(AfroGamers.com)                 SPOILER ALERT!

Tongari Boushi no Atelier, or Witch Hat Atelier, is a Japanese animated series (an anime) that started airing in April 2026. Produced by BUG FILMS, it took approximately 3 and a half years for the adaptation process of the manga, of the same name, to be completed before its premier. The hype following the announcement and release of the series was to be expected considering how the manga received critical acclaim after winning the Best Manga Award of 2025 at the 37^th Harvey Awards – outshining even One Piece.

Because of this, it felt only right to watch and review whether the anime lives up to the standards of the manga it is based on. It has already been a couple of weeks since Witch Hat Atelier came out, but it is never too late to express your thoughts on something that directly captures your attention when it does. This review only looks at the first episode of the anime because first impressions always matter.

Summary and Analysis

Overall, the plot of Witch Hat Atelier features a little girl named Coco who aspires to become a witch due to her immense love and admiration for the art of magic. Unfortunately, in the world she lives in, only those born and blessed with magical powers can be witches. All of this comes to head when Coco, after seeing a witch named Mr. Qifrey use magic, discovers all she needs to wield the mysterious and alluring power is a pen and a casting seal. From then onwards, adventure and intrigue ensues.

The series opens with our main character, Coco, questioning in a neutral tone whether the identities every person adopts is inherently known – thereafter she answers herself by stating how “These things aren’t decided at birth”. This opening scene already speaks to what kind of person Coco is. It insinuates that she is perceptive about the world and realistic about what she can be and cannot be even though she has an intense desire to become something she admires. Her optimism, however, almost attempts to blindside the viewers and have her appear as ignorant and naïve about how the world worked – even though that is not the case. We can see this in a flashback when her mother explains why and how she could not be a witch, leaving her disheartened, only for the next scene to be Coco enthusiastically trying to cast a spell whilst role-playing a witch. These scenes of the episode did well in revealing the duality of her character.

The overall mood of the episode is relatively down-to-earth. It is calming in a sense whereby we as the viewers are getting to know the characters, especially our main character. We can feel this mood shift when Coco tells the story of the time she met a “witch in a mask”. The change is not drastic, but there is something about the way Mr. Qifrey contemplates Coco’s story that gives it a sense of foreboding. Another scene in the episode that gave off this feeling is when Coco began experimenting with the pen and casting spells from the book. Just watching this scene would put any adult with a child on high alert because Coco, a 10 or so year old child, is evidently ignorant on how magic worked and the potential scale of its destructive power. The episode did well is setting up these shifts in tone and mood as the viewers can now anticipate how the upcoming episodes can make them feel and whether or not they are willing to go through that.

Another noteworthy aspect is the recurring image of the book. Not just the book Coco got from the masked witch but throughout the episode – from the start with Coco’s monologue to the end where the episode ends with a shot of a book’s page flipping to the next. This recurrence obviously points to the masked witch and how them giving Coco the book of spells started the whole story, but it can also symbolise a newfound knowledge and experience. In the series’ case, that is the recurring image of the book symbolises Coco’s new enlightenment into the world she had always dreamed of experiencing. That is why the episode ending with a page turning signifies a new set of ideas and understanding that Coco is about to acquire about the “mysterious and sparkly, valuable and pretty” world of magic.

Animation and Voice Acting

The animation style is nothing short of breath-taking. It is smooth in the way the characters move in the settings they are in and how natural and realistic these movements are. The scene where Coco cuts a piece of fabric for Mr. Qifrey directly captures how delicate and precise the animators of the episode (and perhaps series) were in every frame they animated.

The only downside – but not too much of a downside – is the voice-acting in the series. This judgement is specific to the Japanese voice-acting. There is nothing bad about it, but there is nothing special either. It almost felt as though it was done to serve a purpose; the script said Coco needs to be happy, so the voice actor spoke in a happy voice; the script said Mr. Qifrey needs to be carefree, so the voice actor used a light-hearted tone in their speech. Not to diminish the work put into bringing the characters personalities to life, however the voice acting can be praised in the same light as some other anime already out there.

Closing Words

In closing, the series is a definite watch, especially if you are interested in fantasy, magic and adventure. The medieval fantasy aesthetic makes it even more appealing to watch, and it really gives off the vibe that the anime takes place in an alternate world where magic is part of people’s everyday lives though strictly observed by the witches who can use it. Which makes it even more exciting for what’s to come in the following episodes regarding the worldbuilding and magical systems put in place.

So, if you are a blatant fan of the Harry Potter franchise, The Lord of the Rings trilogy or literally any isekai anime with magic and overpowered characters, then Tongari Boushi no Atelier is without doubt made for you.

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.

Feel free to drop a note at; FadzaiN@AfroGamers.com.

(AfroGamers.com) While digging through some things, I found an old Viz Comics catalog. These catalogs had all of the subbed and dubbed anime available during the late 90s on VHS.

Now, the prices for a tape featuring two episodes were always dicey but you were guaranteed to find something you’d dig. Flipping through it, I noticed a lot of classic mecha series.

Mecha are the anime, manga, and video games involving giant robots that can either be piloted from inside or controlled. Usually, the series are sci-fi in nature but things have been mixed up and new concepts have been explored.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at big three pioneers of mecha anime and manga.

Voltron (1984)

This franchise holds a very legit claim to being the best of the classic mecha franchises. This franchise was just satisfying to watch. It wasn’t overly complex, too violent, or even too lengthy.

