MARVEL HEROCLIX: X-MEN X OF SWORDS MINIATURES GAME

Wizkid’s starter sets are superb these days. When the game first launched, introducing new players to this (fairly simple) comic book themed strategy game was a little tricky and a little random.  These days however, every time Wizkid’s releases a new range of Heroclix booster boxes,  we get a comprehensive, well designed and interesting stand-alone board game that also doubles as an introduction to Heroclix as a whole.

Marvel Heroclix: X-Men X Of Swords Miniatures Game is the latest iteration of this approach, much like the What If? set before it.  This is slight improvement on the previous set; the rules are clearer and the map pieces can be used in different ways for various scenarios.  At it’s core it’s still the same fun strategy game; form a team of super heroes using the models provided and then beat the ever-living snot out of your opponent. You’ve got bystander and object tokens to throw about, and any complicated rules are explained either on the heroes card or via the rotating click base.

This set is inspired by the recent X of Swords storyline, which sees the traditional X-Men form their own nation on the living island of Krakoa. The plot-line sets X-Men against the strange inhabitants of Arakko, an ultra-harsh community of super-powered near immortals who share origins with the X-Men.  You don’t need to know any of this to enjoy the game, but it’s more fun if you know the comics.

The models in the set reflect this; we get X-Men, Arrakki and some of Apocalypse’s brood. We get Storm, Magik, Cable, Gorgon, Iska, War, Summoner, Solem, Death and of course, Wolverine. Each model has two cards, one with more basic rules and one that’s a bit more advanced. These models are pre-painted and excitingly posed.

The new twiddle for this set is X-Men Tarot Cards. Though themed along the lines of the traditional fortune telling game, these are actually scenario adjusting cards. You place a deck of these cards on the table (you get five in the box) , and play one each turn. These cards adjust the established rules, making certain powers temporarily stronger or providing additional support. Additional cards can be collected via the boosters. These are nice to have, and thematic with the X Of Swords set.

Overall, another great introduction to Heroclix.

Marvel HeroClix: X-Men X of Swords Booster

The X-Men is easily Marvel’s longest running, most ridiculous, super-hero themed soap opera. The plotlines are incredibly involved, and the conclusions are epic in scale. The X of Swords storyline attempted to smash together a whole host of different plot-threads, all the while various key character waved about a variety of special blades, from Wolverine’s Muramasa Blade to Storm’s glowing Wakandan sword.

Obviously a storyline with lots of heroes waving over-grown cutlery about (and a wide cast of characters) was going to get the Heroclix treatment. Fans should know the drill by now; Heroclix is a collectable miniatures game with very easy to play rules. Each model has a base that rotates, which can be used to keep track of the models hit points and current abilities.  Movement is based on the play mat,  issues are resolved by rolling 6-sided dice. It’s straight forward and fun to play, and each booster provides more super heroes to play with. They’re a random selection, so you have to keep getting the boxes, which come with 5 models per box.

This booster has some fun models. For example this set gives us Orchis Soldiers as a common piece; these are footsoldiers for villains such as Nimrod and Sentinels.  They’re a standard troop type, so if you’re planning on fielding sentinels they’re a fun bunch of low level mooks to field. We also get Sevalithi Vampires (monsters from Otherworld), which are a robust close combat mook. The various blades can also be found in this set; though little plastic weapons on a base can look a little silly, they’re really nice tokens for a thing that’s very useful in game.

We get a bunch of ‘astral projected’ heroes, which is really just an excuse to put these models in clear plastic. Jean Grey, Apocalypse and Mystique get this treatment. Juggernaut looks especially impressive as he’s an explosion of orange.

Otherworld/Excalibur fans will be delighted to learn the range features the dragon Lockheed, Kate Pride (looking very much like a space pirate now she’s grown up),  Captain Britain (Betty Braddock and Rogue versions) as well as Saturnyne, who has a ‘aura’ effect on the model, thanks to some clear plastic.  We also see Mad Jim Jaspers who is very, very orange and not a unit we can imagine getting much use out of in play unless you really need to equip your units early on.

They are some familiar favourites. The Emma Frost model is sculpted in a ‘tired leader’ style pose, and she generate the Cuckoos as one hit counters. (This keeps in with the comics, as the Cuckoos continually die and come back.).  They come in diamond and none diamond for of course. Deadpool is here, with his snorkel and rubber-duck. It’s a fun sculpt and on the board it plays like Deadpool; hard to kill, quite annoying but fun. X-23 is of course in this set, and it’s the version that got sent into a time-warp.  So she looks like Wolverine, has the best regeneration powers in the game and has outwit, which is a useful power that let’s you avoid things happening to your team.

