Author Archives: Doc

2024 Year in Review: The Gomers for the Biggest Surprise

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2024 had plenty of films that fell into the middle of the range between good and bad. Honestly, however, it had a bunch of films that were surprises too. Thus, we have this year’s Gomer Award being quite a challenge to present. There are so many potential choices.

The Gomer for the Biggest Surprise

Previous Gomer Award Winners:  The Gift, Ferdinand, Edge of Tomorrow, We’re the Millers, The Campaign, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Bumblebee, Crawl, Greenland, Free Guy, Deadstream, Totally Killer

Here are the runners-up:

First off, Late Night with the Devil from David Dastmalchian was a huge surprise because it just was something that I had not heard much from. I did hear Kevin Smith mention it on an episode of Fatman Beyond, but still. for it to be one of the best of the year, who saw that coming? Then, since I disliked the original film, who would have guessed that a new version of Roadhouse starring Jake Gyllenhaal that went immediately to streaming would be any good. It was and I couldn’t believe it. Another one that was a reboot of sort from a movie that I did not like was Twisters. No way that was a film I was going to enjoy and yet I did. Abigail was a surprise until I realized that Alishia Weir was the star. I knew it was going great after that. Hit Man was another I saw on streaming that had no right to be as good as it was. It’s the second film on the list from Glen Powell. Sharks in Paris? No way that was anything other than a member of the worst movies of the year list, right? Wrong. Under Paris was a lot of fun and way better than it should have been. Longlegs provided one of those shocking moments in the theater when you discover that Nicolas Cage was going to go over the top and still be awesome. I spoke about how much I was surprised that I enjoyed The Best Christmas Pageant Ever as I was trying to find an award for Best X-Mas Movie. Skincare? Another one that had no appeal to me that turned out to be fully entertaining. Strange Darling was weird, but really wonderfully constructed and engaging.

Yet after all of this, one film was the biggest surprise of the year. Spoiler for an upcoming Batman and Robin Award for Rottenness winner, this film one of the worst trailers of all time and nearly caused me to skip the film. Little did I know that this is probably a top 10 film of the year (certainly in consideration, at least).

Transformers One

This was an amazing movie and was one of the best animated films of the year. I never thought making Optimus and Megatron friends when they were younger would work. They weren’t Charles Xavier and Magneto, and yet this was done so well that everything made perfect sense. After so many years of utterly hating Transformers films, loving this one, especially after that horrendous trailer, was totally unexpected… and thus a Gomer winner.

PS: Interestingly enough, this is the second Transformers movie to win this award, with Bumblebee being the other. The original Transformers movies brought the bar so far down that I have trouble seeing them as a positive thing.

What If Final List of episodes

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I will be keeping track of the What If episodes through season three and I will end up doing an overall episode list of my rankings of all 26 episodes of the series.

Season One

E9 What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?

E4 What If… Doctor Strange Lost his Heart instead of his Hands?

E2 What If… T’Challa became a Star-Lord?

E8 What If… Ultron Won?

E5 What If…Zombies?

E7 What If… Thor was an Only Child?

E1 What If… Captain Carter were the First Avenger?

E3 What If… The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes

E6 What If… Killmonger Had Rescued Tony Stark?

Season Two

E8  ”What If… the Avengers Assembled in 1602?”

E3  ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”

E1  “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”

E5  ”What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper”

E9  ”What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?“

E6  ”What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?”

E7  ”What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?”

E2  “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”

E4  ”What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?”

Season Three

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E7 What If the Watcher Disappeared?

E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier?

E8 What If… What If?

E6 What If 1872?

E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

Total List of What If…? Episodes

26. S1 E6 What If… Killmonger Had Rescued Tony Stark?

25. S3 E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

24. S1 E7 What If… Thor was an Only Child?

23. S2 E4  What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?

22. S1 E3 What If… The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes

21. S3 E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

20. S1 E1 What If… Captain Carter were the First Avenger?

19. S2 E2  What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?

18. S2 E7  What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?

17. S3 E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

16. S3 E6 What If 1872?

15. S2 E9  What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?

14. S2 E5  What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper

13. S3 E8 What If… What If?

12. S3 E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier?

11. S2 E6  What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?

10. S3 E7 What If the Watcher Disappeared?

9. S1 E5 What If…Zombies?

8. S1 E2 What If… T’Challa became a Star-Lord?

7. S1 E8 What If… Ultron Won?

6. S2 E1  What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?

5. S2 E3  ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”

4. S2 E8  ”What If… the Avengers Assembled in 1602?”

3. S1 E9 What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?

2. S3 E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

  1. S1 E4 What If… Doctor Strange Lost his Heart instead of his Hands?

What If…? S3 E2

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Spoilers

“What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?”

