Battlestar Galactica S3 E9, E10, E11, E12

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Spoilers

“The Passage”

“The Eye of Jupiter”

“Rapture”

“Taking a Break from All your Worries”

Thanksgiving evening, I did a run of Battlestar Galactica season three.

Episodes 9-12 were really great. It dealt with a bunch of things, including the temple discovered on the planet that Galactica was getting food from. The temple where the Eye of Jupiter would be found.

Huge steps in the relationship of Kara and Lee. Both of their marriages are falling apart and it is unclear how they feel about it. Kara and Lee are not very good people, even if they are heroic in their military roles.

Sharon found out about her daughter, Hera being alive and took some desperate attempts to get her back.

James Callis was brilliant in episode 12 as Gaius found himself back on board Galactica and had Adama, Roslin and others went out of their way to find what they could. It was a disturbing set of scenes as they tortured Gaius to find out what he knew. This show has been very much shades of grey through the entire series. I was actually feeling sorry for Baltar during this episode. It wasn’t that long ago that I decided to accept him as a villain.

Sounds as if the trial of Gaius Baltar is our next step in this story, and I am here for it.

I want to know more about Hera. She came over to Galactica because she was sick and Caprica helped Sharon get her out of the Cylon base ship. We have not heard anything else about that since though and I am curious.

This is one of the best sci-fi shows I have ever seen. It is compelling and totally unpredictable.

Rumours

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What?

Okay, that was a weird, downright crazy, black comedy that I am not sure I know what was going on here.

There were the leaders of the G7 conference meeting to come up with a statement on some global conflict. The G7 included leaders of US, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Along the way, the group gets left isolated, which threw them all into a tizzy. Then, some strange bog bodies start to show up. There is a giant brain. Literally.

This has satirical elements to it, but just to be real, it is lost among the weirdness. I suppose there is a commentary about the weakness of world leaders and how their challenges to come together and solve problems fall behind the more important elections.

Not sure why the giant brain though.

The ensemble cast is led by Cate Blanchett, as the German Chancellor. We also have Charles Dance, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Takehiro Hira, Rolando Ravello, Denis Ménochet, Roy DuPuis and Alicia Vikander.

It did feel as if the actors were all playing this straight, which made everything feel even more off the wall.

I can see where this might not be the jam for a lot of people (the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is really low), but I found this to be strangely entertaining. It is definitely bat-shit crazy, but I did not feel insulted watching it. Not sure how to score this one. It makes me think of Beau is Afraid, which I did not give a rating (N/A, actually), but I actively disliked much of that film and this one I enjoyed the weirdness. so…..

3.5 stars

I rented this on Fandango. I remember seeing the film playing in my area, but I did not get to go to it. I am glad I watched it, but I wonder what I would have thought if I saw it in the theater as I had intended.

Blitz

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Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, has a new film that is currently streaming on Apple + and has been in discussion for awards considerations.

It is 1940 and London is experiencing deadly bombing from the Nazi air force. Because of this, the people of London were sending their children away to try and protect them from the bombings. Rita (Saoirse Ronan) was a single parent sending her son George (Elliott Heffernan) away on a train. George was not happy about the situation, going as far as telling his mother that he hated her.

About an hour into the trip on the train, George jumps off with the intent of going back to his home in London.

George faced a ton of troubles along the way, including several of the seeder characters on the streets of London, as if it were right out of the stories of Charles Dickens.

Saoirse Ronan was excellent in this film, bringing the anguish of her situation and the absolute fear when she discovered that her son was missing. Elliott Heffernan does a very solid job with the mostly physical role, providing the right amount of grit and determination. George never gave up despite situations that clearly could have led many people to give in. The film certainly depended upon the skills of Heffernan.

The special effects and the war-torn areas of London were amazingly constructed and portrayed in the film. There was a sequence in an underground area with water flooding in that was seriously stunning and anxiety-driven. The first half of the film went a little slowly, but the film definitely picked up as the time went on.

Blitz is available on Apple + and is a very strong film.

3.8 stars

Silo S2 E3

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Spoilers

“Solo”

The best parts of this episode came from the interactions between Juliette and Solo. Solo is the person locked in the vault that we met last week. He told her that if Juliette tried to open the vault again, he would kill her.

