#COOLAPE Thursday - The Legend of Grimrock

Hey guys and gals, here's more CoolApe for the week!~

Here's another video by Devar featuring art-contribution by yours truly (...me, that is!)



Link for the video on CoolApe:
http://www.coolape.org/video-devar-grimrock.html (give us some pageviews!!) 

In this special video game review, Devar is joined by a puzzling character to review The Legend of Grimrock, is this a legendary revival or is the outlook grim.

VGR Duke Nukem Forever

If someone took forever to make a cookie - the perfect cookie - no matter the ingredients or the intentions behind, it would taste disgusting. The eggs would turn out rotten, the sugar out-of-date, the chocolate spoilt. Made from expired products chances are it wouldn't be as good as it could if it was simply done on the moment.

Duke Nukem Forever is the longest rumored vaporware to have actually been released. It has been on development for the past 15 years, sometimes in and out of development hell.

But like a strange messiah, it finally arrived in store about a year ago. Now, I'm finally ready to review it.

Don't miss out my previous Duke Nukem-related reviews!

Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem 2
Duke Nukem 3D
Duke it out in D.C.
Duke Caribbean
Duke Nuclear Winter

 
VGR: Duke Nukem Forever

From 3D Realms/Triptych Games/Piranha Games/Gearbox Software

Played on Xbox 360

Also available on PC, PS3 & Mac

Type FPS

Year 1996-2011

This is it!
It took various convulsed turns during production, but it finally became real!


It took about 15 of making of this game, various game engine changes, various co-developers and several publishers to finally make it true.

Duke Nukem Forever took, well, forever to materialize.
Like a bad joke turned truth, 3D Realms were simply too small a studio to handle this dantesque project. After all they came from the "indie scene" of PC sharewares of the early 90s.
And with expectations growing up year after year since the huge success of the original Duke Nukem 3D...
3D Realms wanted to have the best looking game ever. But year after year another more impressive new franchise kept rising. First Half-Life, then Halo, etc.
They even presented various builds of the game over the year, one pretty impressive in 1999 and another one at an E3 convention in 2001. 


Finally around 2010, struggling with financial problems, they were forced to shut down, sell out the Duke and close store. The IP was left with 2K Games, and the impossible task to finish this project and the copyrights to the character with Gearbox.

Without further ado, let's not delve into all that here, and check out the game itself right away...

What? Did you think I was gone forever? (

So, the Duke is back!
Thing start on the possible not with what is probably without a doubt one of my favorite beginning of a game in a long while.

The Duke is seen facing down the Cycloid Emperor, the final boss of the "original" DN3D...only to be revealed to be actually him playing this reimagined ending in a video game (in the game itself) of his past successes.
The Duke is actually at home, with these Holsen Twins girls (yeah...). Where it seems he's been hanging out this past decade.

From here on, it only goes downhill.

Duke Nukem is now a huge interplanetary star, everybody loves him. Men want to be him (and do him!) and women want to do him (and vice-versa I guess?).
Our super-macho over-the-top parody of an action hero is, well, still a parody. And a bit more so than ever.
Duke cracks jokes and one-liners like a gatling gun on fire.

But all is not great and sunny on this side of Las Vegas...

I'm from Las Vegas, and I say: kill 'em all!

Simply put, the aliens are back! Again!
What is it this time, like the gazillionth time? Where do all these guys keep coming from?!

Guys get turned into pigs. Girls are captured to bred more aliens. (yuck and - remember, this is a satire/parody, started in '96!)
Most of the original enemies are back, albeit grittier. Bosses are all back too despite being dead in the past game(s) for some reason.

It still is a fun simple FPS.
And all things should be right and work out like a charm like in the past, right?

Bonjour, le hot stuff.

Only it isn't like before.

The game simply looks dated.
There. I said it! It passed down so many different game engines over the years... The game wasn't nearly finished under his current incarnation when Gearbox picked up the pieces. They just tried their best to keep the current build playable, copy/paste all levels one after the other with a vague storyline binding it all together.

