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The Detective Daniel Prophet Podcast
A story from Dalton Hill.
Recorded by staff of the middle school I work at and students in the Actor’s Guild squad I run.
EYG Podcasts
Author Archives: Doc
The X-Files S4 E19
Spoilers
“Synchrony”
The X-Files goes deep into the realm of science fiction, even further down that road than they normally go, as they tell a story involving time travel.
An old man (Michael Fairman) comes back from the future to attempt to stop the creation of a chemical compound that is used as a rapid freezing agent. In the future, this agent helped create the possibility of time travel.
I liked this episode, despite a few plot holes that appear in the episode. Michael Fairman would appear on General Hospital and it was cool seeing him in this episode (no pun intended).
There were a couple of disturbing scenes of people bursting into flames which were well done for the mid-nineties.
The secondary characters are not quite as interesting ad they should be. They are fine and that makes the show a fine watch, but perhaps not as awesome as it could have been.
Word Cloud: X-Men ’97
2024 EYG Favorite Comic Covers by the Week
January 1: Reiko Murakami and Vincenzo Riccardi, Ghostlore #7
January 10: Martin Morazzo, Swan Song #6
January 17: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #16
January 22:
Gold: Stefano Caselli & Jesus Aburtov, Resurrection of Magneto #1
Silver: Andrea Sorrentino, Bone Orchard: Tenement #8;
Bronze: Matt Taylor, Slow Burn #4
January 29:
Gold: Daniel Acuña, Avengers Inc #5,
Silver: Juan Ferreyra, Spine-Tingling Spider-Man #4
Bronze: David Aja, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu: Gang War #2
February 5:
Gold: Mateus Manhanini, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1.
Silver: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #17
Bronze: Mattia De Iulis, The Cull #5.
February 12:
Gold: Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia, Fall of the House of X #1.
Silver: David Finch, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2.
Bronze: Elena Casagrande & KJ Diaz, Blade #8.
February 19:
Gold: Andrea Sorrentino, Bone Orchard: Tenement #9.
Silver: Sami Kivelä, Deer Editor #2.
Bronze: Sumit Kumar, Lee Loughridge, & Tom Muller, The Six Fingers #1.
February 26:
Gold: Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran, Ice Cream Man #38.
Silver: Jacob Phillips, Newburn #15.
Bronze: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #44.
March 4:
Gold: Fran Galán, Pine & Merrimac #3.
Silver: Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho, Thanos #4.
Bronze: Eduardo Risso, Dan Panosian & Fritz Casas, Torpedo 1972 #1.
March 11:
Gold: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #45.
Silver: Alex Ross, The Immortal Thor #8.
Bronze: Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas, Dark Ride #11.
March 18:
Gold: Mark Brooks, X-Men: Forever #1.
Silver: Takashi Okazaki, Star Wars: Visions #1.
Bronze: Szymon Kudranski, Something Epic #8.
March 25:
Gold: Dan Panosian, Zorro: Man of the Dead #3.
Silver: Nick Robles, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #8.
Bronze: Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs, Feral #1.
April 1:
Gold: Inhyuk Lee, Deadpool #1.
Silver: Willi Roberts, Antarctica #10.
Bronze: Kevin Keane and Todd McFarlane, Sand and Twitch Case Files #1.
April 8:
Gold: Gabriel H. Walta, Phantom Road #10.
Silver: Bengal, Napalm Lullaby #2.
Bronze: Zé Carlos, Rat City #1.
April 15:
Gold: Annie Wu, Blow Away #1.
Silver: Michael Avon Oeming, Blue Book: 1947 #3.
Bronze: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #19.
April 22:
Gold: Romy Jones, Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3.
Silver: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #1.
Bronze: Phillip Tan & Sebastian Cheng, Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #3.
April 29:
Gold: Eduardo Risso, The Blood Brothers Mother #1.
Silver: Michael Cho, Space Ghost #1.
Bronze: Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Blood Hunt #1.
May 6:
Gold: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #20.
Silver: Andrea Sorrentino, Crocodile Black #1.
Bronze: Jorge Corona, Ain’t No Grave #1.
