I thought I'd step away from video games tonight and talk about something different. I don't know where you are located right now, but if you're near the Cincinnati area like I am, the weather has been fantastic lately! I'm talking mid-70s during the day, mid- to low-60s at night, and just enough cloud cover to keep the sun out of your eyes. For late July in the Ohio River valley, this is unseasonably cool, but I don't think anyone's complaining. So I urge you all to find something to do outside. If you follow me on Twitter, you've seen me tweet about it a few times this week. It's given me a great opportunity to get my lawn mowed without dying of heat stroke. And just a few minutes ago I was sitting out in my driveway, enjoying the last of the daylight as I read a book.
I used to do outdoor things more often, when all my friends still lived nearby. We used to do bonfires and outdoor parties on a pretty regular basis. You know how it goes, though. As you get older and your group all spreads apart with families of their own, it gets harder and harder to do that sort of thing. So it's been nice finding a reason to go outside this week and just enjoy it. I even spent a good part of the afternoon a few days ago walking around my town.
So go outside and do something while the weather's nice. Take a handheld system if you must. There are a ton of great games on 3DS right now, and the Vita's starting to get more and more all the time. But I'm guessing you want to hear more than just me talking about how nice the weather is. Okay. Let's talk a bit about the recently announced Batman/Superman movie.
I've been waiting for this to happen for a long time. It's been brought up before, more than once, I believe. Remember the Will Smith version of I Am Legend? Yep, a movie theater sign showed a World's-Finest-style Batman/Superman logo in that movie. So you know Warner Bros. has been wanting to try this for some time. And the thought that this could lead into a Justice League movie would be very exciting, except for one thing: I hated Man of Steel! You may have read my post on this a while ago. The movie was so heartless! I didn't care for any of those characters one single bit, and frankly was just waiting for the movie to be over. The only redeeming quality, in my opinion, was the action. The fight scenes were done well. Other than that, I was thoroughly unimpressed. So to hear that Zack Snyder is going to direct this new movie, along with David Goyer writing and Henry Cavill playing Superman, was disappointing to say the least.
Now, let me be clear. I loved 300, and Watchmen was decent, so I know Snyder can make good movies (didn't like Sucker Punch, though). As for Goyer, he did The Dark Knight. I don't need to say much more than that. It was one of the best Batman stories ever told. Unfortunately, he also did The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel, two movies that I really didn't care for much. The Dark Knight Rises was well written, it just didn't live up to its predecessor for me, nor did it feel much like Batman. Cavill I only know from Man of Steel, but I've been told he was good in other movies.
So I'm not ragging on these guys exactly, I just know from my experience that I don't always like the way they handle superheroes. They, and DC/Warner Bros. in general, seem to go for too much realism in their movies. With Batman that can work. With the other heroes, not so much. I much, much prefer Marvel's way of doing their movies. The Avengers was a comic book come to life on screen! That's what I want out of my superhero movies! I read comics because I like comics! I watch superhero movies because I like comics! The Dark Knight was great, and it's fine to do one like that now and again, especially with a hero like Batman who's very grounded in reality compared to most superheroes, but I hate to see DC fall into the trap of trying to make their movies some kind of high cinematic art. Comic's are a compelling medium already. Let your movies be comics on the screen, like Marvel does. Stop trying to turn them into a product that's very different from their source material just to please critics. In doing so, you run the risk of turning away your pre-existing fans.
That's it for tonight! Thanks for reading, be sure to tell your friends and follow me on Twitter @RevLink_GI! Now I'm going to go back outside and enjoy the night.
Showing posts with label comic books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comic books. Show all posts
Friday, July 26, 2013
Thursday, February 4, 2010
My 1,000th comic!
If any of you read my first handful of posts, you know that I had at the time 999 comic books in my collection, and had talked about ordering my thousandth. Well, here it is! Gambit, vol. 3, #1.
There were five different covers for this comic, the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten variants. I got the ace cover. So now I have one thousand comic books, and I just wanted to share that with you.
There were five different covers for this comic, the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten variants. I got the ace cover. So now I have one thousand comic books, and I just wanted to share that with you.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Software review - Collectorz.com
As I mentioned in previous posts about my video game and comic book collections, I use software from the site Collectorz.com to keep track of everything. I told you all I would get into more detail about those programs, so here I go.
