Animation Style: hybrid animation style combining traditional hand-drawn cel craftsmanship, lush painterly watercolor backgrounds, and pioneering digital CGI
Studio: Studio Ghibli
“Hayao Miyazaki returns to head up the next Studio Ghibli film and this is one of the studio’s most popular and well-known films. Princess Mononoke is one of the first films people cite when speaking about the animation giant and it is well deserved. The film is truly a grandiose, fantasy epic that spirals through the forests of Japan.” -from my review on the site.
Voice Cast: [English version] Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Billy Bob Thornton, John DeMita, John DiMaggio, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gillian Anderson, Debi Derryberry, and Keith David.
The last day of July brings us back to EYG Comic Cavalcade. We are all the way up to #214. Wow. So awesome. Just a few more weeks of summer vacation remaining. *SAD*. I love getting these done on a Friday instead of barely getting it done on Sunday or maybe even Monday afternoon.
Saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day yesterday afternoon and it was fabulous. I am going back to see it again tomorrow morning.
I was watching the Eisner Award results coming in on X last Friday. They are always given out at the Friday night of San Diego Comic Con. I like to purchase graphic novels that win Eisner’s and this year, I purchased off Amazon Drome by Jesse Lonergan and This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux. Drome won Best Publication for Teens and This Place Kills Me won Best Graphic Album–New. I should also congratulate DC Comics which won 12 Eisner’s on the back of the Absolute universe.
Comic of the Week
Feral #25
The exciting conclusion of the Stray Dogs/Feral crossover is our big Comic of the Week. The scenes in the fire is tremendous. Feral has been one of my favorite comics every month.
The foil cover of this issue, which I spied on the stand, wound up with the Bronze Medalist of the Week. The cover pictured is the B cover that is always an homage to a horror movie
I’m curious to see if some of these characters remain together as the comic progressed. Either way, this was a huge winner this week.
Books This Week:
Galactic #2. Written by Curt Pires with art and cover art by Amilcar Pinna. DSTLRY seems to be back on track with their one book or so a week. That is better than no books for six months though. This was an easier book to get back into as it has a definite Star Wars vibe to it. I find this to be very easy to read and engaging of a story. I am very pleased that DSTLRY did not fold completely earlier this year that we are able to get the ongoing story of this book.
The Dirt Beneath the Devil #1. Written and cover art by Dan Panosian and art by David Ferracci. This was a new Western book with a definite tinge of the supernatural. The devil horse is tamed by a lovely woman, but not tamed completely. This is one of those books that feels like has only just started.
Doomquest #3. Written by Ryan North and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Silver Medalist). Doom has come off of the Titanic and has found himself embodying George Washington during the Revolutionary War. How will the narcissistic Doom deal with the power of the Father of America?
Queen in Black #1. Written by Al Ewing with art by Iban Coello & Ze Carlos. Cover A art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. Cover C art was done by Peach Momoko. I also grabbed two of the blind bags for the series (I am a sucker for blind bags) that had art by Artgerm and the other one was the black blank version. I was unsure about the Queen in Black story arc, but this number one grabbed my attention so I expect that I will be reading this moving forward.
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #3. “King’s Ransom” Written by Dan Slott with art by Marcus To. Cover art was done by Phil Jimenez & Alex Sinclair. Mister Negative has mind control over the Punisher and Spidey is trying to do what he can to save Frank and to keep him from killing everyone. Nice branding on this since the movie came out this weekend.
The Greatest American Hero #1. Written by Don Handfield and art by Alper Geçgel. Cover A art was done by Rob Prior. Cover D art was done by Rafael Loureiro (Gold Medalist). This is basically the same story that was dropped on Free Comic Book Day which was my Comic of the Week that week. I love this book and I can’t wait for the story to move along in issue #2.
The Patron #1. Written by Christian Ward and art by John J. Pearson. Cover art was done by Christian Ward. This is a fascinating new book from Ignition Press. It is interesting that we do not really have a protagonist in this book. Instead we get a person behind the scenes to help promote a new artist… only to see that artist dead. New awesome premise that I am anxious to see play out.
