Author Archives: Doc

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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July 24

Another big week of books. It just feels as if I should not keep saying that since the comics are just on fire right now, artistically.

Plenty of awesome Also-Rans this week: Mark Spears’ Monsters #2 (3rd Printing), Blue Palo Verde #2, Look Into My Eyes #1, Sleep #3, Rocketfellers #7 (not counting the awesome Fantastic Four homage cover), Absolute Wonder Woman #10, Geiger #16, Space Ghost Annual #1, Death of the Silver Surfer #2, Captain Planet and the Planeteers #2 (Variant), Vanishing Point #3, and Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 (variant).

Three variant covers in the medal round this week.

Bronze Medalist

Feral #15

Variant Cover

Cover art by Trish Forstner & Allen Passalaqua

Another great horror movie homage cover (The Conjuring, perhaps?) for this series. The feel of this cover is scary and it gives the tone of the book extremely well.

Silver Medalist

Vampirella: Armageddon #1

Variant Cover

Cover art by Mark Spears

Mark Spears is back in the medal round this week with the great variant cover for the new Vampirella book. I do not usually buy Vampirella, but Spears makes me pick it up. Again, the Monster Squad monsters make an appearance on a Mark Spears cover. It does not have a lot to do with Vampirella, but this is worth it.

Gold Medalist

Exquisite Corpses #3

Stealth Variant Cover

Cover art by Valentine De Landro

Look at this amazing cover for the new series Exquisite Corpses. The covers for this book have been amazing, but this might be the best of the series so far. The creepiness that it exudes with the beautiful red windows behind the eerie creature. Just love it.

RIP Hulk Hogan

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I was coming out of the comic shop in Bettendorf this morning when I saw a YouTube notification for John Rocha’s channel. It said “Hulk Hogan is Dead.” I was shocked and immediately started looking though my phone to see what this meant. It was a strange way of putting it so I thought maybe it was that he was metaphorically dead. But I found other articles about the Hulkster’s death from cardiac arrest in a hospital in Florida.

I found myself feeling very strange. I have not felt like this in a long time. When I was young, Hulk Hogan was one of my favorite wrestlers. I would have been a Hulkamaniac for sure. The years in the 1980s helped cement pro wrestling as one of my favorite things to do.

I went to the closed circuit broadcast in Davenport at the Palmer Auditorium for Wrestlemania 3 when Hogan wrestled Andre the Giant. I was so into this match and I was emotionally invested.

However, then I grew up. I started seeing Hogan as not just a character, but a performer who was an asshole. He was racist. He was a politician backstage, keeping others down. Someone who went into the WCW and helped bring that organization down.

I found myself disgusted with Hogan. When he came to RAW on Netflix in LA earlier this year and the crowd booed him out of the building because of his choices that he had made. Some blamed his support of Donald Trump, who he spoke for at the Republican National Convention, for the reaction of the liberal LA crowd, but I think that is too easy of an excuse. I do think the issues from his racist comments to his sex tape to other choices he made is what led to the booing.

Either way, I felt sad and confused about my thoughts of Hulk Hogan.

RIP Terry Bollea.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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I have been excited about this movie since the announcement that Marvel was getting the rights back to the Fantastic Four. To say that the previous big screen efforts to put Marvel’s First Family on the big screen were less than successful would be an understatement. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the fourth attempt to get these characters right.

Fourth time is definitely a charm.

I loved this movie. There were so many things that this film does well, but above all, this felt like the Fantastic Four that I knew from the comics. The adventure felt very much like an FF adventure. This was so great.

We jump right in to the story, without the need for an origin story, although the film does give us some background exposition to catch anyone up to speed in a very clever manner at the very beginning of the movie.

The film wasted no time in setting these four up as a family, which is perhaps the singularly most important piece for a Fantastic Four movie. Sue discovered that she was pregnant and announced the glorious event.

However, their excitement was short lived as a being appeared in New York riding a surfboard, heralding the soon arrival of Galactus, the universal force that would be consuming the planet.

The Fantastic Four head into space to confront the gigantic Galactus.

The casting of the characters in this film is pitch perfect. One of the most controversial casting choices was Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards. Pascal, who has been in a ton of movies lately, does an incredible job of becoming Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic. I believe that Pascal loses himself in the role and truly embodied Reed. You could believe that Reed was a super genius, but still had his own issues, among others , guilt and self-frustration over perceived failures.

