I had the action figure, then the soundtrack, now this comic, and I still haven't played it?

Well, not the new one, anyway! From 2009, Bionic Commando: Chain of Command, written by Andy Diggle, art by Colin Wilson. Cover by Dave Gibbons!

No number, since this was a promo comic, no UPC, for the 2009 game, based on the '87 arcade game and its later ports and a 2008 enhanced remake, which retconned the unrelated 1985 Commando as part of the continuity! Nathan 'RAD' Spencer was the Bionic Commando, a decorated soldier after rescuing the captured Joseph "Super Joe" Gibson: Super Joe had been the player character in Commando as well as one of three choices in Mercs. Here, Joe was no longer a field officer, but gives Nathan his orders; to prevent a pair of bionically-augmented soldiers from defecting out of Alaska. In the course of the mission, Nathan discovers the soldiers weren't really defecting as much as running for their lives: bionic components had been forced upon them, but the government had maybe decided they didn't cost out and was decommissioning them, which would've been fatal. Taking their side, Nathan tries but seemingly fails to save them, when the army betrays him. His backup Magdalene is forced to retreat, while Nathan is arrested and court-martialed, ala the A-Team; setting up the start of the new game.

Plotwise, that's a little grim; and the original game was basically fighting neo-Nazis! Not necessarily here, but the remake also pulls a bit I didn't like from the first Mission: Impossible movie...I had only played the original arcade game, but I still got the update's NECA action figure in early 2009. Sadly, the update only got middling reviews, even though it had Mike Patton as Nathan's voice actor! Much later--maybe this year, even?--I got the Rearmed soundtrack from Internet Archive and love it. It's mostly remixes of the original game's music. Still, Bionic Commando hasn't been completely forgotten: he's managed to turn up in later Marvel vs. Capcom installments: you'd think I might play those, but honestly I haven't bought a system since PS2, and I still play that on occasion. Including the ported Bionic Commando! Maybe I'll take a run at it now... Read more!

"Kick."

Every time there's a toy show, there's always some figure I buy that I'm later asking "why?" and probably a couple I'm kicking myself for not buying. This time around I bought a Marvel Legends Toad--I think the first series one, that kind of sucks? He's dingy and not as articulated as a usual Legends figure, since I think he was repurposed into that line. And I didn't buy a Dr. Doom with a very sharp aftermarket cloth cape, or the Marvel Super-Heroes video game Thanos! The latter had been part of a set with Psylocke and may be tough to dig up now. That said, I did get a coupon for Never Enough Toys, and I'll be checking them out later today--as I type this, anyway, this won't post for a bit! (I got a DCUC Cyborg Superman, and um, the Widow-mom from the Black Widow movie. Melina Vostokova, or such. That's at least the second time I've got a figure from a two-pack there, and the more desirable one at that!)

How many strips have I done with figures from video games that I don't play? A goddamn ton! But I love the first two Marvel Capcom games: I was never really good at the combo system on the third. I don't think current fighting games go for the leftfield, oddball characters anymore, though; like Shuma-Gorath. (The Tekken series is another, that I think used to have so many weirdos and has largely phased them out?) Anyway, so far Shuma's the only one of the recent video game Legends that I've picked up, because he was the only new character for me: I have Psylocke, Silver Samurai, Juggernaut figures.

   

For Blackheart, I wanted to emulate his "Heart of Darkness" hyper combo; and I had those Shadow Demons from Super 7's Dungeons & Dragons . That was probably half off retail at Ross, but good luck: I've seen a bit of Super 7 backstock there, but it's a crapshoot. I did see Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Skull at one; much cheaper, but then getting him without Bulk seems like getting David Spade without Chris Farley. OK, maybe not that bad.  .

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"Chair."

I wonder if maybe I haven't been confusing Metron's Mobius Chair: didn't Zodac have something similar in the early DC Comics Masters of the Universe comics? For some reason I keep thinking the chair should have runners that are almost like the nacelles on a Star Trek ship, but also convenient for other riders. I kept thinking the chair could hold, um, like a dozen or so X-Men and Teen Titans, even though I know it doesn't!

