Beijing 2008: Game review, Olympics widget
So, while I’ve enjoyed the Olympics, I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Beijing 2008,” the video game based on the Olympic games. As you can see at our main newspaper site NewsOK.com, I thought the game seemed more tortuous than inspiring:
The gameplay is simply hand torture. Quick button mashing is the name of the game. Hitting buttons or moving joysticks in rapid succession is needed to compete in virtually every event. It’s as if it’s 1982, and the developer would receive a quarter every time you failed.
After the tutorials, which don’t really explain anything well at all, the selected team is thrown into the Olympic mix. However, the team members are apparently fat, lazy and stupid, as their qualifying statistics are awful. The gamer must meet several challenges each day, with a subpar team, to gain experience points to upgrade the characters to “not completely horrible.”
You’d think, at the Olympics, any nation wouldn’t just pick the slowest people who happened to be standing around, but that’s the impression you get with “Beijing 2008.” Add to that the carpal tunnel syndrome you’ll give yourself by trying to win all 36 events, and, you’re better off watching the Olympics on TV instead.
So, that said, want a quick recap of the Olympics? GMS has developed a widget sharing the highlights. Check it out below.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows trailer
Full “Archer and Armstrong” Q&A with Sal Velluto and Bob Almond
The artistic team of Sal Velluto and Bob Almond create a new “Archer & Armstrong” story for the hardcover “First Impressions,” which will collect the earliest stories of the odd couple of adventurers from the Valiant Comics line. Earlier this summer, the artists talked to The Oklahoman about the characters, Valiant Comics, and their artistic collaboration. They also hint about a possible future collaboration reuniting their “Black Panther” team.
Matt Price: What’s most appealing to you about the characters of Archer and Armstrong? What interested you most about drawing a new tale featuring these characters?
SAL: In the past I’ve had the chance to work on other characters from the Valiant Universe, such as X-O Manowar (#2-3, 1992), Rai (#3, 5-6, 1992) as well as the revamp of Bloodshot for Acclaim (#1-16, 1997-1998). Archer and Armstrong represents both a return 
to my own personal “Valiant Era” of comics and a re-discovery of some beloved characters and stories. Working again with Jim Shooter is absolutely a treat, as it is joining forces – again – with my long time art partner, Bob Almond. It is interesting to note that Bob and I started our 10 year plus collaboration on an historic issue of Bloodshot vs. X-O Manowar.
BOB: Indeed, on Acclaim’s Bloodshot #8 back in 1997. Regrettably, I didn’t get a crack at those original era characters like Sal did…until now! It’s such a hoot for us to further add to the tapestry of the Valiant Universe and history as it’s still so well beloved by the diehard fans after all these years. Plus, some of my first and favorite comics were Jim Shooter’s stories at Marvel from the ‘70s, like the Avengers.
Matt Price: What do you think about the resurgence of Valiant Comics? Why is Valiant still important to people?
SAL: Since its first inception, Valiant Comics has been a character and story driven publisher. In the old days, as well as today, when you work for Valiant you have to leave at the door a big part of your ego and your temptations to “show off”. This might be a little uncomfortable to admit, for an illustrator such as myself, but it deserves to be recognized. This is a company who could have used the famous Shakespeare motto: “The story is the thing!” I believe the readers have enjoyed and will enjoy Valiant Comics for that very reason: “The story is the thing.”
BOB: Yes, this challenges an artist’s storytelling chops over the flashy approach. We can do flashy, and have, but Sal is so good when it comes down to the basic foundations of telling a story that he seems like such a good fit for the new Valiant.
With all the publishers that have come and gone, Valiant was among the best when it came to planning, execution, and quality by an all-star line-up of greats who created modern legends. Try to recall those other publishers and their titles and characters. While some are still remembered, like CrossGen and Malibu, most are fading memories to the fans. But it’s a testament to Valiant and its groundbreaking production of art and stories that fans are still fond of the past and eagerly rabid for more new stories.
Matt Price: What can “Archer & Armstrong” fans expect in the new story?
