Tales of Supervillainy: Villains Out Shopping is out!

 
The 11th Supervillainy Saga book, TALES OF SUPERVILLAINY: VILLAINS OUT SHOPPING is now available for purchase. An anthology collecting the funniest and craziest tales of the superheroes of the Supervillainy Saga. You don't need familiarity with the series to enjoy its hilarious handling of superhero tropes but it helps.

“What do villains do in their spare time?”

 The Supervillainy Saga has primarily centered around the misadventures of Gary Karkofsky AKA Merciless: The Supervillain without MercyTM. Nevertheless, each volume has revealed more heroes and villains that have made the world almost as complex as publications that have gone on for decades.

TALES OF SUPERVILLAINY: VILLAINS OUT SHOPPING is an anthology with over a dozen tales of these individuals alongside some wholly original Gary stories. Mr. Inventor, Gizmo and Ms. Terri, Nighthuntress, Kerri Karkofsky, Damselfly, Diabloman, plus the Freelancer all have stories within. We also get stories of Gary up against monsters ranging from Cthulhu’s daughter to...William Shatner? That can’t be right (but it is).

This is a collection of both old and original stories set within the Supervillainy Saga. Enjoy the wild and zany antics of the best and worst of C.T. Phipps’ creations.

Available here 

Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition review

 
    I have a mixed relationship with Warhammer 40K. I'm a huge fan of the setting but also went for about ten years without reading much material of it. I think I just fell out of the fandom due to other things preoccupying me. Still, I have a great affection for the grimdark future and could recommend many series to people hoping to get into it. Also, I've played plenty of the games.

    Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition is a remaster of the classic chainsword and bolt gun game that has since gotten its sequel in the extremely popular Space Marine II. Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition includes all the DLC, brings it up to 4K resolution, runs at 60 fps, better lighting, better audio, and has high fidelity upscaled graphics. In other words, it’s just a re-release with fixes for modern consoles. A warning for those poor Playstation 5 players, even though it’s been out for a year, it remains exclusive to Xbox Series X|S and PC. I played the original game in 2011 and was eager to give this one a try.

    As expected from the title, Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition is set in the grim dark future of Warhammer 40,000. All the usual tropes are present with the galaxy’s Imperium of Mankind under siege by malevolent forces (be they Orks or Chaos) and the only advantage humanity having be the (almost) invincible super soldiers, the Space Marines. This time, you play Captain Titus (Mark Strong), who is a member of the Ultramarines chapter. 

    The story is simple: an Imperial Forgeworld has come under attack by Orks and is too valuable to simply scour all life from orbit. That this is even considered, let alone the first idea anyone proposes, is something that tells you just about everything you need to know about Warhammer 40K. The Ultramarines are dispatched and given the job of liberating the planet’s incredibly important mecha and, if they have time, save some of its people. What follows is a surprisingly well-acted and written story from beginning to end.

    The gameplay of Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition is direct but functional. Titus wanders through various arenas and battles the endless hordes of Orks or Chaos forces. You can use one of four sci-fi guns or your melee weapon (the iconic chain sword or a power axe). You often have two backup Space Marine NPCs to provide cover fire but are just as often alone. If you suffer from injuries, you can stun an enemy and regenerate your health by slaughtering them in a particularly graphic execution.

    Mark Strong does a fantastic job acting as Titus, successfully capturing the attitude of a guy who has absolute confidence in his abilities but not necessarily the same from his subordinates. The enemy variety is okay with a dozen or so variants on Orks as well as similar numbers for the Chaos forces. The environment is almost entirely industrial ruins, factories, and sewers but they are all extremely well rendered. Even so, the campaign is not something that is going to impress anyone with its originality and didn’t even in 2011.

    Roughly, the biggest problem of Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition is that it is very much standard feeling its gameplay. Even what it innovates like adding a jumper (rocket pack) is removed almost immediately after you get to briefly play with it. The game does what it does extremely well, though. If it gets a bit repetitive, the game is broken into neat little sections and gives you the option of repeating the ones you enjoyed at any point. The multiplayer DLC is included but is certainly fine. 

    In conclusion, Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition is a pretty good investment at forty dollars but not something I would recommend if it was any higher priced. Even then, I got it on sale. The gameplay is serviceable and the story is fun, especially for Warhammer 40K fans. However, the level design doesn’t blow me away and it can get repetitive after a few hours. So, this is a game best probably handled in spurts.

8/10

Tales of Supervillainy: Villains Out Shopping Cover Reveal

I've got the edits backs for VILLAINS OUT SHOPPING (Supervillainy Saga #11) and here is the list of short stories, novelettes, and vignettes included. Some of them are familiar to y'all who have been purchasing the Kindle versions while others are completely new. The anthology exists to give smaller adventures of Gary and company but also some perspectives on the world outside of his. 

