Inhumans Episode 1 review

First off, this review will be full of spoilers. You have been warned.

I think the show is awesome.

lol, don't worry, I have more to say.

After a couple of seasons of Inhuman-lite with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this show seems to be capable and willing to deliver what comic book fans expect out of the Inhumans. The basic plot of the episode follows a brief but meaningful glimpse of who each of the Royal family are. Black Bolt. Medusa. Crystal. Gorgon. Karnak. Maximus the Mad. Oh, and Lockjaw! The main plot thread revolves around Maximus, Black Bolt's brother, overthrowing Black Bolt and taking over Attilan in order to leave the Blue Area of the Moon, and it's limited space and resources, and move all of Inhumanity to Earth. Black Bolt, as the exposition declares, fears that it will cause a war with humans and doesn't feel the time is right to go to earth. Maximus' coup results in the Royal family being scattered across Hawaii, thanks to Lockjaw, and Crystal being held hostage. What happens I won't say so you do have something to look forward to when watching it. See? Even my spoilers have secrets...

Now to the fun stuff. THEY ACTUALLY HAVE THE INHUMANS ON THE MOON!!! I can't overstate how cool this is to the un-comic-ed but the show writers could have easily skipped out on putting Attilan on the moon where it belongs and just have them living secretly on Earth. They don't, and to me it makes all the difference in the world. The closer these shows are to the source material, the better in my opinion. Medusa's hair looks amazing, though during the coup she has her head shaved so it'll be interesting to see how the next few episodes are going to involve her. Black Bolt doesn't really do much, with his powers there isn't really a whole lot he can get involved in without destroying everything. Generally you see him with his mask on, and though they did have him wearing his circlet crown in a scene I haven't entirely gotten used to seeing his whole face. Gorgon is great, the fact that they DID give him hooved feet was another touch that they didn't have to do but thankfully did and the actor playing him brings a lot of character to the role. Karnak is, Karnak, and that's a good thing. There are a few scenes where they show his pov of his powers and it is very cool. Lockjaw's CGI is good, and i'm soooo glad they have him in the show. He's probably my favorite of the Inhumans.

The acting is good and the show sets a precedent for effects and storytelling that should make the show a must watch for comic book fans. I know i'm going to make sure to keep up with the show. My only regret is that there won't be any crossovers with the Fantastic Four. In my mind and with all the comics i've read over the years it just feels weird to see the Inhumans without Marvel's First Family. In a perfect world this show could be the bridge that would bring the FF to the TV/Cinematic universe, but we all know that's a thin chance.

Either way, make sure to check out the pilot, it's well worth your time and you'll feel vindicated for sitting through all the Inhuman stuff they drug out in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I give episode 1 of the Inhumans my personal seal of approval.

Spider-man: Homecoming review and commentary.

Before I check out the podcast review of Spider-man: Homecoming done by my buddies over at Discussing Who, I figured I'd get off my duff and write my own review. I saw Spider-man: Homecoming the first showing on Thursday (because we live in a society without traditions and the midnight release has died a silent, forgotten death). Here are my thoughts....

I don't like the tech suit. At. All.

Still with me? Cool. Let me explain my love for Spider-man briefly, in way of apology to those who are already brandishing pitchforks.

Spider-man is my favorite superhero. I grew up on Spider-man. I read his Golden Books adventures and his comics when I was 3. I learned to read, in part, because of Spider-man. He was also around me in other media. The live action Spider-man from CBS was something I was exposed to through VHS and there were four different cartoon series running around Saturday morning as I was growing up. I identified with Peter Parker and his willingness to do what was right despite the odds. With Great Power comes Great Responsibility was a serious mantra to the young Nerd-storian. He worried about his family, his friends, doing the right thing. He worried a lot and it made him relatable to me. The Marvel Tales reprints of his early adventures made him feel like a kid like me. I could grow up to be like Spidey. In truth, while I have a strong moral compass I also have some neurotic tendencies to worry that have caused a lifelong battle with anxiety, so sometimes being too similar to your heroes can be a bad thing. Imagine fans of the Hulk having explosive rage issues or Batman fans being far too interested in unquenchable vengeance. Come to think of it I may have still got the better end of the deal...

