Tech Toy


My NEW Phone!!!

It's the AV700, and it's INCREDIBLE!!! I knew I had to give up my XDA II MIni when I laid my eyes on it. How can you resist that HUGE, 7-inch screen?! Yes, you heard that right... 7 INCHES! Yeah, I need a clutchbag to bring it around in, and I can't really put it on my belt or my pants will sag, but DARN isn't that screen lovely? Oh, and it can't get a signal worth shit. But DARN it has a huge screen. Well, with 40 gigs of space in the hard drive, I don't really have time to call or text anyone when I'm busy watching vids, right? MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'm kidding of course.

The device above is the Archos AV700, and it's a portable Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and player. I wasn't pulling legs with the 7-inch screen though. I read the review in M/PH (a local tech mag) and just felt this was right for me. All week I've been troubling over three possible things to get for myself- it was a toss-up between a Playstation Portable or PSP, the new I-Pod (with video) and an Archos PVP (Personal Video Player).

I got thinking... the PSP is really nice and the price has gone down a LOT... but the games STILL aren't worth playing for me. There's Metal Gear Acid, but it's a darn CARD game. Not even Solid Snake can make me like a card game. Games on UMD are horribly expensive (at least 3K a pop), though you can now get games directly recorded on memory sticks from certain stores... it still doesn't change the fact that I still don't like any of the games and I don't really play games outside the house. So... even though I was tempted when I saw an actual PSP on display with Ridge Racer running on it amazingly at Megamall, I wasn't swayed. Give me a Tekken, DOA or a Streetfighter III title, Final Fantasy or something worth my time, and maybe I'll spring, Sony.

The new Apple I-Pod looks pretty awesome. It's thin, the screen looks great and you can bring 60 gigs of video and music around. Awesome! However, it has been made clear to me that the new I-Pod is first and foremost still a music player with video tagged on since the battery only lasts for little more than two hours playing video. Anyway, in that case, my O2 Mini still works perfectly as my portable video player, and I don't need to expend the extra effort to bring it around. basically, the I Pod just clones my phone's functions for a bit of cool factor and extra weight. It was a nice dream but really, nope.

So we came to the Archos PVP. I finally decided on it thanks to the recording capability. I can finally give my PC's old, old video capture card and the now weirdly-reduced Hard Drive a rest. The AV700 can record from TV, VCR, DVD and other sources simply by plugging in the docking station, inserting the proper AV-Ins and letting her rip. The resulting AVI files are crisp and easily convertible via PocketDIVXEncoder for mobile formats. The only problem here is that video copied from 'legit' DVDs can't be played on anything other than the AV700 itself, thanks to copy protection (I'll have to get special stuff to get around this problem... or just get pirated DVDs aplenty). There are tons more options on it aplenty, including on-board video editing, music and photos and more.
Bottom line is, I love video and recording video and all that jazz, and the AV700 gives it to me in Spades. It's something I will actually use, and use a lot. And that's what really counts when you get tech toys. And I can actually bring it along for trips with a library of movies to watch in a snap. And yes, I can now watch movies in the bathroom. HOHO!

An early Christmas present, and hopefully not the last. Heh.

Nursing

Early today, I rode with my mom to my drop-off point and we were listening on the radio to how a lot of hospitals are closing down because of the lack of doctors and nurses to man them. Mom was pretty worked up today and exclaiming how this all served the crappy hospitals and doctors right after all the years of abusing nurses. She said that today, while doctors earn huge salaries, nurses earn barely minimum wage in exchange for doing all the dirty work and facing abusive treatment from pompous docs. Nowadays, nurses are in big demand overseas, earning hundreds of dollars a day. That's why there's a big migration of nurses, and even doctors now passing themselves as nurses, to work abroad.

The stream of thought eventually got Mom telling of how, when she was a nurse in her younger days, she got into a big fight with a patient's relative. Apparently, the argument got so bad the other woman started hurling expletives at my mom, particularly "PUTANG INA MO!" (which basically calls your mother a whore) This got my Mom angry as well and hurled back 'Don't call my mother a whore!" The opponent then threw an ashtray at her, and in response Mom threw back a vase. She resigned soon after that.

Ah, Mom. No one else like her.

X Marks the Spot

Today, the first next-gen gaming console arrived in the U.S. as Microsoft's XBox 360 hit store shelves. The ultra-powerful game console beat the upcoming Sony Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Revolution to the punch; both opposing consoles aren't due for release until well into 2006.
For now, early adopters will surely be going for the new uber-toy, opting for either a basic set or the premium bundle which comes with a 20 Gigabyte Hard Drive. The graphics on the 360 games indeed look awesome, as seen in online videos and reviews on the launch games.
The earliest games available on the XBox360 include the racer Project Gotham Racing 3, the mature First Person Action Adventure Condemned (which puts you on the trail of some truly twisted serial killers) and the shooter Perfect Dark Zero.

It's a no-brainer that I'm getting myself the console, but I'm going to hold off until Dead or Alive 4 becomes available, and when the cost settles from the sure-to-be-overblown early price tag.

Darn, I'll have to make room in the ol' gaming wing again. Sigh. Man, but that's gonna be a pleasurable chore. Heh.

DOA Movie


The DOA girls. In a row. With swords. EH?

The movie adaptation of the Dead or Alive series of videogames is well underway. I've just seen the trailer, and it seems pretty tongue-in-cheek and comedic, playing on the expected girl-power theme of the movie. The bad thing is that the characters don't seem to 'feel' like the actual characters from the game- they just all seem to be generic tough/sexy girls, which is kind of a shame. Still, the fighting scenes look pretty cool (Corey Yuen's fight choreography should shine through no matter what) so it should be entertaining. It does at least show the girls doing lots of fighting in little clothing (of course, there's the ol' ambush on the girl while she's fresh from the shower scene), so I'm game. Heh.

I would have preferred though something even remotely close to the ninja-centric action of the game's plot, with additions of some of the other characters into the mix. What is coming out though seems to be a whole different monster. Oh, well. Whatever. At least there's the obligatory and much-hyped beach volleyball scene. Heh.

Dead or Alive the movie has been described as 'Charlie's Angels meets Enter the Dragon', mixing sexy ladies and martial arts. The movie will be directed by Corey Yuen (Drunken Master ) and stars Devon Aoki as ninja girl Kasumi, Shane Kosugi as videogame ninja hero Ryu Hayabusa, Holly Valance as Christy the Assassin/bounty hunter, Jaime Pressly as wrestling star Tina Armstrong and Kevin Nash (WCW, TNA) as her over-protective father Bass. Other cast members include Natassia Malthe (last seen in the Elektra movie), Eric Roberts and Robin Shou.


The promised Beach Volleyball scene is IN.

Another Con


Cebu played host to this year's Advertising Congress.

Over the weekend I attended the Awards Night of the 2005 Advertising Congress. It was a tiring but fun way to spend time, although it did take it's toll on my stamina. The actual Ad Congress actually took place over the entire week, but I only went to attend the finale. Took a nice, short flight over via Cebu Pacific Airlines and finally had my first vist to Cebu.
Cebu's a nice place- it actually reminds me a lot of Manila, save for the occasional Cebuano name and the way they don't use jeepneys for their... well, jeepneys. The place has a rural feel to it, which is refreshing in many ways.



We all stayed at the Waterfront Hotel, which is one of the nicest hotels I've seen locally. Too bad I only really got to stay there barely two days. And most of that time was spent working on our stuff for the AdCon's Awards Night, preparing our stuff for the parade which was the highlight of the event.


We gorged ourselves on great food at a nearby restaurant. YUM!

Sadly I wasn't able to go around much, but I did partake of a feast at a nice restaurant called The Golden Cowrie. We had sisig, tinola,tuna fillets, baked scallops, ribs, crispy pata and MORE. I mean, the food seemed to go on forever. It was bliss. After a while my jaw just got tired of working and I settled into a nice buzz. Well, we needed that energy for the night. The opening parade of the Awards Night had several competing agencies show off costumes done to the theme of 'The World's Great Cities of Advertising", and we got Mumbai, India. Our idea was basically a walking Kama Sutra, and we had these large boards with images of the erotic artworks (properly censored, of course) with holes for our faces. Several dancers showering the place with petals and drummers with body paint completed our entourage. How did we do? To put it simply, we were a hit with the crowds and we took home first place for the night.
The fun didn't end there, and our agency took home several awards, ranging from a Gold to a couple of Silvers and several Bronzes. Not as much as some of the bigger ad agencies, but it was a GREAT showing compared to our last AdCon. Bottom line, we went away happy.



We celebrated at the Hotel Casino's restaurant, pretty much starving after the several-hour awards night. By the time I lugged myself to bed, it was about 3 AM. We all got up at around 7:30 AM to check out and get ready for the flight home just before lunchtime.

All in all, a tiring, whirlwind weekend that was, thankfully, extremely rewarding and memorable. Here's looking forward to the next AdCOn in 2007!

Hot Pot


The best Potter yet.

The Harry Potter movie series is a pretty special franchise for me. While I have to say that I am an on-and-off reader of the books, I have enjoyed the film translations immensely from day one. Up till now, my favorite has been film three, Prisoner of Azkaban, which was exceptional thanks to the darker look given by director Alfonso Cuaron, more sophisticated crafting in general as opposed to the more pedestrian handling of the first two films. When Cuaron was replaced by director MIke Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) for Goblet of Fire, I had the slight worry that things might take a step back.

Thankfully, my worries were unfounded and after watching HP4, I can honestly say it's my favorite of the series so far and perhaps the best Potter film yet.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire brings back the entire cast for the titular wizard boy's fourth year at Hogwarts School for Witches and Wizards. This year starts with the grand event of the World Quidditch Finals, a glorious contest marred by a subsequent attack on the gathered spectators by a group of masked wizards known as the Death Eaters, otherwise known as the followers of 'You Know Who.' Soon afterwards, a mysterious wizard casts a fiendish and sinister sign onto the sky, the Dark Mark- You Know Who's symbol and a message to all that The Dark One, Voldemort is about to make his terrifying return.
Well, that said, it's all back to Hogwarts for Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and the rest of the young wizards and witches of their generation. But this year isn't just any year, as shown by the spectacular entrances of entourages from two other wizarding schools- the fierce Cossack-like boys from Durmstrang, and the graceful girls from the French college of Beauxbatons. As Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) informs them all, this year will see the holding of the latest Tri-Wizard Tournament, a long-standing competition of wizards for everlasting glory.

