Holy Rebooting Starring the Star of Argo, Batman!

So by now, the worst of the hounds have been called back to their pens, the dust has settled, routers around the world are no longer red-hot and people (The Internet) seem to be accepting the fact that Ben Affleck, or Bat Affleck, or Benman, or Batfleck or whatever, is going to be playing The Caped Crusader in the Man of Steel sequel, Superman Vs. Darede-… Batman.

I can’t really get as pissed about it as everyone else does. I can’t really get pissed about it at all, to be honest. Not yet, anyway. I really don’t feel as if I have any proof that they fucked it up yet. They still might, of course. But it might just be really good, too. And whatever the case, you can be damn sure that even if it sucks, it won’t be the worst super hero movie Ben Affleck has been in.

Sure, if I had been doing the casting, Ben Affleck wouldn’t have been my first choice, either. Personally, I would have liked to see Josh Brolin, Jensen Ackles or even David Boreanaz get the role, but that doesn’t mean I think Ben Affleck is a bad choice. Sure, he’s been in some stinkers. I’m hard pressed to find ANY current high-profile actor who hasn’t been in something that was shit. And I mean really shit: Ben Kingsley has been in Hugo, Gandhi, Shutter Island, Schindler’s List, Lucky Number Slevin… and BloodRayne. Think about that. Ben Kingsley was in BloodRayne. It has a well-deserved Metacritic score of like, 13, and a 2,9 on IMDB. And Kingsley can act, dawg.
Not convinced, you say? Okay: Christopher Lee was in Star Wars II and III (screw you guys, they’re not that bad – and even if they are, he’s one of the redeeming factors), The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Hugo (like Kingsley)… and Season of the Witch. Which, incidentally (it’s not an incident, I totally planned this) also stars someone else, who, frankly, has for a long time been getting the same treatment as Bruce Affleck is getting now.

Yes. That guy.

Nicolas Cage.

I love Nicolas Cage. It’s out there. But please, stay with me, and don’t feel so dirty you have to clean your browser history just yet. I mean, I recognize that Nick Cage, or One True God, as a certain reddit group calls him[1], has been in some stinkers.

The aforementioned Season of the Witch, Ghost Rider, Knowing, Next, The Wicker Man remake (which even if it is hilarious, is not good[2])

But then, who liked Kick Ass? And that’s not the only one. Face/Off. The Rock. Con Air. Lord of War. Doesn’t he even have an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas? And then there’re all the somewhat disputed ones, like Gone in 60 Seconds and the National Treasure movies, which I personally dig, even if people in general do not.

My point is that even great actors sometimes phone in a project, and even if Nick Cage is an extreme example, it illustrates the point well. And sometimes, the movie is just so bad that it’s pointless for the actor to do anything about it. That’s the case with Daredevil. You can’t really put all the blame on Affleck for that one.

Is it then fair to assume that the MoS sequel will be shit because one of the guys involved in it (albeit prominently involved) has once been in something crap? No, it’s not. People weren’t particularly happy about Heath Ledger prior to The Dark Knight, and if you look at 10 Things I Hate About You, you get why. But that one turned out quite alright, didn’t it?

That being said, there are things Ben Wayne and the rest of the crew behind MoS2 will have to do differently for a Batman character to work in this setting. Because I do believe it CAN potentially be really good. The most important thing here is that they do not try to invoke Nolan’s Bat-trilogy, because if they do that, they WILL fall on their asses. Hard. And they’ll deserve it. Not that those are bad movies to be compared to – all three of them are among my favorite movies of all time. But it’s a more grounded, realistic (relatively…) Batman, and Bale does it brilliantly. If they go for the same effect, they will fall short, and it will seem out of character in this different universe. I think the trick will be to try and show a Batman that is gadgety without being camp. Not as in Shark-Repellant Bat Spray-Batman[3], but as in “When Batgirl was shot a few years back, the League designed and installed specialized security systems for the families and friends of any member who requested it. Thanagarian, Martian, Apokoliptian and Kryptonian technology. Plus the really scary crap Bruce invented.”-Batman[4]. This Batman is a guy who can take on Superman (in essence, a god) because he’s that damn smart, but can also, as per usual, strike fear into the hearts of criminals, suspicious and cowardly lot that they are.

