In my restless dreams I see that development team, Hijinx Studios. You promised me you'd make a faithful HD collection, but you never did. Well, I'm alone on my chair now, waiting for an update.

I hope you guys enjoyed my parody of Mary's letter to James, for what sums up the cluster fuk that is the 'Silent Hill HD collection'. As recent news has been given out, I'm sure you're aware those that have bought the PS3 version of the collection has recieved an update for several major issues that have been more-or-less resolved. However, those unfortunate 360 owners that were waiting for the update have been given the news by Konami themselves that the update isn't happening and it's pretty much curtains.

The reason I write this on my blog today is the sheer disrespect given to both fans of the series and the creators of the masterpieces. They gave out a few, forgettable, excuses for as to why the games are the way they are, but the fact remains, if they couldn't get the games to work in the first place they shouldn't have put it on the shelf.

Even Konami trying to resolve the matter by issuing out an exchange is beyond a farce for most gamers, as there was a set deadline for the exchange and you needed proof of reciept, which to be honest is very unlikely in most cases. It even gives the double finger to those that bought the game pre-owned as it's void.

To sum up, it has just been one be pile of money making dung, and proves that games companies these days give even little respect to the consumer that before the gaming-boom in the mainstream.

This year has been probably the worst year of my gaming life. Journalists can sit there churning out magazines at the end of the year saying how many amazing games have been out, but the fact remains there really has been a huge lack in anything coming out.

It's the year of the HD collections, and for a good 80% of the gaming community, we've all played these games when they were first released. The last big game, I would personally say, to came out this year was 'Max Payne 3', back in May, and since then I've played Game of Thrones: a low-budget title worth little of bragging about. I've actually been going backward and finding games from years ago on previous last-gen consoles.

Then look at what titles are coming out later this year, most are just carry on's from a franchise that first started back in the 90's.

My point is why is there such a lack of original games these days? Only a handful of developers--most credit going to Grasshopper Studios for constantly trying to push the bar and make different games--that make games with a new universe, characters, stories, etc. The Majority of companies seem to sit there trying to claw as much money out of a franchise as possible, and doing as little work as possible. I could write off a list of games we all grew up with that were once amazing games that are now idealess cash-cows *Resident Evil*.

It's a shame to see the industry in such a state. Is it just me thinking it? Or are things really as gravy as people try and make it out to be?

Anyway, enough of this **** blog, lets enjoy some Frank Zappa. :) haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s-wzTRwJMg

Hey guys, I'm going to try and make an effort to get more regular on here again. Lifes pretty busy, but I miss being on here. haha.

So I'm gonna do a blog of what I used to do, which is basically talk about what I've been watching, reading, etc, etc. A good place to start!

The Games!

I feel this year has been a pretty poor one thus far for games. A massive lack of good games has come out. I hope it picks up. But what I have been playing this month is Silent Hill: HD Collection and The Walking Dead Part 1.

The Walking Dead is a massive suprise for me. I heard of its release literally the same day it was getting release. Being a fan of the comics and an average follower of the show I felt I had to give this part a shot at the very least. To my pleasant suprise this game is great! £3.99 for each episode or save £5 buy buying --and pre-ordering-- the whole lot. It is about 2-21/2 hours of play, which is very reasonable if you ask me for the price. And the gameplay itself is very different to how one would think a zombie game of this type would play.

Playing alot like Heavy Rain or Fahrenheit, using the analogue to move around and waiting for buttons to pop up to prompt an action. It all works very well, and the action scenes can get pretty tense.

But by far the best thing about this is the story. Gripping, with every character and it's a joy to push on to find out what new things you'll learn from them. It goes more toward the comics rather than the show --a good thing in my eyes-- and the cel-shading is also a great touch.

Well worth a look if your a fan of Zombies or the series.

Rating 8/10

Silent Hill HD was something that got paned, and I refused to buy this due to the disrespect the noob developers had when revamping these masterpieces. But after being brought into the series once again with Downpour I fell prey to buying this.

It isn't quite as bad as everyone is saying, but it isn't great either. Taking out iconic moments with sound (the fog horn in the Historic Museum for example), a dire frame-rate, so bad it looks like they jacked into the Matrix and new voice-acting that aren't too great either, you'd have to question my sanity for why I think they are ok?