X-Men #34. “Mark of Cain” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Greg Land. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel, Mark Morales, & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. This issue gives us a look at Juggernaut and his thoughts on being a hero and, specifically, being an X-Man. It is a strong individual issue featuring an underused character from this current team. I was excited to see Juggernaut in this setting.
Mortal Thor #13. “An Endless Take of Asgard.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Juann Cabal. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. This was a strange issue as we get to see the future of Asgard with Magni assuming the throne of the kingdom. We went literally eons into the future to see how Magni reacts to the threats. Again, I am not sure how this falls under the “Mortal” Thor, but it was a fun read, even if it does not mean anything moving forward.
Detective Comics 2026 Annual #1. “For the Main Man Who Has Everything.” Written by Tom Taylor with art by Nicola Scott. Cover B art was done by Guillem March. Batman and Lobo team-up when the bounty hunter comes after Batman to collect a bounty. This was a fun one-off book with these two characters.
What if…? Spider-Man #1. “What If Kraven Survived his ‘Last Hunt?'” Written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Yildiray Cinar. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. This latest What If..? was a well written book which dives into the story of Kraven and what happened in this context. I especially liked that they did not just leave Peter in the coffin. They had him dig himself out, but he had to deal with the mental challenges of being buried alive. Peter still was who he was at the end of this What If…? despite the chance to do something else. I like that.
Geiger #24. Creators are Geoff Johns & Gary Frank. Cover C art was done by Dean Haspiel. Tariq Geiger faced off against an army of Junkyard Joes and he winds up in chains. Little did we know, Geiger is being used as bait to attract President Griffin. Big battle in Geiger #25!!
Jessica Jones: Alias- Red Band #5. Written by Sam Humphries with art by Geraldo Borges. Cover art was done by David Mack. I love Jessica Jones, but, I have to be honest, this red band series has not been one that I am a big fan of. I am not into the inclusion of Typhoid Mary here and the whole Mephisto arc did not engage me that much. This is definitely my least favorite Jessica Jones mini series that Marvel has released.
Justice League: Knight Vision Special #1. Written by Mark Waid & Joshua Williamson with art by Miguel Mendonca. Cover C art was done by Mark Spears. This one-shot featured Batman teaming up with Lex Luthor to take on Prometheus. Batman and Lex with their banter was the highlight of the comic.
Generation X-23 #6. “Mutant Generation” Written by Jody Houser with art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by Partha Pratim Sarkar & Romulo Fajardo Jr. I really enjoyed this issue of these new characters as Laura and Gabby lead them and try and inform them on how to be heroes. I liked these new X-characters and I hope they continue to develop these characters.
Black Star #1. Written by Kristin Kreuk, Peter Mooney, and Eric Putzer and illustrated by Joe Bocardo. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. In the 19th century fur trade, Dr. Dashiell Carlyle discovers he possesses unexpected magical healing abilities during a violent firefight.
Red Roots #4. Written, drawn and Cover art by Lorenzo De Felici. This was my favorite issue of this book so far as we finally get some idea of what’s going on with this book. The explanation of what the “Red Roots” was about was gripping. I hope this keeps getting better each issue.
Midknight Man #2. Written by Mark and Lucas Spears with art and cover art by Mark Spears. We are following Midknight Man as he searches for answers on who he really is. The mega feel of this book is great and Mark Spears has brought an enjoyable story to this character.
Predator Versus Planet of the Apes #1. Written by Greg Pak and art by Alan Robinson. Cover art was done by Stonehouse. Another fun Predator book where the Predator arrives and kills himself some apes. I have enjoyed other works with the Planet of the Apes and to see them match up with Predator.
Other books this week: Reborn: Ultimate Impact #3, Rocket Raccoon: Rocket Rewind #1, X-Men: Outback #2, Conan the Barbarian #33, Alice Forever After #5, In Your Skin #4, and Everybody Loves a Jewel Thief #3.
