Being honest, episode four of Alien Earth was my least favorite of the series so far. It felt like an episode that is just there to build to things in the future. I wouldn’t call it a filler episode, but it just did not feel as if it had its own purpose outside of prepping for the future.
That does not mean that there were not a bunch of things that happened.
Wendy recreating that Alien language was creepy as hell. I found it very disturbing.
Then, at the episode’s end, we get the baby Xenomorph explode out of Hermit’s removed lung, but it sure seemed as if Wendy was treating this creature like a child of her own. That was another disturbing moment.
We hear about the “Five”- the corporations that were now the government of the world.
The sheep and the Eye-opus was yet another gross and disturbing image from the episode. Poor sheep.
Where as some of the previous episodes of this new series were tense and anxiety-filled, this was more of a disturbing episode that needed more than what was here. It was a slow burn episode with imagery that was designed to bother you.
I am sure things will pick up once again with the killer Xenomorphs.
This is the ballot for this year’s EYG Hall of Fame. I would love it if anyone here would like to vote. You may vote for as many as you like and as often as you would like.
Vote is open until Talk Like a Pirate Day (which is September 19, if you do not know).
I am trying to embed this poll on this post as well as my home page. I have nevewr tried this before so I hope it does not mess things up.
We are back on Sundays with the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Started back at school last week, which limits the amount of reading time I have. There is also a bunch of books seemingly every week.
I received my pack of number ones from the special sale that went on at Midtown Comics. I picked up a huge pile of books, mostly independents, that were fun to own. These include Sherlock Holmes The Dark Detective: Knights of Frankenstein #1, Spider-Man: 101 Ways to End the Clone Saga #1, The Future is ****** #1, Murder Kingdom #1, Stuff of Nightmares #1, NXT Takeover: Redemption #1, Voices in my Head #1, Long Cold Winter #1, Spectrum #1, Zenescope: Myths & Monsters Spring Edition 2025 #1, The Donald Who Laughs vs. Dark Brandon #1, Revolution #1, Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor #1 (SDCC Special), Union Jack #1, Sentinel Vol. 1 #1, Seven Years in Darkness: Year Three #1, Snaps #1, Holmes & Houdini: The Curse of Moriarty #1, The Airship #1, Archie is Mr. Justice #1, The Purpose Project #1, Snow Owl #1, Slingers #1, Night of the Slashers #1, and Teddy Scares #1.
Books this week:
Where the Body Was graphic novel. Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips. Brubaker and Phillips have teamed up for several excellent graphic novels over the years and this is another brilliant one. It is a story about a murder in a small area of a town and the cast of characters that lived there. The GN is told via several different characters giving their POV. It made it feel like it was a mystery documentary with older versions of these characters sharing their remembrances of the events. I grabbed this off Amazon Prime and I loved it.
Spider-Girl #3. Written by Torunn Grønbekk and art by Andre Risso. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. Spider-Girl gains a new villain called Paper Doll and she is sufficiently creepy. I have liked the new Spider-Girl so far and hopefully it will continue to provide her with her own group of villains and not just play off of Spider-Man’s group.
Justice League Red #1. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Clayton Henry. Clayton Henry and Matt Herms did the cover art. Red Tornado organizes a crew of Justice League Members for a clandestine group to handle events that the normal JL could not. So far we get Power Girl and a Green Lantern. The cover indicates that Deadman, and Cyborg will be joining them.
The New Avengers #3. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo. Bucky, Natasha, Clea, Namor and Wolverine try to recruit someone else into their team… Bruce Banner. Problem is… they have to go through the Incredible Hulk.
Drawing Blood #8. Written by David Avallone and art by Ben Bishop. Kevin Eastman did the cover art. After quite a long intermission, Drawing Blood has returned only to find Books in real terrible shape. Bad enough shape that he is considering ending it all.
Detective Comics #1100. 1100? Why hasn’t this been rebooted back to issue one? Such a huge number…. it has several Batman stories and my favorite one is the one written by Tom Taylor (go figure…). This story features all silence as Batman helps a kid who is deaf and who uses sign language.
Wolverine #12. “Mother and Master.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Wolverine faces off with Mastermind who has been pretending to be Logan’s long dead mother. It is a very emotional and difficult time for Logan.
