So I've recently watch DC's 18th animated original film, Justice League: War, which is by far superior from it's comic book, Justice League: Origins. For a while now I've been thinking on something that's got my attention which was present in the film, and in the JL: Origins comic too. It's a couple of years old in the comics so I'm sure that others have talked about it before and I know it was convenient for the plot and that it's no big deal compare to other ridiculous things, but it's still one of those moments where you want to scratch your head and say "WTF? Was this really necessary?"

So the League takes on Darkseid, we get a awesome moment with Flash and Superman evading the Omega Beams before Superman is sent to Apokolips, Hal trash talking and fights Darkseid head on before having his arm broken and tossed aside, The other Leaguers come out of the rubble and cannot stop the colossal God before them...everything was getting great. I like this intense scene here because a stubborn Hal won't quit and that Batman try's to get through to him that if he keeps attacking head on he'll get himself killed...

...but it's up until the end of this panel and the last panel that got me to face palm and felt they could've handled it a lot differently...

...so Batman takes off his mask, reveal's his identity as Bruce Wayne, talk some sense to Hal telling him to regroup with the others and to hold off Darkseid until he returns. He then takes off his cape and chest emblem - however, in the film he wears a hat and a coat as a disguise -- as though somebody took the time to throw their cloths on the ground before running away lol - runs off where an Parademon takes him and is sent to Apokolips to go save Superman.

Now I do know the point of the scene; it's to show that Darkseid is a greater threat than any one of the leaguers has ever faced and that this is much bigger than any of them can handle alone, so in order for them to win against someone like Darkseid they must work together as a team which forms the now established team the Justice League. It also shows that despise how powerful GL is, and the capabilities and equipment Batman has, without those weapons at their disposal their only human, and that they can get killed by any means, compared to the other supers who can pretty much survive half the things that can kill Bruce and Hal. I guess that's why Geoff Johns had this great idea of pairing up the two, showing the interactions between characters and so on, so forth. But for Batman to reveal his identity to GL out of the blue, and especially if Batman didn't prep on what GL capable of, is a big "no, no" and it's THAT moment which could've been handled differently. Like point to him the people who are dying from the rubble and the city being torn apart, stating that if they don't act with a plan that the whole world is doomed, or some generic heroic speech that only Batman can make it sound awesome. Actually, they could've still use that scene with him and GL, except not reveal his identity and vaguely tell his origin and why he does what he does. Any of those would've been fine. What if somebody was near by and recorded them on his iPhones? and is Hal really trust worthy to know his identity, what if he starts shooting his mouth off to people has a problem with Batman?

I partly blame Geoff Johns for this since he wrote the story. He also has a knack for writing a terrible Batman and doesn't seem to understand the character. This is probably why his Batman: Earth One story didn't hold up quite that well. Granted, there are concepts and ideas that I liked about it, and the story was okay, but man, his version of Batman was just bad. I could say the same thing for Wonder Woman in amazons attack. He's good for GL but can't do well with Batman, and he has to write several other characters in the same book?

When Batman mentioned that "he and Hal are alike" I thought that Batman was zapped by one of those Omega beams from off panel/screen that forced him to act in such a abnormal way that he reached some enlightenment saying nonsense things when in reality he really wanted to say was "Oh Gee, GL. You and everyone else here are sooo awesome. I know that I'm Batman and all, but I'm nothing compared to as great and powerful as you", and GL response was "what the hell are you doing you moron?" I know that wasn't the intention but sometimes I felt that's the case, especially since he is amongst the supers that are pretty much Gods. I found it even more hilarious when GL said (in the comic) that he didn't even know who Bruce Wayne was. Is it just Hal being ignorant, or that he's not too concerned about a rich playboy with his enterprise and focus his efforts elsewhere, like space?

Again, the comic was released a couple of years old, the adapt animated film is just following it's source material, and that it's not a big deal since we as comic book readers have witness ridiculous things in stories and characters acting out of character, but again, it's one of those things I just had to think "Why?"

