The juxtaposition of the excitement of the Richmond Lady Greyhounds winning their match in comeback fashion and earning the promotion against the sudden and shocking death of Mae Green.
Now, the show, technically, never uttered the words that Mae was dead, but it was not difficult to tell with the painfully emotional moments and body language of both Rebecca, who was told initially, and Ted, who was told by Rebecca. We did not hear the words, but seeing Ted’s head slouch was obvious.
It was a serious gut punch in an episode that was such a joyous celebration.
We also got Keeley discovering that she was pregnant and her own health issues kept her from attending the game. However, Roy’s sweetness helping her stay calm during the televised game, not even knowing that Keeley was pregnant. He thought she had fainted at the previous game because of high blood pressure.
After the wonderful victory, Keeley whispered the truth in Roy’s ear and he responded with such a happiness that you hoped he would. It was another wonderful moment in an episode that was determined to make you feel anguish at the end.
It was revealed that it was not Rupert trying to buy shares of Richmond from under Rebecca, but instead was eccentric billionaire and sports entrepreneur Zelda Southport, played by Tracey Ullman. This was not a surprise as Zelda has been a questionable person all season long.
Then, the progression of the character of Coach Alice has been tremendous this season as she has taken some serious steps in becoming the coach that she could be.
However, the penultimate episode ended with a crushing feel and sets up some real questions for next week.
Happy Amazing Spider-Man #1000 week! It is a big week thanks to me picking up a huge chunk of the Amazing Spider-Man #1000 covers. I have 21 different covers of the book. I have a guess that this week’s EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week is going to be heavily arachnid based.
Also rans: A ton of Amazing Spider-Man covers, Uncanny X-Men #36, Hello Darkness #25 (two connecting Jenny Frison covers), Gambit Wanted #3, White Sky #6, Hillbilly: The Treason of Twelve-Toe Maggie #1, Conan the Barbarian #35, Operation: Iron Coffin #3 (B cover), and Bizarro: Year None #3 (C Cover),
Bronze Medalist
The Amazing Venom #1
Cover art by Stefano Caselli
So the first spot in the medalists is not an Amazing Spider-Man #1000, but it is Spider-Man adjacent book. The new Venom book with Boomerang and a symbiote has a beautiful negative-space-style design.
In a normal week, this one might have been in competition for a gold medal, but there are just too many options against this. I wanted to give this one a medal because it really is a lovely cover.
Silver Medalist
Amazing Spider-Man #1000
Variant Cover W
Cover art by Marcos Martin
Here is the first medalist of the Amazing Spider-Man #1000. Again, there is white background, which I am a sucker for. I love the use of Spidey in the middle of the number 1000. The white spiders on the cover are great too. This is one of my favorite of the Spider-Man covers.
Gold Medalist
Amazing Spider-Man #1000
Variant Cover Q
Cover art by Patrick Gleason
This is such a stunning cover and my favorite cover of the ton of ASM #1000 covers that I picked up over the last two days. The spiders all around Spidey is just tremendous. I love it.
Animation Style: blends stylized 1960s retro-futurism with caricatured 3D computer character animation
Studio: Pixar/Disney
The Incredibles was an epic super hero story featuring a family. Many called it the best Fantastic Four film we have ever gotten. Brad Bird directed this masterpiece and gave us a classic villain. One of my favorite quotes from the film came from Syndrome who said, “Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super… no one will be.”
Voice cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox, Jason Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Bird, Elizabeth Peña, Teddy Newton, Jean Sincere, Bud Luckey, Wallace Shawn, Lou Romano, Michael Bird, Dominique Louis, Bret Parker, Kimberly Adair Clark and John Ratzenberger.
Animation Style: stylized 3D character design with grounded, realistic movement and cinematography
Studio: DreeamWorks
The film that kicked off one of the best animated trilogies of all time, How to Train Your Dragon even had one of the best live-action remakes, a rare occurance for sure. The scene where Hiccup and Toothless go flying for the first time is one of the greatest moments in movie history.
Voice cast: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig,T.J. Miller, David Tennant, Ashley Jensen, Robin Atkins Downes, Philip McGrade and Kieron Elliott.
Our next Daily Countdown, the fifth one, following Top 100 TV Shows, TV Themes, Weird Al Songs and Animated Movies, is going to be the Top 100 TV & Movie Deaths.
