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Yellowjackets S1 E7

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“No Compass”

An exciting episode. With the three current day women dropping off the money, and the dramatic danger at the end of the episode with a pack of wolves, this was exciting throughout the whole episode.

So many things happened. Taissa had tackled the guy who was blackmailing them, but took an elbow to the face allowing him to get away. Kevin discovered that his gun was messed up and questioned Natalie about it. Shauna came back and had sex with Adam.

I saw that Christina Ricci was on the credits and I did not know that she was on this show. So I looked up who she played. I thought it might be current day Natalie, but I was shocked to see that she is playing current day Misty. Couldn’t believe it. Then, we see Misty and her sociopathy tendencies as she interviewed the reporter.

The wolves attack at the end with them tearing off parts of Van’s face. It was a brutal reminder how dangerous of a situation that they were in.

The whole Shauna/Jackie story with Shauna’s pregnancy was another key component of the episode. Jackie found the diary with the truth in it after Shauna had told her that it was Randy who had gotten her pregnant.

Three more episodes of season one.

The Changeling (1980)

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The October 11 of 13

So The October 13 has been a little lower of quality than I would have preferred this year. However, we came across a good one today. The Changeling, starring George C. Scott, is one of the best haunted house movies I have seen.

The film grabs your attention immediately as it sets up the tragedy for George C. Scott’s character, composer John Russell. His wife and daughter are killed in a tragic accident and this sends him spiraling out of control. Renting a house in Seattle, John goes to hopefully work on his music.

However, once in the house, strange sounds and events started happening, leading John to investigate what had happened in the house’s past.

Honestly, the seance scene was one of the scariest seance scenes I have ever seen. The way that the psychic approached the actual execution of the seance was great. I had never seen a seance handled in this manner before and it really set the stage for the rest of the mystery that would be at the heart of the film.

There is also a horrifying scene with a young boy and a bathtub that I will not go into further description of because it is unsettling.

George C. Scott is a tremendous actor and his very presence in the film give it a credibility that a lot of these haunted house movies lack.

I am happy that this film made the October 13 list this year and I am happy that it has helped put the list back on track.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #120

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October 18, 2024

It is time again for the EYG Comic Cavalcade. A little early this week since I had today off from work since we had to have parent teacher conferences the last two days. Today was a comp day. I left school last night at 8 PM feeling really brain dead. I enjoyed reading through these books today.

Absolute Batman #1. “The 200.” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Oragotta. Cover art was done by Oragotta & Martin. The new Batman story in the DC’s Absolute books is an interesting read. I did enjoy the new take on Batman, but especially Alfred. I am giving these new Absolute books a chance to see if they will hook my interest. I found this to be a good book, and I may want to give it a few more issues.

Mystique #1. “Intelligence.” Written, drawn and cover art by Declan Shalvey. Mystique is involved in a mission involving Maverick. A lot of action and shape shifting. Nick Fury Jr. appeared in the book too, and there was a shocking end to this book. Something that I did not see coming.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #1. “New Moon.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. Mister Knight and Achilles Fairchild face off in a tense war of words over a new drug being sold by the latter. The new Moon Knight series kicked off with a reintroduction of Mr. Knight and the Midnight Mission.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #25. “Birds of a Feather, Part Three.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Black Panther comes to give some help to try and help Miles with his vampire tendencies. New suit, by the way.

Avengers Assemble #2. Written by Steve Orlando and penciled by Scot Eaton. Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr were the cover artists. Cap, Hawkeye, Herc and Night Thrasher went to a small town being beseeched by ghost apes. The story brings the Red Ghost into the mix.

Uncanny X-Men #4. “The Eye of a Hurricane.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Marquez & Matthew Wilson did the art for the cover. This has been a really great new X-Men book so far. Rogue goes to rescue Logan, and stays behind to do battle with Sarah, the frightening creature that has a background with Charles Xavier.

Ultimate Spider-Man #10. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by David Messina. Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Ben and Jonah are investigating a story that brings them into conflict with Harry Osborn. Who is behind Kingpin?

Big Guns Stupid Rednecks #1. Written by Austin Allen Hamblin and illustrated by Mariana Meira. Cover art was done by Kurt Belcher. From Band of Bards, this is a strange new series that followed retired detective Clint search for his white trash brother. It made me think of Mojo some, and it was a very bizarre issue.

