by Stone Marshall | Jan 9, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
You all voted (over 1,200 ballots cast! Wow!) and here are the complete results of your votes for the Top 100 DC and Marvel Comic Book Characters. Click on any character for a write-up on that character!
DC COMICS
50. Superboy (Kon-El) – 288 points (3 first place votes)
49. Green Lantern (John Stewart) – 289 points (4 first place votes)
48. Animal Man – 290 points (1 first place votes)
47. Alfred Pennyworth – 300 points
46. Spoiler/Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) – 306 points (6 first place votes)
45. Lois Lane – 307 points (4 first place votes)
44. Spectre (Jim Corrigan) – 310 points (7 first place votes)
43. Batwoman (Katherine Kane) – 311 points (2 first place votes)
42. Starman (Jack Knight) – 312 points (9 first place votes)
41. Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson) – 319 points (5 first place votes)
40. Green Lantern (Guy Gardner) – 323 points (1 first place vote)
39. Question (Vic Sage) – 336 points (4 first place votes)
38. Poison Ivy – 340 points (6 first place votes)
37. Starfire – 344 points (3 first place votes)
36. Sinestro – 347 points (8 first place votes)
35. Midnighter – 356 points (8 first place votes)
34. Hawkman – 403 points (8 first place votes)
33. Power Girl – 438 points (6 first place votes)
32. Death – 467 points (6 first place votes)
31. Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) – 474 points (11 first place votes)
30. Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) 502 points (8 first place votes)
29. Red Hood (Jason Todd) – 523 points (5 first place votes)
28. Deathstroke (Slade Wilson) – 525 points (3 first place votes)
27. Robin (Damian Wayne) – 551 points (2 first place votes)
26. Rorschach – 559 points (5 first place votes)
25. Captain Marvel/Shazam (Billy Batson) – 633 points (18 first place votes)
24. Booster Gold – 634 points (11 first place votes)
23. Zatanna – 669 points (7 first place votes)
22. Swamp Thing (Alec Holland-ish) – 700 points (15 first place votes)
21. Sandman (Dream) – 719 points (18 first place votes)
20. Kyle Rayner – 725 points (17 first place votes)
19. Black Canary (Dinah) – 731 points (6 first place votes)
18. Darkseid – 742 points (3 first place votes)
17. Red Robin (Tim Drake) – 794 points (14 first place votes)
16. Lex Luthor – 815 points (7 first place votes)
15. Martian Manhunter – 879 points (15 first place votes)
14. Catwoman (Selina Kyle) – 900 points (7 first place votes)
13. John Constantine – 981 points (14 first place votes)
12. Harley Quinn – 1016 points (10 first place votes)
11. Aquaman – 1033 points (14 first place votes)
10. Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) – 1423 points (17 first place votes)
9. Batgirl/Oracle (Barbara Gordon) – 1535 points (19 first place votes)
8. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) – 1852 points (29 first place votes)
7. Flash (Barry Allen) – 1853 points (27 first place votes)
6. Flash (Wally West) – 2019 points (32 first place votes)
5. Joker – 2675 points (36 first place votes)
4. Wonder Woman – 2922 points (53 first place votes)
3. Dick Grayson – 3337 points (84 first place votes)
2. Superman – 3962 points (129 first place votes)
1. Batman – 6217 points (334 first place votes)
MARVEL COMICS
50. Galactus – 311 points (2 first place votes)
49. Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) – 315 points (5 first place votes)
48. Spider-Man (Miles Morales) – 319 points (6 first place votes)
47. Squirrel Girl – 325 points (8 first place votes)
46. Colossus – 336 points (2 first place votes)
45. Vision – 349 points (5 first place votes)
44. Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) – 370 points (4 first place votes)
43. Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie) – 372 points (5 first place votes)
42. Magik (Illyana Rasputin) – 374 points (6 first place votes)
41. Hank Pym – 391 points (8 first place votes)
40. Venom (Eddie Brock) – 396 points (4 first place votes)
39. Invisible Woman – 401 points (4 first place votes)
38. Psylocke – 424 points (5 first place votes)
37. Nova (Richard Rider) – 428 points (10 first place votes)
36. Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes – 436 points (7 first place votes)
35. Mr. Fantastic – 456 points (6 first place votes)
34. Scarlet Witch – 499 points (8 first place votes)
33. Beast – 502 points (7 first place votes)
32. Loki – 504 points (4 first place votes)
31. Iron Fist – 517 points (3 first place votes)
30. Black Widow (Natalia Romanova) – 548 points (9 first place votes)
29. Rogue – 582 points (14 first place votes)
28. Emma Frost – 583 points (5 first place votes)
27. Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) – 595 points (12 first place votes)
26. Thanos – 600 points (13 first place votes)
25. Gambit – 618 points (22 first place votes)
