Superhero Media: Daredevil - Born Again

Frank Miller is, to not mince words, a pretty appalling human being. His views on women, queer persons and Islam are backwards and highly offensive, and it would be a good thing for the world at large were he to drift out of the spotlight. However, much of Miller's work as an author remains excellent, and I highly recommend his tenure on Daredevil, if you are of a kind to be able to separate your distaste for Miller's views from the comics themselves. Born Again is about the pinnacle of Miller's work with Daredevil, slightly edged out by The Man Without Fear in my personal estimation, but still a bonafide classic for the character. Some elements of the story do still stray into Miller's particular "views" such as Karen Page's work as a adult film actor and the entire character of Nuke, but both serve the story well and have excellent resolutions to make up for it. Having nothing left to her name, Karen Page, addicted to heroin and stranded in Central America, sells the one thing she has kept back for one last fix, the true identity of the Man Without Fear; Matt Murdock. 

Once this information finds its way to The Kingpin of Crime, Matt soon finds his life being stripped away by inches; his accounts are frozen, he is framed for embezzlement and his friends abandon him, but it's only the beginning. Like a cat with an injured mouse, Kingpin toys with Matt as his life collapses, his sanity flees and the final confrontation looms. Even out of his mind, Daredevil gives Kingpin the fight of his life, but it is all to naught and Matt finds himself in a cab at the bottom of a river. Bleeding, broken, but alive, Matt awakens at the church where he grew up, where he must put himself back together, with the aid of Sister Maggie, his long-lost mother. Yes, I decided to give Born Again another read after finishing the third season of Netflix Daredevil, which lifted some elements from this famous story, though I felt pretty poorly. The narrative culminates with Matt and Karen building a new life and exposing Kingpin enough to force him back into the shadows for a time, though not before we meet Nuke, a new character created by Miller especially for this story. 

That Nuke is intended as a critique on American military colonialism is obvious, but what point, exactly, Miller may be try to make is somewhat unclear. Nuke is obsessed with the (now debunked) Vietnam "Lost POWs" conspiracy like a refugee from Rambo II and is easily taken in by Kingpin's false patriotism, and must be "put right" by Captain America, who roots out the corruption within the military. It's another play on the idea of Cap being a symbol that is corrupted for political gain, but it almost seems out of place in a Daredevil story in which another antagonist probably would have made more sense. Minor quibbles aside, Born Again is a classic Daredevil story and belongs in any decent collection of such, even if Miller's work may not be to your particular taste. For those more familiar with the Netflix series, Born Again is an excellent place to begin reading the comics, as it features characters and stories you would already be familiar with, albeit in a slightly different form. 

Drokk the Law!! - Part XX

A small amount of progress on my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game stuff, a new gang and some play aids. 

My Vatican City Judges are ready to dispense some holy justice! The centre model is a Mongoose Vatican City Judge that I came into by sheer luck, who serves as my Psi-Judge, the others are modified Games Workshop minis. I had these painted a while back, but was aiming for a BritCit team before I realised they worked fine as proxies for regular Mega City One Judges. This is a full starter team at 485 Credits, so I'll be giving them a go next day I game with Andy. I already have a couple more in the build queue, so expect this team to expand a little. 

I've never been a huge fan of paper tokens or beads or whatever on the table when gaming. For me, it distracts from the look of the table and spoils pictures that people tend to take of an otherwise great looking game. I found these 3D Printed garbage bags and painted them up to act as Activation Markers when playing JDMG as they're distinct but also look like they fit on the table. Hopefully they help lift the look of the next set of games, and maybe I can find some more that are a little different, for variety. 

Superhero Media: Arsene Lupin (2004)

For fans of Krrish 3 (an excellent Superman film) and Nightbreed (a great X-Men film), get ready for Arsene Lupin and brilliant Batman Origin film and also a much-needed entry in the LXG cinematic universe (I need to write that up at some stage). Born into a rich family, Arsene's father is a master of Savate and a reformed thief who's past catches up with him in the opening and we swiftly jump a dozen years to find Arsene as a Gentleman Thief working the Paris social circles. Arsene Lupin is, of course, a famous French literary character, adapted as broadly as into the Lupin the 3rd Anime and a member of Les Hommes Mysterieux in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. Much like his British contemporary, AJ Raffles, Arsene is a little "generic" by today's standards, but this film is an excellent version of the story, with good pacing and fun action. 

But where do the "Batman" elements come in, I hear you ask? Well, how does a protagonist with disguise, espionage and martial arts training, unhealthy relationships with women, a fixation on a dead father and a lost state of innocence sound? Also there's a conspiracy to return a dynastic ruler to power, an immortal wizard and anachronistic weapons technology so all we're really missing is capes, angst and too many Joker appearances. Sure, Arsene is a thief, but Batman is a Billionaire, so who is the real villain? Arsene also foils a plot to reinstall a monarchy in France and helps out some Anarchists, so go you good thing. Being a French film, there is plenty of romance and intrigue, all shot in lavish period locations and with impeccable costuming; it's a joy to watch, even in the quiet stretches. 

