Author Archives: Doc

Comic Catch-Up #50

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March 19, 2023

FINAL ISSUE!

Good afternoon. Welcome to the final issue of Comic Catch-Up here at EYG.

I know… it’s an odd thing, but I have been waiting to do this for awhile now. I made the mention of not starting over at a #1 a couple of times during this run, but now the time is ready.

Truthfully, I started this ‘Comic Catch-Up’ to inspire myself to work on reading a bunch of these comics that I have in piles around my room. I would be buying comics every week at Comic World & Games, my comic shop I attend in Dubuque, Iowa, but I would put the bag down and not even take the books out of them. I would read an Amazing Spider-Man every once in a while or something big, but I was so far behind on the books that I was just ashamed.

Honestly, I still have piles around the room, but they are all smaller and there are many of them that have been read, just not organized into boxes yet. In fact, of the books I buy on a weekly basis, I am nearly caught up with everything. I can ALMOST read everything that comes out on Wednesday and not be confused. I am still working on catching up with Moon Knight and Black Panther, but the rest of the pull list is up to date.

Really, this column has not been about ‘catching-up’ now for a bit. I have been picking up other series such as Gideon Falls, Middlewest, That Texas Blood, Primordial, to name a few, that I found an interest in during this time. I’m not catching up with those. I am adding to the read list with those.

So I decided that it was time to bring the Comic Catch-Up to an end and, with #50, coming up, I thought that was a perfect time for a reboot.

I made the choice to replace the Comic Catch-Up with a newly titled post. At first, I was going to call this EYG Comic Corner. I had done the banner for it even. However, then I found out that Coy Jandreau, Internet personality, had a YouTube/TikTok video/show that he called Coy’s Comic Corner, and I did not want to copy it. I mean… there’s no reason I couldn’t, but I just wanted something more original for EYG.

I went about looking for a new name and what I have come up with is EYG Comic Cavalcade. I do like it and I fixed the new banner and so everything worked out as it should.

EYG Comic Cavalcade is not going to change format much. It will be pretty much the same as what I have been doing. I will be reading new books. There will be books from the last few years that I have not yet read out of my piles that will be discussed. New independent books that I discover will be on the read list. I will be doing 3-4 EYG Comic Cavalcade posts a week, depending on how busy I am.

I just never want to go back to having piles of bags filled with unread comics from that week again.

EYG Comic Cavalcade will debut some point next week. However, we have one more Comic Catch-Up column to finish before that happens…

The Approach #1. Written by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley with illustrations by Jesús Hervás and Lea Caballero. The cover was done by Jeremy Haun. This was an issue that I looked into because the premise sounded intriguing. It had a LOST flair to it, mixed with some mysterious Stephen King book. A plane that had been missing for years, suddenly reappears in the middle of a snowstorm at an airport. Surprises abound. This limited series sounds like it is right up my alley. I enjoyed the first issue.

Home #3-5. Written by Julio Anta with art by Anna Wieszczyk. Cover art was done by Lisa Sterle. This wrapped up the story of a young immigrant boy who had attempted to seek asylum in the US, but discovered he had super powers and wound up being chased by the government. Turns out a bunch of his family members had powers too. This was extremely political but comics have always been political. I did enjoy Home. It felt like it could have used another issue or two to space things out. It ended with a cliffhanger that made me think that they are not completely done with the book.

Moon Knight #17. “Home Game.” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. As I mentioned in the intro, I am still working on catching up with Moon Knight. I am just a few issues away and this was another banger. Moon Knight showed off what an advantage he has now with the Midnight Mission.

Ten Thousand Black Feathers #4-5. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. The first series under the Bone Orchard Mythos drew to a close with these two issues. While I did not love these like I did Gideon Falls, I did enjoy the story of Trish and Jackie. The ending was a tad weird, but that is okay. I am looking forward to where this shared horror universe goes next.

Black Cloak #3. Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Meredith McClaren. Phaedra continued her investigation into the death of her old flame, and royal family member, Frey. The book came to a close with Phaedra diving into the water to discuss things with the mermaids. Hmm.

X-Treme X-Men #3. “Things Get Worse.” Written by Chris Claremont with art by Salvador Larroca. I liked this issue much better than I did last issue. This battle with Ogun has been solid and I have enjoyed this group of mutants at the core of the team. And it looked like some of these X-Men may have to try and move on sans powers. I am interested.

Hulk #13. “Hulk Planet Part Five.” The creature Titan has taken over the body of the Hulk and he has brought the fight, practically wiping out the entirety of the Hulk Planet. Doctor Strange has been recruited to help, and he discovered that it was the villain, D’Spayre that was behind the magic to split Banner into separate beings. Why did he want to do this? He said that he was a servant, meaning that someone else was behind this. Everything is concluding, apparently, next issue. It is kind of sad that I finally start to become engaged with Hulk and it is ending.

Middlewest #2. Story by Skottie Young and art by Jorge Corona. Abel is out and about, traveling on a train before he come across a frightening creature that looked to eat him. He looked very much like Khonshu from the Moon Knight Disney + series. Abel met and followed an old man named Jeb. Turned out that Jeb was sent to retrieve the boy… by whom is the question. The art in this series is awesome, making me think of fantasy stories.

Captain America: Symbol of Truth #11. Written by Tochi Onyebuchi and drawn by R.B. Silva. Sam Wilson/Captain America comes face to face with the White Wolf in a final showdown over Mohannda. And Captain America kicks his bloody ass. Sam showed the brutal side of his personality and he had to be stopped by Nomad or else he would have killed White Wolf.

Avengers: War Across Time #3. Written by Paul Levitz with art by Alan Davis. This series continues to feel like an old throwback, with a story and art that seems to have come right out of the 1960s. There is the King of Dwarves, Lava Men and, of course, Kang. This was actually my least favorite issue of this series so far. I hope this one gets a touch better next time.

I Walk With Monsters #2. Written by Paul Cornell and drawn by Sally Cantirino. This book keeps flashing back from current day to the past with Jacey, looking at the horrific childhood she had with her father. She has also been talking with the strangest looking dog around. This has been very odd and I still think there is cannibalisms going on here. We’ll have to wait and see.

And with that, Comic Catch-Up comes to a close.