May 13:
Gold: Jeffrey Alan Love, Ice Cream Man #39
Silver: Jim Rugg, X-Men Forever #4
Bronze: Adi Granov, Doom #1
May 20:
Gold: Ernanda Souza, Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1 (Variant)
Silver: Jonathan Glapion, Sam and Twitch Case Files #3
Bronze: Mark Brooks, Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1
May 27:
Gold: David Baldeón, Spider-Boy #7 (Variant)
Silver: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives
Bronze: Andrea Sorrentino, Black Panther: Blood Hunt #1
June 3
Gold: Ed McGuinness & Marco Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #51
Silver: Francesco Mattina, Space Ghost #2
Bronze: Javier Marchisio, Profane #1
June 10
Gold: Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spencer, Transformers #9
Silver: Joshua Hixson, The Deviant #6
Bronze (TIE): Bjorn Barends, Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #2
Bronze (TIE): Szymon Kudranski, Something Epic #11
June 17
Gold: Nick Robles, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #10
Silver: Annie Wu, Blow Away #3
Bronze: Alex Ross, The Immortal Thor #12
June 24
Gold: Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado, The Spectacular Spider-Men #4
Silver: Martin Simmonds, The Department of Truth #23
Bronze: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon #3
July 1
Gold: Leinil Francois Yu, Spider-Man Reign 2 #1
Silver: Chip Zdarsky, Public Domain #6
Bronze: Juni Ba, The Boy Wonder #3
July 8
Gold: Gabriel Hardman, Crocodile Black #3 (virgin variant)
Silver: Dave Johnson, Get Fury #3
Bronze: Taigami &Richard Isanove, Kid Venom #1
July 15
Gold: Alex Maleev, Namor #1
Silver: Kael Ngu, Invincible Iron Man #20
Bronze: Walter Simonson & Laura Martin, Immortal Thor Annual #1
July 22
Gold: Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs, Feral #5
Silver: Nick Robles & Hayden Sherman, The Nice House By the Sea #1
Bronze: Eric Talbot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
July 29
Gold: Peach Momoko, What If Donald Duck Became Wolverine #1
Silver: Alex Ross, Immortal Thor #13
Bronze: Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg, Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #4
August 5
Gold: David Marquez and Matthew Wilson, Uncanny X-Men #1
Silver: Joshua Cassara & GURU-eFX, Avengers #17
Bronze: Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg, Incredible Hulk #15
August 12
Gold: Guillermo Fajardo, Wonderland: Return to Madness #2
Silver: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #55
Bronze: Tom Raney, Jonny Quest #1
August 19
Gold: Dave Johnson, Get Fury #4
Silver: Russell Dauterman, Scarlet Witch #3
Bronze: Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson, Redcoat #5
August 26
Gold: Alvaro Martinez Bueno, The Nice House By the Sea #2
Silver: Jason Shawn Alexander, Killadelphia #35
Bronze: Werther Dell’Edera, Something is Killing the Children #40
September 2
Gold: Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon, The Ultimates #4
Silver: Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado, Spider-Boy #11
Bronze: Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo, Plastic Man No More #1
September 9
Gold: Francis Manapul, Geiger #6
Silver: Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza, Wolverine #1
Bronze: Sergio Aragones, Groo: Minstrel Melodies #1
September 16
Gold: Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran, Ice Cream Man #41
Silver: Pete Woods, Spider-Society #2
Bronze: Tirso, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #3
September 23
Gold: Mitsuhiro Arita, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 (Variant)
Silver: Paolo Rivera, Hello Darkness #3
Bronze: Dave Elsey, Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #1
September 30
Gold: Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, and Brad Anderson, Hyde Street #1
Silver: Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo, Plastic Man No More #2
Bronze: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Richard Isanove, Daredevil #14
October 7
Gold: Joshua Cassara & Dean White, Fantastic Four #26
Silver: Gary Frank & Brad Anderson, Geiger #7
Bronze: Andrea Mutti., Seance in the Asylum #1
October 14
Gold: David Talaski, Christopher Chaos Halloween Special #1
Silver: Martin Simmonds, The Department of Justice #26
Bronze: Flaviano, Grim #20
October 21
Gold: Jenny Frison, Hello Darkness #4
Silver: Jock, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #1
Bronze: Rafael Albuquerque, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3
October 28
Gold: Alessandro Cappuccio, Namor #4
Silver: Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs, Feral #7
Bronze: German Peralta, Redcoat #7
November 4
Gold: Afua Richardson, Kahhori: Reshaper of the Worlds #1
Silver: Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo, Plastic Man No More #3
Bronze: Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola, Absolute Superman #1
November 11
Gold: David Marquez & Matthew Wilson, Uncanny X-Men #5
Silver: Josemaria Casanovas, The Spectacular Spider-Man #9
Bronze: Arjuna Susini, The Mammoth #5
November 18
Gold: John McCrea, Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #3
Silver: Alex Ross, The Immortal Thor #17
Bronze: Francesco Mattina, Space Ghost #7
November 25
Gold: Ivan Reis & Danny Miki with Brad Anderson, Hyde Street #2
Silver: Michael Walsh, Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #4
Bronze: Ben Harvey, West Coast Avengers #1
December 2
Gold: Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola, Ultimate Superman #2
Silver: Baldemar Rivas, Two-Face #1
Bronze: Dave Elsey, Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #2
Round Two
Gold: Werther Dell’Edera, The Art of Something Killing the Children Companion
Silver: Iban Coello, All-New Venom #1
Bronze: Vanesa Del Ray, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #2
December 9
Gold:
Silver:
Bronze:
EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week
Week of May 6
It is time again this week for the three medalist for best cover of the week. I must say that I eliminated one possible cover this week because I picked up a variant version of The Creature of the Black Lagoon Lives #1 which I really loved. But since this was actually released a few weeks ago, I decided to not count this one as a comic cover medalist. The original cover (Cover A) did place in the medal round prior so it is not like it comes out empty handed. Call this an honorable mention.
