Karaoke turns of the super-villains

Oi, Scarecrow! Sing us your favourite Martine McCutcheon song.

That's enough.

Scan from Blackest Night #7

Fantastic Four #576

So, a watery city following on from the earthy city in #575. What's the betting we get a fiery and an airy city to complete the foursome before the war of the cities? I like the idea of the Fan 4 going to hell. Thought that Reed (water) would end up being the one chosen by the watery dudes to speak for earth though, not Sue (air). Ach well, good stuff.

The Dark (K)night returns

The night is filled with fever dreams of grappling hooks and X-Ray vision scans of Joker's henchmen. Something sucks the stale air and hisses. Just the cat. Don't worry. Don't worry. Back to sleep. Day comes. Not enough rest. Too soon the pains start across my triceps and chest. I keep forgetting how much harder everything has become. I almost tread on a piece of Lego on my way to the bathroom. Spot it just in time. Lucky. Lucky old man.

This has to stop, I have a toddler to look after. There he is, smiling. Good soldier. He wants breakfast. So do I. In my gut the creature writhes and snarls and tells me what I need... Batman:Arkham Asylum. NO! Rice Krispies! Yes, Rice. Krispies. Not thinking, I open the cupboard, crockery falls out. Hits me like a freight train. The plates hold. Lucky again. Twice now.

The day passes. The family sleeps. I've come alive again. The night is mine again. On goes the Xbox. Damn your corrupt save, with its flashing exclamation mark. Damn it. It's too late. Should be in bed. Need to rest. Not now! Not tonight. I'm back in the game! Bane attacks. He charges blind. A quick one to the nerve cluster in his deltoid. It doesn't hurt him. But no force on earth could help him move his left arm now.

2am. Something tells me to stop. STOP IT! I don't listen to it. A wolf howls. I know how he feels. It ends tonight, Joker!

with apologies to Frank Miller.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This...

...is pain.

Batman and The Punisher

Hello! Apologies for the lack of activity. After saying I probably wouldn't be playing it much, I've been sacrificing every spare moment of time I have at the altar of Batman: Arkham Asylum on the Xbox. What can I say? I'm not much of a gamer, but the combination of a well crafted superhero story with involving mechanics has truly hooked me - I'm even watching the cut scenes for heaven's sake!

I realise that it's been out for yonks, and that anyone who is interested in this sort of thing will have already bought it, so there's not much point in me giving Arkham a proper review; suffice to say it's primarily a stealth game, but there are elements of adventure, beat-'em-up and platform thrown in. Boss battles are great fun and, importantly for fans of Batman, the villains are all true to the comics. The story is written by Paul Dini, and it's actually REALLY good. It'd make a decent comic or movie, and it definitely makes an excellent game.

So there you go, that's what I've been doing. In the moments before I close my eyes and see neon trailed batarangs streaking across my eyelids though, I've also been reading a few comics. The best? Easy peasy! Punisher #14. I can't believe that The Punisher is my favourite comic at the moment. Honestly, I have no attachment to the character, never have done. But this? This is the perfect Marvel comic. Predictably, I like it for precisely the same reasons that hardcore Punisher fans seem to hate it, namely that it's absolutely ridiculous. I could never get on with the grim and gritty hyper violence of Punisher, but now that he's turned into Frankenstein's monster and teamed up with The Legion of Monsters to fight a Basil Cronus type baddie and an army of monster-hunting samurai, I'm in my element!

Not that this book is just about silliness. The latest issue is fun times infinity to the power of sensational, but it's also a damn fine examination of what drives a man to lose his mind and become a psychopath hell-bent on revenge. We're not talking Frank Castle here either, no. Punisher #14 is an origin story for the villain of the current arc, Robert Hellsgaard. What's beautiful about it, is the way in which his story mirrors that of Frank's. He sees his family killed by monsters, (just as Frank sees his killed by the mob), and devotes the rest of his life to killing them. In other words, he IS Frank - or at least he's motivated by exactly the same emotions as Frank. Great stuff. Made all the better by guest artist Dan Brereton who riffs on the old Warren horror stories and monster mags of the 70s to provide a set of amazing visuals. 100% the best Marvel comic I've read in years. A++.

Hey, remember that time it snowed in Brazil?

A rare example of mass chionophobia, lifted from the pages of All American Comics #92, December 1947. Reprinted in The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told, 1990 (Art by Alex Toth)

Relics

I occasionally get emails asking me if I remember the legendary London comic shop, Dark They were and Golden Eyed. Well, sadly I don't - bit before my time I'm afraid. BUT, for those who do, here's a treat. I popped into Orbital today and snapped this little beauty on the wall of the antique film poster shop which trades out of one of Orbital's alcoves...

Here are the accompanying notes...

Nice one! Also on display, this...

Proper relics of British comics fandom there chums. If you find yourself in the vicinity of Orbital, make sure you go and check them out for yourselves.