Author Archives: Doc

Sunday Morning Sidewalk#30

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Spoilers

“Holy Ghost”

Atticus, Leti and Montrose are back in Chicago after the death of George and things are stressed.

They have given a story about the cruel sheriff killing George, covering up the truth of his death.

Leti purchased a house that she wanted to fix up as a way to give a safe zone for other black people.

Atticus is trying to find purpose in his life, not sure what he should do.

The white neighbors are causing trouble, setting up their cars to honk their horns consistently.

This episode felt like a self-contained episode featuring a haunted house, and I enjoyed this one more than I did the crammed in feeling from last week. Plus, there were some really creepy moments with the ghosts in the cellar. And that elevator moment with the white neighbor… brutal.

This felt like a pause within the story and it is going to pick back up to the story as Christina Braithwhite is back and in Chicago, showing off her control of Atticus.

Good episode for week three of Lovecraft Country, the thirtieth installment of Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

Dexter: Resurrection S1 E7

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Spoilers

“Course Correction”

Dexter: Resurrection has been awesome.

Dexter: Original Sin had its moments, but there was nearly as many down moments as there were up ones. I did think about stop watching the show a few times. Even though I thought about ending it, I am happy that I did finish it.

I have not once thought about stopping Dexter: Resurrection.

This show is just fantastic.

The showdown between Dexter and Batista in the car was intense. The look Dexter gave Angel was sending those daggers through him. Even Angel was taken aback for a second before he regained his composure. It was a subtle moment, but definitely telling.

The serial killer summit is picking up steam as well as Dexter is able to kill off the Gemini Killer… again. The scenes with Michael C. Hall and Peter Dinklage gave the character Prater depth and helped explain the thought process for why he is hosting this serial killer party. I also believe that he had feelings for these killers, especially for “Red”.

There was also a great scene with Dexter and Harrison when Harrison went to apply at college and wound up in a class that was being lectured by Detective Claudette Wallace. The conversation between Dexter and Wallace afterwards was great.

This has been so exceptional.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #166

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August 15

This will be the final Comic Cavalcade that comes out early because I return to school as of Tuesday next week for inservice work. I have enjoyed getting this column out on Fridays or early Saturday, but with the vast amount of books I get a week, the time to read will be cut with school underway. We are looking at best case scenario moving ahead as getting the post out on Sunday afternoon or early the next week.

I got my first order from Midtown Comics in the mail on Wednesday. It was just about a week from order to delivery, which I think is fantastic. I got a bunch of books that were signed by creators. This included Exquisite Corpse #1 Cover B signed by James Tynion IV, Strange Adventures #1 signed by Tom King, The Lucky Devils #1 Cover L signed by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne, You’ll Do Bad Things #1 Cover F signed by Tyler Boss, We’re Taking Everyone Down with Us #1 Cover M signed by Matthew Rosenberg and Exquisite Corpses #2 Virgin Cover D signed by James Tynion IV.

I picked up a whole bunch of back issues of Mad Magazine in the #410 range. There were some fun things in these and I think I may look into this as something new to buy. gabbed

I grabbed a few series too this week. At Comic World, I picked up Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1-3 and a Peter Parker series #1-5. Cover on issue two of that Peter Parker series is done by Skottie Young, which was lovely.

Books this week:

Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #1. Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran. This series introduces a new group of Kryptonite colors and Superman wants to test them out on himself so see how they affects him. He goes to get help from Batman. This is a new Superman series from the creators of Ice Cream Man and it was great.

Pinupocalypse #5. Written, drawn and cover art by Andrew Tarusov. Pinupocalypse is such a hoot. Every issue is getting better with each issue. This is the penultimate issue of this series and Foxy and Roxy are back together. I will miss this one when it is done.

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #5. Written by Doug Wagner and art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillard and Michelle Madsen. The finale of the series turned out great as Rennie wrapped things up, saving her roommate Sofie. Sofie’s discovery of Rennie’s actions may be a surprising take. I really enjoyed this series from Image.

Giant-Size X-Men #2. “What You Are.” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Adam Kubert. Cover art was done by Adam Kubert & Laura Martin. The whole Ms. Marvel/Legion timeline shenanigans storyline came to an end. So the answer to whether they were changing history is answered here. Kamala remembered what happened, but the world at large does not. I am not sure why that was done. Most of these felt inconsequential. It’s fine.

