What Is Techno Again?

The movie Tank Girl grabbed my attention, showed it a good time, and then debased it (and my morals) while skipping around singing musical numbers and making out with kangaroo men. The new Titan Books trade Skidmarks pretty much pulls the same trick, only I’m wise to its act—or at least indifferent.

Read the full review at OneMetal, or hey, hunt down the book and see for yourself: Bollocks.

Conceived from the British minds of Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, the punk rock female powerhouse known to indie comics readers as Tank Girl struck infamous gold for its brash dialogue and dramatic, almost psychedelic visuals (Hewlett would later animate the band Gorillaz). The title even inspired a film that bombed the box office despite rocketing ambition. Previously, Titan Books introduced audiences to a compilation book called The Cream of Tank Girl. Now Skidmarks ranks as the publisher’s latest, first appearing as a twelve-part series in Judge Dredd Magazine.

With her reckless friend Barney needing expensive medical care, Tank Girl enters the no-rules Watermelon Race at a chance at snatching the first place, multi-billion dollar cup prize. Rufus Dayglo, whose talent has decorated Tank Girl comic pages before with The Gifting and Visions of Balooga, illustrates Rebecca and her pals as they squash rival cars and speed toward the finish line, her beloved Balooga co-manning the tank. Of course, their hopeful clean victory hits a few bumps along the road, including a technical snag, a dangerous shortcut, and a lead-footed new competitor.

Yesterday I attended a demo for the upcoming PSP edition of Knights in the Nightmare. For those who have played the game on the DS, Atlus is tweaking a few key details that might have given you a headache before. Even I’m excited for this tactical RPG/bullet hell mania title, which hits stores October 19.

Check out my full preview at OneMetal.

Knights in the Nightmare, the tactical RPG that advertises “Bullet-hell heaven in the palm of your hand,” crashes onto the PSP this October. Atlus is adapting the Nintendo DS original that broke fingers and throbbed heads with its complicated and super real-time insanity into a much more user-friendly format. After sitting in on the latest demonstration, we at OneMetal have your inside scoop on both the story and fast-paced gameplay action.

During the demo, the good folks at Atlus stressed two main aspects of the Sting Entertainment-developed game: story and battles. A good chunk of our time was spent examining the actual battles and the renovated tutorial features, so let’s first breeze over the story highlights that will interest both new and old players.

Personally, I don’t get noir. I mean, I get noir, but I don’t understand why anyone in the twenty-first century still enjoys film or book noir, in which misogyny and frivolous women reside. Maybe it’s a girl thing, but hey, misogyny is kind of dumb if you ask me, not all women are fickle, and anybody who calls me a dame will promptly get punched in the face.

Anyway, Fogtown is a good example of what doesn’t work about noir, which is a tricky genre as it is.

Check out my full review over at OneMetal.

Vertigo Crime invites readers into the seedy underbelly of a 50s San Francisco with Fogtown, a noir-styled graphic novel told from the perspective of a private eye named Frank Grissel. The often drunk detective has more than a skeleton or two hidden in his closet.

Here are two popcorn-sized movie reviews (in 250 words or less) you can read on the go.

87% on Rotten Tomatoes

Everybody dreams, in one meaning of the word or another, and most people are familiar with the beliefs surrounding them: for example, when you fall in your dreams, you die, or in the case of Inception, you wake up.

Innovative director Christopher Nolan, a visionary of our time, takes a basic idea like dreaming and fashions it into a whirlwind of cinematography and storytelling. With expertly shot camera work and a well-rounded cast plucked from various movie genres, Nolan delivers a film that, while low on typical Hollywood excitement, pulls you into its building momentum of a dream within a dream within a dream in which a crew of mind hackers attempt the perhaps unachievable: the inception of an idea.

On screen, Inception lays down the groundwork of everything that’s universal about dreams, and from there spirals into an intelligent film that ticks like clockwork in its excellence and self-control. Romance, drama, suspense, action, and a dab of comedy engulf Nolan’s best production yet, a classic mind-bending film that refuses to stands still and always impresses with its masterful design and thoughtful progression.

