The Game Boy
Plus: GOTHAM WAR! ALLNIGHTER! DAREDEVIL NEWS!
Okay, so, I’m a video game addict. When I was fifteen years old, I shit myself while playing Mega Man 2. I’m not proud of the fact, but I was on the final boss fight and pausing the game would have meant certain death.
Several years ago, I was approached to do some work on the Marvel mobile game Puzzle Quest. They wanted to introduce Howard The Duck as a character and asked me to write bits for his bio page. Sure! Easy. They also wanted to know if I’d like to write a story for the character, something more involved. Sounds fun! I just needed to familiarize myself with the game first. I downloaded it and played a couple of rounds and thought, “this is stupid.”
Two days later I was waking up in the middle of the night to play the game like I was trying to save my family from a house fire. I wrote up the bio bits and apologized to the game developer: I would not be staying onboard to write the story.
Over the years I would reward myself for completing big tasks by purchasing a game for my trusty PS4 and then proceed to shit myself all over again (metaphorically) as I retreated from life and responsibilities. At one point, in order to save my marriage, I vowed to only play video games when my wife was asleep or taking a bath. This prompted me to say things like, “you look stressed, maybe you need a bath?” and “you fucking reek, honey. Did you shit yourself playing a game or something? Go have a bath” in order to gain valuable game-playing time.
All this to say, I was at a Marvel Summit years ago when Bill Rosemann, VP of Marvel Games, gave us all a sneak peek at what they were working on: a Playstation Spider-Man game. I don’t remember much else from that summit. The X-Men were going to get their shit together? Spidey was going to have some problems? Whatever. I was fixated on that goddamn game.
So, when it came out, I played it. Boy, did I play it. I was writing Spectacular Spider-Man at the time, so it was a weird feeling, desperately trying to finish writing a Spidey script so I could run into the house and play a Spidey game. At one point I had to pause the game to go watch the first Spiderverse movie and thought, “man oh man my life needs more diversity in it.”
I beat the game with 100% completion. There was literally nothing else to accomplish and yet I still swung around aimlessly for hours. Basically, I really, really liked the game. And then the DLC, and then the Miles sequel. I’m a bit of a mark for a Spider-Man game it turns out.
I have not purchased the new game, Spider-Man 2, because I have too many Batman deadlines (what a life) and I’m a responsible adult. But I was alerted to the fact that this is a thing in the game:
The costume from SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY, designed by the legendary Mark Bagley, is in it! Not only is Peter’s in the game, but so is Miles’!
How cool is that?! And how completely aggravating is it that there’s a Spider-Man game with a costume from my story and I can’t fucking play it yet because I’m busy working on comics trying to make enough money to afford a Playstation 5?!
TRULY NERD WORLD PROBLEMS
Look if I can’t be honest in my newsletter that’s sent to dozens of readers, where else can I?
Anyway, if you’re playing the game, please enjoy and think of me.
In comic news, the new season of THE ALLNIGHTER starts today, on HALLOWEEN!
After the events of Season Two, our merry band of vampire superheroes are quite fractured. It’s been amazing picking up the threads and crafting this final volume with the Allnighter team. Jason and Paris make everything so vibrant and exciting! Head over to Daily Dead to check out a preview! And then head to Comixology for the new issue!
And today is also the day that Gotham War concludes with GOTHAM WAR: SCORCHED EARTH! There’s a lot that happens in this oversized issue! Cool moments, tender moments, punch moments, and it really sets the whole Bat-family up for a wild 2024!
As always, truly a pleasure working with Mike Hawthorne. This Jason look is so perfect and conveys so much.
Working on this story with Tini has been a career highlight. It’s a shame she didn’t agree to write the whole thing so I can play video games though.
In other comic news, The Mighty Omar has dropped the news about our second Daredevil omnibus!
It’s coming in January 2025 if the world is still around by then!
Okay, that’s enough from me. I need to finish these scripts really quickly for … reasons.
-Chip!!
Who cleans up the mess, Chip? Who!?
Another post about how Chip is immortalized in pop culture. What aside from shits and non-baths can stop this man?!