Universal Dork

The Most Unsuccessful Blog on the 'Net Since 2009!

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  • Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures: Classic Video Game Brilliance!

    Holy shit, sometimes I miss my classic video games! Back in the 1980’s playing the classic Nintendo 64 with rad games like Super Mario Brothers, Rygar, Mega Man and Castlevania (just to name a few)! Well it seems that The Angry Video Game Nerd misses that shit as much as I do as his classic game Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures is released for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS today!

    If you haven’t check this one out check out the trailer it’s a helluva good time. if you’re missing the 80’s as much as I do then go challenge yourself with this one. Sometimes with video games you gotta keep things simple, the video games of the 80’s were a damn good time. I hope to see even more interest in the genre! Nice work Angry Video Game Nerd!!

  • Archangel Coming to the Big Screen in Age of Apocalypse?!

    This new pic released as concept art for Bryan Singer’s X-men: Age of Apocalypse has got me pretty damn excited. It clearly shows that this “final” installment of the movie franchise will feature once again The Angel, (Warren Worthington III) making an appearance on the big screen! Unfortunately we got a pretty flimsy version of the iconic X-man in Ratner’s X-men in 2006, that’s not to say the casting wasn’t pitch perfect with Ben Foster in the role. It really featured him in a bit role as an easily forgettable part of the critically un-acclaimed movie. So now we’ve possibly got Ben Hardy being cast as that same character in the upcoming movie and really that can mean only one thing. Apocalypse and The Angel on the sliver screen together=Archangel. Check out this pic released yesterday…

    So in the pic it looks like Warren is on display, caged in some sort of auditorium. People think this might be some sort of traveling carnival, or an alternate dimension but I think it’s Angel perhaps held captive by some anti-mutant group before they “clip his wings” for show. It also reminds me of  an image of Warren when his wings were taken from him viciously by The Marauders during the Mutant Massacre storyline(one of the best), however in the above concept picture it’s not clear if his wings have been impaled.

    To me it was a sad day back in the 1980’s for The Angel when this happened and the loss of his wings ultimately lead to him “committing suicide” by crashing a plane he was piloting. We all know though he was far from dead and the next chapter for the character was perhaps the most compelling. Apocalypse saved him from his suicide and turned him into a blue skinned killing machine with razor sharp metal wings. No longer was Warren the blonde pretty boy, now he was a deadly character that could go one on one with the likes of Wolverine and Sabretooth. Archangel is easily one of my favorite Marvel characters of all time but over time they decided to transform him back into the his original form with the feather wings.

     

    We however in the past few years saw the Archangel persona return and join X-Force where he lead the team to murder the resurrected incarnation of Apocalypse as a young boy. So I can say with certainty that we are going to see Archangel on the big screen because lets face it to include Warren Worthington and Apocalypse in the same flick and not follow this story line would be a crime! Don’t screw this up Singer!!!  

  • Walking Dead #139 Review!

    I know I’ve talked some shit here in the past about how The Walking Dead comic book had become a bit boring and that the whole dang thing has become a bit of a stale read. But now I’m starting to actually kind of dig the current direction of the book slowly but surely. We’re at a point now where things are beginning to become interesting again….I hope. In the previous issue, we had Carl losing his virginity to a weird girl who’s part of the clan who wears zombie skin on their bodies to go undetected by the undead. What things are looking like lately is that Carl actually just might be able to carry this book on his own someday replacing Rick. I really am enjoying this version of him filled with a bunch of teen angst and rage.

    Issue 139 also shows the return of Michonne finally, and we learn what she’s been up to all this time and much more. We see the return of Ezekiel and see Rick’s crew venture to the coast where as you can see on the cover,   people are indeed out venturing on boats. We also get an emotional long overdue conversation between Rick and Michonne and most interesting we see Carl’s raging hormones/teenage emotions brewing some serious trouble for everyone, whether they like it or not.

    I’ve been with this book from issue #1 and it’s been quite a wild ride, some of it I have loved and some of it hasn’t been too inspiring. I see a light at the end of this tunnel and for the first time in a while I can say I’m looking forward to the next issue. Let’s hope things get totally out of hand here and Kirkman moves the book into some new directions, my fingers are crossed…don’t blow it Kirkman! 

  • Metallica’s “And Justice for All” With Audible Newsted Basslines!?

    Word came out in the last day finally from Steve Thompson, the man responsible for mixing Metallica’s classic 1988 masterpiece “And Justice for All”. Finally addressing the elephant in the room- the fact that the album has no bass in it’s final mix! For years us Metallica fans were downright perplexed as to why it sounded as if Jason Newsted was absent from the record.