I am particularly fond of "The Silence of the City" and "Assault on Securitron Industries" for their perspectives from a most Un-Gary-like character.

1. Foreword
2. Merciless Versus Sidekick Girl [Merciless and Sidekick Girl] 
3. The First Kill [Agent G] 
4. Jane Versus the Black Knight [Jane Doe] 
5. Silence of the City [Mr. Inventor] 
6. Escape From Ironhyde [Damselfly] 
7. The Freelancer’s Cunning Plan [The Freelancer] 
8. Dungeons and Garys [Merciless] 
9. Honor is Just a Word [Wraith Knight] 
10. Merciless Versus Hitler [Merciless] 
11. Merciless Versus William Shatner [Merciless, Ms. Teri, Gizmo] 
12. The Haunting of Stately Warren Manor [Kerri Karkofsky and Diabloman] 
13. Merciless Versus Shoot-Em-Up [Merciless] 
14. Assault on Securitron Industries [Nighthuntress] 

Owners of Tales of Capes and Cowls will note we're reusing the art but substituting a new cover for that book (which has some of these short stories).

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2: Loose Cannon review

    VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE: BLOODLINES 2 is a game that I very much enjoyed but has also been panned as a major downgrade from its predecessor. The behind-the-scenes shows that once it got cancelled the first time, that was always going to be the case. One element that is interesting is that the season pass would originally introduce two new clans but after fan outrage, ended up being used for DLC about minor characters: Benny Muldoon and Ysabella Moore.

    These are odd choices for the protagonists because both of them are villains in the campaign and genuine scumbags no less. Benny Muldoon is a corrupt cop and the Sheriff of Seattle that has ditched his current duties in order to hunt down Thin Bloods. Thin Bloods being those vampires who are so weak they might as well be human.

    I just finished my playthrough of LOOSE CANNON and I am torn on my opinion because it's extremely good content...for while it lasts. Benny Muldoon was not a character that I particularly wanted to revisit because he's a Thin Blood hating scumbag psychopath with all the depth of a puddle. I wanted more Phyre and Fabien with possibly some of the game's lost content being restored but I always secretly knew that was never going to happen. If they were going to hire voice actors or other people then they would have done it for the original announcement of the DLC to replace the cordoned off Clans.

    Still, I have to say this is probably some of the best content for V:TM:B2. Benny has a quality about him that separates him from 90% of Bloodlines 2's NPCs: he's actually interesting and has a distinct personality. Benny hates the courts, hates Thin Bloods, and loves his sire but while this isn't much of a personality, it's more than most of Seattle's Kindred. We get to see his promotion to Sheriff, his reaction to Campbell's death, and what events led him to being recruited into the Sabbat.

    The gameplay is really the biggest benefit, though, because Benny can use melee weapons and has a gun that compensates for his lack of telekinesis. Only having the Brujah tree of powers also makes the character challenges more difficult. The ability to use melee weapons is also something that carries over to the main game. Plus, you can reload Benny's gun with the bullets of the Anarchs you kill. I suspect the Toreador DLC will add the ability to use every variety of gun.

    We honestly don't learn that much about Benny from the DLC and most of what we do learn could be inferred from the main game. Even so, it does give a different perspective to Phyre's rampage through the city and implies that the police think something absolutely massive is occurring (and is).

    The problem with the game is that it is still blindingly short. I finished it at about an hour and a half with no real ability to expand beyond that. You slaughter a bunch of Thin Bloods and Sabbat with a decent boss fight against a Lasombra before it's over. Is it work 15 dollars? I don't know, really, but the improvements to the main game are probably the real benefit to buying this DLC. Still, it wasn't boring and I appreciated that.

7/10

Writing Plans for 2026

My current plans for books in progress:

1. VILLAINS OUT SHOPPING (short story collection - Done) 
2. CTHULHU's CANYON
3. WORLD'S WORST SUPERHERO 
4. GODS OF SUPERVILLAINY 
5. The final Predestiny book
6. SPACE ACADEMY TEACHERS

 

I have two World of Darkness novel manuscripts I need to rewrite to make into United States of Monsters ones, which is harder than it sounds.

 

Also, the Supervillainy Saga comic is in production with some beautiful art.

 

Basically, I need to buckle down and choose a project to focus on.

[Book Giveaway] The Fall of Supervillainy and Return of Supervillainy free from April 10 to 15th

Hey folks,

I have some great news for fans of the SUPERVILLAINY SAGA (both of you!). Specifically, both the 9th and 10th books of the series, THE FALL OF SUPERVILLAINY and RETURN OF SUPERVILLAINY are available for free from April 10th to April 15th! Thanks to the mods for permission!

