Poker Face S2 E1

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“The Game is a Foot”

Peacock’s hit comedy/mystery show Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne returned to the streamer recently with all new episodes. The first episode had guest star Cynthia Erivo appearing in five, count them, five different roles as she played quintuplets.

The whole story actually confused me for quite a while. I must have not paid enough attention at the very beginning when the crime was being set up because I struggled to understand what was happening. I got it eventually, and that helped the story.

It was a real convoluted tryst as one of the quintuplets killed and tried to replace the one of the quintuplets that had been long lost. The long lost quintuplet was getting the full inheritance and it was a big scam.

Charlie Cale (Lyonne) met up with one and stuck her lie-detecting nose into the situation, confused by what was going on. She did not understand why the lies were coming.

Natasha Lyonne is excellent in this role and she makes the show a lot of fun.

Of course, Charlie is on the run from the mob from the end of the first season and she apparently is being pursued by a pair of hitmen who are worse shots than the Stormtroopers in Star Wars. The running joke of these buffoons shooting at Charlie as she runs away happened several times at the beginning and the end of the episode. It was funny at first, but I hope that is not a continual joke over the season.

There are two more episodes available currently and then regular episodes drop on Thursdays.

The Last of Us S2 E5

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“Feel Her Love”

Another strong episode of the video game adaptation on MAX. The Last of Us gave us the brutality of Ellie as well as seeing the group who were called the Scars and how horrendous they are.

Jesse made his way to Seattle (apparently with Tommy, though we haven’t seen him yet) and came in clutch as Ellie was about to be ripped apart by the Stalkers, the intelligent infected. Ellie and Dina were making their way to the hospital, and their trip through the big warehouse led them to these smart infected. Dina was able to lock herself inside a cage and Ellie was nearly killed, but Jesse arrived at the perfect time.

Of course, Jesse was pissed at them for leaving Jackson, and they had to run to escape the Wolves. They ran into the forest where they came across the Scars, also know as the Seraphites. They watched them hang a man and disembowel him, as Ellie and Dina had come across earlier. Dina gets an arrow in her leg and Jesse takes her while Ellie distracts the Seraphites.

Ellie winds up in the hospital and she comes across Nora, who had been the one to hold Ellie down while Abby killed Joel. Ellie chased Nora through the hospital and into an elevator shaft. They wound up in a basement area where Ellie sees a group of people connected to the plants, breathing spores. Nora was infected from the spores but Nora realizes that Ellie is the rumored girl who was immune.

Nora asked Ellie if she knew what Joel had done and then proceeded to tell her the things he had done. Ellie said that she knew.

Ellie took it even further as she was beating Nora with a weapon, trying to get her to tell her where Abby was.

The episode ends with Ellie waking up and Joel walking in to see how she was. HUH?

That was an unexpected moment. I always thought that Joel would be back in some kind of flashback sooner rather than later, but this was the weirdest placement for such a moment. There are a bunch of questions from this show and I can’t wait to see what the answers are.

The X-Files S9 E6

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“Trust No 1”

Hey, it’s John Locke!

I do not think I will ever be able to see Terry O’Quinn in a project without connecting him to LOST. So when he appeared in The X-Files as the Shadow Man, it hit me differently than it was intended.

The whole story was about Mulder with Shadow Man trying to convince Scully to bring Mulder back. He claimed that he would give Mulder, and only Mulder, the names of the super soldiers, but, of course, that was never going to happen. The episode title is Trust No 1. That was not just Mulder’s email.

Doggett and Monica were pushed to the side for this episode as Scully came to the forefront of the show. I did find her emails with Mulder to be strange considering we have not had much language such as this between them.

I do think that there were some interesting ideas here, specifically how Shadow Man knows everything that he does. The concept of electronic surveillance should have been the basis behind this.

We do learn about something that can destroy the super soldiers cause poor Locke gets got here sort of randomly.

The episode felt like it was strange, but it is always great to have Gillian Anderson to the head of the show.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #152

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May 11

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there. I hope you all have expressed to your mothers how important they are to you, if you are still able to do so.

