Author: torstenvblog

Writer of the strange and everything; lover of horror, literature, comics, and the alien is my spirit animal

Ultimate Fantastic 4: Inhuman (vol.4)

ult f4 v4

After the events of Ultimate Fantastic 4: N- Zone , the Fantastic 4 are out in the open and unveiled to the public after thwarting Annihilus and they are in trouble. Sent back to the the think tank at the Baxter building by there handlers, they discover a disgruntled genius calling herself the Thinker is out to prove herself the superior mind, any way possible. After dealing with her, Sue and Johnny’s distant mother comes into there lives to uncover Namor, while Johnny meets a cute girl that proves to be not so human, introducing Namor the Submariner and the Inhumans in the Marvel Ultimate universe.

What I like about this particular book is you get 3 mini stories for the price of one. The first story is a good epilogue to the last book and it is cool seeing the Four face there own home as a enemy. While I don’t like Namor’s Ultimate backstory, I can’t lie the fight between him and Torch is pretty cool and the story is a nice look into Sue Storm’s character. As a fan of the Inhumans, I don’t like the designs in Ultimate but Karnak vs Invisible Woman was one of my favorite Ultimate moments. While the stakes aren’t overly high in the book, it’s nice to get some bite sized chunks with Marvel’s first family and it’s not a bad book to pick up if you read the others. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Thanos Imperative

thanos imperative

Awhile back I made a list of 5 Marvel stories that hooked me and this book was in there. With the Infinity Saga of the MCU at a close, Thanos was the greatest threat we’ve seen our heroes come to our heroes, but if the mad Titan was our only hope?

Death, while frightening and painful, is an essential part of life but in the Cancer-verse, awaken by Adam Magnus and his followers death doesn’t exist and is running out of room. An entire universe united under a dark version of Marvell is ready to breach our universe. The cosmos greatest heroes unite to face the mass invasion lead by Nova, Quasar, Medusa, and Gladiator but even with the aid of the Silver Surfer and his master Galactus it seems. Of all people, hope rests with the misfit Guardians of the Galaxy who have a once dead Thanos in containment; Thanos is the personification of Death the Cancer-verse needs but the Titan is unstable and Drax is driven mad with the urge to slay him. Can Lord Marvell and a whole universe be stopped and at what cost?

So, first things first, my explanation of the story is the gist but honestly it’s easier to follow than most of the book. This book goes through a shit load of exposition and because of the huge amount of stuff going on, it becomes hard to follow at times and a lot of it feels more complex than it needs to. On top of that, I do not  recommend this to newer readers because of the insane roster of characters including: Nova, Quasar, Gladiator, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Silver Surfer, The Inhumans, Beta Rey Bill, Ronan the Accuser, Adam Magnus, Galactus, the original Captain Mar-vell, and of course Thanos, and no, movie knowledge won’t help you much. While those are huge drawbacks, the artwork and scope of the action is beautiful and epic. Watching Surfer and Galactus go into battle amongst all these cosmic heroes was truly badass.  The story takes some chances and some characters do die and the ending did a reasonable impact on Marvel as a whole. It is a real cool story with fantastic artwork but it’s more complex than it has to be. May the gamin g gods bring you glory.

The Ring

the ring

Recently, I have just turned 29 and it’s the year 2020 so I can say I feel freaking old. When this movie originally came out, the hype through my middle school was real. This was the movie that kicked off the trend of American remakes of Asian horror films: The Grudge, Shutter, and The Eye just to name a few. The trend then annoyed me so I avoided this movie like the plague, but 18 years later was I wrong?

Rachael is a young mom who is wrapped up in her journalistic work, frequently neglecting her intelligent, quiet, and self sufficient son Aden. When Aden’s best friend and cousin Katie dies under mysterious circumstances all of a sudden, Rachael looks into the only clue she can find: a videotape. Legend has it that anyone who watches will die seven days later; Rachael watches it and now the race is on to uncover the cryptic mystery of the tape before Rachael and her son die from a malevolent force, Samara.

