Comics Haul 1/26 - 1/31

Today, I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a copy of Heroes vol. 2 Hardcover. The book contains all graphic novellas from the second season.

Earlier this week, I purchased Knights of the Old Republic vol. 1 TPB from Bookfinders at 30% off. I became interested in the series after hearing writer John Jackson Miller discuss it during the '08 FCBD. When I saw it for 30% off, I decided check out the series for myself.

updated: Went to the local comics shop, Galaxy Comics, and picked up this week's shipment/purchase.

Amazing Spider-Man Extra 3
Astounding Wolf Man 12
Reign in Hell 7
Usagi Yojimbo 117

In addition, I picked up the February Previews Catalog along with Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Long Road Home HC. In addition, I was able to get four trades really cheap. They are Marvel Comics Presents Wolverine Volumes One and Two as well as Wolverine Classic Volumes One and Two.

Good/Bad Gaming News 1

I figured I might as well mention two tidbits I have learned today that pertains to gaming. One is good news, the other is bad news. To me anyway.

Bad news first. Over on a Marvel/DC TCG discussion group some bad news has come to light. Apparently, UDE has ended its Versus card game. I really liked VS and thought it had potential. Unfortunately, the card gamers in my area didn't adopt. Those that did slowly stopped playing it, myself included. Personally, I stopped playing due to both my availability and lack of local players. However, I continued to follow the game on a discussion group. Then, an 'official' site appeared. As I wasn't playing I solely relied on the discussion group for any connection to VS. Alas, participation waned on the group. For all intents and purposes, VS was dead to me. The news of its cancellation is more of a final nail in a coffin. Still bad news.

Now for some good news. While at work, I found out that the new week three schedule was posted. Normally, I have to wait for the weekend for a new third week schedule. So I was surprised. I was even more surprised, pleasantly so, that my third week schedule is the same as the second week. Namely, once again I have a Tuesday off. So, I should be able to game on the 17th of February. Yay.

Royal Rumble Thoughts

Since I was off Sunday, I was able to watch a wrestling PPV live on TV. This particular PPV being the Royal Rumble. Whether or not one liked the PPV depended on how one felt about Randy Orton and his group Legacy.

Likes:

Beth Phoenix beating Melina over back of her head - with Melina's foot.

Jeff Hardy jumping from a ladder onto Chavo Guerrero with only his elbow landing.

Santino breaking the Warlord's record for being eliminated the fastest.

The brother vs brother face-off of Goldust/Cody Rhodes along with the "corrupting" influence of Orton.

Rumble opening with some of the more athletic members of the roster.

A rumble first (?) of thing being crowded after entrant #30.

Dislikes
Not much. The Rumble was very satisfying for me at the time I watched it.

Game on Feb 10th?

Looked at my work schedule. According to the work schedule I am off on Tuesday, February 10th. So chances are I'll be able to go to the Tuesday game unless my schedule changes, family stuff occurs, or game cancellation.

If I can make it, I wonder which it will be.

Interesting News: New UFC Champ ( I think?)

I normally don't watch the UFC. However, I have been slightly interested in watching it at least. Today, I happened to stumble over an airing right around the main event. If it wasn't for the fact that Brock Lesnar was involved in that match I probably would have continued channel surfing. I'm a huge wrestling fan so I decided to watch the match to see whether or not Lesnar would win against Randy Couture (sp?). As a wrestling fan, I have mixed views on Lesnar. On one hand, I'm glad he's gone from wrestling. On the other hand, he's charismatic enough that I root for the guy. With that in mind, I watched the match. Brock Lesnar won and is now the champ. I think so anyway. Its possible the match was a rerun. Like I said I normally don't watch UFC.

As for UFC and MMA, I am ambivalent. I understand the appeal and may like some day. On the other hand, its like watching two people fight in a school yard. I suspect that I have grown accostumed to some aspects of sports entertainment that I can't truly appreciate a more sports-oriented event. Then again, other than pro wrestling I don't watch sports.

Guardian's 1000 novels one must read list

Over at the blog Antick Musings (abridged title), there's a post on the Guardian's 1000 must read novels. I figured that I'd like to comment on the list; however, I'll do that at a later time.

I'm linking to the page for my own future reference.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction

Comics Haul 1/24/09

I've been meaning to discuss the comics that I buy. Problem is that I have been at best skimming them. As I have only been skimming them, I haven't had too much to comment on. So in an attempt to discuss comics on this blog no matter how minor, here is the list of comics and graphic novels I purchased today.

Doctor Who: The Forgotten #6
Brave and the Bold 21
Amazing Spider-Man 584
Guardians of the Galaxy 9
X-Men: Kingbreaker 2
Angel After the Fall 16
Tales of the TMNT 54
Phantom: Jungle Action TPB (issues 5-11)
Back Issue Magazine #32

Mongoose Traveller...