24. Moon Knight – 655 points (17 first place votes)
23. Punisher – 726 points (15 first place votes)
22. Black Panther (T’Challa) – 785 points (14 first place votes)
21. Silver Surfer – 815 points (10 first place votes)
20. Jean Grey – 871 points (20 first place votes)
19. Dr. Strange – 882 points (17 first place votes)
18. She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) – 917 points (13 first place votes)
17. Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) – 1055 points (13 first place votes)
16. Nightcrawler – 1061 points (18 first place votes)
15. Kitty Pryde – 1145 points (21 first place votes)
14. Hawkeye (Clint Barton) – 1169 points (22 first place votes)
13. Storm – 1191 points (25 first place votes)
12. Deadpool – 1209 points (20 first place votes)
11. Thing (Ben Grimm) – 1308 points (26 first place votes)
10. Cyclops – 1530 points (46 first place votes)
9. Iron Man (Tony Stark) – 1547 points (15 first place votes)
8. Hulk (Bruce Banner) – 1643 points (28 first place votes)
7. Thor (Odinson) – 1716 points (27 first place votes)
6. Magneto – 1739 points (18 first place votes)
5. Dr. Doom – 1839 points (19 first place votes)
4. Daredevil – 2691 points (58 first place votes)
3. Wolverine – 2902 points (66 first place votes)
2. Captain America (Steve Rogers) – 3532 points (81 first place votes)
1. Spider-Man (Peter Parker) – 5099 points (257 first place votes)
That’s the list! Thanks for voting, everyone!
2015 Top 100 DC and Marvel Comic Book Characters Master List
by Stone Marshall | Jan 9, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
I’m going to be straight with you guys: I freakin’ adored Batman: Arkham Knight. Yes, the game was a massive mess on PC but for everyone else who played it on a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, it was sublime. There’s so many moments in that game, that make it simply the best of the Arkham bunch. Sure, certain Batmobile sections may feel tacked on, but when you step back and see how much Rocksteady’s final caped crusader game got right when compared to a few missteps here and there, the good easily outshines the bad.
And that’s because the core game, is just so damn good. As a Dark Knight simulator, Batman: Arkham Knight was immensely satisfying. All the gadgets, moves and a Batmobile combined into one billionaire who fights the root cause of crime and poverty by shattering the teeth inside the face of anyone who dares to even illegally cross a street in his city. Perfection.
And then there’s the DLC. The season pass content of Arkham Knight is more divided than Harvey Dent’s face and personality, a mix of fan service and the lacklustre. On the more pristine side of the former district attorney, you’ve got a mix of fantastic AR challenges, races, costumes and modifiers. Good stuff then, and the kind of content I’d like to see more of.
And then on the horribly burnt side of the former Batman buddy for life, you’ve got the story content. Content which is the Batman & Robin to the superb The Dark Knight of the core game. Twenty-minute episodes of middling action and returns that puts players in the boots of the rest of the Gotham City vigilantes, with only Batgirl’s single outing being worthwhile due to it having the distinct saving grace of being “not that crap”.
And that’s the problem with this kind of DLC. After spending several hours as the ultimate combination of man, money and machine, who the hell wants to play as Robin or the Red Hood and face bad guys with a slimmed-down arsenal of wonderful toys? That’s like EA announcing Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Hard With A Vengeance and then forcing you to play as Jar Jar Binks in the season pass DLC.
Season of infamy makes up for that however as it sends Rocksteady’s (perhaps last) Batman off with the kind of DLC content that puts the others to shame. This time you’re tackling cases as the Dark Knight once again as you uncover more of Gotham’s most wanted during the Arkham Knight and Scarecrow siege. Easy and simple.
And for once, it’s not just a quick bit of fan service focused on one villain. Instead, you’ve got four Arkham regulars to deal with: Killer Croc, the Mad Hatter, Mr Freeze and Ra’s Al Ghul. It’s the combination of this quartet that plays out like a highlight reel of the best moments of the Arkham series. With the Mad hatter, you’ve got a few quick puzzles and some mind-bending combat to deal with as players find themselves battling across a gigantic storybook of Lewis Carroll inspirations.
With Killer Croc, excpect tighter exploration and more visceral combat as you make your way through the grounded Iron Heights prison airship. Ra’s Al Ghul has survived the events of Arkham City and now looks like a walking advert for the after-effects of Redbull energy drink abuse as you contend with a rebel faction of the League of Assassins.