Exceptional X-Men #12. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Federica Mancin. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. The search for the missing Kitty Pryde starts here after she fell into a portal opened by Reggie.
Escape #1. “Only One Way Out.” Written by Rick Remender with art and cover art by Daniel Acuna. Intriguing book from Rick Remender. It has a Maus feel to it. We have a story about a war and the violence that we commit. However, it is told with anthropomorphic animals in a very gritty and brutal manner. I am curious to see where this goes.
All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Marte Gracia. I also picked up variant cover D with cover art by Nogi San. I love the new Spider-Gwen book as she returned to her pre-symbiote and cosmic powers trip back to the days of having to deal with things on her own. Plus, she gets back on the drums. Very good start for this new volume of Spider-Gwen.
Nightwing #129. “Other” Finale. Written by Dan Watters and art by Dexter Soy. Cover art was done by Dexter Soy and Adriano Lucas. I also picked up a variant cover B with art by Jorge Fornes (Gold Medalist). The imp that has taken over Titans Tower storyline comes to a close here as one of the kids from one of the gangs plays a big role as a new “hero?”
Wild Animals #2. Written by Ed Brisson and art and cover art by Andy Kuhn. I loved issue one of this book, but I was wondering if issue two could keep up the excellence. I am happy to say that I loved issue two as much as I did number one. It is full of tense action and character development and I just enjoy it so much. Mad Cave has been one of the best publishers this year.
Absolute Batman #11. “Abomination Part Three” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Clay Martin. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. We get an entire issue dedicated to the story of the Absolute Bane. He is very brutal and rough in this world.
The Vision & the Scarlet Witch #4. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Jacopo Camagni. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. Vision and Wanda square off with the Grim Reaper. Vision is finding this more difficult than usual.
Amazing Spider-Man #10. Written by Joe Kelly and guest artist Michael Dowling. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz (Bronze Medalist). Spider-Man is acting way different than usual. Peter Parker has a new attitude. Something weird is going on… especially when we see Spider-Man and Peter face off with each other. Wha?
Black Cat #1. Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Gleb Melnikov. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes. Black Cat has to step in as a local superhero because of Spider-Man’s weird behavior. New Black Cat series with Felicia narrating the story… seemingly breaking the fourth wall. I do love the character of Black Cat so I hope this continues to be good. G. Willow Wilson is an exceptional writer so I am sure Felicia is in good hands.
Marvel All-On-One: The Thing vs. the Marvel Universe #1. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer and Marcio Menyz. It seems everybody these days are either vs. or killing the Marvel Universe. Deadpool, Godzilla, The Predator and now Ben Grimm aka The Thing. This is an interesting book as every page of the issue is a splash page making this one of the more original books of the week.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1. Written by Christian Ward and art by Tristan Jones. Cover art was by Jeffrey Alan Love. Inspired by the Paramount Pictures film, this was not a book that I intended on picking up, but it turned out to be a curiosity pick-up. It is a sci-fi/horror book with a pretty decent start.
Los Monstruos #4. Written by James Robinson and art by Jesus Merino. Cover art was done by Jesus Merino with R.J. Diaz. This monster noir featuring Perry Cutter, a werewolf private detective ended with this issue as everything played out, revealing the truth behind the mystery. I did enjoy this series from Dark Horse. It was an original idea and it was fun.
Space Quest #4. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Cover art was done by Mark Spears (Silver Medalist). The long delayed team up between Space Ghost and Jonny Quest came to its finale this week as Jonny was able to get back to his own timeline. This book suffered from the long issues Dynamite had with Diamond, but it is nice that it was able to finally wrap up.
G.I. Joe #10. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrea Milana. Cover art was done by Tom Reilly. Hey Cobra… look behind you! There is an awesome final page of this issue that solidifies what the book has been building to. Oh and Cover Girl gets murdered by the Baroness… psyke!
Exquisite Corpses #4. Written by Che Grayson with James Tynion IV and art by Adam Gorham with Michael Walsh. Cover art by Michael Walsh. The contest of killers continues in the pages of Exquisite Corpses. This is one of the most entertaining books every month, though I still have some issues with knowing who is who. Large cast books with all new characters can be tough at times.