However, we discover that Solo is not quite confident in his mental acuity. He was not sure if Juliette was real, so he put some soup out for her. When she gulped it down, Solo realized that she really was real.

Steve Zahn played the off-balanced survivor and he did a great job of spending most of the episode acting with his voice (and perhaps every once in awhile with his eyes).

Discovering the secrets of this other silo, Juliette wanted to get back to her own silo (Silo 18), to warn others of the dangers that brought this silo (Silo 17) down. She was stifled on how to make that happen since her own suit was torn to shreds.

This led to Solo exiting his vault when he feared that Juliette was going to not return. I am not sure where this goes, but Solo feels a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs to me.

The stuff happening back in the original silo was not as compelling for me. We get a bunch of trouble from a group planning a potential rebellion. We get questions about Juliette’s actual choice about wanting to leave. The Mayor continues with his machinations. Judge Meadow who is starting to figure out how she can leave the silo and The Mayor seemingly helping her (though I don’t trust him one bit).

EYG Comic Cavalcade #126

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November 28, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all get as much turkey as you possibly can and spend the day with the people who you care about.

Because of Thanksgiving break, I was able to head up to Comic World yesterday and spend part of the afternoon there. That meant I was able to get a head start on the reading of the books. Thankfully, it was not a massive 40+ book week as it was last week. I was then able to finish the rest of them last night which meant we get a holiday version of the Comic Cavalcade.

I did a new banner for the next stretch of issues. The special one for #125 was cool, but I did this one right after that.

This week’s books:

The Big Burn #2. Written by Joe Henderson and art and cover art by Lee Garbett. I think this might be my current favorite of the DSTLRY books. They come out so inconsistently that it feels as if they are forgotten. Not this one. The idea of pulling off a heist to try and get your soul back after selling it to Satan is such an original idea and I love the characters involved. This is truly a great books so far.

The Missionary #1. Written by Ryan Stegman and art by Jason Howard. Cover B art by Ryan Stegman. Another very strange story with another trip into Hell. I wonder if that is a general theme for DSTLRY moving forward. This was interesting and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

The Rocketfellers#1. Story and words by Peter J. Tomasi and story and art by Francis Manapul. Cover B art by Ivan Reis. A new book from the Ghost Machine imprint at Image, The Rocketfellers was a intriguing time travel type story with a family. There is a huge loss in the very beginning of the book that sets the stakes early. The Ghost Machine books have all been exceptional so far and I think this one could be in the same category.

West Coast Avengers #1. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey (Bronze Medalist). I also picked up the variant issue (featuring Blue Bolt) with cover art by Todd Nauck. I was always a fan of the West Coast Avengers and so I was intrigued by the return of the title, especially with Ultron a member of the team. I’m not sure how that is going to turn out considering the end of the book. The last couple of pages gave me that Thunderbolts #1 vibe.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #4. “The Eyes of a Monster“. Written, art and cover art by Michael Walsh (Silver Medalist). This is the final issue of this adaptation of Frankenstein. It was a very emotional end for the Monster and the story as a whole. This continued the path of these excellent Universal Monsters books from Image. Sounds as if the next book will be the Mummy.

Amazing Spider-Man #62. “Out of Space.” Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Ed McGuinness. McGuiness & Marcio Menyz did the cover art. Spidey is being trained by astral plane Doctor Strange in magic to help him in his role as the earth’s new champion against the eight Scions of Cyttorak. Spidey recruited the Black Cat to do give some help, but she and Strange can only do so much.

Incredible Hulk #19. “City of Idols” Part Three. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Nic Klein & Danny Earles. Cover art was by Nic Klein. This is listed as Legacy number 800 for the Hulk. I am curious what exactly they added in that Legacy number to get to it. Did they count the Hulk issues that were the She-Hulk? How about the Totally Awesome Hulk with Amadeus Cho? Anyway, there is also a group of backup stories including one with She-Hulk and one with Red Hulk.

Hyde Street #2. Creators were Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Ivan Reis did the cover art too (Gold Medalist). Pip “Pranky” Peabody is the focus behind this issue, which has some disturbing moments in it. There is also a lot of fire. This Hyde Street series has been excellent so far, yet another example of the great work under Ghost Machine imprint.

