At my school, I had a chance to teach The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton this year. I had not taught the book since 1999. After we finished the unit, we watched the movie. So over the last two days I watched the Francis Ford Coppola film three times. I knew that I had not seen this movie in a long time so I figured that I had never reviewed the film. This is the chance.
Honestly, I did not love this. My memory was that the first time I watched this, I thought this was better than I did this time.
According to IMDB, “It is 1961, and Tulsa, Oklahoma is divided in two along social lines. The youths of each side form gangs in line with these two camps: the working class Greasers and the wealthier South Side gang, the Socs. The two sides use any opportunity to niggle each other and whenever they meet, there is friction. Then one night, a gang of Socs attack two Greasers with a knife. This sets off a chain of events“
There were several things that bugged me about this movie. Top of the list was probably the performance from Matt Dillion as Dally Winston, which felt about as over the top as it could possibly be. His overacting really bothered me in most of the scenes he was in.
The second thing I noticed was the horrendous sound mixing. There are several times that I couldn’t understand or hear certain lines of dialogue from characters because of the music or because it was just too messy.
I also feel like they did not do a service to a bunch of the characters from the book. Sure, I understand they wanted to focus on the main characters, but Sodapop was neglected and he should be a more vital part of the story. I do not feel that they did a good job of connecting Johnny to any other character outside of Ponyboy and Dally.
I do think that C. Thomas Howell was excellent as Ponyboy, and I loved Ralph Macchio as Johnny. I thought Macchio was really consistently good for the scenes that he was in. I will say though, one of the moments of the church fire, Johnny moved through just like Daniel LaRusso moved through the storm in Karate Kid II. That was funny to me. Anyway, Macchio was really good as the doomed Johnny.
Patrick Swayze had some good scenes, but could have used more time. Tom Cruise was in the film, but he was basically a background guy. Emilio Estevez was in the film as Two-Bit and, again, was just a shadow of the character of the book. I understand there is just not enough time for every character to be illuminated, but I do think we should have a bit more from these major characters.
It felt too melodramatic for my tastes. It was still a decent movie, but I found it to be nowhere as effective as the first time I watched it years ago.
Up next in the Year in Review is the EYG Star of the Year. This can be any number of possible Geek culture individuals or groups that have been the standout of the year. Last year was Taylor Swift. We have had Marvel Studios win before. Lin-Manuel Miranda was another winner. Here are the previous winners.
EYG Star of the Year
Previous Winners: Gal Gadot, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Lawrence, Marvel Studios, J.J. Abrams, Josh Brolin, Damon Lindelof & Regina King, Netflix, Andrew Garfield, Tom Cruise, Taylor Swift
Some years have been a tough choice for EYG Star of the Year, but I thought it was very obvious which person deserved to win this award for 2024. I had this one figured out in July, and only waited to see if anyone else would exceed this choice. No one else did.
EYG Star of the Year for 2024 is…..
Ryan Reynolds
Not only did Ryan Reynolds have one of the biggest films of the year with Deadpool & Wolverine, but he also had the movie IF, which was a decent flick in the early part of the year. He has been everywhere and has become beloved.
The biggest outrages of this year on the internet had on major theme. I usually try an avoid this area on EYG, but this is the Don’t Feed the Trolls: Insane Internet Rage Scandal of the Year.
The Don’t Feed the Trolls: Insane Internet Rage Scandal of the Year
Previous Winner: Baby Yoda eats frog’s eggs (2020), Masters of the Universe: Revelations part one (2021), She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), Twitter becomes X (2023)
This year’s winner? One word.
TRUMP
And it could be any direction. It could be his supporters going after anyone opposing Trump. It could be the Never Trumpers who went after him. It could be Trump himself on Truth Social and his own hater-ade.
So much of the 2024 election was targeted, attacked, whined about on X or Truth Social or YouTube that it was nearly impossible to avoid.
I know I got tired of the constant bickering or hating or negativity, on both sides. Hopefully we can move forward and see…
We added this category recently, but backtracked to award some previous films the award.
