Doctor Who S1 E2

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Spoilers

“Space Babies”

The new Doctor Who has arrived, for the first time, on Disney +.

I was not sure what to call it for the season number, but it was listed as season 1 on Disney + so I decided that is what I would call this.

I have not watched much Doctor Who over the years, but I enjoyed the specials on Disney + last year and I find the new Doctor, the 15th Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa to be a lot of fun. That meant that I would give this series a try.

Ncuti Gatwa has a very comedic presence to him and it worked very well with this episode. How many times does he say “Space Babies?”

I also enjoyed Millie Gibson, who is playing Ruby Sunday, the Doctor’s companion. I thought she was very charming.

I wonder if long time fans of Doctor Who will not appreciate the humorous tone as much as I did. Again, I have not seen much Doctor Who over the years, so it did not bother me at all.

I did like this episode and I plan on watching the next episode some time tomorrow.

Them: The Scare S2 E2

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Spoilers

“The Devil Himself Visited This Place”

Episode two of this anthology series really picked up the tension. LA during this time frame was rife with racial tension and this episode truly showed the way that the Rodney King problem made things unbearable in the city.

But this is not just racial tension that is amping up the anxiety of Them: The Scare. Part of it is that we have a serial killer of some sort, breaking people’s bones in terrible manners. We have Edmond who is a truly bizarre character and may or may not be tied to what is going on. When Dawn’s son started seeing reflections in the TV, especially of his own face contorted, this show got me.

Dawn’s partner and her chief (played by Wayne Knight) are just such rotten people that it is amazing that Dawn is able to keep herself under control. The isolation she must feel on the force with all of these closeted (not so much) racists. When her partner told her that his first girlfriend was black, I couldn’t believe it.

Edmond’s strange behavior at the very end of the episode is setting this story up to be frightening and fearful. I love it.

Great performances and some absolutely moody situations make this a tough watch.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #97

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May 11, 2024

It is time for the Comic Cavalcade once again. I picked up a bunch of new books this week this past Wednesday. There is also a bunch of books that I picked up on eBay and some new back issues of Amazing Spider-Man.

I have picked up some New Warriors books on eBay. I am going to start working on filling out the New Warriors. The first volume of New Warriors is missing several of the later books. I did pick up the entire volume 3, issues #1-20. I do love the New Warriors and I am always down for more of this group of characters.

New books this week:

Saga Volume 2 &3. On Free Comic Book Day, I picked up the entire 9 volumes of the Saga series from Image. I have found time to read the second and third volumes this week. They are so good. I was told that I would love this series, and I really do. There have been some shocking things happen that I did not see coming. It truly is a human story of a family struggling to get by. Hopefully, I will be able to carve out some time to keep going on this collection.

The Last Mermaid #3. Story and art by Derek Kirk Kim. I love this book too. This issue was just packed with visual storytelling and the imagery of the book is off the charts. I have to say that the design of the issue is special and helps make this excellent book stand out even more.

Avengers #14. “Blood Hunt Part One” Written by Jed MacKay and art from C.F. Villa. Joshua Cassara & Guru-eFX did the cover art. A new band of Avengers, led by Steve Rogers, steps up while the other Avengers are missing/in deep trouble. Cap brings us Kate Bishop, Quicksilver, Hercules and Hazmat. These are a nice mix of characters and each one is able to share their voice during the battle with vampires.

Fantastic Four #20. “To Work Wonders” Written by Ryan North and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art by Alex Ross (Gold Medalist). This issue focuses upon the continual familial rivalry between Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm. These two are always competing with each other, even if they are working as cashiers at the same grocery store. Very strange issue, but it did show the depth of the relationship between the two of them.

Amazing Spider-Man #49. Written by Zeb Wells with pencils by John Romita Jr. Cover art was by Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Marcio Menyz. The White Rabbit has been turned into a vampire and Spidey is on the case, looking to help his foe.

Crocodile Black #1. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and illustrated by SOM. Andrea Sorrentino did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Brand new series from Boom! Studios and I loved this so much. I did not know what to expect, and I can guarantee that what they gave us what nowhere near what I thought it might have been. I love it when a series can keep me off balance and this certainly did. I can’t wait to see where they take this book.