Well the graphics do look ok, and the trophies can bring a little bit of spice to the table. But I think from a nostalgic standpoint it was just a joy to go through these games again.

Overall I should have just stuck to my guns and not bought it. How can you f**k up a completed PS2 game?!

Rating 6/10

The Films!

The Avengers is my most recent watch. And all I'd heard since it's release is epic talk such as "best film ever"... I for one didn't expect a whole lot from this. It isn't a film that should have worked. Too many A-list actors normally means the film caves in on itself. So my expectations for this were low.

However, after looking at critic reviews all feeling how I felt, I thought I'd better give it a chance at least.

Best film ever? F-in' no chance. What it is is a very entertaining family film. Loki, Thor and Hulk were very good. They got the balance of hero time on screen just right, and the final battle is filmed very well. But I felt the film was too "nice". This is down to marvels child friendly nature and isn't a direct problem, just something that bugged me as a person. New York getting destroyed, buildings, planes crashing down on the ground, did one person get killed in this havok? No.... ok... And there is also alot of really hammy dialogue which I felt ruined the flow of the film

Overall I found this film enjoyable. I'd happily watch it again, but I feel the hype for this film is too large. It was solid and is a great marvel film.

Rating 7/10

The Music and Books!

I've started reading American Psycho, and it is a very well written, cleaver book. Mostly hilarious with the way he goes into detail on what the characters are all wearing, but it picks apart life in the 80's, and basically how disgusting we all are. I love it! haha

Rating 9/10

Silent hill: the Terror Engine is the second book I've read this month, due to my SH obsession I've had from Downpour I bought this independant book taking an indepth look at the SH franchise on how it works the mind with its music, camera direction, graphic style and lighting -just really picking the games apart.

It's a really enjoyable read.The problem I had with the book was there was alot of filler in there. Being nearly 200 pages he had to talk about something, so he puts in alot of quotations from other people. At the start of the book it's interesting, but toward the end it starts to wear thin, and you begin to click on he's just trying to fill the book. His own opinions are really great to read, it's just a shame it wasn't that throughout.

Rating 7.5/10

Black Light Burns is a band I've been meaning to listen to for a while. Founded by --then-- ex-guitarist Wes Borlan, this band sounds like if NIN and Limp Bizkit had a baby. I was really impressed by the debut album. Well worth a listen.

Rating 8/10

Dir En Grey: uroboros [remastered & expanded], might sound pretentious, but in actual fact very much needed if your a nut for high production. Uroboros is what I consider to be "their" album, like AC/DC Back in Black or Pink Floyds DSOTM. And the band relised this after the release of the latest album Dum Spiro. So they went back into the studio to re-record the album with the producer that did Dum Spiro. The album has a couple of extra bits added to songs, a heavy version of a previous song back in the day and everything sounds crystal clear. It's quite a rare cd already from its release in feb and isn't cheap (costing me £27!) but I'd say it's well worth a look at.

Rating 9/10

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Tender Prey is the latest album I've been listeining too. I've been a big fan of these guys, that always seem to give anything they write a very dark edge. This album in particular is one that got good reviews, so I had high expectations for this album and was very excited to find it for £10 in a record store that I go to that had the rare 500 press extra LP included.

Upon listeining i became very bored. Not alot happens and the vocal and lyrics are very repetitive throughout.

Rating 5/10

A long blog, but one i hope you've enjoyed. I'll be speaking to you guys in the near futute. ;) xxxx

Hello my friends. Been awhile since i've put up a blog, but as you all know free time is something I don't get alot of. haha But, right now, at the very moment I am drinking tea and musing over two things: the latest Silent Hill addition and just general gaming itself.

Ok, so lets bein with modern day gaming. For those that grew up with games, you can probably relate to how much games have changed. But for me one thing has changed the way we play games forever: achievements/trophies.

Now, when they were first released on the 360, I thought the idea was a work of genius, you were given points for meeting certain criteria on a game you were cureently playing. You were given a reward for all your hard work you put into that 100g task.