Movie Musicals
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Whiplash (2014), Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), La La Land (2016), The Greatest Showman (2017), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Rocketman (2019), Hamilton (2020), Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021), Matilda the Musical (2022), The Color Purple (2023)
We had some musicals in 2024. There was Piece by Piece, which was a musical documentary, in Lego format doing the life of Pharrell Williams. Moana 2 is a huge box office success, but, truthfully, the music just did not hit as well as the original. That’s what happens when you do not have Lin-Manuel Miranda doing your music. Speaking of Miranda, he is doing the music for the upcoming Mufasa film from Disney, and while that is probably going to be great, I do not think it will match this year’s winner. Joker: Folie à Deux was a disappointment in a lot of ways, and musically was one of them. They really did not take advantage of Lady Gaga. Mean Girls was very forgettable from way back in January. Emilia Perez was a powerful movie, but I can honestly say that much of the music in this film, I do not remember. I do not consider Bob Marley: One Love to be a musical, though I could mention it as an effective use of music.
2024 Movie Movie Musical of the Year:
Wicked
Yeah, this one was easy. This is a massive hit and a tremendous film. The rendition of “Defying Gravity” in this film is goosebump creating. Both Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were stunning with their voices and made this iconic Broadway play a must see movie…even as a Part 1. Could this be foreshadowing next year’s winner too?
We are doing another Comic Cavalcade because in issue #127, I only had a handful of issues to do. I have covered the delivery issue with Comic World enough, but I received a call on Friday saying everything was in. I was very excited and went to buy it that night.
The books were Marvel and Independent and I had a light weekend of movies, so this gave me an opportunity to finish these up and do another post.
Thanks to Todd and Pat from Comic World for their work getting these available for selling. I am sure there would be stores that would just say they can wait until next week.
There was also the eBay update. I got Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #6 delivered to me the other day. I have just a handful of Peter Porker books remaining to pick up.
Books from this new order…and beyond:
Grommets #1-2. Written by Rick Remender and Brian Posehn. The art is done by Brett Parson. This was another eBay pick up. I had seen someone on Bluesky (love this new platform, btw) raving about this comic (sorry, I do not remember whom it was). I was curious about it so I picked up the issues on eBay. This is a very intriguing book, and very different than what I was expecting. Definitely skateboarding is vital to the story. I did like these characters, though I am not sure what I was expecting. I have more issues coming from eBay soon, so I do look forward to continuing with it.
Deadpool/Wolverine: Weapon X-Traction #1. Written by Ryan North and art by Javier Garrón. Javier Garrón & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. This one-shot was actually really enjoyable. Looking back, I see Ryan North as the writer, who I love from the recent FF run. I can see he can write Wolverine and Deadpool too. This was a hoot of an issue.
Wolverine #4. “Lost and Found“. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Wolverine is working with the new Wendigo to try and help the young kid manage his curse. However, Constrictor gets in the way. And something weird is going on with the adamantium. I am a big fan of this new Wendigo and I hope it continues on.
Blade: Red Band #2. Written by Bryan Hill and art by C.F. Villa. Cover art was done by C.F. Villa and Federico Blee. Blade is trying to deal with his life post Blood Hunt and he is on a mission where he encounters Elena. Some good Blade action in this book (though I once again do not think this necessarily rises to the level of Red Band).
Werewolf by Night: Red Band #5. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Jack Russell has been cast out of the Savage land and he has come across the one and only Bruce Banner in a huge coincidence. Red Hood and his band probably does not want to make him angry because they won’t like it when he’s angry. I got a kick out of it though.
The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #2. Written by Hannah Rose May and art and cover art by Vanesa Del Ray (Bronze Medalist). The president of the United States’ daughter has a problem. She is sick (or is she?) and her brother believes it is his fault. What can he do about it and will his religious leaders believe him? I have enjoyed this series so far very much. I like the POV of the President involved in this story. It is different than what we are used to. Different is always epic.
All-New Venom #1. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art (Gold foil) by Iban Coello (Silver Medalist). Cover A art by Adam Kubert. I really loved this new take on Venom. I have not read Venom in years, but this was intriguing. Who is the new Venom? Is it Madame Masque, Luke Cage, Rick Jones or Robbie Robertson? Weird group of suspects. I’m not sure if I have an inkling yet, but I do hope they do not just reveal it too soon. If I had to guess, at this point, I would guess Luke Cage. My fourth place is Madame Masque (which probably means it is her). Third is Robbie and second is Rick Jones, but that order can change at any point. I just think it is a fascinating idea to give the symbiote to the NY Mayor. We’ll see where it goes.