I’m not a big fan of monster-of-the-week writing but it worked with Voltron. This was like an animated version of Power Rangers which began airing a few years before Voltron.

Another thing that works for Voltron is that this is mecha in a sci-fantasy setting. It’s like if you mixed Power Rangers with Star Wars when the back story comes into play.

Of course, anime that was broadcast don’t really hit story-wise when you’re ten. You’re just looking at the cool fights, suits, and robots, really.

Robotech (1985)

Now Robotech and Voltron aren’t as old as pioneers such as Mazinger Z or Gigantor but it is one of those series that pioneered mecha in the West.

This was thanks to anime’s best friends during expansion and exposure: dubbing and broadcast television. Dubbing—replacing the audio of exported content with that of the import market—wasn’t that great in the late 80s and into the early 00s.

However, just the idea that this was some new, fresh content in the West was enough for Robotech to catch on. It’s military-focused but it’s also a space opera with half of it being about the protagonist doing his duty and protecting the woman he loves only for it to no be reciprocated.

Of the three mentioned series, Robotech kind of sits in the middle. It’s not as action-heavy and fast-paced as Voltron tends to be but it doesn’t move at a slower pace like our next entry often does.

Also, lore-wise, Robotech isn’t as technical as our third franchise but it explains more than Voltron usually did. Progression-wise, this series moved along well and ran in chronological order.

Which is different from the third and final series on this list.

Gundam (1979)

This is such a hard series to explain. Gundam does a lot. It’s a long-running series which predates Robotech and Voltron by a few years but comes over a decade after Gigantor.

Like Robotech, Gundam is a space opera obsessed with a lot of lore and timeline events. Unfortunately, the franchise is fractured into multiple series taking place in different timelines or even different worlds.

As I said, this is a franchise that is hard to explain. Some of the series are sequels or prequels of others while some are standalone series. Then you have a series like G Gundam which kind of steps away from the slower-paced high drama of the franchise into straight-up shonen territory.

On the one hand, I’d say this is to be expected if a franchise has run as long as Gundam and needs to freshen things up for a while. I don’t know if this was the right direction but I enjoyed it!

For the most part, you could get someone into Voltron or even Robotech. As a matter of fact, Robotech is offered on most streaming platforms and for free on Crackle.

Gundam is a harder series to get people into. It really depends on if you introduce them to the more modern stuff, the late anime boom stuff like Gundam Wing and G Gundam, or take them back to the throwbacks.

It’s a gamble because Gundam’s pace is such that if the series you picked for someone to watch doesn’t stick, it’s going to be hard to suggest more Gundam. At that point, you’re just pushing it.

Bonus Classic Mecha Anime: Gigantor (1963)

Gigantor is pretty much the godfather of modern mecha anime. It’s old school as hell, black and white, and features a super simplistic storyline from episode to episode.

When I first saw it, it was more for historical purposes. Watching the series years later and I don’t care for it, to be honest. This is not a fun series to sit through.

That’s hard for me to say because I’ve sat through and enjoyed Astro Boy which was released around the same time. There’s just something I can’t get into with the original Gigantor.

I will say that this was a big broadcast for me since I heavy into finding the origins of certain genres in music, comics, and animation.

Seeing the birth of so many tropes is why I enjoy watching Kinnikuman and Fist of the North Star so much. Once Toriyama took from those two series to make Dragon Ball manga history was made.

That could be the thing. I went in thinking I’d witness the same thing in Gigantor that was inspire Gundam, Robotech, and Voltron. I guess that would be the case if those series were heavily in the old 1940s Danger Boy and Mystery Lad novels vein like Gigantor.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

(AfroGamers.com) In the world of East Asian comics, from manga all the way to manhwa, there is a running trope you can find when you browse through historical romance and modern villainous plots and genres. This is the evil sister – be it full-, half- or step-sister – trope. Although generic sounding, which for some readers it has gotten to that point, because of the large volume of comics that use this trope out there, it is no less satisfying to read them when you can anxiously expect an impending comeuppance for these wicked, troublemaking sisters. Because of this very reason, manhwa and manga authors have found it upon themselves to not only continue using the evil sister trope in some of their work but to also ensure that there is just something unique enough about their versions to set them apart from the rest.

Following this train of thought, we are going to discuss the recurring types of evil sisters who keep sweeping across multiple manhwa and manga today, as well as identifying whether there are any that exploit the trope interestingly.

The ‘steal your fiancé’ Evil Sister

This type of evil sister is quite self-explanatory from the title alone, as her main objective for part of or throughout the story is to steal her own sibling’s fiancé – or in the words of historical romances, her betrothed. There can be different reasons for why the antagonistic sister finds the need to do this, except her expressed feelings on the matter always have to do with hating her sister. One reason for the hate can be the evil sister feeling inferior to her ‘good’ sister. For example, in My Sister Covets My Fiancé, Katherine feels threatened by her little sister, Neris, simply because she is another daughter to be loved and cared for by the family – instead of it just being her alone. By taking advantage of their parents favouring her more over the sister she hates, Katherine feels more confident causing trouble and making life more difficult and miserable for Neris – just like seducing the man she loved would do.

The ‘steal your fiancé’ scheme has typically been portrayed as part of establishing one sister as the story’s antagonist whilst being used for the other sister as a learning opportunity to become a better version of herself without seeking the male validation she had previously sort out.