Otherwise, we had several comics in the running this week. There were some really cool covers that did not place in the top three. It was two independent books and one Marvel. And the Marvel cover artist has been a medalist several times already.
Bronze Medalist
Ain’t No Grave #1
Image Comics
Cover art by Jorge Corona
A new Western series written by Skottie Young. The cover has some wonderful Western imagery blended together.
Silver Medalist
Crocodile Black #1
Boom! Studios
Cover art by Andrea Sorrentino
New book from Boom! Studios has a very compelling cover. The guy on the bench with that alligator behind him is cool, but I loved the red highlights down on the ground around the body. Is it blood? Maybe, it looks awesome though.
Gold Medalist
Fantastic Four #20
Marvel Comics
Cover art by Alex Ross
EYG Hall of Famer Alex Ross earns yet another medal this week with the great FF cover that is not only beautifully drawn but tells a fun story with Ben and Johnny. What is going on here? I don’t know, but I am excited to find out and that means the cover does its job well.
X-Men ’97 S1 E9
SPOILERS
“Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 2”
If the second part of a trilogy is always the darkest one, then “Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 2” hits the mark.
What an amazing episode, filled with so much X-Men action that it left me breathless and anxious to see the conclusion to this epic encounter next week in the season finale.
Magneto is back and he’s done with Xavier’s message. He recreated Asteroid M and recruited both Rogue and Sunspot to his side. Both of their defections made total sense to these characters, but that did not make it any less impactful to see them turn their backs on the X-Men.
Blue and Gold teams? Yes, please. That was right out of the comics and I loved it. Having Forge, Cable, Nightcrawler still here despite not being “original” members really worked.
The showdown with Jean and Sinister was just epic, as was the inclusion of Cable into that mix. I wonder if this is all leading to Jean’s return as Phoenix? I have noticed that nearly every week, the Phoenix has made an appearance on the opening credits/theme.
This show pulls no punches and is as brutal as you could possibly expect. Seeing Wolverine’s bloody claws (even though the length of them was a bit awkward) stabbed through Magneto was unbelievable, as was Magnus’ response. Who would have guessed that we would see Magneto rip the adamantium from Wolverine on an animated TV program? This is not our kids’ X-Men.
Morph smash? Excellent “cameo” from our shapeshifter.
I also love how the X-Men did not just fall into line with Xavier. The anger they had for their leader and his choices was clear, even if they knew what they had to do in the end. Scott walking past Charles and ignoring his extended hand was a powerful image.
Bastion is still involved, even though the main thrust has moved toward Magneto. Bastion still feels as if something major will happen with him before this war comes to a close. Seeing him crying over his mother was unexpected, but very humanizing.
This animated program had no right to be as brilliant as it turned out to be. X-Men ’97 has surpassed the original program and might take its place as one of, if not the, greatest animated program ever. We will see how the conclusion of this series is next Wednesday.
Them: The Scare S2 E1
Spoilers
“Are You Scared?”
I have been looking for another series to watch now that several of the others that I have been working on are concluded. I had seen a trailer for Them at the theater and it looked interesting. I do like some horror anthology, so I gave episode one a watch tonight.
I found this very unnerving and scary in all the best ways.
I did not watch the first season of Them, but if I enjoy this show, since it is an anthology, perhaps I can go back to it.
The show was set in the early nineties in Los Angeles around the time of the Rodney King trouble so there are racial tensions beneath the surface of this first episode. While not coming right out with it, the show definitely hints at the racial aspects.