Red Before Black #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated and cover art by Goran Sudžuka. Val and Leo are out on an adventure… well, that is after Val recovered. Leo thought she was dead. This series has a Thelma and Louise vibe to it… and Winston, a baby alligator. I hate alligators.
NYX #6. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and penciled by Michael Shelfer. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee. Kamala and her friends are out on the town on their way to a Dazzler concert. She wanted a happy outing with her friends. Mojo had some different thoughts on that matter… and, let’s face it, a Dazzler concert is an invite for trouble (have you seen the Dazzler mini series? What did Kamala expect?)
Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #8. “Haunted” Part 8. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Ghost Spider is on the trail of the Black Tarantula, fighting the clock against a verdict in the case against a corrupt judge. Along the way, Gwen battles Mister Fear. Luke Cage guest starred in this issue too.
The Ultimates #7. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Hank Pym and Jim Hammond are out to see Tony Stark’s memorial. Lots of other things are going down with the world in seemingly crisis mode. However, the last page revealed the not-so-shocking reveal about the truth surrounding Stark. This feels like a building issue that may be leading to something bigger.
Hello Darkness #5. Another issue of the Boom! Studios hit horror anthology including another short with Erica Slaughter (kind of). Hello Darkness has been a nice book featuring some interesting comic horror, but I will say that I have enjoyed the James Tynion IV stories the most.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #27. “Webs of Wakanda Part One.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Federico Vicentini & Erick Arciniega did the cover art. Miles is on his way to Wakanda with T’Challa in the hopes of finding some kind of answer with his vampirism.
Holiday Tales to Astonish #1. Cover art by Luciano Vecchio. Three Christmas stories featuring the Fantastic Four, the Uncanny X-Men and the Spectacular Spider-Men and creator including Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, Daniel Kibblesmith, Pat Olliffe, Gene Yang, and Dylan Burnett. All three stories were fun, but my personal favorite was the present stealing Dr. Doom in the FF.
X-Men #8. “Raid on Graymalkin Part 1“. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman. Cover art was done by Stegman, JP Mayer and Marte Gracia. The beginning of a big crossover between the X-Men and the Uncanny X-Men series, as the teams head to Graymalkin (the former estate of Charles Xavier) to try and retrieve their team members. I liked some of the character work with the Beast in this issue. Things look grave moving forward.
Avengers #21. “Avengers vs. X-Men.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Valero Schiti. Cover art was done by Valero Schiti and Federico Blee. Yes, it is the X-Men vs. the Avengers… in a softball game! It turns out like kissing your sister… a tie! Who knew that Glob was such a great cook? Glob turns out to be the X-Men’s Jarvis. Oh, and Quentin Quire is a dick. We knew that already. The cover is a bit of a mislead… okay, more than a bit.
Avengers Assemble #4. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Valentina Pinti. Cover art was by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. The Aveng.e.r.s head to Latveria to try and prevent Victorious from doing too much damage trying to get into the dome around the country. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers gets turned into another animal. How many times does that poor guy have to get transformed?
The Art of Something is Killing the Children Companion. Cover art by Werther Dell’Edera (Gold Medalist). This is an art book compiling some of the awesome art of the epic Boom! Studios series. There are some of the greatest artists in comics today providing their work on Erica Slaughter and the excellent series. From Peach Momoko to Guillem March, some of the most beautiful work is on display in this book. It is stunning and any fan of the series and of just astounding comic art should pick this companion up.
Other books this time: Arkham Horror #3, Seance in the Asylum #2, Venom War #5, X-Force #6, Anansi Boys #6, and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #14.
I was struggling with this award this year. This is one of the most recent awards we give out during the Year in Review. It came around because I wanted to give Violent Night a specific award.
Here are the list of winners
The X-Mas Movie of the Year
Previous Winners:Violent Night, The Holdovers
You can see there has only been two winners so far. I could have gone back and retroactively given this award out to films such as Netflix’s Klaus, Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, The Muppets Christmas Carol, Scrooged or (sorry Bruce) Die Hard. Heck, I could have named this award the Die Hard Memorial X-Mas Award (I really wish I had done that).
Looking at the Christmas movies that I had watched this year, all I had was Red One. Red One was disliked by a lot of people. I did not hate it, but it was not very good for sure. There was an animated movie on Netflix called That Christmas which was in consideration, but sadly I only thought it was passable too. The second half of that movie was really great to be fair, but I was bored through the beginning.