Uncanny X-Men #6. “The Change in Ourselves.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Javier Garrón. David Marquez & Matthew Wilson were the cover artists. The new kids being taken care of by Rogue and the others have to deal with the new arrival, Becca Simon-Pinette and her issues. Oh, and Nightcrawler gets grabbed. Simone has been exceptional in this new X-series so far and I enjoy reading each of them.

Justice League Unlimited #1. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. I have to say that this concept of the JL Unlimited was interesting to me after I read last week’s Question: All Along the Watchtower #1. It is based clearly on the Justice League animated series where they did the same idea. I am seemingly buying a few more DC books than I have before and this one definitely pushes the right buttons. It is fun not knowing whom may show up in the book.

Black Canary: Best of the Best #1. “Round One.” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Ryan Sook. Speaking of buying more DC books, I like the idea of these lesser characters getting their own limited run. I am enjoying Plastic Man right now, Zatanna was a lot of fun and Black Canary feels like the next best example. Plus, Tom King is the writer and he has done some of my all-time favorite stories (particularly Vision). The whole Black Canary vs. Lady Shiva inside the squared circle is a cool idea.

Iron Man #2. “Move Fast and Break Things.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Yasmine Putri. Tony Stark is in trouble with his company once again as he is desperately trying to prevent a hostile takeover by AIM and ROXXON. Tony does not have access to his array of armor either, having to settle for a pieced together set.

Spider-Boy #13. “Late Entry” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. Cover art was done by Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado. Spider-Boy and Daredevil are on the road trying to catch up with Bullseye and Spider Girl. Who would guess that they would wind up in a special tournament… in Madripoor?

Bad Dreams in the Night. Written and art by Adam Ellis. This was a graphic novel that came out last week, but I just had too many books to pick it up then. I had Todd put it in my box and bought it this week. It is a series of short horror stories by Adam Ellis and they are tremendous. I loved this graphic novel as each of the stories had its own flair to it. It was a variety of tones and stories, and it had some distinctly creepy scenes. After each story, he had a little explanation of where the story came from and some of these were personal. I enjoyed this graphic novel very much.

Absolute Wonder Woman #2. “The Last Amazon Part 2.” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover B variant art was done by Joelle Jones. The absolute DC books continue with Diana meeting up with Steve Trevor and ending up facing off with a giant monster. This was a good book and I am pleased so far with the Absolute DC books.

Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #2-3. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by John McCrea. Got caught up with this new Dead Eyes series. I do love this character, who does not feel like a traditional hero in any way. In fact, I would go on the record saying that Dead Eyes is anything but. This is very interesting as Dead Eyes returns to mess up his own life.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4. “Grit & a Stick.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Chris Burnham. Cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. Jason Aaron’s run on TMNT has been sensational. This issue, featuring Donatello, is close to the excellence of issue #1. Donatello goes through a bunch of trauma here and it sure seems as he may be losing his own grip on reality. He was speaking to a regular rat as if it were Splinter. These TMNT books from Aaron have been so good.

The Tin Can Society #3. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Mobili and Chris Chuckry did the art on the cover. This has been one of my favorite independent books since it was released. The investigation into Johnny’s death continues as we get some important info in a flashback.

Mystique #2. “Brotherhood.” Written, drawn and cover art by Declan Shalvey. Mystique is out after Avalanche, her former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants partner. Meanwhile, we have a group of SHIELD agents, even two Nick Furys, running around in pursuit of her as well. There are a lot of things going on in this series and it is a fast read.

Dazzler #3. “Tokyo Escape.” Written by Jason Loo and art by Rafael Loureiro. Terry & Rachel Dotson did the cover art. After her last fiasco at her concert, Dazzler’s tour is in trouble. However, Lila Cheney and Dazzler head off for some fun in Tokyo to try and lighten the mood. That does not go well.

Feral #8. “The Cat House.” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was by Trish Forstner and Tony Fleecs. Things turn real creepy as Elsie, Gigi and the kittens find Lord, but they are not pleased with the location. “The lady keeps us”… it is literally the crazy cat lady… what a creepy issue this was. Loved it.

Other books this week: Void Rivals #14, Batman-Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns #1, Spirits of Vengeance, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #13, and Ultimate Black Panther #10.