Quick Hits: Mad cave’s Is Ted Ok? #6 comes to the conclusion with this issue. It turned out to be quite a challenging issue and I am not sure how I felt of the end. The Horror of Godzilla #1 has some cool imagery in the book with a neat cover, but it is probably not going to be a book I pick up every month. We’ll see. With Queen in Black debuting this week, there are a bunch of side books such as Queen in Black: Hela #1 and Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #1. The second book of those was more interesting because of the cast which included cool characters such as Beta Ray Bill, Iron Man and Cloak and Dagger. Shard is back in the present with Bishop #2. Land of Never #2 is interesting as the Flying Man is being investigated and we are seeing Peter Pan in a new light. I picked Nano #1 off the stand on Wednesday. It is a new Dark Horse book with a strange future situation. I am not sure what is going on, but I do think that I am intrigued. Dead by Daylight #4 brought that series to an end for Titan Comics. Not my favorite of the books a month, but still fairly readable. The Eye Collector #2 continued to be a weird, wild book that is different than any book I collect. I do think I am going to continue with this one. Then, Pretty Hate Machine #4 gives us a major reveal about what was going on and it is a rough one. Only the Savage are Left #2 is quite the emotional issue and makes me ready to get the next issue.
I considered a couple of Pinocchio movies for this list, and, in the end, I decided upon only one. I let the iconic Disney film sit on the outside of the Top 100 and included the masterful creation from Guillermo Del Toro. This film ended up winning the Academy Award for the Best Animated Feature in 2023.
Voice Cast: David Bradley as Geppetto, alongside Ewan McGregor, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton and Tom Kenny.
I am a massive Spider-Man fan. I am unapologetic about that. I expected that going into Spider-Man: Brand New Day this afternoon. Maybe I am not necessarily the most unbiased reviewer you’ll see. However, I have been consciously working on being more fair and balanced about MCU movies.
Having said that, I LOVED this movie.
Peter Parker is struggling with his isolated lifestyle after the world forgets that Peter Parker exists (thanks to the Dr. Strange spell). Peter has thrown himself into his Spidey work, teaming up with NYPD to help bring down the criminal elements of the city. A mysterious powered person brings a ton of chaos to the city, Damage Control and Spidey.
I am not going to spoil anything in my review at this point. I am going to try to cover these points as generally as I can.
Performances are top notch. Tom Holland does a remarkable job as Peter Parker, playing the sadness of his life has engulfed him in. I have heard a lot of reviews calling this a much more mature performance from Holland, and that is a perfect description.
Sadie Sink, lips closed on her character, was unbelievable from the moment she was on the screen. She is such an accomplished actor and I think she is going to be an utter star in the world of the MCU.
The relationship between Peter and Frank Castle, played by the wonderful Jon Bernthal, is one of the best ones in the film. I found their pairing to be so great, unexpectedly so. Bernthal and Holland have great chemistry with each other, which you also see in The Odyssey, that Spidey and Punisher, one of the biggest odd couples you’ll see, sparkle together in dialogue, especially.
We know from the trailers that the Hulk has made a return in this film and the scenes with Hulk and Spidey are some of the best of the film. The action is spectacular. Mark Ruffalo does a fabulous job in the role as Bruce Banner, and, after so many years playing the role (since Avengers in 2012), he has such a grasp on Banner.
The special effects and action in Brand New Day is some of the best of any of the Spider-Man movies. Director Destin Daniel Cretton, who brought such a gravitas to Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, shows us once again that he can handle action and fight scenes as well as anyone. There were a bunch of shots that were spectacular.
The film uses the supporting cast of previous Spidey movies, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, just about perfectly. You can feel Peter’s grief over the loss of them as friends and how he is struggling to move on without them. This is the best performance of Zendaya in any of the Spider-Man movies.
One would think that this movie would be packed too full with all of the characters and storylines, but that is not a problem. The film has extraordinary pacing that works so well.
The film showed Spider-Man in the way that I believe he should be shown. The choices he made and the story beats with the character is just the way Spider-Man is portrayed.
I loved this movie and I will be going back to it again. There are so many fun things in the film and I can not wait to see it again.
Animation Style: traditional hand-drawn cel animation with classical Chinese art, minimalist design, and pioneering computer-generated imagery
Studio: Disney
Amazing as it seems to me now, I had never seen Mulan until 2019. The main reason I went to finally watch the film was because the live action that Disney was coming out with and I thought I should see the original before the live-action, and I loved it. The voice of Mulan was one of my favorite actresses from Agents of Shield, Ming-Na Wen.
