Tag Archives: book-review

Them: The Scare S2 E5, E6

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“Luke 8:17”

“Would You Like to Play a Game?”

Whoa. Some huge revelations dropped in these two episodes that made it a little clearer about what was going on… however, there are still some strange things going on.

I always thought Raggedy Andy was creepy.

Part of the intended confusion early in the show, the stuff that made me think that Edmond was only a copycat killer, was that he seemed like he had not killed before. I actually thought for a brief second last episode that these two stories going on we in different timelines, but I dismissed the idea quickly. Turns out, what we were seeing of Edmond was two years before the stuff with Dawn. Boom, mind blown.

Things go down hill quickly for Dawn Reeve. Edmond is her biological brother. She tries to save a little boy by taking him to the hospital and he dies in the back of her car. This little boy had told her that he was seeing a red-headed man who wanted to kill him. She is put on leave from her job because of this. The racist cops of the LAPD made things even worse, making sure that everything looked bad for her. McKinney is such an a-hole.

However, it is not as simple as Edmond is the killer. There is something supernatural going on too. How does that happen? Edmond hears voices. I do not think it is as simple as Edmond has mental illness. There is something deeper and darker going on.

The attack on Dawn’s son during his performance was frightening as could be, as was his breakdown in the classroom as he was seeing the red-headed man.

Wild speculation time: Does Dawn have something to do with these murders? I mean, more than just being connected to them or being Edmond’s sister? The missing time suggestion means something. What is it? Clearly, Dawn is not very stable at the moment and her life is falling down around her.

Deborah Ayorinde was outstanding in these two episodes. I am very conflicted by her character and I am not sure what this show is expecting me to think about everything. Is she just a victim? Or is there something more sinister going on?

Only two episodes remaining and there are a lot of questions with the show. Either way, this has really kicked into high gear, which was impressive because it was always very compelling already.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #89

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March 31, 2024

Happy Easter.

I’ve been picking up back issues on eBay and at Comic World quite a bit recently. It makes it easier to pick up back issues when I know what comics I already own. It is why my current process of cataloguing my comics on CLZ has been a great thing.

I had enough back issues available to warrant another EYG Comic Cavalcade, so after finishing and posting #88 yesterday, here comes post #89.

Monster Graphic Novel. Monster was a novel by Walter Dean Myers and it was adapted into the graphic novel format by Guy A. Sims. Art in the graphic novel was done by Dawud Anyabwile. I purchased this GN because of a new curriculum that we are looking at adding to my literacy class. The curriculum is HMH and it included this graphic novel in a unit. I purchased this hardcover version which was an old library copy as well as a soft cover version. I was actually reading this during down times as I was waiting to see if I would be selected for a jury. It is a story of a court case for a young boy who was accused of being the lookout in a robbery that led to a death. As the boy was on trial, he was picturing it as if he were making it into a movie. A very captivating read and very intriguing as I sat in the courthouse waiting to see if I had to do my civic duty (spoilers: I was not selected).

Groo the Wanderer #34-40. Written and drawn by EYG Hall of Famer Sergio Aragones. This was a run of the Marvel/Epic series featuring the classic klutzy barbarian. Yes, Groo can be repetitive. They take the same ten jokes or so and do so much with them. It’s why Sergio is such an amazing talent. When I had inventoried my Groo box, I had realized that I was missing more of that original Epic series than I had thought. This was some of the ones that I was missing. I absolutely love Groo.

Unknown Soldier #1-4. Written by Garth Ennis and art by Kilian Plunkett. Another character I loved when I was younger was DC Comics’ Unknown Soldier. I knew of this short series from DC’s Vertigo by Garth Ennis, but had never owned it. After coming across my Unknown Soldier books in my inventorying, I ordered this on eBay. This was very much different than the Unknown Soldier that I remembered, but every bit as thrilling and compelling. Setting the Soldier as more of a dark, morally-challenged character was smart and really worked in this context. I would recommend this to any fan of war stories/thrillers/mysteries. This would make a fantastic movie too.

Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter trade paperback and issues #2,3. So this will take a little explanation. In yesterday’s Comic Cavalcade, I laid out the story of the first disappointment I had on eBay. This was actually a different kind of error from the site. I had ordered issue #4 of the original Count Crowley series. I had issues #1-3, and in fact, had included #1 in a previous Comic Cavalcade, but I was waiting to read the whole thing when I got the last missing issue. However, the seller who I had ordered #4 from did not send me #4, but, by accident, the trade paperback of all four combined (to be fair, they do share the same cover). I had contacted him about the error and he just said to keep the trade if I wanted. This was an error in my benefit, since I only paid like $3.99 for the trade paperback (yes, there was some shipping too). I went ahead and read the trade paperback, even though I am still waiting on a copy of issue four to complete my collection. This new horror book was written by David Dastmalchian (which is what attracted me to it in the first place), an actor who just starred in the excellent horror/found footage movie Late Night with the Devil. The art of the book was done by Lukas Ketner.

Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #1-2. The series by David Dastmalchian and Lukas Ketner continued where the original left off. There are werewolves, vampires, zombies (although called by a different name) and a host of a late night monster movie show. This has been a really creative and original concept and I look forward to the Dark Horse comic’s final two issues when they come out.

Marvel Chillers #5. “Cat and Mouse” Written by Tony Isabella and with art by Will Meugnot. Todd asked me if I wanted this book and the next one I’ll talk about. It was weird because both featured Tigra, who I like, but I was not a huge fan. I thought maybe Todd had mixed up Tigra with Hellcat, who I really do love. Truth, Tigra aka Greer Nelson was originally the Cat, the predecessor to Hellcat, so that might be what he was thinking. It looked like a cool addition to a collection so I said I would take it.

Spider-Woman #49. “Runaway.” Written by Ann Nocenti and penciled by Brian Postman. This was the other book Todd got for me that featured Tigra. This was in nice condition. A lot of times, these older back issues have paper inside that has faded from age. This story’s art inside still looked very good. This also had Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night in the book too.

Moonlighting S5 E4

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“Plastic Fantastic Lovers”

Season five continues to put the David-Maddie relationship on the back burner and focus on the cases with only a few references to the “Spaceman.”

This episode dealt with plastic surgery, and made me think about the episode from season two, The Lady in the Iron Mask. This time there was a man who had been horribly disfigured by a plastic surgeon that he wanted to find details to sue him. This is why he hired David and Maddie.

David did not want to take the case. This led to an interesting discussion of vanity between Dave and Maddie that continued to inform on their characters.

Of course, as any Moonlighting case, things are never exactly what you see and it leads to a wild, cartoonish chase scene.

There was a chainsaw too.

This episode did feel as if the writers were trying to reach back before the whole Dave and Maddie thing to capture some of the old magic of the show, and they did a fairly decent job of it. This had that same feeling of the third season, but the tension between Dave and Maddie was not here. I liked this episode, but you can see how it is just not quite the same.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1 E7

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“We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of”

I have really enjoyed this new series of the Percy Jackson shows on Disney +. Episode 7 has found Percy, Annabeth and Grover entering the Underworld, and in search of Hades in order to find the Master Bolt and save Percy’s mother.

It wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded.

Who knew, but the Master Bolt was inside Percy’s bag. However, it was not Percy’s bag, but Ares’s. Ares had some kind of manipulative reason that he needed Percy to bring the bolt to the Underworld. We don’t know why yet, but I always love to see Adam Copeland.

We see some flashbacks to Percy as a child with his mother trying to get him into schools. The schools kept turning her down because of the way Percy was. (I have to say… every time I have tried to type the word Percy, in my head, I think Harry. I wonder why…)

When Percy and Grover came face to face with Hades, they discovered Ares’s lies. Of course, Hades isn’t going to help them without something on the line. 

We get a cool sequence with Cerberus too. The three headed dog that guards the Underworld chased our heroes around. The CGI looked really good for a TV show.

Percy and Ares faced off at the very end of the episode, setting up a huge showdown next week.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been excellent all season long. It does feel as if the show is a touch rushed, but it is a lot of fun.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1 E6

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“We Take a Zebra to Vegas”

This week’s Percy Jackson episode felt a touch more comedic than we have had over the first five. That was an interesting tone as Percy, Annabeth and Grover attempted to find Hermes, played by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda. They had to go into a casino in Las Vegas called the Lotus, which leads to them to start forgetting details.

Based on the Odyssey, the Lotus was pumping forgetfulness into the air. While inside the casino, Grover forgot just about everything and went on a virtual quest to find Pan.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth found Hermes, but discovered that time was passing slower inside the casino than it was outside, meaning that they missed the window to get into the Underworld. 