I, of course, fell pray to the craze and began trying my best to collect as many trophies as I possibly could. My life was consumed by all things achievement related -hell, I didn't even have my 360 online, so no one but me could see them anyway, but it didn't matter because it was good to know in myself I could get these achievements- and it got to the point where I actually went... "wait a minute, why is my entire life being consumed by this?"

These days I'm not affected by trophies or achievements, I do still put the game on the hardest difficulty and do all the pointless little tasks they have to offer, but I'm not as consumed by the idea as I once was.

The point I'm getting at here is, if you think back to the old days when trophies didn't exist, you weren't under that constant spell of trying to unlock these points for games, and you just enjoyed the game for what it was --stomp on 30 grunts while doing a backflip *30g*-- and were free to enoy everything the game had by your terms.

I know alot of people that buy really crap games, just because they know they have easy achievements and can boost their point score. This to me is someone who is dominated by the point system and is overlooking the joys of games themselves.

To summerize: the idea of trophies and achievements is a brilliant one, no doubt about it. But when it gets to the stage when your buying "Barbie: the game" to get an easy 1000g, I think it's time to relise the game is playing you.

Now onto Silent Hill: Downpour. This game has managed to single-handedly take over my life this past week. After barley managing to find a copy in my small town I put it on for 4 hours and wrote a review of what I thought of the game. Most of my opinions on that review remain, but after playing it for the second time I've found things in this game I feel need to be said further.

The game is developed by Vatra, another western games developer taking on the task of trying to fill Team Silents work were so many others have failed. But their shorcomings means Vatra have managed to pull out most of the punches.

I feel I need to talk about this game, because of just how close they came to creating a Silent Hill game worthy of following on the series since 4. The only 2 things I could find wrong with the game was the "combat" (always been a problem with the series anyway) and the overall quality with the game.

The game basically suffers from some pretty serious frame-rate and graphical inconsistancies, such as draw distance (Ironic due to the game being surrounded by fog.)

But lets avoid talking about the problems with the game --as my review points out the faults-- I'm here to talk about its brilliance.

The atmosphere in the town has been nailed. It's very, very close to the "Team Silent" atmosphere, and has a very SH2 esque feel to it. This was the main selling point for me. The start of the game you spend the first 1 1/2-2 hours just getting to Silent Hill, but once your left to explore the town and discover, not only the past of our protagonist, but the staggering amount of easter eggs and nods to the series. One easter egg in particular actually had me go "WOW" outloud. It's a joy to look round and you can spend hours doing it.

The story has gone for a much more traditional approach, as aposed to the all too clear story telling of previous western developed games. Sure, the story is clear as the latter, but there are elements of sheer madness which bring back the series to form. You'll go through certain parts of the game that take you to your past and it'll be some bad sh!t crazy area you have to get round -similar to the "nowhere" area of SH1. And there is a humour ending which is a cracker, too!

Research has clearly been done on this game. Past games have stumbled and fallen flat on its face for following the film, and to me a game that gets turned into a film, then the film is the basis for the new games just isn't right. Vatra have gone, right we have all this material to go off, so lets collaborate all the good bits from them and make a great game. As I said, some of the gameplay elements don't work so well, but for the most part they are great. The chase sequences used from Shattered Memories work well in this, the general mechanics from Homecoming work well, the atmosphere and feel of the game from SH2 work really well here, and you'll just about notice an element from every game in here which has been used. Great lengths of research show that they really did try to make a great game.

The side-missions are what steal the show for me though. 14 in total, and each one has you doing something to put a spirit at rest, uncover mystories, each one plays a very different part from the last and this for me is the fresh take the game needed.

Overall, I just want to give Vatra a well done, really. The series has been falling behind for nearly a decade now and this is the first sign of the series climbing from the ashes again. Hopefully Vatra make another SH game and make it a much more polished one, because this was so close to being a huge hit in my eyes. With abit of brushing up on the techincal issues and some better monster design this would have been a 9/10 all the way. But it's crept up as an 8/10 for me now. Can't get enough of it. :)

Hi guy's. I know I've been inactive for a good while now, but time is against me. haha I'm on here now, just for a quick blog, because I need your help.