Of course, Harry is quite happy to just watch and enjoy the precedings, especially since the 14-year old wizard is far under the required age of 17 to join. However, his name inexplicably appears from the Goblet of Fire, forcing him to become the unprecedented FOURTH entrant in a contest between three wizards- something that readily puts Harry in hot water. As anyone can probably tell, there are dark forces at work in Hogwarts, and not all is as it seems.

Prior to the release of GOF, many readers expressed worry at how good a translation of the book would be, since the fourth book is a very thick chapter. Fortunately, the script is pretty tight and skims over events such as the opening World Quidditch Finals fairly quickly. From there on, it's a pretty well-paced story through to the somewhat dark ending.
And the film is dark- GOF makes Prisoner of Azkaban look like a comedy. The film starts in a shadowy and gothic graveyard, then quickly shows a magical murder of a hapless Muggle. Along with the intense action of the Tri-wizard Contests, there's the climactic confrontation between Harry and You Know Who which results in another character's demise.

Still, this all goes hand in hand with the book, and while Harry Potter 4 is definitely the darkest so far, it's also the best in many ways. Visually, it's positively SPECTACULAR. I read somewhere that director Newell chose the effects crew of the earlier two films instead of the team employed by Cuaron in Azkaban... and while there aren't as many camera works as in HP3, Goblet's use of visuals and the sheer wonder of the sights shown are nothing short of magical. Sights like the World Quidditch Finals, Harry's breakneck chase with the dragon and more are easily the most impressive in the series so far.

Aside from the effects, I have to give props to the script by Steven Kloves, which is the clearest and most concise of the Potter films, expertly cutting out extraneous plots and leaving still a gripping, well-flowing narrative. Other than being the darkest, HP4 is also paradoxically the funniest- I can't count the times I found myself just chuckling and laughing out loud at moments onscreen- Newell is able to bring out moments of good-natured humor readily, whether it's from the eternal foibles of Ron Weasley, the antics of the two elder Weasley brothers Fred and George (who are pleasantly given quite a lot of screen time to provide much of the film's comic relief), the somewhat overgrown matching of Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) and Beauxbaton's headmistress Madame Maxime (Frances de la Tour).

The cast of the movie certainly has that homey, familiar feel- something that has borne fruit thanks to the so far more or less consistent appearances of the actors. Of course, the three leads- Radcliffe, Grint and Watson- ARE Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, literally. I truly can't picture anyone else stepping into their roles down the line, so I really hope they stay on for the duration. HP4 gives them more dramatic chops to take on, and a bit more angst into their roles. I found Radcliffe's Potter in Goblet his best performance yet, whether it's in the physical events or just being Harry. Ron gets to have a bit of angst along with his humor, while Hermione positively blooms in an evening gown during the Hogwart's Yule Ball.

Michael Gambon's Dumbledore, for me, is solidified in this one. Others may find the more energetic Arch Wizard not as gentle or as grandfatherly as portraryed by the late Richard Harris, but I really like the more crafty, more human but certainly the more forceful Dumbledore as acted by Gambon. If I'm going to have someone to watch my back against Voldemort, I want someone you can feel has the craftiness AND the strength to back it up.
And speaking of Voldemort... Ralph Fiennes. The Potter movies have always had great choices for casting, and having Mr. Fiennes is just as inspired as the choice of Gary Oldman as Sirius Black. Fiennes gives Voldemort the character and the menace he was missing (he WAS a CG character after all in the first film, and a snotty teen in Chamber of Secrets) in previous installments. After seeing the incredibly dark and scary climax of Goblet, I can't wait for him and Harry to cross wands again in the next movies.

As for the rest of the cast, they're all truly in fine form, albeit some have seriously reduced roles. Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) gets at least one scene to harass Potter, and has a hilarious classroom scene. Sadly, Sirius Black is limited to one scene, and in CG at that. Still, it's great to see that characters like Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) and even Moaning Myrtle (Shirley Henderson) are given their moments.

The new characters also pull through well- veteran actor Brendan Gleeson makes for a suitably MAD Mad-eye Moody, and he's alternately scary and hilarious to see onscreen. Miranda Richardson's Rita Skeeter loses a LOT of her teeth in the film, but she does get to be a pain for the moment she's there. As for the young 'uns, Katie Leung's Cho Chang is suitably charming and lights up the screen when she appears, while Robert Pattinson as the pivotal character of Cedric Diggory is handled well enough for the character to have the impact needed later in film's climax. Victor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski) and Fleur Delacour (a lovely Clemence Poesy) don't get as much lines or screen time, but at least Mr. Krum gets the best girl on the dance floor, while Fleur gives Ron his reason to smile.

After watching Goblet of Fire, I honestly wish to see it again in theaters, something that I didn't feel with previous entries in the series. This is certainly the most satisfying, most enjoyable Potter film yet.

As the 'Empire Strikes Back' chapter of the Potter franchise, Goblet of Fire opens the door to the more mature chapters beyond. And given the excellent quality of this latest movie, I can't wait to see Order of the Pheonix and Half-blood Prince in theaters.

Watch Goblet of Fire in theaters. NOW. While it's HOT.

Cover Girl


Tales to Amaze!

Here's the long-overdue 'cover' (or page 1) of my Samurai Sis story for our group's upcoming Project Hero comic anthology. I'll be finishing it all up tonight and turning in the stuff to the editors tomorrow. The art's sketchy, pencilled look is cool, but I wouldn't want to do it all the time since I'll get rusty with ink pens. I had fun with Samurai Sis, but only time will tell if I delve deeper into the story of the young Sobek siblings and their nasty Noodle Nemesis. We'll see.

After this, I'll finish up the Comic Quest release of Kunoichi Boy 1, and then it's on to other titles. Stay tuned!

Welcome Back, Potter

Today, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire hits local cinemas. I'll try to catch it within the week since I won't be able to watch it on the weekend since I'll be heading off to Cebu for the awards night of this year's Ad Congress. Luckily, I wasn't a delegate so I only have to go off on an overnight stay in the Crown City of the South. The homebody in me is retching at the lost weekend, but whatever. It should be an experience since this will be my first time going to Cebu.

Anyway, back to Potter, the latest HP film looks to be at least as good as the previous entry, Prisoner of Azkaban. It's a lot darker, and having read the book I'm looking forward to seeing the storyline unfold. I'm hoping that the series regulars- Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson- stay on for the rest of the Potter series of movies... I just can't imagine not having them for the later films in the series. After four films, I've grown attached to the Hogwarts trio.

A review to come as soon as I see the movie.

Latino Heat



When I saw an montage of WWE footage of wrestler Eddie Guerrero set to sad music on Jack TV, I knew it wasn't good. When I saw the date underneath- 1967-2005, I suddenly realized that one of professional wrestling's contemporary stars had passed away.
Eddie Guerrero was found dead Sunday in the bathroom of his hotel in Minneapolis. The exact cause of his death is still unclear, though heart failure may be a possible cause.

I've been watching the adventures of 'Latino Heat' for the past couple of years on the WWE, laughing at his antics and being thoroughly entertained by the wrestler's over-the-top character. Recently, after a long heel (evil) turn which set him on a fierce fued with luchadore Rey Mysterio over custody of the latter's son, Guerrero was put in a semi-face (good) turn as a questionable good guy on the side of current WWE Heavyweight Champion Batista.

It was fun watching you perform, Eddie. Rest in peace.

Fine Dining

Several weeks ago, our office building's main canteen area closed down for financial reasons, which was funny since I always found the place full during lunch. Well, it was really no loss for us since we all didn't like the place as it was- it was dimly lit, the food quality ranged from average to old-tasting, and the place made you smell of food after you ate. And so it was pretty cool that weeks later, the nameless food center has been replaced by Triple-V Express.
Now we have a food center to be proud of. The place already has us impressed and coming back for lunch and dinner for nice meals from Japanese to Filipino to pasta and other stuff. Plus, it's all a work in progress- even more eateries and better furnishings are coming within the month.

Now we look forward to eating in again. Yay!

WWE Civil War

I love the current Raw vs Smackdown feud in the WWE shows. It pretty much is like a live-action war between two comic book universes (DC vs Marvel?). Personally, I like both shows- I like both current champions (rapper chief John Cena and half-Filipino powerhouse Batista) as well as various members of each locker room/roster. It will be cool and interesting to see how this all culminates in the upcoming Survivor Series. For now though, it's fun to see members from the opposing shows 'invading' the enemy program. Gosh, I love Jack TV.

LOST and MAD

Last night I caught an episode of Mad TV on Jack TV and they were doing a spoof of the series Lost. It was pretty hilarious in that they really got people on the show to look like the Lost characters. Of course, with MAD twists, like making old man Locke a psycho survivalist who picks his nose with his knife. Pretty cool, and a blast for fans of Lost to see. Given how Jack TV loves re-runs, they should re-air it soon. Mad TV is shown I think every other day, or every day.

Jack TV has easily become my favorite channel these days, for my WWE fixes and the occasional mature comedy skit. It's good that they seem to have new episodes of Mad TV and The Daily Show, but I'm still pissed that they are STILL re-running the old episodes of their G4 shows, X-Play, Cheat and Filter.

Gamez

If you've already picked up the EXCELLENT Soul Calibur III (which, I believe, is the finest fighting game package out right now), you may want to check out some other titles which are either on or coming soon to videogame stalls locally.

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) is from the makers of the enchanting PS2 classic Ico. This time around, it's not about a boy leading a wispy girl around. Nope. This time, the girl is DEAD, and the boy has been charged with bringing her back to life by hunting down and defeating 16 monstrous colossi... basically, the whole game is a series of Boss Battles, each one different from the last. All you have is your magical sword, bow and arrow, your loyal horse Agro and a good deal of physical agility, and you'll need them all to defeat some of the most amazingly huge enemies ever seen in videogames. A totally unique gaming experience not to be missed.

