Fanboys Anonymous

Now that Christmas is over, the frenzied campaigning for and trolling against both Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's XBox One has finally died down. Whether based on hyped-up expectations or long-held prejudices, gamers have made their choices and, by now, it's estimated that Santa has probably filled around four million gamers' stockings with a launch edition of the next gen console of their choice.

Picture of the PS4 complete with upright stand. Incomplete without one. You know, just like the actual ones you can buy.

It's something of a truism to say that a console's long-term viability is dependent upon its games, but with any new console the number of AAA-rated games available at launch is pretty limited and - with several of this generation's top titles having been delayed until next year - there's one question that can't be answered by simply comparing sales figures: was it really worth placing a pre-order back in June, just to be sure a shiny new games machine would be nestling under the Christmas tree?

Well, I opted for Sony's stylish little number and, even without those AAA titles, I've fallen in love with it already. Why? Here are the top five things my PS4 and I did together over the Christmas break:

For America's Got Talent, the Scarecrow sang "If I Only Had a Brain", while Batwoman acted out emotes. Here she demonstrates "ROFL".

5.  DC Universe Online

As a comic fan, DCUO is a game which I've been wanting to play for a long time. After all, what fanboy or grrl wouldn't want the chance to save the world alongside Superman or Wonder Woman?

Despite my love of heroes in capes, however, I'm not a huge fan of MMOs (as Sartre might have said if he'd embraced his inner geek: "Hell is other gamers!"), and the prospect of paying a monthly subscription just to be shown up by a bunch of rabid 12 year olds is distinctly unappealing. Like many other MMOs, DCUO converted to a free-to-play model some time ago but, frustratingly, I haven't been able to take advantage of it before now. My laptop just isn't up to the job and my console gaming so far has been exclusively XBox, on which even free-to-play MMOs require an XBL Gold subscription.

Unlike XBox Live, PSN allows access to DCUO without a subscription to its premium service, PS Plus. Much of my Christmas, therefore, was spent playing superhero (and villain), patrolling the streets of Metropolis and Gotham. I fought against Brainiac's robotic minions alongside Superman and Lex Luthor; I freed Zatanna from a bunch of evil cultists, helped Wonder Girl take down Giganta, fought the Teen Titans, and rescued Raven from the clutches of her father. I joined up with Batwoman to defeat the Scarecrow and visited both the Hall of Doom and the JLA's Watchtower. And that was all in just a couple of days' play. There's clearly a lot more to explore in this game, and already I've been rubbing caped shoulders with some of DC's heaviest hitters. What better way is there for a fanboy to spend the run up to Christmas?!

4.  Watchmen

The answer is lots of talcum powder. You know what the question was!

Unlike many fans of Alan Moore's superb graphic novel, I really like Zack Snyder's movie adaptation of Watchmen. When I heard there was going to be an extended Director's Cut, I put off buying the DVD and began mentally putting away pennies in my imaginary penny jar. Sadly, when it was eventually released, the Director's Cut was only available on BluRay. Naturally, I didn't have a BluRay player at the time, and the idea of buying one just for that one movie seemed a tad excessive!

Over the years since then it's become increasingly common for the BluRay editions of major movies to include additional extras not available on the DVD and so it was inevitable that I'd eventually relent and buy something to play them on.  Well, now I have that something and the first thing I played on my PS4 was the Director's Cut of Watchmen. Honestly, I don't think the additional material adds very much but, after four years of waiting, at least I can finally say I've seen it. Score two for the PS4!

3.  A message to Microsoft

I am not a Microsoft hater. I've been a loyal XBox gamer ever since MS released its first chunky black shoe box. Yes, I've missed out on Playstation exclusives like Uncharted and The Last of Us, but I've also enjoyed many happy hours with XBox exclusives like Halo and Fable 2. Before last year's calamitous press conference in the run-up to E3, therefore, there was no way my next gen console purchase was ever going to be anything other than an XBox One.

Like many others, however, that all changed when Microsoft announced its plans to seriously curtail my consumer rights, to force me to buy a peripheral I saw no value in and, in some circumstances, even to deny me access to the games I'd bought. I thought hard about whether I was just being a bit of a Luddite and simply refusing to acknowledge the advantages of the MS proposition. By the end of E3, however, I just couldn't see any significant benefits to the gamer at all; certainly none that would offset the many downsides. And so I placed a pre-order for a PS4: my first Playstation ever.

Voice-activated control now as standard. And by "standard", we mean "compulsory".

That was over six months ago now and, after a series of disastrous surveys and negative pre-order numbers, Microsoft famously reversed most of its draconian policies. Even so, from time to time it still hints at the possibility of reintroducing its original plans at some stage in the future and so, every time I fired up my PS4 over Christmas, I felt like I was doing a little bit more to protest against unprincipled DRM restrictions. Of course, every time I did so, my faithful old 360 glowered sadly at me from the corner!

2.  Netflix

This year the international gurning contest will be held in Norway.

Thanks to UK satellite TV, I already have access to movies and a lot of HBO shows, so I haven't felt any great need to subscribe to yet another Pay-TV service. That was especially true since, for something like Netflix, I'd also have to subscribe to a gatekeeper, such as XBL Gold.