Not knowing anything about the basic premise going in, I wished I paid this movie a watch back then. The movie looks damn good visually and I must admit, the tape is unsettling and the effects hold up surprisingly well nearly two decades later. The main actors do a good job and it’s easy to relate to the characters, including the villain Samara who has a tragic backstory. The lore behind the tape was my favorite part besides the false ending. The only real complaint I have is sometimes the acting in certain scenes feels clunky and having images from the tape flash at you for a jump scare has effective moments, it starts to get old, especially if it ain’t your first viewing. In the end, I think it’s a pretty damn good horror movie that’s gladly recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Final Destination (4)

fd 4

So, for all of those wondering, no The Final Destination is not in fact the final movie and why the hell putting “The” before Final Destination would indicate it’s the fourth movie is beyond me. So 3D and more teens getting killed in hilarious ways controlled by the grim reaper, what’s not to love? Nick and his friends are attending a car race that he gets the premonitions will end in disaster so they evade the mayhem only to get  killed one by one.

Final Destination 4 is pretty much what anyone who’s seen one of these movies should come to expect from this series. If you want genuine scares, look elsewhere, but if you want camp and gore than stick around. There are some pretty decent kills  and the two main leads are likable enough so you are ok with rooting for them. The 3D feels pretty wasted sadly unlike in Final Destination 3 where it was more prominent. The other issue I have is how generic it all feels, there is nothing special about this movie but it is quick. In the end it’s not bad or great but an alright sequel to an alright franchise. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

A Haunted House

haunted house

Comedy is subjective as much as horror is so I can say I get why most critics hated the hell out of this movie. The critic in me thinks this is one of the stupidest movies I’ve ever seen, and that it’s a lazy ass cash grab on the Paranormal Activity craze about a decade ago. Malcolm’s girlfriend Keisha moves in with him and supernatural hi-jinks ensue, that’s pretty much it. This movie is co written and staring Marlon Wayans of Scary Movie fame so whatever your feelings were there, it’s going to be here. All of this being said, I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off at certain parts just because as far as comedy is concerned, I ain’t much older than a twelve year old. The jokes are predictable and go mostly for sex and fart jokes. Weirdly, if I’m going to recommend it, I would if you were wasted off your ass but not if you’re sober or want a real laugh. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

God of War III

gow 3

Kratos has literally been through hell (twice) to get to this point but his grand revenge is at end as he storms Olympus with the Titans to kill Zeus and the gods. War is at hand as Kratos brutally slays Poseidon during the initial assault. It here that Kratos learns from Gia that the titans are using him and he falls into the River Styx which drains his power dry. It’s up to Kratos to to restore his power and find Pandora who holds the key to destroying the gods and titans, delivering Kratos his ultimate revenge on his father and king of the gods, Zeus once and for all…

The awesome revenge epic God of War and God of War 2 does come to a truly bloody and satisfying climax for this trilogy finale. The opening set-piece is jaw dropping and in fact, the boss battles steal the show more than anything. Of all the GOW games, I have to say 3 has the coolest array of weapons from Helio’s severed head to the hooks of Hades that can summon souls to the brutal Cetus wielded by legendary hero Hercules. The sound, graphics, and voice acting are top notch. Gameplay doesn’t change much from previous games with little change which is nice but feels a bit stale by the 3rd main game. Also, a gripe I have is the game feels shorter than the others but has arguably the best story of the trilogy. In the hell, it is a truly epic game that I highly recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Flash: Move Forward (new 52 vol.1)

flash running

I know a long time ago, during the beginning days of the blog I did a post about 5 great stories from DC new 52 and mentioned the third volume of this series. Despite only seeing Flash, season 1 I always wanted to dive deeper into the Scarlet Speedster and I wanted a decent place to start.

Barry Allan better known as the fastest man alive, The Flash, can’t even have a normal date night it seems when a symposium him and his girl are visiting are attacked by a group of mercenaries out to steal the tech on display. Flash manages to stop one of the masked soldiers, discovering one of his best friends from college dead and a new mystery afoot as Barry discovers his friend is in fact alive and has new regenerative capabilities and has accidentally spawned a clone gang calling itself Mob Rule as it blacks out Central City, unleashing a vengeful, newly empowered Captain Cold to escape prison and hunt for Flash who discovers the true depth of his power and the dangers of the Speed Force when using too much power can destroy time itself…

I must admit you definitely get your money’s worth with this book unlike some graphic novels that are mostly fluff. Mob Rule is a interesting villain to follow but Captain Cold vs Flash was a badass fight and Cold with ice powers is epic as hell. I feel Flash’s plight and you are invested in his story but with everything going on as well as the speed of Barry’s thoughts do make it hard to follow in the middle. In the end, while a good Flash story, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a intro to the character but still well worth a read. May the gaming gods bring you glory.