Aaaahhhhh……(sigh of contentment)…Finally…Finally…FINALLY! Finally, early Ambush Bug issues have been reprinted. With the new mini-series out, my appetite was wet to re-read the old issues from the 80’s. For all you annoying comic fans who think that all comics need to make sense to be good, well, you’re wrong. Ambush Bug’s comics make absolutely no sense whatsoever, and they’re more entertaining than most comics out there.

Showcase Presents: Ambush Bug has reached my hands, and it’s like an old friend has returned. Starting with DC Comics Presents #52, featuring Superman and the Doom Patrol, Irwin Schwab, alias Ambush Bug, makes his first appearance as the annoying teleporting villain who gives the heroes grief. He makes his next appearance in DC Comics Presents #59, with Superman and the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Other appaerances in Supergirl and Action Comics lead to Ambush Bug’s first 4 issue mini-series, written by Robert Loren Fleming and plotted/drawn by Keith Giffen.

Now, Giffen’s writing in any comic has seldom made sense. However, it fits perfectly with the Bug. I remember going to the comic store in 1985 with Skinnerbox, buying Ambush Bug #1, taking it to his house, and reading it til I laughed my butt off. Who needs angst and drama and epic storytelling? Just give me a copy of Ambush Bug, any issue, and I’ll be fine. Showcase Presents: Ambush Bug is a more than welcome blast from the past.

And the new mini-series ain’t too shabby either!

And don’t forget Cheeks, the Toy Wonder!

My brother and I must have played this hundreds of times. This football boardgame stayed exciting the entire game. Each player secretly chose a play (offense and defense), then placed one card over the other. Holes in the card would show positive and negative numbers. Then one player would flick the spring and the pointer would stop “springing” and point at a number. The number would be the yards gained or lost. The better yardage would be listed in a smaller area of the card, which was harder for the pointer to point at. (Does any of this make sense? It really isn’t complicated.) A different version of NFL Strategy featured a spinner instead of the spring, which made more sense in the long run (no pun intended).

I think I know where this game is. Maybe I’ll pull it out and give it a spin.

This was never a Christmas present…except maybe to myself. Metal Mental Meltdown came out a few years ago. I read about it online and immediately ordered it! Holy Gorgoroth…what a game!

The rules work similar to Trivial Pursuit. You move around a pentagram, landing on spaces which determine the difficulty of the question. Whoever reaches 666 points first, wins. However, the game’s so difficult that we barely reached 50 points after three hours of play. Matter of fact, in all the times we’ve played it, I don’t think all of our scores combined in every game even come close to 666 points.

Even the “easy” questions are near impossible, which actually adds to the fun of the game. I get so excited when I answer one correctly that I squeal like a little girl.

Examples of questions:

1) Name the third song on Blood Amplifier’s second unreleased demo.

What the…??? I made the band name up, but there are actually questions like this. I’d never even heard of the band, much less be able to name a song on ANY album…and certainly not an unreleased demo!

Or…2) As of 1997, how many albums has Cradle Death (another made up name) released?  ANSWER: 12 or more…Meaning, I could say “872″ as my answer and be correct. Whoo-hoo!

Regardless, even though I can’t possibly see how metal fanatics would even know the answers, I still love the game. And it’s questions about metal! Come on…it’s pure blasphemous fun at its finest!

And no…this game never turned me into a Satanist either…

I spent hours and hours playing this electronic game as a kid. If I remember correctly, you were an adventurer trying to find treasure while being chased by a dragon. When you’d try to move your character one space at a time, you’d hear a sound telling you that you had just run into a wall. Otherwise, no noise, no wall. If you ran into a wall, you would then put a little wall piece on the board. Trying to blindly find the treasure before the dragon reaches you was actually quite fun.

