Sunday Morning Sidewalk #43

SPOILERS

“Two Storms”

I am going to be perfectly honest. I had heard so many amazing things about The Haunting of Hill House before I started it during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, and it has been disappointing. Yes, I have enjoyed the show so far, but it was not the epic that I was expecting.

Then, there was episode six, “Two Storms.”

Now I see what everyone else was talking about.

What an episode. This one blew all of the previous episodes away. It had tension, it had character reveals, it had story beats and it had some of the best direction/shots of the show.

There were multiple, long one-shots of scenes as the camera follows the grieving Crain family around the funeral parlor. Technically, this is a master class of direction from series runner Mike Flanagan. Whenever the one-shot would end, the transitions were spectacular, and we would be back into another oner. The design of the plan for each shot is unbelievable and executed perfectly.

The surviving Crain kids and their father finally are all together in the present day as a thunderstorm raged outside the funeral parlor. The show gave us a flashback to another storm that occurred with the Crain family while they lived at Hill House and they paralleled the two storms with a narratively striking purpose. We got to see some major effects that the house had on both Nell and Olivia. Nell’s disappearance and Olivia’s encounter with the spirits were chilling.

Chilling is a good way to describe many of the moments from this episode, including the appearance of the bent-neck woman at the family visitation. There was no jump scares here. The scenes transcended jump scares. They were done so spectacularly that you couldn’t help but be disquieted.

The character development was wonderful too, as secrets came out. The alcohol flowed freely (which I thought was incredibly selfish by every kid, considering Luke was there, clean and sober, watching his siblings all slapping back vodka) and the tongues were sharp. Fueled by their loss and grief, the kids and Hugh said some dramatically hurtful things to each other as truth came to the surface. Hugh seemed to be talking to himself, convincing Steven about the mental illness he believed ran in his family, but I believe it was clear that he was talking to Olivia’s spirit.

The concept of Nell and Olivia NOT having killed themselves, and, instead, being killed by the house came up and it triggered the resentment of the others for Steven’s book. They shared moments that we had seen over the first five episodes in the kids individual focused episodes that showed how much these siblings were not as close as they may have thought.

This episode elevated the entire series to a new level, one that makes me understand the fervor over this show that had seemed good, but not exceptional before this. I can’t wait to see where the show goes from here.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #28

#28

SOAP

This is the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate… and Mary Campbell. These are the Tates. And these are the Campbells. And this is… SOAP.

Confused? You won’t be … after reading about #28 on the Top 100, a satire/parody of soap operas that ran on ABC for four seasons.

I loved SOAP so much. The stories of the Tates and Campbells never came up lame. Whether it be about affairs, murders, gay love or demonic possession, SOAP was filled with great comedic performances and laughs.

In fact, I do not think I have ever seen an episode of TV that I laughed harder at than when the Tates and their butler Benson discovered that the baby was possessed by Satan. I know it doesn’t sound like high comedy, but it was so wonderful that you couldn’t help yourself.

The castlist was large and filled with some of the best actors in the business. Billy Crystal was on the show as TV’s first homosexual. Others in the cast included Katherine Helmond, Robert Mandan, Richard Mulligan, Cathryn Damon, Jimmy Baio, Diana Canova, Jay Johnson, Robert Guillaume, Donnelly Rhodes, Roscoe Lee Brown, Ted Wass, Jennifer Salt and Arthur Peterson Jr.

Moments leap out of my memory. When Burt thought he could turn invisible and would snap his fingers in front of him. When Benson, The Major and Chester went to attempt to save Billy from a cult and ended up in blackface pretending to be a band. Jessica going to heaven.

I think SOAP is one of the most overlooked TV shows in television history.

ADDENDUM

While I have been doing this list, there have been several times where I thought that I had forgotten a show, only to see it on th elist. I thought I had forgotten Frasier, but it was there. I thought I had forgotten Night Court, but it was there. This is the first show where I thought, “Did I forget this one” and I had forgotten this one. So I decided to give an addendum to SOAP’s entry because this spin off of SOAP would have definitely been in the Top 100 and I missed it.

Benson

Benson saw Robert Guillaume’s character benson, who was the Tates’ butler for three years on SOAP, moved to the governor’s mansion of the state (whichever one they were in) to become the head of household affairs. Benson DuBois (finally got a last name) enteracted with the bumbling Governor with a heart of gold, the overbearing German cook Gretchen Kraus, and the Governor’s sweetheart of a daughter, Katie.

Robert Guillaume won an Emmy Award for his role in this show.

Sorry I forgot you, Benson. You deserved better….

EYG Comic Cavalcade #177

November 9

Sunday night. I am hoping to get this done before IT: Welcome to Derry. We’ll see how it goes.

Books this Week:

Space Scouts #1. Written by Matt Kindt with art and cover art by David Rubin. I had no idea about this book. It was from Dark Horse and it was oversized, like a DSTLRY book. I grabbed it off the shelf and really enjoyed it. It was like a blend of Hunger Games/Squid Games/ Guardians of the Galaxy. Good stuff in issue one.

White House Robot Romance #2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art and cover art by Rachel Slott. The romantic pairing of the two robots has lead to them on the run from the US government What will happen with this duo? Chip Zdarsky has brought us another solid story with some great characters.

Assorted Crisis Events #6. Written by Deniz Camp and art and cover art by Eric Zawdzki. This anthology series has had its ups and downs. This issue is an absolute up. The premise of the book is sensational, as there is a new illness that causes the victim to jump back and forth in age. It is strangely tragic and emotional. Maybe the best book of the week.

Planet She-Hulk #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Aaron Kuder. Cover art was done by Aaron Kuder & Sonia Oback. I was not a big fan of the Imperial, so I was not expecting to be a fan of this book. I have big questions about continuity. However, I really liked this book and, despite the fact that I am not sure where it actually falls in the Marvel Universe, but it was an enjoyable read.

Wild Animals #4. Written by Ed Brisson and art and cover art by Andy Kuhn (Silver Medalist). Once again, Wild Animals has been fabulous. This issue has some things happen here that I simply did not see coming. Wild Animals has been one of my favorite mini series of the year.

Amazing Spider-Man #15. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. This gives us some story about Peter’s new costume… oh, it is a living organism again. And he did not know that again.

Crownsville #1. Written by Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. Another great new book this week, this one from Oni Press. The book features the story of a haunted state hospital called Crownsville. The art from Bonetti was the perfect tone for the story.

Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #2. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Valentina Pinti. Cover art was done by Elena Casagrande & Edgar Delgado. Age of Revelation continues X years in the future. Laura is facing plenty of troubles as Revelation ordered her to not allow the mutants to escape.

Longshots #2. Written by Gerry Duggan and Jonathan Hickman with art by Alan Robinson. Cover art was done by Ryan Brown. Who saw this coming? Three of our “heroes” are killed. Did not expect that, but it was a cool start.

Amazing X-Men #2. “A Duel of Truths” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. Cyclops takes on the Darkchilde in an insult contest. It was strange, but was able to dive into character work for both of them.

DC KO: Knightfall #1. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art by Dan Mora. The biggest shocker of the year… Batman, who died in DC KO, IS NOT DEAD. Who could have guessed? He wound up in some strange world where there are a bunch of Robins and Dick Grayson has taken over the Batman mantel. Trouble everywhere.