Spectacular Spider-Men #8. “Triage” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Emilio Laiso & Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. After the trauma inside the Arcadium, the people who had been taken joined together for some group therapy. That included Peter Parker and Miles Morales.

Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #4. “Descending” Written by Jay Kristoff and art by Tirso. The second story is written by Tom Taylor and art by Riccardo Federici. Cover art was also by Tirso. Rose caught up with Slade and bad things happen.

House of Slaughter #26. “Azure: Part One” Written by Sam Johns and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was by Jorge Fornes and Werther Dell’Edera. New story arc in this series. Honestly, this has never been my favorite of these series. I much prefer the Someone is Killing the Children series. Still, there are some interesting things going down.

Blood Hunters #3. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Robert Gill. Ema Lupacchino & GURU-eFX did the cover art. The Blood Hunters are in some real danger as a bunch of vampires are swarming them. Dagger is in bad shape. Miles is trying to contain his vampire side.

The Department of Truth #26. “Deviation Seven: Fictional Women.” Written by James Tynion IV and art by Alison Sampson. Cover art by Martin Simmonds (Silver Medalist). The book takes yet another turn… this time to Marilyn Monroe. Is she real? Or is she like bigfoot? Only in this book.

Spider-Man: Reign 2 #4. Written, drawn and cover art by Kaare Andrews. Peter finally gets rid of the big white beard! YES!!! However, things are not going great for him otherwise. He has discovered that he is not able to save Mary Jane and he is preparing to head back to his own time because his presence can jeopardize the reality. I believe there is one more issue in this mini series.

Profane #5. Written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Raul Fernandez. Cover art by Javier Rodriguez. This series comes to a close with the mystery of the murder of Spud Coltrane solved and Profane returned to the land of fiction. This was a fun series with an intriguing hook.

Wolverine #2. “Blood and Debt.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo and Bryan Valenza did the cover art. This issue of Wolverine gives us a bit of a twist on the character of Wendigo, which is one of my favorite characters as is. I really liked how they used Wendigo here.

Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #4. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling & Ivan Fiorelli. David Yardin & Romulo Fajardo Jr. are the cover artists. This mini series ended with Elektra and the new Punisher teaming up after fighting each other.

The Creeping Below #1. Written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated and cover art by Vanesa Del Ray. I am not sure what this is, to be honest. I might have to give this one another read because I am just not sure what is happening.

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1. Written by Kyle Starks and art by Piotr Kowalski. Piotr Kowalski with Vladimir Popov did the cover art. This new series is a follow up to the Dark Horse book from a few years ago involving a group of serial killers and monsters living together in a neighborhood. They’re in a cull-de-sac now with the former agent from the last series.

Grim #20. “Strangelove.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Flaviano. Cover art by Flaviano (Bronze Medalist). Lots of weirdness going on as we see Death and his relationship with Jess’s mother. Lots of soap opera-like drama in the hell dimension.

You Won’t Feel a Thing Ashcan. The DSTLRY upcoming series released an ashcan, which, funnily, is a smaller, undersized book, unlike the oversized normal issues from DSTLRY. There is also part of the new series from James Tynion IV, The Cit Beneath Her Feet, in this ashcan.

Local Man #25. Story and art by Tim Seeley & Tony Fleecs. Hold on a sec… #25??? Um… what happened to issues #14-24? This is the final issue of the series (for now?) and there is a time jump in the story, but why change it to issue #25? I don’t know, but I always did enjoy the series so it will be missed.

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Halloween Special #1. Cover art by David Talaski (Gold Medalist). Several short stories featuring the main characters of the regular series. There was some fun stuff in here with creators including Tate Brombal, James Tynion IV, Soo Lee, Morgan Beem, Isaac Goodhart, and Fernando Blanco.

Other books this week: Sam and Twitch Case Files #7, Domain #4, Crypt of Shadows #1, Black Cloak #9, Anansi Boys #3-4, and The Mammoth #4.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #118

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October 4, 2024

It will be a busy Saturday this week, with a couple of movies, Badd Blood from the WWE, and a Dodger post season game, so with a smaller number of books this week than recently, my goal was to get this Comic Cavalcade out on a Friday instead of the weekend. I just finished reading, even with a couple of new arrivals from eBay.

Books this week:

Storm #1. “Grand Opening.” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. I go the variant foil cover with the art by Jerome Opena. Storm is seeing quite the upswing of popularity as she is just recently in the Avengers and now with this new series. This is the fifth volume of Storm which surprised me, and she is one of my favorite mutant characters out there these days.