Eat Your Young #1. Written by Brian Buccellato with art and cover art by Mattia Monaco. Another new Mad Cave book that sets up a wild new premise. Edmond Irons, the Alpha, has decided that, after 2000 years as the Alpha, he was ready to pass the mantel along to one of his children. Edmond decided to choose his successor, who needs to drink Edmond’s heart-blood. An amazingly creative premise and enjoyable read.
This Ends Tonight #2. Written by Gerry Duggan, Kelvin Mao and Robert Windom with art by Jae Lee. Cover art was done by Jae Lee & Tula Lotay. Bachelorette party !!! Of course, things are not going to turn out well.
The Department of Truth #33. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. This Hatman is a terrifying creature and I think it is one of the best new characters from this book.
They Choose Violence #3. Written by Sheldon Allen and illustrated by Mauricio Campetella. Cover art was done by Rahzzah. Laneka, Deidre and Karen head out west to track down another racist… only they find out that there are some troubles waiting.
Tales of the Shadowman #1. “Stones in a Glass House.” Written by AJ Ampadu and art by Sergio Monjes. Cover art done by Damian Connelly. Here was another new book that I saw on the stand and decided to grab for the heck of it. I think Shadowman was a character from Valiant Comics already, but I have never seen him. I really liked him.
Absolute Flash #6. “Absolute Flash Interlude: The Rogues.” Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art was done by Nick Robles. This must be the Absolutes villain week, because we had Bane story in Absolute Batman and in Absolute Flash we focus in on the Rogues Gallery.
Other books this week: Superman Unlimited #4, Toxie Team-Up #3, The Chamberlains #3, Dark Honor #4, Ultimate Black Panther #19, New Gods #9, The Seasons #7, and Endless Night #3.
Quick Hits: So I thought that Grim #24 was going to be the final issue of this series, but it looks like it has one more to go. It is the final issue of The Terminator with The Terminator #10. We get to meet John Connor at the end of the issue. Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #2 sees Dr. Strange help send Godzilla into the Negative Zone. I don’t think that is a good choice. There is stunning artwork in Hyde Street #8. Ivan Reis does a sensational job creating images that pop in the horror book. A little girl is saved in Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #3. I liked this little story from Krypto’s past. It was fun because when I was at Bettendorf getting my books, I had several dark and scary books and then I got Darkwing Duck #5. One of these things doesn’t go with the others. Luke, Han and Leia all come together in Star Wars #4. I am excited to see them together once again. It has been awhile since I had one of these books and Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #9 came out. The space epic of Imperial #3 is picking up. I am still not a fan of possible future stories, but Imperial feels different. Another beautifully illustrated book is Venom: Red, Black and Blood #1. Then Ghost Pepper #2 is full of action and has been a lot of fun. Psylocke #10 brings that series to a conclusion. The last few issues have not been great for me, but I did like the first half of this series.
Dexter is struggling with all of the outside forces coming into him.
Angel Batista’s obsession is making things difficult. Batista nearly caught Dexter in a kill room. Dexter found the ear pods Batista left behind in his car though.
Dexter failed to grab “Rapunzel” who did not like Hamilton. “Did you know they all rapped?” LOL.
Harrison asking for help with Elsa’s landlord.
Prater showed up at the site where Dexter was having dinner with Harrison. No good will come of that.
Blessing getting mad at Dexter when Dexter let it slip to Blessing’s daughter about her father’s past. Perhaps the rumors of Blessing being the New York Ripper, a twist that I would not be a fan of. However, his reaction to Dexter’s mistake made me think that there is more to Blessing than we thought.
However, it seemed as if Detective Wallace is filled with doubt about Batista and what he is doing. She did not respond to the story of the kill room very well, and she called down to Miami to ask about the Bay Harbor Butcher case only to find out that Batista was no longer an active police captain. Batista surely is looking shaky as his obsession with Dexter might be bringing him down.
Harrison had a night of sex with Gigi. I don’t know why but I just do not trust Gigi at this point. Maybe that is just the type of show Dexter is that I question anyone new, but I am just unsure about her at this point. I do hope she is not going to betray Harrison because I like seeing him happy for once.
I know now that there are two more episodes of Dexter: Resurrection remaining. Surely, there will be a confrontation between Dexter and Batista among those and I get a feeling that Blessing may have something in his past that we still need to face. I do hope that neither Batista or Angel wind up on Dexter’s table. Prater, however, I feel is destined for that table.