Strange Academy: Blood Hunt #1. Three separate stories, all written by Daniel Jose Older. Three separate artists for each, including Luigi Zagaria, Eric Gapstur & Scott Hanna, and then Eric Gapstur. Cover art was by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado. I do love Strange Academy so I was excited to see them involved in the Blood Hunt crossover. I will say that the three stories surprised me although these blended well.

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #2. Written by J.M. DeMatteis and art by Michael Sta. Maria. Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg are the cover artists. As things are happening with the Osborns, Spidey takes on the Sandman.

Ain’t No Grave #1. “Chapter One: Denial”. Written by Skottie Young and art and cover art by Jorge Corona (Bronze Medalist). New Western series with some real unexpected twists. I love Skottie Young’s writing and this takes our main protagonist into a trip to try and kill Death. Literally? Seems so. A beautifully illustrated book too.

Daredevil #9. “Introductory Rights Part Nine” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Juann Cabal. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove. Daredevil and Elektra take on Bullseye and matt Murdock finally goes to see Foggy to let him know that he is alive. Foggy does not take it well, as one would expect.

Dracula: Blood Hunt #1. Written by Danny Lore and art by Vincenzo Carratù with cover art by Rod Reis. I guess it makes sense that if vampires are everywhere across the earth that Dracula would be involved. But did you expect him to show up and help Blade’s daughter, Brielle Brooks?

Doctor Strange #15. “Blood Hunt, Pt. 1” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross did this cover art too. Doctor Strange has been turned into a vampire, so he separates his astral form to try and help stop Blade.

Blood Hunters #1. Three stories featuring three separate characters: Clint Barton, Man-Wolf and Dagger. I have to say that the cover of the issue (which was done by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata) made it look like this was a team up between these characters. Instead, it was three separate stories with only the vampires to connect them. It was neat seeing Dagger and Man-Wolf again.

Captain America #9. “The Desert of the Unknown“. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art and cover art by Jesus Saiz. Cap heads to Chile and picked up a penguin along the way. And I do not mean Oswald Cobblepot.

Giant-Size X-Men #1. “Truth or Die” Written by Ann Nocenti and art by Lee Ferguson. Bryan Hitch & Alex Sinclair did the cove art. A solo story of Angel, aka Warren Worthington III, trying to survive Maze, a trainee of Arcade. This attempts to go deep into the mind of Warren, but honestly, this was at best okay.

The Mildly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #9. Written by Tate Brombal and art by Isaac Goodhart. Cover art by Nick Robles. We return to Christopher and his life and we spend some time with Christopher and his two friends in the Monster Club. We get some info about Christopher’s mysterious background as it is sort of his birthday.

X-Men: Forever #3. “Unhappy in their own Way” Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Luca Maresca. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Two main arcs happening. One with Nightcrawler, Mystique and Destiny and the revelation about parentage. The second arc was with Hope and her potential sacrifice to save everyone.

Transformers #8. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson with art by Jorge Corona. Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer did the cover art. The Autobots are beginning their plans to fight the Decepticons and Carly wants in. Optimus Prime does not think that is a good idea.

Geiger #2. “The Hunter and the Hunted” Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Gary Frank & Brad Anderson did the cover art. A small town deals with the Glowing Man to take care of a recent masked raider that had been causing trouble in the town.

The Deviant #5. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Joshua Hixson. It feels like a while since we got a new issue of this series, but it is just as compelling as it was then. What has Michael done? We see some of little kid Michael in a flashback this issue as older Michael is being arrested.

Deadpool #2. Written by Cody Ziglar and penciled by Rogê Antonio. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Deadpool and Taskmaster team up to take what was supposed to be an easy mark. Thing do not go as they had planned. Not good when Crossbones shows up.

Other books this week: Boy Wonder #1, Monsters are my Business #2, Captain Marvel #8, Night People #3, and The One Hand #4.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

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The franchise of The Planet of the Apes released its fourth film in the new series of films and its tenth film overall in the franchise. The previous trilogy has been claimed by many pundits as one of the best trilogies of all-time, and some wondered why there was a need for a new film and how it would fit into the story.

