Free.99 Monday Linkblogging
December 7th, 2009 by david brothers | Tags: charlie huston, hideo kojima, linkblogging, manga, metal gear solid, takehiko inoueFree things are awesome, yes? I think so, anyway. Here are some free things that you should check out and enjoy.
-Charlie Huston has more free books for you. This time, it’s the first Joe Pitt casebook, Already Dead. I recently finished the last book in this series, and overall I’m pretty pleased.
It’s available in several formats, all for free, so fire up the ebook reader and get to getting. It’s vampire fiction for people who like it bloody, pulpy, and vulgar, so hey. Get some.
-Takehiko Inoue, creator of Vagabond
No, that isn’t true. He’s done three. Buzzer Beater is online-only, released during a time when people said “World Wide Web,” drawn left-to-right, and in (sometimes garish) computer color. It’s also free. Check the characters here, then click here to begin the first chapter.
It’s a weird basketball manga, and aliens are treated very matter of factly, but it’s pretty enjoyable. I read half of it in one burst and the other half in one sitting, so it’s also pretty gripping. It may have been my first sports manga, because I doubt that Hikaru no Go counts as sports. The story is incomplete, but ends on a note that could easily be a real ending, rather than a cliffhanger.
–Metal Gear Solid is almost definitely my favorite non-Madden game franchise. I love the way that Kojima came up with this amazing story and groundbreaking gameplay, and then wrapped it all up in bizarre plot twists, baffling storytelling decisions, and a thick film of “This is art, that is why this is happening, do you get it?”
And I mean, I love it all unironically and unconditionally. MGS horrifically flawed and amazingly self-indulgent, but it’s given me four games that were some of my favorite gameplay experiences.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of humor about it all, though. That sense of humor got a workout when a friend pointed me to livejournal user hiimdaisy and her Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater strips. She’s gone through the whole series, so here are some links to posts that are simultaneously huge and hilarious:
MGS: one, two, three, four
MGS2: one, two, three, four
MGS3: one, two, three, four
MGS Portable Ops: one
There are ones for other games (incuding Persona 4!), so poke around the LJ a little bit. All are pretty much hilarious.
–Tim Callahan and Chad Nevett are back with their Splash Page. This time, the question is, “Are Mainstream Comics Increasingly Lame, or is it Just Us?” Parts one and two.
My answer? They’re increasingly lame. DC needed ugly plastic rings to move units and Marvel’s digging this heinous villain hole even deeper and wrecking believability in the process. When your Top Dog Villain kills sixty-thousand people just to get his way, you’re probably a little too extreme, possibly bordering on unbelievably dumb. But hey, keep sliding those colorforms around on the page. Rake in that money.
Similar Posts:
- Style, Substance, and Killer Is Dead
- Growing up with Metal Gear Solid
- Nisekoi: Love Hurts
- Infinite Jest
- Great Unlicensed Comic Book Games
Basketball manga, huh. That’s pretty cool. Some of my favorite manga are based in sports, like Hajime no Ippo. Basketball’s a great sport to cover. You know what manga I’d love to see though? Hockey. I was just discussing this with my friends the other day. Hockey’s a sport where the extreme violence and ludicrous strategies of manga characters can really shine. I doubt it will occur though, since hockey’s not that big in Japan.
I love REAL. it’s just so, for lack of a better word real. also BB looks neat, should check it out
love those MGS comics.
also you can insult stuff I like but when you put down my cherished cheap memorabilia you cross the line good sir >_>
upreading them, I must say he has a firm grasp of whatevery person ever wanted to say to Otacon.
also Johnny Sasaki XD
wow my keyboard messed up, meant to say “upon rereading them” and she.
I don’t think they’re lame, so much as the “internet intelligentsia” just lacks something to hype against.
Right now, most books not involved with the two companies big crossovers are just letting their own purpose speak for themselves, and while the press machine is staying quiet about the big plans until after the blockbusters are over, all the comic pundits have are small tales that are only interesting to those that are following the lower tier books, and while many are undoubtedly good, there isn’t a lot of excitement or rage to clamor about if you aren’t interested in Flamebird or Hercules.
I’m not sure this is the best place to mention this, but have you heard of “sword-and-soul”, David? It’s basically sword and sorcery fantasy written by black authors using a fantastical Africa as the setting. A real Africa, not the stereotypical “Dark Continent” of colonist stereotype, as mentioned in the article:
http://www.blackgate.com/2009/11/22/my-sword-and-soul-brother/
I think this is a supremely great thing. It’s kind of a shame how… white fantasy can be. I mean, look at Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea series. Ged is decidedly not white, but he’s usually drawn so. A lost opportunity.
[…] by david brothers Geoff Klock has a bit on the Callahan/Nevett Splash Page I mentioned and briefly remarked on yesterday. Between the ages of 15 and 20 I read all the X-Men books for five years — right after […]
hey bros, just a random note but if you have a Wii or know someone who does, then check out the original MG game. comes out for virtual console today.