Starters – Page 4

Hulk Starter Stories

Published on October 30, 2018September 7, 2024 by KyraLeave a comment

Despite his superhero persona, the Hulk is often viewed as a monster and many of his stories range between Hulk as a hero and as the hunted. He’s one of the rare Marvel heroes who started with their own solo series and then got absorbed into an anthology series (Tales to Astonish), only to receive a solo series again. Marvel often doesn’t know how to handle the green goliath, so it can be difficult to find which stories to read first.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here with a guide of starter Hulk stories.

Hulk: Gray (written by Jeph Loeb/art by Tim Sale; 2003-2004)

Loeb and Sale usually do a great job showing a hero’s formative years, and Hulk: Gray is no exception. For those who don’t know Hulk’s origin as well as other Marvel character’s this series delves into the accident that created him and his early struggles and failures to control his powers.

Hulk: Gray only ran for six issues, but readers get a good understanding on how at odds Banner is with his counterpart. It’s a quick and must read.

Planet Hulk (written by Greg Pak/art by Carlo Pagulayan and Aaraon Lopresti; 2006-2007)

Yes! This story should look familiar for Thor: Ragnarok fans. Humanity deems Hulk too dangerous to remain on Earth, so he’s jettisoned on an alien planet Sakaar. Once there, the locals enslave him and force the Hulk to fight in gladiatorial combat against other aliens. Planet Hulk is one of the wildest and best Hulk stories.

The story builds intrigue on who sent Hulk to the planet—I won’t spoil it here, but it’s eye-opening—and watching the Hulk battle to liberate Sakaar from the Red King is satisfying. Throw in Hulk getting married and a Hulk baby and you have a romp that’s well worth the read.

World War Hulk (written by Greg Pak/art by John Romita Jr.; 2007)

Remember the intrigue from Planet Hulk? Yeah, World War Hulk shows what happens when the Hulk discovers who sent him to Sakaar and the subsequent war. While this mini-series displays some intricate combat, it also manages to show a mindful Bruce Banner who remains trapped inside all the Hulk’s rage.

It’s a side of the Hulk that readers don’t get to see that often and it’s refreshing.

Indestructible Hulk (written by Mark Waid/art by Leinil Francis Yu; 2012-2014)

This story may seem out of place as it was published a good five years after World War Hulk, but Indestructible Hulk does a great job of showing why humanity may fear the Hulk enough to send him to another planet.

The Hulk chooses to do some good and allies with S.H.I.E.L.D.. This partnership leads to some of the Hulks battles, but as the title implies, the Hulk gains so much strength that he becomes indestructible. I won’t spoil the shocking reveal at the end, but this series shows how the Hulk struggles to be a hero, but he’s ultimately a force of nature.

Hulk: Destruction (written by Peter David/art by Jim Muniz; 2005)

The Hulk doesn’t have as many villains as other heroes in comics, but the Abomination (featured in the movie The Incredible Hulk) must be one of the key few, and Hulk: Destruction does a great redefining the two’s relationship.

Peter David also happens to be a long-time The Hulk writer and this mini-series does a good job showing what he can do with the character.

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk (written by Damon Lindelof/art by Leinil Francis Yu; 2005-2009)

The infrequent schedule of this mini-series left a lot of readers miffed at the time of its original run, but the six issues have been completed, and no collection of Hulk stories would be complete without including at least one battle between Hulk and Wolverine. Heck, Wolverine was first introduced as a Hulk foil.

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk shows how insane these battles get. It opens with Wolverine torn in half, his legs on top of a mountain. Yikes!

I could have done with so many flashforwards and flashbacks in a short series like this (Lindelof is one of Lost’s co-creators, so I guess he likes using a lot of these), but Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk gives insight to the brutality of these two primal beings.

That’s my list for new Hulk readers. Did I miss any stories or include some that I shouldn’t? Send me a smoke signal atop a mountain—preferably not the one the Hulk traveled to—or let us know in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Card Drafting Starter Games

Published on October 23, 2018September 8, 2024 by KyraLeave a comment

Your uncle Geekly likes card drafting games; they’re one of his favorite game types. I admit that I say this a lot, but I do like a good card drafting game. Card drafting can take many forms and some of the games that use this mechanism can get involved and not very new player friendly.