Well, the film takes place several generations after the end of the War of the Planet of the Apes and focuses on a new set of protagonists, while still using the legacy of Caesar in the basic plot.

Our new protagonist is named Noa (Owen Teague) and he is trying to find his tribe after the were taken away. He was joined by the elder orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) and a human named Mae (Freya Allen). However, it turns out that Mae has her own motives for tagging along.

Our new antagonist is Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who arrived about an hour into the movie. He is trying to get inside this vault built into a cliffside where there were a bunch of human weapons.

I thought this new film was okay. I did like how they built this new group of characters and starting creating the world around them. I think it has set up for the future films well. The first part of this movie felt kind of dull at times. I did like the character work here, but there felt like too much going on.

The apes continue to look tremendous. The special effects are great. I will say that a few of the time when I would see Raka walking, it looked weird. Other than that, everything looked fabulous.

The third act was a lot of fun. I may have a small criticisms of it, but they are not major problems.

Truthfully, there were some ups and down for this film. I liked parts of it. There were parts that I found boring. It looked awesome. I do think it could have shaved off 10-15 minutes for the runtime. This may be better when you look back on this after the whole trilogy is done.

3.5 stars

June Swoon 3: A Cinematic Flashback

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For the third consecutive year, I have scheduled a DailyView for the month of June, watching daily a movie from the previous year, 2023, that I missed. There are several Oscar winners in the upcoming June Swoon.

This will be the place where I will keep track of the thirty movies that will consist of the June Swoon 3: A Cinematic Flashback.

Again, the rule is that I will watch and write a review for at least 30 movies, one a day, that was released in 2023 that I had not seen.

June Swoon 3

Sat. June 1, 2024: Anatomy of a Fall

Sun. June 2, 2024: The Zone of Interest

Mon. June 3, 2024: Thanksgiving

Tues. June 4, 2024: Justice League: Warworld

Wed. June 5, 2024: The Last Repair Shop

Thurs. June 6, 2024: The Boys in the Boat

Fri. June 7. 2024: Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor

Sat. June 8, 2024: Rustin

Sun. June 9, 2024: Run Rabbit Run

Mon. June 10, 2024: The Book of Clarence

Tues. June 11, 2024: Origin

Wed. June 12, 2024: The Royal Hotel

Thurs. June 13, 2024: Reptile

Fri. June 14, 2024: The Retirement Plan

Sat. June 15, 2024: Anyone But You

Sun. June 16, 2024: Ferrari

Mon. June 17, 2024: Flamin’ Hot

Tues. June 18, 2024: Eileen

Wed. June 19, 2024: Shortcomings

Thurs. June 20, 2024: All of Us Strangers

Fri. June 21, 2024: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

Sat. June 22, 2024: The ABCs of Book Banning

Sun. June 23, 2024: El Conde

Mon. June 24, 2024: A Disturbance in the Force

Tues. June 25, 2024: 20 Days in Mariupol

Wed. June 26, 2024: Flora and Son

Thurs. June 27, 2024: Infinity Pool

Fri. June 28, 2024: You Hurt My Feelings

Sat. June 29, 2024: Reality

Sun. June 30, 2024: The Burial

The X-Files S4 E19

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Spoilers

“Synchrony”

The X-Files goes deep into the realm of science fiction, even further down that road than they normally go, as they tell a story involving time travel.

An old man (Michael Fairman) comes back from the future to attempt to stop the creation of a chemical compound that is used as a rapid freezing agent. In the future, this agent helped create the possibility of time travel.

I liked this episode, despite a few plot holes that appear in the episode. Michael Fairman would appear on General Hospital and it was cool seeing him in this episode (no pun intended).

There were a couple of disturbing scenes of people bursting into flames which were well done for the mid-nineties.

The secondary characters are not quite as interesting ad they should be. They are fine and that makes the show a fine watch, but perhaps not as awesome as it could have been.

