News Roundup 07.27.2021

Hey y’all. Welcome back to the news! We have a ton of news from throughout the pop culture landscape. This is a big one (1300+ words!). Also this past week, we had a Featured Review based on the newest Superman comic, Superman and the Authority and a Comic Reviews  piece about last week’s issues you can read before starting this week’s lot. Those were very fun and worth checking out.

Anyway, let’s get to the news!

DC Goes Horror For Halloween

Task Force Z is a new Suicide Squad offshoot that sees Red Hood lead a group of undead Batman villains to discover why they’re undead. It’s written by Matthew Rosenberg, a writer whose characters I do not care for but that creates interesting plots and scenarios for said characters. Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Adriano Lucas are the art team so it will assuredly be a beautiful comic, though.

There is also DC Vs. Vampires, co-written by Rosenberg and James Tynion IV with art by Otto Schmidt. It’s a 12-issue series about DC characters fighting vampires. Perhaps most interesting is this series was originally going to be Tynion’s primary DC work after leaving Batman following issue #100. Obviously, he didn't leave that series and is currently spearheading the line. This is not a comic I am especially interested in, but certainly has potential.

A New Era of Hulk

Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Immortal Hulk is ending soon, but do not distress! A new star-studded team is relaunching the comic. Donny Cates will be writing with Ryan Ottley on art. Crossover is the only comic I've read from former and while it is good, I am not in love with the series. Ottley, on the other hand, I have extensive experience with and am a big fan. That combination might be enough for me to check out the series. I try most new teams on Hulk as I search for a version of the character with which I connect.

Wonder Woman is Having an Anniversary

Princess Diana turns 80 later this year! To celebrate, DC is releasing a bunch of one-shots and new miniseries to join those already ongoing like the core Wonder Woman series and Wonder Woman: Black and Gold.

Of most interest to me are a miniseries starring Nubia and one exploring the history of the Amazons. The former puts the spotlight on the current Queen of the Amazons. Nubia is a cool character that does not get a lot of focus so I'm excited to see what Vita Ayala, Stephanie Williams, Alitha Martinez, and Mark Morales can do with her.

Wonder Woman Historia is a Black Label series from Kelly Sue DeConnick with art handled by the murderers’ row of Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, and Nicola Scott. Each artist is taking an issue, presumably set in different time periods. I love big expensive explorations of backstory and world building, whether it’s in narrative form or not. It’s also nice this comic has such a cool creative team.

Lost In Random is Coming in September

I’m quite sure what to make of the gameplay shown for this. It looks like a very specific take in an action-adventure game. The kind of thing that was fairly common in the PS2 era. Similarly, it has that clearly-inspired-by-Tim-Burton aesthetic that would crop up around that time. Accordingly, it looks quite cool.

Unfortunately, Lost in Random is releasing on September 10^th, the most packed day of the year! Life is Strange: True Colors, WarioWare: Get It Together!, and Tales of Arise also drop that day. I’m a little scared this neat little game will get lost in the shuffle.

Dead Space is Back

Dead Space might be the only major 7^th generation series I have no experience with. I have never played them or even seen a long play or stream. Other than the diegetic health bar and an emphasis on severing enemy limbs, I know as close to nothing as possible. I had recently considered purchasing the main trilogy for my PS3, but with a remake on its way, I may hold off. I'm just not sure if it would play better starting from the new and moving to the old.

Finally, New Yu-Gi-Oh Video Games!

With the exception of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, a monetized out the ass mobile game, there has not been a new video game in the franchise in five years. So, color me surprised when Konami announced three at once!

First up is Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, which appears to be Konami’s version of Pokémon TCG Online or Magic the Gathering Arena, is coming to everything but the Ouya and already has cross play confirmed. There are no specifics on how the game will be structured or monetized, though. Konami did announce Master Duel will be a new World Championship category, which is exciting. There is no release date.

Next, Yu-Gi-Oh! Cross Duel. This one is a mobile game centered around four player duels. This is something everyone has wanted since that single four-way duel back in 2002. Again, there is not much information to go on here nor a release date announced.

Finally, Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel Saikyo Battle Royale, which I’m sure will get a different name for its western release, is based on the current anime season, Sevens. Unlike previous seasons, Sevens does not focus on a new summoning mechanic, but an entire new ruleset known as Rush Duels., which are similar to Speed Duels. I’m intrigued by this new format and can’t wait to play it when it releases sometime later this year.

Its Persona’s Anniversary and They Have Announcements!

Without realizing it, I decided to venture through the pre-Persona 4 games in the series to commemorate the 25^th anniversary. So, I have been celebrating long before Atlus. And to celebrate, Atlus…put out some (admittedly nice) art and announced there will be seven announcements later. It is a strange tactic but could pay off. I think I have figured out the seven projects so allow me to make predictions:

·        The Persona 5 fighting game

·        Persona 6

·        A Persona 6 anime adaptation

·        A Persona stage play

·        A remake or remaster of the original game or Persona 3

·        A SuperGroupies collaboration

·        Probably a pop-up café or something

There is some reasoning behind each one, though most are obvious. The other thing I’ve considered is a remaster of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, which features a character the game teases as a future protagonist. If it was decided to finally use that character, it would be smart to make it easier for fans to get his origin. it seems he mostly morphed into Joker in P5, though, and we probably won’t see that guy again.

Super Robot Wars Is Coming West!

Finally, finally, Super Robot Wars is getting an official western release with Super Robot Wars 30 coming to Steam in October. I understand it’s a licensing nightmare so its extremely thrilling to actually get an official release here. For anyone that does not know, SRW is a giant anime mech crossover game so there are representatives from Gundam, Mazinger Z, Code Geass, and numerous other well-known and lesser-known series. Most importantly, Magic Knight Rayearth is there!

There’s a New Dragon Ball Movie

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is a definitively bad name, but it can’t stop the hype. I assume this will pick up on the Frieza threads left dangling at the end of the Super anime. The manga mentioned it in brief passing, along with Broly, presumably to allow the anime to tell that story. Perhaps most notably, the Goku model in the trailer is 3D as opposed to traditionally animated. That could mean it was easier to go that route for this brief teaser or the upcoming film will be a drastic change.

Also, there’s a red Dragon Ball with a gold star. I wonder what that’s about.