Commentary and reviews on games and gaming of all types.

LINK: Hellboy Vs. Gotham Knights?

HELLBOY JOINS UPPER DECK'S "VS" GAMING SYSTEM CARLSBAD, Ca. -- May 10, 2006 -- The comic industry's "Greatest Paranormal Investigator" makes his trading card game debut as Upper Deck Entertainment (UDE) -- in association with Dark Horse Comics -- today announces plans to add Hellboy to UDE's Vs. System superhero portfolio. Based on Mike Mignola's ("Gotham by Gaslight") best-selling comic book mini-series "Hellboy," the set will premiere as the first release of UDE's new Essential Collection, which features highly competitive decks themed around some of today's most notable comic icons. The new Hellboy-themed Essential Collection will be available on store…

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Vs. CARD OF THE WEEK: Bart Allen <> The Flash (DCR-173)

Take two friends who love comics. Add a superhero-themed collectible card game. Sprinkle a dash of competitiveness, and a lump of testosterone. The result? Weekly matches that turn friends into nemeses.This is not your typical "card of the week" column. Every web site dedicated to CCGs has been there and done that. This column is all about our competition, though. Dan and I usually play two games of Vs. a week, and every Sunday, we'll feature the card that we think most influenced the outcome of the matches we played the preceding week, and the metagaming lessons we learned in…

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COMMENT: Upper Deck’s X-Men Blunder

The latest expansion for the Upper Deck Vs. TCG, X-Men, has been out for about a week now. I've been on the fence about putting any money down for it since day one, mainly due to the fact that I'm not a huge fan of X-Men. I have to admit, though, I could have been persuaded; easily persuaded. When Upper Deck revealed the Mutant Trait addition to the character cards, that really piqued my interest. If it weren't for the Blizzard of 2006, I would have been at the Sneak Preview Tournament a few weeks back, but it wasn't meant…

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Vs. CARD OF THE WEEK: Lady Vic (DOR-134)

Take two friends who love comics. Add a superhero-themed collectible card game. Sprinkle a dash of competitiveness, and a lump of testosterone. The result? Weekly matches that turn friends into nemeses.This is not your typical "card of the week" column. Every web site dedicated to CCGs has been there and done that. This column is all about our competition, though. Dan and I usually play two games of Vs. a week, and every Sunday, we'll feature the card that we think most influenced the outcome of the matches we played the preceding week, and the metagaming lessons we learned in…

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On the Shelves: 12/7/05

Support GOOD Comics! Try something new EVERY month!It's the home stretch for 2005! My weekly look at select comic books being released tomorrow, 12/7/05. The full shipping is list available at ComicList.[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]AIT/PLANETLAR Demo Collection TPB, $19.95Not to beat a dead horse but... [kick]AMAZE INK (SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS) Vaistron #2, $2.95Andrew Dabb is a very sick man, but the first issue, which I was sure wasn't…

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COMMENT: Cosmic Spider-Man is Broken!

This past March, my sporadic co-blogger Dan did a write-up on the [new at the time] Marvel Knights expansion set to Upper Deck's Vs. System, the trading card game that lets you pit superheroes and supervillians against each other, Magic-style. I'd never played, but owned a few of the random cards that had been distributed with Wizard magazine back when I still bought it, and was mildly intrigued. I swore to resist the temptation, though, remembering it was Dan who, years earlier, had introduced me to Pokémon which sucked my wallet dry for about a year before I finally restricted…

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Retro: Forgotten Realms #1-4

As an unashamed, born again player of Dungeons & Dungeons, I was excited by last month's official announcement that Devil's Due was on the verge of "acquir[ing] the license to the entire D&D® library." While I've enjoyed some of the D&D-based novels TSR/Wizards of the Coast has published over the years, too many of them have been bland, formulaic marketing promotions for their latest gaming supplements or campaign setting, and I hadn't picked up a comic book version in...well, ever, actually.My return to D&D two years ago coincided with my return to comic books, and it was at my first…

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