Batman: Arkham Knight

So first off, I know it's been a while since my last post. I'm actually not dead though. Still here.

 Time to inflict my opinions on the world once again. Anyway, I know I'm a little bit late on this, but there's some stuff rattling around in my head that I felt like sharing. Let's get started then, shall we? I love the Arkham game series. Arkham Asylum was quite possibly the best superhero game ever when it came out, and then it was surpassed by Arkham City, which is still my favorite superhero game. After that though, there was Arkham Origins, which was made by WB Montreal instead of Rocksteady. Please don't misunderstand; Arkham Origins is a really cool game, but just it didn't continue the upward trend of its predecessors. It did improve on detective mode and Bane, plus it had Deathstroke and a couple other favorites of mine, but even that didn't make it any more  satisfying than Arkham City. Not to mention the different voice actors, who sounded a lot like the originals, but still just weren't quite the same. So after that, I was worried Rocksteady was gone for good and that from this point forward we would receive good Batman games instead of fantastic ones. If that's not a little bit petty and/or selfish, please let me know, but either way that's how I feel. Fortunately though, Rocksteady is making a triumphant return. (Feel free to revisit the gif above this block of text.) As per my usual posts of this sort, I'll post the trailer below.

Just give me a second here...

Almost there...

And...

Aha!

If you like Batman and video games and aren't really excited right now, I don't know what it'll take. You know what? You don't even have to like both, If you like Batman or video games, you should be excited. But the name of the game comes from the name of a character introduced in this story, so the question of the hour is: Who is the Arkham Knight? And I've got an idea. It sounds crazy, but considering who and what the idea involves, crazy seems appropriate. Hear me out on this. In Arkham City, we found this with Harley Quinn's stuff:




Not to mention the fact that during the credits, Harley can be heard singing a slightly homicidal lullaby. Yeah. You see where I'm going with this. Also, this game is set many years after Arkham City. So in summary: Harley and the Joker have a child in this universe, this game is set a long time after the pregnancy test was positive, the man called Arkham Knight is an original character and not in the comicbooks, AND THE IDENTITY OF THE TRIGGERMAN IS A MYSTERY! Wait... wrong Batman universe. So in case anyone isn't following me, I think the Arkham Knight may very well be the Joker's son. It couldn't just be some guy who knows how to fight and put on a costume; this is the conclusion of an epic trilogy, so the main villain has to be significant in some way. Also, the Joker is dead and Harley believes it's Batman's fault. Assuming my theory is correct, this is a man who has been raised by a homicidal psychopath and taught his whole life to hate the Batman. And you know who else's father was killed? Batman. Therefore, it provides symmetry between the two characters, which is always nice. If I'm right, I am the new World's Greatest Detective. And if not, I'm some fool with a computer and a crazy theory... Now that I put it like that, I really hope I'm right...

Comicbooks You Need to Read

Ok, so if you're really into comicbooks, you've probably read most of these already, but just for the purpose of sharing, I'll list a few comicbooks I think people should read and why I think so for each one. It would take too long for me to list all the comicbooks I like, so I'll just name the important ones in the order that I think of them. Ready? Let's begin.
Secret Wars:
This is a classic Marvel story where a wide range of heroes and villains are brought to an alien planet to battle. Besides being a classic and the first appearance of the Beyonder, it tells the origin of Spider-Man's black suit, and indirectly causes Venom and Carnage to be created. I think that's important. Another little detail is that this was the first Marvel series on which action figures were based, and I like action figures, so yeah.
Watchmen:
You have no excuse not to read Watchmen. It's a self contained story, meaning that when you pick up the book, you don't need any background knowledge of the Watchmen universe. It's pretty famous and got fantastic reviews, and rightly so. This more realistic take on superheroes (with the exception of one blue guy who controls atom:s) is brilliantly written and really makes you think.
Hellboy:
If your only experience with Hellboy is the movies, you might not expect the comicbooks to be very deep or philosophical. However, if you pick one up, you'll find that that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm all for occult steampunk Nazis summoning demons, and these stories are written so intelligently that sometimes I even think to myself "Look at me readin' smart stuff!"
the Walking Dead:
This has to be one of the most disturbing comicbooks I've ever read, and if that doesn't hook you, I don't know what will. It really does mess with your emotions, but in a good way. The black and white art style adds interest, along with the emphasis on the character development of the human characters instead of the mindless action you find in some other zombie stories.
Judge Dredd:
You're missing out if you've never read Judge Dredd. Even in its earliest days, this is a dark series with lots of murder and death, but good storytelling with a great protagonist and a dark sense of humor. People who liked the movie will like the comicbooks, and while we're on the topic of the movie, you should sign the petition to make another over here: http://2000adonline.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=a6e40236aa24d482cfff600d2&id=62906ebdcc. Also, I think the idea of the world getting blown up by war and civilization only existing in large dystopian cities surrounded by radiation desert is completely possible, so we might as well read up and get ready.
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt:
Many argue that this is the best Spider-Man story ever told, and I think I agree. Just like Hellboy, it's written all smart and quotes poetry and stuff, so it has that going for it. It also made me respect Kraven the Hunter more than I thought I ever would, which sounds cheesy but it's true. Anyway, really good story, pick it up, etc.
Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle:
At first glance, this may look a bit like anti-alcohol propaganda, but I pinky promise it's better than that, and you can't break a pinky promise, so believe me on this. It depicts Iron Man at his absolute worst, having lost nearly everything, and makes him a much more interesting character since we see that the one thing armor can't protect him from is himself. Besides his internal struggle, the story also has a nice lineup of villains, a retelling of his origin, and is the first appearance of Justin Hammer.
Batman: Knightfall:
For me, this is the classic Batman story. It has tons of villains, and is the first appearance of Bane, who's one of my absolute favorites. You may know Bane as the man who broke the bat, and this is when he does it. It also tells the story of Batman's comeback and how the cowl was almost usurped and corrupted by Azrael. This is the same kind of deal as Demon in a Bottle where the hero becomes a deeper character by falling and then rising.

