Tag Archives: books

Hazbin Hotel

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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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“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. 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1 E1 & E2

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“I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher”

“I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom”

The new Percy Jackson series dropped its first two episodes on Disney + today and I watched them tonight.

What did I think?

It was okay.

Lots of exposition at the start. The introduction of the characters have been decent. The key to the series will be the casting of Percy especially. Walker Scobell, the young star of the Ryan Reynolds film The Adam Project, is playing Percy Jackson. How did he do? Okay, I guess. He seems to be trying hard. He definitely has potential and some charisma. I have liked what he has done before so I have hope.

We just met Annabeth in episode 2, played by Leah Jeffries. Percy, Annabeth and Grover, played here by Aryan Simhadri, and their chemistry is absolutely the key to this series. 

I have to say that the first two episodes were decent enough that I am ready to continue to watch this weekly. It did not blow me away, but I do think there is a lot of potential for this series.

It did look pretty decent. The shot of the Minotaur in episode one was awesome. 

I have not read the Percy Jackson books and I only know this franchise because of the movies, which I know were not great (the first was …okay). I am curious to see where this goes. I have heard that this series is closer to the books by Rick Riordan so we’ll see.

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