Dead Pixels has 41 chronicles

1. License to License: The All-Comics Edition
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Aug 18 2009

   Dead Pixels
   8/17/09 (only one day late!)
   By Ryan M. Eft
   
   So I just attended the Chicago Comic-Con (formerly known as Wizard World Chicago) as part of my ongoing attempts at snagging the attention and talents of artists and publishers. I brought back a lot of interesting stories, maybe some of which I’ll share later. But I also brought back a sense of wonderment. At what? Well I’m glad you asked, Mr. voice-in-my-head. At the amount of A-list comics properties that, while perfectly suited, have not received the video game treatment yet. While I think you all should track down all of these regardless of virtual validation (you can download 100 Bullets #1 down there for free), it would be excellent to see these four big comics names in your control.
   
   Mouse Guard
   Type: Adventure or RPG
   
   http://www.mouseguard.net
   
   This one is fairly young, and is mostly unknown outside the comics community, but after winning the Eisner (comic’s highest honor) last year, it is set to explode. Set in a human-less world inhabited only by mice in the twelfth century, the story focuses on a band of warriors whose job is to guard the mouse territories. It’s only two books in, but the sense of seeing a world through mouse eyes, coupled with writer/artist David Petersen’s ability to craft interesting locales, make this ripe for a good video game treatment. It already has a table-top RPG, so this isn’t even much of a leap. The visual style of, say, Braid is begging to be applied to be the world of Mouse Guard. The imagination with which the world is crafted would be immediately suited to, say, Rare.
   
   The Goon
   Type: Action
   
   http://www.thegoon.com
   
   “Upstream my apocalypse sways a congealed sandwich! Pickled doom is beheld!”
   
   As I understand it, Eric Powell’s Goon is actually celebrating his tenth anniversary. Despite this, he remains much less well known than fellow Dark Horse alumni Hellboy. A mob enforcer and protector of his small town against zombies, the real hook of the Goon is the darkly brutal humor that powers the story. When it was nominated for an Eisner, Powell decided the best response would be to emphasize his book’s art value with a two-page story about an imbecile smearing his own poo on his face. Conker, are you listening? Let’s just say this one would never avoid an M rating. But the combat potential, if coupled with Powell’s laugh-out-loud writing, could make for a great (and very bloody) game.
   
   100 Bullets
   Type: Action
   
   http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=1587
   
   This was on the docket for a time, and at one point in-game footage was actually shown. Then it just sort of fizzled. Now that the series has concluded its hundred-issue run is the perfect time to try again. D3 currently has the rights, but the game is in development hell. For those poor souls who’ve never read 100 Bullets, it basically goes like this: Agent Graves is an enigmatic figure who likes to show up to people whose lives are on the skids, carrying an attaché case. In the case is irrefutable evidence of who screwed up their lives, how they did it, and a pistol with 100 rounds of totally untraceable ammunition. As the plot unfolds, it becomes a crime drama that plumbs straight to the roots of America itself. That this perfect concept is not a game already is more a fluke than anything else; let’s hope that changes.
   
   The Spirit
   Type: Action/adventure
   
   http://www.willeisner.com/spirit/index.html
   
   Ignore the movie. Just ignore it. In the form it was intended for, Will Eisner’s classic Spirit was a masked detective who had more in common with wise-cracking heroes like Indiana Jones than with modern, over-powered superheroes. It’s unfortunate that because of the movie, many people will not know or care how good the comics were. A game translation could not only help correct that, but be damned fun to boot. I’m always a fan of when action games rely on wit as much as on fists, and as The Spirit was just a guy with a mask, he tended to employ both. If the writers who have kept the traditional Spirit alive (among them, Alan Moore and Darwyn Cooke) were tapped for the story, this could be great.

   
   

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Dead Pixels has 2 comment s on this chronicle.

1. MrBigJeezy
   Posted On Aug 23 2009

   I always dig your articles! Sorry I only just now got around to reading this one.
   
   I'll be patiently waiting for the next one in a coupe days
   
   Thanks again for an enjoyable read. 100 Bullets sounds way cool, and I'll definitely check it out first!

2. Dead Pixels
   Posted On Aug 18 2009

   I just wanted to make a couple of comments for readers as regards this week's column. I'm aware I've chosen something of an obscure topic. Comics are enjoying an artistic renaissance of sorts, but they're still far from household items. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who would have liked to see something this week they can immediately relate to.
   
   However, that's the exact reason I chose this as my topic this week. Even though games have only recently come into their own and started being "acceptable", and even though it wasn't that long ago that we gamers were mostly social outcasts, we quickly seem to be losing our ability to root for the little guy. I've talked at length about this before, so I won't hammer your eardrums with the details here.
   
   What I will say is, with the economy on its knees, it may seem like a good time to remain in our bubbles and oly venture outside of our accepted sphere of influence cautiously, if indeed we go at all. But if you give it some thought, it is the exact opposite. Tough times make things you may not have tried before more accessible. Comics can be found more cheaply, and publishers are taking chances they wouldn't take otherwise. A sort of paradox, but a true one.
   
   I'm well aware I can probably not count on many active members of the GoG to have read any of the four comics I discussed. And if anyone but me has read them all, I'll be shocked into (near) silence. But while we busy ourselves in the virtual world, there are many entire worlds of art and entertainment with reach of our fingers, which we do not explore. We mistake that fact. We think we cannot explore them, that they are closed to us, that we can't possibly open our minds far enough to allow them room.
   
   I'm far from arrogant enough to assume comics are the only one of these worlds, or even the best. Perhaps I'll look for other worlds to explore in this fashion in later columns. But for now I'm focusing on the chosen medium for (most) of my expression.
   
   Next week I'll be back to focusing on games themselves (for at least a while), but in the meantime, indulge me. And read something on that list, if you haven't done so. Like your parents used to see when you wouldn't eat a new food: try it, you'll like it.