I chose to go to a film today because I did not have a distinct choice for this award. It was a film that I had no interest in seeing, but had a great Rotten Tomatoes score. I had a lazy Sunday planned and there was a 9:15 AM showtime at Cinemark and I thought that would be a good opportunity.
The movie I saw this morning is officially the winner of this award…
Winner: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Based on a novel, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was funny, well written, and full of interesting characters who have to decide what Christmas means to them. This was a really solid movie and it works extremely well as the winner of the….
It was a strange path to arrive at me watching this movie. After seeing trailers, I had zero interest in going to see this Christmas movie. It looked very much like a Lifetime special and Christmas is down my list of holidays. I had pretty much decided I would not go to this.
Then I started doing the Year in Review and I realized that the only Christmas film that I had seen this year was Red One, and that was, at best, okay. It felt wrong to give it the X-Mas Movie of the Year Award so I watched an animated movie called This Christmas on Netflix. Sadly, it was just around okay too. I then looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and it was at 91% critics and 97% audience. This made me wonder if I should take this basically open weekend and go see it. It was only an hour and a half. How could that be painful? So even with a doubt in my head, I went to Cinemark this morning for a 9:15 AM showing.
This was really a good movie. I liked this way more than I ever expected.
Historically, I have not been a fan of the faith-based movies, but that is not what this is. This is a movie featuring characters who are being reminded about what Christmas means to them, and how important the Christmas story can be for them. It was about characters. And it was really well done.
Based on a popular novel, we are introduced to The Herdmans, a family of six children who were the biggest troublemakers in the town of Emmanuel. They were feared by children and adults alike.
At this time, the director of the local pageant broke both of her legs, making her unable to continue to do her duties. Grace (Judy Greer) volunteered to take over the job. Unbeknownst to her, the Herdmans decided to come and join the church’s pageant (to get the snacks they were told would come with it). The Herdmans, led by the scary Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), forced their way into the main roles of the pageant, which just happened to be the 75th Annual event.
This was well written, solidly acted and had some genuine funny moments. You can’t but help to like the antics of the Holdman kids, and you can see the diamonds in the rough beneath their surface, especially Imogene. Young Beatrice Schneider does a fantastic job in the role, bringing a humanity to this character that is gruff and unappealing on the surface.
I will admit to getting kind of emotional during the film. I was amazingly impressed with the kindness and unbelievable patience shown by Grace, who could have easily bowed to city pressure and dumped the Holdmans from the play. As a teacher, I was inspired by the way she reacted to these troublesome children and watching the Holdmans respond to the play and trying to answer the questions they naturally had (by a trip to the library) was awesome to me.
You kind of knew what the film’s resolution was going to be, but it was well constructed and still managed to tug on those heartstrings. This was one of those times where predictability was not a negative.
As a Christmas movie, this is much better than much of the sentimental slop that is out there and it gives us a chance to really question if we know the true meaning of Christmas.
A new Christmas animated movie arrived on Netflix recently entitled That Christmas. While I do not think that this was great, it certainly is a decent Christmas film and beats out a lot of the typical schmaltz that we normally get this time of year.
According to IMDB, “It’s an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone’s plans, including Santa’s.“
There were multiple characters and storyline from within this little town of Wellington-on-Sea, and, fact is, I was pretty bored through the first section of the movie. It took me awhile to come to be interested in any of those storylines. However, it must have worked on me eventually because I was feeling very moved by the third act and there were even a few signs of tears from the wonderful ending to this film.
The voice cast is excellent, including several great voices including Bill Nighy, Brian Cox, Jodie Whittaker, Fiona Shaw, Guz Khan, Rhys Darby, Freddie Spry, Zazie Hayhurst and India Brown.
The animation was well done, as one would expect these days. The colors and the brightness made everything better and the amazing work of the snowstorm in the third act helped build some real tension.
The film was mostly about the relationships between parents and their children and how they all fit into Christmas. Brian Cox’s Santa Claus and Guz Khan’s Dasher had a funny interaction through all of their scenes.
Sure, this is not a superb animated movie, but I did eventually enjoy myself with it. It did take some time for me to get into it, but once I did, I was pleased that I chose to watch it.