Well, times change. Netflix is currently producing a number of excellent shows which aren't available elsewhere. Breaking Bad, for example, never made it beyond Season 1 on UK TV, while other shows like Orange is the New Black still haven't been shown at all. The allure of Netflix has therefore, been growing slowly in recent years and, with the PS4, I can now access it without paying for a PS Plus premium subscription.

So, when I wasn't soaring over the rooftops of Metropolis or watching the Watchmen on BluRay, I was discovering some great Netflix shows. My favourite so far is probably the Fargo-esque Lilyhammer (you can read the Fanboys Anonymous review here!), a gentle culture-clash comedy starring Steven van Zandt as a New York mobster relocated under the Witness Protection Program to Lillehammer in Norway. With so much snow, it felt more like Christmas than ... well, Christmas!

1.  Contrast

Dawn could make amazing shadows with her hands, but Didi was beginning to think she cheated.

One of the PS4's strengths, at least according to Sony (although a few developers do appear to be corroborating this), is just how user-friendly its architecture and procedures are for small games developers. Of course, that doesn't mean a lot to the average gamer sat in front of his TV. We can only judge the success or otherwise of a supposedly developer-friendly policy, based on the quality of the independent games which eventually make their way onto our consoles.

One of the highlights of my Christmas was discovering Contrast, a short but delightfully innovative, puzzle-solving game in which you play as Dawn, the "imaginary friend" of a little girl called Didi. The main gameplay mechanic is Dawn's ability to turn into a shadow in order to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. I expected that much from the trailers I'd seen. What I didn't expect was the noirish atmosphere, the wonderfully stylish 1920s environments, or the way shadows are also used to tell the story of the on-off relationship between Didi's parents.

There are a few minor elements that could have been expanded upon but the game's endearing sense of charm more than compensates for those. If you take out a PS Plus subscription, Contrast can be downloaded for free. It's a short game but, even without a PS Plus subscription it can be downloaded for a mere £12.79 and, unlike some bigger blockbuster titles, it actually feels like good value right up until the closing credits. There may have been a dearth of next gen AAA blockbuster titles available in time for Christmas but, with indy gems like Contrast to keep us entertained, my PS4 and I hardly noticed!

So, did Santa put a new console in your stocking this year? Tell us whether you went for the XBox One or the PS4, and what's been the best thing about it so far!

Happy New Year, Fanboys and Fangirls, and welcome to 2014. I hope all the Punisher fans among us got plenty of fresh underwear for Christmas, because you're about to soil some!

"Go ahead and poop, it'll be the last thing you smell!"

As the new Punisher series under the Marvel NOW! banner approaches its release date this March, we have some more artwork to tantalize, titillate, and generally make you feel dirty and shameless.

IT'S RAINING DEATH…HALLELUJAH…

The series, starting at issue one all over again after the cancellation of Rucka and Checchetto's great little run, is being brought to life by The Activity writer and artist Nathan Edmondson and Mitch Gerads, and despite these tasty treats lacking any dialogue or monologue so far, ain't they just pretty?

Not many say it publicly—then again, I'm not known for filtering my thoughts—but I have to say it: one thing that's annoyed me as a die-hard fan for so long is the inconsistency of past series' artists, and when I say consistency, I mean the shit-ness.

With the exception of Garth Ennis during the "MAX" years (who will also present a miniseries this year) and Greg Rucka, both of whom were backed up by some great talent from beginning to end, Punisher has often been left short-changed by some pretty garish artwork (which I won't sully these pages with) in the past.

I couldn't draw to save my own life, so there's a tragic sadness to my honesty when I ask why comic book giants such as Marvel aren't kicking in my door to hurl briefcases of money at my face?!

I did this in five minutes. Just for you!

Not to worry. Mitch Gerads, who I think is a phenomenal artist, is not only treating us with some very lush work, but also treating the Punisher and his world to a pretty awesome makeover.


The richness in the aesthetics, the inks, and the colours—I'm gushing here, but LA is such a breath of fresh air compared to New York City, right? Very colourful and not at all dreary.

Sound off, Fanboys and Fangirls. Excited much? Comments below and thanks for reading. Punisher #1 is released in March of this year!

The Superman/Batman movie is supposed to be out in theaters in 2015. Like the previous Superman movie, Man of Steel, this movie will also have Zack Snyder as director and David Goyer as screenwriter. The website for movie news, Cinemablend, says:

Warner Bros. has confirmed that cameras will begin rolling in the first half of next year and that the finished product will be hitting theaters on July 17, 2015.

The movie is a sequel to Man of Steel. So it will focus more on Superman and will mainly be about Superman and Batman fighting against each other. More details about the plot of the movie can be found on the websites Warner Bros. has officially registered: BatmanvsSupermanMovie.com and BatmanvsSuperman.com.


Of course, Henry Cavill will play Superman, as he did in Man of Steel. Batman will be played by Ben Affleck. According to Cinemablend and Hollywood Reporter, as of December 9th, other characters we can hope to see in the movie include Wonder Woman, played by Israeli supermodel Gal Godot, and either the villain Doomsday or the ally Martian Manhunter, played by Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa. But nothing is certain yet.

