Darksiders adds yet another hack and slash adventure title to the ever growing list. The only difference here is that Joe Madureira is at the helm as creative director. Joe Madureira of comic fame in the Marvel Universe and his very own Battle Chasers is well known for his exaggerated art style. If you are a fan of his work you won’t be let down by Darksiders’ ability to bring the comic art style to life.

Darksiders follows the main character War who is one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. War must battle angels and demons through a post apocalyptic world. War uses swords, gun and a very cool demon form to overcome his enemies.

While Darksiders looks the part of a Joe Madureira comic it lacks in gameplay. While most adventure titles contrast the fighting elements with platforming and puzzles, Darksiders falls flat. The platforming is clumsy and the lack of interesting puzzles is an aberration.

So far the reception by Metacritic has been mostly positive and this is a fair outing for Joe Madureira. Considering he’s just the creative lead there’s no point in being hard on him for Darksiders’ flaws. However, choosing to release on the same week as Bayonetta was probably an unwise choice by the publishing team.

Blank version here.

The action really heats up in these two issues as Iron takes on his former family the mob. You also get to see how the other factions play into the story and create the city’s power struggle. Even though Iron seems short with Angel its expected that some kind of chemistry will eventually start to form. I’m still intrigued at how much content is packed into each issue. This concept of breaking industry standards had better stick because I’m loving it.

Thanks again Jason!

Now I wasn’t clear on if this guy was the store manager or just the guy in charge of ordering the comics but he definitely lost a customer that day. So I decided to go through the comic’s online website but their shipping prices are ridiculous. My area isn’t popular for having comic stores so I’ll have to wait until an opportune time when I’m in another city to pick it up.

I just got issue#1 of “Iron and the Maiden” in the mail. You might remember that I wrote a little blog last month mentioning the comic and a person named Jason commented on it. Well it turns out Jason is Jason Rubin Creator/Writer of the comic and he sent me a sweet signed Micheal Turner edition.

The artwork is phenomenal as you’d expect and I really feel like the production team is really into putting out books with lots of pages and a complete story. That’s what they advertise and it really would be a great change of pace when you look at the competitive comics around them.

When I say complete story, I’m really talking about how a comic finishes. If you’re like me you’ve been through the J. Scott Campbells and the Joe MADs that seem to fall short when it comes to following through. Or they just take freaking forever. It’s kind of sad that I have to reduce myself to expecting only 1 or 2 issues per year.

Anyway, let’s talk about “Iron and the Maiden” before I got off track as usual. So the series is being produced under Michael Turner’s company Aspen Comics and the two main character designs were done by Joe Madureira. Sorry but the only person I’ve heard of on the core team is Jeff Matsuda who does the pencils and captures the MAD style pretty well.

The universe seems to take place in the US around the 1930s prohibition era but with a twist. The city is corrupt and is led by three different power houses: The government, the syndicate and the order which is the church. It kind of reminds me a little of Sin City but the citizens are more or less innocent. Also another surprise is that their technology is much more advanced with hovering cars and robotic body parts.

I think the story still has some things to explain but it definitely builds up a good basis to launch from. I also think that the universe that was constructed around the characters was well thought out and I think a lot of people forget that it plays a big role in making fiction fun and interesting.

after getting this issue I think I’m gonna go see if I can pick up issue #0 at my local comic shop or else I’ll have to resort to the Aspen Comics online store. And by the way issue #2 is scheduled to drop on Sept. 6th.

Thanks again Jason!

In gaming news, there has been all kinds of sightings of Xbox 360 price drops. This makes me even more eager to just purchase a new core system instead of waiting for my Xbox 360 to be shipped back to me from the Microsoft repair center. Actually, I haven’t even sent it in yet but I tried it again this weekend and I’m getting freezing on any game I play. I can’t even finish a game of NBA 2k7.

Ok, honestly it would be a mistake to purchase another Xbox 360 because of impatience. I should really be waiting until they start selling Xbox 360s without defects. Right now, I can imagine this price drop is a good way for them to get rid of their large stock of defective Xbox 360s. Okay that’s all for now… still waiting on that shipping box!

Iron and the Maiden, has a chance to enter this arena with guns blazing. I’ve been a big fan of comic art that strayed away from the played out Marvel/DC styling. My favorites were Joe Mad, J. Scott Campbell and a few others. Yet I still haven’t seen any of these guys hit the scene with any conviction, but here we have a chance to see a couple of Joe Mad characters prove that there is a place for comic artists in the gaming industry.

Joe Mad designed these characters but the artist will be Jeff Matsuda who has a similar style and enough experience to really bring these characters to life. I have high hopes but low expectations for this one…

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