Author: Trafficblast

Hopefully comic readers had the chance to whittle down the reading pile over the holiday break. A new year has arrived, and that means a whole new wave of great comic books is on the way. This year, you can look forward to two different, epic confrontations between Batman and Joker, a new cosmic crossover event from Marvel and a new creator-owned series from superstars Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee.

To help you make sense of what to follow in 2020, we’ve put together a list of 20 new projects that should be on your radar. This list includes ongoing series, miniseries and graphic novels. Check out our slideshow below or scroll down to see what comics are hot in 2020.

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Outlawed

Marvel’s first major crossover event of 2020 is little different from the norm. Outlawed is less a specific story than it is the start of a dark new status quo for Marvel’s teen heroes. Echoing 2006’s Civil War, the conflict begins as new legislation is passed outlawing underage superheroes. That impacts everyone from Ms. Marvel to the Miles Morales Spider-Man to the New Warriors. After the opening story in March’s Outlawed #1, Marvel will launch three new books aimed at exploring the fallout of this new law – Ryan North and Nico Leon’s Power Pack, Daniel Kibblesmith and Luciano Vecchio’s New Warriors and a relaunch of Champions from Eve L. Ewing and Simone Di Meo.

We’ve often felt Marvel made a mistake in not exploring the long-term effects of Civil War and the Superhuman Registration Act, but hopefully Outlawed and the new books that spring out of this issue will be able to pick up where that crossover left off.

Batman vs. Joker

Joker is and always will be Batman’s greatest nemesis, and two of the biggest comic book storylines of 2020 directly revolve around their rivalry. First, new Batman writer James Tynion IV is laying the groundwork for Joker War, a story that could serve as the final showdown between Batman and Joker. Joker knows Batman’s secret identity, and he seems intent on finally using that knowledge to make his archenemy’s life a living hell. With the series rapidly moving toward the issue #100 mark, we have to assume Tynion has something huge in store for the summer.

As if that weren’t enough, 2020 looks to be the year we finally get Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Three Jokers miniseries. Way back in 2016’s Justice League #50, Batman learned the horrible truth – there are actually three Jokers who have tormented Gotham City over the years. Presented as a three-issue Black Label book, Three Jokers will pit Batman, Batgirl and Red Hood against these three killer clowns and perhaps reveal more than we ever bargained about Joker’s true background in the process. DC hasn’t solicited the first issue yet, but Fabok recently revealed he’s hard at work on the third and final chapter, so we’re hopeful it won’t be much longer.

The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir In Pictures

These days, Noelle Stevenson may be best known as the creator of and showrunner for Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, but we’ve been big fans of her work dating back to comics like Nimona and Lumberjanes. This graphic novel serves as a personal memoir of Stevenson’s career so far, through both essays and short, autobiographical comics. It’s a welcome look into the life of one of the comic book industry’s biggest rising stars.

More X-Men Books

Writer Jonathan Hickman truly reinvigorated the X-Men line last year with House of X and Powers of X. The entire franchise has been benefiting from Hickman’s ambitious vision, and Marvel is only going to keep adding more new books to the lineup in 2020. That includes the first ongoing, monthly Wolverine comic since Logan’s death in 2014, courtesy of Benjamin Percy, Adam Kubert and Viktor Bogdonavic. Other noteworthy new additions include the Franklin Richards-centric crossover comic X-Men + Fantastic Four from Chip Zdarsky and Terry Dodson and a brand new take on X-Factor from Leah Williams and David Baldeón. Even Hickman himself is taking on a second book, as he teams with artists like Russell Dauterman and Ben Oliver for Giant-Size X-Men, a series of oversized, character-driven one-shots.

And that’s just in the first few months of 2020. Hickman has made it clear the current X-Men lineup is geared toward exploring the new status quo established in House of X and Powers of X. Sooner or later, these books will build to the next major phase in his multi-year plan for the X-Men. That means we can probably expect some sort of X-Men crossover event later in the year, one which will dramatically change the game for the resurgent mutant race.

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Saga’s Return

Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga is widely regarded as one of the best ongoing series on the stands. Unfortunately, the series went on extended hiatus when it reached its midway point in July 2018. The idea was to give the creators a break and allow them to stockpile new issues before returning in 2019. But 2019 has come and gone and Saga has yet to make its comeback. While nothing has been officially announced, we have to assume 2020 will instead be the year we finally get our fix.