Voice cast: Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, Miguel Ferrer, Harvey Fierstein, Gedde Watanabe, Jerry Tondo, James Hong, George Takei, Pat Morita, and Miriam Margolyes.
The fifth week of the month still brought us some great covers.
Also Rans: Queen in Black #1 (Cover C), X-Men #34, The Horror of Godzilla #1, The Patron #1, Feral (Cover A), Greatest American Hero #1 (A Cover), Justice League: Knight Vision Special #1 (Cover C), Feral #25 (B cover), The Mortal Thor #13, and The Dirt Beneath the Devil #1.
Bronze Medalist
Feral #25
Cover F virgin foil
Cover art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez
Feral has had some of the best covers during its run, and this wraparound foil virgin cover is right there with some of the tops. This is a lovely foil of Cover A, which still made the Also-Rans.
Silver Medalist
Doomquest #2
Cover art by Alex Ross
Dr. Doom leading the Revolutionary War soldiers across the Delaware River is a fun cover, done even better by the iconic Alex Ross. This is a wonderfully enjoyable cover for a fun series.
Gold Medalist
Greatest American Hero #1
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Rafael Loureiro
This is my favorite cover for the new Greatest American Hero series from the number ones. It is an homage cover, which I always enjoy, of Action Comics #1. The use of Amp Comics in the title is clever and the drawing of Ralph was great.
This week’s X-Men’97 brings back Graydon Creed and bring him to the Savage Land.
I do not know as much about Exodus and the Acolytes of Magneto as some of the other areas this show has covered. Like everything on this show, the storylines adapted from the comics over the years do feel as if they are rushing through a lot of stuff.
The main focus of the episode was Nightcrawler trying to rescue Creed, his half-brother, from Exodus and the Acolytes, and the return of Colossus. There was a character developing episode that looked at what makes a person do what they do.
I am not sure why it was set in the Savage Land, outside that this is where it took place in the comics. We got a T-Rex and two pterodactyls. The setting certainly does not play into the story much, if at all.
Nightcrawler and Exodus have a fun teleporting sword fight.
The episode was quick and I did feel the shortness of the episode with the story they were telling. I think this could have easily been spread out over two episodes and I do think the overall story is hurt by rushing it. The show is moving toward the big showdown with Apocalypse and I just believe this was to bring Colossus back.
The moment at the end with X-Force and the skeletal remains of Apocalypse was a great tag for, I assume, the final two episodes of the season.
Animation Style: ultra-realistic computer graphics with a tactile, 2D pastel chalk and watercolor style
Studio: Pixar/Disney
Toy Story 5 is the most recent of the films on this list. While Hoppers and Minions and Monsters might make a future list of Top 100 Animated Movies, Toy Story 5 had to make this one. I am a big fan of the Toy Story franchise, and the latest film works in many different ways. Having Jessie being the main focus of the story was a good choice.
Voice cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Conan O’Brien, Scarlett Spears, Greta Lee, Shelby Rabara, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Craig Robinson, Matty Matheson, Annie Potts, Keanu Reeves, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Tony Hale, Wallace Shawn, Lori Alan, Jay Hernandez, Blake Clark, John Ratzenberger, Melissa Villaseñor, Jeff Bergman and Anna Vocino .
Animation Style: a stylized, caricature-driven form of 3D computer animation characterized by geometric character shapes, simplified proportions, and a rich use of color theory
Studio: Pixar/Disney
This is another movie that is lower on my list than it would be on a bunch of other lists. I think the first 10 minutes are some of the best moments of all time, but the rest of the film is only good.
Voice cast: Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, John Ratzenberger, and David Kaye.
I watched the fifth season of Rick and Morty on HBO Max this morning, moving my way through the series.
The last two episodes of the season, “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall” and “Rickmurai Jack,” really flipped the show on its head with a break-up of Rick and Morty, and the revenge of Evil Morty, aka the President of the Citadel.
I have to say, one of the things I love about Rick and Morty is how they use continuity and return to dangling plot lines from previous episodes, even previous seasons. When in episode “Rickdependence Spray” they sent the Giant Incest Baby into space, I knew it was coming back around sooner or later.
