Hello everyone, and welcome back for another monthly wrap-up. Last update was in July, and we’re, gasp, in September? Where did the summer go? Kiddo’s going back to school, and morning’s start to become a little more hectic again. Life returning to normal.

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On the battlefront, it has been a little chaotic…a lot on the go, but not really dedicating a lot of time to one specific game. Feels like a freefall, and grasping at whatever looks shiny on that particular day.

Bad news first: Atomic Heart is no longer on GamePass, so I’ve stopped playing it. To be fair, I never really started, and didn’t really invest a lot of time into it. But I will probably buy it if/when it goes on sale. It’s on the wishlist. I liked the concept, and it felt like a good successor to Bioshock. I just didn’t really give it enough time.

Tried out Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn. The game looked pretty, but didn’t really feel like it had a lot of substance. Like some out of the box mechanics pasted overtop of the Unreal Engine. Maybe that’s a little harsh. It’s on GamePass for now, and once I wrap up a few other on-going games, I’ll drop back in to see it through.

Surprisingly the game I spent the most time on over the summer was The Division 2. Yes the same Division 2 from 2019. I’ve been playing through some of the free seasonal content they added over the years, as well as the Gangs of New York expansion – which I previously bought, but is now tacked on, free to play. The game is still a lot of fun, and you can boost your character with the new season. And I wish Ubisoft would make another. But this dive-back-in was mostly to grab some outstanding achievements. Currently G1005/1420 : 47/60. 54hrs.

Playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League with Illestrader every co-op Wednesday. The game feels a lot like Gotham Knights and The Avengers. Mostly focused on combat and traversal. Rocksteady has done a good job with the story thus far, but my complaint is the focus on gear and gear attributes. And it seems like every time we sit down to play, there’s a new combat mechanic added to the mix. I feel like I have to break my hand to try out the different button combinations. Also, the game gets interrupted after every missions with a competition screen, to show who on the team did the best, and unlocks, etc. I wish it played a little smoother and seamless. I’m playing as Harley, obviously, and he’s playing as Deadshot, and then we each share one co-op AI buddy, in King Shark and Captain Boomerang. So far my favourite in the game is Boomerang due to his dialogue. Harley is a little heavy on the accent. G80/1000 : 7/50. 6hrs. Still early in the game.

My main three single-player games are The First Descendant, Final Fantasy, and God of War. All on the PC.

The First Descendant has been a lot of fun. The story is mostly nonsensical, but as I mentioned last month, plays like a Destiny game, only with a lot more gear and weapon mechanics. Its overwhelming and I’m trying to not spend too much time focusing on it, as I’m not in it for the grind. I will play through the story and see if I can 100% the achievements, but if they become a little much, which I’m expecting 2 to be, then I’ll call it quits until there’s an expansion or more content. Free to play means there will be, and I’ll keep playing it as long as its still fun and not a burden. One thing I will say, that I appreciate about this game, is that it has cross-play, cross-save and cross-progression enabled. So if I wanted to, I can switch between the Xbox and Steam, and the achievements unlock for both. G680/1000 : 19/24. 10hrs.

I finished Chapter 12 in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Chapter 12 was a doozy with multiple characters dying. Took quite the toll. But the game is still fun, and I’m taking it slow as I don’t want the wait between me completing it and then waiting on PC version FF VII Rebirth to be too far in-between. 27/63. 20hrs.

Lastly on the list is God of War. This is a replay for me, on the PC. I’d previously played it on release on the PS4. But I haven’t invested in a PS5 and likely won’t, so I’ve been waiting on God of War Ragnarök’s PC release. Which is just around the corner. So I figured I should do a replay of the first one, to get caught up on the story again. I even got a PS5 controller for the new God of War, to take full advantage of the game. But God of War is still so good.

After I wrap up God of War and Ragnarök, and Final Fantasy, I think my next PlayStation games will be the Horizon Forbidden West sequel and Spider-Man replay w/ Miles Morales. Hopefully by that time, either Spider-Man 2 or The Last of Us 2, or Final Fantasy Rebirth will have been ported over.

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Onto some drawings. Which, as expected, over the summer, tend to slow down a bit with the hot summer nights. But will hopefully pick back up as we switch to fall, and then I’ll have to think about what I’m going to do for Drawtober this year…if anything. We shall see how I’m feeling. How tired I am.

First up, Dazzler. I’m not sure where the motivation came from this, but it was an X-Men character I’ve had on my list, and I guess the planets aligned for one night.

Annually, there is a hashtag that pops up called #faceyourart, and it’s to show just the faces you draw. Facing your art. Always a fun glimpse into what I’ve been drawing, and how many female instead of men I draw. This is the group for the last 12 months, ending with Dazzler:

Over on my Substack, I recently did a write-up for CHU, as a recent series that followed John Layman’s last big series in CHEW. This is the sister prequel series. Here is the quick fan art that I like doing for the column. Saffron Chu.

The rest are still in various forms of completion. Like my games list, these drawings are just on a continual rotation of work-in-progress. So this is actually the first place these have been shared. Maybe the only place. First up is Savage Land Rogue. I like where this is heading. Still need to fine tune some things. Like the belt, and the back arm I think is a little short. And then decide if I want to add colour and some background elements.

Catwoman and Batman. The wife recently watched The Wolf of Wallstreet for the first time, and there’s a classic scene between Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio in the bedroom. I wanted to mimic that for the Bat and the Cat. WIP. This one has been fun. Might turn it into a poster if it turns out well.

Bunny. 2022 was the last time I had done a webcomic on my StrangerThanFriendship site. And I have a new idea focusing on The First Descendant, and just how unnecessarily sexy the female costumes are in the game. I get that its a F2P and they want to get as much money out of their targeted demographic as possible. But its a bit much at times. Here’s a quick sketch of Bunny for the comic – or maybe just an excuse to draw the Bunny character from the game ;).

Lastly is Jinx, which is another addition to the GI Joe drawings I’ve been doing. Ink is done – just need to find the time to colour.

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Over on the Substack, I finished The Hard Switch, by Owen Pomery, CHU (see above) and Fatale, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and did a nice little write up for each. Next up is Far Sector, which is a DC Green Lantern book, and then rounding out #30 with The Watchmen. Then I gotta buckle down, as I got roughly 16 more weeks left in the year to see if I can read and write about 22 more books. Can I meet my 52 book goal. Not likely, but worth a shot.

And with that ends August. Remember to go outside.
Rogan
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