First, Game Collector. I got this program a few years ago. It cost around $30, but I found it well worth it. Before this, I had been using IGN's online database to keep track of my collection, but they simply didn't have every game I had in their database. Plus, their database was filled with mistakes. When my collection started growing to encompass some pretty offbeat games and systems, I quickly realized I needed another solution. Then I found Game Collector. Game Collector allows you to use a preset database to add your games if you wish, or you can simply enter the information manually however you want. So, when I bought a bunch of games for Chinese handheld Gameking, I could just type their names into the program and add them that way, without having to rely on some database to already have them listed.
But by far, my favorite thing about Game Collector is the customization it allows. You can fill in as much or as little information about the games as you wish, and you can then tell the program how much of that info to actually display in your list. Let me give you an example. Whenever I add a new game to my collection, I always put in the following information: title, platform, developer, publisher, year of release, and rarity value. But if I wanted to, I could add more. A lot more. You can also list things like the number of discs a game uses, what kind of multiplayer support it has, its rating, its genre, review scores, where you bought it, how much you paid, what it's worth, and so on. You can go really deep with it if you want. Or not.
If you like, you can add a picture of both the front and the back of the box. You can then have the program display all your box images for each system in varying sizes. And on top of everything else, there are a number of user created fields, where you can have the program display any information you want. This is useful in the rare case that you want it to display something that it didn't already have built into it. This is how I get the program to display rarity values.
Here's a picture sample of my list.
I have my list sorted alphabetically first by system, then by title within each system. You can also see the developer and publisher fields, the release year, and lastly a user created field I use to display the rarity. On the right side of the screen you see a sidebar. Now, I personally don't use this feature, so I just push it to the side to allow for more room in my title field, but for those that do use it, this is where your box art would show up, along with any description of the game you wrote and any other info you decided to use.
There's one other feature I'd like to touch on. You can go to the Tools dropdown menu and click Statistics to get this great little graph showing you how your collection breaks down. That is, how many games you have for each system. Here.
So, overall I'd totally recommend this program. It's very easy to use, offers an insane amount of customization if you want it, and you can even export your list to a number of different formats to allow you to post it online, or export it to a portable device so you can carry it with you. No more buying a game you already have! My only real gripe about the program is this. It cost $30 when I bought it, and I was okay with this cost, but then a few years later, after receiving many updates for the program, I was told that if I wanted to update to the newest version I would have to pay $30 again. I already payed for the program once, and the new update really wasn't anything special, so I didn't like having to pay for it again. But I did. I'm not sure if this means the program is $60 now, but even if it is I would still recommend getting it to any serious game collector.
Now, Comic Collector. This program features a lot of the same types of customization that Game Collector does. You can add all sorts of info for your comics, if you like. What I really like about this program is their extensive database of comics. With Game Collector, I valued being able enter all the information on my own in any way I liked, but with this program I find it much easier just to use their database. You can search through a ridiculous number of titles. Even some of the most obscure limited series are listed in there. When you find a series you like, you can same add it to a list of your favorites and jump straight to it in the future. From there, you can display a list of every issue of that comic (and sort out the ones you already have), including variant covers and reissues. Then just go down the list, check off the ones you want to add to your collection, and you're done! It makes it so simple. Plus, it adds images of the front and back cover for many comics.
Here's a picture.
This program was also $30, which brings me to one final point I wanted to make. Collectorz.com offers a way to get their software for free. On their page, at least back last year when I got Comic Collector, there was an option to complete a couple of free trial offers for some advertisers, and in exchange you could choose one Collectorz.com program for free. Now, I know what you may be thinking, but it may be worth it to check it out. I got my Comic Collector this way, and all I had to do was sign up for some newsletter, which I later canceled. No money was involved, no giving out my phone number, none of that stuff. You may get lucky and find a similar offer if you're interested.
So, if any of you out there read these reviews and decide you want to try the programs, please let me know what you think.
First, Game Collector. I got this program a few years ago. It cost around $30, but I found it well worth it. Before this, I had been using IGN's online database to keep track of my collection, but they simply didn't have every game I had in their database. Plus, their database was filled with mistakes. When my collection started growing to encompass some pretty offbeat games and systems, I quickly realized I needed another solution. Then I found Game Collector. Game Collector allows you to use a preset database to add your games if you wish, or you can simply enter the information manually however you want. So, when I bought a bunch of games for Chinese handheld Gameking, I could just type their names into the program and add them that way, without having to rely on some database to already have them listed.