Even with this idea being overused over and over again, some stories slip through in their unique employment of the trope. Such as the manga, Proud to be the Villainess, where the trope is completely subverted by having the ‘evil’, fiancé-stealing sister turn out to be good and not as malicious as she had previously portrayed herself to be – in other words, the evil sister was written to be an unreliable narrator.

The “I’m the real daughter” Evil Sister

“I’m the real daughter” is a phrase that goes hand-in-hand with the fake daughter trope often seen in Asian media like Chinese dramas and Korean dramas. There are comics that follow the same template as these dramas whereby the rich, real daughter and poor, fake daughter are switched at birth and years later into the plot conflict arises because of that switch. However, what manhwa and manga do differently is that they deliberately have the so-called ‘real daughter’ be unkind in her intentions towards the ‘fake daughter’ whilst she tries to get her biological family to cast the fake one out.

As a narrative strategy, the “I’m the real daughter” situation can be seen as a way to evoke sympathy from the readers for the fake daughter who may or not have to experience rejection from the family she once knew and loved. Though, as a plot device, it can be used to reveal how critical an introduced character can be beyond what is directly stated at the beginning of the story. Looking at I Am the Real One, the identity crisis of who the biological daughter of the Grand Duke is-is a significant part of the story yet acts to present dramatic irony (where the readers know information the characters don’t) regarding the conspiracies revolving Cosette (the ‘real’ daughter) which have to do with the actual reason she decided to reunite with her biological father.

The ‘power is mine’ Evil Sister

This is quite the interesting variation of the evil sister because of how it can easily turn the manga/manhwa from a slice of life or romance story to a drama or even a horror. A key element involving this type of sister is usually the inclusion of fantasy and how it can go from being mesmerising to horrifying as quickly as the first panels of the first chapter. Just as we see in Into the Light, Once Again, with the antagonist Marianne (the evil sister) manipulating her entire family into hating and inevitably executing her sister Alisa; only after torturing her.

An interesting note to also make on the ‘power is mine’ evil sister type is how they can include the first two types of evil sisters discussed above. That is because in seeking ultimate power, the evil sister may aim to establish herself as the only ‘necessary’ or ‘real’ daughter of the family and doing so by having everything that is her ‘good’ sister’s (like her inheritance and her lover) be attained and made solely her own – just like we see with Katherine from My Sister Covets My Fiancé and Lorena from A World Without You. In which case, this type of evil sister can easily be described as power-hungry, attention-seeking, and covetous. And because of that, they never fail to receive the utmost frustration, infuriation and disdain from most readers of their respective manhwa.

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.

Feel free to drop a note at; FadzaiN@AfroGamers.com.

(AfroGamers.com) When reading any manga or manhwa familiarising ourselves with the characters is a near involuntary action because we either want to find a character to relate to, a character or group of characters to root for or, simply, to understand the characters just so we can understand the plot.

A recent pattern seen among manhwa readers – specifically, romance manhwa readers – is the adoption of this act of character information gathering just to see whether they fit the ideal image of a ‘swoon worthy’ man. The criteria to fit this ideal image is often not dependent on whether or not the male character is a good or bad person but on what the majority of readers agree to be the latest in fashion man. With that, we can explore this idea of the ideal male image by looking at the current trend of the ‘toxic boyfriend/husband’ trope as seen in some male leads like the following two well-known characters.

Bjorn Dniester from The Problematic Prince

To start off, a toxic man, or toxic masculinity, is typically linked to a man having harmful beliefs and tendencies that more often than not damage their inter- and intrapersonal relationships.

After reading The Problematic Prince, a historical, romance manhwa, we find the male lead Bjorn who can easily be described as toxic from his conceited, condescending and manipulative nature; but let’s not forget how rich and handsome he is too. He is not only a prince but an archduke who owns and runs the biggest bank in the country even with a scandal of being a divorced man looming over his head.

Bjorn is a relatively complicated character due to his otherwise ‘less than likeable’ personality traits being so easily pushed aside by The Problematic Prince audience. Readers don’t necessarily avoid pointing these out, but it is more of Solche, the author of the web novel the manhwa is based on, being particularly good at manipulating and obscuring the narrative surrounding Bjorn – so much so that we, as the readers, don’t see what is so wrong with him until another character points it out for us or we find out ourselves a little later into the story. It is with that that the toxic image becomes a lot more apparent and a sort of love-hate relationship between Bjorn and the readers ignites.

From reader reception alone (as seen on social media and comment sections), it is obvious that the only reason Bjorn can be seen as likeable is because of the ‘perfect’, detailed character background which supposedly suits some standards female audience members of the manhwa have for their ideal boyfriend/husband. Well, either that, or readers found it attractive how depressed and haggard he became after his second wife up and left him after serving him with divorce papers because he was too emotionally constipated for her liking.

Joo Jaekyung from Jinx

Secondly, to commemorate the end of Jinx (the main story) – written and illustrated by Mingwa – we have Joo Jaekyung who is also added onto the list of adored toxic male leads in romance manhwa. The thing about Mingwa is that she is known for writing toxic male characters with her most popular series before Jinx being BJ Alex – which exploded in readership during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. So, after Mingwa announced in 2022 how she was releasing another BL (Boy’s Love) manhwa about an MMA fighter nicknamed the ‘Emperor of MMA’, readers knew to expect something dark and heartbreaking – more so for the love interest.

