Review of the Man of Steel Play Arts Kai General Zod figure!

Hope you guys enjoy! This is an amazing figure and a definite purchase for Man of Steel fans!

Confessions of a Comic Book Geek #2

   

        I know it seems like just yesterday I put one of these up but I got a pretty good reaction to it based on the amount of views, either that or my buddy Nathaniel wanted to give me an ego boost. Bottom line is I'm back at it and today I address a problem I have had since June 14th. Why do people hate on Man of Steel so much? My first viewing I loved it. I saw some things could have been improved, no doubt, but some of the accusations being thrown around really bothered me because, as I'm sure you know, Superman is my main dude. I've loved the character since I was a little kid roaming my house in my Superman pj's. That said, I went back to view it again and my view is still generally the same as my first viewing. So I'm going to address the issues I had as well as defend the movie and list reasons why I think some of the nitpicks and issues people found are wrong.
         When this movie came out, one thing I kept seeing was "This isn't Superman. Superman wouldn't kill people and level buildings to win a fight." Your absolutely right, he wouldn't....and he didn't. It's as though all that destruction is being blamed on Superman, when people forget that, that decimated area that Zod and Superman are standing in right before their FINAL fight. Yeah...that was all done by the World Engine. Where was Superman you ask? On the opposite side of the world trying to shut it down battling against its defense systems and the Kryptonian Atmosphere that was hurting him the entire time. By the time he got back, the damage was done. From there Superman and Zod had a little confrontation and this is one point where I actually agree with people. Superman didn't feel too "Superman-ish" in this movie but I'm chocking that up to the fact that a character such as Superman won't be fully developed by the end of the first movie. Although I wish they had shown him taking Metropolis' destruction to heart a bit more. For example, when Zod gives his little speech about how "He now has no people and he has no purpose so now he's going to destroy what Superman cares about", and Superman's response is "Your a monster Zod, and I will stop you.". I was kind of hoping for something a little more.."Superman-ish". For example, time for a little self-promotion, I rewrote Superman's one line into this.:
        "Look at all of this Zod. All of this ash your stepping in could have been a building, a car, a father, a mother...a child. All of this to try and bring back Krypton, Zod, this is not what our ancestors would have wanted, this is not the legacy they would want us to create for them.You were once a General protecting his people, now your a monster slaughtering others. This isn't the way to bring back Krypton. Killing...destruction...that isn't who we  are, who we were meant to be. You made it clear you won't stop until you destroy everyone and everything. So let me make THIS clear. I won't stop defending everyone and everything. This is where the madness ends Zod. I WILL stop you."
   Just a little change I would have made...that's all..back to the post. From there they fight and yeah Superman takes down a building, goes through two, but not by choice, Superman just fought Faora, Nam-Ek, The World Engine, meanwhile Zod was just chillaxing in his little space ship until the end. Zod would definitely have the upper hand at this point even by a little, so when Zod throws him through a building at full strength, it may not be so easy to stop himself.
   Another issue I have is "The Avengers managed to stop an invasion with minimal damage, but Superman couldn't". Well..The Avengers are made up of a super soldier, assassins, a tech genius, a god, and a monster. Superman is one man who just got his powers. Not to mention Avengers was all in the city, In Man of Steel this was in Smallville, Metropolis, wherever the hell the World Engine was, hell even in freaking space, and that's kind of the point isn't it? People always complained Superman wasn't relatable because he could do everything and now that he can't people hate him for that?  I think it was a pretty interesting move, making it that the one man who has all this power can't save everyone. If anything that could help his character grow even more. Speaking of that, let's address one of the bigger things. Superman killing Zod. So many people had serious issues with it but I get it. I mean Zod made it very clear that he would not stop, and a friend of mine even said "Why not fly up with him?" Well I mean if he did there were too many variables. If he didn't turn off his heat vision he could hit the structuring behind the walls and take the place down faster. If he did being him up, where would he take him? If he lost his hold he would have to go through the whole thing all over again, and let's say he did bring him somewhere that would hold him, how long would it last, and my greatest defense of this move is that, Superman is known for never killing, and this probably set it in his mind "I can never do this again.". The look on his face once he did it, the scream, showed that this is something he would never forget, and would never do again.
   Finally, some minor issues. One, Lois knowing Superman is Clark. Now I understand why they did it, if they made it where she went through all of that with Superman and Clark shows up at the Planet and she just went "You look familiar" because of a pair of glasses, all realism they wanted to achieve had just flew out the window. So in  a way I'm glad she knows, though it will take away the dynamic of him having to hide from her and that always made for a funny scene. That brings me to my next thing. I wish this movie had a bit more humor. Granted there was humor there, but I think it could have used a bit more. Lastly, one thing that I feel would have been amazing was a montage type thing at the end showing Superman help rebuild the city, and maybe while he's helping rebuild and helping individual people, have no sound save for a soft melodic score like from the flashback scene where Pa Kent sees him as a kid with the cape, and have the Jor-El narration of "You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.". That would have been, in my opinion a really grounded moment, and is something that I would have loved to have seen.

Batman Arkham Origins Update

So today I have two new Arkham Origins items to share with you. The first is that the U.S. Collector's edition is up for pre-order (yours truly just returned from the mall to pre-order it) and it. Looks. Amazing. Apparently on the statue, those TV's, the images aren't painted on, apparently they're battery operated and everything. I....I can't even....

