Comics Bundle: 07.22.09 Pt. 1

I rarely pull my comics on time. Hence I always end up with a pile of books during weekends. But this week's bundle, worth 7 weeks of comic book releases, is just too enormous for me. So, as per usual, I'm just gonna write a pithy review of all the Marvel books that I liked and get back into reading the rest of my bundle.

Avengers: The Initiative #26
8.4 of 10
I almost canceled this title off my pull sheet. But I'm glad I didn't because it really got interesting, now that Taskmaster and The Hood are both in charge of the newly restructured Initiative. Like most of Osborn's Dark Reign teams (Dark Avengers and Dark X-Men), the Initiative has also become a twisted version of its former self. Instead of training heroes to become proper heroes, it's now teaching B-list villains on how to become better villains but act as heroes in the public eye. Just as The Hood had said, it's the guys in suits and power who rip-off the public much worse than the common criminal.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1
8.5 of 10
The X-Men titles have always tackled bigotry and defended those who are a bit different in their stories. That's why, as a minority and whose taste differs from the norm, it's my favorite comic book, even though its quality have degraded. The latest Marvel event, a Dark Avengers and X-Men crossover, entitled Utopia, explores the same themes. But what makes it really special is its setting, as it pays homage to the struggle of gay rights back when Anita Bryant marched into the streets of San Francisco and when they banned same-sex marriage just a few months ago. Plus, the art of Marc Silvestri here is just awesome.

Deadpool #12
8.4 of 10
In the past couple issues, Deadpool had the opportunity to meet with his past "frenemies". First it was Taskmaster, whom he asked to help him fight the Thunderbolts. Now, in the latest story arc, Norman Osborn sends Bullseye to assasinate our hero. Since Bullseye and Deadpool had been rivals in the past, and that they're both crazy, this arc turned out to be a lot of fun. There's just a lot of violent slapstick humor and crazy dialogues between the two characters that readers don't want to miss.

Runaways #12
9.0 of 10
Runaways Vol.3 pretty much had a rocky start. While the books still has its teenage charm, it just doesn't hold a candle if compared to the series when Brian K. Vaughn was still on the reins. But the new team -composed of all female- had a very promising debut. They've already killed a member and now, on this issue, they're showing us that, despite they've been together for so long, the team still don't know each other that well. If this goodness continues -and I hope it will- this new team will definitely put the Runaways back on track.

Thor #602
9.5 of 10
As always, JM Stratczynski did a marvelous job with another issue of Thor. But what I really love about this issue is that William and Kelda had some significant face time. What I didn't like about this is that it's missing Oliver Copiel's art work. Nonetheless, Djurdjevic's work is still pretty decent.

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Monk for Sale

I finally had the time to sit down and enjoy my beta invitation for D&D Online: Unlimited today. I've always wanted to try this game since its initial launch back in 2006. But, since I was just out of school and jobless, I couldn't afford the monthly subscription back then. By the time I got myself a job a lot of good MMORPG were already out in the market, and DDO's number of subscribers have been falling rapidly. So I skipped it and jumped into Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft and then Warhammer Online.

A few months ago, however, I was surprised when Turbine announced that they're restructuring DDO's model, making it a free-2-play game. So I dug hard into it (that's how I got my beta invitation) and now that I've tried the beta version of the game, all I can say about it is: not bad. Not bad at all.

Flurry of Blows FTW!

If you've played any D&D 3 to 3.5 games (like Neverwinter Nights, Temple of Elemental Evil, or Icewind Dale) and liked them, then you'll definitely like this one too. I rolled as an Elven Cleric on my first run and everything seems to be intact -the Elven and Cleric feats/abilities. With my healing abilities and spells, I pretty much breezed through dungeons by myself. Leveling, however, is different, and also difficult, in this game. Because you must gain 5 ranks first before you reach level 2, and another 5 before your reach level 3. But each rank gives you an action point, which you can spend to buy an ability, improving your character a little bit.

Some classes and races, however, are not available to those with free accounts. These are called "premiums". So if you want to play as a Drow Ranger, then you better shell out some real cash and buy the Drow race. As for me, since I couldn't resist because it's my favorite class, I paid real money just so I could play the Monk. All premium classes and race costs 595 Turbine points. So I bought a bundle of 900 points for $12 in order to unlock the Monk. But it really is a premium class since they've put some new bells and whistles, like the elemental stance and finishing moves, to make the Monk a much more martial arts oriented class.

All in all, D&D Online: Unlimited is shaping up to be an nice game. Some people argues that Turbine has locked and reserved all the good features of the game from non-subscribers, and that you'll end up paying more by buying points. But I just don't see that. The free content is fine by itself. Of course, things might be different when the game goes live this early August. But, hey, it's free. You've got nothing to lose here.

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D&D Online: Beta Invitation

Normally, I don't get anything good in my e-mails. Just a bunch of Facebook alerts and Viagra ads. That's why I was so surprised when I opened my Hotmail account and found a closed beta invitation to test out the newly structured D&D Online: Unlimited. Unfortunately, I'm too tired and too sleepy to try it out tonight. So I won't probably be able to give it a shot until this weekend.

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Book Review: Lowboy

Lowboy: A Novel
8.4 of 10
Writer: John Wray
Buy Hardcover Edition from Amazon
Buy Kindle Edition from Amazon




Gaming has taken most of my time these past few months. Especially the guild events in Warhammer Online -and the lure of of earning guild points to buy things from our vault- have kept me busy and away from reading. Hence, all my reading materials (both books and comics) have piled up on me again. It's a good thing that player vs. player activity in WAR isn't as hectic as it was before. So I took a respite from the game and, after months of disjointed reading, was finally able to finish Lowboy.

Lowboy is John Wray's third novel. While I haven't heard of his last two books -which were also highly praised by critics- I instantly felt the want to read this book after I had read its synopsis. How could I resist it? It's a book about a schizophrenic teenage boy who's off his meds and wandering underneath the New York subway system, trying to find a way to save the world by stopping global warming. It just had too many good aspects -from mental illness, environmental issues and heroism- that would make for an interesting plot.

But the book's plot didn't turn out as interesting as I had hoped for. However, it still remains as an interesting book. Because, instead of a good plot, the book offered an in-depth character study about schizophrenics. Through William Heller, the main character in this book, you'll see and experience the world the way schizophrenics does. Furthermore, other characters -who are also equally interesting as Will- are there for support, giving us a more detailed medical knowledge about the mental condition through fun dialogues.

I'm the type of reader who prefers good plots and stories over characterization. While characterization and character studies aren't my cup of tea (unless they go along with a good plot and story) there's always an exception. Lowboy is now a part of that exception. This book is a page turner. The writing is masterful, and the characters are wildly interesting. If you're looking for a fun and crazy book to read, I suggest picking up Lowboy.

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