And when I say dated, I don't mean like the original Duke 3D looks "retro" and 16-bits-ysh.
But like it's a dated-current generation game. It's a completely different sort of first person shooter now actually.
Duke can now only carry two weapons at the same time (thank you Halo!). While others tried to stay true to their identity (like Half-Life 2 still used the multi-weapon system that allows Gordon Freeman to play identically as before only in a modern game), Duke here was "adapted" for a modern audience.
Duke can't "boot kick" enemies while holding a weapon, but use his gun for a melee attack. (pressing rapidly the action button to open up a door while sometimes use the kick animation though)
Duke can't run anymore, he only briefly speeds up for a second or two.
Duke reminds me of Danny Glover being too old for this shit.
Duke doesn't carry health packs anymore but regenerate his health like a Spartan now. Which makes the whole game way easier, like it wasn't built for it initially. (a problem? almost dying? crouch down a second or two, get your whole life back, and voilà!)

I'm lookin' for some alien toilet to park my bricks... Who's first?

And the game's not just easier, even on the harder difficulty. (which, by the by, just gives more health to enemies)
It's also completely linear. Simple.

The original Duke 3D, like Doom 1 or 2, offered large, multi-layered explorable levels. Even by today's standards, it took quite some time and know-how to complete them. Plus they had secrets laying all around to search for meaning replay-value.

DNF offers sometimes large open areas where you have to defeat wave after wave of enemies.
And the rest of the time, long corridors to walk down for hours and hours.
Or driving segments.

Weapon wise, all classic weapons are back. They were a bit upgraded visually, but they mostly react similar to their past versions.

And then there's the infamous "stand your ground" parts. Where Duke will be forced to hold a gatling gun and defeat hordes of monsters. It's not fun, it's just long and annoying. Dying while get you back a few steps, always.

Where you'll encounter this game's worst problem, the loading screens.
Understand me, I have a long love for the series and am usually able to stand the worst gaming as to offer. but here the loading times were so frequent and long, and annoying. And did I say frequent? The levels are basically very small mini-areas of the larger current "world" the story is taking place in. And you'll encounter loadings all the time each time you move onward a new segment. (street-> building area->first floor->floor->floor->floor->floor->out of building->street->driving segment <- all these separated by various loading screens, not counting you dying like an idiot here and there, adding more loading screens...)
No doubt the game reloading the entire levels/textures/engine each time, coming from the unnatural disjointed development behind Forever.

Another day, another disembowelment

Speaking of the driving parts, I cannot stress you enough how useless they were.
Like ID Software's Rage, they seem to compose most of the game for some reason.
But here they really detract from the core of this game. They're also long. Most of the time not really entertaining. It feels a bit tackled on. And I do remember from earlier versions of the game it seem they were "added" the more recently.

It really feels like they originally simply wanted to make the game bigger, in scope and epic proportions.
But perhaps it was too much to handle? 3D Realms just wanted to make the best sequel ever, making a bold new original title for the FPS genre, with such standards established by the classic Duke 3D.
But there's a thing to understand here, 3D Realms never was a big studio to begin with. They've never been as big as, say, Ubisoft Montreal who can pump out an Assassin's Creed-like game per year. And they aren't as big financially or professional as EA and other similar big name companies.

Also, they never actually had the pressure of an actual release date, being self-published. (though they were financed by external publishers for the would be-release) Unlike their brother company ID Software.
They produced their own engines and rebuild the games several times over.

But Duke Nukem Forever should have taken the time and resources ID took from Doom 2 to Doom 3. Nothing more, nothing less.

Damn it, why do they always take the hot ones?

I write a lot for a simple review, you might say I'm passionate about the subject.

The game at its core seems to be a less fun remake of Duke Nukem 3D than the actual so awaited sequel. 
The game isn't really "bad" per say. It looks dull, boring too. It isn't really that ugly.


It certainly pertains to another genre of FPS than Duke 3D. While Duke Nukem 3D was more about humor, puzzles, big open areas and exploration (Portal anyone?), Duke Nukem Forever is a more straightforward arcade experience with crass humor.
dall game looks boring not ugly

The multiplayer is basic. Very basic.
Quake 3 Arena basic, but good to my tastes. I actually found myself playing it quite a lot over this past year.


The best aspect is probably the sound area. Sounds are great, dynamic. From weapons to enemies grunt. The voice acting can be a bit stereotypical, but for a reason.
And Jon St. John returns, at his best! (though his lines could have been better...)

Gearbox retain the rights to character.
The game actually made quite a lot of money, despite bad press, reviews and hate from the community.
From the long development hell and name only I'm sure.