Bug Wars #6. “Lost in the Yard.” Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson. Another series that came to an end this week as Bug Wars wrapped its story of the front yard up. Bug Wars was decent, but not my most favorite work from Jason Aaron. Lots of world building required.

Batman: Dark Patterns #9. “Pareidolia Part Four” Written by Dan Watters and art from Hayden Sherman. Variant cover B art done by Ashley Wood (Gold Medalist). This storyline wrapped up with the truth about what was happening. This issue is tremendous. Really enjoyed this arc.

The Slasher’s Apprentice #4. Written by Justin Richards and art and cover art by Val Halvorson. Riley is looking for ways to make the Hopton Valley Killer more relevant, not something that is thrilling HVK. She is online looking for ideas of other killers. One more issue of this series and I expect it to be a great finish.

X-Men #20. “A Civilized Discussion.” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia (Silver Medalist). Cyclops and Lundqvist wind up in a jail cell and have it out over their troubles. Definitely a lot of fun.

Lovestruck #1. Written by MC Foley & Don Handfield and illustrated by Alonso Molina. A surprising new series from Amp Comics (never heard of them before). The main protagonist accidentally runs down a man dressed as Cupid, and Cupid haunts her after that. It was an interesting start to the series.

Space Ghost #1. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Variant cover art was done by Alex Ross (Bronze Medalist). A new volume of Space Ghost kicked off with a new arc. Space Ghost has been a great book in the first book at Dynamite and I think this started off well.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #36. “God War Part V” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Marco Renna. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. I am very happy that this whole God War storyline with Miles, as well as the plot point of Miles as an avatar for the god Anansi has come to an end. It has not been my favorite arc for Miles.

The Unchosen #2. Written, drawn and cover art by David Marquez. After picking up the first issue of this series, I was underwhelmed. However, it did look good so I was going to give it another issue try. Issue two was so much better and I was much more entertained and engrossed with this issue. I am pleased with the way this has gone.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #3. Written by Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar with art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Tamra Bonvillain. This issue included the Ultimate X-Men in a book without the art by Peach Momoko. I do love Peach Momoko, but these characters looked so much better with them meeting Miles Morales.

Daredevil #24. “Rites of Reconciliation“ Part Five. Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Jose Luis Soares. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove. Honestly, the story was fine, but this has the most boring cover of the week. Daredevil and Elektra are working together.

The Ultimates #15. Written by Deniz Camp and guest artist was Von Randal. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. It is the Ultimate Iron Fist! He is very much like Shang Chi too. She-Hulk is ready to do some Hulk ass kicking. The Ultimates are building towards the Maker.

Cul-De-Sac #1. “Chapter 1: All That Eat Get Eaten.” Written by Mike Carey and art by Jonathan Wayshak. New book from Bad Idea Comics and, so far, these books have been hits for me. This was a very difficult book to find. Todd was only able to find a couple of copies in all of Des Moines. I’m glad he got it.

New Champions #8. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was done by Ivan Fiorelli & Arthur Hesli. This is the final issue of the New Champions. I liked this book but it was iffy with some of these characters. Too many that were just kid versions of the main heroes. Still, I would keep buying this if they continued.

Fantastic Four #2. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The time spanning FF adventure continues, and they try to get back to Doom. However, things do not go that well.

Other books this week: Transformers #23, The Power Fantasy #11, The Powerpuff Girls: Supervillain Summer Spectacular #1, Blood Type #3, We Don’t Kill Spiders: Season of the Witch #1, and Blood & Thunder #4.

Quick Hits: Another Godzilla book released this week with Godzilla: Here There be Aliens #3. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar team up. Captain Planet and the Planeteers #3 is working really well at Dynamite. The next book in the bad guys series is Bring on the Bad Guys: Red Skull #1. It is down to just to more of these books including Dormammu and Mephisto. Conan the Barbarian #23 came out with more excellent Cimmerian action. This week’s Zdarsky Comic News #14 was taken over by Ryan Stegman and he changed the title to Steg Man’s Health. The creepy story of Buried Long, Long Ago #4 really picked up more. I had been slipping away from this series a bit, but this issue pulled me back again. Laura Kinney: Wolverine #9 brings back Gabby for more action. Magik #8 keeps Illyana and Dani together despite some struggles. I had not planned on buying the series, but after I bought Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #1 I might have changed my mind. More corgi rescue action in Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #3. This felt like Groundhog Day. Baseball and vampire finished up in Past Time #5 with yet another great cover. Muse in Eddie Brock: Carnage #7 is great. I love Muse as a villain and he feels like a perfect villain for Carnage. I got a back issue from Todd of Silver Surfer #1 from December 1988 which is from Epic Comics. Disney/Marvel cross events continued with Uncle Scrooge: Earth’s Mightiest Duck #1. Finally, my least favorite Spider-Man book, Spider-Man & Wolverine #4 is out. I have really found this to be a weak series overall.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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August 14

