My Villains I: Intergang

As promised, this week I'm going to be showing off some of my villains. Originally, I'd planned on only doing a single post, but as I started prepping things, I realized that I had enough for a two or three. So I thought that, rather than post everything post everything at once, I'd space it out.

My first Villains Post is all about the international criminal ring, Intergang. A bit different from the classic comic set-up I first saw in Superman: The Animated Series, my version mirrors the conspiracy-plotting Light from the Young Justice cartoon. There is a tiny little change, however. I don't deal with the New Gods in any of my stories, so there is no Apokalyptian technology or dealings with Darkseid. As I said in the Teen Titan's post, I'm trying to streamline my Universe rather than over-complicate it. Trying to add in Darkseid (and even just a tiny assortment of his army) meant also including New Genesis and a bevy of their characters and backstory, too.

These are my Intergang bosses, a secret society of seven supervillains who manipulate crime throughout the world. There are very few criminal organizations that operate outside of their bounds, and even fewer who do so without being unwitting pawns in their plans. So who are these masterminds?

Intergang Bosses (L-R):
Chimera, West Africa, developed/markets the mutating drug called Primal
Petranovitch, Metropolis, arms dealer, smuggler, and counterfeiter
Bellaco, Mexico, controls drug trafficking into the US
The Clock King, Gotham City, illegal weapons manufacturing
Oni, Tokyo, illegal weapons manufacturing
Cernunnos, Opal City, distribution of contraband dark magic items
The Contessa, London, genetic experimentation creating "human weapons"

These may be the masterminds, but they have dozens of underbosses and lackeys to carryout their commands while they plot from behind the scenes. Among their ranks are a few re-purposed DC names you may recognize: Deadshot, Deathstroke, Tigress, Shadow Thief, Knockout, and Silver Banshee. Not all of them are exactly as you've seen them before. Some are quite true to their classic character, but a few are wildly different. And there are dozens of my own characters, too. Among them is one of the original characters that help to start my fanverse: Chromatix.

As you can see from the picture on the left, Chromatix began as my villainess character in DCUO. She started as a Gotham villain (where better for a new criminal to begin, right) but later set-up shop in Metropolis. She's got indestructible, silver skin and super-strength as well as ties to a Justice League member that you'll meet in the future. She's been a really fun character to write and my artist friends seems to enjoy drawing her as well.

So, that's it for this post. I hope you enjoyed getting a peek at the dark side of my fanverse. There is going to be a Part Two to follow, though I'm not sure if it will be next weekend or not. Midterms are over, but after next week, all of my final projects will be due, so I have a very hectic week after the holiday. I'll try my best for a post, but if I can't manage at least you were warned in advance. Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

Update

As I've said before, things this term are pretty crazy. I've got an overloaded schedule and a pile of homework almost daily. And to top it off, with midterms this week, there is extra studying for all of those fun tests. We also got the parameters for our term papers (only took the instructor half the term...) so I've got two papers to write as well.

But enough of my boohooing. I know that I mentioned posting my version of the Justice League to coincide with my Teen Titans, but it's not ready. And it probably won't be for another few weeks. It's not because I'm lazy and didn't get things organized - on the contrary, everything was ready to post earlier this week. So why the delay? I've created three new characters to round out the team roster and I'd like to post them along with the rest. My artist friends will be working on them once they finish their current projects, so it will take some time.

In the meantime, I'm working on a post for next weekend. I thought since the heroes are delayed, what better time to bring in some villains. I'm not going to say who as of yet, I'd rather have it be a surprise. Until then, I've decided that I can't leave you empty-handed. So for you're enjoyment, here is a little Boostle love.

Assault On Arkham Review

I saw there was a sudden influx of traffic to site after I tweeted that I would be doing a review of the new DC animated movie Batman: Assault On Arkham. Sadly, plans changed a bit and my brother and I didn't have a chance to get together and watch it until late last night. Lucky for everyone out there, I am having a bit of insomnia so I decided to post my review before I head off to classes.

Before I start my review of this movie, let me say that I feel DC's animated films have fallen short of their normal grandeur as of late. While Marvel was mastering the live action films, DC had a definite advantage in the animated market (both films and TV). However, after Flashpoint Paradox, I could see a definite downturn in story quality for the next few films. None of them held my interest, or made much sense for that matter, and they lost some of the awesomeness that they captured with earlier movies. Perhaps it's because the later films are based on the newer DC52 Universe which is, for the most part, also poorly written.