Also, Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t smother the movie, so tween fangirls, steer clear.

81% on Rotten Tomatoes

Pop culture might infuse Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which stars the one-note Michael Cera and adapts the popular Oni Press series by Brian Lee O’Malley, but the film promises a richer time that breaks through any audience limitations.

Despite its hit-or-miss humor (especially during the beginning third), Scott Pilgrim brings a surprising charm that wins over moviegoers with its heartfelt story and colorful visuals. Easing into its groove once the ambitious Sex Bob-Omb band member Scott lays his eyes on dream girl Ramona Flowers, the movie sets a fun and knowingly silly beat. The real surprise is the movie’s nicely choreographed and energetic fight scenes, which never feel sloppy camera-wise and allow viewers to easily follow each kick and punch and K.O. to its dramatic finish.

The acting could use some polish, feeling painfully amateur at times, but each character quickly gains a comfortable, though often short-lived, place in the movie. The highlights-knocking power blast of indie music songs and hipster flair trumps any awkward first impressions. Scott Pilgrim might have short-fused at the box office, but it wraps up as an endearing story and a good flick that creatively blends comics and video games with broken hearts and love at first sight.

Want more popcorn-sized movie reviews, low on fat but with all that buttery goodness? Let me know!

Ancient Roman vampires, apocalyptic horsemen-gangsters from Mexico (or possibly hell), and soul-hungry demons—monsters are coming out the wazoo this week at Impulse Creations.

Below are a few teasers, but you can read the full reviews here.

“David Hine dumps in all the right ingredients for a classic Darkness tale, lets it simmer, and before readers can catch their breath, they’re peering over a heaving pot of perfectly seasoned hellfire-side cuisine.” - The Darkness: Four Horsemen #1

“Fans of vampire fiction like True Blood might relish another half-naked glimpse into the undead world, but for those of us without a fang fetish, Ides of Blood does introduce a somewhat different means of examining the same old corpses.” - Ides of Blood #1

“Demons are creepy. Demons illustrated by Alina Urusov are even creepier. Unfortunately, the goosebumps-inducing demon in Witchblade: Due Process only adds a margin of the oomph the one-shot sorely needs.” - Witchblade: Due Process

Today Marvel announced the upcoming Iron Man – Extremis DVD. While the press release made no mention of the motion comic, I’m guessing since Marvel Knights Animation’s name is attached, this is basically a mainstream release.

Iron Man blasts onto home entertainment shelves later this year … probably knocking out a wall or two with the sheer, unbelievable Repulsor force. Oh, yes. You’ll need these coming months to prepare.

Check out a trailer for the motion comic below. You can read about the DVD details here, at OneMetal.

Mat Johnson, writer of Incognegro, and Simon Gane, artist on The Vinyl Underground, release their Hurricane Katrina tribute Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story tomorrow. The style of this book reminds me of more “serious” graphic novels like Fun Home and the recently published Revolver. Vertigo Comics puts out another good one.

You can read my early review of Dark Rain at OneMetal.

Five years after the water hit shores, Mat Johnson and Simon Gane still acknowledge the need for remembering the widespread destruction Hurricane Katrina caused. Their tribute, Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story, goes on sale tomorrow from Vertigo Comics and inspires a story of hope.

When Katrina lands, surprising even New Orleans locals with its severity, wronged ex-cons Dabny Arceneaux and Emmit Jack leave their assigned halfway house to capitalize upon their blessing in disguise. With the flooded population seizing every opportunity to escape to higher and safer ground, “J.D.” and his unlikely partner “Rockefeller” contact the security force Dark Rain, hoping they’ll lend their expertise in robbing Louisiana’s now vulnerable Banque de Congo Square. But Driggs, who leads the Dark Rain company of post-duty soldiers embittered over the government’s cold shoulder treatment, also specializes in backstabbing and corruption (a theme that undercurrents the book), and he tasks his team with beating the undermanned and unprepared Dabny and Emmit to the bank.