Arsene Lupin manages what many films aspire to, but which few ever deliver on, a story in which the characters are sketched in shades of grey and no one is wholly altruistic, but in which some are still heroic. Arsene would rather live a life of pleasure and risk, stealing from the wealthy and never planning ahead, but once he is caught in the machinations of the Royalists and Cagliostro's daughter, he plays both sides against the middle to save France; and maybe make a little cash on the side. Arsene is a true antihero, and he does it all without wanton murder of more than the reasonable amount of brooding one may expect upon discovering that one's lover is an immortal alchemist. Man, this is so much a superhero film without trying to be, all it's missing is a post-credits scene where Jean Robur comes to recruit him to fight the Germans, I love it. Formidable! 

The Pitch: James Bond

Recently I went back over my James Bond collection, both the films that I have on DVD from when the collections where cheap and the novels I have found here and there over the years. Reading or watching the classic Bonds in the 2020s is an experience in ambivalence; the stories and writing are excellent, the films are classics and well put together, but they have aged in unfortunate ways. To me, Bond is best as a period character, inhabiting the 1950s and '60s with his retro-cool clothing, chain-smoking and early Cold War nonsense. Whilst the newer films (and I'm talking Dalton and onward here) are fun and can occasionally be great, to me they're a different beast, more of a riff on the concept than truly Bond.

At the time of writing, Daniel Craig has hung up the martini glass and the future of the franchise is nebulous at best, though we can all be sure that more Bond will come at some point. With where my head is at the moment, I have an idea that I'd like to put out there; James Bond should stay in the era in which he works best, 1953-1966, the time in which the Flemming novels were written. So yes, the future of Bond is the past, and I actually have some good reasoning behind this it's not just a nostalgia bent or me still having weird feelings over Connery being dead. Really.

Ian Flemming's James Bond - 007

For this 'reboot' (because that's what it is, let's not beat about the bush) the overarching mission statement is "do the books". Yes, the early films focused on the Flemming novels as well, but we're going to do them both closely and in order. Why? Well the stories kind of flow well as they're written, for the most part, and when done in the reading order, characters like Felix Lighter and Quarrel get their own arcs and it's not just about Bond. Also, fun fact, the 'Bond girls' usually get follow-up in the next novel, like Honey[chile] Rider being set up in America by Bond as thanks and Tatiana Romanova sadly dying saving Bond's life against Rosa Klebb. Plus, following the books closely is a version of this that hasn't been done yet.

For those who have never read the novels, they're more... low rent, than the films? Fewer crazy gadgets, a lot more actual spycraft from Bond and long stretches of Bond just living, drinking and smoking. The Connery films do cover the lifestyle stuff early on, but it's such a major feature of the books. Other notable changes are things like Doctor No just being a sociopathic rich guy (but I repeat myself) and The Big Man being a spy for the Soviets; lower rent, as I said. Of course the novels are typically even more racist and often just as sexist, but the plan here is to almost make that a point. Remember, we're sticking to the books as much as possible.

In fact, I thinking it would be good to keep the bigoted language in cases where Bond and other white characters use it. Bond is an instrument of Empire, albeit a fading one, so when we view him though a lens of 21st century sensibilities, the antihero elements that already define the character in the novels become even more stark. Even to Flemming, it would seem, Bond is not a hero. He is the protagonist, but rarely are his actions altruistic or heroic in any real way. Also, having highly offensive language and the visceral violence on the screen will push the rating up to R, so angry boys on the internet will defend and promote it without understanding it, which will be personally hilarious to me.

These adaptations shouldn't even be that expensive, as the hard part is finding era appropriate sets, locations and props, but they could be reused if needed. Think Mad Men, but a decade earlier and traveling across the entire world. Style would be the substance in many ways, like the gorgeous long shots of Connery clearing rooms or lighting a cigarette in the early films, before things got a little more silly. Thinking along the lines of the grounded nature of the Craig era with the style of the Connery era and we're pretty much getting there. Would this all be popular with the general audience? I really don't know, but I think it would be an interesting choice for a franchise that has long since gotten stale.

Superhero Media: We Can Be Heroes

At last! The long-awaited sequel to The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, kind of. In a world where Sharkboy and Lavagirl are real superheroes, as opposed to being part of a child's imagination, all of the world's heroes are taken out in an alien invasion, and their children are the next target. Make no mistake, We Can Be Heroes is a film for children, mostly starring children with few moments really targeted at adults, which can make it a dull watch for those just wanting some superhero action, but much like its predecessor, We Can Be Heroes is well made and tries hard to deliver where lesser films may choose to slack off. The world may be silly and more than a little camp, but the setting is internally consistent, characters have understandable (if basic) motivations and no one really pulls new powers out of nowhere. I'm disappointed that Sharkboy and Lavagirl don't have much to do, as I wanted to see what they were like as adults, and for some reason there is no Machete cameo, but I enjoyed the film overall. 

