Times They Are A-Changin'

There are quite a few new and interesting things on the horizon for Eat @ Shrimpy's.  One of which I cannot mention just yet, but as soon as I get word that it's okay, believe me, you'll be the first to know.

The major change I want to inform you of is the format of Eat @ Shrimpy's.  In August, with the start of the next major storyline, you will see a new design to the website, hopefully one that will be clearer and easier to follow for anyone out there that may be stumbling upon Eat @ Shrimpy's for the first time because of a drunken Google search for "midget porn".  

In the next few weeks, I will burn through my inventory of comic reviews and we will be going to a three day a week format.  No filler!  When I stated this blog, I thought it was more important to have content for at least five days a week to drive traffic, but I realize now that that shortchanged the people just looking for a good webcomic.  To have to slog through posts about video games that came out last year or comics that no one really cares about anymore was not fair to them, and quite possibly drove away any new readers.  From now on, Monday, Wednesday and Friday will belong to the comic strips, just as they always have.  The only thing you will see on Tuesdays or Thursdays will be stuff that directly correlates to the strip.  I will be revealing the "Cast" page next Tuesday, for example (should I have done this three years ago when i started?  Of course.  Better late than never).

So not only will I be rededicating myself to just the strip, and redesigning the site, but I am currently working on another webcomic that will be going live in December.  I will let you know more about that as it develops, but it is filling a big hole in comics in general nowadays (one that I have decried forever), so I think/hope it will be a hit.  

If you are a long-time reader of Eat @ Shrimpy's (Hi Mom!), please stick around through the transition, it should be pretty painless and you will get exactly what you want, a comic about a group of friends trying to run a restaurant while navigating all the weird trials and tribulations of life.  If you know someone that has not read the strip yet, or maybe read it and left, invite them back, I'd be happy to show them what I've done with the place.

Thanks for your years of patronage, here's to many, many more.

-Matt

Massacre

That was one of the highlights of the season for me last year.  

As a lifelong Cowboys fan, beating the Redskins always feels good.  

Raiders fans know that feeling when they beat...oh, wait, never mind.

Playing Favorites

No one likes a loud, douchey winner, unless you're Gronk, everyone loves Gronk.

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X – Spidey

                Our second special issue focuses on Spiderman, and as an added bonus, it enlists the help of one of the greatest Spiderman artists of all time, John Romita, Sr.  The interesting thing about this issue is that it splits time between the modern Universe X universe (illustrated by John Stanisci) and a more classic feeling universe (illustrated by Romita and Al Milgrom) - breakdowns for the whole issue were completed by Jackson Guice.  These are not classic scenes in that you can find them in your 1980s Spiderman comics, these are classic in feeling only (thanks in large part to Romita’s involvement, no doubt).  What the classic scenes offer is an alternate universe take where Gwen never died and Harry never became a villain.  It shows a happy, married life for Peter and Gwen, as well as for Harry and Mary Jane.  Peter has retired from being Spiderman as well, preferring to let the younger crop of heroes take over for him. 

                We cut back to the “modern day” where we learn that May’s mother, Mary Jane, died, which is probably what caused her father to go into his tailspin that we saw in Earth X.  We also get a brief “origin” for May.  I say “origin” because she was basically born with her powers and beyond that, a symbiote bonded to her much like it had to her father during the Secret Wars so many years ago.  That created a rift between the two that we saw during the previous series, a rift that was repaired by the end of that series when Peter accepted his superhero destiny, he even became a member of the police force. 

                Now, we see that the police force, under the leadership of Marshall Muldoon and Luke Cage are preparing an assault on Immortus, and in particular, Spiders-Man, the villain who can cast illusions.  It is their idea that if they stop him from casting illusions to gain followers for Immortus, the whole “church” will fall apart.  Peter goes off to take care of Spiders-Man by himself, preferring to not have the entire police force caught under his web of illusion.  However, two days have passed and he has not returned, so May heads out after him. 

