After seven successful episodes, the finale of season two of Peacemaker felt a little flat.
Episode seven was sensational. Episode eight just felt like a lot of wrap up/falling action. We get some flashbacks to Chris and Harcourt’s relationship, but none of those had as much energy as some of the other scenes.
The whole Chris depression angle was over quickly. He wanted to be left in jail. Then, when he was bailed out, he was going to leave town. Soon, the 11th Street Kids found him and talked him into working together.
The whole crew got together to set up an organization, which also included Judomaster and Agent Langston Fleury and Sasha Bordeaux. Now, there are no real reasons why Judomaster and Fleury join up with the 11th Street Kids. Sasha was at least shown to have lost her belief in Flagg.
Flagg used the door Chris had given him to find a planet to use as a prison. He found the planet of Salvation, which is tied to Darkseid in a way. I am not that familiar with DC Comics material like I am with Marvel, when Chris is stranded by Flagg Sr. in a moment of pure revenge, it looks like something that will be major in the DCU.
The finale was not what I was expecting and I was a little disappointed. James Gunn had mentioned a big cameo and I am not sure what that was (maybe it was the planet Salvation). This did not feel like a finale of a series. It does feel like this set up for future stuff instead of a conclusion for season two.
It is Thursday and that means it is time for the cover of the week. We are nearing the end of 2025, and we have a blow out going on in the cover competition. Unless there is some insane push of an artist doing brilliant work over the next two months, it’s a race for the silver and bronze medal at the end of the year as of now.
This week we have two variant covers from three different comic companies.
Also-Rans: High Strangeness #1, The Department of Truth #0, Marvel Knights: The Punisher #1, Marvel: Black, White & Blood and Guts #1, SIKTC: A Monster Hunter Walks into a Bar #1, Red Book #1, DC KO #1 (two variants from the Blind Bag).
Bronze Medalist
Harley Quinn x Elvira #1
Variant Cover E
Cover art by Mark Spears
Mark Spears with yet another medal in 2025, with this lovely cover featuring two iconic females. Oh, and what exactly is Harley Quinn staring at? Beautiful purple background keeps these two ladies bursting out…
Silver Medalist
Super Creepshow #1
Cover art by Pye Parr
I love this Dark Knight Returns homage cover. The flashing lightning in the background against the dark blue of the evening sky is an iconic image and is extremely effective in the imagery of this cover.
Gold Medalist
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #3
Variant cover B
Cover art by Juan Ferreyra
Saw this variant cover on the stand and I had to have it. Such an awesome image of Superman coming through the years, facing off with the Kryptonite right before him.
Star Wars has had several Disney + shows, but few have reached the heights popularity-wise as The Mandalorian.
There is one major reason why the show became such a massive hit. It was the sudden appearance of a little creature who became known as Baby Yoda.
Baby Yoda was a phenomenon and you could not turn around without seeing the little character.
The relationship between Din Djarin, our titular character, and Baby Yoda, whose name was revealed to be Grogu, is the central heartbeat of this show. Grogu is more than just cute (though that is clearly a superpower). He has a real emotional entanglement with Din and it has provided three seasons of Star Wars goodness.
Jon Favreau created this space Western and will be directing the feature film that will serve to continue the story of the Mandalorian and his little buddy.
The show has had some major memorable moments including the return of Luke Skywalker, the live-action Ahsoka, and appearance of the other major Mandalorian, Boba Fett.
My little town of Maquoketa, Iowa recently lost a legend as John Frederick Marlowe, known as Jack, passed away Saturday morning, October 4th.
Jack was an icon in this area. One of the most beloved individuals I have ever met. Jack wrote for the Maquoketa Sentinel-Press, the local newspaper, for decades, as a sportswriter. Jack had a love for sports and a head for stats and number that was unmatched. His encyclopedic knowledge of local sports was amazing. Just talking with Jack about high school sports was an experience where you would always come out amazed.
Jack would be embarrassed with that last paragraph because he was one of the most humble people I have ever had the pleasure to know. He would laugh it off, with that loud and bombastic laugh, and redirect the discussion away from himself. It was not in Jack’s nature to make anything about himself. It was yet one more appealing trait of him.
Every time I would see Jack, he would greet me with a big smile and he’d ask me about my own coaching, especially when I was coaching the team sponsored by the newspaper. Jack was always so kind and genuine, that you knew that he was truly interested in what you had to say.
