I am back with the next three episodes of season one of Sha Na Na. This was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I always looked forward to seeing the next episode.
I just have to say, some of the negatives stand out more for me now than it did when I was a kid. The comedy is downright bad. Very few of these bits were funny at all. The only ones that seemed okay were the ones in the car with one of the members of the band and Ginger. The can laughter made it all the more obvious that it wasn’t funny.
The exception was the bits during episode 5 with Milton Berle. He brought in members of Sha Na Na and would makes jokes with them. These bits felt fairly improv-like and you can see the members of Sha Na Na trying to keep from laughing. Some did better than others. Johnny was working that gum over hard during his moment with Berle.
You do have to respect how they passed around singing responsibilities on the show. In these three episodes, only Santini did not have a lead vocal or a duet. Duke of Earl and Silhouette was performed by Denny. Party Doll and Itsy Bitsy teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini was done by Chico. Whole Lotta Shakin’ was led by Screamin’ Scott. Screamin’ Scott and Jocko combined for Poison Ivy. Bower sang with Ethel Merman with Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better. Lenny sang Too Chubby to Boogie. Dirty Dan sang Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow. Johnny sang the last song of episode five, though I did not recognize the title. The whole group had a part in The Name Game.
Admittedly, some of the background dancing gets too hectic at times and it gives the audience too many things to try and focus on. However, episode five gave us something different as this was the first time that we got to see shots of the live audience and their responses to the stage songs. I liked that variation on what they had done prior.
The dancing was okay during Carol Lawrence’s dance of The One, from the Broadway musical A Chorus Line. The whole group of Sha Na Na provided chorus line dancing.
Episode five was my favorite of these episodes as it felt like they did some different things and the Milton Berle comedy worked so much more than some of the other episode comedy bits.
I am finally getting caught up with most of the TV shows and that meant that I got to Amazon Prime’s Gen V.
The spin-off of The Boys had a surprisingly good season one and this new season leads right into some of the major events going on in that series.
First of all, we had to deal with the real life loss of actor Chance Perdomo, who played Andre in season one, was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2024. Andre was a major character among the ensemble of Gen V so decisions had to be made. The show decided against recasting the role and decided instead to kill the character off-screen. While it was an uncomfortable idea, the death of Andre provided motivation for several of the characters to move forward.
We have a new Dean of Godolkin University and he is the new big bad of season two. Cypher is very mysterious and manipulative.
I do love how the group is kind of getting back together, even after the horrible things that they have done to each other. It sure looked like, after episode one, that Jordan had killed Cate. I am glad Cate survived as the entire event has led to a tentative reunion between Cate, Marie, Jordan, and Emma.
Gen V continues to have the same kind of shocking moments that are typical on The Boys, and the characters from The Boys are referenced constantly Starlight even made a cameo in one of the episodes, trying to recruit Marie to help her out. She mentioned one of the mysteries of the season, which was Odessa. It appeared as if Odessa was Marie, but that has all been questionable.
Episodes will release every Wednesday, so I will be watching them when I can. This kick off has been very enjoyable so far and I am deeply invested in the mysteries of the show. I am curious to see how this show will eventually play into the final season of The Boys.
After a stop off in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Friday night, we made our way to the Sioux Falls Convention Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for our first, but officially the second, day of Siouxper Con.
Speeding along the roads of South Dakota at 80 + MPH was somewhat stressful, but Todd and I arrived around 10:50.
The con was underway and we dove right into getting books signed and finding some new gems. Todd introduced me to several comic creators that he knew from years of convention hopping, which helped ease the anxiety of the moment.
Some highlights: I spent much of the day hanging out at Keith Champagne’s booth. Keith was one of the best guys I got to meet and he made me feel extremely welcome and respected.
I loved getting to speak to some of the creators and to express how much I loved some of their work. There were a couple of moments that stand out. One was when I told Zander Cannon how much I love Sleep. I told him it was one of the most original ideas in comics. Another one was when Kyle Higgins and I were talking about No/One. He asked me if I listened to the podcast. When I told him that I loved the podcast, you could see how much it meant to him. He told me that he is directing a movie version of No/One that excited me to no end. These moments shone in these creators eyes. You could see the sincere gratitude they held for my words. That made me happy.
The big moment came when we got to meet Gail Simone. She was so awesome and I got a cool foul Batman comic that was remarkably rare. Gail made me feel right at home. I also picked up a script she wrote for an issue of Savage Wolverine. So epic!
It was so fun watching all of the cosplayers at the con. We saw representations of Marvel heroes, DC heroes, movie heroes and villains, anime characters and much more.