According to IMDB, “LAPD Homicide Detective Dawn Reeve investigates a gruesome murder in a foster home. It already feels like she’s bringing her case home with her. Meanwhile, Edmund Gaines, a struggling actor, pursues a new role – and a new friend.“
Deborah Ayorinde played Dawn Reeve and Luke James played Edmund Gaines. Both actors do a tremendous job of reacting to what is around them. James is absolutely creepy as the struggling actor who may have more involvement than we expect. Ayorinde has secrets in her life that are coloring her perceptions of what is happening in this case and I expect these to affect everything moving forward.
There were some very difficult moments in watching this. I have never been a huge body horror fan, and this has some imagery that is frightening. I am very much curious about where this is heading though and it should be a scary ride. Looks like there are a total of 8 episodes on Amazon Prime.
The X-Files S4 E18
Spoilers
“Max”
The second part of this story which began in last episode’s “Tempus Fugit” was a very solid conclusion to a decent start. “Max” takes some time to continue to determine what happened to the flight that the character of Max Fenig, who had some kind of object on the flight with him that was a direct reason why the plane crashed and killed the entire passengers.
The object was radioactive and the show hinted around with it being some kind of alien technology. The scenes where Mulder faced off with the man who shot Agent Pendrell were tense scenes, especially when the UFO arrived.
I am not sure that this story needed to be told in two episodes. I think if you took the best parts of this, you could have made one exceptional episode instead of two mildly decent ones.
I do like the fact that the show finally go back around to starting to deal with Scully’s cancer, as her nose did start to bleed during her attempt to save the shot Pendrell. I also appreciated Skinner’s direct reference to her health as he noticed the blood on the tissue that Scully held in her hand. There were several episodes since the diagnosis that did not deal with the cancer even in the slightest and they felt as if they could have been placed at any point in continuity. Bringing it back should help show us motives for all of the main characters involved moving forward, whether the episodes are mythological based or monster-of-the-weeks.
The X-Files S4 E17
Spoilers
“Tempus Fugit”
It had been awhile since the mythology episodes of The X-Files has been great. They have ranged from okay to repetitive. The first part of this two-parter “Tempus Fugit” was a pretty solid installment with a bit of a different take on the government conspiracy that we have become used to over the last few seasons.
I’m not sure how I feel about the cliffhanger at the end of the episode. The overall idea of the episode seemed to be working fairly well, but this felt very unsubtle and out of place for the rest of the episode.
It was a solid episode up until that reveal at the end. There were some good guest stars and some good work between Mulder and Scully. Still no reference to Scully’s cancer, although the episode kicking off with Mulder celebrating Scully’s birthday could have been seen as him overcompensating for a failure of celebrating her birthdays before.
The imagery of the plane crash site was very brutal for television. It was tough at times to watch as they found bodies that had died horrific deaths. The realism of this scene was special for the X-Files.
I’ll be interested in seeing where this episode goes next as it did not stand out in my memory as a show I had seen before. I am sure I did see it, but it was not one that I recalled.
The Jinx Part Two S2 E3
Spoilers
“Saving My Tears Until It’s Official”
The third episode of the next season of The Jinx tonight has a focus in on the trial of Bob Durst for the murder of Susan Berman.
The show gave us specific moments from the actual trial in Los Angeles. We heard from several of the witnesses as well as Bob’s reactions on the phone with his wife Debbie. There are a bunch of talking head interviews through the episode with other people from Susan’s life.
Bob Durst was wheeled into the courtroom, with a neck brace. Was this for optics? Was Bob truly in such a bad shape.
During the trial, they came across a tape recording of a conversation between Susan and a reporter named Albert Goldman. It was very creepy how Susan would ask Albert about things that could have happened to Bob’s wife Kathie. Susan was trying to come up with the most reasonable answer to what happened to Kathie so she could distract the media to what could have happened.
The prosecutor did not use that tape because it made Susan to be unlikable and they did not want the jury to think the victim was a bad person.
Nick Chavin, one of Bob’s friends and a friend of Susan, was a surprise, mystery witness in the trial. It did not seem to go very well.
The first part of this trial also does not seem to be going very well. At least, from what we have seen at this point.
The X-Files S4 E16
Spoilers
“Unrequited”
“Unrequited” was an episode of the X-Files dealing with the idea that there were POWs left behind in Vietnam by the US military and that one of the soldiers left behind was back to take vengeance on those who left him behind.