I was excited, but wary, when I first saw the trailer for Assault on Arkham. We finally were getting a movie from the villain's point of view. Not that there's anything wrong with seeing another Batman story, but I like a little variety in my life. I collect a wide range of comics and not all of them revolve around Superman/Batman. I understand that they are the big names and will draw the most patrons, but it's nice to switch it up now and then; bring in the unknowns or B-teams, some of them have great stories to tell, too.

After an interesting, but unexplained, opening between The Riddler and Amanda Waller (and her snarky comment about using Google to solve his riddles), Batman interrupts his capture by Waller's team forcing her to bring in Task Force X. Begin the montage of introducing our motley crew of teammates: Killer Frost, Black Spider, Killer Shark, Captain Boomerang, KGBeast, Harley Quinn, and Deadshot. I really enjoyed the selection they chose for the team, most of whom my brother had never heard of before, but a lot of them classic members. I wasn't a huge fan of the Killer Shark redesign, making him more human than the actual shark-man he is in the comics. However, I'm glad that they didn't use the horrendous New52, hammerhead version.

Now seems like a good time to also add in the disclaimer that, despite the fact that this is cartoon based on comic characters, this is not a movie for children. Despite the massive amounts of deaths from bullets, boomerangs, and decapitations there is also a sexual undercurrent to the movie that was unexpected. We get a "flash" of naked Killer Shark during his intro and an obscured but obviously topless Killer Frost later. But worse was the sexual encounter between Deadshot and Harley -  complete with near nudity. And add to that Harley's encounter with the Joker and talk of an abusive, sexual relationship - for me it was all in bad taste. I understand that these are criminals, but not all of them are morally corrupt individuals.

Ultimately, the movie ends where the Arkham Assylum game begins. Joker releases the other prisoners from their cells and all hell breaks loose. There are definite loose ends left at the finale, but for anyone who played the series, or watched the storyline on YouTube, then you know exactly how everything ties together.

So my final thoughts on the movie? It was an interesting ride, though not the one I signed-up for based on the trailer. I enjoyed the Deadshot/Boomerang rivalry - straight out of the comics - but there were some other interesting characters like Killer Frost and Black Spider, neither of whom got the screen time they needed or deserved. And while it was more enjoyable than some of the most recent films, the added (and totally unnecessary) sexual content took the movie a place it didn't need to go.

My Final Score: D+  DC, you're making a move in the right direction, but you have to remember that a big chunk of your market is still children and I would NEVER let my preteen kids watch this movie. Pandering to the lonely fanboys using sex to sell a story... I was hoping for better from you.

Happy Birthday!!!

If you are celebrating your birthday today like I am, then you may already be aware that we share this day with a very impressive list of talented and creative individuals - which makes sense since we're all Leos. But for those of you not in the know, I thought I would post a list of 15 famous people who also celebrate birthdays on August 15th.

Top row (L-R):
Joe Jonas - musician/actor
Julia Child - television chef
Oscar Peterson - jazz musician/composer
Natasha Henstridge - actress (Species)
Scott Altman - astronaut

Middle row (L-R):
Edith Nesbit - children's author
Carlos PenaVega - singer/actor (Big Time Rush)
Napoleon Bonaparte - French emperor/military leader
Carl Edwards - NASCAR racer
Debra Messing - actress (Will & Grace)

Bottom Row (L-R):
Brendan Hansen - Olympic swimmer
Sir Walter Scott - author/poet
Jennifer Lawrence - actress (Hunger Games's Katniss & X-Men's Mystique)
Paul Rand - graphic designer
Ben Affleck - actor/writer/superhero (former Daredevil, future Batman)

So, Happy Birthday to everyone out there celebrating today! May all your birthday wishes come true!

My Teen Titans

Recently there was a lot of talk about the possible return of my beloved Young Justice series for a Season Three. While the ambiguous announcement only revealed the release of Season One on Blu-Ray this Tuesday (8/12/14), we did receive a small bit of news that our favorite teen heroes will be making a brief return to TV in an upcoming episode of Teen Titans GO! this fall. While many hate TTG for replacing Young Justice in the Cartoon Network Saturday morning line-up, there has been a small hope that if that single episode gets enough views - combined with the Blu-Ray sales - Warner/CN will see that there is still a market for the failed series.

With all of the recent news, and I suppose to celebrate the Blu-Ray release, I decided to post the fan art of my very own Teen Titans/Young Justice team. Only half of the team are actual DC owned characters, the rest are characters that I played in DCUO (an MMOG set in the DC Universe). I've since stopped playing DCUO, but I loved my characters so much that I started having fan art done and writing my own stories around the team. I've even branched out and built a Justice League and designed an entire Universe around the team. I've previously posted some art on the old blog as well as on my DeviantART page, but I decided it's time to post some here, too.