Shrinking S2 E8

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“Last Drink”

A wonderful episode of Shrinking this week.

It started off with a flashback to prior to the car crash and gave us all the feelings about Jimmy’s marriage and the events leading up to the accident. (We also got to see a bunch of weird outfits and hats meant to make these people look younger).

We finally returned to the moment at the restaurant when Jimmy saw Alice, Brian and Louis together. It rocked Jimmy’s world and sent him into a spiral.

We also got a chunk of work on the relationship between Liz and Derek, and Derek went to confront the guy who kissed Liz. Derek worked on his own feelings and was able to see how some of this was his own fault. The fact that it appeared as if Liz and Derek were going to get past the kiss was really great. I did not want an extended fight between them and this gave us a chance to look at these important characters a little deeper.

Jimmy going to see Louis to tell him that he forgave him was undercut a bit by telling him that he never wanted to see him again, that he needed to be out of his life and to not see his daughter again. That did not feel as healthy as it could have been and it does not feel as if that story is done. I have some very frightening thoughts about what this could lead to.

Paul was beginning to have some more issues, such as not sleeping well and having some memory lapses, so he went to the doctor. That was a real healthy choice instead of just ignoring it. Turned out that the doctor recommended that Paul give up drinking, signaling that giving up alcohol would help with a temporary fix on some of those problems.

I think this might have been my favorite episode of the second season so far. It had those tough issues and the wonderfully funny writing that did not overpower the drama, but only helped to serve it more.

EYG Favorite Comic Book Covers of the Week

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Week of November 25

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow. Here are the holiday medalists this week. It was a lesser week than last week, but still I had several issues with great covers.

Bronze Medalist

West Coast Avengers #1

Cover art by Ben Harvey

The return of the West Coast Avengers features the new team including Iron Man, Spider Woman, War machine, Firestar and… Ultron? The great background shows the west coast life. It’s a lovely cover for a new, big-time team.

Silver Medalist

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #4

Cover art by Michael Walsh

Another great cover from the Universal Monsters run. I love the green with the tannish background. This is a very striking cover that wraps up this enjoyable comic.

Gold Medalist

Hyde Street #2

Cover art by Ivan Reis & Danny Miki with Brad Anderson

The new horror book from the Ghost Machine imprint has a beautiful imagery with fire all around these characters from the book. There are some scary images inside that fiery cover as well if you look closely.

Moana 2

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The sequel to the hit Disney animated movie Moana, Moana 2 came out today with every indication that it is going to be a huge hit for Disney.

According to IMDB, “After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.“

Moana 2 is a perfectly fine movie. I thought this had a lot of positives to it. I just would say that it does not reach the level of the original, and that is okay.

The biggest issue was that you could absolutely tell that Lin Manuel Miranda was not involved in this new film. His music was some of the best parts of the original Moana, but these songs in Moana 2 are, at best, passable. There were even a few of the times when the lyrics of the songs were weak.

Dwayne Johnson and Aulii Cravalho are great voicing their characters. They are definitely the strength of the film. The story of Moana heading out trying to find other groups of people was solid and made sense.

I’m not sure how much I loved the secondary characters that were brought aboard Moana’s crew. They were kind of annoying at times, but it was okay. I did enjoy the wrap up of the movie and the third act felt better than the first couple of acts.

Of course, the film looks incredible. The animation is beautiful and the designs of the film were sensational. The storms were amazing and looked fantastic.

I thought Moana 2 was a fun movie, but it was not terrific. It was definitely enjoyable overall. I did not think it matched the original, and the songs were not memorable. Moana 2 was good enough.

3.4 stars

Battlestar Galactica S3 E9

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Spoilers

“Unfinished Business”

The perfect example of a toxic relationship is explored as we do a deep dive into the strange relationship between Lee and Kara.

Both Lee and Kara are married to others, but neither seem to be able to keep from each other. However, it felt that the anger and violence overtook them as we saw flashbacks to detail specifics of their past and how they ended up where they were.

I have to say, there was a time once where I felt as if Lee and Kara was the rooting couple, the one that you wanted to see together. That is no longer as they both seem beset on a self-destructive path. Nothing symbolized that better than some brutal boxing.