Obviously, this one will have a lot of SPOILERS involved as a lot of these deaths are iconic, but some are personal favorites.
As always, this is my personal favorites. I do not mean to insult anyone out there who loves a certain death that I left off the list. I am sure that there will be some that I miss because there have been countless deaths in TV & Movies.
Some iconic deaths will not make my list because I did not/have not watched the TV or film. I did not watch the Sopranos, so Tony Soprano is not here. I did not watch Game of Thrones so the big deaths from there are not on my list. Sorry.
For the first time, I have some honorable mentions for the list.
Honorable mentions: Apollo Creed (Rocky IV), Yoda (The Return of the Jedi), Bonnie & Clyde (Bonnie & Clyde), Bambi’s Mom (Bambi), Leslie Burke (Bridge to Terabithia), Tadeshi (Big Hero 6), Angel Batista (Dexter Resurrection), Natalie (Yellowjackets), Wash (Serenity), Han Solo (Star Wars: the Force Awakens), Competitors (Squid Game), Carl ( The Walking Dead), A-Train (The Boys),The Potato Man (Picket Fences), Agatha Harkness (Agatha All Along), Dualla (Battlestar Galactica), William Wallace (Braveheart), Maximus (Gladiator), Vanessa Fisk (Daredevil: Born Again), Queen Ramonda (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Mr. Mushnik (Little Shop of Horrors) and Severus Snape (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2).
It’s Tuesday, already. This is one of the latest EYG Comic Cavalcade of all time. When I picked up the books last week, I had a ton of books. Then, Saturday was a big day at the theater, including the Avengers Endgame: Encore, which was a long film. Then, there were a bunch of things on Sunday, so I have not been able to get to the EYG Comic Cavalcade until now. Tomorrow is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, for goodness sense.
In fact, there were even several books that I have not read yet. These are the ones that I need to get to yet: Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy #2, Lazarus Order #2, Bishop #4, Absolute Wonder Woman #24, Black Star #3, Bug Wars: The Coming of the Wardoom #2, M1: Monster Racing League #4, Terrorbytes #10, Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1, and Terminal #3.
Comic of the Week
The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe #1
Gail Simone wrote on social media that she loved this story and she thought it was one of the best books of the year. She was 100% correct. The first story, in particular, was so good. It had absolutely no reason to be as good as it was. It did remind me of the first story of the Marvel Spider-Man/Superman crossover event.
The foil cover was a Silver Medalist for the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week.
Books this Week:
A Mischief of Magpies #2. Written by Simon Spurrier with art and cover art by Matias Bergara. This book has been spectacular and completely powerful. The ending of this issue was an emotional powerhouse/ I am very happy that DSTLRY was able to get themselves straightened out. I love the format of this book too with the different layout. It will be a strong next issue.
Thor #801. “Fall From Grace” Written by Al Ewing with art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Gold Medalist). There was also a Hercules cover by Alex Ross that I picked up. Sigurd Jarlson, with hammer in his hand, heads into Hel on the beginning of the “Quest for Thor” storyline.
Feral #26. Written by Tony Fleecs with art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was done by Justasuta. The B cover Shining homage was Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner. Elsie, after the huge fire and escape, has wound up alone and finding the spirit animal- much like the Lion King. Feral has been so epic every month.
The Last Driver #2. Written, drawn and cover art by Sean Murphy. This was one of the best issues last month, and the second issue was very solid as well. The story included vital flashbacks that show us how Clutch was hardened, specifically with the tragedy in the past of his daughter. This was a surprisingly emotional book.
Crimes Against Nature #1. Written by Eliot Rahal with art and cover art by Mattia Monaco (Bronze Medalist). Dr. Kermit Groedan, a famous Hollywood animal trainer, and best friend Amigo the Ape, the first ape ever nominated for an Academy Award) are framed for crime they did not commit. They go on the run. There is a podcast involved in this too.
D’Orc #8. “Wild Hog” Written, drawn, and cover art was done by Brett Bean. The plot synopsis for this issue: In this issue, D’Orc encounters Schweinehund, a rigid and murderous pig-monster warrior dedicated to bringing severe “justice” to the lords of Sunderaine. While the King of Goblin Gate likely deserves what is coming to him, Schweinehund gives D’Orc terrible advice on how to use his rage. D’Orc and his motley crew must navigate the fallout of these bad decisions before things go from bad to worse—all while troll meat is eaten quite sloppily.