And that's it. Those are the ones I think everyone who likes comicbooks should read. Regardless of what publisher or what style you usually read, all of these are worth your while.

A Justice League Movie

Considering how successful the Avengers movie was, it's perfectly understandable that DC wants to make a Justice League movie. However, I don't think that's a good idea. The reason Avengers worked was all because of the way they set it up with the other movies. Marvel chose Iron Man to be the movie when the Avengers Initiative was announced, and then some characters like Nick Fury or Agent Coulson were in most of the other movies to tie them all together. So far, all of DC's movies seem to take place in separate universes, so to suddenly say that they don't would just be weird, not to mention raising all kinds of questions like why Superman or Green Lantern didn't help save Gotham from Bane when Batman was gone. Also, the Dark Knight movies are over, and Batman basically retired. You can't have a Justice League without Batman, so they would have to get a new Batman, which would diminish the goodness of the Dark Knight trilogy. If they want to make a Justice League movie, they made their other movies in the wrong order. They should've started with the Flash, since he's probably the most relatable member of the team. Superman is an alien, Wonder Woman is the queen of the Amazons, Green Lantern was recruited by aliens to patrol space, and Batman's dark and brooding nature makes him hard to relate to. That leaves the Flash. He should've been like Iron Man where his story is pretty easy to understand and just serves to begin the process of superhero movies coming out. Maybe at some point it could briefly show someone visiting Metropolis. From that you can probably tell that I think after Flash should've been Superman. That's based mostly on Earth, but it has aliens in it, so they could use it to introduce the planet Oa and/or the Guardians of the Universe. That way you already know a little bit before the Green Lantern movie comes out and they don't have to throw it at you all at once. For people who don't read comicbooks, that was probably a lot of information to digest. The Superman should also just casually mention the fact that Bruce Wayne owns the Daily Planet, thus establishing that Superman and Batman both exist in this universe, but maybe Bruce doesn't don the costume until after the events of Man of Steel. So so far, we start with the Flash, which leads into Superman, which introduces Batman and Green Lantern, but Wonder Woman is still missing. I'm not really sure how to bring her in if I'm going to be honest, which apparently I am since I just said that, but hey, do I have to do everything around here? I suppose DC could have some characters that do what SHIELD does to tie characters together, but that's risky business since the last thing they want to do is look like they're copying Marvel. I've been doing my best to plan it out so they don't need to lean on that crutch, and if someone figures out how to insert Wonder Woman into this mixture, I think it could work, and I'm not just saying that because I wrote it. I am partially saying that because I wrote it, but not completely. But whatever, it's too late for that now unless they want to reboot their whole universe. They could probably keep Man of Steel in the new continuity, but Green Lantern and the Dark Knight movies? Forget about it. Many of you would probably be glad to forget about the Green Lantern movie, but I think it's too soon for a reboot. I can see them getting some negative press if they did that. I really liked the Dark Knight trilogy though, and those only work if they're in their own universe, and it's definitely too soon to reboot Batman. So really, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything at all, is that I want a Flash movie. That and that DC should really talk to me before making their movie decisions.

The Bat-Glare

I've recently realized that Batman's most powerful tool isn't his armor, it's not his batarangs, not the batmobile, but the bat-glare. Especially in the cartoon series Justice League Unlimited (which is quite good I might add). Some of you may wonder exactly what the bat-glare is, so instead of describing it, I'll show you what I mean.

