IN Podcast Episode 4: Boston Comic Con / Billy West Interview

This episode, Dread and I discuss current, burning topics, and Ryan and I take a trip to the Boston Comic Con for some interviews.

• Last of Us original ending to be revealed
• Saints Row 4; build a character now!
• Splinter Cell: Blacklist looks to improve the series
• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
• Killer is Dead
• Dragon's Crown
• Free-to-play sounds good, but actually eats money
• Breaking Bad returns
• Chew animated series
• Boston Comic Con trip
• Interview with Gary Summers from Antiques Roadshow and the inventor of the Image Meet and Greet system.
• Interview with the man of a million voices, Billy West. In case you didn't know, he voiced Doug Funny, Ren and Stimpy, and Fry from Futurama!

Outro song in "Brannigan's Law" by Adam Warrock. Pick up the whole Planet Express EP, would ya?

IN Podcast Episode 3!

This episode, Dread and Tyler welcome newcomer, Ryan, and discuss:

• The Wolverine...SPOILERS!
• Bioshock Infinite upcoming DLC
• The Legend of Korra
• The not-popular-enough Dredd movie and how everyone should go to the online petition right here and sign to get a sequel
• Venture Bros. season 5 just ended
• Batman: Arkham Origins multiplayer announced

Intro song is "Spoiler Alert" by MC Frontalot. Visit the Nerdcore headquarters at frontalot.com
Outro song is "Dive Bar" by Schaffer the Darklord. Take orders from the Black Box at schafferthedarklord.com

Quantum and Woody #1 Review

"The world's worst superhero team," Quantum and Woody, gets a reboot after 13 years, and if Valiant's premier issue is any indicator of the caliber of the issues to come, this is a series to follow closely. If you don't want any details of the story, just know that it's worth picking up. If you don't care about SPOILERS, read on.

I haven't read any of the original series, so count me as a bright-eyed newcomer. With that stated, I have no idea where that goat on the cover fits into the story as he is nowhere to be seen in this issue.


Written by James Asmus and drawn by Tom Fowler, this retelling of Quantum and Woody leads off with a nice depiction of the super-powered duo causing a bit of havoc while being filmed by the local news. This is a glimpse into the apparently tumultuous future the two have in store for us. We then watch Eric and Woody go about their "normal" lives. Eric is ex-military and has a very black-and-white view of the world. We get evidence of this when Eric comically attacks a waitress' boyfriend who was pretending to stick her up. His brother, Woody, is, (can you guess?) the complete opposite. Eric's father adopted Woody when he was just a kid, and the two of them have been at odds with each other ever since; so much so, that they haven't talked in years leading up to when the story takes place.

What reunites them is the murder of their father, who had been working on top secret experiments in alternative energy. After an amusing throw-down at the funeral, Eric and Woody decide, separately, to break in to their father's lab in order to get a lead on the killers. Here, we get some idea of each character's skill set. Eric is chock-full of text book intelligence and fighting prowess, while Woody is cunning and can apparently do great vocal mimicry. If you can't deduce what happens next...just get out of here.

With top-notch humor, and fantastic art, the only negative thing I can say about this book is...what the hell is up with that goat on the cover? I can't wait to see what situations these two get in, and how they'll undoubtedly bungle it all up. Be sure to look out for the second issue, come August 7th. For all the green comic readers out there, that'll be a Wednesday.

Video Games: Making People Better at Stuff Since 1972

Can you believe there are people in the world who don't play video games? Crazy right?  Even more ridiculous is that there are people who actually criticize video games as a  whole, saying they're bad for you. BAD FOR YOU?! These Negative Nancies (I apologize for  anyone named Nancy who takes offense at use of the term; then again, you're proving the  moniker true by not lightening up about it) see video games as little more than toys for kids that provide no actual benefit to the players in the real world. I'm here to let you  know just how wrong they are.

