Archives October 2022

Flaws and Choices with Smoking in Comics

IS IT A NECESSARY FORM OF CENSORSHIP BY ELIMINATING SMOKING IN COMICS OR A MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH A LESSON?

“Hey Bub, want a cigar?” – Wolverine

First off, let me say I don’t condone smoking unless you are of legal age, but never has anyone walked up to me on the street and asked me that. Trust me, I’ve walked down a lot of awful streets. I bring this up because something is starting to bother me. Why can’t Wolverine have a cigar anymore? Yes I know Marvel issued a ban on smoking in comics, and Disney doesn’t allow smoking in it’s movies. But why can’t a character be flawed? Have we lost our own abilities to make a choice?

J. Jonah Jameson smoking a cigar never made me want to smoke a cigar. Watching Ben Grimm smoking a cigar never made me want to smoke a cigar. You get the picture. Now, I bet your saying, “Well smoking is bad, and our children shouldn’t see Super Heroes smoking cigarettes and cigars.” Well ok. That’s a great opinion. But when I read Spider-Man starting at 5 years of age, half of the characters in Marvel smoked. Hell, back then they sold candy gum cigarettes that blew sugar out of them to replicate smoke. 

I’m sure at some point I asked my parents what Ben Ulrich was doing. My Mom probably said “It’s a cigarette. Don’t ever do it, it’s bad for you.” Too bad we rarely listen to our parents. Now a days some kids barely have interaction with their parents. Let us be honest here. If kids are looking up to heroes, then should heroes be flawed? Just like people in real life? A person who smokes cigarettes is not a monster just for smoking. Real life heroes can be flawed. We have alcohol consumption, drug use, racism, physical violence, murder, and any other possible crime in almost everything we read. Comics teach what is right and what is wrong every day. So why is smoking the most horrible thing banned from some comics?

Instead of ignoring the issue, take it head on. Have other characters berate the heroes into quitting. Don’t just make it disappear. We, as kids and adults deal with these issues night and day for our whole lives. As a kid who read comics, and related to so many situations with characters growing up, smoking was the least of my worries. Let’s face it kids have it harder every year. Comics can teach some kids more values and decision making than anyone in real life. Smoking in comics can be used in other ways to make a point. So let Wolverine have a cigar with his beer. Let people make their own decisions. Ignoring issues, doesn’t solve the problem.

THIS HAS BEEN DRUNKEN SPIDEY.  UNTIL NEXT TIME, THROW ME A BEER.

Holidays: Memories and Wishes

I WISH I COULD GO BACK IN TIME TO THE HOLIDAYS, AN 80’S CHRISTMAS. I JUST WANT TO FEEL THAT EXCITEMENT OF COMING DOWN THE STAIRS INTO THE LIVING ROOM.

My eyes popping out of my sockets, seeing those lovely wrapped He-Man shaped presents I so loved sitting under the Christmas tree. How many were mine? How many were my brothers? My eyes would dart from one gift to the next looking for my name on one of the gift tags. For example, the gift tags would always read

To: Tiny Tim

From:

Yeah it was just blank. Always left blank. Apparently, if Santa didn’t want to sign his name to the packs of socks and underwear he left us, he felt guilty about signing the toys. He just didn’t want to be associated with any crap gifts on his milk drunken night. Breaking into people’s houses and eating food was where he drew the line on his criminal empire.  

My father always worked nights. He wouldn’t get home until about 9 or 10 in the morning.  Leaving my mother alone at 4am on a Christmas morning, with 3 young kids, trying to sneak out of their rooms across the most squeaky wooden hallways I have ever known. We were just trying to see if Santa came. About 2 steps out of the bedroom my mother would scream, “IF YOU DON’T GET BACK IN YOUR ROOMS RIGHT NOW, I’LL CALL SANTA AND TELL HIM TO TAKE YOUR TOYS BACK, AND I’M CANCELING CHRISTMAS!!!!”  

Around 6 a.m. my mom would let us come out of our rooms. We could go downstairs, but not touch any presents under the tree. Leaving us just staring at our names on each present. Just waiting for the front door to open and see my Dad walking through, added to the anxiety and excitement. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on those wonderful toys. Eventually Dad would get home, and Mom would pass out the presents.

This is an example of the 80’s. That’s me in the bottom left. My brother, sister, Mom and Dad are also featured. I have no idea who the kid is in the Raggedy Andy outfit.

It’s very disturbing right now that I might have a lost sibling right now, homeless wearing that ridiculous outfit. You know what? Let’s not go back to the 80’s, tis a silly place.

We didn’t always have a lot of money growing up. But there was always one solid thing I can remember, and that was Christmas.  Some how, no matter how many jobs my Mom, and Father worked, or how tight money was, we always had presents under the tree. It made the Saltines with peanut butter and jelly dinner nights all worth it.

The older I got, the more I realized that the holidays aren’t about Toys, Comics, Video Games, clothes, it’s about those mushy things some people have that they call feelings.  So sit back with your egg nog, beers, and glasses of wine and remember all those nostalgic moments of your youth.  Try not to kill your siblings or any other family members and remember how fortunate you are to be there at that moment.  If all else fails, just keep drinking egg nog. I know I will.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! THIS HAS BEEN DRUNKEN SPIDEY. UNTIL NEXT TIME, THROW ME A BEER!