Oh, and that soldier is able to turn invisible.
The show uses the same shot at the beginning of the episode and then repeats it in the third act which feels fairly lazy. The story itself was lacking a bit. The middle part of the episode does not feel as tense as the ending.
How many times can you see someone and then not see them? It turned the episode fairly repetitive and the conclusion felt somewhat anticlimatic.
Overall, I liked the concept, but the story and the characters did not feel as flesh out as it could have been and was just another excuse to have Mulder and Scully wonder about the corruption of the government.
EYG Comic Cavalcade #96
May 5, 2024
Free Comic Book Day special edition
To all the Star Wars fans out there, happy Revenge of the 5th, the day following May the 4th Be With You. Otherwise, this is a super special edition of the EYG Comic Cavalcade featuring the events and books of Free Comic book Day!
May 4th was more than just Star Wars Day this year. This year it also was Free Comic Book Day, a day where the companies release a bunch of promo comics, and comic shops around the country give them out for free.
I hope everyone understands that these are not free for the comic shop, who has to purchase these books (yes, at a reduced rate) and pay for shipping. This is why it is so vital that when you partake of a free book, you find something else to purchase at the shop as a thank you for all you do type of thing.
I had a wonderful day with Free Comic Book Day this year. I started the day with a movie that was really bad (Tarot…quite the stinker) and lunch at Burger King before heading over to Comic World.
I walked in the store right after the shop opened at noon and there were plenty of people already there. In the hour and a half (or so) that I hung out there, it was really quite busy, which is awesome.
There were some fabulous moments as I sat and watched people in the store. Some of the highlights included one young boy, probably around 10-11, who came in asking about the free comics and store owner Ben directed him to the table of books. The boy had eyes bulging and he said “thank you” in such a grateful way that you could tell that he meant it. It was such a cool moment, a small little moment that helped make the day great. With hope, a day like this could help create a future comic book fan.
That is, of course, one of the main purposes behind the entire Free Comic Book Day concept. Comic books are a niche hobby and it is important that the comic companies find a way to find new readers than just the same people that buy their books every Wednesday.
Another fun moment for me was when my teacher friend Ambarlee showed up with her three kids to buy their first comic books. She had the boys pick out a comic from the wall each before going over to the free table. I know she also picked up a trade paperback of Rainbow Rowell’s She-Hulk run (she enjoyed the She-Hulk Disney + show). They then grabbed a few of the free comics including One Piece, the Spidey and Amazing Friends, and the Spider-Man/Ultimates book. I had to take a pic of her holding her little girl who looked to be intently reading the comic in her hand.
Then, of course, I did my own purchasing. I picked up a rousing 21 free comics. Most of them had already been pulled in my box for me, which I appreciate so much. These included such books as Romeo vs. Juliet, The Cursed Library Prelude #0, Energon Universe #1, Flash Gordon #0, Dying Inside, One Piece Ace’s Story, Marvel Voices #1, Boom! Box 10th Anniversary Extravaganza, Hellboy, Monster High, Cursedverse #1, Stories from the Atlas Comics Library #1, Absolute Power #1, Conan: Battle of the Black Stone,Dr. Who #00, The Valiants, Gannibal, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
A couple of others:
FCBD: The Worlds of James Tynion IV: This included reprinted material, but two of them were Mementic and The Woods. I did not know either of these books and I may be interested in looking into them. The book indicated The Woods: Deluxe Edition is coming soon. Tynion is one of my favorite writers currently working with Something is Killing the Children (which is one of the key series that got me picking up independent books), The Department of Truth, and W0rldtr33.
FCBD: Blood Hunt #1: The prelude to this upcoming vampire story in Marvel includes Spider-Man fighting Doctor Dark and Dracula showing up. This also featured a back-up X-Men story by Gail Simone, featuring Jubilee. Simone will be the head writer on the upcoming new Uncanny X-Men series. Simone has been a huge proponent of Free Comic Book Day and supporting your local comic book shop.
FCBD: Spider-Man/Ultimate Universe #1. This had a weird Spider-Man story that I thought was an Ultimate Spider-Man story at first, but Peter did not have his beard, so I think this was supposed to be the regular Spider-Man. The back up story featured the Ultimates, trying to retrieve the original Human Torch. There was also a couple pages of Venom here.
Along with the FCBD books, I purchased a bunch of books from my shop.