Since we last talked I've disbanded with my old band -due to the drummer being a shamble of a musican- and have since made a new one and also joined this really good band, too -State of Reality.

Now I'm not going to harp on about this, because it's off topic, so i'm going to get straight to the chase; there is a music comp called, "Red Bull Bedroom Jam". The winner of this comp will get to record an album in London -as it's a UK comp- and will do a huge tour. This is a great oppotunity for the band. And we have been at the number one spot now for well over a week. But it seems there is tight comp with other bands.

The comp ends tomorrow, so I ask all my friends on here if you could give us a quick listen and a vote. :) all I ask. Cheers guy's! Much love.

http://www.redbullbedroomjam.com/band/state-of-reality/

Hey guy's, it's been a while since I've posted a blog, so I'm going to let a few things off my chest. lol

First up is my concern for the money hungry in the gaming industry today. Obviously it's always been about making a few quid, but as the gaming industry has rocketed into the mainstream as one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, more hungry suited snakes get involved.

When gaming was just a lil' speckle of a thing, you'd shell out the £50 for a game, and that was the end of it. Hell, you were lucky if you could get a t-shirt of your favourite game. Now as the big machine has gotten bigger, more and more money seems to be extorted out of the people playing these games.

Today's formula of gaming seems to be, pay £40 for a game -£45 in some cases, for the greedy company's that know it'll sell for that regardless- play the game, then shell out £7 or however much it is for the DLC. And it might not even be just one DLC, you could end up having DLC's for the game, costing you £61. Not only that -and this is the main reason I'm on about this- but you get the not so 'Special Edition' of a game.

And this is my problem: where is the line drawn for marketing of this sort? When a special edition of a game was released, it would be £5 at most, and included a bonus disc, or just something nice to accompany the game. These day's they offer poorly build resin statues and a host of other crap that you wouldn't want.

Max Payne 3 has now been given the pre-order treatment, and are advertising the 'Special Edition' of the game. "Ahh, I'll check how much", I thought, clicking the link to GAME, then shrieking in horror at the £99.99 price tag hanging off it. A ton! Some poor sap will shell out a ton for a game and a pile of cheaply made crap to accompany it. Sure, if Joe Blog wants to buy it, that's his prerogative. But what I'm getting at, is the damage it's doing to the games themselves.

Alot of games these day's, if you don't buy the SE of the game, you end up missing out on alot of content -by all rights- you should have had with the standard edition, that you paid £40 for. And it's getting worse. Just the last 4 years, I count it be approx really kicking off, money making schemes on games has gone right up to 6th gear. Starting off with just two versions: standard and steel tin ver. Move to 2010 and you have games that have up to 4 editions! That can be up to the whopping sum of £150-£200. Each edition giving you more and more crap, but also giving you stuff for the actual game -which I think is wrong.

The point I'm making is that it's fine to have these extra edition's, but it's another thing to have stuff that should be with the regular edition excluded from it. You pay for the game, you should expect to have the whole thing. As it used to be 15 year ago. Obviously, games are becoming increasingly expensive to make and it's fair game for them to bring out little extras to help bring in a profit from all they've put in. But when it's effecting the game itself, you have to wonder where the line is drawn?

On a less cynical and ranting topic, I'm going to list 5 games I think deserve a look in for GOTY.

5.) Deus Ex: Supurb action/RPG, with some of the best atmosphere I've seen in a game to date.

http://uk.gamespot.com/deus-ex-human-revolution/user-reviews/773658/platform/ps3

4.) L.A Noire: Another supurb effort from Rockstar, that take a different route on sandbox games. Some amazing facial recognition technology make for scary realistic graphics.

http://uk.gamespot.com/l-a-noire/user-reviews/765663/platform/ps3

3.) Dark Souls: IMO this is GOTY. Dark, bold, hard and very fun to play. Not for everyone but a very addictive experience.

http://uk.gamespot.com/dark-souls/user-reviews/778281/platform/ps3

2.) Shadows of the Damned: When three of gaming's most ambitious and original game creators, only epic things can happen; and they have, in the form of this brilliantly funny, action/horror game.