Remember how one of my major complaints about My Hero Academia is that it fails to deliver on the premise of a character with a solid base of knowledge keeping pace with people with actual powers? Well, our protagonist, Missy, despite being the daughter of one of the most respected heroes on the planet, has no powers of her own, and must rely on her brain to become the leader of the other young heroes and save the world. And there isn't even an eleventh-hour "oh wait, turns out I had powers all along" moment to ruin when Missy steps up and puts herself in the firing-line when there is no other option. The cast of kids is wonderfully diverse, and no attention is drawn to it, because it's just normal for the kids, so why would they discuss it? It's one of those things I miss about working with kids, where they don't have any inbuilt prejudice and just accept trans, queer and foreign peers because why be mean to a potential new friend? The kids in We Can Be Heroes do fight, of course, but over kid stuff, not the presence of a disabled child and a non-binary kid. 

The overall message of We Can Be Heroes is that each new generation needs to do better than the last, and that the young should take on leadership roles as soon as possible. And... yes. 100% we should be empowering the youth to facilitate lasting change in the world, rather than rich old men who will be dead before the problems they've created come home to roost. If you have kids and you want an excuse to sit through a superhero film, you can do a lot worse than We Can Be Heroes, which is twee and camp, but never stupid or pandering. At the very least, we get a quick look at adult versions of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, a liquid metal shark in the finale and a cool-looking alien menace to drag into your own games when you need them. I feel like We Can Be Heroes really needed a bigger budget and some more stars, Missy's dad is two steps away from being Ryan Reynolds and, again, where is my Machete cameo? 

Cars I would like (On the table)

One of the elements of my superhero table I think that really works is my collection of die cast cars and other vehicles. They're pretty cheap, add some colour and can be thrown around in games for a fun time. However, pretty much my entire collection is just things I happened to find when out and about, I've even had to get rid of a few here and there, because my eye was off in the shop and they were just too small on the table. Now that 3D printing is a far more viable option, I have been tempted to expand my motor pool, as it were, though I know they just won't look right next to all my die cast, so I'm leaving it for the moment.

Honestly, I really don't need more vehicles, barring a few things that would be nice, like a bus and a couple of matching Police cars, but that doesn't mean I don't grab something suitable when I see it, especially if it's not black or silver, the most common colours in my collection. That doesn't mean, of course, that there aren't things I would like to find; certain vehicles that tickle my fancy or I just kind of vibe with that I'd love to have sitting on the table as a nice little "Easter Egg" of my own personal tastes and preferences. So here's a list of a few cars that I like for various reasons, though I'm not a car guy, so expect some odd choices.


Honda City AA

I honestly cannot explain my love for the Honda City, but there's just something endlessly charming about it. Maybe it's the fold-up motorcycle, maybe it's the cute rear-view mirrors that make it look like a bug, but the whole effect is just delightful. Despite being a budget option for the young professional when released, the AA is now something of a collector's piece, especially if the motorcycle is still intact and functional, so I'll never own a real one. At the very least, having one on the gaming table would be an interesting talking piece for my big display games, whenever I get back to doing them.


Police WRX

Look, fuck the police, defund them into irrelevance and replace them with something actually humane and effective, but until that happens, they're a part of superhero games. In the early 2000s, Victoria Police trialed the Subaru Impreza WRX as a pursuit car, which I remember being a different colour from above, but this is the image I could find. As I was into the World Rally Championship at the time, I thought that was pretty cool. Really I would just like 3-6 cop cars of the same design for my games and this is a car I really liked at one stage, so it would be a good compromise.

Concept Cars

Is it just me, or would a line of die cast "Concept Cars" be just awesome for tabletop wargames? I'm more thinking of Cyberpunk games here, but for supers as well they'd be perfect for Wakanda, alien planets and space stations. They're sleek, but often goofy, reconisable but a little uncanny, and really seem like they'd sit well on the table just long enough to become another weapon to be thrown and wielded.

A Decent Bus

Why is it so hard to find a good bus in 28mm scale? Seriously, I've been looking for over a decade and the best I found was a tour bus that wasn't anything like a public transport vehicle. Pictured here is the current (at the time) Melbourne bus, but anything suitably mundane and workaday would be fine, if I could ever find one. What's more baffling is that I can think of at least four companies making lasercut bus stops and shelters, so where is the damn vehicle to sit there? Bleh.

Superhero Media: The Punisher (1989)

Despite continuing adaptations of Frank Castle to the screen, there remains something of a cult following for this 1989 entry starring Dolph Lundgren and featuring very few elements of the character, lacking even so much as the iconic skull shirt. I would say that the appeal for devotees would be down to The Punisher being something of one of the last of the "classic" style of 1980s action films, complete with lack of character depth, a European superhuman of dubious acting ability and some unfortunate Japanaphobia and queer-coding. That's not to say that The Punisher is bad, but it's not exactly "good" either, being more in the "fun trash" mould of Demolition Man than an instant classic like Predator. Frank Castle is a former police officer, thought dead by most people, living in the sewers and methodically murdering his way through the local mobsters responsible for his family's deaths. Frank's former partner, Jake is trying to prove he's still alive and behind the actions of the vigilante the media has dubbed "The Punisher". 