Vanessa Kirby was great as Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman. She showed what a powerhouse Sue is in both her use of her powers and the presence that she provides. Joseph Quinn played Sue’s brother Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. This Johnny was less of a playboy as he has been seen before, though that is implied to be there as well, but he is shown as a much more positive force inside the group. Then Ben Grimm, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, feels like the heart of the team. This version of Ben Grimm is less of the brooding monster that we have seen before and more of a character who has accepted what his life was now.

The chemistry between the foursome is vital for the movie and they all work so well together. They felt like a family, from the relationship between Sue and Reed to the brother-like banter between Johnny and Ben.

The visuals of this movie was stunning. It may be the best looking Marvel movie that we have seen in ages. The imagery in space was as good as you see in any prestige project. I have heard others compare the visuals here to Interstellar and that is a fair comparison. To be fair, there were some moments of iffy CGI when dealing with Franklin Richards, the baby, but I am okay with that. No need to stress out a real baby in some of these situations.

Galactus is an absolute marvel (no pun intended). Voiced perfectly by Ralph Ineson, Galactus has come a long way since his days of being a cloud of dust in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. There is no reason that a giant purple man with antennae-like ears on a helmet should look anything but silly in live action, but this Galactus is positively sensational, if not, scary. This character was imposing from the second we see his outline in the darkness.

Another major controversy among those who want to make this a problem was how Julia Garner was hired to play a female Silver Surfer, based on the Shalla-Bal character. Those who complained about this apparently did not know that the comics did have a version of Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfer. Garner does a remarkable performance as the Surfer and anyone who wants to complain about it is just looking for issues to have. Surfer was powerful and compelling and did have a story reason for the casting of a female actor in the role, narratively speaking.

The story was filled with stakes and tension, and there were some scenes where I legitimately was not sure what was going to happen. I found so much joy in this as this film got these characters so right, truly for the first time on screen.

They did have some of the typical Marvel humor, but, to be honest, it was kept at a reasonable level. Again, in a film that could be very satirical, this was grounded, keeping much of the drama within the four of them. Even with Galactus coming to devour the earth, this felt more like an internal battle for the FF.

There are two post credit scenes. The first one being a major set up for what is next in the MCU.

The retro feel of the world that this team of Fantastic Four is set is part of the awesome vibe this movie gives off. A futuristic 1960’s feel was all over the setting and brought something different to the MCU. The choice to place this in the 828 universe instead of the 616 one was an excellent choice. It also gave the film a chance to really honor FF co-creator Jack Kirby. This movie did feel like a Jack Kirby style of comic from the 1960s.

Matt Shakman did a magnificent job directing this film. He had directed the WandaVision Disney + series which is still considered by many, including me, to be the best Disney + Marvel show of all time. Shakman brought that feeling of family as he did in WandaVision and there were so many clever visual shots in the film. I loved the way the FF used their powers. Especially Reed, whose stretching could look really goofy, but, instead, was very effective.

I loved this movie. The “It’s Clobberin’ Time” line had me in goosebumps and tears. I was so engaged with the Fantastic Four: First Steps that it is my current favorite movie of the year so far. I saw this in IMAX and, man did everything look great. I can’t wait to see it again.

5 stars

Murderbot S1 E6, E7, E8

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Murderbot is my new favorite program on Apple TV +.

I watched three episodes and I really wanted to keep watching, but I needed to pause and move along. There are two episodes left in this season and I will finish it off later this week or this weekend.

All the secrets are out. Sec Unit’s past came out as he was hooked up to Gurathin as they were operating on his leg. Gurathin had been shot in the leg by Leebeebee. Leebeebee was holding the crew hostage until she got what she wanted. As soon as Sec Unit returned with Mensah (after a scene where Mensah cut open Sec Unit’s spine to retrieve some wiring to fix their ship… it was tense for sure), Sec Unit blew Leebeebee’s head off.

That made the others a bit touchy, to say the least.

I still find the inner dialogue from Sec Unit to be hilarious. He provides questions that he does not understand from human behavior and, more often than not, he was right.

Everyone is still very much on edge with Sec Unit as they are unsure about his motives. When they all joined in to fight the other sec unit that arrived (after the two giant monsters had sex on top of the hopper, leaving an egg sac… weird, I know), it was clear that they were not going to be helpful in any way. Sec Unit had to fight despite them.

This is a fast watch and I really enjoy this show.

Stick S1 E5, E6, E7, E8, E9

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So I wanted to catch up on Stick, which is on Apple TV + and has episodes dropping on Wednesdays. I do believe the final episode of the season is this week, so I had five episodes to run through in order to get caught up.

Stick is such a great show and it is a easy watch as the episodes run around 30 minutes. It is also very well-written and compelling in a sport that does not truly entice me much.

