Author Archives: Doc

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of October 14

So, I am a little later today because of parent/teacher conferences today, plus Agatha All Along episode six…and the Dodgers are on. So I am getting to this right now.

Bronze Medalist

Grim #20

Cover art by Flaviano

A creepy cover with that big scythe behind makes this cover stand out really well. The dark red and black work well together…as will the next cover.

Silver Medalist

The Department of Truth #26

Cover art by Martin Simmonds

What a great cover with the singer on the cover and the black and red coloring forming the familiar Xs in the background. This one stands out for fans of this book.

Gold Medalist

Christopher Chaos Halloween Special #1

Cover art David Talaski

The blue signifies Christopher Chaos, and the lightning and the electricity creates a cool image of Christopher Chaos charging up a jack o’ lantern. This is really an attractive cover.

Bonus Action Vol. 2 E7

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Spoilers

“Welcome …to Fey Country”

A gigantic episode of Bonus Action this week… over 2 hours and 18 minutes worth of action. David the DM immediately split the six people of the group apart.

They spent most of the time one one one with David, playing all sorts of weird characters including a human faced bird, a disappointed marionette, and a not quite killed Minotaur.

David also left the group on several cliffhangers including Bar’B’s father about to reveal his deal.

So entertaining and exciting, these are some wonderful D&D players who understand that the key to the story are the characters, not just the power you can have.

Only Murders in the Building S4 E8

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Spoilers

“Lifeboat”

We basically cleared the Westies this week. Honestly, I was not as enthralled with this episode as I have been with every other this season.

It just felt too much. There was out regular cast, pus the actors, plus the Westies and flashbacks with Milton Dudenoff as well. Plus, we got to meet Helga and see her back story. The entire Dudenoff story is resolved, as we discover that he was dying and took a handful of pills, talking the Westies into putting him into the incinerator.

So no murder of Dudenoff, but Sazz is still a question. The show hinted at a new suspect this week, Paul Rudd’s Glen Stubbins. I do not believe for one second that he is not just another red herring. The main reason is this killer, who has been stalking and taunting them, feels way more sinister than Glen ever felt. Could he have been playing? Maybe. Except, wasn’t he in the hospital when the last text message came through?

There are so many pieces pulling the focus away from Oliver, Charles and Mabel. I would want to see more about them than seeing all of these other characters.

I have loved this season so much until this episode so I am sure that things will pick up once again with just two more to go.

Psycho II (1983)

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The October 7 of 13

One of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films of all time was 1960’s Psycho. Twenty three years later, there was a sequel to the film featuring the return of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates.

Of course, I have been watching Bates Motel for the last several months, which is not necessarily canon in the Psycho universe. It gave me the opportunity to start to love the character of Norma Bates. So with this October 13, I thought it would be a good thing to watch the sequel to Psycho.

While this is nowhere near the level of the iconic original, Psycho II was not bad. Anthony Perkins was wonderful in his return to the role of Norman Bates. You could never be sure whether or not Norman had actually regained his sanity. I wasn’t sure until the very end, which was nice.

The story had an impressive twist to start off that I did not see coming. I am not sure it worked all the way through, but when we found out the surprise, it worked for most of the middle of the story.

It did feel like it went a little too long and I am not sure I loved the resolution of the film… at least part of it. No spoilers from me, but I did like the very end of the film… just not what led to it.

This was better than I expected it to be, but if you were to only watch one Psycho movie, make it the original Hitchcock classic.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E18

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“Downloaded”

This episode showed us what it was like for the Cylon resurrection. We saw the rebirth of Six after the initial attack on Caprica and the rebirth of Sharon after she was shot aboard Galactica. Both were very traumatic for the Cylons.

Sharon had her baby on Galactica and President Roslin decided that the baby girl could not be raised by a Cylon and so she had the doctor pretend that the baby died, and she had the baby given to another person, secretly. This felt like a cruel decision from Roslin because the show has done such a good job of redeeming Sharon from the early days of her betrayal.

However, Sharon had serious reaction to the baby’s supposed death as she believed that they had killed the baby. She had no idea about the truth of the situation.