Comic Catch-Up #49

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March 19, 2023

As I have continued my catch-up column, I have plunged into the world of independent comics. I very rarely read independent books, sticking mostly to Marvel. However, there have been some outstanding books that I have been very happy to have read that I missed because of my market isolation. Starting off with Something is Killing the Children to Black Cloak.

However, along the way, I came across a book that has now become one of my absolute favorite comic book series of all-time!

Gideon Falls.

As I was getting into the Black Orchard Mythos series of books from Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, I started looking back at some of the previous work from these two. I have been getting more into horror comics over the last few years and I discovered Gideon Falls. I was able to purchase the entire series on eBay and I started reading it, two-issues at a time.

I was completely hooked.

This series was just sensational. The story flowed easily, making each issue a breeze to read. The art was horrifically beautiful, with the tone built right into it. The images throughout Gideon Falls’ run was so memorable, so spectacular, that there were plenty of times when I would be taken aback by what I saw. The art was not like what most comics are. It was a psychadelic horror movie come to the page.

I decided this morning that I would go ahead and do today’s Comic Catch-Up as an excuse to sit down and finish off the entire series. I had read up through issue #10 as of yesterday and I took #11-27 and spent a couple of hours engulfing myself in the wild world of Gideon Falls.

I loved the characters in the series. Father Fred, Daniel, Norton Sinclair, Doc Sutton, The Bishop, The Laughing Man, Joe Reddy, Sheriff Clara and Dr. Angela Xu.

I was completely captivated by the Black Barn. It gave me feelings of the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks. Jeff Lemire confirmed that the idea of the Black Barn was inspired by the dimension from Twin Peaks, but it was most definitely its own thing.

The story was both complex and simple at the same time. It was easy to follow while challenging the ideas and the concept the entire time. What did not feel like separate stories, suddenly became clear that they were. That was the first wild twist of the series, and then it went about taking these group of separate characters in storylines and smashing them together in the most unexpected ways. It was a wonderfully plotted series that never felt predictable but never lost me in the complexities.

Issue #27 was an 80-page epic that brought the series to a remarkably satisfying conclusion while still dangling that carrot indicating that everything may not be over.

Gideon Falls is one of my all-time favorite comic series as of today. I found it completely riveting and expertly told. I am going to miss having another couple of issues of Gideon Falls to read moving forward.

Boston Strangler (2023)

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I have always been intrigued and fascinated by serial killers so when I saw that Hulu was having a film based on the Boston Strangler, I was looking forward to seeing it. I was not that familiar with this case heading in and, now that I have, I was unaware that this case may not have been the slam dunk that it seemed.

This film reminded me of David Fincher’s Zodiac. I will state right now that Zodiac was one of my favorite movies and Boston Strangler is not close to that masterpiece. However, there are distinct similarities between the two films.

This film follows the journalistic investigation from the newspaper the Boston Record American into the serial killer. Reporter Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) was the first reporter to link the different Strangler victims together to indicate that they were connected. Jean Cole (Carrie Coon), a more experienced reporter, was assigned to work the story with Loretta by their editor Jack Maclaine (Chris Cooper).

Loretta and Jean faced not only the challenges of investigating these murders, but also the reigning feeling of misogamy among the police and in general during the early 1960s when this case was going on. Seeing how these reporters faced the sexist thoughts and words of the police was a fascinating layer added to this movie.

Albert DeSalvo (David Dastmalchian) became one of the leading suspects in the Strangler case and then wound up confessing to all 13 murders Some of the tricks pulled in this case by DeSalvo’s attorney F. Lee Bailey were really slimy. Bailey was not cast in this movie, as they simply spoke about the things that Bailey had DeSalvo do.

Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon worked extremely well together and they had a chemistry with one another. Knightley gave a Pitbull-like performance as Loretta and we got a chance to see (much like Jake Gyllenhaal’s character from Zodiac) how this case/investigation took a toll on the marriage.

The tone of this film was decent, but it was not as tense as some other films of this irk. The music was lacking on the soundtrack and that took away from the overall feel of the crime movie.

While this may not reach the epic levels of Zodiac, Boston Strangler is a fascinating watch and provided me with parts of this story that I was unaware of. I did not know that some believe that Albert DeSalvo did not murder all 13 of the women and that there were multiple people who committed these crimes. It may not be the greatest film of this subgenre I have ever seen, but I was engaged fully and anxious to see how the film would end up.

3.8 stars

Shazam: Fury of the Gods

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I really enjoyed the first Shazam movie so I had some excitement for the follow-up, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, starring Zachary Levi as the Big Red Cheese. It’s too bad he can’t just keep the name Captain Marvel as he originally had because calling the character Shazam, which is the magic word that transforms him, means he can never introduce himself to anybody. Anyway…

Zachary Levi returned as Shazam, who is trying to keep his Shazam Family as a group, preventing them from flying off (literally) and doing their own things. Shazam said that they needed to be all together and never alone.

That did not sit well with the others who had plans of their own. When three sisters, the Daughters of Atlas, arrived looking to reclaim the power that Shazam had gotten (and shared), the family was put into a dangerous situation and have to try and survive, even without their powers.

This was fine.

That is about the nest review I can give. There were several parts that bothered me about the film, but overall, I had a decent theater experience with it. The film was paced nicely, and never felt like it was a 2 hour and 10 minute film. It moved at a brisk pace and kept me interested in the overall story. That story was simplistic, but it worked more than it did not.

The special effects of the film were pretty solid. The look of the dragon that was summoned was cool and the fight with Shazam was well done.

I especially liked Jack Dylan Grazer (most of the time) as Freddy Freeman. I thought he had the best arc of any of the Shazam family and got to show off his range. He did act too hectic at times, but that felt like something that was common for the film. Zachary Levi did the same for most of the film. It felt like Shazam was too immature for too much of the movie. As Billy Batson (Asher Angel) he was almost 18, but he felt nowhere near that.

And I always love Helen Mirren, who played head villain, Hespera. Her very presence gives the film a bit of gravitas that it might not have had with another actor in the role. However, the villains of the film (which also included Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler) felt very inconsistent character wise. Rachel Zegler, who was amazingly beautiful, was intended to be connected with Freddy, but I never believed or understood why she was so taken with him that she would do the things that she does. Hespera made some switches in her character in, what felt like, a real sudden manner.