Jaekyung is particularly off putting because of his violent tendencies. Not that him being an MMA fighter meant he would automatically be seen as abusive; except his aggressive speech, dismissive attitude toward certain people and behaviour bordering towards being emotionless made him a character susceptible to audience criticism. Unlike Bjorn, he was purposely written to appear as horrible a man as he can be. Which worked, because the Jinx fandom did not hold him to as high a light as some toxic male characters out there, and even went as far as calling him a ‘horse’ to make fun of his facial features and likening him to a breeding horse.

At least that is until … the Redemption arc!

When it was revealed that Jaekyung was the way he was because of the type of childhood he had – absent mother, abusive, neglectful father, living like a street kid – readers’ attitudes slowly began to turn around. Even after everything that Kim Dan, Jaekyung’s love interest, went through at his hand, some readers had gone on and excused his harmful behaviour and assault citing, “He will learn to be better” and “Kim Dan can change him”.

Although the toxic masculine archetype is not every romance manhwa readers’ cup of tea, but as of late, a good amount of the readers – especially female readers – find themselves leaning more towards favouring these types of male characters. From Joo Jaekyung’s redeemable qualities to Bjorn’s less than recognised appeal, romance manhwa of the modern-day are actively making an effort to have their men not always be the chivalrous type. If you look carefully, these types of stories that almost make it a mission to focus on these types of men carry an undertone of romanticisation. Whether these refer to an effort to feed reader obsessions or just to desensitise and normalise it in societies that have slowly gained consciousness on how harmful and damaging these attitudes and behaviours can be is still uncertain.

All that can be said is other romance manhwas like Tears of a Withered Flower, Cry, Even Better If You Beg and My Beloved Oppressor continue being churned out and read by massive audiences that may critic the themes shown, however, still demand more be written and published. So, next time you find yourself reading a manhwa, romance or otherwise, and feel like you are falling for the surface-level act of a character, think twice about how they’re really like because you might find that you are accepting and resonating a little too much with their toxic actions and behaviours – especially you ladies out there!

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.

Feel free to drop a note at; FadzaiN@AfroGamers.com.

(AfroGamers.com) For a couple of months, I got back into Warframe, a third-person shooter from Digital Extremes. The game came out in early 2013, over a year before Bungie released the first Destiny game. I mention Destiny because Warframe comes off as something of a third-person version of Destiny—which is kind of inaccurate because Warframe came first but it’s definitely not the better-known of the two.

Like Destiny 2, WF is very much a live service game meaning it’s meant to stay active via constant seasonal content and updates as well as regular expansions. These games make their bread either by selling the expansion while the game itself is free, having stuff that can be purchased in the premium shop, seasonal passes—or all three. Oftentimes, all three are utilized since the seasonal pass and seasonal content keeps things alive.

Live Service is a Hard Road to Travel

Most of the time when a game is developed it’s either meant as a one-off story, a potential series-starter, or a sequel but it’s often a contained story that might get DLC before the studio moves on. They’re rarely meant to be live like the multiplayer modes of Call of Duty. Live service is more the realm of MOBAs and MMORPGs which come in as massively online experiences as soon as they’re installed.

As it would go, live services exist within MMO’s metropolitan area without having a residence in the city proper. But the studio has to be able to support it consistently. That means regular seasons every two to six months that have a theme and keep players involved and engage in the game world followed by an expansion.

The expansion serves as a mini-sequel or soft sequel without being a full-on sequel with a number and subtitle. Mind you, Bungie sells expansions for the price of a full game but those come around every year or two but they have the fanbase and the players tend to be enthusiastic even if there are elements they don’t care for much.

That’s ultimately what a developer takes this road wants: a dedicated fanbase for the title. You only get that with rewarding missions and gameplay and an engaging, constantly evolving story. The mix of this concoction varies from game to game and developer to developer but those who apparently hit that perfect mix for them tend to stick around for a long time. Sprinkle in free-to-play and boom!

Much like Warframe.

Warframe is Hanging in There

Again, released in 2013, WF is a sci-fi third-person shooter where you as a recently unfrozen Tenno—humanoid warriors who are one with their bio battle suits—to combat a variety of alien lifeforms. Tennos utilize different kinds of weaponry as they take on galaxy-spanning missions to deal damage and defeat these hostile lifeforms.

Typical sci-fi stuff, really. Like other live service games, a premium store where things and currency can purchased that can be used with any particular in-game mechanic. There’s always a special currency with these types of games—such as platinum in Diablo IV.

The story is just enough that a developer can keep going with the game while throwing in storyline stuff and pushing the main story along every few years. What keeps players engaging with WF is some fun gameplay, decent gameplay, cosmetics and better gear to snag, and a leveling system players can work on.

The goal is to make it challenging and rewarding for the dedicated players and accessible enough for new and returning players. It’s a real tightrope act because if you make things too easy, your diehards are going to be annoyed since their effort for years prior might come off as pointless. However, if things are too difficult or convoluted, that’s a good way to not see return players or retain them.

You simply end up with your diehards who—while loyal—you can never truly satisfy. There will be something they didn’t enjoy and those players are regulars and might be familiar to the team. The loudest and rowdiest tend to have a voice in the core community.