Fortunately, old Uncle Geekly is here with another group of starter games: card drafting edition.

Okay. I thought that would’ve sounded better than it did. Oh, well. These are the best games to teach someone who’s never played a card drafting game before.

Azul

Azul is a bit of a cheat. Players aren’t drafting cards, they’re drafting tiles, and that makes sense because the game’s theme is tile laying a Portuguese wall. Oddly enough, Azul has tile laying as a theme, but the tile laying or placement mechanism is downplayed. Anyway, various colored tiles are drawn from a bag and four of them are placed on 7 cardboard discs that are accessible to each player. Players take turns claiming similar tiles on each disc and adding them to their player boards. Each board has the same wall pattern and the player to finish a row of tiles initiates the end of game.

The scoring can get a little fiddly at times, but Azul is a quick game that’s easy to learn, and you’ll see plenty of set collection and chain effects (of which Azul has plenty) crop up in other games on this list and other card drafting games not on this list.

Jaipur

I could’ve gone with Splendor here and most of what I say about Jaipur could apply to Splendor, but Splendor gets too much press and Jaipur doesn’t get enough. Jaipur has a supply or market place with five cards. Players take turns taking cards from the market or swapping 2 to 5 cards between the market and their hand. One can also sell every card of a specific commodity (each card has a different commodity depicted on it) and when they do, they take point chips of the commodity from the bank. As soon as four pools of point chips are depleted, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.

Like Azul and Splendor, Jaipur is a quick play. It’s my representative game for the rapid market place games that use card drafting. Unlike Splendor, Jaipur doesn’t have as much of a runaway leader problem and is a little more forgiving on new players. Plus, I really like the camel card addition.

Sushi Go

In many respects, Sushi Go is a simplified 7 Wonders. It’s a simple game of deal so many cards to the players around the table and each player simultaneously picks the card the want to draft. They place the card they want face down on the table and pass their hand to the next player at the table. Once everyone has picked a card, everyone reveals the card they picked, and it adds it to their tableau (or scoring area). The cards have various scoring methods and picking the right combination of scoring method leads to victory.

Sushi Go’s theme is silly, the gameplay is lightning fast, and the rules are easy enough that a 7 or 8-year-old would have no issues playing. If you’re new to tableau building, simultaneous card drafting (and there’s a lot of games that fit this bill besides 7 Wonders), learn Sushi Go before tackling something more complex.

Final Thoughts

Card drafting is one of your uncle Geekly’s favorite gaming types. There are plenty more introductory card drafting games I could’ve included. If you have an issue with any of the games on my list, say JK Geekly twenty-seven times in a mirror and there’s a chance I might appear. Or you could let me know in the comments.

Batman Starter Stories

Published on October 16, 2018September 8, 2024 by Kyra1 Comment

With wave after wave of comic book movies hitting theatres, interest in superhero characters has probably never been higher in the mainstream. Some people who’ve familiarized themselves with the big screen versions of the Avengers or the Justice League may be tempted to delve into the comics, but that can be intimidating. Most of the iconic superheroes in the industry have decades of stories behind them, so new readers may have no idea where to begin. With that in mind, Kyle and I have decided to publish recommendations for new comics readers, jumping-off points, so-to-speak, for understanding the basics of the characters in question.

This week, we’ll cover Batman. With three-quarters of a century’s worth of history, there’s a lot to know about the character, but the good news is most of the truly important moments in Bat-canon aren’t that old, comparatively speaking. Here’s my list of graphic novels and/or story arcs you can read to get all you need to about Batman and the world of Gotham.

Year One (written by Frank Miller/illustrated by David Mazzucchelli)

Year One is pretty much what you’d expect from the title. It’s the story of Bruce Wayne’s beginnings as Batman, his first year. It covers his struggle with the crime families that predate the arrival of the supervillains, as well as his conflict with a corrupt Gotham Police Department. Parts of it aren’t really considered canon anymore, or never were, but modern canon never seems to stray too far from what Frank Miller established here. This is also a great story for understanding the dynamic between Batman and commissioner Gordon.

