Denzil Roos will be handling the illustration for the next 6 pages of ANTI TANK MIME, and from what I’ve seen so far it’s gonna be totally rad!

Pretty rad right!?!

Any way, if you want to see more of Denzil’s stuff, you can checkout his Deviant Art Gallery

Page 6 of ATM will be up next week.

But it gets worse…

People think he’s the poncy guy in green – Green Arrow!

When I first read that, I face palmed so hard I knocked my self unconscious for a couple of days (hence the lack of posts). Don’t believe that people could be so dumb? Well check this out…

Via Buzzfeed if you’re interested

If you’re wondering why I don’t have an issue with people confusing him with Hawkman, it’s because Hawkman is friggin’ awesome!

Any way…

The reason you should know who Hawkeye is because he’s a total badass! Also because he’s got legit cred like being ranked 44th on IGN’s Top 100 Comic Book Heroes list! So let’s show you why you should definitely not be confusing the two archers…

Hawkeye -

Green Arrow -

So if you still can’t tell the difference between the two of them maybe some pictures of their other incarnations might help…

Or my favourite…

I’ve tasked Sasmo to write a “Who is Hawkeye post” to further clarify the situation, but until that’s done go read some friggin’ comics people!!!

First up is all 5 of the prologue pages, maybe reading them back to back will help clarify things for you. Click on the tab for that.

Read as comic (Prologue: ATM 1-5)

Now if that didn’t help here’s a bit of backstory…

Backstory The idea for ATM came about during a conversation about Battlefield Bad Company 2. Kemza and I were talking about our favourite maps, and how although we loved Panama Canal the anti tank mine spamming was super annoying!

I think you see where this is going…

Any way, we were having this conversation over Gtalk, and if you’ve actually looked at your keyboard you’ll have noticed that the N and M keys are pretty close. So instead of complaining about anti tank mines, I complained about anti tank mimes. It was a pretty minor typo, but it amused me…

For days I kept coming back to it, and chuckling about it. Until I finally decided to take pen to paper, and this was the result…

Now I think that it was pretty rad, but it was kinda expected. I mean you’d expect a big badass looking guy to fight tanks, but what wouldn’t you expect? And would he still use anti-tank weapons, or would he use something else?

My first thought went to strength, but that left too many issues, like why would a skinny guy be so strong, and would his strength be believable?

So that left me with telekinesis…

Which actually turned out to be perfect, as a mime would be the perfect person to wield telekinetic abilities!

And that’s how the mime, as we know him, was born!

With the main character out of the way,it was time to introduce a villain…

Now he was being referred to as the Anti-Tank Mime, so he needed to fight tanks. But whose tanks, the army’s? Why, is he opposing a country? Too many questions!

It was easier to create a villain that transcended borders, could be a more tangible enemy than “an entire country”, and most importantly, be more than a generic “evil politician”.

And that’s how the idea for our villain came about…

At the time everyone on the Internet was talking about the iPhone’s new AI – Siri. And that made me think of the age old story about an AI becoming self aware and eventually killing all humans.

But how would a phone’s AI become self aware? Well how about if it read the synopsis to a movie where another AI becomes self aware!

And Iris was born…

And that’s basically what issue 1-5 covers. I could go on about Sally Homemaker, but I think I’ll save that for another day. The links to the comics are below, and the gallery above, so go have a look with new eyes, maybe you’ll enjoy it more now that you know what’s going on.

By the way, we (925|Rebellion) are paying to have this comic produced, so if you want to write it or draw it give us a shout and you could end up getting paid to help create a web-comic!

The Avengers was the first movie I checked my calendar regularly for the release date, and waited patiently for since 2007. I’m not going to write a review since we already have one right here, but I am going to have a look at what was clearly the coolest ending EVER which clearly leaves a huge opening for The Avengers sequel. [And there is going to be one as Chris Evans was reported to have signed up to appear as Captain America in 6 movies! - Cryst]

So did you stay for the after credits bonus? If yes then let me tell you how awesome it was to see that the beast with the purple rigid chin - Thanos – was behind the return of Loki and the attack on Manhattan.

This means that the sequel not only has a villain lined up, but also that The Avengers are going to need more than a Hulk to beat this bad-ass!

So who is Thanos?

I’m sure many a viewer of the movie asked themselves this question once they heard their comic-book-nerd of-a-friend scream his name in excitement, spilling coke and popcorn over the couple making out in the row in front of them.

Thanos is the reason Thor sleeps with his hammer under his pillow and why Hulk cries himself too sleep at night.

He was born on the moon of Titan, orbiting Saturn, and his parents were ‘Eternals’ (tougher versions of humanity that left Earth for Saturn) and he was born with some of the ‘Deviant’ gene. The Deviants are ‘cousins’ to the ‘Celestials’ who are a god-like race that have created and experimented with life all over the universe.

As he grew up he grew an obsession with death and it’s embodiment Mistress Death. He is basically the ‘mutant’ of his race and possess abilities common to the Eternals but also shows abilities beyond them. He went even further and enhanced himself with bionic amplification, magic and the entity Death. The guy is beyond ‘Hulk’ strong, can control cosmic energy (the stuff that created The Fantastic Four), possesses telepathy, matter manipulation and telekinesis, does not need to eat, drink or breath and is basically immortal.

Thanos’ history in the Marvel comics is truly awesome!

