Acid for Blood

September 25

Hello. I need this:

First Look at Absolute Sandman

I've been keeping an eye out for news on this ever since Neil Gaiman started talking about it on his blog a while ago. I'm a huge Sandman fan and a Neil Gaiman fan. The Beat has a look at comparisions between an original page from an original Sandman comic, and the re-coloured page for the Absolute edition. The page looks stunning.

The Absolute Sandman will re-print all ten volumes of The Sandman with better paper, re-done colours, and probably some minor copyediting. The original artists and colourists are being consulted throughout the process. Volume 1 should be out later this year.

I am so excited about this! It will probably be sold at a premium price, if the price of the Absolute edition of Watchmen was any indication (Mental note: may need to get this one, too). I never got myself the hardcover editions of the Sandman trade paperbacks. I was a poor student at the time, and read way too many comics to be able to afford hardcover editions. Now that I am a less poor officer worker, I'll be buying those hardcovers (which I assume they will offer, since it's Absolute). Since The Sandman was probably my absolute all-time favourite comic book, the price isn't a complete turn-off.

EDIT: Amazon.com lists the release date as 1st November 2006.

(The New) Batwoman

Batwoman is going to be remade into a lipstick lesbian. My knowledge of DC Comics characters is not as good as that of Marvel Comics characters. This is partially due to the utterly confounding continuity problems that were later magically "resolved" (retconned) in Crisis on Infinite Earths. It's still confusing, though. Also, I identified more with the mutants in the X-Men series of books than with the superheroes of the DC universe. Having read up on Batwoman on Wikipedia, Silver Age Batwoman seems to have been a stupid character. Utility purse? How lame. She also retired because Batman told her that crime fighting was too dangerous. She remained a minor character and vanished into obscurity, until now.

There is no way that a mainstream superhero comic book with a lesbian featured as a main character could be anything but a lipstick lesbian. Could you imagine mainstream comic book readership buying a comic book based upon a superhero butch lesbian bull dyke, no matter how well-written it was? I couldn't. I'm betting that Kate Kane turns out to be bisexual later on. That is what the comic book readership will secretly want. Most comic book readers are (still) male, and I'm sure that most of them are of the opinion that "two women are hot, but two women and one man is even hotter" (naturally they imagine that they are that man) mentality.

Returning to Batwoman, or rather character design in general, why do creators insist on putting female superheroes/action stars in high heels? Is that practical for running across rooftops and engaging in hand-to-hand combat? Could they see themselves being comfortable and secure (in terms of balance) enough to wear high heels whilst taking part in physically demanding heroic activities? If they can't, then why are they putting women in high heels for the same sorts of activities? It's pure ignorance. Unless they've tried to wear spiky heels, done the sorts of things that superheroes do, and can come out of that experience saying, "I prefer wearing high heels to flatter shoes" then they shouldn't make such horrible costuming decisions. Batwoman looks like she's ready for a fucking costume party, rather than vigelante-style justice.

[Via BBC News, because I am out of the loop.]

Madureira to Draw Ultimates

4 color rebellion spotlights one of my favourite comic book artists of the 1990s, Joe Madureira. After his successful stint on X-Men (I think he also did Uncanny X-Men), Joe started his own comic book, Battle Chasers. Unfortunately, the sporadic release schedule frustrated me. Battle Chasers showed promise. Although the art was up to Madureira's usual awesome standard, the writing just wasn't strong enough for me to become all fangirly about keeping tabs on when the next issue would arrive. I lost interest in trying to keep up with his work. This coincided with my general loss of interest in comic books. At the time there were few comics that I was actively following. The cancellation of Battle Chasers was another nail in the coffin of my regular visits to the comic book shop. Eventually, I stopped going to the comic shop, and I stopped buying individual comic books. Now I just buy trade paperbacks every so often, but I'm so out of the loop that I don't know what is good or even what is "hot" anymore.

Between then and now, I saw Madureira's work popping up on videogame box art and on videogame magazine covers. 4CR says that Madureira wasn't a very successful game concept artist*, and that none of the games he worked on were popular. Apparently, the word on the street is that Joe Madureira is coming back to comic books, on the Ultimates, no less. Even I know that this series is popular in comics. I won't go back to buying individual comic books, and I doubt I'll be reading Ultimates. However, it's nice to read that Madureira will be back in action. Maybe in six month's or a year's time, I'll look for the trade paperback of his stint on the Ultimates. If it's good, I may buy it.

[Read]

*Speaking of comic book artists doing videogame box art, if you look on the covers of the Fable videogame boxes, you will see the artwork of Joan Chen. Her art is also very anime-inspired, featuring clean lines and somewhat exaggerated proportions. Her comic book work leans slightly towards a manga look, and it's also fantastic.

Escapist Meet-Up in Second Life

According to always_black, The Escapist online games magazine will have a presence in Second Life. The writers and staff are meeting at the _blacklibrary in-game to discuss with the always_black people, and everyone else is invited, too.