One of the biggest issues I had was the Shazam Family. Outside of Freddy, the rest of this group of characters were underdeveloped and lacked anything more than a character trait here or there to define their characters. None of them were interesting or felt like anything but background characters in colorful suits. Even Mary (Grace Caroline Currey), who is a major player in the DC Comics, was regulated to a scene or two that did not display anything more than surface level characteristics.

Djimon Hounsou returned as the not-so-dead Wizard who had given Shazam his powers in the first film. This was another character that did not feel well written and bounced all over the place between seriousness and comedy.

Sadly, I would say that a lot of the comedy did not work for me. There were some good laughs, but most of it just felt flat. Too much of the comedy was based on the hectic dialogue from Zachary Levi that I just was not a fan of.

Then, there was a special cameo that was SPOILED for me by a TV ad that really wasted a good moment. I won’t spoil it here, but I was actively mad when I saw that TV spot wondering why they wouldn’t have left it a surprise.

Shazam: Fury of the Gods had some definite high moments while there was plenty of mess too. Again, I think the theater experience was good enough to recommend Shazam: Fury of the Gods. The positives outweighed the negatives, but I wish it would have been more focused and written a little less chaotic.

3.4 stars

The Magician’s Elephant

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A new, computer-generated animated film dropped this weekend on Netflix. It was entitled The Magician’s Elephant, which was based on a 2009 novel of the same name. This animated film was directed by Wendy Rogers.

In an attempt to show the town of Baltese that magic was real, the Magician (Benedict Wong) accidentally summoned an elephant that fell on wealthy Madam LaVaughn (Miranda Richardson). Meanwhile, young orphan Peter (Noah Jupe), who was being raised by  an old soldier Vilna Lutz (Mandy Patinkin), was discovering that he had a fate to follow an elephant to find his long-lost sister that he believed to have died.

The magical appearance of the elephant was too much of a coincidence for Peter and he went to see what he could find out. However, the King (Asaif Mandvi) and the Countess (Kirby) were deciding the fate of the elephant, as they leaned toward putting the animal down.

Peter is able to stop the killing of the elephant, showing that the elephant was not mean, but was instead in pain from his eye. When he begged the King to let him have the elephant, the King decided that he would allow Peter to have the elephant if he could do three impossible tasks.

The Magician’s Elephant is a fine film, very enjoyable for families to sit down and watch. It just has nothing that really stands out as special. Everything about it is decent, but nothing that makes it better than any other animated movie that we have seen over the last several years. The animation was good, though there was nothing here that really jumps out as being beautiful. It is solid. The voice cast is a strength as there are some wonderful actors involved here. The film had a decent pace so you do not feel as if it overstayed its welcome. The story was fine, if not a bit predictable. I did like how the conflict of the story was not provided by an evil character, just a group of people who, in their minds, were trying to do what was best.

I feel as if this is a film that I will not necessarily remember much about by the end of the year. It was a good film, but it would not stand out in a field of several animated movies. It had some moments and would be a decent time for family viewings.

3.2 stars

Comic Catch-Up #48

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March 16, 2023

Yesterday was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and so there were a bunch of books to read. I also got a big shipment in the mail yesterday featuring the series Middlewest so there is a ton of stuff to read right now.

There was also a new book that I was really looking forward to since I heard about it.
We’ll kick off with that one…

Hellcat #1. “She’s Not There.” Written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Alex Lins. Pere Perez and Marte Gracia did the cover art. I loved this issue. I was really anticipating it since I read about it in Previews. The sound of a mystery story where Patsy was not sure if she was the guilty person sounded great and I was very impressed with this writing. The inclusion of Sleepwalker was another intriguing surprise. Sleepwalker was a character that I have always enjoyed so it was cool that he was involved in this new series. It had a definite feel of a noir and Hellcat is a book I am excited about continuing.

Mystery in Space #103. This was not an issue that I thought I would be buying. I had never even heard of it. My friend Todd from Comic World (my comic shop) had told me to buy this issue. It was among a collection that he had purchased for the store and he was excited about how much of that collection he had already sold. This book featured a story with a character named Ultra the Multi-Alien. Todd mentioned this and talked it up. I decided to pick it up. There were actually like three or four stories in the book that was released in 1965. None of these stories were much or stuck out to me as awesome. At best, I would say it was okay.

House of Slaughter #13. “The Butcher’s Return Part Three.” This issue felt like a middle ground for this story arc. It seemed as if everything was getting into place where the story would eventually head. The very end of the book had a dramatic switch though. This was written by Tate Brombal and the art was done by Antonio Fuso.

Gideon Falls #7-8. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. I really am loving this series. Every issue brings more into the narrative about what is going on in this town with the mysterious Black Barn. It took a dark turn for one of the major characters that we have been following, Norman. Jeff Lemire has been on fire with this book and he shows his skill with the horror/comic genre.

X-Treme X-Men #1 & 2. Written by Chris Claremont with art by Salvador Larroca. I have not been a huge fan of the X-Men lately, but seeing Chris Claremont back with them was a huge selling point. I had picked up #2 & #3, but seemingly could not find #1. Thankfully, I was able to find #1 at Comic World the other day and I bought it. I have read the first two and I do like the book. They are mining some classic books by bringing back the old enemy of Logan and Kitty Pryde, Ogun, from a limited series back in the 1980s. I liked issue #1 more than #2, so we’ll see how #3 goes.

Secret Invasion #5. “Everywhere We Need to Be.” Written by Ryan North and drawn by Francesco Mobli. Sanford Greene did the cover art. This was the conclusion to this series. I have really enjoyed Secret Invasion, but I have to say that this finale felt a little underwhelming. I mean, it was fine. but there was just something that felt lacking here. There were plenty of pages where I really loved the coloring, with shades of green. It felt like I wanted more.

Superman: Lost #1. “Book One.” Plotted by Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. I saw this on the shelf at Comic World and it piqued my curiosity. I think it was the word “Lost” in the title. Todd comes into the story once again as he told me about the premise. Superman goes on an adventure and then returns claiming that he had been gone for 20 years, even though it did not seem like that to Lois and the Justice League. I do like a good mystery and I hope this one turns out to be one of those. I will most likely give it another chance.