The Killing Joke (written by Alan Moore/Illustrated by Brian Bolland)

This is one of the most famous Batman stories ever told. It’s a window into The Joker, and a brief insight into the dynamic between hero and villain. This one comes with a warning to readers who are sensitive to the topic of sexual abuse, as Barbara Gordon, Jim’s daughter and alter ego of Batgirl, is shot and photographed in various stages of undress by The Joker. Do you remember Christopher Nolan’s film, The Dark Knight? The Joker wanted to prove that Harvey could be corrupted, made as insane as he is. That concept is straight out of The Killing Joke, only the target isn’t Harvey. It’s Jim Gordon, and he uses his daughter to achieve that. The Killing Joke also is the jumping off point to Barbara’s time as the character called Oracle, which is often referenced in Batman comics.

Hush (written by Jeph Loeb/illustrated by Jim Lee)

This one is a solid read, and good for beginners for a couple of reasons. First, because as Jeph Loeb is wont to do, it runs through just about the entire Batman Rogues Gallery in the course of the story. You’ll get a little bit of pretty much everyone here. Second, because this book also has an appearance by Superman, and the dynamic between Batman and Superman is one of the more fun things to consider in modern DC comics.

The Long Halloween (written by Jeph Loeb/illustrated by Tim Sale)

This is just a great Batman book in general, but it’s also a good introduction to another one of Batman’s iconic rogues, Two-Face (Harvey Dent). This is also a great read for anyone looking to explore Catwoman as a character.

Knightfall (written and illustrated by various)

This one is a bit of cheat as it refers to a long arc within the comics, but one that is often called upon in modern Batman storytelling. Remember when I referenced the Christopher Nolan movies? Well, this one is what The Dark Knight Rises draws from most. It’s the story of Batman having his back broken by Bane, his recovery, and his reclamation of the Batman mantle. It’s actually not one of my favorites, but it’s worth reading to get a bigger picture of the network that is The Bat Family, and why Bane holds a special place among Bruce Wayne’s enemies.

Death in the Family (written by Jim Starlin/illustrated by Jim Aparo)

This one isn’t to be confused with Death of the Family (Snyder/Capullo). Don’t get me wrong, Death OF the Family is terrific, but it’s not for this list. Death IN the Family is an important arc for Batman because it covers the death of Robin. If you’re new to Batman Comics, you may not realize there have been many Robins. In Death in the Family, Batman’s second Robin, Jason Todd, is murdered by the Joker. In later comics, Jason Todd’s death is undone, and the character exists today as Red Hood, but understanding the history established in Death in the Family is key to understanding that dynamic within the Bat Family.

That’s my list for new readers of Batman. How do some of our seasoned Batman readers feel about it? Did I miss any? Did I include some you don’t agree with? Challenge me to a duel, or maybe just tell us in the comments.

Worker Placement Starter Games

Published on October 9, 2018October 6, 2018 by Kyra1 Comment

Good old uncle Geekly likes to put little pawns to work with worker placement games. These games tend to get strategic as players place their pawns on spaces to claim an action during a turn and prevent other players from taking that action for a turn. That’s where the fun of most worker placement games derives. The tension of not wanting someone to take the action you need can get intense, and the ability to choose something you need before someone can block you is a great feeling.

But worker placement games can get nasty as some folks will take actions to keep someone else from taking them, not because they need to take them. These games can get convoluted too when more elements are added.

Fortunately, your good old uncle Geekly has some worker placement games that aren’t as cutthroat–for the most part–and are easy to learn. These are some great starter worker placement games.

Stone Age

Caylus may be the first game to use worker placement, but Stone Age is by far, more approachable. Players control cave people who are trying to build a rudimentary village in three phases. During the first phase, player’s pawns (or workers) are sent out to various areas to collect stone or wood or make new workers in the local hut. Brown chicken, brown cow.

