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Given that this month is essentially the E3 time of presenting games even after the show's demise a few years ago (I want to say it died in 2020, but I could be wrong), I figured I can give my thoughts on the presentation livestreams and what they've shown. Starting with Sony's State of Play released just last week by the time I'm writing this. So, let's start out with a couple things from Marvel Games:

Marvel's Wolverine (Insomniac Games) Gameplay Trailer- I was already on board with this game when it was teased a few years ago and it's first trailer back in September, and now with its first gameplay reveal, this game has already cemented my hype for this one. A straight-up brutal game fitting for Marvel's favorite Canadian filled with stealth, Adamantium claw strikes, and a Berserker Rage mechanic involved not just in combat, but also when Logan's about to die. Add in character's that show up in the story in gameplay parts, like Jean Grey's appearance in providing team-up combos, and you have a story not just worthy of presenting Wolverine, but the whole X-cast as well. It's unsure whether other X-Men characters will show up like Scott, Kurt, Ororo, or even Xavier, given how at this point in the Insomniac Marvel universe, the X-Men aren't a thing yet, but instead Team X exists to help out Mutants in-hiding from the public. However, a bunch of X-Man villains are prevalent here: the Sentinels and Trask, Mystique, Omega Red, and of course, Sabretooth. I already know the boss fights with Omega Red and Sabretooth are gonna be straight-up BANGERS in this game, and I will LOVE to see where this game goes and how the story will play out coming this September.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls (Arc System Works) Knights of Doom Trailer- Continuing from the previous team trailers, we not only get a glimpse of the game's main antagonist with The Champion, we get to see the team reveal of Dr. Doom's team: The Knights of Doom. Lead by Victor von Doom (who just so happens to be voiced by ProZD surprisingly enough), we see his teammates: Magneto (voiced by James Arnold Taylor who is his Marvel Rivals VA as well), Green Goblin (voiced by freaking Steve Blum, the same VA from Spectacular Spider-Man), and Carnage (voiced by Kellen Goff, who I don't know any previous roles from them). This is already a cool looking team, although I'm surprised by the members Doom has given that the only one I can kinda see working with him is Magneto, although I'm also pretty sure Mags won't work with a dictator like Doom given his personal experience of being under one during one of the worst times of human history, unless Doom promised he won't harm the Mutant population. The latter two though I'm not sure would be loyal to Doom with Carnage literally being a mass-killing psychopath that is fueled by a symbiote that resides in Cleetus' blood, and the other is Norman "I sold my own son's soul to get me out of Hell" Osbourne who absolutely loves ruining Peter's life. Apparently, he has a redemption arc going on in current Spider-Man comics, but I really don't want to get into that. I'm probably overthinking about the members at this point since this is the first time that Goblin and Carnage are in a Marvel fighting game, and no, the added character mods in UMVC3 don't count. So the game is still going strong for me when it comes out in August. All that's left is Ghost Rider's team which is either a Midnight Son's team that features Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, and probably Blade, or an anti-hero team featuring Venom since Carnage is already here. Game looks great, the characters already revealed being a mix of fighting game mainstays like Hulk, Magneto, and Wolverine, fan favorites making their FG debut like Star-Lord, Magik, and Ms. Marvel, or even out-of-left field characters like Danger and Peni just shows the depth of the Marvel universe, just like how Rivals picks their characters, and the soundtrack is an absolute BOP to listen to. So, I'm giving this game two thumbs up when it comes out.

Skipping ahead of some of the announcements with Rayman: Legends Untold (which I have a separate blog with my personal thoughts about that announcement), Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, The Lost Wild (aka a Jurassic Park horror game that's NOT a Jurassic Park game), Onimusha: Way of the Sword (who's demo is out now btw), and Silent Hill: Townfall. We have:

Stuntman Hollywood- I have never played Stuntman before; I guess it's like a time trial game where you have to do certain tricks to complete a mission or something. Notable thing with the trailer is that it features vehicle-based movies and shows from the 70s to the 80s like Miami Vice, Death Race (or atleast I assume it's Death Race?), Knight Rider, and Back to the Future. I guess it makes it more unique, and I think I heard some people from my online friend group say good things about Stuntman, but I'm honestly not sure if I want to pick this game up. If it's good, then maybe I can check it out, but right now... yeah I'm good.

After Control: Resonant and some PS+, is Until Dawn 2. Never played the first game, but the premise is interesting in how its a horror story that you can control, with who lives and dies. This game is no different other than the setting is now on a tropical island and not a snowy mountainside. Other than that, probably maybe, but most likely no from me. Let's hope this doesn't get a dumpster fire movie adaptation like the last game.