Jason Momoa

What is definite, Cinemablend states, is that the same cast of characters (Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, and Diane Lane as Martha Kent) from Man of Steel will be part of the Superman/Batman movie. That may be the case for the Batman side of the movie as well, but it has not yet been confirmed that the same cast of characters (Michael Caine as Alfred, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Blake, and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon) will be used for Batman's side.

The list of actors Warner Bros. is thinking of having play either villain or ally roles is quite interesting. For example, on December 18th, Variety News said that Warner Bros. was thinking about having actor Joaquin Phoenix play the role of the villain Lex Luthor, but nothing was sure at the time.

Joaquin Phoenix

Other than Phoenix, based on an article by Business Insider, Warner Bros is considering the following actors to play Lex Luthor: Denzel Washington, Mark Stron, Bryan Cranston (from Breaking Bad), Madds Mikkelson (from Hannibal), and Kevin Spacey!

These actors are still rumored to be cast for these roles. If we look at the IMDB website, however, it shows Jason Momoa and Joaquin Phoenix as "rumored" actors. When was IMDB ever wrong?

So no one should be surprised to see Phoenix as Lex Luthor and Momoa as Doomsday or Martian Manhunter. Who would you want to see play Lex Luthor?

In the waning weeks of 2013, Disney made a surprising announcement: they had reached a deal with Paramount to release new installments of the celebrated Indiana Jones franchise, and to handle the multimedia that goes along with it (because this is Disney, folks).

Gonna see a lot more of these on the shelves.

Obviously, the Indiana Jones franchise was one of a few high-power franchises under the Lucasfilm banner when Disney bought the company a year ago, but the priority at the time seemed to be the announcement and early development of a new Star Wars trilogy. At the time of the deal, Disney CEO Bob Iger reported that while the Mouse House had plans for the Indy franchise, some roadblocks remained before anything new could be done with the character. The first four Indiana Jones films were released by Paramount, and that studio will continue to profit from those first four films and retain some percentage of future Indiana Jones films, as they have with several Marvel properties. With the announcement of this deal, more Indy is all but sure to come. It's even rumored that part of what brought Harrison Ford back for more Star Wars is a provision in his contract for more Indiana Jones.

The question now is what Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and perhaps most importantly, Ford feel like they can do with the character. Of particular concern, sad enough to say, is Ford's age. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy's last adventure from 2008, maintained the real-world time between itself and the prior film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade—nineteen years. Harrison Ford was sixty-four at the time of production on Crystal Skull. Alongside Disney's news that they would churn out one Star Wars sequel or spinoff every year beginning in 2015, reportedly bumping Indy 5 back two or three more years, we could be looking at a 72-or-73-year-old Dr. Jones.

"It's not the years, honey…"

Admittedly, Harrison Ford keeps himself in good shape, and some news was made about the fitness regimen the actor maintained while filming Crystal Skull. Ford still did the majority of his own stunts. But with possibly another decade away from the character, could he bring the same physicality we've come to know and love from Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford both? It could mean the studio is preparing for a reboot of the franchise. Or perhaps it could eye the prequel route, using an older Ford to anchor the series, as in Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. It could be that younger versions of both Han Solo and Indiana Jones are on their way in the next several years—but one way or another, more Indy, at least, is on the way.

Dear people who make decisions on online improvements for Ultra Street Fighter 4,

Playing video games online is about incentives and social interaction, as you well know. The online components of the Street Fighter 4 series have done an exceptional job of addressing the desires of players across the board by providing eight player lobbies with voice chat and an ability to spectate, multiple gameplay modes, and replay channels.

Unfortunately, players do not take full advantage of all gameplay modes, particularly Tournament and Team Battle. It is extremely rare to find a lobby for either, and it's hard to convince friends to play them even if you have known them all of your life. Why are players reluctant to play these modes? It's because there is nothing on the line.

A lot of players claim they do not care about battle points (BP) or player points (PP) earned through ranked matches, but these points are an indicator of player proficiency and consistency against unfamiliar competition. A very solid player can lose to an unorthodox style at any time, as we have seen on several occasions.


Traversing the salty online road like Ryu to achieve BP and PP "does not matter," but it is respected. A player's numbers speak for themselves before round one begins. One might play above or below one's numbers, but everyone takes notice of these so-called arbitrary stats.

The Tournament and Team Battle modes do not have built-in incentives for players. Sometimes, video game players just need a foundation that provides incentives and social interaction beyond bragging rights. Here's my suggestion to alleviate the problem: create "dojos," the fighting game genre's equivalent of clans.

Dojos compete with each other to earn "belts" that represent achievements the dojos have attained in Tournament, Team Battle, and the new Elimination mode. Competing dojos can challenge one another to earn belts that must be defended to retain ownership. Special belts that can never be taken away from a dojo are earned by participating in monthly regional events.

Each dojo has to attain a grade in order to challenge others, similar to Challenge mode in the original Street Fighter 4. For example, dojos in the rookie class are only allowed to challenge dojos in the rookie class. Once the dojo earns the next rank, it is allowed to challenge dojos of that same class.

Ryu supports saving the way of the dojo.