Admiral Adama stepped into the ring as well, calling out Chief Tyrol, whom he was having troubles with too. This felt like an addition to the storyline, and we see some flashbacks that gave some understanding where this animosity came from.

This whole episode, while expertly written and acted, was extremely uncomfortable and difficult to watch. It truly made me not like either the character of Lee or Kara. It did make me think about Dave and Maddie from Moonlighting with their first time having sex, how violent it was and how angry they seemed. That is not the kind of relationship that I want to support.

Both Kara and Lee are damaged people with a selfish side to them, and they have or will hurt the people who love them and it will be difficult to watch. You can feel it.

Battlestar Galactica S3 E8

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“Hero”

Carl Lumbly guest starred in this episode and he brought an old secret for Adama to light. Lumbly, who played Isaiah Bradley in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World, was a soldier that had to do a black ops that turned sour. He was captured by the Cylons after getting shot down past the Armistice Line.

Three years after that, Lumbly, whose character was named Lt. Daniel “Bulldog” Novacek, escaped from the Cylons and was able to return to Adama’s new ship, Galactica.

Honestly, the story of this episode really felt like it came out of left field. The whole Adama did these bad things to “Bulldog” which led to the actual attack of the Cylons on the colonies. While Edward James Olmos is a great performer, this felt very forced to me. This thing just dropped into the story, with Saul Tigh knowing everything too, just did not seem to make a lot of sense. If you have a secret this big, shouldn’t it have been mentioned or hinted at somewhere in a previous episode. This just came out of nowhere and it did not feel right.

It led to the reunion between Adama and Tigh though, which was a nice thing. Lumbly is always great and he does a solid job too.

And then Roslin giving him a medal. Odd.

I am not sure this is going to be referenced ever again. I don’t think that is a bad thing.

The X-Files S7 E8

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“The Amazing Maleeni”

Magic. Sleight of hand. Misdirection. Everything that goes into a good magician and a interesting antagonist for Mulder and Scully.

The case for our agents this week did not include any supernatural/paranormal events (unless you count someone turning their head 360 degrees around). Still, I found this one to be extremely entertaining as I was trying to figure things out as it went along. A case that could actually have been solved without the inclusion of the paranormal.

Interestingly enough, this was another episode that I did not remember anything about from the first time airing. That only helped with the idea that I could try and figure things out as we went. I thought the overall writing was pretty good as I usually can see through things like this fairly quickly, and this one kept me guessing.

I could see where some X-Files fans might not be a fan of this episode because of the lack of the typical X-Files mystery, but I had a lot of fun with it. I also enjoyed watching Mulder and Scully matching wits with the two magicians. The writing keeps them a step behind, but allows them to not look dumb while doing it.

Real life magician Ricky Jay played The Amazing Maleeni in the episode and he does a solid job. Sure some of the story may be convoluted, but it all just worked for me.

I might not want a lot of episodes like this one, but I found the tone and style of this one to be a welcome diversion from what we were used to in this show.

The Piano Lesson

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Netflix does release several Oscar-worthy films this time of the year as they give out films that they have agreed to back on their platform. While many of the films that are made expressly for Netflix come up short, these releases are usually fairly high quality.

That is the case for the new film The Piano Lesson, which came out this past Friday on the streamer. It had appeared at TIFF this year to soundly positive reviews and now can be seen by the nation as a whole.

According to IMDB, “[The Piano Lesson] Follows the lives of the Charles family as they deal with themes of family legacy and more, in deciding what to do with an heirloom, the family piano.”

There is much more than that simplistic summary gives, including an air of supernatural in the house where the piano is being stored. There were some really creepy moments in this movie that were weirdly out of place, or at least felt that way. However, these moments do work for the film, you just do not expect them to arrive in this type of movie.

The conflict between Boy Willie (John David Washington) and Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) is remarkable. They have an amazing chemistry with each other as brother and sister, but they were both determined that they knew what was best with this piano and it was clear that this conflict was not about to be resolved through discussion. Both Washington and Deadwyler brought their best work and presented powerful characters that each had an understandable argument.

Samuel L. Jackson is great in the film as well are Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, and Malik J. Ali.

The film definitely felt like a stage play turned into a movie, and, after watching it, I did find out that it was based on a stage play by August Wilson and that Jackson, Washington, Potts and Fisher all starred in it. You could see how they all felt very comfortable in their roles.