This range also features chase cards called ‘Tarot Cards’. These are stratagems that boost certain abilities for a turn. It’s a nice bonus to find in a box, but really it’s just another thing to collect.

This release also includes a (separately available)  Play At Home Kit. These kits replace turning up to store events to get an exclusive figure. We get a Map of Otherworld which is a fairly standard play-mat and a card and model for the mutant Pyro. He’s not earth-shattering in terms of rules, being a decent ranged attacked with the ability to hand out flame markers like they’re candy, but apart fromthat nothing special. It’s a nice model, posed mid throwing flame.  The release also includes a dice and token pack. Crossed swords replace the 6 on the dice, and the tokens are chunky poker-chip style affairs.

If you’re just after the core heroes, or simply looking to get into the game, check out the Starter Set instead.

Over all, a solid release for Hero Clix players looking to expand their collection of mutants, and some nice pre-painted models for general X-Men fans.

Dungeons & Dragons: Infernal Tides

One of the things that makes Dungeons and Dragons fiction work so well is a that odd mix of the past with modern ideas. The fifth edition of the game blends modern game design with Tolkien-inspired worlds and Vancian magic to create something unique. Similarly, Jim Zub’s Dungeons & Dragons: Infernal Tides comic book pulls the trick by introducing beloved heroes into the new version of The Forgotten Realms.

Or to put it another way, this book puts ranger Minsc and his hamster, Boo into a version of the D&D adventure, Descent in Avernus.  Minsc and his hamster companion have become the poster children for D&D, ever since their humble origins as NPCs in the Baldur’s Gate video game. Though the fan favourite is the main character, he’s the sort of hero that reacts to the world around him. Minsc is simply too chaotic (and kind hearted) to drive the story. Zub has used this to maximum effect; Infernal Tides is a solid exercise in world building and uses an ensemble cast very well.

Everything bounces off Minsc; arrows, rocks, the plot and the dialogue from the rest of cast. The team is mostly a stereotypical D&D party, right down to their equipment and character design.

The plot revolves around a bunch of adventurers facing off against the forces of Hell. The story moves at quite a speed; one moment we are in the thriving metropolis that is Baldur’s Gate, the next we are in the library fortress known as Candlekeep , then off to other notable Forgotten Realm’s locations until we end up in Hell itself (as the title of the book implies).  Minsc companions feel very much like a D&D adventuring party, to the point where gamers can easily identify what spells and special abilities they’re using. (You can almost hear the dice rattle when the sorcerer uses their wild magic.)

Max Dunbar’s artwork is a great match for the project; it’s the right mix of high fantasy and utter chaos. Dunbar has a style that fills the page with lots of detail, making it look both precise and messy at the same time.  He also seems to have a lot of fun drawing Minsc’s various crazy expressions. Colouring and lettering is tight, and this is a slickly produced book that’s likely to delight D&D fans and read as typical swords and sorcery romp to the uninitiated. Short, fun and definitely worth adding to the shelf of anyone who likes enjoyable fantasy romps.

BLADE RUNNER 2019: VOLUMES 1-3 BOX SET

FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK | RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 7TH

After Blade Runner 2049 opened up the world of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic, creating a thirty-year gap in the narrative ripe for being filled in, Titan Comics jumped on the opportunity. Blade Runner 2019 is split into three volumes of four issues each, all collected here.

Volume 1 begins in the same year, and the same dystopian Los Angeles, as the original movie. It introduces a film noir-esque mystery to be solved – a billionaire’s wife and daughter have gone missing, apparently kidnapped by Replicants.

The script from Michael Green and Mike Johnson – Green was one of the screenwriters of 2049 – nails the world and tone, as does Andres Guinaldo’s art.  There’s also a few surprises and an excellent new protagonist – Ash, a veteran Blade Runner who’s fanatical about her cause but held back by her hidden disability.

The second volume, Off-World, expands the scope by taking Ash to the outer-space colonies mentioned in the movies. She may think the case is closed, but the real villains are still on her trail. Here, the comic really comes into its own, and these frontier planets and mining colonies are impressively imagined; there’s no doubt the new and exciting locations Guinaldo presents are part of the same universe we know from the movies.

Volume 3, Home Again, Home Again, brings Ash back to Earth as various strands of the story come together. With Green having left writing duties to Johnson alone, this third volume feels a little too neat; it lacks the impact or ability to surprise of the first two volumes, though there is intriguing set-up for further adventures in Ash’s future.

Telling one epic new story that expands the horizons of the Blade Runner universe, 2019 is best experienced through this box set edition. Cover galleries, character designs, and some script pages are included as bonus treats.

