Mind Grapes!

Not Quite So Wonderful.

C’mon DC. Is this REALLY the best design the uber-talented Jim Lee could come up with for Wonder Woman’s new look? Sigh. For those not in the know, Wonder Woman #600 hits comic stores today headed by a new creative team, and thus the obligatory changing  of the guards must take place, which ALWAYS includes a costume re-design. The intent with Wonder Woman’s latest look was to bring her firmly into the modern era, which is an immediate fail for me, when you give her a terrible looking jacket reminiscent of some of the worst 90’s costume designs the comic world has ever seen. (The 90’s were a creative wasteland when it came to superhero costumes) Ugh. I cringe just thinking about it. The jacket isn’t the only offender. Any re-design that includes a choker immediately disqualifies itself from joining us here in 2010. I mean, Christ, a CHOKER?? Are you SERIOUS??

Phew. Not to be a total Grumpy Gus, there are actually a few things that have potential on WW’s new suit. I’m really digging the feel of the red “corset” (if you will) section. The larger, more colorful set of Bracers makes sense as well (since it’s a main part of her defense when it comes to projectile weapons). I’m not a fan of the colorless section of the lower half of her costume either. It needs a dash of color, maybe some sort of simple piping to lead the eye downwards. If I was tackling a re-design for WW, I’d break it down to the most basic elements of the character and go from there. I’d design the costume around three things that people know instinctively when thinking of the character:

- The Bracers
- The Lasso
- The Colors (and maybe the Eagle.)

I’d stay away from using stars, because Wonder Woman shouldn’t be aligned patriotically with the United States, like say, Captain America is. Wonder Woman is an Amazon Warrior, and that should always be present in her design in some way, shape or form no matter what era she’s being re-imagined for. I think this is another case of men designing outfits for women, that feel cheap and tacky, instead of noble and beautiful. I’d be very curious to see how a fashion designer would tackle the Wonder Woman costume. Would he/she design something better? Infinitely worse perhaps? Or would they feel the costume is too iconic to drastically tamper with, like Superman. Or Batman. Wonder Woman is considered to be DC Comic’s “Top Three”, yet her book suffers from poor sales constantly, no matter what direction they attempt to steer her in. She seems to deflect permanent, relevant change like a stray bullet off of her steel bracers. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see if #600 breathes new life into the Amazon Princess.

I thought it would be fun to include some more Wonder Woman costumes from the past, both good and bad. Feast and or shield your eyes below!

 

A great line-up of most of her costumes since her debut in 1941.

Project: Rooftop held a re-design contest a while back, and these were the results. I’ve posted two of my favorite here on Mind Grapes. Click here to see the rest!

By Daniel Krall.

By Ming Doyle. Fantastic. I would have just extended her "skirt" a bit more, but I respect his take immensely. 

And with the good comes the bad. Mike Deodato Jr. still holds the “worst offender” award when it came to a re-imagined look for Wonder Woman. There really are NO words. SHAMEFUL and ABOMINATION might be two to bandy about though.

Enjoy!

-Mooch-  

 

CROM!

Being a BIG fan of this film, I had to post this. It’s not particularly funny per se, but the lyrics are very, very clever (if you know the flick as well as I do). The song is pretty catchy too.

Enjoy!

-Mooch-

Studio Ghibli + PS3 = Pixelated GOLD.

Oh man. Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli. PS3. Yeah, let that sink in before you watch the vid. The score alone warrants a purchase! I’m not sure as to how the game plays, but if you hang to the end of the video, you’ll see it almost looks a bit like DragonQuest 9 when it comes to the battle system (or traditional JRPG fare). The main character seems to be directing his party members during the battle too. Fun!

And how gorgeous do those environments look?? SUPER excited for this one!

Enjoy!
-M-  

Consult the Bones.

 

Stunning skeletal art by Francois Robert, who compiled human bones into images of Western religious symbols and weapons of war. It’s a powerful piece of work, both elegant and horrifying.

  

The series is called “Stop the Violence”. You can see more here via Coolist.com

-M-

The virtual world of Scott Pilgrim.