Saga Volume 1-9. Brian K. Vaughn’s epic independent book is collected in nine volumes. I read volume one and I have to say that I was hooked. This first volume collected the first six chapters and we are introduced to some great characters and some major surprising twists. The nine volumes are contained in a beautiful container with art by Fiona Staples. I am excited to read the rest of this series moving forward.
X-Men: 198 #1-5. I picked up this mini series because I had never heard of it before and the five issues were packed together at a very reasonable price. This was a story taking place when there were only 198 mutants left on the planet (after Wanda’s No More Mutants, I believe). The government is moving the remaining mutants to Xavier’s School, and trying not to use the words internment camp. This has some really dark moments and seeing Cyclops and some of the other X-Men backing the government was tough. Kitty Pryde’s response was very understandable as the connection to the Holocaust is not missed on anyone. This was a fascinating read with a group of characters that I have not seen much of over the years.
Marvel Team-Up #9, 10,15. These have been at Comic World for awhile, and I have eyeballed them at different times, but this was a good point to buy them. I love Spidey and Marvel Team-Up was always one of my favorite books growing up. This has Ghost Rider, Human Torch and Iron Man in these issues. #15 in particular is in beautiful condition. I have not rebagged my Marvel Team-Up books yet, but I know I did not have any of these.
The Tomb of Dracula #36-38, 57. I bought several Tomb of Dracula books a few months ago and these were still at the shop. I figured this would be the perfect moment to pick them up. I do like the character of Dracula, and with the Blood Hunt coming up, this feels very relevant.
I finished up with an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen on the trip back to Maquoketa. As I was driving, I remember thinking what a great day this was. I had a blast with Free Comic Book Day and I hope everyone else had an excellent experience too.
The Jinx Part Two S2 E1, E2
SPOILERS
“Why are You Still Here?”
“Friendships Die Hard”
I never expected that there would be more for The Jinx. I loved that docuseries when it originally aired on HBO, but it felt like it was one and done. When I discovered that there was a part two that had already started, I was excited to see this story continue. I rewatched the first season of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst in preparation. With that done (and still as shockingly engaging as it was the first time), I was able to watch the first two episodes of the second season.
While there has not been anything quite as shocking as “killed them all, of course” to this point, the story of Bob Durst continues to be riveting, to the point of being spellbinding.
One of the early highlights of episode one of season two was the scene where Kathie’s family, the prosecutors and investigators and others viewed the streaming of the final episode of The Jinx at Andrew Jarecki’s home. Their reactions to some of the other scenes were fascinating, but the moment where Bob gives his accidental bathroom confession was surreal. The gasps and the stunned silence gave way to a buzz through the room of excitement and anticipatory expectations. There was a palatable relief for so many of these people.
The first episode included the fallout from the airing of The Jinx, including Bob’s decision to go on the run after the fifth episode. Bob is both one step ahead of everyone and foolishly naive at the same time. Bob’s biggest problem seems to be his desire to talk to anyone about anything. Doing the interview with Jarecki in the first season felt like a self-destructive decision, but that did not stop Bob. Why does he make that choice? We hear Bob admit in season two that doing the Jarecki interview was a huge mistake.
The second episode focused on Bob’s friends and confidants that Bob may have confessed to or those people who may have helped him at some point during this adventure. In particular, was Nick “Chinga” Chavin, who was about as close to Bob as you could get. The thing was that he was also very close with Susan Berman, and that loyalty was a theme of this episode. Chavin’s belief in becoming famous as a singer in a “country porn” band with songs such as “Cum Stains on My Pillow (Where Your Sweet Head Used to Be)” continues to be an unbelievable feature of this overall story.
Another shocking person here is Susie Giordano, who we see Bob state that he wished he had married. She and Bob are apparently in love, to the chagrin of Bob’s wife, Debbie. You can’t make this stuff up. No one would believe it.
I love these first tow episodes, even if it does not really provide us any further specifics of the case that we need to know. It is all setting up what is to come with the Bob Durst trial, I can only assume.
I have caught up to where the season is currently for releases. Each new episodes (the four remaining) will be arriving on Max on Sundays and I will be anxious to see the next installment.
Tarot
So I did not think there would be a movie subjectively worse than Madame Web this year. Then I saw Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2. After that, I saw Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver. Now today, I have seen another movie that could be considered the worst movie of 2024 (and we are only in May), Tarot.
This horror movie was so generic and featured a group of characters who I did not care about at all, who I did not know anything about or who had no distinguishing characteristics at all. One of them was Jacob Batalon, who played Ned Leeds in the MCU Spider-Man films, but that was the only connection I had to anybody. They tried to use the tarot readings to give information about each character, but that was a failed attempt because none of the readings were interesting or controversial enough to create any sort of intrigue about knowing more about these people.