Hyde Street #1. Storytellers are Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis. Cover art was by Ivan Reis, Danny Miki and Brad Anderson did the cover art (Gold Medalist). This is the new series joining the Ghost Machine imprint from Image. It is very creative concept and it gave me an Ice Cream Man type flavor. This one is going to be very interesting.

Dead Eyes #1-4. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by John McCrea. Here is the eBay series I just recently purchased. A few week ago, I picked up Dead Eyes: Empty Frames and the book felt as if it were a sequel series, and, after a quick trip to eBay, I confirmed that truth. The Dead Eyes series arrived in the mail today. I loved this first series. Read them all in one sitting tonight.

Ultimate Black Panther #9. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Stefano Caselli. Cover art by Stefano Caselli and David Curiel. I have not done a write up for this series recently and it is because it has been my least favorite new Ultimates series. That is still the case, but we get a issue that is heavily featuring Storm and Killmonger and they do make a good team.

Daredevil #14. “Introductory Rites” Part Fourteen. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art this issue was by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove (Bronze Medalist). Matt Murdock has to face off with Elektra and she is not having it. To say that she is spurned is an understatement. However, there is little time for hurt feelings as they are in search of the missing kid from the halfway house.

The Power Fantasy #1-2. Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Caspar Wijngaaard. This is a series that I missed the first issue of and I had heard positives about, so I got #1 on eBay and read these two. Only a handful of superheroes on the earth and they are causing trouble. How about one Kieron Gillen has done a solid job with that.

Immortal Thor #16. “Fire and Stone.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art. If I am being honest, this was a fairly pedestrian issue of Thor that was saved by a new group of villains and a shocking final page. I am excited to see where this goes from here.

Deadpool #7. Written by Cody Ziglar & Alexis Quasarano and art by Andrea Di Vito. Tauron Clarke did the cover art. This was okay, but I am not sure how I feel about the daughter of Deadpool taking up his mantel. I do like how they are keeping Wade’s body around with sunglasses on it expecting a resurrection.

X-Men #5. “Psychic Rescue in Progress” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman. Stegman, JP Mayer & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Psylocke and Quentin Quire heading on a psychic mission together was a joy. I am a fan of Quentin Quire because he is such a little jerk. And I love it.

Redcoat #6. Creators are Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch. Variant cover art is by Francis Manapul. For awhile in this book, it was feeling like a end of the series as things were wrapping up with Benedict Arnold. However, there is another issue coming as George Washington has reared his wigged head. Next issue is entitled “Epilogue” so does that mean next issue is the final one? That would be sad as this has been a consistently entertaining book.

The Deviant #8. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Joshua Hixson. The penultimate issue of this series really sets this one up for a huge finale. The mystery of what is exactly happening is great.

Plastic Man No More #2. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lins. Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Plastic Man is taking a huge step to try and solve the problem of his rubbery body falling apart, afraid that his son may wind up the same way. Unfortunately, it leads to a bad situation for the Metal Men.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #6. “Haunted” Part 6. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen Stacy joined up with one of my favorite female Marvel characters, Jessica Jones, and I loved it. I could always enjoy the appearance of Jessica Jones.

Get Fury #6. Written by Garth Ennis and art by Jacen Burrows. Cover art was done by Dave Johnson. The finale of this series is just as brutal as this series has been. Nick Fury is downright unbalanced. This was a series that I did not initially plan on getting, but after re-reading the first issue again, I was in and I have enjoyed it each month.

Other books this week: Creature Commandos #1, The Nice House by the Sea #3, Robbie Reyes: Ghost Rider Marvel Voices Special #1, All In Special #1, and Wolverine: Deep Cut #4.

Bates Motel S4 E6

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“The Vault”

The storyline between Norma and Chick came to a dramatic conclusion (or at least seems to have) as things came to a head. Chick had pressured Norma into telling him where Caleb was. Norma did not know, but she was able to find out. She met Chick on a bridge one rainy night, bringing out her gun. She had planned on shooting him, but she realized that she couldn’t do it. She screamed that she did not want Caleb hurt, but she could not kill him so Chick should just do what he was going to do… which was tell Alex the truth about Norma and Caleb as children.