Well, we are back with the troubles from Diamond. Comic World has not received its Diamond shipment from last week as of writing which means that I will not have a full Comic Cavalcade this week. I picked up a few variant editions of some of the books I am missing, but the full supply of Marvel, Boom Studios, and Dynamite books will be missing from this week’s post. It has been a real pain in the butt for me and everyone else connected with Comic World that this Diamond delivery thing continues to be a problem.

Books this week:

Los Monstrous #1. Script by James Robinson and art by Jesus Merino. Variant cover C art was done by Marcos Martin (Silver Medalist). I love this new Dark Horse book. I think this is in the Diamond order so I picked up a variant cover in Bettendorf. I really enjoyed this book with a city of monsters told in a noir style. Two things that I have always enjoyed mixed together.

Star Wars #1. “Out of the Darkness.” Written by Alex Segura and art and cover art by Phil Noto. I also grabbed a copy of the Logo Variant too. I have not historically purchased Star Wars books, but this new story featuring Luke, Han and Leia was intriguing and I wanted to give it a chance. I did like what I saw.

Far Down Below #2. Written by Chris Condon and art done by Gege Schall. Jacob Phillips did the cover art. This Mad Cave book has been excellent so far. The kids continue their path into the earth, joined by an older man they met along the way. Grandpa?

Amazing Spider-Man #3. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Pepe Larraz. Variant cover B art by Rose Besch. Another of the rare Marvel books this week as I picked up this variant cover to read the story. Peter is going through it as his memory of his childhood with Uncle Ben and Aunt May being manipulated. Oh, and there is Hobgoblin.

Lady Baltimore: The Daughter of Medusa #1. Story by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden and art by Bridgit Connell. Cover art was done by Abigail Larson. This was an interesting book from Dark Horse. I got the definite impression that this was not the first time that Lady Baltimore had appeared in a book. Throwing Gorgons in the mix was cool.

Grommets #7. Written by Rick Remender & Brian Posehn with art and cover art by Brett Parson. Finally. I picked up the earlier issues as a bunch last year and then this final issue took FOREVER to get here. I enjoyed this series quite a bit, but I can’t deny that the final issue was not as impactful because of how long it took to get it. Still enjoyed it.

Two-Face #6. “Closing Arguments” Written by Christian Ward and art by Fabio Veras. Cover art was done by Baldemar Rivas (Gold Medalist). This is the final issue of the mini series featuring Harvey Dent and his psychosis. I have enjoyed the entire series, but I have to say that this conclusion felt a little lacking. It just felt as if there was no progression of the character of Harvey/Two-Face, ending where he always was.

The Atom Project #5. “Combustion” Written by Ryan Parrott and John Ridley with art and cover art by Mike Perkins. The group of villains they are referring to Inferno are here trying to get control of Captain Atom. Of course, it seems as if everyone is looking to control Captain Atom. Reveal of the Inferno group is a little underwhelming considering what is going on with the DC books lately.

Blood & Thunder #1. Written by Benito Cereno and art by E.J. Su. Cover art was done by E.J. Su & Msassyk. This is another fun and enjoyable new book from Image Comics. You have a future world with a bounty hunter and her gun. And yes, the gun does speak. I really enjoyed this book tremendously.

Vanishing Point #1. Written by Mark Russell and art by Juan Doe. Cover art was done by Christian Ward. Vanishing Point is an anthology series. We’ve seen a bunch of these in the horror comic genre, but this is science fiction instead. The first issue deals with a man mining for minerals in space. Great story, and I am looking forward to seeing some sci-fi stories from Mad Cave.

Pop Kill #3. Written by Dave Johnson & Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Juan Santacruz. Dave Johnson did the cover art. The cola wars are taking it to another level in pursuit of the formula for the never ending fizz. Cola wars mixed with James Bond type action.

Godzilla Heist #3. Story by Van Jensen and art by Kelsey Ramsey. Bob Eggleton did the cover art. Godzilla is being used as a distraction for a huge robbery, but it is more than that. It is not just a robbery. There might be a giant robotic lizard involved too.

Plague House #2. Written by Michael W. Conrad and illustrated and cover art by Dave Chisolm. This is an Oni Press book and it is a disturbing one. There are several images in this book that are really unsettling.

Space Quest #1. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Variant cover C art by Derek Chew. Another variant cover that I picked up because the main cover (by Mark Spears, no less) is hopefully in that missing Diamond order. A team up of Dynamite Comics characters Space Ghost and Jonny Quest sounds like a lot of fun.