Additional parameters to consider for dojos:

• Dojos are allowed to have a maximum of 20 players.
• Each gamertag is allowed to join a maximum of three dojos.
• Any belt that a dojo wishes to retain must be defended at least once every three weeks.
• Players can follow up to five dojos, which allows them to view each dojo's public profile (including overall record and record breakdowns for each mode) and replays.
• Double elimination should be an option for Tournament mode. Two of three sets would also be a viable option for Team Battle and Elimination.
• Dojos can tag others as rivals to track their progress as they attempt to match their feats.
• Dojos can utilize Online Training mode with spectators to prepare for fights.

The dojo system would provide organization and structure for players' desire to test themselves against one another. Dojos would extend the life of Ultra Street Fighter 4 and take advantage of players' innate, burning desire to defeat opponents. Fostering online communities for dojos in UItra Street Fighter 4 is the next step for taking the fighting game genre to new heights as a can't miss gaming experience and a budding business. I hope that the people who make decisions on online improvements for Ultra Street Fighter 4 agree with this assessment.

Best Regards,
Aaron Lanton

P.S. I encourage all readers to add their two cents in the comments. Capcom has asked for the feedback of the players. Let's keep the conversation going and continue to voice our opinions to ensure we are getting the best experience possible.

Check out Episode 28 of The Dace Man Show with regulars Gibby, Frank Ward, Dan Raup and many many others as they bring you into the new year the only way the know how...pure chaos!!

 ::SPORTS NEWS::

• The final week in NFL regular Season
• Current NHL Leaders! We were able to google it!

::WEIRD NEWS WITH GIBBY::

• He made up one story and we cut him off.

::FRANK'S CORNER::

• Frank's told us the obvious facts of life...er...Dace Man Show Life.

::CELEB NEWS::

• We talked about who died.

Plus the High Five: Top 5 Dace Man Show Moments of 2013 plus the Douche bag of the Week! All that and more, only on The Dace Man Show!





Step onto the crazy train with Chris "The Dace Man" Dace, for the final time in 2013 and the First time in 2014, on The Dace Man Show… cue the Final Countdown!!!

Follow The Dace Man on Twitter:


Fundraising Websites - Crowdrise

One of the perks of being a member of the Fanboys team is posting the various videos I have made. Unfortunately, because of the things going on in my busy life (working, going to school, recently got engaged and dealing with family), I have not only failed to post my videos to this site, but I also haven't been able to keep up the volume of videos I would like to have had produced for both of my channels on YouTube. I do apologize for not posting them to our wonderful site.

With that being said, here are all of the recent videos I have made. I hope you enjoy them, and I thank you for understanding.

RCLP is playing catch-up!

First up, the first four episodes of "Skullmonkeys" for the PlayStation.





And, here are some of my "one-off" videos where I play some games which are not being turned into full-fledged series. These videos are just for fun.

Episode 56 of the I Got Gameplay podcast is now online. In this episode, Michael Burhan, Zack Latour, Travis Goss, and special guest Booch talk Super Smash, from the game's simple start on the Nintendo 64 to the controversy surrounding its current incarnation on both the Wii U and the 3DS. The team also go through the list of new characters and discuss who they would like to see in the fourth installment of the series.

You can check out the episode by clicking on the following links:

Libsyn: http://smarkoutmoment.libsyn.com/rss

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/igotgameplay/id570120518

Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdgenious/igotgameplay?amp;refid=stpr

You can subscribe to the podcast's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/IGotGameplay


You can join the discussion by going to our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/igotgameplay

Join the IGG army in style by purchasing an I Got Gameplay T-shirt from our store. To order yours, just click on the appropriate link below!

(UK and EU) http://nerdgenious.spreadshirt.co.uk/i-got-gameplay-retro-t-A25715613/customize/color/348

(US) http://nerdgenioususa.spreadshirt.com/

The T-shirt comes in eight different colors and six different sizes, including Small, Medium, Large, XL, XXL, and 3XL. Shirts are £16.50 UK and $19.90 US. Grab yours today!

On again and off again, I've alluded to the oddball rock trio Nirvana in my articles. I haven't provided too much analysis on the band or their music because back in the day, from afar, it was all surrounded by hype and MTV. As we dig deeper into the core (which is the true subject—the band and Kurt Cobain), we sift through the grinding gears of a machine called "the media" and its refined soullessness and inhumanity. To really understand what happened to the Aberdeen nerd and his bandmates in the early '90s, we must adventure through the rubble and ruins of the past, filled with cobwebs and skeletons adorned in plaid. Your iPhone is no good here.

Seattle, Washington, 1990. Little of note—apart from the Space Needle, Starbucks, and Boeing—was associated with the northwestern city. Bill Gates is from Seattle, but Microsoft was merely a reputable company in that period, so truly to the outside world, there wasn't much to say about the city. Perhaps pro sports made the tranquil metropolis a recognizable name, but one NBA championship wasn't enough to transform it into a cultural haven as its music soon would.

Eye of the hurricane: before the big band status

I have already portrayed the big Seattle bands and how their trip to the "upstairs" of modern music turned a few knobs in the media no one even knew existed. What's interesting is all that followed which is not music related. Movies, fashion, "grunge-speak" (I cannot wait to reach that paragraph), the alternative teen movement—it was all in the headlines with a Northwest flavor to it by 1993.

