Tag Archives: Steve Epting

Dec 10 2013

Velvet 2

velvet 2

Today, Shelby and Ethan are discussing Velvet 2, originally released December 4th, 2013.

Shelby: I do so enjoy a good spy thriller. There’s something about the James Bonds, the Jason Bournes, the Ethan Hunts that is just impossibly cool. They’ve got the neatest gadgets and the most impressive skills. The life of a spy is built on lies, no one can really be trusted. The story is intrigue layered on mysteries, usually layered on top of betrayal. That’s why I think the mole-hunt/double agent story is my favorite kind of spy thriller; it transforms the necessity of the secrets and lies into a liability. Who better to hide from spies than another spy? Who could take down a secret agency other than one of its own? How is an agency supposed to find a mole when all its own tricks are being used against it? Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting take on these questions in their spy thriller Velvet, and it is exactly as fun as you would think.
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Jun 4 2013

New Avengers 6

new avengers 6

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing New Avengers 6, originally released May 29th, 2013. 

slim-banner

Patrick: My favorite game in the Resident Evil series is the 2002 Game Cube remake of the original. There were a lot of ways that it improved on the quality of the first game, while finding inventive new ways to escalate that feeling that everything could fall apart at a moment’s notice. The most startling addition to the game was that any zombie that hadn’t been properly decapitated (or burned) could re-rise from the dead and attack you as some kind of super-zombie. The in-game written materials speak of this in vagaries, but you’re largely left to discover this new gameplay mechanic by experiencing it first hand — usually while screaming that you hadn’t saved in over an hour. But that moment when you’re walking through a room you cleared out 20 minutes earlier and you’re set upon by an enemy you can’t easily defeat is one of the most effective expressions of horror in video games. Just when the Illuminati seem to have figured out how to defend themselves against a collision of parallel Earths, the threat is immediately revealed to be well beyond what any of them understand, so why do they all look so relieved?

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