Keystone Comic Con interview: Tim Smith 3

Corey:                   Hey guys, Corey here with Amerime Media. We're at Keystone Comic-Con. I'm here speaking with Tim Smith Greene and we're gonna talk about his brand new piece.

Tim:                       Yes, I'll hold it up right here. This is mine.

Corey:                   It's not a very vivid cover but there's a good reason for that.

Tim:                       Right here we got the merchandise right there. See the cover, the cover's done by, the interior's done by Jamal, my co-creator. Basically, it's a story about what it's a Kickstarter for it that Will funded and now it's been slated, the option now for a movie so that we've got more books in the works. We've got that's what I'm working on right now. It is a story about ninja, he is trying to stop a slave trade of young African Americans who have powers as well. They are children and he somehow went to the slavering and he's got to figure out what's going on to get them out.

Tim:                       We also have another book called Black America's Sweetheart which is a young black woman who has powers work for the earth-saving cats from trees, stopping villains. But, how does the world take that? How do they look at her and say, "You're a good person." Then her powers, on her actions and I think we'll have to find out.

Corey:                   Would you say your series is what X-men was supposed to be about but with the race intention?

Tim:                       I think we'll go back to this is, this is all my point of view. Everybody can look at it and take what they want. People compare Magneto to Malcolm X and Xavier to but to me, it's like later on in his years he doesn't like China, he wanted to protect, he wanted more rights. He didn't want to hurt anybody, he didn't want to go out there and be this angry person trying to destroy buildings and the homes and neighborhoods. He wanted to protect his art, that's all he wanted to do in my opinion. If we relate that to what black is I think first off we wanted to put this together, it's about presentation, recall that we did not see today.

Tim:                       We did not see people of color doing anything fantastic. We relied on big brand companies to tell a story that represents us, represents other minorities no matter who they are, gay, straight, man, woman, in a way that so when we did this we believed parallels of people with color, with power in comics that wonder would they be treated the same? That's where we draw the line of what X-men what is X-men in the world and looking at X-men as being outcast because again, Kwanza would say this just as fast as I would, if you have a black character join the X-men they're still with the X-men, but they're not being treated like a black person.

Tim:                       If I had a superpower and I still went out in the hood I would still get harassed, I would still have trouble opening a loan at the bank. No matter what power I had. In that would you could have Cyclops, he's not gonna have a problem. If he did have a problem he doesn't have problems throughout society. Take the glasses off, put the glasses on, put the head on, you get a nice quiet life in the suburbs.

Corey:                   Suburbia.

Tim:                       Chillin. Chillin like I'm all right. Exactly. You could have a black character in that universe. They fly off and do fantastic things with the Avengers or they went to JLA, they doing all these things so when they come home they sit down. I'm in the hood, they always in the hood,  find neighborhoods with a fine car, but they still got troubles. They choose not to use their powers for that, which is what I find extraordinary.

Corey:                   It's so easy.

Tim:                       It'd be easy for them to be like, I'm going out against my money, I can read minds, I'm about to get some lottery tickets. I'm good. we try to entrust that, we try to make it known that this is a different type of world and I'm just saying that people of color still have to address those issues and still have.

Corey:                   Just from the first few issues it's building, attention is.

Tim:                       Definitely.

Corey:                   It's very real and I really want people to go out there and check it out. Right now the buzz for it is so strong, look! It's sold out.

Tim:                       It's sold out.

Corey:                   He has one copy left, this is a lowly copy. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be gone by the end of the day.

Tim:                       Probably. I definitely have fans supporting this Kickstarter. The elements that we put out that are not on Kickstarter and working on publishing. It's definitely doing well, definitely got attention and the feedback and the fan support. We are trying. This is not easy. Obviously, It takes a lot of hands to make these books. We have our talented creative team, we've got a fantastic editor, working on this stuff. We've got good backing, we've got good support. deliver quality work We do work to try to make it a fantastic story, fantastic art to the best of our ability, to address that need of.

Corey:                   You just don't want to throw a bunch of crap to the wall with the hope it sticks. You want to be confident.

Tim:                       Every panel, every word said every piece of it we try to put together as a complete package, a good experience to rival any other promotion.

Corey:                   If it's not on your shelves at your local neighborhood you can check them out at TS3art.com.

Tim:                       You can go there, that's my website, or you can go to the black superpower, you can go to that website, .com, you can go to the Black Mask website and order the books there as well.

Corey:                   It's Corey with TS3. TS3 is just really good ... That's just really good.