Strange Adventures

Writer Tom King recently ended his long Batman run, and he has several new projects in the works for DC this year (in addition to co-writing the New Gods movie with Ava DuVernay). One of those will be of particular interest to fans of King and Mitch Gerads’ Mister Miracle maxiseries. Strange Adventures looks to do for cosmic hero Adam Strange what Mister Miracle did for Scott Free by telling an introspective, psychological story about a man literally torn between two worlds. This time, Gerads is joined by Evan “Doc” Shaner on art, with the book seeking to draw a stark visual contrast between Adam Strange’s Silver Age roots and the bleak conflict he now finds himself trapped in.

Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio

Derf Backderf combined journalism and personal memoir in a unique way for his 2012 graphic novel My Friend Dahmer, which detailed his childhood friendship with the boy who would become an infamous serial murderer. Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio is in much the same vein. This book chronicles the events leading up to the Kent State shootings of 1970, drawing both from Backderf’s personal experiences and extensive interviews with other witnesses. The end result looks to be a compelling account of a very dark event in American history.

Guardians of the Galaxy Relaunch

As sorry as we are to see writer Donny Cates end his Guardians of the Galaxy run after one year, we can’t complain about Marvel’s choice of replacement. Al Ewing and Juann Cabal are at the helm of Marvel’s latest Guardians relaunch. Not only will the new series feature a very Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning-inspired lineup of heroes, it’s pitting the Guardians against the Greek Gods. With all that Ewing has done to revitalize an iconic hero in Immortal Hulk (our pick for best comic book series of 2019), we can’t wait to see what he has planned for Star-Lord and the gang.

The Return of the JSA

Most DC fans suspected Doomsday Clock would end with the classic Justice Society of America being brought back into play, and issue #12 didn’t disappoint. These Golden Age heroes have been restored to life thanks to Doctor Manhattan and Superman, and we can only assume they’ll have a big part to play in the future of the DCU. Ideally, we’re hoping DC will announce a new JSA ongoing series soon, especially with the upcoming Stargirl TV series shining an even bigger light on this team.

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Fire Power

2019 was the year The Walking Dead ended (a twist no one knew was coming). Naturally, creator Robert Kirkman has new irons in the fire, and none are more promising than Fire Power, Kirkman’s first collaboration with Daredevil and Black Widow artist Chris Samnee. Fire Power is a martial arts series about a man searching for his birth parents in China and learning to harness the supernatural power within. And given that Samnee is one of the best visual storytellers in the business, we’re expecting those action scenes to really pop.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a four-player PvE spinoff of Sniper Elite 4 that has you and your friends teaming up to take down undead Axis hordes. It’s a goofy spinoff premise in the best of ways, and that self-awareness extends to the contents of its $99.99 Collector’s Edition.

The Zombie Army 4: Dead War Collector’s Edition includes a steelbook case for your game disc (which, yes, is also included), a 60-page art book, a download token for the game’s soundtrack, a download code for the Undead Airman Character Pack, and the coup de grace, a 12-inch-long zombie shark statue, complete with a stand. Take a look at our unboxing of the whole thing in the video above.

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Zombie Army 4: Dead War will be released on February 4 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

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Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

If you got yourself one of those tax refund advances, or you’re anticipating a nice refund, today’s a great day to blow through your unexpected windfall by picking up a gaming laptop on sale.

Save $550 on EVOO Gaming 144Hz Laptop with PUBG Free

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• EVOO Gaming 144Hz Laptop for $849 – See it at Walmart

I have a reputation among people I know as a “computer guy,” so someone is always asking me “what’s a good laptop for gaming?” I try to tell them “get a desktop gaming PC,” but they never listen. I’m not going to try and dissuade anyone, including you, from going with a laptop over a desktop. 

For the price, I would definitely recommend picking this one up if you’re looking for a portable gaming rig. The 144Hz display is almost reason enough, but throw in an Intel i7-9750H processor and Nvidia GTX 1660Ti for graphics, and the price looks better still. Add in a free copy of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (my most-played PC game… probably ever), and it’s a lock.

Here are the full specs for the EVOO Gaming 144Hz Laptop:

• Processor: 9th Gen Intel i7-9750H
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660Ti
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• RAM: 16GB

If that deal doesn’t excite you, Amazon has MSI laptops on sale as part of its Deal of the Day program.