Speed Racer #4. Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art by Alessio Zonno. More racing action with Speed Racer, Racer X trying to prevent the Tiger Syndicate from winning the race. Little did they know that the Tiger Syndicate’s racer is on the path to try and kill Speed.

Vanishing Point #6. Written by Mark Russell and art by Ryan Alexander-Tanner. Cover art was done by Marcus To. This is the final issue of Vanishing Point, which I have enjoyed. There have been a lot of horror anthology books, having one with sci-fi was a great idea. The last story was not my favorite, but it had a great twist at the end.

Binary #2. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Giada Beluisa. Cover art was done by Richie Yagawa. Carol Danvers is shown how she is struggling with the Phoenix Force. The Age of Revelation moves on with the Marvel Universe.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #14. “The Haunting of the Wrecker Part Three” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. The Wrecker came to the Midnight Mission looking for help, and guilting Moon Knight for it. Oh, and Jake Lockley makes an appearance this issue.

Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #4. Written by Greg Rucka and art by Nicola Scott. Cover art was done by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok. It never works out for villain team ups. Cheetah and Cheshire have a falling out over Wonder Woman and it places the job in jeopardy.

Batman #3. “Crown of Storms” Written by Matt Fraction and art and cover art by Jorge Jimenez. The story has several lanes going right now including Vandal Savage making his move against Batman and Robin, The Riddler and his efforts, and Bruce Wayne trying to make amends.

Avengers #32. “Prodigals” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by CAFU & Moreno Dinisio. The Avengers take on Kang… as well as the Marvel Zombies. Things do not look good for our heroes, until the cavalry arrives.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #40. “Webs of Regret Part One” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Marco Renna. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Assessor is back. Miles is freaked out.

G.I. Joe #13. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Tom Reilly. Variant cover art was done by Mark Spears (Gold Medalist). The Dreadnok War kicks off this issue with Destro giving the Dreadnok’s info on Cobra Commander, who is now handcuffed to Duke. Lots of trouble starting here.

Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle. Ice Cream Man has had some amazingly creative ideas, but this one takes the cake (with some ice cream on the side). This is a deck of cards, but, instead of having playing cards, there is a story on the cards. I have not read this story yet, as I just got the card sheets to space it out this night at Wal-Mart (it is a Pokémon card holder) but I can’t wait to get a look at it. As I was putting the cards into the sleeves, there are some funny one in there including normal playing cards and some that look as if they come from UNO. On the back of the container, it specifically tells you not to shuffle the cards. LOL!

Rook Exodus #8. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Jason Fabok. Cover A art was done by Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson. I also picked up Cover C by Kael Ngu. Um… spiders everywhere. Creepy for sure.

Star Trek: Red Shirts #4. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Megan Levens. Cover art was done by Chris Shehan (Bronze Medalist). Man, the Red Shirts are dropping like flies. This one has some really solid work, making me care about the characters here just before they are killed. You’d think I would expect it.

Other books this week: Tales of the Shadowman #3, Impact Winter: Evenfall #1, No Place #1, Echo: Seeker of Truth #1, Alien vs. Captain America #1 and TexArcanum #4.

Quick Hits: I ordered another 10 pack of blind bags off eBay of The Monster and the Wolf #1. I wound up with 7 of the 10 that I did not have, which I was very excited about. Minor Arcana #11 keeps this story rolling along. I do love me some Jeff Lemire. Charlemagne Tha God Presents Illuminati #5 is the last issue, but I have missed number four. I am not sure how it slipped past me, but I have not yet read #5 because of it. In Gotham Academy #2, we get some time to spend with Olive’s mother, which is not a good thing. I grabbed Doctor Who: The Prisoner Paradox #1. I did love the fifteenth Doctor and this has him and Belinda Chandra in it. Ultimate X-Men #21 does feel like it is approaching the wrapping point for this book as the entire Ultimate Universe is up for a big crossover event soon. I need to find some new juice for Void Rivals #24 as I am really just skimming it as of right now. Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #4 has some good action and, unlike some of these other Godzilla books, has Godzilla in it. Eat Your Young #3 from Mad Cave feels kind of like Exquisite Corpses in a way. This was the first issue where I was into the book. Absolute Superman #13 also feels as if it is building to something big. We are making connections with Kal-El, Lois and Jimmy. Absolute Green Lantern #8 has been one of my least favorite Absolute books, but this issue was very curious. It caught my attention for sure. The UPC codes are all over Look Into My Eyes #4. I have not scanned one as of this moment. Finally, a team-up book from Dynamite Comics called Die!Namite #1 came out this week. Vampirella is here. So is Miss Fury. There are some other characters who I am not sure about.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #42

Spoilers

“The Bent-Neck Lady”

This week’s focus is on Nell and the visions she would have seeing the Bent-Neck Lady.

In what I thought was a fun bit of casting, Nell was seeing a therapist named Dr. Montague and he was played by Russ Tamblyn. What makes that fun was that Russ Tamblyn played Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on Twin Peaks. Jacoby was a quirky and oddball psychiatrist involved with Laura Palmer, a tragic death of a young woman. Very much like the death of Nell in The Haunting of Hill House.

The episode saw the events that lead up to Nell returning to Hill House the night that she died. It made sense with the way the last episode ended with Luke blurting out that Nell did not kill herself.

The last part of Nell’s life was filled with torment. I can’t imagine what sleep paralysis would be like. It sounded horrific and made things all the worse as we see how she suffered during it. Of course, the show implied that it was not just a simple case of sleep paralysis and that it had to do with the visions that she would see.

We see how Nell and her husband Arthur met and his tragic death. Those years for Nell seemed to be so wonderful that seeing him drop dead from the aneurism was tough.

That was not the toughest scene of the episode though.

The ending, where we see the identity of the Bent-Neck Lady revealed as Nell’s future self after she hanged herself from the spiral staircase on the night she returned to Hill House, was unbelievably anguish-filled. Watching Nell see all of these moments of her life, but as the bent-neck lady was something that I did not expect.

Now that we have seen Nell’s tragic final day at Hill House, one wonders where the show goes from here. There are still plenty of feelings of guilt and grief to deal with as this entire family does not seem to deal with what happened to them at hill House.

We flash back to the kids era and we see their father bringing them to a hotel and then going back “for mom” he tells them. That night is clearly something that we need to see more of moving forward.

How will everyone continue to deal with the loss of Nell? Luke, in particular, is a character that I am intrigued to see moving ahead. I want to see more of their father too, as he played some major role that we have yet to see.

This show has picked up big time. Last week’s episode was my favorite of the series so far… that is until this week. I think this was a near perfect horror episode with an amazing payoff to a mystery that we have been wondering, while still leaving plenty of questions to be answered.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #39

#39

Night Court

Harry Anderson was one of my favorite parts of Cheers in its early seasons so I loved following him to his new show. While this was not a direct spin off from Cheers, the Harry Anderson character Harry Stone, shared a lot of the same traits with Harry the Hat from Cheers.

I am sure it all came from Harry Anderson’s own act as a magician/comedian and his skills were highlighted on Cheers. Night Court then followed.

