First off, I had a great time on Saturday. It was bound to happen what with all the cosplayers, free swag and other comic book stuff goin' on. We were also privy to some video game news as well, which was really cool. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera and--because I was strapped for cash--only managed to buy a Batman figure and the second issue of Final Crisis (the Bats variant cover). Still, I'd say that's a fine haul along with all of the other free stuff various booths were passing out.

I'm just gonna list briefly here some of the things out of the panel discussions or presentations that really excited me:

- The Flash (Bart Allen) may be resurrected at some point soon.

- Marvel is going to be bringing us the "evil Illuminati" within the coming months. If you're not familiar with who the "good Illuminati" are, they're basically a sort of thinktank made up of some of Marvel's best and brightest superheroes. This new group is comprised of supervillains and/or antiheroes with Dr. Doom at the forefront. That's enough to make me jump onboard.

- Steve Sansweet of Lucasfilms's Marketing division is a really cool guy. He put together a nice presentation consisting of the upcoming Clone Wars footage as well as some great reveals for The Force Unleashed. Allow to me to briefly describe the first level:
***SPOILER***

- There wasn't much revealed about what will be going down in the Green Lantern books, but I can say I'm really looking forward to the "Rage of the Red Lanterns" one-shot, whatever will be going on in the main book as well as Green Lantern Corps -- excellent, excellent group of collaborators.

- Devil's Due Publishing--a company based out of Chicago--is going to continue work with the Halloween license. If you haven't read Halloween: Nightdance and you're into the Halloween flicks, check it out. It's pretty cool; really captures the whole tone of Michael Myers very well.

- Batman: Gotham Knight is a success as far as I'm concerned. I'm still not wild about the animation but the stories themselves are quite good. I like how each vignette was given to a seperate director's vision. The stories seem to be connected by one element and that is a turf war going on between rival gangs--a group of Italians and Russians--in Gotham. I'm guessing that will be incorporated somewhat into The Dark Knight based on what's been offered in various trailers for the film. My favorite of the six stories is probably "Deadshot", although I really liked "In Darkness Dwells" and "Working Through Pain" (one of the more poignant pieces), too. Great stuff.

Oh, and there was this trailer for The Spirit playing near one of the DC booths:

If you think you recognize that music, it's because you've seen The Untouchables. Or you've... at least heard the soundtrack or something. Anyway, The Spirit looks interesting.

That's all I've got for now. I'll have to bring a camera next year and make sure I have more than enough money for collectibles consumption. We shall see.

So, a little over a week ago I went to see Iron Maiden in concert. The show was completely awesome, one of the best live performances I've ever been to. Methinks I'm a fan now and I will see them the next time they're around the Chicagoland area. The concert also marks the first time meeting my friend, Derek, in person. He's a cool dude. It was nice because we've been talking online for so long that there wasn't any awkwardness. Unless I'm inept, which is entirely possible.

Anyway, next Saturday we'll be meeting again at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center for Wizard World Chicago (a comic book convention). I got to go last year... kind of. There was a situation that needed my attention and I was called away, not but a few feet from the line for the BioShock demo dome. That was a major bummer to be certain, but in the words of my favorite Dark Lord of the Sith, "There'll be no one to stop us this time."

And how fortuitous because the schedule for Saturday is looking... Bat-tastic? Oh yes, I did just say that. Aside from several panel discussions (on Marvel's current summer event Secret Invasion and DC's Final Crisis amongst others), it seems the evening will be wrapped up by a world premiere of Batman: Gotham Knight, a compilation of animated shorts akin to what Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars is to the last two Star Wars prequels. The stories in Gotham Knight take place between Batman Begins and the soon-to-be-released The Dark Knight. While I'm not big on the whole manga-like presentation, it is looking very interesting indeed.

P.S. Locke & Key. Read it.

For my birthday recently, my good friend, Derek, sent me something I've been pining over for almost a year. You see, it wasn't long ago now when I was first introduced to the Hitman video game series. I instantly became enamored with the stylistic presentation as well as the lead character, Agent 47.

The sculpt is based on what the coldblooded assassin looks like in his latest excursion, Blood Money. While I was going to pick it up at some point, the figure admittedly didn't look all that fetching to me in photos online or in magazines. Having seen it up close, however, all I can say is that it's really good. NECA does a fantastic job. Many thanks, Derek.

To commemorate my acquisition (or mostly just for the heck of it), I put together this Blood Money trailer. I've been listening to Interpol's "A Time to Be So Small" a lot lately and really wanted to use it in some kind of media application, so... here we are. Take it easy, folks.

I just thought I'd put in my GTA IV completion notice as well. And I do mean completion. Although, to be honest, tracking down the 200 pigeons was really tedious. It might not have been so bad had I not undertaken the task in less than 24 hours, but add on top of that the 50 stunt jumps found throughout the city and you have one seriously irked gamer. Glad it's over.

What a trip. I'm sitting here now thinking about my time spent with GTA IV and sort of contemplating how I can move on to something else. It's difficult for me because it seems I have some obsessive compulsive tendencies. There's always that voice in the back of my head that says, "Just walk away," while that other one near the front urges, "Oh, 20 more hours couldn't hurt."

Since April 29th, I've done pretty much nothing but play the game so it'll be nice to get back into various other forms of entertainment. I'm gonna tackle that 30 hour achievement at some point, but right now there are about 30 comic books that need to be read amongst other things that seek attention. I bought that Ghostbusters giftset a few weeks ago and that's just been dying to be watched. Then there's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, which is supposed to be another great movie by director Sidney Lumet. I'll probably watch There Will Be Blood again for good measure. Whatever's in the cards, I'm up for it.

But for now... I'm finished.

I seemingly can't get enough of GTA IV. The game really blindsided me, too, because although I was aware of the hype, that stuff doesn't usually matter to me anyway. Playing through GTA III shortly before April 29th rolled around, however, I can say that the seminal sandbox title ticked me off nearly to no end. With this most recent game, we're provided an experience that is similar but more wholly rewarding because of the story and characters. It almost boggles the mind to think a Grand Theft Auto game could rank up there with BioShock and Mass Effect as one of the most fulfilling narratives of all-time. Awesome stuff.

Hit me up for some multiplayer should you feel inclined to do so. I'll probably be roaming the streets of Liberty for a good while over the weekend. Have a good one yourselves.