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Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Black Lightning Season 3, episode 10. We’re checking in with all the Arrowverse shows this week to see how they’re moving forward from the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, so check out our reviews of Supergirl and Batwoman, and keep an eye out for our reviews of Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow on Tuesday.

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When Black Lightning was first announced, the creators touted the show as being an exception amongst the CW’s superhero pantheon — planned as the show to take place in isolation from the larger Arrowverse. After two-and-a-half seasons as the last bastion of standalone superhero storytelling on The CW, the show finally cracked for Crisis on Infinite Earths, where it was acknowledged as another facet of the multiverse and promptly integrated into Earth-Prime to facilitate future team-ups. But in the first post-Crisis episode, the crossover’s conclusion seems to have impacted Black Lightning very little other than making Jefferson appear a smidge crazy.

The episode opens with a post-crisis Jefferson excitedly explaining the multiverse and exclaiming that Superman exists to an incredulous Gambi. Jennifer is revealed to have been affected by Crisis as well; she apparently spent the event holed up in a white room, separated from the main dimension.

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Throughout the episode, Jefferson attempts to explain the events of the crossover to other characters, but he’s often brushed off. Watching him slowly lose his initial eagerness to tell the story throughout the episode is quite fun, but only serves to further deflate the value of Crisis to Black Lightning as a whole.

According to Gambi, he didn’t even notice Jefferson and Jennifer’s absence. Although one point of validation occurs early in the episode when Gambi detects antimatter waves on both Jefferson and Jennifer, giving some confirmation they’ve been involved with Crisis.

Rather than having world-shattering effects on the Black Lightning-verse, Crisis seems to have been used to accelerate already present character arcs. Lynn’s addiction to her metahuman drug wholly ramps up this episode. At one point in the episode, Jefferson flushes the drug down the toilet, only for Lynn to respond by attempting to retrieve it. Jefferson shames her for this, to which she retorts that her addiction to the drug is analogous to how Jefferson feels about his heroic work. Frustratingly, this line falls on deaf ears and isn’t brought up in any other part of the episode. It’ll be a waste if this comparison isn’t revisited later.

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The line does assist one interesting theme in the episode: Jefferson’s difficulty in separating his family persona from his superheroic one. While Anissa’s prominence as a leader for those standing against the A.S.A grows, Jefferson expresses his concern for her. She rebuffs his concern, citing it as coming from her father and not his superhero persona. Distinguishing Black Lightning from Jefferson is a very intriguing route that I hope the writers continue working on with stronger story beats in the back half of the season.

Other than that singular line, Anissa’s role in this episode feels quite bland. She performs some amazing stunts, liberates a handful of people captured by the A.S.A, and that’s it, leaving her more of a visual spectacle than an active character this week. Her sister isn’t much better. Jennifer’s “story” is doubling down on her hatred for Odell and promising that she’ll kill him in the near future. At least the A.S.A seems to be ramping up their scary corporation factor by introducing mind-controlling chips, which seem to even scare other A.S.A officers. Perhaps there will be a rebellion that stems from inside the A.S.A?

The most compelling storyline this week comes from Gambi and his new technomancy-capable ward, T.C.. Yet again, Gambi takes in a wayward soul, helping them re-establish themselves, and it’s very sweet to watch. Seeing the two of them bond is delightful, since they have incredible chemistry. (I couldn’t get enough of T.C. ’s confusion as to what an “Italian Hogie” meant in food lingo contrasted by Gambi’s forever avuncular presence.)

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Ultimately, Gambi’s plot also seems to be the storyline that utilizes Crisis the most – or at least gives us the first glimpse of how Black Lightning will utilize the Crisis reset. Using his technomancy, T.C. helps Gambi uncover who put a hit on him. It’s none other than the formerly deceased Season 1 villain, Lady Eve. If the reset means a slew of dead characters will be returning, the six episodes left in the season will be an interesting affair. All bets are off. After the Crisis, we haven’t the slightest grasp on what’s been reset and what’s stayed the same.

With Star Trek: Picard’s debut coming on Thursday, January 23, actress Jeri Ryan has offered some insight on where her character Seven of Nine has been since we last saw her on Star Trek: Voyager in 2001, as well as her surprising feelings about Patrick Stewart’s legendary Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.

In an interview with IGN, Ryan explained that dark times have overtaken the galaxy, and Seven has seen a lot of “dark crap” in the last 20 years. Watch the full interview above or read on for excerpts from it.