                Just a quick aside on the artwork, Romita, Milgrom and Guice are legends, so it’s no surprise that this is one of the best illustrated books of the series (I've never heard of John Stanisci before, but he does an exceptional job on this as well).  What really does it for me though is the fact that, stylistically, they are so different, and so perfect for what they bring to the issue.  Stanisci does a masterful job at showing how dark and dismal the world of Universe X really is, while Romita (with help from Milgrom) brings his style to the happy, simple universe (more on that in a moment).

                Okay, so May, in searching for her father, has infiltrated Immortus’ ranks, and easily dispatches anyone and everyone that stands in her way.  She has many of the same abilities as her father but is a little more ruthless, kind of like Venom, which would make sense considering the fact that her costume is a symbiote as well.  May eventually happens upon Spiders-Man, who just so happens to be casting an illusion upon her father.  She tries to break the illusion but is unable to do so with just brute force.  Her symbiote suggests that she basically infiltrate the illusion to drag her father out of it, which is what she does.  It is then that we realize that the “classic universe” is actually just Peter’s mind, it’s his preferred universe, really, and now he’s trapped there.  Old Peter, who is married to Gwen in this universe, is actually Peter’s mind, and his wishful thinking of how his life actually turned out.

                May sets off to find her father, but first she happens upon Spiders-Man as a human because, as he states, inside the illusion he holds no power.  He can’t help her at all in his current form, so May sets out to find her father herself.  She bursts in on the scene we saw earlier, with Peter, MJ, Gwen and Harry (though the way the glass is falling, it looks like the window shattered outwards).  Peter does not recognize his daughter because he is so far deep into the illusion, in fact he thinks that May is actually Venom, because she kind of looks like him, I guess.  They fight through Peter’s home, where May continues to try and explain who she is and what is wrong with Peter.  As they traverse the house though, May notices some pictures on the wall and sees that Peter and Gwen were married in his dream, not Peter and MJ (who happens to be May’s mother in reality). 

                They take the fight outside, and Peter will not believe what May has to say, he is convinced that the reality in his head is the real thing.  May does her best to convince her father that what she is saying is true by playing the guilt trip card about his dream scenario being married to another woman.  She explains to Peter all of the things that are wrong with his current scenario, all occurrences in the regular comic series, including the death of George Stacey, and the death of Gwen as well.  This sends Peter into a tailspin as he not only learns that what is in his head is all a lie, but he also has to deal with the fact that his daughter has found out his dirty secret, that he was still in love with Gwen the whole time he was married to MJ.  Peter rubs away instead of taking responsibility for his actions, and May chases him until Spiderman shows up and tussles with her.  She unmasks him and realizes that it is not Peter, but Peter’s son, Ben that is now behind the mask.  This is a blow to May as she sees that in Peter’s ideal world, he is married to Gwen and has a son instead of a daughter. 

                May retreats out of the illusion and attacks Spiders Man, who is apparently detached enough from the illusion now that he can be injured by May.  May is so angry at her father, and at Spiders Man for showing her what her father was really like that she is about to kill him when Peter comes out of the illusion and stops her.  Peter apologizes profusely, mainly because he got caught.  He does admit that living in that illusion showed him how much he needed his daughter though.  She offers an uneasy truce as she is still hurt from the revelations, and Peter asks Spiders Man to join him and May on the side of the good guys.

Next Issue:  Back to the regular issues, we catch up with the other players in this saga, and see if maybe Spiders Man can dig up any dirt on anyone else?  Does Cap wear ladies’ underpants?  Does Reed secretly have two arms?  

Letter to the Sweater

Week Seventeen- (The Playoffs round 2-B)

Standings:

Shrimp:		Assorted Freaks:
The Masked Shrimp	7-6	The Slugomatic	7-6
Fred	9-4	The Wormy Guy	5-8
The Masked Shrimpette	6-7	Mr. Happee	5-8

Schedule: Round 1                                          Round 2 Second round leader in parentheses

Fred

Shrimpette

                                                                              (Fred)

Sluggy                                                                   Sluggy

Shrimpy

Loser Bracket:

Happee                                                                 (Happee)

Wormy                                                                 Wormy

                                                                              Shrimpette

                                                                              (Shrimpy)

A. I know he wears sweatshirts, not sweaters, but sweatshirt doesn't rhyme.

B. Now you know where Belichik gets his sleeveless hoodies.

 Mystery solved.