We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #2. Written by Matthew Rosenberg and art by Stefano Landini. This is not just a girl and her robot. There is a new group of villains in this issue that are on a Zoom call. There are some intriguing mysteries in this book.

Don’t Run With Scissors #1. Written by Francesca Perillo and art and cover art by Stefano Cardoselli (Bronze Medalist). New series from Keenspot, Don’t Run With Scissors is a wildly original new book. I love the look of the art inside, which only helps to build the mood of the story. This is a book to watch.

Black Canary: Best of the Best #6. “Round Six.” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Ryan Sook. This Black Canary series has been one of my favorite DC books and I feel like the wrap up of this series was very strong. I have had some issues with some of these DC books and their finales, but Black Canary brings the fight.

Absolute Superman #7. “A Mind is a Terrible Thing.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Carmine Di Giandomenico. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola. Talk about creepy. No Superman this issue as we feature the Absolute version of Brainiac. And it is horrifying.

Absolute Green Lantern #2. “The Abin Sur.” Written by Al Ewing and art and cover art by Jahnoy Lindsay. I have enjoyed these Absolute books and I really liked this issue of Green Lantern. It reveals the horrible fate of poor Guy Gardner. I also must say that the dark arm on Hal Jordan is one of the most intriguing aspects of the book so far.

Free Planet #1. Written by Aubrey Sitterson and art and cover art by Jed Dougherty. This is a new Image Comic that I was excited to read. However, I was disappointed by it. The first half of the book was just a whole bunch of exposition and a ton of new characters. By the time anything got going, I had checked out of this book.

The Chamberlains #1. Written by Ruben Romero & Casey Bowker. Cover art was done by Rob Prior. Another new book from Keenspot, this was unexpected. First, there was a page repeated in the comic. Exactly the same. I do not know if that was a misprint or purposeful. It did not seem to make sense so I assume it was just an error. Then, the book was suddenly a vampire book. Whoa, did not expect that.

Sam & Twitch Case Files #13. Written by Jordan Barel with Todd McFarlane and art by Thomas Nachlik. Cover art was done by Marco Failla. Things are looking really bad for Twitch. Not only is he under investigation for his shooting of a suspect, but he is also seeing things. Can Sam help him out?

Other books this week: The Moon is Following Us #9, Secret Six #3, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #2, and The Holy Roller #9.

Andor S2 E7, E8, E9

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If I am being truthful, I have only liked Andor some over the last season and a half. I recognized how solid the show was and how great the characters and the acting was, but it just never quite fully grabbed my attention as I viewed it.

That all changed with episodes seven, eight and nine.

In particular episode eight, I have never been as enthralled and engaged in this show as I was with these episodes.

The slaughter at Ghorman was as thrilling and tragic of an episode of television as I have seen in quite a while. Placing all of the characters that we have been connected to over the show’s run created such a dynamic that snatched the attention and caused me to worry about all of them.

The slaughter on Ghorman led to so many things, including the end of the story for Syril and the origin of K2SO.

The speech and subsequent escape from the Senate by Mon Mothra was just as intense, seeing Mon and Cass running through the hallways in an attempt to avoid capture was great.

I do believe that episode 8 is one of the best episode of TV this year so far. It will probably be what this show will be remembered for when the show is done.

How can Andor be so good when other Star Wars TV shows are just not nearly as well done?

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #16

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“The Sound of Her Wings”

This was an interesting episode that could be seen as two parts surrounding a common theme. That theme is Death and the preparation for it.

The first half is Morpheus following his sister, Death around while she approached those who were about or pass to the other side. He sees Death interacting with the humans that she was meeting and how she made them feel comfortable with the unhappy news.

After Death leaves, we move back to 1389 where we see Morpheus and Death once again at a pub. They overhear a man making a boast that he would never die. Death decided to grant his wish and Morpheus talks to the man, Hob Gadling, telling him he would return to this pub in 100 years to speak to him again.

Obviously, the man did not buy the comment at first. Morpheus expected the man to beg for death after awhile. Every year, fate had found Hob in a different circumstance, but always happy to be alive.

The episode showed Morpheus learning lessons from both opposite characters. Both Death and Hob helped create a fascinating episode and all the mini-stories they encountered were well done.