I now own a copy of Mongoose Traveller after acquiring it at a rather decent discount along with several other products at the same discount. Unfortunately, it took a local game store to close in order to get said products at that discount. The only bright side was that I was able to buy Traveller (Mongoose version) around what I would have paid for a PDF from RPGNow.

So there will be some commentary on MT (Mongoose Traveller) from me this year. A resolution of sorts to actually read the book this year.

Some bad news in Comics Publishing

Over at Andrew Wheeler's blog, its mentioned that there have been layoffs in the comics industry. Details are herehttp://antickmusings.blogspot.com/2009/01/round-up-of-this-weeks-publishing-job.html

Layoffs are bad news, especially during a recession, and its even more of a bad sign when it hits the comics industry. Although, I admit its the comics fan in me that's enabling this to be such big news.

Sadly, more layoffs are bound to happen across the board as the recession continues.

Another sad comics-related post on this blog...

RPG Publisher Xmas Sales

There were role-playing game company's X-mas sales I participated in, Palladium and Troll Lord Games. I waited until the last shipment to arrive before commenting. Ironically, that was the one from TLG despite ordering on Christmas Day, which arrived Friday (yesterday). Too many bottlenecks I guess.

Anyway, I took advantage of some of the bundles Troll Lord Games offered on both their site and RPGNow. Namely some Gygaxian books, d20 books, and the core C&C books as either PDF or hardcopy. I'm proud to say I own a copy of Upper Works. The other physical books were Yggburg Hardcover, Gord the Rogue Hardcover, and the Crusader subscription. I may discuss the PDF's a la a "review" at a later date. Too many to list.

I try to participate in the annual Palladium X-mas Grab Bag every year. Don't always manage to order one; but this year I did at close to the last second. All in all, I was moderately satisfied with this year's grab bag. The crown was a copy of the new game, Dead Reign. I also liked receiving both Land of the Damned One and Two for Palladium Fantasy. What discouraged me was that I received the latest two issues of the Rifter since I have a subscription. At least, one of them was autographed. Since I may renew my Rifter subscription with this year's Super-Subscription Offer, next year I probably should request that I not receive any recent Rifters. Hmm. I may actually have to inventory my Rifters so I have a list of what I don't have. That may actually be easier.

No game after all...

I commented earlier on this blog that I was looking forward to gaming this past Tuesday. Well, I got ready to go when Mike called me back. Turns out game was cancelled. So no role-playing for me. On the bright side, I did get to chit-chat for a little bit. Found out Mike has a blog, which I have added to my blog roll.

Hopefully, I'll get some RPG'ing in during February.

Enjoying my Retro Duo Part 2

I hit a milestone for my Retro Duo as I purchased a game. Granted, I have four games already but I figured why not buy a fifth. Afterall, NES and SNES are no longer expensive as they once were. So I went to one of the secondhand video games stores. There, I saw a copy of Captain America and the Avengers for the 8-bit NES. As a long time comics fan, and with fond memories of the arcade game, I purchased it.

Once I got home I decided to play it. Only to discover that so far it doesn't resemble the arcade game. At all. Now, I could be confusing this with the SNES version. Will have to check with game faqs at a later time.

Confusion aside, the game plays alright although I've discovered that I am no longer used to the stiff controls of older games. That it'll come in time. What's frustrating is like my other four games I've also reached a point where I'm stuck. Oh well. Practice and Game Faqs makes perfect. Hopefully...

Enjoying my new Retro Duo

One of the gifts I received for my birthday was a Retro Duo which can run both 8 bit and 16 bit NES/SNES games. In addition, I also received 4 games which were Castlevania's 2 and 3 as well as Mega Man X and Super Mario World . Needless to say most of my gaming is this. While I have played all four games, Super Mario World has gotten the most "love" for two simple reasons. The game can be saved in places and seems to require less skill than the other three. It also has the quirk where beaten areas can be replayed. The drawbacks are that I know I've missed some hidden areas/items and that certain areas require a lot of practice and skill to get passed. Hopefully, I haven't hit a dead end as far as skill goes.

I guess that's why when it comes to video games I prefer RPG's. They have save points and are easier for a guy like me to play.

Finally I might game Tuesday...

I haven't gamed since two or three weeks after James Mishler's last Greyhawk session. After a schedule switch at work, a happy coincidence is that I'm off Tuesday. So I'll get to play in either the Greyhawk or a different person's homebrew. Looking forward to playing some RPGs.

On a tangential note, I'm considering getting back into Magic the Gathering. Then again, I've been considering that on and off since 2004. If it happens, it happens.