Now that’s more like it.

While I liked the previous What If…? episode of season three, I did not love it. Season two I ADORED just about everything about this one.

Agatha Harkness and Kingo? Who knew that I needed that in my life?

Golden Age of Hollywood with Agatha making a gigantic, cosmic blockbuster with Howard Stark (and the ever quippy Jarvis) is amazing, but to tie that into Agatha’s latest plot to grab power for herself by way of stealing the power of the growing Celestial inside the earth, Tiamut, is on another level.

There is a dance battle, literally, between Agatha and Kingo. All the while Howard Stark is shouting out some of the funniest dialogue you are ever going to hear.

“I want Busby Berkeley to see this and contemplate being a realtor“

“Will they dance? They will!“

“That chemistry was hotter than the Hindenburg.“

“Is that some kind of euphonism? Are you two a thing now?”

Howard Stark and Jarvis made the perfect Old Hollywood director behind the scenes for this What If…? episode. The quips delivered wonderfully by both Dominic Cooper and James D’Arcy. Jarvis’s initial dry wit fit beautifully in the insanity that was going on around him in this episode.

The fact is this… Kathryn Hahn is a master. She ahs taken this secondary (maybe even tertiary) character of Agatha Harkness and made her something special. Kathryn Hahn’s aura is all over this episode and she just dominated every minute, and she had amazing chemistry with Kumail Nanjiani. These two characters worked so well with one another and who saw that coming?

The dance routine was brilliant. I loved it. The design of Celestial Agatha was beautifully perfect. Her battle with Arishem the Judge was a great call back to WandaVision. The end speech from Kingo targeted what was missing inside Agatha all along.

This episode is very meta with several behind the scenes comments and a reference to Cecil B. DeMille. For me, this all worked so well that I just sat on my couch with a big smile on my face the entire time.

I would put this episode of What If…? right at the top of the series along with the season one Dr. Strange episode, the season two Christmas and 1602 episodes. Certainly the best of season three so far and potentially one of the best of the entire run.

Season Order So Far

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

Silo S2 E6

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Spoilers

“Barricades”

Silo streamed its sixth episode the other day and things continue to be happening. This episode spent most of the time in our original silo, with only a few minutes at the end of the episode with Juliette and Solo.

Sheriff Billings takes a stand after finally getting to be able to talk to Shirley, Knox and Walker. He showed himself that he was willing to follow the law and not worry about whose side he is on. He also seemed to discover that his shakes from the Syndrome were gone despite not taking his herbs for days. What does this mean for the people of the silo? Is it just one more lie that has been used to maintain the status quo?

Bernard is feeling like he is losing control of things as the revolt below him in the silo has been picking up steam and his attempt to starve them out has failed. He realized that he has lost the sheriff, who is going to follow the law and not just blindly follow what he says.

Things are going to go crazy when Juliette is able to return to her original silo. It’s coming…

Blink

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Disney + streamed this documentary entitled Blink, which is basically a travelogue film of a family with a tragic twist. Three of the four children of the Pelletier family are diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder that causes those with it to eventually go blind. In order to help their children log their visual memory, their parents, Sébastien and Édith, take their children on a year long trip around the world to do a bucket list.

The film then followed the family across the world to do things such as explore the rainforest or drink juice on a camel in Egypt or hike across the Himalayas.

Much of the travel aspect of the film was things that we saw before, but the real moments of this was the interactions between the family members and the moments where they approached the idea of being blind.

One of the toughest moments came when Édith realized that her youngest child, Laurent, did not understand what it meant to be blind. She handled it in as kind of a way as possible, but the boy’s reaction and responses were heartbreaking.

There was another moment where the family was on a cable car and it broke down, trapping them for hours. It got dark, it rained, they had little to no water. The inadvertent metaphor for being trapped in this cable car as everything went dark around them was almost to cruel to believe. It was the most harrowing moment on the trip that the family had to face.

It is definitely a challenging watch as the reality of what these children will be facing is always under the surface of what they were doing. Yet, it was able to maintain the joy and hope life can offer.

This is a very compelling documentary.

