The mid-to-late 1990s saw an explosion in what I can only call the “Liefeld-ization” of the comic book industry. Every company, it seemed, was moving toward huge, overly-muscled he-men who wielded BFGs the size of small cars, and scantily-clad, anorexically thin women with water balloon breasts bigger than their heads. This phenomenon didn’t necessarily begin with Rob Liefeld and his Image Comics cohorts, but they certainly popularized it. Anti-heroes and “bad girls” were all the rage. Story and characterization gave way to pinup girls (and boys) and bombastic explosions. The industry was flush with cash and bereft of ideas.

But sometime around the turn of the century, story once again took center stage. Guns and breasts shrunk (though not by much) and character-driven storytelling returned. New writers and new artists created new characters and the Age of Liefeld (and friends) slowly receded from memory, save for a few nostalgia-tinged moments when one just had to flip through old issues of WildC.A.T.s and Youngblood. But there comes a time when everything old is new again and years-old properties get dusted off, repackaged and resold to a new audience. Some of these efforts land with a resounding THUD, but not all. Some, in fact, surpass the template upon which they resurrected. But who knew that two of the best, most interesting reboots would come from the House That Liefeld Built, Extreme Studios.

A month ago I reviewed the first of these impressive relaunched properties, Prophet, about a cryo-frozen supersoldier who slept through his alarm and awoke in a world far removed from anything he ever imagined. Today, click through for my review of the most recent Extreme title to have been born anew, fresher and more fascinating than anything published 15 years ago: Glory.

The comic book industry never needed big guns and big boobs to tell good tales and these comics prove it.

Reviews

Glory #23

Much like Prophet, I never read Rob Liefeld’s Glory when it was first published. I quickly grew tired of the big guns/big boobs aesthetic of Liefeld’s Extreme Studios, which is not to say those books didn’t have an audience. I was simply not a member of it. But just as Liefeld rebooted the saga of super-soldier John Prophet by delving into the realm of indie comics and plucking out creators not immediately familiar to mainstream comics readers, Brandon Graham and Simon Roy, the same can be said of Glory, an Extreme mash-up of Wonder Woman and Thor. Written by Joe Keatinge and illustrated by Ross Campbell, Glory #23 (inexplicably continuing the numbering from the previous series) can easily be picked up and enjoyed by anyone previously unfamiliar with the character.

Rather than bog down the flow of the story with an expository “what came before” section, Keatinge, editor of the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning anthology series, PopGun, jumps right into the fray, catching the reader up with the basics while pushing the story forward. Within the first few pages, we learn that Glory is the child of her people’s version of Romeo and Juliet,, or perhaps the Hatfields and McCoys, members of two warring factions destined to destroy each other if not for her birth. Glory is meant to unite her people, but as she grows up, she yearns to take part in our world.

The first time we see Glory on Earth, she’s fighting Nazis during World War II. But when an American soldier asks if she is going to come to America when the war is over, Glory declines, declaring, “… I’m not fighting with you for the sake of your country. I’m here to do what I feel’s right.” With this statement, Keatinge lets the reader know that Glory has her own moral compass, that she refuses to be dragged down into the morass of petty international politics. She is above such trivialities. Her concern is for all of humanity, man-made borders be damned.

From there, Keatinge, jumps ahead to the present day and introduces the real protagonist of his story: Riley, a young woman who for some reason began dreaming of Glory when she was a child. Now a journalism major with a thesis to write, Riley has decided to investigate the true nature of the supposedly dead Glory. Riley’s investigation leads her to a small French island, Mont St. Michel, where she meets the island’s lone American resident, Gloria West, who has apparently been expecting her arrival.

Keatinge does a wonderful job of moving the story forward while honoring the character’s past. We see glimpses of Glory’s exploits in flashbacks, dream sequences and the tale Gloria tell Riley, all of which serve to fill in Glory’s background and deepen the mystery of who she was, why she was here and what happened to her. In one of the most amusing sequences, we’re privy to a conversation between Glory and Supreme, the Extreme version of Superman, during which Supreme condescendingly tells Glory he doesn’t trust her and that her “reckless” behavior is “unacceptable.” Glory snaps back, declaring herself above Supreme’s version of morality, and cementing her independent status among Earth’s superpowered beings.