The Matrix: Path of Neo (PS2) just may be the better-late-than-never game that actually makes great use of the ultimately disappointing sci-fi trilogy. Instead of casting players as forgettable side characters, MPON puts you in the role of The One himself. WHOA! This game goes through the whole story and all three movies, from Mr. Anderson's feverish escape from agents in his office building right to the final battle with the Super Smith. A lot of things are now more detailed and in-depth, such as training levels to build up Neo's fighting skills, to branching paths from the original films (what if Neo escaped with Trinity in the office scene?). There's even talk of an alternate ending to the depressing wind-down of Matrix: Revolutions. So far, this game looks incredible, and the prospect of being able to be the real hero makes for an interesting notion. Look for this very soon.

The Movies (PC) is the latest from game god Peter Molyneux, and puts you in the seat of Studio Head for a film company, and you're tasked to produce the next blockbuster. For the sim enthusiast, you can play the game from the ground up, building your studio from empty lot to star-studded stable. Or, you can just go into sandbox mode and just film the movie you've always wanted to do. The scope and stuff you're supposed to be able to do with this game just blows me away, and I'm certainly going to try and get this and try it when I can.

Gun (multi-console) is a western shooting and action game that should be in vogue right now given the popularity of the recent HBO series, Deadwood. Players step into the boots of a revenge-seeking cowboy out to take down a rogue's gallery of villains with his six-shooters. From deadly poker games to quick-draw gun battles to breakneck horse chases, this is sure to be chock-full of action.

Check these titles out! I know I sure will. Heh.

Voices

As an anime fan, I'm often familiar with names of Japanese seiyuu (voice actors). But interestingly enough, I don't know too much about US animation's vocal greats. I grew up watching series like G.I. Joe, Thundercats and Superfriends, so maybe I should. Well, on a whim and a random thought, I looked up some voices on Google and this is what I found...

Michael Bell is one of the more recognizable voices in cartoons during the 80s, as the voice of main man Duke in G.I. Joe, and also as evil COBRA henchmen Scrap Iron, Xamot(Strange that Tomax seems to be another actor) and Major Bludd. He also appears often before the camera, notably as an alien in the pilot episodes of Star Trek: TNG.

The dangerous Destro, as well as heroic Joes Iceberg and Stalker were given their distinct voices by Arthur Burghardt

Most people may not know who Peter Cullen is, but he's the man behind the sinister voices of Venger from Dungeons and Dragons, the heroic Optimus Prime in The Transformers and K.A.R.R, the evil A.I. car in the original Knight Rider. And yes, he does those movie trailers with that deep voice, though not as many as we all would think.

EVERYONE who watched 80s cartoons without a doubt knows the acidic voices of evil Starscream and Cobra Commander. The voice that gave them venom belonged to actor Chris Latta, who unfortunately passed away in 1994. Oh, those were the days when evil sounded... EVIL.

Actress B.J. Ward voiced the lovely and deadly Scarlett, as well as the Princess Allura on the Voltron series (gah). She's also Velma in the newer Scooby Doo movies and has worked on series like Gargoyles and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.

Frank Welker is familiar to me, and no wonder- he's the voice of Megatron from The Transformers, Fred in Scooby Doo, Ray Stantz and Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters and gobs more roles. He also unfortunately starred in the Macaulay Culkin magical adventure The Pagemaster. Geh.

Amazingly enough, the Thundercats series was voiced by just a few actors, who also did double duty on sister-show Silverhawks. Many of the actors did double duty, playing both heroes and villains throughout the show. Despite the use of vocal acrobatics, you could tell that the sexy Cheetara and space cop Mandora were one and the same (Lynne Lipton. Actor Larry Kenney gave the heroic Lion-o his voice.

And of course, America's Top Ten Casey Kasem did roles from Robin the Boy Wonder in the Superfriends to Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Sigh. Too many voices in my head. But they're all in there, squabbling away and I'm glad that they're there. Mad, it is. Mad.

Back to the Salt Mines

I'm back to work after a whole week spent cooped up in The Sanctum. I'm really not the travelling type, as most people who know me can testify. I really just love vegging out at home with a supply of chichirya, the latest PS2 games, a pile of new mags and comics and a new internet card. Basically, I just stayed in and rested ('cept for the days I was sick... then I was convalescing), not venturing out even for food long after my cache of junk food and sodas was exhausted (had stuff delivered until I ran out of funds). Good thing I was so engrossed in Soul Calibur III that food actually became a non-essential. Well, it's not often that I get to just chill like that, so it was great to do so, having no cares in the world except how to unlock so-and-so hidden character or beat the frickin' cheap-ass end boss.

Unfortunately, staying home too long also started to get me to start watching the daytime soap mini-series my mom watches at lunch, so I guess it's better to get back to work. Too much of a good thing is never good.

Besides, staying at home all that time made me neglect shaving and the next thing I knew, I could see my own stubble moving over my lip as I chewed my food. Hmm.

Anyway, it's back to work and life goes on to keep earning and learning.

Angel Ace the Fighting Game!

One of the coolest things about Soul Calibur III for the PS2 is the Character Creation Mode. As I’ve mentioned in my review, it’s more ‘dress-up’ a character than anything else, since you can’t actually set moves attacks. However, it’s still a blast to try and make up a fighter based either on your personal preferences or other titles/franchises. Online, I’ve heard that players have been creating everyone from Sephiroth to Abraham Lincoln in the mode. Well, I went off and created my own original comic book characters!

Angel Ace

Hi there! Wanna spar?

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any aviator goggles in the medieval ages… what with flight being non-existent and all... the closest I could get was a futuristic visor-thingie that the programmers put in as a way of recreating another Namco character in the game. It’s a little odd looking, but the effect works, I think. I would have wanted to give her a long trailing scarf, but that one in the game unfortunately covers up half of her face, so I opted for the smaller scarf. No billowy cloth, but in the end it works, I think. Again, it’s even better to see Angel in action in the game, especially when she does some of the more high-flying, gravity-defying attacks and moves in the game. Pretty cool.

Agent K

There’s no mistaking that fierce, determined expression. Or that nice gap in her top.

Kai was easy to do, thanks to some specific parts like the leg bandage which just nails her look. The short hair with the bangs is also spot on. But if you think she looks great in a still, she’s even more dynamite in action. Give her a katana and she’s ALIVE. It’s quite thrilling to see Kai in full color and animation, and this is probably the closest I’ll get to seeing a live Agent K… unless I put my plan to have a live-model Kai cosplayer ready for the next K.I.A. comic release. Heh.

Vanya (from K.I.A.)


Vanya, as K.I.A. readers should know, is the cruel commander of KALI, and Kai's boss. The scar probably isn’t on the right eye, but what the heck… even I can’t remember where it is exactly all the time. Heh. The coat and dress she's wearing up in the pic is a bit too conservative for me... it's probably not a 'combat' outfit, which should be more in the line of what Kai wears (mmm). It should be cool to see her and Kai taking out their stress on each other. Maybe I can even do other K.I.A. characters, like the love-smitten Shikage or other SIVA or KALI agents?

Gregor the Wolf

I'm getting too old for this...

And then. where there’s Angel, there should be Gregor. It would be cool to see them actually sparring together, I thought. So here he is! He probably wouldn’t approve of the balding hair though… but it’s really the closest thing aside from really cropped. Couldn’t find a trechcoat, but I think it works. Heh.

I could have gone on and tried doing Mike and Rip, but they’re strictly non-combatants. Maybe one of these days I’ll do Kunoichi Boy CAS characters too. So, what’s the best thing to do with Angel and Kai in Soul Calibur III? Pit them against each other and finally see who’s really the better fighter, of course! Heh. What can I say? Soul Calibur III ROCKS! Heh.

Okay, back to work…

Sick as a Dog

I've been down for the past few days all week. Haven't been out of The Sanctum at all, be it for work or play. My body clock got all weirded out, then I caught a bad bug and my muscles got sore. The result? Haven't been able to do much save just sleep. I haven't been able to finish stuff, and that sucks. I'm going to have to pedal faster to finish requirements. Well, what can I say? I'm only human. Well, I hope there's still time to do what has to be done. All I can promise is to try my best.

Initial Dub

I've never really liked cars... not that I don't appreciate them, of course, but I've never really gotten that thrill of seeing a new car for the beauty or the desire to own one. I just see them as a means to go around. But if someone gifted me with a car, I'd be pretty happy. Heh.
Anyway, the point is that as a non-car lover, I would probably NEVER like the car-racing anime series, Initial D. Even just seeing the show for a few seconds doesn't do it for me... the art is UGLY (perhaps it is fitting that the cars look nicer than any of the people), and looks count a lot in anime for me. Then, there's the recent much-hyped release of the title on local Animax. The show had been dubbed by local talents- particularly young racing champ Matteo Guidecelli (who plays the lead guy) and Angel Locsin, actress and former 'Darna' star. The result? As far as everyone in an anime group I know is concerned, the local dub is horrible.
It's not that tagalog isn't good... a totally Filipino dub would not suck- I have heard shows on the new anime channel Hero dubbed in tagalog and they don't come off bad or jarring at all. What makes the Initial D dub suck is that its in TAGLISH. Irritatingly, droningly so. Everyone seems to speak like some monotone, robot kolehiyala, alternating between Filipino lines and 'high-sounding' english. It really sounds so fake, or just bad. Mr. Guidecelli may be a great driver, but that doesn't necessarily make him a fit voice actor. And as for Angel Locsin... well, someone on a mailing list put it best... Miss Locsin is better seen than heard.

Oh well. Whatever. Let the show go as it will, and just go another road.

High Calibur


The Soul still burns!

Over the weekend I got a copy of Soul Calibur III, and DAMN it's pretty cool. The latest and greatest chapter of Namco's best-selling weapons fighter mixes in lots of new stuff into the tried-and-tested recipe, including new fighters and new modes of play aplenty.
Yet again, the evil Soul Edge is endangering the midieval world. Even though the sword of darkness has been sealed by its former host, the cursed knight Siegfried, a new Nightmare is walking the land and sowing terror. Behind the scenes, sinister forces are working to free the power of Soul Edge. As before, the familiar cast of warriors, assassins, martial artists and freaks of nature engage in battle to tip the scales of balance to either good or evil ends.

