Author Archives: Doc
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #42
#42
The Walking Dead
After the ending of LOST, I had a huge gap in my heart and I was not interested in replacing it with another TV show. I did not watch much TV after LOST left. I did not watch The Walking Dead’s first season because of that. I had heard some good word of mouth about the comic book adaptation, so I decided I would catch up on the first, short season.
It was so wonderful, it helped in the recovery from post-LOST life.
Few shows have generated the anguish that The Walking Dead has over its eleven seasons. I will be honest, I did not watch much of the last few years of the show. There was onlky so much pain one could take.
I remember the spot that began my end with this show. It was Glen. I am not sure that any TV death has ever been as emptying as when Negan smashed Lucille, his baseball bat, into Glen’s skull, as he did in the comics, it was horrific and left me feeling hollow. I knew it was done brilliantly well and created all kinds of story, but the fact was that Glen’s death was the slow end for me.
Before that though, The Walking Dead was so amazing. It had so many unbelievable moments. Shane and his craziness. Carol telling Lizzie to look at the flowers before shooting her in the head. Daryl Dixon and his overall awesomeness. Rick screaming for Carl.
One of the best additions in the later part of the show was Michonne, played by Danai Gurira. Michonne and her katana was so bad ass. I also enjoyed her eventual relationship with Rick, which I saw more of in the spin of featuring those two characters, The Ones Who Lived.
The Walking Dead took advantage of the resurgence of zombies, leading the way among pop culture in presenting some of the most frightening moments featuring the monsters. However, the show never justbecame about the zombies, or Walkers as they dubbed them. The show was about the relationships between and the choices made by the survivors, and proved consistently that the humans might be the real monsters in a zombie apocalypse.
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #43
#43
What We Do in the Shadows
This past summer, I did a TV show first time watch by watching all six seasons of the FX series What We Do in the Shadows. Since they had usually around 10 episodes a season at about a half and hour, I would binge a season in one day and then do a write up.
What We Do in the Shadows was based on a movie from writer/director Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. The show is shot in the mockumentary format following a group of four vampire roommates living together in Staten Island.
The cast was exceptional and had a ton of chemistry with each other. The main stars included Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, and Kristen Schaal.
Much of the POV came from the human character Guillermo, who was the familiar for Nandor the Relentless, one of the four roommates. There was the married couple Lazlo and Nadja and the “energy vampire” Colin Robinson.
Every episode saw this out of time foursome dealing with something unbelievable. The one thing you could count on with What We Do in the Shadows was that it was funny.
The show was not only funny, but it was shocking. There was blood and other bodily fluids involved and provided a humorous look at a world that one wouldn’t think of as funny.
There were a ton of guests stars during the six seasons including such notable stars as Mark Hamill, Tilda Swinton, Dave Bautista, Paul Reubens, Scott Bakula, Patton Oswalt, Kevin Pollak, John Slattery, Wesley Snipes, and Evan Rachel Woods. This is just a few of the stars who found their way to this show.
The mockumentary style of the show was one of the big stars as well. It brought a wonderful quirkiness to the show that worked.
Every season was hilarious and, even the weaker ones, had some fabulous moments.
Only Murders in the Building S5 E10
Spoilers
“The House Always…”
Another season of Only Murders in the Building wrapped up with a finale that revealed the killer of the beloved doorman Lester and tied all the loose ends up neatly.
It turned out that Mayor Beau Tillman, played by Keegan-Michael Key, killed Lester, and it was his finger that had been severed and placed in Oliver’s shrimp. The billionaires knew about the whole thing too. They were in the game to find the finger and that person would receive the casino contract from the city.
After they were arrested, it seemed as if the building was saved, though I am not 100% sure how that happened.
I do love this show and there were so many wonderful moments in this finale as they were capturing the Mayor. Charles shimmying up the pole and sliding down like a stripper (instead of a fireman) was a hoot.
Introducing the “New mob” to the “Old Mob” was another fun thing. That group of men was ridiculously funny.
The show also set up the next mystery for season six as we hear a new podcast from Cinda Canning (Tina Fey) and she seems to have be killed… just outside the Arconia, disappointing everyone that she was not “in the building.” A final twitch of the body brought her hand just inside the gate… allowing the trio to investigate the new case.
Love this show. I can’t wait for the next season. This finale was much better than the penultimate episode.
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #44
#44
The Tick (2016)
The second time The Tick has appeared in the top 100 is the also the second live action version of the show. This version went two seasons on Amazzon Prime, and still deserved so much more.