Much like the F1: The Movie and auto racing, a film/show can be entertaining and engaging if it is intelligent and well-written, acted and smartly plotted out even if I am not a fan of the sport involved. I am not a fan of golf, but Stick is far more than just about golf.

The story of Pryce trying to help Santi to become the best he could be in the world of golf took a lot of turns, some that very not necessarily positive, but everything worked well.

That is, until Santi’s father showed up at the end of episode nine. That feels like one more major hurdle for the characters to overcome.

Some other cool highlights of the five episodes include:

  • The truth with Zero and Pryce’s deal coming out rocked Santi’s world. We knew that was going to happen when it first happened.
  • Santi and Zero have sex. This was surprising… especially with Santi looking for advice from Pryce. I really thought Pryce was going to respond differently and I liked the uncommon response he had.
  • Timothy Olyphant is always a welcome actor in any show I am watching.
  • Mitts and Elena’s relationship comes around. I like them together.
  • We get more with Pryce and his dead son. The dream of Pryce with his son, Jett, was really hard to watch.
  • The whole scam to try and get Santi into a pro PGA tournament was strange, but cool.

There was a lot of enjoyment in these episodes and I have grown to like these characters.

What We Do in the Shadows Season Four

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Season four of the FX show What We Do in the Shadows was next up. I liked season three, but it felt like a step down from the previous two seasons. What would season four be like?

I loved this season.

The end of season three sent the crew off in different directions. Nadja and Guillermo went to England so Nadja could be on the major vampire council. Nandor was off on his world trip. Laszlo stayed behind to raise baby Colin Robinson, who had come out of the torso of the dead body of Colin Robinson.

The first episode of the season wrapped these arcs up immediately, bringing them all back to the house, which is in a terrible condition.

Several great season-long storylines including:

  • Colin Robinson growing as a baby to a teen and so on.
  • The house and the damages to it.
  • The Vampire Nightclub- Nadja’s.
  • Nandor’s marriage and his Djinn (yes, he found a Djinn)
  • Guillermo’s continued involvement with the crew and his wish to be relevant.

My favorite story of the year was Colin Robinson as the baby and his growth, much like baby Groot from the Guardians movies. Laszlo took on a parent role for the baby, even though he was a terrible father. Guillermo stepped in several times to make sure that the baby did not die. Colin singing and dancing on the stage at Nadja’s club, his continued anger, his pounding holes in the basement walls with a hammer… all these things contributed to a wonderful arc for Colin. Or perhaps it was more of an arc for Laszlo, since Colin Robinson wound up exactly where he was when this whole thing started.

When Colin walked out in the finale looking exactly like he always did, it was a shocking moment. He did not remember anything from the past year. What was the most amazing things was the way this clearly affected Laszlo, who, though he remained quiet about it, was very melancholic over the loss of the boy who he had been raising (however poorly) over the last year. It was a subtle and deep moment for Laszlo that truly gave me some emotional investment.

My favorite episode was the surreal “Go Flip Yourself” episode that plays like it is a home renovation show with twins Bran and Toby Daltry. Toby is immediately eaten by Nadja, but the rest was as if the episode was on that show. It had a great payoff too as Brian Daltry, who led the whole renovation (as it was) turned out to be Simon the Devious and the entire Go Flip Yourself renovation show was set up as a scam to get his hands on Laszlo’s witch-skin hat again.

“Private School” was another awesome episode as they tried to get Young Colin into a private school. Nadja constantly hypnotizing the school headmaster to change their story was some comedic gold.

Other highlights included a face off with the Jersey Devil, Guillermo in a vampire fight club where he winds up fighting Nandor, Guillermo coming out as gay to his family in the most wild way possible, Guillermo’s boyfriend Freddie who Nandor developed a crush on and used one of his wishes from the Djinn to turn his wife, Marwa, into a duplicate of Freddie in every way. Then, having Freddie and Marwa-Freddie get together and cheat on Guillermo was horrible.

The finale feels as if season five may finally be the season of Guillermo as he took a bagful of money (that he had embezzled from the club) to Derek, the former vampire hunter club kid who was now a vampire, and asked him to turn him into a vampire. Is it finally going to happen? I do hope Guillermo gets what he wants because he has been such an MVP for the vampire house and he is always getting stomped upon.

Season five is next.

Smoke S1 E3

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Okay, I watched the next episode of the new drama on Apple TV + called Smoke with Taron Egerton. Last episode dropped a big bomb at the end of the show and I kind of expected more from this episode than what I got. Maybe something to explain why I saw what I saw, but that really did not happen.

We got more into the character of Detective Calderone and more about Freddy and his interview to be a manager.