We don't have Waffle Houses in this neck of the woods, which is kind of a shame but also doesn't really matter, since I haven't gone out for breakfast in a long time. Unless you count like Burger King 2 for $5 breakfast things, which you probably shouldn't.  I know Waffle Houses are a kind of emergency marker: if they're closed, you need to evacuate, like yesterday; but I also think if they sold booze there would be few survivors. I'm pretty sure the guys that make Tekken wanted to have a Waffle House stage, but for some reason were having trouble getting ahold of whoever held the license. Seems like they should've been able to knock it off, though...

And we'll probably discuss more video game figures next time, but do I remember who made that Mortal Kombat Raiden? Ah, we saw him some time back, and he was from Mezco. Do they make mid-range figures anymore? I've seen previews for a One:12 Nightcrawler that I will of course cough up for. But, I think McFarlane has the Mortal Kombat license right now; and I'm mildly curious if it's like Transformers can be: anybody doing the license, starts with the same few guys, and doesn't necessarily get real deep into the roster.

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Winning with Ted would probably be like playing on hard with no continues; but should be more doable than this.

I buy a fair amount of quarterbooks, and more often than not they're delightful. Every once in a while we hit one that's we don't like, and sometimes we still have to blog it, so we don't buy it again, like I did here...from 2017, Injustice 2 #5, "Hostile Takeover" Written by Tom Taylor, layouts by Bruno Redondo, finishes by Vicente Cifuentes.

This was set in the video game's continuity, where...honestly, I forget. Pretty sure Lois is dead and Superman has gone totalitarian, and while his reign may have ended at this point, the world was not in good shape. At Kord Industries, Ted Kord and Skeets are training the very green Jaime Reyes, the new Blue Beetle. Feeling Jaime was shaken up after blowing up an expensive robot, Ted sends Skeets with him, and the little security robot ominously notes "Yes. This is how it happened." Ted doesn't have time to dwell on that, since he's then visited by the skulking Batman: Ted angrily says Jaime isn't ready, but Bats is actually there for him. Not as Blue Beetle, god no. He needs people with honesty, and assets, to help in the rebuilding. Ted is in, but soon gets another visitor.

Booster Gold is there, to say goodbye, although he promises to be there at the end. To his credit, Booster had tried to stop it, more than once, apparently getting sent to time jail more than once. He suggests Ted put on his costume, "make a few of them regret it." He suits up...and is almost immediately shut down by Damian, now Nightwing, with Deadshot and Katana. Katana cuts off his hand, even! Why those three and Cheetah are working for Ra's al Ghul, your guess is as good as mine, I haven't played the game. Cheetah forces Ted to read an statement, but Ra's gets on camera as well: it's not a ransom demand. Demanding the immediate stop of "everything" from deforestation to coal burning, Ra's has Ted and a dozen other captured industrialists murdered to make his point. It looks like they're going to be fed to the sharks, but it's to Killer Croc and Orca, which may be worse. For good measure, Ra's also blows up several of their buildings with the workers inside.

True to his word, Booster is there with Ted when he dies, as his best friend makes him laugh one more time. I think I'd be less pissed at this comic if Ted had got more than just one punch on Deadshot; and I don't know how the rest of the series would go down, but Katana and Damian need to pay for this. That and I hate the recurring motif of Ted's death, partially to make way for Jaime, not quite to make him the replacement for Saint Barry Allen. Read more!

"One Thursday in the Baxter Building."

Yet another entry in our "action figures from video games I don't play," we have Pathfinder from Apex Legends! Perhaps because these are a ton of tooling, he's gotten two figures; but the second is a distinct improvement, with the addition of wearable boxing gloves, and a little base to help keep him standing. (That's the white one, the blue was the first one and does not have either.)

For a lotta issues of Fantastic Four and Marvel Two-in-One, the story would start with Ben holding up some cockamamie hunk of machinery, or lifting colossal weights. I don't think you saw it as often in Ben's solo books, or much at all anymore. Feel like Ben still puts away the sandwiches, though.

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We've looked at a ton of action figures from video games I don't play, so how about a comic tie-in from a video game I don't play? From 2015, Batman: Arkham Knight #9, featuring "Suicide Blues, Part 2 of 2" Written by Peter J. Tomasi, pencils by Ig Guara and Viktor Bogdanovic, inks by Julio Ferreira and Richard Friend; and "Burning the Days, part 1 of 2" Written by Tomasi, pencils by Bogdanovic, inks by Friend.

