Batgirl Annual #1 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

So yeah, picked up Batgirl Annual #1 today. I was kinda expecting a Halloween oriented story, but I’m actually pleasantly surprised that Gail Simone didn’t go for the obvious and possibly cliché choice for a story in this comic. Instead, this is a pretty engaging one shot that follows up on Batgirl’s part in the Night of Owls and leads into an upcoming story involving the Birds of Prey.

Really, the only major issue I can find with this comic is that the cover’s kind of a lie, since these three aren’t really in a three-way battle.

So Batgirl is investigating a series incidents where buildings are burnt down by homeless people being scared into co-operating in some sort of scheme. After saving some people from a burning building, Barbara goes to speak with an ally of sorts, Ricky, who lets her know that the ones responsible are the Court of Owls. Despite suffering from some butterflies at facing the assassins of the court again, Batgirl follows what trail she can find to them.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon is visiting Harrowood State Penitentiary to see one of the newer inmates there: The female Talon that fought Batgirl back in Batgirl #9. This raises a question though: Why in the hell is this Talon here and not Blackgate Prison, where the other Talons where put into cryo-stasis? Well apparently it’s because Gordon wants to try to cut a deal with this Talon, whose parents were murdered in World War II and was badly scarred and rendered mute as a child before being recruited into the Court of Owls. Still, I would have found MUCH better places for her to be kept than here, especially since the guard is a cruel mother fucker that has actually beaten her. Lucky for her, Catwoman is there to break her out.

Eventually, Batgirl finds the source of the building burnings: A man named Parsons who apparently is with the Court. Catwoman arrives with the Talon, and it’s here that we learn that Parsons plans to burn down many, MANY more buildings and tally up a number of fatalities, during which he’ll plant a false paper trail that will lead investigators to Bruce Wayne as the culprit. Selina decides she wants out, but Parsons calls for Talons to attack her. Batgirl saves her, at least for the moment, as the Talons have them badly outnumbered, but Batgirl convinces the female Talon to help them since many more innocent people will burn to death, just as her parents did nearly a century ago.

“S’it true about you and Green Arrow…?“ “A lady never tells.“ “So, absolutely it’s true.“

With the female Talon helping, the odds are evened and it looks like the good guys (good girls is better here, I suppose) are going to come out on top, only for Parsons to pull a gun on the female Talon from behind. However, after receiving a call on his cell, presumably from another member of the Court, he learns that the police are on their way and that he is now a liability to them. Before Batgirl can stop him, he shoots himself through the head as the Talons under his command take their leave in a manner so casual it’s sick to think of.

The police arrive and Catwoman knows they’ll likely try to take the female Talon away, despite the fact that she saved them. Instead, Selina tells Barbara to get the Talon out of there and have her meet back at Selina’s apartment. With that, she runs out to face the police head-on, while Barbara and the Talon making their escape. The comic closes with Batgirl asking the Talon’s name, to which she uses a piece of chalk to write “MY NAME IZ MARY”, the caption telling us that we’ll see her again soon in the Birds of Prey comic.

This comic RULES. It’s a fun ride from the first page to that last that shows Batgirl being an awesome hero to the downtrodden of Gotham, the female Talon making a friend for the first time in her life, and Catwoman being a legitimately good person (which is kind of rare these days). The artwork for this issue is just awesome, the varying viewpoints from Barbara, Selina, and Mary work well, and we even get some decent comedy at times too, though I had to roll my eyes at the bit where they talk about Green Arrow, but whatev. Bottom line is, it’s worth picking up, and that’s all I’ve got to say about that. Ja né!

Kamen Rider Spotlight: Kamen Rider Kiva

Okay, so this hasn’t exactly turned out to be the happiest Halloween ever, but nonetheless I wanted to give you the Kamen Rider Spotlight I promised earlier this month. So today, we look at a Rider whose Spotlight is all too fitting to occur on this day (and I swear, if I hear one Twilight related jab at this guy, I’m not gonna be held responsible what I do in rebuttal, lol): Kamen Rider Kiva.