3.8 stars

Dexter: Original Sin E1-3

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Spoilers

“And in the Beginning…”

“Kid in a Candy Store”

“Miami Vice”

I watched Dexter on and off when it was one. The season with John Lithgow was one of the best seasons of TV ever. But I did not watch much of the last few years of the show nor did I watch the return series from a few years ago. I liked Dexter, but I did not go out of my way for him.

When I spotted this new series, Dexter: Original Sin, on Prime, I was interested. Telling the story of how things started off with Dexter and his Dark Passenger seemed like a great story, and the use of Michael C. Hall as the narrator worked in a lot of different ways.

Of course, the casting of Dexter and Debra would be key to any series and I think this new show got them right with Dexter being played by Patrick Gibson and Debra was played by Molly Brown. Both seem to fit these characters without being just an imitation of the originals.

We have a living Harry Morgan here as well with the one and only Christian Slater taking that role of Dexter’s adoptive father. He is on the force, but we know that Dexter’s murders would eventually take their toll on Harry. Harry’s rules are a major part in the character of Dexter’s life and code, no matter how bizarre it was.

Sarah Michelle Geller is on this show too as Tanya Martin, Dexter’s first boss at the Miami Metro and is the CSI chief. It’s cool to see Buffy once again, but she is just listed as a “special guest star” so I do not know what that means.

Dexter is an excellent character, a heroic one who would feed his darker impulses by killing people who were bad. Yes, there is all kinds of morally grey area in here. Yes, Dexter is not really a hero. Yet, he does seem to be more than just another serial killer. The influence of Harry is clearly the reason for that.

At this point, Dexter has been dumping his two kills in a swampy area with some alligators. Thing is … at the end of E3, an arm was left floating. Obviously, Dexter will develop a better manner of body disposal that he takes into the future with him. We will see how he avoids the trouble with the arm (because obviously he is getting away with it).

I liked these first three episodes. It did take a little while to remember about the characters from the original series and how they are used here, but it was fun getting through it. I will continue to watch this series and may even give a chance to the new Dexter series called Dexter: Resurrections coming in 2025.

Mufasa: The Lion King

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When the 2019 Lion King “live-action” remake broke the billion dollar club at the box office, you should have known that we were getting something more. My guess is that Mufasa: The Lion King will not be the same kind of demand.

Mufasa: The Lion King from Disney came out this weekend. The film was directed by Barry Jenkins and featured a “live-action” cast of CGI animals in a CGI generated African land. How this could be considered a “live-action” film is up for an argument.

Unfortunately, I did not like the 2019 remake of the Lion King and I am not a huge fan of this new film either. I do think that this film is better than the 2019 version. Specifically because this film does a better job of avoiding the uncanny valley of the 2019 film. Those lion characters in 2019 did not show us any emotion on their faces at all, lacking any ability to emote, making them all seem very distant from the audience. That is considerably better with this movie.

In fact, the strength of Mufasa: The Lion King is easily the CGI. This film looks absolutely gorgeous and it has some of the most realistic artwork that you are ever going to see in a film. In fact, I could see people claiming that some of these animals were real and not contrived on an artist’s board.

I did have some major issues with Mufasa: The Lion King, most notably that there was not much new in the story. It was basically the origin story of Mufasa and Scar as the two lions went on an adventure and met other characters from the original Lion King. Not much else.

There was a devise used to tell the story with Rafiki (John Kani) telling the story to Simba’s daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogan) which was a total waste of time. Nothing that happened in this framing device was funny or worth taking away from the main story.

I also thought that the sound mixing was horrendous. Perhaps this is the theater I was in, but I had trouble hearing a lot of the dialogue because the music in the background was playing so loudly or dominating the moment of the scene. Speaking of the music, I did not find any of the songs interesting or song that I would remember later. Even the songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda were unremarkable. They were fine when watching it, but there is not one song that I can recall as of this minute.

Mufasa: The Lion King had its moments for sure. It is a stunning accomplishment of visual arts, but there just seems to be little else that makes this an important story to tell. While it is not a waste of time, it is anything but a great movie.

2.8 stars

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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The Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy is a pretty decent trilogy, as the third film in the franchise debuted this weekend.

I liked this movie, although, to be fair, it felt very much like the last one, with the arrival of Knuckles. This time, we get Shadow and the beats are similar to the previous film.

