  Who knows, I might be eating my words real soon.  If you are a fan of Batman and have put your time into the last few years of reading, do not stop now in the homestretch.  You know as well as I do that this will prove to be crucial later.  You can’t skimp with Morrison, you will regret it.

Selina’s unhinged sister, who we haven’t seen since her run in with Black Lantern Black Mask, has come back to haunt her in Gotham City Sirens.  Enough said.  I leave this one up to you!

Justice League: Generation Lost #1-3.  What can I say?  This is very entertaining so far.  I really have no idea where they are going to take this, but it’s gotta be big!  Maxwell Lord is back and he made everyone forget he ever existed except for four former members of the JLI (whose lives are a living hell now for literally knowing too much).  He also has control of the OMACs again.  Yeah.  This can’t be good.  Do it!

JUSTICE LEAGUE: RISE OF ARSENAL #3.  Roy’s life is a living hell.  He lost his arm.  He lost his daughter.  He’s lost his mind.  He’s back on drugs.  And, to top it off, he is seeing his dead friend and daughter at every turn.  Now, while doped up, he beats up a buttload of thugs in an alley(who he thinks are an army of Prometheus), attacks Dick Grayson, and ends up strapped up in a cell.  Good times.  Someone get me a Prozac!  I don’t know about this one yet…although, it is a more realistic reaction considering his circumstances.  Will someone please buy this guy a ‘Get Well Soon’ balloon at the psychiatric ward gift shop, for God’s sake?!

I really enjoyed BRIGHTEST DAY #3, but I must say I am getting anxious to know why these characters have come back and what this means for the DCU as a whole.  On a similar note; GREEN LANTERN #54 was a good read as well.  Good job, Johns and Mahnke!  In regards to both, I can’t wait to find out more about the being that is collecting the different colored light entities.

SECRET SIX#22 was depraved, depressing, and humorous as always.  Gail Simone, you are twisted.  Thomas Blake has gone off the deep end.  He is not to be trifled with, and apparently he takes rides from strangers.  What will happen next? 

BATGIRL#11 had me pleasantly surprised.  I love the fact that The Calculator figured out the anti-life equation to create hordes of techno zombies.  His revenge on Oracle is almost at hand! Will Stephanie save the day?  I’m guessing yes.  Can’t we get a writer to find a cure for Babs so we can get her back on her feet and kicking @$$ with more gusto than anyone would with a newfound lease at legs?  You know she’d have a lot of time to make up and plenty of payback to dish out.  Let’s vote on it!  Ok, maybe not.

RED ROBIN#13  was a good read.  He’s finally finding solace and becoming his own man.  Let’s hope it lasts.

DETECTIVE#865 revisited the asylum and the broken Jeremiah Arkham.  We now know how the seeds of his madness were planted.  Plus, the hospital has a new director.  This place sure know’s how to pick them.  Black Mask might just live on.

BATMAN#700′s extra-sized anniversary issue had a bunch of great artists and a story that spanned from Bruce, to Dick, to Damian and even Terry McGinnis’s Batman.  Though I did like some of it, I thought it got a little too murky and found the ‘maybe machine’ a tad convoluted.  Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

The SUPERMAN/BATMAN ANNUAL #4, written by Paul Levitz, turned out to be really cool.  The art, by RENATO GUEDES & JOSE WILSON, wasn’t too shabby either.  This tale was another to bring Batman Beyond into the comic continuity.  It involves the future of a less glamorous and crime ridden Metropolis and addresses the why and how of Superman’s absence.  Of course a great team-up is inevitable.  Decrepit Lex Luthor?  Why not!

Last, but not least, I would like to say that DC UNIVERSE LEGACIES#1, ZATANNA#1, and LEGION OF SUPERHEROES#1 all held their own.

Well, I guess that is all for now.  Thanks for reading!  If you have any info you think people should know on any of the books I have not brought attention to yet (such as Superman or WonderWoman) feel free to leave them under comments.  Until next time.–ExSleepyInk

They say time flies when you’re having fun. I can attest to that. Out of everyone that knew or helped with my blog, I was the most pessimistic. From day one I had no idea what this would become. Or even if I’d be around for another year. Day after day I tried to make sense of what I’d write or post. You can say that I was pretty lost when it came to internet journalism. but after awhile I became a bit more comfortable. Things to seem to just fall into place. With every little victory came more questions as to how to keep this place cool to the people that visit it. Because lets face it…without you guys I’d be writing and posting to the digital air. My first E3. And I wasn’t even in California to cover it. And man, oh man did I mess up so much. Through all that you the people of the web showed support. For every video, picture and sentence. You were there. All my little mistakes and blunders. You guys came to see what I’d do next. That is what kept me going. knowing that someone was actually looking to hear and see what I posted.  Thank you guys so much for just taking a chance. Spending just a few precious minutes to poke around. It makes it all worth while.

My wife was the best support. Although she didn’t get it at first. She began to see exactly what was going on. And showed alot of interest in what I put up as well as what you guys wrote back. Time really does move too fast. I can still remember blogging so many nights while rocking my baby to sleep. What a struggle that was. But always worth it.

