One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About The Guild: Vork One-Shot

GOOD THING: As you can imagine, this book is chock full of more of the insanity surrounding the characters from Felicia Day's popular web-series The Guild. But unlike the web-series, we actually get a look at our favorite characters as they play their characters in the game. It's a small thing but it really does help bring the idea of the game world in the fictional world about to see it in action.

If by some chance you haven't seen this series yet, stop what you're doing and click the link above. Don't worry - it will open in another window.

BAD THING: For a series that boasts such great writing and unique characterization, Vork's grandfather is a real disappointment. Think of every horny old man/cool grandpa character from every 80's comedy and beer commercial ever and you just about sum up all the thought that seemingly went into creating Vork's grandfather. And they seem to be trying just a little too hard to make him outrageous.

Don't get me wrong - I love the old coot. He just seems a little cookie-cutter compared to what I've come to expect from The Guild.

The Final Verdict: Fans of The Guild will love it. The rest of you are advised to check out the series before reading this book. The only bad thing I can say about this issue is that one of the new characters seems a little too standard compared to the unique and unusual characters The Guild usually centers upon, but this is not a bad read by any stretch of the imagination.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Kull: The Hate Witch #2

GOOD THING: There have been Kull stories in the past which did little to differentiate him from Howard's other famous barbaric king, Conan. There is no such danger in this tale, where Kull is immediately set apart from the relatively more chivalric Conan as someone who will not come to the aid of a damsel in distress.

BAD THING: Part of the issue is devoted to some random flashbacks of Kull's past that seem to have little relevance to the current story, until we see something of Kull's boyhood encounter with the titular Hate Witch. It's not bad at all but it is still a distraction from the suspense of Kull's entering the wilds of his childhood.







The Final Verdict: Another great issue for a promising mini-series, despite some distracting flashbacks.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Warlord of Mars #3

BAD THING: The covers. Great Kirby's Ghost, the covers! I know given the setting and the genre there's going to be some degree of cheesecake in the artwork. But this is just gratuitous. Particularly since said warrior princess character hasn't shown up in the book yet!

GOOD THING: Once you're past the cover, you're in for a real treat in terms of story and artwork. And hey - equal opportunity exploitation - John Carter spends most of this issue naked and there's many a shot of his muscular backside for the ladies and gay men to drool over, should they be so inclined.







The Final Verdict: Great book. Bad covers. Nuff said!

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Robert Howard's Savage Sword #1

GOOD THING: You get a lot of value for your dollar with this book. 80 pages for $8.00, relatively free of ads. What's more you get a wide sampling of stories inspired by Robert Howard's work. Including, naturally, the first part of a Conan story. But there's also a tale of Dark Agnes, a historical heroine who may have had as much a hand in inspiring the comic book version of Red Sonja as Howard's Red Sonya character.






BAD THING: For a book with such variety there seems to be little content. Most of the 80 pages are taken up by Roy Thomas' tale of Bran Mak Morn and this is the only one of the five stories that feels like a complete tale. Of course two of the stories (Conan and Dark Agnes) are not complete tales, being the first half of a bigger story. And the John Silent story is fairly short, as is the text-based introduction to El Borak.







The Final Verdict: An enjoyable first issue that gives you tremendous value for your money. Great stories with great art throughout. My one complaint is that the book might benefit from being made up entirely of chapters to larger stories (ala the Conan and Dark Anges tales) or two larger, complete stories ala the Bran Mak Morn story penned by Roy Thomas. Just a thought.

New Low For Conservatives in USA, As Racist Half-Wits Protest MuslimBatman of Paris

SOURCE:Racists Totally Freak Out Over Muslim 'Batman of Paris'

This article at Comics Alliance says everything I need to say about this and more. But I do love how the same people who have promoted the "cheese-eating surrender monkey" stereotype of The French for years are now screaming bloody murder about how insulting it is to proud traditions of The French Army to have one of France's representatives in the League of Batmen to be a black Muslim and master of parkour.