“Wake up! Break the chains of destiny!!”

Kiva is a young man named Wataru. Living on his own, Wataru shy and obsessed with his own hygiene, and while he never lies, he does hide a secret: He is in fact Kamen Rider Kiva, a title passed down from father to child among the race of creatures known as the Fangire Race, beings similar to vampires, but with a stained glass motif, and each belonging to an animal class, being able to take on a monstrous form of said animal. However, because they feed off human life energy, Wataru fights to protect humans, and ends up meeting several friends and allies from all walks of life, be they human, Fangire, or other monstrous beings. His story is of course a bit more complicated than that, but we’re not really here to give complete spoilers to the show.

“Kivatte Ikuze!”

As I’ve alluded to, most Riders use a Henshin Device in the form of a belt, and Kiva is no different in that regard. However, Kiva’s belt is summoned in a very different manner. His partner, Kivat-bat the 3rd, bites into Wataru’s hand, awakening his Fangire blood and summoning a series of chains that form the Kivat Belt. Once hung from the belt upside-down in true bat fashion, Kivat transforms Wataru into Kiva.

Kiva’s motorcycle is the Machine Kivaa, his own personal variant of the Honda Shadow 750, as built for him by Motobat the 16th. It’s actually a living creature with the brain of a horse installed inside, and has the ability to vanish from plain sight when travelling at higher speeds. Using the Buroon Fuestle, Kiva can upgrade the Kivaa with the Buroon Booster, upgrading its speed and making it capable of multiple motorcycle tricks, and at top speeds creating a field that cuts air resistance on the motorcycle almost completely.

Kiva’s natural form, termed simply as Kiva Form, is a fairly well rounded basic form. He has access to all the Fuestles in his arsenal, and possesses a powerful Rider Kick called the Darkness Moon Break, wherein he kicks the target against a surface so hard that he leaves a indentation in the surface in the form of his emblem.

“Garulu Sabre!”

Garulu Form is formed when Kiva summons the Garulu Sabre. In this form, Kiva is an almost rabid werewolf-like swordsman. His speed is much higher and he fights with a ferocity unseen in his other forms. His mouthpiece can also open to place the Sabre in his ‘mouth’, and then execute the finishing manoeuvre, the Garulu Howling Slash.

“Basshaa Magnum!”

Basshaa Form is formed when Kiva summons the Basshaa Magnum. Despite the loss of most of his attack power and agility in this form, his long range attacks and quick analysis of enemy weakpoints can make up for such losses. He can also manipulate the water and rain, creating his finisher, the Basshaa Aqua Tornado.

“Dogga Hammer!”

Dogga Form is formed when Kiva summons the Dogga Hammer. In this form, Kiva’s speed is cut down harshly, but his physical prowess is increased dramatically. He can also see invisible foes and manipulate electricity. His finisher, the Dogga Thunder Slap, creates an effigy of the Dogga Hammer out of lightning that slams into the target HARD.

…Erm, pile on? lol

DoGaBaKi Form is formed when Kiva summons all three of the Arms Monsters weapons, combining the base elements of his Dogga, Garulu, Basshaa, and Kiva Forms. In this form, Kiva’s power is increased to such a high level that he can only assume it for five minutes. Any longer and it can be deadly to him. He can summon any of the weapons in this form, and presumably can use any of the finishers from his other forms.

“Pyunpyuun! Tension fortissimo!”

Demon Imperial Dragon Tatsulot is a small dragon that becomes something of a second partner to Kiva along with Kivat. He also serves as a Henshin Device that allows Wataru to assume Kiva’s Emperor Form and utilize his upgraded finishers in Emperor Form.

“Wake Up Fever!”

Emperor Form is Kiva’s true form, awakened through Kivat and Tatsulot. Because Tatsulot also provides upgraded versions of all of Kiva’s other finishing moves, Wataru eventually grew to use this form over the others, often-times transforming straight to Emperor. On one occasion, Emperor Form was powered up into a berserker form when Wataru’s Fangire blood went out of control. He later receives a weapon called the Zanvat Sword that, when used with Emperor Form, allows him to execute the Final Zanvat Slash.