And really who can forget the guy who is responsible for the birth of From Heroes To Icons. Johnathan Paul. My close and dear friend. He said that this is what I should to. He alone designed the logo. And the site itself. All the stuff you see on the side bars. The build of the site and maintenance of the site I owe all to him. Thanks JPCDezines. Your the best.

I’ll review some of the cool things we covered this year. But I want you to look forward to much more. As Jim Lee said when he worked on X-Men with Chris Clarmont. “The Best Is Yet To Come”.

My first video post: It’s crazy. You have no idea how long it took me to actually have thing running correctly. I didn’t have a clue. Thankfully John Paul was there to pull my but out of the fire. Frustrating, but well worth it. Sherlock Holmes was on of the best films in 2009.

Most Anticipated Games of E3 2009: This post was the first to give me more than just the hits from my friends. Here was my first real chance to see how viewers saw me and my sight. I great moment for me and my followers. I got to dig in and they could finally feel me out.

E3 2009: It was the best and worst week of my life. The amount of information coming out of that place is out of control. After the initial shock I was able to stream line the info into post that made sense. I got my feet wet. And it wasn’t a bad experience at all.

My Big Final Fantasy Post: I am one of the BIG fans of Final Fantasy. I wrote the article to just to see how people would react.So many people love the franchise that questioning if it is the greatest RPG is bound to ruffle some feathers. But it is good point. Thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII?!?!?

Dead Fantasy: What can anyone say when a fan takes two of the biggest franchises and makes his own miniseries with them? When it comes to Dead Fantasy’s creator Monty Oum….OMG!!!!!!!!! is all you’ll get to say. The guy is a genius.

PlayStation Slim: Sporting a sleeker look no backward compatibility, a bigger HDD and a cheaper price. It’s just what the doctor ordered for Sony. Buy it Play it. Love it.

GamesCom 2K9: More video games. More of the best stuff shown at E3. Gotta love those game trailers.

PSP Go!!!:Smaller, bigger hard drive and just plain cool.

ExSleepyInk Coming aboard: This guy is a beast. You have love him. He puts forth such zeal into his articles. And most of all he has fun with it.

Sick Pavarotti Coming aboard: My long time friend Nolan. You haven’t heard to much from him. He’s working on the Masters Degree. We won’t penalize him for that. Someone has to be the Master. lol

PlayStation Move: More than just Wii HD.

Welcome Our New Blogger Vicious: Me and this guy go way back. I’m so glad to have another one of the guys that love all this stuff come aboard.

There is just so much to talk about that has transpired. I would love to go into it all but that would be overkill. Truly I have been blessed with some cool people to work with this past year. I got a new computer to work on. And things over here at FHTI is perfect as independent blogging goes. For me this time of the year is great as an anniversary time in blogging. E3 is just around the corner and I can’t wait to see how this new computer is going to treat me. Once again Thank you so much for giving From Heroes To Icons a chance. We will continue to do our best to keep thing interesting around here. Maybe even as interesting as this video.

My Thoughts On A FF VII Remake: The greatest trick the Devil ever did. Was making the world believe he didn’t exist. Is Square Enix doing the same thing. To say that it will never be made. And yet it is in development right now. Well that may be a bit too much. Guess that was the fan boy in me talking. See ya in the funny papers.

The long-lost FH2I contributor is back, and all it took was the latest Marvel “company-wide” crossover event to rein me in.  I’m talking about Seige by Brian Michael Bendis and Oliver Coipel, the 4-issue mini-series dealing with the “problem” of Asgard, homeland to Thor and his fellow gods, floating above the rural town of Broxton, OK.  SPOILERS AHEAD…

Now remember, in the few posts I have made, I’ve shared my dislike for these  big events that claim huge ramifications as a result.  I often feel like the best stories are told within a single title, based around a single character or team – not told in nearly every comic a publisher puts out and involving nearly every known (or unknown) character in the brand.  You may also recall that I am not a weekly comic shop goer.  Since January I’ve only been to the shop 3-4 times and have probably only picked up 15-20 comics in that time span.  I’m nowhere near an authority on the matter.  And picking up Seige was a bit intimidating as I was in the dark (no pun intended) about much of what had been happening in the Marvel U leading up to this event.

All that being said – Seige delivered, and may have just delivered Marvel a returning devout customer.  The first I heard about Seige was that it was going to finally unite Marvel’s Big 3 heroes – Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor – who had been at odds for most of the last 4-5 years (more?).  While fun titles such as New Avengers emerged during that time, the fans were not being treated to the classic Avengers team that revolved around the Big 3.  And if you are like me, it got stale after a while.  So, for that main reason Seige had piqued my interest.

Now I know the team-up of the Big 3 was short-lived – Steve Rogers will no longer be Captain America as he hands the shield over full-time to Bucky Barnes.  But, that’s not going to last forever (I hope) and at least they are on the right track.  The Avengers will finally feel like the Avengers again.