Founder of Namco, Masaya Nakamura Passes Away At Age 91

(Originally Printed February 1st, 2017)

IN HONOR OF MASAYA NAKAMURA. “MOM? DAD? CAN I HAVE A QUARTER?” THAT QUESTION WAS PROBABLY UTTERED IN THE 1980S MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE BECAUSE OF PAC-MAN.

The only thing that probably came in a close second was “Doesn’t New Coke suck?”

Masaya Nakamura, founder of Namco, and known as “the father of Pac-Man”, passed away January 22nd. His death was announced on January 30th by Namco. He was the man responsible for flooding every pizza shop, mall arcade, and store breezeway with a Pac-Man arcade machine during the 1980s. You couldn’t walk without tripping over one of the damn machines.

Pac-Man was designed and created by Toru Iwatani while distributed and produced by Namco. Under Masaya’s leadership, Namco made sure we will never forget his part of a world wide success Pac-Man would be. Pac-Man holds the throne for the highest grossing arcade game of all time.

In the early days of Namco, Masaya manufactured small amusement rides for stores and malls. Seeing the potential and growth of video games he started hiring programmers, staff, and started developing many popular games for distribution. In his later life he became a movie producer. He stepped down from Namco in 2002.

Without Masaya’s vision and tenacity to tap into the little known market of video games, we might all have been stuck with pong forever. Next time you see one of those vintage Pac-Man arcade machines pop in a quarter, and remember Masaya. Thank him by keeping his dream!

THIS HAS BEEN DRUNKEN SPIDEY.  TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE PAC-MAN MOMENT AND UNTIL NEXT TIME, THROW ME A BEER.

Dead Rising 4, Xbox One Review

YOU JUST HAD THANKSGIVING DINNER. ALL THE FOOTBALL GAMES ARE FINISHED. YOU TOOK YOUR TURKEY COMA NAP. WHAT’S NEXT TO DO? LINE UP AT THE MOTHA TRUCKIN MALL FOR BLACK FRIDAY SALES! THAT’S WHAT YOU DO IN DEAD RISING 4!

Frank West is back, and he returns where it all started with Dead Rising 4! Welcome to Willamette Colorado, and its Black Friday at the grand reopening of the Willamette shopping mall. What could possibly go wrong? Apparently, a lot.

Dead Rising 4 takes place in the year 2022, (Holy Shit, I’m redoing this article in 2022, I’m disappointed, no zombie outbreaks.) 16 years after the original incident. Frank gets drawn back in by a ZDC (Zombie Defense and Control) agent Brad Park, looking for one of Frank’s ex students, Vicky Chu. A few years earlier Vicky tricked Frank into investigating a secret military test facility for zombie research. After a stealthy investigation, Vicky and Frank are discovered by what seems to be a rogue military unit.  Vicky takes off on Frank, and leaves him on his own to escape.

All images courtesy of CAPCOM

Some time later Frank is convinced to join Brad on a military chopper and whisked away to the new Willamette Mega Plex shopping mall. For some reason they rebuilt the mall even bigger than before. (Its 2016 and I cant find a mall that has less than 20 closed stores anchored by a Bon Ton and a Sears, but Willamette is jammed full of any kind of store you can think of.  Hang on 1980’s malls the future looks bright for you!) The chopper crash lands smack dab into the food court and away we go!

First thing I want to say is way to go Capcom! No longer are we plagued with a “gotta get there now timer or you’re Greg Fockered scenario”. Dead Rising 4 plays out pretty much how you’ve wanted to play the series since it started. You can take your time through every section of the mall until you are ready to leave. Each new section is opened up by reaching a checkpoint of sorts. But feel free to go back to any section any time and just do your thing.

There are weapons and power ups in every nook and cranny that would make an English Muffin cry in shame. Plenty of craft-able special items to make. Feel free to earn xp to level your character up to your playing style with special perks. Take that unique photo, or selfie with the new camera system!  Multiple amounts of vehicles to drive and get your Deathrace on in any part of the game!

The graphics are beautiful for the setting. I cant remember being bogged down too much even with what seemed like a thousand enemies on screen at any given time. The sound is over the top squishy and crunchy with that special Christmas elevator music playing in the background. Everything just fits extremely well together.

There are minor flaws I found that can be slightly irritating. Sometimes you can see through some of the walls when the camera pans around. The way point on the compass can be hard to follow and you just end up on the wrong side of the mall even though you know in your head your traveling in the right direction. Sometimes when you’re crafting items, and need to break away from an incoming attack the blue print can stay on the screen an annoying amount of time.

The multiplayer is hordes of zombie fun! Players need to work together to achieve several different tasks to move on to the next challenge. Defuse the bombs, take pictures of a group of objects, or Focker up that boss blocking your way to the next section of the mall.

Overall, I really have to give this 5 beers out of a six pack. Ever since watching Dawn of Dead I’ve always wanted to be trapped in a mall with zombies. Call me “crazy”, saying that, but the joke’s on you. I’m pretty drunk.

This has been Drunken Spidey. Until next time, throw me a beer!