I really enjoyed my discussion with Eliot Rahal, who had his daughter, Olive with him. I watched them approach an animatronic fox (I can’t remember its name. It was dressed as a king). It was a wholesome moment that I am pleased to have witnessed.
Day two was not perfect. I am tired of walking and we just did not have enough comic retailers with back issues for sale, but there was so much joy and engagement that any drawbacks were minimal!
Yes, I know it is not Sunday. I am going to the SiouxperCon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota this weekend and I will not have access to HBO Max Sunday morning. I did not know what I wanted to do about that. I considered skipping a week and just resuming next Sunday, but instead, I decided to make this one time exception and make it a Friday Morning Sidewalk instead. So this Friday Morning Sidewalk is episode 8 of Lovecraft Country.
In “Jig-A-Bobo”, Lovecraft Country tackled the grief and loss brought about by the real world murder of Emmet Till, lovingly nicknamed Bobo. The show had revealed that Till was best friends with Diana, and his brutal murder struck her hard.
However, in Lovecraft Country style, the grief takes on a whole different manner, supernaturally speaking.
Diana is pursued by some demons that looked like Topsys, the character from Uncle Tom’s Cabin… and they were spooky as hell. Jada Harris does a remarkable job showing Diana’s grief and her fear, both transgressing through.
Then, the ending sequence where the police get their comeuppance is so awesome. The protection spell Atticus and Montrose cast came into being in a different way than any of them anticipated. That monster that just ripped through the cops was utterly crazy. When that one cop went flying through the air, it was damn satisfying.
I’m not sure what the scene where Christina hires someone to attack her just like Emmet Till was meant to show. It really felt like a major weak spot in an otherwise strong episode.
I do like Ruby’s development through this episode. Her face off with Leti, who has her own little interaction with Christina this episode that made her invulnerable, felt like it was way overdue.
The arrival of Ji-ah seemed to be unimportant too. Not sure why she arrived and I am not sure why that was important. Leti’s anger felt misplaced.
Only two more episodes remaining. I hope everyone has a great Sunday morning on a Friday day!
I was on Twitter/X a few days ago and I came across a Tweet by Jon “Bowzer” Bausman stating that the full episodes of the Sha Na Na TV series was going to be available on YouTube soon. I was excited to hear this as this was a big part of my childhood. I loved Sha Na Na and they turned out to be my first ever concert at Five Flags Center in Dubuque.
I have spent years watching musical clips from the show on YouTube and the news about the full episodes was great. I figured I could make this one of my rewatches here at EYG.
I went to YouTube and searched for Sha Na Na series and I found a playlist from pattyoc01, who had been one of the prolific posters of the Sha Na Na clips over the years. The playlist had all of the episodes on it.
I have a feeling this may not have been what Jon Bausman meant when he posted his tweet. I have a suspicion that a more clean and professional version may be coming in the future. However, I was excited to start the rewatch so I dove into the pilot (listed as episode 0) and the first two episodes of the series.
Sha Na Na consisted of the following group members on the show: Bowzer, Johnny, Screamin’ Scott, Santini, Denny, Lennie, Donny, Dirty Dan, Chico, and Jocko.
The musical numbers are far and away the best part of these first three episodes. The comedy on the show was, at best, iffy. Some of it was groan-inducing. I saw another tweet from Bausman stating that he knew the humor of the first season was not the beat, but he felt the following seasons got more clever.
I was always focused on whether they were lip synching the music. I know that they had done, at least for the stage songs, live singing with the instrumental and the back up singing being pre-taped. You could usually tell from the powerhouse vocals of Johnny Contardo. Some of the street songs or comedy sketch bits (such as the Monster Mash bit in the pilot) were clearly being lip synched. It was obvious that Bernadette Peters was not singing live in episode two either. It was not a major issue, but I am more impressed when they let their vocals come through.
A great example of this was in the third episode where five of the group’s best singers, Johnny, Bowzer, Donny, Lennie and Santini sang an a cappella doo wop version of “I Wonder Why.” This was an amazing performance with these five really blending their voices into a fantastic harmony.
Other songs performed in this first three episodes included Blue Moon, Teenager in Love, Yakkety Yak, Tell Laura I Love Her, Rama Lama Ding Dong, Personality, Little Darlin’, and Runaway.
Along with Bernadette Peters in episode two, Rita Moreno and Frank Gorshin guest starred in the other two episodes however whatever Gorshin did seemed to be cut from the episode on YouTube. This is another reason why I think this may not be the collection that Bausman was referring to in his tweet.