Punisher vs. Amazing Spider-Man #3. Written by Dan Abnett and art by Alvaro Lopez. Cover art was done by Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimaraes. Spidey and Punsiher continue their debate over their contradictory methods. Rhino takes the brunt. And Reed Richards wants to know what Spidey is doing. This has been a solid mini-series.
Dispatched #3. Written by B. Clay Moore and art by Daniel Gete. Cover art was done by Daniel Gete and Lee Loughridge. There are some more great action in this book from Ignition Press. Morgan Powers is heading to another Die Hard-like action.
The Greatest American Hero #3. Written by Dan Handfield & Joshua Malkin with art by Alper Geçgel. Cover art was done by Erwin Arroza, B cover Marila Menshikova, and C cover Rafael Loureiro. Ralph’s son makes a bad choice. The Greatest American Hero book has been so good and the story is more than just a nostalgia book. I love the multiple covers too, especially the Dark Knight homage cover. GAH has had three homage covers including Action Comics #1 and Spider-Man No More. Awesome.
Junk Punch #4. Written by Paul Tobin with art by Carlos Javier Olivares & Dani Strips. Cover art was done by Carlos Javier Olivares. More punches in the junk. I have enjoyed this book. I have been consistently laughing at the jokes and my concerns over it being a one-joke book has been cleared.
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #5. “By the Book” Written by Dan Slott and art by Marcus To. Cover art was done by Phil Jimenez & Alex Sinclair. More Punisher-Spider-Man action, and Wolverine makes an appearance.
That Texas Blood: Hell Comes to Allison Ranch #1. Written by Chris Condon with art by Jacob Phillips. Cover art was done by Jacob Phillips. Sheriff Joe Bob Coates and his closest confidant/deputy, Wilson Hart (who is planning to retire), are called out to the Allison Ranch—the largest and richest ranch in the United States. I loved the original That Texas Blood series, which I got off eBay after it had already been finished. I loved it. Chris Condon has been one of my favorite writers since.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #2. “Level 2: A Great Deal of Pain” Written by Bryan Hill and art by Nico Leon. Cover art was done by Simone Di Meo. The villain Revenant is confronted by Miles. The story about Miles’s father’s background in SHIELD. It’s great to get Miles Morales back in his own book.
Batman of Two Worlds #1. “Short Cuts” Written by Matt Fraction and art by Javi Fernandez. “Cut Short” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Derington. This is the Batman Day book where we get both a short story from Batman and the Absolute Batman. I thought it was a crossover, but it was separate stories. That’s fine.
Flash #37. “The Speed Was Power, and the Speed Was Joy- Part VII” Written by Ryan Murphy and illustrated by Gavin Guidry. Cover art was done by Gavin Guidry & Adriano Lucas. The Justice League wants to poo-poo the Flash’s new flashes of insight. Flash tried to stop the terrorist attack of three bridges in three cities at one time. Oops. Boom
Absolute Batman #24. “The Straw Man” Written by Scott Snyder with art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. Batman faces off with Absolute Scarecrow in the cornfield. It is a solid end for the arc of the Scarecrow.
Justice League Unlimited #23. “Escape from Powers Planet: Part Four” Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. When a group of villains inside the Justice League meet up, misunderstandings abound. Batman and Lex Luthor’s conflict has been building for awhile. Meanwhile, Mister Terrific is kicking some ass. Is that a good thing? I worry about Mr. Terrific and the new powers.
Wolverine #28. “Reforged.” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Wolverine faces off with Lady Deathstrike over Forge’s liquid adamantium. Wolverine is finally trying to fix his bone claws. It has been weird because Wolverine is everywhere and some times he is full adamantium and other times he has the broken bone claws. I am not sure where the continuity goes. Of course, now we should be good to go.
Last Starfighter #3. Written by Benjamin Raab & Deric A. Hughes with art by Willi Roberts. Cover art was done by Taurin Clarke. Alex gets a message from his brother about a weird man with sunglasses who had approached him. Alex decides that he has to head back to earth even though the Starfighters have been having serious issues.