Night Court became a wonderful ensemble show. It took awhile to find the proper cast, specifically the defense attorney. The public defender started with Paula Kelly in season one, then went to Ellen Foley in season two before Markie Post finally solidified the position and went the remaining time for the show.

Dan Fielding, the DA, was never a trouble as John Larroquette ran the entire series. Dan was a slimy guy with a heart of gold and the contrast between Dan and Harry was always a great bit for the show. Richard Moll was another full time supporting actor as bailiff Bull Shannon. He was teamed up with the wonderful Selma Diamond for the first two seasons. Diamond played bailiff Selma Hacker, until her death in 1985 from lung cancer. The show struggled with the loss, especially pairing someone with Moll. When they found Marsha Warfield to play Roz starting in season 4, the show hit gold.

We also got Charles Robinson as Mac, the court clerk, replacing Karen Austin, whose Lana Wagner had been a potential love interest for Harry. Mac was a much stronger character and provided some wonderfully dry-witted moments.

When this group finally came together, Night Court really took off. From season four through the end of season nine, this ensemble was one of the best on TV. Stories worked with this variety of complex characters and they were all really funny and had great chemistry with one another. This was what the show was searching for in its first three seasons.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E1

Spoilers

“The Pilot”

I loved IT. I loved the original TV show miniseries starring Tim Curry and the 2017 movie. The second part of the movie was not as strong, but I am a fan of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

So when I heard that there was a series in the works for HBO Max set in Derry in prior years when Pennywise would terrorize the children of Derry, I was all in.

While we did not see Pennywise in this first episode, it was anything but lacking. In fact, I found it shocking and, somewhat, upsetting.

They set up a group of kids, much like the “losers” from the film, and gave them a mission. Find Matty, the boy who we meet at the beginning who wound up with a weird family in an attempt to leave Derry.

These kids included Teddy, Phil, Lilly, Phil’s little sister Susie and Veronica. They were trying to solve the mystery of Matty’s disappearance after Lilly heard him speaking to her out of her pipes in her bathtub.

Shockingly, Lilly and Veronica were the only two to survive the encounter at the end of the episode. I couldn’t believe it because it sure seemed as of Teddy and Phil were being set up as the main characters of this show. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I was sure something would happen to save them, even after seeing their blood splatter and Teddy actually being slammed face first into the projector room glass.

I am sad that they are gone, because I really liked them. I saw an interview with director Andy Muschietti who said they wanted to show that no one was safe in this setting. He did that for sure.

We’ll see where this goes from here. I thought this pilot episode was really good and it definitely defied what I expected to see.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #175

October 20

Good day everyone. We are up to the #175 post for the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Who knew this would last so long. I feel as if I am getting close to getting this back on track to do on Saturday or Sunday. This weekend, I was busy with the October 13, but I think soon the schedule will straighten out. Monday night are never good to do these.

Books this week:

The Monster and the Wolf #1. Written, art and cover art by Mark Spears (Gold Medalist). The blind bags arrived from Kinesport this week and I was able to open all eleven books that I got. Two duplicates. I thought that was pretty good. The covers were all awesome.

Endeavour #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art and cover art by Marc Laming. I have been waiting for this DSTLRY book for quite a while. The Endeavour was a ship sailed by Captain Cook and this current day version turns into a “Lord of the Flies” type situation. Looking forward to continuing this one.

Don’t Forget Your Briefcase #4. Written by Eliot Rahal and art and cover art by Phillip Sevy. The penultimate issue of this Mad Cave book came out this week. I have really enjoyed this book so far with this political thriller.

Blue Falcon & Dynomutt #2. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Pasquale Qualano. Cover art was done by Lucio Parrillo. Blue Falcon is on a rampage, looking for the people who killed his dog. However, Dyno may not be official dead. We continue with the origin of Dyno-Mutt.

Nightwing #131. “Cirque Du Sin. Part 2: Circus Music.” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Dexter Soy. Nightwing and Nightwing Prime are on a training mission but problems are happening. I am not sure if I am a fan of Nightwing Prime. It gives me those Spider-Man/Rek Rap vibes.

The Punisher: Red Band #2. Written by Benjamin Pearcy and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. Punisher is back and he is out to kill everyone he wants. Kingpin is here too and things are nasty.

Unbreakable X-Men #1. “Guarding the Gate.” Written by Gail Simone and art and cover art by Lucas Werneck. I also grabbed the foil cover by Mateus Manhanini. This is a great story of loss and grief as Rogue dies and Gambit has to deal with his grief. I am very pleased that Gail Simone is continuing with one of the Age of Revelation books. I have been quite a fan of her Uncanny X-Men run so far.

Rogue Storm #1. Written by Murewa Ayadele with art by Roland Boschi. Cover art was by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The Age of Revelation continued with this book with Storm and.. Rogue? Wait, didn’t Rogue just die in the Unbreakable X-Men #1? A cool idea to be able to maintain Rogue in this world.

Sinister’s Six #1. Written by David Marquez and art by Rafael Loureiro. Cover art was done by David Marquez & GURU-eFX. It is the X-Factor team, led by Havok, and they are dealing with Venom. I am not sure which Venom this is, but it was a fascinating book. It is unknown as to which ones are working for which ones.

Iron & Frost #1. Written by Cavan Scott with pencils by Ruairí Coleman. Dustin Weaver did the cover art. They were married once, but now we get to find out what the Age of Revelation holds for Tony Stark and Emma Frost.

One World Under Doom #8. “To Will the God” Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Ben Harvey was the cover artist. Doom seems to be winning, battling all of earth’s heroes, but an unexpected collateral damage stops Doom in his tracks.

Captain America #4. Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Valerio Schiti. Ben Harvey does the cover art. The big slugfest between Cap and Dr. Doom comes to a conclusion here and the “new” Cap goes to the brutality.

Incredible Hulk #30. “The Requiem Plain” Part Three. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Nic Klein. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. The final issue of Incredible Hulk sees Hulk and Banner split apart (yet again) which leads to another, very frightening version of Hulk. This leads to the new series, The Infernal Hulk #1.

Artillery: Weapons of Art #1. Written, drawn by and starring Jimmie Robinson. A new book from a new company. The company is known by Invader Comics. This is an intriguing new book with the concept of art being magical. The writer/artist of the book is also a supporting player in this book. Cool stuff here.

Justice League Red #3. Written by Saladin Ahmad and art by Clayton Henry. Cover art is done by Clayton Henry and Arif Prianto. The plans of Red Tornado continues as they rescue Red Canary and bring in Deadman (YAY!). Now they are heading off to take on Black Adam!

They Choose Violence #5. Written by Sheldon Allen and illustrated by Mauricio Campetella. Cover art was done by Rahzzah (Silver Medalist). This book comes to an end with this issue. This was quite a violent book and was very much connected with race. The covers have been spectacular.

Terrorbytes #1. Written by Mark Russell and art by Felix Ruiz. Juan Doe did the cover art. I had no idea what this book was, but between seeing Mark Russell as a writer and being a new book from Mad Cave, I decided to give it a chance. It was an intriguing new book with a mysterious future with AI. Looking good.