Late to the Party Video Game Review: Borderlands The Pre-Sequel

                The Borderlands franchise is probably my second favorite game franchise (right next to Mass Effect).  Naturally, when The Pre-Sequel came out, knowing that it was going to most likely be the final Borderlands game for this console generation, I had to pick it up.  The first Borderlands was great, the second was one of the single best games I have ever played.  The best thing about the franchise has to be the fact that you get so much for your money when it comes to content.  Not only are there multiple characters to choose from, making replaying the game fully justified every time, but the simple fact that the length of the game itself, even before the DLC is factored in, is massive makes it one of the best values in gaming.

                Naturally, I was hoping for more of the same with The Pre-Sequel.  To ensure the maximum amount of content available, I even obtained the “season pass” to ensure that I would have the DLC as soon as it was released.  In the past, this was never a waste of money and I was convinced that it would not be this time.  In terms of DLC, two of the season pass offerings are the “Handsome Jack Doppleganger Pack” and Sir Hammerlock's Sister, which are both playable characters.  While this is all well and good, I do not purchase a DLC pack with the thought that it will contain characters.  I want content.  I want to purchase missions, and levels and more things to play with, not just a new character when there are already four playable characters available.  There are also two "missions" that revolve around shooting wave after wave of bad guy in hopes of leveling up.  This is just a cop-out.  I don't pay extra money, basically the cost of another game, in order to have these bogus "missions".  There is one story mission that was released revolving around Claptrap, everyone's favorite hunk of junk robot, but upon downloading it recently, I was informed that I needed to update the game to play it, and was never offered the opportunity to update the game, making it a waste.  Believe me, if I knew that this was what the Season Pass would have entailed, I would have left that on the rack.  

                Okay, now on to the game itself.  Everything you have come to love about Borderlands, the design, the humor, it is all there.  There is less of it as this game is decidedly shorter than its counterparts, but it’s there.  The writing is very good and does a great job of fitting in between the two previous games (this game takes place before Borderlands Two, hence the Pre-Sequel).  There are quite a few nods to things that happen in Borderlands Two, and how they got that way.  My favorite has to be the scientist that shoots a Thresher (a worm-like creature that was the bane of my existence in Borderlands Two) from Elpis, the setting of this game, to the planet below, all so they can terrorize me in the future (past).  Those little in-jokes to the longtime players are what kept me going through a lot of stale missions. 

                That is one thing that I can honestly say I was not impressed by compared to the previous games.  The missions were boring.  I am the kind of guy, especially when it comes to Borderlands games, that likes to complete every side mission, to level up as much as possible before I head in to the finale.  This game was no different, but more often than not I found myself not wanting to complete a mission because I just couldn’t be bothered to go on another “fetch quest”, or to think that I had completed a mission only to be told that something else had broken in a machine I was supposed to fix so I need to go back out for yet another part.  It was like going grocery shopping with someone with ADHD.  It got to the point where, when I completed a goal, and it actually finished the mission, it surprised the hell out of me.  I didn’t even finish all of the side missions as I could not bring myself to do all of the driving missions.  I have always hated the timed, or driving missions in Borderlands games, and this was no different.  Instead of struggling through them, I just skipped those missions altogether this time around.

                The mechanics are all the same as you would remember in a Borderlands game.  The only new thing is the lack of gravity in certain areas, which leads to your jumps taking you further and giving you the ability to butt-slam.  I played the entire game and butt-slammed once, it’s no big deal as far as I’m concerned.  Being on the moon also leads to a lack of oxygen when you’re outside, but given the abundance of oxygen vents and air canisters, I was rarely lacking oxygen anyway.  The only other innovation was the inclusion of laser weapons, which, I honestly only used when necessary.  I beat the game with a shotgun, that’s about it.  I will say that the bosses were a lot more difficult this time around than they were in the last two games, but that could be because of the fact that I failed to complete all of the side missions this time around.

                Overall, the game was fun, but it failed to live up to its predecessors.  I wanted more than anything for this to be Borderlands Two,  but it wound up feeling like a bunch of DLC missions put out between the two games to further the story.  I hope that a second playthrough does more to instill confidence in me, but if this is the last Borderlands game I play (I do not own, nor will I purchase a next-gen console) I am severely unimpressed.