So it's Christmas and I don't have too much to do at the moment, so I decided to do a review of one of the recent games that came out this passed month, Batman: Arkham Origins, and it's just as many people have said about it. However, at the time it that didn't stop me out of curiosity from getting it and what it had to offer since it was made by different game developers and all.

The plot of Arkham Origins is pretty much a straight forward story, with lots of action, drama, and a few plot twists that kept me in a state of 'awe' or left me with a 'meh' feeling. The story is set in 5 years before the events of Arkham Asylum, where you play a young but harsh and brutal Batman, who's is in his second year of his career, beating the crap out of criminals and still thought out as an urban myth to the public, who has a bounty placed on his head by the criminal warlord, Black Mask, and draws out 8 assassins from different parts of the world in to take on Batman one by one on Christmas Eve. At the same time, he must deal with the corrupt forces of GCPD while gaining the trust of James Gordon. Lastly, we have The Joker who has plans of his own who Batman must confront and stop him at all cause. So yeah, there's a lot going for Batman, which is way if I was batman I would've just stayed home. But hey, it's nothing that he can't handle, right?

It's all depends how you look at Origins as a gamer. For me, I enjoyed the story and they did an good job on the main characters, introducing the villains in a bad ass way, and created lot of dark tones and intensity. I thought that Roger Craig Smith did alright as Batman, making him darker and more aggressive. At first, I wash't too thrilled about Troy Baker as the Joker because it felt like he was trying to sound like Mark Hamill, but got into him when I process into the game and thought he kicked ass. I loved Alfred in here and it was interesting to see Batman and Gordon come into blows until they slowing show some respects.

Gameplay wise, however, is a different matter and truth be told it's nothing compared to Arkham City. In fact, it play almost exactly play Arkham City but flawed in some ways that you'd thought they just copied and pasted the game. Granted, gotham city looks bigger than before, and the building are designed differently to resemble that this take place in the past, with lot of heavy snow covering the area, christmas decorations and a large bridge in the middle of it all. The problem is that there not too many things too do here but to fly around through the city, beat up thugs with baseball bats, collecting enigma desk, and stopping turf wars, which doesn't leave you much of variety. In Arkham Asylum and City, you have to go to certain places to snapshot items, signs, characters etc. to collect references and stuff so you can identify who those characters and places which make it feel as though your part of the Bat universe, as well as getting unlock galleries and challenges. You don't do that here, It's just mostly for scenery sake, and with no intent of interaction with it, as well as no citizens to be found, it just feels sorta empty.

I really had a hard time traveling around the city using the grapple gun because I wasn't able to hook on to a lot of the buildings, so your limited to grapple on to things unlike the first 2 games. There's this one huge building where you either have to go around, or go through the entrance underground and then back up again to get through the other side. I was so pissed at that one because I had to rush to get to a scene of a crime as soon as possible, but I had to get through THAT ONE BUILDING THAT I COULD'VE GOTTEN PASSED IN A COUPLE OF SECONDS. And OMG, that bridge, that stupid bridge. All of those wires and I can only get the ones from the bottom. Are you serious? Well, good thing I can get around Gotham via Bat wing, wish I could control it on my own rather than watching it through a loading scene, but whatever.

The fighting mechanics are pretty much the same thing, but it feels rigid and sometimes the controls don't react the way I want it too, especially the counters. I also can't knockout the Thug that's laying on the ground from a distance (like in Asylum and City) without being right next to him, which suck since everyone is coming at me. I like that they brought in a martial artist, bigger guys and Bane minions to mix things up, with other guys with shields and guns attacking you at the same time. But at one point I got so annoyed from the fight that I had to flee from them, yet they're still able to shoot at me at the buildings. I got the Electro Gauntlets, which made things easier, but gotten a habit of rely on it too often rather than my skills and other gadgets. Also, the gadgets were mostly the same and too advice, I wished they brought the sonic device where you call in the Bats as a attack or something like in One Year.

The Evidence Scanner is back, but they set up it in a way you scan area for evidence where the information is uploaded to the bat computer and creates a sequence of how the scene of the crime took place, there for identifying both the victim and criminal which will help you solve the case. I liked the new feature, and it's quicker for Batman to get everything done in such a short amount of time, I just wish that I could have done more with it, at least for some cases where you have to get the criminal. Remember back in the bat cave where Batman had that bill board with Red Hood pictures and all that equipment in that section. Wouldn't it be awesome to get into all of that equipment and solve the case that way? I know I would.