And now the main event of this State of Play and perhaps the most divisive:

God of War: Laufey (Santa Monica Studios) Reveal and Gameplay Trailer- Being the most different of the franchise (or at least until the demastered prequel game comes out), this game doesn't follow Kratos, but instead his second wife, Faye, as she ventures into the Everwhen, the afterlife of the Gods, trying to escape and get back to Kratos and Atreus. I'm being 100% honest with you when I say that this game... looks fantastic. The setting is already amazing to me in how fascinating that its pretty much an amalgamation of EVERY mythology here: Mongolian, Egyptian, and probably Irish influences throughout. I am a sucker for mythology story, so I will have a field day with this world. The combat looks fun in how it gained the aerial combos from the Sparta trilogy, which may also provide a look for how the remastered Sparta GOW games will be like. And it has Jack Quaid playing a talking slime cube named Phranque, and I freaking love Jack Quaid! I know some people might have issues with the quippy dialogue in comparison to the Norse GOW duology's quietness, but I can still give the game a shot anyways since, to me at least, there really is no '''bad" God of War game. I guess the closest will be the first game of the franchise given it is poorly aged over time, but the sequels do improve a lot from it, and the quality train has never gotten derailed at this point, so I will absolutely give Laufey a shot and see how this plays into the franchise. Maybe we'll see the Greek Pantheon like Ares, Zeus, and Athena as they straight-up attack her on sight the moment she mentions Kratos. That would be funny to me. Anyways, I'll pick this up when it comes out. Although I would imagine it would be a while given there's still the Sparta trilogy remasters and that demastered prequel game coming out. Otherwise, can't wait to go back to this franchise again. Oh crap, there's also that live-action series coming soon on Amazon+ I think, so if that goes great, I'll check that out too.

[SPOILER WARNING AHEAD]

Last month saw the release of a brand-new series set in DC's Absolute Universe with their reinterpretation of the Emerald Archer himself, Green Arrow. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote, (who I believed wrote an issue of Exquisite Corpses which I heard is a pretty good series) and illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque who I know best as the artist behind American Vampire, this new horror series has this archer go after the real monsters of society: billionaires! That's right, this GA goes and straight up kills billionaires and their douchey ways that mostly involve SA's and human trafficking since, you know, billionaires suck and GA is genuinely based for killing them tbh.

A bit of in-universe backstory for this issue before we begin, last year with the Absolute Universe one-shot, Absolute Evil, saw three debuts in this issue, with the Absolute Justice League being the main villains of this universe with them consisting of the most corrupt elites in said universe (Jack Grimm/The Joker, Raz's Al Ghul, Hector Hammond, Elenore Thawne, and Veronica Cale) being the main draw, but alongside that was the quick appearance of Oliver Queen, best known as Green Arrow in the main DC universe, as he prepares himself in his Arrow Cave as he talks on the phone with Roy Harper, best known as Arsenal in the main universe, about going out and kill his former partner Jubal Slade after finding out about his... dark hobby of sending minors to an island so obviously Ollie is going to do something about that involves Jubal's head getting an arrow through it. Unfortunately, Ollie's plans are cut short due to him gaining a common illness found in comics simply known as being dead via the third debuting Absolute Hawkman. So just like that, Green Arrow is no more, and no one is going to go out and punish these rich assholes with the proper justice that's rightfully deserved... until now.

Now despite the issue being named after GA, the archer is not the main character of this story, instead it's Dinah Lance, commonly known as Black Canary in the main universe. In the Absolute universe though, she was a former cop turned former MMA fighter to now current bodyguard for the rich and she straight up hates her job since she has to protect the wealthy, and they are the most ungrateful people ever towards her because billionaires suck. But she has to keep the job due to her mother passing away and her dad currently being on medication and the insurance doesn't cover the entire cost. So, she has to make ends meet with her job and having to put up with them and not do anything or she'll be fired from it.

One night, Dinah gets recruited by Malcolm Merlyn to help in a case that involves the murder of Jubal Slade by a mysterious, green-cloaked archer and to protect two potential targets the archer is after: Reese Tyler, the CEO of Tyler Pharmaceuticals, and the recently mentioned Hector Hammond. Dinah is recruited not because of her background in policework and bodyguarding, but due to her previous connections to Oliver and Jubal as they were neighbors years ago, with Dinah and Oliver also dating during that time. Dinah is at first against working with them, but it took Hammond literally taking her father's health insurance away to persuade her to take the job, because billionaires suck. One other interesting thing to note is that Merlyn narrowed down to three people behind the identity of this archer killer: Roy Harper (who was the last person Ollie talked to), Mia Dearden, and Tom Hallaway. Harper, of course, best known in the main universe as Ollie's sidekick Speedy but now known as Arsenal, and the latter two are characters I don't know that well, but are apparently deep cuts in the DC Universe.

During an investigation into Ollie's now abandoned Arrow Cave, a place that is apparently important for Hammond to look into, Green Arrow shows up and attacks the group there, killing Reese via a poison arrow and cutting off the hand of Hammond, right before Hammond told him that Hawkman killed Ollie when GA was about to kill him, which Dinah hears as she shoots at GA before they disappear into the fire. After rushing Hector to the hospital, Dinah and Merlyn investigate the remains of the cave to find a fake wall and found inside... is a dead body of a kid with eyeballs all over his body. Dear god, Ollie was behind the T-Virus?!

Anyways, this first issue was pretty damn good all things considered. I really like this horror-mystery story behind who this Green Arrow is. Are they one of the people Merlyn mentioned? Is it somehow all three of them? Or is it Ollie getting the powers of the Spectre, God's right hand of vengeance? That last one seems a bit out of place, but I won't be surprised by that case given the Absolute Universe does take in a lot of supernatural stuff, much like its main universe counterpart. On that note, this GA's design is just so cool to see! Simple in how it replicates the main design of GA; just a green suit with a hood, but this time having a demonic-skull mask with red lenses that adds in that horror element to them. There's also the fact that A!GA's bow is literally two machetes joined together by the blades with a magnet, and the handles both connected via the string. Meaning that the bow can also become dual machetes, that is one of the most creative uses of a weapon I've seen in this universe besides A!Batman's entire suit!

