The Punisher 10:

And the wonderful beginning of The Omega Effect takes a step down as in this issue Mark Waid drops off and Rucka’s usual grittiness takes hold and the life Waid breathed into both Daredevil and Spider-man is unfortunately absent. I suppose it makes sense. After all, this is a Punisher comic, so it shouldn’t exactly be smiles but it’s just not as fun as Avenging Spider-man last week. It should be said, though, that Marco Checchetto’s art is utterly beautiful.

Wolverine and the X-men 9:

God, I hate events. I hate when events I dislike bleed into otherwise good comics. This comic is basically Wolverine dillying around wondering if he’s going to side with the X-men (the crazy isolationist x-men, not the cool adventures in space x-men) There’s some fun moments (Captain America in the danger room) and a lot of funny stuff happens but this comic is filler and it’s a shame when such a strong book gets dragged down by editorial mandate.

Batman 8:

This comic continues to be DC’s best as the Court of Owls continues its war on Batman. It’s not quite as the fist-pumpingly exciting as issue 6 but it’s still undeniably awesome. Batman’s been repeatedly attacked and this book shows itself to be a turning point to show that just as Batman didn’t know Gotham, the Court of Owls doesn’t know Batman as well as they think they do. The biggest problem I have is that this comic has pushed up to $3.99 to insert an inconsequential story about the rest of the bat-family (which includes the murderous Red Hood, perplexingly) to defend Gotham from the court. The book is still worth your cash. It’s just not as good a deal as usual this month.

Hellblazer 290:

John Constantine’s in a feud with Lucifer and it’s been awhile. Striking through Constantine’s wife Lucifer works to get to him. If you know anything at all about Hellblazer, you’re probably already reading this. It’s certainly not on the level of Garth Ennis or Mike Carey but it’s still a solid story for anyone who loves occult intrigue.

Wonder Woman 8:

This is the best Wonder Woman has ever been. It’s also probably the best thing Brian Azzarello has ever written. Armed to the teeth, Wonder Woman and Hermes have gone down to Hades to rescue Zola, who is bearing Diana’s half-sibling. This comic is beautiful and is what I’m sure future students of literature will call ‘metal as fuck’. It’s also worth saying that I love the armor Wonder Woman wears going into Hell.

The Amazing Spider-man 684:

Last year Dan Slott used the event Spider-Island to ask ‘when everyone has the same powers as Spider-man what makes Spider-man special?’ and this year Ends of the Earth asks ‘in a team that has an unstoppable rage monster and a literal god what makes Spider-man so useful?’ and the comic answers ‘Peter Parker of course.’ Despite the goofy football-player costume (which is not featured on the cover. CAN’T THINK WHY) Ramos’ art is expressive and poppy and the action is creative. It’s been a good past year for Spider-man.

The Invincible Iron Man 515:

I beginning to see a repeated pattern in Fraction’s Iron Man. Considering this is the second friend of Iron Man’s in three years to need the repulsor tech installed into him, I’m beginning to feel a bit of a creative drain. This comic has a lot of action, but aside from Rhodey being nearly killed, not a lot happens. Hopefully, we’ll get a satisfying finale like with Thor, but I really wish the otherwise great Fraction would stop writing for the trade.

The Defenders 5:

See, this is what Fraction is truly capable of. This book is a lot of fun. It focuses on Namor the Sub-mariner and an adventure deep below as he and Red She-Hulk open a Pandora’s box deep below. Each issue seems to be focusing on a different of each of the characters and it’s been great each time.

I’m hoping that perhaps we can have a Yachting Club Trading Card Game in time for WTHCon 2012. Ostensibly the primary function of these cards is simply to have a Trading Card with each Yachting Club member’s picture on it to show off to friends and family 🙂

But I am intending for there to be a completely playable set of rules to go along with these cards if folks wish to actually play a game. These rules are taken from my “Deck of Chance” game and essentially is a Poker-like game where cards are played to influence odds and dice are rolled to determine winners.

For those whom are interested in the Deck of Chance rules:
~ Each card lists a Die type (d4, d6, d8, etc…) and a certain number of points (+4, +3, +2, etc…).
~ Each player has their own deck of 40 cards.
~ Each player draws a hand of five cards.
~ Choose a player to be Player 1.
~ Starting with player 1 going clockwise, each player plays one card face up on the table in front of them.
~ Starting with player 2 and going clockwise, each player plays a second card face up on the table in front of them.
~ Each player rolls the dice listed on the two cards in front of them, and applies any modifiers.
~ The player with the highest total from their die roll wins the number of points listed on the cards in front of them.

That’s the basic format. It’s a little bit like poker meets DnD.
Players are encouraged to create their own variations on how cards are played.

Additionally, many cards come with special effects which may alter the values of the dice rolled (for example, add 6 to any die that rolls a 6), or possibly even change the dice rolled (roll 2d4 instead of a 1d8), or even alter the number of points you score if certain conditions are met (if you roll a natural 20, score 1 extra point if you have the winning roll).

These special effects can have an impact on how a player chooses to build a deck, and on what cards they choose to play during a given round. Eventhough everything comes down to a dice roll, there is plenty of opportunity to influence those rolls in your favor.

For those looking to have cards made up for them, a list for the base templates for each cards will be added soon.