Never mind the constant stream of press material on Time, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The New York Times, and other outlets in America and eventually the world; when something hit the TV, by all means, it had to be bought. 
Once Smells Like Teen Spirit reached the tube, the avalanche began. It started with innocent appearances on Saturday Night Live on behalf of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, touring, and the MTV phenomenon that drew the attention of so many young teens and adults to "grunge," a term so loosely coined that even Seattleites had trouble grasping it. Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and the stories of the bands we all know followed.

Weird Al and his tasteful parody

What was interesting is that it suddenly became standard practice to copy whatever the average Joe was doing in Seattle. How did they dress? What was living in Seattle like? There was a very strange, surreal romantic story being told to the masses when in fact, Seattle was a dull, boring, cold, and rainy city to the young. As hard as it may be to be sure of what I write, I've come across too many interviews with the people who partook in that period of events that alluded to depression, drug use, and suicides to doubt myself.

While Seattle was just a city, with all the perks and flaws of any other city with similar demographics, it was a strange time and place to be growing up. Either you were one of the jocks or upscale rich kids, or you were a geek bound to work in a record store, K-Mart, or someplace similar. There wasn't an appreciated culture of cosplay (otaku or gamer) where you could geek out all you want and still get the girl; these were loser's havens back then. In Seattle, it happened to be bands. The music underground was already respected by other underground scenes from various places in the U.S. thanks to the Sub Pop label, but once it all switched over to mainstream, it comically became super important to know what type of snack was a favorite among the Seattle fans.

Cast of Singles

The phones wouldn't stop ringing from journalists demanding the latest trend, and not just for band info. Anyone who had anything to do with the music scene there was interviewed. It reached a point where The New York Times called up Sub Pop and the receptionist, Megan Jasper, answered. Fed up with the bothersome attention from the press, she created "grunge speak" on the spot, inventing terms such as "lamestain" and "swingin' on the flippity-flop." only to see it published shortly thereafter on November 15, 1992. (The article is currently online!) And the city laughed at the media hounds.

Perry Ellis also cashed in (or rather, struck out) on the grunge thing. There was a Spring/Summer '93 collection designed by Marc Jacobs, which was a fiasco. The opposite must be said for the genuine style: Torn jeans were a religion for me as a kid, and plaid was the uniform of choice in school.


Let's not forget that the media is a beast of many heads. One of them is Hollywood. There was a genuine movie that was coincidentally released before the hype, called Singles (1992), a romantic comedy by director Cameron Crowe depicting Seattle's music scene and the young adults involved. After its warm reception, Warner Bros. contacted Crowe to create a sitcom whose tone resembled the movie's. When Crowe declined, it's an educated guess—and probably true—that Warner proceeded to create Friends in 1994 based on this up-and-coming Generation X, though they opted to set it in New York given the exhaustion of the whole "Seattle thing."

Cast of Frasier

The milking continued. The long-lived show Frasier, which premiered in 1993, took place in Seattle. Why? No reason. Just fashionable. I don't recall a mention of Frasier's hometown being Seattle in Cheers. There was also the movie The Crush (1993), which starred Alicia Silverstone in her breakthrough role (apart from the Aerosmith videos). Where did it take place? Seattle. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)—Seattle.

Beavis and Butthead defined what rocked and what sucked—grunge ruled!

Seattle, Seattle. Even Beavis and Butthead said Seattle rules—and by God, if they said so, it must have been true. 
If it wasn't true, then it sure turned out that way. Things seemed at least more genuine and real-world in comparison to Manhattan, London, L.A., and other glittering places. After the money came knocking, the city thrived in a way none of the punk rock enthusiasts would have ever dreamed of.

It is highly recommended that you seek out the documentary Hype! (1996), where this is all portrayed. The film interviews many bands of the grunge scene, and they describe the "before-and-after" in ways that I will never be able to credibly document here. No matter how cynical and ridiculous the constant craving for the next big thing was, the truth is Seattle enjoyed the courtship, albeit in a timid fashion.

I know several people who lived in Seattle in recent years, and they claim it is a great city. Does anyone share that view? Did things change drastically for the better since the '80s? Or was it nice all along, only bleak to a few? The more you comment, the better the closing article on Nirvana will be. Don't be a lamestain!

As 2013 comes to a close, I reflect back on all of the awesome and sad moments in my fandoms throughout the year. With Venom and symbiotes in particular, we saw Flash Thompson, a.k.a. Agent Venom, make Philadelphia his new home; join the Thunderbolts; battle against the Venom symbiote's old host, Eddie Brock (a.k.a. Toxin); birth a new symbiotic sidekick, Mania; and survive past the end of his monthly ongoing series in a battle against the Superior Spider-Man. We also saw Cletus Kasady, a.k.a. Carnage, lobotomized at the end of "Minimum Carnage," lose his symbiote to the Wizard and his new Frightful Four, and summarily regained his symbiote and his mind at the end of Superior Carnage. Outside of the comics, fans were delighted with playable Venom and Carnage characters in the LEGO Marvel Superheroes game and blown away at the official announcement of an upcoming Venom spin-off film tied to Sony Pictures' Amazing Spider-Man film franchise.