Captain Marvel #47. “Revenge of the Brood Part Five.” Written by Kelly Thompson with art from Sergio Davila. Geez, things just keep getting worse and worse for poor Carol. She winds up in the exact place that Binary has been, just for the arrival of the biggest, most frightening Brood I think I have ever seen. I have enjoyed the use of the X-Men in this arc and I thought the interactions between Rogue and Hazmat were excellent. Not sure how Carol gets out of this.

Harrower #2. Written by Justin Jordan and illustrated by Brahm Revel. Whoa. Harrower arrived at a party and went to town. This was a cool slasher type story but, I have to say, the ending came out of nowhere and was just over. I understand cliffhangers, but I did not realize that the book was done. I kept looking for another page to wrap things up. It was a weird end, but I did enjoy what was here until that end.

Red Goblin #2. Written by Alex Paknadel and drawn by Jan Bazaldua. Normie Osborn heads into the sewers in search of his Pop-pop, Norman Osborn. Norman has been taken by the Goblin Nation and their leader, Phillip Urich. This has been good so far, but I do think that Normie speaks a little to maturely for the age he is supposed to be. Still, I like the young kid/symbiote connection going on here. Like a boy with his dog… only more vicious and murdery.

Avengers Forever #15. “The Rise of the Omni-Avengers” The creative team featured Jason Aaron, Aaron Kuder, Mark Farmer & Frank Martin. The big finale of the Avengers Assemble event is almost here as this is the penultimate issue. Robbie Reyes and Star Brand jump into action despite their troubles with their powers. There are a ton of Avengers and a bunch of other enemies including Mephisto, Doom and Dark Phoenix. Things will be wrapping up in Avengers Assemble: Omega.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #4. “Trial by Spider Part Four.” Miles is getting his butt kicked Rabble, a new villain who seems to know Miles’ secret identity. This all has put Miles in a fearful mood as he is scared for the safety of his friends and his family. Misty Knight is here to help the young Spider-Man too. Written by Cody Ziglar and pencils by Federico Vicentini. Dike Ruan and Alejandro Sanchez did the cover.

Gold Goblin #5. Written by Christopher Cantwell with art from Lan Medina. Taurin Clarke did the cover. This wrapped up the limited series featuring the new Goblin alter-ego of Norman Osborn. Spider-Man guest stars in the series too, as he plays a vital role in Norman’s life. I liked how the book manipulated the press and the public into thinking that Osborn was still the horribly evil person he was before Sin-Eater. The fact that Norman Osborn is not sure if he is worthy is a great twist. It has kept the imbalance of guilt and doubt in the head of the former super villain and it is interesting to read. This was good.

Comic Catch-Up #47

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March 14, 2023

I have been going through the piles once again, and I have found a few more complete independent series that I could read. That made me excited and so, along with continuing the ones that I have been catching up on, there are a few new ones to start today.

Shadecraft #1-5. Written by Joe Henderson and drawn by Lee Garbett. This was a series I remember starting after seeing number one promoted in the Previews. It looked cool and I did enjoy issue one back when it first came out. However, I did not read any more of the series so when I found the five issue series, I was excited to see where it would go. I re-read #1 to make sure I remembered the storyline, and there were sections that needed the refresher. This was a very creative series that I would love to see continue on at some point. The relationship between Zadie and her shadow-brother Ricky was sweet and actually quite realistic for the situation. This was a quick read and I feel as if there is a lot more that they could mine for stories.

Gideon Falls #5 & 6. Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Andrea Sorrentino. God, I love this series so far. This is just so compelling and full of anxiety and tension. I am so intrigued by everything surrounding the Black Barn and the different characters involved in the story. The psychadelic scenes with Father Fred inside the Black Barn were some of the best images across this entire series so far. The end of issue six indicated that this was the end of Book One and I am anxious to see where Book Two takes us.

Black Panther #9. “Range Wars Book One.” Black Panther comes back to the Avengers. He, Cap, Carol and Thor come across a being called The Colonialist. I am not sure if this is his first appearance or if he was a new character. Some of the writing made me think that this character had shown up before, but I don’t know. It was a very creative and original character though as I liked the look of him a lot. And the end of the issue brought us… Buffalo Soldier! Huh?

Sleeping Beauties #1. This was based on the novel by Stephen King and Owen King. It was adapted by Rio Youers and had art by Alison Sampson. Like many of King’s work, this takes place in a small town, this one named Dooling. There is a sleeping sickness that has fallen over the world, or, at least, women. There is a mysterious woman who comes out of the woods and seems to be immune to falling asleep. The first issue was okay, so we’ll see how it moves along.

I Walk with Monsters #1. Written by Paul Cornell with art by Sally Cantirino. This was extremely interesting, as we Jacey is dealing with some horrible monsters while in search of her brother Jake. There is a flashback to her childhood with her father. We saw a scene with a new boy joining them on their farm as a worker who… well, I am not sure what happened to him, but I have that feeling in my gut that I have an idea. I am looking forward to see more.

The Me You Love in the Dark #5. Written by Skottie Young with art by Jorge Corona. Big finale of this series as Ro revolts against the creature in the house. The art is fabulous and it was a satisfactory conclusion. The story felt a little light, but I did like the book.

Basilisk #3. “That Taste for Blood.” Written by Cullen Bunn with art by Jonas Scharf. Basilisk started to pick up as a group of killers, from the Chimera, are on their way to confront Regan. The Chimera were very cool and real bad ass. This book has been slow but it has beautiful art work. We’ll see how it continues.

Newburn #1. “Chapter One: Carmine’s Apartment.” Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Phillips are listed here (I suppose as character creator, maybe) but Nadia Shammas is listed as the writer of Part One while Ziyed Yusuf Ayoub is the listed artist. This was original and unexpected. The former cop Easton Newburn apparently is now working for the crime families as a problem solver. This first issue made me curious about the character and where this will go from here. I have had a bunch of these books that I had originally bought because of the name ‘Chip Zdarsky’ and I’m intrigued at continuing the series (even though it does not look like he is writing it).

Immoral X-Men #1. “Part 4: The Bond Age.” Written by Kieron Gillen and penciled by Paco Medina. This is in the on-going Sins of Sinister arc currently underway and I just couldn’t get into the issue at all. I just feel as if it is just another alternate future reality starring the X-Men and it is not tripping my trigger. I wasn’t even a half way through the book before I was skimming it, looking for it to end. I don’t think I am picking up this one again.