This was a tremendous episode for Vera Farmiga, facing down Chick on the bridge and then ripping him a new one when he brought the window to her house. She ripped him a new one in front of Alex, which shocked him. He asked what was going on, and Norma told him the truth. All of it, about her teenage years and her brother. She expected Alex to leave her.

She told him to go pack his bag.

Alex said okay…. adding, “Where are we going?”

Such an amazing moment between these two broken characters, two people who found each other and have formed an amazing relationship. It was one that was unexpected, but they are truly in love. I have said it before, but this relationship between Norma and Alex is maybe my favorite relationship in all of TV. Maybe Penny and Desmond from LOST matches it, but nothing else in my head comes close.

Norma’s kids are going to be causing more issues soon. Norman, in his DID personality of Mother, is threatening Dr. Edwards in therapy sessions. Norman, as Mother, recounted a horrific memory of Norman’s father raping Norma. Norma has clearly had a terrible life, which makes the happiness she has found with Alex all the more special.

Dylan found the letter left with Norma by Emma’s mother and it has tweaked his curiosity. Bad tidings will be coming for this too.

I know there is not much more time left for Norma and every second of her time with Alex is precious, and will make the loss only all the more tragic.

Bates Motel S4 E5

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“Refraction”

Sometimes this show catches me off-guard. Chick followed Norma for awhile, and wound up coming to see her, offering to fix the stained-glass window that was broken during the break in. It was very stalker-like, but during the episode, Chick almost had me convinced that he was going to turn over a new leaf and just fix the stained glass and redeem himself for his past sins.

Nope. At the end of the episode, he comes to Norma and tells her the truth. That he wants to find her brother Caleb. When they were speaking before, Norma called Caleb her brother and Chick was able to piece it together since Caleb had introduced himself to Chick originally as Dylan’s father. Chick took this info and tried to play on Norma’s uncertainty, her deep seeded pain over what had happened to her. He was manipulating Norma and suddenly the good tidings that he had earned in this episode went right out the broken stained-glass window.

I really felt for Norma in that moment. Its as if she can never fully catch a break. She has just started to connect with Romero, so much so that she even asked him if he had killed Bob Paris. His response was that he had no choice, but you could see the truth in his face. He killed him because Bob was a danger to Norma. It was to protect her that Romero had no choice. Norma could see that. I say this every episode write-up but I loved Romero and Norma as a couple which makes what I know is coming up later this season all the worse.

Dr. Edwards met Norman’s Mother personality as Norman blacked out during a session. Edwards had pushed Norman about an imagined meeting Norman had with Norma at the mental institution which happened in Norman’s head and Norman flipped out. Freddie Highmore does a great job switching into Mother. The way he moves, the glint in his eyes, the tilt of a head. Highmore is exceptional in playing the role.

There was a sweet scene between Dylan and Emma where Emma showed Dylan her scar. She was embarrassed by it, but she wanted to get past it. Dylan handled it wonderfully, showing Emma the scars across his body from gunshots and other moments from the drug running career he had been involved in. Another fun moment was when Dylan interviewed for a real, honest job and told the interviewer the truth about his past in the drug trade. Amazingly, it seems as if the truth may have worked out for him.

We have gone past the halfway point in season four and I am not thinking that Chick is long for this world.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #107

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July 18, 2024

The summer is flying along. I have just about a month to go before I return to school for the next group of kids and I can no longer spend NEW COMIC BOOK DAY at Comic World sitting at the back table and reading my new books. I do love being able to spend the afternoon with the cool people at Comic World and getting time to read the new books out. I will miss it when I am back at school.

Until then, though, welcome to EYG Comic Cavalcade #107. Every year, I look at the list of Eisner nominated graphic novels and I purchase several of them to see what they were like. Most of them are books that I do not see during the year, but I look forward to reading after. I have several ordered via Prime Day on Amazon and I expect them to arrive any day. One of the nominated graphic novels was called Parasocial by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson. It was a really powerful read and I would recommend it to anyone.

New books this week:

The Change. Script by Whoopi Goldberg and Jaime Paglia with art by Sunkanmi Akinboye. Khary Randolph did the cover art. I saw this graphic novel promoted on The View by Whoopi Goldberg and I was curious. It is about a woman going through menopause who developed super powers. It may not necessarily be a story that I could relate to, but it was an interesting read. It was definitely left on a cliffhanger so we’ll see if it ever continues.

