Y'know what I'm hankerin' for....

I just want to run D&D as a straight wargame.

You've got your players doing the PCs. The other player running all the monsters. A big dungeon to smash through and that's it. No roleplaying, no big story, just "we've come to take your loot and dance through 5' squares to do it".

Like Space Hulk but you've got one guy not a squad of marines and the genestealers are a little more varied.

later
Tom

Y'know what I'm hankerin' for....

I just want to run D&D as a straight wargame.

You've got your players doing the PCs. The other player running all the monsters. A big dungeon to smash through and that's it. No roleplaying, no big story, just "we've come to take your loot and dance through 5' squares to do it".

Like Space Hulk but you've got one guy not a squad of marines and the genestealers are a little more varied.

later
Tom

So, comic books...

Hey,

I'm a pretty slapdash comic book reader. I used to be a lot more regular, now I'm only getting a scant handful of titles. Part of the problem is that anything from the DC or Marvel is either incredibly complex because it's been around for 50 years or it's some short-lived new thing that falls to the wayside. So I usually wind up with weird, quirky things.

By way of example, the last DC title I picked up with any regularity was Hitman -- and I knew going in that it was never going to keep up. The last Marvel title I followed with any regularity? Um...X-Force -- and the reason is because I was totally in love with The New Mutants as a young teen and hoped this would work out...but obviously, it died a pretty sudden death.

But a desire for 4-color heroes is welling up inside me and Astro-City trades are only whetting the appetite.

So lately I've been getting Young Avengers. I really like it. One of the things I really like is that it has no trouble taking a few potshots at the genre. Things like:

"What happened here."
"Well, Kang the Conquerer showed up and then--"
"Wait. Does this involve time travel?"
"Well, yeah."
"Forget it. I don't wanna know."

and

Luke Cage: "Hey, the Patriot has a new mask. Did his costume change?"
Spider-man: "You know who he's called Patriot?"
Luke Cage: "Like there are so many black super-heroes I can't keep track of them?"

Little things like that. It makes me happy. Yes, the Young Avengers are ultra-PC. They've got a black hero, two female heroes, an Asian hero. The Asian hero and the white male hero? Yeah, they're gay. And, yeah it's all handled pretty deftly and not completely, face-bashingly PC, but still.

Overall though, the series has really been pretty good. The artwork isn't a total afront to human proportions or anything. The dialogue has (as observed above) been pretty darn good. The overall plots? Um...this falls back to that whole "50 years of history" thing. I don't know what's up with the Avengers (or New Avengers or whatnot) and frankly, I don't much care. So there are times where I'm thinking "is this important somehow?", but when the focus is on the kids (and it usually is), it's all new and the plots seem to zip along pretty well.

So...Young Avengers. I quite like it.

later
Tom

So, comic books...

Hey,

I'm a pretty slapdash comic book reader. I used to be a lot more regular, now I'm only getting a scant handful of titles. Part of the problem is that anything from the DC or Marvel is either incredibly complex because it's been around for 50 years or it's some short-lived new thing that falls to the wayside. So I usually wind up with weird, quirky things.

By way of example, the last DC title I picked up with any regularity was Hitman -- and I knew going in that it was never going to keep up. The last Marvel title I followed with any regularity? Um...X-Force -- and the reason is because I was totally in love with The New Mutants as a young teen and hoped this would work out...but obviously, it died a pretty sudden death.

But a desire for 4-color heroes is welling up inside me and Astro-City trades are only whetting the appetite.

So lately I've been getting Young Avengers. I really like it. One of the things I really like is that it has no trouble taking a few potshots at the genre. Things like:

"What happened here."
"Well, Kang the Conquerer showed up and then--"
"Wait. Does this involve time travel?"
"Well, yeah."
"Forget it. I don't wanna know."

and

Luke Cage: "Hey, the Patriot has a new mask. Did his costume change?"
Spider-man: "You know who he's called Patriot?"
Luke Cage: "Like there are so many black super-heroes I can't keep track of them?"

Little things like that. It makes me happy. Yes, the Young Avengers are ultra-PC. They've got a black hero, two female heroes, an Asian hero. The Asian hero and the white male hero? Yeah, they're gay. And, yeah it's all handled pretty deftly and not completely, face-bashingly PC, but still.

Overall though, the series has really been pretty good. The artwork isn't a total afront to human proportions or anything. The dialogue has (as observed above) been pretty darn good. The overall plots? Um...this falls back to that whole "50 years of history" thing. I don't know what's up with the Avengers (or New Avengers or whatnot) and frankly, I don't much care. So there are times where I'm thinking "is this important somehow?", but when the focus is on the kids (and it usually is), it's all new and the plots seem to zip along pretty well.

So...Young Avengers. I quite like it.

later
Tom