Durakken

Rest of the titles -

Teen Titans = B+
Justice League Dark = D+
GL: New Guardians = C+
Firestorm = B+
Blackhawks = B+
BtDK = B-

Part of the problem is that all the GOOD QUALITY books are those books which the average reader is not going to pick up. The sales in those titles are coming from sales to those already entrenched in comics or are just picking up random stuff or picking up all the books. While the new readers are all going for books that they'd heard of... and those books are either not rebooted (but are?) or have such disrespectful, badly written, or are just what they are looking for writing that more than likely they going to not get them again.


By the way if you want a good book with women who are half naked. Go look at Voodoo.

I'm about halfway through with DCnU this week...

Aquaman = A
The Flash = C+
Voodoo = A/A+
All-Star Western = B/A
I, Vampire = D/D-
The Savage Hawkman = C
Superman = F-----

If you want to know why... all my reviews are here
http://www.comicvine.com/myvine/durakken/reviews/

There are several explanations given for why noone can tell that Superman is Clark Kent

#1. Involuntary low level Super-Hypnotism which is mostly dropped but joked about

#2. He vibrates continuously which blurs his features to normal people and cameras and such

#3. Superman doesn't wear a mask so it gives the impression he isn't hiding his real identity tied along with the fact that Clark Kent doesn't have the same mannerisms which puts people into dismissing him as just someone who looks very similar.

#1. Never trust anyone with the first name Nathaniel... EVER.

#2. One way travel but 2 way communication can be explained a number of ways, but I prefer the explanation that the time rift is travalable from both side, but the technology to open it the past side is limited in some way, like energy production not enough to open the rift to let people through, but the rift is there constantly so communication is possible... also the size being different on either end isn't a big deal for travelling likely due to some weird cosmic thing.

#3. I don't like the fact they never explain exactly how the world got so messed up in 100 years. New situation would result in that environment whether it be the build up of those cities or the black out smog or the population problems... The population problems don't really exist as it'll take a while for any where on earth to get over crowded other than China and China already has population laws... it supports something like 2 billion people in the area of equal size to the USA which now consists of 300 million... That's 7 times more people and is unlikely to even remotely happen in 100 years.

#4. Interesting that no nations were mentioned in the 22nd century...

#5. "Control the past, Control the future" may refer not to changing time, but resources or even a specific resource. You say... well there is no way back so how does that make sense... well if you pay attention to what I said in #2 then it makes sense. Control the past will allow for new resources and fresh land and the ability to open the rift back home which if you are in a conflict of some sort means a huge advantage. The reason they might not have instantly set up a power plant is because they likely want to establish and secure the area before making it more accessible and this is a perfect way to do that... This likewise gives a reason for the sixers and also explains how they could infiltrate since research must have been going on for more than a few years before sending Nathaniel back... I mean if we assume that it's roughly been 15 years since the discovery of the rift (likely longer though) that gives them 10 years to get people in position to be snuck into the program which would require simply a few 10 years olds in a world among 10-20 billion people and likely lots of immigration that would have been extremely easy.

Azita (Rachel) had a G4 interview Monday... She is hot... that's all.

There are only two general "leveling" systems that exist; Vertical and Horizontal.

Vertical is what just about every game (especially RPGs and MMOs) uses as their primary mode of growth. You have a level 1 and you increase to max number, each level getting progressively harder with less or equal returns as previous levels.

Horizontal is what just about every game (especially RPGs and MMOs) uses for their secondary mode of growth or is used very early on. You have a skill and that skill unlocks other skills at a certain point or more skills are added as you progress or new ways to use said skills are added.

Vertical growth uses 2 psychological tricks to make you continue playing... #1 reward garnered from a set amount of work that can be measured easily #2 slowly building on the length of time to achieve the next tier. This system is used especially in MMOs because they are subscription based (and it's also why a number of MMOs are ridiculously stupid about their low level cap and how easy it is to get to it) game play. The developers want to to stick around but they also want you to be able to progress so you get attached. (ie I already got a character to level 10 I should see what happens next) So the low levels are designed to get you "into the game" while the higher levels are designed to make you take a long time to get to the next tier.

This has many flaws such as when creating new content you have to create it for a level range because each level makes a character stronger and stronger and this separates the player base and increases the amount of work the developers have to do to provide content for every body. Or the flaw that eventually the time to next level gets too long and you get players dropping out because there is no more visible gain. (PSO level 200 it was more about saying you did it than anything else. The highest level armor was lvl 160 and you could max your char long before that)

This is a dying mode of Primary character growth because MMOs are going free to play, they are becoming "casual" which really means a less than 30 day start to max level span, they have more or less realized the problems with the higher levels, and in a genre where community is key separating the player base is stupid. It doesn't have to be taken out completely but we need to make it the Secondary growth method rather than primary.

The Horizontal growth model on the other hand is more or less used by every game out there at their max levels, but badly, and they don't take full advantage of it. At max level Vertical Growth is changed to weak Horizontal growth or Mutated vertical Growth with Equipment taking the place of Levels. You work to get the equipment (which is a form of horizontal growth) but all that has changed is the stat gain is random and associated with a piece of armor rather than innate.