We also got some connection between Six and Sharon on Caprica. Funnily, the Six that was reborn after the initial explosion was also seeing Gaius Baltar in her head just like he was seeing Six in his aboard Galactica. That was not what I was expecting and it changed my POV of that character as well. Six and Sharon both admitted to their love for human men and have decided to try and make it better. Not sure how that is going to come about or how the news of the baby’s ‘death’ will change that perspective.

It had been a long time since I saw the last episode of Battlestar Galactica, so it was awesome coming back to the series.

Yellowjackets S1 E5

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Spoilers

“Blood Hive”

Last episode felt a little down from the heights of the first three of Yellowjackets season one. Episode five kicked things back into gear for me.

This episode brought some mysteries from the crash to the forefront, including something very strange that happened as the girls did a “seance.” Then, we focused on the surprises in the present day with the “suicide” of Travis as the mysterious symbol that we have been seeing from the past showed up on the ground below Travis’s hanging body.

I would also never want to get on Shauna’s bad side because she seems to know exactly what she is doing. The way she handled her daughter’s attempt at blackmail was pitch perfect.

These women are all extremely strong. What is up with present day Misty? She is so manipulative and she makes me wonder exactly what she is up to.

Taissa’s speech to the reporters, which was intended to be a withdrawal speech, turned fiery and showed her own zip.

There is so much paranormal stuff going on around these characters that the show has not even touched on much. The woman in the tree, whom Sammy claimed was behind the message, is just one example.

This show has so many cool little tidbits that I am excited to find out how it all ties together. This one was a great episode.

The X-Files S7 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“The Sixth Extinction”

“The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati”

It has been awhile since I ended season six of The X-Files, which was a first part of a three part story that would help to reboot the mythology of the series.

Honestly, the X-Files does such a great job of creating villains. Many times, villains are created to be cool, and people love them, despite of the terrible things they may have done. However, I hate these villains on the X-Files. I want Smoking Man dead. So badly. Same goes for Krychek or Diana Fowley. Of course, this episode saw the end of one of them… off camera. Diana Fowley dies at the end after the show tried to redeem her in the eyes of the viewers. It did not do that for me. The whole ‘she helped out Scully, find Mulder’ did not do it for me. In my book, she was never with Mulder in any way but the selfish way.

The show’s mythology took a turn here and set up the final push for the series. This became more of a sci-fi series than it ever had before. The whole old man Mulder arc was a bit much too, which again tried to show Smoking Man in a more positive light. I just want that smug bastard dead. Great performance from William B. Davis, as always.

The minute Albert Holsteen showed up in Mulder’s apartment, I knew what the show was going for. It was clearly a spirit coming to help Scully and that whole bit was quite a cliche.

The end where Mulder and Scully claim to be each other’s ‘touchstone’ was well acted, but I have never felt any sort of romantic relationship between Mulder and Scully. I could see them being something deeper than romantic and I choose to see this scene in that light.

This trilogy ended season 6 and kicked off season 7 well, and helped keep the show on track moving forward.

Messiah of Evil (1974)

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The October 6 of 13

This supernatural horror film from 1973 is the next film in the October 13. Messiah of Evil is a wild film, nightmarish-like with zombies and a “Dark Stranger.”

According to IMDB, “After losing contact with her artist father, Arletty (Marianna Hill) travels to the west coast. Though she doesn’t find him, she meets Thom (Michael Greer), an odd wealthy man who’s travelling with 2 lovers, Toni (Joy Bang) and Laura (Anitra Ford), to meet her father. She reads his diary and realizes there’s something strange with the residents of this California town.“

I will say that the story of the film is convoluted and fairly messy, but that seems to work with the tone that the film is setting. The dreamlike state of the film adds to the overall confusion of the situation and it helps keep the audience off-balance.

The “Dark Stranger” is an intriguing concept that the film does not go into much specifics about. This feels like it could have been an opening chapter of a film franchise. The whole Dark Stranger idea feels very Stephen King-esce. I would have liked more about that character.

The film took definite inspiration from the other zombie films of the time, specifically those by George Romero.

Bates Motel S4 E7

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“There’s No Place Like Home”

Norman discovers the truth about Norma and Alex’s wedding and that inspires the jealous little jerk to insist on checking himself out of the mental hospital.

