Le Sigh

Sometimes, most times, I think I should be a lot more dedicated to my writing and updating of this here thing. And then sometimes, I wonder why, oh god why do people look at this misbegotten stain I call a blog. A while back I made note of the fact that many of the site views are coming from folks who probably don’t want to be here, arriving by the magickal musings of Google and sometimes Google Image Search. Fortunes have not improved for those cast upon the spiny shores of my sporadically updated internet fiefdom, as the reporting on recent Search Engine Terms that led here will illustrate. Going through the Terms is sort of a rorschach test reflection of this here blog, so here is an abridged list of said Search Engine Terms, in descending order of frequency with my commentary in parentheses.

spider girl (I’ve since deleted the image file and half-assed post that discussed my general dislike of this type of teen character, the “Daughter from an Alternate Universe,” largely because these characters are bereft of originality and any inspiration, in addition to the discomfort caused by the awkward sexualization inherent in these characters who are often marketed to young females, as if giving Spider-man boobs is some great gift to feminists and female comic fans.)

spidergirl (And yet…)

spider-girl (…she must be popular, somehow. What do I know about girls or popularity or anything else, anyway?)

hack/slash (Case in point.)

hack slash (*sigh*)

batman shark (Conversely, these are words that I would encourage the strongest association with in every aspect of my life.)

shark repellent (Yes, PMA is making it happen!)

batman shark repellent (Three-fer.)

cesar romero (Again, a boon to my blog.)

russian painter (I have no idea.)

joker brian azzarello sex (Still think this book sucks.)

bruce the rubber shark (Again, awesome such associations shall remain.)

spider girl pics (Really? Still?)

rob liefeld (Well, you can’t win them all.)

peanuts comics with references to god (Surprisingly specific search there.)

teen ass (Ye gods, I hope this blog was a wood-killer.)

batman and sharks (More to celebrate.)

rubber dungeon (Again, no idea.)

too short mini skirts (While I’m generally “pro-boner,” again in this case I hope my writings here have banished all erections which may have mistakenly arrived here.)

“all star goddamn batman” (Oh, Franky.)

cin cite sexxxxxy (Oh, cranky Franky, Frank, Frank, Frrrank, Frank-a-doodle, Frankenheimer.)

spectacular boobs (Spectacular!)

powerful woman (Well, that’s a change of pace.)

batman and shark (How we love the status quo.)

batman, shark (In all its permutations, these words are beautiful.)

P.S. Ironically, including all these terms in this post will promote further association with these terms and damn me to an ever spiralling level of meta-commentary blogging about blogging purgatory.

Binge-Nerding

So, here’s the trailer for the upcoming game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion (which by the by, sounds more like a concept restaurant that serves Cherry Spidey-tini’s, than a game).

Being a nerd who loves both comic books and video games can be rough psychologically. We overlook gameplay mediocrity in favor of embodying our favorite licensed characters and utilizing their trademark super-powers. It’s Stockholm Syndrome for geeks, as we sympathize with our abusers/exploiters by accepting a substandard product (at premium prices), and just shrug at generic gameplay and nonsensical plots that are underdeveloped by even the hackiest of standards. And the latter is important, because we generally read comics for the stories they tell.

We accept mediocrity, because the union of comics and video games often present a sort of nerd-buffet overgorged with all the characters, powers, and bits of storylines we desire– but with none of the individual voices, quirks and character-defining moments that make us fans of the original work. Sure we’ll get a Spidey one-liner or two, but a few offhand puns don’t define a character and hardly distract from how arbitrary these games often feel. A lobster and steak buffet is great in theory, but it’s usually a vacuum of dread and existential despair in reality.

Basically what I’d like to see is a comic book game that doesn’t feel generic. A lot of the joy of having so many playable characters in the last Marvel Ultimate Alliance game was deflated by the fact that so many characters special powers did the same thing. And while it wasn’t spectacular, one of Justice League Heroes‘ assets was its fairer differentiation between characters moves and relative strengths (although maybe Green Arrow was just a little too useless). The best games of last year (Grand Theft Auto 4 and Fallout 3 imho) engaged and immersed their players into complex stories rich with idiosyncratic characters and sideplots. The gameplay served the story-telling, rather than being an end in and of itself.

With the mediocre Civil War storyline as its basis, all the recent commentary on event fatigue seems relevant, becasuse many of the same issues with characters getting short shrift to serve a particular product are present (though for the record, I enjoyed Final Crisis throughout its run). In general, my hopes aren’t high for MUA 2. (Although in hindsight, Civil War at least had some interesting moments compared to the ambivalence I felt towards Secret Invasion, which will probably be greater than Dark Reign…. et cetera. ) At best, one hopes that there may be multiple storylines/endings based on the different factions involved, and at worst we’ll get the same old crap w/ some next-gen console lighting effects. And unfortunately for many, the same old crap will suffice.