Of course, that all only matters if you’re really involved with the community. If you’re not in the official Discord or on their forums, it doesn’t matter. You’re here to play the game. With that said, Warframe has a dedicated community that keeps the game alive and keeps the devs busy.

There are a few games that should be watched to see how this is done. While WF doesn’t have the live population of Diablo IV or Destiny 2, it has stayed alive for over a decade with a population often in the lower five figures.

Do you play Warframe, Diablo IV, or Destiny 2? What keeps you playing and what would make you take a break from the grind and the loop? As always let us know!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

(AfroGamers.com) The original Ultimate Spider-Man series was headed up by the incredible team of writer Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley. Released in 2000, it was basically a modern retelling of one of Marvel’s Big 3 superheroes.

Knowing this, going back and reading the series would beg the question “Why?” At least for some. Between the character’s creation in August 1962 and the publishing of Ultimate Spider-Man in October 2000, we would see multiple comics, cartoons, and films focusing on a teenage Peter Parker coming into his powers and facing off against familiar villains.

In short, the concept was tired and ran down. That’s why Miles Morales was received so well. It was something new and half of the original team—Bendis—returned and deliver on the execution. That’s where the original Ultimate Spider-Man gets a chance. Execution.

Bendis could’ve given us the exact same tale but Marvel would’ve gone for it. Plus, the rest of the Ultimate Marvel universe was focused on a modern spin on classic heroes. So, is Ultimate Spider-Man worth a read? Let’s find out.

Ultimate Spider-Man (2000-2009)

This series was basically the flagship for the Ultimate Marvel lineup. Sure, there was a whole Ultimates comic there but this was Spidey’s show. Hell, Ultimates wasn’t even the longest running in the lineup since it was completed in under a year following thirteen issues. Sure, it came back in 2005 and once more in 2008, but again it was out after thirteen and six issues respectively.

Ultimate Spider-Man went 133 issues over eight years. That’s nothing to sneeze at. The only other series in that line to come close were Ultimate X-Men which got a hundred issues across eight years and Ultimate Fantastic Four, which was given sixty issues across five years. Of course, the Fantastic Four should’ve gotten that many since it was the Marvel Universe’s top team for decades and the X-Men are the X-Men. Everyone loves the X-Men because everyone has at least one favorite mutant and stories are often timeless.

That Sliding Timeline

First thing’s first, Ultimate Spider-Man as well as the entire Ultimate Marvel line still worked within Marvel’s janky “sliding timeline.” While the sliding timeline isn’t particularly confusing, it leaves a ton of things unanswered. Namely, the fact Captain America fought in World War II which is depicted in the Marvel Universe, referenced frequently but never establishes a concrete timeline.

There’s a good reason for this. Business-wise, Marvel wrote itself into a box where it has a number of popular, established characters that it doesn’t want to phase out entirely. As a result, most characters don’t age, they get numerous stories.

Marvel explains that these stories happened in just a few decades and don’t go by real time. Okay…I guess. To bolster this, the numerous incidents of time traveling and time tampering affected Marvel’s time to some odd degree. Alright, we’re getting to something that makes some canonical sense. As far as the Ultimate Marvel universe is concerned, it shouldn’t be impacted by anything of this until the Secret Wars storyline in 2015.

Honestly, its why I’m more of an Astro City/Valiant Comics reader. The timeline is what it is and the timeline goes straight forward—even with instances of time travel being an important part of Astro City.

Content

In regards to the artwork and writing, both were extremely good. The execution in a modern retelling of Peter Parker’s life as Spider-Man worked here. Some people didn’t care for it but that’s often the case with comics, right? But I felt they really hit it out the park. I got back into comics in 2007 because of Ultimate Spider-Man.

The main line of comics in both Marvel and DC can be hard to get into. This isn’t because the stories aren’t any good, its that so much happens across multiple series in the period of a year that it can be hard to jump in. And if you manage to jump in, you have to keep up. American comics often aren’t linear, they weave in with other series in a shared universe and a significant event of a larger story arc might be referenced.

This is also the case with Ultimate Marvel but since it started with a handful of series and didn’t run for decades and decades, its pretty easy to get into and read through all the series. Of the series, Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men were the most appealing. Bendis’ Spider-Man isn’t much different from the teenage Spidey we’re familiar with but the series entire eight year focus was just on teen Spidey.

This was something I loved because Spidey in college simply didn’t appeal to me too much and adult Spidey didn’t either. The stories were great, mind you but I just could be bothered with his adult drama. I wanted superpowered fights and Parker’s wittiness. Ultimate Spider-Man gave you both with the risk of being a teen and having to keep up his identity.

To a degree, it was something you probably missed out on if you got into Spider-Man at a certain time and didn’t go back read the early stuff.

Pull or Pass

I’ll say that Ultimate Spider-Man gets a pull. There’s great artwork, great writing, and I have to add—the covers are dope. They’ve been out for over a decade now—almost twenty years which is wild—so you’ll do better picking them up in graphic novel format. If you’re not up for buying all 27 books—although the first 22 is the main run—chances are your public library has them or can hold them. That’s how I went through them anyway. The Marvel Unlimited service is also a good way to read them.