This was the first set of the characters I had done about two years ago by the awesome Garnet Q (whose page, it seems, has been deactivated). This was the initial set on which all of the future ones are based. We have (L-R): Superboy, King of Shadows, Dragonfire, Supergirl, Robin, Psyfire, Kelda, and Blue Beetle.

 Here is the second series by one of my favorites, Wind-Box. You can see the evolution of a few costumes from the original as well as some more dynamic poses. You'll see Wind in some of my future posts, too. We work together often and she probably knows my characters, and me, better than any other artist I've worked with so far.

Lastly, we have the fan-favorite Ichan-Desu. His initial piece (see below) of the team was in a Height Chart with everyone in their skivvies. I'm in the process of having my individual Justice League characters completed, but sadly, Ichan has fallen on tough times - both emotionally and financially - and the final few are in limbo. He's a great guy, and I hate the thought of him being unhappy, so visit his page and leave him lots of faves and positive messages. And if you're so inclined, leave him a points donation. Or if you want, donate them on my page - they all go toward helping him either way.

Here we have the team out of costume - and everything else for that matter... You can see now why Ichan is so popular of an artist. (Due to people claiming my commissions as their own, I've been forced to take measures, so ignore the lines running through them.) In case you're confused and can't identify them here they are again (L-R): Jaime (Blue Beetle), Drake (Dragonfire), Kelda, Dick (Robin), Conner (Superboy), Kara (Supergirl), Olyand'r (Psyfire), and Alex (King of Shadows).

Let me end by saying this - I get a lot of slack about not having certain characters or questions as to why I replaced this member with that one. The important thing to note is this: it's my version of the team and it's based on my ideal set of characters. Remember, everyone has their own favorites - these just happen to be mine. It's fan art/stories that I created to revolve around the characters that I created. If nothing else, just enjoy the pretty pictures and leave the negative comments to yourself.

Pokemon: Cyan & Magenta

Last week I promised to post some fan art and never followed through. I spent the bulk of the weekend working on a class project and the other half getting lost in Pokemon X. Well, seeing as the poke-world was responsible for my lack of post, I decided to post my poke-fan art! Here is the Pokedex of "fakemon" (with art by the awesome Pequedark-Velvet) for my own fan series called Pokemon: Cyan & Magenta!

Welcome to the tropical chain of islands known as the Konshima Region! It may not be the largest region, but it has some pretty unique Pokemon to catch. Currently, there are only 15 Pokedex slots filled, but there are many, many more that have yet to be spotted. Perhaps a few ancient Pokemon still live deep in the underwater trenches...

Konshima Pokedex
1. Kupitty (Flying)
2. Seriphynx (Dark/Flying)
3. Angelicat (Dark/Flying)
4. Teddikinetic (Psychic)
5. Mediteddy (Psychic)
6. Psybear (Psychic)
7. Chargimp (Electric)
8. Orangutazer (Electric/Fighting)
9. Zape (Electric/Fighting)
10. Crimsong (Flying)
11. Rubyrd (Flying)
12. Scarleete (Flying)
13. Hachit (Ground)
14. Digrowl (Ground/Steel)
15. Nozeel (Water/Dragon)

Meet your best friend and fellow Trainer, Miles Trackett. Miles is your neighbor and the son of a  prestigious geologist studying the dormant Scarletta Volcano. When his father is kidnapped, you offer to help Miles find clues to his whereabouts while you explore the Konshima Region for Professor Alder.

Meet your rival, Pyre, a Trainer from someplace called the Kanto Region. He arrived on your island and challenged the first Trainer he saw, which happened to be you! He has a lot of strange, foreign Pokemon that you've never seen - his favorite being something he calls a "Charizard."

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

I'm always slightly hesitant to see a movie that is hyped as "The Blockbuster of the Summer" - I've been let down too often in the past to get my hopes up that it will be any good. As a comic book junkie, I've been let down before (many, many times) by the live action translation of some of my favorite characters. But Marvel has been slowly renewing my faith that it's possible to make a movie that will impress the fanboys and still keep the casual audience interested. And Guardians of the Galaxy does just that.