But by far, my favorite thing about Game Collector is the customization it allows. You can fill in as much or as little information about the games as you wish, and you can then tell the program how much of that info to actually display in your list. Let me give you an example. Whenever I add a new game to my collection, I always put in the following information: title, platform, developer, publisher, year of release, and rarity value. But if I wanted to, I could add more. A lot more. You can also list things like the number of discs a game uses, what kind of multiplayer support it has, its rating, its genre, review scores, where you bought it, how much you paid, what it's worth, and so on. You can go really deep with it if you want. Or not.
If you like, you can add a picture of both the front and the back of the box. You can then have the program display all your box images for each system in varying sizes. And on top of everything else, there are a number of user created fields, where you can have the program display any information you want. This is useful in the rare case that you want it to display something that it didn't already have built into it. This is how I get the program to display rarity values.
Here's a picture sample of my list.
I have my list sorted alphabetically first by system, then by title within each system. You can also see the developer and publisher fields, the release year, and lastly a user created field I use to display the rarity. On the right side of the screen you see a sidebar. Now, I personally don't use this feature, so I just push it to the side to allow for more room in my title field, but for those that do use it, this is where your box art would show up, along with any description of the game you wrote and any other info you decided to use.
There's one other feature I'd like to touch on. You can go to the Tools dropdown menu and click Statistics to get this great little graph showing you how your collection breaks down. That is, how many games you have for each system. Here.
So, overall I'd totally recommend this program. It's very easy to use, offers an insane amount of customization if you want it, and you can even export your list to a number of different formats to allow you to post it online, or export it to a portable device so you can carry it with you. No more buying a game you already have! My only real gripe about the program is this. It cost $30 when I bought it, and I was okay with this cost, but then a few years later, after receiving many updates for the program, I was told that if I wanted to update to the newest version I would have to pay $30 again. I already payed for the program once, and the new update really wasn't anything special, so I didn't like having to pay for it again. But I did. I'm not sure if this means the program is $60 now, but even if it is I would still recommend getting it to any serious game collector.
Now, Comic Collector. This program features a lot of the same types of customization that Game Collector does. You can add all sorts of info for your comics, if you like. What I really like about this program is their extensive database of comics. With Game Collector, I valued being able enter all the information on my own in any way I liked, but with this program I find it much easier just to use their database. You can search through a ridiculous number of titles. Even some of the most obscure limited series are listed in there. When you find a series you like, you can same add it to a list of your favorites and jump straight to it in the future. From there, you can display a list of every issue of that comic (and sort out the ones you already have), including variant covers and reissues. Then just go down the list, check off the ones you want to add to your collection, and you're done! It makes it so simple. Plus, it adds images of the front and back cover for many comics.
Here's a picture.
This program was also $30, which brings me to one final point I wanted to make. Collectorz.com offers a way to get their software for free. On their page, at least back last year when I got Comic Collector, there was an option to complete a couple of free trial offers for some advertisers, and in exchange you could choose one Collectorz.com program for free. Now, I know what you may be thinking, but it may be worth it to check it out. I got my Comic Collector this way, and all I had to do was sign up for some newsletter, which I later canceled. No money was involved, no giving out my phone number, none of that stuff. You may get lucky and find a similar offer if you're interested.
So, if any of you out there read these reviews and decide you want to try the programs, please let me know what you think.
Monday, January 25, 2010
My history: Comics
As a young kid, I was too busy with Star Wars and video games to give much thought to comic books. I was aware of them in only a very basic way. I pretty much only knew about Superman because of the Christopher Reeves movies, and I knew about Batman because of the old Adam West show. I was a fan of both of these things, but I never gave a thought to the actual comics. On the Marvel side of things, I was aware of the Hulk because of the Lou Ferrigno show, and aware of Spider-Man and Captain America just because of how big they were. But still, I had no interest in their comics. I didn't have any friends who read comics, and, like I said, with video games dominating most of my time comics just never entered into my mind.
It wasn't until the eighth grade that I started making some friends who read comics. And then Fox started airing the X-Men cartoon. The Batman cartoon was great, but because of the Adam West show and the Tim Burton movie I saw Batman as something separate from comics. The X-Men cartoon was my first exposure to something that came purely from the world of comic books. I knew who Wolverine was, mainly from seeing him in a few video games, but other than that the X-Men were a mystery to me. But the show captivated me from the very first episode, and I started learning everything I could form my comic reading friends about the X-Men.