I have to say that this is a bizarre series as the show constantly tells you as an audience member that Sha Na Na is terrible. The show puts down their music, their intelligence and everything else. You would think that they shouldn’t be downgrading their stars, even if it is nothing more than a running joke. It is clear that these ten men are remarkably talented (although they may not have been the greatest dancers ever to grace the screen).
Seeing this show once again gives me a huge feeling of nostalgia. I forgot this show when compiling my Top 100 TV Shows list that I am currently counting down with the Daily Countdown on EYG. This should have probably had a spot on that list.
For the first three episodes… Goodnight sweetheart, well it’s time to go…
I am a huge fan of This is Spinal Tap. It is not only a cult classic, but, for me, it is one of my all time favorite movies. So I was very excited when I saw that there would be a sequel bringing the boys back together.
Spinal Tap is David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls. These three, along with director of the film Marty Di Burgi, have been making the promotional rounds, talking about the movie. Of course, these characters are being portrayed in kayfabe by Michael McKeon, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and director Rob Reiner.
The new “mockumentary” follows the guys as they reunite after years to play one more contractually required concerts. The film is about Spinal Tap getting back together, dealing with their problems and rehearsing for the big show in New Orleans.
I love Spinal Tap and this was a lot of fun. It was great seeing these characters again, even if seeing them aged is a bit of a shock. The music is wonderful. The lines are funny. I assume they did the same kind of improv that they used in the first film.
I am going to say that there was no way this was going to match the first film. This is Spinal Tap is such a brilliant film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues was never going to be able to reach the levels of the first one. However, this was still a lot of enjoyment. There was something missing in the story. Perhaps it was the tension between the band that was causing that feeling, but there was something that brought the story down a touch.
It does tell you how iconic Spinal Tap is when you can get Paul McCartney and Elton John to come to your film and sing with the band. There were a couple of other cool cameos here including Questlove, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Chad Smith, and Lars Ulrich (of Metallica).
A lot of the jokes are recycled, including clips from the original movie. There are a bunch of new songs, but none of them received the full song version in the film. We do get full versions of “Cups and Cakes,” “Stonehenge,” and “(Listen to the) Flower People.” I would have liked to hear a few of the new songs extended outside of the slight usage in rehearsal footage or band discussion.
These critiques are minor for me as I laughed and enjoyed the reunion film. Fans of the original movie are going to have a lot of fun with this new sequel, which would make a great double feature with the original.
Honestly, the last three of the four episodes of Wednesday season two were fantastic. I loved the final two episodes after one of the best uses of the Freaky Friday twist ever. I was not sure where it was going because it seemed as if the storylines were all ending quickly.
In episode 7, we dealt with the story of Principal Dort, revealing what he was always after. The third act of the episode at the gala was sensational. Particularly the dance routine with Enid and Agnes was amazing and I loved how it worked in to the downfall of Dort.
In episode 8, there was a great finale featuring one of the best reveal of all time with the origin of Thing. I never even thought that was possible even though they spent some time hinting about Thing’s past during the season. Making Thing the actual right hand of Isaac Night was so good.
Once again, the story is rooted in something that Morticia and Gomez did while they were at Nevermore. The secrets of the Addams Family seem to cause all kind of troubles.
The best part of the season was getting Wednesday and Enid back on the same page. The lack of these characters’ interaction in the first half of the season and the negativity between them was a poor choice. This is part of the reason why the last three episodes were so good. They were able to get back to the pair.
Hopefully Pugsley’s inclusion in season three will be considerably less. It looks as if season three will start off with a search for the Alpha Wolfed-Out Enid and eventually will include the mysterious Ophelia, who we see Grand-ma-ma has in a dungeon. They named dropped her all season long so I anticipated seeing her this season, but it’ll be next season.
Finishing strong, I am excited to see where this is heading.
My creative writing class had to do a 300 word short story in the genre of crime/heist. Here is my story.
What am I doing?
The day was a blur. How did Reggie talk me into this? I constantly let him talk me into things that I know are stupid ideas? There was that time we jumped off the cliff together. We snitched his father’s car and went for a midnight joy ride. Oh, and that day we messed with that rattlesnake. However, none of those days compared to this.
“Shut up! Do what I say! Gimme the money!
All Reggie asked me to do was keep watch. I didn’t know what he meant, but he’s my best friend, and I always do what he asks. Fool. I had no idea he intended to rob Friedrickson’s Deli in the middle of the lunch rush.
Worse yet, Reggie was waving around a handgun.