As before, SC3 gives you a large roster of fighters- pretty much everyone who has appeared in Soul Calibur's previous chapters. There are three totally new players: Revenge-seeking Setsuka is a fierce woman dressed in an ornate kimono and platform clogs who wields an umbrella with a concealed blade. The cute but creepy Tira can be described as a sprite from hell- this razor-hula hoop-wielding assassin serves Soul Edge with great gusto, searching for a body for the evil sword to control. Finally, Zasalamel is a scythe-wielding mystery man who is trying to move the events around the War of Swords to his own enigmatic agenda. All three are pretty cool and fit right in with the old crew.

The other new stuff in SC3 are the Modes of Play; there are tons of these, though the most important are Tales of Souls, Chronicle of the Sword and Character Creation.
Tales of Souls is, basically, a revamped Story Mode. What distinguishes it from other games' prime modes is a lot of text, a 'Choose your own adventure' type of interface which leads you to various fights and paths, and several interactive cut scenes which may directy impact on your upcoming fight or even on the ending you see.
While it sounds great on paper, there are flaws in this new execution- many of the story scenes are shared between many characters, so it may grow repetitive fast. Sometimes, the scenes or text just get in the way of you wanting to get to the next fight fast. Still, the text does make the mode feel like a journey for the characters instead of just a succession of fights. All in all, a great way to freshen up the old Story Mode.

Chronicle of Sword is an all-new animal: It's a game-within-a-game, an RTS (Real-time Strategy) game crossed with the regular SC-style of combat. You create characters who start off as cadets in the army of one of three warring nations, and then see their destinies through in various campaigns where you move mostly on a large map. You send your tiny warriors around to assault enemy strongholds, duel with enemy soldiers and generally try to take over everything on the board. What keeps this from being epic is the fact that you only control several 'units', each of which is really just one person (hardly a vast army). When units meet, they start hacking away at each other RTS style, but you can zoom in and actually engage in the usual round of SC combat (often this is required).
Despite the Suikoden-like story, this is really just a novelty, and not perfectly executed. There are jarring loading times and awkward bits which just throw off the pace of the game, and it's really just the Story Mode where you actually have to wait for your guys to run to a fight before you actually get to fight. Still, you have to like the mode for it's ambitions, and you really have to play it (since you need the money you earn in it to unlock stuff).

Did I mention money? Yes, you earn a lot of gold from playing through TOS and COS, money that you will use to unlock stuff in the game's 'shops'. These unlockables include stuff to customize your Created Characters, alternate weapons, illustrations, videos and other goodies. There are literally hundreds of things to find, so you'll be playing the modes a LOT.

As for the much-talked about Character Creation mode, it pretty much rocks. Yes, it's not really 'Create-a-character' as it is 'Dress-up-a-character' though. There are several designated or set occupations for characters, and you build either a male or female character from these jobs. This is fine though... it's cool to recreate characters from other games or titles, or just make the warrior of your dreams. All the Custom Classes have their own moves and strategies, although most, if not all, are based on the skills of the regular SC cast (Samurai are of course a variation or extension of Mitsurugi, Ninja are based on Taki, etc). Still, the new classes are sufficiently different to make for interesting battles. And of course, the animations and new attacks are a treat to see.
Yes, you can dress up the girls as skimpily as you want... and the guys too, if that floats your boat. No, I haven't tried making a female bikini fighter using Voldo's style... yet.

Graphically, the game is pretty gorgeous; it's not a great leap from the previous SC2, but it's really something that pushes the PS2. The character models are finely-detailed and smoothly animated, though there is a noticeably less quality given to the Custom Characters than to the regular SC cast. Still, this is probably the nicest-looking Create-a-character mode in any game, including all those wrestling games. I hpe this sets a precedent for other future fighting games (Mmm... create your own DOA girl...)

In terms of sound, SC3 is special in that all the voices are in english (we got the US version first). The voices are generally well-done, though the occasional odd delivery is there, including a really bad new voice for fan favorite Ivy. The music is your usual Soul Calibur- lots of heroic scores aplenty.

Oh and one more thing... the game, at normal level, can get fricking HARD. Every now and then, the CPU A.I. throws a fighter at you that just blocks everything you throw at it, uses every powerful combo and rings you out at every opportunity. It CAN get hair-tearingly frustrating, especially if you're going for that all-perfect streak to unlock the secret end boss. Well, it does challenge you to get better at the game, but come on... it's not unusual to go 20-to-nothing against some of these CPU opponents.

All in all, Soul Calibur III pleases with its abundance of new modes, tons of unlockables, great base graphics, sounds, animation and gameplay, and all-around high quality of gaming. This should keep players busy for weeks and weeks, and deserves to be in every PS2 gamers library as the console's last great fighting game. What are you guys waiting for? Dust off those katana and start slashing!

Happy Halloween!

It's that time of the year again, when kids go around the subdivision dressed in crazy costumes, when the movie channels show all scary movies, when all thoughts turn to the creepy. Yep, it's Halloween! Well, actually it all just means a nice short break for me. Thanks to your crappy government, we don't have the whole week off- the break will be interrupted by two days of work, then another long weekend. I'll try to finish up Samurai Sis today and tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll also be getting some playtime on some new gaming acquisitions. Heh. Anyway, I've shacked up in The Sanctum with sodas, Gonuts Donuts and some chips to last a short siege. All the better to keep the spooks out. May you all have a frighteningly good Halloween!

Tiger, Tiger



Here's a pic of my new Dashboard program on my G4 Mac Powerbook. It's a cool new treat given by the new Tiger OS, to which I just upgraded thanks to The Salt Mines. I know it's all about better programs and running, but the Dash, along with the cool widgets, is what I am appreciating right now. Widgets are these tiny, funny little freeware programs that you install and keep ready on the Dashboard. These widgets range from the teeniest functions, from flipping a coin, to bringing you the latest Dilbert comic strip, to entertaining you with cool arcade-type gaming. One of my fave widget games is IM Alien Hunter, which is a variant on the classic Space Invaders game but with an anime twist- this means that instead of a pixellated space ship, the player is represented by a sexy, laser pistol-packing anime babe. Coolness!

I'll be accompanied by my laptop over the weekend and into the break, so it's nice it's gotten some new tricks. HOHO!

Personal Time

While I wasn't looking, or perhaps while I was busy doing stuff, things seemed to have changed around me. I guess I have to rethink how I go about my time. I guess I should be glad that I'll have more time to myself- hopefully I'll have more money too, but seeing the latest bill I have to pay, I doubt it.

I'll be using the time I have on the Halloween-All Souls' Day break to finish up requirements. I still have Project Hero pages to finish over the weekend, and then I'll work on the regular release of Kunoichi Boy issue 1, and start on the next issue for release by mid or late December.

It won't be all work though- I'll make sure to give in time for good stuff- like making a dent in the pile of comics I seem to have been stockpiling all these weeks. I'll also be spending some time with Resident Evil 4 on the PS2, and pick up new stuff at Greenhills tomorrow- hopefully Soul Calibur III will be available, along with some new anime.

Happy All Souls' Day, everyone!

That didn't sound right.

I Po'ed



Here's an update to my earlier post about the new Apple I-Pod with video. Apparently, while the mp3 music player nature of the gadget remains unassailable, it seems that the video side isn't all that's cracked up to be. While comments on reviews about the small screen don't put me off too much, I am kinda disappointed by the supposed only 2-hour battery life of the thing if you play a movie straight on the machine. Well, this doesn't really kill the Pod as a video jukebox- I'm sure that shorter video playing will be maneagable for what battery life it has. And the huge memory is still a big plus.

Realistically, even I don't really watch 2-hour flicks on my O2 Mini a lot, or even regularly- usually it's just the odd video clip, or at most an anime episode or two. I once tested the Mini though, by playing FFVII Advent Children from end to end, a feat which took off about 40 percent from the battery power (which actually is not bad at all; I estimate the Mini's video playing life at about four hours or so). This doesn't really make me turn away from the I-Pod, but especially after learning this, it's not really that much of a 'must buy' for me anymore. I guess I'm perfectly happy with my video capability right now. Only time will tell if I change my mind and spring for a Pod later... or if my cousin Jeremy brings his this Christmas and I find myself getting techno-envy. Heheh.

Possessed by EVIL


Leon Kennedy takes on homicidal hicks in Resident Evil 4.

How appropriate is it that after our Halloween Party, I go home and enjoy a rousing time with the PS2 conversion of Resident Evil 4? Very appropriate, and it was with gusto that I jumped into the latest survival-horror blockbuster. As mentioned, you play as RE2 hero Leon Kennedy six years after the Racoon City incident. A short prologue with Leon's voiceover reveals (SPOILERS AHEAD) that soon after the T-Virus breakout, the government 'cleansed' Racoon City via a nuclear strike (good thing they all cleared out of there fast). Afterwards, the Feds clamped down on Umbrella (the uber-corporation behind the whole mess), locking down its properties and privileges. Umbrella stock fell, and, in short order, the mighty Umbrella Corporation ceased to exist. Which is kinda anti-climactic considering that the first four (including Code Veronica) RE games had all the heroes working overtime to take out the company. Perhaps this was all press release- maybe the Redfields (Claire and Chris), Jill Valentine, Barry Burton and Leon had roles in ultimately bringing down Umbrella... but of course, the government took the credit. Oh well.