Another thing I believe they must play up in order for a proper movie to come out of this is the Experienced Crimefighter Personality that apparently was one of the reasons for casting Affleck in the role. This could be done in many ways – having Bats be central in advancing plots because he’s the one who deduces what’s going on, or maybe (as I’m hoping) by showing his expanded network of the Batfamily (I’d love to see Oracle and Nightwing make big screen appearances!)

When it comes down to it, the most important part is playing up the personality traits that really make the characters. For both the characters, I’d love to see the writers take inspiration from Grant Morrison, who’s written both characters brilliantly, and both of them in settings far removed from realism (think Final Crisis). In this, Batman is the grizzled veteran, the brains of the operation, dedicated to a degree that will probably spell his own doom at some point. If anyone’s going to go the extra mile, it’s him, simply because he already is so close to the edge, and more than any other of the heroes walks the line between hero and vigilante.

In some ways, Superman is simpler: He needs to have weaknesses, because if there’s one thing that’s boring, it’s a Mary Sue. Simple as that. No weaknesses makes for a boring-ass character.
And, of course, they’ll need something to be in conflict about. Here, it seems obvious to take a starting point in MoS’s destruction of Metropolis, or maybe even Superman’s killing of Zod at the end.
Finally, they need a common threat to unite against. Personally, I’m hoping for a villainous duo of Lex Luthor as brains with Metallo as the muscle, but, yeah… Well, a guy can dream, can’t he?

---

[1]For real:  http://www.reddit.com/r/onetruegod

[2] You know why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1GadTfGFvU

[3] The old Adam West Show.

[4] From Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis

So, the third Injustice DLC character IS in fact Scorpion

Which, if there was any doubt thus far, seems to make it pretty clear that the final one will be Zod.

Anyway, in case you didn't catch it yet, here's a lil' video revealing some gameplay, as well as the design of the new character.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/03/injustice-gods-among-us-scorpion-dlc-announced

I'll be honest, I'm not too pleased with this decision at all. I get that a log of commenters are saying that you should just be happy to get DLC chars and whatnot, but, as many people have pointed out, there already exists a MK vs DC game where they could do this stuff (and Scorpion was in that anyway, wasn't he?), whilst here he takes a spot that could be filled by a bunch of actual DC characters which, admittedly, were the characters people were excited to play instead of a video game character from another franchise. A couple of characters I'd rather have seen, just off the top of my head:

Martian Manhunter
Beast Boy
Black Canary
Power Girl
Hush
Robin
Deadshot
Poison Ivy
Metallo
Alexander Luthor
Superboy Prime
Owlman
Clayface
Elongated Man
Man-Bat
Metamorpho
Geo-Force
Star Sapphire
The Atom
Steel
Doctor Fate
Black Hand
Green Lantern Stewart
And more...

You know, just off the top of my head.

I'm quite aware that some of the choices above are repeatedly constantly online, but frankly, there's a reason everyone's howling for Martian Manhunter to be in the game: he's a great character, and his powers could make for both interesting gameplay and some freakin' rad animations.

My biggest problem, however, is actually NOT with the fact that it's Scorpion, of all characters, but the fact that I feel it undermines what I saw as a good attempt at telling a comic book story in a fighting game, and actually having a plot in it.

I love fighting games, and Tekken, Street Fighter and SoulCalibur are some of the games I've spent most time playing. Seriously, I played Tekken 3 'til frickin' blisters erupted on my fingers.
Repeatedly.

Although I have to say, I was never the biggest fan of Mortal Kombat. I've played 'em, and I own one or two, and they're decent games and everything, but it always felt a bit clunky to me, in some way. That's also why I was initially hesitant about investing in Injustice, seeing as it also had NetherRealm behind it.

... Of course, I wound up trying the trailer and bought the CE of the game and I'm happy I did, and that's in no small part because of the effort they put into the story. It's not the greatest Justice League tale ever told - far from it - but it's decent, and they put effort into it.

My only problem with the game from release, really, was that I felt some character slots were wasted on characters that were sort of shoehorned in. For example, Killer Frost, Bane and Grundy all play the role of "Henchman #2", essentially - was it really necessary to have two big, burly Batman villains in there? Grundy could've been sacked and the spot used for something else. I kind of feel the same with Raven, where we only see the evil version - and partially with Nightwing, but at least his role in the Regime universe helped illustrate some of the differences between the two parallel universes. I'd have liked to see characters who actually played a part worth mentioning in the story.