The group find a deck of tarot cards, hand painted by the way, and decide to do some readings, tying it to astronomy. Then, the readings started coming true in much more tragic ways than what it sounded like when they were done.
Then they had to try and figure out how to survive their apparent fate. The story was so dumb and the dialogue was so generic that there was little to no energy in the film. It was horror movie basic and it did not take anything to another level.
There were a bunch of jump scares, with loud music emphasizing when you are supposed to be scared. Truly dumb and a waste of time.
The race for the number one spot on the list of worst movies of the year during the Year in Review this December is now four deep. I sure hope there are not too many more. How could I decide?
1 star
EYG Comic Cavalcade #95
May 3, 2024
This past Wednesday, I took a personal day from school and I went to Comic World to hang out that afternoon on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY! It was glorious. I got to talk to my friend Todd, read the new books this week, and just enjoy the ambiance of the store.
Tomorrow, then, is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Across the country, there are comic shops celebrating this special day with comics put out by the comic companies to hopefully hook some new readers and promote their new comics. I am looking forward to going to Comic World tomorrow and joining in on the celebration.
However, you should not just go to your comic shop and take the freebies that they have because it is not free for the shops. This is a post that EYG Hall of Famer Gail Simone talking about Free Comic Book Day:
“ABOUT FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
Hello again, everyone.
I say a version of this every year, many of you have seen many variations. I apologize for repeating myself a bit, but it’s kind of important.
Really, it’s vital that you know, comic stores love having you come to Free Comic Book Day. Many of them make it a kind of all-day party and we all love having new people and long-time readers come by a great store and leave with some fantastic comics. It’s a great experience for almost everyone. Kids love it, adults, it’s just a great time for all.
Lots of stores have sales, guest appearances, cosplayers, sometimes even cake or other treats. I love it, one of my favorite days of the year.
This year, in just a couple days, I will be at THE GOLDEN AGE 1942 store in historic Maryville, Tennessee. Come say hello!
Now, there’s a couple things I say every year, just for the record.
First, most people think that the comics that the stores give away for free are free to the stores.
They are not. Each comic is paid for by the stores. At a greatly reduced price from normal comics, yes, but they are sold to the store by the bundle, and with many many dozens of FCBD comics, it adds up hugely fast. Multiply that by gosh knows how many people in line, it’s a significant number, all given away for FREE, no cash coming back to the retailer at all.
But that’s not all. They also have to pay shipping, which anyone who runs a business knows, is astronomical.
So, every book they give away is paid for by the store, twice, really.
On top of that, it is almost always necessary to hire extra help for the day. They might have to purchase more stock, after one of the slower parts of the year, sales-wised.
If they have decorations or publicity or cosplayers or creator guests, they are paying for each of those expenses. There’s a lot of expenses I am missing, I’m not a retailer. But they are there.
Free Comic Book Day is darn expensive for comics retailers. Most are delighted to have it, it’s a great day to get people to come and celebrate comics and learn about the stores. None of them would want you to feel guilty about coming and picking up the books, that’s what’s SUPPOSED to happen.
However, I would ask everyone going to Free Comic Book Day this weekend to do me a personal favor and SHOP a bit there, too. Even if it’s busy, hang around, have fun, and do a bit of shopping.
If each person purchases something ON FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, it helps justify all the expense, and ensures that the store will be able to continue ordering great stuff, and having the annual event again next year and beyond.
If there’s a TPB you have been thinking about, or a statue, or an action figure, I urge you to consider buying it ON FCBD, if at all possible. If your budget is tight, even buying a comic or some comics off the rack or back issue bins helps a LOT, I promise you, and you are doing something awesome for the community.
Comic shop owners and workers work long hours, often for thin profit margins. But they’re the ones who will look for that book you want, that will special order things, that will recommend you a book not to make a sale, but because they know you will love it. They are the force keeping the hobby fun, social and convenient.
So please, if you have ever really loved shopping at a great comics shop, look around and purchase something on this fun day of celebration in particular, okay?
You’ll be my hero. 
Thank you,
Gail
PS. No comic shop has ever asked me to talk about this, they just want you to come and have fun. They don’t want you to feel any kind of bad on FCBD. This is all from me, about the economic reality of the expense of putting on the event, because I am more shameless.
PPS. Thank you all!
PPPS. Have a great Free Comic Book Day, all right?