Anyhoo, the short version is I love Spider-man. While I am protective of the Friendly, Neighborhood One, I am also capable of overlooking many things with his various film appearances. When something comes along that envelopes the joy center of your brain you tend to not question the few things that might not be good for you. You sit back, let your pupils dilate, and allow yourself to be washed in the magic of seeing Spidey flip around and do all the things a spider does. It gets you through things like an armored and biker helmeted Green Goblin. Or a weird looking, paintball garbed Green Goblin. Or a Green Goblin that looks like something out of Legend. Or most of the scenes of Venom in Spider-man 3. Or an emo dance number by Peter Parker. Or a spider costume that talks to you and has 500 different web combinations.

Spider-man: Homecoming was a good movie but for me, it wasn't great. That title still stands in my mind as belonging to Sam Rami's Spider-man 2. I was right there with the majority of people that gleefully wet themselves when Spider-man showed up in Captain America: Civil War. "OMG his eyes moved! Shut up and take all my money!" I was on the hype train from then on. "When will he be back? Who will he fight?" I eagerly absorbed all trailers and tv spots. I made all haste to see it opening night. However, I left the theatre (after seeing my current all time fav end credits scene) with mostly a shrug, a smile, and a sense that my time hadn't been wasted but I didn't exactly feel elated by the movie.

Tom Holland is an awesome Peter Parker and Spider-man. The guy is a great actor and damn decent athlete and fills the role well on both sides. Micheal Keaton, was fantastic as always and it was a pleasure to see that this movie gave him three dimensions and a perfectly understandable reason for being a villain. Jacob Batalon as Ned made such a great friend and sidekick in this movie and all the kids playing Peter's classmates worked great. When Zendaya had her few scenes, she stole the moment. Laura Harrier as Liz Allen could not have been better cast.

The things that impressed me most were the character moments where Peter knew the kind of hero he wanted to be and despite the influence of adults and mentors who wanted him to go a different path, he stuck to who he was and what he knew was the right thing to do. Hunting down the high tech weapons had to be done. He had to stop the Vulture, despite what he knew it would cost him. He was able to dig down in the third act and find a reservoir of inner strength we as Spider-man fans know he has but that he hasn't discovered on his own. His naivety with things really played well as a high school kid who happens to have spider powers and a scientific genius.The Homecoming "twist" (no spoilers) left my mouth agape. Didn't see it coming but was so fascinated by the turn of events. I don't want to give any spoilers to anyone who hasn't seen it though I don't know why you're reading this. Turn off your comp and go see it, then come back. Spider-man: Homecoming will give you chills and thrills, there were several times I wanted to get out of my seat and cheer, especially when Ned has his moment as "the guy behind the computer screen".

Yet when it was all said and done, I left the movie feeling like I had just read a regular issue over a special event comic. And maybe that's the point. Homecoming IS the third attempt at a Spider-man franchise. It's still trying to find itself and fit into the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe. I can't fault them for coming in for decent and not world shattering. They have time to get to that and I have no doubt they will. I just wanted a special issue. A cathartic read (view) that gave me a feeling of satisfaction that it was one of the great Spidey stories amongst the likes of The Death of Gwen Stacy. That's the only real shortfall I had with Homecoming.

Well, that and the tech suit.

Like Spidey himself says in the movie, "I just need webs!"




What did you folks think?

The Reivers Datasheet has shown up...in español

Thanks to Spanish 40k site La Voz De Horus we can now see what the Reivers are all about:

 

Thanks to the magical wonder that is Google Translate, I can tell you what they do!

The first weapon is a bolt pistol with AP -1 (pretty simple to figure out)

The Filoarma (combat knife) provides an extra attack in close combat

The next two are frag and krak grenades, you should know how these work.

The last one, the Shock Grenades, are the new cool thing on the block. They do not inflict damage. Instead, each time it hits an enemy unit, it is stunned until the end of the turn, it can not do overwatch and your opponent must subtract 1 to any hits made by the unit. The shock grenade has no additional effects.