http://uk.gamespot.com/shadows-of-the-damned/user-reviews/768634/platform/ps3

1.) Yakuza 4: Moving on in the Yakuza timeline after the brilliant third installment. Giving you the chance to play as 4 very different playable characters.

http://uk.gamespot.com/yakuza-4/user-reviews/759388/platform/ps3

On that note, I hope you all have a cracking Christmas. Love you all (especially you! ;) ). :) xxxxx

Hello friends. This is another few and far between blog from me -- still due to the lack of internet access, but might end up getting the net soon, since I have a new job. :)

So, we are just days away from my most antisipated game of the year: Dark Souls. Critic reviews are pouring out and they have been getting an average score of 9/10, which is great news. :D

On that note, I've decided to write a blog on its big brother, giving you 5 reasons why it's all that it's cracked up to be. In celebration of the release of Dark Souls.

I hope you enjoy. :)

5.) The Online Feature:

Modern day games all have multiplayer these days -- even when it's a singleplayer based game and doesn't need one -- and most of the time they are just a crap mode that is tacked onto the game just to keep in with the "fad".

This game is unique, and its online feature is no expection. As you explore the world you will come across writing written on the floor; these messages are left by other players playing the game -giving you advice, tips, guilding or helping you find items or defeating the bosses. You can also activate bloodstains that are on the floor, which show you another player getting their grizzly demise. Due to the games difficult nature, these brilliantly unique ideas add a thick layer of depth to the already great game.

You'll also find that players can enter your game to aid you on your quest, defeating bosses and generally getting you threw the stage in one peice; you can also do the same in their game, too. The game also allows dreaded phantoms -- which are other players -- to enter your game, in an attempt to kill you and plunder your rotten corpse.

4.) The Difficulty:

Since I've grown up, I've had the fortune of seeing the evolutiuon of games. And they've gone along way since the Famicom days. Graphics, gameplay, musical scores -all have jump forward in a colossal way. I'll be honest and say that these days I'm getting a little tired of the lack of originality in games. It's all, modern day war shooters and shallow, pretty looking, RPG's, that hold your hand right to the credits. There is nothing wrong with this, but it doesn't present a challenge for those that grew-up sweating playing games over the odds being massively stacked against you. This game goes for the old style of games.

This game is HARD. Anyone saying otherwise is lying to you, in an attempt to impress. It has the difficulty of an old-skool RPG, while still retaining a contemporary feel on its gameplay. It's hard, but fair. In saying so, if you play threw the game cautiously threw-out, you could well find it to be easy, due to your wary nature. That's what makes the game so good.

Either way you look at it, the game has become very sucessful and obviously shows that people, such as me, have been screaming out for a challenge. And the achievement from completing the game can't be said with words. You have to experience it for yourself.

3.) The Freedom:

This isn't realy a game for storytelling, the story is margine thin. But the options on what you can do in the game is limitless. Obviously, you have your mandatory task of killing all demon's, but anything after that is up to you. You can go where you want and do/kill what you want. Doing certain things reveals new characters; meaning no two games are ever the same. It adds masses of replay value.

2.) Souls:

Such a great implement. This is the basis of the game. Souls are the currency that will build you into a bad-ass. Anything you kill -- big or small -- you will recieve souls. These souls upgrade your characters abilities, unlock new magic and let you craft powerful weapons. There is one catch: you can't store these souls, worse still, if you die you will lose them for a moment. You'll respawn and get one chance to go back to the last place you died, to retrieve them. Die again and you will lose them forever and end up with a bloodstain holding the last amount of souls you had before you died again. It's a heart-breaking feature and one that will have you screaming and crying over it. It's a genius idea and one that will have you clutching your sword and shield in a futile attempt to keep hold of them, before you can cash them in for upgrades

1.) The Bosses:

This game is all about the bosses. It has the same wow factor that Shadow of Colossus had. Every boss is different and will require you to die several times, just to discover the movements of the beast. Then after you find a strategy, attempt to slay it. They are hard, but once you beat it, you'll be showered in happiness over your accomplishment.