PPPPS. Get Marvel’s FCBD book this weekend, my first ever X-Men story is in it!
PPPPPS. THANK YOU RETAILERS, YOU LOVELY MERCHANTS OF JOY“
I plan on buying several comics this weekend along with the large number of free comics that I have pulled for me.
Speaking of back issues, I have four Amazing Spider-Man issues, #433, #435-437 as I continue to work on my ASM collection.
After all of that, here are the books this week:
Incredible Hulk #12. “Doctor Voodoo and the Soul Cage Part One” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art and cover by Nic Klein. The Incredible Hulk has been an okay read recently, but I loved this issue as Hulk goes to Strange Academy trying to save Charlie from the soul cage. Banner and the Hulk head into the soul cage to try and save her, while another Hulk, one that looks fairly Immortal, shows up with Voodoo. This was the best issue of Hulk since the Al Ewing run.
7174 A.S. #1. Creative team:  TP LOUISE and  ASHLEY WOOD. This is one of the books that I found interesting. Unfortunately, I did not like the issue. I did not feel connected to this at all.
Space Ghost #1. Written by David Pepose and drawn by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was by Michael Cho (Silver Medalist). While I did not like 7174 AD, the new Space Ghost series from Dynamite was awesome. Space Ghost was shown to be a bad ass and the issue was just great. It was a little hard seeing Brak as a monstrous villain, btu I am down for it.
Blood Hunt #1. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pepe Larraz. Cover art Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. I also picked up a variant cover issue with a cover by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau (Bronze Medalist). The new vampire story arc in Marvel kicked off with Blade turning heel and attacking the Marvel Universe. There are some shocking moments with major characters dying, but I have problems with that. They aren’t dead. They will return from death soon and it is sad that I feel no angst over the loss of any of these characters. Otherwise, Blood Hunt is off to a cool start.
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #5. “8-Ball” Written by Jed MacKay and illustrated by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art by David Paratore. Shroud was revealed as the new Moon Knight but Tigra and Hunter’s Moon was not having any of it. But Blood Hunt started with a major event with the Darkforce users, including Shroud.
Ultimate X-Men #2. Writer and artist Peach Momoko. Hisako has met another mutant, who seems to be able to control the weather… hm. I have enjoyed these first two issues of the new X-Men book. I like how it is so different than the regular Marvel Universe X-Men.
Ghostlore #10. “Churning the Grave” Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. The middle section was illustrated by Sally Cantirino. The cover art was by Reiko Murakami and Sally Cantirino. Harmony and her father Lucas have reunited, but she is not happy with what her father is planning to battle Shane.
The Blood Brothers Mother #1. Written by Brian Azzarello and drawn and cover by Eduardo Risso (Gold Medalist). Awesome new Western series from DSTLRY. This is a beautiful and brutal new series as we see the beginning of the brothers and how they came to be.
Invincible Iron Man #18. “If I Only Had a Heart” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Creees Lee. Cover art was by Kael Ngu. Iron Man and Magneto vs. Stark Sentinels and Nimrod. What more could you ask for? How about War Machine?
Get Fury #1. “1. Sweet Bird of Truth” Written by Garth Ennis and penciled by Jacen Burrows. Dave Johnson did the cover art. Nick Fury is trapped in North Vietnam and the US government is worried about what he knows. So they send Frank Castle after him. Honestly, that sounded cool, but I just could not get into this. I was not a fan of this issue.
X-Men #34. “Love-Hate” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Joshua Cassara. Terry & Rachel Dodson did the cover art. The X-Men are coming after Charles Xavier. Logan and Shadowcat are together again. What will happen?
Spider-Woman #7. “New Kids on the Block” Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ig Guara. Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho did the cover art. Spider-Woman is discovering that there are still plenty of problems in San Francisco. However, she meets up with a new team of heroes, The Assembly, which has some similarities.
Immortal Thor #10. “Getting the Axe” Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Carlos Magno. Alex Ross did the cover art. I am not sure how I feel about this. Thor battled a fake Thor, the Thor of Roxxon. And it is a frame job. Not sure how I feel about this storyline. I do love Al Ewing so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Zorro: Man of the Dead #4. Written and drawn by Sean Gordon Murphy. This is the final issue of this mini-series. I really enjoyed this book from Massive comics and I am sorry to see it end. I hope this is one that will earn another volume of issues moving forward.
Other books this week: Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #3, Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII #1, Power Pack: Into the Storm #5, and Minor Threats #2.
Happy Free Comic Book Day to everyone!
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 