Speaking of the Bat cave, it was fun talking to Alfred to see what things he had to say, I didn't bother too much going through the training area, I wasn't too happy with some of the selections of the bat suits so I stuck with the Noel Suit because going out in the snow felt like that Batman: Noel story. Back at Gotham, I managed to collect all of Enigma's Desk for some time, but they were mostly easy to get with no intent on making it a challenge, sure maybe a couple of them were and you'd have to destroy the controls at those Towers, but Arkham City really set the bar and made you have to work for them, plus you get back at The Riddle, unlike in Origins where he just...disappears. The Side Missions were mediocre at best, some were just recycled version of what we went through in the other two games (I'm looking at you Mad Hatter) but I was forced to complete the left overs since I beat most of the game.

Now for the boss battle:

• Killer Croc: Liked his new design, looks more monstrous feel than in before. The enjoyed the fight, but I expected more. He wasn't even after Batman as an assassin but more like a hired thug. It probably would've been better if we were someplace where Croc can attack me from the river.
• The Executioner: Believe it or not I've never heard of him before playing Origins, but thought that they could've at least given him something that would pose a challenge to Batman rather than making him as a pathetic character. For example, Batman's gadgets and equipment are mostly electronic right? Maybe Executioner could've mess around with Bat's equipment forcing Batman to end the fight quickly, but that's just something I thought of, didn't mind him being killed off, though LOL
• Deathstroke: Thought he was awesome here and kept me on my toes at first before I was able to figure out his attacks and counters, which took a while to defeat. Still, the fight was short lived and would have loved to fight him again at some point in the game. Also, I know it's a different version of him, but I wise the game developers stop making him an avenge mercenary since I know in the comics he was able to handle Batman with ease.
• Deadshot: I like the introduction of how Batman was able to figure out that Deadshot was the one who took out the helicopter. The fight, however, was a big let down. It's the same thing when Cat Woman fought Two Face in Arkham City, only with powerful guns and talks A LOT. And on a side mission no less than the main story. You know what could've been better? Batman approaches the building where Deadshot is located but shoots at Batman from a far distance, using obstacles to make a barrage of ricochets everywhere at him and target containers that explodes, giving Bat's a hard time. Maybe even shooting at cops so an a exhausted Batman can save them, and must use stealth around the city to get to Deadshot. Just wishful thinking.
• Copperhead: Thought she did ok in this fight with the hallucinations scenes and all, but needs to be more of a challenge. Chase me around the building with those claws like in a horror movie or something, I don't know. P.S. Batman would've been dead if Alfred didn't help out with the antidote.
• Shiva: Despite that it was exciting to see her attack Batman out of nowhere and getting a chance to face her for the first time in a game, I didn't like the how the side mission played out. Why did Shiva went through the trouble of telling Bat's to save a cop, only for her to kill another cop, but then tells Bats to fight her at some tower where he needs to prove himself to Shiva? It would have be much similar if she sent out her ninjas to do the job for her, have Batman investigate the murders, fight the ninjas, then tell him where she was located to 'test his abilities' and 'that your methods of protecting Gotham is meaningless' - get me a break.
• FireFly: This got me engaged into the game because they mix things around with the mechanics of the fight. I love how you have to grapple on to him as he's flying around the bridge, and then destroy his jet pack.
• Bane: Bane dominates here and really gave me a hard time in a three fights, so much so that it took me hours to beat him. I'm glad they put a lot of effort into his characterization and abilities since I think he could've been the main villain.
• Black mask was such a disappointment because The Joker came in and took his thunder, once again making him the main guy after Batman because they have a connection, and destined to do this forever blah blah blah. I don't think Black Mask would offer much as a villain anyways, which is why they threw in Joker they regret killing him off in Arkham city but it would have been nice to not see him just once.

