Daily Loaf

At some point in your life, in one way or another, you’ve come across a comic book.

You read them when you were younger; you made fun of someone for reading them when you were younger. (Or last week.) You saw Spider-Man 3 on its opening weekend; someone gave you their copy of Spider-Man 3 for your birthday.

You decided to pass on playing Wolverine in the first X-Men movie; you’re a household name because you played Wolverine in the first X-Men movie, the second, the third and eventually your own spin-off. (Or maybe that’s only if you’re Dougray Scott – hope Mission Impossible II was worth it. Hugh Jackman thought so.)

You watched Batman with bated breath; you watched Batman and Robin with a weak gag reflex.

Maybe you dated someone who read them, bought one as a gag gift, passed that guy with the unfortunate haircut looking at them at Borders, or just liked Batman: The Animated Series.

Or you just can’t log on to read your Daily Loaf without some guy tricking you into reading about them with pictures of Ryan Reynolds’ abs or Jennifer Aniston.

Whatever the case, comics are a part of your life — and it’s time for you to come to terms with the Top 10 reasons you should read comic books:

10. EVERYONE SHOULD
KNOW HEROES IS A RIP-OFF

It’s been said that there are no more original ideas. That everything’s been done. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that Marvel Comics — or DC — invented the idea of the superhero. The ideology surrounding them existed before Joan Rivers was in diapers. But in terms of modern pop culture, well, Marvel and DC practically did invent the superhero. They certainly made them relevant.

If you’re going to do something that’s been done, do it better. Google Days of Future Past or watch an X-Men movie: Hugh Jackman and Hayden Panettiere, Wolverine and Claire, respectively, share more in common than an eight-head.

I’m not saying Heroes is a bad show. It isn’t. I’ve seen it, though like much of America, I’m not watching it now.  Humans discovering they have superhuman abilities, dealing with a government that hates and fears them, all while trying to save the world — it’s a great concept. Potential cures, racing through time and dealing with horrible futures — it’s compelling. When it’s called X-Men.

On a side note, NBC: The Incredibles did the same thing… but it was incredible. And Disney bought Marvel, so watch out.  Read the rest of this entry »

Video games allow us to simulate amazing feats and experience what it’s like to possess superhuman abilities, or to put it another way – to act like superheroes. Even games like Halo or Call of Duty owe as much to the super-heroic experience as they do to modern warfare. In real life, you can’t just shrug off a burst a machine gun fire by hiding behind a rock for five seconds. That’s a bona fide, Wolverine-style super power. It’s off then that there have been so many bad superhero games over the years. But we’re in a new golden age of such games, and if you read my Batman: Arkham Asylum review then you know it’s possible to make a superhero game that perfectly captures that comic book experience. Batman focused all its efforts on simulating one particular hero. The new Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 takes the opposite approach, offering a whole comic book universe of heroes to choose from in an attempt to recreate the world of Marvel Comics in one giant epic tale.

Ultimate Alliance’s story is drawn straight from two recent cross-over events in Marvel Comics – the Secret War and The Civil War. The Civil War in particular strove to achieve some really interesting political and social relevance with the legal and moral issues facing superheroes mirroring real world debates about freedom vs. security in the age of terror. With Marvel’s heroes split into two camps – Pro-Government led by Iron-Man and Pro-Freedom led by Captain America – the high drama of brother against brother that only comes from a civil war played out in dark, dramatic fashion across the pages of dozens of different comic book titles. This game offers a pretty close (but not by any means exact) version of that story, leaving it to the players as to which side they will support. And of course since it’s a video game, you can always go back and play it again from the other side. Read the rest of this entry »

The best game I’ve played all year.

Go buy it now.

There have been a lot of super hero games (I myself helped make one), and there have been even more games based on licensed properties. Most of them have been bad, disappointing, or insulting in some combination. Batman Arkham Asylum is great, totally satisfying, and utterly true to the source material. It is, quite simple, the best super hero game ever made.

No, it’s not perfect. There are a few, rare false notes and some brief, needlessly frustrating sequences but fade into smoke in the face of a game that really does make you feel like you’re playing Batman. Others have called it a Batman Sim or even a Batman RPG, and they aren’t wrong – Arkham Asylum not only offers some leveling-up mechanics and upgrades – but what we really mean when we say that is that the game captures the essence of Batman. He’s sneaky. He’s a detective. He’s bad ass in a fight. He’s fearless. As you play him you become all those things as well, and the only thing that sucks is that it has to end.