Tim:                       I'm actually the third. I was born number three in the family, but instead of the third, I put 3. It's like a trilogy.

Corey:                   It's really good.

Tim:                       The best come onto part three, right?

Corey:                   Yes it does.

Tim:                       I'm hoping I'm the best part.

Corey:                   Look, this is actually a really great opportunity, I hope you guys check it out. Please check it out. This is Corey at Keystone Comic-Con. Peace.  If you want to read more Black AF you can buy it here 

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SHAZAM REVIEW by COREY FLOYD

The DCEU has had a very checkered history, to say the least. After the so-so Batman versus Superman and the very confusing highly colorful Suicide Squad we got glimpses of Hope with Wonder Woman then we lost hope with Justice League then we got a little bit more hope with Aquaman.

Then there's Shazam!

This would be the first official outing for the dceu stepping away from its darker themed contemporaries, unlike the previous DC entries Shazam comes in more delightful instead of ominous brooding followed by Hans Zimmer musical score.

Shazam is about a young boy named Billy Batson who is given wonderful magical powers that make him look like an adult man with strength speed wisdom to use as good in the world. Too bad Billy Batson is a very immature 14-year-old kid who lives in a very funny and fictitious version of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Angel Asher who plays Billy Batson actually puts on a very convincing performance especially since the role of the child is just as important as the role of the hero. The main character is actually playing played by

Zachary Levi

who most of you might remember as Chuck. Mark Strong who most of you might remember from the kingsman series he's inside this DC film as Doctor Sivana the villain possessed by the seven deadly sins. This is hands down one of the best DCEU films to date. How is that possible you may ask it's actually pretty simple! No, literally the story is very simple the bad guy wants this thing the good guy has to stop him from this thing. There are cute kids there's a heartfelt message about family and then the movie is over.

Now naturally I'm not going to sit here and actually spoil the entire film that's not what I'm about to do. It's not why I'm here but what I am going to say is for as simple as this film is they actually get all the points right. Which has been rather difficult for most DC films even Aquaman has four different stories going on and just the one film and it got to a point where me personally I stopped caring. Now heads up, this film is also very funny even corny funny but it's still very good. They did just enough to let you know that there's going to be a sequel and some

post-credit scenes.

Of course, I'm not going to tell you what they are cuz you need to watch it yourself but the few weeks maybe we'll sit down and talk about that at the during one of our podcast which I definitely hope you are listening to. I'm trying my best not to give away too much but I can say this the visuals in this film are outstanding everyone's giving a great performance great work from the child actor actors and actresses almost made me tear up at one point when you see the film you'll know exactly where it is.  If you're from Philadelphia you'll find it very hilarious because their movie version of Philadelphia is very ridiculous especially from a Philly guys point of view especially when you see their version of SEPTA.

Now of course most DC films get a very high level of scrutiny from the audience and David Sandberg the director was actually ready and waiting for the internet to get angry but after seeing this film personally I'd rather give him a handshake he's literally showed you how to do a proper film now I just need everyone else to get in line. looking at you Flash movie!!! But overall I give this film an A + film. It didn't make itself too complicated because it didn't need to be too complicated everyone filled in their exact role to perfection it was the first time in a long time I can actually say I have absolutely no problems with this film it's almost fair to say might be perfect. But of course, that's just my opinion naturally I'd love to hear back from you don't be afraid that put something in the comments also please check out our YouTube page and of course our podcast the amerime junkies all these can be found plus more at AMERIMEMEDIA.COM.

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Edge of Eternity Review

I’m a bit of an RPG fan, I enjoy the story rich world and the different mechanics of each game. On the other hand, I’m not particularly keen on early access games. “Edge of Eternity” has left me with a bit of a conundrum by being both. This is a supplementary review, if you want to see my first impressions of the game right after I was done playing it, go check the video down below.

Edge of Eternity is a JRPG developed by Midgar Studio and published by Playdius. The game is currently in early access on steam with only the first chapter available. When I started the game for the first time I was greeted with the main character walking through a snowstorm with his sister, and I gotta say, I was impressed. I was walking knee deep in snow and I was leaving a trail, and as any sane person would’ve done, I tested how long the game will maintain the trail by drawing naughty things in the snow. First impressions matter kids.

Don’t lie, you would’ve done the same.

