10. Nick

-To think that anything could flower from such rot. The only character in Left 4 Dead 2 that appealed to me was “Nick”. He plays off of the con-man shtick you’ve seen in zombie movies a million times, but with a twist: He’s not just looking out for himself. The archetype would be a deceiver, a cheat, a coward and an antagonist. Nick is supposed to be the self-absorbed grump, the sarcastic loner with the fancy suit. He seems at first the most annoyed by Ellis, a pessimist foil to Coach’s zeal and a lecher to Rochelle.

But listen to his dialogue, and his tone: his jabbings at the country-boy are in jest, playful even(their relationship is like a nicer Phantos and Al). He admits simple, honest respect for Coach, and something a little deeper for Rochelle. He never says “thank you”, and he’d never admit it, but I think he threw away the con-man bullshit very early on. And he is the most visibly appalled by the innocent casualties in later levels. To die by zombies is one thing, but even this swindler can see a lot of people have been robbed.

Hugh Dillon gives perhaps the only worthy performance in this game. He does not play a good man, but through the apocalypse we find he is capable of humanity, more than he may give himself credit for. Under those expensive clothes there’s actually a person inside.

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9. March 6, 2010 UPDATE: “Alienses”

-”Christopher Johnson” from District 9, and “Ney’tiri” from Avatar. One is a mournful insectoid who survives by common sense. The other is a spritual, smooth-skinned amazon. Both are up against gung-ho ignorance choking their way of life. Their eyes reveal a wisdom and human dignity not many “real” characters have. Interesting that two of my favourite character designs this year are more human than most physically human characters. They are certainly more appealing creatures than that new skittle commercial, which I now regret once occupied this spot.

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8. Dream Theater released a new album.

-And that’s fiiiiine by me.

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7. Batman: Arkham Asylum

-The welcome comeback of Mark Hammill, and possibly the best game of the year. (Oh I can hardly wait for the angry Uncharted 2 comments…)

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6. Inglorious Basterds

-HUGO STIGLITZ!!

Not many people have one masterpiece in them, let alone several. You’ve done it again, Quentin.

—-

5. Halo 3: ODST’s soundtrack

-The finest Halo game in years has a superb soundtrack, courtesy once again of Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatore. It captures the scope and loneliness of an urgent mission in the dark.

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4. The Dear Hunter: Act III: Life and Death

-This one surprised me. I’d never heard of the band until someone pointed them out in a Steam forum. I first heard “Go Get Your Gun”, which really could’ve been in the Left 4 Dead 2 soundtrack as “Ellis’ Theme”. From there I heard “The Tank”, “Mustard Gas”, “Father”, “Saved”, “The Poison Woman” and I was hooked. My favourite album of the year.

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3. Watchmen

-Say what you will about Zak Penn. I thought this was an amazing movie, even in spite of the sex scene and that guy in the audience who farted at the worst possible time.

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2. District 9

-If Watchmen is a great movie, this is a great film. Perhaps a little more humanity could have been given to the Prawns, and some cheesy spots in the script hold it back. But this allegory for prejudice and injustice against the unfamiliar spoke to me, and showed all too well the vision and talent of Neill Blomkamp. Hopefully now, senseless studio execs won’t be so quick to doubt the potential of this South-African director.

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~1. Seeing My Characters Come To Life~

-I’ve always dreamed of seeing my creations achieve a life of their own. Movies, comics, television, etc. I never thought it would happen as soon as last December.

I entered an “Original Character Tournament” at Deviantart.com called “Deviant Dead”. It was about zambies in one big, nameless City, and everyone submitted survivor characters. They would be paired up, tell their side of the story, and whichever one the judges liked more would move onto the next Round. The characters that lose are killed off.

To my surprise, in an audition process of roughly a hundred, my three characters were chosen to participate. To this day I don’t know how I got in, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was on the way out.

I also don’t know how the judges decided the initial pairings. But they’re doing something right, because the first round had my cast interacting with the creation of my favourite contestant. I got to see Hassan, Marina and Charlie drawn and written by my favourite art-style in the competition. They encountered her endlessly interesting hobo character “Ned”. Check dat shit out, because it is an incredible read.

I have been trying to draw a character in my head for a long time, but never managed to get the hair or facial structure right. In one of the first pages, she fucking NAILED it. The design I’d been looking for all this time. And what’s even more amazing is that my opponent did a lot of this at the razor’s edge of the deadline, while suffering from vertigo. She made comics that looked and read like THAT, while experiencing dizziness and vomiting that would have destroyed me in the same circumstances. I would have been furious if she had lost after that.

I on the other hand, bombed. Not just in how I handled myself in the competition, but outside of it as well. I am disgusted with my pitiful attempts to join this community narrative, as well as my behaviour after the results were announced. I have no hard feelings for how Ned’s first chapter ended, because it all served a dramatic purpose, and it was handled wonderfully. What ravaged me was a sense of personal failure. Seeing how Crispy handled Deviant Dead made me realize, all too late, how I should have handled it. And how I should have treated the people who supported me through it.

For one month, I saw my creations in the hands of someone with a true depth of talent, of visual and narrative understanding. More than I ever deserved. I never thought I’d live to see the day.

Crispy, your 29 pages made my year. Thank you.

Now get out there, and kick some “shaman” ass!

END OF LINE

~A.H.

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