The Professional Gamer - August 29, 2016

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Hello readers! I have a very short article for you this week. I am out of town for the weekend at the Fort Collins Comic Con, helping Crystal with her vendor table. If I have learned nothing else this weekend, it is that Fort Collins has even more beer than I imagined.  The convention went really well. Maybe not as many sales as we might have hoped, but a lot of very friendly fans. I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time outside of the vendors hall, but everything at the convention seemed to be well organized and efficient. I hope that we can come back again next year.

In other geeky happenings, I’ve spent some of my time this weekend reading some of the comics that I’ve purchased at past conventions. I have a bad habit of late with regards to buying comics, but not getting around to reading them. Therefore, I’m glad that sitting at a table for most of the weekend afforded me some dedicated time for reading.  This weekend I read Second Quest, Friends with Boys, In Real Life, and the first to issues of Flat Track Furies.  Since the first three are full length novels, I’ll hold off discussing them for separate posts. Let’s talk about Flat Track Furies. 

The comic is written and drawn by Moriah Hummer, and centers on Molly, derby player by day, monster hunter by night. Molly and her team, the Nuclear City Furies, play a rough game at the rink, then, take out some of the monsters that have begun appearing on the city streets.  Issues 1 and 2 are available for purchase at Shopify and Issue 1 is available digitally on Comixology. I have also seen Hummer at several Colorado area conventions.

These first two issues provide a quick introduction to the characters and world that they inhabit. The Furies seem well characterized and remind me of some of the Derby Girls that I’ve met in the past. With only two relatively short issues available at this point, the characters seem a bit lacking in depth. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone fleshed out a little bit more in the future. The art in the first issue is a little shaky, as though Hummer is still finding her characters, but gets a lot more solid in Issue 2. I enjoy the higher contrast art with some spots of pink to highlight some items.   Overall, it is a fun read.

Deadpool Movie Review

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Deadpool, the first R-rated Marvel movie since 2004, has finally hit theatres. But is this movie as good as all the hype has made it out to be? Or is it going to have been all marketing magic? Well good news to all of you, the movie is good. They took the recent Deadpool comics and translated them into a movie that we can proudly admit to having been seen. Although, and this is pointed to you parents, I would HIGHLY advise you holding out on taking the kids to this movie. Yes, it is a Marvel movie, but no one will question why Deadpool earned an R-rating and without it this is not the same movie. There will not be a TV friendly version of this movie.

Now lets flashback a number of years to San Diego Comic Con. A trailer of some Deadpool test footage gets leaked. Fast forward to another SDCC and this footage returns later a little cleaned up with the announcement that there will be a Deadpool movie. Fast forward again to this weekend and this same freeway gun fight opens the movie. It even included Deadpool coloring on an overpass listening to some tunes. Immediately during the opening you know this movie will be different. Trust me when I tell you to read the opening credits, it really sets the tone of the movie.

Since this is the first Deadpool movie it requires a long and boring origin story about who Wade Wilson is and how he got that fancy red suit. Well this is done between action scenes with 4th wall breaking flash-backs until we reach the present day. It is a unique method that I am not sure would work with the other Marvel properties since they don't acknowledge they are in a fictional world the way Deadpool does. Now if it annoys you when characters break the 4th wall, you probably are not reading this as you don't like Deadpool anyway, so you will like that portion of the movie. Breaking the 4th wall is used to do more then tell the story. Deadpool also uses this to make a few well timed wise cracks about Fox's X-men movie universe. 

 Now the big question is, should you see this movie? Well if you only like superhero movies that feature a hero who works for the greater good and is a good person without question; then just stay home and watch Ant-Man or Avengers again. But if you are looking for something different, if you are looking to have a laugh then this movie will scratch that itch.

Fingers crossed this scene is in the sequel.

Fingers crossed this scene is in the sequel.

And on a few different notes. Thanks to X-Men: Days of Future Past this is technically the same Deadpool that almost destroyed this movie's chance. Now instead of a mute teleporting sword implanted monster we have the Deadpool we always wanted. A Deadpool that broke records for opening weekend sales for both R-rated movies and for movies opening in February making $135 million domestically and $125 million internationally. Not bad for an idiot in a red suit.

Suicide Squad makeS a decent trailer

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What do you get when you toss some of the worst people in the DC Universe together? You get what could be the most interesting movie from the DC franchise in a while. For the most part the DC movies have been serious affairs where the idea of a joke is a foreign concept and the campiness that makes comics so endearing is lost. That appears to not be the case in this most recent Suicide Squad trailer. Take a look:

Not bad huh? And Bohemian Rhapsody just seemed perfect for this crew of misfits. Now the main question, will this trailer end up being better then the movie? Guess we find out in August.