Kymey's Heroes @kymey - Tumblr Blog

When Worlds Collide...

So, what's the deal with Battle World/Secret Wars (or whatever the hell it's called) and Convergence right now? (I know the deal, just so we're clear, my questions just heralds a bit of rant.) Both Marvel and DC are running pretty darn similar and, I have to say, pretty uninspiring multi-arc, multi-issue, world changing (again?!) events, and I for one will be glad when they're done with it. Every time the comic Giants pull this sort of schtick it's basically because they have gone and got their knickers in a twist about some quirk of continuity or other, or there has been some fanboy outcry about Power Girl or Bat Girl or some girl (not that most of these guys would actually know anything about actual, real life girls - sorry, that was harsh, and horrendously stereotyped, but also probably true...). Ugh! Get over it and get it done already. I have actually been enjoying a few titles in DC's pantheon of late. Not many come close to Scott Synder and Greg Capullo on Batman, but Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's run on Green Arrow was something special (the book has gone to crap since then, unfortunately, as DC brought in a team of new creatives who could only badly emulate the Arrow TV show). I even picked up Future's End, until it wouldn't end and I got bored of issues about half assed heroes doing half assed missions (now that had a stella issue 0, but sank fairly quickly after that). I don't read a lot of Marvel, as I find the art and the story telling a little childish for my tastes (Disney's influence, perhaps?), but I will be glad when they've all stopped doing these bloody irritating continuity fixing events. Give us some jumping on points for fresh storylines, tell us something new about the characters (like Scott Snyder did with the Court of Owls in Batman), don't reel out this fan-pleasing twaddle like Converge and Secret Wars. Be bold, allow your creatives to imagine the next iconic storyline, rather than rehashing old ones. In 10 years, no one is going to remember this turgid mess, as only great stories endure. Nuff said.

An Affair in the Pines

I watch a fair amount of TV. I'm not a couch potato, or anything like that. Far from it. In fact, I bet I could whip your sorry ass over a 5k run if you cared to challenge me (unless, of course, you're an actual proper runner and can do sub-7.30s with ease...). When I was at college and figuring out who I wanted to be and what I was going to do for a career, I remember reading and hearing about how TV would become like an almost bespoke boutique. Specific channels for specific, even niche, programming. Back when I was younger, we only had the terrestrial channels which showed all sorts of stuff. So, accepting that boutique channels would prevail in the coming years was something of a hard truth to swallow. Now, all I watch is what I want in my bespoke boutique. I fill my planner with shows I want and then, well... watch them. If it were a channel, it would be the Kyme channel, viewership - me. Funny how things turn out. So, and I'm coming to the point now, I am always thankful when I find something new and engaging to watch, something that'll either entertain or make me think, or both (preferably). Two shows, both new to my humble shores, are achieving that so far: Wayward Pines and The Affair. The former reminds me of Twin Peaks. Not quite as weird, but definitely filled with questions and paranoia. Not the usual guy gets trapped in a weird town and can't get out style mystery either. Apparently, M Night Shyamylan (apologies if that's spelled incorrectly, it is late and I am too beat to go to dictionary.com right now) is involved as an executive producer. He even directed the first episode. Say what you like about some of his later films (and, yes, Lady in the Water and Devil really do suck) but the guy knows his mes en scene. The latter looked like a trite drama about infidelity (I'm referring to The Affair if you haven't caught on), but I decided to give it a go because it received critical acclaim (and, yes, it's not always an accurate barometer but that stuff does matter sometimes). My speculation was rewarded with an excellent (so far, only two eps in) show that tells two sides of an intriguing story. Both shows use a lot of great story telling craft, though in different ways and I'm enjoying watching them. Takes a lot to hold my interest and ultimately both will be judged by their relative pay-offs, but the forensic watching experience is fun. Recommended. Night, night.

#tv #the affair #wayward pines

Bewitched... (and a blog update)

I have a new favourite game. It’s called Witcher III - Wild Hunt, and it kicks absolute ass.

