Eco-Friendly

On a few occasions, my brother Nik has sent me the text for strips.  Most of those are longer and will make good Sunday strips once I get around to putting them together.  This is one that Nik wrote that we were able to fit into a daily format.  It's nice when someone else understands the "voices" that inhabit my characters, makes me feel better knowing that those voices don't speak to just me.

A New Business Venture

Around two months ago, my girlfriend's sister made a suggestion that I start painting wine bottles and selling them, given the amount of said canvas that I had available it seemed like a good idea.  I had never really considered myself a painter before this, and had mostly only dabbled in the medium.  At the urging of my girlfriend, and the promise that she would handle the business end of it all, allowing me to focus on what I do best, I jumped right in.

Below you have the fruits of that labor with the creation of Broken Hand Wine Design, a new venture to sell those wine bottles.  I do have some inventory available (much of which you will see below) but the majority of the business boils down to: you tell me what you want painted on a wine bottle and I will do so.  No job is too big or too small and my turnaround time is relatively quick (depending on what it is you want), with many of the bottles taking only a few days from start to finish.

There are many themes available; from Halloween:

Musicians:

Sports Teams/Logos:

Christmas:

  

                                                    

Miscellaneous (and I paint on things other than bottles!)

You can find ordering information either by contacting me here on the website, or if you want to do it all official-like you can go over to Etsy.  Just make your selection or your request and we'll go from there.  I have a few more designs in the hopper that I will post once they are done, but feel free to throw out a request or two.

Thanks in advance for your patronage, and for supporting smaller vendors that give you a unique product with every purchase.

In addition to online sales, I will also be at various craft fairs in the area as they come up, starting with the Mexico Christmas celebration in Mexico, New York this weekend from 9-3.  You can come out and purchase from the inventory I have on hand, or you can make your request at that time.  I look forward to seeing you there!  

BJ Reveal

Is it a bit of a stretch?  Maybe.  Go back and read the previous BJ-related strips though, it kind of makes sense.

Not So New Comic Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (1991) #13

                In the future, Ghost Rider rides a flaming space motorcycle with pointy teeth.  The good news is that he is not Nic Cage, so you’ll have to take the good with the bad on that one.

                This issue opens up on two staples of Guardians comics (it’s only been thirteen issues and we have Guardians staples!) training and pathos!  The focus of this edition of whiny girls with super powers is Vance Astro (naturally) who is still complaining about not being able to live up to the example Captain America set.  Pay attention to the fact that Captain America has been dead for a thousand years and no one remembers him except for Vance.  He could literally do anything he wanted, say that’s what Cap would do, and no one would really have a reference point to call him out on it.  Is that what he does though?  Nope.  He lives up to his own ideal of his idol, and we get to read the whiny exposition when he can’t throw the shield just like Cap used to.

                While Vance is doing this, Nikki and Charlie are running diagnostics on the ship, trying to find out where the bomb planted by the Stark in the last issue is located.  You would think that everyone would be lending a hand in this endeavor since, you know, a bomb is on board, but I guess that only requires two people.  Nikki lets Charlie know that she realizes that he gave her the fire flower (not from Mario Brothers) last issue and that it was a sweet gesture.  Of course that doesn’t mean anything in terms of those two reconciling, much to his chagrin, but it is still a better moment than Vance’s “Aw man, I can’t throw the shield just like Cap used to, I’m a failure!”

                The action shifts to Starhawk and Aleta as they share their own moment.  Starhawk is apparently diverging quite a bit from his predestined timeline and the split from Aleta is causing him to phase out of reality (much like Marty McFly in Back to the Future I assume).  In a moment of pure creepiness Starhawk then talks about reclaiming Aleta (he says this to himself obviously) as if she was a lost Pokemon.  We cut from there and just to bring things back to normal, get to peek in on Yondu being super-emo yet again.  Thanks Yondu, good talk. 

                We cut back to Charlie and Nikki, who are still the only ones on the ship doing any work and see that they have found the bomb.  It’s in the gym, which just so happens to be where Vance is.  Aleta comes in to tell him that Starhawk has given her his blessing to go bang the old man in the containment suit and then…Ka-Boom.  The bomb explodes. 

                Finally, halfway through the comic we get what we were promised on the cover…Ghost Rider!  This iteration of the flaming skull is fighting the Universal Church of Truth (while hiding amongst them in his mortal guise of a priest).  He thinks that the Guardians’ ship is reinforcements for the Church of Truth, so he sets off on his flying flaming motorcycle to intercept them before they can do any damage.

                Hold up, it’s been awhile since we heard from Force, so in Valentino’s grand tradition of the slow burn, we get a page devoted to Brahl striking a deal with Malevolence (I’m assuming) so that he can get revenge on the Guardians…for beating Force earlier?  Maybe?  I’m not really sure.  Force beat the Guardians but the only reason Vance got the shield that they were fighting over was because he understood it was just a symbol and not something that had any tangible powers.  Maybe the Guardians did something to Brahl without knowing it?  I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.

                Cut back to the ship.  Everyone is worried about Vance but he comes floating back into view as Aleta encased them both in a light bubble when the explosion hit, saving them from the blast.  As they go about starting to repair the damage done to the ship, they see something coming on their radar, it’s Ghost Rider.  Starhawk flies out to confront him and explain to him that he is mistaken about the intent of those on board the ship.  Ghost Rider won’t have any of that because apparently the Spirit of Vengeance doesn’t listen to reason.  Ghost Rider dispatches Starhawk by stabbing him with his bike (no, really) and the rest of the Guardians move into action, readying their weapons.  They blow up his motorcycle but he reforms it because he can do that.  Vance tries to explain that nothing will really harm him, so Aleta decides that, because aside from Starhawk she’s the most powerful on the team, she should go talk to him.  She said most powerful, not most persuasive, but maybe her feathered hair will have an effect on the Spirit of Vengeance. 