Because just watching Frank murder wave after wave of mobsters with increasingly elaborate firearms is too obvious, the plot follows an attempted Yakuza takeover of the New York (I think? The actual location is pretty nebulous and unclear) and the last of the great Italian families trying to keep them at bay. Although this is a great concept to throw the Punisher into, the unfortunate '80's tropes of "everyone from Japan is a ninja" and Japanese corporate takeovers and doesn't really have anything to say about the Eastern Economic Juggernaut of the 1980s. Also the Yakuza lead is a woman and heavily queer-coded, which is pretty unique, but there's nothing much there aside from the neat idea. Again, all of this is good fodder for a Punisher story, but here is really nothing more than a reason to keep the plot churning over. The one notable addition to the story is "Shake", a failed Shakespearean actor turned homeless alcoholic who has befriended Frank and helps out on occasion for comic relief. 

The Punisher delivers nicely on the blood and violence, with a Hot Shots! Part Deux style bullet-count and massive guns to suit Dolph's frame. This really is just a trashy '80s action film with a version of Frank Castle shoehorned in, not that that really matters or is at all a detriment, it's just how it all shakes out. Although it's not really my kind of thing, The Punisher is good enough, or at least engaging enough, to deserve its cult status, despite some uncomfortable dating in parts. This really isn't a good adaptation of The Punisher though, as Frank Castle is barely a character in it, more of an idea to hang a generic film on and a motivation for the protagonist. As we move through the film adaptations of the character, it's interesting to see just how often the comics are only passably referenced, as if Frank is merely another version of Arthur Bishop or Max Rockatanski to build a bloody revenge narrative around, rather than a distinct character within his own world with a role to play in the bigger picture. 

Fantasy Football - Epic Level

Regular readers will be well aware of how dull I find the concept of "the most powerful" superhero that the internet is somehow still fixated on. Mathing out how strong a character "really" is has no appeal to me, as I tend to enjoy narratives for being, you know, narrative, and not an exercise in statistics. That said, when people pull out the whole "well this character is strongest because X" nonsense, I do like to have something in my back pocket to shut the argument down and move on. Golden Age Superman, Stardust the Super Wizard and Doctor Manhattan are kind of your 'ad absurdam' responses there, by the way.

That said, I have thought about this at least a little, and come up with a list myself for this 'discussion' when it raises its ugly head. Naturally, I dug pretty deep and came up with some strange and niche characters because, well, that's kind of my thing, isn't it? So strap yourself in for a list of crazy characters that break narrative fiction with their outlandish powers and put any of your Gokus or Supermans Primes to shame.


Sun Wu Kong

Look, why bother with any Shonen anime protagonist, when you can just have the character they're all riffing on? Sure Goku or JoJo can teleport or run really fast, but can they jump the entire length of the universe from a standing start? Undefeated in battle, outsmarted only by the Buddha himself and so strong he can lift heaven, Sun Wu Kong, the Handsome Monkey King, puts almost every modern superhero to shame.

Fantomah

C'mon, you knew Fletcher Hanks was going to show up on this list somewhere and Stardust is really more of a villain by my standards, so that left Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle. Fantomah's powers are difficult to truly quantify as she, like many Golden Age Ubermench, can basically do anything at any time with no real justification needed. Able to fly, turn invisible, become intangible and transmute basically anything, Fantomah uses her godlike powers to inflict ironic punishments upon those who violate 'jungle law'. No returning antagonists for this superwoman, the first super-powered female in comics history, they're all dead.

Golden Bat

Forget Superman, let's talk about the world's first superhero! Now, we could argue all day about characters like The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hercules or Gilgamesh perhaps being the first 'superheroes', but for my money, it all comes together with Golden Bat (or Ogon Bat in Japan), who predates Superman, The Spirit and The Phantom, first appearing in a kind of traditional Japanese street theatre, but since appearing in manga, film, anime and even video games. Golden Bat is more magic than super, with his cane and secret island lair that looks like his face, but that doesn't mean he can't fly to the moon in moments or lift up entire islands at a whim. So yeah, basically Golden Age Superman with a skull face and looking like a knock-off academy award. Awesome.

Indigo

The superhero from Robert Mayer's classic pastiche novel Super Folks, imagine an aging superman who's powers have slowly been draining away until he realises that the entire city of New York is laced with his one weakness, Cronkite. Once freed from this influence, Indigo is once again capable of astounding feats, literally punching the antagonist of the story out of the universe. Indigo is very Bronze Age comics in his presentation, but has retained all the absurd powers that symbolise the Golden Age, think post-Death of the Staceys Spider-Man in terms of neuroses with the powers of Doctor Manhattan. If you're a comics fan and you haven't read Super Folks, you really should check it out.

Tesseract

You want deep cuts? I got deep cuts. Tesseract is the greatest warrior of Halcyon, also known as The Everywhere Man and the Totality Warrior. The unique power granted to Tesseract by his magic tree mommy is that every version of him across the multiverse is connected and fight in unison. Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four was a trip. Seriously, when this guy punches you, it's actually an infinite number of him punching you, that's crazy. This guy is so obscure that it's genuinely hard to find much information on him, especially as the Cosmic Cube stole his name for the MCU, but if you have a chance to read some Ultimate Fantastic Four, try it out, it's not really good, per se, but it is very interesting.