Lovecraft Country took a trip to Boston and found themselves in an Indiana Jones movie. Or perhaps The goonies instead. I mean, that sure could have been One Eyed Willy’s ship at the end.
This series has been fascinating so far as it seems to be shifting each week, between horror genre tropes and, this week, action/adventure movies.
It ended with a shocking moment too with Montrose’s apparent murder of the mysterious woman/siren that they found in One Eyed Willy’s location. I am not sure the purpose of any of this, but I am definitely intrigued to see where it goes next.
Another wild moment is the seduction of Ruby by the not-dead henchman of Christina Braithwhite, William. He had seemed to be killed when the mansion was destroyed in episode two, but William obviously made it out.
The whole, what I was calling the ‘Leap of Faith’ section of the episode was tense and had some pretty funny quips from our three adventurers trying to get across the gigantic cavern by walking a teeny tiny little board. This board tends to disintegrate as they are on it. It also has a swinging axe (‘Only the penitent man shall pass…’) and a locked door that they needed to open. These seemed to come straight from Last Crusade, if not directly, at least in honor.
Episode 4 was nicely paced and kept me on guard. I am not sure what is next, but I am excited to see where the next step takes me.
If you were not someone who followed box office results, you would not have any idea the answer to the question, “What is the biggest worldwide box office film of 2025?” The answer is the Chinese film Ne Zha II. It has nearly reached $2 billion worldwide, with not much of that total coming from domestic.
Ne Zha II is receiving a wide release in the US, which could push the film to join the $2 billion club.
According to IMDB, “After a great catastrophe, the souls of Nezha and Aobing are saved, but their bodies face ruin. To give them new life, Taiyi Zhenren turns to the mystical seven-colored lotus in a daring bid to rebuild them and change their fate.“
I am going to start off with the strength of this movie. It is, perhaps, the most spectacularly animated movie I have ever seen. Everything about the imagery on the screen was absolutely stunning. The images, the character design, the backgrounds, art design, the colors…. it was legitimately the greatest looking animated movie I have ever seen and that is saying quite a lot.
I usually prefer when a live action film uses subtitles instead of dubbing because the original voices tend to have the proper emotion. That is not usually the case with animated films that I have seen dubbed. Ne Zha II was dubbed with English and, if I am being honest, I was unimpressed with the voice over work. Part of that may have been how the main character of Ne Zha sounded, as he was screaming in that Anime manner, and I have never been a fan of that. None of the voices stood out to me and I found that a weakness of this version of the film. Of course, I do not speak Chinese, so there is that.
The story was a touch confusing, and that might be because this is a sequel to a film from 2019 that I had never seen. I think they updated that part in the opening exposition, or, at least, that is what I guessed. There was another part of the film that I did not love and that was the attempts at humor. I did not find most of the humor to work and I might have preferred them to stick to the action.
Speaking of the action, it was exceptional. This was part of the animation and it was wonderfully laid out and was amazing to look at in every battle. Everything was laid out perfectly and helped build the tension of the film and most of the action also helped to develop the characters.
Ne Zha II is a massive success and is one of the most visually stunning films of all time. It is also the most successful monetary film of all time too. I am glad that I got a chance to see it even the movie may have a few drawbacks when it comes to story and time. It was certainly worth the two and a half hours it took to watch it.
My school’s open house on Thursday made it impossible to get down to Bettendorf to get my comics, so I could not do the comic covers yesterday. Henceforth…Friday!
Then, trying to get to In This Issue Comic tonight was a nightmare. Between an off-ramp that I always take being closed and a wreck on the alternate path, it was crazy. Other cars frustrated the heck out of me and I may have uttered a curse word or fifty. I was battling the clock too since the shop closed at 5. I made it with about 30 minutes to spare.
Good week of covers. One variant. Two original covers. One of two covers by our cover artist leader for 2025.
Also-Rans: Hyde Street #8, Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #9, Superman Unlimited #4, All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1 (Cover D), They Choose Violence #3, The Department of Truth #33, Escape #1, All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1, The Vision & Scarlet Witch #4, and Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #3.