I should’ve seen this coming. Reggie has been more defiant since his father ran off. I knew it was just a matter of time before he exploded.
WHAM
The resounding pistol-whip blow to the head of Friedrickson sent him spiraling toward the ground. Reggie stood above him displaying a testosterone-fueled rage I have never seen. I was never more scared of Reggie.
Distantly, the sound of sirens could be heard; the flash of the red and blue filled my eyes. Reggie knew the situation before I could even get the words out of my mouth.
“The cops!” he shouted, kicking Friedrickson’s ribs. “What did you do?’
His tone smacked of a strange blend of desperation and acceptance.
“They’re not taking us alive!”
Us? Reggie screamed with a sense of unity that I didn’t share. Reggie shoved me toward the door, brandishing his handgun like a wildman. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion; the explosion of Reggie’s bullets rang through the sky. Oh….no…the police.
This is the first post for the new Daily Countdown on EYG. We will be counting down a list with a new post every day until we reach #1.
As I stated yesterday, the TV Show list is our first countdown. I had made a list of shows that I wanted to consider during the history of TV and I had to cut quite a few great shows.
Here are the list of shows I cut from the list: Perfect Strangers, The A-Team, Three’s Company, Malcolm in the Middle, Desperate Housewives, Doctor Who, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Animaniacs, White Lotus, One Piece (live action), The Wonder Years, Silo, Dukes of Hazzard, Bewitched, The Carol Burnett Show, Family Ties, Revenge, Land of the Lost, Gilligan’s Island, The Andy Griffith Show, Home Improvement, Poker Face, Baywatch, Unsolved Mysteries, Mindhunter, The Studio, Get Smart, Orphan Black, Dexter, Bosom Buddies, and Man from Atlantis.
Quite a eclectic list, huh?
I should also state that there are some beloved shows that I have never seen so shows such as The Sopranos, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Game of Thrones, The Wire, OZ and so on will not be on my list despite their universal popularity.
With that said, here we go with the first post of the Daily Countdown: TV Shows.
#100.
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
Starring Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams, Denver Pyle as Mad Jack, Don Shanks as Nakoma, and Bozo as Ben the Grizzly Bear.
They call me Mad Jack. And if there’s anybody in these mountains that knows the real story of James Adams, that’d be me. So I’m putting it down in writing, just the way it happened, in hopes of settin’ the record straight. My friend Adams was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. So he escaped into the mountains, leaving behind the only life that he ever knew. Now that wilderness out there ain’t no place for a greenhorn, and his chances of survivin’ were mighty slim. Weren’t no time at all ‘for he was beaten down, ragged and nearly starved. Long about then, he come upon a grizzly bear cub, all alone and helpless. Now Adams knew that little critter couldn’t survive without his help, so he started right down that cliff, riskin’ his own life… to save it. Heh Heh Heh heh heh. Now that cub took to Adams right off, and that was when he discovered that he had … a special kind of way with animals. They’d just come right up to him like he was a natural part of the wilderness. But that bear cub, he was extra special. As he growed, he became the best friend Adams ever had and, together, they became a legend.
This voice over opening by Denver Pyle was one of the most memorable part of the show Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, which was a syndicated show that was based on a movie from 1974 with the same title. The show ran for two seasons and had only 37 episodes, which was a lot fewer than I thought.
I remember watching this every Sunday morning. It was always so enjoyable and so hearty. I loved Mad Jack. I loved Mad Jack’s burro Number Seven. Adams and Jack’s relationship was great. It felt like a group of heroes living in the wilderness.
What a greenhorn.
And number 100 is The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.
Welcome to the brand new feature entitled EYG Daily Countdown. This is going to be a bit of a challenge. I am going to compile Top 100 lists of certain topics and then count them down with a daily post for the following 100 days.
I have some rules I will be following.
First of all, I will choose a topic and as soon as I compile the list, the topic is closed. If something new and awesome comes out while I am making the list, it will not be added and it will have to wait for a future list for its flowers.
Second of all, clearly this is going to be my own personal choices. That means there will be items from the topics that I will not have on my list. I’m not setting this up as a debate. It’s my list. You can make your own.
I will have had to see or hear or experience it to be on the list. If something is considered the greatest of all time, but I have not seen it, it will not be on my list.
This is going to be building toward something that has scared me forever… a list of the Top 100 of my favorite movies of all time. I am not ready to dip my toe into that list because of how monumental that feels. I am going to work my way to that impossible list with some less impossible lists.
Any kind of list is fluid. It changes constantly. Maybe a rewatch leads me to move something up or down. Just because I finish a list, does not mean that it could not change. Perhaps down the road I could revisit the lists as we move along to see how time has changed my opinions.