That is pretty cool! As we have seen, the Reivers will come in units of 5 to 10 and now they appear to be really good at getting into close combat. What do you think? Will you be picking some up?

I'll miss you, Adam West.

*This is a commentary from guest writer Kelly C. on the passing of legendary Batman actor Adam West*

So, Adam West died a couple of weeks ago. I cried when I initially read the news, and I cried again every time I saw another article about it, or every time a friend texted to ask how I was doing. (What can I say, my love of Adam West and affirmation of him as the one true Batman is fairly well known.) Basically, I cried a lot, and I felt ridiculous for doing so. I mean, why should it matter to me, really? Which led me to wonder, why do we get so upset about the deaths of celebrities anyway? The vast majority of us can’t claim to have known them as actual humans beings, we only know them as an image, usually one they have created. Even celebrities that are very open with the public have at least some part of their life that remains behind closed doors. I can say that I had the pleasure of meeting Adam West at a comic-con once, along with countless other fans that weekend. That doesn’t mean that I can claim that he was a friend, or an acquaintance, or even a friend of a friend of a friend. So why do I care?

The answer, I think is simple. I don’t feel like I’m blowing the lid off of any huge secret by writing about it, it’s just something I realized during my day-long Batman marathon. We don’t mourn a celebrity because of who they were. We mourn them because of who they were to us. We’re sad because we remember how they made us feel or what they meant to us. Maybe we even saw a little of ourselves in them or vice versa. And when they’re gone, that’s gone.

Take Carrie Fisher as an example. When she died last year, it was a blow to fans everywhere. And there are a thousand reasons why. Her very open struggles and advocacy for mental health made her a relatable figure for innumerable people. But she’s best known, of course, as Leia. What she accomplished in Star Wars was to give a face to a role that represented strength and independence while still being feminine. She taught women over the past 40 years that a princess doesn’t have to relegate herself to being a damsel in distress, that instead a princess can take matters into her own hands and shape her own future. It was a defining role that showed that a female can do or be anything. People remembered her for those achievements and the fact that she empowered multiple generations, not so much for who she was in day to day life. With any kind of fandom, that’s how it is.

So after all that, why am I sad about Adam West? Well, here’s what he meant to me. I remember watching Batman with my uncles during the summer months in New York and being absolutely fascinated. It was as much a bonding experience with them as it was entertainment. Adam West was so confident and serious, it’s easy to believe that he had no idea how campy the entire show was, and that’s just part of what made it so much FUN! To this day I can put on an episode of the series, laugh just as hard as the first time, and probably spot some new gag as well. It’s hard to explain how much Batman was a part of my childhood. I also remember when I found out that an entire Batman universe existed outside of that show…and how little I cared about that. Adam West was Batman, pure and simple. Every role he took on for the rest of his years had a touch of the same insanity that he brought to the show, all the way up to the Mayor of Quahog. (It’s my personal belief that he may actually have been just a touch insane, but since we weren’t friends, I’ll never know.)

 I have plenty of memories and all the places they take me back to, but their creator is gone. And for that reason, I cried. It’s been a couple of weeks, but if you’ll excuse me, I need to go watch more Batman now.

8th Edition rumor round-up 5/1

A lot of things about when 8th edition is going to hit and what it will contain have been floating around the web this weekend. Here's a collection of what's what but as with all rumors, take with applicable salt:

"Day one any beyond:

June 10th launch, they’re going to drip feed us rumors for the rest of  May.  Expect to see full Space Marine datasheets sometime around the end of next week, with a couple of fluff pieces talking about how the galaxy got ripped in half and how all the marines got taller.

For those of you who are saving your pennies, here’s what the launch schedule looked like so far.

About 1-2 weeks beforehand all 7th edition exclusive products are being pulled from stores for good. Codex’s, Rulebooks, Dark Vengeance, not the new campaign books such as Gathering Storm [since] those are still fluff pieces, but expect those to become much harder to find.

