Football Picks - Grand Finale

One last game to pick... I'm putting my overall stats below my Super Bowl pick so you can just add +1 to the win column after tomorrow :)

NFL SUPER BOWL

Pittsburgh at Arizona

(Final Score = 31-13)

Previous:

Overall = 123-100

NFL Conference = 1-1

NFL Division = 1-3

NFL Wild Card = 1-3

NCAA Bowls = 19-15

Week 17 = 6-3

Week 16 = 3-5

Week 15 = 6-3

Week 14 = 5-6

Week 13 = 9-6

Week 12 = 9-6

Week 11 = 4-6

Week 10 = 9-4

Week 9 = 4-5

Week 8 = 7-4

Week 7 = 7-4

Week 6 = 4-5

Week 5 = 8-4

Week 4 = 1-4

Week 3 = 7-6

Week 2 = 7-4

Week 1 = 5-3

Read More......

Wonder Woman Reimagined

Read More......

Football Picks - NFL Conference Championships

NFL Conference Championships

Sunday:

Philadelphia at Arizona

Baltimore at Pittsburgh

Read More......

Review: The Devil's Cross (Zuda)

The Devil's Cross
"We are in the Middle Ages in the North of Spain. The lord of the region was killed by an alliance of the people that make up his kingdom. A few years later, someone wearing his armor shows up to tyrannize the region."

The creators claim this comic is based on a story by GA Becquer but I'm not familiar with him or his work and I couldn't find anything specific about it in a brief search so I don't know how faithful it is to it's source. But from a new-comer's perspective, the story isn't that bad.

It kinda feels like 'The Crow' set in the Dark Ages. After his people revolt and kill him, the "Lord of the Segre" returns from hell to seek revenge.

The dialogue is imperfect, if not cliche' - at one point the main character takes on a whole gang by himself and says "I should kill you now. Worms! But it's not worth the effort." So the logical choice would be to ask these useless worms to join you right? No?

I did like the art though. The design of the Lord of the Segre seems a little generic but it's nicely detailed and not over-done. The setting works and the dynamics aren't weighed down.

Overall it's a decent story with some nice art, but I'd rather see the artist draw something written by another writer... any other writer.

Read More......

Football Picks - NFL Divisional Playoffs

NFL Divisional Playoffs

Saturday:

Baltimore at Tennessee

Arizona at Carolina

Sunday:

Philadelphia at NY Giants

San Diego at Pittsburgh

Read More......

Review: Sea Dogs of Mars

Sea Dogs of Mars
"1000 years after Mars has been terraformed, Adrianne McCowan and her first mate Gorkin Courbear lead their ragtag crew across the Martian seas looking for fame, fortune, and swashbuckling adventure."

If there's one genre I think doesn't get enough attention in webcomics it's Sci-Fi. Sure, there are a few of them out there but not nearly as many as other genres. With the over-saturation of zombies and vampires in mainstream entertainment, the Sci-Fi genre continuously goes over-looked.

I was pulled in by this comic from the very first panel. Was that a Puddle Jumper flying over the city?

The comic featured a lot of the typical (read stereotypical) elements of a Sci-Fi story; a dirty bar full of scoundrels, humanoid aliens, sentient droids (at least they seem to be) and some space-pirates! What makes this story a little different is that it takes place on a thriving terraformed Mars 1100 years in the future.

The pirate feel is captured with near perfection by the artist and the design of technologies has a FireFly feel while still managing to maintain it's own identity.

Overall, Sea Dogs of Mars manages to capture the "pirates in space" (or on another world, anyway) feel the same way FireFly captured the "western in Space" feel. Let's hope Sea Dogs of Mars has a longer run before it's canceled!

Read More......

Review: 'Project: WarHawk' (Zuda)

Project: WarHawk
"Mike Stone's Grandfather was dead, but what Mike is about to learn about his Grandfather's past will send this young man down a mysterious path."

The biggest problem with the Zuda format is that you only get 8 pages to decide weather or not you like a story designed to be as much as 50 or more pages long. 'Project: WarHawk' could be a good story but you don't get enough in the 8 pages to know for sure.

The WWII setting is interesting and the plot seemed like it could have potential. Almost the entire 8 pages are non-stop action with only a brief pause in the middle.

The art isn't very impressive but it wasn't so bad I turned away. The "special Effects" (SFX) help the art a little.

Overall it's a fun story that I wouldn't mind reading a little more if it were available, but it's not quit good enough to get my vote.

Read More......

