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The Week in Gay Geek: what we owe Gary Gygax, another look at Watchmen and more!
- By now all the 2d6 jokes have been used up:
It speaks to his influence that a wide variety of sites were saddened to hear of the death of Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax this week. It's difficult to imagine what video games, comics, television or film would be like without the influence of D&D. Where would video games be now if Gygax's prototypical role playing game weren't around to inspire series like Ultima or The Bard's Tale -- or innovative games that mixed the RPG with elements of other types of games like the Grand Theft Auto series? What would our media be like if Gygax's game hadn't inspired an entire generation of nerds to become storytellers? It's hard to imagine what the pop culture landscape would be like today if not for the influence of D&D, a game that's colored the experiences of people who've never been in the same room as a Dungeon Master's Guide.
- The postman's a person in you Simberhood, in your Simberhood:
This week, EA Games put up a teaser site for The Sims 3 and some details about the game have already begun leaking out. How do you top a sequel that added genetics and realistic life spans to Will Wright's dollhouse game? This time Sims will live in a fully seamless neighborhood. Even more interestingly, the need meters have been thrown out, breaking the hunger/bladder/sleep cycle of the game.
- Oh, I'll be watching:
The upcoming Watchmen movie is probably the most scrutinized comic book movie projects, considering how the original comic is so challenging and respected. We got a visual idea of what to expect when pictures of the cast in costume came out this week. Check out a side-by-side comparison with the comic book versions. The Comedian is looking spot-on and I can easily see Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role, but I wonder if Night Owl looks right in a different side-by-side:
I'm can't tell if they dropped Night Owl's paunchiness or if that picture comes from a deceptive angle. (Not that photographing a dark costume against a dark background is helpful.) Admittedly, taking Patrick Wilson and giving him a costume with a paunch is rather like buying fillet mignon and making hamburgers but that paunch does go far in defining the character. My optimism is holding up, so far.
- Solo UNIT:
I'm usually pretty cynical about rumors concerning the Doctor Who franchise -- there's so much unfounded gossip going around that most of what you encounter turns out to be, well, rubbush. Still, sometimes you've gotta make an exception for rumors you'd like to see happen, like this one saying that Martha Jones' run on Torchwood might be setting up a spin-off focused on Dr. Jones and UNIT. I like the idea of this one as much as I liked the idea of Rose getting a spin-off -- very, very much. I hope this one happens.
- A game that's mostly the shower scene:
I told you previously about the... uhm, unusual, guy-objectifying Nintendo DS game Duel Love where a bunch of fight clubbing bishounen need someone to wipe their sweat off their bare torsos. Well, more details about the game came out at the Tokyo Game Show and suddenly this game was all over the video game blogs. The new information includes a trailer and a few more promo pix. Apparently the goal in this segment is to clear away the steam.
I'd probably interested by this game simply for its cheesiness if the art didn't look so bland when you see it all put together. I think I'll keep my hopes up for a translation of Hunks' Workshop instead.
- A Darkly Dreamt Game:
And while we're on the topic of odd ideas for video games, this week brought the news that a game based on Dexter, the violent Showtime series starring Six Feet Under's Michael C. Hall. While I can see the various ways the show could be turned into a game, it'll be tricky and I can't imagine making a show like Dexter interactive will go unnoticed by the cultural watchdogs who are usually seen demonizing video games.
- Suffering Sappho! No, wait, that's another comic:
Here's another development that traveled quickly around the internets, have you heard about Buffy's latest love interest? (I'll keep if vague in case you haven't been spoiled.) So far, I've been doing the "wait for the trade tango" with Buffy's eight season, but the context for the moment makes it all sound rather well handled and not at all played for sensationalism. Anyone out there following the series, does the pairing come off nicely for you? More importantly, is Buffy season eight turning out to be more like season three or season six?
Submitted by on Fri, 2008-03-07 15:58.
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Put AfterElton.com headlines on your site/blog:
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Buffy Season 8 is very good
This is what Buffy TVS should have been. Buffy with a HUGE BUDGET!
This comic book series has all the best writers: Brian K Vaughn, Drew Goddard, Whedon and more to come.
The Character points are perfect. Faith feels like Faith, Willow feels like Willow, etc.
The only sore point is Andrew Wells. He is still essentially in the closet. Which is outrageous. And in issue 13 we will probably see some gay jokes made by a straight author: the Xander as man-bitch to Dracula.
But, all in all I think the series is VASTLY better than the Marti Noxon-Defiled seasons of Buffy TVS.
I'm not so sure about the
I'm not so sure about the whole Big Buffy Twist that just took place. It's nice that Whedon is so queer friendly, but at the same time (and I know I'm spoiling a bit) he's really mostly girl queer friendly. Sure he's insinuated, I think in an interview, that Angel and Spike may have had some form of homoerotic relationship in the past, some comment like "well they've been around for a *very* long time and tried a lot of different things," but like Metabaron said, Andrew's still in the closet while... Well you know.
As for the Watchmen movie, I just don't know what to think. So many of Moore's incredible comics have been horribly mangled (actually, mostly League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because I never saw From Hell and can't think of others) and I just worry about the transition. That said, it's an incredible stories, and incredible stories can translate to all mediums, even if some of the finely tuned metaphors and visual effects go awry. I wonder if Watchmen hits it off, if they'll try and tackle Tom Strong, or Promethea? Oh wait, those are done under his America's Best Comics label, so he owns them, right? Or does DC have some rights... Well if the Justice League movie gets made, maybe we'll see Swamp Thing. Either way, I know I'll be seeing the movie.
btvs
Buffy season eight is totally great. I've never read comics before but I'm loving it. I'm also reading the Angel comics, and they don't compare to the show or the Buffy comics. I am having trouble following them, they just seem so random. I don't understand half of what's going on. The Buffy comics are so much better written, even if things aren't explained completely at first (like Dawn being a giant) it still is interesting and makes sense. The Angel comics don't have that. I hope they get better when the first arc finishes this month.
I like the way they've handled the pairing. In issue 11 it was discussed a lot, it was very frank and well written. Then in issue 12 it just happened and I was like "oh, ok." It seemed natural, like something Buffy would do and how Buffy would handle it. This issue is probably the best so far, it was so funny and it definitely felt like the characters I've grown to love on tv.
They're talking about Andrew in the comments section at the back of issue 12, and how he might get his own story in some upcoming issues. I like comic Andrew way more than tv Andrew. He's still in the closet, sure, but I dunno, I don't mind. It's obvious he's gay (his Superman fantasy in this issue). He's not really an important character at the moment, he's only been in a handful of scenes in the comics, but maybe when they shift the focus to him for a few issues he'll come out. If it doesn't happen by then, then maybe I'll be annoyed, but for right now I don't really care. I'm ok with the way they're handling it for the time being.