Anyway... Leon got kinda-sorta promoted after the whole shebang. Remember, he WAS the worst cop in Racoon City (One day on the force and the whole city gets killed) despite being a hero. Leon becomes a special agent attached to the government, and he's assigned to protect the President's daughter. Unfortunately, the girl gets kidnapped and vanishes into the countryside of what appears to be rural (deep rural) Spain. So, instead of sending Seal Team Six, the Prez sends Leon. Oh, and two goofball Spanish cops who'd rather stay in the car than work.
These weird circumstances aside, RE4 is a brilliant game in terms of gameplay and atmosphere. The controls are precise, effective and very cool. Targetting enemies and fighting is pretty easy and awesome to do, though you'll probably have to keep the inner Rambo in check unless you want to find yourself out of ammo while surrounded by crowds of snarling, sickle-throwing villagers. Unlike previous RE's, going up stairs and moving about is pretty easy and often seamless- the 'opening door' animations and stilted stair-walking animations are minimized here.
The enemies for the most part are pretty creepy- though so far I've only encountered the villagers. It's pretty cool to be able to precisely target body parts, and it's great to shoot someone in the face, then walk over to kick their asses. The trickier parts happen when enemies start throwing stuff at you... like sickles or sticks of dynamite. I wish I had a duck move or a dash-the-hell-away's move. Still, Leon is a bad-ass agent. Another cool aspect is the in-game shopkeeper, who lets you buy new guns or upgrade your old boomsticks.

I'll likely be playing through this one over the weekend (and hopefully Soul Calibur III too), in between pages of Samurai Sis of course. Now, if you'll excuse me... I've got some possessed farmers to ventilate. Heh.

Salty Halloween



One of the cooler things about The Salt Mines is that every Halloween, the office really makes it a point to dress up the joint and invite kids to come trick or treating. There's lots of party food like melt-in-your-mouth spaghetti with hotdogs, fishballs (cooked right in front of you), street-style ice cream and more. Every department sets up their places as scary and as fun as they can. This year, the competition was especially hot- Our Creative Department set up a menagerie of life-sized monsters (as seen in the image above), each of which actually contains the image of one of the personnel- for the record, I was turned into the Cave Troll from LOTR. Heh.

Anyway, it was cool to see the kiddies running around in their costumes, and it was nice that the day was pretty light in terms of work- all I did was basically sit around and wait as I had my laptop upgraded to the new Tiger OS.

Happy Halloween!

A K.I.A. Review from The Piglet



Here's a long overdue K.I.A. review, or at least, an attempt at it, by Fero Benedict AKA Fero McPiglet. I learned about it from Fero when we were chatting together during the Komikon. He wasn't able to email it to me when the book came out months ago, but I still told him to send it to me. It's detailed, raw and honest. All of which I appreciate. Heh.

Fun book! was surprised!

-1st story - The New Girl - six pages set the tone! Bad ass! Only thing not like is the placement of the 4th panel and secondary word balloon on the third panel. Had to double take to check if she slashed first then talked. Should be that she talked first then slashed.

- Good morning - heh funny Killed In Action toe tag. Argh on the attack her set up because I had an idea similar to that.

- Fear Itself - Simple but don't get it so much. WAs that guy in the Angel Ace issues? Don't remember. (Yes, he was 'The Suit' from Angel Ace Again. -MAD)

- Mouse Trap - funny simple little twist. I was scratching my head looking at the cat costume girl on the 5th page. It looks so familiar like a comic book costume but I can't place it. Anyway, I like. (The female Cat Ninja were based on Marvel's Hellcat. -MAD)

- Under the Influence - Nice story but I thought it went on for too long and broke the quick barrage of stories pace set by the others. It was at this point that I hated to seeing Kia's lady opponents get (bloodlessly) killed.

- Intercept - Has simply got to be the best art! non-Dimaano. But gods I wish Kia just killed that fool. He felt out of place like a Mary Sue to me. Why the heck did that have to sneak into the book?

- Battery Included - At this point, this was my fave story. Mini K.I.A Action Figure! So cute! Wheeee!!! :P Wish there was more size reference shots though to show the mini Kia running around in the room just to see how teeny she is. Whee!!! :D Wanted to she jumping around the keyboard acrobatic fashion like a small playground. Love the parting shot. Aaaaw poor little bitty Kia toy! Poor thing! (darn it, I want an Aquaman figure)

- Dreamkiller - I liked this one because the fight reminded me of a Playstation RPG whatever type game when you meet the boss and she transforms into her next form for the final fight. It's so game like with the base exploding too. Like the twist too hehehee :P Just thought that the thugs in the beginning weren't necessary or Kia should have killed them right off.

- Victors and Victims - the story was kinda long but I liked it! Replaced as my fave for the book. JLU's The Cat and the Canary and all those other Roulette fights that are a story standard. wrestling Kia! It's like all those Ghost Fighter, Shaman King, Zoids, Flame of Recca, DragonballZ type stuff. And I love Princess Pure! She's a nice girl! One dimensional until later. Love the buzz. Love the vengeance. Love that Princess Pure is so nice. It's strange but I like her better than Angel Ace. Love the ending. Me like :) (Well, actually Pure IS supposed to emulate Angel's character, that's something Kai doesn't miss either)

- Invitation - the storytelling fractures made be go back and forth for a bit but the plot is easy enough. And FUN! This became my favorite story because it had most of the elements that I was looking for. And nice art too. Superhero-ish plot, fun and interesting villainesses, rush intercuts with action. A bit of silliness on the repetition and it had a fuzzy monster in it! Too bad it got hurt though! Poor monster! Anyway, really like this one. I want to give the quarter ladies silly
names! The first on is Ringlette, then Arm'ress, then Hat-tra, and Staffanie.

- Zinderneuf - had to re look again since it was heavy. Interesting. And again got the manga texture like Intercept did. I think it would have had more impact on me if the commander was identified. Was she seen before? I don't know. (Er, the commander was Vanya. Better re-read that K.I.A., Fero...)

- BTW, the lesbian overtone pin-up is my fave (Thank Taga-Ilog for that hot piece of art -MAD). Strange as it seems. Also the first one since it looks comic book-ish.

- Freedom - liked this story too. Love the first death. Love the second death. Twist is visible but love it anyway. Liked this one too. Gave very nice close full circle to the whole book. Paused at that 'given powers' part. What powers? (The ability to stand up even after having a knife shoved into your ribcage...)

- Shock to the System - Got fuzzy here. The heart blade was just a memory, right? Along with long haired lady? So I should think the the stab would be from the front instead of coming from the back. (Flipped back to previous Freedom story again and noticed that the blood disappeared on her chest btw) (Yes, even Kai's costume is 'self-healing'. It's made of a kind of smartfabric... incidentally, the same cloth that the wraps around her legs are made of)

Book is a LOT of FUN! We should have more of this! BTw, wish the back had more descriptions about the book instead of just listing out creators. Some of the descriptions in the foreword and afterwords should have been written there really.

Great review, Fero! Thanks.

K.I.A. is available NOW at Comic Quest Branches. Php160 pages, B/W interiors with full color cover. Get it now if you haven't already, people!

Evil Approaches

Aside from Soul Calibur III, gamers should be out on the lookout for Resident Evil 4, the latest and supposedly greatest chapter yet of the long-running survival horror game series from Capcom.
Originally appearing on the Nintendo Gamecube, RE4 has finally, after about a year of waiting, come to the PS2. Online reviews report that the game has lost little from the translation- perhaps the graphics are slightly not as colorful or as sharp, and the loading times slightly longer... but this is a grade-A translation. Now, PS2 gamers can look forward to kicking zombie butt in RE4.
But hold on... there ARE no zombies in RE4. At least, no more T-Virus spawned monstrosities. Resident Evil 4 takes place some years after the last game, and AFTER the fall of the ubiquitous Umbrella Corporation which has been the series' longtime background villains. RE veteran Leon Kennedy (last seen in Resident Evil 2) returns as the main hero, this time working as a government agent. His mission is to recover the President's daughter, who has apparently been kidnapped. His quest is, of course, not as easy as it sounds since he soon finds himself surrounded by hordes of homicidal, murderous villagers. Leon's quest will span a lengthy 20 hours or so, from the village that starts the quest to a creepy castle controlled by robed cultists.
The PS2 version adds to this already awesome game by adding a new playable character- secret agent Ada Wong. Ada (if that is her real name) was also last seen in RE2, where she and Leon had a sort of not-relationship before she supposedly dies (it IS eventually revealed she survives to fight again) saving Leon. Ada has her own adventure which actually runs concurrent with Leon's, and there are parts where her actions intersect and affect her reluctant ally's fate. Of course, you'll only be able to access Ada's "Separate Ways" adventure after finishing the main quest with Leon.

With a brilliant over-the-shoulder shooting scheme, awesome graphics and animation, hold-your-breath action and some incredible boss battles, RE4 is one game no PS2 gamer should miss.

Again, report and review once we get our diseased mitts on this title. Heh.

Whetstones at the Ready

I'm expecting the latest and greatest PS2 fighting game, Soul Calibur III, anytime now. The US version of the game is already out in the States, so local vendors should have it very soon (if not already). I wanna get play the Story Mode. Get to grips with the new characters. And yep, play around with the awesome Character Creation mode (maybe even make some of my own comic book characters in Soul Calibur form). It's gonna be awesome. The demo I got with a copy of Official Playstation Magazine really wasn't nearly enough to sate my thirst for bladed action. I want the real thing. NOW. Uwaaaah!!!

Report and review on SCIII once we get our bloody hands on it. HOHO!

Success

WOOHOO! Judging from the great response to Kunoichi Boy, I'll be working on continuing the title on a more regular basis, using the same format as released in the Komikon. I'm all out of the first batch of copies I made for the Kon, so I'll have to work on the 2nd batch of Issue #1 to be distributed at Comic Quest. The second issue of KB should be out a couple of months after the CQ release of issue one.
I'll be taking the time though to fix quite a few typos which escaped my attention in the rush of production. I also want to add some stuff- perhaps a report on the Kon, and some material on the meaning of the word kunoichi and some character designs would be proper to add to the formal release of Kunoichi Boy's debut issue.
More on this as it happens, but for now though I'll have to concentrate on finishing my pages for Samurai Sis.

Komikon 2005

Saturday, October 22, 2005 marked the First Komikon, which was, all considered, a rousing success. It was a success in that the event was truly a venue for the celebration of local comics, from new indies to classic komiks by great Filipino artists. The range of participants ranged from big publishers and bookstores (Fully Booked, Seven Seas, Adarna House, Psicom) to longtime comic groups (Alamat, Blitzworks and Gerry Alanguilan’s Komikeros) to new kids on the local indie comic biz.
I sat at the Comic Quest table with El and Camy for most of the day, selling our hot-off-the-copier comics- Kunoichi Boy and Camy and Me. Other releases on other tables include the latest issues of Maskarado by Reno Maniquis, Askal by Bong Leal, new horror novellas from David Hontiveros, Trese, the supernaturally-themed detective comic from Budjette Tan and Ka-Jo Baldisimo, and Psigns of the Season from Fero McPiglet.