Overall, the babes are back, but Duke isn't at his top form. 
"Oops, outta ammo."


The game is fun, sorta, kinda. 
For such a bad example how to badly manage a video game production, it actually is playable which is already surprising.
3D Realms ended up releasing various different unrelated games over the years based on earlier prototypes during production. Such as Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project or Max Payne with Remedy.

Forever actually looks a lot like PREY another title spawned from this one.

Visually it shares many of its aesthetic, visuals and gameplay. Though Forever seems to be a parody of PREY, it is PREY that ends up looking like the better of the two.

Now that it actually exists... Duke Nukem Forever kinda lost a lot of its "magic"...
But oyu know what? I'm actually glad it does. It wouldn't have been the same to lose it and Forever never seeing the light of the day.
People might dislike and hate it, but you know it will probably never lose its legendary development status.

It took about ~15 years in the making, but I won't be surprised it another sequel is released in 2-3 years down the line...

Duke Nukem Forever is pretty fun.
Though it has some very bad segments, leftovers that needed to be smooth down a bit.

It is a very strange experience.
Easily tons of time better than all those military/realistic FPS they keep releasing all the time these days...
But I wouldn't call it great either.
Anyway, it's faithful to the classic Duke Nukem 3D in spirit only. It's a completely different kind of FPS.
Duke cracks a lot of jokes, but not as clever as before. Gaming/meta jokes, with Duke playing a game in the game (the prologue of the story), a crack at Halo mildly disguised.

Not super amazing visually, linear. But fun like I said above.

It's absolutely not on "Portal 2" level for example. But I wouldn't miss playing it!
Give it a try if you find yourself interested. Chances are, you'll find something to like in this game.

But Forever has his share of problems.
It's trying to be modern game. It's trying to also be like the original even though it doesn't share much with it.
Like I said, graphics and controls could have been better, specially for a ~15 years in the making game...but it's fun anyway!
The lack of secrets really annoys me (where they cut due to 2K Games' demands?)


I give it 1/3. Which by my ratings means bad. But what were you expecting with such a disconnected development? I wouln't give it 0 though.

I give it:

1 / 3 Quack!

VGR: Duke Nukem Forever: The Doctor Who Cloned Me 

By Gearbox Software
Type DLC

Year 2012

Released earlier this year, The Doctor Who Cloned Me is an expansion pack that follows directly the ending of the main game.



Dr. Proton, the villain of the original Duke Nukum - errm, Nukem is back!
He's prepared an army of Duke-Terminator clones to defeat the alien invasion once and for all and take over the world too, of course!!!

This DLC was actually made from various scrapped content from the main game (which in a way, should have been packaged along it therefore!)
The "Dukinators" are back. So is Dr. Proton who was scrapped as early as 2001.

The story is this time around interesting and worth to follow.
It takes Dukes from an underground base under Area 51, which looks quite a lot like the futuristic LA from Duke 3D, to the desert in the middle of the night aboard a schoolbus, to the Moon itself!


The plot is funnier, with better humor, Duke even gets a comedic sidekick the size of a doll(!!).

Gameplay-wise, it's sadly built upon the previous above title, so no changes there. But since the maps are much more coherent and well thought here, everything goes down smoothly this time.

Overall: Such a better self-contained game!
More original layouts in the levels, no frame-rate issues like Forever.

It costs 800 Microsoft points on the Xbox Live, just like Forever itself. They should have made this a stand alone title, so it wouldn't suffer from the same loading times.

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score! 

CBR Animal Man 3

 

And finally, time for the third and final book of Grant Morrison's Animal Man!
It's all coming down to this conclusion, what is going to happen to Buddy? What are the strange shadows lurking around that he's been seeing since the beginning of the story? And what is beyond the gutters of these panels?!

Don't miss out my previous Animal Man-related reviews!

Animal Man

Animal Man vol. 2: Origin of the Species

Countdown to Adventure

Rann/Thanagar: Holy War

Untold Tales of Blackest Night

Comic title: Animal Man: Deus Ex Machina 
Art by Chas Truog, Paris Cullins, Dough Hazlewood, Steve Montano and Mark Farmer
Cover Art by Brian Bolland
Story by Grant Morrison
Published by DC/Vertigo Comics

From 1990, 2003
Lineup Animal Man
Format: Trade paperback, collecting Animal Man issues #18-26.

This is it, guys!
The final volume of Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man!