NFL Comedy Week

True, incompetent quarterbacks are pretty goddamn funny.  It makes me happy to follow the NFC East so closely.

Shoe on the Other Foot

Using proper nouns as verbs is fun!

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #3

                We start this issue with a brief overview of the Savage Land (for those not in the know, that is a spot in Antarctica that was untouched by the ravages of time and still contains dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts).  It is also stated that the savage land is kind of a gateway to Limbo, you know, that place between heaven and hell.  We then get a brief history of Belasco and Limbo, including Magik’s involvement in the realm. 

                Back in New York, the mysterious bookbinder continues to do his job, and we quickly transition to Britain, where it is revealed that Cap and Marv are off to the Savage Land next (hence the opening sequence).   Cap and Marv enter the cloak and teleport to the Savage Land where they are met by Ka-Zar and Shanna, who are now cat-people.  Cap and Marv are not carrying the books they picked up from the Omniverse last issue, so it is interesting to wonder where all of these artifacts are going.  Do they have a specific vault where they are storing all these, away from the masses?  Does the cloak have a shit-ton of pockets, like cargo pants?

                Sorry, I got carried away.  Back in the Savage Land, Cap and Marv come upon Sentinel City and enter the ruins, only to find that Toad is now the master of magnetism and Magneto is his dancing court jester.  Apparently, when the polarities were shifted, Magneto’s powers vanished and…went to Toad?  Anyway, Toad, as with any petulant child that now has a tiny modicum of responsibility, is kind of a dick.  However, Cap appeals to his superiority complex and asks for his help, to which Toad agrees to allow them access to the door to Limbo.  Marv, Cap and Ka-Zar enter Limbo to pick up anti-metal and are immediately met with Wraiths.  They fight the adversary, with the help of one of the greatest Space-Knights and his laser guns until Mephisto shows up, which is never a good sign.

                In the realm of the dead, Marv and the dead who know they are dead are looking for the Kree, so Marv can convince them of their death and draft them into his army, but they are nowhere to be found.  They are then met by Thanos who, true to form, is still holding a torch for Death.  Marv puts him in his place by saying that Death does not care for him, but Thanos is in love, and he doesn’t believe it. 

                We quickly cut to New York to see that the Tong of Creel have almost completely reassembled the Absorbing Man (you know, that guy that killed the Avengers and was then split into multiple pieces and hid around the world….that guy).  We are then in a different part of New York, where Immortus seems to have a handler known as Mr. Church who plays him like Dick Cheney played GW Bush. 

               

                Back in Limbo, Mephisto wants to warn Cap and Marv that Death is following them.  Way to be late to the party, Mephisto.  Of course then he holds a glowing orb that he calls the “key to Limbo”, that is until Cap knocks it out of his hands and into the “frozen in carbonite” visage of Belasco.  This sends Belasco back in time, to start his cycle over again, which is kind of a recurring theme in this series.  Cap and Marv receive the gun from the Greatest SpaceKnight and leave Limbo.  As Cap looks over his shoulder, he sees Death silently following him.

Next Issue: Will Death finally claim her victim?  Will Cap get to use the big gun first?  Will Mr. Church shoot someone in the face?

Know Your Enemy

Week Sixteen- (The Playoffs round 2-A)

Standings:

Shrimp:		Assorted Freaks:
The Masked Shrimp	7-6	The Slugomatic	7-6
Fred	9-4	The Wormy Guy	5-8
The Masked Shrimpette	6-7	Mr. Happee	5-8

Schedule: Round 1                                          Round 2

Fred

Shrimpette

                                                                             Fred

Sluggy                                                                 Sluggy

Shrimpy

Loser Bracket:

Happee                                                                 Happee

Wormy                                                                 Wormy

                                                                             Shrimpette

                                                                             Shrimpy

It's last call somewhere!