Holy clusterfuck, Kivaman! XD

DoGaBaKi Emperor Form is a very rare form that Kiva has only used once. It requires him to transform using Kivat, Tatsulot, and the Arms Monsters weapons. It possesses the abilities and powers of all Kiva’s forms, but presumably possesses the same limitation as the standard DoGaBaKi Form. His finisher is the DoGaBaKi Emperor Break.

…Yeah, go ahead and make a joke. We’ll see if it’s still funny when he roasts your ass. lol

Flight Style is a powerful dragon-like form that Kiva can assume while in Emperor Form. Rarely seen, it gives Kiva supersonic flight, bladed wings, flame breath, and deadly finisher called the Bloody Strike.

Well that’s all for today. Next time on the Kamen Rider Spotlight, we regret nothing as we tighten up, because we got to keep it real and ride on right time when the sun goes up, and remember that time judged all and shout out the power to tearer since anything goes. Ja né!

Disney Owns Star Wars…So The Heck What?

So yeah, word has reached my ears of Disney purchasing Lucasfilm, and by extension Star Wars, and that they even plan to do a Star Wars Episode VII. And naturally, my first reaction was to come on here and bitch about how they’re gonna kill Star Wars, but then I realised they can’t. You know why? ‘Cuz it’s already dead. George already killed it. The worst Disney could do is bring it back to life and then kill it all over again, and that’d just be putting us back where we are now, so really, what’s everybody so worried about?

I will say one thing I am actually legit excited to possibly see if Disney decides to do this: Star Wars world in Kingdom Hearts. That would be fucking AWESOME. Although I suppose technically we already have Star Wars in Kingdom Hearts, what with Xemnas using lightsabers, King Mickey fighting like Yoda, and Master Xehanort going all Emperor Palpatine on us. lol

In closing, I would just like to say that, for now, people need to just chillax and wait and see what happens. Really, the worst they can do is a Howard the Duck sequel (since Howard the Duck is a Marvel comic and a Lucasfilm movie and now Disney owns both), and if that happens, I just won’t see it. End of story. Feel free to comment on how wrong I am if you really wanna, all I ask is that we have smart discussion talking about the pros and cons of this. Ja né!

Superman: Hero of the People My Fuzzy Ass

Y’know, part of the reason I haven’t been reading the Superman titles is…well, for one thing, I’m admittedly more of a Batman fan than a Superman fan, but in addition to that, I just find that Superman isn’t very well portrayed in either comic. One excuse I hear is that in Action Comics he’s supposed to be more a hero of the people. Well if that’s the case, clearly no one told the writer for the Superman comic wherein, during issue #13, we see Superman do THIS.

Now I know that might seem strange that I’d get upset over that sort of thing, because Batman might spy on people’s text messages and violate their privacy too, but usually to SOLVE A FUCKING CRIME or if he thought someone was in trouble, not to keep tabs on someone he’s got the one-way hots for. Also, really this is the most recent example of the issues with Superman’s personality as of the reboot. In addition to that, they’ve basically been turning him into Spiderman, and why you would ever wanna do that post One More Day, I will never know.

Look, you wanna retcon the marriage with Lois Lane? Hey, they spent a LONG time not involved before they got married, not as a big a deal as people treat it. You wanna get him outta the red undies? It’s 2012, we’re living in a day and age where fighting in armour as opposed to tights makes perfect sense, although with Superman I suppose it doesn’t really matter since he’s bulletproof anyway. You wanna hook him up with Wonder Woman? Hey, just because no comic I’ve read that had them as a couple worked doesn’t mean it CAN’T. But the one thing I ask of writers is that, for all those changes, they stay consistent with the core concept of the character: Decency, compassion, willing to help people with their issues both large and small, and standing up for truth, justice, and the American way. And by the way, I’m Canadian, and I STILL find his patriotism admirable.