Scott Pilgrim seems to be everywhere these days! If you're not familiar with Scott and his world, check it here! Created by Bryan Lee O'Malley, the award winning story of Scott Pilgrim is a simple one (relatively). Boy meets the Girl Of His Dreams, Girl Of His Dreams meets Boy, Boy must defeat Girl Of His Dream's Seven Evil Ex's to be able to go out with her. Fight!! I'm on volume two now, and I have to say, they're fun little books filled with snappy dialogue, cool characters and plenty of awesome video game nods. Hell, Scott's band is called "Sex Bomb-omb"! And enemies he defeats turn into coins! Mario would be proud:)

Scott Pilgrim vs The World is directed by the incredible Edgar Wright, who gave us the zom-com "Shaun of the Dead" and the buddy cop comedy "Hot Fuzz". He also co-created and directed the unbeatable "Spaced" series ( a MUST watch). His kinetic, imaginative style of direction is the perfect match for the video game world of "Scott Pilgrim". Check out the international trailer, which I think captures the spirit of the graphic novels better than the domestic trailer. Love the little nods to Street Fighter in the trailer:

And if all that goodness wasn't enough, there's a Scott Pilgrim video game hitting as well! The art style is straight out of the graphic novels, and rendered in loving pixels. The game play is reminiscent of old school beat 'em up's like "Double Dragon" and "Final Fight". I love the little mini-games in there too (like the guitar hero battle). Plus, four player co-op! "Castle Crashers" style! Yes!

Oh, and the hammer Ramona Flowers is wielding does +2 damage against female opponents! D&D nerds will be proud:)

Cheers!

-M-

Silent Scream.

And lo, when the dust settled from the last bomb dropped, they dragged themselves from the wreckage. With silent sobs they held the shards of everything they once held dear, now reduced to a distant memory of days that will never come again. With every labored footfall they trudge the dying Earth, yearning for the sun to break through black clouds and dance on skin.

They yearn for flowers to bloom and insects to buzz. For water to flow.

Instead they roam, blind and stinking husks, their moans a symphony conducted for an Eden laid waste. And when the silence becomes too heavy to bear, they scream.

And scream.

And scream.

Take the Journey. Updated!

Out of everything I've seen in regards to games this week, ThatGameCompany's newest project in development, "Journey", has me more excited than anything. It sounds absolutely magical, especially when you take into account how incredible their previous games have been. Can't wait for this!

Read about the game here on the developer's website.

And here via Kotaku.

Cheers!

-M-

**After reading everything I could find about "Journey" the social aspects of the game have left me really intrigued. It reminds me very much of "Demon's Souls" in that regard. Demon's Souls had one of the most unique social interaction set-up's I've ever experienced in a game before. It was thrilling to walk over a soul sign and call a random player to help you defeat a boss, and the silent nature of your companion added a layer of cool that I just can't sum up in words if you haven't experienced it for yourself. Maybe it was the stripped down nature of this specific "multi-player" function? The person summoned KNOWS why they're there, and you can get down to business, no static-y, expletive filled dialogue required. The other side of the coin was the very real sense of dread I felt when my game was invaded by a player. You never knew where they might catch up to you, and more often than not, they went through the game 3 or 4 times already, and could decimate you with one strike. It was truly terrifying. 

"Journey" doesn't seem to be set up in the latter, but I'm sure that same magic that's felt in Demon Soul's helpful summoning, will be present here. Again, really looking forward to playing this when it hits.**

It’s-a me! Mari-ahhh, fergit it.

In-between the haze of gunsmoke and clanging of spent shells of Red Dead’s wild, wild west, Sanja and I have been enjoying copious amounts of co-op play in the new Super Mario Bros. on Wii. It’s beyond fun, even though it can lead to some frustrating moments (thank you “bubble” system! You’re quite ingenious!) 

As a result, I’ve had “Penguin-suit” Mario on the brain lately, so I created this little drawing during some free time. I went old school on this one, broke out the Prismacolor markers and everything! Plus, It’s an actual, physical drawing! I’d almost forgotten how much fun it was to create something tangible, and the thrill and fear of finalizing a drawing when you apply permanent marker and pencil. With digital work, you can fix an error quickly, and I’ve gotten used to the ease of working in such a fashion. It may not seem like there’s much to Mario here, but I tested lots of color combos on scrap paper before moving to the final.