Survive #2. Written by Robert Venditti and art by Doug Braithwaite. Cover art by Eduardo Risso. The Bad Idea comic company has been doing some good work and this thriller involving a sinking submarine is an exciting and dramatic book.

Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #4. Written by Gerry Duggan with art by Paco Medina and Javier Garrón. Cover art was done by Mark Brooks. We got giant Hulk vs. Godzilla. The Marvel heroes are pulling a whole Power Rangers concept with their giant robot to fight the King of Monsters.

Save Now #1. Written by Matt Kinot and art done by Tomas Giorello. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Another new cool book from Bad Idea. This was a story where one of the main characters can travel back in time to redo problems that he faced. It was pretty great.

Amazing Spider-Man #14. Written by Joe Kelly and pencils by Ed McGuinness with Todd Nauck. Cover art was done by Patrick Gleason & Marcio Menyz. I also picked up the variant cover by Lee Bermejo. We are back with Norman Osborn on earth as he struggled to maintain the mantel of Spider-Man.

Hector Plasm: Hunt the Bigfoot #1. Written by Benito Cereno and art by Derek Hunter. Cover art was done by Ryan Ottley & Dave McCaig. I do love bigfoot stories and this is a fun combination of ghosts and more. Hector Plasm is an intriguing character and it feels as if he has had other books prior.

Sonja Reborn #2. Written by Christopher Priest and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art was done by Stjepan Sejic. The new Red Sonja with the mind swap is a fascinating story.

Other books this week: Ghost Pepper #4, Return to Skull Island #4, GI Joe #12, 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1, Good as Dead #2, The New Gods #11, Fantastic Four x Gargoyles #1, Superman #30, and Viking Moon #1.

Quick Hits: This week’s Bronze medalist was The War #3, which ended that reprint story from Hello Darkness. Speaking of that, Hello Darkness #15 had two covers this week that I bought including one by Jenny Frison. Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #5 was another final issue for a series. There was a new Christmastime story called Yuletide #1. Charles Soule’s The Lucky Devils #5 carries on as well. DC’s Absolute Flash #8 focused in on Barry Allen and his involvement in the project that led to Wally West becoming Absolute Flash. Everything Dead & Dying #2 continues its zombie story which is unlike most any other zombie story you’ll come across. Apparently, I got that a week late, though I did not realize it. We get some origin of Darkwing Duck in Darkwing Duck #6. Racer X #2 is a bit of a cross over with the last Speed Racer story, which was a weird POV shift. Tama #3 seems to be taking that character and making it antagonistic. The Tama character is very wild at this point. I picked up Titans #28 to give it a chance. I liked the Titans when they were being used in Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run, and I am giving this variation a chance as it moves into the big Darkseid return. Godzilla Escape the Dead Zone #3 finally gave us a shot of Godzilla in the book. Finally, there was Zdarsky Comic News#16 which is always a lot of fun.

The Delivery Guy

By Care Rot 

The Delivery Guy

Hi my name is Millie. I am a tall blonde with blue eyes. I am 13 years old and 5’7. My favorite thing in the whole world is my sheep named Daisy. She is a hairsheep and is black and white. Daisy is like a dog. She follows me everywhere. Daisy also follows me while I do chores, but sometimes she finds the daisies that I have planted and sometimes eats them but it is ok because I can always get more. 

One Saturday morning I woke up and Daisy was sleeping in her usual spot, right next to me. I went downstairs and Daisy followed me. But it was kind of strange because Daisy was not acting normal. I didn’t really think anything of it so we just went on with our day. I made myself a bowl of  Cap’n Crunch. After I got done eating I got Daisy a bowl of sweet feed and some hay. While Daisy was eating I got a really strange phone call. I looked at my phone and it said an unknown caller so I answered.

“Hello” I said. 

The unknown caller silently said “Grrrrr”

I was really scared so I decided to hang up. When Daisy got done eating we went out to do some chores around the farm. We first fed the chickens. Daisy stood outside the cage while I went in and fed them. I also had to gather the eggs and water them. The next chore on the farm that I had was to feed and water all of my sheep. Besides Daisy because I already fed her and she always has access to water. I got a bucket of sweet feed and dragged the hose down to the water tank. I dumped the feed in and put hay in the hay feeder. After I fed them I went up to the spicket and turned on the water. I didn’t have to wait very long because the water was pretty full. 

I got done with all of my chores around 12 pm. After we got done with the chores we went inside. I was pretty hungry so I decided to order pizza from Dominos. I didn’t know the phone number to call so I had to look it up on google. It said the number was 563-556-2300 so I dialed it on my phone and called them.

“Hello this is Dominos pizza what can I get started for you” 

“Can I get a medium hawaiian pizza”

“Yes, will that be all?” 

“Yes I think so” 

“Okay your total is 9.99.”

“Okay sounds good”

“Ma’am what is your address”

“My address is 7461 167th street Maquoketa Iowa”

“Okay your pizza will be there in about 30 minutes. What is a good name for that order?”

“Millie is a good name and sounds good thank you!”

Thirty minutes passed by and my pizza just arrived. The delivery guy was standing at my door so I grabbed my money and opened the door. 

“Hi, is this Millie?”

“Yes it is!”

“Okay your total is $9.99”

I handed him a ten dollar bill and he handed me the pizza. Daisy smelled the pizza and ran over to the door. 

The pizza delivery guy said “Aww you sheep is so cute. May I take a picture of it?”

I was kind of confused so I replied with “Sure?”

The pizza guy took the picture and left. Later did I know that picture was gonna haunt me for the rest of my life.

The next morning I had to run a few errands in town. I had to get some more chicken feed from Maquoketa Feed and I also had to run to Theisens to get a pitchfork since I broke my other one. The sad thing is though that I had to leave Daisy at home. I knew she wouldn’t run away so I decided to let her graze on the grass in my front yard. I got in my  Ford F-150 and went off to town.  I live 10 minutes away from Theisens and 15 minutes away from Maquoketa feed so I went to Theisens first.

When I got to Theisens I tried to find the pitchfork but I couldn’t find it so I asked an employee. 

“Hi where are your pitchforks at?” 

“Oh yes they are in aisle 6.”  

“Okay thank you!” 

I went to aisle 6 and there they were. There were 4 different colors, red, blue, pink, and neon green. My favorite color is pink so that is the one I went with.  I went to the cash register and I got another strange call. I answered and it said unknown caller. I thought this was another trick but it wasn’t .  I picked up the phone and started talking.

“Hello?”

This person replied with “Baaa”

The “baaa” didn’t sound like any kind of  “baaa” it sounded like my sheep Daisy. I was kind of scared but I knew it couldn’t be her so I finished checking out and headed out to Maquoketa Feeds. When I got there I told him that I needed chicken feed and went inside to pay. I got four bags of chicken feed to last me 2 weeks. After I got the chicken feed I headed home. 

When I got home I walked inside and noticed something strange, nothing came running to the door and the house was silent. I’ve then remembered that I let her outside to graze on grass so I went and checked outside. I looked at my whole property and nothing was there. I even contacted my neighbors but they haven’t seen her. I knew someone who had to have taken her. But no one has been at my house since yesterday when I ordered my pizza so I knew it was either the Domino’s pizza delivery guy or the unknown caller. 