And there, enter Scorpion, because by the very nature of being from another franchise, he's just shoehorned in. The two first DLC characters, Lobo and Batgirl (and Zod, if he is indeed the final one for this season pass, which it looks like he'll be) could be integrated in expansion packs or new story DLC, and combined with having pretty rad gameplay (Lobo) and being one of my favorite characters (Batgirl - although admittedly, I wouldn't have minded if it had been Stephanie Brown), I can get behind these characters even if they had not been my own choices for DLC. But Scorpion WILL be an outsider in a story context, even if his gameplay looks crazy (and it does). And there are a LOT of DC characters that could've been given their  chance to shine, especially as NetherRealm are obviously willing to include pretty minor characters in their game (read Raven, Grundy, Killer Frost).

On the positive side, though? Scorpion's look was redesigned by fucking Jim Lee, who is just an amazing artist. The gameplay looks pretty wild, as mentioned - they've obviously stayed loyal to the Scorpion character. And his throw, clash and win animations are just absolutely the tits.

Best part though? Might that just be a Martian Manhunter teaser at the end of the trailer?

I'm hoping it is - MMH is still my number one wish for a DLC character.

Adlard, Azzarello, Irving, and my first venturing into a 'con!

 So today was day one of two of Copenhagen Comics, the closest you'll get to a Con in my native country. It's been on a short hiatus (last time it was held was in 2010, I believe, under the name of Komiks.dk), but it returned this year, featuring a host of Danish comic book artists and, as you might've guessed from the headline, a couple of names from the international scene, as well. This was my first ever visit to an event such as this, and having wanted to go to Comic Con for a couple of years now, checking the event announcements every summer and going "Goddamnit I want to go see that", it was kind of a big thing for me, even if this is, not surprisingly, somewhat more low-key than the real big ones.

I had a fucking blast, though.

Might not look impressive to anyone who's visited the international Cons, but this is not a bad show for -anything- at 10am in Denmark. Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen

The event took place near the Copenhagen Central Station, and as one of the friends I went there with would attest to, I was more than giddy with anticipation (as she commented on already the day before when we were attending an Artist Talk with Charlie Adlard at the University of Copenhagen, and I might've gone sort of "squeeeeeeee" as soon as he showed up...)


Anyway, my personal interest in the event was mostly to catch the international names I already mentioned - and whoddoyaknow, all of 'em were featured in some sort of panel on this first day, starting off with Frazer Irving in an interview titled Shadows and Superheroes

Frazer Irving signed my copy of Batman and Robin Must Die! written by Grant Morrison (I mentioned how I fucking love Grant Morrison, right?) and drawn by Frazer. The autograph is accompanied by a quick sketch he whipped up of the Joker. It's bitchin'. Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen


Frazer Irving is a British comic book artist who's drawn for all of the big names and done stuff like X-Men, Batman & Robin, Seven Soldiers, Xombi, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Hellblazer - you name it, essentially. I was a bit shocked to learn that Frazer apparently has barely touched a comic book other than the ones he illustrate for the past nigh seven years, but there you go - it's like chefs not wanting to eat their own food, I suppose? My own reason for going all fanboy over his appearance was that he did, as mentioned, Batman & Robin, with probably my favorite comic book writer, Grant Morrison (it's the thing he's signing on the picture, by the way), and my head was just about to burst when I saw his name announced. Morrison's Batman & Robin is some of my favorite stuff in comic books, and the final part, which is what Irving has drawn, is particularly epic - because it ties together a fantastic series run for Morrison (including a long Batman run, the Final Crisis crossover and his Batman & Robin), but also because Irving's style of drawing is creepy and dark, and he does a great job at conveying, through his art, the sense of impending doom that you have in the story. His artwork fits the satanic tones of the book well, and that one scene where everything comes to a head... Just read it, it's good! I promise!

