Dark Horse Comics gets its tie-in mini-series rolling into stores and if the first issue is any indication, the remaining three issues should be essential reading before the game hits retail in North America on June 14, 2013. Co-writer and artist Faith Erin Hicks has a style that’s very Harvey Kurtzman influenced (always a good thing) with a touch of David Mazzucchelli (another good thing) and there’s a nicely gritty feel to her brushwork that’s a great counterpoint to the video game’s hyper-realistic graphics.
The Last of Us art director and lead writer Neil Druckmann is also on the case, co-writing with Hicks a nicely paced tale that’s got some intriguing characters whose fates aren’t all clear nor tied into the upcoming game experience. Verdict: absolutely check this out if you’re a PS3 owner and comics fan looking forward to Naughty Dog’s survival adventure game – it’s out now at a comics shop near you.
Oh, this new trailer for the upcoming WB flick is nice and creepy, but just what is this obsession with revisiting elements from The Ring and other scarier flicks these Hollywood horror directors seem to have? Not that I don’t mind a good horror flick that’s influenced by others from time to time, but here’s another one that gives weird little girls a bad name. And don’t get me started on the whole “inspired by actual events” thing that really means “Oh yeah? PROVE it!” to a super jerk skeptic like myself. 
Finally, Sony drops the first of what’s probably going to be a few TV ads for Naughty Dog’s upcoming (and possibly final) PlayStation 3 game, and it’s a nice and tense doozy. Those aren’t your garden variety zombies popping up throughout that ad, by the way… you’ll see. Anyway, the game looks great and if the multi-million selling Uncharted series is any indication, this game will do quite well at retail and with the critics.
I remember about ten or so years back attending a dinner party where I walked into a conversation about violence in video games affecting society in a few negative ways. Asking around, I found that no one in the group had any actual current video game experience (this was before mobile and tablet gaming became the nickel and dime juggernaut it is now), so it was interesting watching the debate flop and flail around like a fresh fish that’s landed in a boat with the hook still in its mouth. I also remember shutting the conversation down entirely by asking if anyone in the vicinity was a contact spots fan and reminded them that more REAL people have been injured and died from participating (and spectating) in all sports than from playing video games, PERIOD.
Yikes, indeed. Even “funnier” (or not, depending on your own sense of humor), the book Kermit is reading is titled (Eek..) “VASECTOMIES FOR DUMMIES”… Yikes. Yeah, try explaining THAT one to the kids (should they have access to a decent magnifying glass, as it’s hard to see in the published size). Ha, Ha, Ha. As a former Muppet Show fanatic, I should be more annoyed at this, but I think that’s a waste of my time. I have bigger fish to fry. And eat. Now I’m hungry and no longer mildly pissed off. Welcome to Short Attention Span Theater! Eh, I don’t think anyone will freak out about this much if at all, but I’m glad I’m not the one who drew this up. Cue the ghost of Jim Henson in a ratty Big Bird suit with a Candyman hook on one wing. Someone better sleep with one eye open, is all I’m saying…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 