Thus, I give you “Penguin-suit Mario”, unwinding after a hard day of sliding/stomping on Goomba’s. And yes, he only drinks 1-up brewski’s while chompin’ on cigars. I’m a bit bummed though. The actual drawing has a nice bit of blue rendering around the entire pose that just doesn’t want to show up no matter what resolution I scan the drawing in. You can sort of see a hint of it around him though. 

Oh well. Enjoy regardless!

Cheers,
-M-

** Y’know, after looking at this guy, I was thinking “Mooch, why not start up an Etsy store and sell little drawings like this?” Thanks me! Worth a try I ‘spose! I’ll post the info when I have the time to get it up and running! **

 

A Plethora of POV's!

A simple exercise in distraction. I was reading the latest issue of “Antenna” and they had a feature called "Person, First", where an individual chronicled their day via a slew of first person shots. I thought it was a fun idea, and worth a try, so, I decided to do the same for me ol’ blog here. Something other than game clips, art or oddities. 

All of the following shots were taken with my iphone 3GS over two days. The shots were assembled in no particular order. I've also provided a bit of commentary for each one below:)

1. The fur baby. We had the AC running and it was colder than Alaska in the bedroom. He was at the foot of the bed when I went out to brush my teeth. When I came back in, this is how I found him.
2) I’m a nerd. I read comics. Sunday mornings are spent, in that armchair, with a stack of books and a cup of hot, black coffee.
3) This is what being a dog owner is all about, I swear.
4) Visiting my Gram in the hospital. She’s doing good:)
5) Sanja gave us BIC Tattoos while we had a pint at our local pub. Awww.
6) Red Dead’s dueling tutorial. Rockstar, I ask you, how am I supposed to READ A TUTORIAL and DUEL AT THE SAME TIME?? For shame! I had to snap this pic to keep it straight.
7) “All I wanna do is BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!”
8) Shhhh. He’s on squirrel watch.
9) Laying on the floor in our office. Lots of books, and a few geektacular items.
10) Still on the floor. Look who came in to cuddle:)
11) “To him, life is a great big bang-up, wherever there’s a hang-up, you’ll find the Spider-man!!” And yeah, still on Squirrel watch.
12) My Brother, the great TimX, being harassed by the equally great Ben Caldwell. Google both, you’ll see what I mean;)
13) Cintiq reflections.
14) Best Sunday breakfast? Eggs over medium, with a bit of corn beef hash.
15) Sanja Simmin’ it up. We’re a gaming couple:)
16) Did I mention I like black coffee?
17) Sanja’s Bloody Mary. Looks like the forests of Pandora for Christ sake.
18) Mmm. Duvel. This is a rare treat. It’s the beer that eats like a meal.
19) Hey! Irish! Get up you lazy cuss!
20) Sanja’s lipstick print left on her water glass.
21) Love of my life:)
22) Is that a puppy I see down there? We like to take him to the café with us. We get out, he scores free treats. It’s win win.
23) It was POURING. Too bad rain doesn’t show on an iphone shot.
24) It’s like a crime scene, right? A DELICIOUS crime scene.
25) Some weird thing going up in Times Square. It’s still there. Looks like a large stage right now.
26) Early morning at work, coffee at the ready. 
27) Riding the metal staircase. More commonly known as an “Escalator”. Heard of it?
28) Little Dragon! I’m gonna run this album into the ground! Favorite new track is "A New".
29) Elevator blues.
30) Is there anything better than hummus and warm pita?

Well, that's that. Hope you found it frivolously entertaining. I may make this a regular thing, possibly once a month, if work/projects allow. In fact, I would have loved to have shot some POV's of the various projects I've got on my plate, but alas, to post them is to lose them.

Cheers!
-M-

**If anyone is interested, the dude featured in the "Person, First" article was Zev Norotsky. Page 129 of the Summer 2010 issue.**

This was a triumph!

Video Games | Portal 2 | E3 2010: You Monster Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Is it wrong of me to say I want to marry GlaDos?

"You Monster". SO. GOOD.

Cheers!

-M-

*vid linked via gametrailers.com*

Update! In-game footage with commentary via ign.com. The focused lazers have me giddy, and hearing the creepily sweet sing-songy voices of the turrets had me grinning from ear to ear!

More Portal 2 News & Previews