This was the ninth issue of...sigh..."the official prequel to the Arkham Trilogy finale." (Pinches bridge of nose) I swear to god sometimes, comics...So, we're more than midstream on this one, but in the opener, Batman, Deadshot, and a remarkably surly Commissioner Gordon battle a creature that looks like Metamorpho on the cover, but more Clayface-like within. Deadshot's costume is just dire, though. I don't know if he has it in the game and the blame should fall there; but still. The fight goes a little long when Gordon pistol-whips Deadshot before he can help Batman, and later when Deadshot claims to be "on the side of the angels this time!" through his work for Amanda Waller, Gordon isn't having that either and drops him like oil prices. (Too soon?)

After Gordon and Waller have a bit of a territorial-pissing contest (in which he mentions Boomerang was dead) he gets a call to the roof, where Batman has just returned the missing Bruce Wayne! Nightwing had played Batman there, but then has to take off in search of his second stolen motorcycle that month, possibly both courtesy of the mysterious Arkham Knight. Best guess, but wasn't it Jason?

I see what they were going for, but I don't like that Batman-kick panel; that guy just looks confused. In the second story, a year after his escape from Arkham, Calendar Man prepares to make his dramatic return. Batman beats up some of his former henchmen looking for him, and Barbara has a date--with Tim Drake? It's just tacos and a movie, but feels just wrong, and follow my math: it's like a word problem for your homeschooled nerds! Barbara was a few years older than Dick--at least three, arguably more. Dick was maybe five years older than Jason, and Jason was at least two or three years older than Tim. But the video game is its own thing, so whatever.

Back when Hastings closed, I didn't spring for the Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Electocutioner/Talia 3-pack, because they would've been a bit tall. Not quite kicking myself on that one, but if they fell in my lap, I guess...
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One of the few pieces of dad-advice I've given my kids, is never, ever, ever get rid of a video-game console. Even if you've played it to death and are bored to tears by it, I guarantee if you do pawn it off, in five or ten years you'll be kicking yourself. I miss my old Sega, for example, and today's book got me remembering a beloved...actually, at best it was an also-ran, but still. Anyway, from 2013, Injustice: Gods Among Us #6, "Part Six" Written by Tom Taylor, pencils by Mike S. Miller, David Yardin, and Jheremy Raapack; inks by Miller, Yardin, Raapack, Le Beau Underwood, and Jonas Trindade.

Above the title on the cover reads "From the creators of Mortal Kombat," but this made me think of the 1995 fighting game Justice League Task Force, which was pretty mediocre in comparison to other fighting games available at the time...like Mortal Kombat, actually. I preferred Eternal Champions, but we're getting off-topic...JLTF gave about three seconds of lip-service to the why of "let's you and him fight," in that your opponents were actually android duplicates. Which does explain how Green Arrow could beat...anyone. Tom Taylor would get a lot of issues out of setting up the grudge matches for Injustice: Gods Among Us and its sequel. This issue opens mid-riot at Arkham--actually, I'm assuming it's Arkham, it's not named until much later. Solomon Grundy has Robin by the face and knocks Wonder Woman through a wall, but Nightwing takes a moment to egg Superman on: Grundy is dead, you can do whatever to him. And he does, lasering off the zombie's hand then flying through his chest.

Nightwing frees Robin from Grundy's dead mitt, and while Robin tries to play it off like he had it under control, Nightwing doubts it but still covers for him with Batman. Batman then blows the head off the still-moving Grundy. While fighting other prisoners, Robin starts in with the excessive force, claiming Superman was right and they didn't deserve protection. When Nightwing criticizes him, a petulant Robin sidearms his stick at Dick--catching him in the side of the head, and he breaks his neck in the fall! Isn't that how Million Dollar Baby ended?

Superman tries to comfort Robin, partly because it was an accident, but also because I think he was on Supe's side there. Batman, of course, is devastated at the loss of his son. There's what seems like a jarring transition then, to Catwoman, as she robs from the one percent and gives to the poor; maybe keeping a bit of the shinier stuff for herself. Superman shows up mid-robbery, and Catwoman has to take off, but has planned ahead: she heads for the sewers, armed with sonic bafflers and an earring with a sliver of Kryptonite! Not enough Kryptonite, though, as Superman is able to take it out with heat vision. He's not there to stop or kill her, though: he wants her to help Batman through his grief, since he couldn't. Look, it's a fighting game, not a talking game, alright? Selina agrees, although she also suggests that Superman consider "some wrath for the evil people who truly rule the world."