To some it up, Origins has a great story, but it's just the same gameplay as before, does nothing to offer anything new or expand itself to make it better from the other two. Sure, there's multiplayer and the DLC maps but that's not why I bought Origins. Then there's the poor use of some of the assassins, which was disappointing. I guess that's why fans were hesitant when they switch to a different team of developers, but at least this game will keep me occupied until they make a better game in the future.

3.5 out of 5.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

It's been a few years since I've been to a comic book convention. My first time experience was at the one in 2009 of february. It was a weird but exciting experience; witnessing grown adults cosplaying their favorite characters from TV show, movies or comic books, buying comics I'd never thought existed, and for the first time met Comic book writer and Illustrator George Perez. I didn't know too much of his work at the time but it was a dream come true to actually meet a guy that does comic cooks. Afterwards I saw the premiere of the 2009 animated film Wonder Woman. I remembered how long the line was and had to wait a half hour before getting inside the theater and when we did we had to wait even longer before the guys that worked on the film can and talked for so long that anything they said was nonsense to me. After watching the film, I went home, saying my goodbyes to my friends, looking back on the great things I've experienced and hoped to return one day.

The second time was in october of 2010 at the pier, while not as awesome like before I still had my fun here and there. Did saw an hot steamy Babe with a awesome looking Black Cat costume, not oh no, her boyfriend just happened to be there with her (sob). Can't remember if I went for the third time at comic con or some other convention in NYC but I did manage to go to a show at the ItsJustSomeRandomGuy that premiered of Marvel/DC season 2 After hours. Meeting Random Guy was a blasted, he was pretty tall and had every fan and nerd around him. I left when he and a group of people went back to a hotel he was staying. Afterwards, My affection for conventions began to fade, looking at all conventions from a bigger picture, they were all pretty much the same thing. I had no interest to waste more money and there wasn't anyone I wanted to meet at the showing, so with my friends going after their careers and having a job and school to be concerned about, I stopped going altogether.

Now here it is again, but this time it's for me to get away from all the crap that's been happening to me lately in my life and just to have a good time with my bro's I haven't talked to in a while. I don't except to be amazed by things I've already know and seen or meet anyone special weather it's writers or actors there, and (NO I WON'T DO COSPLAY BECAUSE IT'S STILL WEIRD TO ME) but if it's just to experience that awesome feeling again and see how great it is to see how much of a community we've become in the world of all media, then it was well worth the wait.

"To prevent the collision of our universe with another, the Illuminati, led by the Black Panther, must assemble NOW! It’s the most powerful and brilliant team in the Marvel Universe--the Black Panther, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Mister Fantastic, Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Beast--against an infinite legion of parallel realities."

NOW things are getting a whole lot interesting. With the new roster of characters that is a make up of Kings, Scientist, and Magicians, the involvement of John Hickman writing and Steve Epting art, you can bet that not only this will be on my pick up list but that this will be one of the top sell's in Marvel comics. Black Panther, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and just maybe, Mr. Fantastic are going to be the one's that will be most interesting. I'm not too much of a fan of Black Bolt and I don't know why Beast is involved in this roster. I feel as though he was just thrown there because he's the most likely choice for someone that represents the mutants of the group since Professor X is dead. Just hope he (or somebody else) can figure out a way to for Black Bolt to communicate with the group without him leveling up a city lol. My only nit-pick is the title name; New Avengers. I know people will be willing to pick this up if they recognize the name but I'd wish they change the name or just call them "THE ILLUMINATI" since most of these characters are practically founding members of the Illuminati. Hope things won't get a little bumpy to going downhill later on this series as so many series do and then get canceled. Nuff said.

Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark was one of those things where you'd like to go check out but could never have the time or money for it. Yet whenever you do, there's either an excuse not to go or in most cases, had forgotten about it. Luckily, broadway shows stick around for a long time, and while I've was always curious on how this show would turn out, I wasn't willing to sit in a crowd room full of little boys and girls screaming as we watch our favorite characters sing like it's a traditional Disney movie for 3 hours. I wanted to kill some time while I was in downtown last week, so I just happen that I finally checked out Spider- Man Turn Off The Dark. I'Ve been hearing a lot of great things about this show, so lets if it lives up to the hype. Here's my review. Oh, and just for the record... SPOILERS!!!