So, there is my 5 reasons why I love Demon's Souls so much. I've had sleepless nights this week, itching to get my hands on the new game. It's going to be epic. And I hope to see your bloodstain on new quest. :) xxx

Hey guys, it has been far too long since my last blog, and I have managed to scramble enough time into my day to write this blog. :)

To start with, I am now 5 weeks into my new digs and I'm loving it. Me and my girlfriend are in perfect harmony. No arguments and we have our own space --which is what I always need. :P I have, what my sister calls, a "man cave", which is my haven for all my old-skool consoles, guitars, etc. A place to escape this world. haha First weekend I had an insane party, so i hope I didn't disturb the neigbours to much!

Unfortunately, I still haven't got my internet access, but I now have a part-time job as a delivery driver, so might be able to get it in a couple of weeks. :) Suprisingly, I haven't actually missed the internet a whole lot. So, that is probably another reason i haven't rushed out to get the net.

I've recently reviewed Deus Ex, which was a brilliant --if a little disappointing-- game that had serious production value as its allie. I also bought Metro 2033, the first few levels blew me away, but the moment your left on your own to do "stealth" levels it all goes horribly pare shaped. It's still a very good game, but it has serious flaws. The sequel should correct these faults, and if doing so, should be one of the best shooters this year. :)

I'm also watching, from the makers of Rome, "The Borgias", which is a bloody good series thus far. I'm really enjoying it. :)

Anyway, only a breif blog, but one to keep in contact with my friends. :) xxx

Hi guy's! Today will be my last blog, and activity on this site and the internet, as I'm moving out on Monday! We can't afford internet access at the minute, so online play in any form won't be happening. :( So I'll have to bid all you guy's farewell. It's not completely the end, I'll come on every now and then -whenever I come to my parents house- but it won't be all the time.

So, after my comic hero series, I'm going to round off my last blog with my end of month reviews on what's been happening on the entertainment world of 'Killip'. :)

Gaming side of the spectrum I've been playing Demon's Souls. I've just completed it for the third time, and moving on to the fourth. I've honestly never played a game this refreshing since a last gen game. Everytime I start the game again it's like playing it for the first time again: exciting, exhilarating and just as challenging as the previous play-threw. I've also been playing the original Condemned again; was never massive on it the first time I played it. I've bought it three times in total and traded it in. Now this time it has sunk and it's a keeper. I love it loads now. :) Abit glitchy and graphically ugly by today's standard, but the ominus feel is still unpresidented.

Games played this month:

• Demon's Souls
• Condemned
• Alpha protocal (pretty awful to be honest.)
• Siren Blood Curse (abit dated to what i remeber when it first came out)

Films this month has been fairly quiet on the front. I've watched alot of films, but nothing that has really blown me away. Captain America was an enjoyable watch, but was let down by the occasional patriotic American montarge sh!te (pardon the offence if caused).

Films watched this month:

• Source Code: 6.5/10 (good, but let down by an awful ending)
• Captain America: 8/10 (good, but as I said, let down by certain cheesy moments.)
• The Eagle: 8.5/10 (a very entertaining film. If your a fan of that sort of thing, get it watched.)
• Harry Potter: 7/10 (could have been amazing, had it been all one film, but, alas, was let down by feeling far too disjointed.)

Music, again, been abit quiet. The new release of Dir En Grey's new album, 'Dum Spiro Spero' is out on Tuesday, so I'm very excited for that. I've been buying even more Pink Floyd albums this month, too. I bought 'Wish You Were Here' and the hideously underrated album 'Animals' on vinyl for a fiver each. Animals is probably my favourite Floyd album to date I think; dark and evil, with some really nice instrumental work. Great album. I've also been listening to 70's rock group, 'CAN', which are really different from most bands I've heard from the era (my favourite music era :) ). my mate lent me the best of albums to warm up to it, but, man, it was instant love.

Music I've been listening to this month:

• Dir En Grey's latest single, Different Sense: 8.5/10 (there is a guitar solo! They haven't done a guitar solo for years, and it's really good. One of their heaviest songs to date, though. And took me a good few listens to get into it, but it was worth the time for it to grow on me.)
• CAN compilation albums, Cannibalism Vol 1 and 2: 8/10 (very solid stuff.)
• Pink Floyd Animals: 9/10 and 'Wish You Were Here': 8/10.(both great albums)

There we go lady's and gentlemen. That is my low down for this month. A quiet one, especially for games (nothing till end of August! -Deux Ex.).