 

See what I'm saying? Even the Martian Manhunter, who is as powerful or maybe more powerful than Superman, is intimidated by the bat-glare. Same with Booster Gold, one of the most arrogant heroes around. Some of the clips from the video above were from the Justice Lords episode, where the Justice League from a parallel universe sets up a dictatorship of the world, so I've wondered what would happen if our Batman and evil Batman used the bat-glare on each other? I've narrowed it down to two possibilities: either the two bat-glares cancel each other out, or the whole universe implodes. It could go either way.

Batman: Arkham Origins

Now that a trailer is out there for Arkham Origins, I might as well do a post about it. So first of all, here's the trailer if you haven't seen it yet:

So that looks pretty good, huh? Personally, I couldn't be happier with their choice of villains. For the main villain they chose Black Mask, a lesser known villain who seems pretty cool in this from what little we see of him in this trailer. What I really like though is Deathstroke being in this. Bats is my favorite DC hero, so a game with him against possibly my favorite DC villain is something I'm going to play very happily. Sometimes I even root for Slade when he fights the Teen Titans, depending what version it is. I wasn't thrilled with Deathstroke's look when I read the Game Informer article, but now that we've seen him in action, I think he looks like a total BAMF. A little less impressive looking but still cool is Deadshot, who also seems to be a character in this game. They don't name him in the trailer, but judging from his eyepiece and extreme sniping skills, I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that's Deadshot. Especially since the story involves Black Mask hiring the world's deadliest assassins to kill the Batman. Black Mask is pretty hardcore and I like him, but I gotta say this is probably the one and only time that if they have one of those plot twists where the real main villain is actually someone other than who we thought was the main villain, I would be totally fine with it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, think about The Dark Knight Rises. The main villain turned out to be Talia Al Ghul and not Bane. Something similar also happens in the third installment of another superhero movie trilogy that happens to also star a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist who shall not be named for the purpose of spoilers. We all know who I'm talking about, but I'll sleep easier if I don't go right out and say it. So anyway, I usually don't like when that happens, but if it does in this game, I would be completely okay with it, since that would make Deathstroke the primary antagonist, and he is more than qualified considering his combat skills, strategic mastery, and genius intellect. Playing as him would be cool, so there's a good chance I'll preorder the game, but to be safe I'll wait in case another preorder bonus is announced (which one usually is) from a different store, so then I can choose what I want, but it'll be pretty hard to beat Deathstroke. Or maybe I'll just be lazy and not preorder, then buy the DLC codes secondhand. Either way, I'm still f'sho getting this game.

Injustice DLC

So there are of course going to be some Injustice DLC characters, two of which are already confirmed, and one already has a gameplay trailer: Lobo.

I was hoping for him, and his trailer looks awesome, but as for the other possible characters, I'm not quite as satisfied. It's been revealed that the second DLC character is Batgirl. Why you ask? I don't know I answer. She is literally a female and watered down Batman. I can't think of anything she could bring to the table that Batman hasn't already. Allegedly, other characters may include General Zod and Scorpion. I love both of those characters, but neither if them should be DLC. Scorpion should stay in Mortal Kombat and Zod is Kryptonian, giving him the exact same powers as Super Man, so that would be yet another duplicate character. Speaking of duplicates, according to Ed Boon's Twitter, there's a chance we'll see Professor Zoom, but I'm hoping they'll choose Martian Manhunter over him. To be honest though, there are other characters I'd like to see even more. The ones I want are Metallo, either Plastic Man or Elongated Man, Ra's Al Ghul, Swamp Thing, Steel, and one of what i call the superhe-bros (Booster Gold and Blue Beetle). I thought of that pun on the spot by the way. You should be proud of me. I am. Anyway, as far as the characters that are apparently going to be released, I'll quote a movie I like: I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR! But seriously. I'd gladly buy it for a dollar, but not a lot more. Especially since they already have a lot of Batman characters, and as much as I like General Zod, I have a feeling they're just trying to make him more popular before Man of Steel (which looks pretty awesome) comes out. It's not that I have anything against these characters; I just think any of the other ones I mentioned would have been much more interesting. Ra's Al Ghul is a master swordsman, Plastic Man and Elongated Man could have some cool stretching/shapeshifting moves, Steel has his hammer, Metallo is a freakin' robot, Swamp Thing has swamp stuff, and either of the two superhe-bros would be cool, especially with the Blue Beetle's gadgets and stuff. Well that's my opinion, and until I think of something else to post about, farewell!