Danielle Deadwyler was the standout. Coming off her amazing Oscar snubbed performance in Till, she is once again exceptional. Her emotions are on the edge through the whole film and her dogged determination that the piano with the faces of her family carved upon it was going nowhere.

This is available to stream on Netflix.

4 stars

Silo S2 E2

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“Order”

I figured that this episode would be this way. After last week’s episode featuring Juliette exclusively and her exploring of the other silo she found, I assumed that this week’s episode would be focused on what was happening back in the silo we all had been introduced to in season one.

This technique was used a lot in other shows like LOST or The Walking Dead where we switch POV and tell the story of what was happening in a different location, but same time.

Back in the original silo, Mayor Bernard Holland was coming up with a lie to use to squelch the potential uprising among the people who saw Juliette climb over the hill in the finale last year. They made the assumption that the world outside was safe after all. The Mayor made an effective lie about tape used on Juliette’s suit to keep the people in control, but he knew that this was not going to last forever.

We also saw the beginnings of a revolution brewing among some of the people, especially those connected to Juliette. The seeds were planted and slowly began to see signs of growth.

Judge Meadows agreed to help the Mayor, but she wants to go out of the silo. He tried to keep her from saying such things, but she was feeling too oppressed by the silo lifestyle. Meadows is going to help him but she expects the Mayor to let her go. Not sure that is going to hasppen. I do not trust the Mayor at all.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #125

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November 23, 2024

We have reached another milestone for EYG Comic Cavalcade. This is #125, which is always one of those major events for a comic book series. Truthfully, you do not see too many #125 issues any longer. Usually, these days, a series is rebooted well before it reaches #125, unless we are counting the “Legacy Numbering” which is a whole different can of worms. Anyway, I am pleased that we have reached #125 and look forward to the next milestone.

And, ironically, this week’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY just inundated me with books. I got over forty issues this week just from the pull list, which, I believe, was the largest of all time. Whomp, was a load. It has a variety of books from across the spectrum of comic publishers and a huge plethora of characters and great storytelling. Having this number of books on issue #125 is fantastic.

Books this week:

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho #1-3. Of course, then I start off the week with a mini series that I picked up off eBay and not in the pile of 40+ books. I finished my re-watch of Bates Motel, and while on Wikipedia researching, I found a series from a comic publisher called Innovation and it was a movie adaptation of the movie Psycho. I was able to pick this up on eBay and it is gorgeous. The art inside is beautiful painting work and this is truly a fantastic adaptation. The cover of #2 is one of my favorite covers in a long time.

You Never Heard of Me #1. Written by Iolanda Zanfardino and illustrated by Elisa Romboli. A new Dark Horse 5-issue mini series that follows a young teen who is given the power to see the best and the worst moments of other people’s lives. How this was set up was nicely done and it grabbed my attention immediately. Dark Horse has had some good stuff lately and this seems like a winner.

Ice Cream Man #42. “Horror House.” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran did the cover art. Any book that starts off with a trigger warning is okay to me. Ice Cream Man is consistently one of the best horror anthologies on the market and this one takes some risks in it storytelling. It might be a divisive issue, but I found it extremely compelling.

Wolverine #3. “Hunters and Hunted” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Coccolo & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Wolverine is back in the wilderness, being pursued by Department H, and trying to fight a Wendigo. Oh, and Wolverine is trying to help the kid who has been changed into that Wendigo. One of the most intriguing uses of the character of Wendigo in a long time.

Mark Spears Monsters #2. Written, cover art and art by Mark Spears. Another horror book that is absolutely on fire right now. The covers are sensational. I have cover E and it is beautiful. I will be getting cover A soon too. This is an entertaining series with classic monsters throughout, including Gill Man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Dracula. The art is stunning in this book.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #26. “Birds of a Feather Part Four.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Miles and his new Wakandan costume kicked some Vulture butt here and Starling decided to put her grandpa in his place.

Living Hell #1. Written and drawn by Caitlin Yarsky. Another new Dark Horse book that was really enjoyable. The story does take an unexpected twist, flipping what you think was going on upside down. I found this one compelling as well.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2. “Reborn.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Marc comes clean with Tigra. He has a piece of knowledge that he had been holding back because he was not sure how she would respond… Hank Pym is alive.