I felt honored to have played basketball in the Marlowe barn, adding my name to the wall with a list of unbelievable people. Sadly, the barn no longer existed, but the memories will always be there.
Jack worked at the Maquoketa Sentinel Press for 55 years, including writing his own column “Sports Slants” in which Jack mentioned me a few times (which was always such a thrill). Even when he retired as an active sportswriter, Jack would continue with his column. Retirement was not something Jack did well. I remember seeing Jack delivering Sentinel-Press newspapers to local gas stations. He wanted to remain active.
Jack was an award winning writer and a local legend. The town held him in such high esteem that he was inducted into the Maquoketa High School Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Maquoketa Community High School Athletic Complex, which included baseball/softball fields and a track, was named the Jack Marlowe Athletic Complex in his honor.
The plague at the Jack Marlowe Athletic Complex read, “A 1953 Maquoketa High School Graduate, Hall of Fame Sportswriter and lifelong resident of Jackson County who dedicated his life to highlighting the accomplishments of others while avoiding the spotlight for himself.”
Jack Marlowe loved this community almost as much as the community loved him. He will be missed. Rest in peace, Jack.
Eleven seasons on NBC. Cheers was iconic. Low ratings in its early seasons could not stop it. It became one of the staples for NBC’s comedy lineup in the 1980s-1990s.
Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows created the show about a former baseball relief pitcher who now runs a Boston bar. Sam Malone was a womanizer and admired by all until Diane Chambers walked through the door.
The show was able to survive one of its main leads leaving. In fact, after Shelley Long departed the show, Cheers took off critically and successfully.
The cast was an absolute gem with Ted Danson, Shelley Long, George Wendt, Woody Harrelson, John Ratzenberger, Kelsey Grammar, Kirstie Alley, Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Perlman, Bebe Neuwirth, and Paul Wilson.
Cheers had a spin off entitled Fraiser, which was perhaps even more successful. It had young magician/comedian Harry Anderson who, while not a direct spinoff, took his basic character to a show called Night Court.
Cheers was always funny. It showed us the lives of a group of characters that we cared about and that we were entertained by. It also had one of the best themes around.
This is the first time that I used one of the October 13 to watch a movie from the same year. I have usually specified that the October 13 would be from prior years, but this was one of the movies that I was excited to see. Since it came free on streaming just recently, I thought this would be an excellent exception. And boy howdy, was it an excellent exception.
I do enjoy a good shark movie. However, there are rarely too many that could be defined as good. Obviously Jaws is the king of all shark movies. Jaws 2 does not get the love it should. There is Open Water (which is not as much of a shark movie as a lost at sea with sharks movie), and the epic Samuel L. Jackson death scene in Deep Blue Sea. Blake Lively’s The Shallows was good, and last year’s Under Paris was tense. After that, the pickings are rather slim.
You can add another winner to that list with Dangerous Animals. It was an awesome film that did not make the shark into the antagonist. There was a much worse antagonist on the ship.
According to IMDB, “When Zephyr, a savvy and free-spirited surfer, is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer and held captive on his boat, she must figure out how to escape before he carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below.“
This was extremely intense and suspenseful. Hassie Harrison played Zephyr, a loner whose one night stand with Moses (Josh Heuston) gave her a moment of joy. Unfortunately, she was grabbed by Tucker (Jai Courtney), who had his own plans for her.
Hassie Harrison was awesome as this bad ass. She fought with every ounce of energy she had to avoid being fed to the sharks and she was great. Jai Courtney was as slimy and horrendous of a character as I have seen on the screen in a long time. The war between Zephyr and Tucker kept me glued through every minute of the 98 minute run time.
I loved the ending, which was very satisfying and portrayed the shark in a wholly unusual light. The shots of the shark were great despite the low budget feel of this Australian/USA co-production. The score worked so well helping to build the tension. The overall look and design of this film was very strong and I enjoyed this one a lot.
I was able to stream this on Prime. I would absolutely recommend those who love the shark movie, give this one a try.
The role playing troop returns to YouTube with their third volume (“season”) of their game. The pReview’d boys, Jay Schmidt and Adam Lash, who have been reacting to shows and movies for the last few years, brought their gaming group for two seasons of playing Dungeons & Dragons to YouTube.
However, season three is now different as they have a sponsor. Their new sponsor is Darrington Press, and they announced that they would be starting a new role-playing game. Instead of D & D, this season, they are playing in the Daggerheart system.
