Blizzard

Though actual collectibles under the Overwatch banner have been in short supply --- mostly due to Blizzard's commitment to its brands --- the few pieces released so far have been spectacular. Already Blizzard has launched a statue line for Overwatch featuring Tracer and Reaper, but both of those pieces pale in comparison to the latest addition, Widowmaker.

It's been a long, hard road for comic books in Russia. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, attempts to build a comics community consistently met with economic hardship, and failed. It's only over the last several years that Western comic books have become a popular medium in Russia, and in that very short time, there have already been three highly publicized incidences of comics censorship.

Owing to a bad case of motion sickness that leaves me physically incapable of playing a first-person shooter for more than thirty seconds, I haven't been able to check out Overwatch for myself. That said, I'm not far enough under the rock that I'm not aware of it, and just seeing the character designs and the incredible amount of fanart that it's generated since its release in May has made me want to learn a whole lot more about it. Fortunately for me --- and for the people who do play the game and want to know more about the story behind all the shooty action --- Dark Horse and Blizzard have announced a partnership that's going to bring all manner of Overwatch content to your local comic book store, including an art book and an original graphic novel.

If the astounding amount of fan art that is already available for a game that just came out a few days ago is any indication of said game’s quality, then Overwatch has got to already be a contender for game of the year. If you’re not a gamer or aren’t familiar with it yet, the quick explanation is that Overwatch is a team-based, multiplayer, first person shooter. But that’s just the skeleton. The proverbial meat on them bones is where the magic lies. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly that inspired such a fervent following from people for a brand new property long before the game’s actual release. Then I asked a friend of mine from the world of video games to explain it to me, and he showed me the trailer. I can’t recommend watching that trailer enough. After I watched it for the first time, I felt exactly like the little kid at the end that yells, “That was awesome!”

The twelfth episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD officially takes us past the halfway point of the season; there are now more episodes behind us than ahead. You'd think I'd be relieved given how disappointing the show has been, but I'm actually worried that time is running out to make the show work. This week; Agents of SHIELD goes back to school. But what do they learn?

Mosey past the cut for Monday's links.

Though it's effectively conquered nearly every one of the million merchandising realms, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft will finally enter the brick toy fray this summer with a full line of building sets from Mega Bloks. The MMORPG's most famous character types and beasts are present and accounted for in the line, with Alliance elves and humans on one side and Horde trolls, goblins an

For readers of Wildstorm's Blizzard MMORPG-adapted franchises "Warcraft and "Starcraft," the argument for or against "waiting for the trade" seems to have been settled for them. IGN reports that the properties have been canceled in single-issue format, being transferred to the larger collected editions...