WILLY’S WONDERLAND #1

Kevin Lewis and G.O. Parsons’s Willy’s Wonderland pit Nicolas Cage against a troupe of murderous animatronics – think Five Nights at Freddy’s meets The Banana Splits Movie. Here to fill in some of the gaps left by the movie, this comic book prequel shows how the crew all came to be. Willy, Ozzie, Arty, Cammy, Tito, Gus, Sara, and Knighty Knight; the gang’s all here. But without Nicolas Cage at his Nicolas Cage-ist, is there any reason to care?

Still, Cage made such short work of Willy and his band of merry monsters that viewers barely had the time to get to know any of them. Writers SA Check and James Kuhoric redress the balance here, in a series of flashbacks to the mascots’ human days. At the same time, the story checks in on the restaurant, feeding the gang a series of fresh-faced recruits as lambs to the slaughter.

The dual timelines mix up the splatter, keeping the blood flowing through to the end of the issue. The art by Puis Calzada is blocky but effective, capturing the mascots’ likenesses well. Emmanuel Ordaz’s colours occasionally look a little too artificial and photoshoppy, but the texture work on the creatures is solid, and the colours do match the look and tone of the book and movie.

Ultimately, the best thing about issue #1 is the wonderfully gory cover by Buz Hasson and Ken Haeser. The story and art inside doesn’t always live up to that promise, but – Cage or no Cage – this is a welcome return to the world of Willy’s Wonderland.

Beast Boy Loves Raven

DC’s range of graphic novels for the Young Adult audience has been surprisingly delightful so far. The idea is pretty simple. Tell super-hero stories, but concentrate on the human drama.  We get action scenes sure, but before the heroes get beaten up, they spend a chunk of time making us care about them first.

Beast Boy Loves Raven sees both heroes at the start of their career. Beast Boy is trying to control his powers where as Raven is trying to figure out how she can avoid unleashing hell on earth.  Both have been lured to the city of Nashville by a mysterious stranger called Slade , who claims to be able to help them.  Those familiar with Teen Titans from other media will be well aware that this is a bad idea. Luckily, they meet up with other super-human types along the way.

The book mostly focuses on Beast Boy and Raven’s inner-monologue. This is a fun little tale of two young people growing to trust each other, with a touch of super-hero fantasy thrown in for good measure. It is a little two-dimensional in places; Raven seems to be more of a stereotypical goth than a haunted hero. Beast Boy is a little too gullible but given that the character is meant to be sweet to the point of stupidity, this barely a massive shift in personality.

Gabriela Downie’s lettering work on the book is a perfect blend of teen magazine and accessibility. It’s bright and brings the book to life. David Calderon’s colours are very pleasing; these books lean toward the pastel and  Calderon’s approach is to use colour to remind the reader of the main character’s powers. This is very well done. Kami Garcia’s writing is strong. It does lean a little too heavily on tropes, but this is a super-hero book, that’s expected. Gabriel Picolo’s art strikes the balance between cartoon and drama – it’s distinctly a Young Adult comic but with just enough nods to Teen Titan’s legacy to make it fun for everyone.

Over all, a great read.

ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD #1

There’s little chance of mistaking Dan Watters, Dani and Dave Stewart’s Arkham City for having anything to do with the video game series of the same name. Just a cursory glance will reveal that this book takes place in a very Serious City on Serious Earth. Tying into current Bat-continuity, Arkham Asylum is down for the count – its gates closed following a chemical attack by the Joker, having killed almost all of the staff and inmates there.

Almost. The surviving Arkham patients have leeched out onto the streets, free to terrorise the citizens of Gotham once more. You’d think that Batman would be all over the situation, but he’s nowhere to be seen in Chapter One of The Order of the World. The story follows surviving Arkham doctor Jocasta Joy as she attempts to track down the escaped inmates. With Joker busy in his own spin-off book, wrier Dan Watters focuses on lesser-known crooks such as the Mad Hatter, Professor Pyg and – in a terrifying re-invention of the character – the horrifying Ten Eyed Man. You thought Two-Face was bad? Well, wait until you get a load of tooth-face.

The Order of the World takes a compelling look at street (and sewer) level Gotham. Dani’s art is excellent, recalling Tim Sale’s work on The Long Halloween and Frank Miller’s Sin City at its best. The colouring and letters by Dave Stewart and Aditya Bidkar furthers the Long Halloween comparison, as does the multi-layered, mystery-focused story Watters is telling here. Fans of Dark Victory and Year One should feel right at home here, in this noir-ish, jet-black Gotham. At the same time, it tells a story of its own, not beholden to the Batman for big action sequences or superhero antics.