My solution is that you associate skills with every action and you level via growing skills which in turn unlocks other skills or more advanced skills or higher levels of the same skill. IE mastery of the basic over had katana chop makes it more powerful but also allows you the skill of say a cross slash.
Taking actions raises and lowers your stats over time while having base line and max stats you can reach that you are in the process of growing to or losing which are roughly equivalent to all the mobs in the game.

Some of you might say where is the growth?

Well, that's simple, knowledge and skills combined with gear gotten over time makes you able to deal with certain mobs easier than if you were a starting character. Various skills might be more useful in situation but not in others. Knowing how this all works allows the challenge to grow/shrink as time goes on. Likewise it allows high level and low level players take the same content on meaning a new area added is for everyone and not just a fraction of your user base... and building a better community because the players can interact with whoever they like. There is no longer a "well my friend is at level 10 and I'm lvl 60 so we can't really player together" This allows them to play together regardless.

Further when we displace the vertical leveling to the secondary growth mode we return it to what is meant to be there for. You can see actual growth over relatively short amounts of time, but also you have multiple areas you have that you can work on and multiple tiers that drive that psychological stuff to make you addicted a little bit easier ^.^

Along the same line the multiple skills allows for a customization which makes the player feel connected with their character which means it less likely they will stop playing... even when they are ostracized from the community which will also be harder to do because they'll have a much larger community to play with.

Basically this is more friendlier to the player and the dev team...
You know how every time there is a new piece of armor it has to be balanced for that class and such? Well that's a lot of dev time because each piece has to be balanced against multiple classes and if you only give it to one then you are favoring that class so the more classes you have the more pieces of armor you have to make to achieve the same effect as adding 1 item to the game for every player...if you have 9 classes that is 9 items you have to add to essentially add 1 item. Make a more horizontal growth system and you only have to balance 1 item and every player gets its benefits.

* be aware that when I say balance I'm talking about in two different ways... "classic balancing" which is in my opinion crap and just makes everything stale and boring by way of equalizing stats/effects (fireball and iceball are the same thing just different status effects) and what I call balance which is which is neutralization of forces which allows much more freedom to the characters and development by way of creatively exploring ways to Neutralize an opposing force (ie a firebal and an iceball would have different stats and effects because they are completely different...a neutralizing force would be an ice shield or flame breath)

We're moving more towards what what I'm promoting as better design already... it's just a matter of time and how willing developers are to look outside the box.

So with most of the DCnU books out now... if you were trying to come up with 1 to 3 words to tell me about this new universe or whatever you want to call it... what would they be?

I think the 1 word that comes to mind when I think on it is... Shallow

Action Comics - While some may argue that this is a younger Superman and thus can act differently the CORE character is not the same. This young character could never evolve into the older character because the core character is completely different.

Animal Man - The character has aspirations of greatness and taking care of his family and all that but when you really look at the character he's SHALLOW. He doesn't use his powers and doesn't try to make his life better nor does he try for his children to put up with something. That character's wife should be furious over that but she isn't and that's why it's not a well written shallow character but a character that is shallow because the writer isn't looking at the character beyond the surface.

Batgirl - Strong character turned to weak character and erased epic history... where it doesn't make sense to eve be acting the way she acts. She's been shot at and hit millions of times in her past as Batgirl and so her getting hit and paralyzed wouldn't make her scared of the Joker or Guns, but rather of not being Batgirl in the sense of lowering her guard which is what happened. This character shows no thought was put into her as a character and her motivations and as such we get a character that is "scared" of guns and is weak...So shallow

Batman - Well written ^.^

Batman and Robin - Shows a total misunderstanding of the characters which is kinda funky cuz the voice is right, but the ideas put forward are contrary to the ideas of those characters and how they view things... again it's a shallow surface read rather than an understanding of the character.

Batwing - We know nothing about this character and what we do know is nothing more than a African mix of Batman and Nightwing...right down to the name. We have no motivations. We have no backstory. We have nothing but a Tuvix like character.

Batwoman - Kate's treatment of Bette, the killing of Renee Montoya, and the demotion of Maggie Sawyer... the former is idiotic considering the Bette has been a hero longer and has powers while the latter 2 seems like homophobic crap to me.

Birds of Prey - This title is selling on name alone. This team has no reason to exist without Oracle and the fact they don't realize that again shows just how shallow they are.

Blue Beetle - A rip off, personality wise, of Peter Parker mixed with several other things... this is cashing in on some properties and minority filling more or less. This character always seemed to be like someone in marketing made them up rather than the character having any soul behind it and it really shows especially with how shallow the rest of the line up is.

Captain Atom - The inner monologue and the actions of the character don't match. That they didn't notice this really shows they don't get how actions and thoughts are interrelated...and as such is a shallow view of the world.

Catwoman - She doesn't act like Catwoman. Catwoman is all about freedom and letting emotions guide her while valuing life... She shows the opposite in every major point in the comic except one where it was done just to be "edgey." Again that they don't understand her character really shows and screams shallowness

DC Universe Presents - Well written...but about a shallow character

Deathstroke - Because what's more shallow than having to TELL your audience this character is a certain way instead of showing them multiple times?