I also really like Dinah and how she's pretty much the audience surrogate in seeing how horrible the top class is and how they treat those "beneath them." You get a good sense on how horrible those people are, especially with Hammond, and you really want to see Dinah stop working for them since she hates them just as much, but unfortunately can't due to her father's health.

Rafael Albuquerque's art is great as always in these horror stories, especially in the panels featuring Green Arrow, both badass and terrifying at the same time and it's always good to see the gore in her. Also, huge props to Marcelo Maiolo as the colorist in this issue. All the colors pop and show the emotion of the characters and the scenes in them.

A damn good story that might even go into the pages of Absolute Superman, as at this point, Kal-El has already met Hawkman so there may be a chance that Green Arrow would show up to try and kill Carter with Kal trying to stop them, as well as Absolute Green Lantern with how Hector Hammond was a key antagonist in the second and third arcs of that series. Maybe the next time we'll see him in A!GL is without his arm. Although for that matter, why didn't he use his mental powers to stop him? Maybe that will be explained in the next issue, but in all honestly, I shouldn't ask that and enjoy the pain Hammond went through, even if killing him should be the better punishment. Can't you tell that I hate billionaires? Cause they suck!

I just celebrated my 24th birthday back during the 1st of this month and I am shocked on how I'm close to living a full quarter of a century here. Kinda makes me feel old given I was born back in '02, which is nuts to me tbh.

During that time, it made me reflect on how I'm doing and what I'm trying to do with this blog page on Tumblr and what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be a comic creator/animator/filmmaker, which is a lot really and I have a lot of ambitious ideas, but I just felt not compelled to write or draw them. It's probably because of my anxiety keeping me from writing or drawing and how I felt like they would just be reacted poorly, which is why I wrote reviews first before moving into more of my story writing. However, when I see people here liking, reblogging, or even commenting my posts, it honestly made me feel compelled to write more. Hell, sometimes it led to people following me, unless they happen to be bots since I KNOW I just saw one post a comment that had a link to a Discord server (don't worry, I blocked that account). I know I shouldn't let strangers on the internet but just seeing a review I've written getting a lot of attention and getting liked is just something that just makes me feel happy, like what I'm writing is genuinely good here. So, now I'm just wanting to write more here during the summer before I come back to my university in August.

In preparation, here is the list of reviews/text essays I want to do and hope to complete by the end of this month:

Absolute Green Arrow #1- Still in the works

Absolute Catwoman #1- Most likely a next week thing since that's when it comes out

Two Reviews of Two Indie Animated Pilots That Came Out Last Month- You probably know what those two are

My Thoughts on The June 2nd State of Play and The Summer Games Fest- They would also split into two blog posts, but I hope to make them quick.

My Longform Blog Essay About My Thoughts About Tom King as a DC Writer- The one that I am the most nervous about, but I hope to finish it before starting a reading series which you probably also know what that is.

Miscellaneous Stuff- i.e. movie reviews on movies I felt like seeing during this month (Backrooms (maybe), Disclosure Day, Masters of The Universe (maybe), Supergirl), finishing my teaser trailer thoughts about the new Clayface movie coming out in October, a post about my thoughts on the look of Rayman Legends Retold, and probably something wrestling related since there's an AEW show I'm going to next week.

Spinning off from Matt Fraction's excellent current Batman run, Barbara Gordon: Breakout (or BG:B as I would call it), written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Amancay Nahuelpan, is set after issue #9 of Fraction's run where in an attempt to get everything the Bat family has before commissioner Vandal Savage and his police force gets their hands on them and the family as a whole, Babs sacrifices herself and gets apprehended by the force. In this issue though, it's explained that this was actually a part of an investigation Babs is doing by infiltrating Supermax prison, Savage's personal super prison to send potential enemies to where they're mysteriously killed. Babs goes there to find out who's killing them and how this all relates to Vandal's ultimate goal in Gotham, whatever that goal is.

The plan itself sounds good on paper, if not for the fact that Supermax is one of the most dangerous prisons filled with killer criminals, some of which Barbara put there as Batgirl, and to top it all off, the guards were former criminals that have a grudge against her due to her dad, Jim Gordon, putting them in prison in the first place. So, Babs is in a dangerous prison with no allies, guards already against her, a bunch of deadly villains, all the while she's still keeping her identity as Batgirl a secret. It's a one-against-all situation for Babs with the issue ending with her getting kidnapped in there, but it's only a matter of time she unravels everything about the murders and how Savage fits in with all of this.

Nahuelpan's art is nice and I like how the characters look at. Not much to say from that as their work is not my favorite in DC, but it's still decent enough for me.

Now despite the fact that this spins off from the main Batman run right now, you don't NEED to read this series as this feels more as viewing what Barabara is doing while the rest of the Bat family is doing their thing. It's a nice expansion to the main Batman story, but it's not necessary if you ask me. But with that said, I'm intrigued to see where this series goes, as it's nice to have a Babs story, the issue even references her time with the Birds of Prey, on that note, I should really check out Kelly Thompson's run of BoP since I heard great things about it.

My only experience with Mariko Tamaki's DC work was that Supergirl back-up story found during Mark Waid's first 12-issue arc of Action Comics last year and I found that story to be just ok. This series I feel is better than that one, probably due to it being more fleshed out and longer. Honestly, this is another nice start, and I like to see where this series goes with Babs. So, if you like Barbara, then you can give this new series a read. It's nice.