The second phase has players roll dice equal to the number of workers they placed in areas to see how many of that resource they collected. The more workers in the area, the more dice a player gets to roll. In the third phase, players must have enough food to feed their population or they lose resources or points. Gamers will find feeding workers as a common thread in worker placement games. These designers must be hungry when they’re making these games.

Stone Age does a good job of introducing new gamers to a lot of the core concepts of worker placement—even the use of dice, because dice placement is a thing that we’ll see real soon. The theme is easy to get into and the mechanisms make sense for what the players are doing in the game. I don’t know how many games have me go to a quarry to make bread. Really? How many bread-making quarries do you know?

Doughnut Drive-Thru

Stone Age may be obsessed with feeding people, but Doughnut Drive-Thru has food as its theme. Yeah, give me a Coated Baby. That’s a glazed doughnut, sicko.

Doughnut Drive-Thru also happens to be the smallest game by far on this list and calling it a worker placement game is a little bit of a misnomer. It’s more of an action selection game, but the challenge of taking an action so your opponent can’t is still at the heart of any worker placement game, and that’s the center of Doughnut Drive-Thru.

On their turn, players are trying to learn new doughnut recipes, preparing a donut, or serving a donut. To take any of these actions a player places one of two wooden doughnut pieces they begin the game with on one of these actions. The trick is to time when you want to take these actions because when an action has no further spaces with which to place a wooden doughnut, players can’t take that action. You’re left with the choice of taking a different one of the two actions or taking all the wooden doughnuts—or taking enough doughnuts so their total doughnuts equal two—and waiting until next turn to take the action they want.

Doughnut Drive-Thru is fast-paced. Very fast-paced. It may even be the better game to begin with for a simple worker placement game. But it is a bit of a cheat. Don’t worry. Uncle Geekly eats plenty of doughnuts on his cheat day.

Fabled Fruit

Ah. This is another more recent game. I like Friedemann Friese’s style and not just his love of green and his wanting to use the letter F in as many game titles as he can. Fable Fruit keeps things light and simple but also adds legacy and dual-purpose cards to the genre. Players only have one worker in Fabled Fruit, an animeeple (a wooden animal pawn) to place on a group of six action cards. These action cards serve two purposes—they’re dual-purpose after all—and players either complete the juice action located on the bottom of the card (by turning in the fruit required, pictured) or they can claim the action on the top of the card like “draw two fruit.”

Man, what is with all the food in worker placement games?

Players go through a deck of 60 or so unique action cards (four of each action) and as soon as an action card is claimed in any game, it’s taken out of the deck. You’ll have to play the game a second time to ever see that card again and that’s where the legacy aspect comes into play. Prior games affect what happens in future games. Don’t use the “draw two fruit” action as a juice card too many times, or you won’t be able to draw two fruit again.

Fabled Fruit is clever and adds a splash of other popular game types and mechanisms, but also happens to be the easiest game on this list to learn. In short, it’s a tasty blend.

Great. Now I’m thirsty.

Final Thoughts

It’s difficult to come up with easy to learn worker placement games with depth. I had to go with slightly more complicated games than usual, but they still have some wide appeal. Stone Age, Doughnut Drive-Thru, and Fable Fruit explore different aspects of worker placement. I just wished they didn’t focus on food so much.

Know of any other great beginner worker placement games? Hold a rally and tell it to the workers, or you could let us know in the comments.

X-Men Starter Stories

Published on October 2, 2018September 8, 2024 by Kyra1 Comment

Comic book movies have flooded Hollywood and that’s led to new comic book readers, but there’s too much history for a lot of these characters that newbies to the hobby can get lost. Not to worry your uncle Geekly and Big Bad Jim have you covered. We’ll make recommendations for newcomers to various aspects of geekery.

Keep in mind that these are recommendations. You can read our list and disagreeing with it. We won’t hold that against you, but we may have to challenge you to a leg wrestling match.

We’ll start this ballgame with one of the largest superhero teams in comics: The X-Men.

The X-Men have had plenty of various lineups, eras, and variants, so they prove difficult to follow, especially if you’re new to the comic books.