2024 EYG Favorite Comic Covers by the Week

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January 1: Reiko Murakami and Vincenzo Riccardi, Ghostlore #7

January 10: Martin Morazzo, Swan Song #6

January 17: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #16

January 22:

Gold: Stefano Caselli & Jesus Aburtov, Resurrection of Magneto #1

Silver: Andrea Sorrentino, Bone Orchard: Tenement #8;

Bronze: Matt Taylor, Slow Burn #4

January 29:

Gold: Daniel Acuña, Avengers Inc #5,

Silver: Juan Ferreyra, Spine-Tingling Spider-Man #4

Bronze: David Aja, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu: Gang War #2

February 5:

Gold: Mateus Manhanini, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1.

Silver: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #17

Bronze: Mattia De Iulis, The Cull #5.

February 12:

Gold: Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia, Fall of the House of X #1.

Silver: David Finch, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2.

Bronze: Elena Casagrande & KJ Diaz, Blade #8.

February 19:

Gold: Andrea Sorrentino, Bone Orchard: Tenement #9.

Silver: Sami Kivelä, Deer Editor #2.

Bronze: Sumit Kumar, Lee Loughridge, & Tom Muller, The Six Fingers #1.

February 26:

Gold: Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran, Ice Cream Man #38.

Silver: Jacob Phillips, Newburn #15.

Bronze: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #44.

March 4:

Gold: Fran Galán, Pine & Merrimac #3.

Silver: Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho, Thanos #4.

Bronze: Eduardo Risso, Dan Panosian & Fritz Casas, Torpedo 1972 #1.

March 11:

Gold: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #45.

Silver: Alex Ross, The Immortal Thor #8.

Bronze: Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas, Dark Ride #11.

March 18:

Gold: Mark Brooks, X-Men: Forever #1.

Silver: Takashi Okazaki, Star Wars: Visions #1.

Bronze: Szymon Kudranski, Something Epic #8.

March 25:

Gold: Dan Panosian, Zorro: Man of the Dead #3.

Silver: Nick Robles, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #8.

Bronze: Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs, Feral #1.

April 1:

Gold: Inhyuk Lee, Deadpool #1.

Silver: Willi Roberts, Antarctica #10.

Bronze: Kevin Keane and Todd McFarlane, Sand and Twitch Case Files #1.

April 8:

Gold: Gabriel H. Walta, Phantom Road #10.

Silver: Bengal, Napalm Lullaby #2.

Bronze: Zé Carlos, Rat City #1.

April 15:

Gold: Annie Wu, Blow Away #1.

Silver: Michael Avon Oeming, Blue Book: 1947 #3.

Bronze: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #19.

April 22:

Gold: Romy Jones, Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3.

Silver: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #1.

Bronze: Phillip Tan & Sebastian Cheng, Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #3.

April 29:

Gold: Eduardo Risso, The Blood Brothers Mother #1.

Silver: Michael Cho, Space Ghost #1.

Bronze: Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Blood Hunt #1.

May 6:

Gold: Alex Ross, Fantastic Four #20.

Silver: Andrea Sorrentino, Crocodile Black #1.

Bronze: Jorge Corona, Ain’t No Grave #1.

May 13:

Gold: Jeffrey Alan Love, Ice Cream Man #39

Silver: Jim Rugg, X-Men Forever #4

Bronze: Adi Granov, Doom #1

May 20:

Gold: Ernanda Souza, Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1 (Variant)

Silver: Jonathan Glapion, Sam and Twitch Case Files #3

Bronze: Mark Brooks, Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1

May 27:

Gold: David Baldeón, Spider-Boy #7 (Variant)

Silver: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives

Bronze: Andrea Sorrentino, Black Panther: Blood Hunt #1

June 3

Gold: Ed McGuinness & Marco Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #51

Silver: Francesco Mattina, Space Ghost #2

Bronze: Javier Marchisio, Profane #1

June 10

Gold: Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spencer, Transformers #9

Silver: Joshua Hixson, The Deviant #6

Bronze (TIE): Bjorn Barends, Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #2

Bronze (TIE): Szymon Kudranski, Something Epic #11

June 17

Gold: Nick Robles, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #10

Silver: Annie Wu, Blow Away #3

Bronze: Alex Ross, The Immortal Thor #12

June 24

Gold: Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado, The Spectacular Spider-Men #4