Anyway, let's get back on track. The story of the game presents us with a world at war. Strange metal ships appeared in the sky bringing technology as gifts just asking for food and to mine the land in exchange. But when they also asked for the crystals that the people use, the people of this world refused and a war started. After many losses, the people of the land finally managed to take the upper hand only for some sort of disease, known as the corrosion, that morph living things into half organic half mechanical creature to break out. Our hero of the story deserted the army after receiving a letter from his sister telling him that his mother has been infected by the corrosion.

“Give me your oi..eh…L.. *COUGH* crystals”

Our hero Daryon and Selene embark in a journey to see their mother, getting in many troubles along the way. When it comes to the story, it is your typical JRPG affair. A troubled world, outcast hero etc. We have to remember that the game is in early access and not all of the story is out, so it is hard to judge where the story will go. If anything I can say this game reminded me of the good old era of JRPG’s on the PS2.

I mean, this can’t get more JRPG.

Gameplay, on the other hand, I found quite interesting. Combat is turn-based, and like in Chrono Trigger, you can see the monster in the world before you battle them. You have a bar that fills up, and when this bar is full that character can perform an action.

Here’s an example of some other combat mechanics.

Also, I like how the weather & time of the day can influence the battle. Like how fire attacks get weaker in the rain & electric attacks get stronger.

Unlike Chrono Trigger we have the typical cutscene where light flashes on the screen and then we are taken to the battlefield where we face the monster. I find this quite odd since we are taken to the same place that we were standing because, in this game, the position of your character is important.

Almost forgot, your weapon levels as well, and your skills are bound to crystals of different colors that you allocate in slots in your weapon.

The location where you are confronted by a monster is important because in the overworld you’ll find things like healing crystal or lighting rods and catapult like weapons. These things are translated into a grid in the battle screen where you can position, and move your character around in other to receive some benefits in battle.

Look at this stupid dog sitting there… healing….mocking me!

Moving around is also integral to avoid certain attacks from the enemy where you’ll see a certain part of the grid light up in a red color telling you things are going to go down. Also placing your healer/caster away from the enemy but close enough to heal Daryon is a solid tactic. This gives the game a bit of Tactical RPG and I find that really fun. I can only imagine how fun it would be with more party members but unfortunately, as right now, you only have two characters. Given that in some quest you get a random NPC to join you, but they don’t have skills and playing them boils down to “attack”.

Ok, Nugget just stands there and don’t die.

Speaking of quests, we have our typical side missions of “collect 100 of this items”, and “kill these many enemies”, but also we have very interesting quests. At one point of the story, you have to lure a giant boar towards this prison camp so you can free an NPC that is integral to the story. It was very interesting, to say the least. The monster will chase you if it catches you-you have to fight him and knock him down. While the monster is down, you have to run before it wakes up again and repeat this till you reach the camp.

Also, it will make a nice meal after everything is said and done.

I think it is important that I take a little bit of time to reiterate that the game is in early access. There are some bugs in the game, and I’ve had some issues streaming the game. Sure it could be on my end, but I haven’t had any problem streaming more demanding games, in any case, the game still needs some polish.

Oh! Selene can use shadow clone Jutsu? I didn’t know.

Also, what’s with this camera angle?

Still, the game shows promise. Yeah, it does have the stereotypical JRPG tropes, but that only gives me nostalgia for the good old days of JRPG’s. But the gameplay and the quests with a twist like the boar one gives me a lot of hope for the game. Also, the fact that the areas of the game are not instances, meaning that you can walk from one map to another without seemingly loading anything, reminds me of an MMORPG. This feeling was also reinforced by the presence of event quests in the overworld, one to be precise.

This quest seems to pop out every time I logged in, and aside from different monster that I had to fight,

The reward seems to be the same. Access to a merchant for a limited time.

The game has many things going for it, a matter of fact, it feels like the developers are trying many different things in just one game. Whether this is good or not, only time will tell. I do believe though that the game will focus itself and pull through.

So do I recommend the game? Well, it is an early access game and if you buy it now you are only purchasing chapter one. To tell the truth, though, I had a blast with the little there is of the game, and do believe that this game has tremendous potential, also it’s only 19.99 on steam. So if you check videos/reviews and like what you see and wish to help the development of the game, I would say go for it.

In conclusion aside from some problems that can be fixed in the future, like how NPC pretty much look the same even in important quests, the game shows potential. Don’t get me wrong, in this era of gaming that we live in anything can happen, but I’m a hopeful person at heart. Have you tried Edge of Eternity? What are your thoughts on the game? Let us know. Now I return to the deepest darkest corners of my dwelling. Good-bye, for now, my friends.

Can’t wait to see where this journey will take us.

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