A car got firebombed… seemingly by Dave?

Honestly, this was a slow burn (excuse the pun) episode that did not appeal too much to me. There was something with Michelle going to testify against her mother’s release from prison. It seemed as if the mother is the one who set the fire that Michelle had been caught in as a child. I’m not sure if we had known that before.

I was hoping for more from this show, but I do like the character development going on and I hope the big reveal last episode gets some more attention moving forward.

Murderbot S1 E3, E4, E5

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“Risk Assessment”

“Escape Velocity Protocol”

“Rogue War Tracker Infinite”

Okay, I love this show.

Five episodes in and I am fully in.

Sec Unit, played by Alexander Skarsgård, gives me Dexter feels. As he is narrating the show with his inner monologue, it gave me distinct “Dark Passenger” ideas as many of the internal dialogue revealed the true thoughts of the rogue unit.

I am glad that the fact that Sec Unit was rogue was revealed and did not continue to be a cover up. He revealed it in a heroic manner by trying to kill itself before he was taken over by the implant that was inserted into his head by another Sec Unit. Having the crew help remove the implant was a cool trick and surprised Sec Unit.

I hope they give Sec Unit another name soon, because I don’t like typing “Sec Unit” all the time.

It was hilarious when Ratthi tested Sec Bot’s knowledge of Sanctuary Moon to see if Sec Unit had been using the show to transmit secret messages as Gurathin believed. It was a very geeky solution.

The arrival of Leebeebee (Anna Konkle) is someone whom I absolutely do not trust. There are just too many side-eyes given by this character for me to believe that she was just o the “laundry” of the other survey team. There is more to this character than we know yet.

These episodes, at least four and five, have been ending with a great cliffhanger that make me want to continue on in the binge. I am trying to keep from watching the final five episodes of the first season, as I have some of the other shows that I want to get in too.

I am loving Murderbot so far. I think Alexander Skarsgård has been sensational so far and I do love the relationship between the Sec Bot and Ayda Mensah. Mensah is one of my favorite characters on the show so far. She is such a great person and a leader who will not just choose the easy choice, even if Sec Bot thinks it is a mistake.

This has been awesome so far and I can’t wait to see Murderbot continue.

Stick S1 E3, E4

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Spoilers

“Daddy Issues”

“Zero Sum Game”

Episodes three and four of Apple TV’s new series, Stick, starring Owen Wilson were really great. I have to say though I am a little disappointed with Pryce and his weaknesses that are coming through. He does feel manipulative in his involvement with Santi and he is clearly also a problem with betting. These will both come back to haunt him later in the season, I am sure.

I do like the first few steps between Mitts and Elena. The whole “Mitts is trapped beneath the bed” part of episode three was fun and was a good way to learn about who these characters are.

We learned specifically what happened to Pryce’s son as Mitts told Elena about it after she had made an off-hand comment about Pryce not knowing about kids because he doesn’t have any. The little boy died at 4 from cancer, which is way too horrible to even think about. Elena immediately made the connection between the loss of his son and the meltdown Pryce had on the golf course that ruined his career. I had inferred this as well, but knowing the details make it even more painful and allow us to understand where Pryce is coming from.

We are introduced to Zero, played by Lilli Kay. I had seen her on the IMDB page and I did not know who she was, but she has been added as a “love interest” for Santi. Not sure I loved this character at this point, as she was portrayed as a far left idealist with big words for the society around them.

I did not think that the deal made by Zero and Pryce was a good idea. It will absolutely explode on them later in the season. Why they don’t just stick to the truth? It is such a better choice.

Stick has been solid so far and I am looking forward to see these seeds that the show is planting grow as the season progresses.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #26

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Week twenty-six of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk takes a bit of a turn as we start our first documentary series, a two-part show originally on A & E (which I watched on Disney +) featuring the EYG Hall of Fame rock band known as KISS.

The first episode of the series was about an hour and a half and outlined the early days of the band and their struggle to rise to the top of the record business, all the while struggling with their personal turmoil and behavior.

The doc heavily featured new interviews from Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, but only had archival footage or interviews with band members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. There was a disclaimer that appeared in the documentary stating that Ace and Peter refused to participate in KISStory and did not agree with the presentation. That really triggered my curiosity. I knew that there had been issues between the band for years, especially with Ace and Peter, and I wanted to know why they refused to participate. Online, what I could find was that Ace and Peter refused because the amount of money offered was insultingly low and that they wanted final editing rights. I don’t know where that came from. Apparently, Peter Criss also refused to allow the song “Beth” to be used in the doc so that was in my head the entire time they were discussing the success of that song and how it helped propel the group upwards.