Review:

To sum it all up it's your basic Spider-Man Origin story, so by now most people should know his backstory; Peter Parker is a nobody but some how gets bitten by a radioactive spider and has spider like abilities, Uncle Ben tells Peter about his "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility' speech before getting killed by a mugger, is in love with mary Jane but can't tell her about his whereabout for the sake of her safety, dresses up as Spider-man and become a superhero fighting crime, and so on and so forth.. But what so different is that they made some minor tweaking and some changes that would lead up to the events later, and for the sake of the time limit of this show, it was quite a move;

- In this show, Peter goes to a field trip with his classmates where he's bitten by a radioactive spider that was created in Norman Osborn's Genetics Laboratory where his genetic research will help benefit mankind, but once Spider-Man goes public, Norman is angered that he stoled his research and is forced make a decision after being pressured by a Military Organization to execute his project. This will lead up to a confrontation between him and Spider-Man later.

- Norman is married to a woman named Emily, who works with him on his genetic research. What a minute, was he marry in the comics before?

- I don't know if it was intended or just strange coincidences, but the characterization of Norman Osborn sort of resemble the villains in Spider-man movie 1 & 2, the relationship with him and his wife, her tragic death and his mutanted transformation, asking peter to turn to his side, etc.

- There's this Goddess named Arachne that watches over Peter and tells him it's his destiny to be a hero.

- Peter still wins enters the tournament so he can buy a car to impress Mary Jane, but unlike where Peter is responsible for Uncle Ben's death by not stopping the mugger, Ben is killed by a carjacker at home. Thought his changes nothing as Spider-Man's motivation and actions stays the same.

- Unlike the Sinister Six who were made up by previous Spider-man villains in the comics, they were created by Norman Osborn Lab by using genetical engineering on his founder employee's. (More on this later).

Regardless of the changes, it was still a great story. The actors and actress embodied the core of the characters quite well. The stunts and wire work was jaw dropping impressive, I've never seen anything like that was in front of me before and not from the internet. I was really Impressed how they easily kept up with the actors whenever they change scene to scene as well as the designs which mixed with the moods and tones of scene and music. It just shows how much hard work and appreciation these people invest into this project; the performance of the actors/actress, the musicians, the stunt guys, the writers, everyone who ever contributed to this project gets 5 thumbs up from me.

Now with all being said, there has to be a downsides to this story, right? Of course there is, and no matter how perfect a show is there's always somebody that has to do the nit-picking, right?

First off, I don't like this version of the Green Goblin at all. In the comics, he's a major villain that Spider-Man would take very seriously, and wouldn't think twice beating him to death with your bare hands if he killed one of your loved ones. He's like the Joker in the Marvel universe and even once ran a Avengers team. In here, he's more of a goofball, wacky, and at some moments cartoonish character that if he had a master plan, he would tie everyone up on to a chair and torture them by listening to his Elvis impressions rather than blow up a city with his pumpkin bomb. He's a tongue and cheek villain but due to the tone of the show, I understood why they did it since kids were watching this. One thing I've notice is the irony of his death which is a reference to Gwen Stacy death in the comics. At least that was funny. I'll give one credit though, at least he's scarier than the actual Green Goblin in the first Spider-Man movie, put him in there, at least you would think he was crazy.

I don't like the idea that The Sinister Six was genetically created by Green Goblin. In the comics, the villains gained there abilities by the fault of Spider-Man or by other events in there lives, and after losing to Spider-Man so many times, they decide to team up to gain an advantage on him. In here, there just poor unfortunate employees who were Mutanted into Green Goblins personal henchmen and wrack havoc in New York City. At that moment I felt like I was watch a Power Ranger episode, just have 4 different colors of Spider-Man to fight them and there you go, a Power Ranger Musical. Throughout a musical scene, Spider-Man takes out each of them one by one by using one spray of his webbing...WHAT?! We have the Lizard, Kraven The Hunter, Electro, 2 others I don't even know of, and finally Carnage. CARNAGE OF ALL PEOPLE! He's a spawn from Venom and it's host is a psychopath killer, I don't think that'll sit well with kids.