Superhero Media: Justice League Dark - Apokolips War

I almost enjoyed Apokolips War, the finale to the "New 52" run of DC animated features, because there are a lot of great moments and cool ideas, but the constant violence and unnecessary brutality just kills it for me. Yes, there is room in the broader cultural context for more violent superhero fare, but why, when there is no other animated version of Superman, Batman or the Justice League out there for children to enjoy, make a film where Superboy gets ripped limb from limb? It's pandering and disgusting. I really never needed to see the Teen Titans eaten alive by monsters and I'm more than a little concerned that some people enjoy that kind of thing. Big slabs of Apokolips War seem to have been thought up by a twelve year old, from the blood and gore, to "grim and gritty" versions of heroes, and right up to the "Paradooms", Parademons, but also Doomsday. Gag me. But through all the raw sewerage of the film, Apokolips War still delivers some great moments.

Having John Constantine be the point-of-view character is genius, because he is pretty human under all the magic powers and cockney bluster, though the resolution for his character arc is pretty poor, basically boiling down to "a wizard did it". Damien feeling guilty and trying to put Dick in the Lazarus Pit, King Shark valuing his friendship with Captain Boomerang and Swamp Thing cutting loose with everything are all great moments, though mostly in isolation, with the story always dragging back to the bleak world left behind after the defeat of the Justice League. Even the, rather clever finale, involving Raven and Constantine unleashing Trigon to fight Darkseid, is kind of telegraphed early on and doesn't make the intended impact by virtue of being too bleeding obvious. Hell, the entire enterprise is essentially pointless as, in the end, Wally opts to Flashpoint again and reboot the universe. DC did a reboot, take a shot.

I'm still far too young to be as tired as I am over superhero films, and the, somehow, continuing trend of making them as nasty and violent as possible. Look, I enjoyed Brightburn, Jessica Jones and every The Punisher film (to a certain extent), there is room in the genre for the harsher takes, but with the Justice League and Teen Titans? Really? Apokolips War doesn't even have the excuse of being an Elseworlds title, it was the main continuity, and it ended in torture, death and cannibalism; stay classy DC. Meanwhile, the competition his Marvel Rising and Ms Marvel for the younger crowds and Werewolf By Night and Wandavision for the grown-ups. I try to not come across as a Marvel fanboy on this blog, but damn if DC don't make it hard to like them sometimes. I hope the next go round for the DCAU is better, both in terms of quality and how they choose to treat their characters.

Superhero Media: Fantasic Four - The Animated Series (1994)

I have fond memories of watching "The Marvel Action Hour" hosted by Stan Lee himself, featuring Iron Man and Fantastic Four. Some years back, I picked up the Iron Man DVDs pretty cheap, from a supermarket of all places, and found it to be not as bad as I remembered. Fantastic Four however, is pretty much almost entirely hot garbage from the second the campy theme song finishes. Yes, I like the campy theme song and they should bring it back for the next film, like with the "Spider-Man Theme" in the Rami films. What makes Fantastic Four so bad? Mostly a lack of money, really; the animation is cheap and repetitive, the scripts are paper-thin and a lot of the acting is odd a lot of the time. There is a conflict in tone between classic Silver Age Fantastic Four comics and trying to be hip and '90s; the Four having a black-tie variety benefit at which Johnny performs a terrible rap, just for example. 

In terms of the classic comic stories though, Fantastic Four is pretty comprehensive, even managing to revisit Doom stealing the power of the Silver Surfer after the first version isn't really all that good. Most of what you'd expect is here, in the forms of Galactus, Skrulls, Mole Man, Inhumans and Kree, plus there is a hefty dose of other Marvel characters, including Hulk being voiced by Ron Perlman. Most of the "guest stars" are from the other 1990s Marvel animated series, but there is the occasional fun surprise, like Ghost Rider, who takes on Galactus with his "Penitent Stare". Of course, we get a good Hulk Vs Thing fight, with plenty of smashing and clobbering and, importantly, no decisive winner, because you want to keep the fans wanting more. 

Probably the thing Fantastic Four does best is show the titular Four in a contemporary setting, which is often considered a difficult task at the very least. Personally, as someone who's actually read a fair few FF comics, I think they work fine in any era, so long as you can maintain the idea of Reed Richards being on the bleeding edge of science and technology. Even this series tries to mess with the formula and fails, with Doom being German for the first few episodes before it shifts to Latveria and moves on. Thing is, the Fantastic Four work as they are and really don't need too much changing. Averaged out, FF was the highest selling monthly comic for the entire Bronze, Dark and Platinum ages, so these are stories we want to see, even if they're not always done well. 

Thinking Out Loud: Conspiring to Have Fun

As a teen, I was a big fan of Conspiracy Theories. I was never a believer, but I enjoyed the absurdity and mental gymnastics of the process of convincing oneself that the moon landings were faked or that aliens ran the US government. Sometime in the past decade though, Conspiracy Theories have shifted to be a recruiting tool for the Alt-Right. This really put me off the whole thing and I kind of left it alone for a while, but then two things happened. The first was that I completed my masters thesis "A systematic review of extant Psychotherapeutic interventions for combating Far-Right youth radicalisation through social media and comparable digital platforms", and the second was the Netflix series Inside Job. After both of those settled in my head, I was like "you know what? Fuck the fascists, I want to start enjoying conspiracies again as dumb fun"; so I did. If you can access the free streaming service, Tubi, there are thousands of hours worth of 'documentaries' from which you can draw inspiration or just laugh at while you paint.