It makes sense that they need to shake up the status quo on Rick and Morty as they have gone for five seasons. You have to keep it fresh and much of this season did a decent job of that. There were several episodes that seemed to me to be very complex, maybe even overly complex. The whole “decoy families” in the episode “Mortyplicity” and the whole “Amortycan Grickfitti” episode felt too much.
Lots of obvious parodies of the season including Planetina (Captain Planet), the GoTron ferrets (Power Rangers/Voltron), and Changeformers (Transformers).
The rivalry between Rick and President Curtis is revisited in a weird episode where Rick tries to get the President to pardon him by turning himself into a turkey. They also mentioned that this is not the first thing that Rick pulled this trick. It was weird because during the course of the episode, Morty accidentally opens up the giant robot hidden in the Statue of Liberty. That was a story bit that really was never fully touched on.
I did like Mr. Nimbus, who seemed to be a parody of Prince Namor, the Sub Mariner. This was the first episode, which had a weird storyline with Morty going into a dimension in search of wine and how that affected the creatures of that dimension.
Overall, I liked this season more than I liked season four. I have seen some hints that Space Beth is going to be used in a storyline which is interesting. Maybe she can do something with Giant Incest Baby, which would be her grandson.
Animation Style: traditional, hand-drawn 2D cell animation featuring fluid aerial movement, a warm European-inspired aesthetic, and detailed watercolor-style backgrounds
Studio: Studio Ghibli
Voice Cast: [English Dub] Kirstin Dunst, Phil Hartman, Tress MacNeille, Janeane Garofalo, Matthew Lawrence, Debbie Reynolds, Edie McClurg, Jeff Bennett, John Hostetter, and Kath Soucie.
Some fun episodes from the second season highlighted the Muppet Show rewatch today.
Starting with the Rich Little episode. Honestly, his imitations of the Muppets were fairly weak. I have heard many better over the years. I did enjoy the final number where Rich Little sang as famous celebrities songs from musicals including “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Did You Ever?,” and “I Remember It Well.”
That first episode also started Gonzo’s affection for chickens, as he was auditioning them for a dancing act. Of course, these were live chickens.
Judy Collins came next and she sang a whole bunch of songs. I guess when you have someone with her voice, you try and use it as much as possible. The performance of “Send in the Clowns” is one of the most iconic guest songs of the show. I enjoyed her version of “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” too. It was neat seeing her do a piano duet with Rowlf with “Do-Re-Mi.”
We get the backstage storyline with Scooter’s uncle J. P. Grosse, who is ready to tear down the theater to put in a parking lot.
The Nancy Walker episode saw Kermit at home sick and Fozzie trying to run the show. Things do not go well for our favorite furry funnyman. My favorite bit was the accidental mixing of Veterinarian’s Hospital and At the Dance. They worked very well together.
Edgar Bergen brought his ventriloquism act to the Muppet Show, which fit in beautifully. Charlie McCarthy was very smart mouthed when it came to the Muppets. It was a lot of fun.
My favorite number on that episode was the “Time in a Bottle” song where the old scientist was making a formula to turn him younger.
Then, the best episode of this chunk was with Steve Martin. They took the typical Muppet formula and flipped it around as Kermit cancels the show for the night because they accidentally scheduled it on a night when they were supposed to be having auditions. Kermit sent the audience home and they spent the time auditioning new acts.
Steve Martin stuck around to “entertain the boys” and did a bunch of fun things from his act, including balloon animals, banjo playing, doing “Ramblin’ Guy.”
Some of the new acts we saw audition included Statler & Waldorf singing/dancing to “Varsity Rag,” a little girl named Carrie Louise and friend (who was a frog, and she would sing while the frog added the word ‘ribbit’ to the songs), Baskerville the Hound and his comedy act that reminded us all of Fozzie Bear and Marvin Suggs and his All Food Glee Club.
The show had removed the laugh track since the audience was gone and we would hear just a few guffaws from, apparently, the Muppeteers.
I loved how they took the format and tried something totally different and it really was a fresh episode.