For these last adventures, Morrison brings our hero Buddy Baker closer to the truth, in closing tales spiraling outta the comic book panels!

While the first volume was mostly an introduction to our cast of characters, who was Animal Man, his status quo, etc. Volume 2 was then a slow decent into the weird, often alternating traditional superhero stories with exploration of the medium.
This one is clearly the climax of the series, so be sure to check those out first!

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Behind the curtains...

Our "minor" superhero Animal Man his visited by Professor James Highwater, a theoretical physicist who, like Buddy, has been seeing lately strange hints about what is hiding being "reality".
They both take a little trip to a Navajo reservation for some revelations through hallucinations which takes them near the bottom of the comic book pages.
Buddy finally understands his ties to the morphogenetic field. He was reconstructed by those aliens after the accident with the alien spaceship blew up in his face. Now tied to this field where all molecules originate from, he does not need to be near animals to access their abilities. He is simply always connected to life's essence 24/7.

But that is far from the being the last of his revelations. In a sort of out-of-body experience, he also meets the original pre-CRISIS Animal Man. And starts to grasp at the fact he only seems to be a fictional character... while he sees the reader for just a second.

Back in black!

Was all that just part of the hallucinations?

Anyway, still partly shocked from these, our environmentalist hero is met with horror at home.
His wife Ellen and their children Maxine and Cliff are found dead in the kitchen!

The Bakers have been under the surveillance of a mysterious figure as of late appearing around randomly. He's done his best to protect his family from the weirdness of his life...but that wasn't enough.
And it appears his family has been assassinated not by a supervillain but a common ordinary hired killer.
Mirror Master call Buddy and tells him it was simple businessmen who couldn't stand his activism in the way. He comes up with names and our hero dons a new darker costume and hunts down those people responsible for the murder one by one.

But in the end, after having make them pay, he is no happier...
So in true-comic book fashion, our sad deconstructed hero comes up with a new plan! He will travel through time and save them before it's too late!
After getting a time machine from "Time Master" Rip Hunter - whom he doesn't remember ever meeting, though it did happen before the CRISIS - the machine malfunctions and sends him through the run of this series.
Buddy is revealed to be the mysterious figure we've met 14 issues earlier.
He tries to warn his family, but can't communicate with them... Until his sent back to his childhood and then ends up in the 1960s and meets other DC characters Phantom Stranger, Jason Blood (Etrigan, the Demon), The Immortal Man & Vandal Savage.

Deconstruction of a medium...

Buddy ends up in comic book limbo for having gotten the series out of the rails.
There he meets various characters that aren't being used in books actually.
Various characters erased from the timeline.
In comic book limbo he is greeted by forgotten characters that aren't actually been doing a thing lately before Buddy brought them on the pages. Including Merryman of the Inferior Five.
Buddy discovers he had actually been there himself until he was brought back for Morrison's series. Though he has no memories of it obviously, "it" being something abstract.
Characters and other incarnations end up there when editors write them out of comics.
(Various characters have actually been brought back since then, such as Max Mercury, Mister Freeze,..)

Buddy ends up in Scotland, to meet his current creator.
He discovers the man responsible for everything that has happened to him recently his a writer, Grant Morrison.

Deus Ex Machina

Our 4-toned colored character meets Morrison in a final issue, the culmination of 2 years-worth of plot and storylines.
The series wraps up in this gray-ysh, colorless representation of the reality. After all, this isn't Morrison himself but a representation, an avatar of his voice.
While Buddy battles some random characters for our entertainment in the background, Grant Morrison wraps up the themes. This has been a series about defenseless victims actually. Be it animal rights, animal testing, the difficulty Cliff was living through at school, the near-rape Ellen almost suffered through...

And these "god-like" super beings, the comic book characters are just as defenseless in the hands of the creative teams. They're used for the enjoyment of the readers, tarnished. They live in a simplified version of our world, an exaggeration of it with capacity for good and bad just the same. The books have been turning grim and gritty, darker, more violent for the entertainment of a modern audience.

Grant explains how Buddy might as well start eating meat soon, he was made a vegan because Morrison himself was and projected it into his character. Buddy doesn't have a thing to say.
He was but one writer amongst many (thus explained his "different voice" on the pages of the JLI).
Grant thanks the editor, the art team, the faithful readers and asks us to excuse his sometimes-preachy tone.
And while this cynical fictional Grant Morrison bids farewell to us, some "good" closes the book.