I plan on starting this some time over the next week. I do have a topic, which I will announce below, and I have started to compile possible entries for the list. I will tell you that I have currently 132 potential choices for my Top 100 list so I will need to narrow it down.
These are tough things to do, so my expectations are that I will be missing some along the way. Again, that is tough, but there will be nothing I can do about it. I will do my best to make the list as comprehensive as I can.
Each day, I will make a post with one entry on the list. I will start with #100, the following day will be #99, then #98… and so on. One a day, every day.
I may yet compile a running list on the site to keep track of the list as we go.
With that out of the way, the first topic for the EYG Daily Countdown will be:
Top 100 Favorite TV Shows of All-Time.
This is quite an undertaking, but it is not as wild as movies would be, so I thought I would kick it off with this. Good luck and here’s hoping the new challenge will be a lot of fun.
August is coming to an end and we finished off the load of books from this week. So here we go.
Books this week:
The Knives: A Criminal Book graphic novel. Written by Ed Brubaker and art is done by Sean Phillips. Brubaker and Phillips have done some excellent graphic novels together and this new one has a fantastic story, weaving together three separate stories into one overall narratives. It was very compelling and wraps everything up beautifully.
Pulp graphic novel: Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips. I got another graphic novel from these two on eBay this week. Pulp was a cool story about a writer/artist of a comic strip, telling stories of the Old West with a character based on his own life. This was another excellent book from Brubaker-Phillips.
Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man #1. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Dani. Cover art was done by Dani & Brad Simpson. Yet another mini-series featuring the Universal Monsters kicks off with The Invisible Man. James Tynion IV has done a great job with these monster books and the Invisible Man starts off with some cool stuff.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #37. “Thick as Thieves Part One” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art was done by Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon. Miles has to face off with White Cat and Inari, both making their first appearances. Also, how is Miles Morales: Spider-Man made it all the way to #37 without rebooting?
The Mortal Thor #1. “No Gods, No Monsters.” Written by Al Ewing with art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. I got a foil variant of the issue by Patrick Gleason (Gold Medalist). The new arc of Thor starts with this issue as the recently dead Thor is here in a different form and a human frame. Where will this go? I am interested in the story.
Ultimate Spider-Man #20. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by David Messina. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. This issue was very much of a dialogue driven issue between Peter, MJ, Harry and Gwen as they go through everything that has happened lately.
The Thing #4. “King of Yancy Street Part Four” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Justin Mason. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. Aunt Petunia’s baby boy Ben Grimm has to deal with a list of supervillains to try and protect the little girl. Thing showing off why he is one of the toughest heroes in the world.
News from the Fallout #3. Written by Chris Condon and art by Jeffrey Alan Love. This continues to be the most original looking book on the market every month. The mysterious creatures wandering around are frightening and in pursuit of anyone they can find. I loved the design of the book.
Blue Palo Verde #3. Written by Ray Fawkes with art and cover art by Rimanti. Kris and her father are in a lot of trouble in the small town. Some wild things are going on with the sheriff in pursuit of them. I do love a mysterious small town story and this one scratches that itch.
Avengers #29. “The Missing Moment.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by Cafu and David Curiel. Reed Richards guest starred in this as the Avengers continue to try and find what exactly the Missing Moment, that Kang was searching for, was. How is the missing moment get caused by Reed?
Benjamin #3. Written by Ben H. Winters and art by Leomacs. Cover art by Christian Ward (Bronze Medalist). This highly entertaining three issue series ended with this issue. Honestly, I never saw the ending of this coming. This is a wild and creative sci-fi story.
Masterminds #1. Written by Zack Kaplan and illustrated and cover art by Stephen Thompson. New sci-fi book from Dark Horse featuring a video game designer trying to join up with the biggest group of the video game world… the Masterminds.
West Coast Avengers #10. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Josemaria Casanovas. This is the final issue of this volume of WCA. I really loved this version with these characters and I wish it would have continued past this issue. The Avenger Ultron storyline ends up in a dramatic fashion.
Red Vector #1. Written by David “DB” Andy & Tim Daniel with art and cover art by Chris Evenhuis. Another new sci-fi series from Mad Cave. It actually felt similar to Void Rivals from Image. It felt very clean and new and I will be interested seeing how it moves forward.
X-Men #21. “Upstarts II” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia. Fitzroy and his Upstarts take on some of the X-Men and… Juggernaut does some violence.