Over the course of its history the X-Men have grown and expanded more than any other Marvel property. Time travel, group dynamic changes, and characters losing their minds don’t help matters much.

Hi, everyone. This is good, old uncle Geekly with a group of starter stories that feature everyone’s favorite Marvel mutants the X-Men.

X-Men: First Class (written by Jeff Parker/art by Roger Cruz; 2006-2007)

No. This story doesn’t mirror the movie by the same name; it’s a reimagining of the original class of students to don the uniform: Scott Summers (Cyclops), Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), Robert Drake (Iceman), Warren Worthington III (Angel), and Hank McCoy (Beast).

The X-Men can get overly convoluted. X-Men: First Class strips down the original characters to their teenage roots. It’s a light-hearted and fun series, and the one quality that puts it on this list is that the reader doesn’t need to know much about the series find enjoyment. It’s a great jumping off point.

Giant-Size X-Men #1 (written by Len Wein/art by Dave Cockrum; May 1975)

This one predates Chris Claremont’s fabled run on Uncanny X-Men (1975-1991) and introduces readers to the second wave of X-Men: Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine. It opens in medias res with Professor X recruiting this new team to rescue the original X-Men, and it’s this group of mutants who defined the group for a generation. It’s also arguably the most diverse team roster, something in which the X-Men prides itself.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga (written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne/art by John Byrne; 1980)

This one is iconic. Jean Grey had been reborn as the Phoenix after becoming a being of pure thought. This new persona made her a target for Mastermind (of the Hellfire Club) and what follows is a long descent into madness. One could liken it to a superhero version of The Exorcist.

The Dark Phoenix Saga is required reading for anyone wanting to get into X-Men comics. Readers get a good look at the Hellfire Club, the Shi-ar, and even throws in the Kree and Skrull empires. The Dark Phoenix Saga is a who’s who of Marvel aliens.

This story was adapted for the X-Men Animated Series. X-Men: The Last Stand contained story elements, and the upcoming Dark Phoenix film should be a direct, live-action adaptation of the story that has been inducted into Columbia University’s library. Yeah, Xavier’s school isn’t the only one that views The Dark Phoenix Saga highly.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne/art by John Byrne; 1981)

This story marked the end of Claremont and Byrne’s run on the X-Men, and this is also where the X-Men’s time travel stories begin. While the series may have done time travel to death, in Days of Future Past it was refreshing, novel, and easy to follow.

The story alternates between the present year of 1980 and the future year of 2013. Wow. We’ve already lived beyond the fictional year for this story. The story’s 2013 paints a bleak existence for mutants. They’re killed one by one and must send one of their own back in time to stop the dystopia.

Kitty Pride, the one who’s chosen to go back in time, becomes a full-fledged member of the team, and this story is the first one to promote Mystique to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants’ leader. Both characters come into their own here, so this classic is a must read.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills (written by Chris Claremont/art by Brent Anderson; 1982)

So many X-fans would call God Loves, Man Kills the defining X-Men arc, and they may be right. The main antagonist doesn’t wear tights or have powers. Humanity is at war with itself.

This is a realistic portrayal of how the world may react to the dawn of mutants and how those mutants would react to that world. It’s an analogy of bigotry and small mindedness. It also showcases how tenuous allegiances can be in the series as Magneto joins forces with the X-Men to rescue Professor X, who is forced to mentally kill all mutants on Earth.

Some fans may notice elements of this story in X2: X-Men United.

Fatal Attractions (written by Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell/art by various; 1993)

It’s difficult to pick an X-story from the 1990s and beyond without listing a bunch of other stories one would have to read to get most of the references. Fatal Attractions requires very little background info. It recasts Magento as the X-Men’s chief antagonist. This crossover event also features Cable’s return to X-Force (good for Deadpool 2 fans) and one of the most desperate fights between Magneto and Professor Xavier.

There’s even an iconic battle between Wolverine and Magneto that left some fans squeamish.

That’s my list for readers new to X-Men. Did I miss any stories or include some that I shouldn’t? You could send me a message via telepathy, but I’m telepathetic. Leaving a comment would be more effective.