Author Archives: Doc

The Odyssey

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The epic novel from Homer, The Odyssey, was released this weekend from director Christopher Nolan, fresh off his Oscar winning Oppenheimer.

I read The Odyssey in high school and so I am familiar with the story of the movie. I have been excited about seeing this since it was announced.

The very general story of The Odyssey was Odysseus (Matt Damon), after winning the war with Troy, tried to return to his home of Ithaca and back to his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and his son Telemachus (Tom Holland). The voyage back to Ithaca faced many serious issues and dangers from the Gods and monsters.

However, the story premise is deeper than just Odysseus trying to get home. It is a deconstruction of the heroic character archetype, diving deep into the choices of our main hero, and as well as the struggles of Penelope and Telemachus and the toxic suitors for Penelope’s hand in marriage.

The movie is an epic film, with amazing look and tremendous performances.

Matt Damon does a remarkable job as Odysseus. He dominated every minute he was on screen and his performance was layered with so much complex subtext. How much of a hero was Odysseus truthfully? I thought Tom Holland gave a top level performance too, with his dedication to trying to find his “dad.” Anne Hathaway was outstanding, especially in the last hour or so of the movie.

The rest of the cast was amazing too including John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, and Benny Safdie.

While there is some CGI involved in the movie (Hey there Polyphemus), it is very limited and most of the film is practical. Because of that, it is such a beautifully shot film, with amazing shots at sea and the cinematography is so on-point that I was really impressed. You do not see films of this scale without a bunch of CGI these days, but Christopher Nolan is a director that limits the amount of CGI used on his picture.

The score was perfect too, building such a tone for every scene. Ludwig Göransson did the score for this movie and, quite possibly, could win his fourth Academy Award for this score, after winning for Sinners, Oppenheimer, and Black Panther.

The film is a touch long, though one is to expect that. The first half hour or so dragged just a touch, but it was a vital stretch to set up everything needed in the film.

While I am not as high on Christopher Nolan as a lot of people are, I will not deny that this is one of his best movies ever, if not his best.

4.8 stars

Daily Read- Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #4

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Spoilers

Written, illustrated and cover art by Liam Sharp.

Book Four is quite the journey.

It starts off with Amber facing off with a death robot from the future and, suddenly, Daryl turned into something else as well.

One of the most creative ways this comic has been different than most is the manner in which it presents its material. In this case, the confrontation with Daryl and this death robot is shown in standard comic format, and in the narrative, Amber, who has been out narrator from the beginning, states that she had drawn this confrontation – in order to process her thoughts.

This section of the book was such a departure from the art style, reminding me of the style from issue two. However, this felt more weighty that that did. Part of that is the full page panels that this book was pulling out during this section of the narrative. It felt more important.

Then, it went back to cover more details of Merlin’s life, saying that this needed to be covered or you (meaning the reader) would be confused (she actually said that this would not make any f-ing sense).

The Merlin section in the 5th Century dealt with the Uther Pendragon legend and how Amber stated it actually went down, specifically what led to the birth of Arthur. This section was back to the painting style of the book and included a dense amount of narration. However, this narration is done in such a style that it was easy to follow and entertaining to read.

And it ended up back with Amber, laying naked, and meeting back up with Daryl and she ended the book with the statement that it was not 2022 anymore and asking the question, “Oh God, Daryl, what did I do?”

Can’t wait to find out.

Daily Countdown: Animation Movies #83

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#83

Monster House

Released: 2006

Runtime: 91 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: live-action motion capture (performance capture) combined with 3D computer animation and included “path tracing” (a 3D software process used to make realistic shadows and lighting)

Studio: Sony Pictures Imageworks

The Halloween based movie was a lot of fun and filled with some excellent design.

Voice cast: Mitchell Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Kathleen Turner, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jon Heder, Jason Lee, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, and Ryan Whitney.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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July 15

This is the biggest week pf the year. I have a ton of books that made the first cut for cover of the week. It was a huge challenge to narrow it down to just three, but I have dedicated myself to not having any more ties for the calendar year of 2026.

All three of the medalists have white backgrounds, which is a weakness of mine.

This is huge Also-Ran category this week. A couple of them just barely fell short of the medal round.

Also-Ran: D’Orc #6, Fall of the House of Slaughter #3, Something Epic #13 (Cover B, C), Fantastic Four #14, What If…? Jessica Jones #1, X-Men #33, Mister Nemo #1, Mark Spears Monsters #11 (Cover A, B, D), Of the Earth #3, Space Ghost Annual #1, Minotaur #1, Absolute Green Arrow #3, Arcadia #6, Horror Comics #1, Kingdom of Earth #1, and Assorted Crisis Events #9 (Cover C).