How can 2014 top the ups and downs of 2013 in the symbiote fandom? Well, Marvel revealed Agent Venom will be joining the Guardians of the Galaxy in time for a mission to the homeworld of the symbiotes. They also announced Cullen Bunn's return to the world of symbiotes in Superior Carnage Annual, in which Kasady—now fully recovered from his lobotomy thanks to his temporary exposure to the symbiote before SpOck (the Superior Spider-Man) separated them again—escapes from confinement to reunite with his other. Yesterday, Comic Book Resources (CBR) revealed an exclusive look at a few uncolored and unlettered pages by artist Kim Jacinto from the upcoming annual, along with an interview with Bunn.

Bunn realizes that just because Kasady is Carnage again doesn't mean he will be restoring the status quo.
"This story helps Carnage redefine his mission statement (if someone like Carnage can actually have a mission statement) and refocus on being the violent mass murderer he was meant to be," he says. In the recent past (post-resurrection), writers like Zeb Wells, Christopher Yost, and even Bunn tried to fix Carnage by making him into some sort of evil mastermind (Carnage: Family Feud leading into Carnage U.S.A.) or consort with other evil masterminds ("Minimum Carnage").

Cletus Kasady has had some weird redesigns, but this one is almost fitting.

I've always called this issue "Carnage: Homecoming." That's what it's all about: Bringing Carnage home, back to the brass tacks of the character. When Carnage first burst onto the scene, he was a servant of chaos and disorder. Over time, he went through a lot of changes. He started to form plans that went beyond mayhem and murder. And it never worked out for him. Now, Cletus and the symbiote have been torn away from one another, so Carnage wants to go back to what he's best at—killing randomly.

The collective, initial fan reaction: "HOLY SHIT!"

Not to return to Carnage's old, stale ways, however, Bunn recognizes that he needs to somehow shine a new light on the character's classic representation. To respond to this, it looks as though Bunn will be sharing ideas with Dan Slott and Christos Gage about Kasady's relationship with the symbiote, specifically concerning a recent revelation about Thompson's relationship with his symbiote in the pages of The Superior Spider-Man #24: "Going into the annual, the physical bond between Cletus and the Carnage symbiote has been severed. But we'll see that their connection goes beyond the host/symbiote dynamic. The question becomes—can they survive without one another?"

As if the new info and art from the annual weren't enough to keep me and my fellow symbiote fans giddy for 2014, CBR and Bunn dropped another geek bomb today with the announcement of an upcoming Deadpool vs Carnage four-issue limited series in April. Bunn has risen in fan popularity with his recent Deadpool works with Marvel, including Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Deadpool Killustrated, and Deadpool Kills Deadpool. Add his popularity with symbiote fans from his work with Venom and the general fan attraction Deadpool, Carnage, and their pairing off enjoys, and you get one of the hottest Marvel titles of 2014. Salva Espin will be teaming up with Bunn once more for this epic showdown between the Merc with a Mouth and one of the Marvel Universe's deadliest serial killers.

*Hyperventilating*

As you can see from Espin's action-packed pages, the book won't be holding back the big guns. Espin returns Carnage to a more classic Bagley-esque design and continues to give Deadpool his signature comedic look. It's almost as though Deadpool vs Carnage was pulled straight out of every geek's fantasy from the '90s! I have a feeling that 2014 is gonna be one crazy good year for symbiote fans, and so far Bunn has yet to disappoint. #InBunnWeTrust

Are you excited from all of this Carnage news? Are you a fan of Bunn's work with symbiotes and Deadpool? Who do you think will win in the upcoming battle? Let us know in the comments below!

In a TV world overwhelmed by a constant stream of zombies, betrayals, meth, and L.A. decadence, a place where the new rots to old and forgives no one for any lack of originality, comes an unusual masterpiece: Lilyhammer.

The show is unusual because of its oil-and-water circumstances, its star, and especially its bilingual nature (English and Norwegian), which usually is grounds for a death sentence unless it's either Spanish or Elvish. Lilyhammer does have something logical in its favor, however: the underdog factor.

Our heroes of late (Dr. House, Dexter, and Mr. White, to name a few) were not exactly role models for social behavior, but they won us over nonetheless. Another name to add to the roster is Frank Tagliano—at least in the Big Apple. In Norway, he goes by Johnny Henriksen. Confused? Good! Read on.

The lead is played by Steven Van Zandt; not a new name, but he is not exactly a household name neither. His most notable role prior to Frank Tagliano/Johnny Henriksen in Lilyhammer was Silvio Dante in The Sopranos. His other works include…well that's it. This man is no actor; he's a rock star. More on that later.

Van Zandt's persona, physique, and speech make him typecast for the New York mob type. Everything about him reeks extortion, bribes, threats, and calzones, capisce? So it is no surprise that the series begins with hero the near-victim of a whack by a fellow mafioso. Frank (Van Zandt) testifies against his boss to the FBI in exchange for the witness protection program. Frank chooses to go to Lillehammer, Norway, of all places, because "Nobody but nobody" will be looking for him there. So he departs from New York City under the alias of Johnny Henriksen.

For those familiar with Scandinavian culture, you will find this series hilarious as you see the clash of gangster "money-takes-all" attitude versus the local naiveté of simple small-town folks from a corruption-free society. Every place has its underbelly, however, and Frank manages to find a way to exploit the subtle weaknesses.