IN Podcast: Episode 2 SDCC'13

Dread and Tyler discuss major (and personal) highlights of the San Diego Comic Convention, 2013!

• Doctor Who 50th anniversary and Christmas specials
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Nightcrawler returns in Amazing X-Men #1
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Thor: The Dark World
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Robocop Reboot
• Demand a sequel for Dredd, people!!
• Simpsons/Family Guy crossover
• Simpsons/Futurama crossover
• Batman/Superman movie
• Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron
• Ant-Man with Scott Lang?
• Fight Club gets a graphic novel sequel
• Legend of Korra: Season 2
• Plus More!

Intro song is "Yellow Lasers" by MC Frontalot. Visit the Nerdcore Headquarters at frontalot.com
Outro song is "I Have Never Watched an Episode of Doctor Who in my Life" by Adam Warrock. Beat used is "Coffee" by Aesop Rock. You can find more by Warrock at adamwarrock.com

YouTube Series Worth Watching. No, Really.

If you're visiting Irreverent News, you most likely do the same thing I do: constantly dream of super powers with which to lord over all the normies...or save them, you know, whichever suits your fancy because nobody would be able to stop you anyways. If that's the case, then I have a great YouTube series to recommend, and it's called Science Friction.

A man named Rusty Ward, who's user name is simply Rusty, poses the question, "what super powers would you want?" and then goes on to showcase how close we are to achieving that feat in the real world. He discusses cutting edge technology and cuts in footage from other YouTube videos to give you a grasp at how far away you are from shooting people with Star Trek phasers or becoming invisible. He then uses his hefty comic knowledge to apply a level of fantasy and comedy that we nerdos love so much.

So far, the show includes episodes about Iron Man armor, stopping time like Neo, and healing from wounds like Wolverine. The production value is high, and Rusty is an entertaining fellow to watch, so make sure to subscribe to his channel and give him your ideas for future super power based episodes. I would personally like to see an episode about Gambit's kinetic charging abilities.

2013 SDCC HIGHLIGHTS

San Diego's Annual Comics Convention has come and gone; eBay is being flooded with exclusive collectibles, dozens of women are power-washing the collective nerd stench of athousand drooling basement dwellers out of homemade X-Men themed costumes, and teh internetz is awash with rampant speculation regarding several Nerdgasmic announcements made over the weekend. You could spend hours going over the intricate details of new Legos, new movies, new games, new Lego movies, new Lego games, and new Lego Movie games, but if you're visiting Irreverent News you're probably too lazy to do the legwork to find all the good stuff. I can respect that, and would like to bring you the a quick recap of SDCC 2013's highlights from the perspective of a fellow lazy nerd.

Disparaging Disparities: Comic Books Vs Comic Book Movies

With The Wolverine hitting U.S. movie theatres this friday I felt the need to stop and take a moment to lower everyone's expectations. While comic book movies are generally entertaining to the movie-going masses, this entertainment factor comes at the cost of specific details and plot points from their beloved originating source. This wouldn't be such a big deal except that more people watch movies than read comics (or anything really), and are now walking around with misinformation they think is canon. People need to know that Spider-Man didn't learn how to use his powers by skate boarding, and I'm here to help.

IN Podcast: Episode 1

Our first podcast is here! This episode we discuss:

• New Borderlands 2 DLC
• Dread played Duke Nukem Forever
• Battlefield 3 is still free on PSN for plus users
• Saga wins some Eisner awards
• Brian K. Vaughn's Private Eye on The Panel Syndicate
• My roommate's interruption
• Sand is swallowing Star Wars set
• Tyler read the Halo books
• The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite comparisons...light SPOILER

Next episode, we'll cover all of the San Diego Comic Con craziness!