The Fall of Supervillainy

Gary Karkofsky AKA Merciless: The Supervillain without MercyTM successfully has 'rebooted' his universe and tried to make the world a peaceful one where good is ascendant over evil (and he's rich as Hell). Unfortunately, Gary's lack of knowledge of godlike powers results in the universe starting to crumble. He must find a way to fix it before it collapses and that means visiting SPACCCE and a fantasy world where there's a suspiciously Tomb of Horrors-esque location. Also, who is Larry Karkofsky? The young trans paladin who shares Gary's name?

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG4Z92M4?_bbid=209873592&tag=individualbookpagesite-20

The Return of Supervillainy

Gary successfully defends the Super Duper Splotch Man in a legal case where he manages to get said superhero's marriage back from the Devil he (accidentally?) sold it too. However, this is just the start of his adventures as Merciless finds himself dragooned into the government's wetwork plans to eliminate the dictator of Tomorrow Island. Unfortunately, Helios the Sun King is a controversial figure who many Supers view as a savior for their kind. Gary also has a past with the figure that he is only now remembering.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F89LZNC1?_bbid=331404485&_bbtype=blog

Enemy of my Enemy: A Daredevil Marvel Crime Novel by Alex Segura review

    ENEMY OF MY ENEMY by Alex Segura is the second superhero novel I've read by Alex Segura. The first was ARANA AND SPIDER-MAN 2099, which had the hilarious premise of teaming up two much-neglected characters to face against Judas Traveler (quite possibly the most hated supervillain concept of all time with the possible exception of Paul Rabin). I loved it and thought it was an incredibly goofy but loyal to the characters who have always deserved better. Yes, I'm a guy salty about the fact Miguel is the villain of the second Spider-Verse universe and wonder what Peter David (RIP) thought.

    The premise is that the Punisher has murdered the Kingpin and Matt Murdoch AKA Daredevil has the task of defending him. This is an incredibly strong premise and reminiscent of the second season of the Netflix Daredevil show even if that about defending Frank Castle in general versus killing Wilson Fisk. My first thought was, of course, "I really hope they don't backtrack on this. This is an alternate universe so there's no reason they have to." Unfortunately, it's only chapter later that we find out the Medical Examiner was kept from analyzing Wilson Fisk's body and most readers will deduce this is like those covers that state a hero will die this issue (only for it to turn out to be a clone or something). This is less a spoiler than my reaction and, who knows, maybe my finely tuned comic book reader instincts were wrong.

    Still, Alex Segura has a pretty good grasp on Matt Murdoch and the story is about his moral conundrum of defending a man that he knows to be a mass murderer. The best parts of the novel are also Matt wrestling with the fact that he feels no small sense of joy at Wilson Fisk's death (this is a post Born Again [comic] storyline so many references are made to the Kingpin destroying Matt's life even if specifics like Nuke aren't mentioned). Matt is so deep in his own righteousness, he feels guilty even for wanting Wilson dead even if he didn't do anything to bring him down.

    We also get the inclusion of no less than three former Daredevil girlfriends to compensate for the fact
Karen Page is (still) dead in this universe. Elektra, Dakota North, and Typhoid Mary all show up at various points in the story to comment on both how much they still care for Matt while also privately (or not so privately) bemoaning what a terrible boyfriend he is. Matt is also in a relationship with an original character working in Internal Affairs and it doesn't take long for Daredevil to torpedo this relationship by exploiting it for help in his vigilante efforts despite what a gross betrayal this is. This shows that Alex Segura has a good grasp of who Matt Murdoch is and his often hypocritical self-righteousness.

    The book has flaws even if I overall enjoyed it. Some of the cast are slightly out of character even accounting for an alternate Marvel universe. Would Frank Castle ever make a deal with organized crime even if it managed to get him closer to some big wigs that he wants to kill? Would Matt Murdoch not be able to tell that two women he's had, uh, intimate relations with are the same person even if they are in disguise? His blindness doesn't work that way. Would Bullseye ever work as someone's bodyguard versus just an assassin for hire?

    Overall, I really enjoyed Enemy of my Enemy. Alex Segura has a deep love for the Marvel universe and manages to thread the needle that it's close enough to the Netflix shows that fans of them will enjoy it while keeping it comics-related. The absence of Karen Page for Netflix fans will be an issue but I'm confused why she's still dead in the comics myself (because comics). I am already interested in picking up the third of these Marvel Crime Novels. If I have any complaints, it's the 28 dollar Kindle price tag, which is outrageous. I strongly suggest people pick up the Audible version instead.

Available here