Ahhhh yeah! Now THIS was a game! Each player moved around the board trying to escape the haunted house. Along the way, you drew cards which could cause your character to turn into a mouse. Another card makes you drop a whammy ball down the chimney, which comes out one of four different exits, which could knock things into you and move you back spaces. There’s even one part where you climb the stairs to win the game if you reach the top. Of course, the ol’ whammy ball could roll out that exit and send you crashing down the stairs! Good times.

And just look at the bowl-cuts on these quadruplet kids!

I spent many hours creating creatures and heroes with my very own Mighty Men & Monster Maker. Using different heads, bodies and legs on tiles, you could create multitudes of different characters and monsters.

I guess with video games the past two or three decades, kits like this don’t hold most kids’ interest anymore. But dagnabbit Johnny Rabbit…this was cool back in the day!

Man, oh man! I loved thse little guys! The villains above were from a later line of Micronauts. And the more well-known Micronauts… Acroyear, Time Traveler, Space Glider and Baron Karza…what cool looking action figures!

I remember setting them up on both sides of the bedroom along with their ships, which fired missiles, and having a war. Whoever knocked down the other’s Micronauts with the missiles won!

But does anyone have any idea why we could take their tiny little feet off?

Freakengine reviewed Star wars-The Force Unleashed video game. Now, I’m reviewing the novelization. Written by Sean Williams, the book adapts the story of the game. Starkiller, Darth Vader’s apprentice, is sent out to kill off the remaining enemies of the Empire. Full of deception, twists and turns, this book reads like a video game…fast-paced and full of battles with “bosses”.

And it actually felt like a video game while reading it. However, it was an interesting read, which filled the gaps between Episode 3 and 4.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t read many Star Wars books. I read the original Timothy Zahn books, along with Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. But I find it difficult to get really interested in a franchise-style book. In other words, I can’t read a Batman novel because I know it isn’t really a part of DC’s ongoing continuity. And although the Star Wars books ARE in continuity, I still can’t get past the franchise part. For some reason, I can read a comic series with ever-changing creative teams. But when it comes to books, I can’t keep my interest in it.

But enough of my ranting. If you enjoy Star Wars novels, The Force Unleashed is an interesting story (and an important one). I would’ve liked to see more back-story developed. However, it was a quick, fun read.

Okay, you can order Here Be Dragons: Tales of Dragoncon, edited by Bill Fawcett, at www.dragoncon.org. For those who frequent Dragoncon every year, this is a must have! Read the article below for more info.

Sounds strange, right? Well, there’s a book that was just released called Here Be Dragons: Tales of Dragoncon edited by Bill Fawcett. Featuring short stories by popular sci-fi/fantasy writers such as Robert Asprin, Janny Wurts, Todd McCaffrey, Jody Lynn Nye and Mike Resnick, all stories take place at Dragoncon.

For those who live under a rock and have no idea what Dragoncon is…it’s a huge sci-fi/fantasy/comic convention every Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. And the book captures the greatness of it. Reading it was like reliving every glorious moment at Dragoncon. From the Hyatt to the costumes, from the dealer room to the overcrowded elevators, I loved every word. It was well worth standing in line at the Dragoncon store that weekend to buy it!

And if you’re interested in reading it yourself…good freakin’ luck! It apparently doesn’t exist. Go to www.dragoncon.org to but it from the online store. Nope. Not there. Even though it was listed in Previews Magazine a couple of months ago, try checking Amazon.com, or any other online bookstore. Heck…I dare you to Google it. Just try it.

OR…you can check the Bill Fawcett & Associates site listed in the book. Yep, you guessed it. They’ve never heard of it! True. I emailed’em.

So, am I stuck in some fiction world I don’t know about? Will my copy crumble into dust never to be seen again, convincing me I dreamed the whole thing? Maybe. Or MAYBE, soon after you read this, it will start showing up online somewhere so you can actually purchase it. We’ll see.

That’s why there’s no picture of the book shown here. But IF you do happen to stumble upon this little gem, check it out. If you love Dragoncon, you’ll love this.