According to IMDB, “Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping Shadow and protecting the planet.“

Shadow is voiced by Keanu Reaves and he does a solid job as the villain. The film does take a different step at first with the use of Doctor Robotnik, played once again by the amazing and manic Jim Carrey, who also plays Robotnik’s grandpa, Gerald Robotnik. Carrey feels as if he is always having the time of his life playing this character as he has a free and compelling flow to everything he does as Robotnik.

The action and the CGI are all top notch, and the final act of the film was filled with tension and unexpected action. It is just that everything seemed very familiar leading up to it.

Since I am not familiar with the video game or Sonic’s general world, watching the post credit scenes did nothing for me. I bet this is the way that others feel at the end of Marvel Studios movies when I am flipping out over some reveal of a character. Both post credit scenes were definitely designed for fans of the video game. That is okay.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is better than it had a right to be. It was fun, had a lot of humor and was an exciting family friendly adventure with a good message. Jim Carrey is outstanding as always and the rest of the returning actors feel comfortable and confident in their roles.

3.75 stars

What If … ? S3 E1

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Spoilers

“What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers”

I am very happy to have What If…? back once more over holiday break, releasing daily for my entertainment pleasure. I love this release schedule which they started last year. They are releasing the eight episodes daily, starting on December 22 and running through December 29. It gives me something to look forward to every day.

What If…? has been a fairly consistent show over the three seasons. It has been enjoyable, but perhaps not outstanding. It is typically really good, fun and entertaining. This first episode feels like it falls right into that category.

The What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers episode had a new team of Avengers with their giant mech technology, much like Voltron or the Power Rangers, and they took on some gamma beasts created in the Gamma War.

One of the best parts of What If…? is the use of the actual live action actors for voices in the animated shows. This episode included Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, and David Harbour as Red Guardian.

The first half of this episode felt as if it had too much exposition and, despite having a series of cool animation styles during the period, I thought there was too much telling and not enough showing. This is one of the overall issues with What If…?. Episodes are kept around 30 minutes and sometimes feel as if it is too short. This one felt like it would have been more compelling if it had been an hour. Maybe we could have seen some of the Gamma War instead of just using it as set up.

However, the second half of the show was solid and included some awesome giant robot vs. Kaiju type action, including Bruce Banner transforming himself into a gigantic Godzilla-like creature, I dubbed Hulkzilla as soon as I saw the scene. This was fun and an enjoyable action piece with a decent theme working.

Admittedly, after seeing some of the outstanding animated TV shows this year such as X-Men ’97 and Batman: The Caped Crusader, What If…? feels like a step down. That may not be fair, but when the genre is elevating its game, you expect other shows to step up too. What If…? episode one of season three was fine, but probably not as memorable as it could have been.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #130

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December 21, 2024

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. We were able to pick up all of the books from Comic World this week thanks to Todd and Pat getting the books out when the books came in late. It’s another big week of books.

Books this week:

X-Men: Magneto- Testament #1-5. Written by Greg Pak and art by Carmine Di Giandomenico. I saw an interview with Greg Pak on YouTube’s Comic Book Club and they spoke about this mini-series from 2008. It told the story of young Magneto from the concentration camps. It is a horrible situation with a beautiful story and art. It is a masterpiece of a mini series.

Hornsby & Halo #1. Storytellers Peter J. Tomasi and Peter Snejbjerg. An interesting new series from the Ghost Machine imprint. One was an angel child and one was a devil child. They were placed in homes with humans, the angel in a tougher family , the devil with a loving, caring family. This is an intriguing new series that seems like a lot of fun, yet another good series from Ghost Machine.

Namor #5. “The Orphan on the Throne.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Alexander Lozano did the cover art. Namor continues to learn lessons about his war nature with both flashbacks and current day problems.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5. “The Law of the Foot” Written by Jason Aaron and penciled by Darick Robertson. Cover art by Javier Fernandez. This new TMNT series introduces us to Casey Jones and Hieronymus Hale. This issue focuses on these two characters and the final panel in this issue was shocking. This continues to be one of the best new books of the year.

Immortal Thor #18. “To Be Continued” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art. Thor tries to reclaim his reputation on earth by leading his son, the Enchantress and Lady Sif to face off with Mister Hyde, Cobra, Grey Gargoyle and the Radioactive Man.

Hellverine #1. Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Raffaele Ienco. Kendrick “Kunkka” Lim did the cover art. I am not a big fan of this character. It just feels like a rip off. I will say that I thought this story was really better than I thought it would be. I do not think that I will be picking this one up, but it was better than I thought.

