Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: The Search for More Money

It’s been over eleven years since Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes came out so fans rejoiced when Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds was finally released in February of this year. Well, Capcom looks to be making up for lost time with the release of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 this November. It’s not exactly a sequel, just a jazzed up version of the same game. It’s listed at only $40, which is cheaper than a regular new release but still stings a bit when you remember you paid $60 for a lesser version of the same game less than a year ago. The new features are as follows:

• Twelve new playable characters:

Marvel	Capcom
Doctor Strange	Firebrand
Ghost Rider	Frank West
Hawkeye	Nemesis
Iron Fist	Phoenix Wright
Nova	Strider Hiryu
Rocket Raccoon	Vergil

• Redesigned HUD and menu screens.
• Tweaks in gameplay to make the characters more balanced.
• Improved online functionality including a spectator mode.

Adding twelve new characters still doesn’t match the 56 playable characters in MvC2. And it still doesn’t add missing fan favorites like Cyclops, Mega Man, Psylocke, or Cammy back to the game.I’m hoping one of the tweaks to the gameplay involves an option for the old control scheme. Things the new game does not include, however, are all of the DLC packs that have already been released for the original version. If you want to play as Jill Valentine or Shuma-Gorath or see the new costumes for Captain America or Iron Man you’ll still have to pay extra for that.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 retails for only $40. I suppose if you weren’t one of those schmucks who bought the original when it was first released, like me, this is a great deal. Factor in $60 for the original game, $4.99 to download each new character, and a charge for the new stages & features and you’re looking at a value of well over $120. If you don’t already own the game it’s a savings of $80. If you do, it’s only $20.

Below is a trailer featuring some of the new characters in action. Notice that one of Hawkeye’s hyper combos involves shooting an arrow ridden Ant-Man who turns giant after hitting his target and steps on them. That move is almost worth the extra $40…almost.

New Comic Day hangover

I’m a few days late on the hangover, but I’m now working two jobs (not counting this blog) so you’ll have to excuse me.  I mean well – honest!

Anyway, this week we’re looking at:

• Uncanny X-Men #541 in which we get some Fear Itself action.
• X-Factor #222 in which we have a guest-star that even fanboys may not pick up on.
• X-Men #15 in which the story ends with a bit of a thud.

In case you’ve forgotten, there be SPOILERS ahead.  These reviews assume that you’ve either read the issues or don’t mind knowing what happens in them.

So let’s go.

DC Comic-Con Stuff From Sunday

There were only two panels today:  Fables and New 52.  While Fables isn’t DCU, and I did not cover the Vertigo panel, I’m writing about Fables because I actually read Fables.  There also wasn’t a lot of of new information in the New 52 panel, so the recap is pretty short.

Fables Panel

• Issue 107 would deal with Sleeping Beauty, being that she is still asleep in the Imperial City.  Issue 108 would start a new story arc called “Inherit the Wind, ” and will deal with replacing the North Wind and Bufkin being back in the land of Oz.
• There will not be a third Cinderella mini-series.
• A new spinoff series was announced, titled “Fairest,” and it will feature stories about any Fables character that can be called the “fairest of them all.”  The first arc will be written by Bill Willingham, drawn by Phil Jiminez, and continue the Sleeping Beauty story.  Lauren Beukes will write the second story which features Rapunzel in Tokyo.  The third story will be written by Sean Williams and feature a new set of Fables.
• Willingham said the “Werewolves in the Hearland” graphic novel would be delayed again.
• The Fables video game from Telltale games would be out next year, feature a wolfish character, and would be considered canon.
• Willingham told a fan that the Blue Fairy will be making another appearance eventually.
• Mark Buckingham mentioned that in early 2013, there would be a special issue for the 20th anniversary of Vertigo.  That issue would be #125.
• Willingham said that Fables have traveled around Hollywood, leaving bastard children, but there was nothing new to report regarding the Fable property itself.
• Sinbad will be making a return.

New 52 panel after the break.

DC Comic-Con Stuff From Saturday

Here are round-ups from the DC panels from Saturday.  Sadly, CBR didn’t have the Fables panel up yet, so that will appear on the next write up.