Charlie Adlard is the handsome guy with the microphone, by the way. Not the stoned-looking interviewer in an NPC tee in the background. Picture is from the interview Talking the Dead. Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen

I'll be honest and admit that I only recently got into The Walking Dead, the comic book that Adlard has been illustrating for almost ten years now. And shame on fucking me, because if it's somehow blown past you, it's absolutely brilliant, and if you're into comic books you should really go ahead and give it a try. Adlard has been in the comic book industry for a good bit longer than Irving, and Adlard, too, has illustrated all sorts of book: Judge Dredd, The X-Files, Batman, Savage, Warlock, Hellblazer - but, of course, he has most famously done The Walking Dead, which he took over from Tony Moore from issue 7 onwards (this was back in 2004. It's now 2013 and there's more than 100 issues out. That's a lot of fucking zombies)

The Walking Dead is not about the zombies, and thank fuck for that! As Adlard himself pointed out at aforementioned Artist Talk at the University of Copenhagen the day prior to the event (Where I totally caught him too - and I'm glad I did, since I didn't get a spot in the signing queue today. Guy's popular), zombies are really, thoroughly, incredibly, not-at-all interesting characters. The people who have to deal with them are, however, and while there's no doubt that the writing is absolutely excellent, it wouldn't shine in the same way without Adlard's talent - there's so much to be found in those facial expressions, and while black-and-white (and some grey!) titles might notoriously not sell well in the US, it really works here. For me, the black-and-white presentation of a destroyed version of our modern society really shows how the world of The Walking Dead is just absolutely broken, and you're walking around in the leftovers of what was once good, but where it just all went wrong, somewhere. It's the same sense of Broken World you get from (excellent) video games like Fallout 3 and Bioshock, and this overwhelming sense of utter despair and defeat combined with great characters is one epic comic book.

According to Brian himself, he really enjoyed some of the older Superman stuff because he thinks it's funny when Superman is "really just a DICK to Jimmy Olsen". Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen

Brian Azzarello, besides being bald and rockin' a goatee, also spends a lot of time writing comic books. He's written Luthor, Joker, Superman: For Tomorrow, 100 Bullets, Hellblazer, Flashpoint tie-ins, Doc Savage, Before Watchmen: Comedian and Rorschach, and is currently writing Wonder Woman for DC Comics. Brian's appearance was at a panel commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Man of Steel (the panel also featured what might arguably qualify as the Danish Kevin Smith, or at least nerd extraordinaire - Marvel-Morten, comic book fan for more than 50 years, and comic book retailer for 36 years, you can find him behind the counter at Fantask, one of the biggest comic book stores in Denmark, pretty much every day of the week. This guy answered questions from fans in the Danish translations of super hero comics, back when many titles were still translated. I remember seeing his name in comic books that I took over from my older brother. Guy's real passionate!)
I try and read a lot of comic books, but as any fan will know, there are a whole fucking lot of them out there. And since it's only a couple of years ago I really got aggressively back into the medium, I still have some bullet points that lack crossing-off on my must-read list. But I'll tell you this: Azzarello writes a creepy joker, both in the book actually entitled Joker, but certainly also in his Batman Flashpoint miniseries, which I thoroughly enjoyed. His Superman in Superman: For Tomorrow is a scary one, too, because it reeks of the one you might see in stuff like Injustice - the Superman who's about to just take it too far because even if he is the Man of Steel and you need Kryptonite, magic or Doomsday to hurt him, he's as vulnerable emotionally as the rest of us - and as Azzarello pointed in the panel, he needed to find a weakness in Superman for him to be worth writing, as character is best revealed in flaws. Azzarello went for the flaws in Superman himself, and I think that's the right way to go if you want to have a chance at writing a good Supes story.




These Cons are the sort of events that really make it worthwhile being a nerd: as I discussed in my first blog post, it's all about the passion, and you really get to just embrace that fully at places like this. And meeting those guys that create those mediums we love like that - heck, I was starstruck, and I'll proudly stand by that. And if I wanted to go to Comic Con before, I reaaaaaaaaaaally want to go now. The panels, as well as the prior Artist Talk with Charlie Adlard, are the kinds of places where the media is taken seriously not just as entertainment, but as an art form, and where if you, like me, might want to engage with these things in a scholarly and academic manner in the future, you can really feel inspired.

All in all, I really enjoyed my visit to Copenhagen Comics, and I'd probably be returning tomorrow if my goddamn exams didn't demand I stay at home and study - good thing all the most interesting things were scheduled for today!

And I'll totally be returning for the next Copenhagen Comics!

Live: the X-Box reveal!