Napalm Lullaby #5. Written by Rick Remender and art and cover art by Bengal. This was the first time this series hooked me more than just a bit. This spent a good deal of the issue diving into the background of what was going on in this world with Sarah and Sam’s mother and her plans moving forward. It has always looked great.

Namor #1. “Prince of the Blood” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson and Alex Lins. Variant cover art by Alex Maleev (Gold Medalist). I have always enjoyed the character of Namor and this series starts off very strong. We see where Namor is currently at, seemingly depressed and having given up, but we also flashback to a young, arrogant teen Namor. I think this book has a ton of potential and Jason Aaron is always a solid storyteller.

Incredible Hulk #14. “The Hulkscape.” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art and cover art by Nic Klein. The horror elements of the Hulk seem to be back with a vengeance as Bruce Banner tries to navigate the Hulkscape, trying to convince the Hulk to help him save Charlie. The Hulk appears to have some deep seeded trauma involving Banner.

Invincible Iron Man #20. “End of the Line“. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was done by Kael Ngu (Silver Medalist). This issue wraps up the marriage of Tony Stark and Emma Frost, with neither of them seemingly thrilled by putting it to bed. Emma also gave Tony a check for…. a lot of money, seeding his return to a company and … maybe the West Coast Avengers? This might be the end of this series. Not sure on that. It is definitely the end of the creative team. I have really been pleased with where this book has gone lately so I am looking forward to the next chapter of Tony Stark’s life.

Immortal Thor Annual #1. “The Idiot Abroad” Written by Al Ewing and art by David Baldeón. Variant cover art by the iconic Walter Simonson (& Laura Martin) [Bronze Medalist]. The Infinity Watch storyline continues throughout the series of annuals, with Powerstone (both the character and the actual infinity stone) making an arrival. Powerstone dealt with the Champion of the Universe inside, and then changed his name again… to Apex. The Death Stone Saga is here too from creative team of Derek Landy & Sara Pichelli.

Elric the Necromancer #1. Adapted by Julien Blondel & Jean-Luc Cano. Story and dialogue by Julien Blondel. The art and cover art was by Valentin Secher. Michel Moorcock’s iconic albino and his sword that thirsts for souls finds himself in this new mini-series from Titan Comics and it looks epic. I remember Elric from an early Marvel Graphic Novel and I have loved the character since.

Laura Kinney: The Wolverine- Blood Hunt #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Robert Gill. Bjorn Barends did the art for the cover. Another of the one-shot issues during the Blood Hunt, Laura is in battle with the vampires to save Gabby. What happens when vampires get ahold of mutant blood? Bad news for sure.

Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys #1. Story and words by Neil Gaiman. Script by Marc Bernardin. Shawn Martinbrough did the art. Cover art was by David Mack. I know there is a controversy with Neil Gaiman right now, but I have always tried to separate a person’s work from who they are. I do hope that Gaiman turns out to not be a worthless loser, because this first issue was extremely compelling and set up a real intriguing arc.

What If…? Aliens #5. Written by Leon Reiser and art by Guiu Vilanova. Phil Noto did the cover art. The finale of the mini-series focusing on Paul Reiser’s character Carter Burke comes to a close here with a solid finale and plenty of aliens running around the base. I would love to see other What Ifs of the properties Marvel owns like this one. What If for Planet of the Apes or Predator or Star Wars… those would all be really cool and would help continue the concept of What If. I do miss the Watcher though…

Fishflies #7. Written, drawn and art for the cover by Jeff Lemire. This story comes to an end as Jeff Lemire brings the story full circle. Fishflies has been another exceptional story from Jeff Lemire, who is one of my favorite writers in comics today.

Scarlet Witch #2. Written by Steve Orlando and drawn by Jacopo Camagni. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. Wanda is dead. Pietro and Darcy are trying to save the town from the Griever. And Wanda is seeing what her future holds. If she returns, will she and Pietro lead to the destruction of all?

Redcoat #4. Creators are Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch. Gary Frank and Brian Anderson did the variant cover art. We get a glimpse into the past of Einstein as well as get introduced to our main, big bad of the series, The Grand Architect, who is revealed to be a very much living George Washington. Between here and the Killadelphia series, those Founding Fathers are pretty rotten.

Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #1. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. Elektra is back on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen and is facing off with Crossbones. We also get a guest appearance from the new Punisher.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #2. Written by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. We get a little background on Edwyn’s past with dolls and removing their heads. This, of course, leads to his present day decapitations. I would think that keeping these heads in his refrigerator may not be the best choice.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #0. “Khonshu: Strikefile” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Moon Knight is alive again. This issue zero is to go over all of the details of the series: characters, location, villains that will be focused on in the upcoming new Moon Knight book.

Phoenix #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Jean Grey is in space, using the Phoenix Force to do good for once. This was a really good start to this series. I especially liked the mental scenes between Jean and Scott, showing that even the distance of space could not come between them.

Spider-Woman #9. “The Price of Liberty“. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ig Guara. Leinil Francis Yu & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. The new super team The Assembly is not as they look. Liberty from the group was ‘awakened’ by the scream of Angar and she and Jessica Drew head into the holding facility to try and get Angar free. Bad things happen.

Spectacular Spider-Men #5. “Contingencies” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Miles and Peter slug it out, thinking that the other one is a robot. They are inside the new combination world designed by Arcade and Mentallo, while Hammerhead watches on.

Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #3. Written by Justina Ireland and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Cover art was done by Marcelo Ferreira, Roberto Poggi & Rachelle Rosenberg. I loved this last issue here as Morbius designed a cure for the vampires that had been turned by Beyond Corp and Spidey helped save them. That is what Spider-Man would be doing… using science to help save people… not just killing vampires that had been changed against their wills.

Other books this week: Man’s Best #5, Ultimate X-Men #5, The Mammoth #2, Blood Hunters #4, and Lawful #2.

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer

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This docuseries appeared on my Disney + feed a short time ago, listed as a Hulu original. I have always been fascinated by the study of serial killers and this three episode docuseries caught that interest directly.

When I was younger, I was engaged in reading a group of books written by an FBI profiler named John Douglas, including his well known novel Mindhunter. In those works, I actually recognized the name of the woman featured in this docuseries, Ann Burgess.

Ann Burgess was not an FBI agent, but instead a nurse who was interested in the behavioral science aspect of criminal cases. She, along with other FBI agents, got together in a way that would revolutionize the process of investigation of serial cases.

They actually did bring up John Douglas in this series, along with another agent Robert Ressler. Douglas was not portrayed as the best person in this series, implying an environment of sexist behavior. It was Ressler that Burgess was more interested in working with and this group of people changed the way law enforcement looked at murder or rape cases.

The docuseries was interesting, looking at a couple of specific cases, such as the Ski Mask Rapist, and the idea of talking to the victimizers as a way to discover any sort of pattern among the people committing these crimes.

The third episode dealt mostly with her time outside of the FBI profilers, including her work in favor of the Menéndez brothers case and her work in the revealing of Bill Cosby’s sexual assaults.

This was a fascinating watch and provided even more details into the world of profilers that have always been intriguing for me.

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is streaming on Hulu and on Disney + right now.

The ABCs of Book Banning (2023)

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June 22, 2024

It is another busy day, so I made time this morning for another Oscar nominated documentary short film, and it is one whose topic is close t my heart. The ABCs of Book Banning is a look at some of the books that have been banned, challenged or restricted in schools across the country and the thoughts from children about the banning.

The film showed many books and gave excerpts from them in order to show a type of book that seemed to be banned more than others. A high percentage of these books appear to be about those segments of society that are different from the “normal” public. Black & Jewish history, those dealing with LGBTQ + community, those dealing with power for women… these are the majority of the books shown.

The film began with 100-year old Grace Lin speaking to a school board about the banning of books and how it went against everything that she believed and that her husband, who died in World War II, fought for.

The most effective part of the film was the comments made by the children. These kids were asked about the books. These children were very well spoken and convincing.

The slideshow-like was less effective, basically just showing images of the banned books and animating some for illustration. I saw several books that I have on my own shelf show up on the screen, including EYG Hall of Fame graphic novel Maus.

This film does feel slight and does not go into the specifics of the topic. I do not have a problem with the film stating that they wanted to give voice to the one side of this issue since the voice for the banning has been so loud, but I needed more substance to it.

I am totally opposed to the idea of book banning and find the act repulsive. This is not quite as powerful as I would have liked.

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 #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.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of April 29

It was a light week this week as there were only 18 new comics this week. I know, that does not sound like a light week, but compared to some of the recent weeks, 18 is like nothing.

Two of the three medalists this week are variant cover D books.