Clint Eastwood’s new film is called Juror#2, a legal drama/thriller starring Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Zoey Deutch, J.K. Simmons and Kiefer Sutherland.
According to IMDB, “While serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, a family man finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma, one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict or free the wrong killer.”
Without spoiling the film, there is a central piece of the story that depends on you accepting a HUGE coincidence, one that is really implausible, and I had a real difficult time suspending my disbelief to make this possible. This story element made it very difficult for me to enjoy the movie.
I thought Nicholas Hoult was outstanding as Justin Kemp, who was the titular character. J.K. Simmons was great but he was not in the film enough. Toni Collette’s character, Faith Killebrew, the prosecutor, was okay, but not stand out. Kiefer Sutherland played the worst lawyer I have ever seen on screen.
I began to get past the issues I had as the film went on, but I was not a fan of the ending either. It felt a bit anticlimactic.
I have not been a huge fan of recent Eastwood directed films, and this one is a mixed bag for me. I did enjoy a lot of what was presented, but the whole center storyline element just was too much for me to handle. Overall, it was fine.
Surprise. A second Favorite Cover of the Week post. As you know, the Wednesday order at Comic World only included DC books. I got a call from Todd today saying that “the new phone books are here!” quoting The Jerk, of course. The remaining part of the missing order arrived and I went down to pick them up.
Because of that, I am going to do a second group of medalists with these books.
Bronze Medalist
The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #2
Cover art by Vanesa Del Ray
Looks creepy as can be as a Presidential family portrait has a special shadowy hand crawls across the top of the pic, near George Washington. This has been such a successful book when it comes to cover art.
Silver Medalist
All-New Venom #1
Cover art by Iban Coello
You can never go wrong with some golden foil. The brand new Venom gets the special cover treatment with this lovely gold foil. Even his webbing looks to be golden too. Too bad the gold foil only got the silver medal.
Gold Medalist
The Art of Something is Killing the Children Companion
Cover art by Werther Dell’Edera
Is it ironic or expected that a book of art from Something is Killing the Children gets the gold medal for its cover? Either way, this is a sensational cover featuring Erica Slaughter coming out of the darkness. The art inside is beautiful too.
James Gunn’s DCU kicked off with an animated series on MAX based on one of the strangest properties in the DC Comics, The Creature Commandos.
That is a bizarre choice to kick off the DC Studios, aka the DCU. Still, DC animation has always been a strength and perhaps this will play into that well.
These two episodes, which both dropped on MAX were fine. They may not have been as awesome as I thought it could have been, but with a bunch of basically unfamiliar characters, the show was entertaining.
I think my favorite character so far is The Bride, and so I did think more of episode two, which looked at her history and her back story with Frankenstein (voiced by David Harbour). Of course, the backstory does twist the Bride of Frankenstein movie around a bit and it does take some chances with the story.
The feel of this was more like Invincible than it was any of the other DC animated projects. That may be about the blood, violence and sex (this is not a show for the kids). I thought that Invincible became too needy with the blood and went over the top with it. X-Men ’97 had some blood too, but I thought that was a much better use of it than Invincible. I may not have too many people agree with me, but I felt as if the blood in Invincible goes too far. Creature Commandos is not too bad, but feels as if it would be more like Invincible with blood.
Of course, at some point, G.I. Robot must kill some Nazis.
It did have a definite Suicide Squad feel to it, but I do think this has a lot of potential. The episodes were short, but packed quite a bit into them. I think the show has room to grow and I do believe that James Gunn is going to bring the goods.
Another wonderfully charming episode of Shrinking. The writing on this in on par with some of the best writing on television.
However, next week is the finale of season two and I am not sure where this will go. There does not seem to be any kind of overarching storyline through the season. There was but it has been resolved a couple of episodes ago. And this episode felt like a wrap to a couple of more. At least, for the moment.
It was a great single episode with some excellent character work, as Jimmy as seemingly on fire this week, while dealing with Alice’s growing and becoming even more independent. We had some furthering of the search for a baby by Brian and Charlie.
I guess the theme of the episode is parenting, as everyone involved has some connection to being a parent and trying to understand the sacrifices and, sometimes, the outright lying, that goes with it.