Injustice: Gods Among Us

So I picked up Injustice this weekend, and I'm impressed. The people who made it are the same ones who did Mortal Kombat, so they know what they're doing. It has almost everyone in it that I wanted except Ra's Al Ghul and Darkseid, but you can play as Doomsday, so that makes up for Darkseid. Also there are already a few Batman characters, so I can understand why they didn't want more. On the plus side though, Darkseid is a part of one of the stage transitions. Each stage has three areas you can fight in, with cool transitions in between. So one of them involves kicking your opponent through a portal to Apokalips, where Darkseid will putt a serious hurting on him, then throw him back through the portal, thus transitioning to a nearby but different area. Each stage is also unique and interactive, with lots of items that are useable in different ways depending on the character. The only other problem I see is that the story is pretty short. Granted, no one buys a fighting game just for the story mode, but a little more of it would've been nice. Especially since the story is pretty good and most of the characters have pretty cool alternate costumes. Sinestro gets a weird helmet, which I don't like that much, but some characters like Shazam look cooler in the alternate universe than the main one, and some of them are about the same in coolness, but a change is still refreshing. Besides appearance, NetherRealm had done a great job making every character feel unique. A big part of that is the fact that now there's a button for a unique character power. For example, Bane juices himself up with Venom, Batman summons some flying bat projectiles, and Wonder Woman changes her fighting style from hovering and wielding her lasso to standing and using a sword and shield. Super moves are also very character appropriate, besides being just plain awesome. Deathstroke tosses his sword into the air, shoots his opponent, kicks his sword into them, then shoots some more, which is something he would totally do in the comicbooks. Same with Aquaman (who's actually pretty sweet in this game) stabbing someone with his trident, then feeding them to a shark. NetherRealm has taken steps to make Injustice very different from Mortal Kombat, which is definitely a good thing, but the one thing I wish they kept is finishing moves. They don't need to be fatalities, but I just want some sort of cool move to use once you've won and want to further humiliate your friends. Overall though, they did a great job with this game, and if you like DC, you should totally go buy it. Even if you're not, but you like cool fighting games, check this one out!

Comicbook Mercenaries and Assassins

In both Marvel and DC, the mercenaries and assassins have always been some of my favorite characters. For example, Marvel has Bullseye, and Taskmaster, DC has Deadshot and Onomatopoeia, and Deadpool and Deathstroke are each one of my favorite characters in their respective universes. I love Deadpool's randomness and Deathstroke's sheer toughness and ability to beat anyone if he has time to prepare. I was pretty happy when Deadpool's game was announced, then Deathstroke was announced for Injustice, and now that they've announced Arkham Origins and showed that he'll be in it, I'm a happy man. Especially since they've said that the story of the game is that eight of the world's best assassins have gathered in Gotham to kill the Batman. Now that sounds exactly like the kind of game I want to play. I know that the Penguin and Black Mask are in the game, but they're not part of the assassin squad. Where they're concerned, the only member we know of is Deathstroke, but Deadshot has already been in an Arkham game, so I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up too. I just wish there were more comicbook stories about villains-for-hire. I've read Suicide Squad and The Thunderbolts, but I don't count those. Those are villains being forced by the government to do hero stuff. I want there to be an ongoing series about villains doing some antihero stuff and some villain stuff that ends up working out for the greater good. No government involvement though. They have to choose to do what they're doing or else it's not as good. There are tons of stories with costumed mercenaries in them, but I want them to be the protagonists so they can do what they do, but actually win. Maybe the story could involve some assassins being hired then betrayed by another villain, then seeking revenge. Ir maybe one of thise miniseries type things that take place during a massive crossover event and details what's going on with other characters. Either way, their actions serve the greater good but they're still not trying to be herpes. I am happy though that my two favorite mercs will both be playable in upcoming video games. Deadpool gets his own game, but Deathstroke is playable in Injustice and is a major antagonist in Arkham Origins, so they're both doing pretty well. And that's all for today. Later!

A Hawkeye FPS

There have been some good Marvel games, and also a fair amount of bad ones. There are a few though that will probably never be made, but I feel like they would be cool. Like a first person shooter staring Hawkeye. It could benefit from the popularity of the Avengers movie, and be the only fps to my knowledge where your only weapon is a bow, which would make it new and interesting instead of a generic COD clone with a new label on it. I haven't played the newest Crysis yet, but from what I've seen and heard, the bow mechanic works pretty well in that, so a Hawkeye game could have similar bow gameplay. It would have to be a little less overpowered, but I think Clint's different arrow types could fit well into an upgrade system, along with perk trees involving accuracy, attack damage, and things like that. There should be a lot of arrow types, but not too many ammo pickups besides basic broadhead or maybe blunt tip arrows. I don't know about you, but I would totally play this game if it was made (unless it was made by EA, since I can easily see them charging money for additional arrow types... Ok that was a joke, but I still don't feel like EA would be a good fit). As far as traversal goes, one f Barton's most common arrows is the grappling hook arrow, so that could become an important gameplay element. Maybe the player could start the game with unlimited grapple and nonlethal blunt tip arrows and acquire more as the story progresses. I feel like grappling around the map just wouldn't be that fun if you always had to worry about running out of grapples. Rocksteady did a fantastic job with Batman's grappling hook, so something like that would be cool where there are grappleable points marked on the HUD and firing the grapple has its own button so you never have to equip it. Also the camera should move to third person while zipping up to a grapple point. Maybe a little bit of stealth gameplay could be thrown into the action, but definitely not too much. Maybe sneaking to get in position to attack or something like that, but when it comes to taking enemies out, I think this game should be an action packed shooter more than anything else. And that's all I have to say about this genius idea for something I want.