Moon Knight #16. “Chinatown” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Alessandro Cappuccio. Stephen Segovia and Rachelle Rosenberg were the cover artists. Moon Knight continues to be a very enjoyable book as Mr. Knight goes to negotiate with the vampires in charge around Chinatown. Meanwhile, things look bad for Hunter’s Moon. More good stuff from Moon Knight.

The Last of Us (1 x 09)

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SPOILERS

“Look for the Light“

The HBO show, The Last of Us completed its first season run Sunday night and I am going to say that I do not think they had a weak episode among the nine. This show was consistently powerful and emotional every episode and built brilliantly on the week prior in such clever and well developed ways. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the best video game adaptation in any format of all time. That may not be the highest bar to exceed, but The Last of Us has now set that aforementioned bar at a remarkably high level.

Sunday’s episode saw Joel and Ellie arrive at the Fireflies (although they were not as nice about it as you would have thought). Prior to the Fireflies’ attack, Ellie was showing some definite problems from her battle for survival with David last episode. Joel and Ellie seemingly switched places in their roles. Ellie was brooding and withdrawn and Joel was talkative and wanting more bad puns.

I had wondered if when they arrived at the hospital that they were heading to, if Ellie was going to be in danger. I thought maybe they would be trying to dissect her, but that wasn’t quite right. They were going to go into her brain and remove the part that was making her immune and mass produce it. It would be Ellie’s sacrifice. She was not told about it.

Joel was told though and that was a bad mistake for the Fireflies.

Joel went into murder-mode, coldly and without emotion, shooting everybody in his way to save Ellie. Even those who were laying down their weapons and surrendering wound up with a bullet in their head. It was brutal. It only cemented my comment from last week. If Joel was on The Walking Dead, he would be the villain that the survivors would be trying to protect themselves from.

Pedro Pascal completed his season with yet another spectacular episode. He has been on point as Joel in every episode, bringing his best work of his career. How he lied to Ellie at the end, to protect her from making a different decision about sacrificing herself to save the world was amazing. Joel knew that Ellie would choose to sacrifice herself if she was given a choice and he could not lose her too. So his saving of Ellie was really a selfish move, but he could not lose another daughter.

And… giraffes.

The episode started off with a pregnant woman and I was totally confused. She kind of looked like Ellie so I wondered if this was supposed to be a flash forward to a time when Ellie was pregnant. That was not making me happy. I did not want to see Ellie as a mother later because it felt as if it would mean that she was safe in any future storytelling. I figured it out soon though. It wasn’t Ellie pregnant in the future. It was Ellie’s mom, pregnant with Ellie in the past, giving us some indication on how Ellie wound up immune. As soon as I figured that out, it changed my opinions. Ellie’s mom was played by Ashley Johnson.

The Last of Us has been a spectacular series and I looked forward to it every Sunday night. I am going to miss it now that season one has come to a close. I will be looking forward to the second season when it arrives in the future.

Comic Catch-Up #46

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March 12, 2023

Tonight is the Academy Awards and I usually watch these. I have especially started watching this more since I usually am pretty close to having seen all of them. This year, though, because there are several Oscar nominees that I am saving for the next June Swoon, there are a couple of best picture nominees that I have not seen yet.

I am also rooting for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in the few categories it has been nominated for. In particular, I will be very disappointed if Angela Bassett does not get the Best Supporting Actress. Comic book movies are always dismissed by the Academy and her win would go a long way.

Meanwhile, I have some comics to catch-up on.

Black Panther #8. “The Long Shadow; Finale” Kicking off the catch-up with Black Panther because of the Oscars tonight. This is written by John Ridley and drawn by Stefano Landini. The conflict within Wakanda comes to a close as T’Challa and his forces launch their attack against Akili. I am looking forward to the next arc of this series.

The Silver Coin #4. “2467.” Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Michael Walsh. We get a futuristic story from the mind of Jeff Lemire. I have been reading a bunch of his work recently and I have really been enjoying it. This issue was so so. I did not feel the connection with a lot of the characters here as I have in other issues.

Moon Knight #14-15. Jed MacKay write this and the art was by Alessandro Cappuccio. Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg were credited as cover artists. Moon Knight has been a solid series from Marvel recently. I really enjoy this last couple because it really dives back into the D.I.D. that Marc Spector has. We get some more on Steven Grant and Jake Lockley, which makes Moon Knight one of the most original super heroes in the comics.

Predator #1. “The Preserve Part 1 of 5” Written by Ed Brisson and penciled by Netho Diaz. The cover art was by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Richard Isanove. So I kinda liked this. However, I really did like the Alien book when it first came out, but it became one of my least favorite books every month. I just lost interest in it. I feel like this is going to be the same. I did like the set up of the story in this first issue, but I get a feeling that it is not sustainable.

Gideon Falls #3-4. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. This has quickly become one of my favorite books that I am currently reading. It is extremely creepy and I have loved the mystery about what is happening and the enigma over the characters and why they are doing what they are doing. This mystery of the Black Barn is compelling and I am invested in it.

The Me You Love in the Dark #4. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Jorge Corona. Seems like Ro is starting to understand that you do not start a sexual relationship with a mysterious spirit in a haunted house. The sweetheart spirit took a bit of a turn in this issue as he began to exert his own control over Ro. I have very few ideas on how this book is bringing this story to a conclusion next issue, but I am excited to find out how. I love Skottie Young’s writing style.

Ten Thousand Black Feathers #3. Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Andrea Sorrentino. We get more about Jackie’s disappearance and we see more about how she was acting before her disappearance. Trish and Jackie had some powerful reactions between each other that has led to a frightening final page that I am dying to find out about. This Bone Orchard Mythos world has been very engaging so far.

Primordial #3. Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Andrea Sorrentino. This Cold War series surrounding the space race and the mystery about the missing dog (Laika) and the primates (Able and Mrs. Baker) moves along with some wonderful imagery that makes the reader feel trippy. Yelena took the doctor into East Berlin in search of an answer to the mystery of the space program, but that is not what they found.

X-Men #20. “Lord of the Brood Part Two.” We finally come across Broo, who had been leader of the Brood, but was gleefully unaware that the hive-mind parasites had been doing things that he did not want them to do while he slept. And then, at the end of the book, we get a surprising arrival of Wilson Fisk and Typhoid Mary on Krakoa. Written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Stefano Caselli. Juan Frigeri & David Curiel teamed up to do the art on the cover.