Then on day 1:  5 new, free soft cover/PDFs launch with all the core 8th edition rules.

They are:
The Rules:  Containing your prophesized 12 pages of core rules, plus outlines for open play and the 14 universal FoC, ranging from 1 HQ and 1 Troop choice = 1 command point allies to massive 20+ slot charts that grants a fist full of command.  The new force org charts are pitched as a great way  [to] customize your army, one of them is a big guns esq 1 troop/HQ 5+ Heavy support, but really they’re just designed to scale command points to game size.

A few of the wilder ones, such as the aforementioned big guns list, have restrictions and special rules that might sway players one way or the other in terms of army composition, but the more well-rounded ones grant the most command points (which are such a big deal. I cannot stress this enough, proper use of command points can make or break strategies), and the real meat and potatoes special rules granting armies are going to be built from the FoC structures found in your army codex, once they bring those back.
The free PDF version of the following books will be sectioned up amongst
faction lines, but the paper ones are going to be the mash-ups listed below.

Armies of the Imperium: Exactly what it says on the cover, a splash of lore
and datasheets for every imperial unit in the game.
Armies of chaos:  The spiky version of the above.

Armies of Xenos: Split up among proper faction lines (Eldar, Tau, Necron, Nids), and containing datasheets and rules for the rest.

A galaxy in flames:  Art and fluff book.  Brings everyone up to speed on the setting, pushing the story forward by a few weeks and setting up the opening of a AoS style narrative campaign."

Also:

The battle tome will become the template for the codex, not the other way around.  Each dex will get the special army wide rules, 6-12 relics, 6 warlord traits, and 6 psychic powers, only now it’s written that you can chose to ether select or roll on warlord/psychic charts.  It will also contain full rules and points for all the old and new units in a given army, and special rules for things like warbands, campaigns, narrative missions and the like.

Formations are back, but they cost points now, and so are decurons, but they will be a lot more flexible and take cues from their AoS counterparts

And then there was some speculation on what the starter would contain:

"Starter Set
The starter set goes live the 17th and is going to be Death Guard Vs. Ultramarines, $120 box.  Chaos gets a blob of cultists, a few terminators, a few plague marines, a lord, and drones.  Loyalists get 2 tactical squads, a devastator, an assault squad, plus a librarian and a captain.  Comes with dice and rulers as well.

In addition, there will be the standard soft cover core rules booklet and a small campaign book.  The campaign book has the stats for all the dudes in the box, plus a series of narrative missions that set up the ground floor for the first real story arc of the new edition."

There was also the video GW released yesterday that seems to confirm the thought debunked rumor that we were going to get larger marine models:

All interesting stuff. What do you think?

 

 

Catching up on comics: Inhumans vs. X-Men #1-6 review

After the destruction of a Terrigen Bomb by Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans, two separate clouds have been drifting randomly over the Earth. Much like the original Terrigen Mists, the Terrigen Clouds grant anyone with dormant Inhuman genes fantastic new powers. It is discovered not long after that the Terrigen Clouds are poisonous to mutants, not just causing a terrible disease called "m-pox" but also neutralizing the x-gene in humans which would effectively destroy the mutant population in a generation. Because of their need to destroy the Terrigen Clouds, the mutants of the Marvel universe are fighting the Inhumans so that the clouds can be destroyed and future mutantkind preserved. The Inhumans, who rely on the cloud in order to produce more Inhumans, are fighting to save it.

Thus, Inhumans vs. X-men was born!

The extra sized Issue #1 starts off with Hank McCoy lamenting the death of Scott Summers (if you want to know more about that, read this) at his graveside. Beast then heads to a meeting of the general leaders of mutant-kind at this point: Forge, Magneto, Storm, Rouge, Emma Frost, the younger Hank McCoy, Magik, and the older version of Logan. The older McCoy reveals to the group that they are out of time in finding a solution to the Terrigen Cloud problem. The clouds are about to entirely dissipate into the atmosphere, making Earth inhospitable to mutants in two weeks.  During the discussion of what to do next, Emma Frost reveals to McCoy that the mutant's plan to strike back has already begun. When Beast attempts to warn the Inhumans, he is hit by a bolt of lightening from Storm. She then reveals that the plan to attack was, in part, hers. Black Bolt is taken out by Dazzler and Emma Frost at the Quiet Room, Lockjaw is teleported away and drugged by Fantomex, the young Jean Grey is sent to distract Karnak as long as possible, Magneto takes out the Inhuman's flying fortress, and the issue ends with a massive group of X-Men moving to assault the Inhuman stronghold of New Attilan.

