Happy 12TH Birthday DREAMCAST

OH Sega Dreamcast, How I love you! Back in 1999 I remember proudly walking to the mall in the rain to pre-order you from KB Toys. You were the best system after NES that I've ever, and still do, owned. You were the First of the generation, and honestly the best in my opinion. You beat the PS2, Gamecube, and the Xbox to Market. You also were the first console to have online play, by the built in 56k modem. I only wish it would have lasted a little longer.



Your Launch titles were freaking awesome too. I remember being thrilled at Sonic Adventure, Hydro Thunder, Crazy Taxi, Ready to Rumble Boxing, and Many others. The Fighting freak in me was Super excited for Arcade Perfect ports of PowerStone, Soul Calibur, and Marvel vs. Capcom. I wasn't even a huge fan of sports games, But I got all the 2K series, and played them a lot! Don't even get me started on Skies of Arcadia, or Jet Set Radio!

With support from Midway, Capcom, Eidos, Sega themselves and Many others, I don't see why your life was so short. Sega had a hit, and was making bank though. But I guess some bigshot at Sega wanted to focus on Software only, so you died a little pre-maturely.

So, may you have a Happy Birthday Sega Dreamcast! You may no longer be produced or supported, but to steal a line from one of your Launch titles:

"THE SOUL STILL BURNS!"

Joseph Rock (main story)

Writer- Ivan Brandon

Art- Tom Darenick

Synopsis- Corporal Rock is put as a second in command with a Unit. They are to rescue a senator, without being seen. The problem being, it's in a region that's run by an insurgent force, and they have no intel. They must Extract the senator alive. However, a few Super-beings may make that impossible.

Let's try to keep this Spoiler free, shall we?

As an Army Brat myself,(Dad was based in Fort Bragg at one point, and various other places) I've heard of Sargent Rock. I have never read any of his tales however, so this is all new stuff to me. I have to say it's not your typical Super-hero fare. I found myself actually worried about the members of Rock's unit as they get dropped into a war zone. Something about the way it was presented made it feel a lot more real.

The main story sort of jumps around a bit. You start off with Rock in a trench with explosions going on. Then it jumps to his superiors setting him up for a possible promotion and with his Unit. Then the next thing you see is some un-identified Super-people Fighting, and blowing stuff up. I really liked the Dialog a lot! They used a lot of Military Language, with little asterisks to explain what a SAW or what a GOOSE is. I thought that brought some Authenticity to it.

ART-
I have to say I really liked the art in this. Well constructed troops, backgrounds and effects. The colors were very effective as well, they have a washed out look to them. It works well for the overall look of it. It's really action packed. Lots of explosions and crazy para-trooping cool GI Joe stuff. I still have no idea who the super people causing all the property damage are, but I assume we'll find out soon!



Navy Seals (back-up Story)

Writer- Jonathan Vankin

Art- Phil Winslade

Synopsis- "No Boots on the ground." Means Send in the Navy Seals. A tactical team of four infiltrate a sniper's tower after getting shot at.

This story so far is kind of interesting. You get to know the Four Seals as people first, which is great. They're names are Ice, Tracker, Reno, and Litzau. The Dialog is pretty darn awesome. Again, there's a lot of military language in this story too.

ART-
The art in this story is ok. The characters are drawn pretty well. Their movements and the camera angles are really great. My main complaint with the art, is there are a lot of panels with No Background what so ever. Not sure if that was a stylistic choice , but in some of these panels the Seals are just kinda Floating. Another artistic quirk is in most of the panels the Seals look a little too similar to one another.

SHOULD I GET THIS???

There's plenty of Opportunity to tell military stories! I assume that Men of War is Much like DC's own "All-Star Western" In that it's an anthology for all of their military stuff. Some of my favorite movies are military based. I believe it can work. It also seems there are Super-beings in the Sargent Rock section. So that's something I've never seen before! (Outside of the Hulk Movies)

PER STORY SCORE : First story 9/10 Second story 5/10

OVERALL FINAL SCORE: 8/10

Justice League #1 Review

The New 52 is upon us. What does DC comics have in store for us? We'll Soon Find out!



The variant cover by David Finch, Richard Friend,& Peter Steigerwald

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Jim Lee
Inks: Scott Williams
Cost: $3.99

Synopsis:

We Start off with Batman being chased by Gotham's Swat team, and Batman is chasing a monster, all on rooftop. He finally catches up to the beast and then out of nowhere glowing Green Firetruck hits the Monster. Enter Green Lantern with the line, "Batman? You're REAL?"
Batman and Green Lantern hit it off just fine. They already hate each other. Green Lantern is a brash and cocky type of person and Batman is cold, and calculating. There's a running gag in this issue that Batman has no powers, and he's just some guy in a Bat suit.