I called Domino’s Pizza and asked if the guy was there. They said he hasn’t been to work since yesterday afternoon. So then I went back to my phone and called the unknown caller. When I call them collar he answered. 

He said “WHAT DO YOU WANT” 

“What did you do with my sheep” 

“What do you mean?” 

  “I know you took her. You are probably the Domino’s delivery pizza guy”

 “How did you know?” 

“I find it kind of obvious when you ask to take a picture of my sheep and then you call and start making sheep sounds.”

“ I don’t have Daisy so I don’t know what you are talking about.” 

I knew that he had her so I just hung up. I needed to figure out a way to find where she put her and get him in trouble with the cops. I just didn’t know where to start. I thought of some ideas. I could maybe put up posters around the town where Dominos is or maybe even go to Dominos and ask where he lives. I couldn’t decide on which one to do, so I did both.

 I opened my computer and went on to Canva. I found a blank template and started describing her. I also put a picture of her on the poster. After I got done describing her I added my phone number and put missing in all caps and bolded. I was really hoping that someone would find her. My next step was to print off the posters. I didn’t know how many to print so I just printed 100 because I can always have extra. I got them all printed off and headed for town. I went to every single telephone pole and every bulletin board that I could find. After I hung up the posters I went to Domino’s pizza to ask about the delivery guy. 

I walked in and talked to the front desk lady and she said that he got fired. She was explaining to me that  got a lot of complaints about him so they fired him. I asked her if she could tell me where he lived but she said she couldn’t share that information. But I wasn’t going to stop looking for his house there. I went to the police station and explained my situation to them. They said they can check his house but they wouldn’t be able to just let me go there.  The policeman and I went to his house and I stayed in the back of the car. His house looked very sketchy. It had broken windows and the paint was peeling off of the house. He also had a garage in the door that had holes in it.

 It was now time to go in with the policeman. He came back out and said he couldn’t find anything, but Daisy was in there. I walked a couple steps and said she has to be in here somewhere. All of the sudden I heard Daisy saying “Baaa”. I KNEW SHE WAS HERE I screamed.  I heard it from the room right in front of me so I opened the door. There Daisy was tied up on the pole. I quickly ran over and untied her. After I got her untied I hugged her tightly. I thought I was never going to find her.  The delivery guy was sitting in the  corner of that room and the policeman handcuffed him. The delivery guy got arrested for life since he stole my sheep. I went home and Daisy and I lived happily ever after.

Pixels Horror Story

It was a normal day as I (Sam Brenner) was going to a house to install a Playstation 4 and a new TV. I knocked on the door and was unexpectedly met with a 12-year old kid instead of the parent I expected. I asked the kid where his parents were and he said his mom was upstairs and told me how his parents had a divorce.

His mom then walked downstairs and said, “You don’t need to tell the installation man our whole life story.”

“Alright I’ll hook up this TV and PS4 up,” said Sam Brenner. 

“Yeah you do that,” said his mom. 

“Yeah, she’s struggling with the divorce and all that stuff,” said Matty.

“Yeah, that must’ve been tough,” said Sam Brenner. 

As I finished setting up, I went to get the release form and money for the TV and Playstation. As I knocked on her door, I heard her crying in the closet, and I said I was coming in. As I walked in I asked what the matter was. She said it was the divorce stuff so I was helping her with it and thought we were having a moment. I tried to kiss her and she got mad.

“I thought we were having a moment,” I said.

“Yeah a moment,” she replied.

“I didnt take you for the snobby type,” I said.

She got mad at me. I then got a call from my friend, the president. He told me he needed me over there ASAP! I told him I was coming and rushed to the car. 

As I started driving I stopped at the red light and the snobby girl was following me and she told her to stop trying to apologize and she said she was just going somewhere important. And then the light turned green and she kept following me and as I pulled into the white house she pulled in and they let her in as a lieutenant. As she walked I went in and happened to go into the same entrance as her. She got to the president’s door and they told her to go into the situation room and then told me the president was waiting for me. I then said ohhh somebody’s more important. As the door shut I asked the president what was going on?

 The president then told me that an airbase in Guam was attacked. I asked who attacked it. The president said that’s why I called you. I was then like me? He just told me to come here. I sat down and I saw this:

Wait, is that galaga, like the arcade game? said Sam Brenner.

Yeah they need me in the situation room but I want you to keep looking at this and let me know anything you find. said The President.

Ok can i sit in your chair? Sam Brenner asked.

No! said The President.

Ah gimme a break im sitting in the chair. said Sam Brenner.

Just after looking at it for a while I realized it was not exactly like galaga. It was like if galaga was a horror game and not an arcade game, instead of looking cute and like a fun or chill game to play, they looked

,                                                       deformed!

Just as i realized this i heard what sounded like noises from galaga but louder than a tornado siren, they came flying through the president’s window. I ducked down and grabbed a Darpa light cannon and shot the alien. I then ran into the situation room and said, galaga is here! Right as the general started yelling at me, more galagas started coming into the room and I started shooting them. I then asked if they believed me and they all nodded. I then said everyone follow me. I then started sprinting through the hall while shooting the galagas. 

Where are we going brenner!? said The President.

You’ll see, it will be worth it! said Sam Brenner. 

It better be! Said The President.

Alright everyone grab a light cannon! said Sam Brenner. 

Uhm how do we even use these? said The Army Man.

Just figure it out for god’s sake! said Sam Brenner.

It couldn’t possibly be that difficult if i figured it out! said Sam Brenner.

All the tvs then turned back and a weird man said that round one was over and that they had won, and that there are only 3 rounds in total. Well this is the endgame i was thinking.

Ok we need to figure out a plan to stop whatever round two may be. said Sam Brenner.

Ok well do we know what’s coming next? said The President.

Well the second game we played was centipede so i think we can safely assume that it will be the next game to take over. said Sam Brenner.

Ok well lets get training then! said Mr.President.

Ok first rule of centipede, is to only shoot the centipede’s head otherwise it will split in half and make more centipedes. said Sam Brenner.

 it will make more? Asked the soldier.

Yeah unfortunately you have to be very accurate or else there will be hundreds of centipedes in just seconds. said Sam Brenner.

Ok get gaming! said Sam Brenner.

Ok remember the patterns, memorize them, that’s how you win! said Sam Brenner.

Ok everyone we need to be prepared at all times, you never know when it could happen. said Sam Brenner.

Just as i said this all the tvs turned off and then back on showing the second location being in London and saying sometime tomorrow night. I realized we needed to get on a flight ASAP if we planned on being there in time.

Ok we need to get on a plane or a private jet and get to London so we don’t miss this fight and lose our planet! said Sam Brenner.

Ok well we better there then. Said The Mom.

London (2015)

As the helicopters landed, we all got out and started preparing for the invasion of the centipedes while the president was in the London prime minister office. 

Okay violet how is it out there? Asked The President.

It’s eerily quiet. said Violet.

Wow violet is your real name. said Sam Brenner.

Mr president there coming down now. said Violet.

It is centipede. said Sam Brenner.

Okay everyone DON’T split them in half or they will duplicate! Screamed Sam Brenner.