They are all learning the new system and it is an exciting new challenge for the group who are so enjoyable with their characters and their skilled playing of these characters.
Along with the pReview’d boys, the other players include the Game master David Armstrong, and players Amanda Nichols, Ja-Ron Young, Josh Hurley, and Jason Spina.
This has always been so fun and I am looking forward to the rest of this season.
I can’t believe this season of Murders in the Building is up to episode seven already. It has gone very quickly and it has been fabulous.
We returned to the billionaires as suspects as Oliver, Charles and Mabel got a tip from the Mayor (Keegan-Michael Key) who dropped a hint about Bash Steed.
The episode kicked off by seeing Oliver seemingly confused and scared, coming up to an unknown couple in a country area. There had been a silver alert sent out about a man with a purple scarf.
It was a weird beginning, but it made total sense later after we went back over the events that happened leading up to this.
Our podcasters arrived at Bash Steed’s mansion and met his oddball son. Oliver’s belief that everything was like a horror film made this all the funnier and would lead to his deserting of the case.
They found Bash Steed, Camila White, and Jay Pflug playing Operation, which was strange. Apparently, they play games to challenge each other and take out their frustrations.
They split up again, and Charles’s interactions with Bash were sensational. Steve Martin and Christoph Waltz have amazing chemistry with each other and they bounced the dialogue off each other brilliantly.
Charles and Mabel are able to recover the finger, which was what the billionaires were playing for. Turned out that it was about who would get to have the casino bid. Jay told Mabel that the finger was more dangerous than she knew.
Great cliffhanger too as we learn that Camila White was the person who had made the offer for Oliver’s apartment because she wanted to turn the Arconia into the casino.
This was a fabulous episode and it was excellent seeing the three back together facing off with the three billionaires once again.
The Minnesota State Screaming Eagles is the fictional college football team led by Hayden Fox. This is the basis for the ABC sitcom Coach.
Craig T. Nelson played Hayden Fox, a character based somewhat on the Univeristy of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry. The comedic pairing of Nelson and Jerry Van Dyke, who played Fox’s assistant coach Luther, was sensational. Nelson was more the straight man, but they worked together so well.
Along with Nelson and Van Dyke, the cast included Shelley Fabares, Clare Carey, Bill Fagerbakke, Kenneth Kimmins, Pam Stone, Georgia Engel, and Kris Kamm.
Coach went 9 seasons on ABC and fit in with some great comedy blocks.
I have so many comics this week. Mainly because I went to the special anniversary celebration at In This Issue in Bettendorf and participated in their bag sale. Everything you could fit into a bag they provided for $45. I went both Friday and Saturday, and did a bag each day. Day one I had 90 books in the bag and Saturday, I was able to get 104 books in the bag.
I picked up 10 Amazing Spider-Man Annuals. I grabbed a bunch of Thor Vol. 1 in the 400s. Several cool independents that I never heard before. I picked up a bunch of variant Amazing Spider-Man covers too.
It was a fun couple of days.
New Books this week:
Spider-Man Noir #1. “The Gwen Stacy Affair” Written by Erik Larsen and art by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Simon Di Meo. I do like me some noir. Spider-Man Noir is even better. I liked this first issue more than some of the previous Spider-Man Noir stories and the arrival of Gwen Stacy is cool.
The Last Day of H.P. Lovecraft #1. Written by Romualo Giulivo and illustrated and cover art by Jakub Rebelka (Bronze Medalist). One of the more interesting new books from Boom Studios. It chronicled the final day in the life of author H.P. Lovecraft, and, of course, Lovecraft is anything but ordinary. Weird and wild and a lot of fun.
Gotham Academy: First Year #1. “First Day of School.” Written by Brenden Fletcher with art by Marco Ferrari. Cover art by Karl Kerschl. New comic that was giving me Wednesday (Netflix) vibes. Olive Silverlock is our protagonist in this new series. I am not familiar with her. I am not sure if I should have been. However, the issue does a nice job introducing her to me.
X-Men: Age of Revelation-Overture #1. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Ryan Stegman. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer and Marte Gracia. The next major X-event kicked off with this issue. The consciousness of Cyclops is pulled X years into the future to see the current landscape of the MCU. Doug Ramsey, aka Revelation, the heir of Apocalypse, has become a mutant savior and things are really bad. There are a whole bunch of new X-titles coming out during this event and I hope they are as enjoyable as this one. I am usually not the biggest fan of the alternate futures, but this has been good so far.
