Salvo! - The Future is Dragons!

Apologies about the lack of recent updates, things have been pretty hectic lately. I'm going to try to make it to the comic shop tomorrow, but I might not be able to. I've already put up this weeks Togs of War, and continuing the draconian theme, War Correspondence will look at some well known dragons from Yu-Gi-Oh. That'll be sometime later this month, when I've finished the article. But till then, here's some of the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh releases.

18 November - Crossroads of Chaos
With Black Rose Dragon as the cover card, this pack finally allows you to build plant decks that can actually win. Also features the Morphatronic (read Transformers, but they're not allowed to use the name) the Iron Chain monsters, and synchro/tuners for zombie and spellcaster decks. It offically comes out in a few weeks, but I got to go to the sneak preview last week, where I pulled a Black Rose Dragon and two Iron Chain Dragons. So I don't need any more of these.

November? - Collectible Tins 2008 Wave 2
These are the Black Rose Dragon and Turbo Warrior tins. I can't find out the exact date, but its probably around the 18th too. I already have my Black Rose, so not sure if I'll get a BR tin to mach my Stardust one.

November 21 - Dark Legends
A new reprint set. You buy two packs at once, with a promo card: Gorz, Emissary of Darkness. Everyone's falling over in excitement over Gorz for some reason I can't fathom. Maybe its because I dislike dark monsters, and they don't. Rest of the details are sketchy, but the pack artwork features Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Blizzard Dragon, and Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest. Gellenduo and DH - Malicious will also be in it. I'd like a Gellenduo and a Green Baboon, but they're ultra rare, so I doubt I'll buy this.

8 December - Anniversary Pack
Another reprint…but this one has a twist. To celebrate the card game's 10th anniversary, a special pack is being released in Japan featuring new (and really cool-looking) artwork versions of famous cards like Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Celtic Guardian, Dark Magician Girl, and Jinzo. This appears to be the English version of the pack, though its not entirely certain. Will I get it? Depends on how rare the new Blue-Eyes and Jinzo cards are...and how much money I have left after buying Christmas presents.

9 December - Crossroads of Chaos - Special Edition
One of the Promo Cards is the gemini zombie Il Blud, who I could care less about. The other one, however, is Harvest Angel of Wisdom, which I really would like to get to fill out my Ragnarok deck, which is a bit light on good level 4 monsters.

Salvo! - The War draws nearer...

Marvel's War of Kings hub went up a few days ago. I haven't been able to watch the DnA video cause my internet connection isn't fast enough...grrr....anyone feel like enlightening me on what they said?

Oh, and if you're wondering why the title of my comic reviews changed from From the Trenches to From the Front, its because Front will be reviews of individual books, while Trenches will be a reviews of entire story arcs. I've noticed my opinions of story arcs changing when I read them as a whole, so whenever an arc ends I'll review the whole arc and compare it to previous arcs of the book (if I have them). You can blame Brian Bendis for giving me this idea. I'll also slot any trades I buy into Trenches rather than Front. So you can expect the next Trenches to be on the X-Factor and GoG Secret Invasion tie-ins - if X-Factor #33 ever makes it to South Africa.

After singing the praises of the 5D's Exclusive Tins - I won't be getting one. I bought the Stardust Dragon Collectors Tin and was lucky enough to find Goyo Guardian inside, so I don't need to get the Goyo Guardian tin. Yay. I can spend my money on the Incredible Herc Love and War trade instead.

Salvo! - Add one to the mutant count

So I looked up Major Victory to see who he actually was besides a futuristic version of Justice belonging to a group called the Guardians of the Galaxy, and found something I should have already known - Major Victory is a mutant. With the X-gene. Now this is important, so pay attention. The future that Major Victory is from has mutants in it. This kinda makes sense - the Guardians of the Galaxy universe diverged from the main universe when Major Victory convinced his younger self not to join NASA which happened before the Scarlet Witch said 'No More Mutants.' Although, according to Endangered Species, all alternate realities lost their mutants at the same time as ours.

But Forge picked up two possible futures with mutants in them. So, obviously, he either missed the GOG future, or it is one of the two he picked up. We know one of the two timelines is a Days of Future Past approximation, but we still don't know what the other is. Or what happened to the dupe of Madrox who was sent there. Or why Major Victory came back to the present from his future.

Of course, its likely that no one thought of any of this when they decided to bring Major Victory back, and I'm just weaving conspiracy theories again. Except that Peter David is writing She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision, in which Quasar's sword and some of the female Guardians appear. Peter David and DnA have been talking about something.

Salvo! - More Namor

Best news in a long time:

'There are big plans afoot for Namor after Secret Invasion wraps up.'

(from My Cup o' Joe)

That is all I wanted to say.

Salvo! - Comics Go South

As much as I love living in South Africa, it has its downsides. I know of only one comic store in Durban, Kick Ass Komix. Fortunately they can get any comic I ask them for. Unfortunately there's not a big enough demand in SA for them to be a full time store; the owners have other jobs, so the shop is only open on Wednesday and Friday evenings, and on Sunday. Last week Wednesday Guardians, Uncanny, X-Factor, and Layla Miller all come out in the states. Which means they'll arrive here this week. Unless I'm really lucky, they'll only be in store on Friday. I won't be in Durban on Friday evening. So I may have to wait till Sunday to get them (and review them). Le sigh.

Salvo! - Marvel Pocketbooks

Salvo! is a quick thought that I'll post randomly when I think of it.

I'm liking these Marvel Pocketbooks. I got Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus a few weeks ago, and I've just bought X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, which I've wanted to read. Marvel Pocketbooks are basically half-scale trade paperbacks. I'm not sure such small writing is good for my eyes, but they're only R79.95. (It says £3.99 on the back) I can't read it today cause I've got band practice, but I'm looking forward to reading it tomorrow. I'm just not sure that all the pocketbooks should be sitting in the 'Children's book' section…

Tomorrow Evening: Leslie Charteris on the drawbacks of the Saint's elastic timeline.