    Was it a hazing he got for replacing legendary bassmaster Cliff Burton? Or was it just a bad decision by the mixer himself? Well the man had this to say about Lars Ulrich:

    “We had to get the drum sound up the way he(Lars) had it,” Thompson says. “I wasn’t a fan of it. So now he goes, ‘See the bass guitar?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, great part, man. He killed it.’ He said, ‘I want you to bring down the bass where you can barely, audibly hear it in the mix.’ I said, ‘You’re kidding. Right?’ He said, ‘No. Bring it down.’ I bring it down to that level and he says, ‘Now drop it down another 5 dB.’ I turned around and looked at [Metallica guitarist James] Hetfield and said, ‘He’s serious?’ It just blew me away.”

    “My only regret is that we didn’t have enough time to at least mix it the way we heard it,” he says. “I wanted to take Master Of Puppets and blow that away. That was my sonic direction for … And Justice For All. It was all there but I think they were looking for more garagey-type sound without bass. And the bass was great; it was perfect.”

    Damn that Lars, always fucking some shit up, My question is why not re-release the album today with a new mix and remastering? They must have all the tracks still, it’s one of the most legendary metal album of all time. They’d make a ton of money and the fans would eat it up. Officially remix this shit! In the meantime there’s an awesome video on youtube where Newsted’s bass IS actually enhanced check this shit out, it give the album a whole new vibe!

     

  • VHS Verdict: Let the Highway to Hell Take You Back to the 90’s!

     

    I recently scored this cool flick from 1991 on VHS- “Highway to Hell” is a ton of fun! This is a great, totally forgotten flick with an incredibly ridiculous plot to keep the party going. It stars Chad Lowe, you guessed it Rob Lowe’s lesser known younger brother as the teenage hero who must rescue his girlfriend Kristy “original Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Swanson from an evil demonic cop who kidnaps her. Where does he take her you may ask? The Highway to Hell duh! Check out the movie poster which for some reason Kristy Swanson decided not to be featured on?! 

    Chad Lowe quickly manages to get a rad old classic car from a weird ass gas station owner who just happens to know the the story of the creepy cop and the Highway to Hell-how convenient! He sends him off down the mythic highway in a scene which seriously calls to mind Marty Mcfly in the DeLorean in Back to the Future. Soon Lowe is transported to another dimension where he must venture to find his lost lover and encounter some familiar faces from the early 90’s, most notably Ben Stiller as a crazy diner cook and the sexy vixen rocker Lita Ford! Yeeeeah!

    This one’s a cooky adventure filled with a ton of lovably stupid characters, cameos and early 90’s fashion. And some of the best damn hand cuffs in the history of all cinema! Add a goofy climax race scene against the demon cop arranged by Beezlebub himself and you’ve got a sure fire hit for lovers of bad cinema. Don’t take this one too seriously but do watch it with a bunch of friends and plenty of booze!

     

     

  • Doomsday Terrorizes Superman…Joker Style?!

    No matter what you though about the controversial cancelled Bat Girl variant cover you can’t deny it’s got people talking about what they think is appropriate in 2015 for the two big major comic book companies! Well here we another pic that’s generating some buzz by Ray Dillon it’s Superman being terrorized by Doomsday, the very villain who at one time killed him! What do you think he’s trying to say about the topic?

  • Frankenstein Goes Underground with Mignola!

     

    I Just read the brand new first issue of Frankenstein Underground that just came out today by Mike Mignola & Ben Stenbeck. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Frankenstein’s monster in a Mignola story, nope he originally appeared in the Hellboy story “House of the Living Dead” back in 2011. A great little story where Hellboy has a short career in Mexico wrestling monsters and yeah Frankenstein’s Monster is one of his opponents/buddies.

     

    That’s what I enjoyed so much about this first issue, it really ties in with a few stories from the ever expanding Mignolaverse. Don’t worry though this story is a simple one so far, it follows The legendary monster into the 1950’s where he’s helped by a witch and hunted by a familiar face from a classic BPRD adventure. It also appears that the title of this book should be taken quite literally as it’s clear the  creatures adventure is headed far below-perhaps to hell?

    This is a nice weird ass first issue with a great cover by Mike himself. Let’s face it how can you turn down a solo Frankenstein story written by Mignola that takes place in the 1950’s? I’ll be there for issue two because these days I’d rather spend my time in the unique world of the Mignolaverse than the generic confines of the Marvel Universe….

  • Bat Girl #41 Variant Cover Controversy: Did They Really Go to Far?

