Category: Amish Otaku

All the stuff I published when I ran a nerd blog

Amish Otaku, Features

Eastern Culture: Manga and Anime Culture Part 2

That was the question I asked nearly six months ago when embarking upon my independent study with my advisor, Dr. Richard Reitan, a professor in the history department at Franklin & Marshall College. Since then, I’ve been conspicuously absent from the pages of Amish Otaku. About a month ago I graduated from F&M College, moved out of my apartment (with help!), began graduate school, and found out more about Sailor Moon’s blonde hair and blue eyes than I was expecting. (It’s the last of these that I’d like to share with all of you, the awesome readers of AO.)

Essentially, there are two reasons why many anime characters have Caucasian (that is, Western European) features – and why that doesn’t seem to bother Japanese audiences. My final paper ended up being more than forty pages long, and if you’re interested in reading it, please drop me a line; I’m more than happy to oblige. In the meantime, however, let me boil it down for AO. Continue reading “Eastern Culture: Manga and Anime Culture Part 2”

V.E.
Amish Otaku, Comics, Features, Marvel

Caught My Eye: New Warriors #1

Sofia in New Warriors #1
Marvel Comics

For all of you who are not in the know, Marvel Comics recently had a huge crossover by the name of Civil War. Basically, the New Warriors were hotshot young heroes and made a bad choice when they went into a battle they couldn’t win. That mistake cost them their lives as well as the lives of many civilians. Since then, all heroes must register their identity as well as their powers to the authorities.

This new incarnation of the New Warriors is rebelling against the current system and continuing the job of putting the baddies behind bars. From what’s been released so far, the premise is about this new team trying to make up for what the previous team did and trying to redeem them to a degree, since they were made out to be the scapegoats (or martyrs.)

Now that we have the backstory done, on to the good stuff! Continue reading “Caught My Eye: New Warriors #1”

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Amish Otaku, PS3, Video Games

The Agency: MMO Gaming Comes to the PS3

Concept art for The Agency
Sony

Get out your secret decoder rings, ’cause you’re going to need them.

Apparently, most of us weren’t paying that much attention earlier this year when Sony executive Yair Landau revealed SOE’s latest concept for an MMO. Keynoting the D.I.C.E. Summit, Landau previewed a clip of the new game – codenamed “Vista” – that gave those there a glimpse of a third-person shooter set in Prague complete with dangerous women and hot cars.

Prefacing the game’s introduction with one of the trailers from Casino Royale, Sony gave those at the Summit all they needed to know about the game at the time. It’s an MMO. Better yet, it’s a spy MMO. Continue reading “The Agency: MMO Gaming Comes to the PS3”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, DC

All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #5

The Lovely Vicki Vale
DC Comics

Frank Miller redefined Batman in the late 80s with two acclaimed mini-series: The Dark Knight Returns (dealing an older Batman coming out of retirement to save Gotham yet again) and Batman: Year One (which fine-tuned Batman’s origin). While the character from the 60s television show hadn’t been as campy as the public perceived him to be for quite some time, it was Miller’s stories that brought mainstream attention to the “Dark Knight.”

Joined by Jim Lee, one of the most popular artists of the past couple decades, Miller returned to Batman for this new All Star series, which was another fresh start for the character. I don’t know if I was expecting some sort of de facto sequel to Year One or a prequel to The Dark Knight Returns, but Miller threw us all for a loop with this latest series.

The Batman presented in ASBaR is extremely confident and he enjoys what he’s doing, almost to the point of being maniacal about it. We’re introduced to this Batman through the eyes of young Dick Grayson, who would eventually become Robin, Batman’s sidekick. After attending a circus where he witnesses Grayson’s parents murdered, Batman takes the youth under his wing. That’s pretty much where the similarities to the regular story end. This Batman is scaring the hell out of Grayson. Grayson doesn’t really want to go along with Batman and is out of his wits as Batman mows through police who are chasing them, gets insulted by the person who is supposed to be saving him and is pretty much dumped off in the Bat Cave to fend for himself while Batman goes on patrol. If not for Alfred the butler, young Grayson would be forced to feed himself by eating the rats in the cave (Batman’s idea). Continue reading “All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #5”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, Icon

Criminal #6: Is This What Happens When Bad Meets Evil?

Criminal #6
ICON Comics

In the pages of Daredevil, Ed Brubaker killed Captain America and showed readers what it would be like for a costumed hero to wind up in prison. His carefully laid out plots and storytelling, along with wonderful characterization, have brought acclaim to both titles and finally drawn the attention to Brubaker that he’s deserved for years.

Brubaker and Phillips worked together before on the acclaimed Sleeper for DC/Wildstorm. The story of a con man in over his head, Sleeper took characters for a superhero book called Wildcats and made a gritty crime noir story line that ended way too soon. Now the team is back in a series that doesn’t make the words gritty, hard-boiled or noirish come off has hyperbole.