Joining Keatinge on Glory is Eisner Award-nominated artist Ross Campbell, perhaps best known for his Oni Press series of graphic novels, Wet Moon. Campbell’s intricately rendered art is always a joy to behold. He took what used to look like this:

and this

and turned it into this

Campbell turns characters into actors with expressive body postures and detailed faces, and in addition to expertly maintaining the flow of the story from one panel to the next, his artwork is just plain gorgeous.

Between Prophet and now Glory, Extreme Studios is two-for-two in rebooting its characters for a new era. It just goes to show what can happen when you take the reins off and let creators do what they do best.

*Review copies courtesy of Krypton Comics*

Top Picks of the Week

• Dark Horse Presents #9 (Dark Horse), by various writers and artists, including the second chapter of Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson’s The Massive prologue, and a preview of Caitlin R. Kiernan’s upcoming series, Alabaster
• Near Death Vol. 1 (Image), by Jay Faerber and Simon Guglielmini
• Prophet #22 (Image), by Brandon Graham and Simon Roy
• Wolverine and the X-Men #6 (Marvel), by Jason Aaron and Nick Bradshaw

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 If you’re one the tablet carrying die-hards supporting BlackBerry, you might be interested to know that there’s finally an upgrade to the PlayBook OS. Version 2.0 brings the first round of Android Apps from the BB App World, integration with favorite social networks Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, enhancements to the BlackBerry Bridge app, a unified email box that pulls messages from all those social networks as well as emails, plus more features to bring the tab up to near relevance compared to iPads and Android Tabs.

Ready to grab that OTA update? Slide on over to the settings and it will should be resting in your Software Updates. It’s a tad over 500MB so have fun with that. RIM has a demo section set up for anybody looking for more info or just need a refresher. Want all the details on the new OS? Hit the break and scan through RIM’s press release.

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Available Today

New OS delivers an enriched user experience for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet users

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced that the new BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0 will be released for download today. BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 delivers an enhanced tablet experience and allows you to use the BlackBerry PlayBook in new ways throughout the day – at work and at play. “Building on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s proven web browsing, multimedia and multitasking strengths, the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 introduces a range of new communications and productivity enhancements as well as expanded app and content support,” said David J. Smith, SVP Mobile Computing, Research In Motion.

New BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 features include:

• Integrated email client with a powerful unified inbox: With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 you have the option to use a unified inbox that consolidates all messages in one place, including messages from Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter®, as well as personal and work email accounts.

• Social Integration with Calendar and Contacts apps: The built-in calendar harnesses information from social networks and makes it available where and when users need it. Contact cards are also dynamically populated with updated information from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to create a consolidated view of contacts.

• Updated BlackBerry Bridge app: BlackBerry® Bridge™ is a unique app that provides a Bluetooth® connection between your BlackBerry PlayBook and core apps on your BlackBerry® smartphone (including BBM™, Email, Contacts, Calendar and Browser) in order to let you view the content on the larger tablet display. With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, it’s easier and quicker than ever to take documents, web pages, emails and photos that appear on your BlackBerry smartphone and display them on your BlackBerry PlayBook for an optimized viewing and editing experience. The updated BlackBerry Bridge app also provides a new remote control feature that allows a BlackBerry smartphone to be used as a wireless keyboard and mouse for a BlackBerry PlayBook.

• Improved mobile productivity: Updated document editing functions, the new Print To Go app, and increased control and manageability of corporate data with BlackBerry® Balance ™ allow you to get more out of your BlackBerry PlayBook every day. Plus, an updated virtual keyboard with auto correction and predictive next word completion learns how you type to enable faster, more accurate typing.

• New apps and content: Thousands of new apps are being added to BlackBerry App World™ today (including a range of Android® apps that will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook). A new BlackBerry Video Store1 is launching today. Enhanced web browsing capabilities are also available with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.

In conjunction with the release of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, RIM is making available an initial release of BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion that will include support for managing BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry smartphones2 in an enterprise. The full release of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion (with mobile device management capabilities for iOS and Android devices) is planned for general availability in late March 2012. For more information about BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, please visit www.blackberry.com/mobilefusion. Availability The BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 software update is now available as a free download for all BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

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Looks like Microsoft is “Samsunging” Google! As the search giant keeps pushing forward with their cloud-based productivity suite, MS is most certainly feeling the burn. To strike back and possibly bring some users back into the fold, the Redmond software monster has decided to fire both barrels in a new video campaign. Called Googlighting, the new ad showcases Google as an aloof, cocky bugger spending his spare time shilling his experimental productivity suite. He’s none too concerned about consistency, support or offline access. Someone just not right for your business and unworthy of your time.