Being a Playstation loyalist through and through, I never really got to appreciate the earlier installments in this series (apparently based on some Polish fantasy novels, I believe...).

I do own an Xbox360 and even picked up Witcher II when I saw the trailer for II a few months back. It sucked.

I mean, it sucked hard. Not because of the game, I’m sure, but because, for some reason my old 360 just looked like utter balls. It has an old scart interface and no way to actually show a HD picture, so graphically the game was hard to watch... and, consequently, to play.

Fast forward about a year and I have a spanking new installment of the Witcher and it’s on my Playstation 4 to boot. Imagine my joy...

I reached for my wallet.

Have I said this game kicks ass? Yeah, it’s great and looks stunning. So much detail, from richly realised forests to crisp horizons and awesome water effects - this is what next gen was made for.

I am barely into the game and already I’ve beheaded my first griffon and banished a noonwraith (she turns up at noon... well, duuur...).

Gerault is a cool character to play with, from his swanky sword skills to his mastery of signs (spells with the flick of the wrist). Oh, and he rides a mean horse too. Not mean, per se, just fast.

This isn’t a review, more just an opinion and a bit of an update as to what I’ve been up to.

Mainly playing Witcher III.

Toodloo.

Oh, and expect semi-regular updates on here. My website is out of action (the old nickkyme.com) and likely to be retired as I figure my needs (and yours, dear readers) are better served by a simple blog, rather than all the old shazzle on my previous site.

So, this is going to be my home for a little while, as far as blogging goes. Be sure to spread the word. I’ve been trying to get this around on my Twitter feed but I reckon I need help, so please direct folks to this page if they want to read anything blog-related by me.

Until then...

#gaming #Witcher3 #blog

Erm... holy crap. Shut up and take my pre-order!!!

The perfect rejoinder to any insult...

Overheard this little beauty the other night: 'Say that again, and I'll hit you with my shoe.' So simple, so direct.

Crackpot theory?

You decide. Got this on my NickKyme.com blog page. Warning, spoilers Incoming... **Potential spoiler alert** Crackpot theory incoming. Vulkan, as the father of the Salamanders, who's defining trait is the protection of humanity regains his memories post Vulkan Lives, following on from Artefacts realises that its not just his creations that could damn humanity but the potential of what he may become, indeed it is reflected in his fallen brothers. See Vulkan become ever more brutal in his punishment of those who have sided with Horus. Post Heresy and after Roboute Guilliman creates the Adeptus Astartes Chapters in order to prevent such a schism happening again Vulkan realises that an immortal Primarch will always be too powerful a weapon, Vulkan becomes one of the Artefacts. So, what do you think?

Practically salivating at the prospect of this one. Two days to go!

#watchdogs #ps4

And here's the Flash in animated world in a rather brutal one-on-one versus arch-nemesis Professor Zoom, aka the Reverse Flash. This clip comes from The Flashpoint Paradox, which I'd definitely recommend for DC fans. Beware, though, SPOILERS!!!

#dc comics #flash #animation

Crumbs. In the wake of the stunning season two Arrow finale, I am looking forward to this sucka! Bwoop!