Mister Terrific - Doing it when you're the 3rd smartest person in the world v.v and badly written in general...at least Deathstroke is just shallow characterization... This comic is like looking through the eyes of someone who is completely detached from reality.

Demon Knights - Yay let's put the JL in the Darkages with C-list characters or worse with a bad romance and crap arthurian legend.

Detective Comics - Gore... shallow but the cuts are deep i guess?

Frankenstein - woohoo SHIELD rip off + reintro of characters that are just soldiers who wanted superpowers rather than heroes that were lied to...

Green Arrow - This isn't smallville... REALLY!



Ok that's enough... most of the comics are just really shallow either in what they're offering, their conception, how they're written, or their understanding of the characters or characterizations... or some other things...

How many secret agencies are there now?
How many of these titles are rip offs?
How many of these are simply there because they have a minority main character?
How many of these don't have women in their underwear or naked or have them slutted up?

This is my mind is what you get when you pour marvel tropes in Gen X world views onto DC and drowning out all the depth in favor of selling a bajillion titles. It's like DC is now in Plato's cave where all heroes and role models are projected on a wall through a filter to create some distorted image that leads not to the light but down into a much darker pit.

I actually think the problem people have with Catwoman is misplaced puritanical feelings because Catwoman and Batman WOULD do whats at the end of the issue and it introducing that aspect of the character to the reader. It's the one part of the comic where Catwoman acts like Catwoman. I think this is mainly puritanical ideas hitching on to the Starfire thing because none of the other problems with Catwoman's character is mentioned by comic readers... like caging cats, not inflicting wrath on those who blew up her place, and possibly killing someone in cold blood. All things outside of her character. Especially when you consider that in her book she has sex with Bats, that Detective guy, and his son with various levels of exposure.

I hate defending that, BUT it should be differentiated from Starfire's case where she was stripped of all personality and such all together and turned into a virtual sex doll.

And a much better argument would be of all the female characters that star or are major characters in their book how many show up naked or in their underwear or have sex or has been dressed as a **** now?

Of course this can be part of a much better argument still and apply it to all or most of the characters...

it looks ugly.. no style at all. Totally opposite of what Nolan supposedly was going for... especially the high heels... what stealth cat burglar would wear those?

typo... lol I meant we can stop light... if I meant can't the post makes no sense.

You can read all of my reviews here:
http://www.comicvine.com/myvine/durakken/reviews/

Though if you want spoilers...



It's good cause it introduces the characters, makes you understand how the character is feeling and thinks and what type of person she is, it funny, it's happy, it's sad. It has action and depth.

Its different from the previous story... the B/S story has her crashing into metropolis and being found by Bats and Supes, running around naked, etc causing damage accidentally...not really noting her powers, and then the whole over protectiveness and Darkseid thing... In the end you do get little glimpses in how she thinks and such but largely tha story focuses on Bats and Supes' reaction to her rather than her reaction to the world...

In this variation crashes near Smallville but he ship continues through and burrow to Siberia where she wakes up and has no clue what's going on. She thinks it's a dream. We get to see and hear her reactions to the world and what's happening. Everything from her reaction to her costume, the cold, the sun, first people she meets and Superman.

I would say this isn't the SAME Kara, but it is in the same region of that type character... Old New Earth's Kara knew what was going on more or less. This one hasn't got a clue

Also if the school years are the same on Krypton as they are on Earth, she'd be a Junior (17 years old roughly) in High School.

I think if you loved any of the Supergirl in the last 20 years you'll love this one...and hope she gets a new costume lol

With all the crap that DCnU is... Supergirl is done perfectly right. So far it's the only book that I have to say is a can't miss and is a perfect launch into a new series.

So yeah... GO READ SUPERGIRL #1

umm they had already done this before with other particles...

And the speed of light barrier isn't really so much a barrier as just a practicality issue.

If you had enough energy to boost a particle to light speed it just takes ever more energy to keep it at light speed because the mass of the particle increases and as mass increases you need more energy thus a bigger fuel tank... hypothetically all you needs is a disconnected fuel source and a way to keep ahead of the curve to move faster than light.

That is if that limit is just because of the practicality issue. I've never heard it brought up as to why the light speed barrier does what it does... I have a hypothesis about that though. Imagine space time a lattice of points in time space... each point can only hold so much energy...or rather that energy stretches the lattice causing the space-time points to be spread further apart thus time move slowly in those area where all that energy is... If there is a maximum to how much that lattice can stretch then the result would be the inverse of Energy and that would be Mass... Basically Mass is the result of energy rebounding off the lattice of time space... Now there may be a limit to how fast it can rebound thus it begs the question of if you apply energy faster than the lattice can handle what happens? Seems the lattice would break to some degree or perhaps there is no limit and applying more energy just results in higher speeds/mass... if the lattice breaks I would think something like a black hole happens.

I've not had this problem before. The launcher isn't connecting to see if it needs to download updates (which it does) it's been several months since I've logged in last.

So anyone know what might be the problem and how to fix it without having to reinstall?