Seeing Harrison Ford doing exercises that look to be twerking is a highlight for sure. There is not enough Harrison Ford this week even if every second he is on screen he absolutely dominates,
Well, there was a bit of an unhappy situation this week. When I went to Comic World on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, I sadly discovered that a huge part of their shipment had not been delivered. Nothing that came from Diamond was available, so there was no Marvel, Image, Boom, Dark Horse or so on. The only books that were there were DC Comics (and one from IPI).
I have only recently began to pick up a few DC books otherwise, I might not have had anything.
I am dreading the pile of books next week. I had over forty a few weeks ago, and I think it might be pushing that number or more next week.
This past Friday was Black Friday and I went to Comic World to partake in their Black Friday special of “Buy one back issue, get one free.” I was excited and I picked up a whole bunch of cool stuff. In particular, I got a large run of Defenders Vol 1 books. The earliest was #5, and then a bunch in the teens (#15-18), twenties and thirties (#20-22, #25-28, #32, #34-35). I also picked up several Peter Porker issues. I had number 1-5, but then I added #7, 8-11, #15. It was a lot of fun and I am very appreciative for Comic World.
I have been busy on eBay this week too. I picked up West Coast Avengers #35, 33, 30,29,28,27, 26, 25, 23 that arrived today. I had a gap in my West Coast Avengers collection and this gave me a chance to fill it out a little. I completed my DP 7 comics too with issues #15-17. DP7 was easily the best comic of the New Universe. BY FAR!
This week’s books:
Dark Shadows #1-4. By David Campiti, Scott Rockwell & E. Silas Smith. Another special series that I picked up at eBay. I actually won this in an auction on the site and got a pretty good deal, if I say so myself. The Dark Shadows TV show is given the Innovation comic treatment and it is a beautifully looking series. It will go nicely in my collection with the Innovation Psycho book. I am intrigued by these Innovation books from the 1990s and I will be looking into what other choices they may have available.
Absolute Superman #2. “Sun of Nothing.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Rafa Sandoval. Cover art by Sandoval & Ulises Arreola (Gold Medalist). The Absolute Superman continues to be very different and interesting, as Jason Aaron is, once again, awesome. Last issue I complained about “Agent” Lois Lane, but this issue seems to be tickling the journalism itch in Lois, and I kind of like it. I am enjoying this new take on the Man of Steel and I am excited to see where they are going to take me.
Two-Face #1. “Face vs. Face” Written by Christian Ward and art by Fabia Veras. Cover art by Baldemar Rivas (Silver Medalist). I did not intend to get this issue and I only picked it up because I had such a small week of books. Yet I really enjoyed this story of Harvey Dent and a courtroom of darkness. This issue got me hooked and I will be picking up issue two as well.
Creature Commandos #3. “The Deadening.” Written by David Dastmalchian and art by Jesus Hervas. Cover art was by Tirso. This is issue #3 of 6 and I am really not interested at this point. Any intrigue I had was washed away and I am only buying this as a completionist. I am looking forward to the new Creature Commando animated series on HBO Max, which I will probably be watching tonight. This, however, is a dud for me.
Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective, Claws of the Chimera #2. By Christopher Sequeira, Philip Cornell & Dave Elsey. Dave Elsey did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). I do like the new take on Sherlock Holmes so far. I must say that I hate the writing in the text boxes. It is just too small… it is making me feel old. The dialogue in the word balloons are fine, but those text boxes I have to squint and look really close at.
Well, this was an easy week to pick the medal winners.
See, I got to Comic World today and a huge section of the shipment was missing. Everything from Diamond was not delivered. Okay, apparently, there was an attempt at a delivery with a holiday driver that turned out very badly.
Making a long story short, I only wound up with four books this week. Two weeks ago I had over 40. If the Marvel, Image, Boom etc. don’t come til next week, I dread the pile for next week.
Until then, we have two DC books and one from IPI Comics as the medalists this week.
Bronze Medalist
Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #2
Cover art by Dave Elsey
This is a really creepy cover with Sherlock looking out a dark window. He sure seems to be a dark detective.
Silver Medalist
Two-Face #1
Cover art by Baldemar Rivas
I picked this one up off the rack because I did not have very many books this week. This is a cool cover with the focus on the coin being flipped. Again, I love the white background with the red of his face and title.
Gold Medalist
Absolute Superman #2
Cover art by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola
The cool new Absolute Superman looks great and the Peacemakers all around him make a great counter. The cover creates a great bit of what is going to happen. Looks excellent.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 