The Tick was portrayed, this time, by Peter Serafinowicz and Arthur was played by Griffin Newman.
This Amazon Prime version had more action than the 2001 Tick series. This included classic Tick character The Terror, played by the one and only Jackie Earle Haley. Season one was split into two parts, ending with 12 episodes. Season two was 10 episodes.
The series was a fantastic rendition of the show, combining the bests of both the FOX live action show and the animated program. Once again, despite critical success, it seems as other forces took out the Tick.
Serafinowicz was an excellent Tick and did some cool things to make himself stand out with the other two exceptional actors who had portrayed the big blue superhero.
Bonus Action Vol. 3 Ep4
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #45
#45
Batman: The Animated Series
Some may say that “their” Batman was Christian Bale. Some may say “their” Batman was Michael Keaton. Some may say “their” Batman is Adam West or Ben Affleck or Robert Pattinson. Some may even say “their” Batman was George Clooney (I’d have to question those people).
Well, I think my Batman is Kevin Conroy.
Kevin Conroy became THE voice of Batman thanks to his work on Batman: The Animated Series, which went for four seaosns on FOX kids. The show is lauded as one of the greatest animated programs of all time.
The show also featured one of the mst iconic Joker performances ever done. Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker himself, provided the demented Clown Prince of Crime’s voice for the show and helped to make his name as a predominant voice actor.
The series was developed by Bruce Timm, whose style of the show became a trend unto itself. The animation of the Batman series had a flair, a style unlike anything anyone had seen up to that point and it became a sensation.
The writing of the episodes were amazing, too. These stories were not just for kids, though kids could enjoy them. There was an adult complex feel to these episodes that made Batman: TAS stand out among the Saturday morning fare. This style of Batman animation led to several longer movies, including the special Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm, considered one of the greatest Batman movies of any genre.
The iconic character of Harley Quinn made her debut on the animated series, becoming one of DC Comics most popular female characters.
IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E1
Spoilers
“The Pilot”
I loved IT. I loved the original TV show miniseries starring Tim Curry and the 2017 movie. The second part of the movie was not as strong, but I am a fan of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
So when I heard that there was a series in the works for HBO Max set in Derry in prior years when Pennywise would terrorize the children of Derry, I was all in.
While we did not see Pennywise in this first episode, it was anything but lacking. In fact, I found it shocking and, somewhat, upsetting.
They set up a group of kids, much like the “losers” from the film, and gave them a mission. Find Matty, the boy who we meet at the beginning who wound up with a weird family in an attempt to leave Derry.
These kids included Teddy, Phil, Lilly, Phil’s little sister Susie and Veronica. They were trying to solve the mystery of Matty’s disappearance after Lilly heard him speaking to her out of her pipes in her bathtub.
Shockingly, Lilly and Veronica were the only two to survive the encounter at the end of the episode. I couldn’t believe it because it sure seemed as of Teddy and Phil were being set up as the main characters of this show. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I was sure something would happen to save them, even after seeing their blood splatter and Teddy actually being slammed face first into the projector room glass.
I am sad that they are gone, because I really liked them. I saw an interview with director Andy Muschietti who said they wanted to show that no one was safe in this setting. He did that for sure.
We’ll see where this goes from here. I thought this pilot episode was really good and it definitely defied what I expected to see.
Good Boy
I was interested in seeing Good Boy for awhile now. It came available to rent on Fandango at Home so I gave it a try. You know what I discovered… this was a horror movie.
I knew the film starred the director’s dog, Indy, and that they did the dog scenes all with practical effects. I knew the film was from the point of view of the dog.
But I had no idea it was a horror film. That was why when the title card for SHUDDER came up, I paused and wondered to myself… SHUDDER?
Turned out, Good Boy was a supernatural horror film that put that poor dog into plenty of stressful and suspenseful situations.
According to IMDB, “A loyal dog moves to a rural family home with his owner, only to discover supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. As dark entities threaten his human companion, the brave pup must fight to protect the one he loves most.”
It was basically a haunted house film with the main protagonist being a dog. The dog does a remarkable job of making this movie. Indy clearly worked hard to get these shots. According to the film’s Wikipedia page, the film was shot over 400 days.
Indy made a very easy protagonist to support as he was everything good about dogs on display and the film looked great, including the creepy as heck mud creature in the house.