So today, right now, as I'm writing, Microsoft are ready to reveal their new X-Box. I'm sittin' back with a couple of good friends and watching the stream - and I'll update this post if they reveal anything interesting, I'll put it here. So, depending on how much Microsoft is ready to put out there, this'l be a very long or very short post indeed.

Edit 1: And there we go. The name is Xbox One. So no 720, sadly. The thing is beautiful, by the way - it's a whole lot more angular and boxey in its design, but having never liked the look of the 360, I'm down with that. The Kinect that comes with it is kinda fucking huge, though, which might not look too neat on top of your TV.

The controller LOOKS to be sweet.

Edit 2: Slogan: The All in One Experience. Seems they'll be working with the whole multi-media thing.

The speaker, Yusuf Mehdi, just turned on the thing by saying "XBox on", so there'll be voice control, and, seemingly, motion control of the menues. They're already profiling the machine as catering to all your entertainment needs: TV, music streaming, Skype, friends' activity etc.

Instant Switching: Apparently you can instantly change between all sorts of entertainment instantly through voice commands - games, music, TV, and, of course, Internet Explorer (let's hope CHrome comes out for it too, eh?)

The motion controls for the thing can also go back and forth to menues and programs, and it looks kind of impressive.

"Snap mode" allows you to layer programs - you can watch a movie, yell for your IE, and google facts about the movie at the same time - through voice commands.

The voice command seems to be really well done. They just presented Interactive TV.

Edit 3: Trending feature on the TV, showing the trends in the whole XBox live community. "The beginning of truly intelligent TV", they're calling it.

Edit 4: "Under the hood" - this went by a bit quickly, but if I heard 'em right:
8 GB Ram, 500 GB HDD, USB 3.0, Blu-Ray. New, redesigned Kinect - voice, gestures, all that shit. 1080p on the Kinect, 30 FPS, and generally improved software on the Kinect, and more. Kinect seems to come much more central in games, so it's a good thing it's probably been improved.
SmartGlass.
Xbox Live: Going up from 15000 to 300.000(!) servers to power that shit. They better not have fucking lag.


Edit 5: Aaaaaaaaand EA just took the stage. Prepare your bricks!

Really though, news on games.

EA Sports Ignite: designed to "blow the line between real and virtual" - instincts, decision making, agility, speed, living worlds. Games "to launch within 12 months": UFC, FIFA14, NBA Live 14, Madden 14.

They claim they'll add "10 times more animation depth", and make the audience and surrounding game worlds of EA Sports more dynamic.

They plan to say more about the new companionship between Microsoft and EA "in a couple of months", apparently.

New FIFA mode: FIFA 14 "Ultimate Team" - Only on Xbox, apparently!

Forza Motorsport 5 just got announced - and shown. More on E3 - and it's a launch game.

Quantum Break, a new game from Remedy. Pretty impressive trailer without actually revealing  anything. The tagline is "Time is the fire in which we burn" if that tells you anything.

Apparently, they already have plans for -15- exclusive games. FIFTEEN. In the first year.


Edit 6: Apparently Xbox is becoming "the new water cooler". So it's probably the new place to meet.

Or it actually dispenses water. Maybe it's why it's so big.

343's Bonnie Ross just entered the stage. Is HALO coming up?


Edit 7: Nope - but they just announced a Live Action HALO TV show. With Steven Fucking Spielberg behind it.

Edit 8: Live NFL and fantasy league combined? That's pretty neat.

Edit 9: Release date is...

Psyche. No date. But this year. So I guess the date will be out at E3?

Promises for E3: Many exclusive games revealed.

Early CoD DLC promised for the Xbox, along with a look at CoD: Ghosts - the first next-gen one.

Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) is apparently writing, and the story will apparently situate the player as an underdog soldier in an America that got its ass kicked - you're part of the remnants of the special forces.

Next-gen Engine - and it does look good.
Dynamic maps in multiplayer - earthquakes, traps.
Character customization.

Edit 10: The CoD: Ghosts trailer...

Eh. As extremely mediocre as it gets. It's pretty, sure, but... eh.

And that's the streaming done with! E3 should bring us more news.

But, as a Playstation loyalist...

It actually looks pretty good.


EDIT 11: It seems that Microsoft are glorious, GLORIOUS trolls, at least if these rumors are true. Apparently, they themselves will put a fee on pre-owned games; if you put a pre-owned game in your disc, claims are you'll have to pay a fee to play it.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/407912/microsoft-confirms-pre-owned-fee-for-xbox-one/
If this is true... well, the Internet is angry, Microsoft. The Internet is very angry.