Next #1 comes from an independent comic series made by Ashcan Press, published by Image, and written by Matthew and Mark Elijah Robinson with art by Andy Macdonald. I first heard about this issue from a trailer on YouTube and I thought it was interesting based on the concept alone: an animatronic Abraham Lincoln venturing in a post-apocalyptic setting filled with robots. So, I picked up this #1, and it was honestly pretty good I would say.

The story follows Abe, an animatronic Abe Lincoln akin to attractions like The Life and Times of Abraham Lincoln in Walt Disney World, going out to a city full of robots and recites the speeches of Abe Lincoln despite every other robot there not caring about the speech at all and just harassing him the whole time. Afterwards, he meets other robots, one who is a breakfast-making robot and another later in the story who is an automated bus, and both of these interactions have Abe asking the same question, "What is your purpose?"

Now this is the interesting point, in this world, it's been about 87 years since humans have apparently been wiped out and all that's left are robots in a domed city. So, what's next for them? Do they just continue to do their function despite no human users left around? Or can they do more for themselves? That is what Abe's been trying to do: trying to give purpose to robots with his inspiring speeches, which is usually a failed effort, but he still keeps trying, so I got to commend him for that. Its robot stories like these that work a lot well for me in how they examine themes of free will and existence, can something non-biological have their own purpose even if they have little or no emotions within them?

Back to the story, Abe does want to go outside of the dome to see if there's any humans left out there, given how humans created all of them, but the rest just figures that they're all just dead and move on. However, later in the story, Abe and the automated bus pass what was seemingly a human girl, meaning that there could be actual people out there, before they swerve off a bridge and crash below and are soon surrounded by Junkies, scrap-looking robots trying to find new pieces for themselves. A police force shows up to stop the commotion and escalates more when Abe mentions seeing a human. This led to the force rebooting everyone there including the Junkies and the bus, with only Abe immune to the whole thing as he's taken to the back of a police vehicle and is sent out to become spare parts.

The art by Macdonald is pretty good. All the robots in the story are all unique with their own different design with no one looking the same and with their own varied functions. One group are construction/worker robots, another group replicates vehicles on the roads, and another group being the police force. You can even tell the difference in hierarchies between the civilians and the Junkies in their appearance based on the quality of their designs, regular citizens look clean and smooth, while the Junkies are runned-down and appear shoddier. Abe stands out the most here since he's the most human-looking one in the comic and he's very expressive, I like how Macdonald does his face here. The city also looks great in how expansive in scope it feels and how lived in it is.

Welcome to my first of (probably) many reviews where I just talk about new comic series starting out this year with their #1s based on if I'm interested in reading them. I got three relatively quick reviews with two #1s I've picked up last week and one this week. So, let's start with a brand-new series adapting an animated series that I grew up with: Ben 10!

Ben 10 as a series was one of my MANY inspirations in creating stories as I saw the original series a lot back in the mid-2000s when I was a kid followed by the back-to-back peak fictions that were Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, and Omniverse was alright, not my favorite, but alright. And the less said about the reboot the better cause that series sucked hard.

The new comic series, courtesy of Dynamite Comics, brings in Man Of Action, the original team behind the series, in developing the story, with one of the members, Joe Casey, writing the script of this issue. Story wise, issue 1 is essentially the first half of the very first episode of the series. We're introduced to Vilgax, the main villain of the original series, followed by a quick introduction of Ben, the main protagonist of the whole series, Gwen, his cousin who he argues with a lot, and Max, Ben and Gwen's grandpa and my favorite character, especially since he shares the same VA as Col. Roy Campbell from the Metal Gear Solid series, a fact that I always find to be very cool.

Ben storms off from the two and finds across a meteor that just hit the ground, goes into the crater to find the Omnitrix that reached out and attaches to his wrist, and Ben transforms into two different aliens in some horrific details. If you've seen the first episode of the original series, this hits all the plot points, although there are a couple of differences. One thing is now the military plays a role here in investigating the crash site where Ben is hiding from them, but they still search for what caused it, so there is a chance they'll play a pivotal role. Another difference is the entrance of a GODDAMN CYBORG BEAR. A Cy-Bear if you will. Apparently, there is a character named Cybear in the reboot, but he's actually Ben's imaginary friend or something? But here, its a straight up grizzly bear with robotics attached to it and serves as a nice action sequence to bring us into the said transformations with Four Arms and Heat Blast. There are some theories that the Cy-Bear is a creation of Dr. Animo in the comic series, so it'll be cool to see Animo and his weird monsters in the future.

There's also the case of this series going into body horror, albeit only briefly and not much getting into as the transformations to and from alien form seem to be quick and it doesn't look entirely painful. I guess if Ben explains the process, it can give me a feel for it, but he doesn't get much of a reaction other than, "Man, this is weird."

Robert Carey's art is... ok to say the least. I wouldn't say its bad since I like the designs of Four Arms and Heat Blast, although the ladder has more of a metallic body rather than the original's rock body, but I do like the detail that the aliens have different patterned speech bubbles when they talk, like how they have different voices in the series, so I appreciate the touch there. So, at least I want to see the rest of the new designs in the pages instead of just the cover, even if they go more into horrific in the designs compared to the more kid-friendly approach like in the show. Vilgax looks completely different in this issue as there's not much machinery on him compared to the original series, and it could just be me, but he feels kinda... smaller. He's a bit big, but I didn't get the feeling that he's as big as in the original series. The human designs do throw me off a bit in their faces looking a lot weird to me and some of the posing feel stilted. Maybe as the series goes on, I can get more used to the art, or if there's a new artist coming to help improve it a bit.