I call him a little jerk because I so love Norma and Alex together and I know that this is the beginning of the end for them.

Norman finds the picture of Alex and Norma together while he was doing his paper mache dog and it started him into his manipulative state.

Dr. Edwards was not a fan of the idea, but Norman is able to convince him. I think it was as much Norma’s fault because she has done so much to enable Norman for so long that she just does not know what she needs to do.

Actually, Norma knows exactly what she should do, but she is too afraid of what might happen that she doesn’t have the strength to do what she has to when it comes to Norman. Just telling him that her marriage to Alex was only for the insurance money (even though that is how it started) says that she still allows Norman’s insanity to rule her life.

It only makes it more tragic with every scene of bliss that is between Alex and Norma. Alex told her about the money he took from Bob. Norma immediately told him about the Norman situation. The relationship is easily the only healthy one Norma has ever had.

All the more tragic.

Grotesquerie E5, E6

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Spoilers

“Red Haze”

“Good Caesarean Work”

Okay, this week was completely bat shit crazy.

Lois and Sister Megan wound up in a little town, being chased by someone/something. The town itself is absolute horror show of violence. All the women appear to have been assaulted, perhaps even as the day moves along. Sister Megan ends up shot. It was all surreal.

My guess is that the smoke from the pit they were at last episode had some kind of reactive property causing everyone to be angry and violent. It sure seemed as if Lois and Sister Megan were being affected too as they were very sharp and biting toward each other during this wild time in this little town.

The show also revealed a couple of secrets, including a connection between Nurse Redd and Marshall. It explained why she was so crazed about Lois turning over power of attorney for Marshall to her. Honestly, Nurse Redd is just as unbalanced as anyone on this show.

The serial killer Grotesquerie was the one to shoot Sister Megan as he followed them throughout the opening scene. He took Andrea, the bloody woman Lois and Sister Megan picked up at the end of episode four. She also seemed to be an identical twin to the clerk at the hotel they stopped at who appeared to be constantly being beaten.

Father Charlie made a return to the side of Sister Megan’s bed and immediately chastised Lois for her use of her as bait.

This led to a horrific series of scenes involving women who had forced c-sections and were allowed to then bleed to death. The babies were being taken for some bizarre reason. The scene at the end of episode six where there were a group of women who were hooked up to breast pumps feeding these babies is horrendous.

Then the show left us on a cliffhanger, just a remarkably cruel and hateful one. A masked figure snuck up behind Lois with a knife and she turned and shot him. It is clearly intended to be Grotesquerie and Lois pulled off the mask from his face. We as an audience did not get to see the face in the terrible end. I felt very upset about having this mask pulling scene being done so we could not get the reveal and would have to come back next week.

Two episodes each week means that the show will end on Halloween, which is very appropriate.

Sorry About the Demon (2022)

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The October 5 of 13

So, this one was a horror comedy. I found it on Shudder, as most of the list for this The October 13 is this year. I found it to be really silly.

After dealing with a bad break-up, Will (Jon Michael Simpson) rented a house from a family. What Will did not know was the family, the Sellers, had rented him the house because they had made a deal with the demon that was in the house, Deomonous (voiced by Tony Vespe), to possess him and take his soul to Hell instead of their daughter Grace (Presley Allard).

This movie was funny at times. At least I chuckled here and there. Otherwise it was fairly messy with the plot and just silly as it can be. It was absolutely corny and silly. I am not sure if this was intended to be a parody or if it is just meant to be a horror/comedy. Either way, the film was not the worst thing I ever saw. I did not like the way it started, as it seemed fairly stupid to me. However, Jon Michael Simpson had a charm about him that made me want to keep watching, even though I wanted to stop watching at first.

Overall, it was not the worst film I have seen. It is not great, but if you are in the right mood, this could be a fun family horror/comedy for Halloween.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #119

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October 10, 2024

Another Saturday night and I am getting the Comic Cavalcade out. It has been a very busy time as I have a bunch of new movies, a ton of TV series, the Dodgers and, of course, school. I have to look for the opportunity to squeeze the reading into my schedule.