Three medalist this week…

Bronze Medalist

Blood Hunt #1

Variant Edition (Cover D)

Cover art by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau

A beautiful cover featuring Greer Nelson, aka Tigra. Todd gave me this because he thinks I love Tigra, but he mixes Tigra up with Hellcat. Still, this is a lovely cover and I do like me some Tigra.

Silver Medalist

Space Ghost #1

Variant Edition (Cover D)

Cover Art by Michael Cho

I love this Hanna-Barbera inspired cover with Space Ghost and the kids he saved. Just because there is a monkey, it does not make them Zan and Jana.

Gold Medalist

The Blood Brothers Mother #1

Cover art by Eduardo Risso

New Western series from DSTLRY, the cover wraps around the book and it has some layered feel to it. It really is a gorgeous piece of art and the extra large book makes this standout even more. Great cover.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #85

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March 8, 2024

Another big week. Some great new books.

The Bat-Man: First Knight #1. Written by Dan Jurgens and art and cover by Mike Perkins. I picked this one up off the stand. It is a larger book from the DC Black Label featuring a Bat-Man from 1939. It is a interesting first issue, but it really was similar to other Bat stories. The ending with the electric chair, though, that was shocking….

The Spectacular Spider-Men #1. “Arachnobatics: Chapter #1: Regulars” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Ramos & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Peter and Miles decide to hang out together, outside of any Spider-action. Can Peter become a regular at the coffee shop they are meeting at? Lot of fun.

Ultimate X-Men #1. Written by and drawn by Peach Momoko. I loved this. This is what I wanted the new Ultimate Universe to be like. I did not just want new versions of the same characters. I want something new. You never would mistake Hisako for the regular X-Men. Instead of just another version of Wolverine or Jean Grey, we have a new character that is really enjoyable. I am excited to see the series continue.

Pine & Merrimac #3. Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Fran Galán. This fun Boom! Studios series gives us some back story on Linnea, including meeting Parker. Meanwhile, Linnea and Parker find their way onto the mysterious island and find even more than they expected. These two lead characters are the absolute strength of the book so far.

Sensational She-Hulk #6. “All In: Part 1” Written by Rainbow Rowell and featuring art by Ig Guara. Jen Bartel did the cover art. She-Hulk is suspended as a lawyer for her ‘rampaging’ and she decided, with Jack of Hearts, to take a vacation … in space, near the sun.

Captain America #7. “Intermezzo, Part One of Two” Written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Carlos Magno. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Steve Rogers is involved in a strange, magical story at The Front Door. This was an interesting start to the new story.

What If…? Aliens #1. Part 1 written by Hans Rodionoff & Adam F. Goldberg with art by Guiu Vilanova. Phil Noto did the cover art. Paul Reiser was involved in creating the concept for this limited series in the What If world. Reiser’s character Carter Burke from Aliens the movie survives and things go different. I love this too.

Torpedo 1972 #1. “About the Dead Sea” Written by Enrique Sanchez Abulí and art by Eduardo Risso. Risso, Dan Panosian & Fritz Casas did the cover art (one of the medalists this week). A new crime series from Ablaze, but I have to say that the first issue was a struggle to get through. I hope this one improves.

Doctor Strange #13. “Cobolorum Pt. 1” Written by Jed MacKay and with art by Pasqual Ferry. This may have been the most fun book of the week. A magically based RPG called Cobolorum? Strange has to follow the rules of the game and has to recruit a ‘party’ to go gaming. He needs a thief (Black Cat), a priest (Hunter’s Moon), and a fighter (Taskmaster). As a former D&D player, this was a hoot.

Thanos #4. “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Luca Pizzari with German Peralta. Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho did the cover art. Can the Illuminati do anything to stop the epic war between Death and Thanos? Probably not.

Daredevil: Gang War #4. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Sergio Davila. Davila, Sean Parsons, & Ceci De La Cruz did the cover art. The Gang War is over, but there is one more thing for Elektra to do. A showdown with Bellona.

Void Rivals #7. Written by Robert Kirkman with art by Lorenzo De Felici. The second story arc begins with the introduction of a brand new villain called Proximus. Solila and Darak are trying to escape, but challenges abound. However, there was something familiar for Darak.

Jill and the Killers #2. Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and illustrated by Roberta Ingranata. Sanya Anwar did the cover art. Jill has discovered a pattern in the mystery of what happened to O’Brien. Have there been multiple murders? This is another fun new series from outside the basic companies.