Speaking of which, that’s another thing: STOP doing storylines that pretty much beat us over the head that Superman’s an alien. We KNOW he’s an alien. The thing is though, is that he was raised on HUMAN values and ideals, which I don’t think he’s upholding very well when he’s SPYING ON LOIS’ TEXT MESSAGES!!!

Next year, Scott Snyder will be writing a new Superman comic. I hope that he takes all of this into account when writing the character. Either way though, that’s all from me. Ja né.

Starslip Bio

Yep, here again with another bio for my fanfic. This time, we’re looking at GD’s partner/pupil and member of the League of High School Superheroes, Starslip.

Once again, because I can’t draw worth a damn, I used Hero Machine 3.0 Alpha to put together an image of Starslip. And yes, I know she’s dressed kind of like Sailor V, that’s kind of the point. It’s mostly for the act of distracting foes. But yeah, this is her finalised costume, but I’m not against changing it later on when she grows older.

Name: Cassie Doyle
Alias: Starslip
Age: 16
City: St. Jean/Mosswood City
Operates out of: An abandoned lab/Mosswood High School

Bio: Roughly around the time when Cassie hit puberty, she discovered she was inherently different from other people. One day during school, while one of her classmates was bullying her, she somehow made her body become super hard, actually hurting the bully as she tried unsuccessfully to beat her up. Very soon, her whole school began spreading rumours that she was a monster, but these rumours ending up attracting the attention of Tina Cade, a billionaire who had created a team of teenaged superhumans to act as superheroes. Moving to a new school in the city of Mosswood, her identity was kept safe and she was mentored and trained by other superhumans to control her powers. It wasn’t long until a holographic training exercise where she phased through a miniature star led to her receiving her superhero alias: Starslip.

Personality: Generally up-beat and witty, she tends to finish off opponents with a pun or joke, though the quality of these can be spotty at times. Despite her usual optimism, she also has a vulnerable and at times easily depressed side. She has something of a teenage crush on her mentor, the Green Defender, which can conflict with her better judgment at times. While she tries her best to follow instruction, she also tends to call people out on something if she feels they’re wrong or making a mistake. Cassie possesses an extremely long streak of good fortune, leading to her team-mates on the League of High School Superheroes referring to her as “The Flukemaster”.

Powers: Starslip has the power to change her own molecular structure. At any given moment, her skin can become hard as stone, her entire body can become intangible, she can increase or decrease her mass however she sees fit, she can defy gravity and fly, and even negate the basic human requirement for oxygen, thus being able to fly through the void of space. Her body also has a highly potent natural defense system that repels most forms of poisoning and illnesses.

Equipment: Her skirt actually houses a number of hidden pockets that house light-weight equipment. She usually comes equipped with specialised heat-seeking darts tweaked to specifically seek out the light and heat signatures given off by fluorescent light tubes.

Weaknesses: Her form altering powers require concentration to maintain. If she loses her focus or isn’t aware of a nearby threat, she can be caught off guard. While she has the power to repel most toxins, some require more time than others, leaving her unable to change her form and become vulnerable.

Jyger’s Rant – The Day of Sagittarius Review (Blip Version)

Another of my classic reviews where N. Harmonik makes her début, setting up for my first review of an episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Also, I apologize ahead of time if you can’t hear either of us all that well, this was back when my webcam was being a little bitch. lol

Images, video, and music belong to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Star Trek, The Muppets, Yugioh, and as always, I Fight Dragons.

Oh, and once again, I remind that while the overall storyline I had back in the day is no longer canon, N. Harmonik’s character remains an android built by aliens.

Talon #1 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

So I picked up Talon #1 today. I’ll tell ya, my expectations were high as a kite before Talon started. Then Talon #0 hit, and they went into low orbit. Now Talon #1 is out, and I gotta be a little honest with ya folks, it’s not as awesome as I though it’d be. It’s BETTER. 😀

Escape from the Court of Owls!