Green Lantern Panel

• Geoff Johns said that Sinestro will have to go against the Sinestro Corps, and an upcoming story arc will explore his fascination with the Indigo tribe.
• Green Lantern:  New Guardians will focus on what Kyle Rayner means to the entire emotional spectrum.
• There are no current plans to do more stories with the Black Ops Green Lanterns.
• Following his death, there are plans to show what is going to happen to Mogo’s ring.
• The Green Lantern titles are going to explore the world and society that exists on Oa.
• Blackest Night still exists in continuity.
• Black Hand will make an appearance in an upcoming story.
• Johns said that there was the possibility of a Larfleeze mini-series in the future.
• Johns said a fan question about Lanterns maybe being able to use more than one power ring at a time would be addressed in Green Lantern.
• The audience was split when polled about preferring crossovers or standalones.

New 52 and the Dark and Edge panels are after the break.

DC Comic-Con Stuff From Friday

Here are the interesting, I think, tidbits from Friday’s DC panels.  A bit of a warning, there is a spoiler about the end of the last issue of Green Lantern.

Grant Morrison Panel (may have happened late Thursday)

• The Invisibles was written as a happy book because Morrison needed cheering up, whereas his next book, The Filth, came out of a happy time in his life.
• Morrison would like to write Wonder Woman.
• Morrison has a screenplay called Dinosaurs vs. Aliens that is being looked at being made into a movie.  He joked that it probably should be a SyFy movie, but still, it may be the first movie he has made from his work.
• Addressing a fan comment about lack of originality in comics, Morrison responded that there are only seven different plots people go through, and everything is a version of those.  ”Everyone in the world has a unique experience, everyone has one set of eyes in the entire history of life on earth and the universe and that’s where the originality comes from, by telling the truth of what they see, and a lack of originality comes from not telling the truth and trying to be like someone else.”
• A screenplay for We3 is floating around, but he doesn’t expect it to be made anytime soon.
• When asked if he could make anything he wrote “unretconable,” since a lot of his New X-Men stuff has been phased it, what would it be, Morrison replied with Animal Man’s marriage.
• Morrison mentioned that he had an idea of what he’d like to do if he had the chance to write a Flash:  Earth One graphic novel.
• There are plans for him to appear in a third My Chemical Romance music video.  (Writer’s note:  if you haven’t seen either video, do so now but clicking here and here.)
• Morrison talked about how he envisioned his Superman as a bit more mischievous and anti-authority, going back to his more “champion of the oppressed” roots.
• He stated that he respects the work of Scott Snyder and Matt Fraction, and his favorite comic to read currently is Batman:  The Brave and the Bold.

New 52, Superman, and Justice League panels after the break.

New Spider-Man Toy Shows Off New Movie’s New Costume

This week at Comic-Con Hasbro showed off the new Spider-Man figure that will be released as part of the tie-in toy line for The Amazing Spider-Man movie next summer. This being the first good look we’ve gotten at the new costume Spidey will be wearing in the film…I am not impressed. I don’t hate it, it just seems needlessly busy. Spider-Man’s suit is a fairly simple design. Various artists have tried to change his look over the years and the only look that stuck around was one even simpler. The red stripes on the legs, the blue stripes on the arms and gloves, the extra long legs on the front spider logo, the treads on the boots…it all seems a bit much. The normally clean look of Spider-Man’s costume just becomes a jumbled mess below the neck. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll look better in reality that it does on this figure.

Haters gonna hate.

Five more pics after the jump.

This is Relevant to My Interests

I’m a fan of comic books and professional wrestling, and those two interests don’t overlap very often. When they do you usually get ridiculous nonsense like this or this. But WWE’s current media sensation CM Punk was at Comic-Con International yesterday and got a gift from artist Josh Adams. As you probably didn’t know, a routine part of Punk’s ring entrance involves him looking at an imaginary watch and yelling “It’s clobberin’ time!”, the catch phrase of the the ever lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.I’ve never seen any of Adam’s work before, but this is pretty great.