Good Boy is a quick 72 minute film with some really clever ideas and a loveable lead character. You can currently rent the film, but I would expect it to become available sooner rather than later on Shudder.
4 stars
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (2025)
Hulu has a new remake of the 1992 psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. I do not think that I ever saw the original although the plot is well known enough.
According to IMDB, “An upscale suburban mom brings a new nanny, Polly Murphy, into her home, only to discover she is not the person she claims to be.“
Mary Elizabeth Winstead does a good job as Caitlin Morales, the mother who has had her share of emotional troubles and who brings Polly into the lives of her family. Winstead is easily the best part of the film.
There is not too much more here that is worth the time. Even without seeing the original, I can tell that this is subpar in comparison. There is no way that this movie will be remembered some thirty plus years later.
The writing is low level. The contrivances are scattered throughout the film. The twist at the end was dumb and underdeveloped. The final scenes did not look good at all and took away from the intended power it wanted to have.
The characters were supposed to have lots of back issues, but none of them are developed enough to be anything more than just info that we are told about them. Because of that, I never felt the connection to either character as I was meant to.
I should watch the original some time, but I do think that if you are going to want to watch a film entitled “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,” I would recommend you choose the original, sight unseen.
2.5 stars
A House of Dynamite
Kathryn Bigelow won an Academy Award for the Hurt Locker. Her new thriller dropped on Netflix this weekend. It was a film called A House of Dynamite and it told its story through multiple POVs of different characters.
A normal day goes into chaos when a nuclear missile has been launched and is on its way to the United States. No one is sure where the missile came from or if it even is one, but the responses are tense and difficult.
We see this stretch of period from several different perspectives, each one revealing some new details.
The cast is exceptional. It included Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Jared Harris, Gabriel Basso, Jason Clarke, Anthony Ramos, Greta Lee, Tracy Letts, Jonah Hauer-King, and Kaitlyn Dever.
I really thought this was a strong film. I was engaged and enthralled with the story and the performances. Seeing the same scenes played out in another POV is completely amazing.
I do not want to spoil the ending, but it was a shocking thing and I am not sure how I feel about it. I understand it though.
This was a really strong film that I am glad that I watched. It is on Netflix.
4.3 stars
EYG Comic Cavalcade #176
October 26
Just a few days away from Halloween! Happy Halloween to all. This is my favorite holiday of them all.
Then, Saturday, Nov. 1 is my anniversary in comic collecting. I have been collecting comics in some form since I was in 5th grade. I remember staying over at my friend Jeff Wagner’s house to go trick or treating on Halloween and then spending the night reading comics he was getting from Comic World in Dubuque, back when the shop was over on Central Ave. I remember a bunch of X-Men books and Avengers. I was hooked, already a fan a superheroes. If my math is close, this would be my 45th year collecting (plus or minus a year or so).
Books this week:
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5. Written by Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar with art done by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Tamra Bonvillain. Miles Morales finally got his hands on his baby sister and returned to his own universe…at least, his current universe. He also remembered everything from before.
No Man’s Land #2. Written, art and cover art (both B and A covers which were Gold and Bronze medalists respectfully) by Szymon Kudranski. I love this book. The worst part about it is that it is only three issues. I am not sure how they finish this mystery with only one more issue remaining. Either way, I can’t wait to see how this wraps up.
Ultimate Spider-Man #22. Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. Spider-Man and Goblin are back together and Peter also gets to spend some quality time with MJ.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39. “Thick as Thieves Part Three” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art was done by Federico Vicentini & Rachelle Rosenberg. Miles and his team up with Black Cat and Misty Knight concludes.
The Ultimates #17. Written by Deniz Camp with art by guest artist Phil Noto. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. This issue continues to build toward the return of Maker and focuses on Ultimate Doom.
The Undead Iron Fist #2. Written by Jason Loo and art by Fran Galan. Cover art was done by Whilce Portacio & Alex Sinclair. With Danny Rand back from the dead, we get a team-up with our undead Iron Fist with Daredevil. I love this new book with Iron Fist.
Radioactive Spider-Man #1. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Kev Walker. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Marte Gracia. It is the Age of Revelation and this book checks in with Peter Parker and sees where he is X years later. I liked this book because it still felt like Peter Parker. A lot of times with these alternate futures, they use it to create versions of the characters that are not like the current ones. This is not that way, at least so far.
Omega Kids #1. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Rod Reis. Quentin Quire is the leader of a group called the Omega Kids, who work for Revelation. However, there feels as if some of the kids may not be as loyal as they seem.