One day a friend came over to my place after just picking up some comics from the gas station across the street from me (remember when you could buy comics at a gas station?). He asked if he could leave them at my place, because his mom didn't like him buying comics. I said, "Ok.", so he left them with me, and I read them and enjoyed them a lot. It wasn't long after that that I bought my first comic, X-Men #30, the wedding of Cyclops and Jean Grey.
After that I started going to the comic book shop every Wednesday for new comics. I stayed with the X-Men books all through the Age of Apocalypse storyline (still my favorite arc ever) and a little beyond, and even started reading Spider-Man for a bit before I had to stop. It was at that time that we moved out to Indiana, and the comic shop was now just too far a drive to get my dad to make every week. Since I didn't have my license yet, that meant no more comics for me. It wasn't until years later, when a friend started buying mass quantities of comics on eBay, that I started seriously collecting.
He bought so many comics that he didn't have anywhere to put them all. He knew I liked comics too, so he asked if I would help him store some for a while. He gave me like four or six longboxes full of comics to look through, all '80s era Marvel titles. While looking through his X-Men books, I noticed a really large amount of doubles, enough to make up a full run of Uncanny X-Men from '83 to '94! I asked him if I could buy them off of him, but he just gave them to me as payment for helping him store his books. Thus I had an instant collection.
I've been working on it, slowly, ever since. I mainly only collect X-Men comics, but I also have a good handful of Spider-Man titles. Lately I've been considering Batman and Superman as well. I'm also receiving current issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I have four full longboxes, as well as a shortbox I use to hold my Age of Apocalypse titles. I currently own 999 comic books. I plan on getting a copy of Gambit vol. 3 #1 for my thousandth book. He's always been my favorite X-Man.
Just like with my video game collection, I use Collectorz.com's Comic Collector software to keep track of my comics. I plan on writing a review of Collectorz.com's stuff eventually. I like it, it does the job quite well.
It wasn't until the eighth grade that I started making some friends who read comics. And then Fox started airing the X-Men cartoon. The Batman cartoon was great, but because of the Adam West show and the Tim Burton movie I saw Batman as something separate from comics. The X-Men cartoon was my first exposure to something that came purely from the world of comic books. I knew who Wolverine was, mainly from seeing him in a few video games, but other than that the X-Men were a mystery to me. But the show captivated me from the very first episode, and I started learning everything I could form my comic reading friends about the X-Men.
One day a friend came over to my place after just picking up some comics from the gas station across the street from me (remember when you could buy comics at a gas station?). He asked if he could leave them at my place, because his mom didn't like him buying comics. I said, "Ok.", so he left them with me, and I read them and enjoyed them a lot. It wasn't long after that that I bought my first comic, X-Men #30, the wedding of Cyclops and Jean Grey.
After that I started going to the comic book shop every Wednesday for new comics. I stayed with the X-Men books all through the Age of Apocalypse storyline (still my favorite arc ever) and a little beyond, and even started reading Spider-Man for a bit before I had to stop. It was at that time that we moved out to Indiana, and the comic shop was now just too far a drive to get my dad to make every week. Since I didn't have my license yet, that meant no more comics for me. It wasn't until years later, when a friend started buying mass quantities of comics on eBay, that I started seriously collecting.
He bought so many comics that he didn't have anywhere to put them all. He knew I liked comics too, so he asked if I would help him store some for a while. He gave me like four or six longboxes full of comics to look through, all '80s era Marvel titles. While looking through his X-Men books, I noticed a really large amount of doubles, enough to make up a full run of Uncanny X-Men from '83 to '94! I asked him if I could buy them off of him, but he just gave them to me as payment for helping him store his books. Thus I had an instant collection.
I've been working on it, slowly, ever since. I mainly only collect X-Men comics, but I also have a good handful of Spider-Man titles. Lately I've been considering Batman and Superman as well. I'm also receiving current issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I have four full longboxes, as well as a shortbox I use to hold my Age of Apocalypse titles. I currently own 999 comic books. I plan on getting a copy of Gambit vol. 3 #1 for my thousandth book. He's always been my favorite X-Man.
Just like with my video game collection, I use Collectorz.com's Comic Collector software to keep track of my comics. I plan on writing a review of Collectorz.com's stuff eventually. I like it, it does the job quite well.
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