 

Teaser Trailer Trifecta

There’s a few big comic book movies rolling out in the summer of 2012 and their respective studios have already started releasing trailers. One or two of these may be more appropriately called “teasers”, but a teaser is really just a really short trailer so call it what you want.
Trailers for The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Avengers after the jump.

Tidbits From DC on Thursday at Comic-Con

Each day I’ll go through the news from DC’s panels at Comic-con, and post any little tidbits that I find interesting.  Sometimes it’ll be news, sometimes it will be funny or infuriating things that are said by people in attendance.  Since I’m not actually there, I’m getting this information second hand, usually from Comic Book Resources.

Flashpoint Panel

• Creators liked working on Flashpoint tie-ins, because it gave them freedom to do essentially whatever they wanted to, since this a world that did not have many details set for them.
• Kid Flash Lost #3 will do something surprising with the Speed Force that’s important for Flashpoint #5.
• Flashpoint #5 will have a double page spread that will attempt to explain how the DCU gets from Flashpoint to the New 52.
• News about Milestone characters other than Static Shock was teased for one of the Sunday panels.
• A fan joked that an Aquaman event should be titled “Splashpoint.”

New 52 and Batman panels after the break.

Adventures in order and continuity

My big project that I’ve been spending way more time than I’d care to admit on is making an ultimate reading guide to the X-Men line.  In theory, once complete, I will have a reading order completed that allows an X-Men reader with the time (and resources) to read straight through most of the X-Men story.  I say most because I’m leaving out solo series/minis that move away from the teams (Wolverine, Cable, Gambit, etc).  Trying to fit them in would be an effort of maddening futility (like trying to enjoy Chuck Austen’s X-Men).

Or justifying the merits of Psylocke's identity crisis.

It was quite simple at first – there was only one X-Men title.  The only thing that had to be determined was at what point the annuals should be tossed in to not break up an ongoing storyline with the usually unimportant story.  Upon the launch of New Mutants and further down X-Factor, the titles had to be more carefully organized for better reading.  To do so, I follow three main guidelines in determining the order:

1. Characters – The X-Books have characters showing up in each other’s books all the time.  Finding openings for these appearances are the most helpful aspect in figuring out where stories relate to one another.  For example, if Wolverine pops in to visit the younger team in an issue of New Mutants, then the story would fall between issues that would allow Wolverine an opening to do so.  If an issue of Uncanny ended on a cliffhanger with Wolverine laying bloody before a villain, chances are that he’s not going to get up and visit the junior team back home before coming back for the start of the next issue.
   
2. Events - Characters’ dialogue often references events that happen in other titles and thus shows relation in timescale.  If Cannonball mentions that Magneto has been acting weird since the X-Men returned from a certain mission, then that appearance falls after the issue in which that mission took place.  Crossover events are especially helpful, as they serve as starting/stopping points for different titles.  The Mutant Massacre wrapped up in issues 214, 46 and 11, respectively, of Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants and X-Factor.  Fall of the Mutants began in issues 229, 59 and 24.  Thus, even if the exact number of issues don’t match up for each title, all of the issues between the three books must have played out between the two events (in this case, 15 for Uncanny and 13 for both New Mutants and X-Factor).
   
3. Readability – The biggest point of this entire project is that I want the whole experience to be enjoyable (or at least as enjoyable as the story allows).  Thus, I try to switch between the various titles at story breaks.  If a story goes for three issues in Uncanny then wraps, I will then switch over to one of the other titles for its next story before getting back to Uncanny.  This attempts to keep the stories fresh, as you don’t get overloaded with any one title before switching to another, and keeping the stints short prevents forgetting what happened in another title by the time the reader gets back to it.
   

With just three X-Books to deal with, the operation has thus far gone smoothly.  I’m two issues away from kicking off the Mutant Massacre (one issue each of New Mutants and X-Factor) and so far I’ve only had to make one correction (X-Factor has a two-part story that leads directly into the Massacre that I had initially split up).

But there is one issue that breaks two of the rules on its own and there’s simply no good way of getting around it.  And it frustrates the hell out of me.