Today was the surprising announcement of a Star Fox Direct, like it was presented just now and I'm typing my thoughts right after it ended. So I guess I'll talk about it???

Thanks to the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Star Fox is now back to being talked about again for a new generation thanks to Fox's appearance as a key character for the movie. I mean, him and his cool 2D backstory segment were the best part of it. I have my thoughts on the SMG Movie and I'll post them soon, but I just want to focus on the new game right now. Anyways, today's direct announced a brand-new Star Fox game titled... Star Fox. Ok I guess? And this new game is just a remake of Star Fox 64... even though there already was a remake on the 3DS, and even then, 64 is just a remake/reboot of the first game on the SNES, AND EVEN THEN, there was already another remake of 64 with Star Fox Zero on the Wii U. Does anyone even remember Star Fox Zero? I mean, I thought it was good, but no one else talked about it soooo...

Look, point is there's another new Star Fox game with brand new visuals and character designs and they all look...

Um, ok I know I'm probably the only one to say it, but they look WEIRD. Peppy and Slippy look fine since they're still close to their original designs, but Fox and Falco just threw me off a bit. It's like their models got hit with the RTX on and moved away from their 90s anime look. I felt like their designs in Smash Ultimate was a good way of updating them while also keeping their cartoony look. Speaking of Falco, his personality just doesn't feel right to me. I can't explain it, but he just doesn't have that "snap" in his snarkiness compared to his 64 and Assault depictions.

Other than that, game looks good. Again, I'm happy there's a new Star Fox game and I know I'm not the only one who's happy to see the group again. I also really want to see Star Wolf again since I like the missions where you fight the group in 64 and Assault. And just seeing this game get online multiplayer is cool, although there's still a part of me wanting to see it similar to Assault's VS mode. The new VS mode even allows VTuber technology to let you act as a member of Star Fox or Star Wolf, so that's pretty neat!

Conclusion: games looks good, Fox and Falco look weird, it's just 64, but again. But hey, 64 is good so I guess I'm not complaining. And even then, I'm pretty sure my opinion will improve over time when I get the chance to play it next month on June 25th. Now I'll just wait for Star Fox Assault to enter the Gamecube NSO and my life will be complete.

...

Last year, Ketchup Entertainment released the Looney Tunes movie, The Day The Earth Blew Up and even though it didn't get a lot of money during its release, the fact that a Looney Tunes movie was even released in the first place, especially when it felt that LT wasn't seen as important by David Zaslav and WB with him cancelling the release of Coyote VS ACME, a half animated/half live-action Looney Tunes in the spirit of Back in Action (which is a REALLY underrated movie and I wish more people would talk about it), and deeming it as a "tax write-off" in lieu of other WB films that never saw the light of day, like that Batgirl movie and that Scooby-Doo holiday movie. This cancellation was a hard blow to the gut for fans of LT including myself who grew up watching those cartoons, but seeing TDTEBU made fans hopeful that LT will be back around for a new audience this time around and that CvA can finally be released.

Well folks, here we are! Ketchup Entertainment got the rights to release CvA and after a year of anticipation, it'll finally be released this August!

The story of this movie is simple: Wily E. Coyote, after years of dealing with faulty products from ACME on his attempts to catch the Roadrunner, finally does the most sensible thing and sue ACME for their crappy stuff. So he hires a lawyer, played by Will Forte and goes against the company, while the corporation and the head lawyer of ACME, played by John Cena, stops them. All the while, Wily and the lawyers' team find a conspiracy with ACME that includes all of the LT characters, mainly with Foghorn Leghorn as the head of ACME and a lot of redacted files and oh god what did Foggy do?!

Already, the movie looks great! The designs of the Looney Tunes characters look great in having cell-shaded 3D models that fit in perfectly with the live-action cast and effects. And just the fact this brings in a focus to Wily and the Roadrunner is awesome since the Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons are my favorite cartoons from Looney Tunes and having it NOT be Bugs Bunny as the main character is great! Yeah, Bugs is there at the end of the trailer, but having it be other characters instead taking the lead is just incredible since there's a lot of great characters in Looney Tunes! So that, in addition to how this feels like a pseudo-sequel to Back In Action given how they both put ACME as antagonists just gives me no doubt this will be awesome. Hell, get Brandan Frasier a cameo in here and this whole movie is PERFECT! No offense to Space Jam, but I've always put Back In Action as my favorite LT movie in how it felt more in line with the classic cartoons and not just an advertisement.

On top of that, having the marketing go into the initial tax write-off reason just adds to the metanarrative of a corporation taking over and screwing over products and consumers is just perfect for this sort of thing.

Cena already looks great in his role. Loved his emotional performance in Peacemaker Season 2, his best performance by far and I know he'll ace this one.

Additionally, one of the writers behind the screen story is James Gunn which makes me confident in this whole thing as Gunn never does basin anything he's attached to recently with DC.

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!

THIS IS WHAT WE NEEDED!