Silver: Martin Simmonds, The Department of Truth #23

Bronze: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon #3

July 1

Gold: Leinil Francois Yu, Spider-Man Reign 2 #1

Silver: Chip Zdarsky, Public Domain #6

Bronze: Juni Ba, The Boy Wonder #3

July 8

Gold: Gabriel Hardman, Crocodile Black #3 (virgin variant)

Silver: Dave Johnson, Get Fury #3

Bronze: Taigami &Richard Isanove, Kid Venom #1

July 15

Gold: Alex Maleev, Namor #1

Silver: Kael Ngu, Invincible Iron Man #20

Bronze: Walter Simonson & Laura Martin, Immortal Thor Annual #1

July 22

Gold: Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs, Feral #5

Silver: Nick Robles & Hayden Sherman, The Nice House By the Sea #1

Bronze: Eric Talbot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

July 29

Gold: Peach Momoko, What If Donald Duck Became Wolverine #1

Silver: Alex Ross, Immortal Thor #13

Bronze: Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg, Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #4

August 5

Gold: David Marquez and Matthew Wilson, Uncanny X-Men #1

Silver: Joshua Cassara & GURU-eFX, Avengers #17

Bronze: Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg, Incredible Hulk #15

August 12

Gold: Guillermo Fajardo, Wonderland: Return to Madness #2

Silver: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz, Amazing Spider-Man #55

Bronze: Tom Raney, Jonny Quest #1

August 19

Gold: Dave Johnson, Get Fury #4

Silver: Russell Dauterman, Scarlet Witch #3

Bronze: Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson, Redcoat #5

August 26

Gold: Alvaro Martinez Bueno, The Nice House By the Sea #2

Silver: Jason Shawn Alexander, Killadelphia #35

Bronze: Werther Dell’Edera, Something is Killing the Children #40

September 2

Gold: Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon, The Ultimates #4

Silver: Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado, Spider-Boy #11

Bronze: Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo, Plastic Man No More #1

September 9

Gold: Francis Manapul, Geiger #6

Silver: Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza, Wolverine #1

Bronze: Sergio Aragones, Groo: Minstrel Melodies #1

September 16

Gold: Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran, Ice Cream Man #41

Silver: Pete Woods, Spider-Society #2

Bronze: Tirso, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #3

September 23

Gold: Mitsuhiro Arita, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 (Variant)

Silver: Paolo Rivera, Hello Darkness #3

Bronze: Dave Elsey, Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #1

September 30

Gold: Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, and Brad Anderson, Hyde Street #1

Silver: Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo, Plastic Man No More #2

Bronze: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Richard Isanove, Daredevil #14

October 7

Gold: Joshua Cassara & Dean White, Fantastic Four #26

Silver: Gary Frank & Brad Anderson, Geiger #7

Bronze: Andrea Mutti., Seance in the Asylum #1

October 14

Gold: David Talaski, Christopher Chaos Halloween Special #1

Silver: Martin Simmonds, The Department of Justice #26

Bronze: Flaviano, Grim #20

October 21

Gold: Jenny Frison, Hello Darkness #4

Silver: Jock, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #1

Bronze: Rafael Albuquerque, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3

October 28

Gold: Alessandro Cappuccio, Namor #4

Silver: Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs, Feral #7

Bronze: German Peralta, Redcoat #7

November 4

Gold: Afua Richardson, Kahhori: Reshaper of the Worlds #1

Silver: Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo, Plastic Man No More #3

Bronze: Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola, Absolute Superman #1

November 11

Gold: David Marquez & Matthew Wilson, Uncanny X-Men #5

Silver: Josemaria Casanovas, The Spectacular Spider-Man #9

Bronze: Arjuna Susini, The Mammoth #5

November 18

Gold: John McCrea, Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #3

Silver: Alex Ross, The Immortal Thor #17

Bronze: Francesco Mattina, Space Ghost #7

November 25

Gold: Ivan Reis & Danny Miki with Brad Anderson, Hyde Street #2

Silver: Michael Walsh, Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #4

Bronze: Ben Harvey, West Coast Avengers #1

December 2

Gold: Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola, Ultimate Superman #2