Also, it's not backwards compatible with the 360, but I don't think people were actually expecting that.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/407910/xbox-one-not-compatible-with-xbox-360-games/

But really, if the fee thing turns out to be true - which hopefully, it does not - that is a D-bag business model, and Microsoft will be in for a shitstorm of size.



I mentioned they apparently are working closely with EA, right?

So, how about that Arkham Origins trailer?

So the full trailer for Arkham Origins hit yesterday, following up on the teaser featuring Bats and Deathstroke dukin' it out and leaving people wantin' for more.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a link. Go watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWorwYmCuX4

...

...

...

Done? Good. Then I needn't be worried about spoiling anything in the following.

What we have seen of the trailer thus far doesn't really reveal anything particularly new to us. It had already been revealed that the premise of the game featured Batman, Christmas, and a shitload of assassins out to get him due to a bounty on his head courtesy of Black Mask. stylistically, the game really seems to hold the tone from earlier Arkham games; it's gritty shit, and everyone who's played the other Arkham games are probably as excited about that as I am.

So anyway, let's talk about the visuals. As mentioned, it's very gritty in design, besides being very beautiful in detail, of course. If we're comparing to earlier games, the first thing one notices is of course the different design in Batman's armor, but that's not a problem. Au contraire; with the setting around 7 years prior to AA, isn't it only natural that Bats would learn from experiences and adjust his gear accordingly? Exactly.
Deadpool looks even more radically different in comparison to his AC appearance, and he somehow manages to look both less and more advanced: the gear looks more professional here, but his more standardized and less stylized kit better conveys someone who's new in the business. All in all, decent interpretations of the two characters - there's nothing that make you doubt the premise of the game, and they both look kick-ass. What more can you ask?
Deathstroke makes his first Arkham appearance in the trailer, and he, too, has been Arkham'd up well. His appearance here is more armored than his usual comic book appearance, more in style with his recent appearance in Injustice - and he looks fucking rad.
Black Mask and his white suit is stylish, but I'd have liked to see a somewhat darker design - like the permanent bottle monocle that Penguin has in AC, for example. It's not a bad design, but I could've hoped for more. Nevertheless, we haven't seen him under the mask yet. Who knows what he's like underneath?

As mentioned,we were met in the trailer by two assassins that are no surprise at all: Deathstroke the Terminator and Deadshot. But that's still a bit to go to the eight supposed assassins that are out to show Batman the true spirit of christmas in his very own, super grim, Christmas Carol. Who else might we see in such a connection?

Lady Shiva
Seems like a legit guess on my part. She is a hardcore assassin lady, arguably the most hardcore in the DC-verse. Amongst her accomplishments are training Batman and Tim Drake, helping Bats get back on his feet after Bane snapped his back, and bearing the child of another badass, David Cain - a child that, at least in pre-New 52 continuity, served as Batgirl for a time: Cassandra Cain. Other than that, Lady Shiva is also affiliated with Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins, aggressively recruited into it by David Cain who murdered Shiva's sister.
Lady Shiva is generally considered to be one of the few people who can compare to or even best Batman in combat, and for that reason alone, she strikes me as a worthy candidate to one of the assassins.

David Cain
Shares many characteristics with Lady Shiva. League of Assassin, parent of Cassandra Cain whose life he majorly fucked up, and also trained Batman. Definitely not at all a good guy, and would probably cherish the chance of testing his skills against the Caped Crusader.

Merlyn
The nemesis of Green Arrow and one of the kickassest archers in DC, Merlyn is also one of the assassins that might have the skill and/or arrogance to take on Bats. Besides the fact that Merlyn is, you know, an assassin, there is also the fact that the bomb-containing box in the trailer is apparently from Queen Industries, which is at least a recognition of the fact that Oliver Queen, and by extension his friends and enemies, all live in the Arkhamverse. This list seems to be littered with tutors, by the way, as this gentleman tutored Cassandra Cain (The Batgirl from before) and also seems to have taught bow skills to Damian Wayne at one point (see Grant Morrison's Batman run, even if you don't care about whether this is true or not. It's fucking amazing.)
There is of course also the fact that the Arrow TV series has been enjoying considerable success this TV season, and without spoiling too much, Merlyn is a name that features pretty heavily in the show, and it could seem a good springboard to give him some screentime in Origins. Merlyn even underwent a name change in the New 52, becoming Tommy Merlyn like in the Arrow show, as opposed to his original identity of Arthur King - which I personally found to be a quite charming name, being an Arthurian nut, but if it's a step in giving other characters a shot at the spotlight in an AAA title, I'll go along with it.