RATING: 8.5 out of 10 (Recommended)

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

(AfroGamers.com) So, Judge Dredd has been around for years. A little over 49 years, actually. The series has seen a number stories in that time and the greatest judge of Mega-City One has been through a lot and seen a lot. One of those big stories in the first few years of the series was The Day the Law Died. This 1978 story was something that sprang from a hierarchy-shaking event and spiraled into the rise of one of the worse Chief Judges in Mega-City One history:

Judge Cal

Originally a Deputy Chief Judge, Judge Cal wasn’t in his position for long at just a year. Prior to that, he served as head of the Special Judicial Squad—basically the Internal Affairs of the Justice Department. Tasked with keeping the judges honest, Judge Cal aspired for more power and the coveted Chief Judge position.

He made his way up the ranks via blackmail and forcing some Judges to become his hitmen. Rivals and allies were either kept in line or found themselves with a bit of permanent misfortune. Eventually, Cal became Deputy Chief. He was within distance of his goal. All he needed was to get rid of Judge Goodman. Luckily, he had some support in the way of Judges who had since become corrupted.

When Judge Cal made his move, it was already a wrap for Judge Goodman. Prior to this, his mind had been taken over, the Robot Wars had seen the population of Mega-City One take a hit, and there was uncertainty of Judge Dredd’s return from the Cursed Earth. While Dredd did return, it all took a toll on the man. This made him easy pickings for Cal who enacted a plan to have Dredd arrested for the killing of a civilian.

Dredd was sent to jail on Titan but managed to get free and clear himself. Revealing it was a robot made to look like the lawman. Since the information the robot used came from within the Department, the hunt for the man who set Dredd up was on. The whole time that Dredd was away, Chief Judge Goodman fell apart allowing for Cal to go forward with taking over. He would go on to have the mayor of Mega-City One imprisoned, Dredd shot, and Goodman killed.

Caligula’s Reign

Even though Dredd would recover—because Dredd never loses and he’s never out for too long—Cal was able to go on with his plans for Mega-City One. While he was a corrupt official who wanted power for himself, he was also an authoritarian and put the city in a state of martial law. He was also able to brainwash the majority of the judges to not question him.

The power went to Cal’s head and he became insane to the point his goldfish was appointed to his old position and is now Deputy Chief Judge Fish. At his side were two judges, one of which Cal eventually betrayed when they questioned his sanity. There was a group of citizens who banded together to fight against Cal’s reign but they were crushed by the reptile alien Kleggs that the Chief Judge brought in. As punishment, Cal had citizens executed in alphabetical order.

As expected, some citizens decided to flee the city when it was gathered that Cal was totally gone. This meant they would’ve taken their chances in the Cursed Earth. Unfortunately, the Chief Judge forced them to stay and build the wall that would keep them in. When Dredd recovered, he set about taking the fight to Cal with the help of a few almost retired judges, protege Judge Giant and his own mentor Judge Griffin.

In heading underground, he enlisted the help of the criminal Fergee. Knowing that Dredd was coming for him, Cal enlisted the help of Kleggs. The final dance for Chief Judge Cal came when he was planning to destroy Mega-City One in attempt to freeze his reign at the height of perfection—at least he felt it was a perfect reign. Dredd’s forces managed to defeat the Kleggs but were captured by Cal’s forces.

As it often happens, whenever there seems to be no way out for Dredd, he always survives thanks to some improbable shot or an ally. In this case, Fergee came through and killed Chief Judge Cal by throwing him to his death and preventing the plot.

Pull or Pass

Dredd was once again given all the kudos and it was expected that he’d become Chief Judge. He instead nominated Chief Griffin in his place, wanting to remain where the action is. Which is great, because without Dredd Mega-City One would’ve continued to lose more of its population. I mean, we’re talking over 40 years of stories and this city just gets the rough end of disasters and the like.

So is this one pull-worthy or could you pass it and read it if you come across it? It’s definitely pull-worthy purely for the peak insanity and chaos wreaked by Judge Cal. You expect Judge Dredd to pull a victory out but you’re really wondering how long will it take and how much more will Cal amp up the chaos before he does.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

(AfroGamers.com) So, I’ve gotten into three manhua (or manhwa) series with two being progression fantasies and the third being a cultivation series. We’re going to look at Against the Gods, a long-running cultivation series by Mars Gravity.

Against the Gods in a Nutshell

AtG is a very entertaining but occasionally head scratch-inducing series. It comes from a period when murim literature could run for a long time and was often well-paced. However, that same period also saw a number of webnovels get the manhua treatment and was often faster-paced.

We also have a lot of similar-looking protagonists, similar-looking love interests, oppressive branch families, close friends (often nicknamed Fatty), oppressive elders and seniors, and a spirit mentor who knows everything about the martial world.

Actually, Bloodstained Jasmine wasn’t a spirit mentor so much as a wounded master who could only exist with one of our hero’s spatial hand -cauldron. There are many story arcs detailing Yun Che’s rise from a teenager with busted meridians who could practice mystical martial arts to the world’s greatest martial artist.

This path is paved with defeated enemies via Yun Che’s plot armor-heavy bulldozer-grade power. Yun is extremely powerful thanks to being a regressor. He experienced three lives and was sent back to his first life as Xiao Che after taking his own life at 27 during his second life.

In his second life, he had become a great doctor, a medical genius who could use herbs, profound strength, and acupuncture to heal. When his adoptive father and master is killed by others coveting his Sky Poison Pearl (a powerful healing treasure), he takes the Pearl and goes on a warpath killing millions with poison powers.

When the martial alliance of that time responded and eventually cornered him, he merged with the Sky Poison Pearl. As a result, he reincarnated in his first life with the foundation of his plot armor in this series.