Sleep #4. Written, drawn and cover art by Zander Cannon. We are still moving towards this mystery of what is happening when Jonathan goes to sleep. We have an idea of what is happening, as does Jonathan. Why is it happening? What causes it? Can it be stopped? Sleep has been excellent so far.
Speed Racer #2. Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art was done by Alessio Zonno. Speed Racer’s father has a heart attack and is hanging on by a thread. An expensive surgery requires Speed Racer to go try and win money racing. What does Racer X have to do with it?
Vanishing Point #4. Written by Mark Russell and art was done by Jok. Cover art is done by Chris Weston. This sci-fi anthology asks the question about “what is a living thing?” It is a sentient question in sci-fi and this is one more thought on the topic.
The Voice Said Kill #2. Written by Si Spurrier and art and cover art by Vanesa Del Rey. More back woods drama going on as Marie, the pregnant park ranger tries to navigate her way through the chaos.
Immortal Legend Batman #1. Written by Kyle Higgins & Mat Groom and art by Erica D’urso & Dan Mora. Dan Mora did the cover art. An Elseworlds Batman story set on another planet with characters we recognize. Immortal Legend Batman becomes the Dread Pirate Roberts on another planet.
You’ll Do Bad Things #6. Written by Tyler Boss and art by Adriano Turtulici. Cover art by Tyler Boss. I have to say that this issue was a really confusing read. I am not sure exactly what I read in it. It seemed as if it had a happy ending, but I am not 100% sure.
Runaways #3. “Think of the Children“ Part Three. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Roberta Ingranata. Stephanie Hans is the cover artist. I have missed the Runaways and their dysfunction. The group has the drama cornered even when they are trying to prevent the Doombots from taking their Doombot. The interpersonal aspect of the Runaways is definitely the strength of the book.
The Last Boy #5. Written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Alessio Avallone. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Peter Pan has his final showdown with the Phantom King, whose true identity is a clever use of Pan lore. This issue wraps up this Boom! Studios book’s adaptation of Peter Pan and Wendy.
Incredible Hulk #28. “The Requiem Plain“ Part One. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Adam Gorham. Nic Klein did the cover art. The Pinkerton Detective Agency teams up with Hulk to search for Brother Voodoo. Things are starting to happen with Hulk and Banner that may foreshadow some terrible events.
Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #3. Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art by Dustin Nguyen. Awesome short series featuring Jason Todd and his choices to leave Batman. Did he make the right choice? I enjoyed the writing on this series as it now ends.
Geiger #17. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Eduardo Pansica & Gary Frank. Gary Frank and Brad Anderson did the cover art. A new arc kicked off as Geiger ends up in a prison. Geiger has been one of the more consistent books each month.
Minor Arcana #10. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Budd St. Pierre and his journey in prison, starting in 1977, is followed.
Dust to Dust #6. Written by JG Jones & Phil Bram with art by JG Jones. Cover art also done by JG Jones (Silver Medalist). It has been a long time since we received an issue of Dust to Dust. It makes it tough to maintain momentum of a series when it has been almost four months since the last issue was released. The art design is always beautiful in this book, no matter how many months between release dates.
Phoenix #14. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Roi Mercado. Lucas Werneck did the cover art. Jean Grey stands her ground against the In-Betweener and a few other galactic powers insisting that she will protect her sister Sara under any circumstances.
Justice League Unlimited #10. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman disagree about the next steps with Airwave. The League also has to try and save Doomsday!
Death of the Silver Surfer #3. “Fantastic” Written by Greg Pak and art by Sumit Kumar. Dike Ruan & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. The Fantastic Four join in the events of this issue. I am now not sure if this is supposed to be a future event or present day. Johnny Storm had his mustache and I have not seen that anywhere outside of the main FF title. Otherwise, they are trying to prevent Galactus’s blood from damaging earth.
Hornsby & Halo #9. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Ramon Bachs. Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz did the cover art. Zach and Rose try to take some time off by heading to the carnival. Sadly, things won’t leave them alone.
Other Comics This Week: Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse #4, Mr. Terrific Year One #4, X-Men: Tooth and Claw #1, Imperial War: Black Panther #1, Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk #1, Green Lantern Dark #6, and Be Not Afraid #3.