Arkahm Asylum is the mental institution where Gotham City houses its criminally insane super criminals. Its rusty, dark cells and brooding Gothic architecture set the scene for a classic confrontation between Batman and his arch-nemesis, The Joker. The game opens with Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Reynolds has signed on to play Green Lantern for DC’s upcoming live-action adaptation of the same name — and while he may play the same character in every film, so do his abs. Wolverine has been played in four separate films by Hugh Jackman and his pecs.

Before Christan Bale’s mouth was crippling franchises like Terminator, he saved another with Batman Begins. Ex-model James Marsden played X-Man Cyclops.

Robert Downey, Jr. regained heartthrob status as Iron Man, Tobey Maguire showed what a gym could do with Spider-Man, and Nicholas Cage played Ghost Rider.

(Okay, ignore that last part.)

The point is: there’s a reason actors like Danny DeVito play the supervillain. Sex sells. In any genre and in any medium.  Just look at our Most Popular blogs. (You probably already did.)

I would like to point out that I don’t think any of the following characters are real. I don’t think I could date them and I don’t think they’re better looking than any real human being, except for Nicholas Cage.

But, if only for art’s sake, take a look at mainstream comic book’s Top 10 Hottest Men: Read the rest of this entry »

The week leading up to Skin Two, eyes lit up whenever I mentioned I had extra tickets to Secret Room’s fetish party and medical fashion show at The Castle. Friends were excited to finally have a chance to show off their fancy lingerie or to just ogle fetishists in fishnets. Of course when Saturday rolled around, I stood alone in line to The Castle, fighting my impulse to flee.

Normally I pride myself on going out in public wearing one of my wigs and an outfit that highlights my aerodynamic crotch. But, I wasn’t used to wearing a bedazzled codpiece in front of a crowd that thought this sort of thing was normal. Read the rest of this entry »

Note: This is our first Tournament of Summer Movie Blockbuster. In case you missed it, here’s the skinny on the tourney and a full list of competing films. And for news and reviews of this summer’s blockbusters, be sure and check CL’s Movies & TV site.

Sorry for the delay in continuing the Tourney of Blockbusters. I’m back and ready to roll through the rest of Round One. In case you missed last week’s battle, the residents of Jurassic Park devoured the dark lords of Revenge of the Sith to move into Round Two. Today, the polls are open for an epic battle between #2-seed The Empire Strikes Back and #7 Batman Returns.

Details on the films and your chance to vote are after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »

Not your average Joe: Captain America has a director — Joe Johnston, whose pedigree includes Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Russell Crowe takes role slated for Heath Ledger in Australian film Dirt Music.

Concept art for Terminator Salvation.

Billion-dollar Batman: The Dark Knight nears $1 billion in box office.

Like father, like son: Will Smith’s kid Jaden to star in Karate Kid redo.

Six new Watchmen posters dedicated to each of the major characters.

Today’s DVD releases: Hellboy II, Kung Fu Panda, Clone Wars, more.

Please let this be true: Ennio Morricone rumored to be scoring Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Morricone is one of the silver screen’s most legendary composers. Check out his stirring work in this classic scene featuring Eli Wallach in Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly:

The new trailer for the latest Bond, Quantum of Solace, is up. By all indications, this is shaping up to be even grimmer than 2006’s Casino Royale.

Get over it, Trekkers: Shatner’s not in the new Star Trek and here’s why.

Holy Bat-hype! Depp as the Riddler, Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin? Sounds like Hoffman’s ready to waddle.

Rock-in’ Mary Poppins: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Julie Andrews team up for the Tooth Fairy.

First Batman, now Superman: It looks like Warner Bros. has taken a cue from the blockbuster success of The Dark Knight and will reintroduce the Man of Steel in his next big-screen outing, in what is commonly referred to as a “reboot.”

Just as Christopher Nolan brought the Caped Crusader back to his origins in Batman Begins, so too will Warner Bros. and DC Comics start from scratch with Superman, going for a darker tone more in keeping with Nolan’s blockbuster sequel.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Warner Bros. Group President Jeff Robinov addressed the new philosophy: Read the rest of this entry »