Rocketfellers #14. Written by Peter J. Tomasi with art and cover art by Francis Manapul. The Rocketfellers are on their way to try and find more Unbelievables. They’ve done it with the group Invaders Y’all.
Fort Psycho #2. Written by Matt Kindt and art and cover art by Brian Hurtt. This is another issue where we focus on some of the background stories of the characters to find more details about them. Plus, there is more on the mysterious Fort Cyclone. Lots of fun.
Cult-De-Sac #2. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Fico Ossio. Cover art was done by Fico Ossio & Ulises Arreola. The Willow Park HOA annual potluck picnic is a big deal in the new community, but you better make sure you call to see if it is okay to bring brownies. Of course, there is way more than mean HOA reps.
The Dogsitter #3. Written by Jamie S. Rich and illustrated by Megan Levens. Cover art was done by Megan Levens & Nick Filardi. Gemma helps save a dog who has eaten guac. She shows herself to be a huge stud and she is attracting the attention of Neal Mandell. It is not without complication though. The Dogsitter has been a surprisingly enjoyable book.
Spider-Man/Hulk: Fire and Brimstone #2. Written by Kevin Smith & Andy McElfresh with art by R.B. Silva. Cover art was done by R.B. Silva & Federico Blee. This book explored Bruce Banner’s spiritual side while Spidey tries to give him support. Daredevil makes a cameo. I thought this issue was better than the first issue.
Infernal Hulk vs. Wolverine #1. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. Wolverine does not wait for the X-Men as he pursued the Infernal Hulk. He is brutalized badly. Then Jubilee showed up. And all the shit hit the fan.
Gambit Gone #1. Written by Steve Orlando with art by Edoardo Audino & Gerardo Sandoval. Cover art was done by Simone Di Meo. Two Gambits from different earths switch places and have to try to deal with their ne worlds. Gambit is always great as this is now his second active series.
Void Rivals #34. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Conor Hughes. Cover art was done by Lorenzo De Felici & Conor Hughes. Rom vs. Predacron. I have started loving this book again since the arrival of Rom and I am all in.
Blood of the Wolfman #4. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Leomacs. Cover art was done by Leomacs & Pip Martin. The story comes to a conclusion with a dramatic and tragic end. Very bloody and violent, but this is full of excitement and emotion.
Generation X-23 #8. “Human Resources” Written by Jody Hauser and art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by Davi Go. Logan, Laura, and Gabby head into a mission at Facility-23 that quickly goes completely sideways. Still one of the issues where Wolverine’s healing factor is fritzing. I have enjoyed this new team of heroes.
Other books this week: The Shaolin Cowboy: Staying A.I. Live #3, Everyone Loves a Jewel Thief #5, Ghost of a Ghost #1, Razor Gray #1, Any Given Smile #1, Lost Fantasy #12, and Ghost Pepper #15.
Quick Hits: There is a beautiful cover on the Eye Collector #4, though it did not make the medals. I have always been a fan of the white background. The Exquisite Corpses sequel Rascal Randy #3 was tense this issue as we had some more rabbit shenanigans. Power Rangers Green #2 came out too. I am not a huge fan of this book. I had hoped that this would be a little different than it has been, but I do like the character of Tommy. Absolute Flash #19 pushes Wally to a new level, bloody and battered. Thanks to Absolute Atom for the help. The Accessories #2 came out with a focus on Renfield. I picked up a foil cover of a reprint of vol. I of V for Vendetta. It is a beautiful foil cover. Dead Acre: Black Badge #3 is yet another supernatural Western as a Heavenly hero is in search of the monsters. Pesto Comics presented a Local Comic Shop Day book called Snip #1. It was a fun book. Marvel’s Mangaverse moves on with Ghostlocke #1, a Ghost Rider-type combo with Psylocke. Corpse Knight #6 closes up with some more Joan of Arc storyline and a true serial killer of the time. The new version of Star Trek #1 by IDW Comics came out. For me, a lot of the Star Trek books have been up and down for me. I have decided that I do not plan on continuing with this book. Rocketeer: Infiltrator #3 keeps up with the Nazi action. I picked up the facsimile edition of That Texas Blood #1, which was great considering the book returned this week with a brand new storyline. Next week (and when I say ‘next week’ I mean tomorrow) is when Amazing Spider-Man #1000 comes out! I’m buying a bunch of them!