Superhero comics have flirted with Conspiracies for years, with characters like Sasquatch and Wendigo being straight out of cryptozoology and plenty of hidden alien research and secret government departments galore. Pretty much no established setting doesn't have some kind of secret society, be it The Court of Owls or Secret Empire, and whilst these aren't always the best handled, they have become major aspects of the genre. Anyway, I'm kind of just hedging around things to fill out word length, what I really want to talk about is the Secret Space Program. If you haven't come across the SSP, then you are in for one hell of a ride, as it combines elements of Roswell, Stargate, Starship Troopers, Warhammer 40,000 and even deals a lot with Tom Delonge of Blink 182. There's moon Nazis, cloned super soldiers, hyperspace travel and alien sex orgies, like some glorious bricolage of entertaining nonsense and the best roleplaying game the 1990s never spawned. Of course, this turns out to just be a lead-in for Q-Anon and similar diet-Nazi shit best avoided, but while you stay in the SSP space, there is a lot of fun to be had.

The obvious question is, of course, can I game the Secret Space Program somehow? Superhuman soldiers cloned from great heroes of history fighting Nazis on the moon is so bang-on my Venn diagram of interests that I can't not at least try, right? Chopping the Alt-Right shit out is actually pretty easy, once you know what to look for, and even reversing that is more than possible, just add in plenty of women, queer people and people of colour as you go. Instead of a SSP soldier being the "clone" of Beowulf or King Arthur, try Fred Hampton or Harriet Tubman, for example. A bunch of black soldiers in power armour raiding a Nazi space station would be a hell of a thing and I'm already just brimming with other ideas that actively resist the conspiracy mindset. One of the best ways we can combat this recruitment tool for the Alt-Right is to drag it into the open and look at it for the nonsense it is. So get out there and put some of this shit in your games. Alien stargates to lost human colonies and flying u-boats? How can you not want to play around with that?

Superhero Media: GANTZ (2010)

I've actually been watching a few "Live Action" Anime adaptations lately, and found myself enjoying them quite a bit, despite the conventional wisdom that they tend to be poor. I think it's down to my not really liking a lot of the general Anime tropes and genre conventions, many of which the films tend to jettison for time. In Tokoyo Ghoul, for example, a lot of the angst is compacted for the sake of the narrative, and it is more about the Ghoul community and existence than the big fights of the Anime, so I enjoyed it a lot more. Years back, I watched GANTZ: O on a whim and could not get into it, because I had no real idea what was going on and it was clearly made for people who were already fans. By contrast, GANTZ is exactly what I wanted, a good introduction to the core concepts of the series, with decent pacing and a lot of the chaff cut away. 

After dying helping save a man's life, estranged childhood friends Kato and Koruno awaken in an unfurnished apartment with several strangers and a Black Sphere containing an unconscious man. For those not yet familiar with the GANTZ franchise, people are taken at the moment of death and given a chance to free themselves by battling aliens (most often in the guise of Japanese folklore monsters), with many only dying again in brutal ways. As players kill aliens, they earn points which can be used to free themselves, resurrect dead players or upgrade weaponry. Basically, GANTZ (also the name of the sphere) is a really cool concept for a story (or roleplaying game or video game), but occasionally gets bogged down in its own lore and mythology. Really, the franchise reminds me a little of Hunter: The Reckoning, a roleplaying favourite of mine, in that the characters "chosen" are pretty diverse and tend to have little in common to begin with. 

GANTZ is a little more "heroic" than other entries in the series I've seen, with Kato even having a costume and training montage at one stage, though the brutality of the fights does strip this feeling away pretty quick. That said, the suits are cool, the weapons pretty unique and the monsters are memorable, if a little underdeveloped, so if you're intrigued, this film is worth checking out. I'm a little tempted to pull GANTZ into my broader Ultimate Alliance narrative, as a kind of failed technology running rogue, but the Japanese Government not trying too hard to shut it down, because it keeps the aliens under wraps. I may check out the Anime, if I can stream it or get it on sale, but I'm not sure how keen I really am on doing that anytime soon. 

Drokk the Law!! - Part XIX

Back in the blocks again, this time to take a look at the blocks themselves as I get to work on some terrain at long last. As mentioned previously, I took advantage of a sale at Brutal Cities (https://brutalcities.com/) to pick up five buildings that should fill out my Mega City 1 table quite nicely. So far, I've had time to put a couple together. 

You can see that whilst beautifully designed, the buildings have pretty basic interiors, as is common for this kind of MDF terrain. Having learned my lesson with my superhero table, I'll be holding off on painting until I add some more details and decide what each building will be in the broader game narrative. This will most likely involve counters and large furniture inside to provide cover and encourage players to fight out some battles inside. Hopefully making the buildings more than just elaborate hills. Having the buildings assembled also helps me consider elements like scale, as seen below. 

