“The Next Legend is You”:

               That’s the catch line for DC Comics newest video game “DC Universe Online” where the player gets to create a new hero or villain to play online. This is a multiplayer game that allows anyone that buys a subscription to the game to play against everyone else that has it. I don’t have the game, though it looks really cool and even has Harley Quinn in it, I’m against having to pay $50 for the game and then a monthly fee of $15. Do the math on that one, that’s $180 a year, and that first year tack on the $50 for the game and that makes the first year costing $230 to play this game. It don’t matter how awesome that game is, at $230 that’s just insanely and ridiculously too expensive. To make the matter even worse though, the game can only be played with the subscription. There’s no one player play-mode like normal games have, just the subscription online version. Now if there had been a way to play it with no subscription (take away the online version and only give the game so many levels like normal games) then I would have bought this game in a heartbeat. 

                Since there’s not that has left me with one option, read the comic.
                Was you getting worried that my comic blog was turning into a video game blog? Well fear not good readers, this is still a comic blog and since the “DC Universe Online” game is based off comic books and there is now a comic being published to go along with the game, I can talk about it. The comic book that is, not the game, and I’ve been reading it so here comes the talk on it.

               When the comic was first announced it was said that it would be a 52 issue limited series that would come out each week. Instead it’s going to be bi-weekly with only 26 issues. Now first off this is both good and bad.
Good:
1) With only 26 issues the final amount spent on it will only be $77.74 (that’s without taxes) instead of $155.48
2) Story flow will be quick so it should keep with a good info/action packed filled issues
Bad:
1) Instead of getting a new story each week it’s bi-weekly
2) Will still have to wait a full year to get closure
3) Because of it being bi-weekly pushing issue length from 52 to 26, the story flow will be really quick, meaning that instead of having possibly 3+ issues to resolve a plot point/story it will be done in fewer issues, which could make the closure feel forced and too quick
               Not that these downsides are keeping me from reading the series, this story is just too interesting to not want to know about it. If by chance you are not a gamer, don’t read DC titles, don’t read the ads in the titles if you are a DC reader, or don’t watch tv, then you should check out this official trailer for the game.
www.youtube.com/watch

                Did you watch it?

                Wow! That trailer is one of the best that I’ve seen in a long time. Whoever did this trailer needs to produce a full-length film of this battle. Am I right? I know that if one was made I would be in the theater seat many times to watch it and would own the Blu Ray of it as well. Sadly I doubt that will ever happen but that’s where the comic book will pick up some of the slack.
                 The comic looks to be telling the story of what led to the destruction of all the heroes. For me I’m wanting to know 2 things, it was 3 but I was already given one answer in issue 6 but I will tell my 3 questions that I want to know the answers to.
1) Why was Superman off planet by the sun recharging himself?  Yeah I know that in the trailer it says that he was being forced to fight endlessly to the point of it draining his powers but come on, just how much fighting would it take to weaken Superman so much that he would leave the planet where his friends and innocents are being killed?

2) When will Superman come back to fight? Sure in the trailer Luthor kills him with that kryptonite spear thing, then in the comic his body is buried (in which the spear is taken out of his body), but when will he come back? He has been killed before, remember Doomsday, and he came back because even though he was dead his body retained the power to bring him back. With the kryptonite spear taken out of his body there’s nothing holding his body back from recharging, meaning that he should come back, so I’m wondering if they will have him come back and if so when in the series it will happen.

3) Why didn’t the Green Lantern Corps come to the rescue? I know that the GL Corps are not invincible but they still are extremely powerful. In fact at one time it was said that if it wasn’t for the limits of the rings holding back the power then a Green Lantern could take out Superman. Now that’s some power, add in the fact that there is thousands of them, that allows them to be the police force that they are. So with those thousands of members with the power rings out there, how was it that Luthor was able to defeat the heroes of Earth? Where was Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner? The 3 other Earth based Green Lanterns? Why wasn’t more called in to help keep this disaster from happening? Answer follows…

                       Reason why there was no Green Lantern Corps, at least in the form of the whole Corps cause I still don’t have an answer as to why Guy, John, and Kyle wasn’t there so I’m putting them in with the whole Corps answer. That answer is that they were taken down by Brainiac. Yeah, right I was just as shocked when reading this.