Comicbook Christmas Specials

I'm a fan of Christmas issues in comicbooks. A lot of titles have them, like Batman, Spider-Man, or even Judge Dredd. One that I like is actually one of Batman's Halloween specials, but it's a retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carrol, so I'm counting it. It has Bruce Wayne as Scrooge, since he's focusing too much on the Batman and not doing enough as Bruce Wayne, Poison Ivy as Christmas Past, the Joker as Christmas Present, and a brief pointless appearance by the Penguin. But Batman isn't the only one making Dickens references, Dredd does it too. In one of his Christmas issues, there's a starving family with a disabled kid, and a really mean guy who won't help them. He eventually changes his mind and tries to help. He goes out, shoots a bird, but it looks completely pathetic by the time he reaches their home, plus he apparently broke some law at some point, so Judge Dredd shows up and shoots him. But it's a happy ending since they cook his body and eat him. Ok, so maybe it's not that happy, but you gotta love the dark sense of humor in Judge Dredd's stories. One with an actual happy ending is an issue of Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man and the Human Torch. They're chasing down the Sandman, coincidentally one of my favorite Spider-Man villains, and also stopping small crimes on the way. When they finally catch him, he explains that he's visiting his mother, which he makes sure to do every Christmas. Spider-Man even gives him a gift that he had intended for his girlfriend, but didn't want Sandman to show up empty handed. He visits his mother and escapes down a drain, but all is well in the Marvel universe, and it ends with Human Torch putting a giant flaming "Happy Holidays!" or something like that in the sky. That one has the most Christmas spirit, but I do like stories that are dark and just a little messed up, so it's hard to say which one is my favorite. But anyway, happy holidays, everyone!

Nolanverse Bane

Just a warning, I'll probably be making a lot of Bane jokes in this post, and they could be extremely painful ... for you. So deal with it. Also, you've probably noticed that I'm using italics to show that I'm speaking in a Bane voice. Anyway, the Bane from what I call the Batman Nolanverse (the Dark Knight trilogy universe) has done something extremely difficult: he's a movie version of a character that I like more than the comic book version. When another character does that, he has my permission to brag. But seriously. Nolanverse Bane is powerful, but doesn't ruin the atmosphere of the movie by being a giant superhuman monster, manages to sound crazy evil, even without using a particularly sinister (but extremely fun to imitate) voice, and just generally oozes awesome. I think he fits the movie so well because unlike the other characters, who have merely adopted the Nolanverse, Nolanverse Bane was born in it; molded by it. Which reminds me, Bane has some awesome quotes, and is one of my favorite movie villains to quote, much to my friends' despair. So, as I terrorize my friends with Bane quotes, I will feed them hope to poison their souls. Don't misunderstand me though; I like comic book Bane. Or at least I like him when he's smart. I prefer the "masked man" over the "mentally challenged gorilla man," as seen in the same movie that featured George Clooney disgracing the Batman. I have no love for that movie (I wondered what would break first: the writing or the acting?... Or perhaps I'm wondering why they would shoot a movie for which they should be thrown out of a plane...) or that version of Bane. I do kinda like when Bane is a super genius and incredibly strong though. I still think Knightfall, the story where he first breaks Batman, is one of the better Batman stories out there. But as good as that is, my favorite Bane has to be Nolanverse. Honestly, the only thing I would've liked to see with him but didn't is some mention of Osito, his childhood teddy bear that was so important to comic book Bane. That's a pretty small thing though. And I suppose it didn't actually show him as a child in prison, so for all we know, Nolanverse Bane did spend his childhood shanking people with knives concealed inside his teddy bear. Like I said though, it's a small thing anyway. Nolanverse Bane is pure awesome.