My God! I never thought to have been more hyped for the DCU for the movies this year and the next, BUT MAN OH MAN have I never doubted DC Studios for producing movies featuring fan favorites and BOY is it about damn time Vergil gets his own live action movie!

I believe there's been a history of trying to make Static movies, but I know there's been some fan films with him, so FINALLY seeing Vergil on the big screen is just AWESOME!

And the best part is if this becomes successful, then there's a good chance DC can bring back Milestone again. I already made a post about a potential Static return run spinning off from The New History of the DC Universe: The Dakota Incident, so maybe it's time for a straight up return for him in the comics with a new run. Hell, the same for the rest of the Milestone characters!

The final trailer for the SMG movie came out last month to celebrate MAR10 Day despite the fact that it was released the day BEFORE on the ninth, and I have some thoughts about the first movie and the sequel before I see it Saturday.

I liked the Super Mario Bros Movie, it was a cute love letter to the Mario franchise, and I love the easter eggs in there not just from the Mario franchise, but with other Nintendo IPs like Star Fox and Punch-Out. Hell, they even referenced the Super Mario Super Show in the beginning commercial. I never thought that show was gonna be referenced again, but here we are. It was an alright movie, which says a lot coming from Illumination since their track record ranging from "ok" to "absolute dumpster fire." I guess my main issues with it are most of the performances feel flat at times, mainly with Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, and Anya Taylor-Joy being meh for me. But of course, the obvious exception was Jack Black as Bowser who was absolutely having fun with the role as its clear he wanted to be in a Mario movie, especially where he's Bowser. His performance is honestly the best part of the entire movie where this version of the Koopa King leans more into his personality from the Mario & Luigi RPGs where I would say are his best showings as a character, especially in Bowser's Inside Story.

Given how the first movie made a lot in the box office at $1.36 billion, a sequel was obviously the next thing for Illumination to do. What was surprising was that they were going to adapt Super Mario Galaxy, with a lot of the story adapting from the plot of SMG 1 and 2, plus some places from Odyssey and surprisingly enough Super Mario Bros 2 (USA).

The cast from the last movie returns with some notably new characters to join the story. First, there's Yoshi, Mario's trusted companion and sort of steed make his second film appearance after his weirdly realistic look in the '93 movie (God, it feels weird to talk about movie still). Yoshi was teased in a post-credits scene where a Yoshi egg was about to be hatched. This time, Yoshi returns and voiced by... DONALD GLOVER? Ok, I mean he's apparently a Nintendo fan, so I respect him for that, but it's weird to cast him as Yoshi when his lines are just "Yoshi," but hey, he already got the voice impression right, so I'll give him a chance.

Speaking of another celebrity who's a Nintendo fan, Brie Larson voices Rosalina in the movie and I feel she'll do a good job too. I hope she'll be treated better by fans here than in Captain Marvel because she really doesn't deserve the hate for her role in that movie. CM is bad don't get me wrong, but I absolutely didn't blame Larson for her role in that movie for it being bad, it's just the writing and directing being horrible. Please stop harassing her for it, thank you. Side tangent aside, seeing Rosalina being brought in for a Mario movie after years of her being in spin-offs post-Galaxy, and finally playable in mainline games like Super Mario 3D World and the Nintendo Switch 2 Expansion of Super Mario Wonder, everything is turning up great for this cosmic princess although I kinda worry about how well they adapt her origin from SMG 1, but she's already looking good in the movie, so maybe it'll turn out alright.

Of course, let's talk about Bowser's son and the Prince of Koopas himself, Bowser Jr. also making his film debut and voiced by... uh let me see here... BENNY SAFDIE?!

The co-director of Uncut Gems is voicing a Mario character?! That is the most craziest statement I've ever heard not just for a Mario movie, but for a kids movie in general! Like wow! At first when I heard Jr.'s voice in the first trailer, I thought it would be Black voicing him like his dad. But seeing Benny Safdie's name attached to him is straight-up nuts. I'll say he's the wild card of this casting in terms of the already crazy casting in this movie, but if he keeps that chaotic little kid energy Jr. has in the games, I think he'll do a good job.

There's other characters brought in this movie, like the trio of bosses from Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) with Birdo, being the most obvious to show up since she was in a lot of spin-offs, Mouser, who actually hasn't been in a lot of things Mario related, and the biggest surprise of all, King Wart voiced by Luis Guzman. yeah, King Wart being relevant again in the big '26 was not on my bingo card for this year, but here we are, I guess? There's also going to be a small cameo by a couple of Pikmin, which just makes me happy to see as a Pikmin fan, but I'm not that surprised since they do appear in Super Nintendo World at the Universal Parks, which I assumed would have some influence to the movies, but of course they're not the biggest surprise compared to the BIGGEST reveal that Universal just nonchalantly released the week before the release being that FOX McCLOUD IS IN THE MOVIE!

Yeah, Fox, the protagonist of the Star Fox franchise is going to be in this movie played by Glen Powell! WHAT IS THIS MOVIE?! I legitimately never thought to see Star Fox, a sort of neglected IP in Nintendo's library will be put in a Mario movie, but here we are again I guess?????

Yeah, this movie is gonna be nuts when I see it Saturday. Will it be better than the first movie? Maybe. Will it stand with the first SMG game as goo- No, just no. I'm sorry but comparing this movie and its original source being MY FAVORITE VIDEO GAME OF ALL TIME, it's gonna be like comparing a Kid's Cuisine to a 5-course meal from a Michelin-Star restaurant. But hey, I know kids love Kid's Cuisine, so who am I to judge, I just want to have fun as much as everyone.