                We cut back to Starhawk, who looks to be on fire from Ghost Rider’s bike-stab and he is rolling around to put out the flames.  I don’t think stop drop and roll really works in the vacuum of space or on the flames of eternal damnation, but thanks for being a role-model for the kids.  Being stabbed has also had a different effect on Starhawk as he is no longer “the one who knows” or as he puts it “I no longer know”.  So at least we won’t have to hear that catchphrase anymore. 

                Aleta goes out to talk to Ghost Rider and he somehow decides to listen to her (must be the feathered hair).  Martinex sends Replica to her room because she is too young to fight Ghost Rider apparently.  She turns into a moth and flies off.  The Guardians get ready to fight Ghost Rider until they all realize that they both have the same goal in mind, freeing people from oppression.  However, before Ghost Rider can utter a “my bad for stabbing one of you guys with my bike” Replica turns from a moth back into herself and cries about how Ghost Rider is evil and must be killed.  Of course she is wearing the symbol of the Universal Church of Truth which sends Ghost Rider into a hissy fit where he basically dooms everyone else.  Way to go new girl.

                Next issue we get the fallout from new girl’s tantrum.  It’s almost guaranteed at this point that Aleta and Nikki won’t invite her to the initiation pajama party.

Food Pyramid

Gross.

Video Game Review: Skylanders Swap Force

                You did it again, Activision, you got me to drop a good chunk of change on a game and its accessories.  My boys have had quite the fondness for all things Skylanders since the first game came out two years ago, so it was a no-brainer that I was going to pick this one up.  How does it hold up though?  Is it as good as the last two games in the series, and does it warrant the money necessary to complete it?  Let’s find out.

                The game itself is reasonably fun and in the same vein as the previous two releases.  My favorite thing about this game (and all of the Skylanders games for that matter) is the characters.  The amount of detail and creativity in the sculpts themselves make this game stand out from all others.  I like to reward creativity, and Skylanders is a game that takes that creativity to a new level.  We all have our favorite characters in a video game that features options, be it Blanka or Ryu from Street Fighter, Sub-Zero or Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, etc. but here we get to hold our favorite characters in our hand, to study their sculpts, and better yet, to level up that character to make him the best that he can be.   There is a level of personal commitment to this game (as well as the obvious financial one) that is unmatched anywhere else.  It’s like Pokemon, yes, but you don’t get to take your individual pokemon with you when you catch them.  Sure, they’re in your game, but you never get to hold them in your hand, and the individual pokemon, in my mind anyway, do not even come close to the detail and individuality of the various characters in any of the Skylanders games.  

 

The main upgrade in terms of gameplay has to be the ability to jump within the console game (you always could with the DS releases).  You may think this is a silly thing to make a big deal out of, but it was something that was severely lacking in the first few games.  Toys for Bob, the developer of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders: Giants did an admirable job of compensating for the lack of that particular ability, but it always felt like something was missing in those games.  Now, with the ability to jump, the game does feel more complete, and this actually helps to make Swap Force feel less repetitive than it could have been.  It was a good, but short, game with a generic and overused plot.

                Let’s call this what it is though, a money-making venture by Activision.  That is the only way to explain the annual offerings, the constant collectible characters (many of them reposes of characters from earlier versions) as well as the new gimmick with each successive game.  This is not a bad thing as long as the games don’t get stale and dip in quality, as long as the game is worth the substantial financial investment.  Is this game worth that investment?  Not really, and here’s why.

                The main problem with the Skylanders franchise has always been the release cycle of the toys associated with it.  Some of the toys are hard to find, with a few not released until six months after the release of the game.  While an inconvenience, it is not really an issue because the game can be completed to nearly 100% with the day one releases.  Swap Force, however does not have that kind of luck.  Sure, the basic story can be completed with a regular character, one you get from the starter pack, or one you have on hand from the previous games will do the trick.  The thing that makes Swap Force unique is the swappable characters, the characters that have their tops and bottoms held together by magnets and you can switch them around to create new, interesting combinations.  They have absolutely no bearing on the game itself, but they are part of the Skylanders mythology and are therefore important to collectors.  What the Swappers offer is access to minigames and in-game collectibles that go towards achieving 100% completion on each level.  Unfortunately, the game came out nearly two months ago and in waves one and two, a complete set of Swappers (ones that could access all of the areas in the levels) have not yet been released.  By the time wave three is released (in a few weeks from what I hear) those that have already bought the game for anything other than a Christmas present will have played through it, and, when they are faced with the fact that they cannot access certain areas, may get fed up with the game, not bothering to go back to it, and possibly not picking up the next waves of characters.  Will collectors do so?  Of course.  Will people that have yet to open the game before Christmas morning do so?  Probably.  Will everyone else?  That’s highly debatable and a big risk to take.

                The other issue is one of oversaturation.  A new release every year along with a metric ton of new action figures to buy will most likely cause people to burn out on the series (along with continuing to raise the prices of the individual characters with each new installment – a dick move if I ever saw one).  Just like Guitar Hero, Activision is going to drown consumers in product until they say “to hell with it” and find something new.  Personally, I am almost at that point myself.  If these companies want to continue to take my money, they should at least offer a better product in return.  

Testy

Who needs an ulterior motive for handing out free BJs, really?  It seems like a public service.