Issue #2 opens with New Attilan's preparations for the incoming X-Men attack. The fight then starts in earnest, with Magik teleporting various main Inhumans away from the fight: to Limbo. A few of the younger Inhumans manage to escape, Iso and Inferno, though they have to fight through Sabertooth, X-23, and the younger version of Angel. With the last minute help of Eldrac, they teleport to the site of a machine that will destroy one of the two Terrigen Clouds. It just happens to be guarded by Old Man Logan.

In Issue #3, Iso and Inferno split up to try and destroy the machine that will destroy one of the Terrigen Clouds. Inferno takes the fight to Logan, Iso heads off to confront Forge. Iso incapacitates Forge and destroys the machine and Inferno manages to temporarily stop Old Man Logan. Iso and Inferno call on the help of Ms. Marvel (the Inhuman one) to gather a group of Inhumans together to fight back against the mutants at New Attillan. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Mosaic, Quake, Reader, Grid, and Synapse. Karnak finally manages to break out of Jean Grey's mental trap but finds himself still far from the fight in the other dimension known as The World with Fantomex there to assist the young Ms. Grey. The Inhumans trapped in Limbo begin to formulate an escape.

Issue #4 beings with Reader teleporting Mosaic to Muir Island to infiltrate the X-Men base and find out the Mutant plan by reading Magneto's mind. Mosaic succeeds in finding out what the Mutants are up to but Magneto, long ago trained to fight off psychics, kicks Mosaic out of his mind. Mosaic then Jumps into young Cyclops' mind and escapes in a Blackbird. Meanwhile in Limbo, the Inhumans led by Medusa and Johnny Storm escape their prison and begin an assault on the X-mansion located there in hopes of finding Black Bolt. Colossus, on guard at the mansion, has other ideas. The mind controlled Cyclops lands in New Jersey to find the group of NuHumans led by Iso and Inferno. He reports that the Royal Family of Inhumans is trapped in limbo and then reveals the truth behind the Mutant's attack on the Terrigen Cloud: that it is about to cause the death of all Mutants on Earth. Ms. Marvel asks "Who are the good guys?"

In Issue #5 Fantomex, Jean Grey, and Karnak continue to duke it out in The World. In the Limbo home of the X-Men Gorgon and Colossus fight as the rest of the Inhuman Royals look for Black Bolt. They find him guarded by Havok, the brother of Scott Summers. In an emotional speech, Havok says he could kill Black Bolt for the death of Cyclops, but he won't yet hints that it isn't for the reason they suspect. back in New Jersey, Forge is awake and explaining the workings of the Terrigen Eater to Iso and Moon Girl. Moon Girl comes up with a miniature version of the one that was previously destroyed so that it can be moved to where the Terrigen Cloud is. They head to Ennilux to use the facilities there to construct the new Terrigen Eater but come across the X-Men leaders and a fight breaks out. Karnak and Lockjaw are found, and leave to find the battle just like Colossus and Havok leave Limbo to do. The issue ends with Magneto dropping the Blackbird on everyone.

