The Visual Cat

( SPOILERS ahead, and I don't just mean the character) The reason DC Rebirth has worked is because they have started focusing on stories. It's a simple rule that I wish more superhero comics stuck to in general. See, here's the thing: unless you have an unhealthy obsession with these characters, which means keeping up with every branching storyline and subplot and spinoff regardless of whether you're actually enjoying them or not, all anyone has ever cared for when reading superhero comics have been colorful characters fighting crime in larger than life scenarios and emotionally stirring milieus. Granted, over time, they've become more psychologically refined, which makes their antics feel charmingly out of place. But that's all anyone needs: good art, good writing, and above all, a good story. And this is what DC is doing so well now. Take Detective Comics. I just read the first issue (and I know it's been a while since it was released), but here we h...

Hob is an anomaly. It has a very inspired art style, its animations are beautiful, and overall it's a very responsive game. But it's stuck in the past in a very fundamental way. Usually, however, this would be disappointing, but somehow here it isn't. Hob 's brand of adventuring is something that's taking place across the indie scene right now: not quite minimalism, but more of a cryptic-realism, if you will: a philosophy that the days of saturating you with information are long gone. What this entails is of course a certain amount of trust that you have to bring with you to the game. Does Hob earn this trust? In spite of not really doing anything radically new, it actually does. Hob is adventuring at its purest, because even when you have no idea why you're doing what you're doing (pulling that lever, hitting that switch, watching a giant contraption come alive and literally change the landscape in front of you), you still want to go ahead and try, for ...