Exquisite Corpses #6. Written by Tyler Boss with James Tynion IV and art by Gavin Fullerton with Michael Walsh. Cover art was done by Michael Walsh. The tournament continues as the G4m3r Kid and Calvin were the next victims. This book continues to be one of the best on the market.
War Wolf #1. Written by Steve Orlando with art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski. Sometimes your heroes are regular people and they will be the ones to fight the aliens. Mad Cave has had way more hits than misses lately and this has Steve Orlando behind it.
Fantastic Four #4. “Basic Obedience” Written by Ryan North with pencils by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado. The FF have a new puppy… or is it? Why is it that Alicia Masters-Grimm is the only one who can tell this dog is not what it seems.
X-Men: Book of Revelation#1. Written by Jed MacKay with art and cover art by Netho Diaz. The Age of Revelation is moving along and this books looks closer at Doug Ramsey and his position as Revelation. He also may be denying the desires of Apocalypse himself.
Murder Podcast #2. Written by Jeremy Huan and illustrated by Mike Tisserand. Variant cover B art was done by Mike Tisserand. The murder podcast is still out and causing all kinds of troubles once again.
News from the Fallout #5. Written by Chris Condon with art by Jeffrey Alan Love. This is once again one of the best reads of the month, with some of the most compelling art that builds a tone and mood better than just about any comic out there. There is only one more issue to go and I have no idea where this is heading. That is awesome.
The Last Wolverine #1. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Edgar Salazar. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo and Matthew Wilson. I was not sure what this book was going to be, but, it is the Age of Revelation and X years later, anything could happen. So when I saw that the “last Wolverine” was actually Leonard, the teen who had been turned into a Wendigo and who Logan tried to help, I was ecstatic. I really loved that character and I was sad he left the pages of Wolverine. Glad to get him back in this limited series during the Age of Revelation.
Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man #3. “Things Worse Than Death.” Written by James Tynion IV and art by Dani. Cover art was done by Dani & Brad Simpson. Looks like Jack is planning his serum out and he is up to human trials. However, he does not try the formula on himself first, which means there may be another person out there. Another great adaptation of a Universal Monster.
Detective Comics #1102. “The Courage that Kills Part Two.” Written by Tom Taylor and art and cover art by Mikel Janin. Batman has been infected and he has a limited amount of time to find a way to cure himself before major problems come around. Tom Taylor continues to be an exceptional writer, building amazing plots and conflicts for our heroes.
Spider-Girl #5. Written by Torunn Grønbekk with art by Andre Risso & Diogenes Neves. David Nakayama did the cover art. Guest starring Spider-Man, Spider-Girl has to team up with Spidey to try and stop Hijack. Oh, and Rogue shows up too.
Thanksgiving #1. Written by Mark Russell and art and cover art by Mauricet. What happens when that weird uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner admits to being a infamous serial killer? You always suspected right? This was a fun book with a strange group of characters.
Marvel Zombies: Red Band #2. Written by Ethan Parker & Griffin Sheridan with art by Jan Bazaldua. Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. The zombies hit the X-Men, the night when Jean Grey first arrived. Jean, Spider-Man, Cap, Iron Man, Jessica Jones try to stop them. What happens when an infected Jean Grey becomes Zombie Phoenix?
The Terminator Metal #1. Written by Declan Shalvey & Rory McConville with art done by Lorenzo Re. Cover art was done by Declan Shalvey (Silver Medalist). Some humans are being protected by a reprogrammed T-800. Is that a good idea? I guess we will find out.
Hello Halloween #1. A special Halloween edition of “Hello Darkness” featuring several stories including R.L. Stein’s Graveyard Club. The cover was done by Frazer Irving. The horror stories are the usual mixed bag.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #12. “The Untying” Written by Jason Aaron an art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. This is the final issue of the run with Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra on TMNT. I really enjoyed the 12 issues of this book, and I am not sure if I want to continue with it with a new creative crew. May give #13 a shot and see what I think.
Drawing Blood #9. Written by David Avallone and art by Ben Bishop. Cover art was done by Kevin Eastman. Bookman is back, but in a recovery place (instead of jail). This was an interesting issue of this book and I liked the development.
Justice League Unlimited #12. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. Ten of the time displaced heroes team up to try and help protect the earth and oversee the evacuation of the planet while the big guns are dealing with the KO.
