Archie vs. Predator? Okay, I’ll Bite.

archie vs predator 

Ha. Oddball legal issues with one of its former employees a few years back aside, Archie Comics is clearly having a great time cooking up all sorts of alternate universes for its characters to mess around in. The latest and possibly greatest thing coming down the pike is this collaboration with Dark Horse Comics, Archie vs. Predator. Yeah, it’s on the way to a comic shop near you soon (as in April 15 at a comic shop near you). Here’s the rundown on what to expect in this four issue mini-series:

Archie vs. Predator Full Cover 

HE’S IN RIVERDALE WITH A FEW DAYS TO KILL!

Archie vs. Predator #1 (of 4)

Alex de Campi (W), Fernando Ruiz (P/Cover), Rich Koslowski (I), Jason Millet (C), Eric Powell (Variant cover), and Francesco Francavilla (Variant cover)

On sale April 15

FC, 32 pages

$3.99

Miniseries

America’s favorite teen meets the galaxy’s fiercest hunter! Archie and friends hit Costa Rica for Spring Break, where party games and beach games are soon replaced by the Most Dangerous Game! What mysterious attraction does the gang hold for the trophy-collecting Predator, and will the kids even realize they’re in danger before it claims them all?

The wildest Archie crossover ever (and that’s saying something)!
From Alex de Campi (Grindhouse, My Little Pony)
Variant covers by Eric Powell (The Goon) and Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife with Archie)!

If you want more laughs than you can shake a stick with a head on, check out the variant covers and other fun (and feel free to pre-order the book if you’re rolling off your chair laughing) here.

Nintendo Goes Mobile With DeNA: It’s The End of an Era, The Beginning of Another

EDIT! The funny thing is, I just re-read (or more precisely, completed reading) an article on this and it seems that Nintendo IS in total creative control on the developement front with their mobile lineup. DeNA is helping out with the behind the scenes backend production stuff. This bodes well for anyone concerned that Nintendo is shifting their licenses to a company that will slap a pay wall around any fun and sap wallets on a regular basis. My mistake! Oops. Well, let’s see what’s coming when it arrives, right? Right.

 

Yikes, what a big fat news item to wake up to. Anyway, it was pretty much a given that this sort of thing would happen (particularly if you read a few industry sites over the last year or so and started putting pieces of news together), but what does it all mean at the end of the day for longtime fans? More games to play and on platforms they never expected to see them on, most likely. Now, I’m sure Nintendo didn’t “sell out” their franchises to DeNA (or GungHo Online for that matter, see previous post). And I’m sure they’ll have final say in what gets out there. I do know that DeNA’s games, while criticized for their pay walls, happen to do well at getting people to play them and some of the more popular ones emulate gameplay elements found in Nintendo’s Pokemon series (which was created for them by GameFreak). Anyway, I’m just not going to say a peep more about this deal until I see what games are coming and how they’ll get to the fans. I know the most die-hard loyalists don’t want to see the words “free to play” attached to anything Nintendo does. But the sad thing is, this seems to be the wave of the future (yuck) and an unavoidable means of reliable revenue. Ah well…

Puzzle & Dragons Finally Comes to Nintendo 3DS, Wii U Owners Forgotten (Once Again!)


 

Leave it to Nintendo to once again do something flat out awesome yet still manage to make me NUTS because they’ve once again forgotten about a slice of their loyal consumers. Sure, it’s absolutely GREAT that the ridiculously popular and profitable Japanese mobile hit Puzzle & Dragons is coming to the Nintendo 3DS soon as Puzzle & Dragons Z this May. And sure, it’s great that Nintendo has wisely realized that many US gamers probably don’t yet know P&D so they’ve had Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition cooked up just for those gamers as part of the same package. One price, two games? Yup, lovely and double yup, all that is fantastic news. What’s NOT at all fantastic is once again, Wii U owners get stiffed out of a game (or TWO games) a lot off them would probably want to play on a TV with friends, as a standalone product or hell, as something that would connect with one or both of the 3DS games in one way or another.

To me, that kind of forethought makes for a better product, but once again, Nintendo does it halfway. Again, it’s great halfway, but halfway nonetheless… Continue reading