                       Alright I know that Brainiac is powerful and really smart, but how did he take out the Green Lantern Corps? I would like to read the comic of that battle because it would have had to been huge. Not only did Brainiac take out all the Green Lanterns but he also took out the Sinestro Corps. This is shown by having Luthor, with the help of the Atom and Black Canary, get into a trophy room of Brainiacs that holds a section of Korugar, the home world of Sinestro. In this bottle is the Central Power Battery for the Sinestro Corps and Luthor is getting himself some new bling by going here. Kind of cool actually but still the Sinestro Corps was taken down as well as the GL Corps. That’s big time power.
                      One thing though that I thought was odd about this plot point was having Luthor take 10 rings where the Atom and Black Canary only take one each. Both of them know the power the rings weld and that having more than one will allow for even more power, so why only take one? In this kind of war where the world is almost destroyed is about to be taken over by an alien that has already taken out some of the most powerful groups in the universe, then it’s time to stop being all politically correct and get with more rings.

                      I also have another little quip that’s not sitting well with me, well 2 in fact. The first is having Lex Luthor be declared the smartest person on the planet, even over Batman. I just don’t believe that nor like the fact. Not that I’m saying he isn’t smart, he is, but what made him have the edge over the heroes, like Superman and Batman, was the fact that he didn’t care if he hurt/maimed/killed anyone in the process of getting what he wanted. Don’t put that limit on Batman, allow him to go after Brainiac with any degree that he wants and he would be able to figure out a way to take him down and probably still do it without putting others at risk. Like the Atom loosing an arm cause Luthor wanted to get to the yellow rings. At any rate, because of this Luthor is in control of the heroes, which is giving it a different story flow that is quite interesting. With only 7 issues out, well 8 now but I haven’t read issue 8 yet, the heroes have had to deal with doing things the Luthor way and that’s not always the nice way.
                       Issue number 2 that I have that I don’t like, and this is the biggest one of it, Harley Quinn is dead! What, what!?! There is hope that I will get to see her because the comic jumps from the future (where this whole story takes place) to the present to where the events are starting to happen. So I’m looking forward (and she better be put there) to reading about Harley Quinn doing her part in this story. Still, with her being dead at the end of the main fight where Superman dies just disappoints me. 

                     To end this though, the comic is well worth the read. Even if you want to do the smart thing (which I would if I could get past this whole being impatient thing when it comes to comics) by waiting for all the issues to come out then be put into a graphic novel before you read it, do so but for anyone that’s a fan of Superman, DC Comics, or want to have more than the game, this is the title to read. 
                      Now onto the news part.

Camera A Rolling…Camera B rolling…annnnnddd ACTION!!!

Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises”. That’s right folks, the third and final film to be done by Christopher Nolan in the Batman franchise is now under way. Only a year and a month before we get to see Batman on the big screen again. Appearing along with him will be e film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle (not sure yet how I feel about her being this character of a very strong, smart, and sexy female character who actually has the respect of Batman), Tom Hardy, as Bane (why oh why is Bane in this, didn’t we learn from Batman and Robin that this was a huge mistake, unless Nolan plans on following along with the story of having Bane break Batmans back which could be a good way to have his films end and leaving it open for a new batman), Michael Caine is again the butler Alfred (best Alfred so far that I’ve seen), Gary Oldman being Commissioner Gordon (can’t ever go wrong with Gary Oldman), Morgan Freeman will be Lucius Fox once more, Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake.
A good cast but so far that’s all that’s been released. The script and story is being kept top secret for now so until more is put out this is all that I have to go on that’s actually known to be true.
Be sure to check back in at the same Bat-site on the same Bat-day for my next blog. Later Readers.