The Monster they were both chasing is found in the sewer. It's trying to attach a box ( a Mother Box, which I hope will get explained later) to a wall. It then spots GL and Bats. It Kamikazes and tries to take them with it. It's Death Cry is "For Darksied!" Batman then says the Box-like device looks alien. Green Lantern then responds with "Maybe this is all connected to the guy from Metropolis". Neither character has met Superman yet.

Cut to a scene with Victor Stone playing some High School Football, and doing exceptionally well. His Father, Apparently Works with Meta-Humans, and is never around to be part of Vic's Life. GL and Bats fly right over the school. When they land Green Lantern thinks he's mr. bigstuff, and can handle this Superman. Superman Punches him out and says "I don't handle Easy." Then he looks at Batman and says "So.. What can you do?"

ART:
Jim Lee's art is exceptional as always. I do have to kind of wonder why it is that Superman's suit is armored... But I honestly don't care. I don't really think it's his best work. But it's still pretty good!

SHOULD I GET THIS ???

As a new reader I guess it's pretty accessible. You meet 3 of the big guns. Batman, Green Lantern, and Superman. There's an intrigue about who or what a Darksied is... oh and there's Plenty of Action going on over well drawn panels.

As a Fan of previous incarnations of the Justice League, it seems a little Old hat. It's still ok.. but a lot of the mysteries you already know about. Hopefully they pick it up with the next issue, but they'll probably introduce more of the characters.

Overall I have to say, I kind of like this treatment of these characters. They seem more like People with Powers, than people who let the powers define who they are. I guess that comes down to the writing, but I like it.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

Archie Comics' Megaman #5

Time Keeps On Slipping
Part One: Reasonable Doubt


Writer: Ian Flynn
Cover by Greg Horn (variant cover by PatrickSpaziante)
Pencils: Chad Thomas
Inks: Gary Marton
Colors By Matt Herms
Cost: $2.99

Synopsis:

Dr. Wiley Defeated? Or is he? This issue starts off with Megaman aka Rock, Dr. Light and Roll have to deal with the fallout and general mistrust due to what the Robot Masters did under Dr. Wiley's influence. Dr. Light Reprograms The original 8 robot masters to be good again, while Albert Wily rots in prison.

They introduce a character named Federal Agent Gilbert D. Stern who is basically Robert Deniro from "Meet the Parents". Rock and the original Robot Masters are breaking down the debris from their initial attack, when Stern shows up. Stern believes they'e still a danger.

So Dr.Light and Rock have a moment of character development, on the way to try to convince Wiley to cooperate with the authorities. Wily of course refuses. Suddenly a Sniper Joe appears! Rock Defeats him but here's the catch, Timeman has frozen time and took Dr.Wily while Rock was fighting the sniper Joe. So of course Stern thinks that Rock and Dr.Light helped him escape!

Meanwhile back at the Light household it appears Oilman has slicked his way into kidnapping Roll!

Art:
While all the characters look just fine I do have some issues with the backgrounds...as they are sparse. It's especially noticeable on non-action scenes. Sometimes the character's facial expressions do not look exactly right either. Matt Herms's Coloring is top notch! I like the fact that Megaman actually changes color when he uses a borrowed power! Overall the art is pretty darn decent.

Is this Book for everybody??

Well, I'd say yes. There's plenty of fan service, and various easter eggs. It's an All-Ages title with Plenty of action! And if you're a fan of Megaman or Capcom at all, You owe it to yourself to check it out. The book as it stands sort of feels almost like an amalgam of all the megaman games on the ol' NES. Maybe if it's successful enough, and Capcom allows it, Archie will make a MegmanX comic.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ARE BACK!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (2011) Published by IDW

Writer: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz
Artist: Kevin Eastman (layouts) Dan Duncan (Finishes)
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Bobby Curnow



With this new #1 they Modernize the Origin a little bit, and introduce April O'Niel, Casey Jones, and Baxter Stockman. I'm a Big fan of the Old school Ninja Turtles. When I heard that Kevin Eastman was to be heavily involved with the new series by IDW, I jumped at the chance to buy it! Let me tell you, they did not disappoint.

The action starts off with the turtles and Splinter fighting a mutant cat named Old Hob. Fans will automatically notice that Raphael is missing. Don't worry, he's in it, just not in the beginning. Old Hob escapes while reminding the others of Raphael, who is, apparently homeless. He's stumbling around looking for food. He then comes across Casey Jones, and His Abusive and Drunk father.

As for a first issue, It's pretty easy to get into. Also, If you're expecting a kiddied down Nickelodeon version, Don't Buy it. There's some swearing, and Blood. I only wish it wasn't $3.99!