Juvenile #1. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jesus Orellana. I really enjoyed this new Image Comics book. They do a great job of building this new world and what is happening as well as introducing the main characters of these young people taking these drugs. This is an excellent new book.

Tin Can Society #4. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art by Francesco Mobili & Chris Chuckry. The mystery continues to chug along. I will say that I found this issue to be the weakest so far, so I hope it reclaims some of the strength of the previous books.

FML #1-2. Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and art by David Lopez. This Dark Horse book is really creative and fascinating. A group of new young characters who are metal kids who wind up facing with a lot of bizarre threats. These are some of the fascinating new characters and I enjoyed all of their introductions.

Warm Fusion #1. Written by Scott Hoffman and art and cover art by Alberto Ponticelli. Warm Fusion is the new noir, sci-fi thriller from DSTLRY. Jarrod Hannover is the detective investigating a serial killer out there killing hookers and escorts in a world that “has been devastated by crime, ongoing storms, radiation from a terrorist incident in Times Square and the genetic mutations caused by a life-saving ‘cure‘”

Spectregraph #1-3. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Christian Ward. Some of these DSTLRY books can be hard to find. When I saw that Spectregraph#4 was coming out soon, I went to eBay and ordered the first three. These were great. Of course, I am a big fan of James Tynion IV and this is yet another great story. A mysterious house that has attracted a group of wealthy men who want to buy it leads to the realtor getting trapped inside. This is a really great story and I can’t wait to see the fourth and final issue of the series.

Captain America #16. “End at the Beginning.” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Carlos Magno. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. The Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man team up comes to an end in what seems to be the final issue of this creative team’s run. I am not sure if this is the last Captain America book for awhile. They advertise the new Sam Wilson Captain America book at the end of the issue. I hope we still have a Steve Rogers book to enjoy too.

Challengers of the Unknown #1. “The Secret Life of Ace Morgan.” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Sean Izarkse. Cover art was by Mike Dedoroto Jr. and Jao Candla. The Challengers of the Unknown are part of the new Justice League as the do-it-all crew among the Watchtower. There is an interesting mystery going on.

Daredevil #16. “Introductory Rites” Part Sixteen. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Aaron Kuder. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Richard Isanove. Daredevil is out having problems with the demons still… now with the next sin taking over Foggy. Daredevil is going through it.

Fantastic Four #27. “Way, Shape or Form.” Written by Ryan North and art by Steven Cummings. Joshua Cassara & Dean White did the cover art. Nicki Masters-Grimm is the heart of this books as the Grimm kids take on the Mole Man. Ryan North FF books have been really great and this book can live an issue with the kids and a limited amount of the actual FF.

Spectacular Spider-Men #10. “Elementary, My Dear Spider-Men…” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Andres Genolet & Emilio Laiso. Peter and Miles fight the two Electros, but we focus on the new hero, Elementary.

Ultimate Spider-Man #12. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Hey, the entire issue is a Christmas party at Peter & Mary Jane’s place. I find this to be a ballsy move for a book to be mostly just a dinner party. However, there is a surprise at the end that sets us up for more going forward (ahem…Kraven?).

TVA #1. Written by Katharyn Blair and art by Pere Perez. Cover art by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. We get a lot of fun in this new book based on the TVA from the MCU Loki TV series. We get O.B., Mobius, B-15. They blend in some awesome multiverse characters such as Ghost Spider, Captain Carter, and a Gambit. By the way, Miss Minutes! It does seem weird that the story of Loki seems to be canon with this book, but I’m okay with that. I love these characters from Loki and I hope they turn out well.

Parliament of Rooks #1. “Spring.” Written by Abigail Jill Harding with Richard Starkings and art and cover art by Abigail Jill Harding (Silver Medalist). This was a great new horror book and the black and white section of this book is beautiful. I found this one was wonderful.

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #2. “The Case of the Runaway of the Ring” Written by Alex Segura and art by Cian Tormey. Tormey & Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. So much trouble on the Watchtower and Renee’s Question is at the center of it all.

Absolute Batman #3. “The 200 Part Three” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Dragotta & Frank Martin did the cover art. Batman and Alfred are spending some time seeing if they want to connect. It looks like Black Mask is here and he is a total bad ass.