Late to the Party Video Game Review: Captain Toad, Treasure Tracker

                I have never played Super Mario 3D World, the game where Captain Toad got its start, but I can understand the idea behind making this a game all its own.  Captain Toad is incredibly addicting.  The graphics are great, the gameplay mechanics are relatively easy, though having to rotate the world you are on while trying to walk can be difficult at times, and the difficulty level is perfect.  This is a great puzzle game with short enough levels that you can start and stop whenever you want.  I continuously find myself say “okay, one more level, okay, just one more” and on and on. 

                The premise behind the game is simple, you collect stars to advance in the storybook (each page is a new level) until you reach the end and rescue your companion (Toad or Toadette, depending on which book you’re in).  There are also other collectibles in each level, such as the three diamonds you need to gather to advance in the book (certain pages are only accessible when you have gathered the requisite number of diamonds – kind of like the stars in Super Mario Galaxy).  There are also coins to be collected, and the always illusive Gold Mushroom.  The game starts off simply enough, and honestly, the first book, where you’re Toad rescuing Toadette, is fairly simple.  As you go along though, the difficulty ratchets up, not just in the gathering of collectibles, but the completion of the stages themselves.  This makes for a better experience because, while I was able to breeze through the first book, the second book (where you play as Toadette) and the third book (where you play as both) push the difficulty up quite a few notches.  There is a fourth "bonus book" which includes missions that you can unlock by gathering the gems that are hidden throughout the main levels, just to keep the replayability, which is already fairly high, at a maximum rate.

                This is a great game if you love the Mario Bros. Franchise but are a little tired of the side-scrolling, jump on Goombas and save the Princess kind of adventure.  It’s a nice change of pace, much like the Luigi’s Mansion games, a new twist on a popular character.  I hope to see more of this kind of stuff from Nintendo in the future instead of the same old rehashing of a tired plot and gameplay mechanic that has become many of their Mario games of late.

Comfort

It's hard being a girl in a "man's world".  

That being said, this storyline in particular helped me develop a better understanding and relationship with Shrimpette.  So while it was long and drawn out and ran at the completely wrong time of the year, it is still a pretty important tale in the grand scheme of things for Shrimpy and the gang.

Gronked

Shrimpy's poor choice of quarterbacks all season basically mirrored my own.  

Let that be a lesson to you, future Fantasy Football players.

Not so New Comic Review: Universe X #2

                Issue two starts with a brief retelling of the origin of Captain Britain, which involves a lot of magic and resurrection.  Really, Superheroes are modern day myths, that are all built upon the myths of yesteryear, which would explain why Thor, Hercules, and even Merlin are fixtures in superhero comics.  Captain Britain was created by choosing the amulet of life instead of the sword of death, and he went on to be Britain’s greatest champion, forming Excalibur with Nightcrawler.  Unfortunately, Excalibur was turned to stone by the Grey Gargoyle, who was then killed by Captain Britain before he could force the villain to change them back.

 

                That brings us to the present day as Cap and Marv arrive in Britain on the next part of their “fetch quest”, the books of Darkhold and Vishanti.  Captain Britain asks Marv to bring Meggan, a member of Excalibur who was also Captain Britain’s girlfriend back to life much like he did with Sue Richards.  Marv explains how impossible that is based on all the circumstances that led to Sue’s return.  We find out that Nightcrawler actually escaped being turned to stone as he teleported out of there, unfortunately leaving his arm behind.  Marv explains that Nightcrawler is still alive, because Marv knows who is dead, because he is actually in the realm of the dead.  Sounds odd and kind of creepy, right?  Now imagine it coming from the mouth of a toddler.  Yeah, even worse. 

                Speaking of the realm of the dead, it’s time to check in on those individuals that are stuck there, led by Marv and Dr. Strange, who is only sort of dead, which is why he’s a ghost.  The individuals in the realm of the dead that know they are dead are involved in their own fetch quest so to speak.  Their quest is to gather an army, not objects, as they are fighting death herself.  They start by gathering the best and the brightest in the Marvel Universe, such as Iron Man.  They need everyone they can, as they are not only fighting Death, but all of her minions as well.  In Latveria, as is the case all around the world, masses are forming to destroy the “Human Torches”, to prevent the mutated populace from reverting back to their more docile, human selves.  Unfortunately for them, the last remaining vestiges of superheroes in the world are massing against them, to prevent the destruction of all Reed worked to build. 