“Seven I think holds Starfleet and the Federation in large part responsible for much of it,” she said. “The universe is a mess and I think she initially sees Picard as a representation of that. She’s been working … with sort of a group of freedom fighters called the Fenris Rangers who are trying to keep some semblance of order in the mess that is the galaxy.”

It’s not clear right now what the Fenris Rangers are, but Fenris is a wolf in Norse mythology, and we know the Picard show is also focusing on the plight of the Romulans after their sun was destroyed in the 2009 Star Trek film. Romulus of course also takes its name from mythology, the Roman tale of Romulus and Remus who were nursed as infants by a wolf.

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The inclusion of Seven in Picard is interesting since she actually comes from Voyager and has never interacted with Jean-Luc onscreen before. But the two do have something in common: They are both humans who were assimilated by the Borg in the past, and eventually freed from that cybernetic collective.

“This is the first time that Seven and Picard actually meet,” says Ryan. “They know each other by reputation. And as I’ve said before, Seven’s not on the ‘Oh, he’s a god’ bandwagon I think initially when she meets him because she holds him partially responsible for what Starfleet has done in her view.”

Executive producer Alex Kurtzman explained why the writing staff decided to bring Seven into the show.

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“We had a rule on the show which was that we did not want to just bring back legacy characters to bring them back,” he said. “They had to come back because the story could not tell itself without those characters. There were two things that came to mind immediately with Picard. When you think of Picard you think of his relationship with Data and you think of the Borg. … Seven and Picard have never been onscreen together before. So that was a really interesting opportunity, and what they share, even though they’ve never spoken, is they were both assimilated by the Borg. So they would obviously both be haunted by that element of their lives. We certainly know that both of them have been individually, and now what does it mean for them to see that in each other. Is it too painful? Is it a little like staring into the sun? Is it comforting? Those are really interesting questions to ask.”

Where will this all lead for Jean-Luc Picard and Seven of Nine? We’ll begin to find out when Star Trek: Picard Season 1 debuts on January 23.

In the meantime, check out what the latest Short Trek “Children of Mars” tells us about the villains of Picard, catch up on the latest info on Picard Season 2, or read up on CBS’ plans for the future of the Star Trek franchise.

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Talk to Executive Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!

Sonic the Hedgehog is gearing up for a big 2020. Sega has announced (according to translations from Gematsu) the Sonic 2020 project, which will see new Sonic news being announced on the 20th of every month this year.

The first announcement is a bit of a cheat, as the Sonic 2020 project itself is January’s Sonic news. February is already going to be a big month for the blue blur, with the Sonic the Hedgehog movie finally arriving in cinemas on February 14.

Sega has celebrated by releasing various wallpapers, banners, and icons based on Sonic, including a Twitter header image for fans to use. It’s not yet clear what sort of news we’ll see each month, and whether we’ll see any new games being announced.

Sonic has only been the star of a few games in the current console generation, most notably Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces, and Team Sonic Racing. His most recent game was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020.

Epic’s hugely popular battle royale game Fortnite is rolling out a significant change for its competitive tournaments in 2020. The company is attempting to crack down on cheating by taking action against players who “signal” each other while playing in official tournaments.

In a blog post, Epic said it discovered last year that players were sending and receiving signals during tournaments as a method of cheating. Players on opposing sides would swing their pick axe, perform an emote, toss toys, or simply jump to give another player a heads up.

This year, Epic will take action against “any kind of in-game communication.” This includes but is not limited to, pick-axe swinging, emoting, toy tossing, and jumping.”

Players who are caught signaling will receive a “collusion” penalty. Those who break the rules again and again may face harsher penalties, Epic said.

Epic said it takes competitive integrity seriously, and reminded players they can report suspicious behavior through Fortnite’s in-game tools. Additionally, players can reach out to Epic through the company’s player support team.

One of the world’s most popular Fortnite players, Ninja, said in a tweet that he understands Epic’s position, but he also remarked that the new system is potentially problematic. He specifically took issue with how jumping could be an actionable offense.

It’s worth mentioning that Epic’s own statement makes it clear that any action will only be taken following a review. Simply jumping around, if it’s harmless and not related to signalling, won’t land you in any trouble, it seems.

In other Fortnite news, Epic has partnered with TikTok for a special contest where your dance emote could be featured in the game.