Quick Hits: Fantastic Four Fanfare #4 has three separate stories, with a cool one between Sue and Mole Man. Two books had Red Sonja featured. First was the final issue of Dynamite’s Red Sonja vs. the Army of Darkness #5 and the new Sonja Reborn #1. The penultimate issue is here for We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #5. Lots of things need to be wrapped up in that book to finish it off. Two absolute books out this week, Absolute Wonder Woman #11 and Absolute Martian Manhunter #6. Deadpool/Wolverine #8 sees Logan and Wade team-up again. The reprint of the 2005 classic Marvel Zombies #1 came out in 3D, including a pair of 3D glasses. It is a cool book, but the reprint is not currently in the CLZ app which bothers me. I grabbed the Doomed 2099#1 foil issue which has one of the most beautiful covers of the week. I also picked up Dynamite’s Stitch #1. I thought maybe it would be a book that I would like even though I did not expect to. Nope. That one was nice for the collection. Predator: Black, White & Blood #2 is a fun book with interesting stories. Predator has been solid in the Marvel books. Bad Guys have been brought on twice this week as the storyline of “Bring on the Bad Guys” concluded with Bring on the Bad Guys: Dormammu #1 and Bring on the Bad Guys: Mephisto #1 coming out. More bad guy fun with old school Emma Frost: White Queen #3 is out this week. Monsters abound in The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night #3 featuring Adam Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll. Oh, and it sure looks bad for Dracula Boy. Void Rivals #22 continues the Energon Universe. Finally, Lost Fantasy #4 saw a huge sword fight.
Dexter is struggling with all of the outside forces coming into him.
Angel Batista’s obsession is making things difficult. Batista nearly caught Dexter in a kill room. Dexter found the ear pods Batista left behind in his car though.
Dexter failed to grab “Rapunzel” who did not like Hamilton. “Did you know they all rapped?” LOL.
Harrison asking for help with Elsa’s landlord.
Prater showed up at the site where Dexter was having dinner with Harrison. No good will come of that.
Blessing getting mad at Dexter when Dexter let it slip to Blessing’s daughter about her father’s past. Perhaps the rumors of Blessing being the New York Ripper, a twist that I would not be a fan of. However, his reaction to Dexter’s mistake made me think that there is more to Blessing than we thought.
However, it seemed as if Detective Wallace is filled with doubt about Batista and what he is doing. She did not respond to the story of the kill room very well, and she called down to Miami to ask about the Bay Harbor Butcher case only to find out that Batista was no longer an active police captain. Batista surely is looking shaky as his obsession with Dexter might be bringing him down.
Harrison had a night of sex with Gigi. I don’t know why but I just do not trust Gigi at this point. Maybe that is just the type of show Dexter is that I question anyone new, but I am just unsure about her at this point. I do hope she is not going to betray Harrison because I like seeing him happy for once.
I know now that there are two more episodes of Dexter: Resurrection remaining. Surely, there will be a confrontation between Dexter and Batista among those and I get a feeling that Blessing may have something in his past that we still need to face. I do hope that neither Batista or Angel wind up on Dexter’s table. Prater, however, I feel is destined for that table.
Episodes three and four of Apple TV’s new series, Stick, starring Owen Wilson were really great. I have to say though I am a little disappointed with Pryce and his weaknesses that are coming through. He does feel manipulative in his involvement with Santi and he is clearly also a problem with betting. These will both come back to haunt him later in the season, I am sure.
I do like the first few steps between Mitts and Elena. The whole “Mitts is trapped beneath the bed” part of episode three was fun and was a good way to learn about who these characters are.
We learned specifically what happened to Pryce’s son as Mitts told Elena about it after she had made an off-hand comment about Pryce not knowing about kids because he doesn’t have any. The little boy died at 4 from cancer, which is way too horrible to even think about. Elena immediately made the connection between the loss of his son and the meltdown Pryce had on the golf course that ruined his career. I had inferred this as well, but knowing the details make it even more painful and allow us to understand where Pryce is coming from.
We are introduced to Zero, played by Lilli Kay. I had seen her on the IMDB page and I did not know who she was, but she has been added as a “love interest” for Santi. Not sure I loved this character at this point, as she was portrayed as a far left idealist with big words for the society around them.
I did not think that the deal made by Zero and Pryce was a good idea. It will absolutely explode on them later in the season. Why they don’t just stick to the truth? It is such a better choice.
Stick has been solid so far and I am looking forward to see these seeds that the show is planting grow as the season progresses.
Since I currently do not have any active TV shows going, and having finished off the X-Files recently, I started to look for some new programs to watch. Yes, I am doing the season binges of What We Do in the Shadows, but I needed something to spread out over a few weeks to a month. I have started Stick on Apple TV, which was great. I then started another Apple TV + show called Smoke.
Apple TV + has had some great shows such as Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Silo, The Studio and Dark Matter. There have been a bunch of Apple TV + shows that I have not watched, but are fairly well liked.