As they started shooting it looked good at first. But as you thought that, one centipede in half another 2 in half. Then I watched as half our team died so I knew it was up to me. I stole a light cannon and shot through a centipede that was rushing at me. One down just 3 more to go! I started breaking the mushroom things to get a better view. One started rushing me downwards so I shot through that one too. I killed the second to last one by shooting in from the back to the face. Just as I did that I noticed one of them running away. So I chased it onto the road and into a hotel where it trapped itself so now there were zero centipedes left.

Way to go brenner! Screamed The President.

No problem, what’s next? Sam Brenner Asked.

Well what’d you play next in the competition? The President Asked.

Pacman. said Sam Brenner.

Well dont you need ghosts for pacman? Asked the President.

So we need some little ghosts. Said Sam Brenner.

Here follow me to nyc. said Violet.

ok where are we going in nyc? Sam Brenner Asked.

Showing you the ghost. Said violet.

It’s a car? Sam Brenner Asked.

A super charged pacman killing car. Said violet.

Let’s go! Said Sam Brenner.

As i got in the car i saw giant 30 foot tall pacman turn around the corner

Ok well its now or never i thought to myself.

Ok brenner you got this just stay calm. Said the president.

Right as he said I slammed on the pedal and started zooming towards pac-man but he’s always been faster so i made a right turn to hopefully counteract pac-man and get one life down. As I turned the next corner I smashed right into pac-man and now he only has two lives left. Ok I got this  thought. I kept going and pacman spawned on the other side of nyc. I started heading over there going 100 miles per hour and I didn’t notice he was leading me into a power pellet. As he flew into the power pellet I started reversing. As I spun around I started flooring it and turning around every corner possible in order to escape. As the ten seconds were up I slammed on the brakes and pac-man ran straight into me and now there was one more life left. As pacman respawned i floored it for pacman not knowing again he was going straight to a power pellet again. As he rammed into it he started rolling at me as fast as possible. I started reversing into a parking garage and going up floor after floor as he chased me up them. He was getting way too close to me. As I got to the top floor I jumped off the roof heading towards the building, but as pacman was about to eat me the power pellet weared off and we won! After winning I became a world hero, didn’t have to pay taxes and became a billionaire!

Mia’s Horror Story

Mia’s Horror Story

By Pooh Bear Sr.

There was a girl named Mia, who was a 6-foot tenth grader. She had been intelligent all her life and excelled in both school and sports. There were some people above her in sports, but it was fine because she tried her best to maintain her grades, which allowed her to play the sports she loved. There were these mean girls who judged her for caring about her grades, and she tried to ignore them, but they continued to make fun of her. She tried to make friends, but people just made fun of her height and made her want to quit sports and stop caring about school, just to stop the teasing and bullying.

“They’re just teasing you because they are jealous of you,” said her parents.

“ Yeah, right, what would they be jealous of?” said Mia.

 Her parents were trying to get her to like herself, but she kept thinking down on herself due to the things the girls said to her and how they treated her. The only thing that made her happy was when she played sports, but when she played sports, people made fun of her for her height and not being on the A-team. 

The basketball season just started, and Mia was very excited to play her favorite sport. Her parents were very excited to see her play the sport she loved. Today was their first practice, Thursday, November 13, from 6 to 7:15. When she got there, she was the first one. She put on her shoes and started getting some shots up to be ready for the practice. Mia thought that if she got there early and showed her dedication, she might start and be on the A team. She was wrong. At their first game, she sat on the bench the whole game and didn’t get to go in. This made Mia and her parents really sad. The reason Mia and her parents were annoyed was because this one girl showed up to one practice and got to start.

Mia decided to go talk to the coach about how she picked who plays.  

“ How do you pick who starts or who is on the A-team?” Mia said

“I really pick it off of skill. Is there a way you think I should base it on?” said the coach. 

“ I think you should base it on dedication, because a girl who only showed up to one practice all week got to start over people who went to every single practice and were not late to a single practice,” Mia said 

  “ I understand why you are a little mad. I will consider your ideas,” said the Coach .

“ Thank you for your time,” Mia said. 

  This made Mia a little less mad because Mia realized how The Coach picked the lineups.

After Christmas break, and we were back at an early morning practice. This time, Mia was not the first one there; Mia was actually the last one. This made Mia very confused. 

“Practice started an hour ago, and I was late,” said the coach.

“No one told me practice was moved earlier,” Mia said.

“The girls made a group chat to tell everyone it was moved to earlier,” said the coach.

“ I was not added to any group chat,” Mia said.

Come to find out, they added everyone to the group chat except Mia.

Mia’s coach had a player meeting. We talked about including everyone in anything we did as a team. Then the coach asked Mia to stay after, and Mia said okay. When Mia and the Coach were talking, she asked Mia if any of the players were bullying her or had previously bullied her. 

“Some of the girls have made fun of my height and how smart I am, but my parent just said they were jealous of me,” Mia said.

“ I will keep an eye on them during my practice because I do not tolerate bullying” said the coach.

I was very happy because something was going to happen, and the bullying might even stop. When I went home, I told my parents about the meeting we had. 

“What was it about? said my parents.

“ It was about it we are going to do something as a team, everyone has to be invited or included in the things we do as a team,” I said.

“ Nice, did anything else happen?” said my parents. 

“ The coach asked me to stay so she could talk to me,” I said.

“ What did she say?” said my parents.

“She asked if any people were bullying me or had been bullying me,” I said. 

“ What did you say?” said my parents.

 “Some of the girls have made fun of my height and how smart I am,”  I said.

“ It is okay, I hope it gets better because you told her,” said my parents. 

“ Thank you, love you!” I said.

After basketball season was almost over, the bullying stopped, but like two weeks after it stopped, it started again. Those two weeks I had so much fun, and I made so many friends. I went to three haunted houses and enjoyed them so much. I went to six sleepovers and had my first birthday party, and invited my whole basketball team, and they enjoyed it very much. At one of the sleepovers, we listened to Golden. It was the best part of the whole night. 

Then, after being friends for two weeks, we just stopped being friends and they said that they hated me all along and were just using me for all the stuff I got them and using me for my stuff. After that, they acted like they did not know me. At basketball practice, they tried to be my best friends.

“ Why are you only friends with me at practice and not at school?” I said.

“ I don’t know, when I try to talk to you, you do not talk back,” they said.

“ When I talk to you, you turn around and walk away,” I said.

“We will try not to do that; it was not on purpose,” they said.

“ Okay,” I said.

The next day at school, we were all called to the office. The whole basketball team was called. When we got there, we were so confused. We had no idea why we got called into the office. We realized that someone had told the principal that people were spreading rumors about other people. We all got called in one at a time and were asked some questions; these questions were really weird. The principal said to keep it confidential. I left the office and went back to class. Five minutes later, we got called to the main office, which was very scary, and I was the only one called. I realized that the rumors that they were spreading were about me. Then the principal asked me some questions.

“ Have you ever been bullied?” said the principal.

“ Yes,” I said.

“ Who bullied you?” said the principal.

“ People on the basketball team,” I said.

“ Why did they bully you?” said the principal.

“ They bullied me for my height and for how smart I am,” I said.