Date/Time: Saturday, 4th March @ 19:00 GMT
Place: _blacklibrary

I haven't logged in to Second Life since I checked out the _blacklibrary last year, so I think my avatar is still hovering around the vicinity. Maybe I'll login to see what there is to see. My avatar needs her appearance overhauled, though. I made her a little too creepy-looking, but I'm bored of the look now. Hehe.

EDIT: Oops. Totally forgot about it.

Guild Wars Chapter 2 Info from Computer Gaming World

New continent (Cantha) with three nations. Two factions: Luxon and Kurzick; choice of faction affects storyline. Two new Professions: Assassin and Ritualist. Faction wars. New Guild Halls. Practice areas. Change Second Profession to Ritualist or Assassin.

That is definitely the Rogue-ishness that Guild Wars has been missing. I will definitely have to create an Assassin Primary. Definitely. Guild Wars: Factions, huh. Is that the title for Chapter 2?

[GuildWarsGuru.com via Guild Wars LJ Community]

One Word or Two?

This question has been puzzling me for a while, but I didn't think anyone else considered this issue worthy of debate or thought. Dave Thomas, posting about Jesper Juul's new book, Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds, holds that it is "videogame" and not "video game". Europeans commonly use "videogame" and the North American folk use the two-word variant.

Thomas continues:

I like the single word because it helps clarify the world of videogames as a certain type of game, and not just a qualified class of games like puzzle games or word games. And even more to point, "videogames" Googles better. It's easier to search for the single word term.

He states that he is working on a style guide with the International Game Journalists Association and that it will use the single word. He then calls for international consistency.

So what is it? Is it one word or two words? Which is correct? Which is preferrable? Should I be using 'videogame' instead of 'video game'? I'm so confused!

Things to Get Me for Festivus

Not video games!

Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds by Jesper Juul

Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby

Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson

I'll end up buying these books for myself, I'm sure. *mutter* You cheap bastards. (That was a joke. I do not require or expect Christmas presents. :-P)

New Profession for Guild Wars Chapter 2

According to Play Magazine, Guild Wars will see introduction of a new Profession with the expansion, due out next year. Those who love stealthy, sneaky types, rejoice, for the Assassin is on her way!

From The Guild Hall:

Gaile Gray (Guild Wars Community Relations), commenting on the picture in the article and confirming the new Assassin Profession:

Yep, that's our girl.

Play Magazine is a great publication. We love the coverage that they've given Guild Wars. They loved the game so much, early on, that they expanded and extended one of their previews over two issues.

We were happy to have them premiere the concept art (which I happen to think is absolutely lovely) and the lore and other info present in this issue. I don't have a copy in my mitts yet, but I'm eager to see it!

Alex Weekes (Guild Wars Community Relations), reconfirming the information:

Actually, it's from a well-respected source (Play Magazine) and has already been confirmed as legitimate by Gaile (and now by me). The source is not an adult publication, it's a gaming publication... and as Gaile has already noted, Play Magazine have previously provided some excellent Guild Wars features.

Nothing dubious about it at all, the Assassin will be available to players when the game releases in the First Half 2006.

From Play Magazine:

Introducing Nika, your world-exclusive first look at Guild Wars' next major character profession: the Assassin. With Guild Wars surging past one million registered users in later '05, NCsoft and ArenaNet have a certified smash online hit. Set to debut in the game's massive 2006 expansion, the Assassin profession will add thrilling stealth and combat techniques to Guild Wars' dynamic online gameplay.

Brilliant! I'm quite looking forward to this, because of my predilection towards such character classes (at least in D&D). I tend not to go for straightforward melee types. Right now, my main character is a Necromancer Primary, and I love her to bits, however the other Professions are not as interesting to me (except, perhaps the Ranger). I'm looking forward adding the Assassin to my character roster. I would imagine that everyone will try out the Profession, so it will be overpopulated for a while. Perhaps Monks and Warriors will see high demand when the next chapter is released (not that Monks aren't already in high demand).

Check out the link above to see official lore on the Assassin for the next chapter. It mentions one Skill, 'Shadow Step', and a hint that Assassins will be able to dual-wield weapons.

There seems to be a lot of doubt amongst the fans, just from reading a couple of forum threads. There are no press releases on the official Guild Wars website, probably because they want to whet our appetites, but I have to ask: Are our chains being yanked?

[Via MMORPGDot]

The Escapist Gives Props to Dice-Rolling

This week's The Escapist covers the huge influence that table-top gaming has had on video games. I usually don't read The Escapist 'cover-to-cover' as it were. Sometimes I see one or two articles I'm interested in, and click on through. Usually, I just read the headlines. However this week I may just have to find the time to read more than just the headlines.

At some point I will write about how I got into RPGs (the non-video game kind). I don't know if people are interested my personal gaming history, but I see by my (ZOMG invisble) hit counter, that more than one person actually does visit this site regularly. And a few people use Bloglines to read my ramblings via syndication feed. I don't know who else reads the feed through some other means. Anyway, I guess I will continue to write whatever game-related nonsense that pops into my head, since I have a small audience who appear to be interested in what I write. Cheers.