SAL: I’ve had a lot of fun illustrating this story and really appreciated the great amount of research Jim Shooter has put into it. Luckily, I was quite familiar with most of the historical and geographical settings, since I grew up not too far from where the story takes place and have touched with hand many archeological artifacts of that time period. I think Jim did a wonderful job taking some pre-existing elements from Archer & Armstrong published stories and creating a plausible and interesting prologue. If the fans enjoy it half as much as I did, I think we’ll all be in great shape. 
BOB: I don’t have the same global background and experience as “Indiana” Velluto here, but I could tell that Jim still has a fondness to these characters when I read the script. He’s still writing epics without having to tell multi-chapter, cross-title ‘events’ like other publishers are doing.
Matt Price: The two of you are best-known as a team for your work on “Black Panther.” Tell me about working together on that series.
SAL: When Bob and I were hired to work on “Black Panther”, the book was slated for cancellation. We started with “unlucky” issue number 13, which was coincidentally titled, “The End.” Well, with the help of the great Christopher Priest (also a veteran of Acclaim Comics) and the critical support of a wonderful fan base, we ended up prolonging the life of the book for three more years (36 more issues) and smashing Jack Kirby’s record for the most prolific art-team on that particular title. Along with all that, there was a lot of passion and involvement with the Black Panther characters and environments, which resulted in many, many extra hours at the drawing table for me and a strange psychosomatic reaction, developed by Bob, every time he had to ink one of my pages (smiles).
BOB: Thanks…I think.
Yeah, good times, good times; the series was ‘cancelled’ so many times while we were on it so imagine working on a series with a gun to your head, listening to the chamber and clicks, waiting for it to go off every few issues, and then suddenly three years passed and we had created some of the best work we’d ever produced and it’s still admired by the fans. Hey, that’s an unintentionally nice connection to my analysis of the Valiant books.
By the way, wouldn’t it be so cool for someone to bring back together both Acclaim alumni and award-winning Black Panther creators Priest, Sal & Bob on something in the future?
Matt Price: What other projects do you have in the works?
SAL: I am currently one of the artists on Lee Falk’s The Phantom, which is printed by Egmont Publishing in Scandinavia and Frew Comics in Australia. Among my other projects, a summer vacation with my family.
BOB: Vacation?! What’s a vacation?
I am doing some work for IDW on Star Trek: Year Four – The Enterprise Experiment and I’m even doing something else with Sal that I have to keep discreet about at the moment. Outside of that and lots of commissions, I’m also kept pretty busy with my ongoing pet project and passion, The Inkwell Awards at http://www.inkwellawards.com/.
“Quantum of Solace” release date change
“Quantum of Solace,” the new James Bond film starring Daniel Craig, has moved its release date. The studio has moved the opening from Nov. 7 to the new date of Nov. 14.
– Matt Price
Comics vodcast: Legion of 3 Worlds 1, 1985 #4 and Uncanny X-Men 501
Full “Bastard Road” Q&A
Here’s the full Q&A with Brian Winkeler and Dave Curd, the creative team of “Bastard Road,” which appears in “PopGun” Vol. 2. A shorter version of this ran in last Friday’s Weekend Look section.
Matt Price: For biographical background, what are your ages and hometowns?
- BRIAN: I was born in St. Louis, MO and we moved to Bethany, OK in 1976. I’ve lived in the metro area ever since, except for a 10-month stint working in Lubbock, TX, which opened my eyes to what a cultural paradise pre-MAPS OKC actually was. I now live in Yukon, OK with my amazing wife Vi Le and our sons: 5-year old Van and 2-week old Hugh. I’m 37.
- DAVE: Born in Chicago, but spent formative years (17-29) in Oklahoma City, Moore and Edmond. Now live in Madison, WI where I continue to freelance and work at Raven software as a 2D artist. 30 Years old.
Matt Price: How’d you come up with the idea for “Bastard Road”?
- BRIAN: Greg Heanue, my best friend from Mount St. Mary High School (class of 1988), was the marketing director of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block for five years. He read and really enjoyed some of the spec scripts I’d started writing and suggested I start developing some ideas for Cartoon Network. I’d gotten to know Dave Curd as a good friend and collaborator, so he and I started brainstorming something that would be really fun and edgy and hopefully very unique. Dave started designing the characters and came up with the title, then I started filling in a lot of the details. We’ve got a ton of character designs, a complete draft of a two-part, animated pilot script and a five-year epic story arc in mind. We’re actually talking to an interested party but it’s too soon to really speak to it (nothing’s been offered or signed yet).
