The Avengers vs. X-Men event draws ever closer, and in anticipation of hero vs. hero, Marvel will be releasing episodic breakdowns of some of the event’s big battles. Read the full story

I remember recess being one of the highlights of the day when I was but a mischievous little lad in elementary school. We would run out to the field in a direct line to what we referred to as the “big toy,” and disappear. In our places, the superheroes we loved and adored became reality, battling each other around our “big toy” in clashes of epic proportion that would be spoken of in hushed tones for years to come. There were four of us back then: Shawn, Chris W, Chris L, and me…or Snake Eyes, Batman, Wolverine, and Mr. Fantastic. Invariably, our battles ended in arguments about who would win between our respective heroes. Read the full story

It seems like a cliche these days. Say the name of the game Ico and everyone expects praise. And by this point, everyone knows the idea of the minimalist game with beautiful design and a story that can be interpreted a myriad of ways. But what we’re talking about is one interpretation that was interesting enough to get published.

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March is going to be an interesting time to be Spider-Man. The Sinister Six are coming back in a major storyline called “Ends of the Earth” (starting in March’s Amazing Spider-Man #682), and it seems like they’re about to earn the fear and respect they’ve been due not just from Spidey but from his allies among the Avengers. In honor of this, I’m going to talk about some of the most major storylines to feature this rotating roster of Spider-Man villains.

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I’ve always thought that the Hitman series of video games would lend themselves well to novelization. The aspects of patience, detail, and attention in Hitman would make for great suspense on the page. Apparently I wasn’t alone in this thought, since 2007 saw the release of a Hitman novel, Hitman: Enemy Within. Enemy Within took place between the events of  the Hitman video game series entries Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Hitman: Blood Money, and revealed new details about Agent 47 and the Hitman universe. Now, five years later, Agent 47 returns in print form with Hitman: Damnation. Read the full story

One of the things I was happy about when hearing that Disney bought Marvel was the massive media empire that some of my favorite superheroes were now part of. And since DC has a monopoly on Cartoon Network (due to being owned by the same company, Warner Bros.), I was waiting for some new blood to appear on Disney’s major channel Disney XD. With this new press release, Marvel is planning to expand the adventures of their upcoming animated series with tie-in comics, and I couldn’t be more excited.

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I have to admit, for the most part I had some pretty cool parents when I was growing up. As far back as I can remember (which is back to around 1985-ish), I was lucky enough to have multiple computers in my house, and even more at my grandparents’ house down the street. I grew up swapping 5 1/4″ floppies and singing along to the Internet song (which would be the timeless handshake between my dial-up modem and the vast unknown). If not for my parents being so cool with technology, I may have grown up to be an athlete or something. Whew, bullet dodged! Read the full story

The Old Republic:  Revan, by Drew Karpyshyn, was one of the most highly anticipated Star Wars novels of the year.  It came out just in time (on my birthday, in fact) to create hype for The Old Republic, an MMORPG set to be released on December 20 of this year.  Revan, although a great read, failed to meet my expectations and, sadly, was a disappointment. Read the full story

As we wrap up on Batman-month (which I hope is good enough to do again), I feel that it’s time we talk about the stories that are essential. Now, before I start rambling, I’m not talking about my favorites (although these are a chunk of my favorites), nor just when significant events happened (we’d be here all week going over all the significant events in Batman’s long history). These are essential not just for the plot, but for how they tapped into what makes Batman what he is, and why he persists after decades in print.

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In keeping with Batman-month, I’m going to talk about one of the coolest things when dealing with comics: the crossover. These are my top five Batman crossovers.

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