#dc comics #flash #arrow

Unearthing Artefacts

Vulkan Lives has finally reached its small paperback format release (or small 'squishy' as it is known in some quarters), so my time is turning once again towards the Horus Heresy, specifically the sequel to Vulkan Lives. Beyond the fact I have a third of the plot down in a Pages document, half of it on a bunch of blue coloured Post-Its and a quarter (just under...) still to noodle (that's a technical writing term, by the way), I can't actually tell you that much about it. I can say it follows on from the partial sequel to Vulkan Lives, The Unremembered Empire and that, chances are, the Lord of the Drakes' body ain't staying on Macragge. But that's about your lot for now. I can discuss 'Artefacts'. This was the lead short story in a hardback novella collection called Sedition's Gate, launched at the most recent Horus Heresy Weekender this month. I suspect it's going to have a few folks scratching their heads. Good. I won't elucidate further on that, because it's up to you guys to figure it out. One quick thing, though: could Vulkan's forgeship have fit in that vault? Yes. A vault has no predetermined size. It's as big as I needed it to be. In this case, big enough to house a massive forgeship. That's the thing you've got to bear in mind about 30 and 40k - everything is always huge. Keep that in your heads, okay. 'Artefacts' is an important story in the Vulkan 'arc', as I'm now referring to it with my august Heresy colleagues. It introduces a new character, a Forge Master called T'kell. He gets a namecheck in <em>Salamander</em> by the way. His story is integrally linked to the artefacts, the Nine as they are known in 40K lore, and will be the lead in a storyline I am planning to write about them. Since I know a few folks don't do Twitter and like to get in touch via the website, I figured that rather than you having to piggyback on posts about comics, monkeys and Batman, I'd provide a post right here so you can do so in context. In fact, it's something I plan to do for all of my stuff from here on out. Want to have a longer discussion about a short, audio, novella or novel? This will be the place to do it. Of course, I'll still be on Twitter, so you can reach me here too. So, if you have questions about 'Artefacts' or the Vulkan arc (can't promise I can answer all of those, depends what you ask) then this is the place to do it. Thank you.

#vulkan #vulkanlives #horusheresy

Comixapology...

And let's face it, I think we're all due one! Miffed is putting it mildly when describing my reaction to the decision my Comixology/Amazon to remove the store front from their once awesome app and turn it into a glorified reading app only. Suddenly, an excellent, easy to access and user friendly interface between us, the comics consumers, and the comics we love was made that much harder. Sure, you can visit the website, buy your comics through PayPal, port them over to your app, close said website and then open the app and then your comics. What the f*!k!? That just sounds like a massive pain in the ass compared to what we're used to as good honest comic consumers. Comixology had it down. They had it all going for them and we the comics consumer really benefitted from a slick interface that was hassle free and really intuitive to use. An extra, wholly unnecessary, unwanted and (and this is what really sucks) unheralded, change to a process That. Was. Working. Every Wednesday, I used to look forward to New Comic Books Day, that one day of the week when I was guaranteed to find something cool and inspiring to read through my Comixology app. That experience has been tainted by this greedy move. No longer is it a painless, user friendly experience - it's an irritating, fiddly and frankly off putting one. If I sound petty, then perhaps I am on this subject but my understanding was technology and the advancement thereof was meant to make things better, not worse and more annoying (at least in terms of the consumption of digital media). I read an interesting blog post on this subject that described comics as having been living in a ghetto for the past thirty years. I'll echo that esteemed bloggers comics in saying that I love comic book shops, but they are dying out and dying on their arses. They have been for a long time. Digitisation of this media not only made it really accessible, it also played to the inherent strengths of the visual medium with panel view and Marvel's wonderful guided view in a way that only comics can really exploit. So what do the biggest retailer of digital comics do? They superbly and selfishly scupper that digital outlet by reducing it's accessibly and attractiveness to a growing market of digital comic book readers. And this is just the bought and paid up members of the comic buying community; what about the initiates who are yet to experience how great digital comics are? This clunky, hamfisted approach is going to put them off and could very well endanger the future of the digital medium for comics. When you are the market leader, you have to lead and move forward, not backwards. This, however you might wish to spin it is a backwards step. I felt compromised moving to the new app and the new clunky system, I felt like my years of loyalty to this digital industry was effectively being reduced to the dollars and pounds signs in the eyes of big businesses. Not businesses who are here to promote comics and make it a more profitable, wider reaching medium but a business that purely wants to line its own pockets and doesn't care what damage it does during the process. I hope that Comixology feel they've been backed into a corner with this move. I hope that the genuine fans of comics and the comics through the digital storytelling medium are regretful and can see the damage it has already done. I for one feel betrayed, and I'm sure that a lot of other fair-minded consumers of digital comics feel the same. Don't let's make this about the difference between an iPad and a Kindle guys, why can't it be about the comics. Somewhere in between the lines this message has become lost...

When someone asks you if you're a god, you say yes!

Winston Zeddemore