While this was still a solid episode, it did not feel as great as the last couple of weeks. However, it seems as if our trio is ready to head into the Underworld and complete their quest for the Master bolt. 

Not sure where the zebra comes into it though. Maybe I missed it.

Oh, and Percy is having dreams, including Hades in them. I was happy that he told Annabeth about it instead of just keeping them to himself. He’s a Greek demigod, dreams are part of the gig.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1 E3

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“We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium”

I have always loved mythology, especially Green mythology so the new Percy Jackson series on Disney + has been right up my alley. We got one of my favorite Greek mythology monsters this week… Medusa.

It is a solid episode too as there are some growing pains with the friendship between Percy, Annabelle and Grover. The three of them do not trust each other and they are struggling to get along. 

The Oracle told Percy that someone he called a friend would betray him and would cause his quest to fail. Percy did not know what that was to mean, but he selected Grover and Annabelle because of that. He said he did not think that Annabelle would ever be his friend, which was brutal. 

Walker Scobell is a star in the making. He makes such a charismatic Percy Jackson. He is smooth and feels so real that you can’t help but like him. He has that Ryan Reynolds-like wit about him to as some of his under his breath remarks are very funny.

The trio came out with the truths that they had been keeping from each other and you can see how they changed from the beginning of the episode. 

Plus, we get a slight glimpse at Mt. Olympus… sort of. And it looks really clever.

Percy Jackson has been solid so far and with luck it will keep it up.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #71

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December 4, 2023

Another good week of books. I got a chance to read some of the back issues that I have as well.

Books this week:

Ice Cream Man #7. “My Little Poltergeist” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art is by Fabio Moon. This was an excellent issue featuring a little girl named Lucy whose best friend had died of cancer, and she was dealing with grief over it. I really enjoyed this one.

Planetary #8-10. Written by Warren Ellis and art by John Cassaday. This is an interesting series. Seriously, the books are unlike any series I can remember. One of the issues had characters killed that were basically Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. It was a strange issue.

Amazing Spider-Man: Gang War First Strike #1. Written by Zeb Wells with Cody Ziglar and featuring art by Joey Vazquez with Julian Shaw. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz. I am excited about the start of Gang War. Bringing Spidey back down to street level is a great idea, as is matching him up with the list of street level heroes involved in this series. Then, the return of Madame Masque was well done and surprising.

Predator Versus Wolverine #3. Written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Ken Lashley, Hayden Sherman and Kei Zama. Cover art was drawn by Marco Checchetto. This book continues following Wolverine’s life and seeing how the Predator fits in to the situations.

Howard the Duck #1. This is a celebration for the 50th anniversary of Howard the Duck. There are several short stories falling under the “Waugh If…” (aka What If…) with a variety of writers and artist. Things like Howard as President of the US, Howard as a mutant, Howard as a Guardian of the Galaxy.

Captain America #3. “Stand” Written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Jesus Saiz & Lan Medina. This series continues to be very compelling. I really do enjoy how the story goes back into the past to see Steve Rogers before he became Captain America.

Spider-Woman #1. Written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Carola Borelli. Leinil Frances Yu did the cover art. The new Spider-Woman series is involved in the Gang War story. And something else has happened with Jessica’s child.

Luke Cage: Gang War #1. Written by Rodney Barnes and art by Ramon F. Bachs. Caanan White did the cover art. Mayor of New York, Luke Cage, is looking for form a new super team. In order to skirt the anti-vigilante law in place from Wilson Fisk, Luke Cage got a new costume and a mask to hide his own identity.

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #4. “What it Means to Be a Mutant” Written by Iman Vellani & Sabir Pirzada with art by Carlos Gomez & Adam Gorham. Sara Pichelli & Matthew Wilson as cover artist. The mini series wrapped up with Ms. Marvel taking on the Stark Sentinels.

Moon Knight #29. “The Final Hours of Moon Knight.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Federico Sabbatini. Cover art was done by Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg. Moon Knight and Black Spectre are facing off in the final struggle.

Something is Killing the Children #35. “Showdown at the Easy Creek Corral” Part Five. The confrontation between Erica and Cutter comes to an end with tragic results. I have to say that the resolution of this story was very surprising and emotional.

Other books read this week: Miles Morales: Spider-Man #12, Marvel Zombies #2, Local Man #7, X-Men Blue: Origins #1, Swan Songs #5, Slow Burn #2, Alien #1, Grim #15, The Schlub #4