Yun Che is a Frustrating Hero

Without giving away specific storylines beyond his origin, Yun Che’ is both cunning and brash. He has a high degree of comprehension and learning that sees his become powerful rapidly but there are several times when that ability could’ve gone to waste. This is often caused either by him talking himself into a situation where someone might just pack him up or he just can’t help his curiosity and greed.

Now, heroes in martial fantasy stories are adventurous and that’s part of the fun in reading the series. However, in early adventures Yun Che was often in over his head and had to rely on Bloodstained Jasmine to bail him out at times. Mind you, this is usually after she warns him against his actions.

Without being young and dumb, he wouldn’t have gained many treasures and abilities. Plus, he had to do those to gain power and get stronger so he could protect himself, loved ones, and keep his promise to Jasmine.

Promises and Ladies

Speaking of promises, Yun Che racks up a lot of promises to keep. It keeps the ball rolling with his story as these promises are the costs for him getting many of the abilities, skills, and treasures. Promises are also how we draws his many wives and concubines. There are several times when his interactions with his love interests are unrealistic with most of the women being just smitten with him for his cunning, power, bravery and daring-do.

The only love interests who show some common sense and resistance to his wiles are those from the Frozen Cloud Asgard (including his first wife), a martial arts sect made up of beautiful women but that’s because they’re trained to largely sever ties with emotions and previous connections. Even then, Yun Che is such a casanova, some of them fall to him.

There are other elements in Against the Gods that leave me excited for battles or Yun Che administering justice yet shaking my head at him heading into high danger but escaping death (rarely narrowly). The flaws aside, it’s one of those series synonymous with manhua and this genre of action-adventure.

Overall it’s a fun series worth reading with plenty of chapters and battles.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

(AfroGamers.com) I recently watched some videos about the development process of the PS3-era title Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and was really impressed by the work that went into the game.

For those who never experienced it or played the game when it ended on storefronts, Kingdoms of Amalur was an open-world action RPG taking place in fantasy world brimming with magical and ancient dangers, well-crafted lore, and a good amount of quests and side quests to keep you busy.

Following a decent character creation process, the main character’s story begins after challenging Fate and reviving after certain death. There is a brutal conflict going on but the Gnomes are busy conducting research into resurrection and getting their Well of Souls working.

The MC proves to be a success and of great interest to one researcher who accompanies the MC in escaping hostile forces and puts them on the path to finding out more about their new existence. Along the way, the main character experiences many adventures while also lending their power to the difficult forces combating the Tuatha and more regional dangers and threats.

Kingdoms of Amalur Had a Lot Going for It

Honestly, that’s as brief an explanation of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (or Re-Reckoning, the remaster). There’s a lot of stuff going on here. It featured everything that would’ve been standard for an open-world game at this time.

You have your farming of materials, crafting, a decent-sized skill tree with flexibility for some flexible build crafting, rewarding side quests and encounters that allow you to test and stress your progress and build.

The developer, Big Huge Games had a boatload of ideas and managed to put the majority together and craft their mechanics around them. And it works! Whenever I installed this game, I ended up sinking hours into the quests, building up my Fateless One (the main character who exists beyond Fate which governs the world), and crafting gear and weapons to better utilize those skills.

It’s all stock open-world RPG fare but it’s all put together in a way that works and is actually fun. In addition, you had two creative powerhouses in fantasy and comics with novelist R.A Salvatore and writer/artist Todd McFarlane fleshing out the setting of the Faelands, its lore and inhabitants.

What I found interesting about all of this is that at the time of its release, visually Kingdoms of Amalur looked like nothing too special. There were definitely that looked better crafted graphically but Amalur was far from a horrible-looking game. In some ways it existed between slightly dated and of its time but didn’t come off as a game that would push the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or gaming PCs of the early 2010s.

The World and Scale

Instead you had regions that were colorful, bold, and at times dark and gloomy. You actually felt that your Fateless One was engaged in this large, lengthy quest where you decided how it progressed. Adding to this was the scale of the world. You could look at the map and see what region your were in and which ones were close but traveling through these areas wasn’t exactly a quick jaunt.

You were going to clash with enemies and beasts, you would be distracted by loot and stories, and enticed by exploration. The size of different areas within a region encouraged exploration and after a few encounters, that curiosity in what else could be gained as far as gear and weapons.

I would say this is what really kept me in Amalur: the scale and crafting. Sure, the combat was fine but the possibilities and tiers of crafting material and what could be made had me trying to create the best possible gear for my adventures. The game encouraged that heavily but made it so that if you were into combat, there was plenty of that but you had to explore to be more effective.

Fate of the Kingdom

Ultimately, Kingdoms of Amalur managed to move a million copies but the developer closed due to financial factors as EA had to be repaid for investing a significant amount into the project. Also, the development itself had some issues that seemed to be am indication of how things would shake out for the end product.

Despite the cash sunk into Amalur, there were unfavorable takes into different elements of the game. It was viewed favorably enough to warrant a remaster by Kaiko roughly eight years later. While there is a potential series or even a franchise there, Amalur hasn’t seen much interest or movement in future entries.

Share your thoughts on Kingdoms of Amalur. With the other RPGs of a similar vein out and thriving at that time, did you have expectations of a sequel? Or did you gather that “Too much was out into this game, it was going to get the axe and thrown in the vault”?