This feels like a middle episode before the next big struggle, which seems to be Morpheus’s other siblings, Desire and Despair, the twins. Still, I like a good transition episode and this is certainly that.

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

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I knew that I wanted to revisit the original animated Lilo & Stitch (2002) before the new live action adaptation that is coming on May 23. I believe that I have only seen this animated Disney classic once, back in the early 2000s. I know that I did not go to the theater to see this, so it must have been on VHS.

With the new film coming, I pulled this film up on Disney + today to rewatch it. And I have to say that I really enjoyed this more than I remember liking it that first time.

The voice cast was great. The voice that I immediately recognized was that of David Ogden Stiers, who played Charles on MASH and had been one of the regular voice actors in several other Disney movies(such as Beauty and the Beast). Chris Sanders voiced Stitch while Daveigh Chase voiced Lilo. Other voices in this movie included Tia Carrere, Ving Rhames, Kevin McDonald, Zoe Caldwell, Jason Scott Lee, and Kevin Michael Richardson.

Lilo & Stitch is a fun movie with a great story and a powerful message of family and acceptance. It was short but well paced. I loved the use of the Elvis Presley catalogue of songs, which kept my toes tapping throughout the movie.

The animation style was traditional, but still worthy. The design of the alien characters are not my favorites as they feel fairly common. Honestly, the characters of Jumba and Pleakley remind me of the Muppets, not Kermit or Miss Piggy, but those Muppets that you would see in the background.

After seeing this film once again, I am looking forward to the live action remake more than I was before, which was the idea.

Doctor Who S2 E5

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“The Story and the Engine”

I think this season of Doctor Who has been just exceptional. Every episode has been enjoyable and had its own brand of originality and creativity. This week, The Doctor goes to Africa for a story about stories.

Based inside a barber shop, the story was incredibly clever. The use of the barber shop to tell stories that then powered the barber shop was excellent. So was the antagonist who was intense and worked wonderfully off the Doctor.

The format of the storytelling was amazing, with the story that was being told being animated by the window of the barber shop. It was such an impressive piece of storytelling.

There was a wonderful story told by the Doctor during this episode that gave us some more background on Belinda and her career as a nurse. It was a lovely story about how she put her own wishes aside to help a sick woman in her hospital.

I don’t care what anyone says, I have loved these episodes on Disney +. I will be sad when the Doctor regenerates.

Clown in a Cornfield

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I saw this listed at Cinemark and my mind immediately went to movies like Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Clown in a cornfield? It seemed so ridiculous. However, the reviews were mostly positive, surprising me. I decided to give it a chance.

According to IMBD (by way of Bloody Disgusting), “Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start, But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out as quick as they can. Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.” Synopsis from Bloody Disgusting“

I was torn by this movie. There were parts that I thought were really dumb and, if you excuse the pun, corny. However, it was heads and shoulders above the type of movies that I expected it to be lke.

The film did start off by introducing a group of young teen characters that I hated and led me to look forward to seeing them killed by a clown. As the film progressed, I learned that the unlikable characters were part of the story, not just a slasher movie trope. I started to believe that the writing was more clever than I initially thought.

The story had some interesting moments, but was very messy in a lot of spots. I am not sure everything came together well. There were some holes in the story, especially the ending. Without spoiling anything, something at the end confused me so much that I was questioning myself that I must have missed something.

Clown in a Cornfield is not a bad film. It was an enjoyable enough watch as it moved along quickly. I think I went in with low expectations and I had a good enough time with it. I did like how the film changed up several of the expected horror tropes. This was fun at times.

3 stars

June Swoon 4: Two A Day!

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We are under a month until our fourth annual June Swoon… except, there will be a twist this year.

There have been a lot of movies that I have missed so far in 2025 that are showing up on the streaming services. I was looking for a way to do a big couple of day watch… much like the Friday Fun Festival I did late last year, but the timing just was not working out.

The list was getting longer when I came up with the idea. I knew the June Swoon 4 was starting on June 1 (I can announce that September 5 is the first film of the June Swoon this year), and I thought… what if I did a movie from this year every day as well.

Typically, the June Swoon is a DailyView, where I watch a movie that I missed from 2024, once a day from June 1st to June 30th. That will still be in place. Joining the movie from 2024 will be a movie from 2025, giving us two movies a day, every day for the month of June!