Microsoft took to the Why Microsoft site to keep up the hate on Google. Quoth the raven:

Google Apps isn’t familiar to most information workers and it’s oversimplified. In fact, Google’s own executives admit they don’t believe their tools can replace Microsoft Office.

When your business needs help, Google Apps support falls short of delivering the kind and level of support you demand.

They have plenty more reasons to shy people away from Google, including a white paper on the “Hidden Costs of Google Apps”. Nothing tops the video though. You have to get a chuckle or two out of the actor portraying Google and the signing guy wearing the pastel shirt with a Cosby sweater draped over his shoulders is absolutely hilarious! If nothing else, they get an “A” for hijinks! Hit the jump and watch it for yourselves, I know you’ll love it!

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One less thing for PC fans to hold over console owners is the exclusive Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings because it is soon landing on the Xbox 360! CD Projekt RED is working hard to make this more than just a mere port. Besides maximizing the graphics, the developer is also adding another 3 hours of gameplay and content to the already stellar game. That’s on top of the award winning multiple storylines, alternate endings and excellent gameplay the series is famous for.

The Enhanced Edition will hit the Xbox 360 and PCs on April 17th. Fans looking for the ultimate version should pick up the Dark Edition which packs in too much Witcher awesomeness for any mere regular box to hold! I can’t wait to get my hands on this bad boy! As a die-hard console jockey, I haven’t had the chance to jump into Geralt’s shoes. What better way to do it than with this? By the time it pops out, I should have done a couple runs through Mass Effect 3. One RPG rolling right into the next – nirvana.

Go ahead and hit the jump to witness the new teaser. Feast upon it’s glory!

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• The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 intro video hits a million views. (donthatethegeek.com)

The demo for EA’s SSX reboot will be released to Xbox Live Tuesday February 21 and Wednesday the 22 for PSN users. Zoe will be the character playable in the demo that consists of  two tutorials, four events and a skydiving lesson. Another character Mac can be unlocked if you refer a friend. Fans of the original series will no doubt be familiar with both characters. The game formerly known as SSX Deadly Descents will launch on February 28 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. I for one can’t wait.

The hours I spent shredding the slopes of SSX probably still outnumber the amount of time dedicated to my Call Of Duty addiction. Sure SSX didn’t strive for realism and had an arcade feel to it but wow was it fun. Kudos to EA for sticking with the franchise as it wasn’t always a commercial success but many critics felt it was one of the best launch titles for the PS2. The series went multi platform and spawned four other SSX titles before laying dormant after 2007′s SSX Blur for the Wii.

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It’s been three years since Cocoon almost plunged into the land of Gran Pulse below. Three years since the disaster was diverted by the unlikeliest of heroes, ones meant to facilitate the destruction. The fal’Cie have retreated from the affairs of humanity, the crystalized l’Cie are once again human. Serah, the unfortunate soul transformed into crystalline form and sister to tough as nails Lightning, joins them as flesh and blood. In the aftermath, some citizens of Cocoon decided to make a fresh start in the harsh, hostile land below of Gran Pulse.

Things are looking great on New Bodhum: the sky is shining, the birds are chirping. Life is tough but the residents find a true purpose in their everyday lives. Serah still hasn’t come to grips with the disappearance of Lighting, she swears her sister was with her and their friends after the fall of Cocoon. No one else remembers it, they believe she gave her life to save her home. Snow, Serah’s fiancée, has left on an adventure to search for the missing Lightning.

Late one night Serah is awoken from another dream involving her sister to chaos. Monsters have invaded her cozy sea-side home, monsters no one has ever seen before. In the fight, a mysterious character arrives to save her hide from the malicious evil-doers. Recognizing him from her dream with Lightning, she accepts his help and begins a journey throughout time to find her sister.

Thus we set off onto a true sequel of a Final Fantasy game. After 2010′s hit and miss Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix went back to flesh out not only the story but fix some of the irritants fans had with the game. The question is, did they succeed? Did they fail miserably? Hit the break and let’s go to it! Worry not about spoilers, nothing here that hasn’t already been spilled in the hype up.