Injustice: Gods Among Us

In case you haven't heard, Nether Realm Studios, who you may remember from a little game called Mortal Kombat, is making a new fighter, this time set in the DC universe. But instead of focusing like Mortal Kombat does on extreme, over the top violence, Injustice will focus on crazy comic book style action. For example, instead of a brutal x-ray attack, a full super meter will grant a super move like the Flash running all the way around the earth for a super speed punch, or Super Man punching someone into space, then slamming them back down to Earth. The other thing they're changing is that now, there are interactive stages, instead of just backgrounds. For example, in the Batcave, someone can press a button that makes the Batmobile shoot missiles at the other player. There are also multiple stages in each one. By that I mean that there are things like in Metropolis, the action starts out on the street, but it's possible to launch the other character through a building onto a rooftop, and continue the action there. So far, this looks like it will be one of the better comic book games in a long time. But you should watch the trailer yourself.

Besides the characters shown here, gameplay footage was released for Cyborg and Nightwing, and gameplay trailers were released that showed Catwoman and Green Arrow. If you're a DC fan, or even just a fan of cool fighting games, Injustice should be on your radar

Judge Dredd

I was going to wait until the new movie comes out to do a post on it, but I'm bored and can't think of anything else to write about, so here we are. For a long time, Judge Dredd was one of those characters that I thought: yeah, I guess he's kinda cool. Then I actually picked up one of his comic books. As it turns out, I now think he's one of the coolest comic book characters out there. From his lawgiver pistol to his dark and aloof personality that reminds me a little of Batman, he is just awesome. Overall, I didn't hate the Stallone movie; I might've even thought it was goodish if they had used that basic plot for a movie that wasn't supposed to be Judge Dredd. But it was. But it was. I thought they did a great job with the lawgiver, which is my favorite part of a Judge's arsenal, but WTD (what the drokk) were they thinking having him take his helmet off? I realise that very few actors want to star in a movie where you only ever see their mouth and chin, but still. Apparently though, Karl Urban does, and for that I am truly grateful. And while the new costume is far less comic accurate, that doesn't bother me one bit. After one look at him, I already just think: Grud have mercy on any perp who messes with this dude. I mean, look at the difference.

Urban's lack of a codpiece is already a step up. The other major thing is the voice. The old voice was fairly normal, except that when he says things like "I AM ... THE LAAAWWWWW!!! DROP ...... YOUR WEAPONS! ... THESE BLOCKS ... ARE UNDER ... ARREST!" with all those dramatic pauses, it sounds slightly dumb. Meanwhile, Urban's Judge Dredd voice sounds like Rorschach imitating Karl's normal voice doing a Batman impression. The epitome of what I'm talking about is in the way each of them says "I am the Law". Just watch these two clips and decide for yourself.

Ras Al Ghul

This guy has the coolest job in the world. He's immortal and is the leader of a ninja assassin group. I guess around 600 years is enough for him, but if I were in his position, I wouldn't want to die. This dude has everything! Wealth, power, sufficient martial arts skills to kill almost anything, and freakin' immortality. But he just wants to give it all away. And to one of his enemies. Personally, I think it would be a cool story arc if for a short time, Batman did become the leader of the League of Shadows/League of Assassins. Call it whichever you prefer, but for now I'm just going to say Shadows. Anyway though, it would be an interesting story, but I don't think he should ever take that job permanently. Especially since what would he call himself after that? Still Batman? It seems to me that he would need to change it up a little. To be honest, I kind of like the sound of Bruce Al Ghul, but it doesn't make a ton of sense. I don't speak Arabic, but I'm pretty sure that would translate to The Demon's Bruce. Or there's a chance it could be The Bruce's Head, which would make even less sense. Plus, it would give away his first name. He could use some Arabic phrase about demons and bats, but I still don't think it would work. If it was me though, I think I would seriously consider becoming "Arabic Phrase About Bats and Demons". And if I did, I would modify the Batsuit to include a tunic or something, then grow some weird-in-an-awesome-way facial hair. The only part of it that I'm not quite sold on is marrying Talia. She's just a little bit evil. Not completely evil like in the movie. If you only know her from there, then I'll give you a little background. In the comic books, Ras wants Batman to kill and replace him, then marry Talia, and she's totally fine with that idea, which scares a little bit. It's not like in the movie where it was all a setup with all that slow knife stuff. She has genuine feelings for Bruce. More importantly though, even if he wanted you to, killing a guy, taking his job, then marrying his daughter is just, well, awkward.

