Calling For Super Corporate Heroes

Super Corporate HeroesSuper Corporate Heroes is a satirical comic that centers on a company called Superhero, Inc.  This company is a Fortune 500 company that has superheroes who save people in exchange for money.  Anyone who needs saved by the superheroes must pay these superheroes through rescue insurance.  This rescue insurance is expensive.  As a result of this expensive rescue insurance, only rich people have a better chance of being saved, while the poor people have less of a chance of being saved.  Also, the superheroes with the stronger powers earn more money and the superheroes with lesser powers make less money.  Super Corporate Heroes is the comic that made me think about what it really means to save people.

One of the superheroes who work for Superhero, Inc. is a mysterious hero called The Shroud.  The secret mission he is on makes this hero a very weird guy.  Another Superhero Inc. employee is American Icon, who is an indestructible playboy.  American Icon earns the most money due to the fact that he is indestructible and is the most called on for help.  There is also Ms. Titanium, who does a lot of work, but is under appreciated for her work.  Superhero, Inc also has a veteran worker called Major America, who has been fighting crime for a very long time.  Superhero, Inc. also has a worker who is the last of the Greek gods.  This god is named Olympia.  Finally, we have a superhero named Blue Collar.  Blue Collar has a low salary due to the fact that he has to pay child support and alimony.

The Superhero, Inc. heroes are soon challenged by evil super villains, who begin to destroy New York City.  This destruction of New York City sucks the workers of Superhero, Inc. into the super villains’ corruption.

Super Corporate Heroes is written and lettered by Suzy Dias.  The artist is Miguel Guerra, who also co-writes the comic with Suzy Dias.  The artwork is beautiful and is also sets the perfect mood for the mood of the comic.  The coloring of the artwork has a perfect balance between gloomy and bright.  This is good for a story that is satirical.  The content of this comic is dark, but is expressed with humor.

The first issue shows a burning building on the first panel.  The panel shows a man in a green shirt hanging off the building’s ledge.  He is holding on for dear life and is about to fall to his death.  He is yelling for help.  There is so much smoke that no one can see him.  As the man in the green shirt starts to give up, The Shroud shows and says, “looks like you could use some help.”  As the man in the green shirt thanks God that The Shroud came to his rescue, The Shroud says to the man in the green shirt, “first I need to explain the terms of our contract before I can legally rescue you.”

According to Superhero, Inc. $1000 gets one 5 rescues for a month and $6000 covers one for a year.  Once a person is saved, the superhero takes the saved person’s credit card.  Then, the superhero swipes the credit card with a portable swipe machine.  Then, the saved person is given a receipt.  After that, the saved person is sent a button in the mail.  The saved person has to wear this button to be saved again.

Both the people in danger and the superheroes are in rough situations in this story.  The poor people in danger don’t want to be treated like villains just because they can’t afford to be saved.  However, the superheroes want to make a living off of their talent and be able to have roofs over their heads and food on their tables.  Super Corporate Heroes is an interesting comic book that will make you think and laugh.

You can view the first issue of Super Corporate Heroes for free at www.7robots.com/comics.

Arkham City: New Takes of the Batman Characters from the Comics and Movies

I recently bought the video game Batman: Arkham City and was amazed by the content. Batman: Arkham City involves Gotham City being taken over by the villains that Batman has sent to Arkham Asylum throughout the years.  The Batman villains have taken some of the residents of Gotham City hostage and some of the Gotham City Police officers hostage.

Batman: Arkham City begins with a segment where Bruce Wayne is making a speech.  While he is speaking, Vikki Vale is shown reporting on the speech.  In the middle of Bruce Wayne’s speech, he is kidnapped by Hugo Strange’s henchmen.  Bruce Wayne is then taken to a room and tied up in a chair.  Then Hugo Strange begins to talk smack to Bruce Wayne.  From there the game starts.  When the game starts, you have to use your XBOX controller to get Bruce Wayne to escape from captivity in the chair.  The screen will give you hints on what buttons to push in order get Bruce to rock back and forth in the chair.  Rocking back and forth will get Bruce to fall and break the chair, thus escaping from captivity.  Once you get him to break out of the chair, Hugo Strange’s henchmen will start running in the room to give Bruce Wayne the beatdown.  It will be your job to fight off the henchmen.  Once you defeat the henchmen, you will have to find the rocket that Alfred will send to Bruce.  This rocket will have the Batman suit in it for Bruce to change into.  From there, you will be able to put Batman into some serious action.

What makes Batman: Arkham City so great is the fact that players of the game can choose to go anywhere they want.  Players can choose the outcome of the game by going anywhere in Arkham City.  Wherever you go in Arkham City will depend on what happens.

Each villain has their own section in Arkham City that that villain owns.  Each villain’s territory is guarded by their henchmen.  When you are far away from a villain, you will encounter thugs that have bats.  The thugs with baseball bats are easier to defeat.  However, if you get close to a villain, you will encounter henchmen with guns.  The thugs with guns are a lot more difficult to defeat.  You will have to use more of a strategy to take down thugs with guns by using smoke pellets.  Once you get Batman to use the smoke pellets, you can get Batman to hide in the smoke and capture the thugs one by one.  Doing this takes a long time to do because Batman will have to use his harpoon to hang from the top of buildings and swoop down on the gun armed thugs.  You have to wait until the right time to get each thug.

The thing that really makes Batman: Arkham City stand out is the fresh new takes on the Batman characters.  Batman: Arkham City does a good job at mixing elements from the Batman comics and all of the Batman movies.

In Batman: Arkham City, The Joker is supposed to be dying from a fatal illness.  As Batman runs through Gotham City, you will overhear people talking about The Joker dying.  There are also parts in the game where you can see the Joker’s sickly looking face.  Just like in the cartoon Batman: The Animated Series, The Joker is voiced by Mark Hamil from Star Wars.  Also, Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, also voices Batman in the Batman: Arkham City video game.

The interesting thing about The Riddler’s voice is that it sounds just like Jim Carrey in the movie Batman Forever.  However, The Riddler is voiced by Wally Wingert, who did work on the cartoons Family Guy and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

The Penguin is a villain that had a very good makeover in this video game.  In this game, the Penguin has an English accent.  This works considering The Penguin’s proper look.  Another makeover for The Penguin a change in his monocle.  Instead of a monocle on The Penguin’s eye, he has a piece of a broken beer bottle lodged in his eye.  Other characters featured in Batman: Arkham City are Barbara Gordon, Harley Quinn, and Bane.

If you lose at a certain level, you will hear some very harsh words from the villain who owns the territory you where in when you lost.  This will definitely motivate you to play the game over again.

All of the different elements taken from everything related to Batman makes Batman: Arkham City a great buy.  The game will have you playing for hours with riddles that you will not want to stop trying to figure out.

#250 Kickstarter.com

Kickstarter.comYou have the details all ironed out and the project is well under way. But you don’t have money to publish it when you’re done, or some other financial barrier exists. What to do? One option: kickstarter.com. Tim talks to two people who have managed successful comics-related Kickstarter projects: Thomas Negovan, publisher of Jeremy Bastion’s “Cursed Pirate Girl“; and Kenny Keil, creator of “Tales to Suffice“.