Books this week:

Ice Cream Man #13. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. I have cover B with art by Wes Craig. This was the final issue of Ice Cream Man that I needed and it took forever for it to arrive from eBay. It is one of those gimmicky books that it seems Ice Cream Man specializes in. It is a palindrome, meaning it could be read forward or backwards. It was a fun gimmick and I love the creativity of Ice Cream Man. I am glad to have finally finished off the complete series in my collection.

Groo the Wanderer #8. This is another series that I was able to fill out as this is the final issue of Groo’s Pacific Comics run that I needed. Todd was able to obtain this book for me and I was very pleased to get it. Now I just have a handful of issues of the Marvel (Epic) run to complete my Groo collection.

Groo: Minstrel Melodies #2. Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier are the creators on this Groo book. I have been enjoying this current take on Groo, as the story focuses on the story told by the Minstrel and his daughter, Kayli. I do love a rhyme and there is plenty of that in here.

Fantastic Four #26. “Blood Brothers” Written by Ryan North and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was by Joshua Cassara & Dean White (Gold Medalist). Johnny and Reed come across something paranormal in Ben Grimm’s Aunt Petunia’s house, where the FF have been living. They go through a ton of trouble trying to put the genie back in the bottle, figuratively.

Exceptional X-Men #2. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Some mutant drama taking place at a high school soccer game and Kitty Pryde is smack in the middle. She’s not a high school student (perhaps it is a college game. Not sure). Kitty and Emma Frost are being set up as the opposites of the same coin, kind of like Xavier and Magneto were.

The Terminator #1. “Out of Time” Written by Declan Shalvey and art by Luke Sparrow with Colin Craker. Dynamite Comics has had some real winners lately and I did enjoy this Terminator book. It did not feel as if it were a story that would continue over several issues and that the next one would be a new story. Still, I am curious about what they do now.

Jonny Quest #3. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. I got cover C and the cover art was by Anthony Marques. More action with Jonny and the crew in an attempt to find their way back to their own time. Unfortunately, certain problems are blocking that from happening. Again, I am not as familiar with Jonny Quest and some of these characters are probably ones that a fan of the show would recognize. I still am enjoying the book so far.

Space Ghost #6. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Francesco Mattina did the cover art. This is the third straight Dynamite Comics book in the Comic Cavalcade. Space Ghost takes on the fires of Moltar and the dynamic between Space Ghost and Jace has been damaged from last issue. This issue deals with that relationship as the story is narrated via Jace’s journal.

Seance in the Asylum #1. Written by Clay Mcleod Chapman and art by Leonardo Marcella Grassi. Andrea Mutti did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). A fascinating new series from Dark Horse that looks at the idea of spectral therapy and the ways into the spirits beyond this world. It is a very interesting looking book with some art and coloring that really emphasizes the tone.

Amazing Spider-Man #59. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. It is a brutal throwdown between Spider-Man and Tombstone as Spidey is determined to not allow Tombstone to kill his daughter. Very brutal in the story as it is nearly all fighting in the issue.

Phoenix #4. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art is by Yasmine Putri. Jean Grey and Captain Marvel hang out together during a celebration of the Kree-Skrull alliance. Meanwhile, Carol gives Jean some spacefaring advice.

The Ultimates #5. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover artists were Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. Captain America goes to chase after the individual who claimed the arrows Iron Lad made after Clint Barton rejected the idea. This mean there is a new Hawkeye in the Ultimates. And I liked her.

Minor Arcana #2. “The Fool: Part Two”. Written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire. Theresa tried to do a reading for one of her mother’s regular customers, and things go weird for her. She travels to a different plane of existence and meets Gene. All this was too much for Theresa as she went to hit the bottle. Jeff Lemire is right near the top of my current favorite comic book writers and just about anything he does is something I want to read.

Geiger #7. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Paul Pelletier. Cover art was done by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson (silver Medalist). Mister Geiger has been having some troubles lately as he has been showing how violent he could be. Still, he is out saving animals and kids. Geiger has been one of the most solid of the Ghost Machine imprint.

Sentinels #1. “Necessary Monsters.” Written by Alex Paknadel and penciled by Justin Mason. Cover art was by Mason & Federico Blee. This new X-book has a group of characters who I did not know and have some weird tie to the Sentinels. Honestly, this X-book did not grab my attention much, but I’ll probably give it another shot before skipping it. It will need to be better than this issue.