The Department of Truth #27. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Alison Sampson. Cover art was by Martin Simmonds. The story of Marilyn Monroe comes to a close in this issue. It goes to show how this series can take anything and make it an intriguing conspiracy.

Geiger #8. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Paul Pelletier. Cover art was by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. The kids who helped out Geiger last issue takes him to their town, and Mr. Geiger finds that their father does not share some of the same ideas.

Jonny Quest #4. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Cover art by Chad Hardin. Jonny Quest and his family, including the old version of Jonny, come face to face with Dr. Zin. The future story is coming to a close next issue.

Scarlet Witch #6. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was by Russell Dauterman. Agatha Harkness is back and she has brought Wanda a new student for Wanda to train. Why doesn’t Agatha just train the girl herself? Well, could it be that the girl is a bit of a handful? Or was it because the girl was being pursued by The Eliminator? Maybe both?

Avengers Assemble #3. Written by Steve Orlando and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. She-Hulk leads a team of the Aveng.e.r.s. against the Nightstalkers, who are out to kill vampires, even those that haven’t done anything wrong.

Spider-Man: Reign II #5. Written, illustrated and cover art by Kaare Andrews. Spider-Man returned to his own time to face off with Kingpin and attempted to save the future (or present… depends on your POV). Big twist at the end of this series, which comes to a conclusion here.

Space Ghost #7. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was by Francesco Mattina (Bronze Medalist). Blip is the focus of this issue as he suddenly has the ability to talk and think like humans.

Storm #2. “Death by Voodoo” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Mateus Manhanini did the art for the cover. Storm is dying. And she is dying rapidly. As the clock counts down, Ororo looks for help from whoever she can, which leads her to Doctor Voodoo. I love the recent focus on Storm, both here in her own series and in the Avengers. Few deserve it more.

What If…? Minnie Became Captain Marvel #1. “The Awesome Origin of Minnie Captain Marvel” Written by Luca Barbieri and art by Giada Perissinotto. Cover art was by Perissinotto & Lucio Ruvidotti. The Disney Marvel mash ups continue with Mickey’s better half becoming Captain Marvel and doing battle with Peg Leg Scorpion. Scrooge McDuck makes an appearance too.

Daredevil #15. “Introductory Rites Part 15” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove (even though it is a misleading cover with Kingpin appearing on it, despite no Kingpin in the issue). Daredevil is lost, doubting his faith, and he searches for help from Father Javi.

Standstill #4. Written by Lee Loughridge and art and cover art by Andrew Robinson and Alex Riegel. More time shenanigans going down in this beautifully illustrated Image book. It is one of the more fascinating books each month.

Exceptional X-Men #3. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Carnero & Nolan Woodard did the cover art. Kitty and Emma have a conflict over the proper manner in which to train the new kids, who end up picking super hero names. Iceman makes a cameo at the very end.

The Immortal Thor #17. “The Son of Thor” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Silver Medalist). We finally discover what The Enchantress wants All-Father Thor to do for her. It is not bring back Iric. It’s another son of hers from a different timeline… a son she shared with Thor.

The Terminator #2. “Apocalypse Then: Part One.” Written and cover art by Declan Shalvey and interior art by David O’ Sullivan. The Terminator in Saigon. Hmm, interesting thought.

Ultimate Spider-Man #11. Written by Jonathan Hickman and guest artist David Messina. Marco Checchetto did the cover art. We get the first appearance of Ultimate Black Cat. Meanwhile, Mister Negative is causing some problems for Spidey and concerns for MJ. Can she handle the new lifestyle of her husband?

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1. “Death on my Doorstep.” Written by Alex Segura and art by Cian Tormey. I have always enjoyed the DC character The Question, so I grabbed this issue #1 to check it out. Little did I know this was a new Question… who turned out to be former Gotham police officer Renee Montoya and she was given the job of running the JL Watchtower. Hmm… curious.

Kill All Immortals #4. Written by Zack Kaplan and art by Fico Ossio. Oliver Barrett did the cover art. Frey and Leif got away from Frey’s family and seemed to be on their way to publish the info that the immortals wanted protected. This final panel of this issue was shocking.