Again, I'll see it this Saturday since I missed out on the opening weekend due to classwork and Easter, but I'll be set for this movie. I have been slightly spoiled in how certain characters will show up in this movie, but it won't detract me from seeing it especially with seeing Star Fox being relevant again! Hopefully, this means we get a new Star fox game in the future that's NOT a retread of the first game again! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll keep praying for a new F-Zero game in my Captain Falcon summoning circle.

Alright, now it's time to cover the second project of the DCU coming this year in the teaser for the next series Lanterns, bringing back Hal Jordan into live action again after the 2011 Green Lantern movie and the live action debut of John Stewart, the Green Lantern most people of my generation know about thanks to the DCAU with Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

The series is in the style of True Detectives with Hal and John investigating a murder in a rural town in Nebraska which may be from space apparently given the series will feature Sinestro, as well as Guy Gardner, played again by Nathan Fillion. I understand that some people want to see the Lanterns in space given that they are DC's most prevalent cosmic characters, but I'm interested in a good dramatic murder mystery here and there and I do like to see Hal do investigation work as part of his job. I just want to know how this connects to outer space, despite how this will connect to the major plot thread of the DCU with Salvation, assuming there will be references to that. Maybe Flagg Sr. will show up near the finale? Who knows?

The duo of Hal and John here, played by Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre respectively, have good chemistry with each other and I like how they contrast each other: Hal being an older mentor with a more relaxed attitude given his longer experience as GL, and John being the younger and more recent recruit with a stricter personality given he was part of the military before joining the GL Corps. Despite that, John does butt heads with Hal on how he feels that Hal is just too old for this, but Hal shrugs it off and just does what he does without breaking a sweat. It'll be good to see where their chemistry go through the series and how John will be fully recruited and with his own ring and suit. Especially with one of Hal's "exercises' being to see how John tries to escape a moving car off a cliff with Hal jumping out right before and with his ring on the dashboard. Don't you just love mentor/student dynamics?

Alright, just to get this out of the way, let's talk about the suit.

I know there's complaints on how this suit looks dull and bleak compared to what most people think about Green Lantern suits: bright emerald green with a black base, like what Hal and John normally wear in the comics. I do understand why fans would hat this suit when previously in the DCU, we had Superman (2025) bring in brighter colored, comic-accurate costumes for the heroes, especially with Guy's suit. However, I do have three explanations on why the suit is like this:

This is Hal's old suit. Like the teaser explained, Hal is a very seasoned GL at this point having I assume to be 5-10 years as a Lantern or a few years at the very least. As such, the suit pretty much reflects Hal at this point: he's old and almost fading but still wants to be out there much to a lot of people's disagreements.

The ring will bring in the added glow. Usually with GLs, the rings would give them a green aura around them that gives them flight, the ability to breathe in space, and their constructs. So, this is a pre-ring worn outfit where its bleak at first until it gets more brighter with the ring. I know Hal didn't have the glow when he flew, but this is still an early teaser, so I would imagine most of the VFX won't be added in yet.

I really don't have any issues with this suit, especially when there's already two other suits in the closet with it and a lot of people didn't pay attention to that fact. Meaning that there's a good chance that when this series is over, John will have a brand-new suit to celebrate him becoming a full-on Green Lantern and we'll at least see it both there and in Superman: Man of Tomorrow next year since John will make an appearance in that movie, so that's cool to see.

And even then, I like the other two GL objects in here with Hal's gold trimmed ring he places on the dashboard of the runaway car and the ornate battery John holds in another shot.

They both look genuinely nice to me!

For any plot theory stuff I have about the show, the only major thing I have going on is with the outcome of Hal being one of three things: he dies, he becomes Parallax, or both. Now I REALLY don't want either of those things to happen to him, especially with him turning evil and being Parallax like in the comics. I guess this thought process comes from pushing John to the forefront of being Earth's main GL in the DCU which I don't hate seeing and pretty much agree to since, again, I grew up with Stewart as the main GL from my childhood. I just want Hal to live a nice retirement afterwards or something. Y'know, something good with him still being alive. Isn't that hard to ask?

The head showrunner of this show, Chris Mundy was the producer behind True Detectives, which I haven't seen but I did hear great things about it or at least the first season, which explains the serious tone the series is having.

Overall, I'm honestly looking forward to the show coming out in August, right between the two other DCU projects with Supergirl coming in June, and Clayface coming in October. It looks like a very interesting series to watch in its genre compared to the more comedic and light-hearted the DCU had prior with Creature Commandos, Superman (2025), and Peacemaker Season 2; all of which were some really solid works, and I hope the same with Lanterns.

Sunday night saw the first AEW PPV of 2026 with Revolution live in the Staples Center in LA (yes that's the name of the arena and I won't call it anything else). Overall, it was a great PPV filled to the brim with returns and announcements following some great matches.

"Jungle" Jack Perry got his hometown win in front of his mom and sister and became the new AEW National Champion in a fun 21-Man Battle Royal which included moments like Ciampa eliminating Ace Austin by kneeing him in the groin and... whatever Lio Rush's new look is.

I wanna say it's a demon look, but I really don't know how else to describe it. Guess TK's ROH changes you.