The Order of the World is a bold debut from a strong and confident creative team. Between its seething, simmering vision of Gotham City and its nightmarish new villain, Arkham City barely needs Batman at all.

ONION SKIN

Writer and Artist Edgar Camacho has produced something a little bit different with his latest graphic novel, Onion Skin. On the face of it, this is a pretty straight forward tale of two people who strive to do something special with their lives and find happiness. It’s also a story about creepy people in clown make-up, the value of doing what you love and the magic of spicy food. As we dig deeper, it becomes a tale of self-determination and empathy.

Rolando is a young man who hates his pointless and repetitive job. An injury leads to unemployment. Deciding to continue to take risks, he finds himself meeting Nera during a wild night on the town. Nera’s chaotic creativity complements Rolando’s common sense and together they team up to wander America serving delicious fast food out of a van.

The narrative relies heavily on flashbacks to peel back the layers of the various character histories. The simple story is slowly revealed throughout, and though the narrative is very sweet and heart-warming, it’s also a bit messy. Though the art tries to communicate that we’re following different time lines, the colouring is just a little bit too muted for this trick to work.

It’s tempting to describe Onion Skin as a messy and  odd story that reflects how difficult real life can be, but that’s under-selling the more whimsical parts of this tale. The art, much like the writing, seems determined  to make the reader work harder than they need to in order to be entertained.

The result is something much like the titular Onion Skin, easy to discard and not as appealing as it first appears.

WHISTLE A NEW GOTHAM HERO

DC’s range of graphic novels aimed at young adults have been consistently charming and entertaining. Not only are these fun ‘slice of life’ style stories, they also tend to be accessible and inclusive, eschewing lengthy lore explanations in favour of relatable content and fun.   Whistle, A New Gotham Hero continues the trend and tells a story of Gotham City crime busting that doesn’t require a post-graduate degree in Batman Studies to enjoy.

Our protagonist is 16-year-old Willow Zimmerman. She lives in a run down part of Gotham that’s slowly but surely getting worse thanks to indifference from City Hall and various community areas becoming over-run with vegetation over-night, a process the locals call ‘greening’.  Willow’s mother is sick and they can’t afford the healthcare.

Willow works part-time at a dog shelter to try and make ends meet, but over all things are pretty bad. Then she gets another job with a real estate tycoon called E. Nigma and things get a lot more complicated.

Even though it doesn’t sound like it, this is a super-hero origin book. Willow’s transformation into Whistle is a little jarring and ‘dog based’ powers are a little silly, but this is a story based in Gotham City, this sort of daft fantasy is very much expected. One of the things that really helps sell the story is Manuel Preitano’s artwork. It’s gentle, detailed stuff that really does make Gotham feel like a place that people actually live in. Gabby Metzler’s colours are soft and pastel-like for the most part, and this makes everything easy on the eye, drawing the reader rapidly into the story.

Lockhart’s storytelling is excellent throughout. Detailed, atmospheric, accessible and fun,  Whistle is a comic book that will absolutely bring young readers into the world of DC comics and has a little bit of something for everything. Also, we’re a sucker for a story that features cute dogs. Recommended, and certainly one to add to the Christmas stocking filler list.

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS AT THE SPINE OF THE WORLD

The fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons has become an almost unstoppable franchise. With over forty years of storytelling to back it up, the fantasy brand has gone from household name to pop culture phenomenon.  This revival in interest has been handled very well; it would be easy to overload new fans with decades worth of setting detail but instead the old adventures have been gently served out over the last few years. Case in point, Dungeons and Dragons at The Spine of The World, a graphic novel that takes the setting of Icewind Dale and turns it into a rip-roaring fantasy adventure.

Set in a land that has been cursed too forever be winter, the comic book follows the unlikely escapades of a small band of adventurers as they try and find a way to destroy the curse that blights the land. If that sounds familiar then that’s because it’s basically the plot of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden. This graphic novel even has character sheets detailing the adventurers round the back. The story is pretty standard fantasy fare; the heroes bicker between each other and have their own secrets to keep, but pretty much do everything they can to win the day.

It captures the feel of the game quite well, though this means that this does feel more like a tie-in product than something in it’s own right; the book only collects the first four issues of the comic and this means that bigger surprises are only hinted at; it ends too soon.

Martin Coccolo’s art and Katrina Mae Hao’s colouring gives the book a glossy, prog-rock album cover feel and it really does look like something that’s a part of the Dungeons and Dragons range. What we have here is something that is so on brand that it’s hard to be too surprised by it. This makes it a great companion piece for those playing an Icewind Dale campaign, but we can’t say for sure if it’ll appeal to the casual fan. Still, if you like D&D this is well worth checking out.