Smoke caught my attention from the show synopsis: “When an arson investigator begrudgingly teams up with a police detective, their race to stop two arsonists ignites a twisted game of secrets and suspicions.”- from Apple TV + website.
I will say that after the pilot episode of the show, I was not sure how I felt about it. It was a slow burn for sure and I was just not sure if I was engaged enough to commit to it. However, by the end of the second episode, I was fully in. This show is currently active, with, I believe 5 episodes out. A new episode comes out on Fridays, so it would be nice to get caught up before the next episode is released.
Taron Egerton starred as the arson investigator who has his share of troubles and he is working with former marine and current police detective Michelle Calderon (Jurnee Smollett). Egerton is excellent so far in the show and the two leads have great chemistry. Egerton was probably the main reason why I kept going after episode one.
I do like the mystery aspect of this show, even though it seems that one of the arsonists is not much of a mystery. The second one has a massive reveal at the end of the second episode that makes me wonder what exactly was going on.
Last week, after watching Poker Face S2 E11, things just did not make sense. The whole storyline with the Iguana setting up Charlie to lead him to Beatrix Hasp in witness protection seemed so full of coincidences and impossibilities that it was tarring what I had been enjoying. I had hoped, I even think I wrote it in the post, that the writers would have something in the finale to make it all work.
Boy howdy, did they.
They then tossed in the twist of all twists for this show. A twist that they had been setting up for several episodes now. See, last episode when we saw the Iguana killing that guy to go to the wedding and making his prosthetics, it wasn’t the Iguana. This was another hitman….
The Iguana was Charlie’s friend, Alex.
Patti Harrison played Alex, and we thought she had been set up by the real Iguana as a patsy in the murder of Beatrix Hasp’s adopted son in episode 11, but, in truth, this was the Iguana. The Iguana had grown tired of the assassin game, because it lacked any sort of challenge. Then, when someone was trying to hire her to kill Beatrix, the name of Charlie Cale was brought up. A woman who was like a human lie detector and who was infallible presented the challenge for the Iguana. Could she lie to the lie detector?
When she was explaining everything to Charlie, we got flashbacks to the last few episodes, placing everything into context, showing that it all would fit. There are some awesome details that were dropped and we see Alex and her ability to lie to Charlie. Alex told her that every time she had to focus on every little thing to prevent Charlie from discovering the truth. She said it was thrilling.
Poor Rhea Perlman. She had to come back for this episode just to play a dead body with a bullet in her skull. Charlie was able to figure out things, but just too late. I wondered why the show chose to focus on the “Big Red” gum Alex had given to Charlie. It was weird product placement, I thought. But it triggered a memory of a lie Alex had told Charlie a few episodes ago and it put Charlie on to the truth.
The chase scene was fun but let’s talk about the “To Be Continued” that flashed up on the screen as Alex seemingly drove Charlie’s car off a cliff into the Grand Canyon Canyon in Indiana, Thelma and Louise style. The screen froze with the car in the air, about to fall to their doom. I literally screamed out in shock. I wonder if anyone immediately shut off their TV in frustration at that point? I had just stared in shock at the unbelievable cliffhanger when everything started to rewind. The car went backwards and we see the POV of Charlie, as she jumped from the car and held on to a branch, dangling over the cliff as the car flew into the canyon and crashed in a fiery explosion.
What a moment that “To Be Continued” was. It felt both awesome and cruel at the same time. Somehow, Alex’s body was not in the car afterwards. Not sure how she escaped but the show is setting Alex up as Moriarty to Charlie’s Sherlock Holmes. The show gave Charlie an arch nemesis and I liked that, even if I had to suspend disbelief that Alex was not dead. However, after questioning the story last episode, I have learned that Rian Johnson has planned things out so when Alex inevitably returns, it will make sense then.
Sadly, Charlie is on the run once again, now from the FBI. Simon Helberg’s Agent Luca Clark giving Charlie a head start, telling her that the next time they met, he’d have to arrest her. I waited for Charlie to say “bullshit” but she did not, so I guess he is telling the truth. I like how this relationship with Charlie and Luca is progressing. Luca clearly is amazed with her and her intelligence and I hope there will be more with these two moving forward.
I know Poker Face has not yet been renewed, but this show has set up plenty of story for a third season so I hope Peacock knows what they have in this show or if they let it go, maybe another streamer like Netflix or Amazon would give it a go.
Natasha Lyonne directed this episode and she did a great job with several creative and original shots and images. Lyonne is also one of the most interesting characters on TV right now and I really want more of her.
Season two was very strong and ended with a big time splash.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 