 And  lastly, New Trailer Time!!

Confessions of a Comic Book Geek

       Normally I post the occasional review, custom, or movie news on here but today starts editorials. Why out of the blue? Well recently I was asked a question that I honestly didn't know how to answer with anything other than "I don't know. I just do.". Recently I was asked "I've always wondered, what drew you into the world of comic books and comic related media?" I figured I could answer in seconds, but I couldn't think of any concrete reasons right then and there. What was it? The writing that seemed simple but made you think beyond your imagination? The art that seemed to leap off the page? The way that reading a simple 24-50 page book could let you escape your daily life for hours on end? Sure that's part of it, but it transcends the simple comic book nowadays. Now there's figures, movies, TV shows, video games, conventions, and more. The trend that once caused you to get laughed at and that you would sit in your room reading by yourself has now become a crux in society that will, in my opinion, be around for years. So why am I into comics so much?  
      Well I sat down and made a list of the reasons, and while there weren't necessarily many, they were important. The first reason was the escape. People go to the movies to escape for an hour and a half, two hours, then you come out and the movie's over. With a comic, sure you can read them in record time, but they aren't going anywhere. You have them for as long as you want and that world that you just immersed yourself in for the past half hour, it's ready to welcome you back whenever you want to or need to escape. Let's talk about one in particular that I found by sheer luck this year.
Superman: Secret Identity. Without going into a long segment about it, this book was downright spellbinding. In short it's about a boy who is growing up in the real world and one day wakes up hovering over the ground in the woods in his sleeping bag. He has to contend with reporters trying to get a story on him, dealing with the military who want to take him down and experiment on him, and as he gets older, still dealing with the military, he has to protect the woman he loves. Now what I love is that it's made clear that this is the real world. The main character named Clark Kent (it's a long story, his family is made up of Superman fans, his last name is Kent, go figure) grew up hating Superman comics due to the massive amount of teasing from his relatives, and constantly being bullied in school and once he develops powers, he doesn't have them all, at least not that I've noticed. He isn't invincible to everything as their is no Kryptonite in the real world, there's no scheming villain, there's just raw human emotion flowing through the pages and it's just such a satisfying read. It's made up of four chapters that chronicle his life from teenager to old man. I remember getting that book, bringing it home, and reading it in about 45 minutes. An hour later I started again. The story was just so fresh and intoxicating that when I read that book. I forgot everything. My friends didn't get texts back until hours later, time was non existent. I was in that world, caring about those relationships, interested in the events taking place and rooting for the hero to get home safe to his love. I was in the world of Secret Identity.


A two page spread of Clark having just discovered he can fly, to me it conveys that sense of joy that I think we would all feel if one day we discovered we could take to the skies.

        Another reason that I loved comic books, is that they could tackle anything. One of the things that I loved to see in comics, was that break from the normal "He beat the bad guy! Let's all cheer despite the hero having issues afterwards!!" stories and focus on the smaller one issue stories regarding problems in the real world. They deal with life, and death, they deal with bullying, child abuse, suicide, drugs, seeing the heroes take on these small problems, to me, makes them seem much more grounded, and sometimes, if you are facing those problems in reality, reading about them can help. You see the problem from a different perspective than your own, and you see the hero help that person but the best part, to me, is that they didn't use powers, or gadgets. They just talked, or sometimes, just listened, and anybody can do that. Even reading about it can help a person to help a friend or family dealing with the same issue. Now obviously I am a die hard Superman fan, but I'm truly not being biased when I say that a great story to see this in effect is the "Grounded" story by J. Michael Straczynski. There are issues throughout that story that deal with some of the issues listed above. Any superhero title, if you dig deep enough is bound to have some issues dedicated to the problems above. In Green Arrow there was a time when his sidekick Speedy was a drug addict, as was Harry Osborn in Spider-Man. Comics aren't just about the spectacle anymore, now nothing is off limits, and I still remember despite how little I was that after one of the worst days in New York City, September 11th, comic book talent all across the board came together and put out stories, real stories. Some involving the actual heroes such as the very moving Amazing Spider-Man #36 and some showing the real heroes that can be seen in the two 9-11 trade paperbacks.  The industry didn't seek to solve people's problems, they just created stories to help people deal with them and to help them work through the problems. That is yet another reason I have a special place in my heart for comics.

                                          



     

   There's not much more to it than that. Comics have more of an impact than people realize. Whether it be a figure of the person you look up to on your shelf, reminding you of what you strive for, a movie that transports you to new worlds, a topic of discussion amongst you and your family and friends that brings laughs and a good time for a few hours, comics can do a lot. They can cement a friendship, they can let you escape your problems and possibly even find the solution, they can help bring peace to the little kid who is bullied and show that kid how to stand up for himself and mold that kid from a young child into the man or woman that will contribute great things, big or small, to the world. Comics aren't just some trend that will die out in a year or two. For many they are a way of life, for some, an escape, but for all, they are something special, sometimes, you just can't put it into words.

New Thor The Dark World Trailer Hits!

I think this looks amazing guys! November can't get here soon enough!