Pinupocalypse #6. Written, drawn and cover art by Andrew Tarusov (Cover B- Silver Medalist). So one of the biggest surprises of 2025 came to a close here with a very satisfying final issue. With all of the zombies, UFOs and other things, we have a homage to the Attack of the 50-foot woman. This was such a fun and enjoyable series. Maybe we’ll get some more one day.
Absolute Evil #1. Written by Al Ewing and art and cover art by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Stefano Nesi. I also got the foil variant by Riley Rossmo. A bunch of new Absolute versions of some villains become the Absolute Justice. There was a literal gasp of shock over one big moment. Big book.
Batman #2. “Robin Rides the Black Mariah.” Written by Matt Fraction with art and cove art by Jorge Jimenez. I also picked up the virgin foil of this issue too This issue is focused in on Robin, and the way that the Gotham PD is now going to be treating Batman and Robin. A great spotlight on Robin and his skills.
Rook Exodus #7. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Jason Fabok. Cover art (A & B) by Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson and (Cover C) by Kael Ngu. Rook Exodus is back with the search for the other wardens. Rook encountered some other wardens on the way. It is nice to have this Ghost Machine book back after a long intermission.
White Tiger Reborn #1. “Reborn” Written by Daniel Jose Older with art by Bruno Abdias. Cover art was done by Mike Hawthorne & Federico Blee. I enjoyed the story involving the White Tiger. We get the ghost of Hector following along the White Tiger, his sister Aya Ayala.
Amazing Spider-Man #13. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Pepe Larraz. Cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. After not seeing him last issue, we go into space with Peter as he tries to keep everyone safe as always. Pete tries to convince the others to remain non-lethal.
Gunpowder Prophets #1. Written by Justin Jordan and art and cover art by Patrick Piazzalunga. A new Mad Cave book debuted this weekend with yet another winner. Huck and Marley are for hire, and they bring the violence. I liked this new pair with Marley being the big bad. I am intrigued to see what is next.
Ultimate Wolverine #10. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alex Lins. Cover art was done by Phil Noto. Wolverine faces off with Omega Red and, in a shocking moment, wins. What’s in the box???? Wolverine pulls a se7en on Omega Red.
Speed Racer #3. Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art was done by Alessio Zonno. Speed Racer takes on Racer X. Nuff said.
Vanishing Point #5. Written by Mark Russell and art by Ryan Alexander-Tanner. Phil Hester & Ryan Cody did the cover art. This story had a definite Twilight Zone feel to it. It had a really good twist to it. It was very surprising end and I thought it was great.
Something is Killing the Children #44. “All Her Monsters” Part Four Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. We continue to see an adventure from the history of Erica Slaughter.
Other books this week: Good Devils: Don’t Play Fair with Evil #1, Deadpool/Wolverine #10, DC’s Zatannic Panic #1, Eat Your Young #2, Kill All Immortals II #1, Toxie Team-Up #4, Tales of the Shadowman #2, Ultimate X-Men #20, Red Hulk #9, and Look Into My Eyes #3.
Quick Hits: Our DC criminals continue to plot out their plan to rip off the Justice League in Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #3. I did not like the new Ghost Rider team up book, Spirits of Violence #1, so i will not be buying that one from now on. I picked up this cool Juggernaut cover for X-Men: The Undertow #1. I have been having a lot of fun with Star Trek: Red Shirts #3. It is a clever concept for a Star Trek series. The Justice League: The Omega Act Special #1 is a major kick off for the next big DC event, trying to save the DC Universe. TexArcanum #3 was one of the bronze medal winners this week as we had a tie. I was not planning on getting Starship Godzilla #1 because it reminded me too much of that horrendous arc when the Hulk was a ship, right after the epic Immortal Hulk run. However, I loved the Star Wars homage cover so I picked it up anyway. I do not plan on continuing it either. Speaking of Star Wars, Star Wars #6 was out this week. Be Not Afraid #4 is a bit confusing, but a good looking book. Sam & Twitch Case Files #18 was a solid book this week and the New Avengers #5 brought the evil Reed Richards clone down. Big week.
The show that the Emmys think is a comedy is the next show up on the list. The Bear has had four seasons of intense drama and a few laughs as we follow a chef trying to start up his own fancy restaurant.