    First let it be known, I’m not a dedicated reader of the latest Bat Girl series, but I’ve obviously read “The Killing Joke”, arguably the greatest Batman story ever. In that classic graphic novel The Joker became one of the most frightening villains in all of comic book history. We saw a Joker that was far more dangerous, insane and sick than anything we ever witnessed before and this all involved what he did to Barbara Gordon (Bat Girl). The Joker kidnaps her, shoots her, strips her naked and then photographs her for her father to later see. This was a chilling sequence in the original comic book, and it left you wondering just what else the Joker may have done to her that was not shown but rather implied by a few of the panels.

    Flash forward to present time and we have a newer Bat Girl series, with a lighter tone and delivering a positive message of empowerment to women. Then along comes this very different feeling variant cover by Raphael Albuquerque….

    It was meant as a throwback cover to The Killing Joke and has caused loads of controversy. DC has received threats of violence and harassment for the image. People have deemed the cover as too inappropriate because of it’s clearly dark imagery a frightened, crying and bleeding Bat Girl with the Joker’s arm wrapped around her, gun in hand. It’s a variant cover so it really doesn’t need to have anything to do with the story inside the comic and most often these covers are meant for die hard collectors. I’m thinking a few things as I view it, first it’s an incredibly creepy cover, mostly if you know exactly what happened to Barbara Gordon back in The Killing Joke. Second it’s clearly a awesome piece of artwork portraying an excellent clearly insane Clown Prince of Crime. Third it’s maybe one of the most powerful comic book covers I’ve seen in years, it clearly strikes a nerve and leaves you with a feeling of utter dread.

     

    I don’t think the cover is so offensive that it should be cancelled, but it may be tonally wrong for the series at the current moment in time. People in an uproar however also need to realize that this is fiction, not every story is going to an uplifting experience, some of the best stories do at times involve tragedy, in fact that’s what makes The Killing Joke so powerful in the first place. I agree, this cover may just be too disturbing for the current Bat Girl series, it does show a Bat Girl in a state of pure fright, some may view it as a women portrayed as weak, it brings back some those bad vibes of the Alan Moore tale but I also can say as a fan of The Killing Joke, if this was the cover to an actual Bat Girl story that was related to 1988 classic, DC would’ve have me picking up Bat Girl on a regular basis for the first time in my life…

     

  • The Outer Space Men: Those Groovy 60’s Aliens!

    Let’s take a second to look at some cool action figures way back from the 1960’s! The Outer Space Men by Colorforms!! You may know Colorforms better as those little plastic stickers of your fav cartoon characters you’d stick on and peel off the backgrounds way back when. But Colorforms also put out these totally radical bendy alien action figures as well!

    They had kick ass names too like Commander Comet, Xodiac, Colossus Rex, Electron+, Astro-Nautilus, Alpha 7 & Orbitron. They wasn’t much to their backstory just a gang of groovy aliens you could collect and play with all day, unfortunately I wasn’t born yet when the hit the stands and the chances of finding one in good shape of the original series is pretty slim. Also the bendy figures with the wire inside them had a limit to their lives normally, you’d often break the wires and get a bunch of limp wristed bad asses- not a good combo!

     

  • Phototracing and Lightboxes: Real Comic Book Art?

    I’ve been questioning some of the ways comic book artists are doing their “artwork” these days. Lets face it art has changed quite a bit from back when comic books were printed on newsprint and cost a mere sixty cents. Today our comic books cost four bucks and are full of computerized gloss. Hell I’m not even sure what they are printed on is actually real paper. But it got me thinking a lot on just how comic book art is produced these days for the bigger companies out there. It turns out a lot of artist out there are phototracing, meaning gathering photos online, shot from a digital camera or even other artists actual artwork, uploading them onto the computer or light box and tracing them, adding costumes different hair etc.

    It seems this trend has a small debate forming on what exactly is real art in comic books these days? Is it real art when Alex Maleev uses a light box to do all of his city back grounds or David Mack tracing pictures of his characters? Or when an artist simply takes some celebrity photos and traces over them giving the characters their likeness? To me I’m a little disappointed to hear that this trend is becoming even more popular these days. I guess you don’t have to spend much time with perspective if you’re merely tracing a photo.

    I guess the “Artist” these days has maybe actually become the inker? Don’t get me wrong there’s still good degree of skill and talent needed to make a trace job look real good. People have been photo referencing for years but tracing to me just doesn’t really make the cut. I love for a comic book to look good, heck if the comic has shitty generic artwork (as most do these days is seems) I flat out just won’t buy it.

    Art is very important to me when dropping 4 bones a pop on a comic book these days the art and story better be top notch. What do you think? Do you care how the artwork was made in your comic book? Here’s a great video from IFanboy on the great debate of phototracing!