“Deus Ex Machina”
Which is a writing device, literally the gods coming down from above and providing a happy ending at the closing of a story, Morrison is wise enough to reward our character/the readers with his family back. Was it all a dream....?

Overall, one of Grant Morrison's definitive most important oeuvres.
The series would continue long after Morrison's run, of course.
But it still is one of DC's most important and significant books. The series also helped launch and develop the Vertigo Comics in-print. Animal Man would be published as issues under that label much later, but the trade paperbacks would start under that brand as early as the '91. Vertigo started as a branch for more mature proprieties before evolving into today's "creators owned-characters" only in-print.

Animal Man helped thin the walls between creator and creation, thus bringing characters and readers closer as well.
It made Buddy Baker an identifiable likable character. Buddy always did the best he could, even without always understanding exactly was was going on. Like us in today's world.
Only, he was able to glance at that mysterious ominous "one" pulling the strings.

While the first volume contains more "classic" modern-day super hero adventures, the second volume started to take some political questions. About animal rights, cruelty to animals, the way people threat defenseless animals.
Finally, this third volume is the more metafictional/existential one. In which the medium is fully explored and toyed with.


The point in which Psycho-Pirate starts remembering the CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS is only the beginning in which the crazy villain brings back the allusions to multiple Earths from his memory (which allow fictional characters from erased stories to come back, like Ultraman).

Buddy is just a character in a book, but never before as one acted like an actual living and breathing real person.

I give it:

  3 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

CBR Animal Man 2

 

And time to go back to Buddy and his final man in this continuation of Grant Morrison's Animal Man!

Comic title: Animal Man: Origin of the Species 
Art by Chas Truog, Tom Grummett, Dough Hazlewood, Steve Montano and Mark McKenna
Cover Art by Brian Bolland
Story by Grant Morrison
Published by DC

From 1989
Lineup Animal Man
Format: Trade paperback, collecting Animal Man issues #10-17 and Secret Origins #39)

And we're back with Buddy Baker and his family!
This book is a direct follow-up to the previous volume 1 of this same series. 

This is when things start to get really interesting.
With the original introduction behind (the first couple of issues featured in that past book which was originally conceived as mini-series), Morrison now takes the time to analyze and play around with the character and the concept.

Buddy Baker, aka the superhero Animal Man continues to follow his heart and help out various animal rights movements.
His wife Ellen fears he might be going to far and his associating with dangerous radical groups.

Meanwhile his family his trying to adjust to Buddy's return to superheroics and activism. Cliff is having some problems going vegetarian. And Maxine has been seeing a mysterious shadowy figure around the house lately... what could it be?

Also strange visions of aliens and a trip to Africa ends up revealing the truth behind his Secret Origin!

"STRUGGLE.
ADAPT.
EVOLVE."

The back of the book didn't lie.
In this second part of Morrison's run Buddy is thrown at various Crisis and consequences of his past decisions only to come out stronger.

The first part of the story really was more like a set-up than anything really. Buddy continue to support various animal activists..up to a point. The weight of his new decisions slowly overcoming his "super hero" job.

The book is full of subtexts and meta-references to the previous continuity(ies), what his hiding just around the edges of the page.
Most issues feature stand-alone stories, often every odd issue exploring more surreal themes while the even ones follow a simpler classical "super hero vs. a supervillain" format. Which was probably a good idea to keep the more resistant lambda comic book reader around.

The new stories continue to explore what it means to be part of the larger DCU, featuring guest appearances from the JLI-Europe division (Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, Metamorpho, Rocket Red,..), Dolphin, Vixen and B'wana Beast as this last one searches for a successor in South Africa (who will end up becoming Freedom Beast).

Grant Morrison is truly The David Lynch of comic books.
His Animal Man is weird, often humorous and quite a fun exploration of the medium.

Various new themes are explored, like what it means to be a superhero and should they keep playing "role models" or thinking of a bigger picture and being actively engaged in what they deem important at heart?
More abstract ideas are also played with, one of the two main story-arcs in this second volume being continuity (and to be continued into the third book).
subtext. theme.meta.