Let us know!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

(AfroGamers.com) The Sega Genesis, like any console, had standalone games or short-lived franchises that make you go “Why are you even here?” or “What’s with this spinoff?” I constantly wander who asked for a particular game but I’m someone who can see potential or something decent in most games. Maybe the concept was good but a better developer was needed. Perhaps the story worked but the gameplay was a let down.

There are many directions some games could’ve taken, even the blockbusters and Greatest Hits. We’re going to look at five odd adventures (good and bad) from the Sega Genesis era. I’ve mainly lived in a PlayStation, Nintendo, and PC household but in the 1990s there were some memorable journeys on the Genesis.

Let’s dive in!

Sonic Spinball (Sega, 1993)

Pinball games on a console used to seem a little lazy to me and that’s mainly as a result of having played Sonic Spinball. It’s not that the game was bad, it was actually a lot of fun. It’s just pinball with a Sonic the Hedgehog theme that worked. I remember thinking that Sega should’ve dropped another Sonic game for the Genesis…only for them to drop them awesome Sonic 3 the following year.

This was the age of quick turnaround for non-sports games. What made this game more odd is that there was no sequel. Just “Here’s some Sonic in the meanwhile.” Alex Kidd Pinball would’ve probably bothered me less because Alex Kidd had long since been shafted and thrown in the vault. If there was no sequel, it would be expected. It’s Alex Kidd.

Unfortunately, Alex Kidd was all stiff (as were many video game characters from the Master System and NES period) and couldn’t ball up and spin like Sonic and Tails could. On that note, Sonic Spinball has mobile gaming potential.

Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck (Core Design, 1993)

The character Chuck Rock had one game on multiple consoles including the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Game Gear. It was also on some Atari consoles (not too unusual) but it was just that 1991 game. There wasn’t a ton of Chuck Rock games, he wasn’t a character who became a promoted star from a long-running franchise. He was just there, saving his girl in a Flintstones-meet-Super Mario sense.

Two years later, Chuck Rock Jr is off to save his father in a Flintstones-meets-Donkey Kong Jr sense. The game was fine as a platformer and had fun enemies and boss battles, it’s just an odd adventure when you hadn’t played the first Chuck Rock. Of course, after playing Chuck Rock II, you’ll find that it makes sense why there was no Chuck Rock III. Besides the studio closing down years later, there was nowhere else to go with the series.

Krusty’s Fun House (Acclaim, 1992)

It’s the 1990s, The Simpsons run the world and it makes sense that there would be games based on The Simpsons on multiple consoles. It’s just odd that we have a game based on Krusty the Clown who is built like Homer Simpson but doesn’t get into the overly involved situations that Homer gets into.

Sure, Homer has a gut and is at home on the couch any day of the week but he’s out and about doing something. Krusty? Not so much. This isn’t to say it was a bad title or that all Simpsons games should feature Bart. This game was fun and there was an Itchy & Scratchy platformer.

To a degree, it’s the idea of a Simpsons puzzle game. This could’ve been any game. It was actually another game that was given the Simpsons coat of paint because why develop something from scratch when you could just re-design the setting and main characters like Super Mario Bros. 2?

Revolution X (Midway, 1994)

Revolution X was an arcade shooter that was ported to the Sega Genesis. It is best known for being the game that features Aerosmith. They’re not playable characters but they are collectible. This is the only outright bad game on the list because it was often dicey when an arcade shooter or even a PC shooter was ported to the Genesis or Super NES.

But that’s to be expected. No, the odd thing here is we’ve got a band shooter. This isn’t a run-n-gun affair. It’s not a DOOM situation either. This is more like Area 51 or House of the Dead. The game is filled with odd design choices. You’ve got women in bikinis but few on the beach, you’re fighting with a hostile group, and Aerosmith has been kidnapped.

I mean at this time, Aerosmith was delivering the goods but I just don’t know about putting the band and a shooter (or any genre together). Then again, it could’ve been an early 1990s Kiss shooting game.

Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool (System Vision, 1992)

Hmm. Both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo were no stranger to bad mascot games. Every mascot game can’t be Cool Spot but they can aspire to be Global Gladiators. Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool meets the standard set by Global Gladiators. That is to say it’s mediocre at best but no one would say it was a good or great game.

Mechanically, it worked like most mascot or cartoon platformers from this period with the stiff jumping and movement. I remember my dad bringing this game, Krusty’s Fun House, Tecmo Super Bowl, and Klax from a Friday jaunt to the video store.

It was a dreadful haul but this was the one I played the most since the Cheetos Paws was my favorite snack at the time. You don’t have to reserve judgement and no grace is warranted, I also bought the Combo Man comics because I liked the Combo pretzel snacks.

The odd nature of this game comes from the game obviously not being good but Frito-Lay being invested in it because it was part of an advertising run that was supposed to include a Chester Cheetah cartoon. The toon was canceled but we got two Chester Cheetah games.

Again, this one wasn’t good at all. It was a little under mid, didn’t feature anything new or unique, looked like an early Genesis title (which it was) but someone said “Make another. The streets want another.”

I mean, I wanted another Cool Spot and more Taz-Mania games but never mind that. Much like the Geico cavemen only working for commercials and not warranting a whole television show, Chester Cheetah didn’t need ongoing adventures in video game form.

What are some odd games you’ve played that you feel probably shouldn’t exist. Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.