Other Books this week: New History of the DC Universe #4, Green Lantern Dark #7, Predator: Black, White & Blood #4, Harley Quinn #55 (pumpkin spice), Outlaw Showdown #1, Immortal Legend Batman #3, Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time #1, Silverhawks #9, and Red Vector #3.
Quick Hits: Last week when I picked up the Hector Plasm Bigfoot book, I went to eBay and found one of his earlier appearances in Hector Plasm: Totentanz book from Image. Space Ghost #4 sees Space Ghost trying to prevent a war. The Headless Horseman guest starred in Hornsby & Halo #11. I picked up Mad Magazine #46, which came out last week but I missed it then. It is a magical issue of Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #13. Things are not going well in Orla #3 as she is losing her control. Escape #3 heads back into the war with a dramatic issue. Sisterhood #4 took a turn between Sophie and Violet, setting up the finale in issue five. Absolute Wonder Woman #13 has Diana battling some electrical creature. Maria Llovet’s Artifical #2 finds us back with the android dates. The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night #4 finds the conclusion with Dr. Jekyll. The eerie story of It Killed Everyone But Me #2 rolls on in its dark path. Speed Racer: Tales from the Road #1 focuses on a tale about Racer X, told in a very original manner and spectacular art design. Then, Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #3 continues to be a surprisingly good read.
Terrifier 2 (2022)
13 of The October 13
With this film, the October 13 comes to a close for 2025. For the final movie of the list, I decided to give Terrifier 2 a chance.
I had watched the original Terrifier last week as a part of the October 13, but I did not like it much. Outside of a neat new killer, Art the Clown, there wasn’t much to the film.
Terrifier 2 however takes a much different route. I did enjoy this one much more.
It started off with some brutality that made me look away from the screen a couple of times. I am not a huge fan of the graphic blood and gore in the franchise, but that is something that I have never been much of a fan of.
What was different with this movie compared to the first one was the protagonists. Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) were two characters that I really enjoyed. I thought both of them had much more development than any character in the original and I wanted to see them survive the movie. It was nice to have some characters to root for.
Now, the third act was weird and magically bizarre and I am not sure if I loved how things happened, although the conclusion to the movie was oddly satisfying.
I did like this film better than the first one. It was still too long, but I was cheering for Sienna and Jonathan the whole time. Maybe I can watch Terrifier 3 for next year’s October 13.
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #46
#46
Peacemaker
Who would have thought that giving a TV show to John Cena as the DC “villain” Peacemaker was a good idea? Well, James Gunn did. And he was 100% right.
John Cena had appeared as Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, a film directed by James Gunn in the DCEU. He was impressive in the film and he wound up with the show. There were low expectations for the HBO Max show. It far exceeded anything that I expected.
John Cena gave his best performance since coming to Hollywood to be an actor, leaving behind his job as a WWE Superstar. The secondary characters, many from The Suicide Squad too, were all fantastic.
Other cast included Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, Danielle Brooks, Steve Agee, Robert Patrick, Nhut Le, and Frank Grillo. Season one included a great performance from Chukwudi Iwuji as Clemson Murn.
What is impressive with peacemaker is the first season featured a story about “Project Butterfly” which dealt with mind controlling aliens. Season two was dealing with the multiverse and was a lot of character development. The fact that the show could give us two very different seasons, both very effective, is a testament to the show and the creatives behind it.
The show caught the attention of the fans with a choreographed dance sequence as the show’s opening credits that blew everyone away. Season one used the song “Do Ya Wanna Taste It” by Wig Wam and season two changed the song to “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #40
Spoilers
“Touch”
This week as a good episode. The show focused in on Theo, both as a young girl and an adult, dealing with her ability to see visions when she touched someone.
Her mother called it being “sensitive,” but it was clearly a skill that Theo was not happy about. This is the reason behind the gloves Theo would wear.
We see a plot line involving a little girl named Kelsey who came to see Theo professionally. She spoke about “Mr. Smiley” and she seemed to be so close to Theo that Theo had trouble even reading her. This was a hard plot point as it turned out that Mr. Smiley was Kelsey’s foster father and Theo was able to get him arrested. It was a painful set of scenes.
Not quite as powerful or painful as when Theo went to see the body of Nell. Theo gave a pain-filled cry after she laid her hands on the body.
I am still placing characters, but I think this was the best week yet of knowing who was who. McKenna Grace, who played young Theo, did an exceptional job this episode.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 