First off, I just gotta get this outta the way: I REALLY like Calvin Rose. The guy’s so awesome. He’s had such a tragic past, and yet he can still get in some nice one liners. I think probably my favourite scene of his thus far is when he climbs out of the car he was tied up in during Talon #0, takes out the Talon that attacked him, and says “Now I’ll only ask this once. WHERE THE HELL ARE MY PANTS?” And he looks like he’s supposed to be intimidating, but there’s just something about his choice of words there that make me double over in laughter every time.

Anyway, getting back to this comic, Calvin Rose is returning to Gotham shortly after the events of the Night of Owls crossover event. Apparently he’s checking to see if the Court is really gone or not. Not so much, it seems, when he trips a security system in a haunt of theirs and a Talon attacks him. He manages to disable the Talon, using some tricky techniques expected of an escape artist turned assassin, but collapses and is taken in by a man named Sebastian Clark. Sebastian says that he’s been monitoring Calvin as well as the other members of the Court, both current and former, and knows that the Court is in serious retreat mode, but that they are healing and will be back stronger than ever unless they are taken out before they can regroup. Thus Calvin is recruited as the one Talon against the Court of Owls, as they have been sentenced to die. ‘Course, the other Talons are already the walking dead, so I don’t really see a problem with that.

“Where do we start?”

Final thoughts: THIS. WAS. AWESOME. Is it the greatest comic I’ve ever read in my life? No. Does it have to be? Also no. Was it an enjoyable experience that I can’t wait until next month’s issue? Hell yeah. The only question this leaves me is when we’re gonna see THE crossover, because with Scott Snyder writing Talon AND Batman, it’s only a matter of time. Mind you, it’s best that he doesn’t pull the trigger on it right away, better to build up Talon a bit more before they cross paths, but when they do, it’ll be awesome, guaran-damn-teed. Ja né!

Batman Incorporated #4, WARNING – SPOILERS

…Holy CRAP! Okay, I’m not gonna give a complete synopsis of the comic, just so you can read for the nitty-gritty details, and so I can talk about the bombshells dropped here.

Wingman & Red Bird – The New Dynamic Duo

So Batman Inc. #4 features a MASSIVE battle between Leviathan’s forces and a ton of Batman Inc.’s top members, including Nightwing, Red Robin, Batwing, Hood, El Gaucho, Wingman, and Damian under the alias of Red Bird. Meanwhile, Batman in the guise of Matches Malone, manages to free himself and is NOT happy to see Damian present and fighting alongside Wingman. However, they all pull together and stop Talia‘s group, ending with Batman demanding to speak with Talia and try to negotiate a stop to this.

Meanwhile, Damian has figured out who Wingman really is. I won’t say who it is, but let’s just say that at least a few people guessed it. Damian is pissed that Batman didn’t tell him and would actually enlist this man, but quickly pieces together that there’s something more he’s not telling him, something terrible. Batman finally relents, spilling the beans. He’s been trying to deny himself this truth, but the fact is that they’ve been put in an inescapable position where Damian MUST return to Talia, or something horrific will happen, not just to them, not just to Gotham, but to the entire world. Again, won’t say what, just gonna give this hint: 666.

But yeah, Batman Incorporated continues to be awesome, and we’re starting to get more hints as to what apparently happens to cause the events we see from one month in the future from #1. I can’t frigging wait to see where it goes from here, and it saddens me that I gotta wait a month for the next issue. Oh well, life of the comic book fan. Ja né!

Related articles

• ‘Batman, Inc.’ No. 4 first look: Morrison, Burnham deliver action (herocomplex.latimes.com)

Where are the old reviews?

Well, it happened. YouTube sent a second strike my way, meaning that my channel is now one strike away from being taken down. As a result, in order to protect my channel from being taken away, I have now removed every last one of my videos that had any kind of copyrighted content whatsoever, including all of my reviews that were on the site.

Luckily though, I still have them saved to my external hard-drive and was planning to eventually release them all onto Blip anyway. Until then though, any and all links to the old reviews and several of my other more well known videos like the Goseiger Zords To The MMPR Theme and Ghiraham is F***ing Creepy  are officially GONE. Thank you so-called believers in fair use.

Going to grab this comic today. Will give my thoughts on it after work.