Lawful #5. Written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Diego Galindo. Qistina Khalidah did the cover art. Sung is forced to do something that he does not want to do in order to get his mother’s medicine. He is also nearly fully covered in scales from his breaking of the laws. Has Sung taken that step over the line that he will never be able to come back from?

House of Slaughter #27. Written by Sam Johns and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art by Jorge Fornés and Werther Dell’Edera. Not sure I am into the new story arc “Azure.” I am having a difficult time following it. House of Slaughter has been a step down from Someone is Killing the Children since it debuted. Still looks great and I almost gave a medal to the cover.

Duck and Cover #3. Written by Scott Snyder and art and cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. Weird and wild stuff here. Krakens? Movies? Movie soundtracks that can blow up Krakens? This is a bizarre issue. Ended with yelling at a giant dog.

Masked Macher #3. Written by David A. Goodman and Alex Andres did the art. The Masked Macher makes an enemy of the Sheik, and Benny the bear is having personal troubles. MM convinced a gossip columnist that the MM was a more famous movie star. Another weird Dark Horse book.

Sentinels #2. “Let Me Take You Down.” Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Justin Mason. Mason & Federico Blee did the cover art. The Sentinels team heads after Sebastian Shaw, and things get tough. I liked this issue a little better than #1, and next issue features Magneto so maybe things will pick up even more.

Chasm: Curse of Kaine #4. Written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Andrea Broccardo. Mark Bagley & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. This mini series comes to a conclusion with Chasm and Hallows’ Eve together and Kaine off on his own. We get a couple of throwdowns between the “brothers” here as this Spider-series was fairly fun.

Minor Arcana #3. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Theresa is feeling the guilt over her lying to the old woman about her husband. Will she get this guilt off her chest?

Phoenix #5. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo & Marco Renna. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Eternity shows up to try and get Jean to fully embrace her Phoenix power. That’s not always a good thing. Certainly Gladiator doesn’t think so.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #7. “Haunted Part 7” Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Von Randal. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen takes on the Black Tarantula, but is there more there than just superhero/super villain.

Predator versus Black Panther #4. Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Chris Allen, Sean Damien Hill and Lee Ferguson. The final issue of this series sees Black Panther blow up the Predators but the vibranium (or as they call it the Godmetal) made it to their home planet. Predators with vibranium? Whoa.

Other books this week: Phases of the Moon Knight #4, Black Cloak #10, The Power Fantasy #4, Venom War: It’s Jeff! #1, Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #3 (Gold Medalist), The Moon is Following Us #3, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #5, and Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #2.

Wicked

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The classic stage musical Wicked has arrived in theaters with a part one. Part two will come next year. When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was not very impressed. However, after seeing this, I can comfortably say that this is one of the best movies of the year.

According to IMDB, “Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda (Ariana Grande), a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), their friendship reaches a crossroads.”

There is so much great about this movie. I’ll star with the performances of the two leading ladies, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who were both sensational. I would venture to guess that both Erivo and Grande will receive Oscar nominations for this movie. They absolutely shine on the screen. Erivo looks awesome in her green makeup and Ariana Grande proved that she was a better actress than anyone every thought she was. And the two of them had amazing chemistry with each other and it worked so well.

Both of them were amazing with the music too. You would expect Grande to knock the music out of the park, but Cynthia Erivo matched her with every note and her performance of “Defying Gravity” is goosebump inducing.

Though we did not see much of him, Jeff Goldblum was excellent as the Wizard of Oz and it was cool to see Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible too.

The movie is gorgeous. The cinematography is next level and the colors are great. Much like other versions of Oz, the colors are an important aspect for the land.

I loved the world building going on here too. Everything made sense and it did not feel that anything was forced. The writing was epic and told this adaptation well.

I do think that the movie is a little long. Some of the first act could have been trimmed to make things work a little better. The third act though was exceptional. I knew where the end of the film was coming so the big “TO BE CONTINUED” popping up on the screen did not bother me. It felt like a perfect place to stop. I know some people may not be happy about a film that is a part one.

I did not ever see the stage show and I was very limited with the music too, but I thought the film does a great job creating a world that I want to keep watching. It was an epic film and director Jon Chu really did a fantastic job. It is one of the best movies of the year.

4.8 stars