The door is a good indication of how "big" the model is meant to be. With one of Andy's Citadel Judge Dredd miniatures from the 1980s, it looks huge, the porthole is over his head and the push-plate at eye-level. This is an old miniature though, probably closer to 25mm, so let's look at something more current. 

Ok, here's another Punk in Sports Armour that I'm working on, a more recent 28mm miniature from Games Workshop, and it's better, with the porthole at a more reasonable height, but the door still seems a little big, so let's go up again. 

Ah, good old Space Marines, always the yardstick of industry scale creep. Ok, this looks about right, except that this is meant to be a massive superhuman, so let's try a large human miniature. 

Ok, this Cyberpunk Combat Zone mini is giving me a good idea of scale. These doors are way too big for anything remotely in 28mm. This is Batman Miniatures Game or MCP scale easily. Disappointing, but not unexpected. What this means is I'll be adding some signage, facing or other baffle to hide the true height of the doors before painting. It's a pretty quick method of fixing the issue and has the added bonus of making my collection a little more unique to me as well. I'll also be adding magnetic patches for some attachments and surfacing some areas for graffiti and street art. 

The second building has a nice shop or workshop vibe that I'll do something with for sure. You can just make out in the pictures that I cut down the roller door for more access and better light on the inside. I'm not sure just how well this set will make a full table, to be honest, but I first have to get the other three buildings assembled and lay them out. With my cars and a few garbage piles, I might just be able to swing it all together, but time will tell. 

Superhero Media: Rampage

Several friends were really keen on Rampage and kept hassling me to see it, but I never seemed to get the chance. When I finally go to it, I found Rampage fairly underwhelming, as I've never played the games and was just hoping for some Kaiju action, but what I got was a whole load of Rock and only the one monster fight. Not that there isn't a lot of fun stuff in the film, but I was in the headspace for Kaiju so Rampage couldn't help but disappoint. The opening, with a lone woman running from an (unseen) mutant rat through a space station is really well put together and quite tense, in fact, the tense scenes work well, like later when Ralph (giant mutant wolf) is picking off a team of mercenaries in the woods, but most of the "big" monster action leaves something to be desired. I'm not sure I buy the Rock as former special forces soldier/park ranger/bounty hunter turned zookeeper Davis Okoye, as he may be a competent actor, but basically only has one "action" mode. Compared to Jeffery Dean Morgan, playing Agent Russell, the Rock just doesn't seem to be having as much fun in the role as the premise would demand. 

What Rampage reminded me of most was the Transformers films, with the emphasis on military technology and what seems to be a lack of good ideas as to what to do with the actual monsters people turned up to see. Not that I expected Rampage to be Shin Godzilla or anything, but was Kong Skull Island too much to ask? I'm pretty sure only two helicopters get trashed, nowhere near enough. Though there is a cool bit where the Rock uses a broken helicopter to break his fall from a collapsing building, which is pretty neat. I guess if I'm grading on a curve for being a "video game movie", Rampage is actually pretty good, but when do we stop expecting these game adaptations to be lesser, and demand the same quality we get from comic book films? I still think the first Tomb Raider and Resident Evil are perfectly serviceable and will keep defending Street Fighter as a fun romp; not everything is the animated Donkey Kong Country film, you know? 

So what does really work in Rampage? Well, the size of the Kaiju is nice for gaming. Seriously, some larger animal action figures and model kits are pretty affordable around the 12 to18 inch mark and would sit well next to 28mm miniatures. My Gamera is around that size (he's 15mm if we're getting technical) and "looks" about right on the table. The Godzilla I've been eyeing off is a little taller and would probably be around perfect. Of course, I've seen Kaiju played at 10mm and 40mm, and most of mine aim for 6mm, so what you can afford and store is up to you, but I like a couple of big nasties to really give the "wow" factor for display games. Warmachine and D&D Miniatures have a nice giant Crocodile and Wolf respectively, and a few places do large apes in toy lines, so putting together a Rampage set would be pretty easy if that's your bag. For me, it's off to find more suitable Godzilla and Gamera Kaiju. 

Superhero Media: The Marvels Project

Not quite a follow-up to the seminal Marvels, The Marvels Project covers the first few years of the fledgling Marvel Universe, as told by Thomas Halloway, aka, The Angel. Even more so than Marvels, The Marvels Project bridges the continuity gaps between the pre-Marvel Timely comics and the "universe" that Stan, Jack and Steve built in the 1960s, not pulling a full "Avengers Forever" thing, but just massaging over the rough patches that you tend to get with Golden Age Comics. For example, rather than Phantom Bullet and The Ferret just dropping off enough in popularity to no longer be published, both characters are skilled by Nazi agents who later target Erskine and Steve Rogers. Clever, huh? Well, I like it. The narrative, whilst framed with Halloway's experience, is clearly focused on Captain America, which makes sense, as the series was written by Ed Brubaker, possibly the best Cap writer ever. That said, there is still plenty of Angel, Namor and Human Torch to keep the comics classicist happy. 