After taking care of Alfred and Bruce for two pages, Selina accompanies Batman to the Bat-Signal, lit not by Commissioner Gordon, but by the president. Superman and his side (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Shazam, among others) have begun dictating peace across the world, stopping multiple global conflicts by force. Batman knows that doesn't help the underlying problems, but to enforce the peace Superman might have to take over completely. The president wants Batman to stop him; in return Catwoman wants him to be a better president. They begin gathering their player characters--I mean, team.

Although killed here, I know Nightwing is a playable character in the game: maybe Taylor brings him back elsewhere. This is a little grimdark for my tastes, but a perfectly fine random comic to read.
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It's not our proudest tradition, but I guess it's still tradition?

I don't play a lot of video games of late, and certainly not current ones, yet I keep buying action figures from them, usually on the cheap. So far this year we've seen McFarlane's Destiny 2 line and their Fortnite Skull Trooper. Today we've got Hasbro's Overwatch Ultimates: Hanzo/Genji and Tracer/McCree.

I don't know much about Overwatch, but I do know these are probably alternate 'skins' for the characters. Back in the day, they would be the 'Player 2' looks, kind of like the difference between home and away jerseys; except I'm hoping these don't cost extra in-game. These two-packs were originally scheduled under code-names: Tracer and McCree, for example, were Chili/Mango. I don't know if Hasbro was trying to keep the lid on what they had coming, but I wonder if repaints were what fans wanted, or if the demand had been met with the single-carded figures.

These two-packs were $9.99 each at Ross, which works out to five bucks a figure! There were two other two-pack options, so I may have to keep my eyes open; but I was looking for seriously marked-down DC Multiverse figures. So don't necessarily make a separate trip looking for these, either; it's always a bit of a crapshoot. And we'll actually have at least one more video game figure before the end of the year!
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Of course, I had to play it so much I might be sick of it now.

I've been playing Marvel's Contest of Champions game for about a year and a half now, and while I've been having fun, it bugged me that I didn't get a Nightcrawler for a long time, and he was only a three-star. (Out of five.) Then the other day they had a four-star Nightcrawler as a prize, based on rank rewards.

To explain that, the game has milestone and rank rewards: the milestones are clearly marked, get X amount of points, get this prize. But the rank rewards are based on other players' scores as well, and I had no idea how many points I would need to make the top ten percent to get Nightcrawler. The milestone rewards top out at a million and a half; and I thought maybe three million would get a high enough ranking. Then I hedged my bet by grinding out fights to four million. Then I went for the extra super bonus by pushing all the way to 5,367,306; which was only good enough to be ranked 193! Still, I finally have that four-star Nightcrawler.

Now, to level him up...

Meanwhile, since I spent so much time playing games, I'm behind on posts! Well, a better one tomorrow. Although I don't think it was a great comic, but we'll get to it.
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Retro Toy Week: Toy Biz Resident Evil Zombies!

We're more than doubling up on this one, but this is a batch of toys I especially wanted to look at this week. Not just because it's still more videogame characters from a game I haven't played: the Resident Evil Zombie with Forest Speyer and Resident Evil 2 Zombie Cop with exploding action!


Even though I enjoyed the first couple Resident Evil movies, I've never played any of the games. It's not that I've been avoiding them, but they haven't fallen into my lap, either. I have only a nodding acquaintance with the mythology of either version; the T-virus, the Umbrella Corporation, lickers, and whatnot. Ditto the characters--I know a couple of the zombies came with Claire or Hunk or whoever, but they're in a different bin. (No, they weren't; I just wasn't interested in them.)

The bald zombie that came with Hunk reminds me of the cover of the original Dawn of the Dead, and since he came with a crow, I do believe that's an intentional homage. He may be a tough one to dig up now. The link is to eBay since I didn't find one of him on Amazon, and even with Hunk (the gasmasked fellow) and accessories he's a bit spendy. In that vein, if you look for the cop zombie, be sure he has the little top-of-his-head, cap/brain piece: press his guts, and he explodes into three parts!