The Dark Knight Rises: a Batman Event

As you can tell from that first sentence, it was an incredibly awesome movie! Just like the title, it's a lot like the Dark Knight, but everything about it has risen. I really can't think of anything I didn't like about it. The main villain was great, the surprise villain who I never saw coming was great, I liked the unexpected appearance of an old villain who I won't name, even though his role was short and not much came of it,  Batman had awesome gadgets and fithr scenes, most of the cast of Inception were in it and all did a really good job, and also the music was awesome and reminded me of Inception, which I thought had great music. I would totally use either of those two soundtracks to beat someone up to, or even just to walk around to. But it would have to be really loud and coming out of nowhere. It's not as fun if its just being played through some speakers. It should be almost like life is set to music. Remind me to write a post about that concept. I have more to say about it, but for now it will have to wait. I was expecting a lot from this movie, but it met, exceeded and rose far above my hopes. this is the movie Batman needs, and the movie he deserves. If it was just three hoursish of guns and explosions and Batman beating on thugs, I probably still would have enjoyed it to be honest, but it's so much more than that. It has real emotion and depth. In order to rise, one first must fall, and Bruce certainly did. Batman being broken just hurts to watch. They couldn't  have told this story with any other villain. The villain(s) is (are) far more than (with all due respect) some psycho murderer in a costume. And I say that in the nicest of ways as far as Joker, Two-Face, and all those guys are concerned. Puls, the other two movies in the trilogy had this too, but less so, there were moments when something happens that's just so awesome you don't even know what to say. And I can't confirm this since it was cold in the theater, but I think I might've got awesomeness goosebumps. But it was cold in there, so I can't be sure until it comes out on DVD. But anyway, while we're on the topic of not knowing what to say, I'm just kind of rambling here, and not completely sure how to smoothly end this post. So I won't end it smoothly.  
ME SAY ME STOP WRITING NOW!

Masks

First of all, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've just been really busy with stuff. But anyway, there are a few different types of masks I would wear if I had a costumed identity. I'm thinking maybe a pseudoderm mask like the Question's. It looks like skin, so the wearer looks like he doesn't have a face, which would be cool. But I feel kinda bad about the Question. I never really payed any attention to him until they killed him off in 52. Anyway, I've already mentioned Japanese menpo masks and hoods in my last post, so that's still on the table. And of course, a classic cowl. Kind of Batmanesque, but with no ears or anything. Or I could combine these last two. Either cowl and menpo or cowl and hood; all three is just two much for my taste. Another one I like is the Guy Fawkes mask (V For Vendetta). It's a great symbol of freedom and stuff. Or I do like the concept of Rorschach's mask. The moving ink blots make that such a cool mask to have. Looks good with a hat too. Plus you wouldn't get bored looking at it. I've never loved those narrow eye masks though (with exceptions). I don't really know for sure why, but I guess I just think they don't cover enough of the face. A couple exceptions to that are Cyclops if you count his visor, but it's not really the same thing so I don't count it, and the ones like Green Lantern or the Comedian because they're a little bigger and cover more area. Or also when the person's identity has already been revealed to the public and/or the cops. The other mask option is just a regular full face mask like Spider - Man's or someone like that. It's effective, but I feel like it might get a little stuffy in there. I guess it depends on the material. That's all for today.

        

Security Systems

My dream house is a medieval castle, retrofitted with a ton of really high tech stuff. Stuff like robot guardians, holo-emitters, some kind of lightning generator (kinda like a weaponized Tesla coil), and lots of other cool and/or weird stuff. Not to mention a giant vault of comic books and collectables. So to protect all that awesome stuff, I'll need some pretty good security systems. I've already described my boxing glove idea in a sepparate post, but I have lots more ideas and preexisting stuff I want. One is like the Red Queen in the 1st Resident Evil movie, with those cool lasers. If you didn't see the movie, the security system was called the Red Queen, and there was a hallway with laser emitters on the walls and the lasers moved toward intruders and sliced and diced them. But instead of manual controls, the Red Queen has a human projection in the likeness of a little girl. But I think far too highly of myself, so I would probably make my system's holographic projection look just like me. Well there's my plan for the mainframe and 2 defenses, but here's another defense idea: You know those things you see in martial arts movies where it's like a spinning pillar with blades coming out of it? Think of that, but with chainsaws, and the whole thing retracts into the floor. My next 2 ideas kind of go together: floor o' flames and fountain o' flames. The foor o' flames involves a cage dropping into place around a section of floor that has upward facing flamethrowers that fire at random time intervals in bursts that last 1 or 2 seconds each. My fountain o' flames idea is pretty much what it sounds like: a bunch of statues, all with built-in flamethrowers. And at least some of the statues would probably be of me, partially because of my sometimes hubristic nature, partially because anyone that wants to invade my fortress would probably be freaked out from seeing me spewing fire from my mouth and hands. Another necessity is an anti-monster chamber. It would be a room that seals itself with heavy blast doors and utilizes the weaknesses of various paranormal beasts. I'm thinking bright UV lights, sprinklers that shoot holy water and silver nitrate, and maybe something else, but I don't know. Also, I think I need 3 sets of trap doors that lead to 3 different areas. The first is a maze of doom, complete with a minotaur. The second is a funhouse of doom with a hall of mirrors, evil clowns, and maybe one of those spinning rooms that make you stick to the wall, only the floor retracts to reveal a cage that would-be intruders fall into once the room stops spinning. The 3rd set of trap doors would be into a large pool with at least 1 huge shark in it, but also a few small islands (I don't want to be unfair unless I have to). And all of what I've described above should be not only monitored with a lot of cameras, but it should also have projectors to project a real time image of my face on the walls; kinda like a creepier version of video chatting where 1 person is watching the other try to get past numerous obstacles and traps. Much like the Riddler, for whom I have great respect. Oh, and everything should be able to recognize me and let me through.