The art of Chas Truog and Tom Grummett is still quite fun for the character, with a big emphasis on character expressions and body language. It might feel a bit "sloppy" sometimes, but it does convey their emotions quite easily.
And Brian Bolland's covers, as always, stunning. Which makes me wish we'd gotten an Animal Man mini-series drawn by him at some point...

Overall, it is just as good as the first one.

More experimental this time around though, but thankfully (if unlike me, you have some problem with those sort of issues) it is scattered around throughout the entire book and the story & the characters are left around to breath in simpler more straightforward stories every now and then.

A very fun exploration of the superhero genre.
Bizarre, deep, amusing and very entertaining!

I give it:

  2.5 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

 

CBR Xombi (2011)

 

Time to check out some less popular, less known American comic books.
Today's title, a "weird" light horror lil' comic going by the name....

Comic title: Xombi
Art by Frazer Irving
Story by John Rozum
Brave & The Bold feature art by Scott Hampton

Published by DC
From 2011
Lineup Xombi
Format:Trade Paperback collecting the entire six-issue Xombi series as well as The Brave and The Bold #26.

Originally pitched by writer/producer Dwayne McDuffie and created at Milestone Comics, a little independent publisher created to for African-American comic book creators, Xombi is probably one of the most original ideas to come out of that group.
Milestone was founded in the early 90s and was home to many original characters such as the popular and endearing Static Shock.
But unlike the others original ideas from Milestone, Xombi finds its roots in the old creepy and eerie 1980s comics. (too much Milestone characters suffer from the "Extreeeeeme!"-approach usual for 90s characters, just take a look at Hardware or Icon!)

Xombi is also a minority group, but isn't defined by it at all.
Rather is comics are a sort of mix of scifi and fantasy similar to DC/Vertigo's Constantine: Hellblazer.

This book is the first properly developed at DC Comics after they purchased the Milestone group, and after Xombi's original series. It was supposed to be an on-going series, but was stopped due to the company-wide relaunch ("The New 52").

David Kim was a simple man.
He had a fiancée, Dalia Rose, with whom things seemed to go for the better.
From Korean origin, he was a big shot scientist in Dakoto, who came from the New Jersey.
He had developed fantastic nanotechnology which, bonded with living organisms acted as a sort of virus.
One day due to an accident, he was mortal wounded. His assistant used the nanotechnological virus to help him....but ended "used" as raw material in the process.
Now, turned into a "xombi", David has become immortal, he is physically enhanced to his peak physical form and has the ability to regenerate from any condition.

Xombi was originally created by created by John Rozum and Denys Cowan.
This comic sees the return of his co-creator Rozum on his character over a decade later. He created Xombi and knows this character the best, and it shows.
The comic is fun, quite entertaining and really a unique read.

This new adventure sees David facing giant monsters of biblical proportions, ghouls and ghosts of all kinds and taking on flying fortresses.
His friend Julian Parker tags along, alongside a couple of crazy nuns, a "Catholic Girl" and more!
Our unnatural unlikely team of misfits face an evil mastermind prepared for every potential threat...

David is now living in the strangest worlds, facing things unlike anything he ever thought to ever see and yet tries to keep a foot in his old life as it was.
It's a fun story, full of deep thoughts on what it means to go through changes and what you would do to keep it from changing.

It is also a gorgeous well illustrated book. The artwork of Frazer Irving is simply outstanding.
The colors really set the tone of this fantastic world. Background might seem a bit empty or secondary, but it really contributes to this comic's tone.

As a "bonus", DC thrown in issue 26 of The Brave and the Bold comic, which was already collected in its own collection, but it's not a reason to dismiss this little addition.

It features a team up of Xombi with The Spectre.
A ghost is seemingly on a killing rampage, eating lifeforces of various creatures, from ghosts to vampires..and getting closer and closer to the living each time.
Xombi tries to reason with the former-Crispus Allen, now The Spectre. He was a cop in his anterior life, perhaps he can be reasoned with...

It's a pretty simple and straightforward story, too short to go anywhere really. But it's a fun portrayal of this new Spectre and Xombi and his cast all get their little moments to shine.

Overall, a very fun book. Recommended!

You like supernatural stories such as Hellboy and the B.P.R.D? Well this is right up your alley!
No need to read the previous Xombi stories, David Kim is only on his 2nd month being a xombi (which would consist on the entire previous series).

Creepy, but not horror. Fantastic, but not fantasy.

I give it:

  2.5 / 3 Plastic-trophies!