As a long time FF fan, I was dismayed by the lengthy and linear opening dozen or so hours of XIII. It was more of an A to Z situation, instead of the usual A to B to C to…Z that is a characteristic of a Final Fantasy game. It was hard to keep going when the next section could involve losing the team members I had just spent an hour learning and leveling up to another set of hapless fools. These two major gripes have been fixed in XIII-2. While there is still a slight amount of straightforward action in the beginning, it has been kept to a reasonable minimum. Just enough to set the tone of the game and brush up on the game mechanics. Instead of a large cast of swappable characters, we have just Serah and Noel – her mysterious savior. We get to focus on this duo, build them up, really get to know them. Makes the narrative flow better, more concise.

What’s a FF game with only two-party members you ask? One where you get a more addictive element than raising Chocobos – Monster Collecting! During battle, there’s a chance a defeated foe will leave behind a shiny crystal containing its very life force. Once these vicious enemies are captured, they can be added to the party paradigms. Want to add another Ravager to the mix? Need a medic? There’s a monster for that. Up to three of the little buggers can be stored in a Paradigm Pack which will give strategic players a better way to manage their tactics. What makes it addictive is that there are tons of them to catch tame and employ. Certain monsters are uber-rare and can only be snagged under just the right circumstances. Once brought into the fold, the beasts are upgradeable by using materials dropped after battle or purchased in stores. The final element to the monster mayhem is the ability to infuse abilities of monsters into others. Gamers can level up their precocious pets then merge them into another to make a super beast. A lot of time can be chewed up just in the monster mash!

Some FF purists might complain about the Historia Crux, saying it’s not like racing around location to location on a chocobo or airship. Well I like it personally, it’s just a much better version of Fast Travel. With all of the different areas that unlock, the different times, alternate timelines and such it’s positively necessary to keep everything straight. Plus, who needs an airship when you can zip through time?

Random enemy encounters, oh how we sometimes loathe you! Modifying XIII’s visible enemies, XIII-2 utilizes the Mog Clock. Baddies now appear out of the blue again but can be avoided or attacked how players see fit. Want the Preemptive Bonus? Strike the creature while the arm is in the green on the dial and the first strike goes to Team Serah. Need to skip a fight on the way to an encounter? Run away far enough to get the blood thirsty heathens outside of the encounter circle, they’ll disappear and onto the next area the player will go. The Mog Clock can also penalize slow-moving gamers by locking the retry option if the hand hits over to the red side when the fight starts. Gives more balance to the random fights and some choice in how they’re approached.

Gripes, I do have a few. For some apparent reason, Serah runs like she has an impacted colon. She might sprint along just fine but then she stops to walk slowly. Really gets frustrating when I’m trying to zip past a fight to head to some far off spot. Slashing at baddies to start a preemptive bonus is sporadic, swings may go right through the target or miss completely, even when they’re right in front of me. Missed too many times for it to be a fluke or skill. Sad as it could give a nice bit of action to the game.

Throughout the game are different types of Temporal Puzzles. By completing them, the paradoxes of time will be resolved. While not bad in a sense, they just seemed out-of-place. Running around on a tiled grid connecting crystals or collecting said crystals was a disjointed experience. The Hands of Time puzzles seem to serve no purpose beyond filler, frustrating filler at that. Not sure the design thought behind them but I would have rather not dealt with them. Some may like them, some probably won’t. Just comes down to personal preference.

I haven’t touched upon the story because quite frankly, Square Enix can’t please everyone. The story line worked for me, maybe because I appreciate it for what it is. Grand, crazy, massive and insane – it’s everything I want in a RPG narrative. It’s not too convoluted with enough moves to still make my jaded jaw gape. I liked it, what more can be said?

Pick it up geeks, you’ll have a blast! The monster taming portion will keep plenty of you occupied way after the story is done. There are tons of activities to break up the main quest, just like any good Final Fantasy game. You can even replay every area as if it was your first time, keeping all your levels and monster buddies. Kupo, kupo! Just like every Final Fantasy game, this one is a purchase.

Thanks to our friends at Square Enix for the Xbox 360 to review!