The Joker

As evil, sick and twisted as he is, I think there are two things you have to credit him for: his choice of weapons and his ability to make the reader simultaneously hate him, and yet at times somehow like him. I mean, if I were a super villain, I wouldn't be crazy(pun...kinda) about his Joker Gas, but some of his weapons are things that I would actually use. Whatever weapon he's using in the picture at teh bottom? sure. One of those bang flag guns that shoots the flag like a spear? Yes. A flower that squirts acid? Absolutely. The classic giant hammer? You bet. An over sized revolver? Definitely. Regular guns and knives seem a little boring compared to this stuff, but you still can't go wrong with those. And I also like his trademark cards. If you happen to be keeping track of the weapons and weapon sets I've said I want (I have no idea why you would be, but just in case), be sure to add Joker weapons, and they're pretty high on the list. And with that half of my thought completed, it's time for the second half, which is the way that the Joker can be hateable and also likeable. Huh. I'm talking about the Joker, but there are two halves/components to my thought process and one of them involves having two different thoughts about him. And that kinda reminds me of our old friend Two-Face ... So I'm discussing one Batman villain while thinking like another ... Freudian! Well, kinda sorta maybe, but you get my point. So, moving on from that sort of brief diversion, I'll now describe the second part of what I like about he who Harley Quinn calls Mr. J. When he says "Why so serious?", he means it. I don't think he takes anything seriously. In the Knightfall storyline when he teamed up with Scarecrow and they were formulating evil schemes, one of Joker's was to call the airport and ask them to page Seymour Butts! And if you played Arkham City, don't tell me that you didn't kinda like him, or that when he died, you weren't sad for reasons other than the fact that he won't be in the next game if there is one, 'cause I know I'm not the only one that felt a bit of genuine sadness there. Speaking of Arkham City, its source material, the No Man's Land series, is a great illustration of my point. Especially one particular scene in I believe the 5th volume. He was about to cut someone up with a pair of giant scissors, then Bane grabbed him, and when was about to be beaten to a pulp, all Joker said was "Oh this is gonna suck." And even after Bane had put a big hurtin' on him and threw him pretty far, he still made a joke and whimsically pointed out that he could see up one of Lex Luthor's employees' skirt. When I read that, I just thought: Seriously, Joker? You're getting beaten on by the man who broke the bat, and all you're gonna say is "I see Europe I see France"? At moments like that, my fellings about him are about as two sided as Harvey's face - before the Hush, or possibly Dark Knight Returns plotlines, that is. And I just reminded myself by using the words Dark Knight that personally, I understand why that movie didn't really show any of what I'm talking about, I think it would've been nice if they did. I think it adds a bit of extra depth to his character when you think: Wow; this guy really is crazy. One minute he's making jokes and seems funny and almost likeable, and the next he's surrounded by people he just killed. And I can't think of a good closing sentence.

 

Weapons I Want (no particular order)

• Anything used by Science Patrol, GUTS, or Super GUTS
• Nekron's Black Lantern Scythe
• A modern type 2 phaser and compression rifle
• Any weapon from Halo
• Some weapon(s) used by a god
• At least 1 Hanzo sword
• A Power ring (see my power ring post for what color)
• Various Star Wars weapons including a lightsaber and a laser rifle
• Everything Azrael used when he was Batman
• Everything Bruce Wayne uses as Batman
• the Ebony Blade (the one used by Marvel's 1st and 3rd Black Night)
• a Laser Cat
• One of the swords and the big guns used by the old Cylons
• Surtur's flaming sword and Ymir's ice club

Vehicles I Want

Here is a list of vehicles that I want (in no particular order): the Batmobile*, the Owlship from Watchmen, a STAP or landspeeder with guns, Ghost Rider's Flame Bike, the Batwing, a Cylon heavy Raider, any vehicle Halo besides a Mongoose, an APU from the Matrix (or one of those knockoffs from Avatar), General Greivous' wheel bike, the Silver Surfer's board, and a bunch of others that I can't think of right now.
*To see which Batmobiles I do and don't like, check out my post: http://geniusideasandstuffiwant.blogspot.com/2011/11/batmobiles.html