Review: Lifespan (Zuda)

Lifespan
"Faced with a collapsing world economy, fear of over population and the pending age of man-caused global warming, the UN proposed a controversial policy; The Rights of Balance Act. Later called Lifespan by the world media."

If there's a metaphor behind this story it's lost in translation. It takes many of the problems the world faces today and tries to cram them into one solution: Kill everybody!

Instead of earning and spending money, the characters in this world spend "time." If you want a fancy sports car, it'll cost you 2 years off your (expected, I assume) lifespan. Yeah, stop and think about that... would you be willing to die just to drive a sports car?

When I weigh the options I can't help but think about the possibilities that my nice new car would break down! Then what? I give up another year of my life to get it fixed? What if it's just a spark plug? Is that just a few days? A new CD costs about $14. That's a little over an hour and a half at the average job. So if I wanted the new Oasis cd it would cost an hour and a half? Unless I was a Senator or a CEO, then it's a minute or two... Are you catching on to the absurdity of this concept yet?

To balance this the writer creates a "Collection Agency" used to enforce the new law. So there's a guy in a nice suit and dark shades that kills all the people that "spend" too much. Didn't I say something about a metaphor or something? See how that got lost in the absurdity of the story?

The art, on the other hand, is somewhat more impressive. It almost reminds me of David Aja's work on 'The Immortal Iron Fist' only without the dynamic action shots and loose character mannerisms that helped to get me hooked on the book (at least while he was on it)

Overall, I can't stop thinking about the ridiculous concept. Suspension of disbelief is almost impossible and as hard as I try, I can't think of a single argument in favor of this 'Rights of Balance Act' to make me even consider that this could make a viable or entertaining story.

Read More......

Review: Legacy of the Wanderer (Zuda)

Legacy of the Wanderer
"The Master of Ashes casts a dark shadow over the Vale and its denizens, and the arrival of a stranger provokes events that will drive the Legacy of the Wanderer forward, or change its course."

The tag-line sounds almost like the writer just took a bunch of "cool" sounding words and tried to fit them all into a sentence. The curious thing about this tag-line though is that it completely gives away the entire 8-page story. Fortunately, this 8-page story is merely a set-up of what's to (hopefully) come.

The narration of the story is as poetic (and dictionary-laced) as the tag-line. It's entertaining for the most part, although it seems to get a little too philosophical toward the end.

We don't meet the main character until the last 2 pages and when we do, all we see his a "stranger" waking up on a beach. He doesn't say anything and how he got there is left unknown. All we really learn about him is that he's a bad mother-f*cker and he's really important.

Artistically, this webcomic knocks it out of the park. The design of the castle helps the mood set by the writing and the statues that decorate it look impressive. The character designs look good too. The art of the bat-winged half-beast/half-man made it easy to perceive his pain.

Overall it's a good story with great art that may seem to take itself a little too seriously at some points but doesn't fail to keep you interested.

Read More......

Review: Lasers Dragons and Lies (Zuda)

Lasers Dragons and Lies
"Bartz, the Blue Knight is trying to save his ex-love and future queen."
Lasers Dragons and Lies

The short tag-line pretty much sums up what this story is about - "Knight in shiny armor saves Princess" and from a dragon!! I can't tell you how exciting that sounds... because it doesn't. It misses the "hook." I'm not even sure this story has one.

The lead hero Bartz (awful name) is a Knight and he does wear armor, but his horse is a floating machine (a mechanical horse with jets) Maybe that's the hook - a mixture of motor-horses, mechanical dragons and magic.

It almost feels like a 'He-Man' clone with the mixture of ancient and future technologies. The hero wields a sword and rides a horse shaped hover-bike. A Horse-bike that vaguely reminded me of Battle Cat. The only thing missing was a Skeletor and Orko.

The dialogue is terrible, cliche', camp, etc. It hurts the characters that otherwise might be likable (aside from the villainess, who I wouldn't like regardless of what she said)

The saving point for this webcomic is the art and setting. The characters are wonderfully drawn (aside from a few simplified mutants) and the machines - the horse-bikes and mech-dragons - look great.

Overall, art alone isn't enough to get my vote. There's a lot of potential but too much camp to overcome.

Read More......

Football Picks - NFL Playoffs Wild-Card Weekend

NFL Playoffs - Wild-Card Weekend

Saturday:

Atlanta at Arizona

Indianapolis at San Diego 

Sunday:

Baltimore at Miami

Philadelphia at Minnesota

Read More......