Bronze Medalist

Mark Spears Monsters #11

Variant Cover C

Cover art by Mark Spears

Last year’s Cover Artist of the Year is back with another awesome shark cover. There was a foil cover of a shark for cover B, but this one stood out more for me. The blue color working against the white background really helped this shark to pop off the cover and the water skier in her yellow bikini… well, she is in for trouble. This is a great cover and having it in the Bronze medal tells you what this week was like.

Silver Medalist

Avengers Armageddon #2

Cover art by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio

This one started off down the list of the books this week, but with each swipe past it, it picked up momentum until it finally placed itself as the silver medalist. The face off with Iron Man and Red Hulk inside the cloak of David Colton really is striking. Then, the white background with the slight strip of red beside the title is very attractive. When I first separated out the first round of books, this one was not my choice, but it just got better each time I looked at it.

Gold Medalist

Captain America #13

Variant Cover- Marvel Dimensions

Cover art by Alex Ross

The Marvel Dimensions covers have been awesome, but this black and white cover from Cap #13 is heads and shoulders above some of the others that I have seen. It is a stunning piece of art that I saw on the stands and, despite already having a butt load of books that I was buying today, I had to have it.

Daily Read- Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #3

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Spoilers

Written, illustrated and cover art by Liam Sharp.

So issue three is centered on the building of Stonehenge and Merlin’s part in doing it. It was a fascinating issue that I really enjoyed. This gave us more with Merlin than we had gotten before, which was nice, because I had not felt as engaged with that part of this story as much as I had with Amber.

And it sure seemed as if these two timelines are going to cross now, thanks to Stonehenge.

The art continues to be sensational, beautifully rendered and stunning.

We are half way through the series and it feels as if it is just about to really get started.

Issue four tomorrow.

X-Men ’97 S2 E5

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“Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs”

What do you get when you blend the movie Alien/Aliens with The Thing…. X-Men ’97?

Episode 5, “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs” jumps into horror as we get a Wolverine-centric episode with the space alien The Brood.

The Brood was always one of my favorite story arc from the comics even if they seem to be an Aliens rip off. Having them show up was a cool nod to the characters.

I really liked the way they set this up. Wolverine brought Morph, Sabretooth, Maverick, Garrison Kane, and Lady Deathstrike along as his “team”- the team he referenced last episode with Captain America. However, Wolverine brought this team along under false pretenses. Wolverine said that Weapon X was back doing their experiments again, knowing that that piece of info would inspire these characters, but Wolverine’s main motivation was to get his adamantium back after Magneto ripped it from his body last season.

So I did love how they did not just play Logan as a straight up good guy. His lies led to the death of two of these characters (Kane and Maverick… though both could be brought back easily) and how it deals with the way that Logan sees himself in the grand scheme, which is as an animal that is only brought together inside by the adamantium.

The lies with Morph will affect this relationship down the road, at the very least, tainting the friendship. Morph was referred to by Lady Deathstrike as Tomo, which is a Japanese word meaning “friend” or “companion.” She used it as a sleight to Morph to say he is just a mindless follower, a sidekick, to Wolverine and that he can not see the reality of the situation. With the ending, Morph seems to realize that she was right.

Speaking of Morph, he throws me off all the time. In the battle with the Brood, there suddenly in Puck, member of Alpha Flight, involved with the fight and I literally said his name out loud. I thought for a second that Puck was involved in this story too. Of course, a second later, there was Ben Grimm, the Thing and I realized it was Morph. It was the same thing last week with Thor. Morph’s shape shifting never seems to catch me off guard. This week we saw his shift into Sasquatch, Spider-Man, Cyclops and Jean.

It was a bloody episode- although they made the blood green for the Brood’s blood. It was very violent and had several surprises (Omega Red, anyone?). I liked this self-contained episode very much and this is really one of the only Wolverine focused episode of the entire X-Men ’97 series.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #84

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#84

K-Pop Demon Hunters

Released: June 20, 2025

Run time: 95 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: stylized 2D/3D hybrid animation that blends anime aesthetics, Spider-Verse-style dynamic framerates, and real-life K-pop choreography.

I would not have guessed that this was a film that I would care about, let alone have on my Top 100 animated films of all time, but K-Pop Demon Hunters was surprisingly enjoyable and turned into a worldwide phenomenon on Netflix.