Plot aside, the movie is a great mix of comedy and action. Even if you can't follow the storyline or remember the back story of the characters, the effects, humor, and music make it an enjoyable time. So enjoyable, in fact, that I hardly minded the 2-hours of chatty patrons seated behind me. My attention was so focused on everything happening that I tuned them out until the credits started rolling and one of them said: "Yo, that should be the new Star Wars franchise!"

I've heard that comment before, that Guardians has the potential to be a Star Wars for a new generation. And it really could. While I love the ORIGINAL trilogy, the new one left a sour taste in my mouth. The crew of the Milano (yes, like the cookie) has a great dynamic that makes me wonder what would've happened had the Star Wars franchise made Han Solo the main protagonist instead of Luke Skywalker.

WARNING: SPOILERS

I could post the plot but heck, you can go an read that on Wikipedia, too, if you're interested in what happens. I thought rather than rehash the story myself, I'd rather post a list of the things that I liked, learned, and were irked by about the film instead. In no particular order:

1. Another Infinity Gem is revealed. I knew that there was a good chance that we would be seeing at least one of these in the movie and I was right. Let's tally them up: blue Mind gem from The Avengers, red Power gem from Thor II, and now the purple Space gem. We've now encountered half of the gems so we should be seeing an epic Infinity Wars cross-over movie soon, I hope!

2. Michael Rooker is a bad-ass space junker. Anyone who watches The Walking Dead will be pleased with his portrayal of Yondu. It's a different interpretation of the character than I've seen but it plays up perfectly to Rooker's strengths. Turning his trademark yaka arrows into a dagger for the film was an interesting adjustment, but one I can live with. Fun fact: Yondu, like Merle, lost a hand and had a hook, too.

3. Dogs in Space. In amongst the Collectors, uh, collections we see several live specimens including Cosmo the Spacedog who features as a character in the comics. Stay tuned through the credits and you'll see that he survives meaning he could make an appearance in GotG II. Who do I not want to see make an appearance in the sequel: Howard the Duck...

4. Lots of beefcake. Sure there's the beefy Drax walking around shirtless through the entire movie, but let me say: Chris Pratt is hot. I mean, he gives all the chubby guys out there hope that they, too, can become sex symbols. We get to see him half-naked, if slightly orange (watch the movie and you'll see) pretty early in the movie. But they aren't the only two showing skin. There's also Lee Pace as Ronan - yeah the main baddie - showing off his bare, blue backside, too. Maybe if Ned showed off those assets Pushing Daisies would still be on the air.

5. All clothes come in raccoon sizes. As far as I am aware, and the movie supports this, Rocket is one-of-a-kind. He does not come from planet of raccoons, he was genetically-engineered. Yet, of his four costume changes, each seems to be made in his size. I'll forgo his original and the prison uniform, but are you telling me that the humanoid Renegades and Nova Core both just happen to stock his exact size? A very minor flaw to the film, but it irked me just a bit.

6. You will love Groot. There's not much more that I can add to that sentence. He has really only one line in the movie, but despite the lack of meaningful dialogue, you can't help but  love his character. He seems almost child-like at times, but don't let that fool you - he's a bass-ass who will protect his friends from anything.

7. Star-Lord gets all the ladies. Back in the day, Captain Kirk was the player of players in space, banging alien chicks as he explored the Universe. Even though the newer version of the character played by Chris Pine lived up to that aspect of the character, Peter Quill does it better. He even has the scars to prove it.

8. Nebula is a whiner. Don't get me wrong, I loved the look of this character so much. And I was really excited to see that she would be in this movie. But, instead of being a bad-ass, unemotional killer, she's played more like a whiny child desperate for daddy's attention. Even her cool regeneration scene can't overshadow this for me.

9. There are Celestials in the Universe. Something that they didn't show when they introduced the Collector in Thor II was the location of his creepy shop. Seems that it's located in the middle of Knowhere which is in fact the severed head of a Celestial. If you have no idea what I am talking about, the Celestials are cosmic beings that have been alive since the dawn of time and are pretty much "gods" on the same power level as beings like Galactus.

10. There will be a GotG II. And that's not speculation. Just before the credits, the movie ends with the words: "Guardians of the Galaxy will return." That and a dancing Groot.



So, what's my final word on the movie? I think it's worth seeing, even if you have no prior knowledge of the comic. Heck, even if you're just a fan of sci-fi movies, or for that matter action-comedies, you're going to enjoy this one. And I hate to say it, but I really think this will be the Summer Blockbuster they touted it to be.

My Score: A+ - There's really not much more they can do to improve on this movie. Which means they have a lot to live up to if they're making a sequel.