All those curious to hear what i've been listening to, I've posted the links to some of the tracks at the bottom of this blog. I'll try my best to keep on to of your blogs, but like I say, I'm having a lack of internet access, making it difficult to keep on top of things. :P

All keep in good health my friends! Thanks for reading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpuYs1DE97k

(Dir En Grey's new single)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vLewIZEsOw&playnext=1&list=PLB7067A20DD979618

(CAN song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XjY2m0bAaU

(Pink Floyd track from Animals)

Hello friends! Final part of my favourite comic heroes.

1.) The Punisher.

Been a massive fan of this guy since 2004's film attempt at the character. I loved the film and it brought me into the comics. Ironically, after falling in love with everything Garth Ennis has ever written by him, I've come to be put off the film; an ok in its own right, but not a good adaptation of Frank.

The story of Frank Castle -original name Francis Castiglione- is a tragic one -think the death of Batman's parents, but more graphic: On a fateful day, after Frank gets back from the Vietnam war, he and his family go on a picnic and whilst enjoying themselves get put in the middle of a mob gunfight. His family are brutally gunned down and killed, while Frank is left shot, but survives.

He then spends the rest of his life devoting himself to cleaning up the sinners on the street in a violent way. Killing any mob member, crack dealer, murderer, what ever the preference, The punisher will find and kill him.

He's my favourite comic character for two simple reasons, 1: he isn't a super hero; he bleeds, needs sleep and everything else a normal human needs and 2: his storylines don't follow the same footpath of your generic superhero of: bad guy strikes, capture villian alive, put in prison, escape, repeat. When you read a Punisher story he will introduce his target and by the end he's a gonner. :)

A little infomation:

• Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru
• The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974)

Abilities:

• Tactical expert
• Highly trained in armed and unarmed combat
• Demolitions expert
• Peak human physical condition
• Exceptionally high pain tolerance

There we go. :) Hope it somewhat interested you. haha Cheers for reading guy's. xxx

Hey guy's. Yay to the right-hand side bar coming back up. :D

Anyway, on to the second part of my comic character blog.

3.) Next up is the saviour of DC comics (just my opinion): Batman.

Everyone knows the tale of Batman, so there won't be much point in mentioning that, but he is a greatly dark hero; one with alot of skeletons in his closet and a big chip on his shoulder. What sets him apart from other heroes in the DC Universe, is he isn't your clean shaven bright eyed super hero; he's a dark man, with a dark story -not just Batman, but everything that surrounds him: Nightwing is an immense character, Joker, Two-face, the list goes on. My favourite Batman tale is probably Batman: Hush. Love that comic, :D Obviously, he wasn't so dark back in the day, so when I refer to him as one of my favourites, I mean 2000's onward. :P

A little infomation:

• First appeared in Detective Comics #27

• created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger

Abilities:

• High human strength, agility, athleticism and peak conditions

• Skilled hand-to-hand combatant/Master Martial Arts

• Use of high tech equipment, weapons & gadgets

• Stealth/sneaking/infiltration

• Genius-level intellect

• Proficient with technology

• Excellent observational skills

• Regarded as the world's greatest detective/crime solver

• Master strategist

2.) The Barracuda:Another amazing creation from the mastermind that is, Garth Ennis. Originally starring as a bad guy in the Punisher Max series, but later became that popular that Garth decided he'd create a mini series on him. If anyone has ever read a Punisher comic by Garth Ennis, you'll have stumbled across 'The Russian': big meaty guy, who does feel aot of pain, but inflicks lots of it; well, with the Barracuda, think that, only 10X more funny and 10X harder.What sets him apart from most bad guys, is he doesn't have a hidden agender, he's just a hitman, looking to make a quick buck, and doesn't care what the job is.

A little infomation:

• Created by the artist and writer Goran Parlov and Garth Ennis

• First appeared in The Punisher vol. 6,

Abilities:

• Ex-special forces

• Highly trained in armed and unarmed combat

• Exceptional strength and endurance

There we are. Last part coming tomorrow, probably. :P