The Black Glove
Is probably more a hope on my part than it's likely to happen, but a boy can dream, can't he?

The Black Glove became famous under Grant Morrison's run, and is essentially a group of mercenaries, super villains and assassins from all over the world, gathered together by villain Doctor Hurt. They're all in on a bet together: can Batman actually lose? Some of the members are more likely to appear than others, obviously. Sadly, it'll probably be a cold day in Hell before Doc Hurt makes his appearance outside of comic books (and probably the same with the rest, sadly), but 'least a guy like Mexican trap master El Sombrero would fit in with the assassin setting.


All the restBut then again, need the game only focus on the assassins and Black Mask? Some promotional artwork revealed sketches of what seemed to be Joker, Scarecrow, Bane and Killer Croc, and while Joker wouldn't really give two squirts about the money he might make from killing Bats - if he even wants to kill him, that is - Killer Croc isn't exactly a criminal mastermind and might very well be up for hire, and Bane too has some past connections in comic books with the League of Assassins (And in TDKR too, obviously), so he might be ready to take money from Black Mask. Venom doesn't come cheap, you know. Seeing as this is a AAA Batman title, it's pretty much guaranteed that Joker will be in the game somewhere, but AC introduced a bunch of side missions with appearances by different villains. It could be a way to introduce him into this game. Same goes for the rumored appearances by Falcone and Penguin, and Scarecrow could very well have an appearance like that, as well.

Those are my thoughts for now, 'least. I'm really glad to see Deathstroke and Black Mask get more screen time: they're awesome villains, and especially Deathstroke looks to be frickin' badass in this stuff. The guy's essentially a Batman who's in it for the money, and if you read something like Identity Crisis, you know how badass he is, where the guy takes out like 6 or 7 JLA members by himself like it was nothing. If they can just NOT mess with the fighting system, and the trailer delivers on the promises, then we're in for a great game, guys - even if it's not developed by Rocksteady.

The N*** Word

It’s always been easy to pick on the nerds. Those awkward guys and girls who cannot really function in society and who are only comfortable within the confines of their dimly lit rooms, in front of their computer, head buried in their comic books, or with paint-dipped brush in one hand, newly assembled orc in the other. And the only thing that can really awaken their passions, good or bad, are when they get quickscoped, get an epic drop, rage at Dan Slott because of Amazing Spider-Man #700 or someone makes fun of their miniatures.

And I call bullshit.

I’m a nerd, or geek, or whatever. And I happily embrace that identity. It’s not like I could hide it anyway (the Batman T-shirts are sort of a give-away), and I’ve been called it enough times by enough people to realize that it’s probably right. Not all of those comments have necessarily been derogatory in nature. Especially in the later years, where I’m now in my twenties, there have been different connotations. When I’ve been called a nerd and told people I thought that was unnecessary, I’ve been met with a somewhat surprised “it wasn’t meant as something negative”.

And you know what? I love that.

I’ve been met with all the derogatory applications as well, especially around 10 years ago, in my tweens and early teens, when there were always a couple of twats in your class who for some reason enjoyed spending time picking on the nerdy and the insecure. Because nothing’s better than making other people feel bad, right? Cunts. Many of us have been there, and it sucks.

But lately, I’ve been a nerd in the sense that I’ve been passionate about whatever the topic of discussion might be. This is a definition of the word that I can get 100% behind. A friend of mine’s told me that one of the reasons he enjoys my company is that if we, say, sit down to watch a superhero movie, he enjoys “getting all sorts of extra nerd-info” as I simply cannot shut my trap and simply have to launch into my own little commentary track, because I just fucking love Batman and love knowing that they actually did flip a big-ass truck in The Dark Knight, and I want my friends to share in my enthusiasm because I’m enjoying it thoroughly. All of us nerds know that feeling as well: you’re so wicked passionate about something, whether it be books, games, comic books, board games, movies, TV shows, cartoons, drawing, a music genre, an artist, whatever. WHAT is not the point. It’s the passion that matters.