Voice cast: Arden Cho, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Ahn Hyo-seop, Yunjin Kim, Ken Jeong, Daniel Dae Kim, Lee Byung-hun, and SungWon Cho.

The Muppet Show S1 E19

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Spoilers

Guest: Vincent Price

This was a bizarre episode of the Muppet Show. It featured the guest star Vincent Price and a whole bunch of the Muppet Monsters.

We also got the Muppet debut of Uncle Deadly, a blue creature who was used as Vincent Price’s sidekick. Uncle Deadly would have a long run with the Muppets, including the Phantom of the Muppet Show in a future season.

This episode also featured a bunch of Muppet Monsters eating other Muppets. It happened multiple times through the episode as it seemed like the main joke that the show had.

There were some cool ghost Muppets too that really looked great. I’m not sure how they did the effects on it, but it was well done.

There was a three-headed monster trying to audition for Kermit, which was the running backstage segment of the episode.

Interestingly enough, the show did not have Miss Piggy, though Fozzie Bear was front and center.

They final number had Vincent Price “singing” the song “You’ve Got A Friend.” There were several other monsters, including Uncle Deadly, singing with him. Vincent Price was not much of a singer, but he gave it his all.

Daily Read- Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #2

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Spoilers

Written, illustrated and cover art by Liam Sharp.

The story continued with its dual timelines. In one, Merlin convinces King Aurelius to begin construction on Stonehenge. In the other, Amber reunites with Daryl in Brighton. Little do they know that future Mor-Dreadnaughts are coming for them.

I have really liked the manner in which this story is being presented, even if I find it challenging to follow at times. I like a good challenge and this feels compelling and engaging.

Daryl deserted Amber at a point in the past, returning a year later at Halloween.

The art is fabulous once again. The painting style of Liam Sharp works so well with this book. There were a couple of pages that were drawn more like a cartoonish style, which was quite a divergent path in the book. Those three pages were drawn by Sharp’s daughter, Matylda McCormack-Sharp.

The story continues to feel epic as each issue builds a little more. Issue three tomorrow!

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #85

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#85

Yellow Submarine

Released: November 13, 1968

Run Time: 90 minutes

Rating: G

Animation Style: psychedelic 1960s Pop Art- included a mix of traditional 2D cell animation, live-action photography, 3D cutout sequences, and kaleidoscopic rotoscoping.

The psychedelic Beatles classic from the 1960s based on their iconic song.

Voice Cast: Paul Angelis, John Clive, Dick Emery, Geoffrey Hughes, Lance Percival, The Beatles

Daily Read- Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #1

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Spoilers

Written, illustrated and cover art by Liam Sharp

This is the second short series for the Daily Read. Back in March, I did a daily read of the Vertigo series by Gail Simone called Clean Room which went eighteen issues. I read one issue a day and did a write up for each. It has been four months and I have picked up a new (old) series that will work for this.

When I picked up Starhenge Book Two: A Kiss for Atticus #1, I figured that there would have been a previous series. I went to eBay and found the first series. It arrived earlier this week and, I thought this morning, that I could do a Daily Read with the new series.

So I read #1 tonight. I think this has a lot of potential. There is a future character name Merlin sent back to Arthurian times. There are several time frames involved in this story as it seems as if it was being narrated by a woman in the present time named Amber Weaving.

Everything that I have read in this first issue makes me think that this is a real epic story.

The art by Liam Sharp is beautiful. I loved the layout of several of the panels which form a larger pic that I thought was so cool.

I am engaged with the story even though something like this may be a challenge to get into it.

Tomorrow, I will read #2. Six total issues.

Rick and Morty Season Two

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I decided that I would start watching the Rick and Morty series as I did in the What We Do in the Shadows series. Since there are a limited number of episodes in each season and each were around 25 minutes, I decided that I would watch the whole season in one sitting.

Season two was the first season that I binged on HBO Max.

The first episode was “A Rickle in Time” where they picked up immediately when season one ended with Morty and Summer finished cleaning their house as time has been frozen. It winds up having multiple Ricks and Mortys and Summers since they were messing with time.

My favorite episode of the season was episode four, “Total Rickall” where an intergalactic parasite found its way into the Smith’s house and, by planting fake memories into the Smith’s heads, created people and creatures they believed were real. There was Mister Poopybutthole, Cousin Nicky, Sleepy Gary, Pencilvester, Tinkles the Fairy Lamb, Frankenstein’s Monster, Mr. Beauregard among others. It was such a funny episode.