The day was HOT though… no airconditioning in this Kon, and it didn’t help that the nearby Pearl Drink booth from Greenwich ran out of stuff to sell early on (the resto on the second floor of the Bahay Alumni, Chocolate Kiss, must have made a fortune on softdrink sales that day).
But while everyone seemed to be hot for comics, toys and art stuff, I seemed the notice that the response to the actual Komikon program was pretty half-hearted. You have to commend the emcees trying to keep things going even when NO ONE seemed to want to participate in stuff like contests and quizzes. Even then, there were contests aplenty like on-the-spot comics drawing and other stuff (btw, K.I.A. and Angel Ace contributor Jon Mallari won first place in one of the contests… congrats, Jon!) to occupy people.
I found myself getting miffed during the Glasshouse Publishing segment, where the smarmy Mr. Campiti once again took to the stage, looking for the next J.Scott Campbell clone-to-be. The highlight of the program though was the comics talk onstage with Gerry, Arnold Arre and other big-name local comic personalities.

In between all the hubbub, it was basically a day of sitting, watching people go by, chatting with Fero (and getting a K.I.A. review), greeting the occasional comics comrade like Jennyson Rosero, Taga-Ilog and James Palabay, troubling over how to find change to give to customers, signing off copies of K.I.A. or Kunoichi Boy and trying not to get too dehydrated (I failed miserably with the last one). But it was all worth it.
At the end of the day, we sold off most of our comics, and I went off after the closing with Arnold and Cynthia to have a nice, long dinner and chat.

Darn cool Kon. I’d like to commend the organizers and I’m looking forward to the next one. Next time, I’ll want to my own booth, and an even better showing of new comics to enjoy. Seeya all next year, folks!

See my pics of the Komikon at My Phlog.

Kunoichi Boy


Ninja Attack!

It took me all day yesterday, but I managed to finish the inking and lettering of Kunoichi Boy Issue #1. Of course I had to simplify the grayscale 'colors' since I'll be working with xerox copiers this time, instead of a real printing house. Other than that, it's pretty cool. The first issue of KB clocks in at 32 pages, introducing to readers the character of Jin Dragu, perhaps the first metrosexual/new age ninja hero in a feudal Japanese fantasy age. This title marks a lot of firsts for me... my first Xerox comic (believe it or not), my first comic to have a male main character (albeit someone who dresses up as a girl), my first real NINJA comic (Kai doesn't really count as a ninja, come to think of it) and my first comic to actually be set in a Japan-esque world. That said, it's still a MAD comic- lots of kick-ass girls who aren't too shy (Mikoto won't be the last tough babe I'm going to introduce in the series), a bit of humor and lots of action.

Depending on how this first issue does (I'll be releasing it in Comic Quest soon after the Komikon), I'll be continuing the book in this format, most probably. It seems to work pretty well, and it should get a lot easier once I get used to the whole xeroxing thing.

Kon's on if a few hours. Gotta pack some K.I.A. and Angel Ace issues. Full report to follow.

Preparations

I'll be taking the day off tomorrow, but I won't be spending it getting R&R. I need the time to ready my stuff for Saturday's Komikon 2005.
Primarily I have to ready the Kunoichi Boy comic, which can be up to 32 pages long (the whole first story that should have appeared in Questor ME). This is actually the first time I've really produced a xerox-copy comic, and I'll see how it goes. I'll probably prep about 20 to 30 copies for selling tomorrow... that's me being optimistic. Heh.

Aside from that, I'll be packing up copies of K.I.A. and sets of Angel Ace (bundling the whole Again series with a copy of AA Next) for the Kon. That's a lot of stuff... I wonder if the Alamat booth can fit us all? Aside from me, Budjette will be showcasing his new comic Trese, a supernatural detective series drawn by artist Ka-Jo, and there will be some stuff from other groups.
I'm actually looking forward to seeing what other indie comic groups are coming up with these days... I'll probably spend a bundle on ashcans and first issues this weekend. Hoho! I'll also probably have to bring along a sketchpad or loads of bond paper to draw on. We'll see.
This early and I'm excited. I hope it all works out. It's not everyday there's an event for local indie comics. I hope this is just one of many soon to come.

Potty Training

Last night I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (which delayed me a bit from finishing a page of Samurai Sis... Gah. The book's quite a read... in fact, I'd say it's topped Prisoner of Azkaban which was my favorite of the series up to now. The setpiece events- the World Quidditch Finals and the Tri-Wizard Tournament itself- were quite exciting and the book gets more intense as a certain Dark Wizard returns to the world of the living. Now I'm ready for the movie version, though after watching Azkaban and seeing the story aspects that got lost in the translation, I'm expecting a lot of stuff to be left out. Still, I'm pumped at the trailer and interested to see how the new director handles things after Albert Cuaron did POA. We'll just have to see as Goblet of Fire ignites theaters next month.

Sneak Peek

Here are two sample pages from my own Project Hero story, Samurai Sis. I really went for a look that's intentionally different from the art I did for Changing Channel, in that here it's a bit more detailed (with some attempt at a background) yet less on the finesse. It's reminiscent of my very early, early way of drawing... where quantity of lines (and lots of cross-hatching) made the art look a lot nicer than it actually is. Heh. Anyway, I think the more 'messy' way the lines look gives more character to the 'messy' state of affairs the characters are presently in. And yes, I didn't ink the pencils, so these are heavily-scanned and cleaned up from the original drawings. Does it work? I think it does...

Anyway, I'll be working on Samurai Sis pages for the rest of the week, as well as trying to sneak in work on Kunoichi Boy, which I have pretty much promised for the Komikon this weekend. It's gonna be close...


A day in the life of the Sobek household.


Careful, Sissy... those aren't chopsticks. Or at least, not ordinary chopsticks...

Samurai Sis will be coming out with other cool new superhero comic stories later this year in Project Hero from the gang at Comic Quest. Wait for it!

Resurfaced

RememberKunoichi Boy? Let's reminisce. I started thinking about an idea roughly described as 'Ninja Girl Boy' months and months ago. It would be a light-hearted mixing of elements from Ninja Scroll, Inu Yasha and Ranma 1/2. The end result was Kunoichi Shonen or more simply, Kunoichi Boy. I pitched the title to then-still alive Questor Extreme Mangamania, who accepted it as part of their upcoming lineup.

Unfortunately, delays followed long periods more delays and non-activity, until it soon became apparent that Questor Extreme, along with mother mag Questor, was DEAD. As in KAPUT. That left me with Kunoichi Boy without a home, and wanting for a release.

Anyway, after all this time, I'll finally be releasing the adventures of cross-dressing ninja warrior Jin Dragu AKA The Pink Ninja as he/she travels the land on an epic quest. The first release will be, barring any delays, a 32-page photocopy sampler comic that will contain The Pink Ninja's battle with 'One-blow Mikoto', a super-strong girl with a rock-hard body. A later, more substancial release, fully-printed and containing a larger amount of pages, will hopefully be produced in the future.
Kunoichi Boy will be seeing release this weekend, October 22, at the Komikon 2005 at UP Diliman's Alumni House. Along with the KB advance comic, I'll be selling copies of K.I.A. at a highly-discounted price (Komikon-only) and back issues of Angel Ace. Most likely, I'll be selling my stuff at the Alamat Comics booth, so check us there.

Fore more info on the Komikon, click here.

Changing Channel



Chelsea Chan could easily have been just your average, normal 15 year old girl with dreams of dates with her crush. But of course, when your parents are unnaturally addicted to Television, there's bound to be something weird in the mix. Chelsea got exposed to some strange radiation from her parents' television sets (note 'sets' as in more than one) right from her mom's belly, so when she was born she had powers far beyond that of mortal men. She has the ability to summon and materialize any character from any television show to do her bidding... how COOL is that?! And so, with her Universal Remote Control in hand, Channel the TV-tuning Superheroine is off to battle evildoers everywhere!

Changing Channel is created and written by Nikki Alfar (KC Strange, Siglo: Freedom) and drawn by Yours Truly. It's just one of the many new superheroes and super-stories to be featured in the upcoming Project HERO comic anthology, out later this year from the gang of lay-abouts at Comic Quest.

While Channel's in the bag, I'm still working on my own title, Samurai Sis, and hopefully I'll be done within the week. Then I'll have time to do some stuff for the Komikon this weekend.

WOOOHHH!!! Busy, busy, busy!!!!

Speed

I've slowed down a lot since my last stretch of doing comics. Saturday was supposed to be my Now-or-Never day for finishing Project Hero, but unfortunately I slept through several hours in the late afternoon after the kids played Playstation in The Sanctum after lunch. I started doing inks late night, and it looks like that I'll be finishing Nikki's story tomorrow. I'll be starting my own Samurai Sis story as well, and hopefully will do much progress on it.

Sigh. It doesn't help that my lower back hurts, so every moment I just want to lie down and just sleep. BAH. I should get more exercise, I guess. And maybe a diet. I'm so sluggish. Well, all that can come after. For now, I have a comic to finish.

Chaos

Or, the 3-day Weekend Sale. It starts today and ends on Sunday, which just hits on a payday, which pretty much guarantees a flood of humanity to gush into the Bermuda Triangle of shopping, Ortigas Center. I don't want to waste any time- gotta make a beeline for home after work, and then sequester myself for the duration as I try to do all I can in the space of two days or so to finish my quota for Project Hero. I truly haven't been able to accomplish anything during the week- which means I have to double-triple-quadruple my efforts on Saturday and Sunday to finish 14 pages of comic book fun.

If I do manage to pull it off though, it'll mean I got my comic book groove again.

I can do it. No problem. Right. I guess. Hmmm. Whatever. Gonna be busy-busy-busy.

Tech Lust


The Video-capable I-Pod. DAMN.

Okay, hang onto those bonuses and Christmas pay, people.