There is plenty of accuracy in depicting the lifestyle and feel of Norway, and so it should be: the producers and writers are Norwegians themselves. There is also no shortage of social critiques as Frank enters the integration program offered to immigrants by the local government. Other things, such as fatherhood, racism, and regional rivalry are brought to light as well.

For those unfamiliar with Scandinavian culture, you will enjoy this series and are in for a treat if you miss old-school mafia-type scenarios. Despite the nuances of one or two logistical discrepancies (Frank starts to understand Norwegian a bit too quickly), this show is still all hits and no misses for me. It opens potential doors for other cultural mash-ups and social studies as Lilyhammer is nothing short of an entertaining voyage we take vicariously, courtesy of "Johnny."

As an underrated honorable mention, Steven Van Zandt also is a musician/guitarist from the Jersey Shore music scene of the mid 1960s. He's played with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on and off again for decades. On his own, he also played with countless names in the industry and was a politically driven frontman for his band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul in the 1980s and 1990s as well as being the cofounder of Artists United Against Apartheid. Now that is a spicy meatball!

From the time you emerge from the land of dreams, press through the uncomfortable threshold of darkness at the edge of your inner sanctuary and descend the sad steps of your terribly boring home, it quickly becomes obvious how lacking the day will be.


The daunt of simple tasks, the depressed pain of moving your bones, and the very mundane repetitiveness of the every day and the soul eating melancholia that goes with it steal away what sanity you have in this world. There is no going back to being a child: all is lost.

Amidst this dark drab lies the soul of 44Flood. Kasra Ghanbari, Nicholas Idell, and artists Ben Templesmith and Menton3 share a fondness and a passion for art that cannot be touched by all the other cheery soulful inhabitants of Earth.

Tome, Lust, and The Squidder—all creations of the 44Flood team—seem to be shaded by monstrously depressing themes, which is fitting, considering the creative have a tendency to be clouded by an odd darkness or a morbid personality.

The 44Flood current projects define the importance of difference with work that stands out among the every day comics. The agonizing crush of lifeless taint depicted in the amazing art of these creators, in my opinion, tears superhero art apart.

This team is bringing something to the table that I can truly appreciate. They have mastered an emotion that develops at the core of the human soul and manifests only in the dank pit of abysmal depression. It's a feeling we all know at some point—a feeling experienced when all is lost.

Tome, the project that drew me in, is a prime example of dreadfully intense artistic compilations. It takes artists of diverse medium and styles and allows them to express their versions of a simple theme. The theme for the first book, vampirism, gave the artists a chance to tear an intimate, otherworldly fantasy from their minds and bring them to life. The question is, what does the word "vampirism" mean to the artist and how would they illustrate how that makes them feel? The product is a dark and historic ensemble of masterpieces sure to impress. What makes this a unique undertaking, in my mind, is the tone.

But beyond the amalgamation of beautiful underground dark artists in the Tome books lies the foundation on which it was built. 44Flood is the cornerstone of change, the will to express an innermost shadow on the soul of its artists. It's exactly why the comic book Lust exists in the form it does, centered around the true presentation piece for the books: the art.

What makes Lust a masterpiece isn't only the artists (Ben Templesmith and Menton3) and writer (Steve Niles) bringing it to life; it's the unprecedented backward creation pattern from which it is breathed life.

The art is first created by the two artists who are starting on opposite sides of the book and slowly working their ways to a collision in the center. After it's all said and done, then the writer writes the story or poetry that brings it to life. I think you'll have a hard time finding another comic which centers it's story around the art, rather than using the art to define the story. If nothing else is true, one thing certainly is, 44Flood is clearly not holding itself to any specific methods of creation. It' a fact that I'm sure the artists are in love with.



What's great is that any one artist—any contributor to the 44Flood team—might spawn the next project. Squidder, a creation from the mind of Ben Templesmith (and one I suspect he's quite proud of), is the most recent campaign, which was funded on Dec. 7. It's a creator graphic novel composed of the most tentacle-y situations imaginable; the most tentacle-y characters and the squidiest art on Earth. With all the possibilities for creation, 44Flood will most definitely be a mammoth comic team in the industry.

Per the comic book campaign: "THE SQUIDDER is an original graphic novel about an old soldier from a forgotten war in a post-apocalyptic world that has left him behind. The book promises heavy horror, fantasy, and Lovecraftian elements, as well as black humor."


I can honestly say I like what 44Flood is about…whatever it is that they are about. I suspect it's the way most of us will feel sooner or later. Between the four campaigns currently on Kickstarter, the team asked for $69,600 total unevenly divided among the projects. What's amazing is that the art and comic/graphic books milked an overwhelming $423,474 of support from fans that were just as ecstatic as I was to see what was going to develop. To those of you that don't get it, 700% funding is a nuclear kick-start. With that kind of support, these projects are destined for greatness. Don't forget to tell me what you think downstairs.

We're closer and closer to getting the Sinister Six on screen and over time, even more villains are being teased that could potentially show up in the Amazing Spider-Man series. There have been references to Morbius, Vulture, Doctor Octopus, and even Alistair Smythe to go along with the already confirmed Green Goblin, Electro and Rhino that we know we're getting in Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Everyone is always clamoring for characters like Carnage and Black Cat to show up in the films as well, and I already covered those in part one of my list (which you can read here on ComicBookMovie.com), but what about those villains that are not as well known?