 

                In Britain, Marv and Cap visit the Omniverse, where Roma and Merlin are residing to grab the books they seek.  Merlin tells Marv that he has a piece of the cosmic consciousness in him, not the whole thing as he once thought.  They then exit the Omniverse to see that death is following Cap and Marv. 

Next Issue: Does Death want Cap or Marv, or both!? Will Marv ever get all of the cosmic consciousness?  Does Dr. Strange the ghost know Casper?

Spoke Too Soon

They have a strong relationship, made stronger by Fantasy Football.

Music Review: Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emperor

                Manson’s last album, Born Villain was the first music review I ever did for this site, so when his new album was released, I had to dive back in to his twisted world.  From the opening bass guitar of “Killing Strangers” I could tell this was going to be a good time.  Marilyn Manson has carved out his own little genre of the metal world, one that I thoroughly enjoy, mind you.  The Pale Emperor, his latest addition to music’s creepiest discography doesn’t disappoint. 

                The music is just as heavy as any of his previous albums, even the old stuff, but it doesn’t feel as dirty.  Manson has changed as he has grown, taking all of the different musical experiments he has conducted over the years and combining them  to create the perfect amalgamation of heaviness and musical proficiency.  This isn’t an album of musicians banging on instruments (and the vocalist screaming into the microphone) for forty-five minutes.  This is solid, complete album, and one of Manson’s best.  Manson slows the tempo on a lot of the songs on this album without removing the quality or the requisite sleaze from his voice or the songs themselves. 

                Of course, the song titles and subject matter are as dark as you would expect, but no one is picking up any music, new or old, from Marilyn Manson with the expectation of a disc full of show-tunes.  If you purchase the Best Buy exclusive disc, you even get three additional songs.  Those three songs are acoustic versions of three of the earlier songs on the record, but they actually hold up as their own recordings surprisingly well.  It is well worth the price to get those tracks along with the rest of the album. 

Many of the songs actually have more in common with Mechanical Animals than any other album to date.  Considering Mechanical Animals was my first Manson album, I love this return to that form of music.  The heavy but almost danceable beats make for an interesting overall experience.  If I was to ever go to a rave in Hell, this is the kind of music that I would expect to be there.  While it certainly seems like Manson has gotten away from his heavier roots, it is not a change that I mind in the least.  The simple fact that he is still making quality recordings when many of his contemporaries have been unable to stand the test of time speaks volumes about his ability.  I would highly recommend The Pale Emperor for anyone even remotely interested in the genre. 

Loseriest

At least Happee has his pride, right?  

To still be going strong after being dumped in the loser bracket, that's conviction.

Cocktail

Week Fifteen- (The Playoffs round 1-B)

Standings:

Shrimp:		Assorted Freaks:
The Masked Shrimp	7-6	The Slugomatic	7-6
Fred	9-4	The Wormy Guy	5-8
The Masked Shrimpette	6-7	Mr. Happee	5-8

Schedule: Round 1 First round leader in parentheses      Round 2

Fred

(Shrimpette)

(Sluggy)

Shrimpy

Loser Bracket:

(Happee)

Wormy

Peyton Manning jokes are almost as easy to make as Eli Manning jokes.

Not so New Comic Review: Universe X #1

                Earth X opened every issue with a retelling of the origins of some of Marvel’s greatest heroes.  Universe X is no different as the narrators, Nighthawk and Gargoyle continue the tradition started by Uatu and X-51.  Dr. Strange is the subject of this issue, and we get a refresher course on his hubris, and how that hubris transformed him into Dr. Strange.  Back in New York, it’s a frozen wasteland thanks to the switching of the polarity within the planet.  Tucked away inside their apartment, Nighthawk tells his tale, while Gargoyle writes it down.  When a page is complete, he then sends it down a chute to the basement, where someone binds everything Nighthawk says into books.  We get a peek at the figure, but we don’t actually know who he is (nor will we for quite some time).