The new I-Pod will be coming with VIDEO. Og! Yep, Apple just announced that the latest incarnation of the widly-popular music player will finally have the ability to play movies and videos on a 2.5-inch color screen. The new video pod will come in 30 or 60 gig-variants, which is a HELL of a lot more than any SD card or portable mobile hard drive (the recently announced HD for PSP clocks in at 4 gigs) can give. Wow. 60 gigs. 60 FRICKING GIGABYTES of video and music. My Gosh. And given the long-life of I-Pod batteries, you may actually enjoy a good number of these vids before needing to recharge.

And the kicker is, the new video-pod will be thinner and lighter than past models. It's designed like the recently-released I-Pod Nano, thinner than a box of light cigarettes, and can load 150 hours of video. MY GOSH!

Am I impressed? Yes. Am I interested? Yes. Still, the loveliness of having a phone that plays video is that it IS a phone, and you carry it along with you as a matter of course. An I-Pod is a wholly separate device, something you have to bring along because you want to play the stuff you have in it. But darn... this is awesome.

It's a toss-up now. Xbox360 or I-pod Video. Heh. Why not both? We'll see. We'll see. HOHO!

Fembot

Here's an update on the Dead or Alive-HALO connection. Remember when I reported that there will be a character from the Halo universe guest-starring in DOA4? We were all expecting hologram-babe Cortana to be the one, but it appears we were all wrong (goes to show that the most obvious choice is seldom the right choice).

Nope. According to the latest Game Informer magazine, complete with pics, the Halo guest character is none other than a Spartan, or Spartan 458 to be specific, which is, as Halo gamers would know, a female version of the game's main character, Master Chief. From afar it's kinda hard to distinguish that the bulky battle-armored borg is actually a babe, but that's the fact. Now, while it's not likely that the Spartan will have a bounce, I'm actually looking forward to seeing this cyborg in action against the rest of the DOA ladies.

Dead or Alive 4 is slated for release later this year along with the launch of the new Xbox360.

Aaaaaaawwwww...



Darn, isn't she so cute? The Japanese just do cute so well. This is actually from the anime Basilisk, a pretty violent and action-oriented ninja anime along the flavor of Ninja Scroll. The cutie is a kiddie version of the show's female lead, Oboro. Basilisk is one of the latest anime by Gonzo (Hellsing, Gatekeepers, Samurai 7), and is about a war between two ninja clans and the love of their two leaders caught in between.

Gah! She's so cute! Musn't... look... into... eyes...

Board Games

Zathura is the story of two young brothers who, along with their entire house, get transported into space when they start playing a mysterious, retro-scifi boardgame named Zathura. If this whole thing sounds suspiciously similar to Jumanji, wonder no more- it's written by the same author. Anyway, substitute aliens and meteor storms for lions and flash floods and that's pretty much what Zathura is. Still, it looks interesting so I'll probably check it out when it shows in theaters this November.
So what's next? How about a CLUE boardgame murder mystery movie? Or a Dungeons and Dragons-type game? Or RISK?

Silent Hill


Tough ladies battle spooks to rescue a little girl in the Silent Hill movie.

The eerie survival-horror videogame series Silent Hill from Konami bucked the trend started by Capcom's Resident Evil. From gory monster mashes, SH instead went to more visceral, more psychological sources for it's scares. Well, after several games, the franchise has finally spawned a movie. The film version of Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire, Finding Neverland), Sean Bean (Boromir from LOTR) and Laurie Holden (Fantastic Four).
The story revolves around Rose (Mitchell), young mother who is desperate to find a cure for her dying daughter. She finally resolves to take the girl to a faith healer, and this leads her through a portal that sends her to the spooky town of Silent Hill. The half-abandoned, mist-shrouded town is inhabited by strange creatures and a mysterious darkness that twists and corrupts all that it touches. The only other humans in Silent Hill are fighting a losing battle against the darkness.

Soon Rose, joined by a female copy named Cybil, must make a pact with a demon to save her daughter's life. How far will these hapless prisoners go to survive? And will they be able to escape the twisted borders of Silent Hill?

Unlike other videogame movies, SH has a good chance of being a stand-alone feature that can cook up its own scares and chills without having to resort to cheezy videogame effects or out-of-place action sequences. This should be something to look forward to when it creeps into theaters in 2006.

Coming: The P990


Sony Ericsson's upcoming communicator.

No, it's not the P1000 gadget whores have been lusting for, but it's almost as good. In fact, it's just ten points away. The upcoming Sony Ericsson P990, which has just been scooped by Infosyncworld, is a long-awaited update to SE's communicator series (of which the latest, the P910i, has pretty much been overtaken by most other superphones as of late).
Incredibly enough, the P990 looks very similar to previous models, however there are significant changes. The thumbboard is now integrated into the main body of the phone, instead of on the keyboard flap. As before, you can open up the phone to use the lovely, large touchscreen (this time with 262,000 colors). A true communicator, the P990 will come with everything- texting, calling, Bluetooth, WiFi and even 3G for videocalling (it comes with a front-mounted camera just for that purpose). Furthermore, it comes equipped with a 2-Megapixel camera that's just as good as the K750 (and comes with photolight, natch). The hefty 80MB onboard memory can be upgraded by Memory Stick Pros which will go up to 4 Gigabytes (WHOA).

You'd think that I'd be excited. Not really- it's a Symbian phone (and supposedly will not run any apps made for previous P-series phones) and I just can't see myself leaving my Pocket PC for it. Still, it's a cool device and a sign of things to come... perhaps the first great phone of the next generation of superphones. We'll just have to see (as well as how much this monster will be). The P990 is due out in 2006.

Remote Control

The one really good thing I happened early today- I managed to figure out how to program the VCR in my room, so now I can set it to record shows even when I'm away at work (which is pretty much all the time). Now I can tape episodes of X-Play and FINALLY learn if indeed Jack TV has only four episodes or if they're showing new stuff on Tuesdays. Ah. This tech stuff if pretty cool.

Security

Yesterday night, I rushed over to Megamall's Cyber Zone to find myself a new holster/beltcase for my mobile. Wouldn't you know it... almost every single holster in the shop has that crappy 'clip' attachment. You know... the kind that tends to let go from your belt when you sit down, leaving your nice, shiny cellphone behind without you knowing. Why aren't there more of the standard 'loop' beltcase, which neatly fits through your belt and STAYS there until you take off your belt to remove it, or if someone either cuts it, or your belt, off. THAT'S Security. THAT is how a beltcase for equipment worth several thousand should be.
You know, I'm pretty convinced that the damn beltcase makers are doing this on purpose- the whole transition to clips and the apparent 'phasing out' of reliable loop beltcases. They do it so people will LOSE their phones and cases more often, so they buy more cases. It's a conspiracy, I tell you. It probably has the involvement of some Cellphone Beltcase Mafia and goes up into the Leather Products Industry, the Telecoms themselves and perhaps even into our black-souled government. Yes. It's true. Laugh if you will, but I believe this is so. Nothing about how evil and greedy people can be surprises me anymore.

VANISHING RAY. All of you.

Anyway, I found ONE loop-equipped beltcase and luckily, it fit my phone perfectly. Joy, joy! I'm back in business.

National Angst

I didn't get up on the right side of the bed this morning in terms of National Pride.

I hate Filipinos. We're a horrible race. Half of us are soulless plundering bastards, while the other half don't even care. Yeah, most of us who blog are part of that uncaring half. We don't care since we believe nothing we can do will help anyway. Not unless EVERYONE picks up and bodily ejects the crap from our political system.

On the radio, it's all about the government going for that 'State of Emergency' nonsense. Meanwhile, some wise guy is proposing the formation of a Railway Academy so we will never be lacking for educated train operators. WHAT THE FOCK? So how many untold millions and kickbacks will be bandied around this time for a whole school for people to operate our rotting trains?

GOD DAMN IT. I hate Filipinos. GOD DAMN IT We are so screwed. FEH.

Liability

These past few months ever since I got my O2 Mini, I've been using the leather case included with the box. The case fit with a belt clip and up to yesterday had been working pretty well. However, the clip has suddenly gone iffy on me. For some reason, the case seems to 'let go' from the belt clip pretty easily now- it's already dropped to the ground about twice, once yesterday and once today (alarmingly on the street!)- good thing the thick protective leather has kept my mobile safe and unblemished.
Then, right after we had lunch at a nearby resto, my heart pretty much leapt into my throat when I felt for my phone at my waist and found NOTHING. Again, the case clip had disengaged, but luckily my Mini was just sitting there next to me on the seat.

I have to get a new beltcase- I just don't like putting my phone in a pocket; I'm too far familiar with the skill of local pickpockets. Preferably I'll get a case with a loop- one that fits around a belt and does not 'let go' with the click of a button. The chances that I could leave my lovely mobile behind on a cab, bus or car, or worse, drop it onto the road unknowingly, are just too great. I'm headed for the phone accessory shop first thing after work.

Birthday Bash and Book Binge

Yesterday my friend and ol' college bud Pot had his birthday and the UP gang got together at Super Bowl in Greenhills to celebrate with fried rice, crispy chicken, noodles, spicy shrimp, beef n' broccoli and other Chinese food staples aplenty. Afterwards, we ranged about the Promenade mall to cap the night.

Passing by Fully Booked, I surprised myself by picking up a couple of books: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Thousand Orcs by R.A. Salvatore. I have always seemed to make it a point to read the actual book before watching a Harry Potter movie translation, and I don't want to break that tradition now, even as it's only a month to go to the showing of the fourth HP movie in theaters. The latest trailer was pretty exciting, so I'm pretty stoked on seeing perhaps the final movie to feature the movie series' original leads (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint) before they turn into blooming adults.
Meanwhile, it's been quite a while since I've read the adventures of dark elf adventurer Drizz't Do'Urden, but for some reason I just felt like picking up the first chapter of the latest trilogy featuring Drizz't and his comrades. As the title suggests, the main antagonists are orcs, the footsoldiers and grunts of evil... so how formidable will these low-level baddies be against heroes who have faced drow armies, demon lords and high-level assassins and come out smiling? Well, it will be interesting to see.