Consider the words of indie game developer, novelist, game critic, internet personality and Prolific Nerd, Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw, speaking on what it is to be a fan: “If you got passion for something that’s always interesting, and if you got no passion for anything, if you claim not to be a nerd, about anything, you must be the dullest human being in the world.”[1] I think Yahtzee makes a very important point here: a life without Nerdism is a life without passion. So embrace it! Also note his point that if you’re not a nerd, that is without passion, then you’re dull. Notice that Yahtzee says “about anything”, not “about video games”.  As I said above, what is not the point. The passion in itself is.

Most people can probably agree that a hardcore gamer will qualify as a nerd. People might be somewhat less prepared to label a jock in the same manner, however. But I don’t really see why you’d separate the two. I’ve a friend who knows everything about the history of the film media, and can name drop Italian filmmakers from the 60’s like it was nuthin’. He’s a film nerd. At the same time, he’s ready to sacrifice sleep and a healthy day rhythm just to catch a certain baseball, football, soccer or basketball game when Giants, 49’ers, Fulham or Kings are playing. He’s definitely a sports nerd, too.

This goes back to what I mentioned earlier, namely the fact that a lot of nerds have probably been picked up by the jock type dude at school. Which is ridiculous, because few people were as zealous about their stuff and reacted as angrily as they themselves did. I’ve had discussions, heated ones as well, with friends about, say, which Batman movie is the best. But I’ve certainly never started a fight about which one of two equally shit soccer teams is the best (and yes, they’re shit. I’m from Denmark. We always lose when playing soccer). That was also a classic move for when they wanted to pick on someone, by the way: when you were asked about, say, soccer teams, and refused to provide an answer because you didn’t give a shit, or you God forbid provided the wrong answer, it was essentially a carte blanche to pick on you. Again, it’s pretty hypocritical, because THEY were the guys who got mean, or maybe even violent, about their opinions, and at the same time used Nerd in a derogatory manner. But the zealous fanboyism is a discussion for another time.

So yeah, think about it. You’re probably a nerd in some manner as well. I know people that are nerds in all sorts of ways. I know comic book nerds, movie nerds, videogame nerds, music nerds, PC nerds, roleplaying nerds, series nerds and so forth. But I also know people who’re nerdy about things of a quite different nature. I know cooking nerds, photography nerds, design nerds, Internet nerds, linguistic nerds, science nerds, sports nerds, gym nerds, career nerds, alcohol nerds (as in aficionados. Not alcoholics. I’m hoping) and so forth.

You can be a nerd about a general concept: as mentioned, I’ve friends who just love the film media so much that they know everything about Italian movie history, even though they’ve no connection to Italy and no formal education in Media or Film History or the like.

You can love the shit out of a specific TV show. Even if it’s no longer running, and it lasted only a short time, you can still love it like you wouldn’t believe, and to you, one of the biggest crimes against humanity is the fact that it was cancelled. Firefly, anyone?

Nerdism can be an extremely focused passion. I know a guy who isn’t really a sci-fi or roleplaying nerd in any way. But man does he love his space marines.

My point is simply the following: is passion bad? No. Too much passion can potentially be horrible, but you can’t really hate on anyone for loving something, can you? You do it yourself – and why would you hate on someone for loving something else than what you do? It doesn’t have to be either/or. Only a Sith sees the world in black and white, you know.

Those are just my two cents. About a nerd, from a nerd, if you want. So hi. I’m a nerd and proud of it. I love Batman. I love Star Wars. I love video games, TV series, sci-fi and fantasy. I love words. I love the English language. I love Shakespeare. I love Eminem. I love the Arthurian legends. I love comedy, and I love making people laugh. I love a good story. And I love bacon. My God, do I love bacon. I’m a bit of a nerd with all these things, some more in certain periods than others. But they are the passions that have helped form me and that have made me who I am.  And I’m pretty happy with that person, really. I spend a good bit of my time on “nerd culture”, and I felt like sharing my thoughts about it. So this is what I’m doing, and if you think my opinions are worth reading, I might share more of ‘em. And if you took your time to read this, thanks!

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[1] http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-expo/6300-Fanboyism