Silver: Baldemar Rivas, Two-Face #1

Bronze: Dave Elsey, Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #2

Round Two

Gold: Werther Dell’Edera, The Art of Something Killing the Children Companion

Silver: Iban Coello, All-New Venom #1

Bronze: Vanesa Del Ray, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #2

December 9

Gold:

Silver:

Bronze:

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of May 6

It is time again this week for the three medalist for best cover of the week. I must say that I eliminated one possible cover this week because I picked up a variant version of The Creature of the Black Lagoon Lives #1 which I really loved. But since this was actually released a few weeks ago, I decided to not count this one as a comic cover medalist. The original cover (Cover A) did place in the medal round prior so it is not like it comes out empty handed. Call this an honorable mention.

Otherwise, we had several comics in the running this week. There were some really cool covers that did not place in the top three. It was two independent books and one Marvel. And the Marvel cover artist has been a medalist several times already.

Bronze Medalist

Ain’t No Grave #1

Image Comics

Cover art by Jorge Corona

A new Western series written by Skottie Young. The cover has some wonderful Western imagery blended together.

Silver Medalist

Crocodile Black #1

Boom! Studios

Cover art by Andrea Sorrentino

New book from Boom! Studios has a very compelling cover. The guy on the bench with that alligator behind him is cool, but I loved the red highlights down on the ground around the body. Is it blood? Maybe, it looks awesome though.

Gold Medalist

Fantastic Four #20

Marvel Comics

Cover art by Alex Ross

EYG Hall of Famer Alex Ross earns yet another medal this week with the great FF cover that is not only beautifully drawn but tells a fun story with Ben and Johnny. What is going on here? I don’t know, but I am excited to find out and that means the cover does its job well.

X-Men ’97 S1 E9

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SPOILERS

“Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 2”

If the second part of a trilogy is always the darkest one, then “Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 2” hits the mark.

What an amazing episode, filled with so much X-Men action that it left me breathless and anxious to see the conclusion to this epic encounter next week in the season finale.

Magneto is back and he’s done with Xavier’s message. He recreated Asteroid M and recruited both Rogue and Sunspot to his side. Both of their defections made total sense to these characters, but that did not make it any less impactful to see them turn their backs on the X-Men.

Blue and Gold teams? Yes, please. That was right out of the comics and I loved it. Having Forge, Cable, Nightcrawler still here despite not being “original” members really worked.

The showdown with Jean and Sinister was just epic, as was the inclusion of Cable into that mix. I wonder if this is all leading to Jean’s return as Phoenix? I have noticed that nearly every week, the Phoenix has made an appearance on the opening credits/theme.

This show pulls no punches and is as brutal as you could possibly expect. Seeing Wolverine’s bloody claws (even though the length of them was a bit awkward) stabbed through Magneto was unbelievable, as was Magnus’ response. Who would have guessed that we would see Magneto rip the adamantium from Wolverine on an animated TV program? This is not our kids’ X-Men.

Morph smash? Excellent “cameo” from our shapeshifter.

I also love how the X-Men did not just fall into line with Xavier. The anger they had for their leader and his choices was clear, even if they knew what they had to do in the end. Scott walking past Charles and ignoring his extended hand was a powerful image.

Bastion is still involved, even though the main thrust has moved toward Magneto. Bastion still feels as if something major will happen with him before this war comes to a close. Seeing him crying over his mother was unexpected, but very humanizing.

This animated program had no right to be as brilliant as it turned out to be. X-Men ’97 has surpassed the original program and might take its place as one of, if not the, greatest animated program ever. We will see how the conclusion of this series is next Wednesday.

Them: The Scare S2 E1

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Spoilers

“Are You Scared?”

I have been looking for another series to watch now that several of the others that I have been working on are concluded. I had seen a trailer for Them at the theater and it looked interesting. I do like some horror anthology, so I gave episode one a watch tonight.

I found this very unnerving and scary in all the best ways.

I did not watch the first season of Them, but if I enjoy this show, since it is an anthology, perhaps I can go back to it.

The show was set in the early nineties in Los Angeles around the time of the Rodney King trouble so there are racial tensions beneath the surface of this first episode. While not coming right out with it, the show definitely hints at the racial aspects.