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On the 17th of February a British student was sentenced to prison for eight months for “most extensive and grave” case of social media hacking to come before a British court. The student, Glen Mangham, whose actions were described as malicious and that he threatened destroying “the whole enterprise”. Mangham accessed the Facebook servers via an employee of the site in order to access otherwise restricted data while the employee was on holiday. Needless to say, during Facebook’s regular security checks, he was found out and received a knock on his door from the FBI.

Mangham’s actions cost Facebook $200,000, but Mangham defended his actions claiming that he was going to report to Facebook how they could rectify their security issues. This is something that Mangham has done in the past with Yahoo.  Alas, the judge ruled that “The creation of that risk, the extent of that risk and the cost of putting it right mean at the end of it all I’m afraid a prison sentence is inevitable.”

Source: Engadget

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Did you watch Sunday night’s Walking Dead? Did you maybe check out the latest and greatest trailer for Mass Effect 3? If you had better things to do then you missed a drool worthy piece of CG goodness! With two weeks to go, BioWare is ramping up the visual teasing and boy does it hurt so good.

It starts out with a realistic looking Alliance ship sitting in the dirt, the screen pans just a bit and we see a little girl playing with her model ship. Vroom, vroom she speeds around a field of sunflowers, playing her own version of Space Flight. Unknown to her, real ships are being blasted to bits as the Reapers are commencing their hostile takeover of Earth. Cities are torn asunder, turned to ash as the cosmic menace obliterates anything in their path. Finally, that little girl is face to face with a Reaper. Creepiest moment in the whole trailer right there.

Cue the arrival of Shepard and Ashley. Shepard picks up a familiar looking toy from a pile of ash, he and Ashley share a look. Husks start to flood the scene, ready fodder for Shepard’s righteous fury. Chills, it gave me chills. Behind the duo stands the galactic forces they recruited for the final fight, the fight for humanity. The battle is straight out of a blockbuster action flick with Shepard popping caps, slicing throats, the Normandy laying down hails of flaming death. All in a brief 90 seconds.

Hit the break and check out the trailer for yourselves. Coming soon will be the extended version of the trailer. The next two weeks will be agonizing!

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Madness, I say! 35 bids drove up a Skylanders auction to £797.00 which comes to $1262.68 here at home. 6 Skylanders toys went to what appears to be a last-minute sniper, 6 toys of apparently the rare persuasion. Skylanders? Rare? Seriously? Gold painted versions of Chop Chop, Drill Sergeant, and Flameslinger plus silvered ones of Eruptor, Boomer and Dino-Rang are that valuable? Am I in the wrong business?

Let’s just hope this isn’t the future of gaming. If publishers think they can make a mint off of gullible kids with mom’s credit card, they’ll do it. We’ve already seen the emergence of post launch DLC already being on the disc, content that gamers pay for on top of the $60 they’ve already scraped up for the game. There’s been a glut of costume packs, minor weapon add-ons and more to nickel and dime the loyal purchasers into oblivion. If we have to start buying items like this at an astoundingly high price, count me out!

Of course this could just die out like every other crazy spending fad. Anybody remember… well pretty much anything hot at Christmases past? Pray to the gaming gods these end up like the Zhu Zhu pets of old. Found on clearance racks and going for the princely sum of $8 on Amazon. Any geeks out there stricken with the Skylanders fever? Would you pay a couple month’s rent for some toys? Hit the comments and spill your guts!

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It’s getting closer, all ye Apple Faithful. Apple is rumored to *ahem* officially announce the iPad 3 next month but that hasn’t stopped leaks, gossip and all sorts of info flying around the web. You tablet jockeys can now feast your eyes on what is purported to be a fully assembled iPad 3! Leaked by the Chinese Apple Daily, the images show that sexy Apple feel with the tab looking mostly the same as the current version being fondled lovingly by iLovers.

We do know that the iPad 3 will have that gorgeous 9.7 inch 2,048 x 1536 pixel Retina Display. Coming along for the ride is also expected to be an 8 megapixel camera, bigger battery, an Apple A6 quad-core processor and embedded 4G LTE. All shall be revealed\confirmed by Apple at their full-blown unveiling. Hit up the source link to see more insider pics from the Chinese leak! How long will it take for Apple to start calling it the iMacPad?

Source: Apple Daily

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