Jerry and Beth’s marriage was a huge side story again. They even are taken to a planet for the most successful marriage counseling organization, which they destroy it with their toxicity. This was episode 7, entitled “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez.” The continue to be fighting and this marriage truly feels to be temporary.

Also in episode 7, we get “Little Rick!” Rick puts his mind into a younger clone of himself to help search out a vampire in Summer and Morty’s school (who was Coach Feratu). The vampire plot is mostly off-screen as it is the “Little Rick!” character that is focused. He shouted “Little Rick” very much like he would eventually yell out “Pickle Rick” in a later season.

“Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate” was a sequel to the interdimensional episode from season one. This one was funny, but it felt like it was not as strong as the first one.

There are several moments of breaking the fourth wall in this season as well. These all worked pretty well including the one where Rick called “Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate” a sequel, but he did not know why.

There were other parodies including an episode spoofing the movie The Purge.

There was a great cliffhanger at the end of season two with Rick turning himself in as an intergalactic terrorist in order to get Morty, Summer, Beth and Jerry freedom to return to the earth. The whole family had left earth to attend the wedding of Birdperson and Summer’s high school friend Tammy. Tammy turned out to be an agent of the Federation, killed Birdperson and arrested everyone. It was a cool twist and sets up the show for season three.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #86

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#86

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons

Released: October 18, 2022

Runtime: 80 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Animation Style: CGI-animation

The DC animated movies had been very successful over the years, though recently, they have not been as good the last few years. However, this one, featuring Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne, is one of the best.

Voice Cast: Jack Dylan Grazer, Jack Griffo, Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Darin De Paul, Tom Kenney, Nolan North, Zeno Robinson, Myrna Velasco, and Travis Willingham.

Agents of Shield S7 E10, E11, E12, E13

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“Stolen”

“Brand New Day”

“The End is at Hand”

“What We’re Fighting For”

The Agents of Shield completed their final mission together and I wrapped up the rewatch of the Marvel show this afternoon. Agents of Shield was my favorite TV show for quite a few years after LOST left the air and I was always mad that they were so disrespected among the MCU. Agents of Shield was a consistently entertaining and exciting hour of TV with some of the best characters you would find.

The whole timeline mess was handled very smoothly with the use of the Quantum Realm to travel between the timelines. Fitz’s return to the show in episode 12 was amazing and gave us that one thing that was missing in this season, which was otherwise near perfect.

The Daisy and Sousa relationship developed beautifully and made sense for both characters. Coulson’s LMD questions about himself led to his own path at the end. May becoming one with her own empathy, and then making that be the weapon that brings the conflict with the Chronicoms to a close, was a great arc for this character and she still gets to deliver the bad ass line, “The Calvary” in response to Sibyl’s question, “What comes next?” May crashing in through a glass ceiling was epic.

It was great that the finale was able to see all of the team working together to accomplish their plan.

I do love that the team ended up, supposedly, in the timeline of the 616 universe. They all could be brought back to the MCU if they wanted. Quake, Yo Yo, Coulson, May all could have roles in a new MCU.

It was also nice to see that the show did not just forget Piper and Flint. In fact, they placed them in an important moment in the finale.

The whole time travel element of this show was done extremely well, and Fitz explained it perfectly. The TVA’s absence was a thing (of course, the TVA does not get introduced until many years later), but one could imaging that time is at any point.

Bringing Kora to Daisy, as sisters, did not seem like it was going to work out, but, in the end, she was a nice addition to the team. Deke finally wound up with the respect that he deserved and, apparently, the new director of Shield in the timeline where he stayed to save the others.

I had forgotten about Fitz and Simmons little daughter and it was a fun surprise when we were introduced to the daughter, Alya.

The use of a young John Garrett was clever too, and the bullet to his head immediately after teleporting the team out of the Lighthouse was both funny and appropriate. James Paxton did an excellent job playing this unhinged version of John Garrett, who was originally played during season one & two by his father, Bill Paxton.

Watching Coulson fly away in Lola at the end of the final episode was both thrilling and perfectly designed as a conclusion.

This was such a fabulous series that does not get the appreciation that it deserved. The chemistry among the stars was one of the key components of the success and why this show worked. In seven seasons, the show went against Hydra, went to another planet, into the future, into the past, prevented an alien invasion, went into a fake world, met up with Asgardians, a Ghost Rider, and a bunch of Kree. Agents of Shield is one of my favorite shows of all time.