                In another part of New York, we come across Marv and Cap (this obviously takes place some time after “Four” as Cap is now entrusted with Marv’s care, and last we saw, Marv was in Latveria.  I will say, Doug Braithwaite does a great job of drawing Marv as a young kid.  Kids are not easy to draw consistently, especially realistically, and Braithwaite does an exceptional job at it for the entirety of the series.  This series basically turns into one big Legend of Zelda adventure as Marv and Cap traverse the Marvel Universe to gather all the goodies that Marv needs to complete his quest.  The first item on the list is Cloak’s…cloak.  It just so happens that Dagger, now an old woman, is using it to keep warm and mourn her friend.  Some street punks want to take it from her because, well, they’re cold too.  They don’t realize that it’s a portal to another dimension though and the cloak begins to envelope them all.  Cap saves a couple of the kids, and Dagger is bent out of shape as apparently, the cloak just basically eats people all the time.  Marv does what Marv tends to do through the whole series, he tells people how the dead person that the living are mourning is doing well on the other side.  Because this is the Marvel Universe, no one thinks he’s a nutty little kid.   Marv then takes the cloak and he and Cap now use it as a teleportation device.

                In Latveria, Reed and Sue are back together, and because of this, Reed has ditched the beard and Doom armor.  Out of nowhere, Immortus shows up and says that the torches are crippling everyone (which they kind of are by removing everyone’s powers).  Reed explains to Immortus that the Earth is going to die soon anyway, so basically who cares if people don’t have powers.  That seems pretty shitty coming from someone that just got their reason to live back. 

                In New York, Spiderman is now a police officer who is stopping some thugs from stealing food.  They attack him, and Spiders Man, the guy that casts webs of illusion shows up to cast another one, showing the thugs that there is plenty of food for them to eat.  They subsequently start chowing down on absolutely nothing and Spiderman notices that Iron Maiden is hanging around as well.  Basically, it looks like we are connecting the two series at this point, showing what everyone is doing at this point in time. 

                Cap and Marv are now in Dr. Strange’s house, looking for some books of his.  They encounter a bunch of mindless ones that leave them alone at first and then turn to attack.  As they are enveloping Marv, Loki plucks him out of the fray.  Cap reiterates the position that no Avenger can actually trust Loki, which Loki debunks because he is no longer the same person.  While on the moon, X-51 enters some ruins, looking for answers.

Next Issue: Does X-51 find the answer?  Do we even know what the question is?

The Drew Brees Blues

Sometimes it's a good thing when your cousin is the bartender, 

except when he's the frontrunner for the Fantasy Football crown.

Music Review: Govt Mule – Dark Side of the Mule

                I am not a huge Pink Floyd fan, never have been.  I like the classics, sure, but the deep cuts just don’t do it for me.  I am, however, a huuuuge Govt Mule fan.  They may be one of my favorite bands of all time.  A couple years ago, they put out a CD where they covered Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, and it was awesome, and Warren Haynes and company rarely ever disappoint on a live album (though their studio albums can be hit and miss) so I knew I had to pick this up. 

                While the source material is not my cup of tea, I have heard the entire Dark Side of the Moon album, and from what I remember, this is a great replica of that.  As with every Govt. Mule experience, the guitar work is as good as you could ever ask while the vocals fit perfectly.  I could listen to Warren Haynes sing me the musical version of Mein Kampf and be soothed to sleep.  My favorite tracks are the classics though, which Govt Mule performs to perfection.  “Comfortably Numb”, “Wish You Were Here” and “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (Parts 1-9) are great songs in their own right and translate incredibly to the Jam Band style that Govt Mule has perfected. 

                The rest of the band is exactly what you would expect as well, quality music from accomplished musicians that work to highlight Haynes’ signature sound.  The band doesn’t miss a beat in the different style and sound that Pink Floyd is to theirs and if Warren gave up the vocal duties, you might even think you were at a Pink Floyd show. 

All in all, Govt Mule has made Dark Side of the Moon their own while sticking closely to the source material.  It’s a great album to add to the concert playlist of the band and an album that my Pink Floyd loving father (and anyone that is a fan of either band) will most certainly enjoy.

Week One Results

Being in the loser bracket is the worst.  Even if you win, you're still just the best of the losers.