Brubaker has always shown a knack for writing compelling stories dealing with the underbelly of society, from the Black Mask character in Catwoman to the Daredevil in prison. In Deadenders, a woefully underrated series from DC/Vertigo a few years back, his main character was a selfish, self-centered SOB that readers were made to care about. With Criminal, the distractions are out of the way. There are no costumed villains or shady superheroes. There are no secret societies or garish characters out of a sci-fi or James Bond movie. Criminal is straightforward in that it deals with bad people doing bad things. Maybe some of the characters aren’t totally evil… Brubaker has to give them some redeeming traits to make readers care about their fates, but none of these people will be confused with heroes anytime soon. Continue reading “Criminal #6: Is This What Happens When Bad Meets Evil?”

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Amish Otaku, PC, Video Games

Command & Conquer 3: KANE LIVES! AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN!

Brotherhood of NOD base on the defense
EA

Let’s face it – we all knew it was coming. Kane was never dead, will never die, and it was just a matter of time before he crawled back up and started to wage war on GDI again. Of course, we always wondered how he managed to get all those resources overnight, but hey, let’s not let plot holes get in the way of a good game.

After the staggering success of Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, many wondered if the remains of the now-extinct Westwood Studios could dust off the Command & Conquer franchise and be competitive in the RTS market once more. Were they successful? Well, you be the judge.

Actually no, I will. I’m writing the review. So there. Continue reading “Command & Conquer 3: KANE LIVES! AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN!”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, Vertigo

Midnight Days: A Taste of Neil Gaiman’s Early Work

Sandman: Midnight Theatre
Vertigo Comics

I’ll be honest. When Neil Gaiman reveals he was just twenty-four when he began writing for DC and that most of the scribing he did was after midnight, I felt a connection since I am also twenty-four. I also attempted to give his stories some justice by only reading through them late at night, but I haven’t been making it to midnight. I’ve been crashing early and reading Days around 11:30 p.m. at the latest.

Nonetheless, Days, a mulligan’s stew of sorts, was written early in Gaiman’s career and contains several stories, the first few of which occur in the Swamp Thing comics magazine. Ever since I saw a cover of SWAMP THING #34, lovingly painted by Stephen Bissette, when I was twelve, I had wanted to read a Swamp Thing story. The image’s romanticism sucked me in with both an anti-traditional superhero quality and a fiercely trusting human quality, even though Swamp Thing’s costume is his ever-evolving plant matter construction and only resembles the human form in profile. Continue reading “Midnight Days: A Taste of Neil Gaiman’s Early Work”

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Amish Otaku, Comics

Star Wars Legacy #12: Getting a Fresh Look at Star Wars

Art from SWL #6
Dark Horse Comics

The only thing that kept me writing about the 30th anniversary of Star Wars was pure fear in coming off as even more of a total geek than just the comic geek. Loves comics and Star Wars? Strike Two! But I do love Star Wars. I read the old Marvel series religiously, picked up a lot of the Dark Horse stuff and have enjoyed most of the novels. But I wasn’t a huge fan of the Old Republic- and Prequel-era comics. There were a couple of gems in there (and this creative team did some great work on a bunch of them), but I’ve always been the type of person to want to know what happens NEXT. With Legacy, the Star Wars story goes forward 100 years past the events in the current Star Wars novels or, more precisely, 137 years after the Episode IV: A New Hope.

Ostrander has done an incredible job in creating a new universe for these characters. Gone is the Sith rule of two where there can only be a master and an apprentice. The evil Sith Lord Darth Krayt has dozens of Sith working for him. The Empire has been reborn and is more of a political power than ever before. The Jedi Order that was re-established in the post-trilogy novels seems to have been completely decimated once again. The only hope that people have comes from the one called Skywalker. Cade Skywalker. The only problem is that Cade is a pirate who abandoned his Jedi teachings and has gone out for himself. He doesn’t want to acknowledge, let alone embrace, his legacy. Continue reading “Star Wars Legacy #12: Getting a Fresh Look at Star Wars”

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Amish Otaku, Gamecube, Nintendo, Video Games

Ikaruga: One Shooter to Rule Them All

Freaky boss of Level 2
Atari

Ikaruga has a reputation as the best shooter on the market and for increasing the “frothing demand” of IGN editors. The game’s reputation is well deserved, and as we speak many gamers are frothing in their demand for the Xbox Live release of this title first revealed by CVG on Valentine’s Day.

At its core the game is a vertical shooter that has you facing waves of enemy aircraft and fire in beautifully rendered levels. There’s an oversized boss for you to fight at the end of each level.

What sets Ikaruga apart from its competitors is the gameplay. Continue reading “Ikaruga: One Shooter to Rule Them All”

Daniel Allen
Amish Otaku, PC, Video Games

The Secret World: Funcom’s Newest MMO Revealed

London before
Funcom

If you go to Funcom’s main page on their website, you’ll see that their newest project isn’t even in the “Funcom Links” panel. It doesn’t have a graphic representation there yet. In fact, the only mention of it on the front page is a link in their news panel.

Click on the words “Funcom reveals The Secret World,” and you will be taken to a company written article about the announcement of their latest MMO being revealed earlier this month.

According to the article the game will be a “different kind of online world, something scary and contemporary, something deeper and closer to our reality.” The game promises to offer fresh material, something different from the standard sci-fi/fantasy MMO faire. Continue reading “The Secret World: Funcom’s Newest MMO Revealed”

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