Issue #6 has all X-Men and Inhumans assembled in Iceland for the climactic final fight for the future of the Terrigen Clouds. Emma Frost reveals to Rouge that this was always about killing the Inhumans. As the battle heats up and the Inhumans seem to be losing ground, the NuHumans arrive with ships from Ennilux and the son of Black Bolt and Medusa, Ahura, through an approaching Terrigen Cloud. Iso tells Medusa that this fight has been one for the Mutant's survival, not just a petty conflict against the Inhumans. As the Terrigen Cloud rolls closer, Emma Frost prepares to die but Medusa uses the activation switch for Moon Girl's smaller Terrigen Eater to destroy the cloud just in time. Though the rest of the Mutant's consider the fight over Emma Frost is determined to tear the Inhumans down in Cyclops' memory. She activates Sentinels designed to kill Inhumans and a new fight begins. The first casualties are the three airships carrying the people from Ennilux which serves as a rally point for the X-Men and the Inhumans to work together to stop Frost. A mind controlled Magneto adds his force to Frost's destroying Cerebra. The battle rages on, Emma Frost and Medusa finally confronting each other. Before Medusa can kill Frost, Havok breaks the fight up.

In the aftermath, apologies are made to the older Hank McCoy. Emma Frost has gone to ground but is revealed to be wearing a helmet similar to Magneto's yet it pays homage to Cyclops' most recent cowl. Medusa laments the destruction of the Terrigen Clouds, an even that assuredly prevents any new Inhumans from being created, but is certain there is still a future for her people.


I liked this story, overall. Despite the familiar tropes of the "Marvel Team-up" where two sides are at first at odds then band together against a common foe it was a really interesting read. As with most of these events the final issue wrapped things up far to quickly for my tastes. Medusa leaves Johnny Storm without so much as an explanation and apparently goes right back into the arms of Black Bolt. She also abdicates the throne and places Iso in charge. The fight that Havok interrupts is used as the immediate cessation of the entire battle, so it is rather jarring to turn to the following page and see that things are already in the future some days or weeks later.

As there is simply too much to describe in these things, I urge you to go to seek out the issues or the trade and read the story in its entirety. For those that read the series, what did you think? What predictions do you have for the fate of Mutants and Inhumans? Please comment below and don't forget to subscribe to our RSS feed!

All the news from the 8th Edition Q&A feed

After the long awaited and un-shocking reveal over the weekend that 40k 8th edition is coming, the Warhammer Community team had a live feed today to go over the FAQ they released and to answer questions live from we hungry gamers. Here is what I gleaned from the live feed:

Movement stat and Armor modifiers are doubly confirmed.

Vehicles lose armor values, will degrade over time like in Age of Sigmar. Monsters too. (everything can hurt everything else) No stat is capped at 10. Bolters will be able to hurt tanks. Knights will doubtless have tons of wounds.

All models and scenery currently in 7^th edition will receive rules.

Command points: there will be 14 force organization charts.

Each one generates a number of command points,
You can reroll a die. You can interrupt the initiative a charger gets for charging.
The command points will fit with the fluff of each army
You can only use one per phase.
Templates are going away!
5 books will come out at launch, containing rules for ALL THE ARMIES!
                Codexes will come out afterwards detailing each specific army.
Cities of death and other supplements will be updated

“This will be the most balanced edition we have ever had”

The three styles of play: Open, Narrative, and Pitched will be constantly refreshed just like the General’s Handbook in AoS

A Warhammer 40k app is in the works but won’t be ready at launch

The top three design goals were: “work for all three ways to play, hold up to the competitive aspect, make it far more accessible”

Wanted to make Chaos the big threat in the new edition and not in the background like previous editions.

There will be two different sets of point values:

Power level will focus on narrative play that covers a broad stroke on units (doesn’t worry about weapon loadouts)

Matched play pays for points per model and weapon as well as other gear just like we currently do.

New Factions we haven’t seen before will appear, some at launch!

Keyword will work in the units like Age of Sigmar, in an effort to nerf death stars and super friends. The example given was that marines and imperial guard won’t get to swap benefits because of their keywords.

They want close combat to be viable again and feel the rules support close combat armies just as much as shooty ones.

They really want to make this an edition that people will enjoy.

 

Well that was the gist of the Live feed. The last point they wanted to put out there that anyone that has proof of purchase on a codex in the last 8 weeks will be able to contact their customer service and receive a voucher for their purchase, which was pretty decent of them.

 

What do you guys think? I'm excited but I know there will be oceans of salt out there.