The Avengers #11. “A Grand Tradition” Written by Jed MacKay and featuring art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was from Stuart Immonen. The Impossible City was missing something. What was it? I know… Edwin Jarvis!!!

X-Men #32. “From Emma, With Love” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Phil Noto. Joshua Cassara & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Magik is back and teams up with Kate Pryde and Polaris to keep the war with Orchis going.

The Sentry #4. “Legacy Part IV” Written by Jason Loo and with art by Luigi Zagaria. Ben Harvey did the cover art. The power of the Sentry, which had been split among several people. However, the sociopathic Ryan Topper killed several of them and claimed their part of the Sentry power. With this battle, there is one with the power.

Other books this week: Giant Size Spider-Gwen #1, Antarctica #9, Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #1, Love Everlasting #13, and Weapon X-Men #1.

Hazbin Hotel

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Spoilers

I binged the Amazon Prime adult animated musical series last night and this morning. It was a real easy binge as the episodes are all around 25 minutes.

I started off with the pilot on YouTube. It was posted four years ago and has been very popular on YouTube. That pilot led to A24 and Prime and a big budget. Eight episodes of the series arrived on Prime.

Charlie Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer and princess of Hell, is hopeful and loving (and very musical) and organizing a hotel where she wants to help demons find redemption and go to Heaven, a way to prevent the overcrowding of Hell.

This is such a awesome series. It is absolutely not for kids. There are curse words, sexual situations and innuendo, and adult situations.

The characters are amazing. Charlie is the main protagonist and brings the heart to the show. She is vital to making this a real series. I think of her like Luffy from One Piece who is the center of the show and provides the heart. Charlie’s friend/love Vaggie has a secret background that may destroy their relationship. Angel Dust is the first resident of the hotel who is a porn actor. Alastor the “Radio Demon” was an overlord who comes to watch the events unwind at the hotel. Sir Pentious is a former villain whose pathetic life led him to the hotel. Husk is the straight shooting bartender. These characters are way deeper than I ever expected to be. I really love how these characters grow and their arcs are truly strong.

The music is so epic. Not only catchy and fun, but are used to inform the characters. These songs are way more engaging and fun than they have any right to be.

The animation is spectacular and remarkably unique. The colors and the character designs are exceptional.

Plus, the story of Hell and Heaven is brilliantly developed and you can not guess where things are going. The angels are just as horrible, if not more so, than the demon characters. And there is a definite question about what going to Heaven or going to Hell means.

The finale is just so masterful, and I sure hope there are plans to continue to season two. This was a real treat.

Moonlighting S3 E13, E14, E15

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Spoilers

“Maddie’s Turn to Cry”

“I am Curious…Maddie”

“To Heiress Human”

Season three of Moonlighting wrapped up with the final three episodes. Episodes 13 & 14 both started off with creative recaps that seemed to make fun of itself for having too many repeats and not enough new episodes. It doesn’t play as well now since I am watching these back to back and there have been no repeats in-between. 

The second episode of these, “I am Curious… Maddie,” is the episode where Dave and Maddie finally do the deed. The will-they-won’t-they dance finally becomes a they-will. After several episodes with Mark Harmon as a roadblock, Dave and Maddie hit the sheets together.

The only problem with that is I disliked how this came to be. I remember not being a fan of the way this worked out when I first saw it back in the 80s. It was so dark. There was so much anger and spite that it did not feel right. I know it was designed that way because Dave and Maddie are always arguing so why not translate that into their first sexual encounter? It just felt like they were way too aggressive, too angry and not showing how they truly felt. 

I would have liked it more had they had their encounter in the episode “Maddie’s Turn to Cry” when Maddie came over to David’s apartment. This is when it should have happened so it was more about two people actually finding themselves instead of such a mean-spirited, almost violent way.

It almost made me feel bad for Mark Harmon. His character of Sam Crawford was such a good guy who seemed to be hurt badly by the relationship between Dave and Maddie.

Cybill Shepherd is clearly pregnant too. You can see how she was wearing clothes that were large and flowing, and using handbags to block her belly. The pregnancy had been part of the problem with getting new episodes out, along with the feud on set with the stars.

Honestly, the breaking of the fourth wall in these episodes felt very off considering the different tone of the episodes.

Season four of Moonlighting goes off the rail. I am curious to see what I think of this next season on rewatch.