- DAVE: I think Brian and I both share a love of early 80′s American adventure hour-longs (The A-Team, Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk), and cold war fueled apocalypse films. I supplied the look, and some of the base personality of the characters, and Brian gave them life, made them work.
Matt Price: Each of you, tell me about your collaborator on the story.
- BRIAN: Dave is a huge, and hugely talented illustrator. He seriously has, like, kielbasa sized fingers. I have no idea how he draws so amazingly with those things. His website is www.davecurd.com. He’s got a non-stop creative brain and he and I just clicked as collaborators – he comes up with insane ideas and characters and I’m there to flesh them out and give them voice and a narrative. It’s been a bit tough since he’s moved to Madison, but we email constantly and try to talk every few weeks to update our projects.
- DAVE: Brian is an amazing creative at Third Degree Advertising, where he gets his funny, grubby little fingers over all aspects of advertising. We met through another Oklahoma creative, Director Christopher Sharpe. Brian and I collaborated for an animated television commercial for ACOG (the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments): “The Stormwater Fairy”, and we’ve been buddies ever since!
Matt Price: How did you get involved with Popgun?
- DAVE: Popgun’s creator Mark Andrew Smith became aware of my work through his forum, and was kind enough to invite me to participate. I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce Bastard Road and immediately reached out to Brian for us to collaborate on a 12-page comic story.
- BRIAN: What he said.
Matt Price: Describe “Bastard Road” for me.
- BRIAN: It’s an action-packed, ultra-violent adventure at the post-apocalyptic roller derby. Our protagonists are Bastard, a larger-than-life, brick red amnesiac and his traveling companion Farel, who just wants some peace, but never gets it so long as Bastard’s around. Trouble finds them in the form of a beautiful mutant rollercatgirl, her luchador boyfriend and his deadly friends. It’s sort of like ‘Futurama’ meets ‘The Road Warrior’ with a bloody ‘The Itchy & Scratchy Show’ sensibility.
- DAVE: Bastard and Farel, The traveling wastelanders brave Catwomen, Mutant Chihuahuas, a Satanic Luchador, a Spanish Gunfighter, and deadly mini mariachis on a quest for booze, broads and bromance! (fellowship!)
Matt Price: How did you guys get your start in writing and illustration?
- BRIAN: I’ve dreamed of creating my own comics since my Mom first bought them for me (as a 3-for-99¢ pack at the checkout of the Humpty’s in Bethany back in 1976). I’ve worked in advertising for the past 16 years and have recently focused on copywriting and broadcast production as Associate Creative Director at Third Degree Advertising, working on recent TV commercials for the RedHawks and the Gazette. I’ve won two prestigious Fontana Awards for Humor from the Oklahoma City Ad Club – making people laugh is something I love to do – and I love being able to do it so often at my job.
- DAVE: I’ve always loved drawing, even as I was hacking away at UCO for a Design Degree. Luckily, illustrator and professor Cameron Eagle showed me the light, and I cast off the shackles of desktop publishing. After a few Gazette covers I dropped out, started freelancing, and haven’t looked back.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion trailer
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning cinematic trailer
Superhero Savage Dragon endorses Obama
Erik Larsen’s “Savage Dragon” will endorse Barack Obama for president in the pages of “Savage Dragon” 137, and on a special 1-in-5 variant cover. The New York Times reports the Senator will be mentioned in the issue, though not “slugging bad guys or anything,” Larsen says.
I’ve heard some folks are upset by this — they don’t think their superheroes should endorse a particular candidate. But, this isn’t a first for Savage Dragon — who socked President Bush in a previous issue. The Savage Dragon has always been a fictional alter-ego for Larsen, who himself slants Democratic. I think making it a 1-in-5 variant is a questionable business move, as there won’t be enough to satisfy demand in “blue” areas, and “red” areas won’t be as excited about it in the first place. I think it’d make more sense as a separately orderable cover, if the goal is to get it in the hands of the people who want it. This does seem to be a quick way to manufacture a collectible, though.
The comic book is slated to be on sale Sept. 4.
– Matt Price