Carmy returned to his family sandwich shop after his brother committed suicide with a dream of turning the restaurant into a four-star eatery. He is surrounded by a crew of eccentric characters who both help and hinder the process. Carmy deals with his own anger issues over family, friends and the pitfalls of being a small business owners.
Lots of laughs there, right Emmys?
The cast of The Bear is fire. Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jon Bernthal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Oliver Platt, Matty Matheson, Lionel Boyce, Abby Elliott, Edwin Lee Gibson, Liza Colón-Zayas and Molly Gordon are among the great ensemble.
The show is also well known for famous actors doing small roles and cameos. Some of these actors include Will Poulter, Rob Reiner, Joel McHale, Olivia Colman, Robert Townsend, Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, and Alex Moffat.
For me, the first two seasons were remarkable. Season three was a bit of a step back, but season four recaptured a lot of what made this series special.
I watched two more episodes of Sha Na Na on YouTube tonight and it has become apparent that the first season of this show had the same strength and weaknesses in them.
Strengths: The songs are great. Specifically, the songs the group does on the stage in front of the studio audience. Donny did a cool rendition of “Come and Go With Me” and led the singing in “Rock Around the Clock.” Johnny, whose voice is so heavenly, did “Teen Angel” and gives an epic sob in the middle. Then, one of the best street songs so far was “Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do” with Donny and Chico taking the main part of the song. This was one of the better choreographed songs so far. Great basketball pass at the end of the song from Santini too.
Weaknesses: Comedy. The comedy on the show just feels too forced. I hate the crowd noises they add because there are several times where it just intrudes on the song. In the comedy song bit “Along Came Jones” the can laughter and applause made it hard to hear the song. Pamela Myers’s acting in this song was atrocious (though she was a Tony-nominated actress). I do not think I have laughed once with the back stage skits from Kenneth Mars, Philip Roth or Jane Dulo. At least Avery Schreiber’s cab driver character has a few laughs.
Two comedians were the guest stars on these episodes with Charles Nelson Reilly and Phyllis Diller. Both had some good moments. I am a big fan of CNR, especially during his days on the Match Game, which he referenced in the episode.
I remember being a fan of Lennie Baker as a child. Being a chubby kid, I related to Lennie. I have to say though, watching him do his background dancing is always funny. Lennie has a tremendous voice though.
I have really enjoyed the musical parts of these shows so far, but the rest have been a bit of a trudge to get through. The music is absolutely the stand out from these talented musicians.
Apple TV + has had some great movies over the last few years, but I am not sure there has been one that was more intense or dramatic as the new Matthew McConaughey film, The Lost Bus.
The Lost Bus was based on the 2021 non-fiction novel, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson. It chronicled the story of a bus driver and a bus load of kids who were trying to survive the 2018 Camp Fire, one of the deadliest and destructive wildfire in the history of California.
The film was unbelievable. The tension and horrifying moments throughout the film was breathtaking. There were stretches of the film where I would not breath because I was so invested.
I do not know how they filmed this because it sure felt as if this bus was traveling through a real fire. The special effects are utterly astounding and created amazing suspense.
This bus faced so many obstacles, I had to keep convincing myself that they would not make this movie if the ending was tragic, but I wondered how it was going to be possible for them to make it out. The final scene with the bus driving through the flames was as nerve-shaking as you are ever going to see.
Admittedly, the characters were not that deep. Outside of McConaughey’s Kevin McKay, there were not very many three dimensional characters. America Ferrera’s school teacher Mary Ludwig got some moments of character development and Ferrera brought a powerhouse performance with what she had. Both McConaughey and Ferrera were excellent with the action roles. I should also shout out to the kids on the bus, who did a great job of seeming traumatized.
The secondary story of Chief Martinez (Yul Vasquez) was nowhere near as personal or powerful as the tale of the bus, and most of the times they cut to him and the other firefighters felt like a break in the anxiety, even though Vasquez does bring a lot to the role.
Fun fact: In the movie, Kevin’s mother Sherry was played by Matthew McConaughey’s real life mother Kay, and Kevin’s son, Shaun, was played by his real life son, Levi.
The Lost Bus was an adrenaline-fueled, action-packed tale of survival and heroism that looked epic and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I was squirming around and talking to the screen, gasping at some of the frightening things that were on display. This was an outstanding movie experience that would have been even better on the big screen.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 