Standstill #5. Story by Lee Loughridge and art Alex Riegel. Cover art by Andrew Robinson. Colin and Ryker have a bunch of conflicts in this issue as they become a major trouble. I still love the way that they design this book with large panels and solid art work.

In Bloom #1. Written by Michael W. Conrad and art by John J. Pearson with art assists from Lola Bonato. John J. Pearson did the cover art. Another books that does a great job of setting up the new world that the book exists in. The weird Bloom virus being a positive thing was not what I expected as I first thought this would be a series like Sleeping Beauties, but it feels as if it will be more like Soylent Green. I’m in!

Jonny Quest #5. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Chad Hardin did the cover art. Jonny’s trip into his future comes to a close here with a successful mission. They are back in 1964, ready to set up a new arc after a few month break. Jonny Quest was never my jam as a cartoon, but I did enjoy this first storyline so we will see if Dynamite can keep up the roll they seem to be on.

Plastic Man No More #4. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lims. Cover art by Alex Lims & Marcelo Maiolo (Bronze Medalist). I was actually kind of down on this conclusion to a series that I have enjoyed since issue one. Honestly, I was not a fan of the way the story came to an end and especially with the very last page of the book. Some of the Plastic Man body horror stuff took it to a level that I was not a fan of either. Kind of a disappointment as a final issue.

The Masked Macher #4. Written by David A. Goodman and art by Alex Andres. Another finale of a book that I did not love. The main reason for that was it is clearly left off on a cliffhanger and I am unsure if there will be more of this book in the future. I do love the talking bear. I will keep my judgment in check for now to see if this story actually does continue some day.

Psylocke #2. “Ladykiller” Written by Alyssa Wong and art by Vincenzo Carratù. Cover art was by Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson. Psylocke heads off to try and track down a group of kidnapped mutant children and she finds some horror in her investigation. Psylocke has been decent so far in this series and the end of the issue sets up a solid path forward.

Sentinels #3. “Mud and Metal Mixing Good.” Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Justin Mason. Mason & Federico Blee did the cover art. The Sentinel team found themselves in conflict with Magneto. They do not fare well. However, something strange is going on as this did not seem to be the current Magneto that we know of in X-Men. This was a Magneto full of power. What is going on?

Deadpool #9. Written by Cody Ziglar and Alexis Quasarano and art by Andrea Di Vito. Taurin Clarke does the cover art. Ellie and Princess, with the Taskmaster, finally found a way to bring back Deadpool (Wade Wilson) to life and we get the Deadpool & daughter reunion.

Napalm Lullaby #7. Written by Rick Remender and art and cover art by Bengal. The book returns form hiatus with a weird and bizarre world that did not feel anything like what I remembered of the book when it ended. I found it engaging and I liked the answers at the end of the issue.

Big Guns Stupid Rednecks #2. Written by Austin Allen Hamblin and illustrated by Mariana Meira. Scott Twells did the cover B art. What do you get when you combine the world of the WWE, and Gladiator combat with Mojoworld? Big Guns Stupid Rednecks is the right answer. This is a wild comic with a bizarre set up but it is fun so far. Looks like we will be getting a brother vs. brother rematch soon.

Knights vs. Samurai #3. Written by David Dastmalchian and art by Fede Mele. Mirko Colak did the art. This issue really had me thinking that this was a combination of Shogun and House of the Dragon. I find the translation to be intriguing and a nice addition to this book.

The New Gods #1. “The Falling Sky Part 1” Written by Ram V and art by Jorge Fornés and Francesco Segala. Cover art was by Nimit Malavia. This was an interesting new DC book but I just wonder why Thor appears on this DC book’s cover. Todd was yelling at me when I asked about it being Thor, but there is simply no doubt that that character on the cover looks exactly like Thor and that no character looking like Thor appeared in the book. I looked.

Other books this week: Blood Squad Seven #5, Alligator Loki Holiday Special #1, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #6, The Moon is Following Us #4, Epitaphs from the Abyss #6, The Power Fantasy #5, and House of Slaughter (Gold Medalist)

Shrinking S2 E11

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Spoilers

“The Drugs Don’t Work”

A more emotional episode of Shrinking than we’ve had for awhile as both Jimmy and Paul had major events in their lives, causing each of them distress. Plus, Gaby’s personal demons began to throw a wrench into her relationship with Derek.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and problems are welling up for everyone. However, there was a great moment when Brian received word that the woman who had rejected Brian and Charlie as adoptive parents for her baby, changed her mind.