I will have to try and resist pouring into these new volumes since I have to finish my stuff for Project: Hero (of which I have finished the pencilling for Nikki Alfar's story) within the week in time for Saturday's deadline. Then there's the Komikon the week after that and... AAARGGHHH...

The fun never stops in the MADman's world. MAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!

PSP Trojan

According to Malware Specialist Symantec, there now exists a trojan (a malicious program) that specifically targets Playstation Portables (PSPs). The trojan takes advantage of recent entrances to the PSP which allow users to run non-signed code (programs and apps not sanctioned by Sony). The trojan, dubbed Trojan.PSPBrick, masquaerades as a download which offers to enable additional capabilities to users. But instead of letting PSP owners execute 'homebrew" codes, the trojan deletes four vital system files required for the PSP to boot its OS, causing the device to become, literally, a useless brick.
Judging from how the trojan does not contain the means to spread to other users from affected PSP units, Symantec reports that the malware isn't causing big damage as of yet- PSP owners who refrain from using unsigned code will be safe.

WHICH leads the conspiracy theorist in me to believe that this 'trojan' may be something that could have been engineered intentionally FOR Sony's interest in punishing users who want to bend the rules a bit to get more out of their PSPs. Hmm? If players get scared of free downloads, they'll stay and use Sony's regulated software. Far-fetched? Maybe. Maybe not. Hmmm.

Now, if Sony got their act together on their portable and provided support for encoding video, internet browsing and other cool stuff, then maybe hacking or getting homebrew software won't be necessary. And maybe (but not likely given how crappy the game lineup is) I'd consider getting myself one of these bricks-er, I mean, PSPs.

Soul-searing Demo


Taking Soul Calibur III for a spin.

I managed to get my hands on a demo for the upcoming uber-fighting game Soul Calibur III for the PS2. It cost a pretty penny (the dvd comes with a copy of Official Playstation Magazine, which is pretty pricey) but it was worth it to play a bit of the game and get a taste of the sword-swinging goodness that's sure to come.

The Demo itself is kinda minimal- there's a mini-intro movie/trailer that has a bit of CG (though none of the awesome footage seen in the latest online videos) and ingame fighting. Pass that and you'll have options for Single Player play and VS Combat. For VS, there are only two characters playable- old foagie samurai Mitsurugi and newcomer psycho-cutie Tira. You'll have access to both of the characters' alternate costumes. There aren't any move lists, so playing with Tira will be kinda touchy-feely, though she looks quite cool as she moves- sexy and impish, and that razor hula-hoop looks scary. However, I've heard that it's going to take a bit of skill to make her an effective player.
The meat of the Demo is in the Single Player modes, of which there are two usable in the demo. There's the Story Mode which gives you control of Kilik, the staff-swinging hero. The Story Mode is pretty cool, with text telling you actually what happens and there are points where you are prompted to choose from one of two directions to go. Unfortunately, the Demo only gives a tantalizing taste of what's to come. Namco are such teases...

The best fun to be had on the Demo is the Character Creation Mode, of course. As expected though, the stuff you can do is pretty limited. While you can make either male or female characters, you have only two occupations to choose from- Ninja (basically like Taki) and Dancer armed with tambourines. There are quite a few items of clothing to put on and layer on your created fighter, or of course you can just strip them down to their cloth-wrap skivvies (heh). The character models aren't as detailed as I would like (they seem even less detailed than those in SC2), but they animate quite well and are quite hi-res so that's no big. Once all the options are unlocked in the final game, you should be able to come up with quite a few interesting created fighters, including some familiar faces from other games (Dante from Devil May Cry and even Cloud from FFVII are favorites among Create-a-Fighter enthusiasts).

The fighting is slightly different and faster from previous installments, but old hands at Soul Calibur should be able to jump right in with no problem. Tira seems very interesting, though I have to say I'm most interested in trying out killer geisha Setsuka. I can't wait to have the whole game- there's bound to be a mind-boggling amount of extras, playability and fun to be had with this, the latest and greatest chapter in the popular series. The finished game should be arriving in the next several weeks.

Project: Hero


United Against... GOOMBA the Three-Eyed!

Here's a scan of the pencilled initial study for the cover of Project: Hero. Comic fans will no doubt notice the resemblance to the classic Fantastic Four cover. The heroes include characters from six of the eight featured titles in the superhero anthology- including Yaya Cadabra by Andrew Drilon, main man Awesome and members of The Craft Century by Dean Alfar, Nikki Alfar's Channel, Vin Simbulan's Kid Continuum, the battle armored Tri-tech by Jamie Bautista and Elbert Or's Jet Titanium the Space Ranger. I'll be adding several more characters before this artwork goes to ink, if it's approved by the almighty editors.

Darn. Gotta get working on the pages...

Heroes Unlimited



Years ago, I've always been a fan of the old Superfriends cartoons, and even more so of the more action-oriented Superfriends vs the Legion of Doom episodes. But while it was cool to have a direct hero vs. villain series back in the 80s, they were always a bit too simplified and kiddy. Now, since we were all kids at the time, that's really not something we could help. Now that a lot of comic fans these days are grown, it's really nice to see that some of our cartoons have grown with us.
Which is probably the best compliment I can give to Justice League Unlimited. I've always liked the original Justice League series (which comprised only of the core DC heroes). But when they added the 'Unlimited' to the title and turned the League into an army of superheroes, I just freaked. It was awesome to see characters like the female Doctor Light, Black Canary, The Creeper, Wildcat, Fire, Red Tornado and countless others appearing, even if just in cameos. Nobody had ever had the ambition to do this- certainly nothing from competitor Marvel Comics. It was incredible to just show off your Universe like this, and JLU arguably has made it's own mark as having a setting and back story that is as gripping as the actual comics.
Justice League Unlimited's best plots of course have to do with Project Cadmus, the shadowy government organization dedicated to creating solutions to the possibility that the Justice League may go rogue. Led by the no-nonsense Amanda Waller, having unlimited resources and influence, Cadmus is a great counter-group against the seemingly all-powerful League. The latter episode Panic In the Sky, where the Watchtower itself is attacked by an army of clone superhumans, is easily the single best superhero battle I've ever seen, animated or live-action.

But along with the action and multitude of superhero cameos, what surprised me is the maturity of the series. There are things taken up in JLU (and even in companion series like the Batman titles) that years ago could never have been thought of- among them, the topic of death. In the (unaired) JLU season finale "Epilogue", this is shown in a poignant scene between Batman and the young, dying supervillain Ace (of the Royal Flush Gang). The dialogue, the mood and Batman's actions (or non-action) is touching in a way I never thought I'd see in a superhero cartoon.

In terms of animation style (Bruce Timm's art style ROCKS!), voice acting (JLU regularly uses veteran actors among its vocal performers) and stories, JLU simply is the best comic to animation title I know today. I can only hope that the next season doesn't take too long in coming. That would be true injustice.

Addendum: Justice League Unlimited's FIFTH Season (or Season 3 as JLU) will continue to focus and give light to other heroes in the DC Universe, as well as signal the arrival of JLU's version of The Legion of Doom, led by Gorilla Grodd. Wowsers! It's gonna be awesome.

Halo goes DOA

It's not a joke... not just a rumor... and I've checked the calendar and it's nowhere NEAR April. And now Bungie themselves have confirmed it. So... it must be true!

Okay, rewind a bit. A story surfaced some time ago that there will be a non-Tecmo franchise character appearing in the upcoming Xbox 360 brawler Dead or Alive 4. Speculation grew but them one rumor proved stronger than most. The guest character will be from Halo, the best-selling sci-fi first person shooter. As mentioned, Bungie has already confirmed that they have met with Team Ninja and have actually 'seen the character in action'. And, they were blown away. So it seems to be a GO.
Now, who is the Halo character playable in DOA4? It has already been confirmed that Halo's main hero, bad-ass cyborg super-solder Master Chief won't be it. That leaves a gaggle of space marines and officers and Halo's menagerie of Covenant aliens... none of which conforms to DOA's overall theme. But then, there's also Cortana, the sexy hologram babe/A.I. that accompanies and guides Master Chief through the game. The only other human female character is a minor personality, the woman Cortana was based on... so, needless to say, our money is on Cortana to tussle along with the DOA girls later this year when DOA4 launches on Xbox360. According to Bungie, they actually supply the back story to how or why their character is appearing in the DOA Universe... though it will be tongue in cheek. Just who the character really is will just have to remain a titillating secret till we get our Xbox Next this holiday season.


"A DOA Girl? Me?"

Paint it Black

Over the weekend I got Ninja Gaiden Black for the Xbox. This is basically a souped-up, everything-on-it version of last year's uber-action game starring Tecmo's superninja, Ryu Hayabusa. The original NG got top marks, often cited by gaming websites as 'the best action game ever', and I would concur that it's pretty awesome. The graphics and animation are DOA3-quality, Ryu is so incredibly bad-ass with an arsenal of killer ninja moves, enemies are killer and the barely-there-plot serviceable thanks to some cool cinematics. NG was also HARD AS FRICKING HELL- even the first enemies you face are dangerous and can kill you if you're not careful, and it only gets harder into the long game. From apprentice ninja you move onto samurai horsemen, assorted monsters, heavily armed commandos, elite assassins, demons and oodles more adversaries just ready to cut down your life bar to zero. The good thing is that Ryu has all the skillz- defeating any of the enemies in the game is never impossible, never unfair... you just have to know what to do.

Well, that doesn't make it any easier. Superninja or no, you shouldn't have to face a fully-loaded TANK on foot. Well, not without a tank-busting RPG. Or a man-portable particle disruptor cannon. Or a Vanishing Ray.

Anyway, NG Black adds in a ton of stuff, including all the recent add-on packs, or Hurricane Packs, that were made available off Xbox Live after the original game was released. Black also adds in new missions- in fact, about 60 of them- which basically concentrate on what Ninja Gaiden does best- combat. Add in some new cinematics for the story mode and you indeed have an even better version of the best ninja action game yet released on a console. And best of all, there's a new 'Easy' mode for all us who failed to start playing videogames when we were three. Heh. Anyway, action fans should check out Ninja Gaiden Black asap for pure ninja-fighting fun.