Transformers #13. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jason Howard. Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer did the cover art. I liked this book as we get an origin story for Starscream, who has always been one of my favorite Decepticons. They also tied him to Jetfire, one of my favorite Autobots. This Image run of Transformers has been very solid so far.

Blade: Red Band #1. Written by Bryan Hill and art by C.F. Villa. Cover art was done by C.F. Villa & Federico Blee. Blade returned for the first time since the Blood Hunt took over Marvel this summer and he is involved with a new baddie called Spellguard. Again, these Red band books are not that bad. It just means Blade can cut off a few heads.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #5. Story by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. Speaking of cutting off heads, Edwyn is back in the finale of this series, seemingly riding off into the sunset with his blow-up doll, Virginia. However, the last page of the issue really leaves a question in my mind.

Other books this week: Life #2, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #3, X-Force #4, Public Domain #9, Crocodile Black #5, and Conquest 2099 #1.

The Penguin S1 E3

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“Bliss”

I have been behind on The Penguin’s latest episode because of the Dodgers-Padres series, which has been must see for me. Sunday night’s next episode of The Penguin will also have to be viewed at a different time because the Dodgers start the NLCS vs. the Mets.

It is nice to have HBO Max so that I can catch up on The Penguin whenever my schedule allows it. Because this is an excellent series.

This episode gave us more details and background with Victor as he questioned whether or not he should be sticking with Oz. “Bliss” does a great job with relationships, specifically with Oz-Victor, Victor and his father, and Oz-Sofia. All the while, Oz and Sofia are showing off the new designer drug they are ready to be pushing- Bliss. Apparently, Sofia Falcone let us know that this is a drug that they had used at Arkham, which makes me wonder if that is tied to one of the known Batman baddies from there.

Again, this does not feel like a comic book movie. This is a crime story featuring a character that is known to comic fans as one of Batman’s rogue gallery. As I say every week, the performance of Colin Farrell as Oz is breath-taking. It goes far beyond just the physical transformation he undergoes. His pain from Victor’s desire to depart wounded Oz to the core. Farrell played that out brilliantly.

Victor’s choice at the end leaves little to no wiggle room (no pun intended). It is sad for the young kid.

The Penguin is excellent and we will see where this goes next.

Saturday Night

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Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!!!!

Jason Reitman directed this biopic of the 90-minutes before the debut of Saturday Night Live (called NBC’s Saturday Night) and the chaos that was ensuing.

Of course, as with most biopics, not everything is exactly as it happened as many details are switched or moved around for dramatic purposes.

The film follows Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), the producer of SNL, as he moved around the studio putting out fires (both figuratively and literally), managing talent, and desperately trying to get the show ready to go at 11:30.

This is a fun film with a frantic pace leading up to the debut. It was very possible that the show was never going to happen as there was a reel of a Johnny Carson repeat waiting to roll if the show was unable to overcome the myriad of troubles.

The cast is the strongest part of the show. Gabriel LaBelle does a great job as the eyes of the audience. Corey Michael Smith is fantastic as Chevy Chase. Dylan O’Brien loses himself in the role of Dan Aykroyd. Matt Wood was very entertaining as John Belushi. Lamorne Morris was great as Garrett Morris. Rachel Sennott had a strong performance as Lorne’s wife, Rosie. Several of the cast did not have the amount of screen time as it seemed as if they deserved, in particularly the women SNL cast members.

While we see a lot of Lorne, there is an issue with the rest of the cast. If you are not aware of who these people are, there is not a lot of time spent with them. The film seems to depend on the audience knowing who Chevy Chase, John Belushi, George Carlin, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner are coming into the film. If the viewer does not know much about SNL, they do not go into detail about these people. It does work at one level, but I did have knowledge going in.

The film depends on its energy and the nostalgia of the audience to craft together a hectic ninety minutes prior to the debut of Saturday Night. There are some very funny moments and some amazing character bits for these people whom we know as celebrities. Roles for Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons are exceptional and the whole cast’s performance was well done. This is a film that fans of SNL will truly appreciate.

4 stars