Peter and Ace were shown to have their own problems, specifically with alcohol and drugs, but I do not think it was done to the exclusion of the others. Gene spoke of his own issues, trying to put his ego aside while Paul spoke about plenty of his own troubles, including his anxiety over a birth defect he had with his ear. It did not feel like the doc piled on Ace and Peter. They definitely included how important they were to the band. Heck, even Gene and Paul admitted that the band’s sound did not come into focus until Ace came in to audition.

The feelings of the band were being made clear as they became more successful and started doing things like “KISS Meets the Phantom” or going more disco with “I Was Made for Loving You.” They addressed how some fans felt as if the group sold out as the success came fast. You could tell from the way Paul and Gene spoke about it that they felt much the same way, but they could not refuse it.

The clips from the Tom Snyder interview where Ace was clearly drunk were amazing. The looks on the faces of Gene and Paul were unmistakable and were painful to watch. The anger in their eyes was so obvious that anyone should have been able to see it.

The first episode ended with Ace’s announcement that he wanted to do solo work, and the band was definitely falling apart.

I truly would wish to have had more than just Paul and Gene’s voices in the doc, reflecting back on the history of this band. Peter and Ace’s absence 100% put a cloud over the documentary, even if it felt as if the doc did a good job of being balanced despite of their absence.

Next week will be part two of KISStory for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk and we’ll see where the band went from there.

Murderbot S1 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“FreeCommerce”

“Eye Contact”

The third new series for me to watch was also on Apple TV +. It is a sci-fi/action/comedy based on a book series called Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, specifically the first book of that series called All Systems Red.

After the first two episodes, I love this series.

What a great concept. Alexander Skarsgård played our title character, Murderbot. It was a construct designed from cloned human tissue and mechanical parts, and it was controlled by humans. However, this robot was able to gain his own thoughts and went “rogue.” It gave itself the name Murderbot.

Murderbot was purchased by a crew from the Preservation Alliance as a Sec Bot for their science mission to another planet. The company insisted that the crew had a Sec Bot, despite the crew not feeling the need for one. Team leader,  Ayda Mensah, was very much nervous around any kind of “killing machine” as she put it.

The story is told through the POV of the Sec Bot as an internal monologue tells us what he thinks about the humans… which was never anything positive. His snarky inner voice was one of the funnier parts of the show.

I am a fan of David Dastmalchian, who is a member of the crew, and the one most suspicious about the behavior being displayed by the Sec Bot (aka Murderbot).

Murderbot has a favorite TV show too, which is a sci-fi (Star Trek type) show that we get glimpses of called The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. This was an absolute blast as we see John Cho playing one of the characters on the show within a show. Clark Gregg was also there as was Jack McBrayer and DeWanda Wise. This felt very much like GalaxyQuest with this TV show that Murderbot enjoyed watching.

There is a neat mystery involving the planet that they are on as well and I am finding this to be a fantastic start to the series.

As I did not read the book series this was based upon, I am very engaged with the show and I am not sure what way it will go. I feel very nervous with the uncertainty of the Murderbot’s inner thoughts. “Stupid humans.”

Smoke S1 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“Pilot”

“Your Happy Makes Me Sad”

Since I currently do not have any active TV shows going, and having finished off the X-Files recently, I started to look for some new programs to watch. Yes, I am doing the season binges of What We Do in the Shadows, but I needed something to spread out over a few weeks to a month. I have started Stick on Apple TV, which was great. I then started another Apple TV + show called Smoke.

Apple TV + has had some great shows such as Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Silo, The Studio and Dark Matter. There have been a bunch of Apple TV + shows that I have not watched, but are fairly well liked.

Smoke caught my attention from the show synopsis: “When an arson investigator begrudgingly teams up with a police detective, their race to stop two arsonists ignites a twisted game of secrets and suspicions.”- from Apple TV + website.

I will say that after the pilot episode of the show, I was not sure how I felt about it. It was a slow burn for sure and I was just not sure if I was engaged enough to commit to it. However, by the end of the second episode, I was fully in. This show is currently active, with, I believe 5 episodes out. A new episode comes out on Fridays, so it would be nice to get caught up before the next episode is released.

Taron Egerton starred as the arson investigator who has his share of troubles and he is working with former marine and current police detective Michelle Calderon (Jurnee Smollett). Egerton is excellent so far in the show and the two leads have great chemistry. Egerton was probably the main reason why I kept going after episode one.

I do like the mystery aspect of this show, even though it seems that one of the arsonists is not much of a mystery. The second one has a massive reveal at the end of the second episode that makes me wonder what exactly was going on.