“ They are just doing it because they are jealous of you,” said the principal

Then I thought to myself that two different people have said the same thing, and maybe they were right. So for the next few days, I tried to believe them and tried to think that they were just jealous of me. Then, the next few days, the bullies were just meaner and ruder.

“ Why have you been so mean lately?” I said.

“ We have not been mean lately, you have just been so annoying,” they said.

“ Well, that is rude, and you are just jealous of me because I am better at school and sports,” I said.

“ No, I am not,” they said nervously.

“ You are lying, that is why you are nervous and don’t know what to say.”

“Fine, I was, and I am very jealous of you because you are so good at sports and school, and I want to be like you,” they said.

“ I will be friends with you if you actually want to be friends and you are not going to use me this time,” I said.

“ Okay, so we are friends now,” they said.

“ Okay” I said.

Then we were friends, and the bullying stopped, and I had all the friends in the world. When we went to the last basketball game, I started, and it was so fun. I felt like the coach considered my ideas, and it was amazing that I was able to tell the coach how I felt, and she listened to me and considered my ideas, and followed through with them. I feel like sometimes people do not really listen when you try to tell them something important to you. I had not only made an A-team for basketball, but also had many people whom I could call my friends. Sometimes all you need to do is confront someone if you think the thing they were doing was wrong. That is the reason I now have friends and can be free at school and not spend every day and every night alone. “Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of you.” By Harold S. Kushner.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #38

Spoilers

The Haunting of Hill House

“Steven Sees a Ghost”

The ending of this first episode gave me chills.

We start a new series this week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, and, in honor of the creepy season, I chose The Haunting of Hill House.

What a great start to this series.

I have to say, I think this series does an admirable job of introducing these characters to the viewers. With so many major characters, it can be difficult to know who is who. Then, not only do we met these people in the present day, but also in flashbacks to the time they lived in Hill House. It could easily be very confusing, but I have to say that the show did a solid job of connecting the characters from the past and the present. It did require my attention though.

The show does an especially good job with Steven, as we see him both as a young boy, the oldest of the kids and his protective nature, and an older man, skeptical and struggling.

Then, Nell and the moment at the end was an amazing shock. When Nell stood in that apartment staring blankly at Steven, I knew what was going on (I mean, when you title the episode “Steven Sees a Ghost” and he hasn’t up to this point, well, it is not rocket science), but it did not make it any less impactful.

The middle two girls are the characters that I got the least from during this episode, and I hope they will come into focus more are the series progresses. Luke is a fascinating character and I feel like I have a good grasp on him even with the limited amount of screen time he received.

The father has clearly been affected dramatically and I feel as if we are going to dive deeper into the mother’s suicide in Hill House.

I am intrigued by the mysterious events that the show has introduced to us and, with the mind of writer-director Mike Flanagan, who also was the force behind Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, and The Life of Chuck, I believe this could lead to something special.

This series is loosely based on the novel of the same name from 1959 by Shirley Jackson.

Jack Marlowe RIP

My little town of Maquoketa, Iowa recently lost a legend as John Frederick Marlowe, known as Jack, passed away Saturday morning, October 4th.

Jack was an icon in this area. One of the most beloved individuals I have ever met. Jack wrote for the Maquoketa Sentinel-Press, the local newspaper, for decades, as a sportswriter. Jack had a love for sports and a head for stats and number that was unmatched. His encyclopedic knowledge of local sports was amazing. Just talking with Jack about high school sports was an experience where you would always come out amazed.

Jack would be embarrassed with that last paragraph because he was one of the most humble people I have ever had the pleasure to know. He would laugh it off, with that loud and bombastic laugh, and redirect the discussion away from himself. It was not in Jack’s nature to make anything about himself. It was yet one more appealing trait of him.

Every time I would see Jack, he would greet me with a big smile and he’d ask me about my own coaching, especially when I was coaching the team sponsored by the newspaper. Jack was always so kind and genuine, that you knew that he was truly interested in what you had to say.

I felt honored to have played basketball in the Marlowe barn, adding my name to the wall with a list of unbelievable people. Sadly, the barn no longer existed, but the memories will always be there.

Jack worked at the Maquoketa Sentinel Press for 55 years, including writing his own column “Sports Slants” in which Jack mentioned me a few times (which was always such a thrill). Even when he retired as an active sportswriter, Jack would continue with his column. Retirement was not something Jack did well. I remember seeing Jack delivering Sentinel-Press newspapers to local gas stations. He wanted to remain active.

Jack was an award winning writer and a local legend. The town held him in such high esteem that he was inducted into the Maquoketa High School Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Maquoketa Community High School Athletic Complex, which included baseball/softball fields and a track, was named the Jack Marlowe Athletic Complex in his honor.

The plague at the Jack Marlowe Athletic Complex read,  “A 1953 Maquoketa High School Graduate, Hall of Fame Sportswriter and lifelong resident of Jackson County who dedicated his life to highlighting the accomplishments of others while avoiding the spotlight for himself.”

Jack Marlowe loved this community almost as much as the community loved him. He will be missed. Rest in peace, Jack.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #173

October 6

I have so many comics this week. Mainly because I went to the special anniversary celebration at In This Issue in Bettendorf and participated in their bag sale. Everything you could fit into a bag they provided for $45. I went both Friday and Saturday, and did a bag each day. Day one I had 90 books in the bag and Saturday, I was able to get 104 books in the bag.

I picked up 10 Amazing Spider-Man Annuals. I grabbed a bunch of Thor Vol. 1 in the 400s. Several cool independents that I never heard before. I picked up a bunch of variant Amazing Spider-Man covers too.

It was a fun couple of days.

New Books this week:

Spider-Man Noir #1. “The Gwen Stacy Affair” Written by Erik Larsen and art by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Simon Di Meo. I do like me some noir. Spider-Man Noir is even better. I liked this first issue more than some of the previous Spider-Man Noir stories and the arrival of Gwen Stacy is cool.

The Last Day of H.P. Lovecraft #1. Written by Romualo Giulivo and illustrated and cover art by Jakub Rebelka (Bronze Medalist). One of the more interesting new books from Boom Studios. It chronicled the final day in the life of author H.P. Lovecraft, and, of course, Lovecraft is anything but ordinary. Weird and wild and a lot of fun.

Gotham Academy: First Year #1. “First Day of School.” Written by Brenden Fletcher with art by Marco Ferrari. Cover art by Karl Kerschl. New comic that was giving me Wednesday (Netflix) vibes. Olive Silverlock is our protagonist in this new series. I am not familiar with her. I am not sure if I should have been. However, the issue does a nice job introducing her to me.

X-Men: Age of Revelation-Overture #1. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Ryan Stegman. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer and Marte Gracia. The next major X-event kicked off with this issue. The consciousness of Cyclops is pulled X years into the future to see the current landscape of the MCU. Doug Ramsey, aka Revelation, the heir of Apocalypse, has become a mutant savior and things are really bad. There are a whole bunch of new X-titles coming out during this event and I hope they are as enjoyable as this one. I am usually not the biggest fan of the alternate futures, but this has been good so far.