What I really loved about Seige was that it was so much more than this simple reunification that originally got me interested.  In many ways it was a reclaiming of the true essence of the Marvel Universe.  Much had change in that past few years, and for obsessive-compulsive traditionalists it became really hard to bear.  But think about it – we found out that many of the heroes we loved in stories we loved were really aliens (see Secret Invasion), we watched as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes split up and we’re replaced by many heroes no one ever pictured as Avengers, we watched Norman Osborn (the once dead Spidey arch-nemesis Green Goblin) gain control of the top defense department in the government (see Dark Reign), flagship marvel hero Captain America was killed off, and, oh yeah, being a super-hero became illegal unless you became government toolie (see Civil War).  And I imagine I’m leaving stuff out.  Bottom line is a lot of stuff went down, and in many ways the landscape changed in the Marvel U (as they promised), many times not for better.  I personally stopped reading comics because I just didn’t care about this all new Marvel world that was crafted.

So Seige brings the world’s greatest superheroes together again in an event I’d never imagined I’d care so much about – the defense of Asgard against Norman Osborn’s rogue Dark Avengers team of mostly villains disguised as heroes.   As Asgard falls, the classic Avengers and heroes emerge, putting their differences aside to aid Thor, and once and for all set things straight in the world – the way it would have always been.  Osborn is defeated, arrested, and his true (green) color is revealed.   Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and all the favorites show why they are the heroes, making Osborn’s teams look like the rag-tag wannabes they are.  Finally, the Marvel U is beginning to look like, well… the Marvel U.

We also got some huge fights thanks mostly to the Sentry (who was really under the full-control of his evil side, the Void), and some long-overdue closure to the saga of the Golden Guardian of Good.  His first big battle with Ares provided perhaps the most jaw-dropping moment of the series when he quite literally ripped the god of war into two pieces from head to toe – intestines and guts spilling everywhere.  The battle with Thor took nearly everything out of the Son of Odin, and absolutely everything from the Sentry in what was really the only right way to kill him off.  On paper, the only hero who matches up to Sentry is Thor (and I suppose the Hulk too, but he’s been just a bit preoccupied).  Having tried the old loss of memory trick one too many times, in a very brief moment of clarity, Robert Reynolds asks the Thunder God to kill him to protect the world.  Thor reluctantly but definitively obliges, sacrificing the Sentry and finally laying the Void to rest.

I’ve always thought the Sentry was a cool concept, and the original mini-series by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee ranks as one of my favorites.  But, I always wondered how he fit in as a full-time character.  The idea got more legs than I think anyone could have imagined and deservedly so.  It was finally time to say goodbye though, and I think they did so in a most honorable way.  The Sentry dies a lesser known character in the Marvel pantheon, and yet true fans still know that there are few as powerful as he was.  I’m sure we will eventually see the Sentry again, hopefully outside of regular continuity for the foreseeable future.  But this death felt like a big deal, at least to me, and that is pretty impressive considering the character started out as a hoax.

And so, the point is that much of the Marvel U has been restored to the way things were before all these big cross-over events shook the world to its very core.  The Big 3 (at least to some extent) are working together again, the ridiculous Super Human Registration Act has been overturned, and all the mainstays are alive and kicking.  And  I’m very excited about collecting comics again.  A restarted Avengers and the new Steve Rogers-led Secret Avengers sound like a very promising jumping on point to me.  Marvel is calling it the Heroic Age, and maybe Marvel is starting to realize that change is only good for time.  After a while, we want our heroes back.  Seige, in my opinion, has accomplished that.

The much anticipated 13th book of The Wheel of Time series now has a picture perfect cover. Art by the sensational Darryl K. Sweet. Towers of Midnight will be released on October 26, 2010. The 14th and final book of TWOT, entitled Memory of Light is currently expected to be published in late 2011. If you haven’t read this series and love fantasy you are truly missing something. Treat yourself today. Robert Jordan is THE BEST.

The Nightmare in This Space Odyssey isn’t nearly over. Prepare yourself for the Horror ahead.

Source:DC Entertainment

February 18, 2010

DC Entertainment, founded in September 2009 to unleash the power of the DC Comics library of characters across all media platforms, has named its executive management team, including new co-publishers of DC Comics and a Chief Creative Officer, as well as heads of Sales/Marketing/Business Development and Finance/Administration. Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment, made the announcement today.

DC Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, is charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment utilizes the expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises to prioritize the DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business is the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month as well as continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.

So, what are your thoughts, friends?

—ExSleepyInk

Hey all. I hope you enjoy these fantastic covers by Andy Kubert for Grant Morrison’s upcoming, time-spanning, Batman:The Return of Bruce Wayne miniseries. After shooting Darkseid at the end of Final Crisis, Batman was blasted back through time by the Omega effect. Meanwhile the evil New God left a Bruce clone for everyone to grieve over.  Believed dead by his family and friends, join him as he taps into his lifetime of training on an epic quest through the centuries to take back his rightful place in Gotham City, and hopefully, under the cowl. It is due out in April.

I might have gotten the order wrong between the pirate and puritan scenes, but I’m sure you see where it’s headed (plus I blew them up extra big for you!) —ExSleepyInk