When Thundercats Turned Us Gay
I've been sitting at home watching TV far too much recently. A lot of that has been watching Countdown and 15 to 1 and other such game-shows that are somehow capable of going on for longer than they should, but are somehow part of life. Oh, and Charmed re-runs.
But in amongst all this revisiting my youth, where the hell are the Thundercats?
And then I realised that half the internet probably don't even know that the Thundercats are or were and I get all sad.
Feminist, Moi?
I don't think about feminism a lot. Call it male privilege if you like. That's not to say that I haven't considered myself a feminist, I've just never really considered my opinion important.
Here's the thing: I'm a white guy living in a country in western Europe. I'm a gay guy with no sisters who went to a boys' school. There are questions about being a woman, about being a feminist that have never touched me, and I've never felt the need to address. Because here, on our little island on the fringes of the Atlantic, feminism is a weird scary thing that weeves in and out of legislation that I just don't want to go near.
The Dark Knight Is Nuts - Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
Welcome to Arkham Asylum: check your sanity at reception and settle down for the craziest outing Batman has had in a while.
Developed by the UK-based Rocksteady Games, Batman: Arkham Asylum is the first original game to star the Caped Crusader in over five years (we’re not counting Batman Begins because it was a movie tie-in, and fun as it was, Lego Batman slipped under many a gamer’s radar.) Although graphic novels and mini-series have carried the name of Arkham Asylum, the game has a fairly original story as written by Paul Dini, one of the head writers of the award winning Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990s, and taking its cue from the series, the game is surprisingly deep and mature, while also incredibly fun.
Flashback Feature: Marvel Vs Capcom 2
Originally released in 2000 as a coin-op machine in arcades, swiftly followed by a home-console release on both the PS2 and the Dreamcast, Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes is the fourth and last game in a series of fighting games pitting characters from Marvel Comics against heroes and villains from Capcom produced games (just in case you hadn’t figured that much out from the name, of course.)The series stretches all the way back to the mid-1990s, when Capcom were licensed to produce several fighting games based on and including Marvel’s characters, including the X-Men and the Avengers. The first game to be released was 1994’s X-Men: Children Of The Atom, and like many other arcade games of the era, it was ported to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation. Utilising just X-Men characters, both heroes and villains, the game utilised graphics and engines from Capcom’s successful Street Fighter franchise, and was followed up in 1995 by Marvel Super Heroes (released on the same consoles) which took some of the successful characters and broadened the brief to include other Marvel heroes.
Flashback Feature - X-Men (1992-1997)
Anyone who watched cartoons in the early 90s should have fond memories of Fox’s “X-Men” cartoon which ran for five seasons between 1992 and 1997. Of course, it was a bit later than that by the time it hit shores outside of the US, and lasted longer than that in re-runs, especially when the success of the movies brought the animated series back onto TV.
This Flashback Feature is dedicated to a look at the 90s TV series, and most importantly, its ties to its comic book origins. But before we start looking at the show and its characters, why not remind yourself of the very first reason why the show was so beloved to begin with…?
Flashback Feature: Masters Of The Universe (1987)
Nostalgia, retro, a refusal (and perhaps inability) to grow up: call it what you will, but we all have fond memories of movies, TV shows and games from our youth. If you’re honest, you probably find yourself watching/playing them occasionally, or at the very least, wishing you could.
To that end, welcome to a new (and hopefully recurring) feature on BurnAllZombies: the Flashback Feature is a look back at some of the games, movies and shows that hold a special place in my heart, jogging some memories, getting those subtexts you never quite got as a kid, and wondering what’s happened to the stars and the franchises since.
Suggestions for future Flashback Features are welcome, but for this, the inaugural entry, let’s take a look at Dolph Lundgren and 2009 Academy Award Nominee Frank Langella in 1987’s Masters Of The Universe.
Who Watches The Blog-men? - Watchmen (2009)
If you believe the trailers and the hype, Watchmen is a movie twenty years in the making, and adapted from ‘the greatest graphic novel of our time.’ Writer Alan Moore has previously given us V For Vendetta, From Hell and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but don’t expect that to be any indication of what you’ll see on the big-screen, as Moore’s distaste for Hollywood and the adaptations of his own comics has been well-documented. A far change from From Hell or V, Watchmen has much more in common with the Batman movies of the 80s and 90s, with camp costumes and shades of Bond shining through in a way that is both parody and highly reverent.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008)
Mortal Kombat? Batman? Superman? Fighting? In a video game? What’s not to like?”
At this point, expect a slap across the face to calm yourself down.
Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows (2008)
Just as comic-book based movies have proven uber-popular (though not always good or successful) over the past decade or so, so too have video-games based on the characters and worlds of comics, with Marvel and DC comics in particular leasing out their characters for both original games and marketing tie-ins. Some are successful with fans, critics and general sales alike (generally the original games); some, not so much.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows falls somewhere squarely between the two: while not a direct sequel to the Spider-Man movies and their tie-in games, there’s enough similarities to make this an unofficial Spider-Man 4, while enough content to make the game relevant and help it stand on its own.
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