But for figures from 1998-99, the Resident Evil zombies hold up great on the sculpt and paint fronts. There's a lot of exposed bone, tendons, and blood; as well as nice detail work on the lab zombies' little ID badges or the bald zombie's plaid shirt. However, they haven't aged as well in scale or articulation: they're too big to go with 3 3/4 inch figures like Star Wars or G.I. Joe, and too small for the six-inch(ish) scale of Marvel Legends or DCUC...


The zombies did turn up a couple times here, even though yeah, they're woefully out of scale. NECA has had the Resident Evil license in recent years, and I don't think they're the only one, either. So, there are more options out there for your videogame zombie needs, but I think a lot of them will be slightly bigger than six-inch scale!

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Apparently, this game doesn't want me to finish it...

Some time ago, I was playing X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, until the game refused to let me fight the final battle. I don't know if the disc was bad, or the file on the memory card corrupted, but it quit and that was that. Then, over the weekend, I hit up a local pawn shop for DVD's. I swear I was actually looking for something specific, something I thought said pawn shop would have...no idea what, though.

But, the Oldest wanted a couple PS2 games, and had saved some. Then the guys there offered some overstock PS2 10 for 10 bucks. Fine, sold. Among other nonsense, there was a copy of Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death, which like many of the games I buy, probably isn't amazing but will be good enough for me. And, I bought a new X-Men Legends II, which I've been playing when I should be blogging or something. I used some cheats, since I played my way through most of the game already...and now it's locked up twice on me today. I'm starting to suspect my frankly ancient PS2 now.

Fortunately, I did a good bit of reading before getting these games and devoting all my time to them: I read Greg Cox's novelization of Infinite Crisis. Which I got for a couple bucks in Borders' closeout sale, which is the only reason I gave it a try, because I didn't really like it any more than I had expected I would. (Which, I should underline, is not Cox's fault, but the state of DC's comics at the time.) In case you've forgotten, and I wouldn't blame you, this was the one with Superman from Earth-2, Superboy-Prime, Brother Eye and the OMAC's--which should be a band, right now--and our Superman as uninspiring and indecisive, Batman as a control freak who has lost control of his giant evil satellite, and Wonder Woman as a murderer on a mission of peace.

Frankly, I thought it was a bit of a trainwreck, and reading it reminded me I really haven't liked a lot of DC's superheroes since the end of Identity Crisis--I maintain, I was expecting a murder mystery that made a damn bit of sense; and that wasn't what that book was going for at all. But, the upside of reading Infinite Crisis is that it really sold me on the idea of the DC reboot. Seriously. The novel convinces you that tossing a ton of continuity out the window is absolutely not the worst thing in the universe.

In better reading news, I'm in the middle of Ralph Steadman's The Joke's Over, a memoir of his life and work with Hunter S. Thompson. Enjoying the hell out of it. And I read Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker: the Outfit. Even without reading the first book, you'll pick it up, and it's a solid read. I don't know if I enjoyed it as much as the New Frontier, but still good.
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I'm just going to be sad today, aren't I?

Ugh. No joy in Mudville today: first, I was actually by the computer, webpage loaded this morning, to try and get Mattel's latest new Masters of the Universe Classics figure. Never had a chance: Vikor sold out in three minutes. (Poe's POA set me up with the initial link, and you can check out the Happy Vikor Day post to see the figure, and some comments from who did and did not get one.) Now, best guess would be that Mattel made enough for the subscribers but not necessarily enough for fans looking for a very Conan-like figure; and it's all but assured that eventually there will be more. Still...not a good start to the day, and looks like Vikor won't be visiting the Bastards anytime soon.

Then, from Comics Alliance, Leaked 'X-Men Destiny' screenshots for the upcoming game, which apparently features a tribal-tattooed mutant character, possibly one of the player characters available, that piles on so much 'cool' that he makes Poochie seem positively restrained. Which wouldn't bother me so much, since I had no real intention of playing said game, but then there was this piece of concept art:

You know, I think I hate that hat the most. Sadly, if they made a Nightcrawler figure of this sketch, I would be bound by rule to buy one...

Between that and the death of a thousand cuts of a pretty uninspiring batch of Marvel solicits from Comic Book Resources (Annihilators was the only book I was completely sold on) I'm not feeling that enthusiastic this evening. Tomorrow will be a better day, and to be honest, if these are the worst things to happen to me? I'm getting off pretty damn easy.

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