Bronze Medalist
Amazing Spider-Man #10
Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz
I loved the design of this cover as it is made to look like the Daily Bugle featuring a story on the “Brutal Side of Spider-Man.” I love the creativity of the concept and the design.
Silver Medalist
Space Quest #4
Cover art by Mark Spears
Another wonderful Spears cover featuring Space Ghost and Jonny Quest. There is a haunting look in the eyes of Jonny and the ghost-like qualities of Space Ghost standout beautifully. I love the smokey background and the colors too. Just an all around strong cover.
Gold Medalist
Nightwing #129
Variant Cover B
Cover art by Jorge Fornes
I saw this on the rack in Bettendorf today and this one too my breath away. I already had the A cover, but I could not turn away from this amazing piece of art. It wins a really strong week.
I watched the first episode of Peacemaker season two last night, but, to be honest, I was really tired and I dozed through a bunch of the show. It is not a criticism of the episode as much as it was how tired I was after all day at school and the open house that night.
So I woke up early this morning and rewatched the episode, and I am so glad that I did. I realized that I actually dozed through the entire bit with Chris (Peacemaker) and his father and his brother Keith in the alternate universe, which is a major piece of the episode.
Before we go on, let’s talk the most important part… the dance routine on the opening credits. I have to say, my first thoughts were that I did not love it as much as I did last year. While I did enjoy it, and the dancing of the cast was as corny and over-the-top as ever, I feel as if the song this season, “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam, does not reach the level of awesomeness as “Do Ya Wanna Taste It?” by Wig Wam. That is just a personal preference, and I will say that I found it more entertaining the second time, so perhaps this will be a song that will grow on me as the season progresses whereas last season’s song grabbed me immediately.
Moving on, I thought this episode was really strong and highlighted more of the character aspects of the cast, especially Chris, Economos, and Harcourt. Chris’s entire storyline with the alternate world Peacemaker was amazing. The scene where Chris sat silently as his dad and Keith talked was powerful and a bit sad. I wonder if, in this universe, his dad is not the racist piece of garbage that was displayed last season. They do seem to be working together as a trio.
There was less about Adebayo and Adrian Chase (Vigilante) though they do appear in good scenes complimenting the other performances. I expect more from both before the season ends.
Also, shout out to the Bludhaven reference made during the episode. Bludhaven is the city outsie of Gotham where Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing, resides.
Another major switch came in the “Previously on” section at the beginning of the episode where they made a couple of adjustments to scenes from seaosn one. Specifically, we hear Adebayo make mention of the “Justice Gang” instead of the “Justice League.” Another switch was the iconinc scene at the end of season 1 where the Justice League shows up and we see Flash and Aquaman from their movie sides. Here we get the Justice Gang with Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl making comments instead. None of these adjustments bother me any and it makes me wonder if the plan is not to have Chris move into a different world, but to have Chris’s world be the actual DCU.
I know everyone was making the guess that Peacemaker would jump universes, but I think that is not going to be the way they go. With these few retcons, I think the story will be Chris goes to the happier universe with his cool dad and living brother, but he needed to return to his home world which is the DCU. I could be wrong on that, but I am calling it right now.
Peacemaker season two episodes drop every Thursday on HBO Max.
The third episode of Alien: Earth continued its strong start.
Wendy and Hermit faced off with a Xenomorph, after they had been isolated at the end of episode two last week. They take a lot of damage, but Wendy is able to show how tough she is as she cuts the alien in half with a knife. They learned about the acid blood of the creature.
Boy Kavalier is one of the creepiest and interesting characters of the show. Samuel Blenkin does a great job with this role. Every time he was on screen this episode, I pictured Tom Baker’s Doctor from Doctor Who. The hair, the scarf, the facial expressions. I do not know if this was intentional or if this was just a coincidence, but he definitely had Doctor vibes.
All the science and operating on the creatures as well as Hermit was interesting. It gave a distinct anxiety feel to it because you were not sure what was going to happen. It becomes clear that Boy Kavalier is looking to create his own Xenomorph as they take a little tadpole looking thing out of the facehugger and placed it in a vat with Hermit’s lung, that had to be removed to help save his life.
Morrow is a intriguing character too as he is making a connection with Slightly, with the definite idea that he wanted to return the specimens to his boss.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 