I'm not a fan of broadway shows so you could imagine my irritation when every scene has to have 'characters singing' involved. It also feels weird sitting in front of live actors perform the actions of the characters as though you want to just jump on the stage and tell the character NOT TO DO THAT OR THIS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU - TRUST ME I"VE READ THE COMICS, while in movie theater there the action is on the screen as though it was a fictional world. When Spider-Man was swinging around, other actors dressed up as Spider-Man started popping out running around the floor, one past by me and never said 'Hi'...I was a sad customer that day. And Finally, $79 dollars to see a broadway show... could've brought 5 movie tickets with that money.

Despite the nit-picks, I really 'liked' the show, I can't imagine myself going out to see this again or in any other broadway shows for that matter. If your a huge hard core, badass, Mr. Know it all Spider-Man fan who's brain is like an encyclopedia following up on every single issue, this is for you. If your a guy who's into broadway shows, you'll probably want to check this out. If your a tourist from overseas who like to kill some time and like Spider-Man, then this is for you. Parents who wants to take there kids out to see Spider-Man, this is for you. But Casual guys and girls who just read comics and doesn't like to get involved with none of that nonsense this isn't for you, or even for everyone anyway. But if your curious and in NYC, get it a shot. If you won't be impressed by the singing and dancing, I'll promise you'll be impressed by the stunt work and background scenes. 4/5 stars.

I need some help because I'm on the fence here. It's been 9 months since dc released 52 on it's titles and some were positive while others weren't that good or just okay-ish. I haven't bought most of these comics because there were too many of them for me to choose from and that some of them weren't interesting to me at the time. Lately, I've looked some interesting images and read some articles on some characters on their titles with crossovers and events. Now regretting it, I want to start getting into them but I don't know where to start.

Can anyone tell me if these titles are any good and worth reading? which one should I get? Give me your thoughts on them too? Thanks.

#!1 Action Comics - Only bought issue one

#2 Wonder Woman - Is she awesome here or not?

#3 Aquaman - Heard his a badass now

#4 Green Lantern w/ Sinestro -... Oh boy

#5 Red Lantern series - I want Hal as a RL

#6 The Flash - Only Bought issue one

#7 Superboy - Liked him in young justice cartoon, how is this series?

#8 Green Arrow - Never bought a GA comic in my life lol.

#9 Supergirl - same here with her lol

#10 Deathstroke - heard he's more brutal and Midnighter and Zealot had appeared in resent issues.

#11 Batwoman - I think I'm gonna like her more than Batgirl

#12 Batman and Robin - Scott Synder's run with Batman is great but how's this one?

#13 Red Hood and the Outlaws - I'm iffy on the series

#14 Captain Atom - was never into him before but how's his series?

#15 Batwing - bought first issue before dropping this. Is he better now?

#16 Birds of Prey - Liked Gail Simone's run but how's this one?

Just reminding myself that the DC Universe revamp comics is coming in September, which is just around the corner. So in case if I forget I'm writing down a list on what comics I'm getting.  Despite my mix feelings over the revamp, I'm curious on how good these titles will turn out.  
 
- Justice Legaue #1  
- Batgirl #1
- Batwing #1 (Maybe)  
- Batman #1  
- Batman: The Darknight #1  
- Nightwing #1  
- Detective Comics #1 (Seriously, how many Batman titles are there?)  
- Deathstorke #1  
- Grifter #!  
- Stormwatch #1  
- Men Of War #1  
- Superman #1 (Maybe)  
 
That should be it for now. If there's anymore titles I'm interested in I'll sure to add them on this list.

Happy New Year. For this year I'll try to post as many comic reviews as I can. I just don't have the time these days due to work and all.

Since the costume change and issue #601, some are concerned about the future of her comics and the character. At the same, while she did had some amazing stories, her books wasn't selling as much as Batman, Green Lantern  and Superman.  I just want to know if you guys still have love for her or not and why?   I personally like her, but I don't like and buy her books that much compared to the others.