X-23: Deadly Regenesis #1. “The Past Haunts Us All.” Written by Erick Schultz and art by Edgar Salazar. Kalman Andrasofszky did the art on the cover. I liked this issue. Lately, Marvel has been going back into the pasts of characters to show stories that happened during that time period. This is an example of that for Laura. She does the heroic ‘save people from a building fire’ that we have seen others do, and it worked quite well here too. We are leading into a fight between X-23 and Haymaker next issue.

Sabretooth & the Exiles #4. “Station Four.” I did not expect the end of this book. It was a shocking final page that really picked up the rest of the book that did not create much in way of excitement or suspense. As a penultimate issue, this was not great, but it does give me an excitement for the finale next issue so that part was successful. Written by Victor LaValle and art by Leonard Kirk.

Luther: The Fallen Sun

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I have never seen an episode of the British TV series Luther, which ran on the BBC from 2010-2019 and starred Idris Elba as the titular character. However, that did not prevent me from wanting to see the new Netflix film featuring the character and said to be a direct continuation of the show.

I would say that I never felt that, because I had never seen the TV show before, I was confused or not sure what was going on. I would venture to say that you do not have to have seen the show in order to watch this movie. It may give you more background or a deeper understanding of the characters but it is not a necessary requirement.

Luther: The Fallen Sun saw the return of Elba to the role, as he matched up with cast members Cynthia Erivo and Andy Serkis.

John Luther was on the case of a serial killer who was murdering individuals that he would blackmail into helping him by certain secrets that the people did not want revealed. However, when Serkis, whose character was named David Robey, found out, he used his connections to pull all of the dark secrets from Luther’s time as a brutal cop and send him to his own justice and a prison cell.

When Luther learned of David’s victims through a video David sent to him, he decided that he needed to escape from prison and continue his pursuit of the murderer.

Andy Serkis is downright chilling in this film. He is such an amazing performer because I bought him 100% as a brutal serial killer who was getting off on his machinations. He pulled off some horrendous cruelty along the way and displayed a cold, calculating evil unlike few I have seen before.

Idris Elba was excellent here as well and the pair of them had some powerful confrontations during the two hour plus movie. Dermot Crowley revisited his character Martin Schenk from the show as the retired Detective Superintendent, the former head of the Serious and Serial Crime Unit and Luther’s former boss. Crowley brought an inside man for Luther, despite Martin’s own moral creed.

The story is fairly basic and by-the-numbers, but the performances elevates the material. There are a few scenes that really make me like the character of Luther, despite the obvious hatred that he may hold for himself. It might have been a touch too long but there were several decent moments that helped make this a strong addition to Idris Elba’s filmography.

3.5 stars

65

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I like Adam Driver. I like sci-fi. I like dinosaurs.

65 however, not so much.

I had come into 65 (which implied 65 million years ago) unsure what the premise of the film was going to be. I saw previews of Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs with sci-fi weapons, which I thought would be hard to mess up. I did not know what was happening. Was it time travel? Was it another planet? No to either of those.

Apparently, Adam Driver was a man who lived on a planet somewhere out in space that was very much like earth in all ways (including English language) except it has some special ray guns. He was on mission that was going to take him away from his daughter, who was sick, for two years. The money was meant to help make her well. On this mission, his ship crash landed on earth and it was earth 65 million years ago (to us, not Driver, I guess).

Once there, he discovered a young girl, the only other survivor of the crash, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), who he claimed was nine, but seemed more like 14 years old.

They discovered that the undiscovered planet had dinosaurs on it, both small and giant. They started on a path to find an escape pod that had fallen on a mountain.

By the way, Adam Driver’s timing is just horrendous, as he landed on earth as the asteroid, that we know killed the dinosaurs, was preparing to crash on the surface (right where he landed, too. How unlucky?)

I had so many problems with the plot. Many of them were small things that would have been an easy fix, but 65 does not seem to care about these details that pulled me out of the film every time. For example, Adam Driver had a computer thingy that could identify the oncoming asteroid that was going to strike earth. But it called it an asteroid. Why? Isn’t that something that an earth based scientist named it? Since this was in the earth’s past, how did that detail get out to Adam Driver’s planet? If this was not the actual earth in the past, I could guess that the vocabulary could sneak out to other planets, but that has not happened yet. Like a said, it was minor, but those kind of details can ruin a sci-fi movie.

The movie also made the odd choice of having Koa speak a different language than Adam Driver or us, the audience. This was meant as an obstacle for Driver, but it never was because he would just say the word slower and everything seemed to work fine. Koa speaking a different language only kept me from connecting to her as a character.

Because of the language barrier for the audience, I did not care much about Koa and I cared even less about the relationship between Adam Driver and Koa. This relationship was basically the same one as Joel and Ellie have in The Last of Us video game and TV show, except Driver was not as awesome as Joel was nor was Koa anything like Ellie.

The movie did have very impressive special effects. The dinosaurs looked great, but the lack of a story or characters that I cared about did not overcome the strong fx.

Adam Driver does a decent job with what he is given, but all he is given is running around, shooting some laser guns and yelling ‘Koa!” A subplot with his daughter is tossed out and then aside before you ever had a chance to care. Ariana Greenblatt was fine, but she should have been speaking English. It would have helped that character immensely.

This felt like a film that could have benefited from another trip or two through the writer’s room. Use time travel and lots of the little problems go away and I can get past them instead of thinking about why they made the choices that they did.

2.4 stars

Poker Face (1 x 10)

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SPOILERS

“The Hook”

Season one of Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne dropped its season finale on Peacock the other day, bringing to a close a very solid freshman season for the show. Poker Face has been confirmed to have been renewed for a season two, and we got a pretty good idea what the overarching storyline for that season would be in the finale.

I have been talking all season about the show’s general format and how, after the first half of the episodes, it began to be tinkered with by the creators. It was important to keep the show fresh and not become dull. The show did an excellent job of varying the concept and this episode was totally different while still feeling the same.

I was shocked when, as Charlie was involved with a discussion with Sterling Senior, played by the epic Ron Perlman, was shot dead. He turned into the murder victim that Charlie was involved in. He had been offering Charlie a job to use her BS radar (which showed that he had not intended on having her killed as she thought). Benjamin Bratt set Charlie up for the murder, sending her on the run during the episode.

