With dozens of comic books to choose from, let us show you which are the best coming out this week. Take a look at this list spotlighting our favorite comics that we know are money-well-spent and new books that look cool and are backed by some top-tier talent.
Once you check out our picks, head to the comments to let us know what you’ll be buying this week!
Writer Tom King | Artist Clay Mann w/ Travis Moore | Cover Artist Clay Mann (DC Comics)
WWE and NXT Superstars will collide in an unexpected venue: League of Legends.
Airing on WWE’s gaming-centric YouTube channel UpUpDownDown, WWE vs. NXT: League of Legends pits four WWE Superstars and a League of Legends streamer against a team of four NXT Superstars and their own streamer in a 5v5 showdown hosted by WWE’s Xavier Woods.
The WWE team is being coached and led by imaqtpie, featuring Ruby Riott, Cesaro, Seth Rollins and Tyler Breeze. NXT’s team consists of Tyler1 as their coach and leader, featuring Johnny Gargano, Dakota Kai, Shayna Baszler, and Adam Cole. The winner will appear at NXT TakeOver: Wargames II.
A study by the Motion Picture Association of America has revealed that most of the films released in the last half century have been rated R for Restricted.
The MPAA 50th anniversary report (per Variety) comes with a bevy of broken down statistics over the MPAA’s 50 years of film classifications and ratings following the replacement of the Hays Code by the MPAA film rating system in 1968. The report states that, of the nearly 30,000 films given classifications by the MPAA, 17,202 are rated R.
Final Fantasy VIII was a divisive entry in the beloved franchise when it released in 1999. For many, things like the junction and draw systems felt like too much of a departure from previous games, and an out-of-left-field plot twist near the end left a lot of fans scratching their heads.
These days, Final Fantasy VIII is remembered a little more fondly, if not necessarily as a masterpiece. One reason why is the world; it feels slightly more grounded than the high sci-fi and fantasy settings of previous games. There’s nothing wrong with FFVII’s Gaia or FFVI’s World of Balance, it’s just that they were occupied by fantasy archetypes and threatened by otherworldly beings that are hardly relatable to us as players.
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There is so much audio out there to consume: music, audiobooks, podcasts, news, games. With our busy lives a lot of this consumption needs to happen on the go, and while regular wired headphones are a perfectly viable solution, there’s nothing better than the freedom afforded by a set of wireless headphones. Plus, phone manufacturers seem intent on killing the headphone jack for good, so it seems certain the future for audio on-the-go will be wireless.
Last year, Square Enix made the dramatic announcement that it would narrow its focus down to its key franchises and studios. This meant that developer IO Interactive and the Hitman franchise were put up for sale. Hitman 2 was already in development when this announcement came down, which put the future of the studio and the Hitman franchise in question. IO Interactive was ultimately successful in becoming an independent company, and it was able to retain the Hitman rights. Eventually, IO partnered with Warner Bros. on the soon-to-launch Hitman 2.
In an interview with GameSpot, associate director Eskil Mohl reflected on this challenging time for IO Interactive. IO had to make a number of layoffs as part of the deal. While this was difficult, Mohl said it helped the team that remained become further unified and driven to make Hitman 2 better.
“It’s sort of a miracle that we’re here today,” Mohl said. “We’re super happy and excited about that because of course it’s been a rough time. It took a long time to find Warner as well.”
Mohl said when Square Enix dropped IO and the Hitman franchise, the situation felt dire. He said he remembers thinking, “Oh sh*t, we’re flying over the Atlantic and we don’t have enough gas to get there. So what the hell do we do?”
As mentioned, one part of coming to a solution was cutting jobs–and this was difficult.
“We had to let a lot of people go. But that made the team that was left really come together [and say] ‘Let’s do this, we believe in the product.’ We were already working on Hitman 2 and then this thing happened,” he said. “It sort of unified us in a way. Yeah, it’s been super hard, but its always a lot of work, but it’s fun work. It really made us go, ‘Yeahhh we can do it!.'”
And regarding IO’s new partnership with Warner Bros., Mohl said it’s been smooth sailing. Similarly, Square Enix was pleasant during the breakup, he said.
“I can only say super positive things,” Mohl said. “We’re super happy with Warner Bros. And they seem to be happy with us, right? [looks at PR person in the room]. I have to say, after Square left us, they’ve been extremely nice to us. They had to focus on other stuff, so that was fair.”
Hitman 2 launches on November 13 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The actor Sean Bean, who typically portrays characters who die, is the first Elusive Target in the sequel. You can watch a trailer for this in the video embed above.