Anyways, I'm happy for Jack, and it's nice to see that Luchasaurus in still healing from his injury, he even got to drive the Jungle Bus (formerly known as the Scapegoat Bus)!

Young Bucks/FTR was a great first match of the main card with Nick bleeding in front of his kids and Stokely finally being able to walk again! Great for him! FTR retains and the return of Cope & Cage is awesome to see with them going for FTR's tag belts as well as a teasing of a future match with the Bucks. Maybe a three-way TLC match in the future? It'll be cool to see.

Takeshita/Mox was another great match that really had Takeshita over despite the loss. I'll miss his heel run, but the feud with Okada will be awesome to see, especially with this iteration of Okada being my favorite heel in the company. Although I will be sad by Fletcher betraying Takeshita. RIP Protoshita.

Ospreay came back via healing tank and immediately attacked Mox which meant it was a very long time he was in there to not know that Mox is a face now since World's End. I mean; I guess it's just him since the rest of the Death Riders are a mixed bag for the most part. But Ospreay/Mox for the Continental title will be fun at least.

Bayne and Kross are new Women's Tag Champs in a pretty short match against the Babes of Wrath. Still sucks that Ford is injured again, especially when she was close to winning the belts with Bayne during one match a few weeks ago.

Statlander/Thekla 2/3 Falls match was alright. I feel that I liked their first match more, but this was fine to say the least. I like Thekla's personality more ever since she became the Women's champion and I'm waiting almost impatiently for that eventual match with her and Toni soon. Come on Tony, give the people what they want!

Swerve/Brody was cool, but I felt it wasn't either of their best match singles -wise, but that's just me. Swerve coming out as Candyman was awesome. Kenny returned after the match to save Brody, so the Omega/Swerve feud can continue and that's cool to see.

Jet Set Mistico/Protokada & Davis (Protokadavis?) was another really good one. Happy to see Mistico in a match against Okada and I REALLY hope we'll get a proper match between them. It had a nice ending detail of Kevin winning after he took the loss against the DCF in the match JSR lost the trios belts, so it's a nice full circle thing there. Also topped off by the fact that MISTICO IS ALL ELITE!

YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEA-

ahem sorry about that, cool to see, cool to see.

Speaking of luchadores, Andrade/Bandido was my second favorite match of the night. Both of them are just awesome and are probably two of my favorite guys in AEW which says a lot since AEW is filled with guys that I like. Andrade is having the run of his career ever since he came back in January where his gimmick is just him taking selfies with hot women and then sleeps with them afterwards because he's hot and cool. And Bandido is... well Bandido, he's already great. He had an awesome run last year and I know it's gonna go higher and higher this year. God, I really don't want either of them to lose, I'm not surprised that Andrade won, but c'mon Tony, I NEED more Bandido wins! Maybe with a possible rematch between the two, maybe for the ROH World title, maybe not because I want to see more of them against each other. My god, that 21-Deadlift Plex was awesome.

But of course, I have to talk about the main event and my god it was amazing from start to finish.

In comparing to Hangman's entire series of Texas Deathmatches, I'd say this is up there as my second favorite Death match with his Revolution 2023 match with Mox being my favorite, but I just like the story of Hanger doing his damnedest to beat the living hell out of MJF, while Max does fight back in some good spots (Jesus, that syringe spot was disturbing) and it does end as honestly being Hangman's own doing. He was so focused on hurting Max that he didn't see the diamond ring and he ended up being hanged by MJF with the dog collar the same way Hanger choked Mox in his two death matches with him, and that final shot!

I want to point this to people saying wrestling isn't cinematic because holy crap this is a beautiful shot. I would be sad that Hanger lost since he'll never have another World title shot ever again, but I'm honestly fine with it. It's probably because I felt fulfilled by Hanger winning the title at All In Texas when I went there live, but I also find this match to serve as a finale for Hanger. Well, more as a season finale for him and not a series finale since he is still wrestling in AEW, but he can at least be helpful in helping someone else go after Max. I know some people are expecting him to turn heel again and I'm definitely sure that will happen, but that is something more later rather than immediately or sooner and with some involvement from Swerve.

As for MJF, he definitely did a great showing here, hell, his second run as the World champ is already doing great compared to his first run since there's no Adam Cole! Also the fact that he's actually putting a lot of work here and not relying on cheap heat stuff. MJF is a fun heel to hate, but even I see some flaws in his matches where they usually end with a ring punch and that's it. Yeah, that's wrestling heel stuff, but after a while it kinda gets repetitive and I get bored of it. Thankfully he's improved a lot, and he did great in this match.

I want to know what's next in the run. A lot of people thought Ospreay was gonna win the World title at All In London this year, but with him gunning for Mox, I really don't know where it goes from here, and I absolutely meant that in a positive way. Some people want Andrade to be the next champ, but I'm unsure how I feel about the belt jumping from heel to heel unless through a multi-man match, and I feel he would take the most attention in the DCF. Bandido will be an awesome pick as I want this year to be a great continuation of last year's accomplishments for him and a win in a rematch against MJF is definitely waiting for him. Darby is another good one since he REALLY deserves it as someone who was in AEW since day 1, maybe have Hangman help him as a last "gotcha" to Max.

Revolution 2026 was a great first PPV of the year for AEW and it really shifts into future storyline stuff with a lot of the wrestlers there and with an excellent 5-Star Texas Death Match to boot it. Can't wait to see what other cool things AEW will have this year!