No Comic Brand Loyalty As I Read DC And Play Marvel Heroes

In today’s Morning Ramble I take a look at the next issue in my DC reading list – Superman 33 from the New 52 line, and I think up a few tips while playing Marvel Heroes Omega on the PS4.

Superman #33: The Men of Tomorrow: Part 2

Superman 33 continues the Men of Tomorrow story arc and in it we learn more about Ulysses, who we met last issue, and the situation at the Daily Planet.

Perry White wants a story on the new teamup between Superman and Ulysses but no one seems to know a thing until Clark shows up but he has other things on his mind. Apparently Mr. White wrote an article for the paper about the Ulysses Research Lab and their attempt to break the dimensional barrier. He also covered the disaster at the lab after they opened a link to the second dimension. Before we learn anything further, Ulysses shows up at the Planet and causes a commotion. After Clark explains the nuances of “secret identity” to Ulysses, Superman heads to the destroyed research lab to find out about Ulysses origin and what happened to the scientists. As Superman investigates the lab, Ulysses goes out about town and encounters some “Green Army Men” that look suspiciously like Titano did in the last issue. The two heroes take down the army men and Superman takes Ulysses to meet his parents who actually survived the disaster at the lab.

So Ulysses has a similar origin story to Superman but it turns out his world and his parents didn’t die. 20+ years in another dimension without human interaction, though, would definitely make you a different person but it seems Ulysses is decent enough. We’ll see what impact the revelation that they’re still alive has on this Man of Tomorrow and hopefully gain a better insight on who this reaper type dude is and why there are so many Titano type robots running around.

My main takeaways from this issue are:

• Not sure I like the comment on how a 1 hour fight between Superman and Titano equates to a week of gridlock in terms of climate change – I wonder how much globo-whabo would happen if Superman didn’t fight Titano
• Trying to break the dimensional barrier makes me think of Buckaroo Banzai
• Cat Grant is mentioned as being hired back by the Daily Planet – I only know her from the Supergirl TV show.
• Something is up with these Titano type robots but I’m not sure what
• Klerik was the sworn enemy of the world Ulysses adopted, he was banished and he’s now hibernating at the Stryker’s Island Prison – I suspect he might wake up soon.
• The reaper type dude shows up at the end and says Clark has “to be alone…for now”

A lot goes on in this issue and I enjoyed the art, pacing, and advancing of the plot. I rate it a B+, the same as last issue, primarily for the reveal of Ulysses’ parents and their survival.

Marvel Heroes Omega

I played a bit of the Marvel Heroes Omega Beta on the PS4 this past weekend and came away with a few thoughts:

• Make sure you go through the tutorial for each character. With the tutorial you advance to level 3 or 4 and gain access to your main skills that you’ll need to at least get through the beginning of the game. What I found was if I went into the game as say Deadpool at level 1 I didn’t have an AOE attack or a slow. All I had at that point where my pistols which while they did some damage, took an awful long of time to take down any of the mobs. Going through the tutorial set me up to level 4 and I not only had my four main skills to start but I also had some equipment to give me some damage and some defense mitigation.
• Try to make sure you’re using the best equipment at these early levels because every little piece of damage and defense can make a big difference at this point in the game.
• It took me a while to figure this out, but once you get your 5th ability you need to start using the L2 trigger. While the 4 buttons on the controller work well for your initial 4 skills, the 5th get placed on the X button, when you press the L2 trigger. It takes a bit of getting used to but you should pay attention since I figure that the 6–8th abilities will also require the L2 trigger.

The game’s been fun so far but I haven’t progressed any further than I did with Marvel Heroes 2016 on my PC. I am trying out different heroes this time though – Iceman and Deadpool so far are working out well.