Thursday, January 12

Teaser


The face of things to come from Arnold Arre.

The rather sinister image above was emailed to me by none other than Mr. Myth Class himself, Arnold Arre. It's a teaser for his upcoming comic project, which is his take on Pinoy superheroes. When I first saw the pic, the first thing that popped into my head was the Alagad ni Kalantiao TV series of long, long ago. It was a local series about a trio of motorcycle-riding, leather vest-wearing, baton-swinging, martial arts-kicking vigilantes sent out by the titular wise man/hermit to fight evil. I remember it only vaguely, but it was pretty cool at the time.
It will be a kick to see what Arnold has done to reimagine the title (since he, or specifically his better half Cyn, has more or less confirmed that I was correct in my assumption). The project has apparently been 3 years in the making- look for it to make another big splash in the local comics scene very soon.

UPDATE: Arnold's latest creation is apparently titled Andong Agimat, and will be released under his own Tala Studios (meaning, he's spending for it with his own money instead of a publishing house like Adarna). The gritty superhero/supernatural tale will concern the titular hero's search for the goddess Maria Makiling, who has apparently lost her memory and is now wandering a dangerous Metro Manila. Hmmm. Interesting. Veeery interesting. Wait for this one, very soon.

Wednesday, January 11

Wounded Animal

DARN IT! Like his Raw counterpart, Dave 'The Animal' Batista has also lost the WWE Heavyweight Championship Belt.

The former champion incurred another injury (a ripped tricep, I believe) during a bout with wrestler Mark Henry, which is even more serious than his earlier injury. Batista had been performing full time on WWE Smackdown despite not yet recovering 100 percent from his earlier injuries in order to keep the shows and storylines going in the wake of Eddie Guerrero's death, but this time there's no way out of it.
In the latest Smackdown show, an emotional Batista was forced to relinquish his title to General Manager Teddy Long. The WWE Heavyweight Championship was then fought over by other WWE superstars in a Battle Royale. The winner?

SPOILER ALERT.... The new WWE Heavyweight Champion is none other than Raw's Kurt Angle, who surprised all by showing up on the Smackdown set. The outsider was then attacked by other Smackdown superstars, but eventually survived to eliminate Mark Henry and become the new WWE Heavyweight Champion.

EDITED:
Dave Batista's surgery to his ripped tricep was a complete success, which will probably ensure that he'll be back in a big way after he recuperates. Here's to you reclaiming the Belt, Gentle Giant.

Tuesday, January 10

Dysfunctional

I've seen a couple of episodes of the Animax show, The Family Defensive Alliance. The show started late December and was billed as 'The Incredibles of Anime'. Well, it's about a family in Japan that has more or less been drafted into being the defenders of the planet by a race of secretive aliens. Now, using special cards in their possession, the family members transform into supersuit-wearing 'superheroes' employing galactic-class weaponry against various invading alien monsters.

The schtick here is that the family, The Daichis, are about as dysfunctional as a family can be. The Dad, Mamoru, is an overweight, meek, indecisive wimp. Mom (and one hot momma at that) Seiko is about as sensitive and sweet as a chili pepper and is overbearing to the hilt, especially to shy daughter Nozomi. Finally, the youngest son Dai is a gross little brat. The financial situation is dismal. Mom wants a divorce. The kids are at each other's throats. And they're supposed to save the world?
It's this very manic family situation paired with giant monster invasions that will either drive you away from this series or keep you watching episode per episode. This is a lot more gritty than Pixar's film ever was, which is actually cool in a way as it should make any sentimental pay-offs that much more meaningful. However, it probably will get a lot darker before it gets better since several aliens in, the family is heavily in debt (they earn money for victories but have to pay for every weapon they use!) and they're still not the picture-perfect album material. Well, deep inside they probably really do love each other. Maybe. Oh well.
What this series does have is really slick and cool animation, pretty lovely character designs and a moody ending song that makes you wonder if there's a happy ending in there somewhere. Hmm. We'll just have to see. The Family Defensive Alliance is shown every 8AM on weekdays on Animax.

NOTE: This series is actually an anime originally titled The Daichis: Earth's Defense Family. Good luck in finding this obscure title in anime shop's, since I haven't been able to track it down.
RAW Deal

In the just-concluded WWE Pay-Per-View, New Year's Revolution, WWE Champion John Cena became a former champion. While he was able to weather through the brutal Elimination Chamber match with competitors Kurt Angle, Sean Michaels, Carlito Carribean Cool, Chris Masters and Kane, he lost the title subsequently when Edge cashed in his 'Money in the Bank' clause for an instant WWE Title Match. Two spears later, the heel Edge won to earn his first WWE championship.
I know for a fact that part of the reason why The Doctor of Thugganomics lost was due to the insistent amount of negative reactions he has been getting from crowds at WWE shows and PPVs. While Cena is certainly one of the more likeable champs since his face turn (he started off as a heel in the WWE), he consistently gets booed and booed a lot by crowds of assholes in the WWE shows.
Anyway, perhaps it's time for a bit of rocking the boat, at least. I hope that Cena retains his bad-ass face persona, instead of turning heel. We need more bad-ass good guys more than assholes in the WWE. Perhaps in the future, Cena will recapture the WWE belt, as well as the favor of these blasted nay-sayers. He's a young superstar, so he should have lots of years of FU-ing the competition to come in the theater that is the WWE.

Sunday, January 8

Dark Resurrection


Tekken 5 Barbie!

The arcade update to Tekken 5, subtitled Dark Resurrection is now available in local arcades here in the Metro. The update features primarily two new characters: Dragunov is a Russian soldier/Marilyn Manson-lookalike who specializes in the commando sambo fighting style (lots of heavy punches and kicks, grapples) while Lili is a young woman with long, blonde hair (and a panty-flashing short skirt) who dances her opponents to defeat. Aside from these newcomers, the game also has the return of fan cult-fave Armor King, the jaguar-masked master of dark wrestling. The veteran characters also get lots of new colors and items for customization.

I didn't actually get to play, being content to just watch the fights. The two new fighters didn't impress me too much... not that I saw much of them since the players were predictably using their favorite boring fighters.

I don't expect Dark Resurrection to make it to the PS2, it seems mainly an incentive for the arcade crowd to keep playing. I'm much more interested in seeing the next real Tekken game- hopefully with an itineration still on PS2, with a character creator function like Soul Calibur 3 did. And Tekken Tag Tournament II on PS3. We'll see how the Iron Fist saga goes later this year.
Quest 2006

Last night, the Comic Quest Gang met for the first time this year at UCC Coffee. Along with the 'pillars' of the gang, Vin, Dean, Nikki there were veterans (me and Andrew) and our new-vets, Alex and Kate. Yeah, the roster has changed a bit, but that didn't lessen the bouts of uncontrollable laughter and the intelligent, irreverent and thoroughly entertaining conversations. We talked about life, love and quirks that make each person unique and how in this day and age if you want to make something of yourself you have to take the first steps yourself, or let yourself be helped.

The night ended in the wee hours of the morning after a very early breakfast/food trip at an all-night McDonald's, and then we were off into the night for home. A great way to start the year for the gang. Later, people.