Sean is also having issues that he does not want Derek to help him with, even though Derek had an awesome fix for.

Jimmy is quickly on a downward spiral as he realized that he was not doing better dealing with his wife’s death and that he really needed help. His reaction to Alice being friends with Louis has triggered the episode and Jimmy called Paul for help.

Of course, Paul’s medication is starting to fail him, as he had noticed more tremors than he had before.

At one point, I was unsure what this show was going to do because it felt as if the storylines had all wrapped up sufficiently. However, Shrinking has amped everything back up for a “finale?” next week.

Creature Commandos S2 E4

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Spoilers

“Chasing Squirrels”

The fourth episode of Creature Commandos on MAX is uneven and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The mixture of the silly comedy and horrible tragedy felt at odds with each other and I am not sure how I feel about it.

The section about Weasel’s backstory was tragic and sad. Seeing eight children being killed in a fire is something that you do not expect to see in an animation. I did think that this backstory really presented us with the story that humanized the Weasel character.

I’m not sure how I felt about the Frankenstein part of this episode. The comedy surrounding Frankenstein did not hit well for me. The whole Frankenstein-Rick Flagg interaction did not work for me either.

Perhaps the dichotomy of the two storylines was what didn’t work for me. I did find the Weasel part of the story to be very compelling, but the humor of Frankenstein felt like it took away from the overall story. I am not someone who believes that you can’t have humor in a tragic story, but this felt too over the top for me.

Still love The Bride though. She is great. I have a much more positive feeling toward Weasel.

2024 Year in Review: The John Carter Memorial Award

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This is one of our first recurring awards in the Year in Review. The John Carter Memorial Award, which is to recognize the film that is the “flop” of the year.

A flop is a film that failed to connect at the box office and lost a lot of money for its studio. A film could flop for any number of reasons, and a film can be great and still flop. Looking at the previous award recipients…

John Carter Memorial Award

Previous winners:  John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Robin Hood (2018), Mortal Engines, Playmobil: The Movie, The Rhythm Section, Reminiscence, Strange World , The Flash 

A lot of these films are ones that I did not like, but there are some that were okay, but just either did not bring in the crowds or spent way too much on its budget.

This year, there have been a lot of films that would be considered flops. Particularly, some of the early films of the year were problematic for the studios. Furiosa: A Mad Max Story was well reviewed and beloved by some, but the crowds just did not come to see it. I don’t know if it were the recast of Furiosa with Anya Taylor-Joy or the lack of Mad Max, but Furiosa did not do well. Neither did The Fall Guy, a movie that I really liked and will probably make my end of year list. Fact is that this is a film remaking a TV series from the 1980s that very few people remembered, and, even with the exciting action, The Fall Guy just could not make it a success. It is a fun film though. On the other hand, a film that is not a good film is Borderlands. Borderlands reportedly cost $120 million to make and it had an $8.8 million dollar opening. Ouch. But that was not the worst thing yet. Borderlands dropped 72% in week two. Boom. Joker: Folie a Deux is the next film to talk about, because although Borderlands dropped 72% in its second week, Joker: Folie a Deux dropped a staggering 81%. It is poised to lose between $150-200 million dollars. Finally, and most recently, Kraven the Hunter made a dismal $11 million dollars in its opening weekend and I am curious to see what its second week drop will be. Kraven the Hunter received horrendous reviews, with people even claiming that it was worse than Madame Web (which could be in this category as well).

This year’s “Winner”:

Megalopolis

It made $4 million opening weekend on a budget of $120 million. After four weeks in the theater, it made $7.6 million dollars domestically and a whopping $12.5 million worldwide. All on a budget of $120 million. Reports say that director/producer Francis Ford Coppola put up a lot of his own money for this film. Whoa. I have not seen this film, so I cannot comment on the quality of film (this is probably a June Swoon film next year), but there is no denying that as a box office movie, this one flopped hard.

Superman Teaser Trailer

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I may not be a huge Superman fan, but this trailer is epic.

I don’t hate Superman. I have never hated the character, but he has just never been my guy. I’m a Spider-Man fan. But this trailer is truly a fantastic couple of minutes.

I feel that this trailer has shown that the creators have learned from some of the other Superman live action mistakes that have been made.

I believe in James Gunn and I think this builds an even more positive mindset. This is a great trailer.

And the MUSIC! Goosebump inducing. Amazing.

July 11, 2025