Monthly Archives: August 2017
Comic Book Reviews for August 16, 2017
It was another big week of comics. DC finally kicked off the epic Dark Nights: Metal crossover and debuted their latest digital-first series, Gotham City Garage. Marvel put Sana Starros and Lando Calrissian in the spotlight in Star Wars #34, spotlighted two Wolverines in the latest chapter of Generations and continued the Peter Parker/Miles Morales team-up in Spider-Men II. And Image had yet another strong week thanks to the debut of Mage: The Hero Denied and new issues of Curse Words, I Hate Fairyland and Southern Bastards.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
Alphabetic Ninjas? Learning the ABCs of Ninja-K
The premiere ninja superhero of the Valiant Universe has a new comic book series on the way that seeks to expand his origins and explain his weird name. Turns out that Ninjak is actually “Ninja-K,” the eleventh in a line of secret agents trained as ninjas by the highly confidential Ninja Programme. That’s means there’s Ninja-A and Ninja-B and a bunch of other deadly, alphabetical ninjas out there. The story for this new comic kicks off when Ninjak learns that a mysterious villain is killing off his predecessors, forcing him to track the killer down (and take us on a tour of the Ninja Programme while he’s at it).
The 40-page Ninja-K #1 hits on November 15, so to tide you over until then, we conducted an email interview with series writer Christos Gage (Avengers Academy, The Amazing Spider-Man, Netflix’s Daredevil). He gives us a history lesson on the Ninja Programme and reveals where the idea for this alphabetic mythology came from.
Wild West Online Aims to Fill Red Dead Redemption 2’s PC Void
Wild West Online developer Stefan Bugaj headed me off at the pass, bringing up the elephant in the room (Red Dead Redemption 2) before I could.
"We were inspired by Westworld and the impending not-coming-to-PC Red Dead Redemption 2," he said with a smile. "Westerns started coming back. So we thought
would fill a fun unfulfilled gaming desire in the community."
You can see the entire demo I got from Bugaj in the four videos on this page, beginning with the one above. It's clearly still very early in development – note the total lack of any other people on the servers as of yet – but the team is cognizant of that and was happy to talk through their goals and intentions for WWO with me this week.
UK Daily Deals: Exclusive Glacier White PS4 Pro Destiny 2 Game and Expansion Pass Bundle for Under £350
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Preorder the Glacier White PS4 Pro Destiny 2 Game and Expansion Pass Bundle for Under £350
The most powerful PlayStation ever made is now availble in Glacier White. This bundle was £399.99 as recently as yesterday.
Bundle is released on 6th September, 2017. Bundle includes a copy of Destiny 2 on Blu-ray Disc and the new Glacier White PS4 Pro with matching DualShock 4 V2 Wireless Controller. Also included is a voucher for a digital content pack that’ll give you access to the Destiny 2 expansion pass and premium digital content.
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Four New Characters Announced
Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta, Android 16 and Android 18 have been announced for Bandai Namco's upcoming Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Siliconera has received information from the latest issue of Jump magazine, which details the new arrivals for the long-running franchise's new brawler.
Details are fairly thin, but Android 18 will definitely be a playable character, and seems to have access to a special combo attack with Android 17, although whether the latter is actually playable or only appears as support is not yet confirmed.
Digital Comics Provider Madefire Adding Big DC Comics Titles
You'll soon be reading almost all the DC Comics titles you've ever dreamt of via the Madefire app.
Madefire on Wednesday announced that it will be adding tens of thousands of new and back list DC Comics titles to its catalog beginning today. The catalog will be available through the Madefire App and feature more than 80,000 comics, both new and old. The update will be Madefire's biggest ever expansion to its library.
“As a leader and innovator in the digital comics space Madefire has been a great partner to DC and I’m pleased this expansion will bring our extensive line-up to an even broader audience,” stated DC Entertainment Publisher Jim Lee. “Now, for the first time, exciting DC titles like Dark Nights: Metal will be available to Windows, Apple TV, and Android TV digital readers – all via the Madefire App.”
Shenmue 3: Deep Silver Announced as Publisher
Shenmue 3 is one step closer, with the announcement that the long-gestating video game is to be published by Deep Silver.
In a press release available from the official Shenmue 3 site, series creator Yu Suzuki has spoken of his "confidence" in both the game and the new partnership, citing Deep Silver's "deep passion for bringing Japanese titles to the rest of the world". The publisher certainly has form - recent releases include both Persona 5 and Yakuza Kiwami.
It's been a long road for Shenmue 3 - the second game in the series debuted a full sixteen years ago on the Dreamcast and, despite a subsequent Xbox re-release, failed to perform well financially. Although the franchise seemed dead, Suzuki left original publishers Sega in 2011 to focus on his own studio - Ys Net - and in 2015 launched a Kickstarter to fund Shenmue 3, reaching his $2 million target in just nine hours and closing the campaign with over $6 million in donations - and soon after, Sony pledged to support the game with additional funding.
Marvel Answers Long-Running Spider-Man Mystery
Spider-Men II finally addressed one of Marvel's longest-running mysteries, but fans might not be happy with the answer.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Spider-Men II #2!
The original Spider-Men mini-series ended on an unusual cliffhanger in 2012, with Peter Parker returning home and Googling Miles Morales' name, curious to see if the Marvel Universe had its own version of Miles. Peter seemed shocked by the results, but readers never did learn what he found. Until now, that is.
MoviePass Price Change Angers AMC Theatres
You can now see a movie a day in theaters for under $10 a month, but the new subscription price point from the MoviePass service has caused one of the company's partners to consider opting out of the program.
MoviePass announced its new price point yesterday, allowing interested buyers to subscribe into the service for $9.95 a month. Users then download an app and are mailed a debit card, which allow users to check in to a movie at partnered theaters once a day and see one movie every day. (Effectively, the service now pays for itself with one movie viewing in many parts of the United States.) Those who already subscribed will automatically be adjusted down to that price on their next bill.
Engineer Invents Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Peripheral For One-Handed Players
Mechatronics engineer Julio Vazquez has designed Joy-Con adapters that make the Nintendo Switch more comfortable for playing one-handed.
Vazquez has two blueprints available for download on his Thingverse page: the first is a shell that holds the two Joy-Con together, side by side, and its design is based on Breath of the Wild's Sheikah Slate.
The second is more unusual looking, slotting the Joy-Con together at a right angle. Check out the pictures below:
Regarding the build, Vazquez said, "This adapter was developed by request of my friend Rami Wehbe, who wanted a way to play Zelda: Breath of the wild using only his left hand; as he lost the ability to control his right hand due to a cerebrovascular accident.