Pinupocalypse #6. Written, drawn and cover art by Andrew Tarusov (Cover B- Silver Medalist). So one of the biggest surprises of 2025 came to a close here with a very satisfying final issue. With all of the zombies, UFOs and other things, we have a homage to the Attack of the 50-foot woman. This was such a fun and enjoyable series. Maybe we’ll get some more one day.

Absolute Evil #1. Written by Al Ewing and art and cover art by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Stefano Nesi. I also got the foil variant by Riley Rossmo. A bunch of new Absolute versions of some villains become the Absolute Justice. There was a literal gasp of shock over one big moment. Big book.

Batman #2. “Robin Rides the Black Mariah.” Written by Matt Fraction with art and cove art by Jorge Jimenez. I also picked up the virgin foil of this issue too This issue is focused in on Robin, and the way that the Gotham PD is now going to be treating Batman and Robin. A great spotlight on Robin and his skills.

Rook Exodus #7. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Jason Fabok. Cover art (A & B) by Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson and (Cover C) by Kael Ngu. Rook Exodus is back with the search for the other wardens. Rook encountered some other wardens on the way. It is nice to have this Ghost Machine book back after a long intermission.

White Tiger Reborn #1. “Reborn” Written by Daniel Jose Older with art by Bruno Abdias. Cover art was done by Mike Hawthorne & Federico Blee. I enjoyed the story involving the White Tiger. We get the ghost of Hector following along the White Tiger, his sister Aya Ayala.

Amazing Spider-Man #13. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Pepe Larraz. Cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. After not seeing him last issue, we go into space with Peter as he tries to keep everyone safe as always. Pete tries to convince the others to remain non-lethal.

Gunpowder Prophets #1. Written by Justin Jordan and art and cover art by Patrick Piazzalunga. A new Mad Cave book debuted this weekend with yet another winner. Huck and Marley are for hire, and they bring the violence. I liked this new pair with Marley being the big bad. I am intrigued to see what is next.

Ultimate Wolverine #10. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alex Lins. Cover art was done by Phil Noto. Wolverine faces off with Omega Red and, in a shocking moment, wins. What’s in the box???? Wolverine pulls a se7en on Omega Red.

Speed Racer #3. Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art was done by Alessio Zonno. Speed Racer takes on Racer X. Nuff said.

Vanishing Point #5. Written by Mark Russell and art by Ryan Alexander-Tanner. Phil Hester & Ryan Cody did the cover art. This story had a definite Twilight Zone feel to it. It had a really good twist to it. It was very surprising end and I thought it was great.

Something is Killing the Children #44. “All Her Monsters” Part Four Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. We continue to see an adventure from the history of Erica Slaughter.

Other books this week: Good Devils: Don’t Play Fair with Evil #1, Deadpool/Wolverine #10, DC’s Zatannic Panic #1, Eat Your Young #2, Kill All Immortals II #1, Toxie Team-Up #4, Tales of the Shadowman #2, Ultimate X-Men #20, Red Hulk #9, and Look Into My Eyes #3.

Quick Hits: Our DC criminals continue to plot out their plan to rip off the Justice League in Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #3. I did not like the new Ghost Rider team up book, Spirits of Violence #1, so i will not be buying that one from now on. I picked up this cool Juggernaut cover for X-Men: The Undertow #1. I have been having a lot of fun with Star Trek: Red Shirts #3. It is a clever concept for a Star Trek series. The Justice League: The Omega Act Special #1 is a major kick off for the next big DC event, trying to save the DC Universe. TexArcanum #3 was one of the bronze medal winners this week as we had a tie. I was not planning on getting Starship Godzilla #1 because it reminded me too much of that horrendous arc when the Hulk was a ship, right after the epic Immortal Hulk run. However, I loved the Star Wars homage cover so I picked it up anyway. I do not plan on continuing it either. Speaking of Star Wars, Star Wars #6 was out this week. Be Not Afraid #4 is a bit confusing, but a good looking book. Sam & Twitch Case Files #18 was a solid book this week and the New Avengers #5 brought the evil Reed Richards clone down. Big week.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #37

Spoilers

“Full Circle”

Our fifth series for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk ended today with the tenth and final episode of HBO’s Lovecraft Country.

I wonder what H.P. Lovecraft would have thought about this series?

I did not see the ending of this show coming. I was very surprised with the death of Atticus in that ceremony, and the victory at the end, bonding Christina from using magic… and all white people… was a cool end.

I especially liked the use of Ji-ah in the finale. I have been wondering the purpose of this character for much of the series and to have that pay off in such a meaningful way makes me feel positive.

Of course, we had the best scene of the series in this episode too. Atticus, Leti, Montrose, Ji-ah, Hippolyta, and Diana were in the car, driving to Ardham, when the song “Sh-Boom” comes on the radio. Diana starts to sing along with the song and, before too long, the entire carload was joining in. It was my favorite moment of the series, giving us a flash of innocence and joy before the final spell.

Couple of things: Ruby’s death off-screen was a bit of a waste, I think, just for the surprise twist of Christina being one step ahead. Then, I am not sure how I feel about Diana crushing Christina’s throat with her bionic arm at the very end.

There felt to be a bunch of dangling threads or things that happened over the course of the show that felt insignificant. Why did Hippolyta have to go on her adventure through time?

Lovecraft Country, for me, was very up and down. Some weeks the show was tremendous, but I do think it lacked a comprehensive vision of what story they wanted to tell. It had some real highs and some lows too, all capsulized in this final epsiode.

Next week, in honor of the month of Halloween, we start the sixth series in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. It will be Netflix’s series, The Haunting of Hill House.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #36

Spoilers

“Rewind 1921”

After a short respite on a Friday morning last week, we are back on Sunday morning, BABY!

I went to SiouxperCon last week in South Dakota, which meant that I had to miss a Sunday morning. Instead, I did the Sunday Morning Sidewalk #35 on a Friday morning.

Back on Sunday, I watched the penultimate episode of Lovecraft Country, “Rewind 1921.”

Time travel is always tough, but this trip back to the Tulsa race massacre of 1921 was impeccably done. It brought us back around to a scene from the first episode that featured Jackie Robinson and made it make sense with what our current story is.

Atticus, Leti and Montrose travel through the portal to 1921, thanks to the returning Hippolyta, in search of the Book of Names, in order to save Diana. What they find is horror and loss in a brutal manner as the Tulsa race massacre was in full nightmare.

Montrose, especially, had to go through his own personal anguish, as they witnessed his father beating him with a switch. Montrose went to see the death of a boy that he had had feelings for and, all the while, Montrose knew that he could not do anything to change what happened.

To find out that it was Atticus all along who showed up and saved Montrose and George (aka Jackie Robinson) was one of those wild time travel things that brings everything full circle.

It was an emotional, powerful, painful episode looking back at how these characters were affected by this tragic event in American history.

Leti went through it as well, as she found the Book of Names as the house burned down around her, including Dora’s grandmother, who had given her the book just before horrifically burning to death in front of her.

The episode ended with our heroes clearly affected, but back in their own timeline.

I have a feeling that next week’s finale is not going to provide the satisfactory conclusion I hope as I had heard the show left off on a cliffhanger and it has never been renewed. I hope it is a cliffhanger that is designed to create something new and not one to continue this story moving forward.