According to IMDB, “LAPD Homicide Detective Dawn Reeve investigates a gruesome murder in a foster home. It already feels like she’s bringing her case home with her. Meanwhile, Edmund Gaines, a struggling actor, pursues a new role – and a new friend.“

Deborah Ayorinde played Dawn Reeve and Luke James played Edmund Gaines. Both actors do a tremendous job of reacting to what is around them. James is absolutely creepy as the struggling actor who may have more involvement than we expect. Ayorinde has secrets in her life that are coloring her perceptions of what is happening in this case and I expect these to affect everything moving forward.

There were some very difficult moments in watching this. I have never been a huge body horror fan, and this has some imagery that is frightening. I am very much curious about where this is heading though and it should be a scary ride. Looks like there are a total of 8 episodes on Amazon Prime.

The X-Files S4 E18

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Spoilers

“Max”

The second part of this story which began in last episode’s “Tempus Fugit” was a very solid conclusion to a decent start. “Max” takes some time to continue to determine what happened to the flight that the character of Max Fenig, who had some kind of object on the flight with him that was a direct reason why the plane crashed and killed the entire passengers.

The object was radioactive and the show hinted around with it being some kind of alien technology. The scenes where Mulder faced off with the man who shot Agent Pendrell were tense scenes, especially when the UFO arrived.

I am not sure that this story needed to be told in two episodes. I think if you took the best parts of this, you could have made one exceptional episode instead of two mildly decent ones.

I do like the fact that the show finally go back around to starting to deal with Scully’s cancer, as her nose did start to bleed during her attempt to save the shot Pendrell. I also appreciated Skinner’s direct reference to her health as he noticed the blood on the tissue that Scully held in her hand. There were several episodes since the diagnosis that did not deal with the cancer even in the slightest and they felt as if they could have been placed at any point in continuity. Bringing it back should help show us motives for all of the main characters involved moving forward, whether the episodes are mythological based or monster-of-the-weeks.

The X-Files S4 E17

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“Tempus Fugit”

It had been awhile since the mythology episodes of The X-Files has been great. They have ranged from okay to repetitive. The first part of this two-parter “Tempus Fugit” was a pretty solid installment with a bit of a different take on the government conspiracy that we have become used to over the last few seasons.

I’m not sure how I feel about the cliffhanger at the end of the episode. The overall idea of the episode seemed to be working fairly well, but this felt very unsubtle and out of place for the rest of the episode.

It was a solid episode up until that reveal at the end. There were some good guest stars and some good work between Mulder and Scully. Still no reference to Scully’s cancer, although the episode kicking off with Mulder celebrating Scully’s birthday could have been seen as him overcompensating for a failure of celebrating her birthdays before.

The imagery of the plane crash site was very brutal for television. It was tough at times to watch as they found bodies that had died horrific deaths. The realism of this scene was special for the X-Files.

I’ll be interested in seeing where this episode goes next as it did not stand out in my memory as a show I had seen before. I am sure I did see it, but it was not one that I recalled.

The Jinx Part Two S2 E3

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“Saving My Tears Until It’s Official”

The third episode of the next season of The Jinx tonight has a focus in on the trial of Bob Durst for the murder of Susan Berman.

The show gave us specific moments from the actual trial in Los Angeles. We heard from several of the witnesses as well as Bob’s reactions on the phone with his wife Debbie. There are a bunch of talking head interviews through the episode with other people from Susan’s life.

Bob Durst was wheeled into the courtroom, with a neck brace. Was this for optics? Was Bob truly in such a bad shape.

During the trial, they came across a tape recording of a conversation between Susan and a reporter named Albert Goldman. It was very creepy how Susan would ask Albert about things that could have happened to Bob’s wife Kathie. Susan was trying to come up with the most reasonable answer to what happened to Kathie so she could distract the media to what could have happened.

The prosecutor did not use that tape because it made Susan to be unlikable and they did not want the jury to think the victim was a bad person.

Nick Chavin, one of Bob’s friends and a friend of Susan, was a surprise, mystery witness in the trial. It did not seem to go very well.

The first part of this trial also does not seem to be going very well. At least, from what we have seen at this point.