The highest Batman movie on the list is this one featuring the return of the Joker into the orbit of Terry McGinnis. The scene with Joker and Tim Drake from the past was totally haunting and took this from a great film to an instant classic.
Voice cast: Will Friedle, Kevin Conroy, Angie Harmon, Tara Strong, Dean Stockwell, Mathew Valencia, Andrea Romano, Mark Hamill, Arleen Sorkin, Melissa Joan Hart, Michael Rosenbaum, Don Harvey, Henry Rollins, Frank Welker, Lauren Tom, Rachael Leigh Cook, Teri Garr, Ryan O’Donohue, Vernee Watson-Johnson, Mary Scheer and Jason Stanford.
Animation Style: hybrid animation style that blends traditional hand-drawn 2D animation for the human characters and environments with computer-generated imagery (CGI)
Studio: Warner Brothers
One of the most emotional movies about a giant robot you will ever see. The Iron Giant is a wonderful story of a boy and his gigantic robot. It is a wonderful movie and one of the most underrated classics on this list.
Voice cast: Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald, M. Emmet Walsh, Frank Welker, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas .
The penultimate episode of Lanterns takes a look into the past of Hal Jordan, while John and the Hal-ogram continue to try to discover the killer of Hal Jordan in 2026.
The show started off in 1975 and young Hal did not want to give up a baseball to another player who was replacing him on the mound. He was two outs from a complete game and the coach tried to remove him from the game. Young Hal would have nothing of it.
The baseball thing was, of course, a direct comparison to the ring that Hal did not want to give up either.
The Hal-ogram was fun as he encapsuled a happier, kinder, though still an asshole version of Hal Jordan with John. John wanted the Hal-ogram to use his voice to open the mysterious vault, but the construct wanted to meet the sheriff first.
After meeting Sheriff Kerry, Hal-ogram stated that she had killed him. Of course, the construct had also accused John of the same thing.
Later, Hal-ogram admitted that his own father had committed suicide and that maybe Hal Jordan had done the same thing. He called it the Jordan Boys’ Legacy, as apparently the grandfather killed himself too. Hal-ogram thought that maybe the guilt that he thought he saw in Kerry’s face was from her covering up the suicide, much like young Hal had done for his father.
They also found a portal to another planet. This was the same planet that the aliens from earlier this season who were searching for the Manhunter lived on and had been killed on by a poison gas. The gas nearly did in John too, but Hal-ogram was able to stop John from killing himself.
They came across Sinestro on the planet as well, leading into the finale next week.
I enjoyed the talking time between John and the construct and this made me wish there was more of this between John and the real Hal.
I have always had a fascination with serial killers, and I remember when the chase for the Unabomber was going down in the 1990s and the capture and arrest of the Unabomber, Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski. When I saw the new film on Netflix entitled Unabomber, I put it on my queue. I saw some big named actors involved, including Russell Crowe, Jacob Trembley and Shailene Woodley. I was surprised to find out that it was Jacob Trembley who was playing Ted Kaczynski.
The film was told in two time periods. Jacob Trembley was playing Ted during his time as a 16-year old Harvard student and his involvement in a debate club led by Russell Crowe’s Professor Henry Murray. The second time period is the time period of the Unabomber Manifesto and the subsequent capture of Kaczynski, led by FBI Agent Joanne Miller, played by Shailene Woodley.
I thought that the casting of Trembley was Kaczynski was odd, but Trembley did a solid job in the role. His interactions with Russell Crowe were strong and both of their performances elevated the material.
Sadly, the basic idea of the film felt fairly low level and lacking some of the key components of the character. The psychological aspect of the film was questionable, and it even went as far as to imply that Crowe’s Murray helped turn Kaczynski into what he would become. I am not sure the writing of the film was to the level it needed to be, despite a couple of actors bringing the work to a higher level.
The present day storyline felt fairly typical of the true crime genre, without a ton of depth. Shailene Woodley was decent, but there just was nothing more to add to the story that hadn’t been covered before. The final scene of the capture of Kaczynski had some tension to it, but it was filmed straight up and simple when it could have had more layers.
There just was not much to the overall story, and that is a shame as the Unabomber was one of the 20th centuries biggest criminal cases.