He has fought some of the biggest heroes and villains ever to grace the pages of Marvel comics and it has taken the combined powers of most of them to slow him down. He has countless armies and an unlimited amount of advanced technology at his disposal. And if that’s not enough, what if I told you that he once wiped out half one quarter half of the universe’s population using The Infinity Gems?

So if any of this is something to go buy, I expect The Avengers sequel is going to be EPIC. And that the Avengers might need a hectic recruitment drive if they are going to have any hope of stopping this Class A Villain.

Fun Fact: Thanos is not a Skrull (an alien shapeshifting race) but the similarities in their chins is not a coincidence. Skrulls are also an evolutionary throw off from the Deviants so of course they would have some resemblance.

Until next time feckers…

*UPDATE*

If you read the comments below you’ll see that there has been some controversy around just how much of the universe Thanos destroyed. Now seeing that most people aren’t happy with “a lot” I did some research, and what I found was:

Thanos then proceeded to reassemble the Soul Gems, now called the Infinity Gems, and created the powerful Infinity Gauntlet. With a mere thought, Thanos was able to wipe out half of the universe’s population of living beings, and once again he had enough power to make himself an omnipotent being.

The source I used was: http://marvel.com/universe/Thanos

So I think we can now agree that it was half… well until someone can show me a better source.

-Cryst

Related Posts –

So that ends the time travelling adventure (about bloody time) but ‘The Uber Zombie’ will show up one day so stay tuned for that later on in the year. Now I’m just going to focus on drawing single page stories for a while and attempt to be funny.

Until next time feckers…

Even though fulfilling your life with AI for company in a single-player universe is fun, it will be a good change of pace to replace artificial intelligence with human stupidity. Plus an MMO means we get to see the whole of Tamriel.

If that means Morrowind is involved then I am optimistic we will see a return to the more fantastical environments that we all remember fondly… like Silt Striders…Vivec… and robot spider dwarves!

“We have been working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends, something fans have long said they wanted,” said Matt Firor, game director of The Elder Scrolls Online. “It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years. The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”

This new addition to the Elder Scrolls franchise will be set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

It’s certainly an exciting prospect to say the least. I’m ready to PvP in a world where I have only ever PvE’d! Not too many details are known, but it will be released in 2013! Unless Armageddon rears it’s ugly head before then!

If we survive… then come launch day, this will happen:

Game Info

So we know it’s a good PC game, so instead of reviewing it again, I will answer “Is it a good console game?”

Well no, it’s not…

Simply because it’s not a “console game”, it’s a port… and it shows!

But that’s a good thing!

Not only does The Witcher bring with it a confusing as hell story, killer graphics, awesome gameplay, and superb non-linear story telling, but it also brings along PC game sensibilities.

Let me explain…

Think about every RPG you’ve played on console, the quests specifically, would you agree that 99% of them are of the “go here and fetch/kill this” variety?

Well The Witcher is different. Quests, even the side quests, are multi-layered and complex. Even tasks as simple as monster slaying have a certain amount of depth to them. Let me run you through one quick:

1. You get the quest from a notice board
2. It says you need to kill “Nekkers”
3. You have to find out how to best wipe them out. You can either go find a book to research them, or go kill a few in the field to skill up.
4. Once you have attained the knowledge, you go looking for their nests.
5. You destroy their nests, and return for your reward.

Now if it was on console it would pretty much just be point 1 and point 5!

The depth of the quests makes interacting with the world so much more rewarding than in your regular RPG, because whatever you’re doing [even the most trivial of tasks] has purpose!

It’s not just the quest system that benefits from the PC sensibilities, the gameplay is also much better because of it!

The combat in Dark Souls would be a good analogue for the gameplay in The Witcher 2. There is a strong emphasis on speed; skill; and agility, and a lack of any of them, or a lapse in concentration, can mean your demise even against lower level enemies!

But just like the quest system, the combat also multi-layered!

You can roll around enemies, hacking and slashing at them between rolls, or you could use magic, or equipment, or all three! But the height of the combat complexity comes in during boss fights, and sometimes during combat with higher level enemies. Swordsmanship ties into clever use of spells; which is complement by using equipment; which is kinda daunting at first, but totally rewarding in the long run!

And that’s awesome! I love being rewarded for playing well, and what’s a better reward than feeling like a badass?!

So it works as a port in terms of gameplay, but how does it work in terms of story?

I always try to play the first instalment before I jump into the sequel, but with The Witcher I didn’t. I tried, but I just couldn’t get into the first Witcher, so even though I played a little bit of the first game I’m as clueless you when it comes to the actual story. The effects of this aren’t too severe thankfully. Yes you don’t really know what’s going on at first and the main characters don’t mean as much to you as they should, but the strong narrative gets you invested in the story pretty quickly!

I have to admit that I am actually a little happy I’m not more invested, because the heavy consequences of your choices would keep me up at night [like they did in ME3].

Any Downsides?

Well there is one…

The PC sensibilities aren’t all good, some really annoy the hell out of me! The ones I’m referring to are the “area transitions” and “game over screens.”

On the whole console gamers are loud and annoying, but all that bitching and moaning has some benefits. One is that developers have made it quick and easy to transition between areas, and recover from death.

But it seems fans of The Witcher are pretty relaxed, and the devs have pretty much left these areas alone, much to my dismay!

But honestly just writing that feels a little petty. It’s an awesome game, and you have to really be nitpicking to find fault with it.

In conclusion… It’s Awesome, go buy it!

Here’s another one, slightly hilarious!