Simon Helberg returned to the show as FBI Agent Luca. He had gotten a promotion because of his last interactions with Charlie and he provided her with an inside perspective of what the FBI was doing in the case. Luca and Charlie had a nice connection and it added to the show’s ambiance.

I also enjoyed how they kind of looked at Charlie and some of the bad choices that she had made in her life, especially in connection to her sister and her sister’s daughter. This show did not go out of its way to hide the negative results of Charlie’s choices for her sister and it made the character even more interesting.

As it was solved, we discovered the hook (no pun) for next year. It seems as if Charlie is back on the run to avoid another crime boss. However, she went into it with more confidence and bravado than she did at the beginning of season one.

Benjamin Bratt brought it by randomly speaking the rap section of ‘Hook’ by Blues Traveler.

Suck it in, suck it in, suck it in
If you’re Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you’ll win
And then begin to see
What you’re doing to me
This MTV is not for free
It’s so PC it’s killing me

So desperately I sing to thee of love
Sure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can’t keep these feeling on the shelf
I’ve tried, well no, in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride till until I’ve died
And only then shall I abide by this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute diddies
I wanna bust all your balloons

I wanna burn of all your cities to the ground
But I’ve found, I will not mess around
Unless I play then hey
I will go on all day
Hear what I say
I have a prayer to pray
That’s really all this was
And when I’m feeling stuck and need a buck
I don’t rely on luck

Poker Face will be back on Peacock next season and I will be curious where it goers from there.

Oscar-Nominated Live-Action and Animated Shorts

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Today, I got to see the ten Oscar-nominated shorts, five live-action and five animated (no documentary shorts though). It is always a fun day at the movies with the shorts.

I am going to give my thoughts on each of the shorts, place them in my favorite order, and tell you which one I think actually WILL win.

LIVE ACTION SHORTS

5. Night Ride. Ebba (Sigrid Husjord) was waiting for a tram to take her home one cold winter night. However, the driver wanted a break and would not let her into the tram unless he was there. So Ebba decided to take matters into her own hands and ends up, unintentionally at first, stealing the tram. This had some funny moments and had some things to say about harassment. However, I found this to be fairly mild of a short.

4. Ivalu. A young girl named Ivalu runs away from her family and her sister Pipaluk tries to find her. Pipaluk follows a raven across some of the most scenic landscapes that you’ll ever see. This short turned very dark as the film went on, but that did not take away from the epic cinematography that was on display here. Some of the reveal felt a little forced, but it was a powerful end.

3. The Red Suitcase. An Iranian woman arrived on an airplane in Luxemburg with her soon-to-be husband waiting for her. Except, of course, she was being gifted to him as a wife and arranged for marriage. She wanted no part of this and she does what she can to avoid the man waiting for her. There were some great tense moments in this film and Nawelle Ewad gives an excellent performance as the 16-year old girl in search of freedom.

2. Le Pupille. From Disney, Le Pupille (or The Pupil, in English) is about a group of young girls in a Catholic boarding house, run by strict Nuns. The short was excellent and very creative, with the girls adding songs, narrative transition and a fun and creative story. It is funny and I really liked it. This was the fourth film I saw and, while I liked the other three, this was the first one that I thought was extraordinary.

And number one…

An Irish Goodbye.

Brothers Turlough and Lorcan return to their childhood farm in Ireland with their recently deceased and cremated mother. Lorcan had Down’s Syndrome and Turlough did not believe that he could handle living on the farm on his own. When Lorcan got his hands on their mother’s last bucket list, the brothers went about trying to fulfill their mother’s wishes after she had died. This was very funny, surprisingly touching and filled with feel good moments. The brothers had sensational chemistry between them and watching them work together to complete their mother’s list was very profound.

OSCAR RESULT

Should win: An Irish Goodbye

Will Win: Le Pupille

I think the Disney name will pull out the victory on this, but I will be cheering for An Irish Goodbye. There should not be any other possible winners as these two shorts far exceeded anything else that had been nominated this year.

ANIMATED SHORTS

5. Ice Merchants. This one was my least favorite of all the shorts I saw today, animated or live-action. It made little sense to me and I did not enjoy the story. It was lovely to look at though. The end was anticlimatic.

4. The Flying Sailor. A true story. When we first see that label, you dismiss it because it is so impossible, but finding out that it actually was true, that a sailor was stuck in an explosion that sent him flying in the air for 2 miles and that he lived to tell about it, made this all the more amazing.

3. An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It. This Australian stop-motion animated film was bizarre and kind of funny. The young telemarketer finds out a strange truth as he struggled to up his sales. A talking ostrich was not the oddest part of the story.

2. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. Utterly beautifully rendered with awe-inspiring scenery. The tale of the four named characters and their attempt to find the way ‘home’ is emotionally powerful and provided a wonderful message. It did feel a little long (and I kept waiting for that fox to turn on them) but the short was astoundingly lovely. It harkened back to a kinder time in animation where the moral of the story was important.

And the number one animated short…

My Year of Dicks.

Any animated show that begins with a warning to the viewers that this is not a kid friendly film and maybe parents wanted to take them out of the theater, is okay by me. But there was more to this than sex and swear words. This was a deep look at a girl’s attempt to lose her virginity and the poor choices that she made along the way. Broken into five chapters, My Year of Dicks was provocative and unafraid to tackle plenty of topics related to sex and sexual exploration and it does it in a creative, often-times, hilarious and real way. After seeing the warning before the short, I had no idea what I was in for. What I got was a poignant story of a young girl’s quest to become a woman. The short had all kinds of animation styles involved and the coming-of-age tale was surprisingly sweet.

Should win: My Year of Dicks

Will win: My Year of Dicks

My Year of Dicks was the last short shown and, before I saw it, I was certain that The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse was going to be the winner. I could see that short take the Oscar still, but I truly think the most overall impressive animated short was My Year of Dicks.

Scream VI

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Scream has been one of the most successful horror franchises of all time. Each film in the series has been decent, if not excellent. Now, the franchise moves forward with the new characters from last year’s Scream 5, although there remained other legacy characters here as well.

Scream VI took the franchise out of Woodsboro and moved it to New York City. By doing so, the film felt to be much fresher than it has in several years while still maintaining much of the Scream style.

Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) are still having plenty of issues with the events from last year in Woodsboro, when Sam’s boyfriend and a friend became Ghostface and tried to kill them. Sam was in therapy and Tara was in denial over the memories.

When a new Ghostface gets murdered himself, things get wild once again as the Carpenter sisters find themselves in constant danger from Ghostface all over NYC.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was a lot of fun and it made everything feel new, even though we got Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) as legacy characters returning for the film. They did not feel as if they were just there for nostalgia. Scream VI walked that tightrope between new and old brilliantly. To the film’s credit, it really felt as if anyone was vulnerable to Ghostface as well as anyone could have been under the mask.

Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown returned as brother and sister Chad and Mindy from Scream 5. Skeet Ulrich was back again as Sam’s delusion-daddy Billy Loomis. Dermot Mulroney joined the cast as Detective Bailey. Jack Champion, Josh Segarra, Liana Liberato, Tony Revolori, Samara Weaving, Andre Anthony and Henry Czerny all had significant roles in the new film.

New York City was really a cast member of this film as well. As a setting, The City stood out as great moments in a bodega and on the subway. Both times, you can see New Yorkers and how they stepped up.

I loved how this film started off. It was familiar and, yet at the same time, original. I was surprised by the twists in the beginning and found it very intriguing. No spoilers of course, but I really was engaged in the film right off the bat.

The kills were pretty brutal and bloodier than I expected. Ghostface built suspense with its stalking of plenty of the characters.

The humor was well done and the meta-narrative continued as they moved into describing the situations from rules for a ‘requel’ to rules for a franchise.

Scream VI should be given credit for moving away from Neve Campbell’s Sydney Prescott and reinvigorating the series with new characters that feel very important and who fit wonderfully into the Scream franchise. The film was exciting and tense and I enjoyed the whole thing.

4 stars

Comic Catch-Up #45

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March 9, 2023

Wednesday was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, but between parent/teacher conferences and yet another snowstorm on a Thursday, this was the first opportunity that I had to write a post. I have not finished everything from my pull box (there are several X-books to go), but there were several to read.

Punisher War Journal Base #1. Written by Torunn Grønbekk and drawn by Djibril Morissette-Phan. This was a story of Frank Castle before he became the Punisher. I like the Punisher, but I have never really been a huge fan of any of the series he has appeared in. This one shot was fine, but it did not make me want to check out the ongoing Punisher book.

Mary Jane & Black Cat #4. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Vincenzo Carratù. Paulo Siqueria & Rachelle Rosenberg did the art for the cover. This series continues to be a weird one as I have no idea why Mary Jane Watson has some strange kind of random power generator. MJ and Felicia are still chasing after a soulsword to give to Belasco, having to confront several others pursuing the same thing. The two lead characters are fun together.

Silver Surfer: Ghost Light #2. “Part 2: Darkness” Written by John Jennings featuring art by Valentine DeLandro. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. The second issue of this new short series featured characters that had originally been introduced in Siler Surfer #5 from 1969. Talk about mining the past for stories. This is another weird series because the book is not really a Silver Surfer book. He is there, but he is absolutely a supporting character to the lead protagonist, Al Harper. I’m sticking with this one for awhile because it is interesting enough.

Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #4. Written by Josh Trujillo and drawn by Adrian Gutierrez. Jaime teams up with his ‘archfoe’ Fadeaway in an attempt to help him retrieve his family’s ‘Bag of Trix.’ If you did not guess, things did not go the way Blue Beetle had hoped. Things are looking even worse for poor Jaime moving forward too as several big gun superheroes are on the case, and not necessarily in a positive manner for Jaime.

Deadpool #4. “Eat You Heart Out” Written by Alyssa Wong with art by Martin Coccolo. Things are not going well for Deadpool. He is being chased after by a team of super powered villains trying to kill him, he has fallen in love with a woman named Valentine and Cletus Kasady exploded out of his chest. Rough deal for the Merc with a Mouth.

New Mutants: Lethal Legion #1. “Vampire Heist.” Written by Charlie Jane Anders and drawn by Enid Balám. This was an interesting first issue of this short series, but the fact is I had no idea who (almost) any of these characters were. I knew Rahne, but other than that, there was very few characters that I recognized or had any connection to.

Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #2. Written by Danny Lore with art by Karen S. Darboe. We keep close with Brielle, the daughter of Blade, who has just discovered her powers She teamed up with new girl at school, Whitney, to see exactly what hunting vampires was like. It might not have been a wise move. However, daddy arrived in the tick of time.

Fantastic Four #5. “Up to Scratch.” Written by Ryan North and drawn by Ivan Fiorelli. So we get a weird adventure for the FF when the Salem’s Seven, led by Nicholas Scratch attacks the FF on the road (causing a traffic jam) and messes them up badly. Trying to save their lives, the FF dimensionally travel, only to, apparently, bring back a bacteria that could crash the global food chain bringing about a total extinction. You know… the the FF, like a Thursday.

Scarlet Witch #3. Written by Steve Orlando with art from Sara Pichelli. Special guest star, Polaris, joined Wanda in a strange adventure to help a woman named Mardj to find the Sword in the Star. I was not a fan of this issue, although I thought the art was presented in an excellent manner. The book was filled with full page art from the early part to the very end of the book. It was an unconventional looking book, but the story did not hook me much. And the end puts Darcy into serious jeopardy.

Amazing Spider-Man #21. Written by Zeb Wells and drawn by John Romita Jr. This begins the reveal of the big story from this past year about what Peter did that was so horrible that he drove away all his friends and sent Mary Jane into the arms of another man, who had a couple of kids along for the ride. My friend Todd turned his nose up at this issue, but I thought it was decent. There was a character here called the Scribble Man, who I do not know if he had ever been seen before. It was my first time seeing him and he has some connection to what happened with Peter. I am nervous about what they are going to do. I just hope it isn’t something that is dramatically out of character for Peter (eg. One More Day).

Avengers #66. “The Final Assemblage.” Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Javier Garrón. The multiversal Avengers battle the 616 Mephisto, despite the demon becoming gigantic. There were some surprise Avengers from across the Multiverse such as Galactus (???) or Cosmic Ka-Zar (???). This is the final Jason Aaron issue for this book, and this Avengers Assemble arc has two more issues left, with Avengers Forever #15 and Avengers Assemble: Omega #1 yet to come.