The clever thing about The Marvels Project is that it couches the story around the build-up to the United States entering the Second World War, which works nicely as a meta-narrative about the comics industry, as well as tying to the opening chapter of Marvels. I'm honestly shocked there isn't a Phil Sheldon cameo in there, but appearances from Black Widow (Claire Voyant), The Phantom Reporter and Electro help slide us into the next adventure on our Marvel Golden Age jaunt, The Twelve. Also of note, the story is bookended with appearances of the Two-Gun Kid, occasional Avengers member and good friend of Clint Barton. Probably the only element I'm not fond of in The Marvels Project is the Human Torch and Toro getting to fight during the Battle off Pearl Harbour, which just "feels" a little cheap to me, even if it does suit the story and mirror action happening elsewhere. The pacing is also a little off, but I tend to put this down to trying to match old comics. 

In terms of gaming inspiration, The Marvels Project is excellent, with games at both the high and low ends of the superhero power scale. The Human Torch and Toro versus Japanese aircraft would be amazing to see on the table, and a possible collaboration between supers and historical gamers that I may have to do, if I can get flaming figures in the right scale. And, as discussed in previous posts, I'm keen on some Pulp games, though a League of Adventurers is less interesting to me than a collection of caped heroes, and now I'll have to track down a suitable Angel to round out some kind of Golden Age Defenders for my games. I have also started up some new, plastic, pulpy Nazis to menace my heroes, which I'll hopefully have painted before too long. 

Announcement: Victorius 2025

Sorry to interrupt the flow, but as many of my Australian readers may already know, I will be at Victorius 2025 next weekend in Box Hill. 

There, as well as being generally helpful, I will be demonstrating the miniatures game I am writing, Nocturnal, which I have mentioned here from time to time, it's a gang skirmish game based on popular urban Vampire media. Think Blade, Underworld, The Lost Boys, Vampire the Masquerade, etc. If you can make it, keep an eye out for the stunning promotional artwork done by my friend Nim; 

I'll be running quick, 2-3 turn demo games for most of the day, so come by and say hello if you want to try it out. I will likely be covering a little more on Nocturnal here in the future, but this won't be becoming a blog about the game; I'll be doing other socials around it as things get closer to being finished. 

Superhero Media: Danger Mouse

Yes, I watched the entirety of the classic Danger Mouse, and I don't recommend that you do the same. That is not to say that Danger Mouse is bad, which it is, of course, not, just that binging it quickly kind of killed the enjoyment I was getting. The World's Greatest Secret Agent, Danger Mouse, and his mostly-useless assistant Penfold, battle the nefarious foes of freedom across the globe and Willesden Green in mostly unlikely circumstances. Like many programmes of its era, Danger Mouse has dated, mostly around stereotypes and backwards attitudes, especially against Mexicans, for some reason, but it holds up despite being steeped in ideas of Empire. If you can handle wacky, then Danger Mouse is a heady draught, with skouse aliens, giant bananas and more episodes in space than you would think for what is, ostensibly, a spy adventure. 

The jokes are repetitive and often deliberately bad, but there is a charm to Danger Mouse that transcends the surface quality, or lack thereof. Like I said, don't watch a lot of this back-to-back, as it starts to grate after a while, but if Danger Mouse is an old hazy memory or something an older relative talks about a lot, then dive in for a little bit and see how you go. The review of the newer seasons is actually one of the most viewed articles on this blog, so clearly there is a love of Danger Mouse and Penfold to be had out there. Such is the nature of the programme that I really can't recall too much about specific episodes to recommend, though images of sentient bagpipes, golfing Martians and ghost busses haunt my dreams. 

If you really want to game Danger Mouse (might work as a Pulp Alley game?) there are a few free STLs around for 3D printing, I'm eyeing off one of Danger Mouse and Penfold in the X-1 for printing at about 6mm scale, which should look right next to 28mm humans. I've never been one for gaming in a comedic tone myself, but it's worth remembering that Danger Mouse does shockingly little fighting in the programme, mostly resorting to a combination of dumb luck, puns and contrivance. Danger Mouse may be the world's greatest secret agent, but Danger Mouse isn't really the best programme, being very much throwaway entertainment for kids more interested in colour and movement than a maligned classic awaiting reappraisal. Still, I love it and will probably go back for more at some stage. 

Miniatures Finished: Dinoborgs of the world, unite!

Given I was so close to getting all my Bot War stuff done, I just pushed through. I'm also trying to get a Learn to Play night going at work, but that's had to be rescheduled a few times, so these are kind of just done for the sake of it. Much as the Bot War miniatures are really nice, I have gone with some 3D prints here for some of the range that isn't as nice, or just didn't fit with what I was going for.

The mighty Dinoborgs of the Red Star Nations march to war!

The Brontoborg is a transport and mobile fortress, the model has been modified with some Battlefield Accessories ruins and some 3D printed dinosaur infantry to replace the cyborg humans of the official range.

Tricera-Borg is one of the strongest models in the army currently, fast and deadly with some of the best attacks Red Star have access to.

The Raptorborgs are a little disappointing as models, but new ones should be out pretty soon. The design is nice, but they're oddly thin and flat looking.