Intro song is "Call Shotgun" by Adam Warrock. Beat used is "I used to luv HER (again)" by Murs and 9th Wonder.
Outro song is "Borderlands" by Adam Warrock and produced by Vince Vandal. Beat used is "Short Change Hero" by The Heavy.
You can find more by Adam Warrock at adamwarrock.com

Sony wants you to "Bid for Greatness"

For years the PlayStation trophy system has been little more than a way to stretch some extra playability (playableness?) out PS3 games, as well as the best way for sad dudes to convince themselves that the hours spent dodging reality is worth it with shiny quantitative digital proof. Sony recognizes this, and is rewarding its hardcore faithful with the "Bid for Greatness" experiment; An auction where PlayStation gamers can bid their Gold Trophies for props and costumes that where used in their latest gamer focused propaganda video "Greatness Awaits".

Everyday through July 30th Sony will put one item up for auction including but not limited to concept art for the commercial, The Dragonborn's Shield from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Captain Hathaway's Cutlass from Assassin's Creed IV, and even a clicker costume (which I assume is just the facial fungal growth, not some chick's sweaty ripped t-shirt and jeans) from Naughty dog's masterpiece The Last of Us.

This whole thing sounds like an awesome idea in a recent trend of awesome ideas focused on expanding and reinforcing the PlayStation fanbase. Sadly, if you are not in the upper echelon of PlayStation faithful you will have little to no chance of winning this stuff. Example: I am an avid gamer, I prefer the PlayStation to all other formats, I am the highest ranking individual on my PSN friend's list, and I am the proud owner of 76 Gold Trophies. The first item up for bid (A Black hand Helghast Outfit from Killzone: Shadow Fall) just went for over 1000 Gold Trophies, making the triumph of my accomplishments shrivel like George Costanza in a swimming pool. Odds are the the guy who won this item is probably so obese from a combination of marathon gaming sessions and industrial size jugs of cheeze puffs that he can't even fit into it. The best any casual player (or anyone with a real job) can hope for is that the auction winner realizes his folly and puts the thing on eBay.

Source: The PlayStation Blog

Happy 30th Anniversary Famicom!

Today marks the 30th anniversary of Nintendo's first console, released July 15th, 1983 in Japan as the Family Computer, or the Famicom. In the US, we know it better as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the NES, released two years later with a major redesign. The image above shows the Famicom, with its red, white and gold color scheme, hardwired controllers, and top-loading cartridge port.

The image below is the NES, with the more nuetral color layout, two controller ports in the front, and the maddenly frustrating front-loading cartridge tray. Is it just me, or does the Iron Man-esque Famicom look a little bit cooler?

To celebrate, Nintendo is offering a bunch of classic games for only 30 cents for 30 days! Titles include Donkey Kong, Super Metroid, Kirby's Adventure, Punch Out, and more, all available on Nintendo's eShop. 

Here's to another 30 years, Nintendo!

Boston Comic Con Back after Bombings

The annual Boston Comic Con was originally scheduled for April 20-21 at the Hynes Convention center on Boylston Street, which was sadly only four blocks away from the bombings that took place during the Boston Marathon on April 15. A day before the event was supposed to have kicked off, a manhunt for one of the suspects got underway, and a dramatic arrest occurred the following day. Needless to say, the event was postponed.

A group of artists and vendors who were in Boston, trying to get into the event, decided to do sketches and signings for fans in the area in lieu of the actual convention in what they called Comicaze or Not the Boston Comic Con. This was a great way for Bostonian comic lovers to get their minds off of the tragedy and share a fairly intimate experience with the people they love in the industry.

After all that, the con is officially back on! The new dates have been set as August 3-4, in their new location of The Seaport World Trade Center. Get excited! I for one can't wait to be all creepy and hang around Laurie Holden from the Walking Dead or Eve Myles from Torchwood. Anyone want to join me and bug Dan DiDio about the New 52?

Here's a quick list of some of the big names coming this year:
Neal Adams
George Perez
Mike Mignola
Brian Azzarello
Mark Bagley
Scott Snyder
Frank Cho
Tony Daniel
Tim Sale
Joe Hill
Arthur Suydam
Ed McGuiness