Oh, it’s late, but this was a busy day. I saw three movies this afternoon, Nobody 2, Sketch and RiffTrax Live: Time Cop at Cinemark. Before that, I went to In This Issue for the Thursday books and spent several hours in the lobby of Cinemark reading those.

I then had to drive home and write the two movie reviews before I got around to the covers. However, it is still Thursday night (for about another hour) so I have time to keep this on Thursdays.

Two variants in the top three this week.

Also-Rans: Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #1, Bug Wars #6, Past Time #5, Slasher’s Apprentice #4, and Eddie Brock: Carnage #7.

Bronze Medalist

Space Ghost #1

Variant cover E

Cover art by Alex Ross

Last year’s champion comes out swinging with a great new cover for Space Ghost. I have to say there were about three or four others that almost took this one away from the medal round, but I just liked this image of Space Ghost too much.

Silver Medalist

X-Men #20

Cover art by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia

I live the storytelling of this cover, with Cyclops in a jail cell along with Lundqvist. The little bit of blood trickling from Scott’s nose makes you wonder what is going on and this stands out as we try and figure out how this cover came to be. Scott drooping across the bars of the cell give some more hints of the great issue.

Gold Medalist

Batman: Dark Patterns #9

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Ashley Wood

This variant cover of Batman: Dark Patterns just jumped off the shelf for me today. It is such a beautiful piece of art that gives a real insight to the story that the book tells. The brownish/tan cover implies age and it is stunning.

Sketch

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I saw one of the biggest surprises of the year today when I went to the family-friendly comedy/adventure/fantasy film, Sketch. When I saw that the movie company Angel Studios was behind it, I had a sinking feeling that this would not be my cup of tea.

Was I wrong about that.

I absolutely loved this movie. It was thrilling, exciting, had tremendously deep characters and strong performances. It had humor as well as wonderful themes and concepts.

It was very creative too, which I love.

We meet young Amber (Bianca Belle) as she was drawing pictures that concerned her teachers. Bringing in her father Taylor (Tony Hale) for meetings, they showed him the bloody, violent art that Amber had been drawing.

Taylor’s wife, Ally (Allie McCulloch), had died recently, and Amber was dealing with her grief and loss through her art. Her father was not dealing with it at all, as he simple never talked about Ally and took all the pictures of her out of their house. This led to Amber being upset and Amber’s brother Jack (Kue Lawrence) over correcting in an attempt to fix things.

When Jack discovered a magical pond that seemed to be able to fix things, he decides to try something rash. Instead, Amber’s drawing wound up falling into the water which brings the monsters that she had drawn to life, terrorizing the town and her family. The chaos surrounding everything forced the different characters to face their grief in order to get together to stop the monsters.

This was so great. I thought both Bianca Belle and Kue Lawrence did an amazing job as brother/sister. I believed everything these two were going through and they did it in, at times, a very subtle way. When you toss in a third child actor playing the obnoxious Bowman Lynch (Kalon Cox), the three kids truly brought out some of the best scenes from each other. Kalon Cox was hilarious with his b-hole kid.

Tony Dale is always great and he brought a lot to this role. He was worried about his kids, but he also had to deal with the grief of losing his wife and the knowledge that his own repressive actions led directly to the chaos that was going on.

The monsters were really cool looking and the way they would be stopped was such a fun way, with colors everywhere.

There are moments of true horror as well, including some jump scares tossed in for the heck of it. The tension would build through the whole film and you were never quite sure if or how Amber was going to deal with her own feelings. I loved Jack and his efforts to help his sister as a way to deal with his own loss.

The writing of this is tremendous as the kids are allowed to deal with their deep seeded emotions while still trying to deal with each other and with the dangers of the world around them. The emotion is not restricted to the adult characters here as Amber and Jack handle some strong feelings.