And then there’s Mr Freeze. The most tragic member of the Batman rogues gallery, Mr Freeze has always been a victim of circumstance. A frozen felon driven by the desire to cure his wife Nora Fries of some rare medical malignancy, Mr Freeze has always felt like a sad extreme of love gone wrong. And while Mr Freeze is present in his Most Wanted mission, he’s not the bad guy here. He doesn’t want to fight you for something as trivial as the soul of Gotham or petty cash. He just wants to save his wife.
On its own, the Freeze episode isn’t much longer than any of the preceding Arkham Knight episodes that built up the DLC content for most of Arkham Knight, but it’s massively satisfying to see Batman’s cold-hearted cryogenics expert get some much-needed closure – as well as see Batman: Arkham Knight wrap up on at least one post-launch high note.
Season of Infamy is the DLC that Batman: Arkham Knight deserves.
by Stone Marshall | Jan 8, 2016 | Minecraft News |
It’s nearly Rift time! This is the year that Virtual Reality becomes the next big thing in videogames or at least embarrasses itself while trying to, like your drunk uncle trying to dance to Las Ketchup’s Asereje at your sister’s wedding reception.
Depending on who you talk to, Virtual Reality is wither the thing that’ll make games genuinely exciting again, or the most expensive video gaming gimmick, one that’s destined for catastrophic failure.
The very necessary head-mounted displays that’ll drive Virtual Reality are coming soon. Though HTC’s Vive was delayed to April, and PlayStation VR (along with its Wii-sized external processor) is expected at around the same time, we still have no idea when the frontrunner and progenitor of the current craze, Oculus’ Rift is out. Nor, critically, do we know what it’ll cost. For some though, it’ll cost nothing.
In one of the most generous bits of technological good will, Oculus has said that those who bought in to the original Rift Development Kit, backing it on Kickstarter in the early days, will be given a special Kickstarter Edition consumer headset for no extra cost. Like the standard consumer one, it’ll come bundled with two games; Lucky’s Tale and EVE: Valkyrie.
The caveat here though, is that you’ll have to reside in one of the twenty launch countries for the headset. As we in South Africa are so used to technological disappointment, it should come as no surprise then that we’re not one of those countries.
These are:
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States.
“For those who don’t live in one of those 20 countries, we’re working on an alternative,” Oculus says – so you may yet be in luck.
Pre-orders for the Rift go live later today in those territories. We have no idea what it’ll cost or when it’ll ship.
According to the chaps at Superdata, the market for VR this year could reach $5.1 billion in 2016, and they suggest that the user base will reach 56 million in 2016. Before you roll your eyeballs so hard that they break free from the constraints of your skull, they do think that the majority of the market will be taken up by what they call “Light smartphone” VR.
“Initially, affordable smartphone devices will drive the bulk of sales as consumers first explore virtual reality before committing to the more expensive platforms,” said SuperData Director of Research Stephanie Llamas. “After this first wave, consumers will likely move more high-end VR devices on PC.”
Those who haven’t vomited themselves right out of existence thereafter would perhaps migrate towards the more expensive, premium VR tech that will soon be available; stuff like Vive, PlayStation VR and the Rift.
Oculus is giving early backers a consumer Rift for free
by Stone Marshall | Jan 8, 2016 | Minecraft News |
It was only in the third episode of Minecraft Story Mode that I actually started to care about the blocky characters I’d been barely controlling since I started playing this latest in Telltale’s increasing library of adventure games that are all largely the same. The Last Place You Look introduced something that resembled character development, and started to explore the bubbling frustrations that the group holds below the surface.
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There’s a bit more of that here, along with Telltale going for their signature one-two emotional punch that could leave particularly sensitive players, and the game’s intended younger audience distraught, on the brink of tears. The problem is that it feels both cheap and obvious – something that carries through in much of the rest of the episode.
When we last encountered Jesse and friends, they were well on their way to becoming the new order of the stone; a new set of heroes. Faced with a gargantuan Wither storm that just doesn’t seem to want to die, our friends and heroes start this episode escaping the aftermath of their unsuccessful attempt to destroy the black and purple beast that’s swallowing up the world and its denizens.
As has happened with just about every episode thus far, the adventure takes us to another wonderfully referenced are that ties in to Minecraft’s lore. This time, it sees our new heroes make their way to The Far Lands, which as Minecraft aficionados will tell you is where the limits of the game proper’s procedurally generated worlds.
It’s here that we learn about the true nature of the Order of the Stone. We learn why it is that some characters – like the much maligned Ivor who caused all of this mess I the first place – have been motivated in their actions and why the rest of the order are so damned insufferable. It’d be a great plot twist if it wasn’t so blindingly obvious thanks to the signposting that’s portended it all.
A bigger issue I’ve had is that it still doesn’t feel like my actions make all that much of a difference. Sure, some of my choices have led me to have different shiny, enchanted weapons, or given me slightly differing ways of finding my inside the pervasive wither storm – and maybe a choice or two about who I spend my adventuring time. Beyond that though, it really feels like all choices lead to the same outcome.