How do you bring some of the more obscure Spider-Man villains into the film franchise, and why should they be given the chance to shine in the first place?

1. Dr. Miles Warren, aka The Jackal

Not the Green Goblin. None of them. Or Demogoblin. Or Hobgoblin. Or Jack O'Lantern. Or Protogoblin...

We may never have to see The Jackal in the form of a monstrous green goblin-esque creature (seriously, how many villains are similar like that for Spider-Man?), but Dr. Miles Warren is such an easy character to incorporate into the films that it's astounding that they haven't yet.

Wouldn't it make sense for him to be a biologist and/or geneticist working for Oscorp and one of the chief people responsible for the research on characters such as Lizard and Spider-Man himself? Couldn't he be influential in working on these serums that create these hybrids?

Considering the character's connections to Gwen Stacy and how, in this film's universe, Gwen was an intern at Oscorp, why not make him someone that she worked with that had a fondness for her? If she does in fact meet her maker [insert Stan Lee joke], Warren could have a grudge against Peter for getting her into trouble.

We don't need to get crazy here and do the Clone Saga storyline, but there's no need to create a character like Dr. Ratha if you have someone like Dr. Miles Warren waiting in the wings.

2. Morlun

This is a tricky one to deal with, as Morlun is nowhere near as well known as even some of the other characters on this list. Yet that could work as a benefit in a film adaptation more than to its detriment. Advertising a movie in which Spider-Man fights Morlun is going to sound ridiculous, but we've probably reached a point where any superhero film that is big enough, like Spider-Man, doesn't necessarily need a villain to carry the weight of the movie. Just merely advertising another Spider-Man movie would be good enough.

Morlun presents an opportunity to do something totally different and stray from the average outline of superhero films. You don't need to tie the villain's origin into Oscorp or make Peter responsible for making him who he is. There's no requirement that Morlun be a sympathetic character. Instead of keeping things as basic and grounded into science as possible, you can go into the oddball side of things and go with the crazy cult storyline.

Totems? Peter dying and turning into a more evolved spider? What??

That might be the reaction that most would have, but eventually we're going to get tired of the same old thing. Even though this has the chance to be absolutely absurd and completely ridiculous to a bad level, who knows? Maybe there's more potential to it than what we can view at the surface.

3. Beetle

Let's be perfectly frank here. Nobody is ever going to request Beetle from among all the characters that they want to see on film, even if they're given choices entirely made up of characters we've already seen. Abner Jenkins, Janice Lincoln, or any of them are just not popular enough characters, nor do they have anything going for them that would give anyone a reason to argue that they should be more popular.

As a quick fight sequence, however, Beetle could be fun. He's essentially a poor man's Iron Man, and for a character with such exciting aerial visuals as Spider-Man, a flight-style duel has the potential to be quite awesome for a throwaway action piece.

It also expands the universe more by showing that there are people out there that Spider-Man has to deal with on a regular basis who aren't exactly the most important villains.

4. Chameleon

When they've official run out of ideas, why not just go with something as simple as Chameleon as a backup character? He essentially only has one story, and it's repetitive as all hell when it comes to the comics and television series, but that doesn't mean as a one-shot it can't still be entertaining.

The story of an impostor messing around with the life of Spider-Man—whether it be acting as a fake Spidey himself or pretending to be various people that Peter Parker deals with on a regular basis—is worthwhile enough that it could be interesting if given the right twist.

This is by no means good enough to revolve an entire film around, but a cameo of sorts could be cool.

A question to make you ponder: who would you like to see be the actor behind the white mask?

5. Hobgoblin

Spider-Man purists will probably disagree with me on this one, but I'm actually more fond of the idea that Harry Osborn is the Hobgoblin and none of the other ones like Ned Leeds, Roderick Kingsley, or Jason Macendale even exist. It just would make more sense to me if Harry in Amazing Spider-Man 2 were dressed up and called "The Hobgoblin" rather than "The Green Goblin," and then have ANOTHER "Green Goblin" in #3. The distinction could be that Harry is the Hobgoblin, but Norman is "the Green Hobgoblin, oh fuck it, we'll just shorten it to Green Goblin."

No matter what the case, this is now the third time we're getting a Green Goblin on screen, and it looks like we'll get a fourth in Amazing Spider-Man 3, yet there's been no love shown for Hobgoblin, which is a shame.

6. Spider Slayers

I'll admit that this is mostly because I grew up with the animated series in the 1990s, in which Spider Slayers were all the rage because Spider-Man could destroy them, unlike his other enemies who couldn't be killed off. Because of that, this enemy has just ingrained itself into my brain, and deep down, the child in me wants to see a live-action version of the fights that (in retrospect) kind of sucked in the cartoon but amped up to the crazy level we expect action to be nowadays in movies.

Be it Alistair Smythe, Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius—it doesn't matter who creates them, I want Spider Slayers, and I purely want them for action sequences and nothing more.

There's no story that needs to be put in place or anything. I just want explosions and missiles and giant spider robots blowing up all over the place while Peter makes snarky comments about finding their weak spots and everything else that the animated series was, but more.

So what are some other villains that you'd like to see brought to life from the Spider-Man series? Let us know in the comments below!