I did not know what to expect when I went to this as a way to kill time between Nobody 2 and the RiffTrax Live: Time Cop that I was going to. Where I expected just to pass time, I was thoroughly engaged and entertained by this fun, emotional, colorful, well-acted jewel of a film. I think it is one of my favorite movies of the year and that was quite the surprise.

5 stars

Nobody 2

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A sequel was released this week to a movie that did not seem as if it needed a sequel. The 2021 action/thriller Nobody received solid reviews, though it did not make a ton of money at the box office. It found Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul fame in the lead role of a docile family man who had a real violent streak inside him.

This weekend, Odenkirk returned as Hutch Mansell once again as a man who just wants to take his family on vacation to make memories. However, as per his luck, Hutch went to a little town where his father had taken him as a youth, and he discovered that there was more to the town than one would expect.

Odenkirk is great as the wrong-place-wrong-time former lethal assassin walked into a mess in the small town and his bursts of violent anger worked against his better judgment.

Other cast members returning from the 2021 film included Connie Nielson as Hutch’s wife, Becca, Paisley Cadorath and Gage Munroe as their children Sammy and Brady, Colin Salmon as The Barber, Hutch’s “brother” and Christopher Lloyd as Hutch’s father, David. This film added John Ortiz as Wyatt, Colin Hanks as Sheriff Abel and Sharon Stone as the big bad Lendina.

Nobody 2 is sort of like a mix between Rambo, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Zombieland (sans the zombies), with a flare of an R rated A-Team. It is extremely violent in the cartoony way and Hutch’s reactions to the terrible things he does are wonderfully fun. The story is very simple. It does not get much more than Hutch wants to go on vacation and he runs into criminals who try to kill him. He responds. That is basically it, and, truthfully, that is all we need.

There are some very funny moments in the movie and they mostly work because of the charisma of Odenkirk and the other actors. There are some creative fights and brutality in the movie. However, there were too many moments when the fights were tough to watch because of a dark look of the film or the bouncy cam. I could really do without the bouncy cam during the fight scenes.

The violence requires a lot of suspension of disbelief too . Hutch makes it through some very difficult moments and he does things that makes you wonder if this guy is invincible. He pulls it off though because of the way Odenkirk carries the character.

Nobody 2 is a fun sequel that should entertain those looking for silly action and rampant cartoon-like violence. I enjoyed the experience.

3.8 stars

Alien: Earth S1 E1, E2

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“Neverland”

“Mr. October”

A recent film from 2024, Alien: Romulus, reinvigorated a franchise that had seen better days. Alien and Aliens are two of the great movies of all time, but many of the films that have followed them did not build the franchise well. Some of them were even bad.

As I said, Alien: Romulus brought a new energy to the Alien franchise and, from that, we get a new series on FX/Hulu/Disney + called Alien: Earth.

Alien: Earth served as a prequel to the 1979 film Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver. The film is set in the year 2120. It focuses on Wendy, who was a hybrid, a human child whose consciousness was transferred into a synthetic body because she was sick and dying, and her human brother CJ “Hermit” who was a soldier and medic.

A space ship, piloted by a cyborg named Babou, crashed into the planet, causing its “specimens” to be freed.

It is not just the Facehuggers and Xenomorphs involved in this show. There are some other alien species on this ship that are now free and causing chaos. These new alien creatures are really scary. There is a leech-like monster that inserts something into your neck and, apparently, drained the blood from the victim. There was another one that we met after it came out of a cat’s head, pulling the eyeball from the cat. There were giant pods hanging from the ceiling and the characters on screen would not listen to me as I yelled at them to get away from it.

The second episode was really tense. While the first episode was strong and did a decent job of setting things up, episode two had me yelling at the screen. I was tense and anxious as I watched Wendy trying to find CJ, who was desperately trying to stay alive. CJ also did not listen to me as I yelled at him to get out of there.

I don’t know what Babou’s plans are, but he was not someone I found myself rooting for. His reactions were horrible and seemed to be the reason why the ship crashed in the first place.

The Xenomorph looked frightening. It felt like the same kind of special effects you would see in a big time feature film. The show looked great.

I am excited to see where the rest of this series will go. Episode two ended in a huge cliffhanger and I hope the series continues with this level of intensity.