As far as gameplay goes, it’s more of the same, which is to be expected. A handful of QTE’s, a sprinkling of fisticuffs, some simple crafting and the usual barrage of timed dialogue choices. There’s also a bit of light puzzling that’s not too difficult if you pay attention to the dialogue, though it may flummox younger players. There is, however, a frustrating maze section that I feel has to be called out for its silliness; thanks to poor lighting and the perspective shown, it’s far harder to navigate than it really ought to be.
There’s something odd about this latest episode in Minecraft Story mode. The change in tone set by the last episode continues, and for a while is darker and sombre than a children’s game should be. And, by the end of it, it feels like the story’s come to a close, though there’s still another episode left. There’s very little that needs wrapping up, so I’m left suspecting that whatever happens in the last episode is little more than set-up for a second season. It’s either that or it’ll be odd padding for the sake of it, which would be a bit of misstep for Telltale.
Conclusion
A Block and a Hard Place isn’t a terrible episode – it’s certainly better than the fumbling second one – but it caps the adventure with a mild fizzle as opposed to the great big bang I’d been expecting. One of the biggest problems with it though, is that I don’t really care what happens in the concluding episode
7.0
by Stone Marshall | Jan 7, 2016 | Minecraft News |
Denouement-craft
What a weird episode. After the high energy of The Last Place You Look, this one slows down the action shortly into it, and it doesn’t really pick back up until the very end, which feels like the end of a season. But then, there’s still another episode after this.
It’s hard to fault Telltale for switching up the formula a bit, but it feels like the first season is essentially complete at this point, and anything that could happen during the final episode will just be a lead-in to the next season. It might be better if this were just a four-episode series.
Minecraft: Story Mode: A Block and a Hard Place (iOS, Mac, PC [reviewed], PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One)
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Released: December 22, 2015 (Mac, PC)
MSRP: $4.99, $24.99 (Season Pass)
Rig: AMD Phenom II X2 555 @ 3.2 GHz, with 4GB of RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5700, Windows 7 64-bit
Where the first two episodes in the season induced apathy, this one causes ambivalence. It’s a fine distinction: I was struggling to care about Jesse and his friends at first; now I care enough but find myself disappointed with the final result. For every beat Minecraft: Story Mode hits well, it stumbles once or twice.
On the one hand, the more deliberate progression of this episode can be a good thing. It opens up the gameplay to include actual (albeit easy) puzzles along with the standard dialogue trees and quick-time events. Also, without lulls in the action, it could be bombastic to the point of grating. If it’s always high energy, then it’s all the same.
On the other hand, the plodding of the first half of this episode is as dull as can be. There’s a horse travel montage near the beginning illustrating just how far it is to get to the Farlands, and protagonist Jesse has the option of the classic whine “Are we there yet?” Even with the cuts of the montage, I felt the same. I get it; it’s far. Let’s move on.
Once the action finally does pick up at the end, it still treads a questionable path. The full story about The Order of the Stone is revealed, and it plays out as foreshadowed. It’s always a little awkward when a story treats something like an earth-shattering reveal when most would see it coming from the hints in previous episodes. Perhaps if I had led the life Jesse did, it would have been more impactful.
Then, almost as if checking off all the Telltale boxes, we get another character death. This loss feels more important than the one in the third episode, since it’s a likable character. Death in children’s entertainment is nothing new (see: Bambi, The Land Before Time, Transformers [1986]), but it generally comes with a purpose. While we’ll have to wait for the fifth episode, my sneaking suspicion is the only reason this death was written in was a cynical attempt at eliciting emotion.
The really strange part of the whole scene is that in the middle of the mourning (when I have a full pout on my face), Story Mode lets loose a visual gag referencing the source material. Admittedly, it’s probably the funniest thing in the whole episode — so few of the jokes are worth even a chuckle — but it feels wrong to have it punctuate the rest of the sad scene so bluntly.
With the Wither Storm properly defeated, Jesse and the gang are proclaimed to be the new Order of the Stone, and A Block and a Hard Place ends with the vague promise of new adventures coming in the next episode. Unless it’s tightly written and self-contained, I’m not interested. More likely, the last episode will open up a can of worms that won’t get resolved until Season Two.
This episode could very well be considered the finale for the first season. It wraps up the Wither Storm saga, it answers the questions about the Order of the Stone, and it delivers a semi-happy, hopeful ending for the crew. If only it did that without an utterly boring first half and the clumsy insertion of mandatory Telltale story elements, it might have also been a good ending.
Review: Minecraft: Story Mode: A Block and a Hard Place