I love this as a new challenge. EYG has done the June Swoon for three previous years and this new wrinkle will spruce up the event even more. It will be a busy month as I would like to finish the X-Files this summer, there is the Sunday Morning Sidewalk continuing, and any continuing series are still on the docket.

I would guess that the new releases on the weekend during June will count as movies from 2025 for this challenge.

I am excited about the new June Swoon! Starting on June 1st…

June Swoon 4: Two A Day Movie List

It’s Then Now: 2024 movie

It’s Now: 2025 Movie

June 1

It’s Then Now: September 5

It’s Now: Black Bag

June 2

It’s Then Now: Hundreds of Beavers

It’s Now: Into the Deep

June 3

It’s Then Now: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

It’s Now: The Luckiest Man in America

June 4

It’s Then Now: Flow

It’s Now: Screamboat

June 5

It’s Then Now: Memoir of a Snail

It’s Now: A Working Man

June 6

It’s Then Now: The Only Girl in the Orchestra

It’s Now: Wick is Pain

June 7

It’s Then Now: Ghostlight

It’s Now: Wrestlemania IX: Becoming A Spectacle

June 8

It’s Then Now: Sing Sing

It’s Now: The Ballad of Wallis Island

June 9

It’s Then Now: Love Lies Bleeding

It’s Now: Death of a Unicorn

June 10

It’s Then Now: Y2K

It’s Now: Becoming Led Zeppelin

June 11

It’s Then Now: My Dead Friend Zoe

It’s Now: Warfare

June 12

It’s Then Now: Caddo Lake

It’s Now: Karen

June 13

It’s Then Now: Small Things Like These

It’s Now: Fear Street: Prom Queen

June 14

It’s Then Now: Queer

It’s Now: The Rule of Jenny Pen

June 15

It’s Then Now: The Brutalist

It’s Now: Finger Food

June 16

It’s Then Now: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

It’s Now: Magazine Dreams

June 17

It’s Then Now: Ultraman: Rising

It’s Now: Rust

June 18

It’s Then Now: The Last Showgirl

It’s Now: Mountainhead

June 19

It’s Then Now: Black Barbie: A Documentary

It’s Now: Titan: The OceanGate Disaster

June 20

It’s Then Now: In a Violent Nature

It’s Now: The Surrender

June 21

It’s Then Now: I’m Still Here

It’s Now: The Friend

June 22

It’s Then Now: The Fire Inside

It’s Now: Another Simple Challenge

June 23

It’s Then Now: Nickel Boys

It’s Now: Nonnas

June 24

It’s Then Now: Tuesday

It’s Now: Revelations

June 25

It’s Then Now: Chicken for Linda

It’s Now: Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse

June 26

It’s Then Now: Your Monster

It’s Now: Until Dawn

June 27

It’s Then Now: Hitpig

It’s Now: Star Trek: Section 31

June 28

It’s Then Now: Babygirl

It’s Now: K-Pop Demon Hunters

June 29

It’s Then Now: The Order

It’s Now: G20

June 30

It’s Then Now: Absolution

It’s Now: Deep Cover

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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May 8

Here we are on Thursday, not Wednesday. Why is that?

Diamond.

Curse you Diamond. Once again, the Diamond order does not arrive when it was supposed to arrive. It also did not arrive today yet. That means that there are no Marvel or other company’s books in the race for the cover of the week this week.

Medal Winners this Week:

Bronze Medalist

Don’t Run With Scissors #1

Cover art by Stefano Cardoselli

This is one of the most interesting covers of the week. This cover makes me curious about what is going on here and the color scheme for the cover is sensational. I also love the X’s through the title card. Keenspot has a history of great covers with Mark Spears, and this is yet another one.

Silver Medalist

Los Monstruos #1

Variant Cover C

Cover art by Marcos Martin

I was looking at the variant covers for this book and I saw this C cover and I loved it. It had such an old school noir feel to it. I was intrigued by this book already and this cover only amplified that.

Gold Medalist

Two-Face #6

Cover art by Baldemar Rivas

The final issue of the Two-Face mini series saved the best for last. This is a great cover with a horrific image on Harvey Dent’s face and the iconic coin in his hand. The white background remains as one of my favorite background in comics.